Friday, September 30, 2011

All Things Dog Blog

All Things Dog Blog


Puppies Hunting Caribou? Enjoy this Humorous Video!

Posted: 30 Sep 2011 02:00 PM PDT

by Carrie Boyko, CEB




After you've had a good laugh, be sure to scroll down and see what's new at Fido's Freebie Friday, our mall of pet product giveaways that is here each Friday. Hope to see you again soon. Happy tails!




Thursday, September 29, 2011

All Things Dog Blog

All Things Dog Blog


Fido's Freebie Friday: A Roudup of Pet Product Giveaways

Posted: 29 Sep 2011 01:00 PM PDT


by Carrie Boyko, CEB
It's Thursday afternoon again and that can only mean one thing: Fido's Freebie Friday is open for giveaway linkups. Welcome bloggers and pet product companies. We'd like to invite you to join our roundup that opens each Thursday at 4:00 PM for linkups and remains open to additional links through midnight on Friday. We encourage you to let your followers and readers know how to find us by adding our badge to your post.


Need help? We have created a HELP PAGE just for you. This page will explain how blog hops work and how to get linked up. You'll also find resources for important information like the FTC guidelines for giveaways and Facebook's new rules for such promotions. If you're new to blogging or reviewing products, you may even enjoy the tips we've included on capturing your best photos. These are simple and to the point, not super tekkie.


For my readers:  Thanks for joining us again for Fido's Freebie Friday. I'm excited to have more opportunities this week, as I'm busy learning more about social networking while you enjoy a shopping expedition of free pet products. Please be sure you stop in during the weekend to see the whole list that appears hear as the linkups continue through midnight on Friday. Happy tails!


Fido's Freebie Friday's Two Rules for linkups are:


  • The Fido's Freebie Friday Blog Hop is open to posts about giveaways, drawings, prizes, and freebies for pet products or services only, including pet-related items for owners. Feel free to link up multiple items if you have more than one giveaway going on.


  • Please post the badge above (the code is in the sidebar and also on the HELP PAGE) or a link to this post in your Fido's Freebie Friday blog post and invite your readers to tell us you sent them. Your hosts are All Things Dog Blog and Doggies and Stuff.



  • You may also find some of the giveaways listed here at other sites around the Internet, such as these and others:
    Free Hot SamplesBlog Hops Everyday and A Mommy's Blog Design Studio Friday Blog HopFree Hot Samples



    Individual rules of entry and guidelines for winning may apply to each listing. All Things Dog Blog and Doggies and Stuff take no responsibility for the legality of the rules governing the listings on other sites and giveaways that are posted here. We simply provide this forum as a gathering place for pet product giveaways to be offered. Please feel free to read All Things Dog Blog's additional Giveaway and Contest Rules.


    Raise a Green Dog!

    Raise a Green Dog!


    Raise A Green Dog launches new Partner Program to showcase green, eco-friendly, healthy and safe products and services for dogs.

    Posted: 28 Sep 2011 04:56 PM PDT

    We at Raise A Green Dog are very excited to announce our new Raise A Green Dog Partner Program to showcase green, eco-friendly, healthy and safe products, companies and services for dogs!

    Our new RAGD Partner Program is designed to share green, eco-friendly, healthy and safe products and services to help our readers learn about a wide variety of green-minded and environmentally conscious related companies and the products they offer to help dogs have a healthier, happier life and environment.

    Over the next weeks we will be featuring these companies individually so that you, our reader, can learn more about our Partners, discover great green products and services, and make more informed decisions that relate to your dog, their health and their life.

    We currently have a number of Partners offering a wide variety of products for us dogs! They include:
    • Earthborn Holistic Pet Food - producing delicious, natural food for your pet, while creating awareness about the environment and practicing reduce, reuse, and recycle in their company practices.
    • Earth Heart Inc. - provides high quality products using pure essential oils and other plant-based ingredients to help dogs with travel and stress related upsets, pests and guarding against environmental irritants.
    • Simply For Pets - creating specialized treats for dogs with special health issues.
    • Eco-Dogs.com - providing all natural, grain free dog & cat foods, and eco-friendly pet products with the end result of 'leaving smaller carbon paw prints™.
    • Uncommon Paws - offering interesting, high quality products made with the best, sustainable, natural materials; all unique, all uncommon.
    • The Dogma Online - providing natural & raw dog food with free shipping options
    • Farm Dog Naturals - creates Relief Pet Urine & Eco Cleaner that neutralizes dog urine and odors; Salvation Salve that heals crusty noses and cracked paws and Restore Salve which stops itching and heals wounds.
    • PetsHeadToTail.com - offers clothing to toys to health care and grooming products, discounted, eco-friendly dog and cat accessories and solutions for environmentally-conscious owners.
    • West Coast Canine Life - providing human quality, organic, whole foods dog food, a fresh cooked diet for your dog's optimum health.
    "We are very pleased that these companies have joined us in the launch of our new RAGD Partner Program," shared Leslie May, founder of Raise A Green Dog. "Through these companies we are able to share healthier and greener alternatives for dogs in the categories of food, toys, clothing, grooming, supplements, treats, clean up, beds, bowls and more; all made and created with sustainable, recycled, organic, all-natural and healthier ingredients and materials. "And we're adding new RAGD Partners nearly every day."

    We are also showcasing companies in our newly created Green Dog Directory, which features resources in a variety of categories of products and services for green dogs. In addition to the RAGD Partners the directory also features Pure Pooch All Natural Grooming, shoo!TAG™ and Greener Pup.

    Read our full press release for more information.

    We want to thank our new Raise A Green Dog Partners for joining us in helping dogs live a healthier life, while helping the environment!

    Wednesday, September 28, 2011

    All Things Dog Blog

    All Things Dog Blog


    Dog Books for Kids: Profile of "The Buddy Files" Mystery Series

    Posted: 28 Sep 2011 12:40 PM PDT

    by Dori Butler, guest author
    © Jeremy Tugeau
    If you're looking for dog books for the beginning chapter book reader in your life, I hope you'll take a look at my Buddy Files books, published by Albert Whitman and Company.

    © Jeremy Tugeau
    The Buddy Files is a series of books about a school therapy dog who solves mysteries. The stories are told from the dog's point of view and they're aimed at kids who are just starting to read chapter books or anyone who loves a good dog book. What's nice about writing from a dog's point of view is a precocious four-year-old who is reading chapter books can enjoy the books just as much as a 10-year-old who struggles with reading. They're not beyond the four-year-old's realm of experience, and I don't think the 10-year-old feels like he's reading a "baby book." 

    Each one is a stand-alone mystery, which means the dog solves a new case in each book. But then there is also another larger mystery that spans three books.
    © Jeremy Tugeau

    © Jeremy Tugeau
    I got the idea for the series when my own dog and I were training to become a pet partner team. Therapy dogs come in contact with a lot of different people, and each person a dog comes in contact with has their own story, or in the case of the Buddy Files, their own mystery to be solved. It seemed like the perfect hook for a children's book series. I've never had so much fun writing as I have writing these books. I love writing from a dog's point of view.

    Buddy grows and changes as the series progresses. He goes from shelter dog in book 1 to working therapy dog in book 4.

    © Jeremy Tugeau
    In the first book, a golden retriever named King finds himself at the P-O-U-N-D (dogs don't say that word, they spell it!). He's adopted by a new family—a 9-year-old boy named Connor and a single mom who is going to be the principal at the elementary school. They change King's name to Buddy. King/Buddy is growing attached to his new family, but at the same time he can't help but wonder what happened to his old family.

    © Jeremy Tugeau
    While solving the Case of the Lost Boy (book 1) and the Case of the Mixed-Up Mutts (book 2), Buddy receives clues to what might have happened to his family. But he doesn't actually find out what happened to them until the Case of the Missing Family (book 3).

    Likewise, in The Case of the Fire Alarm (book 4) and The Case of the Library Monster (book 5), Buddy wonders if his new school is haunted, but he doesn't find out whether there really is a ghost or not until The Case of the School Ghost (book 6), which will be published in March 2012. You can pre-order through Amazon at the link to assure you get a copy right away when it becomes available.


    The Buddy Files books are available online through the Albert Whitman site, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and IndieBound. If you'd like to purchase your own, simply click the links to make your selections.

    For a chance to win one of 3 sets of the first five Buddy Files books, you can enter using our Rafflecopter entry widget below. Facebook and Twitter handles are included there so that you may get entry credit for following. Once you've completed the two mandatory entries, you're free to choose any extra entries you wish. Good luck!


    Dori Hillestad Butler and her dog Mouse are a registered Pet Partner team through Delta Society, and they enjoy reading her books with kids. Among other awards, The Buddy Files: Case of the the Lost Boy won the 2011 Edgar Award for best juvenile mystery published in 2010.

    More information about Dori and The Buddy Files:
    Teachers' Guide
    Free Coloring Pages
    Dori's website
    The Delta Society
    Therapy Animals

    If you don't see the Rafflecopter entry form below, simply click on the post title to refresh and it should appear here: 









    Ask the Dog Trainer: High Rise Potty-Training with Puppy Pads

    Posted: 27 Sep 2011 09:01 PM PDT

    by Michael Baugh, CPDT-KA, CDBC
    © courtesy drinkerthinker via Flickr.com
    Wrong Pet. Where's the Puppy?
    Dear Michael; 

    I just got a little furry baby from the rescue in my area. She is a mix of who knows what, cute and cuddly with curly fur. I live in a high rise apartment building and am starting to use puppy pads for training. I know there will be times when I cannot be there to take her out. How would you suggest I use puppy pads and crate training together? We are just starting and already unsure as to how to get the message across.

    Thank you, Jess
     ------------------------------------------------------------
    Dear Jess,

    Great questions!  Potty training a puppy is a pretty straight forward process, regardless of where you want the puppy to "go."  Most dogs seek out absorbent surfaces, like grass.  Unfortunately some seek out carpet as well.  The potty pads are absorbent too, which is good news.  I can tell you, they are most effective if used in an area with hard flooring.  Don't put them in a carpeted area.  If you want to train your dog to use the potty pads some or most of the time in your apartment, then lead her to the pad right after letting her out of her crate.  As soon as she's done doing her business, praise and treat her.  Repeat this process often and she will learn the pad is the preferred indoor potty area.

    What about potty training when you are away from your apartment?  Here's what I recommend for puppies and newly adopted dogs.  If you're only going to be away for a few hours, leave the dog in her crate.  Most dogs can hold it for that short period of time, and most will refrain from soiling their crate.  If you're going to be gone longer, leave the dog in an area (preferably with tile flooring) behind a baby gate.  Since you'll have been training her to love relieving herself on the potty pads, leave a pad down while you are gone.  My guess is she'll use it.  (You might want to consider taping the potty pad to the tile since some puppies love to use them as chew toys).

    As your puppy gets older, she'll be able to control her body a bit better.  Start teaching your dog to love going potty outside as well right away.  The process is exactly the same.  When she's done going on the grass, praise and treat her right then and there. It works like a charm.

    Thank you so much for your thoughtful question.  Thank you even more for adopting a dog from a shelter.  You changed two lives for the better – hers and yours.

    Robyn Arouty
    Michael with Stella
    Houston Dog Trainer Michael Baugh CPDT-KA, CDBC is the director of training and behavior at Rover Oaks Pet Resorts. You may readch Michael at the link for a personal consultation, or write to him at our Ask the Dog Trainer Column @ LetsAdoptaDogPark@gmail.com. Michael's advice does not replace an actual consultation with a qualified trainer.






    Puppy Pad Giveaway: 
    Just for fun, we're going to try something new today. We're going to give you a chance to get to know Michael a little better. At a recent pet blogger's conference, I received 2 packages of puppy training pads in a sample bag. In addition I got a booklet of 10 coupons for $2 off a package of puppy pads, for a total savings of $20. I'll give these away to three winners in a drawing from entries on the Rafflecopter below. If you do not see the Rafflecopter entry form, simply click the title of this post to refresh, and the Rafflecopter will appear below.

    Full disclaimer: Each of the two packages of puppy pads holds a minimum of 10 pads. I have not been compensated to give these products or coupons away. There is no purchase necessary to win. Good luck!




     

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