Remember the saying always be careful of what you wish for? Well me and bagel truly understood what it meant this christmas... And yes! Bagel's christmas wish did come true, and she did get a boyfriend for christmas! Except that the boyfriend weren't quite as wonderful as expected... Anyways, presenting FLASH, the 7 yr old beagle! (drum rolls) haha and yes her boyfriend's kinda old and pedophilic huh.
Flash is a really intelligent and obedient boy. The PERFECT dog to have, that is if he is the only dog in the house. K brief history about him. Stayed mainly in the garden of his 1st owner, all the way till he was 6 and adopted by a wonderful family (current). So yup my guess is not much socialisation. Because he's really very wonderful, holds his own leash on walks, calm, lies around for people to pat, very grass trained, extremely loyal and follows people around, wait at the door till people comes home... yeah well perfect.
However, put in another dog in the house, and he could be quite a terror. Not to say that he is aggressive, because he's very polite and friendly to dogs. So the problem is the constant humping. Haha so yes bagel got a humping machine for christmas. Initially they got along fine, Bagel didn't really mind the humping much but after awhile, she started getting annoyed, and that's where the problem started, when play escalated to something slightly more serious. But fortunately nope, no scuffles so far, just abit more teeth, harder bites and a more stiff tail and spine. But usually when things progress to such, I'd separate the 2. So yep, I guess bagel's christmas gift didn't turn out too well.
Furthermore, Flash is an extremely jealous boy. After winning a staring contest with dear boy here who refuses to keep quiet, to listen to us, and even snapped at us on the very first day for trying to get him off the couch through his collar, and when that failed by nudging his bum, he kinda recognised me as the head and has been sticky as glue since. Doesn't do the same to other members of the family. So yes when the 2 of them are out, he absolutely refuse to let bagel near me. And everytime when bagel approaches me, he humps her away.
And I also realise that all these humping, not only due to boy-girl gender differences, or even dominance but also simple that seems to be the only way he knows to play... Because, and this is only my guess, when bagel tried approaching him with balls and toys, he humps her. And when I tried to play toys with him, he tried to hump me too. Hm so only guess I could derive was that that must be the only way he knows how to play. O yes and another reason to be careful what one wishes for... Because he doesnt know to stop, when bagel lies down or sits to prevent being humped, he scratches and claw her till he could grip her to hump. Hence bagel is now full of scratch marks at her belly, even with abit of skin scratched off. Sigh and so yes, not a very good christmas this year for both of us. O ya and both are sterilized.
However, as I mentioned, he is a very wonderful doggy to have if he was the only dog in the house. Extremely loyal, cried an entire day and waited at the door the whole day when his owners left. Even in the midst of deep slumber with thunderous snores, he'd jump up awake at the sound of passing cars.
O ya and the reason why we are temporarily boarding him is cos he's family's out on a holiday and cannot find a boarding place this last minute. Haha but well i do believe they are gonna get quite a shock when they see him upon their return, as he lost quite alot of weight. Was really plump when he came but his figure is kinda balancing out what with the exercise he is getting from his humping fest and his daily 1-2hours walk.
And reason why for some queer reason I thought the perfect christmas gift for her will be a boyfriend? It's cos she always look so lonely at home :( She loves dogs, and the other 2 times I helped take care of dogs overnight, she was overjoyed, and 1 of the other dog had fun with her too. well the schnauzer didn't really have fun obviously what with cheeky bagel playing with his ahem. And just the night before i agreed to take care of flash, i took her out on a walk, whereupon i met a friend. So i tied her up and she waited nicely for me for and hour. During which, she was inching closer and closer to my friend's dog till she finally lay down beside the dog, looking extremely contented. Haha and for her 1 hour's effort, it lasted only 5 min for the other dog stood up to leave and go sleep at her sleeping spot in the house. Leaving a bagel with a very hurt look, a sigh as she proceed to lay down and wait for me to finish my convo.
So yup, so sad right. But oh wells nope, after this experience, bagel is soo gonna be the only dog in the house. It's too tiring for me, and poor her seems to get less affection too since we hafta split our attention. Well hee hopefully i'll get my license real quick and she'd be able to go for more swimming and dog run trips :D O yes and speaking soo much on how not very wonderful flash is around dogs, bagel obviously is no saint as well. Since she has this terrible habit of thinking that whatever the other dog has is better than her own. And obviously she gets scolded and punished when she keeps changing her mind about the bone in her mouth and going for flash's, although both bones are exactly the same!
Anyway fortunately I got her other things besides a partner :D
Wooden dunbbell toys from daiso, since she seems to enjoy chewing wood, proof from our coffee table.
A hamburger for her to dream of eating when she's chewing on it heh
A corn cob which hopeully she'd like. Will let her have a go at it after flash returns to his family and the BEST OF THEM ALL!!! I got her a food dehydrater!!! Basically it's a snackmaker, so bagel's gonna have really yummy homemade dehydrated treats in addition to those from the petshop of course. Haha terrible I know, splurging and pampering her the way I do.
O yes, and this wonderful snackmaker not only can make delicious healthy treats for dogs but also for humans! It can dehydrate meats, fruits, herbs flowers, and even beef jerky! As well as (ew) healthy muesi bars and whatnots. Anyway, have tried pig ears, chicken, duck which she luuurves. And pig tongue, pig heart, and internal organs which i'm not gonna make again since I do not like the smell if the treats. Other than the ears, all piggy stuffs tend to have this piggy smell...
O yes, and this wonderful snackmaker not only can make delicious healthy treats for dogs but also for humans! It can dehydrate meats, fruits, herbs flowers, and even beef jerky! As well as (ew) healthy muesi bars and whatnots. Anyway, have tried pig ears, chicken, duck which she luuurves. And pig tongue, pig heart, and internal organs which i'm not gonna make again since I do not like the smell if the treats. Other than the ears, all piggy stuffs tend to have this piggy smell... So yup, here concludes Bagel's 1st christmas with us and hopefully many more to go. :D
9 comments:
Hey Bagel,
We got a dehydrator for Christmas too! We waited impatiently for our home-made treats while they're in the midst of dehydrating. How I love them!
Anyway I truly understand how you feel when you're no longer the only dog in the family. Everything has to be halved; from love to attention to pats to treats to food! All except punishments! How Sad!
Sweet Licks,
Sugar
Bagel you are so darn cute!
Raven
Happy Tails Beagle List
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/happytails
haha sugar how true! I keep getting scolded for trying to steal flash's bone :( well can't help it if his looks better than mine :p but anw nvm he's leaving in 2 days time! :D
Bagel
hey sugar mum, it's great to know you got the dehydrator too! haha I'm having soo much fun with mine and bagel totally lurves the dehydrated treats. Anw wanna ask how dry do you actually dry the treats? And do you put it in the freezer to keep or just in airtight container? Cos I've been having mixed responses about how dry I should dry my treats and storing methods as well.
o ya and even though I think both of us are quite glad that Flash will be returning home in 2 days time, I believe bagel, me and the entire family will all quite miss him. He's really quite a wonderful dog I must say, and sadly bagel will most likely find it really lonely once again :( sigh haha well let's see then maybe in a few years time, after more boarding or whatnots and I feel up to it, bagel might actually really get a friend for life :p *fingers crossed*
Hey ice pony goddess,
thnx lots for the compliment :D haha your horse looks awesome and very pretty too! haha totally cannot imagine having one here in singapore :p
Hey Bagel & Mum,
Happy New Year!!!
Actually we're still pretty new to the dehydrator, cause we got it a week or two before christmas.
The first time I used the machine, I tried fruits, fish, kidney (pig) and gizzards. It was a GREAT mistake. My whole family suffered from the stench of the kidney and even after dehydrating, it still stinks each time I removed it from the bag. I was really at the extent of puking, but the dogs love it -_-"
The fish was also just as bad, it smelled really fishy and I guess it was because the kind of fish I use; it was a little oily and could never fully 'dehydrate' even after 12 hours. I should research and use less oily fish the next time.
What I did was I tried to flatten whatever I am dehydrating as much as possible. For instance, if I'm drying chicken fillet, I'll slice them thinly then smack them with the sides of the knife (just like how chicken rice seller flatten their chicken before serving with rice). I guess that way, the thickness is reduced and the surface area is larger thus it dries faster.
The last time I dehydrated, I used boneless chicken thighs and that turned out to be a BIG mistake. Not only was there skin attached to the meat, there was a layer of fats in between. In the end, a great deal of time was spent separating the skin from the meat and removing the fats. We dehydrated the meat and the skin separately. However, both the skin and meat were very oily (from the fats). I can literally see oil accumulated at the bottom of the bag I kept them in. I'm trying chicken breast the next time, hope it turns out better.
When I dry chicken gizzards and hearts, I have them thinly sliced too. I concluded that if i were to dry the gizzards as a whole, it'll take lots of time and waste lots of electricity.
If I try that again, I'll update you.
As for storage, I placed all the food in a zip-lock bag, however I realise all the chicken feet turned mouldy after a week. My guess is I used too big a bag and I didn't 'release' the air before zipping the bag, and air has moisture thus resulting in the mould. Either that or someone in my family removed the chicken feet with wet hands.
To be on the safer side, I place all treats separately in different ziplock bags, so that if one bag of treats turn mouldy, it wouldn't affect the others. After that, I keep all the ziplock bags of treats in a airtight container. I'm a little on the kiasu side, but it really is a great deal of time, effort, money and electricity drying these treats; I wouldn't want to waste them just like that.
I read from the forums (a year or two ago) and had kind of forgotten what were suggested, thus I can't comment on what methods work or what didn't.
Moreover, there were so many comments online and with mixed responses, it's difficult to determine which one is worth believing/following, thus what I do is follow the instructions given by the manufacturer, then trial and error. Hopefully I won't have too much failures before tasting success. Hahs.
Anyway if you have any suggestions or questions, you can email me at sugar.beagle@gmail.com
I had problems trying to post a long comment on blogger. Don't worry, I'll help you as long as I have the knowledge with regards to your questions.
Meanwhile, have fun playing with your dehydrator and feeding/eating treats throughout 2009! =)
Regards,
Rane
(Sugar's & Posh's human)
hey sugar mum, thnx so much for your reply :D anw we tried the kidneys and yup it stink REAL bad too. hm pig ears, chicken breast, duck, and chicken organ parts are fine, but we realise that as long as pig parts, it seems to stink. tried heart and tongue as well. But the ears dry really well, and no smell. hm and thnx so much for the info. didnt know that the treats can grow mouldy :S haha but that's also cos bagel finishes her treats REAL fast. like each time can barely last 1 wk :p
Hmm...Pretty horny beagle! It's such a dog thing...
hello it's natsunohanabi.livejournal.com
Hi Bagel! Your new boyfriend, Flash is soo handsome & smart!
Boogie Woogie,
Solid Gold Dancer
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