gramtot 8 Posted June 30, 2011 Report Share Posted June 30, 2011 While having my fenced back 1/2 acre bush hogged--so I could find the little squirt, Denakka--a nest of ground wasps was discovered. I'll try to get rid of them, but there's a fairly good sized spot that isn't cut down because of the wasps. Has anyone had any of their dogs run into such a nest? I'd be curious as to what happened and how the dog and you handled "the encounter". Thanks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gib 291 Posted June 30, 2011 Report Share Posted June 30, 2011 While having my fenced back 1/2 acre bush hogged--so I could find the little squirt, Denakka--a nest of ground wasps was discovered. I'll try to get rid of them, but there's a fairly good sized spot that isn't cut down because of the wasps. Has anyone had any of their dogs run into such a nest? I'd be curious as to what happened and how the dog and you handled "the encounter". Thanks! Just north of Seattle, Joan and I also have about 1/2 acre fenced. Also, when we first got Draco, we realized we'd have to bush-hog the hillside -- we turned our nephews loose with machetes! We also found a ground nest. We had been working steadily with the basic commands, including "Check it out" and, very importantly, "Leave it" and "Drop it". Draco got either bit or stung once (we couldn't tell for sure), even after saying, "Leave it. Bees". It was an unfortunate lesson but really helped him understand that when we say "leave it" there may well be some really good reason. His "leave it" is pretty solid. And, we hope that Draco will help teach Wicca the meaning of "Bees". For the times he may get stung or nipped or nicked, Joan found a product called Buddy Boo-Boo. (We use it on our boo-boos, too!) Starghoti informed me/us on the forum recently about Nolvasan. We tried to find a beekeeper of some kind who would want to come get the nest and no one wanted it. So, we, against our natural tendencies, destroyed the nest and removed it completely. We haven't had either dog choose to take a nap under one of the bushes -- I can imagine some skipped heartbeats during the search and a wave of relief and a few other emotions when the pup was found. Fair Warning: These dogs are mischievous and understand English. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Allison 2,369 Posted June 30, 2011 Report Share Posted June 30, 2011 Hey, here's a good method we used when we found ourselves attacked. We took a "shop vac" filled it with soapy water, and sucked up the blighters. They get mad and attack the nozzle and get sucked into the vacuum nozzle. No poison, and the several nests were cleared. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gramtot 8 Posted June 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2011 I guess it's time to start teaching 'leave it' and 'check it out'. I've worked on 'give' since strange as it may seem, Denakka doesn't discriminate between toys and my valuables! And I always teach 'give' if one of my dogs enjoys tug. They have to give no matter when during the game! But 'leave it' is important too--just so much to think about -- these guys are smart but they can't learn everything at once. perhaps Kim can work on a dog with built-in commands! Allison--I love the idea of the vacuum--I'd sure want a long nozzle however. I'm such a sissy when it comes to wasps and other bitey things.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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