MrChewy.com sells food and treats for dogs and cats, along with cat litter and pet health items.  I found the website to be fun, easy to navigate and stocked with high quality goods that you’d find in the better pet supply boutiques.  Moxie chose the Doggie Delicacy Moose Antler Chews  while Cassie wanted a big bag of Dogswell Vitality Chicken Breast with Flaxseed & Vitamins Dog Treats.

I was really  happy to see that the product pages on Mr.Chewy.com include Customer Submitted Reviews, which make it much easier to know if a product is going to work in my situation.  I’ll be reviewing the products we got shortly, both here and on the Mr. Chewy site.

I grilled the poor customer service rep and she answered my questions quickly and thoroughly.

The site also offers online chat, which I tried around 7:00 in the evening on a weekday, and a live agent responded right away. She was friendly and knowledgeable about the products, even when I grilled her about details such as protein levels and how much to feed.  If you’re not into chatting, there is a prominent 800 number to speak with a customer service rep by phone.

I was also impressed by the shipping policies on Mr.Chewy.com — Free shipping over $49, and a flat rate $4.95 rate for orders under $49.  Easy to remember, and a very fair price, especially when you consider a 30+ pound bag of dog kibble is not cheap to ship. (Another site charged $35 just for the shipping of a 30# bag!)

I compared prices on MrChewy.com and found them to be comparable to my local pet supply store (even including the shipping charge).

For example:

*Sold in cases of 24

Mr. Chewy.com also offers a 15% discount on your order if you sign up for their delivery service.  For people who don’t live near a high quality pet supply store, or even for those who would rather not lug heavy bags of kibble or cat litter, this is a great option.  You can select you own delivery schedule to meet your needs, and if your order is over $49, the shipping will be free.  The site claims 1-2 day shipping for most of the US.

So we placed our order.  Checkout was straightforward and quick.  I recieved an email receipt, followed just an hour or two later by another email confirming that my order had already shipped.  As advertised, my order arrived just two days later, delivered on a Saturday by FedEx.  Cassie and Moxie were thrilled!

So check out Mr. Chewy. com.  I was very pleased with their service and the quality of their products.  If I have any criticism of the site, they should really sell more products… how about some toys!   I can recommend a bunch of great toys if they ever are looking for suggestions!

Cassie and Moxie were, of course, my training partners, walking with me during the months of training in the rainy spring and early summer. I doubt I would have gotten in nearly as many training miles if not for their company, enthusiasm and spirit!

Cassie and Moxie in their gear

Once the walk was over, we turned our attention to quality sailing time… culminating in our 11 day sailing trip to Portland, Maine. Of course, the dogs came with us, and are wonderful boat dogs.

Before leaving on our trip, we visited the pet supply store to stock up on essentials, and to pick out some fun toys to keep them occupied on the boat when us humans wanted to get off the boat for a dinner on the town.

We chose the Busy Buddy Twist n’ Treat by Premier.  This is a rubber toy that holds small treats, and can be adjusted to control how fast the treats are dispensed.  The shape of the toy gives it an off-balance rocking motion when dropped or tossed.  Our hope was that the toy would keep them occupied, but calm so they wouldn’t be stressed when we left them alone inside the boat.  It was a great choice, as evidenced by the contented silence below the decks as we snuck away for dinner!

The Busy Buddy folks suggest their Premier Buddy Berries Dog Treats and Premier Buddy Oh’s Dog Treats to use with the toy.  We didn’t find either of these in stock, but it was easy to find small treats to use.  Kibble would also work well in this toy. Just play around with the size of the opening to adjust to the treats you choose. Very small treats will fall out too fast, so size up to what works for you. The label also suggests using peanut butter or cheese bits, but we thought that might get too messy on the boat.

Cassie and Moxie on Finesse

As you can see from the photo above, the toy got a lot of use during and after the trip.  It does show bite marks, but nothing major.  We notice that this toy is pretty much ignored as a toy unless we add treats to it, which makes sense.

This toy is great for keeping a dog occupied when company comes to the door, to help calm separation anxiety, or even to slow down a fast eater.  Be warned that the Busy Buddy will get slobbery!

All in all we had a great trip — that is until Hurricane Katya decided to churn up the seas and make things rather rough on our journey home.  Luckily my dogs are much braver than I am, and handled the heavy seas well.  We all got to wear our foul weather gear and life jackets for several days, and there is nothing better than cuddling with a warm dog in the v-berth after a stressful day on the water.  Good girls!

Want to give it a try with your dog?  You can purchase this toy in our online store in the Puzzle Toy section, or go directly to Amazon.com with one of the links below.  Have fun!

The Hard Core Fire Hose Tug ‘n Fetch by Kyjen is one tough toy! We’ve been using it as a pool toss all summer now, and it remains almost unscathed, despite frequent exposure to harsh chlorine, sun and dog teeth.

The bumper is made of super tough fire hose material, with additional reinforcement at the seams. The bumper itself is about 16″ long by 4″ wide and is heavy enough to toss easily to the middle of the pool. It also has an attached bungee webbing handle that provides a bit more swing to the toss, and is also great for playing tug, and for hanging up to dry. We have a magnolia tree we decorate each day with dripping pool toys to dry.

Both dogs love to fetch and retrieve this bumper from the pool, and then play a fierce sounding game of tug with it, before it gets returned for another throw.  The bungee handle is a bit stretched out after a season of use, but other than that, there are no signs of wear on the toy.  Nice!

In a previous post, I reviewed the Ripstop Training Dummy by Zanies which has been going strong for about 3 years now (wow!) but is finally showing signs of wear in the ripstop fabric and the styrofoam core. We certainly got our money’s worth from that toy and will buy it again.

The Hard Core Fire Hose toy seems to be stuffed with stuffing fluff, based on the feel when I squeeze it, so time will tell if it can make it to three years.  Even so, we are extremely pleased with the quality and durability of this toy after one season of play, and are happy to recommend it for all your water babies out there.

We used to bring bumpers to the beach, but learned the hard way that there’s no guarantee it will be retrieved once the dog has had enough.  Cassie suddenly decided she was tired, cold and DONE one afternoon, and we sadly watched a previous bumper wash out to sea and make its way toward Plum Island.  Hopefully another dog got a great new gift from the sea!  So, after that learning experience, I wouldn’t bring this to the beach for fear of it washing away with the current.  A nice free stick will do just fine!

Moxie loved this toy so much, we used it to entice her to finally jump in at the edge of the pool, instead of running to the steps.  We were mighty proud of this accomplishment, and give the Fire Hose toy credit for giving her the inspiration.  Cassie (the show-off) likes to perform swan dives from the diving board and catch the toy as she hits the water.  It’s mighty impressive.  She is available for birthday parties and barmitsvahs.

Note that this toy is meant to be an interactive toy, not a chew toy.  We have left this toy by the pool, but I wouldn’t recommend leaving it out as a chew toy… we’ll put this toy away for the winter {sigh} when the pool is closed up, and look forward to using it again next year.

If you’d like to purchase this toy or any other recommended toy from this site, head on over to our Amazon shop, and check out our Pool Toy selection.

Cassie goes off the board

... with the greatest of ease...

Moxie masters diving off the edge of the pool

We’re so proud of Moxie for learning how to dive into the pool like a trooper!

Before I had a dog of my own, I loved buying dog toys for my sister’s two German Shepherds.  They loved their toys and I loved to spoil them when I visited.  The toys they loved the best were LOUD ones.  Once, I found an awesome stuffed monkey that made a terribly loud monkey scream that went on and on for about 10 seconds. Eeeeeyah! Eeeeeeeeyah! It reminded me of those old Tarzan movies. The dogs went crazy for it!  And OH, my sister HATED me.

The Invincibles Snake from Kyjen reminds me of that toy.  This is 6 squeaker and one rattle, stuffing-free snake, which is great for playing tug, shaking and tossing.

As you can tell by the video, this toy is LOUD! Cassie went bonkers for it… so much we had to take it away from her when we needed a little peace and quiet.

The Kyjen Company states “our stuffing-less Invincibles™ keep squeaking, even after being punctured. No more short-lived squeakers! If you want to get more bang for your buck, buy a longer-lasting toy!”

That statement is a bit deceiving in my opinion. It gives the impression that it is a tougher than average toy, but I can’t say that was our experience. Although I did appreciate that there wasn’t a trail of stuffing left throughout the house, the toy did get chewed on, and the giant squeakers pulled out and torn. They were certainly not “invincible” at our house. Yes, I’m sure they still squeaked when punctured, but that doesn’t mean they are truly invincible.

The squeakers were not invincible

Not that I’m complaining, mind you! After listening to the cacophony of squeaking for a week or so, I was truly relieved when the squeakers started breaking down. Ah, quiet! The toy is now about two months old, and still a favorite, although now it is blissfully silent, devoid of squeakers and rattles… it just lies there… like a snake in the grass. My favorite kind of snake!

Bottom line: This toy didn’t quite hold up to its “Invincible” name, but it’s the type of toy that you’re sort of happier after it’s “killed”. And if you are a dog aunt, this makes a great dog gift. The dogs will LOVE you for it, but you won’t have to listen to all that noise once you go home. Besides, once the squeakers die out, your relatives will surely forgive you!

Nelly and Belle

Cassie, Moxie and I have been a bit out of the blog loop lately!  The weather has finally warmed up and we are outside as much as possible, training for the Susan G Komen 3-Day for the Cure walk that is coming up here in Boston in July.  Cassie and Moxie are great walking buddies, and tired dogs are always good dogs.  We’ll be back though as more toys cross our paths.

Meanwhile, we received this email report from Jeff and Margaret H in Leavenworth, KS about the durability of the Cesar Millan 3-Ring Rope Toy:

“We are the proud owners of a pair of German Shepherd pups, Nelly and Belle (a little tribute to Roy Rogers). Got them a week ago and they just turned 8 weeks old today. We follow Cesar Millan on-line and on TV and thought we had discovered the perfect toys when we saw his products. Purchased the 3-ring rope pull toy and the covered water battle chew toys. While the water bottle toy with its ruff-tuff cover is taking a licking and keeps on ticking, the rope toys literally bit the dust in just a matter of days. Who says puppy teeth ain’t sharp! And shame on you Cesar for putting out a product that was not puppy proof.”

We have not personally reviewed this toy, but are interested in getting your feedback on this and any other toy in your dog’s toy box.