Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

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Meatless Monday – Be the Change 4 Animals #BtC4A

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She looks cute, right?

If I worked on certain farms, I need blinders for my eyes to keep from seeing awful stuff.

When I think of the factory farming that goes on in this world and the way animals are raised and treated, it makes me sick. So, whenever possible I buy humanely raised, humanely handled meat, preferably from a local farm. If that’s not possible, I go for free range. I refuse to eat pork and won’t purchase farm raised fish.

I really like the idea of becoming a vegetarian, but to date I haven’t been able to pull it off, which is why I participate in Meatless Monday. Basically, I’m going meatless for almost 48 hours. Because I don’t eat meat for breakfast, and my lunch is usually what I had for dinner the night before I manage to go from tenish on Sunday night until dinnertime on Tuesday without eating any meat. Roughly that’s about 44 hours. 

When I first started Meatless Monday I was only skipping my nighttime meal with meat. I was still having meat at lunch and cold meat at snack, but I realized I wasn’t ‘meatless’. So I stopped eating meat altogether on Mondays.

In the summer it’s super easy because I make salads for lunch and dinner and in the cooler months, I love homemade veggie soups or I stir fry some veggies and put it over rice, pasta or Quinoa.

If every one of us did just one meal differently, imagine what we could do.

It’s not the end game, but it’s a start.

When I look at all the things I want changed in the animal world it can be so very overwhelming, but if we each do a small part, we can really be the change. Blog the Change is a quarterly event where bloggers from all over write about our favorite animal welfare causes.

Together WE CAN BE THE CHANGE.

Thank you to our hosts, Kim from Cindy Lu’s Muse and Sue from Talking Dogs for this awesome blog hop. 

House Trained – Barks and Bytes

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I’m a big fan of Jackie Bouchard (Award-winning and USA bestselling author) and her books. (And Rita’s pretty sweet too, that’s her dog in case you didn’t know. And really, if you don’t know Jackie and Rita head on over to Pooch Smooches and start following her. I’ll wait.)

Jackie Bouchard and her beautiful dog, Rita.

Two beauties….Jackie Bouchard and Rita.

Jackie’s one of those super cool chicks. You know the one you want to sit down with and slam back a couple of Margaritas. I think Jackie and I have a similar sense of humor and it’s fairly likely we could get into a good bit of trouble if we could actually hang out. (Putting that one on my bucket list!)

I’ve read both of Jackie’s previous books and loved them both. Her characters are intense, and they have issues, which means they are human and they are all uniquely different.

So when I heard Jackie had a new book being released I was super excited. I tried to be all sneaky about it…”Um….Jackie…do you need any help promoting your new book?”

Truthfully I think she was on to me, but she humored me anyway.

“I was just going to ask you if you would be willing to review it.”

SCORE!!

It came in the mail a few days later.

“Guess what I have waiting for me upstairs?” I teased my mom. “Jackie Bouchard’s new book.”

“Hurry up and read it.” My mother spat at me. Okay, so she didn’t like spit, like a llama or anything, (she’s not that kind of mama!) But she sort of demand it.

I can’t blame her though. Dude let me tell you. This book grabbed me from the first sentence.

THE. FIRST. SENTENCE. And it didn’t let go until the last. It was that freaking good.

If you like books that make you laugh. This is the book.

If you like books that make you cry (just a tiny bit). This is the book.

If you like books with a bit of suspense. This is the book.

If you like books that make you think about yourself and your own actions. This is the book.

Okay. Like basically what I’m telling you is this is the next book you need to read.

Whenever I’m reading one of Jackie’s books, I feel like she’s writing me. You know what I mean? She captures the realness of a person and puts it into a character. Now, I’m not going to give a lot of this book away but I will give you this.

Two DINK’s (Double Income No Kids, for those that don’t know) that didn’t really want kids, and were quite content in their perfect little house, with their perfect dog, (Marie) discover that one of them has a child from a previous relationship. (Okay, it’s the husband because really…most women KNOW they’ve had a kid) and the kid HAS a kid!

I don’t know about you, but if my husband’s adult child showed up on my doorstep with a little baby….there’d be some serious adjustments (and maybe a little bit of slapping).  She didn’t bitch slap him though, just so you know.

Sometimes I sabotage myself. You know what I mean? I offer to do something, not really thinking of the consequences and work it will entail for me. And so that like happens in the book. The main character, Alex trying to be a good supportive wife sort of bites off a little more than she’s ready for when she invites the kid and the KID to stay with them temporarily.  Alex is a perfectionist and a neat freak, which most of you that have had kids know, it’s hard to mesh the two.

So they going from just the three of them to five and all the complications that go along with it.

And that’s it, that’s all I’m going to tell you with the exception of this. House Trained will be in select Walmarts nationwide starting next Tuesday! You can pre-order it on Amazon (available in Kindle, Paperback AND Audio!) (If you do order through Amazon, there’s a small chance I might get a commission on it, because I’m working on affiliate links, but I’m not sure if I did it right or not).  You can also order the paperback or Audiobook from Barnes and Noble (which we will NOT get a commission on).

Oh and just in case you’re wondering…this is what it looks like.

Available Tuesday, October 20, 2015!!

Available Tuesday, October 20, 2015!!

 

Heart Like a Dog

This is the Thursday Barks and Bytes Blog Hop hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like a Dog. Grab the badge and the linky code and join us! Please only link up blog posts and as a courtesy to the other hoppers, please add the linky to your post and/or link back to the hosts’ blogs.



Rocky’s Rollers Rock Our World #Sponsored

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This post is sponsored by Jones Natural Chews. I am being compensated for helping spread the word about Jones Natural Chews but Heart Like a Dog only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers. Jones Natural Chews is not responsible for the content of this article.

Due to some food allergies, I’m a gluten-free eater. Because I’m super conscious of what I put in MY mouth, I try very hard to monitor what goes in Sampson and Delilah’s mouths as well. (FYI, I don’t always do so well with the gutter snuffer.)

Whenever possible I look for grain free treats made in the US and produced by small companies. I want to support the little guy as opposed to some big corporation.

Which is why Jones Natural Chews fits so well into our lifestyle. Jones is a small, family run business that’s been in the meat business for over 150 years. About 20 years ago, Jones began making dog treats. In those 20 years, they’ve had two (yes, only two) recalls. Manufactured in their plant in Rockford, Illinois, in small batches Jones treats are all natural. Besides being grain free, most of Jones treats are three ingredients or less.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand reading a paragraph of ingredients. I like it simple and easy with words I can pronounce.

Rocky’s Rollers are one of Jones newest treats. They come in three flavors, Lamb, Beef and Chicken. These treats happen to have more than three ingredients. To give you an example let’s look at the lamb flavored.

Lamb, lamb lung, rye flour, glycerin, brown sugar, salt, liquid smoke, flavoring, natural mixed tocopherals (preservative), and rosemary all packed in a collagen casing.

A few weeks ago, we got a box in the mail. I was expecting some supplements so I just set the box down. But Delilah knew the box was not supplements.

Delilah "the nose" Stone said, "This ain't no supplement. My nose knows Jones."

Delilah “the nose” Stone said, “This ain’t no supplement. My nose knows Jones.”

Once we got the box open we discovered we’d received one package of each!

Three flavors, Chicken, Beef and Lamb

Rocky’s Rollers come in three flavors, Chicken, Beef and Lamb

While I was snapping pictures, Delilah thought she’d slip one over on me.

Dog gone, I wish I had opposable thumbs!

Dog gone, I wish I had opposable thumbs!

Once the dogs had thoroughly inspected the packages, I opened one up.

You guys…these treats look just like sausages.

Looks just like sausage links!

Looks just like sausage links!

These are BIG treats.  To give you an idea, I placed one next to a butter knife.

The roller is almost as large as a butter knife.

The roller is almost as large as a butter knife.

You can break them up into smaller pieces, but for training purposes I like them really small, so I use my kitchen snips.

Snip snip. Not what you think.

Snip snip. (Get your mind out of the gutter!)

Once we had some of the pictures out of the way, it was time to see what the dogs thought.

Delilah kept inching closer until she was practically on my lap. I couldn't hand these out fast enough.

Delilah kept inching closer until she was practically on my lap. I couldn’t hand these out fast enough.  (Excuse my pajamas…I like to be comfy when I’m being mauled for Jones’ Rocky Rollers.)

The next night we tried a different flavor. This was the beef flavored, I’m pretty sure you can see how much Delilah loved them.

Shark week is in July, not October!

Shark week is in July, not October!

Sampson is a bit gentler, but he was still anxious to get his share of Jones’ Rocky Rollers.

More Jones' sausages Mom, PLEASE!!

More Jones’ sausages Mom, PLEASE!!

The Jones’ Rocky Rollers were a big hit in our house. We’ve been using the Rocky Rollers when the dogs go to their places while we eat dinner. I cut them into quarters and the dogs each get two, so they are each actually getting half.

I love them because they are made in the USA, owned and operated by a family that’s been in the business for a very long time and takes pride and care in the product they make, and the ingredient base is limited.

One other thing I love about Jones, is they support Noah’s Ark Sanctuaries as well as their local homeless shelters and food banks.

Are you a fan of Jones? How would you like to try some Rocky’s Rollers for your dog(s)? Enter to win a package of Rocky’s Rollers by answering this question in the comments. What’s your favorite thing about Rocky’s Rollers?

Three lucky commenters will win a package of Rocky’s Rollers. Flavors are at the discretion of the sponsor. Giveaway is open until October 27th at midnight (eastern standard time). Winners will be chosen by random.org and announced October 29th.

This is the Tasty Tuesday blog hop hosted by Kol’s Notes and Sugar the Golden Retriever.

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