A Look at Beggin' Strips Snacks for Dogs

Although it's been over three years since our beloved yellow Labrador retriever, Mary Joe Cacao, crossed over the "rainbow bridge" after a long illness, my mom and I have become, in a way, co-owners of our neighbor Elena's Lab-husky mix, Laika. Ever since we "doggy-sat" while Elena was on a 14-day Mediterranean cruise, Laika has been spending most of her daytime hours (roughly from 9 AM till 8 PM) here while Elena goes to work. This unusual arrangement benefits everyone involved: Elena can go to work knowing her dog is being walked, pampered, and in a happy home, Laika doesn't have to be left outside in the extremes of a South Florida summer (heat, afternoon thunderstorms, blazing sunshine), and we get to have a canine companion without having to worry about purchasing the main meals or paying vet bills.


Of course, that doesn't mean we don't go out of our way to get Laika treats; even before we started "sharing custody" with Elena, we often bought her such snacks as Milk Bone Steak and Cheesers simply because she's a sweet and gentle dog just like our wonderful Lab.

Because we like to give "our" dog variety in her diet, we often buy her different dog treats. This week, for instance, the snack d'jour is Purina's Beggin' Strips: Beef and Bacon Flavor.

Now, if you watch any amount of television as part of your daily routine, chances are that you've seen at least one variation of the "It's bacon!" commercials for this product. The "storylines" vary, but the theme and setup are the same: we see the world from the point of view of a very hungry/happy/hyper dog (we can see his nose in the center of the screen) as he goes wild over the aroma of the Beggin' Strips. In all the commercials, we hear the "dog" shouting happily "It's bacon, bacon, bacon!" until an offscreen human voice, sometimes male, sometimes female, says, "No, it's Beggin' Strips."

In the real world, or at least our tiny corner of it, this doesn't actually happen, but I do have to admit two things: