‘EmBARK’ Articles at Sweetnicks

emBARK on Pet Health {Sergeant’s Pet Care Kit Giveaway}

March 16, 2013 · Narrative

Remember a few weeks ago, we were talking about emBARK and the work that Sergeant’s Pet Care was doing to donate pet care kits to animal shelters? Well, they are generously providing me with a pet care kit to give away to one lucky Sweetnicks’ reader.

PRIZE: One pet care kit from Sergeant’s, which includes:

Sergeant’s Whiff Shampoo
PurLuv Sizzlin Strips
SENTRY Petrodex Dental Kit
SENTRY Calming Collar for dogs with Good Behavior pheromone technology
Sergeant’s Vetscription Joint Eze Plus

TO ENTER: Leave a comment and tell me about your favorite pet.
FOR MORE ENTRIES: Tweet this post with the hashtag #SergeantsPet. Or Pin this post and comment that you’ve done so. Or follow me on Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram, if you don’t already (and come back and tell me you do).
GIVEAWAY CLOSES: Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at 11:59 pm EST
WINNER ANNOUNCED: In an upcoming post and via Twitter. If winner doesn’t respond with address info within 48 hours, a second winner will be chosen.
NUMBER OF WINNERS: One
FINE PRINT: The winner will be selected using random.org.

Good luck!

{How To} An Animal-Themed Birthday Party & Cat Cupcakes {Support Your Local Animal Shelter}

February 22, 2013 · Narrative

When it came time to plan Madeline’s birthday party to celebrate with her friends, we went through a short list of things she’d like to do. She first requested a dolphin-themed party, and that somehow morphed into a pool party, the water of which would lend itself easily to the dolphin theme she asked for.

While there are several local hotels that allow use of their indoor pool for a children’s birthday party, they require a parent for each child to attend (which is fine, because nobody drops off their kid at parties for this age group), and there is no lifeguard, which means I would responsible for a swarm of five-year-olds who may or may not be able to swim.

To which I said no thank you. I mean, the responsibility factor of managing that? No way. When she’s older, like Nick’s age, fine. Now? No.

So then we turned to her obsession with animals, and after a quick Google search for animal parties, I found out that a local animal shelter does birthday parties.

Could it be any more perfect for her?

I mean, aside from being able to swim with dolphins.

This is very definitely the next best thing.

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emBARK on Pet Health {Sergeant’s Pet Care}

February 20, 2013 · Ad-Free, Narrative

Over the years, we have had a number of cats and dogs come into our home. Not all have been complete success stories, as finding the right match for your family dynamic is a challenge, and sometimes hard decisions have to be made, but adopting a pet from a rescue or shelter program, as opposed to a local pet store, is something that is very important to us. All our pets have been rescues, so when Sergeant’s Pet Care asked if we could participate in their newest program, I didn’t hesitate to say yes.

*me with a dog available for adoption from a local rescue group

Over the past six months, I have been working with a local rescue group, doing what I can to make life a little easier for the pups that are waiting to find their new homes. In that time I have also learned that my resolve is not strong enough to subscribe to any “death row animal” e-mail group. Heart too big, house too small. You’ll just have to trust me on this.

Merry, our current resident hound seen above (and a different dog from the first picture), is a dog that we are fostering. Although I brought her into our home under a straight-up foster arrangement a few days before Christmas, it’s been almost two months now and I’m pretty sure that we’ve failed Fostering 101 and she’s become a true member of our family. We recently donated a bunch of leashes to the rescue group, and go on scheduled “pack walks” on available weekends, which is when we take the shelter dogs out for a three mile hike to get them out of the cages and into fresh air and a little bit of exercise.

In point, we do what we can.

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