Sick.

Infections in both ears and tonsillitis.

A great way to spend the holidays.

Housetraining? What's that?

We go through this every year, and really, I don't get it.

He get's the same number of walks at the same time as normal. Nothing changes in routine. He still pees and craps a bajillion times out on our walks...

...and he starts going to the bathroom in the house. For no apparent reason other than there's snow outside, though it goes for rain as well.

So, Mr. Frodo, welcome to crate land.

Apparently, I can no longer even leave him sleeping on GreenChair to take a 10 minute shower. I get to come out to a nice dark stain on the carpet to clean, just what I wanted to do at one o'clock in the morning!

Guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow! (That'd be shampooing the carpet, FYI)

/rant

6 Things The PITA Likes...

PITA = Frodo, because he is being a big one today.

Frodo got tagged for this by Bailey, over at Aroha Springers!

1. Fooooood!

2. GreenChair!

3. Walkies!

4. Treats!

5. Running!

6. Baths! ... or not. xD

Frodo's Tagging: Buzz, Vito, Charlie, and Shroom.

Snow...

Yesterday, there was no snow.

There is supposed to be 10 inches by tonight.

I am excited!

It's official!

Dean's list, bitches! ^.^

Just got my semester grades in, A's across the board. Not even an A- in the bunch.

Woot!

6th Photo

I stole this from manymuddypaws!

You pick the 6th folder of your photo storing archive and then take the 6th picture from within that folder to share.

Then tag 6 other people:

Agility the Schnauzer Way
Aroha Springers
Oh My Auggie!
save the pit bull, save the world.
The Ozzy Dog Blog

My Photo.

This is from the day I decided that Frodo needed a job, and the job would be to accompany me when I went on picture taking trips. It was taken on our first and (so far) only trip out. Although the idea sounds easy, Frodo wasn't as cooperative as I'd hoped, he didn't understand why he couldn't just walk away while I was steadying the camera for a shot and therefore we ended up with a lot of fuzzy pictures. Nonetheless, we both had fun and Frodo got to have his picture taken too! This one was behind our town post office.

If it touches the floor...

it belongs to Frodo. According to Frodo.

He knows he's not allowed to get up on the table and eat stuff, so he's resorted to pushing it off the dinner table or coffee table and then eating it. He just noses it off real slow, because the humans can't see it if you do it slow you know, and then jumps down and gobbles it up.

Izzy uses the pull it off the table, but not Frodo, he has evolved!

This morning it was a tissue, but I've seen him knock off plates, stuffed animals, the remote control. You name it.

They're too smart for their own good sometimes.

R.I.P. Gerdy

Gerdy went to the bridge (under the bridge?) (a moot point as I don't believe in the bridge?) (whatever.) a few days ago. Thursday to be exact.

I didn't have her long. Got her the day of my first classes this semester and she died the day after my last final. She was a pain in the ass and defeated the whole purpose of my getting a fish in the first place. Was supposed to be entertainment as I studied into the wee hours of the morning. Ended up keeping me from studying in my room at all as she picked fights with her reflection when any lights were on.

She died of dropsy. It was fast, well...fast as far as dropsy is concerned. I noticed the pine cone scales while changing her tank on Wednesday and by Thursday night she was dead. I don't think she was in pain, I don't know how much pain fish feel but I hope she didn't feel much.

I had even been planning on a trip to Petco as soon as I figured out my grades to pick up Spencer, her girlfriend. I don't think I'm going to be getting Spencer anytime soon now, but who knows.

R.I.P. Gerdy

Izzy and Frodo got some pressies!

Remember a while ago when I mentioned I had pictures?
Well, I just figured out how to load a bunch of pics without it taking a bajillion hours, so here they are!

Izzy and Frodo both got new collars from a Secret Santa on the corgi forum I belong to, cool2bcorgi. They're Christmas themed and awesome!

They also got an Ella's Lead to share, I even got it in my University's colors, maroon and gold! It's fantabulous as well!

On to the pictures...

"Whazzis?"

"A present from Santa's Workshop you sez?"

The Collars

Then of course I had to take them outside and torture them with pictures!!

Strike a pose!

"Iz a panther staukin prey, rawr!"

Handsome man!

"Don wanna look at you! Iz revolt!"

Izzy's turn!

Apparently listening to me wasn't at the top of the priority list today...

Izzy's obligatory "she beats me" photo...

I like how the leash is wrapped in this one.

"Focus. I haz it."

I guess all that posing was hard work...

The End!

The Corgeenies vs. A Pringles Can

I had an empty Pringles can lying around and I thought it would be a good torture device for Izzy and Frodo...

And as per usual, Izzy was not in a sharing mood...

...so I took it away and that didn't suit her either...

"Mom, if Iz promise be nice to Frodo I can haz it back?"

...so I gave it back.
*nibble*
Then I put Izzy away and gave Frodo a turn, which, not surprisingly, ended in...
FAIL.


The End.

But not quite! A member on a corgi forum I belong to let Izzy know that she better get her little fuzzy butt into the holiday spirit pretty darn quick!

Izzy'd better watch out,
She'd better not bite,
She'd better not cry,
I'm a tellin you why
Santa Dog is coming to town.

He's making pup's lists,
Checking 'em twice,
Gonna find out which corgi's naughty or nice,
Santa Dog is coming to town.

He sees Izzy when she's hoarding,
He knows just what she takes,
He knows when she snarls at her brother,
So be good, for goodness sakes!

Izzy'd better watch out,
She'd better not bite,
She'd better not cry,
I'm a tellin you why
Santa Dog is coming to town.

THANKS BOBBIE! :D

I have some VERY exciting news...

...wait for it...

...wait for it...

Think you can handle it?

...wait for it...

Last night at flyball Izzy ran all four jumps, triggered the big scary box with a perfect box turn, and ran back all four jumps. Get her to retrieve and I'm gonna have a flyball dog by-golly! I was so happy! The only help she had was my trainer standing at the end and telling her "go box" so she'd know to hit it.

I think maybe she just did it to get out of the doghouse after our last trip to the fairgrounds...brat.

My new goal is to have her fully retrieving by the end of winter break *crosses fingers*

Izzy is wedged so far in the back of that doghouse...

Izzy and I went to the fairgrounds again yesterday, started out great as we were the only ones there. Continued to be great for about 25 minutes and Izzy had great recalls and was having an absolute blast, she had a major frapping thing going on.

Then...it all went to crap. Izzy, the dog with the perfect recall who always listens (as long as there aren't other dogs close by) and checks in with me every few seconds...failed.
There was a bird hopping around and she saw it, and then her brain flew out of her fluffy butt and that was the end. She took off, full tilt after the bird, I recalled her. She didn't even think about coming back, didn't even slow down. Just ran and ran. I waited a little bit, tried again, nothing.

So I just stood there and fumed as that little brat chased that stupid bird all over the place! I think the bird was taunting her, it didn't go above 2 feet off the ground and would fly ahead, land, look back and call at her. Regardless, I was not a happy camper.

Eventually she got tired and then she had the audacity to come sprinting back to see if I'd give her cookies. She didn't get any cookies. Though I did give her pets and made myself act happy because I didn't want her to associate coming back to me as being a bad thing. Not sure if it would work after she's been associating it with good things for almost 3 years, but why risk it?

We went straight home and Izzy is in the doghouse for all of the foreseeable future.

Another day at the fairgrounds...

and Izzy did a full 180 degree turn in her behavior. She was awesome today!

When we got to the grounds there was a couple big dogs I saw on the drive in, including a St. Bernard that was dragging a lead so I made a mental note to stay far from them, just because I usually associate a dog dragging a lead to have a bad recall or to in some way need to have an option for the owner to get a hold of it quick.

Anyway, we walked around for a good 40 minutes, just me moseying and her going full tilt and practicing recalls (100% again, I might add) and just generally kept our distance from the other dogs. We did do a bit of exploring behind the row of wooded area the runs the length of most of the fairgrounds. It looks like someone might grow crops back there and there is a bunch of soccer fields as well, though it was more like a swamp than anything! The low temps didn't stop Izzy from splashing through the huge puddles though, she had a grand time.

I was hoping there wouldn't be anybody down there as it rained pretty much all day. Didn't turn out that way though, and all the dogs there today were big! The smallest dogs I saw were a pair of oversized goldens!

We didn't stay long today as I have a bunch of homework and I won't have any time to do anything on Wednesday or Thursday as I work both of those days, so we headed back to the car after a good 45 minutes. While I was packing everything up and getting ready to leave a gorgeous Great Dane and it's owner were walking past where we were parked so I decided to work with Izzy for a bit on a modified version of the Look at That! game from Leslie McDevitt's Control Unleashed. She did awesome! One time I went too long between rewarding her and she gave the dog a bark, but it wasn't at all an aggressive bark. I even stopped the game and went back to getting ready to leave while the Dane was still in sight (the closest he was to us was probably only about 50-75 feet, but he was running and very flighty, which usually makes Izzy nervous), and she was fine. Watched it still, but wasn't overly tense or reactive.

Getting her to stay on her toweled seat while I walk around and get in the driver's side is another story! I rode home on a wet seat.

In other exciting news, I ordered a pair of Muck Boots for the fairgrounds!
I think my feet are still thawing from today! My shoes and pants were soaked through, it was bad. I know it'll only get worse this winter so I figured I might as well order a pair while they're having a sale.

Izzy and Frodo recieved some stuff in the mail a few days ago and I have pictures, I figure they'll go up tomorrow.

Back to homework, finals next week!

The Fairgrounds.

Since it's getting colder the masses seemed to have slowed down at the fairgrounds, thank goodness! It seems to be back to the crowd where everybody keeps their distance from everybody else and, most importantly, their dogs listen! Boy, what a concept!

So Izzy and I are going to be there a lot more as that is the best place for me to let her run and to work on her reactivity training. I went out and bought a really thin 50ft clothesline and attached it to her harness, so that's what she's on when we're there. It works really well, but if I try and stop her, rope burn! Thankfully she very rarely decides to keep going when I call her, and if she does it's always because I've pushed her past her threshold.

I took her down yesterday morning (Black Friday) and it was completely empty, woot! I still made her wear the line didn't even bother to keep her close. It's a good thing too because since my bike was stolen she has been driving. me. crazy. because I can't give her the exercise she needs through walking alone. We were down there for probably about an hour and a half and I don't think she stopped once, she just ran and ran and ran and ran and ran. We did recall work and she was spot on, every single time. My favorite is to call her when she's in a full out sprint away from me because she turns on a dime and it's adorable! All of her recalls though are sprints back to me, there's none of this trotting or moseying back, she has to race!

I take her dinner along as treats because if the treats are really good she refuses to exercise and sniff, she just follows me around. *sigh*

We went today as well, though I wasn't at all suprised that there was some people there as it is Saturday. There was a young guy there who had a shepherd mix who I was super jealous of because his dog was all about the ball! I don't think Izzy even saw them though. It took her quite a while to realize there was other dogs there, not surprising as the area is huge and there's small hills and the wind was blowing. We practiced recalls a bit before she figured out that there was other dogs around and I held the end of the line just to be safe.

The first dog she saw, a cocker with an elderly couple, she didn't make a huge deal about. The only issue we had was that she went to the end of the leash and when I recalled her she took 2 steps towards me then turned around. I reeled her in and made her sit. She was definitely tense and aware of the dog, but she was able to listen to commands and after about 30 seconds we were able to keep going. She was still tuned into the other dog as we walked, but she recalled fine and was able to control herself.

As we were walking we ended up parallel to an old man and his black and white springer spanial. The dog was gorgeous and bouncing all over the place. Izzy somehow didn't see it for quite some time, despite my even pointing it out! Then when she did eventually see it, she wasn't too happy. She barkgrowled a bit while I walked over to her as she would not come when I called. I put her regular leash on and asked her for a sit and then eye contact, neither of which she was willing to do. So I backed her up a few feet and this time she was able to sit and after a few minutes was able to make eye contact with me. I praised and treated and she was able to also do a down stay while the dog got closer. Her attention stayed on me for most of the time and she was able to do as asked while we watched the old man and dog go past.

I'm not going to lie, I was disappointed that she reacted, but it wasn't really bad so I should be thankful for that.

We walked around some more and eventually we were there alone and I let her run as far as she wanted and after a bit of that we headed home.

No Puppies!!

It seems like everybody is getting puppies but me! And I'm not happy about it!

So I made a list of things that must be done before I can get a puppy...

-Must have a bigger car that can fit said puppy + 2 corgeenies
-Must know what I'm doing after I graduate, no puppies if I can't find an apartment for grad school
-Must have helped Balou to the bridge, many of the breeds I'm looking at have high prey drive, I don't want to give Balou any more trouble than he already gets from Frodo
-Must have more free time than I currently do, puppies are a lot of work!
-Must have a spare $40/week for agility lessons
-Must be able to spend less time exercising Izzy, she's driving me nuts!

That's all I can think of off the top of my head...

I want a puppy NOW!

Izzy wants to know...

When the next casting call is for the Blair Witch Project movies. She thinks she'd do great, she's even been practicing her dramatically scared look.

"What waz teh sound? Iz a witch?!"

She also wants everyone to know if she gets turned down for the role it will be completely my fault for not bathing and brushing her before sending in these photos...

Who wants to drive me to the loony bin?

Remember that last post? (I think I'm going to start every post with that sentence, then people will forget what it said and go back and read it...which will really accomplish nothing except I can pretend it happens and sent out invisible "Gotcha!" waves.) Anyway, remember that last post where I said I got another job? Yeah, well, I'd like to know who thought me getting another job was a good idea? Really...

Today's schedule:
6-6:59am - Shower/walk dogs
7-9:15am - Homework
9:16-9:25am - Walk to school while eating breakfast
9:30 -12:15pm - Class
12:16-12:45pm - Homework in Library/Check email
12:46-12:59pm - Walk to Campus job
1-3pm - Campus job
3:01-3:10pm - Walk home
3:11-3:25pm - Walk dogs at rapid pace around block/change into work clothes
3:26-3:30pm - Drive to work at Panera Bread
3:31-10pm - Work at Panera Bread
10-now - Drive home/Walk dogs/Shower/Feed dogs/Sit on computer

Plus college full time and taking care of 6 animals.

Yeah. I'm busy.
At least I don't work every day. I worked today, tomorrow I work 5-10pm and Sunday I work 12-9pm. So it's not that bad, I just really need to manage my time to get all my work done.
I never thought I'd say this but I'm kind of glad I live at home right now because at least the dogs aren't home alone all day, my mom is here with them.

Whew, time for bed.

I'm a liar...and updates on other unimportant stuffs...

Remember that last post? The one where I said we were going to start going to the state park? Yeah, well, that was a lie. Haven't been there yet, though I did buy mace, that has to count for something right? I tend to do this a lot though, promise the dogs something and then not follow through. They don't seem too upset about it. Maybe they've come to expect it from me, or maybe it's because they don't speak or comprehend the majority of the English language aside from "walk" "hungry?" and "treats." They know others when it benefits them.
It's a good thing I don't ever plan on having children, I'd be that horrible parent who promises their kid everything and delivers on nothing. At least I'd be consistent.

In other news, I picked up another job. That's three, count them, three jobs now! It's at Panera Bread.

I had planned on moving into my own apartment, one of the reasons I got another job, but it seems nobody wants to rent to a college student with two dogs. Go figure! So for now I'm stuck at home and not very happy about it. If I can somehow make the upstairs tenant's lives so miserable that they cannot live there anymore, I get to move up there. Which means my mom will be my landlord and I would be able to get another dog or at the very least foster some.
It's probably sad that I'm already planning a corgi themed room for the dogs. I don't care.

I'm presenting one of my stories to the Creative Writing Guild next week. If it doesn't turn out to be complete crap I might post a link for all of you non-existent blog followers to read.

Izzy and Frodo both had a teeny, tiny piece of liver this morning. I'm expecting assplosions for walks tonight.

Frodo ate the squirrels, Izzy turned them down. *cues screeching brakes sound effect* That's right, Izzy the garbage disposal actually turned down edible material. Frodo thought it was great. They're both getting sick of so much chicken, pork is still good. I have to wait for my paycheck next Friday to start adding a new protein, probably beef since turkey is expensive this time of year.

My bike was stolen so there will be no more bikerides for Izzy and I. We are both very upset.

I want a collie.

The End.

Izzy, Frodo, and I had a family discussion today...

and we've decided that we have been severely underutilizing the state park that is roughly a half hour away from our house. So from now on I'm going to try and get each of the dogs (meaning Frodo and Izzy...maybe bring Mollie along with Frodo on occasion) there twice a week. I'm not sure about their winter policy yet, so I'm not sure how much winter hiking we'll be doing...

Anywho, I'm thinking tomorrow morning I might drive up with Izzy and just do a short (1 mile) trail, just to see how she does. This depends on whether I really decide to just throw caution to the wind and wait to write my Lit Studies paper until the last minute. It's a real possibility at this point.

The park is called Ricketts Glen State Park and there are over 26 miles of hiking trails at all different difficulty levels.

I hope I can get there without getting lost.

I VOTED TODAY!

That is all.

Family Portrait...

This is one of the only pictures I have of them in the same small area, not very good and their eyes drive me insane, but beggars can't be choosers...

Frodo sez: "Iz not corgi, haz looong legz."

I really have no clue what he was trying to accomplish.

And the half-missing floor panel?
You can thank the two puppy demons for that...

Izzy had a wee bit of a meltdown today...

I had a viewing to go to (my great-great-grandfather passed away, he was well into his 90's and it was the most celebratory viewing I've ever been to), so I didn't get a chance to walk the dogs until later in the evening. I also forgot to feed them this morning and didn't have anything thawed for this afternoon so they just ate a little bit ago. Oops. Anywho, so it was probably around 8pm until we got started with our walk. Izzy first, as usual, and since it was late I decided we'd take a new, long route as one of my most favorite things to do is walk in the dark. I know, not safe, but I have a ferocious corgi with me, people will be intimidated, I assure you.

Anyway, we ended up walking by the elementary school where every classroom made a scarecrow and they all set out on the little hill by the school. It looks really freaking creepy at night because it's just a large group of human shaped figures, they always scare me for a second before I remember what they are!

Well, this is the first time Izzy as seen them, and as soon as they came into view she started growling, the low in her throat "I'm scared shitless but I'm gonna act tough" growl. Previously I've only ever heard her do this to other dogs or new scary objects. I wasn't expecting it for these new, human shaped things. But she did. So in all my infinite wisdom I decide that she's only doing it because she can't see/smell them well and if I pick her up and take her over to smell them she'll be fine. Uh...duh? You idiot! So I carry her over, she sniffs them, I put her down and she cowers and starts licking her lips (a clear sign that she's really stressed out and I'm a complete idiot). Izzy is not a dog that cowers, I've never seen her cower from anything before.

I knew at that point that I'd crossed the line and really just needed to get out of there without making it worse than it already was. So we walked back towards the sidewalk, I had to carry her because walking through the rows of scarey scarecrows was just not an option for her. She reached out and sniffed one as we passed, and after we were about 200 yards away she was fine again, but I'm still kicking myself.

Hopefully they'll still be up tomorrow so I can take her down in the daylight and do some work with the clicker around them. It's not like scarecrows are something she's going to have to deal with every day, and I know for a fact she's walked past all kinds of scarecrow decorations this year on people's porches for Halloween, but I don't want to just forget about it. We'll see how it goes tomorrow if they are still up...

I guess this is going to be my Halloween post for the year?

Rollin' with my mixed-breed Lhasa Apso...

While Izzy and I were out bike riding today (well, technically only one of us was riding a bike, lol), we were coming out of an alleyway when a young, college age couple was walking by and this conversation ensued while I was waiting to cross the road...

Girl: *squee* That's so ceyuuute!

Izzy: petmepetmepetmepetme! *wiggles butt*

Girl: What kind of dog is it?

Guy: It's a Lhasa Apso.

Me: O.o Ugh, actually she's a corgi.

Girl: She's ceyuuute!

Izzy: That's right woman, now PET ME!!

Guy: But I've seen this before, they're mixed with two dogs right?

Me: Er...no. *smiles so as not to seem like a bitch*

And then they walked away and we continued our ride.

So this far I've had Yorkie, Shetland Sheepdog, Dachshund, Lhasa Apso, and the ever popular "Queen's dog."

*le sigh*

The new secret weapon...

cat food. Canned cat food. O.o

My trainer decided to try and tempt Izzy last night with Nature's Variety canned cat food. She flipped. It was like crack and she wanted it right now dammit! So her new, only for retrieval work, treat is canned cat food. I am sure that I'll pay for it dearly when her stomach figures out that she is getting something new, but if it gets me a complete retrieve than I am willing to do it short term.

At the beginning of class I loaded the box so my trainer could take pictures of her sheltie on the box. Izzy sat behind me but every time I started calling for Banner (the dog), she would try and pop up between my legs and generally be annoying <.<
At least she didn't care about the noise that the box made...

We did some hurdle work and whoa boy! The bike riding has definitely increased her stamina. I couldn't believe it, she was flying! Before we left we did a bit of passing work and Izzy did well, she doesn't usually have a problem with that kind of stuff...

For getting Izzy used to the box my trainer stood behind the last jump and I stood with my foot on the box so that Izzy had to actually jump onto the box and do pretty much a complete box turn to get off the box. I would call her and get her all excited, my trainer would release her to take the jump and then she would do a box turn and go over the jump again to get treats from my trainer. She doesn't seem to think it's as fun as just running the hurdles, but it's okay because she still gets treats *sigh*

Overall it was a very good night :)

Now I have to go steal some of Inky's cat food to work on retrieves...

Long time no type...

I've been busy!
Had my first taste of midterms, much fun. I highly recommend it.

Not much going on with the dogs, which is probably a good thing, around here excitement usually ends up at the vets with a bunch of bills.

Mollie is now eating half home-cooked food and half kibble to cut down on costs. The kibble is Premium Edge Senior, Mollie's first "senior" food :(
Inky has also started vomiting up his raw food so we're going to see about canned for a while because I don't want him to continue throwing up. My mom is not happy as she knows his poop is going to stink again. *le sigh*

Izzy and I have to go get ready for flyball now...

Busted.

The art of attempted counter-surfing. Brought to you by Frodo.




My name is Lauren C***** and I approved this message.

And let me just say...IZZY HASN'T HAD ANY REACTION FROM THE PORK! *dances*

If you feed it, they will come...

the runny poos that is. :D

Today I gave Izzy half an ounce of pork. I'm thinking there will probably be hell to pay tomorrow. I seriously do not think that she will ever have firm stools. Ever. We have been biking every day though, and she loves it! But she's still never going to have firm stools and that makes me sad.

Inky's also been trying to scare the snot out of me by not eating again (we went through feline hepatic lipidosis once with him, don't EVER plan on doing it again). Last night he decided he didn't want stinky pork, which he's gladly eaten before, and then this morning turned down the tip of a chicken wing. I didn't have anything else thawed so I gave in and he got some cooked chicken that was in the fridge. For dinner he had some chicken gizzard, boy was he happy at their return! Then I gave him a teeny time piece of chicken liver and he scarfed that down too, which makes me very happy as I know a lot of people have trouble getting their animals to eat liver.

I also picked up two whole chickens at the store, one 2 pounder and one 5 pounder. I'm going to leave them whole and feed them in different sittings, like I did with Frodo and the pork. Speaking of which, there were ginormous pork shoulders there at $1.29/lb, it killed me to leave them there! I did get some pretty great deals on pork though, which is good.

And there's those dead squirrels in my freezer yet O.o

Riding on bikes with dogs...

It's like that move, Riding in Cars with Boys, but better.

I don't know what it is, but over the last few weeks there has been a major influx of people at the fairgrounds with dogs. Now, we're really lucky that the fair board lets people take their dogs there to let them run off leash (as long as they don't chase the racehorses when they're being conditioned), but it irks me that most of the people who do bring their dogs have absolutely no control over them. And this isn't a dog park, just a humongous area next to a semi-busy highway. Beyond the fact that it's rude to other people and dogs when you can't call your away from them, it's dangerous around roads! When I take Izzy and Mollie down we stay well away from the road and Izzy has a rock solid recall (Mollie sticks to me like glue there), and even further from other people and their dogs.

/semi off-topic mini rant.

Well, since this massive influx I've decided to stop taking her to the fairgrounds, it makes me nervous when there are a lot of other dogs there, I don't trust anybody in my town with their dogs (except the old man who practices advanced obedience with his bloodhound there *applauds*), and it sets Izzy on edge. So we'll do obedience at the park and stay away from the huge, open spaced, perfect walking distance from my house, fairgrounds. *le sigh*

I thought maybe she'd be fine with two walks a day. Hah! Not!
She has become a real PITA, I don't see how people can live with under exercised dogs for years on end. Just over a week with Izzy and I'm ready to start ripping my hair out. It doesn't help that since she's started eating raw she has a lot more energy than before. Nuisance barking, being pushy for attention, going into a frenzy when dogs are walking by outside. In a week. My dogs are nuts.

So, the solution is...riding a bike! Well, the solution is actually Izzy running along said bike. We went last night for the first time. I had thought she might be scared of going alongside the bike, but she was fine. I stretched her out and away we went, fast. I took her on the long line and stuck the 6 ft. lead in Nike bag, she had her flyball harness on so she was all about laying into the lead. She's part husky, I swear, pulling is one of her favorite pastimes and one of my most hated.

I held the leash in my left hand (she probably had about 10-12 feet of line) and the handlebar/brake in the other. I wasn't pedaling and was riding the brakes and we were still moving at a good pace. She's strong for a 16 lb dog! I wonder if she's the first bikejoring corgi? We only went for about 1/4 of a mile because it was getting dark, but she was still worked up and ready to go when we got home.

This morning we went again and it didn't go as smoothly as last night. I took her around the block first walking so she would go potty, which she did, and then put her in her harness and on her 6 foot lead so she would run beside me instead of in front. She pulled a bit at first but eventually settled in beside me. Our problems came when she decided she had to go to the bathroom again and tried to stop with no warning *rolls eyes* So she stopped and I kept going and she got a good jerk on her harness before my reflexes caught up to my brain and I dropped the leash. She has a good recall and I knew as long as she was taking a crap she wasn't going to be going anywhere :p

She crapped and off we went again. Our next problem was when we were waiting for the walk sign to cross the street and somebody had a dog halfway out the window who was barking like crazy. So my genius dog decides the annoying dog in the car must die and she doesn't have time to run around my bike to get to it, she'll just go through my wheel. Oh, but wait, there's metal spokes there dumbass! Yup, she ran head first into the metal spokes of a stopped bike. *dramatic sigh* For a smart dog she can sure be dumb. She was fine but it's got me worried that she'll act like an idiot if we see a dog that reacts while we're going faster.

Anyway, I'm not sure how far we went today but she was good and tired when we got home. Finally, some peace and quiet around here.

P.S. (like in middle school notes), I just wanted to say that I wouldn't run out and just hook up any dog to a bike like this. I know it's dangerous and I wouldn't do it with Frodo or Mollie or pretty much any dog that I know other than Izzy. She has excellent spacial awareness for when I turn the bike and adjust speeds. We've been going slow, most of the time she's at a quick trot until we're both used to it.

/P.S.

Stoner Cat.

I want to get him a shirt, "Only active when nipped." xD

Nom.

If I hidez it, you can't takes it from meh.
What catnip?

I loves teh mouse, givz hugz.

ZOMG. Wazza?
(Don't you just love my shadow in every pic?)

Opossum cat...

...cannot resist temptationz!

The exotic 3 pawed nom.

Teh. End.

Mollie Models.

Mollie wants to show off her new Fido Fleece jacket. Okay, so she couldn't care less, but I'm freakin' ecstatic because it means I can throw out her old Wal-Mart pink coat that's too small and has a ginormous black bow on the back, into the trash. And maybe she'll stop hogging the covers at night (she wears a coat at night because the heater in my room is broken :/)

What photoshoot? I have to sniff!

Okay, fine!

I looks like Luce naow?
(Luce)

Is we can be done yet?

Is that a dog? Can I say hi?! Plz!

At least get my good side ... mutant.

And one last pic to show off the coat.

I'm really impressed by everything with this coat. It's thick, it's warm, it covers a lot more of her than the other coats I looked at, and she can move freely and comfortably in it. Overall Mollie and I give the Fido Fleece coat two paws up!

I bought the coat online at Doggy Gifts Inc., mainly because they have free shipping to anywhere in the US and the price of the coat was only a dollar above the normal price I found! Woot! The only downside is that they do not have all of the patterns in all of the sizes. I originally wanted the purple Baubles pattern for Mollie, but they did not have it in her size. Other than that, Doggy Gifts Inc. also gets two paws up from me! It also got here in about three days!

Oh Noes!

"He may be small...

...but he sure is aggressive!"

-Lady who scared Frodo with her noisy ass garage door.

:(

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

There are going to be some ch-ch-changes around here (and by here I mean my home) with the dogs over the next few weeks.

1. I've decided to stop feeding Mollie raw as she did not do well on it, at all. Not in the least. So last night I took a crash course on home-cooked pet food as I knew I didn't want to go back to feeding her kibble. I also decided that I'm going to try Izzy on this for a bit as well, just to see if I can't get her stool to firm up a bit. So I searched the internet, talked to some people on a dog forum I belong to, and went to the grocery store last night at 9 o' clock at night. Here's what I'm trying first...

2.5 lb hamburger
.5 lb plain yogurt
12 oz pureed sweet potato

The recipe also called for 4 oz of liver, but I'm going to hold off on the liver until my next batch, mainly because it will almost certainly cause loose stools. It also called for calcium, which the dogs will be getting through raw chicken wings at least once a week to keep their teeth clean, though I'm not sure how may they will be getting yet. Instead of the recommended fish oil capsules they will be getting a squirt of the Grizzly Salmon oil I have for their Omega 3s.

The biggest thing I'm really going to try and work towards is variety, both because it's good for the dogs and because Mollie gets sick of food very quickly. The amount of food that I made with the above recipe I'm thinking may last around 3 to 4 days or so, depending on how much Mollie and Izzy need to have per day.

I am also going to need a meat grinder. Turkey alone here is $5/lb when it's ground O.o I can't afford that! It'll be so much cheaper to grind my own food. They'll be getting stuff like squirrel, deer, etc too. Everything I feed raw that I can get off bone. I found last night at the store that they sell a lamb/veal/beef ground blend, it's only like $3/lb, so they will be getting that for sure too. I also looked at some of the fish they had set out (the actual fish counter was closed), and there was nothing under $8/lb sitting out! Again, O.o I'm hoping they sell cheaper fish at the actual counter.

I really do not think that dogs need vegetables and dairy products, but if they will eat it and are healthy and feel good on it, then so be it.

2. Frodo is driving me insane. He has started to be a real jerk towards Izzy and Mollie. Pushing Mollie around and starting scuffles with Izzy. So Mr. Jerkface is back on a stricter NILIF program, will be on a leash that's attached to my belt when he's awake, and sleeping in his crate at night.

Okay, so that's really all the ch-ch-changes that I have planned for now, but you never know when more will pop up and I will have to add them to tehlistofdoom!

"bigger than his head"

This morning Frodo had his first "bigger than his head" meal. He loved it and was very sad when I took it away. The pork shoulder (I think that's what it is anyway) is 5.12 pounds, and he usually eats somewhere between 7-10 ounces a day, so this puppy is going to last us quite a while. I planned on taking it away when he had consumed roughly that amount of meat, but I found out it's really hard to keep track of how much they are taking off of a piece of meat this size, so I just took it away after a little while.

He stayed away from the skin part for the most part, which made me happy as I'm sure it will give him loose stools. I thought about taking all the skin off, but I really don't want to take the skin away from his diet as I know it is important. I figure tonight he will just get a chicken gizzard and tomorrow morning he can have at the shoulder again. Rise and repeat until it's gone.

I made a video of him eating...


Some pictures from the video...

The Pork.
Waiting to be released.
It haz a heartbeet? :p
Uh...nom?

Mini-Nom.
Renegade Earz.
And my favorite picture of the day...

And last, but certainly not least, a very sad Izzy who had to be sequestered in the living room because she thought she should be able to eat the ginormous pork too.

Dis. bees. abuse.

Hopefully she will one day be able to eat big meals like this, but I'm not holding my breath. Her stomach is just so tempermental. Right now I'd just like to be able to feed her something other than chicken!