Vimello.com

aaaand… we’re back.

I grew very, very tired of the old layout. So… here it is, a new one!

I hope this makes me want to blog more. It’s been a couple of hectic months, but I feel that if I don’t talk about it, my head will explode. Work is fine, but very demanding. I haven’t even begun crossbrowser testing for IE 8 yet, but I do know that my kennel site is going floopy on it. Crossbrowser testing for IE 6, IE 7 and Firefox is as much as I can handle, sorry. Kill IE 6 for good and I might consider ading IE 8 to my list. And my excuse for not adding Safari, Chrome or any of those guys is that if I manage to put up a site that gets through IE and Firefox, then those guys needn’t worry. But what I really don’t want is more trouble. So… Shh :P

Breeding world is… Exactly the same. Seems like every week there is another European frenchie around. Some are gorgeous, some are not, some come from wonderful lines and some… don’t. I do have some things cooking up for this year but they are all so uncertain and full of what-if’s that right now all I can say is that I am expecting.

And I can’t help but mention swine flu. People everywhere in the world are tweeting fretting over it. How about you - worried, concerned, indifferent? I am leaning a bit towards indifference and being mad about it. People are making such a fuss. Calm down!

Tags: blog, dogs, swine flu, venting, weird breeders

On The B.A.R.F. Lifestyle

A few months ago, when I started reading more about Raw Feeding my frenchies and really looking into the whole thing and learning, I knew it was ages away from me. It was closer to the day where I left my parents’ home and took my frenchies to my own beautiful and large house. Somehow, the thought of having a second freezer and balancing food, looking for chicken parts I didn’t know were even sold, and tocuhing all those veggies I had been so good at avoiding for all my life seemed too overwhelming for me.

Now, after a few weeks of feeding raw, I realize it’s really simple. So we don’t have a lot of space for a second fridge, or the spare money. But I manage to go shopping for chicken parts and everything else about once a week. I clean everything up, weigh the food into portions for each dog and put inside a ziploc bag with a tag. Turns out they do sell things like chicken neck and chicken feet at the regular supermarket next to my house, so I don’t have to go on a search for them. And it’s not expensive, it’s fun, it’s healthy, and they love it, and all the benefits they say you and your dog get are accurately true.

I still have to hold on to the chicken parts for my dogs to chew on and finally swallow. If I let Sayid alone with a chicken foot, for example, he’ll swallow it whole with minor chewing. I suppose there’s still a certain urgency about it for him, but I am hoping he’ll get to the point where he can chew everything more calmly and pace himself.

The only downside to BARF so far is that I have to travel next month and I may have to cancel it because I don’t think anyone can stay with my dogs and do as much as I do for them (as in, hold the chicken parts for them patiently, put mixed veggies for dinner and throw in the odd suplements now and then). But I have already given up so many things for these dogs, a trip is not even that big of a deal.

Tags: dogs, raw feeding, vacation

Some like it raw

The deed is done. My dogs are now B.A.R.F.ers. That means they have Raw Meaty Bones most of the time, but they also have some other types of meat, veggies and suplements now and then.

At first it was kind of disgusting, the part where I had to be in touch with all these weird chicken parts I didn’t want to know that existed, and the tearing and ripping of meat, the chewing of bones I didn’t know could be chewable, especially for Yaza who’s still my tiny baby frenchie. Sayid even swallowed pretty much a whole chicken leg and scared the living shit out of me, but now he’s pacing himself and taking the time. He’s realizing it’s not “too good to be true”, it’s his new diet.

I spent a huge chunk of my days studying the diet thoroughly and I’m glad I took the plunge. I’m thrilled, everything they say about it is true. Less poop, better looking dogs, an apetite for food that I’d never ever seen on my frenchies, clean teeth, less doggy odour… We’re all in love.

Oh yes, and my 30kg Kibble Pack is gone to waste, I’m giving it away and never touching the stuff again at this rate. I only have to work out what to do with Yaza for showing season when she has to go to the Handler’s for a week or two prior to the show (end of June). He doesn’t have the time to feed her raw. Is it time for me to show my own dogs?

Tags: dog food, dogs, raw feeding

How to save the breed you love from the wrong person’s influence.

“Hello?”

“Hi, do you sell bulldogs?”

“Um… I breed french bulldogs, yes.”

“I need a puppy” (desperate voice) “But, I need it this week. Do you have any?”

“No, sorry. Don’t have any puppies available.” [not to you anyway...]

“Well then, can you recommend me a breeder?”

“Sure. Write down her telephone number…” [gives number of reputable breeder]

“But that’s in another STATE. That’s going to be so much more expensive and all.”

“Right.”

“Well, how much are one of these bulldogs type thingys?”

[says price]

“Sheesh! Um, okay, I’ll go look for another breed!”

“How about a toy dog? …Hello? Well, I sure hope she doesn’t look for a TOY BREED…”

Tags: dogs, idiots, in the butt

Careless

I promised myself I wouldn’t blog about not having blogged in the longest time. But, here I am, blogging about not blogging. Life isn’t fair, Internet.

Yesterday I started serving B.A.R.F. to my frenchies. I almost gave up because of the makes-you-wanna-die, Impossibly-stinky-and-disgusting poop that they had before they went to sleep. Seriously, I hope it gets better. And I also hope I don’t LOVE IT TO BITS, because I still have more than 30 kg of kibble here and that would surely suck. No, seriously now. I’ve been researching and this is something I wanted to do for a long time. We don’t have a big fridge here but I don’t mind going to the market and butcher’s once a week and put together meals for them. It’s really easier than I expected, I gotta give you that. I hope Yaza takes it well, she needs her weight. I will probably have to watch Sayid closely, he’s way too chubby lately.

Tags: dog food, dogs, raw feeding

Wherein I do not mention where I’ve actually been

So, the Venom guys did come yesterday and I left with the dogs to a remote location. We stayed there, had delicious pasta for dinner (well, us people. Them dogs had delicious eggs as treats and dog food), played Wii, watched Lost and basically just enjoyed not doing anything in particular. We came home today at 3 pm, had delicious lunch which involved tons of cheddar cheese and the dogs are quietly napping now.

You know, other than the fact that Sayid threw up three times in the car, Yaza chewed on half a 500-piece puzzle I did not know of and that I had to spend the whole day today trying to get someone who doesn’t want to be found on the phone, plus of course, PMS and severe menstrual cramps, it was a pretty sweet weekend.

Tags: car, dogs

Repeat after me: Cancel before due date

No, seriously, I must have been super whoreish in another life. Please, commence throwing tomatoes at me.

This morning I took my dogs to the local pet shop so they could spend some time there, have a shower and chill away from here because it’s one of those hardcore venom and ultra cleaning days. We have those about two or three times a month here because it gives me the creeps to even think about ticks or what dangerous stuff could be lurking out of sight. While I miss my doggies terribly, I could rest and aid with the cleaning, as well as organizing some medicines and papers I never seemed to find time to.

But now it’s almost 4 p.m., it’s time to bring them back and the tick-roaches-monster venom guys never came. I called now and they apologized with no good excuse whatsoever and rescheduled for tomorrow instead, so I have to come up with another plan to get the dogs out of the house tomorrow.

I guess we’ll take a walk and then just come up with a plan. Maybe driving around with the air conditioner at full blast is a good idea. Or spend the day at our handler’s and play around with the dogs for a while. Or, I could just cancel on the venom guys, see how THEY feel about that.

Tags: cleaning, dogs, in the butt