happy mummy's day to all the dog mums too!

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Random person: Do you have kids?
Me: Yup, I have 3 dogs. Starbuck is our first, he's a beagle and now with us in spirit. ZuZu is a schnauzer / heeler, the middle child and the angel of our family. Hampton is the newest member.  He's a beagle too. He has no fear and can be a handful but he's adorable so gets away with it.
 
I've had this conversation many times and that's always my standard answer. 
Dave and I made a decision years ago not to have 'children'. No regrets there as I love being a 'dog mum' and always will.  

Happy Mothers Day to all the dog Mum's out there! This is our day too :)
 
I leave you with a funny I saved from an email I got a few years ago. Enjoy!

IF I DIDN'T HAVE DOGS
1. I could walk around safely barefoot in the dark.
2. My house could be carpeted instead of tiled and laminated.
3. All flat surfaces, clothing, furniture, and cars would be free of dog hair.
4. When the doorbell rang, it wouldn't sound like the SPCA kennels and I could get to the door without wading through four or five dog bodies who beat me there.
5. I could sit how I wanted to on the couch without taking into consideration where several little furbodies would need to get.
6. I would not have strange presents under my tree, like dog bones, stuffed animals and have to answer to people why I wrap them up.
7. I would not be on a first name basis with a vet.
8. Most used words in my vocabulary would not be: potty, outside, sit, down, come, no, and leave him/her ALONE.
9. My house would not be cordoned off into zones with baby gates.
10. My purse would not contain things like poop pick up bags and dog treats.
11. I would no longer have to spell the world B-A-L-L and F-R-I-S-B-E-E.
12. I would not buy weird things to stuff into "kongs" or have to explain why I'm buying them, or what a "kong" is.
13. I would not have as many leaves INSIDE my house as outside.
14. I would not look strangely at people who think having their ONE dog ties them down too much.
15. I would not have to answer the question why do I have so many dogs from people who will never have the joy in their life of knowing they are loved unconditionally by something as close to an angel as they will ever get. Who else has a friend who considers you the MOST important thing in the whole wide world all the time.
-- Author Unknown
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we have a youtube channel!

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Hey everyone! I'm feeling out of touch as I haven't been online as much as I usually am. It's been busy as we're trying to catch up on a few projects. One of them is working on Part 3 of our first series of animation shorts called "online love", featuring Hampton Monroe. I had hoped to have it posted yesterday but will have it up by tomorrow! If you haven't seen Part 1 and 2 please have a peek! If you like them please feel free to forward, tweet, or post on your blog / facebook or simply subscribe!  :)  We plan on creating more of these on an ongoing basis. Starbuck, ZuZu and our other characters will also have their own story lines.

Our youtube channel is www.youtube.com/user/puppyjoneslove (I wasn't able to get Puppy Jones).  We also posted them on our fun stuff page so people could access them on our site as well. Note: We are still going to make modifications to the fun stuff page to make it more fun. We'd like it to have much more than just our videos...its all coming soon (still on my list!)

Love,
Grace
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puppy power blog roll

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So its been a few months since we re-launched Puppy Jones and I'm happy about how its going so far. We are still working on a few of the pages (e.g. fun stuff needs to expand, the links page, the shop...). Dave and I still have our day jobs so we are doing what we can in our spare time. There are a few hiccups with the shop but we're getting there and that is our priority.

I am still really shy about my drawings, animations and everything else about Puppy Jones because its a part of me that not everyone has seen or actually knows about (this is the first year that Dave and I have really tried to put Puppy Jones out there). But what is really encouraging for me are the really great people and dogs that I and the bb's have met online over the last few months. Its such a great community!

By joining twitter (@puppyjones and @puppyjoneslove) and facebook (mainly Hampton's profile) we've made connections with writers / bloggers, artists, photographers, graphic designers, life adventurers, etc. What is extra special about these connections and discoveries I think is that there is a common love for dogs.

It seems everyone I've come across has showed encouragement, positive energy and support that you don't always get from other people you meet or know. I think it definitely has something to do with the fact that we all have this love for animals, especially dogs. For lack of a better term, I call that puppy power! (I'm imagining puppy rock doing his fist pumps as I say this - if you don't know what I'm talking about see puppy rock in this video)

Here are a few people and their blog / websites that I've come across and really enjoy. They are all genuinely nice, interesting people and am happy to have met them online.

azora - Hyedie co-writes on this blog which is mainly about sharing thoughts, art and various creations. She belongs to a beagle named Dukey and regularly fosters rescue beagles. By day Heydie is a graphic designer and I love her designs. Her design work can be found here: http://www.happyd-designs.com/ What is also cool is that her boyfriend / fiance(?!) is a positive reinforcement dog trainer. I love this video of her fiance and Petey the rescue beagle they are fostering. I hope to meet Hyedie and Dukey in person this month!


The Joyful Springer - This blog is inspired by Ande's joyful springers, Ducky and Muggins. Ande has such positive energy I was naturally drawn to her website / blog. This blog is all about joy and each post features a fun / happy dog.  Who could ask for more? Ducky's twitter is @joyfulspringer

Ruby's Big Adventure - Ruby is a very cute and funny Boston Terrier and one of the bb's twitter friends. Her Mum Kim writes about  adventures with Ruby which include what its like raising a puppy (with 2 other cats in the house) and the recovery from surgery on both of her hind legs. Ruby tweets @RubytheBT

Animals Wisdom - Maya is a Intuitive Communicator and Holistic Health Consultant learning life lessons with her pitt bull, Starr. She blogs on her website and takes beautiful photos. I really like her outlook on life and perspective on our relationship with animals. She tweets regularly @animalswisdom

Melissa Travels - This is one of the life adventurers I was talking about. Melissa moved all the way from the US to Thailand...with her Beagle Sadie! Need I say more? She blogs regularly about her new life there with Sadie by her side. Sadie and her Mum tweet @Sadiebeagle

http://blog.merrindonahue.com - Merrin is another life adventurer and a beagle Mummy to Oliver. Merrin's traveled to Africa a few years ago and wrote all about it in her blog. I really enjoyed reading all about it - she was very detailed in her posts with great photos. Oliver tweets @Oliverthebeagle

lipsmackstudio - I just recently met Scooter and Bella (2 beagles) and their Mummy Laura on facebook via Hampton. Laura is a graphic designer and a photographer. I'm still reading through Laura's blog but really liking it so far. You'll find beautiful photos here and I really enjoy reading her posts.

That's it for now but I'm sure I'll have more to add to this puppy power blog roll list in the future. There are a few dogs with their own blogs I'd like to mention but I'll save that for another post.
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barney the basset


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I was really excited to get my first ever request to draw one of Hampton, ZuZu and Starbuck's twitter friends - @barneythebasset


My drawing was inspired by Barney's puppy photos. Dave helped me to refine the drawing (as he always does). We hope you like it Barney!
 
Cute Barney posted the drawing on his twitter page and added a note to say he has joined our bb's in cartoonland now. What a sweetie. Who knows Barney, you may make an appearance on one of our comics one day! :)

Since then we've actually received a few more requests and VERY flattered about that. However, with our busy schedule we decided we'll save this for a contest in the near future.

Make sure you check out Barney's website, especially his 'funny' album .


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peanut butter nom noms

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I mentioned in my previous pupcake post that I make all our treats for the bb's. Peanut butter nom noms (aka peanut butter terrifics) are the staple treat I make for them. Its super simple to make and they love the peanut butter. Here is the recipe (c/o "The Healthy Dog Cookbook, by Jonna Anne with Mary Straus) and a few pictures:

Prep time: 10 min, makes about 24 treats
 
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp peanut butter (organic, no salt)
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (brown) or brown rice flour

ZuZu and Hampton are always on their best behavior when I bake cookies for them. And, some most times they get to lick leftover peanut butter off the measuring spoon.  Hampton got some on his nose. I thought he might go crazy not being able to get it off but he did after about a minute.

lickingpb

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Mix all the ingredients together
3. Cut into desired shapes

I like to use heart, butterfly and tulip cookie cutters:

cookieshapes

4. Bake for 30 min or until lightly browned and crisp:


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ZuZu and Hampton could smell the cookies baking from the backyard. Here they are peaking into the kitchen window. "Are they ready yet? Are they ready yet?!"

waiting

The cookies should keep 2-3 weeks in an airtight container...

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but won't keep as long if the bb's have it their way! :)

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Enjoy!

*update* I started using Brown Rice Flour instead of Brown Whole Wheat Flour (pictured). The cookies aren't as thick nor do they brown as nicely but felt the brown rice flour might be a bit better for the bbs. They don't notice a difference that's for sure! :)

xo

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enjoying a rainy day off

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The last 2 weeks have been busy for me in my non-puppy jones life. Finally enjoying a day off to myself with the bb's. Its rainy today but no complaints here. Rainy days are good sometimes in that no expectations come with it. I only feel bad for the pups when they have to do their 'business'.

rainyday2



Now if I could really get them to take themselves out for a walk in the rain that would make rainy days even better!

Hope you all are enjoying your rainy day too!
xo

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