Confessions of a Corgi

Back to the cold

2010-01-09T21:07:00.003-05:00

*sigh* I'm back in Ithaca. It's been a glorious 3 weeks of warm weather (I'm talking 80 degrees nearly everyday), spending my days at the barn, riding horses all day, eating my mom's home cooking, all that good stuff. But now I'm back! Time flies by so fast :( The only good part is that I get to see Winnie again! I came back this morning and was reunited with my crazy little Corgi this afternoon.

It's been snowing pretty much nonstop here in upstate New York. It's currently about 10 degrees F, eep! Winnie, on the other hand, is definitely enjoying the snow...

I hope you all are staying nice and warm, wherever you are!

Totally MIA

2009-12-16T00:21:00.004-05:00

Hey guys! So sorry this blog has been dead for a while. School got nasty :(

It finally started snowing this past week. It's been a pretty warm winter overall (thanks, global warming!). Winnie got to experience her first real snowfall! She has been to Big Bear before (a ski resort in Southern CA) but it doesn't really count because it's mostly man-made snow :) She's never experienced the real thing before!

Note the snow and ice stuck on her chin/whiskers :)

It's been a crazy fall semester. I realized that I've been in 6 different states this past month! NY (where I'm now, obviously), NJ, CT, MA, MD, and PA. And they've all been horse-related, hah. This past week has been insane --> FINALS WEEK. Ugh. I have my last final on Thursday and I'm going home, YAY!

Winnie will be staying here in Ithaca with my friend and the entire pack- Ava, Hansel/Juneau (the Shelties), and Brandt- remember them from this summer? :) I hate to leave her here, but she'll be a lot happier staying here rather than flying back and forth from NY to CA. I know she'll have a good time- it's me who'll miss her! We won't be able to spend Christmas together :( Thankfully I'll only be going home for 3 weeks. I'm so ready to actually get a full night's sleep!

I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL holiday break :)

Some pictures for your viewing pleasure...

Pig on a pig

O hai. I can haz a treat?

CorgiButts contest

2009-11-19T10:35:00.003-05:00

Gibson of Corgi Butts is holding another contest in honor of gaining 100 Followers!

Click here to enter to win a custom blog heading or a custom illustration of your dog :)

AKC Star (sort of...)

2009-11-18T19:28:00.004-05:00

I got an email today saying to "look for Winnie in this issue of your AKC!"

It turns out that her photo was one of those displayed in a thing called "Photos from YourAKC Readers". The general theme seems to be a dogs-at-the-beach sort of thing. I honestly can't remember when I ever submitted a photo of Winnie, but hey!

Click here to see her photo. It's in Row 4, Column 3 :)

Mission Squirrel: SUCCESS

2009-10-24T20:21:00.008-04:00

Winnie has finally fulfilled her lifelong dream of catching a squirrel. Twice.

No joke!

On Thursday she actually caught a squirrel in the Arts Quad. In the squirrel's defense, it was either a) really really stupid or b) slightly injured and thus unable to run fast enough. It might've been a combo of both, since the squirrels here tend to be pretty smart about avoiding or not avoiding potential threats.

Anyway, Winnie managed to catch it. And then she let go...and started herding it!

Uh, yeah. She started herding the squirrel. This is where the whole "the squirrel is an idiot" comes into play- instead of just running up a nearby tree, the squirrel decided to instead run in circles. Winnie decided it would be fun to herd it and bark at it...*roll eyes*. After some time Winnie got bored with this squirrel who was making a half-ass attempt to run away. Eventually it just ran back up a tree.

Then on Friday night, we were back on the Arts Quad when it was really dark and slightly rainy. Winnie managed to find another squirrel, although I wonder if it was the same one from the day before, since it too was slow and slightly stupid.

Anyway, the gist of it is that Winnie caught a squirrel. Twice. And the squirrel(s) didn't die. Which I'm slightly relieved about. They are kind of cute. At least, when they're not dropping acorns on your head when you walk under a tree.

Today we had graduation for obedience class. Today was admittedly one of Winnie's worst obedience days. She broke her sit/stay and down/stay numerous times and her heeling was pretty bad. Despite that, she did better than the other dogs and scored a 1st place (and a nifty little trophy). Hah. Not too deserving since both she and the competition kind of sucked today, but who am I to complain? :P

We also showed off one of her tricks- backwards circles- and won a squeaky toy, which was promptly ripped just moments after we won it from her constant tugging.

She had a grand ole time running around the fenced-in agility arena during the post-graduation party.

And...it seems as though my pictures are finally uploading! Here are some pics of Winnie on the campus Arts Quad. I had planned to upload these earlier but wasn't able to until now:

Winnie at Ezra Cornell's statue. Some visiting tourists saw this and also wanted to take a picture of Winnie next to the statue for their friend who is a Corgi lover, lol!

Small dog, large campus

Grumble

2009-10-11T23:20:00.004-04:00

For some odd reason, I'm unable to post new pictures on this blog. I took a couple pictures of our agility course today, as well as some pictures of Winnie running around the Quad. And I can't put up any of them, argh!

We'll have to make to without them, I suppose :(

Today was the 5th week of agility (technically our 4th, since I had to miss one class a few weeks ago). We are now doing all three contact obstacles (dog walk, A frame, teeter) at half-height and all the other obstacles (chute, tunnel, jumps, etc) except for the weave poles.

We are now doing short sequences of about 6-7 obstacles. Winnie is doing GREAT at her contacts. Ideally I would like to spend more time working on running contacts using the Sylvia Trkman method, but obviously I don't have that kind of time or resource at the moment! Still, she's showing wonderful enthusiasm and drive, as well as control, for all the obstacles. The only time she screws up is when I screw up with my handling (go figure) or she gets distracted by some treat that fell on the floor next to an obstacle.

Since I also volunteer as an instructor for obedience/agility at our local 4H club, I use the time to have some extra "solo" agility practice on Monday nights using their equipment. Last Monday I was able to work with Winnie on serpentines using lead-outs and changes of hand. I really want to try those jump box drills from Agility Nerd to improve my handling...

Boy, this is one boring post without any pictures. I should probably get back to studying. Sigh.

Miss September

2009-10-02T11:24:00.003-04:00

A couple months ago Gibson's mom from Corgi Butts started a calendar photo contest in which we got to submit photos of our lovely Corgis to be selected for the 2010 calendar. I immediately sent it a gazillion photos of Winnie, and we were one of the lucky 12 to be chosen! You can see the other winners here. Winnie is Miss September!

Here is the winning photo:

I can't wait until our calendar arrives in the mail. A big congratulations to all the other winners! Your photos look GREAT :)

Agility, exams, and flus

2009-09-27T16:45:00.002-04:00

Hi guys! Sorry I haven't posted much in a while. I tried to post something last week but it wouldn't let me put up any pictures, so I pretty much gave up on that.

I've been somewhat bogged down with prelims (midterms). I had 2 prelims this past Thursday, one of which was Organic Chemistry. Need I say more? Tomorrow I have an Animal Nutrition prelim that I should be studying for. Except instead I'm blogging. Sweet.

I also got a big sick this past week. I woke up with a sore throat and congestion/mild headache early this past week. Thankfully our school's hospital confirmed that it wasn't swine flu, which has been spreading around our campus like wildfire. Eep.

On a dog-related note, we had agility class again today! I had to miss class last week because of something else I couldn't miss. Today we learned the chute and a low-set teeter. Winnie did great with both of them, and we ended the class with short sequences of about 3-4 obstacles, including a full-on chute. She shows so much enthusiasm for agility- I'm so happy that we have the opportunity to finally learn in a class setting!

My 2x2 weave poles are sitting in the corner of the living room. I have admittedly not been spending much time with it. I simply have not had the time to train Winnie with it, which really stinks. I do have fall break coming up in 2 weeks, so hopefully I can do some weaves with her then.

Sorry I have no pictures this time. I forgot to bring my camera to agility class!

Two words

2009-09-22T21:58:00.001-04:00

Organic. Chemistry.

Blarggghhhh!!

Cornell Companions

2009-09-13T18:02:00.005-04:00

This weekend was screening weekend for Cornell Companions, a pet visitation program here in the Ithaca area. Volunteers visit various facilities with their animals (mostly dogs, but we do have cats, birds, and the occasional llama!)- nursing homes, correctional facilities, hospitals, centers for children with disabilities, etc.

I thought it would be awesome to participate with Winnie, since she's here with me now. The screening sessions took place over a span of two days- Saturday and Sunday. Incidentally, I also happen to be the administrative assistant of Cornell Companions. I recently got the job a couple weeks ago for some extra cash. It pays a decent amount (for a low-effort job, at least) and I only have to work a couple hours a week from my own computer. This weekend was awesome because I got paid for several hours' work even though I worked on my own homework most of the time! All I really did was greet people, check them in, and tell them what forms to fill out. Good stuff.

My work station this weekend. Excel sheet, forms, scientific papers for me to read (my homework), and dog treats for Winnie. Oh, and an apple.

Anyway, I was at the vet school checking people in from around 8am to 3pm both yesterday and today. Since I was also participating as a potential volunteer, I had to get Winnie screened as well. I brought her with me today and screened her in the morning- and she passed! The screening test is basically a more relaxed version of the AKC's Canine Good Citizen Test. Winnie did really well!

Since I couldn't exactly go back home during the screening session (I had to check people in as they came for their screening appointments) Winnie sat next to me the entire morning/afternoon and acted as the unofficial Cornell Companions Ambassador.

Winnie "guarding" the gates to the screening room.

I used this as a training opportunity. She has gotten incredibly good at her "Leave It" command over the past few weeks (living in an apartment gives more opportunity for barking). I worked on keeping her calm and ignoring the other dogs, which she did fantastically.

I was really pleased to see her relax and even fall asleep a bit in this new environment.

Although almost all of the screened animals were dogs, we did have one bird- a cute Senegal Parrot. While the parrot and her owner/handler were in the other room during the test, Winnie took the opportunity to sniff out the bird cage.

Since she's more of a high-activity dog, we got placed in the Lansing Residential Center and the MacCormack Center. A nursing home wouldn't be a very good fit for her, hah.

Lansing is a correctional facility for youth females who have committed less severe crimes, and MacCormack is a high-security correctional facility for youth males who have committed more serious crimes. I'm really looking forward to going to MacCormack because it's the only facility that allows the dogs and facility residents to interact and play off-leash.

With Winnie's previous reactivity issues, I never thought I'd be able to do something like this with her. She has improved so much over the past year or so, and although she is still a work in progress, we're definitely progressing.

I'm really looking forward to our first visit in a couple weeks! I'll be sure to take some pictures while I'm there.

Finally an agility dog

2009-09-06T14:36:00.006-04:00

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in so long- something called 'school' took my time away from the computer, can you believe that?

So far classes are going well..but I know that in a few weeks I'll be loaded with work and studying, eek! Thankfully, I have been able to arrange playdates 1-3 times a week with Hansel and his mom. Sometimes we go to the dog park, other times we let them run around the Arts Quad...

Aw, jeez, Mom..seriously?

...and Winnie and I started agility classes today, YAY! I'm so happy to have finally started, since the summer classes got canceled and I had to wait an extra 1-2 months.

Needless to say, Winnie totally ROCKED at the first class. The instructor introduced us to the basic equipment- standard bar jump, tire jump, pause table, shortened tunnel, chute (without the actual chute), and a dog walk (only the flat part). Winnie did each obstacle without any hesitation while some of the other dogs struggled to go through the tunnel or get up on the dog walk. Our homework for this week is to work on getting them to follow our hands as well as teach them how to target- both of which we already happen to know, hehe. But I suppose there's always room to practice more!

If anything, I spent more time (and treats) getting her to focus on me. She has had issues before with getting overexcited and overstimulated around dogs, but to my pleasant surprise she did an amazing job today! Before the class started I did some short heeling patterns with her (mostly going straight and doing a lot of left turns) to get her attention on me, which she did really well. She was very focused on me when there were dogs in front and behind her (we were in a line taking turns to use the obstacles). Most of the time, I managed to keep her in the heel position while walking around the ring. Only during the middle of the class did she start getting distracted by the treats that had fallen on the floor. Towards the end I managed to keep her mind off the floor by running around and asking her to go through the obstacles, LOL!

I'm super proud of what we accomplished today. She has gotten so much more confident around other dogs, and only rarely does she get overstimulated by them (e.g. if she saw another dog, she would rush toward them (WITHOUT any aggression) and sniff/meet and greet).

We stopped by a small pond for a quick drink on the way back to my apartment.

We have agility on Sundays and beginner obedience on Thursday nights. I don't doubt that she already knows basic obedience, but I signed up for the class in order to get her used to working around an overstimulating environment (e.g. hyper puppies). I'm hopeful that each class will benefit the other!

Snoozing after a hard day in class.

And so the year begins

2009-08-26T23:34:00.006-04:00

Classes finally start tomorrow! It's kind of bittersweet. The nerdy part of me makes me happy that I'll finally be doing something productive now (it's been a lazy 2 weeks in the lab...my boss is on vacation, heh), but the other side of me knows I'll actually have to start studying soon, LOL!

Wally is doing well; he loves his time outside of his cage and he and Winnie are getting along just fine.

I've learned that rabbits like to do five things:

1) Chew
2) Dig
3) Hide
4) Toss
5) Scratch

The great thing about rabbits is that it's so easy to keep the entertained- in a very cheap way, no less! All you really need is a cardboard box and some scissors. You can cut a hole in it to make a burrow, stuff it with hay/shredded/paper, or just let them chew it or toss it. You can't get cheaper than that!

Wally is personally not a big fan of digging or tossing items, but he definitely loves to chew and eat his hay! I made a little hay box for him today. I took a regular cardboard box and cut little shapes on each side, then stuffed it with hay. He enjoys pulling it all out and making a big mess in the living room, haha.

I also used a small cardboard box (originally containing modeling kit materials) that came with my organic chemistry book set. Who knew organic chemistry could actually be useful? Hah!

In non-rabbit related news, Winnie is becoming a little star on campus. Almost everywhere I walk, people ooh and ahh over my little Corgi, haha. I think Winnie reminds a lot of students of their own dogs and pets back at home. Sometimes it's just nice to see a furry face amidst all the stress of studying and exams! Tonight there was an event out in the Arts Quad, and Winnie got quite a few belly rubs and ear scratches from a few freshmen.

We're both settling into our new apartment well. I think I'm finally starting to feel more at "home", if you know what I mean!

I'm also very excited to finally enroll in agility classes this fall. Now that summer is over, a new set of obedience/agility classes will take place. We'll be in both beginning obedience and beginning agility (you have to take obedience if you want to take agility- their policy!).

Meet Wally

2009-08-23T20:46:00.008-04:00

My roommate and I got a bunny. Yep, a bunny.

Don't worry, it wasn't really an impulse decision or anything. My friend, the one who made me the edible Winnie cupcakes for my birthday, had a rabbit named Coconut (or Cocobutt, as she affectionally calls him) that she just didn't have the time to take care of.

My friend is a 3rd year vet student who was somewhat forced to take in Coconut from her mother's friend who has brain cancer..,and you just can't say no to that kind of situation! Unfortunately, she also has a fennec fox and other animals in the house--the bunny wasn't getting enough "out-of-cage" time and such, but she didn't want to put him on Craigslist or give him to just anyone. That's where I come in. I (and my roommate) had been wanting a second animal for a while (not necessarily a dog, but just a second animal). Ferrets were out of the question because they're too much work, like young puppies that never grow up. A rabbit seemed pretty ideal. And there you have it- the timing and situation was perfect.

She dropped him off today. He got to explore his new surroundings and seems to like it. I named him Wally after the robot Wall-E in the movie. He's a very sweet little rabbit, a good "first time" bunny. He's calm, has no issues using the litter box, and is good with being handled and having his nails clipped. He is about 3 years old and most likely a cross-breed.

I have to admit, I was really wary of how Winnie would be around him. She has a very high prey drive and she has tried to chase after wild rabbits before. To my pleasant surprise, Winnie was great around Wally! Just a couple sniffs and following around, and that was that. Wally's not fazed at all by Winnie either. I think they'll be just fine!

*yawn*

Winnie is staring at the romaine lettuce, not Wally. She has taken a liking to them...

The best part is that Wally came with literally everything- his cage, food, litter, treats, toys, I mean everything. He is quite a spoiled little rabbit, minus the attention that he wasn't getting enough of!

Winnie stole some lettuce from Wally. This is her "nom" face, haha.

Don't worry, I'm alive!

2009-08-21T23:18:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone! Sorry for being MIA this past week. I only just got Internet in my apartment yesterday (would it be bad if I said that not having Internet really really sucks? LOL).

I moved into my apartment this past Sunday. Winnie and I have adjusted pretty well, except for the fact that There. Is. No. Air. Conditioning. In Ithaca, where it's rather humid, not having air conditioning during the summer can get pretty nasty. I bought a tower fan and 2 smaller fans, so it's not too bad. I'm still on the lookout for air conditioners on sale on Craigslist.

Here are some pictures of my new place. My roommate's moving in tomorrow (yay) so I finally won't be so lonely anymore, lol! It's crazy how different an apartment is from a dorm.

First of all, you actually get closets. Large closets.

You also get bigger beds.

And couches, yay! (the other one is not shown)

The kitchen. For someone who loves food and cooking/baking it's smaller than I would like, but it'll do. And yes, that is Winnie in the background.

The dining area. The windows on the right lead to a nice, large patio! Too bad it's unusable for most of the year because of all the snow...

And there you go, a tour of my apartment. I have some cute pictures of Winnie from this past week, I just don't have my camera with me at the moment. I promise to put them up on Monday!

Anyway, aside from working in the lab and such I've been taking Winnie around campus, mostly North Campus because it's close by. North Campus is where all the freshman dorms are located. It has a lot of nice grassy areas, and Winnie has been having a blast peeing on every single lawn.

We did meet some deer face-to-face the other day! It was Winnie's first time seeing deer. She and I stared at a doe and her 2 fawns for a good minute or so before they took off. It was like a nasty staring contest! And of course, Winnie tried to run after them when they ran...silly little turd!

Speaking of North Campus, today was Move-In day for the freshman. I remember myself being in their place exactly last year. Frantic parents and students rushing around with maps...asking students for directions...trying to lug all their items into the dorms with 20 people crammed into one elevator...

Boy, I'm glad I'm not a freshman anymore.

Classes start on Thursday the 27th. I just got my booklist today. There goes another $250-300 down the drain. Sigh.

Winnie's whining at me. I think she needs to pee. Good night, everyone!

A curious encounter

2009-08-15T10:04:00.004-04:00

We encountered a caterpillar on our walk this morning.

Naturally, I ran back inside to grab my camera, LOL.

I kind of expected Winnie to pull off something silly, like bark and try to paw it. Unfortunately (or I should probably say, thankfully) she found the caterpillar super boring and moved on with her sniffing.

In other news, I'm moving into my new (as in, actual-non-subletting) apartment in approximately 45 minutes! I have all my stuff ready and packed in boxes. Right now I'm enjoying my last hour of cable in my current sublet. I'm going to miss watching the Food Network every evening...

The other sad news is that I won't have internet until this Thursday, yikes! Time Warner was completely booked until then, so I guess I'll be doing my internet-ing from work for the next few days, LOL.

I am really excited to be back living on campus, though! I'll be taking Winnie on a lot of "tours" around the school today and tomorrow.

How to keep a Corgi occupied

2009-08-13T18:28:00.002-04:00

Edible Winnie's

2009-08-11T22:32:00.005-04:00

Okay, so normally I don't like to make a big fuss about my birthday, but this year I do have to write a blog post about it because my friend, Brynn, made me cupcakes that look like Winnie! She's pretty good at the whole baking-and-decorating-cakes-and-cupcakes thing. It was a complete surprise, and an awesome one at that!

Aren't they awesome? They're chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting (in black, tan, and white). The nose is a Reese's peanut butter chip and the ears are made of soft chocolate cookies. The elevated nose is made of marshmallows, but you can't tell because it's all covered in frosting.

Sadly, Winnie couldn't eat her self-portrait cupcakes. It would've ended in a nasty trip to the emergency vet...

Even for a girl like me who has a huge sweet tooth, they looked too good to eat!

I did eventually. Eat them, that is.

As summer nears its end..

2009-08-09T21:41:00.007-04:00

It's going to be a sad 2 weeks for Winnie and I. My friend, Hansel's mom, and our other friend, Juneau/Ava/Brandt's mom, are both going to their respective veterinary internships. Hansel's mom is going back to California to do a small animal/clinic internship for 2 weeks, and Juneau's mom is going to Virginia to do a wildlife animal internship for 4 weeks. Hansel is staying with Juneau's mom's husband (yes, this gets confusing, sorry!) for the time being. This means that Winnie and I will be Sheltie-less for 2 whole weeks, yikes! I think we'll manage though :)

Tonight the head (PI; principal investigator) of my research lab, Sutter Genetics Lab, invited all of us to dinner and games at his house as kind of an "end-of-the-summer" type of thing. He allowed me to bring Winnie because he has a black lab himself. We had yummy taco salad, homemade ice cream + fudge, and s'more brownies.

Good stuff! Lucy, the 1 yr old lab, was quite excited to have a canine visitor in the house. They spent the evening/night chasing each other around the backyard and entertained the rest of us. At certain times Winnie wasn't so keen on having an exuberant young lab constantly pestering her to play. It seems as if her personal bubble has gotten "larger" these days; she gets grumpy and barks if a dog gets too "in-her-face". I don't think Lucy minded it so much, though, as she was quite relentless in her attempts to get Winnie to chase her, lol!

It was nice but weird (in a good way, though) seeing everyone in the lab in a different sort of element (i.e. not-consumed-with-research-stuff). On the downside, this means that summer is near its end. I start school on the 27th.

Say whaaaaa----??!!

I'm actually kind of excited to start classes and see everyone again (I especially love shopping for school supplies, I'm a nerd!) but I know that the novelty will wear off in a week and the stress will hit me like a ton of bricks.

Sigh.

I'm also moving out of my sublet and into my new apartment this coming Saturday, the 15th. It's bittersweet because I absolutely love my current sublet complex (VERY dog friendly and considered one of the more "luxurious" apartments in Ithaca) but I'm excited to finally be able to have my own place where I can actually store my stuff away instead of keeping them in boxes! However, I've considered moving into Hansel's mom's apartment next year when she graduates from vet school and moves. If you all remember, she currently lives in the same complex as where I am subletting. It'll be an easy move since I can just buy her furniture from her! But that's at least a year from now, so we'll see what happens.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures tonight for your viewing pleasure. I do hate writing blog posts without some cute pictures of Winnie, so here goes:

Winnie curling up on a comforter (she's doing this as I type this blog post)

Tomorrow starts another week. Hope you all have a good one!

No longer itching (for the most part)

2009-08-07T23:54:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to add a follow-up post in response to all your comments!

You guys are right in that I shouldn't get another dog for at least a few years. I think the practical side of me would have eventually kicked it, but for the time being the not-so-practical side of me.

I also wanted to clarify- I wanted an adult, housebroken, neutered, sufficiently-trained dog. I never intend to breed dogs, now or ever. I'm just not interested in that kind of stuff! I prefer training and participating in dog sports rather than the whole breeding/conformation thing. Anyway, the ideal dog I was thinking of was a retired show dog from a breeder or something along those lines. And believe it or not, I actually wanted a Sheltie, not a Corgi. I think the great experience I've had with Hansel and Juneau this summer really warmed me up to the breed. I was even considering contacting Hansel and Juneau's breeder to see if she had an adult sheltie available!

Anyway, just a thanks to you all for bringing me back to my senses (although I probably would've come back to them sooner or later)! I think I'll stick to my original plan, which was:

Enjoy my time with just 1 dog for at least 1-2 years, then start fostering occasionally when I have time (like during Thanksgiving/Christmas break, when I'm free). Then get another dog (preferably a rescue) when I'm a senior or when I have graduated .

I did feel guilty about wanting a breeder dog for the past few days when I have always told myself that my second dog would be a rescue!

Anyway, sorry about all the rambling. I just didn't want to clear the air leave you all hanging, LOL!

Someday, when I settle down (uh, yeah...) and get a nice house with a fenced-in yard, I will have my little dog herd with Corgis, Shelties, Border Collies, and Australian Shepherds.....

*ahem*

In the meantime, I think I'll settle just fine with Sheltie playdates with Hansel and Juneau! I go over to their house enough anyway, LOL.

Bitten by the bug

2009-08-07T13:50:00.003-04:00

I've been bitten by the bug.

The "I-want-a-second-dog" bug.

One side of me is telling me that I shouldn't get a second dog when I need to concentrate on my schoolwork.

The other side is saying that another adult dog wouldn't be too much of a change, and it would be good for both him (I want a male) and Winnie.

Help.

A whack at grooming

2009-08-03T00:05:00.006-04:00

Today our trip to the Ithaca Farmer's Market got cut short when Hansel's mom got called in to do an optho surgery (she's currently doing a rotation in anesthesia). She had been hoping not get called in, but alas, she did! I ended up watching Hansel for most of the day.

At one point I got really bored and noticed that Hansel's paws were getting hairy. And when I say hairy, I mean really hairy!

I decided to take my first whack at grooming and started trimming his paw fur with a pair of scissors (I didn't have electric clippers on hand). Hansel's so unfrazzled by anything and everything that I can literally do whatever I want to him and he'll just lay there. Talk about a ragdoll!

For my first time at "grooming", I have to say I did a pretty decent job! His feet are now nice and trimmed. It's obviously not the job of a professional groomer, but I did work for free ;)

Paw on the left is half-way done, paw on the right is untouched

Front paws are done, back paws (which I'm holding) have been untouched

Hansel models his clean paws.

Winnie preferred to keep herself away from my scissors. She fell asleep by the window...

Hansel's mom got a nice surprise when she came by to pick him up later this evening. Yay!

2x2 weaves, Day something

2009-07-30T22:55:00.006-04:00

I've done it. I've found the toy. The toy that will motivate Winnie [almost] no matter where she is. The toy that I will now use to teach 2x2 weaves.

I haven't been able to do weave training every day, either because I have been busy or because I haven't found the right "moment" to train. Winnie can get really picky when it comes to motivating her with toys. Since I don't want to train 2x2 weaves with treats (they're hard to find in the grass), I've been trying to increase her tug motivation. Unfortunately, her desire to tug is unpredictable. Sometimes she'll be really enthusiastic about tugging and other times she will look at me like I'm crazy if I try to reward her with a game of tug.

Outside it's even worse. Once she goes outside she completely loses interest in the toy. She sometimes goes after her chuck-it tennis ball, but again she's very picky about when she wants to chase after it. She prefers to sniff around and/or run and play with the other dogs.

BUT...my neighbor has these squeaky soccer balls that she throws for her 2 Yorkies when they're outside. Winnie LOVES these balls and will chase them nonstop no matter where she is!

Today I happened to be near Petsmart so I bought 2 of these glorious soccer balls. Winnie went nuts for them, and even as I type she is sitting by her "toy collection" waiting for me to play with her. I don't think she has ever been this excited by a toy!

Staring at the ball from several different angles...

I did some 2x2 training with her tonight using the soccer ball and we made some nice progress.

This is the stage of training we are at now:

I'm now confident enough to move her training to the grassy area, either to the one in our apartment complex (something I don't want to do because I'd have to carry the poles back and forth from my apt) or in my friend's backyard (ideal, because we already have a set of 6 poles at her place). I want her to start gaining some speed, which she can't do in my apartment because I lack enough carpet space.

I'm hoping that by next week or so she'll be able to do 4 straight-up poles from all angles.

And that was my nerdy agility blog post for the day!

NomFest '09

2009-07-27T20:05:00.005-04:00

Some highlights from the Sterling Renaissance Festival. Dogs weren't allowed on the festival grounds so Hansel's mom watched Winnie for the day.

Yes, we ate a lot.

Because everyone needs a coat during the summer...

2009-07-26T00:01:00.005-04:00

I hope everyone had a nice Saturday! It was super hot today. I took Winnie for a walk to the barn, and unfortunately it turns out that she's scared of horses. A total bummer since I love horses and riding. Looks like we've got some work to do with de-sensitizing her to them! I haven't been riding in a while, but once I start riding again she'll get to familiarize herself with the smell of horse-y boots and breeches.

During the afternoon we took the dogs to the dog park for some running and playing...

(Ava and Brandt went too, but I didn't get any pictures of them)

After the dog park we went back to our friend's house and made breakfast for dinner- Belgian waffles, chicken/apple sausages, and scrambled eggs. Nom!

It also turns out that our friend had once bought 2 horse-blanket-style winter coats for her dog Ava (who has really thin skin and gets cold easily). She bought them on clearance sale for $8 each at SmartPak Equine. Unfortunately, the 1st one is too small for Ava and the 2nd one is too big, so Ava can't use either of them.

We decided to have Winnie try the smaller one...

and whaddaya know, it fits perfectly!

We put the 2nd, bigger one on Juneau, and that one fits her nicely as well. Poor Ava got stuck with 0 coats in the end!

So today Winnie came home with a brand new Weatherbeeta winter dog coat. I'm really pleased at how well it fits her and the fact that it only costs $8! The coat retails for about $30 normally.

I had planned on getting her a horse blanket-style coat for the winter anyway (upstate-NY winters can get pretty darn harsh, and Winnie is only used to the CA weather), but this worked out perfectly in the end.

Winnie is now knocked out from a long day and I'm pretty tired myself. I have to get up early tomorrow to head to...

*drum roll*

...the Sterling Renaissance Festival! Yay!

Update

2009-07-24T09:46:00.004-04:00

I figure 5 or so days is long enough of a "hiatus" before I should make another post, LOL.

Winnie has been doing much better- all the swelling has gone down. Now her bottom eyelids are lighter in color, probably as a result of the bleeding. Hopefully it'll turn back to a normal color soon.

White-eyed Winnie, Friday morning

In other news, my 2x2 weave poles arrived on Wednesday! Yay! I dropped off 6 of them at my friend's house and kept the other 6 here so that I could work on them with Winnie.

Last night I started Day 1 of 2x2 weave training. I don't think I'll move on to Day 2 just yet- I want to build more drive for the poles. However, so far I'm extremely pleased with her progress because I achieved one goal- to get her to accept the tug toy, instead of a treat, as her reward.

I've been trying to increase her tug drive for the past couple of weeks so that I can rely more on toys than treats. Last night I managed to mark and reward her successfully via tugging without her ignoring the toy and staring at me for a treat- yay! I don't have any videos soon but I'll probably take some later and upload them on Youtube.

TGIF!

Bad weekend

2009-07-19T19:05:00.008-04:00

Ugh, this past couple of days has not been the best weekend. Yesterday morning I semi-totaled the university's fleet car on the way to a horse farm (a measuring trip for our research lab's equine size study). I, like a complete idiot, made a really bad turn and crashed into the telephone pole at 7 in the morning. Can I emphasize enough that I was a complete idiot?

Thankfully neither our dear lab manager nor I were injured (save one or two bruises and a sore neck). Needless to say, our trip for that day got canceled. In the battle between the Impala and the telephone pole, the telephone pole walked away with a small scratch. I don't think I'll be driving anymore fleet cars anytime soon...

And then today (Sunday), Winnie decided to go into the grassy/weedy/marsh-y/ravine-y area (I really don't know how to describe it) next to the grassy area in our apartment complex. The grasses and plants in the ravine are so tall that you really can't see ANYTHING. Winnie refused to come out of it for a good 10-15 minutes, despite my calling and whistling. All I could hear was the rustling of her collar as she made her way through the marsh doing dog-knows-what. There are rabbits and other critters that wander in this area so I think her prey-drive had kicked into high gear.

Anyway, when she eventually did come out I saw that she was BLEEDING from her bottom eyelids, as well as slightly on the sides of her nose! I freaked out and called my friend (Hansel's mom, the 4th year vet student) to come out and take a look. It was just the strangest thing ever. Her bottom eyelids were very swollen and bleeding, even though her actual eyes looked completely fine. Hansel's mom and another friend of ours eventually decided that it was a contact allergy from whatever plant she was going through while she was in the ravine. They were still pretty stumped, since it's not common to start bleeding from the bottom of your eyelids. Crazy.

I wiped off the blood with some water and gave her a Benadryl pill per my friends' advice. She's acting normal, and now I'm just waiting for the swelling to go down. I'm just really glad that she's okay. I don't think I'll be letting her off-leash in that grassy area anytime soon, which really sucks because it's like a mini-dog park within our apartment complex. Sigh.

What a weekend! Here's to hoping for no more car accidents or weird eyelid bleeding.

4am

2009-07-15T03:51:00.004-04:00

It is 4am. I got back an hour ago from the 12:10am showing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (I'm a huge Harry Potter fan/nerd).

It is 4am, and I am blogging. What better time to do it? Poor Winnie's sleep schedule has been completely distorted- I just took her out to pee and now all she wants to do is play tug and fetch!

In other news, I received my CafePress prizes in the mail today! They're awesome- I can't wait to use them :) Thanks, Kelly and Gibson!

So, um...I should probably head to bed now.

Agility nerd

2009-07-13T20:42:00.003-04:00

I'm so excited! I was finally able to purchase a full set of 2x2 weave poles. To go with it, I got Susan Garrett's 2x2 weave training DVD and Susan Salo's Foundation Jumping DVD. I'm super disappointed that the beginning agility class got canceled this summer (not enough people who signed up), so I'm hoping to at least get a full start on clicker training the weave poles.

I'm going to set them up in my friend's (Juneau/Ava's mom) house- she has a huge backyard. She and Hansel's mom are willing to buy a few jumps and a tunnel as well so that we can make a non-contact agility course in the backyard- sweet!

It'll take a while for the actual poles to arrive (I ordered them from a separate vendor). In the meantime, I'll be doing some serious DVD-watching!

TGIF

2009-07-10T23:47:00.001-04:00

Yay!

2009-07-08T19:29:00.004-04:00

Remember that giveaway from Gibson's Corgi Butts blog? Gibson's mom randomly chose the winner...and we were chosen! She generously gave out a $25 gift certificate to her Corgi Butts store.

I decided to get a mug:

and a tile coaster:

A big thanks to Kelly of Corgi Butts for holding this giveaway! Winnie sends Corgi kisses and thanks :)

Happy 4th!

2009-07-05T23:16:00.008-04:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday :) I had a lovely 3-day weekend- I got Friday off, woo!

Just a cute picture of Hansel and Winnie that I had to sneak in this blog entry.

Winnie and I headed over to a friend's house for some barbecue and a 30 Rock marathon (my newest favorite show, although The Office is still in the lead!). Some grilled turkey burgers, garlic mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and chocolate cake + tired dogs + 30 Rock makes for a pretty good weekend :)

On Sunday, the 5th (today, actually) we headed over there again for a repeat of last night, LOL. More food, more dogs, and more 30 Rock.

We also bathed all 5 of the dogs (in a record time of 45 minutes) before dinner.

Post-bath prancing.

There was a ton of post-bath zoomies and chasing!

Winnie and I are both exhausted. This is Winnie after we got home tonight:

11:30 PM

12:00 AM

Routines

2009-07-03T20:32:00.004-04:00

We have a little routine during the work week. I get up, eat breakfast, then take Winnie out to pee and run around for about 10-15 minutes. I then put Winnie in my room and leave for work. This has become so predictable that by the time I get my keys to leave I find Winnie already in my room, laying on my bed.

Before I even close the door to my room, she peeks outside to watch me leave. It's really amusing. A couple times I have closed the door to my room and then opened it again to see her staring out through the window even though I'm still in the house!

Funny dog, this one.

Does anyone have fun plans for the 4th of July weekend?

Corgi Giveaway

2009-07-01T20:06:00.004-04:00

No, no..we're not actually giving away a Corgi, LOL! Gibson's mom from Corgi Butts is having a giveaway in celebration of Gibson's 1st birthday.

Click here to enter!

Happy Birthday, Gibson!

If only...

2009-06-29T15:56:00.002-04:00

Farmer's Market

2009-06-28T16:23:00.008-04:00

Today was such a beautiful day that we were finally able to make our long-planned trip to the Farmer's Market. We packed up the dogs and headed there today (dogs are allowed only on Sundays). This was my first time going to the Farmer's Market, so I was super excited.

It was so awesome! I wish I had the stomach and money to buy all the food that was there, but in the end I ended up getting a yummy spinach and feta crepe. Hansel's mom got a burrito that she raved about- I'll definitely have to try that next time.

They had everything from ethnic food to locally made crafted items, as well as locally grown meat. I got really excited when I saw that one stand had rabbit for sale (Winnie hasn't had rabbit in ages), but I was told that it was sold out before I even got a chance to ask how much it cost. Boo. I'm not too bummed- I'm expecting an order from Hare-Today soon, so Winnie will finally have some variety in her diet.

Since we had so many dogs with us at once (4- Winnie, Hansel, Juneau, and Ava) we got plenty of attention from other people, even though there were quite a few other dogs at the market.

Winnie got plenty of bum scritches as well.

We found a nice shady area to eat and talk, and the dogs were happy to lay down underneath a tree.

Afterwards we headed over to the dog park to let the pups play around a bit, and then we headed home.

My vacuum sucks...so well!

2009-06-22T20:04:00.006-04:00

I tend to leave Winnie's toys just laying around on the floor. Today I was vacuuming the couch when I noticed that the vacuum started to sound and smell really funky.

Lo and behold, the vacuum had gotten hold of the remaining arm of Winnie's monkey toy (there are normally two long arms, but Winnie killed the other one a couple weeks ago).

I managed to pull out the arm, which was totally caught in the vacuum's suction-wheel-thingy. My poor appliance was letting out smoke and the monkey's arm was...well, pretty much dead.

Now we have an armless, legless monkey.

It's okay, we don't discriminate here!

Limb-less monkeys. They make good...er...hind leg rests.

Wordless..er..Saturday?

2009-06-20T19:30:00.003-04:00

Those Corgi nights

2009-06-18T19:57:00.004-04:00

A very long day..and a very long blog entry

2009-06-14T23:01:00.014-04:00

Bear with me, this will be a long post with a lot of pictures!

The day started off with me and Winnie going to Hansel and Ava's graduation for obedience and agility. I used the opportunity to work on focus exercises with Winnie. Hansel graduated from beginner agility and graduate novice while Ava graduated from beginner agility and pre-novice.

The obedience club did a fun "Show Off Your Trick" thing. Even though we aren't enrolled in classes yet Winnie was allowed to participate- we did "Sit Pretty" and won a squeaky toy from the toy bin!

Dog slobber-covered toy

Winnie started barking and whining when the dogs were running their agility courses! Something tells me she'll love agility :) The next set of classes start in the beginning of July- I'm so excited! I plan on buying a set of 2x2 weave poles next week as well as Susan Garrett's 2x2 weave training DVD so that we can get a head start on things ;)

After graduation we shoved the dogs in the trunk (literally) and took the dogs to Buttermilk Falls State Park for a hike, since it was such a nice day.

I have to admit that I'm not a very outdoorsy person, but it was definitely nice to go out and enjoy some upstate New York scenery. Winnie, as usual, loves this kind of stuff so she had a blast. The falls were gorgeous!

Group shot

Afterwards we made a stop at Petsmart to buy random things here and there.

Hansel wearing a Harley-Davidson hat that his mom found in the store. Hansel, he's so hot right now (Zoolander, anyone?)

I bought Winnie replacement balls for her mini Chuck-it (the awesome rubber pink ball that we normally use is lost somewhere in the apartment), as well as a brand new toy. I'm hoping to use it to increase her tug drive for agility. It's great for throwing and it squeaks in the middle!

We then headed for Bethany's house (Ava, Juneau, and Brandt's mom) where the dogs played a bit more in their huge yard and the humans prepared dinner.

Winnie and I both met some pretty exotic animals! Bethany and her roommate have geckos, a tarantula, fish, guinea pigs, a sugarglider, a hedgehog, and a chinchilla! Darn vet students and their wild collection of animals, LOL.

Winnie became slightly obsessed with the guinea pigs. She kept barking at them and trying to get at the poor things.

I did allow her to meet Emma the hedgehog. Emma, unlike the cavies, has a defense mechanism- her prickly spines!

The chinchilla, Anubis, is absolutely adorable! He looks like a mouse-rabbit mix or something. Winnie got to sniff him but I think he scared her a bit.

For dinner we cooked up some corn on the cob, grilled potatoes, and grilled marinated chicken breast with mango/black bean salsa. Dessert was raspberry jello and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (which I ate WAY too many of). Food coma, anyone?

Afterwards the dogs started snoozing off. I took this awesome picture of Hansel and Juneau. The two are actually from the same litter.

Hansel. He couldn't be any more comfortable (or tired/sleepy) in Bethany's lap.

We finally went back home around 10 PM. Winnie is currently sleeping- she is completely knocked out, and I'm, er...blogging. And doing laundry. And watching TV.

I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have Winnie with me this summer! Things are so much more fun when you have a dog with you :) It's definitely going to get harder when I start school, though, with having to study and all.

Tomorrow starts another week. I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Hide and Seek

2009-06-13T11:31:00.002-04:00

Can you spot the Corgi?

Left Out

2009-06-10T21:07:00.005-04:00

Hansel spent a couple hours at my place today. The poor guy had to watch Winnie while she ate her dinner. He's fed a decent kibble, actually- one of the Natura brands (either Innova or California Natural, I can't remember)- but of course, nothing beats a good ol' raw diet.

Since his mom's a vet student she gets free food from the Natura company :) (Thankfully she hasn't been brainwashed by Hill's Science Diet, whew!)

In the beginning I had to gently block him with my arm so that he wouldn't get close (remember, he has that habit of stealing other dogs' things?). Winnie doesn't resource-guard but I knew she would've run away with the food in her mouth, and I didn't want a raw-food-chase all over the apartment.

Eventually I trusted Hansel to keep his distance himself. He wouldn't take his eyes off Winnie's turkey neck- he kept doing circles around her towel, LOL.

After Winnie finished her meal I allowed him to sniff and lick the meat towel (shh, don't tell his mom!).

Too bad Hansel isn't fed raw, I'm sure he would enjoy it to no end!

In other news, this past Saturday I made my first homemade meal ever- lasagna!. It turned out quite well. Next time I think I'll replace half the ricotta cheese with cottage cheese and half the ground beef with Italian sausage. And more sauce as well.

I have some blueberry cobbler in my crockpot right now. Fingers crossed that it turns out nicely! It'll be my first slow-cooked meal (er..dessert) in my new crockpot. I think I'm getting the hang of this cooking thing!

In the meantime, I'll be eating lasagna for the next 1-2 weeks. LOL!

Ring Toss

2009-06-07T21:19:00.002-04:00

Winnie's newest trick- ring toss!

Dog Day

2009-06-07T17:43:00.008-04:00

Today was a dog-filled day. We walked Winnie, Hansel, Ava, and Juneau (Juneau's from the same litter as Hansel; she and Ava belong to Hansel's mom's friend) to Collegetown Bagels for a quick brunch.

I just LOVE this picture! They were tied to this post while we went inside to get food, LOL. Left to right: Winnie, Ava, Juneau, Hansel

I then dropped Winnie off back at the apt. and the rest of us went to obedience and agility classes. Since this session is almost over, I plan on enrolling Winnie in the next one.

I'm so excited for her classes! I think she'll absolutely LOVE agility and obedience. Back in LA my dad made her some homemade jumps and she even learned 6 weave poles (I bought them from ebay), but we have never enrolled in actual classes before. I think she'll do great, but I may be biased ;)

After Hansel and Ava finished their classes we went back to pick up Winnie, and we all headed to the dog park right next to the Allan H. Treeman Marina. It was my and Winnie's first time there. The place is great! It's fenced in and provides bio-degradable poop bags (they compost poop, awesome!) as well as a fresh water supply for the dogs.

The dogs had a GREAT time. Hopefully we'll be able to go every Sunday!

As far as Winnie goes, the past few days have been really tiring for her- and I love it! Tired dogs make me so happy, LOL.

She fits in there quite nicely, LOL! This was taken last night, after her playdate with Hansel. She's making the "I'm-about-to-pass-out-right-now" face.

Battle of the Bullystick

2009-06-06T13:10:00.013-04:00

Winnie and Hansel are just so freaking cute together. No, seriously. They both have very similar play-styles. Plus, they look alike. LOL.

Hansel has this habit of stealing other dogs' chews and toys. He has come to LOVE the bullysticks that I have at my place. He spent the afternoon (actually, still spending...he's still here as of right now) with Winnie. I took out another, brand new bullystick so that each dog could have one bulystick. The older one's shorter, but stinkier and thicker.

At first, things started out well, with each dog taking their respective bullysticks...

And then Hansel decided that he wanted what Winnie had, so he employed a clever strategy in which he enticed Winnie to play with a toy. As soon as Winnie took interest in the toy, Hansel stole Winnie's bullystick.

Being a good sport, Winnie took the other one.

But of course, Hansel then decided that he wanted what Winnie had...again. This time his new strategy was to just...bark.

Winnie decided that this was NOT acceptable. Wrestling was the best way to solve this.

And so the afternoon passed, with the dogs switching off their chews and doing a lot of playing in between. They seem to have reached a nice compromise, with Hansel's barking as a signal that it's time to switch chews.

Racing up the stairs

I love seeing Winnie do so well with a playmate inside the house, not just at the park or outside. I'm so glad that she'll have Hansel to keep her company this summer :) It makes me feel less guilty that I'm working full-time, LOL!

I'm thinking of doing a bit of fostering here and there (when I can...most likely during my school breaks) sometime in the next couple of years. It'll be good for both Winnie and me, since I won't be getting a permanent dog anytime soon (not for another several years, at least!).

From Winnie

TGIF

2009-06-05T22:45:00.005-04:00

Friday takes on a whole new meaning when you're working and you don't actually have to study for anything over the weekend!

Winnie has settled in nicely, although I do miss home, my parents, and homecooked food- moreso than when I was in the dorms this past 9 months. I think it's the fact that I'm actually on my own now- I have to prepare my own food and I have a full-time job. Yikes. Growing up isn't all that fun ;)

I was pleasantly surprised to see that my apt/townhouse complex is very dog-friendly. We have a nice, large grassy area right behind the apts where many of us fellow dog owners let our pups off leash to run and play. You certainly don't get that kind of room in Los Angeles!

I haven't been able to get any pics of the "mini dog park" yet but I'll tr to post some up soon.

So far we have met 2 [rather rambunctious] Labs, a Weimaraner, 2 Yorkshire Terriers, and a Sheltie. I actually know the Sheltie's mom personally- she's a friend of mine currently in her last year of vet school here at Cornell.

Meet Hansel. He and Winnie are like twins! Except Hansel's...a Sheltie. LOL. And yes, Winnie came out looking really silly in this picture!

They play wonderfully together. You'll see more of Hansel in the future, as I'll be dogsitting him often while his mom is on clinic duty :)

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-06-03T22:41:00.001-04:00

We're here!

2009-06-02T17:01:00.004-04:00

We're finally here! Even though this isn't technically her first trip on a plane (it's her second), she did really well- she only barked twice while we were waiting at the gate for the ride from LAX to Newark.

Sunrise in Newark, taken from the plane

At the food court; Newark airport

During the connection from Newark to Ithaca Winnie got a bit stressed because it's a tiny propellor plane (only 9 seats!) and makes a lot more noise/vibrations. Thankfully it's only a 1 hr ride to Ithaca.

Landing in Ithaca.

Outside of Ithaca Regional Airport, stretching and rolling

When we got to our sublet we both crashed for about 4 hours. The little pig wouldn't sleep on the dog bed that my mom had bought her as a going-away present.

Ungrateful, much? LOL!

I felt bad about her sleeping on the carpet (even though it was technically her choice, LOL) so I let her on the bed, an offer which she very happily accepted.

Knocked out.

I feel bad that I'm already starting work tomorrow, but I have a feeling she'll just sleep all day.

Checklist

2009-06-01T17:28:00.005-04:00

Luggage.

Check.

ID/miscellaneous stuff for my bag.

Check.

Dog.

Check.

See you in Ithaca!

Last Dose

2009-06-01T00:06:00.007-04:00

Tonight I had my last [rather large] dose of Korean food. I can't believe it has already been two weeks since I've come back home- I'm leaving for Ithaca tomorrow night, yikes! My mom has done quite well on her part to stuff me with whatever Korean food she can think of while I'm here. So well, in fact, that I've gained a couple of pounds. Sigh.

We took out our tiny grill, which we've had for dog-knows-how-many-years, and filled our stomachs full. We did some serious nomming, Asian-style!

Grilled marinated chicken and beef kebobs with pineapple, asparagus, and mushrooms.

You can't have Korean BBQ without some spicy side dishes, yum :)

Since we only do this once in a while, I purposely gave Winnie a smaller raw meal earlier today so that she could have her share of the goodies.

Watching the grill from afar

Staring at the plate of raw duck, LOL.

Winnie and my mom. If you enlarge the picture you can see that she's slightly drooling. LOL.

Winnie brought on her best behavior, even throwing in a few tricks here and there.

"Oh hai. I can has some scraps?"

She would fetch her ball and drop it at our feet, as if she was offering it to us in exchange for a piece of meat. Little pig.

"Will fetch for food"

"Sit Pretty"

Anything for marinated meat, I suppose!

Passed out after a long day.

Winnie is totally conkered (is that a word? I feel like I just made that up) out. She hasn't had a chance to nap all day, so it's going to be a long night for her.

As for the humans, two words: FOOD. COMA.

Die Happy

2009-05-30T22:29:00.006-04:00

Squirrels are the absolute bane of Winnie's existence. No, seriously.

I actually think they're kind of cute (except when they're dropping acorns on your head), but don't tell Winnie.

If she could catch a squirrel, I think she would die happy. Metaphorically, of course.

Squirrel patrol

What would make your pup "die happy"?

Persimmon Tree

2009-05-29T13:02:00.006-04:00

Winnie has recently discovered that the barely-fruiting persimmons from our persimmon tree are quite delicious. I found her nomming on the ones that had fallen to the ground.

They're still tiny and green (the ripe ones are orange and the size of a tomato) but still have that persimmon-y taste, as I found out when I smelled it.

Nom nom nom.

Bwahaha, the little pig is drooling while I make her Leave It.

My Evil Mom-ness makes her do silly things like this :)

Have fun with your pup(s)- it's almost summer!

Insert Witty Title Here

2009-05-27T20:47:00.009-04:00

Honey the Great Dane tagged us in a game in which we share stories of our dogs’ parents and/or how our pups came to live with us. I don’t know much about Winnie’s parents, so I’ll share the story about the latter :)

It started out a little over 2 years ago when my family decided to get our first dog. Well, technically our second. We used to have a dog when I was much younger (around 3 years of age?) but of course I don’t remember anything from back then.

Me as a child and our family's old dog, Joy. He was a smart little mutt, according to my parents! Sorry for the poor quality, the original picture was stuck in a frame so I had to take a picture of the picture!

So initially we found a wonderful, sweet little Chow mix named Winnie through Petfinder, but she ended up finding a better forever home more suited for her.

Things were starting to look dismal (okay, maybe I’m exaggerating) for us when on a Friday morning my mom decided to go on Radio Korea ’s website. She went to the pet section, where the Korean community (mostly from Southern California, I think?) posts random pet-related topics, including pets needing homes.

Lo and behold, that’s how we found Winnie, who was then named Coco. She was around 4.5 months old back then and living in Irvine with a young couple. Unfortunately, circumstances didn’t allow them to be taking care of a dog at the time, especially a young puppy.

A few days after we got her. Her unbearable cuteness has already allowed her to claim the couch! LOL

A Corgi had been on my list of “possible/ideal breeds”, so we gave them a call and claimed her, so to speak (apparently many others were interested in her). My mom and I drove to Irvine the next day and took her home with us, along with all her things (treats, toys, etc). During the entire car ride I tried to think of a better name (I certainly didn’t like Coco!) but could only think of Winnie, the name of the adopted dog that we had originally been interested in. So in the end she became Winnie!

Her love (or hate?) for squirrels has transitioned from stuffed ones to real ones...

Her previous owners told us she would be small because her parents were small, hence Winnie’s tiny size (a measly 18 lb). They had bought her from a pet store in Irvine. I didn’t know better back then- I obviously don’t support puppy mills and BYB now, but I wouldn’t trade Winnie for anything in the world. She is my first dog- my one and only heart dog! I’ve learned so much as a first time dog owner and I don’t regret getting her one bit. (In my own defense, I do plan to adopt my second dog in the future (which won’t happen anytime soon, but will happen!) ;)

High school graduation

So what’s your story?

We'll tag the following blog pups, but feel free to share even if you weren't tagged :)

The Corgi Girls
Lance and Vito
Gibson
Mia the Chi
Gio and Romeo
Sully

Dog Beach Day

2009-05-24T21:14:00.014-04:00

The fam and I took a road trip down to Huntington Dog Beach today! We had planned to stop by Huntington Dog Park for the weekly Corgi meet-up, but we left the house too late (it's from 10AM-12PM) so we went straight to the beach instead. We did end up meeting a tricolor Corgi at the beach, though.

Getting some shade in a rock crevice!

Bunnybutt

Rock climbing?

She doesn't even swim. What a poser ;)

Just about ready to pass out...

...and she's gone.

Chatty Birds

2009-05-22T23:58:00.005-04:00

I never really pay attention to the birds outside (I'm not much of a bird person). They're usually just pigeons or crows. Today I was surprised to find quite a different kind of bird, and chatty ones at that!

Aren't they gorgeous? There was a whole flock of them, but those two seemed happy to be together.

Surprisingly, Winnie was focused more on her ball than on the birds.

I think she knew the birds were too far to be worth barking at?

Ball > birds

Trick(y) Thursday

2009-05-21T22:17:00.002-04:00

Damp Wind Heat

2009-05-20T15:34:00.011-04:00

Yesterday I took Winnie in to see a homeopathic vet for her chronic allergies. I didn't want to see her injected with more Predinosolone or give her more Medrol pills. Allopathic medicine was essentially taking away the symptoms but not the cause of the problem.

I tend to be the kind of person who likes to "research" things beforehand (seriously, Wikipedia is my best friend). I put research in quotes because Wikipedia doesn't always provided the most credible sources, LOL. So the day before the appointment I spent some time Googling and Wikipedia-ing "homeopathy". While I am very much open to alternative medicine (I'm thinking of going into holistic veterinary medicine myself) I will admit that I wasn't 100% confident about homeopathy itself. But what's there to lose? (except $, that is)

I'll start off with an explanation about what homeopathy is. You can find a ton of information on the internet- I found this website to be particularly helpful. The paragraphs below are taken from that site.

VETERINARY HOMEOPATHY
- THE APEX OF HOLISTIC MEDICINE

No other approach to medicine better fulfills the philosophy of holistic medicine than does Homeopathy.

Homeopathy is founded on the premise that symptoms seen in a patient are the result of an imbalance or disharmony in the Life Force.

Rather than divide the symptoms into separate diagnoses and prescribe a different medicine for each diagnosis, the Homeopath seeks to find the common cause of all the symptoms and to find the single medicine which will bring the entire patient to health and wholeness.

With this premise, there is no condition in any patient which is not treatable with Homeopathy. The Homeopath is not dependent on finding a diagnosis before treatment can begin but instead uses the entire complex of symptoms produced by the patient as a guide to the single medicine which will treat the entire patient.

The Homeopathic approach catalyzes health and wholeness in the patient. The end result is a patient who is not compromised by chronic, recurrent disease.

THE HOMEOPATHIC PROCESS

To treat a patient Homeopathically, the Homeopath must gather as much information about the patient as is possible. This will require an in-depth examination of the patient and interview with the care-giver.

Sometimes in complex cases, diagnostic tests may be run or the services of other individuals such as body workers or animal communicators may be used to gather more information.

Once all the details about the patient have been gathered, the Homeopath, following the specific techniques of Homeopathy, searches for the single medicine which will address all the symptoms seen in the patient. By treating the patient with a single medicine, the Homeopath can avoid the complications caused by multiple concurrent medications so common in conventional medicine today.

When this single medicine based on the complete symptoms of the patient is found, it is given in the least dose at the greatest interval to catalyze healing changes in the patient.

After the medicine is selected and given, the care-giver observes the patient for changes in the symptom pattern and reports these changes to the Homeopath. In this way, and only in this way, can the Homeopath be directed to the appropriate therapeutic measures in the future.

Because of the individualized nature of the Homeopathic treatment, each medicine, each dose, and each dosing schedule is tailored to the specific needs and nature of the patient.

So in a nutshell, the essence of homeopathy is that "like cures like". You give the patient a treatment that would produce the symptoms of the sick patient in a healthy patient, but that same treatment will cure the sick patient. The German physician Samuel Hahnemann founded homeopathy back in the late 1700s when he discovered that cinchona bark, which was then used to treat malaria, would produce malaria-like symptoms in a healthy person but would cure a sick person with those same symptoms. Here is the wikipedia link for homeopathy.

To make it a bit more complicated, there are two different styles of homeopathy. One is classical homeopathy, which is the older method that was developed by Hahnemann. The other is complex or contemporary homeopathy, which has been adopted by many holistic veterinarians today. From what I understand, the main difference between the two is that in classical homeopathy, there is only a single remedy that encompasses all of the patient's symptoms. The practitioner takes into account every symptom and finds a remedy that matches all of those symptoms. In complex homeopathy, there are multiple remedies that are used in a combination. I recently found this article to have a great comparison of the two styles. For those who are interested, the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy has an interesting list of "standards of practice" for veterinary homeopathy.

So, on to Winnie's appointment...

The veterinarian that I saw practices complex homeopathy. I have a friend on Dogster who swears by classical homeopathy and no other (for good reason, homeopathy has done her and her dog wonders for their health). So I will admit I was kind of disappointed that I was seeing a complex homepathist (I totally just made up that word) but since I don't have enough knowledge or experience with all this stuff I have decided to keep an open mind to both styles for now.

During our 1 hour consultation we started off talking about nutrition. My one big disappointment for the day was that he didn't approve of the fact that I didn't include vegetables in Winnie's raw diet. I did explain the fact that I felt that her organs (liver, kidney, spleen) provided all the nutrients that she needs, but he didn't buy it. He insisted that I add some steamed/pureed vegetables into her diet. Meh, I think I'll stick to the prey model style diet...sorry!

So with Winnie's allergies, he thought it to be likely that they're food-related. Since I feed a wide variety of meats everyday and her itching happens regularly throughout the year, he thought that she might be allergic to a type of meat, which is entirely possible.

The vet also describe her as being "damp-wind-heat" (Have I completely lost you guys yet?). This is an aspect of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that incorporates the ideas of yin and yang. When one is in excess (for example, Winnie apparently has an excess of heat), the body produces undesirable symptoms in an attempt to re-balance everything. This link describes the "Six Evils".

So it seems that meat such as beef and lamb are considered "hot" foods while turkey is considered a "cold" foods. Once again I did some research into the temperature of different food in Chinese medicine and came upon some interesting links here and here.

He recommended that I start feeding Winnie "cooler" meats such as turkey. Since raw food is technically "cooler" than cooked, we're already off to a great start, LOL! I think the part where I got confused is how to distinguish between the different temperatures of foods and what meats she's allergic to? Crap, I should've asked him that yesterday. Oh well.

So to sum it up, the vet gave her two injections, one of "Echinacea Forte" and one of "Lutis Comp". We also got a bunch of pills to take home.

I asked the vet to make me copies of the pages from the book that explains all the different remedies. Here are the functions of each of them:

"Lonicera 13"- clear heat, remove toxin, dispel wind

"Zaocys"- dispel wind and dampness, calm internal wind

"Dermatotrophin"- controlling glandular function in the cases of both hypofunction and certain hyperfunctioning states

Some allergen formula that I have to administer orally. I don't know what it contains!

Winnie seemed to like the Dermatrotrophin pills but promptly spit out the Lonicera and Zaocys- I don't blame here, they're kind of big and smell strongly like Chinese herbs, LOL! I did stick them in a bit of string cheese and she ate those fine.

So that concludes my ridiculously long post about homeopathy- we'll see how Winnie does on these remedies. I can't adjust her diet until after we move to NY (we already have her meat pre-packaged in Ziploc bags for the next 2 weeks or so) but we'll see how Winnie does on the remedies.

The vet recommended something called "isopathy" or "isotherapy", which is an extreme form of homeopathy- instead of "like cures like", it's more of "exact cures exact". He basically takes Winnie's blood sample and makes her blood into a homeopathy remedy specifically for her.

Learning about all these alternative, older forms of medicine has me really fascinated. It makes me wonder how society survived without the allopathic medicine we have today.

I'll update you all on Winnie's progress. Wish us luck!

Winnie the...poop?

2009-05-18T23:18:00.013-04:00

Yesterday at the dog park Winnie found herself a nice pile of poop to roll on. Most of it ended up on her collar. The rest got on her neck and a bit on her back. People spent the rest of the evening calling her "Winnie the Poop".

Pooped and proud.

She earned herself a nice bath when we got home.

"How embarrassing"

"Aw jeez, Mom. Really?"

As for her poop-covered collar- it got rinsed off, then dunked in a bucket of water and shampoo.

Thankfully it seemed to work and it's as good as new!

Tomorrow I have an appointment with the homeopathic vet for Winnie's allergies. I really hope homeopathy works for her- I don't want to inject her with more Pred and rely on Medrol pills forever. Wish us luck!

Raw, raw, sis boom bah!

2009-05-17T16:20:00.022-04:00

A couple weeks ago I promised Kaley's mom of Sansanpups.com that I would write up a post for her regarding the raw diet. I couldn't do it then because I had finals (eep, glad those are over...) but now that I'm being lazy at home I was able to write one up. Here it goes!

---------------

I started feeding Winnie a raw diet a couple weeks after I got her at around 4.5 months of age. She came to me on Science Diet puppy food. Her previous owners told me that she was eating it fine, but when she came to live with us she refused to eat it. I’m not sure if it was the stress of moving to a new home that made her lose her appetite, or if she never really liked kibble to begin with. In any case, I joined Dogster soon afterwards and started learning more about dog food and dog nutrition. I made a switch to Wellness puppy food, and after less than 1-2 weeks of an unsuccessful transition, I decided to try out a raw diet.

What is this “raw diet” I speak of? A raw diet consists purely of raw meat, bones, and organs. The idea is to feed a species appropriate diet, one that wolves eat in the wild. Dogs are direct descendents of wolves- and while their behavior has changed drastically, they still maintain the same internal physiology. As much as our dogs like non-meaty food (Winnie’s personal favorite is apples), they are still carnivores and thrive on a meat-based diet.

There are two styles of raw feeding- the prey model style and the BARF style (promoted by Dr. Ian Billinghurst). I personally feed the prey model style, which consists of 80% meat, 10% bones, and 10% organs. The BARF style incorporates vegetables as no more than 20-30% of the diet. Which you choose is really more of a personal decision. Since I feed a prey model style diet, I will base most of my discussion on that. The rule of thumb is to feed 2-3% of your dog's body weight, depending on his/her activity level. For example, Winnie is about 18 lb (yes, she’s a tiny Corgi!) and she is fed about 0.4-0.5 lb a day. That is about 2.5% of her body weight. Half of the organ allotment (5%) should be liver, and the other half should be another organ (pancreas, thymus, spleen, kidney, etc).Heart and lung don't count as organ because they don't secrete, but you can feed it as a muscle meat. As the popular saying goes (at least on Dogster!),

“If it doesn’t secrete, feed it as meat!”

Edibility of Bones

As for bones, all RAW poultry bones (chicken, turkey, duck, etc) and rabbit bones are edible. Cooked bones are ALWAYS a no-no, no matter what diet you're feeding. Raw bones are soft and pliable and are perfectly fine. The edibility of some bones, however, depends on the dog (esp. the size of the dog and his ability to handle larger bones). Beef bones are generally not recommended for any dog because they're very dense and can wreck your dog's teeth. However, if they're nicely covered with meat, then it's fine for your dog to eat them (but take the bone away after the meat is gone). Weight-bearing bones (hooves, legs, etc) are especially dense and I don't recommend them. Remember that you never want to just feed bare bones. It is ideal to feed something that is covered in gobs of meat.

Starting out

Most beginning raw feeders stick with chicken for the first couple weeks so that their systems adjust to raw. After that, progress slowly to organs and other proteins. Liver and other organs are VERY rich and can cause runny poop if they are given too soon. Pork and lamb also tend to be rich because they’re fattier. The key to raw feeding in the beginning is to take it easy and slow. If you don't want to switch your dog cold turkey, then feed kibble in the morning and raw at night (or vice versa) and slowly decrease the amount of kibble while increasing the amount of raw. It is generally not recommended to feed kibble and raw at the same time because cooked and raw digest at different rates.

Buying and storing meat

Asian markets tend to have a lot of weird, good items not available in your usual grocery store. Raw is as expensive as you make it. I generally try to stay under $2/lb, and for some people it ends up being cheaper than kibble. I like to think that you end up saving money in the long run because of reduced trips to the vet's office and no need for anesthetic dental therapy (which can cost a lot of $$$). I personally get my meat from Asian markets (which are abundant where I live), regular grocery stores, and online stores. I also try to avoid buying meats that are injected with antibiotics and hormones.

Do-it-yourself raw (as in, buying your meat from the grocery store) is always cheaper than pre-made raw, especially if you have larger dogs. Some premade raw brands include Nature's Variety, Stella & Chewy, Primal, and Bravo. You can also get meat for free if you have friends who hunt. If you do get wild meat, make sure to freeze meat for at least 2 weeks to kill off parasites if the meat you're feeding is fresh-killed meat. I also recommend buying in bulk because it tends to be cheaper. You can also go on Craigslist or Freecycle and ask for unwanted, freezer-burned meat. I once got several pounds of chicken breast, beef roast, and pork roast off of Freecycle from a lady who had just turned vegetarian. All for free. Score!

If you have any local raw-feeding co-ops in your area, it is definitely worth checking them out. Most co-ops operate through Yahoo! Groups. There are many online raw suppliers as well, but shipping can get expensive, depending on where you live. Here's a list of some online raw suppliers (there are more, I just don’t remember all of them). Generally, the more you buy, the less you pay for shipping. Many people find that it helps to have an extra freezer to store meat, but it’s definitely not necessary. Meat lasts indefinitely in the freezer (dogs don't care about freezer burn), so it's good to stock up during hunting/holiday season when meat is cheap.

West Coast:

www.greentripe.com
www.crestonvalleymeats.com
www.wholefoods4pets.com
www.rawdietusa.com
www.socalbarf.com

East Coast:

www.hare-today.com
www.prey4pets.com
www.aplaceforpaws.com
www.mypetcarnivore.com

Feeding time

I usually feed Winnie outside or on a towel. Others like to feed inside a crate, in a bathtub, on a piece of tarp, etc. Make sure to take proper precautions when handling raw meat. Dogs can handle raw just fine (their systems were meant to handle bacteria), but humans should still wash their hands and wipe down things appropriately.

My dog has eaten the following meats during her lifetime: beef, pork, chicken, turkey, duck, eggs, salmon, sardines, venison, goat, bison, lamb, and rabbit. Fish (raw or canned) and green tripe make up about 5% of her diet. Organs usually include liver, kidney, and spleen. Raw feeders generally like to make red meat (beef, pork, venison, lamb, etc) at least 50% of the diet. A poultry-based diet (chicken, turkey, duck, quail, etc) can lead to nutrition deficiency. For me, poultry makes up no more than about 25% of her diet, more or less.

Keep in mind that all this variety is not necessary, but you increase the chance of providing the necessary nutrition by feeding different kinds of protein. You DO NOT have to go out of your way to feed your dog filet mignon or prime cuts of steak. Dogs are perfectly happy with freezer-burned meat! (no, seriously). Nor do you have to seek out more expensive, “exotic” meats like goat, bison, etc. Stick with what you can provide (but don’t be cheap and feed only chicken either, because a poultry-based diet will lead to a nutritional deficiency).

Another big piece of advice (which I consider very important) is to know thy dog. Know what your dog is capable of, what he/she can or cannot handle, and his eating habits. No dog will have the same “menu”- each dog is different. For example, I know that Winnie is a very careful chewer when it comes to bones. I am therefore confident in giving her smaller pieces of bone without worry. I also know that she cannot handle most pork bones or any beef bones, so I stick to giving her boneless pork or beef. If your dog is a gulper, stick with big pieces of meat so that he has to gnaw and chew and not swallow the entire thing whole. KNOW THY DOG.

My thoughts

Feeding raw does take more time than dumping kibble into a bowl, but I enjoy watching my dog eat species appropriate food. I love meat shopping for my dog and knowing the fact that she's eating something so healthy and species-appropriate. I know that I’m giving my dog a diet that will significantly improve her quality of life for years to come, and I strongly encourage other dog owners to look into feeding their own dogs a natural diet.

She has sparkling white teeth, a soft and shiny (and non-smelly) coat, a muscled and toned body, good energy, and tiny poop. You probably couldn’t even tell she had environmental allergies (save her scratching). I’m convinced that if she were on a kibble-based diet, her paws would be pink and her coat would be nasty and brittle.

The best part is that she actually LIKES to eat now. She LOVES her meal time like no other! (Although that video on Youtube of Sparky doing his kibble dance might beat Winnie in enthusiasm)

Without a doubt, there are probably many issues, topics, and concerns that I failed to address in this post (either because my fingers or tired or I just forgot to mention something). The raw diet isn’t something to take lightly- it requires you to take the time to do proper research; you can’t just jump straight into it without knowing what is going on. In all honesty, the raw diet does take work in the beginning- the amount of information to retain can seem really daunting. HOWEVER, it is simpler than it seems. As time goes on, it gets a lot easier. Before you know it, you'll be thinking, "Jeez, this stuff is so easy and simple! No wonder nature thought of it" :)

I personally found that Dogster was a wonderful resource for me. The community in Dogster’s Raw Forum helped me enormously when I first started exploring the diet back in 2007. Since then, the “members” of the Raw Forum have increased dramatically in number!

If there was one main resource I would recommend to anyone who is interested in starting the raw diet, it would be this link. The thread was started by a fellow Dogster member, Gio (and his brother Romeo), who compiled MANY raw diet resources into that one thread. It is worth checking all of the links!

And of course, I would be more than happy to answer any personal questions through email. Since I’m currently on summer break from college, I have more than enough time on my hands :)

Happy (M)eating! :)

NOTE: If you're going to talk to your vet about feeding raw, just know that most veterinarians do not condone raw; don't be surprised if your vet is strongly against it. If you want to pursue feeding your dog a raw diet, make sure you have a vet that respects your opinion, even if it may differ from his/hers. There are, of course, some vets that are tolerant of or support raw. If you're lucky, you may have such a vet.

Home sweet home

2009-05-16T16:58:00.011-04:00

I'm finally home! A delayed flight and missed connection later, I'm back in beautiful California. My parents had to go to Vegas for the weekend (business/pleasure trip) the day I came home, so I get the house and car to myself for the entire weekend. Woo!

Winnie started doing zoomies when she saw me last night, it was so cute! She had this look on her face that said, "MOM? Is that you? OMGMOMSHOMELETSPLAY!" Then she proceeded to attack me with kisses.

I drove her to the dog park (read: my old high school's ginormous front lawn) this morning. Lots of running around, peeing, sniffing, and rolling. Good stuff.

Corgi pants

"They see me rollin'"...er...indecent exposure?

Winnie the...cow?

It'll be nice being a lazy bum in my parents' home for the next 2 weeks before I go back to Ithaca and work :)

The end of the beginning? The beginning of the beginning? Er..prologue.

2009-05-14T16:02:00.016-04:00

I'm sitting here in my room, staring miserably at the mess that I have created in an attempt to clean up that mess. I have resorted to writing my first ever blog post. I was going to wait until Friday or Saturday, when I was back home, but procrastination took over.

So...I have officially finished my first year of college! 9 months away from home, away from my parents, and (just as important) away from Winnie. As it stands, there are about 16 hours until I get to see this cute little face again.

"Nom nom nom"

The best part is, she'll be moving to Ithaca to live with me starting this summer! I got a cute little apartment on campus for the school year. Hopefully she'll enjoy Ithaca as much as I [sometimes] do.

I had more room to work with to pack because my roommate moved out yesterday. I basically took over the entire room with all my stuff!

Before

203423 hours later. See how much progress I made? LOL!

It's currently raining outside. Surprise, surprise. I really need to go to the Student Center and buy another packing box. Alas, I'm sitting here...blogging.

1 more day until I'm home. California, here I come!

Confessions of a Corgi

Back to the cold

Totally MIA

CorgiButts contest

AKC Star (sort of...)

Mission Squirrel: SUCCESS

*Grumble*

Miss September

Agility, exams, and flus

Two words

Cornell Companions

Finally an agility dog

And so the year begins

Meet Wally

Don't worry, I'm alive!

A curious encounter

How to keep a Corgi occupied

Edible Winnie's

As summer nears its end..

No longer itching (for the most part)

Bitten by the bug

A whack at grooming

2x2 weaves, Day something

NomFest '09

Because everyone needs a coat during the summer...

Update

Bad weekend

4am

Agility nerd

TGIF

Yay!

Happy 4th!

Routines

Corgi Giveaway

If only...

Farmer's Market

My vacuum sucks...so well!

Wordless..er..Saturday?

Those Corgi nights

A very long day..and a very long blog entry

Hide and Seek

Left Out

Ring Toss

Dog Day

Battle of the Bullystick

TGIF

Wordless Wednesday

We're here!

Checklist

Last Dose

Die Happy

Persimmon Tree

Insert Witty Title Here

Dog Beach Day

Chatty Birds

Trick(y) Thursday

Damp Wind Heat

Winnie the...poop?

Raw, raw, sis boom bah!

Home sweet home

The end of the beginning? The beginning of the beginning? Er..prologue.

Grumble