Tag Archives: Product Reviews

Lexxie puts safety first

Lexxie wears her Flashing Safety Vest

Like most dogs Lexxie loves going out for a walk in the park, but her dark coat makes it very difficult to see her even when she is quite close by.  To complement her lighted collar, she now wears a Safer Life Flashing Safety Vest which has a lighted band and reflective detailing and paw prints.

The lighted band is situated right across the back of the dog, giving it a wide angle of visibility.  Plus, it prevents the hair on long coated dogs from obscuring the light, as can occasionally happen with lighted collars.

Lexxie’s mum is pleased with the result.  “We are delighted with the vest and would have no hesitation in recommending the product. It has actually encouraged me to get out more on those dark nights, I can let Lexxie off in the park and see her, the reflective motif is also highly visible along with the light.”

Lexxie looks pretty happy too, and very dapper indeed!

The Chase

Daisy test drives the new Ring Catapult by Trixie!

Daisy loves a good chase.  When it’s not the swallows, it’s Archie. When it’s not Archie, it’s the cars driving past the croft, and she tries to time it so that she reaches the end of the field at the same time as the vehicle to give a triumphant bark!

We rarely get people walking down our lane but we do get the occasional cyclist and she will canter along next to them on her side of the hedge shouting loudly all the way.

One of her favourite toys used to be the fling-a-ring (a thin plastic ring which is great for rolling). We taught her to hand it to us so that we didn’t need to bend down to pick it up but it was usually covered in slobber or other unspeakable substances, given that the sheep often have access to the field. When we saw the Dog Activity Ring Catapult, we just had to try it.

We weren’t too sure about it at first, as the catapult itself didn’t look too capable, but just one fling and we were converted immediately.  As was Daisy.  The ring flew really well, and even when it landed it bounced on for a while.  It probably would’ve gone even further if the grass was shorter, but sacrifices have to be made for our hay crop.

If you can get the ring at the right angle, you can slide it back into the catapult without even touching it (hooray!).  It can be a bit fiddly at first, and small feet are probably an advantage here, but with practice it would get easier.

The ring, a fairly lightweight vinyl, is probably not suitable for dogs that like to chew as they retrieve, but thankfully Daisy doesn’t really do that provided she is encouraged to return it straight away and to release it.  If left to her own devices it would probably suffer a little.  Thankfully there are replacement rings available in case of accidents…

Click here to see a video of Daisy in action (our first session)!

Alternatively, see it at YouTube here (opens in a new window).

The Great British Bark Off!

You can’t beat a bit of home barking, sorry I meant baking….

I love a baking challenge and when Oggi’s Oven Baking Mixes arrived on our doorstep, I couldn’t resist the temptation, much to the delight of our hungry dogs!

There are 3 varieties available, Scones, Biscuits and Cakes.  It’s great to hear that they are all free from artificial colours, flavours or preservatives, made from human grade ingredients and 100% British.

The packets contain the mixes ready to go, all you need to add is water and/or vegetable oil and the Biscuits and Scones come with their own cutters.  Full instructions for all are included on the box so now there’s no excuse not to get baking.

Scones (with paw cutter):  No need to use a mixer, I stuck with a bowl and spoon as suggested and was pleasantly surprised to end up with a lovely soft dough and less washing up!  I rolled it out to what I guessed was about 6mm and found that I didn’t have quite enough to make the 14 scones stated on the box, instead I ended up with 12.  Luckily that was enough to divide evenly between our 3 dogs.

They cooked quickly and rose slightly.  When I took them out of the oven, they smelled delightful.  The dogs were hanging around hoping I may drop one or two but no such luck.

Biscuits (with bone cutter): Once again it was easy to mix straight from the packet but this time it was a much stiffer dough to roll out.  At first I wasn’t sure about the cutter as the bones seemed to stick inside, but a firm tap was all that was needed to release them.  I managed to get 24 bones from the mix rather than the 20 stated on the box and they were nice and chunky just the way the dogs like them.

Cakes:  For the cake mix there are a couple of suggested options, either a 12 bun tin or a 7″ cake.  I chose to use cup cake cases in my bun tin. These need to be removed before serving as I’m sure our dogs wouldn’t bother and would wolf the whole lot down.  I thought that the cup cakes cases were a bit on the big side, our dogs have to watch their waistlines, just like us, so I used some of the mix in petit four cases.   They were more bite size and would make a better training treat.

I was a bit confused by the mixture, expecting it to be of pouring consistency like a normal cake mix.  Instead it was like chewing gum.  I thought maybe I’d not added enough liquid but I’m sure I followed the instructions to the letter.  I carried on regardless and dolloped the mix into the cases safe in the knowledge that the dogs wouldn’t complain if they weren’t perfect (unlike some critics I know, no names mentioned!).  Despite the thick mixture they cooked OK, apart from the fact that I didn’t get the domed rise you would expect to see on a cupcake, instead they remained rather “rugged” looking, more like a muffin.

The verdict:  All three mixes were quick and simple and cooked perfectly – no soggy bottoms there.  Since they state human grade ingredients, we were keen to taste them ourselves.

The scones we found slightly sweet, despite claiming to be savoury on the box.

The biscuits I thought tasted a bit meaty but this may just have been my imagination.

The cake, again was rather sweet and very “cakey”. As suspected the smaller ones were better as quick bite.

Overall, I think they are ideal for a bit of a doggy treat.  The bones would be the better choice if you were going to use them for training, you could always add a bit of smelly cheese to the mix to give them some extra incentive!  Good fun and an ideal gift for any dog loving friends.

And what did the dogs think?

Well there were no turned up noses, they were keen to try all three, although Daisy was reluctant to let anyone else join the tea party.