Its Definitely Snowing

Im Back Guys,

I am finally back home after spending a few days out on the ranch. When I woke up yesterday morning, there was snow everywhere and it was actually snowing! Everything was white, so I jumped up and had to run outside to make sure all the animals were okay. The chickens were fine and the goats were fine, and all the puppies were jumping around and playing in the snow! The older guard dogs were laying in the snow. They all have such thick coats that snow doesn't bother them at all. That was good, because there was no way they were going to get out of it that day! I called Marv to see what he wanted me to do and I said: "I don't want to sound dramatic or anything, but it is snowing here. Snow is continuously falling from the sky. It is definitely snowing. I dont know what your definition of snow is in Montana, but its snowing!" He laughed, but I don't think he believed me that much. But it actually started snowing harder after that, and by So. Cal standards..... it was a blizzard!! Finally Carrie came out to the ranch and even she was shocked. It probably snowed over 2 inches in just those couple hours during the day. Marv didn't believe me because in town where he lives, it wasnt snowing or even raining, but finally Carrie told him, and then he believed us. There wasn't a whole lot of work I could do because it was snowing, so we came home early and I went to bed very early that night. I was very tired from waking up every 2 hours for the past couple of days. Today was a nice start. I slept in late, then Marv, Carrie and I met Marv's best friend Terry for lunch at Applebee's. Terry lives in Wyoming now, but comes to Billings often to do certain types of business. He and Marv have been best friends for a very long time, and Marv even gave him one of his Aussie dogs when he was a puppy. Terry has trained the dog to do agility performances as well as herding performances. The dog is very well trained and very smart. So we went to Applebee's, and their menu is not vegetarian friendly, so I had some sort of modified salad. Then we went back to the ranch to work for the day, but the snow was so thick there wasn't much we could do. We fed and watered all the animals and checked on everything, but things were fine. Then we found one of the kids had died right before we got there. It was one of the girls, and there were only 4 born this year which is really bad to begin with. You need at least half female and half male kids to be able to continue breeding them successfully the next year, and out of about 20 kids, there were only 4 females. Now one of them died, so we are down to 3. Mike stayed out at the ranch overnight and said he checked on her every 2 hours, plus he had watched her jump around and play with the other kids, and feed off her mother the whole time. She died just minutes before we got there, and we still have no idea why. We think that she just couldn't handle the cold weather, even though she had plenty of shelter and food and warmth. Certain types of goats can't handle certain weather, so that is the only conclusion we could come to. It was sad because I thought we were past all the newborn deaths. I figured that anyone who has made it this far will be strong and survive from here on out. But it just goes to show that you can never be too certain or get your hopes up too much.

I also assisted Marv when he docked the tails of newborn Aussie puppies. Im glad I was able to witness it first-hand, but I have always had something against altering dogs when it isn't necessary. I dont believe in docking tails or cropping ears, but I did want to be a part of it to see the process for myself so that I know exactly why I don't approve of it. Now I feel even more  certain that I do not approve of docking tails and I will not allow it to be done when I am a veterinarian. But at least I can say that I have actually seen the process, and I know what I am talking about when I say that I dont approve of it. The puppies didn't even make a noise at all and they are completely fine, but I just dont agree with chopping a dog's tail off for any reason. Dogs were born with tails, and if they are eventually evolved into not having tails that is fine; but to chop a dog's tail off because a long time ago someone did it and decided that was how a breed was supposed to look is just nonsense. It doesn't need to happen, and I wont do it as a veterinarian.


Other than that, not a whole lot new has been happening. This week I get to start training dogs. I will start training herding dogs by teaching them their commands as well as how to respond to certain commands by whistle. And I will start socializing guard dogs so they look appealing to buyers. No one wants an anti-social dog or a skittish dog, so I will be working one-on-one with the guard dogs to socialize them more and get them sold to buyers. The weather is crap right now, but it should start to turn up from here. I knew we weren't out of the clear as far as snow yet, but I know by the time I leave for Kentucky at the end of April it will be really nice weather, so I shouldn't have anything to worry about.


Love and miss you all,

Samantha