Woofs of welcome to the Dalmatian DIY dog blog. Nice to meet you, furfriends. Dalmatian DIY is a special place where we share our homemade dog treat recipes, DIY dog projects, and other creative fun for pets and their people. Not a Dalmatian? Don’t worry. All pets are welcome to join the fun at Dalmatian DIY. You can see what creative mischief we are getting ourselves into here on the blog and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Come on in and meet the team!
Our current profile picture was specially commissioned from Portrait Fox Studio on Etsy. Isn’t it a beauty? We love it. Ahmed also created a version of the painting with Humphrey on his own that is currently used as the profile picture for the Dalmatian DIY Instagram.
Meet the Dogs of Dalmatian DIY and their Human
Oliver was the original blog dog and inspiration behind Dalmatian DIY. Oli crossed the rainbow bridge as a senior spotty after 14 wonderful years, but you’ll still see him throughout the posts here on our blog and our social media. Oli’s spirit shines through in everything we do and share, and his legacy lives on in Humphrey and Dalmatian DIY. We’re grateful for each and every day that we were gifted together.
Humphrey the handsome rascal is currectly eight years old, and inherited the role of chief blog dog. Oli trained him well in many things, including the fine art of convincing the humans to hand over the snacks. Unlike smiling Oli, he’s often a serious lad about posing. After all, treats are serious business! When he does bring out his crazy Dali grin, it’s impossible not to smile along. Humphrey is a professional prancer, squeaky toy virtuoso, sous-chef and dishwasher extraordinaire, Momma’s pawsonal trainer, Daddy’s boy, and the snuggliest of spooners. He loves cruising in the car, napping in sunbeams, sharking for treats, and stealing hearts.
Laura (Momma) is the dog treat baker and crafter behind the content you see here on Dalmatian DIY. In addition to blogging, crafting, baking, and more, she spends time walking dogs, cleaning up after dogs, and patting other peoples dogs. She also enjoys gardening and spending time outdoors, both of which are better with dogs for company. Laura learned to cook and craft from her mother and grandmother, and it’s become a lifelong hobby. She picked up her passion for photography from her father. She recently added to her dog diet knowledge by completing a certification as a Raw Dog Food Nutrition Specialist to better understand the fundamentals of dog biology, diet, and nutrition.
Honorary Team Members
Daddy is by far the dogs’ favourite human. He’s a big supporter of everything we do and is the one who encouraged use to create and share Dalmatian DIY with the world. Special mentions to Tiger our elderly rescue cat who has since crossed the rainbow bridge, and to Humphrey’s puppy pal Cooper and other neighbourhood furfriends who enjoy helping out with taste testing duties during play dates at our place.
Contacting Dalmatian DIY
Have a question or suggestion for Dalmatian DIY? You can contact us by email or message us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Want to work with Dalmatian DIY as a guest, special contributor, sponsor, or affiliate partner? Please paws to sniff through our Work with Us page for additional information first, then reach out with extra questions or proposal details if you think we might be a good fit for working together.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Dalmatians?
It just kind of happened that way. It started with Oli, the original blog dog. Momma was more of a cat person, but the irresistible Oli became the first dog she ever loved and now she’s hooked. Don’t worry though, furfriends. We still love dogs of all colours, shapes, and sizes, spots or no spots. Humphrey’s pal Cooper has weaselled his way into our hearts, too. He occasionally makes a cameo appearance in our posts. We even let the cats have some fun on the dog blog. Rescue brother Tiger was pretty doggone cool for a cat. You can find some of his cat DIY projects in our blog archives, and we keep a Pinterest board for creative cat stuff. Rest easy mane man, we miss you.
What do you feed your dogs?
We’re often asked about foods, and we have a post explaining how we’ve evolved our dogs diets over time. Humphrey is currently mixed fed and has a rotational diet. We often get questions from other Dalmatian owners, and so we’ve created a Dalmatian Information tag in our posts for very specific topics like purines. As detailed in the post on Dalmatian purine issues, we’re fortunate that none of our dogs have, thus far, had issues. They have purine-moderated diets for caution, but fortunately they are not currently on not medically restricted diets.
Why did you start making treats for your dogs?
As we learned more about dog diets in an effort to take better care of Oli as he aged, we began focusing more on the content, nutritional value, and quality of foods and treats. We started to explore different options, both bought and homemade. You can read more in our post on Why (and How) to Make Homemade Dog Treats. Our collection of treats and recipes on the blog has been slowly built over a very long time. And we still buy most of our dog’s foods and many of their treats. Some things are better made with commercial sources and/or equipment that we don’t current have. Some are a bit too yucky for me to consider making (like dehydrated furry deer ears) but our dogs love them. If you’re a brand representative and think we’d like to taste test your treats or food, see how you could Work with Us.
Why did you start making toys and other things for your dogs?
Sometimes it’s out of necessity when we can’t find the right priducts, and sometimes it’s just for fun. I like to craft. Creating things that will be used and enjoyed makes it even better. The DIY dog toys started for fun that would last longer than a few seconds with the wild beasts and didn’t break the bank. Now that they’reolder, the boys are not as destructive so toys are even more about the fun factor. Even if you’re not a skilled crafter, it can be fun to make things for your pets. They’re very easy going on judgement, which is great for learning or practicising new techniques. The dogs aren’t going to eye up the pattern mistake on their new toy toy or crooked seam on their new bandana. Pawfect.
Can I include your post in a round-up?
Absolutely! You are welcome to share our links, link to our content, pin our posts, etc. See our Copyright Policy for more details and ask if you have any questions. Blogging is all about connecting and sharing. It’s great when people invite others to read things here on at Dalmatian DIY. As a free access blog, readership and website traffic are important to help keep Dalmatian DIY in operation. Thanks for your support!
Do you accept guest posts?
We don’t actively seek outside content, but we do occasionally accept guest posts. These are limited to interesting original content from knowledgeable sources that suit our niche content and audience. Additional information is available on our Work with Us page.
Post and Project Questions and Requests
Over the years, Dalmatian DIY has also received a lot of questions about making different types of treats, toys, and more. Some of these have become projects from reader suggestions or themed for a special holiday or event requests. Others have become special reference or help posts, like the Pet Chef Help category or the mini-series of common questions and troubleshooting tips for making dog tug toys, including materials, end knots, toy sizes, and pattern problems. You can filter to these types of posts using the FAQs, Tips, and Troubleshooting tag.
If you have questions, post suggestions, or special requests for us, as noted in the contact section above, you can contact us by email or message us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Please note that Pinterest comments are not routinely monitored and comments on pins often not notified and/or may not be visible to us, so it’s better if you reach out elsewhere. We can’t turn every reader request into a project or post, but we do try to answer all of our messages and point readers towards helpful information if we can. Woofs!
