Something Yummy - # Chewy Influencer

Hi Everybody,
You all know that I've been on a strict diet for a few months. Believe me, diets stink! I was perfectly happy before except that my back hurt sometimes and it was hard to stand up after a nap. Dr B told Mom that I was too fat and she decided I should diet. I still don't know why.

But now the diet is over. I lost ten pounds and guess what.... my back doesn't hurt anymore. I still have to take my arthritis medicine but it makes me feel good, so that's OK.

Mom says that I was such a good sport about sticking to my diet that I could be the tester for the next Chewy review. It's a good one.

Chewy sent us this Natural Balance Duck and Turkey Formula Dog Food Roll . It looks like a big sausage.

 This is made with duck, turkey, chicken liver and other good things like cranberries and apples. Mom says that what isn't in it is important too. There's no corn, soy, wheat or artificial colors or flavors.

 Mom cut the roll into slices, then she broke a couple slices up on my dinner. I was the only one who got to try it and oh dog, it was so good. After starving for months, this just gave me a warm, happy feeling in my tummy.

The next day Sebastian and I each got some with our dinner and tonight the others will all have some.

 Mom says to tell you that it can also be cut into pieces to use as treats or for training. She says it's easy to cut. She stores it in a little container in the fridge.

If you don't like duck and turkey, it also comes in beef, lamb and chicken formulas. Chewy sent us this Duck and Turkey Food Roll at no cost to the peeps in exchange for our honest review. Take it from me, Fudge, this stuff tastes really great.

Your pal, Fudge

S*T*R*E*S*S

As you may have guessed from the title, I'm feeling a bit stressed. No, I'm feeling a lot stressed and I'm about to share it with you.

Let's start last week. After not having a seizure since January, Mackey had one. Then six days later she had two more in the same day, about an hour apart. We had hoped that her condition was getting better, but now we think she may be getting worse.

 Since Noah's eye exam last month we've been treating his eyes with two different ointments daily, but I was getting frustrated because they didn't seem to be getting better. They were both still red and in the morning they were goopy.

 We had sent another sample off to the lab for Fudge to see if the 'killer' antibiotic had cured his e-coli infection but we hadn't heard from them yet.

Then on Friday we had yet another thunderstorm. At 1:00 there was a lightning strike and the power went out. Then the real fun started!

The power stayed out for 22 hours. No lights, no air conditioning, no telephone, no internet, no hot food or coffee. For dinner we ate ice cream because it was melting. I sat up until 3AM reading on my Kindle because the dogs wouldn't settle down. We all finally got a couple hours sleep while I worried about the food in the freezer and other things.

Now it's a new week. We have electricity and air conditioning once more.  Mackey has had no more seizures, but Dr B and I did have a conversation about her. She'll probably be starting some medication because her seizures last from 12 to 15 minutes and having two in one day is a big concern.

The news about Fudge did nothing to help my stress level. The culture came back positive again for e-coli. We can't seem to get this infection under control. Dr  B was worried that it might now be a drug resistant strain, so he had the university do another test. Yesterday it came back and there are several drugs that should kill it, so we're trying a strong one for the next two weeks and then we'll test again. Keep those paws crossed because Fudge really needs some help with this. If this drug doesn't work, he may be in serious trouble. The vet says he can live with e-coli, but not for long.

Then there's Noah and his funky eyes. Monday they actually looked better, no pink and no goop. On Tuesday morning he went for a recheck and the news was excellent. The conjunctivitis is gone. We did another dryness test and that was better, too. The number we shoot for is 12. His right eye was up from 10 to 14 and his left eye was up from 4 to 10. Dr B was pleased and said there is no sign of permanent damage and his eyes look comfortable. Noah will need his ointment for the rest of his life, but at least it's still working for him. We think the recent problem was a reaction to a new medication he was taking. I know you're all asking, how do you even know Noah's eyes look bad, we can't even see his eyes.

Well, here's a picture of Noah with his happy, comfortable eyes.

So there you have it folks, my stressful week. I'm still not sleeping well and I feel as if I've been dragged behind a bus, but at least we have light again.

Summertime # Chewy Influencer

Hi Everybody,
Here in the USA it's summertime. Sorry Bella, Roxy and Dui. Mom says that summer officially started yesterday and today it's really hot, even though it's raining a little. We're going to remind you of some of our favorite summer activities. Maybe you'll even want to try a few of them yourselves.

 Here in the USA baseball is called the national pastime. We're not sure why that is because we can think of a couple of things we like better, like swimming and eating. But we do play ball too. I'm the captain of the team.

We have lots of pitchers, but Mackey is the newest.

We really miss Morgan, she was our best batter.

Running the bases is the most fun.

Another fun thing to do is chasing paper airplanes. Dad makes them and sends them flying.

We are the chasers, but sometimes we disagree about who caught it first.

 In the end our job is to mulch them up.

Most of us are Water Dogs, so our favorite sport involves water. Any time the hose appears, we're ready to get wet. Mom says it makes watering the garden a lot tougher.

 We love when Dad fills our little wading pool and we all try to get in at once.

Probably the very best water fun is when we go to the lake. Just riding in the boat is super fun. Some of us have to wear a leash in the boat because we get so excited about swimming that we can't wait to get to the swim spot. 

 Then finally we arrive at the swim spot and we can get just as wet as we want to be. We keep the peeps busy throwing toys for us to retrieve. These are the very best days of summer and we get tired out doing what we were born to do.

But then there's another important summer activity. Eating! When we see the big pink dish come out, we know we're about to get something good to eat. We might have to work for it, like when we bob for apples of hot dogs.

Sometimes the pink dish has our summer favorite, watermelon! Dad cuts it up into bite sized pieces and we get as much as we can grab. I can grab a whole lot.

 Then after a day full of summer activities, we need a good nutritious dinner. That's where our friends at Chewy come in.  This month they sent us something new to try. It's called Taste of The Wild Pacific Stream Grain Free. Mom has heard about this food from some of the other Portie peeps and it seems that their dogs all love it. We thought it was about time we tried it, too.

This food is smoked salmon in gravy. Doesn't that look good? It's big chunks of fish in a light gravy.

 It mixes nicely into our kibble and oh the taste....... It also has sweet potatoes, blueberries and raspberries, so it's high in Omega 3, which is super important, and also in antioxidants. If you're on a diet, it's also low fat, just 3%. This is a great meal for an athlete or for your couch potato.

Ruby, this food  does have a delicious fishy odor that your Mom won't like, so you can come join us for dinner. After all you are an honorary Portie. Bring your bubble machine.
So excuse us while we eat up and get ready for a full summer of fun.

Chewy sent us a case of Taste of The Wild Pacific Stream at no cost to the peeps in exchange for our honest review.

Your pal, Fudge

Fudge's Furry Tales = Real Life Story

Hi Everybody,
Today I have one of my most wonderful furry tales for you. It's a tale that Mom told us and I'll pass it along to you. But this time there's a catch. You see this tale actually turned into a real life experience and I'll tell you all about it. So grab a bowl of treats and a cozy pillow and here we go.

My story today is called 'The Peep Who Cried Wolf'. It's very exciting and it has a lesson, too. 

Once upon a time in a small village there was a boy who needed a summer job. The village didn't have a Walmart or a McDonalds, so the peeps got together and decided that the boy should watch the sheep in the field while the rest of the peeps did their peep things like washing and cooking and growing foodables. They told the boy to watch over the sheep as they grazed and keep an eye open for the big bad wolf. If the wolf came by, they said the boy should yell and they'd all come protect him and the sheep.

It went pretty good for awhile. The sheep were all busy eating, so the boy relaxed in the shade, but after a few hours he got bored. The sheep weren't real exciting and he didn't have an Ipad so he couldn't play Candy Crush. He decided it might be fun to cry "wolf" and see what happened. So he did.

The villagers came running with all kind of weapons to save the sheep and the boy, but they looked around and didn't see the big bad wolf. The boy admitted that he made it up and the wolf hadn't been there. The village peeps told him not to do that again and they all went back to work. 

After a few more hours the sheep were still eating. Sheep eat a lot and they eat slowly. The boy was getting really bored and he remembered how much fun it was to see all the villagers running toward him with their rakes and hammers and brooms and other weapons, so once again he cried "wolf". 

Again the villagers came running waving their weapons over their heads and shouting to scare the wolf. But there was no wolf and though the boy was laughing and enjoying himself, the villagers were getting mad. They again told him to behave and guard the sheep and they left.

A few more hours went by and the boy who was kind of a slow learner, was really really bored and  he decided to do it again. But then he heard something and looked behind him and there was the big bad wolf with his knife and fork in his hands. 

The boy was really scared and screamed "WOLF". The villagers heard him cry "wolf", but they were tired of his games and they continued with their work. Again he cried "WOLF" but nobody believed him, they thought he was playing another joke on them. Nobody went to help him. The big bad wolf ate all the sheep and the boy. 

 The lesson is to be honest. Well, we all enjoyed the story when Mom told us, but one of us didn't learn the lesson. I call this 'The Dog That Cried Pee'.

Every night at 6:30 Dad takes us into the back yard. It's been a couple hours since dinner and we get a chance to pee. Then we all go inside and relax during the evening while Mom and Dad watch tv or play Scrabble or Mom knits while Dad snores on the couch or whatever. One night Mackey was busy playing during our outing and when she got back inside she realized that she needed to pee. Dad leashed her and took her into the front yard where she peed, but then she saw the neighbor's cat. She wanted to chase it but she was on a leash and Dad said no and dragged her back inside.

Mackey has a really good memory, especially when it comes to cats. So the next night at 7:00 Mackey told Mom that she had to pee. Mom put her on leash and went out front, but Mackey didn't really have to pee. She wanted to get that cat, so she dragged Mom all around the yard and tried to go to the neighbor's house. Mom took her back inside. The next night she tried it again on Dad. He took her out but all she did was search for the cat.

Mackey does this every single night at 7:00. She tells Mom and Dad that she has to pee. For several nights they fell for it, but then they started saying "no". They told her to settle down and handed her a toy. She'd go from one to the other and even barked a little but they refused to take her out.

Then one night Mackey really did have to pee. She ran over to Dad and wiggled and whined, but he told her to go play with her toy. She went to Mom and wiggled and whined but she told her to be quiet and settle down. Mackey tried over and over to get their attention, but they ignored her. 

We all knew what was going on and finally I went over and sniffed Mackey's back end and looked up at Mom. She laughed and finally she leashed Mackey and took her outside. She just made it into the grass. But then instead of learning her lesson, Mackey started looking around for the cat. Oh oh.

So now every night at 7:00 Mackey starts her campaign to go out. Mom and Dad try telling her to knock it off, but if she keeps it up, they usually cave. Mackey will just never learn.

I know you were all hoping for a better ending like maybe the cat would chase Mackey, but it is what it is. Have a good night and remember not to try to trick your peeps.

Your pal, Fudge