Bitchy McBitcherson's Blog

Tag: dogs

  • Happy Tails

    Our Fosters from Ms Tori on Vimeo.

  • Eleven

    Apparently I could only make it to number 11 before having a failed foster.

    Welcome to the family, baby boy.

    I think we’ll be calling him Watson.

  • Trendy Tilapia

    Tilapia has become quite the trendy fish lately. I see it on more and more restaurant menus. I hear people talking about eating it. I see it in “regular” (i.e. middle class) grocery stores at prices far above what it used to sell for.

    I have never eaten it, and don’t have any desire to. I’m not saying I won’t ever eat it, but I certainly won’t be making the choice to order or buy it myself. This is fairly odd, because I am generally an adventurous eater who is up for trying almost anything once.

    Tilapia used to be a “trash” fish, very cheap and found in markets in lower income neighborhoods, and I never saw it on restaurant menus. Now, that isn’t what I have against it. Lobster used to be a trash fish too, and I quite enjoy lobster.

    I feed my own dogs (never the fosters) a raw food diet. Now London was kind of known for eating anything and everything. He never want off his feed for little illnesses, he has only ever turned down food when he was literally dying. He also ate a door, a remote, a box of tampons (including the box, but carefully removing the wrappers), a Costco sized bottle of Liquid Advil, and the list goes on.

    Because a lot of what is great to feed dogs are odd cuts of meat that don’t often make it to the typical middle class white bread American table, I often shopped at ethnic markets or markets in poorer areas in order to find things like chicken feet, and lamb heart and the like. I like to give the dogs fish, especially being a husky and a husky mix, which as originally bred consume a lot of fish for protein source, but I don’t feed it all the time because of the expense. The dogs always looked on it as a special treat, and London was especially fond of salmon.

    Then one day I spotted tilapia in the market. It was below my protein price point for dog food, and I quickly bought a package to take home to the dogs.

    I prepped their food bowls that night and plopped them down and both dogs dug in.

    Then both dogs spit out the tilapia and stared at me, “What the fuck is this shit?”  No amount of coaxing or refusing to offer them anything else would convince them to eat it. They carefully ate all the other things around it, and left behind the tilapia in disgust.  They think cat turds covered in kitty litter is the best treat ever, and they outright refused to eat tilapia.

    So yeah, whenever I see it on a menu, or hear people talking about making it, I always just think of it as the one thing that London totally refused to eat.

    It just isn’t appealing to me.

  • Indy found her inner husky, but now it’s coming out in clumps

    Indy is a rescue dog. She is at the very least a husky/shepherd mix, and might have some other stuff thrown in. She has a GSD nose, stance and coloration, and a husky coat and tail.

    She was a So Cal dog and has always hated rain and wetness. Also, she is getting older and has arthritis, so I was pretty concerned about this move to MN where she was concerned. So concerned, that I actually considered whether I should try to find her a place to stay in So Cal, even though it would mean breaking up our family.

    She absolutely THRIVED in the MN winter though. She has loved it. It took years off of her. She even lost some of the gray from her coat. It has been so fun to see her running around in the snow, a cute ball of puff.

    Now however? She is not a cute ball of puff. She is a mess. She is blowing her coat so much worse than she ever has before. It is just… o.O

    She is embarrassing.

    London is barely tufting at all so far.

    When a double coated dog is blowing their coat, people who are unfamiliar with this process will ask what is wrong with the dog.

    This year, Indy is blowing so much more fur than usual that WE keep asking what is wrong with the dog.

    Poor Indy.

    Poor us.

    There is finally an end in sight, as more of her body is summer coat than winter right now. She looks so much smaller than she did a month ago it is crazy.

    I knew she had really packed on an impressive winter coat this year, but… I had not realized just how much of a difference it was.

    The house is disgusting. We can’t keep up with it. Plus her undercoat is black, and the carpet is cream.

    Anyhow, things have warmed up enough that I am doing night walks again. I prefer this since that way we don’t run into other people out walking their dogs.

    It is still staying below freezing on many days, but there are also many days above freezing.

    Also? Our back door locks again. When it got really cold, the whole back portion of the house shifted and the storm door and door quit lining up properly with the jam. The storm door still can’t lock, and the door latch still doesn’t line up, but the deadbolt can be forced closed again as of last night. This is exciting to me. The kitchen table is still wobbly (this also happened with the cold weather and the shifting of the house), but I am hoping it will improve soon too.

    Also also? I still am sucking at sleeping.

    Indy, when she was cute –

     

  • not warm

    -19°F
    Feels Like
    -36°F

    A WIND CHILL WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MINNESOTA… INCLUDING THE TWIN CITIES METRO AREA… AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN UNTIL NOON ON FRIDAY.

    A WIND CHILL WARNING MEANS THE COMBINATION OF VERY COLD AIR AND WINDS WILL CREATE DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILL VALUES. THIS WILL RESULT IN FROST BITE AND LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA OR DEATH IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN. WHEN VENTURING OUTDOORS… MAKE SURE THAT YOU DRESS IN LAYERS… AND WEAR A HAT AND GLOVES.

    WIND SPEEDS AROUND 5 MPH WILL BE COMMON TONIGHT. COMBINED WITH LOWS OF 20 TO 30 BELOW… WIND CHILL VALUES WILL DROP TO 35 TO 50 BELOW BY FRIDAY MORNING. THEREFORE THE WIND CHILL WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL NOON ON FRIDAY.

    London got to go on a short walk/run today. Based on the troubles yesterday I only let Indy out for brief trips to the yard. She still enjoys the snow, but is happy to get back inside. By limiting her time we did not have another limping incident.

    I’ve decided that “feels like -20°F” or lower means that Indy doesn’t get a walk. I have ordered booties for her (and London too, just in case). If those help enough then we can set a new cut off for skipping the walk.

    I’ve also decided that “-15°F” or lower means that I really don’t like being outside much.

    So far both of the cars are doing okay. The cold does have an impact on gas mileage and also on things like power steering and start up, etc. They are both doing better than a lot of my husband’s coworkers cars.

    When it gets this cold outside, the furnace does not do a great job of keeping it comfortably warm inside. Especially anywhere near a window, or even a wall. The insulation in this house is not impressive.

  • Too Cold

    It is really cold right now.

    It is painfully cold. The wind chill really really has a significant impact at these temperatures.

    Today we bundled up to take the dogs out for a walk. We took the excited dogs out through the backyard and out the back gate. Then we follow this trail through small ravine and get up to the big path behind out house. We even managed to get up to the patch without either kungfuzap or I slipping and falling.

    As soon as we got up there, Indy trudged off to the side and squatted to pee. Then she started to sniff around, and then… Suddenly it was obvious she was miserable and in pain. She was on 3 legs with one foot dangling, but her other foot was hurting too, so she tried to switch favored feet, but the one she put down, she wasn’t controlling properly, and she set it down, standing on the top side of it. This of course made her stumble. Her legs were shaking like crazy, her tail was firmly between her legs.

    I leg her immediately back inside, worried the whole time that she would fall, and I wasn’t sure how on earth I would carry her if she collapsed, because the thing about dressing up like the little brother from A Christmas Story, is that you just aren’t very physically functional. She limped and shook the whole way back in the house. I got back in and sent the kid and London out for a quick run. I told her to run him so they both stayed warmer and to keep an eye on him for signs of discomfort, etc. I then attended to Indy.

    She was just pressing up against me. I was checking her feet for signs of injury. Her legs were still shaking. Then Willow came over and was rubbing against her and boofing and rubbing against her face. This has NEVER happened before. Willow doesn’t like the dogs. Xander likes Indy, but not Willow. It completely freaked me out. I thought that maybe it wasn’t the cold and their was actually something else wrong with her and she was dying and Willow knew it. Ugh.

    Anyhow, slowly has she warmed up, she started to be able to put normal weight on her feet again and eventually she laid down to rest. After she seemed recovered, I just took her out in the backyard so she could finish going to the bathroom. She hurried and did her business with NO extra sniffing around or playing and happily rushed back inside.

    So. Apparently? “Feels like -24” is too cold for Indy. London was still okay, but he obviously felt it.

    I went out to look for booties for her, but didn’t find any in stock. I hadn’t gotten any before because most people report pretty poor results with older dogs who are not used to them, but she needs to be able to get out there and go to the bathroom without injuring her paws, and if this is going to be an extra harsh winter, I need to work something out.

    If I ever were to custom build a house here, I think it would have to involve an indoor dog bathroom room. I have a design all planned out in my head.

  • Two New Bitches

    My friend adopted two abused dogs last week, and today I got to go meet them for the first time. They are female, and about ten months old and were taken from an owner that was both physically abusive and neglectful. They were apparently skeletons with fur when the foster family got hold of them and have put on a lot of weight, which is frightening because they are both still so very skinny, although these photos don’t show it too much.

    Both dogs were interested in me if I was looking the other way, but any sign that I was aware of them sent them running away terrified. The first night at my friend’s house they were a mess but have settled in and absolutely adore her now. She is retired and has the time to devote to them that they are going to need. Their life started out very rough, but they have found a good home now.

    My post is really meant to be about my friend though, rather than about these two dogs.

    Last night I got an email from her which I will share here.

    I just went to get on the computer and one of the new cuties has chewed through the wire to the charger and the battery is almost dead. I don’t even know if I can get back on but if you can suggest the fastest and best way to get a charger I would be very very happy.
    Miss and love you

    She is incredibly patient, kind and generous and I absolutely love her. These dogs are lucky to have found a home with her and I consider it a great honor and a privilege that she is my friend.

    To all those people who are always taking advantage of her and treating her like crap, I think just about as highly of you as I do the original owner of these dogs.

    Pepper (name subject to change)

    Bonnie (name subject to change)

    Below is the original lady of the house who is doing very well with the two new interlopers.

    April