Palm Beach Gardens Whole Foods Event

Event: 8/22/10
TITLE: Barks n’ Brews (dog wash/charity event)
Palm Beach Gardens Whole Foods


We talked with our friends at Whole Foods in Palm Beach Gardens recently who said they were planning a dog wash/barbecue event in August to raise money for the Safe Harbor Animal Rescue. They asked for our help in donating a few products and we were happy to do so.

Well, they had their event this past Sunday – and it was a resounding success!

This is what they had to say:

We had an awesome time this past Sunday, August 22 at our 1st Annual Barks n’ Brews – Dog wash, BBQ, Beer Garden fundraiser! Volunteers washed over 90 dogs while jamming out to cool tunes with DJ Bert on a perfectly breezy Sunday afternoon.

Appreciations to the PGA volunteers who helped all day be it at the grill or wash stations: Marco, Amy, Chris, Nick, Luis, Maureen, Susan, Myra, Stacy, Trish, Robert, Tina & Hannah! Big thanks to Jane & Dave from Happy n’ Healthy Pet Products who donated bones & food for everyone! The first 50 dogs received goodie bags full of samples, coupons & more.

FDA Wants Farmer to Cut Antibiotic Use

There was a short article in The Columbus Dispatch on 6/29/10 titled, “FDA wants farmers to cut antibiotic use.”


The article, in its entirety, follows:

The Food and Drug Administration yesterday urged farmers to stop giving antibiotics to cattle, poultry, hogs and other animals to spur their growth, citing concern that drug overuse is helping to create dangerous bacteria that do not respond to medical treatment and endanger human lives.

Joshua Sharfstein, the FDA’s principal deputy commissioner, said antibiotics should be used only to protect the health of an animal and not to help it grow or improve the way it digests its feed.

“This is an urgent public-health issue,” Sharfstein said on a conference call.


Sure is something to think about, isn’t it?

TIP FROM CODY - TICK REMOVAL

Received a good suggestion for removing ticks and wanted to share it with you. This tip came from a school nurse who heard it from a Pediatrician – and I figure they must see plenty of people with ticks. This will also work on your favorite canine companions.

The best way to remove a tick, especially in those places where it’s sometimes difficult to reach with tweezers – like between toes and in the middle of a head full of dark hair (or fur) where it might be hard to see the tick, is with a glob of liquid soap and a cotton ball.

Really – that’s all you need! You don’t need to traumatize anyone (especially your dog) by coming at them with sharp tweezers!

Simply take a cotton ball and squirt a glob of liquid soap on it. Cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball and let it sit on the tick for 15-20 seconds. The tick will come out on its own and will be stuck to the cotton ball when you pull it away.

The only caution would be if someone were allergic to soap, and that sounds more like an excuse from a kid who doesn’t want to take a bath than any real allergy. Nevertheless, please use common sense when following any home remedy. If, for some reason, the tick is stubborn and cannot be removed with this – or any other method – please don’t hesitate to take a trip to see the doctor (or veterinarian).

Ticks left to burrow into the skin can cause severe health problems in both people and pets – so removing them is crucial!

Do you have a tried and true tick removal story? Please share!

SIZE MATTERS!

The other day I saw a video clip of a tiny dog carrying a dumbbell in his mouth and running across a lawn. He had an incredibly earnest look on his face and, as he was running, his hind legs were up in the air because of the weight of the dumbbell, so he was basically running on his two front paws. I found it really funny – and it actually made me LOL. (Don’cha love it when that happens?!)

But it made me think about the incredible differences between the sizes of dogs. There are tiny dogs and there are massive dogs – and everything in between. Obviously, dogs of such disparate sizes need to be fed completely differently.

That’s why it amazes me when we get a call here at Happy N’ Healthy Pet Products from customers who want to know if they can give their Great Dane a Small Shin bone. Or if they can feed their Doberman a Rib bone. The answer in a word? NO! I’ll even tack on the word “please”!

Just don’t do it!

Large Dogs (over 50 lbs) should NEVER be given a too-small bone. Their large jaws can crush the small bones, which can cause dangerous splintering.

The only processing our bones go through is a heat sterilization process that leaves enough moisture in the bone to prevent splintering. However, it’s impossible to prevent a large dog from crushing or splintering a very small bone.

The reverse is true as well. Never give a small dog too large a bone. For one thing, they will have a hard time coping with such a large bone, but they may also potentially choke on the large pieces.

Medium size dogs – those between 20 and 50 lbs – are, as you might expect, more middle of the road and can be given a larger variety of bones, depending on where they fall in their weight class.

Just so you know, we currently offer seven (7) different sizes of Happy N’ Healthy Natural Dog Bones:

For Large Dogs (Over 50 lbs):
• Meaty Y Knuckle
• Large Shin

For Medium Dogs (20-50 lbs):
• Medium Shin
• Medium Knuckle
• Hockey End

For Small Dogs (Under 20 lbs):
• Small Shin
• Rib

If you follow these Size guidelines, your dog will have a Happy N’ Healthy Natural Dog Bone they will thoroughly enjoy. Not only that, but you will feel good about giving your dog a healthy treat since our bones come from cattle that were never given antibiotics or added hormones.

Enjoy the Memorial Day weekend - and don't forget to give your dog a bone. Just make sure it's the right size! (And it is, of course, a Happy N' Healthy dog bone!)

Shadow and the Beef Lung Treats

I stopped over to visit some friends recently and brought along a bag of our Happy N’ Healthy 100% Organic Lung Treats for Shadow, their 8-year-old German Shepherd. I’ve known Shadow since she was a puppy and she’s a sweet dog. Big – and her bark can be intimidating – but sweet.

Before I even managed to get into the house, Shadow was jumping on me because she smelled the bag of Treats! I guess I probably shouldn’t have opened the bag until I got inside, huh?! Shadow has been trained not to jump on people, but she apparently couldn’t resist.

Once we gave her one, she settled down and happily munched on the Treat, which is packed with protein and is delicious to dogs.

We wanted to see if she’d hold the bag in her mouth for a photo op, but nothin’ doin’! Instead, she situated the bag between her two front paws and proceeded to try to get her nose into the bag. I’m not sure, but I suspect at that moment, she wished she had opposable thumbs in order to pull out another Treat! When she couldn't get another Treat out of the bag, she put her paw on the bag to show us they were hers. And she didn't move from that spot for the duration of my visit.

I felt good giving Shadow a bag of our Treats and her owners were happy knowing that she was getting 100% organic Treats with nothing artificial added. They are 100% organic. Plus, they are sold at Whole Foods – and the closest store is only about 5 miles away at 3670 W. Dublin-Granville Rd. in Columbus, OH.

Yeah, This is MY Dog Bone – Gimme the Word and I’m On It!

So I just heard a good story from one of our customers I wanted to share with you.

He gave his dog, Belle, one of our Happy N’ Healthy Meaty Y Knuckle bones, which are pretty humongous bones meant for large dogs. Belle qualifies as she’s about 70 lbs. So, following the directions on the label, he put the bone outside on the deck for Belle to enjoy. And then he stood back and let her have at it since she was pretty intensely focused on that dog bone!

After she enjoyed the treat for a while, he called her name, which she knew meant he wanted her to come back inside. Well, being the Lab/”hound dog” mix she is, she wanted to make sure no other dog or human had access to her bone. So she ran off the deck with the partially chewed dog bone in her mouth.

Curious, her owner walked around the deck to the back of the yard to find out where Belle was. He saw her furiously digging in the dirt beside a large tree so she could bury her bone.

I always thought that was pretty much a cartoon thing – that dogs took their treasures – bones and treats and such – and buried them in the yard for safekeeping. But, no, it’s evidently not a cartoon thing. Or a myth. After all, there was Belle, dirt flying out in an arc behind her, digging a hole for her bone!

She had been a stray and the vet had estimated that she’d been on her own for a couple years before her owners adopted her, so she knew how to hunt for her own food. And she clearly recognized the value of a good dog bone!

Belle was so good at burying that bone, her owner couldn’t easily extract it from the ground. Heck, he couldn’t even find it for a while! Not only that, but had he not seen where Belle was scratching in the dirt, he wouldn’t have known where to look. Why? Because she’d not only dug up the hole to hide her Happy N’ Healthy dog bone – but she’d patted all the dirt back in place over her hiding spot. Good dog!

Hmmm…maybe they could hire her out to work with a gardener planting trees and bushes? Perhaps it would be a workable plan if they also offered her some bones and treats as incentives.

Anyway, he dug up the bone and brought it inside and washed off all the dirt. And then stored it in the refrigerator for her to enjoy another day. And, don’t you know – ol’ Belle planted herself in front of that fridge and refused to budge!

We love to hear good dog stories – especially ones with happy endings! So, if you have any dog stories you’d like to share, please do. We’d love to hear ‘em!

A Dog Treat Story

A few weeks ago my husband and I were asked to take care of our friends’ dog while they went on vacation. We immediately said yes. Not ever having a dog as a pet, I gladly let my husband handle the feeding, watering and poo-picking-up duties, but I was right there when it came to giving her love, affection and dog treats.

Alas, I didn’t have any of our Happy N’ Healthy Organic Beef Dog Treats on-hand, but our friend had left some sort of dog treat stix for his pet. Figuring that I’d get points for giving her treats, I enthusiastically called her to me and made a big production of giving her a daily treat. She loved the stix, but we noticed that she seemed to choke on the treat with alarming frequency. She never had a bad enough reaction that we felt a trip to the vet was necessary, but it concerned us enough that we stopped giving her the treats.

When we reported our concern to our friend upon his return, he said he gives her the treats regularly and never noticed that she choked on them. But it would only take one time for him not to notice her choking for tragic consequences to occur.

This situation brings home the idea that all dog treats on the market are not equal. A Google search of dog treats sold at one national pet store chain revealed over 400 varieties of dog treats. However, there are many artificial products out there in biscuits, chews, rawhides and the like. Many are filled with artificial ingredients and flavorings. That’s not to say that dogs won’t love these treats – but the question is: are these the best products for dogs?

I may be a little biased, but I think our Happy N’ Healthy Organic Beef Treats are the way to go. They are strips of 100% Organic Beef Liver or Lung (two varieties) and have absolutely nothing artificial added to them. No flavorings, no artificial preservatives, no added anything. Just pure organic beef. And, I might add, I have not met a dog who doesn’t love them!

I remember when we were researching the Treats and they hadn’t even been packaged yet, I brought some samples to my brother-in-law’s dog. The dog, by the way, usually barked ferociously at me – until he smelled the treats. And then he was my new best friend. Imagine that?!

The only thing to remember when feeding our treats is to match the size of the treat to the size of the dog. Small dogs under 20 lbs. should be given ½” to 1” piece of the treat; medium dogs weighing 20-50 lbs. should be given 1”-2” pieces and larger dogs can be given 2” or more of the treat.

Oh, and also – don’t give the dog as much of the treats as he wants at one time. He might eat the whole bag, but that wouldn’t be good for him, would it? Just as it isn’t good for dog’s best friend to eat an entire bag of, well, anything – even if it’s a healthy treat!