WOW, does time FLY!

Hello all my furr guardians out there. First, I must apologize for another HORRIBLE delay in posting a new blog, as well as the delay in getting my newsletter out. It has been a really crazy month, and with my first cold of the season lasting nearly two weeks it hasn't been easy to get to them both. With the cold behind me, and my head much less congested it's time to get back on the blog and newsletter Horse.

Let's see...I feel like I have so much to talk about!!!! I guess I last left off with the Bark in the Park, which you should really take a minute or two to look at the pictures if you haven't already. Some exciting and heart warming things have happened since that wonderful event, and hope you don't mind me sharing them with you. First off I had a wonderful article in the San Jose Mercury News back on September 20th!!! Some of you have mentioned that you really enjoyed the article, and it really helped you be more prepared for your loyal pet sitters. For those who weren't able to read it or didn't know about it here is the link: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10559861?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

The next story is a heartwarming one, and I still have a happy feeling just thinking about it. A good friend of mine emailed me for help about two weeks ago. Unfortunately his Grandmother passed away and she left behind her beloved mini Poodle "Spike". The family wasn't able to keep Spike, and they were desperate to find him a loving new home with people who would love and adore him like his late person did. I sent an email to some of my furr guardians who I felt may have the space and desire to give Spike a new home, and was overwhelmed by the response that I received. Within 5 minutes of sending the email I received emails from 5 of my clients, all with questions regarding Spike, and within 30 minutes Spike had a new home!!!! In fact, it just shows what a small world we live in...Spikes new person actually worked in the same building as my friend, (not the same company) so when I told my friend about him not only did he work right downstairs, but my friend also knew him!!!!! My friend just took a stroll downstairs to talk face to face with him about Spikes adoption, and within 3 days he brought Spike to his new person. Spike was able to spend the whole day at his new person's workplace, and brought smiles to everyone who worked there. I heard wonderful news that Spike bonded with his new person almost immediately, and followed him from room to room the entire day. I want to thank all of you who were so generous by sending out my help request to your friends and families, and to Corrine who forwarded it to Spikes new person John. You all have such great hearts and I appreciate you taking the time to help Spike.

The "Spike story" should also remind you all to make sure you have made arrangements for your beloved furr kid if something were to happen...either and illness, accident or anything else. You can contact the Silicon Valley Humane Society to discuss their "Pet Guardianship Program" which ensures that if you cannot find a suitable furr guardian the SVHS will do everything in their power to find a perfect person for him or her. www.hssv.org/donate_guardianship.html or you can call Bridget Keenan at (408) 727-3383.

Your loyal pet sitters awesome service record has been celebrated! We have been chosen to be preferred vendor for the Prometheus Real Estate Group!!! What does this mean? Well, Prometheus manages three new apartment communities that reside in Santa Clara, Palo Alto and Mountain View. When new furr guardians move into their communities they will be given your loyal pet sitters information. Some of you were nice enough to allow the management team to talk to you regarding our service level, and I thank you so much for that. With the background check out of the way my hope is that the furr gaurdians will feel confident in their managements choice, and give us the chance to care for their furr kids. This is a big honor for your loyal pet sitters, and we look forward to visiting with our new furr kids! Don't worry, this will not affect your service or nanny availability, in fact if this goes well I will be hiring a dedicated nanny who will service only these properties.

My furr guardian Holly sent me the COOLEST thing the other day, and she said I could share it with all of you. She found a company called "ArtPaw.com" who transformed three separate pictures of her girls into a VERY cool work of art! She was nice enough to allow me to list the link on my blog so you can see the transformation:
http://www.artpaw.com/proofpages/proof_hjones.html

She said she opted for Proof #2, and ordered a 24 x 36 portrait that she now has proudly hanging in her home. She thought that many of you might think it was cool as well, and with the holidays approaching might make a great gift.

And to another potential very cool holiday gift...I came across an advertisement for "Mutt Lynch Winery" who produce custom labeled wines that feature your furr kid!!!! I read their entire website, and they look like a COOL bunch of pet loving people! They even have a listing for animal charities and feature a wine program called "Club Mutt". If nothing else you should take a minute to check out their site...I had a lot of fun going through it. http://www.muttlynchwinery.com/

I wanted to welcome all my new furr kids that have joined the SVPN family since late September...Goldie, Zakin, Anya & Max, Sandy, Cassie, Max, Emmitt, Boo, Scruffy, Toby, Isabella, Alex, Tahoe & Emma, Mozart & Pixel, Baily, Guinness, Mighty & Sparky, Bianca & Sophie and Kiely. I am so happy that your guardians have allowed us to care for you while they were either at work or on vacation. If I have forgotten any of our new kids please drop me a line and I will add them on my next blog.

One last small reminder...if I do not have a picture of your furr kid on my website PLEASE email one to me.

I guess that's all for now, my fingers are starting to burn...but thank you so much for being a part of our extended family and I appreciate all of you very much.

Until next time...

Bark in the Park 2008!

Hello all my furr guardians, how did the weekend treat you? We had a very busy but fun weekend. Saturday was the Bark in the Park festival, and BOY was it a blast! We had a much more streamlined booth this year, and even added a prize wheel! We had really cool give-a-way items which included custom printed "bags on board" poop bag holders, personal cooling fans, safety whistles, bone shaped jar openers, custom printed pedometers, paw shaped chip clips and frisbees! We also decided to add a water dispenser for all the thirsty doggies, and WOW was that a popular stop! We had a couple of "party poopers" who wanted to pee on the dispenser, but luckily their guardians were able to stop them before they were able to taint the water.

We saw SO many fun doggies, some of whom we have never seen before, (breed wise). We were located next to Titans Kingdom which is a doggy daycare located in Fremont. The namesake of the daycare was there to represent, and WOW was he a cool guy! Obviously his name was Titan, and he is a beautiful golden retriever. As we all set up our booths he ran around playing with our mascot Fozzy, and rolled in the grass. He loved us, especially because we had yummy treats that his people allowed us to give to him. Hours into the festival he was sacked out behind his booth and slept through the majority of the day.

Our mascot Fozzy represented our booth like the beautiful girl she is and sported her pink bandanna. She was really good with most of the doggies who ventured into our booth, and liked hanging out with our friendly visitor Boo. She had to tolerate watching as her person lavished attention on all the other doggy visitors, but all of us made sure to tell her that she was our special girl, and the honorary mascot of our booth, that made her happy.

We were so happy to see many of our furr kids and guardians who came to visit us at our booth. We saw Smush, Sake, Hershey, Coco, Rufus, Bandit, Joanie, Harry and Winnie. We also were visited by Bailey and Cognac's guardians and Zakin's guardians. We hope next year we will even see more of you!

At one point of the day there were probably close to 10,000 attendees and I couldn't even guess on how many furr kids were there. We saw some of the largest furr kids we have ever seen and some of the tiniest. We were covered in doggy kisses, and our booth was covered in muddy doggy paw prints.

We had a donation jar which went to 13th Street Cat Rescue, and I'm happy to report we brought in $92.00 in donations! It was a wonderful feeling to be surrounded by people and vendors who dedicate their lives and time to help furr kids. It was also wonderful to see how important and loved all the furr kids were, and how much their guardians value their relationship. We heard many funny stories about the visiting furr kids, and we loved all of them. We are looking forward to visiting with our new furr kids, and thank all of our existing furr kid guardians for making it a point to visit us.

Until next time, give your furr kids a big kiss from their nannies.

Happy September!

Hello all my furr guardians, and happy September to you all! Where does the time go? I swear it was just June and now it's September...did I skip a couple of months? It's probably due to this horrible heat wave that we're having! How are all your furr kids doing? Remember to keep plenty of cool water around for them, even throw in a few ice cubes for a refreshing treat. NEVER leave you furr kids in a car, even if the windows are down, and make sure to have ample shade if they are left outside during the day.

I have had one busy couple of weeks! Needless to say, whenever there is a holiday we are busy and this past Labor Day was no exception. Nanny Chandel, Katy, Samantha and yours truly visited lots of your furr kids and they all acted like perfect ladies/gentlemen. We had the pleasure of visiting Zakin, Marissa, Moki & Mara, Baily & Cognac, Ben & Mie, Pumpkin, Bianca, Cecilia & Odin, Hugs, Kisses and Zoey, Pipsqueak, Pippen and Sierra, Oscar & Java, and Max & Anya. What a fun bunch of furr kids they are!

Some exciting news...we are now an Accredited Business through the Better Business Bureau! I have wanted to do this for sometime, and finally I signed up! I have the very cool looking plaque hanging on my wall directly under my business license, and it makes me pretty proud that's for sure.

I have also decided to "go green" when it comes to my newsletters. Although I really enjoy sending out my newsletters, it is a part of my "footprint" that I can change over. So, I'm not exactly sure if I will do one more paper newsletter just so my furr guardians who do not read this blog will know, but after this one you will be receiving online newsletters. If you do not wish to receive a newsletter online just let me know! I'm planning on putting them up on my website so you can read past issues. I'm not exactly when this will happen, but it will very soon.

I have had the pleasure of speaking to many new SVPN furr guardians over the past month or so. It's so wonderful to hear all your stories and to hear how loved your furr kids are. I wanted to remind my existing furr guardians and to tell my new furr guardians to remember to send me a picture of your furr kid(s) if you do not see one on my site. Also, I have yet to receive a nomination for our newsletter pet! I know you ALL have a funny, heartwarming, sweet story about your furr kid(s), so make sure to send one in so your furr kid might make it to the front of the newsletter!

Well, until next time my friends, be good to your furr kids and make sure to give them a big hug from their Nannies.

So many fun new kids!

Hello all my furr kid guardians...how has the week treated you? My week has been hectic, but that's the way I like it! Two of my furr guardians have moved, and that always makes me sad. Do you think it would be out of line to put a "do not move" clause in my contract? :o)

I just finished my day visiting with Sake, Smush and Sienna...wow, all three start with an "S". My girl Sienna was SO funny today! She kept trying to take a bite out of apples that had fallen off the tree and were lying on the ground. I said, "Sienna, you're not supposed to like apples", but she kept trying for them...luckily I'm fast and she didn't get one nibble. Katy visited our Boy Coco today...he was bit at his doggy daycare last week and required stitches in his tongue and a small bit cut off...he has a zigzag tongue now, which just adds to his charm. You know, people really have a negative view of Pit Bulls, (which Coco is) but the dog who bit him was a small terrier sort and after it happened Coco just started to cry and ran to hide. Not the vicious guy that people probably see him as; in fact he is one of the sweetest guys ever.

Did I mention that I was lucky enough to find an awesome replacement for Nanny Elaine? Her name is Cynthia and she's been a professional pet sitter for 5 years. To say she knows her stuff would be an understatement, and she will be the Nanny for all my South San Jose clients. I have also decided to do another expansion of sorts. During the interview process I met a wonderful girl name Christina, who fit the pet nanny profile to a tee. The only down side was that she is located on the boarder of San Jose and Milpitas, so asking her to drive to the South San Jose area wouldn't be a good match. So, I started thinking that I receive a lot of requests from furr guardians who live in that area, and I always have to turn them away due to it being out of all of our service areas. So, I decided to bring Christina on as my Milpitas/Great Mall Nanny and I couldn't be happier! She will start training with me next week, and hopefully will be ready to go by the second week of September.

I was looking at my photo gallery the other day, and realized that I don't have many of your furr kids due to your nanny not having a camera. If you notice that your furr kid isn't a part of my gallery please send me a picture of them and I will put them up ASAP.

We have a fun filled weekend coming up! Nanny Katy is visiting with sweet little Bandit and Zaelen. Nanny Samantha gets to spend time with her special girls Hugs and Kisses. Nanny Chandel gets to spend some time with two very sweet kitty cats, and yours truly will be running the office and hopefully talking to some more of your wonderful furr kid guardians.

I've enjoyed talking to all you new SVPN clients lately...it's really fun hearing all the stories about your furr kids. It's also very interesting to hear about your life and what you do in your work and personal time. So many of you are so loving and spend much of your personal time doing work with animal organizations. I want to thank all of you who do, whether it's with donations, or actually doing the rescue work.

Well, that's it for now my friends. Until next time give your furr kids a big hug and kiss from their nanny, and I will "talk" to you soon.

It's Friday! Yeah!!!!

Hello my furr kid guardians, how are you this evening? I would like to apologize for the horrible amount of time that has past since I last posted a blog. I have had one heck of a couple of weeks, and your loyal pet sitter is burned out!

This was a sad week for your loyal pet sitter...Nanny Elaine decided to hang up her nanny cap to find something with a bit more of a set schedule. Being a pet nanny comes along with some CRAZY hours which can change daily, and it's a hard adjustment to get used to. She was a great Nanny over the year plus that she was with me, and she was wonderful with all the furr kids that she visited over that time. I suggested to her that maybe she look into working at a doggy daycare since she is so great with doggies, and this would give her more of a structured schedule so she didn't have to keep track of our crazy ever-changing schedule. I have been interviewing for a replacement for Nanny Elaine, but after receiving nearly 100 inquiries it is taking some time trying to find that needle in a haystack. I have talked to some AWESOME candidates, but I am committed to finding the perfect Nanny who can join the superstar ranks of Nanny Samantha, Nanny Chandel, Nanny Heather and of course Nanny Katy, (well, me too). If any of you former Nanny Elaine clients would like to discuss this situation please do not hesitate to call me.

On a lighter note...I received all of my "swag" for the Bark in the Park! WOW, what cool stuff! I am super pleased about it, and feel that I made some very cool picks. I have electric personal fans, pedometers, bone shaped jar openers, paw shaped chip clips, a safety light/whistle and I'm still waiting on the poop bag holders...you know, the kind that you can clip onto your leash or belt buckle! We assembled the prize wheel last night, and my wonderful Husband designed a really cool graphic for it! Even if you do not have guardianship of a pup...you should still make a plan to visit the Bark in the Park, which is on September 20th at the Williams Street Park in Naglee Park. You can find everything that has to do with doggies, and a lot of kitty stuff too!!!!

I met the CUTEST pup the other day! Nanny Chandel is doing a 10 night overnight visit with a wonderful Shitzu named Molly Mae. Oh my goodness is this girl cute! She has a smile that would melt your heart, and is such a love bug! Nanny Chandel says that Molly Mae sleeps with her every night, and won’t let her out of her sight while she's there. I went to drop off some things for Nanny Chandel and that's when I had the pleasure of meeting this little girl. As we drove away Molly Mae was on the living room sofa looking out the window with a "please, come back" look on her face. I love when I get the chance to meet cute furr kids...although; they are all cute in my book, so that makes me the luckiest gal in the world.

One of my favorite things about working with furr kids is hearing the wonderful and sometimes hilarious names that they were given by their guardians. I talked to a new SVPN furr guardian the other day that has a Pug named...get this...Rhino. When I asked his guardian why she named him that, she replied, "because his butt is as big as a Rhino"...could you not laugh hearing that! I also met a furr guardian as I was walking Smush, (the Pomeranian) with a Dachshund puppy named...Banana!!! How appropriate is that name!

I still do not have nominee's for Septembers news letter pet...please do not make me go the nepotism route again and be sure to send me a cute short story about your furr kid. You can talk about anything...how they got their name, cute things that they do...does you kitty play fetch...that could be a story. Also, if you do not see your furr kid on the website please make sure to e-mail a picture of them to me so they can make their website debut.

That's all for now...until next time!

Sam...the attack cat!

Hello all my furr kid guardians...how has this week treated you so far. It was a bit of a warm day today...I could honestly say that I broke a sweat a few times. One of the steady doggies that I walk Sienna made sure to stop a couple of times during our walk to rest in the cool shaded grass...she's quite cute when she does that.

So, you may be wondering what the story behind the title of this blog is all about. Let me give you a little background about the subject first...many times in the past people have asked me if I had ever been bitten by any of the dogs that are in my care, or if I was ever afraid of any breed of dog...my answer to this is "no, I have neither been bitten or scared of any of the dogs in my care...but I HAVE been bitten and scared of a cat that was in my care". Yes, that's right...your loyal pet sitter was afraid of one particular crazy attack cat. This cat was very scary...he would hide from me when I was in the house, but I could hear his continuous eerie growling from wherever he was hidden away. From time to time I would see his glowing devil eyes glaring at me from his hiding place, which was a good thing, because if I didn't know exactly where he was and walked anywhere near him he would dart out from his hiding place and attack my legs! I know that it sounds fairly humorous, but believe me...it was a scary thing to happen and quite shocking too! So, I have been really lucky over the past years to avoid crazy attack kitties...until now!

I'm watching two kitties for one of my new furr guardians...one of them, (Milo) is one of the cutest kitties I have ever seen...the other one is Sam. Now, Sam is not like the other crazy attack cat that had attacked your loyal pet sitter in the past...Sam is a 13 year old Siamese Boy who's not crazy...just plain cranky! He's not all together thrilled that his furr guardian is gone, and this stranger has entered his home. He keeps at a distance when I enter his domain, and if I dare to get too close he will let me know with a quick hiss or growl. Well, on Monday I made the dreadful mistake of trying to give him treats a bit closer than he was comfortable with, and he snapped! He attacked my leg like it was a team of vicious dogs trying to get at him! Thank goodness I had my legs covered, because it could have gotten ugly! It more startled me than scared me, and afterwards I felt bad for Sam because he was obviously just very nervous and I entered his personal space that he had warned me about in the past visits. So, as of now I give Sam plenty of personal space, and leave his treats close, but not TOO close. I do talk to him, and ask him how his day was, but he doesn't answer...he just sits with me in his sights to make sure I keep an agreeable distance.

Milo is completely the opposite...she ADORES me, and wont leave my side the entire time I'm visiting. The first thing I do is to pick her up and carry her around like a baby...she's a drooler cat; so my arm is usually soaked by the time I put her down. Once I put her down it's like I've done something unacceptable so she weaves in and out of my legs as I try to make my way around the house. After finishing with the food, water and litter I sit on the couch and brush her long beautiful calico fur and try to get the ever-returning mattes out of it without hurting her. She is so adorable, and loves to rub against ANYTHING and usually bangs her head in the process. By the time our visit is over I'm covered in her beautiful fur, and she stands at the door as I walk out and just gives me that "please don't leave" face. Tomorrow is my last visit with them, and I'm sure they will both be thrilled to see their guardian, (especially Sam).

Nanny Elaine finished up with her nearly one month assignment with Oscar the blind Beagle. She said as she drove away from his home she started to ball uncontrollably and misses him SO much. His guardian said that Elaine did an excellent job, although she spoiled him A LOT! She was scared for him to walk down his narrow tall stairs, so she began to carry him up and down the steps rather risking him falling. His guardian said "now he just sits at the top of the steps waiting for me to pick him up"...we can't help spoiling the furr kids sometimes...it's like being a Grandparent.

So, I guess that's it for now, but I will write again in a few days. Until next time give your furr kids a big hug and kiss for me, and tell them that we love them.

Woo...I need a vacation

Hello all my furr kid guardians, how is the week treating you so far? At least the weather has turned around...I actually had to sleep with a sheet on last night! I can tell you that our cats are much happier, although Blackjack has been a bad boy today...he has an obsession with chewing on anything and everything and today his "prey" was one of my houseplants, (you know the one with teeth marks all over the leaves) some ribbon in our closet and last but not least my hands free charger cable! I told him he would be crispy Blackjack if he continued to do that, but I don't think he cares. Well, I since moved it to a place where hopefully he wont find it, although he can be very clever when he wants.

I started to visit Sidney again this week after a nearly 2 month break. His furr guardian hurt his back and had some time off to rest, so Sidney got all sorts of attention. Well, I missed this little guy, and his quirky personality. He is such a funny Guy, and really does have a quirky personality...for example, when he's waiting for a cookie he exhales out of his nose really hard making an almost sneeze like sound. If that doesn't get your attention, he will start "tap dancing" around on the hard wood floors until you look at him...then when he realizes he's going to get one he stands on his back legs and trembles until the tasty morsel is on the ground. I'm not exactly sure what type of breed he is, but I would say he is a Pomeranian mix of some kind, and not to toot my own horn, but he sure adores me! :o)

Nanny Elaine will be finishing up her nearly 0ne month stay at Oscar, the blind Beagles house. I asked her last night if she was sad and she wrote back that she's going to be heartbroken on that last day, and how much she adored Oscar. That's a hard part about being a "Nanny" it's when long assignments end, or if one of our furr kids move away, and of course the worse part is when one of our beloved furr kids passes away. And you know...it's not just rough on us! I used to do weekly walks with a wonderful Boxer named Jackson, and I guess I was his loyal pet nanny for well over a year. Well, one day his guardian said that they would be moving to Oakland at the end of the month and my heart nearly fell out of my chest. On my last day with Jackson I couldn't stop sobbing...and keep in mind that our furr kid clients never see us cry...we're always happy. Well, Jackson became increasingly more concerned about me, and started to lick my leg as we walked. By the time our walk was over I was a mess, and as I closed the door for the last time, he just stood there and watched me with this sad look on his face, as if he were going to burst out crying too. The next day I ran into his guardians, and they told me that Jackson had been up half the night throwing up, and that he was very upset. Of course I felt horrible that my Guy had been so sick, but it also really touched my heart that my Guy was that concerned about me. We have lots of stories like that, and I'm sure you will "hear" more as this blog goes on.

Things are starting to pick up around here, and WOO looking at my calendar it doesn't look like I'll have a day off for some time! Remember my furr guardians to book in advance if you need an overnight visit, and especially around the holidays! Until next time, give your furr kids a big smooch from their loyal pet sitter, and I will talk to you soon!