Showing posts with label pet parents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pet parents. Show all posts

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Pixel's Top 5 Valentine's Day Tips for Showing Parents You Love Them

I'm sure you'll agree that most all pet parents go above and beyond to show their beloved pets just how much they are loved and cherished. There's so many little and big things that Mommy does for me on a daily basis that I wouldn't even know where to start. I am one lucky and blessed little girl! Pets spend their lives giving unconditional love from our hearts because that's just who we are, but there are some additional things we can do to give little joys and added smiles to our parents hearts and faces. So on this Valentine's Day, I wanted to share just a few of the things I do to show Mommy that I care and that I really love her.
1. Help Out Around the House

I think it's important to help with basic chores whenever possible. There's lots of little things that a dog can do around the house to be useful and help make it a little easier for Mom or Dad.
For example, pre-washing the dishes makes it easier for a quick soap and water wash of plates and spoons.
Something else you could do around the house is to pick up your toys after playing with them and put them away to help prevent tripping. I like to pile all mine up in the middle of the kitchen so they aren't in the hallway walk area.
Another very helpful thing you can do around the house is to tear up cardboard and paper products that must go into the trash. Large paper plates, cereal boxes, kleenex boxes and soda can boxes are just a few of the things I like to break down for Mommy so she doesn't have to deal with that tiresome chore. It's the least I can do.
2. Make Sure They Get Play Breaks
 Parents work very hard, and they often don't take the time to play when they should. It's up to us to ensure they don't work too hard and get the proper mental and physical breaks when needed, whether they work from home, are working on a home project, or are just doing daily chores.
If I think Mommy's been working too long or too hard, I'll start by providing a little comedic relief in the form of some silly smiles and a forced belly rub.  Then I might jump up and turn back looking at her as if to say, "Come with me, let's go find a toy to shake for a few!" If that doesn't work, I'll bring the toy to her and drop it right on her laptop. You just have to gauge the situation and adjust your tactics as the need arises.
3. Share Your Food With Them
Nothing says, "I love you" more than sharing your food with the one you love. Mommy absolutely adores this particular look on my face. So what I love to do is save her some of my pumpkin blueberry banana oatmeal breakfast cereal on my chin like so (see photo), then I'll seek her out in the house and give her this look. She gets all mushy inside and will pretty much drop everything to share the sweetest puppy kisses with me. It's the most loving experience for both of us!

4. Give A Surprise Foot Massage
It might not be for every pet parent, but I've been doing this for Mommy for years. I just go up to her when she has socks on and paw her feet gently with one of my paws. It's very relaxing for us both.
5. Master a Trick or Command That's Been a Challenge
This is something that will make your Mommy or Daddy so immensely happy because they will not expect it at all. You, however, should expect lots of high pitch praise, affection, treats possibly and other accolades for being such a good little one. My latest surprise mastering was being successful at a drive in window. I like to bark at any and all drive through windows, even the ones that give out food. I don't know why...I just do. Even after 8 years, I still have a hard time of it sometimes, even with Mommy's consistent guidance. Well, one day recently, we went through a particular drive-thru that I always bark in and I only had to be corrected once. Then I was a super quiet Pixel! OH my goodness, Mommy was so super duper happy with me, and thrilled. My success really told her I loved her very much and it made her feel so good!
These are just a few ways that pets can show their parents that they are special and loved. Never forget the tried and true hugs, kisses, snuggles and wuzzles, but always try new and inventive ways to show them how much you love and adore them. Happy Valentine's Day!
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Read about 10 fun things you can do for your pet to show YOUR love in last year's Valentine's blog post entitled "The Joy of Love - Pixel Top 10 Ways to Celebrate Valentine's Day with Your Pet".

Sunday, March 29, 2015

The Joy of a Healthy Routine to Maintain Your Pet's #PerfectWeight

This post is sponsored by Hill’s. I am being compensated for helping spread the word about Hill’s® Science Diet® Perfect Weight 10 Week Turn Around, but 'Pixel Blue Eyes: Her Tails of Adventure' only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers. Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. is not responsible for the content of this article.
As a proactive pet parent, Mommy is constantly working to keep me at my #PerfectWeight. She's not alone. I know many of you are trying to do the same for your pets. But how do you know what the #PerfectWeight is for your pet, especially when more than 50% of pets are overweight? And if your pet is in need of shedding a few pounds, how can you make it happen? 
First thing you should do is talk to your vet. I can tell you from experience, a lot of factors go into what my perfect weight is, and each pet is different. The vet factored in my health, body structure, my breed, and activity level, and came up with my #perfect weight of 11.5-12 lbs.
If you and your veterinarian find that your pet needs to lose weight, my friends at Hills Pet have a great weight loss pet food called Hill's® Science Diet® Perfect Weight dog and cat food. Their 10 Week Turnaround Challenge will help get your pet on the path to their #perfectweight. They understand that pet w eight loss is a struggle that can be hard to do on your own, so Hills Pet wants to help! But w hether your pet needs to lose weight or just maintain their #PerfectWeight, there are some great tools available to help make it a success. 






Back when I needed to lose a couple of pounds, the very first thing we started with was a healthy daily routine that Mommy and I follow each day. We use a daily calendar and each of my feeding times are scheduled out to the hour. 
Instead of getting one huge meal a day, Mommy breaks my meals up into four little meals, which is better for my metabolism and keeps my energy up throughout the day. She just divides my total food for the day by four and I get fed all through the day. I love it! I can even tell time and I start reminding Mommy at a quarter til when it's time to eat.
Hills Pet has a great 10 Week Challenge calendar that you can download and use. Here's a few ideas to get started with the calendar:
1. Track progress of weight loss
2. plan your weekly outings with your pet - list the location & set a time each week to go
3. List your feeding schedule like the one I have below.
4. Post photos of your pet & how he/she is doing before, during and after the 10 week challenge. 
5. Celebrate victories! Document that new trick they learned or the extra pound they lost. 

Remember:  Having a healthy routine and sticking to it is critical to the success of your pet. 
A Typical Day for Pixel = A Typical Week
*NOTE: Times are approximate
7:30am - Wake up snuggles and cuddles with Mommy, then play tug of war or wrestle
8:30am - Breakfast together
9:00am - Work with Mommy
11:30am - First Lunch for Pixel
12:30pm - Exercise Break of a walk or playing fetch in the hallway
2:30pm - Second Lunch for Pixel
5:30pm - Mommy's off work - SERIOUS PLAYTIME (includes running for Pixel)! 
6:30pm - Dinner for Pixel & Mommy
Evening is free to go out together, play, groom, watch TV, cuddle, be together.


Exercise and physical activity is very important as part of your pet's routine.  Every day Mommy and I take time together to make sure I exercise and play. It doesn't matter whether you are inside or outside, there are lots of fun activities, games, and activities you can do with your pet to stay active and help them keep fit. The Hills Pet site has a wonderful list of fun activities and interesting ways to make exercise more exciting and adventurous for both you and your pet. Some of them Mommy and I already do, like chasing each other around the house, and playing hide and seek and dog tag, but you'll love some of their other unique ideas too! I bet some of them you've not heard of before.

Pixel's Favorite Doggie Activities:
1. Playing "Chase" with Mommy - either she chases me around the house while I'm holding a toy or I chase her while she's holding one of my favorite toys.
2. Going for a walk. 
3. Go Fetch! Mommy can throw any toy down the hallway or across the back deck and I go running after it to bring it back to her.
4. Practicing and Learning Tricks - I love practicing my tried and true favorites, but I've just started learning two new ones, "Jump" and "Under" where I walk under Mommy's legs or a stick.

Here's a video of me and Mommy playing and exercising outside. It's a fun way for me to maintain my #PerfectWeight and spend time with Mommy:


A Healthy Routine is More Than Just Exercise & Food:
Hills Pet agrees that activities like grooming, training, socialization, affection and cuddling your pet are all important for your pet's overall health and well being. For example,  Mommy grooms me weekly. She brushes my hair almost every day, she washes my ears when they need it, she washes my paws when they get dirty outside, and every evening she washes my face with a warm soapy washcloth or warm unscented baby wipes because I tend to "wear" my supper on my whiskers and I get distressed because my mouth is dirty. Mommy and I love practicing my tricks together, plus we have cuddle sessions all the time. I'll role on my back pretty much anywhere for a belly rub and kisses!   All of these things are a part of our overall routine to help me stay healthy, they are activities that I love and that helps me feel secure and happy. 


Hills Science Diet Perfect Weight Dog and Cat Food is available for adults. And in their latest news, Hills Pet has created b reakthrough nutrition formulated to achieve & maintain a healthy weight & improve quality of life in small & toy breed dogs like me: Hill's® Science Diet® Small and Toy Breed Formula. With it's breakthrough blend of natural ingredients and prebiotic fibers for gentle digestion, it is made for the sensitive systems of smaller dogs. And if I know anything about the taste, it'll surely be a hit with your dog! So, if you think your dog is in need of a pet weight loss program, talk with your vet about the Hill's Science Diet Perfect Weight 10-Week Turnaround Challenge. 
You can find  Hill's Science Diet Perfect Weight at your veterinarian's office or order it online at Pet360 with an additional discount if you Autoship


Don't wait until there's a weight issue. You can start creating a Healthy Routine with YOUR pet today. Download the calendar, try some of the ideas I suggested, and have fun! 
Do you have some healthy routine activities that you do with your pet already? I'd love to hear about them!

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Pixel Ear Surgery Update: A Serious & Unexpected Result

I just wanted to share a quick and unexpected update on my ear surgery. I've been telling everyone how well I've been healing up and that the ear looks good in spite of a big ugly looking scab that covered the entire length of the suture area where they sewed my ear back together. For those that don't know, I had a scary growth removed from my right ear and tested for cancer last month. Believe it or not, we still don't have the final results from pathology. Now for my ear update...
Things appeared to be healing well...
I had a large scab (sorry to be doggie gross but it's important) that was worrisome, however the vet said to leave it alone. We did. Mommy protected it like it was gold. No touching, scratching, poking, etc from me or my sisters. Mommy kept watching it, and slowly it got a little smaller. Finally, it was just a dot in the center on the top side of my ear but was still big on the underside. She noticed that it appeared to go right through my ear. Mommy was really worried I might have a hole going through my ear but thought, "No way. Pixel had two layers of heavy duty stitches." But were those stitches TOO heavy for my tender little delicate ears? I ask this because yesterday that big scab finally fell off.
Now for the not so good surprise...
You are not going to believe this...when Mommy saw where it fell out, and it lay on my blanket, she looked at my ear and I now have a large hole in my ear where the surgery was done. It's so large, that a toothpick could go through it and not touch the sides of the hole! We are NOT happy about this at all. One wrong scratch of my paw nail or one wrong playful tug with my sisters and my newly healed ear could split right open and into split butterfly wings. It's basically shaped like the center of a funnel cone where the hole is the center point of where they cut the wedge out of my ear. This shocked Mommy and she's not happy about it at all. She's very worried.
What to do now...
We are watching it for now, being careful not to let it get snagged, but we will be talking to the vet about it. There's barely 1/8th of an inch (0.3175 cm) of newly healed tissue between the hole and the edge of the ear now. We are snowed in right now but when we are able to go to the vet, we will, and we will talk to them about corrective measures. Our point in sharing this is to point out that as pet parents, you must always be "on top of things" when your pet gets treated or has surgery of any kind. Things can happen, and you must keep a watchful eye for circumstances to change, even when everything appears to be healing or going well.
A Pet Parent Reminder...
Remember that you are your pet's only advocate, they cannot speak for themselves, you must speak for them in all things. Mommy will be taking care of me in this, just as she always has.
I promise we'll continue to keep you updated on what happens. We've joked that I could always become a pirate and just get a huge hoop earring to go through that ear, but in all reality, the danger of it tearing is just too great.
What are your thoughts on this friends? Is Mommy overreacting with her concern or would you feel the same way? Please leave a comment below and let me know. We love to hear from you!

Friday, January 10, 2014

Pixel's Pet Blogger Challenge 2014 - My Plans to "Pixelize" the Pet Blogging World!

Pixel's Plans to Pixelize the Pet Blogging World in 2014!

For the first time in my pet blogging life, I am taking part in the Pet Blogger Challenge, which takes place every January 10th. It’s a time for pet bloggers to see how far we've come and make some plans for where we’re going (with our blogs) in the new year. I started my blog when I was but a little puppy, however I didn't really take it very seriously until about 2 years ago.


I've seen my blog grow a lot in the last couple of years, with a great deal of that growth attributed to the encouragement, support and friendship of fellow pet bloggers like me. Some have small blogs, others have huge websites that include blogs, but no matter who we are as pet bloggers, we all have a few things things in common...
we love animals, we love blogging, and we want to be the very best that we can be at our craft. I've been working very hard over the last few months especially, to bring my blog to a whole new level of fantastic, so I am very excited to join in this challenge. There's a series of questions I must answer to help share my ideas, goals and hopes for the future of my blog. Here goes friends!

Monday, December 2, 2013

The Joy of Gift Giving - Pixel's Special Pet360 "Cyber Monday" Offer



Happy Cyber Monday friends! I know, I know, that sounds a bit strange coming from a little dog like me, but I am a social media doggie, so I must keep up with the times. Since Hannukah is upon us and Christmas is just around the corner (not to mention December Birthdays and "Gotcha Days" for all my anipal friends), I am teaming up with Pet360.com, a fantastic resource for all pet parents, to promote a special offer they are having TODAY ONLY.
Pet360FreeTote Pet360 is giving away a free canvas tote bag to every single person who places an order on their online store. So for every purchase that is made, even if you only get one thing, you get a free tote! It's a nice one too. Mommy uses them to carry my stuff around when we go out and about. She also uses them to carry the stuff she gets at craft fairs, Christmas bazaars and farmer's markets. They are quite versatile! So my friends, to get this free tote, all you have to do is select the Pet360 button link above or in the top right corner of my blog here, and start shopping! They have so many cool things, Mommy loves the site! She just told me earlier that she got me something for Christmas from there, but doggone it, she won't tell me what it is. Guess I will have to wait until Christmas morning to find out...don't worry, I'm a very patient little girl!

I wanted to make sure and tell you though, that Pet 360.com is more than just an online store, they are a whole community for pet parents. They offer the latest news, the latest pet care tips, helpful information on health and wellness for your pet, and so much more! So go check them out and don't forget to shop today so you can get the free canvas tote bag!! Hey, if you find something and get it from Pet360, I'd love to hear what it is (might even give me a hint as to what Mommy got me, BOL!), so leave me a comment and let me know, okay? Now, to figure out how to bribe the delivery driver to let me look in the box when it arrives before Mommy gets home! I could at least tell all my toys that a new toy friend might be joining the ranks soon...