Anise gave us a bit of a fright in her first few months with us. Despite a routine diet of a good-quality dog food, things just weren't regular when we took her outside. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to what would make her feel good one day and not so good the next.

After vet visits with no answers and trying other foods to see if any difference was made, we finally had to accept that our girl simply had a sensitive tummy.

It was a relieving, but "no duh" kind of moment when Best Natural Home and Health informed me that they were adding an essential dog probiotic to their product lineup. Anise and I were already in love with their natural dog shampoo, so after some quick online research to confirm the safety of probiotics for pets, we agreed to give them a try!



Using these probiotics couldn't be easier. It comes in powder form with a tiny scoop, and you add the recommended amount (on the container) right to your pup's food. The needed amount is tiny, and there's no fighting with or trying to hide pills! It's definitely undetectable—it didn't affect Anise's desire to eat one way or another (she's a moody eater).

Anise benefits from the probiotics by tummy regulation, but overall, probiotics are a great way to holistically address your dog's health: they can help ease inflammation, meaning less scratching, and with over 70 essential minerals, it's like an easy one-a-day for overall dog health!

My favorite part (besides a healthy, happy Anise)? A container lasts forever. One jar can last up to three months depending on the size of your dog. Plus, right now, Essential Home and Health is offering $10 off when you buy two containers. Not that you'll need it, but there's a 100% money back guarantee should you not see results.

"Why is she limping?" Sean asked me on a Sunday night.

"I don't know. I didn't see her do anything today or hear any yelping. Let's just keep an eye on her."

By the next morning, the limping was worse and there was visible swelling in her rear leg. We knew Anise hadn't broken anything, but we also knew she was in pain. Sean left work early to take her to the vet who prescribed painkillers and recommended we start giving her a joint supplement.



Wow! I knew that I'd have to start her early on glucosamine as a large breed, but I wasn't expecting to start as early as 1 and a half!

I grabbed a bag of hip and joint treats to buy me some time to research what supplement I wanted to use...guys, there are so many!



Thankfully, the folks at Liquid Health let me try their K9 glucosamine risk-free to see for myself how Anise would respond to it.

(For those who don't know, Nearly 25% of all dogs will develop joint mobility issues of some kind. For younger dogs, glucosamine and chondroitin are an easily absorbed and may stimulate the production of proteoglycans, which help maintain the health and resiliency of joints and connective tissues. MSM promotes general good health. Supplements in a liquid form are shown to absorb more quickly & efficiently than tablets, offering faster results.)

I drizzled the glucosamine as recommended (dosage is right on the bottle!) over Anise's food...and she ate it right up! I'm happy to know she enjoys the taste and it won't be a battle getting her daily dosage to her.



For customers wanting to give this product a try, you can use the promotional code “NSN20” to purchase Liquid Health’s K9 Glucosamine online at Next Step Nutrition.

For resellers seeking dog glucosamine manufacturers you might want to try Matsun Nutrition.

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If dogs could be schizophrenic, that's what Anise would be. Training her at home was easy; she was already housebroken and simple commands like "sit" and "lay down" were a breeze for her to pick up on.

Outside? That's a whole different story, and I'm convinced it's a whole different dog. Girl is crazy on leash, especially if other animals are in sight, getting her attention is about as easy as talking to your man when he's watching football, and she only pees on grass. Not ideal for city living.

Thankfully, we aren't far at all from streets with grass, but it would be nice to be able to take her out back to have her do her business late at night or when it's colder outside. We hope we've found a solution with DoggieLawn Plus. It's a patch of real grass with a tray that fits in smaller spaces (i.e., our parking pad) for pups to have a quick and convenient potty location.


Our DoggieLawn arrived in two shipments (grass and plastic tray)....during the Baltimore riots. So, while I promise the grass was lush and green when it arrived...spending additional time outside to take pictures was not high on my priority list.

Regardless, setup and maintenance are super easy, and if it works for you, there are plans to have fresh grass shipped to you monthly or biweekly. Anise thinks the DoggieLawn Plus is better for lounging than pottying, but thankfully, the folks at DoggieLawn Pluss offer lots of support and training tips to help you help your pup accept their new business spot.


I experienced a really helpful training call, and the tips did help...in a way. She finally went somewhere she had previously refused to go: the concrete. Presas are a very headstrong breed, and while we're still trying to make the DoggieLawn Plus work for her, I wouldn't hesitate to suggest other dog owners (especially those in similar urban settings) give it a try!

Ugh. When we rescued Anise, I draped a blanket over the back seats and called it a day. Clearly, The blanket wasn't of much use. And car washes got a little more frustrating when I found out about the "excessive pet hair" surcharge. Eeesh.

We rarely carry passengers in the back (besides Anise, obviously), but when we do, we certainly don't want them covered in hair. Plus, I prefer a clean car in general. I started looking at seat protectors to see if they could do any better than a blanket when Zitriom offered me one of theirs...in a beige that nearly matches my seats. Score!

I have to say, it's a steal at $14.99. It was easy to install (it didn't include directions and we still figured it out), looks nice, doesn't leave a smell (despite the rubber backing which does a great job of keeping it from slipping everywhere!), has kept the hair at bay, and most importantly...Anise clearly thinks it's comfortable:

So, run to the car wash, pay that dumb surcharge for the last time, then protect your seats with a Zitriom seat cover:

Training Anise at home was easy. Nearly too easy considering what a dominant breed the Presa Canario is known to be. Sean and I were assertive with her from the start and surprisingly, she cooperated.


At least, in the house she did. On leash was a whole different story. Outside, people were for jumping on and dogs were for lunging towards and barking at. While we want our dog to appear scary since we're in the city, we certainly don't want our neighbors avoiding us because they think we have an aggressive, out-of-control beast.

I mean, just look at that vicious face!

After trying multiple leash-training techniques, we finally enlisted the help of a pro (who ultimately conceded that this will be an ongoing effort and left Sean and I to it after many frustrating sessions). She's still a crazy, but she's a crazy who needs exercise. The trainer pointed out that one way to get more out of our walks was with a dog backpack . I'd seen Cesar Milan break these babies out on TV, but I'd never seen one in person and never thought it would work for us. Yet, when he brought her home from their first backpack session and she promptly plopped on her bed, I knew there was potential.
The next hurdle was actually finding a backpack. Anise is considered XL at 90 lbs., which is hard to find in stores (and pricey so we try to avoid it anyway), but surprisingly, equally as hard to find online. I scoured Amazon and was finally resigning to a backpack that was much bulkier than I wanted. I bookmarked it and hesitated, hoping to find something better. That something (much, much) better came in the form of DNA Plus seeking a tester for their dog backpack.