Can you believe it is the 6th month of the year already… I can’t!! We hope your month of June is filled with love and happiness.
Download your June calendar here
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by 
Hello June
categories: Calendar
by by by Product Review: Njom Njoms
categories: Product Reviews, Valentine and Duchess
Valentine and Duchess, my bunny loves, are just as spoilt as Oscar and Zara! But I have to work a lot harder to find awesome spoils for my fluff balls. I often come up with fun DIY boredom busters or make some homemade treats for them, but sometimes I want to buy some yummy and fun goodies for them.
When I discovered Njom Njoms I was over the moon!! Maybe I am seriously fussy but I struggle to find awesome natural products for Valentine and Duchess. Njom Njoms came to the rescue… I placed my order and waited patiently while the goodies were handmade with tons of love.
Njom Njoms is a family affair and they too have seven wonderful bunny loves and two happy guinea pigs. It was their love for their own small critters that provided the inspiration to start up Njom Njoms and provide South Africans with good quality small pet products.
When our delivery arrived I don’t know who was more excited, myself, Valentine, Duchess, Oscar or Zara-haha! Yes, Zara was super excited when she saw a massive box being delivered and thought it was a box filled with goodies for her. Oscar was also hopeful when he saw the size of the box but not every delivery can be for them 😉 I unpacked the box and was beyond happy with what we had received!!
We received a handmade hay holder, willow gnaw sticks, willow balls to roll around, willow rings to throw around, yummy hay topper packs and three giant bags of hay-oat hay and teff grass. The packaging is awesome and the quality of each item is superb.
I quickly filled the hay basket holder with some oat hay, sprinkled in some hay topper-strawberries and cream and watched Valentine and Duchess go wild with excitement.
Instead of just giving them plain willow gnaw sticks, I pushed them through some toilet roll holders and filled them with fresh grass and Oat Hay-let me tell you these were a total hit!
I absolutely love watching them throw their willow rings up in the air and roll along their willow balls! For extra entertainment I love to tuck fresh herbs in balls and twist them through the rings. Duchess is the most impatient bunny of the two and in no time she has tossed the ring up in the air so all the herbs go flying. Valentine will happily just sit and figure out a more calm approach-haha!!
I especially love the different hay toppers that Njom Njoms offer. Each one is different and it provides just a little something special to your bunnies hay. We received the Strawberries and Cream, Vitamin C boost and a general hay topper.
It’s safe to say that Valentine and Duchess give Njom Njoms a five paw rating and we will be ordering some more awesome goodies very soon!
If you would like to get in touch with Njom Njoms you can visit their website at www.njomnjoms.co.za or their Facebook page at click here
We hope your small pets enjoy these goodies as much as Valentine and Duchess did!
Thank you for reading.
by May.
It’s May, and for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere it means winter is closer than we would like it to be.
I decided to dedicate the May calendar to Oscar because well, he is just so handsome and I adore him! We hope you enjoy this months calendar too 🙂
Download your May calendar here
Thank you for reading.
by Easter Fun…
Easter is one of my favourite holidays to celebrate, not only do Oscar and Zara become Valentine and Duchess-haha ;), but it means I can stuff my face with my favourite Easter eggs. This year Easter is slightly more special because it is my birthday too, so more chocolate for me-yes!
Those of you who follow my blog will know that we love dressing up and I love spoiling my four furry loves. I don’t always buy goodies for my furry loves because I absolutely love making homemade treats and toys for them, and this Easter will be no different.
We all know chocolate isn’t good for dogs-with good reason! So I have made a few treats for them using a safe alternative that will still make them feel like they are eating and sharing our yummy Easter treats.
Carob and peanut butter Easter cups
Ingredients
1/2 cup carob powder
1/2 cup coconut oil
Natural peanut butter
Directions
Mix together your carob powder and coconut oil until smooth. Carefully pour a little mixture into silicone moulds and set aside or put them in the fridge to harden. Then scoop a dollop of peanut butter in the middle of each carob mould. Then cover with more carob mixture until you can no longer see the peanut butter. Set aside or put them in the fridge to harden. Once set gently pop them out of your moulds and there you have cute doggy friendly Easter eggs.
Blueberry bones coated in Carob
Ingredients
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries mashed to form a liquid or paste
1 cup flour
1 egg
1 tbs coconut oil
1 banana mashed
For the coating
1/2 cup carob powder
1/2 cup coconut oil
Directions
Mix together your blueberry paste, banana, egg and coconut oil. Then add the flour, it needs to form a workable dough consistency so if it is too wet add more flour, if it is too dry add a splash of water. Roll your dough out onto a floured surface and using bone shaped cookie cutters cut out the treats and place them onto a greased baking tray. Bake for +- 20 minutes or until cooked through.
For the coating, mix together the carob powder and the coconut oil until it’s a smooth dripping consistency. Once the baked treats have cooled down completely, dip them into the carob mix and then place them on a dripping tray to dry. And there you have it, your pups will go crazy for these! My two do 🙂
Valentine and Duchess get spoilt too and this Easter I have decided to grow some of their favourite herbs and veggies in pots. This honestly couldn’t be easier, all it takes a little bit of effort.
What you will need:
Packets of seeds (basil, parsley, coriander, carrots, lettuce)
Soil
Plant pots-medium size
Garden tools
What to do:
Simply fill each plant pot container with good quality planting soil, follow planting directions on the packet of each herb. Place them in a sunny area and make sure you water them each day. Within a week you will see your seedlings start to grow, this will give you motivation to carry on! As soon as the plant is big enough, I usually give Valentine and Duchess the entire pot to nibble on. They love it and when the juicy greens are done they like jump on the pot and scratch around in the soil and have a whole lot of fun.
A great way to have fun with all these treats is to have treasure hunts around the house and garden. Hide your doggy easter eggs and treats all over the place and get your pups to find them. You can do the same thing with your bunny herb pots, hide them and place them in different spots to where you would normally feed them. If your bunnies roam inside dot them in different rooms and watch them use their noses to find their treasure.
Have fun with your friends, family and furry loves this Easter, and above all stay safe.
Thank you for reading.
by Happy April.
categories: Calendar
It’s April, and Easter is this month too. It is also my birthday month so I thought it fitting to include all my furry loves in this months calendar. Enjoy.
Click here to download your April calendar
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by Product Review: Dognition Assessments
categories: Oscar, Product Reviews
When our Instagram besties Anya, York and Ro or @yorkthebully as you may know them, gifted us our Dognition assessment I was beside myself with excitement! Not only had no one ever gifted us anything before, but certainly nothing like this. So thank you Anya, York and Ro for this very special gift!
Dognition is a series of games that you play with your pup and each game assess something different. The assessment categories are, Empathy, Communication,Cunning, Memory and Reasoning. After each game you record what you experienced with your pup and that gets saved and at the end of the entire assessment it gives you a full report of how your pooch approaches each of the categories. There is no right or wrong answer in this test so there is no percentage mark. The report explains in great detail how your pups brain processes different information in different situations.
For our first assessment I chose to do it with Oscar. I absolutely LOVED every minute of this experience with him. Oscar and I have always had a very special kind of bond, and Dognition has brought us even closer! Oscar came out to be an Ace Dog-I am so proud of my little man!! I have often received negativity from strangers towards Oscar, saying he looks like a silly couch potato that can’t run faster than a sloth. Well, to all the haters out there, Oscar will outsmart you any day!!
As an Ace, his report showed me some things I was aware of and others I would have got wrong had I had to fill in a written test about him. His Empathy skills were off the charts meaning the two of us are 100% bonded. He is my little side kick for sure. His communication skills were slightly self-reliant but he mainly looks to me for communication in certain situations. He was more trustworthy as opposed to cunning, meaning he doesn’t do things behind my back. His memory is absolutely brilliant, and what surprised me the most was he actually used his memory over his sense of smell!! Being a hound I thought his sense of smell always came first. His reasoning before doing something was quite logical, and this was because his memory was so good. All in all a fabulous report on how my baby boy deals with situations and how he solves problems.
I cannot wait to do the assessment with Zara and see how she chooses to play. Stay tuned for her results.
If you would like to do the Dognition assessment with your pup, here is a 20% off unique discount code: RAFLZD6EQG
Simply go to www.dognition.com and sign up using the unique code above. You can also follow them on Instagram at @dognition
I would love to hear feedback from your assessments and how your pups chose to play. We hope you have as much fun as we have had!
Thank you for reading.
by Happy St. Patrick’s Day
Happy St Patrick’s Day to you all. It just so happens that I decided to try a new recipe of treats for Oscar and Zara this week that are bright green so I thought it fitting to share the recipe with you on St Patricks Day. Not only are they super easy to make-less than an hour! But your pups will love them, unless they are as fussy as Oscar when it comes to trying new food groups-haha!! Somehow he knows exactly when I am up to something and his basset hound nose works overtime 😉
Zara couldn’t wait for the treats to cool down so she could be first in line to taste them. She nearly ate my fingers off, thats how good they are in her eyes. As for my little man Oscar, he sniffed them for about 10 seconds, took one into his mouth then decided he wasn’t sure of this new taste and spat it out again. Zara of course was there to vacuum it up, slobber coated and all!! I had to offer him a few which he turned his nose up at before he noticed that his sister was actually totally fine eating these new green things so maybe he should have a go too…. Now he loves them-success!!
Here is the recipe for my awesome green St Patricks Day doggy treats:
Ingredients
1 cup frozen peas thawed and blended to make a paste
1 egg
1 tbs coconut oil
1 cup wholewheat flour
Directions
Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees. In a bowl mix together the pea paste, egg and coconut oil until combined. Add the flour and mix until a dough forms. If it’s too sticky simply add more flour, if it’s too dry simply add a drop of water. Once you have a perfect dough consistency, roll it out onto a floured surface. Using cute cookie cutters, cut out and place the treats on a greased baking tray. Bake in the oven for +-20 minutes or until cooked through and slightly golden. Not too much-you want to keep their bright green colour. Let the treats cool before allowing your pooch to tuck in! Store them in an airtight container for on hand treats.
I hope your pups enjoy this recipe as much as Zara and eventually Oscar does 🙂
Thank you for reading.
by Say Cheese…
I am by no means a professional photographer. In fact, I am such a newbie it’s frightening!
Watching Oscar grow-up and taking photographs of his every move, I have over 30 000 of him saved to my hard-drive-and no I am not exaggerating at all. Oscar came into my life thirteen years ago. There was no Facebook, Instagram or Snap Chat and my photography skills were less than desirable-haha!! Hence the reason I am a newbie with a new camera. But over the years photographing my soul mate growing up, our fun and lazy moments together has been amazing and I continue to capture those special moments of my baby boy.
Then we added baby Zara to our family. Who doesn’t love photographing a gorgeous fluffy puppy? Zara being Zara would pose only long enough for you to get one photo and then demand to do something fun like attack the camera. It took a lot of patience and care to get the cute puppy photos and moments I did capture. She is now eight months old and has had her fare share of thousands of photos taken. She is becoming more and more comfortable in front of the camera.
It’s all about getting that perfect photograph. But what is the perfect photograph? When photographing pets, you soon realise to accept any photo as the perfect one 😉 Of course there are pets out there that seem to listen and pose in any position with any prop for the camera… I have clearly not inherited those pets-haha! But I wouldn’t have it any other way, both Oscar and Zara make me work very hard to get a photograph I am happy with, a photo that’s worthy of sharing with the world.
So here are my top five tips for achieving the perfect photograph of your furry love…
Natural lighting.
It is always best to try and photograph your pup in daylight. There is no better flash than the sun. Wherever I choose to photograph Oscar or Zara, I always make sure it is a well lit area. Flash photography can often affect your desired look of a photo-and not in a good way. It can cause the dreaded ‘red eye’. White fur often looks washed out, and the flash can also scare your pet!
Add a prop or two.
Adding props incorporates so much fun to a photoshoot, especially with pets. It can be a chalkboard with a quirky quote, their favourite toy, funky hat, their cutest outfit, or simply their favourite bed. I love getting Oscar all dressed up for photoshoots. He on the other hand can think of a million other things he would rather be doing. Zara is new to the dressing up scene and she would rather attack the princess crown I would like her to wear-but it is a work in progress and we will get there.
Treats.
Now this I find is particularly important!! Oscar refuses to work unless he receives a treat for his good efforts. Of course this is cute, but it also means I need a load of homemade treats on hand. Zara very quickly caught on that when she sees the camera, it means “do what mom asks and I get a treat”.
Here is a yummy recipe that will get your pups attention:
Ingredients
1 apple-grated
1 banana-mashed up
1 egg
1/2 cup oats
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups flour
Directions
Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees. Mix together your apple and banana then add the egg. Add the oats, flour and cinnamon and mix together until a dough forms. Roll your dough out onto a floured surface and use cookie cutters to cut into cute biscuits. Place them onto a greased baking tray and bake in the oven for +-20 minutes or until cooked through and slightly golden. Remove from the oven and place them on a cooling rack to cool. Store the treats in an air tight container.
Studio vs Outdoor setting.
This is obviously a personal choice, however I recommend both! Oscar has done several professional photography photoshoots in a studio as well as photoshoots outdoors. I honestly cannot say which photos I adore more because I believe every photograph of my baby is a wonderful one! Being in a studio is a bit more formal and adding props is a must! Being outdoors allows Oscar to be a little more relaxed and enjoy his surroundings. Zara has not had a professional studio photoshoot before and perhaps I should book one for us all, but her natural outdoor photos that I have taken are wonderful. I absolutely love looking back and seeing the crazy moments with her tongue hanging out, or her flying through the air because she runs so fast! It is often the natural non-posed photo’s that turn out the best.
Your subject-of course.
Of course you need your pooches! I always like to bath Oscar and Zara the night before a big photoshoot to make sure they are looking their best. For our little mini-photoshoots that happen almost daily I just like to give them a quick wipe down and a nice brush. This always makes them feel extra special, like they know I am about to take photos of them.
All in all, I believe you can never have too many photographs of your furry loves! Remember it takes time, patience and a lot of love to get a posed photo. Enjoy capturing those special moments, after all “no one ever takes a photograph of something they want to forget- anonymous”
Follow us on Instagram for daily crazy fun moments of us all @stylish_paws
Thank you for reading.
by March
categories: Calendar
Welcome to March! I hope you enjoy the calendar as much as Oscar and Zara enjoyed doing the photoshoot.
Download the March calendar here
Thank you for reading
by Product Review: PetQwerks Toys and Chews
categories: Product Reviews
When our box of the latest and greatest PetQwerks toys arrived at our door, I was jumping for joy. I don’t know who was more excited, Oscar, Zara or myself-Haha!
PetQwerks is a US based company that makes the most awesome and unique dog toys I have ever come across. When I realised that our box contained the latest BarkBone-I only had to smell inside the box, my heart skipped a beat with excitement! I couldn’t wait to see what Oscar and Zara would think of their new chews and toys…
The first item that was tested was the BarkBone. I have no words to describe how amazing this chew toy is. It smells like real peanut butter and is specifically designed for aggressive chewers-think Zara!! It also has small indents so you can smear more peanut butter onto it-how genius is that!
The next chew toy on the menu was the FlovorIt Bone. These are very similar to the BarkBone, just not as durable for a heavy chewer like Zara. Our one is BubbleGum flavour-AMAZING! Again this chew has small indents for you to smear peanut butter or even coconut oil on.
Oscar’s favourite of the pack is the Antler Chew. He isn’t big on chewing but this one took his fancy and it smells and apparently tastes like chicken! Zara tried stealing it but Oscar was having none of it. He has claimed this one as his!
My favourite of the pack is the Babble Ball. It is HILARIOUS!! It is activated by touch and spills out 20 super funny and quirky sayings. Zara is so intrigued with this ball. She has learned that she needs to touch for it to talk. She stares at it with a crumpled forehead and serious curiosity. I of course sit and giggle at all the funny things it says!
We also received a tube of pet friendly Bubbles. Let me tell you they are the best bubbles I have ever blown. They are super cute and don’t burst on the first thing it lands on. Both Oscar and Zara had them all over their whiskers-It was very cute! Zara saw these floating bubbles and knew she needed to jump into the air and attack every single one-even the ones that land on Oscar!!
Then we got a really cute squeaky emoji toy which Zara absolutely loves putting in her mouth and running around the house squeeking it like a mad thing! We also got a cute squeaky fish and a durable tyre ball with a bell inside.
Every single chew and toy received in our PetQwerks box was a winner in Oscar and Zara’s eyes. Thank you for the spoils PetQwerks!!
You can follow PetQwerks on Instagram @petqwerks and view their website at www.petqwerks.com
If you are interested in buying any of these gorgeous chews and toys, please send me an email on stacey@stylishpaws.co.za. I would be happy to place a bulk order, provided I know my fellow South Africans are interested 🙂
Thank you for reading.
Stacey, Oscar and Zara
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