My New Shoes

Those shoes I ordered online and have been talking about?  They arrived today.

Yes, I got toe shoes, and yes they are totally kickass.

Want some toes shoes of your own? Visit this site to enter a contest for a free pair!

Best search term so far

are shiba dogs stupid


To answer the question, Shiba dogs aren't generally stupid.  They can appear to be stupid because they are incredibly stubborn.  They are actually quite smart and are very mischievous.  They know how to manipulate you to get their way.

Black, White and Orange

I might make this a recurring thing.

Hiking days are Tuesday, Thursday and maybe Saturday or Sunday.  Other days are "rest" days where we walk 2 miles or more in urbania and go to the dog park.  I much prefer hiking days but I cannot afford to go everyday.  Today was rather warm on the trail but we still logged a little over 3 miles.
Conker saw, for the first time ever, a deer.  It was all "Ooh lookit me just BOUNDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!  I'm so great, I just know it la la la la la, la la."  Conker stared like mad but didn't try to chase.  I could tell he wanted to, he was almost shaking he wanted to that badly, but he didn't. 

My Pictures

They are back.  Wooooo

I think I'm gonna buy some Honest Kitchen.  Just have to actually get myself to do it, since I've got this spiffy $3 off coupon thing I should probably use before it expires in two days.  I really hate ordering stuff online though, especially if it comes with a tracking number since I obsessively check it's progress like I've been doing with my shoes.

Off-Leash Derps

Went hiking today. 

And brought all three dogs with me.

This could easily have gone terribly wrong since I decided to let all of them off their leashes.  Much to my complete surprise, Juneau responded faster than the other two.  Sasha just derped around and Conker was his normal Shiba self who contemplated commands before obeying them.

We only hiked about 3 or so miles on the Outback Loop and Bridges trails.  It was still pretty fun and thankfully we didn't run into any people or the two horses that were on the trails. 
Juneau was a bit scatterbrained when it came to smelling critter trails and shoving her stupid face into the burr grass and getting burrs stuck allover her dumbness, but she was good enough that I never had to permanently put her back on the leash (me holding it).  I think with a bit more training that she could be a good off-leash dog, but for the time being she gets to wear the leash and just drag it around since she is a lot better with it like that.

This picture took more than 10 tries to get.

Dirtyface

In other news...
Conker doesn't really fit into the basket on my Mom's bike but after he refused to trot beside it, he had no choice but to squeeze his butt into the basket and ride home that way.  He was in no manner pleased, at all, but stayed in the basket the whole time.  I hope he won't continue to dislike being around bikes, I really want to do some trail riding at Cathedral Hills sometime soon and it'd be a shame to leave him at home.  (And take Juneau instead...)


In other other news...
Breaking Bad is a good show.  Go watch it if you haven't yet.  Now.

Went hiking again

We went back to Cathedral hills for the third time this week.  I really like that place, it's a lot of fun.  This time we went on the Backside Loop, W Trail and Wild Rose Loop.

It's cooling off really quickly right now.  It was about 86 earlier today then the temp dropped to 83, and in the past two hours it's gone down to 74 and there is a thick bank of clouds rolling in.  There is supposed to be rain in them clouds, and I don't doubt that it'll drop on us.  It's forecast to rain almost all night and day tomorrow, then stop for a bit then start up again.  After that it looks like the temperatures are going to stay in the mid to high 70's for a while.

No Pictures, But I've Got a Video!

I am still trying to figure out what to do over my loss of photos.  The blog is really kinda boring without them.  In the meantime, here is a video I took yesterday while on our hike.

WELL...

I have apparently exceeded my photobucket bandwidth.  Since I'm cheap and will not pay for such services, I guess the blog will be lacking photos for the rest of this month.
Sorry about that.

Edit:  Just figured out why my pictures aren't showing up... I wasn't paying attention while uploading photos and went over by one on my limit.  Oops!   I guess they punish you for doing that by taking away viewing capabilities of your pictures for the rest of the month.

More Cathedral Hills

We went back to Cathedral Hills today.  Hiked about 5 or so miles on the Outback Loop, Manzanita Tunnel (not a tunnel), Timber Ridges, Skycrest and Skycrest Loop trails.  Had lots of fun, only ran into a couple people and Conker behaved around them.

Orange Bandanna

I bought Conker an orange bandanna at the Blondie's dog thing.  I forgot about it the first time I went to Cathedral Hills but stuck it on him today.  Not only is he much cuter with the bandanna (oops) but it serves two purposes:  One is to make him more visible as fall approaches, so no hunter-types will pop out of the bushes say "Oh, I thought your dog was a fox!" Also, since it's still quite warm out (86 today) it doubles as a cooling thing.  Whenever we stopped for water I'd dunk his bandanna in the water then put it back on.  He seemed to like how it kept him cooler and he appeared to have more energy than he did last time.

Dumbass

Somewhere in the middle of the hike we found a pick-nick table. Conker got up there and posed like a dumbass with his ears all super upright and aimed out.

We saw some more neat scenery. (This time I remembered that the leaf rustling was squirrels and they didn't freak me out when I heard them)

The Skycrest Loop was my favorite part of the hike.  It's a short loop (duh) that is more like high desert than Northwest forest.  Being a desert person I highly enjoyed the exposed, sun-drenched and hot hillsides a lot more than Conker who quickly ducked from shady patch to shady patch.  This is where his wet bandanna came in handy.


In case you didn't know, I've been going barefoot since the beginning of April (almost six months!).  This trail feels awesome on my feet which don't really like the rough sidewalks we've got here.  I can't wait for my new shoes to get here so I can walk around "barefoot" on the sidewalks and when it gets colder without loosing my nice leathery feet.

Cathedral Hills

I finally got myself over to the Cathedral Hills hiking trail system.  I have no idea why I haven't gone before now but today I decided I was sick (oh so very sick) of walking through neighborhoods on pavement.  I'd rather have a flat, barren, rocky, hot and desolate trial than a nice, cool, shaded neighborhood to walk on, that's how much I hate walking in "civilized" areas.

Anywho, the Cathedral Hills trail system is only 5.6 miles from my house (about 15 minutes away) and is right next to a golf course country club thing and lots of private property.  Here is a map of the trail system:  Clicky

I packed Conker into my Jeep and headed out around 12:40.  We got there shortly before 1 and hit the trails.  I'm not entirely sure where we went exactly, I didn't have a map of the trails on hand, but we were out there for a little under two hours.  I do know that we were on the Backside Loop, Outback, Hogback and a couple side trails in the system and explored about 5 miles of it. 

The scenery changed depending on if you were on top of, on the side of or at the bottom of a hill.  The trails also varied depending on intended use.  The horse trails were wider and often in flatter areas.  The hiking trails were smaller and in rougher areas.  All of them had trees and all types had varying amounts of cover.  Sometimes you were out in the open, other times in the middle of a dense forest.  There were a couple places on some ridges that gave you nice views of the surrounding moutnains.

I've discovered that I'm more paranoid about that's making sounds in the forest than Conker is.  I guess he can tell that what the animal is without having to see it, since I stopped at least two times and stared into the woods for the source of leaf rustling, only to have been duped by a squirrel on both accounts.  It was probably the same squirell...

We did see a couple other things and the most interesting one was this guy.

Wolf spider?

I have never seen one of these before, and he was in quite a hurry to cross the path.  He stopped when Conker and I thundered over him and just sat there.  I wanted him to move into the sun so I could get a better picture but no manner of gentle poking could get him to budge.  He did flare up in that menacing spider pose but still didn't move into the sun, and I decided to leave him alone after that since I am not sure if he was poisonous or not. 

Conker, I have found out, is a lazy ass.  He loves downhill and is fine with flat stuff but once the terrain begins to go up he lags behind and plays the drama card.  Even the smallest incline will get him to do this so I know he's not actually tired or anything, and as soon as the hill is over he perks up and turns back into his old stupid self again.

Conker was kept on-leash for the good majority of the hike.  It's a new area and there were many blind corners, but I did let him off on the wider more open section at the end of the hike.  I think he enjoyed it (except the uphill parts) and I'm going to try to go back there several more times this month.  It is only 15 minutes away and there are over 10 miles of trails to explore.  Still plenty more to do out there.

Whole Life: Freeze Dried Treats

I heard about this company called Whole Life who makes freeze dried treats.  I also heard that they send out free samples, so I plugged in and requested some.  I waited a couple weeks and this little white box arrived on my porch last Friday. I opened it up to see... a piece of paper.  When you remove the paper you get:

10 samples of treats!  Each bag contained at least two treats, some as many as five.  Conker seemed to know that the box was for him since he sat very impatiently beside my bed as I rummaged through the box.

Me being me, I had to take all the samples out of the box and line them up on my bed.  I intentionally didn't get them perfect just to spite myself.  They are color coded according to type of protein.

They are in no particular order:  Beef, turkey, chicken, lamb, venison, salmon, cod, beef liver, chicken liver and lamb liver. They make a couple other things too.

I'm not going to post the guaranteed analysis since there are ten items, and since they all consist of one ingredient.  They are all linked though, if you are curious what the GA is on them.

Conker tried three varieties off the bat.  Beef, turkey and chicken.  He loved all three and was performing sits and downs without me asking.  He only does that for something he really really wants.

Anyways, I was curious about the price of these since I haven't seen them in stores, and since Conker liked them so much I might pick up a bag.  I looked online and the prices were OUTRAGEOUS.  The lowest I found (didn't look very hard) was $10 for a 4 ounce bag of the chicken treats, and the price only went up from there.  Then again, these are freeze dried and you get a TON of treats per ounce so maybe the price isn't that bad.  Still, I have yet to see them in person and I'll be able to get a better idea of just how many are in a 4 ounce bag when that happens.


Edit:  I've had Conker try all the other varieties.  He wasn't so fond of the lamb liver or cod but everything else was good.  I think his favorite type is the turkey.

Five Dogs

Mom's friend's dog's Lucky and Star came over for a visit after appearing at the Blondie's event for the local shelter.  (Blondie's is the upscale bar my Mom's friend co-owns) I took Conker over there for an hour or so and he was real good and let some people pet him.  He was only snarky with a couple dogs but generally got along with everybody despite all the noise, music, dogs, people and food at the event.

 When Conker and I got back (actually, before we even left) Lucky decided to take a dip in the pool.  normally this isn't allowed but there was no telling Lucky not to get into the pool.  Then much to my amazement, Conker went and did the same thing!

Conker has never gotten into the pool on his own, and after that first step in he was just as bad as Lucky about going in even when told not to.  Star took a couple cool-down dips as well and even Sasha was convinced to go in.

Conker went in several more times after that.  I'm glad he likes the water, but he'd better not make this a habit since he's really not supposed to go in there.


So, Mom thinks five dogs are a lot of dogs.  Five wet dogs running through the house, shaking water everywhere, leaving paw prints on the tile and carpet.  Five dogs who all bark at once, five dogs who all run through the door at the same time, five dogs who all want to be pet before the other.

Conker, Juneau, Star, Sasha and Lucky.

I don't think five dogs is too many. 

Twitter?

Yeah, I have no idea how to use it.  I'm going to "try it out" but I dunno if it'll fly, I'm not really into that sort of thing.  Stuck a widget on the sidebar...

Twitterness

Sasha passed the CGC!

Yay Sasha woo...

She did very well during the entire thing and only "messed up" during the dog meet n' greet thing.  She tried to sniff the other dog but I caught her quick enough that it didn't count against her. 
I'm going to be sending her paperwork into the AKC to get a certificate thingy to stick on the wall or something.


In other news...

There were some neat dogs at the event today.  Afghan Hounds, at least five were there.  I also saw a Rhodesian Ridgeback, a Hungarian Kuvasz, Irish Setters, Dobermans, Shelties, some loud and obnoxious Puli, many many Corgi's (one had long hair!) several GSD's, many mutts, some Chi's, Pugs, a ton of Poodle-oodle-whatevers... It was pretty neat.  Nothing outstanding was there but it was fun to see the different types of dogs in one place.

Leaves?

All three dogs were just out int he back eating leaves.  Not grass, leaves. Crunchy dead brown leaves.  I don't even know what that's supposed to mean, eating leaves.  Never really heard of it before. Grass yes, there are several theories on that but leaves?  Whatever.

Oddly Nice Day

So, it rained last night.  Dunno when but everything was wet when I woke up.  Odd, since rain wasn't in the forecast.  It's also like, 70 degrees right now.  It should be about 78. 

The dogs all got some yummy stuff today.

The Girls got some hunks of turkey back, chicken liver and egg.  Conker got a chicken leg, hearts, egg, beef liver, sardines, etc...

Juneau took her time eating her share.  She would grab a chunk and if it were too big she'd carry it to the grass and eat it over there then come back for more.

Sasha horked hers down and made a mess.

When the Girls were done I put them inside and brought the dumbass out.  He did a lot of this.

He ate everything except that damn chicken leg.  He would just lick it, so I held it for him, which I hate doing.  Lick lick lick, nibble, lick, nibble some more... I get agitated when he does this so I sat out there waiting for him to eat the damn thing for about 10 minutes before I dropped it on the ground and called Juneau out.  Conker was not happy, but didn't attempt to take the leg before Juneau got there, which he does with things he wants, so he mustn't have wanted it if he let her take it.

Conker later got a turkey tail which he did eat, out of the bowl, without me holding it for him like a freaking baby.


Sasha has her last CGC class in the park later today.  The event where the CGC testing is on Saturday, and hopefully she's ready to take it.  I hope she passes, that would be a neat addition to reaching the weight goal I set for her back in... whenever I started her diet.

This is what a brushing session with Conker looks like

The Honest Kitchen: Zeal Taste Test

I was given a sample of Zeal from MC over at The House of Two Bows to try out.  The day the package arrived I left it on my bed and visited the farmer's market and came home to see that Conker had wanted whatever was inside.  He chewed through one of the corners but thankfully had given up before he got to the tasty insides.  She was nice enough to give me enough Zeal to give all three dogs a taste test, and since Conker failed at pillaging the package all three got to do so.

Ingredients:
Dehydrated white fish (line-caught Haddock, wild Whiting), sweet potatoes, eggs, organic coconut, alfalfa, apples, green beans, parsley, cabbage, bananas, wild Salmon, cranberries, garlic, rosemary, tricalcium phosphate, choline chloride, zinc amino acid chelate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, potassium iodide, potassium chloride, iron amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate.

Guaranteed Analysis:
Protein, 35% min
Fat, 8.4% min
Fiber, 5.8% min
Moisture, 8.4% max

Zeal is actually much yellower than this.

Like the Keen, Zeal has a very herbish smell.   It smells quite nice, and I guess Conker recognized it when he tried to rip apart the package.  There are small chunks of fish, sweet potato, green beans and, something, visible in the mix.
And like he did with the Keen, Conker was strutting around and savaging the Girls' faces while it was re-hydrating on the counter.  When asked to sit, he craned his neck around backwards and watched me as I carried his bowl over to his "doggy diner" that is made out of a shoebox.

All the dogs loved Zeal.  Sasha finished first, then Conker and last was Juneau who cleaned everyone's bowls for them.  With how much of a hit this Honest Kitchen stuff is with the dogs, I really might have to pick up a box if I ever spot one, or order one online.  Only problems is, Zeal is the most expensive formula, but Conker liked Keen enough (cheapest) that I'll probably go with that one first.

RMB Day and Sasha's Teeth and Progress

Today was a RMB day!  The dogs were all given a taste test of something I'll write about tomorrow, then after my shower they were taken into the backyard and given some bones to chew on.  

Sasha got a beef rib.  And it looks like autumn in this picture.  It's actually still very green here.

See the green?  Juneau got a beef rib as as well, and figured out after about 20 minutes that the sun was hot so she relocated to the shade.

Conker got some sort of pork bone, shoulder I think, and stayed next to the pool.  He was halfway in the sun and half in the shade.  He ate the entire thing.


Now the Sasha stuff.
I skimped last Friday on Sasha's teeth update.  Completely forgot, so you get it today.

It's now been some 42 days or 6 weeks since I began adding PlaqueOff to the dog's food. 
 
Here is the before shot of Sasha's teeth.

Click to see the large buildup of tartar/plaque on the carnassial teeth and molars.

 And here is after 6 weeks of using PlaqueOff.

No buildup on carnassials or molars.

 A couple closeups.

Carnassial and molars. 

Canine and incisors.

The redness around the gumline on some of Sasha's teeth is from chewing on her beef rib.  I try not to take pictures just after giving the dogs chews but I didn't want to wait today and took them anyways.
Juneau's teeth are, again, unable to be shown but still look better than Sasha's.

I still can't get the buildup off the canines, but everything else looks awesome.  Keep in mind that without the bones I have been giving the dogs, the buildup would have taken a LOT longer to come off with just the PlaqueOff supplement.  The bones acts as aggressive toothbrushes, and I will continue to give bones every two weeks or less.  I don't know if I will buy another container of PlaqueOff when mine runs out if the teeth stay clean, but if the buildup begins to come back I will.


Now Sasha's weight.

Sasha has been on a strict diet since May when I switched them to Taste of the Wild.  She dropped down from 70 to 50 pounds!  She now weighs only slightly more than Juneau who is also taller but much, much leaner.  Sasha is a shorter stocky dog.  Anywho, she gets about 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups of kibble a day and has been maintaining her weight of 50 pounds for a couple weeks, so I guess that is a good amount for her. 

Here is a before shot of Sasha.

And after.

Again it's a terrible picture, I tried, but my camera is shit.  Anyways, you can see the tuck Sasha has now when in the before picture she has barely any.  She really does look a ton better now that she's down to a healthy weight.  She is also a lot more active even when I am not encouraging her to play.  That is nice.

Now that their teeth are great and Sasha's weight is down, I wonder what the Vet will say next time they are taken in.  Mom told me she got an earful about the Girl's teeth and Sasha's fatness on their most recent visit last year in November.  I hope the Vet will be satisfied with them now that I've had a change to correct the problems.

Spoils of the Saturday "Grower's" Market

My farmer's market is stupid. They call themselves the grower's market, since there is a store called Farmer's Market and I guess they don't want to associate with it.

I walked down there today to have a look around.  It was mostly veggies (everybody claimed to be organic), pastry and crafty crap.  I was looking for meat, and the only meat I found was just that.  Meat.  The beef was horrendously expensive, another guy was selling halves and quarters of beef and pork, the "organic" chicken was so expensive, and the only organ meats anyone had (chicken livers and heart, which I have plenty of) were so high I'd pass even if I ate it myself!  There was some rabbit but it was over $5 a pound.

So I meandered over to the only stall I've ever bought anything from and was greeted by a very outgoing, talkative and young salesman in a big straw hat.
I came home with this.

Spoils for Conker

I got three pig ears, three beef trachea and three tendon chews.  Conker has had the trachea before but he's never gone for a pig ear, and it's been a long time since he's had a tendon thing, other than a bully stick.
And when offered the pile of delicious and greasy chews, he didn't know what to do.  I thought he would dive in and lick everything but he just stood there, sniffed, then looked at me with a hugely confused expression on his face.  I wish I'd gotten a picture, because it was hilarious.

I separated the chews and offered him one of each.  He was still quite confused and after about five minutes, went for a trachea.  I could tell it was a hard decision since he kept sniffing the other two and licked at the tendon for a bit, but I guess the old favorite won out in the end.


Edit
These chews are made by a local company here in Oregon, but I'm unsure of their exact location. They do have a website but it's under construction right now.  I also don't know too much about them, but they claim the treats are natural and all that.  Either way, Conker really likes them and hopefully they will get their site up soon so I can read more about them and do an actual review.

Cats are EVIL

I was attacked by a cat.  My neighbor's cat, who was wanting to be pet so I pet her.  Then she attacked!  I think it's because Indie suddenly ran over to where we were and Nala decided it was my fault and savaged my hands.
Cat scratches and bites really hurt.  I haven't been attacked by a cat for years, and I'm convinced I don't want a cat for a long time now.  Even if I did get a cat it wouldn't be for pet reasons, it'd be because there were too many pests around my property.
Anyways, she didn't actually hurt me that bad.  It was just really surprising, and it felt exactly like the time I got a jumping cactus stuck to my leg, except it was my hands this time.

On the right hand: There are at least seven punctures above my thumb, a gash on the inside of my hand, a deep puncture on my wrist and a couple smaller punctures and scratches down my arm.
On the left hand: There is a deep puncture in the middle of the heel of my hand, three punctures on the outside of my hand, two scratches on my wrist and a puncture on my arm.
There was a lot of blood all over my hands and I was surprised at how small the wounds were after I'd washed it off. They are healing fine but the puncture on my right wrist still hurts. Everything else I don't notice unless I smack it against something.

What did I learn from this?  That Nala is evil when she decides to attack.  She wasn't like Angelina (my sister's former cat) who would just swat or bite lightly first and if you persisted to annoy her, she'd attack. But Angie always warned first, there was no warning from Nala.
She went all-out and grabbed hold of my hand and savaged it with her teeth and claws.  I tried to get her off my right hand so she went for the left, then took off after I yelled several bad things at her.  It all happened in about 1/2 of a second.
Oh, and to watch out for Indy while petting Nala.  That is after all, what set her off.

His name is Indie

Unfortunately, he is not mine.

And he makes funny faces while scratching.

Indie is my neighbor's new Siberian Husky Puppy.  He was born on the fourth of July, and is named Independence, or Indie for short.  He is the most chill puppy I have ever met.  I ran into his owners, and Pepper, on a walk and while Pepper was whining and snorting like normal, Indie just lay on the grass and watched Conker make nasty faces at him.  He didn't even care, that's how chill he is.

I am currently watching Indie (at the neighbor's house) and man, I love puppy fluff!  Indie is so soft and squishy, I love holding him and thankfully he doesn't object.  He likes to follow people around and isn't shy at all.  Funny thing too.  He's something between 9-10 weeks old and is as big as Conker was when I got him, and Conker was four months old!
His owners are kinda wondering how big he'll be, since his father was supposedly 70 pounds?  Too big for a Husky according to the standard.  But they met another Husky on a walk who barely tops out at 30 so who knows, but I have a feeling that Indie will be on the larger side rather than smaller.

CGC Training: Week 3

So!  Today's class went well.  We did the 3 minute separation thing, some distractions and brushed up on anything the trainers noticed we were lagging at.

Sasha, as usual, did great again.  One of the trainers, during the meet thing said to me:  "I really like this dog, I really do."   That made me feel better about Sasha's less-than-perfect downstay which she'll break at random times. She's getting better but still needs some work. 
She is pretty good with other dogs walking by, even sniffing at her.  There was a playfight between to dogs beside us and she ignored them the whole time.
So as long as you don't go waving a steak in her face she's great with distractions.  In a class setting that is, I still need to take her out a bit more and work on real-world distractions.
Sasha has also almost gotten heel down.  She will still stray or stop to sniff things but she's at about 80% right now, and that's very good.


I still would have liked to have done this with Conker instead but I know the friendly stranger and supervised separations parts are what would really get him. Unless it's a calm, quiet woman he don't want nothing to do with them.  And even then it normally includes touching, which is also required.  In the separation part I know he'd flat-out fail, and I don't want to stress him with that sort of stuff right now.
I'm hoping that I can find an actual class for this to take with him, one where there are less dogs so the trainers can focus on the problems of each dog instead of just go with a general survey of everybody.  I'd be even better if the class were for shy or fearful dogs, but I still haven't found one yet.

More Boredom

You know those long stretches where there's nothing interesting to do?  Yeah, I'm in one of those right now.  I've watched all the good documentaries on Netflix, I'm not interested in moves or TV shows, it's too hot during the day to do anything fun outside... Boring.
So here's a picture of a wet Conker on a log.

One thing I don't quite get is B Vitamins.  Most notably, niacin, B6 and B12.  Why in the crapping crap are there so many of those in meat?  And what is the safe upper limit?  I cannot feed Conker 4 ounces of pork without there being two times as much B's in it than he needs, and for the grain meals, there's about a level amount so he's still getting twice as much as he should. 
However, there almost always isn't enough of some other B's, like thiamin and especially riboflavin.  There's a lot of riboflavin in kidney but there's also a lot of the other B's I don't need more of.

I am wondering if the NRC numbers are wrong, or if it's safe to feed up to three times as needed of some B Vitamins without a problem, all the friggin time.  Some of them are linked to other nutrients, so that comes into play too.  My concern right now is niacin, since it can be toxic in large doses.  Same with B6 but less so than niacin.  And while Conker isn't getting immense amounts of these B's, he's still getting a hella lot more than the minimal amount and I'm not sure if they will affect him over time, or if it's only bigass single-dose numbers I need to worry about.

I really really want that 2006 NRC nutrition book for dogs and cats but I can't afford to buy a $270+ book with money I don't have. 

The Honest Kitchen: Keen Taste Test

I mentioned yesterday that I'd gotten a couple free samples of The Honest Kitchen food to try.  I wrote about the Preference already so today is about Keen.

Keen has blue packaging

Lets get right to the point on this one.

Ingredients: 
Cage-free turkey, organic oats, potatoes, organic flax, carrots, cabbage, alfalfa, organic kelp, apples, honey, garlic, rosemary, tricalcium phosphate, choline chloride, zinc amino acid chelate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, potassium iodide, potassium chloride, iron amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate.

Guaranteed Analysis:
Protein, 21% min
Fat, 14.5% min
Fiber, 4.5% max
Moisture, 8.5% max
Calcium, 1.8% min 1.90% max
Phosphorus, 0.8% min 1.00% max
Sodium, 0.18% min 0.2% max
Magnesium, 0.15%min 0.17% max
Calories per cup, 470
Calories per kg, 4140

Already the ingredients look better than Preference.
Turkey, oats, potatoes, flax, carrots and cabbage as the top five.  I kinda question the use of so much flax but the others look okay.  Again that odd alfalfa is in this food but some of the other varieties don't have it.

This and the other varieties (other than Preference) are formulated to AAFCO numbers so it's okay to feed as the sole diet, I guess.
What appealed most to me about Keen was the price.  It's the least expensive of the varieties and while it does contains potatoes, which I am still on the fence about, it looked okay enough for a taste test.  I'm glad I was given two bags of this since I used the first one as lunch on our backpacking trip.

Keen is very powdery with small chunks.

That taste test went awesome. Conker got really exited when I opened the bag and poured the powder into his bowl, added some water then let it hydrate.  He kept wanting to eat it right away and when I finally allowed him, the bowl was completely spotless when he was done.

Keen looks like tan mush when hydrated

The second reaction to the Keen being prepared was similar, but he was more excited than before.  He whined quite loudly, savaged the Girls' faces when they got too close and patrolled the walkway before the kitchen as the food sat hydrating on the counter.
When I finally let him have the food he performed a perfect sit without being asked and waited, quite impatiently but still nicely, for me to give him the food.

This was the real test for Mister suddenly-so-picky, and this is how it went.

I did let him try a few spoonfuls first, all of which he slurped up in no time at all.  I then added an egg since I knew he liked the food and wanted to round it out a bit.

I like the Keen much more than the Preference.  I hope to be able to get some soon to give it a real try, but the closest store that carries it is 60 miles (as the crow flies) away from me.  The Honest kitchen does sell stuff on their site but I'm not a fan of online purchasing, or shipping costs.

The Honest Kicthen: Prefrence Taste Test

This is not an actual review since I have not fed this food for longer than a day.


The Honest Kitchen looked appealing to me since it was made with ingredients Conker can handle and is easily brought along on hiking trips due to it's low weight.  The food is "lightly dehydrated" and on the food's site, is claimed to be raw but the dehydration process of the meat brings the temperature up to 165 degrees Fahrenheit which in my book, counts as cooking. 
I shot an e-mail off to The Honest Kitchen requesting a couple samples and they were more than happy to oblige.  I received two bags of Keen and one bag of Preference, each with about 1 ounce of the food inside.  I also got some paper handouts talking about their food and the process of dehydration.
(They were incredibly nice and first sent only the Keen, the the Preference a couple days later, and finally a hand-written letter thanking me for my interest in their company along with a $3.00 off coupon.)

Lets start with the Preference, since this was the one I was pretty interested in initially.
According to the website:  "Preference is suggested for use with added raw meat, meaty bones or cooked meat of your preference (never cooked bones), as a base for a home made diet."  Meaning that you HAVE to add meat to this food to have it be of any use.
The site also states:  "...Preference is intended for supplemental feeding only, and has not been developed to meet AAFCO nutrient profiles or provide a complete and balanced diet when fed alone..."  So if you feed just Preference and use say, only one meat source like chicken, then you'll seriously be lacking in many things like copper and zinc amongst others. If you were to only feed Preference then I suggest you really get a variety going and use like, five or more meats but I don't recommend that.

Preference has yellow packaging.

Ingredients: Alfalfa, sweet potatoes, cabbage, celery, apples, spinach, organic kelp, coconut, bananas, zucchini, honey, tricalcium phosphate, choline chloride, zinc amino acid chelate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, potassium iodide, potassium chloride, iron amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate.

Guaranteed Analysis:
Protein, min 12%
Fat, min 5%
Fiber, max 10%
Moisture, max 8%
Calcium, min 1.51%  max 1.60%
Phosphorus,  min .64%  max .68%
Sodium,  .min 62% max .66%
Magnesium, min .20% max .26%
Calories per cup, 398
Calories per kg, 3510

Up until I'd received the Preference sample, I'd never really actually looked at the ingredients.   I'd scanned them over for things Conker was reactive to and decided that since it had none, it was one of the possible test choices.  Plus I liked the idea of adding whatever meats I wanted to the food.
So lets actually look at these ingredients.  First one is alfalfa.  Wait, alfalfa? In dog food?  Yep.  Second is sweet potatoes, a common ingredient in grain free dog foods.  Next up is cabbage then celery, both veggies that I've never considered adding to Conker's diet.  Apples and spinach, maybe, and the rest aren't really that important since they're numbers are so low. 

With the addition of a meat source, the ingredients still look out of whack.  Most grain free dog foods have at least two or three meat sources, and a lot of them are before the carbs.  I don't even know what alfalfa is, except that it belongs in rabbit food.



Remember that Preference is NOT supposed to be used as the only food, it's for occasional feeding.  Even then it doesn't look that good on paper, so lets go with the taste test to see how it fares.

When opened and poured into a bowl (1 once is a little less than half a cup) it looks like some sort of herb seasoning.  It's very green and smells like... herbs.  It had longish pieces of what I was guessing were the alfalfa and seemed to resemble some sort of loose rabbit feed.  I re-hydrateed it and added in some pork and turkey, about a cup of meat, and gave it to Conker.

Terrible picture, but you can see still see the "rabbit feed"

He sniffed it, picked at a piece of pork then left.  Keep in mind that Conker is in a picky state right now and has turned down even his most favorite foods, so this reaction was kinda expected.  But I didn't think he wouldn't even try it.  He always at least tries the food then decided to leave it, so this Preference stuff must really not appeal to Conker at all.

I didn't want to waste the food and was hoping that by starving Conker for a day he'd reconsider his intital thought of the Preference so I packaged it up, stuck it in the fridge and ignored Conker for a day.

Pulled it out the following early afternoon.  Conker looked somewhat excited at the sight of his bowl but that instantly vanished when he realized that the stuff from yesterday was still in it.  He again picked at the meat, ate a couple pieces but nosed all the Preference off and didn't seem to enjoy the greenish tinted meat.
I didn't want Conker to only eat the meat so I divided the rest of the meal in half and gave one portion to Juneau and one to Sasha.  Sasha, like usual, scarfed the food down.  Juneau nosed it around, picked at the meat, took her time deciding if it was good or not but did eat her full share.  She wasn't too thrilled about the green stuff though.


So when it comes down to it, Preference was not a hit in this house.  I might try it again later but I doubt the dogs will change their opinions.

Congee!

I had to post this now because it's exciting!  I got Conker to eat some rice congee (first time ever making it) and he kept whining for more.  I guess in order to get him to eat rice I've got to really overcook it and add in some chicken flavor.  Now to get him to eat it as a complete meal...

Premier Busy Buddy: Twist N' Treat

When Conker was younger I got him this treat dispensing toy made by Premier.  It's in the Busy Buddy line and the toy itself is a Twist N' Treat.

I got Conker the puppy model in size small or medium, I can't remember right now which one it is.

Basically this toy has two pieces.  You unscrew it, fill it with treats or kibble, screw it back together then give to your dog.  You can adjust the difficulty by leaving it more or less open (there are two notches on the sides for the treats to fall through) and the smaller the holes the more the dog has to work to get the stuff out.

Here is a video of Conker playing with the toy:

He is kinda dumb in the video since it had been a long while since the last time he'd played with this toy.  I also used treats that were a bit too big and were hard to get out.  But he seemed to remember the jist of how it worked, though this was the first time I'd seen him use his paws to work the toy.

Anyways, when he was done with it Conker really wanted me to put more treats in so he could play again.  I'd forgotten how much he used to love this toy when he was younger.  He liked it so much that when he was on kibble it's how I fed him a lot of the time.
This particular Twist N' Treat is a little small for Conker now, if he were eating kibble, but since he doesn't it's fine for treats only.

I can't remember the exact price I paid for this, but I think it was around $7-8 bucks.  The bigger models go for closer to $10-12. It's a bit steep for a toy that has basically one purpose but Conker really likes it and it's still alive so I guess it was worth it.  This one is the puppy version, and there are others for adults but since Conker isn't much of a chewer I cannot really state how durable it is.
It is built pretty well.  It's made of thick rubber stuff and is hard for a dog to unscrew.

My computer is old

It has some serious lag when it comes to sites with a ton of flash on them.  Even photobucket gives it trouble.

So, like, I totally forgot what I was going to write.  Wait... Yeah, totally forgotten.  So lets write about something else!
Sasha's CGC class went well.  We learned down, stay and some more heeling.  They are really focusing on heeling since a lot of people's dogs are still spazmoids.  Namely Penny the mix that I see at the dog park, a bigass chocolate Lab, a Boxer, some other mutt and a Cardigan Corgi (who's owner is convinced he's a Pembroke.) Sasha has done very well with sitting since she automatically sits now whenever I stop.  She is slowly getting better with down but still needs a lot of work, that and staying in whatever position I told her to (down or sit)
I took her to the Grange yesterday.  The first time I've ever taken her into a building other than a house or vets office.  She did very well but was incredibly distracted by everything.  I also took her to Mini Pet Mart where she tried to steal some treats from a bin while I was talking to the owner of an adorable little Pom-thing.  I am going to take her to a lot more places and work on her sitting and staying in a sit in distracting enviroments.

Conker is still afraid of people on walks. Two little kids really wanted to pet him but he was all "NOOO!  GETAWAY FROM ME!"  Not cool since I was walking him on his collar, which is a choke chain for those of you who don't know.  Yes, I walk my Shiba on a choke chain.  Why?  Because he can escape everything else, even properly adjusted martingales, and I'm too lazy to put a harness on him 80% of the time.
Anyways, I'd really like to find some sort of scaredy dog class that will get Conker to the point where he won't get all RUNAWAY! at certain people.  I don't want him to love everyone or want to be pet, I just don't want him freaking out when some little kid sprays his sister with a hose.  He is good for the most part and stays beside me but with some people, no, he still tries to run. 

Mom wants me to reorganize the garage.  Like, the entire thing.

I gave the Girls a quarter turkey back today.  They were equal to about a whole chicken back, and even then they were still huge.  See, I've got a shitload of turkey backs since Rays sells them so cheaply and I always feel like I have to buy them.  Those and turkey necks which come with a gizzard, heart and liver. Speaking of turkey liver, I have no idea what to do with all the ones I've got since they have so much vitamin A I can't use them regularly.  They have like, 400% more vitamin A than Conker needs... per ounce!  That's a friggin lot, so if you know of something to do with turkey livers, for dogs and even people, let me know.

But the Girls really liked their turkey backs.  I'm going to give them more.  Conker got a turkey tail and some pork meat which he did eat.  He has also suddenly learned how to chew, and he took such a long time chewing the turkey tail I was wondering if he was actually going to eat it or not. 

Call me mean, but I find this hilarious.

You know those logs on the Babyfoot hike?  Heh, well, this is what happened when Conker found a slippery one.

Why didn't I help him up?  I had a camera in one hand, a cup of tea in the other, and I knew he wasn't in any immediate danger and was fully capable of getting back up on his own.

Pedigree Adult

My Mom's dogs were fed Pedigree from when we first got them just under 6 years ago.  At the time we didn't know anything about dog food or nutrition and figured it was one of the better brands. 

Ingredients:  GROUND WHOLE CORN, MEAT AND BONE MEAL, CORN GLUTEN MEAL, ANIMAL FAT (PRESERVED WITH BHA AND CITRIC ACID), GROUND WHOLE WHEAT, CHICKEN BY-PRODUCT MEAL, BREWER'S RICE, DRIED PLAIN BEET PULP, NATURAL FLAVOR, SALT, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, VEGETABLE OIL (SOURCE OF LINOLEIC ACID), VITAMINS (dl-ALPHA TOCOPHEROL ACETATE [SOURCE OF VITAMIN E], L-ASCORBYL-2-POLYPHOSPHATE [SOURCE OF VITAMIN C*] VITAMIN A SUPPLEMENT, THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], BIOTIN, d-CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, RIBOFLAVIN SUPPLEMENT [VITAMIN B2], VITAMIN D3 SUPPLEMENT, VITAMIN B12 SUPPLEMENT), CHOLINE CHLORIDE, MINERALS (ZINC SULFATE, ZINC PROTEINATE, COPPER SULFATE, COPPER PROTEINATE, MANGANESE PROTEINATE, POTASSIUM IODIDE), ADDED FD&C COLORS (RED 40, YELLOW 5, BLUE 2)

Guaranteed Analysis

Crude Protein  Min 21.0%

Crude Fat  Min 10.0%

Crude Fiber  Max 4.0%

Moisture  Max 12.0%

Linoleic Acid (omega 6 Fatty Acid)  Min 3%

Copper  Min 10 mg/kg

Zinc Min 200 mg/kg

Vitamin E  Min 300 IU/kg

Ascorbic Acid (Vit. C*)  Min 70 Mg/kg

There is no mention on Pedigree's website or the bag on how many calories there are per cup. 

First off, sorry for the all caps.  It's like that on Pegidree's website.
Anyways, the first ingredient is corn.  This is a controversial ingredient for dogs and I personally feel is not a good one so high on the totem pole.  Next up we have meat and bone meal, but from what animal?  Corn gluten meal is third, a low-quality source of protein.  Animal fat (again unspecified source) that is preserved with controversial chemical preservatives.  Ground whole wheat isn't too bad, neither is ground whole corn but many dogs have sensitivities to both grains. 

Generally the ingredients flat-out suck.


Juneau and Sasha did "okay" on this food.  Their poops were huge and super smelly but that is to be expected with a food compromised of mainly fillers.  Their coats were very shiny but it wasn't a good shine.  They were slick, greasy and smelled bad. I did not enjoy petting them and if you got them wet... run for cover, the smell wouldn't go away for days.
Sasha licked and chewed her front feet while on Pedigree, a common sign of allergies in dogs.
One of the varieties we fed was the "teeth cleaning" kind.  According to Pedigree's site, 

...our PEDIGREE® kibble helps clean teeth down to the gum line. Look for the patented X-shaped kibble.

Juneau and Sasha were on this food for almost six years, they had substantial buildup of plaque/tartar.  They ate the "special" Pedigree teeth cleaning kibbles for a while as well.  Their teeth did not show any signs of being cleaned, so in my opinion, Pedigree is guilty of false advertising here.  (But honestly, what kibble company isn't?)

Plus, though she was overfed, Sasha was very overweight on this food.  Before I switched them to a different brand I could not get Sasha to drop weight even after I cut her portion to under a cup a day.  She was getting that amount for over a month with no significant weight loss.  According to Pedigree's feeding instructions, she should have been getting 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 cups a day based on weight.
Juneau and Sasha weren't very excited to eat this.  They looked forwards to dinnertime but Juneau hardly ever finished her portion, which again according to the bag was the "correct" amount for a dog her weight.  When I began to switch them to a different brand they ate all the new stuff first and didn't want to finish the old.

In my opinion, Pedigree is not a good choice.  I am not trying to be biased against it but after feeding it to Juneau and Sasha for nearly 6 years and seeing the drastic changes in their health after switching brands, I can honestly say it barely classifies as food, and I cannot recommend it.