The Great Worm Migration
Jynx trying to eat the worms
More worms
Tony and Jynx
Tony
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Forget National Geographic's 'The Great Migration', wildebeest, zebras, crabs and jellyfish have nothing on what I witnessed this morning in Northamptonshire!
I'm talking about 'The great worm migration of Wootton'!
Today on our early morning walk Jynx and I encountered what can only be described as hundreds of the little buggers all inching their way across the path from one patch of grass to another, now this caused a few problems for me as I don't like to harm any of Gods creatures especially ones that are good for the garden, so I had to gingerly pick my way carefully through their squirming bodies, although I'm sure I felt the squish of one or two under my dog walking boots!
No such worries for Jynx she just ran straight over the top of them and even stopped to pick the odd one up now and then - RIP little worms!
We walked through the horse field again today and Jynx ran up to the horse (who I have named Tony) and again tried to get him to play with her but alas he was too busy with his breakfast.
Since we've been back from the usual round of school run and Tescos Jynx has been on her best behaviour as we have electricians in doing some work - until just a moment ago when I caught her in the chicken run again this time Belle was the object of her attention, Nunu and Lulu having sought safety on high ground (the top of the hen house) and Doodle doing her best impression of an ostrich with her head buried in the corner, beside the hedge, and her white tail feathers sticking out! Poor Belle I fear has been plucked of a number of feathers and was looking slightly shell shocked when I finally arrived to save her, no sooner as I had got Jynx off Belle she caught sight of Doodle in the corner and she also received a run by plucking!!
Suffice to say the chickens have survived and Jynx has been scolded but my heart is still beating like a steam train at the exertion of sprinting (if that's how you can describe it) to the chicken run and then trying to get hold of Jynx as she ran round and round the garden with a mouthful of feathers. I had to resort to bribery in the end but she is now safely behind bars again and I am going to call DH to tell him about the fun evening I have planned for him strengthening the defences of the chicken run!
So until next time when who knows I might be reporting of a plague of locusts that has suddenly attacked the midlands!
I'm talking about 'The great worm migration of Wootton'!
Today on our early morning walk Jynx and I encountered what can only be described as hundreds of the little buggers all inching their way across the path from one patch of grass to another, now this caused a few problems for me as I don't like to harm any of Gods creatures especially ones that are good for the garden, so I had to gingerly pick my way carefully through their squirming bodies, although I'm sure I felt the squish of one or two under my dog walking boots!
No such worries for Jynx she just ran straight over the top of them and even stopped to pick the odd one up now and then - RIP little worms!
We walked through the horse field again today and Jynx ran up to the horse (who I have named Tony) and again tried to get him to play with her but alas he was too busy with his breakfast.
Since we've been back from the usual round of school run and Tescos Jynx has been on her best behaviour as we have electricians in doing some work - until just a moment ago when I caught her in the chicken run again this time Belle was the object of her attention, Nunu and Lulu having sought safety on high ground (the top of the hen house) and Doodle doing her best impression of an ostrich with her head buried in the corner, beside the hedge, and her white tail feathers sticking out! Poor Belle I fear has been plucked of a number of feathers and was looking slightly shell shocked when I finally arrived to save her, no sooner as I had got Jynx off Belle she caught sight of Doodle in the corner and she also received a run by plucking!!
Suffice to say the chickens have survived and Jynx has been scolded but my heart is still beating like a steam train at the exertion of sprinting (if that's how you can describe it) to the chicken run and then trying to get hold of Jynx as she ran round and round the garden with a mouthful of feathers. I had to resort to bribery in the end but she is now safely behind bars again and I am going to call DH to tell him about the fun evening I have planned for him strengthening the defences of the chicken run!
So until next time when who knows I might be reporting of a plague of locusts that has suddenly attacked the midlands!
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Chicken problems
Only went for a short walk this morning as pressed snooze on the alarm and we were therefore running late.
Jynx behaved herself and came back to me even when there was the distraction of a golden retriever and more importantly his owner making a fuss of her so I was really pleased ....... until we got back home and as usual we went into the back garden to check the chickens and change water and feed them!!!
We must have the most athletic chicken in the known world! We have a lovely little flock of 4 chickens all different breeds and they lay gorgeous eggs every day for us. The children and their friends named them - Lulu a Calder Ranger, Nunu a Black Rock, Belle a Bluebelle and Doodle a White Star.
Lulu and Nunu are the most friendly, but they all come when called especially if there is food involved. During the winter they have had the run of the garden, but since we brought Jynx home and because of the impending summer and the hope that we will be growing lots of tasty veg, we had thought it would be a good idea if they were confined. Don't get me wrong we have not put them into a small run they have the whole corner of our garden, but they obviously think this is not enough space for them, as they have, ever since the fence went in, proceeded to re-enact a live action version of 'Chicken Run' in our back garden!!
They have gone under, flown over and gone through the fence, and opening the gate brings them running at you in an attempt to push past your legs to get into the chicken paradise that is the rest of the garden.
So DH decided that they must be getting onto the hen house and using that as a springboard to get over the fence so we moved the hen house and he dutifully raised the fence - the fence is now 7 foot tall and Doodle is still getting over it! I have renamed her the 'SAS chicken' as I'm sure she could give Andy McNab a run for his money.
So when I let Jynx into the garden this morning I really didn't expect there to be chicken loose, so surely that will absolve me of all blame?
Jynx spotted her quarry from the steps and shot passed me before I realised what was happening and Doodle being of normal chicken intellect decided that playing possum was the best course of action - this was a mistake.
I ran after Jynx hoping to get to her before she got hold of Doodle, and I turned the incident into a game for Jynx and the messy end of Doodle, unfortunately I'm not that quick, but luckily Jynx didn't go for the head and grabbed Doodle by the bum feathers. She then proceeded to drag Doodle around the garden with me shouting in my sternest voice 'LEAVE'!
After what seemed like ages but which was in reality probably only about 30 seconds I got close enough to wrench the traumatized Doodle from Jynx's jaws.
Fortunately Doodle was fine not a mark on her - Jynx must be very soft mouthed pity she doesn't use such restraint when she is play biting!
I've just checked Doodle again and she has produced a lovely white egg and is tucking into the bread I put out for them so no psychological damage seems to have been done either.
So I'm thinking that an intensive course of chicken aversion therapy is in order - I'll let you know how it goes!!!
Best go now as Jynx has just chewed through my laptop lead - BLOODY DOG!!!!
Jynx behaved herself and came back to me even when there was the distraction of a golden retriever and more importantly his owner making a fuss of her so I was really pleased ....... until we got back home and as usual we went into the back garden to check the chickens and change water and feed them!!!
We must have the most athletic chicken in the known world! We have a lovely little flock of 4 chickens all different breeds and they lay gorgeous eggs every day for us. The children and their friends named them - Lulu a Calder Ranger, Nunu a Black Rock, Belle a Bluebelle and Doodle a White Star.
Lulu and Nunu are the most friendly, but they all come when called especially if there is food involved. During the winter they have had the run of the garden, but since we brought Jynx home and because of the impending summer and the hope that we will be growing lots of tasty veg, we had thought it would be a good idea if they were confined. Don't get me wrong we have not put them into a small run they have the whole corner of our garden, but they obviously think this is not enough space for them, as they have, ever since the fence went in, proceeded to re-enact a live action version of 'Chicken Run' in our back garden!!
They have gone under, flown over and gone through the fence, and opening the gate brings them running at you in an attempt to push past your legs to get into the chicken paradise that is the rest of the garden.
So DH decided that they must be getting onto the hen house and using that as a springboard to get over the fence so we moved the hen house and he dutifully raised the fence - the fence is now 7 foot tall and Doodle is still getting over it! I have renamed her the 'SAS chicken' as I'm sure she could give Andy McNab a run for his money.
So when I let Jynx into the garden this morning I really didn't expect there to be chicken loose, so surely that will absolve me of all blame?
Jynx spotted her quarry from the steps and shot passed me before I realised what was happening and Doodle being of normal chicken intellect decided that playing possum was the best course of action - this was a mistake.
I ran after Jynx hoping to get to her before she got hold of Doodle, and I turned the incident into a game for Jynx and the messy end of Doodle, unfortunately I'm not that quick, but luckily Jynx didn't go for the head and grabbed Doodle by the bum feathers. She then proceeded to drag Doodle around the garden with me shouting in my sternest voice 'LEAVE'!
After what seemed like ages but which was in reality probably only about 30 seconds I got close enough to wrench the traumatized Doodle from Jynx's jaws.
Fortunately Doodle was fine not a mark on her - Jynx must be very soft mouthed pity she doesn't use such restraint when she is play biting!
I've just checked Doodle again and she has produced a lovely white egg and is tucking into the bread I put out for them so no psychological damage seems to have been done either.
So I'm thinking that an intensive course of chicken aversion therapy is in order - I'll let you know how it goes!!!
Best go now as Jynx has just chewed through my laptop lead - BLOODY DOG!!!!
Monday, 22 March 2010
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Close encounters of the equine kind
We are still under the influence of various bugs and infections.
But we will soldier on and early on Sunday morning I found a lovely new walk which takes us through a field which is inhabited by a very friendly piebald horse.
On our previous encounters with horses Jynx has always been very interested in them but there was always the relative safety of a fence separating her from them, so when we entered the afore mentioned field and I realised there was a loose horse in there I immediately put her on her lead as I was concerned as to what her reaction would be but she behaved impeccably if a bit wary and she hid behind me when he came over to investigate the intruders of his field we continued on our walk which took us through fields and had some lovely countryside views.
On Sunday number one son was registered to run 3 miles for sport relief with my sister (who completed the Silverstone half marathon in a very respectable 2 hours and 12 mins - she is the runner in our family I feel faint bending down to tie up my trainers!). So even though he was not feeling 100% off we all (including Jynx) went to the venue on Sunday morning and after the slight trauma of my sister and mum getting lost we arrived and number one son and my sister warmed up and set off on their 3 miles (number one son was I think at this point regretting having wanting to run 3 miles instead of just the one!). Everyone wanted to make a fuss of Jynx and she was on her best behaviour in the crowds of people some dressed up as teacups, bears horses and a stilt walker. Someone even wanted to take a photo of her! By the time they were on their last mile number one son was seriously flagging so I put a sport relief t shirt on Jynx and gave her to number one son to encourage him to finish. So Jynx did 1 mile and number one son and my sister did 3. When we got home both Jynx and number one son crashed together and slept for an hour or so Jynx still wearing her t shirt (soo cute!).
This morning we took the same route and had a lovely early morning walk through the fields, this time Jynx was obviously feeling a lot braver because on the way back she ran up to the horse and started running around him trying to get him to play with her! Luckily he is a very quiet horse and barely looked up from his breakfast, but it did make me wonder what she thinks he is? Obviously she knows he's not another dog or a human but the way she was running around him it was like he was just another very big dog and she wanted him to chase her!! So I am looking forward to seeing what she does next time we meet him and there is also a field of sheep that we need to walk past to see how she reacts.
We are also in desperate need of a new dog flap even though it is quiet amusing watching Jynx trying to squeeze herself out the cat flap! She has already broken the flap bit off that many times it only just goes back together and falls apart every time she comes in through it. But it does act as an early warning system so we can hear when she is about to tear into the living room and jump all over us with muddy paws!
She has worked out how to get under the fence to get into the chicken pen which has caused the girls much distress, so DH is in the process of securing the fence so she can go into the garden without someone constantly with her - what with her and number two son I never seem to be able to get anything done in the house.
Training wise her recall is mostly reliable (with chicken as bribery if necessary!), she has only ignored me a couple of times and that has been when people are making a fuss of her, if they ignore her she soon starts to look for me and will come running back. Lead walking is a slightly different matter though as she has started to pull a lot mainly on the way home, but I have just changed to a gundog slip lead and that has improved things slightly. Sit/down/stay definitely needs more work as she has started only sitting if offered a treat so I am trying to treat less and praise more.
Best go now as she is emptying the dirty clothes out of the laundry basket!!!
But we will soldier on and early on Sunday morning I found a lovely new walk which takes us through a field which is inhabited by a very friendly piebald horse.
On our previous encounters with horses Jynx has always been very interested in them but there was always the relative safety of a fence separating her from them, so when we entered the afore mentioned field and I realised there was a loose horse in there I immediately put her on her lead as I was concerned as to what her reaction would be but she behaved impeccably if a bit wary and she hid behind me when he came over to investigate the intruders of his field we continued on our walk which took us through fields and had some lovely countryside views.
On Sunday number one son was registered to run 3 miles for sport relief with my sister (who completed the Silverstone half marathon in a very respectable 2 hours and 12 mins - she is the runner in our family I feel faint bending down to tie up my trainers!). So even though he was not feeling 100% off we all (including Jynx) went to the venue on Sunday morning and after the slight trauma of my sister and mum getting lost we arrived and number one son and my sister warmed up and set off on their 3 miles (number one son was I think at this point regretting having wanting to run 3 miles instead of just the one!). Everyone wanted to make a fuss of Jynx and she was on her best behaviour in the crowds of people some dressed up as teacups, bears horses and a stilt walker. Someone even wanted to take a photo of her! By the time they were on their last mile number one son was seriously flagging so I put a sport relief t shirt on Jynx and gave her to number one son to encourage him to finish. So Jynx did 1 mile and number one son and my sister did 3. When we got home both Jynx and number one son crashed together and slept for an hour or so Jynx still wearing her t shirt (soo cute!).
This morning we took the same route and had a lovely early morning walk through the fields, this time Jynx was obviously feeling a lot braver because on the way back she ran up to the horse and started running around him trying to get him to play with her! Luckily he is a very quiet horse and barely looked up from his breakfast, but it did make me wonder what she thinks he is? Obviously she knows he's not another dog or a human but the way she was running around him it was like he was just another very big dog and she wanted him to chase her!! So I am looking forward to seeing what she does next time we meet him and there is also a field of sheep that we need to walk past to see how she reacts.
We are also in desperate need of a new dog flap even though it is quiet amusing watching Jynx trying to squeeze herself out the cat flap! She has already broken the flap bit off that many times it only just goes back together and falls apart every time she comes in through it. But it does act as an early warning system so we can hear when she is about to tear into the living room and jump all over us with muddy paws!
She has worked out how to get under the fence to get into the chicken pen which has caused the girls much distress, so DH is in the process of securing the fence so she can go into the garden without someone constantly with her - what with her and number two son I never seem to be able to get anything done in the house.
Training wise her recall is mostly reliable (with chicken as bribery if necessary!), she has only ignored me a couple of times and that has been when people are making a fuss of her, if they ignore her she soon starts to look for me and will come running back. Lead walking is a slightly different matter though as she has started to pull a lot mainly on the way home, but I have just changed to a gundog slip lead and that has improved things slightly. Sit/down/stay definitely needs more work as she has started only sitting if offered a treat so I am trying to treat less and praise more.
Best go now as she is emptying the dirty clothes out of the laundry basket!!!
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Yet another delayed blog this time due to sick children.
We have been beset by nasty bugs this week number 2 son was very poorly over the weekend and now towards the end of the week number one son has been sent home from school early.
Jynx has been her usual bouncy self, we are still struggling with her play biting though it is improving very slowly. It is still mostly directed at number one son although she does still do it to anyone in her path when she gets excited.
We are still going out at 6am ish every morning and meeting the usual suspects, all of which are very friendly and put up with Jynx's boundless energy - I very often liken her to an ever ready bunny!
We have continued with our training on walks and at home. I read somewhere that the most important thing when training a gundog is recall recall recall. So thats what we have been working on mostly.
Her recall is mostly reliable but when she is distracted by another dog or person it sometimes go out the window and even my little bag of Tesco value chicken roll cannot tempt her away.
On Saturday we went to Salcy Forrest to walk with a pack of dogs from the dog training club, there were approximately 19 dogs and we walked for 2 1/2 hours and it was a great experience and everyone was very friendly. My hands were very sore after though as Jynx pulled most of the way. We even swapped dogs for a little bit.
I have ordered a gundog training book which is specifically for spaniels so that should be really helpful in giving me the basic information I should need.
Hopefully it wont be so long till my next post!
We have been beset by nasty bugs this week number 2 son was very poorly over the weekend and now towards the end of the week number one son has been sent home from school early.
Jynx has been her usual bouncy self, we are still struggling with her play biting though it is improving very slowly. It is still mostly directed at number one son although she does still do it to anyone in her path when she gets excited.
We are still going out at 6am ish every morning and meeting the usual suspects, all of which are very friendly and put up with Jynx's boundless energy - I very often liken her to an ever ready bunny!
We have continued with our training on walks and at home. I read somewhere that the most important thing when training a gundog is recall recall recall. So thats what we have been working on mostly.
Her recall is mostly reliable but when she is distracted by another dog or person it sometimes go out the window and even my little bag of Tesco value chicken roll cannot tempt her away.
On Saturday we went to Salcy Forrest to walk with a pack of dogs from the dog training club, there were approximately 19 dogs and we walked for 2 1/2 hours and it was a great experience and everyone was very friendly. My hands were very sore after though as Jynx pulled most of the way. We even swapped dogs for a little bit.
I have ordered a gundog training book which is specifically for spaniels so that should be really helpful in giving me the basic information I should need.
Hopefully it wont be so long till my next post!
Saturday, 6 March 2010
Ok so this post has been a bit delayed due to problems with WiFi!
So where do I start? It has been an eventful couple of weeks so I best start at the beginning.
We (the children Jynx and I) took a trip down to see my parents in Essex on Friday for the weekend, as me, my sister and cousin were taking my mum out for a spot of shopping and afternoon tea in London. The boys were going to stay with their other nan and grandad overnight so the only problem was what to do with Jynx. She couldn't stay at home with the DH as he was off to Twickenham to watch England get beaten by Ireland in the Six Nations! My dad very kindly offered to look after her , so laden down with all the paraphernalia needed for 2 children and a dog we headed off to Essex after school on Friday. The journey down was uneventful if a bit protracted as we had to stop numerous times for food and toilet breaks. But we eventually made it safe and sound.
That evening also passed uneventfully and I woke up nice and early to take Jynx on a nice long walk so that she would hopefully sleep for the afternoon! We walked along the river bank and along roads that I knew very well from my miss-spent youth.
I took the children around to the in-laws and we set of on our afternoon of girly fun. My dad was under strict instructions to take Jynx into the garden before he went out and immediately upon his return, she was only going to be left for 4 hours.
The afternoon went swimmingly until at approximately 4 o clock I received a call from my father saying that Jynx had managed to chew her way out of her travel crate (a fabric one) and had destroyed a shoe box and had started work on a pair of my mothers shoes! She had also peed on number one sons coat which had been left on the floor!
So after that I was anxious to get home to repair the damage.
She had chewed the side zip off the crate that along with the already chewed top zip now meant that the crate was no longer fit for use which posed a bit of a problem - how were we going to get her home safely now?
It ended up that number one son held her on his lap with her lead attached to the seat belt not the safest way I know but we had no other choice.
Tuesday was the night of the big test and we had been practising all the drills regularly.
Jynx was the first to perform her test and she did so brilliantly she was almost perfect though I think she dropped points on the down part of the sit/down/stand. All the other dogs performed brilliantly as well and the instructor commented on how we had been a high scoring group. The result came down to the wire with 3 dogs tying Jynx, Pie and Bob so we had to perform another sit down stand and again Jynx did well but we beaten into joint 2nd place by Bob.
So all in all its been an eventful couple of weeks we've been getting up early for our morning walk and playtime in the park still and I must admit I look forward to it now its nice to be out in the fresh air with no one around it sets me up for the day - I'm knackered by 4 o clock though so I think I might need to start going to bed a bit earlier hmmm we shall have to see about that!
So where do I start? It has been an eventful couple of weeks so I best start at the beginning.
We (the children Jynx and I) took a trip down to see my parents in Essex on Friday for the weekend, as me, my sister and cousin were taking my mum out for a spot of shopping and afternoon tea in London. The boys were going to stay with their other nan and grandad overnight so the only problem was what to do with Jynx. She couldn't stay at home with the DH as he was off to Twickenham to watch England get beaten by Ireland in the Six Nations! My dad very kindly offered to look after her , so laden down with all the paraphernalia needed for 2 children and a dog we headed off to Essex after school on Friday. The journey down was uneventful if a bit protracted as we had to stop numerous times for food and toilet breaks. But we eventually made it safe and sound.
That evening also passed uneventfully and I woke up nice and early to take Jynx on a nice long walk so that she would hopefully sleep for the afternoon! We walked along the river bank and along roads that I knew very well from my miss-spent youth.
I took the children around to the in-laws and we set of on our afternoon of girly fun. My dad was under strict instructions to take Jynx into the garden before he went out and immediately upon his return, she was only going to be left for 4 hours.
The afternoon went swimmingly until at approximately 4 o clock I received a call from my father saying that Jynx had managed to chew her way out of her travel crate (a fabric one) and had destroyed a shoe box and had started work on a pair of my mothers shoes! She had also peed on number one sons coat which had been left on the floor!
So after that I was anxious to get home to repair the damage.
She had chewed the side zip off the crate that along with the already chewed top zip now meant that the crate was no longer fit for use which posed a bit of a problem - how were we going to get her home safely now?
It ended up that number one son held her on his lap with her lead attached to the seat belt not the safest way I know but we had no other choice.
Tuesday was the night of the big test and we had been practising all the drills regularly.
Jynx was the first to perform her test and she did so brilliantly she was almost perfect though I think she dropped points on the down part of the sit/down/stand. All the other dogs performed brilliantly as well and the instructor commented on how we had been a high scoring group. The result came down to the wire with 3 dogs tying Jynx, Pie and Bob so we had to perform another sit down stand and again Jynx did well but we beaten into joint 2nd place by Bob.
So all in all its been an eventful couple of weeks we've been getting up early for our morning walk and playtime in the park still and I must admit I look forward to it now its nice to be out in the fresh air with no one around it sets me up for the day - I'm knackered by 4 o clock though so I think I might need to start going to bed a bit earlier hmmm we shall have to see about that!
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