Wordless Wednesday April 29 2015

Wordless Wednesday December 24 2014

Okay, almost wordless.

We had a Christmas party at work after hours, and I went home to get Elka so she could see the library and mingle. She was good (mostly) and had a blast! We also did Secret Santas, and my Santa, in addition to my gifts, gave Elka some tennis balls!

Product Review: Nerf Dog

Now that Elka is okay with squeaky toys, I'm always on the lookout for something that will both occupy her and last longer than five minutes. When I saw that Nerf had dog toys, I was optimistic. Perhaps too optimistic?

I tried a fetching orange and blue one first, the Nerf Dog Crunchable Ball, Blue. After that, we did the Nerf Dog Squeaker Football, Red/Black.

Can you guess which one lasted longer?

photo from Amazon.com

vs. 

Monday Mischief: Dogs chewing books

Occasionally, a red-faced dog owner brings a chewed book back to the library.

I've posted pictures of them before, and thank the good Lord frequently that Elka is not a book chewer. She's not an inappropriate chewer anymore at all, actually (/knock wood).

This latest offering is 61 Hours by Lee Child. The dog owner was doing the right thing by having his dog crated when the dog, a Rottweiler, could not be supervised. However, the dog knocked the crate against the table where the book was, knocked the book off said table, and then drew it into the crate with his paw to have his snack. So good problem solving skills there!

I asked if it was all right to take pictures for my blog, and he said it was fine. We had a good talk about dogs needing mental exercise as well as physical, and I told him about the magic of a frozen  peanut butter Kong, even if it's "just" the dog's normal kibble and not anything more treats-y.

Toy Review: Tuffy Toy Mega Octopus

Last week I whined about Twitter, and this week I'll praise it, at least a little. See, this post wouldn't have happened were it not for Twitter. I've reviewed a Tuffie toy in the past, the squid, and I follow the company on Twitter. I happened to notice they Tweeted a coupon code (10% off I think?) and I retweeted, and went to bed. The next morning I had a DM: they'd made a sale from my RT, would I like a Tuffie toy for Elka? Of course I would!

And so we got the octopus (Tuffy Mega Creature Small Octopus Dog Toy, Tiger Print ). Elka seems to like a toy that smacks her in the face while she shakes it, I don't know why. My dog is weird.

"That dog sure is spoiled!"

I don't get a comment like that a lot, once in awhile, in casual conversation, somebody refers to Elka as "spoiled". Arguably, that's a pretty rude thing to say, but she's just a dog, right?

Anyway. Is Elka spoiled? I think it's kind of in the eye of the beholder.

Tuffie Squid, still swimming (.....kind of)

Back in March, I reviewed the Tuffie Toys squid that Elka had been playing with (in short, supervised sessions) since Christmas.

Mr. Squid only has 2 tentacles left. I've sewed him up just once, as Elka chews specifically on the area that's a ring of nylon reinforcing the seams at the "bottom" of the critter, where the tentacles were attached. This is also where I can see how valuable the extra layers Tuffie puts into their toys is; Elka hasn't been able to pull out any of the stuffing.

(it looks like it's saying "Help me.")

Product review: Hartz Zoo Balloons

Once Elka started to play with and love squeaky toys, I had to pretty quickly get on the bandwagon and find ones that could suffer through her tough love and last for more than one play session. The Kong Squeezz toys have done quite well for that, though they are a bit spendy. The Tuffie Squid was another, but one I had to watch her with pretty closely. So, you can imagine I'm pretty happy to find a "renewable resource" of squeaky toys right in my grocery store, the Hartz Zoo Balloons. I'm not sure why they're seven bucks on Amazon, as I typically pay four and change, but it is what it is.

Island of Misfit Toys? No, we have a toy graveyard.

With Elka, we have toys that are "supervised" and ones that she can just have all the time. For the most part, the "supervised" toys are ones that we've gotten to review (like from Zippypaws or a PetsLoveToys box.) Or they're squeaky toys, which are not awesome when people in the house are sleeping. Or they're ropes, which a certain miss has apparently now decided must return to their original thready forms. Or, or or. You get the idea.

So, the "supervised" toys go on top of the refrigerator when she may not have them. This has resulted in a rather sad and desperate collection of things that I haven't yet thrown out because seriously, that's dog blog gold, and also because I feel bad throwing things away. But I also don't feel like I can give them to her most of the time.

This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things....

We frequently have a hard time keeping toys on hand in this house. Elka loves toys, and as I've said before, Elka's love is not a gentle one.

Amusingly, squeaky toys used to actually have some level of protection from her. The squeak made her hesitate, jump back, regroup. That seems to have gone away in its entirety, though, and the squeaking only encourages her.

Farewell, Gummy Bear

Well, Elka's Gummy Bear (first seen here, as it was a birthday gift) has gone on to the next world.

Really, it was a tough toy. From May to November? That's a definite squeaky toy record. Most of them are ten minutes. It always makes me wonder, this pet toy people, if they actually have pets or what. Most toys, I can gauge their play life just by handling them in the store. Most of those toys stay at the store.

The gummy bear was rugged, though. And loud.

The Gross Things We Give Our Dogs To Eat

It occurs to me once in awhile how very odd some things are. Things that "dog people" think are normal, and that non dog people look at askance.

For instance: the dried up gross things that we give our dogs to eat. Pig ears. Bully sticks. And now, beef trachea. Tracheas? Trachea. Or, in this case, fetchingly called "Toobles", because baby talk makes everything better. You'll also note that this bad boys are labeled "Made in USA". Hope it's true!

Blog the Change, April 15, 2012

Well, I daresay my Blog the Change platform is the same as it was back in January.  Train your dog! Your life, and hers, will be better.

I don't know a lot of dog owners, at least not to talk to at length. I try to "spread the gospel" anyway, as it were. One library patron got a puppy a few months back, and lately has come in describing how the puppy is chewing everything up. Oh, we've dealt with that, haven't we? I recommended feeding her only out of Kongs, which would contain her regular meals but mixed with a bit of yogurt and freezing, to use up that mental energy. Apparently the puppy does well in other realms, with sitting nicely for her meals, and retrieving. 

One of my friends, when visiting somebody else, taught the dog in that household "touch". Another friend's dog knows "roll over", which Elka does not, by the by. Any time Elka is on her back, it is on her own terms, and it's typically on a couch and on an object of her vigorous affection.

"Touch" and "roll over" might seem like silly tricks. "Touch", however, can lead to other things, like closing doors or cabinets, or send aways in agility and other dog sports."Roll over" might be pure fun, but you all know that I think trick training is valuable in and of itself. When you do trick training, you're still spending time with your dog and bonding, and working together. When Elka and I trick train, it's also typically when I bust the clicker out, and she's overjoyed to see that happens. The clicker means treats, and Elka loves treats. She also kind of likes getting something right, which is nice. 

Elka's "drop it" is still quite nice. She had a piece of candy in her mouth that somebody had let fall on the floor, unnoticed (a Sour Patch Kid). My fiance said "drop it", and she did immediately. I'm so very proud of that in her.

Dogs that you spend time with aren't bored. Dogs that you train don't tend to get cast aside and end up in shelters. Rescue, maybe, because sometimes home situations occur that are unavoidable. I think it was in Playtraining Your Dog that Patricia Gail Burnham said something about how people will sell their conformation champions, but asking somebody to sell their titled Utility Dog? No way, José. Granted, there's also a degree of training that goes into conformation dogs, and I don't know that owners give them up that easily either, but every owner is different, and competitors may be in it for different things, to be sure.

Monday Mischief! November 21

A lot of people have truly shocking pictures of their dogs.

Dogs sitting inside an eviscerated frame that was a couch when people left the house an hour before. Dogs who obviously chewed the blinds right off of the windows. Dogs who killed the dragons that lived in their very own innocent dog beds.

I am a bad pet owner. I don't grab the camera when I see things like that (okay, so the bed is the only exampled I really have). I get rid of the evidence, without correction, which is very hard as a person to do, because the dog is obviously looking guilty, right? The dog must know what she did, right? Well, not really.

Something to Chew On

Did you know that rawhide isn't good for dogs?  That, in fact, in many cases rawhide can be bad for dogs?

For example, the Exer-Hide brand that Wal Mart (and other places, I'm sure) sells has caused death, fevers, seizures, and other unpleasant things for dogs, and has for years.  The claim is largely anecdotal, and "undetermined" on Snopes.com, but enough anecdotes from dog owners is enough for me.

Rawhide can also be treated with things like formaldehyde, harbor things like Salmonella, and is more or less undigestible to a dog.  If your dog eats a lot of it or swallows big enough pieces, it can cause an intestinal blockage, which involves surgery to fix.  If the surgery isn't done within a certain window of time, the affected tissue dies, and the dog will not survive.

So, now that I've done my bit of fear-mongering, here's the question:  What should I give my dog to chew?