Abraham understands dogs!

The risk of a few bugs in the eye is so worth it!!!!

Just say NO!

While Smash does not approve of clothes for dogs in general this one new fashion trend definitely goes too far in his opinion. He wants to remind all of you that "That dog will bite you!"

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/pets/detail?entry_id=56610

Shopping for dog food

Cooking for Smash has been a bit of a hassle this week so I thought I would get him some kibble to tide him over. He normally eats the Hill Science Diet Chicken and rice formula. I decided to grab a bag of their sensitive skin formula. I was shocked when I saw the label said Brewers rice as the first ingredient. Brewers rice is the ingredient that we have found is what CAUSES Smashes skin allergy!

I put that bag back and started looking for something else. I eventually found the Nutro Brand guaranteed to make your dogs skin better. No brewers rice is listed on the label and the rest of the ingredients look pretty good so that is what he is eating. I will take then up on their guarantee if it does not help him.

He got a bit of pinto beans and roast to supplement it tonight as well.

Smash Protests the Latest Lady Gaga Video!

While my dog Smash has enjoyed the use of the big black and white dog featured in Lady Gaga's previous videos, he is appalled at the scene in the diner where the dog is poisoned. See it for your self:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ95z6ywcBY

Maybe it is just the detox diet making him edgy.

Smash's Skin problems return

Poor Smash was almost healed up from his skin troubles when the lesion returned with a vengeance. We quickly found that the Sprotsman brand of dog food we had recently bought form our local hardware store was the cause of his severe allergies.

It was supposed to be a quality dog food and came highly recommended by the store but it did not sit well with Smash even though he liked the taste. I had just bough a new bag when we made the connection. Instead of throwing it out I set it aside in case it turned out not to be the culprit. I was planning to donate it to someone whose dog could tolerate it.

While Janice was in the hospital, our son unknowingly fed Smash the wrong food. We did not know this for several days and we we puzzled why the skin irritation had returned.

We think the offending ingredient is brewers rice. Even when we went back to the normal brand of dog food his skin did not completely clear up as we had changed
flavors. The one we bought had brown rice on the main label but in the ingredient list it said brewers rice. Of course we did not notice until the skin problems failed to clear up. The normal flavor we buy for him also says brown rice on the label and the ingredient list.

This week I have been making his food from scratch and feeding him very little of his normal commercial food. I have also tried giving him a little aloe in his water to help clear out his tummy.

Hopefully he will be back to normal soon. And we have learned to be very careful when reading the food labels.