dogblog – Karma the Pom

What’s Your 2018 New Year’s Resolution?

Did you include your dogs, cats, and other animals in your 2018 New Year’s resolutions? They could use a happier and healthier year too! There’s a more significant list of ways you can commit them to staying strong and well besides adding better treats and belly rubs.

Vet Checkup. It is crucial for your dog to get a checkup yearly. It can give our vet a chance to detect any conditions early and prevent any others from developing. Most importantly we go so that we can stay healthy.
Grooming. Our hair and fur can get real knotted, smelly, uncomfortable, and long. It’s essential for you to take your animals to get groomed every so often.
Teeth Cleaning. It’s important for our teeth to be brushed and kept clean. It not only helps our stinky breath to stay fresh, but it also helps with how our teeth age as we become seniors.
Therapy Dog. Is your dog a good candidate to become a therapy dog? They could help humans cope with illness, stress, and recovery.
New Friends. Is your dog social? Go to local dog parks and dog events. You never know, you might end up making life-long friends as well!
Plan a Pawty! If you and your dog have a social circle, what’s better than a celebration?
Daily Exercise. You don’t have to increase Fido’s regular exercise, but do not hold back on it or forget about it either. Maybe a trip to the park or a more extended walk every so often would be nice. If the weather is bad, try some indoor activities like a light game of fetch.
Go On An Adventure. Take Fido on a trip. Most of us love trips, and we love to be with our humans. Try it out and see if a new activity would excite us.
Dog Friendly Places. Take some time to find local dog friendly places. A day out together is the best time ever.
Unconditional Love. Don’t take your pup for granted. We just want a little bit of our human’s time and their unconditional love.

Try to stay as committed to your resolutions as possible. Your dog will love and appreciate you more than could ever be imagined!

Happy New Year!
-Karma the Pom

Keeping Your Pup-kin Safe This Halloween!

I see people dressed up in weird costumes. I see my furfriends dressed up in silly costumes. I smell candy and treats on the counter. You know what that means—right? Yappy Halloween! Halloween means all fun and games, but it could leave potential danger for us animals to deal with! Don’t be pet-rified because I would love to share some spook-tacular tips for everyone to stay safe during the holiday!

The Crazy Costumes

Make sure your dog loves his costume
-We don’t want to be stressed
-We don’t want out breathing restricted

Dogs usually don’t want masks
-This can also stress us out

Try to limit the chew pieces available
-We can choke on the small pieces

And stop using hair dye
-It’s not good for our fur and health

The Dramatic Decor

Chew pieces should be out of the way
-Not only on costumes, but also in party decoration
-And human costumes too, we love to pick random objects up

Cords and wires should be inaccessible
-They can cause choking and electrical hazards

Use caution around glow sticks
-Contain toxic liquid to pets

Avoid candlesticks
-We like to knock things over; be careful of the flames

The Haunted Host

Constant visitors will stress your dog out
-We like to be kept in a comfortable, quiet room
Do not leave your doggo unattended
-Doors open and close throughout the night
-If you do, make sure we are micro-chipped and have an identification tag

The Frightening Foods

Avoid keepng food and cocktails in places your dog can reach
-Example: coffee tables, low counters

Apples
-They have a core that we can choke on

Candy
-It contains an ingredient called xylitol
-This is toxic to us

Chocolate
-It has an ingredient called theobromine
-This is also poisonous to us

Cocktails
-Be mindful of where you place these
-These are potentially toxic to us

The purpose of this article isn’t to scare you from having a great time; it is to help you have a safe, enjoyable, and stress-free Halloween. Make your doggo fun pumpkin treats (recipe below) to reward him for good behavior. Happy Halloween to the humans, and Yappy Halloween to all of my furfriends!

If you are concerned that your dog has ingested any of your Halloween candy, please call your vet!

Quick & Easy Recipe:
-1/2 can of plain pumpkin puree
NOT pumpkin pie mix, which contains sugar and spice
-2 tbsp of no salt, all peanut- peanut butter
-2 tbsp water
-Mix it all together
-Pour into ice tray
-Freeze and serve!

Yappy Halloween my friends!

-Karma the Pom

Do You Know How Important Our Grooming Is?

If your human is overprotective or if you just like a nice spa day every once in awhile then this article is for you. It’s important for our pawrents to find the perfect groomer for us like they find the perfect hair stylists for themselves. Changes through our skin and nails can happen among other things and a great groomer will not only notice, but also notify our humans in our best interest. An average groomer will give us a mediocre bath then a cut and send us home. An exceptional groomer will provide excellent services by giving baths and furcuts using the best quality products. It has taken some time, but my human finally found the groomer that meets all of my and my siblings’ needs.

It’s important for your human to ask your groomer, or future groomer, some questions before you start with them to make sure they are the perfect fit for you. My human asked Tess at Best in Show Grooming 21 questions before she left us with her for our spa day and she answered with confidence, with passion, and with expertise. After that interview going above and beyond giving 42 answers, we could have basically slept at Tess’ house and it would have been fine! Kidding, but she was so terrific.

Did you know there’s no regulation in the grooming industry as far as licensing? Neither did we. It’s so important you find a reputable groomer that stays on top of the latest health and style trends, and of course has good Yelp reviews, or you could be looking at some real troubles down the road!

Here’s a list of questions that are so important for your human to ask the groomer you are using or are going to use: (Thanks to the help of Tess at Best in Show Grooming)

Are you insured?
Is your business licensed?
Are you a mobile groomer?
1. Maybe mobile is the best fit for your schedule.
Are you a member of any grooming organizations?
1. Example: National Dog Groomers Association of America
  1. Since no licensing is required for dog groomers, this means that there are no requirements for any formal courses or certifications
2. Have you attended/joined any other organizations?
  1. Example: certifications processes and extensive education
  2. Example: attending seminars, competitions, conventions, expos, and maybe even dog shows
3. Is the equipment being used during grooming professional grade?
4. What vaccinations do you require your clients to have?
5. Do you specialize in anything?
  1. Example: seniors, difficult dogs, specific breeds
6. Where will my dog be during grooming?
  1. Even if humans aren’t insured in the grooming area, they should still be able to get a sneak peak of where their pet will be
    1. Is it clean?
    2. Are the kennels/crates cleaned between each dog?
7. How many dogs can be worked on at a time?
  1. Example: high volume rotation vs. one on one private care
8. What is included during my dogs grooming?
  1. What are your costs?
9. Are the products that are being used high quality?
  1. What are the products?
10. Will you notify me on how my dog did at their spa day?
  1. Good communication and honesty is so important
    1. Example: changes in skin, rash, anything new
    2. Example: was my dog well behaved?
11. After all of that, do you feel as if this person could build a worthy relationship with you and your pet?
  1. You have to feel as if your doggo will feel comfortable and trusting around this person
  2. You especially have to trust them – that overprotective human

When you’re choosing a groomer for us, it’s not just about maintaining our beauty, but it’s maintaining our physical health as well. Although you can groom us at home with brushing our fur and teeth, it’s also a good choice to bring us to a professional. They’re not afraid to get into our ears and places you humans are too lazy to get to. If the profession is as exceptional as they claim to be, they’ll be able to spot any abnormalities in our skin that our humans might miss at home, they will have passion for their work, they will extremely educated in the field, and they will be worthy enough for your family. Don’t wait, make sure doggo’s groomer has the best credentials!

And if you’re in the Miami area click here to get to Tess’ website.

& Check out my previous blog about my Movember fundraiser – reason for my mohawk!

-Karma the Pom

It’s Wellness Wednesday for the Buyers

Did you know we help our humans reach their wellness goals? So much so that studies from SunTrust claim millennials are finding them to search for homes solely based on our needs instead of their own or maybe their future children.

We help our humans:

1)Achieve physical wellness by increasing their activity and exercise – even just from our walks outside,

2)Reach emotional wellness because we give them comfort by acting as a companion and give them unconditional love,

3)and we bring them social wellness since we promote interactions between our humans and that can lead to further topics of conversations.

When we help you reach these stages of wellness, there’s no way you could move somewhere that says “no dogs.” It’s wonderful knowing we are such a priority in our pawrents’ life that they are willing to have their mortgage go straight to us. Our humans are our companions in return so we wouldn’t want it any other way.

Why did your family buy their first home?

I hope this Wednesday brings wellness to your life!

-Karma the Pom

Karma10 for 10% off Baylors Bow Ties

First Beach Experience

It’s Saturday! That means my local beach allows me and all of my fur-friends to have fun in the sand starting at 5pm from March – September. The reason for this is because it gets really hot for us pups during the day so the later it is, the cooler it gets. This was not only my first sandy beach experience, but it was the first time I have ever been in any water besides my filled up bathtub! I will admit I was so scared at first, but I had so much fun meeting new friends and running around that I forgot how I scared I was. My humans packed lots of stuff in their backpacks like: water in their amazing Swell bottles, waste pick up bags, towels, sunscreen [even though it’s late], and some treats for Brandy and I! I had such a supaw great time and I cannot wait to go back!