Madly in love with my iRobot Dirt Dog!

I’ve had a iRobot Dirt Dog for about six months now and I gush crazily about it to everyone who visits, so clearly it was time to post a Dirt Dog review here.

Old friends know the floors in my house are the bane of my existence. They’re beautiful hardwoods (original to the house) that the previous owner refinished in a rich, dark color. It’s a great color… For someone who doesn’t have a yellow Lab.

Vance’s fur makes those yellow/white tumbleweeds that Labs’ dog fur so often does and no matter how often I sweep, it creeps under the furniture and spreads and multiplies. Ick!

But the Dirt Dog by Roomba… Ah. It’s amazing. It gets under all our furniture and works its way tightly around the legs of our dining room chairs (much more tightly than I can ever get the broom). It sucks up all the dog fur that gets all over the house, and takes itself in and out of rooms.

Because we only have hardwoods, I got the cheepo model (the Dirt Dog is actually for workshops, not for homes, but I’ve found it works perfectly on our floors), but with how wonderfully it works, I would have paid a lot more than the $150 sticker price I paid. If you have carpets, you’ll probably want to try one of the vacuum models because the Dirt Dog is actually just like a little robotic carpet sweeper–it doesn’t vacuum at all.

It empties straight into the trash, no bags needed. And it’s really easy to take care of–they include this cute little tool that gets all the hair that wraps around the rollers off in a jiff (and you know how that is–hair always wraps around the rollers!).

I cannot tell you how much time this little guy saves me, and Vance thinks it’s just a really fancy toy and follows it from room to room. Next, I’m eying their Scooba–what a luxury it would be to neither have to sweep *nor* mop ever again! But for now, I’m perfectly happy with my adorable Dirt Dog.

Dog Training School: Should you pack Fido a lunch?

I’ve talked about Vance’s separation anxiety issues on this blog before. And, Mr. Light of My Life (the hubster) thought it would be a good idea to ship Vance off to dog training school because he felt that *our* anxieties about leaving Vance alone were making Vance that much more anxious.

I actually did a lot of research to see what was available but I discovered that most dog training schools aren’t equipped to deal with behavioral issues–rather they tend to specialize in training dogs for absentee owners. Sort of like how I view boarding schools for kids, actually ;-).

So, instead, we decided to hire a dog behaviorist who came out to our home and was able to observe the three of us and give us tips for eliminating Vance’s separation anxiety. But, if it had just been that Vance needed to be trained, and we didn’t have the time to do it, I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable shipping him off to a dog training school. Partly, that’s because I genuinely enjoy training him–it’s a fun, creative time for us. But it’s also because I’m not sure how I’d go about doing enough research to feel comfortable handing him over to someone without being there watching how they were working with him. I know most dog training schools are reputable and treat dogs most gently, but that doesn’t mean all of them do.

What are your thoughts on dog training school? Has your dog been? Is it something you’d consider? I’d love to hear your opinions!

Feeding the BARF Diet

Are you considering feeding your dog the BARF diet? (BARF, in this case, stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Foods.)

Basically, when you feed your dog a BARF diet, you feed him all things raw and you have to get the percentages right and do all the nutritional balancing yourself. Your dog will eat things like raw chickens, raw eggs, and raw beef, along with certain veggies, cottage cheese, and other sources of protein.

In some ways, feeding a BARF diet is easier than feeding kibble–you’ll be able to pick up healthy, safe dog food right at the grocery store from your butcher–but it’s also more costly. And, if you have a big dog you may have to increase your trips to the grocery store. (For DH and I, I go grocery shopping every two weeks, when we fed Vance the BARF diet, I had to go every three days because he needed so much fresh meat–something we don’t eat much of around here.)

We tried the BARF diet to prevent dog ear infections for Vance, and he did enjoy it. But ultimately, it was just too much work and I wasn’t entirely sure that I was feeding him proper amounts of all the essential nutrients. So, we switched him to Canidae dog food and haven’t looked back.

If you’d like to try the BARF diet, though, Amazon offers a great book on the topic. How about you? What do you feed your dog?