No, it's Summer.

  75°F yesterday, today, and warmer tomorrow.  Last night, for the first time since late October, I let the fire in the woodstove go out.  We'll need it again, I know- but not for a week or so.  I'm glad we're not making maple syrup this year, and very sorry for friends who were counting on it for income; I think there have been around 3 days with the necessary temperature arrangements for full flow (25° at night, 45° day.)

  Just like that, poof.  Not terribly unusual here, actually, but a shock to the system  A week ago I was walking with the YakTrax, on 1" of mud over ice; now I have to remember to widen my stride- no ice anywhere.

  And- we've had no rain in March; so it's unusually dry; farmers getting worried; and there's a desperate shortage of rainy days, in which to do rainy day chores.  Like blogging, of course.

  One of the incessant chores- training the two puppies.  Which I promised pics of long ago- here are a couple:

  This is Schatze (click for bigger).  Back in the first post on these puppies, Belinda referred to the German Shepherd part of these pups as "German Shedder" - and I freudianly misread that as "German Shredder".

  I think I was accidentally correct.  And Belinda was  too, of course.  Here's the other of these sisters:

This is Daisy.  Daisy looks exactly like one would expect a Collie x GS to look.  They're from the same litter, but Schatze is different- she looks more like her dad was a Doberman.  We keep intending to ask the shelter lady if there was a Doberman hanging around at the right time.  It's possible for pups in one litter to have different dads, yes?  You can't see it in the pic, but Schatze has a tail that curls tighter than a husky's; cute, but I'm constantly wondering where it came from.

  They're both very promising; very affectionate and wanting to please, and as obedient as they know how to be.  They're still on chains when the birds are loose; not quite willing yet to trust them entirely when they have the chance to romp and chase and "play" with the birds.  Daisy has needed very little correction around the birds; seemingly willing to just look on, once it was explained she was not to chase.  Schatze needs a little more, but not all that much.

   The training is something you can't shirk, of course; has to be done, now, if they are ever to fit in and do what we hired them for.  And the sooner they're off the chains, the better all around.  They tolerate it fine; usually just lie down in the sun and sleep- but- they are shredding everything they can reach.

  off to work.

Dog crime and punishment

Reader "e" made this comment on the last post; I started to answer there, and it kind of grew... so it's here: 

Hi, I wonder if you could explain your thinking on this: "Bruce- was on the chain all day....Punishment."

My understanding is that you can teach dogs that what they are doing "now" is wrong but that the concept of getting tied up the day after doing something is too abstract/far removed for them to understand.

This is why punishing them when you come home for peeing/chewing in the house if you've left them alone doesn't work. They only learn to associate your return with punishment.

e - you're totally right, that's the standard advice. I really disagree with it, though the reasons are complex. 

Very quickly- SOME dogs are much much smarter than others- and Bruce is one; he's very smart indeed. I don't think he's got ANY trouble understanding cause and effect even when disassociated. 

I'll point out here- I've got tons of formal training in animal behavior, from the academic side- actually both of the papers I presented for my MS degree were behavioral.  And I train my cats.  I can't tell you how many visitors we've had who have been astonished at our cats; who I do train to have reasonably good behavior.  Most folks consider cats essentially "untrainable"- living with one is a matter of mutual adaptation and tolerance.

A good chunk of my approach is to recognize that animals are very much individuals- what is true for this one, is not necessarily true for that one.  Our current cat, for example, is allowed to meow at the door to go out; the previous cat was not.  For this cat, it's an actual request based on need; for the previous cat, it was mostly a bid for endless attention.  No cat is allowed to meow to come in.

In the specific case with Bruce, he was not just stuck on the chain, and left to suffer.  The chain is right by the door of the Little House- he sees us coming and going.  And he's quiet and resigned about it, when we are in the house.  What he hates is when we all go somewhere, and he isn't allowed to go too.  

When we were leaving to work in the fields- he can tell what we're doing- I took the remains of the chewed up surveyors tape; and the shredded gorp bag- both carefully preserved for this purpose; and presented them to him, yet again.  And talked- "Bruce.  THIS is why you have to STAY -  at HOME.  THIS.  Bad dog.  You know you're not supposed to chew just anything."  

And some more talking.  And petting.  He knew immediately when I showed him the evidence of his bad behavior that - it was bad; he'd been naughty; and his gaze dropped, his stance changed to submissive- he was clearly embarrassed.  There is no question in my mind that dogs, and cats, are totally capable of real embarrassment.

Then I'd put the evidence back out of sight; and we'd go; leaving him behind.  He would cry.  "No.  Not today.  You were bad.  I can't trust you.  You stay home.  No chewing."  He knew.  That whole scenario was repeated all day, every time we came and went.

At the end of the day, I let him off, and of course he was delighted.  Next day- as we set out to work, he came along, but in a much quieter, more reserved way; unless specifically encouraged to play, which he's wildly enthusiastic about.

The books, mostly, stem from days when animals were newly regarded as black-box machines- that concept was considered a major "advance" in our understanding of animals.  They're all the same; input this; and you get this output; totally predictable.  Everybody likes simple rules.

Today, there is, finally, growing scientific acceptance that animals are NOT machines; they can be individuals; and they are both far more "intelligent", and have much greater "self awareness" than previously believed.

Lots of pet owners and lovers, and farmers, and hunters, have known that for a long time, of course.  Guess what?  It's true.  One possible excuse for the scientists' failure to see this- many pure-bred dogs and cats are -genuinely- mentally retarded; white mice and rats definitely are.  They've been bred for docility, and inbred out the wazoo- and lots of them are really just - dumb.  Mutts, mongrels, and alley cats- have their mental functions intact, and are far far smarter than science has allowed.   They can easily remember events and causes from past days.

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So far, Bruce has been well behaved now regarding tapes.  

A previous similar episode- he had a propensity for chewing electrical extension cords; not something we approved of.  A couple weeks ago, he chewed up an important one- carrying current to the brooder light for the chicks.  He's never managed to shock himself, I think, or trip the circuit breakers, but it was just dumb luck; the cord was really trashed.

The actual chewing took place the day before we found it.  I took the chewed cord, and confronted him with it; slapped him with it (he's really sensitive about that- he knows it's punishment even though there's not enough force in the slap to hurt; he cries like a baby from the humiliation) and explained repeatedly that I was SO not happy, and he was not to do this ever again.  He knew I was angry, at him- and the chewed cord was why.  He hates that.

He hasn't ever done it again- though the replacement cord is just as vulnerable to him, and he has 100 opportunities a day.  It makes a huge difference that he WANTS to do "the right thing" - and make me happy.

It's all Sharon's fault.

Well.  Partly. 

In her post a while back on child rearing she gave the penultimate nudge that caused this:

This is our brand new black hole for time and energy; Bruce.

He's a little hard to photograph on snow; his points- face, legs and tail, are very black; quite striking.

Bruce is 10 weeks old, acquired from the local shelter- he's a Chocolate Lab/ Collie/ Newfoundland, with maybe a little Husky.  Our very good Amish friend Joe was hearing all about him from Smidgen, in the grocery store where we were after puppy chow, and commented deadpan; "Oh, you mean he's a Farm Dog."  Judging from his huge feet and loose skin, he's heading towards somewhere between 70-100 lbs.

We haven't had canine livestock here before; never really needed one; but we'd been thinking about it now for a year or so.  Lots of reasons; we could use a dog to chase wildlife out of the crops just a bit.  Having the truck stolen made us a little nervous about midnight visitors, out here in the boonies.

Two things tipped the balance.  Sharon was the first, her point #8 in that post pointing out the value of a good dog in helping keep an eye on children that are likely to stray.  And the Smidgen is 3 now; entirely mobile; totally fearless; and already was undertaking long unaccompanied journeys last year.

The second - was coyotes.  When I first moved here, in the mid 70's; the locals had never seen one.  This was originally wolf territory- and the two almost never overlap.  A few years later, coyotes started moving in- killing almost all the foxes.  20 years later, a few red foxes are showing up again- but I never hear the distinctive bark of the grey foxes, that used to be a standard part of summer evenings.  I miss them.

I don't resent the coyotes; change is inevitable, and I really enjoy hearing them chorus from time to time.  But.  Smidgen is 3- and yes, coyotes have been known to attack children, in places where the coyotes get too abundant, and too familiar with people.  (Google "coyote attacks" if you don't believe me- or look here- one of these 3 kids was 10.)

But, last week, for the first time ever here, we saw coyotes; near the house, in broad daylight.  Twice.  

Thanks to Sharon, we were already veeeery close to the puppy edge; the coyotes finished the job.  When my first crop kids were small, coyotes were very rare- and you never saw one.  But just like everywhere else; they're moving closer and closer to people, even here in farm country. Basically, I'm delighted to have the coyotes on the farm; they eat loads of rodents, the occasional fawn- fine. But watching us in daylight- no thank you. They knew we saw them- and didn't run.

"Eventually" - we expect Bruce to be a highly valued and valuable member of the family; pulling his share of the load.  At the moment, of course.....  it's way too cold to keep him outside (below zero again last night) - he's too young to be reliably house trained; and this is a tiny house...

On the up side; it looks like we were incredibly lucky at the shelter- he's a total sweety pie; absolutely snuggly, quiet, unspoiled, already retrieves things, very playful, willing to listen, and seems very smart.  Highly promising, I think.

On the other hand; this is our passive-agressive tom cat, who previously had us, and the house, to himself-

He's sitting right smack on the puppy's bed- after the puppy slept on it for hours, so the cat certainly knows it- and giving the pup the evil eye whenever he comes close.  Pup's had his nose scratched just once by the cat; now the cat only has to hiss a little, and the pup yelps.

Never a dull moment.