Working hard at the office

Duffy has a great time coming with me to work, and he brings a lot of fun to the office. He helps us to de-stress! But when we need to work, he needs to keep busy. As many of you know, a tired dog is a good dog. So to keep his mind stimulated and challenged, I love the Busy Buddy clam shell by Premier. It's really called a Twist n' Treat, but I think of it more like a souped-up clam shell with "pearls" inside. It's not for powerful chewers, but it's great for a moderate chewer who likes to solve puzzles.

You twist the top and bottom open and stuff treats inside, and screw the pieces back together loosely or tightly depending on the difficulty level you want for your dog. The package suggests making it easy at first so your dog wins and can actually get at the treat. My treat of choice is Natural Balance dog food rolls cut up into chunks. Duffy is over the moon for this food and will do anything for it! The stuff is amazing, really.

The Twist n' Treat starts at just $5.99 for the small size at Amazon.com

Dog Tags

Ever since I saw these id tags from Fetching Tags years ago, I knew that I wanted to get one for my future pup. Not only are they durable, but they're just so darn funny!



$30 from Fetching Tags

These special tags are made of aircraft aluminum and can be completely customized with your own hand stamped message. Or you can choose from some of their choice witty sayings:

Rub My Belly
Squirrel Patrol
I Will Lick You
Scratch My Butt
Throw Me A Bone

I'm pretty sure Duffy's would say "You Can't Resist Me" or "Sittin' on My ..."

A Cozy Crate

The first week we got Duffy, we wanted to spend economically on dog accessories that we'd need. But soon, we found out that cheaper goods may be better pricewise, but some are definitely not as high in quality. Within weeks, Duffy had already destroyed his $16 Wal-mart pet bed by yanking off the zipper. I woke up one morning to find green "snow" all over the space surrounding his crate.

Our new crate pad or pillow alternative is this eco-friendly dog mat made by West Paw Design. The mat is filled with 85% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles, made into fiberfill. A large mat will have diverted 40 bottles of plastic from going into the dumps and given them a second life!

It comes in 4 great colors: Poppy, Green Tea, Oatmeal and Willow. All of the mats are backed in a chocolate brown called Bear. Our favorite is the Poppy, but we own the Willow.


West Paw Design Eco Nap Mat, starts at $27.90 for an XS mat

Now let's hope I don't awake to another snowy morning ... :)

The Beginning

My dear sweet dog was rescued from a shelter just two months ago, and since then has become a pretty posh little guy! We've been learning together what cool doggy products are out there - to deck out your pooch with some style. So here's our attempt to document all our discoveries in a fun design blog, written especially for design savvy pet owners.

So here's a big friendly "woof!" from Duffy to you.