Don't forget about the furbabies

This post brought to you by Nutrish. All opinions are 100% mine.

Before Baby Blogworthy was born, our animals were our babies.

Hubby and I are animal collectors. We're borderline animal hoarders over here. We moved to Florida with two cats and one dog and have adopted two more cats while we've lived here.

Like most couples with no children, we doted on our pets and called them our furbabies. We'd talk about them when we went out to dinner. I can't tell y'all how many times we had the "What do you think the cats are doing?" conversation.

Our dog was especially babied. She's a sweet little Jack Russell/ Beagle mix named Truffles. This dog has seriously she's been through a lot. She had a skin condition when she was a puppy and had gone through three leg surgeries before her first birthday. She's always been terribly loving, quiet, well-behaved and cuddly.

Lately she's been super duper depressed. Actually, since that screaming, crying little bald thing came into our lives, or approximately December 1, 2010. We call her Prozac Dog 2011. She said Prozac wasn't strong enough.

When Nutrish contacted me with a sample of Rachael Ray Nutrish just 6 dry dog food for my puppy to try, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to baby our furbaby. She'd get a treat and the chance to star in her own blog.

Just 6 dry dog food is a premium dog food with six natural ingredients, plus vitamins and minerals. According to the website, the dry dog food also contains no by-product meal or fillers and:

• No corn. No wheat. No soy.
•  No artificial flavors or artificial preservatives.
• 100% complete & balanced nutrition for dogs. 

Much better than the Walmart special she usually gets.
The sample came in the CUTEST packaging:
  

She needed a new bowl! And as a bonus, Hubby tied the ribbon around his head like an awesome bandana.
We are always anxious when we give her new food. How will her little tummy handle it? Will she like it? Cause ain't nothing worse than spending $30 on a big bag of dog food and then having your dog turn up her nose.

So you can imagine how excited I was when she gobbled this stuff down like it was a turkey dinner:

We typically don't feed her a ton of food when she eats because of her bionic legs and our concern that she's gonna get porky (stress eater over here), so we only gave her part of the bag. She kept sniffing around and tapping our arm until we have her some more.

If Truffles could talk, I think she'd say, "This Nutrish just 6 brought me out of me depression for 4.5 seconds. Yummo!"

Want to let your dog have a taste of the good stuff? Grab your free sample and let them see how the other half lives!

Snuggies: No longer just humiliating for humans

A few weeks ago, Jamie Tweeted that she wanted to get a small dog just so she could dress it in a dog Snuggie.

Now, dogs are a big responsibility. Like on the scale of most responsibility to least, it goes like this:

Most

• Children
• Dogs
• Husbands
• Plants
• Cats
• Fish

Least

Jamie, you don't have to buy a small dog and dress it in a dog Snuggie because I did it for you. You're welcome. All of you are welcome. She seemed pretty pumped about my rad dog and dog Snuggie and wanted me to blog about it, or at least that's how I took her excitement.

I am admitting here and now for all the blogiverse to see that we are proud owners of a University of Kentucky Snuggie. I was not sold on the idea of Snuggies. Then my hubby decided he needed that UK Snuggie more than anything in the whole world and would pretty much cease to exist right then and there if he didn't order it (this is pretty common at my house). So then we had a Snuggie. And like Lays potato chips, you can't have just one.

We decided to get a Snuggie for my Mom, sister and our dog, Truffles. If we were going to be humiliated with a thin, backward robe, then we'd all be humiliated together. Get enough shame in one room and it just cancels out.

So enjoy these pictures of my dog wallowing in complete, total abject mortification.

"My shame is unbearable. Please tell me I'm adopted." (You are.)

Sister with Truffles, sporting their Snuggies.

 Which one of these two living things willingly put on a Snuggie? I'll give you a hint: It isn't the one who eats cat litter and chases squirrels. Truffles is all, "If I look super cute at the camera, they will totally take this thing off me." Nice try, Truff. 

Snuggie party! Only cool people invited. And dogs.

This was taken right after we opened up Christmas presents and Mom and Sissy got their own Snuggies. So of course we had to take pictures in our Snuggies because we're awesome like that. Like how we're all pointing to the dog? Truffles is obviously just trying her best to get through this terrible time in her life but we're calling attention to her with all the pointing. 

When we'd put that thing on her she would get SO hot. Like the dog Snuggie really did what it was intended to do and then some. She'd usually just sit wherever she was when we Velcroed it on and would lay exactly like she is laying in the picture above and just pant up on a freaking storm. It's not funny except that it totally is funny.

And I think it's pretty clear that as soon as I have children, they are getting dressed in ridiculous outfits, pretty much from day one.

There you go, Jamie, hope it's everything you dreamed it would be (go check out her site: Daydream Believer; she blogs about spam mail and shaving. LOVE it.)

Just a man and his dog

I think this photo is super sweet. It's from our first trip with Truffles to St. Augustine Beach a few weeks ago.

When we found out we'd be moving to Florida, Kelsey and I promised Truffles that we'd take her to the beach. A few months after we settled in, Truffles injured her knee, which began 4 months of surgical procedures, constant medication and lots of unwanted rest for our poor pup. Have you tried to keep a year old puppy from jumping, running and playing? It's like saying, 'hi, sun? you're a little too hot today, why don't you just stop shining'. Obviously, no beach for her for awhile.

So, this picture means so much to us because of what Truffles has been through. We finally fulfilled our promise to take her to the beach, and after all the pain and stress, she's able to take a walk on the beach with her favorite people. I mean, all she wants in this world is to spend time with us. Don't you wish life was that easy?