Tuesday, October 31, 2017

BOO to You

Hi Everybody,
Today is Halloween or what we call BOO Day. We don't really mind the day much because we don't have to dress up and we get yummy treats. We don't get kids ringing our doorbell because we live at the end of the street and nobody comes down here. Mom and Dad are glad because you know we'd have to bark really loud to scare away those goblins. 
One nice thing about Boo Day that we really look forward to each year is the visit of Mr Punkman. Sure enough he showed up a couple days ago. Here's Dad helping him put on his makeup. Last year Mr Punkman had a horrible accident. The days were really hot and he fainted and turned super ugly. Mom threw him in the poop bucket. That's how bad he looked.
This year Dad said Mr Punkman would just wear makeup and not have any piercings so that he stayed healthy. Tomorrow Dad will cut him open and scoop out his guts for us to eat. Pumpkin is good for our tummies but we don't like the kind that comes in a can. We like it fresh, so while Dad does surgery on Mr Punkman, we'll stay close by and enjoy big juicy chunks. Mom will even toast the seeds for us and Dad to eat. Mom doesn't like pumpkin. She says she'll stick with chocolate.
Mom and Dad got a Boo Day present from our friends at Chewy and can you believe there were no doggie treats, just peep treats.
Mom takes lots of pictures of us for our blog so I told her I wanted to post a picture of her today. She did a self portrait and let me post it. Here it is. I'm not sure just how accurate it is, but she and Dad both liked it. 
Peeps can sure be strange at times. Have a great Boo Day and stay safe.
 Your pal,
Fudge

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Boo Day Is On The Way # Chewy Influencer

Hi Everybody,
We have some splaining to do today. It seems that our Mom has been distracted lately. We really don't have any idea why her mentals are confused, it can't possibly have anything to do with my hurt leg or Noah's worrisome pooper or Norma Jean's fall allergies  or any of the other things going on with us. She must just be day dreaming and she needs to pull herself together.
First we want to to show everyone that our big birthday party wasn't a complete failure as I thought it might be. You see this year Mom and Dad bought animal crackers for us instead of little cupcakes. You know what that means.... no sprinkles! How can it be a real party without sprinkles? I was getting bummed but Mom had a surprise for us.
See with a little yogurt glue and a big bottle of sprinkles, anything can be made better. Yeah, she really came thru for us on this one.
Now for her not so good stuff. You see we got this package from Chewy and it had lots of cans of Merrick Seasonals Howl O' Ween Stew. Mom thought she'd save it till Halloween to feed it to us and do our review. She said it would make a good holiday dinner for us.
Then Dad said maybe she should have done the review earlier in the month so you could all go buy some for your own Halloween dinners. By the time we did our review it would be too late. Mom felt bad that she didn't think ahead.
So today we tried our Howl O' Ween Stew and it tasted wonderful. It's made with de-boned chicken, peas, sweet potatoes and pumpkin. Those last two ingredients are important because if any of you have tummy or pooper problems, like Noah, you can enjoy this food, too. See, Noah thinks it's really good.
Mom says she's sorry that it's too late for you to order this in time for Halloween, but Merrick makes other delicious seasonal foods that you might consider trying. There's even one for Thanksgiving which is coming along in just a few weeks. That one has turkey and sweet potatoes and green beans and apples, just like the peeps eat for Thanksgiving. They have other holidays covered too, just go to Chewy and check them out.
I'm having a good talk with Mom today about getting her act together. In the meantime, we'll be enjoying this super Howl O' Ween Stew for the next few days. Take it from Tess, it's tongue out tasty.
Chewy sent us this case of Merricks Howl O' Ween Stew at no cost to us in exchange for our honest review.
Your pal, Fudge

Thursday, October 26, 2017

P*A*R*T*Y !!!!!

Hey everybody, come party with us!
Today is our birthday. Mom remembers it as the longest night followed by the longest day ever in history. Tess was born on the 25th just before midnight and the rest of us followed.  Norma Jean was the last one to arrive around 7:30 the next morning.
So, today we're having a party in the back yard. Instead of cupcakes Mom bought a huge bag of animal crackers. She said we always swallow the cupcakes and ask for more, so this way we can have a bunch of little animal cookies. Good thinking, Mom.
Then after we play and rest we're having a special dinner of sardines. Oh yum, those are our very favorites and Mom's been saving them for this special occasion.

We wish all of you could come join us on this beautiful day. Since you can't get here, maybe if you ask nicely, your peeps will give you an extra cookie today, on us.
Of course our Dad, Fudge will be joining our party as will our brother Sebastian and the little pains, Sydney and Mackey. They all do love to party.
Mom says she can't believe that eleven years have gone by since that exciting night. We've all had a lot of fun and we're happy that we can share it with you.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Mistaken Identity

Wait a minute!
 Hey Dude, are you wearing my sweater?
 Oh, OK, I guess Mom made you a sweater just like mine.
 I think Mom even made you and you look a lot like me, but not as handsome.


 My little knitty friend has a sweater just like mine. We're trendsetters.

 Actually we're not setters at all, just a doggie joke.
Sebastian
 





Monday, October 23, 2017

We're Ready...

It's been very summer like here during the daytime with temperatures in the 80s. A couple weeks ago the evenings started cooling off significantly until we were getting into the 40s overnight. Then Saturday night Fall hit. We had a thunderstorm with lots of wind and today the temps are much cooler. The forecast says we'll be in the 30s overnight.The pear tree in the front yard dropped all it's leaves overnight and many of them landed n the porch to greet us in the morning. We even switched from air conditioning to heat.
  The dogs really enjoy the cooler temperatures and are spending a lot more time outside. Sebastian  also likes this weather better and he's looking forward to lots of walks at the park now that it's more comfortable for the humans. I started a sweater for him last week. Remember this?
 Well, here he is trying it on for the first time.
 As you can see the street is littered with leaves and he's ready for his first walk.
He was a little reluctant to put it on, but I think he likes it.
I think he looks pretty sharp.

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Berries = Yummy #Chewy Influencer

Hi Everybody,
Thanks to all my Bloggie friends for asking about me. I'm feeling much better. My legs still don't work quite like they used to and sometimes I even fall down, but Mom is there to help me and the pain medicine that Dr B gave me is helping a whole lot. 
  Mom gives me special stuff to help my legs get better, like extra fish oil and glucosamine. That's pills made from shellfish and you know how much I love fish. She's giving me raw goat's milk too. I don't know if that helps my legs but I sure do like it.

For a long time Mom has been giving me berries. She says they're really good for my mentals. She and Dad eat lots of berries like strawberries and blueberries and she gives them to us, too. Sometimes it's hard to get fresh berries around here so then Mom gives us berry capsules. The ones I've been taking are blueberry and cranberry because of the infection I had a while ago. She says that cranberry helps me pee. 

Now Chewy sent us some berry treats. They're Zuke's Superfood Blend with Bold Berries and they taste great. 
These are made with cranberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and cherries. I start drooling just thinking about all those delicious berries. They are only 4.1 calorie per treat and Mom thinks the little size is super for training. They also contain cinnamon which is so yummy and tumeric which helps our joints feel good and rosemary which smells really good. But a warning, rosemary can bring on seizures in dogs like Mackey who are predisposed to seizures.
Noah  happened to be there when Mom opened the package so he got to taste them before any of the rest of us. He thinks they are super delicious and said he'd like a whole bowl of them. Mom said no.
Zukes makes very good treats and we've used them for years. The berry ones might be our very favorites. We do have just one complaint, please Zukes peeps, can you make them bigger? Our Mom likes the little size pieces but we'd like them about three or ten times bigger. Can you work on that?
Chewy sent us this bag of Zuke's Bold Berries at no cost to us in exchange for our honest review.
Your pal, Fudge

Friday, October 20, 2017

Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks

In this case the old dog is me. It's been an interesting couple weeks and I've been forced to slow down and get organized. Fudge is confined to the living room during the day and because he wants to follow me wherever I go, I am also confined to the living room. Rob doggie sits him while I do the essentials on the computer because my office is in the basement and Fudge isn't allowed to do stairs.
Fudge is actually doing better. He has a very bad limp that I'm guessing is permanent, but he is able to get around better than two weeks ago. I do notice a clicking sound in his leg when he walks and I don't thank that's a good thing, but he doesn't seem bothered by it. He's on leash at all times except for bedtime, then the door is closed so that he's stuck in the bedroom and can't roam. His appetite has improved and although he groans when he gets up and down, I don't think he's in much pain now.

Noah's colitis has been bothering him again. I can't seem to get his poop problems cleared up. Just when he seems better and I think we've got a handle on it, it flares back up. Taking a cue from a Blogville friend, we located a lady nearby who raises dairy goats and sells their milk. We bought a gallon and tried it on Noah's dinner. For several days we thought it was working well, then another poop explosion happened. We decided to give it a longer try and yesterday we went back to the farm and spoke with the goat lady. She suggested making Kefir.
OK, I knew that Kefir was fermented goat's milk, but that's all I knew. So this old dog hit the internet last night and now I'll be making my first batch of Kefir next week, as soon as my supplies arrive. Apparently Kefir from goat's milk is high in probiotics, vitamins, antioxidants and everything else that's good for you.
In the meantime I'm giving raw goat's milk to Fudge for his joints, Sebastian and Lola for their digestion, Noah for colitis and the others for their pure enjoyment. Such a happy group at dinnertime.

The weather here has been funky, hot during the day and actually cold at night. I decided that Sebastian might like a sweater for his evening outings, so I looked up some patterns. Trouble is that it's mostly little dogs that wear sweaters and most designers only have patterns for dogs much smaller than Sebastian. So this old dog picked a pattern that I like and I'm improvising as I knit. If it doesn't fit him, it should fit one of the others. If it doesn't fit anyone, I'll just unravel the whole thing and start over. It's a way to spend the time while sitting with Fudge.
 So, I'm learning some new tricks about nutrition and maybe some new tricks about changing a knitting pattern. Who said I couldn't do it?

Sunday, October 8, 2017

Something New #Chewygoodiebox

My dogs love presents. I'll bet yours does too. I like to give presents. I'll bet you do too. Now it all got a little easier.

So, lets' say a friend just adopted a dog from the shelter. Wouldn't it be nice to send a little gift to welcome the new family member?
Wouldn't it please Aunt Tilly to remember her kitties with a little something for no reason at all?
I think Fido would be disappointed if there was no special present under the tree for him.
Why not remember all of them, plus of course, you very own faithful furkids with a surprise gift that doesn't require a trip to the pet store or any bother at all on your part. Intrigued yet?
Chewy has a new offering to help solve your gift giving needs and they sent us one to try out. They're called Chewy Goodie Boxes and you can order them at the same time you place your regular food orders. They come in these cute little gift boxes and there are three varieties. There is one for cats, one for small dogs and we received the regular dog box.
So what's in these Goodie Boxes? All this! We got a great selection of treats that really grabbed the attention of my dogs.
In our box was a bag of I and Love and You nice jerky treats in chicken and salmon flavor You know how much we love salmon.
Next was a bag of Greenies breath buster bites. These will be perfect for Mr Sebastian whose breath gets a little doggy at times.
There was a bag of Starmark interactive dog treats with over 175 treats in the bag and they're under 3 calories each, perfect for our dieters. These are great treats by themselves or they work with the Starmark treat dispensers also available at Chewy. 
There was a bag of Hill's Ideal Balance soft baked naturals with chicken and carrots. They're grain free with no soy, wheat, corn or artificial preservatives, colors or flavors.
There was a bag of Halo healthsome vegan biscuits with peanut and pumpkin. We love Halo products and who can argue with peanut and pumpkin?
Finally, from USA Bones & Chews there was a six inch bully stick. None of my dogs has ever had a bully stick though I've heard from lots of people just how much their dogs love them. My Porties really aren't chewers and neither is Sebastian, but my hound girls love to chew and so Sydney will get the bully stick this time.
This is a very nice treat box that I'm sure would be appreciated anyone who receives it. Be sure to check it out next time you log into your Chewy account and add a few to your holiday gift list.
Chewy sent us this goody box at no cost to us in exchange for our honest review and my dogs  think it's absolutely wonderful.