February 28th, 2007

The summer camp that hosts the Goldstock rescue gathering

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each year will hold its first-ever week-long getaway camp for dogs and their people. We’ve gone to Goldstock for years, and can testify that this beautiful 104-acre summer camp on the shore of a spring-fed lake is the ideal place for people and dogs to revel in the many camp activities, the great food, and the lake with its sandy beach.

To be held in June, and limited to no more than 150 campers and their dogs, it ought to be a memorable experience. They’re planning games, classes, flyball, and lots of just plain hanging out with your dogs on their beautiful campus. More information is available at the CampTakeAPaws website.

February 22nd, 2007

We carry hard-to-find dog food in our Austin store

…and we’re one of the few places in town where you can find Canidae

or frozen Bil-Jac

–and did I mention that dogs (and puppies) will do just about anything for frozen Bil-Jac?

Here’s more information on each:

Read the rest of this entry »

February 20th, 2007

Dogs in Cars

We got to talking with some friends about the strange love affair some dogs have with the automobile and decided to start collecting dogs-in-cars stories. If you’ve got one, please add it to the comments below.

Here are a few from friends to start the collection:

“Woodie loves to ride in the car, and if a stranger opens their door in her range, she hops in the back seat and refuses to budge. You have to ask the stranger to drive 20 feet, and then she will hop out - she got her ride. It’s the only non-compliant behavior she has.”
–OP, Rochester, NY

“Sometimes in New Orleans in the summer it just gets too hot and sticky to take the dogs for a walk, even though I know that they needed to get out of the house. So - and I hate to admit this - many nights I would just pile them all into the car and take them for a drive. I felt so lazy, but they seemed to love it as much as they did their walks.”
–NS, New Orleans, LA

“Bean (a Jack Russell Terrier) always viewed any car as an opportunity for a ride, which made us all nervous driving up to the barn. Bean would come running and he was so little that you couldn’t see exactly where he was - we all lived in fear of running over him. It got so that he trained us to stop, open the door, and let him ride up the driveway. He got his ride and we knew we weren’t in danger of killing him….”
–AS, Maryland

Got a dogs-in-cars story of your own? Tell us about it in the comments!

February 20th, 2007

$119,000 for Rescue - and counting

$119,000. That’s how much in direct funds Dogstuff / Source Menagerie has contributed or helped raise for rescue emergencies and ongoing canine rescue activities around the world.

And that doesn’t count support we’ve given rescue organizations holding their own local fundraisers.

You can affiliate your rescue with Dogstuff and earn commissions when people you refer buy Dogstuff merchandise. It costs the rescue nothing, but can mean significant money to assist in the rescue mission.

Click here to read about what Dogstuff already has done for rescue.

We want to do more!

Please contact dogblog@dogstuff.com to learn how to affiliate your favorite rescue. Legitimate rescues only, please.

February 17th, 2007

What’s the big deal about Duurstede?

Duurstede is the product of a semi-fanatical search by a sweetly obsessive Canadian exhibitor of a champion Gordon Setter to find the grooming products that would give his dogs the ultimate edge in the show ring. That breeder, Bill VanWyck, couldn’t find exactly what he wanted so he researched the issue of grooming himself, engaged a research and development firm in Milan, Italy, developed his own system of grooming products and began using them as a winning solution for his own show purposes with his champion “Harry” and his own line of Gordons. Thirteen years ago, Duurstede “went public” and now sells internationally to discerning exhibitors.

Bill has a most interesting and informative article describing what he learned about canine coat and skin care along the way and you can learn a lot from his Canine Coat and Skin 101.

There are two tracks to Duurstede - the show-grooming system designed as the ultimate coat preparation for those who are serious about showing their dogs competitively, and Duurstede Three in One, the shampoo, conditioner and revitalizer combined that Bill created, partly at our request, for those who wanted most of the goodness of the full system in one, easy-to-use application.

Duurstede Three-in-One

All the Duurstede products are easy to use - they’re even specifically designed to be low-sudsing so they rinse out quickly and cleanly when you’re living the hectic road life that goes with showing dogs.

The Three-In-One, though, is the Duurstede for the rest of us - those of us who bask in compliments from people who see our dogs’ shining coats but who don’t campaign our dogs week after week against other show dogs and their armies of handlers and their assistants.

There’s more about Duurstede on the Dogstuff Website, here.

February 16th, 2007

Nearly Indestructible

The “Huck” Ball

We’ve had these rubbery “Zogoflex” balls at home for more than a year now. Our gang of Goldens - which includes some notable toy destroyers - haven’t put a dent in these balls even with daily throwing and retrieving (and wrestling over who got the ball first).

The manufacturer will replace any ball your dog damages, but so far we haven’t heard of any customer making a claim. The grooved design makes the balls easy to hold and also makes for occasionally unpredictable bounces, which keeps it interesting for your dogs. The large size here is 3.25″ in diameter and feels quite heavy - it’s a mouthful for a Golden Retriever. They’re kind of dog-magnets, too…they’re the ball our Goldens reach for first when it’s time for them to exercise us.

There’s a smaller size as well, and also two sizes of tug and chew bones made of the same virtually indestructible material.

The “Hurley” Bone

February 15th, 2007

The Amazing Anxiety Wrap

(Our selection of Anxiety Wraps is here)

We’ve learned from our own experience and that of scores of customers how the Anxiety Wrap can bring blessed relief to even the most thunder-phobic dogs.

In our own experience, it has been nothing short of amazing in the way it calms dogs who were beside themselves with anxiety - drooling, whining, pacing, scratching - whenever a storm threatened.

The Anxiety Wrap creates light pressure on the skin to help calm an animal and reduce anxiety and stress. It has been used successfully in thunder storms and other stress and fear situations, including motion sickness, separation anxiety, aggression and to reduce resistance to nail trimming and ear cleaning.

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February 14th, 2007

Happy Valentine’s Day

Here’s a big kiss from Dogstuff!