Doodles & Water?

Annmarie, I was hoping to hear from you, 'cuz I checked out your place from the link you have and it looked as though there'd be lots of temptations there for a watery pup. It looks gorgeous, by the way. Do you have a lot of land, and do you farm or just relax and enjoy it? Here's a link to my place that I put up for my online painter friends a couple of years ago:

http://www.leslieficcaglia.org/minnamuska.htm

You can see that as well as there being a river bordering our property we also compounded the problem by going and putting in a pond! So your input is very reassuring. I'm getting one of Maureen's little girls, and both parents seem very laid back and biddable, so hopefully this won't be much of a problem. We've always been able to train our dogs to "piddle" on command (always assuming there's raw material for the deed in the bladder, of course!) and to wipe their feet, as well as to stay on the paths in our vegetable garden rather than wandering through the tomatoes and spinach and wreaking havoc. They do give me a mildly betrayed look as they watch the cat prance among the rows, but herding cats is beyond me and the dogs seem to understand. However, that was always with Danes, and my doodle will be a whole new experience. Hearing tales about matted coats and grooming, and then the idea of this same coat being dunked in our muddy river, did make me worry a bit!

Lesle

Thanks, Linda. We love it here but are always quick to point out that it has its downside; the gnats are bad right now and the strawberry flies are out, too. If you live further downstream where the water is more salt, there are greenhead flies which are really vicious, and lots of mosquitoes. We usually have a breeze so they're not much of a problem here, but there's definitely a reason why this part of NJ is so sparsely settled. And as you say, we enjoy it as it is.

I take lots of nature photos but then I paint from them. Here's a back link to some of my oils and pastels of the area

http://www.leslieficcaglia.org/landscapes.htm

We've lived here for almost 35 years and there's a lot you can do with a place in that time. It was pretty bare when we moved here - and we also built our house. The studio was originally the dwelling for the property, but it did have some old barns and chicken coops. Everyone we knew thought we were nuts to move down here but they don't think so anymore!

Anyway, lots of room for a doodle to roam, and we'll hope she won't roam too much into the water.

Happy photographing!

Leslie

Like I said, we've been there 35 years, and have been tweaking it and adding things all that time. You too can do the same with that much time, if you're interested. We didn't travel or do a whole lot of things away from the place because we had sheep and goats and horses when our kids were young, so we could devote our energies to landscaping and gardening. It was pretty bare when we first moved in.

We have a lawn down to the river, but there's also a wild border of high marsh grasses right along the edge. It was never a problem raising two kids, two Irish setters, a husky, and a series of Danes here, so hopefully it won't be a problem with a doodle. We can always get an invisible fence if we need to, but I'll try without it first since I always have lots of other things I could do with any available cash. I'll tell the puppy about Max and Peanut and advise her to follow their lead...

Leslie