I like to fill the dogs marrow bones with peanut butter in the morning to keep them busy while I am having breakfast. I keep the peanut butter in the refrigerator, so that it is harder, and knife it into both sides of the bone. This keeps them busy for about 10 minutes if I am lucky. I like to watch the creative ways they try to get the peanut butter out of the holes. I have tried many other things in the bones: expensive Kong filler stuff (blah! and not much for the price), Cheese Wiz (to many chemicals and sugar and salt – I realized that I wouldn’t eat it, so why would I give it to them). whipped cream (it disappeared into the air), processed cheese pressed in to the hole (really hard to do and harder for them to get out (actually almost impossible for Sofie)). In the end, there is nothing that replaces good old peanut butter. They sure do enjoy those peanut butter bones.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤ 
Tags: Animal, animals, Bones, cute dogs, dog, DogDaz, Dogs, nature, Peanut butter, Pet, pets, postaday
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Did you ever try to hold your phone camera and give the dogs a spoon at the same time. Sorry for the fuzzy pictures, but I am not very good at this. Every meal when I feed the zoo, I do the same thing. All 7 are milling about the kitchen, whether morning or night. I tell them it is feeding time, and Stella and Nine run down the hall to the kitten room and jump over the dog barrier and I shut the door behind them (with me still in the hall). Now, I head back to the kitchen. I take the left over food cans from the frig and set the on the counter. Muffin is always helping, so I open a can of cat food to keep him busy. I take out the spoon, spoon some wet food into the dog bowls and scoop a cup of the dry from the canister on the floor. Mix with water and Valhalla! – dog mush. Then I make them sit and wait until I say ‘Let’s eat!,’ at which time they chow down at the dog feeding area and I go back to the counter. I pull out 3 bowls and mix up the 2 different wet and kitty crunchies, with lots of water, and, using the dog spoon, scoop about 2 tsp into each cat bowl. They all have their places, Muffin where he started helping me feed the dogs, Noel in the window box, and Kitty on the table. Now it is time for the kittens (dogs are done now since they tend to ‘wolf’ their food). I proceed down the hall, with dogs in tow, but enter the kitten room leaving dogs in the hall. The kittens run to their feeding spot and help me scoop out the kitten wet and dry mix, add water, and Valhalla! again – more mush. Leaving the kitten room, I return to the kitchen with my spoon and two very happy dogs who would like to clean that spoon for me. They sit, and then Lulu gets a lick, and then Sofie, and then sometimes they each take a side. Two dogs – One spoon. 7 dinners.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, Cat, cat and dog, dog, DogDaz, Dogs, kitten, nature, Pet, pets, postaday, Spoon
On 20 June I was lucky to received wonderful awards from I Adopted A Dog – Now What? and 
Dear Kitty. Some Blog and Lulu Belle was nice enough to answer them and say thank you while I was away. Thank you from the human for acknowledging us. We so appreciate your support.
So now that I am catching up, the following bloggers get to pick one of the above awards for their very own, as well as proudly display that you are the DogDaz PICK OF THE LITTER!
Thank you all for wonderful reading – here is the current DOGDAZ PICK OF THE LITTER:
Long Life Cats Dogs
The Pawsitive Thinker
Clowie’s Corner
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, Blog, dog, DogDaz, DogDaz Pick of the Litter, Dogs, postaday, Site Awards
Lulu likes the Cherry tree. I worry that the dogs will eat the cherries and choke on the pits, but they don’t. She likes to sniff the cherry tree and also sniffs the grape leaves a lot. Not sure what she is smelling but whatever it is, she really likes it. The little cherry tree is home to most of our bird houses. It is the only tree in the yard with branches low enough for us to hang the little houses on. Cherry tree gives us some really tart little berries, but they get sweeter the longer they last on the tree. That is a problem however, since once they get ripe, in fly all the birds in the neighborhood, and “Puff,” the cherries are gone. We are so lucky because we have cherries (for a moment) and raspberries (for about 2 weeks) and grapes (all summer but they are really sour). 
The raspberries are so wonderful and every morning when I take the dogs out back I pick a handful of berries and slowly taste the sweetness of each one, since they are a rare gift and they only last a short time.
We also got our first tomato the other day. That was such a nice surprise. That was the ‘early girl’ which ripens sooner than the others. The dogs don’t seem to care much about the vegetables, which is funny because they really like to play with the compost. Veggies must only be fun when they are mushy and rotten. The box turtles like to hide under the tomato bushes and always seem to help themselves to the bottom crop. One plant for us and one for the animals, I always say.
Thank you ‘Cosmic Whatever,’ for giving me the fruits on the vine and Louise the Cherry Tree to sniff.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, Cherry Tree, dog, DogDaz, Dogs, Pet, pets, postaday
While I was gone, V bought the dogs a giant green Carrot toy. They just love it. We are always looking for fun toys that last more than one day and are hard for two dogs to rip apart in a matter of seconds. I think it is so cute when they both hold on to the same toy and run along side each other. This has become the toy of the moment for sure. It is here in my office now and Sofie is sleeping on it. Earlier today Louise kept bringing it to me and squeeking it: Pull it Mommy, Pull it! New toys are always a novelty. I never know which toys are going to really make the dogs happy, but when I find one, maybe I should run out and get another one immediately because of the inevitable end – stuffing everywhere. I wonder where V bought it?
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤ 
Post Script: Just found fluff all over the floor of the living room – you know what that means – now it is a flat carrot.
Tags: Animal, animals, cute dogs, dog, DogDaz, Dogs, Pet, pets, postaday, Toy
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Istanbul, Turkey is a beautiful city. The city is actually where the European and Asia continents meet and is divided by the
Bosphorus Strait. A fishing town, you would expect to see cats. But there were
feral cats everywhere. In all the outside spaces and many of the indoor also. The street dogs, though I did not get to take many pictures because mostly I was being whizzed by in the Taxis that go way to fast, seemed to be of Shepard, working dog, type bodies, with brown and black short fur. “One estimate is that in Istanbul, a city of 11.3 million people, there are at least 150,000 free-roaming dogs. Rabies is endemic in Turkish dogs and every year there are a small number of people who die from the bites of rabid dogs. The Turkish federal government passed a law a few years ago requiring cities to control the roaming dogs. But as in America, few cities have all the resources they need to effectively control the loose animals.”
(Managing-street-dogs-cats-turkey)
I was really glad to see stray dogs with ear tags. It made me realize that the city may have a “trap and release” program to spay/neuter/vaccinate strays. I checked and it does and I think that is a great step in the right direction, especially after reading about some of the shelter tragedies in Turkey. Unlike Americans, the Turkish people appear to tolerant the free-roaming animals. I assume that has a cultural basis due to religious heritage and current beliefs. Until this trip, and I travel a lot, I never really thought about another countries challenges with animal control, this is a huge problem worldwide. In Istanbul there appeared to be a calm coexistence (I did not see even one cat/dog fight). Lessons from the street animals of Istanbul.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animal awareness, Animal welfare, animals, Bosphorus, Cat, cats, dog, DogDaz, Dogs, feral cats, Istanbul, Pet, pets, postaday, shelter dog, street dogs, Turkey
It is funny when you are a traveler. I am always the one leaving my other humans and my animals behind. I get to see different sites, sounds, and smells, while they stay in their same world day to day, with mostly one thing different: I am not there. I think it is harder for those that are left behind. Thier world continues but there is a hole in the routine once filled by the missing person. People understand travelers, though they may be physically lonely and miss you, they know in their heads that you will be returning. They can talk with you on the phone, text in words, or even Skype with you over internet video. But, to the animals, the hole is just there. They know that another being, in this case me. the feeder and the giver of walks and hugs, is not immediately present. They do not understand that I went on a business trip to Turkey (13 hours away in a metal container with wings). They do not know that I thought about them everyday because, unlike my humans, I can not tell them virtually that I love them. Animals can only receive what is present, immediate, and there. You can not hug your dog with virtual arms.
Another interesting thing is how each animal responds to my returns. Louise goes crazy with jumping and nuzzling (she tries to get inside my flesh she wants to be so close to me). Muffin ignores me for about 24 hours and then, when he is ready, acknowledges my lowly existence. Sofie whines to be in my presence and won’t let me out of her sight for a really long time (and this return showed a new behavior, she actually nibbled on my arms to make sure I was really there, like she preens the cats). I even woke up this morning with Noel, the alpha cat, who rarely will grace my bedroom with her presence, staring at me (probably wondering why I have not been in my office upstairs all week, where she primarily lives, and not happy that she had to come and find me).
The animals (and humans) appear to be relaxed this morning and smiling a lot. For all of us things are back in balance.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: animals, dog, Dogs, Pet, pets, postaday, travel, Turkey
Louise here. Mommy left me in charge of the blog but she didn’t leave me very good instructions, so I really don’t know how to fill up the days with out her direction. In dog daz it feels like she has been gone for a million years, I really need her to come home NOW! The other humans in the house take me to daycare when Mommy is not home or put me in the yard to play with Sofie, but no one walks me. I like to walk. Only Mommy takes me for a walk. Hurry home already Mommy because I need a walk!
I admit that I am not the best walker. I like to pull and show Mommy all the really good spots to sniff which are usually, for some strange reason, further than my leash allows Sofie doesn’t have to wear a leash. She has this box thing on her neck and she wonders around behind Mommy. Me, I like to be out front (unless of course something scary comes my way and then I hide behind Mommy and yell at it as loud as I can). Well, I overheard the other humans saying that Mommy should be home soon. Please hurry!
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: dog, DogDaz, Dogs, Mommy, Pet, postaday
My toy! It’s in the rain!
It was raining. Not something that happened very often this winter in the Mid-Atlantic.
Lulu our toys are getting wet!
Sofie was very distressed that her toys were getting wet.
Lu get Mommy & tell her we need our toys!
Lulu did not really want to go out in the wet stuff but Sofie just had to get the toys.
I don’t like being wet Mommy, let me back in!!!!
Ok, so I let them out to go get the toys, but Sofie was not very happy about that idea either. Louise is no fool, she ran out and ran right back in (my princess). She was not going to play with Sofie in the rain. Lulu likes it in the house with all the warm and dry toys. So Sofie Bear decided that maybe getting wet was not as much fun as it looked and begged to come back in for the dry toys. You have to love the way dogs are so in the moment. So the lesson they taught me today – it may be fun to dance in the ran, so try it, maybe you will like it, maybe you will want to come inside where it is dry.
Just another DogDaz morning at our house ❤ 
Tags: Animal, dog, DogDaz, Pet, pets, postaday
I like to fill the dogs marrow bones with peanut butter in the morning to keep them busy while I am having breakfast. I keep the peanut butter in the refrigerator, so that it is harder, and knife it into both sides of the bone. This keeps them busy for about 10 minutes if I am lucky. I like to watch the creative ways they try to get the peanut butter out of the holes. I have tried many other things in the bones: expensive Kong filler stuff (blah! and not much for the price), Cheese Wiz (to many chemicals and sugar and salt – I realized that I wouldn’t eat it, so why would I give it to them). whipped cream (it disappeared into the air), processed cheese pressed in to the hole (really hard to do and harder for them to get out (actually almost impossible for Sofie)). In the end, there is nothing that replaces good old peanut butter. They sure do enjoy those peanut butter bones.
DogDaz Zoo 