Freddy and The Storm

15/05/2023

I got to go out with my boys on a little Mother’s Day ice cream outing yesterday!

We’ve been making incredible strides with Freddy lately it’s insane. I never want to post or talk about it because I’m afraid I’ll jinx it. But our boy has been doing soooo well lately so we thought we’d give a public outing a shot and he was a rockstar 😭 he got a little vanilla ice cream and was able to sniff happily around the shop.

I will ALWAYS be a advocate for utilizing training tools (ecollars, prong collars, muzzles, etc) but it was honestly such an incredible experience to just toss on his collar with a leash and head out. It felt so good, I felt so safe and so secure. I felt so confident.

‼️We ARE KEEPING OUR TOOLS‼️…… don’t get it twisted. But, it really solidified for me that this work we’ve been putting in is what we’re supposed to be doing. For a long time, I have CLUNG to our tools for pure safety reasons. For liability. For full control in case of the “what if” and out of fear Freddy would attack an animal or person. I clung to them because I didn’t have faith we’d be okay. I was just too anxious.
(Hint: a lot of “our” progress is because I’ve been working on myself 😉)

I feel like we’re FINALLY finding “Freddy’s formula” in full and I couldn’t be happier. I can’t wait to slowly share what we’ve done and how we’ve done it as it is a HUGE reason we’ve been quiet here. I hope you all understand we had to put ourselves first before this page 😘

I hope all the dog mommas and human mommas had an incredible day out there yesterday ❤️
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25/04/2023

Took Stormy on an amazing walk. She took in all the sniffs, got to see the water, but is pi**ed because I wouldn’t let her play with all the dogs in the neighborhood or the new puppy next door. Sassy girl 😂
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17/04/2023

Happy !

The pups are having a midday romp in the backyard. I snapped this photo and couldn’t help to get a little emotional.

These guys have grown so much in the last two years. We’ve all put in a lot of hard work.

A few years ago it was a HUGE risk to even attempt to muzzle Freddy. Now, his muzzle is his most used piece of equipment and has helped us get so far.

Happy everyone! Don’t forget to step back and appreciate the work you’ve put in for your pups ❤️
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10/04/2023

Big shoutout to our favorite local pet store, !

Ever since we moved to New Jersey, this is where we’ve gotten all of our needs for the dogs. They sell , plus a wide variety of raw food, supplements, toys, various exotic animals, and more! They are always so sweet and loving to Stormy when we come in, they absolutely love when clients bring their dogs in to use that time to work on socialization.

Every time we visit Bills Wonderland of Pets we’re met with an absolutely amazing team. They are so educated on pet care and nutrition. They usually fix more things for us than the vet can 😂 we’ve found our favorite probiotic through them as well as a large variety of chews for both Freddy and Stormy! You know it’s good when we can find chews for Stormy 😏

If you’re in the South Jersey/Philly area, I highly recommend checking out Bills Wonderland of Pets for all your pet care needs!
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07/04/2023

Who is ready for the weekend?!

Dog mom here- I definitely am. So much so that I spent the morning giving the dogs some good love… and now I’m at the airport waiting to hop on a plane to Nashville to see my bestie!

The pups are being left in the very capable hands of dog dad this weekend. I was sad leaving but… the dogs are actually very excited so I’m just gonna keep it moving 🤣🤣

Any fun weekend plans for you guys out there??
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04/04/2023

As I think ALL of you know, we care very much about nutrition in our house! As you can see… Freddy cares VERY much about eating 😂

Dog dad and I love our weekly meal plan we’re on, and every morning we start our day with a glass of greens to make sure we’re getting all the nutrition we need.

Why greens? Many greens like lettuce, cabbage, kale, etc are RICH in vitamins and minerals like iron, potassium, calcium, vitamin A, C and k! Very simple ingredients that pack a bit punch, I’m into it💁🏻‍♀️

We have always made sure the pups get the greens they’re supposed to as well! No matter if we fed kibble, DIY raw, commercial raw, dehydrated raw, etc. the dogs have always gotten greens in their food, whether already formulated into the diet or added on by us!

When they were kibble fed, I always made sure they had fresh broccoli chopped up for them to add on top for a bit of added nutrition and FRESHNESS.

When we switched to DIY raw, I began making green blends from spinach, zucchini, broccoli and kale by boiling and puréing them, then freezing them in molds to make adding them to their food easier!

Now that they’re fed , they automatically have their greens included in their diet so we don’t have to take the extra step which is very convenient for this busy dog mom 😂 Their diets contain broccoli, kelp, celery, spinach and more depending on the formulation!

Do you feed your pups greens? How do you do it? Share in the comments!
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29/03/2023

2 years ago today we brought home our little baby Stormy as a foster to adopt.

I never would’ve been able to predict how this little girl would change our world. She’s been such a blessing in more ways than I can count.

I love you little girl ❤️
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13/03/2023

The power of two 💜 There is no better duo than Freddy and Jamal 🥰

Freddy’s age has been creeping up on us and making him feel a bit not like himself so to change it up a bit, I sent him to for a few days to hang with his crew.

We sent along his and they were a hit with the entire staff! They were able to work on his “out” command, switching targets, running, spins, and overall just having fun with playtime.

Always thankful for the support we get from our trainers at JK9U 💜

Shoutout to .215 for the incredible photo 📸
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05/03/2023

Fun fact: Freddy is 9 years old and has only ever had 1 dental in his whole life.

How could that be? His raw diet + chewing on raw meaty bones.

My entire life as a dog owner I’ve never bought into the excessive dental products on the market- greenies, I’m looking at you. Instead of feeding kibble or a high starch chews that lead to build up and plaque on the teeth, we just feed a fresh raw food diet and provide fresh meaty bones to chew on.

Raw meat contains live enzymes that help with digestion and breakdown nutrients- these enzymes also help with breaking down the biofilm that builds up on the teeth containing bacteria that leads to decay and bad breath. Combine that with the manual chewing and scraping that comes with both eating raw food and chewing on raw meaty bones, you’ve got yourself some clean chompers!

Now, Stormy cannot have raw meaty bone so it’s *imperative* that we keep her on a fully raw diet. We found nuggets are the best option for her as they are QUICK defrosting so we don’t have to worry about feeding her frozen food causing her teeth to crack.

If you’re looking to improve your pets dental health, start soaking your kibble with water to rehydrate it, incorporate fresh foods like raw meat, and give your pups raw meaty bones chew on! I bet you you’ll see a change in their dental health 🦷🪥😁🍖
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02/03/2023

It’s no secret we’re kinda obsessed with raw feeding. There are so many benefits to feeding raw- better coat, improved dental health, healthier skin, better stool, etc.

But- I found there were way more benefits than that. After feeling swindled by kibble companies selling us bags of larva infested food, we started trying different raw brands. I wanted to find a good, reputable company with responsible practices and we found shortly after!

What stands out to us about Steve’s?

Really: the ingredients. I can go on their website and find EACH AND EVERY ingredient source. Do you know where they get their chicken from? From Draper Valley Farms. And where they get their honey? From Flying Bee Ranch. Each and EVERY ingredient you can easily find the source and look into the practices by these farmers, ensuring we are getting high quality ingredients from reputable suppliers 🥰

This led me to poking through their website for more information on their brand overall, and I was just so impressed. Their packaging is currently made from a plant based material or 100% post consumer waste BUT they are working toward biodegradable packaging that emits helpful gases and breaks down within 10 years. Idk about you…. But I think that’s freaking cool 😂

I feel safe, confident, and happy feeding Stormy and Freddy a raw diet manufactured by when I was previously soooo nervous to begin feeding raw. They help take the guesswork out of everything, they’re easy to trust, and that’s why we love Steve’s 🥰
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24/01/2023

“Mom, don’t look at me like that, I told her to get down” -Freddy, absolutely furious he didn’t get in the window to sunbathe 😂

24/12/2022

Merry Christmas Eve from our family to yours!

In true Freddy and Stormy style, they absolutely hated trying to take a family Christmas picture…. Because they wanted to play 😂🥹🥰

Honestly this is the best gift I could’ve gotten. Freddy, no muzzle, loving on his sister and being the happiest boy. Stormy being her crazy loving self 😂 and all of us in matching pajamas 😭❤️

We got to take the morning to spend time as a family, we just got them set up with some enrichment (Freddy with a nice fat bully stick and Stormy with her freeze dried food in a snuffle mat) and we’re headed to spend time with our John’s family!

Whatever holiday you celebrate no matter how you do it, we hope you have a happy, safe, love filled holiday season 🎄🎁
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12/12/2022

Happy !

Looking at this photo, I get overwhelmed with pride. There were times during muzzle training that I thought this would never happen. We overcame a lot of obstacles to get *here*.

Freddy muzzled, relaxed, in a good mental space about wearing his muzzle. His sister, at the time of this picture, was laying on the other side of the bed. 2 years ago, this wasn’t possible.

And at the same time, a random person can look at this photo and think…. Abuse, aggression, negativity, and just overall “bad”.

I wish people who judged muzzles knew the work we put in, or the hurdles we overcame. I wish they realized that Freddy *with* his muzzle, he is happier, safer, calmer, and more confident.

Years into this lifestyle I can now say that the judgement doesn’t really get to me anymore. While I don’t love it, I’m much more capable at brushing it off now. There is literally nothing about our situation that you can shame me more. Plus, the pride I have in my boy and my little family for navigating these issues comes out on top every time.

If you’re new to muzzle training, if you’re seasoned but struggling, if your dog is regressing, just hear this: you can do it. Things can change. Keep up the hard work. Your attitude is everything, don’t let it defeat you ❤️
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06/12/2022

Bringing the back just in time for baby Storm to get her next surgery this Thursday! 🥰

As we do more surgeries, I get more and more worried about the how they will affect her. Will she have trouble eating now? Will she struggle drinking more than she already does? What modifications will we have to make?

I’m trying to stay hopeful and positive amongst the worry I have because she is in the BEST of hands. Her vet and team are sooooo excited for her to come in and to be able to fix her up. We’re seriously lucky we have a vet who is equipped to handle this🥹

Excited and hopeful to bring our back with some more cute pics of Miss Baby!
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05/12/2022

Everybody with Freddy a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🎊🎉🎁

My buddy is unofficially 9 years old 😭 I say unofficially because we have no idea when his birthday is, so we picked Dec 4th because we love and that’s his birthday🤷🏻‍♀️😂

I can honestly can barely make this post without breaking down crying or getting a huge lump in my throat. That’s why it didn’t get written or posted yesterday. The only thing I had the mental capacity for was to lay in bed and give him love. Every Dec 4th is a reminder to me that our time together is limited and precious.

My heart dog. My twin flame. My everything. How are you 9 years old? I remember bringing home my adolescent 1-2 year old pup acting like a crazy baby. You’re now a grumpy cuddly old man.

John and I are getting some goodies for him after work today and are going to have a little celebration. Over the weekend my mom and I did a massive deep clean of his enrichment toys and a huge prep of veggies, fruits, and treats so we’re going to go crazy with enrichment toys to spoil our buddy ❤️

01/12/2022

A little sister and brother update 🐶🐕

It’s been a while since we discussed the relationship between Stormy and Freddy and where things stand, where we are with working off of the muzzle, etc.

And with that, we are officially no longer going to work toward removing Freddy’s muzzle around Stormy. Since Freddy began with his incontinence over the summer, his threshold for foolishness has gotten pretty low. Not just with Stormy, but with many things across the board. Nowadays he gives off a very “im old, please leave me alone” vibe, and we’re honoring that.

We’ve gotten to a place where if Freddy has got to potty, he has GOT to go. It’s like he has become anxious about getting to the bathroom, and times like that he has become known to overcorrect Stormy if she gets in his way or even display warnings to John and I. So, with that, we made the decision to just do our best and keep everyone as happy as possible.

Freddy still goes to give his sister kisses in her crate. We can all still cuddle in bed. We spend every night cuddled up on the couch together. We haven’t had any incidents, nothing has “happened” to make us believe we can’t work the muzzle off ever. But for his and her own safety and well-being, and meeting them each where they’re at, we’re leaving it on for the foreseeable future.

I’m thankful for times like these that we went through the extensive muzzle training we did and that we invested in a muzzle. Freddy is SO in love with his muzzle and gets so excited when we bring it out. He knows he’s about to get to do something that makes him happy.

Our household doesn’t look like many others, and it doesn’t look how I necessarily could’ve pictured it, but John and I are extremely happy the way things are. And so are the dogs ❤️ I know some people in this insta dog community won’t like this, but I truly don’t care. We’re meeting our dogs where they are at and doing the work we need to. Our dogs live full, fulfilled lives with the best of everything we can give them.

27/11/2022

What a week we’ve had!

Before November ends, now that we’re slowing down a little bit, it’s nice to reflect on the reason for the season ❤️Around Thanksgiving I love to reflect on what we’re all thankful for.

Freddy and Stormy are definitely thankful to have millennial D**K (dual income no kids) parents! With this comes an house purposefully purchased for them (big backyard and privacy fence included 🤪), elevated diet (thanks ), the best supplies around (from to muzzles to toys like ), access to the best trainers (looking at you , , .canine ) and really anything they need. I know Freddy is thankful to have Stormy, because before her he was all alone and even on his worst days, he loves to go give her kisses.

Dog dad and I are thankful for the ability to provide for our love bugs, to have these two in a safe place where they don’t have to worry for a thing, and to have each other while navigating pet parenthood (and reactive dog ownership 😅). I’m admittedly very thankful for a nice glass of red wine 🤣 but on a serious note, I’m grateful beyond belief to have made it this far with Freddy. I never imagined him and I finding a family and settling down. The fact that it has happened… is everything to me ❤️

Life definitely isn’t all fun and games all the time, but slowing down to realize how lucky the four of us are to have each other is the best feeling in the world. I hope everyone has had a nice relaxing week and is getting ready for the winter holidays! ❄️☃️
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25/11/2022

Tune in to this webinar with Steve's Real Food!!!

If you recently adopted a puppy, this webinar is for you! Hosted by Steve's Real Food, this webinar will cover everything from nutrition, to socializing, and puppy-proofing. Bring your questions and ask them in the live Q&A throughout. Visit the link to register 👉👉https://bit.ly/3TQc2f2

16/11/2022

Stormy and Dog Dad had a coffee date with the vet this morning ☕️🥰

We’ve got *some* good news! The vet doesn’t think she has pneumonia, she thinks her current cough is due to allergies. We are still waiting on bloodwork to come back, but we should get it in 2 days!

Everyone please keep your fingers crossed her bloodwork comes back good. We had our appt today for weeks because we were getting her pre-op bloodwork done.

Thats right….. Stormy has another surgery coming up. We have another round of extractions and things her doctors need to do with her teeth and overall mouth. We knew we’d need more surgeries, but every time we have another one it makes us so sad. Since she is almost 2, we are REALLY hoping we’ll at least have a better idea of how her teeth and gums are holding up as she leaves puppyhood.

We’ll keep you all updated 🥰
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31/10/2022

Shark attack at the Jersey shore! 🦈 Stormy Shark does NOT play when it comes to her 😂

Happy Halloween everyone! 👻🎃💀

17/10/2022

Make sure to keep an eye out for Steve’s free webinar for Senior pets!!!!

17/10/2022

Happy !

This week we have another amazing testimony for not only muzzles and muzzle training in general, but for Amy Creaven] !

If you didn’t know, this past Thursday night Freddy got into it with a groundhog in the backyard 😭 The damage wasn’t bad, mainly bites scratches around/in Freddy’s mouth, but we were mainly concerned about disease spreading… and there was a lot of blood 😕We were hoping we wouldn’t have to go to the emergency vet, but we just couldn’t risk not going after we made a few calls.

There was a lot of craziness about this visit I think we’ll get into on another post, but let me tell you: we wouldn’t have made it through without our Amy Creaven] muzzle. I can PROMISE you we wouldn’t have.

I applaud the vet hospital and behavioral team for trying to make it the best experience for Freddy possible, as he was putting up a FIGHT. We had to move parking spots, take him in and out of the car, move the crate in and out of the car, at one point the vet staff, dog dad and I hid in the parking lot trying to get him out of the car on his own when he realized what we were doing.

At one point, a vet tech climbed in the back seat of our car and got him while the rest of us distracted him from the trunk and managed to stick him while we used towels to help control his body movements- but he was *raging*. Barking, snapping, growling, howling, thrashing, flailing. Absolute full body reactions. Had Freddy not had his muzzle on, we either would’ve ended up with people badly hurt, or going home without medical treatment for Freddy.

Any other muzzle in this situation still would’ve been a risk. He would have bit through a Baskerville, a soft/occlusion muzzle would’ve been unsafe, a metal basket muzzle would’ve hurt someone, but his vinyl TYDM held up and was perfect. There was no risk of it busting, hurting anyone, hurting Freddy, or not doing it’s job. I knew it wouldn’t slip off, it was perfectly fitted and it would serve its purpose, which it did.

This reactive/aggressive dog mom life isn’t for the faint of heart, but I am so grateful we’ve found such amazing tools that help keep our boy safe through these ups and downs! ❤️

14/10/2022

We’re hoping the can PULL THROUGH today against the Braves in game 3 of the NLDS. Before the game we took some time to play with Stormy and her favorite toy/training aid-

Using both rings we worked on her “out” command, did some fetch, and got Stormy worn out before the game. She’s exhausted and a very happy puppy curled up in her crate now. Plus, she did a really good job with her “out” ☺️

Training with puller is a real home run😉 Use code STORMY20 to get 20% off your own set of pullers! 🥰

(Shoutout to dog dad for the awesome pic and caption🙌🏻☺️😂❤️)

12/10/2022

It’s spooky season and finally cold enough for me to dress the dogs up again without being cruel 👻💀🎃🕸🕷

Pls drop your fav doggo clothing brands in the comments so I can absolutely demolish my next commission check with doggie fashion 😂🙌🏻
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10/10/2022

Happy Monday!

We spent the weekend curled up on the new couch watching sports and true crime, relaxing and getting used to fall. Who has good recommendations for true crime on YouTube? We love Bailey Sarian, Kendall Rae and MrBallen but… think we’ve watched most of them 😂

How was your weekend? 🍁

06/10/2022

We are ready for fall! 🍁🎃

We finally received our couch from and the pups are thoroughly enjoying it ❤️

Who else is ready for fall and Halloween?! 👻

17/09/2022

Happy Saturday from the hypest pack walk crew! See y’all next week ☺️

08/09/2022

Check out this webinar hosted by Steve's Real Food! We just registered and can’t wait to learn more!

🐾 You won't want to miss this new webinar hosted by Steve's Real Food that addresses common concerns about the safety of feeding raw food. It will cover specific safety measures taken from sourcing the ingredients all the way through to feeding raw food to your pet. Register for one of the 2 different dates here https://bit.ly/3cxRM1w

25/08/2022

Another big announcement from the FATS* family🥰

We recently got word that we were picked to be ambassadors for !

If you’ve followed us since the beginning, you know we are team RAW all the way and it’s been so beneficial to our pups since the switch. Freddy and Stormy historically do HORRIBLE on kibble- knowing we feed our dogs fresh, whole foods gives us peace of mind that we’re fueling them the best way we can, in the best way for them.

We are so excited specifically because Stormy has been on this food for a WHILE. It was the first thing we went to after we stopped DIYing her raw food and she has FLOURISHED on it.

I’m so excited we’ll be sharing more about our food journey with you! If you have any questions, or if there is anything particular you want to see from us, please drop them below! ✨

(We’ll have a promo code coming soon- but I couldn’t hold it in any longer 🤭)

*Also do we like this acronym? Please drop comments below to let me know 😂 I personally love it and think it’s hysterical LOL