Pets

Pets offer unconditional love. I currently have one dog, Sophie, that you will see all over my pictures. She was a very frequent companion when I used to go into an office. Besides the fact that she was available for petting by anyone having a bad day, she also forced me to leave my desk at reasonable intervals to take her outside. Additionally, she is a very well travelled dog, and does wonderfully in a car. She's been to Quebec, Nova Scotia, Las Vegas, Washington DC, and Ashville.

Sophie

Sophie is a very spoiled red Doberman. She does, however, have many rules. We both feel that training is extremely important for dogs of all sizes. But with the rules also comes much love. For anyone who hasn't owned a Doberman, here's a quick glimpse into what life with her is like. You'll also find lots of pictures of her on our various trips on the Travel page.

Raw Food Diet

Sophie was on free-feed biscuits for the first 1.5 years of her life, much to the amazement of everyone who met her. However, when I met my now-spouse I saw her feeding her dog Lilly raw food. Lilly SO enjoyed her food, and was so healthy for her age, and it made me rethink and research raw diets.

If you are thinking about starting your dog on a raw diet I encourage you to do some research. I'm also happy to share some tips for managing the process efficiently. Including clean-up, I'd say I spend about 2 hours per month preparing her food. And while I started obsessively following a recipe I found on the internet, I am much less stressed about the details. I follow some general guidelines about the amount of bone, organ meats, and vegetables recommended, but overall I rely on variety to fill in the gaps.

Pictures from the first time I ever made food! I was staying in a vacation home so had to chop everything by hand, whereas now most of the work is done for me by my food processor. Also, I have a much more efficient system now :)

Sophie had been on free-feed of dry biscuits her entire life, and I was worried about her accepting raw food. However, the very first time I made food I turned my back to grab a container and she stole a bite off the corner!

Every time I fed her a new thing it was a learning experience as she figured out how to eat it, and I would freak out that I probably killed her. But she gnawed her way through fish heads and ground up chicken thigh bones with no problem!

Sophie must wait on her carpet for dinner at each meal. She adores her food. Originally I worried about over- or under-feeding her, but it turns out to be really easy to adjust her meal sizes when she looks a bit thin or a bit pudgy.

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