Gardening with the Search Dog!

Hello -- nice to meet you!

I'm Susannah, and I have recently begun overhauling the badly-neglected yard of my 1938 home. We're having lots of adventures, discovering an old driveway underneath the middle of the lawn, free weights from an old weight set jutting out from under one edge of the garage, etc. Like digging for treasure -- without the treasure. Lots of mystery, though!

Fledgling gardeners, we're hoping to create a series of very nice little walking or sitting areas and maintain some open play areas for our dogs, one of which is a working search-and-rescue k9, a Golden Retriever. We have recently built the dogs a little playhouse / dreaming space we share with them in nice weather -- a nice spot for a comfy cool-bed and a big bowl of water, plus toys. They like to hang out on the porch of their little cottage and supervise us as we work in the garden(s) we're trying to install. Because Texas has been HOT and DRY in our area for the past year, we lost 2/3rds of the St. Augustine we laid last year and are now considering dog-friendly alternatives that might take better in our mix of sun/shade in that yard.

But we're also doing other things, some of which -- no doubt -- we'll learn much from this forum before attempting.

Here's the little cottage: http://www.catoninetales.com/images/28.jpg
And here's the search dog in civilian clothes, posing! http://www.catoninetales.com/images/lemonade.jpg

We're excited to be here. I expect to learn so much.

-=Susannah & Puzzle & the Pomeranians

Hi welcome nice to have you.. sounds exciting house that old.. ,,

hello and welcome from upstadte new york. i love goldens. lost my 8 yr old a few years ago. are you a search and rescue worker??

Yes, I'm the handler to my k9 partner, Puzzle. She's my "pet with a day job" (and she works with me a lot of nights, too.) But then she comes home and goes off-duty and gets to just be a family dog. Goldens are special, aren't they?

Here she is in her work clothes:
http://www.catoninetales.com/images/newvest.jpg

You can also see in this shot how much St. Augustine we lost this year. One of the reasons I'm here -- to revise this garden and lawn!
Thanks for the welcome!


This message was edited Jul 29, 2006 7:34 AM

This message was edited Jul 29, 2006 7:34 AM

Weclome Susanna,
Love the cottage, and Puzzle looks super sweet!
You have more St. Augustine then we have this year, lol.
You have found the best place to be on a hot Texas day.
Welcome again, Lulu

Welcome to The Garden!!..I love the pictures...Puzzle is a beauty...and sure shows "pride of ownership" is her lovely home place. Jo

susannah welcome again! So you are finding lost treasure also. Today I was working in what I call the bomb site.[dug up a row of ditch lilies. now trying to get out all root pieces, glass and rocks. which we didn't do first time around. I know dumb!!!!!] Anyway todays treasure was an empty blue Vicks bottle. Lid completely rusted off.Of course quite a few rocks. Got about 4ft. dug up today. So proud of myself.hehehehe!

Good looking dogs. Dogs like that are special.

Hi Susannah! I'm new, too. Awww, your dog is adorable. And their little cottage is awesome! Give them some rubbies for me. I'm allergic to everything with fur, SNIFFLE.

~Kristy