new kids on the block

We've been gloomy but the weather has been beautiful.
Sean, Rufus, Cookie and Linda.

Our little Cookie is nearly grown and needs to be spayed soon.
She and Amber are just about the same size.

She's got an inch or 2 on our old friend Henry.
He had a few more teeth removed recently and is feeling fine.

Cookie and Linda remain great pals and sparing partners.
Cookie has reach but Linda has a better ground game.

Elewah is surprisingly tolerant of the pup. 
Maybe she notices a resemblance?
Elewah, Daisy, Cookie and Mega.

Pretty Xmul keeps an eye on the cats' evening shenanigans.

So many sweet faces at the gate! 
They all want to know where I'm going.

This is a view from the other side of our gate.
I'm headed to that farthest tree, on the left side of the road.

One of the local strays had puppies and they're in a burrow there, under some tree roots.
Sean once saw four but I've only seen two. This striped angel...

and this little cutie.

The smaller brown girl is the Mom and is obviously still nursing. I think the other dog is her offspring from a previous litter. They both hang out under vehicles parked at the neighbor's place. They are too skittish for us to get near (we've been trying).

We're concerned that the burrow will flood when we get a hard rain so we built a little storm shelter next to/above it. It's a big plastic garbage can that I split in half lengthwise, weighted down with an old rubber kitchen mat and some limbs. Their burrow is to the left in this picture and the camouflaged shelter is in the center.

We aren't sure how much we can do for these girls. We can't raise every dog we find but we dread having even more fertile dogs living nearby -for their sake and ours*. The adult females will be pregnant again in no time and if these 2 survive 6 months, that will be 4 fertile females nearby! That will mean unending noise, an influx of males and an avalanche of puppies. Shit. We had the stray that lives around the army base just north of us sterilized a couple of years ago, and that has worked out great! We would do the same for these girls if we could lay hands on them. 
There is a small window of time while we have access to the young ones. I think they are around 3 weeks old, maybe a little younger. Soon they will be too skittish. It rained last night and today they were still crammed in the damp burrow that they've practically outgrown. We'd be happy to foster them if there were homes for them to go to once they've been socialized and inoculated. If anyone is interested, get in touch!
This is the only time I've spotted one out of the burrow.

* We are both well aware that a likely scenario involves us on our knees, at night, in the middle of a downpour, pulling puppies out of a flooded burrow and bringing them home in our pockets.

January Blues

Sean and I rang in the new year with colds so the dogs haven't gone out as much as we'd all have liked. We're better now and making up for lost time.
This morning with siblings Amber and Zoot.

 

A passion butterfly (Agraulis vanillae) just emerged from its chrysalis.

Blue skies and cooler, drier weather make walks more fun.
Amber, Linda, Bette and Zoot.

Linda and Amber lead the way. 

Bette, Zasu, Blue, Linda and Otto.

I must have 100 shots of Bette wading and I love them all.  
Yay Bette!

This road is still submerged, but passable. Linda shakes it off.

Happy birthday to me and happy anniversary to Ernie!
Two goons, happy together.

Isn't she pretty? Cali is the smallest of the cats.

I didn't catch this guy's name, but he is as big as Cali. 

This tiny flower spider blends perfectly into a moringa blossom.

 
New year with old friends -we're all getting a little gray. 
Blue, Tito, Zasu and Otto.

Tea Party

The year's end is a fine time to highlight the most useful thing we've learned about in ages -passion flower (passiflora foetida).  
We started by foraging and drying it for tea and both noticed how better rested we were the morning after an evening cup. A little online research revealed that it is safe for dogs. 

Theanimalherbalist.com has a page that I recommend reading. 
The description of symptoms that passion flower addresses "... separation anxiety or fear aggression that is associated with jealousy of another animal." was reason enough to give it a try. 
I'm looking at you Maggie and April -2 dogs that have gotten much better over the years, but still have a nasty habit of lashing out at other dogs vying for Sean's attention. Frankie and Bosha have similar issues, though they are slightly less fixated. A dose of passion flower makes a difference in all of them! They seem happier and are noticeably less defensive/confrontational with no grogginess. The effect is subtle, but undeniable.  
Sean and a mellow April.

We've had no luck yet finding the supplies we need to make tinctures, and we can't possibly afford to buy them for so many dogs, so we been giving it to them in powdered form. We've started with boiled potatoes as a cost-effective and successful medium. Herbed potatoes for the discriminating dog!  Roughly 1/2 tsp for a small dog, 1 tsp large -mixed in a bite of spuds (with garlic powder and olive oil for the persnickety few). We've been feeding it to many of the dogs (usually in the morning) and paying attention to the results.
It has the most noticeable impact on unquestionably nervous dogs, but it has a calming effect on most of them. A handful receive it almost daily and I never want to be without it!  Medication time at the asylum.

The last 3+ years have undeniably been made more stressful as a result of the presence of the six dogs we call theTribe. The number of them, coupled with their manic personalities, result in a terrifying sibling group mind. Their family motto would be "vigilance and hysteria." 
They've made hosting volunteers and Couchsurfers difficult and less pleasant -so much so that it has been over a year since we've considered it.
Zoot (theTribe) on passion flower is slightly less crazed. 

I know a fair amount about about dogs, but there is much more that I don't know. Some of the behavioral changes surprised me. After a few days on passion flower, Mega and Amber (both of theTribe) volunteered to go along on Sean's morning run for the first time in months!
Amber and Ginger.

Passion flower worked so well on dogs whose behaviors are obviously anxiety based, that it made us reevaluate what motivates the behavior of the other dogs that showed a distinct change. It has little to no effect on Ginger, a sensible, well-balanced girl. 
Ginger and Ziggy, morning walk.

  
Then there is Ziggy: heart of a lion, brain of a turnip. Frustratingly single-minded about barking when he's in the yard and perfectly well behaved outside of it. Newer recruit Roxy is similar (and April and Greta to a degree). I've come to see this as a territorial anxiety and it is noticeably reduced by the addition of passion flower. 
Zasu and Ziggy.

Initial attempts at making passion flower biscuits have been a resounding success! The original batch was
-whole wheat/gluten free flour (what I had already open)
-roasted beet and pineapple juice puree (left over from making a batch of  "http://minimalistbaker.com/fudgy-vegan-beet-cupcakes/" -which were freaking amazing!)
-ground flax, garlic powder and dried passion flower
-spread on greased baking sheet, pre-cut with pizza wheel and baked
The result is more aptly described as purple jerky (sounds like a euphemism) than biscuits, but nearly all the dogs loved it! All but 3! Outstanding! 
The improved version also has olive oil; it comes out thin and crispy. We call them Beet Thins. The problem now is explaining that they don't all need it! We have some expert moochers.
Amber is much less tense on passion flower, while Bette and Linda (aforementioned expert moocher) need no help with being well-adjusted.

Seven happy little dogs in a row (and 2 of them benefit from passion flower).

I hope that by reducing their anxiety we can increase their quality of life. I'm absolutely certain that reducing the frequency of crazy outbursts (barking at birds?!) and bone-headed skirmishes will increase the quality of our lives, as caretakers.  
Three of these seven have noticeable behavioral improvements from passion flower.

A happy new year to all the lovely pollinators, without whom there would be no passion flower! You're the bee's knees!

...and best wishes to the helpful boa constrictor that took up residence here for a while.  Good hunting in your new (and hopefully safer) home in the deep woods.

June bugs.

May brought kittens, June brought flies.  June is a bitch.
Momma Sugar and Cali, the day we met. 

Sugar was living at a beach shack next door with her kittens.

Here are all 4 of the little devils.  I like cats, but not what they do to the birds!  
At least these 4 won't be having kittens.  

Sugar checks out the view from the roof.

Sugar and Maldi have a tentative peace.  
She's already proven herself to be a good mouser!  












Daisy and pals play with their new toys, thanks to Lisa and Tim!

Xmul prefers Mo to toys.  Happy dogs at sunset.

Lovely Xmul.

Not so much lovely as loved.  
Ziggy naps. 

These orange insects were standing motionless on a new shoot of our nopal.  They caught my eye because it looked like a bloom, but nopal doesn't have orange flowers.  They were so still that I touched them, thinking it was some kind of fungus.  I'll update when I identify the species. 
Identified as assassin bugs by Amanda. Thanks!

  
The dogs do their best impression of ants.  
Hey!  No dogs allowed on the tabl.... ah, forget it. 

Elewah and Sean.

Her darling daughter Lily, and a napping Frankie.

Blue leads Zoot, Amber, and gang.
Siblings Zoot and Amber have not wanted to go out for months!  So odd.

















Finally, success -we convinced/tricked them, and
Amber couldn't be happier! 

Zoot also seems to have forgotten what all the fuss was about.
Zasu, Zoot, Rita, Monkey and Tito head home.

















A good representation of Ginger -doing her own thing.