My Dog is Always Wet

 This is Puff. Puff likes water. We live on a farm. There is lots of water on the farm. There are stock tanks and water tubs all over the place. There is also a pond. It rains a lot, so there are also puddles. Lots of puddles. Puff loves puddles. 

When we lived in the desert, rain wasn't a thing most of the year. There wasn't ambient water just laying around. Puff would jump in stocks tanks and water tubs, and then dry off very quickly in the single-digit humidity. Now she is perpetually wet. This has caused some unexpected issues. The first is her collar. 

Obviously biothane was the obvious choice for Puff's collar. It's waterproof,  non-permeable, doesn't soak up nasty swamp water, and lasts forever, right? I usually see it touted as an analog to leather for dog gear and horse tack, and I have leather tack that's older than I am. In practice, I keep seeing people say that a couple of years is a good lifespan for a biothane collar. However, a lot of websites that sell biothane collars say they will last a lifetime with proper care. The biothane collars I have on my sheep tend to get stiff after a while, but that probably doesn't count as proper biothane care. 

Puff has been wearing a Farm Diggity Farm-Proof collar for three years, and it has been wet for three
years. The biothane material itself is still going strong, but the rivets are rusting out. This is not a dig at Farm Diggity, almost all my dogs are wearing their collars and they are incredible. I also have several of their dog tie-outs and some farm-proof crooks. I have nothing but good things to say about the company and their products. But farm-proof is apparently not Puff-proof.

I could just replace the rivets and wait for them to rust out again, but I am also exploring other collar options for the perpetually damp dog. Maybe stitched biothane from a company that makes horse tack. Maybe I'll have a go at making my own biothane collars. Maybe I'll have Puff DNA tested to see if she's all dog and not part seal or otter. (Just kidding, the DNA test said 100% border collie without any fun surprises.)

The Story of Puff

It's been a while since I updated The Dog Geek, I've been very busy working as a full-time shepherd on a sheep ranch with Zip and Godzilla, and now I've added a third stockdog to my little family. Zip's sister had babies in October, and I helped deliver the litter and raise the pups. This was a big litter, nine puppies, ranging in size from half a pound to a whole pound at birth. When they were a week old, the smallest baby got very dehydrated and required some extra fluids and care to keep her going. We weren't entirely sure that she was going to make it for several days.

Once she was thriving again, little Puff turned out to be quite a scrappy little puppy. As soon as the pups were big enough to play and wrestle, she would tackle the others and steal their toys. Her favorite toy was a tiny squeaky stuffed duck.

Puff is now 16 weeks old, still petite, and unstoppable. She is the first baby puppy I've raised since Brisbane, and she's almost as bitey and wild as a cattledog puppy. So much biting! Godzilla is the only one of the big dogs that will play with her.

I have lots of plans for Puff, she will be introduced to sheep when she is old enough. Someday I hope

to compete in the big herding trial in Meeker, Colorado. For now, I just hope her ears will stand up. They were perfect little tulip ears for a couple of weeks. Just when I fell in love with the tulips, they stood up! Two days later, they tipped over. She's probably going to have flying nun ears like Zip.

I am trying to make more time for blogging in my busy schedule of shepherding and trialing. In the meantime, we are getting plenty of use out of our Kong Binkies, Puppy Kongs, and assorted other chew toys. So many chew toys.