The Honest Kitchen
Quickies Pure Dehydrated Icelandic Haddock Dog Treats
If you know the Lapdogs at all, you know how much they love their friends over at Chewy.com - and how fast their tails wag when one of those Chewy boxes arrives on our doorstep! We're a little late in posting about our August goodie due to Zeus' health issues, but never fear.... we're ready for Tasty Tuesday!
We received a package of The Honest Kitchen Quickies Pure Dehydrated Icelandic Haddock Dog Treats. While the name sure is a mouthful, these yummies are the tiniest, cutest, heart-shaped bite-size treats my big babies have ever gone bonkers for! Seriously, I should have taken video for this review. Ya ain't seen nothin'... until you've seen a 4-pack of 60+ pound dogs drool, woof and dance for treats this small! I guess that means they really pack a good punch when it comes to flavor!
As a dog Mom, I appreciate that the ingredients are simple: 100% dehydrated haddock. And as a native of Gloucester, Massachusetts, I can't help but smile when giving my dogs haddock (after all, I was raised on the tasty whie fish)! Of course, this means they are a perfect option for any dog with chicken/beef/lamb food allergies. I originally chose Quickies as our product to review because I'm always looking for quality fish-based treats for Sophie. I had no idea I'd find one that all four dogs would love so much (did I mention the size? Even 100-pound Zeus was begging for them)!
Made in the USA, Quickies are packaged in an eco-friendly tube that can easily fit in your pocket, making them great for training or rewarding any time. The scrumptious bites are high-protein, low-carb and have just 1.1 calories!
We will certainly be adding Quickies to our regular treat rotation, as we have with other treats from The Honest Kitchen that we've had a chance to review. I really like the company and feel good about giving my dogs their products. Not only do they use top quality ingredients in their products, they are committed to reducing their carbon pawprint and to giving back. Each month, The Honest Kitchen donates a portion of their sales profit to a different charitable organization. They call it pawlanthropy.
Head on over to Chewy.com and grab some Quickies for your own pampered pooch! Not only will you find several other offerings from The Honest Kitchen, but thousands of other products as well. Remember, 1-2 day shipping is always FREE on orders of $49 or more! Restock your treat basket just in time for fall!
Disclosure: Chewy.com sent a package of The Honest Kitchen Quickies to Lapdog Creations, free of charge for review purposes. I was not compensated for this review and all opinions expressed are my own.
We had an unexpected overnight guest on Saturday, or very early Sunday morning (however you want to look at it), which turned into a little impromptu slumber party.
After the mischievous humans of the house had the nerve to get in sometime around 1-am (thanks to a 3-hour rain delay at the race track), it was time for the Lapdogs to eat and do their business before going back to bed. All was well... until the humans were getting ready to crash around 2:30 am and Lola insisted she had to go outside again, followed closely by Sophie. Lola was carrying on more so than usual and very persistent. One of the humans might have actually already been in bed when she heard a ruckus going on. I just figured Lola thought she smelled a critter and was being a butthead. Next thing I hear "honey, we have a problem" and the bathroom door shuts. Here I am thinking "great... Lola got herself sprayed by a skunk." He then tells me to look in the bathroom.... no, I don't wanna!
After we put all 4 crazy dogs in the bedroom, and I clearly see Lola's not stinking up our bathroom, I opened the door and out came this soak and wet, super friendly little tyke tearing around our living room...
Talk about full of energy (remember, it's 2-something in the morning), and happy, and wet! We had some really bad thunderstorms roll through earlier in the evening and it had been raining significantly all night, so we could only imagine how long this cutie had been out. I immediately looked for tags on his collar and found our town dog license, a rabies tag and a Home Again tag. The license number was rather high and the rabies tag was from the MSPCA, so I immediately suspected he was adopted, and fairly recently.
I called Home Again and followed the prompts to speak to someone to report a found dog. A very pleasant girl informed me that we had found Doobie, a beagle mix and confirmed he was from my town. She placed me on hold while she tried to reach Doobie's parents (seriously, I love Home Again... they are dog people, referring to the humans as parents and never once mentioning the O-word). No one picked up at either phone number listed, but she did leave my name & number on the one that had voicemail (after asking my permission, otherwise the parents could call Home Again who would then connect them to me - meaning if you find a dog, you do not have to give your personal information if you're not comfortable doing so). She then asked if we could hold onto Doobie until his parents called, but if not to please call the police or dog officer. Um, Miss Home Again Lady, do you realize who you're talking to?
Mind you, all the while I'm on the phone, Doobie and Sophie are having a grand 'ole time...
Home Again's policy is to not give out the parents' information, however I asked if I named a few nearby streets, would she be able to tell me if Doobie lived on one of them. She said yes, and it turns out Doobie resides on the next street over. So, after we introduced the rest of the Lapdogs to Doobie, Matt went out to see if he could spot anyone out looking for a lost dog. OH MY... when Matt was leaving, Doobie let out a big 'ole deep basset hound howl (okay, so he's a beagle/basset mix and he got the basset howl that Miss Sophie did not.. and while it's adorable, I think I'm glad for that). Seriously little man, we just met you less than an hour ago and you're upset Matt is going outside? It was adorable...
No one was out looking, so we figured Doobie's parents didn't even realize he was missing (or if he had been missing all day, they were resting). We set up our foster crate and made the love-monster a bed. I have never met such a friendly, lovable lost dog in my life. He was full of kisses, and having a blast exploring our house and playing with the Lapdogs. Then, we told our little house guest it was time for bed and plopped him in the crate with some toys and treats. He didn't make a sound or fuss. I immediately thought "this pup is more well behaved than most dogs I know!" He did get a little upset when we were heading to bed and Tut was left to stare at him in the crate, but other than that he settled down and slept through the night.
We had expected a very early morning call from his parents, so I was surprised that when I finally woke up around 9am, no one had called. Matt took Doobie out to do his business which resulted in another howling festival (so cute!), and we were really hoping maybe his parents would hear him calling, but no luck. So I placed another call to Home Again. This time they were able to reach Doobie's Dad and conferenced us together. Turns out Doobie, who's 6 years old, had managed to escape in the middle of the night and his very concerned Dad had been out looking for him all morning. We chatted for a few minutes before he so politely asked, "Can I come get him now?" Of course! He arrived within a few minutes and it was time to say goodbye to our unexpected, lovable little houseguest.
Doobie's Dad told us he just adopted him from the shelter 2 months ago (ding, ding... I won on that guess), but I couldn't believe it when he said the shelter told him Doobie had been there quite awhile and was continually passed up by other adopters. What's wrong with people? This little guy is amazing... the love, the friendliness, the basset howl... oh, and sure, the desire to escape and make 4-new doggy friends in the middle of the night. His Dad said he is quite the escape artist.
His Dad also said Doobie clearly made the right choice of where to go for help, and I have to agree. I'm also quite proud of Lola who is truly the one who found and rescued the little guy (like Mother, like Daughter)! I just hope that if Doobie escapes again, he remembers to come to our house. And, yes, I did tell him that if he wanted to come visit his new friends, he didn't have to escape at 2am to do so.
Happy Sunday everyone! While these photos were shot before Zeus came down with Vestibular Syndrome of Old Dogs and pneumonia, the could easily be mistaken for yesterday.
I'm happy to report that my baby boy is pretty much back to his usual self (which does include a little stumble now and then, as his back legs are really showing the arthritis these days, but it's nothing we can't handle)! He had another check up with Dr. C on Thursday and she was thrilled! The pneumonia seems to be clearing nicely. His heart and lungs sounded so good that she didn't feel the need to take another set of follow up x-rays. We'll finish out his 21 day stint of antibiotics tomorrow and keep an eye on him for any signs of a cough (in which case we'll go for the x-rays and more antibiotics), but she is pretty confident it did the trick.
Dr. C let on a little more about just how touch-and-go things got with Zeus during this difficult time. She is amazed at his recovery and said it is nothing short of remarkable, as did the receptionist who checked us out. Dr. C always writes notes on the bill and when I read them at home, I couldn't help but smile. She praised us for our nursing care and said that Zeus' recovery had a lot to do with the care he received. My heart melts.....
Happy Fiber Arts Friday! It's been awhile, but hey, would you look at this...
Why yes, that's a finished object!
Pattern: Hara Dress by Johanna Marshall, a free download on Ravelry (here's a link to my project page). I knit the largest size (18 months) for Quinn's first birthday.
Yarn: Louisa Harding Jasmine, color #17 peach. I really enjoyed working with yarn, which is a cotton/bamboo/silk/polyester DK blend. It has a string of metallic sheen running through it that gives a really nice shimmer, but isn't too "loud."
Nearly every project page I read on Ravelry made mention that the length was not long enough to be a dress, so I added a couple of extra inches to the body. I'm still not sure it's sundress length, but that's okay. I opted to knit this pattern for it's versatility and the fact that Quinn could get extended wear out of it as it would go from maybe dress length to a tunic to a top. In fact, her Mom had plans for leggings and a long sleeve tee to take this summery frock all the way through fall and winter. I can't wait to see it on her!
For those of you who don't know, Miss Quinn is part of our amazing racing family (she just happens to be the little sister to one of Matt's younger competitors). So it would seem appropriate that I not only knit on the dress at several races this summer, but I actually wove in the ends and sewed the buttons on at last Saturday's race.
Which also explains the finished object photos - hanging in our trailer and on the roof of the race car - and the fact that I did not have a chance to give it a SOAK wash or block it before Miss Quinn proudly claimed it (she was hugging it in her car seat as they left to head home).
This was a fun knit and I would knit it again. Actually, I bought 6 skeins of Jasmine and only used 2.5, so...
Happy Wednesday! We've got lots to catch up with (including some reviews), but today is all about being wordless, so....
Happy end of summer! Or, what we consider end of summer anyway. Tomorrow we flip the calendar to September and to us that means fabulous fall -- apple-picking, handknit-wearing, pumpkin-carving, leaf-peeping, fair-going weather -- aka the most wonderful time of the year!
Lola says she's ready to go apple picking - are you?
To say I'm thankful for everyone's support and well wishes over the past two weeks is an understatement. We have received so many supportive messages and well-wishes from far and wide - friends, family and even complete strangers! It truly amazes me how word spreads through the blog world and the fact that so many people take time from their busy lives to step up and offer support. And, as I mentioned, many of whom were complete strangers - although I hope we'll become blogging buds We've met so many wonderful friends over the years through blogging, and although we've yet to meet the majority of them in person, those who hear us speak of them would never know that - you'd think they were life-long friends we grew up with!
The Power of the Paw is something very special, as is the power of bloggers who band together to help others during difficult times. Thank you to everyone who has done so for us during the past two weeks! Your messages mean the world to us.
We'd also like to publicly thank the awesome folks over at Chewy.com for the Get Well message and absolutely beautiful flowers they sent for Zeus! To say we were blown away by this surprise is an understatement. To know that our friends at Chewy are so thoughtful is heartwarming.
The flowers really brightened my day last week! And knowing how much my big guy loves to stop and smell the roses (literally!), I know they helped him as well. The shot below is from last Friday, right after they arrived and before the blooms opened. You can really see the difference in his own demeanor between it and the shot above, which was taken on Monday.
Seriously, Mr. Chewy, you really know how to brighten a girl - and her dog's - day. The flowers were simply gorgeous (I'm still gushing over that lavender rose in the center). One of the pink roses broke upon arrival, so what else does one do, but grab a good 'ole shot glass (from Biltmore Estates no less)...
Thank you Chewy friends... just to know you were thinking of Zeus really means the world to us! The flowers were a much needed brightener to a very difficult time.
Oh, and just in case you missed it, we posted another update yesterday.
