Thursday, May 25, 2017

Nature's Logic Review!

"I'm hungry! Let's Eat!"

Hi everyone! I hope you're all having a fantastic day! Today I have a dog food review for you. We were excited when Nature's Logic asked us to try their food. I've heard wonderful things about this company. We actually tried a few samples of the food a few months ago when Zoe wasn't feeling well and it was the only thing we could get her to eat.

Nature's Logic is a company that provides pet owners with a variety of top notch pet foods, treats and supplements. They were founded in 2006 by Scott Freeman. Scott wanted to develop a pet food that focused on the benefits of whole food nutrition without using added synthetic supplements that other food companies use. Since nothing like this had ever been created, Scott sent the food for AAFCO feeding trials to have them substantiated for All Life Stages. They passed with flying colors. The ultimate goal of Nature’s Logic is to provide the most nutritious and safest product that people can feel good about feeding their canine and feline family.



All of food from Nature's Logic are 100% natural and free of common allergens. There are no synthetic vitamins or minerals.

Nature's Logic receives a 5 Star rating from Dog Food Advisor


Nature’s Logic Canine Venison Meal Feast is a blend of Venison meal from New Zealand combined with Nature Logic's concentrate of dried vegetables and fruits. It’s ideal for dogs of all ages, sizes, and breeds.


Nature’s Logic Canine Rabbit Meal Feast is a blend of rabbit meal from European-raised rabbits combined with Nature Logic's exclusive concentrate of dried vegetables and fruits. It’s ideal for dogs of all ages, sizes, and breeds.


Both of the dogs really enjoyed the food we tried from Nature's Logic, even Zoe, who is super picky! They both did really well on the food. I really like that the food is all natural and doesn't contain any synthetic vitamins or minerals. I'm really happy with how the dogs did on it and we will definitely be getting this food again. I would recommend checking them out! 

ZoePhee was provided with samples of Nature's Logic dog food in exchange for an honest review. We were not monetarily compensated and all opinions are my own!


 

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Phoenix Does The Tunnel! Training Tuesday


Things are going a lot better the past two weeks at work with Phoenix. We have only had one new dog join the group and she's getting along okay with him. She also learned a new skill this week: Going through the tunnel! 

A post shared by Lauren Miller (@zoepheedogs) on

A few years ago, there was no way she would do this. I'm pretty happy with her progress. She's doing really well and she's such a good girl. She's trying really hard to figure out how to dog with other dogs. 


Phoenix's favorite friend from work is Percy, the border collie. We spent some time last week doing agility with all the dogs. They got to do the jump, tunnel and our pause table.


A post shared by Lauren Miller (@zoepheedogs) on

As you can see they really like all the training they get to do!

Saturday, May 20, 2017

To The Woman Who Hates Dog Harnesses


This morning I got a pretty hateful comment on one of my old reviews for some leashes. The comment was in regards to my dogs wearing harnesses:

"oh god... harnesses.. great way to teach your dogs to pull are you too stupid to actually train your dogs to walk CORRECTLY on a collar?!?!?!?"

Usually I don't feed the trolls but today I decided I wanted to talk about this, since there's a huge misconception about harnesses.

Harnesses DO NOT teach dogs to pull on leash. Humans teach their dogs to pull on leash by not teaching them what they would like them to do instead of pulling. It can also be an impulse control issue as well. A "back clipping" harness **can** give a dog more leverage to pull if they have not been trained and the dog can be more easily reinforced for pulling because the owners might have less control. This is a training issue. It's NOT about what sort of gear you choose. Dogs can pull in any sort of gear at any time, even aversive equipment.

Now let's address the "too stupid" part. It is actually much more challenging to train a dog to walk nicely on a harness than it is a collar and if I can train a dog to walk politely in a back clipping harness, surely I can teach a dog to walk nicely with the leash attached to collar. My dogs can and do walk nicely in their collars all the time and I spend several nights a week helping other owners to achieve this as well, you know... at the dog training facility, where I work...

I **choose** to use harnesses on my dogs because I feel they are safer and more comfortable for the dog to wear. If a squirrel were to run across our path and they do lunge for it, their necks and tracheas are protected. Even the most well trained dogs might go for a squirrel or something and I'd rather the dogs not hurt their necks. I think a harness can be a great piece of equipment to use on a dog, especially for hiking and other outdoor adventures and we will continue to use ours.

We are product testers and I am fully aware the harness on Phoenix does not fit her very well. I didn't feel like bringing her home, putting a different one on her and re-filming.


For further reading about harnesses you can check out my friend Emily's post here:

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask. 

Friday, May 19, 2017

The Best Gear for ALL of Your Adventures! Giveaway!


It's that time of year again! Spring and Summer fun with dogs! 

 

Goodbye winter! Hello fun activities! No matter what you're choosing to do, whether you'll be hiking or maybe taking a new training class, I have a gear recommendation for you! Zoe and Phoenix absolutely love going on new adventures, hiking trips and exploring the great outdoors and we always have a blast testing out gear. We only share products that we completely believe in.

Hurtta is one of our favorite companies, they have been producing top notch dog gear for the last 20 years! They offer a variety of different items from amazing dog coats to cooling coats, boots, life jackets, harnesses, leashes, collars. You name it and Hurtta probably has it. One of my favorite things about Hurtta as a company is that they are constantly testing and improving the quality of their products.

When we go on our outdoor adventures or training classes with Zoe and Phoenix, the first thing I always pack is their harnesses. I prefer training and walking my dogs with their leashes attached to a harness and I feel that harnesses are the best way to keep dogs safe in the outdoors or challenging conditions. 

Phoenix practicing "Treibball" wearing her Y2 Harness and a long line for safety!

Attaching a leash to the collar could be harmful to a dog's neck if they were to see something and suddenly jerk on the leash, not to mention the added pressure on their necks can cause some dogs to become reactive or stressed. (For more information why you shouldn't attach a leash to your dog's collar, please see this article: "Is it harmful to attach a leash to your dog's neck?" by Emily Larlham)

We generally only use our collars for their tags, quick potty trips out in our yard or when we go on our off leash hikes, where the leash is only attached to the collar from the car right to the trail and then they are taken off the leash.





The Padded Y and Padded Y2 Harnesses are my favorite harnesses from the Hurtta line. These harnesses are great for walks, hikes and dog sports of all kinds! This harness is also great for dogs who may suffer from neck or back issues, if the dog happens to pull on the leash, the close-fitting harness distributes pressure evenly across the chest, preventing damage to the dog’s vertebrae and trachea. These harnesses are padded with neoprene, they are light weight and so comfortable for the dogs to wear. They do not cause any rubbing of the fur or skin. The harnesses are easy and quick to put on and my dogs have never had a problem adjusting to wearing them.

The Padded Y2 Harness is a little different from the original design, it has an O ring in the front and a longer strap on the back. I really like the updated design and I like that I could attach a leash to the front of the harness on the chest if I needed to. Both of these harness styles are excellent. The Y2 does run a little bigger than the original so if you're upgrading you might want to get one size smaller than the original Y that you had.

These harnesses have one point of adjustment so measuring carefully is important. The chest measurement is the most important one, from my experience.





The Active Harness is a great harness for any adventurous dog! This is my favorite one for hiking trips. This harness is sturdy, padded and has 4 points of adjustment. It's a little more heavier duty than the previous harnesses. The back has a handle that is comfortable to hold on to. I really love this harness and use it on narrow trails or when we go hiking where there might be sharp cliffs. It makes me feel like I'm keeping my dogs safe in those kinds of situations. I also like the added handle that I can hold on to when we pass other hikers. The handle is also useful for keeping dogs secure in vehicles.



The Padded Harness was our very first harness that we purchased from Hurtta. It was what started our obsession and deserves an honorable mention! I've had these harnesses for as long as I've had Zoe. So going on 6 years and the harnesses are still in excellent condition, despite all the adventures we've been on, all the mud dirt and times I've dropped them in the washing machine. This harness is different from the Y and Y2 as it does not have a strap that goes between the legs. The design on this one is for over the head and buckling behind the front legs. My dogs do seem to pull a bit more in this harness and it's a great harness for nosework or any sort of scent detection where it's okay for a dog to pull.



The Padded Collar is neoprene-padded, reflective and is comfortable in use and provides long-range visibility. If you would like to see us putting the padded collar through it's paces, check out our video of Phoenix swimming: https://youtu.be/oR0iNxrSXFo. The Hurtta Padded Collar is the only collar I trust them to wear and not get ruined when we go get muddy at the park or hitting the trails!



The Mountain Rope Leashes are comfortably and soft to hold in your hand. They are highly durable and resembling climbing ropes in structure and materials. Hurtta recently updated their leads, replacing the mental with aluminium, which is highly durable, stainless and extremely light. Rope leashes are my favorite kind to use and I love these!


All of the harnesses, padded collars and rope leads have 3M reflectors that help keep you safe in low light conditions. All of the gear from Hurtta is machine washable. I would recommend using a garment bag and a gentle cycle. Don't dry the gear in a machine, air dry only.





We absolutely love our gear from Hurtta! Everything we've ever gotten has lasted for years. Hurtta is a fabulous company and wonderful to work with. I highly recommend checking them out and giving their gear a try!


Happy Spring everyone! What sort of adventures will you be going on this year with your dogs?


ZoePhee received products from Hurtta in exchange for our honest thoughts and opinions. All opinions are my own. We were not monetarily compensated.



We are partnering with Hurtta and Major Dog to give one of our readers a chance to win a prize pack worth up to $100! One (1) lucky winner will receive the Harness of their choice, a Padded Collar and a Mountain Rope Leash from Hurtta and a Tiger Toy from Major Dog. The giveaway is open to USA and Canadian (excluding Quebec), age 18 years or older. Please follow the directions on the giveaway widget to enter. The winner will be notified by email and have 48 hours to reply before I choose someone else. Good luck everyone!

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

A Work In Progress...


Today we've got a Phoenix update! Phoenix goes to play group once a week on Mondays and she is doing pretty well with our established group. We don't see her playing very often yet but she's able to hang out with the other dogs and she does try to play with a few of her favorites. She's just not sure how it all works yet. "How do I get these dogs to play with me?" (That doesn't involve chasing and nipping or third wheeling.) Attending play group has also helped her with her dog interactions in the real world. She has been doing great when we go to the off leash hiking park. She's even solicited play from some random dogs we've come across out there!


With all the good stuff, Phee still struggles sometimes when she meets new big dogs. Greetings can be stressful and she gets scared. We had three new dogs start yesterday and she had trouble with one of them. I guess one out of three isn't ridiculously horrible but sigh... The greeting was not what we usually do with her, the dog showed up early (new dogs are supposed to come in last) we didn't control our antecedents very well and we had a snarky incident. Nobody was hurt but it wasn't pretty. Then the rest of the session, Phoenix struggled with that dog being in close proximity to her. Eventually everybody did settle down and everything was fine but it was not her best day.

Everyone at my work is very supportive and we think these are issues we can work through with her. There are other dogs that come who used to have way worse issues and they've been worked with and are doing great. I keep trying to remind myself that all dogs have good and bad days, just like us! Training takes time and she is only able to go once a week. My co-workers tell me that she is doing better each week and she also does better when I am not in the room with her.

When things go wrong, it's so much harder when it's your own dog. I can watch other dogs have their grumpy moments all day long but when it's my dog, it really gets me emotional. My boss has given me a mantra to repeat: "Conflict is normal". So I try to remember that shit happens, they're animals. We just do the best we can and that's all we can do.


So that's my Phee training update. She's a work in progress! Overall she's doing well so I'm trying to look at the bigger picture and not let an occasional off day get us down.

I also just wanted to let you guys know that I've been having technical difficulties with my computer and camera so it's been making it hard to blog and visit blogs. So this is why you guys haven't been seeing much of me.