By Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com
Our list of gifts that you and your pet will LOVE this Valentine’s Day!
Recently I received the Travel Blanket from Original Territory for my dog Cody – and for someone who has been in the pet industry for a while, this is something I have not seen before! It makes such a great gift for a dog parent because it’s 2 in 1 functions, but also because it’s useful for both you and your dog. The Travel Blanket starts out as a bag with handles and pockets where you could put items like dog treats, water, sunscreen, bug spray, water bottle, etc. and take it with you on a hike, to the beach or where ever you are going with your dog. When you get to your location, you can take the items out, undo the velcro holding the bag together and open up and like magic you now have a soft blanket to sit on. The back side is waterproof – so if you’re on a beach that the sand may be wet or the ground on your hike is a little damp – you won’t get wet while sitting on the blanket! How cool is that. I can’t wait to use it this spring, summer and fall to bring with me on one of Cody’s Adventures. The Travel Blanket is available on Target.com – and Original Territory has many other fab pet products that you can purchase for your furry valentine as well. You can see a video from Titus and Hailey about the blanket here and even a big beautiful dog like Bocker the labradoodle fits perfectly on it – check out Bocker’s pictures here.
And don’t forget to get your pup delish dog treats for Valentine’s day – they may not be in the shape of a heart but your dog will love these Made in the USA healthy treats from Kaleb’s Organics. Your pooch will fall head over paws for Kaleb’s Organics Dog Treats! Kaleb’s offer wholesome ingredients, great taste, and are USDA Certified Organic and you can even eat them yourself. Available in a variety of delicious flavors, Kaleb’s are made using all natural ingredients and no preservatives. The ingredients in each treat provide numerous health benefits for our animal companions and are Non-GMO Project Verified. Your dog may be eating better than you on Valentine’s day!
Your dog will be thirsty after crunching down those yummy treats so why not give him filtered water from the new innovative Torus water bowls by Heyrex Limited. Pretty to look at with their modern design, these bowls are more than just a pretty face! Use them at home as your pet’s regular water bowls, but they also have a lock, fill and drink function making it ideal for travel as well. Holding up to 2 liters of water in their reservoir walls, filtering the water as it automatically dispenses. Its large capacity means less filling and low profile means less spills. These bowls come in 2 liter and 1 liter sizes perfect for big and small pets and you have to love all the colors they come in! To get yours, you can purchase simply on Amazon.com.
After drinking all that water and maybe you’re not home in time to let your dog out – here’s the perfect solution UGODOG, the #1 indoor dog potty training system. The UGODOG is environmentally friendly, keeps paws dry, easy to use, absorbent liners are reusable and biodegradable, we love that! Plus you purchase one you will get a free training manual with your UGODOG. This also a perfect solution to pads laying around your house and those days when perhaps the elevator is working in your high rise apartment building. UGODOG can change the way you think about potty training your dogs and it is also light weigth and portable so you can bring it with you. To get yours you can simply click here or call 1-888-405-7499 for more info.
Here’s another simple, yet brilliant solution to leaving your sliding glass doors open so your pets can go in and out. You know what I am talking about! Treat your dog or cat to an Apartment Pet Door™ by Balcony Pets solves the problem of you having to leave your sliders open. It is a non-permanent pet door that is adjustable and pops right into the track of your sliding glass doors. One of those, why didn’t I think of that ideas! Created by Nancy Carson who didn’t want to leave her doors open all the time yet give her pets the ability to go in-and-out without having to install a traditional doggie door or having to get up everytime her pet was pawing at the door to go in the yard. It’s simple to put together, snaps together in minutes, installs without tools or expertise from a handy person, drops into the tracks of your sliders and works with any height sliding glass door. You can take this mobile pet door with you when you move or travel. You’ll love the convenience and also the energy you save by not leaving the door open! Check out the video about it here, and to get your own or your sweetheart one for their pet click here.
While your pet is enjoying going in and out, make sure that they have proper ID on them and keep your dog or cat safe and sound with a Twigo LOVE Tag! Perfect for the furry love you own, Twigo Tags are a fun way to add that ID tage to your pets collar and also not have to hear that jingling either. Pet safety should be at the top of all pet owners’ priority list. A Twigo LOVE Tag is perfect for spreading pet identification awareness in a simple and stylish way this Valentine’s Day. Twigo Tags require no engraving and are instantly personalize-able with a ballpoint pen – simply write, boil and wear. The tags self-attach and are completely silent, ideal for those who dislike the jingling noise and remove their pet’s tags while inside the house. To get yours click here.
After all the adventures with your pup, the romping in the yard, hikes and playing in the snow – you may notice that your dog is not smelling to lovely! Time for a bath – and to make his fur super soft and sweet smelling you will want to try ECO Dog Care Pet Products Simply Clean Dog Shampoo. Recently I got a bottle of this dog shampoo and gave Cody a bath – and not only did he smell great, he was soft and silky and even stopped scratching! (He has some seasonal allergies). There is also and in-between spray called Simpy Fresh that you can use – and what I love about it is it is environmentally friendly, Made in the USA and with all natural ingredients. Simply Fresh also naturally repels pests like fleas and ticks so they stay off your dog and out of your car & house – yes, love that!
by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com
Made in the USA Dog treats Cody loves, and mom approved!
Being in the pet industry for a long time, I see a ton of pet products on a regular basis and dog treats of all kinds – and the treat market is booming and seemingly not slowing down. Being very picky of what I feed my dog Cody, here’s a list of treats that I approve of that are Made in the USA, made with great USA sourced ingredients, and some even serve a purpose. Cody literally drools big time when he is patiently waiting to nosh on any one of these treats below! In no particular order:
The SmartCookee Company PB’N Jelly Time – just too darn cute, right? Also, a 1 calorie treat – how cool is that? SmartCookee’s founder is passionate about feeding dogs treats that are of high quality and low in calorie. Many pets across this country are sadly overweight and this is a really great option if you are doing training and/or just can’t resist those puppy dog eyes begging you for just one more treat. Made with organic and natural ingredients and also chia seeds to help aid in digestion. Flavors include ‘The Great Pumpkin,’ ‘I Yam what I Yam,’ ‘Peas and Carrots’ and there are even holiday treats available now too. You can see from the pictures below Cody could not wait for me to open this package!
Look Who’s Happy, yup you can tell from this picture below Cody is loving Look Who’s Happy treats. I literally have to hide these treats because Cody can sniff them out! Look Who’s Happy has a few different line of treats – but the ones picture here are the Happy Wraps. Cody has been loving all of the flavors picture, Carrot with Chicken recipe, Carrot with Turkey recipe and Sweet Potato with Turkey recipe. Made with whole muscle chicken, and they contain no by-products, fillers or artificial perserveratives, flavors or colors added. You can clearly see the carrot and the chicken in the treats. They are also grain and gluten free. And of course made here in the USA at their family owned plant. Cody is very happy!
Scout & Zoes has many different products, all sourced and made right here in the USA – and pictured below is a recent contest I held, “Where in the World is Cody” in which Sue Johnson correctly guessed where he was. She won the Purple Sweet Potato Slabs and Venison Jerky treats. Sue said, “Jake loves the sweet potato treats, and I can’t believe it because he normally doesn’t like sweet potato at all.” She told me he of course also loves the venison treats. Cody did not want to part with Jake’s prize when I handed it to Sue, can’t really blame him! Visit their website to see the many great products for your pets as they also make treats and products for cats, birds, horses and small animals.
Doggables Dog Scoops are a uniquely shaped cookie that actually serve a purpose. Not wanting to use traditional pockets to give her dog a pill, the founder of the company came up with making an all natural edible scoop in 2 different sizes. You can use them to administer medication to your dog by hiding it in peanut butter or pumpkin with the scoop – and your dog can eat the entire scoop, handle an all. Or if you need to give a crated dog medication you can also use the scoop to feed him through the crate. They have a larger size for big dogs and mini for the small pups, you can see below. I am going to use these to start giving Cody his fish oil capsules, he loves them just as a treat, but I love what the purpose if for too. Made with incredible ingredients like: coconut oil, flax seed, barley, salmon oil, pumpkin, oatmeal, cinnamon and peanut butter. They come in 2 flavors: Pumpkinable and Peanutbutterable.
Halo Live-a-Littles (Cats love these too), ok so I have dubbed this for a long time as ‘Doggie and Kitty crack’ maybe not he best description, but I am telling you once your pet tries these they will be hooked! I once had a client who’s cat I took care of and she introduced me to these – her cats went bananas for them, and I kid you not using these treats I trained her cat to sit on command, just like a dog for the treat. If you own a cat you know that is not the norm! Live-a-littles are freeze dried treats thac come in chicken, salmon or beef. All sourced and made here in the USA. And if you have a fincky eater these treats crumble very easily – it could be used as that incentive for them to eat their food. Cody loves them and I am using as a great training tool for him knowing it’s a great high protein snack.
When feeding any treats to your pets, be sure if you give them a lot during the day, (whether you’re doing training or feeling guilty for working so much), be sure to deduct that same amount of their regular food. We love giving our pups treats, but if you don’t account for all the treats during the day – you could add unwanted extra lbs on your pup, and nobody wants that!
And as a side note, I do not feed my dog: pigs ears, rawhide, hooves, antlers, chicken feet or anything along those lines. I even stopped giving him bully sticks as his belly didn’t do too well after eating one a few months ago. It’s a personal choice to not feed him the random body parts of animals – there are too many concerns for blockages if a he didn’t chew a pigs ear enough or a piece of something that broke off that he was chewing on. I know many dog owners swear by the antlers – again it is just a personal choice.
I do give him big heavy marrow bones – that I get from a health food store, (same place I have been buying them for 20 years), and of course he is montitored while getting all that marrow out – and the bones are sourced and processed from right here in the USA. These marrow bones never break, splinter or get worn down too much – he loves to get his chew on – and he gets a new one monthly. (Helps keep his teeth clean too!)
All of the treats mentioned above were supplied to us for this pet product review, all reviews are honest and if we didn’t like something we would tell you!
by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com
End of summer – pools close down, water parks drain their pools – but wait, why not open them to our DOGS? I am starting to see this happen more often – last year was the first time I heard of a waterpark in New Jersey opening up to our canines for a fantastic romp in the pool – and I thought ‘what a great idea!’ I love it when people come up with new and creative ideas for our pups to enjoy (and us!).
I literally wrote down on a post it, put it in my calendar ‘Splish Splash evening swim for dogs – contact them next summer’ – but never actually contacted them (I am a bit busy here!). Then over the summer one of our members of American Pet Professionals Jodi Ekberg of The Husky Brothers – organized it for the Meetup Group the Empire State Snow Dog Club – and my dog Cody and I were lucky to get an invite. Hey Cody is a wanna be husky as he is very, very vocal and makes some crazy sounding noises – and he can almost say momma!
I was so happy when I heard from Jodi that she organized this (if you own a husky – you have to check out her page and go to one of her well organized events – they go all over!). Since it was the first one that Splish Splash hosted and not my event to promote – (cause you know I wanted to!) – I was curious to see how it went, was run, etc. And boy can I tell you it was very well done, the people that were there were responsible dog owners – and of course some good suggestions came of it for next year.
If you’re dog is not dog friendly (be honest with yourself), or afraid of water/pools – it might not be something you want to attend with him. Just like if you shouldn’t be heading to the dog park if your dog is not well socialized or is aggressive toward other dogs.
All in all – it was a fabulous event – and Cody, just like a little kid did NOT want to leave! He dragged me back to one of the pools for a final dip (dogs are crazy smart aren’t they!)
Another cool aquatic dog event I saw was New Hyde Park pool had a doggie swim for residents. I have been seeing this happen more and more across the country where public town pools are having doggie swims before they drain the pools. What a great idea for the town to make some extra revenue before they shut down for the season. OR a great idea for the town to host a fundraising event for their local animal shelter. Just think if every city, town and village pool did this across Long Island for one day – how much moola could be raised – and how many happy dogs there would be. I bet even some dogs could be adopted if they held them in conjunction with an adopt-a-thon. Anyone getting good ideas?
Ok, you have a year to plan! To see a TON of pictures from the event, CLICK HERE!
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