gifts

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I am not, by nature or any other means, a fancy person. My idea of fancy is generally a restaurant where I don’t have to unwrap my food before I eat it, or maybe pouring my beer into a glass. Like I said, not fancy. (Or, to pronounce it the Southern way, “faintsy.”) And needless to say, my dogs aren’t fancy, either. Mainly I just try to keep them clean.

Just ’cause I’m not faintsy, though, doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate fancy things — especially when that fanciness is coupled with functionality. The swanky collars and leads from ironically named The Shabby Dog have matching wrist cuffs that attach to the leads for hands-free walking — so your hands are unencumbered to carry a water bottle, a purse, a newspaper, or to shake hands with random people on the street (which I imagine fancy people find themselves doing quite often).

Fetch wrist cuffs, leads, and collars separately at The Shabby Dog (including the Pupercise lead for half the price). And while you’re there, check out this traveling dog bowl. FAINTSY!

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These glasses from Fishs Eddy feature cartoonish drawings of dogs performing various tricks. You could use them as a training guide! Or to enjoy a cold, stiff one when your pups won’t behave.

(And if, like me, you have a thing for fun kitchen stuff and housewares, you’ll love Fishs Eddy.)

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Despite my love of writing, I’m a horrible at journaling. I know, as a writing exercise, I should do it — but only when being forced into it by the occasional college professor, and then with much wailing and gnashing of teeth, have I ever been able to keep up with it regularly. I do constantly and compulsively jot notes to myself, though, so I scampered over to Etsy this weekend to see what kind of handmade journals and notebooks I could find.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Left to right by row, from top:

Handprinted pug moleskine from Sarah Waterhouse

Swedish dog little blank notebook from macey mack design & illustration

Little Blue Dog mini journal from FuzzyMug

Refillable recycled notepad from Rags + Bones

The Dog Says notebook from Teal Stripes

Pointer eco spiral notebook from This Is It! Creations

Be sure to browse each shop – several of them offer a variety of breeds and breed types!

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I know it’s probably not cool to say, since it’s 2010 and I’m under the age of 55, but I totally love LL Bean. Seriously. I just ordered two shirts from them yesterday. Look, sometimes sensible clothes just MAKE SENSE, people, OK?

I’ll tell you what else makes sense — this nifty little Trailblazer Walking Light I peeped while I was over there orderin’ up my tank tops. It’s perfectly shaped for holding whilst you walk a dog, and it shines a light both down to your feet and at the path ahead. Plus, it’s got a neat little blinky red LED in the back to make you more visible to approaching motorists in the dark.

Fetch it from the one, the only — LL Bean.

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I’m totally crazy about the interwebs, but one unfortunate side effect of the ‘net I don’t like is the death knell it’s sounding for the traditional newspaper and subscription magazines. Luckily for me (as my appetite for magazines far outweighs the free time I have to actually read them) I have a Y2K-style stockpile of magazines in my living room likely to last me far into the twenty-teens.

This weekend I was flipping through a Bark issue from like 2008 and ran across a blurb about Dosha Dog collars. These classy collars from San Francisco are handmade from fine leather, brass, and gemstones, and I think they’re lurrrvely.

Dosha Dog’s Imperial Collection is new for Spring 2010, but I especially love their playful yet refined Petals line.

You can find Dosha Dog collars (leashes and harnesses, too!) at fine doggie stores throughout the USA and around the world.

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So, my husband and I don’t have children – just the dogs. I’m not really in the mood for kids right now, thankyouverymuch – I like the dogs just fine. So I certainly don’t consider myself an expert in parenting (although I often find myself observing situations in public wherein I’d kindly offer my two cents).

So I had always thought kids shouldn’t play with knives, but perhaps I was wrong? After all, I’ve just got dogs. (There was this one time, though, that Mingus came at me from the kitchen brandishing a steak knife in his mouth like he was contemplating matricide. Hilarious and horrifying all at once.)

Anyway, these cute little dog knives by Kuhn Rikon are meant to be used by kids — the blades are sharp enough to cut foods but not fingers, and the dogs’ ears act as guards to keep little hands from slipping onto the blades.

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Fetch them at Sur La Table.

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For your Wednesday viewing pleasure, here’s a teeny little roundup of some of my favorite dog jewelry I’ve seen on Etsy lately — for, as Clairee Belcher says, “The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize.”

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Clockwise, from top left:

Woman with Boston terrier vintage filigree necklace, ForTheCrossJewelry

“Dog Spirit” sterling pendant necklace, JessicaC

Balloon dog polymer clay pendant necklace, roscata

Smiling pit bull sterling pendant necklace, lulubugjewelry

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By my rough count, my husband and I own somewhere in the neighborhood of 9 dog leashes. Seeing as we only have two dogs, I guess that’s a little excessive. Wait a minute. That’s not counting the leash I keep in my car in case I run across a stray dog while I’m out. And I forgot about the two spare leashes I keep in the bedroom in case we have to escape through the window at night during a house fire. (Yes, I’ve accepted my crazy. Won’t you join us?) So where are we now, 12, 13 leashes?

Needless to say, I was super pumped when Sue from Pets Unleashed contacted me and asked if I’d like to take a look at one of their customized wrought-iron leash hooks. Oh, would I.

Pets Unleashed is an Ontario-based, family owned and operated company. They create awesome made-to-order, personalized leash holders (featuring your dog’s name) from 1/4-inch steel.

I hung the leash hook (using the enclosed screws) in our mudroom (which has been especially muddy these days, with all the melting snow outside). I really love the industrial, hand-forged look of the holder, especially coupled with the playful word “SNIFF.” (Since we have two dogs, I decided to go with a more generic, yet apropos, personalization.)

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Pets Unleashed sounds like such a great company, too. Formed by two families brought together by the friendship of their dogs, Barklee and Otis, they care about animal welfare and donate a portion of profits to charitable animal causes.

You can order a personalized Pets Unleashed leash hook online or by phone.

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I have a good friend who has perhaps a bigger Etsy addiction than I do. We both probably need to join some kind of support group or something. But it’s thanks to her I recently found the colorful and quirky pottery of Baton Rouge’s Barbara Donovan. Barbara’s whimsical, folk-artish pieces make me smile.

My favorite thing in Barbara’s shop? The Zombie Love coffee mug. (As the item’s description truthfully states, “Undead pets need love, too.”)

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If undead canines ain’t really your thang, there are plenty of other pups in Donovan’s shop to amuse and delight, such as the Bark Monster (below). I think I live with know this dog.

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Take a stroll through Barbara Donovan’s Etsy shop here.

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I saw A Tail of Two jewelry on Daily Kibble recently. I’m totally diggin’ the mixture of sweetness and toughness in these handmade pieces by Florida’s Jennifer Fernandez.

I’m crazy about that coat of arms necklace (top left), but that locket in the bottom right photo kinda makes my heart feel all warm and mushy and stuff.

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Check out all of Fernandez’s awesome designs (for humans and dogs) at A Tail of Two.

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