Norbert's 10th Birthday Give Away

Norbert playing with Tubby on the day we got him, ten years ago.

Norbert  with Tubby, Ping, and Bob at Bob's 5th  birthday party in April.

In the next few days Norbert will turn ten years old.   As a rescue brought into the NYCACC Staten Island shelter when he was a puppy  his birthday is a guestimate.  I have some mixed feelings about my big guy turning ten. I've been incredibly blessed to share ten wonderful years with him, however a dog loving co-worker of mine has been known to say: "with big dogs anything beyond ten years is a gift."  This idea gives me a shudder.  In ten years Norbert and I have never been apart and the thought of life with out him is grim.  On the positive side if every day beyond ten years is a gift then I need to be really thankful for that time and celebrate every minute of it.  So in the spirit of celebrating every minute (and hoping for many more years) we are hosting a special birthday give away!


    A few months ago we reviewed this product from  Polka Dog Bakery in one of my favorite posts.  Sadly, the Mighty Mutt cookies are no more BUT Polka Dog Dog Bakery has tons of other amazing stuff: treats and chews that will make you drool puddles!  So in honor of Norbert's 10th birthday we are giving away a $25 dollar  gift certificate.


You could get amazing treats:







Chew Bones:





Even an awesome bowl:







Some seriously cool stuff.


Follow the steps below and enter to win today.  We will announce the winner on July 8. (Don't forget to do all the Rafflecopter stuff to enter)


a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Friday-New Stuff

Mom was home yesterday on her mini break before summer school starts on Monday and she has to go back to work teaching.   She has already spent some of that extra summer money she gets.

We got a new couch and love seat that recline.   Very comfy.

 We also got Dog In Yard Signs,  for our front and back gates.   Mom didn't feel right about a Beware Of Dog sign but since we sometimes like to hang out in our back lot and there is a lot of foot traffic in our neighborhood she wanted to put something up.   Here is the sign on the gate in the front path to our back lot.

 The company slogan is "Friendly Signs For Friendly Dogs"  We look pretty friendly, but we do like to bark at passers bye!

Wordless Wednesday-Who is That Handsome Devil?

Before I  came home to live with momma and dad mom won Bunk The Pug's Easter Egg Contest  and the grand prize was a portrait Bailey Be Good's mom.
She does amazing dog and cat portraits.  Since mom already had portraits of all the other urban hounds she decided to save her award for my arrival.   My portrait arrived about a week ago and dad took it to an art store in Manhattan to be framed.  When it came home I had a great time checking  it out.  Bailey's mom did an amazing job, she captured my darling baby face perfectly.  

Tasty Tuesday Fish Delish-Sardine Brownies

What with our graying muzzles and advancing years Mom likes to keep us all loaded up with healthy foodables.   One of her favorite foods to give is us is Sardines.  These stinky little fish are loaded with heart healthy Omega 3 Fatty Acids and Coenzyme Q 10, great stuff for aging hearts and brains, and they have DHA which is good for both older and developing puppy brains (so it should help Weasley work on  his smarts).

In fact Sardines are one of the Whole Dog Journal's five steps to upgrading your dogs diet.   So now that we have sold you on sardines what should you do with them? They are great just dumped atop a bowl of kibble which is how we usually eat them, and trust us even the pickiest dog will rarely turn them down, but why stop there?   We wanted to explore the baking possibilities of sardines so Mom made super easy sardine brownies for our Saturday Northern New Jersey Pug Extravaganza Meet Up.

Sardine Brownies

 3 3.75 oz cans of sardines in water, dumped into a bowl and mashed (do not drain)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups Brown Rice Flour 
1 Tbsp garlic powder

Preheat the oven to 325.  Stir all of the ingredients together until a smooth dough forms.  Spray a 9 inch square baking pan with non-stick spray and pour the brownie batter in.  Bake in the oven until cooked through, about 25 minutes.

Note: In the opinion of humans these brownies are STINKY our dad came home and said what is that smell! He thought mom had spilled are 64 ounce gallon of Salmon Oil Supplement  on the kitchen floor again.   So if your peeps bake these you may want to tell them to open some windows.   

Monday Mischief-Puggie Meetup

On Saturday we attended our pug groups The Northern New Jersey Pug Extravanganza 6 year anniversary meet up (we have been members for five years, since we moved from Manhattan to Jersey City).  The group is very large and all the meetups are fun and well attended, we don't get to all that many of them since some our pretty far from our home, but we always go to a few.  Saturday's meetup was a puggie pool party with a visit from the Good Humor Ice Cream Van and plethora of dog treats. 

This sweet pitbull mix was an honorary pug for the praty.

Tubby was one of the oldest pugs there, if not the oldest, but he kept up pretty well with the young ins'

We all got to try delicious chicken broth pupsickles.

Sunday Suppers-Classic Lasagna

Warning!  This is not a dog (or cat) focused post.   I just really, really, really like this lasagna recipe.  Its not Italian style lasagna (which I also like) but rather Italian-American, meaning lots of meat and cheese!  Yum.  

Classic American Lasagna


Meat Sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup minced garlic, minced in the food processor
1/2 pound diced yellow onions
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 celery stalk diced
3 lbs ground beef
2 28 oz cans tomatoes in juice
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp dried oregano


Heat olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium high heat.  Add garlic and onions and saute, stirring occasionally, for five minutes.  Add carrot and celery and cook for another five minutes.


Push the vegetables to the side and begin browning the meat in three batches.  Cook until just beginining to brown, 3-5 minutes, then push aside and add more meat.  When all the meat is browned stir the whole mess together.


Add the tomatoes and juice and crush the tomatoes up with the back of a spoon.  Add the tomato paste, sugar and oregano.  Stir well.  Simmer 1 1/2 hours.  Season with salt and pepper to taste


Lasagna
1 box no boil lasagna noodles
1 15 oz container whole milk ricotta cheese
1 egg beaten,
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 1lb grated mozzarella, not fresh
1 1/2 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese


Preheat oven to 350.  


In a large bowl stir together the ricotta, parsley, and egg.  Season with salt and pepper.


Spoon and spread about 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over the bottom of an appropriately sized lasagna pan.  Top with a single layer of noodles, breaking noodles to cover the sauce if necessary.  Top with half of the ricotta mixture, a third of the mozzarella, a third of the remaining meat sauce, and a third of the parmesan.  Cover with another layer of noodles.  Top the noodles with the remaining ricotta mixture and spread evenly with a spatula.  Top the ricotta mixture with half of the remaining mozzarella, half of the remaining meat sauce, and half of the remaining Parmesan.  Top with another single layer of noodles the remaining sauce, mozzarella, and parmesan. Season layers with salt and pepper as you go.


Bake for one hour until bubbly and cooked through.


Yum!

Bulldogs and Bow Ties

I love a dog in a bow tie.  The super cute Etsy shop Tux and Tulle makes beautiful custom bow ties (and regular times) for peeps and they can make a custom bow tie for your dog to.  I ordered a cotton liberty floral tie for Bob a few weeks ago.  It certainly suits him

Perfect for summer time adventures!

Hot Time: Summer in The City

Most of us know that dogs over heat much faster the humans and certainly all responsible dog owners know the dangers of a hot car.  However, dogs can over heat easily outside and even on a day when the weather is in the 80s.   Hot weather is even more dangerous for brachycephalic dogs (dogs with short snouts) like pugs, english and french bulldogs, and boston terriers.   Here are some of the signs of heat stroke:

Early signs include:

• Restlessness
• Panting
• Increased respiratory rate
• Increased heart rate
• Excess salivation
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea

• Weakness
• Staggering
• Gasping
• Gum color may become brick red, then purple or blue (cyanosis)
• Seizures

If its very the temperature is high leave your dog at home in the air conditioning and do walks in the early morning and evening hours.  For city dogs, remember that pavement retains heat and dogs walking on hot pavement will over heat much more quickly then dogs walking on grass.  Bring water all walks.    If your dog shows any signs of heat exhaustion immediately get them indoors and cool them in a tub with cold water.  Particular attention should be payed to the paws and stomach.  Rubbing alcohol can be brought on walks and applied to a dogs paws to cool them down as well.  There are also products like cooling bandanas and vests. 

Remember keep cool:

Wordless Wednesday-Kool Kat Pug-Tubby in Sunglasses

Tasty Tuesday Product Review-Pet Fairy Noshers

Nosh:

To Eat a Snack

Mom is always looking for tasty and healthy treats for us so when she read about Pet Fairy Noshers in Bark Magazine she decided we needed to give it a try.  Luckily our favorite online retailer Olive Green Dog carried the Nosh.

Pet Fairy Pet Noshers definitely does meet Mom's exacting standards for a snack.  Its made in the good ole' US of A, in Vermont, and its chock full of healthy organic ingredients: pumpkin, honey, applesauce and cinnamon.   Another key ingredient is lemon balm, which has calming properties to help soothe any stressed out pups.   

You can use the Nosh to fill any Kong style hollow toy or bone, Mom put ours in our Planet Dog Strawberry.   We had a blast licking out every last bit of Nosh:

(Though Bob, did want to point out to mom that next time she could make it easier by eliminated the strawberry and just dumping the Nosh on the ground.)

Mom, however, likes to make things difficult and is thinking of increasing the challenge by freezing the nosh to make Noshicles.

All in all, we thoroughly recommend Pet Fairy Pet Nosh to all our Blogville friends!

Monday Mischief-Puggie Father's Day Recap

On Sunday we had a pug filled Father's Day celebration.  Tubby, Ping, and Weasley visited with our Grand Dad, Our Aunt and Uncle, and or Pug Cousin Ruby.   


We hung out with family:

and visited a street fair:

Hope you had a wonderful Father's Day too!