My husband!

Although I am still trying to recover from the cold from hell, I can at least see what I'm typing! Last week, that was not the case! As our 21st wedding anniversary is coming up soon, I want to sing the praises of my husband Dave--at least when it comes to Duffy and I! Hahaha! I consider myself very lucky that Dave has not only supported me in getting Duffy in the first place, but has participated in training, grooming, walking him, taking him places, and even taking him to Olds so I can have a break from one very intense and at times exhausting dog! This was more true in Duffy's 1st year--as he nears his 2nd birthday, he is settling down more. He has fully supported my choices of feeding as I went from kibble and ground prepared raw meat patties to a full out prey-model raw meat and bone diet. He is totally on board with my opposition to vaccines and other chemical laced things like worm treatments. I have read and heard about other women have struggled with their husbands over these issues and have not had their supoort, never mind help. I know Dave loves Duffy as much as I do (well pretty darn close-lol) and I love them both! Enjoy some pix of my 2 guys over the last 2 years!

Duffy in the Country

Last Friday, while Dave and Duffy were still in Olds, Dave loaded up Duffy in the truck and took him out into the country east of Olds. There's a coulee in the area, a pheasant sanctuary and lots of  dirt tracks to explore. Duffy loved every minute of it, of course. Just as they were going to leave and Dave had put the camera in the truck (isn't that what always happens?),  Duffy was still wandering about the bushes, busy sniffing and suddenly a pheasant flew up into the air. This wasn't in the sanctaury--birds don't pay attention to boundaries--maybe no one has showed them the map! Anyway, Duffy was so surprised that he ran around in circles barking. ""What was that Dave? What do I do Dave?" Yip yip yip! He finally settled down and they walked around some more. Suddenly Duffy froze--just like those pointer dogs--not a twitch,a blink, nothing. He had heard or seen something in the bushes about 10 feet away. Dave said to him "Let's see what it is," and Duffy then moved toward the bush. A male pheasant flew up into the air and and a couple of yards away, the female flew up. Duffy sures learns fast--usually only needs one experience of something for him to figure out what to do! Smart boy!

                                       So many interesting smells!

                                        Back home--all tuckered out!

Athletic Duffy

Wednesday morning, Dave and Duffy were playing outside and I grabbed the camera and took some pictures. The yard looks very different this morning with a couple of inches of snow covering everything that doesn't have 1/2 an inch of ice on it! Notice the pile of branches--that's what Dave pruned off the 2 big apple trees and I carried and piled them in the garden.  Dave has to bring the chipper up here to dispose of the branches.

This is my fave-I think only one paw is on the ground!

Do I love my Duffy--oh yes! Do I take too many pictures of him? Oh probably, but why not!

A Trip to Camrose

The Battle River Canaine Association held their dog show this past weekend in Camrose. Jolene and Kort were coming up, so I decided that Duffy and I would take a trip to Camrose to see Jolene and to cheer her and Kort on, in their bid to get those last 3 points for his championship. I should mention for those who don't already know, that Kort and Duffy are littermates and have many of the same 'interesting' issues, qualities, and challenges! Such fun! Haha!

We got up early Sunday morning--well early for a Sunday,7:30. I took Duffy for a walk and by mid-morning we were on our way. The Group 7 ring time was 1 PM. It's been over 15 years since I went out to Camrose--the last time being when I took my dad down to Sedgewick, where he was born and grew up and we visited the cemetary where his parents are buried. Highway 21 is being twinned for a ways out of the city. That was fine until we left the divided part and were on the 2 lane highway. Now Duffy is only used to Highway 2 which is a divided highway with a wide median--no traffic rushing past at close quarters. Well, he totally freaked out about vehicles whizzing past us. At first he threw himself at the window of the canopy, in which he rides. That I didn't need! Then he 'settled down' to only barking at every vehicle. He would watch out the front window for on-coming traffic and be ready to bark at them as they went past. What a nice relaxing drive! NOT! I am seriously thinking of crating him in the back of the truck so he doesn't see everything and have to bark at it.

We made it to Camrose and I found the exhibition grounds and building. Duffy stayed in the truck--finally some peace and quiet! I saw Jolene and Kort outside but by the time I went in and paid, I couldn't find her. I watched a little of the junior handling and then tried again to find her. The Camrose show is kind of disorganized and the grooming areas were not laid out in a nice orderly manner (not like Edmonton--of course!) But I knew if I could see Big Boy Kort on the grooming table, I'd have success. And sure enough there he was and there Jolene was! I haven't seen her since the Edmonton show in October, so it was so great to meet up again. She had driven up with a gal named Vicky and her sweet little Spaniel Claire. So I met them too. Everything was running behind and as Rough Collies were the last breed in the group to go in, there was plenty of time to talk. I helped Vicky carry some of Claire's winning loot as she went to get her offical picture taken. And then it was time for Kort to go into the ring. Now I am not going to say anything about the outcome, as Jolene hasn't had a chance to report about the show yet.

So that's how to handle a dog show!

After the show was over Jolene brought Kort out to the truck and I got Daffy--I mean Duffy--out and the brothers got reacquainted. Too bad there was no one to take pictures of this big event! Then we went over to a grass area and Kort pee'd down a gopher hole (conversation in the gopher residence--"Is it raining up there?" "Hmmm, maybe, but it smells funny! Maybe some of that acid rain we read about!"). Duffy and Kort then proceeded to pee all over the place and Duffy acted like the goofy puppy he still is. He just wants to play, but when Kort's tail stopped wagging, we kept them apart.

Kort and Duffy in my backyard April 2009

Then it was time to say farewell until another dog show/visit. Back home to Edmonton we went--Duffy still barking at every oncoming vehicle. But this time I didn't seem to notice as much--maybe I had lost part of my hearing! On a side note, I never seem to be able to retrace my return trip on the same route that I took in the first place. I inherited my father's must get lost while driving home gene--lucky me! So I found Rowland Road and Baseline Road in Edmonton, missed the 82 Ave. turn-off because the sun was in my eyes, drove through the refinery area and finally got onto 118 Ave. and got home! Of course, my dad and I always do find our way home and Native people say that one should never retrace one's path. So there you go!

Jolene and Kort in the ring enjoying themselves

Duffy and I both enjoyed our adventure and it was so good to see Jolene. I wish we lived closer to each other! When Jolene has had a chance to post her blog, I'll put up some more pictures.

My Raw Fed Dog

When we first got Duffy, I was still buying into the philosophy held by many, that dogs are omnivores. The arguments seemed compelling enough but I did like the idea of raw, unprocessed by heat, food too. So, for the first 2 months I had Duffy, he was fed an organic kibble and raw, pre-formed frozen patties that had veggies, oils, grains (not corn or wheat), organs, and meat. But I kept reading and after joining The Truth About Vaccines Yahoo group, I was advised  by one member to join the Raw Feeding group too. I did and boy, were my eyes opened. When I realized that dogs were only .2% different in their DNA from that of wolves and that their digestive tract was exactly the same as all the undomesticated canines, despite having associated with man and been fed a variety of man connected foods for 1000's of years, I had to switch my dog to total raw, total meat.

The Yahoo Raw Feeding group is moderated by people who have been feeding their dogs this way for 10, 15, 20 years. They are founts of wisdoms on all aspects, all possible problems, and any other question a person might have. Reading the posts gave me the courage to stop the kibble and frozen patties cold turkey--well cold chicken actually, as that's the recommended first meat. The method is referred to as the Frankenprey model, as most of us don't have access to a whole carcass to give our household wolves. But we approximate the carcass by feeding 80% meat, 10% bone, and 10% organ meat, 5% of which should be liver. The starting point for amount fed per day is 2% of the dog's adult weight. This can be tweaked so that the dog doesn't get fat or thin. The bone content can be tweaked as well so that the poops are nice and firm. A real bonus to this method of feeding is that the dog poops at least half the amount he would if on kibble, and it's not so smelly either. 

After almost a year and a half on this diet, Duffy eats chicken, turkey, elk, venison, bison, pork (lots of pork--it's cheaper and a red meat), lamb, and some beef. He doesn't tolerate a whole meal of beef very well (pudding poops)  and I wonder if 100% grass-fed beef might eliminate that problem. One day, I'll try some.  And yes, those meats are all raw, he eats all the chicken bones, the pork and lamb rib bones, without incident. He used to eat salmon, but after I tried to get him to eat herring, he was turned off fish entirely! But I make his dehydrated training treats from fish and he loves them. So here are some pictures of my wolf and his species appropriate diet! Oh, and the local magpies love his diet too!

Cleaning off a beef neck

This a turkey drumstick wedged in his mouth.

Duffy eats outside, unless there's a howling blizzard going on and it's -30 '. I don't even bother putting the food in a bowl anymore. I just put it down on the sidewalk or porch and Duffy starts in. No muss, no fuss!

I will continue with more about raw feeding another time.

Oh What Dirty Feet You Have!

This is what Duffy's feet and underside looked like yesterday evening when we got back from our walk. Oh the joys of Spring in the city! Yuck!

After Some Consideration

Here I am again--as you can see it has been several weeks since I wrote my first blog post. I have spent the interveneing time deciding whether I really wanted to have a blog after all. I guess I must, because I'm here again! Last week we (and I mean Duffy and I had a visitor--a Peregrine Falcon. I was first alerted to its presence by Duffy who was standing on the back porch and barking in a different way from the "I want to come in" bark or the "I just barked at some poor guy going down the street" bark. So I went to look and Duffy was looking south. So I looked south too and there was the falcon on the neighbor's power wires. I have never seen a Peregrine this close in my life--not even in Saskatoon where the falcon would sit on the top of a spruce tree as I was walking through the park to the university. I thought this was unusual behavior for a falcon and was worried something might be wrong with it. Once Duffy had alerted me, he didn't bark anymore--good boy. I kept checking on the bird and saw a magpie pestering it. That's when the bird turned from facing south, to facing east. Later I checked, and it was gone but Duffy was looking up at our roof. But my opening the back door scared the falcon and he/she flew to the roof of the neighbors on the north side. Duffy went to the garage so he could watch it. I took some more pictures and sometime in the afternoon it flew off, I guess. Maybe it had flown into something--but I hope it was OK. a day or so later I heard 2 Peregrines calling as they soared around the neighborhood--so I guess all was well.

Greetings!

Well here I go! I have toyed with the idea of joining the blog generation for some time. I greatly admire the blogs of my friends like J., J., and D., but wondered if I had anything worth writing about. I'm not one to talk about myself too much (do I hear some disagreements out there? lol). A number of my friends are talkers and so I become the listener. There are some dear exceptions to this ( and I hope you know who you are!) But very recently I went through what one might call either a life altering situation or an event that causes one to think about many things in their own life and the lives of others. This was the death of my mother on January 29 of this year. I have many mixed feelings about my mother and the family I came from--I suppose most people do. I have given a lot of thought to how I came to be the person I am today at the age of 57. So I guess I figure that maybe I do have some things I'd like to share with folks. That's the life portion of my blog title. As for Collies, well I was so fortunate as to have a Collie named Rover in my life from the moment I was born (well he was there before too, but I could only hear him!)until I was almost 12. Like my mother before me, Collies are the breed of dog I love first and foremost. I waited a long, long time before I was able to have a Collie in my life again. But on June 29, 2008, my husband and I brought home our little Duffy (Davenloch's MacDuff) from Davenloch Collies. He had been born on May 4, 2008 and was one of 11 puppies in the litter. Duffy has changed my life in many, many ways--mostly for the better! LOL Maybe I should have had this blog when we first got him as there were many events I could have bored everyone with, but like they say, better late than never! Duffy is a character and a half and there's never a dull moment with him. I have plans to get a least one more dog in the near future (like next year). I would love to have more, but I want them to have enough room in the yard and I want to be able to afford to feed them the right kind of food--species appropriate that is! And my husband would disown me if I got more! Welcome to my blog and please bear with me as I muddle through how to do this!