Dinner, Anyone?

This is what our dining room table looked like this evening as I was preparing dinner for the dogs.  The bowls you see are for the dogs who live with Alayne and me in our house or in the dog cottages next to our house.  About half the dogs at the sanctuary are here with us, while the other half live at Widget's House, our main dog building. 

However, having just said "our main dog building," I wonder whether that's really Widget's House or OUR  house.  We joke that the size of our dining room table sets the limit on how many dogs we can have here. 

So how do we decide who lives where?  Well, we keep all the smaller dogs (like Widget, Bailey and Callie) with us, along with some of the old ones like Pappy, as well as those who need a calmer environment, like deaf and blind Spinner.  (Psst...we also have a few favorites who became 'house dogs,' like Birdie.)  Those who are sick or recovering from surgery stay with us, too.  We also keep the new arrivals with us until we get a chance to know them, understand their personalities and figure out where they would fit best.

If you're wondering what we're feeding, it's California Natural chicken and rice, a super-premium natural dog food from the company that makes Innova.  We mix dry kibble with a couple of heaping tablespoons of the canned version, then pour some warm water into each bowl and stir to make a gravy.  Yum!

(Click on photo for larger image.)

Comments

[Dawn Moore]

Okay--now I don't feel so bad! We have 10 dogs and sometimes more since we do miniature pinscher rescue, and our feeding time looks a lot like this! We have some special diets as well--one of our older min pins has inflammatory bowel disease so she has a different diet, our oldest male gets a slightly modified diet, and the picky eaters get some special gravy. Whew! I can only imagine what it must be like with so many disabled dogs.
Keep up the great work!

[Kathy Simmons]

I love this shot...all the dish sizes and imagining the joyful pooches at dinnertime. Who gets that teeniest bowl?? It also answered my question about which dogs lived where and how you figure it out. Love the site!!