A Dog Owner's Checklist: Taking the Best Care of Your Pet

No, I did not write this, but I do approve this message. Second writing in a week courtesy of Maggie Hammond, proud momma to two littles and one too many furry friends. Passionate about alternative medicine, the great outdoors and animal welfare.

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A dog easily and quickly becomes a key part of your life. Due to the long lifespan of dogs,
they will always be seen as additional family members for any household which has raised
and loved one. Dogs provide an abundance of positives, including a reason to maintain a
healthy lifestyle, love and devotion and simply a warm greeting when you arrive home from
an arduous day.

With this in mind, taking the best care of your dog is the least you can do in return. Here are
some of the key methods you can do so.

• Find a Dependable Vet

While all veterinary practices maintain devotion to caring for your dog in the best possible
way, sometimes it may be that you simply don’t feel confident within a particular place.

Perhaps your dog reacts badly to one veterinary office compared to another, or maybe you
prefer the layout of an alternative vet you have visited.

Don’t compromise on the needs and comfort of both you and your dog, and make sure you
take the time to find the best vet for your circumstances and location, in which you can feel
comfortable and confident, such as Cherry Hill vets who offer a variety of high-quality
services, too.

• Plan an Enjoyable Walking Route

No matter where you live with your dog, whether it’s a bustling city centre, on the outskirts of
a small town or a rural retreat, knowing precisely where you can get the best exercise for
your dog is paramount. Having a planned route means you always know where you’re going
and helps your dog to become familiar with its routine.

The best routes to plan include a place where you can let your dog comfortably off the lead
to have an adequate run, and where you can play with your dog, such as a large park or
field. Understandably, not all locations allow for this (such as busy city centers ) so it’s
important to check for the best routes near you which permit dog walking.

• Take the Time to Train Your Dog

In order to get the best out of your relationship with one another, dogs need to be taught to
understand acceptable behaviors and how to best deal with certain situations. Training your
dog as soon as possible – ideally from an early age if you are raising a puppy – means your
dog will be capable of understanding important commands, such as when to come when
called.

Lack of training can lead to difficult and reckless behaviors in dogs, as well as confusion
over authority.

• Engage in Routine Care

No matter the breed or size of your dog, routine care should always include the following:

• Regular grooming, washing and brushing
• Dental care, with special attention paid to gums, as well as providing dental chews
• Nail clipping
• Flea treatment
• Worming treatment
• Regular vaccinations
• Routine checkups

If you are ever uncertain about the right procedures for routine care or if you are having
trouble administrating certain treatments such as flea products or nail trimming, you should
always consult your veterinarian and ask for assistance – they will be happy to help.

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Happy Friday!

  

Yesterday from A to Z

All about yesterday using the alphabet as a crutch

Attempted to clear the dining room table and failed

Black and white striped shirt

Calendar updating

Dogs, duh

Empty office all day

Feeling like I'm waiting on something, but I don't know what that is

Got in bed before 9

Had a full list of pet peeves triggered by 8:47 a.m.

Irritable

Juggled projects

Kindle reading - The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates, an ARC from Netgalley

Lolled around on the couch reading an ARC of The Water Dancer

Manspreader on the morning shuttle bus. No, you can't take up 1.5 seats so I must squish into half of one

No afternoon coffee

Overnight resurfacing peel, the newest addition to my skin care ritual every other night. I think I like it bit I hate the smell

Put reusable bags in trunk of car

Quick list of what I need from the grocery store

Rain

Show Us Your Books - check out those posts

Tuesday. Do I need to expound?

Used dry shampoo

VRBO inquiry, now I only have one rentable weekend left for fall at the shore. Plenty of weekdays if you know anyone interested.

Washed dishes because I hate going to bed with dishes in the sink

eXited work promptly at 5

Years wasted thinking of a Y

Zoned out on the train

Thanks to Caitlin, who no longer blogs, for this idea. It’s been in draft since February 2017. 

A Day in the Life trying to be free of single-use plastic

Steph and I are joining in on Plastic-Free July and I hope you are in some way as well, whether you're going whole hog or just making one small change in your life. If you haven't joined in and want to, please do - it is never too late to make a small change that makes the world a little less wasteful. We decided to share Day in the Life posts. Mine is coming at you from vacation, where I'm out of my routine and away from a lot of my things that make it easier to not be so throw away. I did bring some of them with me, as you'll see below. If you are sharing a Day in the Life blog post with this sustainable bent or are sharing your day on your Instagram account, please let me know so I can check it out.

After sunrise on the beach, I take a bike ride, Swell bottle in tow. I go nowhere without water including down the street to my grocery store at home. I'd like to get some coffee on the ride but I forgot my reusable cup so I nix it.

Speaking of grocery store runs, Debbie and I had to make a little run. My reusable bags are always in my trunk so that was no thing. While we were in Food Lion, an announcement came over the store PA system about using reusable bags because they are a coastal community that cares. Check and check. Now can we get supermarkets to stop overusing plastic? Does every piece of fruit need a sticker? Packaging in general...don't get me started.

I did buy a drink at the store. When I buy drinks, I try to buy them in cans or glass bottles, which really cuts down the options, but I'm at the point where I feel so fucking wasteful with a single use plastic bottle that I end up not enjoying it so if I do buy it, in addition to a waste of resources it feels like a waste of money too since guilt ruins it. My standard beach setup is a full Swell bottle of water and a 30 oz faux yeti with ice and a metal straw.

We ran out to get a few things in two stores and I didn't bring a reusable bag with me so I just carried my stuff out. Debbie did the same.

I am super proud of my family this week. Not one freaking single use plastic water bottle in the house all week (there were some red solo cups). Debbie brought metal straws for everyone and those were used too.

We used and washed the reusable sandwich bags I brought with me - these were six for $12 and they are seriously great. You wash them and dry them upside down over a cup. Easy and a great replacement for ziplocs. Perfect to tote sandwiches and snacks to the beach and they seal well and easily.

 My brother delivered my drink to the beach in glass. 

Carol brought tupperware and tins with her that we washed and re-used, and it's a good thing, because the house lacked that. That was our biggest obstacle this week - we ended up using a lot of tin foil because there was no tupperware and a lack of dishes in general. 

I wasn't sure how I'd do this week - I'm a little looser out of my routine than I am at home, but I remained conscious of what I was using and I'm pleased. 

The Tuesdayest Tuesday of All Tuesdays

Yesterday

I got up late.

I had to run for the train.

I forgot my toast was in the toaster oven and nearly set the office on fire, calling on coworkers to help me wave the smoke out of open doors.  We spent the rest of the afternoon stinking of smoke and regret.

I locked myself out of the office just before leaving.

My train home broke down and we had to get off at the North Philly station to wait for another to come and pick us up. Eau de urine permeated the air. People stood in tight clusters of rage. It took me two hours and 10 minutes to get home.

Due to the toast incident, I forgot to order groceries so I pulled open the freezer and made the grossest honey chipotle crusted salmon for dinner. Then I undercooked the rice. MFD was all what is this I said it’s just for tonight, eat it and we will never speak of it again. 

I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to welcome Wednesday, and I have a lot of Tuesdayish Tuesdays under my belt. 

Let’s make this day better than the last, friends. In my case, it shouldn’t be that hard. 

Scenes from a Snow Day

Working from home is like a B-12 shot in the ass of my week: I gain two hours when I don't commute. Two freaking hours. It's the thing you dream about, gaining two hours in your day, right?

Work-wise, I start earlier and end later. I plow through things without distraction. I can change the laundry from the washer to the dryer on my way to the bathroom. And I can do it all in elastic waist pants.

There are no photos of me working in this post, because a) work is private and b) those pics would be boring. Not that these in between photos from a work from home day aren't. They're small, stupid things that feel delicious and decadent because I *can* do them during a weekday. At lunch, I wolfed down a sandwich and glanced through Real Simple at lunch, then I painted my nails (Essie penny talk) before meal planning for next week.

In the afternoon, I shoveled and salted, marveled at the sun coming out after the shitty morning, chased down the shutter that blew away with the ferocious wind, and washed the curtains the dogs rage peed on since I dared to be outside without them. And I did all of it in my polka dot pajama pants.

But the best part at the end of the day is not suiting up to go out in the cold, perhaps having to walk over human poop on the way to the station, pushing like a tiny fish in a huge school to actually get through the door and onto the train, sitting all squished with everyone in their winter coats and loud ass phone calls, then getting on the shuttle to the parking lot or hauling ass back to my car on foot.

Not having to commute helps my balance and gives me a sense of found time on those here and there WFH days.

When I work from home I can just walk over to the couch, kick my feet up, have it still be sort of light out, and know that my laundry is all done and folded and waiting to be put away upstairs.

Where it will sit...for a long time. Because putting laundry away sucks.

What would you do with two extra hours in a day?

I love the nightlife

Just kidding, I hate it. I am much more of a day person. This post is about how I spent my nights this week. I've covered the day before in Play by Play: My Day in Pictures. I copied this idea from Dani @ Faster than Forever, and you can see her post here.

I try to do the following things on weeknights because I don't want to spend my weekends cleaning:
1 - Spend 20 minutes on my daily dos, which means picking up around the house, putting stuff away, wiping down counters and baths, dealing with the dishwasher and laundry. I am usually successful at this five days a week.
2 - Tackle one small-ish task. Some nights I tackle zero and some nights I surprise myself and get a lot done.

You only see one mention of reading, but that's a nightly thing for at least five minutes before bed. I also turn on my Himalayan salt lamp and diffuse lavender oil. You might think these are woo woo things but I sleep solid as a rock since I got that Himalayan salt lamp.

Sunday night

1 - Setting up the outlines of blogs for the week and watching a lot of Shades of Blue
2 - Final kitchen cleanup, broke my coffee spoon rest and I'm keeping it anyway
3 - Sunday night ritual: mask
4 - While the mask is doing its voodoo, I lay out my clothes & bracelets for the week
5 -  The dogs come upstairs but are otherwise not interested in what's going on
6 - In bed before 9, always a Sunday night goal

Monday night

1 - First Mister Softee sighting, he drives by the house very fast because he has been at war with MFD for 10+ years
2 - Zumba. First time back in a few weeks and I was sucking wind.
3 - Villanova game. I couldn't fall asleep until 1 a.m. after that buzzer beater.
4 - I meant to do things after zumba but I basically sat on the couch all night with the dogs.

Tuesday night

1 - Finally assembled the burritos I made on Sunday for the freezer.
2 - Things that should've been on my wrestling a gator post: wrapping gifts. I am the worst at it.
3 - Did about an hour of work in the basement and unearthed this 1987-1989 notebook between me & Jen. LOL
4 - Geege hurt his paw when him and Mae got in a food fight and was limping around and being pitiful.

Wednesday night

1 - First week of flexing my hours to make a 6 pm zumba class on Wednesdays
2 - Things come home from the shore in that tote and
3 - Things get repacked to go back to the shore in that tote. MFD is heading down Friday.
4 - Picking up around the house, done pretty much daily. I didn't do Monday this week.
5 - Cleaned out the fridge. How does it get so grody?
6 - Cut up cantaloupe.
7 - Argued about politics and taxes at 10:30 p.m.
8 - I diffuse lavender next to my bed at night.
9 - Had to stay up until 12:15 to finish this book. I was over it.

Thursday night

1 - Vacuum upstairs. Blah.
2 - Record for over an hour with Jana and end up with...no recording on my side. I have no idea what happened but it stopped at 42 seconds. Sometimes technology bitch slaps you to remind you you are not the fucking boss. But a new episode of The Armchair Librarians did drop yesterday, so check that out! http://thearmchairlibrarians.libsyn.com/podcast
3 - I had other things I wanted to get done but the tech fail killed my soul so I painted my nails (Humidi-Tea) and read, both of which always make me feel better.

And today? Today is Friday. And it's Rex Manning Day, which is a cause for celebration.

What do your weeknights look like?