May The Force Be With You

This is the new food Mom has decided to try for me. It's from a company called The Honest Kitchen and they are located in California. We are trying the kind called Force first but are also looking to try two other varieties...Keen and Thrive. So, this food is dehydrated and you have to add warm water to rehydrate it and let it set for 10-15 minutes. Kind of different but neat. All the ingredients are human grade and it is even made in a human food facility. How many companies can say that!? Oh, humans also taste test it as well as the employees dogs. I wish I was one of those lucky pups...what a cool job to have! It has all kinds of healthy, raw ingredients. Plus, the owners have Ridgebacks...they are some of the taste testers! Too cool!! Some people Mom talked to said they used to feed a raw diet and then switched to The Honest Kitchen and LOVE it! Many people also still mix The Honest Kitchen food with kibble and meats (raw or cooked) which is what Mom is doing for me as well. I have been HIVE-FREE since Saturday morning! PAWESOME! Plus, Mom called the company and talked with a woman named Tess who was VERY helpful! She is even sending Mom some free samples of food and some 10% discount coupons. Double PAWESOME! You should definitely check out their website...it is very informative and will tell you more than what I can plus you get to see the pictures of their cute Ridgebacks.


Checking out my new food!


Smells good!

Come on, open it up already!

Here is what it looks like after you add the warm water and stir....Puppy Pesto! YUM! Let me just say, it is sooo tasty! I always made sure to lick my bowl clean but never like after I eat this stuff. I leave no spot unlicked on my bowl now. I lick the bottom, the sides, the edges, the top, the bottom, the sides again, all over! It is amazing! It is so hard to wait in between meals!

Thanks again to all my pup pals who wished me well and gave me good advice on food...hopefully, I have found something that will work for me! :)

A Sea of Fog

Today, I got to go for a hike! It felt so good to get out and run! As you can see it was quite foggy here! In fact, it was so foggy that it was hard to see very far. It stayed like this all day.


But if you walked just a little way up the hill you could get above the fog! It was GRRREAT!! Ahhhh, blue sky, sunshine, beautiful!

Here's Sierra and her Mom and...

me and my Mom! We all enjoyed soaking up the Vitamin D and we even saw two deer!

Doesn't it look like a sea of fog...so neat! We were on our way down here but really wishing we could stay and enjoy the sunshine a little longer.

P.S. As you can see, I am feeling better. Mom is going to get me some new food tomorrow so we will keep you posted!

They're Back...No, No, No!

Well, Thursday and Friday were lookin' good but this morning at 6:30am I threw up yellow foamy stuff and then started breaking out again so Mom gave me more Benadryl. The only difference that Mom can think of is that Thursday and Friday she and Dad started to add in a little bit of the kibble to my food again. The same brand they were feeding me before (Solid Gold) but a different variety. I think this is affecting my poor Mom more than me...she is a mess trying to figure out my problem. I told her that regardless of bumps I need a play date today so hopefully I can have some fun. :)

Mom is part of an online Rhodesian Ridgeback group and a couple of people there suggested different raw food sources plus one called Honest Kitchen and Nature's Variety (I think)...ever heard of them or have any experience? The Honest Kitchen website said their food is human taste tested and is made in a plant alongside human food products such as cereal, etc...???

The picture above is me on the couch in Mom's classroom last night. I went to protect her while she was getting some work done. ;)

Feeling a little better...so far!

As you can see, I have been doing alot of sleeping the past few days. The other night I was on the couch and I was OUT...Mom kept checking to make sure I was breathing (she's soooo overprotective) because normally I at least open an eye when she walks into the room or sits down beside me. I was just really tired. :)



This is me this morning....so far, no huge breakouts!!!! WOOF! Notice my bed in the background there. BOL! I prefer Mom and Dad's bed. ;)

The past three meals I have eaten have been brown rice and a little olive oil. Mom and Dad are thinking of switching me to a different diet. I heard them talking about rice, oatmeal, and raw turkey and chicken. Don't know if they will but that's what I heard. I need to call my friend Samson as he eats raw food...maybe he can teach me about it. :) The brown rice and olive oil is actually very tasty but soon I will need some variety.

Still don't know if the problem is the food or a bite though?? I heard a story from Diana, the lady at ApacheRidge Ranch where I was born, about a Ridgeback in CA who was bitten on the lip by a spider. That poor dog had an itchy rash for 2.5 weeks and then still took a week to get back to its normal routine. YUCK! Those spiders can apparently be nasty.

Thanks to all of my friends out there for sending good thoughts my way and for calling to check on me. :) Hopefully, I can resume my normal play dates very soon!

Outbreak Update!

These are from this morning. Mom and I woke up and she thought I was ok, she fed me breakfast, and called Dad to tell him I was lookin' good and as soon as she called him she started noticing bumps cropping up. This was within ten minutes of breakfast. So, Mom took me to the vet and although they did make her feel a little better (not me....I try like a maniac not to go into those tiny little rooms) it still didn't answer any questions. Obviously, they don't know if it was a bite or if it is an allergy.

Mom is worried that it is my food. You see, I do not do so well with fresh carrots...in fact, every time I would have them I would, without fail, vomit in the middle of the night. Mom and Dad figured this out and wouldn't allow me to eat them. Carrots in dry food have never been a problem. They are one of the ingredients on my food. So, is it an allergy reaction to the carrots that has developed over time or a bite???...we don't know! I had the same food at lunch and didn't have a breakout but could that be because the Benadryl from the morning was still in my system?? Regardless, Mom and Dad have decided to change my food.

Any other dogs out there with an experience like this?? What did you do? Did you figure out what was causing it??

Outbreak!!!

Well, all I can say is...what a crummy Sunday! I was supposed to go play with Brix but instead I got to take Benadryl because I broke out into itchy hives! Yes, hives...I know it's hard to see anything in the picture but they really are horrible!!! About an hour after I woke up Dad noticed them on my face. Very soon afterward, Mom noticed them on my ears, legs, and belly. This really freaked her out so she called the vet on the emergency line. He told her to give me 2 Benadryl which she did. I slept a lot after that but the crazy hives went away! :) However, at around 5:45pm they came back again. Dad gave me another Benadryl and Mom called the vet again who said to give me more Benadryl. He said that if they are still there tomorrow to bring me in...he was very helpful and made Mom feel better.

Notice the bumpy areas on my legs...those normally aren't there. The vet said that I could have ingested something or been bitten by a spider or another bug! I don't know what happened but it is NO FUN! I hope it goes away soon...for now, I am going to sleep some more while Mom and Dad hover to make sure I am ok. I hope none of my four legged friends ever have to go through this!

Meet Rosie!

This is Rosie! She is about 4 months old and she is my new friend. I just met her last weekend and she, Sierra, and I all played and had a barkin' good time. Isn't she cute! She already knows that good things come from human pockets...she is practicing her cute, waiting for a treat look above. ;)

Here she is with her human Mom, Hilary. At first, she was a little nervous about us BIG dogs so she stayed close to her Mom. Her Mom is also a teacher just like my Mom. :)

Checking out the BIG dogs and getting a little braver. Sierra is sniffing something and I am just on the other side of her but it's hard to see me as I blend quite well with the leaves.

I got a little too excitable and scared poor Rosie...she ran into the grass to hide.

"Please come out Rosie...I only want to play! I'm a nice girl, I promise!"

Finally, she came out and she warmed up to us quite quickly! I ran by her so fast a couple of times that I rolled her but she took it in stride and got right back up to play! She is going to be a GRRRREAT player when she gets bigger! :)

After one of my run by rolls! See, she is still playful!

She even decided to give me some sweet puppy kisses.

Ahhhh, time for a rest. Sierra and I are still ready to go but ya have to take it easy on those youngins'. Rest well Miss Rosie so next time we see each other you are ready to play!!!

BARK the Vote!!