For the love of her pup

Mariposa has been desperate to give Midgy a bath outside. When we renovated the bathroom, the old tub was moved outdoors. I've had ideas of a small pond, or even a worm farm. Hubby has also had some interesting ideas involving pumps and wiring. Mariposa saw potential now as a dog bath, and had diligently cleaned it after moving it from it's place of rest near the shed.

So, with some tank water and a kettle full of hot water, the sun and a warm breeze, we let her take the opportunity.

Now, I must advise that she's not done this task alone before. In fact, Midgy has only had a few baths in his lifetime, and never in quite so large a tub. Once he got his feet wet, he didn't mind too much staying still and allowing Mariposa to pour warm water over him and massage in the doggy soap.

Getting him out and having him stay still whilst out was more the problem.

And we all know what dogs prefer to do as soon as they're clean, don't we?

Yep, straight for a nice warm patch of dirt to roll about in. Poor Mariposa was NOT impressed, but she's learning that that's the way of it, I'm afraid.

A good run about with a new toy certainly makes a clean(er) pup very happy.


I have also been having a bit of fun trying to keep Midgy fit and healthy. I've decided to ditch the tinned dog food and make our own. Whilst Midgy is proving to be more economical to feed than the cat (Duffy) was, if there's opportunity for improvement, I'll take it.

I regularly read "Down to Earth" and decided to look back over the archives for ideas on feeding a dog with the lifestyle we're trying to keep. Rhonda Jean has a great recipe for homemade dog food, so when I was at the butcher's today, I picked up some low-grade mince so I could give it a go.

My 13litre stock pot was just over 1/2 full once this finished cooking, so it looks like a couple of week's supply. I'll put it into individual containers to freeze once cool in the morning.

I want to have a go at making up the dog biscuits also, but Mariposa is keen to help me with that, so we'll attempt that later this week.

Let's just hope that he enjoys what we've cooked up for him already. I guess we'll find that out tomorrow!