Archives for July, 2009
My first trip to overseas was to Washington state when I was 16 years old. It was 2 weeks long home stay during Christmas. After that,I decided to major in English not in Music (I got silver medal in piano contest and was on newspaper before), and attended University with English major.
During the 4 year long University life,I visited some of my friends overseas by using summer vacation or Christmas break. I have been to USA, Britain, Holland, France, and Australia. Every time I visited friends in overseas I found something unique,something interesting to look at, or learn their culture.
Food is one of those things. Each country has very unique style of cuisine and flavor. Interesting thing is that I noticed that familiar McDonald offer menu that is served only to particular country.
Lets take a look at Japanese McDonald Menu. They offer regular burger you can eat here in US,but they offer unique menu such as Teriyaki Burger (My husband’s favorite),Ebi Fillet Burger (shrimp burger.My favorite.), Pork burger (pork meat is tenderized, breaded and deep fried), juicy chicken burger (breadcrumb is mixed with red eye pepper).Then,they offer pancake,sweet corns,cinnamon bread, chocolate or strawberry sundae,bacon potato pie etc etc And,they now offer hot dog as breakfast menu (available until 10:30am).
This may sounds funny but whenever we back to Japan to visit my family,we make sure (I mean it!) to go to McDonald and enjoy our favorite burgers that we can eat only when we are there.
When we have craving for our favorite burger, I make one. And you always find our Corgi “Palette” line up behind you.
Ebi burger (Shrimp burger) sounds difficult/complicated to make,but it actually is very easy. It just that you need enough raw shrimps. Here is how you make it. With one pound of raw shrimp used,I usually end up 4 -6 burger patties.
Shrimp burger..
Ingredients for the Shrimp burger;
1/3 lb raw shrimp peeled, devined, and chopped to 1/4″ chunk
2/3lb raw shrimp peeled and devined
2 tbs potato starch
pinch of salt
pinch of ground black pepper
1 tbs horseradish mustard
1 tbs mayonnaise
flour
1 -2 egg lightly beaten
panko breadcrumb
vegetable oil
1. chop 1/3 lb of raw shrimp to 1/4 inch bits
2. add 2/3 lb of raw shrimp into food processor and make shrimp paste
3. add <1><2> into the bowl,and add in 2tbs of potato starch
** If you did not have potato starch,you can use corn starch
4. sprinkle salt,pepper,and add 1 tbs Deli mustard (I like the one with horseradish in it) and 1tbs Mayo and mix very good
5. shape to round,about 1/4 thickness or so and put them into flour bowl,shake excess off
6.dip the shrimp burger to beaten egg,then put them into bowl of Panko breadcrumb
7. shake excess off from the burger and fry them to golden
After that,you can build your own shrimp burger with your favorite condiment.
You may find that it is difficult to handle ebi burger to shape.It is a little delicate than regular ground beef burger patties.
Normally,I do shallow frying the Ebi burger.
What is shallow frying?
I usually use wide open,a little deep sided skillet, put vegetable oil about quarter inch or so. Then, fry burger on skillet and flip it over til golden.I do shallow frying for things that is hard to handle shaping.
Pork burger (katsu burger) is easy too. What I normally use is boneless pork chop make them to thinner by pounding with meat mallet.If you did not have meat mallet,use the back of knife to pound.It works. This is something my mother taught me.
After pork chop is thinner,cut to your desired size and salt,pepper,flour them,dip into beaten egg,roll them around in panko breadcrumb and shake excess off and deep fry them.
My personal favorite as sauce to pork burger is mixture of ketchup and Worcester sauce.That is it. Just mix them in measuring cup and smear them on crispy deep fried pork (Katsu)
When you have left over shrimp burger or pork burger,what my mother used to do was making sandwich out of it.
Prepare normal white bread,smear potato salad (mashed potato salad,not chunky potato salad),then smear ketchup and put lettuce,tomato,ebi burger or katsu burger and top it off with another piece of bread. It is good.
If the burger got soggy,you can crisp up in toaster oven.
Teriyaki burger is you make plain hamburger, and you dip burger in teriyaki sauce,place it on burger bun,put more sauce,and top it off with burger bun.
Teriyaki burger..
Teriyaki sauce is easy to make as well.
Ingredients for the teriyaki burger patties;
8 oz ground beef 80-20
pinch of kosher salt
pinch of ground black pepper
Ingredients for the teriyaki burger sauce;
4 tbs mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
4 tbs white sugar
3 tbs soy sauce
2 tsp corn starch
4 tsp water
1. In the small bowl, mix ground beef,kosher salt,ground pepper
2. On the clean plate, place the biscuit cutter 3″, and pack the cutter with ground beef mixture to make about 1″ thick burger pattie
** I use biscuit cutter to make equal round shape
3. take the cutter out and shape tightly,and make a dent in the center so it would cook flat in stead of puffing it up
4. In the skillet, drizzle extra virgin olive oil and wait till it gets screaming hot
** You should start seeing the steam coming off from the skillet when the pan is ready to cook the burger
5. Place the 1″ thick burger pattie and let it cook for 4 minutes
** Do not touch,or press them with spatula
6. Flip the burger and cook for another 4-5 minutes till the internal temperature reach to 165F
7. Take the patties out and, coat the burger with teriyaki sauce (Recipe follows) and put the pattie on the bun, pour additional teriyaki sauce if you like, and sprinkle toasted sesame seed
8. Serve
** I personally prefer to have it with lettuce and slice of tomato etc..
<Teriyaki sauce>
In the sauce pan, mix4 tbs mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine),4 tbs white sugar, 3 tbs soy sauce and let the sugar dissolve
2. When sugar is dissolved, add mixture of 2 tsp corn starch and 4 tsp water to thicken
3. When thicken, turn off the heat
4. Done
You can also use teriyaki sauce for your stir-fry,grilled chicken,grilled beef,grilled fish,and other seafood like scallops etc..
Meat,vegetable with teriyaki sauce over cooked white rice tastes very good and easy to make.
If you go with a little elegant style,you can cook your favorite white meat fish with salt,pepper then you can pour teriyaki sauce on top.You can make your own meatball and you can cook it with teriyaki sauce. It is very versatile sauce.
This entry makes me craving for shrimp burger.Maybe I will make shrimp burger this week.
I am sure our dog “Palette” will be all over me,stalk me everywhere so as not to miss any dropped burger bits if we did.
Do you have any unique burger recipes you can share?
Jul 31, 2009 | | Asian cooking 911
Have you realized most of common dog behavior problems you would like to stop or curb them are natural canine behaviors or something we kept reinforcing the behavior without any intention?
Barking can become problems for you if your dogs constantly barking,and as I have written on “why dog barks “previously,barking is natural way of communication of dogs. And in case stranger came to your turf, you do not want to stop their barking completely.You want a couple of alert bark for you to notice. Not all barking is bad.They need to communicate with us too. They growl, bark, whine,howl.. Everything has its meaning behind it.We just need to learn the Dogs.
Chewing can also become a big problems if they love chewing your expensive shoes or other inedible stuff in your house.Chewing is also natural behavior of dogs.They need to chew. And if they were puppy, teething time comes. They need to chew to ease the pain. If dogs were grown-ups, still having chewing problems, then you need to see why they are chewing things and, teach them what is allowed to chew.
Jumping up on people is also common dog behavior problems especially if your dogs were big dogs. They can push a little kids pretty hard by jumping up to them. But again, jumping up is their way of showing excitement or greeting.
Digging in the yard, making huge holes to sniff or bury is also natural behavior of dogs. It just not something we human would appreciate it if they dug in beautiful flower garden or vegetable garden.
Stealing socks or any other stuff and run off can be another problems you like to stop, but rewind the time when your dog stole something from you and runoff, what did you do? Did you chase after them? Chasing is pretty fun activity for dogs and, if you were chasing the dog with stolen items in their mouth, chances are, you were reinforcing the behavior without you noticing it.
Begging is another problem you could be reinforcing the behavior if you gave your dogs something off the table every time they give you puppy eyes.Dogs do what worked for them and if something worked for their favor,they would keep doing it.Ignore puppy eyes,don’t talk to them or look at them.They would give up.
There are some more things in the list but,my point was that some of the behavior problems are often dog’s natural behavior or something you kept reinforcing them without noticing it.
So,what can we do about it?
I think many of the behavior problems such as chewing,barking,digging etc can be helped largely by
1.taking your dogs for long walks
2.play balls or Frisbee in the yard
3.play hide and seek inside or outside the house
4.daily training at home -should be short one
5.agility class-dog goes through many obstacles;jumping poles,weave poles,tunnels etc and,it helps building confidence and it can become good outlet for pent-up energy
These are basically mental/physical exercise.Exercise is very good for making bond with your dogs stronger as well.Adding to this list,you can add some more of mental/physical exercise.
**Find it game inside house-this is nice mental exercise.Palette enjoy this game a lot.
**buster cube (treat/kibble dispenser)-you can make your own interactive toy with cereal box (watch Palette enjoys homemade interactive toy here. Very bottom video in the entry is my homemade interactive toy made with cereal box.)
**raw feeding diet – ripping,tearing,chewing edible bones are great way for mental/physical exercise. Raw feeding diet gives plenty of opportunity to chew/eat the bones in addition to mental/physical exercise.Read more on raw feeding diet here.
Adding to these mental/physical exercise list,you can try some other things to help curb specific problems.
With barking,you want to listen what they say. Barking has its meaning behind it. Could be delivery guy,trash truck,tress passing people in your yards,potty call,fear,boredom,unfamiliar noise,attention seeking..
I prefer to allow my dog a couple of barks.I usually go to her and look what she is barking at,then I say “Enough” and get her attention by blocking her view and she usually sit nicely,no barking. So,when she stopped barking,I click the clicker,give her small tiny treats saying”Thank you”.
You can also teach your dog to bark on cue (speak)and teach your dog to be “quiet” on cue. If your dog were quite barker and you cannot get their attention while they are barking,you can teach them”Speak”&”quiet”. Anytime you find your dog starts barking, you click the clicker,give them a small teats.You then say “Speak”,click and give treats. Next step,ignore your dog barking until they stop barking or interrupt the barking to stop such as blocking the view.And as soon as dog stop barking,click the clicker give them a treats saying”quiet”.You can repeat this many times.But before click for speak/quiet on cue,you need to let your dogs know that clicking sound equal to yummy treats coming.
So,if your dogs were new to clicker,just simply click when your dog looks at you(give attention) and give them a small treats.Repeat it many times.This practice let dogs associate clicker sound with yummy treats and clicker becomes very effective tool.Don’t use dog biscuits or snack type treats that dogs cannot swallow for rewards.Use something you can break into small pieces either by hands or by scissor.You can read more on clicker training entry titled”Clicker is your friends” here.
Some people suggest to scold your dogs when not stop barking or spritz water to their face.I oppose to this idea because I feel it is aversive. What it does is that you tell your dog if dog misbehave something, uncomfortable/bad thing happens. This is not right.You should be teaching them what they should do, NOT what they should not do. I do not like the tool that gives off citrus scent when they bark either. I do not like shock collar that gives zaps when dogs do something not supposed to do,either.
With chewing problems, if your dogs were at teething period,you can do a couple of things. Our vet told us to give Palette ice cube to nibbles on to ease the pain. Cold temperature numb the gum and it helps teething pain.Also,he suggested to give Palette frozen water soaked cloth. Just put cloth in water,squeeze a little water out and put it in the freezer.Then,give it to chew on.Coldness again helps to numb the gum and helps pain. If you like variety for this method,you could make variety of flavored ice cubes by homemade broth.
Here is homemade broth for Palette I used to make. Store bought chicken or beef broth usually
contains additives called “yeast extract” (MSG) even if the broth container says it is all natural and organic.
So,what I did was just pour water in sauce pan,drop lamb rib bone (You can drop beef rib bones if your dog likes beef best),heat it up and take bone out for trash (Do NOT feed cooked bone.It is hard,brittle,splinter sharp and indigestible).Then, pour the liquid into plastic container and put it in fridge
when cool. Next morning,get rid of fat you can find on top.There you have your homemade broth! So,you can vary the flavor by putting many kinds of rib bones in water and can make unique broth for your dogs. You can then make ice cube out of it.Too much fat can cause digestive upset and, too many of these flavored ice cube may not be a good ideas.Maybe occasional jackpot?
If dogs with chewing problems were all grown-ups,then,you need to review their daily activity,and if necessary, teach them what is allowed to chew on.It could be from boredom or maybe they just don’t know what are ok to chew on,or maybe by attention seeking if they kept getting attention even if negative ones,or maybe by separation anxiety.
Adding to physical/mental exercise list above,here are some things you can do.Pickup everything that are on floor they can mouth on. Doggy-proof the house.Then,provide chews that they can chew on. Giving chew is not the ultimate solution for any behavior problems.Mental/physical exercise comes first,and chews are just supplemental thing to help them.
Bully sticks are good,dogs love them, but it just last 30min or so entertainment for my 33lb Corgi. So, I tend to give those for big jackpot in training occasionally as reward of “Find it game” (I hide her toy in the house while she is sit-stay at one spot,then,she goes look for toys.This is a little up level game for her, but she gets jackpot treat after this.She gets very excited) .
What are on floor for her to chew at our house is Deer Antlers.This is basically deer horn,if you will. No refrigeration necessary.It is naturally shed and collected.Our Deer Antlers comes with different color,thickness,length,shapes and it provides variety even if you got two Antlers. Occasionally,we gets all straight Antlers in stock, but if there were different shapes,we include different shaped Antlers for order.
What is good about it is that,it lasts pretty long. Guess how long my dog is on the same Antler?
She is chewing on the same L size Antler for 1.5 year plus. By chewing,it grinds down and it does not splinter and it gives natural minerals etc and I like it better than any other chew for long lasting chew.Palette spends 2 times a day,15 minutes session. It worth the cost for chew.Supervise while they are chewing it though. You can read more on Deer Antlers for long lasting chew here. Or, you can read taste test entry on Antlers with titled “Palette’s note: D
eer Antlers”
This is also important to remind yourself not to play with your socks or anything you don’t want to be chewed on with your dogs. If you played with socks,you are sending mixed confusing messages to your dogs.And I do not buy squeaky toys that is similar shaped to slippers or shoes.It will be confusing for dogs.The would think why same shaped items are sometimes not allowed,sometimes ok to chew on.
Other than Antlers,we have toy box. It is full of toys for Palette. She never gets to pick what she wants from the box.It has lid on them so she can’t open by herself. What I do is put out 4-5 toys for Palette to play with and rotate it next week. So,for her,there are some toys on floor that are different from week to week. It is good way to keep their interests in their toys. If you leave the house,probably letting them rest in their crate will be better because you can’t supervise them when they play with their toys. If you prefer to let them be at home outside the crate,you may want to pick up toys such as squeaky toys that could be de-stuffed and ingested.Then,instead,give them kong for them or take them to doggy daycare.They can look after your dogs while you cannot be home for long period of times and dogs get to play and energy out with their doggy friends.This would help when dogs chew things due to separation anxiety too.
If dogs were chewing things due to attention seeking,then,making time to play with them a lot,petting them a lot or take time to do something with them would help curb the behavior.If the dogs chewed shoes to get your attention, even negative response from you is in their favor.Suppose dog chewed shoe one hour ago and,you come in and get mad at them,but dogs would not see why you are mad.You need to catch them in the act to let them know,but you should be calm,not mad.Just like when you do potty training.If you caught them in the act,get their attention and give them appropriate chew item and when they take the item chew on it,praise them big.
With jumping up to people problem,you can practice a lot at home. As soon as dog start jumping up to you,show them back,ignore the jumping then, when4 paws are on floor,lower yourself and give them a treat. Dogs try jumping up to you because they are happy to see you,but if that did not get your attention,they get bored and calm down.
Jumping up usually happen when you come home.Dogs are happy,excited,they want to greet you. You can do just ignore the jumping,stepping inside the house,no eye contact with your dog. Simply ignore them completely.Don’t talk to them.Talking to them makes them more excited. When you see them calm down,looking up at you with 4 paws on floor,praise them.Then,you sit on floor,offer petting time.
With digging problem,you can offer place where they are allowed to dig. You can make digging space by putting sand in wooden box. It is more fun if you got jackpot treats in it.Every time you find them digging the place they are allowed to dig,you can praise them.
If you think you have dogs that have behavior problems,review yourself first. You can be sending confusing message to them,or maybe you may be reinforcing the bad behavior without your knowledge.Maybe you are not taking them for a walk good enough.Maybe you are not providing enough mental/physical exercise.
Then,if necessary, teach them what they need to do with clicker. Make the training short and fun.Always finish the training after they succeeded.I myself finish Palette’s training session with her favorite”find it” game. I like watching her trotting around house with her nose up in the air,down on the ground with excitement. Let them earn the treat. Palette does not get “FREE” treats.She needs to earn it by herself.You can watch my Corgi “Palette” play “Find it” game here.
Don’t give them one biscuits per behavior or other unbreakable treats per good behavior.That is too much treats.It adds up kcal.Give them lots of small tiny lentil size treats (cubed lung treats or any other Jerky type,dehydrated treats that you can break up into small pieces) as rewards. Rewards does not have to be food/treats.It can be by pat on the head,scratch around chest,tug of war.. anything dog loves. After all,you would not be carrying treats all the time.
Key of good training Palette has taught me is to be patient,be consistent,be calm. Look at the world through a dog’s point of view.
** Please note that I am not a dog trainer.**
Jul 29, 2009 | | Dog Training
In the past,I visited Britain one time. It was such a long flight. I flew from Tokyo,Japan to London,UK,and it was non-stop flight and took about 14 hours or so. I felt like I was in the plane forever.. In the trip to Britain,I also visited other friends that lived near Manchester,UK. It was 2 week long trip.
I liked Britain a lot for beautiful parks,Buckingham palace, and nice buildings in the city,and very tasty British tea… I still remember I bought nice wooden box that had British tea bags from department store called “Harrods”.
I did not realize up to today,but Japanese mailing system was set up after Britain has set up theirs. Therefore, Britain’s mail box is red pillar box and Japanese mail box is also red,and we have pillar box as well. You can see pillar box in Britain here.
Some of the mail box in Japan is rectangle shaped red mail box. According to wikipedia (Japanese), Japanese pillar box nowadays is more colorful in particular city to make the characteristic of city stands out. For example,one city is famous for maccha (green tea),and their mail box is light green color. Kobe’s mail box is light blue color from ocean.And one area of Tokyo has sister city in US; Portland,OR,USA and so they built American style blue mail box in the city to cerebrate 10th anniversary for the relationship.In France,mail box is yellow.You can see the picture of those on Wikipedia (Japanese).
So,how did Britain come up with mail box?
According to anthonytrollope.com, a man named “Anthony Trollope” introduced the idea of mail box in 1854. The box was originally sage color but it was painted in red in 1874.
Did you know that Britain was first country that set up the mailing system?
BBC reports that it was Sir Rowland Hill that introduced the mailing system to Britain.He has introduced penny per half ounce of mail if delivered within UK.
Also,if you look Britain mail box very closely,you may find “VR”,”ER II”,”ER VII”,”GR” etc. What are they?? It is a symbol of King or Queen that was reigning the country on that particular time of the period.You can read anatomy of the mail box in Britain here.
In Japan,when you mail your stuff,you either drop them into public mail box or visit post office. Each house does have mail box to receive their mail box. It is usually small box with flip top that is large enough to slide mail in to the box.
This is one of another culture shock story for me or my family here in the states. Here in US,you can write letters and put it in your own mail box outside flag up, and mailman comes and pick them up to mail for you! It never happens in Japan. My parents were wowed to find out we do not need to go to post office to mail small letters that fits into our mail box to mail.
In Japan, mailman ride motorbike with mail in the mail container on its back. They don’t use cars. Maybe because motorbike is much convenient to ride through narrow street etc. America’s roads are very wide spread and spacey. I always feel Japanese roads are narrow and crowded when we back to Japan to visit my family.
If you have a chance to visit Britain and Japan, take closer look to mail box in 2 countries. You would find it interesting to look at.
Jul 27, 2009 | | Uncategorized
Hi! It’s Palette(@yassysgdk via twitter).We all know that we are pretty good at training our human. They sometimes do not recognize they are being trained by us. It is our secret tactic.
We asked all of our paw-pals “What did you train your human for?” and it is interesting to read how we training our humans. Maybe we can learn something from them.
I train my mom to keep petting non stop.She has magic hands and within 3 seconds,I get sleepy and yawn. Then,she stops so I change position for her to be able to give me massage again.I give her the look that says “Hey,why did you stop? Is this better?” and she starts petting me again.
TV time is good time for being pet by human because they sits on couch and be there so you can beg for petting forever.I position myself very close to her hinting her I want her to pet me and give her puppy eyes and she pets me good.When she stops,I groan and position myself differently and get ultimate tummy rub from her.I am embarrassed to be seen me on her back with my tongue hanging out,panting hard with Corgi smile but I really love getting attention from her and being pet. See if you can train your mom to do the same. As for my dad, I trained him to leave his last bite of his dinner for me to taste test.Puppy eye stares with good solid lady-like sit works pretty good. Jumping up never works. Solid sit-stay is better. From my experience,getting nibble is much easier with my dad than mom. I rarely try my mom because I know she is hard one to through.
Also,I trained my human to shout out “Who’s there?” every time I go hide.I won’t come if nobody ask me that secret question! I can show you how I go hide. This is MY hide & seek game! It is fun! Try it! This clip is from my training.If you are a blog subscriber or reading from facebook,please click here to watch the video.
Bellow are replies from my paw-pals.Lets learn how to train our human together!
@PepeCockapoo(via twitter) said
“ I have trained my mom to give me fresh cold filtered water from the fridge. I don’t like stale water! Ick!”
I am not sure if I successfully trained my mom but,I know that my water bottle is always in fridge.So,I get cold water all the time. I like cold water a lot especially after walk or play with my human.Oh,I got my own freezer too. All yummy inside.It is 16 cubic foot freezer so,big enough treasure box for Corgi like me!
@WinnieDFluffy (via twitter) said
“ I trained my people that when I ‘grrrrrrr’ & show my teeth to put me in the bathtub where its quiet & cool.”
I like cool place! I spend lots of time on my cool bed. It is one of my must-have items.Pretty nice bed,and I hug the bed. If I train my human to get me in the tub when I show my teeth,they would enjoy it.Why? In our house,bathtub is for butt-wash after I mess my long fluffy pants or bathing time. I rather need to train my human to get me out from the tub,lol.
@pinkandsion (via twitter) said
“We have trained my human to have them wrapped around our little paws,every time we cry,they come running”
My whining sometimes works to get attention from them.We can train our human to come open the crate door every time we whine and we get petting at middle of the night. When human put us back in the crate,try whine again.Chances are,they come.Sometimes,it gets ignored and fail but it gets attention.
@DiverDogg (via twitter) said
“I train my human to do my work. I like being in the office but I prefer to nap. She does all the hard stuff, I get all the glory.”
My human does all hard stuff for me and,I too get to nap on cool bed a lot. But I like having my chore so,I help my human a little.
My chore includes <1>go get walkie leash
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from facebook,please click here to watch the video.
Mom gave me goat lung treats nibble for this chore. It is yummy! I cannot hide how excited I get. You can see this treat at my mom’s store here.
<2>being a company for my mom when she fold laundry and,I close door after her.If you are a blog subscriber or reading from facebook,please click here to watch the video.
I can lend my paws for her,she got handful!
<3>Then, last one is to let everyone in the family know that dinner is ready.I bark 2-3 times following ringing the bell.Sometimes,they come to table right away but sometimes,evil PC game stop him coming to table soon and I get cranky.I hit the bell hard,bark louder telling him dinner gets cold! Too bad I have no video to show for this one.I have to ask my mom to cook dinner and let me perform my chore for you. Maybe next time!
@grouchypuppy (via twitter) said
“After three years of extensive work, I have trained my humans to love my grouchy nature. And how did I do that? I wrapped it up within some sweet stuff. For example: when I bark so loud they think their ears will bleed, after the bark I will race over to their side and sit straight up while leaning heavily against them, like an earnest soldier. They quickly forget how mad they were at how loudly I had just been barking – often at nothing.
Another trick I have is when I do a “drive by” on their nice clothes or the bedding – they don’t get mad anymore! They think the heavy leaning and rubbing of my fur against them is sweet and endearing when in reality I just left a wide swath of visible hair all over them because I wanted to leave my mark on top. Ha!
And then there is the digging in the yard. They think it is funny to watch me excitedly dig after I poop. They stopped thinking about the hole and any plants that I ruined or damaged. That was magic and I am still not sure how I got them to stop being mad.“
Lol. We can learn a lot from your tricks.I may borrow some of your tricks to see if they work for my human.
The gang at Perry’s Shepherds (via Facebook) said
We all have our dad well trained, he will give us treats of whatever heis eating if we just give him that “I’m hungry look”. Mom doesn’t seemto get this one she tells us to go away while she is eating.
I think trying out mom is lesser chance than trying out dad.I think dad is easier to through. They can’t resist our cute puppy eyes!!
There you have it! If you did not get your tricks on “how to train your human” in time for this entry,you can use the comment form to send in your training tips. We like to share tips.
Here is a question for you.
Mom and Dad,which one is easier to get your way? I vote for dad but what about you??
-Palette-
Jul 25, 2009 | | Uncategorized
I have been living in the states for 7 years. Very first year in the states was with some culture shock. Japanese culture is a little bit westernized but still,some things were very new or sounded strange to me.
One of the things is gift-giving custom. In Japan, gift giving is common thing in personal or business life.
In mid July,people give gift to people they know and they were taken good care of or to supervisors at company,relatives.. This custom is called “o chu- gen”. Usually people give gifts like assortment of beer,ham,summer drinks, deserts,cookies,coffee… if you receive one,you will give “O chu- gen” gifts to people who gave gifts to you too.
Then, at the end of each year,gift giving custom again called “O se i bo”. It is a custom to give gifts to those who helped one’s life and gift giving usually done around mid December.
Kids gets Otoshidama (small envelope with some money in it) on New years day. This custom is,I think, can be considered part of gift giving custom in Japan.
So, our family received some gifts from people in summer and in winter,and we kids were very excited to find out what we have got.
Gift giving is way to show appreciation to others who helped you. When we visited my family in Japan,our dog “Palette” stayed at kennel in the states and,when we were in Japan,we tripped to western part of Japan (Nara,Kyoto,Kobe etc) and I got some gifts for kennel owner. For me, showing appreciation to someone that helped you was natural but, it was a little awkward when we went pick Palette up. I know,for her,it was business to take care of Palette and she gets paid.Kennel owner was surprised, but she was happy for unexpected gift from Japan.
It is also custom to bring gift to place where you visit for the first time. For example, if you were a business man and visit partner company on your business trip,chances are,you will be bringing small gift to them as custom. I usually bring gift to my new work places too. However,it was a little awkward moment when I did so here in the states although the company was Japanese company based in the states. I baked lemon curd bars and brought it to head office. I got surprise faces from everyone although they were hit among them. You will also bring small gifts to visit parents of your daughter’s husband etc.
On the talk of gifts,one of the thing that shocked me most was Christmas gifts giving custom here in the states. In Japan, kids write letters to Santa’s and make wish list for him,but not so among adults. Say you have a boyfriend,and Christmas came around the corner.You would not ask him what he wants or you would not ask for wish list from him. You will come up with something that makes him smile and give the gifts as surprise gift.And you get surprise Christmas gifts from him too.
Therefore,when I was asked to come up with my wish list for Christmas,it was a little strange.
Gift giving in Japan is without wish list in general and, come with surprises. You can pick what other people would find it great from wide range of choices.However,some of the items are considered not appropriate to give.
For example, flowers are beautiful and pretty and brighten up the hospital rooms.But you are not supposed to bring in the potted flowers in Japan to hospital patients. It is a little bit from superstition.People believe that potted plants for patients at hospital encourage the sickness.
Surprise presents or expected presents,which do you prefer??
Jul 23, 2009 | | Uncategorized
In ” Raw feeding 911 Part I“,I covered basic stuff in raw feeding. Let’s look more in detail.
In the previous entry titled ” Raw feeding 911 Part I“, I wrote that you will feed meat,bone,organ as base and as addition to those,you will feed fish/Egg/Green Tripe.
I also wrote what bones are to be avoided,but you maybe wondering what cuts of meat,what type of bones you can feed to your furry friends.
For those in wonder,I listed up what I feed to Palette below.
Cheek,Gullet,Tripe in red meat category shows “Only Beef”, just because I do not have access to raw materials of those from other animals.
<Red meat 4 legged animal such as beef,lamb pork>
Boneless meat (steak), Heart, Tongue, Cheek (only beef),Gullet (only beef), Ribs, liver, kidney,Tripe (only beef)
** Ribs from Beef/Buffalo are edible for some dogs like ours, but for some dogs,they are inedible.
I found out that Palette could eat flatten,thinner,beef short rib bones.When I feed beef ribs, it is always be short ribs. They are much more meatier than beef back ribs.
To decide what bones are edible,inedible,you can just feed it and wait for 10-15minutes to see if your dogs make any dent to it.
If they could not make any dent to it,then,you can consider it as inedible and take the bone away after the meat gets off the bone.
That is how I decide edible/inedible bones for Palette.
Palette can eat short rib bones from Beef/Buffalo, but cannot make any dent to oxtail bone so,I take the tail bone away.
** Stay away from canned Tripe.You would think ingredient is just Tripe, but look closer,they do add garlic,vegetable gums (thickener) etc,and they are pressure cooked. Some contains fish body oil in it. Fish body oil is good addition to bump up the omega 3 fatty acids level on its own but they are fragile oil and,they are very sensitive to light,heat,and air.
Therefore, I wonder the state of fish body oil after it has being pressure cooked in a can.
Because of all the popularity of omega 3 fatty acids or fish body oil, many companies love to add those stuff in their products but, are they really effective as they claim to be even after applied heat etc??
If you like to bump up the omega 3 fatty acids, I would recommend to start adding oily cold water fish such as mackerel,salmon,sardine,and herring via form of foods,or feed grass-fed meat more, or supplement their diet via fish body oil supplement.
<Poultry>
I simply get a whole poultry,then cut along the spine to make the whole bird into 2 pieces. Then, from there, I do portion cut them, and feed through.
Necks (Turkey neck,Duck neck etc)
Feet (Chicken feet,Duck feet,Pheasant feet)
Heart,liver,gizzard
<fish>
I rotate omega 3 rich fish such as Sardine,Mackerel,Salmon,Herring over 1 month.
Then,since Palette is seafood-lover,I feed fish fillet on one other day’s breakfast in addition to oily fish meal days.
I feed oily fish 2 times a week as dinner or breakfast.
The non omega3 rich fish (fish for the variety) is usually the fish that looked good on the fish counter on that day,and I do not have any particular kind of fish to keep in stock
**I do not feed tilapia because she makes very bright matcha color (very bright green) puddle poop with raw Tilapia,and if it were cooked,she vomits. Also,I do not feed Catfish just because she is not into eating it but,she is interested in roll on it.
**Fish fillet I have fed to Palette are…
Flounder,cod,whiting,Mahi Mahi, snapper, haddock, scallop, shrimp, clam, squid, perch, shark, rock fish, Halibut,sword fish,orange roughly,blue fish,monk fish,grouper,wahoo etc etc
**For shrimp,squid,clam are fed just tiny bit along with other fish because #1 expensive, and I buy on sale for human and give some to Palette occasionally ,#2 exclusive shrimp gives her diarrhea
**IF you feed squid like I do,take the cartilage of the squid,wash off the ink and feed it.
** You can feed canned fish.I prefer to feed fish not in the can because of the salt added in the water. The salt in the canned fish is not as high as salt in kibble,but I prefer to feed as natural/fresh as possible
Feeding wild caught fresh salmon,trout,steelhead and other salmonids from Pacific Northwest..
When you feed wild caught salmon, trout,steelhead and other salmonids fish, there is one thing you should know about and be careful about how you feed them to your dogs.
** If you got wild-caught FRESH salmon or trout or steelhead from Pacific Northwest,you need to freeze them for a few weeks before feeding them to avoid salmon poisoning.
Cooking the fresh wild caught salmon/trout/steelhead from Pacific Northwestwill kill the parasite that can cause salmon poisoning, and you do not have to worry about salmon poisoning from fresh wild caught salmon from Pacific Northwest.
I personally do not buy farm raised salmon because fish eat red dye fish feed to make the fish meat redder than it actually is,and I prefer wild caught over farm-raised from nutrition point of view.
<Miscellaneous>
Frog leg
**You can find this in freezer section right next to fish counter at local super market.
I do not buy poultry parts by parts,just because if you do buy chicken backs in case,yes,the price may be cheaper than getting a whole poultry but you need to add extra meat to it to make it to meaty meal.
Therefore,it end up paying more to get the boneless meat to add to bony parts meal item.I personally prefer to buy a whole birds when I feed poultry
After Palette got used to this new type of feeding,I started feeding big meal once a month.
That day,I tend to feed very big hunk of meat such as Goat leg,emu leg etc.It probably weigh around 3-6lb.I just put it down for her and she wrestle with it.
She is stubby and 14″ tall,so when she lift the meat up or try to flip it over,it is a little hard for her:too heavy, and,she sometimes get wobbly,but it is very entertaining to see how she eats. She puts paw on the big meat,and rip/tear/chew/gnaw the big meat meal.
When we first started raw feeding with big meal day in the menu plan, she used mouth only,and if the meat came close to her,she jumps/lifts her paw up to avoid touching to the meat.However,as she gets used to the diet more,she started using more paws on to the meat.
Anyway,weekly menu item is different all the time but,basic formula for Palette’s weekly menu is like this.
1.5 day worth poultry,4 days worth red meat,and 1.5 day worth fish with added Egg,Tripe,Organs to such menu
Example will be …here is what Palette had ate one week in the past.
Please do not try this at home if you were new to raw feeding.
After introducing each single item one at a time to your dogs,and if they did good on those,then,later on,you can feed like I do.
Sunday: Lamb heart,chicken gizzard,Green Tripe,Mackerel,1 Frog leg
Monday:Boneless Lamb,chicken heart,tripe,Mackerel,chicken feet
Tuesday:Lamb Tongue,Boneless Lamb,chicken liver,1 Egg,Chicken
Wednesday:Boneless Lamb,Turkey heart,1 Egg,Chicken
Thursday: lamb Tongue,Boneless Lamb,Goat liver,Turkey
Friday: Flounder,Buffalo liver/Buffalo kidney,Lamb neck,Boneless Lamb
Saturday: Pork heart,Ostrich liver,Boneless Lamb,Lamb ribs
Vegetable or no vegetables in the diet..
Now you know how I feed. However, you may think “Wait,where is Veggie? Kibble has veggie in it??”
If you were wondering about vegetables,compare your teeth to your dog’s teeth. Are they same structure?? No,it is not.
Teeth has its shape according to its function. Our teeth is all flat not pointy,just because we need to grind food to be able to digest them well. Our digestion starts in our mouth.
On the other hand, dog teeth is pointy because it is there to rip and tear food.Then,you would see your dog does not chew zillions of times like you would.It is because they do not need to.Their digestion does not start in the mouth but in their stomach.Their stomach acid is strong.
Have you let your dog eat corn kernels ??
They seem to like it,but try poop patrol after you try these. You know what shape the corn went in to your dog’s mouth. Can you see how it came out?? You should be able to find yellow corn in their poop pretty easily.The corn went in as it came out.Thus,it is not digested very good.
Have you tried feeding pumpkin? Next day,you would find very pasty orange fiberish stuff in their poop as it went in.
Therefore,you can conclude this as they cannot digest the vegetable as good as they can with meat.
Homemade feeders do use pumpkins or other vegetables in the meal. They get 80lb of sweet potatoes,peel them taking hours,mush them good …why do they do that?
It is because dogs cannot break the vegetable cell “cellulose” by themselves,so,you need to cook them,puree them for dogs to be able to digesting them better.
I think that feeding vegetable is okay if that vegetable part would not take big space as meal,and if it were treat amount.
Know vegetables you feed to your dogs..
Vegetables are very interesting food because,it has good and bad.
If you had Arthritis dogs,you would be better to avoid night shade family vegetable such as tomato,potato,eggplant,green peppers etc because those would aggravate the inflammation.
Also,you maybe have heard broccoli for dogs to anti-cancer but feeding lots of broccoli or well,cabbage family veggie,kale,or spinach are not good because it decrease the thyroid function.
For Dalmatians dogs,asparagus is not good because it has high purine in it and it makes easy for dogs to make crystals. oh,and spinach also interfere absorption of calcium so,it is not good on that part too.
So,if you were not sure good and bad on each veggies,I would think it is wiser not to feed veggies with amount that dominates the diet menu.
On the talk of vegetable,people might come across to read about kelp. I think that most kibble bag has it as ingredient.
Kelp offer iodine:aka salt. With raw feeding, we do not sprinkle table salt at all,but meat itself offer tiny bit of iodine naturally already,and dog gets tiny bit of salt from food.So, I do not think you need to add extra iodine supplement at all.
Other then Veggies,I wrote I feed Egg. I feed 2 Eggs per week for Palette, 31lb.
I feed Egglands’ best Egg Cage free Egg. I feel that they taste better and,Palette loves them so much.
If you were feeding Eggs in the diet,and your dogs’ diet contains bones,you do not need to feed Eggshell for your dog.
Eggshell is good for calcium but you already got that part covered with the bone in the diet already. BUT if dogs loved to eat them,let them eat it.
I sometimes feed Egg with shell on (I usually crack Egg and pour to doggy bowl) but,when I give an Egg to Palette,she gingerly try break the shell in the middle and eat an Egg making the shell hole like cradles.It is so cute!
IF for any reasons,dogs could not have bone in the meal,then,wash the Egg shell,dry them well,grind it with coffee grinder.Then,give 1/2tsp of Eggshell per pound of food served.
In the previous entry,I did not write about this,but with raw feeding,many people supplement dogs with Fish body oil.
Fish body oil is good for skin,coat and be used for boosting up the omega3 in dog’s diet. Supplementing with this is pretty good if your dog’s diet was heavy on poultry which usually have pretty high omega6 in it.
Guideline for fish body oil is that,give 1000mg capsule per 20-30lb body weight.
I personally go with 1 capsules (1000mg) per 30lb body weight just because Palette’s menu tend to be higher omega3 and,she gets quite a lot from food so,I go with lower guideline.
It is believed that the good ratio of Omega3 fatty acids : Omega 6 fatty acids is 1:4 (4 being omega6). With my way of feeding;1.5 day worth poultry,1.5 day worth fish,4 day worth fish,it tends to be having close to flipping the omega number and making Omega3 being higher than Omega6 if I give fish body oil daily.
Therefore, I do not try to be exact on ratio number but,I make sure I get higher omega6,lower omega3 and,I decide how much omega3 I would give to Palette each week.
Depending on her menu, I give none,sometimes I give daily,sometimes just 2-3 days.It depends.
For example,this week,she had/has Emu,pork,chicken heart,tripe,chicken liver,Turkey heart,pork boneless,pork tongue,pork liver,pork kidney,pork heart,Beef liver,beef kidney,Elk liver,salmon,frog leg,pheasant feet.
I did not give Egg this week because she had huge meal this week.And omega3 from food is roughly 6640mg,omega6 is 8439mg.So,you can see what I mean?
This week,I just give 1 fish body oil capsules to Palette.Especially when I feed Mackerel,along with poultry,red meat etc,I tend to see 8000mg omega3 already from food for her.It is about 8 capsule worth amount.
Sometimes,people come across the supplement called “Cod liver oil”. What is good for them? It is a supplement to give your dog extra Vitamin A and D.
However,Vitamin A from animal source like this can be toxic if dosed a lot.
Vitamin A from vegetables ;a.k.a. Beta-carotine, is to be flashed out if fed too much,but Vitamin A from animal source like this Cod liver oil or Animal liver get stored in dog’s body if not used so,it can build up to toxic level if fed too much.
Therefore,I would not feed Cod liver oil. There is not much food that you or your dog can get Vitamin D,but sunlight can give you some Vitamin D,along with oily Fish (Mackerel is especially great source), liver,Egg etc.
I think that as long as dog gets some from food,then,it is fine.It may not meet the requirement from NRC numbers but raw feeding is all about balance over time and if you try to supplement with Cod liver oil,you are adding not just Vitamin D but also vitamin A so,I personally feel safer if I stay away from the supplement to avoid over-dose.
In the past,I have googled about Vitamin A and toxic level to find the optimum amount of Vitamin A.Optimum vitamin A is 100-200IU per kg of body weight.Palette being 31lb roughly 15kg so,optimum for her is 1500-3000IU Vitamin A amount daily is optimum.
With the way of my feeding, although it is not exact number, and just rough number to give me an idea of nutrient from the weekly menu,when I check the diet’s nutrient level at nutritiondata.self.com website, she is getting 1522IU per day in average with this week’s menu.So,that is fine.
Regarding Vitamin A,I have one more thing to note.
1 ounce of pork or beef liver usually carry about 3000IU but if you take Turkey liver one ounce,it is more than double amount.
Actually,one ounce of Turkey liver has 7000IU roughly. So,I personally give much less amount of Turkey liver if I give Turkey liver to Palette in meal. 7000IU from just one single item of the menu is way too much for her. I generally feed 3 days a week for liver/kidney.
I hope you gained a little more understanding on raw feeding. Please remember that I am not a vet nor nutritionist so,please understand that information here is what I have learned through Palette’s feeding and personal opinion only.
If you were interested in what nutrient in the menu you are feeding,visit the site nutritiondata.self.com and use their tool called “My recipe”.
Jul 15, 2009 | | Dog Diet
Happy July 4th,everyone!
I am Palette, tri color Pembroke Welsh Corgi. I am k9 executive chef at my mom’s “Yassy’s Gourmet Dog Kitchen” and,I have dream job of all pawpals (aka doggy friends) out there. I do taste test for every single products and every batch of biscuits/Jerky she make for my pawpals (aka doggy friends) in US.
Today,my mom let me write about my exciting day for her blog. I thought I would let you all know what is happening here. Here is how my day has started…
We woke up as usual and got ready for my favorite walkie time. I sniffed a lot on grounds,and found my jackpot #1 on our walk. A Frog pancake! It was very flatten,it was not like my usual meal,but it smelled good. It looked crunchy too. I love crunchy stuff. I sniffed very very good, and I tried to snuggle with my froggy friend. But, mom said no and,I left pee mail so that I can find it tomorrow again. I am hoping Mr. froggy will be still on the same spot.
After walkie time, I got jackpot #2. American flag collar! I love wearing anything goes around my neck.I am planning to run away from my mom at bed time because I do not want to take my flag collar off!! Wish me luck! I know I can run and turn direction pretty fast.
Here is me with American flag collar. How do I look?
Then, I usually get frozen yogurt cheese after walkie,but guess what I got today? An EGG!! Yay!
Jackpot#3!! Did I tell you that I can hold an egg without breaking it? I will show you what I got today.Here.
It tasted real good. Then, mom started making something in the kitchen. I smell my jackpot#4!!
This is what I saw in her kitchen. What do you think she is making?
Clue #1
It looks frothy looking thing.
Clue #2
Clue#3
It looks bigger than I saw last.
Clue #4
Clue#5
Wait a minute! Wait a minutes! It could be.. Pizza night??
Ohh,cheese pizza!! (Drool…) -Palette
You are correct,Palette. It is cheese pizza. 30% fresh mozzarella,70% low moisture part skim mozzarella cheese.It is very good.-Mom
And this is?? What is this mom?-Palette
This is ” Double pepper & Hamonion pizza.It got chopped pepperoncini pepper,chopped roasted red pepper,honey ham, red onion on top of mom’s special pizza sauce” -Mom
(Drool…Corgi smile with irresistible cute butt wagging for mom.) Can I taste test pizza? I need to taste test to see if this one tastes good for mom and dad. Can I taste test?-Palette
Ohh.. It smelled real good. I normally don’t get any people food. Mom is tough one to beg. I have so many things I could not get. But mom said,it is special day,and gave me one bite. Do you see how happy I was for unexpected score? I wish everyday is pizza night on special day..
Mom told me that you can read her little secret to make good pizza on other entry titled “Pizza”. To read her secret tips to make good pizza,please click here.
I hope everyone is having nice day today. I heard mom was talking about goat meat and beef meat for my real meal.I can’t wait!
Until next time,pawpals(aka doggy friends).(wave)
Jul 04, 2009 | | Uncategorized
Japanese have many kinds of Nabemono Dishes,which is cooked right at the table. In western culture, idea is like Fondue dish. People sit around the table and enjoy the meal and talking. One of the representative Japanese dishes for Nabemono is Sukiyaki. You may have heard of the word “Sukiyaki” because there was a song titled Sukiyaki.
Authentic Sukiyaki dish is made by cooking thinly sliced beef and some vegetable such as Nappa,leek,Shiitake Mushroom,Tofu in soy sauce based sauce in Iron pot. Normally,people put vegetable,meat,Tofu in sauce in the pot and when cooked through,they pick it out and dip in their beaten raw egg and eat them.
I was told that eating raw egg here in US is not good. This is one of the dish I used to miss eating a lot when I came over here in US. But now, I can eat Sukiyaki with twist without beaten raw egg to dip the meat and vegetable in.
My mother made Sukiyaki now and then in Japan. When she made one,and if she had leftover vegetable and meat in soy sauce based sauce,she added cooked rice to it and made it look like risotto.Then,we finished the dish up. She usually used Udon for Sukiyaki too.Now I make her way with added Egg. It adds creaminess to the dish and still tastes like the traditional Sukiyaki dish.I don’t put Udon but if you had time to cook Udon beforehand,you can add cooked Udon in this dish.
Here is how to make it.
1>Cook Kokuho Rose Rice (My favorite brand of white rice,very similar to Japanese rice)
2>Chop leek or green onion,slice yellow onion thin,cut half the “Firm Tofu” into dice, slice beef thin
3>Make sauce in the sauce pan
*Add 1/2C of soy sauce,1/2C of Mirin,1/2 C water,2 tbs of white sugar in the sauce pan and dissolve the sugar
4>Add all the meat and vegetable of your choice into sauce in the sauce pan, cook through
5>Add cooked white rice (You can eyeball the amount to add. I usually use the amount that 1C of uncooked white rice yeild)
6>Mix everything gently,and add beaten egg to the pan,cook through
7>Ready to eat
If you think this is too strong soy taste,you can add water to it little by little.It will dilute the sauce.
If you do not like the idea to put an egg to dish,you can always omit it
*** Mirin is sweet Japanese rice wine
*** If you like to make authentic as possible for Japanese dish,try get imported Japanese kikkoman soy sauce at Asian stores.It is big plastic bottle and cost about 6 dollars.I usually use extra fancy whole bean soy sauce that has only 4 ingredients in label. Kikkoman USA soy sauce is available at grocery store but it has funky flavor to it and,I don’t use it.Chinese brand soy sauce tend to have caramel coloring to make it look like dark brew soy sauce,and again taste funky to my taste,and I don’t use it. If you like to read more on soy sauce,please click here.
Enjoy Sukiyaki rice!!
Jul 03, 2009 | | Uncategorized
As you may have already know,Palette is our first dog ever to live with.
She is special to me,and everything I did/do with her is new to me. I always learn new thing from her,and enjoy every moment with her.
If I could rewind time to re-do something with her in training department, it will be house training. She is house trained now,but it wasn’t smooth ride to get to the goal.
First thing I tried was just simply taking her out as often as we can.
Every couple of hours,I took her out for potty,praised her for success but at night time or time I cannot keep an eye on,I placed pee-pad. She sniffed at it,she eliminated on it,but occasionally,she missed the paper.
Thinking back now,I wonder if I were keep sending confusing message to her by providing this pee-pads. Why? Because by placing the pee-pads,you sort of telling them to eliminate inside the house,yet you also tell them to go eliminating outside on the grass. If I were Palette,I might have been wondering which of the two places,I should eliminate on.
Another thing with pee-pad is that Palette loved tearing it up if it were not in use and I have once caught her wearing like super-man cape.It was hilarious moment,but at the same time,I wondered if the material used for pee-pad is safe to dogs if accidentally swallowed by them.
Hello,world!
Me in the pee-pad dress..
So, I abandoned the pee-pad entirely and tried to find her potty time pattern.
By then,I read lots of dog related magazines or dog books and, I found that many reading materials tell you to try taking dogs out after following occasion.
** waking up from nap/sleep
** play session
** feeding
** start sniffing ground busily
** start circling around
** start whining
I think following this suggestion worked to some points. I became more keen observer and better timing to catch her and take her out to eliminate outside.
Another thing I tried to above was I set her feeding time on schedule and recorded feeding time and elimination time,and tried to find her elimination pattern. I tried to set her up for success. I saw some patterns and it helped to some extent.
However,this was not still perfect solution to me.
Some people may find dogs eliminating on carpet and yell at them,but it is not good practice.
Because it just telling them that that particular area is not good place to eliminate.You should be telling them where is their place to eliminate,as opposed to telling them “do not eliminate at xxz area.
It is much easier for them to understand you and to succeed.Chances are,if you yell at them when they were eliminating on your carpet,dogs would find other place away from people next time,and they would try finding the area they were not yelled at.
Therefore, I tried observing Palette very good and took her out when I think is elimination time.Then,I also used crate when I could not keep an eye on her.
I read that dogs, in nature, try best to hold not eliminate inside the den-like place (place where they sleep or eat).It seemed keeping her in the crate when I could not keep an eye on her was helping.When I did so, I made sure that I take her out right after she gets out from the crate.
However, “Gottago doorbell”, for Palette and I, turned out to be the best tool to use for potty training.
By the time I introduced it to Palette,she was house trained. She knew outside is elimination area.Problem was,sometimes,her signals to me for potty call,was not crystal clear,and now and then,I missed her signals.
Thus,bell for us was to know her exact time she needs to go potty.
Here is a question for you.
What signals do you take as potty call from your dogs?
Do they paw at you?Do they scratch door?Do they bark? Do they stare?Do they whine with attention?
Sometimes,dogs and human don’t speak the same language and can be on the different page and it becomes tricky to communicate each other to fine tune.
For me,this bell helped both of us very much. You will hear the sound of the bell,and you know Palette needs potty.
Palette knows bell means potty. Bell does not mean outside to play,but potty. You hear the sound even if you are at different room with TV on. Therefore, we had better communication via bell when it comes to potty time.
Some occasion,we have guests in our house.They don’t know about bell at first. When we are talking each other,you suddenly hear “Ring”.
They usually ask us “What’s that sound?” We smile and tell them,it is our dog calling us for potty. They get surprise with it,but it is always entertaining to them.
I know there is a bell that you hung over the door knob.Supposedly dogs rings the bell but it can ring the bell when one of your family members come inside the house. Therefore, when it happens,dogs maybe stay inside the house without potty time outside although bell rang. So,I am not sure how effective it will be.
“Gottago doorbell” is basically a bell you see at customer service desk at the store.When you don’t see staff at the desk,you would ring it to call him.That is “gottago door bell” is. I think we got ours at about $20 or so.
Our dog “Palette” leaned the bell in one day. I was expected to take more days for her to understand it but,I was wrong. It was easy,and fun.
The bell itself will come with instruction but,for couple of times, I rang the bell for her and gave her treats although she did not paw at the bell to ring it.
I praised her as if she did something great. Then,we went outside,waited a little.If she did not do any,I brought her back in right away because I did not want her to think it was the bell for going sniffing on the ground.
If she eliminated as she should,she hit the jackpot,and she got yummy treats.
After she got elimination success outside,I started putting cue on the behavior. I say “Go potty”,and she goes.
After dogs start using the bell for signal to you as potty break cue,you do not want to ignore the bell. Go take dogs out right after the bell.
To make the bell as effective as it should,you want to make sure that you will take your dog out every bell your dogs ring. If they did not eliminate when you take them out,just simply bring them back in right away.
Watch how Palette rings the bell. You can hear the bell sound too. That is what she does when she needs to go potty.
She went potty after this video taping.If you are a blog subscriber, please click here to watch the video.
Palette and Gottago Door bell
One other thing I like about this bell is that,it is compact bell and you can bring it with you when you travel to relatives house,for example.
All you need to do is to let your dog know where you have put the bell for her to ring. As long as they know where the bell is,they can tell you their potty time with no errors. You will just make sure you take them out when you hear the bell.
For cleaning carpet,we use Spotbot cleaner.It works very good on our carpet. When you clean the carpet for elimination accident,you want to use good enzyme cleaner to eliminate the scent in the urine.
For us,Spotbot worked very good.You can find it at your nearest Target store.
Gottago? Ring the bell. Ring!
P.S. Please note that I am not a dog trainer.
Jul 01, 2009 | | Uncategorized
Today is not much of reading,but I have found cool site where you can check hotel that can accommodate your furry friends by clicking the state and city. I found 2 actually.Here are the site.
http://dog friendly.com (click here to visit the site)
http://petvr.com (click here to visit the site)
bringyourdogalong.com (click here to visit the site)
This site lists dog friendly hotels,motels across the United States and Canada
http://www.dfe.us/ (click here to visit the site)
This site has so many information on hotel,motel,dog park,restaurant etc and very useful site for dog owners that planning to travel with furry friends
Newly added!! www.petvacationhomes.com/ (click here to visit the site)
This site has dog friendly vacation rentals in US
After I got Palette,I always have been wanted to go somewhere with her,not leaving her at kennel.
One of the place I really am interested in visiting is actually in Chicago. The place is called Camp Dogwood.The Camp Dogwood is almost 200 acre wide,and it is near Wooster Lake.You can stay at log house,cabin,tent with your dogs and you can attend agility lesson, Flyball, Frisbee,trick training,hiking or your dog can enjoy jumping in to water or chasing a lure.. You can enjoy nature with your dog,and your dog can have quite fun out there,and it must be fun!!
You can see their site by clicking here.
To see the clip from Animal Planet show on Camp Dogwood. Click here.
Have you visited the “camp dogwood” in Chicago? If so,let us know how your vacation was. What did you like most there?
Or,do you have any other dog-friendly vacation places you would recommend to others?
Do you bring First Aid kit for your dogs on vacation trip?? Let us know..
Jul 01, 2009 | | Uncategorized
