After a lot of consideration, I've decided to combine all the blogs I write into one...to save myself and others a bit of sanity. You can now find us at www.NoOrdinaryHomestead.com.
Thanks for all your support and come visit us soon! We're looking forward to sharing more adventures with you!
Ever wanted to build a custom bed for your dog? Or maybe you don't like the way most harnesses fit your dog and want a custom one? Or perhaps you need a Newfie-sized raincoat for your pooch? Well, look no further than www.make-and-build-dog-stuff.com.
This site was shared while people were talking about building a treadmill for their Newfies, something that is hard to find, very expensive and unfortunately not easily customizable from an old treadmill for humans. For those with very hot and humid climates, taking your dog out can be very dangerous - but a treadmill will still keep them active (assuming you can get them to use it - I would suggest dangling something tasty on a string lol).
The site also includes instructions to build agility courses (under Exercise Equipment), houses, kennels, wheelchairs, carts, toys, treats, costumes and more. So if you're looking for a place to find instructions on building just about anything dog related, check this site out.
We got an email this morning from FunStuffForDogs.com about a pretty snazzy new leash called the BZ Retractable Leash.
As you can see, it's got quite a few bells and whistles, including a built-in flashlight, extra safety collar with reflective tape, a doggie waste bag dispenser and more. Quite nice I'd say.
BUT it only is suitable for dogs up to 70 lbs. What about all us other big, beautiful pups who are larger than that? We can't be walked in style??
And speaking of retractable leashes...where has mine gone, humans? I remember starting to chew through it and then it went into the infirmary for surgery - don't think the poor guy ever made it out. Maybe he's still in ICU...
On the same day that Ayla showed us that she is an environmental doggie, she also got to meet a fun little puppy. Usually Ayla was the one terrorizing older dogs when she was little...this little guy was acting just like her, thinking he was the big dog on the block. It was quite amusing to see her put him in his place which used to happen to her all the time. It was also really something to see how everyone at the party that had been doing their own things suddenly was interested in nothing other than the two dogs!
Needless to say, they were very worn out after all the excitement...especially Ayla after her long swim in the morning!
Meet Bonnie. She's 4 months old. Three-quarters Bernese Mountain Dog & one-quarter German Shepherd. Totally cute, right?
One of the funniest things she did was when Ayla started to get tired. Ayla was just watching her a bit and Bonnie took a few steps back, started running full speed ahead towards Ayla and threw herself into the side of Ayla. Ayla, of course, just looked at her like, "Is that all you've got??" Bonnie bounced off and somersaulted across the grass. Just adorable.
But as they always say, "A tired puppy is a good puppy." And after their playing session, they were both definitely tired. Oh, and you can actually glimpse Barney up there hiding in the flower bed. He didn't want anything to do with either of these whipper snappers!
A couple weekends ago, we took Ayla with us down to Munich where a couple friends of our were celebrating moving into their new place. It just so happens that in their back yard is a stream which we decided Ayla just had to play in. She is a water dog, you know. ;-)
While Ayla was in there playing and splashing, we noticed a couple plastic bottles floating down the stream. So we told Ayla to grab them and started a collection pile. Incredibly enough, she collected these 3 and the shoe within about 10 minutes...they just kept coming.
Thankfully after all that, she was pretty worn out, and managed to get most of us at least a little wet. But it was a hot day already so at least it was pretty refreshing. I wouldn't have wanted to swim in there myself but I don't wear a fur coat in the summer either...
We did manage to get a couple videos of Ayla with all the bottle collection fun. Sorry for me almost screaming at you but the dog was pretty far away.
You might notice that she's actually swimming harder in the second video because this stream flows into a power plant down the way. During the day they raise and lower the water level as needed so within a few minutes there was a foot more water in there than we started with, which made it quite a bit harder for Ayla to get in and out...but she still seemed to have lots of fun!
