Dog News

Is Rawhide Safe For Dogs

We are often asked why we do not carry rawhide on the website.  The answer to this question is very easy.  Although rawhide is reasonably priced and accessible, it is not safe for dogs!  We can not tell you how many customers of ours started buying bully sticks from us because at one time or another they ended up in the animal hospital. The reasons varied from dogs that had choked on rawhide or got a piece lodged in their body somewhere and needed to be operated on.

Rawhide is made of the hide (skin) of animals, much like the shoes we wear.  Unlike bully sticks, rawhide is not digestible.  This means that if your dog swallows a piece of rawhide (like all of them do), you are taking a chance that that rawhide could sit in their body undigested until it makes its way through their body to be passed.  In addition, rawhide expands at an alarming rate which is why dogs may not have problems when they initially swallow a piece but several hours later after it expands the symptoms present themselves.  To test this for yourself place a piece of pressed on regular rawhide in a bowl of water for a day or two and watch what happens!

In addition, rawhide is typically bleached to rid it of any odors and make it aesthetically pleasing to the eye.  One question comes to mind:  Would we eat anything ourselves that has been bleached?  There are several alternatives to rawhide that will still consume your dog’s time and keep them entertained without the risks associated with rawhide.  Bully Sticks are often called the rawhide alternative and are not only natural, but 100% digestible.  There are also some great other treats including trachea, tendons, Sam’s Yams, and others which will offer similar characteristics to rawhide, but will give you piece of mind that you are giving your dog a safe treat.

Greatest American Dog

Sorry for not staying up to date on the show reports.  We wanted to keep all of you updated and let you know that in the last two episodes Bill and Star and Teresa and Leroy were voted off in that respective order.  This leaves JD and Galaxy, Laurie and Andrew, and Travis and Presley, as the only teams left in the competition. One of those three teams will end up winning it all this Wednesday night!  

We are pulling for Laurie and Andrew because she seems to have her dog Andrew extremely well trained, she uses positive reinforcement, and quite frankly we find him adorably obedient!  We are going to send the runner ups bully sticks as a consolation prize! 

Best Bully Sticks Newsletter/Sale 

We wanted to point out a few things that we forgot to say in our newsletter earlier this morning.

First, we overlooked that through August 31st, 2008 we will be including a free bottle of Furminator shampoo with every order of a small, medium, and large Furminator.  This will remain the same price and is just a deal that cannot be beat!  Secondly, we wanted to remind everyone to please share the newsletter with their friends and family...especially the ones that don't know about natural dog treats and chews.

As a recap to new customers that did not receive the newsletter.  We introduced Plato Salmon Oil, Piggy Snouts, and are having a huge sale on our small to medium sized bully sticks.  We also talked about our recurring sale on trachea and other items under the "dog treats and chews" section of the website.

Lastly, we rewarded our most recent photo winner "Louie" with a $25 gift certificate for being the photo contest winner for the month of July.  Remember to submit photos of your furkids with or without bully sticks for a chance to win!

Leona Helmsley, real estate magnate, has left 8 billion US dollars to Dog Care.  I couldn't believe it myself when I saw it on the news...but at this point it appears to be true.  Helmsley has directed that most of her entire fortune be left for the care and well being of dogs, even though this is pretty wide open I am sure that they will find plenty of worthy causes.  I think that this type of philanthropy will do wonders for dog care and rescue groups all over the US and in fact several hundred have already applied to the foundation for funding.  I am curious to see what the outcome of all this will be.

In case you are worried about Helmsley's own dog....don't!  In her will she left the dog 12 million for dog treats, food, and care, but a judge has recently awarded 10 million of that amount to be split between two of her grandchildren.  I thought that this actual data was also pretty interesting, the court has decided the following:

$190,000 (per year for ten years for Trouble), which includes his $60,000 guardian fee, $100,000 for ’round-the-clock security, $8,000 for grooming, $3,000 for miscellaneous expenses, $1,200 for food and anywhere from $2,500 to $18,000 for medical care.

Based on this data I would have to say that Trouble is living better than most of us are!

Greatest American Dog

I don't know how many of you have seen the commercials for this upcoming CBS show....but it looks like it will be quite good. The show is featuring twelve dogs and their owners who will complete each week for a $250,000 prize (think about the dog treats that could buy!). The shows website says that there will be challenges each week to test the owners' ability to train their dogs and that one team will be eliminated each week.

From looking at the 12 contestants it looks to be a good mix of dogs from Chihuahua's to a Bull Dog. I think that it should be a fun show to watch as some of the dog's are from the pageant world and some have just been trained at home.

In the end, we feel like every dog could win this contest as they all have unique personalities and bring love and joy to families all over the country; just look at the smiling faces in the photo gallery!