I have been trying and trying to post pictures. No dice. Blogger won't let me or my computer won't let me or something in the universe won't let me.
My computer crashes, and I have to reboot and go through the seven levels of hell to get everything back up.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr............
So, today will be spent dealing with the livestock and trying to straighten out my computer.
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Quick update...
Pendar has now been put into the same coop as Heloise, Pericles, Persephone and Ugly Betty.
Pendar is pleased, the peafowl are not concerned, Heloise is mildly annoyed and poor Ugly Betty is exhausted.
I had to put Pendar in there because Andy, the stupidest dog on earth, kept trying to kill him whenever Andy went out in the yard. I hate cooping up Pendar, because he seemed to rather enjoy trotting around the yard.
We have to do something about Andy. He is no good as a herding animal as he thinks he has to kill any animal in the yard. He is good, I suppose, as a guard dog, as long as the person coming in the yard doesn't offer him a milk bone or any other snack...then he acts like they are his best friend! We have to muzzle him every single night because if we don't, he chews up everything he can. Sofa cushions, trash, electrical cords...nothing is safe! Andy has no "spatial awareness". He runs into people, walls, furniture, etc. When I open the back door to go out, he'll lunge for the back door and has knocked me down the steps more than once onto the concrete patio. No broken bones yet, but I think that is only because I learned how to fall when I took martial arts a long, long time ago.
As far as I am concerned, feeding him is a waste of good dog food.
Yes, he can be goofy lovable....but, to me, that is not reason enough to keep him around. We have tried and tried to train him. We had a professional dog trainer friend work with him...and even that guy said he thinks Andy is brain damaged in some way. Andy has learned exactly two things..."shake paws" and "sit" and he only sits about half the time when commanded to.
So, the Darlin' Man and I are doing a last ditch effort to train Andy to live the chickens and goats, etc alone.
We may try a shock collar. I despise those things, really, I do. But Andy has gotten to the point where he is becoming a danger to the livestock.
Sorry about the dog situation. I am there with cats.
ReplyDeleteI don't seem to be having any problems with posting pictures, try going through the Picasa blog photo album. I posted several early this morning, and 2 more just now. However you are not alone, it seems several others are having the same problem.
Well, I agree with you that you have to do something. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI would take Andy to the vet. It is very possible he is brain damaged or perhaps he is deaf. Just because he responds to you sometimes doesn't mean he hears you, it may just be a gesture you make that he responds to ("shake" requires you to put out your hand and "sit" usually means you point downward). Anyway, knowing the problem may be all you need to know the solution. I would not use the shock collar. If he does have a real problem the collar would just be creul since he might not be able to help what he is doing and you would be hurting him for no reason.
ReplyDeleteBecky, we DID take Andy to the vet. Andy's hearing is fine. Although we suspect Andy may be a bit brain damaged, the vet could not find evidence of it. The vets opinion is that Andy is simply a stupid dog...it happens!
ReplyDeleteIf we get a shock collar, I assure you, it would be used VERY sparingly. I trained Dobermans when I was younger, so I know how to train dogs. 95% of dogs operate on either food reward training or play/affection reward training. But about 5% of them out there only respond to punishment rather than reward. That may be the case with Andy.
Not sure if you have tried this. When I am posting pictures, I use the e-mail version of the picture as it is not as large. I don't crash, but I do get hung up when I try and use full sized snapshots. In the case of Windows Photo Viewer the email function (which you can save as a draft) may work.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with Andy!
ReplyDeleteIf all else fails, 'Give away to good home' may be an option.
Amanda