Hugs For Benny

Our sweet pall Benny   is fighting hard against the big C and he and his mom need all the support they can get.  Today they are having a hugs and kisses party. We have selected some of our favorite photos hugs and kisses years we have had this blog and our sending them to Benny.

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Thoughtful Thursday-The Problem With Dog's Tied Outside of Stores

 Note: I already posted about this issue on my face book page and got some great responses but I wanted to write a bit more about and hear from the larger blog community, if its a repeat for your my apologies.

I don't deny that I'm a fairly opinionated person and when it comes to dogs in what I perceive to be situations of distress I don't shy away from expressing my opinions (sometimes loudly and often without completely thinking it through.) One thing that bothers me a great deal is dogs tied outside stores.  

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 Now I know this is a somewhat controversial issue, there is even an older blog Dogs Tied Up NYC, about the problem and you can see from the comments that NYC pet owners are very divided on the issue.  If you can see your dog through the store window for the entire time you are inside and if your dog is very well trained and exceptionally calm and friendly then I think it might be OK.  I also know it may be less of an issue in parts of  Europe where it is a common practice and in small towns where everyone knows each other, but in my opinion you are taking a big risk when you tie your dog outside a store, particularly in a large urban area.  

For one thing, urban streets are a parade of ever changing sights and sounds. Can you really be sure that your dog will remain calm when approached by bicyclists, baby carriages, shopping carts, pedestrians of all shapes and sizes and a assaulted by a barrage of honking horns, shouting people, and squeaking tires?  What about the many people who are afraid of dogs?  It seems very disrespectful to force them to walk past your unattended dog in order to enter a public store.  Then there are the dog walkers who may be walking their own potentially leash aggressive dogs, which is my situation.   I often have to alter my walking route to avoid unattended dogs since I know my dogs may bark at them and I am unsure how the unattended dogs will react.   Worst of all there is the risk of your dog being stolen or harmed in someway while you are not their to protect them.

All of these problems where the reason I was really surprised and upset by this article on the XO Jane site, admittedly a fairly tabloidy website.  The article is written by a women who lives in Albuquerque New Mexico with Lola her German Short Haired pointer mix.  Apparently while leaving her dog tied outside a supermarket she was accosted  by a woman wearing pajama pants (the pajama pants seem to really bother the author) who yelled at her for leaving her dog unattended without water or shelter.   

Now, I instantly totally identified with pajama pant lady (as the author of the article calls her), for one thing I often walk my dogs in pajama pants, although I've never grocery shopped in them, and I don't quite see the egregious social offense inherant in this article of clothing.  I tend to only have two modes of dress, dressed up vintage and sloppy casual, and I don't see pajama pants as being all that different from the sweats and yoga pants that many people wear for any and all occasions.  What really troubles me though is that the author of the article makes it clear that her dog Lola does not have excellent behavior.  She details how Lola often barks and jumps on walks attracting comments from passers by and declares that the behavior makes her look "super crazy." Despite these problems she makes no mention of any training methods she has tried to correct or manage this behavior.  Now my own dogs are far from perfect, I sometimes wonder if they are not the worst behaved dogs in blogville, but I always endeavor to train and or manage their behavior and I never leave then alone in a situation where they could get  in trouble.  

 The author also states that Lola is under exercised.   I know how hard it can be to exercise an active breed, my husband and I used to take Norbert

 to the dog park for an hour  twice a day when he was younger plus a 90 minute walk. Thankfully as he has gotten older his exercise needs are much less.  The fact that this type of intense exercise really does not fit into our life style is one reason I may choose to not get another active breed dog.  If I did choose to get a very active dog, or wound up with one, I'd do what ever was necessary to provide the exercise it needed, no excuses.  That is the commitment you make when you get a dog. This whole exercise issue is why people need to do breed research BEFORE getting a dog.  Plenty of dogs, like my own beloved pugs and bulldog, have relatively low exercise requirements and are an excellent choice for people who are not super active by nature. Plus there are thousands of low activity senior dogs in needs of home. Still all dogs need exercise and according to the author of the article the exercise she provided Lola, her energetic and "crazy" dog, with before tying her outside the grocery store was a walk around the block, a distance that would not exhaust even my senior pugs.


As I sympathize with pajama pant lady, yelling at people in public is really not the best way to deal with any issue, but I wish the author of this article had listened to what was being said and had considered that perhaps her behavior was irresponsible and rude.   If you have errands to run consider that it may be better to take two trips and leave your dog at home.  While it is tempting to take an eager canine everywhere with you it really is not always the best option.   
I do wonder though what other dog bloggers think, it seems most commenters on the articles website thought that the author was in the right and I wonder if feelings will be the same, or different, among dog bloggers, so I am eager to read your comments.

 On another note, we would appreciate some good vibes from all our blogger friends.  Eleven year old Norbert is having his senior blood work and wellness exam tomorrow and even though he seems to be very healthy that always makes me a little nervous.  We have our paws crossed for good news.

Wordless Wednesday-Fatherly Love

Smile It's Sugar's B-Day!!!!!

We are using one of our favorite older pictures from the vault to wish our dear friend Sugar a happy 12th barkday!   Here is Ping sporting her biggest birthday smile.

 We also wanted to take this time to say we will be going on blogger break for the next month to enjoy mom's end of summer break.  We will be on Instagram if anyone wants to follow us.  Have a marvelous end of summer friends. 

Tasty Tuesday-Ping's Healthy Liver Diet

If you have been following the blog you know that our Ping has been having problems with her liver.  Our vet is fairly sure that Ping's liver problems are chronic and related to her advancing years, as such he suggested diet changes.  Thanks to the wonder of the internet that led us to our friend Christy mom to Daisy, Donald, and Angel Payton we had excellent information about beginning the  Dr. Jean Dodd's Liver Diet.  Dr. Dodd's is a wholistic veterinarian who has done a lot of research on the risks of vaccines, natural medicine, and the importance of proper diet in overall health.  Her medical diets are healthy, highly palatable and are natural home made alternatives to the Hill's Prescription diets.  Of course before you start your dog on a home made diet, or begin any diet change, you need to speak to your vet.  I also contacted Dr. Dodd's through her hemopet site to make sure that she thought Ping was a good candidate for her diet.   Luckily she is and the diet is quick and easy to make.

 Ping's Dr. Jean Dodd's Liver Diet 

• 1 pound cod filets (poached)
  1/2 pound sweet potatoes (boiled and mashed)
  1/2 pound white potatoes (boiled and mashed)
  1pound green beans
  1 tbsp canola oil
• 1 tbsp curcumin or tumeric 

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl until very well combined.   This batch makes enough to feed Ping for about four days.  She eats four times a day, 1/4 cup at each feeding, because multiple small meals are better for the liver.  I pre-measure the portions in zip lock bags and then freeze them.  Ping gets quite a few supplements: salmon oil, 200 IU of Vitamin E, Coenzyme Q10, Rainbow Light Nutri Start Multivitamin Powder (again thanks Krissy!), Denamarin, and Milk Thistle.  I just measure out the supplements and add them to her meals.  She is also on one medication, Ursodiol.    

So far Ping seems to be a big fan of the new regime.  

Black and White Sunday (and a Sunday Supper)

Awhile ago I did some Sunday supper posts on this blog in order to share my love eating (and cooking).   Most of the recipes where from places that I'll likely never get to visit, a virtual vacation of sorts.  Although I liked doing the posts, I let them slide by the wayside, but this weekend I made something so delicious I had to share.   But first, a picture for black and white Sunday.  Appropriately it was taking while walking, if you make this recipe you will want to take a long walk before or after.

 Banh Mi Pork Sandwich in the Slow Cooker
Banh Mi Sandwiches are the result of a union of French and Vietnamese dating back to the French colonial rule of Vietnam from the 19th century until the 1970s.  I adopted this recipe from a few versions I saw online.  Its very easy but takes a while to make start at least one day ahead.
Ingredients:
For the Pork
 1 5lb pork shoulder 
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup fish sauce
2 limes, juiced
2 diced Thai chilis

Heat the sugar in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over low medium heat until it melts and carmelizes to a golden brown.   Remove from the heat and slowly and carefully add the water, sugar, and fish sauce.  The caramel will harden but this is OK.  Place the pan back on the low  heat and cooking carefully until the caramel melts again.  Stir carefully to make sure everything is combined and cook at a low simmer for 6 minutes.  Remove from the heat and add the chiles and lime juice.  Place the pork shoulder in the slow cooker and pour over the sauce.  Turn to make sure the pork is coated.  Cook at low in the slow cooker for 10 to 12 hours.   Refrigerate overnight, no need to seperate the pork and cooking juice, I just put the slow cooker insert in the fridge.  About one to two hours before you want to serve the sandwiches remove the pork from the fridge and scrape of as much fat as you can.   Place the slow cooker insert back in the slow cooker and put the pork on the warm setting to heat through.

Pickled Daikon Radishes and Carrots
1 1lb carrots, peeled and cut in thick matchsticks
1lb daikon radish, peeled and cut in thick matchsticks
2 cups warm water
1 cup distilled white vinegar
4 tbsp sugar
4 tsp salt

Mix the water, vinegar, sugar, and salt together until the sugar dissolves.  Place the carrots and radish in a container and pour over the vinegar mixture.  Stir to combine.  Leave to sit at room temp for one hour and then refrigerate overnight.

Assembly
Baguettes(the pork makes enough for several baguettes and can feed an army)
Pork
Pickled Carrots and Radishes
Cilantro
Sliced Chiles (optional)

Cut the bread in sandwich sides portions and remove some of the filling.  Spoon in the warmed pork and top with pickles and cilantro and chiles if you like the spice.

 

Belka and Strelka Canine Cosmonauts

August is an important month in canine history since it marks the anniversary of the flight of Belka and Strelka the Russian canine cosmonauts who helped usher in the space age.   The anniversary of their flight is August 19 but as we will be on blogger break then I thought Id share the video now.  Despite being a fan of galactic exploration this video always makes me sad.  They must have been terrified.

Two years ago I wrote a much longer post on Belka and Strelka here.