Off Road Adventures

    

The training sleigh now has wheels from a discarded leaf-rake, and a platform of used plywood out of Dad’s collection of scrap lumber. The screws came from the old Cyr Hardware store apartment I tore down in Oklee last summer. The cart (it’s now an oxcart!) also has handles — mostly left over plumbing supplies from one of Dad’s plumbing projects. My plan was that the “yoke” would just sit on the shoulders, but it was too light weight to stay in place. So, as you see in the pictures, I had added his collar and a piece of strap from a broken tie-down to make it work til we got back to the shop.

We found that discarded piece of red fire hose along the way. It just might come in handy someday.

Oh by the way, he seems to have recovered from his lameness. It only took a day-or-two. Are you wondering if his feet were cold in the pictures? I don’t know, but mine sure were!  (3/13/2010)

Scout has Outgrown Peaches!

And isn't he a fine looking chap.

Troubles

Maybe my failsafe plan of eating my beef if he doesn’t work out as an ox is moving into Plan B.

When Scout limped out of the barn, this morning, my first thought was laminitis — always on my mind, after his hoof trouble in January. After watching him move around in obvious pain I now question the laminitis theory. In addition to his apparent lameness he occasionally buckles at the knees.

Could he have pinched a nerve over his shoulders yesterday when the camera flashed and the dog barked? Knowing how calves are traditionally manhandled at branding time, on ranches in the West (and at youth rodeos), it seems unlikely our little incident would have yielded these results. But maybe.

I have seen somewhat similar gaits in sheep with unusual nervous system disorders: Scrapie? Listeriosis? White Muscle Disease?

My original intention was to raise a beef-steer, however, I got sidetracked with this ox thing: Plan A. My heart sinks thinking Plan B may be transpiring before my eyes.

Would you like that quarter-pounder with fries?   (2/27/2010)

B is for Burgers

In the Flash of a Camera

 

Akin to a falling star, I knocked off the top rail of the feed-bunk before crashing into it. Lodged there in the hay I began my assessment of what had just happened.

Not long after I conceived the idea of raising an ox to pull a cart, I learned that it is possible to ride them as well. How fun could it be to disappear into the woods on the shoulders of a two-thousand pound behemoth — with horns.

It is advised to teach cattle at a young age while they are of a size you can handle. It is said they will remember well into adulthood what they learned as a calf, however, they are not able to bear much weight until they have fully matured. With this information in mind, I set out to accustom Scout to the idea of carrying a rider.

Oft time, while he’s eating his grain, I take the opportunity to throw a leg over him and stand astride in the rider’s position (while bearing my own weight). Scout has grown sufficiently tall that, in order to achieve this task, I must stand on the tips of my toes.

This was the beginning of my downfall.

Not so long ago I discovered this thing called a blog, and before long I was posting a few pictures here. While standing over Scout on my tiptoes, like a clumsy ballerina, I decided to capture the moment on camera, to share with you. I raised both hands high overhead (like ballerinas do) to get a birds-eye image of my ox training genius.

In a well synchronized dance the camera flashed, the dog barked, the calf startled — and here I lie in the feed-bunk. A fallen star.  (2/26/2010)

Ox Training

Using long-reins to reinforce basic commands.

Puppy Takes a Nap

Blogs are So Boring!
Harry the Dog

Dog Helps Himself to Chow

Puppy says, "Let's get to the bottom of this."
Dogfood.

The Ox Training Sleigh

This is Scout's first time pulling anything.

The self braking system keeps the sleigh from running into the calf's heels.

 

The training sleigh needs to be lightweight, have high clearance for unexpected off-road adventures, and it needs to be self-braking to prevent it from sliding into the calf’s heels. This particular model meets all those requirements and comes with baked on powder enamel finish.

Actually this is the frame of a discarded treadmill turned upside down. It works great!

Scout Still Shares His Bowl With Harry

Ox-in-training still shares with dog.

The Canine Pack is a Social Structure that Helps Make Dogs “Man’s Best Friend”

[Ready for a Picnic]
1879 Chatterbox Junior periodical
Frank M. Buckland, editor

[Time Out with Friends]
Richard Andsell (1815 -1855) British

Training the Dog
(detail of larger picture)
Eugene Remy Maes, (1849-1931) Belgian

The Lady's Obedient Dog
David Emile Joseph de Noter
 (1818-1892) Belgian

His Only Friend
John Charles Dollman, (1851-1934)
from The Illustrated London News, 1875
The dog cares not his master’s esteem among men.

Teaching a Dog New Tricks
John Arthur Lomax (1857-1923) English

"Can’t Tell Him There’s No Fishn"
Henry (Hy) Hintermeister, (1897-1972), American

Victorin and His Dog

French aviator Victorin Garaix was born in 1890. He earned his aviators licence in 1912, and set a new altitude record of 7,328 feet in a bi-plane --- with five passengers. This photo of Victorin and his dog was taken in March, 1914; he was killed in action at about 24 years of age, August 15, 1914, in WW I.

U.S. Library of Congress

The Dog's Territorial Disposition and Pack Mentality have Served Us Well for Watching and Guarding Ourselves, Our Property, and Our Loved Ones

Mastiff --- Don't Cross Me Up
Will's Cigarette trading card from
George Arents Collection, likely 1937

Extraordinary Escape
published
March 7, 1809, by J. Wheble, Warwick Square

In an Emergency A Mighty Good Friend To Have
1945 mouthwash advertisement

True til Death
Stanely Berkely
English artist, 1855-1909

The Call That Rescued
Henry (Hy) Hintermeister
American artist, 1897 - 1972

Nothing Will Go Unoticed
from the book Dog Stories and Dog Lore 
by Thomas W. Knox
1887

It Helps to Have a Buddy When You're Scared
Frances Tipton Hunter
American artist, 1896-1957

Search and Rescue, and Herding, are Refinements of the Hunting Instinct

On scent - Bloodhounds
John Sargent Noble (1848-1896)
Britain

Saved!
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873)

This is a painting of Milo, a lighthouse keeper’s dog. It is said that in dense fog the dog’s barking warned approaching boats of the rock on which the lighthouse sat. To his credit, it is said, Milo rescued several children from drowning. The lighthouse rock is off the coast of Massachuset near the town of Nahant. The black and white variant of the Newfoundland dog became known as the Landseer Newfoundland.

St. Bernards - To The Rescue
John Emms (1844–1912)

Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveler
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873)

In 1820, at the age of eighteen, Landseer painted these dogs rescuing a traveler on the Great Saint Bernard Pass (Switzerland). A monk from the Great Saint Bernard Hospice can be seen in the background of the painting. The dogs, which have become known as St. Bernards, were bred to travel through the deep snow to find and rescue lost travelers. The hospice was founded in 1049; it is said that artist Salvatore Rosa painted the dogs as early as 1690. The dogs were sold in 2004 as a cost cutting measure, but the breed is being kept alive today by dog fanciers.

The Shepherds of the Landes

Yan Dargent

1869

Mid-Manhattan Picture Collection

The use of stilts by shepherds in the boggy, brushy country of the Landes dates back to the early 18th century. The stilts helped the shepherds make their way through the brush and vegetation, helped them keep their feet dry, and enabled them to view their flocks of sheep from a distance. Today the Landes is home to a large forest of pine trees planted in the middle of the nineteenth century. The shepherds in this illustration appear to be herding cows.

Checker ---The Comedian
Larry T. Dake
Copyright 2010
My Australian Kelpie x Border Collie dog with Suffolk rams in 1988, while herding sheep in Eastern Oregon.             

Texas Cattledog
"Western Bank Note Company, Chicago"
Copyright 1882

Collies By a Pen
John Sargent Noble, (1848-1896),  British