Wordless Wednesday: Things I Like

Fair Hill Challenge

I filled out the registration documents for my first official dog-powered race. The Fair Hill Challenge, hosted by the Pennsylvania Sled Dog Club, is December 10th and 11th, in Elkton, Maryland. I'll be competing in the 2-dog bikejor sportsman class.

I'm hoping to add a few more races before December, but details have yet to be posted for any Jersey Sands events. I'll also be picking up my custom-made sled from Arctic Star sleds at Fair Hill!

If anyone is interested in attending a race or checking out a training session, just let me know. There's usually room in the truck for anyone willing to support my weird hobbies.

Edit: The first Jersey Sands Sled Dog Racing Association race is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The second is December 3rd. Be there! If you want. ;)

Product Review: Dura-Ruff® Dog Bed

Dexter wasn't much of a chewer. He had his same old dog bed for a few years, with minimal damage inflicted upon it. Enter Denali into the equation, along with her recent fixation with removing stuffing. After being left along with the bed on a few occasions, either gated in my kitchen or in a crate, Denali eventually tore it up enough to be deemed unfit. Aside from no longer being stuff-able, I have a somewhat irrational fear of my dogs ingesting stuffing and getting blockages.

With Denali's new bad habit in mind, I decided it was time to invest in a durable, "chew-proof" dog bed. I decided to go with Doctors Foster and Smith's Dura-Ruff Dog Bed. I bought the smallest size, because the dogs tend to curl up tight when they sleep on beds, and I only wanted it to take up a small portion of the crate. I paid $40 plus shipping for the bed, which is more than double what I paid for Dexter's previous bed. That being said, $40 was still very affordable, compared to other durable dog beds.

This bed is advertised as "super tough" and "tear-resistant". I figured it would last a few months, at the very least. Like I said, Dexter isn't a chewer. Denali is persistent, but her mouth isn't too strong -- she's still only a 6-month-old puppy. All I wanted was a bed that could hopefully outlast her chewing phase.

After the bed arrived, I removed it from the box and placed it towards the back of the dogs' big crate. It was considerably "puffy" from being stuffed in the shipping box and needed to be flattened out a bit before use. Dexter, being the go-getter that he is, hopped onto the bed and started stomping around on it. He held the bed with his mouth while stomping, to keep it in place. This is just what he does whenever he's getting ready to lie down.

Less than two minutes go by, and what do I hear? RIIIIP. Yep, that's right. This super tough, tear-resistant bed had a tooth-sized hole cut right in the middle of the bed. Not on a seam or near the zipper -- right in the middle of the so-called "tough" fabric. To avoid any further damage, I shooed Dexter away and hid the hole. The next test would be Denali.

I had to pick up some milk from a store around the corner, so I decided to crate Denali with the bed and see how it fared. I was gone for no more than ten minutes. When I returned, she had successfully chewed a rather large hole into the middle of the bed (unrelated to Dexter's tooth hole). She had gone through the cover, through the interior pad and into the stuffing. Again, this hole wasn't along a seam or the zipper. It was right in the middle of the fabric.


I removed the bed (fear of blockages) and packed it back up. I contacted Doctors Foster and Smith, and they agreed to provide a refund for the product. I still had to pay for the return shipping, but they didn't charge a restocking fee. I sent the package back on Saturday, so it will likely be a few days before I see my refund.

I honestly didn't expect this bed to be totally indestructible. I imagined it would eventually be torn up. But within minutes? That just isn't right. Even the crummy dog bed I had previously lasted longer than this so-called durable bed.

I decided to leave a review for this product, since I felt so strongly about it. I didn't want anyone to buy this bed and leave it alone with their tough-chewer. A wad of bedding material stuck in the intestines can be a huge vet bill, or even worse, deadly. I posted the review to their website, along with the above photo. I explained how Dexter tore a hole in the bed accidentally, and how Denali quickly and easily chewed into the bed. A day or two later, I received this message:

Your opinion is very important to us and the Drs. Foster and Smith community. We appreciate you taking the time to write a review about Dura-Ruff Dog Bed Small 36" x 21" Color: Gray Dura-Ruff. Unfortunately your review did not meet our guidelines for posting on our site.

We encourage you to review our guidelines and resubmit your review about Dura-Ruff Dog Bed Small 36" x 21" Color: Gray Dura-Ruff.Thanks for being an active member of the Drs. Foster and Smith community.

Sincerely,

Drs. Foster and Smith

I was baffled. I read their guidelines to see where I went wrong. First, they suggest that when writing a review, "Focus on the product and your individual experience using it." I did precisely that. I gave a pretty vivid account of how my experience unfolded. Next, they suggest that you, "Provide details about why you liked or disliked the product." I was pretty clear -- the product was not as advertised, and I was afraid the stuffing would land my dogs in the vet. Lastly, they state, "All submitted reviews are subject to terms set forth in our Terms of Use." I guess that means that can do whatever they want with reviews.

I still didn't understand why my review was rejected. The guidelines go on to say the following:

We reserve the right not to post your review if it contains any of the following types of content or violates other guidelines:

• Obscenities, discriminatory language, or other language not suitable for a public forum (Of course I didn't do any of this)
• Advertisements, “spam” content, or references to other products, offers, or websites (Didn't do this)
• Email addresses, URLs, phone numbers, physical addresses or other forms of contact information (Or this)
• Critical or spiteful comments on other reviews posted on the page or their authors (Or any of this)

I e-mailed them back, requesting a copy of my review, since I can't access it anywhere and it was rather long. I'll post the exact review here if I can get it -- although my review on this blog is basically the same. Any company that refuses to post a review, for no obvious reason other than it was negative, really loses my respect. I won't be ordering from them again.

I hope I can counter this entry with a product that provides a solution for tough chewers. Until then, the hunt continues!

Update: This is the review I tried to leave on their website, but they would not publish:

My dog tore a hole in this bed within seconds of getting it out of the box. He wasn't even chewing on it, just holding it in his mouth while pawing the bedding to flatten it out. He often does this before lying down, so he certainly didn't intend to rip it. I hid the initial hole and left the bed in a crate with my 6-month-old puppy for 10 minutes. Not surprisingly, when I returned, she had successfully chewed through the cover and into the stuffing. She is a persistent chewer, but she's small and doesn't have industrial-strength jaws. I can't imagine this would hold up against a bigger, stronger dog. I immediately removed the bed. I cannot leave it with them, for fear they might ingest the stuffing material. That's a vet bill I'd rather not have.

Sick

I've been sick since Sunday night. Nothing serious, just a sore throat that has since migrated into a sinus... thing. I tried to walk the dogs yesterday, since they've been going stir-crazy. Between the rain, the random hot weather, and my cold, they really haven't gone out enough. I'm not sure if it was pent up energy on their part, or sickly me being weaker than normal, but I was fairly certain that if I tripped and fell, they would have kept trucking along, dragging my corpse behind them. Luckily, I didn't fall, and the relatively warm temperature (70ish degrees) eventually slowed them down.

Colder weather is coming. Here's hoping I'm better soon and get to enjoy it! This mofo wants to camp.

P.S. Don't forget about the My Memories Software Giveaway! So far there's only ONE flippin' entry. Enter now, your chance to win is verrrry good!

My Memories Free Software Giveaway

Hey guys! As I mentioned in my previous post, I was given the opportunity to test out the My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking software from MyMemories.com. First, let me just say, I've always loved the concept of scrapbooking. I used to walk up and down the craft stores' scrapbook aisles, drooling over all the adorable paper, borders, patterns, and stickers.

Did I ever make a single scrapbook? Nope.

Designing scrapbooks always seemed a bit too time-consuming, a bit too expensive, and a bit too difficult (given my OCD tendencies). I couldn't bring myself to buy a beautiful, $5 embellishment piece, for fear that once I applied glue and stuck it to a page, I wouldn't like the outcome.

So how do you get around that? Easy -- and it's the same reason I chose to be a graphic designer -- just use a computer! The My Memories Suite has many of the adorable papers, stickers, ribbons, and embellishments of traditional scrapbooking, but it's about a thousand times easier. If you don't like the way something looks, you can delete it and start over. Or click and drag it to a different spot. Finally, scrapbookers are free from the shackles of glue!



I am very impressed with the scrapbook software. The samples I've included on this entry only took a few seconds to make, using the templates provided with the program. As a graphic designer, I'm pretty particular about design software. Photoshop alone can cost hundreds and it isn't easy to master.

My Memories has the intuitive keyboard shortcuts, controls, and overall feel of a program costing way more than $39.97. Plus, it's easy to use and expandable. If you can't find what you're looking for within the program, you can visit MyMemories.com for new kits. And from what I can tell, they're adding new stuff constantly.

Of course, one of the joys of scrapbooking would be the end result: a tactile scrapbook. My Memories doesn't just abandon you with a digital creation. If your little, cut-out heart desires, you can have your scrapbook printed in various styles and sizes. You can also turn your artwork into a calendar or greeting card. Plus about a dozen other features I have yet to explore. They've really covered all the bases and have built a nice community of digital scrapbookers.

Now that you've heard all about the software, here's your chance to win your own FREE copy! Here's how to enter: 

1. Visit MyMemories.com. 

2. Choose your favorite digital scrapbooking kit. 

3. Comment on this blog entry with your choice. 

It's that simple! But wait! Get up to three additional contest entries by following the My Memories BLOG, FACEBOOK, and TWITTER pages. Be sure to include your Facebook and Twitter names in your comment (on this blog entry) so that I know you have more entries to count!

One more thing! Even if you don't win the scrapbook software, you can STILL get a real nice discount on it! As a special gift to all my readers, My Memories has provided me with a Share the Memories coupon code! You'll get a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store. That's right, this coupon will save you $20!  

Just use the coupon code STMMMS76158 when you order!

I hope you guys enjoyed my first software review! Enter the giveaway and take advantage of the coupon codes. And if scrapbooking isn't your thing, you can shoot me an e-mail and let me know what kind of stuff you'd like me to review next. I'll see what I can do!

Let Water Wash Away

Last weekend, Hurricane Irene tore through the Northeast. Some areas were hit worse than others. We were lucky -- we have no basement to flood and we were only without power for about 15 hours. Oh, and no trees fell near us, thank godzilla. The lake and streams around our neighborhood flooded worse than I have ever seen. A week later, almost every house has a pile of flood-damaged items sitting on the curb. It's a shame, but it certainly could have been worse.

In happier news, yesterday was our annual Labor Day barbecue. Despite a crappy weather forecast, the rain held off all day. The town canceled the fireworks, but I think the day was still an overall success. If you're not from South Plainfield, you don't quite understand the importance of Labor Day. I also get to share the day with a ton of friends, both new and old, and many that I only see a few times a year.

When I move out of this town, I'll surely be back the first Monday of September. Always.

P.S. I just got an e-mail from My Memories and it looks like I'll be hosting a giveaway for them -- right here on my blog! Check back in a day or two, I'll be posting a review of their scrapbook software, some coupons, and giveaway details! :)