Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Sock Thief!


Phoenix's most favorite thing to do is play with my socks. She knows exactly what the word "sock" means and she can find all the lost socks in the house if you ask her where the socks are. She totally cracks me up!

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Not Posing, Not Looking At You!

"Nope, not gonna!!!"

Hey everyone! Sorry for the sporadic posts! We have so much going on right now! Hopefully I'll be able to tell you all about it soon! I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Saturday, August 27, 2016

The Girl with the Green Lamps! Caturday!


My cats tend to really enjoy photobombing the dogs when we do photoshoots. This was a great opportunity to get nice photos of Pandora. Pandora's eyes are green but they don't always photograph well.

The Girl with the Green Lamps!

Pandora is probably the best kitty I've ever had. She's sweet and cuddly. It's fun to feature her once in a while on the blog! 

Happy Caturday!

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Phoenix's Balancing Act!


One of my favorite things about Phoenix is that she will try anything for me. 


We have not done any parkour or balance work in a long time! 


She did so well! I can't believe she was able to get all four paws up on this tiny bar! She's such an awesome little dog!

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Weruva Caloric Harmony Dog Food! A Chewy Review!


Hi everyone! It's that time again for our monthly chewy.com review! Chewy.com is one of our favorite companies! They ship all of your favorite pet products right to your door! Chewy has amazing customer service and their shipping is incredibly fast. We received our food as part of the chewy.com blogger program in exchange for an honest review.


Zoe and Phoenix are fed a rotational diet of high quality kibble and some raw. This month I could not pass up the opportunity to try Weruva Caloric Harmony dry dog food. I've heard some awesome things about this brand and they get a 5 Star Rating on Dog Food Advisor! We got the Chicken and Pumpkin formula.



Weruva Caloric Harmony food is an awesome choice for pups who have sensitive digestive tracts. The food does not contain any grain or potatoes. Weruva is carnivore friendly, using protein as the major calorie source but has low glycemic ingredients that keep your dog feeling fuller for a longer period of time. This is a great food for those dogs who need to maintain or lose some weight. My dogs are in the normal weight rage but they do get a lot of training treats, weight is always a concern for us, so this is a awesome food for them to be on. 


  • Grain-free and potato-free
  • Fresh, cage-free deboned chicken
  • Low fat and ash
  • Pumpkin promotes healthy digestion
  • Low glycemic index for energy that lasts
  • No artificial flavors or preservatives
  • Formulated for all life stages
  • Salmon oil keeps skin and coats healthy




Ingredients Include: De-Boned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Lentils, Chickpeas, Green Peas, Split Peas, Pumpkin, Whole Eggs, Chicken Fat (Stabilized with Mixed Tocopherols), Chicken Cartilage, Salmon Oil, Natural Flavors, Tomato Pomace, Apple Pomace, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Calcium Phosphate, Dried Seaweed Meal, Salt, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate, Carotene, Inositol, Niacin, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Phylloquinone), Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Iron Proteinate, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Selenium Yeast, Calcium Iodate), Choline Chloride, Taurine, Dried Aspergillus Oryzae Fermentation Extract, Dried Trichoderma Longibrachiatum Fermentation Extract, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Rosemary Extract.


Zoe and Phoenix both really liked this food! They had no tummy issues from trying it and they did really well on it. I would definitely get this food again and I would recommend checking Weruva out!

ZoePhee received a bag of Weruva Dog Food from chewy.com in exchange for an honest review. We were not monetarily compensated and all opinions are my own. Chewy.com is not responsible for the content of this blog post.  

Monday, August 22, 2016

Poisonous Water Hemlock! Beware When Hiking!

Phoenix poses next to the Water Hemlock

I'm in a bunch dog facebook groups and recently there was a post about a dog who went hiking and accidentally ate Water Hemlock. The dog unfortunately passed away about an hour after ingesting it because the plant is highly toxic! This really concerned me because my dogs are big grass eaters and we are out hiking a lot.


After doing some research, I found that Water Hemlock is extremely common in the Pacific Northwest, although it can grow wherever the ground is moist. It's often found by water but not always. It's pretty much everywhere! I've found it all over our neighborhood and at all of the parks we go to. It was shocking to me that I've lived here for a while and never heard about this before.


Since I have not seen this topic come up, I decided that I should let everyone else know about it! If you're hiking be on the look out for this plant and don't let your dogs eat it! We will definitely be more cautious! The girls love grass so much but this is too scary to ignore!

Have you ever seen this plant before?

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Me and My Shadow!


Zoe is on the Roof Top, Top of the World! This is the very top of Mt. Tabor and it overlooks the city of Portland!

Friday, August 19, 2016

Hiking Mt. Tabor!


We recently went hiking over at Mt. Tabor, it's an old dormant volcano that overlooks Portland. They've turned it into a really nice park and it also has a bunch of reservoirs that house most of the city's water supply.


It's a volcano/mountain so there are a lot of stairs to climb! We generally park about half way up and then we can either go down or up and it's not that big of a deal to get back to the car after we've worn ourselves out.


We had a good time but the day was filled with a lot of frustration. I've honestly never seen so many illegal off leash dogs at one time in one place in my life. We saw around 15 off leash dogs!!! It was absolutely insane. I would of called them in but I don't think the city patrols on Sundays.


Even though it was very frustrating and a bunch of dogs did end up running up to us, Phoenix did so awesome! She didn't get snarky at all. She was so good and I was really happy with how relaxed she was.

I really like Mt. Tabor, it's a beautiful park with gorgeous views of the city and I would go again, I just really wish the city would patrol on the weekends! 


Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Zoe's 5th Gotcha Birthday!


It's Zoe's 5th Gotcha Day!!! I know I say this every year but I seriously can't believe I've had this dog for 5 years! Time flies when you're having fun, I guess!


Happy Gotcha Day, Zoe!

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

High Protein Biscuits from Brothers Complete!


Hey everyone! I hope you're all having a fantastic day! Today we are reviewing some awesome biscuits from one of my favorite companies: Brothers Complete. Brothers Complete is a small, family-owned company that makes a variety of different dog foods and treats. They cater to dogs who might suffer from food sensitivities. We did a review for Brothers Complete in the past and my dogs loved absolutely everything they sent us, so I was super excited when I was asked if my dogs would like to try their new high protein biscuits. Brothers Complete receives a 5 star rating on Dog Food Advisor and I highly recommend checking them out! We received our biscuits in exchange for an honest review.


Brothers Complete offers four varieties of biscuits: Lamb, Chicken, Turkey and Venison.
 
I really like that they offer different protein sources. It's definitely helpful if your pup has food sensitivity to be able to pick a protein that does not bother them. One of the awesome things about these new high protein biscuits is that they are balanced and a complete source of nutrition. These biscuits are high quality, healthy and my dogs think they are delicious!

These biscuits do not contain any corn, wheat, grain, white and sweet potatoes, soy or sugar. They are full of high quality, animal sourced protein.

Phoenix tries the lamb biscuits!

Zoe tries the turkey biscuits!

Brothers Complete has a unique formula, the biscuits contain up to four times the protein of regular treats and because they are completely balanced they are great for dogs who have sensitive GI tracts. These biscuits are made from the same quality ingredients that are in the Brothers Complete diets so I don't have to worry about my dogs eating junk food for treats. They are healthy but have the same great taste that my dogs love! I think it's really wonderful that Brothers Complete has gone to such lengths to make sure their treats agree with all dogs, especially those who have specific dietary requirements or sensitive systems.

"Waiting sucks! Can I eat these yet!?"

Both of my dogs love these biscuits! Zoe was actually a little sad that I was making her wait to eat them for photos! It was really hard to get any pictures of them eating these because they loved them so much! The biscuits are a great size, smell good, break apart easily and are made with super high quality ingredients. You can't go wrong with that! I would totally get these again.

I was really impressed with Brothers Complete the last time I worked with them and I still feel the same way! They are an awesome company and I always enjoy my time with them. They have top notch customer service and high quality products. I would highly recommend checking them out!

ZoePhee received biscuits from Brothers Complete in exchange for an honest review. We were not monetarily compensated and all thoughts and opinions are my own! Brothers Complete is not responsible for the content of this blog post.


Sunday, August 14, 2016

Let's Go Swimming!


Phoenix has really started to love swimming! Every time we find a creek she wants to go in! I think it's so awesome that we've found something she loves to do! She posed for this photo without being prompted, too!

Do your dogs like playing in the water?

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Lazy Lobster Sunday!


Phoenix was really tired after a long hike and swimming! Her lobster makes a good pillow!

Monday, August 1, 2016

Playing Pokemon Go while Training Dogs!


Hi everyone! Long time, no talk! I know it's been a while and for that I apologize. I sort of ran out of words and have had some other things going on that have really kept me from blogging. The girls have been great and we have been doing some "unconventional training" which is also the theme for this months Positive Pet Training Blog hop!


With the launch of Pokemon Go, a lot of people have been playing it and we are no different. The original games were my favorite video games growing up and it's been so much fun for both myself and my husband to get back into it. If you have not heard about Pokemon Go, it's a game on smart phones that has people out walking and looking for Pokemon, basically "pocket monsters". This game is very similar to geocaching! As you walk along, a Pokemon will pop up and you're supposed to catch it with Pokeballs. There are Pokestops that are on landmarks all around the neighborhood where you get Pokeballs and other things like Eggs which you have to walk a certain amount of distance to hatch. Then there are the gym battles, which are super fun too. I actually became a gym leader and held a gym overnight before another team took it over.

What does Pokemon Go have to do with dog training, you ask? I'll get to it, I promise.


There are so many benefits to playing Pokemon Go and one of the major ones is that we are getting out more as a family and to different places! Since we started playing the game, my husband has joined us on every single evening dog walk. He's even been walking the girls on his own when I'm at work. The dogs love their dad so it's been awesome that this game has motivated him to walk them more. Zoe and Phoenix are getting more walks and longer ones. We've had so much fun exploring our neighborhood and it's nice to have my husband with us. Not only are the dogs getting more walks, they are also getting more training and more socialization.

Those of you who have been following me for a while probably know that I don't like training loose leash walking, it's tedious and can get boring. Playing Pokemon Go has motivated me to work on it more and has made it a lot easier for me do it. Even my husband has been willing to help out! He has been walking Zoe and following my loose leash walking rules. We are wandering around looking for Pokemon and looking at the cool landmarks the game has and I'm not focused on "just getting the walk over with" or "hurrying from point A to point B". I generally use the "be a tree" method and "turn around method" for leash walking. Playing this game has helped me because I'm not focused on how annoying and tedious it is to stop every single time someone puts tension on the leash, we are taking our time. I'm finding that I'm not as aggravated and I actually do want to work on leash training. Both of my dogs are doing awesome and their leash skills have greatly improved in the past two weeks.

Phoenix has made some new human friends and it's been awesome to take her out because people are more focused on playing the game than staring at her and it's not intimidating for her. She's even allowed a few people to pet her and she's happy to greet anyone who wants to say hi. She even met a nice lady who was driving a motorized wheel chair. We have also come across a few dogs and it's given me a huge opportunity to work on counter conditioning and practicing our escape training.


We've been working on a lot of "stays" and impulse control while we're out playing the game. I love posing the girls with all the interesting things we've found and taking their photos. One way I've incorporated stays is that when a pokemon pops up, the girls are asked to sit while I catch it. Any time we stop we ask them to sit and wait. When we go to battle a gym, we have the dogs do down stays. Zoe is the worst at waiting and she's pretty impatient so this sort of game is really helpful and it's been fun coming up with a training plan for her that utilizes the game.

I've also used the game to work on separation training because Phoenix does not like it when she's separated from Zoe. So I will often have my husband wander off a ways with Zoe while I work with Phoenix. Short periods of separation have really helped her to become more relaxed when Zoe does leave. Then when Zoe is on her way back to us, I work on keeping Phoenix calm and focused on me. It's really helped her to feel better about Zoe going off and she's getting impulse control training when Zoe comes back.

We've been having a lot of fun, Pokemon Go has gotten the whole family out together. I think it's a really awesome game to play and it's super easy to incorporate dog training in while I play. The dogs have really been enjoying their extra walks and attention. I've even heard stories about how animal shelters are taking advantage of the game and people are volunteering more to walk dogs for them. I've also heard stories about how people playing Pokemon Go were able to rescue some abandoned animals. I know there are also some stories out there of people being really dumb but I think that's going to happen with anything. If your dog is fairly decent on leash and doesn't bark and lunge at things, I think Pokemon Go is a great game to play on walks and it's very easy to incorporate dog training into it while you play.

Are you playing Pokemon Go? What team are you on? I'm on team Mystic and my husband is on Team Valor!