Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Kong Recipes

Kongs are great for dogs, especially dogs that like to chew. They keep them busy, happy, and mentally stimulated. Many behavioral problems that dogs develop are because they are bored. Dogs are meant to work for their food. It is not natural to them to have it delivered in a bowl every day. Kongs come in all sorts of sizes, make sure your dog wont be able to swallow it. The Kong company sells several products designed to stuff in the toys. I have not tried any of the Kong stuffings because I like to know exactly what my dog is eating.

I use several things to stuff my Kongs with.
  • All natural peanut butter - all natural is better because your dogs don't need the sugar that is added to regular peanut butter. You can also stuff a few dry biscuits, or kibble in there along with the peanut butter. Freezing the Kong will make it more difficult for your dog to get the treats out, keeping them busy longer.
  • Cheese! You can stuff it with cheese and give it to your dog like that or you can put it in the microwave for a few seconds so the cheese is harder for them to get out. Just make sure it is cool enough by the time you give it to them.
  • Plain yogurt put in the freezer and you have a Kongcile for those hot summer days. This is a great way to keep your dogs hydrated and entertained in the hot weather.
  • Canned pumpkin
  • Hot dogs - one of the dogs favorites
  • Fruits - apples, bananas, melon
  • Vegetables - peas, carrots, green beans, zucchini
Dogs appreciate variety so I try to switch it up once in a while so they never know what to expect in their Kongs. I like to have 3 Kongs per dog. This allows you to always have a Kong in the freezer ready to give your pups when your busy and can't spend time with them.

There are other types of food puzzles available for your dogs besides the Kong. Others that Peanut & Bailey have tried include:
The treatstik
Tug a Jug
Twist n treat
Omega tricky treat ball

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Trying a New Dog Food

I'm always looking for high quality dog food for Peanut & Bailey and recently I discovered The Honest Kitchen. I had heard of this food once before from someone at a local Rochester dog event but that was about it. After looking up some information about it online I found a great website that sold it http://www.hipgreenpet.com/. I received a few samples to try out with the dogs and cats to see how they like it. Peanut loved it right away, Bailey was a little unsure. Bailey smelled it, licked it then tried to stick his head in the bowl but ultimately didn't eat much of it. I think if I introduced this food slowly he would eventually really like it.

The reason why I wanted to try this food is because it is human grade quality and very good for the animals. The food is dehydrated so it retains all of the valuable nutrients. Regular dog kibble is baked and the high temperatures used to bake it destroy a lot of the foods nutritional value.

I also received a sample of Prowl The Honest Kitchens cat food. I have three cats the youngest is about 7 the oldest close to 13. They are all very picky eaters. They checked the new food out but then demanded their regular dry food.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Peanut's First Christmas

This year was Peanut's first Christmas with us, she is approximately 1.5 years old. We adopted her last February. She already is very spoiled so there are very few toys she doesn't already have. For Christmas she got two Kong squeekie toys, a rope toy, and biscuits. Here are some pictures of her trying to open presents and guarding her treats!

Friday, December 24, 2010

The Animal Rescue Site

One of the easiest ways to give back to the animals and other important charities is by going to http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/. Every day you can go to the site and click the button to donate food to animal shelters. There are also other tabs so you can click to donate for hunger, cancer, child health, literacy, and the rainforest. The site is full of information regarding social issues and campaigns you can sign to show your support to various causes. This is also a fantastic site to purchase really unique hand made products.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Hol-EE Roller Dog Toy

The Hol-EE Roller is one of Peanut & Baileys favorite toys so naturally we had to get two. Bailey loves it when you put cheese in there. He stays busy pushing the ball around trying to get at the cheese. Peanut on the other hand loves to play tug of war and fetch with it. Shes figured out how to get the treat out too quickly so that doesn't keep her occupied for long anymore. Peanut is a high energy dog and really needs to take two long walks a day to get her energy out. In reality that doesn't always happen so second best thing is to get her mentally tired. A tired dog is a good dog!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Small Dog Play Group Christmas Party

Peanut and Bailey attended the Rochester Small Dog Play Group's Christmas party. This was the second event that we have attended with the Small Dog Play Group the first was their Halloween Party. I tried to take some pictures of the dogs in their fancy holiday outfits but its difficult when they are running around like crazy! The party was held at Dog E. Woggy's K9 Playtime a dog daycare and groomer. There is also a large dog play group for people with dogs over 25 pounds.


Peanut being the social butterfly loves these parties (they also have a Halloween party). Bailey is a bit more shy. He does play with the other dogs for a little while but he quickly gets tired and just wants to be held. These types of meet ups are a great place for your dog to socialize with other dogs their own size off of leash. It is also a great place to meet other dog owners that are just as crazy about their dogs as you are! There is plenty of delicious food and drinks for people. You do have to pay $10 per person, the cost is used to pay for the rental of the facility and food. I would definitely attend another Small Dog Playgroup event!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

The Furminator Saves the Day

The Furminator is a special brush designed for dogs and cats that shed a lot. The brush its self looks almost like a razor and while it is pretty expensive as far as pet brushes go it is worth every last penny. If you answer yes to one or more of the following questions you need a Furminator in your life.

1. Have you stopping purchasing black clothing because you can't keep pet hair off of it?
2. Do you go through more than two lint rollers a month?
3. As an act of desperation have you attemped to vacume the fur off of your pet?
4. While petting your  dog or cat are you surrounded by a tornado of fur?
5. Could you knit an afgan out of the hair that your pet sheds?

For me the Furminator has been a life saver. My 8 year old cat Mr. Pheleroo sheds like nothing I've ever seen before. The hair just never stops all year round. I could spend hours brushing him with your ordinary cat brush and still not be satisfied. With the Furminator I can still brush him for a long time but I am removing huge piles of unwanted cat hair.


The Furminator comes in a variety of sizes. I have a smaller size designed for cats. It also works well on my small dogs. The Furminator also comes in a long hair variety.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Blankets for Shelter Dogs & Cats

Do you have any old blankets or towls at home that you don't want or need? Bring them to an animal shelter! I volunteer at Lollypop Farm and I love making sure all of the kittys have a comfortable blanket to snuggle on. Rochester Animal Services could also use donations of blankets. Shelters always need blankets because they don't last forever. They need to be thrown away from time to time after an animal gets sick on them.

If you having knitting skills you could knit blankets for the shelter. In the catroom at Lollypop Farm we have a few loyal donors that bring in knitted small blankets for the cats. This small gift makes the cats stay in the shelter much more enjoyable.

During the summer I like to shop for blankets and bath towls at garage sales. They are useually super cheap and they make such a difference to the animals.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Are you Killing your Dog Slowly?

High quality dog food is one of my passions. It is also a very controversial topic is the pet community right now. Not all dog foods are created equal and consumers really need to read what is in their dog food. Low quality dog food can create all sorts of health problems for your dog from itchy skin to cancer. Low quality pet foods include ingredients from rendering plants. These plants take dead pets, rats, raccoons, and supermarket left overs and turn them into ingredients that are commonly used in cheap pet food. To make it worse these dead animals are covered in maggots, and deadly chemicals such as flea collars, euthanasia poison, collars and ID tags. The unsold supermarket meat goes in still in the packaging with plastic and styrofoam.

Right now I'm feeding my dogs Blue Buffalo dry dog food and some canned EVO wet food to provide them a variety. I also cook my dogs dinner to ensure that they are receiving healthy and whole ingredients such as turkey, carrots, and green beans. While I"m sure this is not a perfect diet it is certainly better than some other dry kibble only diets. This morning I discovered a great blog about pet food take some time to check it out: http://petfoodtalk.com/dogfoodreviews/

If you are really interested in what you are feeding your dog and how to feed them a more healthy natural diet check out Dr. Pitcarins complete guide to natural health for dogs and cats.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Best Christmas Gifts for your Dogs

Of course I buy Christmas presents for my dogs. I love buying new dog toys and treats! Right now my favorite dog toy is the Kong Wobbler. The wobbler is a fantastic toy because it is really interactive and I love interactive toys because they mentally tire your dog out. A tired dog is a well behaved dog…. for the most part. For most dogs you could put their dog food in the wobbler and they will play with it to get the food out. Bailey on the other hand is a treat snob. He wants cheese preferably cheddar. I don’t bother to mix the cheese with dog food or any other treats because he will just pick the cheese out. I recommend this toy to everyone. I think it is a fantastic product especially for those of us with high energy dogs that need to be entertained constantly.
Bully sticks also make great dog Christmas presents. A bully stick is a dehydrated bulls penis. Sounds awful but dogs love them! Warning: may give your dog very stinky farts! Bully sticks are much better for your dogs than rawhides. Rawhides are often very salty making your dog drink water. The problem with this is that the rawhide can get lodged in their stomach and expand with water creating a blockage. If you insist on giving your dogs rawhides make sure they are made in the USA. Rawhides made out side of the US may contain certain chemicals that are not good for your dog.

Who are Peanut and Bailey

Welcome to my blog! Peanut and Bailey are my two dogs that were both adopted from rescue groups. Peanut is a super high energy one year old mini pincher mix that I adopted from Paws and Purrs Rescue. Bailey is the most amazing dog in the world, he is a beautiful pomeranian mix. He is now 5 years old I adopted him from Rochester Animal Services about 4 years ago.
Peanut & Bailey are always getting new toys, treats and I’m always looking into new dog training books and classes to try with them. I will talk about and review all of the things we do & try.