What Is In Those Things?

Thursday night was Paw to Paw visiting night at one of the nursing homes that we visit.  Even though it's been a long week, we decided that we'd go and take the girls to visit.   Blueberry has been particularly put out that we have been, ahem, encouraging her to relax, so we broke down and told her she could come.  It was a really nice night and I figured she could rest in the van if she got tired or overwhelmed by visiting.

Earlier in the week, I got some Pet Botanics Omega Treats for the girls to try and then we'd review them.  They sent us three kinds, chicken, salmon and duck.  I figured I'd just grab a some of those to use at the nursing home since the bags were a nice, smaller size and resealable.  I figured it would be something they'd like and would save me having to run to the store for more training treats.  That's a win-win scenario in my book. 

We got to the nursing home and began to make our visits.  When we visit, we go with a group of other volunteers who bring their own dogs.  The dogs in our group all know which owners have treats with them.  Most use the treats to help get behavior out of the dogs that they're working on.  Morgan is learning to sit beside the patients and let them pet her on the head.  The floors seem to be made of some sort of perpetual ice solution that is extremely slippery.  Blueberry handles this floor like a pro, though, and Bunny has no trouble walking on it. 

In the past, I've mentioned that Blueberry believes that she is entitled to whatever you happen to be eating or in possession of that's edible if she sits and looks pretty at you.  Thursday night was no different, even though I expect to watch Greyhounds On Ice every time she sits up there.  Bunny realizes that it's an impossible dream from the outset and stands at attention, ears cocked forward and eyelashes batting oh so coquettishly.  Bunny I can ignore, but when I see Blue do this tiny little wobbly readjustment of her butt to try to stay in place, I give up the fight and hand over the treats.  Yes, I do know that she taped a sign on my back that read "sucker" when I bent over to dig the treats out of the bag.

When I got those treats out, though, a funny thing happened.  I suddenly had the attention of every dog visiting there that night.  Golden Retrivers, German Shepherds, Corgis, a Beagle, a Duck Trolling Retriever, a Springer Spaniel and a Cocker Spaniel all had joined in with the girls gazing adoringly at the bag just after I'd opened it.  After getting everyone's permission, I passed the treats out to all the dogs.  There wasn't even a crumb left on the floor! 

Suddenly, I was the most popular person in the whole nursing home.  I don't think there was a time all night when I wasn't being stalked by at least one of the other dogs to get those treats.  Blueberry let me know that she deserved, well, a very large portion of the treats for not only coming along and teaching the youngsters how a dog is supposed to visit, but also for going injured.  I have to say, the treats definitely get a good review from us!

We're also participating in this Saturday's Pet Blog Hop, hosting by Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume.  If you'd like to participate, please follow the rules and follow your three hosts, add your blog to the Linky and copy and paste the html code into your html editor.  Thanks again to our hosts for putting on the hop!

A Sirius Collar Discussion

If you've followed our blog for a while, you may have noticed that we have quite a varied collection of collars here for the Greyhounds.  Morgan has acquired a small assortment of her own collars, as well.   Okay, I'll even admit that I actually own a t-shirt that says "Collar Addict" on it.  So, you can imagine my excitement when we were asked if we would be willing to do a review for Sirius Republic and share their collars with you.

The collars are all handmade using cotton fabrics, nylon webbing and welded metal fittings.  The welded metal is one thing that we look for in collars, since it's less likely that you'll have an accident that results in a loose dog.  They are triple stitched, as well, which helps to keep the collars lasting longer.  They offer martingale collars, buckle collars and quick release martingales in 1.5 inch, 1 inch and .75 inch widths. 

We really liked the cute, whimsical patterns that they offer on their collars.  A lot of our readers have asked us about finding holiday collars and collars with cute patterns.  Sirius Republic is a good place to find them.  I had looked at the website when we were asked to do the review and I had my eye on a couple of the patterns.  I was lucky enough that we got several of the ones I had my eye on and they are extremely cute in person.  They are also very well made.  I looked them over and I would definitely feel safe going out with our girls in the collars.  They are also not terribly expensive, so if you're like us and you like having collars for different holidays and seasons, you can afford them and still have money left over for kibble for you and the dogs.  Actually, if you spend over $35, they offer free shipping.  They aren't lined collars, but the webbing is very soft, so if that is important to you, know that you might want to save them for occasions when you're going out and about or having company over.  They're so cute that you might not want to take them off your dogs, though!

I have a feeling we may be placing an order for a few things from them ourselves in the near future.  Another thing we liked about this company is that they offer the Rescue Partner Program, which is a cool way to help out rescue groups.  Shopping with a company that has compassion for rescue definitely makes us happy!  You can find them online and on Facebook if you're interested in ordering.  We were definitely impressed by what we've seen of them!