the dangers BC ( before coffee)- i have 2 bags of treats on my desk... one is teh addictive honey/mustard bagel bites- the other is teh "tender strips" with lamb as teh 1st ingredient. with both bags open facing me, there was nearly a nasty mistake... fortunately teh tender strips have an alarming shape for human consumption...
these strips were A SAMPLE in the bottom of the box containing chaos special diet food--- purina pro plan savor for weight management ( whaT I NEED IS HONEY MUSTARD BAGEL BITES FOR WEIGHT MANAGEMENT)-- CHAOS IS DOING WELL ON TEH REDUCED CALORIES OF WHAT SEEMS TO BE THE SAME FLAVOR/BRAND FOOD WE FEED EVERYONE ELSE...
THE SAMPLE OF "TENDER STRIPS" IS GOOD. THEY GET MY STAMP OF APPROVAL BASED ON TEH SHAPE-- THE SHAPE OF THE TREAT YOU FEED PUPPIES CAN BE DETRIMENTAL TO THEIR TRAINING.... THESE STRIPS ARE 4.25 INCHES...( I MEASURED) THIS MEANS I CAN HOLD TEH TREAT PERPENDICULAR TO THE PUP'S MOUTH- THEREBY ENCOURAGING THEM TO CLEARLY SEE THE TREAT AND ALLOW THEM TIME TO CAREFULLY TAKE JUST THE E TREAT AND NOT MY FINGERS ... DOESNT SOUND LIKE MUCH--- BUT LETS STUDY THE OTHER OPTION-- GIVEN A 1" SQUARE TREAT-- YOU HOLD THAT BETWEEN 2 FINGERS- AS THE PUP APPROACHES THE TREAT WITH ENTHUSIASM AND MOUTH WIDE OPEN , YOU INSTINCTLY MOVE YOUR HAND BACK SLIGHTLY HOPING TO CLEAR THE CANINE'S CANINES.-- THIS SETS UP THE DOG TO THINK-- I BETTER GRAB QUICKER NEXT TIME.. YOU HAVE SET INTO MOTION A PERSONIFICATION OF TEH VICIOUS CIRCLE.
YOU HAVE TAUGHT THE DOG TO JUMP AT THE TREAT IN YOUR HAND-- WITH HAPPY PUPPIES, IT CAN BE FRIGHTENING.
BEING ABLE TO HOLD THIS RECTANGULAR SHAPE ACROSS THE LINE OF ATTACK, MEANS YOU CAN EVENTUALLY SLOW THE DOG DOWN TO BEING MORE CIVIL ABOUT GRABBING TREATS..
TREat grabbing is a concern at the barn too- i am dead serious about feeing the donkeys with your hands-- i can't tell you how many people stick their hands out at the donkeys with a carrot and boldly explain to me how they know how to feed a horse.. at which point i explain not around here-- we use frying pans- they don't hear that and continue to tell me about how to hold thier hand flat - at which point i explain-- often loudly - that i know all about flat hands.... but around here you will use a fry pan because i want the donekys to expect treats from fry pans- not kids hands-- as parts of kids hands are often the shape of carrots- ocassionally someone will listen to that logic and use teh fry pans which are hanging aroudn the donkey pasture. but the kind of person who is so intent on explaing to me how they know it is ok to feed with a flat hand, i guarentee i will see the sneak treats by hand, because they just assume i am nuts. and when i catch that happening i wil tell them in no uncertain terms not to go near the donkeys at all-- and in 2 cases asked people to leave the property. it is a rare case, but you might see me feed tehm by hand. it is a rarity-- i carry a fry pan on my cgolf cart.
let me explain where this started...... i started driving the donkeys ---2 of them to a cart--- then 4, then 6, then 8- and by the time i got to 8, i found there was no money in saying "8 like teh budweisers" -- there was a lot of money in buying antlers and saying "like Santa's reindeer" -- by the time you have 8, those front 2 are so far away from you that you have very little supervision over the crowds of kids that will pack in around them- i always had at least 2 sidewalkers- and one to "head tehm up" but even so...
now to complete the picture Santa... means Christmas... and candy canes. donkeys ( and horses) are addictied to pepermint..
so we worked, not only on stearing those donkeys, but at taking pieces of pepermint and touching them between the eyes and rubbing quickly down and slipping it into their mouth ( with a flat hand) -- this was so the donkeys did not expect every flat hand that came at them to have a pepermint in it. this was critical to our succdess at christmas because 66% of all children in december have hands that smell like pepermint.
to have 438,000 kids pat those donkeys in harness and have no one get bitten is proof that my technique worked.
*****
I KNOW IT HAS BEEN A WHILE SINCE OUR LAST UPDATE, UNFORTUNATELY I HAVE NOT BEEN VERY WELL AND HAVE MAINLY JUST BEEN GOING TO HOSPITAL APPOINTMENTS!
ON TUESDAY I MET WITH MY GI TEAM. WE DISCUSSED HOW BEST TO MANAGE SOME OF MY SYMPTOMS WHILE WE WAIT ON A DATE FOR SURGERY TO FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT IS GOING ON BEFORE DECIDING ON A FOLLOWING SURGERY AS WELL AS HOW BEST TO FIT EVERYTHING AROUND MY LEG SURGERY AT THE END OF JULY!
WE HAVE ALSO BEEN WORKING ON A BETTER FORMULA PLAN TO TRY AND GIVE MY BODY THE BEST CHANCE OF RECEIVING NUTRITION AS I RECEIVE MOST OF MY NUTRITION THROUGH MY TUBE! ELVIS HAS REALLY LOOKED AFTER ME THIS WEEK AS I HAVE BEEN MORE TIRED THEN USUAL AFTER BATTLING A FEVER LAST WEEK AND MY BODY ALREADY REALLY STRUGGLES TO RECEIVE THE NUTRIENTS IT NEEDS! I HAVE HAD TO REMAIN CONNECTED TO MY TUBE FOR LONGER PERIODS OF THE DAY TO RECEIVE MORE MEDICATION AND NUTRITION. ELVIS HAS BEEN AMAZING AT MAKING SURE THAT IF I GET TANGLED IN TUBING, HE STOPS STILL UNTIL I CAN UNTANGLE US!
TODAY WE SPENT THE MORNING AT SDP WHICH WAS DEFINITELY THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK! DESPITE NOT FEELING THE GREATEST I HAD A LOVELY TIME. SEEING EVERYONE AND SPENDING TIME WITH DOGS ALWAYS BRINGS A SMILE TO MY FACE. I KNOW ELVIS HAS A GREAT TIME AS WELL! AS SOON AS WE GOT BACK IT WAS OFF TO THE HOSPITAL AGAIN FOR ANOTHER APPOINTMENT AND ALSO TO GET BLOOD WORK DONE BECAUSE I HAVE NOT BEEN VERY WELL. ELVIS WAS A CHAMP AND STAYED RIGHT BY MY SIDE. HE ALWAYS LOOKS AT ME WHENEVER DOCTORS/NURSES ARE DOING TESTS OR IV'S UNTIL I SAY ITS OK AND THEN HE PUTS HIS HEAD DOWN AND RELAXES! ALL MY DOCTORS AND NURSES HAVE COMMENTED ON HOW SPECIAL HE IS AND ALWAYS WANTS TO MAKE SURE I AM OK!
TOMORROW IT IS BACK TO THE HOSPITAL FOR A FEW MORE APPOINTMENTS AND THEN HOPEFULLY I WILL BE FEELING BETTER FOR THE WEEKEND SO WE CAN GET UP TO SOME MORE ADVENTURES! THAT IS ALL FOR NOW AND AS ALWAYS THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT ON OUR JOURNEY!
LOVE FIONA AND ELVIS
