Our top 10 doggy products of 2011.

With 5 very spoilt Chihuahuas running around our house we're pretty much always buying doggy products, looking at doggy products, researching doggy products or as of late, blogging about them. So now 2011 is over, we decided to take a look back over all the wonderful things we've had this year and pick our top 10 'must haves' from the pile! Some of these were new out this year, some were older but all were close at hand throughout these last 12 months. Starting with #10 and counting down to the top spot, #1, these are our must have items for every dog...

10. The Furminator De-shedding Brush. The Furminator made it into our top 10 as it's quite simply the best brush we've come across and it always makes my girls look and feel fabulous, year round. It's great for saving your sofas from all that moulted dog hair too! We love ours, which we got here.

9. Coachies Puppy Treats. One of the very best treats we come across - no nasty ingredients, the girls adore them and they're nice and cost effective! We buy the 'puppy' variety here, as the girls prefer the flavour over the adult variety :)

8. SMP's Pink Gingham Dress. We didn't actually buy this, we won it in Style My Pooch's recent competition, however we love it so much it just had to have a place in our line up! Stylish and cosy, it's a perfect winter dress for your darling doggy and Buffy loves hers! You can order one directly from Style My Pooch's website.

7. Kong Wubbas/Snugga Wubbas. Available in 3 sizes, 3+ materials and a multitude of colours and styles, the Kong Wubba is hugely versatile and a ton of fun. We have 2 Snugga Wubbas (the fleece ones), 1 large blue one and 1 small pink one. We also have a small Fox Wubba Friend. All 3 provide the girls hours of tugging mayhem, or if preferred, hours of snuggly sleepy chewing! When Summer rolls around again we'll probably buy a 'Wet Wubba', for fun in the pool :) We got ours here!

6. Puppia harnesses. The girls recently got some of their 'Jacket' harnesses for Christmas and the quality, comfort and design of these harnesses is second to none! There's so many designs that there's something to suit every doggies discerning taste ;) We got them here.

5. Charley Chau's 'Snuggle Bed'. We have the large 'chocolate dotty' snuggle bed and the girls absolutely love to scrub about in it, before settling down for a long snuggly snooze. Having tested it myself I can confirm how deliciously comfy the bed is ;) It fits in great with our furniture and wouldn't look out of place in any stylish home. You can buy Charley Chau's beautiful handmade beds direct from their website!

4. The Hartz Chew n' Clean ring. Having been through several toys with similar ideas behind them, this has been the one that the girls just couldn't put down. Ours has been through the wars this year but has stood up to all the abuse brilliantly and is still a treasured toy amongst the Hilton girls! You can get it directly from the link above :)

3. The Aikiou. Our absolute favourite 'interactive dog feeder' yet, if we fill the girls regular bowl and the Aikiou, then let them at 'em, they'll empty the Aikiou first every time. Something about it draws them in and holds their attention like no other food based toy! A family favourite that we have in pink and got from this website.

2. Animology. From our past posts it may be known already how much we adore Animology's shampoo range, so we won't repeat ourselves, we'll just say they're totally fabulous and definitely worth a try, they make our girls look, feel and smell wonderful! You can get their shampoos and sprays at most good pet stores or online here.

And finally we're here, our top spot, numero uno...

1. Orijen. We have Orijen to credit for our girls great health, so of course it had to be number 1. By far the very best food we found after a lot of research, we can't imagine feeding anything else because we just love it so much! We feed the original flavour adult food but with a variety of flavours and several age appropriate formulations, there's a bag of Orijen for every dog! Once a month we order a bag from this website and that'll be our routine for years to come ;)

That's it then! We hope you enjoyed our run down of the best products we bought in 2011 and if you try any of them be sure to let us know what you think :)

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

New Years Eve Safety (Tips)

The festive season runs really from late October, with Halloween, through to New Years Eve/Day, with Bonfire Night, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day all happening along the way. (Plus any other country specific events, like Thanksgiving.)

The point is, there's a lot of celebration this time of year and to try and help you and your darling dog(s) we've been posting tips on how to keep them safe and happy. (You can see our Halloween/Bonfire Night, Christmas and Snow specific posts by clicking the titles, with Halloween/Bonfire Night being mainly about fireworks, the Christmas post covers decorations and a little on food and the Snow post is pretty self explanatory!) Now the clock is ticking down to the New Year (get it? clock?) we wanted to make sure your pups 2012 starts with a bang - and not a bang that causes them utter terror! So this is our New Years Eve safety advice, we hope it helps!

Now, we covered most bases in our other tips posts but there are a few problems that could come up with New Years that we thought it would be helpful to write about!

The main issues with New Years Eve, from a dogs point of view, are all the extra noise - fireworks, music, rambunctious party guests and if you do have a party/group of friends over, all the extra people - feet to stand on them, doors being left open, extra mess with food/drink being spilt etc.

Lets start with the noise. We covered fireworks pretty thoroughly in the Halloween/Bonfire Night post, so I shan't repeat myself, I'll just advise that you check it out! As far as loud music and guests, if you're having that kind of party it might be wise to have a friend or family member take care of your dog(s) or even look into an overnight kennel stay. (I'd advise family over kennels, if you know someone up to the job, as some dogs can find kennels quite unpleasant.) Although they'll be away from you, both options should be less stressful and a lot safer than them running around your party!

As far as your guests go, if you do keep Fido or Fluffy at home, try to educate yourself and your friends. If your party might get a little 'wild', consider turning one of your bedrooms into a doggy den. To set up a den room you'll need a comfy bed, perhaps a hidey hole tent or snuggly blanket, a very sturdy toy (you don't want any pieces swallowed), fresh food and water, plus newspaper or pee pads. Make sure you don't leave anything chewable, breakable, sharp, poisonous in the room. It's worth not leaving anything electronic in the room, apart from the ceiling light of course lol and please check on your pup regularly! No one likes to be forgotten. Where possible let them out to pee and it's probably wise to walk them before your party.

It might seem 'harsh' to 'shut your dog away', but the alternatives are so much worse. They could be let out accidentally by people arriving/leaving, by someone going outside for a cigarette etc. A well meaning but clueless tipsy guest could feed them inappropriate (and possibly dangerous) snacks or find it funny to 'get the dog drunk'. The wrong food or drink, especially alcohol, can be literally life or death for a dog, so please don't risk it. A friend could be strutting his/her stuff on the dance floor and stand on your poor pooches paw. We all know how much that hurts, don't put your dog in that situation. There's also the simple fact that your dog may just get overwhelmed by a large group, so be kind to your dog and let them stay with family, a kennel or if all else fails, build them a doggy den and let them relax.

As I mentioned in my Halloween/Bonfire Night post it's always wise to know when your dog has reached its limits and be prepared to call in the professionals - your vet can administer sedatives and offer you a lot of great advice. It's a good idea to check your vets emergency/out of hours services covering the New Years period, just in case.

So with all that in mind, be safe and we hope you and your dog(s) have a very Happy (and healthy) New Year, see you in 2012!

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

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Hope it's a good one ♥

A Beagle, a Staffy and a Chihuahua walk into a bar...

Ouch!

Moving on...
You may remember a while ago I did a post that mentioned the addition of 2 new Hilton doggies in early/mid 2011...
(See this post for a reminder)

Well we gave you a hint at names (although 'Kimba' has now been reserved for the future, in a year or two perhaps, for a different breed) and now we're prepared to share our choices of breeds!
Yes, breeds, plural ;)

At the grand old age of 21, Jonny is finally getting his 'own' dog (the girls are our dogs, but lean a little more towards being mine if I'm honest) so he will be getting a Beagle!

He first fell in love with the breed after I showed him a film called 'Shiloh' and of course the childhood classic 'Cats vs Dogs'.

After months and months of research and deliberation we've decided he will have one, as his 21st birthday present from myself :)
This will be 'Cinder'.

Around the same time, I will be looking to bring a second puppy into our hearts and our home, in the form of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier!
I knew a few Staffies growing up and they hold a place in my heart with their chunky build, 'nanny dog' ways and cheeky personalities :)

We're throwing a few names around for my (our, no doubt) Staffy and closer to the time we'll probably do a poll to get some opinions, but at the minute our list consists of;
Harley, Kizzy, Gypsy, Skye, Kinver, Bronx and Cali.

Both will of course be female, 'Cinder' will be a tri colour Beagle (not so fond on the lemon and white variety) and our Staffy, well, we're leaning towards a black one but time will tell and personality rules all for us ;)

That's all we have to say for ourselves for now, so until we next post...
Love & licks,
Rio, Jonny, Buffy, Rafferty, Monroe and Lily!
xo

Return of the Hiltons!

So it's been well over a month since we last posted! Tut!
Terrible we know :(

So much has gone on since then, all sorts of milestones with the puppies, Alfie leaving, Buffy had her 2nd Birthday and the decision was made to add 2 new furbabies to our family!

So to break it down, Lily and Alfie are just over 11 weeks old now and such characters :)
(We'll get some snaps of them together tonight and do a picture post)

Alfie left us a few weeks ago now and is more than settled at my dads house bless him ^^
He's growing up to be such a handsome boy, just like his daddy!

Lily definitely looks a lot more like Rafferty, she has exactly the same markings under her chin, lol.

Buffy had her 2nd birthday on the 28th, so Happy (belated) Birthday Buffy! ♥

And yes, you read that correctly, 2 new members will be added to the Hilton clan, although we're not looking to get them until early-mid 2011 :)

This time they will be a slightly "bigger" addition ;)
Breed info to come soon, we're keeping it a secret for now!
Gotta have a bit of mystery you know ;)

We are prepared to give you a little tit bit though, so their names will be - Kimba and Cinder :)

Hope you enjoyed our return, we'll be back later with pictures and maybe a sneaky video!

Love & licks as ever,
Rio, Jonny, Buffy, Rafferty, Monroe and Lily!
xo