Well folks, it’s been two weeks since we announced our “Show Us How You Chow Down” photo contest with Arrfscarf, and boy have you kept us entertained with amazing photos of your dogs! I wanted to submit this photo of myself expertly doing cleanings to the whipped-cream-makers, but mama said I was disqualified because I live with her. Lame!

Check out all these entries that were NOT disqualified:

Originally, my brother and I were going to put our big brainiac brains together with the good folks at Arrfscarf and pick a winner. But then I realized something. I said to myself: “Self, you know many of these dogs in real life or through the interwebs, so you would not make a very fair judge.” And so I disqualified myself from the judgings!

I left the pickings all to the nice people at Arrfscarf, and they picked a winner — and because they liked the other photos so much — TWO runners up!

So without further ado, the second runner up is . . . . .  Our dear friend Luna! Luna wins one large bag of Arrfscarf hand-crafted dog treats and a mini variety pack of treats.

The first runner up is . . . . the lovely Arabella!  Arabella wins her choice of two large bags of treats and a mini variety pack.

And I am most jealous excited our big winner, who wins the whole package — a large back of EACH of Arrfscarf’s handmade dog treats, two doggie ice creams, and an Arrfscarf custom engraved dog tag — Delilah!

Congrats to our very deserving winners. My brother Doodlebug and I hope you get blissfully fat from eating so many treats (in a good way)!

And — as a sweet little bonus — I have convinced Arrfscarf to award a FOURTH winner, picked randomly by me via Random.org (did you even know that I know how to use the internets? I am damn smart!).

So congratulations to Peyton for winning our last prize — two mini variety packs of Arrfscarf treats!

Thanks to everybody for playing. We can’t wait to play another contest with you sometime soon!

***Winners, please contact us via email at info (at) loveandaleash (dot) org, or via Facebook messaging***

**Don’t forget to enter our photo contest for a chance to win some handcrafted doggie ice cream and a whole bounty of other delicious treats!! Click here for details**

Things are going really well in our household since Puppy E came home several weeks ago. And it’s not just good luck — we did plenty of preparation ahead of time to get the dogs accustomed to the routines, sounds, smells, and general presence of a baby in the house. But there’s a lot more to it than that, too. The biggest success factor, in our opinion, is to make sure that the dogs feel calm, relaxed, and safe in every single interaction with the baby.

The other day, a friend was bragging to me about how good her dog is with little kids. Several toddlers had been over at her house, and decided to play with her dog. The dog tolerated their ear tugging, tail pulling, and wrestle moves, my friend boasted, even though he was clearly unimpressed. According to my friend, the dog was looking to her, like: Mom, I know I have to tolerate this, but I am really unhappy. What struck me about this story was that my friend chose to observe and allow this behavior to continue even though her dog was uncomfortable, rather than intervening on his behalf.

This dog is nervous — a good moment to let her know it’s ok to walk away.

What my friend didn’t realize is that on that day, she sent a message to her dog: you are on your own. Luckily, her dog is laid-back enough to have tolerated this particular interaction with these children without acting out. But there is no telling whether a day will come when he decides he has had enough and, fairly, tells the children in no uncertain terms to back off –– or worse. If the dog did growl, snap, or bite, he would most certainly be blamed. Called aggressive. But in reality, he had looked to his people the whole time to help out, but no one paid any mind. Can you really blame the guy?

It is our responsibility to be our dogs’ guardians. It is our duty to keep them safe and happy, and protect them in situations that make them uncomfortable. Even when the children are our own, we must look out for the dogs –- as well as the kids.

Doodlebug wasn’t too sure about the puppy. We rewarded him for staying cool and didn’t push the interaction any further.

A new baby coming home creates a lot of excitement in a household. Dogs, accustomed to living in a house with no tiny humans, may be nervous or over-excited when the new human first moves in. Obviously, this is understandable. But it is during those moments of over–arousal that dogs tend to make poor choices or act un-gently. And and un–gentle dog, even if it is super friendly, can spell trouble for a tiny human.

So in our house, we were especially careful about one thing. Before the dogs were allowed to interact with Puppy E at close range, they had to be totally over it. We did not want any tap-dancing paws, fast–wagging tails, or excited puppy kisses. We wanted total boredom. And we got it. How? Simple. When the baby first came home, we kept the dogs busy with plenty of enrichment activities. Lots of walks, stuffed bones and kongs to chew on, puzzle toys to play with, and slow, controlled–based exercises in the presence of the baby. Things like sit-stays and down-stays. After a few hours for Chick and a couple days for Doodlebug, they thought the baby was the most boring thing in the world. A total non-issue. And that was exactly what we wanted.

Chick calmly investigating his puppy’s swimming plans.

So now, all of our interactions are monitored. If either dog shows the slightest sign of being nervous or too excited, we gently invite him to walk away. The message? If you are nervous, you don’t have to stay. The dogs both seem to appreciate this, and now enjoy spending time in the presence of Puppy E without feeling any pressure to stay or to go. As Puppy E gets older and becomes mobile, new challenges will pop up. But we are betting that by setting up the relationship between the dogs and baby correctly from the start, we will be better able to face these challenges gracefully.

Doodlebug chillin’ with his little sister.

For more about preparing your dogs for a new human addition, check out our Preparing for Baby Mini-Series:

Some of you may remember that a while back, we did a blog post and giveaway for a large manufacturer of dog treats — ice cream, to be specific — and some cute little stuffed animal dogs.

We had lots of fun with the giveaway — as we always do — but we made a little bitty confession: we wouldn’t let our dogs actually eat the treats that we were giving away, because they’re loaded with corn syrup, additives, and other yuckies that are not a part of Chick and Doodlebug’s diet.

Something else great came of that contest: we were contacted by a small, craft maker of artisan dog treats, Arrfscarf. They had taken note of our complaints, and issued a challenge: try OUR ice cream and treats, and see what you (and Chick and Doodlebug) think.

We took one look at Arrfscarf’s website, and hastily agreed.

So not long after, we received a yummy-smelling package in the mail. It was loaded with dry ice to keep our boys’ ice cream chilled, and lined with some delicious looking treats.

We even got to select our ice cream flavor: Beef Brisket. We worry constantly about the ingredients and additives in the boys’ snacks and food, but we felt at ease with this particular treat. The ingredients? Locally Sourced Beef Brisket. Organic Yams. Vanilla. Honey. Greek Yogurt. YUM.

photo courtesy Arrfscarf.

There is much to love about this company, which hand makes its doggie goodies in Chicago. Their ice cream and other treats are nutritionally sound, they locally source their ingredients, and they carefully avoid any flavorings, preservatives, or colors. Ick.

Needless to say, the boys loved their treats. Chick took one lick of his ice cream, his eyes got wide, and he grabbed the whole cup in his mouth and bolted across the yard to his favorite eating spot to devour it. Meanwhile, Doodlebug maintained his discipline like a gentleman and licked at his ice cream diligently for a minute or two before also succumbing to the urge to crunch it all down in one heavenly gulp.

But there’s more! Arrfscarf has agreed to do a very exciting contest and giveaway with us, and we’ll be launching tomorrow! Tune in again for all the details. This is one contest you won’t want to miss!