The smallest things make the dog owners happy

It feels really good to be home again. We spent seven days dog-sittering my sister's Dachshund in Viiala while she was on a holiday trip with her family. We lived in their house, but we also visited my parents every day since they live so close. I can't remember when I spent so much time with my family without them driving me crazy. Anyway. My sister's Dachshund is called "Pipa" and she's actually named after Papu. Papu, Pipa and Poppana are the Finnish names of the Powerpuff Girls (they tried to make my mother to name her Dachshund as "Poppana", but she named her "Minni" instead).

Papu and Pipa didn't get along so well at first and I was a bit worried how the week would turn out. It turned out that I had no reason to worry. Even though the start was a little bumpy, the dogs actually became friends really quickly. Papu even learned new ways to play while being with her! She didn't know how to play tug of war when we got there. She just tried to take the toys away from the others and didn't understand that the battle is actually part of the play too. We thought that she could still learn, so we gave Papu and Pipa some tug toys and encouraged Papu to tug them instead of stealing them. She got the idea after a while and once she learned she seemed to play really nicely with the others. We didn't have to worry about her being too aggressive anymore. We were so proud of her ability to learn new ways to behave.


They are almost identical. The other one is just fatter.

We weren't actually sure if Pipa was allowed to go on the sofa. I asked my sister if she had any specific rules and she said no. And since Pipa climbed on the sofa by herself, we thought that maybe she was allowed to and let her be there. Besides, it was only fair because Papu is allowed to go on the sofas too. And we were smart enough to take the white sofa covers away before the dogs started to wrestle on it...

I also finally finished Papu's rain overall! I started to sew it over a month ago, but I didn't manage to finish it because I didn't have metallic push-button. I knew I had them at home so I didn't want to buy new ones. And my sewing machine that I have at home doesn't sew this particular fabric.


"Today I'm wagging my head instead of my tail."

The rain overall was really hard to sew. Once again I had problems with the pattern. Even the most smallest size was for a bigger dog than Papu, so I needed to resize it dramatically. It took one whole day before the pattern was in correct size. And even after I got the patterns, the sewing instructions were hard to understand. Even my mother didn't understand how the overall was supposed to put together. It turned out pretty good after all, but I'm not particularly happy with the sleeves. They fit strangely and I'm worried that Papu might find them uncomfortable.

I also have great news for Finnish dog owners! Best Friend has replaced their regular dog waste bags with degradable ones! I have wanted to use degradable waste bags since we got Papu, but since they cost over twice as much than the regular ones, and because they were made from see-through material (who actually wants to see the poop after it's been picked?!), we decided against it. But these new waste bags by Best Friend cost exactly the same as the regular ones used to, and they are totally not see-through! And they even come in two different sizes!

With carry handles.

Totally not see-through. Hello invisible dog poop!

And do you what else in these dog waste bags makes me so excited? The fact that when you go to the regular grocery store to buy dog waste bags, you can only buy degradable ones. That means that within months almost all the dog owners are using degradable dog waste bags... How awesome is that?!

Not for picnics only

In a recent Papu-video J.R. was seen with a basket and it raised some questions. Apparently it was quite funny to walk out with a basket in the middle of the winter, when there are definitely no picnics outside. But the basket is not for picnics, it's for grocery shopping.

Shopping basket is another environmental choice by us, though now you might wonder why we don't use canvas bags like everybody else. News for you: they're just not as handy. When you walk to a store, you have basically two options: You can pick one huge family-sized shopping cart or you can choose one big dirty (they're always dirty!) plastic basket. Not very appealing. But ha! We have our own perfectly sized clean shopping basket with us. And you walk out with the very same basket. Very convenient.



I got the basket from my mother as a birthday gift. She wanted to give me a really nice basket, because she knew that I wanted one, but she couldn't find one at the time. I don't mind, because I've been really happy with the one I got. The fabric lining is really nice. The basket was also filled with cheap groceries when she handed it to me. Those are obviously long gone.

I know that some of my friends don't actually see me as an environmental friend, and in some cases it can be quite true... For example I recycle paper and carton because the box where you put them is right outside, but not cans because they require a separate trip to the shopping mall's parking lot. It seems that I'm environmental friendly only when it saves money and doesn't take much effort. Do I still get to heaven?

Raising a greener dog

Papu eats a lot of canned food with her kibbles, but since she's so small, one 400g can lasts for three days. I used to wrap the cans in small plastic bags, but soon I realized that it's not going to be so environmental friendly. One plastic bag in three days makes 122 plastic bags in a year. That's a lot of waste, so I just had to find an alternative.

I saw silicone lids in Modern Dog magazine, and I knew that would be a good solution. There was just only one problem: I couldn't find them from the stores near us. I searched through them all, but nothing. Eventually J.R. had some business in Helsinki and found some from Stockmann:


They come in a set of three.

And gosh aren't they handy! They are really easy to use, a lot easier than plastic bags, and they fit perfectly. I can be sure that Papu's food will stay as fresh as possible. And they look nice too:


Yes, there is a digital clock and a plush cow in our fridge.


Papu likes the lids too.

I don't know if the lids are really a greener alternative, because I don't know how much environmental resources it takes to make them, but at least we make considerably less waste now. That got to help something, right?

Papu has also found a new hobby. She figured out how to see out, and now she's watching our neighborhood all the time. It's kinda cute actually because she seems to take it quite seriously. I don't mind that she has activities like that, since she doesn't bark when she does that. She just guards.

What's there, my friend?

PS: There is actually a blog about how to raise a green dog.

Papu's Piggy Treats

We are going to Viiala for the weekend, so we decided to bake some doggie treats for my mother's dachshund. Papu has eaten almost all the treats I baked her last time. I thought they were too hard, but after all they weren't. They were just hard to crack into pieces. I bought a smaller cookie cutter so the size shouldn't be a problem anymore. J.R. also rolled the dough thinner this time, so they should be easier to crack too. And now it seems that we have a perfect, simple doggie treat recipe, so why not to share it with you? Here it is:

Papu's Piggy Treats

Makes 25-30 small treats

List of ingredients:

• 30 grams of minced meat (that's not much)
• 1 tbsp of vegetative oil (quite optional if the minced meat is not low-fat)
  
• 0,5 dl of consommé (about 0,2 US cups)
  
• 1,75 dl of wheat flour (about 0,7 US cups)
• 0,75 dl of cooked rice (or barley or a mix of both) (about 0,3 US cups)
• 1 tsp of oregano

Doggie treats before baking.

Making:

1. Fry the minced meat.
2. Use a hand blender or similar to chop and mix the minced meat and consommé.
   
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Add the flour little by little until you think it makes a nice dough.
   
4. Roll the dough (0,5cm thick is OK) and cut the cookies.
5. Bake in 170°C (338°F) for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes turn off the oven, open it a little and let the cookies dry in the after heat.

If preserved in an airtight jar or similar, the cookies should stay good for months.


Doggie treats after baking. They still look the same, no surprises here.

They don't look so yummy to me, but Papu is crazy for them. Maybe she knows that we have baked them with love. They don't really smell that much, and I'm not sure if they taste so wonderful either, because I have not tasted them by myself (though I could, they're not poisonous).


She wants it. She wants it really bad.


Outside the picture Papu's tail is wagging like crazy.


FINALLY!

After these two experiences with DIY doggie treats, I'm very positive that I will bake them in the future too. Like why not? Papu loves them more than she loves her commercial doggie biscuits, they're cheap and very, very easy to do. Just make some Chili con Carne or any other food with minced meat and rice and take some aside and bake the biscuits later. So ridiculously effortless!