products Archives - DogSplendor

Dogswell Jerky Bars – a low glycemic dog treat

April 30, 2013 by Stefanie 1 Comment

When given the opportunity to try new treats, my two dogs are always game. Always game. And although they would eat practically anything, I stay pretty conscious of what I give them for treats and how those treats fit into their normally healthy diet. That said, Dogswell Jerky Bars are a high protein, low glycemic treat you can feel good about. They advertise their bars contain 85% animal protein, 15% good stuff (fruits and veggies), and 0% bad stuff (corn, wheat, soy).

We tried the following two combinations:

Dogswell® HAPPYHIPS Jerky Bars™ Turkey & Veggies
Dogswell® VITALITY Jerky Bars™ Salmon & Veggies

The bars have a texture similar to a protein bar, are about two inches square, and can be broken in smaller pieces, or given to your pet whole, depending on your dog’s size. I gave my dogs a whole bar and they broke them in to pieces on their own. From the picture below, you can see the healthy ingredients in the bars.

Low glycemic?

Because the bars contain high protein and no potato, corn, rice, etc. they are considered low glycemic. I’ve seen human foods referred to as low glycemic, but not really pet foods. What is the benefit of low glycemic foods for your pet?

“The Glycemic Impact™ of a canine and/or feline food is extremely important in their lifespan and health status…High Glycemic pet foods, and High Glycemic diets high in sugars and carbohydrates accelerate the aging process, reduce lifespan, exacerbate cancer, diabetes, and other disease states.” – Glycemic Research Institute, Pet Food Division

In addition, the Dogswell jerky bars are made from carefully crafted recipes that feature:

real ingredients such as peas, carrots, and spinach
natural with added vitamins and zinc
no grains, corn, wheat, soy, or potatoes
antioxidants from apples, cranberries, and flaxseed to support immunity
single source, high quality proteins

Our review

As you can see, Maddie was quite fond of the treats. As I tried to snap a few pictures, she tried to help herself to the open bag of turkey and veggie bars. Later when I would put the bag on the counter, she sat by the counter for a bit, which I’m thinking is a sign that she enjoyed her treats immensely, as she was not starving.

From my perspective, as a discerning dog parent, I was happy to see that these were low glycemic, high protein and not chock full of empty carbohydrates. Additionally, the turkey and salmon products we tried have ingredients 100% sourced in the U.S., which gives me an added sense of comfort when choosing a pet food product.

You can purchase Dogswell treats from many trusted retailers both online and locally. Please check out the Dogswell webpage for more information on various combinations of nutritious treats for your pup!

This post has a Disclosure Level of 2. Products were provided to DogSplendor.com for our own use and for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are our own.

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Filed Under: Product Reviews, Treats & Food Tagged With: health, products, treats

Immortalize your pup(s) on canvas prints! Review & Giveaway

March 25, 2013 by Stefanie 1 Comment

As a splendid dog parent, we all know you have a gazillion images of your pet on your phone. Don’t even try to deny it. Sometimes the photos are just so darn good that making it your phone’s home screen image and sharing it on Facebook aren’t nearly enough. It’s time to put that picture, or even multiple pictures, on canvas prints.

I was recently given the opportunity to review a service, Printcopia, that easily takes your online images and converts them in to canvas prints. I chose to submit one of my favorite photos of my girls to be printed on an 8″ by 10″ wrapped canvas.

I couldn’t be more pleased with the final product!

The photo to canvas process

Printcopia’s canvas print designer online feature has four steps and was very easy to use.

1) First you choose a size. There are nine pre-set canvas sizes, or you may choose a custom size canvas. There are also two canvas thickness options, which refer to the depth of the side borders of the canvas.

2) Next you choose an image. You may upload an image from your computer, or you can pull a picture directly from your Instagram or Facebook account. You can then adjust the image until it fits as you would like on the canvas size you choose.

3) The next step is to choose a style. This refers to choosing how you want the side border to look. It can be a mirror image of your photo, your photo can extend on to your side borders (which we opted for), or you can pick a color to be on the side borders.

4) The last option is to choose some optional extras like having a black and white or sepia color finish, or having Princopia do a bit of image retouching for you.

Each step of the way you get the option to make fine tuned adjustments to your photo positioning to make it look its best with the options you’ve chosen.

The giveway

We would like to share our love of this fun service with DogSplendor readers by giving away one 8″ x 10″ canvas print (retail value $56.78). Please note the print may only be shipped within the continental U.S.

We will be using Rafflecopter to facilitate the giveaway and a random entrant will be chosen from eligible entrants at midnight Pacific Time on Saturday, March 30, 2013. The winner will be notified by mail by noon on March 30th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

As part of the Rafflecopter entry options, you may follow Printcopia on Facebook. They seem to always be having fantastic deals, and offer other photo/printing options other than canvas prints, so I highly recommend this option! Since I was very pleased with the service from Printcopia, I also wanted to give a quick shout out to their sister sites for car magnets, banners, and bandit/yard signs.

This post has a Disclosure Level of 4.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Product Reviews Tagged With: art, giveaway, products, reviews

Protect your pet in style – PetHub review and giveaway!

October 11, 2012 by Stefanie 1 Comment

Did you know that in the US alone, a beloved pet goes missing every three seconds? I know most of us have a “that would never happen to my pet” attitude, but in all seriousness, what is your plan to protect your pet so that he or she would make it back home to you safe and sound?

My previous not-so-thorough method

For each of my dogs, I had a little tag with my home phone number (that we never answer, by the way). Oh yeah, and I only put those tags on the dogs when we went to the dog park or to the pet sitter because with the three tags (ID tag, rabies tag and license tag) together, the clinking jingling noise was too annoying in the house. And the best part? If the dogs decided to dart out the front door at the evil (their words, not mine) UPS man, this method of mine left them without any identification, without any protection.

But what if all the data about your pet could be contained in one “super” tag? Does that have your attention? It definitely had mine.

What do you mean we weren’t really protected before?

Enter PetHub, a Seattle-area company founded in 2010 that has raised the bar on the way we protect our pets – in a high-tech convenient way. PetHub tags (which are available in an array of styles – more on that later!) each include a QR code unique to your pet that may be scanned by a smartphone to reveal as much or as little data about your pet as you choose. The free online profile that can be created on PetHub’s website lets you enter your pet’s license information, vaccines, medical conditions, medical providers, and more. All with a toll-free 24/7 found pet hotline. What’s not to love? And for a cost that is still less than microchipping services, you can add additional protection for your pet via PetHub’s Silver and Gold Protection Programs, that add features above the free service like an “Amber Alert” Pet Recovery Database, email notifications with GPS mapping, and even emergency medical coverage (Gold level).

So, now that you’re on board with a great way to protect your pet, let’s talk style. If you peruse the PetHub shop, you’ll see there are options ranging from basic to personalized and adorable! My girls (ok, mostly me) were thrilled when we were given the opportunity to sample the brand new offering of Personalized Sofa City Sweetheart tags.

For Maddie “Garden Party” (left) & for Izzie “Modern Dots” (right)

I’d seen cute identification tags for dogs before, but since we weren’t really using the ones we had, why bother, right? But now with PetHub, my dogs are protected with tags they wear 24/7, tags that do the job of our 3 previous tags (and more!), plus they look adorable in the process.

We ordered the Personalized Sofa City Sweetheart tags in a round shape, but they are also available in a square shape. The tags have a nice weight to them – well made, but not too heavy for a smaller dog. I think the tag size is just perfect for my dogs, both of which weigh under 20 pounds.

Izzie rocking her new Sofa City Sweetheart tag.

Ever so innocent Maddie with her new Sofa City Sweetheart tag.

And now the part you’ve all been waiting for…

The great folks at PetHub are allowing me to give away five QR code tags to five lucky pets (we love all pets here at DogSplendor, so even cats are eligible!).

4 out of 5 of the giveaway tags (Sofa City Sweetheart tag not shown)

The five giveaways are as follows (enter as many giveaways as you’d like, as often as you’d like):

GRAND PRIZE: 1 Personalized Sofa City Sweethearts Tag – your choice of pattern from 13 designs (see them all here), personalized with the name of your pet!
1 Platinum Edition Red Dingo QR Tag – Pink Skull Design
1 Platinum Edition Red Dingo QR Tag – Black Paw Design
1 PetHub Basic ID Tag with Toll-Free Number – Black with Yellow Paw Design
1 PetHub Premium Digital Tag with Toll-Free Number – Fetch Dog Orange

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Filed Under: Giveaways, My Girls, Product Reviews Tagged With: giveaway, products

Nature’s Variety dog food – a review & giveaway!

August 9, 2012 by Stefanie 56 Comments

We were recently given the opportunity to sample the brand new offerings from Nature’s Variety. I quickly consulted my two product research helpers below, and lo and behold, they were down for sampling some new food!

My eager taste testers: Maddie (L) & Izzie (R)

There seems to be a lot of controversy and split opinions lately on whether to feed a dog raw food or kibble. Now with the new Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Boost you have the first and only product line to offer both high protein grain-free kibble and freeze dried raw, conveniently together in the same bag. My dogs tried the chicken, but the product is available for dogs in chicken, duck, or venison.

My girls pretty much love chicken, but there have been other chicken dog food samples (that will remain nameless) I’ve given them that they have not cared for. So, it’s safe to say they won’t eat just anything and are somewhat discerning customers. They both really seemed to enjoy the Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Boost. In fact, I would have taken some pictures of them enjoying it, but I’ve learned to not get in a dog’s face when it’s gobbling its dinner.

Image via Instinctpetfood.com

Some of the benefits of the Instinct Raw Boost formula include:

Grain-free, gluten-free kibble (no fillers) plus freeze dried raw
May provide relief for pets with weight issues, skin and coat conditions, grain allergies and intolerances
Freeze dried raw pieces provide natural enzymes for digestive health
Pure ingredients for optimal nutrient absorption
Essential fatty acids for healthy skin and coat
Complete and balanced for all life stages and all breeds

I do have to say that I’ve become somewhat of a nutrition label snob lately and read through labels on my pet products like a detective. While this product has many ingredients, it doesn’t have many of the cheap filler products that many kibble brands contain. Additionally, the crude protein in the product is 42%, which is higher than many other brands I’ve come across. Overall, the product is 72% pure animal ingredients and nutritious oils, and 28% veggies, fruits, vitamins and minerals.

Image via Instinctpetfood.com

Also newly available from Nature’s Variety is a product called Raw Daily Boost. The product is a powdered supplement in a canister that contains minimally processed freeze dried raw ingredients like meat, fruits and vegetables. This product may be mixed in with kibble or canned food to give the benefits of raw, and comes in chicken, beef, lamb, or venison.

My girls tried the chicken Raw Daily Boost. This product had a heavy powdered consistency that I personally didn’t care for. It may have mixed nicely with canned food, but didn’t necessarily mix well with just kibble and a little water. While it may not have looked pretty, the dogs gobbled it up, and licked the bowls clean, which is probably a more accurate measure of the product than my aesthetic concerns.

And now the part you’ve been waiting for….

Would your dog also like to try a bag of Chicken Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Boost? All the cool dogs are doin’ it! And the nice folks at Nature’s Variety are giving away one (1) bag each to four (4) lucky DogSplendor friends. Isn’t that nice of them? Please note that the contest winners are limited to US residents only (sorry, doggies in other countries).

Post Disclosure Level #4.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: Giveaways, Product Reviews, Treats & Food Tagged With: dog food, kibble, Nature's Variety, products, raw

A pet’s eye view of the world?

June 29, 2012 by Stefanie 1 Comment

If you’ve been dying to know what your pet is up to all day, and even moreso, want photographic evidence, then the Pet’s View camera might just be for you!

Though certainly not a new concept, the idea behind the Pet’s View by Yanko Design pet camera, allows for much greater ease of use. The camera on the collar is part of a USB stick that can quickly be inserted into your computer to upload all the frivolity, or lack thereof, of your pet’s activities.

The website for this product bills it as something that will ease your loneliness and despair if your pet passes. It goes on to say that you could suffer extreme mental anguish when your pet dies without this product and that suicide might be an option. Whoa, copywriters, ease up there!

In terms of the technical aspects of the product:

The pet name and owner’s phone number can be entered into the front view by hooking it up to the computer.
The band can be recharged by solar heat energy.
A sensor perceives the heartbeat and the body temperature of the pet, which leads to “photographs are taken by the heartbeat of a pet, which changes by the feeling of the pet-master.” Err…say what, now?

This product to get photos of your pet’s eye view of the world doesn’t appear to be for sale yet, so sorry to get your hopes up. But if you just can’t stand the anticipation and need to know what can be seen from your dog’s perspective at it’s next dog park outing, Google “other dogs’ butts.” Because that is what they mostly see. Other dogs’ butts. Am I right?