AND THE WINNER IS....

We got so many totally awesome entries for our Very Tiny Competition we had trouble choosing a winner! Sorry to keep all you furry critters in suspense for so long while we oggled at our fabulous friends at their very smallest. There were photos of fuzzies of the non-canine kind:

Girl Girl Hamster

... and they were just the snuggliest! Our hammie buds can really wrap themselves up tight. There were also some SuperCrazy adorable entries, and if we were handing out A Very Cute & Tiny award these guys would have certainly tied for first place:

Coco

Poopie (with Aki)

I wish my stinky brother would snug with me like that! While parusing the photographs we also noticed that certain breeds seemed more apt to make themselves itty bitty. I've got to give my fellow spaniels a shout-out for their expertise and foldable skillz:

Shelly

Maggie

Zach

Zach said that he used to be super naughty just like me when he was a spritely young fellow. I bet he's one cool dude - I wonder if he likes socks as much as I do?

A breed that surprised us with their unbelievable ability to get small is the grey hound. These guys are no tiny turkey but boy can they stuff themselves into the smallest of kitten beds. Where do they put those long lanky legs? They must be able to suck them in like airplane wheels when it's nappy time. Check out the sweet grey hound entries:

My dear friend Henry

Gabbi

Romes (snugged on the front seat of a car!)

Now the competition was narrowed down to 2 possible winners. Both are super talented and both deserve to win. BUT, only one beast can take the grand prize. It was close, my blogging buddies! Oh so close! Our runner up is...

The fabulous, talented, flexible and oh-so small CJ!

Check out those leg-tucking skills! What talent! What grace! What a bendy neck she has! Certainly you can see why it was such a tough choice to find our numero uno tiny pup.

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for...

.

.

The winner of the Very Tiny Competition

.

.

Is none other than....

DAISY!

Doesn't she look like a beagle bagel? What makes Daisy's entry so spectacular is that our dear lady canine is 18 years old. That's 126 in dog years!! I bet your humans can't imagine being so flexible at that age. This is truly a feat of tiny-ness and we've got to hand it to Miss Daisy for her talents. Even her tail is tucked in! (Not even I have mastered the tail tuck yet. I'm taking notes...)

So here's to you, Miss Itty Bitty Daisy Dog~

A paw trophy and a tail wag for all of your 18 years of hard work, mastering the art of Small. I guess practice does indeed make perfect. (Oh - and there's some sweet swag that comes along with this award as well. Our humans will arrange for that little goody exchange.) May we all follow in Daisy's paw prints and enjoy 18 years with our buddies, our humans, and our favorite teeny tiny little bed all snugged up, tucked in and toasty warm.

Congratulations to everyone that entered. We truly LOVED each and every one of your photos. You are a talented bunch! Perhaps we'll make this competition a yearly event... you never know... so keep practicing your tiny skills and we'll see you next year!

Learning how to tuck my tail under,

Stanislaw

Raw Food Diet, Day 260- Reminder

Don't forget that the entry deadline for A Very Tiny Competition is tonight at 5pm CST.  Read the competition info and rules here, and send your photos or links to RawFeasting@gmail.com.

Can't wait!

Raw Food Diet, Day 259- The Thing in the Grass

Yesterday my whole life flashed before my eyes.  It was horrifying.  Terrible.  My body froze in fear.  I may never recover from this.

I was out in the park, snurfeling around in the grass getting ready to do my Good Boy business, when this horrid thing attached itself to my nose.  It came out of nowhere, and suddenly my face was assaulted by this wretched beast.  With every breath its soft tentacles would reach further and further into my nose and it flooded my nostrils with its strange scent.  In a dramatic showing I thrashed about and used my front paws to dislodge the nasty critter, but it was useless.  It had a gorilla glue grip on me.

When I realized its power over me I froze with one paw in the air.  I would not move as any motion pressed this thing ever tighter into my face.  My humans could not make me walk and I would not blink my eyelids lest I draw attention to that delicate feature.  In mere moments it had rendered me helpless and mute, too afraid to think.  This was my end, I was sure of it.  I would starve out here in the wilderness with this thing sucking the life out of me through my schnozzle as I stood like a statue silently begging for help.  And my humans laughed at me.  All they could do was laugh.  Their son was in grave danger and they threw their arms into the air mingling guffaws and mocking me.  

After witnessing my wretched condition and allowing it to continue for far too long my humans peeled the creature from my frozen face and urged my stone-like body to move over the grass.  I would not sniff.  There would be no business done this time.  That monster was still hiding out there somewhere and I wasn't about to risk life and limb again.  I would not play with my friend when she came out for her walk.  I warned her though.  Warned her about this terrible creature the humans call Feather.  "Feather sticks to your face and reaches into your nose," I said in a menacing voice.  "Beware of Feather.  Feather hunts for wet canine schnozzles."

I need to speak to my therapist about this one.

Beware of the thing in the grass,

Stanislaw

_________________

PS- The Very Tiny Competition ends tomorrow at 5pm, so if you haven't sent in your entry yet make sure to have it in before the deadline!  We've got loads of totally awesome photos so far and we're super pumped to choose a winner.  Email your photos to rawfeasting@gmail.com.  Good luck!

Raw Food Diet, Day 258- 26.2 Reasons to Feast

Something crazy awesome and horrible happened yesterday.  The Chicago Marathon came to town and that was sweet, but I was stuck home with dad which was totally uncool.  I was a boof-face for hours and whined while he worked.

Crowds of humans are a little too much for me to handle still and I get stressed and start to shriek.  It's not really that much fun for me so I wasn't invited to the event.  I guess that makes sense but I'm still taking liberties and being a mad boy anyway.  Big Pupi got to go!  That's crazy unfair.

Pupi is super laid-back in crowds so he was out with mom for over 3 hours watching runners come in.  He said he took some notes for me to use in my own marathon training.  The men's winner crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 6 minutes and a couple seconds so I better get my bum in gear so that I can run his bum into the ground come the Olympic trials!  Good thing we went on a training fast hunt this morning.  

Pupi also said that he saw a man pass out just a few feet away from him and he wanted to go lick his face so badly!  The man was caught before he hit the ground and came to right away.  He drank some miracle stuff called "Gatorade" and it made him all better.  I want that magical healing liquid!  I bet it makes you beastly since it's obviously made from alligators and swampy things.  Delish!

Big Pupi wore a special shirt that mom made for him complete with his new best human-friend's name on it.  Kristen (the new best human friend) ran the marathon with her sister and did an amazing job.  Pupi played with her after the finish and she drank lots of this miracle alligator drink.  He said it was super fun and he danced about the whole time.

Mom didn't realize that by putting her human friend's name on Pupi's shirt, that other human strangers would think that Pupi's name was "Kristen."  All people kept calling him a "her" and asking to pet cute little Kristen.  No way!  He made sure to mark some good territory so folks wouldn't mistake him for a girly boy.  He got LOADS of attention from other humans and he even got to lick peanut butter off a little girl's hands who laughed so hard her face turned red.  He was super well-behaved with little kids and never jumped once on any of them, however he insisted on kissing adults' faces and that involved a little jumping.  Mom wasn't so pleased about the jumping but Pupi was otherwise a model citizen during the day.

I could smell pets and small humans and peanutty delicious on my brother when he returned and I let it be known that I was not pleased to have missed out.

I got all crazy-eyed and helped myself to some of dad's socks and undies from the hamper just to make a mess and prove my point.  I didn't realize that later that day I'd go for a nice long walk (without my stinky brother!) to the squirrel park and all around my neighborhood which was super fun.  I made sure to be a very good boy to show mom what she was missing by not taking me that afternoon.  I've also come to realize that I may be calmer when walked at dusk because there isn't as much visual stimulation for me to get wrapped up in and panicked about.  Whatever dudes... dusk or dawn, as long as I get my walkies in I'm a happy boy.

Shopping in the hamper,

Stanislaw

Raw Food Diet, Day 255- A Day of Firsts

***

Big Pupi did something new today:

Today, for the very first time ever in my adopted life...

...I killed a stuffy. I chewed right through his evil schnozzle.

Then I ripped his guts out through his face.

Now I'm not a violent dog. In fact, I've never chewed through a stuffy before (but I have been known to take part in some destuffing if Stanislaw made his way through some fuzzy flesh). I have stuffed toys that are so old and so gross that mom has to toss them just for that reason. They never have any damage aside from the right ear which I insist on removing on each of my toys. Why do I do that? I could tell you but then I'd have to destuff you.

I don't know what got into me. Maybe it's the sudden lack of chicken that's left me feeling detoxed and sprightly. Perhaps it's those energizing B vitamins we've recently added to our food. Maybe I was motivated by the fact that it was Stan's tug stuffy and not one from my precious lot. I don't know... but whatever it was it has me feeling so strange. So daring. So.... NAUGHTY.

So I gave that stuffed raccoon a facelift and boy did I teach him a lesson!

Watch out for these jaws o' destruction,
Big Pupi

Raw Food Diet, Day 253- If you are what you eat...

... then I ain't no chicken.

Turns out that Big Pupi may have a big allergy to the bird after all, and I suffer from a touch of post-poultry feast tummy upsets.  That juicy bird has always been suspect especially since we can't tolerate eggs, but it wasn't until recently that mom decided to give us a full month without any chicken, turkey, duck or turducken to see how we do.  We've gone on chicken boycotts before, but they were short term and usually ended up with us feasting on bird necks 2 times per week.  We seemed to do just fine on that and our people are hoping to get us back to that tasty schedule.  

Let's face it... chicken is the economical meat for our humans to buy.  It doesn't cost a lot of cheese money, the necks and wings are perfect cocker spaniel bone-chomping sizes, and it just makes for easy dinner preparation for my folks.  There was a sale on ground whole chicken at the online raw meaty feast store, and my mom ordered 15 pounds of it!  That doesn't even include the 6 pounds of necks that she got.  Delicious!  But this upped our chicken feasting days from 2 breakfasts each week to 4 breakfasts and 2 dinners each week of chicken.  Not only that, but our B-naturals immune blend supplement is flavored with chicken liver and we get that every single day.  It may have pushed us over the edge.

Pupi's ears are itchy.  I've been nibbling on my paws like a beast.  Itchiness one of the main ways Pupi and I respond to food allergies.  My tummy makes crazy noises on days that I eat the ground chicken and I'll gas myself right out of the office and leave mom stuck in there gasping for air.  Pupi's tummy also gets grumbly and he acts a little less spunky than normal.  The chicken's got to go.  At least for a while.  But hey... as long as the feasts keep finding their way into my mouth I'm cool with it.  

My brother and I do very very well on hoofed creatures.  Goat, lamb, mutton, beef and pork are all good in our tummies so we'll have to stick to that menu.  Yogurt, cottage cheese and some canned salmon are always tasty additions to our meals for variety and we may try some sardines soon!  As much as I love my barn yard feasts, I'm hoping that after a cleansing san-pouvre month we can start up on our chicken necks again - only 2 meals per week.  Dewclaws crossed!  Man, I love to crunch those bones.

So if I am what I eat then I think my right shoulder muscle is all bovine beastliness and my hindquarters are made from those powerful goat-kickers.  My stinky brother, on the other paw, is totally and 100% turducken.  He even looks like one!  Have you oggled lately at his big ol' bird-waddly,  goofy-lookin' comb on his head?

Yeah.  Total chicken butt boy.  What a dork!

I'm way cooler and a way better feaster,

Stanislaw

***

Quick class update by Big Pupi:

I performed my tricks in class yesterday and my hula spin stole the show!  The only things the other dogs could do was shake and roll over.  I had my hoop tricks AND I know how to target.  Mom held a little plastic yogurt lid and I jumped around to touch my nose to it.  She even tossed it across the room and I'd go stomp on it and run back to mom for a treat.  I LOVE it!  I was the only pup to earn a round of applause.  Super fun.  

We start on the "shake" trick as soon as this toe of mine is better.  It's healing very well so I'm gearing up for some training this weekend.

I dig it, I learn it, I love it.

Big Pupi

Raw Food Diet, Day 252- Tricks are for Treats

***

Big Pupi's update:

I've got another video update for you! After a grand total of 45 minutes of training I've made some really great progress in my hula trick. "Go in" and "hula" have been smooshed together, and now I have to spin THREE TIMES before mom will give me feasts! I've mastered the double spin but sometimes I forget to go 'round that last time and need reminding. I'm catching on. You'll also notice that mom is standing farther away and her hand signals have gotten smaller so I've got to pay extra close attention to see what's going on. Thanks to Niamh's person, my mom no longer "baits" me with treats in her command hand, so I'm not as focused on getting that tasty and instead I'm working through my trick much more smoothly. My hula leap is still there but I'm phasing it out as I realize that efficiency is key to earning treats!

You'll also see Stanislaw going through his paces. He now must hula 2 times before he gets treats and he's learning that the hula hoop isn't so scary after all. He'll be jumping through it in no time! Stan is also practicing his "go in" but he's still too nervous to spin inside the hoop. He's not very aware of his footing as of yet and when he kicks the hoop it spooks him. Our people think this is a great opportunity to boost Stan's confidence so they'll be working extra hard on him!

Well, my class is today. I'll let you know how it all goes! And next up on the trick circuit is "shake." That one is 3 years in the making but with all the great advice we've received we're hoping to have it down in a week.

Wish me luck!

Big Pupi

Raw Food Diet, Day 251- Recall What? Come Here Who?

Does this look like the face of a naughty boy?

What about the face of a boy who almost got himself hit by a car on a 6-lane road?

I gave mom the scare of her life on Friday when a walk home from the bark park turned into a bird-chasing half-hour of horror.  I spotted a critter in the trees and yanked myself free from mom's hand.  I then sprinted full-tilt for 30 minutes, doing ever larger and larger circles in the garden at the side of the road looking for that tasty niblet.  Folks tried desperately to get my attention by getting to the ground and acting all fun and awesome and stuff, but I was deep in hunting obsession mode and would not respond to anyone.  I even had a sidewalk full of people watching the event!  Mom started out by attempting to lure me with treats and fun and calm but I was too crazed to even see her.  So it turned into a full-on chase with mom screaming and a bunch of other folks diving into the bushes for me.  No luck!  I came dangerously close to the road quite a few times.  I would have been free and racing in downtown Chicago.

Mom and Big Pupi ran after me until mom thought she couldn't sprint any more.  As it turned out, I had scooped up a piece of fruit while on my mad dash and when I accidentally dropped it I quit running to find it again.  That's when mom dove for my leash and I was captured.  She didn't say a word as the audience applauded and I was ignored until I was Heeling Like Good Boy on the way home.  The silent treatment part was not cool.  However, my lunatic sprinting was a great time!

We caught up to the very nice man that dirtied his sweater making a dive for me, and mom said thanks many many times.  He said that he couldn't believe how fast I was (YES!) and that I would have gotten tired eventually (NO!).  He didn't know that I had been running like that for a full hour at the bark park before the event!  I don't get "tired."  The only reason I nap is because I'm bored.  Seriously.

So I've heard mom say that was the last time she will walk Pupi and me together until I have better manners.  In the mean time, we'll stick to running where I am attached to mom's waist with a carabener so there's no chance of dropped leashes.  Walking will only happen when I'm alone and mom can use 2 hands on me at once.  Geesh.  She has no sense of adventure!

While on our super fun game of chase, Big Pupi got a toe caught in between 2 slats of wood on this make-shift platform they had in the garden.  Being the super hero that he is, he didn't stop zooming around even though his toe was bleeding quite badly.  Despite his state, we all had to walk the last 1/3-mile home and Pupi never complained once.  When we were finally home he got his paw trimmed and cleaned and wrapped up nice and tight.  My silly brother's toe was swollen like a marble but thank goodness it isn't broken and the nail doesn't appear to be fractured or pushed into the nail bed.  He still doesn't limp and it seems to be healing well.  In fact, despite the swelling mom can move his toe about, tug gently on the nail and press on the swelling without so much as a flinch from Pupi.  Dewclaws crossed it continues to improve!  She just needs to prevent him from nibbling on it as much as he'd like to.

Your very own Stanislaw, The Troublemaker himself, came out of the whole event without so much as a scratch.  It was my oh-so well behaved brother that took the beating!  But still... my parents wouldn't have known what to do if anything had happened to me.  I don't really understand what the big deal was - I was just playing!  They said that I was one lucky boy.  Duh!  I eat raw meat!  How lucky is that?

On major lock-down,

Stanislaw

Raw Food Diet, Day 248- Tricks are for Kids

Hi guys!

Big Pupi's fancy shmancy folding hula hoop arrived 3 days ago and we've been learning all sorts of new tricks. It scares me a little bit with its bright colors and evil circular shape, so I keep my distance. Big Pupi, on the other hand, isn't afraid of much and he took to it right away. To both of us the hoop means treats and training and we get so excited whenever it appears!

Pupi learned to jump through the hoop in all of 2 seconds because it's so similar to the tire jump in agility. I'm still learning that approaching that spooky thing is okay. The next trick he's working on is a bit more complicated, and he's still in the beginning stages. Mom got the idea for this trick from Niamh, who is learning how to do it herself! It's the doggie hula hoop: first we run out to a hoop lying flat on the floor, get in the middle and SPIN! Neither Pupi nor I are natural spinners. In fact, I don't think we've ever spun in our lives, so mom had to introduce it to us anew. We call it "hula," and we're catching on!

Mom always says that Pupi makes her look good, because it generally takes him 5 minutes or less to pick something up. She doesn't have to do much! Well, it wasn't 2 minutes before he mastered the "go in," which is the command to get into the middle of the hoop. The spinning however, took a whole 10 minutes (gasp!) before he started to understand what mom was asking for, and he's still a bit shaky on it. To mom's surprise, I picked up the "hula" command before Pupi did just by watching his lessons! I am brilliant!! (But it's a selective genius... mainly used for feasting, hunting and breaking into garbage cans...)

Anyway, as time goes on mom will add distance to her commands so Pupi will eventually head way out to the hoop and spin a few times. Hopefully by next week we'll have another video of Pupi being the hooping master and me jumping through that rainbow monster. We'll see. It's still too scary for me now and we have lots of work to do.

Here's a little video of the trick after 15 minutes of training. We do quick 5-minute training sessions whenever mom finds a few minutes to string together. The trick is still in its parts and Pupi is yet to squish them all into one solid command. Pupi also added his own style to the spinning routine, by incorporating a nice little leap in the middle of his rotations. And for your viewing pleasure, you'll also see me - Master of the Meat - working on my hooples hula routine!

**Just a note, mom says "sorry" for the shaky camera. She was training and video taping herself. Also, you'll see mom's hand quite a bit because we train with hand signals. It's SO MUCH easier for us to learn that way!

Music by Bob Schneider

We LOVE learning our tricks and we're determined to have this down before Pupi's next therapy class in a few days. The class theme is Personal Tricks, and he plans to show them all what he's made of. Considering you are what you eat, I'd say that I'm made of feasting deliciousness. It doesn't take a classroom full of dogs to figure that one out.

Putting tasty information in my brain,

Stanislaw

PS- Big Pupi is a super crazy fast learner for almost anything... except "shake." He can weave through poles, knows the difference between Left and Right, but mom has NEVER been able to teach him how to give his paw! This is a great and simple trick for a therapy dog to know and she wants him to learn it. Any advice?

Raw Food Diet, Day 247- Squirrel Burgers!

On Sunday my family, my buddy Hunter and his mom all headed down to the SuperAwesomeFunBeastly Squirrel Park in my neighborhood. Us 3 pups chased those tree lobsters around like a bunch of lunatics, and the nice cool fall weather gave us that extra zing of energy we needed to stay on The Hunt a bit longer than usual. By the end, Hunter wound up taking the Mommy Taxi most of the way home, and was cuddled up in his human's arms because he was so pooped! I trotted home and then flopped my belly on that nice cold marble lobby floor that I love so much. Mom actually had her flashy toy with her this time, and now we have some sweet photos of our travels.

Big Pupi and Hunter leading the way to the park.

Scouting out some tasties.

The way the world looks to a sporting dog.

"Dude! That squirrel just totally disappeared into thin air!"

"I wonder if Betty Crocker has a recipe for this."

Hunter chased one up a pine tree.

Mohawk Radar: Enabled

Strategic squirrel-watching.

"Come back here and climb into my mouth!"

Mmmm mmm. Protein on the run.

I ran my little bum off going for those critters.

After an hour of chasing and dragging our humans around, we all trudged home.

Cool marble on my belly!

It was super fun! Pupi and I polished off a bowl of water once we were home and then settled down for some shut-eye. Our folks woke us for a quick weeble trip and then it was bully stick chew time. Some day we'll get us a squirrel, I just know it! I'll have my squirrel burger rare and with cheese, please.

Taking dad's socks from the hamper,

Stanislaw