I am so excited to share this amazing, wonderful smelling dog shampoo with you! It contains amazing ingredients that are great for dogs with sensitive skin and all types of hair.
Read MoreHow To Create A Halloween BOO Kit (A Dog Gift Basket for Halloween) PLUS 2 DIY Dog Toys
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser, Mars, Incorporated. All opinions are mine alone. #BOOItForward #PawfectBOO #CollectiveBias
So excited to present you with an adorable Halloween Gift Basket, that can be made with a few simple materials, and then given to someone as a surprise. This is all about gifting a fun, dog-related gift basket and then secretly giving it to someone who deserves it. The person I chose to gift mine to is our long-time family veterinarian, Dr. Tally at Central Hospital for Animals here in Carbondale, IL.
ADD THESE ITEMS TO YOUR BOO KIT BASKET
American Greetings® has a great selection of Halloween Items like treat/candy bags, stickers, tissue paper, gift bags, and Halloween Cards. These would make for adorable and thoughtful additions to fill any BOO Kit Gift Basket!
MY LITTLE HELPER, PORTER
Of course, my little chocolate Labradoodle and Chocolate Lab wanted to help with absolutely every step of this Halloween Boo Basket. They helped me make the toys, and Porter sat still for about 1 minute to help me shoot s few adorable puppy pics :) She just turned 10 weeks and she follows me everywhere.
DIY MUMMY GIFT BASKET
MUMMY BASKET HOW TO:
1.) Cut cheesecloth (also called creepy cloth) into 2" strips lengthwise.
2.) Wrap 2-3 strips around the basket and secure with glue in back.
3.) Cut out eyes from the sparkle foam. You will see that I simply cut two ovals out of the white one, then black pupils from the black foam. Glue the eyes to the front of the basket.
4.) Wrap and glue 2-3 more strips of cheesecloth around the basket, making sure to overlap the eyes just a little bit.
5.) Now, you are ready to fill your basket with all sorts of good things! Read on to learn about 2 Dog Toy DIY's, that are so easy!
DIY HALLOWEEN DOG TOY #1
These toys are simple, but my pups really love them. The fleece also cleans their teeth, and this toy gives dogs a really safe toy to play tug with since it's so soft. Here's how to make them:
1.) Cut 3 strips of fleece (any combo of 1-3 colors will do), and stretch the pieces as long as they will stretch.
2.) Tie the 3 pieces of fleece together at the top, and use a clip board to hold the pieces, or ask a friend to hold the pieces while you braid them.
3.) Braid the pieces together, and tie the end up so the braid doesn't come loose. That's it!
DIY HALLOWEEN DOG TOY #2
This simple dog toy requires only two materials - 2 tennis balls, and 2 Halloween Socks. Dogs LOVE these toys so much! Make sure to use supervision when allowing a dog to play with any toy.
SHOPPING FOR BOO KIT SUPPLIES
I found the majority of the materials in this BOO Kit at Walmart. The MARS Pet supplies are all located in the Pet Care aisle at Walmart. I found these items, below, that I added to my BOO Kit.
- PEDIGREE® DENTASTIX™ Fresh Treats Small/ Medium (Doggie Dental Area)
- PEDIGREE® MARROBONE™ Real Beef Flavor Treats Mini (Dog Treats Area)
- CESAR® SAVORY DELIGHTS® ROTISSERIE CHICKEN FLAVOR WITH BACON & CHEESE (In the soft dog food area).
GIFTING THE BOO KIT
I decided to surprise my vet with this fun BOO Kit! I am sure she is going to LOVE it! Who will you surprise with the BOO Kit you create? Please tell me in the links below, and if you make your own BOO Kit, then also share that link too :)
Puppy Updates! And a Serta Dog Bed Review
Porter turned 9 weeks this past Tuesday, and she is doing so well! She gets so warm when she sleeps that she has taken a liking to our A/C vents. She still loves to bite, but we have been working diligently with her to make sure she knows that biting is not good. I read that if puppies are biting a lot, you can kind of let out a yelp, and walk away from them, and almost immediately, they will realize that they did something wrong. It is really working well. I also like that the bed has a lot of support because of the couch design, and it seems to be extremely comfortable for them. They both fit in the bed, actually :) Really happy with this purchase!
I got her this awesome dog bed recently, too. It's the Serta Deluxe Couch Pet Bed, and I got it over the Serta Deluxe Cudler, because I thought she could grown into it. The Delux Cudler seems amazing for dogs around 45 lbs and under. Well, our Cabbie, who's is a full-blooded Chocolate Lab even fits in this bed we got! I know this bed is going to last for a vey long time, and also keep its shape. It's not memory foam, but there is a super thick piece of egg crate foam that you can unzip the bottom part, and just remove the foam, wash the pieces, and put is all back together.
Her hair is also getting so long, and she loves going on walks. The weather has been like 95% humidity in the 90s, but very, very soon, (like tomorrow), it's supposed to be getting cooler.
Also, we shot this photo of her a couple of weeks ago, but she has really grown SO much since even this photo! I will add more updates soon :) Porter will be helping me on a Halloween photo project soon too. Looking forward to sharing!!
We Got A Puppy!
We have been wanting to add a puppy to our household for a while now. We lost our dear, sweet Lily a little over a year ago, August 19th, and ever since then, our Chocolate Lab, Cabbie has been a bit lonely. It was alright with only one dog for a while, but we figured this was the very best time to introduce a puppy into our lives, because Cabbie needed a playmate! Last Tuesday, August 16th, we took a little road trip and picked up our NEW PUPPY, Porter!
We already had her name picked out, I was determined that I wanted a dog the same color as Cabbie. Porter, named after the style of dark beer, seemed perfect! It really took Cabbie a few days to get used to the puppy. Cabbie didn't really want much of anything to do with her at first. But, Bobby's mom came to visit us and meet the puppy pretty quickly, and Cabbie has been extremely interested in Porter ever since!
We of course, had to start an Instagram account for her, @TheImperialPorter :) It's going to be so fun watching her grow!
Currently, she is about 10 pounds, loves biting a LOT (which we are discouraging), is extremely good about telling us when she need to go out, and sleeps just as hard as she plays. She prefers lying on our pillows against the wall, and hates being disturbed while sleeping. Such a particular little girl who seems to always get her way She reminds me of a little living stuffed animal, and is extremely soft! I just love her crested fur on her head and curly tail, making her poodle qualities show way more than I could have expected! Cabbie is going to be a wonderful teacher for Porter, and we are so happy we have completed our little family once again!
Ugly Christmas Sweater Dog Bandana - DIY Tutorial
Looking for a last minute way to get festive this holiday season? Dress your pup in something cute and quirky. This is my take on the Ugly Christmas Sweater, but updated. Cabbie actually loved this bandana!
MATERIALS:
Solid Colored Bandana (or solid colored square of fabric that fits your dog), Sparkly Felt, Tacky Glue or Fabric Glue, Sparkly and Solid Colored Puffy Paint, Other Holiday Embellishments (I used mini flat-backed ornaments), This Template (Here), Scissors, Permanent Marker, Computer and Printer. NOTE: You can also draw your own shapes.
Cut out the paper shapes you want to use. Then, trace them onto the back of the felt.
Iron the bandana, and position the shapes and other adornments around so they create a cool design. ** Place a newspaper between the folded bandana to catch glue! Glue the pieces down, and wait about 30 minutes to an hour for pieces to be secure.
Now, get out your puffy paint and outline the edges of the felt shapes. Get as creative as you want with this project, I really had a lot of fun!
Happy Holidays from Cabbie The Chocolate Lab and Lily The Wandering Gypsy! XOXO!
A Special Treat For Your Furry Friends! Organic Pumpkin Oatmeal Dog Treats Recipe
These treats were a real hit with my little Chocolate Lab, Cabbie. We always try to make sure we only give our dog the very best. Whether it be food, we give her Solid Gold Barking At The Moon, or what treats she gets, it is always the best we can possibly get. I was checking out different dog treat recipes, and came across this one. I love how it has only all-natural ingredients and does not contain chicken broth, salt, or sugar - these were much more mild for her tummy.
Cabbie helped me with EVERY step of this project. She absolutely loves these treats!
INGREDIENTS:
- 3 cups oats
- ½ cup peanut butter
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 eggs
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Place the oatmeal into a food processor and pulse it until it's not so coarse, but it doesn't need to be a fine as flour.
- Add oatmeal, pumpkin, peanut butter cinnamon baking powder and eggs to bowl on mixer and blend on medium until it's all mixed.
- Roll out with a little flour and cut with cookie cutters.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
- Cool on rack until completely cooled.
- Place in airtight container to keep them fresh, or in the freezer. I keep them in the freezer, they don't freeze solid as there is little liquid. This is important!!!
