Style Lush

Cute Collars for Giant Dogs (and smaller ones, too)

by Kate

While I love looking cute, I also like for my pets to be as adorable as possible. Luckily, most of that is inherent, but accessorizing always helps. There are many, many things to love about our English Mastiff, from her constantly wagging tail to her pendulous jowls. She’s a great dog. One thing I don’t love about caring for a giant breed, however, is the challenge of finding cute dog stuff that’s actually large enough to fit her. Sure, there are lots of cute collars and leashes at our local pet superstores, but 99% of them are about 10 inches too short for her massive neck.

 

One place I’ve fallen in love with is Pattern and Paw, where you can not only get adorable collars and leashes in a variety of colors and patterns, but you can add all kinds of fancy upgrades – colored webbing, metal buckles, and even a matching key fob for yourself. Or, join their collar of the month club and get a surprise sent to your mailbox each month. The gear is all high quality and (trust me on this) washes up well after a particularly muddy and messy day at the dog park.

   
Dress up your dog for the BCS National Championship in Tiger or Houndstooth

 

Collars2Switch gives you the option of switching out multiple designs without ever actually having to change the collar or move tags – always an appealing option!

Adorable winter-themed collars you can easily switch whenever you feel like!

 

CreatureCollars not only has adorable collar and leash choices, including themed fabric and gorgeous modern options (including my big weakness, Amy Butler) but also gives you the option of adding a sweet flower (the size of your choice) to whatever you order.

 

So stinkin’ cute I can hardly stand it.

Of course, these are available in all different sizes, sure to fit not only my behemoth, but your normal sized dog as well.

{Photo Credits: Pattern & Paw, Collars2Switch, and Creature Collars}

Halloween: Why should pets be left out?

by Jonna

I have a tiny dog, and I . . . should be over this by now, seeing as I have a kid, but every single Halloween, I am overcome with the urge to dress her up, and every Halloween, she gives me the finger. But you know, I keep trying. 

And besides, how cute are these? 

Bat Dog!

 

{Photo credit: CharlieHeartsDiesel}

 

Rasta Dog!

{Photo credit: LilYorkieFruFru on Etsy}

 

A CRAYON!

{Photo credit: ShaggyChic}

Vampire cape! For the lazy dogs!

{Photo credit: DaniDoggieStuff}

 

Will you dress your pet this Halloween season? Because I'm going to try this year. Again.

Non-Lasagna Help for New Moms

By Hillary

My son is sixteen days old. To say that life is a bit disorganized right now is a huge understatement. Fortunately, I'm surrounded by fabulous friends and family who have done everything they can to make my life easier. Now, I don't mean to sound ungrateful because I am enormously grateful, but I'm kind of over people bringing food to my house. One can only eat so much lasagna. I just ... I want  to eat a damn salad. 

The most helpful thing anyone has done for me in the last sixteen days is walk my dogs. It's not something I even considered when people were offering to cook for us or clean for us but one day my mother-in-law took my dogs off my hands and I felt such relief.

Now I know what I can do for new moms who are also pet owners. I can worry about their pets so they don't have to.

{Photo credit: me and my iPhone}

Traveling With Pets

By Jessica

 

This is Maddie. She's 13 and weighs 77ish (we're working on it, much to her dismay) lbs. She's one of two dogs that we have (Mayday, her sister, is also equally large), which makes traveling a difficult proposition. We are usually able to ask our friend Dani -- who loves them and who they love -- watch them, but who has a life and four (yes four, she's a foster mommy and a forever mommy) dogs of her own. Pet sitting isn't something we always want to tap her to do.

A lot more hotels are pet friendly, I've found, which is great and would make it easier for a large number of people to travel with their pets. But, what to do about those of us who have BIG DOGS? The most common weight limit is 25lbs in my (admittedly) limited research. But, have you heard of Go Pet Friendly? It's an awesome resource for planning a trip with pets, especially large dogs, as it allows you to specify that in your search. We found a perfect hotel that I would love to take our girls to in the future by using their destination guides. They even recommend hotels by chain based on weight limits (or lack thereof), which is really helpful and each hotel that comes up in your search results has their individual pet policy readily linked, to make it that much easier.

Do you travel with your pets? What do you do to make it easier?

My new favorite mop: The Libman Freedom Spray Mop

By Manda

For years I've been a Swiffer WetJet kinda girl. I've literally worn out and replaced no less THREE Swiffer WetJets over the last 5 years. I have two dogs, two kids, and hard floors and I probably mop in some shape or form every day (WEEP). I am thankful this type of mop exists because I cannot imagine getting out a "real" mop and bucket more than once a month (and if that gets done that means I'm doing awesome. So really? I only mop "for real" when the moon is full).

The other day I was at Target buying refill pads and solution for my Swiffer AGAIN when this mop caught my eye:

{image via Google.com}

The Libman Company 4000 Freedom Spray Mop

I was attracted to the advertising, not gonna lie. No batteries required! Use your choice of cleaning solution! Just wash and reuse the pad! I snapped it up (along with more Swiffer refills).

You guys? This thing is awesome. I just filled up the tank with spray and mop solution I already had in the cabinet and got to work. The pad picked up A TON more than the Swiffer pads (I mopped by my back door first. Should I also mention we also have a sand box in the back yard??), and when the pad was filthy I just rinsed it off in the sink, stuck it back on, and mopped some more. My floors felt MUCH cleaner under bare feet than usual. And it's much quieter! This was seriously the best cleaning helper I've impulse bought in a long time. My Swiffer has been sitting unused in the cabinet for weeks now.

(Oh! And check it out! $5 rebate!!)

How do you keep your floors under control? Are you a Swiffer addict?

My favorite impulse buy: Hoover Steam Vac with Clean Surge

By Manda

So I need to preface this whole story with two facts:

1) I live in a house that has (original! lovely! refinished!) wood floors. We have three 5x8 rugs in the whole place, one of which is our front room area where we watch television and the kids roll around on the floor and play.

2) I have two dogs, one of which is well-documented as being the worst-behaved dog in North America. Our basset hound - in the six years we've had him - has destroyed THREE area rugs. Long story short, he pees on them just to entertain himself. Our home is now set up in a total maze of baby gates NOT because we have children but because we have to keep Juicy contained so he doesn't pee up the whole place.

(excuse me while I scream into a pillow for a moment)

ANYWAY, one day I got a new area rug at IKEA. We'd been living without one for a few months because Juicy had yet again peed a rug beyond all salvage. Our daughter was starting to cruise furniture and was taking bigger falls, so we finally picked up a new rug to cushion her poor little booty. I LOVED it.

And two days later? You guessed it. HUGE pee spot.

I don't think I've ever been so put out in my entire life. I was so angry that I marched my butt straight to the nearest Best Buy and bought this Hoover Steam Vac. My husband - who rightly thought I had finally gone totally beserk - wondered out loud why on earth we needed a carpet cleaner for the then-total of TWO rugs we had in the house. My response was to throw a blunt object at his head and he never brought the subject up again. We started enclosing Juicy in the kitchen while we were out of the house and that pretty much solved the pee-on-the-carpet problem and the carpet cleaner went to live in the garage.

{image via Hoover.com}

Fast forward a year and a half and we're potty training our daughter. And where does she have two major accidents? On MAMA'S RUG (what is WITH everyone's need to PEE ON MY RUG?! Look at ALL THE HARD FLOOR IN THIS HOUSE! Where's my pillow?). And then? The next day? She got the stomach flu and barfed all over the car. Twice.

Needless to say, I've shampooed my area rug twice and shampooed the upholstery and carpet in my car this week and I am SO GLAD I made that impulse buy. It has seriously come in handy. If you have kids and/or pets I recommend owning one of these ... even if you have hardwood.

What's the best impulse buy you ever made?

Essential Reading for Dog Owners

By Hillary

I have two monsterpups who, at 2.5 and 3.5 years of age, should be acting a lot less like puppies than they do. They're sweet, loving, good-natured dogs who just also happen to be rambunctious, spirited, and stress-inducing.

The Safe Dog Handbook is my secret weapon against monsterpup-induced anxiety.

Packed full of tips and information on how to keep your dog safe, it also has an extensive chapter on emergency dog first aid (which I've fortunately never had to reference.) (Knock on wood.)The information is presented in a straightforward, but never dry, manner and is broken up by beautiful photographs of different types of dogs. It's the perfect gift for any dog owner.

{Photo credit: amazon.com} 

An air freshener for the picky.

By Manda

Are you picky about scents? I am. I don't like anything too fruity, that smells like candy, too "hippie-ish" (patchouli is not my friend) or flowery. I usually choose perfumes that have a "clean" or "fresh" scent (or smell like vanilla ... I'm a sucker for vanilla).

My all-time favorite scent in the world is fresh, clean laundry. I have tried to break up with Tide Original Scent detergent like 95 times for unscented, planet-friendly, and/or cheaper detergents but I always go crawling back (although I also really like Gain Original scent). I have tried to use generic dryer sheets but Bounce Outdoor Fresh Scent woos me back every time: I put them in my car! In the bottom of the trash cans! EVERYWHERE! I like nothing better than crawling into my bed when the sheets are freshly laundered and smell like my favorite detergent. If you're wearing a soft, freshly-washed sweatshirt around me any time soon, watch out ... I'll probably hug you for an awkwardly long time.

In general I'm not a big fan of spray air fresheners. But between potty training and diaper pails, the two stinky dogs who we share our home with and, well, LIFE they've become a necessary part of our household. I live in a home with little kids and so lighting candles or incense is just not safe. I like it when things smell good in my home but since I am very picky about what scents I'll endure there's not much to choose from (for instance? A run-in with orange-scented disinfecting wipes while I was struggling with a particularly nasty bout of stomach flu has sworn me off anything orange-scented FOR LIFE).

Enter Febreze Air Effects with Gain.

{photo via Amazon.com}

I stumbled across this at Target a few weeks ago and had a coupon and WOAH GUYS. I'm kinda in love with this stuff. If you're like me and are addicted to the smell of fresh laundry and you see this on a shelf at your local Target or where ever, STOCK UP. It smells EXACTLY like laundry should and it such a nice break from my usual "clean linen" or "spring breeze" choices.

Now excuse me I have to go bury my face in a clean towel.

What's your favorite way to make your home smell good?

Yuletide Pets: Dressing Your Animals for the Holidays

By Hillary

I try to keep my crazy puppy lady self in check and refrain from dressing up my dogs (let's not speak of the puppy Snuggie incident) but there's something about the holidays that calls for dogs in costume. This Santa costume from Young Urban Puppy on Etsy melts my heart and would provide an adorable photo opportunity in front of the Christmas tree.

It would definitely be on my Christmas list if I had any hope of my monsterpups sitting still long enough to snap a photo. Judging from what happened last year, I'd say chances of that happening are slim.

{Photo credits: Young Urban Puppy via Etsy and me!}

Get your (green) mop on

By Manda

We have been traveling a bit this summer ... trying to squeeze in a few trips before my doctor grounds me for the rest of this pregnancy. Which means? Dog sitters! We have two dogs (whom I complain about ENDLESSLY on Twitter because they are so badly behaved it just stupifies me. Word to the wise? Do NOT adopt a basset hound. They are stubborn and hard to train, think they are people, and enjoy peeing on stuff in your house just to entertain their superpowered sniffers). Anyway, we have a system of baby gates in our house to keep the basset out of our bedroom because if he ever gets back there, he pees. Just for fun. ARGH.

Anyway, we were out of town earlier this week and my husband left his alarm set so the dog sitter had to drag his poor bones up at 6:30 am, stumble into our room and figure out how to turn it off. I'm guessing that the door/baby gate got left open because somehow Juicy got into our room and had his way with it. Nothing like coming home to a bedroom rank with dog pee! And a heightened sense of smell thanks to pregnancy!

I lightly Swiffered that night, but it didn't take care of the problem. I knew that I was going to have to mop "for real." UGH. I don't know about you, but I hate mopping. We have wood floors throughout our house that I Swiffer WetJet often to keep the dog hair and dust to a minimum. Every month or so I do a more "deep cleaning" and get out my mop bucket.

It took me years, but I finally found an easy-to-use, green, non-toxic cleaning product for my floors: Method Squirt + Mop.

(photo via methodhome.com)

I love this stuff! The wood floor cleaner is a delicious almond scent (not your typical lemon or clean breeze or worse, PINE scent!). It's safe for kids and pets (thank goodness, because I can't mop my floors without my wild 2-year-old totally slip-and-sliding ALL OVER THE PLACE) and of course, pregnant women. They also sell this product as a part of a wood floor cleaning kit, but I just use a regular sponge mop and bucket of water and it works great. I would love to graduate to a steam mop one day, but in the meantime this product keeps our floors clean and healthy and our house smelling great (i.e. NOT like dog pee. Ahem). They also have a spray + mop cleaner you can use on your kitchen and bathroom floors or tile, a great tub and tile cleaner (I use it in the bathtub where we bathe our daughter), and have fantastic dusting wipes that are compostable!!

What's your secret to getting your floors clean fast? Is it green and/or non-toxic? Is it easy to use?