Simple Trick to Remove Dog Fur from Furniture

Maverick

Let me just start the post by saying that this is the perfect dog.  I love this animal as if he were my own son.  Correction, because he is my son.  He can do no wrong.  That being said, he is a shedding banshee.  Since I can rarely tell him no, he is allowed on the sofa.  It matters not that we have a blanket on the sofa.  His fur still manages to find its way to the soft, chocolate brown, brushed twill surface of the sofa.  We're talking every surface here. Note to future furniture buying self.  Never buy another brushed twill sofa and never buy another sofa that isn't the color of my dog/son.

I've tried a ton of different ways to get his fur off the sofa.  One of those roller sticky things, every attachment on the vacuum cleaner and even duct tape.  Ugh!  I finally decided that I would try something based on a product I had years ago to remove cat fur from furniture.  Since I have no idea where to find one of these now (and I've looked,) I decided to try to make my own.  It's as simple as a damp sponge.  What?!?!?!?  Yep.  A damp sponge.  Check it out.

I'm using an all natural one because the name brand ones seem to have some sort of oil on them to keep them moist. Ewwww.  I turned the water on low and just ran the sponge under it once.  You can see it's still dry on one side.  Let that moisture spread throughout the sponge and then wring it out as hard as you can.  You only want the sponge to be ever so slightly damp.

Then simply drag it long the surface of the cushion.  You can see it's already working.

Here's the before.

And the after.

Not 100% I know, but I think you'll agree it's a LOT better.  It will also be easier to vacuum what remains.  Now I don't have to banish the boy to the floor.  Not that I could.  He is my son after all.

Gluten Free Dog Biscuits

Basic Gluten Free Dog Biscuits
These basic gluten free biscuits can be customized to cater to your pooch's palette.  I started searching online for treats to make my dog one night when I ran out of the name brand bones I usually bought.  That's when I came across this article.  Ummm ewwwww.  So, I set out to make some from scratch.  Most of the recipes call for quite a bit of wheat flour and since we don't have that in our home, I decided to modify a recipe I found that gave me the skeleton for what you see here.  Trust me when I say they were well received.

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups oat flour (I use gluten free rolled oats that I process to a flour using my Vitamix.)
• 1/4 tsp. salt (or less.)
• 1 egg
• 3 tsp of organic trader joe's creamy peanut butter
• 1 savory broth chicken concentrate packet (Trader Joe's Reduced Sodium Liquid Concentrate)
• ½ cup hot water
 

Optional Add ins

• 1/4 Cup Cooked Bacon, 2 Tbsp liver powder, 1/2 Cup shredded cheese, 1/4 Cup natural bacon bits or 3 Tbsp missing link powder ( see picture below.)

A nice way to sneak in some vitamins

Directions

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Add the chicken stock concentrate to the hot water. Add oat flour, salt, egg, peanut butter and one of the other goodies.  I'm using shredded cheese on this one.

Get in there and knead this into a nice dough ball.  You may need to add a tiny bit more water as you mix it since the oat flour soaks it up a little more than an average flour.  It should be moist but dense.

Roll it out until the dough is 1/2 inch thick.  If you don't have a rolling pin you can lay a piece of plastic wrap over the top and use a wine bottle to get the job done.  Place the flattened dough in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to harden up a little.  This will make it easier to cut.

Cut into snack size strips.  Adjust the size based on the size of your dog and how many treats you want to give him/her in a day.  If you want to be over the top you can use a bone shaped cookie cutter to make a really cute snack.  Maverick (our dog son) could care less what they look like as long as he gets to earn a few.  I cut his into 1/2 inch squares so he can do all his tricks and earn a treat for each one.

Place slices on a lightly greased (I use TJ's coconut spray) cookie sheet and cook for 25-30 minutes.  Let cool completely.

Look at that happy face!