Welcome to the Fine Dog Living weekly newsletter – curated content from the FDL Facebook group + a little editorial riffing by me, Lisa Murnan.
So, yeah, this past week it was Thanksgiving for us Americans, but more importantly in FDL Land – what’s on sale for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday???!
(This newsletter will come out on Monday morning, so you can still head over to FDL to see the latest and greatest deals people are finding. IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO SPEND MONEY! 🤣)
Counter Surfer hall of fame
This one seemed very appropriate for the week of Thanksgiving…
Lynn C. wrote: Shall we play "What did My Dog Counter Surf Today?" I'll go first. 2 sticks of butter, still in their foil wrappers. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Reactions:
Been there. My little dog managed to snatch them and drag them under the queen-sized bed to hide them from my other dog. Once there, she realized she didn’t actually like butter. Hours later we finally found the melted and had to remove the mattress in order to reach them and clean the carpets. Yay dogs!!
Not this year, but last year, my dog got a whole can of sweet potatoes that were supposed to be made into a crisp. Fortunately, I bought 2 cans! My dogs have also eaten a pound of Fanny May mint meltaways, etc.
My favorite story though is my ACD, Lily. She would routinely jump my 6' fence and go to the neighbor’s house. On this day, I went to get her and she wasn’t there. I went back home called her. She came from the opposite direction with a raw chicken quarter in her mouth! I never did figure out where it came from!
Reading this thread is why we have a baby gate at the kitchen entrance 😂
Years ago, my stepmom was making homemade stuffing and laid out over 60 pieces of bread on the dining room table to dry out ... she then went onto do other things ...when she went back into the dining room all the bread was gone... she freaked out that her 35lb border collie mix had eaten over 60 pieces of bread...not to mention she was livid she had to make box stuffing instead (🤣)... Thanksgiving came and went and then she started finding pieces of bread “ hidden” all over the house... in plants, under things, behind things... etc... her dog ate like one piece of the bread and hid the rest around the house 🤣🤣🤣
Jason ate half a pumpkin pie this morning. Apparently he prefers It to apple and pecan since they were all on the counter.
And a partridge in a pear tree!
Sung to the tune of 12 Days of Christmas 🎄
12- pounds of Fanny May mints
11- cans of sweet potatoes
10- egg whites for the meringue
9- bowls of gravy
8- tiny pieces of plastic
7- licks of mashed potatoes
60- pieces of bread
5- mini pumpkin pie cheesecakes
4- turkey legs
3- homemade pastry crusts
2- sticks of butter
1- and an entire bowl of homemade cookie dough
People towels and dog towels
Jennifer S. posted: Everybody has people towels and dog towels. Don’t they?
Reactions:
Yes, but if I haven’t done laundry the dog towels become people towels 😂
Yep! I'm my house, striped towels are dog towels and solid colors are people towels!
Yes, but only I know which is which, hahaha
And peanut butter. 🤓
Yes! Keep them in separate places. Totally necessary.
Yep, but my fiance doesn't pay attention and often uses the dog towels.
I need to do this! I just bought new towels and swore that the new towels will NOT be dog towels
Absolutely. I keep them in separate rooms. My husband couldn't manage the Shelf thing.
Of course! I don’t have them nicely labeled like you though. Made for an interesting laugh last time my parents visited! Told them to grab towels from the cupboard and got an earful about how my towels were all stained and chewed up! 🤣 Stepdad literally went past the nice fluffy white towels to the dog towels 😅
We have about 7 categories of towels living in a barn on a horse farm - dog towels are a given. Truck & horse trailer towels. Goat birth towels. Sick chicken towels. They all start as human towels, then there's an intricate flow chart depending on stains & smells…
I'm going to have to label our shelves, because my husband can't seem to tell the difference.. and our people towels are constantly ending up on the floor cleaning up wet dog messes. 🙁
🤦 Husbands do not understand towel hierarchy.
Kinda. I'm not above using dog towels on children.
And just like THAT! I need a label maker... 🤣
That peanut butter comment was funny…I literally just wrote this on ours this morning after Todd double-dipped it to fill up Kongs.
Warm winter wear for little dogs
This morning, Todd went out to play disc golf and decided to take our 13-lb Jack Russell Terrier, Blackjack. It was 20 degrees out. A few minutes later he walked back in with her and said she was shivering in the front seat of the car and he was afraid she’d be too cold, so he left her at home. Oh, the tragedy! To be left behind because you’re shivery!
There was a great post on FDL this week from Rick R. about winter jackets for little dogs: “ISO a winter dog coat for a 5# chihuahua”
Suggestions:
Get a bigger dog.
My 4.5 lb toy poodle used a Ruffwear Fernie. I would put a hoodie tshirt underneath on extra cold days, and a snood too when it was windy. (Editor note: I had to look up what a snood was…it’s one of those scarf-looking things that goes over their ears/head)
Second Gold Paw Series, they're the only ones with sizes for dogs the size of guinea pigs! Lol
Gooby and Goldpaw have great fitting sizes for little dogs. Gooby is specifically made for little dogs...BeBop is 11 lbs and wears a medium in most styles. Gooby's fleece is also almost twice as thick as the Goldpaw, so I like them better for the cold. I have been using Gooby since BeBop was only 1.5 lbs. I also like that Gooby has styles that have a loop to clip a leash on. Photo is of baby BeBop at 3lbs. in an x-small.
I have a Hurtta parka and a Chilli Dog that both fit my 6lb Chi x well. Both are size 10 I believe.
Although the wool sock idea was genius, I ended up buying Blackjack two of the Gooby vests (one in pink, because the idea of Todd taking her to play disc golf in a little pink fleece vest with his disc golf bros made me laugh).
Gooby’s sizes range from XS to 6XL – Blackjack measured for a size Large in the stretch fleece vest. Normally the only thing large about Blackjack is her attitude. 🙃
Best pill splitters
Kim S. asked: FDL help needed! Recommendations on the best pill splitter needed. My Friday gets one half of a tablet twice a day. Both of these splitters will do one or two good ones, then crush them. 😢 Any suggestions?
Recommendations:
Splitters never last long! I love a pair of cat nail trimmers for this job. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WWJQ5SS The larger trimmers make them shatter, so get a smaller pair. I use them at home and at the clinic. You’ve never tested a splitter until you’ve split 120 phenobarbitals in one sitting 🤣
This does multiple pills. It's expensive but it saves a lot of time. Blades do get dull over time, but this is still worth it. I've used mine several times for months worth of meds per use. It's still sharp and works great. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JMHZ5BG
Yes, this one. I have it as well. I also use it repeatedly for my own meds and cut a months worth or more at one time. I've had it a year or 2 and it is still cutting as good as day 1.
I use a razor blade. I have to cut a pill into tiny quarters for my little one.
I have always used a new pill cutter then clean it between each cut... I buy the Walgreens brand and that is what we use at my clinic
Have you asked your Veterinarian or your Pharmacy to split them for you?
If they are scored, try laying it flat on the counter and pressing down on each side with your index fingers to snap it. Most scored pills will snap fairly easily.
Keeping our older dogs from slipping on floors
Rachel T. asked: I have a 13.5 year old dog who has gotten a little wobbly in the hind end. He is stiff when he gets up after a nap, gets stiff after exercise, and is feeling the cold more than usual. We live in Montana. He slips on hard floors too…. What do you use for traction? We have rugs. And we keep the hair in between his toes clipped. However, he still slips. This morning he slipped and wasn’t able to get back up. I’m specifically looking for products that prevent slipping on hard floors and ice, something that attaches to the paws or claws.
Yoga mats are great for traction, inexpensive and can go most everywhere. The other dignity and sanity saver my girls and I relied on in their last couple years were 'traction socks' ... my favorite brand was RC Pets Sport PAWks ... they are a bit elasticity and fit snugly ... and even if the sock gets twisted, there is still a traction surface. I added a strip of velcro (the kind that sticks back to itself) around their legs just above the "ankle bone" (and then folded the sock cuff down over it to keep from getting snagged) ... one of my dogs took to the socks from hour one day one ... I had to introduce a bit more slowly with the other but she was wearing them happily in about three days time.
Sport Pawks dog socks from rc pets
Toe grips, paw friction, and yoga mats. Amazon sells a six by six foot mat that fit perfectly in my kitchen, and that really helped my last oldster.
Yoga mats laid down in the most high traffic areas. When my roomie’s cattle dog got a leg amputated, those things worked like a charm
We applied Purrdy Paws to my old guy who kept getting “stuck” in down in a splayed position. They are made as nail caps for furniture saving I think. The Purrdy Paws give him enough traction so that he no longer gets stuck. He’s a 16-year-old cocker and wears XL size. Sparkly blue looks fabulous on him!
Purrdy Paws Soft Dog Nail Caps
Dog Mom Challenge
Geena B. posted: When you are a Covid crushed teacher, & mom of two exhausting boys, and wifey to an exhausting hubby, and you take 36 hours out of your week “off” to vacation at the beach with just your fur bestie and it was EVERYTHING, that’s FDL #dogmomchallenge
This is 2-year-old Echo (Echoes of Psamathe, named after the mermaid goddess, and herder of seals - no seals in Oceanside that day, whew)
Geena teaches 7th grade English in the time of COVID. Girl, you deserved that dog vacation! I hope you get another one soon. (And the rest of us FDLers should take one, too.)
FDL genius hacks
From Emily P.: Daily treat allowance so they’re not getting double the treats because the humans aren’t communicating 😆🐷🌭
