Treat Tuesday: Merrick Venison Holiday Stew Sausage Treat

I ordered these Merrick Venison Holiday Stew Sausages from Chewy.com. These are soft, semi-moist little treat rolls. This venison recipe ismade from venison, beef, oatmeal, potato, apples, carrots, and peas. Perfect for Brisbane's poultry/egg/corn/barley/sweet potato allergies.

Good For: Chopping into quarters lengthwise and then into tiny pieces for training treats. Hiding in puzzle toys. Keeping Brisbane's attention while I do his allergy shots.

Not Good For: Feeding the dogs without getting my hands all yucky.

How Much We Like Them: They're a nice bit of variety in Brisbane's ever-shrinking pool of treat possibilities.

Product Review: Kong Jumbler

The Kong Jumbler is a large, durable squeaker toy with a tennis ball trapped inside. There are handles on either side for shaking, tossing, and tugging. It comes in two sizes, round and oblong, and two sizes. Ours is a medium round ball.

Photo by Erin Koski

We're big fans of Kong around here, but some of their more recent offerings have been a bit short on real-world functionality. Sometimes think they just dream stuff up and then put it in stores without asking questions like "In what ways could this possibly go wrong?"

Fortunately the Jumbler is one of the better thought-out toys by Kong. It's not a durable rubber chew toy, this is more for interactive play or dogs who don't make it their mission in life to shred every toy. It's plenty sturdy though, and will handle quite a lot of biting and flinging.

Photo by Erin Koski

This toy reminds me of our Jolly Pets Teaser Ball, with it's eternally trapped inner tennis ball. Unfortunately, it has been nearly as big a flop as the teaser ball. Sure, it's fun to carry around and bite, but the ball within the ball doesn't seem to be adding anything. I think my dogs are too smart for this toy, they can tell immediately that the inner ball is inaccessible so they don't bother with it.

Pros: Big enough for giant breeds to play with safely. Handles make it easy to bite and pick up. Squeaks and makes tennis-ball-rolling-around-inside noises. Durable enough to handle pretty much anything except a dog deliberately chewing a hole in it.

Cons: Not actually a chew toy, can be gnawed into pieces by a determined dog. Translucent plastic becomes opaque with age.

Bottom Line: Nobody around here is into this ball-within-ball idea.

When People Go On Vacation and Bring Back Souvenirs For Your Dogs

I was going through some bins in my garage when I ran across not one, but two souvenir dog outfits from Hawaii. Naturally, I decided to share them here.

Brisbane's Hawaiian shirt comes from my parent's vacation a few years ago. I had forgotten about it entirely, or I would have used it to keep the sun off him after the embarrassing shavedown. It's a very light shirt that fits well, and he doesn't seem to mind it nearly as much as he minds most clothes. It doesn't have a tag identifying a manufacturer, but it appears to be from Casual Canine by Pet Edge.

Sisci's Hawaiian dress was originally Oakley's dress. My elderly cocker spaniel stayed with me during my senior year of college, and my roommate brought her elderly sheltie. Her parents went to Hawaii and brought back dresses for both dogs that were absolutely adorable. Sisci fits in most of Oakley's hand-me-downs so she gets to wear it now. The dress is by Cocojor Hawaii, a Hawaiian company that actually makes their clothes in Hawaii. The tag says "Made in Hawaii with Aloha". It's a Lokelani Mumu in the Luau Blue pattern. Cocojor also has a daycare and boarding facility and a grooming salon. So fancy! The mumu is extremely well-made, it's probably one of the nicest dog outfits we own.

I think it's amusing that these outfits were purchased by different people at different times several years apart for different dogs, and were stored in separate bins in my garage and laundry room, and I ran across both of them on the same day. All we need now is a couple of flower leis and a big chunky camera to complete the tourist look!