Monday Face and the Weekend

This is Lassie’s Monday Morning Face:
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 😛

Look what we got over the weekend!

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We won Dachshund Nola‘s giveaway! We got 25 bully sticks from Best Bully Sticks. Lassie and Petal were both very excited by this package. Petal ripped it open and put a few small holes in the resealable package in her enthusiasm, oops. Luckily I was able to force them into our treat jar. 😉

Thank you Nola and Best Bully Sticks!

How was everyone’s weekend?

Our weekend was crazy. Mostly thanks to this dog here:
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Our weekend went from relaxing, to stressful, to filled with relief and exhaustion.
Lassie was up sick from 3 AM – 7 AM Saturday morning. He was drinking plenty of water and nothing suspicious was coming out of him, so I wasn’t too worried until his diarrhea turned to blood. At that point I was exhausted, which is probably why I was so scared when I lifted his tail and found blood all over his romp. I knew it was normal to have some bleeding after suffering through so much diarrhea, but I had never seen him bleed this much before.
That discovery led to lots of crying to my Mom over the phone. I was sure I had done something to make him so sick. She and my Dad were out of town, about 2+ hours away, with our only car, but they rushed home as soon as I called. They picked me and Lassie up and then drove another forty-five minutes to the vet in another town.
Why? Because my parents are awesome, but also because our Usual Vet wasn’t working yesterday, Dr. Jerk Face Vet was and we avoid him unless it’s an absolute emergency. This wasn’t an emergency, so we made the drive to our Favorite Vet Office. We go there whenever we can because I feel they actually listen to me, even if I’m just rambling on and worrying over silly things, they listen and they’re so supportive. They make sure I get all my questions asked and answered before they send me on my way. Our Usual Vet is nice and he seems to know what he’s doing, but I feel like he only half listens to me and he doesn’t take the time to explain anything. It’s frustrating.

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Saturday at Favorite Vet Office we met a new-to-us vet, Heather. She was very sweet. She listened to everything I had to say and offered feedback, suggestions, and answers to my questions. She even made sure I got all my questions asked and answered before we left. And she found nothing wrong with me feeding a homemade diet with supplements. She’s the first vet I’ve ever told that my dogs eat homemade food because I was worried I would be lectured and/or criticized (too many internet stories of pet owners being chewed out by their vets), but she did none of that. She simply looked at Lassie and said he was living the high life and then told me the current meals I had made up would be perfect for his upset tummy.

I brought in what I could gather of Lassie’s poo for them to take a look at, but it wasn’t much. She mentioned colitis, stress, or something he got into (among a few other things). He did get into the trash Friday night and ate something that I couldn’t see in the dark kitchen. We’re usually careful not to throw away dangerous things in the kitchen trash and instead throw them out in the big trash can outside to avoid the dogs or cats getting into it, but who knows, maybe he got something that just didn’t agree with him. There has also been thunder off and on over the past few days and he’s not a big fan of thunder.

So he’s on an antibiotic, a probiotic (in the form of kefir), and a bland diet. The vet told me to call today if he’s not feeling any better and she’ll give him an anti-nausea shot. He’s acting more like his usual self today though, so that won’t be necessary.
I probably could’ve given Lassie a few more days to see if his tummy troubles would sort out on it’s own (as I usually do, so long as there isn’t anything alarming about it), but the blood scared me and he had been throwing up here and there for a few days prior, so to the vet we went. The antibiotic he’s on seems to be helping, he hasn’t thrown up since Saturday morning. So here’s hoping.

Petal also seems to be feeling better today. She hasn’t been sick or anything, but I think I stressed her out Saturday with my worrying and then suddenly taking off with Lassie and leaving her behind. She glued herself to me when we got home and had little to nothing to do with anyone else.
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Snoozing across my chest Saturday afternoon.

But today she’s back to her playful, goofy self.

Busy, busy weekend.

Review: Orijen Freeze Dried Treats from Chewy.com

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I love Chewy.com and was thrilled to work with them again for this review.
Chewy.com has many brands of pet food to offer. They also offer treats, toys, clean up supplies, leashes, collars, and much more.
My favorite thing about Chewy.com would have to be their customer service. I order our cat food from them (it’s so much cheaper at Chewy.com than anywhere else, another plus!) and have had to contact customer service on two occasions and both times they were very prompt and incredibly kind. They didn’t make me want to pull my hair out and they didn’t make me feel like it was my fault.

Chewy.com asked us to review Orijen Freeze Dried treats.
Chewy.com offers Orijen’s dog food, cat food, and dog treats. Orijen’s foods and treats are made in Canada.
We were sent the Original flavor of their freeze dried treats. Here’s a description of them from Chewy.com:

No lazy lap dogs here… these treats are just for the rough-and-tumble, ready-to-wag pups. Orijen Original Freeze-Dried Dog Treats are filled with tasty chicken, turkey, and flounder to provide your pet with a protein-rich snack that’s made without any preservatives, fillers, or artificial flavors. Each grain-free treat only has seven calories, and is freeze-dried to lock in all of the nutritional content and flavor. 5 Star reviews across the board!
 
Key Benefits

  • Made with high-quality protein sources
  • Preservative-free
  • Grain-free
  • Low-calorie, freeze-dried dog treats

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They’re basically the dog equivalent of cat nip (or crack).
My dogs went insane for these treats.
I’m not kidding. I could probably train them to back flip for them.
Look at this crazed look Lassie got in his eyes:
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And Petal, or Miss Talks A Lot, is more quick to end her loud conversations (complete with obnoxious “dancing”) with neighborhood dogs when I bring these treats on our walks. Which quickly made them a five star training treat in my eyes.

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Even Petal’s picky friend Pepper devoured half of one and then demanded the other half. This dog usually won’t take any dog treats from me.

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They’re soft treats. You can easily pinch smaller pieces off of it. They crumble easily and would probably work well to bribe finicky eaters to eat their dinner. That also makes them a bit messy though, but my dogs will happily lick up every last crumb.

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They don’t have a super strong odor (which is a big plus), but they aren’t something you want to go inhaling deep breaths of. Unless you’re a dog, of course.

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While my dogs love how these treats taste, I love that they’re high quality and the ingredients are simple:
Cobb chicken liver, turkey liver, boneless Cobb chicken, boneless turkey, boneless flounder.

That’s it! That’s all that’s in them.

They only down side to them is, they are rather pricey. Though I suppose that’s to be expected for a high quality treat.

The dogs give them 4 out of 4 paws for deliciousness.
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I give them 5 out of 5 hearts for their high quality.
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And 4 hearts for cost.
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Overall, we really loved these treats! We would definitely buy them and recommend them to our friends. Next time you’re in need for a high quality training treat, head over to Chewy.com!

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 Learning to back flip (just kidding).

Discloser: I was sent one bag of Orijen freeze dried treats from Chewy.com for review purposes. I was not compensated for this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Collies in the Sun + Winners

I’m sure you’re all dying to know who the KONG Treats giveaway winners are, so here we go.
Our winners are…
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Rebekah!

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Mason!

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And Madison!

The three of you have all been emailed, but if by some chance you did not receive an email from me, please let me know here in the comments. Thanks!

Thank you all for entering our giveaway!

Now I’ll leave you with Lassie in mid-run
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and Petal tasting the sun.
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Both pictures were taken on sunnier days.
Today is very windy and the sun is mostly hiding behind the clouds. Looks like it may even rain.

Our summer has been pretty mild so far. It’s only been ridiculously hot for a day or two. I can only hope it stays this way. However it is only June, so I’m trying not to get my hopes up. Who knows what kind of heat July and August will bring us.