Wellness Poultry Lovers Variety Pack from Chewy.com

This month, our friends at Chewy.com offered an entire case of canned Wellness Poultry Lovers Variety Pack. 

Who could turn that down? 

You may remember that I am blessed with at least one dog who is a picky eater and turns up his substantial nose at many foods. 

Usually, I'll set down his food and he'll eye it warily, pace around a bit, sniff it, wander away, and then only eat it when Dahlia comes close and says Hey, are you gonna eat that?

But he seemed to love this food! I set it down and he dug right in.

Seems like a good product too, with wholesome ingredients like meaty snacks, grains, sweet potatoes, and vitamin supplements.

I always get a little uneasy when I do a dog food product review and talk about the ingredients, because I can say wholesome and hearty all I want--the meaty parts were once living breathing animals I would have loved to know. 

Not eating meat myself has never been difficult, and I haven't missed it all these 27 years. But I think my pups would miss it. So I get all our kibble from the Petsmart dumpster so we're not supporting those industries (it ends up in there when the packaging is slightly damaged but the contents are perfect), and mix it up with canned food from Chewy, or sometimes scrambled free-range eggs and cheese, or sometimes tuna or veggies or whatever I'm eating. 

Its a funny place we're in, as animal lovers who especially love our dogs! But we do the best we can. 

Dahlia sure felt good about the canned food, and I can only assume she said a prayer for the chickens silently to herself. 

But then, Dahlia feels good about most things. Tomorrow maybe we'll share some broccoli and oatmeal. 

Thanks again Chewy for the high-quality deliciousness--and for offering a large selection of vegetarian options, which we'll be checking out!

Blue Buffalo Wilderness Bayou Blend and a Bit of Good News

Wednesday morning, as I was making ready to leave the campground in New Jersey where I was staying 

while I protested the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia 

(and even being interviewed by the AP, which actually covered the protests after engineering the coronation that motivated them), 






I was thinking about Marshal and feeling sad that I didn't try harder to give him another chance, somehow. So you can imagine my mixture of relief and anxiety when I got a call from Montgomery County Animal Services, saying he was still in quarantine. Apparently they try to do everything they can for dogs they take in, even under those circumstances. 

I don't want to think about it too much because he hasn't been evaluated yet, though he did get medical care. They said they were well-connected with rescues and would do their best, and I sent them everything I know about him including the kind of circumstances in which he could thrive and some of the thousands of pictures of him looking cute and happy. 

I'm going to try to avoid getting too involved as there's no way I can--I can't take him in, and the shelter doesn't need help with transport or calling rescues--and I'm going to just send Marshal love. 

So, if you can, please just send Marshal love.

Soon after returning from Texas and when I was worrying about Marshal, 

I had the opportunity to try a product from Chewy.com and I chose Blue Buffalo Wilderness Bayou Blend with Alligator & Catfish Grain-Free Canned Dog Food. Much as it freaks me out to think of feeding my dogs alligator, it seems to me most humane to feed animals that at least you know are raised wild and not in feedlots, and as far as I know there are no alligator feedlots. 

The other thing is that dogs seem to love wild, grain free food. Dahlia of course devoured it, 











and even picky Marshal and Fozzie were not too long in coming over to down some alligator and catfish. 











That stuff was gone pretty darn quick once those dogs stuck their maws down into those dishes.

Though I'm not one to trumpet animal-based foods of any kind, I have to say that these Blue Buffalo foods for dogs seem to be high quality and very enjoyable to the pups. 










And who knows, maybe if I ate those sort of things I'd eat alligator too. 

Right now I'm just going to think loving thoughts for the alligators, and for Marshal, and for all creatures, and pray that they all experience joy and fulfillment and freedom from suffering. 

This world is a tough place but its a lot better thanks to our animal friends, in all their complexity and beauty and ecological importance! Thanks Chewy.com for another great feeding experience, and thanks Montgomery County Animal Services for doing your best for Marshal. 

Evangers Nothing But Natural Freeze-Dried Beef Tripe Snacks: More evidence that I love my dogs

We've tried the Evanger's Freeze dried treats in different flavors before and the dogs loved them. 


I've heard from Raw Food aficionados and people who make their dogs home-cooked (or uncooked) meals themselves that green tripe is a really good thing to give them but I've never had the GUTS, so to speak, to try it, so I figured this was a good opportunity. 

Upon first opening the container, I already knew they would be a hit with the dogs as it is a well-known fact that the more horrifying something is to humans, the more appealing it will be to dogs. 




Beef tripe treats are little bits of fatty tissue congealed with what seems like the partially digested contents of a cow's digestive system, and smells about like you'd expect.

One whiff of that and the dogs were ready to do anything. 

They were so excited about the whole thing it was hard not to feel a little excited along with them, 

though I was distracted by the difficulty of functioning while I was holding my breath.

I tried to be a bit creative about getting them to work for their food. 

Fozzie has been with us for six years now, and we've done so much treat training that he is an old hand at trying creative behaviors to earn a treat. 

Marshal goes for the more direct approach to get what he wants. 

But its good for a shy dog's personality to gain confidence through trying new things. 

 

Well, that was fun guys. After all, my distress is as nothing when compared with your satisfaction and well-being.

Thanks, Chewy.com for letting us try something new!

Learning to Sit with True Chews Premium Jerky Cuts from Chewy.com

Marshal's been with us about two weeks now, and for much of that time I've been trying to teach him to sit. 

I tried a group sit with Fozzie and Dahlia, and he would just watch them sit and remain standing. 

I tried some intensive efforts just trying to lure his head up with a really good treat in my hand, and he stood on his hind legs to reach it.  

I rewarded that as Stand is one of my favorite tricks, but then I thought it was stupid to teach him to Stand before he learned to sit as many adopters might not be thrilled at that skill set absent the more sedate ones. 








I was a bit stymied by the difficulty for Marshal of learning Sit, as it is such a great building block for impulse control exercises--and an important position for the most appealing profile pictures. I think sometimes shy dogs are slower to learn tricks and skills because--just as in humans--their insecurity gets in the way of advanced cognitive function.  


Then Chewy.com offered a series of free snacks including True Chews Premium Jerky Cuts with Real Chicken.








These are high-value jerky snacks with few ingredients and no sugar. They are chewy jerky snacks, easy to give as a larger chew or to break up into small pieces for training treats. Maybe a really good treat would provide the motivation Marshal needed?

I rounded everyone up in the kitchen with a handful of True Chews bits. The dogs seemed very aware that I had high-value treats in hand, as they followed me with their eyes and noses. And as my hand went up in the signal for sit, Dahlia's little butt immediately went down--and Marshal's did too!

Maybe he'd been watching Dahlia all along, and saving up his performance for maximum impact. Or maybe he was insecure about giving it a try, and the high-value treat made him all of a sudden feel successful. Either way, Marshal executed several high-quality sits in exchange for some high-value True Chews.

Thanks again Chewy.com! Now let's see if those beautiful sits can attract the perfect adopter. 

Honest Kitchen Catfish Treats from Chewy.com

This month, Chewy.com was kind enough to supply our busy household with not one but TWO free stashes of tasty treats. 


In addition to the outstanding US Hide Natural Rawhide Chips, we chose Beams Pure Iceland Catfish Skin Sticks from the Honest Kitchen. These are made from wild-caught Atlantic catfish, which if you are concerned, as I am, with whether the animals that went into your dog snacks were raised humanely, is an improvement over cows, chickens, and pigs that come from slaughterhouses. 

As every lover of dogs and their diversions knows, there are three basic classes of treats. There are dry biscuits, not much more exciting than kibble but good for a late-nite snack when dogs are still hungry and you don't feel like dishing out more kibble. 

There are training treats, high-value for motivation and in small pieces for rapidity of chowing down. 

And there are long-lasting chews to get your dog through times without you, or get YOU through evenings when your dog would be madly humping your leg if you didn't thrust something in her mouth to keep her occupied. 

And I wasn't sure which of the latter two these catfish skin snacks would be. 

Turns out these sticks are large for training treats and more substantial. 












I also learned that pure catfish skin is rather thick and sturdy, and not amenable to breaking into bite-size pieces.  

No, these treats are best distributed whole so your dog can enjoy their savory, chewy texture and catfish-like flavor. 

The dogs loved them. No surprise, as this is the case with pretty much every single-ingredient snack we've tried and particularly with treats that involve dehydrated fish. 








Another winner from Chewy.com! I would highly recommend these high-value snacks, particularly for picky eaters, conscientious shoppers, and any occasion where a high-value, slightly long-lasting chew is called for. 

U.S. Hide Natural Rawhide Chips from Chewy.com

On mornings when I work at my office in DC, I like to leave my dogs something engaging to chew on. 



Most treats will probably be gone within 30 seconds of my exiting the door, but it eases my mind a bit to know that at least they're engaged during those difficult moments when I have to tear myself away from their precious faces and set off on my long, lonely journey into the city, where I will win provisions for another day. 

Because I am an evil irresponsible dog-hating Neanderthal monster, one of my favorite chews to give my dogs is rawhide. It keeps them busy for a while, and they absolutely love it. 

Of course, according to recent reports it is also bleached, full of toxic chemicals, made in China, and has a high likelihood of making them die a horrible agonizing death at any moment.

So imagine my delight at finding that Chewy.com had on offer a rawhide from grass-fed, U.S. cows that is made in the U.S. with no bleach or formaldehyde!








You better believe I snatched up some of those U.S. Hide Natural Rawhide Chips and gave one to each dog as I left them for a full day at work, with not a care

in the world weighing down my shoulders.


















You can bet I felt not a hint of guilt as I saw them take the translucent, wholesome-looking chip gently in their mouths,

then look at it thoughtfully for a moment as they contemplated the freshness they were about to enjoy. 













You might well imagine that there was even a hint of self-satisfaction in my demeanor as I distributed these U.S. made rawhide chews, 

and thought of what a good dog mom I am to provide such healthy, natural treats for my family. 










And you would be correct.

Thanks Chewy.com for making me feel justifiably smug vis a vis the chews I give my dogs. 

Evanger's Nothing but Natural Beef Liver Freeze-Dried Treats from Chewy.com

When I choose a treat to test drive from Chewy.com's monthly sampling, I always try to select a high-value snack that will be useful for a range of training applications. 

This month, I may have gone a bit too far in the high-value department. 

The freeze-dried, single-ingredient treats seem to go over really well. And why not? It's not like wild dogs, dingoes, wolves, coyotes, and other canids are going to mix up treats made of meat by-products, bone meal, mono-and diglycerides, and high-fructose corn syrup when left to their own devices. 

So I ordered Evanger's Nothing but Natural Beef Liver Freeze-Dried Treats, and thought about what activities we could do to test whether my dogs really loved these snacks. 






I predicted they would, as they really look as advertised--nothing but perfectly training-treat-sized morsels of freeze-dried beef liver.

Should we do some agility and pilates tricks? Or maybe try some reactive dog training?

As it turned out, my dogs saved me some trouble. I came home one day to this scene.

I guess they were pretty good!

I'm kind of bummed I didn't get the chance to watch them enjoy these delicious snacks, but I'm glad they got to enjoy them in my absence. Thanks Chewy.com!

Dogswell Vitality Treats from Chewy.com

We just love these monthly deliveries of high-quality snacks from Chewy.com. 



This month did not disappoint with Dogswell Vitality Chicken Strips.










I decided to see if they could be used to interrupt a hard-core wrestling, romping, tugging session between Fozzie and Dahlia.

This time, there was a distant thunderstorm as they wrestled 

so Fozzie was extra anxious and intent on channeling his anxiety through chewing on Dahlia. 












Would they even notice when I dangled a tasty snack in front of their foaming, frothy gurgling little mouths?

The answer is yes. These limited ingredient, chewy strips are so savory that those dogs disengaged from their idiotic game and were all ears and noses the minute they caught a whiff of their gluten-free, flaxseed-flavored goodness. 

And after enjoying a few, they seemed a lot less anxious! Thanks Chewy.com for helping us get through another stormy night!

Talk about High-Value Treats: Rocco and Roxie Beef Liver Dog Treats from Chewy.com

Having sampled quite a few of the treats on monthly offer from Chewy.com, 



I've come to realize that the best treats are often the ones made of the fewest ingredients. So I was excited to try Rocco & Roxie Supply Co. Gourmet Beef Liver Dog Treats. 

They come in a generous 16 oz bag, and are made only of beef liver that has been slow-smoked for 15 hours. 













I was not expecting this, but they are hard and crispy though they can be broken easily into small bites appropriate for training.

And let me tell you, training is a breeze with these treats. 











They are apparently so high-value that the dogs were falling all over themselves trying to con me into serving them up. 

Fozzie readily launched up into a supported stand with front paws on my arm. 

Dahlia was happily doing a prison crawl, and front paws were offering shakes all over the place. 

Sits happened in a snap.
















And for what I think is the first time, Fozzie offered an enthusiastic Roll Over, almost without even being asked to.  

They were just trying anything to get their hot mouths around these snacks. 


That is, until the excitement got to be too much for Fozzie and the whole thing just degenerated into humping. 












 
Which is a not uncommon outcome for our training sessions, and perfectly understandable when you consider just how exciting these treats were. 

I also have been using them on walks, where I can sometimes interrupt Fozzie mid-lunge when he sees another dog just by sticking one of these in his face. No pictures, because you try holding a camera when you've got an 85-pound lunger and a 40-pound humper in one hand, and a smoked liver snack in the other hand. But it really shows you the power of high-value treats in training difficult tasks!

Thanks Chewy.com, for some absolutely mind-blowing treats!