How Often Should I Feed my Dog?

From Leif's point of view, feeding should be done all the time. There is just not enough time in the day to eat all the food that would be necessary to fill him up.

"Please Feed Me!"

Of course Leif is a Labrador Retriever and they have no Full up button in their brain. They can just eat and eat until it endangers their lives. Yes a dog can die from over-eating.

I feed Leif twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the evening. I set his meals about twelve hours apart so he has breakfast at about 6am and dinner about 6pm. But you don't have to do that just give plenty of time between meals for them to digest their food.

Leif's breakfast is one American measuring cup of dry food, from this I take a small bait bag of food for his treats and rewards as he works through the day. Then in the evening he has another single cup measure of dry food plus I empty his bait bag from the day into his dish so all told he gets two measured cups of food per day.

To measure his food I use this Collapseable  Folding Measuring Cup.  This measuring cup is ideal if you want to travel, you can put it in a bag to measure your dogs food on the go.

Leif is an active working dog and this measure of food keeps him around the seventy pound weight mark. He also has a nicely trimmed body with a good waist and you can just feel his rib cage if you press lightly on his chest.

The image below is a link to the measuring cup on amazon.

Being a Lab and if he could talk he would probably claim to be starving but, that is just the Lab talking. I strive to keep him healthy for as long as possible. He is after all is said and done very important to me, both as a pet and a working dog.

Service Dog Attack

On Tuesday, William, my partner and I went to get a coffee and to enjoy some time walking around in the cooler weather after the recent Summer heat.



After he finished his coffee we were leaving Starbucks . That is when I was attacked.



Read the story here: William Elliott A Life with Blindness: Second Service Dog Attack: I ad planned my day to start quietly, just a short walk to the bus stop a five minute bus ride around the corner then a walk to the new ...

Always Busy

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As a puppy I always new that I was special. I got lots of praises, met very interesting people and got to fly inside aeroplanes and play with lots of other puppies.

Today as a qualified and working guide dog I always draw lots of attention when I  go out with my human, William.

William has a little bet with himself wherever we go. He listens out for the cries of little children calling out, "Doggie!"

The most "Doggies!" we have ever encountered was in a supermarket last week, where I raised twenty-one such cries in just thirteen minutes.

William always says how he would love a dollar for each cry of "doggie!" He would have a fortune. I just say if I had a piece of kibble for those cries, I would have a full tummy.

Did you know there is now a theory that we Labs have a missing gene? That missing gene told our wolf ancestors that our tummies were full and that we should stop eating.

Stop Eating! Wow I could never do that. Can you imagine how thin and gaunt I would look, a mere shadow of myself. I need to eat constantly to maintain my energy. I am constantly on the hunt for food. Whether it be kibble, an apple, popcorn or cedar chips. All find their way into my tummy at some time or other.

A few months ago, William found himself with a new hobby, his job is to feed me, his hobby is television production. He even has his own television program, 'Blindside Fresno' This program is produced each month and  talks about blindness and low vision issues. It has been interviews with people in the blind community in the first programs but later he promises a major role for me. But this may just be him making bigshot producer promises just to get me to work harder for him.

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When I haven't been working hard with William at the television studio I have had some nice days with doggie pals at the local dog park swimming pool. With temperatures here getting into the low 100 degrees F level it is much too hot to walk outside so it is nice to spend time cooling my paws in the pool.

Well tomorrow is a hard walking and working day for me. A doctors trip with William then out to speak to some prospective guests on his TV show.

I Was On Television

A few days ago, I was invited by my friends at Fresno Far Sighted Puppy Raisers to go on a night walk around the Fig Garden Village shopping center.

My puppy pals Doyle and Eagle were there along with their puppy raisers. When  William and I arrived we did not know that the evening was also planned to be filmed by Jonathan, a journalism student at Fresno State University.

As we walked around the shops and restaurants we were filmed and I think I did a pretty good job of showing what a guide dog does for a living.

The link below will take you to the finished news report as broadcast on Fresno State Focus on 12/14/15.   Please share if you enjoy it.

How to tell your Partner You want a Treat

Post by Guide Dog Leif.

Merry Christmas

As part of my job I get to meet some important people.

The First Year

This week has seen my first anniversary with William, my partner whom I guide.

I cannot really complain about my life. William lets me do all sorts of fun things.

This year I have, since graduating from Guide Dogs for the Blind;

Created a Facebook Page. I actually have more friends on my Facebook page than William. Awesome!

Attended council meetings to ask the council for more accessible road crossings for the disabled, my cuteness wins over the councillors everytime.

Been to give talks on Guide Dogs for the Blind at the local library, scout and girls groups.

Trained with and supported the local middle school boys soccer team and been their very lucky charm.

Won our families fantasy football game trophy, without even knowing a single player.

Appeared on stamps, greetings cards and mugs. How handsome I look in my harness.

Guide Dog Mug by Bretsuki
More Guide dog Mugs

Black Lab Stamp by Bretsuki
Look at other Black Stamps at zazzle.com



 

Black Lab and Flag Greeting Card by Bretsuki
Find other Black lab Cards at zazzle.com

Fantasy Football Star

Here we are coming into week seven of the NFL season.

Your favorite guide dog is pretty much sitting pretty at the top of the Elliott household NFL Fantasy Football League.

Before the season started, William, or He Who Feeds Me, decided he wanted to have a good chance to have an active interest in Football this year.

He has been a Chicago Bears fan since the mid 1980's when the first regular season game highlights were shown in England on Channel 4 TV. Sadly he still gets excited when the Bears play on TV. I of course being from the San Francisco Bay area have to be a 49ers fan. Well they have pretty uniforms in red and gold. Plus they win some games too.

Darcie, also know as, My best tuggy toy friend, and William's wife is a Denver Broncos fan. All I can say there is Payton Manning.

Anyway. they set up a series of teams based on favorites and then they set up a team for me, taking my yawns and grunts as cues to approve or disapprove.

Being the superior animal that I am, in week one, I slaughtered the opposition and this has continued through week six.  As this weeks plays begin it is eyes down in this house, not to brag but they are now resigned to me winning and looking between themselves to see who will come second.

I am steadfast in my support of the 49ers.   But am glad to see the Giants are through to the 'World Series" in baseball.

"Old Glory" Photographic Print by Bretsuki
View more Black lab Photography

Gonuts 2 Tug Toy

Back in July 2014, I went back home to San Rafael for a Fun Day with William.

While there we saw my favorite toy stall.

The Gonut stall.

William had bought me a Gonut stick toy before our graduation last year and I have loved to play with it everyday since.

On display at the Fun Day toy stall was this Gonut 2. Though at that time they were thinking of calling it the "Infinitoy" We actually tried it out there. I have to say it was much more fun, William is able to hold one of the rings while I tug and pull as hard as I can. It is great fun for both of us now. No slobbery fingers for William and less chance that I can bite him by accident as my mouth and his hand are not on the same part of the toy.

It has the same Gonut guarantee that the toy will be replaced without question if your dog breaks through the outer layer with his teeth and provides great fun for dogs like me who like to play tug.

I love it!  Buy it here:

Me and The Flag

Post by Guide Dog Leif.

Having the Upper Paw

You may have heard that we guide dogs serve our blind partner.

Well let me set you right. We guide dogs serve ourselves. We do the job purely for our own satisfaction.

Walking down a street is basically a compromise of differing interests. For my blind person the task is merely to get down the street safely.

For me, the job is much more complicated. I must use my skills to lead him and get the most kibble treats as I possibly can.

Here for instance was a real situation: My blind guy and I were walking down the street, I can see a car parked in our way. Taking him in one direction will give me only one treat. Taking him around the obstacle in the opposite direction will give me three possible treats. So which do I take?

The three treat route of course.

I show him the obstacle, get my treat, guide him to the end of the obstacle, another treat, then lead him arounsd the obstacle. Jackpot, third treat.

Just leading around might have given me one treat if he had even noticed that we went off our line.

So when you see a guide dog team at work. Don't feel sorry for the guide dog.He or she  has the upper paw at all times. We are smart remember. We  do all our work for what we can get out of it. Kibble, lots of kibble.

Meeting a Guide Dog Team

Many people don't meet a guide dog team everyday, so I'd like to let you know the correct way to approach us.

First of all, a blind person and their guide dog are properly called a "Guide Dog Team"

Most people see us guide dogs as friendly and approachable and many think nothing of just reaching out and grabbing at our heads or ears even while working. Doing such a thing is very distracting to us dogs as we work it may cause us to jump, distract us and make any situation dangerous.

The correct way to say hello is to ask our  human partner if you may say hello, pet  me or such a thing.

Quite often, William, my human partner is ok with people saying hello. Warning him gives him time to give me instructions to break from working and sit quietly.

Some guide dog partners do not like people to pet their dog. This is a personal choice and should be honored. Saying no to you is not personal and is not meant to hurt your feelings, it is just that they know their dog and maybe the dog doesn't take to interruptions in their working very well.

Don't approach a guide dog team in a street crossing  or on the approach to a crossing. Those are not the time to want to say hello.

Also please don't offer me treats or throw food down  in front of me as I am working. it can be very distracting and lead to accidents. Though we are well trained and well cared for as working guides, we are also dogs and can sometimes be easily distracted.

A Guide Dogs Day

Many people think that a guide dogs day is all work.

That is possibly because they might see us in harness, but when we are not in harness we just become another dog.

Well just in case you are wondering here is my typical day:

7am I am up and about. Do my morning stretches and go to the bathroom.

7:30am I have my breakfast and often go into the yard to lay in the sun while it is cool.

9:30 I might have a game of tug rope.

10:00 Put on my harness and lead William the couple of miles to work, or if it is hot lead him onto the bus to ride to work.

10:45 We usually arrive at William's office and I get a chance to relieve again.

11:00  Get a drink of water before going under William's desk to sleep.

3:00 PM  I usually wake and go for a relieve break. Sniff around, say hello to friends.

3:15 Back under the desk for more snoozing.

7:30 pm Harness up again to walk or ride home.

8:15  Have dinner.

9:00 PM play with my toys. Chew on my nylabone chews, go-nut stick or wrestle William.

10:00 PM Late Reliving time and go to bed ready for tomorrow.

This would be my typical work day. As you can see there is a lot of downtime for me.

Some days I may not work at all, week-ends I might work only a few minutes like when William wants to go to the movies.

So a guide dogs life is not all work. we get to have lots of fun time too.

Hello

Leif, sits beside some fruit bushes.

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to my new blog. I am very excited to introduce myself to you.

My name is Leif, I am a black Labrador Retriever and a graduate of Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, California.

I have been working as a guide dog partner to William since November 2013. We get on well. He is a bit mean  giving out the kibble as reward for my great work, but I have my own ways to get those extra bites of kibble.

Life as a working guide dog is not all work of course. There is a lot of downtime and I get to play tug rope and play with my toys.

We also get to meet lots of people as we travel around.

I hope that you will follow my blog. Maybe become a friend and comment on my posts.