the generic hound

10K Run Goal

2012-01-05T23:09:00.000-06:00

Zane and I will be trying the "Pooch to 5K" program over the next 12 weeks to start training both of us for sport, and for the 10K I have signed up for.

If you're interested in following our progress, or harassing us for not running, we are logging at dailymile. http://www.dailymile.com/people/aveldina

Goals for 2012

2012-01-04T22:10:00.000-06:00

This year we'll be calling them goals instead of resolutions. It seems to have worked for me last year. Always nice to use the new year as that time to think about where you're headed for the next 365 days. So, no big list this year (ala my old non-dog blog) and just some simple goals.

Train for and finish a 10K run. Completion date: May 29th - the Saskatchewan Marathon
Do all my running training with Zane, to get him in equally good condition.
Train for Annabelle's Rally Advanced title. Get at least one qualifying run in.
Obtain Zane's Rally Novice title.
Enter an agility trial with either Anna or Zane. Have fun.
Complete my first working seminar with Zane (relationship building).
Work through Zane's fear of new people using CU based training ideas.

Winter In Full Bloom

2012-01-02T22:01:00.003-06:00

And then four months went by before I knew what was happening, mostly the fault of work - what can you do? So let's play a little catch up.

New collars and tags for Xmas!

Star got adopted in September. She had the most wonderful application, and I have been sent great photos of her from her new home a few times now. Glad she got adopted while I was still fostering her. She's a wonderful dog, she deserved her second chance.

Zane has gotten settled and we're now working on his fearfulness of strangers. He can be quite challenging but we're looking for ways and ideas to work through it. I'm reading Control Unleashed and I really love the great ideas in that book!

Zane started and completed obedience and puppy agility. Annabelle continued (after a year long break) agility, and doesn't seem to have forgotten anything. We're going to move slowly with her in agility, and she may only ever play agility "for fun" but she loves going places with me, and likes to play, so we'll continue giving her the chance to do so. At the same time I'm learning handling skills with my slower dog that will be invaluable when my fast dog grows up.

Some time late in the year (October? November? Can't remember.) I audited an agility seminar put on by the group I take classes from. I really enjoyed the seminar and loved watching the dogs working at an advanced level and really felt this was the sport I wanted to continue to be in. I've been getting to the point where I actually need some really basic equipment for practicing at home, that I never bought when I had Anna in agility. So this fall I picked up a piece of wood, my new travel plank. It still needs paint but combined with some textbooks it works pretty well. My roommate let me know that several piece of carpet "roll ends" were basically just getting tossed from where she works so we jumped on those and they're all over my living room to provide footing. Then for Christmas I asked for either seminar funding or gear and awesomely my sister found me a lightweight backyard practice closed tunnel. It's 3 feet of tunnel with the fabric chute, and the 3 feet of tunnel is just plain fun indoors. Along with the tunnel I ordered the basic connectors I would need to build jump standards from Clean Run's free shipping sale, and just finished up building the jump standards today. They are wonderfully useful besides just as jumps, they're great for the "go around" game and the barrel race style game used in rally. Suddenly my living room is filled with PVC! It's a bit of a tight fit in here, and there's not a lot we can do in winter, but we're doing what we can with the space we have and I'm definitely looking forward to summer.

I've been out of school for nearly 2 years now, and while an income is nice I do miss attending lectures. (I'm not joking..) I love learning in the lecture format. Suddenly I've discovered agility seminars and seminar DVDs and have started soaking up information like a sponge - I'm loving having something new to learn! I've signed up for seminars with Standsure and I bought what I could afford for videos in a sale at Adrenaline Dog Store, but couldn't afford anymore of the often $80+ DVDs (and shipping too!) not on sale. Annnnd then I discovered Clean Run's video on demand, which essentially is rent-a-dvd from their website. Combined with a Visa giftcard I got for Xmas I'm really enjoying the video on demand. Yesterday I rented Susan Salo's Foundation Jumping and spent a good 2 hours watching it with coffee this morning. I've found my winter zen.

Sick Dog Central

2011-09-08T11:15:00.001-06:00

Things are a little quiet around the house this week. Zane some how managed to pick up kennel cough from somewhere and he generously shared with the entire house by the time we realized it was indeed kennel cough. We've visited the vet already and came home with antibiotics for Zane and Annabelle, and cough suppressant for Zane. The cough suppressant is very effective and unfortunately very expensive so our vet recommended getting by without it for Annabelle. She doesn't get as excited nor is as active as Zane, so she isn't coughing as bad. Star was vaccinated against it, but she is still showing symptoms. The funny thing is the cough suppressant is supposed to leave the dog a little bit groggy but not at all for Zane! Last night he was just as peppy as his usual self, and trying to convince him and Annabelle that they're not supposed to be running around the house acting silly has been tough.

So I find myself chasing them around trying to get them to be calm and dealing with sniffly noses. Sheesh it's like I have kids! However this means I had to pull all of them out of any classes they were registered for this month and Star will be staying at our house for three weeks, so we'll need to really watch her with Zane. Zane and Anna have not been vaccinated lately against kennel cough, so that will be on the to do list before the winter's daycare season starts. This isn't fun at all, for me or them! Zane is quite convinced he is just fine and shouldn't have to just chill out all the time. He coughs when he's too active or excited so we're trying to get him to relax but chill isn't in Zane's vocabulary, unlike my hound.

Oh! In other news I've gone out on a bit of a limb and ordered some cute handmade tags from the US, so we'll see how they turn out and once I get them I'll post photos and more info.

Long Weekend Progress

2011-09-05T22:08:00.003-06:00

Zane rolling around in the blanket, too cute.

Ah, you know how it goes, long weekends are always too short. And with good weather and fun afternoons spent at the beach, long weekends felt way, way too short this time around. We had some absolutely wonderful weather today and spent a good part of the afternoon at the Sutherland beach. Oddly enough the good weather and abundance of soft sand attracted a lot of people, many without dogs, to the off leash park. The beach is only accessable by a 10-15 minute walk, so of course many people who didn't want to be caught with beer on the other side of the river were hanging out at the dog park. It was pretty funny to watch the dogs at the park in general run all over them suntanning. We walked a quite far along the river until we made it to a flat empty sand bar that the three of them had a great time running around on. Compared to Annabelle and Star, Zane just never runs out of energy. The three of them absolutely love the beach, and my hound has decided to start getting brave and walking around in the water. Yup, the same dog who wouldn't touch the water a year ago. She chases Star and Zane around in the shallow sections.

Zane seems to be a fan of snuggling with Annabelle.

Last night Zane came along with Dan, Annabelle and I to a friend's place for the usual board game night. He got to meet several of my male friends, and in terms of being afraid, he's doing great! He ran right up and sat beside all of them. He's really starting to come out of his shell. He's still a little jumpy if anyone runs around fast or stomps towards him, but he was completely happy to sit beside Himpe much of the night, and he was a total stranger to Zane. Then today at the dog park he happily ran up to several people he probably would have thought twice about early in the week. We're going to keep working on meeting new people, and it's nice to see him make progress on his confidence. His adoption paperwork has now all been dropped off, and he's disappeared off the list of adoptable dogs. I picked up name tag for him at PetSmart on Saturday, with his name and our phone numbers - so it's official, he's our guy.

We are struggling a bit with Star's behavior when it comes to Zane, especially when Star is particularly tired. She was very tired after the off leash today, and that's when it seems like she's the most up-settable. Dan doesn't know what Zane did, he might have been just walking by her right as we got home, but she decided to grab him by the scruff of the neck and give him a good shake. As soon as Dan got to her she promptly let him go and backed right off. We were not anywhere near her, and neither was anything she would typically guard. So we're still trying to be able to predict, and stop, her guarding behavior. We thought we had the prediction down pretty solid, but Zane seems to really be irking her far worse than Annabelle ever did, I can't quite figure out how to stop it entirely. Things have been pretty crazy around here with three dogs, and I'm glad that only two of them are my furries at the moment. It's pretty tough to cart 3 dogs around with a little chevy cavalier!

He's Moving In

2011-09-03T20:06:00.001-06:00

Well good news to write about today. Probably a week ago I applied for a puppy from BEDR in Regina. This came after I had inquired about Zane several times, and even almost fostered him once, but he always had pending adoption applications. Eventually we gave up and applied for the puppy. Then early this week, I got a message that Zane's application had fallen through - again! Knowing we were interested, this time his foster home gave us the opportunity to swap for the weekend starting Tuesday and potentially adopt him.

Running around on the beach at the off leash.

The two days Zane was in my house he wasn't handling yet another move very well and he was bouncing off the walls hyper. Zane has been with New Hope all summer and has been trialed several times and been in 3 different foster homes already, so you could say he's been bounced around. Used to Star's quiet border collie personality in the house, he seemed like he was way too much to handle and we were very on the fence about adopting him. But he was here and it was worth a try. I keep heading off to the off leash, and eventually we did a Petsmart trip. Finally on Friday we went to a flyball practice at Paws n Train just to watch, and brought Zane with us.

Now it's the end of the week, and he's completely won us over. Remember I just came to watch but at the flyball practice I was getting convinced to bring him out and learn how to start training him. Venessa was informing everyone inquiring about him at flyball that "Dan and I were adopting him". We had been surprised how well behaved he was when we had him out and about at Petsmart and running errands. Today I took him to Petsmart to buy him a kennel after he jail-broke my fabric kennel, and after we went to the Sutherland beach off leash park. He did great. I enjoyed our entire trip to Sutherland beach today, he was well behaved for me and we both had fun. It was great feeling that I was making the right decision.

A tired Zane. This is quite rare!

The change in him from Tuesday to today (Saturday) has been truly amazing. He really is a dog that simply has been bounced around too much in his life, and it really is tough on him. He settled down so nicely and is starting to really fit in well with us. Last night we also brought Star home, willing to stay true to our commitment to foster her. She decided she wasn't a big fan of Zane and successfully managed to chomp his nose good and solid. She gave him a little puncture wound and a nose bleed (scared me quite badly! I couldn't figure out where he was bleeding from.) Zane has realized he can't stick his nose in everyone's face now, and Star has backed down quite a bit so they are getting along better now.

So, pending me signing all the paperwork this weekend and handing over the adoption fee, Zane is ours. I've pulled our application for a puppy, which is too bad, but we gave a deserving dog a home - and he really needed one already! Look forward to future updates about him in addition to Annabelle! Annabelle is signed up for advanced level rally-o starting in a week, so we'll be looking forward to having fun with that. It's with a CKC based club I have never trained with before, so I'm sure it'll be interesting. Star starts beginner obedience Wednesday, and Zane will get signed up shortly. It's going to be a busy fall!

Star's Going to School

2011-08-25T11:51:00.000-06:00

Well it's week 2 around our house with Star and Annabelle together and Star has settled into the house nicely. She has started to respect Annabelle as a dog and not just "that other thing that steals my attention" so jealous growling from Star is relatively rare. She still needs to be watched, but we've found now that she mostly needs to be in new situations before she'll become upset. Star's jealously does seem to be linked to a nervous state of mind as she does very well when she's calm overall, but when she gets upset she tends to be upset at everyone and everything. To help her work on being a calm, controlled dog she gets to go to school starting next week! Star's been signed up for beginner obedience classes at Paws n Train. Next week is the people only class, so Star will start going to class the week after.

Star and Annabelle walking in the field.

On the weekend both dogs headed to the farm with me. We spent a long Saturday afternoon walking in the fields and gravel pit near the farm house. Both dogs loved the time spent out wandering and around the farm. Star got to spend part of the evening chasing a ball with my aunt's big black lab, and she did quite well at sharing the ball with the 3 other dogs. Star still isn't a huge fan of puppies and Kipper's crazy barking and jumping at Star definitely upset Star easily. But Star interacted fairly well by the end of the weekend with the adult dogs, and even with Kipper after some work. Star was literally glued to my side at the farm and she followed me everywhere. I never had to worry for a moment about her wandering off. Horses definitely surprised her though, and she likes to bark at them.

Star and Annabelle have been going to the offleash park quite a bit, and earlier this week we went to the bigger riverside park off Attridge. Star got to meet Kenai, a large husky/wolfhound mix belonging to a good friend of mine. Kenai is about teenager age for a dog, and he's taller than Star. Kenai came across as a bit much for Star, his idea of play was far too rough for her so she decided to tell him off repeatedly - and she wasn't too bad about it. She's very manageable at the offleash park! She was fetching sticks in the inlet water sitting in the sand dunes and decided to jump right in after the one stick to make sure that the husky couldn't get it before her! She definitely got some swimming practice, and she actually swims quite well but she usually is a bit scared of swimming. I'd bet with a lifejacket and some practice we could get her to be quite good at swimming.

Last night Dan, Annabelle, Star and I all went to North Battleford to meet a dog named Lily as Dan and I are starting to search for a second dog. We've both agreed that we really love to have cuddly two furballs in the house and eventually Star will be leaving us. We're at the point where we'd like to have a permanent second dog, and we've noticed that while Annabelle handles fostering okay she does get a little stressed about new dogs coming and going. Getting a second dog means we can't foster again until we buy a home, but that isn't so far off, and Annabelle would be able to handle fostering much better when all of the energy from the new dogs isn't directed only at her. We're not sure that Lily is the dog for us, but she's a sweetie that someone will definitely love!

Elevator, Meet Star.

2011-08-18T16:03:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Star stopped in for a visit at the office for a brief few minutes before we headed over to the vet. We took the elevator up to the floor my office is on, so Star got to go for a ride. Her reaction to the elevator was too cute, she wasn't quite sure why on earth the floor had moved. When the floor moved a second time (the elevator stopping) she decided the safest thing she could do was lie down. And give me "umm, I'm confused?" looks. Very cute. She also had a moment where she decided the building stairwell was definitely way too scary for her. But with some encouragement off we went, and she was fine. She's slowly gaining confidence in new situations, with a little help. She was an absolute hit with the creative department at the office. Being the bright cookie she is, she managed to spot one of our soft office footballs under Clint's desk and managed to crawl under there to retrieve it. She then spent the rest of her time dropping it at the everyone's feet hoping for a game of fetch. She was lucky enough eventually one of the guys started kicking it down the hallway for her to catch. She had a great time.

Unlike our previous foster dog, Star was amazing at the vet yesterday. She's still a little wary of taking cookies from anyone other than me, but she munched down the dewormer pill happily, and she apparently doesn't mind vaccine needles at all. She was a trooper!

We are starting to learn that Star is jealous of all the pets in our house - even the cat! Star was giving the cat her angry glare last night, so the cat is now included in us working on her attitude towards sharing affection. Luckily I have a pretty patient cat, she takes this whole foster dog thing surprisingly well.

I suspect already that we won't have her for very long, as she's already gotten an application via the website on her. She's such a great girl that I'm hoping she finds the perfect family.

Foster Dog: Star

2011-08-16T11:41:00.000-06:00

About time to get back to updating again! This time with some happy news. Last week our previous little furry, Scooter, was adopted out to a great family! Scooter is a pom/chihuahua mix and the kind of dog that can turn anyone into a small dog person - he's great. We've got our next foster dog Star at the house. Star is a five year old Border Collie.

Star is a little unsure about things, and needs to work on her overall confidence level, so we went out shopping together to a couple of our favorite pet stores in the city. I also wanted to pick up a decent collar for her, since the one she was wearing had seen better days and wasn't the greatest. She's now wearing a spiffy new red canine equipment collar, the same one that Annabelle wears.

We also needed to pick up her paperwork at the foster coordinator's house, and I walked up to the funniest sight. The paperwork is left in her mailbox, but sitting below the mailbox, in the newspaper holder, was a brand new chuckit and ball and a tag with my name on it. Too cute. Star definitely loves fetch and it's a great way to wear her out. If only that pesky hound dog would stay out of the way! Silly Annabelle doesn't really understand why border collies have such an odd obsession with the ball when really playing is so much more fun. But hopefully they will work it out and get used to each other.

More updates and photos soon. :)

For Willow

2011-03-06T23:31:00.000-06:00

Twelve years ago my family drove out to a local house to look at several yellow puppies. Me, being the soft kid and the dog lover of the family for some reason just had to pick out the most timid, quiet one of the bunch. This lovely little puppy fell asleep in my arms and I seemed to some how convince the rest of the family we had the right one, so we took her home.

We named her Willow.

To be honest, this story starts about a year earlier when a small terrier joined our family named Easle. Easle was about a year old when Willow joined the scene. We were always a two dog household. :) Willow and Easle grew up together, played together, lived together, grew old together and left together. It just makes sense when you think about it.

Willow came home when I was about 12 and she has been my best dog friend ever since. When she was young I was just learning about the world of competition obedience and entered a show with my aunt's dog for fun. I had loved training dogs and some how managed to get a basic high and broad jump set for christmas one year. Willow eventually knew all the tricks and I taught her according to the rules of CKC novice and open obedience. We could have easily passed novice. Little did I know at the time, mixed breed dogs are not exactly ...welcome. No worries, we did round bale pile agility and obedience/trick shows for friends and family.

We actually did go to a dog show once or twice.. if you could call it that. The saltcoats fair had a competition for dogs that included such challenges as "best trick", "longest ears" and of course we entered every year I was eligible. I can't remember if we won, but I'm sure Willow took home at least one ribbon.

I will always remember years of running on the road, with Willow running through the field. Watching her try to pick up a hard plastic frisbee that landed curved side down. Losing our fancy fabric frisbee on top of the house. Flying kites. Riding in the old red truck. Playing with empty pepsi bottles. Sneaking into the living room with your fake stretches. Having to rescue Easle from falling into the pond. Sitting by the fire outside in the summertime eating roasted marsh mellows. Waking up in the morning after getting jumped on. Teaching you how to jump over the kitchen gate and letting you sneak anywhere in the house when Mom wasn't watching. Snowshoeing across the open frozen fields.

I will always remember telling stories to Willow in high school about getting ditched by friends for the "cool" kids, not getting an invite to the latest party and just generally not fitting in school. Willow heard all the sad stories and provided the best friend a 15/16 year old could get during hard times as a teenager.

Admittedly, when I finished high school, by far the hardest part of going of to University was leaving Willow behind. Dogs are just not allowed in University residences. Luckily, I got to go home for two years during the best time of year, the summer. This was also around the time I started dating guys, and admittedly I brought any guy I ever considered (or was) dating home for them to meet Willow. If Willow didn't like you, then neither did I (no joke!). I'm sorry I had to leave then because I know you didn't understand, I truly wish you could have come.

Recently, one of my biggest "adult" life dreams was finally having a dog to look after up in the city I'll call home. I'll always remember bringing Annabelle home, and hoping Willow would approve. Having another dog following me around didn't go over so well at first, but over time their biggest competition was competing for space on the double size bed when we were at home. The first summer that Anna came home we went out and took some of the most beautiful photos of Willow and Anna that we have. You've seen a couple of those photos, the photo of Willow won in the 2010 Saskatoon SPCA photo competition, and Willow's beautiful photo was September 2010. Willow was about 11 when that photo made it in the calendar, so it was truly something I am thankful for.

We know it was getting tough walking up and down those stairs lately, and it was tough going for walks with us down the road, we simply were losing the battle. It got hard in the end, but we can be happy now knowing you're not in pain any more and remembering twelve beautiful years with both of you, Willow and Easle. Endless tennis balls, frisbees and pop bottles await on the other side of the bridge. Thank you for being such an amazing part of our lives. I'll always love you.

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

We Love Walking (In Warm Weather!)

2011-01-28T10:46:00.002-06:00

Well today's Friday so this officially is a complete week of daily morning walking for me and Annabelle. The weather has been absolutely lovely for mid January with the temperatures sitting around the -5c mark. We've managed to get out for a 20-60 minute morning walk daily averaging around 35 minutes followed by an after work walk on most days. The walking time has been great for her and she gets up in the morning really looking forward to getting out for a walk. By the time I leave for work she's quite calm and we've had minimal chewing issues. Even better when we get home she's just not as crazy hyper and much better behaved. I'm trying habitforge.com to try to enforce this fun little habit so we'll see if we can keep up the 1/2 hour minimum walks into the upcoming cold weather.

The best part is that she's getting the idea of what a morning walk as a pack is. She's learning to walk beside me, pay attention to where we're going and just focus on the walk for the sake of walking. Not pulling me all over the road, dragging me to the nearest tree or having a complete freak out. We both have fun! This has been a big change for her and I can tell behaving and respecting the pack leadership is a little stressful... this morning she needed a good 30 seconds of using up the stress energy running and then she was fine. So we're getting there!

Fitting the 1/2 hour walk into my morning hasn't been impossible because I have a flexible start time, but it has been a challenge. So we're going to continue to try to figure out how to make it work and most likely it's going to involve me getting up earlier. But I've found the time is important for us! So we're going to stick with it.

Should also mention we are having a blast with CARO Rally at Paws n Train. Annabelle is actually learning 90/180/270 left the correct way and doing great at it! We're getting really excited about upcoming trials, but still need to do major work on heeling focus. Overall rally has been really fun!

It's a Dog's Life

2011-01-22T15:13:00.000-06:00

This weekend I've been finishing up reading Cesar's Way, Cesar Millan's first book. I started reading these books after going to see his seminar when it came through the city, and feeling throughly impressed. Now that I'm just finishing up his first book, I'm still throughly impressed. He came into the perfect situation to understand the fundamental problems with dogs in our modern, highly consumerist, Canadian/American society and brings some incredibly well thought out advice. He is able to look at the way we treat our dogs from an outside point of view, understand what's going wrong and why, and explain how to fix it in a way anyone can understand. After all it's not the dogs, it's the people that need training. This book should be encouraged reading for any dog owner and mandatory reading for every strong/large breed dog owner. There's details you simply need to know about how to have a balanced, behaved, manageable dog.

I thought I had a behaved dog, after all we've done hours and hours of obedience training and agility training. We visit dog parks, visit indoor dog parks, go for occasional walks, visit friends, go to dog friendly stores and go to obedience trials. Compared to most dogs, my dog has a pretty good life. I thought I was doing a pretty good job, after all we didn't have any major issues right?

Then I read this book.

What you really have to take a big step back and look at is where you still have issues to figure out if you really are the pack leader in your house. My dog barks and growls when someone is at the door, she jumps on people, she pulls on the leash, she chews objects that belong to me, and she whines when I leave and she's in an unfamiliar place. That doesn't sound like a well trained dog to me, but we're definitely talking about MY "highly trained" dog here. What's the problem? The problem is me. This is hard to admit, I've been just brushing off these bad behaviors for one reason or another. We're thinking about moving with different roommates eventually, this poor behavior needs to stop. So let's be brutally honest, what's going wrong?

#1 - Not enough daily, structured exercise. But we go to the off leash all the time and we play around the house. That's good enough right? Nope, not good enough. Exercise that actually wears out a dog and reinforces pack leadership involves rigorous activity as a pack. Structured, controlled walking at least 30 minutes per day, every single day. Preferably twice per day. This means no pulling, no running all over the place, and not off leash. Sounds like too much work? Don't get a dog. This will help with the over energetic jumping when we return home from work each day and will especially help with the chewing problems. The forming of respectful pack migration habits will help resolve the pulling on the leash. This failure to walk my dog daily must change, and must become a habit. When it's -30C outside, then walk at Dogs on Track or get a treadmill. There's no acceptable excuse for not walking every day.

#2 - Allowing and encouraging jumping. Allowing jumping is not acceptable at any time. To stop this we must practice no talk, no touch and no eye contact when we return to the house or get into a situation where Annabelle tends to jump. Jumping cannot be rewarded by any acknowledgement from the person with the exception of a quick verbal correction. Annabelle must also not be allowed to jump on visitors and we'll need to ask visitors to respect no talk, no touch and no eye contact with the dog until she is fully settled down and calm.

#3 - Allowing barking and over excitement when someone visits. Barking at the door when a visitor comes is always promptly followed by over excited behavior and jumping. Essentially she is taking over leadership when people visit by taking control of the greeting situation and acting inappropriately to the visitor to attempt to control them (jumping to make them pay attention to her). This is not acceptable to any visitor. My failure to discourage this behavior has led to the dog acting over excited and barking in more situations where it is not acceptable, and it's getting worse and difficult to stop. This is something we need to end before it begins, so she must learn that she is expected to stay calm and quiet when people visit. Again, a big source of trouble is too much energy from not enough walking.

#4 - Ignoring dominant/unacceptable behavior towards the cat. The cat has higher status in this house than the dog and that fact must be respected by the dog and enforced by the pack leader. Respect towards all cats is expected from my dog at all times. Cats are not play toys.

#5 - Reinforcing fear anxiety by comforting the dog. When she reacts fearfully to a person or situation, do not comfort her or back her up. Teach her to acknowledge all people calmly, respectfully and without fear by taking the leadership role firmly when she acts fearful towards people.

#6 - Allowing whining when I leave her alone. Annabelle has come to work with me a few times so far, and both times her biggest issues were jumping and crying when I left the room. She needs to be taught that this kind of whining behavior is not acceptable. She will learn to respect my judgement that when I tell her to stay she is safe, but she will not learn this if I reinforce her anxiety by comforting her when she whines. She needs to be taught to stay in a calm state when I leave a room to remove the anxiety.

So there you go, Annabelle is reasonably well behaved but I absolutely love taking her into places and situations, like my office or out to get coffee, where reasonably well behaved just isn't good enough to get invited back. This afternoon we went on a 30 minute walk using Cesar's awesome Illusion collar I picked up from the seminar. It's wonderful to go to a place like starbucks, manage to convince them to allow her to sit at the door to wait for me to get coffee and then be treated with listening to the Barista's impressed conversation with her coworker, complimenting my dog on how well behaved she is. Would she be allowed to come in again with the same people working? Absolutely. That's not a lucky break, that's the goal.

Now we just need to work on the same type of behavior in the house. CKC's Canine Good Neighbor competition, here we come! We don't need a training class or prep course to pass the CGN certification. We simply need exercise, more exercise, rules, boundaries and limitations. The end result is a happy, fulfilled dog that's a part of the family and welcome anywhere we go. A dog that I would look forward to taking to meet strangers, to work, or to meet potential landlords. :)

Dyson DC21 First Impressions

2010-12-30T13:45:00.000-06:00

Happy Holidays everyone! Things have still been a little quiet around here with me working quite a bit, but we are planning to return to obedience training with Annabelle in January hoping for a March open level trial in Alberta. Dear Rose County Canine Association, we love you, please host a spring trial!

Anyway, mandatory dog update aside, our big xmas purchase for this year was a new vacuum! For some time I've been using a Bissel vacuum that had been given to us. It's worth about $100 at Canadian tire and it's a very basic vacuum. If you don't have pets, it'll do. Sort of. On my model you couldn't turn off the powerhead (read: small stones fly everywhere on hard floors) and the powerhead was major overkill (read: it actually ripped a piece of my carpet out) plus it was incredibly noisy for how much it actually picked up. It did pick up hair, but it did not pick up fine particles well at all. It seemed like the filters (all 4 of them) constantly needed to be cleaned, and a new post motor filter isn't cheap at nearly $15. My frustration using the big bulky machine was growing, and with us renting our home, a central vac is a non-option. The joke of pushing the Bissel out on the street to see if a car would run it over it was thrown around a few times. There won't be another Bissel in this house again.

We also picked up an iRobot Roomba 530 sometime ago. I'm a software developer and just one of those people who all around loves technology, so having a robot vacuum in my house was just too good to pass up. The Roomba does work, but slowly. Then again when you're not standing behind it speed isn't a huge deal. That said, the Roomba does not work all that well on carpet, and it does not have strong suction, so it primarily works well as a basic broom replacement. It's great for a quick clean up of a space when you don't have time to deal with it yourself. However, it doesn't do a perfect job and it doesn't handle large volumes of hair well. If you have pets, I wouldn't recommend a Roomba.

Dyson DC21 Canister Vac

We've been hearing about how great Dyson vacuums are for some time and a friend had one purchased for his condo (he does not have pets) and he was impressed how well it worked. We swiped it and tried it out, and indeed it worked well. By now there was no way I was buying another cheap Bissel-like machine. So once we had the funding, and a boxing day sale made the Dyson $100 cheaper, we went out and brought home a DC21. This is one of the least expensive Dyson models and we simply decided we needed a new machine right away rather than saving up for a $700+ animal model, and the extra attachments can be purchased down the road anyway. The verdict? We love it. It's quieter than our old vacuum, comes with more useful attachments and it WORKS great! It's not just amazing at picking up hair, it's scary how much sand/dust/dirt it's pulling out of our carpets. We decided to go with a canister because I prefer dragging the vacuum unit behind me rather than pushing it around and we're happy with that decision. It's easier to use for cleaning furniture and stairs. It folds up very nicely for storage as well.

One of the biggest pluses is that it has only one, count them, ONE filter to clean. And it's a hand wash and dry filter, not a $15 replacement. Does this thing live up to the hype? Absolutely. However I can't comment on durability yet, so we'll see how well it holds up to constant use and hair and mud attacks from both my dog and cat. If you have pets and can't own a central vac due to renting or other concerns, save up your pennies and check out a Dyson. They make upright, canister and handheld machines. The biggest differences between Animal and Non-animal versions are attachments, so be sure to check if all the attachments you need are included in the version you are purchasing. They are also now making a dog brush attachment (basically a slicker which sucks up all the hair as you brush your pet) so if you're interested in that attachment, check which models support that attachment as not all do.

That's all for now, have a Happy New Year and best wishes for your 2011!

Cesar Millan Live: Great Show!

2010-11-15T10:49:00.000-06:00

http://www.cesarmillanlive.ca/

I heard Cesar Millan was coming to Saskatoon when we were offered prebuy tickets at work. It was a busy week and I completely forgot about buying the tickets (there was a limited number of low priced tickets I could actually afford available) and then found out that all of the lower priced tickets had sold out. As much as I wanted to go to the show $80/ticket * 2 tickets + ticketmaster fees & tax = ~$180 for two of us to go. Owch, it wasn't happening. I don't have cable, so I don't watch his show often so I wasn't quite willing to put up the kind of money I normally pay for a BIG concert. I didn't manage to win any tickets at work either. Sigh. Lucky for me, my coworker knew someone with tickets who didn't want to go so we managed to pick up two tickets for an amount I could afford! We ended up in the lower level in the section closest to the stage, off we went and I couldn't complain. It really was a huge event for dog owners here and everyone I know who has a major involvement in the community went.

Cesar puts on an excellent show. He's a good speaker to begin with, but he puts on a funny, entertaining show as well as a good seminar. I feel I always, always have more to learn so it was great to listen to him talk. I'd highly recommend his show, and friends who put up the about $130 or so each for a floor ticket say that the floor only after show FAQ was worth it. I'd highly recommend his show for any and everyone who has a dog. It's aimed at your every day dog owner and you'll learn a lot about dealing with normal issues. And he'll remind you that at the end of the day, YOU have to do the work to have a well behaved dog. He can show you how to do it, but it's on you to make it happen. (You could see that even with the people he had on stage with him, this hadn't fully sunk in yet.) He's really an incredible handler and trainer in that he knows what he's looking for, what he wants and how to get it from the dog.

He really stressed the value of morning walks for the dog, of at least 30-45 minutes. The dog will get exercise daily and you won't go to work feeling bad about leaving the dog. We used to do this and I really believe in the value of it, but with a new job I had been slacking off trying to figure out how to fit everything into one day. We're jumping back on morning walking, and giving his Illusion collar a try to work on pulling (big issue with the hound). I have tried pretty much everything with her pulling and I found right away we prefer this training collar. It does work very well and I find it's quite a challenge for Annabelle to remember to walk with me and be respectful. She knows she's supposed to do it, but she does find it tough. That said once I get out in the morning and get us out walking I really enjoy it, so we'll see how well we can keep up with it. We're heading into the -15C and under weather season here but we'll do our best.

Summary: Cesar Millan Live - highly recommended & will go see him again. Entertaining show and great advice, worth it for any dog owner and the whole family to see.

It's November Already?

2010-11-12T20:04:00.003-06:00

We're getting a little far behind these days! Seems that is the challenge of working full time again. On the plus side it means we have more money for toys, training and food. We've taken Annabelle to Dogs on Track a couple more times lately and have purchased a monthly membership. She's convinced swimming is the worst idea Dan has come up with yet, but he's hoping to convince her that swimming really is fun. Either way, it's great exercise for her. I haven't completely given up hope that she will like swimming, but who knows.. (I do remember when car rides were just awful, now that word is near the top on the fun list.)

There's a new blog that's promoted on the SPCA website. Another SPCA hound was adopted and is blogging!! Check out Bravo's Pup for Paws blog at http://pupforpaws.blogspot.com/ and please consider helping with Bravo's mission.

Also, we recently received some very exciting mail! We were a little behind the times on discussing the events at Edmonton's UKC dog show but we did managed to pick up qualifying scores all three days of the show. Of course then we had to wait for the actual proof to show up, Annabelle's UCD degree!! Yay Annabelle! Next up we're going to give Open level a try, likely in March, as Annabelle already has learned most of what she needs to know. We are taking a break from classes though, as I found I picked up a lot from a short one on one practice with my Aunt. She has some great, fun ideas for training drop on recall and heeling so we're going to practice at home for now.

In other crazy news, the rumor is the CKC is going to allow dogs without papers into performance events on LP numbers. Likely because they're getting to the point where they'll take any income at all haha! Oh well, either way we won't complain. This news is in their new business plan if you google it... till next time!

First Impression: Dogs on Track

2010-10-28T09:51:00.000-06:00

We've got a new dog place in Saskatoon, and we stopped by to check it out so here is a quick update. Dogs on Track is an indoor health and wellness center for dogs. The idea is to provide a warm and dry place to exercise dogs due to our less than awesome weather here in the prairies.

Dogs on Track consists of a walking track, treadmills specific for dogs, a socialization space, a space with agility equipment and a dog pool. Overall Dogs on Track is going to be a great place to take my dog when it's -25c outside, and to take a break from walking in the cold. The biggest challenge of an indoor building is space, and I should note that dogs on track won't be a replacement for a good run at the off leash any time soon. However, it'll be a great place to walk in the winter, and for dogs to play without freezing. The really great news here is the 4 1/2 foot deep salt water pool. If you have a dog that loves water, the monthly membership will be worth it for the pool alone as other dog pools in town charge similar rates for only an hour of swim time! Even better you get to swim in the pool with your own dog. It'll especially be a great place for dogs needing rehab swimming. We are certainly going to purchase a one month membership and give it a try!

Rates are $50/month, $10 drop in or you can pay a yearly fee which works out to $42/month. Right now you can stop by for a free tour and a cute little dog gift bag. If you live in Saskatoon, stop by and check it out. Their phone number and address are on their website at http://www.dogsontrack.com along with photos and playground rules. It's great to see this huge step forward in making Saskatoon a more dog friendly city.

Edmonton UKC Dog Show - Friday

2010-09-24T22:26:00.001-06:00

We are a little behind the times here. Er, actually a lot behind the times here. Quick update: We learned that a) there's two UKC clubs in Alberta and b) the UKC allows mixed breed performance only registrations (LPs). Great news for me and the hound! So we got her registered and off we went to the first show at Medicine Hat. Full details on that one post later, but long story short it was a fun learning experience. We only managed to get one novice leg out of four attempts (it rained all day Sunday, no legs that day.) but the fun and learning experience were worth it. I found out before going to anymore trials I had to train the hound's heeling without food and with play and toys only to hold her attention in the ring.

Fast forward to today. We're entered in another trial, staying at another hotel (free this time thanks to a gift cert..!) and hopefully will have fun. Annabelle's heeling has come along significantly. The great news is we managed to pick up another leg today! And we were not the only dog in the class this time, so the big ribbon we won actually felt earned. Two more trials tomorrow and Sunday, so updates after them. We've been having so much fun going to these trials that I think we're new UKC fans. Especially because they don't feel overly competitive, they just seem generally fun.

Annabelle has especially been having fun jumping between the two beds in our hotel room. :)

CKC Bulletins - Worth The Entertainment

2010-07-16T14:03:00.000-06:00

As a CKC member I receive regular "CKC Financial Bulletins" as they try to reassure the membership that they are, in fact, not completely financially screwed and are "looking after" the money that the membership has given them. I currently have no intention of renewing my membership in January, but the emails are almost worth the entertainment value because they're just so funny.

It's like they're running around in the dark, they know things are going down hill, but no one can find the light switch.

Here are my favorite lines from the latest email:

Registrations, however, have not rebounded. The number of purebred dogs
in Canada is decreasing at the same time that Canadians are adding dogs to their households in increasing numbers.
...
Growth areas are those where there is less subjectivity and more action. Agility and Rally are thriving - new sports with high degrees of activity, little subjectivity and no reach for BIS or HIT. That is, in and of itself, interesting.
...
What is the change needed to have a North American solution
to our current malaise? Other kennel clubs around the world are doing well but their models are significantly different from ours.

To finish it all off, they claim "We look forward to your input." as if they actually would value the input from their members. That's nice.

I'm impressed that they give the impression of being surprised that agility and rally are thriving so well. Is it really that unusual that people might enjoy activities with their dogs that are FUN and not cut throat competitive? Further more, is it not worth considering that these people do (and will) pay good money to be involved in those sports?

And please give me a break, throwing more breeders into the mix will not solve their problems. I can't say I'll be surprised if the CKC runs their club into the ground as a result of their inability to adapt to a fundamental shift in the way people interact with their dogs. Thanks CKC, this stuff is great, looking forward to the next email and another quality Friday afternoon laugh.

Fewer Mosquitoes or More Running Required

2010-06-21T12:40:00.000-06:00

Time has been flying this summer and the next thing we know it's almost July. Starting a new job has had me busy as they come so training has been as I can squeeze it in here and there. We are still practicing Rally-O though there's no nearby trials scheduled for the summer. :( There's one in Brandon but that is a good 6+ish hour drive away and I just don't have the funding for the gas and a place to stay at the moment. The closest trial after that is Calgary in September so we'll just have to keep practicing. Which isn't a bad thing either since classes seem to have all but died now that we are into early summer and we do need some Rally-O training from someone who knows it well. I have seen plenty of CKC obedience to know how to train it, but I'm still trying to figure out how to train some of the more challenging requirements of CARO Rally, especially that pesky 270/360 left.

We are still doing Agility every Monday now at the advanced beginner 1 level. It's been good and Annabelle's still showing me she's got the right mindset for agility so as long as she's able to do it safely we'll keep it up. My only frustrations so far have been the class size combined with the number of mosquitoes at the field. I was badly eaten up last Monday and spent the week covered in mosquito bites to prove it. My biggest frustration was the fact that we some how ended up with something like 7 dogs in my group and more time is spend standing around than actually training, especially when we all have to stop to wait for the 3rd loose dog of the night to finish doing laps around the field. People please teach your dogs at least some minimal recall as it would be nice not to pay for classes to simply watch your dog running around. I am hoping the classes sizes will drop as we move up through the levels, or maybe we'll end up switching groups.

/end rant.

This up coming week we are bumped up to Advanced Beginner 2 so I can make a slow pitch game on Monday. It's good news not just because I don't have to miss the game, but also because I'd like to know what the next level up is like.

We've also got some vet recommendations so we're going to go get a regular annual health exam and a second opinion on Annabelle's involvement in agility. She runs fine but she has a tendency to sit on her front leg in a very odd way and constantly take her weight off of it, so it's something that just worries me in the back of my mind. I'm no vet so it's always nice to get an experienced opinion.

That's about all that's new with us. I'm trying out balancing dog training with putting all kinds of miles on the new Ninja 650r so this summer is proving to be a busy one. Here's hoping we get into some rally classes and eventually pop back into formal obedience every once and awhile once they get open level back going again.

Dogs and Scooters

2010-06-15T21:12:00.003-06:00

There are two passions that take up most of my non-working life. The first is obviously dogs and training for rally, agility, etc. The second is motorcycles. The two are rarely combined but occasionally you'll find a biker who likes dogs or a dog who likes bikers (Annabelle?).

In this case it's the former. A couple of years ago when I started riding I had a good laugh watching several videos created by a video blogger who goes by "Mordeth13" a video blogger who creates his blogs while riding either a scooter or a motorcycle and ironically enough used to create most of the videos with the same bike I have now - the Kawasaki Ninja 650r. It just so happens he also likes dogs and has a soft spot for helping out strays. We happened to watch a few of his videos tonight for fun because we haven't seen any in ages. So happens a couple of months or so ago he created a set around rescuing a stray in Taiwan. As a rider and a dog lover, they made me smile, there's a few elements of both. (Be warned there's a fair bit of swearing in them, it's a video made by a biker. If typical biker swearing bothers you, don't watch it.)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

First Trial Ever - A Success!

2010-05-16T14:55:00.004-06:00

Well we've got our very first trial over and finished, good news because I have to admit I was very, very nervous! Annabelle's performance was so-so and there's no doubt that was partially because she was picking up on me feeling so nervous. She heeled but didn't watch me like she normally does and acted just generally sleepy. I was mostly worried I was going to miss a sign or do a sign incorrectly or have Annabelle just decide sniffing was more interesting than working and wander off. I wouldn't have been the first person to miss a sign this morning either.

Either way the great news is we managed to pull off a qualifying score with no huge mistakes or missed signs that would have earned us an NQ. I lost a lot of marks for repeat commands which I expected. I knew I was giving repeat commands but felt so nervous that I wanted to actually see Annabelle doing the right thing rather than fail because we missed a sit or something silly. We lost some more points for a crooked sit (oh long dogs..), a couple of redos, and bad left 270s / 360s which were too wide. We're still working on getting good at those and the circles got a big bigger than I planned... I was super nervous! Our score in the end was 179/200 (sheet says 181.. but I did the math twice and ended up with 179) and we were one of only two dogs who qualified in Novice A this morning. Obviously the other one took first hehe.

All and all it was lots of fun and we'll be looking forward to our next trial - with more training beforehand to boot. We need two more Qs under a different judge for our RN Rally Novice title. We'll definitely be taking some actual rally classes to add to obedience experience between now and then. Big thanks to Paws n Train for putting this trial on!

Egg Babies Dog Toy

2010-04-20T20:32:00.001-06:00

This evening's post is about a neat dog toy we bought at the Saskatoon SPCA for Annabelle. The toy is a dinosaur with a pouch inside. Along with the toys comes five (three with two extra) egg shaped balls containing a squeaker and some stuffing. The toy cost us about $15 at the SPCA. You can find more information and photos of this toy on the Kyjen/Outward Hound website.

The idea behind this toy is that instead of ripping apart the stuffed animal to get to the squeaker the dog has the challenge of pulling out each of the squeaker "eggs" instead. Once the dog has pulled out all the eggs you can simply put them all back in to start the challenge again. Annabelle is one of those destructive personalities who loves to rip holes in toys in order to pull out the plastic squeakers and of course she promptly pulls out all the stuffing as well. However this idea behind this toy seems to be working well for her. She quickly figured out how to pull the eggs out and was well entertained.

The only downsides of this toy are the toughness of the squeakers in the eggs. Unfortunately Annabelle quickly ruined the squeakers in the eggs by denting the plastic or popping apart the squeaker pieces. She still found the toy really entertaining and there are back up eggs which we haven't brought out yet as she's still entertained with tossing the one egg around. Annabelle didn't find a whole lot of challenge in getting the eggs out as once she had it down it was only a matter of a minute or two for her to get them all out and be running around with them. But amazingly enough the main part of the toy is still intact and my floor isn't covered in stuffing (at least from that one anyway) so over all it seems to be a win-win for the egg babies.

Pet Adoption Myths

2010-04-16T14:10:00.000-06:00

People have many reasons for deciding not to get a pet from a shelter or rescue, however some of their beliefs are in myths that are simply not true. If you believe any of the myths listed below are true, please read Petfinder's Shooting down common myths about pet adoption article.

Myth #1: I don't know what I'm getting
Myth #2: I can't find what I want at a shelter
Myth #3: I can get a free pet, so why pay an adoption fee?
Myth #4: I'll be "rescuing" a sick puppy from a pet store
Myth #5: Pets are in shelters because they didn't make good pets
Myth #6: Shelter pets have too much baggage

The article explains in detail why the above statements are in fact myths and are false! Please consider adopting your next pet from a shelter or rescue. To get started just click on the Petfinder Featured Adoptable Pet box you'll find in the far left column of this blog, and thank you for opening up your heart and home to a pet in need.

Happy News for Saskatoon

2010-04-13T22:04:00.001-06:00

Today we've got some great news to report. Saskatoon now has Pet Oxygen Masks available on their fire trucks thanks to a very generous Saskatoon couple. The story is posted on the (hard to use) City of Saskatoon website or on NewsTalk650 - Pet Oxygen Masks Available In Saskatoon.

It's a happy story for all pet owners in Saskatoon as we've been repeatedly reminded that things happen, and worst can happen when you're not home and there's nothing you can do. These masks give firefighters an extra tool to save our pets. The generic hound & family sends a huge thank you to the couple who donated the masks and here's hoping they'll never be needed in this house.

The Bad News

2010-04-12T10:18:00.003-06:00

Well we got the word from the CKC, Annabelle "does not meet the qualifications of a Basset Hound" so I guess we're done with the CKC. Now I just need to figure out why they didn't send my money back and get it back so I can put that $50 into CARO and AAC memberships instead. I spoke to friends of ours we take obedience & agility with, who have a very talented miniature Australian Shepherd, and found out they were also turned down by the CKC for a PEN.

On one hand I am admittedly disappointed. After hours of training who isn't looking forward getting to try out what we've learned even once! But the ground work for everything else has been laid and with Annabelle showing me she absolutely loves agility we'll keep up with the agility and the rally training.

To be honest, if this is the attitude the CKC has towards dogs which are rescued through a shelter or rescue program then it doesn't hurt my feelings not to help fund them through shows and my membership. According to the Canadian Federation of Human Societies at least 6,962 dogs died in shelters in 2008. I personally don't think I could go out and "purchase" a dog from a breeder after hearing numbers like that. (And that's not even close to the numbers from American shelters!) There will always be people who refuse to get a dog from anywhere but a breeder, however as long as my home can make the adopted number one higher and the euthanized number one lower we'll keep adopting rather than buying dogs. In that case it seems I will not be needing a CKC membership any time soon, as the CKC refuses to recognize a dog that's been given a second chance and doesn't match up to their breed standards. It's like they're not good enough to even be called a dog.

I find it ironic that the Canadian Kennel Club can claim to be advocates of responsible dog ownership and yet completely ignore the existence of dogs in shelters and rescues, some of which were no doubt CKC registered at some point in time. In essence they help make the situation worse by setting out that stereotype that any dog which does not measure up to their standard has no value as a dog. The more people believe that shelter dogs are inferior as companion dogs, which is completely false, the harder of a time those of us who work hard to get them adopted will have in changing that perspective. Don't get me wrong, shelter dogs need to be spayed/neutered before adoption and are not quality breeding stock, but as long as there are unwanted dogs in shelters we don't exactly need more people breeding dogs for profit or just for the purpose of showing them anyway.

Back to the positive side of things we'll be sticking with agility as long as Annabelle is healthy enough. She loves the classes and I can't keep her off of the A frame and the dog walk. If left on her own she'll randomly start running up and down the A frame. It's pretty cute and I keep having to collect her off of the equipment if she's left off leash because she thinks it's so darn interesting to run up there. She's pretty sharp about figuring out exactly what I'm asking her to do, and she loves tunnels! But back to studying for finals around this house, and maybe searching for a place to get some agility and rally bits and pieces to practice with the hound.

Understanding Food - Still Trying!

2010-03-31T11:19:00.000-06:00

I found myself reading blogs and articles again this morning thanks to Twitter, a reasonable pre-interview distraction from stress in my opinion, and still trying to understand the dog food debate. It seems that everyone has the answer because they just know. In the academic world "just knowing" is never good enough, things must be proven through research and valid results. When it comes to food for dogs those kind of solid academically researched answers just don't seem to be there yet. I've yet to see solid researched proof that raw feeding is the ideal route, but I know my dog certainly prefers to eat raw meat over kibble. I'd rather eat ice cream all day too, so going with what "the dog likes" is just not valid. So what is valid? (Realize when I say kibble I'm referring to high quality dog foods, Orijen, Horizon, etc.) No one will argue with the fact that super market dog foods are garbage, but after that the arguments start to get fuzzy.

When we first adopted Annabelle she was convinced whatever scrap of food you gave her was all she got for the day and munched it down fast. She was a street dog turned shelter dog turned adopted dog and it was obvious. Nearly a year later she's figured out she'll still get fed every day and actually has the time to be picky about food. I've been trying a variety of kibbles, local commercial prepared raw, and grocery store bought raw. However the more I researched raw the more I felt unconvinced that it was ideal and decided to just stick with kibble until I could find solid research backing raw feeding. Annabelle on the other hand isn't impressed with kibble. She often gets extras with her food such as tuna, salmon, veggies and fruit. Today she happily picked out all of the bits cooked sole I had added into her kibble and I now have a huge mess of uneaten kibble on the floor. She's decided if she isn't forced to eat it, then she just won't.

She's my best 4-leg buddy and I'd rather feed her something real, but cooked if possible. I'd love to say I have time to carefully and properly cook her food at home, but honestly I rarely have time to ensure that I'm cooking quality food for myself. Half the time I'm not. I don't think I could provide the kind of attention to balance she deserves doing it entirely myself. What's next? Freeze dried? Canned? Raw? I truly wish I had all the answers...

By the way, if you know of some good academic research regarding dog nutrition or raw feeding I'd love to read it.

Hounds and Innocence (Ghost in the Shell 2)

2010-03-29T23:59:00.001-06:00

Tonight we took a short break from general university crazy-ness (which this week has plenty of) to watch Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. A class I am taking is watching both Ghost in the Shell one and two, and so we rented Innocence from Zip.ca. It's quite the movie, if you're an anime fan or just generally interested in post modernism and haven't seen Ghost in the Shell you should watch it! It's very interesting.

I especially love the hound that appeared a bit in the first movie and a lot in the second. Someone involved in making this movie loves basset hounds and certainly seems to live with one. The basset hound attitudes and animations were nearly perfect, too cute! I loved Batou's dedication to his basset, and the conversation in the movie about "pet" like robots going rogue due to being abandoned by people was interesting. It all made sense when you thought about it.

Aside from the short break in school to watch Ghost in the Shell we'll be back to same old for the rest of the week and thus the blog will stay relatively quiet. We picked up a great new toy from the SPCA last week and I've collected photos to post sometime next week when I've gotten all of my 4th year university projects out of the way. I'm sure the hound is looking forward to us being done school as well, although I'm going to miss our morning walks in the sunshine when I start working again.

Agility Class Begins

2010-03-16T15:39:00.000-06:00

This past Sunday we started another set of classes, this time Agility with D & S Dogs of Course. Friday evening I stopped by the training building to talk to a NHDR volunteer about a home check we did over the weekend and watch the JFF (Just For Fun) Agility league. JFF runs every second Friday throughout the winter. It looks like a great league to be a part of, and a fun way to spend a Friday evening out of the winter cold. It seemed like something we could look forward to.

But for now we'll definitely be looking forward as we've got 6 classes of beginner to go. They run fairly large classes with 15-20 people in the class but they have so many instructors that they're able to break up into groups of five. We're in the same group as a miniature aussi shepherd named Loki who we also train obedience with so it'll be a fun six weeks. However next time I will be sure to take Anna to the off leash park BEFORE class as she was so excited I found myself getting dragged everywhere and the class lacked the structure that obedience has so she didn't get into her "working" mode.

I found I certainly miss training at the advanced/competition level and will be looking forward to getting back up there in agility. Beginner classes just feel so chaotic and I enjoy the more focused classes better. There's so many people at these classes who've never attended a class before and it results in a bit of a crazy atmosphere. But it's great to see so many people out giving agility a try with their dog!

We'll be busy for the next two weeks as agility and obedience classes currently over lap. We've got agility Sundays, then obedience Wednesday and Saturday. After two weeks the current sent of obedience classes end and then things will get a bit quieter, however we still haven't heard from the CKC on the status of the PEN application.

Domain Added

2010-03-07T00:45:00.000-06:00

Good news, the generic hound blog is now accessible using www.thegenerichound.com. The website will continue to be a blogger site for now. We've recently picked up some basic web hosting which came with a free domain for setting up some new websites and learning some CMS systems like Drupal. The fun plus is that the domain was free.

Bring the Dumbbell, Get the Food

2010-03-04T23:11:00.003-06:00

Friends of ours were very kind to give us a gift certificate for helping them out with babysitting on the weekend. They know me all too well and the store is, of course, PetPlanet. I had been thinking for some time about picking up a second 6 foot leash and collar set for sport/obedience use. Collars are not to have tags and leashes do not need bag holders so a second dedicated set sounded ideal. I'm not a fan of leather leashes and now I've got a good idea what kind of nylon leash I like I ordered my "ideal" collar and leash set the Canine Equipment Technika series in red. PetPlanet carries more RC Pet leashes than CE so we're ordering to get the color I'd like. They expect to get them a couple of weeks after their next order so it might be awhile before we see them. Once we've tried them out I'll post a comparison between the CE Technika and the RC Pet leashes. I also picked up a clicker this evening so that we can try out clicker training in the next couple of months.

This week we are working on learning retrieve. I train obedience with a group that uses both positive reinforced and correction based training methods, depending on the dog and the handler. For most german shepherds they teach force-retrieve and that seems to work fine for the average GSD. The hound on the other hand is a little more stubborn and isn't out there to work for you just for the sake of working. Instead, with the help of my boyfriend, I am trying out teaching her with more of a fun positive reinforcement method. Now that we've taught her to hold onto the dumbbell and to carry it around we're working on the final retrieve step. We've made a little game out of it where one of us tosses the dumbbell, the other one encourages her to pick it up and then the person who tossed it calls her back. If she returns with the dumbbell she gets food. No dumbbell, no food. She's picking up really fast on our little game and is starting to figure out that all she needs to do to get the food is grab the dumbbell. It's cute and much more fun to teach and practice than the standard force retrieve. After I ran out of chicken for supper's practice session and went back to cooking she randomly picked up the dumbbell and brought it to me expecting to get something good, very cute! I'd like to keep obedience class fun, for both of us, so I think we'll focus on positive based training more often.

Arriving Numbers

2010-03-02T20:55:00.001-06:00

Things are a little crazy around here with the standard project/midterm season in full swing at school. It's leaving very limited time for more interesting things such as blog updates and dog training but we're stuffing it in here and there as we can. This past few weeks has brought some exciting news however!

I applied to CARO the Canadian Rally-O group for a dog ID number several weeks ago. CARO accepts dogs which are not registered as well as pure breed making the registration process easy. They were very nice in emailing me Annabelle's number promply after receiving the application and I was very excited to find our official letter and dog ID card in my mailbox this morning. I'm happy with how straightforward and easy the CARO registration process was, and we'll be looking forward to entering trials once we've gotten the extra skills needed for CARO Rally Obedience down. There are a few extra requirements over formal novice obedience and Annabelle and I have been practicing them at home here. We've gotten sit-down-sit figured out, which is one I expected would be very difficult! We're still working on the side step though as Annabelle isn't so great at keeping track of where her bum is. Hopefully in the summer we can sneak a Rally-O class into our schedule.

As I mentioned earlier we've officially completed the CKC performance entry application and it's off into the mail. It was a bit stressful as it is something I really hope we will get, but since I could find few people who were familiar with the process it was hard to know what to expect. I understand the CKC's stance on responsible pure breeding of dogs, but at the same time giving dogs who do not deserve to be abandoned a second chance is so very important to me. I'd love to see those two areas overlap better than they do. That said, all the stress aside I noticed today that they seem to be keeping my registration fee. They said they would return it if we were rejected so that's a great sign! I have no other information, so I'm not going to count my chickens before they hatch but it is promising!

We brought home a new brand of dog food today as I usually like to swap out dry dog food brands every couple of bags or so. This time we're going to try Horizon Legacy which is a grain free dog food produced here in the prairies. Switching foods with Annabelle is not an over night process but she tried a few pieces and had no complaints. I always have to stick my nose in the bag to smell these foods and for once this one actually smelled like "food" and not like awful. She has been partially on a commercial raw food diet that I've been feeding daily or every 2 days but I think for a bit we'll be going back to kibble with good "people" food added in. We'll probably be sticking with cooked when it comes to meat for now. I have been spending hours researching the difference between feeding raw, cooked and commercial and still am not sure what the "ideal" food is. There are plenty of "articles" about raw feeding online, but there seems to be limited academic research on the subject. I wanted to see true research instead of opinions but I can't find a firm answer one way or another. We all know low quality kibble is garbage, but no one seems to have a conclusive, research backed answer about the true benefits of feeding raw. We're switching off for now but I'm not saying it is bad or good especially since I can't seem to figure that one out myself!

Beagle Rescue Group

2010-02-22T12:45:00.001-06:00

Ran across a great Beagle Rescue group this morning that is definitely share worthy. The group is called Beagle Paws Rescue Canada - http://beaglepaws.com/. Here's what their website says about them "Welcome to CANADA's largest beagle rescue organization. Unfortunately, there are still a great number of beagles who are only used for hunting and suffer a life sentence of being tied to a dog house or confined to small kennels. Beagle Paws is working to put an end to the misconceptions surrounding the beagle breed. Ask any beagle owner and they will tell you what happy and loving dogs they are. Please help SPREAD THE WORD !" It's sad to hear that hunting animals are treated so poorly here in Canada but always good to hear there's a group trying to create change. Know anyone looking for a beagle? Send them a link!

In other news we've officially submitted a PEN application to the CKC, now to just wait and hope for good news.

Raw Food & Warm Weather

2010-02-11T19:46:00.000-06:00

Finally we saw a day warm enough this week, and with enough free time, to make a trip to the Avalon off leash. Walks are great but are just not enough exercise for the bundle of energy that makes up my hound. The temperature after class today was around -8 which feels warm after a week of -20. The off leash is normally very busy during the after work hour when the weather is decent. Today there was a lovely female greyhound out walking and I had a great conversation with the owner of the dog. He adopted the dog from Chinook Winds Greyhounds, a group I've heard of before at the Avalon off leash. The Avalon off leash park is fully fenced so it's popular for people with sight and scent hounds. He said he absolutely loved his greyhound and she is a wonderful dog. She (the greyhound) was the kind of well behaved, laid back personality I could see myself owning some day.

Check out Chinook Winds Greyhounds if you'd like to read more about adopting ex-racing greyhounds. Chinook Winds is out of Alberta and many of the dogs are from the tracks in the US. She also had a great winter coat that the owner said he ordered online. After some hunting on the Chinook website I think I've found the place he ordered from. Pezzack Pet Wear makes dog jackets based on the measurements you send of your dog. The prices are really reasonable! Finally a place to find pet jackets that would actually fit a dog that doesn't fall into the typical dog shape. Annabelle's jacket will do for now I think, but it's kind funny how far her bum sticks out past the end of the coat.

After some reading I've decided to take the leap and start trying out feeding raw food for Annabelle. With no experience we headed over to PetPlanet to find a place to start as they've always been super helpful when it comes to food. We took home some sample raw patties from Spring Meadows Natural. They are ground whole animal patties including bone and organs along with meat. The sample was beef and chicken, and Annabelle turned her nose straight up in the air to the chicken. However, she loved the beef. I did several hours of reading more after and learned that raw in patty form isn't ideal as it doesn't clean their teeth, however it's still better than kibble. I have no idea what to be getting in terms of regular meat however so we picked up 8 1/2 pound patties to try for now. Currently she's getting 1/2 pound raw in the morning and her usual Orijen kibble in the evening.

Dan and I decided to make stew out of a large warehouse package of stew meat yesterday and were left with about 1/3rd of the package left after filling my fairly big crock pot with stew. After reading stewing meat as a suggestion on the SheltieHair blog I figured we'd try a stew meat breakfast. Annabelle absolutely loved the idea and as a result I split the remaining meat into meal sized portions to freeze for future meals. Normally changing foods with Annabelle is a challenge as we have to go very slow with the switch in order to avoid soft stool and diarrhea issues. This wasn't so much an option with the raw food as it can't be mixed with kibble. We went from 25% raw to 50% raw in about three days, but with NO ISSUES what soever! I'm really impressed, maybe raw is the way to go after all.

February Obedience Graduation

2010-02-06T20:00:00.001-06:00

At the end of every set of obedience classes, the final class is a fun mock trial usually complete with food for the people and dog cookies for the pets! Today was the last class of our most recent set and Annabelle did awesome in the little mock trial. I managed to set my score sheet down somewhere and forget it, which was really disappointing... but Dan was nice enough to take some videos of us with my digital camera. Here are the two that were the best quality!

First we have heel on lead:

Second we have recall:

Decisions, Decisions

2010-02-06T09:12:00.001-06:00

Over the last year I've been wanting to get Annabelle and I into dog sports such as obedience and agility. As I have not been a dog-owner in the city before, I had no idea where to start! As soon as we adopted her I planned on taking some type of obedience classes and unfortunately picked the wrong class to sign up for (it ended up getting cancelled). The only other place I knew of at the time was PetSmart and I didn't like their methods of training. There's nothing wrong with them, but I was looking for something a little more focused and interesting. I'm lucky that a coworker at the time had gone to Buena Vista Kennels and recommended them to me. We've taken three sets of classes from them now, 4 weeks/8 classes, and really enjoy the class. It's too bad our last class for this set is this morning as I'm going to miss the twice a week distraction from school!

I had heard about agility, and heard about rally-o at a CKC trial we went to for fun. Of course when I need more info about something I search online for it. But this wasn't getting me very far when it came to local information about these dog sports. I've spent many hours looking for information, and I finally took an agility class from Sondog last fall. The class was fun until we had limping issues with Annabelle and when the vet thought it might be a sprain I didn't want to push her. The only downside with Sondog was the half hour drive to get from here to there. If I had a class from 8-9 it meant I was away from 7:30-9:30 and as a student sometimes it's hard to give up an entire evening to non-school related classes. With the frustrations of applying for a CKC performance entry number I got to the point where I wanted to just try sports that were not restrictive based on papers. Finally, finally it seems I've found the information I'm looking for!

I joined the D&S mailing list a week or so ago hoping to get some information on when their classes were starting. Everyone on that mailing list has been very nice and so helpful!! I now know when the next set of Paws n Train rally-o classes start, how often rally-o trials happen, when the next set of D&S agility classes start, and of course Buena Vista's formal training restarts after a two week break. I've gone from feeling like I have no choices to not being able to decide which one to pick! So here we are trying to decide which class to sign up for. It's feeling like a very hard call. Do we stick with formal obedience, which we know we enjoy, and try really hard getting her CKC PEN? Or do we just go with where we know we're welcome and try rally and agility. I'm still on the fence... and I need to decide by Monday! We can't complain having options, that's for sure!

Tags Have Arrived!

2010-01-26T23:30:00.004-06:00

A wonderful envelope of good news appeared at my door this morning. The tags I ordered from Pet-Tags.com arrived. Because their website wouldn't let me order multiples of the exact same tag (at least I couldn't figure out how!) I ordered a stainless steel tag, a brass tag and a red plastic tag. Their tags are laser engraved and are guaranteed for 5 years from the date of purchase against breakage, and for life against fading. I ordered these tags intending to replace Annabelle's fading microchip external tag and was really happy they offered double side printing as I could put her name and my phone numbers on one side, and place the microchip external tag information on the other side. The tags shown in the photos are both the microchip external tag info side. These tags had 4 lines printed on both sides! The order showed up a week and a half after the day I ordered it which was within their two week promise.

The total cost of my order of three tags was around $25. The end result? I would say I am definitely happy and will order any tags I need in the future from this website again. The tags came from Australia and were air mailed here to Canada. The alignment of the print on the metal tags was slightly off but nothing too serious. The brass and stainless tags seem quite tough. The marking on the tag is fairly easy to read in normal light (they are easier to read than in the photo shown) and time will tell whether or not the tag will still be readable after some wear and tear. By far the easiest to read tag is the plastic tag. The plastic tag is also noticeably lighter and thicker than the metal tags. As the rest of the tags on Annabelle's main collar are metal, the stainless tag will be joining them. Her main collar is the one which is most often getting soaked. Her back up collar is getting the brass tag and currently the plastic tag is attached to her obedience gear bag until I find a better place for it. As general identification tags I really like the plastic tag and it would make a great ID tag for all of my traveling dog related stuff (ie kennels, obedience/agility bag, leashes). The double sided text gives you 8 lines of 18 characters each which should be plenty for general identification!

Overall my experience ordering from Pet-Tags.com was good and I would recommend their pet tag service. The off leash tag field test is coming up, as soon as we're able to get one of the cars out of the snowbanks that they are currently buried under.

"How Could You?" by Jim Willis 2001

2010-01-18T23:16:00.002-06:00

Be warned this is a very sad story but one worth repeating.

When I was a puppy, I entertained you with my antics and made you laugh.
You called me your child, and despite a number of chewed shoes and a couple of murdered throw pillows, I became your best friend.
Whenever I was "bad," you'd shake your finger at me and ask "How could you?"- but then you'd relent, and roll me over for a bellyrub.
My housebreaking took a little longer than expected, because you were terribly busy, but we worked on that together. I remember those nights of nuzzling you in bed and listening to your confidences and secret dreams, and I believed that life could not be any more perfect.
We went for long walks and runs in the park, car rides, stops for ice cream (I only got the cone because "ice cream is bad for dogs," you said), and I took long naps in the sun waiting for you to come home at the end of the day.
Gradually, you began spending more time at work and on your career, and more time searching for a human mate. I waited for you patiently, comforted you through heartbreaks and disappointments, never chided you about bad decisions, and romped with glee at your homecomings, and when you fell in love.
She, now your wife, is not a "dog person" - still I welcomed her into our home, tried to show her affection, and obeyed her. I was happy because you were happy.
Then the human babies came along and I shared your excitement. I was fascinated by their pinkness, how they smelled, and I wanted to mother them, too. Only she and you worried that I might hurt them, and I spent most of my time banished to another room, or to a dog crate.
Oh, how I wanted to love them, but I became a "prisoner of love."
As they began to grow, I became their friend. They clung to my fur and pulled themselves up on wobbly legs, poked fingers in my eyes, investigated my ears, and gave me kisses on my nose. I loved everything about them and their touch - because your touch was now so infrequent - and
I would have defended them with my life if need be. I would sneak into their beds and listen to their worries and secret dreams, and together we waited for the sound of your car in the driveway.
There had been a time, when others asked you if you had a dog, that you produced a photo of me from your wallet and told them stories about me. These past few years, you just answered "yes" and changed the subject. I had gone from being "your dog" to "just a dog,"and you resented every expenditure on my behalf.
Now, you have a new career opportunity in another city, and you and they will be moving to an apartment that does not allow pets. You've made the right decision for your "family," but there was a time when I was your only family. I was excited about the car ride until we arrived at the animal shelter. It smelled of dogs and cats, of fear, of hopelessness. You filled out the paperwork and said "I know you will find a good home for her." They shrugged and gave you a pained look. They understand the realities facing a middle-aged dog, even one with "papers."
You had to pry your son's fingers loose from my collar as he screamed
"No, Daddy! Please don't let them take my dog!" And I worried for him, and what lessons you had just taught him about friendship and loyalty, about love and responsibility, and about respect for all life. You gave me a goodbye pat on the head, avoided my eyes, and politely refused to take my collar and leash with you. You had a deadline to meet and now I have one, too.
After you left, the two nice ladies said you probably knew about your upcoming move months ago and made no attempt to find me another good home. They shook their heads and asked "How could you?" They are as attentive to us here in the shelter as their busy schedules allow. They feed us, of course, but I lost my appetite days ago.
At first, whenever anyone passed my pen, I rushed to the front, hoping it was you - that you had changed your mind - that this was all a bad dream...or I hoped it would at least be someone who cared, anyone who might save me. When I realized I could not compete with the frolicking for attention of happy puppies, oblivious to their own fate,I retreated to a far corner and waited. I heard her footsteps as she came for me at the end of the day, and I padded along the aisle after her to a separate room. A blissfully quiet room.
She placed me on the table and rubbed my ears, and told me not to worry.
My heart pounded in anticipation of what was to come, but there was also a sense of relief. The prisoner of love had run out of days. As is my nature, I was more concerned about her. The burden which she bears weighs heavily on her, and I know that, the same way I knew your every mood. She gently placed a tourniquet around my foreleg as a tear ran down her cheek.
I licked her hand in the same way I used to comfort you so many years ago.
She expertly slid the hypodermic needle into my vein. As I felt the sting and the cool liquid coursing through my body, I lay down sleepily, looked into her kind eyes and murmured "How could you?" Perhaps because she understood my dogspeak, she said "I'm so sorry." She hugged me, and hurriedly explained it was her job to make sure I went to a better place, where I wouldn't be ignored or abused or abandoned, or have to fend for myself - a place of love and light so very different from this earthly place. And with my last bit of energy, I tried to convey to her with a thump of my tail that my "How could you?" was not directed at her. It was you, My Beloved Master, I was thinking of. I will think of you and wait for you forever.
May everyone in your life continue to show you so much loyalty.
The End

This story is from http://americancockerspaniel.com/how_could_you.htm. Anyone is welcome to distribute the essay for a non-commercial purpose, as long as it is properly attributed with the copyright notice. Please visit the original site for more information.

Tags, Tags and More Obedience

2010-01-14T09:45:00.001-06:00

It's only the 14th of January and it's looking like it's going to be a busy four months already. Annabelle and I are returning to Buena Vista Kennels' obedience classes for a third set of classes. They're an excellent group to take obedience classes from and if you're interested take a look at their website http://www.sunshadows.com/obedience.htm. We're indoors now at a local warehouse and the classes are much bigger compared to the summer. It's good to see so many people coming out. We are still at the intermediate level although we're not in the new intermediate group anymore. We're also still at the novice level as we're moving into the group of people who take classes continually and fall into the novice/open/utility classification. Obedience training is something I really enjoy and it challenges Annabelle to learn to pay attention and behave. So far my favorite training food for obedience is a thick slice of meat from Sobeys. It usually only costs $1 or so per week and slices up into great little pieces. Now I've just got to remind Annabelle not to chomp my fingers when she gets excited. I had to laugh at the "Your dog looks skinny for a basset hound?" comments as some people assumed she was pure breed but just skinny.

As I'd love to go to trials we'll have to work on getting that CKC Performance Entry Number as the CKC still refuses to recognize that mix breed dogs exist and are just as capable at obedience as pure breed.

We've been trying out some new things here and there lately I'll be writing review posts about as I find time between frantically trying to create build servers and reading 100+ pages per week for school. I am trying to get some decent tags as Annabelle's microchip tag is hard to read and her spare collar needs a tag. I picked up a tag locally at PetSmart but wasn't really happy with the result or the price. Instead we're trying out ordering tags online since I can get the tag shape I want, engraved double sided, for cheaper than local. We're trying out the online store Pet-Tags.com and I placed an order last night which they say will show up in 2 weeks or less. My tags will have Annabelle's external microchip information on one side and our cell phone numbers on the other side. When we get them I'll post some photos of how the order went and how they turn out! In the mean time, we're off for a walk.

Final Exams

2009-12-12T08:57:00.000-06:00

Thanks to final exams I've been far too busy to post and, well, Annabelle just hasn't learned how to type yet. The cat types but it generally doesn't make any sense.

We'll be returning after December 19th with some discussion of products we've been trying out lately, including World's Best Cat Litter and some reasonably priced stuff from Costco.

Enjoy the holiday season!

The Busy Season

2009-12-06T21:35:00.004-06:00

As I seem to be avoiding studying for finals I might as well push up a quick post. We're getting a little behind thanks to the constantly busy combination of studying and xmas shopping. First up, an update on Annabelle. Her xrays were fine, both her back and hips look good so our questions were not answered. Our vet decided to put her on a glucosamine & chondroitin supplement for a month and let her exercise reasonably to see if she will improve. We are suspecting a cartilage or muscle issue at this point. We are making fewer off leash trips and she is still limping at them but that 30 minutes at the off leash is by far the absolute best part of her day. She is just generally in an all over happier mood when we're able to let her run and play, so we're trying to find a balance.

This past Saturday saw me volunteering at PetSmart for "Pet Pictures with Santa" with $5 per picture going to the SPCA. It was an interesting event and for once we had plenty of volunteers (too many in fact!) so it ran well. Everything from a Saint Bernard to a pair of lovely cats showed up for pet pictures with Santa. We met a wonderful basset hound at PetSmart as well & found out they're still great even as senior dogs. We're going to skip pet photos this year as today was Christmas For The Animals at the SPCA and we picked up a few gifts for them instead. I really enjoy donating to a cause that is local and one I can connect with at Christmas. Last year I bought a new edition of a nintendo game I loved and book for the Calgary Children's hospital (the closest children's hospital to my city currently) through Child's Play. Child's Play is the Penny Arcade charity that is run by gamers and they raised over a million dollars supporting play in children's hospitals last year. This year is the SPCA's turn and we took a kong, peanut butter treats, cat balls and laundry detergent to the SPCA. It's much more meaningful to me when it's a cause that is local, one that I believe in and one that I am involved with on some level. Check out the Child's Play website if you are interested in learning more about the a great gamer charity.

Speaking of Christmas I was sent an excellent Christmas and Pets article from my family. This article is from the "Four-Town Journal" that is published in their local area covering four small towns. It's a good list of things to keep in mind if you have pets around the house this Christmas! My cat is already doing laps in our tree...

Click the image for a larger readable size.

As the date of my first final is looming I'd better get back to work attempting to learn french. Don't forget the SPCA has plenty of xmas stockings if you're still looking for a gift for a 4 legged friend. :)

Fix Up My Dog and Send The Bill Please?

2009-11-26T09:02:00.001-06:00

With more than two weeks passing and Annabelle's occasional limp not disappearing it's time to look at other possibilities. As I'd love for her to have the chance to enjoy off leash trips and agility I'd like to get this limping sorted out so that we know how to deal with it. Yesterday Annabelle was headed off to our vet for xrays to determine if this is a hip issue. I will not know until Friday what they look like.

We have a good vet in my opinion. She has training specifically in care for shelter enviroments and regularly works at the SPCA. Since we have an SPCA dog ourselves that is something I am very happy to support. Yesterday's vet trip reminded me what our pet's roles in our society are though. Taking my dog to the vet seemed more like dropping my car off to get it fixed. I show up, hand over the keys, say "fix it", then show up and pay the bill. I'm generally not required to know any details between drop off and pick up other than whether or not it was fixed and how expensive it was. (Especially at Canadian Tire haha! When paying the bill for a car oil change the guy handed the paperwork and keys to MY car directly to my boyfriend when I was standing right in front of him. I still laugh at that... Offtopic!)

The vet trip with the dog was starting to turn out the same way. Drop her off by nine am, come get her between 5-6pm and the vet will call you with treatment options. Uhh... wait a second? I finally had to ask "do I actually get to see these xrays I'm paying one hundred and thirty five dollars for myself?" to get an oh yeah, would I prefer to meet with the vet instead of her calling me? Yes, please! Am I the only person who finds discussing the health care of my best furry friend over the phone rather.. impersonal? I never feel like I can get all the details I need out of a situation by just talking to someone over the phone because there's so much missing contextual information. So off I go Friday afternoon to talk to the vet about the results. In person. Good.

Maybe that's just what it is about people who pursue or have university degrees in science. It's not good enough for us to be just given results and answers, we need to know where the information came from and see how the conclusion follows for ourselves. I dislike having a shop working on my car or my motorcycle for the same reason, I never know the details of what was done or how. If I have the skill I'd rather just do it myself and if I don't I'd love to be shown how to fix things. Programmers love to know how things work, it's all in the details. I guess we're just funny that way.

RC Pet Leash/Collar and Hook Anywhere Leash Bag Reviews

2009-11-22T09:56:00.000-06:00

Ever since a fuzzy little kitten and a bad little dog found their own separate ways into my life I've collected a variety of leashes and collars over time. Some I purchased as replacements and others were given to me. Out of all the leashes and collars we've tried so far the best I have used are made by RC Pet Products. The leash and collar I use almost all of the time with Annabelle are made by this company and they're excellent. The leash is synthetic material but is not stiff or hard and does not cut up your hands. My main leash is a six foot RC Leash and I've used it though all of our obedience and agility classes, off leash trips and walks around the neighborhood. The material holds up well despite the fact that my nose-to-the-ground basset is well known for pulling. One of our other hard material leashes tends to curl when pulled and the RC leash does not have that problem.

The leash was slightly frayed by something long ago and it hasn't torn at the fray at all yet. If I ever need to replace it I'll certainly be going with the same one again. Annabelle's collar is made out of the same material and sits nice and flat. It took a bit of wear in before it would hold it's length without slipping but now it is working just fine. (Annabelle tends to be right between sizes making collars either too big or too small and hard to fit.) The collar is holding up well and it's been thrown in the wash several times with no issues. We purchased both the collar and the leash at PetPlanet and have since bought a cat collar by RC as well.

This morning I did some searching online for the company before writing this blog post and was surprised to find out they are based in Vancouver! It's nice to support Canadian companies with the pet products we buy. Anyone into snowboarding may have seen the RC Sport brand before on things such as stomp pads and scrapers. They are the same company and the pet side has 3 parts: RC Pet for all pets, Canine Equipment for sport and active dogs, and Canine Friendly a safety product division. The website has a local retailer page where you can look up which stores carry RC Pet products near you. In Saskatoon, PetPlanet on 8th street always has a large number of leashes and collars in stock. Check out their website: RC Pet Products - http://www.rcpets.com/

We live in the city so there's always a poop bag holder of some kind attached to my leash. We've gone through a few types of poop bags trying to find one that holds the style of bags I have, is not overly big and actually stays attached to my leash. Our original bag holder was made of hard plastic and used a rubber strap for leash attachment. It worked alright but had a tendency to fall off the leash if you were running or playing with the dog. After nearly losing it a few times and having to go searching it was time to try something new. I already had a big bag of bottom dispensing bag rolls and wanted to stick with a bottom dispensing holder. We looked all over and found a holder that does exactly what I want at Petland. The dispensier is made of fabric and uses an elastic string material to attach to the leash. It stays on and doesn't hurt when the leash is swinging and hits your hands. However, their logo is all over the bag holder and as long as Petland refuses to acknowledge and support pet adoption, rather than selling puppies, I really don't feel like advertising for them everywhere my dog goes. Finding a similar alternative that didn't fall apart was more challenging. We found another fabric bag holder attached by a clip but the loop the clip went through was falling apart after a week. No good and I wouldn't buy it again. I believe it was made by plen-plax, the fabric was green.

We finally found a similar bag with a good attachment method. This bag holder has the Outward Hound name on it and the clip attachment point is solid. It's also got a belt clip and a fabric loop on it so there's a way to attach to to any leash, bag or belt. It is a bit bigger than I would like but it is working well and it has a bit of extra storage for a treat or something small. If you prefer bottom dispensing bag holders this is one to check out!
See their website: Kyjen Hook Anywhere Leash Bag

SPCA Dog Stockings Are Right Full For $15

2009-11-18T17:03:00.001-06:00

The Saskatoon SPCA is selling their annual Christmas Dog and Cat stockings. This is the first year we are involved with the Saskatoon SPCA over Christmas so we brought a few stockings home. For $15 we are definitely impressed with them! The value of the contents of the stockings is well over $15. The contents of each stocking are somewhat random, they all have toys, treats and a magazine. We've also seen leashes, collars, shampoo and more in the ones we purchased. They sell small, regular and large dog stockings, cat and small animal stockings. They don't have an endless supply of these stockings so if you're interested be sure to head out to the shelter (on Clarence) and pick one up! I've also seen the stockings available at the Arlington Animal Hospital.

Annabelle also went home with another of her favorite things on Tuesday. On Tuesdays PetPlanet on 8th Street has a sale on some great bones that have some meat/coating (cooked?) on them for a price of $2.99 per bone. (Normal price is $3.99.) I've been warned they could stain floors when they are brand new which is why Annabelle is chewing her new one outside. It takes her no time at all to have the outside cleaned almost right off though and we bring them back in once she's chewed them for awhile. She absolutely loves chewing them even after they're completely clean! She likes them better than the similar clean bones I've brought home for her. They're a great deal and certainly last longer than any stuffed toy I can find. With a dog that literally eats rawhide, these have proven to be a much better option. The best price and quality ones I've found so far are at Pet Planet. Be sure to go on a Tuesday!

To See Change You've Got To Add Effort

2009-11-18T14:51:00.004-06:00

Now that I've finally found some time between midterms and assignments for something other than studying, time to write down some thoughts from the previous weekend. Last Saturday, Nov 14th, I spent my afternoon at PetSmart volunteering for the Saskatoon SPCA to sit at their table at the back of the store and encourage people to look at the cats for adoption and answer questions. PetSmart's adoption weekend is a great event and seems to me to show that PetSmart isn't all talk with PetSmart Charities. All of our local adoption groups were present in different areas of the store. We're trying to convince people to adopt instead of buy, visibility is very important! They're cosntantly seeing the cute puppy in the window when they go to PetLand but they hardly ever get to see a cute adoptable puppy in any other pet store and the SPCA's shelter is not a short drive. For that reason the event was great. It was fun seeing New Hope volunteers walk around PetSmart with the dogs available for adoption. Unusual signs and tables seem to work well to convince people to walk up just to check out what's happening.

That said, I felt disappointed with the effort put out for this event by the SPCA. It seemed only halfway there. Saturday afternoon is likely one of the busiest times at Preston Crossing and yet all that could be found from the SPCA was one volunteer and four cats. I was disappointed that so few cats and no dogs were at the event. I really do believe in volunteering for the SPCA but I was disappointed about how well this event went. It was such a good opportunity to remind everyone that we're around! It seemed like New Hope Rescue were fully aware of this and had several of their dogs, several volunteers and a well filled table with information and all kinds of photos. They definitely looked more organized and more interesting than the SPCA did at this event. It leaves me wondering how the SPCA decides what events are 'important' and which ones are not.

Public response at these events is endlessly amusing. People have strong opinions against kill-shelters and they are certain to let me know any time I am volunteering. I completely agree with them that things should be run better!!! Kill-shelters shouldn't even exist and should instead be replaced with 100% responsible pet owners. I agree things must change. That said it's frustrating to have people walk up and voice their negative opinion without backing it up by also telling me what they are doing to change things. It's easy to say what your opinions are with words and much more difficult to say your opinions with actions. If you've got something to say to a volunteer working an SPCA or other animal welfare event about the organization they are working for, make sure you're prepared to back it up with how YOU are working to make a difference. These things don't happen by themselves, people must be involved to see change.

Anyway, the weekend aside we were off to the vet last Monday. She didn't seen anything obvious wrong with Annabelle. Our vet sent us home with an anti-inflammatory to see if it is just a sprain and will clear up in the next week. So far it isn't clearing up but we'll keep hoping. She's doing this comical looking 3 foot hop down stairs now that would almost be funny out of context. We're hoping for the best.

Public discussions about Chief Whitecap Park are happening this week and have made it into local news. I posted this link on twitter, here it is as well Saskatoon Dog Owners Growling Mad. As always dog ownership stories bring the best and worst comments out of the people of Saskatoon.

Ann's Favorite Ball - Chuckit Ultra Balls

2009-11-13T19:03:00.003-06:00

hLike many dog owners we've gone through quite a few tennis balls used for playing fetch. It normally takes Annabelle all of 20 minutes to split a typical tennis ball in half. I've also learned that due to their sandpaper like material tennis balls are not the greatest toy for dogs anyway. Annabelle isn't a big fetch dog but she will play fetch with you if there's no dogs to play with. A good quality ball would eventually be needed but she seemed to be able to shred any dog toy I bought, except for a kong.

On one of our trips to the off leash Dan found a squishy orange and blue ball with a rubber outside. We were alone at the off leash that day and he had enough of Ann's attention to play fetch with her. She liked the ball and we decided to take it home and figure out what kind it was. After giving the ball a good clean Ann got to play with it again and try as she would she couldn't seem to destroy it! We've had the ball for about a month now and despite her attempts to rip the ball in half it's still intact. It seems the trick is that she can't hold it with her paws to rip at it and she can't get it far enough back in her jaws to tear it apart. It's a great ball and when we need more we'll definitely be getting this ball again. Dog toys made by Chuckit seem to be very popular with everyone who visits the Avalon off leash.

I can't seem to link directly to the product on Chuckit's new flash webpage so to give you an idea what the Chuckit! Ultra Balls look like here's a link to the ball on Amazon: Chuckit! Ultra Ball Medium 2.5-inch, 2 pack
And check out the ultra ball and all the dog toys on Chuckit's website http://www.caninehardware.com/

Annabelle is getting a break from the off leash and agility for now until we know why she isn't running normally. We've got an appointment with her vet at the Arlington Animal Hospital on Monday and I'm certainly hoping all news is good news.

Ann's Bad News

2009-11-11T20:06:00.003-06:00

This afternoon brought more good weather and as a result another trip to the Avalon off leash park. We normally visit the off leash park two to three times per week. Last Sunday at the off leash I noticed Annabelle was limping in one of her back legs and her running gait seemed strange. She had been playing quite rough at the start of the trip so I expected she might have pulled a muscle or otherwise hurt herself. I didn't think it could be too bad since she wouldn't stop running regardless of a slight limp. Once I got her home I looked her over very carefully along with a good rub and stretch of her legs. She had no issue with any of this and showed no signs of pain. Strange.

That was last Sunday and she has since been walking and jogging fine at home and on walks. Assuming she was good to go we went to the off leash this afternoon and let her run. However she was only running for about five minutes when she started showing lameness issues again. Her running gait was not right and when she jogged she had a tendency to favor one of her back legs. She didn't want to stop running or playing but she was not getting better so we took her home after one lap around the park. (She was not impressed with us!) After curling up for awhile in the back of the car she started walking and jogging just fine when I jogged her down the yard at our house. Obviously now I'm starting to get concerned. It doesn't seem to be a pulled muscle and her paw is fine.

Since she didn't seem to improve at all between Sunday's trip and today's trip I'll be talking to her vet tomorrow. As I am still a student for the next six months I have to admit I'm feeling a little bit concerned about the potential cost of several vet trips. It just means I may end up working more and traveling less in the next several months. I don't have to think twice to know the health of this dog, my best friend on four legs, is worth every penny I own.

Food for Thought, PetSmart Adoption Weekend

2009-11-11T08:48:00.000-06:00

Before moving away from the pet food topic, for now anyway, more on the topic of 'what do you feed your dog or cat'? When we adopted Annabelle I asked her vet what she recommended to feed Ann and interestingly enough her vet said "not just kibble, people food too." Not people food as in left overs or table scraps but food at a high enough quality you'd eat it too. The same thing went for our endlessly shedding cat. One favorite of both the dog and cat is tuna. My rather fussy cat will not touch salmon (even though Ann loves it) and won't eat salmon even if i mix it into her wet food. So I regularly pick up $1 sobey's complements tuna cans and split the can between the dog and the cat - at least once a week or so. The dog also gets to eat whatever veggies are in season or easy to pick up. She often gets shredded carrots and fresh or canned peas. Peas are one of her biggest favorites. She's also recently become a fan of christmas oranges. Occasionally if we have left over cooked chicken or some similar cooked meat Annabelle will get a little of that cut up in her food. So far tuna is the one thing she is the most excited about though!

Finding quality foods for the cat is more of a challenge. Unlike the dog, Kiki won't eat most things you set in front of her. When we first got her as a kitten we were university students and fed her whatever food seemed good for the price. (In other words, we went shopping at Wal-mart and Costco.) She's ate Fancy Feast in the morning and Iams in the evening for many years. It's not a terrible diet and her weight and teeth checked out good during our last vet visit. However, I asked our vet about issues with constant shedding and less than amazing coat quality. The vet suggested tuna, salmon or sardines in water to bring up the amount of fatty acids in her diet. Kiki didn't like salmon and had very limited interest in sardines. We were not fans of the sardines either as they smell terrible. So tuna is still our staple cat food supplement. After getting a couple of free sample tins from PetPlanet, we've recently started trying small wet food tins from a company called almo nature. They make supplement foods that consist mixes of quality meats and occasional veggies. Some examples of tins we've tried are "tuna and shrimp" (a favorite), "chicken and pumpkin" (oddly enough she liked this one), "seafood mix", "chicken with cheese" and several other interesting mixes. It has been hit and miss discovering which types the cat will eat and which she won't, but so far she seems to like the majority of them. These are not "complete balanced" foods and she still needs to be fed her balanced Orijen dry food in the evening.

The down side of almo nature is the price per tin. They are not large tins (smaller than your average tuna tin) but the cost runs around $1.25 per tin. More than double the $0.50 price of fancy feast from Costco. As the tins contain obvious mixes, for example of tuna and shrimp, I may try instead to just buy tuna and shrimp tins in bulk and instead pre-mix the food myself. I can get larger tuna tins for $1 and I'd expect chicken to be similar. We're not out of almo nature tins from our first set of 12 yet so we'll see how it works out when I start running out. The other reason I may continue to prefer to buy large tins is to have enough to split with the dog as she too enjoys her tuna!

For more about Almo Nature see their website http://www.almonature.eu/. Remember to make the switch gradually anytime you introduce new foods to avoid having a stomach sick cat (or a sick dog!).

I've been getting several emails from the local shelter and rescue groups I volunteer for about this upcoming weekend. What's happening this weekend? It's PetSmart Charities Holiday National Adoption Weekend happening November 13 - 15, 2009. All of our local adoption groups, the Saskatoon SPCA, New Hope Dog Rescue, and SCAT street cat are involved. Events like this are a great way to remind everyone shopping at stores like PetSmart to consider adopting! It should be a fun weekend and I'm hoping to see a lot of cats and dogs find homes. Not to mention PetSmart is giving away dog food and cat litter to the families who adopt. Good stuff hey? The holiday season seems to be the time when many families adopt pets and with winter coming it's the time when homes are most needed. So if you know anyone thinking about adopting a cat or dog before the holidays this year tell them to head over to PetSmart at Preston Crossing (or their local PetSmart if not Saskatoon) and see if they can meet their furry match!

Choosing a Dog Food - the endless challenge!

2009-11-09T20:01:00.000-06:00

Since adopting Annabelle one of the biggest challenges I've run into so far has been deciding just what to feed her. There is an endless selection of dog and cat foods on the market. With every company claiming their dog food best how the heck do you know which ones are better than others? What makes a dog food better or worse?

From the research, reading and opinions I've gathered it seems many people feel the best possible diet for a dog is raw food and/or home cooked food. Both of these options require a lot of time and practice to get them right. Honestly I don't feel comfortable handling raw food around here on a daily basis and I don't feel that I have the time or experience to get a fully home cooked food just right. There are a lot of details involved in making sure you have all of the dog's requirements. So with these things in mind I'm sticking with a commercial dog food as a daily basis for now. We are lucky enough to live in a large city and we shop at local pet health stores for our dog food and not at a super market. (Obviously, don't buy your dog food from Wal-mart...)

In the very beginning I bought a small bag of Acana for Annabelle. After a few days she wouldn't eat it so off we went for something new. We then started Annabelle on Royal Canin, a dog food recommended by friends. She quickly and happily ate Royal Canin, but over time I began to feel like I wasn't sold on the quality of Royal Canin for the price I was paying for it. We also found Annabelle was scratching quite a bit and wanted to eliminate food as a possible factor. We switched to California Natural, a limited ingredient dog food, which we bought at Critters. California Natural seemed to be alright and Annabelle liked it but I found it to be very expensive and difficult to find. Only one local store sold California Natural. It worked for the time however I knew we'd likely be switching when the time came to stop feeding puppy food.

After two bags it was time to move to an adult food. After reading review websites, magazine "how to choose dog food" articles, and bag ingredients the dog food we brought home is Orijen. Orijen is made by Champion pet foods out of Alberta and has won a recent pet food award. It seems to have a good ingredient list and the fact that it's made in Canada is a big plus to me. After everything we've learned about pet foods we decided to switch the cat off Iams to Orijen as well. Both of our pets have been on Orijen for some time now, Annabelle for at least 4 weeks and Kiki for about 2. The change we've noticed the most so far has been with their coat quality. Annabelle's coat has a lovely shine and texture. Her coat is in the best shape I've seen it in since we adopted her. A friend of ours also recently noticed Kiki's coat is looking better then it used to. Since the only thing we've changed is her food it's definitely been the improvement. Kiki is fed wet food in the morning and dry in the evening. We're also feeding the cat a higher quality wet food every second day, as it is significantly more expensive than the Fancy Feast we normally feed her. I haven't decided if we're sticking with the new wet food yet or not.

According to the reviews at Dog Food Analysis Orijen is a 6 star dry food! Their review is as positive as mine. Orijen is also easy to find around Saskatoon and our favorite pet store down the street, Pet Planet, carries both Orijen and Acana. Orijen makes a couple of varieties of adult dry food which gives me some variety for Annabelle. Check out http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com and see how your dog food is rated. Take a look at http://www.orijen.ca/ for more information about Orijen.