A hiking we will go - Tracey Hill Hiking Trail

There are plenty of exciting hiking trails around here and with the views just from the road I'm pretty excited to see what the views are from some of these trails. First up, Tracey Hill Hiking Trail. There are two trails here, you can either go along the shore, called the Boney Shore Trail or hiking a million steps up Tracey Hill. What did I opt for? The stairs... but only because it was a buggy day and me, with my irrational fear of bugs didn't want to risk my sanity so lets gain some altitude and hope for more wind. Both of these trails are located in Red Bay, Labrador a historical basque whaling site. The views are amazing here and it only gets better as you climb those heart attack inducing stairs, all 689 of them.

I was game for it though, we could do this, Boone and Woof with me if anything they'd drag me along. They list this trail as easy but if you're like me and not in shape it might be a bit of a winded walk to say the least. It started off easy enough a little boardwalk trail, even when the stairs come up it doesn't seem so bad, they aren't steep steps. There are rest areas along the trail, with a picnic table and coin operated binoculars, but I'd personally just bring your own if you have a pair.

Also through the trails there are little descriptive panels that you can stop and read about the history of the area. Pretty neat and interesting. The wreck of the Bernier is still in on the rocks and there are tours to it as well as Saddle Island where there is the lighthouse and a bog cemetery among other interesting bits.

The views were amazing and if you look really hard in this second picture you can see a few BIG icebergs. Not much tree wise, it's pretty barren but it gives you these clear views for miles, there was even still snow on some of the hills!

Happy dogs, happy me, beautiful scenery in Red Bay, Labrador. Definitely going to feel this in the morning...

My dog rides the bed... of the truck.

Dogs riding in the beds of trucks is a hot topic. You either agree with it or you are completely and utterly against it. Personally we allow our Lab to ride in the bed. From a 6 week old puppy he was trained to ride in the bed properly. Up against the cab, sit down or lay down and don’t friggin’ move until the truck stops, then and only then may you get up and move around. He does so, he isn't tied, he is only kenneled in the bed if we are going on a long trip or on highways. Why do we allow it? Simply because he enjoys it, given the choice he’ll get in the bed, he has more room than in the cramped back seat with his two brothers. 

While I’m not against it I am against the individuals who allow their dogs to weave back and forth dangerously from side to side while the vehicle is moving. I am also against all of this:

If you allow your dog to ride in the bed of your truck either have full training that it remained seated or down against the back of the cab while the truck moves, secure a crate into the bed that it can be in or tie it with only enough room to maybe stick it's nose around the cab. Anything else is a massive distraction to other drivers and yourself. You cant tell me any of those drivers in those pictures above would be able to stop quickly without the dog getting seriously hurt. Or in the Border Collie's case accelerate quickly so that it doesn't simply slide out along with the rest of the junk that is in the bed.

Don't get me wrong, I know there are dangers to having your dog ride in the bed of the truck. But at least with proper training, the use of a crate or tie it can be safer for all involved. 

The Salt Divider

Woohoo, so I finally have internet, we've made the move to Labrador and all is well.

I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to what my dogs eat. Growing up of course we fed them whatever was at the grocery store. We didn’t see any harm in it; the bag and the TV ads made it look like a good food, like we were giving them the healthiest stuff on the planet. As I got older and more into pet care I was horrified, worse when my Lab mix ended up having a lot of terminal health problems that were commonly associated with foods like that. My parents were never convinced that there were better foods out there, that the ones on the TV ads and in grocery stores were not healthy. The other foods were too expensive and he was just a dog, a much loved family dog but just a dog none the less. My current dogs are fed a much healthier diet of high quality kibbles and prey model raw.

For the most part we all know things such by-products should be avoided and that the first 5 ingredients are the most important, but while cruising the internet today I came across what is called “the salt divider”. I’d never heard of it before and it peaked my interest as I am always open to new information regarding my dogs’ health. Salt is a marker of ingredient quantity in pet food, anything listed after salt on the ingredient list is generally so minimal (less than 1% of the diet) that it barely counts. So if your feeding a food for a certain health benefit such as urinary issues and want a food with cranberries in it and it is listed below salt (salt has several names so you might have to look it up) the fact is that in that 30lb bag of food the amount of cranberry is pretty much equal to that of a cranberry.  That’s pretty sad and misleading. You’re better off buying fresh cranberries or a urinary supplement to add to their food.

So of course after reading about this I decided to check the bags of food I currently had. Woof eats Chicken Soup for the Soul Adult Weight Care, it helps with his pancreatitis as the fat level is fairly low. Salt isn’t listed until the 7^th and 6^th to last ingredient, after that pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, rioboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin D supplement, folic acid are listed. Not bad.