Lesson Of The Day: KONG frisbees don't float.

I was out in the park earlier with Sparky, Kota and their new KONG frisbee. I bought it last week to replace the hard plastic one that Sparky didn't like catching and I was no good at throwing.

We like the KONG frisbee. It's soft enough for Spaky to catch and carry and light enough for me to throw and flexible enough that I can fold it up and put it into m bag when we're not playing.

Anyhow, we were playing frisbee. And Sparky got a little hot and so, as he ofte does, he ran off into the river to have a drink.

And, as he often does, he came back out again toy-less.

And so I sent him back down the muddy slope into the river with a "go fetch your frisbee!" Sparky ran off all excited and came back up 2 minutes later. Still toy-less. And so I sent him back down again. "Go get your frisbee Sparks! Bring it here!"

Sparky went charging into the river all excitedly and came back out again. Frisbee-less.

And so I clambered through the fence that seperates the park from the river. And slipped down the muddy, weedy slope to the edge of the river. And, hanging pecariously over the edge, proceeded to look for the frisbee. After a few minutes I spotted it.

At the bottom of the deepest part of the river.

Sparky obviously knew it was there, he kept walking over to it and then back to me and looking at me pleadingly. He coud see his frisbee and he wanted it. He just wasn't going to put his head under the water to get it!

And so what could I do? That's right, I took off my bag and my coat and my shoes and my socks and placed them on the wet, muddy, slippery bank. I rolled up my trousers (I really need to shave my legs...) and stepped through the soo into the freezing cold water. I rolled up my sleeve and plunged my arm elbow deep into said freezing cold water.

All to retrieve my dogs' frisbee.

A message to KONG: Next time, make frisbees that float!

What happens?

When you have three dogs and one beef rib?

In my house you get Pass The Parcel.

Is my beef rib and don't you even think about touching it.


Nu uh, is mine now!


Acually, you're both wrong. It's all mine.

Family Portraits

Sparky and Sammie: "Ooh, something interesting!"
Kota: "Must. Look. At. Mum."





Sparky: "Eye contact, eye contact..."
Sammie: "Ooh, something interesting!"
Kota: "Must. Look. At. Mum."





Sparky: "Looking at Mum, looking at Mum..."
Sammie: "I;m doing this because it amuses me, not because you asked me to."
Kota: "Must. Look. At. Mum."





Sparky: "This is my "I hate you" look."
Sammie: "Oh, fine. I'll look at you."
Kota: "Must. Look. At. Mum."

Happy Easter!

Well, happy for Sparky anyway. Not so happy for the bunny!



[Yes, I know the title is late but I haven't had a chance to write this post since the weekend! Bear with me... I have a point! This post isn't about Easter.]

Last week I got an e-mail. Nothing unusual about that. However this e-mail offered me 40kg of free dog food if I'd write a review on my blog.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Instead I decided I'd do a review of the absolute best food out there that you could feed your dog.

Meat.

Well, meat, bones and offal in the right proportions. But we'll start with the meat.

A BARF (Bones and Raw Food or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) diet tries to replicate what a wild dog or wolf would eat and so we try to replicate the right proportions found in whole prey. This, generally, equates to roughly 80% muscle meat.



In this particular bowl we have Kota's breakfast. Here we have a mixture of beef, chicken and tripe minces. My dogs also get lamb and ox heart as their muscle meat (but no pork, pork gves Sparky the sh*ts). We do like variety though! Variety is, as they say, the spice of life!


Next you want about 10% offal.



The offal should be mainly liver but kidney, lungs, pancreas and spleen can all be fed as offal. Sparky and Kota only get liver and kidney as I can pick those up in the reduced section of the supermarket!

I feed their offal frozen in ice-cube format. This started because Sparky wouldn't eat it raw and defrosted but is now just an easy way to portion it up and spread it throughout the days (too much liver all at once also gives both dogs the sh*ts).


Finally your dog needs roughly 10% bone.



Too much bone has the opposite effect of too much kidney, it hardens the stools and constipates your dog. However just the right amount will make your dogs stools just firm enough to automatically express your dog's anal glands.

This blog has really gone downhill! I wish to speak with the manager!

*mutters* Talking about my private business online where anyone can see it...


Oh, shut it Sparks.

Anyway, bone. Bone can be in two types: edible or recreational. dible bones are (unsurprisingly) ones your dog can eat. Chicken portions, lamb ribs etc. Recreational bones are ones they can't. Knuckle bones and the like. Recreational bones aren't essential to the diet and are very much given on a "know thy dog" basis as some dogs will break teeth trying to chew through them. Mine don't. I find recreational bones very good for some extra tartar-scraping and so do feed them. I get mine for free from my lovely local butcher!



And there you have it! Your basic BARF diet. Easy, isn't it?

On top of the basics some people (i.e. me) choose to add supplements like fish oil (capsules):



Or a whole raw egg:



Or even a salmon head (beats fish oil any day):



But nothing, and I mean nothing can beat Whole Prey. Why try and replicate something when you could just have the thing itself? Especially when the "thing" is free!

And that's where Bunny comes in. Bunny was road-kill found on my way home from work one night. Bunny was unceremoniously put into a carrier bag and tranferred to my freezer where she languised for a few days. She was then defrosted and flung out into the garden for the dogs to enjoy. Andy boy did they enjoy her!

I am predator, see my teeth!


You want some rabbit? Well go find your own! This one is all mine!