My friend Alice in the Land Down Under created a "Happy Christmas" Jake-in-the-Box as a surprise treat using my photo in previous post. It turned out so well!

Saturday Bath

Jake is so clean, smells so good, nails freshly done. That was hours ago and now he's out for a walk w/ John in the rain. We'll be getting more rain, perhaps more snow and also high winds. I grabbed a few photos because this freshly groomed look isn't going to last!

Here's more from that shoot:

Here are "Jake's kids" who came for Thanksgiving Day, bringing their parents along. Jake was so delighted to see them!



Thea is shown above in a rare quiet moment, and Anneka in the photo below, also still for a few minutes, and then w/ all her beautiful ringlets and freckles showing





Then Thea gives us a smile looking like an upside down cake w/ cherry topping. The girls' hair color is almost an identical match for Jake's litter brother JoJo!



I wish I had gotten photos of Anneka and Thea playing w/ Jake, but there was alot of action going on all the time as well as food and drink, so the camera was not close at hand during those games.

It's the day before Thanksgiving

We have family coming for dinner tomorrow afternoon.  That's the very best part of the day!  Of course, there will be turkey, special cranberry salad, fresh, steamed veggies, special recipe mashed potatoes, home baked bread, and a dessert that one of the kids is bringing.  It's going to be a GR8 time.

For the Christmas Stocking

Jake already has a list underway for his Christmas stocking. He wants a Swarovski chrystal tag for his collar, a new natural bristle brush by Mason Pierson and a Land's End Squall Jacket w/ reflector tape for those dark, rainy Pacific NW evening walks.

We like to go for walks

Here's my favorite photo from the week. It's Jake's neighbor "George."

Jake and the kitty

 
 
 

We hear a cat crying nearby. Jake is sniffing the air. I think he has caught the scent, too. Windy here now and almost dark, I'm trying out a new lense (Nikkor 18-200VR.) It's to go w/ John's camera when it comes. He's getting a Nikon D300. I put the lense on my D40X, and it's a pleasure to use. John will have an early Christmas in the beginning of December!

Above is a shot of Jake in John's arms taken by me, Carol. For the photo below, John and I swapped dog for camera, and he got a photo of Jake with me. Then we went for a serious walk.

They have these conversations....

I love to watch the interaction between John and Jake. Here's another cute catch:

Suddenly Fall

 
 
 
Some trees have lost all their leaves, while others have yet to turn colors. If not for the last two weeks of rain, we might've had a most spectacular show in just days! It was a beautiful afternoon for a walk.

Memories of fall a year ago

Here's a shot from last fall when Jake was not even a year old. Oh, my...how he has matured since then! The fall colors here made a nice backdrop for the shot, so as soon as we have a day without rain, I'm going to reshoot this in hopefully the same position.
 

Here we are Friday afternoon, TGTIF!

And remember October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Wear those pink ribbons, get your checkup. Hey, Guys, be sure the women in your life have their annual mammography every year once they are old enough or earlier if family history or any symptoms dictate earlier.

Jake is admiring my new pink ribbon pin

Uh-oh, there's that camera again!

Tomorrow Jake is getting a good bath! Watch for photos on Friday for the "makeover" shots!

Do you have a Cavalier? If so, by all means visit Cavalier Connection. While there drop in on the Message Board.

We keep up with dog news on Itchmo and Itchmo Forums, where we read about feeding, toys, training tips and more. Itchmo and so many of the posters on the Forums have had a positive influence on the premium pet foods companies. They're testing their products for more toxins, looking for the best sources for added vitamins and minerals.
It's a good thing!
Itchmo

Faster Than a Speeding Bullet

Jake's just an overgrown lap dog

 

 
 
 
 

Saturday night walk

 
We enjoyed a cool night walk in the park this evening. Lots of kids, bikes, basketballs, dogs getting last walk of the day made for a busy park and a fun start to the night. See slideshow below for Jake's latest Geocache find. He's always the first to spot it! This is his third "find."

Last night Jake was running outside to bark at our back fence. The Geocache box has been placed under the Western Red Cedar in the park once again! Tonight, we discovered it had been moved into our yard. Jake is always the first to spot these things. Since Geocache is not supposed to be placed in locked yards, and we don't want people trying to climb over the fence, much less strangers in our yard if Jake is outside, we moved it right back where it had been put last night. I think we'll add something to the box and record the new location. Geocache is an especially fun game for kids and families. Google it if you have not yet heard about the game!

Canidae responded to unfounded claims of acetaminophen on Friday to Itchmo, revealing their product tested negative for acetaminophen at UC Davis.

Jake and his dinner feasts

Jake certainly eats an interesting and varied diet. I had not meant it to be quite so varied, but due to trying to keep ahead of recalled foods and even foods that might later be recalled due to reports of sick dogs that had been eating them, Jake has gotten to taste varieties of a number of brands. We settled on Canidae for kibble. He was already started on half of each meal being home cooked, so the other half became Canidae All Life Stages, with Canidae Chicken and Rice for one bag. He liked that arrangement! Then we tried Orijen Adult to rotate for the kibble, and that was a big winner. Today we got a small bag of the new Orijen Six Fish, which will work well for treats and later to rotate with his Orijen Adult. The only catch may be that this food suddenly exploded in popularity in the USA, and I'm not certain how long it will be available in my area until production is ramped up. It would be a shame if the sudden increase in demand is too much for them to maintain their usual supply of ingredients and quality control. People have reported to me that Orijen has helped their dogs' coats. Jake's is certainly shining these days.

Take a look at this collar

I've used a "break-away" collar long ago, and although I don't know that this one called KeepSafe Break-Away Collar is exactly the same, it certainly looks like it from these photos. I prefer not to have a collar on a dog when the dog is in a crate or around fencing where a collar can get caught. If your dog is in the right setting to safely wear a collar only for walks, by all means just keep their collar with whatever tags on it on their lead, and clip on before going out your door. If your dog is going to run off lead anywhere, by all means have the collar on complete with tags, and never let your dog/s run off lead without close supervision and in an appropriate setting. A friend of mine had a beautiful Labrador from my own bloodlines. She had let her dog out the back door, into her fenced yard first thing that morning and wondered why she didn't come back to join the family in the kitchen. Going outside, she found this black beauty hanging by her collar from a faucet that was way up in the air with the hose neatly coiled up and hung on the house. It was too late to save this inquisitive puppy. In another instance I know someone who gave her son a puppy for his birthday. They put the puppy in a crate when leaving the house for part of the birthday boy's party only to return to find that the puppy had accidentally choked herself while in the crate, which was supposedly for safekeeping. If only that collar had been removed before putting the puppy in the crate!

Choose a safe collar. Use it only when you really need it on your dog!

We went for a walk, returned to sit in the shade. While I'm out and about, I love to be loved...and my fan club gives me lots of attention!

Sometimes Carol takes pictures of something other than Jake.

But the lense always turns back to catch my smiles:

Photo by Cindy Koehring

For all of you who have been enduring the seemingly endless heat of summer, perhaps even more than a week over 100 plus, the above photo, taken by Cindy Koehring and shared on Jake's blog with her permission is entitled "Winter's Here." Enjoy her lovely Ruby and Black and Tan Cavaliers!

News from Itchmo

News for cats and dogs - Canidae Responds To Acetaminophen Test Results

Here is just a little bit about how some lab testing is actually done. Pay particular attention to the second paragraph where you will read about the difference between a specific test versus a non-specific test. This link will give you a basic idea of "GS-MS" as seen on the ExperTox report:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GC-MS
When you have finished the link above, come back to more here:
http://www.unsolvedmysteries.oregonstate.edu/GCMS_05.shtml

Dog foods and false reports of problems

Here we are with another beautiful Sunday to report. And speaking of reports, there have been false reports of problems with premium brands of dog kibble. As if it were not enough to have actual, legitimate toxic substances in some dog foods and treats for much of this last year we now have to be wary of people reporting problems when there are none, even going so far as to say that there was an independent lab report verifying this in at least one case. This was done on a site that gets a good bit of traffic, even more readers than actual participants. You have to ask yourself why on earth anyone in their right mind would do this! Maybe I just answered my own question while reading that sentence. Only the insane would pull this stunt. So Jake can return to his usual dinners of a combo of home cooking and either Canidae ALS kibble or Orijen Adult kibble. Jake has turned into an enthusiastic chow hound. Luckily he has never experienced any illness from his various commercial foods and has enjoyed a number of premium brands, none of which were ever recalled. Jake-the-Pup also gets Canidae Snap Biscuits and Darford Dog Biscuits.

(Footnote and one correction: On May 4 there was a scan of an ExperTox report on Pet Food Tracker regarding the result of composite testing of Canidae samples. Today, which is now Sept 5 I'm reading that the actual date of the samples are June and not July as has been stated on various forums previously. Canidae did not even run dog food on that July date, so it could not have been even possible. This is just an added footnote to amend info above. It doesn't prove anything, but does not disprove it either. I'm keeping an open mind on this and will await further testing. Canidae is also doing their own testing and being responsive on this.)

Jake will be 2 in November, so this is just his second summer. Both last spring and this he began to shed clumps of dead coat. The clumps look and feel very much like felted wool, and this is not normal shedding. Last year it went on thru the fall and did not clear up until winter. This year because he was for the first time carrying an adult coat, the shedding was even heavier. Good news is that several weeks ago he began to improve. We don't know what made the difference, but Jake is rarely scratching now. Terrific and even better if we ever figure out what the trigger was. Definitely some type of allergy. Seasonal is our best guess.

On a beautiful Sunday

John and I had to be outside! The weather was perfect. Still summer w/ a touch of fall in the air. Jake went with us everywhere. He had a smile on his face and a real bounce to his step. Not too hot, bright sunshine even late in the day, many people were out.

As usual, I had to get Jake to pose for a few shots.

We even found a nice bench along our way.

OK, one last pose before we continued our walk:

TGTIF!

It's Friday and everyone at my house has had a good day! Now it's time to compose a new entry for my blog. Perhaps one of my photos from today is in order?

Meanwhile, we're following this thread on Itchmo Forums carefully. We used to feed several of the California Natural flavors, and now it's home cooking w/ either Canidae kibble or Orijen kibble on top. Tonight and until those lab results come back from ExperTox, it is strictly home cooking and Orijen. It's because another acetaminophen positive popped up, but it was in a combined sample so we won't know which of the food/s is the culprit until each has been tested separately.

Spaniel bowls.

If a water bowl is large enough to last Jake even half a day, his ears get dipped in the water, and then he invariably lands in my lap before shaking off the water. The little bowl I picked up at a local shop is small, shaped nicely so his ears fall outside the bowl. That means we are forever refilling it thru the day. So I resolved to find real Spaniel bowls, and one that would be large enough but not so heavy as to be cumbersome to pick up. So today I talked to Cindy Koehring about her lovely bowls she makes herself, fires twice, and has them in different colors and patterns. Take a look at the Spaniel Bowls here! You can even order water bowl w/ food bowl to match. Just one problem...we talked dogs for so long we never got around to putting an order together before dinner time. That means we get to talk again tomorrow, at which time I can actually order Jake's bowl. "Dog people" are funny. Even if they've never met, never heard of one another, you get two of them on the phone and it goes on indefinitely.

Dog hair!

With Jake shedding his coat in clumps, not only did he need a return trip to his vet, but we need to replace our old vacuum. As for Jake, it amazes me that his coat is still quite thick w/ no bare spots at all. He has a medicated shampoo to try and may need to go on an elimination diet. If these things fail, it is allergy testing time.

So back to the search for a new vacuum, I have started here for product reviews.

Perfect weather for our park

Carol had lunch and a whole afternoon full of "girl talk" with a friend and then Carol, John, and I (Jake-the-Pup) just had to go to our park. Perfect weather today! We met a cute little Yorkie, so Carol had to take some photos of him, too.

Something to smile about

Jake had some kids to play with last night, after eating a home cooked meal topped w/ commercial dog kibble. For a special treat, he got a Darford biscuit. Those seem to be his favorite these days and come in different flavors. Jake also appreciates Canidae's Snap Biscuits. They break easily into sections, making it easier to give him a reward without adding to his waistline.

Laid back!

 

BTW, do you know what is really in your pet's food?