The other day I saw the poop dog playing with what looked like a large white plastic bag in the field next door. I called him and he reluctantly came running. A while later, I had a visitor round and while getting some coffee going, he ran off and a little later dragged this huge white goose to the front door and left it there, proudly standing over it as if to say "hey look I brought supper!"

I don't think he killed it because there were no signs of injury on it other than it's head which had gotten a good chew

Anyway I got two large thick plastic bags and used one to hold the thing and the other to put it in, then sealed it real tight and put it in the garbage can.

The next day I saw a flurry of feathers when he was running around the field next door and found there was another, also dead. It also got canned. Unlike the previous one, it was stiff and had obviously been dead a while. Wonder what killed them or how they died because the second one was perfectly intact too and not even it's head had been chewed. I guess it could have been a snake after their eggs or something.

Here's a recent pic of BoZee as he approaches 9 months old. He stands 57 cm (22.4") at the shoulder and 56 cm (22 ") at his hind legs and weighs a bit less than 24 Kg (about 52 Lbs) already. He's still got a lot of growing to do...that's about half his adult weight.

At the moment he's tall and skinny and all legs. Although I feed him all he wants to eat he's not putting on any excess weight because he's so hyperactive. I hope he maintains his personality as he grows up...he's really friendly with anything and everyone, but is getting to be fairly territorial and a good watch dog. When there's a noise he can't identify at night he already gives a bark. The other night a friend came to visit quite late so I left the door open, and he charged down the driveway barking but quickly came belting it back to the house. He's just a little puppy still, so still a bit scared but I praise him a lot to encourage him when he raises the alarm

Boy has he ever grown fast. Good company for you Graham.
Hows his leg been? Do you still have to keep him from running around much?[/url]

His leg healed perfectly thanks JoAnn. Funny though, on Friday he was limping a bit on a front leg and I thought he'd gotten a splinter from where I'd chopped some firewood but couldn't find anything in his paws. This morning the limp seems to have gone and he's running around like a little rocket again.

He's constantly in the wars with something. If it's not a bee that's stung him - a while back his one eye was swollen huge I think from a bee sting because he can't stand them buzzing around him and snaps at them - then it's scratches from climbing through a barbed wire fence.

Some say it's sad to see a dog play by itself, but I think it's great He's got a whole lot of things like a ball, a piece of shade cloth that I tied some big knots in and an assortment of sticks and he's great at amusing himself with them. I do make time a few times a day to play with him and reinforce the few basic things I've taught him.

It's almost time to start teaching him not to take food from anyone else and to attack by biting the right arm and wrist but he's still too playful to get those lessons through to him yet.

Now that would be interesting, to train him not to take food from someone else.Guess you need a friend to help you with that?

Yeah, a number of folk will be drawn into helping with that one. He also needs to learn that it's OK to take food from someone who I say he can for when I go away. Dogs get poisoned here by burglars so it's a good thing to train them.

Here's some great pics I took of him yesterday morning

Nice posing! What a beautiful coat he has, must get that loving brush a lot.

This poop dog of mine (I call him pooper, poop, poop dog or by his full name BoZee), found some new doggy friends two small-holdings away and then I have to walk over there to get him back home a few times a day. He also ends up spending hours with my sisters dogs next door when he gets the chance.

I really don't want him pulled into any of those dogs social orders while he is still so young and influenced by whatever pecking order may exist, so I've started to build a fence to keep him in. Besides I don't like the people at the place two small-holdings away - seems like they're forever tanked up with too much to drink and loud music and noise on the weekends - and I'm not sure they have inoculated their three dogs fully or that they keep them flea and tick free.

Anyway, I feel a bit bad about restricting his movements but he'll have still have like three or four times more space than the average suburban dog.

Here's a pic of my incomplete fence which I'm making with thin blue gum (eucalyptus) poles which are tied to the wire fence strands. So far I've used about 200 poles to cover about 2/3 rd's of the back. So I'll use about 300 poles for the back and another about 300 for the front - both cover a distance of about 70 meters each. The sides are already fenced with mesh wire and good thick hedges thank goodness.

The fence should be done by the end of next week. It's quite time consuming first cutting the poles (with a handsaw as they're just too thin for the chainsaw), then beating each pole with a hammer to peel the bark off and finally tying each pole to the wire cross sections of the existing horse rail. I've got an unemployed guy doing it for me and he's quite happy cutting, banging and tying away for a better than average daily wage.

Just for interest sake, that's the kind of fencing (minus the thick top cross pole) that most farmers here use to keep sheep and goats from straying onto the roads.

You have a beautiful Brindle color marked dog there Graham.