Review: JW Pet Hol-ee Roller

This is one of our "outdoor only" toys. If Isabella had this in the house she would manage to drive us insane and I'm sure have this thing destroyed in a matter of moments.
As it stands though, we've had this toy for almost 2 years now and even with it's outside life, the rubber is holding up well. The color is pretty well faded, and it is starting to look a little worse for wear - but otherwise, we're pretty happy! (Obviously, she has the larger red one, but they are available in multiple sizes.)

With that said - she LOVES this toy. Loves. Adores. Can't get enough of it. She will run all around the back yard with this thing hanging out of her mouth. And it happens to be her favorite outside fetch toy, too. She likes to bring it up and toss it at your feet so you can hurl it across the yard.

I suspect by summer it will be time to buy a new one and retire this one, but it was well worth it.

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Product Rant: Nylabone DuraChew Plus (Bacon)

I know, I know.
I am generally an advocate of Nylabones. However, that doesn't mean they don't have products that I simply do not care for. I wanted to take a few moments to touch upon that, and let everyone know that I am not a fan of every single Nylabone and I definitely don't believe the company (or any company for that matter) can do no wrong.
For instance, my household is not one for Flexi-chews, or Healthy Edibles. (Healthy Edibles claim to be edible, but they remind me of Greenies. Which I also don't like. Big pieces break off, and that I don't like.)

On a whim, I bought this particular Nylabone from Petsmart's website. I was skeptical the moment it arrived.

This bone is hollow. Hollow. It's a DuraChew - and it's hollow?

I handed it to Isabella and sat down near her to watch (Oh I've learned my lesson.) In 10-15 minutes she had a hole worked in the corner. 

Isabella is pretty good with her "leave it" command, even when it's something she enjoys, so she spit the bone out for me and I took the whole mess away. Much to her confusion. (Oh come on, I replaced it with her regular type.)
When I went researching this particular bone, I saw some better pictures showing that even the little red pieces come out. They are separate from the bone itself and actually dislodge! What on EARTH? For one thing, I can't imagine why Nylabone wouldn't make this a solid toy! For another, pieces that chip off like that? From my reading, I've come to find that, unfortunately, my experience wasn't isolated. (It's also worth noting that Isabella's friend, Abby the Doberman, chewed open one of these as well.)
I was very unhappy with this Nylabone and it found it's way to the trash. I will never purchase another one.

Now, here are the DuraChew models I have found last the longest. They are hard, dense, and large pieces do not break off. Please do not confuse these with the Healthy Edibles or Flexi-chew models. - Even with Isabella being an aggressive chewer, and Angel playing from time to time, these hold up for a while.
Since I often have out about 5-7 Nylabones at any given time and keep some in stock, it's hard to tell you for certain just how long they last. At night when I put the toys away I check them then for signs of over-use and toss ones that are starting to get too rough looking for my comfort level. Then just replace with a new one the next day. Keeping a variety out probably helps them seemingly last longer, as there are just so many to choose from. Which doesn't stop all of them from being drug out in to the floor during the day......

My absolute favorite, and the type we purse the most, are the plain old DuraChews (the first one linked.) We have them in Original, chicken, and bacon. They're always a hit, and they have yet to disappoint me.
In all of the bones we buy SOUPER size. Big dogs, big bones.

The last one I linked is the ring, which is available in LARGE as a size. I bought one of these on sale inside an actual Petsmart and decided to give it a go. (On sale it was even cheaper than Amazon, which, while we're on the topic, usually has the cheapest bones.) I was a bit hesitant but I have to admit, the ring held up well. I even bought a couple more. They're actually not as big of a hit with Isabella, for whatever reason, but Angel loves these.

So there ya go. A few Nylabones I don't like, and a few I do.
Thanks for stopping by!

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Rainy days...

It's been rainy here. Well, it was rainy. Then it snowed several inches. Then the snowed melted. Then it rained. Then it snowed again. Snow melted. Now it's back to rain. (This is what happens when you live in a place where the outside temperature literally goes from 3*F on Monday to 62*F on Friday.)

It has turned our backyard in to a disaster. A yucky, gross, muddy disaster. Outdoor time is a lot more limited for the girls when it's like this. (At least they can play in the snow without it turning in to a bath.) Which means Isabella is getting bored. Really bored. She has taken to pestering me just about every moment of the day for something to do. When we find something, she's only interested in the activity for about as long as a hummingbird stays with one flower.

Inside fetch? "Find it" games? Puzzles? Work?
What do you do when your furry kids are bored and it's too nasty to play outside for long periods?

Anybody?

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Dog Puzzles?

Isabella is a smart dog. Really smart. Leading me to the decision that I would devote additional time to her. (Duke was smart in his own way, over time I taught him to put away his toys and to leave whatever one he was carrying by the back door when he went out. He always had a toy.) 
With Isabella, I wanted to go beyond the usual things we (hopefully) teach our dogs. At nine weeks old, she was playing fetch and sitting on command. Teaching her things proved to be an easy task. So we moved on from sit, to shake, then lay down. Also, just for fun, I started incorporating hand signals for those commands. To my surprise, she picked them up. Which proved to be a wonderful investment when I lost my voice at her 3 month mark. 

When I started looking for more things to teach her, I came across dog puzzles and I was instantly curious. I checked out different models and watched videos of dogs played with them. I decided to buy a cheap, easier puzzle and see how she did with a different kind of challenge.
I picked up this one, from Amazon for around $15, but as you can see it's been marked down even further.

Here we have Isabella getting to know her new puzzle. I used aromatic treats at first, to encourage her. We just use cheerios now that she has the procedure down.

Although it works wonderfully as a starter puzzle, particularly for the price, she had it totally figured out within 20 minutes. It was not what I would consider super challenging.
She seemed to have issues with the cups located in the "palm" section of the paw. Their shape, texture, and placement made it difficult for her to get anywhere with them. It seemed ridiculously difficult to "slide" them up (I tried with 1 finger, I can only imagine a wet nose.) and she was unable to get her teeth around them due to the aforementioned placement of the cups. (Also, my particular one came missing some of the "no slip" things on the bottom, so the toy did in fact slide around!)

Our primary complaint with this puzzle are those little yellow cups. They are flimsy and could be easily cracked into pieces with very minimal effort for a decent sized dog. DEFINITELY do not leave your dog alone with the toy. (This should go without saying..but...)

Would I recommend the toy? Maybe. It's ideal for medium sized dogs that aren't too smart for their own good. If your dog can unscrew things, open doors, drawers, etc..then you may want to go for a more challenging toy. Isabella can do many of those things so it's likely our next puzzle purchase will be a more difficult one, preferably in wood. In any case, here are a couple more photos.

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