Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas!
Here's a couple of photos of my two boys on Christmas morning. OK, I couldn't resist when I saw that Hanna Anderson had dog pajamas that matched Jared's new Christmas jammies.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Saturday, December 01, 2007
First snow of the season
It snowed! I took Timber out to play in it and very quickly he got the hang of chasing snowballs and running wild and crazy through the cold wet stuff. He tried to dig in it like he used to do in the sand at the beach this summer, but it wasn't quite deep enough. No matter, he enjoyed it for at least a little while. The snow has already turned to rain and probably by the end of the day, it will disappear.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
The sun decided to come out...
especially for Tama's birthday.
Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you... Ok, we all know the drill by now.
Happy Birthday Tama. She's 5 years old today. For some reason, they've brought the birthday party inside under my desk. Here's Tama and Timber being really annoying as I'm trying to work:
Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you... Ok, we all know the drill by now.
Happy Birthday Tama. She's 5 years old today. For some reason, they've brought the birthday party inside under my desk. Here's Tama and Timber being really annoying as I'm trying to work:
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Blue Isle Shiver Me Timbers, CGC
Yesterday Timber received his AKC Canine Good Citizen award.
There are 10 parts to the test that we took together. He had to pass all 10 in order to get his CGC award.
Test 1: Accepting a friendly stranger
Test 2: Sitting politely for petting
Test 3: Appearance and grooming
Test 4: Out for a walk (walking on a loose lead)
Test 5: Walking through a crowd
Test 6: Sit and down on command and Staying in place
Test 7: Coming when called
Test 8: Reaction to another dog
Test 9: Reaction to distraction
Test 10: Supervised separation
After my last aussie being the only dog in my household without a CGC (he wouldn't let the tester touch his feet), it's awesome to finally have an aussie that has passed. Especially one that is so young.
Timber and I are working on pre-agility and rally right now.
For more information on the ACK Canine Good Citizen test, go to http://www.akc.org/events/cgc/training_testing.cfm
There are 10 parts to the test that we took together. He had to pass all 10 in order to get his CGC award.
Test 1: Accepting a friendly stranger
Test 2: Sitting politely for petting
Test 3: Appearance and grooming
Test 4: Out for a walk (walking on a loose lead)
Test 5: Walking through a crowd
Test 6: Sit and down on command and Staying in place
Test 7: Coming when called
Test 8: Reaction to another dog
Test 9: Reaction to distraction
Test 10: Supervised separation
After my last aussie being the only dog in my household without a CGC (he wouldn't let the tester touch his feet), it's awesome to finally have an aussie that has passed. Especially one that is so young.
Timber and I are working on pre-agility and rally right now.
For more information on the ACK Canine Good Citizen test, go to http://www.akc.org/events/cgc/training_testing.cfm
Monday, October 15, 2007
It's a month full of canine birthdays...
Happy Birthday to you... Happy Birthday to you... Happy Birthday dear Jazzy.
Happy Birthday to you.
Tama's is next week.
Happy Birthday to you.
Tama's is next week.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
And another miracle milestone...
HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY, KISHI
It's really hard for me to believe that my girl is 10 years old.
How is she doing?
Looking at her, I'd say better than ever. She has a gorgeous coat. There are still some small areas with blackened skin which I doubt will ever fully heal. She had an ear infection recently and I took her to the vet. The vet saw no signs of yeast, treated the ear infection topically, and I can tell she's already feeling better. Kishi is adjusting to the loss of her eyesight, and gets around pretty well. She'll follow our voices when I take her outside, and in the house she just knows the lay of the land, so to speak.
It's really hard for me to believe that my girl is 10 years old.
How is she doing?
Looking at her, I'd say better than ever. She has a gorgeous coat. There are still some small areas with blackened skin which I doubt will ever fully heal. She had an ear infection recently and I took her to the vet. The vet saw no signs of yeast, treated the ear infection topically, and I can tell she's already feeling better. Kishi is adjusting to the loss of her eyesight, and gets around pretty well. She'll follow our voices when I take her outside, and in the house she just knows the lay of the land, so to speak.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
6 months-6months-Where has time gone.
My squishy little puppy is now an adolescent. But look beneath the cuteness and you will see a counter-surfin', toy-destroyin', knock-em-over-with-full-body-slams dog. We're working on those, but it's part of his aussie charm.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
Sit, Stay, Smile
While working on sit stays, I thought it would be a little fun to see how our buddy Timber handled sit stays in a crowd. And of course it was too cute not to grab a camera and capture. It's not easy to get all the dogs to stay in one place, and to all look in the same direction. They all seem to have their own agenda. And when one dogs moves, they all think they can bolt. So, after about 20 minutes of trying to get them all to look good, I think this one photo the best.
Doesn't Kishi look good? If you look back at my posts from a year ago, you'll see that she's made remarkable improvements. She looks better than I've seen her in a long time. Except for her eyesight, she is doing fantastic.
Doesn't Kishi look good? If you look back at my posts from a year ago, you'll see that she's made remarkable improvements. She looks better than I've seen her in a long time. Except for her eyesight, she is doing fantastic.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Shiba Veteran Website
This is a really great website if you want to see how well Shiba Inus age. There are some beautiful dogs here. Most of them are 9 years old or older. And one that is almost 17!
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Water Dog
Are you bored of pictures of the puppy yet? Tired of me gushing about how wonderful he is? Well, here's one more photo and post of him and then I promise I'll post something of substance.
Here's our water dog. We took Timber to the beach today for the afternoon. He can swim pretty well. It didn't take much encouragement to get him in the water. He just followed us in. He's not thrilled with areas with waves. He'd prefer the calmer areas. His favorite thing is picking up shells.
Here's our water dog. We took Timber to the beach today for the afternoon. He can swim pretty well. It didn't take much encouragement to get him in the water. He just followed us in. He's not thrilled with areas with waves. He'd prefer the calmer areas. His favorite thing is picking up shells.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Role Reversals...
Farley was always the trainer of shiba puppies. He was a good play buddy for them. Now with a new aussie puppy, Don Juan has become the play buddy. What a role reversal.
THE NEW
THE OLD
THE NEW
THE OLD
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Just call him "DIGGER"
We had a load of mulch delivered. Timber thought the soft dirt was a great place to exercise his paws. I never knew a puppy could dig a hole so quickly!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
He's the cutest puppy ever...
Not that I'm not biased or anything!
Timber has learned to sit and down. We are working on stand. He has a pretty good sit-stay - the best you can do with an attention span of an 11 week old puppy.
Timber has learned to sit and down. We are working on stand. He has a pretty good sit-stay - the best you can do with an attention span of an 11 week old puppy.
Homemade training treats
I've been doing some experimenting trying to come up with food and training treats for my dogs. Here are my dog's favorite training treats. Don Juan has always loved salmon. And these have just enough to entice him and keep him asking for more.
Salmon Snackers
You can divide this recipe in half. It makes a HUGE batch. Freeze any extras.
12 c. oatmeal
4 c. whole wheat flour
8 eggs with the shells
2 cans of salmon (drained)
3/4 c. olive oil
2/3 c. honey
1/2 c. molasses
1 can Meyenberg goats milk (add enough water or chicken broth to make 2 cups of liquid)
1 large can solid pack pumpkin
1 apple (chopped fine with skins on)
I will also add other fruits and veggies when I have them - Asparagus, Broccoli, Carrots, Collard, Cucumbers, Green Beans, Kale, Lettuce, Parsley, Spinach
Preheat oven to 325. Grease 2 cookie sheets
Dump everything into a VERY large bowl. Mix together. Pat onto greased cookie sheets & bake at 325° for 1 hour. After 1 hour turn oven off, crack oven door & allow cookies to cool in oven. Cut into squares when cool. You must refrigerate or freeze any extras.
Salmon Snackers
You can divide this recipe in half. It makes a HUGE batch. Freeze any extras.
12 c. oatmeal
4 c. whole wheat flour
8 eggs with the shells
2 cans of salmon (drained)
3/4 c. olive oil
2/3 c. honey
1/2 c. molasses
1 can Meyenberg goats milk (add enough water or chicken broth to make 2 cups of liquid)
1 large can solid pack pumpkin
1 apple (chopped fine with skins on)
I will also add other fruits and veggies when I have them - Asparagus, Broccoli, Carrots, Collard, Cucumbers, Green Beans, Kale, Lettuce, Parsley, Spinach
Preheat oven to 325. Grease 2 cookie sheets
Dump everything into a VERY large bowl. Mix together. Pat onto greased cookie sheets & bake at 325° for 1 hour. After 1 hour turn oven off, crack oven door & allow cookies to cool in oven. Cut into squares when cool. You must refrigerate or freeze any extras.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Introducing....
Well, we don't quite have a name yet. If it was up to J, it would be "Red". If it was up to Ed, it would be "Nibbler". And if it was up to me, he would be "Bandit". So we're going to play it by ear and let the puppy choose which one he wants to answer to... so far, Red is winning. He is an 8 week old red merle australian shepherd.
He's been introduced to the rest of the crew one by one.
Kishi growled - she's got to exert her kishi-tude.
Don Juan sniffed and then pretty much ignored him.
Jazz was so excited to see him that the puppy ran and hid behind Ed. She wants someone to play with soooooo bad. But she's still a little big for this little guy. I predict the tables will turn in a month or so. And she'll be the one running for cover.
And Tama surprised us all. Since her litter of puppies over a year ago, she hasn't wanted to be around any puppies. She seems to like this little guy. And I see her maternal side coming out. The puppy warmed right up to her.
He's been introduced to the rest of the crew one by one.
Kishi growled - she's got to exert her kishi-tude.
Don Juan sniffed and then pretty much ignored him.
Jazz was so excited to see him that the puppy ran and hid behind Ed. She wants someone to play with soooooo bad. But she's still a little big for this little guy. I predict the tables will turn in a month or so. And she'll be the one running for cover.
And Tama surprised us all. Since her litter of puppies over a year ago, she hasn't wanted to be around any puppies. She seems to like this little guy. And I see her maternal side coming out. The puppy warmed right up to her.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Kishi Update
I've had people ask me how Kishi was doing. Her skin is doing much better and her hair is growing back. There are no more raw open spots on her body. The yeast smell is definitely not as bad.
It's been almost a year since we started using the Nzymes in her food to combat the yeast problems and I've found if I bathe her in Selsun Blue that she doesn't itch. We removed the carpet in our downstairs where she spends most of her time. I've always had the feeling she was reacting to the chemicals that Stanley Steemer uses to clean the carpets. Her problems started in our last house a couple weeks after having the carpets cleaned for the first time. The allergies got better when we moved into a new house, and worse once I had the carpets cleaned again for the first time in that house. Removing the carpeting was the best thing we could do for all of us.
Although she'll never be rid of her allergies, I am thankful the old dog can have some relief.
It's been almost a year since we started using the Nzymes in her food to combat the yeast problems and I've found if I bathe her in Selsun Blue that she doesn't itch. We removed the carpet in our downstairs where she spends most of her time. I've always had the feeling she was reacting to the chemicals that Stanley Steemer uses to clean the carpets. Her problems started in our last house a couple weeks after having the carpets cleaned for the first time. The allergies got better when we moved into a new house, and worse once I had the carpets cleaned again for the first time in that house. Removing the carpeting was the best thing we could do for all of us.
Although she'll never be rid of her allergies, I am thankful the old dog can have some relief.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Natural Balance Recall
I know many of my friends use Natural Balance. I know, because I have recommended their products for years. We've used many of their dry foods and their rolled food as training treats.
Natural Balance just recently recalled some of their foods due to melamine contaminated rice gluten.
I had been feeding the recalled product, Venison and Rice, on and off, switching it out with the Natural Balance Ultra Premium and Candidae when I couldn't get the Venison and Rice. And I was using it even during the time that we lost Chelsea a couple months ago. Oddly enough, all my dogs got sick immediately after opening a bag of the Natural Balance Venison and Rice. All of them except for one. Kishi, the one who eats a raw meat diet.
The other dogs bounced back after taking them off the food and feeding them homemade rice and chicken for a couple of weeks. Chelsea just got weaker and weaker. We didn't test her for kidney failure. So I guess we'll never know for sure. It was a couple weeks before the Menu Foods recalls began. I sighed with relief when I didn't see Natural Balance on the first list. I really never expected to see them on the list. I felt I was feeding a high quality food that would never let something like this happen.
But it did. The announcement was made a few days ago and these products were on the list.
Venison and Brown Rice Dry Dog Formula
Venison and Brown Rice Canned Dog Food
Venison & Brown Rice Formula Dog Treats
Venison and Green Pea Dry Cat Formula
Chicken Formula Canned Dog Food
Lamb Formula Canned Dog Food
Beef Formula Canned Dog Food
Ocean Fish Formula Canned Cat Food
If you want more information on the Natural Balance Recall:
Needless to say, my pups are all happily eating a different brand of food- They are on a combo raw and kibble.
Natural Balance just recently recalled some of their foods due to melamine contaminated rice gluten.
I had been feeding the recalled product, Venison and Rice, on and off, switching it out with the Natural Balance Ultra Premium and Candidae when I couldn't get the Venison and Rice. And I was using it even during the time that we lost Chelsea a couple months ago. Oddly enough, all my dogs got sick immediately after opening a bag of the Natural Balance Venison and Rice. All of them except for one. Kishi, the one who eats a raw meat diet.
The other dogs bounced back after taking them off the food and feeding them homemade rice and chicken for a couple of weeks. Chelsea just got weaker and weaker. We didn't test her for kidney failure. So I guess we'll never know for sure. It was a couple weeks before the Menu Foods recalls began. I sighed with relief when I didn't see Natural Balance on the first list. I really never expected to see them on the list. I felt I was feeding a high quality food that would never let something like this happen.
But it did. The announcement was made a few days ago and these products were on the list.
Venison and Brown Rice Dry Dog Formula
Venison and Brown Rice Canned Dog Food
Venison & Brown Rice Formula Dog Treats
Venison and Green Pea Dry Cat Formula
Chicken Formula Canned Dog Food
Lamb Formula Canned Dog Food
Beef Formula Canned Dog Food
Ocean Fish Formula Canned Cat Food
If you want more information on the Natural Balance Recall:
Needless to say, my pups are all happily eating a different brand of food- They are on a combo raw and kibble.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
And one more point for Miss Piggy...
She's up to 10 points now, including one major. There's another show next weekend in California. Keep your fingers crossed.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Tomo the therapy dog
Tomo and his owner Denise passed the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) and the Therapy Dog International (TDI) Tests today. Tomo is going to be a therapy dog!!!
Pictures to come.
Pictures to come.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
And the Pigster racks up two more points
Piggy won WB today at the Cluster shows in Arizona for two more points!
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Chelsea
Our beautiful chow mix, Chelsea, at 15-1/2 years old, left us today to see her buddies Ginger and Farley in canine heaven. She lived a good, long, happy life full of backpacking, hiking, camping, and playing around with the agility equipment. She was the enforcer and the dog that took care of and taught all the others how to behave in our house. She will be missed by all of us very, very much.
Chelsea
July 27, 1991-January 25, 2007
Chelsea
July 27, 1991-January 25, 2007
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Saturday, January 13, 2007
The Pigster wins Breed
Breaking news... One of Tama's puppies, Piggy (who's real name is Shimiko) won breed today at the Saquaro State Kennel Club show in Phoenix. She even beat a special! More to come with a photo eventually.
Mary
Mary
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