After a few very busy months of the Beagle Bed and Breakfast idea hitting us like a freight train we found some time to finally put together the long awaited Beagle Playground.

Most of you would be aware that I strongly believe that somewhere in the Beagle Bloodline they picked up some traits from a Mountain Goat. The more dogs that come here the more they show me over and over again that they love to climb.

For the Summer Season the house has been converted into a Beagle Haven. The furniture is moved to give them lots more space to run, tackle and play, the back door opened to give them the space to chase in circles and the back garden converted into a play area with things to climb, tug and jump from.

There are extra beds, blankets and a mattress to accommodate everyone's sleeping preferences more chew things (hoofs and sinews) and plenty of extra water bowls for the heat of the Summer.

If you check out our site under What we Offer you will see we have added grooming to our list of offerings as well as alot more options with regards to Daycare and "Hound Sitting". 

From next year we will be offering practical First Aid Classes for dogs. If you are interested please do drop me an e-mail (mostert.michele@gmail.com). The classes will run on Saturdays with a minimum of 5 people (and their dogs) needed. Once we see what sort of response there is we will be able to get back to you with more details and specific dates and prices.

Mercia from Acana contacted me to ask that I please do not compare the canine and human digestive systems. The canine digestive process is very acidic which is why it is so much better equipped to digest raw meat. Thank you for that 

I pulped (not chopped) the fruit. I did this by using my juicer and scraping out the pulp and then adding the juice. I took the fruit & veg mix and heated it to 40 degrees celsius. (Anything heated to under 45 degrees is still considered "raw"). This resembled the digested plant matter one would find in the stomach of a herbivore. 

I then mixed it all together, added a multivitamin supplement and fish oil and there I had it. My first raw food mix for my hounds. 

(I was rather pleased and gave then a small test sample. They lapped it up - Fudge was a little dubious but ended up enthusiastically looking up at me for more when he was done. That evening I fed them their allocated portions again and again it was very well received by Bailey. Fudge was yet again a tad unsure, but ended up finishing it rather happily)

There isn't much of a recipe. I used 70% beef mince and minced chicken. 10 % organ meat (minced tripe and chicken livers) and 20% fruits and vegetables prepared as described in the first paragraph. The fruits and vegetables I used was pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots, spinach, blue berries, apples, broccoli and celery.

Personal notes:
After 2 days Bailey refused to eat this. He through up his 3rd meal and went on an eating strike for 5 days. Fudge started eating very reluctantly after a few days and by day 6 he also said "no thanks".

I was proud with what I had done but before the week was up completely deflated. I decided to take what I had learnt and move onto developing something that would suit my dogs.