Dogs love sunshine

sophie

oscar

lucy oscar

I got these shots yesterday. Simon & Darla are MIA because they are camera shy. Well, maybe that’s not it, it’s more like they are on my ankles the entire time so it’s hard to get a shot of them… the are very co-dependent.

I love this time of year when the grass is still green and hasn’t been burned up by the summer heat.

Tips for multiple dogs // food

dog food

Chances are if you have multiple dogs you will have multiple foods. That is unless you go with one breed & have dogs all about the same age, then you’re golden! With multiple dogs, you can’t just leave a bowl full of food out for them because that would be chaos, blood & fur everywhere.

So, our pups eat twice a day, once in the morning at 6am when we get up to start our day… they start with the “we’re so happy we know what time it is – wake the heck up” dance at about 5am. They each have their allotted serving of food – depending on size and diet we have an entire set of measuring cups devoted just for them. And, they each have their own bowl, labeled in Sharpie with their names. We dish them up and make them sit still before they are given the command/permission to eat. Then all is well until about 2pm when they start gearing up for the 3pm feeding.

Three of our five dogs are dachshunds and if there are any dachshund readers out there you know how special they are! They are susceptible weight gain and their bone & joint strength is something you need to keep on your mind, too, seeing as how they have those short legs, long back and an unnerving need to fly off of furniture.

Our dachshunds are so special, two of the four foods are for them… Lucy (in picture) is prone to crystals in her bladder so she’s on the Urinary SO food. She also has “the golden poop” because all the other dogs think she poops filet mignon, so she gets half a Stool NO! with every feeding. The other two, Oscar & Simon, are on the Dachshund 28.

Darla, our senior Jack Russell Terrier, is on Mini Aging +12. And, Sophie our daughter’s beagle, is our only normal dog and she is on Medium Adult 25.

dog food1

dog food2

dog food3

dog food4

Chances are, and your chances do increase with every dog you have, you’ll have at least one dog with special needs. But, that’s part of being a dog parent, you take the good with the bad.

p.s. I wish Royal Canin would sponsor us… but alas, our dogs just love their food.

Winter’s keeping the dogs in

sophie

lucy

oscar

simon

sophie

It’s still super cold here, even though it’s technically spring winter hasn’t gotten the memo and is sticking around like sloppy drunk. So, the dogs are spending a lot of time indoors, keeping warm and taking turns keeping watch on the backyard from the safety & warmth of the couch arm.

We do have a 5th dog, Darla, she’s our oldest and not in any of the photos because she is ALWAYS one inch behind me at all times. I’d try for a picture but my butt’d probably photo bomb you… we can’t have that!

Happy weekend.

Our Jed

jed 6

Last week was not easy for our family, our oldest jack russell terrier – Jed was put to rest due to health reasons. Dude was old & ornery but gosh we miss him. He lived fourteen happy years, we adopted him as a puppy, he moved cross country with us from California to North Carolina, and shared our homes, some times begrudgingly, with his adopted brothers & sisters.

jed 1

jed 2

jed 3

jed 4

jed 5

Here’s to digging unlimited holes in heaven. We miss you buddy.

Jed – January 1999 – March 2013.

Throwback Thursday // up to something

carrie and sharon

Today… The THROW BACK THURSDAY bonanza is happening on Thriftary and Two Hoots & a Holler.

This is one of my husband’s favorite pictures of me (and my sister.) I’m on the left and obviously up to something – he says this is ‘classic Carrie.’