Finding Our Farm Fido
We are headed for farm life. We’ve purchased our ten acres and are planning our first project for this winter in order to be best prepared to plant in the spring. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Before we can start to prep the fields, we need to fix up the house, plus build another livable construction. I’ve been doing a lot of research on post-frame construction for the latter project. I’m really excited, and spend hours scouring the internet for information on all sorts of topics.
The thing my heart is most joyful about at this second is our new dog. Yes, we’re getting a farm dog! There’s plenty of information on the web about different breeds, and it sounds like a border collie is the perfect dog for us. They’re great herders, and so friendly with both people and livestock. Some people say they’re the smartest dogs. Out on the farm, surrounded by other farms, the dog can run with hardly any hindrance. He can help us in herding the animals (and the children) and will be a good companion in the coldest, dark parts of the year. My uncle had a border collie known as Shannon who was the sweetest dog imaginable when we visited. I’ve always wanted to have a dog, but thought it was a bit cruel to keep one cooped up in an apartment in the city. Well, here’s my chance! New opportunities for so many things….
So I’ve been doing a lot of research on taking care of our new dog. I never even had a puppy as a kid, since my pop felt the same way as I do about penning a dog up (or I guess I feel the same way he does). Since we’re looking at living a sustainable lifestyle, I’m interested in organic or natural dog foods, or even cooking up our own. On the other hand, I’m not so anti-modernity that I have anything against providing the appropriate medications. I found this site that seems to have good prices. It looks like Heartgard is the will be in orer, plus of course some sort of flea and tick protection, since the farm seems to be a tick haven.
I can’t wait to have our new pet. It’ll be interesting to see how the kids begin to interact with a dog. They’ve never spent much time near them before. But I think it will go splendidly. They’re very excited, too, and can’t wait for life on the farm. Of course, they have no concept of what farm life is like, but I know they’ll be up to the challenge. And a new puppy is just the thing to sweeten the first few months. Now to go ahead and buy those dog medications!
