Our Middle Aged Boxer...

 

      Lucy on one of our many hikes. 

Well, Lucy is now 9 years old and she is starting to show signs of being middle aged. While she still has a lot of heart, she is starting to slow down just a bit. I think this is mostly because of joint discomfort in her hips. 

In an effort to allow her more mobility and relieve joint pain, we've been very careful in helping her maintain a healthy weight. She is now down to a healthier 65 lbs. versus the 78 lbs. that she was at. In addition to weight management, we've put her on a glucosamine supplement. Before we started on the supplement, she would sometimes drag her rear back right leg. This got our immediate attention. The glucosamine seems to have helped her regain quite a bit of flexibility. 

We've also placed her on a daily doggy aspirin routine. She gets a dose of 160 mg. aspirin twice a day. One tablet in the morning and one before she goes to bed at night. This too seems to help her flexibility. I say doggie aspirin because it comes from the Vet and tastes like liver. Yes, I tried one! Not bad!!! Even the glucosamine has a nice taste - if you are a dog! 

Since we live in fairly hilly terrain, we are very careful in where we take her on our hikes together. We stop a little more often than we use to in order for her to cool down and take a break. I learned this the hard way one day when we over did it just a bit and Lucy insisted that we either stop or I carry her home. I did a bit of both. I think she got overly excited in the first part of walk and over did it on a rather warm day. That leads me to another topic...

Boxers aren't equipped with the best cooling system. Due to their shorter snouts they can overheat in a hurry if you aren't careful. We tend to pick cooler times of the day to hike with Lucy. The cooler the better. You can see in the picture we also keep a coat handy for comfort on the cooler mornings and evenings. 

If you would like more information on the supplement and aspirin, drop me a note and I'll be happy share where you can find what we are giving Lucy. Until next time, cioa! 

Peanut Butter and Molasses

 

And..

Peanut butter and molasses as a treat for your dog just doesn't sound right, or does it? It does when you consider that in a world of processed foods, there just doesn't seem to be anything out there that can be considered healthy. Most store bought treats contain large amounts of animal by-products, artificial flavors, artificial colors and artificial preservatives. All which can have an impact on your pet's overall health. 

Over the years we have experimented with many different types of treats for Lucy - some good and some not so good. We've tried people foods that were considered healthy but Lucy would just turn them down and besides, there can be dangers in feeding your dog the same foods that you eat. We've also tried what were considered wholesome foods from the pet store that upset her stomach and were very expensive. But there was one treat we could always count on that she could tolerate and seemed to enjoy and it just happens to be peanut butter! She just loves the stuff! I must warn you; it is not easy to watch your dog eat peanut butter, especially in its normal packaging. They will lick and lick to try to get it all out of their mouths. But they will never turn it down and it's actually good for them. 

One day while in the store I came across a box of dog treats that listed all natural and low fat "peanut butter and molasses" healthy treats for dogs. The treat is a hard baked cookie containing unbleached wheat flour, whole-wheat flour, blackstrap molasses, palm oil, whey oats, natural caramel, nonfat milk, egg, salt, baking soda, natural peanut butter and brewer's yeast. They are baked semi-hard to help keep teeth clean. There is no artificial anything in the cookie! I instantly purchased them and brought them home for my dog.

Lucy has been eating these cookies as a treat for about a year now and loves them. 
They come out of the box as what I would call a large cookie for a treat, so I break them up for her. She never gets more than one large cookie on any given day. She's actually on a schedule for her treats receiving about a third of a cookie three times a day. This helps us maintain her calorie intake and of course, her weight. What a great idea for a treat! 

Since I'm not in the business of selling dog treats, I won't list the company here on my blog but if you will drop me a note I will be happy to give you the name of the bakery. Just a note, if the company ever goes out of business I think these treats would be easily made from home. It might take just a little experimentation in the kitchen to make up a healthy treat for your favorite critter but it would be well worth the time to do so! 

Cheers!

A Great Cause...

I received this letter recently and I just feel obligated to share it with everyone that my come across this blog. The embedded links in the message lead to a site for books that profit the care of orphaned and abandoned dogs and discourages puppy mills. Please read the letter and follow the links. I think you'll be glad you did... The last link in the letter is a really touching story about a white boxer that is a must read...

Dear Bob,

I enjoy your Lucy the White Boxer Dog blog and thought you might be interested in a project I'm working on that features some white Boxers.

I’m raising awareness about puppy mills and supporting dog rescue groups by publishing breed-specific books full of stories about adopted dogs. The books give proud owners of adopted dogs a chance to showcase them, raise awareness about dog adoption and breed characteristics, and generate funding for dog rescue through the donation of a portion of each sale. We’ve now completed “Lost Souls: Found!” books on Boston Terriers, Golden Retrievers, Dachshunds, Labradors, Pit Bulls, and Boxers. We have also published a very special memoir of a Hollywood Studio Wrangler who has worked on set with adopted dogs entitled “Hollywood Barks!”


There's a story from our upcoming Boxer book about a white Boxer posted at http://happytailsbooks.com/story1.htm . Thought you might enjoy it. We would greatly appreciate it if you could post about the book and let friends and family know about it. Profits go back to dog rescue efforts.
Thank you,

Kyla

The story about Rocky the White Boxer really touched me. I trust you find something on this site that touched you as well... Please do visit the site! It for a great cause! Thanks!!!