reduce your carbon ‘pawprint’ with poop bags

In our endeavour to find environmentally friendly products for our pets, we came across www.poopbags.com. 100% biodegradable plastic bags (manufactured to the ASTM D6400 specification - which means they will degrade at a rate similar to an apple!). With some frightening stats on their site about dog waste and pollutants, it is really worth the time and effort to pick up after our dogs and utilize biodegradable bags.

Here’s what our River City Westie testers had to say, “No bones about it…this is one “terrier-ific” poop bag!  We were introduced to PoopBags by one of our Westie Mums.  In fact, she liked them so much that she contacted PoopBags.com and asked them to consider supporting our 3rd Annual Virginia Westie Walk with a donation of PoopBags…and, they jumped at the opportunity!  The poop bags were a big hit at the event, and many of our Westie Mums & Dads now use them too! 

As a club that promotes and supports a healthier and cleaner environment for our four-legged friends, we are proud to now offer PoopBags at our monthly Meetups and events.  Thanks PoopBags.com for helping these Westies go green, and to further reduce their poop-print on the planet!”

Henry’s Lab Ranking:

Henry’s Lab - double leash

Walking two dogs can sometimes be a nightmare. Especially when they are constantly crossing each other and the leads get all tangled up. I found a product called Pet Walker Plus who have a solution - a patented swivel design allowing dogs to walk over and under each other without tangling. Separate leads allow pet owners to control and correct each dog and it can be used on both large and small dogs. Here’s what one of our reviewers, Matt, had to say:

‘I rank this Pet Walker Plus leash a 4 out of 5. It is very easy to use and there was no tangling of the leads. It is easy to put on, it looks nice and it is very sturdy. With my two dogs who have the pulling power of 200 lbs there was no danger of it breaking - it’s obviously very well made. I would not only buy other products from this manufacturer, I would feel comfortable being on their mailing list.’

Henry’s Lab ranking:     

what breed are you?

Did you know that you can find out what breed your “mutt” is? The Wisdom Panel™ MX test is a comprehensive DNA-based mixed breed test for dogs. It can identify more than 130 AKC-recognized breeds that may be present in mixed breed dogs and will answer that nagging question everyone asks you, “What breed is your dog?”

Visit The Mars Wisdom Panel for all the details and to purchase a testing kit for $125. You’ll need to go to your vet to get a blood sample and have them send it off for you but all that is included in the kit.

Knowing what breed your dog is could be helpful in training, behaviour issues and most importantly, health issues associated with the breed. Now some dogs are truly a ‘Heinz 57′ and I think the test will show just some of the breed history - but it’s would be worth a try if you need to know. It also does not detect ALL breeds but there is a pretty comprehensive list on the site.

If you do try it, please give us a shout and let us know how it goes…Here’s to the mutt!

train your dog like the dog whisperer - Cesar Millan

So you want to be a dog whisperer? well here’s your chance…sort of. For all you computer game fans, Ubisoft, the company which produces the Petz and Imagine game titles is coming out this Fall 2008 with a game based on Cesar Millan’s, the Dog Whisperer. 

In the game, you get to be Cesar and help rehabilitate dogs. You are confronted with 40 different common dog issues and, using Cesar Millan’s guidance, learn how to deal with each of them as a dog behavior expert.

“Ubisoft’s team has done an amazing job turning the ‘Power of the Pack’ methodology into an interactive experience,” said Cesar Millan. “The game is easy to play and offers many fun ways to learn rehabilitation techniques that can be applied to dogs in the real world.”

Sounds like great fun and an education. I’ll put out another post when the title has actually launched - I may even purchase a Nintendo DS just to try it out….

Get excited all you Cesar fans - and if you have a Nintendo DS and would like to try it out and provide feedback for Henry’s Backyard, go to the contact us page and shoot me a note and I’ll try to get you a copy.

Please note: the photo is not the actual game cover, just a representation.