Tasty Tuesday-Sunflower Seed Rice Krispy Treats in Honor of the X Files

I've written before about how much  enjoy the X-Files.  The show as at its peak in the late 1990s when I was in college and I spent a lot of time watching it with the hounds dad (of course this was before he was their dad.)  In fact when we got married we had Mulder and Scully on the cake in place of the bride and groom.

 Since starting this blog I've made the dogs sunflower seed treats every September around the date of the X-Files premier episode, September 10, 1993 for the record.  If you've watched the show then you know that Agent Mulder loves sunflower seeds.

I myself hate the taste of sunflower seeds but the dogs seem to agree with Mulder.  This year I made Sunflower Seed Rice Krispy Treats and they were a hit!

Bob checking out the treats

Dad dispensing the treats

Tubby, Ping, and Weasley hoping there are more treats out there.

 The treats are really easy to make and sunflower seeds offer dogs quite a few health benefits.  They are full of vitamin, are anti-inflamtory properties and are good for your pups heart.

Rice Krispy Treats with Sunflower Seeds

1/2 cup peanut butter, the all natural variety, I used Smuckers
1/4 cup honey
1 cup Rice Krispies
3 tbsp sunflower seeds (optional)

Stir the honey and peanut butter together in a large bowl.  If you find it hard to stir, you may want to warm the mixture the microwave briefly.   Stir in the Rice Krispies and the sunflower seeds.   Roll into small balls.

After the treats the pugs felt the need for a nap, which they had, wearing the X-Files shirts from Cafe Press.

 I think they look mighty cute in their shirts!

Monday Mischief Sweet Treats!

On Sunday, we decided to take a morning stroll with Bob and Weasley went in the town of Rutherford, New Jersey, about 20 minutes from Jersey City where we live.  It has some nice houses and a cute little park that we walked through and took some pictures in.

 We even saw a cute little bunny during our walk.

The best part of Rutherford is they have some really good sweet treats.   We visited the Sweet Avenue Bake Shop, a cute little Vegan bakery with some really delicious cupcakes. 

 While we are not Vegans these cupcakes are very tasty and we have bought them before for Vegan friends who strongly approved.  They have a wide selection including peanut butter and red velvet which we tried.

Of course we had to get something special for Bob and Weasley too and luckily Rutherford has a Dairy Queen.

 So they were able to enjoy a Vanilla Cone

 They sure enjoyed every lick.  Hope your Sunday was as sweet as ours!

National Pet Memorial Day

I just learned it was national pet memorial day, here our pictures of our two babies who have left us.

 This is Bingo he came to us as a hospice foster with an inoperable spleenic mass.  He lived 2 and a half happy years with us.  Bingo couldn't walk towards the end so he used a wheel chair to get around.  It still breaks my heart to see his sweet face.

This is Dr. Zira we adopted her at age 9 and she was always very timid and shy.  I wish we could have made her more confident during her time with us and I hope her last years with us were happy ones.   Her cutest habit was making a purring noise like a cat to ask for her food.  She loved to eat.  Dr. Zira died very suddenly of heart attack brought on by a bout of pneumonia on March 8, 2012.  

Unlike many pet owners I am not a particularly religious person so I am not what I believe regarding the after life and our pets.  I tend towards agnostic thinking and I suppose my religious beliefs could be best summed up by this Iris De Ment Song, Let The Mystery Be.

 So in truth I don't know if I will see Dr. Zira and Bingo again, but I do know that like all living things they are connected to everything around me.   The flip side of love is loss, and it is better to have loved and loss then to have never loved at all.  Our pets with their all too brief lives remind us of this basic truth.

Sci Fi Saturday-Tribble Edition!

Weasley here:

Sometimes mom strikes out in the toy department and a toy just doesn't get our mojo running, but she scored a home run when she got us these Silly Squeakers Balls from doggy loot.  

 These things are amazing!  With a super loud squeak and lots of neat fluffy hair, plus they are they are perfect size for a pugs mouth. (Our big guy Norbert likes them too, but mom is not sure if they would be good for big dogs who are aggressive chewers.)  When I hear them squeaking I just go crazy (sorry for the blurry photos but my speed was too super awesome for mom's camera phone)!!!

Another super cool thing about these balls they remind mom of the tribbles 

from our favorite show Star Trek!  Too bad our toys don't keep reproducing like the tribbles on the show.  We think mom is already going to have to get a new batch.

 In a final nod to the awesomeness of  Star Trek (and of course my own awesome self) mom has to include two picture collages of me in Tubby's Kobeyashi Maru t-shirt (a reference for serious trek fans only) courtesy of zazzle.  It's a little tight on Tubby which is why I am sporting it. 

Hugs For Benny

Our sweet pall Benny   is fighting hard against the big C and he and his mom need all the support they can get.  Today they are having a hugs and kisses party. We have selected some of our favorite photos hugs and kisses years we have had this blog and our sending them to Benny.

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Thoughtful Thursday-The Problem With Dog's Tied Outside of Stores

 Note: I already posted about this issue on my face book page and got some great responses but I wanted to write a bit more about and hear from the larger blog community, if its a repeat for your my apologies.

I don't deny that I'm a fairly opinionated person and when it comes to dogs in what I perceive to be situations of distress I don't shy away from expressing my opinions (sometimes loudly and often without completely thinking it through.) One thing that bothers me a great deal is dogs tied outside stores.  

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 Now I know this is a somewhat controversial issue, there is even an older blog Dogs Tied Up NYC, about the problem and you can see from the comments that NYC pet owners are very divided on the issue.  If you can see your dog through the store window for the entire time you are inside and if your dog is very well trained and exceptionally calm and friendly then I think it might be OK.  I also know it may be less of an issue in parts of  Europe where it is a common practice and in small towns where everyone knows each other, but in my opinion you are taking a big risk when you tie your dog outside a store, particularly in a large urban area.  

For one thing, urban streets are a parade of ever changing sights and sounds. Can you really be sure that your dog will remain calm when approached by bicyclists, baby carriages, shopping carts, pedestrians of all shapes and sizes and a assaulted by a barrage of honking horns, shouting people, and squeaking tires?  What about the many people who are afraid of dogs?  It seems very disrespectful to force them to walk past your unattended dog in order to enter a public store.  Then there are the dog walkers who may be walking their own potentially leash aggressive dogs, which is my situation.   I often have to alter my walking route to avoid unattended dogs since I know my dogs may bark at them and I am unsure how the unattended dogs will react.   Worst of all there is the risk of your dog being stolen or harmed in someway while you are not their to protect them.

All of these problems where the reason I was really surprised and upset by this article on the XO Jane site, admittedly a fairly tabloidy website.  The article is written by a women who lives in Albuquerque New Mexico with Lola her German Short Haired pointer mix.  Apparently while leaving her dog tied outside a supermarket she was accosted  by a woman wearing pajama pants (the pajama pants seem to really bother the author) who yelled at her for leaving her dog unattended without water or shelter.   

Now, I instantly totally identified with pajama pant lady (as the author of the article calls her), for one thing I often walk my dogs in pajama pants, although I've never grocery shopped in them, and I don't quite see the egregious social offense inherant in this article of clothing.  I tend to only have two modes of dress, dressed up vintage and sloppy casual, and I don't see pajama pants as being all that different from the sweats and yoga pants that many people wear for any and all occasions.  What really troubles me though is that the author of the article makes it clear that her dog Lola does not have excellent behavior.  She details how Lola often barks and jumps on walks attracting comments from passers by and declares that the behavior makes her look "super crazy." Despite these problems she makes no mention of any training methods she has tried to correct or manage this behavior.  Now my own dogs are far from perfect, I sometimes wonder if they are not the worst behaved dogs in blogville, but I always endeavor to train and or manage their behavior and I never leave then alone in a situation where they could get  in trouble.  

 The author also states that Lola is under exercised.   I know how hard it can be to exercise an active breed, my husband and I used to take Norbert

 to the dog park for an hour  twice a day when he was younger plus a 90 minute walk. Thankfully as he has gotten older his exercise needs are much less.  The fact that this type of intense exercise really does not fit into our life style is one reason I may choose to not get another active breed dog.  If I did choose to get a very active dog, or wound up with one, I'd do what ever was necessary to provide the exercise it needed, no excuses.  That is the commitment you make when you get a dog. This whole exercise issue is why people need to do breed research BEFORE getting a dog.  Plenty of dogs, like my own beloved pugs and bulldog, have relatively low exercise requirements and are an excellent choice for people who are not super active by nature. Plus there are thousands of low activity senior dogs in needs of home. Still all dogs need exercise and according to the author of the article the exercise she provided Lola, her energetic and "crazy" dog, with before tying her outside the grocery store was a walk around the block, a distance that would not exhaust even my senior pugs.


As I sympathize with pajama pant lady, yelling at people in public is really not the best way to deal with any issue, but I wish the author of this article had listened to what was being said and had considered that perhaps her behavior was irresponsible and rude.   If you have errands to run consider that it may be better to take two trips and leave your dog at home.  While it is tempting to take an eager canine everywhere with you it really is not always the best option.   
I do wonder though what other dog bloggers think, it seems most commenters on the articles website thought that the author was in the right and I wonder if feelings will be the same, or different, among dog bloggers, so I am eager to read your comments.

 On another note, we would appreciate some good vibes from all our blogger friends.  Eleven year old Norbert is having his senior blood work and wellness exam tomorrow and even though he seems to be very healthy that always makes me a little nervous.  We have our paws crossed for good news.

Wordless Wednesday-Fatherly Love