Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Look Who's Happy! "Happy Wraps" Review


Happy Tasty Tuesday everyone! I hope you are all having an awesome day! Today we are reviewing Look Who's Happy: Happy Wraps. I've gotten treats from Look Who's Happy before and they were a huge hit. The girls are always excited to try new things out and they couldn't wait to get a hold of these treats! We were given our treats in exchange for an honest review but I was not monetarily compensated.

Monday, March 30, 2015

Zoe Stole All The Sticks!


Yesterday I told you about how Phoenix suddenly decided she can swim! I am super excited about that and can't wait for the weather to warm up so we can do more of this. What I didn't tell you about was nearly every time Phoenix retrieved a stick, Zoe stole them.


You can totally tell that Phee was not impressed with it!

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Phoenix CAN Swim!


She finally did it! I am so proud of her! I'm assuming she got tired of loosing her sticks and she just decided to swim! This is going to be so much fun when the weather gets warmer!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Funny Girls! Sisters on Saturday!


These two crack me up! They were very happy to get out to the park yesterday. I love this photo because it looks like they are laughing.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Friday, March 27, 2015

Phoenix is Silly!


So this week we didn't have a very good workout week. I had really bad vertigo for a few days. I generally get vertigo chronically (most like caused by Meniere's Disease) and when I have it, it can be crippling. Getting out of bed becomes the biggest challenge of the day because the room is just constantly spinning and my mobility is seriously compromised. It's also exhausting. Walking the girls very far just wasn't possible. They got their potty walks and my husband did chip in to help out by walking them a couple of times. He also played indoor games with them to keep them occupied. I think I am very lucky that my dogs are patient with me when I don't feel well but I always feel bad when I can't get them out as much.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

You Get What You Pay For! Phoenix's Reactivity


No, not merchandise! Behaviors! Well, merchandise too but today we are going to talk about dog behavior.

Recently one of my blogging friends and I were talking about dog reactivity and I said that I used to use a gentle leader on Phoenix. My friend wanted to know how I faded it out while maintaining the behavior. It took me a while to figure out how to answer her. It was around 2 years ago. I wish I had started the blog back then and logged the process more thoroughly. It's a pretty long answer and I figured I'd share it with everyone. 

Monday, March 23, 2015

Funny Faces


Zoe is still not loving the camera when we are out and about. Posing her for photos has gotten so tough! I know I need to work on this with some higher value treats. When we are at home in the house she's fine. She's such a weirdo! So today I decided to share some of her funnier "I'm not going to look at you" photos. Generally when I take her picture I am wanting eyes on me and ears perked forward. I should probably shape this with a clicker.

"Did you say ears forward, mom? Nah.."

 "Oh, were we taking photos? I think I smell something! We don't need any photos!"

She's so funny. Sometimes this drives me crazy but at least I have Phoenix! Phoenix is always up for whatever and she looks right into the camera.


I tend to spend a lot of time practicing my photography skills on Phee because she's a lot easier. If you have food she's good to go. 

Do your dogs like getting their picture taken? What are your best tips for getting good photos? I'm going to start working on this more with Zoe so the "pupparazzi" doesn't bother her. :D

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Friday, March 20, 2015

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Hide and Seek Recalls - Dog Training


Hide and Seek Recalls is a game that I have played with my dogs a lot. I started way back when I first got Zoe. We'd go to completely fenced dog parks and I'd hide and let her find me. Sometimes I would call her and sometimes not. She would need to use her sight, hearing and nose to find me and it was a great way to work her brain.When we got Phoenix we didn't play as much because getting Phoenix to take her eyes off of me for even a second didn't happen very often. I used to call her "Overly Attached Girlfriend" (Have you seen those memes? They are hilarious).

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Luck of the Irish - Wordless Wednesday


The girls aren't sure what that means but I think we got lucky that these glasses managed to stay on long enough for photos! :D

Have you seen our St. Patrick's Day Trick Video yet?

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Happy St. Patty's Day!



Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! I hope you're all having an awesome day and that no one gets pinched! :D The girls and I have been working on some St. Patty's Day tricks! 


Zoe and Phoenix both just learned how to put coins in the glass and they've only had 3 sessions of it before I put the video together. I was so happy that they managed to get this trick done outside in an area where they'd never done it before. They were a little confused at first about it and the grass was really wet and icky from the previous two days of rain. Lots of challenges were happening and I didn't have my tripod or a helper so I apologize for it being a little shaky! Let me know what you think about the tricks and video! :D

How are you celebrating today? Are you doing anything fun? 


Monday, March 16, 2015

Curious Amusement! Reactive Dog!


I've talked about Phoenix being a reactive dog a bunch of times. Her reactivity honestly just depends on the dog at this point in time. If it's a large overly hyper and rude dog she can get snarky. So we've been working a lot on that and we've been going to Thousand Acres really early in the morning so we can avoid most people and dogs. We are getting to point where we are seeing a lot of the same dogs, she's either met some of them already or she's avoided them (a lot of the time she chooses avoidance and ignores the dogs)  but recognizes she's seen the dog before and it's fine. After our hike, I will generally stand off to the side so Phoenix can see the action but not be in it. We play the "look at that game" and she gets food for looking at dogs. I've also been working on counter conditioning her to dogs in motion because that will set her off since her previous owners allowed her to fence fight.

So when my husband decided to do the taxes the other day and suggested that I go to the park at 3 in the afternoon I was a little hesitant. It was a warm and sunny day, 70 degrees! It was the warmest day we've had so far. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea. Generally the park is the most busy on the weekends and this was a week day. My husband really needed the quiet to get the taxes done and I decided to go ahead and go. I armed myself with some pretty high value treats and we were off.

When I got there I was happy to see that the parking lot was not full and I hoped there weren't very many people out there. We made it off the entry trails and onto some of the back ones. We encountered a few dogs here and there but everything was fine and just like when I go in the mornings. The girls were busy sniffing the sniffs, eating the grass and racing each other back to me for their prized treats.


We got to this one part of the trail that takes you down to the river and here comes this guy with a medium sized tan dog. The dog was young and looked a lot like the girls but with floppy ears and a bigger head. They greeted her properly and politely and continued up the trail. The dog came up for a visit with me and discovered that I had some delicious smelling stuff on me and it was all over. She began jumping all over me and freaking out wanting the food. I've learned that the best thing to do in this sort of situation is to just stand there quietly and allow the owner to deal with their dog. So I stand tall and ignore the dog. I look over and my dogs have returned. Zoe is a bit further up the trail but Phoenix is very close within three feet. Meanwhile this dog is still jumping all over me and sort of spazzing out. The owner calls and calls the dog but she will not go back and he just stood there and kept calling her. If I had started walking she'd have came with me and her owner was getting really mad so I stayed still.

I look over at Phoenix and she's just standing there watching this dog jump all over me with this curious amused look on her face. Like she was laughing at me! It was so cute and I was the proudest dog mom ever. Before, she would of gone into "I must guard and protect" snark, snap the whole reaction thing. Instead she just stood there wagging her tail and smiling at me. No reaction, no worried expression, nothing but curious amusement.


Eventually the dog figured out that she was not getting anything out of me and that I was a very boring person. She returned to her owner and we continued on our way. I am SO proud of Phoenix. It was a truly amazing moment for us and I'm so happy with her progress. This is the kind of thing that gives me hope that the training is having an effect on her and that maybe one day she will "normal". Whatever normal is.




Sunday, March 15, 2015

Raining and Pouring on B&W Sunday

It's raining and pouring, the dogs are snoring!

Really, they were less than thrilled when they woke up and it was still raining! They decided today would be a good day to go back to bed! Phoenix decided my leg would make a great pillow and fell asleep there! 

Happy Sunday everyone! 

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Sisters on Saturday!


Lately Zoe hasn't really felt like posing for photos. It's been really hard to get cute pictures of her because she will pin her ears back and look tortured! I was really happy when she allowed me to snap this photo! Sometimes she can be really weird!

Do your dogs ever get weird about having their pictures taken?

I hope you are all having a great weekend!

Friday, March 13, 2015

Taking it Easy on Fit Dog Friday


Prior to Phoenix hurting her leg we had been going between 4.5 - 6 miles "free running" a day. Free running basically means they run loose while I meander and take pictures of them. They do a lot of running around, mixed in with stopping to eat grass, zoomies and trotting. After Phee hurt her leg, I rested her for a few days and we just went on potty walks. Now that she seems all better I decided it was time to get her back out to the park but I didn't want to push it too much. We did two days of around 3 miles then took a day off due to the rain. When the rain stopped we went out and did a 4.5 mile loop.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

The Rain is Back.

Zoe is incredibly unimpressed! 

So the rain came back. Both girls were not impressed by it. I know that we really need it but I was a little spoiled by all of the sunny weather and I was sort of disappointed that it was raining, too. 

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Sunrise - Wordless Wednesday


We didn't quite make the beginning of the sunrise but I still think these silhouettes are neat! 

Thank you all for the well wishes for Phoenix's leg! She is all better after a few days rest.

Happy Wordless Wednesday everyone! 

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Orijen Tundra Dog Treats Review


Hi everyone! I hope you're all having an awesome Tasty Tuesday! It's time for our monthly Chewy.com review! Chewy.com is a wonderful company that delivers high quality pet products right to your door. Their shipping is incredibly fast and they have awesome customer service! I highly recommend checking them out!

Today I am reviewing Orijen: Tundra Dog Freeze-Dried Dog Treats. I've heard a lot of good things about Orijen and I was really excited for my girls to try these. We received our treats in exchange for an honest review.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Fishing Dogs!?!


NOTE: This happened BEFORE Phoenix hurt herself. :)

I took the girls to the river recently and we noticed a ton of dead fish! I'm not sure what kind of fish they are but they are spawning and sadly passing away. Before I noticed all the dead fish, I saw Zoe pawing at something in the water. They've retrieved sticks that have fallen underneath before so I figured she was attempting to get a sunken stick.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Zoe Going Solo on B&W Sunday


Happy Sunday everyone! Since I'm resting Phoenix (to read why click here), I took Zoe to the park for a solo trip. Zoe tends to really love these kinds of outings. While I always feel guilty for leaving Phoenix home because she's sad, I'm glad to get some one on one time with Zoe.

I hope you are all having an awesome day!

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Phoenix Blunder. Sisters on Saturday


I mentioned yesterday about how we've been going to Thousand Acres a lot because it's been so sunny and that park is just awesome. We usually do a 3-5 mile trek when we go. About half way into it there's a trail that comes up that leads to a ramp with a "bird blind". The girls love racing up and down the ramp.

Friday, March 6, 2015

Thousand Acres Park - Fit Dog Friday


We've been going to Thousand Acres a lot in the past few weeks. The weather in Oregon has been oddly sunny and I love taking advantage of the good weather to get the girls out for exercise!

Thursday, March 5, 2015

February PetBox Review


It's time for our monthly PetBox review! PetBox is a monthly subscription delivery service that offers a selection of different products for your dog or cat. They are led by a team of animal lovers who spend a lot of time picking out all natural, premium products. Their main emphasis is on health and well being. They also feed a shelter animal for every box sent! The company offers a variety of different monthly plans. I absolutely love subscription boxes they are so much fun! Don't forget to enter our code: ZOEPHEE when you check out to receive 10% off your first box! We receive our PetBox in exchange for an honest review and if you use our code we get a small commission.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Peek-A-Boo! Wordless Wednesday


So the management at my apartment complex installed some dog training equipment at the dog park in our complex. Zoe says there's a bit of a problem with the "tire" jump!!

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Pawstreet Barkery Review


Hi everyone! I hope you are all having a great Tasty Tuesday! Today I have a review for you on some gourmet biscuits from Paw Street Barkery (you can check out their facebook page, too)and I'm also teaming up with them to giveaway a $25 gift certificate for their store! We were given our biscuits in exchange for an honest review but I was not monetarily compensated.

Monday, March 2, 2015

Zoe Didn't Feel Like Fetching!


I was doing my photo shoot indoors for my Petbox review (which I'm totally late on, oops) and when I was looking at my pictures I thought, "these are boring!! Lets go outside and play with the toys out there!" So I took the girls and all the toys to the dog park in our apartment complex.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Flying! B&W Sunday


The girls love flying over these fences! It's so fun to watch them jump!

Does your dog have a favorite game that they invented?