Mountain Valley View

A view of GP from somewhere on Dollar Hill (Mountain). This hike was a lot harder than I remember, I was practically crawling up the mountain. I must not be as physically fit as I thought I was. Conker on the other hand was flying up the trail, something he rarely does. I usually have to encourage him to climb, not tell him to stop and wait for me.

Belated Presents (again)

Yesterday I received an Amazon box with five books in it. I was given a couple Amazon giftcards for various holidays and had pooled up a sum large enough that I decided to use it on some books. It took me a while to decide which books to chose out of a rather large reading list I have accumulated, but I eventually made up my mind and hit the checkout button with a cart full of six books and a few Amazon gift dollars to spare. (One book is a preorder, I will not get it for another few weeks.)

Entertainment!

The books I ordered are:
Navigations by Ted Kerasote
Bloodties by Ted Kerasote
Heart of Home by Ted Kerasote
Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast by Hank Shaw
Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet by Steve Brown

If you can't tell, I am a fan of Ted Kerasote.

But that is not all I have recieved.
I decided that since Conker had been neglected for three months and I missed our second anniversary that I would get some stuff for Conker too. I was looking around the web for random things and stumbled across the trail page on Petflow. I looked at what they had to offer and spotted some Evanger's food that looked interesting, $4 for 5lbs. Added it to the cart (I do that all the time, I rarely hit the checkout button) and looked around a bit more. Found some Halo ($4 for 4lbs), Solid Gold ($4 for 4lbs), Canidae ($5 for 5lbs), and Canyon Creek Ranch ($4 for 5lbs), added those to the cart. Oh look, bully sticks for $1 each! Lets get 20 of those. Hey, collar lights! Might as well add in some of those too.

Today my Petflow package arrived, but not without some problems. Notice how the Evangers is not there. It was in stock when I placed my order, and for several days afterwards. Petflow claims to have a quick (24 hour) turnaround time, and they did the first time I ordered from them, but I'd placed my order on the weekend and knew that it would not ship until Monday. Monday comes and goes, as does Teusday. It's now been 4 days since I placed my order and I have yet to receive any notice of it shipping or of a problem. So I shoot off an e-mail describing my curiosity, and frustration, as to the whereabouts of my items since I had already paid for them.
Petflow promptly answered my inquiry and said that there was a few problems with in-stock items going out of stock, but that they were fixed now, and that my order would ship soon. The next day I received my tracking number, so I figured all was good.
Several days later, I get an e-mail from Petflow. The Evangers food would not be included in my order since it was "out of stock" and I had been refunded the price. I checked Petflow's site and guess what? The Evangers trial was over, but the food was IN-STOCK and for sale at the regular price. Huh.
So I did not receive the item that I built my entire order around (the one that I actually wanted) and I am a bit miffed about that. At least I got 10% off after asking about my order though, that was nice of them.

Oh Yay!

The Girls have worms. I don't know if Conker has them too, I do not think so, but I have suspected something along those lines for a few days now. Poop has not been, satisfactory, so I "explored" a couple turds and found some little round-tubular-shaped worms (not tape segments, thankfully) in a couple of them. So totally happy about that.

Other than when I put them on heartworm preventives this past summer, the Girls have not, to my knowledge, been dewormed. Ever. Conker had been several times by the shelter I got him at as well as when he was put on heartworm preventives, and before I went to Alaska.  I guess it's a bit my fault since I have basically taken over the Girls' care, but they are also Mom's responsibility, so she takes a bit of the blame as well.
I don't yet know where these worms came from, I do not think I ever will either.

Upon discovery of the little nasties, I promptly ran out to the Grange to grab some deworming medication. Last time I did this for just Conker I got the canine safe-guard dewormer for about $10. It would cost (with the current local price) about $55 to deworm all three dogs using that product. Instead, I bought the goat safe-guard dewormer since it is the exact same chemical, but in a different form (liquid instead of granules) and concentration (10% instead of 22%).
I learned a few tricks about saving money when it comes to this sort of thing during my stay at the sleddog kennel, like using this variation of the dewormer instead of the other one, as well as proper dosages for this (fenbendazole) and other (pyrantel pamoate, ivermectin) dewormers in various concentrations.*
Anyways, the 125ml bottle cost me $20 and will treat all three dogs for three days in a row (which is what you do with fenbendazole) twice. I saved about $90 right there.

The Grange did not have any liquid pyrantel pamoate for some reason, so I only got the fenbendazole. I wanted both just to have them on-hand since I prefer to rotate dewormers instead of using the same one every time. I guess I'll check the other two smaller feed-stores next time I am near them to see if they've got it.

So starting tomorrow all three dogs will get dewormed, then again in a few weeks just to be sure the little buggers are gone.


*No I will not share this information. In the event of someone attempting to DIY ends up killing their pet, even if they followed my dosages exact and did not overdose or whathaveyou, I do not want to have been the source that resulted in that pet's death. If you are really that curious about it, ask your vet. Or figure it out yourself, the math is really not that hard. Either way I recommend you talk to your vet first.

I brought a foam mattress cover thing into my room, folded it in half, and placed it beside my computer. It was originally meant to be a bed for Juneau or Sasha, who would lay on the floor behind my chair and frequently got in the way before I put it there.
Conker promptly claimed the bed and now gets all huffy if one of the Girls is laying on it.

Beneful (Original)

Since the Girls ate this for a short bit I feel somewhat obligated to write something about it.

Beneful is one of those big name dog foods that just about everyone knows about. It can be found in almost all the chain petshops and most grocery stores. Beneful offers a mid-sized assortment of dry foods, ranging from their Original formula to ones like their Healthy Growth for puppies and Incredibites for smaller dogs.
This writeup will focus on the Original formula.

Image Source*

Beneful Original is targeted at adult dogs who don't seem to have any sort of issues like being overweight or skin problems. Beneful's website claims it has

"Protein-rich nutrition, with real beef, to help build strong muscles"

with

"Wholesome grains for energy"

as well as

"Omega fatty acids and antioxidants help support a healthy immune system"

and

"Includes vitamin-rich vegetables and essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients"

Sounds pretty fantastic, doesn't it?  Their commercials with it's falling corn, wheat, carrots, and chunks of beef give the impression that this food is a quality top-notch deal that will provide your dog with supreme nutrition to ensure a long, healthy life.
Lets take a look at those falling ingredients, shall we?

Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), rice flour, beef, soy flour, water, meat and bone meal, propylene glycol, sugar, tricalcium phosphate, phosphoric acid, salt, animal digest, potassium chloride, sorbic acid (a preservative), dried peas, dried carrots, calcium propionate (a preservative), choline chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, Vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, Red 40, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, niacin, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Vitamin A supplement, Blue 2, calcium carbonate, copper sulfate, Vitamin B-12 supplement, brewers dried yeast, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin D-3 supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite.

Sounds delicious, doesn't it?  I wasn't aware that dogs are cornivores. I thought they were opportunistic carnivores. Where's the meat? Chicken by-product meal and animal fat... What kind of animals? I'd like to know, since I'm obnoxious like that.
Too bad Conker can't enjoy this amazing food since it includes various forms of corn as well as wheat, and soy, and... Propylene glycol? SUGAR? Menadione sodium bisulfite complex? There is a lot of controversy surrounding that last one. All of these, actually, as they are generally not quality ingredients in dog food. Not to mention all the food colorings...

Anywho, where's that wonderous beef that Beneful was talking about? Oh, there is is, the 7th ingredient on the list. Not very prominent, is it? I figured it might be up a little higher since Beneful has got pictures of it on the bag and yaks about it on their website.
What about those vitamin-rich vegetables? Where are they? 19th and 20th on the list? Wow, there's more sugar and salt in this "food" than dried peas and carrots! Holy dang.

What about the guaranteed analysis, hopefully it looks a bit better, eh?

25.0% Crude Protein (Min)
10.0% Crude Fat (Min)
4.0% Crude Fiber (Max)
14.0% Moisture (Max)
1.5% Linoleic Acid (Min)
1.1% Calcium (Ca) (Min)
175 mg/kgIron (Fe) (Min)
0.2 mg/kgSelenium (Se) (Min)
10,000 IU/kgVitamin A (Min)
100 IU/kgVitamin E (Min)

Hmm... Not really.  Quite low in the good stuff: Protein and fat. Wait, didn't Beneful claim that this food is "protein-rich"? They did, didn't they. 25% does not appear to be "protein-rich" to me. I'd say a "protein-rich" food would have at least 35%, not a measly 25%.

Too bad they don't have carbohydrates and SUGAR listed, since those would be through the roof.

Image Source*

Food coloring! Looks positively scrumptious. Those little tan bones, brown 3 leaf clovers? And generic kibble shapes... Yeah, the food coloring really makes them more appealing to a mostly colorblind animal. Oh wait, that's supposed to appeal to the humans? Right, got it. Fancy.

I don't know about you, but in my area Beneful costs the same or more than several other brands which have far superior ingredient lists. It's about $43 for a 30 pound bag. Diamond Naturals sells for $30 for 40 pounds! Much better deal, not just cost-wise but also on ingredients, and the health of your dog.

Moving on...


The Girls had been recently bathed when I came back from Alaska, so I did not get to see their actual coat condition while on Beneful. However, it rapidly declined since the bath and they began to stink real nicely. Their coats quickly developed a greasy film that made petting them an unpleasant experience. Their fur was shedding out at a rapid rate, much faster than it should in the middle of winter.
Sasha's breath was HORRID, and it was not caused by her busted tooth rotting or some such other thing. Juneau's breath was worse than before her teeth got cleaned last February, and both had noticeable buildup on their teeth that I had not seen before I left. (That could have been due to the lack of raw bones and chews during that period, but who knows.)

Poop was, unpleasant. Nothing as bad as some of the stuff Conker has produced, but it was still quite nasty. Large, smelly, colorful, it would start out firm and turn into mush by the end. No fun to clean up. Liked to sprout mushrooms and other fungi of an unidentified sort.

Energy levels were absolute crap on this food. Allover the place, there was no, method, to their energy while they were eating Beneful. Unpredictable would be a good word to use. I wonder if the sugar has something to do with that.


So! After careful consideration and review of the evidence, I deem this "food" completely unsuitable for use in dogs. It's made of crappy ingredients, produces crappy crap, and crappy health of the dogs eating it. I also hear of dogs dying or getting siezures after eating this food, but I do not know how reputable those reports are.
I do not recommend Beneful Original or any of the other "foods" Beneful produces. As everyone should know by now, you are what you eat, so quit feeding your dog this shit and go find something that's actually good for them.


* I have not used nor support this website in any way. They just happened to have a picture of the Beneful kibble, as I did not take one while it was around.

It's hailing... when you are under a tree

My younger sister informed me today that it was hailing. When Conker and I went out to the Jeep I noticed that it was indeed hailing, but only under the cedar tree. The ice that has been chilling on the branches had begun to melt when the sun came out for a few hours, and some of it was falling off and gave the impression that it was hailing.

Our hike started out much like yesterday's, except without the thick ice fog. We took the new trail again, by Conker's choice. This hike was entierly one he chose. The ground for the first bit was frozen and frost covered the foliage.

But when we came up over the hilltop, the sun was shining brightly and the frost was all melted! The trees here were also producing "hail" and some sections were pretty muddy.

There was a light haze in the forest, mainly hanging out in the lower sections and inbetween the mountain ridges.

This hike, by Conker's choice, was not very long. Though I wanted to have a longer hike today, Conker did not pick trails that created a long route. Also, his right knee has been acting up today (Notice how Conker is holing his right rear leg up in this picture.) so even if he did pick longer trails I probably would have cut it short to avoid injuring his joint.

I thought it was nifty how parts of the trail were sunny and dry, others sunny and wet, or dark and icy, dark and damp, dark and dry... Every corner we turned had a different theme, I guess.

The GP overlook is on one of the prominent ridges but was shrouded in ice. Conker likes this trail (from a certain direction) since it has lots of long slopes that he loves to charge down. (Notice Conker's right rear leg again. Not much weight on it.)

This particular section is one of the steeper ones. I do not like it when Conker blasts down these (like he did today) since he can easily injure his knees on this sort of slope. But he seems to enjoy them, so I do not avoid them.
I like this picture since it shows how fluffy Conker's butt is. Super soft Shiba. It also shows us progressing from the sunlight down into a dark ice-covered valley. There are really tall pine trees on the lower section of this trail. The diversity in tree and plant life is one of the reasons why I love hiking at Cathedral Hills.

Ice Fog

That is what has been covering GP for a while now. Cold, thick, icy fog. It's kinda blah but not that bad, especially if you compare it to some of the other places I have been.

Today, we went for a hike in the ice fog.

The ground was mostly frozen, no surprise since the temperature ranged from about 30 to around 35.

There is a new section of trail that was put in while we were in Alaska. We investigated it today.

It is a spiffy little section, about 1/4 to 1/2 mile long, I have not figured out it's exact length yet. The terrain is pretty varied too, which is something I look for in a trail.

 After the new trail we hit up one of the old favorites.

Then took a couple shortcuts through some of the tougher trails.

Conker posed on a log.

 The fog was pretty thick in some areas, thick enough that you could feel it.

This hike was just Conker and I so it was not as hectic as it is when the Girls come along. Conker thoroughly enjoyed it, and I think that while he has a lot of fun romping with the Girls, sometimes he prefers the quieter hikes.

Been a while since I've done one of these, so here it is, the Obligatory Pick-Nick Table Shiba.

This picture shows how much ice was on some of the plants in certain sections of the trail.

The ice fog gave the trails a really neat visual affect, somewhat eerie but pretty cool at the same time. It felt really close, not claustrophobic (like in crowds of people, or buildings), but almost as if you had the entire forest to yourself. Until suddenly 30 feet away there is another person and their dog. Which Conker did superb with, coming right when I called and heeling perfectly by my side as we passed the other party.
This hike was a lot of fun, I really liked the ice fog. I have no idea how long this hike was, something in the 5 mile range I believe, and it was not enough for either of us. The next hike will hopefully be longer.

Food Snob

It is back, the Discriminatory Shiba who harshly criticizes every healthy meal I attempt to feed him. He outright refused to touch the chicken neck, gizzard, and liver I offered him yesterday. The Girls got that and scarfed their shares down without complaint. Today he would only eat the turkey heart and neck, not the gizzard or liver. I don't think Conker likes liver very much, or gizzards for that matter, but this hate of chicken... I see a pattern from his previous sessions of food boycotting.
Note: Conker will inhale cooked chicken. Funny how that works.
As long as he does not refuse to eat turkey backs and necks again we'll be all fine and dandy, I think.

But with the Discriminatory Shiba, you never know.

This is what Conker was offered. Half a turkey neck, half a gizzard, half a heart, and one quarter of a liver. The Girls wouldn't have hesitated to dig into this, but Conker had to sniff it over for a while before nosing aside the liver and gizzard and daintily licking up the heart, which he chewed slowly, then went after the neck in a cautious fashion.

Tomorrow I will offer him the same thing since I halved the package. Juneau will get another 1/4 of the liver like she did today (Sasha, since she is the only one who will touch it, gets a chunk of venison liver) and if Conker refuses to eat anything else, she will get that as well.

This was one of my attempts to get Conker to eat the liver and gizzard. I chopped it into little bits and mixed it with an egg, but he would only lick up the egg and spit out the bits. I also tried mixing it with oatmeal (same result) and grinding the whole concoction up in a blender (outright refusal) but ended up giving it to Juneau.

I really would like to feed Conker more than just his kibble-of-the-day/week/month, an egg, some sort of bone-in turkey item, and his various supplements. I haven't tried the beef meat yet, but so far he has never really refused beef so I do not think that will be an issue.

Crappy cellular phone picture

Picky brat dog. He's just like a kid who won't eat his vegetables.

Belated Birthday Presents

For me, not Conker. His birthday is still six months away.

Since I did not really get to celebrate my birthday (December 14th) I went ahead and bought myself some presents. I ended up with some Merrell True Gloves (discontinued) that I found on Gear Trade for $33! They are a tad on the biggish side but I easily modded the heel with a bit of padding from an old sleeping pad that I use for Conker when we go backpacking and some foam to make them fit better. I haven't even had these shoes for a day and I already love them!

I also got myself two more pairs of toesocks since my old ones are quite decrepit. And missing.


To make this post Conker-relevant...

I got two packages of beef meat for $1.99 a pound today.

New food for the Girls

Unfortunately, as usual, when money gets tight the dogs get shortchanged. When I came back from Alaska the Girls were eating Benecrap which really ticked me off. "No!" I said to that since there are many brands that cost the same or are cheaper than Benecrap that have much higher-quality ingredients.
Though Taste of the Wild is quite decently priced, I guess it's not "cheap" enough, so they get downgraded to Diamond Naturals. Which isn't a bad kibble, but I really liked how well they did on Taste of the Wild and am a bit annoyed about having to put them on something else.

I got the regular Chicken & Rice as the introductory formula, 40 pounds for $35 $28 on-sale with $1 off coupon from Mini Pet Mart. I wanted to get the Extreme Athlete due to the higher protein and fat content, but it was $6 more and I didn't want to tick Mom off since she said I had to "Get the cheap stuff."
Anyways...


Ingredients:
Chicken, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice, white rice, cracked pearled barley, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), oatmeal, dried plain beet pulp, egg product, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, fish meal, salt, potassium chloride, choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

Guaranteed Analysis:
Protein: 26%
Fat: 16%
Calories: 3,708 kcal/kg (368 kcal/cup)

This food is basically the grain-inclusive equivalent of Taste of the Wild so I shouldn't have much to complain about. The protein and fat levels are similar to the Pacific Stream and Sierra Mountain formulas, which were not my favorite but I still fed them since the Girls did well on them.

I will most likely be trying out the Beef & Rice formula, but not the Lamb & Rice since it's protein content is too low. (I stop at 25% protein. No lower than that.) I might give the Small Breed Lamb & Rice a shot instead since it's got more protein. I might even try out the Small Breed Chicken & Rice since it's ingredients list differs a bit from the regular Chicken & Rice.  I will also be trying out the Extreme Athlete when I've got an extra $6 I can throw in.