Lucky Dog Blog

Eco Challenge

Wow - where did the summer go?  We have been busy enjoying the sun and keeping Lucky Dog ticking along.  We obviously haven't been attending to the blog so thank-you to everyone who still checks in from time to time. 

Over the summer I have stepped up the efforts around here to become a little more earth friendly.  You've seen post about the quest for the perfect poo bag and the Norwex way of cleaning.  We also extend this to Lucky Dog Biscuits by using recycled cardboard and biodegradable soy inks for the packaging and by incorporating many Canadian grown products such as Saskatoon berries, flax and oats.  But still, there is always more to do.  So I made up some Eco goals for 2008 and posted them on the fridge for everyone to see (and to hold me accountable).

These goals are added to some things that I've already incorporated at home such as hanging laundry to dry (my neighbours think I'm nuts) and composting.  Composting, by the way, is huge.  Approximately 50% of landfill is made up of compostable organic matter - food, paper, leaves, etc.  That's sad because when organic matter composts in landfill it creates methane due to lack of oxygen.  And methane is the worst greenhouse gas around.  If you want to learn more about composting go here.  As you can see on my list, my number one pet peeve at the moment is plastic - plastic water bottles, plastic bags, plastic toys, blech... In my summer web surfing, I came across a stunning article about a plastic soup brewing in the Pacific Ocean called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The Patch is a collection of plastic accumulating in the ocean estimated to be twice the size of Texas.  Some articles estimate that it is even bigger.  I was STUNNED.  I love the ocean.  And I've seen plastic water bottles wedged in coral 50 ft below the surface when SCUBA diving.  But twice the size of Texas - yoiks!  I realize some things have to be stored in plastic because it is liquid.  And truthfully, products shipped in plastic weigh less therefore use less fossil fuels.  I try to limit my plastic to #1 and #2 plastics which are easy to recycle and be reused into something new.  For instance, the carpet in my newly renoed bedroom is made from recycled pop bottles. How cool is that? 

On a lighter note, we also increased our garden size to grow some veggies at home.

Cucumber plants, in case anyone hasn't experienced this, need a LOT of room and produce a ton of cucumbers.  I have my own little Greek salad in this garden - tomatoes, cucumbers and basil.  Also featured are marigolds to keep the bugs away and some pathetic beets that I won't be trying next year.

So what about you?  Do you have any Eco Goals that you would like to share?  Any tips or horror stories to shock the world into action?  Please share. 

I'm off to deliver some biscuits and to visit a recently rescued cocker spaniel from this story at the beginning of the summer.  She is happily hanging out at It's Raining Cats and Dogs in Winnipeg.  I'll share pictures of this sweetie and tell her story next week.  Happy Friday.

flipped out

It's rowing season again which means I get my one hour of solitude and exercise in the morning.  About this same time last year, I wrote my long-winded "life is like a box of chocolates" analogy about how rowing and entrepreneurship have some great similarities.

Well today I get to expand on that.  While I was concentrating on my technique and enjoying the feeling of being out in my favourite boat "the cooper", I ran into a dock.  And not just any ol' dock.  The great big Redboine dock that sticks way out of the water and has lots of really big boats docked at it.    This is not a structure that sneaks up on you.  It is labeled, has big orange cones, and VERY LARGE BOATS.  How utterly out to lunch do you have to be to run INTO the dock?  Well, I managed it.  Fortunately, neither the boat nor I was injured in this altercation.  I did, however, get a dunk in our chilly, muddy Red River before I had my morning coffee which was not the way I imagined my day unfolding. I managed to climb out of the slimy cold water, onto their slimy, dry dock and get back into my beloved Cooper to enjoy the remainder of my row in soppy wet, slightly fishy smelling clothes.

The lesson:  When you are concentrating on the little things, you still need to WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING.

Lesson #2:  You can still run into really big things, even when you know they exist.   

The day can only get better :)

happy 'celebrate life' day

This is completely unrelated to dog nutrition but I had to share my story about one of life's little lessons.  Grab a coffee - it's a bit of a long one.

Fourteen years ago on Friday, May 13th, two friends and I, plus two other SCUBA divers were lost at sea after a dive (picture the movie Open Water).  Only sheer luck in the form of a Boston yacht, plucked our soggy bottoms out of the Fijian ocean that day. 

The short version of the story is that we headed out for a drift dive - the last dive of our eight month travel adventure to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji after finishing university.  It was a bit of a windy day, but we trusted our dive master implicitly as we donned full kit and headed out to sea.  The dive was spectacular - sharks, millions of fish and a high speed current that made you feel like an aquatic superwoman.  When we surfaced, our boat was fairly far away, which can happen with a drift dive.  The procedure is to inflate your dive signal tube and wait for the boat driver to notice you, then pick you up.  Problem occurred when our boat didn't notice us due to the fact that he FELL ASLEEP.  So we drifted away.  The current that made our dive so exciting also served as a swift trip into open ocean leaving mainland Fiji as a shadowy hill. 

The first hour was mildly entertaining as we sang and took pictures. (I'm the chubby one on the right. The ice cream in Australia is REALLY GOOD)

At 22 you are still think you are indestructible so a little drifting was just an annoying delay between you and your next fruity beverage.  At hour three, we started to shiver (23C is cold when your body temp is supposed to be 37C) and panic.  We hadn't seen a boat and we could barely see land.  To add to the excitement, because frankly it was getting a little dull, the dive master called us into a "shark huddle" due to some fish turbulence in the distance. Since we had no option to swim around the fish scrum, we joined arms, lifted up our dangling legs and floated through the frenzy.   

At hour four, we started to swim for mainland.  Now many of you are likely thinking, why didn't you do that three and a half hours earlier?  Without going into the long technical explanation of the bends, exertion and what to do when you are lost, I'll just say that the dive master said no when we first suggested it. Plus he added that we would be crushed on the reef if we actually made it close to mainland Fiji where the waves were breaking over the reef. That was compelling enough reason for me at the time.  Remember the Tom Hanks scene in Castaway when he fell off his raft over the reef? But after four hours of waiting we were getting nowhere. Actually, that's not true, we were getting a great deal further from land so we swam for it because there was nothing left to do.

By this time the winds had picked up to create swells that were about 15 feet high from trough to top.

That created a bit more of a challenge to our already tired, thirsty and discouraged bodies so I flipped onto my back to swim since I am a stronger swimmer backwards plus it kept my face out of the water.  And that's when I spotted our miracle.  Through the troughs I saw a boat. We started screaming and waving while riding the 15 ft roller coaster.  It took us half an hour to get their attention and turned toward us. A happy ending to a very long day. It was even happier when the cute guy walked around the side to smile into our sun burnt faces.  We began to fix out matted hair in anticipation of meeting our handsome hero until we saw his equally cute girlfriend walk up behind him.  Sigh - at least they had a boat. (that's the boat from our vantage point)

It turns out they heard the distress call about some lost divers, happened to be in the area where we surfaced, and were familiar with the currents in the area. From that, they tracked us down.  The ONLY boat that tracked us down was a boat from Boston on holidays.  The other 10 local boats, 2 planes and a helicopter were looking in an entirely different place.  What are the odds?

So the lesson?  Other than not to dive on a Friday the 13th on a windy day?  While we were drifting, we promised that if we were rescued that we would live a good life - be good people, contribute to the world, tell the people we love how much we appreciate them.  After the shock wore off and we got home, we kept some of our promises and some just got caught in busy-ness and awkwardness of life.   

Each May 13th I am reminded of my promises and to celebrate life - to love and appreciate everything I have.  It shouldn't take a Reader's Digest event to remind any of us to take a moment, breathe, appreciate every day and live our best life ever.

Happy "Celebrate Life" Anniversary Lisa and Col! There is no one I would rather be lost at sea with.

Thank-you to our unnamed heroes that took the time and had the skills to find us.  I don't know if we ever thanked you, but you made a world of difference to us and our families. If anyone recognizes these guys (told you they were cute), please give them a hug for me and tell them that we have never forgotten about them. If they have dogs, tell them I have a boat load of dog biscuits waiting for them.

Enjoy your day. Hug your family, your friends, your dog.  Smile at a stranger.  Pursue your dreams and have your best day ever. And then repeat.

If you ever have a "lost at sea" incident, four hours is a long time to review your list of "should have's". 

Thanks for another LUCKY year.

~ mavis

back home

...and ready to get back to work. What a trip!  And what a long time to be away from Cooper.  Thankfully he is not one of those vengeful dogs that pees on the rug for a week to teach you a lesson.  Nope - sweet little Cooper is happy to hang out with me by my desk as I wade through 200 emails.

In response to the comment on my last post, yes China has some beautiful scenery.  More spectacular than I ever imagined.  And yes our cultures are VERY different.  In many aspects, China does some fantastic things.  They are not a wasteful culture like North America because they can't afford to throw things away - whether it is food, clothing, bicycles, etc.  They would rebuild anything to keep it working; we would throw something away if a better model came out.  They treat all animals as a food source (mainly in the southern part of China), but when it is used, all parts are used. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, goes to waste.  Makes for some scary menu items.  The pollution is terrible, but they still don't produce as much CO2 per capita as North Americans.  If they ever reach our levels, we are all in trouble.  But they are working on it and Beijing has made some incredible improvements for the Olympics.  They will likely revert to pre-Olympic smog levels after the Olympics are over, but it proves they can do anything they put their mind to.  And people will have about four smog free months as an incentive for better air quality in the future.

As for a Lucky Dog market?  I saw more pampered pets than I thought I would - like this cutie in her little Chinese jacket.

I believe as income levels rise, people will adopt or buy more dogs.  They already have koi and birds as their favorite pets, but dogs are on the rise.  Cats, on the other hand, are still considered rat catchers that run wild.  There are a lot of stray cats that are surprisingly healthy.  Not sure what that says about the rodent population.

All in all - it was a great opportunity to live and work in another part of the world. And I appreciate North America a little bit more than before.  I'm happy to be home.

Here are some final scenes from China before I close this chapter of my travel log.

Yangtze River - Three Gorges cruise (yes that's smog)

The Yangtze on a better day.

The largest hydro dam in the world that will hopefully help their smog levels.  Most hydro is generated from coal plants - hence the pollution.

And the wall on our last day.  A perfect way to end the trip.

Now - back to work!

last post from China

I'm on the final week of my China adventure.  Since leaving Nanjing last week, I've seen the Terra-cotta Warriors

Li River

Longji Rice Terraces

and Guilin.  Guilin is a beautiful place but has a down side.  This is the area of China where they eat dogs.  Yes, that was eat...dogs.  I asked our tour guide about the local food specialties. It is always good to know what you could be facing. In Nanjing it was duck's blood soup and frogs.  Here it's dog meat.  And this is the type of dog:

Our guide says they are raised the same way you would raise cattle.  I would have to strongly disagree with that comparison.  These dogs are running all over town, sitting on their steps, wagging their tails as their masters walk by.  To me, it is like eating a family member but to them it is a way of life.

Needless to say I have been avoiding meat, even though dog is apparently not in season at the moment, and looking forward to moving onto the next city.  It is a different world here.  One more week and I will be home to hug my dog. My cute white non-edible little Cooper.

super star day

Another week has flown by.  I am still trying to figure out that striped dog.  I can't imagine it is natural.  I am out with one of the Chinese students today so I will get her to ask.

I've had a busy week around here.  The students continue to struggle with the class.  They have never taken a marketing class AND they are taking it in English.  It is becoming a challenge to come up with multiple explanations for the same thing hoping that something sticks.  I admire their ability to stick with the class - not that they have a choice.  They are sweet and they work so hard.  It is incredibly competitive.

In my spare time I have been getting out to see some things.  Last weekend we went to the Nanjing Museum.  It houses one of the best collections of Chinese artifacts.  That said, it was a pretty small museum.  Either they have a lot of things out of sight, or Mao really did manage to wipe out a lot of Chinese history.  In the spirit of keeping this dog related, here's a sample of some very old pottery from the Han Dynasty.

Considering how old it is they did a good job representing the image.  Shameful to say but I don't know my breeds that well.  Anyone want to venture a guess as to what type of dog this might be?

We kicked off this weekend with a trip to neighbouring town, Yangzhou, to visit Slender West Lake.  The lake was formerly a river blocked off during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) where salt merchants planted trees and flowers to impress the emperor.  I guess a nice bottle of wine wasn't sufficient in those days.

It is a stunning park that is just starting to bloom with spring.  But there were two super stars yesterday - this little guy

...and me.

The West was a hit yesterday.  The hundreds of school kids wandering around wanted to practice their English and jumped at the chance to surround the only six westerners in the park that day.  The dog's excuse? Besides being super cute, it is very rare to see Schnauzers in China.

This little swarm started when I sat down on a rock to wait for the rest of my group and I casually asked boy if he liked the flowers.  A couple others joined the conversation and before I knew it the whole grade 5 class of Yangzhou Primary School was on me.  We has a pretty good chat about Canada and polar bears.  It is amazing how much English they know already.

I'll keep you posted on the striped dog situation.  I feel so sorry for them.  They are way too young to be away from their mother and they sit in a box all day waiting for someone to spontaneously buy them on the way to getting eggs at the grocery store.  Poor things.  I wonder what the dog import laws are...

Off-leash in China

It's time for my weekly hello from China.  I got out for a little sightseeing on Friday.  It was a bit of a rainy/misty day but it was still nice to see some new things.  I tackled a couple new local bus routes in an effort to expand my usual range of travel.

First adventure was compliments of Bus #3, a cross-town bus that took me to Jiming Temple - complete with blooming plum trees.

I wandered around the streets in search of a market written up in Fodors but didn't find it.  I was either on the wrong street or didn't walk far enough.  But I did have a little buddy to keep me company.  This little ragamuffin:

I'm not sure if he was a stray or just out for an adventure like me.  He was pretty intent on a food finding mission though.  There are a lot of dogs wandering around with no apparent owner in sight.  These street wise pups usually stick to the sidewalks, skillfully dodge bikes and when necessary make breath taking dashes across the busy streets. It is tough to watch.  I usually turn away but when I turn back, they are always safely hunting for food on the other side.  It's amazing.  I need to learn a few tricks from these dogs since my traffic dodging skills are vastly underdeveloped.

Next stop was Yuejiang Tower via bus #100.  Bus #100 is the best entertainment in town.  For 1 yuan (or $0.15) you can ride a double decker bus from one end of the city to the other.  If you get on early, you might even get a seat.

Since most all of the information is Chinese the most I can tell you about the tower is that it is fairly new and you get a fantastic view from the top of the Yangtze River and the park below.

After our trip to the top of the tower, we walked back along the top of the old Nanjing City wall. 

 

That's when I saw the Chinese version of an off-leash park, complete with card table and spectacular view.  Now if only I had a dog with me.

I was tempted to buy one the other day when I saw this little face. 

He was tiger-striped from head to toe and only 50 RMB or $7. I have NO IDEA what kind of dog he is. I've never seen anything like it.  ah china, you are full of surprises.

China update

Ni hao! 

It's Monday night here on the other side of the world and I'm a little sad.  The Tibet portion of my trip has been canceled due to riots, protests and people being shot. Here are some details.  I get why they are protesting, but the timing for us couldn't be worse.  The BBC figures that even if things are brought "under control", foreigners won't be allowed in for another four to five months.  Bummer.  I can get access to news reports now that I have a way around the Internet ban.  An American teacher here gave me a very helpful website to aid my reconnection to the world.  I miss freedom of information.

So before I go on about the trip:

Michelle - sorry to hear about the raisins.  It sounds like Koda hasn't been exposed to that many especially if the raisins are listed way down on the list.  Ingredients are listed in order of weight - most to least.  Since there is a lot of sugar and fat in cookies, my guess is the raisin content is low.  But I will defer you to our resident animal nutrition expert - Bonnie.  My specialty is putting together the ingredients that Bonnie tells me is good for dogs. You might just have to stick to Lucky Dog treats.  You can use the frozen dough to make big dog treats.  They flatten out like a big oatmeal cookie. 

Jennifer - yes I'm still in China and it is purely personal development - a little sabbatical where I get paid to see the world and work on my teaching skills.  I am a little envious of the blue waters of Mexico that Bonnie and Quinn were enjoying.  Mexico is one of my favourite places.  Pure relaxation.  Mind you - I go without a 1.5 year old so I actually get a chance to relax :-)

Back here in China, I had the opportunity to talk to my marketing class about business ethics last week.  I didn't get on a soapbox since Canada doesn't exactly have a pristine track record with business, (hello Conrad - how's the clink?), but I was able to slip in the "melamine in the pet food issue" as an example of the consumer's right to safe products and truthful information.  And since a Canadian manufacturer was also involved, it made sense to talk about it.  No one had heard about it.  I guess it isn't a surprise given most students don't own a pet, they study every waking moment, and they don't have a lot of access to international news, or at least not uncensored access.  But now 46 business students know that North Americans get very angry when the safety of their pets or babies are in question.

46 + 1 teacher.  I mentioned the melamine/pet and lead/baby toy issues to the marketing teacher when she asked me what Canadians thought of Chinese products. I'm not an expert on every Canadians' opinion but I certainly have opinions of my own.  I told her about the recent issues and how angry consumers were. She also hadn't heard about it.  How do you fix a problem if you don't know you have one?  These are business students who don't know about some fairly significant international trade issues.  It is a very different world over here.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm enjoying my time here but I'm very thankful to be Canadian.

So that is the China report for today.  I have a lot more to say but I will save it for another day.  I'll leave you with this little tidbit though... pet or dinner?

hello from China

I'm here.  And I have never been so culture shocked in my life.  I understand NOTHING.  I stand out in my long red Jacket - all 5'9", light haired, white skinned (their words not mine) of me.  And I have never seen so many people in one spot in my life.  That said, I am starting to get into the flow of things.  The campus that I teach on is 30 minutes outside of Nanjing city which has 8 million people.  8 MILLION!

So this is what I've seen so far.  They have a pet food section made up af all the typical department store goods.  They do have whole meat jerky which I was impressed with.  Not bad so far.  Of course I have no idea what the packages say being in Chinese and all.

I have seen very few pets to be honest.  Not surprising I suppose given most people don't have room.  The ones I have seen are of the Pekingese and Shi Tzu.  You will have to excuse spelling - I have limited access to my usual tools!  And I don't think I ever got the spelling right for those dogs.

I've even seen a dog dressed up in a sweater which I really didn't expect.

This was the funniest thing so far in the dog department.  Two people were riding their bikes down the street with dogs in the baskets.  the dogs were yapping at each other from the baskets - just like they would if they had their head sticking out of the car window.  Cute.

That is my report for now.  I can't actually check what this post looks like because my Internet access is censored and blocks out all blogging websites.  Can you believe it?  I've tried all of the typepad and blogger websites that I can remember and I can't pull up any of them.  I can get other sites - google, luckydog website, cnn but not our blog.  I can enter posts but can't view them.  I love Canada.  Just make you appreciate what we have.  Hopefully the pictures that I added worked.  I have no way of checking.  I'll check back later with new news.

Let me know if the pictures loaded.  I can't see them. It is So frustrating.  I'm sure one of many things to come!

China bound

No I'm not going over to rough up the suppliers who sold the tainted gluten that went into pet food although while I'm there...

Actually, I was offered a great opportunity to teach marketing for six weeks at one of the universities in China.  Perhaps it isn't the best time to leave our growing company, but we've worked it out so that I can have my cake and eat it while I'm multi-tasking over in China.

So I'm taking off on Feb 27 (yes tomorrow).  I will be checking in and blogging from afar from time to time to let you know what is new in the dog world on the other side of the world.  I'll be based in Nanjing which is on the Yangtze River about three hours inland from Shanghai - maybe more.

I am EXTREMELY nervous and excited.  I am going to miss my family, friends and of course, Cooper but it is a really good opportunity to learn about another country and to hone my marketing knowledge by teaching. Nothing like standing in front of 150 students to bring clarity to what you know (or don't know).

I'm interested in learning more about China since it is one of the fastest growing economies.  Everything you see or buy has some connection to China, or at least it seems to.  So I'll have a chance to talk about North American business principles and learn about how they conduct business as well.  It should be a very interesting time.

Thank-you Wayne and Donalda for delivering around town while I'm gone.  Thank-you Bonnie and Quinn for picking up the extra work.  And thank-you Peter and Cooper for not kicking up too much of a stink about me leaving for two months.

I'll keep you posted...