Comet Puppies

[Green_Manalishi]

We get about a dozen to 20 eggs a day - even through the winter. We are going to let them set a clutch soon as I get rid of the last of the ugly roosters. We've eaten four of them.

Laura, I too have a chicken pen. I am the one who probably will have to kill them. How do you, or the person who kills them go about doing it, the old slit in the throat and let them bleed, or do you have any other way of doing it?

If anyone else has a different way of doing it, I would be glad to hear about it.

Kind of gruesome to be talking about this in a post about newborn puppies, but I thought that it wasn't really necessary to open a new one. :/

 

[Laura]

We use the cone, cut their throats quickly and it's done in about two minutes. Seems to be the most efficient way. If you move very fast, I think there is minimal trauma also.

 

[Nević Nenad]

My grandmother had one efficient way to kill the chickens. She would take them by their legs and quickly move them in circular way, all the way as her arm is long. That makes them dizzy, and then she putted their head on a wood and quickly cut whole had with the axe, in just one move. Whole operation looks very unusual, but lasts only few seconds (I mean this literary)

 

[Laura]

I don't like the "cutting off the head" method because the bird is still flapping like crazy without a head, the heart is still pumping, and it's just a traumatic mess for everyone. The cone is a good thing, holding tight to the head while the blood empties, using a sharp knife so there is minimal pain seems to me to be the optimal solution.

 

[Nević Nenad]

That’s true about flapping. It was a mess sometimes. Anyway I have noticed that nowadays more and more people in the village where my grandmother lived can’t do it by their selves (or don’t know how), they call some professional butcher to do that. Especially younger ones, seems like they are more attached to their animals. Probably because of better life, easier and more comfortable now than before.

Edit: grammar mistakes

 

[Green_Manalishi]

Especially younger ones, seems like they are more attached to their animals. Probably because of better life, easier and more comfortable now than before.

I agree that younger people,myself included, have more difficulties in doing this. I don't think that it is because i'm more attached to my animals then my grandmother for example (she was the one who used to kill the chickens, but she's getting old and it's very tiring for her). I think it has more to do with our lifestyle, everything comes to us in neat boxes wrapped in plastic directly to our kitchens, we don't have to face directly the dark side of nature, killing with our own hands our food source. We have to admit it, it is much more comfortable that way, to have everything delivered to us without the gruesome details.

I would go has far to say that old people could be more attached to their animals because they understood, they saw in plain sight, they experienced the two sides of nature, the balance. So they understood nature in a deeper sense then we (younger people). They cared for them, but ultimately they knew what the purpose of, for example chickens, was.
I will never forget what my grandmother sometimes said before killing a chicken, she turned to the chicken and said: "There, there you won´t cry any more", but she said it with a somewhat tenderness feeling. A feeling I can't just describe accurately.

 

[pete02]

Hello everyone.. Im new here and just wanted to say hi and let Laura know how beautiful her doggies are :) My brother has a sheltie also. He is just about 11yrs old I believe but you are right when you say how smart they are. Ive been trying to enclose a photo of him but I must be doing something wrong because I have resized the photo down to 119kb and it still wont take. Maybe some other time. lol.. Anyway hi again and Laura let me take this chance to thank you. Your work has changed my life and I will always be eternally grateful to you. You and your team are the best!!

 

[PepperFritz]

Hi Pete, welcome to the forum!

Seeing as this is your first post, perhaps you could write a little introduction about yourself in the Newbies section, telling us how you came to join the forum, which of Laura's books you've read, how long you've been reading the forum, etc.....

 

[John]

amazing animals, look quiet aware also wondering if timing of birth is at all linked to green comet. Your dog reminds me of that show lassie were the dog would save people looks like that type dog even simlar in colours.Congrats on puppies all look healthy and cute, which dog is the female and male?.

 

[Laura]

Time for an update on the Comet Puppies. It took me awhile to save up the bandwidth to load an album, but here it is: http://laura-knight-jadczyk.com/A_Dogs_Life/index.html

Two of the puppies have been sold and gone to their new homes. A third one is reserved and will be going to her new home in a couple of days. My favorite is, of course, Comet Lulin. There's a great photo of him in the album.

Hope everyone enjoys seeing Sheltie puppies growing up!

 

[Gimpy]

Hope everyone enjoys seeing Sheltie puppies growing up!

 

[Gawan]

Hope everyone enjoys seeing Sheltie puppies growing up!

I do, these pictures are great!


The picture of "Enemy Ball" reminded me of the dogs my parents once had, how they tried to get the ball in the muzzle and the funny noises they made, cause of the "resistance" of the ball. "Enemy ball" is the perfect description. :)

 

[Meg]

Hope everyone enjoys seeing Sheltie puppies growing up!

They are all beautiful! Thanks for posting the album.

The commentary is just as enjoyable :P

Cherie and Laddie help Ark do math. As mentioned, Cherie and Laddie became constant companions because Jazzy felt that she was too mature and serious to spend time with Laddie.

 

[Cyre2067]

Awww! Thanks for posting! Those are the cutest puppies I've seen in a long time. Excellent photography as well, perfect lighting, and the parents look very proud.

 

[PepperFritz]

I am struck utterly helpless and without sense or will in the presence of puppies. Today I encountered a 4-month old English Bulldog puppy named Lily, and let her climb all over my crisp, clean, white shirt with her sweet little muddy paws. How could I not? It was worth all the strange looks I encountered the rest of the afternoon as I ran my various errands around town....