Browsing Category

Daily Life

8 Pet Items You Will Forget to Clean Before the Holidays

December 10, 2016

If you are expecting guests this holiday season, you are probably in full host/hostess mode, which includes thoroughly cleaning your house, preparing meals and recipes, buying gifts and decorating, etc. Pretty soon, you might start to feel overwhelmed. And who could blame you? There is so much to do! Therefore, I want to provide you with a brief checklist of pet items you will want to clean before your holiday guests arrive. Because taking care of this list will make your pet-friendly home smell great for the holidays!

1. Pet Crate

When was the last time you took all of your pet’s beds and blankets out of the crate to clean the inside? If you are a busy pet parent, this might have been a while ago. So, don’t forget to take everything out of the crate. Then, give it a good sweep and vacuum, and lastly, wipe down the inside of the crate with an environmentally friendly and pet-safe cleaner.

2. Dog Blankets

Since you will be taking the blankets out of your dog’s crate anyway, you might as well throw them in the washing machine. Since the oils on pet fur can change the smell of a blanket rather quickly, you might want to keep a few blankets aside for the day your guests arrive.

If you are interested in investing in a blanket that you won’t have to wash every week just to keep up with the smell, I highly recommend this anti-microbial blanket from World of Angus.

3. Dog Sweaters and Bandanas

When you look down at your pet amidst your scheduling, planning, cooking, and cleaning, you might think to yourself, “Oh ya, I wanted you to wear your Christmas sweater”. Most of Rooney’s sweaters and bandanas have been sitting in a box upstairs. So before anyone visits for the holidays, I want to make sure Rooney’s holiday related clothing and bandanas are freshly laundered.

4. Treat Jar & Shelf

In our house, we have a dedicated shelf for Rooney’s treats, in addition to Rooney’s treat jar. Think to yourself. When was the last time you cleaned the treat jar or the shelf? The shelf is probably covered in dust and treat crumbs. Additionally, the treat jar probably has a strong bacon odor. Today just might be the perfect day to take the time to clean both.

5. Kong & Regular Toys

Do you know what your dog’s toys and kong smell like right now? Imagine what your shirt would smell like if you drooled all over it and got your smelliest food crumbs on it. The answer is, pretty bad. Therefore, I would take the time to clean your dog’s Kong and wash any washable dog toys. You may not think these are a problem item, but each toy is adding to the cumulative smell of your home.

6. The Doors & Windows

Of course, these aren’t an item in your home that are specifically used by your pets, but I bet your pet lays by the doors or windows quite a bit. If you take a look at those windows right now, I bet you will see some nose art. Additionally, on the front door, you might see some dirt marks where your pet has been resting lately.

7. Under the Couch and Guest Bed

I don’t know about you, but these are the spots that seem to collect Rooney’s hair the most. Don’t forget to give these areas an extra once over with the vacuum before your guests arrive.

8. Pet Bowls & Placemats

Pet bowls can get dirty very quickly. If you aren’t already in the habit of cleaning your pet’s bowls daily, this is something you will definitely want to do before your guests arrive. Lastly, don’t forget to wash or clean your pet’s placemat as well.

I hope you find this list helpful for cleaning your home this holiday season!

3 Ways to Keep Your Dogs Safe This Halloween!

October 26, 2016

I love Halloween! To be perfectly honest with you, I love holidays in general! But Halloween is my 2nd favorite holiday behind Christmas! (57 days and counting!) While Halloween can be tons of fun for pets, kids, and the whole family, it can also be dangerous, especially for dogs. Halloween means an excess amount of chocolate in the home, uncomfortable costumes, and extra noises in the neighborhood (we even heard fireworks last year!). While chocolate toxicity isn’t new for most pet parents, Trupanion, Rooney’s pet insurance company, sees a 71% increase in chocolate toxicity during Halloween! As a result of this kind of data, I thought it would be great to share with you some tips from Petcurean’s Dr. Jennifer Adolphe for keeping your dog safe this Halloween.

Other Potential Halloween Threats

Unfortunately, Halloween threats don’t start and stop with chocolate and xylitol. There are a few other items that can pose a threat to your pet on Halloween. Dr. Nold from Trupanion recommends making sure that your pet’s costume fits appropriately and is comfortable. For me, I select costumes that don’t fit over Rooney’s head because he doesn’t want to have anything holding his ears down. In addition to costumes, make sure that your decor isn’t something that your dog may decide to try to eat, like light strands for example. Lastly, make sure that your pet’s identification is up to date since you will be repeatedly opening your front door.

Now that we have talked about all the dangers and threats, let’s focus on the fun! What is your dog’s costume this year? What is your costume this year? Are you going to any parties? Dog Parties? I would love to hear about your Halloween plans!

Disclaimer: I have a long-term partnership with Petcurean and Trupanion, I may financially benefit from the occasional distribution of content. However, My Kid Has Paws doesn’t share information unless we feel it will be helpful to our readers.

How to Enrich Your Dog’s Life: PAW5 Rock N Bowl

October 24, 2016

I think that every pet parent wants to make sure that their dog’s life is as enriched as possible!

That’s why I want pet parents to know about PAW5.

PAW5 is dedicated to improving the life of every dog by providing the right amount of stimulation and enrichment for your dog’s life. Therefore, PAW5 has created thoughtful products that engage your dog’s mind and provide them with the necessary exercise to avoid boredom.

Boredom in dogs can be one of the number one reasons for behavioral problems and can strain your relationship with your dog. PAW5 keeps in mind that many pet parents work full-time and lead very busy lives. That’s why they created the #PAW5EnrichedLifeChallenge!

By using PAW5’s products (in addition to DIY and other activities) to learn, think and play with your dog, you can improve their mental, physical and emotional health.

“Dogs need enrichment, plain and simple. They need to interact with their environment, their humans, and other dogs in a number of different ways in order for them to grow and lead fulfilling lives. Presenting them with new challenges, toys, adventures, and opportunities is the key to having a happy and healthy dog, and we’re hoping our Enriched Life Challenge will show people how realistic and easy it can be.” –  PAW5TM Co-Founder, Dennis O’Donnell

PAW5’s Challenge shows pet parents that enriching a dog’s life is about more than just walks and exercise and every interaction with your dog is an opportunity to improve.

The #PAW5EnrichedLifeChallenge includes 6 different categories of enrichment so that pet parents can discover which one’s work the best for their pet.

1. Sensory

“This includes anything and everything that stimulates your dog’s senses – sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. This is where playing in the grass, rolling in the dirt and splashing in water come in. You can also support this through TV programming, music and scent work.”

2. Feeding

“This is how you can make feeding time challenging, engaging and fun. It’s about putting hunting and foraging skills to use, employing the power of their nose and their brains to get to the good stuff!”

Check out Rooney using the PAW5 Rock N Bowl for dinner!

PAW5 Rock N Bowl from Rachel Sheppard on Vimeo.

3. Toys+Puzzles

“These products encourage your dog to engage and manipulate them to get the desired results…normally treats. But it also includes plush, rubber, rope and fetch toys, and the regular rotation of these so that your pup continues to engage with them.”

4. Environmental

“Adding something new to your dog’s environment can peak curiosity and sometimes increase physical activity. Build a ramp in the backyard, place a mirror in the living room, go play on a playground, go for a hike in the woods.”

5. Social Interaction

“Social Interaction with other people and other dogs builds trust and with other people and other dogs builds trust and self-confidence. Whether you are going to the dog park, to the pet store, in car, or to a friend’s house, engagement with new environments, new people and new dogs will help keep your pup well socialized.”

6. Training

“Training is an incredible time to bond with your dog, building trust, rapport, and some much needed listening skills. Whether you are training the basics or have moved on to trick training, the time spent doing this has great benefits for your dog and your relationship.”

Now that you know the 6 different ways that you can enrich your pet’s life, you can participate in the #PAW5EnrichedLifeChallenge!

Below is a schedule that you can use to complete the challenge for this week! Each day is designed to provide your dog with all 6 categories of enrichment throughout the day. For those of use who work full-time and aren’t home mid-day, move these times to adjust to your schedule and try as many as you can!

If you have social media, feel free to post videos and photos with the #PAW5EnrichedLifeChallenge on your social channels. However, please feel free to post updates in the comments, or send me an email with videos and photos to share at mykidhaspawsblog@gmail.com!

monday

tuesday

wednesday

thursday

friday

Challenge Prep

Now that you know all about how the challenge is going to work, you just need to do a little prep work!

Here are the items you will need in order to increase enrichment:

Supplies you’ll need from around the house:

  • An old tupperware or food container with lid
  • Peanut butter
  • A large tupperware or food container, no lid
  • Chicken broth
  • Cardboard box
  • Blanket and two chairs or a pop-up tunnel
  • Muffin Tin
  • Empty paper towel roll
  • Pillow case or dish towel
  • Rubber bands
  • Paper grocery bag

Supplies you may need to purchase:

  • Seven tennis balls
  • Rock ’N Bowl or any other food puzzle
  • Kong or any other treat toy
  • PVC pipe with holes

For DogTV and Mood Music:

Whether or not you participate in the challenge, PAW5 wants to give you the opportunity to make mealtime more fun and enriching with their Rock N Bowl!

Therefore, it’s GIVEAWAY time!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I am an affiliate for DogTV, so I may financially benefit from a paid subscription. Additionally, I received a PAW5 Rock N Bowl to try, but I shared it with my readers because I feel that it is a very good product. 

Can You Relate to Wanting to Bring Your Dog Everywhere? The Dog Parker Solution

October 17, 2016

I don’t know about you, but I am constantly looking for an excuse to bring Rooney with me everywhere I go. Mostly because my husband and I both work full-time so I want as much of my down time to include Rooney-friendly activities as possible.

While we all know that bringing your dog with you and leaving them in the car as you run errands is a non-option in almost every weather condition, tying your dog up outside a store in an urban area can be just as dangerous. However, the call of the urban dog parent is being heard by a New York company called Dog Parker.

According to the Wall Street Journal, New York is home to 1.1 million pets, which makes the Big Apple the perfect test market for a new urban pet parent solution. The Dog Parker is a collective of smart dog houses that are outside storefronts in NYC that focus on safety and comfort for your dog while you are inside.

When I first saw this device, I had many questions:

How do they keep it clean to avoid diseases and infections?

How do they regulate the temperature?

How do I know others won’t try to take my dog?

Turns out, the Dog Parker was designed with many of these same concerns in mind.

Dog Parker

How does it work?

Let’s say for example that you want to take your dog to the dog park, but on your way home, you need to pick up a few things at Whole Foods. You would then locate an available Dog Parker via the map on the app. Reserve a Dog Parker up to 15 minutes before you arrive, and unlock it with your cell phone. Then you can monitor the temperature, and view your pet via the webcam, while you are in the store.

Obviously, there are plenty more questions to be answered:

What if there is a power outage?

How does the Dog Parker lock? Can someone come and manipulate the lock?

Can someone break the glass?

However, I am excited to see that solutions are arising to allow people to spend more time with their pets while they get to be safe from dangerous temperatures.

Can you relate to wanting to bring your dog everywhere?

Would you adopt a solution like the Dog Parker?

Disclaimer: I was in no way compensated for a brief review of this product. My Kid Has Paws only shares products and services that we believe our readers want to know about. 

Dog-friendly Bay Area Pumpkin Patches

October 16, 2016

I don’t know about you, but I am looking for any excuse to bring Rooney with us to pick up pumpkins this year, but there aren’t many options in the Bay Area and many of the websites don’t indicate whether or not they are pet-friendly.

Therefore, I thought it would be nice to share with my fellow Bay Area readers the dog-friendly pumpkin patches in the Bay Area:

Best for Small Dogs

Clancy’s Pumpkin Patch, San Francisco: This adorable pumpkin patch is located in the Forest Knolls district in San Francisco. Pets are welcome, but they must be in your arms while on the lot.

For All Pets

Farmer John’s Pumpkin Farm, Half Moon Bay: Farmer John’s site doesn’t explicitly say they are dog-friendly (at least I couldn’t find anything), so I sent them a Facebook message to find out for myself. Not only are they dog-friendly, but I was informed that are very pet-friendly:

We even have a few people bring their cats…and a couple parrot owners too!

So no matter what kind of animal you have, you can bring the whole family to visit Farmer John!

For the Dogs

Moore’s Pumpkin Patch & Christmas Trees, Dublin: This pumpkin patch has been in operation for over 30 years! They offer complimentary use of their wagons for picking out pumpkins and they offer free parking! On-leash, family-friendly dogs are welcome!

If You Want to Drive Outside the Bay Area

Cool Patch Pumpkins, Dixon: I went to school in nearby Davis. Although I never had an opportunity to visit this pumpkin patch, it was very well-known in the area. This awesome pumpkin patch is outside the Bay Area (close to Sacramento), but welcomes on-leash dogs to help pick out your pumpkins!

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any more. I called several and Facebook messaged a few. Because many of these locations sell produce, they are limited to the animals they can invite on their farms.

If you live in the Bay Area, do you know of other dog-friendly pumpkin patches?

Top