New Year's Dog Treats

With the current scares about processed pet foods, a lot of folks are turning over a new leaf and feeding all natural food and treats. In the spirit of the holidays, Todd Muchmore of Rover's Recipes offers this delicious recipe sure to make your dog drool:


Apple Cinnamon Doggie Biscuits


·1 package apple, dried

·1 teaspoon Cinnamon --(I usually just shake some in)

·1 Tablespoon parsley, freeze-dried

·1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder

·1 cup ice water

·1/2 cup Corn Oil

·5 cups flour

·1/2 cup powdered milk

·2 large eggs

·1 tablespoon corn oil


Put the apples in a food processor so that pieces are small. Combine in a bowl all of the ingredients--can add oil or water if dough is too dry. Using a rolling pin roll out dough to about 3/16" thick (can make thinner or thicker). Using a cookie cutter--cut into shapes -place on cookie sheets.


Bake at 350 degrees for approx 20 -25 minutes (until golden). NOTE: if you substitute corn meal just subtract about 3/4 cup from flour and add Corn meal .


Todd offers special treats for dogs with allergies and a host of other options. Check out his site at http://www.roversrecipes.com/


Also, if you are shopping for a new dog food, consider Life's Abundance.


I have a personal testament to this food. My last foster puppy, Perry, was a parvo survivor. Perry was a half Australian shepherd whose mother had been abandoned while pregnant. She had the litter in a foster home. I had actually adopted Perry's littermate before him, who broke with the terrible virus and I had to take him in to be euthanized.


The original foster mother, who lost most of the litter, was devastated. She offered me Perry to replace the other pup. Perry had been sick too, but he'd recovered. He was a very good-natured puppy, blue merle, mostly black, with a blue spot in one eye. I named him Perry, short for "Periwink." I brought him home when he was about ten weeks old.


Perry had beaten the disease. However, it had ravaged his intestines. He had a loose stool that no matter what I did, just would not firm up. I tried giving him canned pumpkin and yogurt, and I tried several different foods, including cooking hamburger and rice.


Finally I tried Life's Abundance. Perry's recovery was nothing short of miraculous. He immediately started gaining weight, and his coat shone. In just a week's time he was radiating good health.


Perry has since gone to a good home with a wonderful family. He enjoys playing with Buster, his Boston Bull buddy, and I am told he fetches the paper every day!


Life's Abundance dog food is holistic, no preservatives, and shelf life is never over six weeks. You order it online and it's delivered right to your door. They offer cat food too, AND horse treats!http://www.newnaturalpetfood.com/


Here's wishing you and your pet "Bone Appetit!" and Happy New Year!

Bird Toys

Thanks to Etsy.com, I found something for the bird who has everything. Goober the African Grey lives with my friend Debbie Hendrickson in Ohio. I had recently discovered Etsy, the site with things handmade, and took a chance. Sure enough, my search revealed bird toys -- and what a great deal I got! There are all kinds of wood and plastic chewies on rope with a bell on the bottom. I purchased this from XnO Bird Toys on Etsy.

It can't always be easy living with a parrot. I have always liked birds but have never taken on the responsibility of a large one. (I did have a parakeet once; a delightful little guy named Joshua.) I imagine it will happen someday.

I was saddened to hear of the death of Alex, the famous African grey who shattered all science's ideas about the limitations of the avian mind. Alex died in September of this year at the age of 31. He was emotionally equivalent to a two-year-old child (yikes!) and intellectually a five-year-old. He could identify 50 different objects, 7 colors, 5 shapes, quantities up to 6, and most astonishingly, knew the concept of zero.

Alex did math better than I can!

Dr. Irene Pepperberg spent 30 years working with Alex, and I can only imagine what it was like to lose him. Reportedly his last words to her were something like, "Goodbye. You be good. I'll see you tomorrow. I love you."

*gulp.* Sure makes me look at KFC a whole different way....

Trans-Siberian Orchestra (or, Deck the Halls with a Laser Light Show)

Disclaimer: I have never been a heavy metal person; my tastes tend to run in the pop direction. But I am a hard hitting Christmas lover.


I went to see TSO last night at the Palace of Auburn Hills, and the sound is still ringing in my head... Or is that my fillings?


Up until this year, I'd never even heard of TSO, which is rather surprising since they have been around since the 1990's.

Unfortunately, I found the concert to be a hard sell; tradition wrapped up with some original stuff that's somewhat gutter style -- lyrics about bartenders having a change of heart (P.S. How could he afford to give out free drinks all night when he'd emptied the cash drawer?), and a lot of flash. Lasers, glitter, smoke, flames. Woo hoo. Not to mention a gaggle of blondes with big boobs. There was also a 20 minute drum solo. Okay, maybe it only seemed like 20 minutes, but I thought drum solos were relegated to basement parties.

Admittedly, when it comes to Christmas, it probably is difficult to come up with original material. The group obviously exudes musical talent. I loved the "keyboard duel", especially when one of them launched into "Linus and Lucy".

But overall, I found that the songs all sounded the same, and the concert was waayyy too long -- nearly three hours. I came out feeling like I'd been beaten about the head and shoulders with a glow-in-the-dark fiddle.

However, I am probably not the one to ask. I have found Christmas while out walking in the woods.

The Postman Always Rings True

So I was at the P.O. yesterday sending out more Christmas cards. Apparently people are still mailing Christmas cards because they continue to buy them from me.

Anyway, as the postmaster put them on the scale he asked, "Do these packages contain anything liquid, fragile, perishable or potentially hazardous?"

I started to say no, but then hesitated. "What do you mean by potentially hazardous?"

"Why?" he said.

"Well, these are Christmas cards. They might cause a paper cut. Or someone could choke on one."

"I wouldn't put them in my mouth," he said.

"Well, someone might. You might consider striking the word, 'potentially' from your spiel there."

"Look, I know people are going to lie to me anyway."

"You know people are lying? That's not very optimistic."

"I don't care if they are lying. I just need to ask the question, so I can sleep at night."

"Knowing people are lying makes you sleep better?"

He paused from totting up numbers on the register, and looked at me. For a moment, he didn't say anything. Finally, he turned back to his machine and handed me the receipt. "Sometimes when you come in here, I feel like I'm under interrogation."

"I'm just the customer!"

"I know. But there are so many questions!"

"I'm just asking! When people ask you things, it only means that they are interested."

"I'll have to remember that. Can I help who's next?"

One cannot overlook, in this case, the reputation of postal workers being prone to sudden bursts of violence. I took my receipt and quietly left the building.

Border Collies (or Puppies as Gifts)

I was having lunch with my friend Beth the other day. She's a biologist and very savvy dog trainer who is working with a few puppies on an in-home basis. She has a friend who lost an elderly dog and wanted a pup to replace it. The woman apparently was not an extreme "dog person", although she liked dogs well enough. So Beth found some adult dogs in the pound that were gentle natured and desperately in need of homes.

But the friend went to a breeder and bought two puppies instead.

"Littermates?" I practically gagged on my sandwich.

"Yup."

We both looked at each other and started laughing.

The friend had already broken at least one of the cardinal rules about the average person getting a puppy. Three of them are as follows:

1) Do not obtain more than one puppy at a time.

2) Do not acquire puppies, or give them, as Christmas gifts.

3) Do not acquire a border collie.

To us the reasons are obvious, but I'll go over them briefly.

1) One puppy alone is enough of a handful. But when two littermates go together, they will tend to bond to each other, cleaving only unto themselves, and forget you! You are in for Dog Training Hell.

2) Bringing a puppy home in the midst of Christmas chaos is the worst thing you can do to it. There is no chance for establishing a schedule, no time for real bonding, and no full attention that takes for early good house training habits. On top of all this, there are unlimited "goodies" like tinsel and plastic and chocolate to chew up and destroy, and vomit up or create large vet bills. Besides this, no reputable breeder would recommend bringing a puppy home for Christmas. If you have already reserved your pup, consider asking the breeder to keep it until the hubbub dies down.

3) Border collies should go only to homes that will offer the high-energy dog a consistent job like agility, herding or flyball.

A puppy is not a toy; it's a family member that will be around hopefully into its teens. Please be responsible enough to think about this when you're being charmed by those happy eyes and wagging tails.

Besides, it will pee in your house.

Saturday's Ornament - Belgian Tervuren

A Belgian Tervuren expresses joie de vivre in this lively watercolor. I had a lot of fun with this commission. I met the big Terv, named Twister, at a dog show in Mason. I had my trusty digital camera along and Twister posed patiently while I photographed him.

Twister's owner has artists in her family, so she was savvy enough to give me artistic license with the commission. I thought it would be neat to have him leaping through the air as his name suggested.

I didn't have any pictures of him in midair, but I had a good representation of his markings and features, so guess who the "airborne" model was? That's right! Good ol' Cajun, my own happily flying friend!

Now Caje is a lot bigger boned than a Terv, so I had to take that into account. But it all worked out. Twister's owner was thrilled with the original watercolor, and this resulting ornament is my best-selling Terv piece. Belgian shepherd fans tell me that it embodies the true spirit of the fun-loving Tervuren.

I never told them the model was a German shepherd!

Today's Watercolor - Great Blue Heron

This is a Christmas gift for a friend's mom who lives on a river in northern Lower Michigan. The heron frequents the area around her house and she snapped a pic of him napping in her front yard one day.

Friday's Ornament - Friesian

This is a sketch in charcoal of a Friesian. I distinctly remember that while I was drawing this, I was talking on the phone with my mother, which might explain why the horse's hair is standing on end.

Snow Day

Reminiscent of my days in Fairbanks, everything was covered in frost yesterday morning, with a soft low-lying fog that kept the weak winter sun from burning it off. The dogs love the cold weather! Rippy and Cajun had a great time romping in the snow.

A lot of people are surprised to find out that horses love winter! Trudy and Clifford are so happy right now. The only thing that bothers them is wind or freezing rain. Otherwise, there's no heat to contend with, and no bugs. They stand out in the pasture foraging for whatever is hidden under the drifts, and at mealtime they come charging in, blowing and snorting, all a-shivery and ears forward. They purr happy snorts while waiting for their grain and then settle down contentedly.

Horses "burn hay" to stay warm. With plenty of hay and an escape from the wind, they do just fine. They do drink a lot of water. I am so grateful for their electric buckets, because I don't have to break ice, but I have to fill them every day. As they consume more hay, they need to drink more, and that's fine because it keeps things moving.



With that in mind, I have a strong opinion that horses need to be outdoors as much as possible. Mine have free access to the outdoors at all times. On the rare occasions when Clifford is shut in his stall, the first thing he will do is go to his Dutch door and open it so he can put his head through and see outside.



I think as long as horses can keep moving, and put their heads down to graze or forage, their digestive system is healthier and they are less prone to colic. Plus, they are happier too.