Archive for May 2012

This week's Drool Recipe comes from our new friends Teri & Jenny over at Spoon Fork Bacon! We'd like to thank them for this exclusive recipe and their beautiful photography. Just look at that food styling! This is one that you and your pup will equally appreciate! Thanks again ladies!

Hi All! When the lovely folks over at bestbullysticks.com invited us to do a guest post, providing one of our homemade pet treat recipes we eagerly said, "Yes!" Pets are incredibly important to both of us and hold a very special place in our hearts. We both have pets (Teri has two cats and Jenny has a little min-pin mix) and can acknowledge as well as appreciate the endless loyalty and unconditional love we get from our furry little friends. Since we're coming up on everyone's favorite season, fro-yo season this is, we thought that our little babies need some fro-yo love too! We've created a quick an easy fro-yo treat without weird additives and preservatives. This treat is all natural and made with Greek yogurt, peanut butter, a banana, and a touch of honey! Before you begin fretting about the use of dairy and your pets sensitive little bellies, here's a fun little fact: All natural Greek yogurt is actually good for your dogs! The natural live cultures in the yogurt actually help flush all the bad bacteria out of your pooch and help maintain the good ones!...neat right?! I thought so! Anyway, if you're as crazy about your pets as we are then we urge you to make them this super, simple and tasty treat. They totally deserve it, don't they?! Oh and if you want more pet treat action, come check out our recipe for "Bacon Bark Sticks"...my little Dexter thinks they're awesome!

Doggy Fro-Yo
Makes 12 (2 ounce) treats

Ingredients
2 cups of low fat, all natural Greek yogurt (no sugar, no additives)
1 medium banana
1/3 cup all natural, organic peanut butter
1 tablespoon honey

 1. Place all ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Pour mixture into (silicon or paper) molds of your choice, place on a baking sheet and freeze, at least 1 hour.
3. Remove fro-yo pops from molds and serve.  

From everyone at Best Bully Sticks & Spoon Fork Bacon: Bone Appetit! 

TODAY ONLY BBS is giving you the chance to win an Earth Dog Hemp Bed from Best Bully Sticks! You can vote here or on Facebook! Earn extra entries by following the prompts! Winner will be announced tomorrow morning! 

We know that Best Bully Stick's customers and readers have the sweetest, cuddliest dogs on the planet, however, we don’t want to skirt around a serious topic either. Any dog has the propensity to bite in certain situations but Best Bully Sticks wants to educate all our customers and readers on how to lower those chances. 

May 20-26, 2012 is International Dog Bite Prevention Week and was established to help all dog owners and the public know the facts about and guard against dog bites. The American Veterinary Medical Association has released some statistics that might be surprising.

• Over 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year
• 800,000 of those people received medical attention
• Children are more likely to be severely injured & 400,000 receive medical treatment each year
• Most children bitten are interacting with familiar dogs or during everyday activities
   

There have been a lot of tragedies that are hard to ignore, but most of these situations are easily preventable. Here are a few tips to protect and prevent against dog bites.

1. Recognizing Canine Body Language. It may be easy to forget that dogs are communicating with us at all time, but it’s all in their body language. Here is a handy canine body language chart courtesy of http://www.dfdk9.com/. Recognizing the warning signs is the first step in preventing something horrendous from happening.

2. DO NOT EVER leave a small child alone with a dog. While it’s very probable that nothing will happen when you walk away, it’s better just to not leave your baby alone in a room with a dog.

3. Teach Children How To Treat Dogs. We all know kids usually don’t listen well, so make sure to consistently repeat to children how to treat, handle and act around a dog.  The video below outlines some great guidelines for teaching your children with the W.A.I.T acronym. Here are some great coloring sheets that are a fun way for your kids to begin learning about dog safety courtesy of Chris Crawford. 

There are also some very easy steps to lessen the probability of your own dog biting. 

• Make sure your dog is very well socialized with other animals, people and small children.
• Don’t put your dog in a situation where he feels threatened or teased. 
• Train your dog. Your dog understanding the commands, “sit” “stay” “come” and “no” are highly important to your bond with your dog. This will help your dog know what is expected out of him. 
• Make sure your dog gets plenty or exercise and mental stimulation and use a leash in public.
• Keep your dog healthy and up-to-date on all shots, including the rabies vaccination. 
• Spay or neuter your dog.
• If you have a fenced in back yard, make sure it is properly secured.
   

Again, Best Bully Sticks hopes you, your family or your dog never have to deal with this topic, but to help this issue we feel it is the duty of all dog owners to be prepared. Learn more about Dog Bite Prevention Week at AVMA.org.

Dogs are lovers, not fighters. And sometimes, they’re downright comedians. Best Bully Sticks knows we’ve all been pretty tickled at our dogs because of things they do, but why do dogs do the things they do? Why do dogs whine? Why do they circle before laying down or eating? Why do they lick things?

We have to remember, dogs were once wild animals and their behaviors, while they have adapted to a humans over the years, are still wild at heart.  This is the first of a two part series that will detail some of your dog’s funny, weird or just down right alien behaviors. This week we’ll cover circling, whining, yawning, licking and elimination behaviors.

1. Circling before lying or sitting. No, your dog isn’t aspiring to be a ballerina, it’s just his ancestral wildness coming out.  Before your dog had a comfy, cushy bed to lie down on, the nearest patch of grass was the best option.  Circling was the way wild dogs would stomp down tall grass to make a nest. This behavior was also to see if there were any unwanted creatures in the area where the dog wanted to lay down. One more possibility could be temperature regulation. If moving the grass away from a spot would reveal a cooler layer of dirt, they the dog exhibit this behavior to find the coolest spot possible. When dogs circle today before settling down it’s just a leftover urge from the wild days, an old gene that never really left.

2. Whining. There isn’t a magical machine that can translate all “dog-speak” so until that happens, we humans will just have to realize that whining could be a lot of different things. Whining means your dog is trying to communicate something and that could be anything from “I’m hungry” to “There’s a toy stuck under there!” but it does mean he probably wants something and it might just be your attention. Read more

Another great deal from Best Bully Sticks! These are real pork drumsticks for your dog from Australia! These rose-shaped treats are just as much delicious and they are safe. Australia is known for being a great source of meat products due to the low disease rate. In fact, this source is one of a few that the FDA trusts fully! 

You know how good a drumstick is so be sure to give your dog the same pleasure and feed them a Real Pork Drumstick Rose. This dog treat is blooming with real flavor! 

Available Individual or in a 10 Pack!

Individual Price Originally: $2.79

Individual Sale Price: $1.09  (60% OFF)