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 | Happy Thanksgiving!
Don't Miss November Newsletter Specials Below!
Thanks to everyone that entered this year's Holiday Calendar photo contest! To the left is a beautiful photo of Moka, our first place winner! (you can see all of Green Dog's entries here). This year's calendar is super cute, and all proceeds from the sales of these calendars at Green Dog will be donated to Cat Adoption Team. Special bonus: All calendars come with a sheet of coupons, saving you 10% at each of the 12 locally owned independent stores that participated! These calendars are going to make great gifts!
Thanks also to everyone that took part in Fright Night on Fremont on Halloween Eve! What a fun community event it has become! The street was loaded with families all dressed up, including lots of cute dog costumes. Everyone was chatting and laughing with their neighbors, visiting the businesses for trick or treating, and having fun at the Haunted House. You can see some cute photos here. We'd like to send a special thank you to Liz and Evan, who saved the day for our pumpkin carving contest entry. Our Lissey had carved a gorgeous design into our pumpkin, but we had a tragic mold issue. Liz ran home to get a fabulous pumpkin off of her porch and donated it to us, and Charity's boyfriend, Evan, stepped in at the 11th hour to recreate the amazing design. You can see it in those photos of the event. It's beautiful!
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Seasons Feedings!
The beginning of November kicks off our holiday cat and dog food drives! November is for the kitties - our cat food drive will be going on for the whole month of November. Food that you donate will be given to people who trap and transport their feral cats to the Feral Cat Coalition for spay and neuter procedures. The donated food will be a nice thank you to them for getting these animals fixed and will help with feeding costs for the cats they look after.
We do holiday food drives a little differently than many other stores. Some stores will just encourage you to add a bag of food to your purchase to be donated, perhaps giving you a 10% discount on that food. This means they still make a profit on this “donation." We don’t think that’s the right thing to do. We choose to offer one good quality, yet inexpensive, brand of food available to purchase AT OUR COST - we don’t make a penny on it. We also work out a deal with that food’s manufacturer and our distributor to donate another 2 bags for every 12 sold.
So, for the month of November, we’ll be featuring First Mate’s Grain Friendly Cat Food in two sizes to be purchased for donation to the FCC. At the register, you can simply add a small or large bag of First Mate Cat to your order (you choose between a 5lb bag for $7.99, or a 13.2lb bag for $16.99) and we’ll take care of the rest. At the end of the month we make one big order for all of the bags you have donated, including extra bags donated by First Mate, to be picked up by FCC. Last year we were able to donate over 1000 lbs of food!
December will be dog food donation month. As with the cat food donations, one brand of food (Pulsar Chicken) will be offered in two sizes at our cost. We’ll be donating again to the Pongo Fund. They help low income or houseless families feed their cherished furry family members, keeping them out of the shelters. Thanks to you, last year we donated more than 4,000lbs!
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| Santa Paws!
Please join us Dec. 6th for your pet’s holiday photo with Santa! Sign up for a time slot here to reserve your spot. We’ll be asking for a $15 voluntary donation (cash or check only) at the event that will benefit Fences for Fido.
FFF is an amazing, award-winning nonprofit organization that has been giving dogs the freedom of a fence who have been living their lives on the end of a chain. Volunteers build donor-funded fences free of charge for families who keep their dogs on chains, tethers and in small enclosures. They also provide a warm, insulated dog house, spay/neuter services, and critical vet care. Watching the joy (and zoomies!) of the dog that is off a chain for the first time is amazing for everyone involved, but most importantly for the families who begin to connect with their pets in a more meaningful way. There are many reasons people might chain a dog. FFF does provide support to the families who decide they can’t take care of their dogs. However, most of the families actually love their dogs and just need a little help and guidance. Dogs are often calmer and friendlier when they have a fenced yard, so it’s easier for their families to spend time with them. Some start bringing the dog into the house more, while others start spending more time outside in their new yard with the dog. Some are willing to work with a trainer to address the behavior concerns that are keeping the dog outside, away from the family he/she loves so much. The first step is getting them off of their chains. In 2014, Fences For Fido was instrumental in the historic passage of Oregon’s first anti-tethering law, which restricts the amount of time a dog can be chained. They’ve built over 1,500 fences, unchaining over 2,200 dogs. Read more here. |
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Lick Lick Pad!
This is a genius device that helps to distract your dog during bath time, brushing, and nail trims. It sticks to tub walls, refrigerators, windows or countertops. Its nubby surface is perfect for smearing with peanut butter, yogurt, etc. Check out this video. Help your dog through fearful situations, or simply occupy them on a rainy day. We just brought in the large size for our first order.
Newsletter Special: Mention this Newsletter at the register during the month of November and take 15% off of a Lick Lick Pad! |
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Even More Licking Options!
Licking can also be a form of behavioral enrichment or a way to slow-feed pets that eat raw or canned foods. Coming this month, a new line from Hyper Pet called LickiMats are here to help occupy your dog or cat. Licking can be very calming to pets, and smearing yogurt, peanut butter, applesauce, or any other moist, edible treat can be a useful tool to fight boredom on a rainy day, to occupy dogs who have trouble settling down, or for animals that over-groom or are on bedrest after surgery. They can even be frozen with the smeared treats for a longer lasting activity. Cats and dogs who eat raw or canned foods may benefit from eating from a LickiMat as a slow food "bowl." Slowing down eating is a great idea for overweight pets, as licking enhances the sense of taste and allows them to enjoy a smaller amount of food over an extended period of time. Therefore, they become more satiated with reduced portion sizes. Increased saliva production from licking can also aid digestion. Check out this video.
They'll be in soon! When they come, mention this newsletter at the register and take 15% off of any of the Hyper Pet LickiMat slow feeder line! |
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Be Seen!!
Fall is a difficult time for dog owners, as it's dusk by 4:20 and dark by 4:40, meaning you're spending a fair amount of time walking your dogs in the dark. The unfortunate result of this time change is a higher number of traffic accidents and pedestrian deaths. We have some products that can really help you and your dogs to stay safe.
The Cycle Dog reflective leashes are wildly reflective, as you can see from this photo. They come in several colors, and are made from recycled bicycle tire inner tubes! This leash is unaffected by wet or muddy conditions, and the rubber makes it super grippy. They also come with a ring near the handle that doubles as a bottle opener so you can have the coolest dog at the party.
Ruff Wear makes the best light for a dog's collar, as it's completely waterproof, charges with a USB cable (included), and each light has 3 colors to choose from. (pictured in red on bottom right). Its 3 light modes include Slow Flash, Fast Flash, or Always On. Nite Ize has well-priced and practical options, including a battery powered collar light and a nifty rechargeable LED "necklace" that you can cut to fit your dog (top right). They cycle through 3 different colors or can display one color of your choosing. These allow your pet to be visible from all sides. They also have a little flashlight that cleverly attaches to the handle of your leash to help you find the poop to pick up. We of course have some glow in the dark fetch toys and light up battery powered balls, making fetching in the dark much more fun. You might also check out Foot Traffic for some clever ways to illuminate yourself, like a light-up arm band so cars who are approaching you from behind will be sure to see you.
Newsletter Special: Mention this newsletter at the register and take 15% off of any light, reflective leash, or light-up/glow in the dark toy! |
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Beautiful Thanksgiving Cookies!
We're so lucky to have this source of locally made, completely organic cookies. The lovely woman that makes them has some mad skills, so our seasonal frosted cookies are cute as heck. The neatest part is that all of the colors are made with foods - beets are red, carrots are orange, etc, (even blue is possible when she needs it, as she steeps edible blue flowers!) These reasonably priced cookies come in XL and also packs of 3 small cookies, and they make excellent hostess gifts for Thanksgiving gatherings!
Newsletter Special: Mention this newsletter at the register and take 15% off of any frosted Thanksgiving Cookies. |
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| Hilarious Turkey Toys!
Don't miss out on these fun "stuffed" turkeys! Our Thanksgiving display has a variety of nifty treats and even a delicious dog-appropriate holiday meal in a pouch that you can serve on the big day. However, the funniest items on the table are the stuffed turkey toys. The softer ones on the left come in 3 sizes, and the beautiful ones on the right are super tough and come in two sizes. If your friends or family are hosting Thanksgiving and they have a dog, don't go empty handed! Bring a turkey!
Newsletter Special: Mention this newsletter at the register and get 15% off of any stuffed turkey through Thanksgiving! |
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| Beautiful, Affordable Pet Portraits!
Local artist Hannah Complin does gorgeous pet portraits (she can also create funny caricatures of your pet as punk singers, wizards, sailors, etc). Next time you're in, look at some of her work right near the register (or on our greeting card shelves) and grab her contact info. I'll bet she would even sell gift certificates to use as holiday gifts for friends and family, so they could pick out their own favorite photo of their cherished pet. |
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| Nutrition Tip: Variety Is So Important!
No matter how educated and thoughtful I could ever be about nutrition, I couldn't make a single meal for myself that I eat for every meal of every single day of my life and not have some sort of deficiency or excess of something for my individual nutritional needs (which might be different than yours). Nutritional deficiencies can cause chronic health problems, but these often take years to become apparent. Left to their own devices, your pets wouldn't eat the same thing every day. With their versatile digestive systems, wild dogs can both hunt and scavenge, much like coyotes. Cats have evolved very specific nutritional needs for fresh prey. In the wild this can include rodents, birds, lizards and even crickets. The complex nutrients that are so critical to an animal's ability to truly thrive are hard to replicate in processed foods. In addition, the delicate, crucial amino acids that do such important jobs in their bodies are easily damaged by the high heat, high pressure processes used to make kibble dry diets. Furthermore, the minimum and especially maximum percentages of synthetic vitamins and minerals have not been studied well in pet foods for all breeds. Each brand of kibble has its own fairly limited recipe and, in our opinion, none of them can cover a lifetime of nutritional needs. We all know that whole foods are good for us, and that we shouldn't eat an entirely processed food diet ourselves. Let's do this for our pets as well.
Two Strategies to Achieve This:
Number One: Rotate your foods every once in a while. Don't get stuck in a rut. Perhaps rotate between flavors within a brand, and then sometimes change brands. We'll take care of your frequent buyer cards to transfer the credits. The pets that have the hardest time switching foods are the ones that never do. Their gut flora only knows one thing. Introduce new foods very slowly if necessary, blending a little bit into their meal at a time. Generally, the more often you do this, the better they'll handle it. Only change one thing in their diet at a time so you know what works for them and what doesn't. Number Two: Introduce some whole food toppers! When looking for toppers to support heart health, think fresh, freeze dried (especially for picky cats!), or gently dehydrated muscle meats and organs. Cans don’t count – they’re high heat processed. If you’ve been using cans for flavor, try switching to something from the list below, especially fresh or freeze dried – they’ll love it! Fish, clams and mussels are one of the best sources of taurine – check out the beautiful whole sardines in our freezer – they can be given 2 or 3 times a week to dogs and also are great for Omega 3s! (for cats also check out Vital Essentials freeze dried whole minnows).
Answers Fermented Goat's Milk, Bone broths, or a nugget of one of the raw foods in our freezers are ideal additions. Even an egg or some finely minced greens can be very beneficial. Mix it up!
How much? We suggest making sure there’s a little every day. You can overdo it on liver and raw fish by feeding it every day (just several times a week is fine), but small amounts of other muscle meats and organs like hearts are safe for every day. Watch your portions: If more than 20% of their meals are something you’re adding, you may need to consider if your meal is balanced, or has too many calories. Variety does help to create balance over time, but regularly adding even a little whole food to your kibble will create benefits! |
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| Green Tip!
Seek out locally made products whenever possible, as the miles traveled for raw materials and finished products making it all the way to a store really add up to huge differences in fossil fuel usage. One of Mike and I's favorite clothing companies, American Giant, makes amazing, durable and comfy sweatshirts. They source their cotton from farms very close to their manufacturing facility here in the U.S. They point out that the typical sweatshirt travels 19,884 miles, where theirs only travel about 759 miles. We love finding products for our store that are made in the U.S. but love it even more when we can find products that are made right here in town. We're happy to show you our favorites! |
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| Neighborhood News!
* Beaumont Barber has reopened! You might remember more than a year ago they had a fire, damaging the other businesses in their building. We walked the neighborhood, telling the other businesses with the hp[e that they might step up and do what they could to help, and some did. Many of you came out and supported an event where we donated a portion of our proceeds on a Saturday to Prince Coffee and Beaumont barber as a gesture of community, hoping they'd be back on their feet soon. Though Prince Coffee didn't take long to rebuild, BB had a lot more complexity to their situation, as the source of the fire was in their store and it had to be investigated. We'd like to welcome them back to the neighborhood, and we encourage you to do the same! We have 50% off Beaumont Barber coupons at our counter if you'd like one.
* Red Sauce Will Have Lunch!! We're very excited by the news that Red Sauce will have individual slices, calzones, and hoagies, and will be open for lunch in the new year!
* Order Your Thanksgiving Feast at Happy Day Juice Co. Happy Day is currently taking orders for their Thanksgiving feast meals. Their Thanksgiving feast is a take home option that requires minimal cooking to save you time, so you can spend more time chilling and less time cooking. Their feast is 100% gluten-free & vegan, and the perfect meal for two. For more information and to place your order head over to this link.
* Did you know there’s a new indoor play center with mini golf, ping pong, fuse ball, pinball and corn hole on Sandy Blvd? More info here.
* Helpful hint sent by one of our customers: FEMA has put together an online training manual for disaster preparedness for animal owners. Here. |
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Please note that "Black Friday" hours are limited. We aim for our employees to be able to spend more time with family and friends, and that people in general might take REI's lead and to #OptOutside on Friday!
Please support locally owned independent stores on Small Business Saturday instead! |
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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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