Product Review: Natural Balance Dental Chews

Hi There! Macy Blue here. Back for my 2nd review for Chewy.com. I was much more confident doing this review. I guess I'm settling into my new life. And I've figured out all I have to do is hit my mark and turn toward the light while enjoying a yummy from Chewy...well I guess that does sound a bit complicated but apparently, I'm a natural at this supermodel thing!

Chewy sent us Natural Balance Dental Chews in the Sweet Potato and Chicken Meal Formula with Mango.


My pal Sue was over and Mom was trying to share with Sue but found it was too difficult to hand out treaties and take the pictures... Sue ran off with hers. Mom couldn't even get a picture. I guess some pups are not cut out to be supermodels! But because Susie was in my yard, I inhaled mine!

Chomp  chomp chomp! These are the best pics my photographer could get!

The Natural Balance Dental Chews were such a big hit and we were out of my regular toothbrushes so Mom just kept using these...until she realized we needed another modeling session. Gee...if she doesn't get good pics, I hope I still get paid twice. Remind me to phone my agent, ok?

As you can see, I clearly love them! Mom says it's good that I have to work so hard at chewing them, cause they keep my pearly whites looking gorgeous!

Mom also really likes the shape and texture... the better for cleaning apparently:

Ingredients List: Sweet Potato, Potato Starch, Chicken Meal, Glycerin, Mango, Natural Chicken Flavor, Lecithin, Beta-Carotene (color), Parsley, Alfalfa, Sorbic Acid (preservative), L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C)


I'm still chewing!

I got a little tired working on it and had to lie down.

Now really, is there any more to say about these fabulous treats??

 

The Creekhiker Mom here: Macy really loved these. I really loved the texture. It made me feel like they were doing her teeth and gums some good! However, being on a tight income, these are out of my budget. at 19.99 for 12, that's $50 bucks a month! Which is my personal biggest complaint about ALL dental chews. They don't make it affordable for the average family to take care of their dog's teeth.

And my first negative for the Chewy.com site... they lump dental consumables in with toys and longer consumables (bully sticks and stuffed hooves) all in the same category. It makes it really hard to shop and compare for a pawrent in a hurry!

While we loved the product, we cannot afford them on an ongoing basis. :-(

Chewy.com provided no compensation for this review, only 2 bags of Natural Balance Dental Chews for Macy to eat - or not. 

So You Don't Have a Bed in YOUR Car???

I was amazed at the number of comments from puppers who do not have a bed in their car yesterday! I don't know what made me put the bed in the car for Macy... I think I was washing beds after Mabel passed and was taking some to Hank and just left one in the car. But I remember thinking on adoption day that, just because Mabel could figure out her own bench seat, don't expect the next pup to do that.

I sprang Macy from Doggie Jail and walked her and put her in the car. She was asleep before we hit the freeway. She slept all the way home until I started stopping and turning in the neighborhood. That sweet pup sleeping coupled with the fact that she's so dang short made me leave the bed in the car. Frankly, she needs a few extra inches just to see out the window!

I'm amazed at how often she will just go to sleep in the car. Riding, waiting for me at the grocery... she just curls up and nods off!

And yesterday, after I got our schedules mixed up and was desperate to be out of the house (let's just say it involves something dead in my a/c vents!), I decided to kill time on the torch. I needed to make a custom set of beads and I was waiting for people to be up and about. As Macy rarely stays with me when I torch, I wasn't worried until I was done and couldn't find her. She had simply gone to sleep in the car! 

It's not the first time! I found her like this one night last week (very blurry as it was dark!)




I worry about her wanting to be in the car...sometimes she simply will not get out when we come home! I keep thinking she's trying to tell me to take her to her "real" home... but after all those comments, I'm starting to think she just likes the car bed!

All Dressed Up

No place to go

Blanket Queen

The other day, I was changing sheets. I walked into the bedroom and found this:

The look on her face told me Macy thought she was in trouble. She was NOT. Instead, I curled up on the floor and told her how cute she was and what a good job she was doing holding those blankets down to let me make the bed.  

The next time I entered the room, she looked like this: She owned that blanket and she knew it!

Such a Girlie Little Thing

I'm still learning my new love - her likes and her (very few) dislikes.  We are growing into one another.  I was looking through photos of her and just love how often I catch her with her legs crossed.

She looks so girlie!

Here she is at the ocean:

And here she is in the backyard... waiting for her pal Otto to get out of the pool:

My Alarm Clock

Every morning around six, this wakes me up:

Once I'm awake, my "clock" does this:

While my clock is reliable, she is also frustrating and oh so cute!

To Catch A Thief

The Creekhiker Edition:



I came home from the store with a fresh bag of carrots and tossed an old, not so fresh bag of carrots on the floor along with a bag of onions past their prime. It was blazing hot and there was no sense in making the trek to the greens bin in the midday sun.

The next time I came into the living room, both were in Macy's bed. I placed both on top of the recycling bin in the kitchen and didn't think any more about it. Later, working on the computer, I heard crunching noises. I ran to the living room and found her enjoying the carrots! Raw! Remember how Mabel Lou wouldn't even eat carrots cooked in chicken broth??? Well, now I know I'll never run out of dog treats!

The things that Macy will eat astounds me! Basically, if I eat it, she wants it! She is insane about coffee and stalks me until I hand her the dregs of my morning cuppa! Her Auntie Rottrover caught her drinking an iced coffee... black, no sugar! She eats tomatoes right out of my hand, fresh picked from the garden!

This is her reaching for cantaloupe! After sharing quite a few pieces with her, I later caught her with the other half in the middle of the kitchen floor... chomping away!

And don't get me started on the other stuff of mine she wants: my dental floss tucked under my swim towel by the pool or  a glass bead wrapped up for a customer. The other day, I started for the car and realized that she wasn't with me... a first! She was digging up the spot where I hid my house key!


The funniest part is...her mouth is really too big for her head. My bestie says she has a clown mouth... and it's true! Little bits fall out the sides all the time!  This is leftovers from the great carrot heist:

Waiting

Macy Blue here. I'm waiting. I'm always waiting....

Waiting for my lady person to feed me, waiting for her to drop something delicious on the floor, waiting for a walk, waiting for her to open the back doors so I can get those lizards, waiting for Otto Rotto to come visit. There's a lot of waiting.

 Gah.... I'M SO BORED. I.MAY.DIE!!!!

 

 

Sigh....

Was She Even REAL?

In the weeks since Mabel Lou passed, my emotions have been all over the map. I keep asking myself was she even REAL? I know she was but...it all feels like a dream. Irrationally, I seek evidence of her everywhere.

Her hair will never leave my house. Or her beloved Jeep. I hiked down to the waterfalls and found the last stick she played with. It stayed in the car until Macy came to live with me. The creek dried up and I went to where I knew Mabel had buried something she didn't want me to know about. I reminded her I knew of her hiding spot every time we passed there and she would cross the creek and check on it. I started digging and found a blue ball. It's in the car now. Silliness... but I needed proof of her. I needed to have every tangible bit of her.

 The Last Stick Rescue

I miss the strangest things. I miss arguing with her. Macy is BEYOND agreeable. Mabel and I would argue over which trails to take, when I worked on the computer, when I torched, when I went to bed. It's almost annoying to be with a dog that has no opinion about my life!

I miss her sense of play. Macy has no idea how to play. I scare her when I growl at her or hide from her! Mabel loved a good game of chase or hide and seek. She played bitey face with me (something I don't dare do with Macy! She doesn't even like me to kiss her!) and ball. Mabel loved her toys - had relationships with them! She was always doing something. We had so much fun!

(These two photos came out of my phone this way... At the time, I thought they had a ghostly quality!)

I miss cuddling. Macy does not cuddle. I thought I hated sleeping with a dog... but I sure miss being able to reach out and touch Mabel when I have a bad dream. I've had so many bad dreams these last few months.

I miss the creek... Macy is still working her way through rattlesnake shots and training. I'm not sure I'll ever make it back. With Mabel, I always feared she would meet her end via coyote. But she was big and strong and would kick ass and take names! She truly was the Queen Bitch of Everything! So Bossy! So Demanding! Despite my fears, I had a deep sense that Mabel would be OK.

But Macy is so small and I love her so much. I feel I need to protect her out in that vast wilderness. It's very different hiking with a much smaller dog!

I know my life has shifted and I'm having a hard time finding my footing. I don't expect Macy to be Mabel... or Maggie...Or Milly. She'll find her own place...we'll find our own way.

But I miss my Mabel Lou...so much...so bad.

Her Life In Pictures: Twelve

Our twelfth year began in Baton Rouge, nursing Mabel Lou's granny back from hip replacement. Mabel hated the heat and never wanted to be outside. I had to force exercise upon her. But she adored her little cousin Bailey and her granny and uncle. She certainly made the best of five weeks away from home!  Here, she and Bailey are taking Granny for her daily walk. They would pace the long driveway with her, always staying close!

July was blessed and uneventful. Mabel and I were both overjoyed to be back home and in our own house and bed!  Mabel had issues getting in our tall bed after sleeping in Granny's low bed. One of her "creek uncles" made her a nice set of stairs!  Here she is posing with her Baby Lou...who took the trip with us to Louisana (naturally!). There are some funny posts about Baby and Mabel's adventures HERE.

Mabel was enjoying the new wider / longer fainting couch!

We were both sick girls in September. Me with a sinus infection and Mabel had giardia and a bladder infection! She was always such a love when she work up! I miss these mornings ...and reaching for her in the night.

We got some rain and cooler temps but our creek was mostly dry. But we had delicious hikes to the ponds with Otto Rotto. Mabel is stealing his stick here:

She got mad at me for putting a different blanket on my side of the bed and made me sleep on her side....

Even though she was getting older and complained (even more than usual), she remained a curious and playful girl til the very end.

Mabel and Baby Lou had a falling out. I don't know what happened. But they did make up... at 3 am!

I took Mabel to the lower Arroyo for her 12th birthday, hoping these trails would allow her a river exploration without a long mountain walk. I was right! She had a blast. I kept meaning to share the pics with you... but I had to do some editing because the aerospace company is in a lot of the pics and I refuse to print photos that may be a terrorist target... (I know, I'm silly!) Then, it just seemed silly to put them up. But this is my favorite from her special day:

She still adored finding a tennis ball on the trail:

And it's weird how the Universe gives you little premonitions. I wrote of my fears of losing her...just weeks before it happened! My girl at her beloved ponds:

And the last hike I took photos of... Mabel bossing Otto... three days before she passed. Note the placement of her forearms!

I'm certain she was fussing at him about something....She was bossy, domineering and The Queen Bitch of Everything to the very end!

Mabel hiked every day of her life, rain or shine, illness, fever, you name it...we hiked. I'm grateful for every single one.

Product Review: Pure Vita Freeze Dried Treats

Hi, I'm Macy. AT least that's what the lady calls me. She told me we had to do a product review...I'm not too certain what that is.

But she said it was from Chewy.com and I KNOW that's the magical place that my training treats come from...so that must be good, right?

Oh I get it... nom nom nom... Ok! This is fun!

And YUMMY! What's that?? I'm supposed to tell them about the yummies?? Geesh! Can't you see I'm busy???

 Ok Ok... I was asked to review Pure Vita Freeze Dried Dog Treats. Chewy sent me the Sweet Potato and the Chicken and Sweet Potato.  And I loved them BOTH!

My lady person says she likes it when they have good ingredients in them...just simple foodables and these do. The chicken version has : Freeze-Dried Chicken Giblets, Freeze-Dried Sweet Potato. Pretty simple.

It's good when the human peeps are happy right? Hey Lady??? How 'bout some more?? 'scuse me...

Gosh those Pure Vita Freeze Dried Treats are so pawsome... they can leave a pup begging for more and more! Hey Lady?? Just how cute do I have to be??

HEY LADY?????? I'M WAITING....

  

Oh that's what I'm talkin about! Nommy Nom!!

Wait? What? We're done?? What do you mean 'we're done?' There's still nommies in those bags?  We'll have wait and see if Chewy asks us to do another review??? Oh man! PLEASE OH PLEASEEEEE! I hope I did a good job!!

Chewy.com provided no compensation for this review, only 2 bags of Pure Vita Dog Treats for Macy to eat or not.