Veggie (and fruit!) smoothie!

Posted on September 22, 2012 by Marquie

This morning I made a veggie (and apple) smoothie to mix into Lassie’s and Petal’s food.
I think they enjoyed it.

They had the following:

Apples are a good source of vitamins A and C and dietary fiber, and more.
Carrots are an excellent source of beta-carotene, antioxidants, and phytonutrients, and more.
Broccoli is a powerful antioxidant, supports bone health, prevents cancer, and more.
Cauliflower is a good source of vitamins C and A, fiber, calcium, potassium, and more.
Green Beans are a rich source of dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals. A small amount can make a great addition to an overweight dog’s diet as they’ll make your dog feel fuller. (No, neither Lassie nor Petal are overweight, but they still enjoy the benefits of green beans occasionally).
Squash provides potassium (which may be beneficial in supporting kidney health and may reduce the risk of heart failure), vitamin A, calcium and more.
Zucchini offers vitamins C and B complex, magnesium, and more.

I use to just toss a few or just one of these veggies into their bowl. Then I watched with a frown as they (okay, Lassie; Petal actually enjoys fruits and veggies) picked around it.

Then one day I was surfing the internet and read, many times, that it was recommended that you puree or steam the vegetables before serving them to your dog, because they absorb and digest them better that way.

I had noticed that certain vegetables (carrots especially) came out the same way they went in, so steaming or pureeing them might be worth a try, and since Lassie was picking around his veggies, I went with pureeing them.

Good luck picking around that mush, bud!

So now I run them through the Magic Bullet and pulverize them into mush.

Lassie likes them much better this way.

He’s always been a fan of baby food.

Load ’em up in the bullet (with plenty of water).

And mash them up!

I split this amount up to make three days worth (for each of them), I could’ve split it up for four days had I realized sooner just how much it had made, but oh well.

They gobbled it all up and nothing was picked around or spat out onto the floor.

This veggie and apple smoothie would also make a great Kong stuffer or frozen treats.
But remember 3 things,
1 there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.
2 while many fruits and vegetables are safe to give to your dog, some may not be (onions and grapes, for example) and some should only be given in moderate amounts occasionally.
3 keep in mind that if your dog has never had any of these vegetables before, it may cause them an upset stomach if you try feeding them all these new things at once. My dogs have enjoyed all of the veggies (and apples) pictured above over the years, so they were fine eating them all at once. Normally I only give them 1-4 different vegetables and fruits at a time, but every now and then I like to mix it up and give them a little of (almost) everything we have on hand.

Enjoy! Or rather, let your dogs enjoy!
Though, I guess you could eat it too, if you wanted.
Not me, though, I prefer to chew on my veggies. Haha.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Calling all (rough) Collie owners and owners with long haired dogs!

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Marquie

Hello.

So you’re probably wondering why I’ve gathered you all here today.

“Have you discovered a cure for shedding?!”

Heh. No.

I wanted to talk collars.

I have purchased two zillion collars over the years and I found many that I was very happy with.

Dublin Dog collars are fabulous with their easy to clean, water-and-stink-proof, and sturdy design.
Lupine combo collars are wonderfully easy to slip over a fluffy Collie mane and I love the second d-ring.
Rolled leather collars are great and so nice looking and cause minimal matting.
None of these collars are perfect though, not for my Collies and my picky self.
Dublin Dog collars are a pain to buckle around all that fur, same goes for the rolled leather collars.
But Lupine’s combo collar, while it’s the easiest to get on and off, seems to be causing Lassie a lot of matting.

Petal wears an Easy Walk harness with a safety strap attached to her collar to prevent Miss Houdini from slipping her front legs over the chest strap of the harness.

Lassie and Petal do not wear their collars 24/7. They only wear them (and their I.D. tags) when they go outside for a walk or to relieve themselves. They only wear them in the house when we’re expecting company/having extended company stay at the house. When we’re just lounging around the house though, they lounge in the nude.
Which is why I want something that is easy to slip on and off, but I don’t want any sort of choke collar. Limited slip is perfect though, as both Lassie and Petal have a knack for backing out of regular collars.

“I do no such thing. I’m a perfect angel.”

Looking at all that fur, you can probably see why I really want something that won’t add to my brushing workload. So far, out of all the collars I have used, the rolled leather collar caused the least amount of matting to the coat. I really don’t want to fuss around with a buckle though and some leather collars have bled color into their fur after getting wet and it took many washes to get it out. This was, I’m sure, because they were cheap. Cheap is what I’m looking for though! 😉

I’m out of ideas and I’m hoping I’m not out of options.
Do I need to stop being picky? Or is there a great collar out there that I have yet to find?
Is there such a thing as rolled leather collar with a limited slip chain on it? I tried searching for one the other night and came up with nothing, though I could’ve sworn I had seen something like that once before. Hmm.

This is where you, my fellow Collie owners and fellow long haired dog owners, come in.
What brand and type of collar do you use? How do you like it? Does it mat up their fur? Is it easy to remove and put on? Does it wash well? How often do they wear their collar?

Any and all feedback is much appreciated!
And to our short haired friends: you lucky ducks get to wear whatever cute and fun collars you want and it’ll actually be seen on you! 😉

Thanks for reading guys!

Review: Rejuv-A-Wafers

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Marquie

A few weeks ago we received a box of pet supplements to review: Rejuv-A-Wafers.

“Rejuv-A-Wafers for Dogs and Cats provide additional nutrition for your cherished pet, by rejuvenating your loving companion with nature’s most nutritious superfood. Rejuv-A-Wafers is a daily supplement packed with beneficial antioxidants, vitamin C and vitamin A, plus minerals, protein, beta-carotene, chlorophyll and fiber that will help your pet thrive.”

All three dogs were on it for 17 days, with Lassie getting two a day (after about a week) and with Petal and Ella each getting one a day (though Petal probably could’ve had two).

The Rejuv-A-Wafers are a small, circular shape and are very easy to crumble if you have a picky pet and want to crumble it over their food.

Petal and Ella both took the little wafer from me and ate it as if it was a treat (I was very surprised by this as they won’t usually eat supplements like they’re treats). Lassie, however, would not be fooled. He knew it was much too healthy to be considered a treat! But he gobbled it up no problem when I placed it in his food. I didn’t even have to break or crumble it.

“Just like Sun Chlorella for humans, REJUV-A-WAFERS™ will help purify your pet’s body of dangerous toxins and chemicals, enhance your pet’s health with an abundance of beta-carotene, and help improve your pet’s appearance and overall health and well-being.”

My box of 60 wafers came with two resealable bags, each with 30 wafers.

I started the dogs on this supplement the morning after it arrived in the mail. They all did well that day, but that night the girls had a little bit of runny poo (eeewww, I know), so I skipped giving it to them on the second day and wasn’t worried about it; as with most new products, they needed time to adjust. I was surprised, though, that I only needed to skip that second day. After that, they all did very well on it!

Though they weren’t on it for very long, I did notice a few changes that I think came from these supplements. Ella, for example, has her cranky days where she snips and snaps at Lassie and Petal just because they looked at her or walked past her. She’s never harmed them, she just gets snippety sometimes (usually when she’s sore— she has a bad hip). But while she was on the Rejuv-A-Wafers, she didn’t have many (or any, now that I really think about it) of those moments.
Lassie and Petal’s coats look great! There were no negative changes at all, my dogs did wonderfully on it.

If you want to read more about the Rejuv-A-Wafers you can visit their website here.
However, I want to point out that while the website says to give pets up to 25 pounds 1 wafer and pets over 25 pounds 2 wafers, the box actually says to give pets up to 50 pounds 1 wafer and pets over 50 pounds 2 wafers. I would follow the box’s directions over the website’s.

Overall, I think it’s a great supplement!

Disclosure: I was sent a box of Rejuv-A-Wafers, free of charge, for this review. All opinions are my own based on my own personal experience while using this product.

Review: Q-tips!

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Marquie

I don’t know about you guys, but I have found many uses for Q-tips including: make-up touch up/clean up (I can never apply eyeliner just right the first time, so a damp Q-tip became my best friend), cleaning between the keys on my keyboard, rubbing nail polish off my fingers (.. I’m a messy person) and there are many other uses. I love their little travel/purse size containers, I keep one in my make-up bag at all times. I use them on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis for myself.

However, I never once thought to use them to help with the dogs.

What could the dogs possibly need Q-tips for?

I found a few good uses for them with my own dogs.

They came in handy when Lassie needed ointment applied on a very… delicate and private area, a Q-tip made the job oh so much easier and much less.. gross. I wasn’t trying to open up the bathroom door with just my palms as I try not to smear my ointment-y fingers on the doorknob. Thank you, Q-tips!

I used them to rub a little Paw Rub on Petal’s dry nose. And when she got a cactus needle stuck in her leg early this year, I’m sure a Q-tip Precision Tip would’ve made applying Neosporin to the little puncture wound very easy had I had one. I think I’ll be keeping one of the little cases of Q-tips in the dogs’ travel bag from now on!

I also used a Q-Tip Precision Tip to clean out the little hard to reach creases in Petal’s Kong Treat Ball.
I thought this toy would just forever be dirty in those little creases because nothing was small enough to fit in there. But the Q-Tips fit in the little creases perfectly and I was able to get it all cleaned up!

I also enjoyed using the Precision tips for fixing up my eyeliner. With the regular Q-Tip I was always picking off some of the cotton, trying to make it smaller and pointier; there’s no need for that with the Precision tips and they fixed up my eyeliner very nicely. I also used those Precision tips to make little polka dots on my finger nails with nail polish! SO fun and super easy!

There are tons of ways to use Q-tips. Click here for a list of more Q-tips uses!

And enjoy one last photo of my pretty little Q-tip model.

Note: I was provided with Q-tips cotton swabs® and information about the product by RocketXL. All opinions are 100% my own.

Another Note: I was asked to let you guys know that the smaller, Purse Pack of the Q-tips Precision Tips are not for sale. Here’s an image of the packaging you can find the Precision Tips in:

Also be sure and check out Q-tips on Facebook where you can enter their Tip-a-Thon! Just share a unique tip using Q-tips and you’ll be eligible for a chance to win* a $100 gift card or a grand prize worth $1,000.

*No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Q-tips “Q-tips Cotton Swabs Tip-a-Thon” Sweepstakes is sponsored by Conopco, Inc., d/b/a Unilever. Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. & D.C., 18 or older. Begins 12:01 a.m. ET on Monday, October 24, 2011 & ends 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, December 15, 2011. For official rules, visit www.facebook.com/Qtips.

The Dog Park.

Posted on March 25, 2011 by Marquie

Can you believe that I’ve been a dog owner for six years and have never visited a dog park? Crazy! We changed that on Wednesday when we took Lassie to the nearest dog park, which was 50 miles away. It was well worth the drive though. The park was very clean and the regular visitors, both human and dog, were very friendly. Lassie had a blast meeting new dogs and running around in the sun.

Sniffing.

More sniffing.

And more sniffing. ;]

Meeting a Boxer friend.

Going to mark the tree. ;P

Lassie got to meet a total of five dogs at the park. He met a Labradoodle, a Basset Hound/Poodle mix (what a cool looking dog! I wish I had a picture of him other than the one of Lassie sniffing his butt, lol), a Terrier of some sort, a Boxer and a four month old yellow Lab.

We had so much fun and next time we’re taking Petal too. :]

Muddy Waters

Posted on June 7, 2010 by Marquie

On Friday me and my Mom took the dogs to this trail nearby our house. To the right of the trail (or left, depends on which end you start at) is just a bunch of bushes and then big gaps of open areas. To the left there’s a dirt hill— it’s actually more like a dirt wall. But if you climb up that, on the other side there’s a great big, long ditch with muddy, muddy, muddy water in it. What a great place for a dog to go and cool off and get all dirty, right? Of course! My dogs love it, and even though they come home a mess, I love it, too. It’s a blast watching them play together in the mud and water. Not to mention the exhaustion that takes over them afterwards, that’s nice, too. ;]

Not sure what’s going on here. Looks like Lassie is investigating and Petal looks like she’s trying to tell Ella something. Good luck with that, Petal.

Petal— while trying to walk Ella— managed to get herself tangled up in Ella’s leash. I’m not sure how she does these things, but it was pretty funny to watch Petal pull her own foot right out from underneath herself.

Told you the water was muddy! It’s like a great big mud puddle.

She almost fell in; that’s what that face is about. She’s such a spazz.

The girls had a blast chasing each other through the water.

Lassie enjoyed the cool waters, too. And the mud. What dog doesn’t love mud?

During a nice game of tag, Ella looks behind her to see Petal is catching up quick! Better run Ella!

Smack! Ella got her good. Right in the chest.

Did I mention that Petal had had a bath just hours before this? So much for that.

Kicking back after a long, hard day of play.

Smile Ella!

Is it just me, or does this seem to be a classic lab look?

That’ll teach me to give her a bath.

And that hair standing up on her back? It will not stay down. It’s like a doggie cowlick.

After they were good and tired (and wet and muddy), we went home, fed them dinner, and then they each settled down in the family room with a treat to chew. A good day, indeed!

Loved By A Collie

Tag Archives: dogs