Merry Christmas!!!

Koenig's holiday weekend is going well.

Yesterday, he started out the afternoon by traveling up to my parents house, (where we previously had some serious asshole dog moments...) and got a nice run down the long private dirt road. Does anyone else out there know how fast there dog/Dutch Shepherd can run? Koenig can go AT LEAST 22mph, and that is while he's relatively out of shape (yeah, it's winter) and he's still pulling hard into the leash. Wow- what a dog!!!

(you may want to turn your sound down- iPhone's pick up wind fairly well, apparently!)

So I got this video on the way home, after Koenig had already run 1/2 mile. As you can see, he still had plenty left at the end, and I think we'll make a couple of trips up and down the road today to keep him nice and tired.

After Koenig cooled down from his little run, he got an early Christmas dinner. TURKEY! A whole turkey. :) I feed raw about 25% of the time currently. We alternate between kibble and raw, always allowing for a 24 hour fast between the switch so that kibble and raw don't meet together in the digestive tract, allowing bacteria to overpopulate. Dogs digestion happens so much more rapidly then humans, and the stomach is so much more acidic that they can handle the bacteria on raw meat that would send up to the hospital.... but when combined with kibble, it can cause some really terrible things! Never combine raw and kibble! I can't see any possible benefit from combining the 2, and even if you've never had a problem, and your friends have never had a problem, it's a real risk of a giant vet bill, IMO. Why take that risk? ;) Separate Raw and Kibble. Just in case. ...anyways.... rant over. Koenig got a turkey. A big turkey. Whole. The largest food I've ever given him was a 1/2 chicken before. Now that I think about it, I may have given him a whole chicken after he got his BH. Regardless, it's nothing compared to a 15lb turkey. He went straight for the neck, and then wasn't real sure where to go next! He didn't know what to start with. :) I have a video, and I'll try to get it up soon. (but it's Christmas, and I've got 2 legged kids to entertain, as well as a brindle!) I let him eat about 1/4 of it, and then traded him. (Treat, for turkey carcass) Koenig does not have any food aggression/guarding issues, so it's not any problem for me to remove his food, but I always try to trade him for something else he wants. I don't see a need to create food guarding!

After his big meal, he needed to rest and chill, even though he didn't think so. (He thought it was time to romp with Sophie the Saint, my mothers 1 yr. old Pup). I got him to chill. Don't need to deal with bloat!

A few hours later, we took the kids and the dog to the 'downtown' area of my hometown. It's a very small Scandinavian community, and has a very touristy old town area. Lots of little cute shops, and activity going on. There was a horse drawn carriage, tons of people, and other dogs. I was HIGHLY impressed with the overall behavior of the dogs down there. I think I only heard 1 dog being reactive about the horses and other dogs. Awesome!!! Koenig got some practice on down stays, (with me out of sight in a store!!!) and all the activity passing by. He did very well, and I was proud. We also did some nice focused heeling, and he made me happy. It's always nice getting comments from strangers on what a beautiful, well behaved dog I have! I didn't get any pictures or video of this, but maybe I'll be able to coerce someone in my family to get a video of us working today at some point.



Happy Holidays to everyone- Go enjoy your family, wether it's the 4 legged, or 2 legged variety- or BOTH! :D


-Kelly and Koenig