Ahhhh, the good ol' days

Very occasionally, I find myself longing for the good ol' days ... the days when I fed a kibble diet. Oh sure, that feeling only lasts a nano-second, but still, pouring kibble from a bag was pretty darn easy.

I've been feeding my crew a raw meat diet for over 6 years now. In that time, I've gone from an apartment-sized freezer, to a 20 cubic footer, then another, and another, and then another, this time 25 cubic feet. I somehow always manage to keep them pretty darn full, but have never had to turn down anything meat-wise that was offered. I'd buy another freezer before I said "no" to a good deal on meat.

So, speaking of good deals, twice a year I buy from the local Hutterite colony a few hundred of their "old hens", their laying chickens. On Monday, Glenn and I picked up 800 of the birds. Yes, EIGHT HUNDRED. Five hundred went to raw-feeding friends also appreciative of a deal, but we still hung on to 300 of them. And so, by 10:00 a.m. Monday morning, I was well on my way to raw-feeding chicken hell. We spent the day cutting each bird into 10 pieces, packing them into ziplocs, and hauling them downstairs to the "chicken freezer".

The rewards, however, are huge and nothing makes me smile more than watching babies enjoying their first meal of raw chicken necks. They don't really consume much of it, but they sure love gnawing away and tearing off bits of meat. Today was that day, when I laid a blanket out in their pen and sat and watched. Maggie, true to herself, was the first one in and the last one to walk away. That girl sure does love her food! Madison also, but seemed much more methodical in her eating, much less of a frenzy than Maggie. Chloe could get her own reality show with the way she hoarded a collection of 3 or 4 necks. The boys all enjoyed theirs, too, with Bucky Chavez always wanting to drag his chickie neck up onto Granny's lap and have his lunch there.

Of course, the big guys took up position on the outside of the pen, waiting patiently, like vultures, for the babies to be finished as they knew they would get the leftovers. Capri, however, thought an attempt at tunneling under the expen would speed the sharing process along.


So far, the babies have enjoyed ground turkey with bone, ground chicken with bone, beef, lamb, chunks of llama, ground tripe, and one meal of kibble.


Happy Trails ... Theresa

O - M -G

If you thought my job as Granny Of The Puppies was all glamour and snuggles, put on your earplugs and watch this. They've just woken up from a morning nap and polished off their lunch of finely ground turkey, cleaned up most of the mess off of each other, and had a piddle or two. And then ... it's off to choir practice.

At one point, even Emmy pushes them back into the pool with her nose. And look at her cleaning the back molars on Madison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h9Oe-RLaK4

I knew I should have purchased stock in the Tylenol company.

(p.s. immediately after I shut off the camera, I let the still awake squawkers loose on the floor ... instant silence from them, pure bliss for me)

Happy Trails ... Theresa

Say it ain't so

The puppies are not yet even 4 weeks old, and on Saturday morning we came out to the kitchen to discover one rotten little pupper crawling around, eager to discover a whole new world outside the whelping pool. Why??? Why can't they just be happy with life in the pool? It's purple, it's big, it has colored fishies swimming on the sides, it's easy to clean ... all legitimate reasons as far as I'm concerned, but obviously not enough for 8 little puppies about to make my life my more hectic and my mornings pure noisy chaos.

What happens out on the kitchen floor? They visit the other Aussies through their crate doors, they get snarked at my Gramma Hannah, get a lip lifted by Papa Gracin ... both silly from these two so protectice of their space. But put them all out together and Hannah is only too happy to nurture her grand-puppies, and Gracin almost plays with them. Paisley, on the other hand, is more than happy to lay down and let them think they can nurse while she happily washes their faces and other parts. And Mama Emmy has no objection and seems to welcome the help.

(Auntie Paisley pulling puppy duty)

The puppies growl and bark at one another and try to roughhouse but in their puppy-clumsiness usually topple over, which starts a whole new game of discovery as they roll around on their backs, stretching, reaching out to grab a toy or edge of the blankie. It's non-stop entertainment and seriously, I could sit and watch them all day.

Personalities are definitely emerging ... Murray is the snuggly one of the bunch and loves to be held and cuddled, and easily returns the affection. My buddy Lee is a fiesty little character who thinks he's a real tough guy with his baby growls which soon give way to his clown-like playfulness and expression. Madison is very demanding. She may not have been the first one out of the pool but is the puppy to now master getting out of the pool, or at least carrying on with non-stop whining and howling until I finally give in and lift her out. She's beautiful, and independent, and seems to have a puppy grace about her. All in all, the whole bunch is just pure joy.

Emmy has surprised me with her calm nature as a mama. She's accepted all visitors with enthusiam for any attention and affection aimed at her. We had young children visit the other day and she was just as comfortable with the little ones in the pool petting puppies as she is with adults. What a fine example she's setting for her young family, teaching them to be relaxed and trusting with humans. Now, if she would only teach them to sleep in beyond 5:00 in the morning, we'd have 'er made.

Happy Trails ... Theresa