Hounds Cruise Through Another Week

Wednesday afternoon didn't bring much more activity than earlier. Heidi finally climbed out of bed, ate her meal and came outside for some afternoon sunshine. She just does not like the weather to be below 70°.

The bloodhounds didn't do much but walk around, sniff the area and then sat and stared at me wondering what was next on the agenda.

I am finding that Stella and Sadie constantly fight for my attention. The bloodhounds seem to crave more attention than the basset hounds. They don't follow me literally everywhere but when I am away from my desk doing something they seem to be in the way and right there.

For instance most hounds I believe are afraid of vacuums ... not these two, They followed me and stood next to me every square inch of the house while I vacuumed. While doing laundry, the bassets slept in the sunshine seeping through the windows but the bloodhounds were right in the middle of different stacks of sorted clothes waiting to be washed. Their noses never stop working.

When the refrigerator door opens, usually all four hounds will wake from their deep sleep to see if any food can be had. Heidi may not get up all day but when there is any kind of dog food or human food involved she is right there ... you can't tell that by her ribs showing.

This morning it was still dark outside but Winston was up and ready to start the day. He paces and whines until that wakes me up. I let all of them outside. There isn't a better alarm clock than Winston ... the problem is I don't have an alarm clock and no need for an alarm clock.

Heidi use to sleep until noon and would rarely go out with the other hounds in that early morning darkness to dump their tanks. That has all changed now that breakfast is served as soon as they returned inside. She is up with the other hounds now because she knows she will be fed when she gets back inside. Plus, all of them don't stay out and wander in the field on that first trip like they use to.

By the time I get the bowls filled with their quantity of food, all four hounds are standing at the door with tails wagging, waiting to get back inside to eat their breakfast.

After my first cup of coffee, Sadie stands by my desk chair telling me it was time to go outside again. Lately Stella and Sadie will go outside while Winston and Heidi continue to sleep. Stella does her normal route, Sadie stands and watches her ... then when Stella steps in that north yard she sprints at her and the playing begins.

There wasn't a lot of sprinting this morning but a lot of head and chest bumping ... they stopped just as fast as they started, returned to the house and were immediately asleep.

I posted earlier about my thoughts on dog food, along with an article ... but even eating good premium dog food Sadie still enjoys a good stick to chew on. She rarely eats them but breaks them off into 1"-2" pieces and spits them out.

The 20mph winds last night blew most of the leaves out of the yard and driveway ... that's always a good thing. Cooler temps are here in the tropics of southern Indiana ... I'm already looking forward to the spring and summer.

Thinking And Thoughts About Dog Food

This article is one of two reasons for this blog post.

Sometime back around 1987 when I had my first basset hound, Harry ... is when I first read about harmful ingredients in dog food. At that time the word was "ethoxyquin". It was found by a husky breeder who happened to be a chemist and raced her dogs in the Iditarod. Her litters were having deformed puppies. She thought ethoxyquin to be the cause.

Ethoxyquin is a quinoline-based antioxidant used as a food preservative and pesticide to control scald on pears after harvest. It is commonly used as a preservative in pets foods to prevent the rancidification of fats.

Ethoxyquin is the same thing used in rubber tires.

Within a few years of media exposure, it was no longer included in most dog foods as a preservative. It was then I started buying "premium" dog food. Still for the next 28 years my analytical mind was always asking if it really made a difference.

Even before Heidi's skin problems, where they increased this past year, I had hounds that itched, scratched, licked even on premium dog food. Some bassets lived older than 10 years old yet a couple of them died from cancer before the age of 7. All of them had eaten what was considered premium dog food.

A large percentage of dog food companies have had recalls for one reason or another. Very few have never had a recall, Fromm is one.

So why is this the topic of today's blog post? It's a combination of me searching for a dog food that Heidi can eat and results in her skin improving back to 100% healthy ... plus ... this article I ran onto yesterday.

You can read it here.

As I have stated in past blogs, I have kept an Excel spreadsheet on every penny I have earned and every penny I have spent since 1998. Each expense is labeled and categorized with a monthly average. I then compare those monthly averages to the averages from the prior year. This has really helped in controlling my spending and catching "leaks" within my budget over the year.

One of the items that has increased in costs annually is ... dog food ... by a large margin. The bags get smaller and the price gets higher.

Yes, the number of dogs would change that average but also the cost per bag changes that average. When you have the same number of hounds, eating the same food and the same quantities over a period of years, it is pretty easy to see the increase in costs.

Of course that formula changed for my monthly average spent this past August 30, when I added Stella to the herd of hounds.

I've always asked myself if "grocery store" brands of dog food are so bad, why are they still in business? Purina/Nestle is 80+ years old, why aren't they shut down? Why are all the breeders that won at the largest dog show of the year, in every category, feeding their show dogs Purina Pro Plan? They have won the past 3 years in all categories.

Or why is meat by-products or chicken by-products so bad when you will find a stray dog or wolf eating most parts of any animal they will kill to eat. I know there is a difference between raised chickens and wild animals in nature. That article brought out some information that made me think even more about why I am feeding my hounds what I am.

Is ground corn really better than potatoes like the article states? Does it really matter that blueberries are part of the diet of my hounds? Even though our hounds are like family and loved like family, they are still dogs. Some dogs even like eating poop. That puts it in perspective when you are analyzing dog food ingredients deeper and deeper and are being told all those fruits and veggies are important for dogs.

I know that the genetic makeup of all dogs are different. I know that all dogs will react differently to different foods. I know that no matter what you do, eventually they will die or have health problems during their lifetime.

Have pet owners been lied to? Has the marketing of dog food into a billion dollar business influenced the common pet owner in what they feed their dogs by a lack of research?

-  If the cheaper dog foods are so bad, why are they still in business?
-  Why isn't their more media published reports telling that only 3% of dog allergies are due to food?
-  Are the premium dog food companies trying to hide something by not testing their ingredients in depth?
-  How can a dog live to be 14-15 years old eating that "grocery store" brand dog food?
-  Why do "grocery store" brand dog foods have high customer reviews?

I don't want to start a firestorm over this ... pet owners know that most dog food forums, Facebook dog groups and dog food reviews are full of angry verbal battles fighting over what to feed a dog and what makes a good or bad pet owner ... but feel free to comment about the linked article, my questions and blog post.

I just find the whole dog food business quite remarkable at times.

Don't worry ... I'm writing a hound blog post with photos right after I hit the publish button on this one.

Tuesday Morning Energy

I could tell from the first few minutes of the day that the bloodhounds were "high energy", the basset hounds were normal level. Right now after being back inside for about 10 minutes it's so quiet you can hear a pin drop because they are all sleeping. You would not have thought that just 10 minutes ago when Sadie and Stella were sprinting through the field and playing.

They actual had two running sessions. The headed deep into the field to dump their tanks plus smell any fresh deer tracks.

Luckily neither bloodhound moves into that wooded area. It is wooded for only about 10' and then drops immediately into a huge gully probably 50' deep. Another thing I find amazing is with Stella being that far away she will always come when I call her name ... as does Sadie.

Stella takes a different route when called. She will head north and then to the edge of my property where the pole marks the corner of my lot, while Sadie runs straight to me.

This morning after being on a full run, Stella was distracted by a smell and then decided to eat a small tree limb that had been burned last week while raking leaves.

They weren't done yet ... normally after this sequence they are both ready to come back inside but today Sadie met Stella head on. Stella zipped around her, then stopped as both started playing, something they were doing inside the house.

By now you would have thought they were finished but after Sadie stood up, Stella takes off running with Sadie not far behind. Another interesting fact I have mentioned before that is kinda of weird ... outside Sadie will be the one on the bottom, laying down ... inside Stella is on the floor laying down while they play.

They both ran faster today after each other than I had ever seen before.

Just like that ... they stop and head back to the house to go inside ... sleeping soundly within 10 minutes.

Where were Winston and Heidi during all of this?  Inside dry and warm, sleeping next to each other wrapped up in blankets by their own design and rearrangement. All four hounds did go out earlier in the dark and then sprinted for their food dishes for breakfast. I filled them up while they were outside.

I think they have caught on to the new feeding arrangement, moving to 2x per day, only after a few days.

It's a cool damp day so far in the tropics of southern Indiana.

Heidi and Stella Go Toe To Toe

For it to be close to 60° outside today it sure seems much more colder than that. Of course it was high 30's to low 40's most of the morning. With this recent short period of colder weather I am not sure I want to spend the winter here.

Besides feeling like a weird day today, there is a new game in town, so to speak. It started Sunday afternoon in the living room. Heidi had moved to her spot on the couch for her normal nap in the sunshine that was coming through the windows.


I was in the computer room and didn't notice at first what was going on until I walked out to find Stella pawing at her to play and Heidi in Stella's face barking in her "attack" mode.

The more Heidi barked the more Stella howled ... thinking it was part of the game she was playing. Heidi was seriously telling her she didn't want to be bothered and of course as with any bloodhound the rougher play is the better it is. They don't know their own strength and feel no pain.

I stopped them and that was it for Sunday between the two.

Although Heidi is a basset hound she has always been able to jump up on my bed. After everyone is awake and moving throughout the house in the morning, Heidi likes to move from her over night spot on the floor to my bed to sleep in the sunshine coming through the window.

This morning the howling is louder, Heidi's barking is more intense and I actually think after seeing her she was was really mad about Stella bothering her again. With Heidi on the bed she was now eye level with Stella who was standing on the floor next to the bed. Heidi is barking and Stella is pawing at her, and howling back at her. Once Heidi retreated to her spot to sleep, Stella placed her two front paws up on the bed while still standing on the floor only to have Heidi back in her face barking to get off of "her" bed.

Winston, only a few feet away, slept through every minute of this noise. Sadie came and got me and then sat outside the bedroom in the hallway with her ears laid back and glancing at me while listening to the rotation of howls and barking. She didn't know what to think or do because she has never seen anything that loud since arriving here in 2008 as a 12 week old puppy.

I finally had to get Stella out of the bedroom and shut the door so Heidi could sleep in peace.

So far, the rest of the day nothing has happened that loud ... they did touch noses though earlier this afternoon.

The hounds haven't done much today but sleep inside and only sniff for bad stuff to eat outside. Of course Sadie and Winston look in the photos as if they haven't done anything like that .. not guilty, even after I stood their watching them through my zoomed lens.

Speaking of lenses ... camera is back to working without any problems ... strange.

Both think they are innocent of doing anything they are not allowed to do.  I don't believe all the hounds are happy with the quantity of food feeding them twice per day instead of once. They expect the normal amount of food they received before ... but only twice per day ... LOL.

Back to my book and a new cup of coffee here in the freezing tropics of southern Indiana.