Buffys 3rd Birthday!

It's Buffy's Birthday today! I can't believe my big girl is 3, time really does fly...

We're celebrating her day in style, with a beautiful 'snuggle bed' from the fabulous Charley Chau and a bundle of goodies from the lovely Laughing Dog! She got a large 'Dotty Chocolate' snuggle bed, plus 3 packs of 'Oaties'.

She's thrilled with her gifts, I love how excited she gets! She's super excited to show her gifts off to my dad and step mum too, who will be visiting soon to bring her a little gift, so we'll update asap about that!

Love & licks,
Rio, Jonny, Birthday Girl Buffy, Rafferty, Monroe, Lily and Lola.
xo

Blame Lola!

So it seems we've been gone a whole week! Eek! Well, you can thank little Lola for that, because her Ladyship decided the 50 or so toys we have weren't good enough for her and obviously not nearly as interesting as the computer monitors power cable...

Thanks for that Lo!

Luckily we got a replacement cable (obviously ;p) so we're back just in time for Buffys birthday (tomorrow)!

We'll pop a post up for that in the morning obviously and in a few days we have another tips post, for the festive season ahead, so be sure to keep an eye out for that :)

Glad to be back btw,

Love & licks,
Rio, Jonny, Buffy, Rafferty, Monroe, Lily and Lola.
xo 

National Little Dog Day!

You may remember a while ago we did a short post for National Dog Day, well now we're here to share a bigger, um, smaller and better day (in our opinion ;))...

Introducing, National Little Dog Day 2011!

Although we love all dogs, big or small, our heart does belong to the little critters we call our own and a day dedicated to celebrating them is right up our street! Every dog is unique but the 'Great Dane in a Chihuahuas body' mentality we find with our little dogs makes them worth the extra fuss ;)

We hope you have a fabulous day and enjoy celebrating it with the little dog in your life ♥

Little love & licks,
Rio, Jonny, Buffy, Rafferty, Monroe, Lily and Lola.
xo 

Snuggles with Monroe :)

It's starting to drop chilly early in the evening now, so last night we popped jumpers on the girls whilst the heating warmed the house through. We came across a pair of PJ's we ordered months back from Tinkerbells Closet, so we decided to put them on Monroe. She was thrilled with her new found warmth and got down next to me on the sofa for a cheeky nap!

Isn't she a cutie pie?

Love & licks,
Rio, Jonny, Buffy, Rafferty, Monroe, Lily and Lola.
xo  

Take a picture, it'll last longer!

It's been a good long while now since our last 'picture post' and we've been snapping away, especially with Lola growing up so quickly! Here's a few of our favourite pictures that we've taken over the past few weeks;

 

 I might be biased but I think our girls are beautiful :)

We'll be back soon with some exciting festive themed posts, including baking posts - complete with recipes and much more!

Love & licks,
Rio, Jonny, Buffy, Rafferty, Monroe, Lily and Lola.
xo  

Bark & Read Foundation.

"Dogs are the new weapon in the battle against child illiteracy."

The Kennel Club Charitable Trust has always been there for dogs, helping our furry friends wherever and whenever possible. Now though the KCCT has teamed up with Pets As Therapy (P.A.T) and Reading Education Assistance Dogs (R.E.A.D) to form the Bark & Read Foundation so they can help dogs help children!

You may be thinking, 'dogs can't read!' and you're quite right, they can't, but they can provide a relaxing, pressure free atmosphere and a sympathetic ear. Studies have shown that children can become stressed when learning to read to others or to a group and so often the nerves can show in a reluctance to practice. Practice makes perfect and that's especially true when it comes to primary skills like reading!

The idea is to take away the stress of learning to read and give children some comfort and reassurance as they venture into the world of literacy. Reading aloud can be scary if you struggle or lack confidence and a lot of children will fear judgement or criticism. A dog will still adore you even if you make a mistake - a positive fact that the KCCT, P.A.T and R.E.A.D are trying to extend to the children in need of a helping paw. 

The dogs' sociable natures will also provide motivation and inspire self esteem. By using dogs in this way reading will hopefully become a hugely positive and rewarding experience for children, giving them a love for books that will last a lifetime. Reading is such an important skill, every child should be able to unlock their full potential and hopefully 'Bark & Read' will give the estimated 1 in 6 illiterate children the help they deserve.

Bark & Read will be officially launched at this years Discover Dogs, where children under 12 go free, so be sure you take your children along so they can visit the Bark & Read Corner and see what it's all about! Even if you don't have children you can always call in to the corner and find out what's going on, so you can spread the word and maybe bring it to your local schools attention.

If you'd like to have one of the Bark & read sponsored dogs visit your school, group or club then you can contact Pets As Therapy by calling  01844-345445 or email R.E.A.D via tonynevett@yahoo.co.uk

The KC Library (Clarges St, Piccadilly) will also be holding 'reading days' for children from London primary schools and children with special needs from senior schools and colleges. You can find out more information about the reading days by getting in touch with Ciara Farrell on 020 7518 1009 or ciara.farrell@thekennelclub.org.uk

We really hope you'll get behind the fabulous Bark & Read campaign and maybe even do your bit to help the cause! If you need any encouragement at all, these heart warming testimonials should do the job...

Until next time,
Love & licks as ever,
Rio, Jonny, Buffy, Rafferty, Monroe, Lily and Lola.
xo  

Discover Dogs (Plus Our Ticket Giveaway!)

Discover Dogs is right around the corner now and with that in mind we thought we'd share a little information about the big event and tell you how to get your hands on a pair of complimentary tickets!

Discover Dogs is a huge 2 day annual event run by The Kennel Club and sponsored this year by Royal Canin. At Discover Dogs you can expect to meet over 200 breeds of purebred dogs and their knowledgeable owners, who are waiting to tell you all about their furry friends! You'll learn about not only the look of the each breed, but also about their personalities, any distinctive traits and their needs as a breed.

Discover Dogs isn't just all about the purebred pups though, scruff-ty mutts are more than welcome with events such as the Scruffts Grand Final being held there and the Companion Dog Club Competition!

As well as the purebred meet and greets and the host of shows/competitions and agility demonstrations, there's also the winners display from the Dog Photographer of the Year 2011 competition!

If that still isn't enough for you then you're in luck, the 100+ trade stands should keep you busy for a while ;)

For any more info on what's on at this years Discover Dogs you can check out the list of events and start planning your route around the show!

With only a few days left before the show starts it's time to grab any last minute tickets you might want... We're pleased to say we can offer a little help on that front to one lucky winner, with our giveaway! We're offering 2 complimentary Discover Dogs tickets to you, our lovely readers!

To get your paws on this pair (2) of tickets all you have to do is tweet or RT a link to this post, with the hashtag - #DDTicketsAHWTH and we'll pick a winner! I'll put out a tweet that you can RT to simplify things :)

We'll message the winner Wednesday 9th November, so take to Twitter and RT for your chance to win!

Best of luck to everyone who enters,
Love & licks,
Rio, Jonny, Buffy, Rafferty, Monroe, Lily and Lola.
xo

ETA - Congratulations to our winner from Twitter, @misstew :) Glad you had a fabulous time!

Remember remember...

the 5th of November, gun powder, treason and plot...

Well there's no treason or plot here, although there's been a fair amount of gun powder around already tonight, in the form of fireworks! I love fireworks, the girls however are not so keen and we've had to take some of our own advice to keep them settled.

Hopefully this years Bonfire Night will pass without any major upset, so we can start looking forwards to the next holiday, the big one, Christmas!

We'll be back soon with 2 recipe posts, a post about our giveaway winners, another giveaway and closer to the 'big day' we'll have some fabulous festive themed posts for you, including some sneak previews of our presents to the girls! :)

We hope your night goes smoothly and your dogs stay safe,

Love & licks,
Rio, Jonny, Buffy, Rafferty, Monroe, Lily and Lola.
xo

Giveaway - Win a copy of 'Awkward Family Pet Photos'!

You may have seen our recent post about 'Awkward Family Pet Photos', if you didn't then be sure to read our review and find out what all the fuss is about!

Now we're very pleased to be able to offer a copy to give away! Entry is simple - I'll post a message on Twitter and everyone who RT's it will be in with a chance of winning :) Alternatively, if you don't have a twitter account then you can comment on this post below to win!

I'll message the winner Saturday 5th November to get their postal address, so if you enter be sure to check your inbox ;)

Good Luck!

P.S We'll have another giveaway coming up soon, so keep a look out for it...

ETA - Congratulations to our winner, Clarissa!

Awkward Family Pet Photos Book Review

In the modern human/pet relationship a lot of boundaries get blurred. We lavish time, attention and sometimes a ridiculous amount of money on our furry little friends, like never before. Sometimes though people take their love to an extreme that borders on the obscene. There's a secretly strange section of the population, whose actions are just plain awkward and that's what this book, 'Awkward Family Pet Photos' is all about, those actions caught on film!

Enter the brilliant minds behind the book, Mike Bender and Doug Chernack. They saw an opportunity to gather together a host of funny, bizarre, weird and sometimes, down right cringe inducingly awkward 'family photos', that people have dragged their pets into! Many people feel their pet is a part of the family, us included and a family photo includes those with 4 legs as well as 2. Reading through the book though you'll come to see that so often the pet isn't the awkward one in the picture, it's us, the people setting up these amazingly odd shots!

I was lucky enough to get a pre release copy, so I've had a look through the book and I can say it's an intensely odd mix of the funny, the weird and, as the title suggests, the down right awkward. You can expect to find gems like Page 13, where cowboy chic meets a pet possum or Page 159, where one dog had his day, right behind the cute prom couple! One of the funniest shots (to us) and by far our overall favourite is on Page 54, so be sure to check it out if you grab yourself a copy!

The book is officially released today, so it'd be a great stocking filler or Christmas present for the animal lover in your life, who may well have a picture of themselves and their pet that would fit in! The book is a good read, it's put together nicely and is great quality, with a nice price tag to match. To check it out more and see how you can order your copy you can visit the 'where to buy' page, there you'll find links to this book and also see this books predecessor, 'Awkward Family Photos' for sale!

We hope you do get a copy and if you do then we'd love to hear about it! You can share your favourite pages or tell us about your awkward pet photos by emailing us or tweeting to @riochanelhilton

Love & licks,

Rio, Jonny, Buffy, Rafferty, Monroe, Lily and Lola.

xo

P.S We'd like to say a big 'thank you' to Jonathan from Crown Publishing at Random House for sending us our copy!

(Products mentioned in this post were sent to me for review.)