Last night, I had not one, but two visitors in the trailer.
Conker is getting better about the Girls being in "his" trailer. Today there was not any warmaking but there was loud protest. Conker stood behind Juneau and whined at me for about 20 minutes before he rediscovered his penguin and lay claim to it.

Sexy manleg

The Derp Dog stayed on the floor. I tried to get her to jump onto the couch, but she kept ending up in my lap, and every time I shoved her over, she flopped off the couch and back to the floor.

Juneau understands what is allowed while she's in the trailer. What she doesn't know is that the corner is my spot, not hers. She always settles into the corner before I can tell her not to. So I have to move her, and she gives me the worst pityface ever when I do that.
She's not pityfacing in the picture, rather, she had just gotten a good buttrub and was quite happy.

The Kibble Trails: Contestant #6 Innova Red Meat

This food was not originally included in the list of trial foods because of it's lower protien content. However, my Petco was having a super sale on some brands, Innova was one of them, and I couldn't help but grab a 15 pound bag of this for just under $20! That's a really good deal for this type of food.

The Rundown.

Innova Red Meat (Large Bites) is one of several foods offered by Innova from puppy to senior. I went with Red Meat because it didn't contain any chicken (which I am still on the fence about) and was on sale for less than the regular adult formula.

The deck has been painted!

Ingredients:
Beef, Lamb Meal, Barley, Brown Rice, Potato, Sunflower Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, a Natural Source of Vitamin E), Rice, Lamb, Buffalo, Venison, Flaxseed, Natural Flavors, Apple, Carrot, Herring Oil, Pumpkin, Tomato, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Cottage Cheese, Alfalfa Sprouts, Dried Chicory Root, Taurine, Vitamins (Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin E Supplement, Betaine, Vitamin A Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Beta Carotene, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Biotin, Folic Acid), Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Calcium Carbonate, Iron Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Calcium Iodate), Direct Fed Microbials (Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product), Lecithin, Rosemary Extract

Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein (Min)     24.0 %
Crude Fat (Min)     14.0 %
Crude Fiber (Max)     3.0 %
Moisture (Max)     10.0 %
Vitamin E (Min)     300.0 IU/kg
Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) (Min)     500.0 mg/kg
Omega-3 Fatty Acids (Min)     0.4 %
DHA + EPA (Min)     0.1 %
Total Microorganisms (Min)     90,000,000.0 CFU/lb
3914.0 kcal/kg
468.0 kcal/cup


Innova has a handy online feeding calculator, so I will not post the guidelines unless I feel like dragging the bag of kibble out into my trailer and copying them off of that.
So, according to Innova's calculator, for an adult 25 pound dog (I always calculate Conker out at 25 pounds) I would need to feed Conker 1 1/2 cups every day. That makes sense since Innova Red Meat has a pretty high calorie content at 468 kcals per cup. It's even nigher for the regular adult formula.
* Calculated amounts may differ from packaging as some packaging values are based on available feeding trial data.

The normal price for this food was somewhere around $19 for a 6lb bag, around $37 for a 15lb bag. This bag should last around 25+ days, maybe less if Conker ends up needing more than 1 1/2 cup (which he usually does) per day.


The protein in this food is a bit low for my liking, but for the price I paid, it can't hurt to try it.

The Kibble Trails: Before Grain Pork Results

I am not exactly sure how much of this food Conker needed to maintain weight since he was "recovering" from his ordeal while on it. Actually, he was still being a dipshit about eating when I'd transitioned him to it, but was eating well by the end of the bag. He got roughly 1 1/2 to 2 cups a day, so something in that area is what he needs to maintain bodyweight. I think.

Conker would eat the kibble with or without additions at the end of the bag. In the beginning I needed to dress it up with... whatever his chosen food of that day was. After I ran out of dress up items I started giving it to him plain, and much to my surprise, he ate it that way. Whatever dog. Confuse the utter crap out of me with your odd eating habits.

Supercrap cellular phone picture (taken before the Olympus was fixed)

Anyways, the kibbles were shaped like most grain-free kibbles I have seen so far. A generic roundish semi-flat shape. It did not smell too strongly but it wasn't the greatest. Conker did not think it was good enough to eat as a "treat" but would finish it if it was part of a meal near the end of the bag.

The 6.6 pound bag lasted about 16 days, however, I had been feeding it mixed with the Fromm duck food so fed alone, it would probably last a bit longer than that.

Conker was in pretty good shape while on this food. He had gained a bit of weight before he was fully transitioned to it but solidified nicely in the weeks he ate it. He is still a bit on the thin side, but I think that if he'd continued being fed this food, his condition would have continued to improve.
He did, like usual, develop a slight dog smell. It wasn't as bad as some other kibbles and wasn't noticable unless you were very close to him.
Conker's teeth remained in good shape while on this food. Very little tartar built up while he ate it.

Unfortunately, Conker's poop on this kibble was biggish, green (yes, it was green!), and very smelly. I find that smelly poops often mean there is something wrong when it comes to Conker, but I could not figure out exactly what it was. The green color confused me, and the only other time I have seen this was when he ate Origen as a puppy. but he did not agree with that food at all so I am stumped for the time being.


Overall I was quite satisfied with this food. Conker put on good weight (muscle, not fat), had a good amount of energy, and didn't lose coat or tooth quality as quickly as he had on some other foods. The green smelly poop thing is a put off, but I will be given another chance to see if it's a problem with the whole food line or just the pork version when I try out the buffalo (and chicken...) formula I also bought.

Note: Before grain is being discontinued. It can be found at select online retailers and stores who still have some in stock. It is being replaced with a "generic" Merrick label food that is very similar but different slightly. I will try out the newer versions and compare them later on.

Short Fun Hike

Today's hike was long, but short at the same time. Timewise it was long, distance it was short. Why? Because we ran into this guy:

My favorite local big dog... LOGAN!

But first...
We started going the same route that we took the other day. I again wanted to do Wild Rose, but AGAIN, I was blocked by someone else. Wasn't a horse though, it was a man and a growly Golden retriever. It was strange, since it had a show build, but field coat color. Looked mighty odd to me.

Conker spots the growly Golden (not visible)

Anyways, I don't like hiking right behind or around strangers, and since Conker and I hike at a pretty good clip (4mph average) I didn't want to butt up behind this guy and his growly Golden who clearly did not like Conker despite the distance between the two. So we skipped Wild Rose and went up towards Hogback. I'm glad we did.

We were about halfway up the first section of Hogback when I spot another guy and his dog up ahead. Unlike the owner of the Golden, this guy leashed up his dog. As we drew closer, the dog looked familiar, really familiar. So I asked: "Is that Logan?" And Logan's owner said "Hey, it's Conker!"

Logan is one of Conker's dogpark buddies. A while ago, Logan's owner and I talked for a long time (hours) in the parking lot of the dog park. I really like talking with him since we can both talk about stuff that interests the other and it's never boring like it is when I talk to most other people. That was the last time I'd seen them until today.
The reason why I hadn't seen Logan or his owner was because Logan stopped being "friendly" with other dogs, much like Conker has in recent months. When a dog is not having fun at the dogpark, or is always getting into fights, it's better to just not go anymore. I only take Conker in when it's a select few dogs or if nobody else is in there. He does want to go, but will always start shit, so I just don't risk it.

Much to our surprise, Conker and Logan got along just fine, as if they were old buddies and had been hanging around each other for a long time. They hung out in the shade, sniffed and looked at things, and were general dogs together. No snarkly fighting went on between the two, which is why neither of us took our dogs to the dogpark anymore. It was neat seeing them get along since we had both had problems with our dogs not liking others.

There was a lot of loafing while Logan's owner and I were talking. One other hiker passed us, and since neither of us had the time, I do not know how long we talked for. An hour maybe, close to it, since we hiked barely 3.5 miles but spent over two hours at Cathedral Hills.

Once we parted ways (I had family friends coming into town, Logan's owner had to get to work) I decided not to finish the original planned hike of 7 miles and cut it short, and we ran almost the entire way back to the trailhead (it was downhill, I don't run uphill) so we saw Logan and his owner again in the parking lot.
We are now going to try to go to Cathedral Hills around the same time so we can do some more catching up and hike together.

Yes, we did stop to take an Obligatory pick-nick table picture. There is always time for one of these.

Summer in Southern Oregon

We went to Cathedral Hills today. First thing I see when we get there is... Horses. Tons and tons of horses! So many horses, there were at least seven. It was like a horse party was going on at the trailhead. It looked like they were going to pack up soon, so I sat around and waited as Conker tried to see what all the hubub was about.
The moment I decide they aren't going anywhere and get out of the Jeep is the one when the riders all start walking towards Conker and I. Their dogs got to us first. Conker was very nervous with the dogs, a Pointer and a Carin Terrier, and snapped loudly at them a couple times. The riders did nothing to get their dogs away so I did not tell him to stop, but I did shoo the other dogs away since Conker obviously did not want them around him and were pissing him off.
I was able to get Conker distracted enough that he did not focus on the horses walking closer and we hit the trails. Two horses did not go to the trailers. One followed us, and the other trotted along the trail parallel to the one we were on. The following horse soon disappeared, then reappeared at the crossroads to the exact trail I wanted to take. The trotting horse was already on it, so that cut about a mile and a half out of our trip.

I did not get any pictures during this since I was on high-alert for the horses and was too busy scanning the surrounding terrain for them.

Anyways...

Conker was insisting we take Hogback instead of Cloverlawn. I said no. We took Cloverlawn.

Thankfully we did not run into any more horses after the first few at the trailhead and crossroads.

Obligatory.

Even though today was only a mild 82 degrees, we took several water breaks on Conker's request. We are still learning how to read one another during hikes, and I have just now figured out what Conker's "I need water" behaviors are.

There was a lot of rolling on things. That often resulted on Conker getting covered with burrs that itched when he moved so I'd have to pull them all out after every rolling session.

My favorite trail, Skycrest. Look at how dry the grass is and how well Conker blends into the terrain. Time to get that orange bandana out again!

Conker investigates scents on a pine tree. His tail was down in this picture because I refused to remove the burrs from his ass since I'd just pulled about a million of them out of his fur seconds before he ran and rolled in dried grass again.

Conker begins a rolling session. Probably to scratch the itchy spots caused by the burrs he kept picking up by rolling.

We took a short break somewhere along Skycrest. We don't normally take actual "breaks" where we sit/lay down without packs on (Conker did not have a pack on this hike) but today we did.

Conker on one of the trailside benches with GP in the background. This one is on Hogback, which Conker still insisted we take, so we did. He really likes Hogback and will attempt to convince me to take it every time we pass a crossroads for it.

It's supposed to be nice for a long time. I hope to get out and hike at least twice a week, preferably three times. We'll see what happens.

RMB Day

I haven't done one of these in a while, and since I had some pork shoulder and butt bones just sitting around in the freezer taking up space, I decided to do something about them.

The dogs all got: Pork bone of some sort, an egg, some turkey liver. (Conker did not eat his liver.) The biggest bone was for Juneau, the mid-sized one for Sasha, and the smallest for Conker.

Juneau got right to work on her bone. Juneau is the best behaved dog while waiting for their food, so she always gets to eat first.

Sasha likes to carry her bones into the bushes. I did not get very many pictures of her.

Conker just eats right on the pavement.

Juneau is very delicate when she eats, she takes her time and deconstructs her food bit by bit.

Conker, much to my amazement, actually wanted his food! He was not vocal about it, but was excited while I was preparing and carrying the bowls out to the back. He ate most of his bone and all his egg. He never finishes bones like these, so Sasha usually gets the rest.

It took Juneau twice as long as Sasha to eat her bone.

All the dogs were in need of a good tooth cleaning, and while the bones did not get all the gunk off their teeth, it really did a good job on Conker's. His teeth were starting to look pretty nasty (for a dog who normally has no tartar whatsoever, even a tiny bit looks bad) but the bone brushed them up good. Juneau's teeth are still relatively nice looking since her extraction/cleaning earlier this year, but Sasha's were in need of a good scrub. They still are, so I will probably either just give her another bone soon, or plan another RMB Day for next week.

Canine Visitor

Yesterday late afternoon/evening, Juneau decided to visit Conker and I out in the trailer. (Forgot to mention: I live in the trailer.)  Now, Conker's always been a tad defensive of things that are mine. Like my former room, and former bed. Conker would throw a hissy fit if one of the other dogs went in, let alone tried to get on the bed. But the trailer? Oh man, he must consider it to be his private domain. The shitfits he throws dwarf the previous ones by a lot.

Anyways, back to the story.
Juneau prefers to avoid conflict whenever possible (unless with a strange dog) but she wanted to come in. Conker was standing guard at the door, hackles raised, teeth bared, and a series of low snarls eminating from his throat, as poor Juneau stood outside trying to find a way to get past the idiot in her way. Well, Conker can be easily distracted, and something outside the trailer caught his attention so he abandoned guarding "his" trailer to investigate. In that instant, Juneau leapt up into the trailer and settled herself down on the couch beside me.

After Juneau had gotten settled on the couch with her head resting on my leg, Conker struts back in. He freezes when he sees Juneau clearly in violation of his laws. He starts to growl, but a quick "Shut the fuck up Conker." From me makes him stop. (I don't put up with most of his bullshit and only allow a small amount of guarding.) He angrily huffs about in the space beside the couch and table, then jumps up on the other side and angrily glares at Juneau as we both ignore him.

Juneau spent about 15 minutes in the trailer, quietly lying beside me, loving the attention she got from me for being such a good dog. Conker decided to put his war plans on hold for the visit and stared out the window behind the couch and growled at anything that walked past the driveway.
Then, Sasha began to bark at something in the back yard. That signaled the end of Juneau's visit as she leapt off the couch, paused at the door as Conker surged over and snarled, then blasted out of the trailer, into the garage, then to the backyard to join her sister in a barkfest.

The "Access Road" at Dollar Hill is NOT an access road

I was told, some time ago by another hiker, that the "access road" on the backside of Dollar Hill could be used as an alternate route to get down if you didn't want to slide off the incredibly steep inclines on the way back to the trailhead. Yesterday I finally decided to see where this "road" came out, since the other hiker told me you'd have to walk on the road a bit to get back to the trailhead.
So once we'd rested at the lookout rock then made out way to the cell tower on the top, Conker and I set off to explore the backside of Dollar Hill.

The Cellular Phone tower atop Dollar Hill

Bad idea.

This "road" looked like your typical jagged gravel road for the first 1 1/2 mile. It was wide, cut right through the side of the mountain, had very little if any tree cover, but wasn't too overly steep. Then, it gradually shrank, the trees got closer, bushes began to hang over the gravel, and it looked more and more like a private residential road. I hadn't seen any signs indicating private property, or city property for that matter, anywhere along the road. Until I came to the 2 mile mark.
Yep, private property, no trespassing.
WELL. Apparently this "accsess road" is NOT what the other hiker said it was.

See, I have this thing about trespassing. I don't do it. Period. And up until that point, there were no signs to indicate otherwise, but I'd had a feeling that the road I was on was no longer city property. Yay. So happy about that.

So Conker and I turned around and trudged back up to the top of Dollar Hill. I was fuming. I did NOT want to go back up that damn hill, and I wanted to strangle that other hiker who lied about this road not going onto private property. (Which I asked about.) We added an unnecessary and unwanted additional 4 miles to our hike in the middle of the day BEFORE the damn storms hit, so it was still bloody hot outside despite the forecast of clouds and a temperature of about 77 degrees.

Anyways, I generally don't listen to the "advice" of other people, but now I know to just not do it at all.

Conker and I stopped at the lookout rock and watched the storms blow in from the Siskiyou mountains.  I wanted them to start raining while we were still on Dollar Hill, but that didn't happen. We just got blasted by a lot of wind, so we slid down the hill and walked back home.

Speaking of sliding...
The trail at Dollar Hill has really degraded a lot in the recent weeks. It's rather sad, since it's not almost impossible to go up it without slipping, and going down? Yeah, staying upright is damn near impossible. I had to hunker down and slide most of the way down the steepest slope. Conker didn't have much problem, but I don't want him going too fast down that hill due to his knees, and he always seems to think the correct plan of action is to rocket down as fast as possible.

I said I'd probably make the 6 mile walk/hike more of a regular thing, but if the trail continues to get worse, that's just not gonna happen. To top all this retardation off, the extra exercise did not help increase Conker's appetite at all. I was hoping it would. That has not worked yet.

Yesterday was just a generally stupid day.

Cathedral Hills on Monday

Yesterday we went to Cathedral Hills. It was pretty fun, and we only saw one other person and their elderly dog. Conker was good with the other dog, so that was nice. Usually he has a spazz-out moment when meeting other dogs on the trails.

Blurry picture of Conker in mid-shake.

We took a smaller connecting trail that he don't usually take due to the presence of a horse trailer at the trailhead. Whenever I see horse trails, I stay off the larger outer loops to avoid the horses.

 This trail was called Bridges since it's got about three of these little things on it.

Most of the Bridges trail is forested, but a couple spots have less trees and are more exposed/dry.

A crossroads on Hogback with the Outbound Loop.

Obligatory.

We did about 3.75 miles on yesterday's hike, as well as a 1 mile petshop trip and a 2.65 mile evening walk. It was a good amount of exercise, but not enough to make us take a break for a day!
More on that mishap tomorrow.

Sunday Dollar Hike

I don't usually hike on the weekend. It's always too crowded, there are never parking spots, and the people seem to be of the "stupid" type. Like tourists.
Yesterday I took my chances with Dollar hill.
It was warm, around 85 or so, which is "hot" for the vast majority of GP residents. Perfect weather for a hike in my opinion, so I harnessed up Conker, grabbed my Camelbak and filled it with water, tossed in a few things I always take on hikes, an headed off for Dollar Hill.

Oh, I forgot to mention, we walked to Dollar Hill rather than drove. I was too lazy to move Mom's and my Grandparent's cars out of my Jeeps' way so we left the Jeep at home and walked the two miles to the trailhead.

Conker waits for me as I rest in the shade in the "parking lot" across from the trailhead. He explored the area a bit then impatiently began to whine at me and glance at the trailhead.

Since I did not have a good enough camera in the spring for flower pictures, here is a residual flower I found along the trail. It's bright purple hue really stuck out amongst the dry browns that covered the ground.

Conker, at first, seemed happy to be on a trail. He haven't hiked in a while. He did a lot of running on the first flat section of the trail. (I did not get any pictures of that.)

The first of several very steep climbs was a breeze for Conker. He usually powers up this one then lags behind on all the others.

Barely visible in this picture is the small cowbell I bought for Conker. He wears it so I can tell where he is without having to look all over for him. It also serves as an early warning if he takes off after an animal that I did not see first, and provides me with his rough location so I can find him.

Another residual flower. This one wasn't as bright as the first, and the camera failed to capture it's correct hue, but it was very beautiful.

Around the second steep incline is where Conker begins to get annoyed. He does not like Dollar Hill anywhere near as much as Cathedral Hills. But he puts up with it.

The summer view of GP is pretty cool, but I get annoyed with all the buildings after about two seconds and wish that none of them existed.

It helps when your dog is a goofball and starts to slide off the rock after he lays down.

Overall it wasn't a bad walk/hike. I think we'll do it again soon, and leave the Jeep at home again. Walking turns Dollar Hill, which is otherwise a 2 mile hike, into a 6 mile walk/hike. That's a much better workout and doesn't use any gas (money) in the process.