FYI - Nutro Pet Food Recall

It's a voluntary recall. But still. If you're feeding Nutro, please, please switch your food! No more sick animals! Remember the food recalls from a few years ago that killed dogs?

Be safe! Stay up to date with pet food recalls!

Here's the FDA version of the recall, along with a link to recalls from the past 6 months.

Doggie Shampoo???

Giving Rusty a bath is pretty easy - he just lays down in the tub. We have to hold him up though to rinse him off, next time I'll take pictures!

But for shampoo, it's hard to decide what to use, mainly oatmeal shampoo, but I'd also like to be more eco friendly and more natural (Note: Rusty wears a hemp collar). So far that's been easy to do with food and accessories, but now it's onto grooming supplies.

I've found a few that I've listed below, but since dog shampoo is so easy to pick up at Target, I'd like to find a brand from there. If not, oh, well. I'm ok with ordering online!


Earthbath All Natural Shampoo, 16-Ounce
This looks pretty good, comes in other scents. Definitely all natural.


SPA Lavish Your Pet Spa Colors Shampoo for White Coats
This brand is cruelty free. I'm not sure how natural that is, but I'm open for supporting cruelty free products (but I wouldn't buy the shampoo for white coats).


Sweet Petula
How cute! Ok, I shouldn't comment on the picture, but I can't help it. It's herbal, which is great and it's coconut based so it makes me feel a bit better about using it on Rusty's skin (it's geared towards more oily coats).

I wish they sent samples!

Litter of 20 Puppies???

Um, this is ridiculous. Those dogs need to be speutered immediately. Most of those dogs are going to end up as either strays or euthanized by a shelter because people can't afford them or take care of them.

Ridiculous to contribute to the overpopulation of pets just because they're pretty.

Backyard breeders contribute to the millions of dogs that are killed in this country each year. If you click on the link you'll be taken to a site that states the problems of why people shouldn't breed their dogs just because.

Here's a comparison of a Reputable breeder vs. a Backyard breeder.

Another BYB link.
Shelter Dog Rescue
More comparisons

If you're a BYB, this is most likely where your cute little puppies will end up:
DogTown

Or they will end up here:These animals were all euthanized in one day at one shelter. And then sent to a plant to make dog food.

Please, spay and neuter your animals.

Wellness E-Newsletter

Just thought you might be interested in Wellness. There's a few coupons at the very bottom.

Also, Rusty is now on a grain free rotation diet - Wellness Core Ocean is the next bag of dog food!

Mr. Slobber Chops

Do You Get Bored At Work?

Um, well, the I Has A Hot Dog website now has an I Has A Hot Dog Game.

So have fun! And don't let anyone know that I told you, I'd hate for anyone to get in trouble at work, for not working.

It's Tick Season Already

Ewww... it's tick season! Gross! Above is a picture of a deer tick, which now according to the University of Minnesota Extension is now a Black Legged Tick. The website also lists the most prevalent ticks found in Minnesota, which will be great to know.

Mostly, I'd like to know how to get them off without leaving any part of the tick embedded or on the skin. And mostly because I'm the one that has to deal with anything gross that's in the house, on the dog, bleeding, dirty, etc...

So I've found Ticked Off from Healthy Pets and it seems fairly easy to use. I use my tweezer for my eyebrows, so I'm not exactly too happy about using it for ticks. You know what I mean? You just slide it in between the tick and the skin and pull it off. This is cheap too - it's $4.49 on sale which means that it should become a staple in your pet first aid kit. I'm sure you can find it at Walmart or Target too if you're not a big fan of ordering off the internet (very unlike me!).

Generally I'm fairly eco-friendly and want to be as all natural as possible when it comes to Rusty's health. I've been reading about the ingredients of a ton of preventatives on Pet Education from Drs. Foster & Smith (which may or may not be biased). As an all natural preventative, there are also several options available. Some people say that garlic tablets help keep fleas and ticks away (which um, even after I've eaten garlic I still get bitten by mosquitoes so I don't know how well that would work for any other bugs) and also Neem Oil.

I'm becoming a bigger fan of Neem Oil every day. Humans can use it too (but I come from the land of DEET so I'm pretty skeptical about any other products. I'll probably die of brain cancer). Synergy Richard's Organics Pet Wellness/Pet Healing Neem Oil is one product that I'm thinking about trying.

We just gave Rusty the last from a pack of 3 Frontline medications. Frontline has Fipronil which has been shown as a neurotoxic to dogs and rats. Fipronil has also been put on a carcinogenic list for humans. Knowing that my dad died of cancer, well, I don't really want to put anyone at risk for any of the above in my house and I also don't want Rusty to develop any diseases down the road.

So, in the end, make your own decisions about your flea and tick medicine but just remember to look over your pet after its been outside during flea/tick season!

The Kong Wubba For Water

For a job well done at the Intermediate Training Graduation, we decided to get Rusty a whole new dog toy. It's the KONG Water Wubba and it's pretty cool.

It's shaped like a Kong, but only has fabric around it and it floats. In Rusty's favorite thing. Water. It's fairly easy to throw and easy to retrieve - the only bad thing is that the Kong part is too big for Rusty's mouth so he carries by the fabric string thingys anyway.

And it's pretty cheap too for a Kong product on Amazon. They sell them at Petsmart too, but they're more expensive. I wish I would've seen it on Amazon first!

Happy Monday!

Wait Or Stay???

What's the difference between a "Wait!" and a "Stay" you ask?

Well, the answer is pretty simple and quite easy for a dog to understand.

With the stay command, you always go back to the dog before you release them. When you say stay, you really mean stay where you are until I come back and release you.

For the wait command, the dog can go to you from the position that they were in.

Example 1: You have to get the mail but you want Rusty to stay on the front porch. You're going back to him, so you'd use stay.

Example 2: You're carrying groceries into the house but you have to open and unlock the door first. So you'll have him wait while you unlock the door and walk into the house, when released Rusty will return to you while you put the groceries on the counter.

Example 3: You're outside grilling, but the toxic bottle of lighter fluid is in Rusty's way to get back inside. Put Rusty in a sit, say wait, then pick up the lighter fluid and release from the wait so he follows you in the house.

Is that easier to understand the difference between them? Stay means return to the dog to release, wait means you will release and the dog comes to you.

Happy Doggy Mother's Day!

Intermediate Training Comes To An End

So what the heck are we going to do?

It's a little bittersweet because for the past almost 20 weeks we've been in training classes on Sundays. That's a lot of Sundays.

And there was structure. So as long as we keep up with Rusty's training, make sure that he keeps learning I think we'll be good.

I'd like to hire someone to come to our house to help work on recall, distractions and commands from a distance but we just don't have the money at this time (hello, Law School loans) so we're going to have to work with him every day to keep up with everything.

Strange that I'll be searching my own blog for what we've learned so I remember what to do!

I'd also like to do an agility class - I think it'd boost Rusty's confidence.

Has anyone else done an agility class? How did you like it? How did the dog like it? What sorts of things did you do? Would you recommend any place to go?

I Think We Found A Daycare in Minnesota

How dang cute is this? I absolutely love our current daycare, The Dog House, but since we're moving in June, I have no idea of where to start looking for a new one!

The Dog House is $10 per day, but in Minneapolis at The Pampered Pooch it looks like the going rate is somewhere from $20 - $30 per day. Yep, I know it's the cost of living area but still... $25 per day??? I like to bring Rusty 2 times per week, so that's $50 per week and $2,600 per year. Argh. I'll have to find a second job!

Well, watch out Minneapolis, here comes the MONSTER!