Tapeworms
Doberkids
Ding-a-ling Raven
Being Raven is having SUCH a hard time understanding housebreaking, I thought I’d give her a hand. I also want to give her the benefit of the doubt that she is much smarter than I am thinking she is, so today when I saw a lovely bell ringer for the door knob, I bought it for Raven especially. She was thrilled.
Well, she was! Once I told her learning a new skill would involve treats.
Did you know Raven can touch another bell on command if you have treats…lots of them, and give them to her? She gets very excited to see that bell, too.
See?
She can touch her bell on the ground, too.
With the office-bell project, I am now working on getting her to ring it every time. She’s got the touching part down.
Now how this is going to come together is I will teach Raven to ring the bell on the door, and whenever she goes out, she will have to ring it before the door opens. Somewhere along those lines, Einstein Raven will figure out that when she NEEDS to go out, she can ring the bell, and that will bring me to open the door for her.
Rainy Day with Mushroom Soup
Tonight I soaked the Shitake mushrooms I bought at Costco in hot water. Then I added the water and all to Miss Ginger’s squash, chicken, and rice medley. She had issues with the mushrooms themselves, but liked the soup, which is supposed to be where the polysaccharides (cancer fighting agents) end up…and that’s what she needs.
Afterwards, I shut the crate and we were all supposed to move on outside, but all of “we” didn’t. Who remained were a hefty crew staring in at Ginger’s dinner mushroom remnants. When I opened the crate door, of course, Raven got first dibbs and finished the mushrooms Ginger didn’t.
Now shortly thereafter, I went back and read the directions from a portion of a file I found at the yahoo groups I joined – Canine Cancer.
“The way to get polysaccharides from mushrooms is through a hot water extract. Hot water extract also means we can do it at home. Buy shitake, reiki, maitake, and (impossible to find except in Asian markets) coriolus versicolor, whip them up with water in a blender, and bring the puree to a boil. You now have that hot water extract, full of protein-bound polysaccarides and polysaccharide peptides, which can be poured over their food and, hey, even over ours…”
I didn’t do that whip them up in water to a puree part. Thank goodness I went back and re-read the directions, so I can get it right next time.
After Raven ramsacked Ginger’s crate, and others had the nerve to touch Ginger’s non-mushroom stuff, well, Ginger was peeved. She stayed in a peeved mood for minutes snarling at anyone who walked by.
Then she overcame, and decided to be Ginger again.
Meanwhile, today it was very rainy and there was not much outside playtime going on in Fort Doberdale.
The brown blanket hanging off the fence in the above picture is one of the many peed-on blankets waiting for a turn to be washed. I couldn’t wash today being I hang them to air dry. I’ve been finding this pee-on-the-blankets tradition has started up again lately, and I’m getting tired of washing the same blankets everyday, so I’ve gone back to chaining the juvenile pair to the futon when I am not able to watch them. Housebreaking can try one’s nerves!
Raven’s Last Meal
Tonight I tried to starve Raven. OK, she thought I tried to starve her. But I was really just trying to get her to settle down before I served her Highness dinner. She was just AWFUL tonight at dinner-serving time. Slobbering all over her face and crate, carrying on barking, and even the pot banging didn’t stop her. Raven couldn’t find a piece of mind to get a grip of, so I fed everyone else and put her bowl of din-din in the fridge. Mon Dieu!
I fully intended on not feeding her till tomorrow, but I’m such a softie. I couldn’t put her to bed on an empty stomach. So about 3 hours later, when she least expected it, I called her to her crate, she walked in thinking she was going to bed, but got her bowl of food instead. It all happened so calmly. It was wonderful.
Ginger’s Somewhat Painful Playtime
This evening, Luigi
was playing with Ginger
And she yelled in pain a couple of times. I told them both to slow down.
I’ve noticed her getting a little too tired a little too fast, but that is something that happens with maturing. But tonight’s yelps were the first sign of a reality I really don’t want to face. Not fair.