Boone’s life isn’t too complicated. He spends the day with me …well actually he spends every minute with me unless he is choosing to play LGD in the back yard to the chickens, rabbits and Mister the horse. He’s also been quite effective in telling us if ranch dogs have snuck out in the middle of the night to chase calves in the back pasture or even corral by the big barn. He hands me whatever I point at or ask for, which is very handy. He picks husband’s laundry up off the floor every day and gives it to me to sort into the hampers, gives me whatever I drop (glasses, phone, etc) searches for and locates my meds. the channel changer (Randy loves turning on TV then leaving house. I truly dislike TV )

He goes out each morning with Fen and the man, to do chores. He then comes back in, eats breakfast, then chuffs at me with a decidedly judgmental look on his face.

Apparently there is a daily cookie quota I am supposed to meet, but usually fail to.

Part of my daily entertainment, as he is so huge, and our house is so small, is to toss a mini milkbone across the room and watch him stretch for it, to avoid getting up. It’s amazing how long he really is.

He enjoys going to town and meeting new people. (Very unusual for his breed) Being an introvert, it’s actually been a good thing for me as people always stop to ask questions about him, which is about the only thing I am comfortable talking about.

At 30 1/3 inches at the shoulder, and #135 lb last time he weighed in, he is the perfect size for me to hook my fingers in his flat leather collar so he can help me forward and keep me upright. I’ve had several nasty falls without him. I was only employing his mobility skills outside and in town, as usually I can pinball off of walls or furniture in the house and keep myself from actually landing, but last time I went over backwards, spraining my wrist and the big guy ran to check on me, stepping on my hand, dislocating my thumb and peeling the hide off the back of my hand. My thumb is still pretty painful in spite of using my comfrey ointment which worked wonders on my wrist. We work together now, making sure he's next to me at all times. I could use a walker in the house, but it’s pretty inconvenient trying to get it around stuff, as I said, the house is very small. I actually gave away the dining table years ago because I couldn’t get my wheelchair past it when I was completely non ambulatory, so having Boone’s help has been a game changer.

Still, he IS a puppy still at only 15 mo. and easily bored. I’m limited to enrichment games to entertain him. He particularly likes if I get a handful of kibble and toss it across the room so he can use his skills searching each bite. It’s most fun when they go under stuff as he can actually rearrange the furniture to access it 

He does let himself out back when he wants, but seeks me out the moment he returns inside. It’s still a little unsettling the way the bathroom door gets yanked open if he suspects I’m in there. If so, he boops my face then leaves. As I mentioned, he is really big, with an extremely broad head and each time he comes in from his nightly patrols, he slaps my face with his monstrous tongue, I guess to let me know he’s watching over me while I’m (or was, until he smacked me in the face) sleeping.

He dislikes the long drive to town and back as much as I do (2 hr to small town of Burns, 3 1/2 to Nampa, ID where we do all our shopping and errands) and cries during the first 30 min of the trip, although he always jumps in his seat willingly and doesn’t mind at all going from place to place while in town. It’s the 4 hr drive that gets him.

All my doctors know him, and the hospital people have always had nice things to say about him, both when we took TheMan in and when I went to have my hand x-rayed.

He's so well mannered and does extremely well, no matter where we go. He's very adaptable and doesn't mind staying in motel rooms or anywhere else as long as he is at my side. Last summer's road trip was a definite culture shock for him, as we spend our lives in solitary, pretty much not doing anything except taking occasional trips into town for meds and supplies, but we drove for hours at a time, meeting and visiting friends and family, often with lots and lots of people around. He enjoyed the attention and made the most of it.

And occasionally, his method of introducing himself was perhaps less than distinguished, as in the case of my son...

Luckily, strangers always let me know “He’s a BIG dog!” as I might not remember.

Except when we go out to eat. He doesn’t fit under the tables, and he likes to mansprawl in the aisleway. I recall his size easily, then.

I’ve used positive reinforcement for all his training. He’s responded really well, particularly for a breed developed to think and work independently without any direction from their humans. “ Obedience “ and compliance are both against the LGD nature, so Boone is my unicorn.

He is a dedicated, opinionated, playful gud boi, and I’m darn lucky to have him.

Meet Jane Dough

An alternative to buying yeast, is to use a sourdough starter. It's a little bit different, but it’s how things used to be done. The yeast you buy only became a thing when folks started buying all their bread from bakeries and it was decided that sacrificing quality for the  convenience of faster production was more profitable.

Yeast is a living organism and a sourdough starter uses wild yeast, it captures from the air. This is why each starter has a slightly different flavor depending on location   

"To speed up the manufacturing process, bakers began adding sweeteners to their dough to give their new bakers yeast more readily-available food. Suddenly, yeast is no longer breaking down grain sugars, since it is perfectly happy working off cane sugar, corn syrup, molasses, or whatever other sweetener might have been used. Inspired by the added speed of the sugar, manufacturers then started to use even more yeast, and the need for speed continued.

This all meant a significant change in chemical composition of a finished loaf of bread - higher natural and added sugar content, tougher starches, and excess single-strain yeast. Without the lactobacilli that come with wild yeast, grain proteins, including gluten, were now unchanged by the fermentation process, leaving them fully intact and hard to digest. Nutrients that became bioavailable due to a long fermentation process remained locked up once sugar became the fermentable ingredient instead of flour.

Cue the rise of gluten-intolerance, and less noticeably, the rise (pun intended) of single-strain-yeast-intolerance. Have trouble eating a ‘normal’ loaf of gluten free bread? Baker’s yeast and sugar might be to blame." -https://www.breadsrsly.com/blog/2017/9/13/wild-yeast-vs-commercial-yeast

I always take a bit of starter out and spread it on a piece of wax paper to dry, then put it in a container so if anything should happen to my starter, I can re-constitute it. It can also be frozen indefinitely, but I find drying it to be preferable as it takes up less space and I can put it in a little baggie to mail it to someone if they need some. Maintaining a starter is as easy as feeding it equal amounts (in weight) of water and flour once a week, and putting in refrigerator. Use a glass or ceramic crock as many metals have a chemical reaction. Stir with a wooden or silicone spoon and cover so nothing can contaminate it. I use “Weck” Jars that have both a wooden and a glass lid. I have 2 because I clean the jar almost each time I use it so it doesn’t get all crusted up and hard. It’s easy to wash if the starter hasn’t dried on it.

 If a dark liquid forms at the top, and smells like alcohol, it means your starter is very hungry. It’s called hooch. You can stir it in or pour it out. 

To maintain your starter you need:

1. a clean jar or bowl, but not metal, 

2. clean, lukewarm water if you have a water filter or source of pure water, use this 

3. flour (you can use all purpose, bread flour or whole wheat, rye, etc. )

You can purchase dehydrated starter, or get some from a friend, or have someone gift you some already reconstituted starter or make your own, which takes awhile and there are some rules to go by to make sure it is ready to use and is safe as you want it to be active enough that the good bacteria can overwhelm any bad bacteria that may try to invade it. Don’t be alarmed, it’s not difficult to take care of. If you keep it on the counter, it needs to be fed daily. If you don’t use it everyday, you can keep it in the refrigerator and feed once a week. I take it out the night before I am going to use it and feed it, and it’s ready for me to use the next morning.

You will find that keeping a minimum amount of starter will keep it happier as the more you have, the more flour you have to feed it to keep it active. I keep about 50 g in the jar and feed it equal amounts of flour and water (50 g or more on a mature starter) This will also keep it from bubbling out of the jar and all over your counters. 

If you are taking a break from using it, you can freeze some or dehydrate as I mentioned previously and it will keep indefinitely until you are ready to revive it.

Your starter should bubble happily soon after feeding.

Sourdough bread is, in my opinion, superior to all other breads. It takes longer to go stale as it is a high hydration dough, has a greater depth of flavor and has many benefits. It is easier to digest, as the fermentation reduces both gluten and carbohydrates, although it is NOT gluten free. It contains probiotics which aid in digestion and promote absorption of nutrients, aiding in glucose regulation and aiding in weight loss, increases phytochemicals which offer anti inflammatory and antioxidant benefits. It’s a great alternative to white bread.

I find making sourdough to be a lot easier than making yeast bread as well. It’s very forgiving and although it’s not the best choice if you need to crack out a loaf in one day, it’s simple to double or triple the recipe or more, takes only a few minutes here and there through out the day.

I left dough out on counter last night and by this morning it had overproofed and was puffing out of the bowl.

I was going to toss it out, but decided to shape it and bake it instead. I shaped it, dusted a little flour on it, let it rest an hour and scored it. It was small, had not done any rising after I had shaped it, but I put it in the dutch oven anyway and decided to bake it for the chickens. I was happily surprised  when I took the top off and saw it had risen and baked up beautifully. Always give it a chance. You have nothing to lose by baking it.

 I will share the  recipe I most like to use. There are a few tools that I find make it easier for me, (I have severe rheumatoid disease so many things are not possible) and I will list those as well. You can certainly substitute or do without most of these, but as I make ALL of our bread, it was worth it to me to have these on hand.

First of all, for me, a stand mixer is a must, but you can use a dough whisk or wooden spoon, or even your hands to mix the dough if you need to.

A kitchen scale is also a must have for me. My bread never fails if I measure the ingredients in grams rather than cups.

I have 2 “Weck” jars with lids that I keep my starter in, they are very easy to clean and I tend to change jars almost every time I make bread only because dried on starter is hard to get off, so I put the left over starter in the clean jar and feed it before putting it away.

A plastic scoop spoon. I find this makes it really easy for me to measure out my starter. 

Separate acrylic containers for putting my starter&water in and flour in the other.

Instant read thermometer. Although not a total necessity I have found it handy to check the internal temperature of loaves to make sure they are done which one of my recipes, never is when I bake it and having the thermometer has saved my bread which would be undercooked and gummy if I just trusted the baking timer. (It’s called the Unloaf)

A bread lame to score your loaves so they can expand properly.

Rice flour (not a deal breaker but it does make it easier to score your loaves and also makes decorative scoring show up)

Kitchen towel, or shower cap type cover to keep your dough from drying out.

Banneton- for letting your dough bulk ferment. You can use a bowl and dish towel instead.

Now you are ready to bake bread!

The ONE Sourdough 

500 g bread flour

350 g water (distilled, although I use spring water)

100 g unfed starter (I feed the night before)

15 g kosher salt

This can be multiplied to make however many loaves you need.

Measure and mix everything together to make a shaggy dough. 

Cover and let rest for 1 hour.

(IF I make multiple loaves, I will put the dough in a one gallon food safe bucket)

Begin doing stretch and folds, lifting and folding over dough, turning 1/4 turn, repeat until all 4 sides have been done.

Wait 30 min and repeat.

Do a total of 5 series of stretch and folds with 30 min in between.

Set Dough to rise 50%

Note, you are NOT letting it double like you would a yeast dough

Shape, (if dough is difficult to shape, continue turning it in place until it has developed more tension and holds it’s shape. You can use a dough scraper to push it around if necessary) place in well floured banneton, cover and put in fridge for a bulk ferment. ( I leave mine in for 2 nights then bake the morning of day 3)

When ready to bake, put parchment paper or dough sling over dough, and dump it out, set in cold dutch oven. Sift a little rice flour over the top and score with a razor blade or bread lame.

Place in cold over and bake at 475 for 55 min covered.

Remove cover, reduce heat to 425 and bake an additional 15 min to finish and brown the crust.

Remove from oven, place on rack and let cool for one hour before slicing, or it will be gummy inside.

Enjoy your amazing bread with a chewy crust and soft, open crumb. 

*note

It is easy to do inclusions to make flavored loaves such as jalapeno&cheese, adding during the stretch and folds.

*As a high hydration bread, do not put your bread in ziplocs to store, as the moisture will cause it to quickly mold. I prefer to place mine in a linen bread bag, then into a bread box. It allows the bread to breath, without letting it go stale.

Boone : boon | bo͞on | noun 1 [usually in singular] a thing that is helpful or beneficial

 

A lot has changed and a lot has happened this year. One of the main things, is that Fen is no longer acting as my Service Dog. Even though he is exceptionally bright and was able to perform all the tasks I needed, he HATES going to town. He also hates being home with me during the day so he is now Randy’s ranch dog, doing nothing but lay around in the grease up at the mechanic shop, but that is what makes him happy.

Boone, the Anatolian is now my Service Dog. He has really surprised me.

Before I go further, I want to explain that using a Livestock Guardian Breed as a Service Animal is usually a bad idea, as they tend to be both human and dog aggressive by nature of their job. They are also not known to have toy or food drive so training is difficult, then there is that independent thinking problem, where they don’t tend to do anything you ask unless they had already chosen to do that thing.

However, it was becoming clear early on that Fen was not going to succeed at Service Work and I needed help. Therefore, I began letting Boone sleep inside at night to increase our bond, and began intentionally building both food and toy drive into his still malleable personality. Fen taught him to play tug which was the biggest lucky break. Using tug as a motivator, I was able to teach him to open the doors in the house (ours have levers, instead of knobs) and pick up and hand me things, and eventually send him to bring me things. Nothing happens by accident, and while I was considering using Boone as a Service Dog at home, I began to experience frequent falls. There was no warning I would fall, no dizziness or anything, I would be walking along just fine, then suddenly crash on my left hip and shoulder. Over and over through the winter and spring it happened.

I realized I would need Boone to, in addition to all the tasks Heath and Fen performed for me, be a mobility dog. At least until we figured out what was causing the falls and how to prevent it.

Now, I began to look at Boone differently.

He was definitely going to have the size I needed for mobility.

By nature, LGD’s are masters at economizing motion and energy and are happy to lay around, appearing to sleep all day, so long rides to town, laying under a restaurant table or napping on the floor of a doctor’s office or hospital was not going to be a challenge.

Both Heath and Fen had bad experiences with faux SD’s charging them while working (a real Service Dog must have such a soft temperament that they will not defend themselves or owners if attacked) Heath became fearful and Fen became reactive. LGD’s are fearless. They tend to ignore strange dogs when not in their territory, and are not challenged by them.

LGD’s bond very closely to their livestock. I would become Boone’s livestock. Bonding to me would not be a problem.

People don’t understand that asking to pet a Service Dog is bad etiquette. Distracting a dog that does medical alert, for instance, could be dangerous for the owner as the dog may miss an alert that could prevent serious injury or death to its handler, while distracted by an admirer.

There are dogs trained to help people who suffer from PTSD.

It’s a no brainer why you wouldn’t want to approach one of those teams.

LGD’s tend to be aloof to strangers.

Therefore, I had 3 big challenges to making this work.

1. Making sure Boone is not dog aggressive, but remains dog neutral.

2. Making sure Boone enjoys human interactions and never sees a human as a threat to me.

3. Training him to do things that are just simply not in an LGD’s wheelhouse.

We immediately began taking Boone with us every time we went to town. I always have dog treats with me when training or working. I wanted Boone to interact with anyone who was curious and willing to pet him and/or give him treats. This was wildly successful. Boone, at almost 10 mo is my social butterfly.

He is happy to greet anyone who asks him to, gently accepts treats, then immediately turns his attention back to me. This was so much better than I would have hoped.

Boone plays with Heath and even though the ranch dogs are not kind to him, he likes to visit them. Dogs in public, so far, have not caused any problems and Boone’s size seems to be a deterrent to them. (He is 30” at the shoulder and already weighs #135)

He has been absolutely solid at picking up things I drop and handing them to me, much to my surprise. Holding his leather collar has saved me from a number of nasty falls. He can easily open and close the doors to the house, he happily jumps into the backseat of the truck when we go somewhere and waits politely while I attach his leash, to get out. He is able to find and bring me my meds and the tv changer when asked. He continues learning the names of various items. In addition to all of this, he still patrols the yard, day and night, to make sure the rabbits, ducks and poultry are safe as well as any orphan calves that wind up in his care, but spends the majority of his time with me.

Boone is both a legitimate and effective Service Dog and while there will be a lifetime of added tasks for him to learn, he has  yet to master fitting under a table while I eat, to be all I currently need him to know.

A Little About Meat Rabbits

 

So, a little about rabbits, better known to me as rabids. (More about that later)

Rabids have decent sized litters (mine have 5-11) and they grow quickly. I like to process them at 5 lbs so about 12 weeks old. That gives me the greater number of choices in how to prepare them. There are some really delicious recipes online. I have yet to try one we haven’t liked. Our rabids replace chicken in our menus. They are cheaper to raise, easier to process and taste very similar. Babies are cute. Housing requirements are pretty basic and easy. Cleaning is also pretty easy, just rake it up and dump in your garden. Unlike chicken manure, rabbit poop is a cold fertilizer so can go directly on your plants without harming them and it has LOTS of nutrients for the soil. Every part of our rabbits are used, except the pelts, as young rabbit’s skin is too thin to process, although it can be sliced up and dried for dog treats. I will be harvesting a couple of older rabbits and hope to try my hand at processing those hides.

My dogs love the rabbit heads, ears, feet, livers, kidneys, hearts, etc. The flaps are supposed to make good jerky, otherwise they go to dogs as they are rather tough and chewy to eat.

Those are the “pros” of raising rabbits. Now for the “cons”

They can and will try to eviscerate you, given the opportunity, and their claws are deadly sharp, like a cat’s. It is important to wear sleeves (I have special sleeves just for rabids) and know how to properly pick up and hold them (Like a football, but that is no guarantee of safety)

One of my does was suffering from the heat this morning, because her litter insisted on climbing and laying all over her. I was going to be nice and give her some relief by putting her in a cage by herself, under a nice, cool, vine covered arch, and just put her with the kits at night when it is cool.

She decided I should have a mastectomy instead, leaving my arm sored, and my breast and stomach bleeding.

Guess who is going to be the first of those older rabids being harvested soon?

BEWARE

and it's almost July!

 Time flies, so they say. Boone is now 8 mo old and a bit over 100 lb. He will be somewhere between 130 and 150 at maturity.

He has exceeded all my expectations. He can open the backdoor from both inside and outside the house, has opened the bathroom door for me, picks up things I drop or point at on the floor and keeps me upright when walking. He loves people and his public access manners are impeccable. His only challenge is fitting under the table at certain restaurants because of his enormous size, but he makes it work. 

He is very attentive to me and even though this breed is highly and rightfully frowned on as Service Dog prospects, he is exceptional.  It works well for us because LGD breeds are notoriously expert at energy conservation, so he is content to sleep most of the day while I am confined to the bed or recliner due to pain. He doesn't have the exercise requirements most breeds do. He's perfectly happy to make the 4 hour drive into town then quietly lay under the table or on the floor of a Dr's office, which for Fen was absolute torture. As long as he is at my side, he is content. He is much like Heath in that respect, but where being accosted by strange dogs, which has happened more times than I can count due to people who feel entitled to pretend their untrained pets are Service animals, was extremely upsetting to both Heath and Fen, Boone is not bothered in the least. While he doesn't exhibit the stranger and dog aggression of most LGD's, he does have their fearless demeanor. He knows he is the baddest dog on the block and doesn't feel in anyway threatened or compelled to prove it.

My illness has progressed to the point where it dictates every second of my life and battling the accompanying depression is now a losing battle. I have finally broken down and seeking counseling, if for no other reason than to have the luxury of sitting and talking to another human face to face as my isolation for the past 15+ years has completely prevented that. I kept myself distracted for a very long time by staying busy with multiple crafts, ie: stained glass, crochet, sewing, jewelry making, rock tumbling, soaping, candles, baking, embroidery, gardening, you name it, I probably did it. I ran out of RA meds a month ago and they are unable to get any to me until sometime next week, so my hands have been in pretty terrible shape and I haven't been able to do much, other than read. I feed the rabbits in the morning and read the rest of the day. It's not much of a life, clearly. If not for Boone, I don't know what would become of me. Driving to town is excruciating anymore. Just being in the vehicle has me undone before we even get off the dirt road from the ranch, so there is no looking forward to any more trips to see my family or friends...those I would usually see all moved anyway so I guess it doesn't make much difference.

We did have a visit from one of our daughters and her kids. Boone really enjoyed having the children around.

Fen and Boone wear each other out every morning and evening while Randy does chores. I have a message in to pain management agreeing to have a device implanted, in the hopes it changes my life. Here's to hoping! Meanwhile, my little poneh will keep me going as best he can.

til next time!