Wordless Wednesday

Momma's still sick so I have to amuse myself

Hey everybody. It's been BOOOORING around here because Momma's been sick and all she does is sleep. I lie on my bed or in my crate or at her side. zzzzzzzzz. Momma's sending all these unhappy sickie feelings so I made this video to cheer her up.

Can dogs sense when we're not feeling well?

I think so.

I'm home today in Day 3 of what I thought first was allergies, then a cold, and now I'm admitting that I may have The Flu. It's miserable. But Biggie is such a great companion.

I don't feel under the weather all that often, so this is unusual. The last time I was this out of it, I'd just come back from surgery and The Big One walked me to the bathroom and back to the couch when I was still groggy from the anesthesia. Not because I asked; he just thought I needed some support.

Most mornings we have a very clear routine. Biggie gets himself up a few minutes before my alarm goes off at 7am, and we go to the dog run by 7:30 or 8 at the latest. "Getting up" for him means getting out of his crate, walking around, and pawing at the bedroom door. This morning, even though I was up (sort of) and in and out of sleep, he waited patiently on his bed and his crate until 10. We hobbled to the dog run slowly and he did a nice loose leash walk the whole way, and after he'd taken care of business, he just stood by the door like, "Time to go home, mom."

When we got home, I sat on the floor to pet him and he put his head in my lap - "I'm sorry you feel bad, mom."

Sitting at the table at the far end of the apartment, typing on the computer, Biggie lies halfway between me and the front door. I got up for a moment, and he sprang up, watching me and then going into guard pose at the door - standing and listening alertly to people in the hall. Only after I sat down again did he lie down, again halfway between the door and me.

My dog rocks.

More news from Dan the Man...

I'M GONNA BE AN UNCLE!

Ever since my big brother Dani got his championship earlier this year, he has been letting that all go to his big ole head. Now, he had to go get himself a girlfriend. I am SO jealous. While I have been at camp this week, Momma and P-Daddy are loving their nieces and nephews. I LOOOOVE nieces and nephews so I am so excited to get some of my own! Here's the pee-mail I got from Dani just before the Big Bird Day:

Hi, Big ‘Un .. and to all of my brothers out there ~

Meant to write you guys sooner, but I’ve been just laying around thinkin’ ‘bout things. I jes’ don’t understand if I dreamed all of this, or if it really happened. Tired as I’ve been, I think IT really happened.

I thought somethin’ was up Friday when Mom gave me the bath of a lifetime and put all kinds of good smelly stuff on me. She kept telling me to look and act real purdy so my visitor would like me a LOT! I thought maybe she was gonna give me away, but instead I had a real surprise, like a late birthday present. After all, I was 3 on November 10^th and nothin’ real special happened, but last Saturday I had a party to end all parties!

Mom had already moved Spirit out of “our room” and in with the old folks, poor girl, so I was sitting there kinda lonesome like, when Mom rushed in all smiles, saying, “Oh, Dani Darling, run outside and get a breath of fresh air.”

I did and the next thing I knew a White Angel came dancing out to see me, swishing and leaping around, and I thought I was in Heaven. OOOOOHHH, did SHE ever smell sweet, so she danced and I smelled and we had the best play time I’ve ever had. Her Mom was calling her Ren and I was calling her Sweetheart, trying some new moves I’d only thought was a game, ‘cept this time is was for REAL!!!

All too soon, things went kinda blank and suddenly we were together just standing there ...

[CENSORED BY MOMMA]

WOW, did I have some woozie dreams that afternoon. No one bothered me, but Mom did serve me an extra large dinner that night and said something like “get your strength back, son.” Still no one told me where Ren, the love of my life, had been taken.

I didn’t have to wonder ‘bout that too long because first thing the next morning, I went into the “Love Yard” and right away, here comes Ren again .. doing an even wilder and more enticing dance than yesterday. I tried to follow just right, but she is so beautiful and light on her feet and her curls were so sweet against my face .. oh, brothers, I am so in love with this woman!!!

[CENSORED BY MOMMA]

After another fabulous dinner, Mom tucked me in for the night because she said I’d have to get up early in the morning. Oh, boy, Mom, anything you say!!! Then the 2 Moms sat with me and talked about how they would pack Ren’s car tonight, get up early and leave soon as Ren had a chance to tell me goodbye.

Visions of sugar and spice danced in my dreams all night, and while it was still dark my Mom came in to wake me up to go out to “our place.” I was suddenly wide awake, feeling like the greatest man on earth, eagerly watching the door, and then there she was, Mrs. Dani, my dream queen. She didn’t mind it being still dark at 5:30, and she was as glad to see me (I think) as I was to see her. Ah, Ah, we danced and danced and I knew what was to be done next, which this time...

[CENSORED BY MOMMA]

It was the weekend of a lifetime ... 3 days of pure bliss with my Ren, and now I don’t know when I’ll ever see her again because she lives nearly 900 miles away from me.

I’ll never forget her, though, and if any of you kids run into Ren, you leave her alone – SHE’S MINE!!!! That’s not quite the end of the story because now Mom is running ‘round bragging to everyone that she’s gonna have GrandPups about late January! Don’t ever miss an opportunity to do that if the right girl comes to visit you!!! I’ll let everyone know if Mom says anything about my babies arriving in Georgia.

Your ever-lovin’ brother, Dani (with Ren in my heart)

If anyone is interested in giving my nieces and nephews a GREAT (not just okay) home, call Denise at Windridge Kennels, and tell her Biggie said the Dani x Ren Pups are “in the oven.” I can tell you from first-paw experience that nephews and nieces are the BEST - and those are just human ones!

If you are seriously considering a kuvasz, PLEASE read these first:

Teaching a kuvasz not to guard: Is it possible?

So you think you want a kuvasz?

So you think you want a kuvasz? Part 2

Living with kuvasz in a rural setting - by Anonymous Dave

Pros and Cons of Having an Intelligent Dog

Biggietude: 98-pound weakling takes control

NEWS FLASH!

I'm waiting to get the full details from the people in the know, but apparently I wasn't the only one who spent an idyllic and exciting weekend with a HOT girlfriend. I should have more info soon.

In the meantime, I wanted to post a picture of my weekend with Lexi but Momma said it was too graphic for puppy viewing, so she is going to post these few teasers.

Here I am sharing a drink with Lexi at the Hose Bar.

Then she took me to the other end of the run and had her way with me.

Well, that was MY hot weekend, Saturday AND Sunday ... how was yours?

Purebred v. Mutt? Not really...

It never ceases to amaze me how charged the term "purebred" can be, and how the media, the public, dog owners, divide the dog world into "purebred" and "mutt/rescue/mixed breed" camps, and make assumptions about the dogs and their owners. Fortunately the dogs themselves don't make those kinds of assumptions:

Biggie's friends Timber (Husky), Levi (Weimeraner/Doberman) and Puccini (German Shepherd/hound/husky??)

Last month we went to a kids' birthday party where we ran into some friends we hadn't seen in several years. They brought their very cute, 8-month old soft-coated wheaten terrier along, and our bizarre conversation went something like this (all names have been changed to protect the clueless):

Me: What's her name?

Friend 1: Dusty ---

Friend 2: --- but her REAL name is Miller's Basking in Sunshine [not her real name]

Friend 3: Yeah, she is one fancy dog! She's purebred with PAPERS. [1] And she has TWO NAMES, a short one and a long one! [2]

Me: hmmm....

Friend 2: She's too FANCY to go to the dog park.

Friend 1: It's not that, it's just that she gets jumped on a lot and she's still young

Me: jumped on a lot? is she spayed?

Friend 3: Not yet.

Me: Why not? Are you planning on breeding her?

Friend 1: We didn't really want to, we just wanted a dog...

Friend 2: But she's co-owned with her breeder.

Me: Oh. Where is the breeder?

Friend 3: Just the next town over. But co-owning her with the breeder made her half-price!

Friend 2: Yeah, she's co-owned with the breeder because they want to SHOW her. [3]

Me: Wow, that's a lot of work! Has she gone to any shows yet?

Friend 1: No, not yet. The breeder's gonna do all that stuff. [4]

Me (as Dusty goes berserk on her leash, jumping on me as I pet her): Are you taking her to any classes to, you know, teach her how to behave in the ring?

Friend 2: She knows "sit" and "paw" already!

Friend 1: Classes to show her?? no idea. The breeder's supposed to do all that stuff but they haven't done anything yet. She's only going to be shown twice, then bred twice, [5] and then we'll get to spay her.

Friend 3: It's all in her CONTRACT! (snickering)

----------------------------------------

[1] Any purebred dog that is a breed recognized by a kennel club can have "papers" if the puppy or dog is registered - but the kennel clubs don't do anything to verify the information, and just having "papers" means you can trace the ancestry of the dog a few generations (if the information provided was true). It has NOTHING to do with the dog's conformation, health or temperament. Dogs that are shown have to have papers, but again, all that shows is that the dog is a purebred dog of that breed. And again, only IF the information provided was accurate and truthful in the first place.

[2] This would be a shorter "call name" (aka, "Biggie") and a longer name that is on the papers, that has the breeder's name and a more formal name ("Yanilan's Big EZ, The Notorious D-O-G"). I have no idea why the names are as long as they are. Breeders often call their litters by letters of the alphabet, based on when they are born, and sometimes give them formal names or call names that start with that letter. Since Biggie came from his breeder's 2nd litter, we thought a "B" name would be fun, though it was certainly not necessary. We gave Biggie his names because they meant something to us but also because we thought they were funny. If you are looking at pups from a breeder who follows this naming convention, beware of pups whose names start with Z... Again, you can name your dog anything you want, and it has nothing to do with the dog's conformation, temperament or health.

[3] A couple of red flags here. First of all, "show quality" pups tend to cost more than "pet quality" because the breeder thinks they may have what it takes to be shown to championship, and that they MAY want to breed the dog if he shows the right conformation (looks) and temperament. Pups sold as "pet quality" by a reputable breeder often come with a spay/neuter provision so that only the best of the best - in health, temperament and pre- and post-natal care - are bred. Reputable breeders care about this, because they do not want their kennel name associated with unhealthy dogs.

Also, if a breeder seriously wants to show a dog, not only will they want to keep the dog with them (to make sure the dog is properly socialized, taught how to behave in the show ring, and is given the proper food and care), but they will usually have spelled out the co-owners' rights and responsibilities in the contract - which clearly didn't happen here.

[4] Showing a dog to championship is a serious venture, and not without its criticisms [this will have to be the subject of another post]. Serious contenders start when the dog is a puppy. We have friends who used to show and handle dalmatians, and they stopped because it was costing upwards of $20,000 a year to travel to shows with their dogs. "Dusty's" owners seemed to think that all they had to do was give their pup a home, and the breeder would swoop in and "show" the dog a couple of times.

[5] This just made me cringe. It had all the hallmarks of an irresponsible breeder selling a lot of hogwash to naive dog owners. In order to show a dog to championship, you have to go to a lot more shows, and win two "majors" (i.e. beat enough dogs of the same breed) for there to be some general consensus that your purebred dog is a decent representative of the breed. It is impossible to show a dog twice and get anywhere close to championship. As far as I could tell, showing the dog twice before breeding was just another way for this breeder to sell puppies to yet more naive dog owners who think that they are getting a "show quality" dog.

Repeat after me: JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE A PUREBRED DOG DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD BREED HIM/HER.

It's not about whether purebred dogs, as a whole, are healthier or nicer or more appreciative than mixed breeds, nor is it a statement about selective dog breeding in general - dogs aren't people, after all. Many of the negative remarks against purebred dogs are a result of irresponsible breeding by puppy mills or families who get a brother and a sister of the same breed and then want to show their kids "the miracle of life," thinking that they can sell their puppies for $500 (or more) per pup and make some money on the side. Even if these puppies got the best care after they were born, they probably didn't get much in the way of prenatal care, and there was absolutely no thought given to whether the parents should ever have been parents at all.

One of the benefits of getting a purebred dog is that you have the potential to get a dog that has a known family history - of temperament, looks, and above all, health. But only if YOU, the responsible dog owner, do your research. (again, the subject of another post)

2010 Kuvasz Calendar - on sale now!

The 2010 Kuvasz Calendar is ready for orders again! Yours truly is in it again. They just can't get enough of my manly curliness. Or is it my curly manliness? Either way, I do it for my brothers and sisters who are still needing their furever homes. Support a good cause, and admire my, ahem, manly beauty.*

$19.95 plus shipping and handling. All proceeds go to Kuvasz Rescue. The calendars SOLD OUT last year so buy early and buy often!

BUY HERE.

*Momma's note: Biggie has, by far, the goofiest picture in the entire calendar. But don't hurt his feelings. He thinks he is very handsome.

Fall Photo Shoot - video outtakes

So you can see what it took to get the shot at the top of the page. And, because my dog is a goofball.

Fall Photo Shoot - shoot! darnit! hold still!

It's fall in Vermont, the leaves are changing, it was foggy and drizzly but very pretty out there. Biggie and I decided to hike and try a photo shoot for the 2010 Kuvasz calendar. Let's just say it's sort of hard with a new video/still cam, one rambunctious dog, and no assistants. Biggie was either forging on ahead to make sure it was safe, or running back to check on me, or standing too close to take good pictures, or moving too quickly.

Not only that, but I'd brushed him before we went out, and he came home muddy and covered in burrs.

Here's some outtakes:

I can sit AND stay, but I don't have to like it.

Can't talk. Busy looking for stuff in here. Did anyone misplace a rock?

This last one would have been great if he would turn his head the other way. But the classic kuvasz guard dog has put himself between me and any potential interloper, and is scanning the hiking path and woods for anything threatening, like a chipmunk.

Biggie's Rules for Happy Walkies

We had a Most Unfortunate Incident last month with P-Daddy and Little Gramma, in which I reminded P-Daddy that he has to make sure he follows the Rules for Happy Walkies. P-Daddy and his momma took me for a walkie in BrrrMont and then something happened so that when I got home I had to run all the way to my crate in the dark bedroom and lie there for a few hours because I was very very sorry. Momma didn't even know I came home. (Momma didn't know that I went out with P-Daddy and Little Grandma, either.) Anyways. P-Daddy did some meditating and he helped me type out some Rules:

Biggies is not a human

I may be smart, but I'm still a dog. I respond to commands and leadership. Don't reason, cajole or try bribery. I will take your treats and do what I want if you act like you are not sure what you want. Don't ask, but TELL. If you ask me to do something, it's like you're asking me what I think. And I think I want to PLAY right now, even if Gramma is holding my leash and I want to play with P-Daddy, because I LOVE P-Daddy and Gramma and wouldn't it me so much fun if all 3 of us played together?

Little people and old people can be really wobbly sometimes

And if they're little and old, they can sometimes just fall down if you so much as wag your tail in their direction. So sometimes you have to be very very careful to be very very gentle. Getting all the way down on the ground helps.

Observe proper leash technique at all times!!

Here is cousin Ava demonstrating Proper Leash Technique. I probably weighed more than she did in that picture, but she was pretty good at holding me BECAUSE SHE TALKED TO ME and told me what to do, she didn't just pull me around. And look especially at how she is holding the leash. If I pulled too hard, what would happen? I'd just yank the leash out of her hand but she'd probably be ok. She has one hand holding the loop, and the other one picking up the slack in the leash. So if I'm just pulling a little bit, she can use her right hand and give a little tug to tell me where to go.

Very important: Ava did not wrap the leash around her hands or anything to keep me from getting away. DON'T EVER DO THAT! Dogs are really strong. Momma and P-Daddy met a lady whose Golden Girl broke 2 bones in her hand because the Golden Girl went after a squirrel. And that was a teeny little golden girl who was only 50 pounds or so! Most dogs, even the most senseless silly ones, have enough sense to not get hit by a car the moment they get free. Or at least all the yelling if you have a loose dog will usually get everyone's attention and they will then all play chase or something. But that is all better than the risk of a human getting pulled into traffic or getting hurt because they were stuck in their dog's leash.

I'm not saying I did anything quite like that to Little Gramma, but let's just say that P-Daddy learned that he doesn't just hand my leash over to someone who doesn't know how to walk a dog any more. And I don't think Little Gramma will be walking me any more, but that's ok because she's so wobbly it's probably better that way. And she's never going to wrap the leash around her hand again. Until the next time she forgets.

Seriously, people: if you have a large or rambunctious dog, it doesn't take much for the dog to overwhelm the person. I've almost been knocked down by a 40-pound dog who was barreling at me, because I wasn't looking and I was off-balance. People who aren't used to being around dogs of any heft are not usually of this. Small people CAN walk large dogs, but as the dog owner, you have to be careful to make sure the person and the dog are on the same wavelength and that they are understanding each other.

Wordless Wednesday, 9/9/09

Wordless Wednesday

View larger here (YouTube).

Dog Cousins

By now you have probably infurred that I had a lot of guests - 4-legged and 2-legged - at my Brrr Mont Compound. They were my Puppy Transport Team and all their dogs.

In addition to my Momma and P-Daddy, there was a lot of P-Daddy's relatives: my Gramma and Grampa, P-Daddy's Sister and Brother-in-law, and a bunch of their kids: My Puppy Transport Team! I was not always a cosmopolitan metrosexual kuvasz. I came from TEXAS. Mama Clare drove me to Tennessee where I met Tyler and his wife Emily, and then they drove me to meet Tyler's sisters Lauren and Gillian. Tyler, Lauren and Gillian are Momma's nephew and nieces, so they are sort of like human cousins but they are also hundreds of years older than me so they are also sort of like my first parents and also like aunties and uncles, except for my cousin Josh. Josh is Tyler, Lauren and Gillian's younger brother but I feel more like he is a cousin. Josh isn't around with us any more, and we miss him a million times each day because he was just like me, a big beautiful boy who liked to run and play and hug me. But that is a sad story and I don't want to talk about that now.

Anyway, the Puppy Transport Team all have dogs too, and because sometimes I am a little mixed whether to call my Puppy Transport Team auntie or uncle or cousin or mommy, it made my furry head hurt to figure out if the dogs are second cousins or great uncles or what. So I just call them all cousins. It's easier that way.

BENJI (left) AND BUDDY (right) aka The Grumpy Old Men:

BENJI

Benji is the grumpiest old man. He's really only 6 but he is cranky enough to be 623! He growls at everything and barks at me all the time, even in my own house. He would just like to sit in someone's lap all day or be held. He belongs to Uncle Tim and Aunt Sue.

BUDDY

Buddy is Benji's dog brother and family brother. He's calmer and quieter but that is because he is a little more confident because he's a little older and was there first. Sometimes when Benji isn't there we sneak in a few seconds of playing but then Benji comes over and yells at me and it's so loud we can't really play any more.

Here is a picture of cousin Josh snuggling with Buddy and me in Brrmont in 2007. I was 10 weeks old and already I was bigger than Buddy. hehe

THE GEORGIA COUSINS

The Georgia Cousins belong to Tyler and Auntie Em. They rescued my Georgia cousins after they met me- Tyler and Auntie Em were the first leg of my Puppy Transport Team and I must have impressed them with my amazingness because after they handed me over they had to get not just 1 but TWO dogs to fill the void I left! (they have their own bloggy, too, but Auntie Em hasn't updated it in a while...)

TOM

Tom is the littlest of my dog cousins. They thought he was 2 when they got him but he is so calm and well-behaved that now we think he is older, like a grownup or something. I don't think I've ever heard him bark. He looks like a Ewok and here he is chewing on my knuckle bone, which is so big he can't even move it because it's bigger than his head, bol! The humans seem to really like him, but I think he's a little boring because he doesn't play or get naughty or make any noise or farts or sling drool or anything. booooring!

but ...

I saved the BEST for last ...

...

HUCK (aka TIGGER)

It's always a party when Huck is around - we wrassle like there's no tomorrow. Huck was the first Georgia cousin and he shoulda been named Tigger from Day One. I think his humans got Tom to play with him and tire him out but so far I've been the only one able to tire him out. Every waking moment, we played and played. Sometimes Auntie Em had to put Huck in his crate just so the humans wouldn't have dogs barreling around the house. Oh yeah, and Huck would try to mark MY house, especially MY Momma and P-Daddy's stuff. That really annoyed the humans!

Biggie swims, 2009 edition

I just got back from 2 weekends in Brrr Mont where it was pretty warm but still not as hot as it is here in New Dork City, and there were 10 people and 5 dogs including me. AND my diaries cleared up JUST IN TIME for me to go back on my raw food *and* steal the little dogs' food and rawhide chews, which I used like toothpicks after my meal. I did let my dog cousins share my big knuckle bone, though only one of them was strong enough to move it.

It was great - my whole Posse was there - basically the Puppy Transport Team plus their support team. And I got to play and get barked at and petted and it was AWESOME.

The BIG NEWS - well, there was lots of big news but this is the only big news that my brain can handle tonight - is that with the help of Cousin Huck and Auntie Em (hehe, I just like saying that) I finally showed everyone once and fur all that Yes I Can Swim and Maybe I Even Like It A Little When It Is 942 Degrees Out. (I heard it was over a thousand degrees in New Dork City, so boy was I glad I wasn't there.)

So first my humans didn't take me to the Beach where it slopes in all gentle-like. Instead they took me to a more deserted area where you have to climb down some bushes and slippery rocks to get into the water. A few hundred yards away, these 4 guys were setting up their fishing stuff. Before Momma let me off the leash P-Daddy went to have a talk with them and then I charged over and showed them who was boss. It was quite a fearsome display, very loud and full of fur, but they were appropriately respectful of my authori-tay so I let them stay. There were lots of other people at the pond too, but the rest of them were pretty far away and I did not think they were much of a threat. Plus it was 942 degrees out and I was wearing a fur coat, so I decided it was ok to just keep an eye on them.

Speaking of keeping an eye on stuff, as soon as I got back from telling those fishing guys that I was in charge of the pond, look what I saw:

Huck swimming all over the place and Auntie Em and ... most dangerous of all ... Momma was already in WAY over her head!!!!! As soon as I turn my back she gets into trouble. Sheesh, Momma! That is SO NOT SAFE!!!!

I waded in as far as I could stand and cried to her to come a little closer. Good thing I've clicker-trained her well, so most of the time she comes when called, especially when she hears the urgency in my voice:

After Momma squirted me on the head, I realized it felt pretty good to get in the water.

But you know what is even scarier than when Momma gets in over her head?? When P-Daddy goes swimming. He might drown and I really had to go check on him so many times. It was really tiring work but someone has to make sure P-Daddy and the rest of my Posse don't drown.

Stay cool, everyone, and don't swim alone! I can't watch you all.

Lifeguard Biggie

Back from Camp and Gallop and Goes!

Momma says this video does double doody. I got back from Camp more than a week ago. I stayed there for TWO WHOLE WEEKS while my humans went to some place called Gallop and Goes. (Sounds like a dude ranch to me.) When I got back, I was so excited that Momma said I reminded her of this video!

The video was from Espanola Island and shows what happens when you take liquid stuff and force it through a small opening under pressure. Except my liquid was some kibble poo that, well, I was just excited to see my humans again even though it was a little stressful being back in the city.

Momma said this one reminds her of me, too:

I don't know why she would say such a thing, that is a booby and I am a Biggie. Boobies got their name because the Spanish people who first found them called them "bobo" because they were silly and goofy because they don't run away or anything. So Momma has been calling me a booby. It's true I don't run away from anything, but I'm not nearly that colorful, and my diaries are a different color. And more voluminous. But now I'm back on raw and everything is fixed. Yum, chicken bones!

Anyway, this was a strange dude ranch they went to. They seem to be a little too happy about riding that tortoise or something.

Just kidding. You're only allowed to ride tortoises that are your friends.



More pictures from Momma and her friends' trip to Gallop and Goes here. She says they are still organizing them and stuff. Yeah, right.

Now I am in Brrr Mont except it's sort of HOT. I'm here with LOTS of people and dogs and we're having an AMAZING TIME!

Hope you are all having a good weekend too!

BrrrMont in July!

Ok, SOMEdogs thought I had too many words in my last post and they had to stop reading and go meditate. So I will try to keep this one short.

This is a picture for you grrlz. This is me without a bath or brushing - I hear the scruffy Bad Boy look is in. I have a great dog run up here though sometimes I have to let the humans hit a tennis ball around.

I hope everyone had a good 4th of July and celebrated the country's BirdDay with some things that just - oops - fell off the grill and into your mouths. I wasn't so lucky because my humans are SWITCHING ME TO KIBBLE because they are sending me to camp and going somewhere without me for a long time. I heard they will be on a boat in lots of deep water.

I prefer water in solid form. It's mostly safer - except for when I was roaching on top of it and fell off, but luckily no one got that on film. Momma did fall down laughing though.

Yes, we went to BrrrMont last weekend and now you know why it's called BRRRRR Mont! We went on a hike and found this strange glacier where the half-pipe used to be.

I had to investigate.

It also had this great tunnel I could run through, full of mud. You can see my mud action here, as I survey my domain.

Earlier that day we also saw a fox! Momma didn't have a camera with her and she wouldn't let me catch it. My humans CLAIM they saw one while they were driving, and if you Biggie-fy this picture you might be able to see it. I was a whole lot closer to mine, and if I hadn't been on a pesky leash, I might have caught a specimen for everyone to admire.

Finally, here is a video of me playing on my glacier. Haroooo!

2009 Kuvasz Specialty, as told by Spirit

Back in April when we were all too stunned by Josh's death to do much more than plod through life numbly, Biggie and Spirit shared some good news:

KuvaszGrrl: hi biggie

BiggieZ: hey u got a new screen name?

KuvaszGrrl: ya i think it's cooler now that I'm TWO and I'm a Big Girl. hey so guess what

BiggieZ: what?

KuvaszGrrl:I got my second major! And I didn't even need to borrow your P-Daddy after all!

we just got back last night we were gone for 8 days of NO yards just quickie walks on leashes in ucky windy weather

BiggieZ:yards? Is that like a personal dog park? windy weather is sort of fun i pretend im a explorer and stick my nose in the wind

KuvaszGrrl:not the point of my story. listen up!

dani and i drove all the way to kansas for a big show we had to hang out in our crates or the hotel room or the car all the time and there were lots and lots of kuvasz doggies there cuz it was a special show for kuvaszies

BiggieZ:wow cool! was tex there?

KuvaszGrrl:i dont think so because i think he got tutored like you so he doesn't go to those shows and stuff

BiggieZ:oh bummer. if you see tex tell him i said hi. I kind of miss it when he used to sit on me.

KuvaszGrrl:anyway mom had a lot of work to do

BiggieZ:why was Mama Clare doing all that guarding if there were all those kuvasz there why didnt u and dani do your job n guard her?

KuvaszGrrl:silly biggie! there's other work besides guarding!

BiggieZ:is there biskits in this story?

KuvaszGrrl:well anyway, Mama C had to do a lot of work in the hospitality room so she was gone too much and was too tired when she came back to play with us.

BiggieZ:That sounds like my P-Daddy too - he is always at the hospitality and then he is gone a lot and he falls asleep in funny places and doesn't play with me too much...

KuvaszGrrl:One night I got to go into the hospitality room so everyone could admire me --

BiggieZ:--u r a service dogz? Congrat!

KuvaszGrrl:No, no, I was at a show with BILLIONS of other Kuvasz.

BiggieZ:--u were at the aminal hospitality? r u ok??

KuvaszGrrl:ugh. boyz r SO DUMB sometimes! So do u wanna hear about my second major or not?

BiggieZ:ok ok sorry u grrlz are always so sensitive. yeesh go on

KuvaszGrrl:Anyway I had a different handler, Linda, and I had to break her in a little the first day she expected me 2 just race off with her so I did my fast run + then she wanted me to NOT pace, which I won't do if no one hurries me but if someone hurries me then sometimes I pace and since Linda was new and she didn't know how I like to show and so maybe I paced a little that first day.

BiggieZ:I know what u mean when u r doing walkies with someone who doesn't know what u want. Cuz when I'm going with my Momma she is always either saying Biggie hurry up or Biggie waaaaaaaiiiiit or Biggie LEAVE IT!

KuvaszGrrl:ummm sort of like that. I am more elegant at a slow speed --

BiggieZ:--I think u r pretty elegant at any speed and I'm not just saying that because I'm your brudder!

KuvaszGrrl:Thanks biggie but in the ring there are a lot of things we need to do to Be Have. And since I didn't handle Linda so well the 1st day I didn't win much of anything on the actual specialty day, but then I handled her much better the next day and so then the judge, called me a Winners Bitch, which was a 5-point major for me!

BiggieZ:WHO CALLED YOU A BITCH?! I HOPE YOU GAVE THEM A PIECE OF YOUR MIND! WANT ME TO BARK AT THEM??

KuvaszGrrl:No Biggie, you don't need to, that is a good thing! It means I was a Good Grrl at handling my handler and I am very pretty.

BiggieZ:so can you explain this champeen thing again?

KuvaszGrrl:ok so you know u need to get 15 points to be a champion but u hafta get at least 2 majors and if u win at a minor u only get one point at a time and a major is 5 points so i kept going to these shows where there weren't enough kuvasz to be a major so i got a 5 point major a while back and then I won a lot of little shows where i was the prettiest grrl but each time there werent enough kuvasz there so i only got 1 point at a time for each win and so then i had 14 points for the longest time but if i went to another show and only got a 1 point win and got 15 points but it's not a major then i still wouldnt be a champeen because i needed another major and that was why i was asking to borrow ur daddy and then it turned out i didn't need him after all because i got my second major!

BiggieZ:um... so u need 15 and 1 plus 1 and 5 makes um.... and you need 2 points for 5 majors?

KuvaszGrrl:sort of. well, not really. actually, not at all. but you get the idea. My Mom was SO proud and everyone was hugging her and saying something like "come grab your relations." Don't know why Mom since she wasn't even in the ring with me.

BiggieZ:Who knows why our Mommas do what they do. Sometimes I think they r a little stoopid... hehe. (looks around nervously for Momma)

KuvaszGrrl:Well you haven't even heard the bestest part! After my major, I got to go in the ring with ALL the other champions! And I was just standing there being a pretty girl and all of a sudden the judge picked a boy for Best of Breed and ME for Best of Opposite Sex .. over ALL of those Big Girl Champions!!!

BiggieZ: Wow! wtg Spirit! You are da BOS!!!! is that how u spel bos?

KuvaszGrrl:i think so anyway now we have to be extra nice to Dani cuz he didn't win a thing at the Specialty. I think he is so much more handsome than many of the other boys there, but most judges don't think his nice, broad head is *in style* at this time.

BiggieZ:that's too bad. is he all bummed out?

KuvaszGrrl:not really cuz he he LOVES to show and he doesn't know any better. Every single judge told his handler "he sure is one happy fellow"

BiggieZ:maybe hes happy cuz he got special attention from Mom and cuz it's like a sleepover without your Yani Pop and Mama Snow?

KuvaszGrrl:Maybe... anyhowzits, here's a picture of me, lookit me I am da BOS!

Awards and More Sad News:

1. AWARD: Kess and her Mama passed this International Bloggers Community award to me. Here's the details:

The rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Copy the image, rules and questionnaire.
3. Post in your blog.
4. Answer the four questions.
5. Pick 7 friends to share with.
6. Come back to BLoGGiSTaiNFoCoRNeR at http://bloggistame.blogspot.com/ and leave the URL of your post in order for your blog to be added to the master list.
7. Have fun.

Questions and answers:
1. The person who tagged you? Kess and her Mama. (I suspect it was Mama since she has opposable thumbs)
2. His or her site title and URL? It's a Dog's Life
3.Date you were tagged? May 28, 2009
4. Persons you tagged? Well, I'm sort of bad at this and I think I'm so late that everyone's been tagged already. So in a spirit of inclusiveness for the 40th Anniversary of Stonewall, if you want to join the International Bloggers Community just go for it!

2. More Sad News: The Brotherhood lost another kuvasz lover and K-is-for-Kuvasz-Daddy. One of my brudders and littermates lost his human dad very suddenly last week and I am sending lots of good vibes, tail wags and cuddles to my brudder. It's ok to be sad and to cry when you lose one of your humans, but remember you need to take care of your momma and love her lots and lots cuz we think her heart is breaking right now. snuffles and sniffles.

The Royal Kuvasz

From the Westminster Kennel Club Kuvasz page:

The present day Kuvasz developed in Hungary where the breed served as a guard to royalty in the 1400s, prior to becoming popular as a livestock guardian [and highly skilled food beggar, drooling over tiny morsels of bread]...

...Today's AKC breed standard describes the characteristics required of a dog whose function is to protect its flock and drive off predators: large, moderately boned, sturdily built, well muscled, not bulky or lethargic...

Biggie and his cousin Huck

I'm back here in Virginia with my extended family. Last time I was here I met my cousin Huck for the first time. Huck's parents, Tyler and Emily, were the very first people in my new family to pick me up from my breeder, Mama Clare.

Unfortunately last time I was here, we were all in Virginia for a Very Sad Occasion and I had to have a bath and be around to cheer everyone up. I was very confused because everyone was there except Josh, and I LOVE Josh. I kept looking for him everywhere but I couldn't find him. But Huck and I did our best to help our people feel better. We made this video in remembrance of Josh and added some of Josh's favorite music.

Raw Diet: MEAT! MEAT! MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT!!!!!!!

FINALLY! AND NOT A MOMENT TOO SOON ... because I was getting bored bored bored. Momma has been away from home way too much because she's been working on some big case where someone Made Off with lots of money that wasn't his. Momma told me how much it was, but once I get above the amount of money it costs to keep me in beef bones for the rest of my life, I don't really pay attention. All I know is, that's a lot of beef!

Also, since my BirdDay is coming up TOMORROW, Momma is gonna let me talk about the meat!

Here you see one of the most beautiful pictures in the world: a FULL freezer. In the drawer, you can see a bag of frozen green beans, for use in case of emergency (ho hum, vegetables were SO last month!), and a container of some kind of meatables for me. And a chicken pot pie in the box, but Momma says that's for the humans.

In the lower compartment, the two left sections of the freezer are full of FORTY POUNDS of chicken leg quarters, skinned and put into freezer bags. On the right hand side are Chinese food containers full of whitefish bones and pork bones - probably about 5-10 pounds worth. Buried underneath there are some year-old tater tots and Chinese dumplings and a few containers of veggie mix for me, but you can see that the most important MEAT for Biggies is on top.

All this meat lasts me about 3 weeks. Momma gets the chicken and fish from FreshDirect, a service that lazy New Yorkers use to get their foodables brought right into their apartment!

Momma also goes to our neighborhood butcher for other meats - chicken backs, pork and beef necks, beef shins, and turkey necks. Momma has to skin the chicken backs herself, but Robert and Hector use their big saw to cut the turkey necks into 1/2 pound segments (perfect for snacks at day care), and the pork and beef necks and shins get cut into 1-lb pieces.

When my Grandmomma came to stay to help Momma after her 2nd splurgery last year, she took all my meat and made it into yummy dinners for the humans! Without asking me!

I get about a pound of meat per meal, just perfect for teeny poops while keeping me lean and fit. If I'm eating something that has more meat and less bone (like the chicken leg quarters), Momma will drop a calcium tab in with my food.

Sometimes Momma adds delectable special things like liver or lamb, but they are pretty rich and are useful only in small amounts for extra yumminess. Also the pork you need to freeze for 3 weeks to kill any nasty critters that might be living in it.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Here you see my humans' assembly line process for packing my lunches for camp. But it also gives you a good idea of what goes into my meals. This is a Thursday-Monday weekend of food.

Meat here is chicken leg quarter or chicken back (1 in each container), plus yogurt/veg/fish oil mixture. The white dots you see are my cosequin-DS chewables for happy hips. Yummers.

Oh, and that picture in the background with the lemon slices is the humans' dinner (1 whole chicken cut up), marinating. I don't like lemons.

Happy Eating!

Raw Diet: The Processing of the Vegetables

Aha, NOW we're getting somewhere. It's not quite meat, but at least it's edible. We had a few episodes of Real Life intervene here, so check here for Momma's "Why Feed Raw" and "Raw Diet Essential Equipment" posts.

Not every raw-fed dog gets fruits and vegetables; some feed meat only. If you're going to feed vegetables and fruit, though, it needs to be processed since dogs a) like humans, also lack the ability to break down cellulose, the stuff that cell walls are made of, and b) dogs don't really chew that thoroughly. So giving your dog a carrot to munch on is a nice treat, but don't expect it to have too much caloric or nutritional value - just look at the sizes of the carrot pieces that come out the other end...

So, the vegetables must be Processed. And by that, we mean, "ground up in the food processor into teeny little bits." Since The Processing of the Vegetables is usually a time-intensive task and involves use of heavy machinery, we tend to do it in bulk every few weeks and freeze the results in the plastic take-out containers until we're ready to use them.

We get a weekly organic fruit and vegetable delivery (they send us a box of whatever is fresh that week) and whatever we don't eat in the first few days gets saved for our Canine Composter. Here is this week's list, for example:

• TOMATOES
• ARTICHOKES
• GREEN BEANS
• GREEN LEAF LETTUCE
• CARROTS
• COLLARDS
• RUSSET POTATOES
• KALE
• LEMONS
• BARTLETT PEARS
• VALENCIA ORANGES
• BANANAS
• RUBY RED GRAPEFRUIT
• RED DELICIOUS APPLES
• KIWI

Of this list, biggie will probably get the carrots, collards and lettuce, and maybe also the kale and some kiwi. We have also saved some broccoli trimmings from tonight's dinner, and some overripe apples, pears and kiwis from prior weeks. It all gets moderately washed, cut into processor-sized pieces, and all churned up. It is pretty amazing how good the veggies and fruits smell when they've been all ground up.

It's pretty hard to mess up the veggie mix, but it is important to know which fruits and vegetables are toxic to dogs. There are plenty of lists on the internet, and they all say NO grapes, raisins, onions, scallions, garlic, avocados. We also cut out any apple or pear seeds as they contain small amounts of cyanide. Finally, corn seems to upset some dogs' stomachs, so we stay away from that too.

TIME SAVING TIPS

It's also helpful to remember that you don't have to wash the stuff TOO thoroughly. When we first started doing the raw diet, I spent so much time washing the leafy greens, until P-Daddy reminded me one day, "He eats dirt." In short, the stuff doesn't have to be triple-washed; a decent rinse will do. Also, you don't have to peel most of the stuff you put in the processor.

I have in the past cheated by throwing thawed frozen vegetables into the processor (peas, carrots, butternut squash, broccoli), or even being REALLY lazy and putting the thawed vegetables directly in the bowl when we've run out of veggie mix. Biggie's survived, so we've gotten more comfortable over time with improvising if we run out of mix (or the last pack is still frozen).

Biggie gets about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of veggie mix (more if you're using cut up vegetables since the mix is pretty dense) per meal, twice a day, mixed about 1:1 with yogurt and/or canned pumpkin and some fish oil. He loves it.

Here's a picture of TPotV: in the background are the bits of vegetable cut up and ready for the processor; in the front is a few weeks' worth of veggie mix.

For the curious, here's a list of all the fruits and vegetables Biggie has ever had in his mix - all raw unless otherwise noted:

lettuce

kale

collards

chard

broccoli

carrots

peas

butternut squash (peeled, lightly cooked and cooled)

yams/sweet potatoes (lightly cooked, unpeeled)

apples

pears

bananas

beet greens

beet trimmings and peels

cauliflower

green beans

spinach

kiwi

celery

zucchini

yellow squash

Biggie's first video, taken by Josh

We got these pictures from Josh's sister, Gillian (aka "Biggie's First Mommy") just a couple of weeks ago. They are from the weekend we got Biggie. As you can see, he is already mugging for the camera.

... and took to tormenting Buddy and Benji from Day 1.



... and learned quickly to be rebuffed by them.



When we got Biggie in July 2007, the entire Anderson family bonded with Biggie before we even met him. Josh's brother and sisters formed a relay to pick him up in TN from our breeder, and then they drove him up to Northern VA, where Biggie hung out for the day while we drove down from NYC to get him.

Here is Biggie's first video, taken by Josh. We like to watch it with the sound turned up.

March 18, 2009

Something really tragic happened today and my humans can't stop leaking from their eyes. Momma and P-Daddy are ok but not really ok, because they are very very sad. Momma gave me a bath tonight so I can give hugs to all my extended human family. So we'll be gone for a bit and we'll be back later to talk about the raw diet and stuff when we're not so upset. We'll be reading your bloggies to try to cheer up but probably not commenting much.

Joshie, we miss you tons. Peace be with you.

WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG ...

... for LOTS of NEWS!!

You know it takes a lot to stop me talking about my food. Momma's been flying all over the place and she doesn't even know what time or day it is anymore and she had to post this. This is worth it!

FIRST OF ALL: My dog mom and my pop BOTH passed their Therapy Dog International tests with flying colors!!! On the first try!!! Without doing a class or ANYTHING. Way to go, Mama Snow and Yani-Pop (above), but also, way to put the pressure on! Yikes! Mama Clare said that they both did great on their tests except when Yani-Pop had to walk by a big mirror. Apparently he couldn't pass it without stopping to admire himself. BOL!

NEXT - and JUST AS EXCITING, My Big Brudder SARGE has started a blog! More Kuvasz in da house!

And while we're on the subject of KUVASZ... if you can't get enough of us gorgeous dogs (I am my father's son, after all), check out this video of the lovely Delilah, Chance's love interest in Homeward Bound II. A shout out to my brother TEX for sending this to me. Tex, She is WAY cuter than your big stuffed polar bear and I may have to fight you for her unless we can work out some sharing arrangement.

Raw Diet Essential Equipment

Ho hum, another boring post about all the boring un-eatable stuff about feeding raw. Momma is so meta. Sorry for being so delayed, I was partying after my Special Judge's Award at Mango Minster. (thanks, Bolo!) Then Momma was saying something about business and work and all that. Excuses, excuses. But here's Momma's list of all the stuff you should have on hand to make a raw diet (especially one for a Biggie like me) easier and cleaner.

Momma, I'll tell you easy. Just give me the whole chicken or a whole salmon and I'll just eat it. I don't need a bowl; I'll just take it to the flokati, ok?

1. A CRATE

Again, crates are really important to keep the dinner from running away. They don't do much for keeping the dinner in the bowl, however:

A crate with a plastic or metal floor helps contain the mess. Biggie has his own pace of eating - sometimes he eats his salad around his meat, but other times he pulls the pieces of meat out of the bowl, drops them on the floor, eats the veggies and yogurt out of his bowl, and then eats the meat. Usually after that he licks the floor clean. Still, cleanup is a LOT easier if you have a surface in a contained area that can just be wiped down with antibacterial wipes.

An added benefit: teaches pups to like their crates, making crate or kennel training infinitely easier.

2. A FOOD PROCESSOR

To make the veggie mix. Like humans, dogs can't break down the cellulose in plant cell walls, and thus can't get the benefit of all the good vitamins and nutrients unless those cells are broken open. Humans do it by chewing with our molars.* Dogs don't have flat-surfaced molars like we do, so even though they do chew vegetables somewhat, it really helps to grind the vegetables for them.

*And even humans, with our omnivores' teeth, don't always do a great job breaking down vegetables. Just think about how we eat corn and what comes out the other end...

3. KITCHEN SHEARS AND A DECENT KNIFE

Unless your dog is 200lbs or more and you're feeding him whole chickens, or you have a butcher who will custom-cut your order, you will need good strong kitchen shears or a boning knife to break the meat into meal-sized pieces. While your butcher will have to cut the beef and the lamb for you, poultry and fish can be done at home - some small dogs may only eat a chicken neck or half a wing in one meal.

3. PLASTIC FOOD STORAGE CONTAINERS

These are good for storing my veggie mix and smaller sized meat, like my fish pieces or my liver. You could spend money on nice Rubbermaid or Tupperware containers that you can stack in your freezer. Or you could do like my Momma does and order cheap Chinese food delivery EVERY SINGLE NIGHT and save those plastic containers to store the veggie mix. Hey, at least it's recycling.

4. FREEZER BAGS

Momma likes to use, reuse, reuse and reuse those Ziploc-style freezer bags. When they are new she packs my meat in them. Usually 4-5 chicken leg quarters (about 4 pounds) will fit in a gallon bag, and the bags are pretty stackable in the freezer. Once a freezer bag is used for my food, it is only ever re-used for my food. A quick rinse with some soapy water (zip it closed and shake the bag) is all it takes for the next batch of meat. When they bags are near the end of their useful life, they finish their lives as storage bags for my meals when I go to camp. Momma packs one meal per bag and puts them in the freezer and the Nice Camp Lady gives them to me (thawed out, of course). Once my bags go to camp, they don't come back.

5. PLASTIC OR STYROFOAM BUCKET OR BIN

This is just useful for storing all the foodables in the fridge. Especially if the freezer bags are getting somewhat old and leaky. Then you don't have meat juices leaking in the fridge. It's also easy to put all the dinner ingredients in the bin so when it's time for dinner, voila! pull out the container and all the ingredients are right there. Sort of like how on those cooking shows everything is all out and ready for the chef.

6. DISINFECTANT/ANTIBACTERIAL WIPES

Momma uses these to wipe down the counter, my crate and any other surfaces that might contact the Salmon Ella. Actually Momma doesn't wipe down my crate as often as she used to, because I lick my crate very thoroughly after I lick my bowl clean. So far, so good, it's been 18 months and I haven't seen Salmon Ella AT ALL.

7. A BIG FREEZER

Well, duh.

Why go raw? Pros and cons of switching to a raw diet for your dog

Biggie's disclaimer: Warning!! BORING times ahead. Instead of feeding me yummy raw meat, Momma has decided she's going to talk about it instead. Bla, bla, bla. And not even talking about THE MEAT; instead she's just talking about WHY she does it. I'll tell you why: BECAUSE IT IS DELICIOUS and MOMMA IS ONE CRAZY DOG LADY. That's why.





...








Thanks, Biggie for that lovely introduction. Biggie's parents are raw-fed, his mom was raw fed while she was pregnant and nursing, and Biggie's been raw fed since he was 3 months old. In short, he's probably been eating kibble only about 7 weeks in his entire life.

WHY GO RAW?

There are a lot of sites that talk endlessly about the raw or "BARF" (Bones And Raw Food) diet but in this and the next few raw diet posts, I'll be talking mainly about what I do and how I feel about it.

1. You know what your dog's eating.
Given all the dog food recalls and scares of the past couple of years, it is pretty reassuring to see what goes into your dog's belly. It's all human grade and higher quality than any "meat byproduct" or corn or soy derivatives that end up in dog food.

2. It's healthier: weight control issues
A well-balanced, low-carb, low-fat diet does wonders. Jack, one of Biggie's terrier-mix friends, lost 5 pounds. It's also easy to manage your dog's caloric intake without making him feel STARVING by just changing the veggies-to-meat ratio. It's basically like increasing the size of the "salad" course so your dog doesn't miss the meat quite so much. It's also good for putting weight on: just add a little bit of richer meat, like liver or ground beef or lamb.


Finally, for a large/giant sized pup, raw is ideal for growing them slow. Large and giant breed pups can suffer from panosteitis and run a risk of joint problems later in life if they grow too fast. Too many people want to make their dogs gigantic, too quickly, and kibble contributes to that. When we went to Korea for a lengthy trip last year, we switched Biggie to kibble for a couple of weeks at the kennel, and he came back looking a little chubby. Switching him back to raw slimmed him down right away.

3. It's healthier: food allergies
Corn and soy and grains can wreak havoc with a dog's digestive system. If you have a dog with food allergies, feeding them raw is a quick way to pinpoint exactly what bothers their tummies, rather than playing a guessing game with the 20+ ingredients in kibble.

4. It's healthier: teeth
Chewing all those bones keeps teeth strong, healthy and CLEAN. It saves brushing time and keeps those pearly whites pearly and white. And when Biggie was a puppy and losing his baby teeth, all that raw diet helped him with his teething and helped the baby teeth fall out faster.


Oh yeah, and "dog breath" isn't an insult any more. No need for greenies, flossies, mint biscuits, or any other myriad products designed to get rid of dog halitosis because really, there isn't any.

5. It's healthier: temperament and behavior

Dogs need to learn how to chew. And dogs on raw who chew their food eat a little more slowly. If you have a dog who inhales his food (and chokes or gets gas or stomach upset from eating too quickly), a raw diet with bones helps slow the process down. Some believe this reduces the chances of bloat as well.

Also, dogs that learn to chew on bones and food have less tendency to chew on inappropriate objects. I can't say that Biggie never chewed on anything inappropriate (one leg of our wooden 4-poster bed has some deep teeth marks in it), but the only chewing casualties in a year and a half have been one bed leg, a lightly nibbled sneaker, and one rubber flip flop. And the last 2 were done more for attention and tearing something up than a real chewing need. Considering that Biggie spends most work days in our bedroom with a few toys and his crate, and a wooden bed and a wooden dresser and no one to tell him no when he starts chewing, he could have done a lot worse.

Finally, all that chewing on good bones tires a puppy out, making him calmer. Maybe that doesn't matter so much with an adult dog, but for a teething pup it was a godsend.

6. It's healthier: poop

When you walk a 110-lb dog around NYC and have to pick up poop, this factor quickly rises to #1. Dogs process raw food more efficiently and there are no fillers or artificial flavorings like kibble, so as a result the poops are pretty darned amazing. Biggie's poop on raw happens less often, in less volume, and is FAR less stinky. Some people go so far as saying it doesn't stink at all; I think the veggies make it smell a little but it's not nearly as bad as kibble poo. Also, they are really easy to pick up - as an added benefit, they're solid enough to express the anal glands, so you don't need a human to do this. Solid enough that if you ran out of bags and had to, say, use a stick to roll the poop into the sewer or under a bush, the poop stays intact and rolls nicely and doesn't leave a mark on the sidewalk or the stick, and you are not about to faint from the stink. I'm just sayin'.

How small is small? Biggie's poops are about the size of our old dog Boo's. Boo was a 25-lb American Eskimo. Also - because raw food doesn't have anything artificial in it, it biodegrades VERY quickly. If the dog is eating food with a lot of bone in it, the poop will be almost white and crumble to dust within 24 hours. Generally within 24-36 hours the poop will be ... disappeared.

7. It's better for the environment.

Since the food has no additives, preservatives or chemicals, Biggie's pee and poop are less harmful to the environment. His pee doesn't kill the grass like kibble pee does, and as I said before, his poop disintegrates pretty quickly as well. Basically, you have a walking compost pile if you have a dog on a raw diet. There are many things a dog on raw should not eat, but there are also a lot of byproducts from cooking (e.g. meat and vegetable trimmings) that don't have to spend years in a plastic bag in a landfill before returning to the land.

8. Good food is always available.

You're only a supermarket run away from good food for your pup, and you don't need to worry about finding the right brand of food if you happen to run out. And, if you cook at all, chances are you have enough food in your fridge to tide you over for a meal or two. We realized this on a drive home form Vermont in a blizzard last winter. A 4-hour trip ended up taking close to 10 hours, and when we stopped for food we found a supermarket in town where we got a snack for the puppy as well. Sure, we could have gotten some dog biscuits, but instead we bought a pack of baby carrots and a pack of raw chicken wings. No bowl necessary - Biggie just chowed down in the parking lot and snacked on carrots on the long drive home.

(A side benefit is that having all that meat and vegetables in the house also means that I'm more likely to use some of it to cook dinner rather than calling for delivery - so this "pro" goes for the people in the house as well.)

9. Dogs love it.

Mealtime is one of the happiest times in our house. Not so when Biggie was on kibble, but we have one attentive dog when there's raw meat around.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok, but why NOT raw? Here's a number of common reasons why people are afraid to try a raw diet:

1. It's expensive

A pre-made, mail order raw diet is expensive, I agree. It can cost upward of $5 a pound. Considering that for raw food, an adult dog should eat about 1.5%-2% of his body weight, it would cost $10+ a day to feed Biggie. Which is why I make it at home. We're lucky to have a great butcher on our corner, so a variety of meat and bones cut and trimmed to order is readily available. While we will splurge on beef liver or lamb on occasion, we usually look for bulk deals and sale items. Even in NYC, we can feed Biggie on organic vegetables and chicken and turkey and fish scraps for about $1 a pound. While this is still more expensive per meal compared to kibble (raw food is heavier due to the water content), it's not necessarily cost-prohibitive. And if you find a good bulk meat supplier or can go to Costco, it can be cheaper than high quality kibble.

2. It's a lot of work.

Well... yes and no. There is definitely more prep work involved than opening a bag of kibble and scooping it into a bowl. There is the repackaging of bulk meat into manageable portions that can be taken out and defrosted when necessary (that's what I'm doing in the picture above), and there is also the Processing of the Vegetables, each of which can be a daunting task when you're first starting out, but once you get into a routine, each of these only needs to be done once every 3-4 weeks. Then, when you're feeding, it takes maybe 20 seconds more to put together a raw meal - a scoop of vegetables plus whatever supplemental stuff gets mixed in, and then plop the meat in the bowl and you're ready to go. It does take more time to feed your dog raw, but you will save time in fewer trips to the vet and less frequent teeth brushing.

3. I'm worried about salmonella.

If you dress like this, you should be ok:

But seriously, the dangers of salmonella are more of a concern to the humans in the household than the dog. It is important when handling raw meat to make sure you don't cross-contaminate utensils and food prep surfaces. But if you are cooking for humans you already know to do that, and it's really no different when prepping the dog's human-grade food.

4. It seems too complicated; I'm worried I'll mess it up.

This was a worry for us when we started, too. Luckily there are many good resources on the web (Stan and Big Pupi's blog has many links; I'll put some up too), and I had two kuvasz breeders I could email with questions. It seemed like every day I had another question, but there is a pretty supportive community out there and it's easy to do some web research and figure out the answer.

I also learned to relax over time. If each meal isn't perfectly balanced, it's not the end of the world, so long as over time the dog's getting what he needs. Sometimes Biggie got too much meat (one time I did my math wrong and he ended up eating a whole chicken over the course of a day), other times he might miss a meal or only get vegetables or only get meat because I ran out of something and was too tired lazy to get the other. But Biggie continued to grow and thrive, so it seems to be working just fine even if each meal isn't always the perfectly balanced, perfectly portioned Ideal Raw Meal it is meant to be.

5. I'm worried that if my dog eats all that raw meat, he'll develop a blood lust.

Hm. Well, you got me there. Biggie obviously has the blood lust, as you can see by his latest (unsuspecting) dinner:

Question: If you feed raw, what is the biggest benefit you get out of it? And if you don't, what is the biggest deterrent?

TOTAL NON-SEQUITUR: I'm participating in Mango-minster this week too. Stop by Mango's bloggie to see some recent pictures of me in all my raw-fed glory! I hear that SOMEDOGS (Madison, I'm talking to you!) are getting all professionally groomed and such for Mango-minster, but I had to make do with a lame-o shower with P-Daddy because my humans are too cheap to shell out $150++ for a pro grooming. So I expect there will be some serious competition there.

Would I lie to you?

My buddies Stanislaw and Big Pupi, fellow raw meat eaters, gave this Honest Weblog award.

The rules:"When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to said person so everyone knows he or she is real.

Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have 7 friends. Show the 7 random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Weblog.” Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. List at least ten honest things about yourself. Then, pass it on! "

Stan and Big Pupi are quite honest about their peeble and pooble adventures, and their frank openness - let's face it, they let it ALL hang out - has made it oh so much easier for me to go on my rants. Stan and Big Pupi didn't include an icon in their post, which maybe makes this the cheapest award ever - no prize, not even an icon! So I'll just make one up of my own:

oh never mind. Momma is too lazy to figure something out. This honesty thing sure is fun!

Since I was about to embark on a series of posts about my raw diet (and this is especially cool since Stan and Big Pupi were the ones who gave me this invisible "award"), I figured I'd tell you 10 honest-to-goodness-whole-truth-and-nothing-but-the-truth facts about my diet and my eating habits:

1. When I am hungry I go sit in my crate and wait for food to appear. (I always get fed in my crate.)

2. I'm almost ALWAYS hungry.

3. When my 2nd human gets home from work, I'll look at them and then go sit in my crate and wait for dinner, even though 1st human already fed me. This trick has never worked before, but it *might* work the next time I try it!

4. I'm slightly finicky about my fruit, but give me any lightly cooked orange vegetable (pumpkin, yams, squash, carrots, sweet potatoes) and I will gobble it up.

5. I LOVE carbs. Anything starchy is my favorite.

6. I like to eat snow though I don't care about ice cubes.

7. I once caught a live duck but Momma made me let it go.

8. ditto, but a NYC street pigeon.

9. ditto, but a mouse.

10. I was on a leash when I did #8 and #9. heh.

Now, to pass it on to 7 friends:

Madison - She's a big girl who is learning to be a great Ft. Lauderdale ambassador and healing her family's broken hearts

George - Because he is so open about how much love he has to give (basically, it's endless)

Amber-Mae - She let "anonymous" have it! You tell 'em!

Wally - for all his Barking for Barack, he's definitely keepin' it real.

Misty the Alpha Poodle - for reminding me about the Idiotarod.

Peanut and Flash - for their uncontained and open joy at Dad's homecoming. (He's a veterinanarian)

Dannan - for his indomitable spirit.

Now off to more posts about RAW FOOD!

Career counseling for the working pup

I love to work. Because I am a kuvasz, a Working Dog. But I was thinking the other day that this security and protection gig might not last forever in this recession, so I should probably have a backup job just in case. 

I found this free online quiz that tests your personality and suggests some other career choices that might fit with your personality. Even though it only had Yes or No for answers, I found it much harder than my Puppy Aptitude Test. 

Some of the questions were easy, like "You are usually the first to react to a sudden event, e.g. telephone ringing" (duh!) or "It is in your nature to assume responsibility" (who else is gonna watch those kids?) or "You prefer to act immediately rather than speculate about various options" (if I hesitate in my protection duties, someone might hurt my people!). 

But some were sort of hard.  Like, "You get bored if you have to read theoretical books." How do I answer that if I don't know how to read? How do I know if I would be bored or not?? 

Anyway, the test said that I am an ESFJ. This is not really a surprise. I'm an Extrovert since I love to visit my people and my dogs. This past weekend we had some friends over to Brrr Mont and I showed them around and we played and they petted me and we all had a great time. I am also Sensing and Feeling, rather than iNtuitive or Thinking. Again, not a surprise. I have to go on what my eyes and nose and ears tell me might be a threat, and I sometimes have to act quickly, without a chance to overthink the situation, because that split second of hesitation is when someone might hurt my Momma or jump out of a dark corner and threaten my people. Finally, I guess it goes without saying that I am a Judger not a Perceiver. I decide - and not anyone else - whether a situation warrants action. And if you are "in" in my book, you are in forever.

MLK and Eleanor Roosevelt were ESFJs, so I'm in good company I suppose. 

And if I ever decide to get out of the security and protection field, these are my possible other fields: 

• Management (I like to be in charge)
  
• Public Administration (I do love paper)
  
• Nursing (I did take good care of Momma after her splurgeries...)
  
• Social Work (maybe I should go for that therapy dog certificate after all) 
  
• Hotel & Restaurant Management (somedog has to make sure that the beds are soft and the food is good)
  
• Sales & Marketing (I am very good at selling the Raw Diet and also grooming tools)
  
• Fashion Merchandising (Just look at my fur!)
  
• Education (ditto that therapy dog stuff)

I don't know, dogs. I guess I'm still young enough for a career change if I have to. What about you? 

Some quick news

First of all, congratulations to T-Bone and his family! He has a new little brother to take care of in addition to his 2 cats, his girl and his human parents. What a pack! Let's all send happy HARROOOOOOs his way.


Now, some not so great news: After a few days of glorious meat, I am back with the diaries again. This time I couldn't hold it til we were outside because Momma has been doing this working thing again, and so I made it on the new flokati rug so it would be easier for them to remove it. Momma thinks this is because I am sneaking little bits of bad snow on my walkies and the dog run. So she has decided to punish me by instituting the Meat Embargo again. Humans are so dumb, if they would feed me more than I wouldn't have to eat bad snow. As a result, I am restarting OPERATION MEAT AIRLIFT. Again, if any of you can SEND ME SOME MEAT I would much appreciate it. If you disguise it in a Tiffany box it is more likely to escape Momma's meat detection sensors.


Also, to give you an idea of just how dirty NYC snow is... Here is a "before" picture...





And this is AFTER a walk on what seemed like pretty clean city sidewalks. Somedog needs mudflaps!


Pay no mind to the unfortunately located stain near by butt. That was made by Momma when she overwatered a plant that used to sit on a table there. Unlike most of the other stains in the apartment, that one was NOT made by me.

News from Dan the Man and Sister Spirit

Momma is such a drama queen. She has been hogging the computer and leaking from her eyes about all sorts of things in the last two weeks like she had to go to a service for someone who D-I-E-D and then she had to do some other sad things for "work" and then she has been traveling (so I went to camp AGAIN! ok that part wasn't so bad) and then there was that thing about the plane landing in the river near my dog run. Oh yeah and lately there has been that issue with my diaries which Momma thinks came from me licking some dirty snow in the dog run that day it was below zero. And now she has been keeping me on STARVATION rations. NO MEAT! I am starving. I walk into the kitchen and touch the refrigerator with my nose, then I touch the counter where she makes my dinner, then I walk into my crate and sit, and then I flip my food dish, take it out of the crate and push it around the room like a giant hockey puck, and STILL she doesn't get the hint! Sheesh. Anyway, so she APOLOGIZES for not being around more because of all that. I still think she is being a drama queen but if you get a moment CAN SOMEONE PLEASE SEND ME SOME MEAT?!?!?!?

My big brother Dani (aka Dan the Man) and sister Spirit and I chatted a while back, sorry it's taken so long to get it up: 

BiggieZ: hey

DanTheMan: yo

Spirit: hey biggie whats up

BiggieZ: not much im starving. whats new w u?

DanTheMan: we went to a show last weekend

BiggieZ: ??

DanTheMan: and i got my cgc 

BiggieZ: wtg but whats a show

Spirit: You know, a SHOW like with dogs and stuff

BiggieZ: ?? you mean like the dog run?

DanTheMan: no like you go in a ring with fence things and you do stuff

BiggieZ: you mean like camp?

Spirit: no theres other dogs there and you run around and stuff

BiggieZ: is there wrestling

DanTheMan: no 

BiggieZ: bitey face?

Spirit: no

BiggieZ: how bout playing in the snow

Spirit: whats snow

BiggieZ: nevermind

do u get butt scratches at the show

DanTheMan: no you go around in the ring and you run with a person and people pet you and you get stacked and stuff

u have to put ur feet in just the right place and let people pet you and look at ur teefies

BiggieZ: sounds like fun

not

Spirit: its fun u get lots of treats and stuff when you run and you get lots of baths and grooming to look real pretty

BiggieZ: can u run up to ppl and stick ur nose in their butt

DanTheMan: no

Spirit: tell bigz what is really cool

DanTheMan: im getting 2 it

anywy this 1 had lots of kuvasz there and so its a MAJOR

BiggieZ: k

Spirit: and so we got to beat lots of other dogz and we both won some stuff i got winners bitch

BiggieZ: somedog call u a bitch?? where r they i beat them up 4 u

Spirit: no no not like that its a good thing and dani got winners dog

BiggieZ: cool

DanTheMan: yeah and then i beat spirit to get best of winners BOW!!!!!!!!!!!! I ROOL!!!!!!

Spirit: no you DROOL stupid

BiggieZ: so u r both winners cool

DanTheMan: see the pic below im in the middle standing nicely like a g'boy unlike other girlz i know

Spirit: I was looking for treats!

DanTheMan: well that is why I, your big brudder, WON BOW WOW WOW!!

Spirit: yah whatever I have more points than u anyway

BiggieZ: speaking of treats u got any meat 4 me im really hungry

DanTheMan: ill look brb

BiggieZ: so that is pretty cool and u mean u didnt get to play bitey face with anyone??

Spirit: no and since it was raining we couldnt go outside and mess up our hair

BiggieZ: thats not so good

Spirit: but it was a MAJOR and so now all I need one more major and then ill be finished

BiggieZ: finished with what?

Spirit: i dunno just finished with stuff, u know like being a champeen

BiggieZ: oh 

my P-Daddy is a major maybe he could help u finish

Spirit: hm maybe when is he coming

BiggieZ: u can only borrow him you cant have him

Spirit: i think i hafta have him to finish r u sure you cant give him to me

BiggieZ: no u cant have him i only said borrow

Spirit: meh

BiggieZ: meh

DanTheMan: im back mama said we cant send u any meat cuz its too smelly we can only send u oranges and grapefrut

BiggieZ: bummer im really hungry

Spirit: hey thanks for the chicken toy i really liked it but then i did something naughty and then mama took it away and said i hafta share

DanTheMan: yeah little brudder dude tx 4 the chicken toy

heres another pic of me being very light on my feet despite my massiveness.

BiggieZ: I dont think ive ever been that white

or fluffy

Spirit: You could be if ur Momma washed and brushed u like our mama does

BiggieZ: maybe but i think im curlier than dani every time momma brushes me i get staticks and then as soon as i wrestle i get all curly again

BiggieZ: Dani u look really huge there how much do u weigh? I have no idea how much i weigh but its over 100 something and momma measured me and said im 30 inches tall now

Spirit: just like u boyz all u can talk about is size

look at me below im striking a pose

DanTheMan: heh and youll make lightning devil eyes at everyone

Spirit: yeah well i still got way more points than u nyah nyah nyah and ur older

DanTheMan: u r such a brat i have to sit on you now

Spirit: ow get off me dfjksnj u r a fat

ass fgkg tyiodv df hfdk;lk

DanTheMan: and when we went to the shows i got to do a lot of pee mailing and we went in the Magic Box where the doors slid back and forth

BiggieZ: u mean like a store or a apartment building?

DanTheMan: no it was like a little box

BiggieZ: oh u mean a Ella Baiter

DanTheMan: whos ella is she in heat BOW WOW WOW 

BiggieZ: nevermind yah we have one in our building its pretty fun

if u sit u get treats

and sometimes its really squishy and full of people

if ur really lucky u might see another dog who lives there its really fun

especially if u start wrassling in there when u r on the leash

DanTheMan: i didnt do any wrassling i get enough at home

this time it was nice to have a vacation just with mama even if i had to share her with that little brat kid sister 

Spirit: mmmbtthh!! mmmmrrgggrrr!! get OFF lardo

BiggieZ: im gonna go bang my dish and see if momma feeds me im really hungry 

laterz

DanTheMan: l8r

Spirit: nbk dfh dfrtm bbrrrgh!!