Review – Jones Natural Chews Dog Bones

I absolutely love Jones Natural Chews… almost as much as my dogs do. Maya and Pierson got to try out the shank bone and the femur knuckle. We also got a knee cap but I felt it was too small for Maya and Pierson so was worried about them swallowing or choking on it.

Sensitive Tummy?
Maya has a sensitive stomach. She tends to get diarrhea if she eats something other than her dog food or eats too many dog treats. The bones from Jones Natural Chews had enough fatty pieces, skin, and some meat so I was worried she would get an upset stomach. But she didn’t. I let her chew on the femur knuckle for a good hour too.

Maya is eating the femur knuckle from Jones Natural Chews.

Great for Teeth
Chewing is great for a dog’s teeth. Most of the dogs in my life have been chewers and most have had great teeth. Even my dog Sephi at age 10 had great teeth. She loved Jones Natural Chews. My dog Pierson especially needs help with his teeth. He likes to eat poop. Even though I keep Maya’s poop picked up, he still eats the rabbit poop from the wild rabbits we have living under our shed. So with regular brushing and these great dog bones, I hope to keep Pierson’s teeth in as good as shape as Sephi’s were and Maya’s are.

Pierson is eating the shank bone from Jones Natural Chews.

Aggressive Chewers
Maya and Pierson are aggressive chewers and have to be watched closely, especially with this sort of thing. I let them chew on the dog bones supervised for about an hour. But it is difficult to just sit there and watch so it wasn’t constant supervision like it should have been. They seemed to do fine, though, so I didn’t worry. But the next day, I realized Pierson had taken off a chunk of cartilage. I found this out because he threw it up. Thankfully, he did vomit it out because it was too big of a piece for him to digest. It could have blocked his stomach which would have been very bad.

Supervise, Supervise, Supervise!
Jones Natural Chews are safer than most because this company tests for splintering. I feel good about that. But there can still be pieces that can be broken off and eaten. I learned my lesson with Pierson and will no longer allow long chewing sessions. And chewing will be 100% supervised. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

All-in-all, we are very happy with the shank bone and femur knuckle we received from Jones Natural Chews. Maya and Pierson really enjoyed them. If I were a dog, I’d love them too. They sure look tasty! Another thing I like about them is they are made in the USA. Most of the dog bones you see in the store come from China. But not Jones Natural Chews!

Here is a video of Pierson doing some cute dog tricks for the shank bone.

Check out their website and check out our favorite blog for Jones Natural Chews. I really love this blog. The writer, Flea, is funny. She has lots of pets and always has fun stories to share.

Wordless Wednesday – Winter Reindeer Auditions

Who would you hire?

Mr. Pierson Fluffybutt
Qualifications: Dressed for winter weather and genetically inclined to herd the other reindeer to wherever they need to go.

Ms. Maya Papaya
Qualifications: Outgoing personality and notorious brown-noser (she can be GoofyDog the brown-nosed reindeer).

For more Wordless Wednesday photos, visit our Pet Auto Safety Blog where I have photos of my mom’s dogs and other pets from my visit in Missouri.

Jacquie Lawson Animated E-Cards

Chudleigh animated e-cards from Jacquie Lawson

I love these wonderful animated e-cards from Jacquie Lawson. If you have never seen these cards, you should definitely stop by her website and take a look. The cards are animated and often feature dogs like Chudleigh, cats, birds, and other animals. There is a card for every occasion!

The cards are not free to send but trust me when I say that the annual subscription is worth it. Jacquie has worked hard to make these wonderful cards and as a spectacular artist she deserves a contribution for her work. I love her cards and only wish I had even half the talent that she does.

Yay! Snow!

Yesterday when I posted Wordless Wednesday Winter Photos, I didn’t have a photo of Pierson playing in the snow. Well, it snowed last night so we woke up to about 2+ inches of snow. Here are some photos from today!

Pierson is having a great time running around in the snow.

The snow is over 6 ft in this area. Pierson loves it.

Pierson looks so cute with snow on his nose.

Maya is wearing her hand-made scarf from Bow Wow Wow Gifts.

Wordless Walking in a Winter Wonderland Wednesday

Well, I Wonder When We Will get Winter Weather.

Welcome to Wordless Wednesday Where We Winteroduce Wondrous Wimages of our Wonderful Wittle Woofies.

Whew! Okay, I’m done with the Ws. 🙂 Last year it didn’t snow until January, thankfully after Pierson had been rescued from the park he had been living in. In previous years, we had snow as early as November. Here are some great photos of our dogs and dog friends enjoying past years with snow.

Sephi loved snow.

Maya has loved snow from the very start.

Sephi on the porch after playing in the snow.

These dogs belong to a friend of mine who rescues Basset Hounds.

Not much snow where Killer lived in Texas but doesn’t he look adorable in his sweater and boots? (Killer was my parent’s dog.)

Maya in the snow and wearing a backpack for dogs.

My mom’s dog Rocky and his twin brother.

Look what I found buried in the snow!

This is a photo from the 80s. I’m the one wearing the pink pants and that is my beloved dog Cassie on the far left.

No pictures of Pierson in the snow yet. It didn’t snow much this year… yet. I heard there may be snow here today or tomorrow! Happy Wordless Wednesday!!! For more fun pet photos, check out the blog hop on our PetAutoSafetyBlog.

Opposites Attract – Two Different Dogs But Both Very Special

Maya & Pierson would be like two peas in a pod if they weren’t so different. Some days I wonder if they are in love and other days I wonder if Maya sees Pierson more as a pesky little brother than her best friend. But they are a lot more compatible than Maya and Sephi ever were.

The obvious differences between Maya and Pierson are:

• Maya is a girl; Pierson is a boy.
• Maya is light in color; Pierson is dark in color. (This makes it very difficult to wear clothing that doesn’t show dog hair.)
• Maya has short hair; Pierson has long hair.
• Maya loves everybody and every dog; Pierson is shy of people and hates other dogs (except Maya).
• Maya scares people away with her size and exuberance; Pierson attracts people because he is so pretty.

Training Differences
There are differences in training too. Both have a very high food drive so it is relatively easy to train them. But Maya gets so excited that she doesn’t focus very well. But sometimes training her is easier than training Pierson and sometimes it is the opposite. Take the jumping through the hula-hoop, for instance. Maya caught on right away, although she does tend to jump onto the hoop so it is around her belly rather than through it. But Pierson took longer because he was afraid of the hoop. It took me 4 days to teach him rollover but 4 weeks to jump through the hula-hoop!

Crate Training
Crate training Maya was super-easy. It was so so easy that I couldn’t believe my luck. Especially considering that Maya was the first dog I had ever crate trained. There was one night of a little tiny bit of whining and that was it. But Pierson was the opposite. He was actually quiet the first night because he was so unsure of his surroundings. But he went insane on the second night. He broke out of his pet crate! In fact, I believe the severe bloody nose he had on his third day in his new home was caused by him escaping his pet crate. His nose didn’t bleed immediately after the incident but something about the next day burst the blood vessel and had me rushing him to the emergency vet. I decided not to crate train him since I am home almost all day, he is potty trained, and he quickly outgrew the need to chew on stuff that wasn’t his.

Potty Training
While Maya was easy to crate train, I had a very difficult time potty training her. I’ve had dogs my entire life and have never had a dog give me this much trouble with potty training before. Pierson, on the other hand, only went to the bathroom in the house once. It happened about a month or two after I got him and it was his first time in our basement. There must have been some smell down there that enticed him.

Yep, Maya and Pierson are very different. But they are both very special. I love each of them because of, and in spite of, their differences. If you had a dog then got another dog only to find out he/she is nothing like your other dog, just remember that every dog is different. Some dogs have more challenges than others. So instead of comparing them, embrace the differences and face those challenges with a warm heart.

Wordless Wednesday – Artwork of “Her Name Zeppelin” and “Charm & Lily”

Time for me to show off my artwork again. I’m not at all modest, am I? It’s because I love to draw so much and am extremely happy when my pet portraits turn out well. This is Zeppelin. She is aptly named for her lovely figure. I drew Zeppelin for a friend, Meghan. Meghan is an expert with Google Adwords and, in return for this lovely artwork, gave me some tips on how to optimize my Adwords account. Thanks, Meghan, for the help and for giving me this opportunity to draw your beautiful girl! If you’re interested in me drawing your pet, visit my art website, NatureByDawn.com.

Photograph of Zeppelin

Sketches from rough to finish.

Background first.

Face and feet next. (The hardest part.)

Halfway done!

Ta-da!

I drew my cousin Aimee’s horses.

Photograph of Charm and Lily.

Sketches from rough to finish.

Background first.

Eyes, noses, and ears. (The hardest part.)

Charm is done. She is a strawberry roan and the roan was very difficult for me to do.

Yippee!

For more wonderful pet photos, visit our PetAutoSafetyBlog for the Wordless Wednesday blog hop.

Product Reviews – Maya’s New Collar and Dog Blanket

Something about this time of year inspires me to buy things. I see all your great dog blogs and I see all these great pet products and I just have to try them. On my PetAutoSafetyBlog, I’ve done a review for recently purchased Travel Calm from Earth Heart and the Petz on Board sign for my car from Extremely Boards. On this blog, I’m going to review a dog collar from Classy Critter and a dog blanket from Catching Lizards.

Classy-Critter Dog Collar
I absolutely love these dog collars from Classy Critter. They are like nothing I have ever seen before. It is so clever of this crafty person to make sturdy dog collars with pony beads! The pony beads are weaved cleverly onto a thick cord and appears very durable. Two of my biggest reasons for loving this dog collar: 1) It comes in a wide variety of colors and styles. Maya looks especially good in lavender but I have a difficult time finding collars in lavender except at Daisy Diva Designs and Classy Critter; 2) It doesn’t get as dirty as quickly as the hand-made cloth collars do. (Don’t worry Daisy Diva Designs. I will still buy the colorful material collars from you. Maya can never have too many dog collars!)

Maya Wearing Daisy Diva Design Collar.

Catching Lizards Dog Blanket
This blanket is super adorable. It is a simple fleece blanket which has been sewn around the edges with a nice durable trim. It is smaller than expected but only because I did not look properly at the size on the website. It is exactly the size the website indicates so the fault is all mine. I am happy, never-the-less. Pierson likes to chew on his blankets so this blanket from Catching Lizards is not only added comfort but also a toy for my silly boy. I took this blanket with us on our trip to Texas for Thanksgiving. It was a perfect way to give my dogs a little extra comfort.

Are you buying lots of stuff for your pets this holiday season? I’d like to hear about them… not that I need more excuses to buy stuff for my puppies. 😉