CGC class week 4

Today was the last day of CGC classes. Conker did good again, still was a bit nervous with the friendly stranger thing, but the trainer thinks he will pass. We'll see how he does this Saturday.

Not much else going on today. We didn't hike because of the class, and my sister and her fiancee are in town.

13.5 miles!

Wow, we had a LONG hike today! It was a very good one too. Unfortunately, I left the camera at home, so there are no pictures of today's hike.
We ran into Logan and his owner again, and this time we hiked together for a while. Conker and Logan got along great and even ran around playing some. Then Conker disappeared off to the parking lot and started to bark at people... Logan's owner has a lot of free time now so he and I are going to hike together often since the dogs get along so great.
I also ran into another Vibram Five Finger wearer. I was like "Hmm, I see toe shoe prints..." then caught up to who made them shortly after. We hiked together for a bit too and talked about some stuff, until I had to take the trail back to where my Jeep was parked. We hope to run into each other again for another chat.
(I was wearing my Vibrams today since I sliced my foot on something yesterday.)

So, while I may not have much of a social life (none if you take away the internet) there are some people who's company I do enjoy. I just don't actively seek out other people to be around. Kinda like Conker.

Dur hur

The best part about today was that, even after this nice long hike, the first thing Conker wanted to do when we got home was... Play. It's practically impossible to wear this Energizer Rocketship Shiba out.

We went to the dog park today, something we haven't done in a long time. Nobody was there, but that was fine. Conker sniffed and ran and rolled in the sand, then we visited the creek.

Conker really likes the creek. Sometimes he visits it five times in one dog park session (about an hour, sometimes more). It seems to supercharge him and he'll run around like a rocket after going for a swim.
Some of the trees at the dog park are beginning to show signs of fall, and the temperatures reflect that. It was a very nice mild day with a slight breeze.

On our hike, Conker was less than ethsusiastic and spent most of his time either lagging way behind or way off in front speeding along and trying to take trails that led back to the parking lot.

This picture shows how darned leggy Conker is. Conker is very leggy for a Shiba.

The hike was only around 3.5 miles or so, not too long. We ran into a pack of off-leash (but polite) dogs that Conker wanted absolutely nothing to do with and ran away from, and bayed at from a distance, right at the beginning of the hike. That could have been why he wanted to leave.

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.