One year ago today, we adopted our dog Conrad. He’s been a great dog: very smart, eager to please, very playful, and just a bit naughty. Apart from a few hours per week, he is my constant companion. I depend on his relentless cheerfulness and lust for fun to keep me energized.

On occasion though, he can be serious:

The major problem with Conrad has been his unquenchable desire to catch, kill, and eat our cats. Yes, he would have killed and eaten them, if he’d ever been free to do that. He has a very high prey drive — combined with the impulse control of a teenager.

I’ve been working with Conrad on that problem for the whole year, almost every day. He was making slow but steady progress — usually on the order of “he’s not frantically lunging at the cat the moment he spots it” and “he’s willing to look at me when the cat is in sight.” Finally, in the last two months, we’ve made major headway. I’m now able to have him loose in the house — under voice command, with the shock collar as backup — while the cats roam about, eat their raw food, and engage in their usual strange kitty behaviors. He’s still far too fixated on the cats, but he’s able to sniff them, then leave them alone. Given his history, that’s just amazing. He’ll be pretty trustworthy in another few weeks with some further daily work on my part, I think.

I tried to take some pictures today of him sniffing the cats for this post. However, I taught him that he can only sniff the cats for a second or two, then he has to leave them alone. Consequently, I had a terrible time getting anything other than a blurry mess. You’ll have to do with these two blurry shots of him with Elliot. (Oliver is more skittish, but they’re doing okay together too.)

And here’s another shot that I just took of my handsome boy:

Conrad doesn’t know it yet, but he’s going to get a HUGE reward for learning to live in peace with the cats: a live-in girlfriend. Conrad loves the company of other dogs: he’s a favorite with all the playful ladies at the dog park. So he’s going to be thrilled to have a dog to play with 24/7.

This time, however, we’ll be adopting a dog that used to live in a household chock full of cats!

Last week, I finally took some pictures of the barn that Dave Brown built for us over the summer and fall. It’s huge, beautiful, well-built, and awesome in all possible ways. (As always, click on the photo for a larger version.)

First, here’s the overall layout of the barn.

Here’s the view of the north and east sides, as seen walking from the house. The stalls faced west on the old barn. That was bass-ackwards: the horses were chilled in the morning, then broiled in the afternoon. Now the stalls face east. That was somewhat difficult to build with the hill; we had to add the retaining wall. It was worth the trouble, however. The horses enjoy warm morning sun in the winter and good afternoon shade in the summer. They’re also well-sheltered from our unbearable winds. Plus, I can see the horses from the house, if they’re in that east area. That’s reassuring, particularly in nasty weather.

Here are the south and west sides. As you can see, Dave still has some grading work to do. The ground froze this winter before he could finish that.

Here’s the north side, including the main human entrance.

Here’s the east side looking toward the house. You can see the tack room door, then the four stall doors.

Here’s one double sized stall, with Conrad. I can divide the stalls if needed with gates to make four 12 x 12 stalls. But for now, I’d rather give the horses the extra freedom of movement.

Here’s the other double-sized stall.

Here is the house storage area, then the soon-to-be chicken coop, as seen from the aisle. We have very little storage space in the house and the garage, so I really wanted to put a good storage room in the barn. Now that I have that, I have to organize and transfer the various crap valuable possessions I have crammed stacked in the house closets and garage.

Here’s the inside of the soon-to-be chicken coop. I’m going to build a secure outside run, as well as make the whole dry lot reasonably secure from foxes and coyotes for them. I need to get that done so that I can get chickens and guinea hens in the spring. (I might get other livestock too, but I’m starting with the fowl.)

Here’s a portion of my tack and feed room. It’s something of a disaster right now, with most everything still packed in tubs on the left, outside the picture. At least I have the blankets hung properly! You can only see a few, but they take up about 3/4 of a 12 foot wall.

Here is this year’s hay. Each pallet contains one ton of compressed hay. I’m used to hay taking up far more space, but the compressed hay is about half the space. It was super-easy to load into the barn, and the horses love it. Win!

Here’s a view of the aisle from the north side looking south. The wide aisle can be used for more hay storage, if needed. It also means that the farrier can pull into the barn in the winter. That makes the whole experience far more comfortable for everyone, particularly the humans.

Also, notice that the tack room on the left is not full height. The ceiling is load-bearing, so we can use the space above for storage… or better yet, I might use it as a greenhouse to start seeds in the spring. The temperatures in the barn are pretty stable, and the clear plastic above the overhang lets in tons of good morning sun. That clear plastic is wonderful: the barn is light and airy, even with the two large doors closed.

The barn was a huge project for me, but I’m so glad that it’s (mostly) done!

(26 January 2010)