Omega Plus Fish Treats

Hey! I recently started noticing Omega Plus Treats coming up on other New Zealand Instagram accounts and knowing how much Diego thrives on fish treats I was intrigued. I contacted them to see where I could purchase some in the North Island, and was lucky enough for them to send Diego and Chico a gift pack before Christmas.

Omega Plus Pet Food is a New Zealand company that is a division of New Zealand King Salmon which has been sustainably farming the king salmon species in the Marlborough Sounds for over 20 years. Omega Plus offers food and treats for both cats and dogs using human grade fish cuts as the main or only ingredient. King Salmon species has the highest natural oil content of all salmon and contains a naturally rich source of healthy long chain omega 3-s. Also contains vitamins A, B12 and D, as well as high-quality protein, niacin and thiamine.

We received the King Salmon Fins and Tails treats which is literally just the fins and tails chopped from the fish. These have been freeze dried, with no preservatives added. I gave Diego a tail as his first treat, which he happily chomped down. I wish I could give you a close up of these, or even a photo of Diego with them, but the day Diego got that first tail, he loved it so much he tracked down the packet. I came home from work and found the resealable pouch destroyed around the yard, and some scales scattered around to show what he had been up to. Diego is not generally one to get into mischief while I am at work so it is a big deal for him to scout these off the bench to enjoy.

The fins are super unusual looking, with it literally being a fin cut off the fish. They are of a decent size, big enough for it to take a couple of minutes for Diego to eat. They would also suit any sized dog as they wouldn't be a choking hazard for larger breeds. A great thing about these treats, compared to other fish treats we have tried, is that there is minimal mess. There is no leftover scales on the floor, and if there is, they are delectable enough for Diego to lick them up. The great thing about the packaging on these treats is that the plastic is made from a thick plastic, to keep majority of the scent out, and it has a resealable closure to keep them fresh after opening.

We also received a container of their King Salmon Oil which I have been putting on the dogs food. Diego absolutely adores the oil, and goes crazy when he sees me getting it out. I have been putting a couple squirts on his breakfast most mornings and have noticed a difference in his coat. It is a lot softer, and quite glossy. Mum has been giving Chico the oil as well, and has noticed similar results. Fish oil is a great supplement to any dogs meal times, as it contains Omega-3 and 6 which is great for skin, coat and joint mobility. The 300ml size is also perfect, as it contains roughly 125 doses which will last a couple of months depending on the size of your dog and how often you are supplementing.

A big thing I find with fish treats and oil is the smell, and the grease. I don't like touching the packets, or the actual product as I can't seem to remove that fishy smell. Sorry to break it to you all, but these products are no different. You will need to scrub your hands thoroughly after going anywhere near these. As for Diego, I haven't noticed any lingering bad breath due to the fish. Straight after he has gnawed on a treat might be different, but after a little while his breath is back to normal.

I would definitely recommend trying these treats, especially if your dog is fond of fish like Diego. I am going to be going out to buy more when they hit stores near us. They make a great treat to give when you are leaving the house, or just to keep your dog occupied for a few minutes. The fish oil is a absolute treat, and at a cheaper price than typical fish oils, it is one that I will be repurchasing when we run out.

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Shiba Inu Puppy Photoshoots!

Whenever any of my friends get a new pet, I am always the first there, usually with camera in tow to make sure I can get some sweet shots of the new being. When my friend Scott got Frankie, a gorgeous pinto Shiba Inu girl, I was there within days to welcome her to the club. Scott also owns Mowgli, who can be seen on my blog as a puppy, as well as exploring a local fenced dog park.
She is such a darling wee girl, and is already showing her character as she stands up to the bigger dogs. Here are a few shots I got over a few days, but you will definitely be seeing more of her in the future as Diego and her got on!

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2016 Recap

What a strange, eventful year. I feel like 2016 was the year that everyone complained about, and was happy to see the back of. I didn't have the best year, but it certainly wasn't the worst year of my life.
As of the 31st of December 2015, I broke up with my long term boyfriend that I lived with, and on top of that my mother moved to Whanganui, a three hour drive from Wellington. So heading into 2016, I was under completely new circumstances. Thankfully both my older siblings were in New Zealand at that stage so we packed up the car and travelled a bit around the North Island. I got to make some amazing memories up in Rotorua where my dad lives, and then spent several weeks exploring Whanganui with mum.

In February I got a new flat in Wellington, so for the first time in my life, I moved into a house with a stranger and started to patch back together my life. This was a huge learning curve, and I am so grateful for this time. Having only lived in the outer cities of Wellington, I had never truly got to live the 'Wellington' life so it was wicked to be able to do that. Diego and I explored so many new walks, and had many adventures over this time.
During this time we also met Richie McPaw and his lovely owner at an organised dog walk, and quickly became friends. Both Diego and Richie get on so well, and I always love when we get to meet up with him for a walk.

Unfortunately it didn't work out in Wellington for us, so once again I packed up Diego, and all my stuff and moved up to Whanganui. This was an experience, that's for sure. Diego became great friends with Chico, and we started to see Chico slowly come out of his shell and show more personality. We adventured around so many walks in Whanganui, and I really came to love the beauty of the city and its surrounding areas. 

We hit June off with a challenge of walking 150 kilometres within the month, this being a challenge as the weather had started to show its Winter colours. We conquered that challenge, only just, and I found lots of new areas to explore as Diego and I hit the pavement. June is also Diego's birthday month, so along with a cake and gifts we took a weekend trip to Wellington and met up with some doggy friends. I even had my first rabbit photoshoot, where I met the lovely Piper. 

In July, I moved back to Upper Hutt (a city north of Wellington) as I couldn't find a decent job in Whanganui and had finally run out of funds. I managed to score a job in Upper Hutt at a place where I had previously worked, and they hired me within the week. This meant it was a quick change, so I moved in with my Aunty for a week... surprise, that week turned into four months. Diego wasn't allowed to live with me there, so my wonderful mother kept him on for that time and I visited every weekend. July also saw the craze over the large colourful caterpillars from the Warehouse for Greyhounds, and Chico could not miss out on that! 

One of my school friends got his first puppy, a beautiful red husky boy named Mowgli! I learnt early on that I was lucky with Diego's ability to pose for a photoshoot, because it was hard to get Mowgli to sit still. 

Speaking of sitting still, Chico learnt some new tricks towards the end of the year after going to dog obedience classes! He is very proud of his ability to sit, and will do it immediately when treats come out. 

 October came around, and I started the month with a bang with this guinea pig photoshoot. However, that is as exciting as Halloween got for us this year. I ran out of time, and ideas, and was super hectic that from here the blog posts lessened as well.

November brought terrible times, with Chico destroying himself trying to chase a rabbit. With all four bandages he was quite the sight! He ripped the skin, and some flesh from all four feet's pads and broke a toe. That toe had to have three surgeries to successfully amputate. Thankfully, that third surgery was a charm and it has now healed perfectly. This gave me the opportunity to learn how to make Russian Fudge as I tried to fundraise for all the vet bills. Over the next two months I managed to raise $700 profit to go towards his vet bills from selling fudge and dog biscuits.

At the end of November, I also managed to score Diego and I a house of our own (rent not owned). I moved in first, got settled and then moved Diego in a few weeks after. It is so amazing to end the year back together with Diego, and be able to set up our lives properly. December didn't hold up too much excitement, just a lot of getting settled and planning ahead for a new year. At the very end of December my friend got another puppy, this time a little Shiba Inu girl named Frankie. So of course I had to go round there with my camera for photoshoots (Which I will upload in a blog post shortly). 

As you can tell, this past year has been incredibly unsettled, a lot of moving and changes but I am so happy to say that going into this new year I have managed to start a routine. I have learnt that Diego thrives on routine so I want to make sure there are minimal changes this year as we work over some issues he has gained over the past year. I also have lots of exciting projects through DaisyPets coming up that is going to keep me very busy. I slacked quite a bit on the blog towards the end of last year so I want to make sure the blog becomes a priority again. Thanks for sticking with us for another year, and hope 2017 is amazing for you all <3

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2017 Pet Blogger Challenge

I can't believe another year has been and gone already. I know everyone has been saying this, but this year has literally whizzed by, I felt like I didn't get to settle into 2016 as much as I thought I would. A lot has changed throughout 2016 for me, which will all be shared in a 2016 recap post, but for now I will be doing the annual Pet Blogger Challenge. I have done this for the past two years, and it is a great way to recap on how the blog has gone over the last year, and get some fresh inspiration from other bloggers for the New Year. If you want, go have a read of my 2016, and 2015 challenges as well to see how DaisyPets has grown.

When did you start your blog and, for anyone who is just seeing it for the first time, please provide a description of your site. Would you say your blog focuses more on sharing stories with your readers, or providing a resource for your audience?
I started DaisyPets in March of 2014 as a way to express my love of animals, through a creative means while I was working in a very bland, corporate job. DaisyPets is a mixture of reviews for everything pet related, to stories about our own experiences through owning pets. In 2017 I hope to make it a lot more review based, with our social media sharing more of our personal lives.

What was your proudest blogging moment of 2016?
A huge highlight of 2016 was being hired as a freelance writer for an up and coming pet magazine in New Zealand, Pet Life. This was a role that was offered to me after Amy, the magazine owner, came across my blog and loved my work. The first issue has just come out and I am super excited for this to continue into 2017.

Which of your blog posts was your favourite this year and why?
My favourite would have to be the Peanut Butter Bacon Dog Treat Recipe I posted. This has turned out to be one of our most favourite recipes, and I am now frequently whipping up batches of them. I even sold some of these as part of my fundraiser for Chico's vet bills. The post itself also contains a video I made for the recipe, which was a lot of fun to shoot.
You can find that post here.

Year after year, one goal that we all seem to share is that we want to reach more people. What one tool did you use or action did you take this year that had the most impact on increasing traffic to your blog?
This past year, I started discussing my blog to people I met a lot more frequently. I used to be shy, and a bit embarrassed that I was writing a blog about my dog, but this past year I have embraced this as something I really love doing and have started sharing it with people I know and meet. I have been giving out more business cards to people who I meet when out with Diego, or people that I have had discussions with. I find this is a great way to get real people following your blog, and also to get a close community with some locals. I am not sure of the actual conversion on how many readers I get from this, but I think it is a great way to get the DaisyPets name out there.

Which of your blog posts got the most traffic this year? Have you noticed any themes across your most popular posts?
Funnily enough, my most popular post of 2016 was my 2016 Pet Blogger Challenge. This one had a lot of views coming in from other bloggers, and it was an awesome way to see the community get together.
Following that, my next popular was my review on the Planet Dog Diamond Plate Ball. This was part of our Tough Dog Toy Hunt series where I review toys in hopes of finding toys that are tough enough to stand up to Diego's crazy chewing. I am happy that this post was so well received as the Plate Ball is by far one of Diego's favourite toys, and it has lasted amazingly well considering he plays with it daily.
Themes across my popular posts are they are generally reviews of products that get more views, and I think this will be from other searches where people are looking for more information on a product before they buy it.

What blog do you find the most inspirational and how has it influenced your blog?
I have actually been terrible this year, and not supported the blogging community as much as I should have been! I haven't kept up to date with any blogs, and I feel terrible about it. I do have a couple of amazing Instagram accounts that I follow though, that keep me inspired to produce amazing photographs and go on wicked adventures.
Westie_wolves
adventureswithkero
c3mery
biscuit_the_boxer

What is one thing your readers don't know about you or your pets that would surprise them?
I love this question, and gosh I have had to think it over for a while to come up with a decent answer. People may be surprised that Diego sleeps in my bed, under the covers and in the early hours of the morning will crawl his way up and sleep with his head on a pillow with the rest of his body under the covers.


What is something you've learned this year that could help other bloggers?
Don't give up. 2016 has been one of the hardest, but most inspiring and life changing years of my life, and through it all I remained positive in my passion for continuing this blog. I did slow down towards the end of the year, which could have put a stop to the whole thing, but instead I treated it as a break I truly needed. This has all paid off in the long run as more opportunities are coming up for DaisyPets and I through the hard work and dedication.

What would you like to accomplish on your blog in 2017?
I would love to continue the growth that I started in the first half of 2016, and continue building an amazing community. I want to start getting involved in more projects with other bloggers, companies and brands and develop some amazing content on a range of platforms and mediums.

Now it's your turn! You have the attention of the pet blogging community - is there a question you'd like answered, or an aspect of your blog that you'd like input on?
This is isn't technically blog related, but it is a current question that I have been wanting opinions on. I have recently moved into my own house, and now have Diego back in my care, but after such a crazy year in 2016 Diego seems to gained a lot of fear. He is super nervous around bigger dogs,  and will nip and growl at them which does start fights. This is worse when I am walking him compared to if a family member walks him. He also gets super worked up if I leave him alone, and will pine for me until I get home. I know this will all be problems occurring from me leaving him with my mother last year, and he has gained some separation anxiety, but what would be some steps to get this sorted out for the future? How would you suggest I work on these issues?

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