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Milton does not resource guard raw food.
Ok. So raw food, which most dogs would see as a greater value than kibble, is quite yummy to Milton. He loves this new diet. He marks where he eats raw (annoying and weird) so he gets fed outside with Elka. I’ve been assuming he would guard such tasty morsels, and keeping some food out (usually organ pieces) and giving them to him while he chows down the main portion.
I had noticed that he never got nervous about my approaches when eating raw. He’d look up, almost smile at me, and go back to eating. No freezing, no super fast tail wagging, no other obvious signs of discomfort (like growling, you know?).
So today I was out in the yard going to pick up their bowls and he was munching on a bone, ignore my very existence. I went up to him and called his name. He looked up, gave my hand a kiss, and went back to eating while I gave him a good petting.
if I’d done this with kibble, I would have gotten myself bit. Even after all the work we did, he still would have shown some tension at this.
I’m not sure if it’s the raw, or possibly being fed outside. I’m not going to feed him kibble outside to find out. He hasn’t resource guarded any high value bones (he used to guard bully sticks) in a long time. He lets Mali walk around him, even sniff him while he’s chewing. A little bit of uncertainty, but no snapping like I’d seen before.
Now, admittedly, I’ve worked with him on the guarding - but honestly? Not so much as to see these drastic results. His behavior is a complete 180 from before.
I won’t complain, though.
Today I took both dogs to PetSmart to weigh in. Elka is too high in weight again (70lbs) so I need to cut back her portions, but not as drastically as I did last time. I’d like her to maintain 70lbs for the winter months, and down to 65lbs for the summer. Milton was at 48lbs!!!! He’s almost 50lbs. He still looks underfed (he gets the same larger portions Elka gets) but he’s clearly putting weight on/growing. He has a little bit more padding on his bones, but he could still stand to put on 2-5lbs and he’d still look thin.
I bought some more kongs for their ground rabbit meals, and some multi-use leashes. We did several rounds around the store for training and they were being far better behaved by the end. A good day.
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Mali is doing great. She’s laying on my lap as I type. I have trouble believing she’s still alive some days; and here she is, fat and healthy. That’s a miracle and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t cherish her continued stability. Life through medication, right? She has a high quality life though, bossing the dogs around, getting chased, and doing everything in her power to annoy me. I love her so much. My wonderful polkadots.
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Last night I organized my linen closet. I got shelf dividers which I’m hoping will really help. My master closet is next, but when I went in there to start I got a bit overwhelmed. I know I need to simply go a shelf at a time, but damn, looking at the mess in there is seriously discouraging.
Work on the floors/paint was supposed to start this week but got delayed to start on the 25h. So long as it’s done by the 10th (when Tiayr arrives) I’ll be happy. I can’t wait to see the cork in the bedroom, and the dark paint with my new, bling bling lights.
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Work has been crazy, hectic, stressful, exciting. All good stuff. We’re starting some new stuff next week (based on my training in early September) which I’m really excited about.
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Mom is visiting for 2 weeks over Thanksgiving. I took the 3rd of December off so that she and I can go enjoy the Portland Christmas Bazaar. I’ll put the dogs in daycare and we can spend the day at the bazaar/galavanting around Portland. I don’t think I’ve taken time off for one of her visits before, so this should be a lot of fun, even if my feet fall off at the end of the day.
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Lastly, my cough is somewhat better. I was off my Tessalon Perles for a week, but then the rain stopped and the sun came out, and the Dulera wasn’t enough and I started coughing again. So Dulera helps, but I am wondering if there’s an allergy component there. I’ll probably do some allergy testing this winter.
I scheduled a mammogram the first week of November as well. They were all sorts of packed due to Breast Cancer Awareness Month - which is not why I’m getting a mammogram. I’m getting a mammogram for two reasons. 1) I don’t want to die from breast cancer, and 2) mom will spend 2 weeks harassing me about it if I don’t get it done. I also have a dental cleaning/check-up scheduled. I should probably get a flu shot too. Getting my shit in order, yes I am.
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Lastly, one of my favorite books of all time is Swan Song. I bought it on the Kindle and re-read it. Just as great a story as I remember.
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I can’t think of anything else to say now. Have a good ‘un.
-Lisa, on October 16, 2010 at 9:37 pm