Disclaimer : This is a sponsored post and giveaway brought to you by I Brake For Yard Sales.
Recently my new friends over at the Etsy Shop, I Brake For Yard Sales, sent me one of their handmade Blanket Dog Beds to take for a spin.
What makes this bed a little different than your average dog bed is that it has a super soft and snuggly blanket attached to the handmade wooden frame so that your dog can dig around and get extra comfy (or burrow to their hearts content!).
And not to worry, the fleece blanket easily unsnaps from the wood frame so you can wash it should your pup decide to go to bed with muddy paws! It even comes in lots of fun colors (I opted for the Gray).
It comes in two different sizes for the big and small dogs (but custom sizes are available by request) – I enjoyed lounging in this 17″ x 19″ x 6″ bed.
And since I’m an expert digger and burrower, I figured I’d show you just how “bed fluffing” is really done….
Perfect!
As I fluffed and readied my new Blanket Bed for an afternoon nap I began to draw a little attention.
I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to spend my afternoon snoozes fending off the farm cats who are now eyeing my comfy sleeping spot!
For this giveaway I will be using, Rafflecopter. We only use the information you provide to contact the winners and we never share it – so not to worry. Winners will be chosen at random and you will be contacted via e-mail to claim your prize. All the winners will also be announced on this blog post once the giveaway ends on 7/22/14 12AM EST. Open to USA residents only. Only one winner. Winners must claim their prizes within 48 hours of being notified or prize will be forfeited. Good luck!
This time of year I spend a lot of time hanging around the family farm. While mom does chores and rides ponies I hang out with my gal pals, Cricket and Spider.
Lately though our time together seems to get interrupted by the barn swallows that have made their home in the barn.
Swooping, diving, and yelling at us – those birds are relentless in making sure we know that our presence near their nests are unwelcome. Honestly, I can’t say I blame them – Spider, Cricket, and I are fierce hunters – and I may have inadvertently purposely helped Spider take down a few birds out of the air. In my defense, they do like to scream at us a lot!
I’ll be looking over my shoulder from now on when I’m on the farm. Does your dog like to chase birds too?
Disclaimer: This product review & giveaway is sponsored by PawCheck.
Most who know me know that I’m a big advocate for healthy pet living. Whether you are human or canine, it’s important to maintain a healthy diet, exercise regularly, and keep up with your preventative health care. So when I heard about the PawCheck At-Home Pet Wellness Kits for Dogs and Cats from Access Animal Wellness LLC I thought it was a great way to keep us pets in tip-top shape!
PawCheck sent met one of their at-home Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) test kits and this handy P-Scoop (to make pet urine collection a little simpler and a lot less messy).
To get started I strapped on my raincoat and bow tie (because when you test your urine you have to look fashionable) and headed outside to pee.
Using the P-Scoop was simple and mess free. The wand is even adjustable in length making it easy to slide under you pup to collect a sample. Now if you’ve ever had to get urine from your dog before you know how messy and hard it can be. When I was a pup mom had to get some for my vet and she followed me around for a good hour with a tiny plastic tray trying not to startle me by sliding it underneath me…..not the most ideal way to do it!
Then all you have to do is dip the test device into the urine sample for 10 seconds and await your results.
Don’t worry, I made the process a bit more glamourous by wearing my cute sweater and bow tie. You’re welcome.
After replacing the cap and letting it sit on a flat surface for 2 minutes you are ready to read the results. Then using the handy color chart you can match the colors on your testing wand. And good news guys, I don’t have a UTI! Yay!
The PawCheck test kits aren’t just for testing for Urinary Tract Infections, they also carry a Diabetes and Kidney Failure test as well as a General Wellness Test that covers all three for both dogs and cats.
I feel like these would be great for pet parents that have animals that have frequent UTI’s, pets that are difficult to take to the vet unless absolutely necessary (cats or animals that are fearful), and older pets. Testing early could save you costly vet bills and possibly even save your pet’s life. (oh and don’t worry, there are easier methods to collect your cat’s urine)
Check out the video of my PawCheck testing adventure:
Some signs you may need to test your pet for a UTI include:
Frequent Urination
Straining or crying out in pain when trying to pass urine
Inappropriate urination in places that are not customary
Strong urine odor
Vomiting
Signs you should test your pet for Diabetes:
Sudden weight loss or gain
Excessive drinking and urination
General fatigue
Signs you might need to test your pet for Kidney Failure:
For this giveaway I will be using, Rafflecopter. We only use the information you provide to contact the winners and we never share it – so not to worry. Winners will be chosen at random and you will be contacted via e-mail to claim your prize. All the winners will also be announced on this blog post once the giveaway ends on 4/7/14 12AM EST. Open to USA residents only. Winners must claim their prizes within 48 hours of being notified or prize will be forfeited. Good luck!
Before we get to the recap of all the exciting adventures I’ve been on in February, I wanted to give a shoutout to my special sponsors! Thanks to them I’m able to bring you exciting posts, so make sure you give them some love and check out what great products they carry!
Barkbox is a monthly subscription service for your dog. Starting as low as $19 a month (shipping included) you can get a box of the finest treats and toys sent right to your front door every month! Choose from packages for small, medium, and large dogs and as a bonus 10% of their sales go to supporting rescue groups!
Ruffwear carries performance dog gear designed to enhance and inspire outdoor adventures for dogs and their human companions. Totally my kind of company that carries anything from dog hiking packs, harnesses, camping essentials and more! You can check out my review of their dog boots – that even work for dachshund’s too!
If you would like to find out more about my advertising rates, click HERE. And thanks again to all of my wonderful sponsors, I couldn’t do it without you!
And now a look at everything I’ve been up to this past February…
Disclaimer: This product review is sponsored by Barkbox.
Last week my monthly Barkbox subscription arrived. It’s always exciting to peek inside that little cardboard box each month to see what special goodies have arrived.
Each month Barkbox sends some dog-gone great products featured around a certain theme, this month the theme was date night. Inside my box was a Sushi Pups toy, a Loopies cigar toy, Complete Natural Nutrition Cheese popcorn (which was safe for human consumption too), an Etta Says chew, and Max & Ruffy’s blueberry treats.
After I checked out what was in the box I realized Barkbox had it all wrong…..it wasn’t a date night box…..it was a dude’s night box!
So I invited all my dudes over to partake in my Barkbox fun. Ok well technically Cricket the cat isn’t a dude, but she’s so cool she’s practically one of the guys.
Minnow the pony and I wasted no time in digging into our Barkbox goodies.
Minnow went after the Loopies cigar, while I zeroed in on the Etta Says chew!
Just a couple of dudes chewing on things!
While Minnow enjoyed playing with my cigar toy, I’m sure he was wondering when they are going to come out with a Ponybox, because dog cookies weren’t exactly the treat he was hoping for. That’s ok, there’s more for me!
My Dudes Night with Barkbox was a total success! I even had to check to make sure Cricket wasn’t taking home seconds!
You can fetch your own BarkBox starting at $19 a month. Save $5 on your BarkBox subscription if you use code AMMO5!
Disclosure: I received a Barkbox in exchange for a review, but all opinions are entirely my own!
My cat pal Spider has been living on the farm for several years now and over the years I have gotten to watch her grow into the cat that she is today – all thanks to me. It’s true, when she was just a wee little kitten I taught her all of the important things to know….
Wouldn’t it be cool to have your own personal island? Well now your pet can, sort of. See Scout Sleep has created pet islands. They are meant to be used on your beloved chair or sofa to help protect your little buddy’s favorite spot. They may also be used on the floor. Great for small dogs and cats, I’m pretty sure my mom and dad would appreciate me napping on one of these instead of the white sofa!
You can fetch your own Pet Island from See Scout Sleep for about $75.
Disclaimer: This review and giveaway is brought to you by Kentucky Bluebird.
Did you ever just want to curl up and take a nap on the fluffiest, softest thing you can find? Well thanks to my pals at Kentucky Bluebird, your search for the fluffiest napping spot is over!
Kentucky Bluebird kindly sent me over one of their 100% certified organic canvas dog beds to take for a spin, and let me tell you, this thing is like napping on a cloud! The insides of these beds are stuffed with recycled polyester fill, and are securely stitched into place – so even the most powerful diggers (ahem, me) can’t tear them apart.
I was sent a 28″ x 18″ bed in fern green, but these beds come in lots of sizes and 9 different colors, and can even be custom made to any size you need.
My Kentucky Bluebird bed fit perfectly into a dog kennel that I already owned.
Don’t have a kennel? These can just as easily be used as dog bed in any room, and I even think it would be great to travel with as it’s just big enough for me to curl up on but not too big to take up a ton of space.
As you can see it’s 6″ of fluff was so comfortable that I had trouble even keeping my eyes open long enough for mom to take pictures.
Mom even caught me napping in my crate several times over the past few weeks with this fluffy bed. And if you know me, you know this is VERY RARE, because I don’t particularly love being in crates.
**UPDATE** Save 10% on your next Kentucky Bluebird purchase with code ONLINEAD!
For this giveaway I will be using, Rafflecopter. We only use the information you provide to contact the winners and we never share it – so not to worry. Winners will be chosen at random and you will be contacted via e-mail to claim your prize. All the winners will also be announced on this blog post once the giveaway ends on 11/19/13 12AM EST. Open to US Residents Only. Winners must claim their prizes within 48 hours of being notified or prize will be forfeited. Good luck!
Disclaimer: This review and giveaway is brought to you by Sleepypod.
One of the benefits to having a small dog is the ability to easily travel with them. So when Sleepypod, makers of all the things necessary to travel with your small pet, offered me up the chance to test out their Sleepypod Air Travel Bag and Sidekick Bike Rack I couldn’t wait to get riding!
The Sleepypod Air has all the bells and whistles needed for a comfortable and safe travel experience for your pet. The Air can even be used to safely transport your pet in the car (by attaching the bag with a seatbelt), and is also airline approved. It comes in 5 yummy colors (jet black, dark chocolate, orange dream, glacier silver, and strawberry red), I chose the orange dream color because I thought it might reflect the light/sun more (I thought black might get hot if I was biking in the sun), and plus, who doesn’t love some color!
The Sleepypod Air is also an airline approved bag that can easily adapt to under -seat storage requirements set by different airlines. The Sleepypod Air is a great bag for Dachshunds as it is one of their largest travel bags. The ends of the bag can compress from a length of 22″ to 19″ and all the way down to 16″ so it can easily fit under airline seats when needed. It even folds up completely flat when not in use (so once you reach your destination it won’t take up much room in your own suitcase).
Now I haven’t tested the Air in the actual AIR, but I decided for my first adventure with it I would take it for a spin with the Sidekick bike attachment designed to work with several of Sleepypod’s pet carriers.
Before setting out on my maiden voyage bike ride I had to help Mom and Dad install it. The Sidekick is designed to be a stable base to hold a Sleepypod pet carrier on your bike.
We followed the handy directions on how to install the Sidekick and with a little supervision from yours truly I was soon ready to take it for a spin. It helps to note that it works best on bikes that contain additional eyelets on the front wheels, but have no fear if your bike doesn’t have any (mine didn’t either), Sleepypod sells additional attachments to make it work on ones without them.
Once installed on your bike the Sleepypod Air easily attaches to the rack with a few buckles that are already included with the bag.
Now I’m a bit on the large side when it comes to fitting comfortably into the Air. Weighing 18 pounds I’m a bit over the recommended weight limit for dogs of 15 pounds, but I was still able to lay down in the bag and I could even turn around in it if I really wanted to.
When it came time for my first bike ride Mom and Dad weren’t sure how I would like it. If you know me, then you know I’m not exactly thrilled about being in confined spaces like crates. But for a few weeks leading up to my ride Mom had been hiding treats in the bag around the house to convince me that it wasn’t a scary place to be.
So when I was finally zipped inside and off on my ride I was quite comfortable. The mesh lining on top of the bag is quite see-through and breathable so it helped me feel less confined. I didn’t even mind when mom made a few quick turns with the bike.
Check out the video below of me enjoying my first few rides with the Sleepypod Air and Sidekick.
Since I’m a larger dachshund my weight was a little hard for mom to handle on the front of her bike (making steering a little more difficult), but I told mom she needs to start lifting weights anyway! I’m sure you could probably install the Sidekick on the back of a bike too, making it much easier to ride with a little bit heavier of a dog. I may end up helping mom install mine on the back of our bike – just so she stops complaining that her arms are sore after our bike rides…..what a wimp!
I can’t wait for the many more bike rides that are sure to be in my future with the Sleepypod Air & Sidekick!
And now for the best part…
ONE Lucky WINNER will WIN a Sleepypod Air! (winner chooses color)
Here’s HOW TO WIN:
For this giveaway I will be using, Rafflecopter. We only use the information you provide to contact the winners and we never share it – so not to worry. Winners will be chosen at random and you will be contacted via e-mail to claim your prize. All the winners will also be announced on this blog post once the giveaway ends on 11/5/13 12AM EST. Open to US Residents Only. Winners must claim their prizes within 48 hours of being notified or prize will be forfeited. Good luck!
