| All Things Dog Blog Goes to the Meet and Greet Posted: 29 Apr 2011 10:59 AM PDT by Carrie Boyko, CEB  Hello! And welcome to All Things Dog Blog. Today I'm here to join Dogtipper in the Meet and Greet Party. Paris has invited us to tell you a little about ourselves, so here goes.
 | © Carrie Boyko
A Dog Park Moment | All Things Dog Blog is on a mission to bring you the resources you need to help your family live harmoniously with your dogs. We provide help in many ways; I'd like to tell you about a few of our services.
As a mom of three full grown kids I understand the challenges of holding it all together in all phases and stages of life. And, oh, did I mention the pets? That's where we specialize--helping you bring your family and your dogs into alignment with your life, without too terribly much pain (wink).
We would like to help: - Our most popular posts are our problem-solving articles. For example, I have offered up ways to manage a houseful of company with pups as guests, given tips on exercising your Fido when you can't join in, shared our natural ways to manage fleas, and much more in my archives of 1000+ articles. Need help finding something? Drop me an email and I'll be glad to help: LetsAdoptaDogPark@gmail.com.
- Our team of experienced dog trainers is here to assist you with your dog behavior problems. Even those of you who may be 'experts', could sometimes use a different take on the situation you are too close to it.
- Our All Things Dog Blog family, including our dogs, live a largely green and organic lifestyle, while offering you tips for trying it out yourselves. Some will work for you; some will not. We invite you to ask questions.
- Holistic veterinarian, Dr. Pat Bradley, answers your questions on natural ways to help with Fido's health.
- We also enjoy experimenting with natural treats made here in our own kitchen. Watch for our organic recipes that you can try at home.
- Product reviews are the newest addition to our site, and are being well received. Today's Kurgo Cargo Cape, for instance, has quite a nice list of entries already. We offer weekly giveaways that you can learn about in our sidebar, so be sure to check it regularly for what's new in our giveaways.
- Our first annual Super Dog Sunday event brought dozens of blogs together for a blog hop that included photos of all our dogs in their favorite teams' theme. That event was a blast and I hope you'll take a minute to click the link and watch the slideshow of some favorite photos.
 | © A. Boyko
Carrie and Oliver Pledge
to Be the Change | Feel free to subscribe at the top right or follow me through Google Friend Connect (in my lower sidebar) or Networked Blogs (this one is new to us--we could use your help populating the widget!). You can also keep up with our updates and join in the conversation at our Facebook page and on Twitter. Happy tails! And as always, don't forget to visit 5 Minutes for Fido, where Tanner and Oliver spout off their opinions and generally offer up silliness. 
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| Pet Lovers Keep Up with FidoUsing These iPhone Apps Posted: 28 Apr 2011 09:01 PM PDT by Carrie Boyko, CEB  | © courtesy L. Glavin
Cocoa Has it Covered with Her iPhone | Pet lovers will be barking the news about these great iPhone apps. Here's the list so you can check them out for yourself. Many have similar features, but all are free or low cost: - Pet First Aid offers lots of helpful info, including videos, and includes a section where you can list health records for reference. $3.99
- Spot Light GPS Locater tracks your pet through a signal from their collar. This one is available for iPhone and Blackerries.
- Pet Phone allows you to keep track of your pet's health, including appointments, allergies, weight tracking and more. You can track an unlimited number of pets for $4.99.
- Paw Trotter helps you locate pet friendly parks, beaches, hotels, stores, and of course, vets, groomers and boarding. You can even get reviews on each.
- Pet Acoustics offers relaxing sounds especially for pets, for a mere $1.99.
- Pet Snap is a pet photographer's dream, offering 32 sounds to attract a pet's attention, as well as zoon and framing features.
- DIA Webster has visuals of a pet's body with interactive versions of their systems.
- Vet DVM sounds too good to be true for a free app. You can record audio or video questions for their veterinarians, get referrals, and even second opinions.
- Petcentric Places gets high ratings from Dog Jaunt for locating nearby vets, daycares, dog parks, dog sitters, dog walkers, groomers and pet-friendly hotels.
- Pet MD offers all sorts of apps from locaters to health and emergency information.
- Paw Nation comes from the folks at AOL, and offers animal news of all kinds, videos, photos and even pet horoscopes.
- Pet Minder is a planner for your pet--appointments, medicine reminders, play dates and more.
- Paw Card helps you make a medical ID card for your pet that tracks their meds, weight, vaccinations and other health info.
- All Pets Radio Player is an all day radio show with pet news, tips, resources and non stop pet talk.
- Shake and Bark does what it says. You assign a recorded bark to a photo, and then shake the phone to hear the bark.
- Dog Tricks and Bark Machine isn't the greatest at offering tips on how to teach the tricks, but still, it's free. Check out the link for more iPhone apps reviewed by Pet Project Blog.
- Dog-A-Log helps you identify breeds by photos and description while you're out and about.
- Off Leash helps you locate nearby places to walk Fido.
- Fido Factor offers a place for you to keep track of your favorite Fido-friendly places. Each new listing and review prompts a donation to charity.
- Rate My Puppy allows you to post, rate and rank pictures of posted pups. It's all about the fun!
- Dogbook gives you a place to make a journal of your pup's life, and connect with other dogs, by breed, as friends. The best feature is the "Arf" Alerts for lost or found dogs.
Do you know of others? Feel free to leave a comment with the names of more great iPhone apps for our readers to check out. We appreciate your input. Happy tails!
And as always, don't forget to visit 5 Minutes for Fido, where Tanner and Oliver spout off their opinions and generally offer up silliness.
  
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| Kurgo Pet Cargo Cape:Review and Giveaway Posted: 28 Apr 2011 09:01 PM PDT by Carrie Boyko, CEB  | © Carrie Boyko
This Packaging will Attract
Northerners' Attention, I Suppose | Is your car like mine, full of pet fur? Help has arrived just in time for your summer outings.
This week I had some fun cleaning up my car a bit. You know how pet fur is; it gets in every crack and crevice in your car, as well as sticking to the upholstery. I've found the cure for that problem, and am here to share it with you--the Kurgo Cargo Cape.
Tanner and I got a chuckle out of the photos on the box. It's snowing outside and there's snow all over the car in the photo. That'll never happen here in Central Florida, but we have other fun things to contend with like mud after a thunder storm and dirt from the dog park. It's nice to have an attractive way to protect my upholstery from stains and messes that would take time to clean up.  | © Carrie Boyko
Ready to Install |
Let's get it installed and see how Tanner likes it. I've set aside an hour, not really knowing what's inside that package--clips? snaps? adjustments? Pages and pages of instructions? We'll see.
After removing the folded up Cargo Cape from the box, I simply unfolded it and found that instructions were basically not necessary. Super simple installation!
 | © Carrie Boyko
Quick and Easy! | Well, that was certainly painless. I flipped the straps over the headrests, made a quick adjustment and unfolded the cape. Viola! I'm done. "Look, Tanner. We'll have time for a test ride and a snack." That got his attention.
Tanner jumped into the car and showed me the pouch for carrying his treats. He's definitely ahead of me today. See that black corner by his paws? It's a mesh pouch with a sturdy Velcro closure to store your important....treats, I suppose.
The black section at the very back of the car is made of heavy rubber-like material that will stay put because of the weight. There should be no issues with it flipping up. If you want extra security, you can secure the Cargo Cape to your carpet with a Velcro strip that is located under the label tab. There are other Velcro strips attached underneath for secure positioning. These are all optional, and I found they were not necessary to keep the Cargo Cape in place.
Tanner's attention is growing impatient as neighbors are walking by gawking at our attractive photo shoot. One asked where they could get one and which cars it fits. I checked the website and learned it is a universal fit, made especially for mini-vans, SUVs and Station Wagons. Do they still make Station Wagons? Hmm..... Back to business. Now I suppose you'd like to see how it looks with the seats upright. I rarely ever have my seats up, as I'm always trucking dogs everywhere, but let's give it a shot:  | © Carrie Boyko
A Nice, Clean Cargo Area |
This is great looking and neat as a pin. If I decide to drive passengers, I can simply raise the seats, and the underneath area will be clean and fur-free. That's a big plus--no vacuuming at the last minute.
The Cargo Cape is machine washable, so if we ever have a really big mess, like upturned groceries, I can just toss it in the washer for a quick cleanup. What's more, it's waterproof, so there won't be a leak to the carpet or upholstery underneath. I like that--simplicity.
As I mentioned above, the Cargo Cape is made with a universal fit. That means that the zipper is offset to the left slightly, as most seats are made to split for foldup at about that point.
On the right hand rear corner of the Cargo Cape, there is an inset water bowl holder. I had to go check this out when I read it on the package. I guess I thought it was just decoration. Oops. It's made of a thick piping, stitched to the top of the Cargo Cape, to keep a water bowl from slipping around. Even if you don't use it for a water bowl holder, it looks attractive; that's a plus.
I can't imagine driving down the road with a water bowl in the back, but there are spill-proof models now, so I suppose some folks do this. I'll be reviewing one of those soon, so we'll see how well it works. I'll keep you posted.
Finally, the bumper shield is a nice feature to keep your pups from scratching the back of your car as they jump in. You simply flip it out from underneath the back whenever your pups are loading or unloading. It's made of heavy duty, rubberized material that hangs down over your back bumper to protect it from scratches--nice feature.  | © Carrie Boyko
The Cargo Cape Keeps Your Car
Clean and Safe from Damage | The top of the Cargo Cape is made of a canvas-like fabric, with a vinyl backing to keep liquids from leaking through. It made a good first impression for its purpose. Now I'll give it the real test--dogs!
Time lapse blogging: Well, now that I've had my Cargo Cape installed for a week, and we've used it to shuttle dogs to the dog park and around town on errands, I can say it seems to be quite functional for it's purpose. It doesn't fly up or out of position when the windows are open and it's very easy to clean up a muddy paw print. I keep a rag in the car for messy paws, so I just dampened it and wiped it off. No problem.
Finally, it looks extremely nice and I found it vacuums up easier than upholstery. I have to say that was the biggest feature, after the protective quality. The way dog fur sticks to upholstery, it can be an extremely difficult job to vacuum. The Cargo Cape was a breeze to vacuum up when I got a bunch of sand in the back. All in all, I'll give it a big thumbs up. It's staying in my car to protest it from life with dogs!
Oh! I almost forgot. I have a free Kurgo Cargo Cape for one lucky winner. This is a $60 value, so don't miss out, unless you have a Mini Cooper or a pickup truck--LOL. Actually, I think you could use it there also.
If you're just going to give it up and buy your own, you can order online from the link above, or check their locater for other retailers, both on and offline.
This drawing will be held strictly from comments on this post,the Facebook comments about this giveaway, and @Tweets about this post or giveaway. I want to make sure it goes to someone who really wants it and can use it.
 | © Carrie Boyko
Large Linen-Look Tote Bag | After the drawing, all leftover entries will go into the main pot for general dog giveaways--those giveaways that are pertinent to just about every dog or dog owner. Other rules: You must be 18 or older to enter; this giveaway is void where prohibited, and is only available for North American addresses. Entries close at 5:00 PM on Friday, May 6. The winner will be announced on Saturday, May 7, so be sure to grab a FREE email subscription if you plan to enter. I wouldn't want you to miss the announcement for this prize, or the upcoming giveaways of Fashion accessories and the dog lovers handbag giveaway announced in yesterday's post. Ooo la la! Good luck! Now, let's go to the hops! Join me at April's hop on Friday, where you can check out an interesting take on blog design. Then on Saturday, we'll be linking up to the Pet Bloggers Hop for some furry fun. Be sure to stop in and pay your respects to our four hosts, including Two Little Cavaliers, Confessions of the Plume and Life with Dogs.
Before you head out, will you do me a favor? I just joined Networked Blogs, and my widget is looking pretty sadly populated. Help me out? When you're done, have fun hopping and be sure to leave some comment luv behind. Happy tails! 
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| Green Dogs Delight in Greenies;Did We Forget Mom? Posted: 28 Apr 2011 08:59 AM PDT by Carrie Boyko, CEB  | © reader copyright on file
Milele Shows Off
Her Love for Greenies
Do you realize that a week from Sunday is Mother's Day? OMG! I've been putting this off, but it's time. I'm bringing out the big guns. Who remembers the handbags I brought in a while back? I thought I would set up a little store on the site, but for now I've decided that I'm not really liking the whole record keeping, inventory, and sales tax thing. Ya know?
I've decided to stick with what has been working: product reviews, strategies for happy dogs and happy families, and the Ask the Vet and Ask the Dog Trainer columns. After all, Tanner and Oliver need to eat. |  | © Carrie Boyko
Small Linen-Look Handbag | So, on to the handbag giveaway. Let's start with 1 tote bag and 1 small handbag. I've selected these two for the Mother's Day giveaway. The tote is large enough to carry your laptop, made from a soft woven fabric with a zippered top and fully lined interior, including a pocket. The small linen-look handbag is also lined with a zippered top and interior pocket. Both have squared bottoms and double webbing handles. They are perfect for that mother in your life that is totally smitten with pups.
The handbags come from a small community of ladies in Thailand that hand make these bags. The detail of the hand stitched decorations is just adorable. This is, hands down, the cutest thing I found in Thailand during my visit with our son over the holidays. I've brought these home for YOU. So enter enthusiastically and have fun with this! I have a feeling the competition will be intense, so I'm going to lay down the law:
RULES: - One entry per day per person, via comment here on the blog, Facebook, or @Tweet.
- Stop in at our Facebook page and hit the "Like" button; follow us on Twitter.
- An email subscription would be much appreciated, as well as provide you with ready access to our daily posts. I wouldn't want you to miss out on the news that you won an adorable handbag. The subscription box is at the top of the sidebar. Be sure to visit your email immediately after you fill in the box. When the verification email arrives momentarily from Feedburner, click the link inside to activate your subscription. Now you're ready to receive my posts daily without any extra effort.
- Email submissions will be taken only in photos (dogs only, please) or essay form. Your topic is "The Essence of Motherhood" (as it relates to you, your dog, or your mom). Send photos or essays to LetsAdoptaDogPark@gmail.com. A winning essay may be published here, and we will acknowledge your copyright.
- This prize is available to any winner, anywhere. I'm not going to limit this to North American addresses. All you folks in Europe, Asia and outer yahoo are welcome to join in!
- You do need to be 18 or older, and this giveaway is void where prohibited.
- There's absolutely no way I can get it to you or your mom in time for Mother's Day, so consider a certificate, or print out the photo. I will mail it to your mother in giftwrap or a giftbag, if you request. (Yeah, I know. I'm a sucker for a loving daughter).
- Entries close Thursday evening, May 5, 2011 at 5:00 PM. sharp. The winners will be announced on Friday, May 6. Please check the blog on Friday and get the mailing address to me at your earliest convenience, to avoid an angry mother. That just wouldn't fit the theme, here!
Now, back to the Greenies giveaway. The winning dogs are: Large: Kouga Medium: Roxy (Katie's) Petite: Bosco Teenie: Ruby
Send your address to LetsAdoptaDogPark@gmail.com. Shipments go out within 1 week of receipt of your address. Congratulations to these pups who will have sparkling teeth for Mother's Day. Won't she be proud!
To those of you who did not win: Your entries will go into the big drawing box for general drawings coming up. There are plenty more great dog gifts where these came from, so stay tuned to the blog or your email subscription. Don't have one yet? It's free to sign up in the top of the sidebar. Nothing could be easier. Simply fill in your email address and you'll receive a confirmation from Feedburner. Be sure to click the link inside this email in order to activate your subscription. Happy tails!
Now, let's go hopping. Friday we're joining the group at A Mommy's Sweet Blog Design, and Saturday we'll be hopping right along with the usual Saturday Pet Bloggers Hop. Our hosts there are Two Little Cavaliers, Life with Dogs and Confessions of the Plume. Be sure to pop in and thank all four of our hosts for their gracious hospitality. Enjoy your tour: 
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