Lucky Dog Blog

Winnipeg shopping bulletin

A couple of important news bulletins for Winnipeg shoppers. 

More people can now get Lucky in the freezer.  Another store is carrying Lucky Dog Frozen Dog Biscuit dough.  Piazza deNardi on Taylor has just ordered a whole bunch of biscuit dough so break out your shamrock cookies cutters and get ready for St. Patrick's day.

Also for those eco-pooper scoopers. I found the bags I talked about here and Organza.  They also have the compostable garden garbage bags but no smaller bags for kitty litter.  And while you are there, you can also pick up some more of your favourite treats - THAT RIGHT - Lucky Dog Biscuits is sold along side your other local and organic foods.  Go check it all out.

China bound

No I'm not going over to rough up the suppliers who sold the tainted gluten that went into pet food although while I'm there...

Actually, I was offered a great opportunity to teach marketing for six weeks at one of the universities in China.  Perhaps it isn't the best time to leave our growing company, but we've worked it out so that I can have my cake and eat it while I'm multi-tasking over in China.

So I'm taking off on Feb 27 (yes tomorrow).  I will be checking in and blogging from afar from time to time to let you know what is new in the dog world on the other side of the world.  I'll be based in Nanjing which is on the Yangtze River about three hours inland from Shanghai - maybe more.

I am EXTREMELY nervous and excited.  I am going to miss my family, friends and of course, Cooper but it is a really good opportunity to learn about another country and to hone my marketing knowledge by teaching. Nothing like standing in front of 150 students to bring clarity to what you know (or don't know).

I'm interested in learning more about China since it is one of the fastest growing economies.  Everything you see or buy has some connection to China, or at least it seems to.  So I'll have a chance to talk about North American business principles and learn about how they conduct business as well.  It should be a very interesting time.

Thank-you Wayne and Donalda for delivering around town while I'm gone.  Thank-you Bonnie and Quinn for picking up the extra work.  And thank-you Peter and Cooper for not kicking up too much of a stink about me leaving for two months.

I'll keep you posted...

Eco-poop response

The comments were just too good not to respond.

To Jennifer: Oh I HATE the double poop.  I've actually tried to undo the bag and attempt a double scoop with the same bag. Now if anyone wants to draw out instructions THAT would be the one to do it for because I have had some seriously unsuccessful attempts.  Drastic enough to remind me every day to take two bags - sometime more.

And to those who don't scoop - you are giving pet owners a bad name.  I know - it stinks, it's gross, it's demeaning.  It also kills me to put a perfectly biodegradable byproduct of digestion into a non-biodegradable plastic. That is why I love these bags.  Come on - stretch those hamstrings and scoop.  I've been scooping in -35 fricken degrees.  And let me tell you - plastic regardless of its biodegradability DOES NOT stand up to those temperatures.  Cracking and splitting is very common. And there is no Grass to be found to "eliminate" mistakes. Again, no helpful hints on troubleshooting those little issues. If only I could draw. I would have a whole new series of poop scooping instructions.  It would include some dialogue because I know there is dialogue going on in my head when I'm picking it up.  Some of which isn't suitable for publication.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend.  I know here in Wpg HQ we will be getting out to enjoy some milder temperatures. AND we'll be back in the Lucky Dog product development kitchen trying out some new treats.  Cooper loves product development weekends.

If anyone wants some extra special advice on picking up check this out!

http://www.ehow.com/how_2038988_poop-like-professional-pooper-scooper.html

Happy Friday everyone! 

Eco poop

We had a great tip from one of our new Lucky Dog customers, Jean.  Jean is new to reading the blog and saw my rant about biodegradable poop bags.  In an effort to end the frustration, Jean sent a link to a great Canadian company Ecolife Products.

They have this product:

They are 100% compostable poop bags.  And for cat owners, there are compostable garbage bags for your kitty litter.  Very cool BUT they are only retailing in Ontario (boo) or on-line.

They also have some great information on line describing compostable versus just breaking down into smaller plastic pieces.  Big difference.

So I guess I'll be ordering mine on-line in mass quantities since Cooper isn't likely to stop pooping anytime soon.

The company even gives helpful tips on how to use the bags:

Are there really people out there that don't know how?  Really?

a box and a half later

Those were great embarrassing stories! Keep them coming. I can't imagine volunteering my shirt for a little (or lot) of dog vomit. ICK!  Now that's love.  Personally I probably would have launched the dog off my lap hoping it had cat like reflexes to land on its feet. 

And Dana - send in those pictures.  We'd love to see them.

You may be wondering what happens when a dog gets into a stash of Lucky Dog Biscuits and eats a box and a half in one sitting.  Well, our friend Cookie solved that mystery while sleeping over for the weekend while her humans were celebrating Robbie Burns Day.  Cookie (don't let that innocent face fool you) is your typical Beagle - very cute, very friendly and VERY food motivated.

Cooper, on the other hand, is not particularly food motivated and doesn't touch the wall of biscuits that I tend to have in the house at any given time.  So being in the habit of leaving product around, I didn't think twice about it when I left the house with the two partners in crime with the run of the house.

Needless to say, Cookie found a few stray boxes lying around and chewed through the box, the plastic and ate all of the biscuits.  There was no evidence to support the belief that she was alone in this crime.  My guess is Cooper took full advantage of the open box but did not actually aid or abet said crime.  I could be wrong.  But one box was not enough and she managed to top off her meal of Two Cheese Pizza with half a box of Peanut Butter and Saskatoon before either  a) getting caught or b) getting full. 

The result:  A full dog and with a reported case of the poopsies that night.  My guess is the sheer quantity of food just pushed it's way out of her little body.  That amount of soluble fibre from the oats would do anyone in.  It is equivalent to you eating about half a container of Metamucil.  Now that's regular if you know what I mean.  So we now know that 500 grams of biscuits per 30 lb dog is enough to give a momentary case of the runs, but leaves the dog a satisfied customer in the end.

A healthy dose of fibre is good but moderation is the key Cookie.  Next time, try to push the box away after half.  I know it is tough.  Maybe drink a glass of water, or go for a little walk to take your mind off of it.  You can read more about fibre on our website here.

was that my dog?

Thanks Jennifer for your comments and your suggestion for a topic to discuss:

most embarrassing moment with your dog.

In the spirit of Monday morning, this is the second time I will attempt to write this.  Thank-you Mr. Gates for making my life so easy with your buggy little Explorer program that chooses when I should be finished typing by locking up my system, suspending my words in some frozen story hell never to be retrieved no matter how much a swear at the screen.  BAHH!

So what was I saying?  Right - most embarrassing dog moment.

Well my dog's aren't really the outgoing kind, which I think you need if you are going to have an embarrassing moment.  My two most recent dogs, the late Curly and Cooper, were both referred to at the Humane Society as dogs 'that require confidence building'.  Ok - you're good enough, smart enough... maybe not that kind of confidence building. 

Curly (a.k.a Mr. Anti-social) would actually leave the room if too many people (i.e. two) would enter the room.  He wouldn't run out of the room scared, but slowly drag himself to his feet after about a minute of listening to the racket in the room and slowly wander out as if to say, "can't an old man get some peace and quiet around here".  A little embarrassing when you are trying to appear as though your dog actually likes you.  You were a funny dog Curly.

Cooper (a.k.a Pretty Boy) on the other hand would go running out of the room scared.  You drop something, boom out of the room.  Someone knocks, off he goes.  TIMID.  So I decide to take Cooper to the dog park to witness how real dogs behave.  Build confidence.  Get some exercise.  The first few times were a little hairy.  and I do mean hairy - he would puff up like a cat in front to a pack of dogs.  Dude needed some serious help.  Eventually he got the hang of playing so I could relax and stop watching every sniff he took.  As I wandered around chatting about dog things with other dog people who I only know by their dog's name, I hear this scuffle and big dog snarls from behind.  We all turn and here comes my little Cooper with a huge tuft of black and brown fur hanging off his little white chin and Rudy, a big long haired German Sheppard pup on his tail.  I think we could have gotten away with it except that I was standing with Rudy's owner at the time.  Rudy, just so you know, was not hurt.  It appears the long hair has some valuable qualities besides looking pretty.  I'm sure there was plenty of replacement hair where that came from.  I have since learned that Cooper has a bit of a complex when it comes to larger dogs.  He really is a sweet dog.  Good thing Rudy's humans have a good sense of humour.

That's all I have for stories.  Not that exciting I'm afraid.  BUT I'm sure Bonnie and Quinn have stories about their two clowns.  These two are as outgoing as it gets.

And I'm sure you could find a couple funny pug stories here.

How about you Jennifer - any embarrassing stories to share?

Or anyone else?  We're all ears. 

Happy Valentine's Day..

Thank you Melissa for this crazy cute picture of your aussies. We couldn't have captured the day better ourselves! Please forward us your snail mail addy so we can send your crew some Lucky Dog Biscuits.

Have a great day everyone and give your dog a goooood scratch behind the ear for us here at Lucky Dog HQ!

Miss us??

Hi blog land.  It's been a while.  Sorry about that. All hands are on deck planning our new lucky season.  Plus there are some days that it is just tough to find stuff to write about. I'll admit it.  There are some things we would like to tell you but have to keep it top secret until we are ready and then there are other things we could tell you but it would be completely unrelated to dogs or nutrition so...

how have you been?

Tired of the cold yet?  i am

hmmmm....

Ok - I'll share this fabulous dog picture I found today.  It was a random find.  I lurk on this one blog - a writer from San Fransisco, Jennifer Jeffrey.  Her writing is very entertaining - check it out here.  Jennifer interviewed another blogger Erin Vey who happens to be a dog photographer in Seattle.  And that is where I found this fab picture.  You can check it out her website for the dog photos here and then the piece you have all been waiting for.... the funniest dog picture EVER here. 

I hope that made you smile. 

We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming soon.  And by all means, if you have a conversation starter, let's have 'er.

mavis