My First Bama Bully event

Saturday morning I dove in head first to my first Bama Bully booth: GBHS' Barking for Bucks telethon.  My friend Apasra sent me there with $20 so I could get a shirt (THANK YOU!), Nick is coming by sometime a little later in the morning with Elsa, and I've got a few dog treats baked to help raise a little.

My southern side took over during packaging...

I'm pretty tired from working the night before (and somehow knowing I have to be back at work Saturday evening is making it worse...), but I am really excited because one of the ladies at work saw me making up the baggies and bought two of them from me right then and there!  That was encouraging because I was doubting all the effort I put into the setup (as usual).

I am not able to bring Idgie because I have only had her for one week.  Instead, Nick is going to bring Elsa by a little later in the morning.  I'll have enough time to setup and get settled in before she arrives and then he can walk her around a bit before she has to be contained at the booth with me.

I get there around 8:30 (I got held up trying to make a few extra treats after work) and meet Laura to finish setting up.  By nine the event has started and people are slowly trickling in.  Overall, people were really nice and interested in our adoptable bullies.  Nick brought Elsa around 10:30 and I had to leave to get to bed by noon.

She was a total ham and everyone loved it!

Nick and I walked around to the different booths before I had to leave. Everyone was really nice and I was surprised at how awesome Hollywood Feed is... they actually charge less for Canidae Life Stages food than I am paying off of Amazon!!! They also have a buy 10 get the 11th free with Canidae.  They gave us tennis balls that are a huge hit at the house!!

DIY Budget Dog Toys

Someone was talking about trying to get toys on a budget for their dog.  I will always and forever recommend BarkBox to anyone who will listen, but I understand sometimes that $20/month may not be feasible, whether unexpected vet bills came into the picture or whatnot.

So here are some ideas for dog toys that can be useful:

1. Water Bottle (with no cap!) inside of a Sock.  I up the ante on this one and put a little kibble in the bottle.  The rattle and crinkle sounds are fantastic.

2. Rope Toys.  As long as you use the correct kind (no flame retardants!), paracord can be woven into fantastic rope toys for pups.  There are a lot of knot designs for rope toys.  Here is one that is a ball that is amazingly fun!

3. Tennis Balls.  There are a thousand things you can do with tennis balls.  I like to take old dishrags, cut holes in the ball, and push the rag through.  It makes a great tug toy!  You can also use them for makeshift puzzle toys.

4. UN-stuffed animals.  Go to goodwill.  Buy a stuffed animal and open it along a seam.  Pull out the stuffing (add a squeaker or some cellophane for crackle noises?) and sew up the toy.

5. Stuffed fabric scraps. Jeans are a good choice for this.  Sew edges together with a thick thread (like embroidery) and stuff it with other scraps or stuffing.

6. Mini see-saw. All it takes is a piece of PVC pipe nailed to a wooden board.  This can be fun if you do agility or want to get your puppy used to some basic agility equipment.

7. PVC pipe. A few pieces of this can make a puzzle toy or several different types of agility equipment.


Remember: always supervise your dog when playing with toys!  Especially if they are heavy chewers.