How it all started

Welcome to the very first Weekly Treat!

I’m crazy puppy excited to share the love for dogs with you.

I’d love this to be a collaborative project, so please hit reply, send pics of your dogs, share your favourite natural recipes, tips or tools (let me know if you’d like me to include them in a newsletter, and how you’d like me to give you credit, i.e. anonymous, just the first name, full name, name + website)

Let’s dive in ...

How Leo and I met ..

I’ve wanted a dog for as long as I can remember.

My grandma used to share how Bodo, my dad’s dog, “helped raise me” for the first 2 years of my life. Maybe that’s where the love comes from.

But my parents wouldn’t let me have a dog, and I understood .. everyone was out and about all day, and doggie daycare hadn’t been invented yet 😛

So it wasn't until I moved to Spain in 2004, and started my sewing business that I could work from home and finally bring a dog into my life.

"When are you going to have a dog," my friend's daughter kept asking.

"My dog will find me," I’d reply because I didn't want to go to a breeder, and I couldn't stand the thought of going to a shelter to pick one, leaving all the other pleading eyes there to pierce my soul ..

In May 2005, my parents were in Granada to visit. We were walking up the hill to get home, and there he was (the picture on the left above was taken an hour after that moment) .. outside a teahouse, looking lost. The Moroccan guy leaning in the door frame of the teahouse was quick to confirm that he wasn’t the owner. He’d just given the pup some water every time he stopped by.

“What are you going to do?” my dad asked, taking a photo of the pup (“to be able to show you what you missed out on in case you were stupid enough to leave him there,” he later explained 🤪

I didn't leave him there.

We brought him home and he collapsed on that puff and slept for hours. In all likelihood, he hadn’t been able to fully relax in a long time, if ever.

Mum rushed off to buy a harness, a leash, and a food bowl. I made an appointment at the vet to get him checked out, and to make sure he wasn’t already someone’s dog 😳 .. (he wasn’t but I still worried for quite some time that someone would come and claim him)

I learned lesson 1 right there at that first visit to the vet.

Being the excited but nervous first-time dog mum, I asked the vet about how to best train the puppy, and what to feed him.

“Buy our expensive kibble and don’t give him anything else. And training .. that’s easy .. every time he does something you don’t want, grab him and yell NO!! in his face.”

😳

I was no expert by any means but THAT didn't make sense to me.

Turns out, vets don’t have all the answers…

So I started researching .. better ways to feed little Leo (named him that because he looked like a baby lion :-), and a better way to live peacefully together.

The rest is history, as they say .. not a smooth one though .. but that’s a story (or two) for another day 😃

How did you “meet” your first dog?

Hit reply and share if you feel like sharing. I’d love to hear.

Easy Recipe: 3-Ingredient Homemade Dog Treat

Here is the recipe: https://nourishandnestle.com/3-ingredient-dog-treats-recipe/

Just watch it, you might like them yourself 🤣

Have you made treats for your dog? What’s your favourite recipe? If you have one you’d like to see published in the next newsletter, hit reply and let me know.

Getting Crafty: The Bubble Quilt - Popular Not Just With Dogs 😝

They’re not your quick Sunday afternoon project but not difficult to make if you have a wee bit of sewing experience. If you have a bunch of fabric scraps waiting to be used somehow, this bubble quilt might be worth a try .. it’ll keep you entertained for a while and delight the dogs, promised 😊

Here is a detailed tutorial https://www.loandbeholdstitchery.com/blogs/lo-and-behold/ombre-puff-quilt-free-video-tutorial

And ... the first Soul Touched by Dogs mug arrived today ...

It’s one of the things I’ve been wanting to offer .. mugs with a picture of YOUR dog, for your morning coffee or as a gift, Soul Touched by Dogs t-´shirts (you’ll see me in one the moment it arrives :-) etc., using the proceeds to sponsor dogs in need and help the people who help dogs.

If you’d like one, hit reply and let me know.

Send me a good-quality photo of your dog and I’ll create the design and send you a link where you can purchase it.

They get made to order so it takes 10-12 days to arrive. €15 + shipping.

(Shipping depends on where you are of course but will be somewhere around €7-13)

Coming up ..

Pawsome humans

I’ve started to invite pawsome humans doing great work for and with dogs and their people for 10-minute interviews that I’ll share here starting next week.

If you know someone you feel dog lovers need to know about, please make an introduction.

Subscriber Submissions

I hinted at it at the beginning .. I’d love to share YOUR favourite tips, toys, tools, tutorials, recipes .. whatever you’ve come to know and love that would help and benefit other Souls Touched by Dogs 🐾

Got something worth sharing? Hit reply and tell me about it.

Until next week,

Anke