Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Picture Story





I apologize for the brightness, it was a very sunny day!

Creston Valley Meats

Finally getting a freezer chest has allowed me to have the luxury of buying in bulk from Creston Valley Meats. I got word about Simon and his processing plant through the Dogster - Raw Food Diet forum. I asked where people were getting their meats from in the OC area and one member responded with a few places and one being Creston Valley.

Simon makes biweekly trips in CA. One week to Northern California and the other to Southern California. He has various stops throughout CA, so we place our orders and let him know which drop off location we would like to pick up at. Simon also uses twitter to tweet his locations so people who are waiting for him know exactly which current drop off location he is heading to and the estimated arrival time to said destination. He also has someone helping him who calls all the clients to let them know they will be at their said drop off location at said time. He has a $5.00 flat rate charge for delivery to said location. It doesn't matter how much you buy, the delivery/shipping charges is always $5.00, therefore buying in bulk would be ideal. Before having the freezer chest I didn't want to make any purchases because it just wasn't worth it to me if I couldn't get what I wanted or be able to fit it in the freezer. Every order made is at least 10 lbs and I just did not have the room to fit 10 lbs worth of meat at a time. So going to the grocery store weekly and sometimes even a few times a week was normal until I finally got the freezer chest.

The first time I looked at Simon's site I was heaven! I envied all the people who were able to feed their dogs more than just the regular cuts that anyone can get from the grocery store. The different organs offered that I couldn't find at the local market, great prices, and most of all the green tripe made Simon my main supplier for dog food. Of course I have to try to stomach the smell of a lot of these products because it is for pet consumption, not human consumption, so the smell can be a bit overwhelming and hard to handle than the smell of regular raw meat. Plus, tripe isn't supposed to smell good anyway!

If you currently live in CA and do raw feed your dog(s), you should definitely consider using Simon as a supplier, he has great prices and has different meats and organs just for your furry friend. Believe me, Kyuubi and Mika are in love with the variety they are able to get and plus I don't end up breaking my bank raw feeding two dogs.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Grrr-emlins - Tuff N Stuffed Latex Dog Toys

I love to spoil the pups by buying them new toys. During Christmas I was looking for toys to send to Mika's Secret Santa I had her participate in with other Shibas. I asked Kevin for advice and he found the Grrr-emlins. I thought they were so hideous I did not want to send one to Mika's Secret Santa. I told Kevin he could buy them for Mika though since he thought they were so cool.

He finally got around to purchasing them recently. They are supposed to be pretty durable, filled with a certain type of foam and it also has a squeaker built in. For some reason most Nihon Kens love squeaker toys so I knew it was going to be hit with the pups because of the squeakers.

So for the durable part. Mika has already chewed off one of the ears to the Grrr-emlins. Poor guy. Didn't see it coming. However, the other two we have seem to be in-tact still. I kind of want to collect them all and see which one lasts the longest. I think the one that has the destroyed ear is a favorite though. Mika would not chew on any other Grrr-emlin like she did with "Booglin". Perhaps the ears to Booglin felt nice on her teeth to chew on.

We got a really good deal on these toys, and so far they have been keeping the pups occupied, so overall it was worth the money spent on them. They are ugly, but I am becoming fond of them now!

Grrr-emlin - Booglin. You can see Mika's teeth marks on his ears

Grrr-emlin - Slugger

 Hippo - he is not part of the Grrr-emlin line, but is still a Tuff N Stuffed Latex Toy

Now I just need to get the other Grrr-emlins and Tuff N Stuffed Latex Toys

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Training For Life

I recently purchased the Training For Life package from Wags & Wiggles for Kyuubi. He proves to have decent recall. It is far better than Mika's recall. He also has better focus on us than Mika did at her age and currently does. I have high hopes for him and hopefully we'll be able to take advantage of the Training For Life package.

The Training For Life package includes:
Puppy Classes - until the age of 5 months
Obedience Level 1
Obedience Level 2
Obedience Level 3 (newly added to their training program)
CGC (Canine Good Citizen)
Tricks
Real Life Manners

It also includes their quick $25 classes which are
Street Smarts
Games
Focused Attention
Really Reliable Recall
Got Stay?
Advanced Clicker Training
Tunnelers
Hoops

Saturday was his first class, but there was only one other puppy there, so we both had 1 on 1 time with the trainer. We had already gone through this with Mika so it was pretty laid back and we talked casually with the trainer.

Kyuubi did great, he knew all the beginning commands already, because well, we started with him from day 1 that we got him. We just didn't use the clicker with him, we just used verbal praises when he did something right. He was a bit timid with the clicker at first. So I put the clicker behind my back and would click it there instead until he got used to it.

We took frequent breaks as he was starting to lose his focus on us. He was curious about the training facility and wanted to sniff around a bit. We put him on leash and Kevin asked our trainer if she would allow Kyuubi to go through the tunnel. He wasn't afraid of the tunnel at all, but he did take his time going through it the first few times and sniffed it out. I'm sure his nose was working overtime with all the scent of the many dogs that have gone through the tunnel before him (including his older sister, Mika).