You got to love all the ups and downs in life. If not, that it's a long way down.... With that in mind, you have to pick yourself right up(or the help of someone) and move forward to the top again.
I'm constantly trying to improve myself and all the knowledge I take in everyday. Lately I've been buried in books or articles on the computer, training the dogs, conditioning the dogs, working, and dog shows. Not much time for writing, but that's a poor excuse. I do want to share some information on here before I start writing the articles for my website.
I found this amazing book called "The Complete Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat" by Juliette de Bairacli Levy. In my opinion, it's a must buy book. The wealth of information in this book on how to naturally rear dogs and cats is so amazing and informative, plus natural remedies for ailments. This book was first written in 1955 and has been updated to its sixth edition. If you are into natural and alternative ways, I highly recommend this book. I also found the naturalrearing.com to be a very help website and supporter of Levy.
I have finally graduated Animal Behavior College and now have a certificate as a Dog Trainer.
\( ^ 0 ^ )/ From my research about other trainers, I've found that learning how horse trainers train horse, can also help dog trainers train dogs. So I've been looking into one in particular, Pat Parelli. He has a book called "Natural Horsemanship" and it's a great book that breaks down how to train a horse. With all these broken down steps leads to a big picture of what you are trying to achieve to teach the horse. This is very important for dog training as well. Check out this book if you are interested in training.
Now for the fun stuff... What going on with me and the Shibas! ( ^ - ^ ) So I've been showing like crazy, at least two shows a month, so give or take 4 days of showing. That means a good amount of time a day conditioning plus training and grooming here and there. Showing three dogs at once is crazy. Thanks to my man, I was able to show all of them. :)
I decided to show Kiyo again and see what would happen since she looked great during last winter to summer. At a fun match, Kiyo took Best of Breed! I was very shocked by it and was even more determine to see how she does in the ring. Again, she was at the bottom of the class.... I thought long and hard about her future. She will always be my companion and my teacher on training dogs at home. She's my cute little Shiba girl and will always be loved.
Kuma is still fighting his way to the title of Champion in the ring. He hasn't made a win since the last one in April. Since the Shiba Nationals in October and now that the girls are in season, he is all girl crazy and not eating very well. That has caused him to drop in weight and his coat does look great like last year. That lead me to the Natural Rearing books and so far that has been helping him put on weight. I'll see if it will help his coat later in the year. I also increased his exercise to tone his muscles and to stack better. So far so good. His movement in the ring has improve since then and has moved up in the ranks of the other dogs.
Kyuubi, are newest little girl, had many uncertainties about her, but we were able to get through them and persist. Now after just being in three shows so far, Kyuubi has some points on her from winning and gotten reserve winner if she didn't, nothing less. The first day I saw her I knew she had a presence and she had a natural way of being. That's one of the things I was lacking from Kiyo and Kuma. Everyday I'm always impressed by this dog. She so much different from Kiyo and Kuma. She's very bold and but yet friendly. Kyuubi is a little more stocky then Kiyo and Kuma. I some times call her my little Hokkaido girl(sometimes how she looks, she looks like a small Hokkaido Ken).
Sorry about no pictures..... ( T - T ) My fiance has been quite busy lately and has been using my camera. Once I get my camera back, I'll be able to post some much needed pictures of the Shiba gang.
Showing posts with label Raw diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Raw diet. Show all posts
Monday, December 2, 2013
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Dog Show Fun and Lessons
Well have a little break from everything today, so might as well do a much needed post. ^-^ I've been on and off with work and dog shows during the weekends, and school work in between everything. Today I'm preparing to leave for LA tonight for the Beikoku Shiba Inu Aikokai(BSA) show tomorrow! I'm so excited to be going this year! Sadly though I won't be able to show Kiyo in this show because she is not a NIPPO registered dog. She will just be coming for the exposure. On the up side, I might be showing a Shiba for a breeder that has a couple of Shiba entered in the show! I've never been or practice in this type of handling, but I'll do my best. I've been watching a lot of videos and articles on how to handle the dog in a NIPPO show. Hopefully this will help me. My boyfriend and I will be taking pictures, so I'll post them up when I get back(and after class.... -_-;).
Well we've gone to quiet a few shows that have been in the area and to Indio dog show where I meet up with Kiyo's breeder. That went well. I had fun showing Kiyo, but the atmosphere there with all the other breeder/handlers was uncomfortable to me. They kind of kept to themselves a bit and only talked to those they knew well. They just seemed like they were out for themselves.
Kiyo's breeder did help me out with Kiyo about how she grooms her Shiba, and mention that Kiyo needed some weight. I did notice that she was a little under but not too much. Well a month and a half after the show, Kiyo had lost 2lbs and had been vomiting and had diarrhea. Well it turns out that the grooming products that the breed used and recommended me to use(which I did and followed direction) had been causing it. Kiyo would groomer herself and would be taking in the grooming products that way. My vet and I help Kiyo get back to normal and I have made changes to her feeding regiment after suggested by the owner of Kiyo's sire. I'll go more into details about that later. So now I'm trying to decided to continue using it in more dilute dose or go all natural with brushing and using a hair blow drier like I was doing before. From what I've seen in pictures of NIPPO Shiba, what I've read about coat care for Shiba, and what people other then Kiyo's breeder, is to go natural. Shiba coats have natural oils that protect the coat and give it it's look. If you bath your Shiba too much, you will strip the coat of those oils. If I continue using the grooming product, that means I would have to bathe her after every show. I'm going to have to do some experimenting....
Ok back to the feeding regiment, the owner of Kiyo's sire is another breeder that lives not to far from me. She had very high quality Shiba in her kennel. The show that we met up at, her 6mth old female took 2nd place overall in breed, and it was the pup first show to boot! So what she told me, I really paid attention. She suggested putting Kiyo on a raw diet and to help put extra weight is to feed her Satin Balls. To help build her coat she suggested a recipe called Growing Hair on the Doorknob(GHDK). Their are so many different recipes out there for Satin Balls and GHDK on the internet, that it took a while to find the right one for me to make for Kiyo. Haven't done the GHDK, but I will post my recipe of Satin Balls later if you would like too know what I use. It's really working for Kiyo. She's almost 17lbs now with in 2wks on this regiment! For the raw diet Kiyo is give a chicken drumstick at night(skin, meat, and bone), and she eats it with no problem. In the morning she gets 1 cup of dry dog food with 2 satin balls. The breeder suggest to use Eukanuba Active Performance. Having some trouble getting Kiyo to eat the cup of dog food though.... Picky eater she is. Overall, she is at her best now, much more active, and she is really happy.
Here are some pictures from the shows in January and February. You can view more on my Flickr page. Keep in mind, Kiyo was unwell from the grooming products that made her drop in weight. All pictures taken by Trieu Tran from Lasting Fotos.
Well we've gone to quiet a few shows that have been in the area and to Indio dog show where I meet up with Kiyo's breeder. That went well. I had fun showing Kiyo, but the atmosphere there with all the other breeder/handlers was uncomfortable to me. They kind of kept to themselves a bit and only talked to those they knew well. They just seemed like they were out for themselves.
Kiyo's breeder did help me out with Kiyo about how she grooms her Shiba, and mention that Kiyo needed some weight. I did notice that she was a little under but not too much. Well a month and a half after the show, Kiyo had lost 2lbs and had been vomiting and had diarrhea. Well it turns out that the grooming products that the breed used and recommended me to use(which I did and followed direction) had been causing it. Kiyo would groomer herself and would be taking in the grooming products that way. My vet and I help Kiyo get back to normal and I have made changes to her feeding regiment after suggested by the owner of Kiyo's sire. I'll go more into details about that later. So now I'm trying to decided to continue using it in more dilute dose or go all natural with brushing and using a hair blow drier like I was doing before. From what I've seen in pictures of NIPPO Shiba, what I've read about coat care for Shiba, and what people other then Kiyo's breeder, is to go natural. Shiba coats have natural oils that protect the coat and give it it's look. If you bath your Shiba too much, you will strip the coat of those oils. If I continue using the grooming product, that means I would have to bathe her after every show. I'm going to have to do some experimenting....
Ok back to the feeding regiment, the owner of Kiyo's sire is another breeder that lives not to far from me. She had very high quality Shiba in her kennel. The show that we met up at, her 6mth old female took 2nd place overall in breed, and it was the pup first show to boot! So what she told me, I really paid attention. She suggested putting Kiyo on a raw diet and to help put extra weight is to feed her Satin Balls. To help build her coat she suggested a recipe called Growing Hair on the Doorknob(GHDK). Their are so many different recipes out there for Satin Balls and GHDK on the internet, that it took a while to find the right one for me to make for Kiyo. Haven't done the GHDK, but I will post my recipe of Satin Balls later if you would like too know what I use. It's really working for Kiyo. She's almost 17lbs now with in 2wks on this regiment! For the raw diet Kiyo is give a chicken drumstick at night(skin, meat, and bone), and she eats it with no problem. In the morning she gets 1 cup of dry dog food with 2 satin balls. The breeder suggest to use Eukanuba Active Performance. Having some trouble getting Kiyo to eat the cup of dog food though.... Picky eater she is. Overall, she is at her best now, much more active, and she is really happy.
Here are some pictures from the shows in January and February. You can view more on my Flickr page. Keep in mind, Kiyo was unwell from the grooming products that made her drop in weight. All pictures taken by Trieu Tran from Lasting Fotos.
Kiyo and I in Indio
Fresno Show
Kiyo has come along way. She now enjoys the show and thinks the judges are fun people. LOL
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