Queen of the mountain

We went to an open agility practice time run by a local vet clinic today.  Gemma is very young to start training on the apparatuses but I wanted to see how she would react to the equipment.  The first time through, G didn't know what to do with the big A frame ramp, but after watching other dogs run up and over it, she roared right on over!  Then she went back up and wanted to stay at the peak, nearly my head height.  She has been playing queen of the mountain on the stairs at home as well.  She is still a bit tentative coming down.

The same technique of watch and learn was what finally turned the trick to learn "down" months ago - watching a friends dog do "down" a few times, and Gemma had it! 

Where is the puppy?

A new hanging out place has been discovered!  This fortress of solitude is under the bed.  Can you find Gemma?

Sun Dog 2

Summer sunbeam-bathing! This lounging pose demonstrates G's excellent hips.

Puppies are Carnivorous with a Little Greenery on the Side

Gemma had her first raw chicken back at 8 weeks old.  She eats a mostly raw and biologically appropriate diet laced with organic chow.  Her feed includes: raw beef liver, chicken hearts, beef ribs; cooked salmon (with skin and fat, no bones) and fish oil capsules; eggs, with or without shell, cooked or raw; yogurt; garlic, yams, pumpkin, and any non-nightshade veggies, especially spinach; most fruits and berries; molasses, olive oil, coconut oil, kelp, apple cider vinegar.  Big no-nos include citrus fruits, onion, rasins/grapes, chocolate, cooked bones, pork, turkey bones.  

My Moose

After browsing through the Paw Prince pet shop and showing G various toys that I thought seemed intriguing and getting no interest from her, I was checking out with the pet shampoo I came for when I heard a "honk" behind me.  I turned around and saw G with a huge squeaking moose toy, bigger than her whole body, dragged off the shelf.  She went all around it, squeaking each foot, the nose and the body, as if to show me how cool the toy was with its multiple squeakers and why she wanted it.  Of course, it came home with us...and it is way more popular than anything I've selected.

Babies get the best toys!

After a visit with a friend with toddler, Gemma is totally excited about that old baby standby, the plastic stack of rings on rocker base toy so I went out to find her one of her own.  So many games in one!  So far the possible range of games with this toy resemble hockey, kick the can, toss the ring, and off course, fetch.  She can even toss the rings to herself.

Actually, any toy with a ring shape is a good thing.  Gemma's crinkle ring is still a favorite.

Nature girl

Turns out I didn't need to worry about checking all my house plants and yard plants for toxicity to pets.  Gemma has a better nose than I do.  She is batting 100 and is totally reliable as far as I can tell.  She eats the tender shoots and buds of wild roses, dandelions, fiddle head ferns, horse tails, birch, spruce -- all of which are safe and healthy for people to eat too.  Every dangerous wild plant we have run across is well sniffed, then ignored.  Ditto the house plants.  I panicked when she wolfed down a dropped leaf from the jade plant before I could grab it from her mouth, but turns out she was correct, not toxic to pets according to most internet sources and the fact that I still have a healthy dog! 

Unfortunately, rabbit pellets and moose nuggets also have a high plant content and are highly desirable to her, too.  Yuck!