All about the raw

Most of Billy appears to be made of rocks. The way he hurls himself around, crashing into everything (and everyone) would definitely mangle a lesser dog. The one exception is his stomach which, despite his predilection for vacuuming up any vaguely edible-smelling trash he can get his paws on, is decidedly gossamer-like. In the past this has proved rather unpleasant for whomever is cleaning up behind him on walks and it took months before I could get him settled on a kibble.

Unfortunately, the kibble that he settled on was pretty much full of garbage. Bilbo's old vet prescribed  Hill's Science Diet Gastrointestinal ID and it certainly made a difference but when I read the ingredients I decided that there had to be a better way. Check out the top five:

Whole Grain Corn

Brewers Rice

Dried Egg Product

Chicken By-Product Meal

Corn Gluten Meal

Hardly the food of champions.

While it appeared to be helping in the short term, I am a strong believer that in most cases you are what you eat. I came to the conclusion that keeping my Bilbo on such a diet in the long-term was hardly conducive to a long and healthy life.

He does just fine on home-cooked meals but it's difficult to get right and besides, I can barely manage to cook for myself half the time so that wasn't a viable option. After much research I settled on a Bravo raw diet and haven't looked back since. I do miss being able to feed him his meals in his Wobble Kong, though he's able to eat a little kibble from time to time, but it's worth the extra effort I have to put in to entertaining him to have confidence that he's eating well. The ingredients in his food?

Chicken, chicken frames, chicken organs (liver, gizzards, hearts), green beans, broccoli, acorn squash, salt, potassium chloride, vitamin E, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, ferrous sulfate, manganous oxide, potassium iodide, vitamin D.

That's it! It's a little bit more work than kibble simply because it comes in big frozen tubes so it all has to be chopped up when I get home from Soggy Paws and then I have to remember to have enough defrosting in the freezer so he doesn't get his dinner late.

"Can I eat it yet?!"

Best of all, when I stick to the plan (ie. buy chicken at $8.99 instead of "Oh let's treat the boy" beef at $14.99) it costs no more to feed him a raw diet than it cost to feed the garbage kibble. Plus, I can pick up an extra tube on the way home from work as the store is right by my train stop.

Soggy Paws Logan Square (2526 W. Armitage) are hosting a Stella & Chewy's seminar on raw food tomorrow at 7pm and I'd highly recommend going along to learn more. S&C's food is a little more expensive per pound but if you have a smaller (or less rapacious) dog than I, it's even easier to feed since it comes in little measured-out chunks. If you don't live by a Soggy Paws location they do deliver to much of Chicago so it's an option worth exploring even if it's a bit tricky to get to a store on a regular basis.

Non-Chicagoans will just have to google their way round the interwebs to find a supplier.

Rainy Tuesday

Having just returned from a very thought-provoking presentation by Animal Farm Foundation I was excited to share some of the information here. However, I spent all day working on a grant application and am now being subjected to a barking fit by the spoiled brat who refuses to go out in the rain but still wants me to magically provide a long walk so I have smush for brains.

Instead, here is the reason I always end up leaving the house 10 minutes later than planned in the morning:

"Pleeeeeease don't leave me"

And, given that I made the bed before leaving, what did he get up to while I was gone?

What's on TV?!

I was inordinately thrilled this evening to discover that Allie at Hyperbole and a Half had not only posted again after a long silence, but had shared another adventure of Simple Dog!

If you have not yet discovered her blog, follow it at once! Her dog posts are beyond hilarious so get to know Simple Dog here then read this post which was the first I ever read and STILL makes me cry with laughter. And don't forget today's adventure.

Enjoy!

Happy Fostering

A belated update on the lovely Rain. She found foster and is now officially a One Tail dog! You can read more about her here.

On my way home from running errands in the horrid SLEET - yes, in APRIL - I ran into a familiar face. Some fellow volunteers from our last trip down to Animal Welfare League were walking their boxer pup and the little pitty mix whom they'd decided to take home that day to foster. Ski was a skinny, sick little creature who would barely walk at the beginning of the day as every sight, sound and smell caused him to flatten to the ground like a terrified pancake.

Ski warming up to his future foster family

It was amazing to see how far he's come in less than a month. Once the noisy, scary train had finished rattling overhead he came bounding over to me, put his paws on my knee and gave as many kisses as he could manage to fit in.

To top off all the good news, if a foster home can be found, there's a chance that everyone's favorite ladies man, Puppet (from CACC's Pittie Party), will be taken into rescue within a few weeks. Keep your paws crossed and spread the word...

While they might not have their happy ending yet, it is still heartening to see these pups well on their way, thanks to the combined efforts of caring Chicagoans.

Positive Reinforcement (or the power of chicken)

The temperature dropped and I got lazy!

Buster was a bit limpy so was only allowed a quick trip out to the yard, but Billy had some bounce in his step. We popped out for 15 minutes and managed some very successful leash-reactivity training. Of course that's not quite enough for the boy so I resorted to the winter trick:

It's a fun tool to use from time to time and easy enough to teach (let's face it, if I can do it, anyone can!). Bilbo stays on there because he's happy to do so, because I taught him to get on using targeting and then made it fun with his favorite treats. So I'm definitely not in agreement with certain TV personalities who pull dogs on with a leash and tie them to the treadmill to make them run. 

It's a good reminder for me that Bilbo can learn anything with a little patience and consistency. Time to tackle some more training I think...

A walk in the park

Ninety-five percent of the time I feel that I'm making very little headway with Bilbo's training. However, taking pictures in the park today reminded me that his sit-stay is seriously solid these days. Sadly, his brother emphasized this with his woeful ability to do anything he is told. Buster has somehow escaped any serious training for far too long and it's becoming apparent as his rehab progresses and his frisky side comes out.

Somehow, I still managed to get some nice shots of the boys before the sun went down. We had a delightful stroll through Humboldt Park, one of my favorite places in Chicago.

"Just sit still while she fiddles with the little box for
a moment then we can go and sniff for Squiggles!"

"You only get two ears if you throw me a ball"

Who's the King of the Castle?

"Please make the idiot sit still, he's driving me loopy!"

"I am a noble pioneer of the Midwest"

"Me sit on flowers"

"Come on then, we're done!"

Let sleeping dogs lie

Can you hear that? No?

Exactly.

That is the sound of two dogs who wore themselves out in the sunshine while I tackled one of my mystery projects.

I don't particularly mind the snow and the cold. I've certainly grown more used to it over the past few years. The hardest part is that the amount of effort I have to put in to wearing out Billy increases exponentially as the temperature drops. Today while I hacked merrily away with a handsaw the dogs just pootled around, lay in the sunshine and played a little with the downstairs neighbor's wee Italian Greyhound.

All of this, aside from a little oversight when they were playing and some brief spurts of obedience training, required no effort on my part. Yet they are both entirely comatose. It's fabulous.

I almost completed mystery project phase one, and both dogs gave it a whirl, although it's missing some parts still (hose clamps turned out NOT to be effective, plus I need some more piping).

It will be performing double-duty as brain-challenge/ exercise for Billy and a tool to help Buster's rehab.

Either he thinks it's a great idea or he's just excited to get some chicken...

On a more sombre note, I promised not to add a bleak running commentary about dogs in need of rescue so just click here to learn more about this overwhelmingly beautiful dog in urgent need of foster.

On the plus side, my landlord agreed at the weekend to let me start fostering dogs occasionally. Unfortunately, there's a size limit and all the dogs on the One Tail waiting list are just a wee bit too big right now.

Someday I will win the lottery (first step, I need to actually start buying tickets I guess) and I will have an urban doggy-mansion where I can foster any dog I have the time to take care of.

Mystery Project

With a couple of days off before starting my new job, I've been dividing my time between lazy snuggle time with the pooches,

"Zzzzzzzzzzz"

long walks in the sunshine, 

"We played in the garden!!!"

and periods of frantic activity when I tackle all my chores at once in a huge burst of energy. I managed to string together a good long list of tasks this afternoon before getting back in time for a long overdue session with Billy's trainer. It was rather amusing trying to get this lot back home on the bus, my shoulder is still aching from carrying that monstrous bag of sand:

The bus driver was a little unnerved by my approach with two 10 foot poles but still rather tolerant of my maneuvers. 

The dogs demonstrated yet again why Bilbo photos dominate this blog. Buster plodded over while I unpacked my bag, sniffed a couple of times and then headed back to reclaim his spot on the bed. Billy, unbidden, picked a perfect spot to pose in and proceeded to wink at the camera.

Any guesses regarding the planned end-product(s) for all of these bits and pieces?! 

I'm not terribly handy so I'll have to wait and see if the plans I drew up actually work before getting too excited. I was convinced there was a DIY solution and it should save me around $140 if it works!