Care & Feeding of Too Many Dogs - Pt 2

The first month of Puppydom is a relative slice of mudcake when compared to the second. Before that miraculous 4th week they are nearly 100% reliant on mom for all their wants and needs. After that? It's us they need! What is sometimes a daunting task for someone dealing with only one or two dogs, was cubed for our tribe of nine. Eleven, if you count the humans. Here is how the second month unfolded:

Week 4: Foooood, glorious food! If you think one dog eats a lot, try feeding eight newly toothy puppy mouths and one ravenous weaning mama-dog. Laney was so hungry she began eating whole carrots! At this stage, the pups had tiny little razor teeth and were happy to crunch away on high-protein puppy kibble. We didn't bother with any milk substitutes or supplements. Nor did we wet their food, as they seemed to have no problem chomping and digesting the hard kibble. We let Laney wean as she liked, and her weight dropped rapidly around this time which told us to feed her more, and told her to feed them less! It was also between weeks 3 and 4 that the pups and mom were all given a store-bought worming treatment.

Week 5: Time to be a party animal. We'd been socializing the puppies since birth, really. Neighbors and children, family and friends all dropped by over the weeks to pet and gawk. But by this age, it was very important to make certain they were used to all varieties and sizes of people. Now that all the dogs were eating real food, Laney stopped cleaning up their waste and that left a lovely nightly task of room cleaning and puppy washing for my hard working hubby. The damage bill also skyrocketed around week 5. Hubby remade the guest room with scrap vinyl used to cover the saddened carpet, and fenced the pups in the best he could with old doors, plywood, etc. Their old whelping box was converted into a potty-box and some training was begun! Sometimes they'd still manage to get ahold of the wrong thing and...destruction!

Week 6: Laney had pretty much cut off the mommy buffet at this point. She still allowed the occasional comfort nursing (in fact, she still allows an occasional minute or two) but her milk began drying up and we increased the puppies food to about 4 cups of dry food per day and 500g of "dog roll". For those not in Oz, this is just pressed wet food, sold in the meat section. Canned food would suffice. As for potty training, it's nigh on impossible with eight pups. But we attempted, belatedly, the Misty Method, and it worked to some degree. If we had less pups or had begun earlier we might've had better luck. We also began giving each puppy solo-time with the humans. One or two per night would join us in the living room for individual attention.

Week 7: Advertise, advertise, advertise! Finding good homes for eight dogs is no simple task. Though these pups were so cute that they made it a little bit easier. We placed ads on free boards, pet sites, etc but got nearly all our pups adopted via a paid classified (online only, no print ad). Life pretty much continued as normal, though we increased their exercise with occasional outdoor adventures after their 2nd worming, and lots of tug-of-war using old towels and plenty chasing of tennis balls. Clean-up became all consuming of our time with hubby washing and tidying and me cleaning at least a load of towels per day.

Week 8: This is when the pups began to filter out to their new homes. Jimmy and Junior were the first to go, adopted by hubby's aunt and uncle. By far the most popular, Isca is now living contentedly by the sea, on the York Peninsula. Next went Batman and Robin to a lovely couple wanting exercise buddies. Soon after, Spot became the light of a teen girl's life. Speck was our last adoptee and she is now warming the hearts of a kind couple who lost their longtime doggy-friend, last month. We, of course, kept the best of them all! Born "Pisca" and renamed Emmy, our little gem will begin intensive training once the house is free of other doggy distractions.

The Aftermath: We had exactly eight hours between Speck's departure and Jimmy & Junior's return. Aunt and Uncle had pre-puppy travel plans and we've been playing puppysitters for the last several days. They've been re-dubbed Floyd and Ellie and are far more rambunctious than our runty little Em'. But she has held her own! We get a week-long reprieve before our second round of puppysitting and it will be nice to begin finding a flow with just our two dogs. Emmy will be getting her first shots, another worming, and lots of time outside the puppy dungeon. It will be a whole new adventure for us all!

Care & Feeding of Too Many Dogs - Pt 1

For the past three months our lives have been focused on exactly one thing. Puppies. Midwifing puppies, housing puppies, feeding puppies, cleaning puppies. Puppies! We just sent our last pup to it's new, loving home and have received reports back from owners and vets alike that, whatever we did, we did it right. I thought I'd share some details of our puppy-raising experience, stage by stage. This first part of the story covers late pregnancy through the puppies' third week.

Pre-birth: It definitely takes awhile to even realize a dog is in "the family way." There are no easy tests or methods of discovery. You just begin to notice that your dog's belly is getting fatter and fatter, and teats begin to form. Then you start praying for a rare 1-pup litter. In this stage, we made sure Laney got as much food as she could stand, boosting the protein gradually and feeding her on demand. When she began digging in the yard and sniffing around the house, hubby constructed a cardboard nesting box and lined it with towels. Some dogs prefer a quiet out-of-the-way spot, but our dog loves her people and preferred a back corner of the living room for her delivery.

Labor: We left it all up to Laney. After all, nature knows best. For the 24 hours before delivery, she spent a great deal of time pacing and panting, testing out her box and generally going bit stir crazy. Delivery began as a surprise to us both! She birthed the first while standing in the middle of the kitchen. I made certain the pup had a soft landing, then watched to make sure she accepted the puppy. She was a champ! She expertly removed the amniotic sac, cleaned off the little girl and moved her to the whelping box. Over the next ten hours, she birthed seven more little dogs. We kept the room draft-free and watched everyone closely for the next day or two. All the pups nursed well and we couldn't have asked for a more textbook delivery.

Weeks 1 & 2: This is the time to sit back, coo cutely and the little critters. There isn't much else you can do. While we busied ourselves with changing towels and keeping Laney happy, she mothered her pups like a pro. With her watchful permission, we handled the puppies daily, and gently, wanting them to be used to touch as early as possible. Laney's food at this time nearly tripled in volume, aiding in milk production and ensuring she had enough energy to deal with a litter of eight.

Week 3: It was around this time that we moved the whelping box to a spare room. Hubby fashioned a lovely, more permanent whelping box of scrap wood, which allowed Laney more room to nurse and gave us an easier cleaning strategy. I really do recommend cardboard for the birth, though. Many fluids and other slimy things are involved in any birth and it's much easier to simply toss out the original cardboard box. At the end of this third week, all eight puppies began to open their eyes.

Though it was a surprise to us, having adopted an already-pregnant dog, puppy rearing continues to be a very entertaining, rewarding, and often maddening experience. Stay tuned for the continuing saga of Puppydom when I cover weeks four through eight.

An Abundance of Life

It's hot. No, that's not right. It's blisteringly hot. Yes, that nearly covers it. With "vacation" winding to a close on the Suburban Plot, we find ourselves in the belly of a record-breaking beast of a heatwave. In just the past two days we've scaled thermal heights I thought impossible outside of Death Valley, seeing temperatures of 122 F (50 C) in sunshine, 113 F (45 C) in the shade. Oh yes, it's hot. But, though life may struggle in the heat, it does not vanish or even pause for very long.

In the weeks since New Year's, despite our efforts to avoid all forms of work or change, we've been repeatedly visited by the all powerful Fairy of All Things Living. She has beaten us over the head with her magic stick of Lots-n-Lots, and we've surrendered to her will.

The first thwack of the fairy's wand came on January 9th when our beloved kelpie-cross dog, Laney, began panting and scratching, plodding and pacing, and gave birth to her litter of unexpected puppies. Hubby and I had placed bets on the date and size of delivery many times in the days following Christmas, but all such things come in their own time (and number). The husband was banking on three, possibly four pups. I put my money closer to seven. Neither of us had any notion that we'd soon be playing host to eight little wrinkly balls of canine cuteness. But, out they came, and our evenings have never been more amusing.

The little fluffballs, now three weeks old, are smelly, and noisy, and pee on just about anything, but then they lick your chin or roll over for a bit of belly scratching, and all is forgiven. We have five weeks more with seven of these eight critters (we're keeping one), and I'm positive it will be a laughter-filled adventure.

One might think adding eight living creatures to our home might be enough to appease the Abundance Fairy, but no! She came back for a second swat just days after the puppies breathed their first. She brought with her a staggering near 13 kilos (28 pounds) of apricots. Our huge, ancient "Plum-ricot" grafted tree, for the first time in hubby's recollection of his five years here, burst forth with enough fruit to keep us well stocked for over a year.

But, wait—There's more! Unsatisfied with my hours of jam stirring, chopping, blanching and packaging, that crafty fairy thought it great fun to toss in over 22 kilos (49 pounds) of tomatoes! So, it was onto evenings spent with the husband, dicing tomatoes for jar upon jar of fresh red, green, and black beauties, and some of the best marinara sauce I've ever made.

Content with what small respite we've enjoyed since the holidays, the deluge of home-and-garden goodness has prompted my enthusiastic return to the blogosphere and all the wonderful people she holds. The next few posts will delve into the dirty details of all we've done in our month off from home improvement and online interactions. I'll be posting photos of the finished (and semi-finished) rooms of our house, recipes for our recently harvested produce, a view into our new, lighter summer breakfast, and how we're managing to keep our garden alive through such murderous heat.

The bread dough is calling for a punch and knead, so that is the end, for today. I do hope you'll rejoin our journey and continue to share yours as well. Oh, and Margo? I haven't forgotten you, and will happily post my Honey Cornbread recipe in the next couple days.

Hazy Crazy Holidays of Summer

Christmas and Hanukkah have passed us by, expanded waistlines and shredded piles of spent gift wrap have been left in their wake. Tonight, the eve of the new year, will conclude my first holiday season in the land down under.

It's been a busy season, jam packed with home project mania and brief forays into the real world for family dinners and shopping trips, but all went beautifully well, in spite of the 33 degree (that's 90+ Fahrenheit) temperatures. Even our garden, chocked full of tender seedlings, weathered the miniature heatwave well. We were so pleased!

Christmas and Boxing Day, themselves, were delightful and filled with more food than anyone should eat in a lifetime. The City Mouse will have to resume her health regime in earnest, post-renovations, to recapture a smidge of lost weight gained over the festivals of food. We did have one adorable companion over Christmas lunch in the form of a fuzzy little Koala, curled up in the cradle of a gum tree just a few steps from our outdoor locale. It was a beautiful sight.

The barrage of home improvements still dominates our every waking moment, but the end is drawing near. Today we pick up a handy-dandy floor sander and begin the process of refinishing our floors. It's daunting, as there are layers of thick, black goo across some of the flooring, but we hold faith that all will glow a beautiful, piny hue when we are done. This new phase of our mad dash toward increased home value means that we will be taking full advantage of the outdoors, this week, with plans to camp out Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, allowing our floors to dry.

Some of the first real harvest has come in from the garden, lending itself to our delicious dinner of green beans and potatoes cooked with ham hock. How else could one serve such a southern treat than with sweet honey cornbread and big glasses of minted iced tea? It was delightful!

During our backyard camp fest, we intend to use up some of the early tomatoes, a few more beans, and hopefully a green pepper or two. I think what I'm looking forward to, most of all, is a camp breakfast of stewed, fresh apricots from our tree. One sunset colored beauty found its way into yesterday's snack time and the harvest promises to be sweetly perfect.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the thoughtful array of gifts we received, this fine holiday, with American treats sent from home, fabulous project books for the hubby and a Ball Home Preserving superbook for yours truly. There were vacuums and shoes, gift cards, seedlings, and bakeware, plus some lovely donations toward our future rainwater tank.

Our own gifts to the relatives were made on a shoestring, consisting mostly of photographs the hubby and I have taken over the last year, packaged for friends and family in envelopes decorated with scrapbooking supplies and sent with much love. Hopefully next year we will be enjoying our holiday in cooler American climes, instead of taking a dip in the pool. Though a good swim is never a bad thing!

Perhaps the biggest gift has come wrapped in another gift all its own. Our present to each other was, of course, our beautiful pup, Laney. But she too had a bit of giving to do and just three weeks after her adoption, she decided to let us in on a bit of a secret. She's pregnant! Yep, that's right. We adopted ourselves a pregnant dog. We estimate her to be in week seven with two to go until these new little critters join our family. We will be keeping one pup and giving the rest away. An inconvenient gift, but one we are growing to love.

For now, we are off for a day of pulling up carpets and sanding down floors. It will be several days before we have net access again, and "vacation" begins January 6th. From that date on, this suburban plotter will be gleefully returning to frequent updates and big news of harvests and kitchen doings. Until then, be well and happy and enjoy your New Year!

Chef du Chien: Meatloaf and Sweet Treats

Yet another report crossed the airwaves, in the past month, telling of tainted ingredients in commercial dog food products. Last time, it was Melamine causing organ failure. This time? Salmonella in the chicken meal used to make a few major brands.

It's unfortunate that folks can't trust the foods they buy for their best furry friends, and it makes us even more resolved to provide good, whole foods for our little pup. So, yesterday, as the husband plastered and sanded the bathroom to prepare for my paint job, I turned our kitchen into a doggie delicatessen, whipping up a couple weeks' worth of food for our Fido.

Chicken and Potato Loaf
1-1.5 kg ground meat, or ground meat and bone (we used chicken carcass)
.5 kg diced potato
.5 kg chopped veggies (we used 2 carrots, 1/2 apple, 1 pear, and filled it out with cabbage)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp Vegemite (For nutritional yeast and Vitamin B)
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/8 cup fine cornmeal or polenta
1/2 cup rolled oats

Chicken and Rice Loaf
1-1.5 kg ground meat, or ground meat and bone (we used chicken carcass)
1.5 cups dry white or brown rice, prepared
.5 kg chopped veggies (we used 2 carrots, 1/2 cup green beans, filled it out with cabbage)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp ketchup (tomato sauce, for Aussies)
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/8 cup fine cornmeal or polenta
1/3 cup rolled oats

Preheat your oven to 180C (350F).

Mix up either recipe, or improvise your own, adjusting liquid levels with water or meat broth, as you like, or adding extra flour if the mixture is too wet.

Chop and steam all the fruits and veggies, steaming them to soften. While the veggies cook, stir together the meat and eggs with any oats, rice, flours, and meals, along with adding flavorings (Vegemite, ketchup, oil, etc). Combine the meat and veggie mixes.

Divide the recipe between two large loaf pans, or one 9" square casserole dish. I like to line mine with a bit of aluminum foil and a light spritz of oil spray for easier removal after baking. Press the mixture tightly into the pans and bake for an hour.

Cool completely, then wrap in plastic or foil and freeze until needed.

Tip: Our local butcher offers 5 kg (over 11 lbs) of ground "chicken frames" or carcass for $5. That makes over half a month's food for our pooch!

Feeding amount: This varies from dog to dog, but our Laney (a 23kg/50lb Kelpie/Hound mix) gets 1/2 loaf, around .75 kg prepared, per day. We will adjust if we notice any weight changes.

Peanut Butter Honey Dog Treats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 rounded tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk or water, plus a splash extra if the mix is too stiff
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tbsp honey

Stir dry ingredients together and set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk up milk and peanut butter until well blended, stirring in honey until smooth. Combine wet into dry ingredients and mix or knead until a firm but pliable dough is achieved.

Turn the dough onto a floured knife-safe surface and roll to 1/4 inch (about 6mm) thickness then slice into bite sized chunks. If you're particularly fancy, or extremely bored, you could use cookie cutters to make little dog bone shapes, or similar, but I opted for the ever stylish rectangle.

Spread the uncooked biscuits across a greased or lined cookie sheet and bake. Cooking time depends on your oven and preferences. Ours were firm and chewy after 25 minutes, crispy and crunchy after 45. We prefer crispy treats for our pup. Good for her teeth!

Cool completely on the tray then seal into an airtight container. This recipe makes about 35 3/4" x 2" treats.

Canine Cuisine: Brekky Muffins & Dinner Noodles

I'm not one for spoiling our furry friends. I do my best to treat dogs like dogs. On the other hand, I love to cook and will take any possible opportunity to try something fun in the kitchen.

So, each week, I'll be whipping up Laney's biscuits and dog food, trying to find the right balance of nutrition to plump up our bone-skinny pup. I hope you enjoy!

Oh, don't forget that nearly every recipe is workable for we mere humans, too!

Laney's Brekky Muffins

1 3/4 cups rolled oats
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup light yogurt or sour cream
1/3 cup light cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup olive oil
2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
splashes of milk and apple juice

Note: Please remember to omit raisins, sultanas, and nutmeg from any muffin recipe intended for your dog.

Preheat your oven to 200c (400 f).

Get two bowls. In one, beat the eggs well, add in oats, yogurt, cream cheese, oil, and apples. Mix until moistened. In the second bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, mixing until well blended.

Add the dry to the moist and stir a few times, wetting lightly with milk and apple juice until ingredients are just moistened.

Line muffin cups and give a light spritz with an oil sprayer or non-stick spray. Spoon enough mixture into each cup to fill them nearly to the top.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops are browned.

Cool, serve to the pups, and have one for yourself! These treats work for the whole family.

Puppy Pad Thai

1 tbsp sesame oil
2 cups poultry, ground or chopped
1 handful parsley
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup carrot, grated
1 tbsp peanut butter
1/2 tbsp honey
2 cups rice noodles, cooked and chopped (could substitute brown or white rice)

Prepare just as you would for yourself, in fact, this recipe came about as I was craving Pad Thai for us bipeds and thought that, with a few modifications, it would make a lovely dinner for doggies too!

Sautee the meat in a bit of sesame oil, adding in parsley and bean sprouts, stir-frying until cooked through, as sprouts sometimes contain bacteria harmful to pup. Stir in beaten egg, peanut butter, and honey to coat chicken and veggies.

Soften the rice noodles for a few minutes, in water just off of boiling, then drain and chop coarsely so long noodles don't get stuck in pup's throat.

Turn off the stove and stir in the chopped noodles and grated carrot, mixing well to coat everything in sauce and juices.

Cool to moderate temperature and serve it up to your favorite mutt!

These recipes are Laney-dog approved.

Gone to the Dogs

Oh blogaverse, how I have neglected thee! And the first thing I must do upon my return is to ask for a little advice.

Someday soon, I will spill all on the organic, green beauty that is the Barossa Wine Valley, but for now, I need to introduce a new family member.

This is our, as yet unnamed (though we're leaning toward Laney), newly adopted dog! She is a beauty, and will be making her way through our front door on Sunday afternoon. I have no shame in saying I've been like a whiney kid before Christmas, waiting for Sunday to arrive.

We're adopting her from a wonderful, generous woman who operates a rural no-kill, non-profit, non-government shelter on her riverland farm. In addition to her work with abandoned pets, she and her helpers also bring local folk's pets into the city, four hours away, for less expensive medical care. Should any Aussies read this, please consider adopting your next pup from the Moorook Animal Shelter, just west of Renmark, SA. They will rehome at least a number of their rescues interstate.

On to the needed advice! We've decided to make Unnamed Beauty's food, at home. I have done some research and have devised the basic recipe below, subject to change in protein types and available starches and veggies. With 12kg of quality dry food running nearly $40 AUD, this seems a much more sensible option.

Meat Week Pupper Dog Food

1 cup cooked ground turkey, with ground bone

1/4 cup cooked sheep heart

2 cups diced potato

1 cup rolled oats, dry

Slow-simmer above in enough water to cook and soften, but not enough to make soupy, then add:

1 cup raw veggies*, chopped or grated

Veggie Week Pupper Dog Food

2 cups green & brown lentils, dry

1 cup brown rice, dry

Slow-simmer above in enough water to cook and soften, but not enough to make soupy, then stir in 1 beaten egg and heat through until egg is done. Then add:

2 cups raw veggies*, chopped or grated

*varied amongst green beans, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, and pumpkin/squash

My plea for advice is this. Do any of you make your own pet food? If so, any words of advice, changes to my recipes, or other thoughts? I'm also unsure how much to feed to a medium-to-large 18 month old dog. Usually these things are printed on pet food packaging, which we obviously won't have. I also plan to try my hand at homemade crunchy treats and biscuits, but will need some practice first.

So, dear blogaverse, share your expertise with an expectant and nervous doggie-mom?

Toiling toward treats

A veggie patch is an enigmatic and emotional thing, to be sure. You feel passion for it when you begin, frustration toward it as it struggles to grow, hatred for it as pulling weeds and methodical watering become your obsession, and finally joy as you harvest something from your own backyard.

Lemme tell ya.. I'm deeply in the frustration mode.

As lush as my yard may appear to passersby, it is very hard to get a lot of things to grow in dusty Australian soil. It requires feats of engineering and somehow training water-loving plants to live without. Ah well, such is life. But boy did we put our effort in this past weekend. Close to ten hours of work combined on the two days. We took last night off, understandably. But I'm very proud of what we both accomplished.

Ryan welded together the tomato scaffold I dreamed up and, with his guidance, I installed our homemade drip-irrigation system. Other tasks for him included hacking, chopping, and clearing a ton of bramble and bougainvillea, burning brushwood, and mowing out the spot where we're putting the chicken run. My other tasks were building/prepping the Three Sisters mound (Native American garden type that co-plants corn, climbing beans, and squash/pumpkin), prepping the broc and cauli patch, and feeding the tomatoes and peppers. Ugh! The two of us planted our new herb garden too!

The bane of my existence, right now, is our lettuce. I just can't get it to sprout! Spinach does beautifully for us, but this is the second time lettuce has failed.. once as seedlings, now as seed.