Beat The Heat

Living in Arizona with temps reaching up to 120° during the summer months, we have to get really creative with ways to keep the pups busy. Here are some of our favorite ways to do just that!

Basic Needs

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The Yeti dog bowl has been a game changer for us. Not only does it keep their water cool all day, it is so easy to clean! Ill never go back to regular dog bowls!

The Paw Soother & Snoot Soother have also been so important for keeping the pups healthy and happy. Just like us, dog’s noses & paw pads dry out in the summer. This is such an easy way to help keep them moisturized.

Enrichment Toys

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Keeping their minds busy to prevent boredom is key. These enrichment toys are all level 1 so dogs of all skill levels can enjoy these! You simply hide their favorite treat and watch them have fun while trying to figure out how to get it.

The Lickimats are such a fun way for the pups to get their treats! They keep them busy and they really have to work to get their reward! You can spread any dog safe treats on there and watch them go crazy to get it!

Chew Toys & Treats

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With a house full of super chewers, Benebone Chew Toys are our favorite. They are so durable and keep them entertained forever! We also love these silicone dog treat molds so we can freeze special treats that keep them busy and cool them down! There are so many fun dog friendly recipes on Pinterest that we use and love!

The post Summer Must Haves For Dog Lovers appeared first on Dogs & Design.

My master bedroom before & after might be one of my favorite rooms yet!! When purchasing our new home the thought of a 2 story master was a bit intimidating! I mean I’ve never even seen a 2 story master before! The room was so large and open it was hard to feel at home in here, however, after playing around with several different ideas I finally found a way to ground the room &  create a retreat to relax in at the end of the day. 

Master Bedroom Before

Here are a few pics to show you our first views of this space.

Post Paint

As You guys may remember from my previous post on my black fireplace makeover, I had my entire home painted Precious Pearls white by Dunn Edwards and all of my banisters and doors Black by Dunn Edwards before moving in. While these colors are GORGEOUS the home needed some warming up with wood tones (unlike these red tones) and some pops of color to really make it start feeling like our space.

Grounding the Room

With the tall ceilings and an opera house acoustic vibe in here, I was eager to get started on this space. Enter BOARD & BATTEN. Not only does it add a touch of character, I wouldn’t need to rent scaffolding to reach the actual ceilings in here. Instead, I created my own “ceiling” giving the illusion of a normal sized master bedroom & grounding the room.

Final Details

I still have a few finishing details to add in here such as the perfect chandelier that I’m still on the hunt for and a wallpaper installation on the staircase but I wanted to share with you guys the progress thus far! As for the upstairs portion…well that’s going to be my MASTER CLOSET!!! To say I’m excited about that space is an understatement!! It’s going to be a mix of closet, office, dressing room, and work out area! There is a ton of space up there & I’ll be documenting every step of the way, however, it is going to be on the back burner until my kitchen remodel is done. Hope you guys are loving this room as much as I am & I’ll link some sources for you guys below!!

Master Bedroom Sources

Paint Colors:

• Wall Color-Precious Pearls by Dunn Edwards
• Door Color-Black by Dunn Edwards
• Board & Batten-Salamander by Benjamin Moore

Window Treatments:

• Custom made by my mama & my favorite part of the room! Luxe Flannel Prints from Joann Fabrics in Gray Heather Plaid Luxe

Dresser & Nightstands:

• Ikea Hemnes Dresser
• Ikea Malm 3 Drawer Chest

Shoppable Details:

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The post Master Bedroom Before & After appeared first on Dogs & Design.

We wanted to share with all of our furriends our honest opinion about our 6 month trial of Barkbox! A lot of us are wondering the same thing – Is Barkbox worth it? A few of our dog parent furriends had mentioned how much they loved their subscription, so we took the plunge and signed up for our own. Here’s what we thought!

We signed up for Barkbox back in September with a free month we received from our furriend Rocky the Dobi! He’s kind of the coolest Doberman we know and we can thank him for getting us hooked! He always takes the best Barkbox photos! Talk about dog model goals!

Choosing your Barkbox

I’ll include my code at the end of this post which will give you your own free month if you want to try Barkbox for yourself! When your first sign up, you’ll get to choose what kind Barkbox is right for your dog based upon size, although we all know that one chihuahua that thinks they are a doberman.

All of the boxes are the same price regardless of size and shipping is always free within the US. You can also add an extra toy every month for $9!

Allergy friendly boxes are also available if you have a pup who suffers from any sort of allergies. For even more peace of mind, Barkbox only uses high quality ingredients that are all natural and free of wheat, corn, and soy and are made in the US & Canada. Next you get to choose what type of subscription you are looking for.

Once you’ve chosen your package, it’s time to get excited about the arrival of your first box! You can track it on the Barkbox app and the contents stay hidden so it’s a fun surprise for both you and your pup! If you really can’t take the anticipation and you absolutely need to know, they do have a “take a peak” option.

Opening Barkbox

We were so excited for our first month! It came with instructions on how to let your pup open it, which we thought was such a fun idea! We decided to let Heisman, our doberman, open the first box. She immediately shoved her whole head inside, dug around finding the toys, treats, & a chew stick, proceeding to take them out one by one! Once she found the chew stick, off she went! This gave us time to explore the box a bit. Not only does Barkbox cater to our furry friends, they also have fun activities for the pet parents! Each month is a different theme with different activities, toys, and treats based around that month. Some months included a comic strip, a treasure hunt, or a fill in the blank activity that you can then take a picture of your dog with and share on social media. I love being able to connect & meet new friends by using the specified hashtags each month! It’s so much fun seeing all the other pet parents and their pups showing off their goodies!

The Goodies

As I mentioned before each month is themed and includes an array of treats & toys. For example January was themed “Knights of the Hound Table” and included their own King Arfur, Turkey leg stuffed toy, and Friar Dogg’s Hearty Stew Treats! The hashtag that month was #KingArfur and included a cut out crown to take a picture of your dog in! Look up the hashtag to see all the cute pups in their crowns! February’s Barkbox was #ParadiseUnleashed Island themed, which was perfect since we’re all ready for some sun in our lives! Heres an example of the goodies & what they cost for the month of February.

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The total cost of the goodies comes to $44 this month, which easily outweighs the overall cost of the Barkbox! Not to mention the extra freebie goodies & no trip to the store! To us, that alone makes Barkbox worth it. This month we got “A Taste of Paradise” drink recipes with a frozen treat recipe for the pups!! Strawberry Pina Chew-Lada’s for the Pups & a Virgin Strawberry Pina Colada recipe for me! I can’t wait to try these out!

Pros & Cons

PROS:

• There are so many pros! First would be the excitement my pets get when I say “It’s Barkbox Day!” Watching them open it is priceless! #Barkboxday is the best!!
• I cannot say enough about the Barkbox customer service team. Any issues we had, such as a bag of treats the dogs just didn’t like, Barkbox was happy to swap it out and send us something different. Any quick questions we had were answered with their pawsome chat option.
• Healthy treats & chews are all made in the USA & Canada with only high quality ingredients free of wheat, corn, & soy.
• Allergy friendly boxes are available. My Westie has skin allergies and really appreciates this option!
• The cost alone makes Barkbox worth it. You definitely get more than your moneys worth every month, and some toys even included bonus toys! Hidden balls or smaller toys within the toy once it gets destroyed! Check out the #Destroyersclub hashtag to see some super chewers doing their thing!
• The Barkbox App also makes reordering a breeze. My pups fell in love with a toy that got destroyed and I was able to reference the month and click reorder! You can do this with any of the items toys, treats, chew sticks, you name it!
• You can also gift Barkboxes or earn Barkboxes by referring friends. The best part about earning them is that you can donate them directly to a shelter dog. We donate all of our earned boxes because if we can’t house all of the shelter dogs (believe me, I would have them all if I could), then at least we can help our furriends until they find their furrever homes!

CONS:

• I can’t think of many cons besides not being able to customize a multi-pet box. All 5 of my doggos share the 1 barkbox and I would gladly pay a little extra to customize it a little bit more. I hope that as Barkbox expands, this will become an option for multiple-pet families. Maybe even a Meowbox option for our feline friends!! For now my pups are just fine learning the valuable lesson of sharing is caring!
• The toys are made to be destroyed so if you have a super chewer you may want to upgrade to the Super Chewer subscription. Our doberman can destroy the toys within a matter of a day (if they last that long) however our little dogs can play with the toys for months! We still have a toy from Christmas going strong! Although destroyed toys is a Con for us humans, it would definitely fall under the Pro category for our pets, as that is their main goal when a new toy enters the house-destroy all toys. Especially when they have more toys hidden inside!

In Conclusion, Barkbox is Worth it!

We think Barkbox is more than worth it and just signed up for the 12 month subscription. We can’t wait for more fun goodies and meeting more pet furriends!! I’m also going to give the Super Chewer Box a try soon for my Doberman so if you have any insight on your experience with that option, comment below and let me know your thoughts! I would love to hear them! If you have any more questions for me please reach out, we are more than happy to help! We also want to share our code with all of you guys so you can get your own free month when you sign up for the 6 or 12 month subscription! Every Barkbox we earn goes straight to a shelter pet furriend!

To get your own FREE month use our Barkbox code:

VEGASWOLFPACK

Visit Barkbox.com to join the fun!! We can’t wait to see more of our furriends popping up in the monthly hashtags!

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