Looks as though finally, our problem with Jackie's digestive system has been solved. When the veterinarian recommended a brand of dog food we detested, meant to address his particular problem we were skeptical, unwilling to substitute it for the much finer nutritional value inherent in the food we give Jack and Jill, not a big name brand, but with constituents sourced locally and organically. In the end, the vet was right, we discovered, when we made the transition. Jackie's refusal to eat his food abated until to the present time, he no longer has those bouts at all when we can recognize symptoms of stomach upset when he assumes that "crouch" position, following his food refusals.

We've kept Jillie on that better source of nutrition. They both also are given top-ups of plain cooked chicken that I've used in the preparation of cooking chicken soup, and they also have their kibble moistened with chicken soup in the evening, along with wild salmon oil. They get kefir as a treat, as well as yogurt, and a mix of cooked and raw vegetables chopped into a salad after their evening meal. So they're healthy and vigorous and always up to some kind of mischief together.

We've continued to keep them on leash attached to their harnesses on our daily forested ravine walks simply to restrain them from constant browsing, which they remain attached to. It's become a firm habit, one that has gotten Jackie, with his more delicate constitution in trouble more than a few times necessitating an urgent drive to the veterinarian hospital where he's placed on intravenous pumping saline and medication into his system after he's ingested some kind of pathogen which has made him violently ill.

But they're coming along nicely. Two little rascals whose romps everywhere are noisy and exuberant. Still, their antics haven't dissuaded our pair of robins from nesting under our deck, where we constantly see the male robin sitting nearby, sometimes with a worm he's preparing to deliver to the female, sitting on her eggs. The robins are so accustomed to our presence, I can pass within a foot or so of the male robin sitting on the fence while I go about my business in the garden.