Lucy Is Doing Well

Lucy wants Stella to play.

Lucy went off with Jess yesterday morning and settled in quickly at the office.  Poor Stella the Cavalier was less than thrilled with Lucy, or perhaps Stella prefers her Dalmatians in liver rather than black!  Jess was very pleased with how quickly Lucy caught on to things in a new situation and is looking forward to showing her.  Lucy arrived in good weight and with reasonable toenails, things that are often issues with family Dals.  Patti has worked very hard on the latter, as her kids were inclined to share their snacks with Lucy, who also learned to help herself off the counter - we call that Counter Surfing.

Lucy is not impressed.

We have changed her diet to a better quality food - chicken meal as the first ingredient is a red flag - chicken meal is NOT the same as chicken when you see it in the ingredients list on a bag of dog food.  Because she is blowing her coat right now (bad timing, Lucy) she'll also get salmon oil and a coat supplement called Dog Bloom.  All Dals benefit from added salmon oil, or even regular fish oil.  If Lucy belonged  to us she would be eating a raw diet, but no point in switching her over for two months although neither of us enjoy cleaning up the big smelly poops that go with kibble-fed dogs.  One of the nice things about feeding a raw diet is the small, dry odorless stools that break down into powder rather than turning to brown plastic lumps that last forever.

We're pleased with Lucy so I went ahead and entered her at additional shows, but the rest of the week is still up in the air.  Eddie leaves on Wednesday which will be good.  He and Mariah are both good pups, but together they can get on your nerves.  She likes to pick on him and make him squeal, which I don't appreciate.  Funeral is Thursday, so there's still a chance we can go to St. Louis, but we'll have to leave late and the forecast is not very encouraging.  Fingers crossed that the Dal girl will not be ready to breed until next week, but don't suppose we'll be that lucky!