Search Raise A Green Dog for tips, tricks and info to help you raise a green dog!
Friday, August 22, 2008
Read my interview on PetDoc.com!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Getting ready for Fall lawn care!
We've decided to change our usual routine this Fall and try out some organic liquid lawn fertilizer. We love the organic safe granular fertilizer we've used in the past, it works great. But with Gracie in the picture now, Mum doesn't like it when she wants to eat and sniff all the little granules for a couple days after it's been put down. Even though it's safe for her, she got a nasty runny nose last Spring from sniffing so much.
We ordered the Just Scentsational TP-128Q Trident's Pride Liquid Fish Soil Fertilizer this year and can't wait to try it out. It's 100% fish protein, a fish emulsion. And has been reported to be really good stuff. We purchased three bottles to have some on hand for next spring (another one of the most important times to fertilize) and save on shipping.
If you don't have a problem with your 'Gracie' eating and sniffing the little granules, here's a great dry fertilizer that we've used before and loved - Espoma Lawn Food. It's derived from manure and works really great.
We also got some more Burnout Grass Killer to take care of those nasty weeds that made their way into the mulched areas this year with all of our rain. It kills everything as long as you utilize it when it's over 85 degrees. It's made out of horticultural grade vinegar. And we love it. Mum just makes sure we aren't around when we spray it. If we do get near it later it's super safe for us. As a matter of fact we don't even show any interest in the weeds after Burnout is sprayed on it.
Our lawn really suffered last year. It recovered well this year, but we still have a few bare spots that the dandelions enjoyed some time in this year. So we'll be putting down some grass seed in late October, so that we'll have nice new grow this coming Spring. We'll just make sure it's not coated grass seed, which isn't safe if eaten.
Then in early, early Spring we'll get some corn gluten to put down on the lawn to help control the weeds even more next year. The only way we've found so far to find corn gluten is granular, so Gracie will have to be watched for a few days until we can get it all watered in. It's not that it's bad for her, it's actually really safe for her to eat. But what she's done in the past is sniff it so much, she gets herself a runny nose, poor girl. That's a BC for ya!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
10 green cat and dog tips from PetDoc!
Here are just a a couple of their tips - ones we loved that we haven't talked about yet...
9) Re-purpose old cat litter
If you have moles, pour some used cat litter into mole tunnels in your backyard instead of using traps or poisons. Moles hate the smell of soiled cat litter. (Source: Arden Moore)
1) Recycle pet food cans and bags
Rinse empty pet food cans and recycle them. Put empty foods bags in the paper recycling bin.
Great tips, huh?
If you're not familiar with PetDoc.com, check it out. The site has a wealth of pet health and care information. It was started by CEO Brian Hankin, who developed the idea as a result of an unfortunate situation with his own dog. Murphy, Hankin's Golden Retriever/Lab mix, was vomiting at 2AM one Saturday morning. Hankin scoured the Internet looking for help but quickly realized that there just wasn't one single place with good, reliable information out there. About 6 months later, PetDoc launched.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Reusable totes, priced just right!
And we always are in need of organization for our recycling and our gear. So when we found these really inexpensive reusable totes and recycling bags we just had to share 'em with ya!
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Monday, August 18, 2008
Eco-friendly shoes made just for walking your green dog!
We've signed up with a new company to bring you some amazing eco-friendly shoes! PlanetShoes.com Eco-Logical shoes are produced from recycled materials, animal-friendly products, gentler chemicals or manufactured in plants with environmentally sustainable initiatives. Where better to start reducing your ecological footprint than with your shoes?
Cookin' the doo!
Notre Dame de Grace - If you're visiting Jim Fares's home, you may want to steer clear of the toaster oven.
For the past few months, Fares has been using the kitchen appliance to cook dog poop.
As a member of the Notre Dame de Grace Dog Run Association, a volunteer organization that operates the dog run in N.D.G. Park, Fares is heading a pilot project to turn dog excrement into compost.
After four years and 1,360 kilograms of dog poop, the association has yet to find a way to turn excrement collected at the run into something useful.
So far, the compost produced has either been found to contain whipworm eggs - which are potentially unsafe for humans to handle - or it has been bereft of any useful nutrients.
"I bought a toaster oven and I heated some samples over a two- to three-week period. Not only did I manage to kill the (pathogens), but also every living thing in the compost, so what I have left is a pile of dust," Fares said Tuesday.
On the positive side, however, Fares said the experiments have shown it's possible to produce compost cheaply from dog feces, a success that has so far alluded cities across North America.
To do that, he must figure out how long to cook the compost and then find a method to duplicate his toaster oven success on the large scale with thousands of kilograms of excrement lying in the dog run.
Fares envisions a day when compost bins are available in all parks, diverting thousands of plastic bags, and several tonnes of dog feces from garbage dumps.
"There's no question it can be done," Fares said. "Everyone knows how to make it usable, but the cost is the problem."
Fares said it could be months or years before the association can come up with a viable plan, but he's optimistic.
So is Marcel Tremblay, the city councillor for the sector, and the head of Montreal's cleanliness campaign. Tremblay said even though the dog run association hasn't produced results yet, the program has merit.
"Maybe we're doing something that will help all of Canada," Tremblay said. "This is something that's a problem in every city, so if we can come up with a way to dispose of this in an environmentally friendly way, it's a good thing."
Tremblay contributed about $1,000 from his discretionary fund to the dog run association to help pay for things like compost bins, and tests of soil samples from the compost pile.
Currently, volunteers manage the 14 bins in the park. They add sawdust to them every day and seal them once they are full. The sawdust helps keep the smell at bay, but the only real way to eliminate smell is to stir it every day - a fairly labour intensive job for which the dog run association can't seem to find volunteers.
After six months, the bins are opened and the compost is dumped into the southeast corner of the dog run. While the compost may contain pathogens, Fares says there's little risk to dogs or humans.
"There's nothing the dogs can pick up there that they can't get at any other dog run," he said.
People who come into contact with the compost, should wash their hands, Fares said.