Blog the Change: Project Perry

While Penny is the inspiration for this blog, she does share her life with parrot siblings. These parrots have been with me for over a decade now, and are every bit as interesting, cuddly, loving, and quirky as our furry friends.

Scout, 6 years old, my cuddle bug.

During the last Blog the Change for Animals blog hop, NEPA Pets contributed a great read on parrots. If you're considering adding one to your life, I recommend taking a trip over and reading that entry.

This quarter, I'd like to highlight Project Perry. Founded in 2006, Project Perry is a peaceful sanctuary for parrots in the woods and hills of Central Virginia. Having gone to college in a nearby town, I can attest to the area's quiet and suitability for abandoned and abused parrots.

Project Perry is unique even among bird rescues. Here is a blurb from their Facebook page:

Our mission is to provide a safe place for these birds to go when no other options are available. New arrivals are carefully quarantined and evaluated with an effort to adopt them out to a loving forever home. Birds that are not suitable for adoption are given the opportunity to remain here at the sanctuary in a cage-free flighted environment with others of their kind. The Sanctuary also offers a Lifetime of Care program.

You see, they don't JUST take in abandoned parrots to rehabilitate and rehome. Project Perry is very much about letting birds be birds, which is something even the most well-intentioned parrot guardians can forget. Since it was founded, the organization has created a few aviaries on their 15-acres--aviaries custom built for a various groups of parrots and other birds, complete with appropriate enrichment toys and foraging opportunities. The birds remain flighted, and, when the weather is right, are able to enjoy some sunshine and fresh air. While some birds are adopted out to qualified volunteers, most are able to stay and enjoy the sanctuary as their forever homes. "Forever" is a key word in a parrot's life, as they many times outlive their human companions. This is especially important to those at Project Perry; they have even created a Lifetime of Care program that not only covers the parrots of the sanctuary, but can include your bird, too.

Bartok, 10 years, incredible to see in flight when he's not
busy being a roly-poly little peanut man.

Project Perry has recently completed an aviary for conures and quaker parrots, and is in the process of raising money to build another African Grey aviary. Be sure to watch the engaging video and read more about the campaign here. This week, a supporter of the organization will match all donations up to $1,000, so please consider taking this opportunity to donate! If you are unable to right now, you can also sponsor a bird later on.

If you are in the area, you can volunteer or arrange a visit. Matt Smith, the founder, is nothing short of a perfectionist--you will see it in the work, details, and care the sanctuary residents receive.

Project Perry

Website: http://www.projectperry.com/index.php

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Perry/144608394309?ref=ts&fref=ts

YouTube (prepare your eyes for amazingness!): http://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Perry/144608394309?ref=ts&fref=ts

Indiegogo Campaign for a new African Grey Aviary: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-home-for-parrots-2

Donate to the Indiegogo campaign this week and your donation, up to $1,000 will be matched!!

Checking in...

Hello everyone! You may have noticed that it's been quiet over here. I've been having some computer issues that will hopefully be resolved by the end of the week. Penny and I are looking forward to sharing new entries with you, one of which includes 5 week old lab puppies!

Until then,

Nikki & Penny

Wordless Wednesday: Oh, Puh-leeze





An Update on Eating

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for your encouragement, personal stories and advice on my post about Penny's eating woes. I'm finding that the pet blogging community is filled with some of the kindest and most helpful people!

Not too long after the post, Penny began separating the Canine Caviar kibble pieces from the wet food, which was no small feat because the wet food crumbled into many tiny pieces that clung to the kibble like nothing else. If you are familiar with Canine Caviar, you know the wet food is basically pure meat and is only recommended in small amounts with the dry food, as it does not have the extra nutritional elements the kibble was formulated to contain.

(Did I mention that the only two flavors of wet food Penny would eat out of the three that were available to us [Turkey, Venison, Duck--there was no Beaver at our local store] were the Venison and Duck meals? She would literally turn her nose up at the Turkey version. Looks like someone's forgotten about her humble beginnings, hee hee hee.)

John finally broke and brought home a 5-lb. bag of Acana Pacifica as Penny is a huge lover of fish. The one and only time she's ever tried to snatch food out of my hand was when I was eating a dried, salted, extremely pungent fish from Thailand. This stuff is STRONG--my sister called it "elephant butt hair" fish when we were younger--but I love it. Penny went wild-eyed nuts over it, so we thought a fish-based kibble might be the way to go.

We actually wanted to get Acana Pacifica when we were testing out foods a few weeks ago, but the shop owner didn't seem to believe in it so we passed. We didn't even have to open the bag before Penny was sniffing it with the same whites-of-the-eyes showing enthusiasm she showed me with my dried fish. Since I had heard that some dogs had a hard time digesting Acana because of its richness and the formula change they made over the summer, we transitioned very slowly. The suggested transition time is 5-7 days, but we went for 10 at the suggestion of Dog Forum members.

Penny's now been on the Acana for a few weeks, and seems very happy eating it. We're going to cycle through all of the Acana Regional diets so she hopefully won't become bored again. A couple things about Acana:

1. Pacifica is quite smelly, even to the most seasoned of dried fish/fermented fish paste/fish sauce eaters.

2. You will notice, three or so weeks after starting the diet, that your dog suddenly has more energy. Not hyperactive energy, but good energy.

A note on #2: I always took the Orijen/Acana lovers statements of their dogs having more energy with a grain of salt. In our case at least, it's been true: Penny just has more of an "up and at 'em!" attitude about everything, and it's not in a bored dog/hyperactive way. So, count us in for one more shining testimonial of, "Acana gave my dog more energy!"

Do I recommend the food? Penny seems to be doing well with it, but with all that we went through, I don't think there's one magic bullet. In fact, I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop on the new diet--hopefully it never happens. But if it does, I have so much great advice you all have given me to fall back on. :)

First snow

I'm feeling better, and real content is coming again in the next couple of days! In the meantime, enjoy this video of Penny playing in the first snow (and her very first snow!) of the season on Wednesday. I think she likes it!

Wordless Wednesday: Sweet Dreams

Sick as a dog...

Hello! Penny here. It's been quiet over here because mom hasn't been feeling well. Don't worry--I've had it under control, making sure to keep mom's feet warm while I contemplate life over a bully stick, and snuggling with her while she naps. Dad took a photo of us together this morning. I didn't want to leave mom's side, so he gave me breakfast in bed. Hey, if she gets it then I should too, right? Caretaking is hard work!

Wordless Wednesday: Fun with friends

Blog the Change: Big Fluffy Dog Rescue

While going through my Google Reader feed last night, I came across Dakota's Den's Blog the Change  entry. Intrigued, I found out that the blogging event happens quarterly, with the first happening today! One of the purposes of this blog is to raise awareness for dog issues and rescues, so I couldn't imagine a more perfect event to participate in.

It wasn't hard to think of what cause I wanted to blog about. Big Fluffy Dog Rescue (BFDR) came to mind for a couple reasons: they are very active and do amazing work, and Penny is a big fluffy dog herself! BFDR focuses on rescuing large and giant (and hairy) breeds like Great Pyrenees, Bernese Mountain Dogs, and Saint Bernards and all their crosses, though they occasionally get the "pocket" pup of 40 or so pounds.

Big Fluffy Dog bonus: They are fantastic footwarmers in the winter!

I first came across BFDR on Facebook, while looking at Pyr rescues. As you well know, Penny is 50% Pyr, so I've cultivated quite a fondness for the breed. If you look at BFDR's adoption list, you will see quite a few purebred Pyrs as well as Pyr mixes (and what they call "Pyre-nots", dogs who look deceptively like Great Pyrenees mixes), so I found myself visiting their site daily. 

Part of BFDR's magic is that they truly embrace social media. With the help of weekly transports and dedicated volunteers, BFDR is able to operate over a wide region on the East Coast, spanning from Maine to Virginia (and lately, including Tennessee). BFDR also runs a Southern Dog Connection, a program that brings dogs from the south to more adoptable regions in New England. This cause is very near and dear to my heart. I went to school in Louisiana for two years and can't even count the number of stray dogs and cats I would see roaming around the city. To know that there are programs like this gives me some hope for all of those skinny, haggard mama dogs I saw looking for food. 

What blows me away is how the administrators are able to communicate in a grateful, thoughtful way while maintaining a sense of humor. I've volunteered at an animal shelter in the past, and have friends in the rescue and foster community. It gets rough out there. REALLY rough. How an animal is found, the abuse endured, the shocking reasons people surrender their companion animals--it really wears you down. To handle all of that, AND to answer questions asked multiple times over the period of a few hours positively, well, that just takes some really special people!

Recently, there was a litter of five pups surrendered to BFDR. They came to the rescue orphaned under the very worst of reasons. Not only did BFDR fundraise and find foster homes at breakneck speeds, they kept those who had been following the story in the loop with daily (or near-daily) updates. I really don't know how they do it.

Rudy, a male Lab/Pyr mix in need of a home. (Photo credit: http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/25102130)

Please consider fostering, adopting, or donating to Big Fluffy Dog Rescue.  Visit and follow BFDR at:

Website: http://www.bigfluffydogs.com/index.php

Blog: http://virtualfluffies.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bigfluffydogrescue

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bigfluffydogs/

Petfinder: http://www.petfinder.com/pet-search?shelterid=MA370

Happy birthday, Penny!!

Penny turns 1 today! We actually don't know when she was born, but set January 14 as her birth date based on the estimated age she was when we got her.

We have a few things planned: a couple little gifts, birthday pig ear, and of course, Puppy Cake from last month's well-timed BarkBox! She already got a small KONG filled with a little cheese this morning.

I'll post a full birthday recap tomorrow. For now, happy birthday, Penny!

Get to know your bloggers: Third Annual Pet Blogger Challenge!

I've always loved to get to know my favorite bloggers better through these types of surveys/questionnaires. I haven't been blogging for very long, but was excited to see that I started in time to participate in the Third Annual Pet Blogger Challenge. As much as I'm looking forward to sharing my answers with other pet bloggers, I was pleasantly surprised to learn more about myself and organize my thoughts on where I hope my blog will be a year from now.

Here are my "first timer" questions and answers:

***

1. When did you begin your blog?

December 8, 2012

2. What was your original purpose for starting a blog?

I wanted to find honest reviews on dog products and training techniques. It was kind of hit-or-miss: I usually only found reviews of products that were very popular, or the reviews were parts of personal blogs that generally had nothing to do with dogs. Reviews on vendor sites tend to be excessively positive, or scathingly negative. I find that bloggers tend to have a more balanced viewpoint. My initial purpose was to outline my day-to-day life with Penny, and also review some of the weirder products that weren't getting much attention.

3. Is your current purpose the same? If not, what’s different?

Not quite. I still want to write about my general experiences with Penny and our experiences with dog products. However, as I got deeper into the companion animal community, I decided that I wanted to spread awareness for important dog-related programs (like the wonderful Warrior Canine Connection), rescue efforts, and lost dogs. I'm hoping to gain enough of a readership that the lost dog alerts and animal rescue calls for help I post here on the blog or on Penny's Facebook or Twitter pages will one day make an impact. Social media has really changed how we can communicate, and it's amazing who you can reach with one post.

4. How often do you post? 

I've only been going for a month now, so I'm kind of erratic. I've had blogs before and always had trouble keeping up with them and being consistent. Right now, I'm trying to go for once a week, just to make sure I get something up without pressuring myself too much.

5. Do you blog on a schedule or as the spirit moves you?

More as the spirit moves me. I find it difficult to write if I don't really believe in what I'm writing.

If you don’t publish on a schedule, why? How do you think your decision affects your audience? How do you know when a topic is “post-worthy?”

I have my loose "once a week" schedule, but I don't want to give myself a strict one until I have more faith in myself. I have a lot of other projects going on in my personal life and tend to shut down when overwhelmed. I want to make sure I keep doing this! I think this affects my audience in the same way I am affected by other bloggers. I LOVE it when good, thoughtful bloggers blog every day. Bloggers I like who post less frequently are kind of nice too, because it's like you get a bonus at the end of your day when you find that they've updated. I'm not saying I'm so great that I can uplift someone's day, but I hope that I can be a pleasant surprise once a week to the people who do follow Penny and my adventures.

How do I know a topic is "post-worthy". Hmm. I write about what I'd like to hear about, things I find funny, or things that are bothering me. I want to be honest in my writing because I know that I have as much to give back to the pet community as they have to give me. I almost didn't post about Penny's eating issues because it sounded like such a boring problem, but I'm so glad I did because the encouragement and advice I got was so valuable.

6. How much time do you spend writing your blog per week? How much time visiting other blogs? Share your tips for staying on top of it all.

Hmm...I would say around 5 hours a week? I love going through my blogs at the end of the day. It's my quiet time. I stay on top of it with Google Reader. I don't know what I would do without that wonderful application!

7. How do you measure the success of a post and of your blog in general (comments, shares, traffic)?

Right now, not very successful! I have something like 7 followers on Penny's Facebook page, ha ha. But I've only been going for a month and Beth and Gizmo from Terrier Torrent helped bring some more readers in with their wonderful post about Penny and me.

Do you look strictly at the numbers, or do you have a way of assessing the quality of those interactions?

I haven't quite figured this part out yet. Aside from wanting to help rescues and folks with lost pets out, I want to be satisfied with what I write first, before placing value on how many people are visiting and commenting.

8. If you could ask the pet blogging community for help with one issue you’re having with your blog, what would it be?

This kind of contradicts what I just answered above, but I'd love help with getting more followers on Penny's Facebook and Twitter pages! Those are the ways I will be able to reach out and help the causes I believe in most.

9. What goals do you have for your blog in 2013?

Mostly, I'd like to keep posting consistently.

I'd like to write about what is on my mind and foster discussion.

Take more pictures.

Participate in community activities like Wordless Wednesday and blog hops.

Start posting recipes for homemade treats. 

Write more about senior care (even though I have a puppy--senior dogs will always hold a special place in my heart).

My shoot-for-the-stars goal is to start fundraising for dogs who need help. By this, I mean dogs in rescues/shelters (and I wouldn't be opposed to other companion animals, either) as well as dogs who need help but whose owners are down on their luck. We haven't gotten to a place where health care is affordable for our companion animals, and it's unfortunate when a loving family has to let go of a pet because they simply cannot afford the special diet or surgery.

***

Here's a photo of a cute puppy butt, since long wordy entries aren't always pretty to look at:

Thank you to the Take Paws Blog for hosting 2013's Pet Blogger Challenge! Make sure to visit the linky list to read about all of the other bloggers participating today.

Pet Blogger Challenge 2013

I'm still new to a lot of this blogging business, but still excited for community-wide events like this year's Pet Blogger Challenge! See you on January 10th!

Exploring the world with Terrier Torrent!

Recently, I signed up for the Pet Blogger Gift Exchange that Pamela of Something Wagging This Way Comes and was paired up with the very fabulous Beth and Gizmo of Terrier Torrent. Beth and Gizmo have been on the pet blogging scene much longer than I have (though that's not saying much at this point), and have a fun and thoughtful point of view. What I love is that it's written both from both Beth's and Gizmo's perspective--who doesn't want to see life from a spunky terrier's viewpoint?

Gizmo! I could just scoop him right up.

One of of my favorite entries is about homemade liver treats. It is written with much humor, and just shows how loved Gizmo and his friends are. In a more recent one, there aren't as many words as there are photographs of lovely Sandhill Cranes. As of the new year, there is a new feature on the blog called "Behind the Paw" (how cute is that?), which highlights weekly events in Gizmo's world.

A little about Beth and Gizmo: they hail from Central Florida and love to explore the great outdoors through hiking and geocaching. Beth writes extensively on Florida's natural life, and pairs her entries with wonderful photography that just makes you wish you were there. I know a couple geocachers, but no one has a cool little doggie pal that accompanies them.

Gizmo with his geocaching loot

Gizmo was a shelter rescue from a kill facility. Of his adoption, Beth says, " He was dumped at our animal conrol (read: kill)shelter when he was about 3 mos old...I had lost my beautiful Bruno about a month earlier and was feeling pretty low...I just can't live in a dog-less house...I went to the shelter with nothing in mind other than finding the dog that needed me most and downsizing a bit...Gizmo was tiny (11 pounds...Bruno had weighted in at 105#) He was in a cage with another dog...The other dog was all happy and bouncing when I walked by, but Gizmo was wet, hairless (bad care and bad nutrition) and curled up in a quivering ball at the bak of the cage...seemed like he'd given up...so yes, of course that was the dog for me:) We took hi to the meet&greet area where he began to respond to me...That was it, I made my decision and never looked back..."

Lovely words for a lucky dog. :)

Be sure to add Terrier Torrent to your feeds! You can further connect with Beth and Gizmo through these channels:

Facebook: Gizmo's Terrier Torrent
Twitter: GizmoGeoDog
Google+: Gizmo Geodog

Happy New Year!

A dose of cute for the new year.

May 2013 be a healthy, happy, and prosperous one!

Review: December BarkBox!

Penny has been a devoted BarkBox subscriber for the past 6 months now, and we have yet to be disappointed! Yes, I said "we". Human confession #1: I avoid all types of possible spoilers and look forward to Penny's BarkBox more than I look forward to any of my own subscriptions (which include Birchbox and Glossybox, things a gal should be pretty excited about).

First, let me tell you that every time a BarkBox arrives, Penny follows me around like a 70-pound heat seeking missile, her nose jammed up to any of the box's open crevices. She KNOWS that brown box is for her. Even if she is in her crate when I am holding the box, she will instantly perk up. If that doesn't tell you how awesomely curated this box is, I don't know what will!

1. Bocce's Bakery FEAST

We love Bocce's Bakery in our household. It's a small business run by fun people, and they have the most amazing flavors, ranging from Maine Lobster Roll to Truffle with Mac 'n Cheese. All of the ingredients they use are human grade, and the folks from Bocce's Bakery say that they often snack on the biscuits themselves! Feast is a special holiday concoction made with chicken, pumpkin, and cranberries. Penny really liked it (she has yet to turn her nose up at any Bocce's Bakery treat). She liked it so much, I hid it and now can't find it for a photo. Instead, enjoy a photo we took for the K9 Scrub Club Bocce's Bakery contest we won a while back:

2. Oatmeal Shampoo from Fresh Dog

What I love about BarkBox is that the items aren't just for your dogs to enjoy, they are also useful things for us humans to use in our every day "dog husbandry". Fresh Dog is a dog and cat shampoo company and smells absolutely yummy! We had the hardest time finding a good smelling oatmeal shampoo for Penny's itchy skin, and finally settled on TropiClean, which has served us well so far (Human confession #2: I actually had to steal Penny's TropiClean oatmeal shampoo once because I accidentally left my soap at a hotel while traveling, and have allergy-prone and dry skin that needs soap-less bathing supplies. It worked well and I smelled pretty good!). We'll be using the Fresh Dog Oatmeal Shampoo for Penny's next bath, just to see how it stacks up. In the meantime, I'm interested in the dry shampoo Fresh Dog offers, for those times when John and I don't have the time and/or energy to wrestle a soapy, wet dog in the bathtub.

Courtesy of FreshDog.com

3. Puppy Cake Wheat-Free Cake Mix (Red Velvet)

I may have squee'd a little bit when I pulled this one out of the box! Penny's birthday is next month, so we're saving it for that occasion. This cute little red velvet cake mix can either be baked or microwaved, and comes with a packet of yogurt frosting. Their online shop is adorable, and they have other tasty cake mix flavors like Banana and Peanut Butter. I'm probably more excited about Penny's birthday because of this cake than she is (if she knew what birthdays were)!

Courtesy of puppycake.com

4. Holiday Moose with Movable Limbs from Simply Fido

Simply Fido is a New York based company that uses organic materials for their products. True story: I was looking at one of the labels on the toy and planning on giving it to Penny with her Christmas presents when she appeared out of nowhere and snatched the toy. This dog is not good at sneaking, but she still took me by surprise like a little canine Jaws. I wish I had some pictures of her playing with this poor little moose (he never had a chance), but it would have looked like a giant brown and white blur. I don't think I need to elaborate on how much Penny loved this toy. The arms and legs slide back and forth for great tug o' war action. The moose was adorable....while it lasted.

Courtesy of simplyfido.com

If you have a dog and haven't subscribed to BarkBox yet, I highly recommend you try at least a month! Subscriptions are $29 if you pay month-by-month, but as low as $17.50 when you pay for six months at a time. The best part is that 10% of the proceeds go directly to local shelters and rescues. 

On food, fretulness, and fact-less-ness

From the day we brought Penny home, she was quite literally a chow hound. She had such a voracious appetite that I'm pretty sure we could have dropped her in a large bag of dog food and she would've just eaten her way out. At the insistence of two vets from two very different practices, we had Penny on Purina ProPlan Large Breed since the end of this past May.

Now, before I go on, I want to reassure everyone that we have been talking to Penny's vet and weigh her every other day to make sure she isn't losing weight. As soon as she does, we'll bring her in to check for underlying causes. We want to do that anyway, if this continues much longer.

Back to the matter at hand. We love the vet we eventually chose after her string of new-puppy-from-a-not-so-clean-background illnesses, and she's given us a lot of great advice. Truth be told, I was willing to blindly follow her advice to feed big brand name food without looking into it much as long as Penny kept eating it, even though the kind folks at Dog Forum have been warning against the supposed "quality".

Penny ate her ProPlan voraciously, to the point where we had to buy an interactive food bowl to slow her down (her doggie cousin's mom died from bloat, so we're extra careful about that over here).

Aikiou Interactive Pet Food Bowl

Suddenly, Penny just stopped eating. There was no gradual slowing down--she just stopped like she switched off a light. We tried adding wet food (also ProPlan) to every meal. Wet food used to be a once in a while treat. Where she once inhaled it, she begrudgingly ate what she needed and left it. Watching your puppy eat about a cup of food a day when she needs almost 4 is just  heartbreaking.

I once read an article written by a veterinarian that mentioned how brands like Eukanuba, Pedigree, Iams, Purina, and Science Diet give vet students free supplies for their pets, swag for humans, and sponsorships so the students become extremely loyal and trusting of the brand when they graduate and become full-fledged vets. This article kept nagging at me in the back of my mind, so I talked to a well-respected holistic vet in the area to see if it was true. She said that the article I had read was unfortunately true, and that we should probably start doing some deeper research into food matters.

More confused than ever, John and I headed over to one of our favorite pet supply stores in the area, Whole Pet Central. The owner was there that day and told us his sister had 15 Great Pyrenees, so he sent us home with a few food samples his sister's Pyrs did well with. We were amazed when we tried Canine Caviar Chicken an Pearl Millet--Penny loved it! The reviews for Canine Caviar were absolutely glowing, and what caught my eye was that many of the positive reviewers' dogs had sensitive stomachs or were very fussy eaters.

Of course she stopped eating it as soon as we invested in a larger bag!

Sadly, that love was short-lived. After two days on the diet, she grew tired of the food and stopped eating again. This occurred on the day we bought a 12-pound bag of the food, so we had to try to make it exciting. We tried wetting it (ew) with a tiny bit of success, and then adding chopped apples and other fruit to some more success. 

Right now, we're adding some of the Canine Caviar wet food to Penny's food and she's eating like she used to. She's been on it for four days now and shows no sign of slowing (the longest so far since this all began) so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? Is anyone as confused by all the vet advice and conflicting literature out there? We're still not totally sold on one food regimen over another yet, but are hoping Penny will stick to her diet and we will see if we see any other improvements as well. The bonus is that a lot of people with itchy-skinned dogs seem to see big changes with Canine Caviar. Penny can get itchy, so I'm hoping it'll help that little problem out.

Keeping an "emergency dog pack" in the car

So, here's a formula for you: new chewy treat from the vet + getting distracted while trying to do "doggie business" + small errand run = a pile of soft poop in mom and dad's Prius.

Penny has only had one accident of the solid (or semi-solid) kind once in our house, even though she had a raging giardia infection when we brought her home. She's always been good at telling us when she has to go to the bathroom, and was houstrained with astonishing speed. 

Imagine our surprise when, while barreling down the highway at 60 mph with Penny in the back seat, we smelled something that we dubbed a "giardia fart". Penny doesn't have giardia anymore, but the term "giardia fart" has come to describe any type of potent smelling flatulence our dog emits from time to time. We grew suspicious when the smell intensified instead of going away, so I looked back to see Penny sitting on the floor of the car, and a giant pile of hot dog poop right in the middle of the back seat. Thankfully, we have a seat cover. Not so thankfully, we've been feeding Penny Canidae Pure Sea mixed with her dry food for dinner, and trust me, they are true to their word when it comes to using salmon and other fish in their formula. I think you can understand what I'm getting at here.

It's easy to be ok with accidents when what you're cleaning up after is this cute.

The window rolling and reactions were the things great sitcoms are made of. We were close to our destination, so we continued driving and stopped off in the parking lot to assess and clean up the damage. Let me say, thank goodness we carry emergency dog supplies with us! We were able to get everything contained with the roll of poop bags we keep in our car, and the smell and other parts of the mess with the enzymatic pet cleaner. The seat liner was by no means clean--we keep upholstery and fabric cleaner in the car as well, but weren't sure about its toxicity levels and pets--so we put out a bunch of puppy pads Penny could sit on without getting anything we missed on herself.

Do you have an emergency dog kit, and what do you keep in it? We have:

• Poop bags
• Enzymatic cleaner
• Puppy pads
• Gulpy (water bottle for dogs you can fill up on the go)
• to-go food bowl
• Small bag of kibble
• blanket
• Towels

With winter travel season upon us, it's important to be prepared both for yourself and your pet. 

Dog Meets Web 2.0

Psssttt....Penny is on Facebook! We're not sure where this is going yet, but we'd love to make a few animal loving friends. :)

She's also on G+...you can click on the link next to her photo.

Product review: Būmi

A couple months ago John (the husband) and I were picking a few things up at Wylie Wagg when we decided to look at the toys. We were frustrated because Penny tends to be a chewer and professional de-stuffer, which means that everything we bring home for her to play with lasts about 20 minutes. A sales associate directed us to West Paw Design's Būmi, which is described as "the interactive toy that your dog won't want to put down! Būmi(tm) is the active dog's dream come true, charged with energetic fun! Būmi is so much more than a tug toy - pull, flex, throw, float, and repeat! Guaranteed to last, even against 'destructive dogs'!"

(Photo courtesy of baxterboo.com)

Skeptical, I brought it home for Penny since the manufacturer promises to replace the Būmi if it is destroyed. To tell you the truth, I wasn't even sure if Penny would be into playing with it because to my human eyes, it looks like a boring toy. What little I knew! As soon as I took the toy out of the bag, Penny abandoned whatever she was doing and practically tore it out of my hands. She chewed on it for a while before moving onto something else, and there were no dents or other damage left behind. Two months later, the Būmi is still living up to its indestructible claim, still quite intact and gnawed on endlessly by Penny. It's seriously one of her favorite toys.

It lives up to its other claims, too. It's a great toy to play fetch with, and even floated the one time we threw it into her puppy pool (Penny did not follow, but that is another story for another time). It's super easy to wash, and is good for tug o' war sessions. Overall, we can't recommend this silly little S toy enough!

We're looking into buying more toys from West Paw Designs like the Hurley and the Zisc. Once Penny grows into her joints more, we're looking forward to doing some frisbee training, and the Zisc looks like a great training tool.