The Ski Patrol are 5 weeks old today!

To get everyone in the holiday spirit, here are the Ski Patrol ready to head out to Grandma's house in their one-horse, open sleigh (without the horse, of course).

Not turning this into a cooking blog...

but I've had a few people ask me for the recipe for my protein-packed waffles. After last night's chat on Ustream, it was no wonder I was craving waffles and bacon for breakfast. So, here's the recipe...

Waffles
1/2 c. cottage cheese
3 eggs
1/2 c. water
2 t. light olive oil
1 t. vanilla extract
1-1/3 c. old fashioned oatmeal
1 t. baking powder
1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar or splenda to taste

Put oatmeal and baking powder in a blender and process until powdered. In another bowl, mix cottage cheese, eggs, water, vanilla and olive oil until smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in the blender and process until it forms a batter. As the mixture stands it will thicken and you may need to add more water a tablespoon at a time to keep it the right consistency.

Spray waffle iron with light olive oil. Cook batter in waffle iron according to iron's specifications.

Serve with fruit compote or syrup.

(when I'm being really lazy, I dump it all in a blender and stir it up instead of doing the two bowls. You get bigger chunks of oatmeal and the final result is not as fluffy, but it still tastes the same)

FANGS!

Ouch, poor Tama... the puppies are getting used to their new teeth and sometimes you'll see them bite their tongues.

Video of puppies playing

PSA for the holidays

With the holidays coming up, many people think that as they are celebrating, Fido should too. Unfortunately, holiday fare is just not healthy food for dogs. You may already know that cooked bones of any type are dangerous for your dog to eat, but when your focus is on the holiday and not on the dog, it's easy for Grandma to slip a turkey bone from her plate to Fido waiting below, or as you're clearing the plates into the trash, you turn your back for a moment and the remains are gone. Dogs can be very sly little creatures when they want something so badly and they don't want you to see them steal it!

Make it a household policy not to feed your dogs cooked bones of any type. Don't throw the leftover turkey carcass in any trash can accessible by pets. Don't leave food on the plates where a dog could counter surf and grab a bone.

Below are photos of a dog who ate a steak bone. A chip from this bone embedded in it's intestines. I've heard about cooked chicken and turkey bones splintering, but not so much about steak bones. The owner of this dog caught it quickly and rushed the dog to the vet who got it into emergency surgery before any real damage was done – except for the sizable scar on the dog's belly and an even more sizable hit to the wallet due to the surgery, a night at an emergency vet and a stay at it's regular vet for two following days to make sure he stayed hydrated. Prevention is the key.





And while I'm on my PSA soapbox, be very careful with medications, too. I just recently heard of a young dog getting a bottle of his human's thyroid medication from her purse and downing all 30 pills in the matter of seconds. So much for child-proof packaging. It's definitely not dog proof. For the owner, it was a very scary call to poison control and a trip to the vet.

Our adventure into the great outdoors.

The advantage of having spring puppies is that you have beautiful weather for the puppies to enjoy the outside. The last two of Tama's litters were easy peasy; flowers blooming, lawn chairs pulled up to the puppy run, picnics while watching the puppies play, neighbors dropping by to visit with each puppy. Not so easy in November. And really not very fun under cloudy, rainy skies.

We succeeded in venturing out three times today. And I waited... and waited in the cold and rain until each puppy had pooped. I know I should do one more trip out tonight. But it's dark. And cold. And I finally warmed up from the last trip out at 3:00. Uggh.

So while I was waiting, I took a few more pics of each of the puppies.

Betty, Girl:




Edge, Boy 1:




Avalanche, Boy 2:




K2, Boy 3:




Mogul, Boy 4:

The Ski Patrol are 4 weeks old today!

Today was our first adventure into the great outdoors. Lucky for us there was no snow in sight, but certainly lots of rain so we didn't stay out for long! Right away one of the boys pooped! That's always a good sign that we have smart little puppies that want to keep their house clean.







Here are some random close ups of the puppies at 4 weeks old:


Girl - Shredder Betty


Boy 1 - Catch'n Edge using Betty as pillow


Boy 2 - Avalanche


The puppies are really playing with toys now. Here's Avalanche modeling for the Zanies commercial!


Boy 3 - K2




Boy 4 - Mogul

Introducing food to the puppies...

Yesterday and today I began to offer the puppies an alternative to mommy's milk. To wean the puppies, I offer them food and if they eat it that's fine. If not they can still have mommy at any time. Once they have teeth Tama will wean them on her own, so it's good to get a head start on that. Tama's already spending time away from the puppies. If it's like the last two litters, by 5-6 weeks she wouldn't let them near her with those sharp little puppy teeth.

On my first introduction of the food, Edge and Avalanche dove right in and began eating. Edge made a good dent in finishing the bowl of food. The other puppies weren't quite ready yesterday. Today all of the puppies showed interest in the food and each of them tried a little bit. Clumsy K2 shoved his whole face in the bowl. Totally cute!

The Ski Patrol at 3 weeks old...

Just a quick update on the Ski Patrol Puppies! They are really motoring around on all four legs when they are not sleeping! They are so clumsy that it's fun to watch them tumble all over themselves. They spend most of the day sleeping with just periodic times of play. They've noticed their brothers and sister and are now mouthing and playing with each other. They had toenail trims today and each puppy got some out of the pen exploration with mom closely following behind!

Here are their photos!

Girl - Shredder Betty


Boy #1 - Catch'n Edge


Boy #2 - Avalanche


Boy #3 - K2


Boy #4 - Mogul

Big Brother wins Best of Breed!

Kona is paving the way for his new brothers and sister in Tucson Arizona this weekend. His owner said that Kona even beat two specials (dogs that are already champions) today for Best of Breed. We are all very proud of Kona!

For a reward following the win, Kona got to do two runs around the lure course. That whole litter loves to run. Lure coursing would be Trixie's dream if we had it where we live.

Now she has to clean him up and get ready for the group ring this afternoon. Hopefully great results to follow on this fantastic Friday the 13th! He is also showing tomorrow but not on the last two days of the show, Sunday or Monday.



*** Kona also won BOB on Saturday!!!!!!!!!! Go Kona, Go Kona, Go Kona

How can you resist puppy bellies...

I found two of the puppies sleeping on their backs this morning. They look so comfy cuddled together. They are 2-1/2 weeks old.

Our eyes are open!!!

Awww.. they are so cute! This week the puppies are trying to put weight on their legs. All of them can sit up, very shakily. Every day their mobility increases. And the big news is their eyes opened yesterday and today.

I had to give the puppies ribbon collars because the beauty of being a Lennie child is that he throws very consistent puppies. All the puppies look alike! The differences are so small - the far right toe on the left back foot of one puppy is white. One puppy has a tiny white blaze. Two of them are pretty much identical. But from my view, standing above the whelping box, there is no way to tell them apart. So collars are the best way for now. The colors are as follows:
Girl, Shredder Betty - of course she's pink!
Boy 1, Catch'n Edge - Teal
Boy 2, Avalanche - Yellow
Boy 3, K2 - Red
Boy 4, Mogul - he was brown but the ribbon fell off so he doesn't have one. You couldn't see it anyway.



So here's our cute girl... she's fabulous. And Jared's favorite of course. She reminds me alot of Trixie at two weeks.




Edge:




Avalanche:





K2:




Mogul:




And the last but not least - Trixie - she wants everyone to know that her eyes haven't opened yet...

CH Kishi's Mojo Desert Sun aka Kona

From Tama's previous litter, baby Kona (now 17 months old) is headed back into the show ring. This time as a special. Look for him at some of the upcoming shows in Arizona. Valerie just send me this picture of him hanging out at the pool...