Pet Product Reviews

Reviews of products that I believe are good choices for your pet.

Dog Books – Must Reads

Dog Books – Books I Love

My day job is that of a librarian, I love books and I read a lot. Of course you all know that my other love is dogs so combining these passions are a must for me. Dog Books !!

I thought I would share my favourite dog inspired books – this list will be added to as I continue my reading so please check back from time to time

  1. Five Hundred Mile Walkies by Mark Wallington

This read is what it says on the title; Mark Wallington walks the South West Coastal Path with his friend’s dog. They start in Somerset and walk the five hundred route through Devon and Cornwall.

Neither of them are prepared or your standard ‘walker’ and his dog  is more used to travelling on the London Underground than seeing rabbits and the delights that the countryside has to offer them both. I love the personal journeys that they both take in learning how to understand the walk that they are undertaking.

This book follows their adventures walking from place to place, with descriptive narrative on each place they visit – I think this is a go back to book, not only as a story but as a guide to amazing coastal walks.I have used this book time and time again and found some astounding places in my home county of Cornwall.

 

  1. Marley and Me by John Grogan

You might have seen the film; to be honest I cannot watch the film without crying like a baby. The book is just as good or I would say even better. This is a get wrapped up in a blanket, get a cuppa, turn off the phone and read type of book.

  1. I have ordered my next choice and I cannot wait for it to arrive…

 

Think Dog: An Owner’s guide to Canine Psycology by John Fisher

This book looks at how our dogs see the world – it is a dogs point of view on things.

I can’t be the only one that looks at my dog and wonders what they are thinking – I am hoping this book will help answer that for me.

“In this seminal pet psychology book, John Fisher examines the mind of the dog with examples taken from his practical experience, with the aim of explaining to owners how the world appears from a dog’s point of view.”

Then in the second part of the book he looks at the A – Z of common dog behaviour problems

I will let you know what I think once I have had a read

4. This is my holiday pick

A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

What a lovely book, this one is to be read whilst sat on a sunny patio or in a hammock on a beach holiday, holding a cool drink – this book is going to make you smile. It is a  “…dog’s-eye commentary on human relationships and the unbreakable bonds between man and man’s best friend. A moving and beautifully crafted story teaches us that love never dies, that our true friends are always with us, and that every creature on earth is born with a purpose”

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Hope you have enjoyed my top dog book picks – as I said this post is in working progress – so if like me you love books keep following to find out my next reads.

Enjoy reading

Emily, Grace and Dinky Daisy x


Dog Treats – The good, the bad and the ugly

 

 

What makes a good dog treat 

Do you give your dog treats ? Do you know what is in your Dog treats ? In this post we look at what could be in the treats you give your dogs and what is a good healthy treat that you could give them instead. 

This post started out as a basic review of  The Cornish Barkery and the wonderful dog biscuits they bake. They sent us a few different types to try and believe me our lot never turn down a doggie choc chip cookie. They went down a treat. I tried them with my two dogs and so did the guys on our Facebook group All Things Dog

See this review from Jessica from our group…

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Or Boris and Deefa who’s mummy posted this photo and said that they like their Cornish Barkery Pork & Basil Sausage Biscuits!To buy click here

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So I was going to post that my dogs loved The Cornish Barkery biscuits over all other biscuits, that my dogs would choose these over anything else offered to them, but I have realised that this was not the post I wanted to write.  In fact to sell these homemade biscuits to you on the premise that my dogs would eat them over anything else is a lie .. honestly I just caught Dinky Daisy in the field eating  sheep pooh !  It’s not the first time – she came in once with a lump of it stuck to the top of her head looking innocent like she had not been munching her way through a pile of the stuff ! So the truth is my dogs will really eat anything from gourmet dog biscuits to pond weed, yes we have had that eaten too. It comes down to what I want my dogs to eat, I am the owner, I need to give them healthy, real food – not chemicals, colouring’s, poor ingredients that can do them harm.

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Dinky Daisy

Writing this review, as it started,  sent me down a slightly different road to what I had planned. I am now looking at what is in other dog biscuits, compared to these. I started to question why it was that  the best before date on the The Cornish Barkery dog biscuits gave me a couple of months  but when I looked at a box of supermarket, big brand, dog biscuits they did not go off for a whole year, what’s in a dog food that lets it last that long? Why such a difference?

Think I need to investigate this a bit more…

I love that when I read the ingredients on the The Cornish Barkery that I immediately understood them

Take the Choc Chip Cookies;

wholemeal flour, dog-friendly chocolate chips, water

Choc Chip Cookies

I understood and recognisied every ingredient – I am happy to give these as a treat to my dogs. If I am giving my dogs a treat with these I know I am giving them real food. Happy dogs and happy owner.

Compare this to the ingredients I found on a box of big brand dog treats

Cereals
Glycerol
Meat and Meat Derivatives
Vegetable Protein Extracts
Various Sugars
Oils and Fats
Minerals
Milk and Milk Derivatives
With Antioxidants

  Meat Derivatives, Vegetable Protein Extracts – what are these ?

  Milk Derivatives …what?

  and various sugars..ummmm

Looks like a bit of a complicated list to me and I am unsure what many of these are…

I am no food scientist – and to be honest nor are most of us – I want to look at the label and know what I am giving my dogs . How about you ?

If you want to join in the discussion on the above points then please leave a comment or visit our Facebook Group All things Dog and join in there.

If you would like to purchase a Dog Barkery product please click  to visit The Cornish Barkery

I did not make money from the links in this post and all views are my own and I would love to hear your views on the subject of ingredients in dog food and biscuits.

Emily, Grace and Dinky Daisy x