Happy Birthday, Ebon! (lots of pictures)

Ebon was born seven years ago today. He has been my loyal dog for six years and seven months of that, as I brought him home on his five month birthday. My how time flies! Here's a little photo diary of the past few years. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of him from before five months of age. However, I still remember the tiny creature he was when I first met him at two weeks old. It's amazing how much he has changed. It's been quite an adventure, and I hope to have at least another seven years ahead with my wonderful fella.

Ebon at five months old, the day I brought him home.

Ten months old. One of my favorite pictures of him.

Twenty months old, along with his mother. Here she's about the age he is now. She's still going strong!

Three years old, shortly before he began going gray.

On his fifth birthday, politely begging for his birthday treat.

For his birthday, Ebon also got to have fun and eat good things. We went back to my campus and did a large circuit, which took about two hours. He had a blast, even taking a little dip in the pond. There actually aren't any leash rules on certain parts of campus, so I also spent a little time working with Ebon's off leash manners. Mostly this consisted of practicing recall near distractions, such as a busy road (with a fence between us and the road). He's very good at keeping to a loose heel while off lead, staying within ten feet of me in whatever direction while we walk around.

By the pond right at the beginning of the walk. It was a beautiful day. Notice the difference in the pond from before. It's been warm, so the duckweed has been flourishing.

By the ditch. The path ahead and to the right leads behind the campus greenhouse.

If viewed as a square with the pond as the first corner, this baseball field is at the second corner.

On the campus trail. This is near the soccer field.

Feet on the campus trail. Not much else to say.

At the oldest of the three fountains on campus. This is about halfway along the last side of the square.

Back at the pond right before leaving, I took off the vest and let him off lead to see if he wanted to take a little swim. I think the water was a bit cold because he only waded.

The ingredients.

As for the food, Ebon got a tooble (smoked beef trachea) as a snack and with his dinner he got a mixture of banana, peanut butter, and cream cheese added to his kibble, plus some freeze dried liver. I have actually gone to the lengths to bake him a cake before (using a doggie cook book), but this time I decided to go the simple route and mix him up something with a touch of sweetness that I knew he would like. By the way, two bananas, one small tub of cream cheese and a cup of peanut butter makes plenty for a dog and a few friends, or enough for several treats if you really want to spoil him or her. I did taste it, as I have a tendency to do with anything I hand make, and it just tastes like sweet peanut butter.

The drooling face of anticipation.

Ebon's birthday "cake." He licked every last morsel out of the bowl. He will be getting more tomorrow.

Ebon has been Happy Lately

So, my semester ended as of this past Monday and since then I've been busy. The condo is getting a major clean and purge because it needed it, but more importantly, Ebon's getting to have more fun. Today we went on another little adventure near my campus. There's a wide open area on the opposite end of campus to the trail I've talked about before (twice), which includes a large pond and a long drainage ditch. We headed out and had a nice little adventure down in a hidden pocket of wilderness in the middle of the city. The ditch once housed a beaver damn, and it's covered in animal tracks, most of which appeared to be raccoon. There's also fish and other creatures that live in the water. I saw a few wild animals, including a gorgeous great blue heron that Ebon was really interested in. They are such graceful creatures.

Ebon in the ditch. He's really good at climbing up and down steep embankments, having a much easier time than I did due to the looseness of the sandy soil. I'm a bit ridiculously familiar with this ditch. During my undergrad I spent numerous days traversing the area in and around it, collecting various and sundry specimens or making other observations. I once even saw a white Ibis flying over head and helped find a colony of the non-native Cyphomyrmex rimosus ants on the bank.

Ebon by the pond. The brown on the surface is duckweed, which is normally bright green in warmer months. If I remember right, the pond is man-made, so there is no risk of suck things as alligators. However, during my freshman year a snapping turtle was released into the pond. I don't know if it's still around. The trees in the distance separate this area from a major road, one of the most-used in the city. The campus itself is off to the left.

Another fun little thing Ebon's been getting to do recently is try a bunch of new treats! Part of this was me doing Christmas shopping. I decided to get all of the animals I know some treats, and for the doggies Ebon turned into my taste tester. So, what did he get to taste? Well, the dogs are all getting goodie bags of Canyon Creek Ranch duck tenders and Beefeater sweat potato fries. I picked them partly because they were limited ingredient (dried duck breast with vegetable glycerin and natural flavor, and sweet potatoes only, respectively) and because they, frankly, sounded good. What dog doesn't like meat? And as for the sweet potatoes, it's like a healthy candy. Ebon's vigerously wagging tail was proof that he liked them.

Some of the goodie bags. Big ones for big dogs, small ones for small dogs.

On top of that, Ebon is getting a few things this Christmas. He's getting a replacement for his old Kong Squeaker tennis ball (his most favoritest thing in the whole wide world), a bag of treats (I forgot the brand, they've already been boxed up), one of the chicken & something formulas of Simply Nourish canned foods for his Christmas dinner (also already wrapped), and a couple of True Chews bully sticks. I decided that one of those bully sticks would be an early present, so enjoy Ebon and his very first bully stick!

I love this picture! It's proof that he can be a very drooly Lab. He started drooling like mad as soon as I opened the packaging for the bully stick and he got a whiff of the smokey smell coming from the pizzle. He didn't know how to go about chewing it at first (rawhides are so different in shape), but he absolutely loved it. However, it didn't last as long as I would have liked, so I'll be getting braided bully sticks next time.

I had a bunch more pictures, but I was having difficulties getting them uploaded. They might appear some time in the future.