Tick

Today Conker got:

Beef rib is wrapped in plastic.

Some Honest Kitchen Verve (taste test) and a beef rib.  Boy did he want that rib bad.  He saw me take it out of the freezer last night and went berserk trying to get at it.  He was quite miffed when I put it into the fridge instead of giving it to him.

We went to Cathedral Hills today.  Nothing much happened but I finally got a goodish picture of Conker's recent behavioral adjustment.

Marking

A couple weeks ago Conker started marking things.  Not just peeing on them, marking.  He only does it when we're hiking though, so that's nice, and he doesn't feel the need to piss on every little bush we come across either.  Just the really juicy bits.

Oh yeah, and I found a tick on Conker today.  A tick!  I was... ticked off... when I spotted it under his neck and realized that it wasn't a piece of dirt  It hadn't even gotten through his fur yet or bit him, and it was a little tick, but it was a tick nonetheless.  I think it was a Deer Tick.
Conker didn't like me grabbing him every time he went near some grass or brush on the side of the trail and searching for another tick.  He got searched real good when we got to the car and again when we got home.  I didn't find another one, but he'll probably get looked over again pretty soon just to be sure.

I am finally officially an Oregonian!

Heh, it's taken me a good while but I finally got around to collecting the necessary paperwork for getting an Oregon license and titling and registering the Jeep in Oregon. 
Funny thing is that when I got my Arizona license some years ago my hair was about two and a half feet long.  Now it's only an inch.

Anyways...

We went to Cathedral Hills yesterday.  I meant to go to Dollar Hill but there was a ton of fog everywhere so I decided that Cathedral Hills would be much more fun.  Well, we get there and there's no fog on the trails!  So that was a huge disappointment, but GP was still quite shrouded.

So much so that GP was not visible from Cathedral Hills.

Conker sported a white bandanna instead of his usual orange one.  I dunno why I picked the white one, but I did, and while I much prefer the orange one the white one didn't look too bad.

Note the nearly completely white fog-filled background.

Sasha sits funny

Sasha is hard to take pictures of because my camera sucks, she's black, and she's camera shy.  She has the best puppy-eyes face ever but that is near impossible to capture.  This is the pre puppy-eyes face.

Sasha has a Hilter 'stache.

She always sits like that and always has.  I've looked into it before and asked vets about it and they have said it's nothing to worry about.  They are either telling the truth or don't know crap about canine structure.  She has also never showed any signs of Hip Dysplasia and ever since I got her to loose those unnecessary 20 pounds, she has gotten more active.

When I can get some better pictures I'm going to do another write-up on Sasha's weight and teeth.

Food Update

I haven't written a thing on Conker's food in general for a short while so here goes.  Good for the month of November (so far).


Meat-based meals. 
Pork 35% 
Turkey 25%
Chicken 20%
Eggs 7%
Beef 3%
Canned fish and lamb 1%
Liver, canned mollusks and heart, 10%

Grain-based meals.
Oats 40%
Rice (brown and white) 30%
Quinoa 10%
Barley 5%
Liver, canned mollusks and heart, 10%
Extras (veggies, etc.) 5%

Extras.
Sweet potato 100%
Other fruit and veggies 0% (Conker refuses all fruits and veggies unless in a meal)

Commercial stuff.
The Honest Kitchen 75%
Zuke's treats and chews 10%
Bully sticks, trachea, tendon, etc. natural chews 10%
Other treats and chews 5%

Supplements. (no calculations on these)
Salmon oil
Vitamin E
Chicory root
Coconut oil
Lithe Tea


Meal percentages.
Meat-based meals 45%
Grain-based meals 15%
The Honest Kitchen 40%

All meals include salmon oil and vitamin e, chicory root if needed.  Coconut oil is given with nightly chew.  Lithe Tea is only included in Honest Kitchen meals.

Happy Turkey Day!

All the dogs got turkey-based meals today (duh) and they much enjoyed it.  Sasha was so excited that she fell into the pool...

Conker got: Turkey tail, neck piece, gizzard and liver, chicken heart and fat, egg and canned mollusks.
The Girls got: Turkey backs, gizzards and liver, chicken hearts and fat, eggs and canned mollusks.

Now I'm off to watch me some football! 

What the...

Hot Spot?

I have no idea what that is.  I think it's a hot spot.  I don't think it's an insect bite or sting, but I could be wrong. (I don't think it's a bug thing since while we were out yesterday it was super wet, so no bugs, and there aren't stinging bugs in this house.  Normally...) It popped up like, instantly.  I sometimes catch Conker licking that foot so that's what made me think it's a lick-hot spot-thing. 

Anyways...
Today Conker got:

A bowl of meat!

Not too much today.  Some canned mackerel, a turkey gizzard, beef liver, chicken heart and canned mollusks.  Also got his regular salmon oil and vitamin e.


In other news...
It's raining like, super right now.  It doesn't normally rain this hard, which is cool but not at the same time.  I want to go out and goof off in it but it's also about 45 degrees out so that's not gonna happen.

Also, yesterday after our hike we stopped at Mini Pet Mart and were given a free bully stick!  The employees like Conker enough to give him a $4 item for free, even though he's afraid of them and would rather they bugger off than try to give him something nice.

Cloud Hike

Today it was raining, so we went for a hike.  Turns out it was a lot wetter than I'd originally thought and we got completely soaked.  So soaked that my coat weighs 3 pounds too many.  On the way to the trails there was so much water on the road that the Jeep "lifted off" a couple times.  It didn't skid or hydroplane, it just wasn't as solid as I'd liked it to have been. 
My camera was having a fit due to the odd lighting so almost none of the pictures are good.  Anyways... this is what we did.

Was not happy.

Conker wasn't too thrilled to be out in the rain.  We trudged on and I made it fun for him by chasing him around.  At first I attempted to keep my feet somewhat dry but I abandoned that quickly in favor of trying to splash Conker as he avoided the puddles.

The trail is getting foggy.

As we climbed higher he began to loosen up and eventually ignored the rain and acted like he normally does on a hike.  Then we noticed something a bit odd.

Clouds!

GP gets a lot of low clouds but this was the first time I'd been in one in years.  It's incredibly moist (even moreso if it's raining, which it was and never stopped during the hike) and it feels very odd to breathe.

Rain and clouds make Conker look old and worn out.

We goofed off in the clouds for a bit and I got Conker to run through a couple large puddles.  This was funny since even though he and I were both soaked and his feet were plenty wet, he still has his Shiba dignity and would only set foot in a puddle if he must do so, or if it meant getting to bite my jacket.

Blurry makes this picture suck.

Overall the hike was a ton of fun.  Now I remember why I love being out in the rain, and thankfully Conker had a lot of fun too.  I didn't want to have to leave him home or in the Jeep if the rain was too much for him, and now that I know he doesn't mind I don't need to worry about future rain hikes.

It's kinda hard to see how cloudy it was in the pictures, so here's a video of us messin around.

Homemade HKK Treats

HKK = Honest Kitchen Keen

I was buggering around on the internets and found myself browsing the recipe section of The Honest Kitchen's site.  I like to make stuff for Conker so I figured I'd give one of them a shot but I couldn't find a recipe that I wanted to make or had all the ingredients for.
So I made one up.

What you need:
1/2 cup of The Honest Kitchen (any variety)
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup mashed baked sweet potato (or pumpkin)
1/2 cup warm water
1 egg
1 teaspoon coconut oil (or equivalent)

Mix Honest Kitchen and oats together, add warm water and egg.  Mix some more then add the sweet potato and oil and stir real good.  Let the mixture sit for a short while (about 10 minutes) then spoon the mixture onto a cookie sheet.  Use one spoonful per treat.  Bake at 375 degrees for about 30-40 minutes.  Longer for less soft-n-squishy treats which I find hold up better.  Let the treats cool before giving them to your dog.  Store in the fridge for a few days or the freezer for a bit longer.  Makes about 15 treats, more of they are smaller.

Yay for supercloseup picture!

Or you could not bake it and just give the batter to your dog straight-up.  I did let Conker have a couple spoonfuls which he thought was equally as delicious as the baked version. Or or you could like, bake it in a loaf, for like, doggy bread or something. 

Phoenix Arizona, prepare to be invaded!

Conker the Shiba Inu will be visiting the southwest this upcoming holiday season!  I would love to get together with any Phoenix area Shibas and their owners, if time allows, sometime this December.  I don't yet have definite dates as to when we'll be there but I do know we're going and that it'll probably be sometime after the 17th (kids gotta get out of school) and we'll be coming back to Oregon around new years eve.  We will most likely be staying in Buckeye with the Grandparents (haha so far from the actual city) but I've got a sister in Central Phoenix right across the street from Indian School Park and wouldn't mind driving there or a bit farther to have a mini Shiba-meet at a favorite dog park.

Anyways, let me know if any of you are interested in meeting us!  I should be getting definite dates sometime soon and will post them when I know what they are.

Dollar Hill Three Months Later

We haven't been to Dollar Hill in three months!  Gosh, I didn't know it had been that long.  Anyways, I didn't feel like going on a long hike but did want to go on a strenuous one, so Conker and I hopped into the Jeep and drove up to Dollar Hill.

I was hoping to be able to see the snow on the mountains surrounding GP.

Where's Conker?

Normally (in the past) it's taken about an hour or so, usually a little more, to get to the cell tower on top of Dollar Hill.  Well today it took less than 40 minutes... for the entire hike.  About 30 for the way up and 5 for the way down!  And that's including rest breaks!  I think I need to start walking instead of driving to this place since it's only a couple miles away.

No snow visible.

Unfortunately the clouds were so low that the snowy mountains weren't visible.  Yesterday would have been a better day for snow-spotting since the clouds weren't hugging the valley like they were today.

We ran, like usual, down the hill.  We did have to slow down in some spots since there was a thick layer of leaves over most of the trail, wet leaves, which were quite slick. Conker was not happy when I made him stick by my side down the hill but I didn't want him to screw up one of his knees on the run down.

Not all of Dollar hill's trail is steep.

It was a nice quick hike and I am probably going to make it the thing to do on Sundays since Cathedral Hills is usually packed on the weekend and parking is hard to find.  There was nobody here today, and there normally isn't, so it will be a good addition to the exercise agenda. 

For comparison shots of what Dollar Hill looked like a couple months ago, visit this post.

Pissed Off

Here's a video from yesterday.

And a picture of what the Girls ate today.

I can see snow on the mountains around town.  I might go hiking again later today despite it being fucking cold out because when you're pissed off you just don't give a shit.

Rain Hike

We went hiking in the rain today.  It was more fun that I thought it would be. 

We'd already gone on our standard 2 mile walk with a stop at MPM on the way home, but I figured that since tomorrow is supposed to be 38 degrees that we'd hike today.  It was raining when we got there but after a couple minutes Conker was ignoring it and being his normal obnoxious self.

This picture would have been better if Conker's face wasn't blurry.

We did something like 5 miles or so and surprisingly Conker is OUT right now.  Normally he putters around for a while and harasses Indy  before he sacks out after a hike.  I guess today he burnt off all his energy stepping off the trail into the burr grass and getting burrs stuck allover his stupid fur then running off when I yelled at him.

Got some stuff in the mail

I finally ordered some Honest Kitchen!  I got a 4lb box of Keen (OMG it seems like there is so much of it, and it's only the 4lb box!) a trail box of Verve and Thrive and a canister of Lithe Tea.  I will be trying this stuff out for the next couple weeks and will do a review once I've gotten my verdict.

Previously I got two samples of Keen and Conker loved it.  He didn't react badly to the potatoes in it (much to my amazement) so I decided to give it a longer trail.  If all goes well, Keen (and possibly other HK formulas) will become a regular part of his diet and will be used for traveling and such.  If Keen doesn't work out then I'll probably try Thrive or Verve next.  I much prefer the ingredients in Thrive but it's about $10 more than the Keen, and I'm a cheapie, so I decided to gamble a bit with this one.

Regarding the tea.
I could have very easily gone down to the herb shop and gotten the same stuff that's in the tea.  So why didn't I?  I'm lazy, that and I wanted to know if it even worked before I buy a bunch of herbs.  My herb shop requires you buy an ounce minimum of a lot of things, some of the herbs in the tea are included, and at around $2-3 an ounce I didn't want to have a million bags of herbs everywhere so I just went ahead and got the canister.  Plus if it didn't work, I'd have a hellova lot more useless herbs if I went the herb shop route than a little canister. 


Anyways...
Today Conker got:

Some Honest Kitchen Keen re-hydrated in Lithe Tea and warm clam juice (do NOT do that, it smells horrid) with some chopped pork mixed in.  Conker loved it and keeps coming back to his bowl to check if he got it all.

Laika and Jazz

Hey all, don't forget to check out the new Laika Forum!

In other news...

HELL YEAH SMOOTH JAZZ!

I grew up listening to this station.
95.5 KYOT

Today the dogs got...

Meat!  Juneau and Sasha got their usual turkey backs with liver and gizzard, chicken heart and an egg.  Conker got a turkey neck piece and tail, beef liver, chicken heart, some turkey organ (kidney?) and some canned mollusks. 


Today at the dog park there was nobody. So Conker and I goofed around for a bit outside of the park in the creek then took some photos near a tree with red leaves.  This picture would have turned better if it weren't for one thing.

Conker was distracted.

Whats going on lately?

Not much.

I am attempting to teach Conker how to pull open my door with a piece of rope attached to the handle.  So far he's just grabbed it when I flap it in his face then drop, but today he pulled slightly and got the door to open enough that he could go out.  I hope that with a bit more work I won't have to stand there and wave the rope for him and that he'll grab it and pull on his own.  The whole point of this is so I don't have to let him out of my room, which I keep the door sitting shut but slightly open to retain heat.

Conker doesn't seem to much care about getting dirty.

He makes dirt fashionable and dignifying.


In other news...
I can jog a mile!  Not consecuatively, unless it's entierly downhill, but I am slowly getting back in shape.  It's neat though, that when I first began I couldn't even jog a half block and now I can go something like 7 before I need to slow down and walk for a block or two.
Also, Conker didn't like jogging at first.  But now, after the warm-up walk (about a half mile) he doesn't want to slow down once we begin jogging!  I'm glad he's finally decided that jogging on-leash is fun (he has no problem zooming around on hikes) and he kinda encourages me to keep going. 

Rules:
When walking, we go at my pace.  If Conker wants to stop and sniff something, we do that.
When jogging, we go at Conker's pace.  If he wants to slow down we will, but he rarely does.
Always look both ways before crossing a street at a jog.  If there are any cars, slow to a walk.
No chasing anything, including cats.

Speaking of cats...  Conker chased one across the street the other day and completely ignored me.  The dumbass cat was on our property (so it deserved it) but when it saw Conker it took off across the street to it's house.  The woman who owns it came out and yelled at Conker, "Git! Git you!"  Which I don't think she realized that "git" means "get", as in attack to him. So that didn't help at all and he didn't break off from chasing the cat until the woman stepped after him and he finally heard me bellowing at him.  He comes trotting back like nothing happened... at least he did come back, and at least there were no cars.
So now Conker gets zero off-leash time unless properly enclosed and is gonna get some serious no-chasing-cats training.

Cool Dog

We saw a neat dog at the dog park today.

His owners think he is a Shar Pei American Bulldog mix.

 He was pretty cool.  I can't remember his name though.

Fats and oils

It's the "dry" itchy season here in GP and Conker is not the only dog having problems with the weather changes.  While it may rain every frickin day for days in a row, it's dry as all getout when it's not.

Conker's salmon oil had run out a couple weeks ago and he almost instantly began to get real itchy.  I did find a couple fleas he picked up from another dog but I quickly remedied that (with several methods, washed everything, vacuumed... I don't like fleas) and haven't seen any fleas since.  I don't blame those two stray fleas for his itchiness since after I eliminated them any any others that could have been present, he was still itching like mad.
I didn't make the connection until I noticed that I hadn't been giving him any salmon oil for a couple days.  I quickly ran out and bought a bottle of salmon oil capsules as well as some vitamin E and began to give it to him.
Again the change was almost instant.  A few days later the itching was not as constant or aggressive.  (He was really itching HARD at times)  And while it hasn't completly stopped, it's lessened to the point where it's no longer a big concern.

With this discovery I have begun to think a bit about how fats and oils can affect a dog.  Dogs need fat in their diets.  Fat to a dog doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna put on weight.  Fat is their energy source, and the more fat they eat, the higher their energy is.  (Just look at what some sled-dogs eat.  There's a LOT of fat in their diets.)
Conker gets a lot of fat in his diet.  He eats the skin off his chicken and turkey and gets thick chunks of fat with his pork.  He gets, on average, about 2 ounces of fat a day if pork is included.  I have noticed that on heavy-fat days he is a bit unruly and needs an extra mile tacked onto his daily walk.
But he is still quite itchy. Even with the salmon oil and pork fat, he still itches a lot.  He still gets dandruff, and since he's not shedding bad right now, I can't attribute it to that.  (Or fleas, they are eliminated.)

Animals aren't the only source of fat dogs can use.  I've noticed that Conker really likes the smell and taste of the coconut oil I picked up to use when I cook certain things.  I wonder if I add a bit of that into his diet, will it help with the itching?  Or should I just up his pork/poultry fat ratio?  Conker has, like normal, issues with some vegetable oils (another experiment awaiting a write-up) but this coconut oil stuff is not one of them.  I guess it's something to think about.  Doesn't hurt to give it a try.
Except my wallet.  That shit's expensive.

Lazy

That can't possibly be comfortable.

What is that?

Look at that mountain. Look at the white stuff on it.

OMG SNOW!

Not in town though.

Accidentally went hiking

Yep, I didn't mean to but we ended up going hiking today.  We were running errands (that's why there is no harness or bandanna) and I decided that since we were already halfway to the trails, why not hop over there for an hour or two and enjoy the day.

On the way home we stopped at Rays, and Mom happened to be there too.  But today there was something of interest at the grocery.  Turkey gizzards!  I was totally psyched cause Conker loves gizzards so I snatched up two packages and ended up with something like 3 pounds of gizzards and some necks, hearts and livers to boot.

Monday, November Seventh, Two Thousand Eleven

There was like, nobody at the dog park today.  A Whippet named Sheeba (haha) was there but they left about five minutes later.  For the short time she was there, she was RUNNIN!  Conker really liked her, which is good, since I like Whippets as well.   I really like Whippets actually...

We did some posing for fall-themed pictures.  Note that, like usual, Conker is slightly out of focus.

Engage 2010 Series Limited Edition Levitating Shiba!

Today is... as usual... boring.

My "goal" for today is to attempt to get Conker to quit harassing the neighbor's dogs.  You know that dog who is always barking at your dogs, who won't shut up when told, who always seems to be out when your dogs are out?  Yeah, that's Conker right now.  And he's really begun to piss me off.

In other news...

Conker finished off the rest of the Zeal we were sent.  I re-hydrated it with mackerel juice and added in about 1/4 of the can to round it out a bit.  Conker loved this, and wanted more, but sadly there isn't.  And for the first time ever he wasn't trying to rip the girls' faces off while I was preparing it.  He sat in the doorway to my room almost the entire time and only ventured out when I dropped the can of mackerel on the floor.

The current forecast is for partly to mostly sunny tomorrow, with Tuesday being partly cloudy but warmer, Wednesday being the warmest and Thursday something like Tuesday.  If that forecast changes tomorrow and predicts more rain, I will hike tomorrow.  If not?  I'll hike on Tuesday and Thursday (the usual days).


Also, who else thinks daylight savings time is totally stupid?

Neighbor's Dogs... Again

Well, they got rid of Dakota a little while ago.  A "new" dog has stepped into her place.  For the longest time I've been calling him "Tomato" since I had no idea what his name was, and he really liked tomatoes.
They are now trying to get rid of them both.  In their ad they claim to have moved to a new place that only allowes 25 lb or under dogs... sure. 

We recently moved and cannot have any dogs over 25 pounds so we need to rehome our two dogs.
The first is a three year old Irish Wolfhound mix named Monty, he is approx. 60 pounds and looks like a giant wire haired terrier.
He is very cute and affectionate and loves water and car rides. He can be a little hyper when he's excited but its usually when he meets new poeple or
goes new places. He is licensed; nuetered, rabbies shot.

Second is a smaller shepard mix, approx. 45 pounds named Bella, she is very sweet and timid and loves to fetch. She is mostly an outside dog and would
do best with a big fenced yard to run in. She is spayed and had her rabbies shot.

We want them to go to the best possible homes, so we"ll probably be selective on who we let take them.

Well, I hope they get good homes, since they are nice dogs.  Monty is the one Conker fence fights with, but other than that, he's a pretty cool dog.

RMB Day 2 days in advance

Fall has reared it's ugly head with nasty nasty cold weather.  It rained near-constantly yesterday, is still wet today, and hasn't gotten over 50 degrees in several days.  The house is freezing, but at least Conker is enjoying the change.  At the dog park a couple days ago he was going nuts and all the regulars were wondering if I gave him some speed or something.  No, it's just cold is all.  Conker turns on Psycho Mode when it's 50 or below out.

Anyways, the dogs all got raw stuff today, dunno if they'll get some on Sunday or not.  I got sick of the acumilating turkey backs in my freezer box so I thawed some out for the Girls last night and added in a couple extras.

Turkey backs, turkey liver, chicken gizzard, heart and egg, a bit of canned clams and oysters for the Girls and a bone-in chicken breast with gizzard, heart, beef liver and canned oysters and clams for Conker. 

One of these days I need to quit talking about it and get a video of Conker's freak-out moment when I am preparing the food and carrying the bowls outside. It's kinda funny since he barks and whines and attack the Girls, who let him, and barks and whines some more and struts around all insane-like. 


Am I the only who HATES the automatic label thing in blogger?  I fucking hate it, fucking hate.  I want to type "food" but it puts "dog food" in there for me, which is what I DON'T want, so I correct it, and it puts fucking dog food in there again!  Fucking piece of shit.

Fall

It's definately fall when the shadows at 12:40 look like they belong to a 4:00 sun.

Hey!  If you are into Spitz/primitive type and Laika dogs, check out the new Laika Forum Brad (runs Nihon Ken and Shiba Forums) set up last night!  It's not got a lot going on right now but if we get the word out to other Laika enthusiasts, it'll get some activity in no time.

Anyways, Mom's ex-but-not boyfriend is here.  Somewhat complicated, but Conker does NOT like him.  First off, he's a man, and Conker has issues with men.  Second, he's a BIG man, even worse.  Conker bayed at him last night, then this morning, then flipped his shit after our hike when he went through the dog door and ex-but-not was right there.  It's actually rather funny, since the Girls love him, but Conker is all HELL NO!  and makes it known.

Zuke's Mini Naturals: Wild Rabbit

My favorite treat company Zuke's recently came out with a new flavor of Mini Naturals!  So naturally I had to go pick up a bag.  The new flavor is wild rabbit.  Conker has never had rabbit treats before so I was interested in how he would like these.

Ingredients: 
Wild New Zealand Rabbit, Ground Rice, Ground Barley, Malted Barley, Gelatin, Vegetable Glycerin, Tapioca, Brewers Yeast, Natural Flavors, Fish Oil, Lecithin, Salt, Phosphoric Acid (a natural acidifier), Sorbic Acid (a natural preservative), Mixed Tocopherols, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C).

Guaranteed Analysis:
Protein     not less than 12%
Fat     not less than 7%
Fiber     not more than 3%
Moisture     not more than 30%
Calories     Approximately 2 per piece

Like all of Zuke's soft treats the ingredients look good.  There are grains so those of you who do the completely grain-free thing might want to skip these.

The treats are very small, about 1 x 3/4 centimeters.  They are perfect for training or for smaller dogs.  I like to grab a small handful and toss them into my mix of hiking treats since they don't crumble or make a mess in my pocket. 

They cost a bit more than the other varieties of Mini Naturals (salmon, chicken and peanut butter) and I think that's due to them being new and/or how they use rabbit instead of a more common protein or flavor.  This bag cost $6.99 (I got $2 off) which runs $1-2 more than the other flavors.  Do I think they are worth it?  Well, Conker seems to really like them so I see no harm in adding them as part of his treat rotation.

Other than the slightly stepped up price, I highly recommend these treats.  If you want to give them a shot and want to knock a dollar off the price, Zuke's has a coupon on their home page that they'll send to you to use in your local store.