The Brown Dog Blog

Pumpkin Pets!

2009-11-04T15:35:00.002-05:00

I know we're a few days past Halloween, but I had to share these cute pictures that I received in an email forward. What a great idea for carving a pumpkin! I may have to use this idea next year...

Halloween for Dogs!

2009-10-06T08:48:00.001-04:00

In honor of Halloween coming up at the end of this month, I thought I'd share some of the more hilarious Halloween costumes for dogs that I have come across online.

Do you dress your pets up for Halloween? If you do, I'd love to see your photos! Please send any funny photos and/or Halloween pet stories to thebrowndogboutique@gmail.com - you may just see them featured here on the blog!

Brown Dog goes to Hawaii!

2009-10-05T10:48:00.011-04:00

That's right! Brown Dog Boutique has added another state to the map - Hawaii! A big Thank You to Rico for ordering a recipe and treat kit for Cooper's Fire Hydrant Cookies!

For those of you keeping track, here is the current list of states where Brown Dog Boutique has traveled...

California

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maryland

Massachusetts

Minnesota

New York

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

South Carolina

Virginia

Wisconsin

Canada

Sweden

And don't forget, I'll include a free set of return address labels with each set of 12 note cards purchased from my shop by the 1st purchaser from each new state. Just add the code "USA" (along with your state or country) in the Notes to Seller section of your order, and I'll be in touch with details!

Rain, rain go away...

2009-10-05T09:54:00.002-04:00

I don't know about you all, but I have two big brown dogs (and a friend of theirs) wishing that they didn't wake up to a rainy Monday....

What NOT to eat

2009-09-15T11:30:00.004-04:00

I came across a great feature titled "Don't feed this to Fido" when browsing through Real Simple the other day and thought I'd share the info. I know we all try (try, being the key word) not to give our pups "people food", but I'll admit, sometimes it's hard. If you're tempted to share your food with your furry friends, as least be sure to stay away from the following items:

(1) Chocolate: Why? Chocolate stimulates the nervous system & the heart. It can be poisonous to all species, but for some reason dogs are more likely to eat dangerous quantities than other animals. Possible effects: vomiting, increased thirst, restlessness, agitation, increased or irregular heartbeat, increased body temperature, tremors and seizures.

(2) Grapes & raisins: Why? These foods can cause damage to the kidneys and can be poisonous to dogs & cats. Possible effects: increased thirst, increased urination, lethargy and vomiting.

(3) Garlic & onions: Why? These foods can damage red blood cells and cause anemia. They can be poisonous to dogs & cats. Possible effects: vomiting, red-colored urine, weakness & anemia.

(4) Xylitol (which is found in sugarless gum): Why? It causes increased insulin secretion, resulting in lower blood sugar levels and can be poisonous to dogs. Possible effects: vomiting, lethargy, lack of coordination, seizures, jaundice and diarrhea.

(5) Alcoholic drinks: Why? They depress the nervous system and can be poisonous to all species. Possible effects: vomiting, disorientation, diarrhea, lethargy, lack of coordination, difficulty breathing, tremors, coma and seizures.

(6) Raw yeast and bread dough: Why? These items form gas in the digestive track and fermentation of yeast causes alcohol poisoning, which can be poisonous to all species, but typically only dogs ingest it. Possible effects: distention of abdomen, vomiting, disorientation, diarrhea, lethargy, lack of coordination, difficulty breathing, tremors, coma and seizures.

(7) Macadamia nuts: Why? These nuts can cause muscle and nervous system problems in dogs. Possible effects: vomiting, lethargy, weakness, increased body temperature and tremors.

(8) Avocados: Why? Avocados contain persin, which damages the heart muscle and can be poisonous to all species, but especially birds. Possible effects: vomiting, diarrhea (in dogs), lethargy and difficulty breathing (in birds and rodents).

If your pet eats any of these foods and you're concerned, please contact your vet or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at 888-426-4435. It's always better to be safe than sorry!

Cover Dogs

2009-09-13T10:24:00.000-04:00

When I opened the latest Orvis Dog Book that arrived in the mail a few days ago, I discovered some of the cutest dog photos that I have seen in a while. Apparently there is an annual Orvis Cover Dog Contest (how could we have missed that announcement?!). Orvis received over 5,600 entries to the 2009 contest, and they are adorable!

So cute, right? So here's some good news...Orvis is currently accepting entries to the 2010 Cover Dog Contest. For more details and to submit your photo, click here. I just submitted this photo of Brady...

To vote for Brady, click here and look for the caption in the middle of the page that says "Vote. Donate. Watch" - there is a link below the caption to vote. Here's the deal with voting - in addition to having its editors vote for their favorite photos, Orvis is encouraging its readers to vote as well. Each vote requires a $1 donation to support canine cancer research. Orvis and Eukanuba Dog Food have teamed up with The Morris Animal Foundation to help find a cure for canine cancer. With your donation, they can save countless dogs from suffering and premature death. Orvis and Eukanuba, together, will match each tax-deductible contribution to the Canine Cancer Campaign up to a total of $30,000 - so every dollar you donate will become $2 for Canine Cancer Campaign. What a great idea!

Happy (early) Birthday, Boys!

2009-09-12T10:04:00.007-04:00

It's hard to believe but the boys will be 2 years old tomorow! Two years ago, the boys were born, and a few months later, they attended their first UGA tailgate before the UGA-Auburn game.

Needless to say, the boys LOVED tailgating. I mean, what's not to love - good food, good friends & cheering on your favorite team? Brady & Cooper were definitely a hit with the Georgia fans. Sure, they aren't the breed of choice - the bulldog - for Dawg fans but who can resist these two little brown dogs? They even showed off their tackling skills while we were there...

and wore themselves out in the process...

We hope you enjoy this nice fall day! Happy (early) Birthday, Brady & Cooper (and go Dawgs)!

Everyone loves a sale!

2009-09-06T15:23:00.002-04:00

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

In honor of Labor Day, one of my favorite online shops - Backcountry K-9 is having a BIG sale! Some of our favorite items like the Palisades Pack and the Ruff Wear Knot-a-Coupler are on sale through September 7th. Click here to check out the Backcountry K-9 sale and stock up on the items you'll need for the fall!

Don't forget, when you check out be sure to enter the discount code 5HSJC to receive 5% off your order (even on sale items)!

My Dogs Ate My Computer

2009-08-20T18:25:00.004-04:00

Well...not really, but it sure seems like it, doesn't it? I apologize for my lack of posting over the past few weeks. For some reason I have been unable to blog during my usual time, and I have to admit, I sit in front a computer so much during the day that I haven't really wanted to come home and sit in front of my home computer. That and the fact that I think I lost my camera. And the fact that my two brown dogs that I bragged about it my last post apparently decided to prove me wrong by eating several electronic devices while left alone. Whew. It's been a rough few weeks.

Mom, you think I did that?! Yes, Brady - I do.

I'll try to get my act together over the weekend, and hopefully I'll resume regular posting next week. Have a great weekend!

Down, Set, Hike!

2009-08-04T10:10:00.000-04:00

Does Cooper look like he's ready for a mean game of football or what?!

New Toys

2009-08-03T10:01:00.000-04:00

Just to prove how much Brady & Cooper love their new toys from Petstages that my mom brought them a few weeks ago, I thought I'd post a few pictures of the boys & their toys. Enjoy!

I swear that they like them even if they don't look so happy in the photos - I think they were nervous that we were going to kick them off of Brinkley's bed :)

Favorite Photo Friday

2009-07-31T09:54:00.004-04:00

For the second week of Favorite Photo Friday, I thought I'd share a cute picture that my husband sent me yesterday of the boys taking an afternoon nap. I swear, they cannot stand to be apart, even when they sleep!

Bragging Rights

2009-07-30T14:21:00.004-04:00

In a few short months, this will be my husband and me running the OBX Half-Marathon in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

We started our training schedule on Tuesday evening, and we went for another run last night...with the boys. We felt bad that Brady & Cooper had been cooped up inside all day, and we knew they were still a little sad that their cousin Brinkley left on Monday, so we figured a good run would help wear them out and cheer them up a little. For a change of pace, we decided to run throughout our neighborhood with the boys off leash, and here's where I'm going to brag a little bit. I think we have some of the most well-behaved labs under the age of 2 that you'll find anywhere. The boys ran by our side, at our pace, for almost 2 miles as we traveled up and down the hills in our neighborhood. They were GREAT! I don't think we'll be taking them on all of our runs as we train for our upcoming race (especially as we start increasing our distance) but we couldn't ask for better running partners for the shorter runs in our neighborhood.

Bring Fido

2009-07-29T10:38:00.004-04:00

When searching for cute pictures online the other day, I came across another great website to help plan pet-friendly vacations - BringFido - a Pet Friendly Hotel and Dog Travel Directory. Listing information about everything from pet-friendly accomodations to airfare to restaurants, this website seems to have it all. I'll admit that I haven't spent much time on it yet, so I can't give any detailed advice about navigating the site. I will, however, be checking it out in depth in the near future & will be sure to check back with my inside scoop.

[Photo courtesy BringFido.com]

What about you all? Have you used this site before? Are there other pet-friendly travel sites out there that I may have missed?

A Yes and a No

2009-07-28T13:53:00.002-04:00

You guessed it! It's time for another product review. After spending three days with three very large and rather rambunctious dogs (Brady, Cooper & their cousin Brinkley), I am able to offer you a review of two more Petstages dog toys. As I've said before, I love dog toys by Petstages. The people at Petstages have developed a number of great toys for chewers, and they also offer a variety of well-made interactive toys as well.

When my parents came to visit this past weekend, my mom brought a new toy for the three boys to try out - the Hearty Chew (show below). This interesting contraption proved to be a favorite for both chewing and a rowdy three-way game of tug-of-war. The ball in the middle is soft, yet durable as are the ropes that extend out of each side. The three boys played with this toy for hours, and I have a feeling that it will quickly become a favorite of the boys.

We purchased the second Petstages toy (shown below) a few weeks ago. Called the Good Tug, this toy (made with super thick cotton rope) seemed like it would be a great one for the boys, given the fact that they love to play tug-of-war with Cooper's favorite football. I assumed that since it was made for playing tug-of-war it would be a durable, long-lasting toy, capable of withstanding the strong jaws of our two labs. Granted, this toy is listed as an "interactive" toy rather than a "chewing" toy, but I still would have thought that the plastic balls located on either end of the toy would have lasted longer than 30 minutes. Not so much. Cooper quickly chewed through the outer plastic, requiring me to cut off all remaining plastic from the toy. Yes, they can still play with the rope, but we soon realized that the two plastic balls are in place to keep the center piece from sliding off the ends of the rope. Fatal design error? Probably not, but I'd like to think they could develop a better design for future tug-of-war toys.

Overall conclusion? Definitely buy the Hearty Chew but I wouldn't waste your money on the Good Tug if you have chewers in your house.

Favorite Photo Friday

2009-07-24T09:53:00.003-04:00

[Brady, 8 weeks old]

I saw this idea on a friend's blog and loved it. I'm going to try to share one of my favorite photos every Friday. Try being the key word. I may miss a few Fridays here and there, but I'll do my best. Enjoy!

Brinkley is Coming to Visit!

2009-07-22T14:12:00.004-04:00

The boys are beyond excited (ok, maybe I'm exaggerating, I'm not actually sure if they understand it when I'm telling them, but I like to pretend) that their cousin Brinkley is coming to visit this weekend!

Brinkley is a mixed breed that my sister adopted from a shelter in Auburn, Alabama while she was in college (he now lives with my parents in Virginia and has the run of the house and a huge fenced in backyard). We think he may be part Rhodesian Ridgeback, but there's no telling.

[Look how little the boys are! Just wait until you see pictures of the 3 of them now!]

It's pretty funny when the three dogs get together. Brinkley is so used to being an only dog, that it usually takes him a little while to get adjusted to our big hyper boys. Last time we were up at my parents' house we took the three boys to the park and ours jumped in the lake within minutes (ever since they discovered the water, we haven't been able to keep them out of it!). We could tell that Brinkley wanted to go swimming with them, but he was afraid to venture far enough out to where he couldn't stand. I think we may try to take a trip to our favorite park, Elachee Nature Center this weekend to see if we can get him in the water. Many pictures from the weekend visit to follow!

Ten Things

2009-07-20T10:48:00.000-04:00

One of my great friends from college, the personality behind the fun blog Happiness Is..., surprised me with a fun blog award and game last week.

Like any blog award, there are a few rules to follow...

1. I need to copy the logo and place it on my blog
2. Link it back to the person who gave it to me
3. Pass it on to five fellow bloggers
4. List 10 things about myself

So I decided to list 10 things I love. Here they are (in no particular order)...

1. The Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Growing up in Virginia, it was only natural that my family spend many spring breaks and summer vacations at the beach on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I have so many fun memories from there as a child and up through college. I even spent one summer in college working at Tommy's Market in Duck, NC. I love the feeling I get the moment we begin to cross the bridge onto the barrier islands, and I soon as I step foot onto the sand and smell the salty air, I feel at home.

2. Peanut Butter Ice Cream.

If you happen to read my new blog that I started a few weeks ago, you probably saw the recipe I posted for Peanut Butter Ice Cream. I'm not exactly sure when my love for peanut butter ice cream began, but I do know that the reason for it is Friendly's restaurant. I'm not sure if they sell them anymore, but Friendly's use to have a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Sunday-to-Go that featured pure peanut butter ice cream, peanut butter sauce, chocolate sauce and peanut butter cups - heaven. Since I fell in love with this incredible invention, I have always been on the lookout for a proper substitution for the peanut butter ice cream. Few places offer peanut butter flavored ice cream - most just put pieces of Reese's peanut butter cups in vanilla ice cream and say it's the same thing - it's not. Now that I have my own ice cream maker and a fabulous recipe for homemade peanut butter ice cream, I can have peanut butter ice cream whenever I want. This could be a problem.

3. Honey Roasted BBQ Sauce from Chick-fil-A.

I have my husband to thank for this latest obsession. A few years ago, he introduced me to the wonderfully condiment called Honey Roasted BBQ Sauce. I've always been a Chick-fil-A fan but never like this. I used to order chicken nuggets, and they were good, but the waffle fries were always my favorite part about Chick-fil-A. That was until I tried the Honey Roasted BBQ Sauce on a Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich. Oh. my. gosh. If you haven't had it, go to Chick-fil-A for lunch and try it today. On second thought, maybe that's not a good idea - you might end up like me and require Chick-fil-A on a regular basis.

4. My two brown dogs.

I think it's pretty obvious that I LOVE my two big brown dogs. I mean, I write an entire blog about dogs (usually about my two). I grew up with a dog and couldn't wait until I was old enough to have my own. Somewhere along the line, I became convinced that I had to have at least two at one time. I figured that a puppy would be lonely if it didn't have another dog to pal around with. I think I was right. Brady & Cooper are inseparable. They have been since the day we brought them home. My husband thought I was crazy when I announced that I wanted to get not one, but two dogs. Labs for that matter. He quickly came around the first night when the boys crawled into their new crate (on their own) and curled up to sleep (all night long without whining!). He now says he wouldn't have it any other way. Me either.

5. Coastal Living Magazine.

I love this magazine. Everything about it. I love the coast (see #1 above and my other blog, Seagrass and Sunsets). Reading Coastal Living transports me to some of my favorite places and is an awesome collection of recipes, articles, features, homes and more for anyone who loves the coast. If I could work for this magazine, I would. In a heart beat. Unfortunately the offices are located in Birmingham, Alabama. If any of you happen to know the powers that be at Coastal Living and think you could convince them to employ a creative, beach lover from a virtual office in small-town Georgia, please let me know...

6. The Bulldog Car Wash.

It may seem kind of random for me to include a car wash on a list of ten things that I love. Don't get me wrong, I do love it when my car is clean, but that's not why I've added the Bulldog Car Wash to this list. I have a much better reason. I met my husband at this particular car wash on a warm September afternoon a few years ago, and my life has not been the same since. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I would meet the love of my life at such a random spot, but somehow I did, and the Bulldog Car Wash will always have a special place in my heart.

7. Charlottesville/UVa/My College Friends.

Oh Charlottesville. Cville. How I miss you. The beautiful, green horse farms. The gorgeous mountains. The great restaurants and fun watering holes. The lazy days spent at Beaver Creek and driving aimlessly in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The football games. Walking to class on the Lawn. The University of Virginia truly is a magical place. I know that most people love their alma matters, but I don't know if anyone loves their school as much as we Wahoos love our University. I am forever grateful for the friendships I made, the education I received and the wonderful memories that will always stay with me. I only wish we could go back more often.

8. Maymont Park.

My favorite spot in my hometown. To imagine that this beautiful property used to be a private residence blows me away. The gardens, the views, the history. It's truly breathtaking, and Richmonders are very lucky that Maymont has been preserved for the public to enjoy for many years to come. To read more about Maymont and it's history, click here.

9. Reading.

I love to read. I always have. I was the kid who would go into the library during the summer break and come out with a stack of 20 books at a time. Unfortunately, during graduate school I stopped reading for pleasure. I think it was the thick stack of books that I was required to read for class. Who knows. It makes me a little sad that I can't discuss any of the newest books on the best seller list or that I have started to take People and US Weekly on my vacations instead of a good novel. If anyone has a recommendation for a must read to get me started again, please let me know!

10. My Family.

Where do I start? I am blessed with the greatest family in the world. I have parents who have always been extremely supportive and encouraging. They love my sister and me unconditionally and are always there to talk or laugh or cry with us. They have a great relationship with each other (they just celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary this year!), and they are role models for the kind of relationship I've always wanted to have. My little sister is one of the funniest and most adventurous people I know. I often wish I could be more like her. As a big sister, I am often way too hard on her, but somehow she loves me anyway. My mother-in-law is one of the strongest and compassionate women I know. She and my brother-in-law welcomed me into their family from the moment we first met, and I am extremely lucky to have become part of such an amazing family. Last but certainly not least, my husband. He is the love of my life and my best friend. It can't get any better than that.

And the five blogs that I am tagging...

Buckhead Betties (hilarious)

Vintage Victuals (classic go-to recipes)

Pecan Pie Puppies (love these collars)

Matters of Style (great source for ideas)

The Consummate Hostess (great entertaining ideas)

H-O-T!

2009-07-15T14:20:00.003-04:00

I don't know about where you are, but it's pretty darn H-O-T around here!

Cooper, go get your football!

2009-07-14T15:06:00.003-04:00

Those five words come out of my mouth at least once a day, every day. The rope & football toy show above is Cooper's absolute FAVORITE toy of all time. Cooper is constantly toting his football around and dropping it (not so subtly) at my feet as his way of announcing that it is playtime.

If I ask him to go find his football, Cooper runs out of the room in search of his beloved toy, always returning with it in mere seconds. He loves this toy so much that he even peed on it (twice) to keep Brady from trying to take it away (sidenote: this lovely habit of his has caused us to test the durability of the football many times and the rope had stayed in tact, as has the tough, but flexible, plastic of the football).

My mom bought Cooper his first football, and we have since purchased another to have on hand just in case he loses the original or it eventually wears out. If you're interested, PetSmart has the football on sale for a ridiculously reasonable price of $2.97 (for more info, click here).

And we're spent...

2009-07-13T15:52:00.004-04:00

After another awesome weekend at the lake, we're all a little bit tired today. In fact, I'm pretty sure the boys are spending the day like this..

Brady & Cooper had a blast this weekend swimming with their friends, Bailey & Sophie. Fun pictures from the weekend to come soon!

Calling all Pawsengers

2009-07-10T16:51:00.006-04:00

{Photo courtesy CNN & Midwest Airlines}

As we take off for yet another weekend out of town this summer, my mind turns again to the topic of pets & travel. The writers over at CNN.com must have had the same idea, because they posted "More Airlines Embracing Furry Travelers" this afternoon. In their article, CNN highlights both Midwest Airlines (an airline that allows some "celebrity" dogs to travel in their own seats) and Pet Airways, the nation's first-ever pet-only airline.

{Click here to visit Pet Airways}

The story behind Pet Airways is really cute, and I highly suggest clicking here to read the story on the airline's website. While you're there, make sure to check out all of the great features that Pet Airways has to offer. If you choose to have your pet fly on Pet Airways, upon your arrival at the airport, your pet (also referred to as a "pawsenger") is first checked in at the Pet Lounge. During the flight, pets travel in the passenger cabin of the aircraft and are checked on every 15 minutes by a Pet Attendant. Nervous parents can even track their pet's flight on the Pet Airlines website!

Starting this month, Pet Airways will be flying in 5 major cities with fares as low as $149 each way according to the Pet Airway's website. How cool is that?

Presents for Your Pup

2009-07-09T11:43:00.004-04:00

I have another online find to introduce to you today...Bisket Baskets.

If you're anything like me, online shopping has become part of your daily routine. Living in a small town far away from family and friends (and the conveniences of a nice mall), I love it when I can research shopping options online and order items with the click of a button. I do online shopping on a regular basis for myself, the boys and my husband, and I've even begun to shop for gifts online and have them sent directly to the recipient.

You can imagine my delight when I came across Bisket Baskets - a company started and run by two sisters who share a love for animals. They started their company in 1999 by designing gift baskets for pets, and they have since expanded their offerings to include many other gift themes, (think coffee, tea, wine, cookies, fruit, etc). You name it, they probably have it. I've had a blast looking through all of the different baskets that they offer on their website. I haven't had the pleasure of purchasing (or even better, receiving) one of their baskets yet, but you can bet I'm putting Bisket Baskets on my list of online retailers to consult the next time a holiday rolls around...

(Any Georgia fans out there?!)

Rub a Dub Dub...

2009-07-08T09:32:00.004-04:00

two dogs in the...shower?

Ok, I know what you're thinking, here she goes again spoiling those two big brown dogs. Truth is, cornering Cooper in the shower where we can close the door is about the only way we can get him clean. In the summer, we do try to bathe the boys outside, but doing so is definitely a two person job. As I've mentioned before, Cooper loves to get (and stay) dirty; he hates to get clean. I mean hates in the sense that you mention the word "bath", and he runs and hides in the corner. Really. It's pretty funny.

Anyway, somehow I got on the topic of bath time. Why? Because I want to recommend a great product for you all to try - the Herbal Dog Shampoo Bar by Good Clean Dog. At first my husband was a little skeptical about using a shampoo bar. With two big dogs to bathe, he didn't think it would last very long or be very effective. Au contraire. The 6 oz. shampoo bar has lasted us through at least four baths so far. The shampoo bar is made with vegetable oils, herbal infusions and pure aromatherapy grade essential oils, and it smells wonderful. At only $7.95 plus $1 shipping, I think the shampoo bar is a bargain. Need one more reason to try it? Using this shampoo bar is not only great for your dogs, it's a good choice for the environment - when you're done using the shampoo bar, you won't have a plastic bottle to deal with.

Go ahead, stroll on over to the Good Clean Dog (and don't forget to tell them Brown Dog Boutique sent you!).

How do you choose?

2009-07-07T12:32:00.005-04:00

Puppies are the cutest things - no matter what breed. So how to do you choose? I am obviously partial to Labrador Retrievers, but I think all puppies are cute. Unfortunately (and fortunately) so do most people. The unfortunate part is that this extreme cuteness often leads people to bring puppies into their lives with no thought to the future and no true commitment to raising the puppies into adulthood. As a result, I think a word of caution is necessary before moving forward in this discussion.

Before anyone makes the decision to bring a dog (or any pet for that matter) into their household, I think it is important for every family member in a household to take a look at their future plans and ask several questions - Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years? Will you be moving around or are you in a more permanent position? If you have to move or your lifestyle changes, are you committed to taking your pet with you?

Once you've decided that it's the right decision to bring a dog into your life, how do you choose which one (or two, in my case)? This is the time to evaluate your lifestyle. What is your normal routine like? Do you like to exercise or are you more of a couch potato? Do you have a large living space? A fenced in backyard? How much time do you have to devote to your pet?

Different breeds have different characteristics, and it's important to do your research. Luckily there are many books and websites out there, like the American Kennel Club's Alphabetical Listing of AKC Recognized Breeds, to get you started. While this guide won't give you all of the answers (not even close), it will help you to become familiar with the general characteristics of different types of dogs to help you narrow down your search.

Once you have an idea of the type of dog you're looking for, shift your research to breeders and rescue organizations. Decide whether it is important for you to have a purebred dog or whether you'd rather adopt a mixed breed. Both are great and you have to make the best choice for you. If you're interested in getting a purebred dog from a reputable breeder, start by checking out Online Breeder Classifieds on the AKC website. Most people, however, do not intend to ever breed or show their dog, so having a dog that is registered with the AKC is probably unnecessary. If this is the case, I highly recommend that you check with your local humane society or other rescue organizations. There are so many sweet animals in shelters and rescue groups that deserve a good home.

Many of the dogs that are found by rescue groups are mixed breeds, but there are often a number of purebred dogs that have been surrendered by their owners. There are even rescue groups that are specific to certain breeds, such as the Atlanta Lab Rescue. If you're interested in a particular breed, be sure to check out the rescue groups in your area. Some may even have full litters of puppies to choose from if you're set on bringing home a baby. If you're not, I encourage you to consider adopting an older dog from a rescue group - many times they're already housebroken and unfortunately, they often get passed over by people looking for a puppy. Rescue groups like my local humane society, the HSJC, do amazing work to find deserving animals a forever home, and you can bet that my next four-legged family member will come from one of these groups.

So after all of that discussion on my part, I have to ask, how did you choose?

Show Your Support

2009-07-06T13:33:00.004-04:00

If you're like me, you're pretty passionate about doing what you can to help homeless pets. When I can, I volunteer my time with the Humane Society of Jackson County, and I donate annually to The Humane Society of the United States. I would love to be able to do more, but there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day. Luckily there is a quick & easy way to support rescue efforts in Georgia (and I bet in many other states as well) through the purchase of a specialty license plate. The one shown above featuring Buddy is one of three specialty license plates that can be purchased in Georgia to help support the Dog & Cat Sterilization Program. The extra fee for these cute license plates is only $25 per year, and this extra fee is deposited in a special fund that supports the Dog & Cat Reproductive Sterilization Support Program under direction of the Georgia Department of Agriculture. Starting this year, my car will be sporting the Buddy license plate.

If you're interested in purchasing this plate, please click here to learn more (scroll down to the Dog & Cat Sterilization links). And if you live outside of Georgia, ask your Department of Motor Vehicles or Driver's Services to see if they offer a similar program.

Exhausted...

2009-07-06T11:49:00.007-04:00

that's what our boys are feeling right now. We picked them up yesterday afternoon from the Athens Y Camp. After three full days of adventure (swimming, hiking, chasing the other dogs & campers) the boys were ready to take a long, long nap. As soon as we got them in the car, they fell fast asleep (only waking briefly for meals and a few snacks), and they were still asleep when I left for work this morning.

{a gorgeous view of camp}

{meeting their friends for the weekend}

Friday was my first visit to the Athens Y Camp. My husband has dropped Brady & Cooper off the last few times they've been lucky enough to spend a few days at the camp. Located in the beautiful mountains of northeast Georgia near Lake Rabun, the Athens Y Camp has been a fun, summer getaway for years. I have to admit, as we drove away on Friday afternoon while Brady & Cooper swam in the lake, I was a little jealous of the weekend they had in store!

{a look of pure joy on Cooper's face}

{Brady retrieving a stick}

Hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend. Any fun stories to share? I'd love to hear them!

Happy 4th of July (a little bit early)!

2009-07-02T09:29:00.006-04:00

I'm writing this post a few days early because we leave for the mountains (and summer camp) tomorrow morning & the chances of me having access to a computer this weekend is pretty slim. Hopefully you all will be relaxing outside and won't be spending much time on the computer over the weekend. I hope you all have a long, relaxing, enjoyable, FUN holiday weekend with family and friends. I'll be back to the blog world on Monday, but in the meantime, I wanted to leave you with a few adorable images and a link to a cute online store that I just stumbled upon - Labrador Retriever Gifts.com.

{Source: labrador.retrever-gifts.com}

Off to Summer Camp!

2009-07-01T11:23:00.003-04:00

{Disclaimer: The dogs in the picture above are not our boys, but I thought I'd give you an idea of what their weekend will be like. Real pictures from camp will be up next week}

Ok, I'll admit it, our boys are spoiled. Spoiled rotten. My husband and I are going away this weekend, and instead of boarding the boys at the local kennel, what do we do? We send them to summer camp. Before you start laughing, let me explain. One of our good friends is the director of the Athens Y Camp - a summer camp in Northeast Georgia. He and his family watched the boys last year when we were on our honeymoon, and camp is where they first learned to swim. The boys LOVE going to camp. When we told them they were going this weekend, they got really excited. Alright, maybe that's an exaggeration - I'm not sure if they really understood what we were saying, but I like to think so. Anyway, we plan to drop them off at camp on Friday, and they'll spend the rest of the weekend playing with the campers, chasing wildlife and swimming all day long. I think it's safe to say they'll be happy {and exhausted} dogs when we pick them up on Sunday.

Just in time for summer

2009-06-30T10:42:00.002-04:00

Now that we are about a week or so into summer...I've decided to announce the launch of my newest project - Seagrass & Sunsets - the blog of Summer Day Designs. I've been brainstorming about this new blog for a while and have been working to get it set up for a few weeks. As some of you may know, Brown Dog Boutique is a division of my stationery company - Summer Day Designs - that I started last summer.

I absolutely love summer. I was born in August, and summer has always been my favorite season. I love everything about it - the heat, the long days, spending time outside, grilling, the beach, watersports, I could go on and on...My husband shares my love of summer, so we decided to create what we call "a one-stop shop for all things summer". We love to travel and entertain, and we are excited to share our ideas and favorite things on the new blog. When you get a free moment, please stop by Seagrass & Sunsets to check it out and feel free to leave us a comment and to share the link with friends. We'd love to hear what you think & any suggestions that you have for story ideas or how to improve the blog would be greatly appreciated!

I also have many new stationery designs in the works for Summer Day Designs (and Brown Dog Boutique), so watch for an upcoming announcement about additions to both shops!

The Perfect Sporting Collar

2009-06-29T11:09:00.005-04:00

Ok, so I would not necessarily call our dogs "sporting dogs". They are great retrievers, but they don't go hunting. I'm not a big fan of hunting, but that's another topic. We're talking about collars today. About a year ago, my husband and I made a random stop by PetSmart and picked up a pair of collars made by Remington that have become our "go-to" collars. {Side note - I may have mentioned this collar before, but I can't remember. If I have, it's worth mentioning twice - we just bought two more of these collars for the boys because they're that great}

Let me introduce the 1" Remington Reflexite Collar. This collar is made from double-ply reflective nylon in safety orange that makes dogs more visible both in the day and at night (especially because the reflexite strip reflects oncoming light). Because our boys are dark brown, they have a habit of disappearing when it gets dark outside. The safety orange and the reflective strip on this collar have helped us locate them in the dark on many occasions (and we have found this to be particularly helpful when camping). They also love to roll around in dirt, wet grass and anything smelly (rolling in smelly things may be Cooper's favorite outdoor activity), so finding a collar that is both durable and easy to wash was a necessity for us. The Remington Reflexite Collar meets both of these requirements. I'll admit, while safety orange is not my favorite color and certainly wouldn't be my first choice at picture time, when it comes to everyday wear, I think this collar is a great find.

Is it Saturday yet?

2009-06-26T07:27:00.001-04:00

Take Your Dog to Work Day!

2009-06-24T20:54:00.005-04:00

Do you ever wish that you could take your dog(s) to work with you? I thought so. Well this Friday might be your lucky day! This Friday, June 26 is Take Your Dog to Work Day. First celebrated in 1999, Take Your Dog to Work Day was created as a way to celebrate the great companions that dogs make and to encourage pet adoptions. Since then, thousands of businesses have opened up their offices to employees' pets in celebration of this day. How cool is that?! Unfortunately, I have a feeling that my office wouldn't be so keen on this idea.

Do any of you have offices that support this day? If so, I'd love to hear where you work!

Dog-Friendly Travels

2009-06-23T14:42:00.003-04:00

How can you say no to this face? I know way too well how difficult it is to leave your dogs when you travel and how it is equally difficult sometimes to figure out how to take them with you. Fortunately, the folks at DogFriendly.com have made it a little easier on us by compiling a number of different guides that help us locate hotels, restaurants and parks where our furry friends are welcome. When you visit DogFriendly.com, you'll see that you can search for dog-friendly vendors by location or you can check out one of their more specific guides, such as the Beach Guide for Dogs. While the DogFriendly website isn't the most well-designed website I've ever been too (it's a little difficult to navigate at times), it does contain a lot of good information and is always a good place to go when coordinating your travel plans. I'll definitely be spending some time on DogFriendly.com in the coming weeks as we search for our next dog-friendly travel destination.

This is how they do it...

2009-06-16T10:53:00.010-04:00

On land, Cooper is definitely our retriever. His football is by far his favorite toy, and he is constantly dropping it at our feet in the hopes that we'll take him outside to play. Brady is like the little kid that you find wandering around the soccer field in the middle of a game picking clovers. When it comes to fetching a ball or chasing down the football, Brady could care less and his attention span is very short. In the water, on the other hand, Brady is the star athlete. As soon as you throw his buoy, Brady is jumping into the water, swimming as fast as he can to get to it. In our first few trips to the lake, Cooper tried to race with Brady, but he quickly devised a better plan - one you can see in action in the pictures below. When we get ready to throw the buoy, Cooper lines up with Brady like he's going to race him for it, but when we throw the buoy, Cooper hangs back and watches as Brady races towards it. Usually, Cooper even sits down to wait for Brady - no need to waste precious energy, right? As Brady gets closer to land, Cooper races towards Brady and pounces on the buoy, helping him bring it back to us. I have to admit, it's pretty funny to watch.

Brady & Cooper clearly love the water. We can't wait to take them to the beach and see how they react to the waves. Hopefully we'll be able to fit in a beach trip towards the end of the summer.

What about you all? Do you have water dogs too?

Lovin' the Lake

2009-06-15T11:59:00.004-04:00

Brady & Cooper had a big weekend at the lake with three of their friends! As you can see, this picture was taken post-swimming. I've been wanting more pictures of the two of them side-by-side, but we normally have trouble getting them to sit still. I think I've found the magic trick - wear them out first and then have them pose. More pictures to come tomorrow after I upload them to my computer. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Blog Layout Tips and a New Award!

2009-06-11T07:43:00.003-04:00

This post won't be directly dog related, however many of my readers are bloggers themselves, so I thought I'd pass along a great guide for adding a 3rd column to a traditional Blogger template. This how-to guide made the conversion pretty simple, which is great because I am certainly no HTML expert (yet...one can hope, right?). I would definitely recommend backing up your current template first in case the conversion doesn't work on the first try & you need to get back to where you started - or creating a test blog to try it out before messing with your current blog. If you have any questions about what I did, let me know!

Now on to more fun things...my good friend over at Happiness Is... received the One Lovely Blog Award and passed it on to me! Thank you!! If you haven't read her blog yet, I'd highly recommend checking it out. Now for my picks...here's how the award works:

The Rules:

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you have newly discovered.

So here are my picks in random order (P.S. I read a lot of blogs, but 15 is a lot so I might repeat a few that I've passed awards to in the past. You'll also notice that the blogs I read tend to be on random subjects. Some related to dogs, some that are informative, some are just plain funny. If you have a blog that I don't mention that you think I'd like to read, please leave a link in the comments section of this post, and I'll check it out!):

1. Buckhead Betties

2. Misadventures of a Newlywed

3. Pecan Pie Puppies

4. art4milkbones

5. 3 Dogs and a Chick

10. Nautical By Nature

11. Running In Stilettos

12. Happiness Is...

13. Aroo Studio

14. The Pet Boutique Blog

15. Sweet Tea Diaries

Enjoy!

What do you think?

2009-06-10T17:14:00.003-04:00

If you're not reading this blog in a reader, you've probably noticed the new layout. So that the page wouldn't be too long, I decided to try a 3 column look - what do you think? Better? I've been toying around with the idea of a whole new look altogether, but haven't decided if it's worth changing things up completely. I'd love to hear from my readers - should I keep the new 3 column layout? Change to a whole new look? Or stick with the old version?

The Pet Boutique Blog

2009-06-10T11:20:00.005-04:00

Happy Hump Day! My last few weeks of work have been shorter than usual with holidays and Fridays off here and there, so this week seems like it's going last forever - luckily we've already made it to Wednesday, so maybe it won't be that bad...

I did log on to my computer to find some good news for Brown Dog Boutique this morning - we've been featured on a great new blog - The Pet Boutique Blog! If you haven't stumbled upon this great resource yet, venture on over right now. The Pet Boutique Blog features links and stories about a ton of great sellers of products for both pets and pet lovers. Now rather than spending hours searching and sifting through the listings on Etsy or the web, you can head over to The Pet Boutique Blog and browse through many different items in one place. To read the feature on Brown Dog Boutique, click here. Many thanks to The Pet Boutique Blog!

And the winners are...

2009-06-09T09:51:00.007-04:00

I want to thank you all for so many great entries to the Brown Dog Boutique Pet Sitter's Guide Giveaway. I received a lot of great responses, and my husband selected the winners at random last night (with Brady & Cooper observing to make sure he did it properly).

Congratulations to the following 3 readers for winning the Brown Dog Boutique Pet Sitter's Guide Giveaway!

Aroo Studio

Art2theextreme

Aik

Please contact me at thebrowndogboutique@gmail.com to claim your prize.

On the road again...

2009-06-03T07:21:00.003-04:00

This may be my last post for the week...if it ends up that way, I apologize ahead of time and promise to have many fun posts to make up for it next week. My husband and I are headed out bright and early tomorrow morning to drive up to Charlottesville, Virginia for the weekend. This year marks my 5 year college reunion, and we are headed back to UVa to celebrate with many of my college friends. If you've never been to Charlottesville, you're missing out - beautiful horse farms and the Blue Ridge mountains, amazing restaurants, fun events and, of course, The University. Yes, I'll admit that like many UVa grads I am biased, but I do think that the University of Virginia is the best there is. Anyway, where was I going with this...oh yes, traveling...

[Source: Kristjan Pom, Sydney Morning Herald]

We will not be taking the boys with us this weekend - they'll be staying with their uncle who is sure to give them plenty of exercise, love and attention while we're gone, so we don't need to worry about finding pet-friendly accomodations on this trip. We will, however, be on the lookout for pet-friendly destinations in the future, and on that note, I wanted to pass along another great online resource - DogFriendly.com. If you get a minute while I'm gone, go check out the site, and when I return, I'll point out some of the great features it has to offer.

Pet Fest in Pictures (and a giveaway!)

2009-06-02T09:47:00.009-04:00

We had a great time at the Humane Society of Jackson County's Pet Fest this past Saturday. The weather was beautiful, the crowds and other vendors were friendly, and we enjoyed great food, music and pet-friendly activities. The event was called Pet Fest, but I think it would have been more appropriate to have called it Dog Fest - I don't think I've ever seen more dogs in one place before. Sure, there were a few kittens at the adoption site, but other than that, it was dogs everywhere! Dogs of all breeds, colors and sizes. Brady & Cooper love socializing with other dogs & I think they had a blast. They slept for hours after we got home.

The weather was beautiful, but it was hot out in the sun - luckily, we came prepared with our tent. We set up the Brown Dog Boutique booth in the tent, and it's amazing what a difference that made. It was SO much cooler sitting under the tent. Throughout the day Brady & Cooper alternated between sitting in front of the tent greeting everyone that walked by and relaxing under the tables - popping out every now & then to say hi.

I've found that craft shows are difficult to prepare for, especially ones that I've never been to before. It's hard to anticipate (1) what people will be interested in on a given day, (2) what price points people will be looking for and (3) whether people will be in the mood to spend money at all. In the case of Pet Fest, it seems that most people loved to come around and look, but I got the impression that no one came to the event planning to make many purchases. Unfortunately, I don't think that many of the vendors sold much, if anything. The good news was that booth prices were very reasonable, and all of the money generated at the event went directly to the Humane Society of Jackson County.

I only sold one set of note cards (to my good friend over at Vintage Victuals - thanks Ellie!), but didn't leave the event disappointed. I was glad to support the HSJC, and I did end up handing out a number of business cards which will hopefully lead to new readers of this blog & more visitors to my shop. Fortunately, I didn't prepare too much inventory for the event. Because the majority of my sales are custom designs (where customers select the dog silhouette, colors and personalization of their choice), it's difficult to create a reasonable inventory that includes all of the combinations that I offer. I did introduce a new product at the event that got a good response from the crowd - a Pet Sitter's Guide. I developed the Pet Sitter's Guide out of personal necessity - I found that whenever my husband and I went out of town, I had to re-write a list of instructions for the person watching the boys - what they eat, when they eat, the vet's contact info, special instructions, etc. Every time I wrote down new instructions, I worried that I was forgetting something important. Hence, The Pet Sitter's Guide - a colorful, fill-in instruction sheet that features a cute dog silhouette at the top. I will be adding The Pet Sitter's Guide to my shop soon. In the meantime, I have 3 (yes, 3!) sets to give away to my readers! In honor of one of my alma matters, the University of Georgia, the sets that I will be giving away feature a white bulldog silhouette surrounded by a red & black circle. To enter the giveaway, just answer the following question in the comments section of this post:

What is your favorite summer vacation spot and why?

The rules:

One entry per person - no entries after 5pm EST on Monday, June 8. The winners will be chosen at random and announced next Tuesday morning. Good luck!

They passed!

2009-06-01T09:17:00.004-04:00

The Humane Society of Jackson County's Pet Fest held this past Saturday was a great success! We were lucky to have beautiful weather, and the last I heard, we estimated at least 650 people in attendance throughout the day. I don't think the vendors (including me) had many sales, but if nothing else, the event was a great weekend outing for many cute dogs & their families and the event raised some much-needed funds and awareness for the HSJC. I took a few pictures (which I have yet to upload to my computer - hopefully they'll be up by tomorrow), and I'll be sure to post them soon!

In the meantime, I have to brag a little bit - Brady & Cooper both passed the AKC Canine Good Citizen Test! We hadn't planned on having the boys tested yet (I figured we still had a little ways to go in our training before we would be prepared) but we decided to go ahead at the last minute, and both of the boys were great!

The Canine Good Citizen Program (CGC) is a certification program designed by the AKC to reward dogs that have good manners at home and in the community. The CGC test includes the following 10 items:

(1) Accepting a friendly stranger

(2) Sitting politely for petting

(3) Appearance and grooming

(4) Walking on a loose lead

(5) Walking through a crowd

(6) Sit and down on command and staying in place

(7) Coming when called

(8) Reaction to another dog

(9) Reaction to distraction

(10) Supervised separation

To learn more about the AKC Canine Good Citizen Program, click here, and stay tuned for more from Pet Fest coming soon!

The Salty Dog

2009-05-29T10:10:00.005-04:00

[Source: CoastalLiving.com]

My favorite time of year is summer and my favorite place on earth is by the ocean (preferably the Outer Banks of NC), so it is only fitting that my favorite magazine is Coastal Living. Sadly, I don't live anywhere near the ocean, but the pictures and articles in Coastal Living help transport me, if only temporarily, to some of the most beautiful and peaceful places in the world.

A few days ago, I was browsing the Coastal Living website, and I came across a few great articles that highlight important tips for enjoying the summer with your favorite four-legged friends. To read the articles in full on the Coastal Living website, click here and use the search term "dog". For those of you too lazy to venture over there, I'll summarize a few of the tips for you:

(1) When traveling, try to locate dog-friendly lodging, parks, lakes and beaches.

(2) Make sure that your dog is wearing ID tags at ALL times. When traveling, be sure the ID tag includes your cell phone number so that you can be reached in case of emergency.

(3) Remember that dogs - especially those with short hair or fair skin - can sunburn (I know, I would not have thought of this either), so be sure to apply a sunscreen with at least SPF 15 to your dog's nose and ears (and any other sensitive areas) before heading out for a long day in the sun.

(4) Try to take your dog outside in the early morning or late afternoon - times when the sun is not at its peak and temperatures are more moderate.

(5) If you head out with your dog in the heat, make sure that your dog has plenty of water and has a nice, shady place to rest out of the sun. Dogs can easily overheat (remember, they don't sweat like humans do) and are susceptible to heat stroke, too.

(6) If your dog loves to swim, let them enjoy the water - but be sure to take precautions. If you're taking your dog on a boat, invest in a doggie life jacket (if you're in the market for one - check out Backcountry K9 - and be sure to use discount code 5HSJC to receive 5% off your order!). If you're near the ocean, be sure to watch out for rip currents and never force your pup into deep water.

(7) When you're around an area where people are fishing, keep an eye out for fish hooks, nets and other items that may injure your dog.

(8) When you come home from a day out in the sun and sand, rinse off your dog with fresh water to get rid of the sand and salt water, paying close attention to your dog's paws, and be sure to towel dry their ears to prevent infection.

Click here to read more!

Home Alone!

2009-05-28T15:13:00.005-04:00

What happens if you leave two chocolate labs home alone with their crate open for the day? You might come home to a scene like this...

Cooper and his cookies

2009-05-28T09:16:00.003-04:00

In preparation for Pet Fest this weekend, the boys and I decided to bake some of their favorite treats last night. We're planning to give away free treats to everyone who stops by the Brown Dog Boutique booth on Saturday. As usual, Cooper was my taste-tester - as soon as I got out my mixer, he was by my side, and he was quick to let me know that he wanted to taste the dough to make sure the treats were edible. For a dog that doesn't usually bark, he has become very vocal in the kitchen when the mixer and cookie sheets come out. Fortunately, I think he approved each batch that came out of the oven, and we were able to check off one more thing from our "to do" list for Pet Fest!

Click to Give

2009-05-27T14:58:00.005-04:00

If you've always wanted to volunteer with an animal rescue group, but you just can't find the time, I've got a simple and EASY option for you - click on this link to visit The Animal Rescue Site. If you haven't seen this particular site, you've probably seen one of their others - sites with buttons where you can click to donate a mammogram or click to donate free food to the hungry. The Animal Rescue Site is connected with these sites and offers a great option for animal lovers - you can click to donate free food & care to rescued animals!

Want to learn more? Here's a summary about the organization (directly from the The Animal Rescue Site):

The Animal Rescue Site focuses the power of the Internet on a specific need — providing food for some of the 27 million unwanted animals given to shelters in the U.S. every year. Over 10 million animals are put to death every year in the U.S. alone because they are abandoned and unwanted.

Each click on the purple "Click Here to Give - it's FREE" button at The Animal Rescue Site provides food and care for a rescued animal living in a shelter or sanctuary. Funding for food and care is paid by site sponsors and distributed to animals in need at The Fund for Animals' renowned animal sanctuaries (including Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Texas and The Fund for Animals Wildlife Center in Southern California), pet shelters supported by the Petfinder Foundation, North Shore Animal League, and other worthy animal care facilities supported by the GreaterGood.org foundation.

100% of sponsor advertising fees goes to our charitable partners.

Pet Fest!

2009-05-27T09:03:00.001-04:00

Get excited!

Brown Dog Boutique is proud to be participating in Pet Fest - a great day of activities for pets and pet lovers!

Pet Fest is an annual arts and crafts Pet Festival and Family Fun Day is organized by the Humane Society of Jackson County that will be held on Saturday, May 30, from 10 a.m.–4 p.m. at The Birdhouse in Braselton, located at 1866 Hwy. 211. To get there, take exit 126 off of I-85 and turn towards Winder - The Birdhouse will be less than 1 mile on the right. The event will include microchipping, Canine Good Citizen Testing, pet demonstrations, a Kids’ Area, food, live music with two bands, pet-related vendors, arts and crafts vendors, a celebrity dunking booth and much more! Pet Fest will also double as a spring get-together for the Jackson County Chapter of the UGA Alumni Association.

The first 300 people at Pet Fest will receive a FREE goodie bag filled with tons of great pet supplies, so be sure to arrive early! A Pet Parade will kick off at 2 p.m. Entrants in the parade will have the opportunity to participate in the Pet Contest, which includes prizes for dogs and their owners who are the best in “Owner & Dog Look-a-Like,” “Most School Spirit,” “Uga Look-A-Like,” “Best Costume,” “Best Kisser,” “Best Talker” and more. Pet photographer Pat Keene,will be on site to capture memories of you & your pet – children’s pictures welcome too! For just $35 pet owners get four 4” x 6” prints of a variety of poses, and a portion of the proceeds go to the Humane Society of Jackson County.

If you happen to be in town to attend Pet Fest, please be sure to stop by the Brown Dog Boutique booth - we'll have tons of great stationery for sale, and Brady & Cooper will be on hand giving away FREE Brady's Biscuits to all visitors! I am also proud to announce that 20% of all Brown Dog Boutique proceeds at Pet Fest will be donated directly to the Humane Society of Jackson County!

For more information about Pet Fest, please e-mail petfest@bigstickradio.com or petfest2009@live.com or call 706-658-6974.

Does your dog try to inhale his food too?

2009-05-26T11:35:00.006-04:00

[Source: Orvis.com]

I'd be willing to bet that Brady could win a pie-eating contest...or a contest eating anything, for that matter. Brady is not what you would call a picky eater. In fact, I haven't found anything yet that he won't eat. I think that this is partially a result of the fact that he doesn't give himself the opportunity to taste what he puts in his mouth. A bite of anything you give him is gone in 0.5 seconds. A bowl full of food - maybe 2 minutes. Cooper, on the other hand, likes to inspect and then enjoy his food. When you give Cooper something new to try, he puts the food down, sniffs it, does a little dance around it and occasionally throws the piece of food up in the air a few times and then proceeds to eat it slowly. Brady thinks this is a huge waste of time.

Fortunately, Brady has slowed down a bit with age, although he's still finished with his meals a few minutes before Cooper. When Brady was younger, however, we had to find a way to combat his fast eating. Eating too fast can make dogs sick or worse, can put them at risk for a potentially fatal condition known as gastric bloat. Several companies have come up with a great dog bowl design that helps to slow dogs down while eating (just Google "dog bowl for fast eaters" and you'll find several listings) - the most common design features a set of 3 plastic cones that stick up in the middle of the bowl. The cones force dogs to maneuver around the cones in order to get to their food - slowing down the eating process. While using his special bowl, Brady was still able to eat faster than Cooper, but at least it prevented him from inhaling his entire meal in two bites. We ordered our special bowl in a size Medium from Orvis, and it stood up pretty well to the test of a large Labrador. I do have to throw up one caution - the bowl is made from plastic and will show teeth marks - if you have a chewer in your household, I'd be sure to put the bowls up after mealtime.

And we're back!

2009-05-26T09:28:00.006-04:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend spent with family and friends! Because I wasn't able to post yesterday, I wanted to take a minute to give thanks to all the men and women who make sacrifices daily to protect our freedom. I appreciate what you do for our country more than you'll ever know.

We spent most of our holiday weekend indoors. The weather did not cooperate for much of the weekend - we had unusually cool weather, quite a few rain showers and very little sunshine. No pool time for us. Luckily, we were able to enjoy an afternoon of hiking and swimming (well, swimming for the boys) at one of Brady & Cooper's favorite spots - Elachee Nature Center. We packed a lunch and went on a 3 mile hike Sunday afternoon, and the boys had a blast. Look out for fun pictures from the park tomorrow! In the meantime, enjoy the picture of Paco - one of Brady & Cooper's friends - Paco is quite the worldly dog - he spent his first two years living it up at the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador. Lucky dog!

A little love for the seniors...

2009-05-21T15:27:00.006-04:00

I know I shouldn't, but almost everyday I check the websites of Atlanta Lab Rescue and the Humane Society of Jackson County to see which dogs are available for adoption. Every time I check, I seem to find one (or ten) that I would take home in a heartbeat if I could. Because I can't personally adopt another dog at the moment, I've decided to showcase some of my favorites here each week. This week's special two are senior labs that are currently available for adoption from Atlanta Lab Rescue.

The first cutie's name is Jockey. The pictures don't do Jockey justice, but they're all I have to work with right now. Jockey is a 7 year old male purebred Chocolate Labrador Retriever. I love his name & I obviously have a soft spot in my heart for Chocolate Labs. At 7 years old, Jockey is likely a much calmer version of my two monsters and would make a great addition to any family.

The second handsome male featured today is Birch. At 12 years old, Birch is a dignified senior that deserves a lot of love and attention. Please excuse his picture -- unfortunately, Birch has had a rough time lately, dealing with conjunctivitis in his eyes - but that's nothing that a little vet attention can't handle!

I think that these two handsome fellows would make any family happy & I'd love to help the two of them find loving, permanent homes. If you're interested in Jockey or Birch, please contact Atlanta Lab Rescue at (404)261-LABS or via email at info@atlantalabrescue.com. Please feel free to pass this post along to anyone you know that might be able to offer a good home to these sweethearts.

Ready, Set, Vote!

2009-05-20T10:13:00.007-04:00

I know, I should have posted this on May 16th when the voting began, but as usual, I'm running a little late (a trait that I can't seem to shake). Maybe one day. Anyway, there are 49 incredibly cute entries to the PetsJubilee Photo Contest, and they need your votes! As I said in an earlier post, because this is the first contest, PetsJubilee team members are not eligible to enter - so, you won't find Brady or Cooper in the list of entries. You will, however, find many of their cute friends (like Brodie and Coco)!

[Vote for Brodie here]

So that you're "in the know" when you head over to the contest, here's the scoop...Voting will run from May 16th through noon, EST on May 31, 2009. To vote, Look at the entries, read each pet's funny traits, and pick one to vote on. To vote, leave a comment by clicking on the Comment link under the pet you would like to vote for. Then click on "Post a Comment." Type your comment. Type the "word verification"Under "Choose an Identity", click Google (Blogger), Open Id, Name/URL or Anonymous and enter your information. IF YOU CHOOSE ANONYMOUS, YOU MUST "SIGN" YOUR COMMENT WITH SOME ID NAME. You can use your Etsy, Artfire, AOL name - just something. (i.e. I think such and so is so adorable. Sincerely, PetsJubilee.etsy.com). Any comments made that don't adhere to these rules will be deleted.

[Vote for Coco here]

One vote per person per day. Unfortunately, PetsJubilee team members are not eligible to vote this month, so I'm asking my readers to vote instead. Seriously, there are a TON of cute entries! If you have any questions, email them to petsjubilee@live.com. The winner of the PetsJubilee Photo Contest will be determined by the pet with the most comments at the end of the month. The prize is a FREE PetsJubilee Pet Sampler box and the winning picture will be the PetsJubilee team store's avatar for the entire month of June.

So Cool!

2009-05-19T09:32:00.008-04:00

You can now become a Brown Dog Boutique follower!

If you look on the left column of my blog & scroll down far enough, you'll see that I've finally added the follower gadget! One of the most fun things about having a blog is seeing who reads it on a daily basis. I love connecting to people throughout the world through my blog & receiving feedback, advice and funny stories. If you have something to add to one of my posts, ideas for what you'd like to see in an upcoming post or just want to drop by and say hi, please do! I LOVE to hear from my readers. Feel free to leave a comment or to email me anytime at thebrowndogboutique@gmail.com. I have a lot of exciting things in store for The Brown Dog Boutique Blog and the Brown Dog Boutique Etsy shop over the next few weeks (think new layout, new products and tons of new pictures and posts), so please be sure to check back often!

FREE SHIPPING!

2009-05-18T15:23:00.005-04:00

MEMORIAL DAY SALE!

In honor of Memorial Day, I am happy to offer FREE SHIPPING on ALL items in my shop ordered before

5PM EST on Monday, May 25th, 2009.

Hurry on over to Brown Dog Boutique - you don't want to miss this!

Summertime...

2009-05-18T14:14:00.012-04:00

I don't know about you, but for me Memorial Day always seems to signal the beginning of summer. Where I grew up in Virginia, the pools always opened for the season over Memorial Day weekend, and it was the last holiday before school let out for the summer. As a kid, Memorial Day meant that long summer days filled with swim practice, sharks and minnows, trips to the beach and flashlight tag were right around the corner.

Summer is my absolute favorite season of the year, and I always look forward to the hot summer days and time at the pool, lake and beach (anywhere near the water, really). I have always been a water baby - I think I took my first swim lesson at the ripe old age of 9 months - and I would much rather be in the water than on dry land. Luckily, I think Brady & Cooper share my same love for the water. The minute we get anywhere near a lake or pond, the boys jump right in. My husband and I have so much fun throwing the buoy to them and watching them chase each other through the water. Unfortunately, we haven't made a beach trip since we got the boys (I know, I can't believe it either - I'm think I'm going through withdrawal), so the boys have not yet had the pleasure of running through the surf and learning to jump waves. I'm hoping that we'll be able to fit in a trip this summer.

[Source: CoastalLiving.com]

So, in preparation for Memorial Day weekend and the upcoming days of summer, I thought I'd spend the next post or two passing along important dog travel and safety tips to keep in mind and highlighting a few great dog products for the summer. Please stay tuned!

Tune in to Dog Town

2009-05-15T13:32:00.014-04:00

Many of you may already watch Dog Town (National Geographic's hit television show about Best Friends Animal Society that airs on Friday nights at 10 PM). If you haven't, I highly suggest that you set your DVR or Tivo to record every episode. Dog Town is a great show for anyone who is into animal rescue (or just plain loves dogs) that chronicles the rescue efforts of the amazing staff of Best Friends Animal Society.

I have to admit that I had never heard of Best Friends Animal Society until I saw my first episode of Dog Town. The first episode I watched featured an adorable mixed breed, named Tuffy, with an amazing will to live (you can read about Tuffy here).

Immediately after the show was over, I went to the Internet to find out more about the organization thinking that it was relatively new. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that Best Friends is a huge rescue organization located in Utah. On any given day there are over 1,700 rescued animals at Best Friends including dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, pigs, horses...you name it! The animals at Best Friends come from shelters and rescue groups all across the country for the special care that the staff at the sanctuary provide. The goal of Best Friends is to prepare each animal for adoption, and they place hundreds of animals in forever homes each year. To me, one of the best things about Best Friends is their promise to give every animal a forever home - for those few animals that are too sick, old or traumatized to be adopted out, they are welcome to stay at the Sanctuary where they will receive special care and lots of love for the rest of their lives.

Best Friends Animal Society, started in the 1980s, will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year and has grown by leaps and bounds. In particular, Best Friends' No More Homeless Pets campaign has helped bring awareness to the problem of homeless pets and has helped to dramatically decrease the numbers of pets killed in shelters each year. Dog Town, a special neighborhood at the Sanctuary, was even the home to 22 of the dogs known as the Michael Vick dogs rescued from the property of Michael Vick.

If I could find a way to work for Best Friends Animal Society I would. Believe me, I've already checked their job postings a number of times. I'm not kidding. Unfortunately, the Sanctuary is located in Kanab, Utah - a small town far, far away from our town in Georgia. Good news is they love to have visitors and volunteers, and they even have cottages on the property that you can rent for your visit. Looks like Utah just got added to our list of travel destinations!

Running with the dogs

2009-05-13T11:52:00.008-04:00

If you're the proud owner of two or more dogs and you like to walk and run with them, you know that it can be challenging to keep multiple dogs on separate leashes headed in the same direction. After facing this challenge for over a year, we recently found a great solution that goes by the curious name of Knot-a-Coupler. The Knot-a-Coupler, made by RuffWear, is made from stretchy bungee cord material and allows you to attach one leash to two collars. For us, this little gadget was a great find - it allows our boys, who both like to lead and can't stand to get more than three feet apart, to stay side by side during our daily walk/run. Sure, if you have two strong dogs, they may still manage to pull you down the street, but at least they'll be heading in the same direction!

So, where can you find this cool product? You can purchase directly from the RuffWear website, but I would recommend heading over to my favorite outdoor dog site - Backcountry K9 - where the Knot-a-Coupler is currently on sale. And don't forget - whenever you order from Backcountry K9, enter the discount code 5HSJC to receive 5% off your order AND Backcountry K9 will donate 5% of your purchase to The Humane Society of Jackson County every time you use the discount code!

Happiness Is...

2009-05-12T07:24:00.004-04:00

I realize that this not directly dog-related, but I have to put a plug in for one of my new favorite blogs, Happiness Is...

One of my best friends from college recently started this blog as a way to reflect on the things that make her happy. I love reading her blog because it makes me realize how many things I take for granted when I get caught up in my day to day routine. In the spirit of Happiness Is... I thought I'd share a few of the little things in life that make me happy. Here's a short list of a few random things that popped into my head this morning:

Iced caramel macchiatos from Starbucks

My flip flops

Eating breakfast on the weekends sitting in the rocking chairs on my front porch

The story of how I met my husband

Summer cookouts & crab boils

Smile, it's Friday!

2009-05-08T10:08:00.007-04:00

If you're anything like me, you're very excited right now that it's Friday and that the weekend is only a few (well, more like 7, but who's counting?) hours away. I've had a short work week this week, but I still feel like I need a break! So, in honor of Friday and the happiness it brings, I thought I'd share a cute story with you that is sure to bring a smile (and maybe a few tears...happy tears) to your face.

When reading through my favorite blogs earlier in the week, I came across this story by art4milkbones about her rescued Golden Retriever named Mulligan (you may remember that art4milkbones makes and sells adorable dog signs and leash holders on Etsy - including the Recycle Love sign that I bought a few weeks ago). If you're a dog lover like I am, please click here to read Mully's story - I promise you'll be glad you did!

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona...

2009-05-07T07:07:00.002-04:00

Do you remember that song from elementary school? The one to help you remember all 50 states in alphabetical order? That's what kept popping into my head when I sat down to write my list of all of the states (and countries) that Brown Dog Boutique items have reached. For those of you who are keeping track, here is the current list:

California

Georgia

Florida

Kentucky

Louisiana

Minnesota

New York

Ohio

Oregon

South Carolina

Virginia

Wisconsin

Sweden

I apologize for not having the updated map for you today (and for slacking on blog posts over the last week). My husband and I got back late Tuesday from a 5 day trip to Boston, and I've been playing catch up at work & home since then. I promise to have the updated map posted by the end of the weekend along with a few more product reviews, event announcements and other fun things!

All Across the U.S.A. (and Sweden, too!)

2009-05-06T07:48:00.002-04:00

The past two months have been great for Brown Dog Boutique! My little shop is growing every day, and I'm having so much fun creating new designs (coming soon to the shop) and filling orders for people all across the country. One order even went all the way to Sweden! It has been so much fun to see where each order comes from, and I have to smile every time I print a shipping label for a new state or country.

As a way to track where Brown Dog Boutique is going, I decided to borrow an idea from a fellow Etsy seller, 8 Paws Collars. On their blog, 8 Paws Collars tracks where their collars go by filling in a map of the United States.

I'd love to continue to fill up the map, so as an incentive for those of you located in states or countries (hopefully we'll need to increase the map to cover the globe soon) that are not yet filled in, I'll include a free set of return address labels with each set of 12 note cards purchased from my shop by the 1st purchaser from each new state. Just add the code "USA" (along with your state or country) in the Notes to Seller section of your order, and I'll be in touch with details!

Tune back in later to see an updated map!

For the chewer in your life...

2009-04-30T07:30:00.003-04:00

Our boys, like many dogs, LOVE to chew things. Unfortunately, cute stuffed toys live a short life in our house. The boys figured out a system early on that enables them to rip open toys and disembowel them in approximately 2.7 seconds. Ok, they're not really that quick, but you get the picture. If we leave them at home with a stuffed toy in their crate, we come home to a crate that looks like the scene of a massive pillow fight - stuffing everywhere.

We still get them stuffed toys from time to time because they love them so much - they'll happily carry around the shell of the toy even after the stuffing has been completely removed. I realize, however, that buying stuffed toys is not the best investment and that these types of toys don't really help out with the chewing tendencies of our two labs. Luckily, we have found several great toys that stand up to the boys' powerful teeth and have long outlasted a variety of other toys that we've tried.

So, who makes these great toys, you ask? A company called Petstages has a wide variety of toys in their Orka line that are ideal for a dog that loves to chew. We've purchased the Orka Bone in both sizes (the small one when the boys were puppies and they have the larger bone now). We also have one of their chew toys called the Barbell Chew, another great find. The toys in the Orka line are made from a durable, non-toxic rubber and feature a variety of textures that allows your dog to exercise his or her jaw muscles while also helping improve dental health. You can read more about the Orka line of toys as well as Petstages' other products on their website.

And where do you find these great toys, you ask? We found our first Orka bone at Target, but you can also purchase them at PetSmart and many other pet shops across the country.

Has anyone else tried a toy from Petstages or found another durable toy for chewers? If so, feel free to share!

You've got to be kidding...

2009-04-29T08:46:00.002-04:00

I've heard of dog clothes before, but jean shorts? Seriously?!

Bloggin' Friends

2009-04-29T07:22:00.003-04:00

Thanks to Ellie over at Vintage Victuals for recognizing my blog with a Blog Award!

Here are the rules: These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbon of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

For the Blog Award, I choose (in no particular order) . . .

(1) Happiness Is...

(2) Madison House Designs

(3) Emily Ley Paper

(4) 8 Paws Collars

(5) PetsJubilee

(6) Sweet Petula

(7) Views from the Farmstead

(8) Vintage Victuals

I love all of these blogs. If you haven't visited them yet, please check them out!

Talented Tuesday Feature

2009-04-28T14:24:00.008-04:00

Many thanks to Kiva over at Views from the Farmstead for featuring Brown Dog Boutique in her Talented Tuesday series.

At least once a week, Kiva interviews an Etsy artist and features items from each artist's shop. When you get a moment, please head over to Views from the Farmstead to check out our interview & full-length feature!

Heave Hose

2009-04-28T07:06:00.005-04:00

Ok, for those of you wondering where to find the bright orange throw toy that Brady had in his mouth in my last post, here's the scoop...

If you're in the market for a durable toy that's easy to throw, easy for your dog to see and will float, the Heave Hose Fire Hose Bumper (made from recycled fire hose material) from Katie's Bumpers is the toy for you. We found ours at a dog boutique in Asheville, NC last summer, but if you haven't seen this toy in your local shop, you can order one online at the Katie's Bumper's website. This toy is a great for retrievers, especially those that love the water.

Keep in mind, however, if you have tough chewers like we do, that you should probably take the Heave Hose away from your pup once playtime is over. At around $20 for the big dog version, you probably don't want to be replacing it often (or collecting pieces of fire hose from around your house).

Water Dogs

2009-04-27T07:44:00.001-04:00

Somehow I think we skipped spring this year. This past week in Georgia we've had temperatures in the mid to upper 80's, and from watching the news, it looks like many other places across the country have too. Luckily, I love summer, so I'm pretty happy to bid those cold days goodbye and welcome in the warm weather. I think the boys are too. They LOVE to go swimming. We're fortunate to have a number of nice lakes nearby to take the boys for a swim. These photos are from last summer when we took them out to Fort Yargo State Park. The buoy that we toss out into the lake for them was a great find - a floating throw toy made from the same material that fire hoses are made from - more on this toy to come in a later post. For now, enjoy the pictures!

The Shark Cage

2009-04-24T07:45:00.004-04:00

The boys have been crate-trained from day one. The first night that we brought them home, we set up their crate and left it open for them to explore. Before we knew it, they both crawled in the crate and fell fast asleep. They even slept the entire first night without waking up & crying.

Since that first day, we've gone through four different crates, each one increasing dramatically in size. Both my husband and I work away from home during the day, so unfortunately the boys have to spend a large portion of the day in a crate. I couldn't imagine separating them into two different crates and because of this, I was determined to find the largest crate possible so that they'd have plenty of room to move around throughout the day. This is how we ended up with what we call the shark cage that measures 54"L x 35"W x 45"H. Seriously, I think the crate is big enough to fit four adults sitting down.

The boys really do love their crate (as do many of our friends' kids...they pretend it's a playhouse or jail, both of which seem to keep them occupied for hours). We've found that even when we've left the boys out of their crate for the day, we often come home to find them napping in it anyway. I'd love to let the boys have free reign of the house while we're gone, but unfortunately they're not quite ready for that yet. Cooper (the smuggler) always manages to find something to hoard in his crate or on his bed, no matter how many doors we close and items we think we put out of his reach before we leave home. This habit of his makes it difficult to decide what to do when friends or family watch the boys for us when we're out of town. We can take the crate, but it doesn't have the same fold-down feature that many crates do - you have to totally disassemble this sucker every time you want to move it. It's definitely do-able, but it's like putting a jigsaw puzzle back together every time. Just curious - has anyone found a travel crate in a comparable size? If so, I might be tempted to give you a finder's fee (or, more than likely, one of my dog treat kits or a set of note cards) for passing the information along...

Say Cheese!

2009-04-23T07:12:00.003-04:00

Recently Brown Dog Boutique joined an awesome Etsy team called PetsJubilee. For those of you who have never checked out the PetsJubilee shop or blog, you should definitely take a look. If you're a pet lover, you'll want to take advantage of what PetsJubilee has to offer. The PetsJubilee team is made up of tons of great Etsy sellers featuring products for pets and pet lovers. Each month team members contribute samples to PetsJubilee sampler boxes that are sold in the team's Etsy shop. The boxes are inexpensive, and they're a great way to test out a variety of sellers' products before you invest in a bigger purchase. The April sampler boxes are sold out, but there will be more beginning May 1!

In the meantime, Petsjubilee is having a Pet Photo Contest! You may submit pet photos now through noon EST on May 15 to petsjubilee@live.com. Voting will take place between May 16 - 31. The winner will receive a free Petsjubilee sampler box, among other things. For more details, please click here.

PetsJubliee team members are not eligible to compete in the first pet photo contest, so you won't see photos of the boys in the contest this time around. If you decide to enter your cutie, leave the link in the comments section to this post & I'll head on over to vote!

Recycle Love

2009-04-22T08:25:00.004-04:00

For those of you out there who are involved in a rescue group, have adopted a rescue dog before or just love dogs, I have the perfect gift for you. One of my favorite Etsy sellers (I seem to have a lot of favorites, don't I?), art4milkbones, sells super cute handpainted leash holders, signs and other gifts. One of their featured items for today, Earth Day, is the "Recycle Love" Dog Rescue wood sign. I just bought one to give to my local humane society, the Humane Society of Jackson County. I thought it would be cute to hang in the office or use on adoption days. If you're interested, go visit art4milkbones & order today - in honor of Earth Day, all "green" items in the shop ship for FREE!

Scampering Scotties

2009-04-22T07:38:00.002-04:00

I have to say, the Etsy community is amazing. Sarah, over at Scampering Scotties, was one of my first customers. Sarah makes great dog collars, and I custom designed a set of note cards and return address labels for her shop featuring a cute black Scottie. Yesterday, Sarah was nice enough to feature Brown Dog Boutique on her blog. When you have a minute, click here to check out the nice things she had to say about my stationery. Thanks, Sarah!!

What do you think?

2009-04-21T19:34:00.005-04:00

So you've probably noticed...I changed the layout of the blog. It's not completely different, but it's a little more spacious and not as cramped. I'm still deciding which layout I prefer. Any thoughts?

It's hard to believe...

2009-04-20T08:05:00.002-04:00

that one year ago today we were down in Amelia Island for our wedding. I honestly can't think of a more perfect day. We had beautiful weather, so many close family and friends who had traveled hundreds and thousands of miles to be with us and, most importantly, each other. This past year has flown by. I only hope the next fifty don't go by so quickly!

Brotherly Love

2009-04-17T21:19:00.004-04:00

What can I say? Our boys are inseparable. Enjoy the photos!

Brady

2009-04-16T21:06:00.002-04:00

Meet Brady. Wow, where do I start? Brady is truly like no other dog I have ever met. He is a huge sweetheart. He loves to give hugs & kisses, and he even thinks he is a lap dog - all 95 lbs of him. As you can see in the picture above, Brady thinks anything you lay on the ground (including a dish towel) can be made into a bed. By looking at the picture above and the one right below, you would think that Brady sleeps like most dogs, curled up in a cute ball, but you would be wrong.

If Brady isn't sleeping with one of his toys...it's quite possible that you will find him sprawled out on his back, hind legs flopped open (we think he must be double-jointed), with one leg stretched up in the air and his mouth hanging open.

As you can see, Brady is definitely not a modest dog, but he provides endless hours of entertainment. He has slept like this ever since he was a little puppy, but no matter how often I look over to find him asleep on his back like this, I can't help but break out into a fit of laughter. I mean, seriously?

Ok, stop laughing (if you can)...

Brady really is one-of-a-kind. He not only gives "high fives", he's even learned how to give "high tens" and he has mastered the art of rolling over. He has an insatiable appetite, and if Cooper leaves his food unattended for too long, you can bet that Brady will devour it. Brady will eat ANYTHING. Sometimes we test him out just for fun (all dog-friendly items, of course), and I don't think that we've found anything that he won't eat - probably because he doesn't slow down long enough to taste what we're giving him.

We call Brady our quarterback. He's very handsome (and the girls love him) and athletic. He can run & swim faster than you can imagine, and we're pretty sure he could win the jumping contest off the dock on the ESPN Dock Dog Challenge. When it comes to retrieving or obeying commands, however, he's not the brightest kid in the class. We know he's smart, but he kind of does his own thing, at his own pace.

We love you, Brady boy!

Cooper

2009-04-15T07:13:00.003-04:00

This introduction is way overdue, and I thought it was about time that I introduced you all to our two boys. Meet Cooper (sometimes known as Cooperman, Coop Dog or Little Buddy). Cooper is the smaller of the two, and by smaller, I mean 90 lbs instead of 95 lbs. It's funny to see the "nature vs. nurture" theory in action. We have had our two chocolate labs since they were 7 weeks old. They come from the same litter and haven't spent a day apart since birth. We feed them the same food, they get the same amount of exercise and the same amount of love; however, somewhere along the way, Brady outgrew Cooper. Cooper is our barrel-chested little boy with a ridge down his nose. He's had the ridge ever since he was a puppy - it's one of the few ways that we could tell the boys apart when they were puppies.

Cooper is my constant companion. Even back when we first went to visit their litter, Cooper was the one that always wanted to be by my side. When I let the boys outside, he's always the first one back in the house when I call them. He's the vocal one of the two, quick to let us know when he'd like a little more attention or when he needs (or rather, wants) to go outside. Cooper is a true retriever. He LOVES to play fetch, especially with his football, and he'll bring you anything you can find. He also hoards things on his bed (shoes, clothes, dish towels, you name it), although luckily he doesn't usually chew them. Brady, on the other hand, is another story.

Cooper is like his mom & dad, he loves to sleep. He's usually the first one up to bed at night and is never the first one up in the mornings.

Cooper loves to ride in the car. We don't allow him to ride in the front seat, but whenever we let the boys ride along when we run errands, we inevitably return to find one of them sitting in the passenger (or even driver's) seat instead of in the back where they ride.

Cooper also loves to get dirty. He loves to swim, but hates to get bathed. As soon as he gets a bath, he does his best to find something smelly to roll in outside and usually returns with something disgusting rubbed around his neck near his collar. We've had to bathe him twice many times.

Most of all, Cooper LOVES it when I bake treats. He's by my side the moment I get out my mixer and the treat ingredients. He begs for a taste of the batter while I'm rolling out the treats, and he sits next to the oven starring longingly while they bake. Cooper is often a picky eater (whereas Brady will eat ANYTHING) and has recently become my quality control manager. He very much enjoys this new role.

Cooper is a sweet and loving lab, and it's hard to imagine life without him!

Pecan Pie Puppies Praise!

2009-04-14T11:02:00.003-04:00

Two in a row! This is a great week so far (with lots of good press for Brown Dog Boutique) despite the torrential downpours we've been having that just make me want to stay in bed and relax all day. When I opened my email this morning, I had a surprise waiting for me...a full-length feature on one of my favorite blogs, Pecan Pie Puppies. I absolutely love the beautiful collars made by Pecan Pie Puppies (especially this one) and was thrilled to find out that Ryan, over at Pecan Pie Puppies, loves my stationery, too! I made her a set of Design Your Own Dog Silhouette Note Cards that turned out really cute (if I do say so myself :) If you have a few minutes, stroll on over to the Pecan Pie Puppies blog to read all about Brown Dog Boutique! Thanks, Ryan!!

Etsy Pet Finds!

2009-04-13T14:02:00.011-04:00

I know, I know. I've been slacking the past few weeks with my favorite things posts. When I started this blog, I intended to do a favorite things feature every Sunday to show you my favorite dog-inspired Etsy finds, but have been tied up the past two weeks & I am way behind. But never fear! I have an amazing collection of Etsy pet items to share with you (although I can't take credit for the choices). I just found out that Jennifer, over at simply designed & etsy finds, featured my recipe & treat kit for Cooper's Fire Hydrant Cookies on her Etsy Pets feature today! A smaller version of Jennifer's selection is shown on the left of this post. To see the full version & a list of the Etsy sellers featured, please visit Jennifer's blog here. Thank you, Jennifer!

Oh, and by the way, the Bake Sale was a huge success this weekend...more on that to come later!

Brown Dog Bakes!

2009-04-09T07:00:00.006-04:00

This Saturday, April 11 from 11 am to 2 pm, Brown Dog Boutique will be participating in Jefferson, Georgia's version of Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale! hosted by Vintage Victuals at the Jefferson Clubhouse during the City of Jefferson Easter Egg Hunt. Proceeds from the Great American Bake Sale will go directly to grants for organizations that feed hungry children in after-school and summer programs, when they may not be able to get three meals a day. For this bake sale, Vintage Victuals has teamed up with the Jackson County Boys and Girls Club to ensure that the money raised from this event will go to our neighbors in need. For more information, click here. I have been busy baking and will have plenty of Brady's Biscuits on hand at the bake sale, so if you are in the area, please be sure to stop by!

Meet Maya

2009-04-08T20:47:00.002-04:00

I'd like to introduce you to Maya (Brady & Cooper's new girlfriend). Maya is one of the cutest Golden Retriever puppies I have ever met, and she has an awesome personality to go along with her good looks. Even though she only weighs a fraction of what Brady & Cooper weigh, Maya isn't the least bit afraid of them. The boys love to wrestle and growl and bite each other, and Maya wanted to jump right into the fray. I don't think she realizes that she's a sweet little girl, she is perfectly happy hanging out with the boys.

Oh, and one more thing...Maya is definitely not camera shy!

How could anyone resist this smile?!

Eight paws up!

2009-04-07T22:27:00.010-04:00

Wow! What a compliment! Theresa (who you may remember as Connie & Caesar's mom from my earlier post) over at Madison House Designs, wrote a raving review (with lots of great photos) about our treat kit for Brady's Hand-Dipped Biscuits. Thank you, Theresa!

The Boys' First Camping Trip

2009-04-06T08:00:00.009-04:00

We made it! After two days of backpacking on the Appalachian Trail, we are all a little sore, but very happy to have our first outdoor adventure completed and looking forward to planning our next trip.

As many of you might remember, over the past month or so we have been preparing our first backpacking/camping trip with our chocolate labs, Brady & Cooper. We purchased each of the boys a pack from Backcountry K-9 so that they could carry their own food & water on our trip, and during the weeks leading up to our trip, we helped the boys get adjusted to carrying their packs by using the packs on walks in our neighborhood and on short hikes. At first we had the boys wear only the harnesses so that they could get used to the feeling of them and to make sure that we had the fit right. We then added water and later food to the packs to get them acclimated to the feel of the extra weight. By our departure time on Friday afternoon, the boys were ready to go!

[Cooper on the left, Brady on the right]

My husband and his friends backpack frequently on the Appalachian Trail, so he was in charge of selecting the route for our first trip. To make sure that we didn't overextend the boys on their first trip, he chose a route that was about a 9 mile hike roundtrip (approximately 4.5 miles each day). We drove up to the trailhead after work on Friday afternoon and set up our homes for the night at a campsite right across the street from the trailhead. The campsite was right next to a creek, and the boys LOVED exploring everything. The sights, the smells, an endless supply of sticks and leaves to roll in...camping is a dog's dream! And despite the cold weather, we couldn't keep our water dogs out of the creek...

[Cooper wallowing in the creek next to our campsite]

The boys did better the first night than I did. I despise the cold weather, and it ended up being a pretty chilly night. We had a great fire going, but even with that and wearing four layers of shirts/jackets and two layers of pants, I was still freezing. It must have just been me, because my husband and his friend, Chris, didn't seem to mind the temperature, but I was not a happy camper. Needless to say, I didn't get the best night of sleep and was pretty grumpy when I woke up. Fortunately, when I finally came out of my tent, the guys had a great fire going, and I was greeted with hot chocolate and a warm breakfast sandwich, courtesy of my amazing husband who is an incredible cook. My grumpiness began to fade away, and we were all ready for a great day of hiking.

The weather on Saturday could not have been better. We had a clear blue sky and warm weather. Since we only had 2-3 hours of hiking planned for the day, we took our time and let the boys lead the way. At first, they seemed to be on a sprint to the finish, but we finally got them to slow down and pace themselves.

[Brady in the lead, Cooper following]

We took frequent water breaks and found a great overlook about halfway through our first day of hiking where we stopped for lunch.

[Brady enjoying a water break]

We finished our first day of hiking around 2 o'clock Saturday afternoon, and Chris found an amazing secluded site with clearing and a fire pit right next to a natural spring.

Our second night of camping was much better than the first. We didn't have the howling winds from the night before (although we did have a few bugs that were pretty obnoxious) and the temperature didn't drop nearly as much as it did the first night. We made a roaring fire, cooked an awesome meal of chicken & four cheese ravioli with diced tomatoes and garlic bread and relaxed before it was time to turn in. The boys were racked out before the sun set, and we all had a great night's sleep.

We woke up early Sunday morning, finished our hike back to the trailhead and sadly returned to the real world ready to start another week. We had a great time, and we're all looking forward to our next adventure!

And the winner of my first giveaway is...

2009-04-02T22:02:00.011-04:00

#11 Simple Girl! Congratulations! Please email me at thebrowndogboutique@gmail.com to claim your set of 10 design your own dog silhouette note cards.

Happy weekend everyone! We're off to the North Georgia mountains for our camping weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather and be sure to look for lots of photos of the boys and the gorgeous scenery when we return!

Last Day to Enter!

2009-04-02T10:53:00.002-04:00

Just a reminder that my first blog giveaway ends today! To enter, please leave a comment by 5pm EST today. I will be selecting a winner randomly from the comments left on my giveaway post, and the lucky winner will be announced here tomorrow morning. Good luck!

Connie & Caesar

2009-04-02T08:00:00.000-04:00

I love it when friends share photos of their puppies! These cuties are Connie (on the right) and Caesar (on the left) from Ohio. Their nice mom over at Madison House Designs ordered a treat kit for Brady's Hand-Dipped Biscuits and sent us this adorable photo. Thanks, Theresa!

My First Blog Award!

2009-04-01T09:53:00.010-04:00

What a great surprise on a rainy morning! One of my favorite cooks, my good friend over at Vintage Victuals, tagged me for the Kreativ Blogger Award! She posts tons of great recipes (and lots of fabulous photos) including ones that are perfect for an everyday meal or to serve at your next dinner party. Thanks Vintage Victuals!

For those who are new to this award (like me), here are the rules...each recipient of the Kreativ Blogger Award must list 7 things that he or she loves and then pass the award along to 7 of his or her favorite bloggers.

So here we go...

7 things that I love:

(1) Running on the beach (especially right before sunset when the breeze starts to drift in off the ocean)

(2) Drinking wine with my mom & sister and laughing until tears roll down our faces

(3) Cooking dinner with my husband, sitting in front of a fire and talking for hours about everything (or nothing at all)

(4) Walks around my neighborhood with my husband and "the boys"

(5) When I get a surprise phone call from my dad (because he is not a big phone guy)

(6) Peanut Butter

(7) The Outer Banks - my favorite place in the world. Period.

Now for my favorite blogs (in no particular order). I considered writing about why I love reading these blogs, but I want you to go check them out for yourself!

(1) Pecan Pie Puppies

(2) Drawn to the Sea

(3) Polka Dot Pup

(4) Dreaming Giggles Design

(5) Scampering Scotties

(6) Art 4 Milkbones

(7) Aroo Studio

A Day in a Dog's Life

2009-03-30T19:55:00.006-04:00

This past weekend we attended A Night of Hope, a great fundraising event for The Tree House. My husband recently became involved with The Tree House, a wonderful nonprofit organization with the mission of reducing the impact and occurrence of child abuse, by volunteering to serve on the Board of Directors. A Night of Hope featured a catered dinner, silent auction and live auction to raise money for The Tree House. To contribute to the event, I put together this cute basket for the silent auction that I called "A Day in a Dog's Life":

I thought it would be fun to put together a collection of some of my favorite dog items (and I figured if no one else bid on the basket, then I could take it home!). Fortunately for The Tree House (and unfortunately for me) our good friends won the basket and now have a great collection of dog products for their new Golden Retriever puppy.

In case you want to put together a similar basket, here's a list of what I included:

- Gift Certificate for an XL Dog Bed Cover from Bow Wow Beds

- Ruff Wear Durable Gourdo Dog Toy from Backcountry K-9

- Ruff Wear Collapsible Travel Dog Bowl from Backcountry K-9

- Custom Dog Collar and Leash Set from Aroo Studio

- Chocolate Labrador Retriever 8 x 10 Print from K9 Art Gallery

- Set of 10 Dog Silhouette Note Cards and Matching Stickers from Brown Dog Boutique

- 2 Packages of Brady's Biscuits from Brown Dog Boutique

Brown Dog's First Giveaway!

2009-03-30T13:15:00.007-04:00

As we get to the end of Brown Dog Boutique's first month of business, I thought it would be a great time to celebrate by having our first giveaway!

To participate, all you have to do is leave a comment to this post telling me your favorite dog breed and why that breed is your favorite. Your comment must be posted by 5 p.m. EST on Thursday, April 2 when I will randomly choose a winner from those who post a comment. The winner will be announced on Friday morning, April 3.

The lucky winner will receive a set of 10 of my new design your own dog silhouette note cards (like the ones shown above) featuring their favorite dog breed. Good luck!

Backcountry K-9

2009-03-29T19:35:00.009-04:00

Those of you that have been following along with my blog for the last few weeks will remember that I've written several times about our upcoming camping trip and the great gear that we've been testing to get the boys ready. What you probably don't know (because I was saving this great secret until now) is where we get all of our camping gear. A few months ago my husband found Backcountry K-9, an awesome online store that features a great variety of camping and outdoor gear for dogs (and humans, too). We have made many purchases from Backcountry K-9, and I cannot say enough good things about their terrific customer service and great products.

I don't really need any additional reasons to recommend Backcountry K-9, but they gave me one anyway. As you know, the Humane Society of Jackson County is one of my favorite rescue organizations. To help out HSJC, Backcountry K-9 has offered a special coupon code that will directly benefit HSJC. Here's how it works...

Check out the great products at www.BackcountryK9.com. When you go to check out, use the coupon code 5HSJC to save 5% off your order and Backcountry K-9 will donate an additional 5% of your order directly to HSJC! How sweet is that?! You get a discount on incredible products AND the HSJC will get a donation!

Oh, and one more great thing - Backcountry K-9 offers FREE shipping on every order over $75!

Just a Few of My Favorite Things - Part 3

2009-03-29T13:55:00.004-04:00

Top Row (from left to right):

- Tug-O-War Braid & Recycled Tennis Ball Toy by woofpurcreations
- Herbal Dog Shampoo Bar by GoodCleanDog
- Apple of My Eye Dog Collar by ScamperingScotties

Middle Row (from left to right):

- Polka Dog Collar by DogGoneKnitting

- Puppy Love - Glass Pebble Magnets by ksickles

- Glen Dog Placemat by TheModernPet

Bottom Row (from left to right):

- Framed Blue Dog on Sailboat by doghoundblues

- Barkin' Burgers by 3DogsAndAChick

- Design Your Own - Dog Silhouette Note Cards by browndogboutique

Busy Boys!

2009-03-26T12:39:00.013-04:00

The boys and I have been hard at work checking out fun and useful dog-inspired websites! You might have noticed that I just started a list of my favorite links (both dog-related and other) on the right side of my blog. The list contains just a few (I'm sure I have hundreds) of my favorite blogs, shops and websites that offer great advice, products and information, among other things including incredibly cute dog stories and photos :) Do you have any sites that I should visit? If so, please leave a link in the comments section of this post, and I'll take a look!

[Cooper after a long day at the office]

P.S. I have a feeling a Brown Dog Boutique giveaway will be coming soon, so stay tuned!

Pet-Friendly Travels...

2009-03-25T08:51:00.007-04:00

My husband and I love to travel. The one thing we don't like when we travel is having to board our two chocolate labs while we're away. Brady & Cooper don't seem to mind (they see it as a vacation with their friends), and luckily, we have a great "doggie hotel" nearby called the Pets Inn Suites that we've used upon occasion. The added cost of almost $40 a day, however, doesn't help us stay within budget.

As an alternative to boarding the boys, I've recently started looking into various places that are "pet-friendly". Turns out there are a number of great websites that can help guide you in the right direction. For example, a town near and dear to me, Athens, Georgia, has a great website called "Athens Life Unleashed" that features a guide to "Pet-Friendly Athens." I guess this makes sense for Athens since it is, after all, home to the Georgia Bulldogs! Asheville, NC has a similar website that can be found here.

Do you know of any cities that offer similar guides and accommodations?

Brown Dog Goes Global!

2009-03-25T08:44:00.005-04:00

Yay! Brown Dog Boutique got its first international order on Monday! These cute address labels (featuring a beautiful golden retriever) are going to Sweden today (Thanks PhotoTeresa :)

Remember that if I don't have your favorite dog breed listed in my shop, just let me know. I'd be happy to create a custom silhouette for you!

New Additions to My Shop!

2009-03-23T13:33:00.005-04:00

After a nice weekend that made me feel like Spring has finally arrived, I was inspired to create a couple new designs for Brown Dog Boutique's online shop. If you're looking for a cute gift for a loved one with a spring birthday or are running low on your own stationery supply, come take a look! My latest designs include these note cards...

and these cute matching stickers...

I feature a number of bright, fun colors and tons of cute dog silhouettes. I've listed some of the most popular silhouettes in my online shop, but if you don't see the one you're looking for, let me know. I would love to create a custom silhouette for you! If you have any questions or custom requests, please send me an email.

Pick Me!

2009-03-22T16:28:00.010-04:00

I had a great time at the HSJC Adoption Event on Saturday. Not only did I get to play with many great dogs, I met a lot of wonderful people too. I took a pictures of a few of my favorites from the day. Please check out their photos and brief bios. If you're interest in adopting one of these sweethearts, please check out the HSJC website here or contact the HSJC at 706-367-1111.

Meet Delilah

Delilah is a gentle giant. She is an 8 1/2 year old pure bred German Shepherd who loves to play "hide & seek". She is well-behaved, loves kids and would make a great companion. For more information on Delilah, please click here.

Meet Sweetie

Sweetie is by far one of my favorites. I could hardly leave the event without taking her home myself. Sweetie is a 1 year old Lab mix who was found only a few days before she gave birth to a litter of puppies. The litter of puppies has been placed in good homes, and now Sweetie is looking for a home of her own. She is the most gentle, laid-back 1 year old I have ever met. She is perfectly content just sitting next to you, and she is very eager to please. For more information on Sweetie, please click here.

Meet Lylla

Lylla is one smart doggie! She won me over in less than two minutes. She loves to please, gives the sweetest kisses and will crawl right into your lap. Lylla is a 4-5 month old Lab mix with lots of love to give. She is crate-trained, knows a number of basic commands and would make a great family addition. For more information on Lylla, please click here.

Just a Few of My Favorite Things - Part 2

2009-03-22T09:56:00.010-04:00

Top Row (from left to right):

- Dahlia Custom Dog Collar by pecanpiepuppies
- Treat Jar by UberDuperCreations
- Going Green - Adjustable Dog Collar by sugarplumcollars

Middle Row (from left to right):

- Doggie Leash Bag by BentleysBones

- Lab Dog Onesie by BellaBludesigns

- Personalized Canvas Dog Leash Hanger by dreaminggiggles

Bottom Row (from left to right):

- Skinny Green Stripes Dog Collar by 8PawsCollars

- Amy Butler Pet Bed - Acanthus by allingwelsh

- Couture Dog Collar - Amy Butler Print by jstephens13

Saturday is Picture Day!

2009-03-21T09:35:00.005-04:00

Getting the Right Gear

2009-03-20T10:57:00.011-04:00

In preparation for our upcoming camping trip, we bought each of the boys a pack about a month ago so that they could carry their own food & water. After a lot of research my husband ordered each of the boys a Palisades Pack (shown above) made by a great company called Ruff Wear. Actually, we ordered both the Approach Pack and the Palisades Pack to see which one we (and the boys) liked best. Both of the packs were great...made from durable material featuring lots of spacious pockets and plenty of padding to make the packs comfortable to wear. The pack attaches to a harness, so you can easily remove the pack when stopping for a swim or water break. Ultimately, we ended up choosing the Palisades Pack because it features two water bladders to make it easy to stop for a quick drink along the way.

To get the boys used to wearing the packs, we started taking them on walks with just the detachable harness. A leash easily attaches to a hook on the top of the harness to make walking even easier. After a few days with just the harness we added the packs for added weight, but didn't put anything in them just yet. At first, the boys seemed a little confused about why they couldn't walk as close to each other as they usually like to, but they adjusted pretty quickly. In fact, they seemed to have an added spring to their step and tried to pull us like they were part of a dog sled team. Last night we added water to their packs for added weight, and although Cooper tried to stay put at first, after a minute, he decided it wasn't so bad, and they both got moving pretty quickly. As long as the weather is nice, I'll take pictures this weekend of the boys in their official gear. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this cute picture that we took last year after their first bath...

Happy Friday!

Backpacking with the Boys

2009-03-19T11:41:00.007-04:00

Now that the weather is getting nicer, we are itching to take the boys on their first camping trip. We have taken them on a few hikes on the trails in the Chicopee Woods Nature Preserve behind the Elachee Nature Science Center, and they loved it! The trails feature many creeks that Brady & Cooper love to run to for a quick cool down. They love to swim and go on walks, so I can only imagine how much they will love camping! When searching for a great spot for their first trip (one that's dog-friendly, a little bit challenging, but not too much for their adventure), I came across a great book called "Best Hikes with Dogs." The version I bought features trails in Georgia and South Carolina, but a quick search at Barnes & Noble found similar books for many other states as well. The authors have hiked thousands of miles with their yellow lab, Rebel, and they offer a ton of great tips for planning a fun and safe trip with your dogs. A must read for anyone considering backpacking with their boys (or girls :)

As of now, we have a backpacking weekend planned for the first part of April, so we'll be spending the next few weeks getting the boys in shape and outfitted for their trip. Cute pictures of the boys with their gear coming soon!

Adoption Event

2009-03-18T15:13:00.011-04:00

Saturday is Adoption Day for the Humane Society of Jackson County! I have recently begun to volunteer with HSJC, and Saturday will be my first Adoption Day. The HSJC is an all-volunteer organization serving Jackson County, Georgia. Currently, the HSJC does not have a "bricks and mortar" facility, but they still manage to save hundreds of animals through an amazing network of volunteers, veterinarians and foster homes. For more information, please visit the HSJC website here.

If you live in or around Jackson County, Georgia and are looking to add to your family or just want to learn more about the HSJC, please consider stopping by. Just in case you need another reason to pay the HSJC a visit, I will be giving out free samples of Brady's Biscuits and Cooper's Fire Hydrant Cookies!

So here's the scoop...

What: HSJC Adoption Day

Where: In front of the Jefferson Kroger (off Highway 129)
When: Saturday, March 21 from 11am - 3pm