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.

Goodbye 70° Hello Fall

I knew it wouldn't last forever but it lasted longer than I expected ... temps 70° or higher during the day. Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up to very cold temperatures and that is when it hit me that fall was definitely here. I had left some windows open and when I glanced at my iPhone for the outside temperature, it was 30° outside.

Flicking the light on I saw the hounds were packed together to keep warm. Sadie has never wanted a blanket to sleep on in 7 years, she sleeps on the dog bed I bought for Heidi. Stella doesn't seem to like laying on a blanket either but both basset hounds not only love blankets, they like to bury themselves inside blankets. That was the case around 3:30am when the cool air coming through window woke me up.

I fell off the strict diet again around 7:30pm with a quick run to the local Dairy Queen. I am embarrassed to list all of the stuff I bought and ate. I'll just say that as my body was getting use to all of the foreign particles, around 10pm I catch myself nodding out on the couch during 3 really good football games. An overdose of carbohydrates, sleep was so over powering, that I set the DVR to tape the rest of two games and to tape a new game that was coming on at 10:30pm. All of those DQ carbs had me sleeping within seconds after going to bed. I watched all the taped football games this morning while drinking the morning coffee.

Since it was still cold this morning, the basset's didn't get outside but the bloodhounds loved it. Once they were outside on their first trip they didn't do much but sniff the area out, eat some frozen burrs from those dead stalks that you see in the field. I was hoping the local farmer would be back this month to bale the field like he did last fall but so far they have not come back.

All the hounds were fed early this morning with the new feeding schedule of twice per day. Of course once Heidi heard the food being poured into the stainless steel bowls, she was wide awake from her deep sleep and was at her bowl anxiously waiting for her breakfast. I am not sure they like their portions cut in half, but eating twice per day now does not mean they get twice as much food.

They act as if they don't know that policy.

A couple of hours later Stella's nose is at my elbow while I am at my desk at the computer. She starts to whine. When I mentioned she was begging, she started howling. I glanced at the clock and it was only 10:13am, way too early for their 2nd feeding that now takes place late afternoon.

It was different though today ... she wasn't howling because she was hungry, the bloodhounds wanted to go back outside. When I got up to head for the door they sprinted for that door, then sprinted outside and started playing immediately.

They even got in some sprints chasing each other. They stopped just as fast as they started ... headed back to the door to go inside and fell asleep immediately.

Glancing at the ten day forecast it will still be great weather but the high temps will be in the range of 55° - 62° most of the time.

Last Week's Hound Walk

I forgot to download these photos from my iPhone that I took last Wednesday. Heidi still refuses to come on the walks almost all the time now. Sadie gets to walk leash free. Stella is on a 25' retractible leash because she is still "new" to the field area that has unexpected deer traffic at times. Winston is on a 25' retractible leash because he is slower than slow.

That doesn't mean I drag him on the walk, it just means I can control the number of times his nose takes over where he will wander to follow his nose, drop way behind us and then cuts his daily walk short. We still have to stop and wait for him at times but at least he completes the walk which he likes and is within 25' of me, when his nose gets in control.

Their noses are always working.

Stella

Sadie

These are from yesterday afternoon during one of the few breaks to go outside between and during the football games. Stella wanted to ride in the FJ. Sadie thought she heard the word "go". We didn't go anywhere but just outside and back for them to dump their tanks.

Another beautiful sunset last night.

Hounds Are Low Energy This Morning

My trip to Bloomington to buy dog food yesterday turned out to be a longer trip than I planned. I have only one more bag to buy of the Fromm Reduced Activity And Senior before I get a free 33# bag. It's really good food and I can tell a big difference in the coats of the hounds, less shedding, shines and is softer. My vet told me years ago that if the coat was good that meant the ingredients were being used all the way through their system.

In February the vet mentioned two different sources of protein or blends for Heidi's skin issues ... Duck and sweet potato or as a 2nd choice Venison. Since then I have tried different foods that you have read about, with those two proteins. The problem was most of the dog food companies did not have just Duck or Duck Meal with sweet potatoes ... they always added lamb or chicken to the mix.

I am trying to decide if chicken or lamb may be the cause of her allergies. So after "further review" I decided to bite the bullet and spend more for dog food than I told myself I would ever do and bought Fromm Duck and Sweet Potato blend. It's NOT no grain food like I have been giving her with the Earthborn foods, but it's only Duck and Duck Meal as the main protein source. I am hoping the additional carbs from the barley and rice will help her gain weight.

Of course I couldn't just stop at dog food. Since Stella and Sadie had destroyed their Nylabone, I bought another large Nylabone Dura Chew, not noticing on the label "Allergen-Free Peanut Butter flavor. I only bought one and not two bones because based on my experience if I would have bought two bones, Sadie would have wanted both of them. Or both of them would have wanted the same bone.

So far that was a successful trip. Just down the street is my friends car lot so I thought I'd stop in to visit and see how his beagle/bulldog mixed pup was doing. I mentioned that dog in my August visit for dental work. The dog was bulldog size and played the whole time I was there ... which turned out to be almost 4 hours. I'm not sure who talks more, me or Jason. We are both storytellers.

The amazing thing, I was there 4 hours and didn't trade cars/trucks. I did walk around his lot looking at the cars/trucks he had available. He didn't try to sell me but what was surprising I had no feelings of trading either my FJ or Mini Cooper S for anything on the lot ... although he has a nice selection and some nice cars/trucks. In the the past I would have made a trade right then and there. I have bought a lot of cars from him over the years.

I knew traffic would be heavy for a Friday afternoon, heading home. What I didn't expect was backed up traffic due to an accident on the highway about 8 miles from home. Luckily I was able to pass a line of cars and take the first left down a country road which ended up being a back way home.

It was the longest I had ever left Stella alone with the other dogs so I kinda expected the worse but knew there was nothing important that she could destroy if she did have any separation anxiety while I was gone for so long.

She passed with flying colors ... no damage of any kind ... she probably enjoys being with the other hounds and not kenneled alone.

We headed out this morning with camera and coffee in hand. Beautiful day but all of the hounds were low energy. Of course since it's not noon yet, Heidi didn't get off her old leather couch.

The other three hounds didn't do much but sniff the area, stand and stare and then headed back inside. Instead of their "treat" I gave them 1/2 portion of their dog food. They scarfed it down within seconds. It wasn't two hours later that Stella is laying her nose on my arm at my computer desk whining. Once again when I told her it was not time to "eat", she started howling ... lol.

I did not give in this time. Yet while I write this, Sadie is standing at the door of the computer room giving me her usual look that it's time to eat. Their next food supplement will be later this afternoon. It might take them awhile to get use to the new feeding twice per day. It's proof they would eat non-stop if I would leave their dog food out.

From my football tv schedule, which I print out and then highlight the games of interest, there are three games I want to watch are not starting until 10:30pm local time. That is a normal time for west coast games but three games at the same time is not normal for that time slot. It looks like the remote control will get a workout tonight.

The hounds will still get their daily walk in later this afternoon.

Here are a couple photos from Friday night's sunset. The fall nights really light up when the sun sets.

Thanks for the feedback on how often you feed your dogs and the frequency of my blog posts.