Imabug’s blog

Macho is staying with us for the next couple of weeks. He's become a pretty big boy since the last time I saw him. It's a little hard to tell from the photo, but Macho is about 5-6 cm taller than Nala or Simba and probably has at least 10kg on both of them. He's having a good time playing with the other dogs.

Nala, Macho and Simba

Thanks to Auntie Sandi, the dogs have some new duds to sport around town.

Nala in her new bright yellow no-stink collar

and Simba in his blue and black no-stink collar

Don't they look sharp?

There aren't too many things that are more fun than spending a morning watching a bunch of labs frolic around in a pond.

At PetFest I stopped by the Lowcountry Dog tent and had pictures of the dogs taken for LCD's cover dog contest. They didn't win the contest, but they did make it onto the cover. The 5x7 photos I ordered just came in the mail today and look pretty good. I think I might go back and order 8x10 versions and use them to decorate the office.

4 years ago today we brought Nala home!

I think I may have rushed the dogs' green tripe experience in a case of "too much too soon". They each got about a third of a can at each meal, which I didn't think they would have a problem with. Although they seemed to enjoy the green tripe, the dogs ended up with upset tummies starting with Simba on Sunday and Nala last night.

Simba is feeling better now and is back to normal and after a late pukey night, I think Nala's starting to feel a little better.

Even though the dogs seemed to enjoy the tripe, I don't think it's something I'll add on a regular basis. Main reason is the smell. Peeewww. Other reason is that although the dogs liked the tripe, if they're going to be hitting the eject button the next day, that's not going to be much fun for them or me.

Another update from Barkley's new family. I think this was his first water adventure. I had him out by a pond at a CSCLRC event in the fall, but he didn't jump into the water at all. He looked like he wanted to join the other dogs, but just ran around the edge of the water waiting for them to come out so he could grab the bumpers from the dogs.

He was so happy! Maggie immediate ran and jumped into the river, so he followed with a big leap- he looked so startled that he didn't land on something! He had no problem paddling back to shore but then was too timid to go back in even though he really wanted to- he kept putting his toes and nose I'm and trying from every rock but just couldn't take the plunge! We're sure he will when the water is warm enough for us to get in because then he'll follow. He and Maggie ran and ran over the rocks!

Until recently, all of my experience with tripe has been through Nethack (tripe rations, "Blech, dog food!).

A few months ago, Whole Dog Journal had an article on feeding green tripe which I found quite intriguing. The article warns that green tripe pretty pungent stuff and feeding it probably isn't for everybody, but that it can provide numerous health benefits for your dog.

While I was at Dolittle's today, I saw they started carrying green beef and venison tripe from a company called Tripett. After mulling it over a bit, I decided to let the dogs try some of the beef tripe out, so I picked up a few cans.

Whew, the WDJ people weren't kidding when they said green tripe smelled. This stuff was mighty odiferous. I suppose if I had to describe it, I would say it was a green poopy smell. It's kind of like what you smell when you're in a cow barn, but greener.

Each of the dogs got 1/3 of a can along with their regular food (California Natural Lamb and Rice). When I gave it to the dogs, they just dug right in. Even Nala, who normally questions anything new in her food dish, didn't hesitate and gobbled everything down.

I have two cans left, enough for two more meals for the three dogs. I doubt I'll see any of the touted health benefits with just a day and a half of feeding, but at least now I know I wouldn't have any problems feeding it to the dogs if I wanted to do it for longer.

The IOP Bark Park is a decently sized fenced in dog park located just behind the IOP Recreation Center, and so far is the only dog park that features a separate small dog area.

The Bark Park isn't very large, about the same size as Ackerman dog park. It's fairly wide open though and offers a lot of room for dogs to run around. Benches provide plenty of places for people to sit, and several trees provide shady spots during hot weather.

The small dog area is a long narrow strip adjacent to the main dog park. There were no small dogs around when I was there, so I'm not sure how often it gets used. Looks like it would be a good place for people with smaller dogs that don't want to risk them getting bowled over by bigger dogs. Most of the small dogs I've seen though play just fine with big dogs.

There's no water fountain installed in the dog park, but a large bucket in each area provides water. The water comes from a hose running from the Rec center to the dog park. Filling the bucket requires walking out of the dog park over to the building to turn the water on.

There are a few sandy areas where dogs can plop down to relax, cool down or work out some of their digging urges.

See the rest of the IOP Bark Park photos in my photo album.

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