Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Follow-Up Friday – November 8, 2013

By

Welcome to this week’s edition of Follow-Up Friday, the blog hop that let’s you “wrap up your week, and leads you right into the weekend!”

Follow-Up Friday Blog Hop

Follow-Up Friday Blog Hop

 

I’m excited to welcome the delightful Emma from My GBGV Life.  Right.  I had no idea what a GBGV was either.

Well GBGV is short for “Grand Basset Griffon Vendeén”   Um…Okay.  I don’t know about you, but I got Grand and Basset out of that.

So in Emma’s own words, ” the Grand refers to our size in the whole group of BGV hounds, Basset refers to our shorter legs, Griffon to our coat, and Vendeén is the area of France where the breed originated – basically a French Scent Hound.”

Ah, that explains why her book is titled “Tales of a French Scent Hound.”

Anyhow, Emma is a fun-loving little dog and she shares her life with her mom, her big sister Katie (a Kuvasz) and her newly adopted little sister, Bailie (who is also a GBGV.)

Emma shares her exploits and adventures on her blog along with a whole lot of great information.  If you don’t know Emma, I highly encourage you to go over and introduce yourself.  You won’t regret it.

Thanks so much for taking the plunge and agreeing to co-host Emma, I hope I made it super easy for you.

Reminder if YOU are interested in seeing your name up here next week, leave me a message in the comments or drop me an e-mail at stone.jodi@ymail.com

You Make Me Smile – November 3, 2013

Jen said, “Leroy spits treats at me! Good times.”

Well this just made me laugh.  Sampson used to be super picky with treats.  Milk Bones.  NO. THANK. YOU.  Once the drive-thru teller gave him one and he politely took it.  I found it in my purse a short time later.   What a picky boy.

But his tastes have changed, because our vet’s office has those very same Milk Bones and he would gobble up the whole thing if we let him.

Good times indeed!

Emma said, “I concentrate on chewing really hard. I have to always be careful that no one steals my stuff.”

Delilah is the same way.  She LOVES her some treats.  If you approach her, her tail wags a mile a minute and her jaw keeps up.

I’m a Lepto Maniac

I was so please to read how many of you actually space your dog’s vaccines weeks apart.  Besides giving your dog’s immune system proper time to do its job, IF your dog were to have a reaction, you should be able to tell which vaccine was the culprit.

Callie, Shadow and Ducky’s Mom asked, “Is Sampson a black belt in karate now? :-) Just curious as to what the black belt around his midsection is for.”

That is his leash.  It somehow got wrapped around him.

Jackie asked, “Ticks are not too bad here either, as long as you don’t go off-trail when hiking. (What is the natural treatment you use for that?)”

I’ve been experimenting with various natural flea and tick sprays for the last few months.  The key to using a natural spray is you have to do this every day.  Which is not a problem for me, I just add it to my getting ready to walk routine.  I had a pretty good spray that I used over the summer but its base was rubbing alcohol, which I thought might be contributing to Sampson’s itchies.

I found a natural flea and tick spray at my local pet store.  It is comprised of a bunch of different essential oils but the base is water, which I thought would be far better, if it touched their skin.

So I publish the Lepto Maniac post and sure enough I pull four ticks off of Sampson in a 24-hour period, and one off Delilah.

Back to the drawing board.

Besides the spray, I also keep the dogs on a low dose of Bug Off Garlic.  I really should increase it during April/May and September/October but I worry about gas.

The garlic makes my dogs very gassy.  And I worry because we do close our bedroom door at night.

They’re All Urgent

Jan said, “I’m trying to get back into the Tuesday blog hop, but all the shelter Chihuahuas in
CA just breaks my heart as well as their being used for celebrity photo ops.”

I agree Jan, I really do.  I love Tuesday’s Tails blog hop.  But it’s hard for me to look at all the dogs in my area and know that some of them are not getting out.   And as of yesterday, she hadn’t been pulled.  I pray she made it.

Maybe if my shelters were no-kill it would be easier.

It’s Not a Toomah

Jackie shared, “One “bad” sign the vet shared with us is if the bump on your dog changes size suddenly. Bailey’s cancerous lumps would sometimes be small one day, and then big the next. Then they’d go back to being small again. If you’ve got something like that on your dog, get it checked right away! It could be nuthin, but it could be a toomah.”

Good to know Jackie, thank you for sharing!

Frankie and Ernie said, “Ernie had a BUMP that had to be removed… when his Boy Baubbles were.. The bump was caused by is INFANT shots… That is ANOTHER reason that OUR mom won’t let us have Multiple Shots in a day.”

Okay, first I’m glad that Ernie is okay, BUTT “Boy Baubbles” made me laugh.  Just like when my sister refers to her “Hey Nonner Nonner” as “Girly bits.”

And yes, Sampson had a lump that was caused by HIS infant shots.  Which is why I try and limit vaccines to the really essential ones.

Jan K said, “I believe that vaccines contributed to my golden’s death from cancer….I do not think they caused it but I suspect they accelerated it.”

It wouldn’t surprise me Jan.  I work next door to a pediatrician’s office and the office manager keeps telling me there are all kinds of things in the vaccines that have no business being there.

Slimdoggy said, “Labs notoriously have a lot of fatty lumps. Sally had so many that I had to draw a little outline of her body and mark where the were so we could keep track.”

Wow, what a great idea.  So if you had the lump checked did you identify it on the drawing?

Lauranne said, “However my favourite of all his fatty lumps are the first two he grew… you see he had the op as a young pup however it would seem that now he is a man of senior years he has decided he would quite like them back and so has grown his own pair.”

OH. MY. DOG. I’m sorry to laugh, but I did.  Holy smoly, he grew his own nuticles. BOL

Blogville ROCKS This ‘N That Thursday

Frankie and Ernie’s mom said,”…Each month we will see a New Pic of one of our Friends.”

That is the great part!! I look forward to turning the page so I can see which of my friends is next.

April - Susie "Sweet Petunia" - The Mad Scots

April – Susie “Sweet Petunia” – The Mad Scots

Friends like Susie!

That’s it for me, many thanks to my friend Emma for agreeing to co-host!!



I’m a Lepto Maniac

By

I got that tee-shirt at the Blog Paws Conference this past May and I absolutely love it!!

Siriusly you guys, Leptos is the only vaccine I voluntarily give my dogs.

I’m not anti-vaccine by any means, but I do question certain ‘protocols.’

Vaccine Doses

I’m uncomfortable that an 8 pound Maltese would get the same amount of vaccine as a 90 pound lab and that a 90 pound lab gets the same dose as a 130 pound Newfoundland.

Frequency

I also question the frequency of vaccines and if our pets (and we) are protected longer than we think we are as well as what immunities are passed down through parents who have been vaccinated.

Combination vaccines

Merriam Webster defines a vaccine as such, “a preparation of killed microorganisms, living attenuated organisms, or living fully virulent organisms that is administered to produce or artificially increase immunity to a particular disease.”

These organisms work with your immune system to develop antibodies to help fight off that particular disease. Personally, I think combination vaccines are too much for one little immune system to handle.  And if my dog is already working their immune system fighting off an infection, I pass on the vaccine until (s)he is feeling better.

And next year, when both of my dogs are scheduled for Leptos and Rabies, I will space their shots about two weeks apart.  It may seem radical to some people, but I feel very strongly that their immune system should be able to focus on one thing and one thing only.

Leptospirosis is a Zoonotic Disease

Washington State Department of Health defines Zoonotic, “A zoonotic disease or zoonosis (plural is zoonoses) is any disease of animals that can be transmitted to people.”  And Leptos qualifies as a zoonotic disease.

Newer vaccines vs established ones

Leptospirosis is a fairly new vaccine, at least in my area. Relatively new as compared to say Rabies.  I had read an article written by a vet who felt the vaccine didn’t last for a year and that the vaccine might in fact lessen symptoms so I wanted to be sure I mentioned this to my vet.

Dr. Soutter says the vaccine covers four strands of the Leptos virus and two of the strands are the ones we see in this area.  She feels the vaccine may last a little less than a year or perhaps even a little longer than a year, but she is very comfortable giving the vaccine.

It’s been a bad year for ticks

I always ask about Lyme.  We have a lot of ticks and although we use a natural tick preventive, we still get the occasional dog tick.  Normally I find and remove them before too long, but the little deer ticks that traditionally spread the Lyme are very hard to find.

Dr. Soutter said the Lyme vaccine has gotten better in terms of protection, but she still sees a lot of reactions to it, reactions such as lumps, painful injection sites, etc.  We passed on the Lyme vaccine.

We did have blood drawn for the Four Way Snap Test, which tests for Heartworm Disease, Lyme Disease, Ehrlichiosis, and Anaplasmosis.  Dr. Soutter says with this test, no news is good news.  Fingers and paws crossed we don’t get a call.

Heart Like a Dog

So what was Sampson doing while he was being poked, prodded and pricked?

9-15-13 002

He was getting rubbies, lovies and treats from Chris.

Sampson lives in the now.  He is not worried about what he did yesterday or what will happen tomorrow. He embraces each moment for what it is.

In my opinion, that’s a great attitude to have and something I’m striving for in my life.  What about you?

 

I Have a Crap-load of Pumpkin

By

Sampson and Delilah are fed a raw diet.  To help keep their tummies full I give them a scoop of pumpkin every morning.  I also use it to frost their treat bones.  Typically we go through a large can of pumpkin about every 5 or 6 days.

I don’t know how much pumpkin is where you live, but here in CT the large can of plain pumpkin is close to $4.  Luckily for me, the local warehouses carry the large cans of pumpkin in a three pack, which saves me over a dollar a can.

The bad news is the pumpkin is only in the warehouses at this time of year.  So I’ve been buying a case (or two) every weekend.

I have a crap-load of pumpkin.

Don’t believe me?  Take a look.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I knew when I went looking for a recipe for today’s Tasty Tuesday, I wanted to use pumpkin, but I also wanted to use some coconut flour because it’s just so darn tasty!

I searched and searched, but I had trouble finding a decent recipe.  I finally found one that called for two cups of oatmeal and 8 ounces of baby food.  I decided it was something I could work with.  Here’s where it gets impressive.

I invented my own recipe!!  Someone pick Jodi Chick up off the floor please.

Here’s what I used.

1 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup oat flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs
 

In a medium-sized bowl, mix the dry ingredients together just to incorporate them.  Then add the eggs and pumpkin, bring your muscles cause this dough is stiff.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Once it was mixed together, I just took small handfuls and formed balls with my hands, pressing them down onto a baking stone.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Bake in a pre-heated 350° oven.  Mine took about 22 minutes, but yours could take a little less or a little longer.

Cool and store.

So let’s see how the dogs liked the cookies.

Hey Sampson, how did you like the cookies I made for you last night?

Nom, nom Mama, this cookie is pawsome! Nom, nom Mama, this cookie is pawsome!!

Delilah, what did you think of the cookies that The Mama made last night?

WOOOOOOOSHHHH. Cookie? What cookie? Did you give me a cookie? IN…….HALE.   Cookie?  What Cookie?  Did you give me a cookie?  If you did, I didn’t taste it. You may want to give me another a cookie, just to try it like.

I’d say that’s a four paw rating.

So you know my rule right?  It has to be a treat that I can make that I will be able to eat as well.  Since there is no sugar involved, it’s not a sweet treat.  Here’s what I did.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA I added a few M&M’s and a small amount of chopped walnuts to the tops of each cookie.  Still a little on the bland side, but not too bad.  I think this is a recipe I can play with and find the right combination, that will satisfy both the dogs and the humans in our house.

I can’t believe I’m actually typing this right now, but what I love about baking for my dogs is I know exactly what ingredients, as well as the quality of the ingredients in their treats.

Besides, my dogs love them and that makes me happy.  Have you tried baking for your pups yet? If you haven’t, what’s stopping you?

 

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...