Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Promotional vouchers to the rescue

I think at times like these we’re all feeling the pinch of the credit crunch and so we have to look to save money wherever we possibly can.

In past articles, I’ve mentioned about picking up the free samples of dog food from places like Pets at Home and such like and I’ve also talked about the free samples of dog food that you can get online from dog food suppliers, but although these are great, there are other ways to save money too.

If you haven’t already, make sure that you sign up to supermarket storecards like Tescos Clubcard or Sainsburys Nectar card because they send out mailings quite frequently and many of these contain promotional vouchers or Read the rest of this entry »

Useful Promotional Items

Promotional items are an ideal way for any company to raise their profile and increase awareness of either their products, services or brands with the general public or even a targeted audience and companies working in the dog world are no different in this respect.

This weekend, I paid a visit to a certain national pet store in order to purchase some Christmas presents for my dog and my mother’s dog (yes, the dogs get presents too as all true dog lovers will know!)

I bought my dog a large reindeer soft toy, a selection box and some treats for normal day to day use too, and I bought my mother’s dog a smaller version of the same toy and a raincoat – that might seem a little extravagant but it’s what my mum wanted for her dog so it’s for her too in a way.

Whilst I was wandering round I saw several promotional items, including free sachet samples of dog biscuit food, free dog treats at the counter for your dog and some free 2009 calendars, which are ideal because the customer will no doubt keep them for a whole year and constantly be reminded of the company.  Plus, I got some freebies, hurrah for promotional items!

Christmas shopping for your dog

When you do your Christmas shopping, I hope you don’t forget your little four legged best friend!

My little shih tzu is pretty spoilt when it comes to Christmas. Every year, she gets at least one if not two Christmas-themed toys plus a load of treats. This year, I’ve bought her Good Boy selection box, which has plenty of treats in it and I’ve still got to get the toy but I know I’m going to get her a reindeer soft toy from Pets at Home as I’ve already spied it.

I try to avoid the dog stockings because they have a plastic toy in them, which she’ll never play with so it makes them a waste of money.

Even my friends are daft enough now to wrap up a little gift for her when they come round at Christmas and my dad loves to treat his grand-dog to a packet of treats from Asda.

After all, dogs tend to appreciate their gifts much more than children and they’re there for you all year round no matter what your problems, so I reckon they earn it.

Dog Insurance Small Print

If you are buying dog insurance, which of course you should be, then there are a few things that you need to check before you buy.

Dog insurance is important for more than just health reasons, it is important to cover you for third party liability and legal costs as well.  You might be thinking it doesn’t apply to your small breed, but no matter what size of dog, they can still cause some damage and even if you train your dog, it is better to be safe than sorry as the costs can be high.  For example, your dog might damage belongings of someone, and if was antique furniture or something, then reimbursing that person might be costly.  You could refuse, but then they could take you to court, and if it is someone you know you could lose a friend too – something I talked about last week.

Another thing to check is the level of cover.  It is not enough to see a nice high figure such as £5,000 vet fees and think that is ok.  Is that fee the total amount insured, i.e. if your dog uses £2,000 one year, do they then only have £3,000 left or does the £5,000 start again each year?  Or is it ‘per condition’?  For example, if your dog has an ongoing condition, such as cancer, that will use up more than £5,000 and you don’t want to get to year two and find you have used the £5,000 on cancer and the next year’s £5,000 cannot be used on that.

Be careful and read all the small print.

Fashion Dresses for Dogs

I’ve just been informed that in Macclesfield, there is a fashion boutique shop that specialises in clothing for dogs.  Whilst on a short break in Dublin last month, I saw a pet shop on one of the main roads that had clothing for dogs in the window.  Is it becoming more popular now?

There has always been a certain level of interest in dressing dogs, but buying them has historically been restricted to one or two jackets for whilst walking or little boots to protect their paws, y’know, things that have a practical purpose too.  They were stocked in small numbers in the pet stores or sold online.

I wonder if Read the rest of this entry »

Photos of your dog

I talked last week about what to buy somebody who has everything for Christmas, and this one is certainly suited to those with a dog – or any pet for that matter.

I’m talking about photos of your pet Read the rest of this entry »

Apology to Dog Toy Manufacturers

In recent articles, I have talked about how the squeak in dog toys dies incredibly quickly, especially considering I have a shih tzu, not known to be one of the most vicious dog breeds in the world.

However, this weekend I bought her a Halloween dog toy.  It is similar to the dog loofah toy I talked about in a past article (one which failed miserably and left stuffing all over my living room floor very quickly), however, it is much improved and surprisingly the squeak is still alive!

Trying to watch X Factor whilst your dog is still squeaking a dog toy that would normally have died by now, I realised why dog toy squeaks are not made to last so therefore, I apologise unreservedly to toy manufacturers.  Dog toy squeaks should not last longer than a few hours.

(I do not apologise though about the stuffing, which should definitely stay in the toy)

Strange Dog Product

I have talked about dog products before, and have touched upon the subject of the vast array of strange and wonderful dog products and inventions available for purchase and that people do, amazingly – and not people I know, buy.

However, I was searching on Google for something entirely different, when I spotted this short text link from their Shopping results for a dog product that I just had to click on just to see what wonderful invention this was.

The name of this product should be picked up by trading standards I feel.  See if you agree… Read the rest of this entry »

Toy tester

The number of dog toys my little shih tzu has is unbelievable.  If I were to add up the price of all those toys, it would come to a fortune, but she’s worth it.

However, there is nothing more annoying than when you buy your dog a toy, bearing in mind my dog is not exactly the most ferocious of creatures, only to discover that 5 minutes later the stitching has come apart, there is fluff all over the living room floor and the plastic squeak has broken and is abandoned in the middle of the floor.

Not only that, but the plastic squeaks could be quite dangerous.  Lucky for me, my dog isn’t interested once the squeak is broken so she’s unlikely to choke on it, but still.  Dog toy manufacturers take heed – do more testing.  If your toy cannot survive my dog, it won’t survive many.

How long should a dog toy last?

I bought my shih tzu a new dog toy the other weekend, from Pets At Home.  It was a long sausage shaped soft toy, which was a dog in a super buddy costume.  It had a single squeak in it and there were three different sizes available, so I chose the middle one.

Unfortunately, my dog doesn’t like plastic toys, she prefers soft squeaky ones, so I know they won’t last forever.  Thing is, I kinda expected it to last longer than ten minutes!

Yep, within ten minutes, the squeak was out, fluff was all over the floor and my dog was sat in the middle of this chaos looking decidedly pleased with herself.

What a total waste of money!

I don’t mind that the toy won’t last that long.  Most of her other soft squeaky toys simply lose their squeak within a few hours but at least they stay sealed up and she can keep them to shake around and play with.  So I would not recommend the Super Buddy dog toy from Pets at Home, unless all you have is a mild chihuahua who just wants to cuddle it.