Marvelous Mercer

For those of you looking for a good read and helping a good cause, Marvelous Mercer is the place to visit. Featured on the Today show, a little girl named Shea just published a book about her companion dog, Mercer and his wonderful adventures.

Marvelous Mercer
The adventures of a five year old companion’s dog who spends his days helping Shea in her everyday tasks, but spends his nights very differently. See how his adventures enhance Shea’s life with the help of his faithful canine friends. Beautifully illustrated by Curt Wagner.

A majority of the proceeds will be allocated to Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) research and to Canine Companions for Independence.

Henry recommends it.

rainy days

It’s raining. Too tired to go out. Dreaming about those squizzels… Rainy days are nice sometimes. Hope those babies don’t crawl on me - they always grab my tail.

Still raining. Think I’ll nap for just a little while longer….

Iams coupon

Here’s a special I just found from Iams Dog Food - an $8.00 off coupon. I go through tons of dog food with 2 big dogs and I love a good deal. Click here for coupon. Enjoy!

dog training?

So, there we were at Pet Smart - not quite sure what we were doing there. We got to have some fun in the beginning of class, getting to know our new friends. After we were there for a little while, we got brave and checked out the rest of the class. Most of the other dogs were playful and had interesting tales to tell, but some of those small, yippy dogs were angry and spiteful. Didn’t want to leave their master’s lap - bit silly, really.

Now I don’t like to brag, but we were clearly the smartest in our class, it must be told. We even received certificates when it was over. It was kind of fun and the treats were especially yummy but I much prefer it home in my backyard.

scooby doo

So they brought another dog home! My sister, Jess and I were baffled. Why do we need another dog in the house? There are barely enough snacks to go around now! Anyhow, it was a strange looking thing but there was something particularly odd about it - it didn’t move - not once. I, of course, barked at the new dog to show it I am in charge in this house (but I really didn’t want to go near it). No response. Jess and I were still baffled. So I did the one thing any smart dog would do … I let my sister sniff it first.

It looked like a dog but it didn’t smell like a dog. So after a few sniffs, I let Jess give it to him. She grabbed him by the collar and thrashed him about. And when she was done, I took hold of him and put a hole or two in him - to show him who’s boss. Then Jess got back on him and pulled his white, fluffy insides out. When we were done, there were only scrap pieces of him left.

Job well done, I’d say. I think he knew who was boss.

birthday wishes

Ok, so I’m a sad dog owner who had a birthday party for her pups. It was their first birthday and we invited some friends over with their dog, Cooper (that’s him in the photo). Henry, Jess and Cooper ran around like mad dogs in the backyard - Cooper was a wild man, knocking everything in his path and eating any type of food in his reach.

The pups played, wore silly hats, and snacked on doggie ice cream - yes they do have it and dogs love it and it looks just like the old fashioned ice cream cups where you pull the tab on the top to remove the cardboard. Well, Jess had more that her fair share and as all kids do when they’ve had too much - she hurled. Of course, being a dog, it didn’t faze her much and she continued to run and play.

It was lots of fun - the adults enjoyed, too. So if you have a dog or two, get their friends around and celebrate their big day. I hear they even have companies that will throw the parties for you (!) - and don’t forget the Clifford birthday hats!

Eddie’s Wheels

I recently learned about a fantastic company which unexpectedly touched my heart. Eddie’s Wheels is a company created out of necessity. Their beloved dog had a disease and couldn’t use his back legs. Without much encouragement from vets, they created a doggie cart so their pup could “walk,” “run,” and generally do all the things pups are suppose to do. Seing how happy their dog was and how much it contributed to her healing, they decided to build customized dog carts for other needy dogs.

Please have a look at their site and feel free to donate - they provided dog carts to Katrina victims, animal rehab clinics and to those who really can’t afford them. I met the owners and it was so moving to hear their stories. The happiest time is when the dogs leave their warehouse with their new cart, there is always floods of tears from all involved. Talk about doing great things for those in need.

toys for big dogs

I don’t know about you but my dogs love toys but because they are serious chewers, the toys never last long. It’s a race between Henry and Jess to see who can get to the squeeky in the center first - usually pulling out all the fluffy guts just for fun. I once bought a dog toy made out of fire hose which was suppose to be indestructable, the store said to return it if your dog chewed a hole in it. Henry had four holes in it within ten minutes (I timed him). I brought it back.

One toy that was recommended to me which is the only toy they didn’t chew up was an Egg Babies Dog Toy. The Egg Babies toys are soft toys shaped like turtles and platypus’ (not sure where that one came from…) and they have an opening on their tummies and soft eggs (with squeekys) inside. My dogs just love pulling the eggs out and waiting for you to put them back in. Sometimes I put treats in there and they like trying to get those out, too.

There are also some other similar ones shaped like a house with soft, squeaky squirrels in it (my pups especially liked that one - what with their obsession with squirrels and all), etc.

So treat your big chewer to a toy they’ll love and one you won’t have to replace after ten minutes! Henry and Jess recommend Egg Babies.

pampered pets

Did you see a recent article in USA Today about pampered pets? Here’s a link to it - Pampered Pets . It is amazing - architects are designing homes with rooms specifically for pets with tons of luxuries like a TV with DVD player, ceramic tile, places to clean muddy paws and exterior entrances. There are also companies building luxury outside dog houses - 3′ x 7′ with personalized awnings - they are fantastic. My pups would love it but I think they would miss their slobbing out on the blanket in the living room. Ahhh, a dog’s life.

bringing home puppies

So I brought my new puppies home one day. I couldn’t believe my husband let me choose two dogs instead of one. See, a friend of a friend had adopted a female lab mix from the dog pound and when she went to get her dog fixed, it turned out she was pregnant. They ended up with seven puppies - not exactly what they had in mind. They were so incredibly cute - all fluffy and all black except for Henry. I chose my Henry and Jess puppies and brought them home and then I realized I had absolutely no idea how to train them or what to do with them. So I pieced together what I could from puppy training and feeding info on the internet. We struggled for a while but one of the best things I did was to get them training from Pet Smart.

Yes, Pet Smart had fantastic training - they told me my puppies at 4 1/2 months old were very old to be learning to train (?) but they did fantastic - first in their class! Shortly thereafter, no more newspapers and lots of good-for-you yummy dog treats. I never did teach them about ringing the bell when they wanted to go out…one of those things I think would have saved some of my carpeting…live and learn.

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