Pet Blogger's Gift Exchange: Meet Hawk, aka the Brown Dog

I'm taking part in the Pet Blogger's Gift Exchange! Time to meet another great pet blogger.

Every year we pet bloggers get together and exchange blogging info. Kind of like a Secret Santa.

For my gift exchange recipient, I got a brown dog!

Hawk, or Hawkeye, is named after the famous doctor from the TV show "MASH." He's a Chesapeake Bay retriever who blogs about his training and his beautiful home in Virginia!

Hawk loves to play hide-and-seek with his humans, play outside, go for boat rides and more. His blog is full of big beautiful pictures!

Hawk also uses his blog to talk about other browndogs that need homes.

If you haven't checked out Hawk's blog before (he's been around since 2009!), you should. The pictures are beautiful, plus there's great training tips.

Meet Hawk on his blog: BrownDogCBR (that stands for Chesapeake Bay Retriever). You can also follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

New Year, new pet: An audit for 2015

For Howl'd Lang Syne, me dogs, 

For Howl'd Lang Syne.

We'll lick a bowl of kindness yet,

For Howl'd Lang Syne!

Happy New Year!

Here comes 2015! Are you ready? How about your pet?  

Now is a great time to take stock of your pet(s), and your relationship with your pet(s). If the new year is a good time to renew yourself, It's also a good time to renew your pet.

I've broken down some pretty basic categories into questions you should ask as we head into the new year.

• FOOD: How is your pet's food? Is your dog getting enough food? Do they look healthy (shiny fur, bright eyes, healthy poop)? Now is a great time to think about whether you should look for a better food or different food for your pet.
• WEIGHT. Is your dog's weight ok? Remember this chart:

 Now's a good time to check your pet's weight and see if they need to lose weight. Are they getting enough exercise? I learned this year that just letting Lulu out the backyard was not enough to get her a workout. The vets say her weight is ok, but I'd like her a little more slim, just on the safe side.

• PHYSICAL/MENTAL STIMULATION. It's time to play! Your dogs need more than a squeaky toy though. Are you taking them out to play? Are you giving them things to figure out? Are you getting them new experiences? Teach them new tricks, take them walks to new places. It keeps them young and healthy! Not to mention yourself. It's better for them than just lounging around (though that's good too).
• VETS/BOARDING/GROOMING. Are you happy with your vet or the other people who handle your pet services? Now is the time to research another one if you are in the market. That way you are ready when it's physical time.
• COMFORT. How's that dog bed looking? The crate? The collar? Now is a great time to look into new ones -- inventory time for stores is a great time for clearance sales.

Take stock of your pet, and have a great new year!

See who won the Deck the Dog House photo contest

I know you guys have been waiting for this: who won our #DecktheDogHouse photo contest?

First, a word on the contest.

I was looking for something different to do this year. Almost everyone is doing a Holiday Gift Guide, and I had planned to as well. In the end, I was inspired by Snoopy decorating his dog house in "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

I didn't know how many people would actually take part in the contest. I thought if I got 10 entries, I would be surprised. I got over 20!

So I think we will do this contest again next year!

And next year I will have more for you guys: clearer rules, and more prizes and more winners! For instance, next year we will split the dogs off from other animals so that people with cats and ferrets and chickens and things will have their own chance of getting prizes.

On judging, I want to say that I chose two random people to be judges. One was a pet blogger, the other was a non-blogging friend of mine. Then my mom broke the tie. They judged on two things:

1) How well people followed the spirit of the contest by decorating their pet's living space. (this was objective)
2) Creativity. (Admittedly, this was a more subjective and vague category).

I now present the winners of the #DecktheDogHouse photo contest!

Drum Roll please!

Winner of Prize Pack #1 is:

Hayward Gillam, Tony Gillam's Cocker Spaniel!

Winner of Prize Pack #2 is:

Kolchak, Jodi Chick's puggle and his Charlie Brown-inspired Christmas decorations!

Congrats to Jodi and Tony. I will be contacting you both and giving your information to Hallmark!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the contest. I hope everyone stays with us into the new year! We'll have more chances for you to win prizes.

Before you go, I would appreciate it if you would do me a favor.

I am asking for nominations (something I don't normally do) for the Sunshine Blog Awards. To be nominated, you have to be a Florida-based blogger (which I am).

I'm asking readers to please nominate me in the "Other" category. You have until the end of the year! Thank you!

#Deck the Dog House: Check out all the entries

There's our #DecktheDogHouse week three entries! We got a lot of great entries for the contest. We'll be judging this week, and two people will get Snoopy-inspired prize packs, courtesy of Hallmark.

Take a look at all the entries, one more time!

Good luck, and thanks to all the entrants!

#Deck the Dog House Christmas Contest: Week 2 Photos

Hey gang!

I am in love with the entries we've gotten so far from the #DecktheDogHouse photo contest!

Pet owners decorate their pet's living spaces and take pictures! Enter to win prizes from Hallmark's Peanuts Collection! Full details can be found in my previous article.

Here's a look at some of the awesome entries we got in our second week!

 And take a look at the entries from Week 1:

Have you entered yet? Why not! It's really easy, and if you don't really want to decorate for real, just use a paint program like Gimp, Photoshop, PicMonkey and more!

Decorate your dog's dog house, crate, bed or living space. Don't have a dog? This contest is open to cats, rabbits, birds, ferrets, rats, turtles, fish, chickens and other pets!

Just enter on Life With Beagle's Facebook or Twitter accounts. Be sure to use the hashtag #DecktheDogHouse, so I can find you easily.You can also email me at lifewithbeagle@gmail.com.

You have until Dec. 20!! Good luck!

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Almost Wordless Wednesday: Christmastime is here

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Take a look at some of the dog-related ornaments in my collection.

That's my I have a bunch of Hallmark Peanuts ornaments. This one recreates the Christmas play scenes in "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

Above that one is Max, the Grinch's dog in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

Nice Beagle ornament, huh? It's one of the Sandcastle ornaments. And yes, Stitch is right underneath.

And some more of my awesome Charlie Brown ornaments.

• What are your favorite pet ornaments? Comment below!

#Deckthedoghouse: Week 1 photo entries

Hey gang!

Are you getting ready for the holidays yet? It's time to #DecktheDogHouse!

Last week I introduced our first ever photo contest! Pet owners decorate their pet's living spaces and take pictures! Enter to win prizes from Hallmark's Peanuts Collection! Full details can be found in my previous article.

Here's a look at some of the awesome entries we got in our first week!

Have you entered yet? Why not! It's really easy, and if you don't really want to decorate for real, just use a paint program like Gimp, Photoshop, PicMonkey and more!

Just enter on Life With Beagle's Facebook or Twitter accounts. Be sure to use the hashtag #DecktheDogHouse, so I can find you easily.You can also email me at lifewithbeagle@gmail.com.

You have until Dec. 20!! Good luck!

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