Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Pawalla: Monthly All-Natural and Organic Dog Product Subscription Box [feedly]


 
 
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Pawalla: Monthly All-Natural and Organic Dog Product Subscription Box

Pawalla: Monthly All Natural and Organic Dog Product Subscription Box in toys other dining

Pawalla is a dog-box subscription service that delivers a selection of treats, food, toys, and other goodies to your doorstep every month. Dog-box deliveries are certainly All the Rage™ these days, so what makes Pawalla unique? Each item selected for inclusion in a Pawalla box is organic and/or all-natural, and all consumable products are made in the USA.

[Disclosure: Pawalla sent us a sample box to try out. All views and opinions are our own.]

Pawalla boxes are curated based on your dog's size and age, and every item is handpicked by Pawalla's Ph.D. pet nutritionist. Only organic, all-natural products are included, so you can try out new foods, treats, and health and beauty items for your dog with an added assurance of safety. Typical products might come from companies like Stella and Chewy's, Sojos, Primal, Weruva, or Zuke's. Subscriptions are available for both Deluxe (pictured here) and Mini boxes.

Pawalla: Monthly All Natural and Organic Dog Product Subscription Box in toys other dining

Pawalla boxes contain a variety of items to appeal to both you and your pup. There's treats and toys (woo hoo!) but also care items like supplements, cleansing wipes, and shampoo. Items are chosen from premium and boutique manufacturers, so the surprise collection in each box is sure to contain old favorites as well as great new organic, all-natural products to try.

Pawalla: Monthly All Natural and Organic Dog Product Subscription Box in toys other dining

Each Pawalla box also contains a card detailing each product included as well as a product review from Pawalla's pet nutritionist, Dr. Susan Lauten. And, if you really like an item that you discover through a Pawalla box? You can order more of it right on Pawalla's web site rather than spending time trying to hunt it down on your own.

Check out Pawalla to sign up for one-month or six-month delivery service. (Oh, and if you're into that kind of thing, Pawalla has boxes for cats, too!) As an added bonus, Pawalla is offering Dog Milk readers two exclusive discount codes:

Enter code DogMilk20M for $3.50 off a Pawalla Mini Box or DogMilk20S for $6 off a Pawalla Standard Box!

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© 2013 Dog Milk | Posted by Katherine in Dining, Other, Toys | Permalink | 2 comments

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Design Sleuth: Clever Kitchen Lighting from Norm Architects

Design Sleuth: Clever Kitchen Lighting from Norm Architects

Here's a clever solution for under-cabinet lighting from Norm Architects in Copenhagen that doesn't involve difficult-to-install puck lights. 

In this 1860s fisherman's cottage, the family wanted to achieve the Danish concept of hygge—which loosely translates to "coziness" and requires a warm glow. To achieve this goal in the kitchen, Norm Architects' Niels Bjerre-Poulsen attached a halogen lighting strip at the front edge of the open shelving.

Bjerre-Poulsen chose halogen lights to achieve a warmly colored glow like that of incandescents (which are banned in Europe). But we would recommend an LED strip; LEDs have a long lifespan and don't convert energy into wasted heat, which makes them the eco-friendly lighting choice. Here are some sourcing ideas:

Minimalist Kitchen with Wall-Mount Faucet by Norm Architects, Remodelista

Above: The lighting strip adds a warm glow to the kitchen. 

Minimalist White Kitchen by Norm Architects, Remodelista

Above: Most of the home's furnishings were custom-designed to fit the small space, lighting included. 

Kitchen with LED Lighting Strip by Norm Architects, Remodelista

Above: The lighting strip is reflected on the surface of the electric range. 

Minimalist Scandinavian Home by Norm Architects, Remodelista

Above: By day, the all-white home is cool in the gray Scandinavian light. By night, fixtures like the halogen strip add warmth. 

LED Strip Light Kit from Elemental LED, Remodelista

Above: The Flexible LED Strip Light Sample Kit from Emeryville, CA-based Elemental LED has everything you need to compare several types of LED strips, such as varying density and levels of brightness and warmth; $29.99. 

Elemental LED Brighter Strip Light, Remodelista

Above: Elemental's Brighter Flexible LED Strip Light is sold by the foot and can be cut to any length; $12.99 per foot. 

Ikea Dioder LED White Strip Light, Remodelista

Above: The Dioder LED set from Ikea is an affordable option at $29.99 for four strips that can be connected together. 

For another clever use of strip lighting—this time in amber—visit A Oaxacan Oasis in Berkeley.  




11 Ways to Make Your Garden Dog Friendly

11 Ways to Make Your Garden Dog Friendly

You can tell a lot about a dog's personality by the way he digs in your garden.

Take my dogs, for instance. Larry is like Peter Rabbit, with little white paws uprooting a clump of pansies as he shoots mischievous glances over his shoulder to make sure you're watching. Sticky, on the hand, can't stop herself; she digs in a guilty and very neurotic way, as full of self awareness—and self loathing—as a character on Girls.

Normally I like help in the garden—but not from these people. I mean, dogs. Lately I was noticing that whenever I was outdoors digging, so were they. It was driving me crazy. There were mole holes piled up all over the place even though we don't have moles. The digging had to stop. 

Now, I don't know about your dogs. But if you tell Larry and Sticky to do something—or to stop doing something—they will pause momentarily, look up quizzically as if they don't speak English (although we know they do, based on the fact that we have to spell out such phrases as "go for a walk," "get your leash," and "do you want some cheese?" to prevent them from going into a frenzy), and then return to whatever they were doing. I think the word for this is "bratty."

They say, however, that little big-eared papillons like Larry and Sticky are highly trainable—papillons have been dubbed "most intelligent of the toy breeds," whatever that means—so I went looking for someone who knows how to persuade them to stop digging. I did some goggling (as my father would say), and learned to my surprise that their bad behavior was my fault:

 Photographs by Michelle Slatalla.

 Above: Larry aka Peter Rabbit in the garden.

 "Your dog needs attention," warned the Humane Society's "Dig This" webpage. "Make sure your dog has sufficient time with you on a daily basis."

At first this seemed sort of ridiculous, given that my dogs get more attention than any other member of the family. They spend about 22 hours a day sitting on someone's lap or sleeping against someone's feet, and the other two hours begging for c-h-e-e-s-e. Dogs are pack animals, and Sticky and Larry are vigilant about keeping a distance of less than two feet between themselves and the nearest human member of their pack. 

But then it dawned on me: every time I am in the garden, Larry and Sticky are going to be there too. It's like when you have a baby and for the next five years, that baby is pretty much attached to you. You have to retrofit the house so the baby won't stick a finger in a light socket or fall down a flight of stairs or drink nail polish remover. If you can baby-proof a house, why can't you dog-proof a garden? Make it safer for them, and also more welcoming; turn the place into a veritable Disneyland For Dogs where they will be so amused that they forget to dig. Here are the dog-friendly attractions I added to the garden:

Above: Sticky in the garden. (What's with the tongue?)

No. 1: Give dogs a job. We all like to feel like we have a purpose, and Larry and Sticky keep busy by patrolling the yard. Their job, they believe, is to keep the property safe from squirrels, bumblebees, and the occasional stray leaf that wafts to the ground without permission. To encourage Larry and Sticky to run around the perimeter of the garden where they can't trample plants, we laid paths. 

No. 2: Have paw-friendly hardscape in your garden. Our paths are laid with pea gravel, which is comfortable underfoot for Larry and Sticky; no sharp edges and the surface never gets too hot even on sunny days.

 

No. 3: Make sure you have plenty of "varmints" for them to apprehend. As if. My dogs can barely catch a fly, but they believe they are fearsome squirrel-ers. This myth dates to the time they almost caught a sick, mangy squirrel that they treed  in Central Park. This was about two years ago, but Larry and Sticky still talk about it as if it were yesterday. My garden has a lot of plants that attract birds and pollinators. Sticky and Larry spend a ridiculous amount of time bossily trying to run off bees and hummingbirds from the salvia and the roses.

No. 4: Create shady spots. Dogs get hot fast when they run around; you should have a cool shady spot under a tree or an awning where they can lie down and recover from all that hard work.

For Seven More Tips for a Dog-Friendly Garden, see the rest of the story at Gardenista.