Drivers Ed by Bubbly Paws

minneapolis self service dog washWarning.. Here I go on a tangent that has very little to do with the dog wash!  In the last 3 weeks, I have seen about 7 cars going the wrong way at the roundabout right outside our window at Excelsior and Grand.  I also see people stopping and getting confused with this simple concept (keep right).  So I figured it would be a good idea to help educate everyone how to properly use a roundabout.  I found a great website with very detailed directions.  Chances are that since you are reading this, you probably know how to properly use one, but feel free to share this link with friends :) Have a good day!

Winter Dog Tips

We just posted this on our sister business, Pampered Pooch Playground's page, and thought our Bubbly Paws Dog Wash friends should see it as well. Keith

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Hello, everyone. I’m excited to be a new part of the Pampered Pooch Playground team. Several times a month, I will be here, talking about one of my favorite topics—my first baby (I mean dog), Leo. Granted, my Goldendoodle may not be your favorite pet, but I’ll bet that all of us can agree that we love and want the best for our dogs. With that in mind, my ultimate goal is to help build community among the parents of the pooches of the PPP and to help make this a place where we can share information and advice about caring for our canine friends.

Who am I? I am an enthusiastic fan and loyal customer of Pampered Pooch Playground and Bubbly Paws. My name is Birgitta Hughes, and as I mentioned, I am the proud “mom” of my dog, Leo. He is sweet, fun, and will be two in February. My husband, Allen, who has a passion for brushing our doodle every night, and I have been married over five years, and we have a nine-month-old son, Rhys (pronounced Reese). We moved to the Twin Cities from Boston over two years ago for my husband’s job at Best Buy headquarters. Before Boston, I was born and raised in California. In case you were wondering, I really like it here—even the winters! I love how active people are, regardless of the season. And truly, this is a beautiful place to live.

As the temperature drops and the snow comes, it’s time to start thinking about winter gear for Leo. I bought my first winter coat just four years ago, so all things winter remain new to me. Last year Leo loved the snow! Running through the snow and sticking his nose into it were two of his favorite activities. Because he enjoyed being outside so much, we bought booties to protect his paws from the elements. It took him a little while to get used to walking with them, but ultimately he adapted and was able to walk in a normal manner.

Booties worked for Leo last year, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing anything as we prepare for the winter months ahead. After checking with Leo’s vet at Glen Lake Animal Hospital and Roxy’s (Keith and Trycia’s dog) vet at Lake Harriet Veterinary, I learned that we must be extra diligent about checking the state of our dog’s paws after each walk. Salt, melting solvents, and snow accumulation between doggy toes can cause cracking of the skin. Each time you come in from a walk, clean out the snow that is stuck between your dog’s toes to limit any irritation. If you enjoy walking your dog during the winter and your dog can handle them, booties are an excellent solution. In fact, Bubbly Paws offers some great booties in a variety of styles and range of sizes.

Before I leave you today, I’d like to share a little video of the first time Leo wore his booties. After a couple times, he got the hang of it, and we enjoyed many walks with him in his “pawtectors.” Hopefully, he’ll get the hang of it again this year, too.

How do you protect your dog from the winter elements? We’d love to hear your ideas and advice!

NYC Weekend

This weekend, Trycia and I headed to New York.  We have starting doing this every December and had lots of fun there.  As strange as it sounds, we always get excited when we see a dog walking down the streets. It makes us miss Roxy!  We checked out a few of the pet boutiques as well.  When we go out of town, we always worry about how things are going at the dog wash (call us over-protective owners).  Kayla our manager always keeps things running smoothly!  Hope everyone had a great weekend!  When we got home, Roxy had lots of fun in the snow!

Keith

 

Christmas Tree Shopping

Linden Hills Chrstmas Tree LotWe love taking Roxy with us everywhere we go, and when the weather starts getting colder, we are more limited with the locations she can go.... Today we took her to the Linden Hills Christmas tree lot.  She loved walking up and down the rows of trees and helped us to pick out the perfect tree for our house.  This is the 3rd year we have gone to this lot (right across from Turtle Bread).  On a side note, the same construction company that built the dog wash, also remodeled Turtle Bread, and we had a few of our meetings there when the construction was going on.  I might note, that they have an amazing grilled cheese! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Keith

 

Checking out the competition

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This past weekend I was in Chicago visiting the family and catching up with friends. One of my good high school friends owns a doggy daycare in the Chicago area (who would have thought that we would both be in the same line of work). I went to lunch on Saturday with her at my favorite burger place and we talked about the the businesses and the items we sell. She said I should check out a new pet boutique in the area, so I did... I loved it and the owner is super nice. I mentioned we owned a doggy daycare and dog wash in Minneapolis and we were swapping our favorite brands of collars. I could not leave their store without buying my brothers dog a new collar and leash set. Hopefully they like it (we will be carrying that brand very soon).

So I guess the subject of this blog post is not totally fitting, as this place is more than 355 miles away from Bubbly Paws, but we like to keep up on the latest trends and what is new.

Have a good night.

Keith

Roxy, the rule breaker!

This morning, Trycia, Kayla and I were at the Rosedale Mall for the Karen Nueberger PJ's and Paws Dog Walk.  We were there painting nails (dog nails, not people nails)  and having fun with all of the dogs that came out.  They had a "cutest dog" contest and it was great to see all the dogs with painted nails.  After the contest, I think Roxy got really excited, she pulled her way into the fake snow around their christmas display and just sat in it.  She loves snow and I guess now she loves fake snow! Have a great weekend!

Keith

Dog Park Dirty!

Linus after the dog park in Minneapolis, MNI stopped out to the Dog Wash this afternoon to drop off some new sweaters and doggy holiday gifts... This big dog walks in and looks like a dalmation mix... Then I really started to look at the dog and realized it was Linus who comes to our doggy daycare, and he was all muddy from the dog park!  HA!  Seriously, he must have had a good time because he looked like he got into a fight with a mud puddle! Make sure you swing into Bubbly Paws and check out our growing collection of sweaters and jackets!

Have a good night!

Keith

 

Roxy's Sleepover

20111102-194655.jpg Wow, the cooler weather is finally here and we have lots of sweaters and jackets to keep the dogs warm. If your pooch wears clothing, make sure to brush them out, because hair mats very quickly. We also sell a great product the can help to remove mats. I mention this because Gracie has a great collection of fall gear!

This week Gracie who belongs to Sarah or Sarah Beth Photography is sleeping over at our house. Roxy really likes to have her friends sleepover.

Have a great night.

Keith

Bacon goes to the dog park

Bacon at the Minnehaha dog park in Minneapolis, MNBacon  (the French Bulldog) is one of our regular dogs at the dog wash and he LOVES going to the dog park.  Bacon will often come in for a bath covered in mud and dirt from playing hard with all the dogs.  His parents just sent us some pictures taken by Go Dog Photos at the Minnehaha Dog Park.  They captured Bacon right before he stopped in for a bath!  This is exactly why we designed the dog wash.... For the dirty, messy and muddy dogs :)  We love getting these before pictures, so feel free to send or post them to our Facebook page at anytime!

Fun @ Apple

Barkley's Bistro Tonight was a exciting night. As many of you know I am a huge fan of Apple products and I was asked to talk with other pet businesses at an event at the Apple Store in Uptown.  I talked with many people about how we use social media to grow and connect with our business.  One topic of conversation that often came up was.. "what are biggest social media mistakes"... So I decided I would post my 3 top pet peeves about business pages on Facebook.

- It annoys me when a business page comments on other businesses or personal pages as the business.. For example Bubbly Paws comments on a post on Best Buy's wall as Bubbly Paws.  It just bothers me... Not sure why!

- Pages that beg for fans... If you do social media correctly, and run a great business, the fans will come.

- Business pages that have really long names and example would be "Bubbly Paws Dog Wash and Dog Spa in Minneapolis".  This is why we just registered "Bubbly Paws"

By no means am I a Facebook expert, but I like to play one on tv!  Ha!

There were lots of our friends there, and we made lots of new ones!

Have a great night!

Keith

KARE 11 Morning News

Keith and Trycia (the co-owners of Bubbly Paws Dog Wash) went to the KARE 11 news to show of some doggy halloween costumes and promote the 2011 Woof-n-Treat dog Halloween party and costume contest.  Thanks to Bone Adventure, Target and Fugly Friends for the costumes.  

Flippin' Cups For The Pups - Recap

A good part of our business model is to give back to the dog community where we are located.  This past summer, I was talking with Rachel who runs Secondhand Hounds, and she was tossing around the idea of a flip cup tournament.  I instantly said that we wanted to sponsor it!  The ball was rolling.... THen Trycia (my wife and co-owner of Bubbly Paws Dog Wash), decided she wanted to go to Italy for our 5 year wedding anniversary, so we booked the trip.  Who would have thought that the flip cup tournament would be the day we got back?  So unfortunately we were so jet-lagged that we did not make it out to this great game!  I know they will be doing it again, and we will for sure be part of it.  Everyone that was there said it was a great time!  We love being part of these events and giving back! Keith

I Don't Care About Football

 

Dog's don't care to watch football on TV, so why should the owners?  Stop in to Bubbly Paws Dog Wash anytime the Minnesota Vikings are playing and save $5 on any Self Service Dog Wash... Remember, once the game is over, the special is over.  This can not be combined with any other offers or promotions.

 

To get the special offer, mention the "I don't care about football" special when you are checking out.

 

 

 

To help you out, we have posted the Minnesota Vikings Schedule Below:

Sun, Oct 2nd, 2011 - Kansas_City - noon Sun, Oct 9th, 2011 - Arizona - noon Sun, Oct 16th, 2011 - Chicago - 7:20 PM ** Sun, Oct 23rd, 2011 - Green Bay - 3:15 PM Sun, Oct 30th, 2011 - Carolina - noon Mon, Nov 14th, 2011 - Green_Bay - 7:30 PM ** Sun, Nov 20th, 2011 - Oakland - noon Sun, Nov 27th, 2011 - Atlanta - noon Sun, Dec 4th, 2011 - Denver - 3:05 PM Sun, Dec 11th, 2011 - Detroit - noon Sun, Dec 18th, 2011 - New_Orleans - noon Sat, Dec 24th, 2011 - Washington - noon Sun, Jan 1st, 2012 - Chicago - noon (CLOSED)

** THIS IS A LATE GAME, AND PAST OUR REGULAR HOURS, SO THE OFFER IS NOT VALID, SORRY **