Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

I’m Detoxing

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The older I’ve gotten the more aware I’ve become of toxins, both in my environment and my food.  I strive (with the occasional concession here and there) to live a healthy lifestyle for both myself and my dogs.

A few months back I asked YOU my dear and faithful readers if you were interested in hearing about healthy products/options to help you and your pets live a healthier lifestyle as well.  The general consensus was yes.

And Yes, this is one of those posts.

Besides walking every day with the dogs, I’ve also eliminated MOST processed foods.  Of course, it’s easier in the summer months when a variety of local fresh fruits and vegetables are readily available. Now eliminating the junk you put in your (and your pet’s) bodies is great, but think about your daily routine.

We clean our bodies, clothes, homes and cars with products riddled with toxins.  And yes, our liver works really hard to cleanse our bodies of toxins, but it’s one tiny organ being inundated with toxins.

You may remember the product review I did of an all natural organic dog shampoo from Vermont Soap.

My contact at Vermont Soap very generously included a variety of non-toxic health and cleaning products for me to try.  Since I already LOVED their dog shampoo I was quite eager to try some other products as well.

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Foaming Hand Soap – I love this stuff, it has a slight lemon scent and foams nicely, leaving my hands feeling clean and smelling good.

Liquid Sunshine Non-toxic Cleaner Concentrate – the label says this stuff can be used for everything! So I tried it on everything.

  • Floors – I tried it on my floors but I didn’t like it.  To be honest though I think I may have had a bit too much cleaner in the water, it is after all a concentrate.
  • Dishes – It worked well on the dishes, it’s application is directly onto the cloth and I’m not used to washing dishes that way. I’m a fill the pan with suds kind of gal, so this wasn’t conducive to the way I wash, but I can get used to it.
  • Toilets – I squirted some of this in the toilet, scrubbed it up and let it sit and it did a great job. Far better than any other product I’ve used in my toilet.

Liquid Sunshine Non-toxic Spray and Wipe Surface Cleaner – This stuff is excellent on counter tops, tables and appliances.

Chemical Free and Heavy Metal Free Tooth Salt – Great for polishing your teeth, but doesn’t do much to help with morning Troll Breath, I do like the way my teeth feel after using it.  But brushing with a salty tasting substance definitely takes some getting used to. 🙂

Tooth Brush Sanitizer –  What’s not to like about a toot brush sanitizer?  You’ve all heard the stories of the kind of bathroom germs that land on your toothbrush every time you flush your toilet.  This is amazing, I spray my toothbrush, jump in the shower and by the time I’m done getting ready, my toothbrush is ready too!

Have you given any thought to the products you use on your person or in your home or on your pets?

Sound off in the comments.

Park Day

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Today we’re joining our friend Gizmo and his buddy Finn Howard for Parks Day.  A day designed to celebrate and share the beauty of your favorite park.

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Long time readers of this blog know that our preferred walk is in our park.  The tiny little park at the top of our street.  The park’s formal name is Boulder Ridge Park.

Our park is not like your typical city or state park.  There are no areas for picnicking, no benches, no bathroom facilities and no place to swim.

Just a big beautiful field perfect for getting your puppy zoomies on and lots of nice trails for hiking.

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The enormous field is used for LaCrosse practice three times per week from mid-March until early June, I usually try to schedule our walks so we don’t interfere with their practice.

There are three main trails.  The yellow trail is the easiest, with slight hills and fairly clear trails.  The blue and yellow is slightly more difficult, with tree stumps, and small rocks.  The orange trail is the longest and also the hardest, with many steep inclines designed for those who like a little bit of a challenge.

Most of the trails are contained within the park and generally intersect with one of the other trails at some point.  The orange trail encircles the park and from start to finish would generally take us about 30 to 40 minutes. The blue and yellow trail leads down to and then crosses the local rail trail where you can pick it up and follow it in to Valley Falls, a beautiful town maintained park, with many more miles of hiking trails (and picnic areas, bathroom facilities and swimming.) 😀

Because the trails lead outside of the park, It’s important to understand the markings for the trail system.

IMG_4755 This marker indicates I’m on the orange trail which shifts to the left, while intersecting with the blue and yellow which would drift off to the right.

IMG_4757 There are also some unmarked trails that have been made either by the deer or two-legged adventurers, no worries they all lead somewhere.

In the last 18 months or so, we’ve had three pretty bad storms, Snowtober of 2011 dumped a lot of wet heavy snow.  Unfortunately most of the trees still had their leaves.   Many branches and trees that didn’t break from the weight of the snow, were weakened.  With each subsequent storm (Sandy last fall and the Blizzard of 2013) more and more limbs and trees fall.

IMG_4745 Most of the trees/branches miraculously fell off the trails.  In other areas, hikers move what we can.

IMG_4748 Whenever possible we use the downed trees to practice agility jumps.

IMG_4747 Of course sometimes it’s just not possible.

Even without all the facilities a state park has, our little park is just perfect for us.  It’s super convenient (I can walk the dogs there in less than two minutes,) it’s far away from busy roads so a dog with a good recall can be off-leash and it’s really not used by a lot of people (not counting LaCrosse of course.)

Plus we get to do fun things like climb rocks.

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 This is the Park’s Day blog hop hosted by Gizmo and Finn Howard. Visit Gizmo to add your link.

Vermont Soap Giveaway

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Last November, Hubby, Sampson, Delilah and I went to New Hampshire to visit my sister and her Hubby.

One of my favorite things to do in New Hampshire, besides spend quality time with my sister is to shop.  My sister lives in a small town of less than 6,000 people.  There’s a handful of big name businesses, but the majority of businesses are local mom and pop stores and I find the neatest things.

Which is how I happened to find an all natural, organic pet shampoo made by Vermont Soap.  I picked up a bottle to use on Sampson and Delilah.

I fell in love with it the moment I used it.  I loved it so much I thought it would be nice to provide a product review and giveaway.  I contacted Vermont Soap and they were kind enough to provide me with a package of goodies to try, as well as a bottle of shampoo for one of my readers.

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The shampoo is a blend of essential oils and the first thing I noticed was the smell.  The shampoo has a strong smell of tea tree oil, with a hint of citrus.  It’s a very pleasant smell so much so, I find myself wishing it was a candy so I could pop one in my mouth.

I got a little nervous when I poured it in my hand as the consistency is very thin.  I was concerned I would end up using a lot, but that was not the case at all.

It lathered up nice, rinsed out well and left my dogs smelling nice and clean.

The ingredients: Saponified organic coconut , olive and jojoba oils, natural essential oil blend including tea tree and organic orange oil, organic aloe vera and rosemary extract.

Sampson WET So you’re saying because I’m dirty and wet, I need a bath?

What I liked:

  • Non-toxic (no chemicals or harmful ingredients) in case of accidental ingestion drink milk or water.
  • Organic (no pesticides or chemicals)
  • Smells great
  • Lathers up nice
  • Rinses well
  • Reasonably priced ($9.98 for 16 oz)

What I didn’t like:

  • There’s actually only one thing that comes to mind. When I inquired about what exactly was a “natural essential oil blend” I was told it was proprietary and they couldn’t tell me. I understand the reasoning, I would just like to know exactly what types of oil are being used.  I work hard to build and maintain a trusting relationship with my readers and want to make sure I’m not steering you wrong.

My contact at Vermont Soap sent me a lovely package of non-toxic products which I’m currently using.  I hope to have a review of those products for you in a couple of weeks.

What about you?  Would you like to try this organic, non-toxic shampoo on your pet?  All you have to do is leave me a comment by Sunday at midnight and  I’ll use random.org and draw a winner, which I’ll announce next Monday.

Oh and if you don’t want to wait, the shampoo is currently 25% off on their website.

Disclaimer: I originally purchased my own bottle of shampoo, but I was provided a beautiful package of products to try in exchange for my honest review.
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