The Days of Johann, an agility dog!

You know how much of a pet car safety advocate I am, especially after having come through a bad car accident with only a few bruised ribs.

That's one of the reasons I wrote up a Squidoo lens on dog car safety a couple of years ago.

So when I found out that the nice folks at BarkBuckleUp.com had this really cool car pet safety kit, we just had to order one.

Bark Buckle UP is the recognized leader and experts in pet travel safety. They tour the USA and Canada educating and promote awareness for pet safety while traveling with pets. We first met them when we both did an interview for a Canadian newspaper about the dangers of dogs riding in cars unrestrained last year.

We received our kit the other day and it is going to be very handy for, you know, just in case. The best part is it comes with a car window decal that can alert first responders that there are pets in the car and direct them to look in the glove box for information.

The kit then contains individual and personalized pet emergency cards you can customize for each pet that allows you to add in a photo, contact info, emergency contact info, descriptions and more. Now all we need is some mechanical breakdown insurance, you know, for more just in case, BOL!!!

The kit with one info card is free, then it's only $1.00 to add additional cards. So our entire kit for all four of us four-leggers was only $3.00, plus just a tad for shipping. We received the entire kit in an envelop.

We highly recommend heading on over to their site and picking yourself a pet safety kit for your car, 'cause, it's so comforting to be prepared!

This past week we had a couple of great weather days. Mum was thinking that they may just be some of the last nice days of the year. So, we were determined to get in some good hiking.

On Wednesday, we headed to the River Road Park and hiked along the White River. Have to tell ya there is some pawsome hiking there! We hiked for about 2 miles along the river, then headed back, so we got in about 4 miles total.

Here we are headin' out from the parking area! Gracie was just a blur throughout the entire hike.

We took a brief stop at the canoe launch to take in the river.

Then we were off!

Before we got on the path, we ventured into the dense to get another good look at the river.

Then we got on the path. It was gorgeous! The leaves were falling like snow, and the slightly muddy path was covered with leaves to keep us drier. The path was fairly steep and slopped since it was actually the river bank from years ago when the river was wider.

Mum had to walk with one leg shorter than the other the entire hike, while Gracie and I zigged and zagged, up and down, back and forth through the entire hike. Sometimes all three of us jogged on the steep ups and down. Fun stuff!

Have to say you get in some good body work going up and down, over logs and stuff. Mum is getting pretty amazed at my abs lately. None of us need any type of appetite suppressant to keep in shape lately, all the hiking and body work we've been doing is really strengthening my core.

Mum had to take a pic of this moss growing on the north side of the tree. She remembers from when she was younger that this is how you tell which direction is which, so you don't get lost :). The moss was pretty much right on every tree we saw.

We got into the dense area again, and the squirrels were everywhere! Mum really had to plant to keep us reigned in. And Gracie was screaming her fool head off. I, of course, was barking wildly.

After we calmed down, we took a little break and I rested my bum on an old rotten log...nice and cool.

During our break we just stayed still, listening to the leaves fall, if we could hear any critters, making sure we took it all in...

Then we headed down the path again. Gracie was wild on the entire hike. For some reason this time it seemed like a very new and overwhelming experience for her senses. A few times she got crazy manic and a bit on the frantic side.

She'd get spooked at the littlest thing. So Mum helped her work through it, helped her investigate whatever was spooking her, so she could gain some confidence. I was proud of her...Gracie learned a lot about the world on this hike.


After the hike in the woods, we got on the walking path and ventured down for about another half mile and back. Look what we found? A Wooly Worm!

A wooly worm is actually the larvae of the Isabella tiger moth. It’s a fuzzy caterpillar with bronze and black stripes. Folklore says that the more black, or the longer the black ends, the more sever the winter is going to be. Looks like 50-50 to me. I think that means normal, which the Farmer's Almanac says too for our area is this coming Winter. Guess time will tell :)

Weather prediction tomorrow looks a little good for hiking again! Gotta get in as much as we can before deep winter sets in. Hope you are having a pawsome weekend!

This weekend we got busy again designing a few more new shirts. This time we did some for agility, flyball, herding and mutts. DOG! This is fun and addicting!

My favorite design is the new Agility Rocks, 'cause you know how much I love agility. Mum's buying this shirt for herself today - navy blue long sleeve tee.

There are three total Agility designs - Agility Rocks! Agility Rules! and I'd rather be playing Agility! All of the designs can be imprinted on a wide variety of items from sweatshirts, to short and long sleeve t-shirts and in lots of colors for women (and plus sizes too :) and men, totebags, water bottles and more. Pretty soon Mum will go crazy and start getting into pet supplies, BOL!!!

Here are the three agility designs:

The flyball design is kinda fun too! It says "I'd rather be playing Flyball!" 'Cause I know anyone who does flyball would rather be doing that than anything else!

There are two herding designs - "I'd rather be Herding!" and "Do you know what I Herd?"

And last but certainly not least! It's Mutts! We did two designs for the mutts out there - "Mutts Matter" ('cause you know they do!) and "Mutts are Mighty.'

Hope you like 'em! And if you have a special request for a shirt design, let us know, maybe we can put it all together fur ya!

Well it was raining the the end of last week so what happened? We got our dinner for doing some fun and easy tricks. And of course Mum got crazy with the video camera again!

This time Gracie and I did a few of our easier tricks from a distance without Mum close by.


Mum thought we did a pretty good job. She's calling it cute overload (but she's biased you know :). She thinks she may have to start sending out some wedding invitations or one of us! Any takers, BOL!!!

Some of the tricks include: Bang, roll over, beg, beg with waving, waving with one leg and the other, shy, and hmmmm...I think that's it.

Hope you enjoy!

This weekend Mum and I worked our paws to the bone (just kidding, we had a bunch of fun) putting together a new line of Raise A Green Dog gear!

Now we are offering some pawsome new designs on organic tees for men and women, organic totes, dog bowls, Sigg bottles, other totes, sweatshirts and more!

Above is a sample of the Reduce, Reuse, Repaw tees.

And on the right is one of Mum's favs, Reduce Your Carbon Pawprint.

Pretty soon Mum and I may move into creating equestrian apparel, just kiddin' ya again, BOL!! Here are the four other designs that can be added to all the gear, including my personal fav, "Save the Dog, Save the Planet!"




So head on over and check all the cool Raise A Green Dog gear. Yep, there a little higher priced, but they help us continue our good Green Dog work, and keep you showing off your green dogliness at the same time!