Fake Horse Rescue

We received a phone call letting us know that one of our riding horses is for sale on a rescue website in Texas. The owner of the "rescue" and website posts pictures of other people's horses along with the horse's actual information including price. She doesn't even bother to change their registered names. She takes deposits on horses that she doesn't have or own.

Our horse is for sale on our own website, she lifted his pictures and information to put on her site. The horse's name is Chips Ahoy Leroy and he has never been outside southern Indiana. The lady who called to inform us had the same thing happen to her and one of her horses.

This thief has bought horses from elderly people who could no longer care for them with a promise to pay which she never does. She has even sold shipped semen from her stallion advertising it as from some champion stallion or stallion with great bloodlines. No one catches on until it is time to register the foal then they find out that the DNA does not match the stallion that is named.

She has been reported to the local authorities, the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission and her web host, but no one has done anything with her. So the lady who called us just keeps an eye on her site and reports her activities to the people who's horses and pictures she uses.

This young lady also offers training and boarding using other people's pictures. I talked to a local detective and he laughed saying that she is going to be quite the gangster, but he did give me some tips on who to report her to. The good news is that her website is at one of those free website places and it doesn't show up in search engines.

So here is a word to the wise; Watermark your photos with your name or website name.

Here are some other tips; Don't buy horses or semen from just any website. Google the horse's name and make sure that the seller is an established ranch, breeder or rescue. Don't assume that just because the word "rescue" is used that it is really a rescue.

It has become quite stylish to call yourself a rescue and that is the reason some crooks are using the word as a sale's tactic for their horses, dogs and cats. I suppose we could call ourselves a rescue, as we have rescued several horses throughout the years and refuse to sell our horses at low prices or at auction.

We certainly could save ourselves some huge feed bills if we just sold them to stop the financial bleeding like most people are doing. But they are our responsibility and we will take care of them as long as we are able.

Thief Strikes Again

We were without phones and internet service all day again yesterday. The copper thief struck again. I had to take the neighbor's other two dogs to be groomed and I passed the crime scene. There were only a couple of AT&T trucks there this time and one police car. They were all sitting around laughing and taking a break while my phone lines were lying there shredded and my contact with the outside world was disconnected.

The problem is this; I realized yesterday that they are not replacing the lines with anything new, they are replacing it with the same old copper wire. The reason that I know this is because this is the third time that this stretch of line has been stolen. The lines hang down close to the ground in this spot and it is on top of a hill in a secluded area with no trees to block their view for a couple of miles, so they can see a car coming very easily in any direction.

Now I am not that smart but I have noticed that they only steal these lines on weekends but they do switch it around from Friday to Saturday or Sunday nights. But they are basically hitting the same areas each time. We have been without service on around six different occasions since this all started.

At least this gives the AT&T repairmen something to do, so maybe they won't lose their jobs to downsizing. Job security is good thing, I guess. How's that for a positive attitude? I do know all of these guys pretty well, since we have had a lot of phone problems in the last several years. There was a time that I talked to them at least twice a week. But other than the stolen lines, they did finally track down and fix our problem after I talked to a nice man at the Utility Regulatory Commission. Maybe I should give him another call, at the very least our phone bills should be adjusted for all of these outages.

No Phone

I don't know if our phone was down because of thieves again or if it was something else but we didn't have phone service when we got up yesterday. If we don't have phone service then we don't have internet service, because we live out here in this third world country with no modern conveniences like city water or high speed internet options.

Someone is stealing our old phone lines for their copper content. This is fine with me because if they continue to steal it then we will eventually get all new phone lines and maybe better service and maybe even DSL. It is pretty annoying because it is happening so often and we are without service for the whole day. They told the people who called it in that we wouldn't have service back until Monday but they did have it fixed yesterday evening. I hate not having a phone or internet but I can live with it if it is for the greater good.

When I took feed out to my Mille Fleur D'uccle setting hen, she got off the nest and I counted six babies and two more that were in the process of hatching. The problem is that the little tiny chicks are jumping out of the nest and they can't get back in. I had to rescue them several times yesterday by putting them back in.

LGD Puppy Love

I know people love pups, so do I. There is nothing cuter than a puppy. But my Livestock Guardian Dog, Angel, is just about to drive us crazy. I have talked to other LGD owners and they have had the same problem that I am having with my Great Pyrenees pup.

She is a kleptomaniac, a pack rat, a thief and a part-time chewer. She is making off with everything that she can carry in her mouth. My husband changed the brakes on the car and we ran to town to get something, when we came home the brake pads and some of his tools were gone. At first we thought someone must have stolen them, we couldn't figure out why anyone would have taken the pads except as a joke, but then we started finding everything in the goat lot.

If I put a cover on the swimming pool filter, she takes it off and carries it away. She doesn't necessarily chew everything up, she just carries it off to her area.

My husband was really upset the other night because he laid his hoof pick down for just a minute and it disappeared. Water hose ends, sprayers, cardboard boxes, feed and water dishes, sticks, ropes, she just steals whatever she finds. So far, she is just stealing our stuff and not the neighbor's stuff.

We can never catch her in the act and we cannot even catch her with the goods. She will be sleeping somewhere with the stolen items yards and yards away from her. I didn't know how to discipline her or stop her.

So I consulted an expert on a message board that I frequent, she raises and trains Great Pyrs. She had already recommended a BB gun to keep her in the goat lot since the electric fence doesn't affect her because of her thick winter coat. But then she said that these dogs are smart and you can usually correct them with just a couple of scoldings.

Sure enough, if we find stuff in the lot, we scold her and she never bothers that item again. Of course, sometimes it is already ruined and chewed up, unless it is hard rubber or metal.

The problem lies in figuring out what item she will steal next in the dark of night and telling her, "NO", before the crime is committed.

Keeping her in the lot is the real answer but that isn't easy either. The Crossman Pumpmaster BB Rifle is very nice and my husband has hit her with a BB a couple of times and she has yelped but for some reason I just can't hit her. I find it hard to pump up and can only pump 3 to 4 times, he does 7 and I think it is more accurate at 7, the limit is 10.

We only shoot her if she is not looking at us, to make sure we don't hit an eye. It hasn't taken her long to tune in to the sound of that gun being pumped, so she is usually running for the hills by the time we pull the trigger anyway.

So, it isn't that I don't think puppies are adorable, I just wish that this one would grow up. My husband keeps telling me that she needs to grow up and my LGD friends keep telling me to bear with her because she will eventually get past this stage.

She also barks a lot but I knew before I got her that was a characteristic of a Great Pyrenees, that is all a part of the guarding and protecting, which makes sense because most predators and not going to go into a pen with a barking dog, she sure doesn't sound like a puppy, she was born with an adult voice.