Speck, The Farm Dog
January 26, 2012
Sometimes I fall asleep when reading and either I wake up with my glasses on or I take them off without realizing I’m taking them off. Sometimes I find them under my pillow, sometimes I find them on the floor . . not good. Last week Vince and I went to Wal-Mart and I was going to get the over the counter reading glasses and use those in bed and take my good glasses off and put them somewhere safe. Vince decided I should go into the vision center at Wal-Mart and talk to them before spending $9 on a pair of over the counter reading glasses.
They got my prescription from Missouri and the lady explained that with a stigmatism, I probably would not be happy with the over the counter glasses but they could make me a pair of reading glasses for about $40.
While talking to the lady helping me, she was telling me that one of her goats had triplets the night before so we started talking about goats. She was telling me all the different kinds of goats and which kind I should get if I wanted this and which kind I should get if I wanted that. Then the conversation took this direction:
The Lady: Of course, you’ll need a dog!
Me: We have a dog.
The Lady: Oh, great! What kind of dog do you have?
Me: A mini-dachshund.
I wish you could have seen the look on her face. I was joking about Speck being a farm dog but I could see she was trying to think of a way to tell me nicely that Speck might not be up for the job of herding goats.
Does he not look like he’s to the job of being a working dog on the farm? You have to excuse him .. he just woke up and wasn’t quite with the program yet.
But, he is improving. We have what I call cockleburs and Vince calls sand spurs and the neighbor calls “stickers”. Speck steps on one at least twice a day. At first, he stopped dead in his tracks and whined. I thought he had hurt his leg, then realized what the problem was and I would pull it out of his foot. Then he would walk but limp like he had a broken leg. When I had gone to let the neighbor’s dog out, he stepped on one. He’s a big old lab and I saw when he stepped on it but he stopped, chewed on his foot for a minute to get it out, then slung his head from side to side to spit it out. I said to Vince “That’s what a dog is supposed to do!”.
Yesterday, Speck stepped on a bur and before I could even bend down to help him, he chewed it out, slung his head to spit it out! He’s learning to be a country dog.
I can tell you one thing . . in the summer I almost always go barefooted but I will not be doing that around here with these stickers. They are so painful!
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33 Responses to “Speck, The Farm Dog”
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I’ve sent you pictures of twin baby goats being delivered via Josh, Brent and Beekman group.
Funny Judy my daughter has a puppy like speck his name is yogi. He’s something else. They sure do like their blankets. You gotta love them
If our beagle was on a scent trail, she wouldn’t stop for a sandspur — she’d run three-legged! Once, I saw her trying to run two-legged (opposite sides of front and back), rather than stopping to remove the burrs. Go Speck!
He’s on his way, he’ll be one awesome farm dog!
I think he’d make an excellent herder! You could just put his pillow out by the goat pen so he can sit there all day and watch them! Gotta love those doxies!
Speck is so cute…and whoever said you can’t teach an older dog new tricks was WRONG…and Speck is going to prove it! So….how do those special reading glasses work? Are you fine with them? (I never knew that could be done for someone…nice that they let you know about it.)
Speck is a smart dog! We kids running around barefoot in Florida were always having to pull sand spurs out of our feet. Did that convince us to put shoes on? Naw!
I think Speck would make a much better house dog. Just the way he rolls!
We call them goat heads here in Calif.
I meant to add that you have to be very careful with them because those little spikes can break off and cause a nasty little infection. I have one in my hand right now from my Shih Tzu.
We also call them goat heads in our area of East Texas. You will probably have a season or two that you can go barefoot. My kids do at certain times of the year. And yes, summer is one of them. By August they are back out and you put your shoes on. I have only had success to get rid of them by pulling them up when they are”green” and fertilizing the heck out of the area. I have a long haired dog and when she gets in them, they stick to her fur and we grab some hemostats to pull them out. Saves the fingers. Also pull them out of the bottom of your shoes or they get in your carpet.
If Speck could learn to get stickers out of his paw that quickly, he’s surly ready to heard goats! LOL! (I love Speck–he’s adorable!)
Not sure how deep speck’s pads are but make sure he doesn’t get a sand burr in between. That can be a problem then for Speck. We are always taking them off the girls when we’ve been to the ranch or out of the car carpet etc. Now we are dealing with them in our lawn. the last 2 summers have not been kind to grass but really kind to sand burrs! I know they must serve a purpose but for the life of me I can’t think of what that would be!
I know those as sticker burrs. They are a pain in you know what because they stick to socks and even shoelaces!
I love your Speck posts. He’s such a character!! And wow — $40 for a pair of reading glasses?!? Yikes!
Your chat with the eyeglass lady had me laughing so hard I actually snorted.
” . . . but I could see she was trying to think of a way to tell me nicely that Speck might not be up for the job of herding goats.”
Your posts just crack me up!
Goatheads is what I was thinking of also. Those things hurt for days after you take them out! Poor Speck. I think he is what we call a “Gentleman” farm dog
If you are ever the direction of Snyder, my parents have sheep. Lots of babies right now. Just sayin……
We also call them sand burrs, in the “north”. We don’t have them in Ely yet, but we had them growing up in St. Cloud. Hated them then, and now. Don’t even know that the plants look like! I forget about them, until we travel (like, we just went to Colorado via Chicago) and the dogs get them at the rest stops and in the woods. One lab, one long haired doxie mix. Yep, the little one gets them the worst, but he also gets snowballs in his feet, so is used to pulling things our of his toes. We do have cockleburrs, and those are what velcro was invented from. (At least that is what we call them).
A few counties over from you, we have goatheads plus grass burrs which are softer, etc. I read in the remarks that others mention goatheads, too. If you don’t know what they are you can google them and find photos. They HURT and in my opinion are the worst of anything you can step on.
Here is a website that tells about goatheads and how to get rid of them:
http://www.goatheads.com/home/gh1/page_41
I was really amazed to read:
“Puncturevine is a problem weed because the seeds have strong spines which are strong enough to puncture auto tires! ”
Good luck in getting rid of them!!!
It’s always fun to see someone learn about things that have been commonplace for me all my life. I have 2 sisters and one of our extra jobs we could earn money for as kids involved stickers. They were always real bad right inside the front door to our house because they came in on shoes. In the evenings we would all grab our little sticker cups and pull them out of the carpet for a penny each. My parents felt it was worth it not to step on them barefoot in the house. We would also take 5 gallon buckets and chop them out of the yard. $2 per full bucket. It had to be “stomped down” full, not just fluffy.
Stickers are a pain indeed. The only way to really get rid of them is to dig them up. We have a chihuahua (Boomer – who digs under the blanket too) has also gotten stickers in his little paws. One time he got one stuck deep in between his pads and I thought he had broken a leg the way he was limping and trying not to walk on it – ended up using tweezers to get it out.
I love that picture of Speck!
What brought tears to my eyes from laughing was your remark about Speck — “You have to excuse him .. he just woke up and wasn’t quite with the program yet.” and ten getting a peak at the picture following it. That is so darn cute. It looks as if you posed him for the picture. I bet he’s thinking, “Oh no mom, no picture now, I’m still half asleep.”
You’ve mentioned that you might get a donkey. That would be great, of course (I have one), but it would mean not having a herding dog. You’ve got to choose one — donkey or dog — as a big part of a donkey’s job is protecting goats _from_ dogs.
OUCH!
Reminds me of my SIL. She lived in Katy, Texas when we went to visit one year. About 2 hours before we left, we were saying goodbye to the other SIL and I was standing in the grass… (do you know what’s coming here???) All of a sudden, I felt something on my feet – I got majorly attacked by fire ants! OUCH!!!
I just typed a message about the sand spurs, clicked sugmit and got a message to submit a valid email. Harumph!!!
Harumph, indeed!!!
As I said, get your thumb and finger very wet with spit (sorry!!) and somehow the fingers are insulated and the thorn does not penetrate the skin! It sounds kinda gross, but it does work.
Our all-time best farm dog was Lady, a tiny toy terrier. She could heard cattle, tried to herd hogs (they really don’t herd), and prevented strangers who drove in from leaving their cars. Yes, Speck can become a farm dog!
My sister (in Eastland) is foster parenting a border collie who needs a home. She likes to herd, but in my sister’s back yard, there’s not much herding going on.
So, you can’t have a donkey and dogs and goats? I’ll do some more research.
DH’s daschund does the same thing, he sits still as soon as he is stuck, DH wasnt paying attention walking him on his leash. Baxter HAS to have his pulled out, that convinced DH to not take him to that part of the land.
oh Judy, Austin is planning an April tour of backyard chicken coops, for a price, LOL-thought of you!
Sand spurs in Florida. They are brutal. They stick to shoelaces and just get you over and over again until you can finally get them out.
Vince can have FUN with the goatheads. Burn the plant with a propane torch when you first see it in your yard, which effectively kills the plant. It doesn’t need to be turned into a burning bush with leaping flames just thoroughly singed. You may have to redo regrowth it if you don’t dig out the roots. Word to the wise, have a full bucket of water and make sure there are no hot spots before leaving.
Picking up the seeds (thorns) is easiest with a scrap of carpet. When we lived in Arizona I tied carpet scraps to the bottom of my boots and was astonished at the number picked up.
Those seeds seem remain viable for ever but I understand California has a biological control and I will try to find a link for you.
Oooops! After reading all the comments and following the helpful link on one of them I find that it was Texas that developed the biological control bugs not California. The site linked to recommends propane control too.