For over 25 years, family-owned business SallyeAnder has been creating handmade soaps and skin care products. The brand was originally developed when Gary and Karen Austin needed to find a solution for their son’s allergies to bath products, but soon expanded to sensitive skin and acne products, bug bite soothing products, and even grass stain removers. Now, they’ve moved into pet products. As you all know, my dogs have crazy allergies from bumps to flakes to hot spots to just about everything.

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I don’t have a lawn (yet) but if I did I would definitely need something like this Dog Spot Eliminator. Every time I take Beans outside our apartment, he goes in the same spot and there are yellow or brown patches of dead grass, called burns.

The Dog Spot Eliminator doesn’t work right away, it takes about 6 to 7 days to see results. It neutralizes the nitrogen and naturally supplies nutrients back into the grass to help it grow back greener and stronger. You can pre-treat, spot treat, or use it as a lawn fertilizer if there isn’t a specific spot that your pet likes to go. According to Scott DeWaide, president of The Organic Farm Store, it will cut down on future burning by about 60-70% and his customers love it. Plus, it’s completely organic, it’s safe for both your kids and pets.

In addition to a product like this, you can also use a hose to water down the area immediately after your pet urinates in order to flush and dilute the urine.

Have you ever used this product? Do you have any other tips to share for preventing or treating doggie lawn spots?

I am sure you have heard me many times already talk about my dog’s frustrating allergy and dry skin problems. Well, about 2 months ago, we bought Nature’s Logic North Atlantic Sardine Oil, which has been a great addition to our dogs’ food. They love it, and even thought Beans still has some dry skin, I think adding the oil has made their coats a lot softer and smoother. The only thing is you’re supposed to keep it refrigerated, which makes it harder to remember it every day!

I recently bought some Earthbath Oatmeal and Aloe shampoo for our dogs because, as you now, their skin is very sensitive and Beans has very dry skin too. We purchased this because the ingredients are all natural and we didn’t want to irritate our pets’ skin in any way. We’ve only used it once so far, and noticed that Lulu broke out in hives a few days later. This could, of course, be a coincidence, but now I’m terrified to use it (or any shampoo) again! She’s only had these hives two times and I can’t remember if the first time she had them she had been recently bathed. This last time was really bad and we had to put her on antibiotics and steroids. Am I crazy to think that it could be related to the shampoo? Edit: Lulu’s bumpy allergy problem is likely due to shampooing, but we have not yet determined what specific ingredient causes her to break out.

Here are the ingredients: Purified water, renewable coconut-based cleansers, colloidal oatmeal (3%), aloe vera, almond and vanilla essences, olive oil squalene (natural preservative).

Could there be something in this shampoo and other shampoos we’ve used that she has a reaction to?

On another note, I’ve noticed that Beans had less dandruff afterward, so it seems to have worked well for him, along with the sardine oil we have been giving the dogs each day.

I don’t know if this happens to you, but very often one of my dogs steps in something quite yucky on a walk. Or, gets something icky on their rear end, and it needs to be wiped off. And, often their ears are just FUNKY.

I’ve used paper towels and tissues in the past, but I think that sometimes those are a little harsh for their tender areas. I spotted John Paul’s pet wipes –  but there are three different ones: Tooth & Gum Wipes, Ear & Eye Wipes, and Body & Paw Bath Wipes. I am curious to know if anyone out there has tried these before? Are they any good? Do you need all three?

You know Bed Head hair products by TIGI? Well, I was in PetSmart this past weekend and saw Pet Head pet hair care products! As a curly-haired girl, I know that TIGI sure can make a good product, but I wonder whether their dog products will live up to the name…has anyone used these products?

Here’s the run-down of the whole collection:

- Life’s An Itch: skin soothing shampoo so doggies won’t scratch
- Dirty Talk: deodorizing shampoo to make mutts smell sweet
- Fears for Tears: tearless shampoo for pups who squirm in the bath
- Quickie: quick rinsing shampoo perfect for a fido who won’t sit still
- Feeling Flaky: dry & sensitive skin shampoo to add extra moisture to your pups coat
- Dry Clean: waterless spray shampoo for puppies afraid to get wet or ones on the go
- Furtastic: crème rinse for curly and long coats to make your K-9 silky and smooth
- So Spoiled: conditioning crème rinse to give any dog an extra pampering treatment
- Furball: detangling spray that makes for smooth brushing
- Poof!: magical deodorizing spray to blast any stinky smell away

“Turn the less attractive moments in the life of a dog owner into a original happening.” If you’re really design conscious and care about the bags you use to pick up after your dog, then you’ll love these Dog Poo Bags. They’re 100% biodegradable and consciously-designed with silly sayings on them. They come in packages of 16 with eight different designs, for the price of about $17. That’s a ridiculous price.

But the designs are super, and their motto is so cute: “Shit happens — just be prepared.”

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Both of my dogs are shedding like crazy right now. Living in a smaller space, we notice their hair a lot more. It gets everywhere. We let our dogs on the couch and the bed, so wherever we are THE HAIR IS THERE TOO. And it’s not just small amounts of hair…I’m talking about MOUNDS. I could sweep and vacuum every day and it would still be all over the place. When I vacuum, it looks like I’ve trapped a small animal inside the container. Tiny bunnies hide behind chairs and under cabinets. We’re fed up.

Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. I never thought I would spend $50 on a de-shedding device that is basically a fancy dog brush, but after reading the great reviews on Amazon (4.5 stars out of 5 with over 3,000 reviews is pretty darn good), I shelled out the cash for a medium-sized deLuxe FURminator from PetSmart. I figured I could use this size for both of my dogs. Lulu is 70lbs and Beans is 21lbs, so it’s not often that we find a one-size-fits-all product.

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