The Vitahides are a great idea, as they take rawhide bones and make them even more irresistible to pups by wrapping them in dried chicken breasts and then adding vitamins they need to stay healthy. The result is a delicious treat that’s good for doggie teeth and, depending on the variety you buy, filled with heart or joint healthy vitamins. Percy didn’t seem to notice the difference between the two varieties, but since he’s getting up there in age, I think I’d be more inclined to buy the joint treats in the future.

As for how he liked the treats, I’d say these are his favorites of the samples as they are delightfully chewy and filled with meaty goodness.

Next up was the Gourmet Wraps, which consist of dried chicken wrapped around a variety of dried fruits. My samples included apple, sweet potato and banana and I would say Percy’s preferences were in that order.

The dried apple ones smelled delicious and he’s always been strangely attracted to apples when I eat them, so it’s not surprising that they are his favorites of the bunch.

As for sweet potato, these are great for a pet’s health because they include fiber, but I’ve found it to be difficult to keep putting spoonfuls of the fresh or canned stuff on his dinner every night, so this is a great way to give him fiber and reward him for being good.

While Percy enjoyed the bananas, it seemed like most of the pleasure came from the chicken breast around them. He’s never seemed interested in bananas when I eat them and I think the flavor wasn’t his cup of tea.

Lastly, I received a few samples of the company’s Vegitopia treats, which are simple dried veggies. My samples were sweet potatoes and as I said earlier, Percy’s always enjoyed sweet potatoes. Still, as much as he likes these, he is certainly more interested in the chicken-wrapped Gourmet Wrap versions. Still, sweet potatoes are filled with fiber and vitamins and sometimes you don’t want to spoil your pooch by giving him too much meat, so these are great for those times.

Personally, I give Percy treats for different reasons and these fit nicely into my rewards systems. Sometimes I want to give him something to keep him busy and make him stay in his bed, and the Vitahides are perfect for this purpose.

On the other hand, I also like to give him treats for no reason sometimes or just because he’s cute. The Veggietopias are great for rewarding without spoiling.

Lastly, I sometimes need to give him treats that he can eat quickly while he does something he hates to do, like getting his nails filed or taking a bath and the Gourmet Wraps are a great option for this purpose.

Overall, I’d recommend the entire collection and will likely be buying more myself when these samples run out. Thanks a bunch to Loving Pets for the samples, and just to keep you aware, I was NOT paid for this review, I just really loved the samples.

As dog fans, I thought you might be interested in the article I recently wrote for Neatorama detailing some truly heroic pit bulls. These dogs have a bad reputation, yet they are some of the sweetest animals around. Let me know your thoughts, thanks!

The breeder the family’s dog came from sounds like a reputable and legitimate pet breeder, which is good. The bad part is that it will open up the door for back yard breeders and puppy mills to start selling Portuguese water dogs and average families are likely to be too poor and/or too ill-educated on the dangers of these puppy factories to say no.

Everyone is expecting the popularity of this dog to sky rocket and not adopting an animal from a shelter could be a crucial blow to rescue centers that are currently over-full and under-funded. Now, more than ever, shelter pets could use some extra love and this was a big opportunity for the Obama’s to help out.

As far as the breed itself, Obama initially said he was interested in getting a mutt “like himself,” which he seemed to go back on completely. The advantage to the family doing this is that a huge surge of popularity for “mutts” could benefit all mutts -particularly if the dog’s heritage itself were hard to identify. This could really help out shelters who are loaded up with tons of mixed breed dogs. Many shelter pets will be put to sleep this year and the first family could have made a huge difference in the number of euthanized pets.

The dog choice of the president may be good for his family, but it’s quite disappointing to our nation as a whole.

In other pet news, today is Fitness & Weight Loss Day, so take your pup on a walk today. You could both use some excercise (not that you’re fat, everyone can afford to excercise) and it would surely make both of you happy.

Her family was devistated by their loss. However, when they heard about a ferral dog surviving on wild goats on Bees Island, they couldn’t help but hope it was their little girl -and it was. When rangers brought her back, she seemed extremely happy to be home with her family.

Griffith said that when the dog was first spotted on the island she had been in poor condition.

“And then all of a sudden she started to look good and it was when the rangers had found baby goat carcasses so she’d started eating baby goats,” she said.

Sophie Tucker, a member of the Australian cattle dog breed, had been quick to readjust to the comforts of home, complete with air conditioning, Griffiths said.

Link

I opt for a boycott of any publisher who even meddles with the idea of publishing Vick’s book. Are you with me?

Our loving companions have been domesticated in our homes for so long that they now mimic our societies and behavoir more than any other species on Earth.

“Cooperation, attachment to people, understanding human verbal and non-verbal communications, and the ability to imitate are just a handful of the social behaviors we share with dogs. They might even think like us at times too, according to the paper, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Advances in the Study of Behavior.”

For more info, visit the Discovery Channel article.

If your dog chases its tail, it may be more than a cute and amusing activity. It may be a warning sign. Scientists have made a link between dogs who chase their tails and high cholesterol levels.

“In a study published in the Journal of Small Animal Practice, researchers took blood samples from 15 healthy dogs that were compulsive tail chasers, along with samples from 15 healthy dogs that did not chase their tails.  When their samples were analyzed, the tail chasers were found to have significantly higher levels of blood cholesterol”

For more info, click here. Thanks Neatorama.

It sounds mean, but there is actually quite a bit of competition for the title of ugliest dog in the annual San Diego competition.This years winner is the “lovely” boxer mix, Chomper, seen to the left. She was the only puppy of her litter to survive and always carries her tongue out, even when her mouth is closed. Lest you worry about little Chomper, she is actually a very healthy pup of 4 years. To see a video of the event, click here. Chomper is actually very cute in the video.

The dog contest is held by the Kiwanis of San Diego and aside from ugliest dog, there are also prizes for cutest dog, best St. Patties Day Contest, best mutt and more. Procedes help animal shelters across the county.

The rural town Ferris, in North Texas, has decided to legalize the shooting of stray dogs. The City Manager said they approved the policy because the area is a dumping ground for unwanted pets.

This sort of thing is dispicable in any place, particularly in our country where there are plenty of loving pet owners and fantastic rescue groups that would be happy to help these poor animals.

To reach the city and place a complaint, click here. To read more on this shameful policy, click here.