Un día de despedidas/ A day of farewells

Un día de despedidas/ A day of farewells, a set on Flickr.

Por la mañana, compañeros de caza, amigos Jorge Martínez Alonso, Juan Carlos Castro Rehbein, Andrés Martínez y fui a la estación de autobuses para recoger 3 jaulas de perdices a libertad en los campos de la granja de un amigo con la esperanza de restablecer la población de aves allí. Esta es la segunda vez que lo hemos hecho. Este es un nuevo programa creado recientemente y recién ascendido en Chile. Pero el esfuerzo de hoy tenía un significado adicional para nosotros. Para nosotros no sólo liberó las aves para construir su nuevo hogar, también establecemos las cenizas de Natasha Rose Can d'Ijuma libres de volar entre las aves en el lugar que tanto amaba.

In the morning, hunting buddies, friends Jorge Martinez Alonso, Juan Carlos Castro Rehbein, Andrés Martínez and I went to the bus station to collect 3 cages of partridges to set free in the fields of a friend's farm with the hopes of reestablishing the bird population there. This is the second time we have done this. This is a new program recently established and newly promoted in Chile. But today's effort had extra meaning for us. For not only did we release the birds to build their new home, we also set the ashes of Natasha Rose Can d'Ijuma free to fly among the birds in the place she so dearly loved.

So long sweet Natasha Rose

It is with a greatly tremendous and profound sadness that I report that Natasha Rose passed this evening despite a Herculean effort among friends and family and our vet to save her life. Thank you to all for your prayers and wonderful efforts to help save her life. She was a precious member of our family and will be deeply missed.

Es con gran y profunda tristeza que informe que Natasha Rose pasó esta noche a pesar de un esfuerzo hercúleo entre amigos y familiares y nuestro veterinario para salvar su vida. Gracias a todos por sus oraciones y maravillosos esfuerzos para ayudar a salvar su vida. Ella era un valioso miembro de nuestra familia y extrañaremos profundamente.

Vizsla selected as mascot for European Judo Union

Meet Judoggy, the  Hungarian vizsla

The European Judo Union selected the Hungarian vizsla as their Mascot of the EC.  The vizsla's name, Judoggy was selected from more than 200 suggestions after judogi which the vizsla wears. The organizers with the help of Sport TV asked the fans to give name to the Mascot.

The European Judo Union (EJU) is celebrating its 65 th anniversary this year and the Hungarian Judo Association (MJSZ) organize together Hungary’s most prestigious sport event of 2013, the adidas Judo European Championships between 25 and 28 April in the Papp László Budapest Sportaréna. 410 athletes representing 42 countries.

Book looks at the ethics of when, and how, to end a pet’s life

As reported by the Montana Public Radio

Pet owners rarely think about how they are going to handle their pet’s end of life and death, but that’s exactly what bioethicist Jessica Pierce’s book “The Last Walk” urges pet owners to do. Pierce is in Missoula to speak about her book, and the many issues it raises – from the ethics of euthanasia to the growing animal hospice movement. In this feature interview, Pierce talks with News Director Sally Mauk about improving how we deal with pets at the end of their lives. The book was prompted by a journal Pierce kept about her beloved dog Ody’s last year – a 14-year-old Hungarian hunting dog Pierce lived with since he was a puppy. She was also at the same time, writing a text about bioethics..

Click here to hear the interview

Recipes/Recetas: Now that she retrieved them what do we do with them

Hopefully this photo of  Vizsla Kosmo  of Fusion Vizlas retrieving a pheasant
will soon be replaced by one of Natasha Rose!

While Jorge and  I enjoy the hunt, we enjoy even more the gathering of friends at the dinner table to relive the adventures, brag about the accomplishments of our dogs and perhaps our own skills, and share in great meals of freshly prepared game. With our bird-dog, Natasha Rose at work along side Jorge, we expect to have many great celebratory meals here in Chile.  But finding the right recipes for preparation of game can often be a challenge. Hopefully Recipes/Recetas, the newly added page on Natasha's blog, will be of some help.

Recipes/Recetas hosts recipes of game, including pigeon and dove, rabbit, pheasant, duck, and others that we have enjoyed (or perhaps hope to enjoy next hunting season).   As we are an international family living an expat life I hope to gather game recipes from around the world. Ironically, my cousin in Spain shared with me Recetas Patagónicas con carnes de caza , a link to recipes from Patagonia, Chile! I also will be adding photos of food preparation and personal notes. I dare say the page may even grow into it's own blog with any luck. And who knows perhaps my own cookbook, taking me on to another journey!

And for those days where the aim is a little off or there were no critters to be found and you still want some meat on the table our friend Juan Castro shares this great resource for those of you living in Chile:
Carnes De Caza. According to their website:

The company was founded in 1995, becoming the first hunting ground of the V Region (also known as the Valparaíso Region).  It is located in Fundo Los Pheasants Casablanca, which operates as an adventure travel company dedicated to hunting and fishing.  They offer organic production of premium meats and fine gourmet haute cuisine and game birds, as well as exotic farming. They have recovered the old traditions of the Chilean countryside along with the true flavors of wild nature. 

They are located at: 2 NORTE 1187 (Esquina 5 oriente) / FONO : (32) 2685 529 - 269 2913 - MOVIL 98016399 / TWITTER @avatte / VIÑA DEL MAR, CHILE

If you have other recipes you wish to share or links to them, please send them on to me and I'll be happy to add them!

More Fat, Less Protein Improves Canine Olfactory Abilities

Looking closely or using the nose?

Jorge came home today very happy with how she performed in their first official hunting, bringing 10 doves. However he observed Natasha Rose needs more training to use her nose more than here eyes. After reading this article based on research by Cornell University, perhaps we need to just fatten her up a bit!

From Science Daily:  See also  Cornell University (2013, March 27). More fat, less protein improves canine olfactory abilities. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 7, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2013/03/130327102652.htm

Mar. 27, 2013 — From sniffing out bombs and weapons to uncovering criminal evidence, dogs can help save lives and keep the peace. Now, researchers have uncovered how to improve dogs' smelling skills through diet, by cutting protein and adding fats.

Such a diet, say the researchers, appears to help dogs return to lower body temperatures after exercise, which reduces panting and, thereby, improves sniffing.

The findings could change how detection dogs are fed and boost their detection abilities, says Joseph Wakshlag, associate professor of clinical studies and chief of nutrition at Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine. Wakshlag, who collaborated with researchers at Auburn University, is presenting the findings at the Companion Animal Nutrition Summit in Atlanta, held March 22-24.

The study, funded with a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, also found that detection dogs are more reliable detectors than previously thought. The study is the first to be conducted in the world's only detection dog research facility designed in conjunction with a military dog trainer. The Alabama facility, which provides expert detection dogs to police and military forces, flushes out fumes between tests, ensuring a fresh field each time.

"Previous studies from other facilities, which lack this feature, had suggested detection dogs signaling for suspect substances are about 70 percent accurate," said Wakshlag. "The lower numbers may have been due to study design flaws which our new study overcame. Dogs tested in the new facility signaled with 90 percent and above accuracy. We also found we can push detection performance even further with the right kind of food."

Bucking conventional thinking, the group found that less protein and more fat in the dogs' diet helped trained dogs perform better in exercise and detection tests. During an 18-month period, they rotated 17 trained dogs through three diets Wakshlag selected: a high-end performance diet, regular adult dog food, and regular adult dog food diluted with corn oil. Measuring how different diets affected each dog, they found that dogs eating the normal diet enhanced with corn oil returned to normal body temperatures most quickly after exercise and were better able to detect smokeless powder, ammonia nitrate and TNT.

"Corn oil has lots of polyunsaturated fats, similar to what you'd find in a lot of nuts and common grocery store seed oils," said Wakshlag. "Past data from elsewhere suggest that these polyunsaturated fats might enhance the sense of smell, and it looks like that may be true for detection dogs. It could be that fat somehow improves nose-signaling structures or reduces body temperature or both. But lowering protein also played a part in improving olfaction."

Wakshlag designed the high-performance and corn-oil diets to have the same amount of energy from fat (57 percent). But the corn oil diet had less protein: 18 percent compared with 27 percent in the regular and high-performance diets.

"If you're a dog, digesting protein raises body temperature, so the longer your body temperature is up, the longer you keep panting, and the harder it is to smell well," said Wakshlag. "Our study shifts the paradigm of what 'high-performance' diet can mean for dogs. It depends on what you want your dog to do. A sled dog or greyhound may need more protein to keep going. But detection dogs tend to exercise in shorter bursts and need to recover quickly and smell well. For that, less protein and more fat could help."

And on the 9th Day God made a Dog

Enjoy!