Cancer Diet recipe, from The Honest Kitchen

Tonight I cooked up the “Cancer Diet” from the Honest Kitchen recipe book. This is a recipe that has higher protein than others and is suitable for both dogs and cats.

I started with this recipe because I already had all the ingredients at home: ground turkey, yams, green beans and yogurt. I sauteed the turkey with a combination of extra virgin olive oil & virgin coconut oil (which I read is really good for skin issues) and boiled the veggies first because Boogie is fussy and will only eat them cooked. (He also doesn’t eat fruit, except watermelon). I think this big bowl will last 3-4 days if I feed him 1.5 cups per day.

Victoria Stillwell’s blog

I found out today that Victoria Stillwell has a blog and it offers some excellent thought-provoking reading material by different trainers.

Articles:

We don’t like everyone that we meet, so why should they? by Emma Collings

It’s a new year. Time for good resolutions, right? by Karen Pryor

Boogie! by other artists

Sharing here  some artwork of Boogie by my friends who are also artists. It is always a huge buzz for me to receive Boogie art.

1. By Greg Ham (who has a cute BT called Parker) Yes, Boogie and I both love ice cream very much.

2. Dale Sizer - who does  amazing glittery paintings that are exhibited in galleries around L.A. I am honored that his first dog portrait was Boogie.

3. Amanda Morehead - A Flickr buddy who is also a BT-lover and artist. This was a cool xmas surprise.

4. Brian Rubenacker – Boston terrier artist extraordinaire. I drew Brian’s BTs, and Brian painted Boogie on a toy rocket.

Home cooking

In my attempts to save money, I am going to cook for Boogie more often.

Here is something I prepared last night.

Beef risotto + Honest Kitchen KEEN

BEEF RISOTTO INGREDIENTS

- 1 lb ground beef  ($1.99 at Trader Joes)
- 1 sausage chopped
- 2/3 cup brown rice
- chicken broth and water
- 1 sweet potato chopped
- a few cauliflower florets chopped
- handful of green beens
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- salt

- thyme

I threw all the ingredients into a cast iron pot and let them slow-cook for about 45 minutes. After all the liquid had reduced, the result was a very very tasty Beef Risotto. SO tasty I could’ve eaten it myself!

I love that this pot of dog food is easy to prepare and much cheaper than buying canned food and will feed Boogie for maybe 3-4 days (in addition to THK Keen or Halo kibble)

I have just received the new recipe book by The Honest Kitchen, which includes meals that both dogs and humans can share. The recipes are all labeled – some are for dogs, some are for cats, some are for all of us.  Check out this fish and sweet potato recipe on the Honest Kitchen website.

I am pretty excited. I will probably tweak the recipes because Boogie’s dad is a fussy eater.  Here are some photos of the book. I will definitely share photos when I start cooking!

Boogie shakes hands

New book!

to add to my doggie booklist…

I havent read ALL of these, btw.

Clicking With Your Dog is like a beginners level book with lots of pictures which makes it super easy to follow.

Example page -

As fun as clicker-training is it’s sometimes hard. For me it’s  having to problem-solve laterally ie, figuring out other ways to get Boogie to do something without physically touching/manipulating him and instead, creating a situation where he does the behavior on his own so that I can reinforce it. Check out this amazing article about people testing out their clicker training skills <- THIS is what I mean by lateral-thinking.

So our Boogie monster here doesn’t know any tricks. I tried to teach him to shake hands by repeatedly lifting his paw and saying “shake hands”, then giving him a treat and he NEVER EVER got it. I had taught Rocky (my blind ex-foster dog) to shake hands this way and he got it in 5 minutes. Not Boogie.

So recently I decided to try again this time using a clicker. I read that the way to get your dog to lift his own paw is to hold a treat in your hand and move it around in front of him until he paws at it at which point you  “click”. This method didn’t work with Boogie who has the amazing ability to sit and stare at you for 30 minutes without moving until you give in.

So I took Boogie’s paw, and lifted it off the ground. CLICK-AND-TREAT.

I think I understand why they say don’t physically manipulate your dog to do something. When I lifted Boogie’s paw (click and treat), his body fell off-balance to one side. A moment later when I said “Shake Hands”, Boogie tried to sit LEANING to one side and almost collapsed! Uh-oh.

Eventually he got it because he’s a smarter cookie than I am. After a few more practices doing this with the clicker (I was careful that he wasn’t leaning to one side or in an uncomfortable position) Boogie learned the cue!

Here is video evidence! (no clicker involved at this stage)

p.s. Usually the tennis ball gets him running but this time he wanted a food treat

So far, I still think THE BEST THING we have accomplished with a clicker is  hand-targetting. Now when some random person sticks their hand out in front of his face, Boogie no longer shrinks away (or uses his teeth).  He goes forward and sniffs their hand

Boogie on canvas

I love drawing the Boogs.  Here is another special piece of furniture following on from the “Boogie On” series.

Here is Boogie on the tiki chair in the Jungle Room of Graceland, Memphis.

I had it printed on wrapped canvas (www.canvaspop.com) and it arrived today! So cool!

I don’t think Boogie was very impressed with it. He was more interested in playing with his green dinocuz.

“Please, mom. Please throw my dinosaur.“

My pet product IDEA of the year?

This idea came to me when Boogie and I were out walking this morning.

It’s actually a marriage of two products that I read about this week (thank you, Twitter).  I don’t own any of these products and have no direct experience with them so this is simply, speculation. Here are the two products:

1. The Thundershirt (via Pawesome)
The Thundershirt is for treatment of dog anxiety. It is a “shirt” that puts pressure on the dog’s torso. This gentle pressure is supposed to have a calming effect on the nervous system, in the same manner that Dr. Temple Grandin’s  “Squeezing Machine” was used to deal with anxiety related to Autism. Dr. Grandin went on to create  squeezing machines for cows, pigs, and other animals.

One day about 12 years ago, a Siamese cat’s reaction to me changed after I had used the squeeze machine. This cat used to run from me, but after using the machine, I learned to pet the cat more gently and he decided to stay with me. I had to be comforted myself before I could give comfort to the cat (Grandin, 1984)…

Squeeze machines have been in use in clinics working with autistic and hyperactive children (Figures 6-1 and 6-2). Lorna King, an occupational therapist in Phoenix, Arizona, reports that it has a calming effect on hyperactive behavior. Therapists have found that deep pressure stimulation has a calming effect (Ayres,, 1979). Both animal and human studies have shown that pressure stimulation reduces nervous system arousal (Kumazawa, 1963; Melzack, Konrad, & Dubrobsky, 1969; Takagi & Kobagasi, 1956). Pressure on the sides of the body will induce relaxation in pigs (Grandin, Dodman, & Shuster, 1989).

2. The Freedom No-Pull Harness (via Phetched) … which has a martingale style loop as the leash attachment.

The patented action loop sits at the back of the dog between the shoulders allowing your dog to walk in a straight line without twisting or straining, while discouraging pulling by tightening gently around the chest. (via wiggleswagswhiskers)

What these two products have in common is the tightening factor not around the neck, but the CHEST area.

Now what if  there were such a thing as a Squeeze Harness? This would be a padded harness (like an extra-padded Puppia vest)  so that when you pull on the leash, the vest tightens and squeezes around the dog’s torso. (Don’t ask me what the mechanism is that connects the martingale loop to the overall tightening-action. This is just an idea)

Imagine this…. I am walking my reactive dog around the neighborhood and he is wearing his Squeeze Harness. An old lady wearing a big coat with shopping bag approaches us slowly. My dog’s ears and hackles go up and he starts pulling forwards. I call him, he ignores me. So I pull on the leash, he gets squeezed, and he relaxes.

What do you think? Would this work? Does the world need a Squeeze Harness?

More Leash-Walking videos

More great leash-walking videos from Emily. (She makes everything look so easy!)

Boogie’s New Year Resolutions

Via Pawluxury: If your pet could speak, what would his/her resolution be?

Boogie says:

1. I will train my parents to sit on the couch and throw my ball whenever I want. (I am getting better at this)
2. I will train my mom to give me treats during walks. (She is responding well)
3. I will train my parents to chase me under the coffee table. (They are a little slow… we’ll work on this one)
4. I will establish that the middle of the bed (under the covers) is my spot.
5. I will find those squirrels.
6. I will claim the Snuggie.

GOOD NEWS – Boogie’s thyroid panel results are in from the vet’s, and he is fine and normal! No hyperthyroidism or anything unusual! The Boogs is just a NORMAL neurotic little dog. (yay)

The little things that make me smile

1. I woke up this morning and Boogie was sitting on the bed next to my head. I said “Good morning Boogie! Kiss?” He put his face in front of mine and licked my mouth.

2. Today we saw a dog on our street. Uh-oh, trouble… I called Boogie. He turned around and sat down in front of me. “See mom? I know the drill”.

3. Boogie pulling forward on the leash. I called him. He slowed down and waited. When I was caught up next to him, he pulled forward again. (Or how Boogie trained ME to heel)

4. When Boogie drops his toy by the front door or in his food bowl… then sits calmly and waits.

5. When Boogie sits at the foot of a tree and waits. Because we all know that GOOD THINGS (like squirrels) come to little dogs who sit and wait.

6. Sometimes when I pick up the leash and call Boogie to go for a walk, he looks up from the cushion and rolls over onto his back.

7. Boogie curled up tightly like a cat, face squished against cushion. This one never gets old.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!