Ray likes to be challenged when he eats.  He prefers to eat from Kongs and has a couple of them but not enough to make it an every meal event.  He also has a food puzzle that he loves even though it is only good for a few treats or pieces of kibble at a time.  It constantly needs to be “reloaded” and is fast falling apart, so I only get it out when Ray needs some extra mental focus.

Recently I had a coupon from PetSmart for a treat for Boo Kitty’s birthday so I took that opportunity to get Ray a Kong Wobbler.  I figured he would like the challenge of tipping it over to dispense his kibble, but also it was big enough that he couldn’t do the pick up and drop move he uses for his regular kongs. 

I think it is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

September weekends are usually the best.  The weather is lovely and chores are fewer so there is plenty of time to relax and have some fun.

What should we have?  Carrots?  Snap peas?  Sweet taters?  Or maybe some Duck, Duck, Goose?

Pfft. 

I thought it was an Urban Legend, a myth, a unicorn.  I’d heard about it, I’d read about it and even looked for it on occasion but until today, I never quite believed I’d score one myself.  I’m talking about those people you read about who find a treasure at the Salvation  Army Store, Goodwill or a garage sale. 

I think I sold one once.  My neighbor added a great set of silverware to our garage sale which went for not nearly enough, in my opinion.  Today, as I was headed to the grocery store, I saw a sign at the neighboring Salvation Army store:  Big Sale.  I felt kind of Pinterest-y and wondered if I could find some piece of junk that I could turn into a treasure.  I did not.

But as I turned to go, I saw along the wall a familiar black and brown leather which I was once obsessed with owning, (though I never did).  Hardly daring to breathe, I searched for the fob that I knew would be dangling on the handle.  Now just to read it.  Would it be real?

It was.  A Brahmin bag. 

It is in “well loved” condition, but I can clean it up some and love it some more.  And the best part?  It was marked $1.25 and I got it for half off!  I just bought  a Brahmin bag for sixty-six cents!

You probably know by now that Mama is crazy, right?  Well she got me my own account so that I can be a guest blogger…on my own blog!  I  know this is supposed to be about how well all of the kitties and I get along, but we all know who this blog is really about, right? 

Well, tonight was really beautiful so Mama and I decided to hang out on the patio for awhile and Mama gave me a marrow bone from the freezer.  She always gives them to me on the patio but I usually take them into the grass to gnaw on. 

But tonight after a little while of laying in the grass and chewing on my marrow bone, I got a good idea!

I picked up my mat and dragged it into the grass so I could lay on it while I chewed on my bone.  Mama’s friend, N, says I’m spoiled, but I just think I’m a smart little boy.

Actually, one of the reasons we were outside for so long tonight was so that I could enjoy my bone at my leisure  Mama could sprinkler the lawn.  I was good and ignored the sprinkler everywhere it was in the yard until it got to my side and then I decided to play.

How did you spend your beautiful evening?

I got an extra special treat today.  Mom read that the Chickerdoodles get sweet potatoes as treats but in her usual manner, forgot exactly what she read and got everything all mixed up.  She peeled and sliced a big, fat sweet potato and dropped the slices in a bowl of ice water and gave me a nice cold slice.  She called it a flip chip because whenever I get a new veggie to try I like to flip it up in the air a few times, then scrunch my nose up at it while I play gitchie. 

I was moving so fast and Mom is so old and slow, that she got a funny blurry picture of me with my flip chip.  After I finished throwing it around my head and growling at it, I settled down to munch on my sweet prize. 

Mom got really close too, and took close up pictures of my handsome face, but I had a surprise for her.  I grabbed the strings on her camera stap and clamped down on them because I wanted to take pictures too.  Now, when I get something in my fat mouth, I don’t really like to let go.  Daddy said I’m stubborn.  Mom says I’m bull-headed, then she laughs like she said something funny.  All I know is because I like to hold things in my fat mouth and then sit real still like I don’t have anything in my mouth, Mom decided to balance chunks of sweet taters on my head!

I decided it might be a good time to not have the camera stap in my mouth anymore.

Oh, yeah, speaking of food, Mommy said to tell you there’s been a recall on AvoDerm dog food.

~by Ray-Ray

You probably get by now that I am a Pit Bull geek, especially about the Vicktory Dogs, but through my fascination  with them, many others as well.  About a year or so ago, I bid on some auction items to help defray some healthcare costs for Wallace the Pit Bull.  I was happy to bid at the time, because I was bidding on a pawtographed Victory Dog photo.  I want to say it was Cherry’s photo.*  I was really after a Hector, but I was out bid.  (I’m guessing here, because I am building a modest collection up).

As a bonus or thank you, I recieved a pawtographed photo of Wallace.  I was happy with my winnings, but honestly at the time, I was all, eh… he’s a disc dog who has a famous brother.  I had seen disc competition on TV before, and even recognized a couple of names I ran across in the book, though not Wallace’s at the time.  Obviously, I wasn’t a disc competition follower.  As I read, I became more intrigued.  What a great story, what a great testament to the dedication to the “Breed” and to busting stereotypes.  I love that Wallace isn’t the perfect dog.  He has issues.  I admit that made me happy to read because as much as I love my little guy, there were times in his puppyhood that I thought he was a real a**hole.  Really he was just a puppy and we are growing up and working through issues as all responsible pet owners do.  That is what Wallace and Roo did.  It isn’t just that Wallace is a good ambassdor for the breed.  Their family, working together, are the ambassadors.  It’s knowing your dog and accepting limits and pushing when you know you can and avoiding questionable situations. It is responsible ownership at it’s best.
 

Today I finished reading Wallace the book by Jim Gorant, who wrote The Lost Dogs.  It was an easy read.  I was engrossed from the first page and found it hard to put down.  I found myself with a little crush on Wallace after all.  He was a real dog, with real dog issues.  He lives with a real family.  I finished the book and logged onto Facebook to read something heartbreaking.  Wallace has had some more health issues lately and today even worse news.  Wallace has cancer.  I shed a tear.  A tear for a dog whom I’ve never met.  A tear for a family I will never meet.  A tear for a courageous athlete, a tear for the underdog who won over so many people.  A tear for Wallace.

The Yori family are in our prayers.

*I originially had Cherry’s picture in this post as well and I will be posting some of my cherished pictures in the coming posts but today is all about Wallace.

Ray and I watched our favorite football team last night and were completely amped at the monster night the Ravens had.  We are so excited for this season and hope everyone else is too.  Both of the players that Ray is named after had great nights.  Ray Rice had 68 yards and 2 touchdowns and Ray Lewis had 14 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble. 

We believe Ray needs a jersey to go with his Ravens collar and that Mom needs to get her fingers out of the way when taking pictures.  (I should just get a real camera and lose the Droid.)

On a more somber note, we send our heartfelt thoughts to those who have been affected by the horrible tragedy of 9/11.  To all of those who lost friends, family, coworkers, pets.  To those pets who lost owners.  To those valiant canines who did their jobs…the term Cadaver Dog actually brings tears to my eyes…to all of those who Searched, Rescued and Located. 
Thank You.

This marks the 100th post at Peace-a-Bull Assembly!  Frankly, I can’t believe we are here and have made this milestone in such a short time.  My old personal blog has 186 posts and though I posted in every year,  I have had that one since 2004!  I guess I find my furry menagerie more interesting to write about than myself.  Because this is about the whole assembly, I believe I will be incorporating more about the non furry family members as well, or even some projects, so I hope you’ll stay with me for the next hundred!

This past weekend was fun and full.  I decided to try my hand at some home-made doggie treats and found a gluten-free recipe online that I used as a base.  I then began the process of turning this:

Into this:

Obviously, the recipe made more than one treat, but this one is the pretty one.  The rest are in various states of bone-shapes. 
The recipe I ended up with is 
1 lb ground chicken
1 large sweet potato, cooked and mashed
5 T milled flaxseed
1 egg
a sprinkle of garlic powder
a dash of parsley
Mix all together, spread on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for one hour.  Remove from oven and cut shapes then continue baking at 250 for an additional hour*.
Here is where I found the recipe.  By following these times I ended up with treats along the consisency of a bread, like zucchini bread so I ended up baking them for an additional 30 minutes and still found them not actuall crisp.  The upside?  The kitties love them as well and I like being able to treat everyone at the same time with the same treats if possible.  The downside?  Definitely the baking time.  The recipe actually made less than I thought and I ended up only getting the product spread on half of a cookie sheet.  I’d like to try this again and play with ingredients and different pans.  The furbabies, don’t seem to mind that the shapes are all random.

My other big project was to help find a home for all of the bricks that we pulled out of the yard before the pool install.  We had a little pad in front of the shed but when we finished things, Kevin had redone that area.  Here is what I came up with:

This is a corner by the door in back but also out of the way.  I was pretty happy with the result and very sore from lugging bricks.

My learning moment for the weekend came as Ray was “helping” me with the laundry.  He is always eager to stick his big bully head in the dryer and run away with a random item or sit in front of the dryer and grab an item as I move it from the washer to the dryer.  As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a little slow on the uptake, so after blocking with my body didn’t work, a lightbulb finally flashed on.  When I got ready to flip the laundry from washer to dryer, I took that opportunity to work on sit/stays with Ray.  Jackpot!

We also took what is becoming our weekly trip to the Tractor Supply Store in town.  We’ve been going now for a few weeks and when we arrived, Ray’s favorite employee was at the cash register.  She said she had been talking about Ray earlier in the week about how sweet, polite and well mannered he was.  We were also approached by a manager who thanked us for coming in not once, but twice.  This is such a good opportunity for us to practice Ray’s “outside” manners and this is the only place in town that we can get bully sticks, so double score for us!  We will definitely continue to spend our money in a place this is this welcoming.

Finally, I’m sure you are wondering if Ray was happy that we finally got our sod installed.  Well, see for yourself.