Beebe is a Superdog

Ike is offended that I took this picture of him having

prissy paws, like his counterpart "Miso"

She earned it, I am so thrilled that she enjoys Flyball so much. This is the next level of her training, so now we will focus on passing other dogs doing runs and accuracy. It has been so much fun (and extremely trying) to work with this dog because she continues to be a very hard little worker, but at the same time, VERY Shiba-tuded. It's an awesome challange to try and out think a determined Shiba. Notice I said "try". Our AWFUL photo of her training promotion: http://http//seattleflydogs.blogspot.com/2010/02/beebe-superdog.html

We have had a Flyball breakthrough with Ike. He has decided retrieving at practice can be just as fun as doing it at home where there aren't any witnesses to back me up. It has taken months for him to take to this directed retrieve business (which is an entirely different animal than play retrieving). To connect it all to the box and to help allieviate any hesitation he had stepping on the box to pick up a dead ball, I was suprised that the instructors suggested a game of laser chase (his all time favorite thing).

Ike thought it was stupendous fun running up and hitting the box while the teach baited him with the light. Then, like a Harvard professor, the teach aimed the light on the subject, the dead ball, and to my utter amazement, Ike gingerly took the ball in his mouth and returned it ALL THE WAY to me. OMG, wow, hallelujiah, I hope he retains this. Oh, and he only works for his little green squeaky Kong ball, just like a Shiba, picky about the particulars.

Our Cow is Here! Hooray!

1 of the 6 boxes full of flesh

Well, here she is, 287lbs of her processed and wrapped in old-timey butcher paper. Yep, 6 large boxes containing 78lbs of ground beef, 1 heart, 1 tongue, 2 kidney, 4 bags of chew bones, 1 tail, 6 liver packages, a Kagillion short ribs, steaks, roasts, chuck, etc, all grass fed, no antibiotics, open pastured, and humanely slaughtered on site.

I apologize for that last bit there, it was not appropriate. Ooops!

Shiba people can be downright Snarky!

I should know enough by now to expect it...especially with the old lady Shiba people, just like old lady Shibas! It's hard to keep my head above the crowd, but I sure try.

Flexi leads and Shiba

I admit that I use a flexi lead when I walk my dogs, not always, one at a time, not in busy traffic or anything, but usually during the more subdued times of the day (5am, midmorning). Normally I prefer a heavy duty ribbon style 15+ ft for 25-50lb dogs and I have a nylon loop that I secure around my wrist. The darn plastic handles are slippery if the dog suddenly lunges and the heavy reel can scare the dog if it's dropped causing them to bolt.

Yesterday for Shiba walkies I grabbed my older flexi with the 20+ ft string line instead of using old reliable. Now that I have been showing, I am more on pins and needles about any sort of potential injury to the dogs that may damage their coats. Ike's hot spot from last August FINALLY filled in, as had Beebe's bite wound. Little did I know that string line flexis uber suck regarding rope burn, as it kept wrapping around myself and Ike's feet and getting caught in his tail sickle, only to whip back around like a broken bandsaw and smack him in the face. Definately a thumbs down on this flexi variety.

Westminster Shiba Results

I think this needs to be addressed:

Best of Breed is Dragon House Mr. Jones, out of San Jo Proud Mary and by San Jo American Idol (Simon). Jones is, of course, if some of you didn't know, the full litter brother to my Ike.

Best of Opposite Sex is San Jo She's on Fire (Youmee), a very lovely girl.

Many congratulations to San Jo kennels for producing such nice dogs.

http://shibaweb.com/webmag/?p=1198

click here to see pictures and official results!

Show Scene: Western Washington Cluster

6 months ago, I entered my very first pointed dog show with my very first show dog, Ike, a Shiba Inu as most of you know. I had taken handling classes for a few months by then and gone to matches, but was still a horrible nervous wreak. 6 months later, I returned to the same venue as a (slightly) more experienced handler, a year exactly from the time I had watched my first dog show in person. I believe the differences from that day 6 months ago to this January show are profound. I'm not saying I'm great at it or anything, but at least this time (hopefully) I looked like I knew what I was doing a little more. Well, I managed to attract a fan and fellow Shiba newby anyway who was kind enough to share these pictures of us from last month...And please ignore my giant gams, it's all the camera angle I swear.

Ike looks so naked while he stands at attention. He was totally out of coat.

Ike says, "Pick me! I'm a good boy."

Ike is Winners Dog in the best of breed lineup, his brother Mr. Jones (bred by Leslie Engen) is to my right

1 year ago, it all started

Best Friends inspecting the yard from their throne on the hot tub

Ike looking for someone to love him

Ike plays with Kong balls like a little kitty

Ike inspected a duck last year

I can't believe it's been more than a year since Ike has come into my life. I love this little guy and the way he explores his world. Some recent favorite pictures of him (and a favorite old picture).

Excited for our cow to arrive!

I relocated some of the items I don't use much to make room in my

freezer until she gets here. I didn't want to toss all the kibble nor the meaty bones.

You gotta be careful giving these kind of thick meaty bones or they can chip teeth.

Did you know quail eggs freeze really well?

Eh, was that a cow you say? Indeed it was, but she will be dead. I upgraded and bought a freezer chest last week for a song, and what better to fill it with than food for the dogs? Yesterday little Bessie the beef cow went to heaven in a humane way on her farm, and she dressed out at about 350 lbs of prime grass fed free range, antibiotic and hormone free, home grown beef. My parents are taking some of the ground and choice cuts (she came from a friend my mom works with) but I specifically requested organs, tongue, heart and tail, along with some prime cuts, no ground. She should fill the locker nicely. I can't wait till she gets here, I've been waiting for ever.

What happens when they die?

While at the last dog show in January with Ike, I splurged a little and bought some reading material (which was a long overdue purchase). My latest read, "Food Pets Die For" by Ann Martin http://www.amazon.com/Food-Pets-Die-Shocking-Facts/dp/0939165317

It's a worthy read, and indeed shocking. Swine waste, horses, rancid restaurant fryer grease, and sawdust are often used as ingredients in commercial kibbles. That wasn't the shocking part for me. I've known this this for as long as I can remember. That probably started when I got caught eating out of the Alpo cans as a toddler or snacking on Kibbles n' Bits in the early 80's and my mom would snatch it away from me, saying, "Don't you know that's all horse meat? There's all kinds of garbage in there." And it was horse meat, but apparently OK for Fritz and Barney our Schnauzers. Grandma used to tell me how after the war, there was a surplus of horses and everyone in the rural farming communities our family lived in knew that's where unwanted horses went, to dog food and "victory war steaks".

Heck, when I was a student in Montana, a close friend who worked at the same Vet clinic as I had an entire herd of "canners." Canners were horses that were bought cheaply at auction or had become lame or too old to work, and then fattened on good grazing for a few wonderful and peaceful months, only to be sent straight to the rendering plant in the fall for a handsome price, to be sold for pet food or prepared as human edibles overseas. Young and old, all destined for slaughter.

By the way, a horse auction is possibly one of the saddest experiences with farm animals I have ever had. It invoked the childhood memories of reading "Black Beauty", and the gut wrenching feeling people should have when seeing an innocent creature suffer. Many of the horses are beyond terrified, fresh off the race track as failures, and many are simply too old, broken spirited and used up to care much about anything.

These are the horses that the brokers in the front rows of the auction barn keep an eye out for. They want the ones that don't sell, that won't ever get a good shot at an idyllic retirement in a grassy field like Black Beauty, so they are discretely purchased at the end of the auction for a very cheap price to fatten and sell for meat, or directly sent to the render. Perhaps the auction house isn't that bad, the Game Farm in my area encourages people to send their unwanted horses to where they are shot and then fed to the big cats, bears and wolves.

Most people don't realize that renders also process dog food, or sell their rendered product to a dog food company as ingredients (including horse meat which is listed as "meat by product" or "meat meal" usually). The shocking part for me was reading the reports that the majority of pet owners don't know what happens to their companion pets when they die. Sure, we say they go to the Rainbow Bridge, but where do their bodies end up? I was surprised that of all the Veterinary staff Ann Martin interviewed, the vast majority also reported NOT to know what happens to euthanized pet animal remains if the owners do not opt for cremation or private burial.

We called them Kirby Specials where I part time at. Dr. Kirby was an old timey vet and didn't do anything fancy and the pets were given a general disposal, that is to say, nothing fancy. No cremation, no solemn burial, no big send off. Nope, they were injected with euthanasia solution and sent straight to the rendering plant inside a garbage bag after spending a night or two in the freezer, to be rendered into "meat meal" and "byproducts" that people would then in turn feed to their pets. I knew this, especially after growing up on a farm and working in the pet care industry. Seriously, what do people honestly think happens to all the euthanized animals in the US? Thousands upon thousands of them.

I guess one big point I gleaned from all of this is to shepherd your pet to the very end. Feed them wholesome food, protect them from fear and harm. For me, that final act of shepherding my pet companion means hand carrying my deceased frineds to the pet crematory and cemetery, wrapped in their little blankies, and being the last person to touch them and send them off to the Rainbow Bridge. Someday, I know I will see them again, but it isn't going to be from inside a bag of dog food.