Day 183 - Day before the neuter

Did you know?

Each day, 70,000 puppies and kittens are born in the United States. As long as these birth rates exist, there will never be enough homes for all the animals. As a result, every year 4 to 6 million animals are euthanized because there are no homes for them.

What can you do to stop the suffering?

Spay and neuter your pet. In addition to saving lives, spaying and neutering can also drastically improve your pet's health and life expectancy. The idea that pets become fat or lazy when they are spayed or neutered is a myth. Sterilized pets lead healthier, longer lives. Spaying a female eliminates the possibility of uterine and ovarian cancer and greatly reduces the risk of breast cancer. Neutering a male reduces the risk of both prostate enlargement and prostate cancer. Neutering also will make your pet more affectionate and less likely to roam, and get in fights. 
doghause.com

"Give a boy a dog and you've furnished him a playmate."
Berton Braley

Day 180 - Mill Creek at 7:30pm

Pud by creekside



Mill Creek





Walk bridge



Creekside

Cliffside

Day 180 - Bearspaw, Edmonton @ 1:30pm

Bearspaw




Alberta wild rose bush

View Zero G's - Puddle Jumper in a larger map

Pack Leader Cesar Millan - the 'common sense whisperer'

Millan grew up in rural Culiacan, Mexico, where he was nicknamed “El Perrero,” slang for “the dog boy.” When he was 21, he crossed the border into California and lived on the streets of San Diego, surviving on hot dogs. He got a job as a dog groomer, moved to Los Angeles and started a freelance dog rehabilitation service where Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith discovered him in 1994. 

"In reality, I’m just a guy with good common sense."

 “It’s easier to work with five aggressive dogs who want to kill me than one fearful dog.”

"Bring the breed out in your dog."

“My job as a pack leader is to give direction. I’m not asking her to lay down, I’m thinking ‘Lay down.’ People want to convince a dog to do everything with sound: ‘Sit down. No. No. No. No,’” 

“The more excited that you get, the more frustrated you get, the more you lose the dog.”

His mantra: calm, assertive energy. 

Discipline rather than punishment.

Dr Tom Lonsdale Veterinary Surgeon - Diet Guide

Click below for Diet Guide
Dr Tom Lonsdale Veterinary Surgeon - Diet Guide

Pets in the Park Festival - Scheduled June 26, 2011

One of the lil' ones attended a birthday party at the Edmonton Humane Society
and I noticed Pets in the Park, scheduled for June 26, 2011 at Hawrelak Park, 
Edmonton Alberta


Pets in the Park 2011 - Held annually in the City of Edmonton, Pets in the Park is the signature event for the Edmonton Humane Society and Edmonton's Official Pet Festival. This year's event takes place on Sunday, June 26 from 9am to 4pm at William Hawrelak Park.

Don't miss this opportunity to show off your pet! Last year, the park was full of pets and their people. Dogs, cats, ferrets, parrots and even a few snakes were spotted!

Through partnership and innovation, the Edmonton Humane Society (a registered charity) is committed to helping homeless and abused companion animals, enlightening people and enriching lives.  The EHS relies heavily on funds generated through special events like Pets in the Park. Please show your support for the homeless animals in our community.

Day 173 - High Stream Flow Advisory

EDMONTON JOURNAL— "The North Saskatchewan River is high and rising, but there’s little danger Edmonton will experience any flooding, Alberta Environment says. Due to rains upstream, the province has issued a high stream flow advisory for the river, adding to similar advisories already called for the Red Deer River and Athabasca River basins, as well as the Smoky River and its tributaries." http://bit.ly/iQovUq

Day 172- Early morning mullings

RedDogBlueKat: "The central principal of a raw diet is feeding a variety of different foods, to provide a balanced diet over time. However, during the transition period you should start by feeding each meat source, one at a time, for a period of a week or more. This allows you to determine which meats work best for your dog and it may help identify any allergies. For the first week of the transition, we recommend a high quality game meat meal that does not contain bones, such as buffalo, to help with digestibility. Once they’ve had a chance to try each protein source, you can rotate foods every day or few days, as desired. Remember that variety is achieved over a period of a few weeks (or months) – not every day."


Pud's staple: 
Baldwin Feed (Pro Energy Mix, Ground Lean Meaty Bones, or Whole Chicken Backs) 
RMB (e.g. raw femur, tibia, beef neck, knuckle bones)

Bearspaw - Changes

Early Spring


Late Spring

Day 171 - Mental Log - The futility of a simple leash walk

Mental Entry of the human pack leader #Dad - 
The expectations of "J" leash walking now are simply impossible with a dog reared to live an off leash lifestyle.   A dog behaviouralist told me once that dogs like to go to point A to point B  as quickly as possible (where those points reside in the neighbourhood I wish I knew), and so, as logic goes, leading and leash pulling are natural instincts in dogs. "J" walking is a taught skill.  


Being collared and leashed around the neck and paraded around are necessary evils in a canine's life. However, expecting a "J" from the pud's leash doesn't make sense. 


And so. Puds. You and I are going to do some easy talking with the "easy walk";
trying to find where points A and B are at the neighbourhood.

Guidelines for Adding Supplements to a Homemade Diet

Guidelines for Adding Supplements to a Homemade Diet

Source://  http://bit.ly/jBkZag

The wider the variety of healthy foods in appropriate proportions you feed, the less need for supplements there should be. Conversely, the more limited the diet you feed, the more supplements are needed. Supplements may be more important for cooked diets, since heat destroys some nutrients. Freezing also destroys some nutrients. The longer food is cooked or frozen, the more nutrients will be lost. Remember that calcium is always needed unless you feed a diet that includes raw meaty bones, where the bone is fully consumed. Following are some supplements that can be added to help ensure that all nutritional needs are met:

Fish oil (body oil, such as salmon oil or EPA oil) is a healthy addition to any diet. Sardines can also be used in place of fish oil to supply omega-3 fatty acids. If using fish, give around 1 oz of fish per pound of meat and other animal products.
Cod liver oil is high in vitamins A and D. It's not needed if you feed liver, but if not, you should give cod liver oil in an amount that provides around 100 IUs vitamin D per 20 pounds of body weight daily.
Other oils: Beef and chicken have different types of fat. If you feed a mixture of the two, including dark meat chicken (which has more fat than the breast), this will help to balance out the fats, but if you feed only (or primarily) one or the other, the fats in the diet will be unbalanced. If feeding primarily beef, add 1 tsp hempseed or walnut oil (or 2 tsp ground hempseeds, or 2-3 tsp canola oil) per 1-1¼ pounds of meat. If feeding primarily chicken, add 1 tsp flaxseed or chia seed oils (or 3 tsp freshly ground flax or chia seeds) per 1-1¼ pounds of meat.
Vitamin E is needed whenever you add fish or plant oils, to prevent the body from becoming depleted. Give around 100 IUs per 25 pound of body weight at least twice a week (daily is fine).

Kelp supplies iodine that may be in short supply if it is not included in the diet. Too much iodine, like too little, can suppress thyroid function, so give no more than ¼ tsp to large dogs, and proportionately less to smaller dogs. If you do not supplement with kelp, you should add iodized salt, or a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement that includes iodine. Another option is to use a  alfalfa, kelp, vegetables and fruit. These are particularly useful if you do not include vegetables in the diet you feed. Vegetables supply trace minerals as well as antioxidants, so a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement may be needed if you are not feeding vegetables.
Oysters are very high in zinc, and are also a source of copper, iodine, and vitamin D. Zinc, copper and vitamin D may be in short supply if you don't include beef liver in your dog's diet. Add no more than 1 ounce of canned oysters per pound of other meat in the diet.
Organic apple cider vinegar may provide trace minerals.
Honey
Fresh crushed garlic (no more than 1/2 to 1 small clove per 20 lbs of body weight daily).
Nutritional or Brewer's yeast, a source of B vitamins.
Molasses provides iron and B vitamins.

Thinking back to Day 44

The great debate on feeding raw eggs

There seems to be a divide, even within the RAW feeding community, regarding feeding raw eggs to your canine.
For example:

• In support of feeding raw eggs to your canine: "Eggs are an excellent source of nutrition. They can be fed raw or cooked; cooking actually makes the whites more digestible. You can feed as many eggs as you want, as long as you still feed lots of variety." Sourced here: http://bit.ly/m3xqUv

• Advising not to feed your canine raw eggs (and raw in general). Sourced here: http://bit.ly/i6b7Vg

• A brief, but balanced musing on the subject matter. Sourced here: http://bit.ly/m9Fmg

Barkyard Bliss

Day 166- Blackmud Creek - In search of the wild rose.

Into wildrose country...







A corridor of smells.


Wildrose (Rosa acicularis) - wild, unalduterated, tough,
naturally selected, fragrant... 
....my kind of flower.
Free by nature.

"the wild rose is Alberta's flower. It is illegal to pick one of these...

known for their high vitamin C content and are used to make syrup, jelly, jams, and marmalades.  During this process, the hips are peeled of their skins and mashed into a pulp with seeds removed.

The hips of the Wild Rose are also gathered for the preparation of rose hip tea. Even the leaves and flowers can also be used to make tea."

http://www.albertarose.com/

Day 166 - Jackie Parker Off Leash Park, Millwoods