Before the Rain!

 

 Nobu had a great day at B-wood where we went to get a bit of exercise before the afternoon rain sets in. Unfortunately the friendly Weimaraner-Doberman (rescued as a puppy in the belly of his abandoned Weimaraner mother) was very interested in Luna, so she and Claire fled to the safety of the small dog run while Nobu stayed on to play...and play he did!

Home cooking

The hardest part is waiting for the broth to cool down. New recipe today, shoulder of lamb chunks in kelp broth with yams, pumpkin, chinese cabbage, the last of the sprouts and some diced greens. This smells so good, I get vitalized just by making it, but for some reason I really don't get tempted to ladle myself a bowl, sprinkle in some salt for seasoning and dig in myself...just a matter of time? It certainly smells healthy and delicious...

Spring Break

 First day of spring break, and I'm enjoying it first up with a walk in the park. Beautiful warm day, sunshine, no wonder the plum blossom is out in some places...I didn't even need a scarf, hat or gloves. I'm proud to say Luna is looking much more like a setter now, with butt muscles and that setter stance, she's put on at least two kilos and is coming into her own, seems to have stretched and grown in all directions.

There's nothing quite like the smile of the dogs in the park, fabulous soft vibrant smiles, crinkling up the eyes and radiating happiness. Claire in quite an unusual pose, a little off color with a possible stomach bug this morning so less than her usual diva self, but that's okay too, cutesy panda look.

Winter sunshine

 No snow here yet, fortunately, today was a perfect warm day in the dog run, where I was too exhausted from the end-of-term stuff to get inspiring pictures, just warm sunshine smiles.

 Claire always manages to look perfect whatever she does. Luna had a go at the athletic hurdles for the first time, not so keen on the tunnel but enjoyed jumping once she got the hang of it, and walked across the beam when fed with a constant supply of treats so she didn't realize what was happening and get scared. Claire is great at everything, the only thing I haven't tried on her is the see-saw, I personally don't like the bone-jolting thump when the balance tilts.

 Nobu had a great time playing with a husky friend which is why he's all smiles.

 Warm enough to merit a dip in the stream for a quick drink.

Happily snoozing on the back seat on the way home, Luna on the floor!

Luna's new coat

Proud of Luna doing a sit-wait with Dodo sensei, she has a go with him after I take her through her paces once, and she's getting quite adept at heel and sit, working on down and wait...and of course Here! She doesn't quite know to maintain one eye on me yet when I move out of a particular proximity zone, and then come running when I call. Have to work on it in the dog run, didn't take treats last time...

Oh precious day!

 I read a friend's FB story about how her golden retriever was eating deerhorn, and I thought, wow, that's a new one on me, and so today on my way home I bought three...

 The girls love getting into it, chewing away happily, but Nobu gives up almost immediately, he's too laid back and mellow for such a long term job...although he's quite happy to have me hold it for him.

 And for the first time in Costco I glanced over the meat counters, and was most surprised to see Australian lamb at 90yen/100grammes, so why not? I thought, and bought it. Into the pot with some konbu, vaguely chopped up daikon, carrots, some chinese cabbage and a couple of brussel sprouts, boiled for a bit and voila, my home made dogfood- once it cooled, each dog got a cupful of Fish4dogs in the mix, and Claire was waiting in her house before I even finished mixing, Nobu felt he had to sit up real straight for this treat, and Luna was yowling and cavorting with glee, finally eating before the bowl hit the floor, she was so happy. It's great to not have to worry about the seasoning. I have three more portions of lamb left, so I think I'll be doing this again soon :)

Marina Series

Luna fell in today, and off she went swimming in the direction of the sea wall nare a hint of turning back as I called and clapped my hands and jumped frantically up and down on the board walks. Fortunately as I scrambled for help, Nobu and Claire continued to call her back, and it worked, she returned to a spot where I could heave her out to safety, all shivering and wet from her adventure. I hope she doesn't take it into her head to jump in more often, I got all wet too pulling her out, so no going shopping after, instead I've put Luna and Nobu through a shampoo, maybe do Claire tomorrow. Thank god for the Claire and Nobu team, they really made the rescue happen.

Luna's tail feathers

Nobu and Claire have such luxurious elegant tail feathers, I'm really wondering how long it will take for Luna to catch up. She seems to have a much shorter coat: although it is getting a nice soft silky shine with the good food and exercise, there's still a long way to go before she looks like a real setter and not some mistaken labrador/golden retriever mix. She makes up for it with a wonderful ebullient personality and lots of cuddle me energy, but I'm waiting for all the tail wagging to bear fruit! Certainly her tail is much stronger than when she came, has muscle and the hairs are somewhat longer and fuller...Below is a picture of November 16th last year when she came, not that much difference yet?!

Sleepy Luna

Luna after our evening walk, waiting for supper...all kinds of dogfood should be arriving tomorrow :)

Dogfood doldrums

This is a windy morning for training, so I wrapped the dogs up well against the cold. Been so busy and still more to go until I have things wrapped up, but finally got to the dogrun today to let off steam.
Just run out of Ziwi Peak dogfood: suits the dogs very well, but unfortunately after initial trial prices it is now double the New Zealand retail price, and double the price for almost any other decent imported dogfood, so I am looking for an alternative to mix with Fish4dogs (also a luxury priced food, but still cheaper than Ziwi Peak). A very kind lady at the dogrun told me to keep looking and said Natural Balance, and Nutro Supremo work well for her big dogs. I ordered some and 3kg of something called EVO, to give alternatives a try. I recently heard that IamS is doing animal testing on their products under terrible circumstances, so I'd like to get away from their lamb rice food which I have also been using from time to time. Let's hope I find something to keep the babies healthy and happy within a reasonable price bracket, with summer coming up there's heartworm medication and rabies shots along with the usual vaccines...

Year of the Horse

 Walking into the New Year with blue skies, warm winter sunshine and happy hearts. Wishing you all a very special and propitious New Year.