Wordless Wednesday

Photos by Brian Padow, Canine Adventure

Wordless Wednesday

Product Review: Pawalla Subscription Boxes

Several weeks ago, Pawalla asked me to do a product review of their subscription box service. They sent me a Pawalla box free of charge, but I received no other compensation for this review.  

The opinions expressed herein are entirely my own
(Yes, I really talk like this)

When you purchase a Pawalla subscription, they send you a box every month filled with a toy, all natural or organic food, and treats to try, and if you like the products, you can order more from the Pawalla Store.  A pet nutritionist selects the products to be included in each box. 

Pawalla sent me a Deluxe Box.  I was surprised to see that the box was almost twice as large as other subcription box products I have received in the past.

Box on bottom is Pawalla Deluxe
 Top box is competing subscription service

A bigger box means more goodies for me

Our Deluxe Box contained all kinds of good stuff:

By Nature Entrees Salmon with Lentils in Yogurt & Lemon Grass Sauce
By Nature Entrees Duck, Green Beans and Wild Rice Stew
YumZies Natural Hickory Bacon Treats
Wigzi Bone
Locomotion Pet Treats - Honey Apple
Honest Kitchen Ice Pups
Dogbag.com Doggie Walk Bag
The Flying Basset Breath Spray

The box also contained a booklet about The Honest Kitchen, which makes us want to try Honest Kitchen dog food because it's 100% human grade, and we like everything we read about Honest Kitchen.  (We care about things like how a company treats its employees and the environment, where it gets ingredients, and its support of nonprofits.)

Pawalla Boxes come in two sizes, Deluxe and Mini. Deluxe Boxes are $30 per month with a monthly subscription and $28 per month with a six month subscription.  Mini Boxes are $20 per month with monthly subscription and $18 per month with a six month subscription.  Deluxe Boxes contain 7-9 products, including wet food, and Mini Boxes contain 4-5 products, with no wet food.  (All include free shipping.)  See Get Your First Box to order.

You can also order Single Boxes for $31 for a Deluxe Box and $21 for a Mini Box.  They have boxes for puppies, adult dogs, and seniors, and for big dogs and little dogs.  They even have boxes for adult cats and kitties!  We think a single box or a subscription would make a wonderful gift for that special dog or cat in your life.

Something in here smells GOOOOOD

I'll just wait here until mom decides to give me a treat

We like a lot of things about Pawalla.  The treats and food are all natural or organic, and the contents are customized for the size and age of your dog or cat.  The Deluxe Boxes are larger and contain more stuff and more variety than other comparably-priced subscription services, and the food and treats appear to be high quality.  All consumable products contained within the boxes are made in the United States, and that's important to us.  We also like that Pawalla introduces humans to "boutique" brands (such as Honest Kitchen) that focus on manufacturing healthier foods and treats for pets. We are looking for alternatives to our current brand of dog food, so we like the opportunity to sample different brands without having to buy a whole package.

I enthusiastically recommend Pawalla.  
Pawalla gets my highest rating - four paws - for value, contents made with healthy ingredients, variety of contents, and yumminess of contents*

*Yumminess of contents is based upon taste-testing two sample products contained within the box, YumZies Natural Hickory Bacon Treats and Locomotion Honey Apple Pet Treats.

We assembled a panel of taste testers:

Mia, Garth, and Sadie, Taste Testers

First we tried the Locomotion treats.  All three of us gobbled them down and Sadie demanded more. They were like human cookies - crunchy and really yummy!

Sadie demanding more

Then we tried the YumZies.  We all gobbled those down as well.  They were also super yummy.  Mom says the YumZies would make good training treats because they are small and soft.  

Here Sadie is trying to intercept treats meant for me

Many thanks to Pawalla for letting me review their subscription box service.  Now I need another treat.  

Nom nom nom

Update: September 3, 2013

*News Flash*

Pawalla is discontinuing their subscription box service.  That makes me very sad.

FitDog Friday - Great Places to Walk: Hunting Island State Park, South Carolina

It's Fit Dog Friday!  

Fit Dog Friday is a blog hop hosted by my friends SlimDoggy, Peggy's Pet Place, and To Dog With Love.  Check out our hosts and the other bloggers in the hop (see below) for ideas, tips and inspiration for getting and keeping your pups fit and healthy.

Mom and I love to walk.  Whenever we travel, we try to find good places to walk.  Each week I will tell you about a new place to walk.

And now for this week's segment of Great Places to Walk . . .

Last week I told you about a wonderful little town in South Carolina called Beaufort, where we spent part of our vacation this past April.  While we were in Beaufort, we drove over to Hunting Island State Park, which is a GREAT place to walk.

First we walked out on the Marsh Boardwalk.  It was a short, but very interesting walk, and was a great place for viewing marsh creatures.

Looking for marsh creatures

The Marsh Boardwalk

Marsh Creatures!

Next we went to the beach near the lighthouse.  We parked in the parking lot near the lighthouse, had a picnic lunch in one of the covered picnic areas, then walked out on the beach.  We timed our walk for low tide, which is the best time to walk on the beach at Hunting Island.

Mom and I have always loved walking on the beach, but the beach at Hunting Island was like nothing we had ever seen.

What manner of beast is this?

Is this some prehistoric creature?

Showing off

But how do I get down?

There was a lot of driftwood on the beach . . .
the biggest driftwood we've ever seen

I suppose, technically speaking, it's not driftwood if it's still attached to the ground, but it sure looked like giant driftwood

I found a GREAT stick

I LOVE this place

Having a post-walk drink

As you can see from the photos, Hunting Island Beach is not your typical beach.  It's wide and flat and the sand is firm and easy to walk on.  But the most beautiful part about it is the weathered dead trees.  I know that sounds odd, seeing as dead things aren't often beautiful.  But you should check it out for yourself if you visit South Carolina's Sea Islands.

Go at low tide, and you can park at the lighthouse parking lot.  There's a $5 per adult admission fee (but it's well worth it).  To see the trees, go out to the beach and take a left.  From the lighthouse to the campground and back is about 2 1/2 miles, but you could walk many more miles if you wanted.  We didn't walk on the beach to the right, but it looked like there were fewer trees and more sunbathers in that direction.

Note that the park website says there are gators that live there, so use caution, especially around the lagoon area.  We don't expect to see gators on a beach on the ocean, but we always keep a look out anyway.  

FitDog Friday - GREAT Places to Walk: Beaufort, South Carolina

It's Fit Dog Friday!  

Fit Dog Friday is a blog hop hosted by my friends SlimDoggy, Peggy's Pet Place, and To Dog With Love.  Check out our hosts and the other bloggers in the hop (see below) for ideas, tips and inspiration for getting and keeping your pups fit and healthy.

Mom and I love to walk.  Whenever we travel, we try to find good places to walk.  Each week I will tell you about a new place to walk.

Back in April, Mom, Dad and I went to South Carolina for vacation.  We spent the first half of the week in a little town called Beaufort.  You may not have heard of Beaufort, but you've probably seen it in movies.  The Big Chill, The Great Santini, Forest Gump, The Prince of Tides, and several other movies were filmed there.

Beaufort is a beautiful town and a wonderful place to walk.  We stayed in the Beaufort Historic District at the City Loft Hotel, and we could walk anywhere we wanted to go - to the shops, the restaurants, the waterfront, and through the historic neighborhoods.  We only needed the car when we went to Hunting Island State Park (another great place to walk, for a future post).

Every morning while we were there, Mom and I would get up and walk down to a little park overlooking the bridge, then along the waterfront at the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park and the downtown marina.

Oh boy! Can I shoot it?

Walking along the waterfront at the
Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park

Taking a break on a dock at the downtown marina

View of the harbor from Bay Street

Walking on the seawall along Bay Street

One of the many things we loved about Beaufort (and one of the big reasons we went there), is that Beaufort is very dog-friendly.  They even have a special website called Pet Friendly Beaufort  (also see Pet Friendly Beaufort on Facebook) that lists dog-friendly restaurants and places to stay.  You know a place is dog-friendly when they have a doggie water fountain in the park!

Mom and I are always drawn to the water, but there were lots of interesting things in the town as well.

Hmmm.  Not really sure what type of creature this is.

?

In Beaufort, you can walk in just about any direction and run into a beautiful view of the water and a sign like this.

I'm so happy that Beaufort preserved the view here

Beaufort even has a special walk for trees, the self-guided Beaufort Tree Walk . . .

and some amazing trees . . .

This tree is a gazillion years old

Okay, it's really only 700 years old

In addition to amazing old trees, Beaufort also has a lot of beautiful antebellum homes, especially in an area called The Point.  (That means they were built before the Civil War.)

The shady streets are great for walking

This tree looks like it's out of the Wizard of Oz

And when you get tired of walking, you can always take the horse-drawn buggy!

We really loved Beaufort and wished we could have stayed longer.  We definitely plan to return.  Not only is it a great place to walk, it's a great place for a dog-friendly vacation!