Treat Review: Leanlix

Hey! We were lucky enough to get sent a Leanlix from Puss & Pooch, and have been using it for several months now so I think it is time to let you all know our thoughts on the product. Puss & Pooch are the exclusive New Zealand importer and distributor for Leanlix, and you will be able to purchase it online from them. Remember to use the 'DAISYPETS' discount code to get 25% off your purchase, and that is off everything on their site.

Leanlix is a lickable, low calorie dog treat which is in a stick form. They come in three flavours; Free Range Chicken, Bark B-Q and Grass Fed Beef and we have been trialling the Bark B-Q flavour. This is a great and quirky way to treat your dogs, and also healthy for them as three licks roughly equates to one calorie. Leanlix is perfect to take out and about as it isn't messy, you don't have to touch the treat itself, and it lasts twelve months after opening.

The idea of the Leanlix is that when you want to treat the dog, instead of messing with treats, breaking them to the right size and then giving them to the dog, you just put out the Leanlix and they lick the treat. Diego did not like that concept and preferred to put his teeth into it a little bit so that he could scrape more treat off. Doing it that way does mean it is more calories, and won't last as long but it still done the job it was intended to do. As you can see from the photo it does make the treat also look a lot more used. Asha was a lot more dainty and used the Leanlix as intended and licked it.

To get a feel of how enticing it is for a dog we used the Leanlix in heaps of different situations. At home with tricks that Diego already knew he loved it and would nibble it down. When trying to train 'Play Dead' I found that he wouldn't follow it with his nose and body enough for it to lure him. For that, we had to change over to traditional treats. However, when training a new trick that doesn't need luring (For example, jumping through a hoop) it worked great as it was tasty enough as a treat.

We also took the Leanlix to our photoshoot that we had with Hattie & Friends in Wellington. Everyone at the shoot loved it, and couldn't get over how different and innovative it was. When it was Diego's turn for photos, it wasn't luring enough to get him to focus on the camera when there were other distractions. For a certain photo we were wanting to get a dog to hold the Hattie & Friends bag, and it wasn't working too well. Then I had the idea to rub the Leanlix over the handle of the bag so that the dog holds it thinking it is a treat. This worked and here is that awesome shot!

All in all, I love this treat. We have tried products that aim for the same result, and I definitely prefer the Leanlix. If you would like, I could do a comparison post on the both of them. This treat will be great for dogs that are prone to getting overweight, or that you train a lot with treats. Just remember that you may need to use this in conjunction with traditional treats to get the best results. I think that the shelf life being twelve months is also appealing as it means that you don't need to solely use this, but more use it as a different form of treat. As I have already mentioned, we have been using this for multiple months now, and it still has a lot left even though Diego chews on it. It also can tie around your neck, belt or lead so it is easily portable for walks, and you don't have to worry about getting dirty hands. I would recommend this to all dog owners, and especially for dog trainers or walkers. Don't forget to order from www.pussandpooch.co.nz with the discount code 'DAISYPETS' to get 25% off.

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DaisyPets Christmas Gift Guide: Small Pets

Hey, we come to you today with another edition of our 2015 DaisyPets Christmas Gift Guide. This one is all our gift ideas for small pets. I am mainly talking Guinea Pigs and Rabbits since I own them, however I figure a lot of them would go well for Rats, Chinchillas and Mice as well. If you have any products that you think would be a great gift for other small pet owners, leave them down below!

Little Chintas Sunburst 
This toy is made up of multiple different textures, and Schmutz our rabbit loved it. The finger traps are easy for them to chew, and then the cardboard circles offer a harder texture for their teeth. Once the fingertraps have all been chewed, the circle made up of the smaller cardboard circles is great for putting hay or vegetables in for an extra challenge.



Little Chintas Daisy Chain
We haven't tried this product, but when searching for links for the other Little Chintas products I couldn't help but add this. It is super cute, and would look amazing in the cage, as well as a great chew toy for small pets. As I said above, the finger traps are great, and then there is willow sticks and balls which I know that our guinea pigs love!



Little Chintas Cuddle Sack
We love these, and BMO won't leave them if it is in their cage. She is super sweet, and is happy to help out to customize it how you wish. We got our ones boned at the entrance so that stayed open, and they are wonderful! They are not hard to clean, just throw them in the wash and they are ready for another use. I recommend this for Guinea Pigs and Chinchillas, but wouldn't suggest for rabbits.



Living World Teach n Treat
This is a toy that offer enrichment for your small pet, and can be adjusted for what type of pet you have. Not only did both my guinea pigs get involved, so did Schmutz and the dogs! It is also easy to adjust it depending on their skill level. You hide vegetables and treats into the slots, and they have to move sections to get to them. A great way to add some extra variety into your small pets life.




Gorgeous Guinea Shampoos
We haven't tried these, but always hear raving reviews from other pet bloggers and YouTubers. I have been meaning to make an order for a while now, so maybe I will get these for myself hehe. These are the perfect shampoos for your pigs, gentle enough for their delicate skin. They offer a range of different shampoos depending on what your pig needs and gender. These are from the UK, so just bear that in mind when purchasing these products.

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DaisyPets Christmas Gift Guide: Dogs

Hey! I love the idea of a gift guide, showcasing some of the awesome products out there that would be great to gift to another animal lover, or for their/your pets. To start off this years Daisy Pets gift guides, we are going to start with products for Dogs. These are some of my favourite products, as well as some that I haven't tried but what I think would make a great gift.

Dog Treats:

One Podgy Dog Christmas Hampers
We got the Birthday version of these hampers, and it was amazing. It is filled with a bunch of One Podgy Dogs treats so you can try out a range of treats for a small price. They have three different boxes available and you can see all the treats that would be inside each individual box. This is one of my top gifts for Christmas!

Bow Wow Box Subscription
This is a monthly subscription service that sends boxes filled with treats and a toy to your doorstep each month. I think it would be fantastic as a gift to buy a box, or even a certain number of months and they will get delivered to the door each month so Christmas lasts even longer!

Woofas Doggone Delights Christmas Cracker
These are crackers that contain a combination of treats from Woofas Doggone Delights. They are a New Zealand company and all the treats are grain and beef free that are inside the cracker. This would be a cute small gift for your own pets, or to bring to the house that you are going to for Christmas for their pups to enjoy while you enjoy your own crackers.


Leanlix
We love ours! This is a fantastic present as it is something that isn't commonly around, and is not generally in local stores. It is a treat stick that your dog can lick when you are wanting to treat them, and is perfect if you are often training as it doesn't contain many calories! Purchase online from Puss & Pooch, and use the 'DAISYPETS' coupon code at checkout and you will get 25% off.

Dog Toys:

Zee.Dog Vegetable Range
These toys are multi-purpose, functioning as an interactive treat toy, a chew, and also a bouncy object to play fetch with. They are sturdy, and depending on you and your dogs preference on choice of activity, each vegetable has its own distinct qualities.

Planet Dog Diamond Plate Ball
This ball is Diego's most prized possession. This toy is super durable, and has withheld Diego's intense chewing habits. It is also insanely bouncy making for a great game of fetch. The best part? It has a mint flavouring so after playing with it, your dog will have great breath as well.

Dawg Grillz Balls
Another ball, I know. These are too cool not to get involved! We haven't tried these ones yet, but I love how quirky they are, and think that it will be a perfect present for a dog that loves balls. Also, they would make some fantastic photos! The great thing is that they are happy to ship to New Zealand so we will be able to get them here. My personal favourite is the glow in the dark one!

Dog Accessories:

Bow Wow Boutique Collars and Leashes
We are huge fans of Alex and Bow Wow Boutique, and have started to get quite the collection of collars and leashes from her. Bow Wow Boutique have a huge range of different designs, sizes and collar schemes that you will be able to find one that matches the dogs or owners personality perfectly. These collars also stand out a lot, and we are constantly getting compliments on the ones we own.

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November Favourites

As we did last month, we are going to wrap up the month that was with a list of our favourites in each category. I have added a few extra categories from last month, because although we lacked a little in posts this month, we did trial a lot of new and wonderful things and found some firm favourites.

Favourite Dog Walk: Lower Hutt River Trail
We haven't been very adventurous in our walks this month, mainly sticking to what we know and what is close. A very close walk to us, and one that we went on nearly daily was the River Trail. The actual trail is a long strip of riverbank that covers the whole Hutt River, so if you wanted you could walk from Petone all the way up past Upper Hutt without having to make any detours or walk on other paths. The walk we have been doing a lot is around the Lower Hutt area, where there is open fields for Diego to zoom around on. It is the perfect walk because it can really be any length, if you want a shorter walk you stick to the river itself, or the large fields next to the river. If you want to go for a longer walk, you leash the dogs and continue down the track in either direction for as far as you like. The dogs are allowed off-leash here in certain areas, others are leashed. They do supply doggy poo bags at regular intervals along the track, however, they certainly lack bins with only one available at where we start.

Favourite Dog Treat: Leanlix
Leanlix has definitely been the favourite treat of the month, with it being used almost daily to teach Diego new tricks and cement older tricks. I love this product and will be doing a full in depth review within the next few weeks. A quick over view of this is that it is a treat stick which you can roll up, and as a reward the dog licks it. This means a lot fewer calories for the dog, and they don't get as full. Especially if you are training a lot, or need to praise a dog often in the day. Diego loves this, although he doesn't understand the licking method and prefers to dig his teeth into it. We took it to a recent photoshoot and everyone there loved it. We got our Leanlix from Puss & Pooch, who are amazing and have offered us a 25% discount code for all the products on their site, including the Leanlix. If you want to make the most of that offer, at the checkout put in the code 'DAISYPETS' and it will automatically put your discount on.

Favourite Dog Toy: Nylabone Dental Dinosaur Chew
Back in April of this year we ordered a large bunch of toys off of Amazon to try and test out potential Tough Dog Toys. At the time we ordered this Nylabone in the shape of a dinosaur. It is still around to this day, although not recognisable as a dinosaur. We hadn't seen it for a while, but when we were moving house, it re-emerged and ever since then Diego is always chewing on it. People have mixed opinions on Nylabones and how good they actually are, but this toy has enough give that it does slowly break down. I also have a review coming up on this product, as part of our Tough Dog Toy Hunt.

Favourite Dog Extra: Peticare Homeopathy Oils
Asha has a fear of loud noises, and fireworks are definitely one of his worst fears. With it being Guy Fawkes there has been lots of fireworks being let off. Usually this would set him off on a mad panic, however, we were putting some of the Calming Remedy drops into his water, and on his gums and it calmed him right down. He was still alert, but didn't pant or get too anxious about it at all. We also gave him some of the wound drops as he pulled his toenail and I obviously can't give you an exact answer on how this changed his attitude towards the nail, but it didn't seem to be sore for very long. We won these oils from the Pet Expo, and got the pack of four sent to us.

Favourite Guinea Pig Vegetable: Lettuce
I love this time of year, when salad ingredients start getting cheaper, and the variety of fruits for me starts growing. This means that a staple in the Guinea Pigs diet is Lettuce, as it is super cheap. The guinea pigs always love lettuce, and it is generally one of the first vegetables they eat when its vege time. I also love how easy it is to use as an interactive tool, and so I will be doing a post in the next month on the many ways you can feed lettuce to your pigs to utilise their brains and exercise them a bit.

Favourite Guinea Pig Extra: Wooden Hut
My sister was doing woodwork at school and one of her projects was this awesome wooden hut, which she has gifted to the pigs. It has all been waterproofed, and is made with pet safe materials. I was so impressed by her handiwork on this one, as she is only twelve! BMO especially has been loving this, and it is very hard to get him out of it. Diego had destroyed all of the pigs cuddle sacks (Typical Diego) so it was great to be able to give them a new hidey in their cage.

Favourite Event: Hattie & Friends Photoshoot
Diego was invited to model for Hattie & Friends for their upcoming store launch. It was an awesome day out in Wellington, and thankfully the weather was good for us. Diego was well behaved for the photos, and proudly showed off his stuff with the help of some treats and a soft toy. It was awesome to meet so many people and dogs that I had seen online, and finally put a face to their names. All the dogs were well behaved, and so cute. After the initial shoot, we headed to the dog park where some more shots were taken of the dogs playing. At this point, Diego stole a rugby ball, and outran every other dog for it. Unfortunately, that ended in an altercation as Diego had decided to claim this poor pups ball. A rugby ball is now on our next purchase list. Hattie & Friends is now live, so go check them out and hopefully you can spot Diego in some of their photos!

What have been some of your favourites this month?

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Go Green NZ Expo | Review & Haul

Hey! This Sunday we decided to attend the Go Green Expo that was at Wellington's TSB Arena. The Go Green Expo is an expo dedicated to supporting green businesses across NZ, and has a wide variety of sustainable and eco-friendly businesses running stalls. The Go Green Expo was created to make it easy for everyday people to get their hands on affordable, environmentally friendly products, and to gain knowledge into a healthier, cleaner life. They cover everything in a 'one stop shop' from local beers, organic skin care and makeup, to ethical investments, cars and electric bikes.

Let me start with saying that I was not expecting much, I was still bitter about the horror which was the Pet Expo held in Upper Hutt. I can now say I was pleasantly surprised, and enjoyed the Expo immensely. One of my favourite things in other people is passion, it what attracts me to people and makes me want to build a friendship. However, these days, not many people show off their passion, and it's a real shame. I loved the atmosphere at the expo because everyone was so passionate about what they were doing, and what they were offering. I loved discussing all these different products and services with people whose eyes lit up with fire as they explained why and how they do what they do.

I think the passion behind peoples stalls really helped with us whipping out our cards and purchasing a lot of things. We made some awesome new purchases, and learnt about a lot of smaller businesses, so I have decided to do a quick haul to showcase some of these! There were a lot more stalls that we did enjoy but didn't purchase from at the time so if we do in the future I will make sure to mention them somewhere. Also, if you would like any reviews on the products, please let me know and I will give each product an in depth review.

 This is a whole laundry kit from Simply Laundry. This is a hypoallergenic, eco friendly and cost effective alternative to basic laundry powder. We got everything in their range and purchased it as a package which includes two of their Laundry Balls, plus replacement pellets, whiter bleach powder, stain stick and two of their lint balls. All you have to do is throw one or two of the Laundry Balls into your wash, depending on the size of the load. No other washing powders needed. There is no chemicals in any of their products, or soap agents so no residue is left behind. Each pack of pellets can last anywhere between 3 months to 12 months depending on how often you wash. For an average household doing one wash a day, they will last roughly 6 months. I am excited to see how these work, they also offer a 100% money back guarantee on all their products if you don't believe it worked for your family. If you want any more information, check out their website www.livesimply.co.nz

This is a lunch box from Meals in Steel. I have never thought about it too much, but I always reuse plastic containers for my lunches and it most definitely would not be good for my health. This is a great alternative to having a plastic lunchbox, it lasts longer, doesn't crack or leak, is lightweight and is dishwasher and freezer safe. We got the two layer circle container, and my partner will be using it for his lunches. The thing we love about this one is if you are having a salad, or something with a separate sauce, it means you can keep that in one layer and the rest in the other layer to keep it fresh til you want to eat. If you want to get one for yourself visit www.mealsinsteel.nz

 Next up we got the full pack of products from OurEco Home which is a range of home cleaning products. None of their products contain harsh chemicals, and to be honest, they smell 100% nicer than any other cleaning product that I have smelt on the market. These smell incredible! The man at the stall gave us an amazing run through on how each of these products work, and the best places to use each one. It was awesome how informative and passionate he was about his products. These products will replace every other cleaning product in our home, for the whole home including kitchen and bathroom. We also got four of their microfibre cloths which work fantastically with all their products. I am so excited to clean my home now, and will definitely be doing an update on these once I have got a feel for how they work. This brand is large in Australia and is in a lot of their stores, however it is new to New Zealand and can only be purchased online currently. You will be able to buy your own at http://ourecohome.co.nz/

 When I saw this stall, I wondered when I last tried blackcurrants, and I couldn't think of it. However, I am now hooked on them! These are absolutely delicious. We got a pack of their freeze dried berries, and a smaller pack of the dark chocolate covered berries. Both are vegan. The chocolate covered ones are my new guilty pleasure, and I will be purchasing more packs once I have finished this one. The freeze dried berries are great to use in smoothies, as well as mueslis, salads, ice creams, and any other meal you can think of. Viberi is 100% organic, New Zealand grown blackcurrants. To purchase your own berries, go to www.viberi.co.nz and you can order online!

This product is obviously not for me, well I hope I don't need beard oil! This is for my partner, who loves his beard, sometimes I think he may love it more than me. The beard oil contains ingredients to help condition your beard, ease any beard itch and to smell all woodsy and fabulous. This one does smell amazing! A common theme through the products we picked up. A portion of all proceeds from Archeus goes towards their plant conservation activity, so every purchase you know you are giving back! This company also made a tattoo oil that my partner tried out, and loved. The woman that we were talking with at the stall was so lovely, and spoke about how she is working with breast cancer survivors with their tattoo oil to help make them feel beautiful again. I just love the morals behind this company. I didn't manage to find the beard oil on their site, but you can check out the rest of their range on www.archeus.co.nz

The last thing I picked up was this awesome shirt from NZAVS, which is the Anti-Vivisection Society of New Zealand. I just thought the graphic was so cute, the rat cartoon is just adorable. Of course, it also spreads a great message. I am not well informed on this topic so I can't say too much about it at the moment, but they have invited us to a volunteer meeting in December where we will discuss the cause over vegan food. So I will definitely attend that and learn some more information around this topic. I know that they do a lot of work with HUHA which is one of our favourite charities so I can't wait to learn more. If you want any more information, or to purchase a T-Shirt of your own, head over to www.nzavs.org.nz

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Wordless Wednesday: Summer Morning Walks

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Tough Dog Toy Hunt: ZeeDog Eggplant

Hey! We are still on the hunt for decent, tough dog toys that last the distant. It is crazy how hard it is to find a toy that deals with Diego's chewing. I can't imagine how hard it would be to find toys for Pit Bulls and larger dogs. If you want to see some of our other reviews in this series we have a list here.

Today, we are reviewing the ZeeDog Eggplant which states that it is the toughest toy in their range of vegetable and fruit shaped toys. We purchased this from Wolves of Wellington which is a small online shop that is based in my area. The toy can be used in multiple different ways, as a treat challenge, and as a fetch toy.
We currently have a giveaway over on our Facebook page to win your very own eggplant! 

First off, the way that it is designed means that when you bounce it, it bounces in every different direction. Also, when I say it is bouncy, I mean bouncy! I was showing my younger sisters just how bouncy it is, and it bounced straight up into her face! This worked well for us, because Diego is a ball and toy fanatic, and was quick to change direction and height when playing fetch with the toy. For the first couple of times that we played with the toy, we didn't even bother putting treats in it, just threw it around and Diego loved it. He wouldn't leave it alone and even decided that it needed to come to bed with us.

Sadly, the toy didn't last as long as we liked. As I said above, the first couple of times we played together, and the first time I left him unsupervised with the toy (No treats inside) he ripped the top off. This probably took less than ten minutes for him to completely rip off, I was only just started on dinner in the kitchen. Although, that didn't stop his love for the toy and now just meant that he had two toys to play with. I kind of was happy that he did destroy the top, because the full eggplant did look a little rude, and without the top, it was definitely less rude.

Once he had destroyed the top of it, we finally got around to putting treats inside. The first day we squished our Halloween Pupcakes into, another day we put in chicken necks and treats and another day we put a full banana inside. With access from both sides, it did make the challenge easier, and the chicken necks with treats fell out with little effort from Diego. The banana was a challenge for Diego, and it took him on and off a full day to get the banana out. I think this was because I smooshed it to the sides of the Eggplant which his tongue couldn't reach. I think the treat challenge is decent enough for him, it kept him busy for anywhere from ten minutes to a full day.

Another thing I thought would be good to mention is that my partner drove over the Eggplant a few days ago in his van, and it is still intact. I was very surprised that it lived through that. I thought it was finally time to say good bye to the Eggplant. I do believe that Diego will end up chewing it apart, his teeth manage to pull bits off the top every time he plays with it so eventually it will wear down.

My final thoughts is that this is a great toy, and is fantastic to leave for your dog with treats inside, or even for play time together. I don't believe that it would be good as a 'Tough Dog Toy' as Diego wore through it super quickly. I can't imagine it lasting against a Pit Bull or even a Lab if there is treats inside. If you are tossing up between this and a Kong for a destructive dog, I would suggest to go for the original or Black Kong as our baby Kong is still around untouched (although previously Diego has destroyed a Kong). If you don't have a super destructive dog, then it will be perfect and I would definitely recommend it. I would also love to trial their other products in the range, they all look amazing and would be good to compare the treat challenge on all of them.

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Book Review: Ivory, Apes & Peacocks

Hey! We haven't done a book review in a while and to be honest, I just stopped reading for a while there. I just finished Ivory, Apes & Peacocks by Alan Root, and it has put me back into the mood of reading. I really appreciated this book so decided that this was the perfect read to get back into posting book reviews.

This book is a biography all about Alan and his life in Africa. Alan is a wildlife photographer and videographer that travelled through a lot of countries within Africa filming animals in their natural habitat. For those of you who didn't know, my dream travel location would be to Kenya, or Tanzania so it was so great to read an insight onto life within those countries. The book spans through most of his life, with Alan writing a bit of insight into his youth and then through early 20's onwards.

As always I don't want to give too much away from the book, however, there are some things I need to tell you about. Alan is a very inspiring man, and not only did he make amazing documentaries on tonnes of different animals, he also filmed animals that had never previously been filmed, or got on camera animal behaviour that hadn't been previously known. However, because he was not a qualified scientist, he was unable to document this and get the credit for it.

My favourite quote from the book is "I’ve always felt that gorillas - powerful but calm and gentle - are what most humans would like to be. Chimps - more inventive, but rowdy, combative and murderous - are, I’m afraid, more what we are." This quote came during the time that Alan was studying Gorillas in the wild, and this really stuck out to me. After reading Chimps of Fauna Sanctury and Through a Window I understand what he means by this. Chimpanzees are more aggressive creatures but also incredibly intelligent. Compared with Gorillas, who are more calm and placid but not as intelligent.

A big thing for me with books is how they are written. I believe that poor writing can ruin even the most amazing story. Alan has done an impressive job on the writing of this book, and it drew me in. A lot of biographies are hard to get into, and are not the type of book that you can't put down, however, Alan has done such a great job that I was hooked on reading this book. The story was set out perfectly, and went through each idea in chronological order. It also had amazing drawings in the book that one of his friends had especially drawn for him which gave some more character to the story.

My final thoughts on this book is that it is a definite read for animal lovers out there. It is such an inspiring story to do what you are passionate about, and not to give up when there is a bit of hardship in your life. It is also awesome to hear the stories about so many people that are passionate about animals and acting in their defence to protect them from us humans. I am now very keen to track down some of his documentaries and watch a few of them.
Have you read this book? What were your thoughts? Leave a comment down below telling us.

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October Favourites

Hey! We use a lot of different products, and go through many different treats and I know that a lot of those products never get mentioned. I have decided that a good way to wrap up the past month of trialling products is that we do a favourites list. Each month we will list our favourite thing under certain catergories so you can find out more about the things we are appreciating. This way, you can find out a lot more about what we have been loving. This will not replace current reviews that we often post.

Favourite Walk: Off-Leash Dog Park
This was not a hard choice, the number one place we go every weekend is the off leash dog park. We don't generally go during the week because it is a bit of a drive, but every weekend in October we packed up the dogs and took them to the park. This is a fenced in area that means we can let Asha off leash since his recall is seriously lacking. While we are there, we throw a ball for Diego while Asha runs around finding the best spots to wee. There is often a lot of dogs there as well which means both dogs get some great socialisation. I am yet to find a more efficient way to tire both dogs out without walking for hours. The one thing I will say about this park is that I don't recommend it for dogs that are likely to get aggressive in the presence of lots of other dogs. Because all dogs are off leash, it means there is a lot of dogs in each others faces and if your dog cannot cope with that, I would suggest visiting somewhere else. Otherwise, perfect for any dog, even the most 'glued-on ears' dogs will be great here.

Favourite Treat: Harringtons Training Treats
This brings back some memories from when we first started getting Bow Wow Boxes, and these treats were featured in the box. Diego absolutely loved these, so we went down to a local supermarket and purchased about ten packs. We done a giveaway for some of them, and the other packets were slowly used during the year. This one packet obviously got lost in the chaos which is our pet area, and I was trying to find good treats for training Diego to Play Dead and came across these again. They worked perfect, and meant that Diego learnt how to Play Dead in record time. They are soft enough to break into smaller pieces, or keep them large for the bigger dogs, and are perfect consistency that they don't halt training too much for chewing. We have a more in-depth review here.

Favourite Dog Toy: Zee.Dog Eggplant
We picked this toy up from Wolves of Wellington at the Tess the Dachshund charity event, and every time we gave it to Diego he went loco. When we first started giving it to him, we didn't put any food in it, he just loved the idea of fetch as it went bouncing multiple different directions. Unfortunately, Diego being Diego, he ripped the top off of it within about ten minutes of chewing it while I made dinner. This didn't affect his love for the toy though, and now he is even more happy because he loves playing with both pieces. We now put treats inside while we go out, and he has access from both ends to get to the centre goodness. I will have a full review of this within the month of November.

Favourite Extra: Mudwiggle Doggy Bandanas
Our favourite extra for this month had to be the Mudwiggle Doggy Bandanas. Diego wore his every day for the whole month, and Asha would have, if Diego hadn't decided that dragging him by the bandana was a good idea. We got plenty of compliments over the month on these, especially when we were at the HUHA Collection Day! So many people asked where it was from, or just complimented us on how awesome it looked on Diego. I am now upset because they have no general bandanas, and I feel that the Halloween ones will be too much for every month. Maybe that just means I have to purchase more.

Favourite Vegetable: Celery
The guinea pigs needed a mention in our favourites, however we don't change too much in their daily routine month to month so found it hard to come up with an idea on what we can put in. I finally decided that vegetable would be good because each time we got to the markets, a different vegetable is in season and therefore this is the major thing that changes in the pigs lives. This month they have been really enjoying celery, even eating that before carrots or lettuce! Celery doesn't offer much nutritional value but because they enjoy it so much we generally put a small bit in each day. One thing to make sure of, is that you chop the celery into smaller segments to avoid the string that celery has, getting caught in the pigs internal tracks.

Favourite Event: HUHA Collection Day
This month we only had two events, the HUHA Collection Day and the Pet Expo. Although at the time of writing this, we haven't yet been to the Pet Expo. If that one is good enough, you might hear about it in the November Favourites. Anyway, we spent a day collecting donations in Central Wellington for HUHA, and you we wrote a blog post all about it. We love HUHA and being able to help them out by spending a day on the streets is well worth it. HUHA do an amazing job for pets and animals in New Zealand.

What were your favourites for the month of October? Any new products that stand out for you? Leave a comment below.

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Play Dead! | DaisyPets Halloween

Hey! This will be our last post for the month of October, and although it was hard to try and come up with original ideas each Monday and Thursday, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. I love to celebrate Halloween and this meant that I could celebrate it for the whole month.
To finish off our wonderful series I decided that it only seemed fitting to teach your dog a new trick that can be used during the Halloween season. Therefore we chose Play Dead. Diego had not previously been taught this trick so throughout the month of October we slowly taught him how to do it. It took a bit of patience at the beginning, but once he had it, we were away smiling. I would love to videos or photos of your dog learning the Play Dead command, so leave a comment on this post or go across to our Facebook and post a photo to our wall.

First off you will need high reward treats, some sort of treat that is very smelly and your dog cannot resist following it with their nose. We used Harringtons Training Treats, which we used to love so much, and have only recently found them again. Also, it will definitely help if your dog already knows the down command. The main step is luring them from the down position, so if you already have that command down, it will really improve your chances of them learning this one.

Command your dog to lie down. You will want your dog to be relaxed onto one side. Diego always lies down straight, and so I had to be patient and wait for him to finally relax before we can get to the next step. Waiting for them to be relaxed will help a lot, as it means that they will naturally fall to the side which they are resting on.

Put the treat in front of your dogs nose and slowly lure him to the side which he is resting towards. Aim to do an arc so that eventually the dog will be lying on his side with the treat in front of his nose. This will take a lot of repetitions before the dog will fully be on his side. Every time Diego went towards the treat in the direction I wanted, I would treat him, and each time treat him a little lower. Once Diego understood the concept, he was happy enough to flop to his side. In this video, Diego had done the repetition a few times, and that is why he went straight towards the ground.