REVIEW & COUPON: Cloud Star Holiday Buddy Biscuits

Holiday Buddy Biscuits

Where to Find: Cloud Star

 

If you have been reading our blog for awhile or know the Lapdogs at all, you know we are long time fans of Cloud Star.  So... imagine how excited we were when they not only asked if we would review their Holiday Buddy Biscuits collection (four tails were wagging uncontrollably!), but if we would also like to offer our readers an unheard-of 50% off coupon (Mama was jumping up and down about this part!).

 

Gasp! The holiday season is almost here and Cloud Star fans know what that means.... It's time for the yummy smelling Gingerbread flavored Holiday Buddy Biscuits!  I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful these treats smell. Perhaps if you close your eyes and imagine fresh baked gingerbread coming out of your oven, you might get the idea. Seriously, these treats smell so good you just might be tempted to try them yourself, however they are made for our 4-legged children!

  

Holiday Buddy Biscuits are available in three formats:

• 16 oz box of traditional Buddy Biscuits
• 6 oz bag of Soft & Chewy Buddy Biscuits
• 5" tall XXL Buddy Biscuits 

As with all Cloud Star goodies, the Holiday Buddy Biscuits are Made in the USA with simple, all natural ingredients.   

Traditional Buddy Biscuits: Wheat flour, rolled oats, blackstrap molasses, natural gingerbread flavor, canola oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols)

Soft & Chewy Buddy Biscuits: Unbleached wheat flour, tapioca starch, maple syrup, glycerin, rice flour, gelatin, natural gingerbread flavor, salt, phosphoric acid, sorbic acid, mixed tocopherols (natural preservative)

 

The Lapdogs are not fussy and love all Holiday Buddy Biscuits equally.  Big or small, soft or crunchy, they will devour them all!  We are definitely giving our Official 16 Paws Up Seal of Approval to these delectable holiday treats.  As you can see, Sophie shows they are drool worthy!  She thinks every dog deserves some cute little buddy treats, and thanks to the wonderful folks over at Cloud Star, we can help make that happen with a very special coupon code for 50% off your Holiday Buddy Biscuits order! 

Yes, that's right, I said 50% off your order of Holiday Buddy Biscuits!  Simply enter coupon code HOLIDAY-13-LAP at check out on the Cloud Star website.... but hurry, this coupon is only good through Sunday, December 15th (I got them to extend it an extra day from what is written above).  Grab some for your pack, and some to share with others!
Fine Print: Offer is good on Holiday Buddy Biscuits only, and limit is three units each per order.

Disclosure: Cloud Star sent a set of Holiday Buddy Biscuits treats to Lapdog Creations, free of charge for review purposes. I was not compensated for this review and all opinions expressed are my own.

REVIEW: Debra's Garden Necessary Pins

Necessary Pins

Where to Find: Debra's Garden

Whether you're a new knitter, or a seasoned knitter who has 101 projects going at once - and, uh-hum, often leaves said projects hibernating in bags for months on end before picking them back up again - Necessary Pins can make your life a little easier. 

The newest item from Debra's Garden, Necessary Pins are a set of 10 plastic tags which you pin directly onto your knitting (coiless safety pins are included).  These great little aids can help new knitters learn to recognize their sides, and seasoned knitters to remember a stitch pattern.

The 10 tags in the set are: Knit Side, Purl Side, Increase, Decrease, Armhole Decrease, Neckline Decrease, Even Rows, Odd Rows, K2TOG and SSK.

While the tags are weightless, they are just a tad bit on the large size. Necessary Pins are the same size as shopping reward key cards (they're actually made from the very same plastic stock).  This is fine for sweaters and other larger size projects, but could be a bit bulky if used on smaller projects.  However, for new knitters, I truly believe the benefits completely outweigh any bulky issues!  The tags are invaluable for newbies who are learning how to read their stitches, remember which side is which and just understanding what they are creating.  I really wish I had a set of these when I first learned to knit!

Necessary Pins retail for $10 per set and can be purchased directly from Debra's Garden, along with several other great notions and accessories.  Grab a set for yourself or a crafty friend.  They make great stocking stuffers or you can pair them with a Needle Gauge Pendant for the perfect Knitters Secret Santa gift.  You'll also find some beautiful yarn bowls, stitch markers, embroidery scissors and so much more!

Check out Debra's Garden for all of the crafty folks on your holiday shopping list this year!

Disclosure: Debra's Garden sent a set of Necessary Pins to Lapdog Creations, free of charge for review purposes. I was not compensated for this review and all opinions expressed are my own.

Settling In For a Long Winter's Nap?

With Christmas coming faster than I can knit, we sure do have a lot on our to-do list today.  However, Miss Lola thinks it's the perfect day to settle in for a long winter's nap....

 

Happy Black and White Sunday!

Princess Sophie Turns 7

It's so hard to believe my little girl is 7 years old today.  I have no idea where the years have flown. 

Happy Birthday Sophie!

It seems like just yesterday we were fostering an extremely shy little hound girl...

Sophie was 10 months old when she landed at the Lapdog household, which meant we missed out on the itty-bitty puppiness, but we got photos from her first foster Mama!

We never planned to be a 4-doggy household, however she decided she wasn't going anywhere and we couldn't be happier!  It's been a wonderful 6 years and 2 months baby girl.  Time for our annual photo recap..

A true Princess...

  

A girl for all seasons...

  

Sisterly love...

Big brothers are pretty cool too...

She loves her job reviewing goodies for the blog...

And her part time job as Watchdog #4...

Sophie being Sophie...

 

Goofing around during our photo shoots...

 

Sophie says she can't wait for Santa Paws to bring her some new squeaky toys, although she could live without the embarrassing headwear...

 

Make a Wish Baby Girl...

A Few of My Favorite Things

Everyone is in the midst of a holiday shopping frenzy and I suspect many of you are resorting to what I love most, shopping online from the comfort of your own home!  To help you out, the Lapdogs and I have decided to share a few of our favorite things... Happy Shopping! (be sure to scroll through all 4 pages of items)



Wordless and A Birthday

Happy Hump Day... don't forget to Wipe Your Paws!

Today is also my other half's birthday, so please join me and the Lapdogs in wishing their Daddy a very Happy Birthday!  We love him very much!

PREVIEW: Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed

Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed

The Fascinating Science of Animal Intelligence, Emotions, Friendship, and Conservation

by Marc Bekoff
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: New World Library (November 5, 2013)

In 2009, Marc Bekoff was asked to write an article on animal emotions for Psychology Today.  Since then, he has written more than 400 popular essays.  Some present research and scientific theories about animal minds and emotions, while others are more practical and address what each of us can do to improve the lives of other animals - and by doing so, improve our own. 

Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed is the compilation of Marc's updated essays.  They showcase animals' cognitive abilities as well as their empathy, grief, humor, and love.  The essays are organized into eleven sections:

• Animals and Us: Reflections on Our Challenging, Frustrating, Confusing, and Deep Interrelationships with Other Animals
• Against Speciesism: Why All Individuals Are Unique and Special
• Media and the (Mis)representation of Animals
• Why Dogs Hump: Dr, What Can We Learn from Our Special Friends
• Consciousness, Sentience, and Cognition: A Potpourri of Current Research on Flies, Fish, and Other Animals
• The Emotional Lives of Animals: The Ever-Expanding Circle of Sentience Includes Depressed Bees and Empathic Chickens
• Wild Justice and Moral Intelligence: Don't Blame Other Animals for Our Destructive Ways
• The Lives of Captive Creatures: Why Are They Even There?
• Who We Eat Is a Moral Question
• Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why: Redecorating Nature, Peaceful Coexistence, and Compassionate Conservation
• Rewilding Our Hearts: The Importance of Kindness, Empathy, and Compassion for All Beings

The following is an excerpt from Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed.

Old Brains, New Bottlenecks, and Animals: Solastalgia and Our Relationship with Other Beings

A few days ago one of my colleagues, Philip Tedeschi, founder of the Institute for Human-Animal Connection (www.humananimalconnection.org) at the University of Denver, reminded me of a very interesting and important New York Times essay concerning our relationship with nature in which the concept of “solastalgia” was discussed.

While the concept seems to apply more to our relationship with landscapes, describing the pain we feel when we witness and feel their destruction, I had also written about solastalgia in my book Minding Animals concerning our relationships with nonhuman animals, who surely are an integral part of natural landscapes. People often forget that the integrity of an ecosystem is inextricably woven in with the well-being of the animals who live there, and that when we “redecorate nature,” we can have serious effects on the lives of other animals. When we are removed from the natural world, we often feel alone and alienated because our old brain pulls us back to what is natural and what feels good. This is what E. O. Wilson proposed with his “biophilia hypothesis.”

Basically, our old big brains force us to seek nature’s wisdom even though we are living in — some might say we’re really trapped in — new technological and sociocultural bottlenecks. We become very uncomfortable when we allow ourselves to reflect on how alienated we truly are. It’s important to ask why we feel good when we’re out in nature. Years ago I discovered the following quotation by the renowned author Henry Miller: “If we don’t always start from Nature we certainly come to her in our hour of need.” Perhaps there isn’t only one reason why nature’s wisdom is frequently sought when we feel out of balance, when times are tough. Perhaps we can look to evolution to understand why we do so.

I find I’m never alone and neither do I feel lonely when I’m out in nature. Her wisdom easily captures me, and I feel safe and calm wrapped in her welcoming arms. We converse with one another. Why do we go to nature for guidance? Why do we feel so good, so much at peace, when we see, hear, and smell other animals, when we look at trees and smell the fragrance of flowers, when we watch water in a stream, a lake, or an ocean? We often cannot articulate why, when we are immersed in nature, there are such penetrating calming effects, why we often become breathless, why we sigh, why we place a hand on our heart as we sense and feel nature’s beauty, awe, mystery, and generosity. Perhaps the feelings that are evoked are so very deep and primal that there are no words that are rich enough to convey just what we feel — joy when we know that nature is doing well and deep sorrow and pain when we feel that nature is being destroyed, exploited, and devastated. I ache when I feel nature being wounded. I experience solastalgia, as do so many others.

What about our ancestors? Surely, there must have been more significant consequences for them if they “fooled” with nature. They didn’t have all of the mechanical and intellectual know-how to undo their intrusions into natural processes. And of course, neither do we, because our rampant intrusions are so devastating, and in many cases irreversible. Indeed, early humans were probably so busy just trying to survive that they could not have had the opportunities to wreak the havoc that we have brought to nature. And the price of their injurious intrusions would likely have been much more serious for them than they are for us, because of their intimate interrelations with, and dependency on, nature.

We can easily fool ourselves into thinking things are “all right” when they’re not. Denialism is a great mechanism for allowing us to ignore the effects of what we’ve done and to continue on the heinous path of destruction. Nonetheless, our psyches, like those of our ancestors, suffer when nature is harmed. Human beings worldwide commonly lament how bad they feel when they sense nature and her complex webs being spoiled, and ecopsychologists argue just this point. It would be invaluable if we could tune in to our old big brains and let them guide us, for our brains are very much like those of our ancestors. However, our sociocultural milieus and technology have changed significantly over time, and we face new and challenging bottlenecks. Cycles of nature are still with us and also within us, although we might not be aware of their presence because we can so easily override just about anything “natural.” Much technology and our incessant “busy-ness” cause alienation from nature. This breach in turn leads to our wanton abuse of nature. It’s all too easy to harm environs to which we are not attached or to abuse other beings to whom we are not bonded, to whom we don’t feel close. But of course, if we carefully listen, animals are constantly asking us to treat them better or leave them alone. Our brains can distance us from nature, but they also can lead us back to her before the rubber band snaps. For when it does, we easily continue on the path of destruction that harms ecosystems, their animal residents, and us. There’s an instinctive drive to have close ties with nature, and when these reciprocal interconnections are threatened or ruptured, we seek nature as a remedy. Our old brains still remember the importance of being an integral and cardinal part of innumerable natural processes; they remind us how good these deep interconnections felt.

Perhaps our close ancestral ties with nature offer reasons for hope, reasons for being optimistic about healing a deeply wounded nature. It just does not feel good to cause harm to nature. Perhaps the intense joy we feel when nature is healthy, the joy we feel when we are embedded in nature’s mysterious ways and webs, is but one measure of the deep love we have for her. This love offers us a chance to change our ways, for this love awakens us from a dangerous and pitiful apathy that amounts to the betrayal of our collective responsibility to act proactively and with passion and compassion to save nature for our and future generations. Calling attention to our destructive ways and doing something to right the wrongs can be healing for us and nature. It is but one way for us to return to nature some of the wisdom and solace she provides, to allow her to continue to exist for all to relish.

So let’s all rewild our hearts and build corridors of compassion that connect diverse landscapes and all of the amazing animals who depend on our goodwill. Indifference is deadly and inexcusable. Let’s allow our old brains do their job before it’s too late.

Excerpted from the book Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed.
© Copyright 2013 by Marc Bekoff. Reprinted with permission from New World Library.
 
About The Author: Marc Bekoff is professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has worked alongside leading writers and activists including Jane Goodall, Peter Singer, and PETA cofounder Ingrid Newkirk. He is the author of The Emotional Lives of Animals and The Animal Manifesto, among many other titles. He lives in Boulder, CO.

Disclaimer: New World Library sent Lapdog Creations a complimentary copy of Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed for review purposes. I was not compensated for this review. All opinions expressed in the review are my own.