National Peanut Butter Lover's Day

March 1st is National Peanut Butter Lover's Day. Jedi feels this is a holiday worth celebrating!

Choosey Moms Choose JIF

Want to celebrate too? If you're not a "give the dog an empty peanut butter jar" kind of person, perhaps you'd rather bake a cake. This recipe is for the Peanut Butter Carrot Cake that I made in celebration of Jedi's first birthday.

  

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup shredded carrots (about 2 large carrots)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• More peanut butter for frosting and bacon bits for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a small cake pan. (I used this silicone mold and omitted the grease.)
2. Combine egg, peanut butter, honey, oil and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Stir in carrots and mix thoroughly. Sift together flour and baking soda, then fold into carrot mixture. Spoon batter into baking pan.
3. Bake for 40 minutes. Let cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn onto wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Today is also Sepia Saturday! Click around below and see what others are sharing. -- K

I Think He Knows

I'm leaving this afternoon for a conference. I'll be back in three days. I think Jedi suspects something. He keeps giving me "the look." See:

 What do you think?

It's Thoughtless Thursday! We're joining Ruckus and friends to bring you a bunch of random thoughts -- or no thoughts at all! Click around below and see what I mean. -- K

Happy Birthday Roxy!!

It's Roxy's 10th birthday*

Can you guess what she wants to do for her birthday?

BTW, "Go for a ride" and "Take of this stupid hat" are both correct answers. Lucky girl -- all her birthday wishes were granted.

* Truth is, we don't know Roxy's real birthdate. We arbitrarily picked today. She joined our family in February of 2007 and she was about two at the time. February 25th is Son #2's birthday, and we thought it would be great if she could share the date with her favorite person in the world.

Do you celebrate your pets' birthdays? What special things do you do?

It's Wordless Wednesday! Hop around and see what others are sharing today. -- K

Zoom Groom

I was whining about the challenges of washing a double coated dog when a friend suggested the Zoom Groom from Kong. I had never heard of this. Have you? It's a weird looking rubber brush that you can use on either wet or dry fur. My friend said to use it when shampooing. Zoom Groom is only about $10 at Petsmart so I thought I'd give it a try the next time I bathed the dogs.

I LOVE IT!

It's easy to hold on to, even with wet hands. The firm, rubber nubbies do an excellent job of getting the shampoo through the undercoat all the way to the skin. They remove any loose hairs in the process. (I had to clean it out four times on one dog -- and that was after his pre-bath brushing.) And by the look on Jedi's face, it feels pretty good massaging the skin too.

It didn't take any extra time to bathe Jedi using the Zoom Groom, but the results are great. He's shiny clean and smells great! The Zoom Groom has earned it's place in our canine cleaning routine. -- K

Oops, She Did It Again

According to Blogger, my most popular post is the one about Roxy pooping in Petsmart. (Yeah, really.) I swear we're conscientious pet owners. We walk our dogs outside in the grass before going in the store. We tell them to "Go potty." We even wait until they tell us that they don't have to go. Apparently that's not good enough, because Roxy did it again. This time in Petco.

At least she pretended to be remorseful this time. She's not, trust me.

I'm beginning to think that Roxy likes pooping in the pet store. Maybe it's her wild side peeking through. I wonder if she has a secret goal of crapping in every pet store chain in Jacksonville. Her own kind of bucket list. If so, the people at Pet Supermarket had better watch out.

It's Sepia Saturday! Click around and see what others are sharing today. -- K

He IS a Shepherd!

Last weekend I entered Jedi in a couple herding instinct trials. Basically, we put him in a pen with sheep and watched what happened. Jedi had never seen sheep before, so I was a bit worried.

Jedi was put on a long line and three sheep were walked around the pen. Jedi sniffed the sheep. (Seriously, he buried his nose in the back end of a poor ewe. It was embarrassing!)

At first Jedi just followed the sheep. Then he started chasing the sheep. But at 2 minutes, 8 seconds the light came on and he started herding the sheep! The long line was dropped and I watched in total amazement.

Jedi circled around one way, then the other, driving the sheep forward and keeping them together. It was incredible! All I could think to say was "Oh my goodness. He IS a shepherd!"

It's Wordless Wednesday. Click around to see what others are sharing today. -- K

Pet Theft Awareness Day

February 14th is Pet Theft Awareness Day. Today I'm going to put on my Animal Control officer hat and give you a few tips.

#1: Don't leave your pets unattended.

Most thefts are simply a matter of opportunity. Thieves are like cockroaches: lowly creatures that prefer to stay unnoticed. Keep pets inside when you're not home, don't leave them in a car or tied up in front of the 7-11. I know, sounds simple right? Well, the next tip is even easier.

#2: Always keep collars and tags on your pets.

Yes, always. The two biggest excuses I hear are "My dog just got a bath" and "My cat never leaves the yard." Both are crap. If the dog is dry enough to go outside, he's dry enough to wear a collar. And cats don't care about property lines. However, if you follow tip #1 then it doesn't matter. Most of the "thefts" I deal with are actually cases where pets got out and the owners couldn't be located so the finders became keepers. Make it easy to return your pet! I say the next tip so often that I sound like a broken record.

#3: Microchip your pets.

Despite our best efforts, sometimes pets do get out and sometimes collars do come off. Microchips are a great back-up. (They should not be your only form of ID.) I return microchipped pets all the time. Please note: microchips only work if the information is valid. About 10% of the chipped animals I pick up never make it home because:

• The chip was never registered
• The phone number has been changed or disconnected
• Owners moved and left no forwarding address
• The registered owner gave the animal away (usually on Craigslist) and the registration was never transferred

Could this be you? If so, there's an easy fix -- check your chip today! Have your pet scanned. Nearly all vet clinics, animal shelters and animal control agencies have microchip scanners. Most Petsmart stores have a Banfield clinic inside. They'd be happy to scan your pet. Write down the number and call the microchip company right away. Tell the operator you want to verify and update the contact information (you'll make her day). It can get tricky if you don't remember which microchip company you have. You may need to make a few calls, but this should help:

Jedi's not going anywhere!

24 Pet Watch: The scanner reads a 10-digit alphanumeric code. The phone number is (866) 597-2424.

AKC Companion Animal Recovery: The scanner reads a 9-digit alphanumeric code beginning with TR. The phone number is (800) 252-7894.

AVID: The scanner reads a 9-digit alphanumeric code beginning with AVID. The phone number is (800) 336-2843.

Banfield True Paws: The scanner reads a 10-digit alphanumeric code beginning with 0D0D OR the scanner reads a 15-digit numeric code beginning with 98101. The phone number is (877) 567-8738.

Bayer resQ: The scanner reads a 15-digit numeric code beginning with 981. The phone number is (877) 738-5465.

Home Again: The scanner reads a 10-digit alphanumeric code OR the scanner reads a 15-digit numeric code beginning with 985. The phone number is (888) 466-3242.

I hope your pets never get lost -- stolen or otherwise. But if they do, please check out my post When Pets Go Missing. TTFN, -- K

P.S. Bayer resQ has the worst customer service. I've been on hold with them for 30+ minutes many times. They want you to do everything online (though not everything you need CAN be done online), and it takes hours to get back to you. If you can choose any other microchip for your pets, I suggest you do so and save everybody a headache.

It's Sepia Saturday! Hop around and see what others are sharing today.