Starmark Fantastic DuraFoam Ball for the Bull Terrier and Heavy Chewer

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The perfect Ball for Bull Terriers and Heavy Chewers:

My Experience with the Starmark Fantastic DuraFoam Ball

Starmark Fantastic DuraFoam Ball for the Bull Terrier and Heavy Chewer

Hello, Bull Terrier and dog lovers! I’m thrilled to be back with a new article, finally, after taking a break to focus on my personal life. And what better way to make a comeback than to share something useful, such as my latest discovery: the Starmark Fantastic DuraFoam Ball. As some of you may know, my beloved Bull Terrier girl Mila has always been a chewer. She has never been a super aggressive chewer but engaged enough to sometimes make playtime a bit of a challenge.


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Homemade Dog Treats: Carrot Coconut Mini Cookies

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Homemade Dog Treats: Carrot Coconut Mini Cookies

You can roll your cookies and cut from the roll or use other shapes (small balls, cubes) and different sizes, just as you like. But the easiest and fastest way is to cut them from a cold plate of dough (as explained below). They look good and even smell yummy … 🙂

Now Revised for easier preparation!

Special tip - homemade dog treatsI have tried different kinds of holistic treats, which I still consider a good choice, provided your Bull Terrier does not have any issues with microorganisms (yeast) or her weight. Even many holistic treats contain large amounts of starch and sugars. There are differences in carbohydrates (“good” and “bad” ones). But even if they come from healthy sources, such as honey, it’s still carbs and bacteria or fat pads don’t care if the carbs/ sugars are organic or not.

After some research on the Internet and then came up with my own recipe, which turned out pretty good at first. Only the preparation process was a little bit tedious in the past and I’ve successfully tried to improve that process, too. This is the revised version of my popular Carrot Coconut Mini Cookie recipe.

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Please prevent dog overheating and burning their paws

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Please prevent dog overheating and burning their paws

Hi all! In light of the recent heat in some areas – we in Florida have a record summer – I want to dedicate this post to a very important topic: dog overheating.

I’ve used the opportunity to draw again to brighten up the otherwise pretty serious matter.

Every year we hear about deaths or health issues of children and pets left unattended in the heat of a car. Please pay attention to your pets and children in the summer heat! The temperatures can become health and even life-threatening in some cases quicker than some people are expecting.


Quick update!

Due to several requests for distributing this chart in printed posters, I’ve prepared two different printable versions – landscape and portrait in standard poster size of 11 x 17 in. If you want to help dogs and like to have the printable file, please contact me. I’ll send you a download link. It’s FREE.Please prevent dog overheating and burning their paws
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Bull Terrier Training – Someone’s gotta learn somethin’

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Just today after I had to maneuver Mila around in a small space using commands I said to hubby how happy I am that communication is working so well between us – in that case “us” was referring to doggie and me.
I spontaneously decided to write an essay on this to either get some interesting feedback on how you guys handle this OR maybe even be of some help to other fellow Bull Terrier owners “suffering” from this:
You know these moments when you find yourself tripping and stumbling, trying not to lose your balance while practicing the full range of your swear vocabulary … then your eyes meet the guilt ridden teddy face of your Bull Terrier, who, OF COURSE, was in your way, as, of course, he or she always is when you, of course, do not expect it.

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How to revive your Bull Terrier’s or other playful dog’s plush toys

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Revive dog plush toys

My toys are sooooo boring …

If your English Bull Terrier or other playful dog is anything like my girl, you probably know this situation: TONS of used plush toys scattered across your home. But only a few of them, if any, are still in use. After their first “new toy” moments they are doomed to become the perfect trip trap, neglected and ignored by doggie. She could sit in the middle of a whole pile of toys and still be bored. There may be one or the other favorite. Yet nothing beats THE NEW TOY! Continue reading

Lean, low starch, grain-free homemade raw food recipe for dogs (revised)

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Low starch, grain-free homemade raw food

Introductory comment: I have fed my Bull Terrier this recipe and she started to show signs of being hungry all the time. Raising the amount of food did not resolve the situation, as she was super active at that time. I would recommend this recipe predominantly for dogs who do not get lots of exercise or dog who are a little overweight, because it uses lean meat. Dogs who are very active should eat more fat and get more calories. For those dogs I recommend to choose meat with a higher fat content.
You will find a lot of comments in my recipe because over time I have gathered some experience and want to share all new information. You will see that this recipe is pretty flexible and can be adjusted to different activity levels and situations of a dog.

Here comes my basic recipe for lean, low starch, grain-free raw food, if you want to make your own raw dog food for your Bull Terrier or any other dog. It took us three batches to get to this recipe and figure out the tips and tricks. It will be subject to further evaluation with every new batch we make. This is how we produce it right now. The calculated amounts deliver enough food for up to 45 days for a 45-50 lb dog.

I have tried to describe everything as detailed as possible for you.

Enjoy raw “cooking” for your dog.

As Mila has some problems with yeast, I only chose low starch veggies in this batch in order to avoid feeding my dog AND her yeast.
If you don’t have such problems with your Bull Terrier or other dog, feel free to substitute some of the veggies by others.
Possible substitutes are sweet potato, pumpkin and lentils, only to name a few. This will also bring variation into the food.

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How to find the best vet for your Bull Terrier

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This is not going to be a straight step-by-step guide to finding a vet but more of a report about my own experiences with vets with both a very sick dog as well as with routine care of a pretty healthy one.
Vets are an important and frequent part of our pets’ lives and finding the right one means finding someone we trust and our pets like – or, well, at least accept. 🙂
Vets are real doctors but after all veterinary medicine is also a business. That is important to realize as the owner of a pet. Seeing it this way is not a bad thing because it means vets are also business people aiming for happy customers to return for their services.

This is the best chance for us as owners to do our own part and take action: ask questions, be skeptical, be informed and consider even unpopular advice and not just the quick and dirty solutions at some point.
Finding a vet with good customer ratings today with the help of the internet and online reviews does not seem to be such a hard thing to do. But it is actually important to first know as an owner what we are really looking for in order to find the right vet for our Bull Terrier.

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Skin allergies in dogs – an essay about treatments and options

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Today I want to talk about allergies in dogs and treatments from my personal experience, knowledge and understanding. This article is not and does not replace professional advice. But it may be able to give some owners a first slightly deeper understanding of what they are up to when a dog is dealing with skin allergies.
Bull Terriers are sadly known for being prone to skin conditions. Our last Bull Terrier, Fancy, was suffering from very bad skin allergies and we went the entire route of confusion, questions, misconceptions, trial and error all the way down to steroids and Apoquel.
A large part of the information in this article is based on my personal experience and much of it is the result of extensive research for years because our dog was suffering so badly.

First of all because I often hear that question. Let’s make this clear:
There is NO cure to an allergy except either

1) lifelong suppression and/ or relief of the symptoms, which is done by different medications, such as steroids and immunosuppressive meds (Apoquel)

2) removal of the trigger (if possible)

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How to identify skin allergies in your Bull Terrier

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Before I start with this topic I want to tell you something very personal: 95% of the things in this blog are not only thoroughly researched by me but they are actually based on my own experience. And that means that they are also based on mistakes I made myself. It has happened more than one time in my life that I asked myself: “Why did I not know this sooner? Why did I not ask the right questions?”
But at the end of the day there is no reason to beat yourself up about mistakes made of the past.
We always have the chance to learn from them.
So, when you read this and you find yourself doing things now or in the past I describe here as not so good, please don’t take it personal and don’t feel judged. I’ve been there and I have done them myself.

Allergies, especially skin allergies, sadly are part of many Bull Terrier’s lives. This breed – once rated among the healthiest dog breeds in the world – is actually not so healthy anymore.
I blame this on different factors, such as irresponsible breeding, environmental changes and highly processed modern day food. But most of these are topics for another article.
For many Bull Terrier owners it takes a long time to realize that the health problems their dog is suffering from are actually related to allergies.

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Annoying Bull Terrier habits: Why does my dog always follow me?

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Bull Terriers are not only family dogs. They are also very physical. That goes for them acting among each other and also for their interactions with humans.

This funny youtube video, posted by Australians Against BSL, speaks volumes:

I often hear people wondering: Why does my dog always follow me? I hear people complaining about tripping over their dogs in the kitchen because they are always right behind them. Or they take a nap on people’s feet.
But just because Bull Terriers are very physical that does not mean that we have to accept everything no matter what.

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