Halloween with the Hiltons!

Happy Halloween everyone! We love this time of year and our 5 girls are a huge part of the fun :) We said we'd share our celebrations with you, so here it is...

First off everyone knows you need a pumpkin for Halloween! With 5 Chihuahuas running around it was obvious what we had to do, so here's our Chihuahua pumpkin...

That's not a Chihuahua pumpkin Lola, this is a Chihuahua pumpkin!

Isn't it a cool idea? To try making your own simply print out the stencil and give it a go!

We didn't let all that pumpkin go to waste either, the girls made short work of it in these yummy pumpkin and cinnamon 'furrycakes'...

We whipped them up by modifying a basic vanilla sponge recipe, simply pick a recipe, add around a cup of pumpkin and reduce the amount of milk/water in the recipe accordingly :) For the 'frosting' you just combine some light cream cheese, a drizzle of honey and a dash of cinnamon, then spread it on. We'll do a detailed recipe post with some step by step pictures soon!

We hope you guys have a super spooky and very happy Halloween,

'Treats & tricks',
Rio, Jonny, Buffy, Rafferty, Monroe, Lily and Lola.
xo

p.s feel free to check out our last post all about keeping your pet safe over the upcoming holidays.

Keeping your pet safe from things that go bump in the night...

With Halloween and Bonfire Night just around the corner, we thought it'd be a good idea to share some tips and ideas on how to make sure your dog has as much fun as you do! This time of year can be incredibly stressful for a lot of pets, with loud noises, strangers calling and a general senses overload. We've lined up a list of things you can do to take the pressure off your pet...

1. Keep your pet indoors. If all is quiet your dog may go out to pee, but be prepared with newspaper or puppy pads on hand just in case. Cats should be kept in overnight.

2. Make a den for your pup to go hide in. It might be a good idea to make the hide out close to you, so your presence can reassure them but they'll still have their own space. A crate or carrier with the sides covered will work, as will a bed with a roof or anything similar.

3. Resist the urge to baby your pet. The more you worry, the more they'll pick up on it. Be calm and in control and they'll follow your lead.

4. If you dog is prone to anxiety then using a thundershirt is a great option, alternatively a close fitting t shirt is a good option.

5. Keeping some low level noise going through the worst of the bangs can help mask the noise, but watch your dogs reaction closely.

6. Keep to your routine, walks aside you should try and keep things as normal as possible.

7. If you're likely to get 'trick or treaters' and you know your dog isn't 100% okay with knocks on the door, it might be worth moving to your back room or even a bedroom.

8. If your dog starts to howl at the noises then correct them using a gentle positive reinforcement technique, shouting will add to their stress and letting them continue doesn't help anybody.

9. If you want to let off fireworks at your home, or go to a show, ask a family member to dog-sit for the night away from all the action.

10. There's always a lot more treats and sweets around at this time of year, so be sure to keep them out of the reach of little paws, chocolate is especially dangerous.

And finally,

11. If your pup is really not coping then don't let them suffer, a bad experience will only make next year harder. Know when to call in the professionals and contact your vet - some cases will need a sedative. Don't see it as a failure, just that extra steps need to be taken ready for next year, such as exposure therapy via a CD.

To read more from some people who are definitely in the doggy know, check out the Kennel Clubs press release!

The 'Holiday Season' should be a fun and festive time for every member of your family, including those with 4 legs. It can be easy to over look the little things, but they can make the biggest of differences. We hope you and your pet stay safe this Halloween and Bonfire Night and we'll be back soon to share what we did to celebrate :)

Love & licks,

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

October absences... (news and updates)

We're back! We're sorry for our absence, it's been a difficult few weeks with family matters/illness, but life does have to go on and we'll slowly but surely get back into the swing of things around here. We have a mountain of pictures to share, as well as updates and we have some exciting things in the pipeline that we can't wait to share!

A brief update for now though...

We're all doing well at the Hilton household, Monroe went for her booster jab a few days ago and Lola is due to be micro chipped next week, although we'll post about that properly when the time comes :) All the girls are well and looking forwards to the up coming occasions, "howl-o-ween", bonfire night and of course, Christmas!

We'll be doing some special posts for each, so be sure to keep an eye out for those! We'll be doing everything from a 'how to guide' on keeping your pet safe and happy this time of year, to sharing our own holiday experiences.

And as far as holiday experiences go, we're hoping this Christmas will be as fun filled as last years, with our extra special gift! It might be a touch early, but our main present to the girls arrived this week and we can't wait for them to 'unwrap it'! (Thank you so much to Amanda of The Pawhaus Pet Boutique for all her help and our amazing friend Rissy for getting it to us!) We'll be sure to do a huge post about it soon, for now we're keeping it a surprise ;)

In other news, the Hilton clan will be moving, yet again! We'll be waiting until all the festivities are over, but yes we'll be uprooting and finding another house early 2012. We're hoping to get something a touch bigger, with a nicer garden for the girls, so we can expand their 'outdoors-y' toy collection (pool anyone?) and have their 'ani-pals' over for play dates.

Seeing as we've been gone so long we'll  share a few pictures and hurry back soon to post some more!

Love & licks,

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

Octoberfest-ive!

So time for some words!

Not much in the way of news, the puppies are 4 weeks this Sunday, so we'll have a video of them running around then, they're getting pretty good at toddling round now :)
Turning 4 weeks old also means a second dose of wormer :(
To be fair, it's chocolate flavoured, so it's almost a treat xD

In way of the "Christmas Competition", as it stands now, we're going to go ahead :)
So feel free to start entering!
Email your picture, pets name, age and breed, plus your name to - competitions.ahwth@hotmail.co.uk :)
Feel free to add a line or two about your pet, or even yourself!

Entries are welcome for a whole month (we'll update regularly about it) and then we'll have 2 weeks judging, before announcing winners, getting prize details and shipping your prizes out just in time for Chrismas :)
Hopefully this will all be done with time spare for people to send us their prize pictures and we'll do a Christmas special :)

Speaking of Christmas, is anyone else getting really festive already?
I'm getting far too excited to say it's only just October, which reminds me, first it's Halloween!
That means only one thing, trick or treating!
Which means I get to dress up my little darlings, much to their disgust :)
I need to get thinking what they will all be!
Oh the fun ^^ I think it would make for an endearing and rather comical post ;)

Anyway, we're off to the land of nod now, as it is nearly 4am xD
Night night blogger!

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