Some dope stole my sister's rabbit

Scooter spends most of the summer out in a pen in the front yard. He has plenty of clover and grass to eat, a shade house, and water at all times. Some jackass took it upon themselves to "rescue" or just plain steal my sister's rabbit. He is very well cared for, has a heated hutch that he sleeps in during the winter, is given fresh veggies and some fruits on an almost daily basis, is visited by many neighbors (and some polite dogs) during the day, and pet several times a day by my younger siblings and I. We care very deeply about Scooter and would really like to have him back. My sister is very upset over this.

Pre-weekend hikes

Yesterday and today Conker and I did 4.75 and 7 miles on our evening hikes. We hadn't gone on any hikes this week, for no reason, so I wanted to get some in before the weekend hit.

Obligatory pick-nick table Shiba.

Going up Hogback. It's one of the steeper "average" trails at Cathedral Hills. I don't particularly like this section very much, but Conker likes to take it. He doesn't care for the hill (unless we are going down it) but likes the parts after it.

The top of Hogback. I like the top of the Hogback trails since they are on top of ridges (hogbacks?) and you can see the rest of the forest from them. There is usually wind up on them.

The wind was sweeping along this section, and Conker was pausing frequently to sniff it. There must have been some interesting scents, since he stopped for very long periods of time.

 

I just like this picture.

Conker investigates a scent.

There have been a number of fires in the area lately so everything had a layer of haze over it. The smoke was only barely detectable (by me).

Conker started today's hike by taking a dirt bath. I guess he was not satisfied with his clear sable coat and wanted a shaded sable (sesame) coat. There is still dirt in his fur. I might need to give him a rinse soon.

He is getting more and more comfortable ranging out from me. He stops to check my whereabouts quite often so I let him go out pretty far if the trail is not too curvy. (This is not far at all, it's only about 30 feet or so. He goes out a LOT farther than that at times.)

We stopped on this bench for a water and scenery break.

The sun made the trees appear as if there was a large fire behind them.

The sunsets were pretty good on both days, thanks to the smoke haze that stuck around.

The Kibble Trails: New Contestant #7 EVO Red Meat (Small Bites)

I stopped the previous food due to some nasty digestive issues that began to occur when I started to feed it, and also since I bought some new kibble that was going to expire soon so I bumped back the other one and started to feed this one instead. The digestive problems have vanishes so far, so I figured I'd introduce the food properly now.

I spied a few bags of EVO on sale at the Grange for a good price. (13.2bs for $25, 28.6lbs for $50) They had Red Meat (small and large bites), Herring & Salmon, and Weight Management. (Holy shit check out the protein levels in the WM food!) They might have had Senior as well, but I can't remember.
I only bought one 13.2lb since the food was set to expire soon and I didn't want to stock up on stuff that would go bad before I could use it.

Anywho, I ended up with a bag of the Red Meat Small Bites.

Ingredients: 
Beef, Lamb Meal, Potatoes, Eggs, Sunflower Oil, Buffalo, Lamb, Venison, Herring Oil, Natural Flavors, Apples, Carrots, Tomatoes, Alfalfa Sprouts, Cottage Cheese, Potassium Chloride, Vitamins: (Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin E Supplement, Betaine Hydrochloride, 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, Iron Proteinate, Copper, Dried Chicory Root, Direct-Fed Microbials: (Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product)

Guaranteed Analisys:
Crude Protein (Min)     42.0 %
Crude Fat (Min)     22.0 %
Crude Fiber (Max)     2.5 %
Moisture (Max)     10.0 %
Carbohydrates NFE (Max)     15.0 %
Linoleic Acid (an Omega-6 Fatty Acid) (Min)     1.2 %
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
4370.0 kcal/kg
27.0 kcal/cup


This is the highest protein dry food Conker has eaten since I attempted to feed him Orijen Puppy way back in St. Louis. (If you don't know already, that did not go very well at all.) Conker normally gets a protein level that's identical to the one in this food with the homemade stuff, but this is dry and that is packed with moisture.
This bag should last for the rest of the month. I might add in some canned or an egg every now and then, but not every day like I do with most other kibbles.

EVO's website has a feeding calculator that can be used to determine how much food a dog should get. I generally do not follow the guidelines on bags or websites since they are usually wrong when it comes to my dogs, but it can give a starting place if one is not sure how much to feed of a new food. (They almost always overestimate by a lot how much to feed.) Conker has been getting one cup a day, but that could change.

Anyways, so far he's been able to digest it fine with no problems. I had to switch him off the Fromm cold turkey because of the digestive problems but he handled the switch without problems. (Sometimes he does not.)

CGC class week 3

Conker did really good today. We did the usual heeling, then we worked on greeting a friendly stranger and supervised separation. Conker was, like normal, shy of the friendly stranger, but he did GREAT with the supervised separation. That kinda shocked me. No whining or looking for me, just chilling with the lady in a lawn chair. So, that's really good.
He did some very nice heeling, good recall, stays, downs, sits, etc... He wasn't so fond of the noise distractions, but he was good with the crowd. He also did good with the thing where two people with dogs walk towards each other and say hello, but the dogs don't. (Can't remember what that's called.)

Anywho, one more week of class to go, then after that is the CGC test! Hopefully Conker will be ready for it by then.

Nights are getting chilly

It was a dastardly 46 degrees last night. Both outside and in the trailer. I closed all the windows and door (I usually have that open with the screen door closed at night) but that did not help warm the trailer much. While the trailer can have heat, it runs on propane, and I'd rather not do that (expensive). So I don't have any heat (yet) and had to figure something out to keep myself warm.
Already on the bed is a sheet, micro-fleece blanket, poly-fleece blanket, and pseudo-sleeping bag. I added an additional layer last night to combat the chilly air. Not the heavy-duty sleeping bag I reserve for the dead of winter. Not the wool blanket I jacked from the yard sale last year. No, I broke out...

The queen sized dual control heating blanket. And cranked it up to level 7 (out of 10).

It was cold enough that even Conker didn't want to stay on top of the covers and ended up squashed up against my face under the heating blanket. But alas, I was so annoyed with how cold it had suddenly gotten that I didn't actually fall asleep until about 7:30 AM.

The predicted temperature for tonight is from 54 to 48 degrees, depending on the site you use. This time if it gets cold enough, I will be prepared. I'll have that thing running before I even get into bed.  See, being the desert creature that I am, it's gotta be warm, even hot sometimes, in order for me to sleep good. If I am the least bit chilled, I won't sleep at all. Which is basically what happened last night.

Once he joined my face under the covers, Conker slept quite soundly. As usual.

Today the Girls got some raw yumms.

Chicken backs, ground beef, lamb liver, beef thymus, and eggs. Conker didn't get any. I gave him 3/4 cup of EVO Red Meat, we'll see how that goes either tonight or tomorrow.

Switching things up

So, I found a bag of EVO Red Meat for cheap, and since it's got the closest expiration date, I will be trying it out. I'm going to put the Fromm Salmon on hold for now, since when I began to feed it to Conker, he started having odd poop problems that I haven't seen in a long long time. If they continue, then I will investigate further. But for now, I'm hoping that a food change will stop the nasty from occurring.

I have been watching the neighbor's dogs and today decided to take the Husky (who I am basically convinced has some Malamute in him) hiking with Conker and I. Conker is a total ass to Indie through the fence, but Indie just blows him off, which seems to anger Conker even more.
After an initial snarkfest from Conker while I was picking Indie up (this is MY JEEP and you WILL NOT get in it!) the two got along perfectly fine.

Indie's got basically no manners. Despite that, he's a very sweet dog, I like hanging out with him. He was pretty good on the trails too, after we settled out the pulling issue. He doesn't respond to his name at all, but after a few sessions of "Indie, wanna treat?" He started to pay attention to me when I spoke to him.

Conker of course always wanted a treat and paid pretty good attention to me. This is a common "game" we play on the trail so Conker knew to do as I say to get a treat.

Indie discovered the numerous lizards on the trail, and that they are fun to stomp. He'd suddenly veer off to one side, rise up on his hind legs, then STOMP down on the lizards with his front feet. I think he only got a couple, but he sure tried hard to smash them.

Due to the lack of a bell (I left it on Sasha' collar by accident) and since I was not sure how well his foot was, I kept Conker close or at a heel for most of the hike. He was not exactly pleased with that, but he got to sniff and mark all the bushes he wanted so I don't think he's got too much to complain about.
Indie on the other hand, well he stayed on-leash. First off, he's got zero recall. And second, he's not mine. I'm not stupid enough to let a dog with no recall that doesn't belong to me off the leash in an unfenced lizard and squirrel infested forest.

Speaking of squirrels, we saw three, one of which Indie wanted to chase so bad we had to stop and wait for him to chill out before we continued.

We did about 6.5 miles today, which I think could have been a bit much for Indie. I had Indie wear Juneau's harness and leash but not the pack since he's still pretty young and I figured he'd get enough exercise with just a hike. I was right, he's sacked out good right now.

Money spent in August

To see last month's tally, click here.
I forgot where I stuck the list of dogstuff I have bought this month, so this is a guesstimate.

August 2012

• Food: $20.20
• Treats/Chews: $3.00
• Toys: $1.00

Total: $24.20

Food.
I bought one bag of Nature's Variety Raw Boost Chicken which I will be trying out after the next bag of Before Grain (buffalo, also has chicken meal in it) to see if Conker actually has a problem with chicken-based non-raw foods or not. In the past he has, but recently he's been able to eat cooked chicken with no problems, so I am a bit confuzzled about it and would like to get it sorted out. Anywho, that originally cost $20 but not only was it on sale for $17, I had two coupons which I used (one for Petco, one for Nature's Variety) so I only spent $9 on it. Unfortunately Petco only had the chicken type in stock (for the size I wanted), so that's what I got. If they had another type then I'd have gone with something other than chicken.

I got some ground beef that was on sale for $7.20 at a measly $1.70 per pound! That is a KILLER deal for beef. I picked up a package of lamb stew meat for $1.40 ($1.80 per pound) and some turkey misc for $1.60 ($0.69 per pound).


Treats/Chews.
I got some trachea chews at the Farmer's Market. 6 slices for $1. I got $3 worth.


Toys.
I bought a tennis ball thing for the shelter dogs for $1. I do that every now and then.

I was trying to get a picture of Sasha's teeth. Stupid camera will do what it wants goshdangit.