HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIKITA

"Nikita"

Today is Nikita’s 3^rd birthday.  She has been with us for about eight months now and has found a place in our family and our hearts.  For the first fourteen months of her life she was with a “puppy raiser” for the Guide Dogs of America foundation. Nikita was socialized with lots of other dogs and people and taken to so many different places for her training.  The ‘puppy raiser’ was kind enough to send me pictures of her life before I got her.  Nikita has been to restaurants, parks, Boy Scout troop meetings, children’s hospital, painting classes, doctors and dentists offices, movies, on a ferry ride, Santa Anita racetrack, Christmas parades and many more places too numerous to mention.  At the end of her training she was assessed by the foundation and sadly turned down because she didn’t have the right temperament to continue.  I was told she gets too distracted to be a good guide dog.  I could definitely see how that would be true. 

Nikita was raised with two female Labradors, so transitioning to one sister, Ginger, my Australian Shepherd, wasn’t very hard for her since she was always trained with her sisters and many other dogs too.  At first they got along great and then not so much as they both vied to become the dominant one.  Nikita won for a while but somehow Ginger is now dominating and Nikita follows her around and takes her lead.  She won’t even go out by herself unless Ginger goes first. So they’ve worked it out between them. They play and run together and have a good time all in all.

The only thing that Nikita has still to master is her unauthorized horse herding.  She will sometimes run into the paddock and bark and chase the horses.  They mostly ignore her but Rosie did give her a warning kick out with her back legs once.  She’s getting much better at behaving and sitting and staying during turnout and bring in times. 

Here are some pictures of her life so far:

"How cute am I"

"Valentine Puppy"

"I'm a Halloween Butterfly"

"It's Election Day, I voted for the candidate with the most treats!"

"Here I am at Santa Anita, I bet on the winner"

"Saying Goodbye to my friends was hard"



"Nikita in her new home with us"

"I'm in my new home now with my new sister Ginger"

" I don't know what this white stuff is but I like it!"

" Um, I never saw one of these before"

"It's my stick...no it's MY stick"

For a California girl she loves the snow

My Co-Pilot

Can't get in the Kubota without an assistant to help me drag the arena

"Soaking up some sun on the patio"

"No I'm not coming in, one more step and I'm outta here"

" I know nothing about how these flowers got crushed, I think it was Ginger"

" I heard it's my birthday, where's the treats!"

Quote for Today
 My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am

Summer Vacation?

"Blue" loving his new muzzle...not so much!

There is nothing new happening here on the farm.  So I haven’t much to report on.  The horses are all doing well and have worked it out as a herd without a leader.  No one has emerged to take over Mellon’s role as far as I can tell.  They all seem to know how to take care of themselves at this stage of their lives.  I’ve noticed that they stay closer together instead of spreading out too far from each other, though I'm not sure if that means anything.  

I most likely won’t be posting much for the rest of the month.  My two granddaughter’s will be staying with me for a while and I’m looking forward to that. There is always so much more to do in summer around the farm too.  I really despise weeds, they seem to be taking over the arenas so there is lots of dragging to be done.  Then there are flowers still to be planted and a thousand other maintenance jobs.  The work never ends.

"Nikita" settled right in to the routine

"Ginger" my co-pilot

Ginger and Nikita are getting along much better and have fun romping and playing most of the day.  They keep each other busy but it does seem like there's more than just two of them.  Especially, when they're underfoot all day and I'm constantly stepping over them or around them.  It's worked out for the best having another pooch in the house.

Stay cool and enjoy your rides.  I’ll be back when I can.

Until next time

I really like this quote. I may just have to follow the old boys thinking on this one!

Quote for Today
“There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it.”
― Andrew Jackson

Our New Girl

" Nikita "

Last Thursday we adopted a new addition into our family.  Meet Nikita, she’s a 14-month-old German Shepherd.  

 We got her from the Guide Dogs of America. Apparently, she didn’t meet their stringent requirements so we were able to adopt her.  Nikita was already named and since she’s been training under that name I really can’t change it even though I’m not crazy about it.  I’ve tried calling her Nikki but she didn’t respond to that name. So Nikita it is.  

Ginger & Nikita

Nikita is very well trained and listens to every command, better than Ginger by the way.  I’m hoping some of her good training will rub off on Ginger.  Most likely Ginger will corrupt her and I’ll have two dogs that won’t come when called. Both dogs are getting along well... most of the time.  There have been a few skirmishes over food, bones and toys but they’ve seemed to work it out.

It’s nice to see them playing and romping outside together.  Being a southern California girl Nikita had never seen snow.  She loves it and lies in the little patches we have left.  I think she is feeling good about her new home.  We love her already.

Quote for Today

“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace.” Milan Kundera