DOGS BIRTHDAY PARTY

ICY's FABULOUS DOG BIRTHDAY PARTY!  

Recently, it was my dog Icy's 15th birthday party. 15 is a big birthday, especially for a dog, so I wanted to make it as fun and special for her as I could. 

I had big plans for this birthday bash, and it was terrific! However, I didn't get to do everything I planned. Isn't that always the way - you have big plans but you end up scrapping some of it because life just gets in the way.

Icy and Jessie enjoying some dog birthday cake!

But I'm not complaining, it was an awesome dog party and it's a day I'll always cherish.

DOG BIRTHDAY PARTY STUFF 

 

Once I had my ridiculously grandiose plan for Icy's party, I needed to actually go out and get all the birthday party stuff I'd need.

Once I scaled down the dog birthday bash and got back to reality, here's what I actually did have for her birthday.

First up, my girl had to have a beautiful birthday cake! If I wanted to get really ambitious about it, I could have found a great dog birthday cake recipe and made her a birthday cake myself. But why would I when there's a wonderful dog bakery where I could easily buy a fabulous dog birthday cake near me. It's right next door to the grocery store we go to every week, so that's a no brainer! Right? 

They always have frozen dog birthday cakes available. Their dog cakes are beautiful and obviously delicious. I know that because my dogs LOVE their birthday cakes!

Icy's beautiful birthday cake and party hats

Needless to say, my dog's birthday cake was a huge hit with both Icy and little Jessie!

DOG BIRTHDAY SUPPLIES 

Dog Birthday Decorations 

Last year for Icy's birthday party I had pink and white balloons and pink streamers. I loved that, it looked so pretty! 

Unfortunately, this year I didn't do balloons or streamers. I actually bought more streamers. I was going to decorate with both pink and purple streamers but that didn't happen. I ran out of time and I ran out of steam! I didn't stress about it though, Icy didn't notice and neither did anyone else.

So my big dog party decoration bargain was the adorable Happy birthday sign I got at the dollar store! Only $1.25 for this cute, colorful birthday sign. I love it, and even if I went to an expensive party store I don't think I'd find one I liked better.

The Happy Birthday sign I got at the dollar store

The Piece de resistance of all the party decorations was (drumroll please!) the party hats I made for the dogs! OK, so really it was THE party hat I made for Icy our Birthday Girl. I made a cute one for Jessie too, which she refused to wear for more than 3 minutes LOL!

It took me 2 days, but I made a beautiful party hat for Icy. I wanted her to have a really special birthday party hat. Not to toot my own horn, but I think it came out great! I'm actually quite proud of it. It wasn't easy and it was time consuming, but so worth it!

Icy and Jessie wearing their birthday party hats!

I didn't know if Icy would cooperate and wear her party hat. But I swear I feel like she knew it was something very special just for her. We got that hat right on her no problem, and she wore it the whole time with no objections whatsoever! I got some adorable photos and video of her in her party hat. I will cherish that hat and the memory of her wearing it while happily chomping on birthday cake, forever!

My dogs birthday party hats

Making the party hats are probably why I ran out of time to do much else, LOL!

Dog birthday presents

It wouldn't be a birthday party without presents, would it? Icy got some presents that she loves! She got several bags of treats and chew sticks which these days are her favorite things.  She also got a couple of toys, which Jessie has been diligently attempting to steal at every turn! That's doggie sibling rivalry for you - not much different than human sibling rivalry. They always seem to want what the other one has!

 

Some of Icy's presents and her cake!

Even though my big dog birthday party plan got scaled down a bit, it was a wonderful time! Dogs and people alike had so much fun. It was great to see Icy being treated like the beautiful Princess she is. 👑

Here's a cute video of Icy and Jessie chowing down on birthday cake! (No sound, 45 seconds)

I am so ....

THANKFUL FOR MY DOGS

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On a more serious note, recently Hurricane Helene has devastated Florida's West coast, leaving a wave of disaster in communities all the way up to Virginia! Disasters like this drive home the importance of Emergency Preparedness. No matter where you live being prepared for an emergency is imperative, and should include our pets too! 

People can, and should, take their furry family members with them when evacuating. Preparing early helps families be prepared to take pets with them in the event of an emergency or disaster. Our prayers go out to all the people and pets impacted by this monster hurricane. 💔

I have an Emergency Go bag for both myself and my husband, and my dogs. To avoid scrambling to find all the items needed to evacuate our home with our dogs, I had created an Emergency Preparedness Checklist for Dogs for myself. I now offer it for sale as a downloadable file in my Etsy Shop for $1.50. It can be printed and filled out manually, or used digitally on your Phone, PC, or Tablet. It can help pet parents prepare to take pets with them in the event of an emergency or disaster.

Emergency Preparedness Checklist
for Dogs and other Pets

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Please Stay Safe out there 🩷

DOG FRIENDLY VACATION IN THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS

We fell in love with the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains the first time we went with our dogs! We discovered this great dog friendly vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains by chance, when another vacation plan with the dogs fell through. We needed to quickly find a different dog friendly vacation destination. But I'm so glad we found this North Carolina mountain area - talk about a happy accident! 

This is the second year we took Icy to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Last time we had a wonderful vacation hiking with our dogs along the trails in Boone, NC. That trip was a bit more rugged as Icy was much stronger then, even though it was only one year earlier.  

You can see how strong she was in the below video. We all had a Blast on that trip! It's a treasured memory with my beautiful Husky, and I feel so blessed to have been able to experience it with her. She is a senior dog now, at age 15, so we need to adjust to her capabilities. 

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IMPORTANT: As of September 28, 2024 much of the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains, including Boone and surrounding towns, have been devastated by Hurricane Helene. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the wonderful people of Boone, and others who have been devastated by this monster hurricane. We hope they can all rebuild and move forward as soon as possible. Food and Water are being airlifted to hard to reach areas of the North Carolina mountains. As with most natural disasters, much of the communications have been lost. If you need help locating missing family members in the mountains of North Carolina, the Red Cross has a hotline to help you reconnect with those affected by Helene. Call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767), select Disaster. They will try to help locate missing people. People can also use this line to list themselves as safe. Here's a link to the FEMA Hurricane Helene information web site.

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We will continue to enjoy taking our dog on adventures whether they be long or brief, challenging or easy, for as long as she is able. Senior dogs don't need to be left on the sidelines! They can and should still enjoy the beauty of the outdoors, with all the stimulating smells and sounds. They just need to do it in a slightly different way.

Not every Blue Ridge Mountain outing with dogs has to be a strenuous or challenging hike. There are beautiful walking trails all around the area. Like The Middle Fork Greenway Trail which is a lovely, easier trail with two quaint bridges that cross a pretty flowing stream. We all enjoyed the beauty of this trail. Here's a short video of Icy on this lovely walking trail (video contains music).

Excerpt from the ExploreBoone website: The Middle Fork Greenway project, led by the Blue Ridge Conservancy,  has been in development since 2013. Eventually, the Greenway will be an uninterrupted walking, biking, and hiking path that follows the Middle Fork of the New River all the way from Blowing Rock to Boone's existing Greenway trail.

Another thing we enjoyed doing with our senior dog is simply relaxing at great dog friendly coffee shops. We found 3 great cafes in the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountain area that we visited pretty much every day! My husband and I really enjoyed it and so did Icy. Whether it was after a nice leisurely walk or after a very short mountain hike, Icy loved it. She loves to people watch and get occasional pets from folks passing by!

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I know how much our pet's health means to all of us. Keeping close tabs on their health is essential. My Husky Icy is 15 years old and experiencing some different health concerns. I was having trouble keeping up with all of Icy's vet visits and new medications, so I created a Pet Health Tracker to keep track of her Vet visits, Medications and preventative treatments, Vaccinations (our Vet recently waived several of them), and more. 

Now I can easily organize her healthcare details in one place. I loved my Pet Health Care Tracker so much I decided to offer it for sale in my Etsy shop!

Complete Pet Health Care Tracker

This brief slideshow clearly shows you each page of the Pet Health Tracker:

Both a Printable and Digital format are included in the low price of $3.50  And, for a limited time I'm including a valuable Pet Emergency Preparedness Checklist as a Free Gift with Purchase! 

The Pet Health Tracker is an instant download product, so upon purchase you'll have access to the files. Visit my Etsy Shop and check it out!

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