Product Review - Litter Robot Update

you might remember, a few months ago when a giant box was delivered to the house. I was all excited about the delivery, hopin it was another Great Dane for me to play with, but alas...it was just something Mom spent WAY too much money on for the kitTONs.

It was the Litter Robot. An automatic litterbox, designed so my lazy Mom wouldn't have to scoop the box anymore.

At first..the entire household was a bit put off by the thing. It looked like it belong in a space station, and as if that wasn't bad enough...the entire top orb looking thing rotated every once in a while. Crazy I tell ya.

But soon, both Phoebe & Fergie decided it really wasn't that scary. It only took a few hours before the soft hum it made as it rotated just blended into the background.

do you mind? a little privacy please!

so far, Mom totally loves it. She's tried other automatic litter boxes before, but none of them were very effective and usually got so clumpy they required more cleaning than a regular litter box did. This one, however has worked great! The one big downfall is Pheobe...who enjoys scratching in the litter so much that she sometimes flings it out the door. Also, it requires an electrical outlet...which in our old 1926 house is not the easiest thing to come by. Right now she's got the cord running across the floor with some very attactive blue painters tape covering it so no one trips. I've been trying to tell her it looks kinda tacky, but so far she hasn't done anything about it.

Other than those few things, Mom is quite happy with it. Once every 4 days she just pulls out the drawer at the bottom...closes up the baggy...and tosses it in the trash. Perfect for her lazy self! It was a bit on the pricey side, but Mom figures it works out to about $1 a day...and if you think about it that way its not that bad!

The kitTONs seem to really like it too. Prolly cuz it always has clean litter in there...just waiting for them to do their business!

Now...I gotta come up with something Mom can buy for me that is comprable in price. That seems fair, doesn't it??

edited to add: Mom is in no way affiliated with Litter Robot. She paid good paper money for this item, and just wanted to share her experience with it.

52 Weeks of Murphy - 47/52 & Coronado Photo Shoot

Wow! Its week 47 of of 52 in our 52 Weeks For Dogs project on Flickr. I think Mom is ready to be done with it...its tough coming up with different & unique shots every week! If it were up to me, all my photos would be at the beach, romping in the water...but she says that would be boring. Whatever!!

This week she took me over to Coronado for my photoshoot. We recently had a rain storm come through, and after they are gone the sky is usually crystal clear. It was definitely a gorgeous day!

Here's the one she selected for our 47th entry into the project. She posted some more of the photos below...

47/52

see that giant ship behind me? That's the "Splendor". If you watched the US news at all in the last 2 weeks, you heard about this ship. It left from Long Beach, CA but somewhere along its journey down to Mexico there was a fire on board and the engines were damaged. It was all over the news cuz the passengers were without working toilets for a few days and the giant ship had to be towed back to Sandy Eggo by tiny little tug boats.

The ship will stay in Sandy Eggo until its repaired. I think they are saying it will be a few months at least! Luckily, all the people made it back safely and no one was hurt. That sure doesn't sound like it was a fun vacation though!





Happy Thanksgiving!

Walter & I are having so much fun together! Just thought I'd take a break and wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Remember...dogs can have a little bit of turkey, but keep away from the fatty stuff. Also, no onions as they are toxic to doggies! Have a great holiday!

Gotta ask you two big favors!

Hi furriends!

Can I ask you two big favors?  Furrst, my furriend Friday is in a contest...she needs some more votes to help her stay in furrst place!

photo by Tamandra Michaels of Heart Dog Studios

Its super easy!! If you are on Facebook...just 'like' "West Coast Beagles"...and then 'like' Friday's photo! Its simple!

second..my furriend Ricochet is also in a contest. She's currently in 2nd place and needs some help as well! You can vote every day, so please remember to go back each day and cast that vote.

image borrowed from Surfdog Ricochet's website

American Dog is having a contest for their 1st annual humanitarian awards. Ricochet is nominated for 3 categories... 1) "Spokesdog for a charitable cause", 2) Serve/Therapy dog who gives unconditionally, and 3) Role Model/Philanthropist - dog or human who continually gives. You can vote once a day...so please do! She's so pawsome...and totally deserves to win!

52 Weeks of Murphy - 46/52

Dog Tired

its a Caterday Blog Hop!!

Thankful Thursday

I am very thankful for running into friends at the beach!!

It is alway so much fun!

I am thankful for my friend Atticus.

He has gotten sooooo big, and is now almost as tall as me at only 9 months old!

I am thankful for synchronized shaking!

I am thankful that Atticus doesn't mind my stinky dog breath!

I am thankful for friends enjoying friends!

Walter & Atticus enjoyed a round of boxing. Check out that right jab!

I am thankful other doggie's mom's bring toys for them...so I can steal them!!

I am thankful for CHASE!!

I am thankful for supermodel Ari & her beautiful beach pose!

I am thankful for swimming!!

GRRR! I am Murphy...the lochness Dane!

I am thankful for my powerful skills of observation!

There's someone strange over on the rocks!

I am thankful for my big bark!

WOOF!!!!

I am thankful for pretty girls!

Ari...always ready for her photoshoot

I am SO thankful for living in Sandy Eggo!

52 Weeks of Murphy - 45/52

Road Trip! (part 2)

The next morning we got up bright and early so Mom's friend could run her marathon. If you ask me, that's nuthin but crazy. 26.2 miles on 2 legs!?! I wouldn't even wanna do that on 4! Marathon fever musta been going around this weekend, cuz our blogger furriend Kona's Mom kicked butt in the New York Marathon!

It was perfect weather for running a marathon. I got to make lots of friends while we were waiting for Kim to run by at mile 17. She looked strong and confident that she would meet her goal of 4 hours, allowing her to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I wonder if Mom will take me with her when she goes to cheer at that race!?!

After Kim finished, we got to go down to the ocean to 'cool her legs off'. This was my favorite part of the race!

phew! cheering at a marathon is tiring!

I definitely wasn't too tired to dig to China though!

Blech! too much sand in my mouth!

After a little bit of relaxing, we headed to the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens. Another great place in Santa Barbara that allows ALL sizes of doggies! Mom of course brought the flashy camera box and made me do all kinds a posin.

Check out this giant California Oak!

It was a super pretty place with all kinds of trees and vegitation.

there's a section of Redwood forest with giant Sequoia trees. look! I'm a chihuahua!

cool dog house, but I think it would be kinda breezy!

After the botanic gardens we walked around Sterns Wharf for a bit. The day was winding down and it was almost time to go home.



what a grrrreat weekend! Santa Barbara was such a dog friendly town...I'm definitely going back!

pee. s.  My friend Kim qualified for Boston! She did it with 50 seconds to spare!! BOL! Guess that's what they  mean by 'she made it by a hair!'