I realize when I write these articles about our gardens that for a large percentage of gardeners pets are an integral part of our lives and our homes. That means that pets have to fit into our plans. Dog owners have to consider the pets personality and habits when making plans for just about anything outside the house. Some people have small dogs that live indoors, those pups can be taken for a walk for exercise and do their thing somewhere other than their yard. Some people have larger dogs that live in the backyard with a fence. That yard will likely have some well worn trails around the perimeter of the fence from the dogs scouting around for any enemies or in some cases just anybody who will scratch their head. Some homes like cats, the ones who are allowed to roam will generally stay around their own stomping grounds keeping the area clear of lizards and snakes and will harass any birds that are causing any threats. The inside cats will hang around the windows wishing they were patrolling the neighborhood. Who really knows what a cat is thinking? I know they are funny to watch with their freaky moves that they make. Cats hunting skills are really good, when they hunt they are usually successful. That can be good when it comes to rodents and for keeping Mr. No shoulders on the move. Not so great when it comes their ability to stalk and catch birds, cats will be cats. It seems like there are Ferrell cats all over the place these days. I think cats can begin having litters at a very young age and can get pregnant the day after they have had a litter. When the cats are Ferrell that cycle can produce a lot of new Ferrell cats if left unchecked. We get a lot of loose, free roaming cats that come around our garden center and hang out as long as the hierarchy allows them to. We have one who is the queen of the place.
Most people who shop up there knows Pearl. Pearl was one of the many kittens that have showed up in one of our hay trailers, a favorite kitty birthing center for the Beaver Creek cat -mouse- hunting gang that has developed over the years. Hay trailers provide a perfect place for litters in the summer and the colder months with lots of great bedding and a few of the dumber mice provide free breakfast. Pearl was a particularly sweet kitten from the start and has the features of a Siamese cat if you use your imagination. She has been very easy to take care of, she needs food, water, heavy petting and a bed on the counter near the checkout area so everyone who passes through there has an opportunity to show their attention to the queen of the store, she soaks up the loving. It’s not uncommon for parents to admit to us that their kids just wanted to pass by for a while so they could play with Pearl.
The only problem with keeping Pearl satisfied is that an occasional cat will step in to try their luck at having dinner with Pearl uninvited. We have also had the occasional Raccoon or opossum show up for dinner and drinks. Those are particularly rough crowds that we wont allow to stick around for long, they are bad about getting comfortable, moving in and having babies and harassing the permanent residences. In those cases we set the Have-a-heart traps and catch them pretty quickly. Garden centers are meccas for rodents because we usually have some great snacks for hungry animals. We usually have seeds, bird foods And even some of our organic fertilizer bags have an odor that seems like an all day buffet for them. Pearl does a great job at keeping the smaller ones away but anything bigger than a mouse she runs and hides, I’ve caught her on our security cameras moving over to allow a big, fat coon to take over her meal. She’s not dumb, I wouldn’t mess with a coon either. We try to catch the old Tom cats waiting around for their next victim so we can get them to the vet and get their threats off the streets. They are tough to catch but they cant pass on a can of sardines. We catch the mama cats and as many babies that we can before the exponential repopulation can occur. I like them, just not too many, one is enough for me. Growing up in the country in Madison, back when Madison was in the country, we had so many pets it was fun taking care of them all. We always had a devoted dog and usually a cat that was always entertaining. I remember for a while we had Chinese pugs and Siamese cats at the same time so everyone was that brown with brown points. They couldn’t do much but act weird so they mostly stayed around the house.
We always had what I called “real dog” that hung around with us outside while we took care of our little farm. We had up to 7 or 8 horses, cows, pigs, all kind of domestic birds and goats. Some of these animals just hung around and ate but some of them were our show animals for 4-H projects. They were treated differently. They would get special feeds, groomed and more time was spent trying them to do what they should do when the shows came around. We were always at the Dixie National with my pigs or Chips cows or my sisters horses. We were always trailering animals from one place to another, fun life. There were usually some crazy cats or aloof dogs passing through looking for a free meal but the permanent residences wouldn’t let them hang around for long. I remember one particularly cold winter in the 70’s that a pack of wild dogs were persisting in Madison county. They finally locked into our heard of cows, especially the ones giving birth. It seems like there were 15 to 20 vicious dogs in this pack. They were nasty, hungry looking fellows hanging around for weeks and then slowly circled in around our cows after doing a lot of damage all over the county. I will never forget my mother heading out to the field with a single shot 4-10 shotgun when she heard that pack attacking the baby cows. She got between the dogs and the mama cows who were mooing their heads off while watching the dogs closing in and killing some of the new borns. We, all four kids, yelled and beat coffee cans with sticks hoping it would scare the dogs away, it didn’t do much good, these dogs were hungry. They had mom circled at one point, until she started firing and reloading until they backed off enough. They never really scampered off, they found the line that was far enough away and curiously watched us until it was time for us to give up and go home to get out of the cold, they attacked later that night. I dont remember how that ended that winter, I guess they found a weaker herd that wasn’t being protected by my mother. Smarter than they looked.
We somehow wound up with Dalmatians for two rounds, I never got into them much, they seemed like they had been lobotomized, crazy as a cat. My favorite dogs were those that hung out with us while we did stuff outside and they seemingly kept their eyes on us while we rode horses and motorcycles around what used to be open country. They were usually mixed breeds that we would get as puppies and would be raised with the animals so they were more protective than threatening. I love having a dog around, they can become a part of the family for 15 years or more. They are something to consider when moving into a house and a yard that will be appropriate for the breed. Big ole labs will do some damage to a small fenced in yard. They will dig up only the plants that you most dont want them to dig up, they will carve trails through the flower beds, chew on fences and so on but we love them anyway. They are very good for the nursery business. I know a lot of people wind up with their dogs through their high school or college age kids coming home with the dog after being told that they can’t rent with a dog. This puts a lot of inappropriate breeds in some inappropriate homes. I don’t mean bad homes but some dogs aren’t meant to be cooped up in a fenced in yard. It seems like they adapt eventually but it’s never easy getting there. I work in a lot of yards and I hear the neighbors dogs barking non stop for the whole day while the owners are away. Who knows what the dogs are barking about but that would drive me crazy to live next to someone who cares so little about their neighbors. There will always be those types in our world unfortunately and some of us will have to live next door to them while our outside time is essentially ruined from them uncaringly allowing their untrained, uncared for canines to bark incessantly. There is a special place for those folks I’m sure.
Mimi and I have had some great dogs that have grown up with our kids and us, mostly just good ole mutts. They have always turned out to be my favorite kind, big ole goofy friends that will o anything for us for approval. Our last dog was a Welch Corgi. Barney was an easy dog and a good size for our yard. He didn’t make much trouble, didn’t bark much and had no interest in argueing with other dogs. He mainly liked to sleep, about 22 hours a day. I loved his demeanor and he lived with us for 15 years. We are in between dogs right now and enjoying the freedoms that come along with empty nesting first from our kids and now with no dog. It does make going places much easier but there are parts of having a dog that we miss.
Dogs have it pretty good these days with adopting and rescuing dogs being in vogue. There are networks set up all over the world that are for connecting the right people with the right dogs. Dog owners are proud of their rescues and lord knows those dogs need rescueing. Sometimes getting the poor dogs out of bad owner situations, homelessness or just some breeds being subjected to inappropriate homes for their purpose. Like an Australian Shepard being cooped up in an apartment or mountain Pyrenees left outside in this miserable heat just to bark their miseries away all day while their uncaring owners go inside to allow the misery to continue. Misery for the dogs and for the neighbors who have to deal with it. People need to wake up.
For the most part we couldn’t survive without the simple and pure friendships that these animals give us no matter how much time we have to devote to them, they are there when we need them. We do have to be careful when it comes to using chemicals in our yards. Dogs will step in that spray that was applied then lick their paws and get sick. They will be attracted towards some of the baits that we put out as pesticides such as ant bait, snail and slug bait, mole critter bait with poison in them have all been the cause of many vet visits and worse. You should consider all chemical applications to your yard dangerous to pets. Find out how much time should be allowed between when the chemical is applied and when the dog can walk on that area. You should be careful about getting around their feeding area and sleeping area when applying pesticides, it can do some immediate damage to them or can cause chronic problems that will indirectly speed up their life span. We need to make sure that our yards are providing plenty shade if they will be living their days outside and we need to have some kind of plan to train the dogs to be appropriate for life with neighbors so we don’t make our dogs be someone else’s’ nightmare. I will always cherish my memories of all the dogs from my past, some were definitely this mans best friend.