Why My Dogs Shouldn't Exist

I first posted this in 2013 in response to people on a message board who either wanted to breed their chihuahua simply because they are "cute" and it would be fun to have puppies or wanted to get a dog from a pet shop, puppy mill or otherwise shady and irresponsible breeder even though they know better.  When I wrote it I was angry, ranting, and more than a little bit upset- but my ramblings seem to have touched a few people so I have edited it and re-posted it again.  I share it today because this Thursday is Remember Me Thursday.  A campaign to remember the thousands of animals who have lost their lives in shelters and to shine a light upon the many waiting right now for homes of their own.

I am sitting here with three dogs that me and my husband love more than anything. They are family and I am so incredibly grateful to have them in my life. Copley was my first dog and he taught me to take a break and look at what is important in life. He gave me friendship, a hobby, and a reason to get out of the house every day. He has brightened my world in a way that ho human can and I LOVE him. And Kerri- she is beautiful, just gorgeous, so happy and goofy! She not only brings sunshine and light into my life but into the lives of so many other people as a therapy dog. Then Nova, my beautiful little diamond in the rough. She has been through so much in her short life yet she still has so much enthusiasm and desire to love!  They are just amazing wonderful creatures.

But dogs don't have to suffer for us to have them in our lives. In a perfect world I would be sitting here with three different dogs. Dogs who didn't go through hell to get where they are today. Dogs bred by responsible, caring breeders who know what they are doing. Copley has structural faults so bad that he is sure to get arthritis later in life. In fact he already sees a chiropractor! And his teeth- they are so messed up. He is like you took random parts from two totally incompatible breeds and just glued them together.

But people will always say that their pet store/puppy mill dog is healthy, has good knees etc. So lets say the puppies will not have totally messed up joints and teeth. Where will they go for the rest of their life. Can their homes afford to fix them? Will you be able to keep track of every one of the puppies and know how everything works out for them. If not I have news for you. Odds are one of those puppies is going to get thrown out a window in a supermarket parking lot, left at a bus station or dumped in the desert. In fact the LUCKY abandoned dogs are the ones that end up at the pound. The unlucky ones get out and fend for themselves, half starving out in the elements. The unlucky ones get used as bait dogs in a dog fighting ring. The unlucky ones get locked in a kennel for the rest of their lives being bred.

Some dogs win the rescue dog lotto. In my county sadly it is only about 50% of abandoned dogs who ever get a new home. Those 50% get picked up by people like me, and other wonderful rescuers who are cleaning up the dirty messes left by irresponsible breeders. We take the traumatized, beaten, abandoned dogs of the world and we spend the rest of their lives trying to convince them everything is going to be ok. That they can finally relax a little bit and enjoy life.

And what about me? One day I want to have a dog that has never been abandoned. A dog that has been raised properly and right by caring people who love it and are smart enough to keep it safe. I want vet bills to come from unexpected accidents and illnesses that no one could have predicted- not from lack of health testing and vet care. I want a dog with really short nails- you know that have nice short quicks because they have been trimmed regularly from puppyhood. I want a dog that I didn't have to drag terrified from a shelter the day I met it.

So if you want to breed your dog because it is cute, it is friendly and it would be fun to have puppies- wake up!!!!!!!! I know you may not think right now any of your puppies will end up abandoned- but they will. No one breeds their pets with the intention of them ending up unwanted- but it happens.

The absolute terror that guides every decision Nova makes is the responsibility of exactly one person- the one who bred her, or her mother, or whatever generation in her line first ended up on the street. But the saddest thing is that I bet that person is still doing it. Because they are living- like most other people- in ignorant bliss. They have no idea that the cute puppies they sell end up suffering these horrible fates. The best tool we have on our side is education. I can volunteer and save as many dogs as possible and it still won't stop the problem if we can't get to it's source and educate people.

So to responsible breeders- keep up the good work! The more puppy parents that are educated by good breeders and the more dogs sold to responsible owners and with spay/neuter contracts the better!

EVERYONE ELSE- wake up and smell the roses. My dogs may be the bees knees but I still wish you never bred them. The tired old argument "well my dog wouldn't exist without a puppy mill/BYB so therefore I can't say they are all bad" does not work on me. You don't need suffering to have a good dog- in fact they are much better off without it.

Please take the time today to think of all the unwanted pets out there and make sure you are not one of the people unknowingly making the problem worse.  If you are then what better way to honor the lives lost than to start doing something about it!  Spay or neuter your pet before they have another litter, educate yourself about homeless animals and think twice before you "rescue" that puppy in the window at the pet shop.

Copley Has A Great Picnic

A few weeks ago we attempted to go on a picnic with some friends (human and canine).  The picture above is what we ended up doing instead.  By "we" I mean me, Ben and Kerrigan.  Copley had a great day enjoying a picnic with his friends in a beautiful mountain meadow.  At least one of us got to enjoy the day.

We had packed up Copley, Kerri and a giant picnic to take up a mountain an an effort to get out of the impressively oppressive Vegas heat.  We met some friends and started a caravan up the mountain to meet even more friends, then our car broke down, then another car broke down.  To make a long story short we ended up leaving Copley to have a fun picnic with his friends Harvey and Mosby.  It is times like this that I am so grateful for amazing friends that I totally trust my dog with.  We were looking at the prospect of a tow truck ride in 100 degree heat and a long day at a car dealership- neither things that having a full sized dog at really seemed like a good idea.  Since then I have realized it is not normal to trust your friends so much with your pets- but I know that not only was Copley in good hands, but he enjoyed hanging out with some of this favorite dog buddies.

While Copley enjoyed his picnic we took Kerri on her first tow truck ride (the driver also has a chi at home and was so nice) then she took her first trip to a car dealership (where she was a big hit- they even brought her a little bowl of water in the waiting room).  Luckily the car only needed a little bit of warranty work and we were out for free in less than two hours.  Later we ended up picking Copley up at our friends house where he was having a great time barking at the neighborhood cats with his buddies.

So it may have been a bit of a bust of a day (and I had like cooked for days for this picnic) but it left me grateful for a few things-

• A dog that is so well behaved that she is not trouble inside a car dealership
• Friends who I trust totally and completely with my dogs
• Hyundai warranty and roadside assistance
• My new camo chihuahua sling by DreamChii that we not only used that day in the tow truck but have since taken hiking and to stores and we LOVE.  It both holds the dog close enough to your body that they don't swing around but also folds up tiny and looks like a tote bag for when the dog is just walking around.  Since I am a believer in my dog walking where ever she can I like a bag that just looks like a bag, not a giant dog purse when the dog is not in it.
• Also a husband that thinks gender norms are stupid and chihuahuas are cool so he is willing to wear said chihuahua bag out in public.  Then let me post about it on the internet.

So not all bad right?  We are going to try to do another picnic again soon- please put a good word in with the universe for us on this one.  I really would like to spend the day relaxing in a meadow.

Dog In The Desert's Guide To Treats- Part 2 Chew Treats

As I said in my last post I have been getting a lot of questions from friends and on the blog about treats.  Part one was an extensive post about training treats.  I had a LOT to say about training treats, so it was a pretty thorough post you should check it out.  Now I am going to bring you part two of our four part series-

1. Training Treats
2. Chew Treats
3. Treats to Occupy Time
4. Biscuits and novelty treats for you to let guests hand out in an effort to stop them from giving your dogs table scraps

 Despite being an only occasional use item in my house chew treats seem to be like the number one discussed thing for dogs and they take up aisles at the big box pet stores.  My personal opinion is that chew treats are often used to mask other issues.  Maybe your dog is digging up the yard or chewing on your couch because they are bored, lonely and you aren't giving them enough exercise, not because they actually want to chew on something.  Before you go out and buy a pile of bully sticks make sure that your dog actually might want to chew on them, they don't just want to take a walk with you.  With that said- a lot of dogs do have a pretty strong desire to chew and chew treats can give you a break from your dog by occupying them for quite a while and redirect their natiral desire to chew to something productive- and not your furniture or carpet!

I am not going to cover chews your dog shouldn't have because that is over discussed on the internet or raw edible bones/hunks of meat because to me those are part of meals as far as I am concerned, not something that is a "treat."

With that said there are really only three chew treats I use in my house regularly.  Bully sticks, antlers and The Honest Kitchen Beams.

Lets start with bully sticks.  They gross a lot of people out because they are dried out bull penis, but it does not really bother me.  That part of the cow is going in the trash anyway so why not make it into a dog chew!  I love bully sticks because Copley is a very fast and hard chewer who will break off bits of things and swallow them whole.  Bully sticks are one of the only chews I feel safe giving him because they don't break apart, they are fully digestible and they take him a while to get through.  Copley will take about an hour to finish a thick eight inch bully stick.  Nova can chew down about an inch an hour, and Kerri could chew a bully stick for three months and not make a dent.  When the dogs get down to just a little piece that they might swallow I always take it away, but I have dogs that gulp food.  I know many dogs that safely work bully sticks all the way to the end, so that is up to you.  As with all things you need to watch your dog and make reasonable decisions based on how they chew things.  Also remember that anything edible has calories and bully sticks are not a low calorie food!  If your dog is needing to loose weight be sure to include the bully sticks in the calories they have eaten for the day.

This brings me to antlers!  I love antlers because they are not really edible per se, but the dogs can work pretty happily just to shave off little bits of it.  Antlers are the one chew that last and last in my house.  When I first get antlers the dogs always go crazy for them, but will loose interest after a month or so.  Lately I have been handing off my antlers to a friend when my dogs loose interest and that has worked out well for everyone.  The friends we hand off to are pit/GSD/Aussie combinations and they can put a much bigger dents in the antlers than my guys do in their month of excited chewing.  The one downside to antlers is they can be very expensive!  In the pet store the prices are ridiculous.  We get ours from a friend of a friend that picks them up on their property in Montana.  We cut up the racks with a dremel and give them to the dogs.  If you are looking for a bargain but don't have a friend with elk on their property try e-bay.  An antler is an antler so even if it is not marketed as a dog chew they are absolutely usable as long as they are not treated with anything.  Many people sell the naturally shed antlers in their property on e-bay as craft supplies.  I find my dogs enjoy them better if they are split in half.

Finally we have the honest kitchen beams.  They are 100% fish skin chews and our dogs all love them.  They are the least durable chew out of all I have listed here, Copley can eat one in about five minutes and the chis each take about an hour to get through one of the beams.  I don't mind that they are so fast going because they are just fish, and I include them in the dogs meal calculations for the day.  It is always good when you are feeding home made food to make sure there is plenty of variety and besides being a tasty chew these are also a great way to get some fish (an item I don't buy the dogs a lot) into their diet.  I was hesitant to buy them at first because of the price, when looking online it was not a lot of weight for the price.  Once I saw them in a local pet store however, I got them right away.  They may be light but you get a lot of chews in a package.

To finish off I will give my opinion on several chews I have bought but don't use very often.  Here it is.

• Himalayan Dog Chews- People go crazy for these but they just didn't work in my house.  Copley, at 20lbs, broke the one for 55lb dogs into three pieces and swallowed it all in less than a minute, then puked them up later.  Maybe if your dog isn't a big chewer these would be the way to go.
• "Dental Chews" of any kind.  These may or may not actually work, and similar to the Himalayan chews above Copley can eat one in seconds.  He also is sensitive to potato and most of the premium ones are made out of potato s owe don't really keep them around.  Regardless of Copley's issues they are just a ball of dense starch and even if that is good for your dog's teeth is it really worth consuming that much highly precessed carbohydrates?  That is a question only you can answer.  Maybe though, if your dog has bad teeth try large meaty bones and bully sticks or the only really effective thing TOOTH BRUSHING!
• Trachea, gullet, tendon and other dehydrated animal part chews.  My dog's LOVE trachea and tendon but they just eat them so fast!  It is much more worthwhile to me to buy bully sticks but I will occasionally pick up trachea or tendon as a treat if I see some that is sourced from the USA in a local pet store.

That is all I have to say about chew treats.  What are your dog's favorites?  Am I missing something good here?

Although over the years a few of these companies have given me free samples I was not in any way compensated for this post.  Having received probably hundreds of bags of treats via this blog I believe I am becoming a bit of an expert on what is on the market.  I decided to share my opinions all in one place and that is precisely what this is- my opinion.

Dog In The Desert's Guide To Treats- Part 1 Training Treats

Is that bacon in your pocket or did I do something right?

Lately a lot of my friends have been either getting new puppies, starting agility, or doing other things that require treats.  With so many out there (and so many iffy ones on the market) it is a confusing topic that I have been answering many questions about lately.  I thought it might be good to put all my thoughts into one place I'm calling DogInTheDesert's Guide to Treats.  Keep in mind I am very careful about what I feed my dogs, I do not support the major pet food companies and I never would feed treats made in China, so you will not find any of those in this guide.

I'm going to split this up into sections as follows-

1. Training Treats
2. Chew Treats
3. Treats to Occupy Time
4. Biscuits and novelty treats for you to let guests hand out in an effort to stop them from giving your dogs table scraps

Lets start with Training Treats

There are a lot of things to think about when you are looking for training treats.  You need a few things in your arsenal ranging from very high value to just ok, they need to be small (or in the case of chihuahuas tiny) and they need to usually be something that your dog can eat a lot of and not get sick.  For me I also want something that I can put in my pocket or training bag without getting too gross.

Many people make their own training treats.  That is commendable and sometimes I will do that too HOWEVER time is precious.  My dogs eat an entirely home prepared raw diet and that takes a lot of my time.  Rarely do I have the extra desire or ability to spend the day baking and rolling and dehydrating training treats.  If you are the make it yourself type a lot of dogs go crazy for plain ole boiled boneless chicken breast.  Chicken is pretty easy on most tummies, easy to break up and really cheap.  On the home made front another popular training treat is string cheese.  Those are easy to store in your pocket, very high value and if your dog is tolerant of cheese it is a great way to go.  Just be sure to do that in moderation as cheese is both fattening and a little hard on the tummy sometimes.  I used string cheese at agility with Kerri for about 6 months before she started throwing it up in the car on the way home but many use it with total success. 

Moving away from cooking required but sticking with "human food" there are a lot of staples that people go to.  Hot dogs are always an option.  Watch out because there is a lot of salt in hot dogs but many of the natural all beef dogs out there at the health food store are actually better for your dog than many sugar and salt filled soft dog treats out there.  They can be an option if you need something really good and don't use too much of it.  Another popular option with little dogs is plain Cherios.  Cherios are a lot of grain for my taste but they are small, visible on the floor if you are looking to throw them and good sized for littler dogs.

As far as pre-made training treats there is one thing that I recommend above all else.  Stella & Chewy's Carnivore Crunch.  For starters it is typically irresistible to dogs.  I discovered the stuff because a friend at agility class had it and all the dogs went so crazy for it we had to borrow some to get our dogs out on the course.  When I took basic obedience with Nova the same thing happened to me but in reverse and the other owners joked I had bacon in my pockets.  The other great thing about S&C is that they are made from pretty much just ground protein, bone and organ (so exactly what I am feeding the dogs anyway).  For a raw feeder they can even replace a whole meal every once in a while without any stomach upset at all.  For those dogs with sensitivities they come in three different proteins for you to choose from and have no added anything.  The only downside to S&C Carnivore Crunch is that they crumble up pretty bad in your pockets.

Now let's talk semi-soft treats.  For the most part (other than the carnivore crunch) dogs tend to like soft training treats more than hard ones.  This can be tricky because so many of the soft treats out there are full of sugar and other things that can really mess with the tummy in high volume.  I used to love Zukes brand, but since they have been bought by Nestle-Purina I am no longer supporting their products.  Some good semi soft treats would be Cloudstar Tricky Trainers, and ThinkDog Alligator Jerky.  One warning with the jerky though- it smells really bad.  I try to avoid anything with "natural smoke flavoring" in it because it makes me want to puke.  In fact I might have actually had to pull over once after opening some of that Jerky in the car.  If you are not someone like me who is bothered by smells you have a lot more options in the semi-soft treat category.  The important thing is to read the label, don't buy anything made in China, stick to things with named proteins high on the list and avoid a lot of treats high in sugar.  Or at least reserve the sugary treats for when you are looking for a very high value treat.  I am not very brand loyal when it comes to semi-soft treats and while I do keep some in my training bag it is often whatever I picked up that looks good.

There are a few more options I would like to talk about so I'll add those here in no particular order-

• Recently Wellness came out with a line of soft treats for small dogs called Petite Treats and they seem to go over pretty well at our house with all sized dogs.  As a training treat they are actually very well sized for even a larger dog.  Along those lines Wellness Pure Rewards and Just For Puppy treats are great training treats for the slightly bigger dogs.  I get frustrated having to pull them apart into so many pieces for the chihuahuas but for a bigger dog they would be great.  Those are all available at big box pet stores so if you are looking for off the shelf Wellness might be the way to go.
• WholeLife is a company that makes a large variety of quality freeze dried treats.  I always keep their sirloin Burgers in my training bag because they are pretty durable in a pocket, easy to break into small pieces for the chis and are a good higher value treat to add variety to my Stella & Chewys.  For dogs larger than a chihuahua their other treats would be great too depending on what your dogs liked and many are low in fat and calories and would be great for the chubbier dog that is still needing treats for training.  We have tried their sweet potato, liver, cod and cheese treats- Copley has loved them all.  The pickier chihuahuas have preferred some over others- you just have to experiment based on what your dog likes.
• Kibble.  I know- to many raw feeders and people who feed a more natural diet to their dogs kibble is a dirty word but hear me out here.  If you feed kibble (or any other small dried up food like Ziwipeak that may not necessarily be a kibble) then stick some in your training bag!  Particularly for puppies it is great to use part of (or all of) their meal as training treats.  Usually for a kibble fed dog kibble is not very high value but you can always throw in something higher value every so often or just use it for lower intensity training if that's the case.  In our house where we never would actually feed kibble as a meal I will pick up sample bags of premium kibble and use it as treats.  Ziwipeak is great for that, it is a very high quality food that most dogs love and even some raw feeders use it as a backup for the days when dinner is rushed.  Just be careful if you are using kibble as treats because it is very dense, full of carbs and can bulk up a dog really fast if you are not careful.
• Max & Ruffies is a brand that makes all vegan dog treats.  Typically I like to stick with meat based treats for my dogs but these are really a great product.  While I am not in agreement with them that dogs should be fed a vegan diet- their all veggie treats are made with great ingredients that I am happy to feed my dogs.  The mini bites are the perfect size for training treats if your dog likes crunchy things.  I also love that you can just throw them in your pocket if you need to for a walk or therapy visit.  They don't fall apart and you don't end up smelling like meat.

Although over the years a few of these companies have given me free samples I was not in any way compensated for this post.  Having received probably hundreds of bags of treats via this blog I believe I am becoming a bit of an expert on what is on the market.  I decided to share my opinions all in one place and that is precisely what this is- my opinion.

Dog Sitting!

The big guys hanging out in the backyard

A few days ago we had a few friends stay with us for two nights.  I just love having dogs in and out of the house, seeing how mine interact with their friends and watching dog-dog interactions play out is fascinating and often hilarious.  We had a pretty good weekend other than me thinking I could take the three biggest dogs for a walk by myself (my shoulder suffered there) and a tiny bit of grumpiness from Copley.

Our visitors were Mosby (who you have met before) and his new little brother Harvey!  Mosby is a something- I believe the shelter said he was a GSD/bloodhound/pit... or something strange like that.  Who knows but he is sure adorable.  His new little brother is from the same high kill shelter and Mosby (and Kerri) and he is just ADORABLE.  Here is a picture of him the day after he was adopted and a picture of him in our backyard while we were watching him 4 months later.

Since puppies growing up NEVER gets old here is another adorable set of comparision photos.

We had a great time hanging out with the big guys!  Copley had a little bit of impatience but we worked through it.  See Copley is really a stickler for good behavior when it comes to puppies.  That is actually pretty good for most puppies and I tend to let Copley deal with them as long as he is being appropriate.  For some reason his fuze is a little bit shorter with Harvey then usual so I do watch him closely.  Harvey is still a baby in so many ways, and while he is super well behaved and a very, very good dog he has a habit of walking up to dogs and pawing them in the face.  This is not something that Copley cares for and I did let him correct him for that and actually by the end of the weekend it was pretty cute.  We saw a lot of behavior like this.

That would be Copley pretending that Harvey does not exist while Harvey slowly moves closer and closer to Copley without actually engaging him.  Harvey got to the point where he was actually touching Copley and Copley just sighed and went back to sleep so that was a win.  We then moved onto the more active begging on the part of Harvey.

That picture is more of the whining and licking and active please play with me.  To my surprise Copley did finally play with both the big guys so I guess Harvey won him over.  He seemed to discover that as long as he kept his paws out of Copley's face they could have a good time together.  It is really just fun to see two stable, well behaved dogs interact like dogs, deal with their minor issues and then turn into friends.  All closely supervised of course.

Speaking of dogs dealing with each other take a look at these two pictures of my brave little Nova.  She was incredibly well behaved and much more relaxed than when we have had dog guests before.  I don't force her to interact with anyone but she does a good job of just living near them.  This would not have been possible even 6 months ago.

Finally I leave you with our dinner picture.  It is just so easy (compared to fostering at least) to dog sit two raw fed, well behaved dogs.  To my pleasant suprise everyone sat very patiently waiting for their dinner.  Thanks to 5 dogs all obedience trained dinner was not a zoo, it was a calm and relatively easy event.

 I have to say though, I am glad my dogs are so small that I can pick them all up at the same time, put them all in one medium crate in the car and feed them a total of 1lb of food a day.  Just so many advantages of having chihuahuas, I think I'll be sticking to my little guys!

Taking Risks in the Outdoors

Recently I saw a picture on facebook of a dog in a Ruffwear climbing harness doing some serious mountain climbing.  Ropes and all.  My first thought seeing this picture was how cool!  In fact it still is.  Based on the reactions of the comment section of that picture it was in fact not the reaction of others.  People called it animal abuse, cruel and dangerous.  After some googling I learned the dog's name is Whisper and you can check out more info and some really cool pictures on her owner Dean S. Potter's instagram here.

I get a little defensive about this because I am someone who regularly is criticized for the activities I choose to do with my dog.  Maybe it is because I have a small dog, but we are often stopped on trails and told how cruel it is to take a chihuahua out into the wilderness.  People thought that backpacking is too much for her too.

In fact some people in the toy dog community think it is too dangerous to ever let a dog on the ground outside because they could be taken by a bird of prey or attacked by a bigger dog.  I have met multiple people IN PERSON whose little dogs never leave their house.  They potty inside, they live inside and that is it.  Do I judge the shit out of those people?  Yes.  Do I think many of their dogs are simply miserable and neurotic for being stuck inside all the time?  For sure.  In the end though I am perfectly ok with these people owning dogs.  Caring, loving and doing the best you can is what matters when it comes to owning a dog.  Those little ones that never see the outdoors are probably happier than many dogs that are chained up, ignored or otherwise actually abused.

Then there are the people on the other end of the spectrum.  The people like the owner of that mountain climber.  Their dogs go everywhere with them, get to sniff and hike and see the outdoors.  They have the sun on their back and their people at their side.  The main argument people seemed to have against this climbing dog was that she didn't get to choose to take the risk.  It is ok for people to do risky activity but not dogs, because they have no choice in the matter.  Well a few thing there-

• We made dogs.  Dogs exist because we bred them.  Huskies want to pull because we bred them to want it, chihuahuas want to cuddle because we bred them to serve as hot water bottles for us.  Collies want to herd because we needed them to move our food animals and pointers want to point because we wanted help spotting game birds.  They don't just wake up one morning thinking "geeze I really want to dedicate my life to the human race."  They.  Just.  Do.  We took their choice out of the equation when we domesticated them.  
• Dog's do not exist autonomously to people.  Except for the very rare occasion of a feral dog or a street dog they are totally reliant on people in every way.  They don't make any decisions about their healthcare, food, or even about their friends.  Even when dogs are given choice (and I do think that is imporntant) we are deciding that this is something we are going to let them choose about!  If my dogs had a choice in the matter one would eat all day then die of bloat and the other one would collect every person she ever met and glob them into one pack that never separated and all slept together in a cave with her eating nothing but pork.  If you believe that domestic animals should not exist (I'm looking at you PETA) then ok.  Valid argument, I can handle that even though I don't agree with you.  If you are however a person that ever takes your dog for a car ride then how can you say anything about choice?  Does your dog know how many roadway deaths there were in your state this year?  Do they weigh the pros and cons of a harness vs a crate vs just being free in the car then decide the method that they think is the safest?  I don't think so.

That pretty much sums up what I feel about that subject.  Then I saw another picture of the same dog, Whisper, BASE jumping.  You can see a picture of her and read about her owners rationale on that here- http://deanspotter.com/2014/05/23/when-dogs-fly-philosophy-history-and-safety/

Seeing that made me have a lot of complicated feelings.  BASE jumping is not an activity that I have a lot of respect for.  I personally have never met a BASE jumper that I felt was an emotionally stable person (they may be out there but not that I've met).  It is a dangerous sport- so dangerous that people tend to say it is not "if" you die but "when."  There are very few activities that I would put the foot down and stop my husband from doing but that is for sure one of them.  To me it is right up there with  those preachers that handle venomous snakes.  I don't care what BASE jumpers say- people who are BASE jumping are doing it knowing that no matter how careful they are they might die.  You can read this study where they find the fatality rate of BASE jumping is approximately one in sixty participants.  That is part of the rush, if they didn't have at least a tiny death wish they would be skydiving or climbing or white water rafting or any other of hundreds of outdoor adrenaline junkie sports that are not as death wish-ey.  Those may be my feelings but I am for sure not going to stop anyone from doing it as long as they are an adult and their insurance pays for the search and rescue.

I can just hear people reading this thinking I am some sort of couch sitting outdoor hating person who "just doesn't understand."  I guess I can't really prove to the internet that is not true except to say that I just made a holster for my bear spray and I travel in circles where the pros/cons of BASE jumping is something that actually gets discussed.

But we still have the idea of that DOG jumping.  It bothers me a lot.  I would not do it.  Why can't he just leave her with a friend at the bottom of the mountain?  Hire a dog walker?  His rationale of either with me or locked in a car he gives in his article is nonsensical to me.  You could arrange for an activity for her while you base jump for sure.  HOWEVER- after thinking on it- I say good for her owner Dean.  That dog loves them and loves the outdoors and as he said in his article she would rather be out base jumping with them than stuck at home.  In the event that she goes splat on the wall of a canyon with her owner it would be unfortunate.  Thing is that dog has a better life than so many others out there and she would go down with her best friend doing something that she obviously loves to do (even if it is just because her owner loves it).  Above all else I believe in personal choice, leaving risk assessment up to individuals and enjoying life- not living in a padded room.  I can not very well in one breath defend taking a chihuahua camping in rattlesnake territory because "what kind of life would she have locked inside away from all danger" then tell another person that they can't base jump.

I just had to get out my opinions on this one.  Please share yours- I really want to know what people think about this!

Pet Naturals Hip + Joint Review and Offer

When I was contacted by Pet Naturals about doing a review of their joint supplement Hip + Joint I was very excited.  It could not have come at a better time!  I actually was looking into getting that exact product to use for Copley.  He has been on some sort of glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM for several years now and it has been really helping him.  He does not have terrible joints, but his hips are not great and he does see a chiropractor because of poor posture.  Occasionally when he over does it his knees bother him as well, and a good joint supplement has really helped him out.  For the past 6 months or so I have been using three different individual supplements (one each for the chondroitin, MSM and glucosamine).  They are marketed at humans so I open up the gell caps and split them into his meals.  That was working ok for us except that we are traveling a lot this summer both with and without the dogs.  Splitting up pills is both complicated for our dog sitter and cumbersome on the road.  I am already doing so much with carrying raw food and preparing individual servings for dog sitters I wanted a simple supplement.  After some research I settled on Pet Naturals Hip + Joint for a few reasons-

• It is one chewable for Copley.  Nothing to break up or count or mess with, just hand it to him with his dinner.  He also loves it so that's a plus.
• It has all three things I am looking for (MSM, chondroitin and glucosamine) in good amounts!  It is very hard to find a single chewable that has all three of those in high enough doses to be effective.  One of these chewables is nearly exactly the dosage I was measuring out myself, unlike many supplements that have a lot of one supplement, or no MSM.
• It is not so expensive that I feel like I need a second job to pay for it!
• It includes Manganese.  I have had a lot of luck with Nova using a manganese supplement from her vet for her LP.  I like including it in Copley's diet too.

In conclusion I love this stuff!  Copley has been on it for a few days now and it is working just great.  I plan to stick with Pet Naturals Hip + Joint even after summer traveling season is over.  It is giving me everything I need and is super convenient.

The folks over at Pet Naturals are also offering a great offer to my readers!  The first 100 people who visit www.petnaturals.com/hipandjoint-offer/ get a FREE BAG of Hip + Joint AND a valuable coupon.  After the first 100 people you will still get a coupon, just no free bag.

P.S.-  If you are looking for a good calming supplement I have used and had luck with Pet Naturals Calming chews.  I am a big believer in L-theanine since my vet recommended trying it and Nova responds very well to it.

I was given a free product to use myself in exchange for my honest review.  As always my opinions are my own and I am always honest with my readers, particularly when it comes to things going INSIDE my dogs.  I would never recommend something I don't trust completely with my own animals.