A DIY Dog Blog
I don’t know why. I
They had frozen salmon on sale at our local grocery store this week, so I jumped at the chance to buy up a bunch and make a big batch of homemade dog treats. All it takes is 5 minutes prep and they drive my dogs wild. Kolchak will do pretty much anything for a piece of these Salmon dog treats.
The walls of my craft room are covering with paintings, drawings, illustrations and digital collages of my dogs. Some I bought. Many I was surprised with. Others we received as a part of blog promotions, but each piece of custom dog art has a special place on the wall – and in my heart. I have almost every piece of pet art I could want except ONE: custom dog coloring sheets.
STRONG NEED! I love to mindlessly color while I watch Netflix or while I am on conference calls at work. And I might be biased, but my dogs are actually the CUTEST dogs that have ever dogged and so, clearly, they need to be captured in all their line art glory.
Treat the special pooch in your life to a delicious and healthy homemade treat with our new Lamb & Herb Jerky Dehydrator Dog Treat recipe. It’s easy to make, you’ll know exactly what is in it and you can give your dog a homemade treat that you can feel confident in. … [read more]
If you are a novice at making dog food from scratch, it may seem like there is an overwhelming amount of information to learn. However, you can start off with some basic nutritional guidelines for dogs and continue to learn as you go.
The advantages of homemade dog food are well worth the effort. The following tips on feeding, variety, supplements, and foods to avoid will arm you with some basics.
Keep in mind that with a little research, your beloved, four-legged family member will be reaping the health benefits of healthy, home-cooked meals.
Herbs with knife on wood table
An actual greeting card. With a stamp. Delivered by the friendly Canadian mail moose. The gesture was so sweet and unexpected, I could barely contain my smile as opened it. So few people send snail mail these days. Why write a letter when you can dash off an email? Who buys a card when you can text people halfway around the world and have them receive it instantaneously? My heart soared with the care and thought that went into the card – and I knew I wanted to send one back.
There was no occasion too small to be celebrated with one of my handmade masterpieces. I once gave a babysitter a card as a thank you for bringing me a glass of milk, so apparently, I’ve always been a little extra. I’m not entirely sure how I went from being that kid who made a million cards to the adult who hates going to the post office like poison, but here we are. One of my goals for 2018 is to connect with people in my life in a more real way, so I’m undertaking a project: card making. I think there’s something so very special about handmade cards.
The only trouble? My cards still look like an 8-year-old made them in a rush while someone was in the kitchen getting them a glass of milk. I knew I needed some help, so I teamed up with Brittany from Spencer the Goldendoodle. Brittany is a seasoned card maker, excellent designer and all around rockstar.
I am so excited to share our first set of DIY Valentine’s Day Card.
*le sigh* The idea was flawed on so many levels, including but not limited to her distaste for work that makes her sweaty, the fact that she has never MADE pottery and that locating on a whim to partake in her shenanigans is not something I was doing. AJ wanted to call it “Pottery Barn”, which was sadly already the name of a well-known home goods brand. It took some convincing that this was a one-way ticket to litigation, but she eventually renamed this scheme Hairy Potters, which meant it was now a farm, animal rescue pottery shop with a Harry Potter theme because apparently, WHY NOT?
However, AJ’s enthusiasm for the concept did inspire these Harry Potter stickers for dog lovers, so I guess that’s something? We are hardcore, ride or die Harry Potter fans in this house. I read all the books. Often at midnight, on the day they were released. I own multiple versions of the books, like the illustrated Harry Potter versions and the companion books, like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and the tales of Beetle the Bard.
Felix listens to the Harry Potter audiobooks all the time to help relieve his sound anxiety and help us all relax. (The UK version read by Stephen Fry, not the US version. Stephan’s voice is like velvet.) I belong to a planner group ENTIRELY DEVOTED to Harry Potter. We even play for a house cup. So yeah. We’re fans. Crazy fans.
When I was a kid, I’d spend hours curled into one of those old wicker hanging chairs on our deck. No matter the season, that’s where you’d find me, snuggled up with a book (and a blanket, if it was freezing.) I was a voracious reader devouring stories as fast as the library would lend me more.
Somewhere along the line, life got busy. I grew up and got preoccupied. While my love of a good story never waned, my commitment to finding the time explore new books, pick ones to read and actually sit down to read them withered. After all, Netflix has like 10 000 ways to spend an afternoon, I have a busy job and an even busier side hustle, two active dogs who want to go on adventures and just a lot going on, in general.
For the new year, I’ve treated myself to a few special things to make reading as cozy and inviting as possible. I’ve filled my Amazon wishlist with books I’d like to check out and I’ve designed these OMG really super adorable reading stickers (I might be biased though?) so I can schedule the time in my planner. (And I like you guys, so they’re available as a free download at the end of the post!).
To help keep me on track, I’m considering joining in the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge. The prompts are super open to interpretation and there aren’t a MILLION of them like some reading challenges. (Fact: if your reading challenge has 112 prompts, I’mma fail real hard at completing it.) So if you’re looking for a gentle, easy, attainable reading challenge, this is the one. And if like me, you love a book with a dog in it, I’ve got some suggestions.
There’s a lot of reasons why and I’m not going to bore you with them because they mostly sound like I’m whining. Since I’m struggling to find my holly jolly attitude and acting a little more like the Grinch than I care for, I’ve been going out of my way to do things I know will make me feel festive.
This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, Kol’s Notes will receive a small commission, but your order will not cost you anything extra.
I haven’t had this much fun designing a free printable sticker set in a long time. The clip art, which was purchased from NaliaArt and Pipz Design on Etsy paired with the Christmas Watercolor set and the Winter Watercolor set from Design Bundles, is PERFECT. I’m a little in awe of how so many different artist’s work came together so easily. Some sets take hours or days until I’m happy with them. These watercolor dog stickers are my own personal Christmas miracle because the whole set only took a couple hours to make.
Stay tuned for a quick and easy video tutorial coming soon. I love having custom planner clips, but I’m also a little lazy, so I like them to be AS EASY as possible.
New to printing your own planner stickers? Here’s what you need:
Simply print on label paper and cut out! Can’t wait until label paper arrives? No problem! You can print these on regular copy paper and paste them into your planner with a glue stick.
Download your free printable watercolor Christmas stickers now
by clicking on the image below and saving the file.
Settle in, folks. I’m going to whine and moan about being cold and wet for about the next six months. As much as a BC summer fills my heart with joy, a BC winter makes me want to weep. It’s not just me who hates it, both my dogs hate the rain as well.
Seriously! They’re always wet! How do you eliminate that damp, vaguely earthly, yeast-driven smell when it seems like your dogs just never get dry!? You aren’t supposed to bath your dog daily, as it can dry out their skin, make them itchy and create a problem with hot spots. Blow drying them (while necessary sometimes) isn’t ideal either. It dries out my scalp, it definitely dries out my dogs. So how do you keep wet dog smell and mud at bay?
This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase on Amazon, we will earn a small commission and be incredibly grateful for your help in supporting this site.
They’re like baby wipes, only natural and totally dog safe, so even if your dog licks their paws after you use them, it’s not going to expose them to scary chemicals or make them sick. They’re also super simple to make using just a few ingredients.
In a bowl or jar, gently mix together distilled water, shampoo, hydrogen peroxide and liquid coconut oil. Open cloths and cut into individual wipes in a size that works for your dog’s paws. Place cloths in your storage container and pour liquid over. Shake gently to disperse liquid, then wait 30 minutes for liquid to be fully absorbed.
Store in an airtight container (otherwise they’ll dry out), checking periodically to ensure they haven’t been contaminated and spoiled. Use as needed to wipe muddy paws and wet, yucky fur.
I mean who wouldn’t? It’s an electronic puzzle for dogs that is designed to get more challenging as your dog learns, so my first thought was how incredibly perfect this is for my sassy-as-heck smarty-pants puggle. We’re talking about a dog who recently solved a level 3 Nina Ottosan dog puzzle in less than 3 minutes. (Nina, he’s onto your system. Pull out the bone, push or spin the covering, BAM! Treats. It may be time to change it up.)
The CleverPet Hub is unlike anything I’ve seen on the market. It actually reminds me of the glory days of my nerdy youth and that old handheld electronic game Simon (which much to my delight, you can still find on Amazon and is currently on it’s way to Casa de Kolchak.) Unlike Simon, which is a concentration game designed by computer programmers, the CleverPet was actually designed by cognitive scientists. This dog treat dispensing puzzle is what happens when a bunch of uber-smart dog nerds get in a room and ask “what if there was an educational toy for dogs?” More than fun game, better than a way to make a pet work for their meals, the CleverPet Hub is actually meant to stimulate your pet’s mind, sharpen their problem solving skills and keep their brain active. The more they play the game and the better they get at solving the puzzles, the harder the challenges get, so it’s like a new experience all the time.
He’s been low key obsessed since Day 1 when he actually shoved Kol out of the way to claim the kibbles as his own.
They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. I don’t know who “they” are, but if life with Felix has taught me anything, they might be right. He is a delightfully stubborn monster. Tricks, puzzles and games have never been his thing. Sure, he enjoys a nice, simple treat toy that basically throws snacks at him, but if he has to work for it? He’s never needed a tasty morsel enough to make it worth it. I suspect he’s lazy. And yet, much to my delight, from the moment the CleverPet Hub was plugged in, Felix has been low-key obsessed. He plays every day. When he hears Kol playing, he runs over and, more often than not, commandeers the hub for himself.
Even then, I expected the novelty to wear off. I mean, you love anything that hard and some of the sparkle has to wear off over time, right? Nope. The CleverPet arrived in mid-June and here we are, in mid-October and Felix still plays it almost every. single. day. Kolchak plays it 4 – 5 times a week. I spent a fair bit of time traveling this summer. One trip in particular had Felix away from home for over a week. When we finally got home, he walked in, went straight to the living room and sat down to play puzzle. One night last week, I woke up to the rattle of kibble. It was Felix, in the living room, just getting in a little quality CleverPet time. Felix has zero chill when it comes to this puzzle.
Midnight puzzlin’
Guys. GUYS. I know. I’m going to confess something that the brand probably wouldn’t love. (CleverPet, I’m SORRY.) When I agreed to review the CleverPet Hub, I did so thinking I would like it, but not really knowing if it was even possible to love it enough that I could actually recommend you guys spend several hundred of your hard earned dollars on it. It’s a luxury item and there is no getting around that. If CleverPet hadn’t sent us one to try, I may never have ordered one. I’ve been following CleverPet for years, ever since their Kickstarter campaign. I’ve watched videos of dogs playing it dozens of time and thought wistfully about what a really cool idea it was. I love my dogs, but 349 is a lot of dollars. I’m going to be honest with you about the pros and the cons of this Hub. If you’re going to spend this kind of money on something, you need to be pretty darn confident your dog is going to LOVE it.
I’m a dollars and cents girl. I’ll always be a big advocate for making purchases like this based on return on investment, not emotional pull. My dogs are spoiled and I know it, but I also like to keep my crazy dog lady at a manageable level whenever possible. So let’s look at the numbers.
The average traditional dog puzzle sets me back around $50 and Kol will play it about a dozen times before he loses interest or can solve it in less time than it takes me to set it up. After that, I may pull it out a few times a year, but I can’t do it too often or he loses interest again. Let’s say we use it 12 times right when we get it and then once a month for a year. The average dog puzzle would cost us $2.17 per use.
On the flip side, my dogs play with the CleverPet every day and I don’t foresee them stopping anytime soon. There is enough novel content to keep them busy for quite some time and CleverPet is always working on releasing new challenges to keep pets busy. If my dogs play it 5-7 days a week, which is exactly how much they’re playing it right now? After a year, the cost would be $0.95 – $1.35 per use. Yes, the initial buy in cost is high, but watching how my dogs are still just as interested today, four months later, with DAILY use, as they were the day we got it means that over time, the CleverPet has the potential to be a much better deal.
It didn’t convince me when I read other reviews. Even the CleverPet engagement guarantee didn’t fully convince me (though, I think it’s really, really awesome to see the company stand behind the Hub like that.) That’s why I am so excited about my partnership with CleverPet and grateful that they’ve been patiently waiting four months for this review so I could be SURE my dogs would use the Hub long term. Now, I can confidently show you how much it is enriching the life of my dogs. I can show you how my dogs keep coming back to it time and time again. I can share how much I’ve learned about the different ways Kolchak and Felix learn based on how they tackle learning new CleverPet challenges. I can explore with you all the ways my senior monster, Felix, has changed and grown since using the CleverPet consistently. I honestly have so much to say and share about this tech that I can’t contain it in this post. I’m here for the long haul.
So, if you have questions, ask ’em. I promise to share what I can, so you know whether or not this awesome interactive puzzle is right for YOUR dog.
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