Lumi

Lumi is now 6 months old. Check out that face and the black eyeliner with white eyelashes…oh my! Yesterday I brought her to the bank with me. She is by far the most polite and calm dog of our bunch. She has started to live in the barn now and, in spite of the fact that she smells like sheep and horses, people love to come up to her and snuggle up. Her fur is still the softest since angora rabbits. It has been suggested that she would make a good therapy dog because she is so gentle. She did not even need to be trained not to jump up on people. She has seemed to intuit proper and respectful behavior. It is sort of a shame that she has to live in the barn.

One difficulty came up a few days ago: She was playing with the chickens. She does not seem to intuit good behavior in relation to them! I saw out my window that she had the white Araucana prostate and almost dead. I ran down to the barn and the poor bird seemed barely alive. Lumi’s saliva was all over the bird and had frozen, so picking her up, she was limp yet stiff and crunchy. I brought her into the house and made a place for her with some food and water. Meanwhile, I got out my e-collar and put it on Lumi. For the rest of the day, I did work at the window looking out into the paddock. Luckily the signal from the window to her collar worked from that distance. Whenever Lumi went near a chicken, she received a mild shock. She seemed so confused about the new electric forcefield the chickens seemed to have! It took her a while but soon she gave up harrassing them.

Then Lumi began playing with the sheep, which is exactly what we want and what it is in her nature to do. The sheep then wandered in their adorable little row down to the lower pasture. I am always nervous about the sheep leaving the safety of the barn area because of coyotes. If they are out there alone it seems inevitable that they will get picked off. But this time Lumi followed them! She stayed with them while they foraged for dry grasses beneath the snow. Yay! We got her just for this 4 months ago and it is so exciting to see this coming to fruition!

And meanwhile, in the house, I started to hear clucking and skittering noises. Our chicken, who happens to be a good layer of the prettiest blue eggs, was up and about and wanting to get out of the little vestibule she was in! I brought her back out to the barn and she has seemed good as new since.

I’ve seen this over and over….chickens can survive being stuck under a haybale for three days, being stepped on by a giant horse, and being intensely mouthed by an over playful dog. They are creatures of grit and gristle for sure.