PetKind Bison Tripe Treats #chewyinfluencer

This month, we tried out PetKind Bison Tripe Treats, courtesy of Chewy.com.

Many fun things happening on the beach.

These treats come in a bar of jerky form, which is fantastic for me. While training Rally, I like having small treats ready to give out. In real life situations, I prefer having a large chunk of treat that can be broken or ripped into small pieces to give as rewards. I feel like having something big and visible to show the dogs can help with motivation on a recall, and it is easier to find in a pocket.

Flight is a goof, with a pretty good recall

The tripe jerky treats break pretty easily, with just the occasional one being in a stringy part of the strip and needing to be ripped off as a long, skinny piece instead of a small chunk.

Boing

The dogs are very willing to work for these treats. And, bonus for the human, despite being tripe, they don't smell like you are carrying something dead around in your pocket.

My girls

Overall, we really liked these treats, and would happily use them again in the future.

Pretty girl

We were provided with these treats in exchange for an honest review. We were not compensated in any other way.

WW: Ducks* in a Row

I've got all my dogs in a row.

In a row both directions!

Nulo Freeze-Dried Raw #chewyinfluencers

Yesterday, I met up with my friend Heidi for a fun day at the coast. I brought along Ptera and Flight, and she brought along Pallo. The dogs all ended up getting along great after a few minor grumbles when they first met in the car. Pallo is 9 now, and is doing fantastic. I don't think I would believe how old he is if I didn't know it as undeniable fact.

My pro poser 

We did hit the beach first, then lunch, then we took a hike with the dogs, with the goal of getting them another blow out before heading home, and grabbing some pictures on some of my favorite hiking trails ever.

I brought along Nulo Duck Recipe freeze dried dog food to use as treats. Flight is still learning his recall (this was only his third totally off leash hike with no drag line, if you count the beach that same morning as off leash hike #2). Pallo and Ptera have great recalls, but treats keep their recalls snappy and are used to pay them for posing for photos!

The Nulo was sent to us to review, and while it is a food that is a complete diet in and of itself, we just had a smallish bag, so I thought the best way to use it was for treats. I do love that I can feed as many "treats" as I want without worrying that the dogs will get sick from overly rich treats. I can just lower the amount of their regular food later if they eat a ton of the Nulo.

Hiking and photos require accessories. Poop bags and treats!

The Nulo comes in little nuggets, which worked great as treats, and would make scooping out a cup or two for meals super easy as well. They crush easily enough if you deliberately crush them, but weren't too bad when I just wanted to hold some in my hand for handy recall treats.

Mr. Pallo

Pallo thought the Nulo was fantastic, and tried to take my fingers with the treats pretty much every time. Ptera loved them too, but was more polite about it.

Flight drank the salt water at the beach (obviously he was discouraged, but he still drank more than he should have) and ended up with a queasy stomach. He ended up taking his treats and then burying them for "later" in the forest along our path. (He ended up not feeling great that evening and part of the night, but I have no doubt next time we go to the beach he will be just as happy to drink all the water in sight, salt water or not.)

Flight

Overall, the Nulo was a big hit. I would happily get it again to use as treats, and the ingredients are fantastic. If I were to switch to a dehydrated raw food in the future, Nulo would be on my list to look at for sure.


Also, for anyone wondering- Koira is now doing fantastic. As my mom refers to it, she is "fat and sassy" now. The canned food she is on made her gain some weight initially, though she is now maintaining, and she is acting playful and happy. The tooth extraction sites are pretty much healed at this point.

Winter Beach Trip

The beach in Oregon is actually better in the winter. At least, that is what I've always felt. This past weekend, the temps at the beach were in the 60s, and it was solid sun all weekend. Of course that meant we took a trip to the coast.

Of course, about everyone else in Oregon had the same idea. I think it may have been the most crowded I have ever seen the beaches here. But we were still able to find a place to park, and walk far enough to be away from everyone for the most part, with just a few people in the distance in either direction.

The dogs absolutely love the beach. Koira has always loved the beach, and Ptera, while a little less crazy about it, also has a great time as long as it isn't wet and windy.

The dogs like to spend most of their time at the high tide line, smelling all the stuff that has washed in on the waves. Or else up in the dune grass, rocks, and logs at the edge of the beach, checking out the smells there. They are really good about not trying to eat anything, even things like dead crabs, and I'm lucky in that neither of them are inclined toward rolling in gross things, so I'm happy to let them do their thing as long as they stay in sight and come back when called.

We always keep our eyes out for other people on the beach, especially if they have dogs, and make sure that we keep the dogs away from them. Not everyone wants a large dog running at them, even if they like dogs, and not all dogs are going to get along, so it is just plain courtesy to make sure they don't go off bugging anyone. I'm always pretty happy when I see other dog owners doing the same thing.

The day was absolutely gorgeous. The sunset pictures I shared earlier this week were from this past weekend- the one I shared a while ago was from a different trip entirely. We've had some awesome sunsets lately for sure.

Beach Sunset

Standing on a retaining wall, with the beach, ocean, and sunset in the background

Just the pretty sunset colors with dune grasses

This is was the view north along the beach. The pinks and purples were really evident. That tiny light off to the left of the land is the lighthouse.

Jump

Sunset in Newport

July/August Hiking Goals

I skipped the July update of our hiking goals for the year. We didn't actually go hiking at all in July. I know. Pretty bad, considering we have so few dry months here.

My favorite SUP selfie so far this summer

In July, I did make it out on the paddleboard and kayak a few times. I went to a small, local lake with my mom a few times.

Playing with the GoPro at the local lake

"Docking" the SUP and going for the dismount

I also went camping at the coast for a few days with a friend and her family. We took out the paddleboard and some kayaks to Beaver Creek on the coast. I mostly stuck to the SUP, but did take a spin in the kayak. We camped at South Beach State Park, which was a lot of fun, but I didn't get a single photo of our campsite (we were in yurts) or of the beach. Or of the beach at Pacific City when we went there at the end of the week.

Kayaking a little at Beaver Creek

The first week of August, I slammed my week full of water trips. I started with a trip to Olalla lake with a friend who has never kayaked. I helped her put a big, super fun check mark on her bucket list, and had the opportunity myself to get out and have a great time.

The next day, I headed down to a reservoir near Eugene with a friend, where we spent a very smokey day out on the water. The Willamette Valley has been in smoke almost all summer, it feels like, from wildfires in Oregon, Washington, and even some smoke coming all the way from the big BC wildfires.

In a reservoir near Eugene- it wasn't overcast at all, that haze is all smoke

Then, I headed to the Silverton lake the next day to meet up with another friend and enjoy yet another day on the water. I was exhausted, but it was an amazingly fun week. It wasn't quite planned to be like that, rather, I made plans with three people and kept forgetting that I had plans. But somehow it all worked out, and I had an awesome week.

Still a smoky day, but much clearer in Silverton than in Eugene the day before

I went whitewater rafting with our flyball team boxloader and his friends/family, which was pretty awesome. I got exactly zero photos, and didn't have a dog with me, and didn't know anyone except the one person, but it was an absolute blast. So much fun.

I also had a chance to hit the beach once in August, even though I rarely do the beach in Oregon in the summer.

Posing on the beach

And went back to an old favorite hike, Drift Creek Falls. There was actually a tree down across the road and a few people had parked and hiked in the last mile to the trailhead. But, with teamwork between three carloads of people, we managed to move the tree out of the road with zero tools. That kind of eclipsed the hike, to be honest. It felt awesome to come together with a team of strangers and get something done that would have been impossible alone.

Classic sign photo

Having a tiny dog willing to balance on things is pretty fun sometimes

Trailhead mileage sign

I just love the suspension bridge at Drift Creek Falls. It scares me, but I have been slowly tackling my fear of heights (remember that I went ziplining in the Redwoods in California?). This is a solid bridge in good condition, but narrow enough with open looking sides to be scary, but with chainlink and solid boards, so you can use it to conquer fears.

Drift Creek suspension bridge

What have you been doing in the great outdoors this summer? Any fun plans before summer ends? I'm hoping to get some more hiking in this month, and at least a few more SUP trips as well.

Happy National Dog Day

Happy National Dog Day! Hope you enjoy spending the day with your dogs. I'm spending it building a cool DIY project for Ptera- I'll share the full process on Monday.

May Hiking and Beach Goals

In May, we got out quite a bit. Lots of short hikes were taken on the logging roads nearby.

"Two roads diverge in a wood"

These trails are beautiful, but it can be easy to end up going down the wrong trail, and then hiking down, down, down, down, and reaching a dead end, only to have to turn around and go back up. Every time I come to a fork in the road out here, I think of that Frost poem, but my own version. "Two roads diverge in a wood and I, I took the one less traveled by, and I went down and down and down a really steep road until I reached a dead end and then had to haul myself all the way back up it again." That is the country version of that poem. Seriously. (Don't worry, I know my way around out here really well, I just occasionally deliberately take the wrong turn just to see where it goes- and it is always a huge downhill hike that ends in a dead end. Every time.)

Exploring

I also met up with Pallo's mom and we went for a hike at Beazell forest.

Posing

Ptera and Pallo get along well, and both of them love hiking.

Trail map

Beazell has two main loops of trails, and some smaller additional loops. I always end up climbing the ridge trail, and then regretting the decision the entire time as it kicks my ass both going up and coming back down.

Bird info sign

We even took the easy loop first, then decided it wasn't a long enough hike, and went and did the ridge trail anyway. Pallo's mom is never going to go hiking with me again, I think, after I made her hike all the way up there and back down.

We did make it to the beach a few times as well, though I didn't always bring my camera or get a picture with the sign. The neatest thing on the beach was seeing the bald eagle fighting with a seagull, which I posted about a few weeks ago.

Lost Creek State Park

One of the trips, there was a storm coming in fast from the ocean. We went for our walk on the beach, then took a break for dinner, then went back out afterwards to see what the storm may have washed onto the beach.

You can see the storm coming in on the right side of this photo.

Spring weather on the Oregon coast is strange.

Puffy white clouds and a clear blue sky after the storm passed through

When I go to the beach with my mom, her goal is always to look for cool things on the beach, be it glass floats, fossils, or any other nifty things. We always pick up floats and rope and such to bring home if we find it.

Finding floats

The key to finding good stuff is often timing and knowing the right weather patterns. I just kind of go along for the ride most of the time. I haven't found anything really awesome, though I have found some regular floats a few times, and I did find a tin of ovaltine that was made in Taiwan, which was kind of cool.

Brian Booth State Park

How much did you get out this month? Go anywhere cool? Find anything awesome?

Bald Eagle v Seagull

At the beach last Friday, I saw this bald eagle swooping by overhead. I luckily had a longer lens already on my camera, and was able to get some shots of him.



This seagull was chasing the bald eagle (I don't know enough to tell if they are male or female for sure, but I am pretty sure the seagull is female).



The seagull kept dive bombing the eagle, urging it on, and making it fly away. My best guess is that the eagle was too close to the seagull's nest.



Seeing a bald eagle is pretty awesome by itself, but seeing the seagull bullying it along was amazing.



You can tell that the seagull is in a superior air position the entire time, staying above the eagle and in a position to threaten its wings.



The seagull won in the end, driving the eagle off the beach into a stand of trees.