Tag: dog care

If you are anything like the dog owners at Best Bully Sticks, your dog is a part of the family. In most cases, your dog might even be your “baby.” So, when your furry child gets a bump, scrape, upset tummy or other minor “boo-boo” you immediately want to comfort your pup. Before you rush off to the vet, just know that in most minor around the house slip-ups and sicknesses, you can treat your dog at home.

Today we’ll take you through some simple remedies for your dog’s ailments with treatments that come from your cupboards. We’ll even cover how to curb some unwanted behaviors in the home.

Rehydrate An Upset Stomach with Electrolyte Drinks
A troubled tummy is no good for you or your dog. The first thing to do when your pup has an upset stomach is make sure they’re getting enough fluids. Simply giving flavorless, pediatric electrolyte drinks to your dog will ensure he’s rehydrating.

A Dry or Itchy Dog:
If your dog is itchy all over, try an oatmeal bath. Use baby oatmeal cereal or use a food processor to finely grind oats and mix into a lukewarm bath. Let your dog soak in this mixture and it will give them immediate relief. For another take on a beneficial bath, use Vitamin E oil in a warm bath. You can also massage Vitamin E directly into your dog’s fur or give them capsules. Be sure to talk to your vet about the weight and breed specific dosages for your dog.

Itchy Paws might be another problem for your dog. This is simply solved by drawing 1-2 inches of warm water in a bath and dissolving Epsom salts into the water. Let your dog stand in the water for 5 to 10 minutes. Don’t let your dog drink the water! After soaking, pat dry your dog’s feet.  An Epsom salt bath can also reduce healing time of swelling and scrapes.

If dandruff is your dog’s problem, make an easy dandruff shampoo with aspirin and baby shampoo. Crush 6 Aspirin into a fine powder then add to a bottle of baby shampoo. When washing your dog with this mixture, lather your dog with the shampoo and let sit for 5 minutes. This waiting period helps the aspirin’s salicylic acid to exfoliate the dead skins cells away. Rinse and you’ll have a dandruff-free dog! Read more

Best Bully Sticks knows it’s easy to forget that our dogs were once wild animals. They didn’t sleep half the day, they didn’t chase after plastic bouncy balls, and they didn’t wear clothes, go to the groomer or get their toenails painted. Your sweet pooch is a descendant of wild dogs and before that, wolves! You have to remember that trapped somewhere inside that cute, cuddly exterior is a wild animal! You live with a wild animal! Isn’t that more than a little strange to think about?

That being said, your dog’s descendants definitely didn’t eat that dry brown food that comes out of a bag. Not that bagged dog food isn’t good. A good food provides all the necessary vitamins, minerals and proteins your dog needs. However, owners forget that dogs are natural hunters and scavengers and ate as much vegetation and roughage as they did meat.  Dog owners sometimes have a stigma of offering their dogs human food, thinking that it isn’t good for them. The fact is, there are some very nutritional and wholesome foods that are great for your dog and you shouldn’t be afraid to share. Over the next three weeks Best Bully Sticks will take you through some natural, “human” foods that will feed your dog and his wild side. Today we’re talking about fruit!

Banana
Most families have bananas on hand in their house for a healthy and quick snack. Your dog can benefit from the same high potassium levels, fiber, magnesium B6 and C vitamins as well as all the good antioxidants in bananas that you will when eating this berry. In a pinch, bananas can help remedy a troubled doggy stomach and you can easily mix banana in with your dog’s dry food to make it more appealing. However, some dogs don’t like bananas because of the compounds that make this berry smell, well, like a banana.

Cantaloupe
This great summer melon is cool and refreshing, so give your pup the benefits of vitamin C, potassium, antioxidants and fiber that cantaloupe offers. Make sure you remove all seeds when serving to your dog. You can serve fresh or even mix it with other fruit, freeze and serve as a doggy popsicle. You might even join in on that! Read more

Last week Best Bully Sticks talked about reconciling the relationship between your dog and your garden. If you love both, but your dog seems not care for your garden patch or flower beds, read Gardening With Your Dog Pt. 1 from last Monday. After you’ve worked hard to create a beautiful and blooming garden and instill respect in your dog for that same garden, don’t let it go to waste by putting your dog in harms way. 

An overly curious dog or an accident in with garden equipment can be hazardous! Here are some quick tips on keeping your pup safe in the garden. And remember; if you’re not a green thumb, still pay attention to these tricks and tips. You never know when Fido will be around a friend’s garden or what he could possibly pick up in the outdoors.

Poisonous Plants
Obviously, plant choice is a big decision in your garden, however some plants are very toxic to your dog.  Sago Palm and other types of palm in the Cycad family as well as mushrooms can cause liver failure in dogs. Rhododendron, Azaleas, Foxglove, Lily of the Valley, Oleander and Rosebay all affected the heart. The ASPCA has a full list of names and photos of plants to avoid.

Chemical Fertilizer & Insecticides
Chemically laden fertilizers and pesticides are usually an easy and quick fix to feed, weed and kill bugs, but a there is no easy and quick fix for a dog who has serious intestinal or digestive issues or worse. All gardens need to be fed and treated, but whether a dog accidentally or intentionally gets into garden chemicals, it’s never a pretty picture.  The first step in avoiding this common mishap is simply reading the manufacturer’s instructions. These will let you know how long the chemicals are in the environment. It could be only a few days or even weeks, but either way your dog could be affected. Making these fertilizers and insecticides inaccessible to your dog is a good measure to take. If you do use these chemicals, leave your dog inside when applying them to your garden.

Compost
Compost is a wonderful, natural alternative to using chemical fertilizers. Composting natural kitchen waste (egg shells, coffee, fruit and veggie scraps) is a great way to give your garden vital nutrients while also creating less waste. However, make sure your dog doesn’t take your compost bin for a “second-helping” bin. Make sure your compost is where your dog cannot get to it, simply for the reason that certain people foods aren’t good for Fido. Read more

If you didn’t know already, Best Bully Sticks is all about using the fewest, yet highest quality ingredients possible for all of our treats, chews, toys and supplies.  A wonderful side effect of having all-natural conscious customers, is knowing that most of those customers also care about the environment, and so do we. Best Bully Sticks has made a continued effort to be as environmentally responsible with the way we run our company. In honor of Earth Day and the events surrounding the “green” weeks around the nation, we decided to tell our readers and customers about the “Green” Best Bully Sticks.com. 

1. We recycle all our cardboard boxes! In all honesty, Richmond, Virginia is a city that hasn’t had the best recycling track record, but new initiatives in the city are making recycling easier for all individuals. One of these includes an expanded Waste Management team. A truck comes by our warehouse every week pick up all of our discarded cardboard. And we go through A LOT of cardboard every week.  On Earth Day, this past Sunday the 22^nd, we pledged we would recycle 90% of all our cardboard boxes!

2. We recycle office paper, bottles, and cans! Our office staff recycles all our scrap paper that would otherwise fill our trashcans. We also recycle our soda cans, juice bottles and any other aluminums and plastics. Every Friday we take the bins the recycling center down the street to responsibly dispose of our waste products.

3. Our work pods are made from recyclable materials! Best Bully Sticks employees work at Herman Miller workstations that are 59% recyclable.  Our workstations weigh 1/3 less than a traditional workstation system and contain 27% pre-recycled materials. The workstations even break down to small parts, which make it easier to recycle down the road. Our desk systems can even earn LEED credits.

Best Bully Sticks values environmental responsibility and we are always trying to think of new ways to reduce, reuse and recycle in our offices. We want to help make the earth a cleaner, healthier place so we and our dogs can enjoy the earth longer!

What do you do to support the environment? Comment below and tell us how!

When the air turns warm, we humans shed our winter coats and don filp-flops, tank tops and shorts with the intention being comfortable outdoors. However, humans aren’t the only ones shedding winter coats. Our pups are getting rid of that winter fur too and want to be outside as much as we do!

Best Bully Sticks knows that warm weather and thick fur don’t mix and so it’s up to you, the loving owner, to help your pup shed their winter coat. Many owners groom their pups themselves, but not all owners have the know-how, tools, experience or even physical ability to groom their dogs properly. That’s where a groomer comes in. But how do you know how to pick a good and trustworthy groomer? Best Bully Sticks will help the tips and tricks of choosing a good groomer!

Grooming can consist of brushing, combing, bathing, clipping nails, cutting out matted hair, cleaning ears and medicated baths or treatments. So, don’t just think of grooming as a hair cut. It can meet a lot of different needs.

Finding a groomer should start with asking your trusted friends, your vet, boarding kennel, dog trainer or local animal shelter who they might recommend. All of these people might have a good “go-to” groomer they trust. Checking the Yellow Pages for “Pet Groomer” or the National Dog Groomers Association of America’s website is a good option, too. Calling the Better Business Bureau for any registered complaints is also a safe step to take. Read more