group feeding

I feed my dogs together. Unless the adults have a recreational bone, and hence more time than I care to spend supervising, Thomas or I feed them all together, separate bowls but shared space. By shared space I need to make clear that they have plenty of room to wander around if they finish.
I fed Kayla and Skye in their crates until we got Celie and Gus. When I got Celie, Kim told me how she feeds her dogs. And I watched Cesar Milan demonstrate how he feeds on his DVD. I don't know if I would want to feed this way with that many dogs. Four is working, and that's with little sneak-thief Kayla who wolfs her portion down and then sees if she can snatch a bite from the others.
Honestly, I don't think Gus would have eaten this morning if he hadn't had competition. (Is this similar to us? We will eat even if not hungry when we see others enjoying food. Which is probably why I can't lose the extra 20-30 lbs. I've packed on since moving to FL. )
I can guess that some may view this as a problem but it has been working for these two months. There have been no fights because we watch over them and make sure they leave each other's meal alone until they are walking away from it. If they have a rec bone I put them in their crates. If I have no time to watch over them I put them in their crates.
It's been interesting. I can see how they eat and know what they prefer. Celie for instance is very particular. She likes to eat the muscle meat bits first, then the cottage cheese and last the organ meat. Gus-Gus eats his all together. Kayla eats everything as quickly as possible and is usually the first one finished. She is like this in her crate as well. Skye takes his time and when finished likes to lick his lips for a while and make sure he's got all the bits off his teeth.
My understanding is this enforces pack bonding and that Thomas and I are the alphas. The alpha decides who gets to eat. We make each dog sit before they get their meal. When one dog sits he gets fed and the others are kept back while he gets to eat. They soon realize they aren't getting theirs until they listen. Kayla has taken the longest to get this concept and at first had to be made to sit by us pushing her butt down. Now she is getting with the program and sits although still is usually the last one to do so.
I know this sounds involved, complicated, but it really only takes about 5 minutes.

Tom Lams

Do any of you know of this guy? The instructor is Tom Lams. He says he's been training and handling dogs since the '50's.
Meeting him has been totally luck of the draw. He took over the handling class in Washougal we had heard about and it's been moved to his house near Camas, about 20 minutes from where we live.
Thomas went a couple of weeks ago and the rest of us watched. Due to illness and lack of transportation we missed a couple of weeks but last night Chloë and I went to his handling class together.
This guy is amazing! He showed me how to get her to stack on the table without lifting her front feet, how to straighten her topline with the slightest, gentlest pressure to her chest, and how to move so she moved well. His attitude is totally positive for both dogs and handlers. He was wonderful with Celie, too. Told us how to deal with her "tantrums" on the table. He was very impressed with Chloë too. Said she has all the makings of an excellent handler. She only came really to help me with Celie because I needed to practice with Kayla. Now she's reconsidering handling again. shh.
There was one particularly funny thing that was said. He worked with a very newbie woman/cocker team first. While showing how to get a dog used to a lead he said, "Dogs learn in threes." Then he handled Kayla. I said, "It's taking her more than three times." "Well, she's a Corgi." We laughed. I'm sure some may have misinterpreted this to mean they were slow but I knew what he meant. All of you know how willful they can be. Kayla's one of the worst.
I googled his name and I guess he teaches seminars. So if any of you find that he is going to be teaching near where you live I strongly encourage you to attend. And if any of you are in the Vancouver area on a Wednesday I'll give you the info for this drop-in handling class.

Skye's new attitude

My dear boy. Beautiful, beautiful blue Skye. He is finally getting that Celie is fun. I've had to keep a muzzle on him so he wouldn't hurt the other dogs. But last weekend I noticed how well he was playing with Celie. Last night I tried leaving the muzzle off and see what they did. (Gus-Gus the Bulldog, and feeling all of his 6-month-old testosterone, was crated during this experiement.)
At first, Skye just rubbed his face on the carpet as if to say, "You really mean I can keep that thing off?" And then the little Celie went for him. I held my breathe. I could almost hear his brain go "Hey!" He crouched down to say, "Well, come on then." And she did. They wrestled and chased and played for over an hour. Hopefully, I can find the time later to post the pictures I took.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what they think brought about the change. Gus is, as I say, feeling all his boyhood. And he's definitely alpha. Would this explain Skye's change of attitude, understanding that a new guy is in town? Or is Celie just getting big enough and girlie enough that Skye wants to play? Kayla still plays with her. What I mean is she isn't threatened by her. Last night she just watched and even grumped a bit when they got too close. But this morning all three Cardis were playing together. (Gus was busy mooning over Thomas leaving for work. He loves his daddy so.)

I'm leaving the muzzle on until I can be sure that while my back is turned he's still behaving, especially with the other boy.

--Later that morning: Experiment with Gus shows Skye still doesn't like him. Muzzle and pressure to partition dog run back on. Oh well.

on feeding

Like many dog owners concerned over the quality of commercial dog food I have recently switched to raw, homemade meals and treats for my dogs. We have four dogs, each with slightly different needs. While I vary the theme for each of them I am as practical with their food prep as I am with my human family of 5. Same basic meal with a little extra this or that depending on their individual needs.
We start with meat. Columbia River Natural Pet Foods has a wide variety of meat. Some like the chicken with bones and beef mixes are less expensive than what you pay for hamburger. Other meats they offer are less expensive than what those meats intended for human consumption. But if I can't get to the specialty pet stores that sell it I use ground beef. I use ground meats particularly for the puppies as their teeth and jaws aren't strong enough to tear the meat away or break up the bones. For the adult dogs I offer meaty bones including chicken thighs, legs, wings, parts of the whole chickens that my human family won't eat (necks, backs, etc.), soup bones, oxtails, knuckle bones. When it comes to the chicken bones I've been amazed at how they wolf them down. Frankly I was worried at first as they seem to bite down hard, crack the bones and swallow them virtually whole. After several weeks neither of my adult dogs has had any problems resulting from this and I am not finding any evidence of the bones not being digested. Feces seems normal, occasionally whiter than before I fed them raw. I admit, however, that this is hardly a scientific study of the matter and controversy continues about whether to feed unground bones, raw or not to your pets. All I can say is thus far there have been no problems.
One meat I am sure to feed only after cooking is salmon. Raw salmon and trout from the Pacific Northwest can contain a parasite that can make dogs sick or even kill them. I've read that freezing the fish for 24 hours kills the parasite but need to do more research. I prefer to give canned salmon with the bones. I also sometimes have fed canned sardines or tuna.
To the meaty bones or ground meat/bone mixtures we add 1 T. yogurt or cottage cheese for the beneficial bacteria, an egg with the extra Omega Fatty Acids or more usually a squirt of EFA supplement, and a vitamin mix made by Holistic Pet Center . I am going to start adding more vitamin C. Dogs, like humans, no longer produce this important antioxidant. A friend and mentor, Kim Shira, who turned me on to feeding raw told me that they have found that supplementing with vitamin C aids in the prevention of hip dysplastia. (Yes, this is a genetic disease but it apparently prevents the problem from fully manifesting.) I will add a little more each day to determine how much each dog can tolerate. The feces starts to get too loose and I'll cut back to the more tolerated dose.
As far as how much my adult dogs, Skye and Kayla are getting about one cup or so of food twice a day. My 4-month-old puppy, Celie gets about 3/4 cup 3 times a day and Gus-Gus, the 6-month bulldog eats about 1 1/4 cups 3 times a day. And they all get a treat every so often. All are maintaining healthy weight with good muscle tone and little body fat.
As I say I am very new to this way of feeding my dogs. But I am happy with the results. It is costing us more. Probably 2-3 times more depending on what I can find on sale. So I make my own coffee and don't get one of those overpriced, fattening hot milkshakes at the gourmet coffee stores. Well, not as often. It seems to be evening out.

Not enough time

Never. Not for all that I love in my life. I love so many things. I love my husband. He's my best friend. I love my family. I absolutely love being a mom. I love homeschooling my three daughters. I've discovered I love history. I love drawing and painting. I love gardening. And I love dogs. This is the place where I can talk about all the things I love....but mostly it's a place where I share what I learn from my dogs.
Dogs are my bodhisattvas, my enlightened beings, that remind me to value each moment. They don't live in the past or the future. They are here and now and are very present in the present.
Dogs love many things too. Mostly a good snack. They nap when they are sleepy. They can derive such pleasure out of sniffing the smells in the air. A good run, like when there is a squirrel to chase, is exhilerating.
Life is short and even more so for them. Maybe that's why they don't dwell on what could have been or worry about tomorrow's possible crisis. They remind me that the treasure we are looking for is right in our own backyard. And it only requires a bit of digging.