I was really excited when Sadie and I were give the opportunity to try out and review some products from HotDogCollars.com. In case you don’t know, Hot Dog Collars is an online store that sells a variety of pet products. Even before we were contacted about this review, Sadie and I had purchased quite a few collars from their website, so we already knew they had a great selection of high quality items. For this particular review we chose to focus on one of the leashes by Yellow Dog Design, the Rubit heart dog tag clip, and the personalized dog collars by Yellow Dog Design.

The first item we received from HotDogCollars.com is a designer leash by Yellow Dog Design. It’s a great looking dog leash, five feet long with a nickel plated clip on one end to hook to your dog’s collar or harness and a loop on the other end for a secure grip. The material, which is a cotton/poly blend, seems very durable and is even machine washable. It feels very comfortable in your hand during those long walks, unlike the scratchy fabric of some other leashes. And these leashes by Yellow Dog Design were made in the USA! But the factor that makes this leash special for me is the pattern. Hot Dog Collars offers leashes in a wide variety of colors and patterns to fit any style or occasion. I chose the pink and black polka dots to match Sadie’s favorite collar. The price for this leash is $13.45 from HotDogCollars.com

The next item to review from HotDogCollars.com was the small heart Rubit dog tag clip. Having tried out a Rubit dog tag clip, I can honestly say that we will never go without one ever again. The Rubit dog tag clip allows you to secure your dog’s ID tags with a keyring onto the Rubit, which then clips onto your dog’s collar. The clip is made of lightweight aluminum, so it’s durable, but won’t add extra weight around your dog’s neck. The main purpose of a Rubit dog tag clip is to make life a zillion times easier when changing your dog’s collar. No more struggling to pry open the keyring enough to slip the tag out. No more broken nails or sore fingers. You just unclip from one collar and clip onto the next. Hot Dog Collars offers the Rubit dog tag clips in a number of different colors, sizes, and styles starting at $5.79.

The last item we chose to review is one of the personalized collars by Yellow Dog Design. This time we picked out the red kilt pattern to match Sadie’s winter coat. But to be honest, Sadie actually has one of these collars for almost every season and occasion. She’s got one for Christmas, Easter, St Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day, birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Fall, Winter, and the Fourth of July, just to name a few. That is how much we love these Yellow Dog Design collars from HotDogCollars.com. But the vast selection of collar designs isn’t even the best part… these collars can be personalized! You can put your dog’s name in a variety of colors right on the collar at no additional cost. And I even had little paw prints added on either side of Sadie’s name to make the collar even cuter (added graphics do cost $1.99 extra). We’ve owned one of these personalized collars for almost two years now and it’s still vibrant with perfectly intact text, no chipping, cracking, or fading. Even with the personalization, the collar is machine washable. The price for the personalized collar starts at $13.95 for a size small (add $2 if you choose additional graphics) from HotDogCollars.com.

On a personal note, these personalized collars have actually helped Sadie get more comfortable when meeting strangers. When we last travelled, people often came up to Sadie to say hi. She would wag her tail and sniff the new people, but she was hesitant to get close enough for a stranger to touch her. Many people then noticed Sadie’s name on her personalized collar and would start talking to her by name. Sadie would relax much faster and be more willing to interact with someone new when they called her by name. So I’m grateful that these collars can be a good tool to help my dog be happier and less stressed when meeting new people.

 

Now I’d like to announce the contest. Hot Dog Collars has offered one $50 gift certificate for one lucky winner. All you have to do to win is go to the YourDesignerDog twitter feed and be the 10th (tenth) person to retweet my tweet that begins “Get personal with personalized dog collars from @hotdogcollars”. (Contest begins at 9AM Thursday March 12th, 2015 and continues until winning conditions are met.)

And now I’ll end my review with a photo of Sadie enjoying one of the treats that come with every order you get from HotDogCollars.com.

This post is part of the Thoughtless Thursday blog hop hosted by Ruckus the Eskie, Love Is Being Owned By a Husky, and M.K. Clinton.

This post is also part of the Thursday Barks and Bytes blog hop hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like A Dog.

YourDesignerDog received no monetary compensation for this post. I was given a choice of complimentary items to try out and give honest feedback. All opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts on these products. This post contains affiliate links.

I can’t believe that exactly one year ago today I started the YourDesignerDog Blog! It feels like just yesterday my little puppy Sadie and I had lots of cute photos but nowhere to share them all. Then I discovered the world of pet blogging. I never imagined a year ago what an amazing, rewarding journey this would become. Sadie and I have met (both in person and virtually) many wonderful, kind-hearted people. I’ve learned more in this past year than I ever expected, about blogging, web design, social media, advertising, photography, dogs, animals in general; the list could go on and on. Sadie and I have had many exciting adventures I never would have undertaken before starting this blog. So today, on my first blogiversary, I’d like to share some of YourDesignerDog’s vital statistics of the past year. And don’t forget to scroll to the bottom for a little giveaway to thank all you loyal readers for your support!

• I’ve published 327 posts.
• You’ve left me over 1,900 wonderful comments.
• All those spam bots out there have tried to leave over 43,000 spam comments.
• I’ve shared 828 adorable photos of Sadie.
• I’ve been blessed with over 5,500 subscribers/followers on all the social media networks combined.
• I’ve helped to give out over $2,500 in cash and prizes to loyal readers.

And now for the giveaway! Starting today until midnight 2/14/15, you will have the chance to win one of four Jolly Awesome Pet Tag gift cards. Each gift card contains the value of one set of tags. Click this link to check out my review of their photo pet tags. Then enter my giveaway in the box below. Four winners will be randomly selected from qualified entries.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
  This post is part of the Sepia Saturday blog hop hosted by Ruckus the Eskie and Earl’s World.        

This post is also part of Rascal and Rocco‘s Pet Parade blog hop.

It should come as no surprise that I love custom dog-related products, especially those that use photos of Sadie. So when I heard about Jolly Awesome Pet Tags, I knew I had to try them. At JollyAwesomePetTags.com, you can design custom tags for your pets, using your own photos, clip art, text, etc. I spent about an hour having fun designing three custom tags for Sadie and I just love how they turned out!

The tags start out as plain, white Dura-tags. You can then customize both the front and back of each tag using the designer tool on jollyawesomepettags.com. The front prints in full color, so it’s perfect for photos. The back only prints in black and white, meant for your contact info. It’s a fairly simple interface to customize your tags. You click on the side of the tag you want to work on, upload your photo, and then move and resize your photo until you have it just right. Vertical photos work best to cover all of the white space on the tags. You can also add clipart and text in a variety of colors and fonts to the front of your tag. Once the front is done, you click on the back of the tag, and type your contact info using whichever font appeals to you. When you have finished designing, you can save your design to work on or use later, or you can purchase your tags immediately.

When I designed my tags I got a little carried away and placed colored text and photos on the back of the tags. The wonderful people at Jolly Awesome Pet Tags were nice enough to send me my tags as I designed them, but also sent me a set designed correctly with only black text on the back. As you can see in the below photo (ignore the blue boxes where I blocked out my personal details), the black text on the right printed much more clearly than my incorrectly colored pink text on the left. So don’t make my mistake; design the back of your tags with black and white in mind.

I haven’t had these pet tags long enough to test the full extent of the Dura-tag durability, but it seems promising. Since the material is a type of plastic with your design printed on it, you don’t have to worry about an engraving rubbing off or scratching. It’s also water resistant. This material makes these tags much quieter and lighter than metal tags, but they feel just as sturdy. However, they are somewhat bigger than the standard metal tag. The size wouldn’t be an issue on a large or even medium sized dog, but the tags do look a bit big on my little Sadie. She doesn’t seem to mind wearing a larger tag, and this size does cover up the ugly city tag she is required to wear, so I think these will become the standard tags in my house anyway.

All the tags from Jolly Awesome Pet Tags are also fully guaranteed. You can request replacement tags if your pet’s tags get damaged or lost, or even if your contact info changes. The people at Jolly Awesome Pet Tags understand how important it is for your pet to have correct, legible identification in case the worst happens and your pet gets lost.

I love the versatility of these tags. They generally come as sets of three, so you can be really creative and make three unique designs, or copy one design to all three tags. This is perfect for multiple pet households, giving you the opportunity to create individual tags for different pets. Or you can use the spare tags as key chains, zipper pulls, or even luggage tags. I decided to use one of Sadie’s spare tags as an ID tag on her bag. That way if I forget her bag at the park or lose track of it at an event, there is identification on the bag. I also plan to put one on her carrier bag before we go on a trip at the end of the year.

So if you’re in a creative mood, stop by jollyawesomepettags.com and design some awesome custom tags for your pets. It’s $16.95 for a set of three double-sided pet tags.

This post is part of Rascal and Rocco‘s Pet Parade blog hop.

I received no monetary compensation for this post. I was given a free product to review. All opinions are my own, unbiased feedback.

This flashback photo was taken the first day I brought Sadie home. I put her very first collar on her (pink, of course ) and took this picture. Then I clipped her shiny new, pink rhinestone tags onto the collar and she promptly fell down. Apparently tags come in sizes. As Sadie is my first dog, I had no idea that tags come in small and large sizes. The larger size tags were just too heavy for my tiny pup to handle, and she could not keep her head up while wearing her new collar with the tags. I made a quick trip to the pet store that evening for appropriately sized pink rhinestone tags for my little princess.

This post is part of Rascal and Rocco‘s Pet Parade blog hop.