As the new line of Blue Buffalo dog food commercials say, “Pet parents are learning the truth about some of the ingredients in leading dog food brands.”  The fact is, if you wouldn’t eat it, neither should your dog.

If you walk into your local pet store or large grocery store, you’ll see tons of brands of dog food.  Some people believe dog food is dog food, and the animals don’t know the difference.  After all, dogs are known to go out in the yard and eat poop because they’re bored.  What do they care?

Read the full article here, at Examiner.com: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-40166-Pittsburgh-Pets-Products-Examiner~y2010m3d1-What-Are-YOUR-Dogs-Eating#

If this review looks familiar, that’s because this is the second time it’s been written. Because of a hosting problem coupled with a backup problem, this site was down for a week or two and then came back to life missing half its posts. One of the posts that got sniped was the review of AllNaturalBullySticks.com. Since I owed a review to Dan Goodnow, the owner of All Natural Bully Sticks, here we are again!

Dan contacted me a few weeks back and asked if Luna and Betsy would like to try his company’s 6″ skinny bully sticks sized for small dogs. I was honored by the request and decided to investigate his company before agreeing. The name sounded promising, but you never know for sure.

As we know, Luna and Betsy only get food and treats made out of all natural ingredients. It only took a matter of seconds before I was able to discover Dan’s dogs have the same type of diet, and his company’s mission to provide high-quality, garbage-free food for dogs is in line with the mission of this site. Good stuff.  Let’s take a look!

As you may have noticed, some of the recent posts disappeared. I recently messed up the site during a transition to a new, less-flaky web host. If I can’t recover the lost posts (where are my most recent backups?!?!) I’ll have to redo them.

Hang in there, and thanks for your patience!

Nothing is cuter than little dogs running around like crazy in inches of snow. There’s a video at the end of this post that will prove it. As adorable as it may be, lots of playing in the snow may be one of the things that contributed to Luna’s recent ear infection.

Here’s some snaps I’ve captured over the past few days.  The dogs seem to have been in a photogenic mood because they keep posing nicely.  Betsy in particular has given me some great shots.

[View with PicLens]

Luna – Toy Poodle

Owners: Jeff & Laura Saporito

She’s hard at work with dad in Pittsburgh, PA!

Betsy. Mini schnauzer.

Owners: Jeff & Laura Saporito

Pittsburgh, PA

Last week, my wife woke up to find our mini schnauzer had bled all over her work khakis.  We had intended to take her for a spaying this month, as the past few months were a little busy with the wedding, and she wasn’t “due” to go into heat until next month.  Alas, she beat us to the punch and we must wait a few more weeks.

We picked up some doggie diapers at the pet store so she didn’t get it all over the house.  Of course, she hates these, but they’re a necessary item when it comes time for a female’s heat.  However, after a week of heat and a pack of doggie diapers had been used, I learned an important thing – don’t buy them.  They’re a waste of money.

There’s a lot to love about having a dog.  But, since it’s very true that nothing is perfect, dog ownership does come with a few drawbacks.  One of those is the occasional instance where your dog craps all over itself and you are left with the keen responsibility of cleaning it off.  This happens more than occasionally with Luna, as she tends to start walking away before the act is fully finished and it gets stuck in her curly poodle hair.  It’s always a real treat when taking her out in the cold at 6am is followed by a butt cleanup session when we return inside.

My solution to the problem is Petkin Tushie Wipes.  They’re a gentle baby wipe-style product designed specifically for cleaning up those lovely gifts stuck to the back of your beloved pal.

I can’t say enough good things about this stuff.  Their wet and dry foods are both absolutely superb, and I’d like to tell you why.

Luna has a sensitive stomach.  We’ve known this since she was only a few months old.  At first it was evident by her difficulty pooping, as she would either get blocked up or have the opposite effect after eating various types of food.  We tried all sorts of things during her first year of life, from Beneful to Royal Canin, Science Diet and Bil-Jac.  There’s nothing wrong with any of those brands, because I wouldn’t have given her anything that wasn’t high quality, they simply didn’t agree with her sensitive stomach.