Last weekend Doggy Baby had a booth at Star 94’s Party in the Park. It was terrific!! We met some wonderful people and some super lovable and adorable dogs. Many of which stopped by for a drink!

Big dogs ALWAYS want to drink out of our littlest bowl.

Everyone LOVED the NEW Doggy Baby flat-folding bowl!! It’s made out of food safe material and is recyclable. What’s not to LOVE??

Our new bowl was a huge hit!! We had a lot of fun with everybody and look forward to doing it again next year. One special guest at our booth has inspired me to have a look-a-like contest next time I have an event. Purely by chance, I met mine. Here she is!

Can you see the resemblance?

It was so fun seeing everyone and their dogs having a great time outside. I can hardly wait till the next time.

I want to thank everyone that stopped by and said hello. You helped make our day extra special. Hope to see you again soon!

Thanks for reading

ttyl ~mama

I have been lucky enough to find a terrific dog charity so volunteer with.

PALS Atlanta! PALS stands for Pets Are Loving Support – Atlanta, GA . They help terminaly ill and elderly people on a tight budget keep their pets during a time of need. I can’t think of a better cause!

PALS had a Pet Cotillion and fund raiser that raised several thousand dollars. This money will help so many people and their pets.

Below is a picture of this years PALS Pet Cotillion winner.

Pet Cotillion 2010. Arrow is the winner!!

Thank you PALS Pets Are Loving Support – Atlanta, GA for all you do!

Thanks for reading!

ttyl ~mama

THRILLED to be part of this event!!

You should ALL come by and bid on some terrific items!! Rumor has it that there will be Doggy Baby gear… :0)

Event Details

via Piedmont Bark Yappy Hour Presents Official Crowning of the… – Eventbrite.

We are so excited to be part of this upcoming event!! Check it out and then come see us!

Mention this ad when you stop by and get your FREE Doggy Baby bowl!!!! (while supplies last)

STAR 94 – Your Life and Your Music::Woofstock.

When you travel do you pack light or are you like me and over pack? I usually come home from a trip with outfits in my suitcase that never got worn. But I like it like that. I need options when I’m getting dressed for dinner or for an adventure. When I travel with my Doggy Babies, Snoopy and Gracie, I pack them their very own tote bag. In fact, they have a couple of bags. One for road trips and over night stays. Then another bag for boating. And yet another bag for “everyday”.

When we take a little road trip I bring their red patent leather tote bag. I have their Doggy Baby pouch with 2 bowls always packed and ready to go. I also have an umbrella, poopy bags, baby wipes and treats too. You can also find a couple of bandanas and t-shirts in the tote as well. I’ve used the bandanas to dress them up and to clean them up. Other times I will use them to dry out their Doggy Baby travel bowl. This tote has been a life saver!

I also have the boating bag. This one is a canvas bag that I would like to add pockets to in the future. For now, it contains most of the same things that their road trip bag has in it plus towels and sunblock. Gracie has longish blond hair and when she gets wet and the hair parts it exposes very dilicate pink skin ( she is so cute when she is wet!). So she gets sprayed with sunblock when we’re on the boat.

Okay mom, where are we going?

Then there is our “everyday bag”. This one stays in the car or by the door. It’s a nice compact size so it doesn’t totally clutter my car, but it still contains our essentials. Having a Doggy Baby tote bag is like having a diaper bag for your baby. I keep it loaded with whatever  might get me out of a sticky situation with my pups and I highly recommend it to you!

It’s so much fun to see how excited they get when they see their tote bag!

Thanks for reading,

ttyl ~mama

Having a website and an online store is a lot of work! They both require a lot of attention. Just like having a child or a pet both require a lot of attention. I truly feel that having pets and caring for them is a lot like having a child. I feel I can say that because I have a 23 year old daughter as well as 2 dogs and 3 cats. But the truth is, I never put her in a crate when she was naughty and I can do that with my pets.

Having the Doggy Baby website and store has been a huge learning process. I was just a girl in her sewing room that came up with an awesome flat-folding food and water bowl. The bowl came naturally to me while working on something for my Beagle. There were several renditions of the bowl just like there have been several renditions of the website and store. Now, after several years in the making, I feel ready for business!! Believe me, it has been a work in progress!

One small step for dog kind. One giant leap for Doggy Baby

Our bowl is perfect! Our store is fully functional! The website and its inner workings are something I can handle!! Now I just need a rhythm…

As you can see, my blog posts are few and far between and my topics are sort of random. It’s now time for me to make my posts more dependable. I will post on a regular schedule! But what will that be?? Once a week? Once a day? Twice a week? Or every five  minutes… you get the drift.

I will post ONCE per WEEK!!! I promise!! Wednesdays sounds like a good day for posts! Okay :0) It’s on! This is going to be great. I’ll just let you know what’s going on and share any interesting stuff I learn.

Here we go! Thanks for reading,

ttyl ~mama

It’s 2012 now and it’s time to get in shape. When was the last time you took your dog out for a really long walk? I know its been a long while for me. First I was too busy and then it got too cold. Well, no more excuses!! I’m going to take my dogs out for an adventure, some fresh air and exercise. I don’t want to wait until “bikini season” is around the corner.

I did not make New Years Resolutions this year. But I do have goals for myself and my dogs. I am going to put myself (and my dogs) at the top of my priority list. I’m going to eat better. My dogs eat healthier than I do. There’s definitely something wrong with that! I am also going to be more active. I’m not say “exercise” more because that can feel like hard work. Being “active” just sounds fun.  :0)

I am going to take advantage of beautiful sunny and dry days even when it’s cold outside. When I take my dogs to the dog park they come home so tired that I can actually get some work done without feeling guilty about leaving them home alone. I’m also going to take them out to just walk my neighborhood. All I need to do is make sure I’ve got my trusty Doggy Baby Bowl with me. This way we can all stay hydrated and stay outside and play longer. I hate cutting my fun short just because we need something to drink.

This bowl is so easy to carry around and use! I have one in my car, one in my purse, one in my beach bag and of course, one in my Doggy Baby tote bag. I don’t waste my water pouring it my hand and having it spill and leak all over. It’s so easy to carry around.

I hope you all have a very Happy New Year and I hope we all achieve our goals. But mostly, I hope you all spend more time with your dogs. Walking them and getting in shape or even just cuddling with them and lowering your blood pressure and stress. We dog owners are the luckiest people in the world!

Thanks for reading

ttyl ~mama

Not long ago, my dog Snoopy choked right before my eyes. She was chewing the end of a raw hide bone and bit off a piece. I saw her choke. She coughed a little and then stopped coughing. She had been laying on her belly but got up and gagged and then walked behind a table. That’s when I got scared. I just watched her to see if she could communicate something to me. She looked scared. Her tail was down between her legs and she was just kind of moving her neck back and forth. Man, my heart was pounding. She started to make this sound like she was trying to cough or burp. But no air was getting in. She couldn’t breath!

My brain instantly remembered the “Heimlich for Dogs” video we made. Snoopy is a 25 lb. dog so I just picked her up off the floor with her rear higher than her head and I did the belly push Heimlich maneuver. Just one little push and I put her down. She stayed right at my feet and still wasn’t breathing. A million things ran through my mind. Is the vet still open? Do I call someone? OMG, I was totally freaking out!! I picked her up again. Put her in that same position and I did the thing they tell you  NEVER to do. I put my finger in her mouth. Then, slightly down her throat to see if I could feel anything. I couldn’t. But she started to gag with my finger down her throat. I did the Heimlich maneuver again. This time it worked! I could here a raspy breath coming from deep inside her. The most beautiful sound ever!!

I’m sharing this with you because I just got an email from a woman who watched our “Heimlich for Dogs” video and later used it to save her dogs life. She thanked me for our video because she remembered the instructions at just the right time. I feel so humbled by her thank you. And so greatful that I remebered the instructions for doggy Heimlich at just the right time too.

Thanks for reading!

ttyl ~mama

p.s. Here’s the video for you to watch.

My Beagle Snoopy was obese and had elevated liver enzymes. She is a very happy  and active 10 year old and the love of my life. Our veterinarian didn’t know what could be the problem and decided to do an x-ray. After the x-ray the vet called me and said “they found more than what they were looking for” and wanted to do an ultra-sound and biopsy on her. I declined. Maybe because he was such a hard sell, maybe because she had zero symptoms. I told him we would wait to do further testing and that I would be treating her with an Old School method I call “better diet and exercise”. I DO NOT suggest that you do this. You must be responsible and careful with your pets. Find a vet you trust and trust your instincts too.

I started to research and found out how commercial dog food is made and what it contains. I got really scared. I got scared for my dog and scared for people too when I learned how repulsive the contents of dog food are. So I decided to make my own dog food. I went online and found some respectable dog sites with recipes, found the portion sizes that I needed for my dog and I got started. It was super easy! This is what I do every week.

Purchase: 3 or 4 lbs ground turkey or beef, 2 or 3 sweet potatoes, 1/4 tsp. salt and some brown rice.

This is what I bought

I have a big slow cooker that I use but this can be made on the stove as well. I washed and chopped the sweet potatoes with the skin on (I read that the skin is loaded with vitamins and fiber) and dropped them in the bottom of my slow cooker.

First layer in my slow cooker

Then I took my ground turkey and broke it up and put it the slow cooker too. You really do want to break the meat into smaller pieces because if you don’t it turns into a giant meat ball. I covered it all with water and added 1/4 tsp of salt.

We are ready to turn on the heat!

Because I use the slow cooker I can now turn this baby on and leave the house for a few hours. But if you do this on the stove you need to watch your pot very closely so it doesn’t boil over. In the slow cooker I usually cook it on high for 4 or 5 hours. When the cooking is finished I drain all the water out and start to mix the meat and potatoes with a big sturdy spoon or spatula. I basically make it into a big pile of mush. I add a couple of cups of cooked brown rice to it at the end. If I don’t have rice I’ll put in a can of green beans or mixed vegi’s. And that’s it, viola! Healthy dog food!

Home made dog food ready for storage.

I like to put my dog food in airtight containers. I keep some in the fridge and I freeze the rest for another day. It takes work to do this but it is worth it. My Beagle Snoopy has lost a couple of pounds (YAY, she isn’t obese anymore!) but most importantly she is healthier and more active than she’s been in a long time.

I’m really glad I changed her diet. It is something that I do for her on a regular basis that makes me feel like I’m really extending her life and good health. Good luck in the kitchen!! YOU can do this :0)

Thank you for reading!! ttyl~ mama

We all have someone special in our lives. Some of us are lucky enough to have several special someones. I am one of those people. I live with four animals; two cats and two dogs. One of my dogs is an elderly Beagle we named Snoopy and the other dog is a mutt we named Gracie. We also have two cats that we named Moon and Sky. Let me tell you a little bit about Moon.

This is Moon "walking" across our floor.

Moon was born this way. She has very weak hind legs and it seems like her knees bend in every direction. She also has minimal muscle mass. I’ve had cats before her, but have never seen anything like this. We took her to doctors and really can’t help her. Some people have recommended a special wheel chair but then she wouldn’t be able to get into her litter box. The truth is I don’t think she knows that she is deficient in any way. We have hardwood floors so she slides quite nicely all around the house. And in our home she is the pack leader. Our dogs respect her (Gracie fears her) and her sister Sky helps to groom her.

I love this cat with all my heart! I feel so lucky to be her human and receive her love on a daily basis. She is very selective as to who is permitted to pet her. And I’m one of her absolute favorites!

Here is Moon wondering why in the world she needed a bath. (Fleas)

My little Moon is so fragile that when she is soaking wet she can’t actually hold herself up. Her wet fur is too heavy for her. And believe me, she has a lot of fur!

I just wanted to share this because having a pet with a birth defect or handicap can be extremely rewarding. I speak from person experience. So if you’ve ever thought about adopting a pet, don’t shy away from the “less than perfect”. Because the LOVE you will share will be perfect enough.

Thanks for reading!

ttyl ~mama