Shaggy Dog Stories

Archive for the ‘BlogPaws’ Category

All right, I admit it. I laugh like a loon every time I even look at the name of this product. The tag line “Because that’s not the smell of success” just makes me laugh even harder.

ewww Pawsitively Clean™ by Bissell® is just one tool in Bissell’s arsenal of new stain/odor/mess-fighting tools designed for the misadventures of pets and their owners. I saw the yikes! machine in action at the BlogPaws conference, and dearly hoped I would win one. Although that didn’t happen, the bottle of crikey (not just for use on stains Down Under) in my swag bag gave me plenty of giggles for the ride home.

Back to ewww, though. Like all of Bissell’s onomatopoetic pet products, this one is designed for the serious business of… well… cleaning up “business.” Its pleasantly-scented formula contains enzymes designed to neutralize any sort of organic stains of the types pet owners often encounter, such as urine, feces, and vomit. The powerful enzyme action actually does tackle deep-down stains and odors, and the product begins to work immediately after you apply it to the offending stain.

When I was offered the opportunity to test ewww, I responded, “Bring it on (tee hee).” With four dogs and a cat in the household, I was sure there would be enough — er — organic output that I’d be able to test the formula on a variety of stains. Although we didn’t sustain any real disasters during the time that I tested the product, we can claim success with a number of different types of stains. ewww Pawsitively Clean is safe to use on all manner of surfaces.

Hairballs: No, not from the cat — from the dogs. My long-haired dogs do toss up the occasional hairball, and as gross as the cat’s creations might be, the dogs’ hairballs simply dwarf them in sheer size and disgustingness. (I think I’d like to coin the word “disgustitude” for use with such objects.) I ended up with one such offering on the off-white bathroom rug. Anyway, I removed the hair easily enough, and applied the ewww to the spot of bile left behind. As one might expect, the solution quickly and easily neutralized the smell and color of the stain. I threw the rug into the wash anyway, but it was much less disgusting to handle at that point.

Runny Poop: Yes, sometimes you-know-what happens. It happened early one morning on the indoor-outdoor carpet in the sunroom. Again, a timely application of ewww helped make the complete removal of the offending material much less of a chore. I also used it to remove a few — er — Klingons from a bed quilt when the old dog decided to pay a visit without completing the work he had been doing outdoors. The product completely removed both substance and smell, and I was able to wrestle the quilt into the washer without choking.

I had hoped we’d get something really nasty so that I could really test the effectiveness of ewww in the most — er — adverse of environments, but that didn’t happen during the testing period. I did use ewww as a deodorizer in a variety of other lighter-duty (ha, ha — I said “duty”) situations. ewww effectively removed bad odors and stinky stuff from metal and plastic crate pans, vinyl flooring, the occasional unfortunate (and washable) cloth-based dog toy, and my denim sofa.

All in all, the ewww product did perform well on the types of stains and odors I was able to offer. Although the testing period for the review is almost done, I intend to tuck the spray bottle into my traveling dog-show kit and take it on the road with me, as well as use it to battle organic menaces at home. It’s worked well for me so far; let’s see how it responds to other types of challenges.

If there’s one teensy-weensy downside to using a product named “ewww,” it’s that I couldn’t easily distinguish it from yecch, dang, or ick without a scorecard. Not that I really advocate renaming the products to crap, barf, and gag-me-with-a-spoon, but it might help one remember what should be used on what.

No matter. If you have to clean up something nasty, you might as well laugh while you’re doing it — and the Bissell cleaner that I used helped me accomplish that quite effectively. I’d recommend it!

To learn more about ewww and the other Pawsitively Clean products by Bissell, look here.

To find out where to buy the products, look here.

Come on. You know you want one!

That's Charlie in the center.

Lisa Taron, a.k.a. The Pet Book Lady, spends her day helping to preserve memories for people, particularly seniors. Her particular passion (hard to guess, I know) is capturing memories of people’s beloved pets in a number of media ranging from books to cards to all manner of items. You can see all that on her digital storybooking site here.

Lisa and her Bichon Frise Oscar hail from Vernon, BC, in one of the loveliest areas on the west coast of anywhere. We met at BlogPaws Columbus, and immediately hit it off. Lisa went everywhere sporting a funky silver bracelet featuring six portraits of the famous Oscar. I was delighted beyond words when she created one for me!

I’ve had nine Bearded Collies thus far, so I had to choose which six would “make the cut.” In a way, technology decided for me. Much as I would have liked to have included Merlin, my first Beardie, my one remaining photograph of him was just too low in resolution to be used. Likewise with the photos of Cadence, the Perfect Dog, and Briscoe. I had to fish around in my archives to find one of Duncan the Wonder Dog that was of sufficient quality. Old Doogie was notoriously camera-shy back when I had a film camera; he would hide at the sound of my zoom lens. I was able to take more photos of him when I switched to a digital camera, and when he went deaf.

The cuts were made, and we were down to six lucky dogs: Duncan, Doogie, Charlie, Seamus, Badger, and the lovely and talented Dinah Moe. I emailed my photos to Lisa, and received back a lovely “proof” jpeg showing how my bracelet would look when it was finished. Here’s an example of the “proof” showing Lisa’s famous “Oscar” bracelet:

This bracelet was the object of much envy at the conference.

A short while later, this arrived…

Like it? Want one of your own? The process to create one is simple — so simple that Lisa has even created a do-it-yourself video that you can use to immortalize your beloved pet(s).

Each bracelet costs $39.95 plus shipping — not too shabby for a one-of-a-kind keepsake that your friends will ask you about. If that’s not incentive enough to buy one for yourself and start looking around for pictures of your friends’ and relatives’ dogs to make gifts, then be aware that Lisa donates her profits from sales of these bracelets to a pet-related charity — right now, the lucky recipient is a local animal shelter in BC.

Close up, the links are fairly sturdy and well put together, with just enough “funk” in form to make each one look handcrafted. I would suggest that you choose “landscape” formatted photos rather than “portrait” formatted photos for best results, and make sure each is of sufficiently high resolution for print. I was sad that my old photos didn’t make the cut, but the quality of the image definitely suffers.

Also, take care when wearing your bracelet out on humid or rainy days. I sweated into mine at a dog show on a hot day in June and ended up “steaming” a couple of the links. I left the bracelet off my wrist to dry out, and everything appears to be fine now. You don’t want the images to wrinkle or warp, so keep the bracelet dry.

News Flash!

Lisa has just informed me that Heritage Makers is discontinuing the bracelet this fall — so if you want one — and let’s face it, you do — then contact her now while we still have some summer left! Here’s a link to her Heritage Makers page, where you can sign up for a free account and work with Lisa to create a piece of wearable art that will cause people to stop you and ask, “Where did you GET that?!”. Make one for your best friend. Make one for your mom. Just be sure to do it before they go away!

Anybody who knows me would agree that I’m not really a big rider of bandwagons — even when I’m trying to be. There’s just something in my circuitry that keeps me from being a complete fangrrl. Maybe I’m suffering from Post-High-School-Football-Pep-Rally Stress Disorder and I don’t even know it.

Before I arrived at BlogPaws Columbus back in April, I already felt distinctly out of place. I don’t dress my dogs. I don’t talk baby talk, or even Twitter talk — even when “speaking” as one of my dogs. (Two of mine are British and one is Canadian. All four are adults. I have it on good authority that they would all speak proper English if they spoke any at all.) Even the proto-word “noms”, when applied to comestibles, sets my teeth on edge. (I once asked my mother to translate when my aunt called all us kids in for “din-din.” This was before the days of Morris the Cat, which indicates how ancient I am.) I’ve had blogs, dogs, rescues, fosters, and transports since long before they were cool. At times, I’m even bemused at just how cool they’ve become.

In spite of our — er — “cultural differences,” I couldn’t have met a nicer, more supportive, more fun group of people. We came from Europe, Canada, and the States. We own big dogs, little dogs, cats, ferrets — probably even horses, goats, birds, snakes, lizards, and tropical fish. Some were new to blogging. Some have had established, monetized sites for years. The one thing that bound us all together was our love for animals.

In some post sometime, I’ll go into detail about all that I learned while I was at the conference, but I’m happiest about having discovered a community of people who think nothing of raising four figures’ worth of funds for a struggling animal shelter just by Twitter-chatting on a Friday night. The group even left Columbus a better place than it was when we found it by raising over a grand for Pets Without Parents, a local no-kill shelter.

The momentum didn’t slow after the event ended. It has picked up to the point where there’s even a whole Be the Change website, a Dog Days of Summer challenge, and dozens of bloggers pledging to be the change they wish to see in the world, then spreading the word by every social medium available. Gandhi, whose paraphrased words have become the rallying cry, would no doubt approve.

My Turn To Wave the Flag

If July 15 is a Day of Slogans, then mine would be: Get Out and Do Something With Your Dog. Okay, if it’s 95 degrees in the shade where you are, you might want to head for the nearest dog-friendly body of water or wait until sunset — but just get out and do something. Take your dog for a walk (and bring some water). Teach your dog a trick. Work with your dog on a behavior you want him to exhibit — or extinguish. Brush him and trim his nails. Try a little TTouch massage. Whatever you do, just spending time with your dog helps to strengthen the bond between you.

If you’re into organized activities, there are so many to choose from — and more are being invented all the time. The old classic competitive sports are still there: obedience and rally, agility, herding, earthdog, field trialing, lure coursing, tracking, and so on. If you just can’t get enough, or if those activities just don’t appeal, check out the newer sports, such as K-9 nosework or even the Dog Scouts of America. Sign yourself and your dog up for summer camp. If your dog can perform 10 simple exercises, take the Canine Good Citizen test. If s/he can do 12, take the TDI test and go Be the Change for the sick, for the elderly, or for children who are learning to read aloud and could use a furry confidence-builder.

Remember that change comes with education. If you can get out there with your dog and demonstrate the beauty, joy, and strength in the human-animal bond, then you have a chance to make an impression on people, to educate them and help them celebrate the reasons why we share our lives with these wondrous creatures.

If you need some prep work before you get there, that’s all right. Many training clubs follow the school year and have vacation during the summer, but most of the privately-owned training facilities run classes all year round. You can even go to school on your own time with any of a number of training books and/or DVDs. (Hint: Try the library, but don’t borrow anything that’s too old, or which just doesn’t apply to the dog you’re working with. That dusty copy of Show That Friggin’ Beast Who’s Boss probably won’t get you very far with your shy toy breed recovering from a hard early life.)

Does this all sound too regimented for you? That’s fine. Just find a place to hike, walk, run, or just plain hang out with your dog. Throw the ball or the Frisbee, or don’t. Know your dog, and know what motivates your dog and engages his mind. Use that to get his body moving. A tired dog is a good dog.

“Get to the Point Already. Where’s the Change?”

“But what does this have to do with rescue?”, you might ask. “What does it have to do with dogs in shelters? What does it have to do with Being the Change?”

The different sources disagree about the exact percentage, but a significant number of pets are turned into shelters or rescues for behavioral problems. (This reference says 30%.) Training, bonding, engaging with a dog — and getting to know that individual dog — all contribute to keeping dogs out of shelters and rescues in the first place — or being sent back there. Education, activity, and being a good example of what education and activity can do, help demonstrate that a dog isn’t just a house ornament, or a lawn ornament, or a fetish object to be carried around in a purse and then recycled when something smaller and cuter comes along. Bond with your dog (or cat, or ferret). Help other people to bond with theirs. Help devotion to become contagious. A loved, valued member of the family is less likely to get sent to a shelter when he doesn’t match the new couch*. (*actual excuse we’ve heard in breed rescue.)

Yes, it’s a good thing to change the world for the better — but remember who inspired you in the first place; you are the world to your dog. If you want to change the world, be the world. See what change you can precipitate.