It’s a ‘Ruff Christmas’

2020 will be a Christmas like no other. One could call it a ‘ruff year’! 

 

With lockdowns, quarantines, home-offices and other restrictions to our normal lifestyle home has become our number 1 destination. Which means someone is happy: Our fur kids. Finally mommy and daddy spend more time with the pack and this means more cuddles, walkies, and indulging in giving as much LOVE as possible. So it comes to no surprise that Pet merchandise is expected to be one of the top gift-giving categories this holiday season. It is time to spoil your pups, especially if they have been good doggies. And as we know, no matter how naughty – NICE always wins.

 

So here are some of Cooka’s favourite Woofmas ideas for this Season

 

 

Christmas Carols for dogs

Yes! Hearing the same old songs over and over and over again, has until now been reserved for hooman ‘torture’ (this is what daddy told mommy, but she doesn’t agree) only. But now we dogs can join the fun too as this year a Woofmas song was released, just for us! “Raise the Woof” was created based on scientific research into the ways dogs react to sounds. It uses a reggae beat, sounds of bells, squeaky toys and owners’ instructions to elicit a response from our doggie ears. I did some research on YouTube and it seems a lot of fur-friends are getting very excited about it! Signs that we doggies are enjoying the track include that look of ‘alertness ‘, trying to discover where the sounds are coming from, head cocking, or moving their ears to get a better listen, as well as tails wagging…!

By the way, the song was recorded at Abbey Road, the London music studio made famous by The Beatles! Now that is tailwag big time!

 

 

Furbo Dog Cam

The Furbo is an interactive dog camera with a connected app that lets you see, talk, and even give treats to your dog when you’re away. At the moment our hoomans are still home-bound, but once life returns to kind of normal, we will start missing our pack-pawrents again, so furbo is the pawfect solution! It is very easy to download the app on your phone, connect to the Furbo, and have it all up-and-running within a few minutes.

This is almost like magic!!!

 

Thundershirt

You may wonder what that could mean? Some noisy shirt for us dogs? No! Actually the opposite, a thundershirt is a calming vest for dogs with anxieties.

Some Dogs can be anxious or fearful for many reasons: like thunderstorms, fireworks, travel, vet visits, separation anxiety and…The vest works by applying gentle pressure around the torso, just like a comforting and continuous hug. The say that the Thundershirt helps to calm and reduce anxiety in over 80% of dogs! From a Chihuahua to a Great Dane, millions of dogs have already been helped by the calming effects of this innovation.

We would love to hear from you, in case you tried it.

 

 

Heated Basket

As the temperature drops, there are lots of ways to keep your doggie warm, like snuggling up together or wearing warming clothing such as sweaters, hoodies, vests or jackets. Just like hoomans will sometimes reach for an electric blanket when the temperature dips, a heated dog bed for your pet can come in handy for a lot of uses during the coldest months of the year. A common-sense precaution is that “if it’s too cold for you, it’s too cold for our fur-kids’.

There are two varieties of warming beds: heated from an electrical source or self-heating. A “self-warming” bed comes usually with an inner layer of soft material that reflects heat back on to your dog. In other words, it emphasizes their own body’s heat with no electric cords needed. 

The second option is a heated basket ,which works just like a heated blanket. I prefer the ones where heat can be regulated and made from pet-friendly materials. After all, we will be spending plenty of time in here.

 

 

Baking day

You might think that with my job as a baker I would not be interested in yet another baking day. But a Woofmas Bakeout at home is soooo much fun. Mommy puts her music and lots of candles and even daddy has to wear a chef hat and an apron. Everypawdy joins the fun and there is lots of cookie tasting.

This year mommy did a ‘divide-bake’. Half the recipe has sugar for our sweet pawrents and the other half has cheese for us. Here is one of our favourite Woofmas recipes for doggies:

60ml bone broth (room temperature)

• 2 happy chicken eggs
• 280g spelt flour (or your flour of choice)
• 160g grated cheese (low salt, no additives)
• 120ml vegetable oil (we like virgin sunflower oil or pork fat)

Place the flour, cheese and oil into a food processor and gently mix until the mixture resembled a coarse meal. 

Beat together the broth and eggs and now drizzle this mixture into the food processor, small amounts a time until the dough becomes a ball.  Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead a few times. Your dough is ready for rolling and cutting into doggie-like shapes.

Bake in the preheated oven at 160C for 40-50min. Keep an eye on the treats, not to get too burned.

PS: For a healthy glaze we recommend yogurt or cream-cheese.

 

 

Tree decorating

This year we created our special bolinhas – crunchy cookie balls that come in a cone to hang on your Woofmas tree. They look really pawsome (so your parents will approve) and the best part – we can eat them! (bad news – Bohemia has discovered this way too early and now our beautiful tree is naked again…)

 

 

WOOOOF, WOOOOF, your Cooka