“Woof” Means “I Love You” in Dog

Phoebe girl had a habit of pushing around her food and water dishes when she’s chilling in the back sun room while we’re at work every day. I’m not entirely sure how she does it, since those bowls are super heavy ceramic, but she finds a way.

In case you’re wondering, she has the White Large Bowl  for her food and water bowls from C&B.

 

Yes, they were expensive. Yes, she broke the water bowl one of the first days we had her. Yes, I almost brought her back to the shelter for it (just kidding).

Dan was able to super glue it back together since the broken off piece was so large. (Almost) good as new.

Pheebs doesn’t really slide the bowl around anymore, but I thought that the bowls should have a little something under them. Now, mostly to soak up some of the drool Phoebe leaves on the floor when she drinks. I decided this was definitely a DIY project.

I had seen this dog mat from Ballard Designs before, and thought it was super cute.

Not really sure about the personalization though. Kinda weird if you ask me.

Then, a few weeks later, I saw this doormat on apartment therapy.

 

How fun!

I thought I would create a combination of the two. Here’s what I ended up making:

 

They say that “woof” means “I love you” in dog. Kinda like “roar” means “I love you” in dinosaur. Look it up.

How’d I make it?

I started with this dog mat from Kohl’s. It was free, since it was on sale for $7.19 and I used a $10 gift certificate I had received in my inbox.

 

Next, I played around on Word until I found a font I enjoyed. FYI, this one is Britanic Bold in size 175 font.

I cut out each letter and created my own stencil. I used regular computer paper, but it might have worked a little bit better had I used card stock. Something to think about for next time I guess.

 

I spaced out the letters using a piece of paper I printed out with the letters, but had not cut out.

Then, I pinned the stencil to the mat itself.

 

I squirted some paint in a cup and used my trusty dabber brush. I only did one letter at a time, waiting for each letter to completely dry before starting the next letter. This avoids smudging.

Here’s a close up of the finished stenciled letters.

 

I couldn’t decide if I should do another coat, to make the letters stand out more, or if I preferred the more worn look. I left it at one coat.

Grand total money cost for this DIY project? The $0.50 + tax it cost to buy the paint at Michael’s. Grand total time cost for this DIY project? About an hour.

Totally worth it.

Phoebe Girl is Two

Remember our dog, Phoebe?

She graduated from training classes a little while back. She’s learning more each and every day.

We adopted her last November, and it’s hard to believe she’s only been a part of our family for eight months. It feels like she’s always been here.

I wouldn’t have considered myself a dog person before we got her. Sure I liked dogs, and I was the one who led the push to adopt a dog, but I never really thought I would have gotten so attached a canine. I had friends warn me this would happen. In my defense, we don’t refer to her as our baby, we’re not Mom and Dad, and our parents aren’t Grandma and Grandpa to Phoebe. But, we do love her.

Her birthday was a couple weeks ago, and I was at a loss for what to do. Are you supposed to celebrate? I am not crazy enough to throw a party for her, but I still thought we should do a little something. We gave her a gift on Christmas (some bones she likes), so why not for her birthday?

I decided to try my hand at baking her some treats. I am really good at baking for humans, so why not try bake for a dog? I found a recipe that featured her favorite – bacon.

Here’s what I needed:

3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil or bacon grease
1 tsp garlic powder
4 cooked, crumbled slices of bacon 
1/2 cup cold water

It was actually really simple. Just combine all the ingredients and roll the dough out. I used a bone shaped cookie cutter ($2.99 for a set of three different sizes from Homegoods) and laid the cut out treats on some parchment paper in a baking sheet. I baked the treats at 325 degrees for about 40 minutes.

She really liked them.

I also found the Occupi Treat Dispensing Chew Toy at Target on clearance for less than $2. It’s supposed to work the dog’s mind and keep the dog busy so they don’t get bored and destroy things when you’re not home. Phoebe’s never had a destruction problem, but we thought she’d enjoy the supply of treats that she could have throughout the day.

We also wanted to do something to give back to the shelter that took in Phoebe before she became our pet. We got her from Orphans of the Storm, located in Riverwoods. I thought they would be glad to hear that Phoebe is in a loving and caring home, so I made a little card with a photo of her on it.

We sent the card to the shelter with a small donation so they can continue to provide for these dogs until they find their forever homes. The second chance shelters give pets like The Phoebs is a real blessing to the animals they save, and to the people who adopt them. It’s worth more than what little they ask for an adoption fee (the low cost is one more reason to adopt from a shelter).

Finally, we started a pile of newspapers that we will bring to the shelter when we have a good amount stacked up. If anyone wants to save their old newspapers, I would be glad to take them to the shelter when we go.

Happy birthday, Phoebe! We’re so happy to have you in our lives.

Phoebe’s Big Day

My second post and I'm already going off-topic. For that, I apologize.

But, I'll make up for it by posting cute photos of my dog in a graduation cap. That's right. Our Phoebe girl graduated from the intermediate level of obedience school. Side note: We skipped right past the beginner level. Pheebs is smarter than that!

Look how intelligent she looks. Either that, or she's letting me know how much she hates wearing a hat.