Indoor Dog Potty Winner Defies the Odds

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

© Carrie Boyko
Oliver Shows Off the Potty Park

Let's start by announcing the winner of our consolation prize: an Eco Carrier by Outward Hound. This light-weight travel bag is for small fidos on the go and will double as an airline carrier as well as being great for toting your little one around on errands, or simply playing the role of a tote bag. Inside, there will be some fun surprises for our 2nd place winners--Ohno and Joy, the packmates of Boondocks. To Thank Boondocks for entering his smaller siblings, we'll be sure to include a great treat ball for him too. We wish Ohno and Joy much fun with the goodies inside the bag.


Now let's move on to our main event, even though this sounds rather silly when we're talking about a dog potty. Statistics don't always work. You'd think when there are a number of readers trying to enter a drawing daily, and they do everything possible to win, they'd get lucky by mere volume of entries. Not so much this time. Our winner of the Potty Park, drawn from a pool of entries that came largely from email and Twitter private message entries, is Casey, the furry family member of Karla.  I have to say, Casey probably has the longest walk to the green patch outside, living 15 floors up. Sounds to me like Casey is just the customer the Potty Park folks were thinking about when they created this unique and handy solution.


Both the consolation prize and the Potty Park, complete with instructions and a booster treatment of pheromone spray, will be shipped as soon as we receive your addresses at LetsAdoptaDogPark@gmail.com. The folks at Potty Park will be all too pleased to assist Karla with any training questions. They were quite helpful and forthcoming when I contacted them for assistance. Best wishes to Casey's family.




Full disclosure: All Things Dog Blog has not been compensated to provide this review of the Potty Park.  The Potty Park was donated for our review, but the opinions provided were our own.

Saving on Pet Food: Making the Most of Superstore Savings Programs

Guest Post by Elizabeth Glavin of 20something Saver

© Carrie Boyko
Organix Kibble with
 Stewed Organic Chicken and Carrots

Dog food can be expensive. Dog food can be really expensive when you feed your dog healthy and nutritious food.


Luckily, you’re going to play the Dog Food Game.


Want to play? Join me:


First things first-- figure out what you’re willing to spend. It’s unrealistic for someone to spend $50 on one bag of dog food when they are fostering 8 Greyhounds! They won’t be able to feed their children. So let’s be realistic, but not too cheap-- You would much rather spend a little money now on food, then a lot down the road if something happens to Fido. I highly recommend an all Organic diet. To read more on why organic is healthier, read Carrie’s post “Your Dog’s Food: Why is Organic Healthier?”.


Now that you have what you’re willing to spend, head out to the store. Personally, I suggest PetsMart or PetCo. They carry a large variety of healthy, nutritious, and organic dog food. Another great store is Pet Supermarket. Where you decide to shop is up to you and your pup.


PetsMart is one of my favorites because they have great customer service. They are very helpful and always willing to answer questions you may have. PetsMart accepts manufacturer coupons, so research online to see if your dog food company gives out coupons. 

(Not a Valid Coupon)
Manufacturer's Coupons
 are Available from Some Pet Food Makers

Their rewards program, PetPerks, is not as fun as the other stores (more on that later), but still helps you save some green. Basically, having a PetPerks card gets you special deals. There are no coupons involved, and you don’t get anything for free. Here’s how a purchase would go at PetsMart: At check out, the cashier will ask if you have a PetPerks card. If you do, they scan it and you will get the sale price of the item. Usually, dog food is about 15-20% cheaper with a PetPerks card, so I highly recommend getting one. Signing up for one is easy-- just sign up here. What’s my favorite part of PetPerks? They remember your pet’s birthday and will send Fido a card and a $5 off coupon in the mail! If you think you want to start shopping at PetsMart, be sure and find a location near you.


PetCo has some great rewards! PetCo uses the Pals Program and you can sign up for that here. For every 10 bags of dog food you purchase, you get one bag free! PetCo accepts manufacturer coupons and they have their own coupons that you can print from their website. When you’re part of the Pals Program, you will also get monthly emails containing coupons! Because they have store coupons and manufacturer coupons, PetCo allows stacking. Stacking is when you use both a manufacturer and store coupon for one item. For a PetCo near you, click here and enter your zip code.


Pet Supermarket is also a favorite because they do something none of the other stores do-- price match! Of course, you’ll want to confirm this with your local Pet Supermarket, but most stores do. Pet Supermarket also accepts competitor coupons (from PetsMart and PetCo) and manufacturers coupons. Price matching is very easy at Pet Supermarket-- just bring in another store’s ad with your item on sale for a specific price, and they will honor the price. Pet Supermarket also has a discount card; the VIP card. To obtain a VIP card, visit your local Pet Supermarket.

© Carrie Boyko
No Flips for Tanner--Just Chow!

Now that you’ve found Fido some yummy food, you might want to supplement it. We do this about once a week for a special treat. Your local Farmer’s Market sells organic fruits and vegetables that you can give to Fido-- carrots, apples, and zucchini are perfectly fine for Fido’s tummy. You could even boil some boneless, skinless chicken breasts-- Cocoa and Oreo will do flips for chicken! 

20something Saver is a blog about a 20something learning to live on less. Visit her site to learn more money-saving tips with her dogs, Cocoa and Oreo. 

***Don't miss Carrie's recipe for Stewed Chicken and Carrot Cookies for Fido, coming in June.




Have you missed any of our series on organic dog food? Here's the links:

• Our Pet Food Pantry: A Little History
• Your Dog's Food: Why is Organic Healthier?
• Our Dogs' Food: The Big Decision
• Dog Food D-Day: The Big Reveal
• Surprise Dog Toys Awarded to Observant Winners
• Organix Dog Food Giveaway: 12 Bags of Healthy Goodness

Fido's Freebie Friday Blog Hop Welcomes Giveaway Listings

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

All Things Dog Blog has created an event to announce our pet blog giveaways right here on All Things Dog Blog. Pet product reviews and giveaways help my readers find new solutions to their pet problems, and even when they don't win, we all have fun joining in the fun.   
YOU are welcome to join in too. In fact, I encourage you to. If you're not a blogger, that's just fine. You can still hop and shop for fun giveaways to enter. You'll find a nice list of blogs that have giveaways in progress right here every Friday, so stop by and enjoy a leisurely look.  All Things Dog Blog hopes to become the perfect, deep discount shopping mall for you to locate and enter to win free pet products.
Bloggers will find this hop an easy fix to locating more pet lovers that are seeking their information and product giveaways. Best of all, it's a great way to get new readers to visit.  Grab the badge that you see above from my sidebar where I have offered the code to make it easy for you to load to your own site.  The plan is to keep this as simple as possible. There are only 2 rules:

1. The Fido's Freebie Friday Blog Hop is open to posts about giveaways, drawings, sweepstakes, and freebies of all pet products or services, including pet-related items for owners.
2. Please post the badge in your Fido's Freebie Friday blog post and invite your readers to visit their host, All Things Dog Blog. Comments are encouraged!
   
   The Fido's Freebie Friday Blog Hop will open each Thursday afternoon by 4 PM and close at midnite on Fridays. During these hours you may add your pet related products to the hop with a link directly to your giveaway post at your blog. This blog hop is ONLY for free pet products or services, and may include any contests that involve a free pet-related prize (photo contests, guessing games, etc). If you have multiple giveaways, feel free to post each of them. Bloggers may wish to share information about this weekly event with their readers, so they will begin to develop the habit of checking in to see what's new on Fido's Freebie Friday. 

Let your Facebook fans know about the event and feel free to Tweet it to the masses with the hashtag #FidosFreebieFriday. If you follow me on Facebook and Twitter you'll be sure to to keep up with any news about the Fido's Freebie Friday event. 

Let's work together to grow our blog traffic, and offer our readers the benefit of our joint venture. I know my readers will be thrilled to see your giveaways listed for them to check out, and this means more traffic for you. I look forward to seeing you soon. Happy tails!

Organix Busy Bones a Big Hit

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

Busy Bones Go Organic with Organix

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

© Carrie Boyko
Ready to Make Busy Bones?

Have you been entering the drawing for our 12-bag giveaway of Organix? Your options for entering were shared at the giveaway post here. Today I'm here to share Tanner and Oliver's favorite Busy Bone recipe. It's organic and super tasty. In addition, it keeps the boys busy for 20-30 minutes whenever I need to be free of pup responsibilities. Here's how it works:

Ingredients:

• Several sterilized beef bones. You can purchase these at pet supply stores or on Amazon. Choose the sizes based on your dog's size. As you can see, I have 2 short ones for Oliver and 2 longer ones for Tanner's much lengthier tongue. These bones may come filled, but can be washed in the dishwasher to clean thoroughly before re-use.
• Organic sweet potato leftovers, mashed. Other options that work well are banana, cooked carrots, green beans, broccoli, leftover bits of cooked chicken or turkey, or even grated cheese, yogurt or a little peanut butter. We choose organic, but it generally comes from leftovers to help use them up and save us money.
• Organix dry kibble
• Organix canned food

Instructions:

1. Using a table knife, you'll be able to insert some canned Organix into the opening of the sterilized bone. Press it down into the bottom of the hole. This procedure works well with Kong toys, as well.
2. Next sprinkle a layer of kibble to offer a change in texture. This keeps the pup's interest when they discover new tastes as they work through the layers.
3. Finally, add your leftovers and fill the bone to the top.
4. Place in sealable containers and freeze.



© Carrie Boyko
Step One
Canned Organix in the Bottom

5. Serve when you need a few minutes of dog-free time to attend to a visitor, phone call or other activity that requires your full attention. I love to use Busy Bones on Thanksgiving to keep the pups occupied while dinner proceeds without the boys drooling over our feast.

© Carrie Boyko
Step Two
Add Kibble in the Middle

© Carrie Boyko
Step Three
Delicious Sweet Potatoes

© Carrie Boyko
Ready for the Freezer

Is Fido drooling now? Mine did while I made these. I'll have to spoil them with a snack shortly. Give this a try and find out how well it works for you.

Have you missed any of the earlier posts in this series? Check them out here:

• Our Pet Food Pantry: A Little History
• Your Dog's Food: Why is Organic Healthier?
• Our Dogs' Food: The Big Decision
• Dog Food D-Day: The Big Reveal
• Surprise Dog Toys Awarded to Observant Winners
• Organix Dog Food Giveaway: 12 Bags of Healthy Goodness

Tanner and Oliver are offering up their tips on how to dig out the goods over at 5 Minutes for Fido. When you stop in for a visit, feel free to leave them a comment too. I don't want them feeling left out.  Don't miss tomorrow's post on tips for saving money at the pet superstores. Happy tails!

Full disclosure: All Things Dog Blog has not been compensated to provide this review of Castor and Pollux and Organix.  We have not been paid to provide our opinion of these products, and the opinion provided is our own.

Organix Lover Marilyn Plays to My Heart!

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

© MM, reader copyright on file
Marilyn Gets Her Point Across

Do you think my friends at Castor and Pollux Pet have seen this? She's adorable, huh?