Michael Horton

I had a family friend who owned a ridgeback growing up. They are fabulous dogs and gorgeous in person with a very impressive deep bark.

That Grand Shepherd is a goodlooking dog.

We have been feeding our dog a raw diet for several years and he's in great health. This now inlcudes a portion of raw mackerel several days of the week. Once we started giving him the mackerel his coat got shinier and and looks much glossier. He also has had less skin issues. Supposedly ocean fish are safer for dogs because they don't have the same parasites as freshwater fish. Don't overlook feeding your pooch fish he'll love it and his coat will look great.

Great photo, yeah that's definetly a lot of trees.

Haha nope, thankfully no real gators here in the Northeast. It must be natural instinct that they are afraid since it works for the geese and ducks around here too. Im assuming they've never seen gators either but they migrate in the winter so maybe they have. We actually have a woodchuck that lives under our neighbor's shed and comes into our yard sometimes and he no longer drinks from the pond anymore as well. The squirrels however, seem to be oblivious.  

After our dogs have destroyed several bed we purchased, what's worked best for us was simply using those large round black platic tubs. We put a bunch of old towels inside each to act as cushioning and that the dogs can scratch and pull with thier mouths to move it around so its to thier liking without us having to worry about whether they get destroyed. We can wash the towels in the washing machine and the tubs get a quick spray down with the hose once a week to keep them clean. Very easy and cheap plus the dog love them. Although they do have to jump to get in and out a bit so may not be ideal for older pooches.

Wow I had no idea.

That's a beautiful snake. If I'm not mistaken milk snakes are actually popular pets because of their gorgeous colors and that they are considered mild-mannered snakes compared to other types.

Trapped raccoons can be extremley nasty. And they are surprisingly much larger than most people imagine when you're up close and personal with one thats in a live cage trap. We had our koi pond decimated by a single raccoon over a the span of a few nights. Instead of dealing with all the hassle of trapping and relocating it, we decided to go with a deterrent.  Also we read that many raccoons are actually killed by other raccoons when relocated since they are so territorial. What ended up working for us was using a gator decoy: https://www.gardenandpatiohomeguide.com/the-complete-alligator-decoy-guide/ We put it in the pond and with the movement of the water from the pump it makes it looks like its moving around on its own. We got one with eyes that light up and "glow," so that the racoons would be sure to see it at night. No more missing or half-eaten fish since. We got the idea from a family friend who had used a fake gator to stop coons from actually using his pool as a toilet.    

Heard of many sightings in the castkills and adirondak mountains of ny state. I think they've always been around, and never went anywhere. Just a smaller population in the Eastern US and people don't see them since they are such highly elusive predators. Also there's sometimes politics involved even when it comes to in agencies admitting certain species are extinct, threatened, etc.