Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Latestarter]

Plus, it sounds like she'd be excellent to have as a member!

 

[Ridgetop]

Back from Idaho with Angel. Snow and ice in northern Nevada, Idaho, and the Donner Pass in northern CA. We avoided all storms and stayed an extra night at Debra Buckner's Elkhorn B & B in Mesa. Beautiful country in Idaho, but a trifle
shivery! Wore my thermals, heavy wool socks and boots, along with snow jacket and was relatively warm except for the last night in Mesa when freezing winds came in and dropped the temperature to 16 degrees. Couldn't wait to get back inside after feeding puppies and loading the car. Froze all roads too, and since we were late leaving because of puppy vet trip, we bought steaks and had another evening with Debra. She is a great person. She raises lamb & goat, has them slaughtered and wrapped at a USDA plant. She also makes great goat cheese, the best I have ever had. She sells her meat and cheese at the Farmer's market. We had a nice time at her B & B, it was like staying with a friend. Actually that is the way we think of her now too, since we have so much in common.

If you go on her Elkhorn B & B website there is a great picture of the brindle sire of the puppies, Babar. His ears are cropped in the Turkish manner. He is a beautiful Anatolian with super nice brindle markings. A good worker, and super sweet disposition. The dam of the puppies is a half sister to our male, Bubba, and there is a picture of her sire (who is also Bubba's sire), Asker, under her pedigree page. Bubba looks just like Asker. The dam, Ginger looks a lot like Rika and is an exceptional worker. Debra has foxes, coyotes, wolves, cougar, and the occasional bear.

DH holding Angel just before we left. The 7 remaining puppies in their pen with goats. Angel is second from left. There were 2 black masked fawns, 3 white or ivory, 1 black masked brindle, a brindle with no mask, and Angel. Beautful puppies! A black masked fawn had already been picked up and was back at home in Texas, a white bitch was scheduled to be picked up that week by a rancher in eastern Idaho. Lovely puppies with great bloodlines, working history, and already started with goats in their pen. We were so lucky to have Erick tell us about this litter and give us Debra's phone number. Debra also has a Facebook page with videos of the dogs and puppies.

Angel is 10 weeks old, and weighs between 26-28 lbs. Erick thinks she will be somewhat larger than Rika who is 125 lbs. Bubba is a brute standing 33" at the shoulder and weighing about 145 lbs. Angel will be in between them, although as a bitch, she will not match Bubba's massiveness. When Bubba lays o the family room floor, there is not much room to either walk around him, or for any other dogs on the floor although the family room is 20 x 20! Angel is a shaded (or faded - not sure which is correct) mask fawn, meaning she has a dark muzzle, and her ears are outlined in black, but not completely black. You can see her in the pictures I attached. She is exceptionally smart. She had never been in a crate or vehicle, except for her visit to the vet the day before. She traveled back with us on the truck seat in a crate and did not make any noise except when she had to potty. We had a mall problem since she was raised on snow in Idaho, and needed snow to potty on! However, luckily, we were able to accommodate her the first day and a half since the snow continued intermittently through Truckee!

Angel in the car and Relief! We found a patch of snow!

Have to post this and write another with more photos since computer won't let me post any more here.

 

[Mike CHS]

Awesome scenery and Angel looks like an Angel.

 

[Ridgetop]

The first night in a motel she learned after 2 trips outside to the snow patch (pee and poop) about the motel doors, and on the 3rd trip she did her business and headed inside and went right to the correct room door. Pretty smart. She explored the room and found a puppy friend in the mirror. Sadly, that puppy wouldn't play properly and although she tried to find the real puppy Angel knew must be there, it evaded her. LOL In the crate that night she went right to sleep until she woke up at 11:00pm to potty. Then she cried a bit but we moved the crate next to the bed and DH put his hand on it. She stopped crying and went off to sleep. In the morning after her breakfast, a potty break, and half an hour playing in the room, we left her in the crate again while we had breakfast and she was good as gold. You would have thought that she had spent the last several years traveling around and staying in motels!



When we got home, Rika of course, behaved PERFECTLY. Bubba was over excited just like he is with the newborn lambs and tried to grab her. Angel turned, snarled at him and tried to bite back at him. True Anatolian temperament! LOL Now, however, Bubba is good with her although we keep them on leashes temporarily when we do supervised play and dinnertime to make sure there are no accidents. Angel went into the lamb creep along with her travel crate for the night and she slept in it for 2 nights with the crate door open. She explored the ewe pen and the sheep, going in carefully and sitting down to watch them instead of bouncing over to play with the lambs. I am very pleased with her behavior around the sheep. That night the coyotes came up again and were howling. Bubba and Rika went off to do their warning duties while Angel attempted to bark in the barn. DS1 said she sounded like a squeaky toy next to their deep barks! LOL
Bubba and Rika checking out Angel. Angel checking out intricacies of creep gate. Success!

The ewes and lambs are now out on the field during the day (our week of rain has produced greenery) and Angel stays in the large kennel on the field with a shelter. It has been in the 70's and sunny here but not too hot so she is learning the sounds, smells, and sights of the field and livestock while being safe from the mules, donkeys, etc. At night she returns to the barn creep with the ewes and lambs.

Last night we brought all the dogs up to feed on the patio together so we could start training her to leave their food alone and them to leave her food alone. They all did really well - Bubba and Angel were on leads. Then we went inside for family time with the grandchildren and all the dogs. Rika took her treat into the entry where she prefers to relax in solitary. Bubba and Angel enjoyed theirs together on the family room rug. Bubba finished his treat and watched as Angel continued to gnaw hers. He crept closer, she wagged her tail, he crept closer and attempted to get her treat, she pulled it away, finally he got hold of the end and sat up thus raising it out of her mouth. Angel jumped up to retrieve it and I was ready in case he decided to eat her instead of the treat but she got hold of it and dragged it back. Bubba refrained from killing her or even growling and got lots of praise ad loving for his forbearance. He is obviously growing up into a mature Anatolian. His maturing has been painfully slow, but he is getting there. More family time and dinner time training tonight.

View attachment 57485 Sheep and lambs on the hillside. Hardly recognizable as the flattened dirt in other pictures of the back gully. The donkeys and mules disappear into the gully in am and are not seen again until pm feed.

 

[Ridgetop]

Hope we get more rain!

 

[Bruce]

Beautiful pup, must have been hard to decide which to take. That last picture sure does show the steepness of the property you have described.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

Angel is adorable! Love Tolis!

 

[Baymule]

What a beautiful puppy! I love her! it looks like y'all had a good trip, glad that you are back home again.

 

[Mini Horses]

WOW- now THAT is a gully!!!

Love the puppy. All the dogs, actually.

 

[Bruce]

I guess you never have to worry about flooding out.