Daily Archive: August 23, 2008

Kong-o-rama and Raven’s Complex Mind

Top layer of three - stuffed Kongs

Today I stuffed Kongs for a while. OK, a long while. Through three NPR shows. I used macaroni, cheese, shredded apple, pine nuts, marshmallows, bananas, and peanut butter. I now have a chest freezer full of stuffed Kongs waiting for next week. Now that the storm, Fay, passed us, I feel safer doing that. I didn’t want to risk the electricity going out last week and having to pull out loads of melting Kongs and saying, “OK everybody, eat! Eat! Eat!” Especially if in the dark.  Not that anyone would mind.  The FDSP would go for a good stuffed Kong anytime of day or night.

Raven’s signed up for Agility class basics. The class starts in September. Tonight I tried something new with the little temper-tantrum throwing beast. As usual, as I was serving dinners, she spat and barked and drooled and barked all over her crate. She calms herself down and huffs and puffs when I’m delivering dinners to dogs close to her, but as soon as I move into another area, she throws a bigger fit. She hasn’t learned patience yet. No, she hasn’t. That’s why she usually gets her dinner last. By the time I’m done, and standing nearby, she can hold it in long enough for me to give in and feed her.

But tonight, after everyone else got fed, and she was still blowing off steam, I opened her crate door. She wouldn’t come out. She stared at me with that “Well, serve me my dinner” look. Uh huh. I surprised her with a leash hooked onto her collar. I walked her out of the crate and brought her to the room where her bowl was waiting for her. Full and smelling good. It was on one side of the room across from the entrance where we were standing.

Raven is multifaceted.

I put the little beast on a sit stay, and Lord Almighty, she was PERFECT! She sat and stayed and looked so saintly just waiting for me to give the OK and unleash her, so she could dive into her meal. Wow! And did she ever. She’s definitely as passionate about eating as she is about playing.

She’s also an enigma in fur.

Helen

Jet Update

Jet before she was adopted

Remember Jet?  The portly senior gal?  Her family sent an update today and a link to their blog and news that Jet has lost 10+ pounds.  Please be sure to visit Jet’s blog and see how wonderfully she’s doing.  She’s a gal after my Luigi’s heart – Jet likes sucking on pillows, too!  What a gal.

Here’s the note from Jet’s mom:

Everyone loves her. Even people who say they thought they’d hate dobermans. They never met one up close.

We have a few more posts today!

linae.blogspot.com

To answer a couple of questions…we don’t have Jet on any pain meds! We gave her some baby aspirin when she was limping for a week but after that, she totally came around. It’s just her weight loss. She now JUMPS on the futon, can almost jump onto the king sized bed, and almost-kinda-maybe wants to chase squirrels. Chase is a strong word but Joe is trying to teach her “chase” to give her more exercise. She can run full out for about 50 ft. Very cool! We’re scheduling a vet/dental day in September. I’m trying to decide between my old vet and a more holistic vet who worked at the same aquarium where I was a dolphin trainer. Tough call as far as the vets go but we’re really choosing between a 9 or 9..5 on a scale of 10. I just have to say, Jet is blossoming. She has always been a gorgeous dog but with her new
waistline coming in, she’s a very striking dobergirl! No one can believe she’s 10.

Linae