Jacob & Bruno's blog

The Bowl Truth - Purina

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 19:26:00 +0000

#AD - This is a paid partnership with Purina

Purina recently invited us to an exciting event in London to give an interesting insight into what goes on behind the the scenes and also dispel some myths that might be out there at the moment about dogs' diets. You've probably seen Purina before if you own a pet as they have a range of pet foods available and have over 125 years of experience in creating pet food.

Behind the Scenes

When you buy your dog’s food, it is often bought online or in the pet store. You never really get to see what happens in the factories, before the packet of food is put on the shelf. As part of the Purina event, we had a lady named Gemma demonstrate to us how some of the food is made. Gemma is part of the Purina Consumer Care team and has a lot a knowledge on the production process. She explained their emphasis on using quality ingredients such as protein, grains, minerals, vitamins
and vegetables to name a few. They also spoke to us about the 1400 quality checks that take place before it reaches pets bowls. These quality control checks are set with the help of 500 nutritionists, veterinarians, behaviourists and food scientists that Purina employ! We thought it was nice that every new employee at Purina gets the chance to spend some time in one of their factories getting a hands-on experience of how their food is made. We're sure the boys would like to spend some time in the factory, maybe as their chief taste testers - get writing your CV's boys!

There's Something for Every Dog

Sometimes it is hard to know what is best for your dog. One type of food might be good for one dog but may not work as well for another. It was interesting to learn more about some of the benefits of certain ingredients and what consists of a balanced diet. Purina vet, Libby, spoke to us and explained that the grains that are used in Purina's food are good sources of fibre, proteins and B- vitamins and when grains are properly prepared, provide lasting energy - don't forget to allow your dog to burn off this energy with plenty of exercise. It is important for dogs to eat a balanced diet and Libby also explained that dog a high protein diet doesn’t always mean better nutrition for your dog. Protein level is definitely one of the key things to look out for when choosing a pet food, but most important is making sure that the level of protein meets the specific needs of your dog. When proteins are consumed in excess, the body doesn’t have the capacity to store them so the excess protein will not be used to create more muscle mass and will probably end up in urine or faeces, it needs to be balanced with calcium. We also learnt that high protein is not recommended for older dogs as it contains a lot of potassium. This is all information that the general public would not know, so therefore Purina provide a range of different food for dogs which takes into consideration their age, breed and other factors.

Check up time!

With all this talk about food, we are sure the boys were feeling hungry and wanting some treats, but
it is important to keep your dog healthy, with a balanced diet. Treats are a great way to reward your
dog but must be kept within moderation. A tip we learnt at the Purina event was treats shouldn’t
represent more than 15% of your dog’s daily food intake (always check feeding guidelines on packaging). Apart from when you take your dog to the vets, people don't often take their dogs for a health check-up, which is a perfect way to see if your dog is in tip top condition. Purina had a vet check station with Purina vet, Ellie on hand to share some tips for us to look after our pooches. Jacob and

Bruno both had a check-up with Ellie (who was delighted as she also owns a miniature Dachshund).
She checked over their teeth, gums, heart rate and body condition score. Fortunately, the boys had a
clean bill of health, but Ellie still shared with us ways to keep them in this condition. A common
problem for a lot of dogs in gum disease. The main way to prevent this is to brush your dog’s teeth
every day. Did you know that as little as 1% of dog owners manage to brush their dog’s teeth! We do
brush Jacob and Bruno's teeth, but do need to get better at doing it daily.

At the end of the day...

It can be difficult to really know what is best to feed your dog and without the help of professionals, you can be left wondering if you are making the right decision. Being at the Purina event did give us more of an insight into what goes on behind the scenes, what some of the ingredients they use are good for and how to keep our boys healthy. We would always recommend speaking to a professional/nutritionist if you are unsure on what is best for your dog.

Thank you Purina for inviting us along, we learnt a lot! Oh, thank you also for the delicious cup cakes that we were able to enjoy.

Thanks all for reading.

Oli, Jay, Jacob and Bruno

Disclosure: We were invited to the Purina event as part of a paid partnership with them. We're sharing
what we learned from the event as part of that partnership, however of course you know your dog best and should research their health and nutrition appropriately.

Want to Know What Your Dog Get's Up to When You're Out?

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 12:51:00 +0000

This blog is supported by Furbo.

Have you ever wondered what your dog gets up to when you're not at home? We know we certainly did! We always would guess what the boys were up to, probably sleeping, but actually never knew. Now we are able to see exactly what they get up to, thanks to the Furbo Dog Camera.

What is Furbo?

The Furbo Dog Camera, we think, is one of the best pet monitoring cameras on the market! The camera has so many different functions that allow you to not only watch your dog when you're away, but to also interact with them via a two way microphone and also feed them treats with the built in treat launcher (their favourite part!).

The cameras design is fresh and modern, which means it will fit in well in any home! The camera is also a wide angle lens 1080p HD camera, meaning it can capture most of the room and in high definition too.

Is it Easy to Use and Set Up?

The simple answer to that question is, YES! Sometimes in this day and age, technology is so advanced that it can get a little confusing and long winded to set up. This isn't the case with the Furbo. All you need to do is take it out of the box, fill it with treats (very important for the dogs), plug it in and download the app.

Once you've downloaded the app, you simply connect to the camera via Bluetooth on your mobile and off you go! It really is that simple.

How do you use the Features?

As we mentioned above, the Furbo Camera has loads of fantastic features.

Talk to your Dog -

You are able to talk to your pooch when you're away. All you do is simply press the microphone icon and you can speak directly to your dog through a built in speaker on the camera. You can also hear what is going on too as the Furbo has a microphone built in.

Toss them a treat! -

We can safely say we think that this feature will be every dogs favourite! The camera has it's own build in treat tosser that will launch treats out at the press of a button. So you can reward your dog for being a good pup when on their own. You can even record your own message which will play when the treats are tossed.

Watch them day or night:

It's great to be able to watch your dog whilst you are out, but sometimes when you're about to go to sleep for the night and your dogs in the other room, you sometimes just want to check up on them. As the Furbo also has night vision, you can see what your pooch is up to at night too! Hopefully they're fast asleep and not causing mischief.

Notifications:

The camera can also notify you when there's a sound made at home. The camera notifies you via the app which displays a notification mentioning that your dog may be barking. So you know to check in and see if everything is ok.

Take photos/videos:

Moments are always better if you can catch them on camera. The furbo app allows you to take a photo or video of your pooch. This function is better when you catch your dog in the act! Check out Bruno trying to get more treats -

What Are You Waiting For?

If you are anything like us and really wanted to know what your dogs got up to when you are out, then why not head over to Furbo and check them out. They are currently selling the camera for £199 on their website or Amazon (prices correct on 20/09/18).

The boys absolutely love it when we are able to interact with them when we are gone, especially when we feed them treats. We think the Furbo camera would make a great addition to anyones home if they have a dog!

Make sure you check out our Furbo Camera video on social media: Instagram or Facebook

Thanks for reading

Oli, Jay, Jacob & Bruno

Is Surgery Always The Best Option?

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Mon, 28 May 2018 19:51:00 +0000

A few months ago, you may have seen on Instagram that Jacob was going to go in for an operation on his back leg as he was limping after walks. We took Jacob to a specialist in Alton and it was decided that Jacob would benefit more from having hydrotherapy, instead of surgery. Hydrotherapy was something we had only heard of once or twice, so didn’t really know what to expect. We wanted to share how Jacob got on with hydrotherapy, as we have seen a massive difference in Jacob!

What is Greyfriars?

The specialist referred us to Greyfriars Rehabilitation and Hydrotherapy centre which is located on the Hogs Back between Guildford & Farnham. The centre actually does a lot more than just hydrotherapy. They also offer physiotherapy, inpatient care and pain management & acupuncture.

When We Arrived

When it came to the hydrotherapy, we have to say, we were all quite excited about exactly what a dog water treadmill looked like and how it worked. The first time we walked into the pool area, there were already a couple of dogs swimming, which of course, Jacob had to bark at a few times to let them know he had arrived! We walked round to the treadmill area and were met by a massive glass tank! Jacob looked tiny next to it. Before Jacob was allowed to go in, he needed to be fitted with a life jacket, which he looked adorable in!

How Hydrotherapy Works?

Two members of staff helped with the treadmill at all times to help support Jacob in the water. One would stay in the tank and help guide his back legs as he walked and the other supported his life jacket. We were told to bring with us something that would motivate Jacob to walk on the treadmill. Normally this would be a toy or food. Obviously, we chose to bring food. We stood at the front of the tank and held the treat in our hand just in front of him to make him walk. They started Jacob on 30 seconds at a time and did this 5 times. We were so proud of him as he took to it like a duck to water. The food certainly helped with that! Jacob had a block of 10 sessions, mostly having 2 sessions a week. As time went on, the duration also increased to 45 seconds and then a minute at a time.

Hydrotherapy can be used for a number of other things such as:

Decreasing pain

Increase sensory perception

Increase joint range movement

Reduce swelling

Slowing progression of degenerative diseases

Improve quality of life

A lot of dachshund also have hydrotherapy who have IVDD or after surgery from the disease. At the time we were there, a little sausage dog called Django was an in-patient and having treatment. Thanks to the hard work of Greyfriars, he’s been making a steady recovery!

Thank You!

All of the staff members who dealt with Jacob were super friendly and really made us feel at home. They all were very knowledgeable and we felt really confident in their ability to be able to help Jacob. We felt that they got to know us and also took a genuine interest in Jacob and each time we visited, they would be excited to see him.

We are now a good few months on from when Jacob started his sessions and have now finished them. We have seen a real improvement in Jacob and his hind leg. He never limps on it now and also walks with a lot more strength and confidence, still wiggling his bum around!

We would definitely say that the hydrotherapy was worth it and we couldn’t have been happier with the whole of the Greyfriars team. Thank you Kate, Kirsty, Alexa, Rebecca, Vanessa & Tanya.

You can check out more about Greyfriars and the advantages of hydrotherapy here.

Thanks for reading

Oli, Jay, Jacob & Bruno

The Dachshund Cafe

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Wed, 04 Apr 2018 06:48:00 +0000

The weekend before last we were fortunate enough to be able to attend the much anticipated Dachshund Café! We had such an amazing time and wanted to share our experience with you.

What is the Dachshund Café?

The Dachshund Café is a newly formed pop up dachshund only event which was brilliantly organised by Anushka and her team. They are the founders of the very popular Pug Cafes which run up and down all of the UK. The event ran from 8am to 6:40pm with slots every 70 minutes and 15 - 20 dogs
in each time slot. The cafes give owners and dogs a chance to socialise with others and also there are a few slots for people who don't have dachshunds meaning they get a chance to speak to owners to see what its like to own a sausage dog! Obviously, everyone says they're a dream to have, right?

Where was the Dachshund Café ?

This time around, the Dachshund Café was held at Esquires Coffee shop, in Guildford. It was a perfectly sized venue, which had plenty of room for everyone to socialise, sit and eat yummy cake! Just like the pop up pug cafes, it looks like the plan for the Dachshund Cafe's is to hold them all over the country, as the next one is going to be in Nottingham.

How Can You Get Tickets?

The Dachshund Café was so popular that it became fully booked very quickly! As there was a lot of media coverage for the event, there were a lot of people who wanted tickets (understandably as the event looked super fun). The process of securing your spot was actually really exciting!

A secret email was released a few weeks before the event at 9am and we had been told that the event was likely to become fully booked very quickly, so prepare your email beforehand! That's exactly what we did. On the day of release, we were up bright and early and ready to send the email! The time ticked away towards 9am and at 8:58 it was a constant refresh of the Facebook page until at 9am, the email was revealed. Normally I'm pretty rubbish at remembering things, but I took one glance at the email and was able to quickly type it into the 'to' box and send the email. Phew, that was done, but it seemed like a lot of people had also sent the email dead on 9am too. At the same time, there was also a separate email address released for those who just wanted to come along who don't own a dog.

A few hours passed and we were delighted to receive an email from the organisers saying we were successful for our preferred slot of 3:20pm. We paid our money (which was only £10 for 2 people) and was sent our invite, with a cute picture of the boys on it. We were also quite impressed to see that we were the second person to send the email at 9am!

The Day of the Dachshund Café

The day arrived and we were all very excited. We had also co organised a dachshund dog walk before our slot at 3:20pm as quite a few of our friends were fortunate enough to get the same slot as us! The dog walk was held at the Chantries Woods, which in hindsight maybe wasn't the best place to walk as, although beautiful scenery, it takes a lot of stamina to get to the top of the hills! Sorry everyone...

After the walk we all made it towards the coffee shop. The coffee shop was located at the top of the high street in Guildford, so plenty of places to park nearby. We approached the café and saw many eager dachshund owners outside, waiting for their turn to enter the Dachshund Café. It got to 3:20pm and the doors opened. The previous group (2:10pm) all came out with beaming smiles and the boys said hello to the sausages that walked out. One of the organisers explained how it would work and then asked us to show our tickets.

We walked in and were instantly felt at ease.

The café had been decorated with all of the pictures of the dogs who were attending throughout the day. There were dog water bowls dotted around the café and plenty of dog friendly cakes and biscuits for sale for any of the hungry pooches. We took a seat and let Jacob & Bruno off of their leads. It was a fantastic way for the boys to socialise and make new friends in a safe environment. After the slightly tiring walk, we were both pretty hungry so went to get some cake and a drink to re fuel us. Jacob & Bruno didn't miss out either as they were given a puppachino and LOVED it! There were plenty of picture opportunities and, Anushka (event organiser), came round and introduced herself. There was also a photographer there snapping away. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we even made new friends!

Would We Go Again?

Absolutely! The event was really well organised. Even though there were about 15 dachshunds in one room, the setting was a calm environment, so the dogs were really happy. The staff at the café were super friendly and the boys (especially Jacob) loved all of the fuss and treats they got. It was a perfect way to meet new people and all at the same time, you could enjoy some really yummy food and drinks! The carrot cake was delightful!

Thanks for reading about our trip to the Dachshund Café. They have their own Facebook page (Dachshund Café) where you can keep up to date with new locations that the event will be held in. We hope to see some of you at the next Dachshund Café!

Oli, Jay, Jacob & Bruno

Jacob & Bruno at Crufts?!

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 17:03:00 +0000

It really doesn't feel like a week ago that we attended the greatest dog show on earth, Crufts. We were really excited to have been invited by some of Cruft's main sponsors; Eukanuba, Iams UK & Furminator. We had never been to Crufts before, but had always watched it on the tele, hoping one day that we would be able to go!

One thing that really made our visit to Crufts, was that we were able to take Jacob & Bruno. You aren't allowed to take your dog to Crufts, unless they have been invited by the Kennel Club, or you are showing them. It certainly was a privilege being asked!

Off We Went

We attended on the Friday, which was perfect as Friday was the Terrier and Hounds groups, meaning there were going to be hundreds of Dachshunds of all different colours, fur types and sizes. We had a 2 hour + journey to get to the NEC that is in Birmingham. This meant quite an early start, but we were all excited to go. When we arrived, because we had the dogs, we were able to park in one of the closest car parks. Phew, that certainly saved us having to walk!

Wow! It's Big In Here

We walked in the dog handler entrance, straight into hall 1. WOW! The place was massive, there were hundreds of stalls full of doggy products, and this was only hall 1 out of 5! We can certainly see why people go for more than one day. We made our way round the first hall, getting stopped by every other person to say hello to Jacob & Bruno, which they loved might we add! We managed to stop off at some exciting stalls to meet new people such as the guys at Vetschoice where we got the boys some toothpaste and mouthwash... much needed. We also stopped off to see the guys at Animology to introduce ourselves and were made very welcome!

Furminator UK

We were fortunate enough to

join in with some events throughout the day. Firstly, we were invited by Furminator to meet with the amazing Stuart, who gave us brilliant tips on how to groom Jacob & Bruno. We had bathed Jacob & Bruno the night before and they had a bit of dandruff in some places. It was interesting to hear that natural products would mainly help with that and also the quantity of shampoo you use will also affect it. We were also told that towel drying can also cause a bit of dandruff too. We were given a big bag full of goodies and in there was the FURminator FURflex brush that helps get rid of loose fur.

Eukanuba & A Dog's Tale

Eukanuba had set up a seating area within their stand for the 'stars of Instagram' where they had lunch for us and also lots of treats for the pups! We were able to meet up with other Instagram dogs, like Dobby.dash, Alfie Bear, Jasper the Sprocker & Adorable Cockers. Eukanuba had also put on a show for us including a live orchestra which they played 'A Dogs Tale' which is proven to calm and relax dogs! It worked for us. You can listen to it with your dog at www.soundcloud.com/eukanubaUK and see if it relaxes your dog.

Show Time!

After these two events, we continued around the show, stopping at more stalls, including Woof & Brew who we had recently won a competition with. We also stopped by Ivy & Duke who make wonderful hand made dog beds. We stocked up on some doggy drinks. Crufts celebrates all things dogs, so it was a really pleasant experience being able to 'discover dogs' where you could see all of the different KC recognised breeds. Of course, we made our way to the dachshund section first to see all of the long haired, short haired, miniature and standard daxies! We also watched a couple of the dachshund showing events, which was very exciting.

IAMS & The Flyball Masterclass

In the evening, we had been kindly invited by Iams UK to experience a Flyball masterclass which is a famous doggy sport which takes place at Crufts. We were able to see how the dogs played the sport and even got to run with them ourselves. Obviosuly, Jacob & Bruno weren't able to take part as they wouldn't have been able to jump over the hurdles... After the master class we went back to a private room where we had nibbles and a chance to chat to other doggy pawrents who had also been invited. The dogs were also kept in food and water too!

We did try to enter the main arena to watch one of the agility events, but we weren't allowed to take the boys in there. We would definitely like to watch one of these events next time!

Watch the flyball masterclass below:

Time to Go

Our day at Crufts was a brilliant one and we all had such a great time. We were very grateful for the invitation from Crufts to come and work with some of the sponsors. We would urge any dog owner or lover to definitely go next year. There was so much to do and if we had the chance, we would have gone for more than one day. Thank you Crufts for an amazing time!

Let us know if you went this year and how you got on or if you plan to go next year!

Thank for reading,

Oli, Jay, Jacob & Bruno

Turning Heads with Animology

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Thu, 08 Mar 2018 15:59:00 +0000

We recently teamed up with the brilliant guys over at Animology to try and test their new harnesses and leads!

Animology are usually best know for their fantastic and creative shampoos. We certainly have used those in the past and with those being such great products, we knew the harnesses and leads would have just as much care and attention put into them.

We have mostly always used harnesses with Jacob & Bruno as we feel they support the boys well when out and about. When the delivery came, we were pleasantly surprised seeing a green and blue set. We've always said that these colours were Jacob & Bruno's favourites. It was as if they knew that already! The colours were the first things that stood out to us. They were bright, but not tacky and were nice shades of each colour. Animology have launched four colour sets; Blue, Green, Pink and Red, meaning there's a choice for everyone!

One thing that we always look for when buying new harnesses and leads for the boys is the quality. This is one thing these harnesses and leads show! From the buckles, clips, lead attachments and even the handles (they are so soft and lovely to hold) they are all good materials that have been used. Having a good quality harness is especially important. You hear too many times of dogs wiggling out of harnesses and running into roads. Something no dog owner wants to happen to their pooch. With this in mind, these harnesses fit the boys really well and were easy to adjust. As the harnesses don't go over their heads the dogs were easily able to step in and we could clip them in at the back (between their shoulders) giving the boys a great support and always were comfortable for them when walking. The leads clip on at the back too, meaning you have good control over your dog.

With good quality products, you usually expect to pay over the odds for them. However, Animolgy's new range is reasonably priced (ranging from £7.99 - £17.99). They also do collars which match the leads too! This means it's totally affordable for your pooch to look their best out on their adventures. Their harnesses and collars all come in different sizes to fit all dogs. They also have two different lead thicknesses, offering everyone a choice.

Overall we were really impressed with their new range of harnesses and leads and would definitely recommend them! If you want to check out their new range, head over to www.animology.co.uk

Keep your eyes peeled for an exciting competition we will be running on our social media for your chance to win your own harness and lead set from Animology.

Let us know how you get on with their new range

Thank you for reading,

Oli, Jay, Jacob & Bruno

A Visit To Make Your Dogs Mouth Water

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 14:11:00 +0000

On the way back from our recent holiday with the boys , we were lucky enough to visit Guru HQ and our favourite Geeksters! As we mentioned in our previous blog, on the way home from our recent holiday, we thought we would stop in to visit Guru. We had wanted to go and see them for a long time and thought this would be the perfect time.

When We Arrived

We arrived at Guru HQ full of excitement and when we pulled up outside, the boys instantly shot up out of their bed. They must have known they were in for a treat! We opened the car door, stretched our legs and the boys both sniffed the air. They most probably could smell their food, exciting them even more. Before we even were able to ring the buzzer, the door had already opened and the lovely Lisa (Co owner) and Sam greeted us with beaming smiles. Tails wagging, the boys both got lots of fuss (and us too!) and we headed upstairs. It was really cool to see where the magic happens. We also got to meet Steph, who had recently joined the Guru team. We chatted for a while, whilst Jacob & Bruno made themselves at home. They sniffed every nook and cranny in the office, had their noses in every box they could and even made sure the delivery man knew they were there by giving him a bark (or two!).

The Tour

Lisa offered us a tour and before we could accept, the boys were already by the stairs waiting for us! We made our way down to the 'Packing Room' where all of the yummy food and treats were stored before heading out to all of the Geeksters!

Oh my Guru! we had never seen so many bags of dog food and the boys were in their element. They ran over to their favourite food, the Full on Feast. We know that this is their favourite as they always get so excited at dinner time and when we first fed them the food, they licked and licked and licked their bowls clean, more than they ever used to! Jacob & Bruno have been eating their scrumptious Full on Feast Cold Pressed Dog Food since early last year. As the food is cold pressed, it locks in all of the goodness, which we can see has really benefited the boys as we get a lot of compliments on how healthy they look, especially on how shiny their coats are! We also find the online feeding guide really useful, meaning the boys weight has stayed consistent, which with any dog, can be tricky!

We had a mini photo shoot in front of the bags of food, which is a Geekster tradition. Every time a Geekster visits Guru HQ, they take a photo amongst their favourite food!

Earning Their Treats

After we had finished taking a few photos, it was time for Jacob & Bruno to earn their treats! Guru launched their wonderfully yummy Venison Sausage treats last year and the boys absolutely adore them. The boys were given two whole boxes full to help sort out, which they sniffed and sniffed and couldn't wait any longer to have a few! The treats come in a really handy re-sealable packet, which seals in the goodness. There's nothing to hide with these treats! The venison meat is sustainably sourced in the UK and contain NO:

Gluten
Grain
Dairy
Soya

Beef

They're also Hypoallergenic! Perfect for Jacob & Bruno.

They finished 'sorting' the boxes and were on to the next adventure!

A Bone For The Trip Home

It didn't take Jacob or Bruno long to sniff out another one of their favourite treats, the famous Guru trip bone. We still had a good few hours until we would be home, so the Guru trip bones come in very handy. They have two sizes of these bones, the 'road trip' for the larger dogs and the 'field trip' for the smaller dogs like Jacob & Bruno. They're perfect for long journeys, days out and adventures as they act like a meal on the go. The boys certainly enjoy them!

Homeward Bound

Before we knew it, it was time to head home. What fun we had all had! It was absolutely wonderful to see Lisa and Sam again. We already knew how passionate they are about Guru and going to the heart of it all was lovely. It makes us equally as passionate about the food as they do such a brilliant job. Jacob & Bruno were spoilt rotten and didn't want to leave and to tell the truth, we could have stayed there for longer too!

Before we headed off, Andrew (the other co owner & Lisa's husband) turned up! We had met Andrew at DogFest and it was great to catch up with him too!

We are really grateful for the special relationship we have with these guys. We really do urge you to check them out, their food has done wonders for the boys and it's great to support such a wonderful company!

You can check them out here: www.gurupetfood.com or on social media @gurupetfood

Thanks for reading

Oli, Jay, Jacob & Bruno

#Spreadthelove

Our First Holiday

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Sat, 03 Feb 2018 19:34:00 +0000

When it’s winter, most people think about taking a holiday away to somewhere sunny. There’s nothing nicer than sitting on a beach somewhere, sun beaming and feeling warm! Most of the time, this is us, but Jay’s birthday happens to fall within January and this year, we wanted to celebrate it as a family!

We couldn’t go abroad anywhere as we had the dogs, so we thought about somewhere in the UK. We had always liked the idea of finding a secluded cottage in the middle of nowhere where we could relax, unwind and keep warm by an open fire, quite the opposite to a warm beach holiday.
We started our search on Google and quickly stumbled upon lots of different cottages in different locations. We ideally wanted somewhere in or near Scotland as that part of the country is rather beautiful and perfect for scenic walks to take the pooches. After a couple of no goers, we came across a beautiful gate house cottage which was in Northumberland. We had a few must haves for the cottage: Dogs allowed  (we were surprised how many places accepted dogs), beautiful location , great walks , lovely interior  and most importantly, an open fire . We knew this cottage would be perfect for us, so we booked it. We used the app ‘HomeAway’ to book and it couldn’t have been easier!

Travelling There

The day came and it was an early start for us and the boys. Up at 5am and a 6 ½ hour drive ahead of us didn’t hinder our spirits.

The boys had their bed and blankets waiting for them in the car and no longer than 10 minutes into the journey Jacob was fast asleep, typical! Bruno stayed awake a lot of the time looking out of the window, making sure he didn’t miss out on any of the action, typical! The boys have always been very good in the car always making the journey stress free. We stopped off once at some services after about 4 hours to refuel our bellies and let the dogs stretch their legs. We were very fortunate with the traffic as we didn’t hit any at all!

We took the last turning off of the motorway and instantly found ourselves in beautiful countryside and could tell we were getting closer! Main roads turned into rural roads and before we knew it we had arrived.

The Arrival

A beautiful, full of character cottage stood before us. We couldn’t wait to get inside and neither could the boys, they were up by now and ears pricked, ready for an adventure! It was pretty cold up in that part of the country, but whilst it was cold,

the sun was shining so made it an even better view across the never ending fields. We got the key and opened the door. The boys ran straight in and were on high alert, sniffing every room, rug, chair, table, door... you name it, they sniffed it. We settled in nicely.

Even though there was so much to do, you could easily just sit indoors, relax, read a book, listen to music etc... The day we arrived, after we had settled in, we decided to go for a walk down the road. What we didn’t know was that just a 10 minute walk would take us to the most wonderful suspension bridge, connecting England to Scotland. The bridge was super old and you could only have one vehicle cross at a time, no heavier than 2 tonnes. Down below the cold river water rushed under the bridge. Even the boys were a little sceptical about crossing, but soon plucked up the courage and zoomed off ahead.

It was pretty chilly down on the bridge, so after a few photos, we made it back up the hill and back to the cottage. We wanted to warm up, so what better excuse than to get the fire going to warm our hands, toes and paws.

Snow Day!

The second day we decided to do absolutely nothing. After all, that is what we came away to do (which is pretty hard for us as we always like to keep busy). That day, it started to snow! It was only a short flurry of the white stuff, which did settle slightly in places, but was gone by the afternoon. That evening we played billiards in the main house. We perched the dogs on one of the settees in there and they especially enjoyed watching the balls go from one end of the table to the other.

The third day was Jay’s birthday and we woke up to a white blanket of snow which had fallen overnight. We had planned to head out to Edinburgh that day, but delayed going there for an hour so we could all play out in the snow. The boys weren’t overly keen at first as they hadn’t seen snow before, after a bit of encouragement they were soon burrowing in it and chasing the snow balls, well Bruno did anyway...

We headed off to Edinburgh, which was about an hour away. We had already looked online for a dog friendly restaurant to eat in. We had a birthday lunch, which the dogs enjoyed as they got to sit on a comfy chair next to a roaring fire whilst everyone in the restaurant fussed over them. Afterwards, we headed out on the streets of Edinburgh and took some photos. It is a beautiful city with stunning architecture and lots of things to do!

Home Time...

Before we knew it, it was time to go home. We needed to be out of the cottage by 10am so we planned a morning in Berwick-upon-Tweed and visited the Royal Border Bridge. On the way back, we had already planned to go and visit the wonderful guys at Guru Pet Food! This meant we went a longer route home via their HQ but wow was it worth it! It meant we went on some of the back roads taking us through massive hills where the snow had fallen a lot thicker. It was truly amazing, zigzagging over the English/Scottish border it felt as though we were in a ski resort in Switzerland! We will write about our visit to Guru HQ in our next blog, so keep your eyes peeled!
Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our mini break away and it was great that we could take the dogs! Totally worth the drive and although we went mainly to relax, there were still plenty of things to do!

Thanks for reading

Oli, Jay, Jacob & Bruno

The Easy Way To Cut Your Dogs Nails

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 14:42:00 +0000

A few blog posts ago we wrote about how we cut Jacob & Bruno’s nails with a standard nail clipper. Like many dogs (especially dachshunds) it can be quite a traumatic experience and hard work for us owners! Luckily, the boys did allow us to cut their nails with the clippers, but it did take some time. A few months ago, we decided to try a different alternative, a nail grinder.

We were a little sceptical about purchasing a nail grinder as we knew nothing about them. We had only seen them online, this was about all we knew.

After searching for one online, we came across the WAHL Pet Nail Grinder. For only £30 we thought it was definitely worth a shot.

Naturally, we had some concerns as we thought that the nail grinder would be loud and could potentially spook the boys more. When we unpacked the grinder out of the box, we plugged it in and turned it on. Honestly, we did think it was a little loud and the boys both did look as if to say “what the hell is that” but we made sure we only made the noise a positive thing.

We got the boys used to the nail grinder by picking them up onto the sofa, turning it on and letting them sniff it and get used to us moving it around them. This was accompanied by lots of praise and also lots of treats! Very quickly, the boys got acclimatised to it and the noise didn’t bother them at all.

Next step was starting the grind their nails. The grinder comes with different attachments which all have different intensities for grinding. We started with the least intense attachment. Bruno has always been more worried about getting his nails clipped, but we thought we would try it with him first to see his reaction. We laid him on his back and made sure he was supported and then started with the grinding. Whilst giving him lots of praise, we gently pressed the nail grinder against his nail. Apart from him jolting a little on the first attempt (he wasn’t expecting it) we had to say we were extremely impressed on how he reacted. In one sitting, we were able to grind all of his nails on his front paws.

We couldn’t believe it! A process that normally would take up to half an hour, took only about 5 minutes to do.

The process did take slightly longer with Jacob (which was surprising as he usually is fine with the clippers) but 10 minutes in to grinding, he too laid there on his back and was happy to have it done.

We now use the nail grinder weekly and the boys are absolutely fine. They are much more relaxed and it is also easier for us to use as it is easier to tell when you are close to the quick. Unlike clippers, you have one shot, with the grinder, it grinds the nail down gradually and you can see when the dogs start to feel it more, so we stop.

All in all, we were really impressed with the grinder and would recommend it to anyone to try if they have problems clipping their dogs nails currently. We did upload a video to the dogs Instagram account of Bruno having his nails grinded, if you want to see it in action!

Thanks for reading

Oli & Jay

Is Your Pooch Getting Enough Exercise?

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 20:50:00 +0000

So one thing that we both really like doing, is getting out and about and exercising (yes, you did just read that coming from a dachshund). We were delighted when the guys over at Pooch Play asked us if they could send us some Activity Trackers to try out! Our hoomans wear fitness trackers themselves and had always thought about looking in to it to see if there was something for dogs too!

The poochplay activity tracker was exactly what they were looking for. Considering we are quite small, the design is slick, compact and looks great! It simply attaches to your dogs collar (or harness in our cases) and away we went. They have two designs, one black and the other pink. Jacob said he doesn’t mind wearing the pink one as all real men wear pink anyway, right? You would think with these sorts of things that the battery life wouldn’t be that great? Well, how about 6 months of battery life before it needs changing!

Pretty impressive right? For those of our friends that love swimming, you can even get it wet and go uder water in it (up to 1 metre).

So how does it work? -

Pooch Play is actually a lot more than just an activity tracker. It is paired with a brilliant app that means combined, it can be used to monitor your dogs diet,

weight and exercise. The app was super easy to download and set up and connects wirelessly with your phone via Bluetooth. Your phone then downloads the data from the device (which can be stored on the tracker for up to 1 week and is backed up securely on their cloud database). The app has been designed beautifully and has a bunch of features like your dogs activity for the day, their weight, their recommended food intake and current body condition score! All of this combined creates a really useful tool for our hoomans to understand our needs and also receive useful recommendations from the app. We were really impressed with how much information is stored on the app.It has a fantastic range of all of the dog foods on the market at the moment, information on your dogs breed, graphs that would show how active your dog has been that day, week or month!

Overall we would say we were all very impressed in how Pooch Play works. It’s great for us dogs as it’s stylish and for our hoomans, extremely helpful! Interestingly the company has been going for over a year now, but for a start up business, you would think they’ve been running for much longer. You can read loads more information on their website: www.justpoochplay.com or follow them on Instagram @justpoochplay.

Thanks for reading!

Jacob & Bruno

Becoming Guru Geeksters

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Fri, 06 Oct 2017 16:15:00 +0000

Becoming Guru Geeksters

Before I begin to tell you our journey of how we became Geeksters, I would just like to say that we chose for the dogs to start eating Guru Pet Food and this is a completely honest opinion of the food and the company itself!

We first made contact with Guru Pet Food back when the dogs Instagram account was nearing 5000 followers (seems such a long time ago!). We asked them if they would like to take part in our first ever giveaway. We had seen their name pop up a few times on other dogs pages and we were really intrigued by their bright colours and their quirky appearance. We received a message back from them and we couldn’t believe how friendly they were, even though we hadn’t even spoken before! I guess this is where our love for Guru stemmed from.

In the weeks after our competition, we started to interact with them on Instagram a lot more. We got to learn a bit about the food itself and started to see pictures of dogs enjoying their Trip Bones, especially on a Tuesday! At this time, it was getting towards the summer and we noticed Guru upload a picture talking about Dog Fest. Being quite new to the dog festival scene, we asked Guru for some more information on what Dog Fest actually was. Obviously, they were happy to tell us about it and explained they were going to have a brand NEW stall there this year. Jay and I both agreed it would be a great idea to attend that year and meet the Geeskters behind the Guru!

The day for Dog Fest came one sunny day in June and we couldn’t be more excited to go to our first dog festival with the boys and also visit the Guru Pet Food stand. We had been speaking previously with Lisa, the co-owner of Guru Pet Food and were so impressed at how involved she was with all the dogs on Instagram and how much thought she had put in to the day. They were going to have a chalk board with the times the Insta dogs were going to be at their stand and pictures too! How cool! We just couldn’t wait to meet them. We were walking up to the entrance of Dogfest and noticed there stall instantly! It was MASSIVE. Big letters spelt out GURU and we could see the stand crowded with dogs and their owners. The one thing that stood out the most was the friendly staff all wearing yellow t-shirts with a small pair of black geek glasses printed on the front. We bee-lined over to the stall and bumped into a super lovely man called Andrew (Lisa’s husband and co-owner). He then took us over to a bubbly blonde lady... It was Lisa! She instantly recognised the boys and was over the moon that we had stopped.

Being Instagram dogs, there were plenty of picture opportunities. The stall was fantastically designed with their products on display, retro seating for tired pups and owners, pictures of all their insta dog followers and a massive card board instagram picture cut out. So impressive!

This is where we got to learn about the food itself. Lisa explained that the food was cold pressed, meaning that the food locked in all of the goodness which were all good for growth, digestion and health. This also meant that you could feed your dog up to 33% less than standard extruded kibble... Amazing! To be honest, we were won over by how nice Lisa was and the incredible stand they had, so this information was an added bonus. We took a 5kg bag of their Surf and Turf range and a couple of trip bones home with us to try them out.

We didn’t actually get round to feeding the boys Guru until quite recently. The only reason being that we had already pre paid in bulk for their previous pet food, so needed to wait until we had finished that before moving on... We would have started the boys on Guru the day we met them if we could. You could call us tight arses!

Since Dogfest we continued to keep in contact with Guru and saw their business grow and grow. We were not surprised as the passion that everyone had working for them really shone through. Everyone was friendly and you really felt valued. It was obvious a lot of time and effort had gone into creating this brand. When the time was right, we fully converted over to Guru. We were so delighted to be doing so and when we messaged them again, Lisa was equally excited for us to be joining. She made it incredibly easy for us to transition the boys over from their previous food to them. She explained everything and we even went on the website to take a look at their GURUvy feeding guide. The website was packed with the information you needed.

We will write another blog about how the boys have got on with eating Guru, but we firstly wanted to let people know how amazing they all are. We interact with them on a daily basis, whether that be watching them take on a food challenge each week or see all of the other happy dogs that are now fully fledged Geeksters. The whole team at Guru are extremely friendly (have I mentioned that yet?). It’s clear to see they all enjoy working there and make you want to be part of the family. Guru aren’t just your normal pet food company, they have thought of everything, they’re modern, they’re approachable, they’re good fun, they care and most of all, their food is ace.

We are so glad to have met the lovely people of Guru and know we have made the right decision with moving the boys onto their food. We are excited for more adventures and good times to come, it’s just a shame they live so far away!

If you want to know more information on Guru, head over to their website at www.gurupetfood.comor take a look at their instagram page @gurupetfood

As mentioned, we will write another blog soon on how the boys get on eating their food and which food/treats they enjoy the most.

For now, thanks for reading!

Oli

Saying Goodbye

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 19:28:00 +0000

They say keeping a dog is one of the most rewarding things someone can do. They give you companionship, wonderful memories and unconditional love. I am sure that most dog owners would also agree that their dogs, in most ways, benefit their lives too. However, through all of the good times you have with your dog, there are also times when things aren’t so great. When they don’t quite get the whole toilet training thing, when they rip up that receipt for that expensive item you needed to return, when they chew up your bank card and finally, saying goodbye to them after so many years of being together.

I wanted to write about emy recent experience of losing my first dog to try and help anyone else who may have to go through the same experience. It was a new experience for me as I had never had to say goodbye to a dog before.

I could write paragraphs on how I had the best times with Toto and all the memories we shared, but I wanted to talk about the whole experience of saying goodbye. For those of you that haven’t had to say goodbye yet, I would say, don’t worry about it until it gets to that stage. Enjoy all of the good times ahead, I am sure there are plenty of them! For anyone who does have an older dog, or one that may be ill, you’re not alone in possibly having to make a really tough decision and saying goodbye. As far as we knew, Toto didn’t have anything wrong with him - he was just an old dog and things were starting to give up on him. In the few weeks up to him leaving us, he started to deteriorate quite rapidly. The picture of him used for this blog was one posted on Instagram a couple of times and only taken 6 months ago. You probably wouldn’t have thought he was as old as he was in the photo!

Things like this can often creep up on you quickly and you don't always have time to prepare yourself. The hardest thing for me was thinking ‘am I making the right decision’. I kept thinking ‘is he going to get better’ ‘he may get better and live another 2 years’ ‘what if he isn’t really that bad’. The best thing that helped me make the decision to say goodbye was talking to other people who had been through similar experiences. With most things, if you talk about it with someone, things seem easier. Hearing people say ‘I just knew that it was the right thing to do’ didn’t seem to help at the time though, but looking back now, it does help you think when it is the right time. You can’t let your thoughts cloud your judgment. You have to be brave in making the decision and I remember thinking ‘I want to remember Toto for how he was and how he is now’. He was deteriorating and couldn’t really do much through the day other than sleep. I knew that things were only going to get worse and I didn’t then want to remember his last days when he may have been in a terrible way. It wouldn’t have been nice for my family and I, but most of all, for him – I wanted him to have some dignity. Toto had gone to the vet a couple of weeks earlier and they had said his old age was certainly catching up with him and they didn't think he would get any better. He hadn't been eating right and they said this can usually be a sign...


Toto's First Day at Work

One thing that really made the decision hard on the day was that when all of my family had come home to see him, he got up and was able to wag his tail and even slowly chased a ball. Those earlier thoughts went round and round in my head, but in the end, I knew I had made the right decision and stood by it. When it was time to take Toto to the vets, he very quickly went downhill again. In a way, it was really nice that we were able to have half an hour of him being half his usual self and we could remember him on his last day as a good one. I’m not going to lie, saying goodbye to him in the vets was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I sat in front of him and held his head whilst he stared back at me. I knew he was going to a better place and comforted him. It’s funny, after it has happened, you then sit with your family and talk about all the funny times you all shared with him. We spoke about where best to scatter his ashes and we all ate together that evening, a last supper, some might say...

I guess what I am trying to say is that you may think that there will never be a right time to say goodbye. I think naturally you know when it is a good time and I would always say don’t let things drag on too much. To those who say they would never get a pet because saying goodbye is too hard, you have to do it! You will have many, many years of happiness. Yes, saying goodbye is extremely hard, but I would much prefer to have so many happy memories than none at all. To any of you that are going through this now, speak to others. At the end of the day, it is your decision, but keep your dogs feelings in mind and not your own. Sometimes it is for the best.

Thank you for reading this. I hope in a way that this can help someone feel better about a decision they may have to make or already have made.

Oli


Final Goodbye On Our Last Day Together

Countryside Canoeing

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 15:30:00 +0000

The weather has been so lovely this week, such great opportunities for topping up our tans ;) We were really excited to hear the hoomans talking about a mini adventure that they wanted to take us on! The great thing about living in Surrey is that we are surrounded by beautiful countryside and when the sun is shining, it makes it that much more enjoyable to get out and about in it.

We had heard the hoomans talking about going kayaking for a while and we know that they were also thinking about buying one each so they could go on many water adventures. It’s like every purchase though, you want to make sure you are going to enjoy it before making the plunge. After all, it would be a waste of money if they bought kayaks and didn’t use them, think of all that treat money that would have been wasted! So the hoomans decided to rent a canoe out for a few hours.

Although we live a five minute walk away from the canal, they thought it would be more exciting if they took us a little further afield. We travelled to a small village called Odiham, which is in Hampshire. It only took us about 30 minutes in the car and they had researched a small boating centre online before setting out. We arrived at Galleon Marine with a couple of other families turning up at the same time – must have been a popular choice! We made our way down to the reception area, where we were greeted by a very friendly lady who immediately showed us to the canoes! It wasn’t just canoes that they had for hire, there were also kayaks, row boats and also canal boats. The lady made a fuss of us, before asking the hoomans how long they wanted to hire the canoe out for. You could hire the boats out per hour or per half day/full day. Seeing as you got 4 hours for the price of 3 (half day) they thought that would be a suitable amount of time, costing £36.

There was a good selection of all types of boats to choose from. We trotted onto the wooden marina and we both immediately went up and sniffed the red canoe. Obviously, we went for that one! We were the first to be placed inside the canoe! Bruno certainly has the better sea legs! The canoe was a little rocky, but our dads got in and made it more stable. There was plenty of room and we both headed towards the front, to help look out for any obstacles in the water.

The lady at the reception had told our hoomans that there were two ways to go, either towards an old castle, or to the pub! We were sure they would have gone to the pub, but we had all just eaten, so the castle sounded like a better idea. Off we set, our dad, Jay, sat at the back, whilst dad, Oli, sat at the front. Apparently the person with the strongest stroke would sit at the back, they both argued that their position was harder! It was beautiful, the sun was beaming down on us and the cool air flowed through our flappy ears. It was really peaceful and once we had found our sea legs, we were more confident to explore the canoe. We passed a fellow row boat, who had a Frenchie on board, they seemed to be enjoying it as much as we were. We headed up stream and found ourselves to be the only ones on the canal. It was so peaceful, all we could hear were the strokes of the oars in the water. We were making good way and we passed a field full of cows. Funnily, they all started charging towards us, which of course we had to let a little bark out at. This immediately stopped them in their tracks and they stood there and looked bewildered at us. We passed a few bridges and one lady waved at us all from above, then noticed we were in the canoe and made a little squeal.

We got to one bridge but wondered how we were going to get underneath! It was ok for us as we’re small, so didn’t need to duck down. Our hoomans, on the other paw, had a problem. They both leaned forward and slowly paddled towards the bridge. Their backs must have only been inches from touching the bottom of the bridge, pretty fun stuff! We made it through to the other side and continued to make way to the castle. At this stage, we were both confident enough to stand on the side and could look into the water. There were hundreds of fish swimming by. Some of them followed the canoe, a bit like dolphins, but less glamourous than that. We definitely thought we could have had one for lunch.

We arrived at the castle and moored up. It was a little wobbly getting out of the canoe, but luckily we didn’t capsize! The castle was close to the canal, so didn’t need to walk far. Although only part of the ruin, it was still nice to be able to stop and read a little about the history. There were tables dotted around and some people were already taking advantage of these and having a picnic. We made our way round the ruin and stopped to take a few photos. Before we knew it, it was time to head back. We made a couple of friends whilst trying to get back in the canoe. A friendly spaniel came barging through and jumped straight in the water, getting us a little wet. Typical spaniel, aye? We turned round and made our way back to the boat centre. This time, we were very brave. Jacob sat right on the front of the boat, like the sea captain! Bruno sat on one of the seats behind and looked over the edge. We came round the corner and a big barge was heading our way. They let out a little TOOT to warn us. It was a visitor barge which takes people up and down the canal. The ladies sitting at the front, immediately spotted Jacob on the front of the canoe and got their phones out to take photos. We guess we’re used to that! We made a steady pace back to the boat yard. Passing a few walkers on the toe paths, who all shouted a friendly ‘hello’.

When we got back to the yard, we were all quite hot, so decided to take a seat on one of the funky multi coloured benches and ordered some ice cream. They also had some ice cream for dogs too, delicious! We ate that and sat for a while taking in the surroundings. It had been a really nice afternoon and we really enjoyed it. It was nice that us dogs were able to go on the boats and it was especially nice that we didn’t have to do any work! A perfect way to enjoy life in the slow lane and take in some of the UK’s countryside.

The website of the boat centre our hoomans found is here: http://www.galleonmarine.co.uk/

We hope you enjoyed reading!

Jacob & Bruno

Stop The Trauma When Cutting Your Dogs Nails

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Thu, 08 Jun 2017 19:01:00 +0000

For a lot of dog owners, cutting your dog’s nails can be a stressful time for both you and your dog. If only we could talk to our furry friends and let them know that everything will be alright! There are different ways to getting your dog’s nails cut. Either getting a pair of clippers for use at home or taking your dog to the vet/groom room to get it done. People have different experiences with each and prefer either one. We’ve done both, so will share our experiences with you!

Jacob and Bruno have two different tolerances to getting their nails clipped. Jacob, is a lot more relaxed about a lot of things and doesn’t get worked up as easily. Bruno, on the other hand, absolutely despises it! He works himself up so much and wriggles and squirms to try and get out of getting his nails cut. This in turn has really seen Jacob start to get a little more anxious when the nail clippers are taken out of the box. The boys have never really had too many bad experiences with the clippers to make them worried about them. There have been a few occasions where either ourselves, or the vet has cut the nail too short and made them bleed a little. This is the thing we worry about the most, but once you know what you’re looking for, you become a lot more confident.

We’re going to share some of our hints and tips with you which have made all of our experiences a lot easier. Firstly, we would always recommend starting to get your dog used to having their nails cut when they are young. It’s the same for most things, if you start with them young, they grow a tolerance to most things and make your life a lot easier when they grow up. It doesn’t have to be cutting their nails from the outset (as they can be very fragile when they are a puppy) but you can try getting your dog used to you handling their paws and in between their nails. We guess it’s also a good way to teach them paw (shake)! We do regret not doing this with the boys, as we are certain Bruno would be a lot more relaxed about getting his nails clipped if we had. Most other things we started from a young age and they’re as good as gold with.

If you’re like us and your dog really doesn’t like getting their nails clipped, we have tried a few things with Bruno especially, which have started to work. Every so often, in the evenings, when we are settling down for the night and the boys are starting to get comfy on our laps and fall asleep, we will get the clippers out and gently tap them, rub them and stroke them on their paws. We do this whilst holding their paws as well. We do it calmly so that they do not get worked up. This helps build their trust with the clippers and has proven with us to start to work with Bruno’s anxiety when it comes to nail clipping. If you’re cutting the nails at home you should read up on how much nail you should be cutting. Clipping too much off, can hurt your pup and make the nail bleed. As long as you know what to look for, you shouldn’t worry too much as worrying will only get your dog worked up. When it actually comes to crunch time, we find it easier with two people. One person is armed with treats and will hold one of them firmly but not too tight so they don’t feel trapped. We find it easier if the person who is holding the dog, hugs them in a way and turns their head away from the clippers. Calmly and gently we will start to clip the nails and after each one is done, we will instantly praise and give them a treat. This method is really helping with Bruno, he wouldn’t let us near his paws not so long ago, but now we are making progress!

Others like to take their dogs to the vet/groom room to get their nails cut. Some people find it easier and a lot less stressful if they let a professional do it. As mentioned above, we have also done this. It does cost (around £15 for each dog) which can be quite expensive if doing it every month. Some dogs will be fine being taken to the vet and others it can really stress them out more. Some vets will do it there and then in the room, others prefer to take the dog away from you as apparently, the dog being with its owner in a stressful time can actually make things worse! Although the cost to get them cut at a vet isn’t extortionate, you could probably buy a pair of clippers for the same price as one visit? It’s like most things though, you’re paying for convenience and sometimes, less stress!

Each dog is always different and different methods will work for other dogs. We have found that these methods have really worked for our boys and perseverance is the key! Keep trying and building your dog’s confidence really helps.

We hope you have found this useful and we’d love to hear any of your thoughts/tips in the comments below.

Thanks for reading

Oli & Jay

Lungworm Is Closer Than You Might Think - Know The Symptoms?

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Mon, 22 May 2017 20:54:00 +0000

Act Against Lungworm
We know that for all of you dog owners out there, our health is one of your top priorities. We were really pleased when we were asked to help raise awareness around lungworm as we knew our hoomans didn’t actually know that much about it. They knew that helping raise awareness, would in turn increase their knowledge about it too, which ultimately would keep us safe! Before you read ahead, would you be able to educate someone about lungworm? If not, hopefully after reading this, you’ll be able to go and spread the word to someone else and educate them! No dog owner should feel stupid that they don’t know much about lungworm, as in reality, there hasn’t been that much exposure around it. That’s exactly what this campaign is all about and we couldn’t be happier to be a part of it!

First of all, let us tell you a little about how exciting our day was. We were asked to attend an event in Streatham, London. This meant it was time for a road trip and we couldn’t wait to get in the car. Luckily, being Surrey pups, the journey wasn’t going to be too long. We knew that other doggy friends had also been invited to this event and we were looking forward to making some new friends. When we arrived at the location in Streatham, we saw two ladies walking with their pooches down the road. We were sure we recognised them from Instagram, but we weren’t close enough to say hello. We got to the front door and our hoomans gave it a knock. The door opened and we gave the kind man, who answered it, a swift greeting and headed off inside… Well, you can’t blame us, we didn’t have time for pleasantries, we had to get inside and find out what all the fuss was about!

There were many people inside and a few new doggy faces already playing happily in the garden. To make sure EVERYONE knew we had arrived, we kept barking – you’ve got to arrive in style, so they say… It was all very exciting and we headed outside to allow our hoomans to speak with other doggy owners, whilst we started to make friends. We instantly noticed that there were a couple of other sausages in the group, so in true dachshund style, we made friends with them first. There was a really cute Whippet called Blue, who we also took a liking to. Then, we noticed the ladies that had been walking down the road and instantly recognised them as Spaniellife and Alfie Bear! In total there were around 11 dogs and we all got on super well.

We could tell our hoomans were also excited too as they had been told that someone called Ben Fogle was going to be participating in the event. We didn’t know who he was, but in the car, all we kept hearing was ‘animal park’ and ‘new lives in the wild’, so we knew he must have been quite important! Once everyone had mingled and got to know each other a little, Ben Fogle came over to introduce himself to everyone and also say hello to us! From what our hoomans told us, Ben Fogle loves animals and also has his own dog called Storm! He loves being outdoors and often goes on beautiful walks around the UK. We thought he was perfect to be helping raise awareness around something like lungworm. Everyone settled and took a seat around a table. It was great, we were able to sit up on our hoomans laps and they were able to have a few pastries that had been laid out, yum yum. There was a vet called Luke that had joined us who had come to talk with us about lungworm.

Luke started to tell us all exactly how lungworm can be transmitted. Slugs and snails are the main culprits, carrying the parasite. We knew a little about this already, but what we didn’t know, was that the parasite can also live in the slime trails left behind by the slugs and snails. There are many ways that the infection can be transmitted. Although we can’t talk for all dogs, we know that some of our friends like to get up to mischief. We know we can’t be watched 24/7 either! The infection is transmitted when us dogs, either accidentally or deliberately, eat slugs or snails, or possibly even ingest the slime they leave behind (did you know the larvae can live in the slime for up to 15 days!) Let us give you a couple of examples of ways dogs can ingest the parasite. We all like to have a good rummage around in the garden/park, in the undergrowth, in the flower beds, you name it, we go there. Just think of how many snails and slugs may have come into contact with that? Also, when we drink from puddles or outdoor water bowls, those too could have been contaminated by slugs or snails. One thing that we certainly didn’t think about was that sometimes we leave our toys out in the garden… Gardens and parks are playgrounds for snails and slugs, so they could have easily climbed over our toys which we had left out, hiding within them or leaving their slime all over them. Now, we aren’t saying that these scenarios happen all the time, but it’s something that our owners need to be more conscious about.

Now, if a dog was to catch this sort of infection, there are a few symptoms to look out for. Normally, the types of symptoms would be unusual behaviour, coughing and also things such as if you were to cut our nails and it started to bleed, if it took longer than normal for the blood to clot and small things would set the bleeding off again, it would be a call for concern. A lot of the time, these symptoms could result in something completely different, but just like we know our hoomans would do, speak to your vet, as they would be able to diagnose the symptoms. Vets can take blood samples and poo samples, which give them a good indication if we had contracted the infection. Without prevention, the infection can be fatal!

Now, the good part! It is possible to treat a dog, who has been infected by lungworm, to make a full recovery. It is also very easy to prevent lungworm in the first place! Our hoomans didn’t know this, but monthly prevention products will prevent against it. These are things like flea/parasite/worming protection, which they put on the back of our necks for example, or certain tablets. Some parasite products don’t prevent against lungworm so it is important that people speak with their vets about the right treatment.

Luckily we had Luke the vet there, so our hoomans were able to ask lots of questions. Once everyone had finished speaking with Luke, it was time for some more fun! We now heard everyone talking about a walk and all the dogs were getting very excited. Ben Fogle was going to take us all on a walk around Streatham Common, which was one of his favourite walks. We headed out. It was quite a sight seeing 11 dogs walking together with bright orange bandanas on. We also found it quite funny that we were joined on a walk by some snails! Don’t worry, they weren’t put on leads, they were kept in a container that the organisers had rented from a snail farm! (Did you know there are over 25 types of different snails?). The common was lovely! Everyone was getting on really well and we were able to discuss more on our thoughts about lungworm. We got to the top of the hill and we were told we had been granted access to the rockery, which was absolutely stunning. We were able to stop and take a few photos and also take a few snaps with Ben and Luke (who quite clearly enjoyed all of us climbing all over them). At this stage, we had all gathered a bit of a crowd, we definitely felt like mini celebrities! After we had admired the rockery, it was time to head back.

We got back to the house to have some more pictures taken and ask some more questions to Ben and Luke. We were having so much fun and all doing it to raise awareness for a great cause. Although, it was time to go, we felt that we had really learnt a lot and were able to go back and tell everyone what we knew about lungworm and the importance of preventing against it! Don’t get us wrong, we don’t have anything against snails or slugs, but we need to be careful around them. As long as we are protected, we can all live in peace! We hope that everyone reading this has learnt at least one thing new about the threat of lungworm. Although we are not experts, there are many more ways that people can learn about it. Why not head over to www.lungworm.co.ukto find out more! If anyone ever has any questions, they can also ask their vet about treatment and prevention.

Thanks again for reading

Jacob & Bruno

This post is sponsored by Bayer, in support of their ACT Against Lungworm campaign. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Behind The Scenes

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Thu, 18 May 2017 16:43:00 +0000

People often ask us how we take certain pictures and how we stay so still in photos. We thought that for this week’s blog post, we would take you behind the scenes and show everyone exactly what goes in to the pictures we have on our Instagram. A lot of people think that the one picture that we upload, is the only picture that is taken. All of our Instagram friends would agree by saying that this is not the case!

So what exactly goes in to the pictures that we have taken of us?

Firstly, what camera do our hoomans use? Well, mostly all of our pictures now are taken using a Nikon D5300. Now, our hoomans would never class themselves as a professional photographers and they know they have so much more to learn with the camera itself (they don’t use the auto function though!) but, it takes a better quality photo than your standard smart phone camera. Although, if a quick snap is needed and they haven’t got the camera with them, an iPhone certainly does the trick. The iPhone 7 camera these days is pretty nifty!

Now, it also depends where we are and what photo is being taken of us that determines the set up. Normally, if we are inside, although we do get a good amount of light in our home, the hoomans usually always use a bit of help from the light boxes. These really help with brightening up the room (especially in the winter months when it gets dark around 5pm) and also distribute the light evenly so helps take a great picture. They weren’t that expensive to buy at all and came with a host of other photo shoot accessories like different coloured back drops (the green screen is our favourite, you can have loads of fun with that. Did you see our news video?) Our hoomans don’t usually use all of the backdrops regularly though. The light boxes are pretty easy to set up, the only negative they would say to using them is that they take up a bit of room and also can be a pain to keep putting up and taking down. We do feel like celebrities with these though!

Obviously, if we are taking pictures outside, the light box wouldn’t be used. Natural light is always the best we think! Different weather types bring a different challenge. Our hoomans find it hardest to take a picture when we are in direct sunlight. We don’t complain at all with this as we get to sit and top up our tans. Thanks to our good friend @mayathesausage and her mum Natasha, she has been giving our hoomans some top tips when taking photos out and about! We love to take a photo in the autumn months as our fur colour really goes well with a backdrop of the fallen golden leaves.

As mentioned above, one of the questions our hoomans get asked the most is ‘how do you get them to stay so still’. Well, we like to think we are pretty good at the whole posing thing. If we are inside, we are generally really good. We don’t usually need to have that much bribing with treats. We will sit there patiently until our hoomans get a good shot. If we are outside, well, this is a different story… We don’t tend to look at the camera very often when we are having a photo shoot outside. Well, who can blame us? There’s so many different noises that distract us, you’ve also got smells, people walking by, the wind… the list goes on! With this part, our hoomans find it easier when they are both together. It means that one of them can take the photo and the other stands behind making as much noise as possible, jumping up and down in the air, rustling the treat bag, basically looking like a right twit! Eventually though, we do look and give them the super model pose.

No Chance...

Not Looking

Still Not Looking

In total, we probably have between 10 – 25 photos taken of us for that one photo that gets uploaded on Instagram. If there are props involved and it means we have to wear something, this could be up to 50 photos! We do enjoy wearing our props though, we get extra treats when we do! It can be a struggle taking a photo and thinking of an idea every single day. If they can, our hoomans will try to take a ‘bank’ of photos, but it can be time consuming doing this, so often they will take a photo each day.

Finally!

We all have a lot of fun taking photos and thinking of ideas each day. Our hoomans never knew how exciting starting an Instagram account would be for us. They have met some really great people on there already and made some good friends who we all meet up with regularly. The support that people get from each other is immense! We have had some really great opportunities and have met some cool people supporting different causes. Our hoomans never expected our account to grow as much as it has and we are all so thankful to everyone who follows us! We can’t wait to share more of our moments with you.

If you are looking to start an Instagram account for your pet, yourself or anything at all, our advice would be to get on and do it! If for any reason you’re stopping yourself, you shouldn’t! We have had so much fun already and know we have loads more fun to come!

Thank again for reading everyone.

Jacob & Bruno

AniForte - PureNature

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Sun, 30 Apr 2017 17:53:00 +0000

AniForte – Pure Nature

This week is all about food. Yum! Our favourite topic. The kind people over at AniForte sent us over some yummy goodies to get our canines stuck in to. Now, we know that you hoomans always worry about what to feed us, how much, what’s good, what’s bad? We don’t know why you worry to be honest, we love all types of food! On a more serious note, it’s always good to know what you do feed us as every dog is different and our diets can often change. AniForte sent us three different products to try, but before we tell you about the products, let’s tell you a bit about them, as their values are something we love!

AniForte is actually from Germany. They are a family run business (the best run businesses in our eyes). They take their inspiration from nature, as it has all the answers, right? They create products for dogs, cats and horses and they are all 100% natural. Their mission is to improve pet health globally so us pets can be happy all of the time!

One thing that is extremely important to our hoomans, is that our food is grain free. They were really pleased to see that AniForte Pure Nature dog food is all grain free, free from additives and also gluten free. The most exciting part for us was that the food is packed with a high meat content, the different ranges are from 87% - 88% meat… It’s making our mouths water just thinking about it. The rest of the food was mixed with 11% - 12 % vegetables and then the reaming few percent is minerals and trace elements. All in all, it certainly called for a good meal. When our hoomans opened the tin, they were actually really surprised at how good the food smelt. We think hoomans are crazy as they usually turn their noses up at other dog foods as they don’t smell overly pleasant, but AniForte Pure Nature smelt like actual food (to them). We don’t think they would be putting it on their own plates though… Now, we know most dogs usually wolf down their food, but we certainly did just that, it was so tasty. Our little tails were going like crazy too. We also couldn’t believe how much choice there is! We were lucky enough to try Country Beef flavour, but we are sure all of the other flavours taste just as good.

We were also sent some Anti-Plaque sticks. Now, we don’t think this is fair to say this, but we always hear our hoomans go on about how bad our breath smells… Hey! It’s a dachshund thing right? Now, one thing that our hoomans really like from the packaging is that it had as re-sealable strip, so you they don’t leave the packet open or have to use stickers to stick the packet back together. Simple, but so much easier! Again, the Anti-Plaque sticks were gluten free and had no artificial additives. What do you think happened to these when we were given them? You guessed it, we wolfed these down too. Obviously, being designed to clean our teeth and give us fresh breath, it took us a little longer to devour these. Our hoomans also read on the packaging that these can contribute towards teeth whitening! We’ll be the Simon Cowells of the doggy world, hey!?

Lastly we were also sent some coconut oil! Very nice, if only we were on a Caribbean island somewhere too… Funnily enough, within the same week, our hoomans had also started using coconut oil to cook their own food in. They had no idea that it would also be good for us too! There are so many uses for the coconut oil. One of the main uses is to help our immune system, so you can add it to our food. It also helps with digestion as it contains medium-chain saturated fatty acids, this is important for dogs, especially us dachshunds. One thing that our hoomans really noticed was how even more shiny and soft our fur became from using it. A lot of people who saw us commented on that as well. Interestingly, the coconut oil can also help repel insects, ticks and mosquitoes. All you hoomans need to do, is rub a little bit on our legs and abdomen every few days. It’s just like going to a spa! Anything to help keep those pests away is a bonus!

Now, if you like what you’ve read, AniForte have kindly given our followers a 15% discount. All you need to do is use the code JACOB&BRUNO15 – Head over to www.aniforte.co.uk

We hope you enjoyed reading our review on AniForte. Our reviews are always honest and from our mouths only! We like to talk about things that we really like and believe in. If you would like to keep up with our adventures, subscribe below!

Thank you so much for reading.

Jacob & Bruno

Painshill Park - Cobham

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Sun, 23 Apr 2017 16:00:00 +0000

Jacob & Bruno on the Five Arch Bridge

Painshill Park – by Jacob and Bruno

We recently had the pleasure of visiting a wonderful place called Painshill Park which is located in Cobham, Surrey. We know we may only be nearing a year and a half old, but we have to say this place was one of our favourite places we’ve visited! We think the fabulous sunshine also helped the place look stunning. Although we don’t know much about navigating with road names, more just with our nose, we heard the hoomans say that they only had to travel along the A3 to get there, which really wasn’t long at all and they didn’t need to use the satnav, so must have been easy to get there.

We got to the carpark and out we went. Our dad’s put us on the lead, as dogs are asked to be kept on a ‘short lead’ whilst walking around, which we thought was reasonable. There was a pathway we had to walk along to get to the main entrance, but we were met by a big bridge crossing over the water… Our dads said it looked lovely, but for us, it was a bit of a challenge and we stopped dead in our tracks. No way were we heading over that! We demanded to be carried, which our demand was met! Once we had got over the initial fear of the bridge, we came across a beautifully landscaped garden, which was to the left of the visitor centre. When we saw this, we knew we had come to the right place! We had to go inside the centre so our dad’s could pay for their entry… dogs are free, result! They had to pay £8… suckers! Our dad’s were asked if they could gift aid their entry fees, which is great!

We set off first through a bluebell forest, we guess we had visited at the right time of the year to see this! The bluebells were about our height, so all we could see was a sea of blue, which we weren’t complaining about. The trail led us up a slight hill, which we raced to keep up with the hoomans. Our slight breathlessness was short lived as the view at the top was spectacular. The vineyard spanned along the other side of the hill and led our eyes down to the flowing river below. We could make out the swans and geese swimming on the river below, something Jacob couldn’t wait to get down there to pretend to be all ‘big’ but really chicken out when they turned around to face him! The sun kissed path then lead us round to the ‘gothic temple’. Although, with a name like that, we thought the temple would be black, not white! It truly was stunning, the view through the temple was really quite special and it also meant we could scout out who was down in the grounds, letting out a little growl, just so they knew we were there. Not sure if they heard us though…

We picked up a scent and were on our way again. This time, going downhill towards the ruined abbey. The hoomans saw this as a perfect picture opportunity, we saw this as a perfect opportunity to look every other way than the camera! Well, we don’t blame us, there seemed to be loads happening on the river in front of us. The fishermen casting their lines into the shimmering water, the swans in their pairs swimming gracefully, who wouldn’t want to look at that! Next stop was the crystal grotto! Sounded really cool and we couldn’t wait. Hopefully we would find some diamonds inside so we could sell them for lots of treats and toys. Before we got to the grotto, we were faced with another bridge. We were brave this time though and managed to get across using our own four legs! The grotto was in the middle of three little islands and there were two bridges connecting the islands all together. Unfortunately, the inside of the grotto was only open at certain times of the year, so it was closed for us. We guess that means no treats and toys then? We soon got over that as we were still able to see some of the ruins from the grotto that had collapsed. Pretty spectacular if you ask us!

Another bridge we had to cross, but by now, we were pros at the whole bridge crossing thing. You should have seen the way we strutted across it, like two supermodels! We had a short walk to the next part of the historic walk, but there were lots of ducks to look at, and of course, Jacob thought he was Johnny big banana’s, but was soon put in his place when one of the geese turned round to see him. Round the corner was another bridge! Yes, another one! But this one (the five arch bridge) was rather lovely and crossed the largest part of the lake. You may have seen the picture of us on the bridge already on our Instagram account. You could see the gothic temple in the distance, reflecting the sun off of its white walls – gorgeous.

Although it was a glorious day, it wasn’t too busy. We had seen a few couples walking about and had come across one other dog. It did mean that we were able to really stand and admire each part of the historic trail. The Turkish tent was next. We thought this might mean a quick stop off for some Turkish delight, but when we got to the top of the hill where the tent was situated, it was empty. Oh well, there was a bench inside, which we took a little rest on. Having such small legs means we have to walk 10x the amount you humans do! The Turkish tent looked over the whole of the park and the view was breath-taking, even for us as we had to go on our tiptoes to see above the grass! Could you imagine rolling down there? That would be a big sausage roll… get it?

By now, there were only a few more places to stop by, but we had enjoyed ourselves so far. We had been given a few treats to keep us going, so we were happy with that! We had a little walk to the gothic tower, which dog’s weren’t allowed in to. We could still admire how tall it was from the ground, we really did feel like ants down below. There were also toilets inside, so that was good for the hoomans. We guess you’re not like us and can’t just go anytime on the grass! There were some water bowls outside for us as well, which was great for the thirsty pups. The hermitage and the water wheel were the last two points to see. The hermitage was propped up on old tree stumps and looked over the fields below. It had been kitted out with a straw bed, which we could have had a nap on, but it felt like we were lying in a bed with thousands of fleas, not very comfortable at all! There was a chair carved out of a log in the corner, but it was a little too dark in there to take any pictures and the chair wouldn't have fitted our two bottoms on it.

Last but not least, we came up to the waterwheel, which was brilliant! Compared to our little size, the wheel was massive! You were able to go inside and see all of the mechanics and cogs turning. Admittedly, we were a little scared and Bruno let out tiny barks once in a while when the cogs made a noise. We went round to the side and could see the wheel working, scooping up the water, powering the wheel to turn round. We were half way back to the starting point now. We were a little tired by now, so thought it would be a good idea to stop off at the café. We weren’t allowed inside, but there were plenty of table and chairs outside for people to sit on with their dogs. There were big water bowls as well so us hot dogs could have another drink. The hoomans got something to re fuel them – a chicken and stuffing sandwich on granary bread and blueberry muffins, yum yum!

We had a splendid day today. The whole park really had something for everyone. It was great that they allowed dogs inside. Not a lot of places allow this when the grounds have been landscaped as lovely as they had been. There were plenty of places to sit, relax and take in the surroundings. You can have a picnic there too, which would have been lovely on a day like that! In total, the historic walk was around 2.5 miles and took us about 2 hours.

Thanks again for reading – If you do enjoy reading about our adventures, feel free to subscribe, we’d really appreciate it!

Jacob & Bruno

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Pinnocks Café - Ripley

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 17:20:00 +0000

Pinnocks Café, Ripley - By Oli and Jay
Today we embarked on an adventure to Pinnocks café in Ripley. We had heard of it a little while ago from Jacob and Bruno’s good friends Maya and Peanut! With the location only being a 15 minute drive from where we live and the weather being as glorious as it was today, we thought ‘why not!’Jacob and Bruno were already up and ready to go when we got into the living room. They must have known we were going on an adventure today after they had packed their rucksack last night! We got them ready and headed downstairs to get in the car. With it being such wonderful weather, the drive to Ripley was rather pleasant, especially through the quant village of Send.

Pinnocks is located on the main high street in Ripley, nestled amongst quirky independent shops and near to the Ripley clock tower. Although we had been to Ripley before, we hadn’t taken the dogs, so it was nice to see that a lot of the shops and other cafés also accommodated for dogs. The weather must have brought people out of their houses, just like us, as every other person we walked past, had a dog by their side.

We arrived at Pinnocks and were pleasantly surprised at how charming the building was. It looked almost like an old country pub, with wooden beams running across the front, a little old fashioned, but matched that of other buildings on the high street, giving a real country village feel. A lady sat outside with her Border Collie and Jacob and Bruno, of course, had to let them know they were there. With a couple of barks and pleasantries exchanged, we picked the boys up and headed inside.

We opened the front door and were immediately greeted with a lovely warm smell of freshly ground coffee. The interior mirrored that of the exterior and it still felt very countrified. Being an old building, the ceilings were low, but gave it real a cosy feel. Jacob and Bruno had already picked up smells of the cakes and biscuits that were laid out on the front till point. Their eyes fixated on them, but they were soon distracted by the sound of a friendly staff member who welcomed us inside. Two ladies had finished their morning coffees and walked past us, having to stop mid walk to give both Jacob and Bruno a pat on the heads. The staff member handed us a menu and we took a look at what they had to offer. As it was 10:30am, we took a look at the breakfast menu. Immediately, the ‘pancake’ section jumped out at us and Jay had already made up his mind; ‘stack of pancakes topped with streaky bacon and a drizzle of maple syrup’ was his choice. Having a not so sweet tooth, I went for a safer (or boring, some might say) choice of a bacon baguette.

As we had Jacob and Bruno with us, the dog friendly section of the café was upstairs. We climbed the short staircase and got to the second floor. It had an even cosier feel upstairs, there were sofas, arm chairs, stools and mismatched tables filled in every nook and cranny which was rather appealing as there were plenty of places to sit with enough space from the people who would sit next to you. We think the boys had already chosen their seat by now, there was a two seater, blue and yellow checked sofa which looked very inviting. We took a seat and it felt like we were swallowed into the fabric, super comfy! Of course Jacob and Bruno made themselves comfortable and we took a moment to admire our surroundings. We loved how the café had catered for everyone, including our four legged friends. The dogs were allowed on the sofa’s for snuggles, but the place was clean. We wouldn’t have been able to tell that dogs had been upstairs previously. Although there weren’t any other dogs up there at the time, everyone up there were more than happy to see Jacob and Bruno and we heard many pleasing comments from other café goers. It was a really lovely atmosphere, one that you don’t always get when you have dogs!

Our food arrived, and Jacob and Bruno’s noses started to twitch, closely followed by their eyes widening when the food was placed on the table. No food for you boys we’re afraid! The layout of the food on the plate was kept simple which looked smart. We didn’t waste any time and tucked in. You sometimes don’t get that good a quality food from small independent cafes, but we were really impressed! The portion sizes were just right too! The bacon was a nice thick cut and tasted really fresh with a soft crusty baguette. The sweet pancakes and crispy bacon complimented each other well and the sweet maple syrup was a just what you needed for an explosion of taste in your mouth. We finished our food and were able to sit back and watch the world go by, through the little windows – full of character! Unfortunately, we needed to get back home, otherwise we could have stayed longer. We settled the bill and were given an equally friendly goodbye as we did hello.

We really enjoyed our visit to Pinnocks today, it was in a perfect location, the service was great, the food was wonderful and to top it off, it was dog friendly! If you are ever in Ripley, you should definitely pop in for a cuppa!

Thanks for reading – If you enjoy our posts, please don’t forget to subscribe via email and you’ll be notified when a new blog is uploaded!

Oli and Jay

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Doggy Easter Egg Hunt

noreply@blogger.com (Jacobnbruno) — Sun, 16 Apr 2017 19:11:00 +0000

Easter is a lovely time of year for humans as they get to meet up with family, have time off of work (for most people) and eat a ton of chocolate that they find Easter egg hunting! However, we don’t think it’s that great as we can’t eat chocolate… definitely not fair.

Although this is only our second time of experiencing Easter, we wanted to change it so that us dogs could have loads of fun! Last year we had to just sit by and watch the family run around the garden finding big fancy eggs, smiling and laughing together. This year, we wanted that to be us. We definitely had some thinking to do. How could a dog have just as much fun, if they can’t eat chocolate? To be honest, we are sure we wouldn’t like chocolate anyway, so we thought of something that we did like… din dins? Well, every dog loves din dins, but we get that everyday anyway, so it wouldn’t exactly be fun hunting for that. What about toys? Well, in a way that would be fun, but you can’t eat toys and we want to be able to fill our belly’s full and not move from the sofa for a whole evening. We guess we could do that with toys? Hmmm, on second thoughts, maybe not. Well, we love treats!? We think we’ve got it! Yes, treats would be a great thing to have to hunt, but how could we make it more Eastery? This is when we had a brain wave!

So, on a normal Easter egg hunt, humans would hunt chocolate eggs. To make our Easter hunt more like theirs, we thought we could still find eggs, but ones which had our favourite treats hidden inside! Oooh, how exciting! This would really make good use of our sense of smell and keep our brains engaged. The hoomans got our favourite treats (chicken bites) and placed them inside a BIG golden egg. Do you think it came from the goose? They firstly helped us out by letting us sniff the egg, so we picked up the smell, making it easier for us to pick up the scent in the garden. So that we didn’t cheat, our dad Jay took us into the front room so we couldn’t see a thing that was going on outside! Our other dad Oli hid the egg, but before he did, he rubbed it on the grass in different places, which again, would help us pick up the scent.

Once he had finished hiding the egg, it was time for us to find it! This part was the best part. Off we went, sniffing every blade of grass, over turned pots, flower beds, trees and even the cat (we thought he may have stolen it). It was super exciting and our tails were wagging at the speed of light. We used our sense of smell to pick up the scent our dad had made and in no time we found the egg! Our hoomans kept on saying ‘good boys’, we must have done something really well! The fun wasn’t over just yet, our hoomans did it again and again for us, hiding it in a different place each time. What great fun!

So what we thought would be a boring Easter Sunday for us, turned out to be the best Easter we’ve ever had. Getting us involved was great fun for everyone and was really different than your standard human Easter egg hunt. Considering we had never done this kind of thing before, we picked it up really quickly, so we’re confident any dog would have been able to do it. Even our big brother Toto got involved. We had so much fun having our own doggy Easter egg hunt. It was really easy for our hoomans to set up. They got a plastic egg from the supermarket, our treats they had already and it could all be done in the garden. If you don’t have a garden, you could always do this at the park too!

Why don’t you try your own Doggy Easter Egg hunt next Easter? – It’s so much fun!

Thanks for reading everyone

Jacob & Bruno

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