doggy clean-up with daphne : yep, we are talking about poop bags

todays post is about dog poop.
well, the bags that we put the dog poop in.
[and because its my blog, i can talk about poop if i want to ;)]

*this post is NOT sponsored!*
we have spent so much time & money researching products that are good for daphne & the planet.
this is one of those products we absolutely love.

who : earth rated poop bags
what : they are biodegradable poop bags. [hello, its so silly to put poop [which decomposes] into a PLASTIC bag that sits in a landfill for a billion years!!] [also, plastic bags that DONT break down clog waterways, get stuck in trees & can harm other animals]
why : we love them for a bunch of reasons. the box they come in is recyclable & was made with recycled paper. the bags themselves are lavender-scented [so, you dont smell dog poop the whole time you are walking..] & the bags are really large. a large dog = a large poop!
how much : we buy ours from a dog store in our neighborhood. one box [120 bags] is $6.50!
where : this link will take you to their 'bag-finder'

their blog is awesome, too.
website // twitter // blog

see you tomorrow!

DOG PEOPLE! a super-easy 3-ingredient treat for your pup!

happy thursday! 
today, daphne & i want to share a super simple dog treat recipe with you [and your pup].
i make a lot of daphs treats ; i like to know what goes into her body. we want her to be happy & healthy for a long time.

we often get asked 'do you feed her table food?'
we do. blake & i eat well. we buy local, organic & from companies that are doing good things & using real ingredients. we feel confident in feeding daphne organic bananas [she loves them frozen] or crusts from rudy's bread [she will do anything for bread ; its her fave!]
i have no issue feeding her organic coconut oil, sweet potatoes or the last bit of quinoa and bell peppers.
obviously, she eats dog food. she is super food motivated, so we give her 'human' food as a treat, reward or just to show her that shes our favorite.
she gets plenty of exercise and we would never feed her things that her body cant take [raisins, avocados, coffee, chocolate, ect]

also, each day we leave for work // the gym // errands, she is allowed to be in the living room & the kitchen. we block off the rest of the apartment. before we leave, we fill a few toys [kong, tux, bionic] with treats & smother a couple bones with oil // peanut butter // honey.
she use to have really bad anxiety when we left & we found that hiding treats & bones around the apartment allowed her to focus on 'hunting' ; rather than stressing that we had left.

anyways, lets talk about treats!
we had a few wrinkly // soft apples laying around [i am a super picky fruit eater]. they were too soft for my taste, but i knew that baking them would be a great treat for daphne.

baked apple treats with cinnamon & coconut oil

what you need : 
*apples [ours were a few days from going bad // they were pretty soft]
*coconut oil [or raw honey // regular olive oil] [ps : coconut oil is really great for a dogs coat]
*cinnamon

how to do it : 
1) preheat oven to 175* [or however low your oven will go ; ours is 200*]
2) core & dice apples into small pieces [you can chop the apples into whatever size you want. i diced so we had tons of pieces]. put into a medium-sized mixing bowl.
3) add 1-3 tablespoons of coconut oil [melt it for a few seconds if its too hard] & a few shakes of cinnamon. mix until all apple pieces are coated.
4) spread out onto cookie sheet & bake // dehydrate for 1-3 hours. [i let mine go for 90 min. they came out pretty soft & wrinkly]
5) store in an airtight container for a few days OR put in the freezer.
i suggest freezing the treats. having them frozen allows your dog to lick the flavor & they take longer to eat. having them in the fridge // on the counter means that they might go bad // grow mold.

again, these are so easy & daphne totally loves them.
both cinnamon & coconut oil are awesome for dogs.
[obviously, you know your dog better than i do ; so be sure they dont have allergies or super sensitive tummies before feeding them new foods!]
most dogs can be sensitive to new flavors, so you might need to take it slow.
daphne has eaten chocolate shakes, an entire pound of almonds, onion rings, wooden spoons, couch stuffing, rat poison, bike grease and other things i cant think of & we are convinced she has a steel stomach.
not all dogs are created equal!  
and we have the vet bill to prove it.

also, if you have a 'turbo chewer' [a dog that can destroy any // all toys in a matter of minutes] ; i *highly* recommend the bionic. its chewy, but thick. its the one toy daphne hasnt destroyed.

looking for more dog-friendly treats?

homemade frosty paws // dehydrated sweet potato treats // blueberry doggy donuts // apple pup cakes

march bark box review : another post for the dog lovers

another bark box review!

haha, look at that pittie face.. you know shes thinking 'stop taking photos & let me eat ALL THE THINGS!'

do you know bark box?

its a monthly subscription box for your pup. you go to their website & fill out some info about your pup [daphne is in the 'big & bold' category!]. each month, you get a box with a few toys & a few treats. 

overall, we have been pretty happy with our boxes.

in daphne's box this month :  

a lollycadoodle wool mouse [fair trade certified in nepal ; yay!] // harry barker hemp dog bone // little eatz peanut butter snacks // feel good treats ranch 

we have bought a few bags of feel good treats ; daphne really enjoys them & they are super high quality.
the pb cookies are good, as well. we will definitely purchase them again.
the bone was destroyed in about 15 minutes & we have about half of the mouse left.

one piece of constructive feedback for bark box : i do wish they had toys for 'tough chewers.' daphne ate the metal bars off her crate ; i know that most [all?] toys cant stand up to her, but id love some toys that last longer than the length of a television show...

interested in bark box?
website // sign up // twitter
ps : they donate $$ to charity, too. did you know?

you can see all of daphnes past bark boxes here, here, here & here.

winter in minnesota : our hike in nerstrand big woods state park

tuesday! 

the second day of april! my ankle is still in rough shape, so i took a day off from biking & lifting yesterday. hoping to get back into it today.

one of my '101 things in 1001 days' is to visit 15 minnesota state parks.

blake & i are mpr [minnesota public radio] members. this winter, we doubled our monthly donation & as a thank you, we received a year-long state parks pass.

a couple weeks ago, i had the day off, so we loaded up the dog, put on heavy sweaters & headed out to our first state park of the season.

nerstrand big woods is located outside of northfield, minnesota ; about 45 minutes south of minneapolis.

the weather was beautiful [sunny & 35*] & still quite a bit of snow on the ground.

when we hike with daphne, we use a 50-foot rope. we give her plenty of room to run around & smell, but she is still connected to us. since shes still a puppy [and a bit of a maniac] ; i am not convinced she would come back to us if she saw another dog // squirrel // rabbit. maybe in the future, but not yet. plus, not everybody loves dogs, so i wouldnt want her to scare a hiker // runner.

big woods has a bunch of trails covering the park. there were 3 trails that started at our entrance. two of those trails were only groomed for skiing, so we took the third trail. our hike was a bit under 3 miles. 

we are super excited to take daphne camping this spring // summer. minnesota is such a beautiful state & there really are state parks everywhere. the goal is to hit 15, but honestly, i would love to hike 20-30 of them between now & the fall.
we will see ;)

how about you?
do you have a favorite state park?
any suggestions for hiking // camping with a pup?
you can see some of daphnes other adventures here.

shopping with daphne : our february bark box review :

hey everybody!
daphne didnt have a chance to post her review of the january bark box [she loved it] ; but shes back today to share what she loved [and destroyed] in the february box!

bark box is a monthly subscription service for dogs. each month, you get an assortment of toys, treats & other healthy living supplies.
check out their site here or purchase a box here.
this month was our 5th box & we find it money well spent.

in the box : 

 

2 small boxes of wet noses organic dog treats // get naked teething chews // a fetch-n-floss chew ring // p:eco the penquin made with organic fabric & recycled materials. he floats, too. 

in all honesty, i was a touch disappointed with this box.
the three bags of dog treats are all organic & made in the US [which is all we buy for treats!], but BOTH the chew ring & the penguin were made in china. there are plenty of awesome, american [and canadian!] small businesses that are doing awesome things & supporting workers & paying fair wages.
if i am going to give my money to a company, i want to know that all people are paid well & treated fairly.
of all the bark boxes we have gotten, this was not a favorite. but, daphne loves the penguin & will eat the treats.

does your pup have a favorite treat or toy?

[almost] a baby story : how-to rescue the naughtiest dog on the planet

hey everybody!
today, we are going to talk about this beautiful [&naughty] pup.
i have had a few people ask about her rescue // adoption story, so i thought i would share it.
here is the original post i wrote announcing we were adding her to our family.

blake & i are 'dog people.' we both grew up with dogs & knew eventually we would like to rescue. we knew we wanted a medium // large dog. one that wouldnt shed EVERYWHERE. and one that we could be active with. hiking, running, biking, ect.

around mid-july 2012, i googled 'minneapolis rescue dogs' just for fun. i did it without telling blake. i just wanted to look. yeah, right. within an hour, i had found *14* dogs that i wanted to fit into our 2 bedroom apartment. i was bawling at the sight of all these beautiful dogs that deserved homes & humans & toys.

daphne was one of the first dogs i found & i just kept coming back to her. she was beautiful. she was a puppy. and it looked like she was smiling. [this was her adoption photo]

so, i bookmarked her & 13 of her friends and just waited for a few days.
finally, i was thinking about all of those dogs that deserve a safe space & knew i was ready to tell blake.
so, i pulled up the computer & all 14 dogs. i didnt say anything the fact that i was SO drawn to daphne.
as he was looking though, he said ; i think daphne is the one.
yay!

we talked & talked & talked about how much a dog would change our lives. financially, emotionally. we live in an apartment, so she would need a lot of exercise. shes big, so she would need a lot of food. and what type of toys?
we started researched eco-EVERYTHING. the best food. dog sweaters [seriously]. toys & treats we could make at home. all of it.

we filled out an application & waited. that afternoon, we went for a 40 mile bike ride & talked for hours about how we knew we were ready to add a dog to our family.
that same day, we got an email from julie, daphnes foster mom. [the rescue we used, fosters ALL of their dogs. they dont have a physical location ; all the dogs are living with families until they are adopted]
she was super impressed with our application & wanted us to come over and hang with daphne.
so we did. that afternoon, we biked over.
julie had been fostering daphne for a few weeks. she was recovering from some nasty surgery [ill explain more in a bit], so they hadnt worked on much training. julie had a backyard, so most of daphnes outside time was spent in the yard.

as soon as we met her, we knew she was wild & crazy. she jumped up & bit blakes hat OFF his head. she was running around like a mad-dog & had tons of energy. she kept coming back to us. we were in love. also, julie was awesome. she answered all of our questions & we just felt so connected to her.
so, that was that. we committed to becoming a family of 3.

so, what was daphne up to before she was a rescue pup?
well, here is what we know :
she was found by animal control in indianapolis, indiana.
when she was a puppy, her family put her in a full-body harness.
sometime between her being a tiny puppy & her being a 45-pound dog, she was abandoned // ran away [no way to tell]. when she was found, she weighed OVER 40 pounds, was pretty big and *still* had her puppy harness on. [sad face]
her entire body had grown *around* the harness, so the rescue had to do surgery to remove it. i guess it was so rock-hard, it had to be broken off into lots of small pieces. [still a sad face]
she was brought to julies house to recover from her surgery. and then we met her about a month later.

from what we can tell, we DONT think she was abused or mistreated. she loves humans & is really great [trusting] with kids. she still has really bad scars on the front-side of her elbows from the harness. she still licks them occasionally, but they dont seem to bother her in day-to-day life.

speaking of day-to-day life ; she has had a pretty eventful one in the last 8 months ;)
she has eaten rat poison, chocolate chips, whole loaves of bread, 2 blenders, $100 worth of yarn, a bike seat from a $2000 bike, an artificial christmas tree, her metal crate, her dog bed, 4 couch cushions & an entire couch [yes, really], books, whole pumpkins, and a bunch of other things i cant think of right now.

she goes to doggy daycare 2x a week right now to work on her play skills. someone bit the tip of her ear off [yes, really]. and after that healed, she developed 'happy tail' [when a dog wags their tail enough against a hard surface that it breaks open & bleeds] & got blood ALL OVER EVERY INCH OF OUR APARTMENT. the tail is mostly healed, but we are NOW dealing with some barrier aggression. it has gotten SO much better, but we are hoping we are *almost* over it in the next few weeks.

she is definitely a handful.
she costs a lot of money & is a bit of a maniac sometimes. she has made hard days harder & has made me think 'what the hell did i get myself into?' way more than once.

but of course, we love her. she has found her forever home with us & we have found a dog that makes our hearts all big & mushy.
whenever i walk in the room, her [big, bloody] tail goes crazy. when i come home after a long day at work, she loves to come up & lick my face for a few minutes, if i'd let her. [its a bit gross after about 20 seconds...] she loves sneaking apples & bread from my plate & laying her head on my legs when im reading a book.
i totally love her & im so glad she is in our lives.

if you are within 60 miles of the twin cities & are looking for an awesome rescue, we went through safe hands.
also, if you are looking for other daphne-related blog posts, go here.

and yes, this sweater DOES have antlers...

shopping with daphne : a bugsy's box review :

so, you may have guessed by now, that daphne has quite a few treats // toys // extravagances.

shes been getting the bark box for a few months [reviews here & here] & she [we are] is pretty happy with it.

a while back, i purchased a 50% off deal for 1-month of bugsy's box ; its a monthly mail-subscription box, with 1, 3- & 6-month plans.

want to see whats in it?

daphne was so pumped ; she tore apart the box ;)

in the box : 

_________________________________________________________________________

one barkworthies bully stick. 

i dont buy these [i dont love the idea of my dog chewing on a bull penis] ; but she has been gifted a few of these in the past. she enjoys them ; but we stick to deer & beef bones that my dad has processed himself. [personal preference ; noting against the company] [also, the bones that daphne gets from my dad were not killed for the bones ; they were already killed for meat]

a small sample of raw bistro stix

AWESOME LOCAL COMPANY ALERT! bistro stix are based in minnesota! [woo hoo!]. they sell these are our local dog shop & we really enjoy them. they are a bit pricey ; but we break them up into smaller pieces & use them for training treats. 

all of their products are raw & use local, sustainable ingredients.

another one of my favorite brands!
a small bag of whole life freeze-dried beef. we have given daphne almost all of the products that whole life makes & we will be customers for life! their packaging, mission & food are great!
[they also make freeze-dried sweet potatoes that daphne will do pretty much anything for ;)]

safemade newt chew toy. we were gifted a different safemade toy in the past & while i think they are great ; they dont last for a turbo-chewer like daphne. see the letter 'l' on the package? it stands for 'light chewer' ; within 15 minutes, three limbs + half the tail were ripped off the newt. she really enjoys chewing on it, so we will keep it until its in 100 pieces ; but i wouldnt go out & purchase these products full-price. ALSO, i am pretty sure [im still waiting to hear back from the company] that these toys are NOT made in the US.

[if you have been here for a while, you know i am a bit of a nut about products that are made in the US]

 

a sample pack of licks liquid vitamin. she drank this right up [i put it in her food bowl] ; but it had SUCH a strong scent of chicken that i had a really hard time keeping my food down. i suppose if you eat meat, its maybe not such a huge deal, but my goodness ; i forgot what packaged meat smells like.

[i do think she enjoyed this & if blake decides to feed her this ; we would purchase more]

and three small bags of pup chips. snack chips for your dog [people think of everything!]
so far, daphne has tried the liver [the red bag without a label] & the yogurt chips [purple]. these were a hit! made in the us, no scary by-products & a portion of all sales are donated to charity!

stay strong, newt!

not bad, right? i am not sure we will keep this subscription right now ; ONLY because daphne already has tons of treats & toys. and selfishly, my student loans are SO close to being paid off, that all i want to do is pinch every penny i see & throw it towards my debt.

[pinch pinch pinch]

once they are paid off, i would be interested in continuing my subscription.

if YOU are interested, check out bugsy's box here.

*disclaimer : i purchased this box at a discount ; but with my own money. bugsy's box doesnt know who i am ; nor do any of the companies i reviewed above. everything is personal opinion & i really just like good companies that do good things!*