Antlers

I have bought deer antlers in the past for my dogs, but when I saw the moose and elk antlers I could not pass them up. The purpose of the antlers is to satisfy the dogs urge to chew and also to clean their teeth. Antlers are great because they grind down but do not splinter or break (except I got a bad one once that did) and unlike raw bones, you can feed them on the carpet and not worry about a mess or staining. The deer antlers work well. The moose and elk are going for the coolness factor. Kind of like the difference between driving a Ford Ranger and a F150 Lightning. Sure, both get you where you need to go, but one gets you there in style and impresses your friends.



Pie tries the moose first. She likes it. Pie hoards the elk antler, but only because Dottie was in her kennel. Dottie is mean and steals whatever it is Pie is currently chewing on.


When Dottie was freed, she nibbled the elk first. Then she ground down the the moose with gusto. Sadly for my wallet, the moose seems to be a bit softer then I would like and she is already making a dent it it. These are not cheap so I would hope they would last a long time. The deer antlers last for months.

Other traditional chew objects such as rawhide are not as good. Rawhide can make a dog sick if it is contaminated and it also can get stuck in their gut, plus, it doesn't clean teeth. Plastic chew bones are ok but with my dogs they don't get used enough to clean teeth.

The dog biking exercise program is going well. I dropped my bike off at the repair shop today. They are going to fix the gears, but new inter-tubes in the tire (puncture resistant), maybe put new tires on, give it a general tune up, put new hand grips on and install a new seat. I picked extra cushion grips and a big soft seat. I spend about 45 minutes on the bike per dog exercising session, which I know is not very long at all. I must be wimpy because my writs and rear end hurt! I hope the new additions help this! Don't you get annoyed when people use too many exclamations! I am stopping in Simi Valley on the way back from the dog show on Sunday to purchase a used bike rack that attaches to my trailer hitch so I can carry the bike easier- rather than shoving it in the back of the Rendezvous. PS- Don't be deluded that I'm getting good exercise riding the bike. I'm going slow to keep up a pace appropriate for the dogs to make it a long distance.

Tomorrow our dog club is doing a demo at a KidsFest, Sunday I'm doing an agility show, Monday is a day of work, a night of teaching a private obedience lesson, then me and ffluffy are hoping in the car and heading to Oklahoma for the AKC Agility Nationals. I'm bringing the computer so I can blog about the good stuff we see along the way, such as the much anticipated GPOL. (Giant Pair Of Legs for those uneducated among us.) Don't bother coming to rob my house in my absence because 1) There is nothing worth taking and 2) The person who lives in the other side of the duplex will be home and that is the same as me being home. So there.