I have lived at my current home for 28 years. In that time, I have had the extreme pleasure of having 3 German Shorthaired Pointers, a west Highland White Terrier, and our current extended family - a toy and a standard Poodle as my friends and companions. All the dogs were loved to the Nth degree and never mistreated in any way. That said, one of the first commands these dogs were taught is "NO". They are made to understand that when their behavior is unacceptable, the "NO" command means STOP IMMEDIATELY and that if they do not stop, I am immediately ready to make them stop. Each of these dogs was trained as a puppy to stay OUT of the gardens. I'll probably get in trouble for saying this, but, if your dog(s) will not obey your command, the dog is training you to be subordinate in the pack. Your dog must know exactly who is boss and that it is not him/her. I can raise my hand as though I was going to hit my dogs, or pull back my foot as though I was going to kick them and they will not respond by flinching or cowering because they are never abused. While training the dogs I use a 4 ft piece of dowel rod as an aid. I do not strike the dogs, I only use it to tap the dogs for attention or to move their position. Often, I only tap the ground for attention. The dogs recognize the training aid as a symbol of dominance - even though I never strike them. When I pick it up, the dogs are immediately attentive. Tapping the stick on the ground or carpet has about the same effect as an alpha dog growling at a subordinate. Our dog's main fault is they think everyone is their friend come over to play. If you came to my home, they would want to nudge you to solicit pets. If I tell them no & they forget or ignore the command, I simply pick up the stick without saying anything. The dogs immediately are reminded they are subordinate and give up their aberrant behavior. This is not cruel, nor does it cause your dog to shun or hate you. Our dogs are extremely loving, seeking our constant companionship, and have no fear of being "punished". A stern word puts them in a submissive posture and anxious to please, unlike many other dogs I've seen that are obviously afraid of being struck. From this you can gather that my advice is to establish yourself as pack leader and never give a command you are not immediately in position to insure the dog will comply with. Al

I was also wondering what happened to you. The way your album is sounds fine to me. Can't wait to see your pictures of the Convention. It still makes me laugh when I think about the picture of the yellow iris (tulip) that you posted this spring. Shadow

Please do not leave the dogs alone together. It very likely will end very badly. tiffduke, training will help only to a certain extent. We have been through this. You never know when it will happen - and not just over food. vjtrees - I realize that your posting was from October 2017. I hope for your Dacshund's sake that the Mastiff is now back with your daughter. Please be aware that punctures on the back of the neck need to be checked out by a vet and perhaps meds prescribed to avoid blood poisoning. Dogs, whether they be big or small will go for the back of the neck to ensure that the dog being attacked is trapped. Two of our Dachshund's were attacked in this manner. My heart froze when I saw our big dog holding our Dachshund by the back of the neck and shaking him. There was no reason for it and I should already have left the house - fortunately I had not. The Dachshund was a major Alpha - much to the displeasure of our big dog, who was not alpha. I should point out that our Alpha Dachshund took care of all of his siblings and was not "bossy" with them. Jump forward a few years and we had the same situation - our then Alpha Dachshund was attacked by his Dachshund sibling - who wanted to be an Alpha. They finally seemed to work things out when the little troublemaker attacked our Alpha again. Yet our Alpha did not want to hurt the Alpha-want-to-be. And the attacker knew it. Also, never try to remove the innocent dog without him/her realizing it is you. My husband learned this the hard way - our innocent pup thought he was being attacked attacked on all sides. I hope all is well. We no longer have a Dachshund and I miss them every day.

It sounds like your girls aren't roosting if they only have 2 1/3-3 ft of height, so if the walls are draft free and they have bedding on the floor to keep their feet warm you may not need any additional heat during the short freezing temps. Their body heat may be enough to keep them warm but it depends on the overall square footage of the coop. My neighbor has a large coop and run, without additional heat, and her chickens were happily outside scratching around in the snow and ice we had a couple years ago (Portland). The link below is my favorite place to discuss chickens, ducks, etc. I used to have quail and the members there are happy to share their knowledge! Here is a link that might be useful: Backyard chickens