OUR LIFE
There are three main questions we are asked more often.
Question 1.
The dogs occupy a whole room, don't they?
The fact is our dogs are not exotic plants, which can be put into a special room to make a greenhouse. Our dogs always want to be near their masters. They go round the garden and house, sleep on the floor and sofas or sit under the kitchen table...waiting...for something yummy. So there isn't a particular place where you can always see them, and there isn't a corner in the house where you can't see a fluffy tail.
Question 2.
Do the dogs have their own, personal bowls?
They used to. But it turned out that the food in their neighbour's plate is always much better. So the dogs started walking around and swapping their "china". Now there are several big bowls in the kitchen and a bucket of water on each floor.
Question 3.
How do you cope with them?
It's not easy, but we already have a certain daily routine.
In the morning it's necessary to walk the dogs. In winter we go out at dawn and in summer - before the time people usually go mushrooming or start picking up berries.
The dogs run willingly, chase each other and hunt mice.
While their porridge is being cooked, they can have a snack - eat some dry food.
Before lunch the dogs are somewhere near us. In winter when we are digging and taking away the snow - they are burying bones into it. In summer when we are doing the gardening, they are sitting in the shade watching whether we are working diligently enough.
They are never bored. Nobody prevents them from playing with each other as much as they want.
Before the second walk the dogs are given some milk or yoghurt, which are brought by our neighbour, a farmer, Alexander Victorovich Vinogradov.
They scream with joy each time they hear his car approaching.
For dinner our dogs have meat porridge or offals. A full 50 litres pan is quite sufficient for them. Besides we regularly put bones and sinews in the garden.
The dogs go to bed the same time as we do. Some of them even succeed in making themselves comfortable and cosy in our beds.
Walking and feeding the dogs are not the only things we should do. It's necessary to caress, stroke and tell each of them something nice and pleasant.
As well as make sure they don't have mites after their walk. When there is no snow, we have to drop "Bars" on their necks. All in all we need a hundred pipettes for the whole company.
Once a year we ask vets from the town of Yukhnov to come to our place and vaccinate our dogs.
Each dog has a veterinary passport.
If any of them need a serious treatment or operation, we take them to Kaluga or Moscow.
The rest we can do ourselves, as there is a doctor and a young vet in the family.
A special attention is paid to antidotes against different poisons which can be used for dogs.
As you can see, we are as busy as a bee. But the more we do our best, the more pleased we are when everybody is healthy, happy and not hungry.
