Care4Hire: Petsitter and other care services

For those who are traveling home (me, for example) to celebrate these festival gatherings and unable to bring our precious with us, one of the best options is to get a petsitter.

Currently, Care4Hire is offering a free 14 day trial not just for pet parents looking for pet-sitters but also for families seeking for babysitting, elderly care, housekeeping, and tutoring services. Upon signing up, you get immediate access to caregivers’ profile with detailed characteristics, experience, availability including pictures. You also can post a profile to caregivers listing your detailing needs, hours, and expectations.

After the free 14 day trial, and should you decided to stay on, Care4Hire online matching database service fee is either $79/year or $9.99/month in addition to $34.99 one-time payment for the first month.

Wysong: Holiday Stockings

The best way to a dog’s heart is through his stomach. Not just any dog food/treats but Wysong’s. And not just for your dog but all your friends’ and families’.

One of the best Christmas gifts for dogs and cats this year is Wysong Holiday Stockings. Each stocking contains:

• 1 Bag of Dog Treats ($0.99)
• 1 Small Bag of Dream Treats ($2.89)
• 2 Single Dream Treats (0.69 ea.)
• 2 Pouches of UnCanny (2.09 ea.)
• 1 Au Jus Turkey 5.5 oz can ($1.79)

and along with lots of free Wysong health information and product literature! Read my review if you’re new to Wysong’s line of dog foods. All these items (valued at $11.23) in each stocking are priced at $9.99 + $5.00 S/H. What will make this deal even sweeter is to use my special coupon code SMALLDOG18 and get 18% off the sale price. It may not be much for one stocking but with 5 stockings (WS limits to 5 stocking per order due to high demand) it comes close to $9 off of the total sales price.

DogTagArt: Dog Tags

If dog food as gift isn’t your cup of tea and you want to make a strong and lasting statement, may I suggest DogTagArt’s dog tags. These aren’t your regular plain dog tags that wears off easily or get chewed into pieces. DogTagArt’s dog tag is a combination of unique Art design (designed by a list of artists…and it could be you) and made of indestructible material—tags are guaranteed never to wear out (check out their train test video here).

They have slightly over two hundred designs to choose from. Prices range from $9 to $14.95. You do get $2.00 off when you use this coupon code: HOLIDAY2OFF!. It’s valid until this Dec 25th. Any other promo offers by DogTagArt, please check out my pet coupon page.

Being health conscious over food choices, be it for our dogs or ourselves, doesn’t mean eating plain, bland, and boring foods, this is the most common misconception many have. I’m not suggesting abstinence, knowing this could mean suicidal for some, instead we could improvise the way we prepare our dogs’ food. And with the recent rising cost of dog food and treats, all the more we should revise our pet food budget.

Without further ado, here’s the mini fruity Popsicles (minus the stick) recipe for both you and your dog to enjoy. This is a great treat for family picnics. These fruity pops not only quench our thirst but also give our dog a quick burst of nutritious energy while romping in the park!

Note: Baby food has great nutritional value, it contains lots of vitamins and minerals. It’s also easy to digest that many puppies and dogs love. Be sure to get one that’s organic with no added sugar or preservatives.

Servings: 3 dozens of mini fruity Popsicles

Ingredients:

• 4 cups yogurt, preferably plain favor
• 1 jar baby food, any fruit flavor
• 2 tablespoon of organic honey
• 2 tablespoon of natural peanut butter

Methods:

1. Puree all ingredients in a food processor.
2. Pour into ice cube trays and freeze for one hour or more, depending the temperature setting.
3. Thaw just so slightly before serving.

Special notes: Although I used baby food as one of the ingredients, you may opt for homemade fruit juice instead. Just remember that homemade juices will oxidize very quickly, so you might want to consume the pops within that day of making. Do not refreeze the pops once they’re out.

On yogurt, choose plain or vanilla favor. Otherwise, your pops will have very funky taste.

Servings:

8 pieces of Apple Scones

Ingredients:

• 1 medium cooking apple
• 250g self-raising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 75g margarine or butter
• 50g sugar
• 50ml milk

Methods:

1. Preset the oven to 400˚F.
2. Grease the baking try with some butter.
3. Peel the skin off the apple and cut into mini pieces.
4. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl.
5. Rub in the cut mini-sized butter and stir in the sugar.
6. Add the in the cut apples.
7. Stir in the milk and make a ball of dough. (Should be soft not sticky)
8. Roll out the ball of dough until it is a round shape about 1 inch thick.
9. Cut the dough into 8 pieces.
10. Place them on the baking tray with a fish slice. Brush with milk.
11. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Special author’s note:

I use Fuji Apples as they’re much sweeter, hence I use less to no sugar at all. You may want to cut the apple scones into smaller pieces for your dogs. I use this as motivational dog treats when my dogs bring back the Frisbee. Works like magic. Plus it’s a great way to get them to exercise ideally in the spring and summer. My dogs can get a little lazy when the weather is breezy, especially Snowball and Trudy.

Servings:

1 loaf of Angel Bread

Ingredients:

• 5 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 cup Crisco shortening
• 2 ½ teaspoons yeast
• 2 cups buttermilk

Methods:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water (about 1/2 cup) – sift dry ingredients into large mixing bowl, cut in shortening with a pastry blender – stir in buttermilk, work into a dough.
2. Spray Ziploc bag with Pam or other veggie spray – dump dough into bag, zip up and keep in fridge (it will rise in the bag).
3. The dough lasts about a week in the fridge – you pinch off what you need, roll or shape into 1/2-inch thick biscuits and bake at 400° for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Special author’s note:

I’ve kept the dough longer than a week in the fridge and found it to be as good the last day as it was the first.

Servings:

30-35 Bread Machine Dog Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup beef, chicken, or vegetable stock
• 1 cup bread or all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat or rye (or other dark) flour
• 1 cup bulgar wheat
• ¼ cup non-fat dry milk powder
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 1-½ teaspoon yeast

Methods:

1. Use dough cycle. Roll dough to 1/4″ thickness.
2. Cut with cookie cutters or knife.
3. Place on baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal.
4. Cover with clean kitchen towels and let rise in warm place about 45 minutes.
5. Bake at 325-degrees for 45 minutes. When all are baked, turn off oven and return all cookies to cooling oven overnight to harden. Store in airtight container.

Special author’s note:

Using a 3.5″ bone shaped cutter, I get about 30-35 cookies from this recipe.