Bend

The dogs and I are going to Bend today. We are going for a dog event, and to go to the Badlands. Will be there for a few days, not too long since I do have to come back and do some things around the house, and I can't just leave the rabbit alone in the front yard for a week. (Everybody else is leaving on Sunday.)

Conker and Juneau will get to chase some plastic bags attached to a cable. Wish them luck!

The Obligatory pick-nick table pictures

I have a trend. It is to post pictures of Conker sitting on a pick-nick table/bench, usually the one located in the crossroads at Cathedral Hills. When did this start? Probably the first time I ever went there, but the first ever pick-nick bench picture was at the dog park.

I can't remember who's idea it was. Probably Conker's. (Dog park)

Conker seems to like to pose for pictures, he does it frequently, and being on a table makes it better for some reason. (Dog park)

 After the first few times, he started jumping up on tables on his own. (Limpy Creek)

 Dumbass. (Cathedral Hills)

 I think this is around the time when it began to become a "thing". (Cathedral Hills)

 One year anniversary of owning Conker. (Cathedral Hills)

 Some of them are not so great. (Cathedral Hills)

 Even Sasha has joined in on the fun. (Cathedral Hills)

 Pick-nick bench in the snow is way cool. (Cathedral Hills)

A couple shots, that I don't think ever made it onto the blog, feature Conker on an actual bench. (Cathedral Hills)

(Cathedral Hills)

But for the most part, they are Obligatory pick-nick table pictures. (Cathedral Hills)

I gotta have more cowbell!

Occasionally, every once in a blue moon, my cellular phone can take a decent picture. (Limpy Creek)

Spring Banner

Updated it, since the old one had snow in it and there is obviously no snow here anymore. (There never really is.) Nor is there a chance of snow, since that doesn't happen here. No freak snowstorms for GP.
It's not exactly spring either, but since I skipped spring, and don't have any summer photos worthy of the banner yet, I'm using that one.
Didn't try too hard, just used the "magic wand" and some filters in photochop.
I also changed the colors slightly. 

Anywho, Conker ate slightly over a cup of kibble, and egg, and some ground chicken yesterday.

Down

A funny thing has happened quite a number of times in the past. I will call Conker, he will ignore me, so I call him again. When he looks at me, I will say "Conker, Here!" And point to the ground beside me, like an angry parent does with a disobeying child. I expect him to come to me promptly, and to the side that I am pointing at.

He lays down.

Other times he will he trotting over, and he may look at something or slow to a walk, so I will call him again to be sure he comes over. "Conker, Here!" And point to the ground by my side.

He lays down.

I get annoyed, because he just laid down instead of coming over. I told him to come, not lay down. What part of "Conker, Here!" Sounds like "Conker, Down."?
Then it hits me. I told him to come, but right after, I told him to lay down. By pointing at the ground.

Duh.

Coot Wing

Today Conker got one cup of kibble in the AM with half an egg and an ounce of ground chicken mixed in. In the PM he got 3/4 cup of kibble with the other half of the egg and another ounce of ground chicken mixed in. He seems to like the ground chicken, so I might make up a batch of chicken/egg mix.


I got a Coot wing out of the freezer today to see how the dogs would react to it. Conker showed interest, but wouldn't grab it. Juneau on the other hand, she almost took my hand with the wing when I showed it to her. Very strong bird-drive in this one.
I tied the wing to the Ruff Wear Gourdo toy that Juneau loves to retrieve (kinda like a bumper) and she thought that was AWESOME.
Juneau was pretty good with bringing it back, but wanted to keep the wing every time so I had to make sure she dropped it before I reached for it. She would not bite me, but would regrab the wing and try to carry it off.
Bird wing on her favorite toy? How could this get any better?

Then I threw it into the pool.

At first Juneau was hesitant to go in to get it. The dogs are not really allowed in the pool, and Juneau knows this, but I wanted to see if she could do a water retrieve, since I had never really tried anything in deeper water. Once she got over the "Are you SURE I can go in?" stage, she was a pro. She LOVED retrieving the Coot wing/Gourdo from the pool. Conker tried, but he's still a bit nervous about going into the pool, so he mainly stayed on the deck and barked his fool head off at Juneau as she swam around.

At the end of the game, Juneau ate the wing. Oops. At least she enjoyed it.

I really hope that I can get Juneau to get over her noise fear. It really would be nice to use her to retrieve Coots for me, since Conker is usually a punkass about this sort of thing, and I doubt he'd actually be reliable.

Terrible Picture

Of some raw meats.

Big bowls: Chicken backs, turkey back chunks, ground beef heart and thymus, turkey gizzard and liver.

Little bowl: Turkey back chunk, ground beef heart, ground pork, ground green tripe, lamb liver, kidney, and heart, pulverized canned oyster.

I added eggs after the picture was taken, as well as fish oils and vitamin E, and digestive aid things.

Goals for this week

1. Get Conker to eat. I am stopping all whole foods for a short bit and putting him on a kibble that he has shown a lot of interest in. I am also going to attempt to train him to eat on cue.

2. Figure out digestive issues. While things have gone pretty well in Conker's gut for a good long while, there have been a couple instances of "WTF caused that?" recently which would be nice to clear up.

3. Get out more. I sit on my ass meddling with nutrition numbers too often. I need to go for some more hikes, or at least a walk every now and then.

4. Play with Conker. He has started getting quite obnoxious with his pestering, which would easily be remedied with a good long play session.


Number one on the list is Conker's refusal of foods, and right behind that is digestive issues. Why, you might ask, am I putting Conker on a kibble, if he's been having digestive issues recently? Because so far, he can digest this kibble pretty well. Once things have calmed down a bit in there, and he will eat whatever I put in front of him, I will put him back on whole foods and begin adding items in one by one to figure out what he's been having problems with.

The last two are simply my own problems. I need to get in better shape, and Conker needs more attention. Both are easily fixed, unlike Conker's food issues.

Picture from today's hike

The cellular phone focused on everything but Conker

We went someplace today, a place that I've been avodiing due to past annoyances with it. It was fun, since there were no hillbillies illegally camping in the entire parking lot, nor were there any other people.

More pictures to come when I figure out how to get them off my phone's memory card without sending them one at a time to my e-mail.

The picky monster strikes again

I have mentioned a couple times how Conker has slowly grown picky over the months. Well, it's turned into a full-blown picky epidemic with him. What he wants one second, he want's nothing to do with the next. What is food today is refused tomorrow. Only half (if that) of meals are eaten, or outright refused. It's getting quite obnoxious.
Actually, this has been going on since April of last year. Conker decided to boycott his liver for a while.This happened on and off for the next few months, then disappeared for a good while. The pickyness returned full force about three months ago when Conker began refusing things like turkey, which he's previously gone head-over-heels for.

Conker's always been a lean dog. I have not been able to get much fat on him, ever, no matter how hard I tried. I normally wouldn't have a problem with his leanness, I actually prefer dogs that way, if it weren't for the obnoxious fact that since his refusals of enough meals in the past two weeks, he's lost half a pound of weight. Which, for me, is something like 10 pounds.
Oddly enough, he is showing no signs of anything out of the ordinary. Still annoying, hyper, pesters Juneau, chews on writing utensils, wants to play every waking minute, barks at everything... Still normal Conker. Except for the not eating thing.

As of today, he will eat chicken backs, canned fish, roasted chicken, eggs, and occasionally oatmeal. Or whatever I happen to be eating, no matter how bad it might be for him. (wheat). Sometimes. He might not want the chicken back, but will eat ground meat instead. Or will eat a full bowl of oatmeal, but want nothing whatsiever the next day. Unless it happens to be on my plate.
What I find most curious about this is, his appetite has not gone anywhere, it's just really out of whack. He wants food, my food, the Girl's food, just not his food. Even if it was previously mine and is now his. As soon as it's given to him, he no longer wants it. I do not understand what he is doing at all.

I have tried tough luck (a week straight without eating what's offered is alarming) toppers, mixers, feeding him bits off my plate, letting him eat in the kitchen, all sorts of things. Nothing really works.


I am going to attempt a few things I have not tried before. Hopefully one of them will work. If not? It's off to the vet for him, which I'd rather not do. Since I am not made of money, and testing for unknown conditions tens to be expensive.

Swimming Shiba

Conker now enjoys swimming. So much that he will retrieve toys out of the water. This is huge for him! It's taken him a while to get used to being in water where he cannot touch the ground, and now that he is comfortable in it, I feel like it's time for a bit of training.

The deep part of the creek is about 3 feet

Juneau is still very scared of loud noises. I honestly doubt that I'll be able to get her adapted to loud sounds before waterfowl season. This means I will most likely not be able to use her as a retriever when I hunt Coots. However, now that Conker has shown that he will and likes to retrieve in water, I might have a back-up if Juneau's training doesn't work out.

How odd (and cool) would it be to have not only a hunting Shiba, but a retrieving (in water) one as well?