Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! May 2013 bring peace and happiness, and may all your dreams come true!

I claim the holiday is still here.

Do your pets get a lot of stuff for the holidays? Mine do, spoiled little brats as they are, hahaha. Usually, they ignore the toys for the time being, and play with the wrapping paper or someone's sock instead. Chewies and toys aren't really good until someone else has them.

This picture is not from my house, but it could have been. In my house, all the toys would have chew marks, of course, and at least one dog would sleep on top of it all. LOL! :-)

Happy Holidays!

Regardless of what you celebrate this holiday - winter solstice, birth of Christ, festivus, something else - I want  to wish you a wonderful holiday! 

Thank you for visiting the DoggieBlog in 2012. Hope to see you again in 2013!

The holiday is almost here!

It's so close I can almost feel it. Taste it. Smell it...? I found this lovely recipe for dog cookies at stampingwithsandi.com

Bacon Cheese Dog Cookies:

1/4 cup of water

2 eggs – mix together in a bowl.

in a food processor add:

2 cups all purpose flour

1-1/3 cups sharp cheddar (shredded)

4 pieces cooked bacon cubed

blend until the texture of coarse meal and slowly add

1/2 cup vegetable oil, blend again,

then slowly add the egg mixture.

Place on floured surface and roll out to about 1/4 thickness, use your "bone" cookie cutter to cut cookies, place on cookie sheet covered in parchment paper.

Cook 400 degrees (Fahrenheit, I assume) for 9 minutes, turn cookies, cook for 9 minutes more.

Let cool – then treat your dog.

Great present for dog lovers

It can be hard to find that perfect gift for a dog lover. I have a great idea, though. The book Christmas is Good, Trixies guide to a happy holiday by Dean Koontz is amazing. It's so cute and funny, and Koontz has a talent for transporting readers into the mind of a dog.

Cute face of the day

What a cutie pie. Found on the Deidre's K9 Facebook page.

Guns, BSL, and male role models.

Is it just me, or have there been a lot of school shootings and violence lately? I'm thinking the world really might be ending; it's drowning in people's hatred and mental instability. Here's the deal: no matter what your problem is, killing or abusing animals and children is not the solution.

If you even touch on the thought that abusing and murdering those who are completely defenseless will make you feel better, validate you, make you more of a man, solve your problems, or whatever it might be, you need help. Right now.

I recently took a class in mass media and its effect on people, and the teacher had one very important point. School shootings are not about children shooting other children, or about people shooting other people. It's generally about boys shooting children. The class hypothesized the male role model has become so distorted through media, boys/men have nothing left to resort to other than weapons.

Do I have point? Not really, but it's a subject that needs to be lifted up in society. We have to start talking about these things or the tragedies will keep coming.

Most of my days are spent thinking about dogs -- surrounded by dogs -- and the immediate thought that comes to mind when tragedies like this happen is: People spend incredible amounts of time rounding up animals they think might be dangerous, but humans are much more dangerous than any animal could ever be. Show me a pitbull walking into a school with an assault rifle, killing 27 people and I'll get right behind the legislation against that happening.

Seriously, this isn't a joking matter. It's not funny at all, but I think BSL has come to be because our society is so volatile and dangerous, and this is one danger -- imagined or real -- people think they can control. We can't solve the real problem, so people happily make one up and find a solution. It doesn't matter how many people and pets have to suffer; the problem was solved and one group of people can sleep better at night.

Again, I don't really have a point. I'm still stunned by the idea of an adult going into a school to kill eight year olds.

More doggie baking

If you read my blog regularly, you know I've been into doggie baking lately. Hey, it's the holiday season and they want yummie stuff too. :-)

I found this recipe on the Plexidor Pet Doors Facebook page. I haven't tried it yet, but it's high on my to-do list.

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Dog Cookies

Ingredients:

2.5 cups whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons peanut butter
0.5 teaspoon salt
0.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Whisk together flour, eggs, pumpkin, peanut butter, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Add water as needed to help make the dough workable. The dough should be dry and stiff.

Roll dough into a 0.5 inch thick roll. Cut into 0.5 inch thick pieces. Bake in preheated oven until hard, about 40 mintues.

Off the Leash

Lately, the Facebook page Off the Leash has provided me with great joy. Or, rather, laugh out loud moments. Dog lovers will recognize themselves in their daily cartoons.

These two are my favorites. Usually my husband goes to bed before me, and this is the face the dogs put up when I enter the bedroom...

Christmas baking for the pooches

Everyone else gets special treats all month long, so I want to give something to the doggies too. I don't have any other kids, so the dogs have their own stockings and get plenty of presents on Christmas day, but nothing wrong with treating them through the month, right?

I was googling Christmas recipes for dogs, and found these "Dog Christmas Delights-." I wouldn't eat them, but I'm sure the pooches will love them.

The recipe comes from the page k9puppydogs.com, and if you're into fixing stuff for your pets, it's well worth a visit!

Ingredients: 
1 cup of whole-wheat flour
½ cup of unbleached all purpose flour½ cup of graham flour½ cup of soy flour1/3 lb of raw chicken livers (eeewww)
2 tablespoons of chicken broth, or as much as needed2 tablespoons canola oil1 egg

Preparation:

Place the oven rack in the center of the oven and pre heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place 1 slightly greased baking pan on the side.

Use a large bowl and a wire whisk to mix the whole-wheat flour, all purpose flour, graham flour, and soy flour together.

Put the chicken livers inside a blender or food processor and blend them down to a paste. Then beat in the broth, oil and egg and blend it together until it is smooth.

Next, blend both the dry and wet preparation together with a spoon or use your hand until it becomes a soft dough and starts to pull away from the bowl it is in. If it is too dry add a teensy bit more broth to it.

Slightly flour a flat surface and turn the dough onto it. Use a rolling pin to roll it out to ½ inch of thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the cookies shapes (whatever shape your dog likes) and make sure to reuse the scraps as you go. You will notice that the dough will become stiffer as you work it.

Put the cookies on the set aside prepared baking pan and place them in the oven. Bake for around 15 to 20 minutes or until the cookies have acquired a light golden brown color and look dry. Then remove them from the oven and place the tray over a rack and allow the cookies to cool completely. Turn the oven off.

Once the cookies have cooled, put them back inside the warm oven in a baking tray and allow them to sit in there undisturbed without opening the oven door for 10 to 15 hours straight.

Again, I didn't make the recipe up. I found it at k9puppydogs.com :-) 

Tummy problems?

I saw a new product the other day. The Deidre's K9 catalog has a product called Tummywell. It allegedly contains enzymes to help pets digest their food. The website says: "When taken with a meal, these supplemental digestive enzymes are completely dedicated to the digestive process, and help the body effectively break down food into nutrients the body can use. When taken on an empty stomach, the same enzymes help restore and maintain healthy blood and tissue functions, and can have a beneficial effect on immune and inflammatory processes." The chews also contain vitamins and minerals.

I'm curious. If anyone has a dog with problem tummy and has tried the product, I'd love to hear from you.

Eating like a dog...

Finding a good dog food can be challenging, but once you have it down, they're happy to eat the same stuff day after day. (My gang eats Orijen by the way.) They come running in for every meal, super excited over the bowl of food. I tell them the food fairy fills the bowl.

I sense a life lesson there. To me, eating the same thing day after day seems extremely boring, especially if it's something looking and smelling like dog food. Still, how convenient it would be if we were more like dogs in that aspect. Imagine being able to eat the same thing meal after meal, and be grateful for it.

Does your dog jump?

I've had a foster dog at home for a couple of months, and she's as cute as can be. She is cuddly, smart, and crazy energetic. When she first arrived, she'd been in boarding for months after a scary stay at a shelter - she was pulled by the rescue hours before being killed - and she didn't know anything. I mean, anything.  She tried to jump up on the kitchen counters. She wanted to stand on the tables. She tried taking food out of the other dog's mouths. She'd probably never seen a toy before, and hoarded everything together in a pile that she guarded.

All these things were pretty easy to break, and within a few days, she knew how to sit, knew the word stay means not to go out the front door, learned to go to her crate on command, and to move over when hogging too much of the sofa. She's so good with the crate she runs to it if I go through the room saying, "I've gotta go to work."

Anyway, she has a couple of annoying habits I haven't been able to break yet. She's terrified of leaving the house. When she first arrived, she was afraid to leave my side in the back yard - she probably knows all too well what it's like to be abandoned - but that disappeared within a few days. She likes to go for a ride in the car, if I lift her in. Try to go for a walk... Forget it. We've tried a few steps more every day, but as soon as the house is out of sight, complete panic ensues. I've tried every trick I can think of except one - I will try to put out a trail of dog food, and hopefully she won't notice we're going further and further away. (Not an optimal mode of training, I know. If you have a better idea, please comment on this post and let me know.)

She also jumps a lot of people, especially on me, and it has been driving me crazy. My own dog training skills weren't enough to break the bad habit, and I Googled to see if anyone had some good advice. I didn't know that dogs jump to show submission. I thought they were just overly energetic and happy... That explains why raising your voice to make them stay down doesn't work; they sense they're doing something wrong, and want to become even more submissive, so they'll just jump more.

The website suggested turning your back to the dog that jumps. Tyeah, that didn't have any effect at all.  It also suggested "turning into a tree" every time the jumping begins. I stand absolutely still and stare into the wall. That makes jumping boring pretty quickly. She still does it, but stops as soon as I begin my tree invitation. As soon as she stops jumping I praise her for being such a good girl and staying down.

Other ideas? Have you had the same problem, and if so, what did you do?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I don't have a lot to say today, except, keep an eye on the list of foods dangerous for dogs I posted the other day, and... Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you have a wonderful holiday!

It's that time a year again...

You know what I'm talking about... The time a year when we all eat extreme amounts of, well, everything. If you thought Halloween was bad with all the left over candy, wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas...

I have posted this list before, but around the holidays there's so much bad stuff our furry friends can get into, so it's worth saying again. Please, read this list of the foods most dangerous to dogs, and the symptoms/effects of each one. It could save your dog's life.

Most people know not to give their dogs chocolate, but many other common household things that we eat are also poisonous to dogs. Some things to look out for are:

• Chocolate
  Chocolate is oh so good and tempting, even for your canine friends, but it contains a substance called theobromine. It's a cardiac stimulant that doesn't really affect humans, but can be lethal to dogs. The dog can seem perfectly fine up to several hours after eating a larger amount of chocolate, and death can still ensue within 24 hours.
  
  A dog that has eaten chocolate can exhibit symptoms that include: staggering, problems breathing, vomiting, diarrhea, tummy pains, tremmors, fever, seizures, and coma. Milk chocolate contains the least cocoa and is the least dangerous. Dark chocolate is really bad. If your dog ate chocolate, or if you suspect your dog ate chocolate, don't gamble with their life. Go see a vet. Most cities have pet emergency rooms open even during nights and holidays.



• Cocoa Powder
  Well, cocoa powder and cooking chocolate are chocolate. They don't taste as good to us, but that's just because it's more concentrated without the sugar of normal munching chocolate. Thus, these forms are even more toxic, and contain ten times more theobromine than milk chocolate. A 22 pound dog can be seriously ill or die from as little as two ounces of cocoa powder. A small dog can get really sick from just licking chocolate icing.



• Onions
  Most people understand that they shouldn't give a dog an onion. Onions can be difficult to watch out for though; they're in all sorts of food, and all sorts are dangerous. Onions and garlic contain a substance called thiosulphate. Garlic has less and is thus less dangerous, but you still shouldn't feed it to your dogs. Thiosulphate cause haemolytic anaemia, which means that the pet's red blood cells burst while circulating through the body. Symtomps are labored breathing, liver damage, vomiting, diarrhea, and discolored urine.
  
  The poisoning might not show until days after the pet ate onion. Watch out for onion dip, left over pizza, commercial baby food with onions, chinese food, gravys... You get the idea.



• Mushrooms
  Some dogs react very badly to certain species of mushrooms. Symptoms include tummy aches, drooling, liver damage, kidney damage, vomiting, diarrhea, convusions, coma and... death.



• Grapes and Raisins
  Most dogs love grapes and raisins, but they're bad, bad, bad. Some dogs don't seem to react at all, others get violently ill from just a handful. Don't gamble, give your dog something else. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pains, and lethargy. (Grapeseed oil, used in many paw revitalizers, is poisonous to many other animals, but dogs don't seem to react to it.)



• Macadamia nuts
  These might not kill your dog, but they do have high levels of phosphorous and can lead to bladder stones. Dogs get muscle problems, and weakness and even paralysis of their hind legs. Affected dogs are often unable to rise up.

 Other things to watch out for are:

• Baby foods - often contain onion powder
• Bones from fish, birds, and pork
• Pointsettias - are poisonous
• Tulips, Hyacinths, Daffodils, Lilies, Azaleas, Crocus, Rhododendrons, and many other common garden plants. They're beautiful to look at, but shouldn't be eaten by neither people nor pets.

Cat person?

Don't worry, the DoggieBlog doesn't want to discriminate our feline friends. I just don't know all that much about them... The website catdoor.com, on the other hand, is filled with cute and fun cat photos, as well as information about cat flaps and cat doors. They also mention there's a Plexidor made for cats. Cutest little thing. I'm thinking it would make a great serving window between a kitchn and a patio...

Labrador - Canada's most widely spread export?

Most people like Labradors. I mean, what is there not to like? They're friendly, playful, and beautiful. Did you know the Labrador is a Canadian dog breed? They are the most popular breed of dog registered in Canada, the UK, and the US. They are also the most popular choice for assistant dogs and police dogs in a number of countries.

Labradors are typically athletic and love to swim. They even have webbed paws! They like playing catch-and-retrieve games, and they're good with children. Many Labradors work as guide dogs for the blind.

Source: The Plexidor 2013 calendar; North American Dogs.

Image from iStockphoto.com

Easy to train dog breeds

I was clicking around on the Animal Planet Dog Breed guide - awesome page, by the way. They have a section for Easy-to-Train dog breeds.

I'm not surprised to see the Border Collie high on the list. The German Shepherd is also a given.

In alphabetic order, the list is:
Australian Cattle Dog
Australian Shepherd
Border Collie
Cardigan Welsh Corgi
Doberman Pinscher
German Shepherd
Golden Retriever
Labrador Retriever
Papillon
Poodle
Rottweiler
Shetland Sheepdog

I understand how the working breeds learn easily, but the list made me curious. I definitely need to learn more about the Papillon!

Philosophical musings

I sometimes wonder if dogs wish they had thumbs. Imagine if they could open stuff like we do, and hold things like we do. I already see them as furry people, and sometimes I wonder if it isn't just a whim of nature that separates us.

We build houses and use tools out of necessity. I think our fingers, thumbs, and reasoning might have developed out of necessity; we needed to build to survive. It became a positive spiral. The more we built, the more time and opportunities we had to think, and so on. Most animals don't need houses and tools - they're equipped to get by without them.

Are we a whim of nature? What really separates us from our furry friends? What do you think?

American dog breed, or not.

I recently had the pleasure to perform some research on American dog breeds. It would be easy to think the American Eskimo is an American dog. It's not. The breed originated in Germany, and was called German Spitz up until the time of the first world war. At this time, anti-German influences were so strong, the breed was renamed American Eskimo.

The Eskie has an extremely thick, multi layered coat. There are three sizes: toy, miniature, and standard. The American Eskimo isn't considered an aggressive breed, but they were originally bred to guard people and property, and they can be valiant watchdogs when the occasion calls for it. This instinct to guard also shows itself in a tendency to bark at strangers.

Besides watching out for mom and dad, the Eskie is known for having excellent balance and they are famous for their skills as circus dogs. 

The American Eskimo is a hardy dog with an average life span of 16 years!

Poochie for President!

It is almost election time, and debates run high in media in general, as well as on Facebook and Twitter. Voting would be easy if one was a dog: I'm sure my pooches would vote for whomever promised the most treats, petdoors, and outside time. If a candidate promised no kill shelters, they'd have my vote.

What do you think? Is animal welfare something politicians should address? Would it sway your vote, or help you make up your mind? Leave me a comment; I'd love to know!

Support Alfie's Law!

Please support Alfie's law. Every pet has the right to be treated well, and since people can't seem to  understand this, we need laws to protect them. If you want to help out, there's a petition to sign at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/34522

Videocontest - win $1000!

I was looking around the Internet the other day, and found this great video contest. Who doesn't want to win $1000? All you have to do is film your pet using a Plexidor, upload it on Youtube, and fill out the form on this webpage. The contest ends December 1, so hurry up with those entries!

Good luck!

Free stuff!

Who likes free stuff? I like free stuff. Deidre's K9 Naturals give away free samples of shampoo and various chews, all you have to do is send them your name and address. Filling out their catalog request also works. They'll send you a catalog, and a few days later a package with product samples.

Shampoo warning

There's something new killing doggies every day. If it isn't dog treats or food, it's toads or plants. Right now, shampoos are the big culprit. According to this article, some pet shampoos contain D-Limonene, an ingredient that can cause severe allergic reactions in dogs. I don't know how common the ingredient is, or how common the allergic reaction might be, but it's better to be on the safe side, so check what's in the shampoo before pouring it over the dog.

Doggie love

This explains a lot!

Thinking of getting a doggie door?

Thinking of getting a pet door? Check out the website petdoor.com

How do you teach a dog some tricks?

Excellent question - on a good day, my dogs know how to sit. It can look really impressive if I'm holding treats and they all sit on a row so it looks like we're doing it on purpose... After watching some really cool videos the other day, I decided to google and learn a little more, and I found this excellent website!

Loveyourdog.com has page after page with ideas on how to teach dogs tricks easily. I will start practicing today. I'm sure they'll have mommy trained to give them treats for things in no time...

Handy helpers!

Hmm, someone really needs to teach my dogs some tricks... They could help out around the house...

The cabbage thefts are horrendous this year, LOL

This is just SO cute, and I can totally imagine my doggies doing it... =)

Watchdogs, hahaha!

I currently have four dogs in the house: three residents and one foster. At least one of them usually sit by the living room window, keeping track of anything moving outside. They don't care all that much about people walking by, but other dogs, bikes, and motorcycles must be barked at. In a perfect world, all bikes and motorcycles would be herded together in a neat little group. The most eager window-guarder is also blessed with amazing hearing - she can sleep in an adjacent room, where there aren't any windows at doggie height - and bark in her sleep when someone rides a bike past the house. Not to mention the mail truck. In the doggies' imagination it's probably a fire breathing monster.

From time to time, the people reading the power meter, water meter, and gas meter walk past the house. They go right across the yard, about six feet away from this huge window. Every time this happens, all dogs are sound asleep and don't say a peep. The other day someone walked door to door putting little fliers on the handles. I saw him right outside the window, and he even touched the door handle. All dogs slept, not even the tip of a tail stirred. I said, "As watch dogs, you're all useless." They yawned.

Happy doggies running in and out

Cute video with happy doggies enjoying their Plexidor.

My Pet DMV

Do your dogs like to go for a ride? Mine sure do. They haven't quite learned to drive yet, but if they could, they'd take the car down to McDonalds daily, I'm sure. Not to mention the pet store... Wouldn't it be cute if a doggie trotted up to the counter with a couple of dollar bills, wanting to get a new chewie?

Anyway, when I first saw My Pet DMV I thought it was the dumbest thing ever. Driver's licenses for dogs?!? A couple of website visits later, I started to think it was pretty cool. I still hesitated - but a doggy driver's license sounded better and better. Not to mention they get a collar tag too, with the pet's photo, name, and contact information.

When hubby suggested we should get name tags for the dogs, just in case something would ever happen, I folded and ordered one to try it out. They are really cool. The collar tags aren't the most durable things ever, but for special occasions, they're awesome. The driver's licenses look so real it's fun to try to fool people with them. Imagine when people want to card my husband and he pulls out a driver's license with a photo of an American Eskimo... That prank alone is worth the money!

American Pet Association

Did you know there's something called the American Pet Association that tests products for pets? If a product or service is APA approved, it has been scrutinized by an unbiased viewer. The APA does not accept corporate donations or advertising, they support the local Humane Societies, help with dispute resolution, and much more.

Lend a helping paw!

According to the Humane Society, between 6-8 million cats and dogs enter US shelters each year, and over 4 million are euthanized in the shelters. To give a comparison of people, it's as if the entire population of Sweden would be put in jail each year, or the entire population of Norway would be put to death each year.

Funny enough, strays have a better chance than owner surrenders. Pets surrendered to shelters by their owners can be put down immediately. Many shelters have no-kill policies. Be aware that they often cooperate with kill shelters, and if the shelter overflows the animals will be moved to a kill shelter. Moral of the story: a pet is a commitment for life. Don't give them up to a shelter!

Some people think it's a great idea to put pets out on Craigslist as "Free to good owner." Please, don't do that. Just... don't.

Many people want to help, but might not be ready for the lifetime commitment of adoption. Fostering is an awesome way to help an animal in need. When you foster, you work together with a rescue. They usually pay for vet visits and heartworm medication, and the foster only has to pay for food. (Some rescues even provide the food.) Some pets just need a place to stay overnight while waiting for a transport, others stay with their foster parents for weeks or even months. It depends on the animal's situation, and on what the foster is ready to give. To learn more about this, contact your local rescue, or a breed specific rescue.

If you don't want to foster, for whatever reason, rescues always look for other forms of help. It doesn't have to be money - many need pet toys, blankets, old sheets, or towels.

Another great way to help is sharing shelter animals on Facebook and Twitter. If people don't know that specific cat or dog is there, the animal will die in the shelter. Exposure helps save lives.

Are you looking for a pet?

When the time is right to get a new furry best friend, a lot of people head to the pet store. An alternative - that helps save a life - is turning to local shelters and rescues. You can also look online, on petfinder.com. Here, it's possible to specify what kind of animal you want, if you want a specific breed, and how far you're willing to travel. Don't panic if the pet you want is outside your area. Many shelters and rescues have networks of people willing to help with transport. My dogs come from shelters all over the country.

There are all kinds of pets in shelters. Pure bred cats and dogs, mutts, bunnies, pigs, goats... There are puppies and kittens as well as older animals. Whatever you're looking for, petfinder can help you.

What is a dog?

Besides man's best friend, of course? I was reading on Wikipedia the other day. I did know that the domestic dog is very closely related to the gray wolf. I did not know the dog as we know it today is thought to be the first animal to be domesticated.

Remains of domesticated dogs, about 33,000 years old, have been found in Siberia. Dogs and humans have been companions for 33,000 years! What a mind-boggling number!

I also did not know these first dogs seem to be of a lineage extinct today. Today's dogs have existed for about 15,000 years.

Dog Breeds

I was googling general doggie stuff the other day, and stumbled across Animal Planet's Dog Breed Selector. Curious as always, I had to try it out, and started clicking around. If you're interested in dogs at all, it's a site well worth visiting. There are beautiful photos and videos as well as interesting facts.

I have to tip my groomer more

My dogs are great in many ways. They're really sweet, and put up with almost any weird ideas their humans might get. Except when it comes to nail trims. From the struggles they put up, you could think we were trying to kill them.

For a while, I solved the problem through taking the two most difficult ones to Pet Smart to have their nails done. It worked really well for a couple of months. Then, one of the ladies said, "Why don't you go pay and I'll have him ready for you when you come back." It seemed like a great idea.

Doggie panicked when mommy was no longer in sight. He peed on the floor and allegedly tried to bite them - I say allegedly because he's the sweetest mutt in the history of dogs - and when I came back, several people were holding him, claiming he had to leave at once. I have never been thrown out of a store before.

On the way home - doggie still with abhorrently long nails - we passed a groomer. I've tried to take my dogs there many times, but they were always closed. This time, they were open. Success! It wasn't easy, but they trimmed the nails with great patience. I hear many horror stories of groomers mistreating dogs, but these guys really do their best. Check out their website!

Have you given your dog a Kong lately?

About a year ago, a good friend asked if I ever give my dogs a Kong. I said, "A what?" She insisted, "A Kong." The words still didn't make any sense to me. A song? Sure I sometimes sing to them. They don't seem to care either way. If anything, they're happier if I don't sing.

Seeing my blank face, she laughed, "A Kong. It's a dog toy, haven't you ever seen a Kong?"

I shook my head and lifted an eyebrow when she pulled out something that looked like a plastic, red doggie poop.

My friend said, "They're great!"

I could not see how this peculiar object would entice a dog to play with it.

"You fill it with something good, like a little cream cheese, and freeze it. Keeps them occupied for hours."

Now, that made sense. I went to the pet store to get Kongs, and grumbled over them being expensive. During the past year, they've been absolute life savers. My own dogs are pretty calm, but some of the fosters that pass through the house have been crazy energetic. A Kong frozen with some cream cheese, peanut butter, or even yogurt inside keeps the most intense dog occupied at least for a while.

To eat or not to eat...

Everyone needs food, and feeding a dog should be reasonably easy. I think consumers have a right to expect dog food to be safe and nutritional. Right? As a doggy-mom, I want to be able to go to the grocery store and pick up food for both me and my pets that is safe and healthy.

Unfortunately, the truth is much more complicated. Dogs, for example, can't really digest corn and wheat. What's the number one ingredients in many brands of dog food? Corn and wheat. Even worse; they contain byproducts of chicken and cows, and those byproducts could be anything.

Many dog foods contain dyes. It's smart; we humans think the food contains more high quality meat if it looks red. The food can be of low quality, but if it looks healthy, we tend to think it is. Some people say dogs can't see colors at all. It's not entirely truthful - they see some colors but not all of them. Either way, I don't think my dogs care what color their food has. They care about the smell and the taste.

Some dyes seem harmless, but others are closely linked to diseases. Examples: Red #40 is linked to lymphomas, Blue #2 to brain tumors, and Yellow #5 to allergies, thyroid tumors and lymphomas. Yummie!

I've been really ambiguous about what to feed my dogs. Every time I've thought I've given them really good food something there has been a big recall or other scare that convinced me I was killing them. (I'm sure you've heard all the reports about chicken treats leading to kidney failure, salmonella in foods, and so on.) I gave them Taste of the Wild for a while and thought I was home free, but then they had a huge recall of contaminated pet food.

After the Taste of the Wild fiasco I gave up and went back to buying pet food from the grocery store. I figured Beneful might not be good for them, but they have to eat something, and at that point in time, all the major food manufacturers were wrestling with quality problems. Look at this pet food recall list and you'll see what I mean. There is also this list of recent recalls.

They've been chewing Beneful for quite a while, until we got a new foster dog. This food didn't sit well with her at all. She ate it and thought it was yummie, and threw it all up after about half an hour. Nothing else was wrong with the dog - it had to be the food. I moseyed off to the pet store, determined to find something better to feed her.

There are too many types of pet food to choose from. I poked some bags and pulled a couple out of the shelf to read the backside text. Fortunately, someone saw my confusion and came over to help. We talked about pet food for a little while, and I was about to leave with a bag. Then, he asked, "What kind of dog is it?"

I said, "It's a Border Collie. Or, well, a Border Collie mix."

The young man's face brightened. "Oh, a dog like that deserves real food."

I thought, "Don't all dogs deserve real food?" but nodded and agreed. I wanted to know what the real food might be. He recommended a brand called Orijen. Compared to the other brands it's expensive, but the table of contents doesn't have any of the weird stuff. Also, since it's a high quality food, the doggies need less of it than they do of the cheaper brands.

I've been feeding it for about a week and a half now. Thus far, the dogs love it, and all of them seem to feel great. I read a review of it. It said: "...a kibble containing a notable amount of meat.What’s more, this dog food is grain-free. There’s no corn, wheat or soy. And no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives. Bottom line? Orijen Adult is a meat-based dry dog food using an abundance of meat and fish meals as its main sources of animal protein, thus earning the brand 5 stars.Enthusiastically recommended."

Compared to feeding them corn meal, wheat, and meat byproducts... I don't care if the bag costs five or even ten dollars more than the other foods.

If you want to read more about pet food, I strongly recommend that you visit dogfoodadvisor.com.

Doggie ears

None of my dogs have ears this big, but they all have ears. LOL. Two of them groom each other and don't need much maintenance. I wondered how their ears could always be so clean, and then I saw them clean each other. It's really really cute.

The American Eskimo I mentioned a couple of days ago gets really dirty ears though.It's kinda icky.

I clean them when I wash him, but it doesn't seem to be enough. Apart from it looking bad when his otherwise white coat gets dark, it's bad for his health too. They can get all kinds of bacteria and yeast and stuff in the ears. He's never shown any problems, but I don't want to gamble with his health. Thus, the weekly dance goes around the house. Doggie first and mommy right behind him, trying, "C'mon boy, I'm just gonna clean your ears, it's not THAT bad!" (Like he would believe me when there's a safe spot somewhere under the bed. Yeah, right...)

After my success with the Deidre's K9 shampoo, I decided to try the ear cleaner. He doesn't love it - mommy comes to pour something cold and strange into his ears - but it works pretty well. It's cheap - about $4 for a bottle that lasts forever - it smells good, and it's easy to apply from the bottle. The struggle is mercifully short. We haven't quite gotten the routine in yet, but it's getting there. :-)

Fetch it, you silly human!

Most dogs I've known have liked to play fetch. I never had to teach them - I tossed something, they ran after it, and brought it back. One dog in my past loved when I tossed pine cones. If it landed in a big pile of other pine cones, he'd sniff them until he found the one I threw, and he wouldn't give up until he had the one that smelled of me.

Right now, I have four dogs in the house. If I throw anything they all look at me like I'm an idiot. "What? You threw it, you pick it up." What are the odds of four dogs not wanting to play?

Someone said to put something the doggies want on a frisbee, like a little peanut butter on the edge. Thus far, they're not impressed. They want the peanut butter, sure, but is it really worth the effort of running? Naaah. They'll just sit in the grass and watch me make a fool of myself instead.

Dangers for doggies

I wrote about foods dangerous for dogs the other days. Since then, I found a great article about it on the ASPCA website. They have some dangers listed that I missed in my blog, like Avocado, Yeast Dough, and Xylitol. Check out their page for the full list!

Plexidor in glass?

Remember I talked about the Plexidor the other day, and my reluctance to make a hole in the wall? I've been thinking about putting it in the laundry room. That's the one room in the house made of wood, and going through the wall there seems much easier than breaking through a stone wall.

My hubby said, "There's nothing but air in this wall, you know that, right?" I'm not too worried about that. My door isn't a wall kit, but there's a wall tunnel available, that covers the edges.It would look something like this from the outside... (The door is on the inside, so one can lock it. It took me a while to figure that out, LOL!)

We still haven't installed it, but we're getting there. Turns out one can put a Plexidor in a glass door, or even a window. Looks kinda cool, but I still think I'll go for the laundry room... (One can put them through a door too, probably easier than through the wall, but our house doesn't have a back door, and installing one seems like a lot of work.)

I know at least one of my dogs are used to dog doors from the rescue, and if she'll go through it the others will probably follow.

I'll keep you updated on my  progress!

Tooth-brush time

It's funny how bright and white a puppy's teeth are, and how quickly they get all yellow when the puppy isn't a puppy anymore. Have you tried brushing a dog's teeth? Fun, isn't it? Best case scenario, the tooth brush is immediately transformed into a chewie toy... LOL!!!

One of my dogs is really good about it. She doesn't exactly pull her lips up and help, but she sits still and lets me handle her teeth. The American Eskimo I keep mentioning here on the blog doesn't love it, but he accepts it. My youngest dog runs for his life and hides.

I used to have some doggy tooth-gel that worked really well. I've had the same bottle for about two years, and by now, I have no idea where I got it. I think it's a product sample from work. With this well of puppy tooth health running dry, it was time to try something else.

Tooth spray sounded good in theory. The container says, "Gently pull back the lips and spray directly on the largest area of tartar." I tried it on my good girl, and she waited patiently while I pulled her lip up and fumbled with the bottle. Then, a spray of strange, cold, minty fluid hit her teeth and gums, and she didn't want to play anymore. The spray smells great, if I put it on my fingers and let them lick it up they love it, but there's a surprise factor with it that doesn't work well on my dogs.

Over to tooth wipes. Again, the good girl got to be test subject, just because she's the easiest to handle. The wipes look like a little sheet of fabric or cotton wool or something, and they smell nice and minty. I held her lip up and rubbed the wipe against her teeth. She didn't mind at all. Over to the American Eskimo. He didn't love it, but he didn't run away, so that was kind of a success. Youngest dog hid, of course.

There is also a dental chew I haven't tried yet. My favorite dog supplement store has been out of stock for ages, but as soon as they get it in, I'll give it a try. I bet that'll work on all of them.

When it comes to the results, thus far, the gel has been superior. The wipes come in as a good second place. They make the teeth really nice and white, but it needs to be applied more often than the gel. I can't wait to try the chews, see how they do.

Plexidor Dog Doors

I've been thinking about putting in a dog door. Actually, I already have the door, I just haven't gotten over the step of making a hole in the wall yet. Looks kinda good though, don't you think? It's a Plexidor.

Mine is an old model, it's blue, and they don't make blue doors anymore, but it will look fabulous on the house. (Once I get over the mental glitch of making a hole in the wall, that is.)

The frame is made from aluminium, it has a lock and key, and a steel plate that can be screwed on to make sure no racoons or thieves or anything enters the house. I like that the door halves are see through. I don't like black rubber flaps - this looks much better. It is the only door I know of that is APA Approved.

I'll show photos and say something about how the doggies like it once it's installed.

Doggie-wash

Do you think bathing dogs is fun? Me neither. It usually ends up with water everywhere, and I'm as soaked as the dogs. I've tried doing it outside. That works really well until the doggie-washing is over, and then they run off to roll themselves in some grass and dirt. Time to start over. LOL.

I also wonder how they always manage to find something really icky to roll around in. I mean, I know the theory behind it - hide your own scent, yadda yadda - but anyway! I found this photo somewhere online, says it pretty well, don't you think?

One of our dogs is an American Eskimo. I always wondered how his coat could be so thick, until a groomer told me they have not just one or two, but three layers of coat. That's a lot of hair.

He's white, and he loves to dig, so after a few days the dog is more gray than white. Yay... I've tried all sorts of whitening shampoos to keep him clean, and rinsing out that fur is a royal pain in the behind. If you look at the photo below he looks really fat, but it's mostly hair. Busted digging a hole in the back yard! I love how you see the sand make a cloud behind him...

This will sound like a commercial, but it's actually true. I got a sample bottle of shampoo from Deidre's K9 Naturals just before Christmas. I thought, "Suuuure it's the best shampoo ever. Shampoo is shampoo, big difference." It smelled good though, and I hauled doggie into the shower. It made him clean and white, he smelled like Pina Colada, and it rinsed out in no time.

The next time I wanted to wash the doggie, I didn't have any Deidre's shampoo. I raced down to the store and picked up a bottle of some whitening something. It lathered well and smelled good, and I thought I was all set. Then, I rinsed, and rinsed, and rinsed... It took 20 minutes of loud cursing to get it out of his undercoat. Back to Deidre's shampoo!

At the time, they only carried the Working Dog Wash and that's the one I've been using. Now, there are more kinds, and I have a bottle of  Grooming shampoo waiting for doggie to get dirty. I'll write about it when I've tested it, and let you know if it's as good as the Working one. The former has Aloe and Oatmeal and Coconut Oil, and I think it might be superior, but I haven't tried yet. They also have a Whitening shampoo that might be great for this guy. I'll try it soon...

Doggie driver's license

Do your dogs like to go for a ride? Mine sure do. They haven't quite learned to drive yet, but if they could, they'd take the car down to McDonalds daily, I'm sure. Not to mention the pet store... Wouldn't it be cute if a doggie trotted up to the counter with a couple of dollar bills, wanting to get a new chewie?

Anyway, when I first saw My Pet DMV I thought it was the dumbest thing ever. Driver's licenses for dogs?!? A couple of website visits later, I started to think it was pretty cool. I still hesitated - but a doggy driver's license sounded better and better. Not to mention they get a collar tag too, with the pet's photo, name, and contact information.

When hubby suggested we should get name tags for the dogs, just in case something would ever happen, I folded and ordered one to try it out. They are really cool. The collar tags aren't the most durable things ever, but for special occasions, they're awesome. The driver's licenses look so real it's fun to try to fool people with them. Imagine when people want to card my husband and he pulls out a driver's license with a photo of an American Eskimo... That prank alone is worth the money!

A Barking Deal!

I have four pretty large dogs in the house. As you can imagine, they go through a lot of stuff. Not just food, but stuff. Toys, chewies, treats, vitamins, shampoo... Luckily, Barking Deals discounts something new every day, usually at about half the normal retail price. It's real products too - like Kong toys. Definitely worth signing up to!

Avoid a trip to the emergency room!

Most people know not to give their dogs chocolate, but many other common household things that we eat are also poisonous to dogs. Some things to look out for are:

• Chocolate
  Chocolate is oh so good and tempting, even for your canine friends, but it contains a substance called theobromine. It's a cardiac stimulant that doesn't really affect humans, but can be lethal to dogs. The dog can seem perfectly fine up to several hours after eating a larger amount of chocolate, and death can still ensue within 24 hours.
  
  A dog that has eaten chocolate can exhibit symptoms that include: staggering, problems breathing, vomiting, diarrhea, tummy pains, tremmors, fever, seizures, and coma. Milk chocolate contains the least cocoa and is the least dangerous. Dark chocolate is really bad. If your dog ate chocolate, or if you suspect your dog ate chocolate, don't gamble with their life. Go see a vet. Most cities have pet emergency rooms open even during nights and holidays.



• Cocoa Powder
  Well, cocoa powder and cooking chocolate are chocolate. They don't taste as good to us, but that's just because it's more concentrated without the sugar of normal munching chocolate. Thus, these forms are even more toxic, and contain ten times more theobromine than milk chocolate. A 22 pound dog can be seriously ill or die from as little as two ounces of cocoa powder. A small dog can get really sick from just licking chocolate icing.



• Onions
  Most people understand that they shouldn't give a dog an onion. Onions can be difficult to watch out for though; they're in all sorts of food, and all sorts are dangerous. Onions and garlic contain a substance called thiosulphate. Garlic has less and is thus less dangerous, but you still shouldn't feed it to your dogs. Thiosulphate cause haemolytic anaemia, which means that the pet's red blood cells burst while circulating through the body. Symtomps are labored breathing, liver damage, vomiting, diarrhea, and discolored urine.
  
  The poisoning might not show until days after the pet ate onion. Watch out for onion dip, left over pizza, commercial baby food with onions, chinese food, gravys... You get the idea.



• Mushrooms
  Some dogs react very badly to certain species of mushrooms. Symptoms include tummy aches, drooling, liver damage, kidney damage, vomiting, diarrhea, convusions, coma and... death.



• Grapes and Raisins
  Most dogs love grapes and raisins, but they're bad, bad, bad. Some dogs don't seem to react at all, others get violently ill from just a handful. Don't gamble, give your dog something else. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pains, and lethargy. (Grapeseed oil, used in many paw revitalizers, is poisonous to many other animals, but dogs don't seem to react to it.)



• Macadamia nuts
  These might not kill your dog, but they do have high levels of phosphorous and can lead to bladder stones. Dogs get muscle problems, and weakness and even paralysis of their hind legs. Affected dogs are often unable to rise up.

 Other things to watch out for are:

• Baby foods - often contain onion powder
• Bones from fish, birds, and pork
• Pointsettias - are poisonous
• Tulips, Hyacinths, Daffodils, Lilies, Azaleas, Crocus, Rhododendrons, and many other common garden plants. They're beautiful to look at, but shouldn't be eaten by neither people nor pets.