Cathedral Hills

First, some breakfast.

This is a batch of mince that I stuck into a 8lb cookie dough container (quite a shock for anyone who still thinks there is macadamia white chocolate dough in there!) since Juneau and Sasha have put on some pudge and mince is a hellova lot easier for me to portion. The dogs will get mince for a short while with turkey necks/backs as boney treats.

Yumm.

Onto the news...

We went hiking today at Cathedral Hills! Juneau was, of course and as usual, a whacko-jet-dog, running all over the woods, bell jangling loudly, nose working quickly, feet moving so fast they were a blur...

As we were approaching Conker's log, he jumped up on it without me saying a word. Good boy!

He made a quick pose before taking off after the Rocket Dog.

We made many frequent water breaks. I have the dogs drink in order, starting with Conker, then Sasha, and finally Juneau last. I do it this way since Conker is a snob and doesn't really like to drink (out of a bowl) on hikes, so I have him go first. And I do Sasha before Juneau since Juneau will drink all the water.

This is the only decent three-dog photo I took of them today.

Then they blasted off at the speed of light, leaving a huge cloud of dust behind them.

Limpy Creek

Today I took the dogs to Limpy Creek.

They all had a lot of fun!

June - 12

Today the dogs got:

Big bowls: Chicken leg hunks, beef meat and liver, eggs, minced veggies, goat milk.
Little bowl: Turkey neck hunk, beef meat and liver, egg, minced veggies, goat milk.
Conker is eating whole foods again (again). I will keep the mince I made ready for when he decides to once again (again) not eat whole foods or be choosy with what he'll eat.

Here's some pictures of the dogs eating their meals.

This picture is cruddy but shows that, despite her coat being thin and dull right now, it's still real shiny.

I like how when Conker eats his eyes look kinda primal.

Hike!

Today, all the dogs joined me on a hike. It's been warm lately, warm meaning 90+ but it didn't get above 86 while we were out on the trails. Still, the dogs thought it was pretty hot, but thoroughly enjoyed their hike.

Conker on his favorite log.

Since there were ocassionally horses present, Juneau had to be leashed a few times.

Some Southern Oregon mountains.

Obligatory.

Hur dur Derp Dog.

Now the dogs are all sleeping.

Recent Happenings

Have been basically nonexistant.

Conker sits out on the back deck and observes things on a daily basis. He likes to bask in the sun.

Conker has been accompanying me on nighttime walks, wearing the booties. He is generally fine with them now, but resists a little when I first put them on. So far his feet have not sustained anymore damage (from the rocks int he backyard, or general play out front) so I'll probably keep the booties up for a little while longer then slowly transition to no booties. I might pick up some Mushers Secret, if I can find some locally.

Sasha sometimes sits funny. She has no indication of hip displaysia but it is not uncommon in either of her parent breeds, and it would not surprise me if she did end up with it somewhere down the road.
Her most recent vet exam gave her a clean bill of health (other than the incontinence and broken teeth), an excellent one actually, so I am generally not concerned about her sitting posture.

It's been breezy lately, so much so that yesterday a large tree in the neighbor's front yard went "CERRACK!" during a particularly powerful burst. I was hoping a branch would fall since I find that stuff exciting, but none did.

Conker will jump on the stack of bricks in the backyard if I ask him, and today he realized that he gets a good view over a section of bamboo privacy screen that he otherwise can't see over. I catch him on the bricks somewhat infrequently now, staring over the screen, waiting for something interesting to happen.

Our Swiss Chard has gone feral.

And today, I rediscovered two of the feet from the Baby Beef! So I gave them to the Girls.

Sasha got to work on hers right away.

Juneau lay beside hers for about ten minutes before she decided it was okay to chew it.

Dogs from below

Today we relaxed on the porch. I laid on the stairs while the dogs stood above me, surveying the neighborhood.

Juneau

Juneau again

 Juneau's starting to get white under her muzzle.

Sasha

Conker

Bonus rolling Sasha

Spring Cleaning

Not only has Conker blown his coat, but Juneau has as well. Who knew a Border Collie X Labrador Retriever could blow her coat? A lot of people seem surprised when they learn that Juneau sheds a little year-round and also explodes in the spring. Sasha just sheds year-round, nothing explosive about her.

I noticed some tufts beginning to form on Juneau's back end recently, and that is usually an indicator that her coat is ready to be stripped out. So I armed myself with my flea comb, zoom groom, slicker, and furbuster and set off to de-fluff Juneau's coat.
The flea comb works a lot like a stripping (carding?) blade. It grabs large hunks of loose undercoat and combs them out.
The furbuster does more of less the same thing, but does not work as well on hunks of fur like the flea comb does. It's better for a quick once-over after the flea comb has been used.
The zoom groom grabs both types of coat with it's rubbery tips. It also produces a LOT of dandruff, which gets trapped by thick udercoat and released when it's shed out. (With the Girls, anyways.)
The slicker I use during my twice weekly brushings and for cleanup. It grabs mainly undercoat but gets the overcoat as well and leaves the dog looking nice.

That was yesterday. Today was bath day.
I took all three dogs out into the back and set up my cleaning station. I loop a leash and slip chain on one of the fence posts and tether a dog in place. They can move around but not too much. I used dish soap on the dogs since this was a deep clean, but I usually either just rinse with water or a dash of vinegar (makes them smell nice), or use a mild soap.
The dogs were rinsed, rubbed, soaped, rubbed some more, and rinsed again to remove any remaining loose fur and dandruff. Then released to go shake and run and roll in the dirt. They always do that after I wash them...

Conker whined like a little bitch during his washing. He doesn't like the cold water (but will swim in a cold creek?) so he whines when he gets a hose bath rather than a warm shower. (Yes I take showers with Conker.) I know he's just bullshitting though, his bodylanguage doesn't indicate he's actually stressed or upset.


In other news...

We had a roast chicken last night. I saved the giblets and gave them to Conker today, along with an egg and some yogurt.

The Girls got some kibble with a bit of chicken liver, an egg, and some yogurt.

Don't it just look so fancy all mixed up? Yumm.