new herding breed

This is a miniature Cattle dog. No really it is..

Ha ha...no actually it is a miniature Schnauzer.

best month

Well, I have surpassed my best month now and this one isnt' even over yet! It's been a lot of hard work, but its been fun also. I still have so much to learn about running a business, but its coming slowly.

Just so there are pictures in this post, I'll post some of a dog I groomed the other day. She is an "Ausssie" according to the owner who got the dog from the shelter. I said I think the dog is a Border Collie. I saw no Aussie in her, not in her appearance nor in her attitude. Usually I'm not partial to merles or blue eyes, but I really liked this dog. Maybe it was the white face? Her name is Sassafrass.

This is what she looked like after I got done with her though. More like a cattle dog.

vets and fencing + Crue

Reign had to stay at the vet overnight. He woke up with his elbow swollen and limping. He'd been fine the night before. When I got to the vet he was running a slight fever. They kept him overnight but he was much better yesterday morning so I got to bring him home. He's been fine ever since. Not sure what it was but I will keep an eye on him. Of course to look for puncture wounds for possible spider bite, they had to shave his elbow. Looks funny now. He has a callous there from laying on cement.

We finally got one side of the fencing done behind my shop. Mike helped spur us on to get it done by taking off the other night, while we were standing right there! It was so black out we couldn't see and when I called the dogs in, Crue, who had been with Mike, came right back, but no Mike. I called and called, I drove around and I called some more. Jillian finally came over and we drove around again and when we got to the road behind the shop, there he was coming down the road from behind us. Where he'd been I have no idea, but he'd been gone for over 30 minutes. I'm thinking maybe he chased a cat off and had it held somewhere in a trance. He will, if I let him, stare forever at our cat. He's never ever run off before and always comes when called. Just shows how unpredictable dogs are. Anyway I'd had that roll of fencing for a few weeks waiting to put it in but at least half is in now. And I don't let Mike out in the dark if I can't see him. I just need to finish the other side now and put in some gates.

Crue is growing by leaps and bounds. He's getting almost too big for me to carry. He sure is a good puppy though. And very smart! He listens well, is very obedient and never forgets anything. He's almost 5 mos old now.

And this one just because I thought it was a good picture of Seth.

Grooming

A couple of the dogs I groomed today. The first is Gunner. He's a Cavalier King Charles spaniel. He's a bit on the um big side, but he's very sweet. He got shaved down a few weeks ago so he was just in today for a bath and trim up.

This dog, Molly, is a new customer. Today was her first groom. She's 7 mos old. She's registered as a Scottish Terrier, but I do wonder if there is some Westie in there somewhere. Scotty's can come in wheaten color, but she had more of a build and hair like a Westie. I did my best to make her look as Scotty as I could. She was very good for her first groom too.

shop news

I realized this blog is getting to be mostly about the day to day activities of my dogs. Which is ok, and I love talking about my dogs, but really I started it to talk about my shop. So, here is the latest news about the shop. I have been involved in a project to boost sales in the Maryville area and more specifically the street my shop is located on. A local radio show host (Tom Kerr) approached me a while back with a proposal to join in on his idea. I thought it was a really good idea so I have joined forces with him and other shop owners in the area to help each other attract customers to our businesses. In return for a very nominal monthly fee I got a phone interview on the radio show and a nice page on the website for Tom Kerr's project called either the 3 Mile Mall, which is how it started out, but is now known as SaveBuyLocal. Really the plan just changed from the limited area encompassing only East Broadway Ave to the whole local area. In addition to my interview and the website, Tom recorded a commercial for me which airs several times each day and today he did a live commercial for me. I have been trying to promote his plan any way I can and did a write up in my shop newsletter. I also discuss it with my customers. I'm not sure yet how many customers the airtime has brought in as I keep forgetting to ask people how they heard about me. I think I am going to include a space on my customers info cards to ask how they heard about my shop. The shop is doing well. I am farther ahead right now than any other month at this time. I am hoping to keep this up. I have lots of nice loyal customers. In fact my client base is now well over 100. I am averaging 2+ groom dogs per day and I don't feel that is bad after only 7 mos in business. I think the best part though is finally at this late stage in my life I have a job I really enjoy!

the BIG boys

The dogs haven't been getting out much lately. We've been very busy at the shop and I can't have them all loose when I have customer dogs here. But today we had a lull in the day so we took them all out back for awhile to give them some excercise. I had some boxes stacked under the carport shelter and I had pulled some out to get soggy in the rain so I could smash them down and throw them out. Mike decided they were his toys. So I pulled one of the big boxes out and he ran around with it then tore it all up.

It started out looking like this

then after a bit of this

It ended up looking like this

Of course he did have just a wee bit of help

Reign liked the big stick better. I guess boxes aren't his thing. And that is MY foot he is throwing it on!

Seth found a cow hoof to chew on

And I can't get any good pictures of Crue because he NEVER holds still long enough! I have lots of butt shots and tail shots but this is as good as its going to get so you can see how big he's getting.

But at the end of the day when the box was lying all over in pieces (which I will have to pick up) everyone was very tired and happy.