Kibble Donation

Heading to Southside Animal Shelter to drop off some kibble.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

2012 Mutt Strut

Today we participated in the Mutt Strut, "The Greatest Spectacle in Dog Walking."  The Indianapolis 500 is referred to as the greatest spectacle in racing, and the walk took place at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Only Neeko went with us, because Bruce does best when he is not around large crowds.  There were plenty of people, dogs, exhibitors and vendors this year, but less than last year.  I think the fact that it was 45 degrees, rainy and windy scared some people off.  We walked Neeko with her gentle leader today.  While she is amazing at so many different things, walking on a leash when she is really excited is not one of them.  After perusing through the booths, and scoring about eight bags of kibble, each weighing five lbs (they will be donated to a shelter) we hit the track.  First we deposited all of our goodies, including the kibble, back in the car. 

Just a shot I took soon after we started, showing the pagoda and scoring tower.  The quality of some of these pictures isn't the greatest, as I forgot to adjust the settings, and my hands were numb, and so cold they were shaking.  We were lucky, and ran into a few different friends, both on and off the track.  Cody is one of Neeko's oldest friends.  They were born about 2.5 months apart, and have known each other since they were puppies.

As one can see, Cody, a Border Collie mix, wasn't the least bit bothered by the temperature as he enjoyed his dip in the baby pool.

Every year, a different sports car is selected as the pace car for the Indianapolis 500.  They are typically Corvettes, Camaros, and Mustangs.  I do not know what year this was, but it was a Camaro.

Harrison College is one of the sponsor's for the event, and they offer a vet tech program.  Some of their vet tech students were doing paw checks on the dogs.  Neeko always makes new friends and fans, no matter where she goes.  Here she is making friends with some of the students.

Chest scritches (scratches) are a sure way to win her heart.  They also make her eyes glaze over, and she forgets her name.

Approaching the finish line!  We only completed one lap around the 2.5 mile track, but had a great time.  We saw big dogs, small dogs, and dogs in between.  We saw all sorts of purebreds, and mutts whose background I couldn't even begin to guess.  Dogs of all ages and color.  People from everywhere.  Even a few in wheelchairs, with their dogs walking with them.

 Me and my girl, on the Yard of Bricks at The Brickyard!  The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was built in 1909.  Originally the surface was crushed creek gravel.  In the fall of 1909, the entire 2.5 mile track was set with bricks, placed 1/4 inch apart.  This earned it the nickname, "The Brickyard."  In 1961, the main straight was covered with asphalt, except for a 3 foot section at the start/finish line.  This was dubbed the "Yard of Bricks."  Winners of races frequently kiss the Yard of Bricks.  The entire surface, save this 3 foot strip, was covered in asphalt in 1976.

Once again, we very much enjoyed ourselves.  We are quite sure this will become a yearly endeavor.  Just wishing for better weather next year, as it rained last year as well.





I Love Small Local Companies

My Pet Carnivore (local company) advertisement in May/June edition of Dogs Naturally magazine. I'm kind of excited.



Weather prediction for Saturday and the Mutt Strut: high temp of 50 degrees with an 80% chance of rain. Rain or shine, we will have a great time!

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sometimes I Actually Enjoy Checking the Mailbox...

Our Mutt Strut packets arrived today. A northern breed is the "Top Dog" this year!




This year we are only taking Neeko. Bruce is a great boy at home, but he does best at home. It's almost sad, because Saturday is his one year anniversary of being with us, his forever home. The event is a morning-early afternoon thing, so we will make it up to him that evening.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Breakfast 4/23/12

This morning's breakfast. I know ground isn't the best form of raw, but this tripe blend is a favorite in our house.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Always looking for a bargain

At the store, picking up human necessities, and ran across this, minus the sale sticker.


Today was the sell by date. I found an employee and kindly asked about it being discounted. He took it back, and returned it to me with a new price. It never hurts to ask!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Supplements-The Cast of Characters

I know that groups of individuals contend that dogs do not require any dietary supplements.  After much research, there are a few that I use regularly.

Neeko is a young dog, she just turned two last month.  However, she has exhibited occasional soreness and stiffness in her hips.  She would occasionally do the bunny hop, running with both legs together, be slow to rise, and pause at stairs.  Because of this, and the fact that glucosamine is widely accepted for use in dogs, I have chosen to supplement her with it.  She typically gets one pill a day.  This provides 750 mg of Glucosamine HCL (more easily and better absorbed than 2KL),
375 mg MSM, and 100 mg Chondroitin.  I feel that it has helped.  While she is occasionally somewhat slow to rise in the morning, the bunny hopping has ceased.

Both of my dogs receive salmon body oil most days.  I give it to balance out their Omega 3/Omega 6 ratios, to help with their coats, and for Neeko's joint health.  Interestingly, I recently ran across this article from the University of Connecticut, regarding Omega 3 imbalances and how "aggressive" dogs may benefit from supplementation.  Bruce has anxiety, and has demonstrated fear aggression in the past.  This alone is reason enough for me to continue supplementing with it.









I recently learned that fish oil supplementation can deplete a dog's vitamin E.  For this reason, I choose to supplement with vitamin for both dogs a few days a week.

I give Neeko vitamin C most days.  While dogs, unlike humans, synthesize their own vitamin C, I have come across mostly anecdotal stories of how vitamin C can help dogs with joint problems, such as this one.  If anyone knows of true research that proves or disproves this, or of research indicating that vitamin C supplementation is harmful, please share.











A pill crusher.  Neeko HATES taking pills.  She will make herself vomit if I force it down her throat, and can pick out a whole pill mixed in anything.  The only whole pill she takes mixed in is the vitamin E pill.  I speculate that the gel cap is less offensive/noticable in her mouth.  I crush her glucosamine and Ester-C, and mix with ground raw, or canned dog food.











I give both dogs Seameal most days, mixed in ground raw or canned.  I tried giving it mixed with warm water, but neither cared for it.  I had read wonderful reviews of this product. 

Les would occasionally complain that Neeko smelled "doggy" even though she was being fed quality kibble and raw.  (On a side note, neither of my dogs has ever had any noticable smell to their breath.)  Since adding Seameal to their diet, he states that she no longer has a smell at all, except sometimes she smells like "dirt" for a few minutes after coming inside after being outside for a long time.

A Must Have

On the quest to feed my dogs more raw food, I soon realized the freezer capacity of one side by side wasn't going to cut it.  Most raw feeders, especially those with multiple or large dogs, have one or more dedicated dog freezers.  I have been searching craigslist, hoping to find a clean, newer, reasonably priced used freezer for us.  I finally found one.  I picked it up yesterday.  It met all my criteria.  Of course the dogs had to check it out, as
joke that they must think of the side by side where their meat is stored as the "food box"
It seemed that Bruce could smell that food that had been in there from the previous owners, and was quite curious about it.


This beauty isn't huge, about 14 cubic feet.  But I have read that approximately 250 lbs worth of meet can be stored in a freezer this size.  That is about 2 months worth of food for my two.  The great thing about having more freezer space is that I can now purchase meat in bulk, which will hopefully make feeding raw cheaper than feeding kibble/canned. 

Feeding Raw

I have been interested in raw feeding for well over a year now.  I started when it was just Neeko, offering her premade raw, raw scraps, pig feet and drumsticks.  Then we acquired Bruce, who had frequent soft stools for the first few months living with us.  I now think part of it was stress and anxiety related.  Bruce had his first solid stool with us the evening after he a chicken leg quarter for breakfast.  This was July, 2011.  From then on, I started (almost obsessively) researching a raw food diet for dogs.  I began incorporating more raw into their diets, but never at the same time as kibble.  To do a full PMR (Prey Model Raw) diet, the basic guidelines are 80% percent muscle/fat, 10% bone, 5% liver and 5% other secreting organ.  Although I wasn't feeding full PMR, I tried to adhere to these guidelines.

Fortunately for me, my dogs took to it like they had been waiting for raw since birth.  Not one case of cannon butt.

A few months ago, I stepped it up even more, and decided to basically do half raw, half kibble/canned.  I would feed a raw breakfast every morning, with raw dinners on Friday and Saturday nights, and kibble/canned dinners Sunday-Thursday nights.  I began ordering from My Pet Carnivore, who have a nice variety and are exceptionally nice people, and ventured into a local ethnic grocery store. 

I know it is hard to tell from the picture, but this was an exceptionally large chicken leg quarter.  I feed partially frozen, to help slow Bruce down.  He's not truly a gulper, as he chews everything, he just loves it so much that he tries to inhale it.

Again, the portions appear small, but they are not.  This is beef heart, a chicken neck, and Green Tripe Supermix from My Pet Carnivore.

*I think* this is a whole pork heart, a couple of chicken necks, a chunk of beef roast and some frozen liver chunks.

This is a ginourmous turkey neck, some chicken giblets and hearts (on sale for .49/lb) some frozen beef liver chunks, and the glob on top is ground beef pancreas.

Here, we have pork tongue, a smallish chicken leg quarter and some frozen liver chunks.












My dogs really enjoy and look forward to meal time, especially when it is raw.

Treats

In my opinion, a treat is just that--a treat.  Something that tastes good, not necessarily the healthiest thing.  I give my dogs a wide variety of various treats.  I try to keep them fairly healthy, without too many outrageous ingredients.  They eat, and enjoy, Trader Joe dog cookies, dehydrated lamb lung, Zuke's mini treats and biscuits.  They love Bil-Jac Liver Treats.  Their all time favorite is bully sticks.  I particularly like ordering from www.bestbullysticks.com

Here they are, enjoying some monster bully sticks from BBS.

Gratuitous Pictures

Just a few random shots of my beloved dogs

She was such a cute baby dog!

 Stalking something

 In the Smokies

 Toofers!!

 So serious...

 Looking skeptical

Swimming

Neeko loves water, and loves to swim.  As soon as she sees water, she thinks it is time to swim, and time to play.  The girl can't get enough.

 



Bruce, on the other hand, only tolerates being in the water...



2011 Mutt Strut

The Sunday after we adopted Bruce we all went to the Mutt Strut, a fundraiser held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Neeko did great, as did Bruce.  We think he was still a little shell shocked.

Les was even interviewed, with the dogs, by a local television show about pets. You can see their TV debut HERE!!  It is super cute, definitely needs to be watched!

Bruce

In March, 2011, Les decided Neeko needed a brother, and we needed another dog.  Dog park friends had told him how much happier she would be with another dog around.  To www.petfinder.com we go.  We looked at various GSD and Alaskan Malamute mixes, knowing we needed to find a big boy, as Neeko was growing up to be a very tall girl.  We found Bruce through a local rescue, filled out an application and went to meet him with Neeko at his foster mom's house.  They hit it off.

These are pics from their first meeting.  Bruce is also a tall doggy.  He is an agouti Malamute mix.  The vet clinic this particular rescue uses apparently recognized Bruce, and was able to provide the rescue with all of his records, as his original owners had also taken him there.  His name had been Bruce his whole life, so we did not change it.  The rescue provided us with these old vet records, having marked out the original owners' names with a sharpie (which I could read through).  He was listed as 10 weeks old on December 8, 2009, so we celebrate his birthday as October 1, 2009.  I would later find out who his "breeder" is through Facebook, and receive pictures of his parents,and find out that his birthday actually is October 1.

We officially adopted and brought Bruce home on Thursday, April 28, 2011.  He was a little over a year and a half old.

The best dry dog food?

During my obsessive research trying to find the best possible food for my girl, I read about this food called Orijen.  It was supposedly the best dry dog food available.  Of course, I had to find it.  I located it at a grooming salon 45 minutes away, and purchased the Large Breed Puppy formula.  15 lb bag for about $40.  The ingredient list, seen here, is pretty stellar.  I began feeding her this exclusively for a period of time.  I found another gem of a store, the Paw Stop, which also carried Orijen, and was much closer.  It was here that I was first introduced to premade raw, in the form of Primal, when the owner of the shop offered me a free sample pack.  I gladly took it.  Of course, Neeko LOVED it, and this lead to me researching raw food for dogs.

I started feeding Neeko the occasional meal of Primal or Nature's Variety Instinct in place of her kibble and canned meals.  From the time she was about nine months old, until she was about 15 months old, the only kibbles she ate were Orijen 6 Fish Orijen Large Breed Puppy.  I would mix in various "quality" canned foods with the kibble.  She ate her premade, and I started giving her the occasional pig foot, drumstick, and various pieces of raw meat that I cut off while prepping dinner for us humans.

She (and/or Bruce) have eaten:
Purina One
Wellness
Blue Buffalo
Orijen
Nature's Variety Instinct
Taste of the Wild
Earthborn Holistic
Infinia
Acana
Nature's Domain

I switched brands, and/or protein sources every 4-6 weeks.  They enjoyed variety, even though it was in kibble form.  I have also read that keeping a dog on the same food for lengths of time increases its risk of developing allergies.

On the hunt for the perfect dog food

It was late June, 2010, the first time we took Neeko to Eagle Creek.  She had a grand time, swimming in Lilly Lake, walking through the woods, eating goose poop, thus contracting Giardia.  It was also on this day that a few people commented on how skinny she was.  Granted, she was soaking wet, but she was also going through what I call the "puppy uglies".  She was gangly, awkward, not very cute at all.

LONGGGGG legs.

Giant ears, weird fur pattern...not very cute.

That evening, convinced I was somehow starving my precious girl, I started researching (dry) dog food.  We had been feeding her Purina One Puppy, because we didn't know any better, and the vet said it was a good quality food (!!!)

During my research that evening, I soon found out it wasn't.  At this time, I had not yet learned about the important nutritional needs of a growing large breed puppy.  I saw people on various forums raving about this food called Taste of the Wild.  I quickly went to their website here, and used the store locator.  It was sold at Tractor Supply.  I couldn't get their fast enough at my next opportunity.  I bought a 15 lb bag.  She gobbled it up, like it was the greatest thing she had ever tasted.  She had never been particularly fond of the Purina One.  Comparing the ingredients between the two, I now know why.

More, and more, and some more research followed.  I quickly learned that large breed puppies have specific needs, included amongst those, a correct calcium to phosphorus ratio, which the Taste of the Wild did not provide.  Around this time, I discovered Pet Supplies Plus, with their awesome staff and great selection of quality kibble.  I purchased Neeko a bag of Wellness Super5 Mix Large Breed Puppy.  She next ate Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy.  Then I discovered Orijen.