Treat Tuesday: Loot Pets Chicken Chargers

These Loot Pets Chicken Chargers arrived in our May power-themed Loot Crate. They were easily the best thing in the box. Easily. These are moist, meaty treats that are easy to tear into tiny training treats. They are tasty enough that even Ru eats them, and they don't dry up and become rock hard instantly.

Good For: High-value training treats. Staying moist and tasty for an extended period of time. Picky dogs.

Not Good For: Dogs with chicken allergies.

How Much We Like Them: There were enough in the bag to make it through two different agility classes. If I tear them into fairly large chunks, they work well for tossing because Sisci can easily find them in the grass.

Product Review: PetProjekt Dog Meat

ProProjekt's Dog Meat toy is the most realistic fake meat I've ever squeaked. Made from their durable plastic, this thing makes a great squeak and stands up to obsessive squeaking. Also, it looks gross. They also make a steak and a dead fish.

Photo by Erin Koski

This squeaky raw chicken leg arrived plastic-wrapped to a styrofoam tray in last year's November BarkBox. Doesn't it look amazing? It's not as realistic as PetProjekt's squeaky seashells, but it's pretty good.

Like the Squeeki Tiki toys, this is a somewhat bouncy, hollow plastic squeaky toy. It is lots of fun to squeak, and pretty easy to chew a hole through if that's how your dog plays. Mine just like to throw it around and then lay there squeaking it though, so it will last us a while.

Photo by Erin Koski

See the end of it? It actually has a protruding bone with accompanying blood spot, just like a real chicken leg. So gross, but I appreciate their attention to detail.

Pros: Looks bizarrely and horribly like a raw chicken leg. Has a great squeak. Somehow durable enough to handle ten-minute-long squeakfests.

Cons: Not a chew toy, and easy for even small dogs to gnaw into pieces if they feel inclined.

Bottom Line: I don't know why PetProjekt made this toy. I'm not sure I want to keep finding it under my couch. It's weird.

What is the weirdest dog toy you have encountered?

Food Friday: NutriSource Grain Free Heartland Select Canned Dog Food

In my quest to find a soft food that Ru would eat following this week's dental appointment, I brought home a can of NutriSource Grain Free Heartland Select Dog Food. At this point I was no longer checking ingredients meticulously for egg or poultry ingredients, I was just grabbing one of everything in the hopes that Ru would like something. This is how I ended up bringing home a can of chicken-based dog food.

Little Ru does not have any food allergies or sensitivities. Brisbane is the one who can't have chicken, turkey, duck, or eggs. Ru just doesn't like any of those foods. I suspect it has to do with my raising him on a poultry-and-egg-free diet, as I try to avoid cross-contamination and accidents by simply sticking to Briz-safe foods for everyone. Also, Ru is super picky about food and would happily starve to death rather than eat food he doesn't like.

See that can? It says "Grain Free Dog Food" and also "Made with Real Bison". In my attempt to find a wet food Ru would eat, I visited a local pet store and started grabbing one can of each Brisbane-safe food. Obviously I failed to read the ingredients on the NutriSource Heartland Select food because it is, like most dog foods, made mostly out of chicken. There's bison in there too, but it comes after the chicken. Everything else is pretty much vitamins, so this food is made almost entirely out of chicken and bison. It doesn't say anything about the proportions, though. It could be 51% chicken and 49% bison (unlikely), or 99% chicken and 1% bison (probably closer to the truth). The prominent labeling of the non-primary ingredient certainly worked on me this time.

NutriSource foods are made in the USA. The company makes some quality products, with ratings from 3.5 to five out of five stars on Dog Food Advisor. The company, Tuffy's Pet Foods, owns several brands, including PureVita and Natural Planet. They've been making dog food since the 1960's, and are the co packer for Nutrisca and Dogswell foods.

I offered Ru some NutriSource Heartland Select, but he wouldn't touch it. He really doesn't like chicken. Our current foster puppy enjoyed it, always nice to have a non-allergic, less-finicky dog around for that. NutriSource makes very few foods that Brisbane can eat, and their foods are not widely available in my area so it is unlikely that their foods will become part of the regular rotation around here.