My Friendly Pets

Kind of gross… but I suppose it gets the point across.

dogs, pets, animals, funny, dog videos

I think it’s a great idea to cook a fresh, tasty meal for you pup. You could do it everyday or once in a while for a nice treat. Here’s an easy recipe from SimplyPets.com:

-6 Cups Ground beef, turkey, lamb, or rabbit

-3 Cups Barley, brown rice, or millet (cooked per pkg. instructions)

-1 Cup Finely chopped raw vegetables (kale, yam, carrots, green beans)

-1 Small clove garlic

-3 Tbsp. Canola oil

Brown the meat and mix with grain and vegetables. Let cool completely before feeding to your pet.

dogs, pets, animals, dog food, dog food recipes, cook for your pet

Faith is a dog with only two legs! She’s amazing. Watch below:

Faith’s Book

dogs, pets, animals, faith, unusual dog

Gotcha!!

dogs, puppies, pets, animals, attack dogs, alligator, funny

UPDATE: PLEASE REVIEW THE LIST AGAIN AS MORE BRANDS SEEM TO HAVE BEEN ADDED.

Menu Foods has issued a recall on cans and pouches of food sold at a variety of nationwide locations. There have been reports of renal failure in pets who consumed the food. The brands included in the recall are:

Americas Choice, Preferred Pets
Authority
Award
Best Choice
Big Bet
Big Red
Bloom
Bruiser
Cadillac
Companion
Demoulas Market Basket
Eukanuba
Food Lion
Giant Companion
Great Choice
Hannaford
Hill Country Fare
Hy-Vee
Iams
Key Food
Laura Lynn
Loving Meals
Meijers Main Choice
Mixables
Nutriplan
Nutro Max
Nutro Natural Choice
Nutro
Ol’Roy Canada
Ol’Roy US
Paws
Pet Essentials
Pet Pride - Good n Meaty
Presidents Choice
Price Chopper
Priority
Publix
Roche Bros
Save-A-Lot
Schnucks
Shep Dog
Springsfield Prize
Sprout
Stater Bros
Total Pet, My True Friend
Western Family
White Rose
Winn Dixie
Your Pet

Contact Information:
Menu Foods Income Fund
Consumers
1-866-895-2708

dogs, pets, animals, dog food recall, pet food alert

Ahhh Springtime. The trees are budding, flowers are blooming, and the fleas are ready to conquer your dog. It’s best to stay one-step ahead on this one. Lucky for us, there are topical products like Frontline, K9 Advantix, and Advantage to keep those fleas from ever reaching Fido in the first place. Other methods of flea control are the pill forms, such as Capstar and Program. It may be necessary to treat your yard as well. Spectricide and Bengal have products available to kill fleas in your yard.

The downside to these products is that they can be expensive. The lowest prices I came across were at Dog.com. They also have a comparison chart of the popular brands.

A natural alternative is to feed your dog small amounts of garlic. Although I have yet to try this method, I hear garlic is a natural flea repellant.

dogs, pets, animals, fleas, frontline, flea preventative, garlic

“I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult.” - Rita Rudner

dogs, pet, animals, poodles, dog quotes, funny

Who could resist those floppy ears?

Temperament – The beagle is gentle, loving, curious and very good with children. They get along well with other dogs, but will typically give cats a hard time. They are well tempered and loyal. Often bred as hunting dogs, beagles make excellent pets as well.

Grooming Requirements – Since the beagle has a short coat, not much grooming is required. A bath as needed will do. Beagles are average shedders.

Activity Level – This dog is active. They need either a fenced-in yard, or several acres to run around. Beagles have a strong urge to chase things, especially small animals such as cat and squirrels. Shelters usually have a number of beagles who were not able to make the way back home after a chase.

Size – The average beagle weighs between 20 and 25 pounds, a medium sized dog.

The National Beagle Club of America

dogs, pets, animals, breeds, beagle, breed profiles

Have you ever read the label on your dog’s food? If you have, you were probably thoroughly confused by it, just as I was. You could research all the ingredients yourself, but that would probably take quite a while, and who has the time anyway.

For the most part, dogs need proteins and fats, with some carbohydrates to thrive. Since protein tends to be expensive, many dog food companies fill their products with grains and sweeteners to make the food more attractive to the dog, and fill them up quickly. Dogs don’t need grains, or sweeteners. That’s not to mention the artificial preservatives, by-products, and other ingredients that could be harmful to a dog.

Luckily, I found a very helpful website that explains what all those ingredients are, and which ones are good and bad. To make things even easier, here is a list of common dog foods with a nutritional review explaining why you should or should not feed it to your beloved pup.

The Dog Food Project.com

dogs, pets, animals, dog food, commercial dog food

By now, you have probably seen “The Dog Whisperer� on National Geographic. Cesar Milan has become quite popular with his uncommon approach to dog training. Actually, Cesar’s approach is more about training the person than the dog. His philosophy is to use calm, assertive energy in establishing yourself as the pack leader. Since dogs are pack animals, they see us humans as members of their pack as well. Cesar runs the Dog Psychology Center in Los Angeles where he rehabilitates dogs who are out of control. I must say, Cesar seemingly has a gift in the way he gets dogs to respond to him. I love the idea of “calm-assertive energy�. What do you think of Cesar?

dogs, pets, animals, cesar milan, the dog whisperer, dog training, dog psycology

“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.” - Unknown

dogs, pets, animals, quotes

Apparently there is such a thing!

Pet Fashion Week is scheduled for August 18th – 19th in New York. Last year’s event included a fashion show and vendors from all over the world. I’m not so sure the dogs actually enjoy this sort of thing, but they do look cute.

Check it out

dogs, pets, animals, fashion show, dog fashion, pet fashion

I recently brought home a new little baby named Remy. He’s a Bichon Frise (pronounced Bee-shon Free-Zay), and was seven weeks old when we got him. He’s twelve weeks old now, and weighs about four pounds. I have to say he is the best puppy I have ever had to train. We live in a condo, without a yard, so I immediately started taking him outside on the leash. He resisted a little, but after about five minutes we were walking around the building with ease. I was amazed. It took me several months to finally get my older dogs used to a leash. Holly, my four-year old poodle, flopped around like a fish and then sat down and refused to move at all. It took tons of effort on my part to finally get her going. He’s already fetching and knows what “sit� means. This could possibly be the best dog ever.

Remy also loves people, as well as other animals. He absolutely doesn’t meet a stranger. He’s very friendly and outgoing. Just the other day, we were walking, and we came across an elderly neighbor. I see her out walking often, but she usually seems somewhat oblivious to my presence, and I assumed she probably can’t hear and/or see very well. On this day, Remy decided to go over and say hello, so I let him. Pleasantly, her face lit up as he approached her; she bent down to pet him and he showered her with kisses. She cuddled and played with him for a few minutes, and then we both went our separate ways, her with a big smile, and me with an idea in my head.

It occurred to me that Remy might be perfect for Pet Therapy. Therapy dogs are allowed into places such as nursing homes and hospitals to visit with patients and hopefully brighten their day. For a dog to become a therapy dog, they must first pass the Canine Good Citizenship Test. I’m still looking into this idea, and I don’t exactly have all the information I need as of yet. I’ll keep posting about Remy’s progress, and Therapy Dogs.

Do you know any ‘Therapy Dogs’?

dogs, pets, animals, bichon frise, puppies, therapy dogs, pet therapy, cgc test

“No matter how little money and how few possesions you own, having a dog makes you rich.”
- Louis Sabin

dogs, pets, animals, puppy, quotes

When I was born, my family owned a sheltie mix named Button. He was already a member of the family when I came along. My brother and I basically grew up with him. I giggle when I look at the pictures of my first Easter; I was only about six months old, and there’s Button in the pictures with us trying to get into my Easter basket. I can remember chasing him around the yard as a child, feeding him ice cream, and I absolutely loved playing with his ears. They were kind of floppy and I thought it was fun to gently wrap them around my fingers. He would lick my face and sit there with his mouth slightly open like he was smiling at me. I was thirteen when he died, and still laugh when I think of him smiling at me.

I always loved dogs as a child, I suppose most kids do, but I wanted to have a house full of them. To me, dogs seemed so wise and gentle, like an old friend who’s always around when you need them. My favorite movie was All Dogs go to Heaven; which, I still believe that they do! Several years after Button was gone, my Aunt got a Maltese named Tiny, and so my love for small dogs began. I love dogs of all sizes, but there was just something about that little white, ball of fur that really stole my heart. I absolutely adored her, and I couldn’t wait to get a dog of my own.
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