Looking for a Few Recommendations…

I love a good recommendation, whether it’s for a book, a recipe, a cool place to hike, a great new kitchen gadget, but most especially dog stuff (go figure).

Adopters ask me often for recommendations for dog stuff and I’m always happy to oblige, but recently I had a thought—what if the company whose products I recommend would sponsor me (or technically, Who Will Let the Dogs Out/WALDO)? Or if money is out of the question, what if they gave me ‘dog stuff’ that I could use with the foster dogs or take to the shelters?

Nancy and I are gearing up for a big trip south in January and will likely use up all of our current WALDO funds between travel expenses and giving needed donations to the shelters we visit. A little more money in our coffers would be great.

Plus, Fanny and Gracie share all their toys and food and treats with the foster dogs, and all the critters can use more good dog-stuff. Mia is a powerful chewer, and she has destroyed more than a few of Fanny’s favorites.

I had no idea how to make this brilliant idea work, but then serendipitously, I got an email from a promoter for a company that makes lawn products to fix dog spots.

Now, obviously the shelters don’t need this product, and my dogs couldn’t care less, but my husband on the other hand, would love a product like this if it really worked. So I emailed the promoter and offered to test the product for them in exchange for my honest review (which felt a lot like the same deal I am making almost daily with book bloggers and bookstagrammers for my upcoming novel!).

The company, BarkYard (whose packaging looks suspiciously like BarkBox) sent us a set of their product.

Nick, ever the engineer, selected three spots and treated two using the Bad Dog seeds and left the other spot untreated. Then he waited while we proceeded to have some unseasonably hot weather and no rain. Eventually, though, the spots he had treated filled in beautifully and the other spot remained the same shade of brown.

Are we ready to recommend this product?

Maybe.

I’m going to hold off on a full review until spring when we can see the results of his larger test in the puppy yard where he used the ‘good boy’ formula in the parts that look alright and the ‘bad dog’ formula on the larger patches of brown, plus, left a control area for comparison.

Now if only Taste of the Wild or Max & Neo or Triumph or Spot Farms needed a tester…

Meanwhile, Mia continues to do well. She has become a first-rate running buddy and is putting in miles with both Nick and me.

I hope to get more video of this precious pup—she is so happy and eager to please and full of personality. That’s hard to convey in pictures.

If you want to recommend some dog-stuff in the comments, I’m all ears. And if you have some idea how I can become a ‘social influencer’ for dog-stuff, I’d love to hear that too.

Thanks for reading!

Cara

For information on me, my writing, and books, visit CaraWrites.com where you can also find more information on my new book, One Hundred Dogs and Counting: One  Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues, (Pegasus Books, July 2020). And be sure to join me LIVE every Tuesday on the 100 Dogs Facebook page for “Let’s Talk Rescue” where we continue the conversation started by the book.

If you’d like regular updates of all my foster dogs past and present, plus occasional dog care/training tips from OPH training, be sure to join the Facebook group, Another Good Dog.

And if you’d like to know where all these dogs come from and how you can help solve the crisis of too many unwanted dogs in our shelters, visit WhoWillLetTheDogsOut.org where you can follow the blog that shares stories or find the ink to our brand new podcast!

Our family fosters through the all-breed rescue, Operation Paws for Homes, a network of foster homes in Virginia, Maryland, D.C., and south-central PA.

If you can’t get enough foster dog stories, check out my book: Another Good Dog: One Family and Fifty Foster Dogs. It’s available anywhere books are sold.

I love to hear from readers and dog-hearted people! Email me at carasueachterberg@gmail.com.

Many of the pictures on my blog are taken by photographer Nancy Slattery. If you’d like to connect with Nancy to take gorgeous pictures of your pup (or your family), contact: nancyslat@gmail.com.