Healthy Tips from Sandy

May 13, 2015-

Today let's talk about taking it easy, taking time to smell the roses, or in the case to the right, the flowers!

We have so many stresses from everyday life that people today can take so many lessons from us- the dogs, the animals of the world. People take a few seconds and instead of just walking past that flower, that plant. STOP and appreciate it in all it's glory!

YES- Stop and SMELL the Roses if you will! Your whole being will be so better off for it! It will give you that moment for YOU! It will take a little stress out of your day! So what are you waiting for......

If you have the time, take some time to sit on a bench of step outside- heck even on the ground and connect with nature a little, let the ground literally ground you and take the absorbed electrical impulses in your body out! I bet you will feel so much better. Just take a few minutes and sit on the ground and connect with something a little more simple than that cell phone or computer that we all use oh so frequently today!

Until tomorrow,
have a tail waggin day,
Sandy

Sandy's Daily Blog

May 12, 2015-

So today I thought I would share a recipe with you........Pam made a video awhile back and I'll include that for you too......

The treat was Six Legged Companion candies, really easy to make too!
What you need: 1 bag of Carob Chips, any choice of nut butters (I chose Earth Balance coconut peanut spread), and Coconut oil.

What to do:
In a pan, heat the coconut oil to get it all in liquid form if it isn't already, add the carob chips and melt them until they are melted and smooth. Once they are all melted spoon the melted carob chips into preferably silicon molds (I used heart shaped molds from Sur la Table) once the molds were halfway filled up, you will add a scoop of the nut butter, and then cover that with more melted carob until it reaches the top of the mold. When all are filled up, freeze for at least an hour. And then share with your favorite four or two legged friend! ENJOY!

 

Check out our new book for some companion shared treats:

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Your-Leash-Healthy-Companion/dp/1500897957/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421014514&sr=1-1&keywords=get+your+leash+on

Wow, was that easy or what?!?!?!?? Now go make some sweet treats and Get Your Leash On!

 

See you tomorrow for more healthy blogs and or tips!

Have a tail waggin evening until then,

Sandy

Sandy's Blog

May 10, 2015-


First Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there! I hope you all get to go outside and smell the flowers sometime today!

Okay, I want to talk about healthy habits......something your Mom or maybe even your Grandmother has told you to do growing up.

"CLEAN YOUR ROOM!"

 

I am telling Pam to do this tonight, she needs to do it desparately. I want her to do a little spring cleaning in one of the rooms, going through things to organize the whole room, which in turn will lead to the next room.

She needs to keep up with the cleaning and organization more as it really does reflect or have an impact on our health, her health, etc. Eventually the health of anyone she comes in contact with.

Okay, so I want to give one piece of advice today- NEVER LEAVE A ROOM EMPTYHANDED!- There is always something to be moved from one room to another to be put it's place or to be thrown out right?!?!?!? If not, congrats on awesome cleanliness and organization! Pam is not there at this point, she has been there in the past but lately, nope! In time, she will be there again!

Ok, that is my advice, SIMPLE easy to do.....so do it! I' m going to go get on Pam's tail about this,
Until tomorrow,
have a tail waggin day,
Sandy

Sandy's Daily Blog

May 6, 2015-

Let me tell you a little about my story.....Pam and I met at North Shore Animal League in 2001. Shortly after 9/11. Pam thinks I ended up at NSAL because I lost someone near and dear to me due to 9/11 incidents. She tells me no one would just give me up or lose me and not go looking for me and work so hard doing so only to give up.

When Pam walked into the kennel and saw me, she wanted to look around a little BUT she kept coming back to me. She asked to see me out of the kennel and to get to know me a little. She was soon sold, so I adopted her that day. We got into the Jeep and headed on home together. We ended up stopping at the Northport VA to see Mom and Rivkah. When I first adopted Pam, I was a bit skinny (being in a kennel does that to you, hey if you were put in that situation and stressed out like I was you would be skinny too). Let me tell you a few weeks after being with Pam and Candycane, I was looking healthier than ever!

For years I ran with Pam, Skyler, and Candycane.....as we got older Pam took us on walks.....now we are pretty much staying in the backyard. But Pam makes sure we have happy and healthy lives. She makes awesome treats for us, she treats us to bagels, we get brushed and more....

Whenever Pam buys food or treats for us, she reads the labels....she wants to be able to recognize all the ingredients in what she feeds us. She cares about the animals and doesn't want to buy anything that contributes to the harming of any animals, she cares about the environment as well- and considers how things are shipped, packaged, how things are made and so much more. She tries to minimize any harming or destruction of any animals and or the environment. And as animal myself, I totally admire this......I too care for other animals and the earth around me!

 

Skyler, Candycane, Pam and myself in our Vermont race- Man oh man, the hills were alive that day!

Have a tail waggin' day,
Sandy

Sandy's Blog

May 5, 2015-


Today the temperature was high- about 80 degrees. When Pam and Scout went for a run, Candycane and I got to hang out in the backyard. And the responsible dog companion Pam is she left a bucket of clean water for Candycane and myself (and Benji if he joined us) to stay hydrated.

Pam also brought water on their run for both her and Scout to keep hydrated with, and she had a place to refill or buy more water if needed. Now, if she needed to buy water, as much as she doesn't like to promote the use of plastic bottles, in a pinch in order to keep hydrated she would purchase a bottle (and reuse the bottle or dispose of it properly!).......

The lesson of the day is: as the temperatures rise this season, KEEP hydrated. Granted even in the cold we lose water and need to replace our fluids so every should drinking the MINIMUM of 8- 8 oz glasses of water a day. (Unless their are medical reasons that are restricting your fluid intake, but to keep hydrated no matter what is important- even if you need to drink less due to doctors orders). This goes for your four legged companions as well!

Keep in mind that we are all made up of primarily WATER! (I know you look at all of us and it's hard to think about this being true BUT it is!)

Ok, so that is my blog for the day.....Keep hydrated,
and have a tail waggin' day,
Sandy

Daily Blog

May 4, 2015-

Ok, so I realized I haven't been talking about my story as much as I was wishing to do so.....I want to tell you more about my story.......it's been a good one......

After Pam and I got to know one another and we trained together for awhile, Pam thought WOW, Sandy would be a great therapy dog! And therefore, I shortly became a certified therapy dog, through Therapy Dogs Incorporated. As long as your dog is well trained and is well behaved, the certification process is fairly easy! Basically we cannot get spooked easily, if something is dropped on the floor we can react but mildly react, we cannot jump or make any sudden jumps/ movements. We are not supposed to jump up on patients beds, unless invited and even then we must go up onto the bed nice and easily so as not to hurt our patients. We must be comfortable around wheelchairs and other hospital equipment. We must not eat food off the floor, or jump up and countersurf (or steal food from anyone) or for that matter take any food from our patients. Our human companion will need to bring treats from home to give to us, and for our patients to give to us if they choose, we must also take the treat nice and gently!

As a therapy dog, we are insured through the organization we are certified with. So they need to know we will not be a liability to the organization and we will set a good example for future therapy dogs to continue our work!

Therapy Dogs usually were our tags, on our collars, most of the time we are leashed. Very rarely therapy dogs are allowed off leash, but only in certain circumstances (and the dogs are usually residents themselves or at least day time residents!)

It helps to be tested and pass the Canine Good Citizen test for therapy dogs BUT not necessary. I actually passed this test AFTER I became a therapy dog.

Having my own patients and visiting them on a weekly basis made me happy as I hope they were after my visit. Of course, I had my favorite patients, but they were all special and hopefully  a little healthier after my visit!

And yes, I did receive certificates with Pam for our services (as Pam says my services) at my local nursing home!

Okay more tomorrow,
Until then have a great tail waggin' evening,
Sandy

Be Kind to Animals Week

May 3, 2015-

As well as the Long Island Marathon kicking off the week, we have Be Kind to Animals Week kicking off today!

There are a ton of ways to be kind to animals, I will try to list a few here now:

1- You can become vegetarian/ vegan (or at the very least include a Meatless Monday to your lifestyle- you can at the very least save an animals life on Monday and save water, the environment, etc by doing this)

2- You can Get Your Leash On!.....and help your own companions as well as yourself and during the month of May you'll be helping out other animals at the Kent Animal Shelter!

Don't forget about our fundraiser for the shelter that helped me find my furever home!

You can help us help them out (did I just go all Jerry Maguire on you all there?!?!?).....anyway click on these links and you can buy our book- in fact, we will start instead of just the month of May- we will extend it from April 15 to May 24th and with every book sold we will donate a portion of the proceeds to Kent Animal Shelter......

 

 

 

 Hard copy version:

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Your-Leash-Healthy-Companion/dp/1500897957/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421014514&sr=1-1&keywords=get+your+leash+on

 

EBook Version:

http://lulu.com/spotlight/getyourleashon

 

 

 To make a donation to Kent Animal Shelter go to out Crowdrise fundraiser page here:

 

https://www.crowdrise.com/DoggoneRescueMarathon/fundraiser/pamelaschmidlin

 Hard copy version:

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Your-Leash-Healthy-Companion/dp/1500897957/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421014514&sr=1-1&keywords=get+your+leash+on

 

EBook Version:

http://lulu.com/spotlight/getyourleashon

 

 

 To make a donation to Kent Animal Shelter go to out Crowdrise fundraiser page here:

 

https://www.crowdrise.com/DoggoneRescueMarathon/fundraiser/pamelaschmidlin

 

Today I wanted to share some stretches that I help Pam out with after her runs, of course to warm up her muscles she did a short walk, so keep in mind that you should always warm up your muscles before doing any stretching! NEVER STRETCH with cold muscles, you can injure the muscles!

 

 

Until tomorrow,

have a tail wagging day,

Sandy