Day Seven of Green Gifts and Tips: Squishy Stuffers and Spoiling the Dogs

Day Seven:
Looking for something unique to stuff in a stocking? Try Guyot Designs squishy bowls. These compact silicone bowls easily fit in the toe of a stocking, pocket of a purse, or bottom of a backpack. Pull them out and they snap back into shape! Eat or drink from them. These cool bowls are also dishwasher and freezer safe. $14.95/set of one bowl and one cup. Also available in travel shot size, $6.95 for two.

Tip of the Day: Pets add value to our lives and of course we want to express our affection for them as well. Our dogs have stockings hanging on the mantle waiting to be filled. Squishy Bowls are a fun food dish. If you are looking for a collar or coat, we love Annie's Sweatshop. Annie makes quality durable dog gear from recycled and reclaimed material.


If buying new toys isn't in your budget, maybe your beasts would enjoy a handmade batch of treats? Here's our recipe for dog cookies, from MacPherson's K-9 Cookbook:
3 cupes whole wheat flour
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup shredded cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk

1. In large mixing bowl, combine flour and garlic powder.
2. Make a well in the flour mixture and gradually stir in vegtable oil, cheese, beaten egg, and milk until well blended.
3. Knead dough on a floured surface, about 3-4 minutes.
4. Roll dough to 1/2 inch thickness.
5. Cut with cookie cutter, or into squares, and place on lightly greased baking sheet.
6. Back for 25 minutes at 400 deg F
7. Cool on a rack and store at room temperature with a container with a loose-fitting lid.

Sometimes the Hounds are bad

Devie and Hawise are sometimes not the best hounds.

We have had a big bag of birdseed sitting in the kitchen for two weeks. Tonight, something got into them and they decided to tip the bag and eat to their hearts content while we were away. Bad Dogs!

Not only did we have a mess of spilled bird seed to clean up tonight, surely there will be remains to cleanup in the backyard for the next few days. Ewww!

Moral of the story: Don't leave food or nearly food in reach of hungry hounds. Birdseed qualifies as nearly food, apparently.

Reusable Bag Winner!

Caffeine Queen is the winner of our reusable bag contest! Congratulations! As soon as I get confirmation of your choice, an OLovesM ecoclutch or Green Guru Gear billboard tote will be in the mail to you.

A big thank you to everyone who entered and wished me a happy birthday. :) Our consolation prize is a $5 off $25 coupon. Use the code 'getgreen' at checkout to receive this discount anytime before Oct. 19, 2008.

And a bit of truly random knowledge to go with the random pictures of Hawise above: My Dad emailed me this Wiki page in a happy birthday email today. Apparently if I had been born in 1582 in Italy, Poland, Portugal or Spain, my birthday could not have been October 9. In 1582, those countries were switching calendars and skipped from October 4 to October 15. Strange but true!

Gratuitous Hound Pictures

Lillian (3 on September 25) loves to take pictures. Her favorite subjects? The hounds, up close and personal:

Devie ear

Hawise ear

Hawise face


Devie midsection









Dogs begging while Rachel cooks

Annie's Sweatshop Harness for Hawise

The new pup Hawise needed a harness. I browsed at Etsy and found Annie's Sweatshop, a maker of dog accessories from re-purposed materials. I measured Hawise and ordered from Annie's website where she makes custom harnesses.



A few days ago the harness arrived in the mail. I am impressed with how well made and sturdy the harness is. The loop for leash attachment is double stitched and runs the length of the back. The whole harness is interfaced and lined. The harness attaches around the neck and chest with adjustable velcro thick enough that Hawise can't escape by scratching or chewing at it. It's hard to judge comfort seeing as how dogs can't talk, but Hawise does not scratch or try to wriggle out, so I have to conclude it is cozy.



Annie was a delight to work with and sent a few extras with the package, including handmade treats for the dogs. If you find yourself in the market for a dog harness, leash, or collar, we heartily recommend Annie's Sweat Shop.

Photoshoot for Guyot Designs

Yesterday I tried to take some pictures of our new Guyot Designs gear in the rare spring sunlight here. I had three "helpers" - Devie the coonhound, Hawise the mini-hound, and Lil, the toddler. The few good pics will be on the website soon. In the meantime, here are some outtakes:

Welcome to our newest Hound

Earlier today, we adopted a 1 year old eight pound dauchshund mix from the Capital Area Humane Society. We named her Hawise (haw-wiss) after an ancient relative of Alex's. They are both snuggling next to me as I type. :)

Hound in the Blizzard

We live in Columbus OH where there is a blizzard today! We have about 12 inches of snow on the ground with more coming down. Lots of wind is blowing it around into drifts as high as two feet. Our amazing mail carrier still arrived to pick up packages, so hopefully customers will not notice any delay.

The hound

Alex taking his bike with snow tires out to the market. The way there (downhill) he managed to stay on the bike, but he walked the uphill slope on the way home

New SIGGs and Anniversary Celebration Sale

It's Sunday, and as promised, new SIGG designs are listed! We are loving the nature inspired designs, and there are more great choices to come soon. Also,

Happy Anniversary Baying Hound!

Baying Hound has been successful for two years as of this February 14! To celebrate we are offering 10 percent off any order of $22 or more through the end of our anniversary month. Use coupon code 'ANNIVERSARY' for this discount.

Like the new logo and header?

I designed and added a new logo and header to the webstore and blog. Colors on all marketing will be changing to royal eggplant purple, cream, and evergreen too. Like?

Devie Pirate

We were looking at old pictures today and came across the Devie pirate. Yarrrr!

Hound + Kid + Food = Funny

We ran out of dog food today. This afternoon we shopped at PetPeople, the most upstanding local pet store, to replenish our supply. (Of course, we also had to go next door to Clintonville Outfitters, hands down the best Columbus outdoor store.)

Walking up the stairs to our house, our daughter was babbling about "Devie barking. Running round." She and the hound both know the drill: dog food day is the best day ever.

Watch what happened next:

We went to meet Noodles, the hound puppy I wrote about a few days ago. He was adorable, to be sure. But right now is not the right time for us to have a puppy.

In fact, Alex is in France and Morocco on business the next two weeks! He will post some reviews and news items here when he gets a chance.

We have been half heartedly looking for a small-ish young-ish hound dog to add to the joy and chaos that is the Baying Hound life. My sister just called from the animal shelter where she works. Guess what? They have a 16 pound 18 month old male basset/beagle mix named Noodles. Dare I go look at him? Can we really handle another dog???

Here you see Devie, the patriotic namesake of Baying Hound Ltd. Her only contributions to the company are publicity shots like this and alerting us to delivery persons.