Pumpkin Carving Stencils for Dogs

This is a popular seasonal repost of our Lab-o-Lantern and French-o-Lantern, plus stencils for you to do your own!  

I am still impressed at my hidden artistic ability, despite the fact this was 2 years ago now! The stencil is the trick - just stick the the stencil and you will have your own pumpkin masterpiece of your pup.  

Bailey-Boo and Bam-O-Lantern 

The girls were kind enough to model with their pumpkin look-a-likes

The highly googled French Bulldog Pumpkin stencil you are after (courtesy of the French Bulldog Rescue Network):

And links for a 20+ favorite breeds pumpkin stencils, thanks to Better Homes and Gardens. 

Have fun and Happy Halloween!!!  

New Years Resolution: week 1

Casual Friday.... Back to resolution training on Monday.

Cozy Caves for Christmas - 50% off today!

If you have a dog that likes to burrow, a Cozy Cave is a must on your pup's Christmas list. Luckily for you, they are 50% off today on Doctor Foster and Smith website! Click here to get this amazing deal! No, I don't get anything for promoting this, I just like to share my excitement because I need to get Bambi one for the boat too! The cozy cave is like a pita pocket for dogs. It keeps them warm and cozy during the winter months and ideally keeps them out of your bed, unless you want them there :)

Bam and Harley like to share a cozy cave, but assuming you only have one dog, I'd suggest a small for a frenchie sized dog, a large for a Vizsla sized dog, and an XL for a doberman sized dog. I don't know why they don't have a medium...

Go ahead and cross one thing off your holiday shopping list!

Drowned in Double Dog Park Trips

Whhewwww it was a wet one today! My second day back since the "dogwalker in a boot" saga and it was a full 8 hours of soggy doggy park trips and fun. Before I get into the exhilarating adventures of the dog park today, I have to share by amazing find with any of you who have suffered from wet, numb, filthy dog park hands. Dogwalkers, listen up, this may be as life changing for you as it was for me. These gloves, Atlas Snow Blower gloves, are the best gloves I have found, and believe me, I have been through many. They are completely waterproof with a cozy fleece lining. You can still bend your fingers and clip a leash, pick up a toy, and yes, even open a poop bag. The best part is, you can hose off your dogs and not worry about getting your hands wet and dirty at all! I know what you're thinking, getting your hands wet and dirty is not the end of the world, but when it is 36 degrees out and you have 6 filthy dogs to hose off, those fingers go numb really fast and it makes it pretty hard to work! I bought these gloves at City People's on the way to the dog park. I highly recommend them! Oh, and they are bright sexy orange ;)

Ok, on to the good stuff. We switched things up a bit this morning and I took Jambo and Pepper with my crew, they usually go with Nancy's. Pepper had fun chasing after Bonita's tail while Bonita was chasing Mokee for the frisbee. Jambo was stepping up and chasing Porter for the new rope/ball toy which I impulse purchased at City People's as well. I made it through an entire day without losing it, so it was a success! Porter and Dexter kept taking it and having a tug-o-war hold out where they just stood there and stared at one another with the toy in between them... Miles was super excited to catch the toy and have the whole crew chase him - he can really run fast when he has 7 dogs running after him! Coco made it through the whole park trip without rolling in a mud puddle - I was so proud of her! But then as we were walking out the gate to the truck, she ducked off to the puddle 15 yards away and flopped like a fish out of water, just enough to get a good coating. One of these days I am going to video her in action rather than try to get her to stop. Might as well provide some entertainment for all of us! I was really glad I had my new gloves at that moment. I took a few pictures, but it was so grey and cloudy nothing turned out very well... I really wanted to get a picture of Gracie and Porter, who looks like Gracie's mini-me!

Now for the afternoon trip... I picked up my trusty helper Michael and our little menace, Bam. We also got her sidekick, Violet. Our 2nd to last stop before the park was Cooper (yellow lab - not to be confused with Cooper black lab who was already in the back seat). Cooper's brother, Tucker, recently started going to the park as well, but they go on different days so they both get their own separate play time. This is one of those time it would be really nice to be able to talk to dogs and explain why this girl comes and takes them to the park but only takes one of them and why only one of them should be getting excited because the other one is about to get a door closed on their face.... Poor Tucker, hopefully it will make more sense tomorrow! I'm sure it won't, but at least he won't be the one getting the door closed on him!

By the time we got the park, it was absolutely dumping rain. It must have been refreshing for the dogs, because they were going 150%! It was like they all flipped a switch to Tasmanian devil mode (not really devils, you know what I mean). Luckily, they were a great group of retrievers (or at least dogs that like the game) so it was just pure running for an hour and a half. Those dogs got tired today! Considering I am just getting back into the rhythm of the park, my first big mistake today was forgetting to bring a squeaker toy for Sammy. To be honest, it crossed my mind on the way to the park, but I figured since I already stopped and bought my gloves and impromptu dog toy purchase for the day, I was not going to to buy another toy.... Probably not my best choice. When Sammy doesn't have a squeaky ball, he hounds every other dog that passes by with one. And by hound I mean he runs along side them with his big head right by their mouth, almost as if saying, "give it to me, you know you want to give it to me, come on, come on, come on!!!", which results in me going through a whole ringer of tricks to get the ball back. Over and over and over. Note to self: you DO need the squeaky. Even if just to keep in my bag as bribery, I can't go empty handed!

The highlight of my day had to have been while I was hosing off the dogs (with my new super cool gloves), and Chesa came up while I was bent over hosing a dog and jumped up on my face, knocking off my glasses and somehow licking inside my mouth... GROSS! I tried to wipe off my mouth but then realized my new super cool gloves were actually just wiping more water/dirt on my face. I can't tell you how often I get back in the truck to find mud wiped across my face... and I always wonder how many people I encountered who opted to not tell me! I love Chesa, but not enough to make out with her. That was really more than I had bargained for today.

As I was getting orally assaulted, Michael couldn't stand to see his little frenchie babies so wet and cold, so he took them back to the truck, turned on the heat and wrapped them in a towel. Actually, tied them in a towel. Like a two little baguettes in a basket. He is ridiculous.

It was a very soggy day and the dogs were unusually rowdy, probably still working off some cabin fever from the snow days, but regardless, it felt so good to be back at the park. There is nothing like walking around an empty park playing with 8 of my best four-legged friends. The best part about when it rains, is the park is totally empty and nobody knows the extent of the conversations I have with my dogs.... Commands? Yeah right... We've had a lot of catching up to do! Looking forward to the rest of the week, rain or shine!

Dog pumpkin carving stencils (and pics of our Bailey and Bam-O-Lanterns)

We are getting into the Halloween spirit here at the ballwalkpark house! This week I carved pumpkins of Bailey and Bam - a term I would like to coin - the Bam-O-Lantern! I am pretty impressed with how they turned out - I have NO artistic talent whatsoever. It's all about the stencil, seriously. If I can do it, anyone can do it! I have attached the links for the stencils. You can find a bunch of different breeds at The Better Homes and Gardens link. The French Bulldog stencil was harder to find, so I attached the link for that as well. Enjoy and happy carving!!

Better Homes and Gardens dog breed stencils

Labrador Retriever pumpkin carving stencil

Frenchie pumpkin carving stencil

Frenchie Meetup

We went the monthly Frenchie Meetup in the small dog park at Magnuson this weekend. Bam had the time of her life. There were so many Frenchies there - the most I have ever seen! Must have been almost 30 at one point. There was just a constant chorus of grunts and snorts. A few frenchies took naps under the chairs to find a little shade. Here are a few pics from the event. [gallery link="file" columns="5"]

Bam and Fletcher: Midget Wrestling

Bam and Fletcher and in love again. They were in love at first sight, then Fletcher seemed to decide that he was too good for Bam - like she was the kid in elementary school spilling food on herself and he was way too cool in middle school being a punk and causing trouble with his backpack on. Now they're in highschool and madly in love. Fletch is a chubby chaser. Luckily for both of them, not only did they get to spend a weekend away at Whidbey last weekend, Fletcher is back at our house for the week. This is how they spend majority of their time, if they are not cuddled on the couch:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVHuIlCa0Yk]