Wow. He looks happy, content and in his element. Great decision, Jenn.

It's a whole 20 degrees today so they will likely be inside much of the day. They had several tiny dogs in today when I dropped him off. He does well with them which is nice and I'm glad he gets interaction with small dogs instead of them keeping the sizes separated.

Going to be making some changes with Kenzi. She's getting harder to hold weight on. Since she's diabetic I have to keep her food low in fat to deter pancreatitis. She's been fine on her current food for the last few years but I've decided to swap her to something higher in carbs and up her insulin and hope that the larger insulin carrying capacity will help put some weight back on her. She's starting to have some kidney issues. She's having accidents in the house if in too long, which is about 4 hours, so I've put together makeshift potty pads I am leaving in front of the door on days I have to go to work. She's a bit unstable on her feet if bumped into but still getting around fine. Gets up on the couch and gets up on the bed at night as long as no one is in the way of her running start. She's still good for a walk out to around 2 miles which is about as far as you can really drag kye anymore as well. He wants to go every time but he is so slow.

Senior potty issues are a pain in the butt. Z'ev is fine with urinary but had been popping in the house more often. He just walks along and suddenly starts dropping poop. Fortunately, it's real firm so clean up is easy though hubby had a severe aversion to the smell. Which really isn't bad considering what it could be. I, however, am not really fond of cleaning it out of the treads in work boots so now, it's ALWAYS turn on the lights and survey the area before walking through. I now try to keep him confined to rooms we're in so if he starts the walking squat I can boot his little butt outside. He's never really given us a signal he needs to go, just the routine of out after meals has been ok. For whatever reason, that routine isn't working anymore so now, any time he's pacing, out he goes. Which. In the first 37 minutes I was up this morning, was 7 times in/out

I think she has a bit of dementia coming on. Kenzi always had a tell. She would come poke me then head toward the door when she wants out and for the most part she still does it but not always. Sometimes she will just start wandering around and I have to just feel out if there's a valid reason to wander, like food on the counter where she's going. If there isn't then she may need out and just isn't aware of how to tell me at the time. She did have an accident in the house the other day because I didn't pick up on one of her wandering sessions in time. I was almost to the kitchen when she went and she didn't even squat. She was standing there at the door and just let it go and I can tell she was upset it happened. She's always been an exceptionally clean dog and would rather explode than go in the house and she just has no control at that point. I think with the pads down she is using those and squatting because I'm not having to really clean her on accident days like I did the day she just went out when I was home. She doesn't go off the pads. Luckily the other dogs haven't regressed with her using the pads. I get up and let her out around midnight and again around 4am and Kasper doesn't go out with her. He waits and goes out with Kye around 6-7am and hasn't offered to even try peeing in the house luckily.

It sucks when they start getting old. I keep losing shadow in the fence. Combo of doggy dementia and blindness. He has been running around barking at a "ghost" at night. I just had to up his carprophen and gabapentin to 2x day. No peeing yet. Mostly just weird behaviors

Well, daycare was going great until yesterday. Stuffed toys aren't allowed at daycare but apparently a couple of the owner's dogs have a stuffed toy that they keep in the back of the grooming area away from the daycare. they don't let them take it into the yard but apparently yesterday one of the dogs snuck it into the yard while the daycare dogs were down for lunch and left it behind and of course when they turned the others back out my dumbass dog finds the stuffed toy and as soon as he thinks the daycare worker is going to take it away he eats it whole. So they got to take him to the vet where he was forced to puke it out then didn't get to eat anything the rest of the night.

This is something that I have noticed lately with him that mostly he is okay just playing with something but if he thinks he's going to get in trouble for having it then he just decides to swallow it. I can take normal toys away from him in play without issue but getting shoes or socks away from him that I don't want him to play with is more challenging. Here at the house I have treats and trade him which works fine, as long as you have time to get his attention with it before whatever he has is gone.

Oh no!!!! Hope it all came up and he's ok. Did the daycare stick you with the vet bill or consider their liability?

Daycare covered the cost of it. It was their own personal dog that brought the toy in and they are the ones that didn't check the yard close enough before letting all the other dogs out. If they had tried to stick me with the bill they would have had a fight on their hands. He's not tried to eat any of the other toys there so they already know he isn't a general eat-everything-in-sight kind of dog. He's totally fine. It was a pretty short and to the point ordeal of puking it up. He was more upset he didn't get dinner that night.

Took all 3 dogs out in the trail Saturday. First ride with all 3 in the new truck. It's just not designed for dogs at all so going to have to continue to think through that.



Kye is always lagging. His HD is starting to really catch up with him.

Nice! Love the backpack. And the 3 together? So pretty.

It's that the Kurgo? Looks like the one I got Ami several years ago. Really not using it anymore, dogs are old, slightly (and Z'ev majorly) inform as well as us. I'm hoping to get back to regular walking, feeling like I'm finally getting more stamina (that last pneumonia was more debilitating thank I thought. Also wonder if maybe I had COVID last January and didn't know it.)

The backpack is an Outward Hound Kyjen. I've had it several years as I used to have kenzi carry it. They have changed the style of the Kyjen since this one to be more rounded.

Our schedule is 2.5 miles in the morning with all 3, depending on how they are doing. Sometimes Kye is dragging and I leave him and kenzi at the house after the first 1.2 miles then finish with Kasper only. Then I take Kasper out in the afternoon/evening for 4-5 more miles so he will settle down for bed. the old folks for the most part are content just hanging around the house with minimal structured exercise but I feel the structure is healthy for them and getting out and smelling the area gives them some mental exercise they don't get lumbering around the property. Kenzi is still ready to give the longer walks a try and as long as her blood sugar held I think she would be fine doing the 4+ mile walks a couple times a week as long as we aren't running. Kye just can't do it. The pred helps to keep a lot of inflammation out of his hips but it doesn't solve all of his pain. I haven't talked to vet about getting him pain meds. In general he gets around fine and isn't acting in pain as long as we don't overdo it with long difficult hiking. The 8 miles in Utah the year before last was about the end for him. We are thinking about going to Michigan this fall and depending on what we may do on that trip I may see about getting him some pain meds to have on hand in case the combination of walking, getting in and out of truck, and laying for the ride starts to bother him.

I have ordered a DNA test for Kasper so in a few weeks we will see if he is pure or if there's a little something else in there.

I really like - and am very envious of - your pictures where you have all three on lead out for a walk.  Sky is pretty good on a leash, Avalanche is NOT, Zeus would rather not be but tolerates it at least when he's by himself.  If Avalanche didn't try to pull me off my feet it'd be an okay wander ... but it's been a constant struggle with him!

DNA test, I have one from the Wisdom Panel ... I wasn't thinking - I really wasn't - I can do almost anything I want to Avalanche but I know he objects (putting it mildly) to anyone doing anything around his muzzle (er, nose.)   I've tried a few times, without making it something he's going to resist but he's not impressed with it at all.  "I'm a dog, doesn't matter who my grandparents were, I'm a dog, just leave it at that, eh?"

The DNA test has been received so by the end of March maybe we will know if he is mixed with anything.

Daycare did Valentine's day stuff.

Love it

amymeme wrote:

Love it

I so too, but since it's Valentines day ... where's his girlfriend??

lol. No dating until he's 30.

The results are in....

I've got the kit, I can't get Avalanche to even think about letting me get near his mouth with a swab. He's too big and too strong to try to hold so either he's agreeable or it was a waste of $$$$$

Will he lick peanut butter off your finger or a spoon? If he will do that you might be able to get him in a routine to do that for a few days and then just lead with the swab one day instead of a finger or tuck the swab into the spoon instead of peanut butter, but follow with the peanut butter. I don't really give my dogs an option. I just scoop their head up like I'm going to choke them out and shove it in their mouth. It says on the kit you need to do it for like a minute but you really don't. As long as it comes out with some decent moisture then it should be enough. Kasper would have preferred to eat the head off the swab than to just let me swoosh it around.

Got a new belt. This one is specifically designed for canicross (running). My old one didn't have leg straps and that doesn't work well when you run in shorts or leggings without belt loops to keep the belt from riding up. Took Kasper out for a run a couple weeks ago. After 6+ miles of running my old belt had rubbed my sides pretty hard and if he does decide to pull it will slide up mid-back which is uncomfortable. My goal is to get him, and me, out to a half marathon (13 miles). Canicross isn't super popular here in organized events yet but it's a growing sport in the US.



On that note, if anyone knows how to hunt down other runners in strava free I would love to chat. I can find people easily in segments with my cycling but not with my running. Trying to figure out how many around may also do canicross.

Is that loke taking off for a 10 mile run after your dog because your dog rook off after an elk, cuz if so thats super popular here.

We do see people doing it, i dont know them personally but alot of people come up here to train at the high elevation over the summer and over run the town (that is slowly becoming less of a town and more of a giant rv park complex)

I have managed to find one person near me that runs with her dog on strava. A girl I was already on strava with has started running some with her dog since she's seen me doing it. We had our first good experience at the dog park the other day and I think that is probably the place to start feeling out who all may do this in the area. There was a dog jog event a couple years ago that went a few times but haven't seen anything about them doing this event this year yet. That is the ideal place to find people on strava since if you run the same loop at the same time as someone else with a public strava account it will tag you as having run with them.



Butthead killed the old wire crate so he now has a new tough crate that so far has been working well. He's hardly ever in a crate but he's not happy about it when he is. He didn't put any pressure really on the old crate until one day he got excited and bent a bar and from then on he knew he might could defeat it and that became the game.

Well, tough crate obviously isn't a brand name, or at least not one that google can find.  I did see some interesting crates that look similar on Amazon ... but I really wonder if I can crate my "little" monster in one of these:

I have a 36" crate that he's in now, for right now that works, he can go in, turn around, only his ears touch the top but he has to curl to sleep, he can't stretch out. He hasn't really tried to break out but he has found that if I don't lock the bottom lock he can push the door out ... don't want to stress that too much.  As soon as he'll decide that going out is the place to go he'll not be crated ... and now he's only crated overnight or when I'm out of the house.

How come the water trough at the dog park is upside down, prissy humans don't wanna get wet???

The old wire crate was a 42", the new one is a 38". $50 difference, he can fit in the smaller crate. lol. This one was bought on chewy.

The big tub won't get turned over until no more freezing temperatures. It has a spigot in it that would bust if it got too cold still and it takes a couple people to dump out once filled. There are smaller tubs that one person can handle that dogs can drink out of and some smaller dogs can fit in if they want to. There were a couple dogs that would lay down completely in the other water tub when we were there Saturday. Kasper doesn't seem to be a water dog. he will walk through a creek but if he can avoid it he will do so.

I really like that crate. I wonder if it would be spider proof? But i also worry if i leave her home that would be overly traumatic.

Kasper has taken to it pretty well. It hasn't seemed to bother him anymore than the old wire one. He may actually be calmer in it because it's darker and a little smaller. We screwed a piece of half inch plywood in the bottom so he wouldn't lose treats or food through the floor since the pan is completely under the grated floor. to prevent it being kicked out or chewed on. He dug at that some yesterday but he didn't do much damage to it so I think it will work out fine. He can still pull some things through the bars if they are close enough, like accidentally forgotten on the top because I have a bad habit of using it as a table. yesterday was his first full day in the new crate and it worked great.