The Last Year

During the last year Kin has got bigger:

(he's the one on the right, I'm on the left). Today he weighed in at 74 kgs (164 lbs).

He's become artwork:

(by Mafe

who's a bit on the shy side).

He's discovered ice:

And he's got way more skeptical about things, so after getting him onto the ice once (mainly as he didn't realise what was going on until he looked down, after that it was 'all stop' at the boundary, and he made it very clear that he had a low opinion of folk flouting their safety by going onto the ice, especially with blades on their feet 

Svein {and I on} Stokkavann}).

Obviously when there was water, ice, and no humans, this was perfect:

Great temperature as well :-) 

He's also been to the vets a few times,

You can see the patches of bare skin on both paws at his wrists in the above picture.

he's taken to licking his wrists, there was some concern that there was an issue here, especially when he developed a slight limp. The socks are to stop him licking (he manages to get the cone off his head in about three minutes, the socks last a few more minutes!).

He was knocked out for x-rays of his wrists, I had his elbows, and hips x-rayed as well

His elbows were 'free' :-) , the X-rays for his hips weren't okay for analysis, so had to be retaken. He's also seems to be getting tired from exercise, so I had his heart checked, and all seems fine, so it appears that he's just too hot (this is the best/warmest summer of his life so far). Today had his hips x-rayed again so hopefully these pics will be okay (both in terms of correct images for analysis, and especially for results). X-rays are send to the Norwegian Kennel Club, who have some vet prof who grades all such X-rays in Norway.

Obviously when he's knocked out I take the opportunity to groom his underside without the normal battle.

It takes him a long time to recover from the knock out injection. Several hours at the vet's, about 1 hour after he's given the 'antidote', and then about four hours. He stands in the garden swaying form side to side, not tired, but not in control of his body either, he's not very happy and you have to feel sorry for him. The first time he was X-rayed I thought I'd get to go back to work afterwards - it took 4 hours to get him back out of my car! First time was very unpleasent as the last time I knocked out a dog was when Karma was put down and I found it very upsetting to see Kin in that position.

Obviously in the last year, we've had lots of walks:

Plenty of swimming:

Culinary assessment:

I changed his diet to a mainly meat diet. A friend feeds his dog on this meat diet, and he's done lots of checking out, and lets face it, dogs have big, sharp teeth for a reason! Well on the way back from a site visit I was passing the factory where they make and freeze the food that Reidar feeds his beast, so I stopped off, they will only sell food to you if you don't sell it on and you buy 200 kgs at a go. I managed to fit 180 kgs into the boot of my car (cost is about 1/2 the price of buying it from a pet shop). There was however one drawback with having 180 kgs of frozen dog food in the car, I didn't have a freezer big enough to fit it in at home... and you would not believe how difficult it is to find such a freezer, buy one, and get it home. "Arh yes, we can have one by next Tuesday for you!" Happily I managed to find one, get it home, and Kin has been eating meat ever since. He's coat shines, his nails/teeth are good. He eats more, but he poos less (i.e. his body uses more of what he eats). He's been eating this since about March and seems very good on this diet. When you buy in bulk it works out the same as a medium priced dry dog food, and I'm convinced it's better for him.

And a bit of sleeping:

 Obviously the best place to sleep is in the doorway of the bedroom, when I'm sleeping in the bed, best on the other side of the door, so you can block the toilet door as well.