Gypsy

I was the crazy one, not Gypsy. I know all animal lovers are worried that I have done something crazy but I have not, so rest easy. Gypsy still lives.

I have to tie her when I am not with her because of her playfulness. She is such a puppy anything that runs is her toy.

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So far that has included three mice, a flying squirrel and one chicken. She brought the flying squirrel in the house very proudly and I would not have noticed except for the tip of the tail and the fact that she was doing her Peruvian horse walk she does when she is proud.

Gypsy with her favorite toy, Cutter. They are running with a stick, although I have cautioned my children not to do that, I do allow Gypsy to run with a stick.

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We went for two very long runs today. There is no way I can call an outing with Gypsy a walk. She is so full of energy, I only wish I could harness it to run the power to the house.

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I have some intense training planned for tomorrow...maybe some controlled sit stays near the chicken house. By golly, Gypsy and I shall over come this problem.

Friday

I borrowed some flowers from Spring.
and a picture of sunlight in the treesand a live rooster.

I am at loose ends today.
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I am so frustrated with Gypsy's chicken fetish! I had to keep her tied and that is not good for any dog.

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When I came home from work, I took her for a long walk AWAY from the chickens. She ran and played and my guilt said she was asking why I had tied her up. She happily played in the creek and with the other dogs. She also, without being asked, ran the calves into the pasture and stopped when they were in.

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I had retied her and thought I shall leave her out. I heard the whines with a quiver at the end as if Gypsy was freezing. She could not understand that I was holding a grudge about the rooster. In her doggy mind, that was long forgotten but I could not forget the fact that I had to present my sister with her dead rooster.

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Andrew asked if I was leaving her out, I said yes. He said nothing.

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I listened to the soft whines as I read my emails and I caved in! Yes, softy me, I could not leave her out. I unclipped her and she ran to the door as if to say, why did you wait so long, I wanted to be in with you.

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Gypsy galloped into the house, there is no other way to describe her run, since she is so big. Ran to me and sat, showing me she was a good girl. Begging for attention. I felt the chicken killing fiasco that had settled like ice around my heart, melting away by her big brown eyes. I totally relented and told her she was a good girl. Gypsy laid at my feet for quite some time, just being there.

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Then since she knew I was okay she galloped into Andrew's room and settled in for the night.

A Doggie Tail

Gypsy and Maggie are out of there!
Hey, guys, there is something is this hole.

This hole??

Are you sure its not over here? I smell it!

Squiggie checks it out.

Diamond Lil, Border Collie, swimmer

Lil, Border Collie, acrobat

Maggie Mae and Gypsy discussing the smell of a raccoon

Gypsy Rose Lee, The Border Hound, going to join the search.

Gypsy says, I know it came this way!

What I Learned Today

The guys aren't doing laundry! Of course I already knew that but I can dream.

There is a snake in the spring and an armadillo in the garden.

Gypsy likes to retrieve. She also licks my legs when I sit at the computer...I am working on stopping that. She has a hole in her mouth, otherwise, where does all the water come from around her water bowl?

I learned eight and a half hours at work is longer than it was yesterday.

Spaghetti in a can is a fine meal to feed a young foot ball player after practise.

I also know the horses loved the watermelon and pears I took them and the dog loved breakfast milk and chicken scraps better than their dog food.

The best revelation of all; Your comments are like chocolate, they taste wonderful and I cannot get enough!

Friday Evening Catch Up

The water garden is surviving without me sitting there. The "pot" plant is growing like crazy.

Seymour got a hair cut since he had burrs all in his hair, I just cut them out with scissors.

Gypsy is having a ball and loving the farm and is doing well in her training.

And Beverly keeps on working. As you can see, we even have rebuilt the barn from the tornado damage...NOT! We can't even keep up with the grass, let alone, repair the barn.

I am sitting in my underwear, soaking up the AC. It feels so nice after taking Gypsy Galoot for her run. Gypsy played in the water but I got wet from sweat. She brought me a ball!!! She has not messed in the house. She is not scratching cause the fleas are gone. For Gypsy, life is good.

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For me, life is a little more complicated now I have an untrained dog to work with! We tolerate cats but the chicken thing is going take a few more corrections.

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I am so damn excited it is Friday! I have many things I want to do but will I get them done? Probably not but I have to have a plan before I can start so I am half way through since I do have a plan.

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I have always wanted to write and I think a book is pouring out of me into Word. I have several pages and it is flowing with few corrections. Don't know where I am going with it, since I have never done this before but it seems to be something I am compelled to do. We will hope it turns into a best seller!

Gypsy Update

We made it through the night, after several whiny fits over the fleas, I finally Sevin dusted her and it has slowed the problem. Poor Baby, she was so miserable.

As you can plainly see, she has the hound in her but a gentler hound I have never met.

One of her first photos after I picked her up yesterday. She greeted everyone that stopped by with a wag and a smile. Did not jump on anyone and only asked for loves with the undulating body movements.

Looking a little sad here, but the ride home was so easy. She loaded when I said and sat as if she were belted in the back seat. No car sickness, no rambling, just looking out the windows like any person would.

Here is a more defined shot of her body shape. She is listening to the children playing at the school and wanted to join them so badly. Yes, Gypsy, needs a family with children.

Our current disagreement is the ownership of the couch. I had full intentions of not allowing her on the furniture, well, that has still not been established. I left her in the computer room last night, with no destruction, no accidents but she did sleep on the love seat. We shall have to discuss this later...and surprise, Gypsy is not a very vocal dog which is a big plus in my book.

ICARE does a lot of good work in our county. I am privileged to be able to help with that.

Did A One Eighty...

Did not buy a dog, did not get a pound puppy either. Decided that maybe my see-sawing dog wishes were not because I wanted a dog but because I could work with them and make better pets.

Here is my first foster dog! ICARE in this county has more dogs than they have foster homes. They have had great success adopting to many different states.

This is my mission to help Gypsy Rose Lee, that's right, Gypsy Rose Lee, become a better settled, better trained pet for adoption.

Knew she loved water when I gave her a drink after I picked her up and she stuck half her head into the bucket and blew giant air bubbles.
So guess where her first romp was At The Farm? Gypsy loved it! She snuffled, she blew bubbles, she drank, she cavorted and just had a good time all around.

Of course there was the traditional butt sniffing but Gypsy was more eager to play than sniff or be sniffed.

I have discovered a few things. She loves children, does well with dogs, does not meet a stranger but I suspect Gypsy has never seen a cow or a horse. She was quite intimidated and I had to carry the big galoot past the cows the first time.. She is interested in cats and chickens but I corrected her and moved her to another area. We shall have to work on that a bit at a time.

We definitely know for sure, she loves water! Gypsy kept going back to the water, in the water, around the water, though the water and had, I think, a glorious time. Gypsy comes when called so that is a plus for starting out. I could allow her off leash in this area.

Gypsy ran as if she had never been free but always came when I whistled. Now she is quietly laying behind me on a rug after having her second walk of the evening.

I do not know her breed but she has hound in her. Since she is marked like our Border Collies but has short hair, big paws and giant ears, I am dubbing her a Border Hound, a new designer breed.

(We no longer call them mutts or mixed breeds but designer breeds, now isn't that elegant? It doesn't matter what the father or mother was, breeders out there, listen up. When it is not the same breed, it is a MUTT!)

I thought, in addition to the regular light training of come, sit, stay, heel, I should introduce her to house training since more than likely Gypsy will become some one's house dog. My goal is to make her calm-submissive in the words of the great dog whisperer, to make her accept all the animals here with no aggression toward them, and to remain the wonderful people person she is.

Gypsy will be spayed tomorrow. She had ticks and fleas...a lot!...that has been taken care of and she has ear mites which will be eliminated in a couple of days with medicine.

Welcome to my adventure in the land of fostering an animal for adoption. May I train her well and may she find a wonderful forever home with ICARE's help.

Put the word out there, guys, I got a good dog for adoption! If Gypsy is not what you are looking for check out ICARE's home page.