My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 332 The Puppy's First Training
The twelfth lunar month will be here in just a few days.

Once the twelfth lunar month begins, it becomes difficult to find people to work for.

In addition, Wang Lixian's fourth daughter is getting married this December, so Chen Ling has to go there a day earlier.

So if you want to build a kang (heated brick bed) at home, you need to find someone to build it as soon as possible.

After all, the farm is fine in other seasons, but it gets quite cold in winter, and it's hard to get through the winter without a heated kang (traditional heated bed).

Finding someone to build a kang (heated brick bed) is easy. There are quite a few people in Chenwangzhuang who know how to build kangs. The brothers Chen Guoxing and Chen Guowang, who live nearby, know how. Those who live a little further away, such as Chen Baoshuan's uncle Wang Fanma'er and Wang Jusheng's fourth cousin Wang Juying, also know how. Whoever is free can come. It's also convenient to come from the same village. In the end, once the kang is built, you just need to pay some wages and have a simple meal.

Chen Ling's family built a heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove), not only on the farm, but also in the village.

When it's time to have another baby, the father-in-law and mother-in-law will inevitably come over. When it's cold in winter, the heated kang (traditional Chinese bed) will come in handy.

Chen Ling hired someone to build a heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove).

Wang Chunyuan, who lives across the street, naturally found out about this immediately.

They knew that Chen Ling's wooden bed was a valuable item.

He would occasionally, pretending to be unintentional, loiter around outside Chen Ling's courtyard every now and then. Later, when he saw Chen Ling move the bed to the farm, he could only watch helplessly, itching with desire but unable to do anything about it.

Now Li Hongqi has also left.

There was nothing he could do but leave. It was almost the twelfth lunar month, and Li Hongqi was constantly bothered by the dogs. In the end, he got scared and had no choice but to slink away.

They say they're going home for the Chinese New Year, but it's not really going home for the New Year.

Instead, he planned to take advantage of the busy Spring Festival period, when fewer people were out at night due to the cold weather, to pull off a big heist in another village.

This made Wang Chunyuan extremely envious, and he really wanted to go treasure hunting with them, but he was also afraid that if he went rashly, Li Hongqi would trick him.

Although the two had recently become sworn brothers in private, he knew that this older brother was a ruthless person. In addition, he had heard many stories of setting traps and framing people. Even if Li Hongqi invited him to go together, he wouldn't have the guts.

Now, if he wants to find some treasures in the village, Li Hongqi hasn't taught him many skills, and he hasn't been able to get anything out of him by trying to get information out of him.

The most valuable thing I know right now is Chen Ling's bed.

But when he was asked to steal, he was afraid of Chen Ling's dog, which was like a demon, and especially when he thought about what Li Hongqi had been going through recently, he was terrified and didn't dare to go at all.

I was caught in this dilemma, hoping that Li Hongqi would come back as soon as possible after the New Year.

Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to find any treasures by himself.

He was torn between his feelings.

The villagers who had been keeping an eye on Li Hongqi were also in a bad mood.

They were expecting to find treasure, but instead discovered that Li Hongqi had secretly slipped away.

I thought this person couldn't find any treasures outside the village, so he took the bowls, pots and other odds and ends he had taken from their house to sell.

These are all so heartbreaking.

They also grew increasingly displeased with Wang Chunyuan, and would constantly argue with him whenever they met.

Wang Chunyuan had never felt so universally disliked.

……

As the twelfth lunar month draws closer, the heated brick beds at both the house and the farm have been completed.

Chen Ling had nothing else of importance to do.

That day, the sky was overcast, and the sun was not seen until after nine o'clock in the morning.

Chen Ling walked to the back of the farm, squatted down in front of the doghouse, lifted the cotton curtain covering the doghouse, and called out softly.

One by one, chubby, round, gray-black dogs, like balls of yarn, wobbled out of the inside.

These little creatures have been with the family for about twenty days. Under his and Wang Susu's care, they drink goat milk every day and have a warm nest to stay in, and they are all growing very strong.

The largest one is now about 30 centimeters tall.

As soon as they saw Chen Ling coming over, the little guys shook their heads and surrounded him, wagging their tails and barking, trying to charm him.

Hearing the noise, Heiwa quickly brought over the food bowls of the little creatures.

A little fox, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, followed behind Xiao Jin, its fluffy, thick tail wagging, and trotted over with light, quick steps.

"I see they've already come over to feed them. I said I'd take them out to play today, so put the food bowl back and feed them when we get back."

Chen Ling patted Heiwa's big head, and Heiwa wagged his tail and put the food bowl back.

This big black dog seems quite fond of children.

Every time it's time to feed the puppy, I stand guard closely beside it, carrying the food bowl and protecting the food for the puppy, afraid that the little fox will come up and steal the food.

That's right, these puppies are growing up a bit, it's time to take them out for a walk.

Although it was fed with spiritual water, it still needs to go out and see the cold wind, and get some training from a young age. It can't stay cooped up in its warm doghouse all the time, with Heiwa protecting it.

In the end, it was ruined.

But it must be said that puppies of this age are truly both fun and adorable.

Chen Ling waved his hand and called softly. The little furballs hummed and came over, shaking their heads and wagging their tails. They jumped around in front of him, some jumping to reach his hand, others standing up and putting their front paws on his knees. They all rubbed and licked him, being incredibly affectionate.

Chen Ling accepted all of them without hesitation, occasionally reaching out to pick one up and pet it, playing with them.

The chubby puppies in this age group are plump and soft to the touch, warm and cozy, making them very comfortable and irresistible to him.

"Let's go, let's go out and have some fun."

After playing for a while, Chen Ling called them as he walked outside.

Some of the little creatures were brave enough to run over on their short legs, while the less timid ones tried to back away, wagging their tails, but when they saw their brothers and sisters following, they couldn't help but want to take steps forward.

The little chubby dog, wanting to go back but involuntarily moving forward, wobbled unsteadily, looking incredibly cute.

Heiwa naturally understood Chen Ling's intentions. This big, silly dog ​​had recently started to act like a father. Upon seeing this, he barked twice at the little guys and led the puppies out behind Chen Ling.

Little Jin followed behind with the little fox for a while.

It seemed that they originally wanted to go and play, but the mother fox was very afraid of Blackie and didn't want the little foxes to come with her. She called out twice from a distance and called all the little foxes back.

Chen Ling has always been indifferent to this and never insisted on it; he would never force the little fox to stay.

Now the orchards outside the farm are bare, the leaves have all fallen, and the grass is withered and yellow, making it possible to see the foxes' movements very clearly.

Almost every day you can see them playing with Xiao Jin. The older ones lead the younger ones, jumping and playing with Xiao Jin in the grass. Sometimes they will also bother the little white calf.

The little white calf chased after them in the woods, and they ran and jumped around happily. Even though they couldn't understand animal language, you could tell from their expressions how happy they were.

No outsider would have expected that these cronies could get along with Niu; it's quite unusual.

……

Stepping out of the orchard, the fields outside are rolling wheat fields. Although the wheat seedlings are wilting from the cold as December approaches, they are still a vibrant green as far as the eye can see.

It's a pity that it's been gloomy these past two days, with no sunshine and rather cold weather. Otherwise, there would be children running around playing in the wheat fields, on the threshing floor, and in the stacks of wheat straw.

However, there were no little kids running around playing, but there were other little things, such as pheasants. Chen Ling had just led a group of puppies out of the orchard when he saw a large flock of pheasants on the slope not far away. It hadn't snowed yet, and the pheasants still looked very plump.

With thin necks and chubby bodies, they huddle together like fat gourds, searching for food in groups of three or five on the slope.

Pheasants are not easy to catch at this time of year.

Now that the view is open, the pheasants fly away as soon as they see people, so even if Heiwa and Xiaojin want to catch them, it won't be easy; they'll fly away from a great distance.

You can try to catch it at night, or on a snowy day.

Of course, calling Er Tu Zi along is always a piece of cake, no matter the situation. But we're out playing with the puppy right now, so we don't need him yet.

"Awooohoo!"

Chen Ling waved his arm and threw a clod of dirt at the pheasants, scaring them away with a clucking sound. Only then did he lead the puppies, whose ears were perked up and whose eyes were full of curiosity, into his own wheat field.

"Let's go, if we can't catch pheasants, then we won't bother catching them."

His original plan was to take the puppies for a walk, catch some small prey, and let the little puppies experience some bloodshed.

After all, they're already two months old. If they start bleeding sooner, and with Heiwa leading the way, their hunting instincts can be developed sooner.

Of course, it's just about seeing blood.

There's no need to rush to use the prey's blood to fill their mouths and noses; small prey aren't worth that trouble.

Chen Ling glanced around his wheat field and saw small mounds of earth rising up in the distance. He then led Heiwa and a group of puppies over there: "Pheasants are hard to catch, but we're sure to find rats every time we dig them up."

These small mounds of earth were freshly dug out from outside the field mouse burrows. They looked like ant nests, but were much larger. Compared to the normal soil in the wheat field, the mounds were all made of fine soil.

Field mice don't hibernate in winter; sometimes they come out of their burrows at night to look for food, so they leave an entrance to their burrows elsewhere.

Heiwa, who was nearby, quickly found its real den.

Chen Ling looked around and, seeing that no one was around, took out a shovel from the cave and dug down into the rat hole.

The chubby puppies, not understanding what was going on, stood by wagging their tails and staring curiously.

Winter wheat seedlings have already sprouted by now, so no one comes to the fields to dig up rat holes.

Chen Ling didn't mind or worry about damaging his wheat seedlings, and started digging furiously with a shovel.

After digging for only a few minutes, they reached close to the field mouse's main camp inside the burrow, where plump mice rushed out of the hole.

Heiwa reacted extremely quickly. Without moving his body much, it was as if he simply stretched out his paw and slapped the little creature under his paw.

The chubby puppies were initially watching with curiosity.

Seeing Heiwa's actions, they became interested and started barking, scattering in all directions to chase after the field mice that rushed out afterward.

These little creatures were hunting for the first time and didn't know it was prey. They were just playing around. Ten chubby puppies, wagging their tails in twos and threes, chased after the field mice, but managed to get two of them away.

"Heiwa, teach them to eat."

Seeing this, Chen Ling pointed to the field mouse at Heiwa's feet.

He deliberately let the puppies come out hungry, so that when they were extremely hungry, they would eat some raw meat.

People are motivated to hunt only after they know that the prey is edible and can be used as food.

This is also an important part of training hunting dogs.

Heiwa understood Chen Ling's command immediately. He watched as the little creatures chased the field mice, not killing them, but instead chasing and playing with each other, teasing the field mice.

It barked twice, and seeing that it had attracted the attention of the little fat dogs, it lowered its head, grabbed the mouse that was pinned under its paws, tore it open, and swallowed the meat in one gulp.

The chubby puppies seemed to understand something, turned around excitedly wagging their tails and barking excitedly as they chased after the field mice that they had played with until they were exhausted. After easily catching them, they took them in each other's mouths and started biting each other's heads and tails, tearing at each other.

Their teeth are very sharp, especially the biggest little fat dog, which bit off the rat's head in one go.

Finally, they saw blood. They imitated Heiwa and started tearing and biting. With blood in their mouths, they didn't need any further instruction. They started fighting over a few field mice and gnawing on them.

Chen Ling nodded in satisfaction: This is the advantage of having a big dog; taking it out is like teaching by example.

This trick works not only on puppies, but also on large dogs and even those that have been trained as hunting dogs.

Ordinary hunting dogs, or dogs that are a bit sick or have been frightened.

If you take a good hunting dog into the mountains to hunt, after doing this a few times, even an ordinary hunting dog can learn a few tricks from the good hunting dog.

This is called "dragging the dog" or "pulling the dog" among hunters.

"Let's go, let's dig the next hole."

Watching the group of chubby puppies quickly devour the rat, Chen Ling waved and led them to their next target.

In the winter fields, the mounds of earth at the entrances of field mouse burrows are incredibly conspicuous. If you walk up to the mounds and let Heiwa sniff them carefully, there's no way the mice will run away.

After digging the hole and driving the field mice out this time, Heiwa no longer needed to teach them.

A group of puppies barked and chased after the field mice that ran out of their burrows. Perhaps they hadn't eaten before bringing them out, and were now extremely hungry, so this time they didn't let a single field mouse escape.

After catching them, they pressed them to the ground and wolfed them down in twos and threes.

The little creatures whimpered and purred as they ate, their cuteness tinged with a fierce intensity.

It is indeed a first-generation wolfhound offspring.

Even though they are still young, they have strong teeth and excellent hunting instincts. After being taught only once and eating field mouse meat, they understand that this thing is edible and is prey.

They even went out of their way to search, running around in the wheat fields.

The only problem is that his nose isn't quite right yet; we'll need Heiwa to find the mouse hole.

After digging four or five more mouse holes, the ten little fat dogs worked together more and more seamlessly, and their bellies were bulging with food.

Seeing this, Chen Ling stopped looking for field mouse burrows and decided to wander around a bit more before going back for dinner.

The heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed) can be lit today, but the television set is still in the living room of the bamboo house in front and hasn't been moved yet.

Chen Ling had the heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed) built in the wooden building behind the house. It was paved with heat-insulating bluestone, and the two rooms were also separated by a section of heat-insulating wall, so the wooden building would not be damaged by the fire.

I'll move the TV over this afternoon; it'll be nice to watch TV in the warm and cozy atmosphere.

However, since it was their first time being brought to the wild, the puppies were full of energy and reluctant to go home. These little creatures were interested in everything, sniffing here and there before quickly running off into the distance.

With Heiwa following behind, Chen Ling wasn't worried and could only let them run around freely.

But a little while later, a chubby little dog started howling pitifully from the edge of a ditch in the distance, and Heiwa barked worriedly beside it.

Chen Ling hurriedly ran over and, upon seeing what had happened, realized what was going on.

"Sigh, you little thing, you're really unlucky. You got scratched by a mountain weasel on your first time out."

Below the ditch was nothing but a burrow inhabited by a mountain weasel, hidden by withered wormwood. As soon as you approached, you could smell the strong aroma of wormwood. Perhaps the puppies were curious because of the scent, but they didn't expect to get a swipe from the mountain weasel as soon as they came over.

Chen Ling bent down and peeked into the burrow. A big, fat, straw-yellow cat was peeking out with its head sticking out.

Seeing Chen Ling looking inside and hearing the dogs barking outside, it quickly pulled its head back in fright, while continuing to shrink deeper into the burrow, emitting a series of threatening howls.

Seeing this, Chen Ling picked up a branch and scared it twice before giving up.

"Forget it, forget it. This mountain weasel is too difficult to deal with. I can't avenge you this time..."

I touched the injured puppy, looked at its injuries, and found that it hadn't been hurt in vital areas like its eyes; it had only taken a clawing swipe on its forehead.

That's fine.

Puppies grow quickly; once their wounds heal and they shed their fur, they won't even leave a scar.

"Let's go, Heiwa. Stop yelling here. You can't catch anything in the cave anyway."

After calling out to the furious Blackie, Chen Ling carried a little one in his arms, followed by a bunch of little ones, and headed home.

Little did he know that his complicated relationship with the mountain fox was yet to come.

----

PS: This chapter is a supplementary update.
(End of this chapter)