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Secret Sale!!
A Chance to Stock Up!
Hello to all of you! The sun is peeking through! We’re happy to be seeing more and more dogs in the store these days as we are slowly getting a reprieve from cold winds and soaking rain, but we know there’s likely plenty more to come. We thought we’d offer you a little grey weather pick-me-up in the form of a Secret Sale! For those of you that are new to our list, Secret Sales are a way for us to reward our regular customers by advertising the sale only to our e-mail newsletter list. The hitch is, you have to let the cashier know that you’re in on the secret. We will not be advertising this sale to the public, so if you don’t mention it, you won’t be getting the discount! So join us this Saturday Feb. 27th from 10- 6 and get 15% off of any full priced item that isn’t food. Food is defined as something you’d serve every day in a bowl, like kibbles, cans and raw foods. Treats are still on sale, as are chews, leashes, collars, toys, supplements, cat furniture, etc. It’s a great way to get a good deal on that new collar you’ve had your eye on, and a perfect time to stock up on things you know you’ll go through, like fish oil or bully sticks. We hope it adds a little brightness to your day! Don’t forget - Shhhh - it’s a Secret! Tell us, or give us a little wink and nod to let know you’re in on it at the register.
Note: if you feed Orijen or Acana kibbles, please see the information below towards the bottom of this newsletter
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| Pongo Fund Holiday Food Drive!
Thank you so much to all of you that generously donated to our Holiday food drive for the Pongo Fund pet food bank. Our customers bought 183 bags of Nutrisource Chicken and Rice dog food, which included one very generous donation from a customer who bought 100 of those bags! We match customer donations one-to-one. Our distributor and Nutrisource both matched our donation with one bag for every 12 purchased. This brings the grand total for to 426 bags of food! We’ll be breaking the donation up into parts to make it easier for us to afford (unfortunately, we will very likely have to put a cap on next year’s numbers that we can match; it’s a significant challenge to us financially, though it makes us very proud and happy to do it). We were lucky to score some 40# bonus bags that Nutrisource had as part of a promotion, so our first delivery of half of the food added up to 8,520 lbs! In the end it means that it will be more than 8 tons of pet food that will be helping to feed so many dogs whose owners have fallen on hard times (they open their warehouse regularly to the public, but also distribute food to other communities in Oregon). This is a vital way to help keep animals out of shelters and keep them with their families where they belong. Larry from the Pongo Fund says this was likely the largest pet food drive in the nation! Thank you so much to all of you that generously donated to this very valuable cause! |
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Ripple Rug!
We've gotten a really fabulous new toy that creates enriching fun playtime for cats! They need stimulation, play and novelty in their lives to stay mentally and physically healthy, just like any other animal. This product is a super fun way to stimulate play and exploration! It consists of a bottom rug that has an insulating rubber bottom that makes it warm to lie on and prevents slipping. The top rug is bendable and floppy with 14 differently sized holes in it (medium to large holes have safety slits for larger cat expansion). There are 13 tabs of Velcro on the underside, that let you change the shape of the “ripples” in the rug. Rearranging the rug is a fun time in itself - cats have to check out what you’re doing and often dive in while you’re arranging it. It’s a great place to play in and around. Your wand toys become far more fun when the toy is able to shoot into a tunnel, peek out through a hole, and “run” around through the shapes that the rug makes. Hiding other little toys inside also makes a fun time when they can reach into a hole and get the toy like they would do if hunting a mouse in its hole. This would be the most amazing toy for kittens and adolescent cats, but 14 year old Otis loves to chase toys around the ripples, he loves to scratch it, and he finds great napping spots in the changing shapes of the rug. It folds up nicely if you need to put it away when company comes. Even better, the Ripple Rug is made in the USA using 100% recycled materials and no VOCs. Each Ripple Rug keeps 24 plastic bottles out of the landfill or floating in the ocean! Check out this great video! |
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Colostrum!
I’m excited to tell you about a great supplement now available at Green Dog!
For the first few days after giving birth, all mammals produce something called colostrum in their milk (often referred to as "first milk"). This amazing substance is critical for the early development of newborns, as it serves as a concentrated source of proteins, growth factors, and antibodies. Its properties have been revered for thousands of years across many cultures, as it is a powerhouse of nutrition and tools for healing and protecting the body. Many human health benefits have been attributed to supplementing bovine colostrum including: increased energy levels, lower risks of upper respiratory illnesses, reduced risk of intestinal damage from anti-inflammatory drugs, increased ability of the body to burn fat and increase muscle, help with food intolerances, and the acceleration of injury healing.
The immunoglobulins in colostrum have specific immune system activity against many common pathogens such as E.coli, Cryptosporidium, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, and Rotavirus. Another of the many beneficial attributes in colostrum is that it is rich in “Proline-Rich Polypeptides” or PRPs, which are specifically designed to modulate the activity of the immune system, stimulating its activity when needed to fight off an infection or quelling its activity to prevent tissue damage once the infection has been defeated. PRPs have also been shown in studies to be potent stimulators of natural killer (NK) cell activity (cancer fighters).
One of the most important things that colostrum can do is to help seal the lining of the gut. The gut lining (ours and those of our pets) is fragile, and can be damaged easily by the many stresses of life which can include a poor diet, chemical exposure, vaccines, medications (especially NSAIDS), and adrenal stress. The lining is naturally permeable to allow tiny nutrients to enter the blood stream, but when the lining is damaged, larger gaps are created, allowing things like toxins, microbes and waste materials to travel into the blood stream. The immune system is designed to spring into action to prevent these things from hurting the body, but when this condition is chronic, it can cause the immune system to become over reactive. Holistic vets and Naturopathic doctors believe that it can lead to a host of symptoms, such as seasonal allergies and asthma, skin issues, yeast overgrowth, chronic problems with stool quality, food intolerances, and IBD. Colostrum has a unique ability to help to seal and heal the lining of the gut and calm and support the immune system. It also helps probiotics to work more efficiently, preventing their loss through that leaky gut, and providing the soil for the seeds of probiotics, so to speak.
Colostrum can also be used topically! On the VCA Hospital’s website it says that it’s “useful for accelerating the healing of insect bites, wounds such as abscesses or ruptured cysts, warts, and surgical incisions”.
The good news is that the benefits of bovine colostrum are not species specific - the colostrum produced by cows is just as beneficial to humans and pets as it is for baby cows. When calves are born, their needs are met first, as they will likely die or have serious health issues without getting colostrum in the first hours of life. Luckily, the mother continues to produce enough extra colostrum that it can be collected for use in supplements. The other piece of good news is that colostrum has been proven to be safe and therapeutic. Colostrum is food and should be thought of as such. There have been no significant side effects from supplementation with bovine colostrum reported in the abundant literature. It is best taken on an empty stomach with liquid - you could also add it to a small spoonful of food, like yogurt, cooked sweet potato, etc, or even better, added to our probotic-rich goat’s milk!.
Read this great article here!
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Tether Tugs are Great for Puppies!
Puppies sure are cute, but they can be exhausting. Don’t you wish that someone or something else could entertain them a little to give you a break? We might have a great solution for you weary puppy parents: Tether Tugs are the perfect toy for puppies! We love the concept of the Tether Tug, but we have hasn’t really held up to the very biggest dogs. They’ve improved their design since we first purchased them, but we still have some of the old tugs in the store. Don’t get me wrong - they certainly have stood up very well for almost every dog that’s bought them, and we realized recently that they’d be about the best puppy toy we can imagine! This toy sinks into a sleeve in the ground and springs and boings as the puppy tugs away, entertaining them and saving your arm. They’re marked way down - now that the weather is improving, tether tugs might really come in handy for those crazy puppies! Don't miss this cute video of little Seymour playing with his Tether Tug.
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| | Udder Chucker!
Great new tug and fetch toy! This is a funny one. So there are these rubber things that are used to milk cows at a dairy, and when they’re replaced, the old ones are cleaned and recycled into dog toys. The rubber retains some of the smell of the cows, so they’re incredibly interesting to dogs (though not obnoxious for the people). A rope has been attached to make it easy to fling great distances, and the fascinating smell keeps them fetching. It would be a great scent work game to throw it into a bushy area or a pile of leaves and make them use their nose to find it! They’re very durable as tugs and fetching toys (though if a big chewer really settled into it, they’d likely be able to damage it). We’ve hung them high on the wall to prevent doggie shoplifting! |
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Attention Acana/Orijen Feeders!
This year will hold many changes for Champion Pet Foods feeders in the U.S. For the past few years, Champion has been busy building a new manufacturing facility in Kentucky to shift some of the burden of production for the ever-growing American market. Their incredible popularity causes pressures on the company to keep up production, it causes sustainability pressures on the regionally sourced ingredients they are famous for, and Canadian companies are sometimes plagued with holdups in customs at the U.S. border. Their strong commitment to regionally sourced, sustainable ingredients means that new sources of ingredients will be supplied by trusted farmers and ranchers local to the Kentucky area. This means that formulas will be very familiar, but new sources of meats and veggies will be somewhat different. For example, the new Ranchlands will include Angus beef, Yorkshire pork, Suffolk lamb, American bison and freshwater catfish. The veggies will include greens like turnip and collard greens. Singles Pork will still be pork and squash, but will have some new sources of produce as well. We’re impressed with the sourcing choices for this new plant. Change is always scary, but it shouldn’t be too troublesome, as long as you plan to blend a bit between old and new formulas, and we'll be doing our best to keep you posted at the counter about when your favorite formulas will be changing over. Here’s the timetable as we know it: In the beginning of March, we will be receiving a brand new line they are calling “Heritage”(pictured above). There will be three flavors: 'Free Run Poultry', 'Fresh Water Fish', and 'Heritage Meats' (with beef, pork and lamb). Good news - they’ll be less expensive than other Acana/Orijen foods! These three flavors are new and will not impact the availability of other formulas. In Spring 2016, the new Singles formulas will arrive, followed by the new Acana Regionals (replacing Prairie, Pacifica, Grasslands, and Ranchlands). New Orijen formulas are predicted to be coming in the fall. Read more about the Heritage line here. Read more about new Singles here. Read more about the new Regionals for dogs here. Read about the new Regionals formulas for cats here.
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| | Neighborhood News!
* Dash to Donuts:Sunday, March 20, 2016 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM the Beaumont Business Association is putting on a 3K run through the neighborhood with obstacles in front of local businesses. Prizes for completing the obstacles include 1/2 dozen Pip's Donuts! More info here.
* News on the new Grant Park Off Leash Dog Area here
* You may have noticed construction has begun on the Red Fig corner. Read more here.
* In related news, Portland may become the first city in the nation to require older homes be deconstructed and recycled instead of demolished. Watch here
* Cully Neighborhood is getting a new park, including an off leash dog area. Read more here
* The DEQ has been slow to address high arsenic levels in a number of spots in PDX, including one at NE 52nd and Sandy. This article has more info, but we heard on OPB this morning that it might not be advisable to eat produce grown within a half mile of a hotspot.
* Exciting new foodie market on NE Sandy - more here
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Our Ghostwriter Otis would like to thank you for your continued support!
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| | | | Located in Beaumont Village 4327 NE Fremont Street, Portland, Oregon 97213
Telephone: 503-528-1800
© 2007 - 2015 Green Dog Pet Supply. Green Dog Pet Supply® is a Registered Trademark. |
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