Tag: training dogs

canine health, feeding dogs, foster dogs

Low Calorie Doggie Snacks

Cara Achterberg

Our latest foster, Moose, is on a diet. I can’t remember ever having a foster dog who seriously needed to lose weight. Moose needs to lose about 20% of his weight. He arrived weighing close to 95 pounds and really should be closer to 75.

No problem, right? Since we control what he eats and how much he exercises. (I’ve always thought I’d love to go to a diet camp where someone controlled all that for me.)

And we are controlling how much he eats – measuring his food (only a high quality, grain-free dry food) and serving it with a vitamin and probiotics.

Continue reading “Low Calorie Doggie Snacks” →
adopters, Behavioral Euthanasia, Billie Jean, dog rescue, foster dogs, oph, returned dogs, training

Our Beauty Queen Returns

Cara Achterberg

Having Billie Jean back with us has been really fun. She has an energy that shimmers off her and an eagerness to please that is refreshing. Like most cattle dogs, she has a lot to say and a huge repertoire of sounds. She is great company and an entertaining guest.

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She is so much the dog I remember, but at the same time there is Continue reading “Our Beauty Queen Returns” →

Dogs with Issues, fostering, Gala, training, Yin and Yang

All This Good-Bye Saying is Wearing on a Soul

Cara Achterberg

20953348_10154856620492405_641604796664883125_nThe house feels so very quiet and calm despite the fact that all three kids are still here and we have a border collie puppy in residence. Without Gala, the energy is different. I dreamed about her last night waking at 3am with an uneasy feeling. I lay there imagining what she’s thinking, worrying about her tender heart, and sending up silent prayers that she would blossom in her new setting.

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As has been the case for me of late, sleep did not return. I tossed and turned and debated getting up and cleaning something instead of wasting so much time growing more impatient at my inability to get back to sleep. And then I became absolutely sure I could hear the puppy crying downstairs. Continue reading “All This Good-Bye Saying is Wearing on a Soul” →