Boxer Blog

He must smell my dog...

2008-10-16T11:11:00.001-06:00

One of my favorite SNL clips. Ever.

Dana Carvey ~ Massive Head wound Harry | Funny Jokes at JibJab

Back from vacation: Spotlight on George

2008-07-17T18:59:00.009-06:00

We went to the Boundary Waters in Northern Minnesota and stayed at Custom Cabins for a week. It was beautiful and we had a great time hiking, swimming, "goin' to town" and fishing.
George, as it turns out, loves to fish.
A lot.
It's almost a clinical obsession requiring a combination of medication and intense therapy. Since Dr. Phil wasn't in Ely, Minnesota during our trip, we had no other choice but to enable his addiction by fishing off the dock. In past trips, he has stared so intently at the bobber that he's fallen off the dock and into the water. Now George is a big boy and has all of the swimming characteristics of an anvil. He wasn't deterred though. He struggled to shore - splashing away - and scrambled back on to the dock to resume his hunt.
He's almost 10 now, so we figure whatever makes him happy makes us happy too.
Here are some shots of him in action:

"Heeere fishy fishy!"

"Whoa! Slippery when wet! And there's a fish on my head! Ack!"

"All your fish are belong to me"

"Wait! Now what?"

"Oh yeah. Now I remember. Fishsickles!"

"Fish-licking is quite exhausting. I must nap now in front of the fire with my blankie and my four dog beds."

"There have got to be fish in the waterfall behind us. What are we doing just sitting here?"

My hat is in the ring

2008-07-01T13:42:00.005-06:00

Please send me your donations. It's going to be an uphill battle.

The Bear Story

2008-06-27T14:54:00.007-06:00

Since I don't have a lot of new dog news to report, I thought I'd tell the The Bear Wrestling Story.

THE PLAYERS
Lonnie - roommate
Don - Ex-Army Ranger
Kevin - Former high school wrestling champ
Me - Fine Art Major
Sampson - 8'+ 700+ lbs - Black Bear

THE SETUP.
It was 1991 and I was attending college in central Minnesota. One of my roommates, Lonnie, came home from his part-time job at the Convention Center where he was helping set up for the annual Sports Show. Lonnie told us of one of the big attractions: Sampson the Wrestling Bear. That evening Sampson and his handler were walking through the Convention Center when Sampson stopped to pee, which Lonnie had to clean up. IT COMPLETELY FILLED A 5-GALLON WET-VAC. A five gallon pee, just think about that. Sampson was a BIG BEAR. He had been declawed and his teeth were worn down but he was still big freaking bear. Sampson was taking on all comers and since we were young and invincible, we decided to take him on. We went out to the bars that night and Don, Kevin and I proceeded to brag about wrestling Sampson the next day. As the night (and beers) wore on, our boasting got more and more out of touch with reality. We were going to open up a can of whup ass on Sampson! He'll never know what hit him! By the end of the night, we had told pretty much everyone we knew that we were going to make mincemeat out of Sampson.

D-DAY.
Boy, did our heads hurt the next morning. We were woken up by the incessant ringing of the phone - people calling us to wish us luck and to ask what time we were going to take on Sampson. Ugh. We were screwed. We now HAD to wrestle him. We headed over to the Convention Center to get our names on the list - secretly hoping that it would be full and we would have an out. Lonnie, being the loyal roommate that he was, pulled some strings and reserved three spots for us. We found the guy running the show and he took us into his office for a chat. We sat down and he handed us all disclaimer forms, stating that we would not hold them responsible if we were injured, dismembered, paralyzed, disfigured or killed. We looked at him, looked at each other and said "Boy, is this stupid. Where do we sign?" Game on.

ZERO HOUR.
The stage they had set up for this event was a lightly carpeted plywood stage, about 15'x20'. No padding. No ropes. No nothing. Don, Kevin and I were discussing this when a sudden collective gasp came from the crowd of about 200 people. Sampson was in the house. He waddled out onto the stage (which was creaking under his weight) on his hind legs. He was big. Really big. Too big. I had the sudden urge to urinate which was quickly followed by the sudden urge to run crying from the room. Thankfully, I was frozen in fear which allowed me to give the illusion of calm and keep whatever dignity I would soon lose. We drew straws and I was lucky enough to be the first to wrestle. Sampson sat down on his haunches which put him at just about eye level. Did you know bears have really big heads but very little faces? And they stink. I asked the handler what I was supposed to do and he said, and I quote "The goal is to knock him over. You get three attempts. Put your shoulder underneath his chin and go."
"Go?!?", I replied. "That's it? Just go? He's going to pop my head off my body like a dandelion from it's stem. "Go" you say. What kind of help is that?"
"Don't worry," he reassured me, "Sampson will know what to do."
"OK, then. Here I go."

I was somehow able to get my shoulder underneath his chin, grabbed two big handfuls of stinky fur and pushed as hard as I could. Imagine this: wrap a really foul-smelling fur rug around the biggest tree you can find and try to push the tree over. That is exactly what it was like. I figure my chances of success hovered around .02%. Sampson just kind of sat there with a that's-all-you-got? look on his face when I felt his neck twitch and heard someone in the audience scream.

When I opened my eyes. I was flat on my back about 10 feet away from Sampson. The twitch I felt was him throwing me through the air by doing nothing more than turning his head. I rolled onto my side and saw Don and Kevin looking at me slack-jawed and bug-eyed. Not a comforting sight. I checked myself to make sure I wasn't missing anything, struggled to my feet and faced my opponent for Round #2. As soon as I had my shoulder in place under his chin, he made what I am told was a beautiful move. He pushed my upper body to the left with his head while he swept my lower body to the right with his left paw - essentially slapping me to the ground and knocking the wind out of me. It took about 30 seconds for me to start breathing normally again before I could get to my feet for Round 3.

By this point, Sampson had pretty much knocked the fight right out of me. He never moved from his sitting position as he threw me around like a three-year-old girl. Round 3 ended pretty predictably: I again got in position and he put his left paw between us and basically backhanded me across the stage where I landed in a heap like a marionette who's strings have been cut. Thank God it was over. I still had all of my limbs, my dignity and clean underwear.

Don was up next and he fared worse that I did. If you can picture a dog sitting down and then put a little doll underneath him in that little space behind his front feet, that's where Don found himself. Sampson pinned him to the floor and tore his shirt. I could see that Don was struggling for his life and was furiously kicking and punching, but Sampson was just sitting there, casually bopping Don in the stomach and chest with his muzzle. Kevin was next and had the most spectacular bout of all of us. At one point, Sampson grabbed Kevin around the side of his chest using his nubby teeth and picked him up off the ground - bruising several of Kevin's ribs in the process - before he spit him out like so much chewed gum.

THE AFTERMATH
We went back out to the bars that night and proceeded to brag about wrestling Sampson. Kevin had scars where Sampson had grabbed him and had some difficulty breathing, Don's upper body was a mass of bruises and I couldn't turn my head to the left for about a week and a half. We were a mess but we did it: We wrestled a bear and walked away to tell about it.

Yo

2008-06-26T08:15:00.004-06:00

Yes, I'm still alive! I apologize to my legions of loyal readers - aka my mom - for being blogless for the past few months. I've gone through a lot of changes in my life lately and I really wasn't - and am still not - entirely sure where things would take me. The biggest change is that Sasha was diagnosed with a fairly severe heart problem, which necessitated our early retirement from agility. We had been doing that consistently for the past five or six years, so there's a big gaping hole in my life as I try to find something to fill that void. I have also taken a break from teaching as well. It is just so hard to remain enthusiastic about the sport and to pass that enthusiasm on to my students when I am heartbroken that we can't compete any more. I can't give 100%, and that's not fair to them. One of the hardest things about that is that I no longer see my friends from agility any more. There are a couple people I saw every Monday that are really fun to be around but since I'm not running Sasha or teaching any more, I don't see them, and that makes me sad. So, I guess all in all I just sort of feel adrift right now and I'm not sure where I'm going next.

Sorry to get so morose. No one wants to read about how I'm contemplating life and what it all means, blah blah blah... I promise to be more upbeat. In fact, I heard there was a new Ugliest Dog winner: a one-eyed, three-legged Chinese Crested. I'll have to dig around for photos to post. In the meantime, stay tuned. I'll be posting more stuff soon.
Dave

Photos from the article

2007-12-14T09:05:00.001-06:00

Here are the "action shots" of me and Sasha from the article. A friend of mine pointed out that they put Sasha's name in quotes, like she's running under an assumed name or something. the funny thing is that shortly after the photographer left, "Sasha" and I collided and I totally wiped out. It was a pretty spectacular crash and actually, the first time we had ever done that. I zigged, she zagged and I went down like a sack of potatoes. Thank God they didn't get a picture of that!

Here's a photo of my friend Kevin's Border Collie, Fergus. What a great shot! I told Kevin it should be on the cover of Clean Run!

A Nice Article

2007-11-29T09:03:00.000-06:00

A reporter from WauwatosaNOW came to my agility class to do a story on agility. I thought it was quite nice, although she neglected to mention how good looking and charismatic I am. Jackie and Marvin mentioned in the article are from the Beagle Blog listed under my links column. Here it is:
http://www.wauwatosanow.com/story/index.aspx?id=690974

How to keep Fido flying
Programs keep dogs active, healthy during winter
By Lori Weiss
Staff Writer
Posted: Nov. 28, 2007
Jackie Ratcliff gently pets her multi-colored beagle, Marvin, as she leans down to take a blue leash off his neck.

She points him toward a yellow cloth tunnel that gently winds around a corner.

She soon begins to run toward the tunnel with Marvin on her left side and points to it, saying "tunnel, tunnel" in a gentle voice.

Marvin's black, brown and white speckled body disappears into the tunnel and his face soon appears at the other end and he quickly looks for his owner, who is preparing him for the next obstacle - a jumping bar.

The two challenges Marvin and Ratcliff tried to conquer are part of an agility sport for dogs.

"By giving (dogs) activities using their minds, bodies, they are much happier," said Patti Muraczewski, owner of For Pet's Sake that has a branch location at Central Bark Doggy Day Care, 6442 River Parkway. "It's nice because it's positively trained. It's something dogs enjoy immensely."

Started in UK
Agility involves dog owners who direct their dogs over a course filled with jumps, tunnels, teeter-totters, dog walks, A-frames and weave poles.

Agility came to the United States from the United Kingdom in the 1980s, and For Pet's Sake began offering agility courses about eight years ago.

"It just took off like wildfire," Muraczewski said. "Agility has become a good portion of what we offer."

Muraczewski said the sport is a good outlet for dog owners, especially in the winter.

"It gives people another activity if they aren't going to the park as often," she said.

Dave Fink, an agility instructor who runs the class in Wauwatosa, agrees.

"We see a big spike in the winter because you can't take your dog outside running and it's driving their dogs crazy," he said.

Fink started his 7-year-old boxer, Sasha, in agility about five years ago.

"I needed something to do with her," he said. "I did it just to give Sasha something to do, to run around and have fun."

There are many older dogs like Sasha who take part in the sport, even thought they have arthritis.

"It's good for them to do," Muraczewski said. "It can be a low level and still keeps them active."

Any dog can participate
While it's a popular sport for border collies, any dog can do it.

Muraczewski said mixed breed dogs and even dogs as big as Great Danes are often seen in agility.

"Any dog can be motivated to do agility," Fink said.

That is the reason Laurie Wannemacher enrolled her border collie, Payton, in the beginner's agility class.

"(I enrolled Payton) because he is shy and needed some comforting, and I wanted him to be around other dogs," she said.

Wannemacher said Payton has been better with people since taking the class.

"It's a wonderful outlet for people, no matter what your occupation, to be able to enjoy something like this with your dog," Muraczewski said.

Some try competitions
While many dog owners enroll their dogs in agility classes for the fun of it, some pets move on to trials where they are judged on speed and accuracy.

Even though it takes hard work to be prepared for competition, Fink said it should remain a fun activity.

"If you're not having fun, you shouldn't be doing it," he said.

Lori Weiss can be reached at lweiss@cninow.com or (262) 446-6645.

FYI
Upcoming area agility trials

• Dec. 6 to 9 - Hounds for the Holidays at Uihlein Soccer Center, 7101 W. Good Hope Road, Milwaukee

• June 13 to 15 - United States Dog Agility Association at the Kenosha County Fairgrounds, 30820 111th St., Wilmot

• July 18 to 20 - American Kennel Club agility trial at the Kenosha County Fairgrounds

• Sept. 13 to 14 - USDAA agility trial at the Kenosha County Fairgrounds

FYI
Agility training through For Pet's Sake

• The classes are eight-weeks long, one hour each session.

• Beginners courses cost $115.

• Intermediate and advanced classes cost $95.

• Contact For Pet's Sake at (262) 363-4529 for the next available eight-week session

The Many Faces of Sasha

2007-09-27T10:39:00.001-06:00

I caught her here in mid-shake. Pretty... pretty scary!

After drinking from the hose, it looks like her tongue got rehydrated.

Her lips and tongue flap all around when she runs.

more flapping. She's not very aerodynamic with her face like that. Maybe I should make a cone for her to wear to reduce the wind resistance.

how 'bout a kiss from that tongue? Ick.

She LOVES her purple ball!

She borders on obsession with that darn ball!

If you look closely in the photo above, you could probably see her front left canine cracking. I'm sure it happened in a situation very similar to this one. She now has to go see the dentist to get her mouth all pimped out like Flava Flav. Sasha, start looking for a job! Money and Purple Balls don't grow on trees you know!

Flava Flav can afford lots of purple balls.
And a gold grill.
And crazy sunglasses.

And a viking helmet.
And a big Knicks clock.

Whoa

2007-09-27T10:09:00.000-06:00

Here's an actual photo - unretouched - of a Whippet. Crazy, huh? Here's the story:

Meet the Incredible Hulk of Hounds
By REBECCA CAMBER

Maybe they should call her a whoppet - after all, she's a whopper of a whippet.

This is Wendy, the dog whose appearance is a long way from the usual long, lean and sleek look of her breed.

She was born with a genetic defect which has left her looking like the Incredible Hulk of Hounds.

While her head, heart, lungs and legs are the size of those of a normal whippet, her gene defect means she is "double muscled".

She weighs 4st4lb - twice as much as she should - and has bulging neck muscles, burly shoulders and haunches like a baboon. And unlike ordinary whippets known for their lithe and narrow frame, this four-year-old pedigree doesn't just have a sixpack stomach, she has a 24-pack.

Sadly, her mixed-up genes mean she may have a shorter life expectancy than most breeds.

But while she may look oddly menacing, her doting owner Ingrid Hansen claims the giant pooch likes nothing better than clambering up on to your lap to have her back scratched.

"People have referred to her as Arnold Schwarzenegger," she said.

"She's healthy and happy. That's all that counts.

"She doesn't know she's got a genetic defect. She might give you a nasty lick, that's all."

The whippet, who lives on a farm in Victoria, Canada, has been the subject of an American genetics study. Although the dogs are customarily bred for hunting, racing and showing, Wendy enjoys a slower pace of life.

She spends her days prowling around the fields, chasing other dogs and horses and sleeping on her owner's bed.

This week the Daily Mail reported on another canine phenomenon, 19st10lb Samson. A cross between a Great Dane and a Newfoundland, the dog from Boston, Lincolnshire, is 37in at the shoulder and stands 6ft5in on his hind legs.

Find this story at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=467985&in_page_id=1770
©2007 Associated New Media

I came across a photo of the dogs owner. You know how they say people tend to resemble their dogs? Well...

OT - Interesting websites

2007-09-05T08:58:00.000-06:00

Came across some different websites this morning:

This site makes me feel good about myself, because it makes me believe that I'm not as crazy as most of these people:

http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/

This site is based on such a weird premise I find it riveting:

http://www.runningfromcamera.blogspot.com/

Michael Vick Apology Video

2007-09-05T08:47:00.000-06:00

Just saw this video and thought it was fascinating. I hope Jesus finds him more believable than the people who were watching (at the very end). Check it out:

Days after pleading guilty for his role in a dogfighting racket, NFL quarterback Michael Vick offered a public apology. Slate's partners at MediaCurves.com asked 300 people to rate how sincere Vick seemed. Here are their real-time responses.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid988327350/bclid1037705321/bctid1155191647

Here's what's been going on with the pooches:

2007-09-04T14:18:00.000-06:00

Presley - We fostered him and a co-worker of mine, Ross, adopted him. He’s a really nice dog - a big fawn boy and lots of dorkyness in him. Ross is an active guy and I guess he went boating this last weekend. Presley jumped off the boat into water that was a bit too deep to stand in. He figured out that he could stand on his back legs and get his head out of the water but that required him to try and stay afloat by paddling his front legs. In practice, this “paddling” was Presley actually slapping his paws on the water, sending huge splashes of water about 3-4 feet in the air. He then was jumping at the water coming down and trying to catch all of the droplets. From how Ross described it, it sounded like uncontrolled chaos. Presley eventually let Ross get close enough to where he could put his front paws on Ross’ shoulders to gain a little more stability. They made their way back to the boat and for some reason, Presley didn’t jump in again. Hmm. I wonder why?

Mattis - A beautiful (and BIG) flashy reverse brindle. I temperament tested Mattis at MADACC and he passed with flying colors. We are taking a break from fostering so we only had Mattis for a day or two. He did great with George and Sasha and went into his crate with just a little encouragement. When I got home from work, he was still laying in his crate and looked to be happy as a clam. I ran him up to Oshkosh where his actual foster home was going to take him up to Rhinelander. He apparently busted out of his wire crate (we used a Vari-Kennel) a couple times. They then went out and bought a Vari-kennel which he busted out of also. I think that after his first success, he found that he liked the challenge of busting out of crates and saw each as a test of his skill and ability. The foster home he was with couldn’t be home more often so he was moved to another foster home who was home more. I guess he’s doing fine and just waiting for the right family to come along!

Layla on Day 1

Layla - Layla (I think her name is actually spelled Laila like Mohammed Ali’s daughter but her paperwork all read Layla) came to us from a shelter in Brookfield. She was surrendered because their child was “allergic” to her. Yeah, right. She was not spayed, and had a case of Pyometra , and was very thin. She was doing well initially but shelter life started getting to her to the point where she was reactive around other dogs and had stopped eating. Her initial weight - 31lbs - had dropped down to 26 and she wouldn’t eat anything. They tried chicken breasts, ground meat, canned cat food,... everything to no avail. So they called us and asked if we would take her in the hopes that living in a home might get her back on the road to recovery. I went and got her and wound up fostering her.

Get some meat on those bones! George says you’re making him look overweight!

I’m so little - but don’t let that fool you!

Skinny Layla at 33lbs. Imagine her weighing only 26!

She’s gaining weight, although she is still drinking tons of water, and on Sunday (Sept 2, 2007) she had a meeting with a very nice couple who have decided to adopt her! She’s a big dog in a little dogs body - she has George (who has 55 lbs on her) hiding under the dining room table. We call her The Pirate because she walks around the house going “Arrrr. Arrrr.” for no reason. It’s kinda endearing, except to George, who was probably the most excited that she found her forever home. As soon as we get her paperwork we’re going to figure out a time to take her to her home. Even though she is a bit bossy, she’s a sweet little thing with people and will be an only dog, which I think she’ll be very happy about. She doesn’t want to share her love with anybody else!

I'm back!

2007-09-04T14:13:00.000-06:00

Sorry about the lack of postings lately. I'm been busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest. I'm back now and will be updating shortly!

Incoming - Really!

2007-03-27T15:30:00.000-06:00

What a hectic couple of weeks! We were going to get a foster (Tank) and then one of our past adopters who also serves as an on/off foster home lost one of their dogs a few months ago. Tank looked like he would be a good match for them so they decided to foster him and lo and behold, they're now adopting him! So, we were just down to our two for awhile. Tonight, that's changing. I'm off to pick up our latest foster! His name is currently Hades but we're going to rename him, since Hades (the Greek Mythology term for Hell) isn't really a very good dog name. We've kicked around a bunch of names: Starsky, Spartacus, Wilson, Sully/Sullivan, Hank and Sparky. The winning name is... Presley! Presley is supposed to be a very nice dog so hopefully introductions will go well tonight and there will be no problems. Cross your paws and fingers!

DOG FOOD RECALL

2007-03-19T14:06:00.000-06:00

Here's a link to the site that lists all of the affected foods:

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_dog.html

According to an email I just received from WDJ (all of the emphasized words and phrases are my doing):

On Friday, March 16, Menu Foods, a contract manufacturer of wet pet foods, announced that it was recalling millions of containers (cans and foil pouches) of wet dog food and cat food. The company said the recalled products were made between December 3 and March 6 for dozens of different pet food companies and sold under more than 50 brand names. The recall was prompted by reports of the deaths of at least 10 dogs and cats, as well as reports of dozens more animals who suffered acute kidney failure after eating the implicated products. The foods were sold in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and sold by major retailers including Wal-Mart, Kroger, and Safeway.

A complete list of the recalled products, along with product codes, descriptions, and production codes, is available from the Menu Foods website at www.menufoods.com/recall or by calling the company at (866) 895-2708. Check the list often; at the time of release of this message, Menu Foods had added more products to the recall list at least twice since its initial release.
Also, several foods that (as of the release of this message) are NOT on the recall list but were manufactured by Menu are being recalled by their companies. Most notable are five Science Diet wet cat foods.

Menu said in a statement that tests of its food had “failed to identify any issues with the products in question.” However, Sarah Tuite, a spokeswoman for Menu Foods, told the New York Times that Menu did associate the timing of the reported deaths with its use of a new supplier for wheat gluten (in our opinion, a low-quality source of protein). The company has since switched back to its former source for wheat gluten.

Most of the products on the recall list are inexpensive "store brands," made for grocery store retail outlets under a variety of names. The major exceptions to this are Iams and Eukanuba, products recognized by most pet owners due to their healthy market share, heavy marketing, and pervasive presence in almost every pet supply chain.

So far, only two foods that have made an appearance on a WDJ "top foods" list have also appeared on the recall list: Nutro's Ultra and Nutro Natural Choice. The Nutro product featured in the 2007 list of "top wet foods," "Nutro Natural Choice Chicken, Rice, and Oatmeal" variety, does not contain wheat gluten and is not on the recall list. However, the Nutro product highlighted on WDJ's 2006 list, Nutro's Ultra Holistic, does contain wheat gluten and is on the recall list.

Owners who fed any of the recalled products in the past three months should be alert for signs of kidney failure in their pets: extreme lethargy, a sudden change in the amount the animal drinks or urinates, jaundice (indicated by the yellowing of the animal's skin and/or whites of eyes), inappetence, and vomiting. As always, if your pet suddenly declines to eat a food he or she has previously enjoyed, cease feeding the product and call the manufacturer with the product date code for more information. Always contact your veterinarian promptly if your animal shows signs of illness.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Remember my rant about dog food where I say corn and wheat can indicate a sub-standard food? Initially at least, it looks like wheat is the culprit in this case. Honestly, with the possible exception of Nutro, the foods listed on the recall are not ones I would have fed my dogs anyway, ever. Nutro is now on the list. They're made by the same company - or possibly at the same facility - that makes Ol' Roy? No thanks. Bet they weren't too happy when that news got out.

OT - funny video

2007-03-15T10:55:00.000-06:00

I was looking for photos of ugly dogs, like this one of Sam, the World's Ugliest Dog:

when I came across a really funny video of a kitten trying desperately to get a dog to play. Check it out here.

INCOMING!

2007-02-28T21:57:00.000-06:00

Looks like we have a new foster coming in soon. Stay tuned!

Vacancy!

2007-02-18T10:37:00.000-06:00

Josie went to her new home yesterday! We're all going to miss her but I think Sasha is going to miss her the most. Those two were always up for a game of chase or for some rough-housing, but alas, that's how things go. She was one of the easiest dogs we've ever fostered - no problems or issues to work through, always happy, no medical issues - just an all around great little girl.
Now we're just waiting to see who comes through our door next. Stay tuned!

Ads for Green Acres Boxer Rescue

2007-02-16T21:21:00.000-06:00

Here are some ads I designed for the rescue starring one of my favorite foster dogs, Chex!

Got a new camera!

2007-02-13T17:07:00.000-06:00

Here are some of my first shots with my new camera!

Josie - Adoption Pending!

2007-02-11T17:15:00.000-06:00

Her meeting today went fantastically well. It was love at first sight for all parties involved and they wanted to take her home right then and there. It looks like, if I can get all of her paperwork together in time, she'll be placed next Saturday.
Yay for Josie!!

Great Lakes Pet Expo

2007-02-10T18:13:00.000-06:00

It went great! Josie rocked. She was just lapping up all of the attention like a sponge, although around 3-ish she was starting to get tired (as was Sasha - they had both been there since 10am!) so Lynn took them both home. At some points Josie was just getting mauled by people - there were hands coming in from everywhere just to touch her, people were grabbing and holding her face, some guys were giving her big heavy pats on the head and through all of that, she just wiggled her little butt and gave kisses. She is as about as bulletproof as it gets. Nothing fazed her.

Here's Sasha going over a jump and towards the tunnel. Not necessarily the best angle. Darn paparazzi! Always taking photos of her when she's not at her best!

Sasha ran the agility course pretty well. The first run - a practice run I was to find out later - she was as sloooow as molasses. The second run - the actual run - she was speedier and had a nice clean run. She was starting to get a little overwhelmed by it all - don't people ask if they can pet your dog anymore? - so she got a little down time in her crate. All in all it was a great, if tiring, day. I think I'm going to make a little adult beverage and collapse on the couch with Georgie. I'm pooped!

Lucky Number 5

2007-02-09T14:24:00.000-06:00

I just got my 5th inquiry about Josie (!!) so I had the Waiting List banner placed under her photo on the web page.

I hope all this popularity doesn't go to her head!

A little rant about Dog Food

2007-02-09T10:39:00.000-06:00

Found this link regarding Beneful Dog Food. I personally have serious ethical problems with the quality of the food, the ingredients, and especially the advertising. Beautiful plump ears of corn and freshly harvested stalks of wheat rain from the sky amidst other vegetables. Umm... wait a minute. Corn and wheat are among the top allergy causing ingredients in dog food, yet Beneful's advertising touts them as healthy ingredients? The corn and wheat they use are most likely fillers so they don't have to add as much protein and other good stuff (read: expensive stuff).

I mean, look at the first 28 ingredients:
Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), rice flour, beef, soy flour, sugar, sorbitol, tricalcium phosphate, water, animal digest, salt, phosphoric acid, potassium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, sorbic acid (a preservative), L-Lysine monohydrochloride, dried peas, dried carrots, calcium carbonate, calcium propionate (a preservative), choline chloride, vitamin supplements (E, A, B-12, D-3), added color (Yellow 5, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 2), DL-Methionine, zinc sulfate, glyceryl monostearate, ferrous sulfate

Is there anything in there YOU would want to eat? The #1 ingredient is corn! Coming in at #2 is chicken by-product meal (which AAFCO defines as: Consists of the dry, ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines -- exclusive of feathers except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices.

This does not mean that feathers are not present in Chicken By-product Meal, just that they cannot be only added to the mix. And the definition says"...such as..." not "only" so use your imagination as to what else is in there.

Chicken byproducts are much less expensive and less digestible than the chicken muscle meat. The ingredients of each batch can vary drastically in ingredients (heads, feet, bones etc.) as well as quality, thus the nutritional value is also not consistent. Don't forget that byproducts consist of any parts of the animal OTHER than meat. If there is any use for any part of the animal that brings more profit than selling it as "by product", rest assured it will appear in such a product rather than in the "byproduct" dumpster.)

Yum-o. Thanks to this site for much of the above info.

Furthermore, I had a foster dog who would "only eat Beneful." I grabbed a handful of it from the bag to look at it and my hand was instantly coated with a disgusting sheen of oils or fats or who knows what. Ick. There was NO WAY in the world I was going to feed that to anyone so I tossed the whole bag and gave them what we were feeding at the time. Check out the first 28 ingredients of Timberwolf Organics Wilderness Elk:

Fresh Elk, Salmon Meal, Millet, Sweet Potatoes, Oats, Flaxseed, Carrot, Watercress, Spinach, Celery, Parsley, Fennel Seed, Wild Salmon Oil, Atlantic Kelp, Hydrated Alfalfa Leaf, Potassium Chloride, Currants, Cranberries, Pears, Figs, Thyme, Anise Seed, Ground Cinnamon Bark, Fenugreek, Garlic Pieces, Sunflower Seeds, Sesame Seeds, Apples, Chicory Root, Spirulina,

To be honest, I really don't care if the Beneful story is fact or fiction - in my opinion it's bad, unhealthy dog food with sub-standard ingredients topped with misleading and offensive advertising.

Josie was eating Diamond Brand Dog Food, and we quickly weaned her off of that stuff.

How do you know what to buy? My reference is the Whole Dog Journal. They do a review of dog foods every year and I like how they explain why they choose what they choose. You know, it only make sense: if you feed your dog a GOOD dog food with good ingredients, they'll be healthier (meaning less trips to the vet and a longer life), you'll have to feed less because the ingredients are better (less "input"), they'll digest more of the food (less "output" if you know what I mean) and because you are feeding smaller amounts, even though the food might cost more than a grocery store brand, it will probably cost less per meal in the long run.

And don't rely 100% on AAFCO Standards either (AAFCO stands for the Association of American Feed Control Officials). The AAFCO develops guidelines for the production, labeling, and sale of animal foods. If the label reads 'formulated to meet AAFCO's nutrient requirement.' This means the food was tested in the laboratory and was found to have the recommended amounts of protein, fat, etc. However, I've heard that the combination of shoe leather, used motor oil, and coal could meet this standard as well. So, AAFCO Standards are a start to finding a good food but there's a whole lot more you need to know to be able to tell if the food you're choosing is a good one.

So do your homework when it comes to dog food. Your dog will thank you!

OK, my little rant is over. Thanks for listening.

Josie's First Obedience Class

2007-02-09T09:40:00.000-06:00

I took Josie to Obedience class last night. We walked in and she was a very hesitant and a bit scared- her body was very low to the ground and she was a little intimidated by it all. We were flanked on either side by two big Mastiffs (is that redundant? Is there a small Mastiff?) and at one point Josie gave one "the look" so I have to keep an eye on her a little bit when she's out and about. She is, after all, a female Boxer so being bossy kind of comes with the territory. At one point she was straining at the end of the leash and started coughing and hacking. I felt everyone looking at us because it sounded like she was going to hack up a lung. I think I'm going to get her a harness to take the pressure off of her neck. I'm going to try either this one or this one. I've had great luck with both of these. The rest of the class is in the 5th or 6th week so we didn't do all of the stuff other people were doing - Boundary Training, Walking Leave-its, etc... I basically just concentrated on having her pay attention to me. We did about a bazillion Sits and she did the last one as fast as she did the first! It appears she doesn't know Down at all, so I get to work on that with her and I'm teaching her Shake Paw. We worked on Shake for about 5 minutes and by the end, it looked like she was starting to get it. She really worked well for me (and my treats!). We worked a little bit on a basic Leave it (I put a treat on the floor and asked her to leave it. If she tried to go for it, I covered it up with my foot. As soon as she stopped obsessing about it, I said "Yes!"and gave her a treat. Pretty soon, as soon as I said "Leave it!" she sat and looked at me! Yay! I have a suspicion that she thinks "leave it" means sit and wait for a treat, rather than actually leaving the object alone, but hey, as long as she does leave it alone, I'm happy!). After that, I tethered her to a post walked a few feet away and asked her to sit. She sat about 50% of the time and I figured out that two feet is her comfort level right now. At three feet or more, she just looked at me. Our last exercise was the Come command. She did... OK. It was a very distracting environment so she didn't do great, but she did do pretty well. I asked a lot of her in class and she did her best to deliver. Josie's very smart and very sensitive - she responds very well to positive reinforcement and likes treats as much as attention. By the end of class she was happy, much more confident and eager to do more. When we got home, she crashed on the couch and was quietly snoring in about two minutes. A mental work-out IS as exhausting as a physical one! What a good girl!

Little Miss Popular

2007-02-07T22:10:00.000-06:00

Wow. Josie is one popular girl! She's now had three inquiries since her website debut on Monday. She has a meeting set up for this Sunday. Cross your paws that it goes well!

I spoke to Melanie and it looks like Josie can pop in on her Obedience class tomorrow. I think I'll go and see what happens. I think they're going into week 5 or 6 so she's going to have a lot of catching up to do. She's a smart girl, though. I'm confident she'll do just fine.

One week!

2007-02-06T18:44:00.000-06:00

She's been here one week and is doing better every day. The first few days she was pretty much in constant motion - following us around where ever we went. She has started to relax a little bit and tends to hang out more and more, without having to be concerned about where we're going or what we're doing. She just loves to be near people. The past two mornings I've gotten out of my shower to discover her laying on my bathroom floor. Before I assume that she's completely enamored with me, there is a heating vent in the bathroom that she's laying in front of so there may be a dual purpose in her lying in that particular spot. It's chilly in the house in the morning!

I think I'm going to look into Obedience classes with her on Thursday nights in Tosa with Melanie. Josie has a rocket-fast Sit but she could use a brush-up on her other commands and I'd like to see how she does around other dogs. If the class has room for one more dog I think I'm going to enroll her.

No more inquiries, but I have high-hopes for the Great Lakes Pet Expo this Saturday.

WOW.

2007-02-05T15:30:00.000-06:00

That was fast! Josie got her first inquiry today from a very nice family. They seem to be on more of a fact-finding mission right now (they just lost their other Boxer - adopted from GABR - back in December), but since they've adopted from us before, they know all about adopting and how the rescue works.

Super Bowl Sunday

2007-02-05T11:44:00.000-06:00

My mom stopped by last night during the Super Bowl to drop off a toy for George's birthday so she got to meet Josie. This will be the first "stranger" Josie has met so I was very curious as to how she'd do. No problem. She sat like a good girl, did the leaning thing but didn't bark, growl or jump up on my mom. Part of that though might have been because George and Sasha were barking and jumping and there wasn't any room for Josie to get in there and be obnoxious too. The woman who surrendered Josie was older (her mom was with her when I picked Josie up) so she's used to being around older people (she had her grandchildren over a lot too so Josie is good with kids). She did really really well

She's up on the Green Acres website now! Scroll down to see Josie!

Here are some photos of her I took last night:

She's constantly moving towards me as I try to take a photo so I have about 85 shots of her nose! Here's #37.

Here she is just before she leapt off the couch and licked the camera.

The magic of cropping: I am holding her in place with one hand as I try to take the picture. She's very wiggly!

So far, so good!

2007-02-04T09:44:00.000-06:00

Josie is doing so well that I think we're going to move up her website debut by a few days. She's really not shown me anything that makes me think she'll be any different in a couple weeks. I also really want to take her to the Great Lakes Pet Expo and I'm hoping that a little advance publicity might be a good idea. Here's what I wrote for her bio:

Josie is brand new to the rescue. She was surrendered because her owner was moving and couldn't take her with. Josie is three years old, very sweet and very well-behaved. She's fully housetrained, crate-trained and gets along great with her foster Boxer brother and sister. A lot of people ask about her coat - it's called Brindle, which just means she is a solid fawn color with dark tiger stripes. Josie LOVES to cuddle with you on the couch while you watch TV but also loves to lay in front of the fireplace and chew on a bone or run around the house with a toy, playing keep-away with her foster sister. She's an active girl so the perfect family for her will need to give her lots of attention, exercise and things to do. She loves kids and other dogs but ... cats? Not so much. Needless to say, she is not the Josie from Josie and the Pussycats! Stop by the Green Acres Boxer Rescue Booth #228 to meet Josie and learn more about adopting her or the other Boxers in need!

She's been playing really well with Sasha:

Yes, this is how Boxers play

Sasha looks PSYCHO!

We call this Mouth-Wrestling

"Hey! Stay away from my butt!"

More mouth-wrestling and Sasha is in a nice play-bow! Good girls!

and when she gets tired of that, she'll go lay down next to George. She's eating well and not being much trouble at all! Her former owner said that she very rarely gave Josie people-food. Right. For "rarely" having people-food, she sure knows how to beg! Every time I sit down to eat, Josie is right there with her chin either resting on my leg or on the table (and breathing all over my food. Yum-o). If you're cooking in the kitchen, she is at your feet constantly, waiting for the Food Gods to shower her with steaks and bacon. It was kinda cute at first but it gets a little old when you're trying to walk to the sink with a pot full of pasta and she's constantly blocking your progress. I've started to try and teach her to go lay down in the other room while we're cooking. That's going to take awhile, I think. She's very cute and will probably get adopted pretty quickly so that will be something for her new home to work on. She is NOT a fan of the cold weather, though. It's currently -8 F outside (the wind chill is somewhere around -25/-30) so I can't really blame her for not wanting to go out there. Brrrr!

Whew!

2007-02-01T09:20:00.000-06:00

I got home from work to find Josie had done just fine in her crate. Her blankets were dry, she was quiet when we got home and didn't seem stressed out at all. What a relief! I had to teach two Agility classes last night and I took Sasha with me. After we got home (around 9:30pm), I was feeding Sasha supper and Josie kinda backed up and peed on the doggie bed which is about three feet from where Sasha was eating. I had tried to give Josie a little bit of food when I fed Sasha - so she wouldn't feel left out - but she didn't seem interested in it so I picked it up (by the way, Lynn told me she did eat supper while we were at class so hopefully she's learning that food only comes 2x a day). Lynn assured me that Josie had been outside less than 1/2 -hour ago so I have no idea why she peed like that. It wasn't like she wanted food too because she had just turned a bowl of it down. Well, you have to expect a couple of accidents here and there until she get the routine down pat. Speaking of peeing, she does mark when she's outside. She marked Sasha's pee (which Sasha wasn't too happy about) and she marked George's pee (which confused the heck out of him. That's HIS job!). She's kind of a tomboy, I guess you could say.

She only tried to get on the bed once last night. I told her "Off!" and she laid down on the big chair and went to sleep. She's a smart cookie! She tried to get on the bed this morning but this time Sasha decided to tell her "Off!" Josie jumped down right away.

Everybody ate breakfast, did their thing outside and while Josie wasn't too happy about going in her crate, once Lynn had a hold of her collar, she walked right in there and waited for her peanut-butter bowling pin.

So far, so good!

How do you feel?

2007-01-31T15:34:00.000-06:00

Totally OT - I heard of this site on the radio and checked it out. Very cool:

We Feel Fine

My Boxer Rescue Blog

2007-01-31T09:44:00.000-06:00

Hi. Since I have fostered so many dogs for Green Acres Boxer Rescue of Wisconsin it has gotten kind of hard to keep all of the dogs straight! I thought I'd keep a blog/diary of each dog from now on starting with Josie. It might be fun for the dogs' future families to read about their time in rescue and it will help me remember the dogs better. By the way, I have no idea what I'm doing or how this works but what the heck, here goes:

Jan 30, 2007
Well, I'm picking up a foster dog tonight. Her name is Josie and she's 3 years old. Don't know much about her. Her owner is moving, can't take her with, has no time,... Her owner really seems to like her - she said that she's a "hoot" - but then again, she's surrendering Josie to rescue so I'm not sure how much stock to put into that. We once had a dog come into rescue because he chewed up all of his dog toys so I always reserve judgment for myself on what a dog is like and if they're nice or not.

I hope introductions with George and Sasha go well. I HATE the first couple days. It's so stressful until I figure out what kind of dog I'm dealing with. Food aggressive? Resource guarder? Sweet? Crabby? Scared? Playful?

and then here's a post from today (regarding last night and this morning):

She's here! I picked Josie up from her former owner, let her hop into my truck and off we went. She rode really well in the car on the way home and seems like a really nice girl. She's a very good looking Boxer.

Introductions went well. George was very barky and Josie and Sasha engaged in some play/posturing, trying to feel each other out. Josie was an only dog so she's not used to having to share - toys, chewies, attention, ... anything. She's not a resource guarder but if she wants something, she wants it right away. She's just not used to having to wait for something. She wouldn't/didn't eat supper or breakfast this morning but I feel that that's because she's used to being a free-feeder and not having set meal times. She'll figure that one out pretty quickly.

George, Sasha and Josie sitting for treats (with their Big Dinosaur in the background)

She REALLY wanted to sleep on the bed with the rest of us last night but I wouldn't let her. It took about 5 tries - with me helping her off the bed each time - until she gave up trying to jump up. She did whine pretty much the whole night however. We've got a big chair, a futon/couch and three dog beds in our bedroom so it's not like she didn't have other options. I mean, it's not like she had a cold cement floor to sleep on or anything. She's a bit spoiled and used to getting whatever she wants, so it's going to be a bit of a struggle at first but she seems pretty smart. She is a very sweet dog, however. I don't want to give the wrong impression. She's very affectionate, very wiggly, and she and Sasha were running all around the house this morning playing keep away. George was sleeping on the bed all wrapped up in blankets. It's his 8th birthday today! He can do whatever he likes.

Happy Birthday to The King!

Josie also came with a big oil drum full of food. It's solid steel and must weigh about 80 lbs.

It's over three feet high and wider than a telephone pole. It's like having an oak tree in the middle of your kitchen.

It's so big... maybe Jimmy Hoffa is inside. I haven't looked.
What do you think, Sasha? Does it smell like a Teamster?

We put her in a crate (with a peanut butter Kong) when we left for work this morning so I hope she'll do OK. I have a feeling she hasn't seen the inside of a crate too often but hey, those are the rules. I could hear her barking as we left so I have a sneaking suspicion that three dogs will meet us at the door when we get home tonight. Cross your fingers!