Pooches Update

Both girls have grown, if not in wisdom, certainly in size. The date of birth is approximate. Dona José, owner of the mom and dad, indicated that they were born shortly before Christmas 2009.

Here’s what they look like now. Tina is on the left, Mindy on the right.

Mindy is slightly taller and longer than Tina. Her colouring has more red tones than Tina’s. Also, her markings are pure white on the chest and paws, devoid of the spots that Tina has. They’re obvious on the photo. Tina’s colouring is more golden taking after her dad, a pale gold Lab. This makes for a strange mix with the mom being Boxer. Mindy has the build (long and tall) of the Lab with the more reddish colouring of the boxer.The opposite is true of Tina who takes more after the Boxer mom, shape and size wise. with dad’s colour more marked.

As sisters are often known to be, they differ sharply in character.  Mindy is very vocal and easily excitable. I’m still having a hard time preventing her from jumping on people. I believe in aversive psychology rather than punishment. So I’ve opted for the spray bottle. It works immediately, but unfortunately, Mindy seems to have a hard time remembering the lessons. She’s a very loving dog and a bit on the clownish side.

Tina is much calmer. She’s very observant and appears quite serious. She’s stockier than Mindy and I believe that in the long run, she might be stronger. Time will tell. Tina is the one who left home at two months of age, in the middle of the night. She continues to be quite independent. While at first Mindy kept close to Queenie, her hyper keenness to play seemed to annoy Queenie at times. So Tina moved in, very loving and calm, which seemed to please Queenie more.

They’re both about the length of Queenie’s body, head and tail excluded. I’m sure they’ll never be Queenie’s size, she being a Mastiff. I think that the perspective on the photo may be a tad misleading.

For those who have seen Queenie, it will be obvious that her muzzle has a lot more white hair than a few years ago. She’ll be 8 years old in April.

And here they are, attentive and curious. I think that they’re awfully cute. An unexpected bonus in adopting them is that Queenie has finally evolved from couch potato to willing participant in doggie play. As a result, she’s slimmed down and her muscle tone is much improved.

Finding high quality kibble is impossible in Tequis. I used to feed Queenie organic dry food with venison as the meat. So I’ve had no choice but to cook their food. I’d noticed that corn is the main ingredient of many dry foods. So I include freshly made corn tortillas. I alternate with rice and potatoes as carbohydrates. I’m sure it beats dry, brittle cereal. I add mixed vegetables and raw meat (or sometimes cooked), fish, eggs once a week as protein, and complete it with soup to provide wetness and make more of a stew. They’re down to two meals a day, morning and night. In the afternoon they get a snack of fruit. When they’ve been particularly good girls, they get doggie cookies and rawhide to provide chewing opportunities.

Their shiny coat is ample proof that this diet agrees with them. Even Queenie’s coat is shinier than ever. Healthy and happy, that they certainly are!

Obedience and wisdom are just around the corner.

LiveJournal Tags: Home cooked food for dogs