The last few weeks have flown by for us–why does summer always seem to go by so quickly? In June, I flew to Phoenix, Arizona for my first ever BlogPaws conference! What an experience. And man, was it hot! It was 116 degrees outside on my first day there. If you don’t know what BlogPaws is, let me fill you in. It turns out I’m not the only person who keeps a blog about her pets–in fact, BlogPaws is an entire community of pet bloggers! They get together once a year at a conference (at a pet friendly hotel, of course) to network, learn, and just plain have fun. It’s a great place for bloggers to connect with other bloggers and connect with brands they want to work with in the future. I am so happy I pulled the plug and went this year, even though I didn’t know a single soul. I came away from the conference with so many new friends and connections–and oh, the SWAG! When I tell you I had to check another bag on my way home just to hold all the product I picked up at the conference, would you believe me?
One of my favorite products I picked up at BlogPaws is the Door Buddy, invented by Shanelle and Scott Johnson, one of the sweetest couples you will ever meet. I had the pleasure of meeting the Johnsons in person at the conference and was struck with the ingenuity and simplicity of their invention, the Door Buddy. The idea came to them one day after Shanelle caught their 9-month-old daughter in the laundry room, playing in the cat’s food and water bowl, and headed straight for the litter box! Yikes! Simply put, the Door Buddy allows you to keep any door ajar wide enough for the cat to squeeze through and narrow enough to keep the baby and other pets out. Parents, say goodbye to expensive, clunky, in-the-way baby gates and say hello to your new best friend, the Door Buddy. Not only is it priced at less than $15, but it comes in a bunch of cute colors! Learn more about the Door Buddy at www.thedoorbuddy.com.
Since my husband and I don’t have any kids of the non-fur variety, I have been recommending the Door Buddy to all my friends with infants and toddlers. I can think of so many instances where it could come in handy, too. Maybe you keep your cat’s litter box in the basement, but you don’t want your child or dog to be able to get down there. Or maybe you need to keep a door ajar to create a cross breeze, but you don’t want your pet or child to be able to get into that room. Or maybe your child is old enough to start opening doors and you just need a quick fix to make sure she can’t get in a specific room (or suddenly find herself outside).
The Johnsons are also in the business of giving back. They donate $1.00 for every Door Buddy purchased on their website to Pet Partners, an organization in Bellevue, WA, that provides animal-assisted interactions to veterans with PTSD, seniors living with Alzheimer’s, patients in recovery or nearing the end of life, and children with literacy challenges and disabilities. What a wonderful organization to support! To learn more about Pet Partners, check out their website here.
And, to celebrate the theme of “giving back,” I’m going to give away the Door Buddy that came in my BlogPaws swag bag to one of my readers. Just follow my new friends on Instagram (@thedoorbuddy) and leave a comment below this blog post about how you would use your Door Buddy. I’ll select one comment as a winner by this Friday. I’ll ship it anywhere in the world, too! Good luck!
UPDATE: Congrats to Stephanie S. for winning the Door Buddy!
TuxedoTrio 
Every morning at 5AM, Tolken (incidentally, an 8 year old tuxedo) starts trying to open the bedroom door. With the Door Buddy, my girlfriend and I will be able to continue dreaming; probably dreaming about Tolken, because he’s a really good buddy 🙂
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Haha! Don’t you know 5 a.m. is breakfast time in Tolken’s world? 🙂
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This is awesome! We would use it because our 7 month old is starting to move and groove through our house! She will be walking in the current house we are in (we are military) and I had no idea what we were going to do!
Our litter box is in our bathroom (#sacrifice) and now we can put Charlie’s food in the bathroom too to keep it away from the baby…baby has already eyed it and totally wants a nibble! ???
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I would LOVE this to keep our dogs Bella and Max out of the litter box room. I have to close the door when I shower to make sure they don’t aggravate the poor kitties. I know our cats Buggy and Frankie would some peace and quiet. And momma some less worries!
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Congrats, Stephanie! You won the Door Buddy! Please email back and we’ll drop it in the mail for you! ❤
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This would be awesome! I need to babysit my friends dog while they are away, but I need to make sure my cats have some “safe” rooms that only they can get in if needed. I bought a gate with a little gate inside meant for the cats, but the 20 lb dog is small enough to fit through too! So i have been looking for another option, so I would love to try this strap! ????
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This looks pretty cool! I would use it because my 9 month old sister loves to explore around the house, including the laundry room where the liter box and the cat food is. The Door Buddy would be really useful to keep the little one out of the laundry room, while letting our two cats, Boots and SweetPea, have access into the laundry room allowing them to get to their litter box and food. It would also be great for keeping our new puppy out of the cat food, which she likes to frequently visit for a bite to eat instead of her own food!
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This is exactly the fix I’ve been looking for! I have a Siberian husky and lab mix and we just adopted a 12 week old kitten named Denver. I’m keeping her food and water in the guest bathroom where I was also keeping her litter box, but my dogs keep going in there and eating her food and litter (yuck!). Denver goes outside as she pleases but isn’t taking well to using the bathroom outside, so I think this will be perfect to give her privacy and prevent my pups from digesting the contents of her litter box and getting sick 😦
Thanks!
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The mom brought one of these home from BlogPaws. We haven’t used it yet…not much of a need for us…but we can see how this would be purrfect for others. 🙂
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I met Shanelle at BlogPaws and she is just the nicest person! Great product, too!
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This would allow our Kiki (kitty) to come into the room without allowing Duke (The Dog) to harass her!
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