Meet Abby! She's a harlequin Great Dane from Allentown, PA. She owns Erika, who is planning an "Abby Print (cow) and Pink" Paw-ty" Read below, as Abby eloquently tells her own story...
My name is Abby and this is my bed. I think it is anyway. My parents bought me a nice big bed… but I ate it. I love to chew things; toys, bones, shoes, even walls. Dry wall is my favorite! I got this amazing toy called a Kong and since my mom fills it with carrots, I chew on that instead.
I know that I am the love of my parent’s life, the apple of their eyes! Every morning, my daddy wakes me up to go outside. Since I hate mornings, I climb right back into their, I mean MY bed, and go back to sleep. But, when my mom blow-dries her hair, I get up out of bed to put my face in the hot air. I even look like my mom and dad. I have a blue eye like him and a hazel eye like her. I love getting my picture taken too. My grandparents think I get bigger every day and, I really do!
The best time of the day is when we all watch Jeopardy. I am learning so much. I tilt my head and look like I could answer. I don’t have thumbs to press the button or I would definitely try out for that show.
I have so many friends. My neighbor Lulu is a Chihuahua and she barks at me through my fence all of the time. I could eat her in one gulp but, I won’t because she is older. And, I like to run around the park and get dirty with all of the dogs like Coco, Buford and Sandy.
Between the park and my walks and my painted nails I live a Great (Dane) life.
x
Korrie and Kharma
Walking for MS
I introduced you to Korrie and Kharma last month, posing wearing their new bandanas and preparing to walk for an important cause.
These photos were sent in by BarkTalk News subscriber Jeanne H. Her gorgeous dogs are modeling their beautiful custom embroidered dog bandanas and the medals they received for completing the M.S. Walk!!
The top photo shows "the girls" with Jeanne's Godson, Fabio, and his wife, Krista, who has MS.
Jeanne had custom embroidered dog bandanas created, with the words "Krista's Team" on them, for Korrie (age 3) and Kharma (age 2) to wear.
Jeanne and Krista's Team earned over $1,000 for the cause.
According to Jeanne, "the girls were AWESOME and everyone loved them."
Do you have photos of your dogs participating in a special cause? Send them to me at Lisap@barktalk.com so I can recognize them in an upcoming newsletter!
Mother's Day Gift Idea!
Don't forget my selection of T-shirts for dog lovers when you're shopping for Mother's Day gifts.
And remember, BarkTalk News Subscribers always save 10% off every order with Coupon Code TY10.
GET YOUR MOTHER'S DAY ORDERS IN EARLY!! I WILL BE ON VACATION BEGINNING MAY 6, SO PLACE YOUR ORDER BEFORE THEN FOR DELIVERY IN TIME FOR MOTHER'S DAY!
A Love Story
This handsome guy is named Carson. His parents are Beth and Blair Gormley.
Beth graciously shares Carson's background, as well as some fun paw-ty ideas:
Carson is a rescue dog--found on the streets of Baltimore City probably at 6 months of age. It was love at first sight. My mom fosters for cocker adoption in Baltimore. I went with her to pick him up. After we got in the car I sat in the back with him... I motioned for him to come over to me--after a while he did and he game me a little kiss! (I was his FIRST KISS) When I was dropped off, he started crying and scratching at the window for me (my mom said it was pitiful) I told my then fiancé at the time--that Carson would have to go with me if we got married and he took us both!
Carson's first birthday celebration was low key...we showed 101 and 102 dalmations--had 3 of his friends over.
On his second birthday--we had a friend make a cake and it said happy barkday.
On his 3rd we had a cookout w/ cake and pupcakes for the dogs.
On his 4th we had another cookout and brought some kids wading pools since it was a warmer day w/ food (pizza) had some puppy pizza for the dogs, cake and ice cream--for the dogs.
Carson is a wonderful addition to our family here--he is sweet, protective, and lovable. He only barks when someone comes to the door. He has only destroyed HIS toys and nothing else. He is a cuddle/love bug and I always joke that if someone were to break in he would kiss them, then lie on his back to try get a belly rub. He loves attention and at times I compare him to a teenager (he thinks the world revolves around him!)
He loves his guinea pig brothers and believe it or not--he has never tried to hurt them. He likes to sniff and lick his brothers!
Recently he has become very very protective of me now that I am pregnant, and I have total confidence that he will make a GREAT big brother! He is 100% a diamond in the rough. I have taught him some sign language too. I know that I rescued Carson, but feel that he rescued me.
BarkTalk News Subscriber Robin recently hosted a New Puppy Shower for her newest addition, Atreya.
Robin served pup-cakes, and invited the neighbors to join in a pup-arade!
Looking for a fun and unique paw-ty theme for your dog? Why not "Hello Kitty"?
I love creating custom products for my customers!
This is Zorro, he's the furriest newest addition to Mark and Cassie's family, of Charleston, SC. Zorro loves playing at the park, chewing stuff, and spending time with mommy and daddy.
Oh, and he looks stunning in his beautiful bandana (which perfectly matches the blue in his new puppy announcements)!
Is it any wonder we love our dogs?
REMEMBER
I can customize any announcement or invitation!
Pet Insurance Online Makes Comparison Easy By Mark Gittelman
There is no controversy about the United States being a nation
that loves their pets. For many people, the family pets are as
important as any other member of the household and are often
considered to be the best friend of their owners. In recent
years, one of the best innovations in pet health care has been
the introduction of pet insurance online.
When it comes time to assure and protect the health of your
pets, it is very helpful to have pet health insurance coverage
in place. Such insurance plans can help to offset the high costs
of pet surgery and other veterinary pet procedures that may come
up because of serious illness or accident. Before health
insurance for animal welfare was available, often people would
have to choose between the health of their beloved pet and other
family financial needs. Now that pet insurance is widely
available online, people can take care of their pets in a
convenient and affordable way.
The availability of pet insurance online has had an added
benefit of helping to lower the general cost of pet health
insurance. This has occurred because of a variety of factors
that impact the cost of coverage, such as making it less
expensive to advertise and market the pet health coverage and
inexpensively creating a larger demand. In addition, this has
brought more companies into the industry, including some
companies that tout cheap pet insurance. In turn, this has
increased the competition which benefits consumers by keeping
prices down.
Many pet lovers appreciate the convenience of being able to
shop online for their pet plan. For those who are frequent and
avid internet users, it is a significant time-saver to be able
to research options, coverage packages, the background of the
pet insurance company and different pricing comparisons.
When choosing to purchase pet insurance on the internet, there
are a wide variety of factors that will impact the premium and
effect the monthly cost to your family. You can choose how
extensive you want your pet health insurance coverage to be. You
can opt to go with a plan that covers just about every pet
health contingency from routine veterinary visits to emergency
care. You can conversely go with a less expensive plan that is
designed to cover the major and most expensive types of events
such as cancer treatments, surgical procedures and care for any
type of accident.
Another way to adjust the cost of pet insurance is to check
what options you have for the deductible. The lower the
deductible is, the higher your pet health insurance premium will
be. If you are comfortable with a higher deductible, then you
will be able to save some money on your monthly premiums.
In addition, you can also check with the animal care insurance
provider to see if they offer a range of co-pays. This is the
amount that you pay for any veterinary visit regardless of other
coverage and the reason for the vet visit. Choosing a higher
co-pay amount will also help to reduce your monthly premium.
Having a good feel for how many veterinary pet visits you expect
to make on a monthly basis will help you to know what makes the
best sense for your budget, with regard to the co-pay options
you have.
Some companies that offer online pet insurance will allow you
to choose how often you make your premium payments. While many
people like the convenience and the ability to work the amount
into their monthly budget, sometimes it is worthwhile to see if
you can save money by making other payment arrangements. Some
pet insurance companies offer discounts if you pay your premium
quarterly, semi-annually or annually.
Researching the options for pet insurance online is the best
way to find out exactly what options you have for making sure
the health of your family pets is well safeguarded. With just a
bit of effort, you will be able to identify the best coverage
options for your situation and that will fit within your family
budget. Once you have the pet health insurance coverage in
place, you can relax knowing that your four-legged friends will
be able to get the veterinary care they need.
About the Author: Mark Gittelman and his wife Cindi are animal
lovers that own cats and dogs. For more information about online
pet insurance and a list of frequently asked questions and
answers visit there web page about pet health insurance http://www.cat-health-behavior.com/cat-insurance-FAQ.html
Family......Redefined
He's not just a dog. He's family and deserves the best medical care. VPI Pet Insurance helps pay for lab fees, medications, surgeries, X-rays, and more. Even coverage for routine care, including vaccinations and prescription flea control. Plus, you can use any veterinarian, anywhere.
That's the kind of protection your whole family should count on.
Tips When Choosing Your Veterinary Pet Insurance by MIKE SELVON
It should come as no surprise to learn that veterinary pet treatments and procedures are becoming more expensive. This increase in veterinarian costs has led many mammal owners to inquire about the availability and cost of veterinary pet insurance. Even though it is not as well-known or talked about as much as health care coverage for humans, pet health insurance has been available to cover family pets for the better part of two decades.
Insurance for pets has been available in some form or another for about twenty years now. However, many people even today are surprised to learn that animal health cover can be obtained to protect the animal welfare of beloved four-legged family members. As the cost of veterinary pet office visits and various procedures have increased, along with the cost of human health care in this country, more and more people are looking at this option as a financially viable and wise way to assure the best mammal care is provided when needed.
Veterinary pet insurance is very similar to the type of health care coverage that you would seek out for your family. With pet health insurance, the cost of veterinary care is covered when you purchase such a policy. The cost of the premiums will vary depending on how extensive the coverage is, but most families find the premiums to be quite affordable and easy to fit into the monthly household budget.
For many people, they want to purchase the best mammal cover that they can so that they feel confident in the level of care that their animal will receive. Animal cover policies that cover preventative measures or wellness care, in addition to the veterinary pet services that are needed in case of illness or emergency, are considered to be the premier type. Most of these policies will also cover on-going care and long-term treatments in the instance of chronic problems or conditions of disease.
However, you will find that these types of mammal cover plans, which are quite comprehensive in their coverage, come at a cost. You will pay the most in its insurance premiums for coverage that pays for routine health screening visits to your vet and for the regular vaccinations, immunizations and booster shots. Devoted animal lovers find a great deal of comfort in knowing that their family pets are covered under this type of animal health cover and are willing to pay extra for this coverage.
There are a few ways to reduce the cost of your animal cover premiums and still have very good coverage. One way to do this is to choose a higher deductible for your policy. Another is to choose to purchase a policy that has a co-payment option.
You also might be able to get a discount if you pay your premiums quarterly or annually, as opposed to monthly. Most pet insurance companies offer a variety of plans so that you can find the coverage you are comfortable with and still stay within your budget.
Before making a commitment on a specific veterinary pet insurance plan, be sure to learn about optional benefits and coverage that an individual pet plan will provide. In addition, it is a good idea to find out about the track record and the reputation of the various mammal cover companies before sending them your hard earned money. One last thing you can do in your search is to check with your veterinarian to see if they have ever encountered any payment problems or claim issues with the particular company you are considering.
The Need For Pet Insurance Comparison Before Choosing A Plan
If you have family pets, then you may understand the awful feeling of knowing that you cannot afford to take your pets to the veterinarian for proper care. If you have been in that situation or simply want to avoid such stress, then you may want to check out your options for pet health insurance and take some time to conduct a pet insurance comparison.
In recent years, having animal cover to provide for the four-legged members of the family has almost become a must-have item, especially for households that have several pets. As veterinary bills mount, it makes sense to invest in animal health cover, just as you do for the human members of the household. Such mammal health cover can make very good economic sense, but it is important to conduct a comparison before purchasing animal care insurance.
You will find that there are many companies today that offer pet health insurance coverage. Doing a pet insurance comparison can be very beneficial in helping you to sort through and find the best type of coverage for your family pets and the best cost for the premiums. One of the most efficient ways of making such comparisons is by going online and checking the various offerings of the different pet insurance companies.
There are even some websites that will help you to do your insurance comparison, by showing a side-by-side listing of the different aspects of animal cover so that you can quickly compare the different policies and companies. This is a great time saver and can help you quickly eliminate pet insurance company offerings or a mammal plan that does not offer what you need most. Once you have identified the plan that will provide the type of coverage you want, then it is easier to make the comparisons.
When doing an insurance comparison, some of the things you will want to consider and perhaps even seek out additional information about are:
1) whether the plan includes coverage for kennel fees; 2) whether you can take your mammal to any licensed veterinarian or if you must choose from a list of approved animal care professionals;
3) if the plan covers wellness or preventative care benefits;
4) whether the plan covers boarding fees in the event that you become ill and cannot care for your animal yourself and if you need to find a plan that will also extend coverage to related events such as being reimbursed for cancellation fees associated with travel.
These are just a few of the many considerations that should be taken into account when deciding upon veterinary pet insurance plans to meet your specific needs.
In addition to these concerns, there are also a number of things that should be looked at with regard to each pet insurance company. In doing an insurance comparison, you should know the answers to at least these questions about the various companies:
1) how long have they been in the mammal health cover business?
2) Is the mammal cover company stable and does it have a good reputation?
3) Has your veterinarian had any dealings with the company and have those dealings been positive?
4) Does the animal cover company only employ certified or licensed professionals for key positions?
While it can be tempting to buy cheap mammal cover, doing a careful pet insurance comparison can help you to learn more specifics about the different coverage options of the various policies and also about the reputation of the various mammal cover companies. In the long run, being sure that you have the right coverage which will be the most beneficial to your beloved pets and will meet the needs of you and your family, will be more important than saving a few dollars a month in the short term.
Everyday someone asks me, “How do you start a pet-sitting business?” I try to answer their question succinctly. But the truth is, starting a pet-sitting business, or any business is not always a succinct process. Following are 21 tips that I know can lead to pet-care business success in any economy.
1. Accept what you don’t know. Not everyone who starts a pet-care business is an expert on every type of household pet. Be honest with clients who call requesting care for a pet you’ve never cared for. Your honesty and commitment to learning from them will go a long way in building long-term trust in you and your company.
2. Commit to learning about business. Unless you’ve run a series of successful small businesses before, you must create a self-education plan for yourself. No matter how much you love animals (and they love you) your business will flounder without attention to the mundane details of accounting, sales, marketing and filing.
3. Have a realistic budget. Set up a realistic budget for running your business. Be honest about how much money you need in order to pay your bills and invest in your business. Many pet-sitting businesses close because the owner did not evaluate how many visits they would need to perform in order to meet their basic financial needs.
4. Evaluate the competition. Make sure you understand what the other pet-sitters in your area are already doing, and what you can do better or more efficiently. If there are no other pet sitting companies in your area, find out what your potential customers currently do to care for their pets when they can’t be there.
5. Set realistic rates. Yes, you love pets and you can’t believe that you can get paid to have fun – that’s what a great many star athletes say too, yet they manage to make millions of dollars each year. You won’t likely be able to draw clients in by charging thousands of dollars for your services, but you won’t be able to serve pets well if you quit in 6 months because you need more money to survive.
6. Listen to pet-lovers. Ask pet owner’s what is most important about their pet’s care. Never imagine that you know everything – a pet owner always knows their pet best. Listen and you will learn how to serve them better.
7. Enjoy the people. I often joke that “Until that puppy can write a check, I work for his Mom!” And it’s true. The people who love their pets are your customers – even if you don’t see them. Check in with them and find out how they feel about your service. Make sure they understand that you are happy to work with them and you appreciate being part of their care giving ‘family.
8. Make business decisions. You are in business, so treat yourself like a business owner. If you intend to work as a sole proprietor, make a decision to work only with the clients that contribute the most to your bottom-line
9. Build Alliances. Work with the other pet-sitters in your area. If you need a back-up or you are booked, you need to know the other quality caregivers who service your area. You can ruin your great reputation simply by recommending someone who doesn’t live up to your standards.
10. Build alliances with other small business owners in your area. Who better understands the ‘downside’ of pet ownership than the dry cleaner or housekeeping service in your neighborhood? Their businesses are based partially on the pet-owning clients in your area. Ask to place your cards in their shops, or if you can run put a flyer in their monthly bills sent to their clients.
11. Serve the client, not your ego. It’s a heady experience to feel the power of running a business and sometimes you will think you know what’s best when caring for someone else’s pets. Realize that you need to ride the fine line between educating customers and talking down to them.
12. Be genuine. Everyone wants to work with someone “real.” When people are making decisions about letting a stranger into their home to care for their most precious possession, they want to feel that you are a real human being with an understanding and appreciation of their relationship with their pet. You need to be a business person with a heart – have all your forms and policies in place, but let your personality shine through.
13. Believe in yourself. This is the most important success factor I have found. Define your success by your rules and wake up every day with the knowledge that you can and will succeed.
14. Ignore the naysayers. Plenty of people are going to doubt you when you tell them this is your goal. Don’t listen. Surround yourself with people who believe in you and never stop moving forward.
15. Create systems to work smarter. Everything can be systemized to help you get everything done. Make a list of all your ‘must dos’, ‘should dos’ and ‘want-to-dos’ and determine how often they happen (annually, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily). Sit down with a calendar and plug in the activities that will accomplish your lists.
16. Network. Just like building alliances, you need to step up your ‘face-time’ in your community. Investigate several networking opportunities in groups that are industry specific (like pet-rescue organizations, pet-sitter networks) and business or community specific (like the Chamber of Commerce, or NAWBO). After visiting several, select the ones that are most effective for your business – both in terms of referrals for new business and for educational purposes.
17. Evaluate. If something is working (or not) for you – find out why. Ask questions of everyone – your happy (and unhappy) clients. Find out what keeps happy customers coming back. If someone decides not to hire you for their pet’s care, ask them what influenced their decision. If their decision was based on an area where you can’t compromise - you won’t provide every other day service for cats – move on. If it’s something you can improve upon - they thought you were too abrupt on the phone – fix it! Get to the heart of what drives your business and take time each day to improve.
18. Set goals and action plans. You must know what your objectives are for you and your business. When you envision your life in a year, three years and ten years, what will you be doing? How will your business be running? Whether you intend to serve ten clients for life, or you want to establish the top pet-sitting franchise in North America and Europe – you need to have a goal and a plan.
19. Find your niche and stick to it. When I started peggiespets.com, I was intimidated by narrowing to a niche. By defining your niche and marketing to them, you are not turning away other business (our niche is big dogs and puppy potty training) you can continue to accept all the business you want that is outside of your niche (ask all the terriers, birds and rabbits we care for!).
20. Strive for success everyday. Never compromise your ideals to meet someone else’s expectations. The reason you started your own business is because of your passion, so always stand by your convictions and work hard to exceed your expectations each day.
NOTE: You’ll encounter people who don’t do business the way you do, and you’ll find clients that don’t live up to your expectations…don’t lecture, don’t get on your soapbox, just politely point them in a different direction.
21. Help someone else succeed. The more you give away, the more you will receive. Whether you are helping another pet-care business get started (with more than 65 million dogs and 77 million cats in American households according to APPMA– there’s room for more pet-care providers!) or you’re helping another person achieve their dream, you will be more successful because you participated!
Follow these tips to achieve your own brand of pet-care business success!
About The Author
Peggie Arvidson-Dailey is the founder of Pet Care Business University and the Pet-Care Business Success System™. She is the author of several articles on small business success and has been radio guest on “This Week in Small Business” on the topic of Customer Satisfaction. As a trainer and coach she has helped people across the country create and build the pet-care business of their dreams. Visit http://www.peggiespets.com for more information.
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