Bone Day again

Yesterday was bone day at my house; which means I was up and at the grocery store bright and early. I get strange looks and comments as I order my bones and walk through the store piled high with meat, bones and a can of pumpkin. Of course I bought more than I had planned, I hadn't grabbed a cart.

So there I was literally piled high with bones and meat. When I was ordering my bones the way I like them, I noticed they had their hamburger on sale so after the guy wrapped my bones I asked for 5lbs. I call the bones Flinstone bones, they are full legs and I have them cut in three pieces, they are very big and heavy. He guy at the counter kept insisting that he could help me; "thanks but I got it." I got it alright and my arms were about to collapse as I put everything onto the cash.

There were alot of questions through the cash "making something?" "Nope, its for my dogs." "Oh, bones for the dogs and hamburgers for you?" "Nope, its all for my dogs." ???????????? Human head turns! "You must love your dogs." "Yep!" I gave a quick explanation, sometimes I think people ponder what they feed their dogs after hearing what my guys are getting.

So back home; I took one step in the door and they know; Luke's nose never fails him when there is meat involved. I unwrapped the bones and put 1/2 of them in the deep freeze for later. The others sat on the counter for a while and then in the fridge to thaw. So Luke pretty much hovered in the kitchen or tried to get me back into the kitchen all day.

At around 3:00 the bones were ready and I was ready to give my undivided attention to bone chewing. Jessie gets hers first, then Tilley and last but not least Luke. Everyone is in a separate corner of the yard; placed strategically in the shade and where I can see everyone from the kitchen. I will have no fighting over bones.

This is such an important part of canine hygiene. Teeth cleaning; you cannot believe what their teeth look like after a session of raw bone chewing. There is much value put on a raw bone which means that there can be problems. Although I have no problems with my poodles, Jessie can get a bit possessive. So instead of instilling a guarding behavior by simply taking her bone I have taught her that my presence means a piece of raw meat.

I cut some of the meat off the bones just for this reason and throughout the chewing a deliver a piece to each of the dogs every so often. It has made a huge difference in Jessie's posture alone at my approach. She no longer freezes and gives me "the stare." She simply looks up at me to see what I have for her, very nice.

So now everyone has nice clean teeth once again and I have more bones in the freezer for a couple months from now.