Guruvy baby!

Since joining the wonderful instadog community, we’ve been lucky enough to make some fantastic fur friends and, as a result, get to know about the various events, up and down the country, which celebrate our canine companions. Today we attended our first ever DogFest and had the opawatunity to play a part in Guru Pet Foods marvellous stand!

Our story with Guru started several months ago when a post of theirs caught our eye… Winston happily hoiked anything down his neck for his first few months of life, however,  as he grew, he started to become incredibly fussy with his food. Now, when I say ‘fussy with his food’, I mean food of the dog variety; as he was, and still is, more than happy to try and demolish a Sunday dinner or a bag of fish and chips. But, his appetite for furbaby friendly food had started to diminish and I was concerned he wasn’t getting the nutrients he needed. I had seen a few posts fill my feed about Guru Pet Food so, I messaged Lisa and asked her for the low down on this doggy dining option. For those of you who haven’t heard of Guru, they specialise in premium quality, cold-pressed dog food. I was completely oblivious to this method before speaking with Lisa but, she explained that it is a unique approach where the ingredients are ground, then gently mixed together. By creating the food in this way, optimum nutrients are kept within the kibble, before they are cold pressed at a temperature of 44 degrees for no longer than a few seconds. By being cold pressed, the food remains as close to a dogs natural diet as possible. The food is also free from additives, and interestingly, gluten… I began to follow a gluten free diet just over 8 months ago, now wait, hold up, don’t stop reading, I promise I’m not going to try and convert any of you to the vegan way of life (I actually had to make the choice for health reasons, not because I want to tell everybody within an 8 mile radius that I’m a vegan!); however, since changing  my diet, I had become curious of the effect gluten has on our barking buddies bellies…

So, after I asked Lisa 900 questions about the brand, she sent Winston a free sample to try and the rest is history… As some of you may have seen on Winston’s Instagram, he ate the sample pack in the same amount of time the kibble is cold pressed for! So, our next port of call was to try the field bones… This is where our love affair with Guru really began as these bones are now a firm staple within Winstons world. We do a lot of travelling as a family and the field bones are the perfect alternative to trying to fit 4 days worth of dog food into plastic containers and multiple handbags. Jam packed with nutrients and free of any nasties, these bones are a full meal for fur friends on the go and save a considerable amount of space and spillage on your back seats. I can’t speak for the taste, but, Winston highly approves!

 

Okay, that’s enough from me, Winston wants to tell you all about his antics today…

Hellos my furbulous friends, Winston here! How is I typing without thumbs I hears you ask? Well, I has bribed the human to types for me. I has told her that I won’t bark at her in the bath or steal her slippers for at least 3 days if she writes this for me. I thinks that’s a very reasonable deal! Today has beens the most pawsome day, as I has spent hours on end chasing tails, tricking humans into givings me treats and sittings on a throne, all from the comforts of the Guru Pet Food stand! When Momz told me that we woulds be blogging for our friends at Guru at DogFest, I was super excited, but, I couldn’t have anticipated the amount of funs I had. First thing this morning, I leapt up at Lisa and the team, gave them multiple licks and kisses, then proceeded to pee all over their beautifully designed hedge seats. Momz wasn’t best pleased, but, I told hers, a pugs gotta do, what a pugs gotta do and I was only letting all my other barking buddies know that I had arrived. Me and the humans then went for a mooch around the stalls and I received a mutt friendly massage! I thinks that was possibly the best 4 minutes of my life and the lady who had the magic hands, had to removes me from the treatment table because I fell asleeps. I don’t know why the humans apologised to the lady, I mean, relaxation is the point right? We followed my pampering session with an ice cream and a brawl with a Newfoundland Hound. Obviously, I was just warming up for my wrestling matches with the Chicken Puggets!

We headed back to the Guru stand and met the one and only Sarah from @whiskersandstitched. Now, Momz tells me that Sarah isn’t actually my personal tailor and she sends her gorgeous doggy accessories across the world, but, I begs to differ. She is one of my very favourite humans and I was so very happy to finally meets her. Next up, we met our new buddie  @_alfiebear. Alfie is quite the sophisticated spaniel and he is also incredibly kinds, because him and his lovely Mum fed me cheese until my heart was content and my belly was full. It was only later on that I discovered that Momz had an ulterior motives and the cheese was to make me sit still for photos with Alfie! Not long after, my squad arrived. For those of yous who don’t know the Chicken Puggets, you must get to knows them! We is the new kids on the block and still has much to learn in terms of being a fully fledged dog but, for the time beings, me, @littlepugharry @barneythelittlepug and @winstonnefarius are quite happy to spend our days brawling, stealing snackies off each other’s pawrents and making it incredibly difficults for humans to get photos of us. That’s just how we roll.

(Photo courtesy of @winstonnerfarius)

I has had a truly wonderwoof day and even bumped into @sarapenwarden @barksandbijoux and the famous @honeyb_doodle… I is one seriously pooped pup now but, I is so very happy to be a Guru geekster! Thank yous for having me Lisa and the team, even after I peed all over your gorgeous display…

Winston has now wandered off, no doubt to catch 40 winks after walking his little legs off today, but, we want to say a huge, enourmous thank you to Lisa and the team for being so incredibly warm and welcoming today and for supporting our Instagram page. We are so incredibly lucky to meet people such as yourself through social media and we only hope that this post will encourage people to check out what the fuss is all about with Guru Pet Food. The products are SO worth the hype, not only because they are well produced, healthy and safe but, because Lisa and her team put their heart and soul into everything they do at Guru. So, thank you to Guru Pet Food for making got our first ever DogFest a memorable one. You truly are pugtastic 🙂 I’m off to put my paws, I mean, feet up with a nice cup of tea and a biscuit; not of the Guru kind on this occasion!

Pugs and Kisses,

Sophie and Winston

xox

P.S Be sure to check out Guru Pet Food here- http://www.gurupetfood.com

Furbaby Friendly?

Whenever we get the opawtunity, we love to pack up the pug mobile and make the most of being able to travel in the UK! This weekend, we spent a few days in North Yorkshire, as we have family who live in a small village called Settle. Settle, like most of Yorkshire, is incredibly dog friendly in comparison to Shropshire, so Winston joins us on every activity; including meals out.

My other half spent many a weekend, as a child, in Morecambe with his Grandparents, so, we decided to make a jaunt over to the bay, for old times sake. Before we hit the road, I scoured search engines to find out if our fur baby could paddle his paws in the sea, as many of Britains beach now prohibit pooches! Unfortunately, Morecambe is one of those beaches and we could only allow Winston in certain areas… This isn’t the first time we’ve faced dog related disappointments when it comes to days out so, I thought I would use this post, as an opportunity to signpost pawrents to the top 3 places we know of, that welcome four legged friends with open arms and tidbits!

1. Attingham Park

Attingham Park is a country house and estate in Shropshire. It is owned by the National Trust, so always has a calendar jam packed with a broad spectrum of interesting activities and events; a majority of which are open to both humans and hounds! Winston loves to visit Attingham Park, as he has the freedom to walk on a long leash through certain parts of the grounds, can wet his whistle in the Dog Walkers Rest and enjoy tea and scones with us humans at the Greedy Pig cafe. The grounds are absolutely beautiful and include a walled garden, where you can pick up fresh fruit and veg to take home with you! We have spent some lovely, long afternoons  strolling around the grounds with an ice cream (or 2!) and can’t recommend this place highly enough for canine companions.

2. Wrens Nest

When we made the decision to become dog owners (dog servants/minions), we decided that our new fur friend would come with us, wherever possible. Our attitude is, that Winston is one of the family and should therefore be involved in making memories with us! For my birthday this year, we spent the night at Wrens Nest in Wem and Mr Wiggles was welcome. Wrens Nest is a yurt with its own garden, jetty and rowing boat, as well as kitchen and shower facilities. The location is driving distance from the local town, Myddle, which is home to several dog friendly pubs and there is some idyllic countryside walks, pawfect for eager paws to explore. During our visit to one of the local pubs, we met another family who had brought their barking buddie along for a break. Elvis the chihuahua and Winston wrestled whilst we had a bevvie and their antics were not frowned upon, but, instead encouraged by the landlord! We had a fantastic time back at the yurt, sat by the firepit with a few bevvies and Winston fell asleep on my lap, wrapped in a blanket. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday, made all the better for being able to have my best fur buddie with me.

3. Trentham Gardens

Trentham Estate consists of gardens, parklands and shops and is located in Stoke-on-Trent. I love Trentham Gardens and me and my family visit most years for their Bonfire Night and Christmas events, as the place is turned into something truly magical. Trentham is one of the most dog friendly locations that is close to us, but, Winston is yet to visit it! However, this is set to change next weekend as we are meeting our fellow chicken puggets @littlepugharry, @winstonnefarius and @barneythelittlepug at the estate for the Worldwide Pug Wrestling Federation contest, I mean, erm, walk. We intend to make full use of the fur friendly facilities, including the cafes, and I have no doubt I will be eating tins of beans for the next 3 weeks, as I’ll be spending most of my money on new items for Winstons wardrobe in the ‘Doggie Fashions’ shop! We’ll be sure to let you know what Winston and the squad make of the Trentham estate.

http://www.dogfriendlybritain.co.uk is a great resource for dog friendly places, events and restaurants but, we think it would be really useful for all of our Instagram friends to share their top 3 dog friendly attractions, so that we can create a doggie directory! We have friends from all over the UK and I guarantee there are some hidden gems across Britain, which are just waiting to be uncovered! So, direct message me and over the coming weeks, we will try our upmost to create a what’s what of wooftastic places to be and things to see.

Pugs and Kisses,

Winston and Sophie xox

 

 

Man’s Best Friend

“A dog is the only thing on Earth that loves you more than he loves himself”

This morning I woke up with a hangover. The self-inflicted symptoms included a banging headache, a mouth as dry as Ghandi’s flip-flop and a severe hankering for beans on toast. I wanted nothing more than to lie in bed until at least next Wednesday, but, sat at the bottom of my bed, was a furry little fella, eager for a walk.  As soon as I saw those saucer-sized puppy eyes, I was up and out of the bed before you could say ‘jäger bomb‘ and geared up to be dragged around the local park… This post we are going to focus on the bond that exists between us and our barking buddies. Why do some of us go above and beyond for our fur friends?

I’ve always been barking mad when it comes to dogs. Some of my most treasured and earliest memories feature pals with paws and I have always been that person who is guilty of greeting a persons dog, before them… So, it came as no surprise to most people who know me well, that as soon as I was able, I hunted down a hound of my own! But, what is it about dogs that makes them so special?

Looking after a dog is expensive, time consuming and presents it fair share of canine related challenges. You spend eye-watering amounts of hard earned cash on vet bills and spend even more time picking up puppy-bum parcels off your freshly shampooed carpet, for at least the first 6 months of your furry friends life. However, even during those moments when you’re sat cradling, said friend, on the kitchen floor at 3am, (during the middle of December) whilst you’re trying and failing to crate train them; you don’t begrudge them. No, instead, you prop yourself up against the radiator, wrap them in your duvet and spend the entire day after the night before, with 6 pulled muscles and a serious case of the sniffles. Research suggests that the reason our hounds make us happy is related to our hormones. In particular, the hormone oxytocin. Now, I’m not going to bore you with the baffling science stuff, but, essentially, when oxytocin is released, it helps humans to bond (think Momma and baby bonding…) and scientists now believe that elements of this apply between us and dogs. In my opinion, I think there has to be some truth in this theory because, Winston is my baby! Hand on heart, the bond I share with Winston is as close as the bonds I have with 99.9% of the people in my life. Some may find that statement unusual… I’m not suggesting that the bond I share with Winston is the same as those I have with humans, because it’s not, but, it is still just as valuable.

From the moment I set eyes on Winston, I knew he would be my best friend. He cautiously crept across the laminate floor, whilst his pug brother crashed around the room but, within seconds, Winston had lumbered his way up onto my lap, snuggled into my shoulder and his fate was sealed! They say that you don’t choose your dog, your dog chooses you and I for one, am convinced that, that is the case. I will admit, that until Winston along, I was quite a selfish person. It wasn’t intentional, it was just at the age of 25, with no children or real commitments aside from work and a partner, I didn’t really have to consider the needs of anybody else, apart from my own.  That has changed drastically over the last 9 months… Winston is dependant on me. He can’t feed himself, he can’t manage his own medical needs and he can’t defend himself (although, he’s fairly convinced he can tackle most dogs double his size!) I love having the responsibility of caring for Winston, because it’s almost like we have a little family of our own. Winston sees me and my other half as part of his pack. We eat together, we sleep together (not out of choice, may I add!) and we enjoy life together. If we go on holiday, Winston comes with. If we go out for food, we try and track down a fur-baby friendly pub. If Winston can come along, he will and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Winston has taught me so many important lessons and I have applied those teachings into other parts of my life. Many of my family and friends have commented that, whilst they think I’m stir crazy (I blame that judgement on the fact that I’m probably the only person in our town who thinks it’s socially acceptable to take your dog out dressed as a wizard!) Winston has brought out a much softer side to me, that I’d struggled to show previously. No human has managed to bring that out in me, but, a critter with four legs, bad breath and a pig tail has somehow worked his magic amd made me a better person.

The love between human and hound is unconditional and I think until you experience that connection, people may very well think you’re barmy, but, I’m loud and proud in admitting that my dog is my best mate. I’m so grateful to know that even when I’m throwing a tantrum, having a bad hair day or so skint, that I’m living off Pot Noodles for 2 weeks, Winston will still love me just the same. Granted, he’ll still need feeding, he’ll still need walking and, no doubt, he’ll still need my undivided attention but, he’ll look at me with them little teefies hanging out and I’ll know that the World isn’t such a bad place, because I’ll always have a friend in him. That level of loyalty, trust and respect is is what makes dogs so special.

 

Sophie xox

The Princess and the Pug

Hellos my fur friends, it’s Mr Wiggles here… The time has comes for my very first post and let’s be honest, it’s what you has alls been waiting for, because Momz is nowhere near as eloquent, or cute, as me!

This weekend we attended our very first pug party, so I thoughts it only fair that I shared my antics with yous. In true fairytale style, I has written yous a tale of tiaras and tantrums (with just a little helps from Momz… I has to make her feel useful, you know how it is!)

Once upon a time…

There was an incredibly handsome, intelligent and super suave pup called Winston. He and his chauffeur/manager/stylist/Momz had recently met some pawsome pals through Instagram and discovered that, once a year, pugs gathered from far and wide to raise pennies for poorly and less fortunate fur friends of the pug variety. Winston felt an incredible urge to take part in this noble fundraising quest, along with the pug population, so he embarked on an adventure that could rival the biggest Hollywoof blockbuster! Now, Winston knew that the journey could be treacherous and without adequate puppy supplies (mainly of the edible variety), there was a chance that Winston and his minions would not go the distance. Therefore, his Momz was tasked with the baking of 50 cupcakes, fit for a King. 4 hours, 3 tantrums, 2 failed batches and 1 frazzled human later, there was a collection of cupcakes, delicious enough to distract the big, bad wolf from demolishing the 3 little pugs, I mean, pigs. Momz and Auntie loaded up the carriage, well, car (we are on a budget here!) and the trio began their trek to Pugdonia.

The road was long and the journey tough. The trio tackled icing getting stuck to car seats and dodgy Satnavs but, they arrived in one piece, ready to partyyy and obviously partake in super noble activities of course. Upon arrival, a beacon of beautiful light appeared, the clouds parted, the sun shone and Winston caught sight of the most precious of princesses… It was @pollytheblindpug! Winston had always admired Polly from afar but, she was even more beautiful in real life! It was at this moment, Winston knew that his arduous journey had been worth it… It wasn’t long before Winston’s fellow knights of the round table made an appearance. @littlepugharry, wearing the most utterly fabulous unicorn attire and @winstonnefarius, dressed as the right honourable Robin Hood, rode into the castle on their valiant steeds (aka their Mum’s and Dad’s) and the gang wasted no time in getting to know each other. Now, in the world of pug, getting to know each other doesn’t involve handshakes and “how do you do?”‘s. Pugs are far more paws on in their pleasantries and Big Winston, Harry and Little Winston proceeded to wrestle with each other. Ferociously. This is customary in the world of woof, however, their humans were most embarrassed by the chaos that the chums caused and decided it would be best to vacate the building and destroy the garden instead.

Every pug who had taken on this quid-raising quest had dressed to impress. From pawfectly preened Princess pugs to funky froggy doggies, the whole party could have made the front cover of Dogue. It is a little know fact that Winston is actually a Hogwarts graduate, so he thought this adventure was a pawsome occasion to crack out his star spangled cape and hat (*Disclaimer- Winston is not a Hogwarts graduate, he just wishes he was…) Winston’s afternoon was spent bumping paws with pals including @percypug27, @penny_and_the_pugs and @bb_adventures_15 and, other incredibly tempestuous tasks such as eating cake, peeing up trees and multiple costume changes. It was a tough job, but, somepuggy had to do it! After several hours, the buffet had been bombarded and the raffle prizes ravaged, which meant that the adventure had been a huge success. The pugs had managed to raise nearly £1000 for the PDWRA and as far as Winston was concerned, that was mission accomplished. As the sun set on the surreal scene of several pugs styled in fairy story stitches, Winston bid farewell to his brave and boisterous bros and the castle closed its doors. Winston, his Momz and Auntie made their way across the vast lands of Staffordshire; getting lost 4 times, pulling into a petrol station because they’d lost a handbag and nearly going the wrong way up a one way street… And lived happily ever after!

 

The End 

Well, I hopes you enjoyed readings my fairytales. I hads such a wonderful days and feels so very lucky to has met the barktastic buddies that I has and yesterday was just the start of our adventures together!

Lots of lubz,

Winston xox

p.s- PLEASE CHECK OUT THE PDWRA WEBSITE- http://pugwelfare-rescue.org.uk

It is such a fantastic charity and all donations go to a very worthy cause.

The Great Doggish Bake Off

I’ve been baking since I was knee high to a grasshopper. Victoria Sponge, Chocolate Brownie, Jam Tarts… You name it, I’ve baked it. Now, dont get me wrong, I’m no Mary Berry, but, my baking game is fairly strong. So, I thought rustling up biscuits for my four legged friend would be a walk in the park ( ‘scuse the pun!). How wrong was I?

For any of my fellow cake makers reading this, you will probably appreciate that once you’ve been bitten by the baking bug, cakes appear in your household on a weekly basis. Us cake fairies get creative in the kitchen whenever there is opportunity and last weekend was no exceptation, aside from the fact I was totally, uttely out of my depth by entering the realm of rover friendly recipes…

I got myself onto Pinterest on the hunt for healthy dog biscuit recipes and kitted up the kitchen, thinking that I would be whipping up wooftastic wafers in no time. Now, I started the Great Doggish Bake Off at approximatley 1pm and by 9pm, the oven was still fired up, there was rolled oats up the walls and Winston looked like he’d been in an attic for 18 years because he was covered, head to paw, in flour. I think that my fundamental mistake was attempting to try 3 different recipes at once. So, whilst the final results got the fur friends seal of approval, the process was a puggin’ nightmare.

The treats that I decided to make were-

1.  Peanut Butter and Banana Biccie Bones: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipe/homemade-peanut-butter-and-banana-dog-treats
2. Cheddar Cheese and Apple Cider Vinegar Biscuit
3. Doggy Donuts: http://www.theworktop.com/breakfast-brunch-recipes/breads-muffins-recipes/donut-dog-treats-peanut-butter-carob/

The peanut butter and banana mixture was super straight forward to make, but, trying to use the bone shaped biscuit cutter I’d purchased, to shape the little blighters, was like trying to plait fog. The mix got stuck to the inside of the  cutter and I spent the best part of 40 minutes scraping peanut butter off the shaper, with the back of a spoon and every other kitchen utensil within reach. The cheddar cheese biscuits were paws down the easiest thing I made. I will throw this out there and admit that I tried some of the finished, furbaby-friendly treats. All of the biscuits were edible for both human and hound, so curiosity got the better of me. Thankfully, curiosity (and the biscuits) didn’t kill the cat, dog or human and the taste of the cheese treats in particular, was pretty spot on. Moving on, the doggy donuts were possibly the most frustrating thing I have ever had the displeasure of making. Trying to manipulate the mixture into the shape of something Krispy Kreme would be proud of was tough. Winston had his eyes in me from start to finish and trying to roll, poke and prod doggy donuts whilst a hungry pug looks on is like starring in an episode of “The Cube”!

The hardest part of the whole palava was trying to make the biscuits look presentable. I always aim to make my baked treats as tasty as possible, but, in my opinion, the trick to making something taste even better lies in the food looking the dogs doodahs.  Hand me buttercream and the hundreds and thousands and I can whip you up a sponge that resembles a princess castle in 30 minutes flat, but, left with 3 sets of biscuits all in the same shade of brown and out of dog chocolate, I very nearly launched the entire lot out of the window. However, I reconsidered when I looked at Winston. He had been so patient. He had spent his entire day padding up and down the kitchen, on the off chance that something, anything, was ready for him to try and when he whipped out the puppy dog eyes, it was game over.

I needn’t have worried about the way the biscuits looked because Winston was obviously more than willing to be the taste tester and demolished everything he tried within 0.6 seconds. However, I’m still not sure whether, because he’d spent all day watching me struggle, he simply ate them out of sympathy. So, we sent samples to some local friends and some of our Instagram buddies… So far, so good but, perhaps if dogs could talk, they might have a thing or two to say about the appearance of the dodgy donuts!

So, what’s the verdict on my venture into dog biscuit baking? I love a challenge so, I will certainly be tackling treat making again in the future but, for the meantime I think I will stick to crafting cupcakes of the human kind and leave dog biscuits to the professionals. If I’ve learnt nothing else from my first attempt at dog biscuits, at least I now know that peanut butter can potentially be used as glue. You know what they say, you learn something new everyday!

 

Sophie xox

Welcome!

Hello!

Thank you for taking the time out to visit our blog and welcome to the wonderful world of Winston Wiggles.

This is officially, our very first blog post. Having spent the last 6 months finding our feet in the incredible Instagram community; documenting our days through images, we have been keen to branch out into the world of the dog blog for some time.

We hope to use the blog as a positive place for news, reviews and everything in between! Posts will be written from both mine and Winstons perspective, so keep your eyes peeled for Winstons first puppy post. He’s a very eloquent writer considering he doesn’t have thumbs…

To celebrate the launch of our blog, we have 3 doggy goodie bags to give away! To be in with a chance of winning one, follow us on Instagram and direct message us to give us the correct answer to Winstons riddle. The first 3 correct guessers will win one of the pawsome prizes! So, what the pug is Winston talking about?

“Attached to me like superglue,
I’ve not got hundreds but I’ve more than two,
When people see them, it’s love at first sight but,
My bark is still much worse than my bite…”

Good luck!

Pugs and kisses,

Sophie and Winston xox