2010 March Archive at Beside the Stream

Archive for March, 2010

Puppy pictures

Published by Alice on March 29, 2010 in dogs. 12 Comments

We think her name is Gracie, but having been through about five names in the last week, we’re still mostly calling her Little Dog.

She loves the snow. Even though she doesn’t have a real coat yet, she

lies around on the snowpack that’s left,

and climbs every pile of snow she can find.

This first week, she has been working on

toilet training and on kiss on the nose, not on the mouth. Of course, she’s not toilet trained at this stage; we are. Every time she wakes up or sniffs the carpet we wisk her outside and praise her for peeing and pooping, and we haven’t had a mistake in days. We started deer training, too. There’s no chasing allowed (it’s illegal, and I wouldn’t be able to take deer pictures) but she has to keep them out of the gardens.

Here’s step 1: she looks at the deer,

and the deer look at her. This happens several times a day.

Puppy school starts next week, when she is ten weeks old. But we can already tell that this little dog is the best dog ever.

Names that haven’t stuck so far: Zoe, Bella, Ella, Stella, Kaila,

Current name: Little Dog or Gracie

A new puppy

Published by Alice on March 21, 2010 in dogs. 12 Comments

The puppy arrived last night after a six hour drive from Denver.

She had a few fingerfuls of yogurt and spent the night in a crate next to my bed. She didn’t make a peep.

Next week she’ll start socializing with other people and dogs, but for now she’s such a little puppy that she just stays home.

God’s Dog

Published by Alice on March 16, 2010 in what they eat. 9 Comments

Around here, coyotes are sometimes called spirit dogs, or God’s dog. Some people like them more than others.

This coyote is using the deerpath to cross the back field. It’s the tail end of winter, but it’s clear that he’s had a bloody fine season.

He’s completely aware that I’m out on the porch taking pictures of him, and he also knows that I can’t cross the snow to get to him. His has reputation as a trickster, but he seems disdainful to me. He never turns his head to look at me; he just ignores my presence.

I know that he’s smelling my dear little deer right now, and that he might have one for dinner. I know that he could eat my Berner puppy anytime between Saturday (when she arrives) and next Fall. But my bet is that this coyote might not be so sassy next year, when I’ll have a 90-pound dog back on duty.

I like having predators around, sure. But I like it when they live on someone else’s land.

(Sam drives the puppy down Saturday.)

A visiting elk

Published by Alice on March 3, 2010 in elk herd. 7 Comments

The snow is receding and people are feeling more hopeful about spring, but the deer and elk are entering their hardest time: their fat is gone, the graze is gone and there’s no new food to browse on. There have been two hungry elk hanging around this week, and this morning one of them was grazing out back. My flower bed starts at the snow line. This is a giant beast.