Covering all aspects of life with dog companions. We'll cover traveling, rate dog friendly hotels, test and rate products and talk about the ways dogs enrich our lives every day.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Every dog needs a stroller!

My dogs love to walk on the trail with us.   Mostly on the way back to the car, not so much away, so that's why we use a stroller for our daily walks.


The dogs love their strollers, we have a different stroller for every situation.  For the trails or long distances we use our Burley Tailwagon.  For restaurants we use our Pet Gear Happy Trails Plus Strollers, they each have their own and for shopping at the mall we have a Petzip Happy Trailer.  Each of these strollers is available at Just Pet Strollers.    
http://www.justpetstrollers.com/index.html






The Tailwagon is the limousine of strollers and is perfect for traveling long distances on pavement or any surface where you can ride a bike.  It has large air-filled tires for a smooth ride.   This stroller can also be attached to your bike.  Another great thing about the Burley stroller is that the dogs ride very low to the ground and can get into and out of the stroller unassisted.  
http://www.burley.com/home/bur/page_455/tailwagon.html   




The Pet Gear Happy Trails Strollers are really great for keeping the pups off the dirty ground when we're at restaurants but the ride on these strollers isn't really great.  The tires are hard formed plastic and they don't offer any shock absorption or traction, this is strictly a short distance stroller.
http://www.petgearinc.com/product_info.asp?id=6


Our shopping stroller is the Petzip Happy Trailer which is made by a company called "Ibiyaya" 
http://www.ibiyaya.com/page1.aspx?type=411&no=252212

This stroller maneuvers like a dream and even though it is a good size (big enough for both of my pups) it can weave through the aisles of a store with ease.  The air-filled tires offer a nice smooth ride and the pups can jump up into the cabin themselves due to the fact that it is low enough to the ground.



I've found that having the riding cabin closer to the ground offers a much more stable ride for the dogs and fearful dogs are much more likely to stay in a stroller they feel comfortable getting in and out of than they are in a stroller that keeps them too high off the ground.  


Each of the stroller types I've shown you here has their own strengths and weaknesses and that's why I feel the need to have more than one kind.  When at a restaurant the larger strollers are too big to fit between tables and since the riding cabin in so low to the ground the pups really can't see what you're doing so they fidget more than if they are in the smaller stroller with the cabin that is just below table height.  


When choosing a stroller you really need to look at what features will work for you, but if you are going to be pushing the stroller for long distances I can't stress enough how important air-filled tires are.  

Monday, July 18, 2011

All Things Dog Blog

I just visited the most amazing dog blog http://www.allthingsdogblog.com/

Please check it out, you'll be glad you did!  

They cover everything!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Pretty Little Dog Bowls

I love pretty dog bowls but I wonder whether they're safe for my dogs to eat from.  We've all been told to stay away from plastic bowls because of all the chemicals they leach into the food.  And stainless bowls are great but they just aren't very pretty.  


The prettiest bowls are always the ceramic or stoneware but is there lead in the paint?    

Well, there are now many bowls that are pretty and safe.  Several manufacturers are labeling they're bowls as "lead-free" and even "FDA approved".  

One such company is PetWare Pottery.  

I've been buying these bowls for years because they are pretty and come in a large variety of shapes and sizes.  

They are dishwasher and microwave safe and are made with only lead-free glazes.  

There are several other companies that make safe, FDA approved bowls for dogs that I haven't had the pleasure to try yet but here some links so you can check them out. 

Mickey's Pet Supplies carry a large selection of Natural and Safe products made in the USA. 

Harry Barker has many Eco-Friendly and safe products for dogs including a very interesting Bamboo Dog Bowl!

PetRageous Designs also carries a large variety of beautiful Dog Bowls that are FDA approved.  


Please comment below.  Please feel free to recommend topics you'd like to see on this blog.

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Friday, July 15, 2011

A New Puppy!

Who can resist the adorable puppies you see at the pet store?  They're all so cute and fluffy that it's hard to believe that they come from such awful beginnings at puppy farms, where dogs are bred purely for profit with no thought given to their health or future. 

I know first hand what can happen when a dog isn't bred properly....Peanut was a pet shop dog.  Monty her brother is still with us but has had health problems since he was a puppy.   

Thank goodness that there are really good breeders out there who carefully breed only the best dogs to make sure the puppy you take home will be healthy and happy their entire life.  

These breeders have their dogs genetically tested to rule out any diseases that may be passed down so they can produce the healthiest puppies.  

Ideally a breeder will hand raise the puppies in a home environment having family members handle the puppies and give them love and attention every day.  This is how you get the best temperament, because the puppies are socialized to people before you even bring them home.

Nowadays there are breeders for every kind of dog imaginable, not just purebreds.  

This is how I came to adopt my new best friend.  You see after losing Peanut I was inconsolable so my Husband suggested that I consider getting a new puppy.  Of course, I yelled at him and told him I couldn't possibly love another dog as much as Peanut. 

But after some time had passed and I still felt so sad I considered what he said and started looking around.  That's how I found Zoe, although at that time she was named Mercedes. 



A tip:  If your breeder gives all her puppies a number (black female 1) instead of a name you should find a different breeder.

I was looking up breeders on the internet when I came across Sugar and Spice Cockapoos http://www.sugarandspicecockapoos.com/    

Right there on their "Available Puppies" page was a face so familiar it could have been a twin to my Peanut.  I felt that it was meant to be, she had the same white patch on her chin and chest as Peanut...it must be a sign.

We left that weekend for South Carolina to meet Zoe and her "birth mom" and dad and also to make sure she was raised properly and came from a loving home.  Zoe was 5 weeks old when I met her and I loved her the moment I saw her, she climbed over her siblings to get to me so I would pick her up first.  Full of energy and curiosity she played with me, came when I called her and even gave me a kiss on the nose.  

It was so hard to leave her there but I knew she had to grow up a little more before she could leave her mother and siblings.  I told her I would be back to get her soon.  I counted the days until I could get her.

When I took Zoe home she weighed 2.2 lbs and didn't fit into anything but a tiny Buddy Belt harness I bought for her.  When I got her to the car Monty wouldn't even look at her.  You see Monty was in mourning too, he missed his sister as much as I did.  He didn't like Zoe much until she got a little bigger and now he loves her, she taught him how to play again.  I think he was afraid of her because she was so little, fast and had sharp puppy teeth.   

Initially, I felt guilty for loving Zoe.  I felt that I was forgetting Peanut and that I should continue to mourn her,  but when I thought about it I realized that Peanut was always full of joy and happiness and I'm sure she would hate to think I was so miserable without her.   She would want me to be happy again.  

I still think of Peanut often and losing her is still very painful, but I don't feel guilty anymore for loving Zoe, I think Peanut would have loved her too. 

Sugar and Spice Cockapoos is run by a husband and wife team and they raise all the puppies in their home.  They keep everything clean and healthy for all their dogs and treat every one of them like a member of the family.  

When I visited they welcomed me into their home and allowed me to play with the puppies as long as I wanted and introduced me to Zoe's parents.  Meeting Zoe's parents was such a wonderful experience because now when I see her do something I didn't teach her I can say "Oh, her dad did that" or when she rolls over and over I can remember seeing her mom do that to entertain her puppies.

It was a wonderful experience getting my puppy from a reputable breeder.  I pays to do your research and make that visit to check out their home so you know where your puppy is coming from.
              

  

Thursday, July 14, 2011

How Do I Say Goodbye?

Anyone who has ever loved and lost a pet knows how hard it is to let them go and move on.  

In 2007 my beautiful little girl "Peanut" was diagnosed with lymphoma and my world fell apart.  She was only 6 years old and my best friend in the world.  We spent every waking hour together and even had our own language.  She would respond to me with little woofs as if she understood everything I said to her.  She had never been sick a day in her life before and I thought we would be together forever.

It all started with what the Doctor said was just a "wart" but it seemed that each day she had another one so I asked the Doctor to remove and biopsy them just to be safe. He called me on my birthday with the news.....Peanut had cancer.  He told me I need to take her to a specialist but that she would be fine.

We took her to the Veterinary School at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL  http://www.vetmed.ufl.edu/veterinary-hospitals/small-animal-hospital/  and met with an oncologist who told us she also had a tumor in her intestines and would probably only last a year with chemotherapy or a few weeks without.  So we started chemo immediately.

She didn't respond to the traditional chemo so her oncologist suggested another drug and it worked right away.  Only thing is that the drug caused her intestinal tumor to shrink making the walls of her intestines fragile.  She needed emergency surgery before her intestines ruptured poisoning her insides.  

This was the first time we'd ever been apart overnight and it was the hardest thing I ever had to do, allowing them to do major surgery on my little girl to try to save her life.  

Miraculously, she pulled through the surgery and was feeling great.  We continued chemo treatments and she was feeling great, playing and enjoying daily walks on the trail for over a year before.  We even went on a great vacation to the Biltmore in Asheville , NC where Peanut and I snuck into the mansion and got to the second floor before being thrown out.   We enjoyed the walking trails on the property and had a wonderful time.  

She felt great for 18 months and suddenly started to fail.  Her liver wasn't tolerating the chemo drug anymore so we had to stop her chemo treatments.  

The next visit the Doctor took some x-rays and found that the cancer had spread to her bones.  But he felt that he could give her a different chemo drug that would make her feel better again.  So we started a different chemo drug.  

A week later, her showed that she needed platelets so we got her a blood transfusion which made her feel much better, but only for a couple of days.

Her next blood test showed that her kidneys were failing so the Doctor wanted to give her IV fluids the next morning for a few hours to see if we could help her kidneys function properly.  But that morning when Peanut woke up she was having difficulty walking.  We took her to the Doctor and he started the IV and we took her home with the IV so we could be comfortable while she got her fluids. 

She was resting comfortably for hours and almost done with the IV bag when I noticed blood coming out of her nose.  Immediately we took her back to the Doctor.  On the ride over the bleeding got much worse and when he examined her he said she was bleeding internally and it was time to say goodbye.

Peanut and I had been together every minute of every day since she was diagnosed because I vowed to stay by her side until she breathed her last breath so she would ever have to be afraid.  

I held her and comforted her when they injected her.  

I told her I loved her and that I would always be with her. 

I couldn't bring myself to say goodbye.  

I had a very hard time after that and a friend of mine suggested that I read "The Shack"  by William P. Young, to help me sort through my feelings and it helped me so much.  

I'd also like to suggest to anyone going through this to read "The Darkest Evening of the Year" by Dean Koontz which also helped me to deal with my pain. 

Below is a picture of Peanut with her favorite toy and all my journal entries from right after I lost her.  

I hope this will help you to ease your pain after the loss of your best friend. 
My beautiful little baby girl Peanut I miss you so much. I look for you everywhere. On the bed your pillow is empty and that's how I feel since I lost you. I miss you waking me up every morning for tummy rubs. I miss holding you. I miss seeing your beautiful face looking up at me. I miss you so much it hurts and I don't think I'll every stop crying. I miss your kisses. I miss talking to you. I love you.
Beautiful Peanut I miss our beach days. You were always such a happy little baby girl. I love you more than anything. I miss you more than words can describe. Thank you for letting me love you for as long as you could. I'll miss you forever.
My beautiful little girl Peanut you filled my life with love and joy. I'll miss you every day of my life. I love you with all my heart.
My beautiful Peanut this week I took your ashes to your favorite place the beach and climbed on top of the tallest dune and released your ashes into the wind. You always wanted to fly and you did, you caught the wind and flew so high. I'll miss you always but remember my baby we'll always be together. I love you more than words can express and always will.