Healthy Pet Simply Feed Automatic Pet Feeder #Giveaway

We recently wrote about the Healthy Pet Simply Feed automatic pet feeder from PetSafe, and now that Rocco's had a chance to give it a test run, he wants to show you how it works.

The nice folks at PetSafe gave us one to review and they're also providing one for our giveaway today, so you have the chance to win this fully programmable feeder that will allow you to schedule feeding times (up to 12 a day) and the amount of food you feed at each meal (from 1/8 cup to up to 4 cups per meal).

Enter at the giveaway widget at the end of this post, but first, here's Rocco's test run with the Healthy Pet Simply Feed.

Happy 2nd Anniversary FitDog Friday #Giveaway ($500+ value!)

Rocco wishes you all a Happy FitDog Friday and thanks
you all for playing with us every week!

Today's a special day for FitDog Friday as we celebrate our two-year anniversary! Can you believe it's already been two years of celebrating being fit and active with our pups?

Along with our co-hosts SlimDoggy and My GBGV Life, we wanted to do something extra special today for all FitDog participants.

So today we bring you an extra special giveaway, valued at more than $500 and filled with goodies for both you and the active pup in your life!  Read on to learn how to enter. 

Enter to Win a Colossal FitDog 2nd Anniversary Prize Pack

Enter for a chance to win our FitDog Anniversary Prize Pack, chock full of active dog goodies, via the giveaway widget at the bottom of this post. On the widget, simply enter your name and email address to get started. There are a number of ways to enter. You can choose to enter as many or as few ways as you like.

One lucky winner will receive this awesome prize package valued at over $500!

Click each link to learn more about each prize! 

1. Beautiful ​earrings courtesy of For Love of a Dog: Three dimensional porcelain tennis balls and glass dog bone earrings are the perfect accessory for the dog lover who's pup enjoys flyball or a a good game of fetch with a tennis ball!
2. Pagoda Pet Fountain in Himalayan Blue from PetSafe: Encourage your pet to stay hydrated with this stylish, easy to clean fountain. Rocco loves ours and it looks terrific in our kitchen, too!
3. One package SmartCookee Treats: Y​our choice of three flavors. Yum! 
4. ​Jones Cutie Q Steer Sticks: Great for all size dogs - 100% grown and made in the USA. And as always, they contain no artificial ingredients.​ Rocco says a good chew is a must-have.
5. The Treat Pouch Sport from PetSafe is the perfect accessory for training, hikes or taking a walk around the neighborhood! We use ours to hold keys, a smart phone, treats, poo bags, cash and a clip on water bowl!
   
6. ​SlimDoggy hat and bandana: Look sharp for spring with a SlimDoggy hat and bandana!
7. ​Petnet Smart feeder: Feed your pets automatically with this smart feeder that takes the guesswork out of feeding your pet the correct amount. 
8. We love the Busy Buddy interactive toys from PetSafe and we've got THREE of them for you in this giveaway. The Busy Buddy Waggle has a flexible middle that waggles back and forth during play and the balls on either end randomly dispense treats for even more fun. The Busy Buddy Tug-a-Jug rewards and challenges your dog at the same time with its treat-dispensing container and rope for tugging. The Busy Buddy Jack  is a durable toy that holds treat rings for longer lasting play. When all else fails, these will keep Rocco busy for hours!
   
   Here's a look at all these terrific prizes! 

Special thanks to For Love of a Dog, PetSafe, SmartCookee Treats, Jones Natural Chews, SlimDoggy, Petnet for providing these awesome prizes for our FitDog Friday 2nd Anniversary giveaway!

Good luck!

Entry-Form

The fun and games continue every Friday with FitDog Friday, the weekly Blog Hop brought to you by To Dog With Love, SlimDoggy and My GBGV Life to promote a healthy active lifestyle for pets (and their people, too!). Join in every Friday by linking up your FitDog story or visiting the blogs in the Hop.

Dog Days at the #PetSafeSummit14

This week we've been in Knoxville, Tenn., at the PetSafe Blogger Summit where we've seen lots of cool things including some fun, interactive toys for plenty of FitDog fun!

We spent the day yesterday at PetSafe headquarters, learning about everything from fountains and dog doors to toys, treats and more.

We also got the chance to tour the University of Tennessee Veterinary School where we met with Behavior and Integrative Medicine specialists and toured the Rehab and Sport Medicine areas and Equine Center.

Our trip continues tomorrow, so we'll have more to report in future posts, but for today we'll give you a quick sneak peak at what some of Rocco's pals were doing today while the humans were busy learning about PetSafe's products and innovation.

The Busy Buddy toys were a big hit, including new Pogo Plush and Squeak 'n Treat toys.

Rocco enjoyed some Busy Buddy fun. And then shared his toy with Jake from Hiking With Fido.

PetSafe's campus is pet friendly so it was a lot of fun to be able to bring our pets with us!

During a tour of the PetSafe campus, Rocco and Gretel from You Did What With Your Wiener found a nice employee who was happy to share her treats with them while Sugar from Golden Woofs looks on.

Speaking of treats, Rocco and Sugar were obsessed with the Indigo treat table!

Thanks to Golden Woofs for this photo

Rocco was maybe a bit more obsessed than Sugar… ha!

We love lots of these PetSafe products for both active play and mental stimulation and we'll bring you more about these soon… maybe even another fun giveaway!

And, don't forget Rocco's Big Birthday Bash Giveaway! You can still enter to win more than $500 in prizes including lots of our favorite PetSafe products!

The fun and games continue every Friday with FitDog Friday, the weekly Blog Hop brought to you by To Dog With Love, SlimDoggy and My GBGV Life to promote a healthy active lifestyle for pets (and their people, too!). Join in every Friday by linking up your FitDog story or visiting the blogs in the Hop.

Rocco's Big Birthday Bash #Giveaway! More than $500 in prizes!

Today, Rocco turns two! And since he's had such a terrific year, he wants to give you all the chance to win one HUGE giveaway filled with some of his favorite things.

I know the list is pretty long, but all the items here are things we love and we hope you love them too! We've got it all covered -- from hydration and fitness to toys, treats, chews and grooming.

Huge thanks to PetSafe, DogTread, Paw it Forward, EarthBath, Petco, Zuke’s, Best Bully Sticks, The Company of Animals and Merrick for contributing the awesome products to Rocco's Big Birthday Bash prize pack!

Here's a look at the amazing prize pack Rocco's assembled for his Big Birthday Bash Giveaway! One lucky winner will receive this entire haul… a $500+ value, filled with goodies you and your dog are sure to LOVE!

Take a look at all these goodies and then enter via our giveaway widget at the bottom of this post!

For hydration

Most dogs and cats need about an ounce of fluid per pound of body weight per day.  Here's a way to help keep them healthy and hydrated.

We love our Avalon fountain in red!

We love the Avalon Fountain from PetSafe. It comes in both red and white and continuously recirculates and filters your pet's water, keeping it cleaner and fresher the a normal water bowl.  You can read our review of the fountain here.

For interactive play

Play is one of the most important things you can do to build your bond with your pup, and besides, it's just plain fun! We love these interactive toys to help stimulate and enrich the life of your dog… and you too!

We love Nina Ottosson toys at The Company of Animals for fun, interactive games you can play with your dog. The Dog Magic is a perfect way to start. It's relatively easy game for any dog to play, where they have to dislodge bones to access hidden treats. Treats can be placed under one, several, or all the bones to vary the difficulty.  We're also including a bag of Coachies Training Treats from Company of Animals, a perfect pairing with the Dog Magic.

Dog Magic and Coachies, the perfect pairing from The Company of Animals

We also love interactive toys that can be used for rewards, fetch and find it games! Two of our favorites are the Busy Buddy Rip 'n Tug Lotus and the Busy Buddy Rip 'n Tug Hammerhead Shark.

The Lotus is perfect for rewarding your pup for a job well done!  Fill the fabric pouch with your dog's favorite treats, close the fastener and use the toy as a fun reward. We like using it after an agility run or for throw and chase games! 

We've used the Hammerhead Shark for tugging, find it games and for attaching it at the end of a line for chase games.  We stuff it with tasty treats or kibble and Rocco goes to town with it!

The Rip 'n Tug Lotus and Hammerhead Shark are two of our favorite treat-stuffing toys!

Rocco LOVES his Tennis Tail. It's simply a Tennis ball and fuzzy squeaky toy all in one bundle of toss and fetch fun! He loves to chase it, bring it back and carry it around.

The awesome Tennis Tail

For conditioning

Rocco's been busy building out his dog gym and one of his favorite pieces of equipment is the K9FITbone from DogTread.  It's incredibly versatile… use it alone for balance and stability training or combine it with a second FITbone for even more challenges. It's a great way to build confidence and body awareness in younger pups too. 

Rocco has fun balancing on the K9FITBone and he likes to include it as part of an obstacle course too!

And, if you're feeling adventurous, you can use it for yourself to do planks (rest your forearms on the bone) or for glute lifts (place your feet on the bone and raise your hips while engaging your abs and glute muscles).

For grooming

Grooming is not one of Rocco's favorite things, but Earthbath makes it easier by making a whole collection of wipes you can use between baths.

This entire collection of convenient Earthbath wipes are included in Rocco's Big Birthday Bash giveaway!

I love using this variety of wipes for everyday grooming, and I also pack them in my bag for travel or for day trips. Even when we go hiking, I'll stash some grooming wipes in my bag for easy cleanup -- a necessity for a long-haired dog like Rocco!

These smell fresh and clean and they are made with all natural ingredients like Hawaiian awapuhi extract, aloe vera and vitamin E.

Treats and chews

Perhaps Rocco's favorite things in the world are his treats and chews.  He's assembled a few of his favorites to add to his Big Birthday Bash prize pack.

I've used Zuke's treats ever since I can remember. We love the healthy, natural ingredients and Rocco loves the taste. We're including three bags of Zuke's Supers and three bags of new Zuke's Genuine Jerky in our prize pack! 

You can read more about Rocco's love for Zuke's  Genuine Jerky and Supers in these reviews. 

Rocco will do anything for Zuke's Supers and Genuine Jerky!

There's nothing like settling down with a good chew and Best Bully Sticks has some of the finest. Included in Rocco's Big Birthday Bash prize pack are:

• Six standard, odor free bully sticks
• A one-pound bag of Yummy Yams Sweet Potato Dog Treats
• One medium split Elk Antler

Take a look of Rocco's review of Best Bully Sticks products!

Best Bully Sticks offers a variety of healthy long lasting treats and chews

Every dog needs a good dental chew, too. So Rocco's adding Merrick Brush Bones to his Birthday Bash prize pack. Merrick Brush Bones dental chews are available in a variety of sizes and are:

• Grain-free and gluten-free
• Made with all-natural ingredients, without sorbic acid or sodium copper chlorophylin
• Made in the USA; no ingredients from China
• Available in innovative shapes and textures to combat plaque and tartar and support fresh breath

For making you feel good

Getting out for a dog walk and doing something good for others are two things that can help make you feel great.  You'll get both from this adorable Paw It Forward matching set: collar, 6-foot leash and bandana. 

The Paw it Forward movement celebrates great dogs that are changing the world throughout their unconditional love, heroic actions and powerful inspiration. You can get involved by sharing great dog stories and by purchasing Paw It Forward merchandise, where 10 percent of all net profits support the specific causes of each individual dog or merchandise collection. 

Paw It Forward collar, leash and bandana set

Rocco wants to help make your pup a Paw It Forward Ambassadog by adding this cute set into his prize pack.  Collar and leash are available in Green or Blue webbing, with reflective ribbon for night walking. You'll be able to choose a collar size in small, medium or large and a bandana size in x-small or one size fits all.

To accessorize your walks and training

You need something handy to store treats, poo bags, keys, your phone, clicker and a little cash. We love the Treat Pouch Sport from PetSafe. Everything fits in this nifty little pouch and you can either strap the adjustable/removable belt through your belt loops or just clip it onto your pants.

We use the Treat Pouch Sport on all our walks!

Because everyone needs a little extra cash for pet essentials

Rocco's including a $50 gift card to Petco in his Big Birthday Bash prize pack so that you and your pup can take a little shopping spree for anything we might have missed! While you're there, check out the Petco Halloween selection filled with cute costumes and toys and the fun Star Wars toys!

We can think of lots of things to buy with a $50 Petco gift card!

Enter to win Rocco's Big Birthday Bash Giveaway! Value $500+!

One lucky winner will walk away with this entire multi-brand haul, a $500+ value from the folks at PetSafe, DogTread, Paw it Forward, EarthBath, Petco, Zuke’s, Best Bully Sticks, The Company of Animals and Merrick!

Keep it all for yourself or parcel out the items for all your doggie pals. You're sure to be the most popular dog in the neighborhood! 

Enter via the giveaway widget below. Enter as many or as few ways as you like. Just enter… or you won't have the chance to win!

Good luck!

Special thanks to PetSafe, DogTread, Paw it Forward, EarthBath, Petco, Zuke’s, Best Bully Sticks, The Company of Animals and Merrick for providing the prizes for this giveaway. All prizes will be shipped separately from each participating brand. 

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How Much Water Does Your Dog or Cat Need? #Giveaway

Rocco enjoys his Drinkwell Avalon Fountain by PetSafe!

It's pet hydration month and there's no better time to make sure your pet is drinking enough water. We've got a solution for you that Rocco just LOVES -- the Drinkwell Avalon Fountain by PetSafe. 

And today, here's your chance to win one for your own furry family members! Read all the way down to enter our giveaway.

But first, here are some important things to know about pet hydration.

You've likely read that you need to drink about 8-10 glasses of water a day. That actually can vary according to your size, diet, activity level and other factors.

But what about your pet?

The same types of factors apply to your pet, but generally speaking, a dog or cat should drink about an ounce of fluid a day per pound of body weight.

Check out some of these interesting facts from our pals at PetSafe.

So how can you ensure your pet gets enough water a day? One way is to make drinking fun!

Water is tastier from a fountain!

I really can't explain WHY Rocco thinks drinking out of a fountain is so much fun, but I CAN tell you that he will walk past his regular water bowl to the fountain to eagerly lap water from it's gently falling stream.

I enjoy the soft trickle of water in the background, and I like that the fountain filters the water and looks great too!

I found the Avalon Fountain easy to put together and clean, once I did it once or twice. I clean it about once a week (the recommended amount) to ensure that the motor and filters don't clog up. You'll probably want to purchase some extra filters to have on hand, so you have them when you need them.

This fountain comes with both a charcoal filter (which should be replaced every two to four weeks) and a foam filter (which should be replaced every four to eight weeks) to help everything run smoothly and keep the water cleaner and fresher.

Here's a really helpful video from PetSafe that shows you how to clean the fountain motor.

The fountain holds 70 ounces of water and it's best to keep it pretty full.  So I add about a glass and a half of water every day (about the amount of Rocco's daily requirement). If you have more dogs, you'll want to keep an eye on the water level and fill it more often.

How to win a Drinkwell Avalon Fountain by PetSafe!

The fountain comes in both red and white, you'll get your choice!  Enter by filling out the giveaway widget below. Enter as few or many ways as you like. But remember, the more ways you enter, the more chances to win!

Good luck!

PetSafe provide the Avalon Fountain for us to review and one to give away. Prize will be shipped to the winner by PetSafe. All opinions expressed herein are our own.

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Happy Fit Dog 4th of July!

First we hope you all have a wonderful and safe 4th of July holiday (if you're in the U.S.).  You might want to get outside and enjoy the day before the start of all those loud fireworks. They sure are pretty but they also are pretty much hated by dogs across America.

It's also the first full week of K9 Kamp, and we hope you're all playing some really fun backyard fitness games! We can't wait to see what you all are doing and try some of your games ourselves!

This week, we set up a backyard obstacle course, and had a little fun of our own.  We used a few items we had for agility and conditioning, and some of these are also in our colossal K9 Kamp giveaway prize pack.  Find more about our giveaway and enter here.

Rocco works on his balance and core conditioning on the K9FITbone. This is one of the really nice items in our giveaway prize pack, contributed by the nice folks at DogTread.  We also have been working on front paws and back paws on the FITbone. This item is so versatile I even used it myself to do some planks and hip lifts!

Behind Rocco is the FitPAWS Balance Disk, you'll see him spin around on it in the video below!

We've had this FitPAWS wobble board for a while and Rocco loves to bang around on it! I think it's what helped make him fearless on the agility teeter.

When designing a backyard obstacle course, there's no need to be fancy! We used this box that the FITbone came in!

Rocco learned his agility tunnels easily by using this tunnel from the Kyjen backyard agility kit when he was just a puppy. He still loves running through this fun play tunnel. Petco kindly donated this item to our K9Kamp prize pack!

This is what our course set up looked like. We added a few agility jumps too.

Take a look at Rocco in action! We got a few style points taken off, because for some reason on this day, Rocco didn't like the corner of the backyard where the first jump is placed.  We also typically take more time to balance on the FITbone, to help build strength, stamina and body awareness.

It also was a really hot day, so hydration and cool down was really important. After our run we headed in for a cool drink from our PetSafe Drinkwell Fountain. This one is similar to the one in our K9 Kamp prize pack, donated by the nice folks at PetSafe.

Rocco's pony holder matches the fountain! How funny is that?!

Special thanks to all our prize pack contributors: Petco, PetSafe, DogTread, For Love of a Dog, Jones Natural Chews and Smart Cookee.  Get more details about K9 Kamp and enter our giveaway here!

Happy 4th of July! Do you have any fun activities planned?

The fun and games continue every Friday with FitDog Friday, the weekly Blog Hop brought to you by To Dog With Love, SlimDoggy and Peggy's Pet Place to promote a healthy active lifestyle for pets (and their people, too!). Join in every Friday by linking up your FitDog story or visiting the blogs in the Hop.

Win an Awesome Dog Training Prize Pack from PetSafe!

We are super excited about today's giveaway! It's full of items that are both useful and tasty when it comes to training your pup!

Take a look at our rundown of what's included and then read all the way down to enter via Giveaway Tools.

PetSafe Train & Praise Treat Dispenser

We've been wanting one of these for a while and now you can win one! With the PetSafe Train & Praise Dog Treat Dispenser, the handheld remote activates the treat dispenser from up to 25 feet away, so good behavior can immediately be rewarded. 

You can use it to help train everyday good dog behavior like keeping your pet away from the door when a visitor arrives. And, you can also get creative with it and use it to train your pup to work away from you in agility. Check out our short training clip below. We're still dreaming up uses for the Train & Praise!

The Train & Praise alone retails for $79.95 so this is a giveaway filled with LOTS of value you won't want to miss!

FitDog Friday: When to Say No To Table Scraps

We received this nifty infographic that helps remind all of us that treats and anything "extra" like table scraps all count toward your pet's daily caloric allotment.

Of course that sounds obvious, but if 55 percent of U.S. dogs and cats are overweight then I'd say someone is being overfed and under exercised! It's kind of like saying that food eaten by humans standing up doesn't count. EVERYTHING counts, so make sure to help keep your pet healthy by measuring their food and counting in treats and snacks too.

Our FitDog Friday co-host SlimDoggy has a neat app that can help you keep track. Check it out here after you wander through the infographic and then, head on over to see all our other pals participating in FitDog Friday!

The "Overweight Pets" visualization was created and shared by PetSafe.



The fun and games continue every Friday with FitDog Friday, the weekly Blog Hop brought to you by To Dog With Love, SlimDoggy and Peggy's Pet Place to promote a healthy active lifestyle for pets (and their people, too!) and to help combat pet obesity. Join in every Friday by linking up your FitDog story or visiting the blogs in the Hop.

One Week Left to Nominate Your Town for a $100,000 Dog Park from PetSafe!

There's still time to nominate your town to compete in the third-annual PetSafe “Bark for Your Park” contest, which awards a total of $200,000 in funding for U.S. cities to build local off-leash dog parks.

To nominate a city, simply visit www.petsafe.net by May 31. Finalists will be selected based on the availability of land, civic leader support, population size and total number of votes from community supporters. PetSafe will select 15 finalists based on information provided by the cities, and each community must provide documentation of land availability and civic leader support to be eligible.

“If your city needs a dog park, you can’t pass up this opportunity,” said Randy Boyd, CEO and president of Radio Systems Corporation, makers of the PetSafe brand. “Some cities have been getting votes since May 1 when the contest opened, but finalists are not chosen based on the number of votes alone. If you can provide verification of land and support from a civic leader by May 31, your town could be considered for a finalist spot and could compete for the grand prize of a $100,000 dog park.”

Once you’ve nominated your city, supporters can vote daily on www.petsafe.net and PetSafe’s Facebook page. This video explains how the “Bark for Your Park” contest works.

On June 5, PetSafe will announce the finalist communities that will continue “barking” for their park by voting daily on www.petsafe.net and PetSafe’s Facebook page. The finalist city with the most votes will be named the “top dog” and win a $100,000 PetSafe dog park, and four additional pet-passionate finalist cities will receive $25,000 to put toward their local dog park plans. “Bark for Your Park” contest winners will be announced on July 31.

For more information and to nominate a city, visit www.petsafe.net.