The Dog Toy Thief | Wordless Wednesday

It's mine!  All mine!

Said the girl with the flying ears

as she stole Rudy's birthday toy.

Jolly Ball Giveaway | Happy Birthday Rudy

 

If you follow Talking Dogs blog, you already know that Rudy loves his Jolly ball.  It is, by far, his favorite dog toy.  More than once, someone has seen a photo of our dogs with a Jolly ball and asked about them.

Actually, we have more than one Jolly ball at our house because all three of our dogs love them.  Yes, eventually the ropes give out in one way or another, but it is very easy to slide in a new piece of soft cotton rope (purchased at any hardware store) and tie two knots.

Though we simply call them Jolly balls, their real name is Romp-n-Roll and they're made by Jolly Pets.  With the rope through the middle, they're barking good for interactive games like tug of war, keep away and fetch.  

These low density balls are resistant to punctures (even our oldest has zero punctures in 7 years of rowdy retriever play.)  They're made of non-toxic material, too.  They come in 3 sizes:  4.5", 6" and 8"

Perfect to play with your dog solo or with more than one dog at a time.  Rudy and Rosie love to play with a Jolly ball together.

Since we're celebrating Rudy's birthday today, we're offering you a chance to win a Jolly ball for your dog!  Sorry, due to shipping costs, only those with US shipping addresses are eligible.

One lucky winner will receive a Jolly ball in the size they choose.  Enter now via the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

* The Jolly Pets Romp-n-Roll ball dog toy in this giveaway will be purchased by me for the winner.  I've received no compensation - financial or otherwise - for this blog post or giveaway contest. 

Talking Dogs is the official blog of For Love of a Dog Jewelry.

Follow Up Friday: Dog Party, Puppy Photos and More

I'm glad to be joining Heart Like a Dog in the Follow-up Friday blog hop again this week.  This is the blog hop that lets you wrap up your week and leads you right into the weekend.  Hosted by FUF creator, Jodi, at Heart Like a Dog and co-hosted this week by 2 Brown Dawgs.


All the month of April, we're celebrating Jeffie's 7th birthday.  Because of the "party favors" we're giving away this week (see below), we're also participating in Fido's Freebie Friday blog hop which is co-hosted by Dog Tipper, All Things Dog Blog and Doggies and Stuff. 

We're part of another giveaway this week at Dakota's Den!  Enter to win a special Dog Blogger Necklace from For Love of a Dog created especially to celebrate the Blog Paws Conference event next month.  Not a dog blogger? Not attending Blog Paws?  No worries - this necklace can be personalized just for you.  Plus, if you're not the lucky winner, you can fetch one for yourself at For Love of a Dog.

Rosie Update
Our puppy girl is growing up.  Fast.  On Sunday, she weighed 40 pounds!  On Monday, she jumped on the bed all by herself.  Her coat began to show some curls a couple of weeks ago and there's now some telltale feathering.  She is, by far, the easiest puppy we've ever had.  Zero destruction.  All joy.

Coyote Update
The visitors we shot at must have spread the word.  The only coyotes weve seen lately have been the hunting pair.  We've spotted them far to the south along our boundary line.  I like carrying the airhorn with me, but it has had a strange side affect.  During the March Madness basketball games, when the airhorns sound off?  The dogs race to either the front door or slider to see the "danger."


Bithday Party for Jeffie:  You're Invited!
I know Jeffie joins me in thanking  everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes!  Rosie is still panting from all the zoomies she and Gizmo were doing the first day.  And we found out that Snoopy is having a birthday this month...  our own Dog Daddy and Jodi, too!

Celebrate Jeffies' Birthday with Monkeys:  Enter Now!
Jeffie's party kicked off with a giveaway for a pair of monkey earrings from For Love of a Dog and a Skinneeez Big Bite water bottle dog toy. There's still time to enter, so visit this blog post and get to work with that Rafflecopter!  

Next week's party favors?  A giveway of KONG dog treats!  After all, what would a birthday party be without treats?!

Yesterday we did a taste testing of some dog treats for review and giveaway on the blog.  This was Rosie's 2nd official taste testing.  She knows the drill!  I'm looking forward to sharing the photos because, since it is a birthday party, they're all wearing their party hats.  Some of the photos are blurry because the photographer was laughing so much.  I'm not sure who had too much party punch - the photographer or the dogs!

Jodi asked when exactly is Jeffie's birthday.  Jeffie was born in early March and we adopted him April 28.  Since we don't know the exact date of his birth, we've always celebrated his birthday in April.  BTW, Jeffie was an early Mother's Day gift for me from the Dog Daddy.

Celebrating Jeffie:  Wordless Wednesday
Time passes in the blink of an eye.  Jeffie puppy cuteness evolved into a sweetheart of 7 years.  Thankfully, I have lots of puppy pictures of Jeffie and I'll be sharing more later this month.  I'm terribly biased, but I think he was adorable and all the blog comments made my day!

And, Jackie, Jeffie mentioned to me something about Rita flirting with him at his party... but that whole tequila thing kinda made him nervous!

Jeffie Was a Cush Dog
I realize that having two dogs at once (or more) is not doable for some.  It has been for me and, frankly, I don't know what I would have done without my cush dogs.

Bailey writes that they've been thinking about getting a cush dog for their dog.  I recommend it.  Rudy has been Jeffie's cush dog through the loss of Tucker and Lucy last year.


Well, we've had a big week of birthday fun!  Right now Jeffie is napping and resting up for more fun to come!
 

Jeffie was a Cush Dog

Jeffie was a Cush Dog.  Not familiar with the term?  You can read about it in a guest post from the Dog Daddy here.  Its sort of along the lines of an heir and a spare.  

A Cush Dog provides a cushion, a soft landing, when the loss of another dog makes you feel you've hit rock bottom.

I resolved years ago to never be without a Cush Dog.  When my beloved Benji died, Sherman was my Cush Dog.  I was heartbroken and the very best comfort to be had was from Shermie.  In fact, that's when the Dog Daddy's no-dogs-in-the-bed rule was first broken.  As I cried myself to sleep, I hauled Shermie into bed (on only my side, of course) and we grieved together.

In 2006, it dawned on me that I had a problem.  Tucker and Lucy had become senior dogs and they were only 6 months apart in age.   Okay, I also will confess that I had the puppy fever.  

I almost always have the puppy fever, but in this case, I had another good reason for beginning the process of adding another dog to our family.  I needed a Cush Dog.

My hunt began.  As I surfed Petfinder and read the newspaper ads, I waited for that feeling.  The one that tells you this is the one.  

There came a day when there was a lemon yellow, Lab looking puppy that called to me.  When called, the shelter told us that Joe had 2 siblings with him, his mother was a Golden Retriever, and they'd been picked up as strays.  Joe was the only one listed on Petfinder.

Gary took off work early that day and off we headed to Dogwood Animal Shelter to adopt Joe.

Joe turned out to be a very pushy, dominant personality, pup.  The Dog Daddy was smitten, but I found it hard to imagine Tucker and Lucy being too thrilled.  As we played with all three of these puppies in the shelter's puppy room, it was another of the puppies that began to work his way into my heart.  

"Stevie," as they called him, was much more Golden Retriever in appearance, and much more laid back than Joe.  And, every once in awhile, "Stevie" talked to me with little puppy grunts.

I had a feeling that "Stevie" was the one and thank dog I did!

Dog names are important to us and the name "Stevie" was rejected.  After much discussion, this puppy was named Jefferson.

You can see the resemblance, right?

My very favorite memory of Jeffie's puppy-hood is a sort of mental collage of all the early mornings we spent together. 

I'm an early riser and Jeffie is a spring puppy.  Sunrise would find us together outside.  Sitting on the back porch steps, we enjoyed birdsong and the smell of flora and grass.  Jeffie might be in my lap or he might venture off to playfully explore the world nearby.

 

It was a deliciously sweet time of life.

Very fitting for my sweet boy, Jeffie.

We're celebrating Jeffie's 7th birthday all month long here at Talking Dogs.  Did you get the invitation to his party?   Have you entered to win some Monkey Earrings from For Love of a Dog and a "monkey" (dog toy) for your dog?  

C'mon!  Join the party!

Celebrate Jeffie's Birthday with Monkeys: Enter now!

 

Hey!  So glad you got your invitation!

Thanks for coming to our gala celebration for birthday boy and talking dog, Jeffie.  Jeffie is celebrating his 7th birthday and we're going to party the whole month of April!

You read that right:  the whole month of April!  We have lots of fun planned including Jeffie puppy photos, stories about Jeffie, birthday party photos and giveaways every single week!

So, let's get this party started!

To kick things off, today we have a giveaway!  

One lucky Talking Dogs reader will win something 

for their dog and something for themselves!

At our house all dog toys are called "monkeys." And Jeffie loves monkeys!

One of Jeffie's favorite monkeys is a furry water bottle toy.  So, the first part of today's giveaway is a Skinneeez Big Bite dog toy.  Jeffie loves the crunch and crackle of the water bottle inside, plus the flopping action when he gives it a good death shake!

This Skinneeez Big Bite is a caramel colored bear.  A plastic water bottle is covered by a soft, furry covering that looks like a bear.  A Velcro opening lets you replace the water bottle when needed.  Or you can simply remove it and enjoy this toy as a flat, no-stuffing critter.  It's about 18" long and lots of fun!

Continuing our monkey theme, the second part of today's prize is a pair of hand crafted For Love of a Dog monkey earrings!

Pretty dog-gone cute handmade lampwork monkey heads are three dimensional.  The dangles are fat scarlet red artisan lampwork hearts. Whoa... cute!   They're on french hook earring findings, but that can be changed to clip-ons.

Details:  One lucky person will win both the Skinneez Big Bite dog toy AND the For Love of a Dog monkey earrings.  Just follow the Rafflecopter below to enter.  (Sorry, open to US and Canada residents only.)

Disclosure:  The Skinneeez Big Bite dog toy was purchased for this event (retail value: $7) and the For Love of a Dog earrings were created by me especially for this event (retail value: $30.)  

a Rafflecopter giveaway