We love watching the Shark Tank TV show because they often feature pet products. (The recent Fresh Patch episode was pretty cool!) Earlier this month while visiting the Barkfest at Bonhams charity brunch, one of our favorite sharks, Barbara Corcoran, swam onto the scene to promote one of her doggy product partners, Ryan’s Barkery. We had been watching the humans enjoy bagels and baked goods, so we were ready to try some biscuits! Barbara scurried around the gallery floor with treat samples for all the pups — wow, she had a lot of energy at 10am! The grain-free biscuits come in three flavors and are made in the USA. We are a bit finicky when it comes to biscuits and weren’t tempted to try them. Or maybe we were just trying to trick mom into giving us some of her human food?! Ryan’s Barkery has a Shark Tank sale on their website – 3 bags of biscuits for $24.95 and free shipping.
50 shades of dog treats – which treats do we eat #SpotFarms | thepupdiary.com
21 MayFinally! It was just announced that Petco will stop selling dog and cat treats made in China by the end of the year. PetSmart followed suit and will stop selling China-made treats by March 2015. But why wait until the end of the year? And who is still buying treats made in China?! We know we aren’t!
Shopping for a pup can be overwhelming. In March we headed to Global Pet Expo and were a bit overwhelmed by all of the companies selling dog food and treats. We are loyal consumers when it comes to our food — Stella & Chewy’s and The Honest Kitchen — but we sure do like variety in our snacks! What’s a pup to do?!
Our friends at Spot Farms sent us a bag of human-grade, natural treats to try, and we are hooked! Below is what we look for in doggy treats — and how Spot Farms measured up to our high standards:
– Made in the USA – The Spot Farms bag even shows the U.S. farm location! The Turkey Bacon that we tried comes from Indiana. We asked Spot Farms about ingredient sources and here is what they told us, “ALL our ingredients listed are made right here in the USA, and are USDA inspected and sourced from trusted farm partners. Further, all of our treats are made here in FDA inspected kitchens that are certified for human food production.”
– Human-grade ingredients – We don’t want any animal byproducts in our food! Spot Farms uses USDA inspected animals.
– All natural – We don’t want to eat artificial preservatives or flavors! And Spot Farms does not use corn, wheat or soy fillers either. Their protein is antibiotic-free and raised on family farms.
– Tastes good – Yummo!!! We also like their variety and ease of use — the treats easily break into smaller pieces.
– Easy to find – Spot Farms treats are sold in Petco, Unleashed by Petco and Wag.com. A 12.5 oz. bag is $15.99 on wag.com.
- Made in the USA
- Read the label
- Yummy varieties!
Our advice to you when you are confronted with 50 different treats — read the label! Let’s demand quality products!
Our favorite Christmas gift – PetBox | thepupdiary.com
7 JanOf course our favorite Christmas gift involves food! But not just any old food. We received a PetBox gift box with premium tasty treats that we love to eat and are good for us, too: Honest Kitchen, Sliders, and Healthy Dogma treats! Mom says these treats will last us the entire month since they are full size packages and not tiny samples! The PetBox also included a cute duck toy, some vitamins, and Earth Heart Calm Coat spray. We’ll use the spray on our next car trip! Did we mention the coupon for DogTV?! Now mom has no excuse and needs to sign us up!
Why PetBox
There are several pet subscription boxes on the market and we have tried 3 of them. PetBox has been our favorite thanks to upscale products AND we get to choose what goes in our box from a list of premium items! PetBox is filled with up to 6 items and ships immediately.
PetBox gives back
For each PetBox shipped, they feed a rescue animal. Last month PetBox donated 100% of profits to pet organizations!
Discount Code
Daily Kibble is running a PetBox 20% discount through 1/24/14. Just enter discount code “DAILYKIBBLE” during checkout at getpetbox.com and you’ll Save 20%. Now that’s something to bark about!
Making biscuits with a Le Cordon Bleu chef | thepupdiary.com
6 NovIt’s not every day that we get to make doggy biscuits with a Le Cordon Bleu trained chef! Well, truth be told, we weren’t even invited! But mom got to take a doggy biscuit class this past weekend at The Essex Resort & Spa and her teacher was a Le Cordon Bleu trained chef! The class was part of the resort’s Top Dog Weekend of fun!
Mom realized that making dog biscuits is not only very easy and fun, but also very inexpensive! And we love to save money whenever we can! We figured that each batch of the basic biscuits would yield about 3 dozen treats and cost less than $2 to make. Best of all, we actually love the biscuits and we tend to be picky treat eaters. The chef said that the added brewer’s yeast makes the biscuits extra special and appealing to us. All we have to say is YUM!
Basic Biscuits
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup chicken broth – low sodium
1/2 cup brewer’s yeast
3 tablespoons oil
1 to 2 teaspoons water if needed
Mix all ingredients in a bowl to form a dough. Roll out on lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness. Use 2 or 3 inch cookie cutters to cut into shapes. Bake at 350 degrees on parchment lined pan for about 40 minutes. Let cool completely before storing. Store in airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
SuperZoo turned us on to these 10 pet products | thepupdiary.com
2 SepWe love pet industry trade shows! We get to check out new and innovative products to see what we’re missing in our daily doggy routine. We’re always on the lookout for products and tips that can make our lives easier and more fun!
Earlier this summer we headed to Las Vegas for the annual SuperZoo show where we checked out over 1,000 pet products in the comfort of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.
SuperZoo turned us on to these 10 pet products:
Finding Rover
This is one cool app that we all need! Finding Rover uses facial recognition technology to help lost dogs get home. We simply snap photos of lost and found dogs and the app matches them up. Of course it will only work if the photos are registered in their system. Get the free app here.
iFetch
Out of over 800 new products this year at SuperZoo, the iFetch won Best New Product. iFetch takes an old game – playing fetch – and makes it better. The interactive toy allows pups to play fetch on their own at any time. Pups activate the toy by dropping a ball into the funnel and a few seconds later the ball shoots out the other end up to 30 feet. The iFetch should be available for purchase the end of the year.
Push Pushi Rain Coat
Finally! A doggy rain coat with a hat that actually keeps our faces dry! The unique detachable hood will make walkies much more pleasant on rainy days. The Push Pushi coats retail for $39.95 and can be custom ordered for specific sizing.
Scaredy Cut
We are excited to try the Scaredy Cut clippers we got at SuperZoo! The simple and silent scissors should make grooming much easier for us and also help us to save money! With less money spent on professional grooming, we will have more money for treats! Stay tuned for our Scaredy Cut grooming review!
Bistro Bites
We are always looking for tiny treats that are great for training sessions and easy on the waist line. Bistro Bites, made specially for small pups, are the pawfect size. They’re hand-crafted with all-natural ingredients and grain, preservative, and gluten-free. They’re made in the USA and come in a variety of great flavors. They retail for around $7.
Pet Party Printz
Pet Party Printz must know that sometimes it’s more fun to play with the packaging than the actual gift! They make non-toxic and tape free gift wrap that allows pups to unwrap their own gifts. Doggy birthday parties are everywhere these days, so this product will come in handy! The wrapping paper comes in cute doggy themes and retails for under $5.
YAP Sport Backpack
We bought the YAP Sport backpack at SuperZoo and still use it today. It’s light weight and easy to use. We love it!
Gen7Pets Strollers
We finally found a doggy stroller company with great attention to detail and innovative designs. The executives at Gen7Pets use “smart-features” to build a better stroller. And it helps that some of the executives have experience in the baby stroller world! We want the G7 Jogger which will be ready for shipment this fall.
Pawz SafeSpot Locking Leash
Mom is never going to leave us tied up outside of a store. (And we cringe when we see other folks do this! Especially since approximately 2 million dogs are stolen every year . . .) But we do think the SafeSpot Locking Leash is a great product to use in certain situations. The fully adjustable collar and lead have a steel cable reinforced core that can be securely locked to an immovable object when necessary. We also love the Pawz dog boots!!
leanlix
No more doggy treat crumbs in mom’s pockets, purse, stroller basket . . . instead she’ll carry the leanlix lickable treat. What looks like a lip balm is actually a low-calorie and easy to use doggy treat. leanlix products are made in the USA with human-grade ingredients and retail for around $12.