welcome to another recap — a little overdue — of the goings-on on the scruffy dog facebook page.  if you’re not following SDP on facebook and keeping up with all the news, client sneak peeks, and photos, no worries … you can always catch up with things here on the SDP blog … although sometimes we do fall a little behind.

first  up we have young Sophie Rose … she’s a “miniature” bulldog, and one of the sweetest, snortiest snuffleupaguses you’ll ever meet.  and really, she’s not as grumpy as she looks!

like any respectable bulldog, this girl can catch some air …

and she loves the scruffy dog Cuz balls.

next up we have Chai.  although his session was a year ago, we didn’t work on his images until recently due to family issues and then Chai’s early passing from cardiomyopathy.

we had a very brief sneakpeek on the blog around the time of Chai’s session.

this big boy is very much missed and it is an honor to have had the opportunity to capture his happy spirit.

we also shared a few images of big, drooly boy Buddy from his session the other week.

and, no, in spite of his appearance, i’m pretty sure this boy is not part Bridge Troll …

then there was the very handsome Moose, posing in front of one of the Royal York murals …

i had an awesome time with young Beretta, a six-month-old Dutch shepherd who truly stole my heart.  this little drivey girl sparked a lot of memories for me — having grown up with german shepherds — and at one point when i took Beretta’s leash for a moment so mom Dorothy could get her things out of her vehicle, i swear, i felt something i hadn’t felt in a long time: the promise of an incredible drive ready to be harnessed and worked with, a young dog with the world ahead of her and so many amazing things in her future.  i was truly and deeply in love.

and the greatest part is that Beretta has two more scruffy sessions on the books before the year is out.  i’m so looking forward to working more with this amazing girl.

as with any week on facebook, i also shared a little before-and after … this one is of my latest love-interest, Beretta …

and then one of sweet old girl Penny from her second session a few weeks ago.

i shared a couple of sneak peeks of the ball-crazy Cooper from his session last week …

this boy o.w.n.s his ball.

and in any given week on the SDP facebook page, i always share a couple of images of the resident scruffies, matea mcscruffy and merrick goobernuts mcscruffy …

if you don’t laugh at this next photo of the goober, you might want to check for a pulse.  a couple of weeks ago the Kong company contacted me asking if they could send a box of Kong toys to be used at scruffy dog photo sessions. upon opening the huge box, merrick, obviously, was under the impression that they were all for him. he was absolutely giddy with anticipation …

and here is a short video of the goober digging through the box of new toys for his absolute favorite Kong product … (and let me qualify that this is not the best video!):

and then my amazing, right-hand-girl matea …

she’s turned 10 this year, and in spite of being on a raw diet for the majority of those years, her system has been changing over the last year.  she’s not the first raw-fed senior i’ve heard of requiring a switch to a cooked diet, and honestly, given that she’s always had a sensitive constitution (even back in those early days of quality kibble), in the back of my mind, i always anticipated this day.  so, cooked it is.

what you see below is the meat-portion of the girl’s diet prior to cooking: a few pounds of wild salmon, 15 lbs of venison and 5 lbs of organs (including heart and lungs, which i don’t factor into my actual “organ” percentage as we’re not concerned about Vit A ratios as we are with liver and kidney). not sure why I decided to grind this batch, but i figured (a) it might cook faster (i’m new to all this cooked fare), and (b) i’d be able to mix in the organs more efficiently.  this will be the last time i cook organs though.  urg! they stank up the house!  i’ll stick to feeding dehydrated and freeze-dried liver and kidneys, and cook chunks of meat instead of the ground. (too much moisture is lost when cooking ground).

and for those inquiring … this will be divvied up, frozen, and then mixed with oatmeal and veggies before feeding.

i do still firmly believe that — for optimum health — a raw diet should be the first diet for dogs and the place to start in any canine nutritional journey, especially when there are issues with intolerances and allergies … however, in the case of special needs and requirements, raw is not always the best choice for some dogs.

i hope you’ve enjoyed this facebook recap.  if you’d rather receive more up-to-the-minute news and sneak peeks, consider joining the scruffy dog facebook page … truly, it’s fun!