(Ottawa Dog of the Week for April 9th, 2012)

“I found my dog Rocky through the Ottawa Dog Blog. I’d been looking for the perfect dog for over a year. Originally, I wanted a large dog – I actually wanted an Irish Wolfhound (I had one when I was a kid), but my husband would only agree to a smaller dog. Since we were planning on having a baby, I wanted to find a family friendly dog who had a relaxed and quiet personality. I began scouring the Internet about once a week, searching for our dog. My aunt sent me an email, telling me about your site. I browsed your site and came across the NARC site where I found Rocky. He was described as a handsome quiet boy, who loved to cuddle. How could my husband say no to this! His only flaw was that he had a heart murmur and couldn’t be neutered. When I went to the shelter to visit him, I picked him up, and he hugged me! He wrapped his little paws around my neck and my heart melted. I found my dog. Michelle, the shelter owner, told me that she rescued him from death row in Montreal. How could anyone give up this dog! I paid for him and took him home with me. A week later I took him to the vet and we checked out his heart on an ecg and the vet said his heart was fine and he could operate on him. He’s now fixed

Six months after adopting Rocky, we had a baby. Rocky is so good with our son – he loves to cuddle him or lay beside him when he’s playing on the floor. When my son was first born, Rocky HAD to lay on my legs when I was nursing him. It was so sweet. Needless to say Rocky is a member of the family and I couldn’t imagine life without him. I’m grateful to you, and to Michelle for bringing him to me.

Rocky is a Miniature Schnauzer and is about three years old..” Rocky’s Human, Brenna.

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Firstly I must apologize for being over a week late with this post, but we’ve been busy getting ready for the holidays and finishing up everything that needed to be done this time of year.

We celebrated Wellie’s 2nd birthday this month and I made her a snazzy hat as well as amped up a few of her muffins to be some delicious pupcakes. I added bananas and extra blueberries (Wellie’s fave!) and of course, peanut butter icing. The dogs obviously LOVED them and ate them up probably a bit too fast!

We had some setbacks this month and I think it may have had something to do with the fact that Wellie was given up this time last year. She was given up on December 6th, three days before her 1st birthday in 2010. She remained at Animatch for three months before we brought her home and I think this time of year may have brought some feelings of stress and maybe even fears of abandonment back. I’m not sure what triggered them, but she ended up reverting back and was being really bad – peeing inside again, beating up Paddington, barking at everything, getting into things and the list went on. I’ll be honest, it was really tough for us as well and we were wondering what we did wrong.

We soldiered through and decided to tackle the housetraining issues with putting a bell on a string on the back door so she could tell us when she wanted to go out. The problem was that she was barking downstairs while we were upstairs and we thought it was just her barking at random things, but it was actually her telling us she wanted to go out. Not wanting to encourage the barking, we thought the bells may be a better alternative. And boy were we RIGHT!

Wellie, the smartypants that she is, only took 30 minutes to learn how to use them. Each time we let her out, we would take her paw and hit the bells and say “outside”. She figured it out so quickly and we haven’t had an accident inside since we put them up! Continue reading →

(Ottawa Dog of the Week for December 19th, 2011)

“We adopted Lola about 6 years ago from a rescue organization Ottawa near Manotick. She is a shepherd mix. approximately 7-8 years old. She had been a stray pick up in Cornwall. She was terrified of everything when we got her, scared of traffic and noise. We had to show her how to use stairs. Her personality slowly came out. My husband Kevin and I have not looked back since. Lola is now a happy well adjusted dog, loves to go camping, swimming and walks with her pack.” Lola’s Humans.

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I could totally see this happening! hahahahah

And the winner is…

Congrats to Kelsey!

We will be in contact with you shortly about your Love Your Breed™ prize!

I have a confession to make. I’m obsessed with argyle.

It’s a brand new obsession; something that occurred two weekends ago when I spotted an adorable little schnauzer named Stanley wearing an argyle sweater while hanging out at Bark & Fitz Barrhaven. I’ve been obsessing over this sweater for two weeks now, and it’s gotten so bad that all the sheep in my dreams are wearing argyle sweaters.

Imagine my surprise when the Ottawa Dog Blog received an email last week from FouFou Dog asking if we would like to review their new Love Your Breed™ collection along with one of their holiday sweaters — a holiday sweater that just so happens to be ARGYLE.

Our package from FouFou Dog arrived the very next day and the sweater was every bit as cute as I remembered it. Although I’m not a fan of argyle on two legged creatures, I think they look absolutely stunning on our four legged friends — especially schnauzers.

In addition to the vibrant colors and great quality, the other thing I appreciated was how easy it was to slide over Wookie’s pumpkin head. I’ve tried other sweaters in the past and it always felt like I was trying to put a square peg into a round hole. Although it’s a turtleneck, FouFou Dog managed to make it as easy as possible so that you’re not wrestling to put it on your dog who is about to throw a doggy temper tantrum.

Wookie has only been wearing his sweater out now for a couple of days but there’s been no shortage of compliments and I’m half expecting to see my neighbourhood dogs decked out in various colors of argyle by the end of the week.

If argyle isn’t your flavour, FouFou Dog has plenty of other adorable sweaters that will suit your tastes and your dog’s personality, as they have an entire line of animal sweaters and fleece hoodies.

Their Love Your Breed™ collection is also sure to melt any dog lovers heart, and being a schnauzer mom, I was overjoyed to see this breed included in their collection. In addition to schnauzers, there are poodles, chihuahuas, pugs and yorkies — just to name a few.

From keychains, keycovers, and rhinestone stickers to luggage tags and pens, FouFou Dog has thought of everything to help you celebrate your favorite breed. The rhinestone sticker is a great way to personalize that boring cell phone case and the luggage tag looks adorable on a suitcase, purse, or bag. And how many times have you fumbled with your keychain, trying to remember which key is for which lock? With a schnauzer keycover the keychain is no longer my enemy. You may need to keep your pen under lock and key, however, as your co-workers will be clamoring to use it and may forget to return it.

These items will make great stocking stuffers for the dog lovers in your life, but we also strongly urge you to spoil yourself and nab a few of these gems. Go ahead, you’ve earned it. I think Santa would agree that you’re on the “nice” list.

FouFou Dog Love Your Breed™ Giveaway!

FouFou Dog has donned their Santa hat and will be giving away items from their Love Your Breed™ collection to one very lucky Ottawa Dog Blog reader. Want to win? Follow these simple steps:

Step #1 – Like FouFou Dog on Facebook and make sure you tell them the Ottawa Dog Blog sent you!

Step #2 – Comment below and tell us what your favorite item is from the Love Your Breed™ collection.

Good luck!

Details:

You must follow both steps in order to be included in the giveaway. This contest is open to anyone in Canada and the US. Winners will be chosen at random. Please include a valid email address so that we can contact you. Contest closes Thursday December 15th, 2012 at midnight. Winners announced on the blog on Friday December 16th.