Some Honest Kitchen Verve (taste test) and a beef rib. Boy did he want that rib bad. He saw me take it out of the freezer last night and went berserk trying to get at it. He was quite miffed when I put it into the fridge instead of giving it to him.
We went to Cathedral Hills today. Nothing much happened but I finally got a goodish picture of Conker's recent behavioral adjustment.
Marking
A couple weeks ago Conker started marking things. Not just peeing on them, marking. He only does it when we're hiking though, so that's nice, and he doesn't feel the need to piss on every little bush we come across either. Just the really juicy bits.
Oh yeah, and I found a tick on Conker today. A tick! I was... ticked off... when I spotted it under his neck and realized that it wasn't a piece of dirt It hadn't even gotten through his fur yet or bit him, and it was a little tick, but it was a tick nonetheless. I think it was a Deer Tick.
Conker didn't like me grabbing him every time he went near some grass or brush on the side of the trail and searching for another tick. He got searched real good when we got to the car and again when we got home. I didn't find another one, but he'll probably get looked over again pretty soon just to be sure.
Heh, it's taken me a good while but I finally got around to collecting the necessary paperwork for getting an Oregon license and titling and registering the Jeep in Oregon.
Funny thing is that when I got my Arizona license some years ago my hair was about two and a half feet long. Now it's only an inch.
Anyways...
We went to Cathedral Hills yesterday. I meant to go to Dollar Hill but there was a ton of fog everywhere so I decided that Cathedral Hills would be much more fun. Well, we get there and there's no fog on the trails! So that was a huge disappointment, but GP was still quite shrouded.
So much so that GP was not visible from Cathedral Hills.
Conker sported a white bandanna instead of his usual orange one. I dunno why I picked the white one, but I did, and while I much prefer the orange one the white one didn't look too bad.
Note the nearly completely white fog-filled background.
Sasha is hard to take pictures of because my camera sucks, she's black, and she's camera shy. She has the best puppy-eyes face ever but that is near impossible to capture. This is the pre puppy-eyes face.
Sasha has a Hilter 'stache.
She always sits like that and always has. I've looked into it before and asked vets about it and they have said it's nothing to worry about. They are either telling the truth or don't know crap about canine structure. She has also never showed any signs of Hip Dysplasia and ever since I got her to loose those unnecessary 20 pounds, she has gotten more active.
When I can get some better pictures I'm going to do another write-up on Sasha's weight and teeth.
All meals include salmon oil and vitamin e, chicory root if needed. Coconut oil is given with nightly chew. Lithe Tea is only included in Honest Kitchen meals.
All the dogs got turkey-based meals today (duh) and they much enjoyed it. Sasha was so excited that she fell into the pool...
Conker got: Turkey tail, neck piece, gizzard and liver, chicken heart and fat, egg and canned mollusks.
The Girls got: Turkey backs, gizzards and liver, chicken hearts and fat, eggs and canned mollusks.
I have no idea what that is. I think it's a hot spot. I don't think it's an insect bite or sting, but I could be wrong. (I don't think it's a bug thing since while we were out yesterday it was super wet, so no bugs, and there aren't stinging bugs in this house. Normally...) It popped up like, instantly. I sometimes catch Conker licking that foot so that's what made me think it's a lick-hot spot-thing.
Anyways...
Today Conker got:
A bowl of meat!
Not too much today. Some canned mackerel, a turkey gizzard, beef liver, chicken heart and canned mollusks. Also got his regular salmon oil and vitamin e.
In other news...
It's raining like, super right now. It doesn't normally rain this hard, which is cool but not at the same time. I want to go out and goof off in it but it's also about 45 degrees out so that's not gonna happen.
Also, yesterday after our hike we stopped at Mini Pet Mart and were given a free bully stick! The employees like Conker enough to give him a $4 item for free, even though he's afraid of them and would rather they bugger off than try to give him something nice.
Today it was raining, so we went for a hike. Turns out it was a lot wetter than I'd originally thought and we got completely soaked. So soaked that my coat weighs 3 pounds too many. On the way to the trails there was so much water on the road that the Jeep "lifted off" a couple times. It didn't skid or hydroplane, it just wasn't as solid as I'd liked it to have been.
My camera was having a fit due to the odd lighting so almost none of the pictures are good. Anyways... this is what we did.
Was not happy.
Conker wasn't too thrilled to be out in the rain. We trudged on and I made it fun for him by chasing him around. At first I attempted to keep my feet somewhat dry but I abandoned that quickly in favor of trying to splash Conker as he avoided the puddles.
The trail is getting foggy.
As we climbed higher he began to loosen up and eventually ignored the rain and acted like he normally does on a hike. Then we noticed something a bit odd.
Clouds!
GP gets a lot of low clouds but this was the first time I'd been in one in years. It's incredibly moist (even moreso if it's raining, which it was and never stopped during the hike) and it feels very odd to breathe.
Rain and clouds make Conker look old and worn out.
We goofed off in the clouds for a bit and I got Conker to run through a couple large puddles. This was funny since even though he and I were both soaked and his feet were plenty wet, he still has his Shiba dignity and would only set foot in a puddle if he must do so, or if it meant getting to bite my jacket.
Blurry makes this picture suck.
Overall the hike was a ton of fun. Now I remember why I love being out in the rain, and thankfully Conker had a lot of fun too. I didn't want to have to leave him home or in the Jeep if the rain was too much for him, and now that I know he doesn't mind I don't need to worry about future rain hikes.
It's kinda hard to see how cloudy it was in the pictures, so here's a video of us messin around.
I was buggering around on the internets and found myself browsing the recipe section of The Honest Kitchen's site. I like to make stuff for Conker so I figured I'd give one of them a shot but I couldn't find a recipe that I wanted to make or had all the ingredients for.
So I made one up.
What you need:
1/2 cup of The Honest Kitchen (any variety)
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup mashed baked sweet potato (or pumpkin)
1/2 cup warm water
1 egg
1 teaspoon coconut oil (or equivalent)
Mix Honest Kitchen and oats together, add warm water and egg. Mix some more then add the sweet potato and oil and stir real good. Let the mixture sit for a short while (about 10 minutes) then spoon the mixture onto a cookie sheet. Use one spoonful per treat. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. Longer for less soft-n-squishy treats which I find hold up better. Let the treats cool before giving them to your dog. Store in the fridge for a few days or the freezer for a bit longer. Makes about 15 treats, more of they are smaller.
Yay for supercloseup picture!
Or you could not bake it and just give the batter to your dog straight-up. I did let Conker have a couple spoonfuls which he thought was equally as delicious as the baked version. Or or you could like, bake it in a loaf, for like, doggy bread or something.
Conker the Shiba Inu will be visiting the southwest this upcoming holiday season! I would love to get together with any Phoenix area Shibas and their owners, if time allows, sometime this December. I don't yet have definite dates as to when we'll be there but I do know we're going and that it'll probably be sometime after the 17th (kids gotta get out of school) and we'll be coming back to Oregon around new years eve. We will most likely be staying in Buckeye with the Grandparents (haha so far from the actual city) but I've got a sister in Central Phoenix right across the street from Indian School Park and wouldn't mind driving there or a bit farther to have a mini Shiba-meet at a favorite dog park.
Anyways, let me know if any of you are interested in meeting us! I should be getting definite dates sometime soon and will post them when I know what they are.
We haven't been to Dollar Hill in three months! Gosh, I didn't know it had been that long. Anyways, I didn't feel like going on a long hike but did want to go on a strenuous one, so Conker and I hopped into the Jeep and drove up to Dollar Hill.
I was hoping to be able to see the snow on the mountains surrounding GP.
Where's Conker?
Normally (in the past) it's taken about an hour or so, usually a little more, to get to the cell tower on top of Dollar Hill. Well today it took less than 40 minutes... for the entire hike. About 30 for the way up and 5 for the way down! And that's including rest breaks! I think I need to start walking instead of driving to this place since it's only a couple miles away.
No snow visible.
Unfortunately the clouds were so low that the snowy mountains weren't visible. Yesterday would have been a better day for snow-spotting since the clouds weren't hugging the valley like they were today.
We ran, like usual, down the hill. We did have to slow down in some spots since there was a thick layer of leaves over most of the trail, wet leaves, which were quite slick. Conker was not happy when I made him stick by my side down the hill but I didn't want him to screw up one of his knees on the run down.
Not all of Dollar hill's trail is steep.
It was a nice quick hike and I am probably going to make it the thing to do on Sundays since Cathedral Hills is usually packed on the weekend and parking is hard to find. There was nobody here today, and there normally isn't, so it will be a good addition to the exercise agenda.
For comparison shots of what Dollar Hill looked like a couple months ago, visit this post.
