Of Mice and Dogs

Ah... Every woman's dream, doing special things, and that's what this entry is all about!

Yesterday hubby took Freya and Nubis out for a stroll. They immediately yelled "Thanks dad!" and proceeded to run off. I went to the door because of hubby's frantic calls for Freya to come back only to find him crouched on the other side of the road holding a dog. Due to the fact that if something is 5 foot from my face I have to wear glasse or it all looks like Jabba the Hut, I couldn't see what it was, other than it was a dog. As I start walking down our drive, I see more of it and by the time I hit about 15 feet from it I gasped, hope and fear filling my entire personage. It wasn't JUST a dog. This lovely animal was a SHIBA INU! Wonders of wonders. For those of you who don't know me, I have had an all encompassing NEED to have a Shiba in my life for about 10 years. But, I have never lived close enough to a breeder to fullfill this fantasy of fur, so I have gone unfulfilled. I almost wept. Questions filled my mind. Is he owned? Was she ditched by an unloving person who obviously deserves to be encarserated in the 9th pit of hell? (you know the one, where people who talk in theaters and besmurch young virgins go...) Was he sick? Was it a she or a he? Did she wander off? Oh my. Upon close inspection we found out the animal in question was indeed a HE and that HE was an INTACT HE! Wow. He was also very, very old. Almost all of this little man's face was white in color while the rest of him was a very nice shade of fawn. I came back to the house, made a few phone calls and then carried back a pan of water and a can of dog food. The poor little man drank most of the water and gulped down the food. He was tired, and a little weak acting, so I figured that he needed both. Not reaching anyone who knew who he belonged to, hubby and I decided to put him in the cabin (to isolate him from the other dogs in case he was sick. By the way, by this time Freya and Nubis were back in the house, having not run any further than to this little wanderer they found.) and to go down to the local meeting places and see if they knew who he belonged to. At that moment a neighbor came down the road and stopped when they saw us. They had news I loved to hear, yet didn't want to hear at the same time. The Shiba belonged to a new neighbor! Whoot! So we went back, put the pup in the car and left on a journey to return him. Turns out the new neighbor has a lot of dogs. And I do mean a lot, but what was even better, is that he not only owns our wandering Shiba (Named: Joey.) but his brother and several others, I mentioned my longing for a shiba and how I almost kept him, and he asked me if I wanted a boy or a girl. I mentioned a Girl and I have one promised to me from his next litter! Whoot! (Don't tell my beloved mother in law, she may skin me if I get another dog. Although, my most excellent sister in law would be excited for me as I could breed and sell puppies, thus earning a secondary income for us and a rewarding feeling of purpetuating this AMAZING breed!) I about held my breath over it, and I can hardly sit still to see what the rest of his Shiba's look like.

While I am on the subject of old man doggies.. I have to tell you about a new trick we use with our wonderful Thor. Thor is OLD, 12 years old in human years actually. Which wouldn't be a bad thing if he were a pomeranian. But he's not. He's a 120 lb., Shar-pei, chow, lab mix. Because of his size, and his arthritis and his overall health we don't expect to get more than a year or two more with him on this Earthly Coil without his leaving over the rainbow bridge. Well, his appetite isn't what it used to be, and he's started to snub his kibble. Don't mistake me, we feed good kibble, Nutra Nuggets, Lamb and Rice $21.95 a 40 lb bag and our vet approved it to use as a substitute for IAMS. So, I concocted a recipe that I wanted to share with you all so that if you have pups with the same problem, maybe it would help. Take 1 jar of veal baby food, (Be sure there is no onion in it of course, I use BeechNut brand and it contains: Veal and Veal broth.) and 2 cups of broth, such as beef, chicken or even vegetable (I used a can of beef broth, which is 1 cup plus 7/8 of a cup). I put both jars of stuff into a jar, quart or pint or whatever they will fit in. SHAKE, shake it like a macarana and hope you got the lid on well. then I put 1/8 cup of this over Thor's food. Each of the other dogs get about a tablespoon, don't want them to feel left out. And viola, that was all it took to get Thor to start eating his kibble again.

Since this seems to be all about dogs more than doing special things specifically, I thought I would toss in here the new training regime we are using on Freya too. Starting yesterday afternoon we are doing the school of treats for her. She comes when called, she gets a treat, she sits when told, she gets a treat and so on and so forth. EVERYTIME she does something she is told, she gets a treat. Kind of like giving a kid an allowance for doing their chores. lol. So far in the 4 times we have taken her out since starting this new school theory, she hasn't even TRIED to run off. I guess she'll put on some weight, but we'll see. Maybe part of this new regime will include her and dad taking up jogging. :D It'll be a great bonding experience for them since she is HIS girl after all. hehe.

Off to coax Thor in, he's laying at the bottom of our front steps in the sun and when I called him in a few minutes ago he looked at me like I had grown a second head. hehe. The ground is still at about 28 degrees though, and I don't want him to get all stiff and sore from the cold on his arthritis.

Toodles!