Traveling with Rue

Over the last week Rue and I took quite the adventure around Southern MN and let's just say I've learned a bit about her traveling personality.

First off, the morning before we left we made an impromptu visit to the Vet so she could get her first Rabies shot, her first Bordatella (a.k.a. kennel cough), and her booster distemper shot. We also had her EU microchip inserted. I got mine from the AKC website which is incredibly reasonable and my Vet injected it for free. This 15-digit microchip is a NECESSITY for traveling throughout Europe next year and is just a great thing to have for your pet regardless if you're traveling or not.

Secondly, Rue is apparently really bad at recognizing social queues from other animals. We spent five days with my girlfriend, A, who has 2 cats and let's just say they were way less interested in her than she was in them. Apparently when cats hiss and claw at you means "let's play more" in Rue's mind. Silly dog.

Lastly, we spent another day with a different girlfriend who had a 1 year old lab who was more than happy to play with Rue but was a bit aggressive right away and to be honest, I've never seen Rue be so rude or bratty to another dog. I've pin-pointed her attitude problem to 3 hours of driving in the car, not being home for 5 days, and being jostled into a noisy environment of a bunch of girls at a bridal shower/bachelorette party.

Silly idea on my part? Yes, a little. But was I really going to leave my dog for a week when I wasn't even doing anything that I couldn't do without her? No. I also brought her kennel along in case she needed a safe house and it's my firm belief that if she is to live the "hockey lifestyle" of constant travel and unknown, she needs to be acclimated into it at an early age. Overall, I think the experience was good for both of us; I learned Rue's limits and she learned how to quickly adjust. Not once over the course of our impromptu vacay did she stop eating, act naughty, or have an accident in the house. To the contrary, I believe all the traveling helped solidify Rue's progress in potty training. I can't pinpoint what exactly helped, but we didn't have one single accident over the last 8 days.

Anyway, just thought I would update you on how baby girl is doing. I'll keep posting products that work for us. We're still on Blue Buffalo food which is still going well and I've actually purchased a new collar and I.D. tag from Etsy that I can't wait to post pictures of when they arrive in the mail.

Love&Luck

Rouche's Dog Food

Okay so I've been trying to investigate the right kind of dog food for Rouche.

16 years ago when we had our first family dog, the general public wasn't aware of what we were feeding our pets or what ingredients were important in the ingredient list. Now, things are much different and awareness about ingredients, canned food, kibble, or raw diets has grown significantly.

I've been researching and continuing my search about raw diets and am very interested but don't feel 100% comfortable yet about providing Rouche with that diet so I'll slowly progress into the process as I feel more comfortable.

However, I have officially switched her over from Fromm's (below) which is what the breeder was feeding her to Blue Buffalo food and treats. I was very nervous about the transition since I know it's important to do so gradually but Rouche went straight bananas when she got a taste of her new food. I also bought a can of the puppy food as well because I think it's a good idea to mix up her diet that way she'll get the best of everything in a variety of options.

I will also note that although a little TMI, her stool has been a lot more solid and a lot less smelly.

Her old brand of dog food

Her new food

Her new food is made for growing pups and is chicken based only; this way I can slowly introduce her to different kinds of food and control her intake incase she has an unknown food allergy. 

Little bit is also a huge fan of Greenies chew bones and Blue Buffalo 'Tranquility' chews. I give her a bone every time she goes in her kennel even though she doesn't like to chew them unless I'm around and she still hates her kennel so apparently she's not getting that "kennel is an O.K. place" vibe yet. 

If you have pets what kind of diet are they are? Do you have any suggestions for me?

Love&Luck my friends!