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Iys's favorite place to be is outside! Especially on cool spring and autumn days! Dogs are an important part of many farmer’s lives. Iys dog (pronounced: Ice) has been a loyal companion to NP for 13+ years. She predates Brun Ko Farm by more than a decade! They have been companions through a broken hip (Iys’s), dog training school and lots of life’s little challenges.
Iys is intelligent, loyal, lovable and very tolerant but one thing she is NOT is a cattle dog. When NP first brought Abby and his first bottle calves home, he had visions of training Iys to help ‘work’ the calves. However, Iys was not interested and was in fact even scared of them – skirting cow pens whenever possible. Which was probably wise because Abby isn’t terribly friendly towards dogs – chasing them whenever she gets the chance!
Iys is intelligent, loyal, lovable and very tolerant but one thing she is NOT is a cattle dog. When NP first brought Abby and his first bottle calves home, he had visions of training Iys to help ‘work’ the calves. However, Iys was not interested and was in fact even scared of them – skirting cow pens whenever possible. Which was probably wise because Abby isn’t terribly friendly towards dogs – chasing them whenever she gets the chance!
 Which is scarier: Abby? or Thunder? Evidently, thunder! | Besides cows, Iys also has a long standing fear of thunder. One night during chores we learned which fear was stronger! That particular day had been stormy looking but it didn’t really start thundering and raining until we were down in the barn so like usual, Iys was in the barn with us. That particular night, I had the pleasure of milking Abby and all of a sudden I heard a big ka-boom! And before I could even tell what was happening, Iys was huddled underneath Abby and as close to me as she could get! Turns out Abby was the lesser of the two evils! |
 Now that's service! Now a days, Iys dog has earned a new name: Old Dog. Used affectionately of course! She spends her days mostly sleeping but she still insists on going down to do chores even though she still doesn’t much care for the cows. Except to eat their poo. That seems to be a delicacy. Don’t ask me – she often times leaves her food sit but if there is a good pile of calf poo nearby – she’s all over that. Another thing that we are learning about in Iys’s old age is doggy Alzheimers. It’s a real thing, I swear. Although, Iys can usually get halfway to the barn before she starts to look lost – the location of the backyard seems to move daily in her mind. Most days we have to guide her in after she misses the corner 3 or 4 times. In addition to her mind, her body is also starting to give way. Her food dish tends to get away from her in her attempts to eat and her legs sometimes give way causing her to have to sit or even lay down to eat. NP does a good job of keeping her bowl pushed up close enough to her that she can finish her meal. However, on this particular day, she got so frustrated she gave up and laid down in a huff. NP took pity and delivered the food bowl directly to her choice of bed for the day. Old age seems to be kind of a crappy deal even for dogs. But there is one benefit to the deal - Table scraps. Iys and Piper don’t generally get table scraps. Mostly because they don’t need them, but also because the giving of table scraps can result in bad habits like begging and table surfing. Iys, however, is long past the days of developing such habits and has had trouble keeping weight on. The weight loss is in part due to her tendency to skips meals. So to tempt her to eat every meal and to help maintain weight, select table scraps have made their way onto her menu. Eggs are her favorite and she will eat almost anything to get to the egg at the bottom of her bowl! Eggs are probably also the most common treat that she gets as I often have a bit of egg wash or lonely egg yolks left over after baking. If a bit of it dries to the side of her bowl she will lick and push her bowl around for hours trying to get every last bit! She’s kind of like a kid with a lollipop. All in all, Iys is doing pretty darn good for her age and we feel pretty lucky to still have her around. She isn’t the most affectionate dog on the farm but she tolerates our petting and hugging and she is a great source of amusement and comfort. We are enjoying the time we have left with her, however long that may be! **We know many of you have loyal companions as well. We would love to hear about them in the comments section!** Enjoy! Brun Ko Farm |
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