MilliGram’s Profile

Milligram was the runt of her litter, weighing in at only 64 grams (64000 milligrams – hence the name) at birth. The most frequent question I get when people see her is what kind of dog is she. No one believes the answer, but she is a mini-poodle/chihuahua cross, and weighs in now, at 2 years old at a whopping 11 pounds. She is a long, lean running machine, without an ounce of fat on her.

MilliGram was a very frightened, noise sensitive puppy, and we learned very quickly that we would have to condition her slowly to the world around her, and use great treats to do that. She is a huge fan of the beef lung and lamb lung bites. She was afraid of water, as a puppy, but we worked with her to reward her for going in the water, and she mastered a great game we call “Bobbing for Beef/Lamb Lung” where beef or lamb lung bites are tossed into the water (they FLOAT) and she would go in after them willingly. We tossed them further and further into the water, until one day she was jumping in off the shoreline and swimming to get them. She now has no fear of the water and loves to fetch floaty toys at the beach. She also will swim voluntarily in a pool. We never forced her of course, but Smidgie Snacks saved the day on many occasion when she was going through fear periods, and needed extra rewards.

MilliG is a super-quick learner (we think that’s the poodle side of her) that loves to train and learn new tricks and sports. She knows a huge assortment of tricks, and even learned to do her nails on a scratch board. She is currently learning to skateboard! She finds the treat puzzles boring as she learns them very quickly, so we create lots of scent games for her to keep her busy looking for treats.

She loves doing all types of sports and trains actively in agility at an intermediate level. She’s too fast for her mom, and is learning to work at a distance!

Her all-time favourite sport is Lure Chasing (followed by actual squirrel chasing). She has several qualifying scores in Chase Ability Lure Chase, and achieved her novice title in Sprinters in 2019. We discovered she runs a whopping 35 kilometres and hour! At her first Sprinters Trial she took 3rd place in her height class with 12 other dogs participating! She is fuelled by some great meaty protein from Smidgie Snacks. MilliGram loves variety and so we crated Milli Mixers for some of our bagged products, where we mix it up all in one bag. Like beef and lamb lung in one bag. She loves both and likes the surprise of different meats in each bite!

When not working in the Quality Assurance Department, MilliGram is the official head of the Smidgin & Company Squirrel Squad. Always on the look out for squirrels that may have invaded the neighbourhood, checking each tree for trespassers. She has yet to evict any.

She loves just about any great treat or chewy, and tests ALL the products we dehydrate. If it doesn’t pass the MilliGram test we don’t carry it. MilliGram will immediately chew like mad on any chew she loves. She isn’t one of those “save the best for later” type dogs. She is all about immediate satisfaction. If MilliGram goes off to her bed and chomps down we know we’ve got a hit.

Nicknames

MilliG, Milli, Mill, The Millster, Speedster, MG, G

Favourite Activities

Chasing the lure, sprinting, chasing the ball and retrieving it, playing and running at the park, bugging her sister Smidgin, playing tug. Running, lots of running. Chasing SQUIRRELS all the time!