Trycia was just featured in the March 2013 PetAge magazine talking about Bubbly Paws Dog Wash and Pampered Pooch Playground. This is a trade industry publication that goes out to many pet retailers. You can read the article below (click the article to make it bigger):
I had the pleasure of giving Nikki, a cute Boston terrier mix, a bath today. She has been in foster care about a month and she is looking for a forever home. Though she is bigger and has a thicker coat than most Boston terriers, she is very much representative of all that is great about these cute, energetic dogs. Nikki is smart, agile and graceful. She likes to run and play but was polite with all the dogs she met here at Bubbly Paws and was happy to sit still for a treat and to get her collar and leash on. She was perfect for her bath. When we give dogs full-service baths or grooming we always trim their nails, clean their ears and brush their teeth. Doing this gives us a great impression of how tolerant a dog is to being handled. Nikki was perfect for all of these things and stood nicely while I bathed her. She would be happy in any number of homes and I think she would do wonderfully in an active home with kids and another dog(s). She is even house-trained and crate-trained! Nikki is a ton of fun and love in a neat little package. Who wants to share their home with this awesome adoptable dog? Check out her bio and apply to adopt her through Petfinder.
One of my favorite parts about owning Bubbly Paws Dog Wash is working at the dog wash. Trycia and I are NOT the type of small business owners that sit in an office all day and crunch number, we prefer to be active at the store and interact with everyone. This past week you might have seen us around more because one of our employees was on vacation and we picked up some of the shifts that were open. Today we had our Spring Saletacular and wow, we were really busy with bath and nail trims! I always love meeting someone that has never been to our dog wash before because they are shocked at how clean and well run everything is! This was the theme of the day!!
A big shout out to Jessica, one of our awesome groomers that worked hard doing lots of nail trims today!
Hope everyone had a great weekend and we will see you at the dog wash!
Keith
Join Bubbly Paws Dog Wash and the rest of the stores at Excelsior and Grand on Wednesday, April 10th from 3-8pm for a blood drive for the American Red Cross. Anyone that comes out will be thanked with a swag bag of goodies from all the stores at Excelsior and Grand. Please sign up in advance to donate blood. Click Here to sign up.
Daylight savings can be confusing. To avoid people missing their appointments we like to do specials for spring forward or fall back days and this fall it was a massive success. We would like to offer it again!
Come in this Sunday March 10th from 11am to 4pm (after you set your clocks an hour forward) and get $5 nail trims, face trims, foot trims and sanitary trims. All these services will be first come, first served so expect a few minute wait.
Secondhand Hounds is an amazing local pet rescue that saves all sorts of animals in the Twin Cities, gets them in foster care and into forever homes. They are dedicated to providing veterinary care and high-quality day-to-day care for all their animals before they are adopted. Secondhand Hounds is dedicated to saving local dogs before dogs from out of state but their mission is to save as many lives as possible. We know many of our friends and customers have adopted through Secondhand Hounds (and Franklin!) so we are happy to support them for March Give Back Week! March 1st through March 7th when you come in to do a self-service bath mention Secondhand Hounds or Give Back Week and we will donate $5 from your bath to them. We are also giving away five self-service baths to adoptable dogs to get them clean before adoption events or meeting prospective adopters. Get the word out so we can support this awesome organization and if you are looking for a new family member consider a Secondhand Hound!
I first saw a photo of Jacques when he was in rough shape and in need of a foster home after being rescued by Secondhand Hounds. It was amazing to see him in person a few months later when I was first starting at Bubbly Paws while his mom gave him a bath, he was a whole new dog! He is always wonderful when he is here, whether for grooming or self-service baths. He was given a second chance and with the love of his adoptive parents he blossomed! Secondhand Hounds saves lots of amazing dogs and takes care to place them in homes as wonderful as Jacques'!
One of the benefits of being a small, locally owned business is that we can help support our friends and customers when they are involved in something cool. So here goes... Our good friend and professional fitness model, Lori Harder, has been featured on Fox News, ESPN, Oxygen Magazine and others is part of the Twin Cities Dancing With The Celebrities on Saturday, February 22nd. Lori also brings her dog Waffles to Bubbly Paws to get groomed and to our other business, Pampered Pooch Playground for doggy daycare. Rumor has it, Lori has some killer dance moves! To learn more about Lori or to buy tickets, click here. If you go, you will also see Trycia and myself there cheering her on. Oh, and make sure to check out the silent auction items, there is a pretty sweet package from a really cool dog wash :)
Have a good night!
Keith
Trycia and I were in LA this weekend for a mini-winter getaway with some friends of ours! We always knew that LA was dog friendly, but we decided to do a photo montage to prove it! On the top left you will see Waffles who has been groomed at Bubbly Paws before her parents moved to LA. Her parents are good friends of our and we decided to go see how Waffles has adjusted to life in Hollywood and she LOVES it! She even learned how to wear her rockstar sun glasses!!
While we were there we did check out a few dog washes, and have some new ideas..
We are now back in the cold and snow and are happy to be back ;)
Have a good night!
Keith
I just want to remind everyone that Give Back Week starts tomorrow, February 1st. When you come in to do a self-service bath mention Give Back Week or Save-a-Bull Rescue and we will donate $5 from your bath to them! It is no extra charge, but feel free to drop spare change in their donation jar and check out the information on this great local dog rescue. You can also join us for yoga at Kula Yoga on Monday February 4th at 7pm all donations for the class go straight to Save-a-Bull as well. Thanks to Lisa P at Kula Yoga and everyone for getting the word out to help out all our dog friends!
Patrycia is featured in the March 2013 Women's Day Magazine. You can see the article below (click the image to make it bigger).
I have been busy helping Keith plan Give Back Week and so I have been collecting a list of some of the local rescues I love and researching the rescues that were suggested to us. During my research I've seen photos of a ton of adoptable dogs. One night Jessica, our groomer, was looking over my shoulder at a photo of a dog that BARK rescue had just pulled from a shelter where she was at risk of being euthanized. They had put up her photo on Facebook asking for help naming her. Jessica suggested the name Violet and I wrote it on her photo. Pretty soon after we found out they chose the name Violet for her! Because we had a little part in the beginning of her new life I though we would help her find a forever home. Violet is a well-mannered, young adult English Bulldog and Staffordshire Bull Terrier mix. Though she has clearly not had the best beginning in life, she shows signs she had puppies and has a poor cropping job done on her ears, she is a model citizen. She will work for treats, is kennel trained and gets along with other dogs and cats. She sleeps in her crate and rides nicely in the car and generally just likes to take it easy. Violet will need some extra care to help heal the double infection in her ears. If you are looking for a calm and friendly dog who needs a little extra love, check out Violet!
I just out this blog up on the Pampered Pooch Playground page, and thought we should share it with our Bubbly Paws customers as well.
• Keep your pet inside
• Be sure your pet has enough clean, cool water.
• When walking your pets, make sure to protect their feet with booties. If the paws are cracked Mushers Secret is a good healing cream (booties and cream are both available at Bubbly Paws). My personal favorite are the Ruff wear booties.
• Make sure the short haired dogs wear jackets and sweaters to stay warm. ( Jackets and Sweaters are available at Bubbly Paws)
• Limit your walks to 5 minutes or less. Dogs paws and noses can get frostbite, just like humans.
• Never leave your pet unattended in a parked car for any period of time.
• Be careful at local dog parks, many have turned into solid ice.
• Make sure your pooch has a warm place to sleep away from drafts from windows and doors. Be careful around open flames and electric heaters.
If you see an animal outside without shelter or in an unattended car, call Minneapolis Animal Care & Control immediately -- in Minneapolis, dial 311 (612-673-3000). If you believe the situation to be life-threatening and the animal is non-responsive, please call 911.
Rachel Slavik from WCCO TV stopped out to give her dog, Butters, a bath!
About a year ago we received an email from a man in France that wanted to open a self service dog wash that was much like ours. I quickly emailed him back and helped him out. We became Facebook friends and every now and then when he had a question about something we did, he would message me. Fast forward to yesterday around 2pm... Trycia and I were shopping for snacks for our Packers/Vikings game party (I am very happy with the outcome!) and received a message on Facebook saying they just opened their dog wash in France. He sent me the link to their facebook page and it looks wonderful! They did such a great job and I really hope we can go visit it someday! If you want to check it out you can see the Ouaf Store's Facebook page by clicking here. I can't understand much of what is on the page, but the dogs sure are cute!! It's pretty cool to think that we are all connected around the world through social media!
Have a good night!
Keith
One of the hardest things about the dog wash is always making sure it looks brand new! We take great pride in our business and always want to make sure it is as bright, clean and amazing as it was 2 years ago when we first opened! Sometimes this means doing projects after hours or on holidays when the dog wash is empty! We have a great handyman, but sometimes I like to do the work myself. Today Trycia and I put in about 4 hours of work to make sure everything continues to look new. I really hate when you walk into some places and you can tell that they have been around for a long time. While we worked, Roxy and Waffles (our friends dog that we are dog sitting) had fun watching. Roxy did get covered in some paint when she rubbed against one of the freshly painted tubs... OOPS! Waffles also thought all the bones that we have by the checkout were for her ;)
Hope everyone had a great new years.
Keith
Below are the Holiday Hours for Bubbly Paws. Please remember that the last self-service bath starts 1 hour before closing. Have a happy and healthy holiday season with your pooch! ;
New Year's Eve - 10-5 - last bath at 4pm
New Year's Day - CLOSED
I was watching the Channel 5 News last night and wanted to share this important dog park safety warning for anyone that goes to the which is part of the 3 Rivers Park District. Someone has been putting dog food and treats out with glass in them. This is also an important warning for any dog park, to make sure you watch and pay attention to what they are getting into. We have been to dog parks where owners pay no attention to the dogs. As always we want to make sure your pooch is always as safe as possible and provide you with the latest dog news. The news story is below, or click here to read more..
Last night we had the Pampered Pooch Playground and Bubbly Paws staff holiday party. It is fun to get both businesses together, but it is always hard to find a time that works for almost everyone. I am not a fan of boring parties, so we always try to do something fun and exciting. This year we let all of our staff vote on what party they wanted, and the Skaties Eighties party won. So we went down the street to the St Louis Park Roller Garden for some great 80's music and skating. Many of our employees even got into the party by dressing up. After an hour of skating and playing games we headed over to McCoy's Public House which is right across the street from Bubbly Paws at Excelsior and Grand. We had the hole party room, complete with 80's pop music for dinner and drinks. A big thanks to Brent and his staff at McCoy's for all their hard work last night because everyone had a great time! If you were wondering, yes I got dressed up! I was sporting the Tiffany Amber Thiessen shirt... We looked and Saved By The Bell started in 1989, so I was safe with it!
All of our staff always work so hard everyday and this is the least we can do to show them that we appreciate all of the love and care they put into the job everyday. It really is hard to find great employees and we have a bunch of them!! Awwwww... Group Hug!! Before the night was over, the Bubbly Paws staff had to take a picture of the fun they had... Click Here to see it.
Have a great night!
Keith
I just celebrated my first anniversary working at Bubbly Paws. Franklin and I are also celebrating being together for two years so I thought I would share his story for those who haven't heard it:
I first met Franklin when I fostered him through Secondhand Hounds. I didn’t really want to foster Frank, but I agreed to take him on a whim. I was out of a job and had about a month before I started school and I knew he would be easy as he had been in foster care a few weeks. I had agreed to take another dog already and just figured I had nothing better to do than to take care of a couple of dogs over Christmas. Frank was named in the shelter, PUPS, where he was brought as a stray. We know nothing of his history before this. He was weirdly over-weight, barrel-chested and vaguely lumpy. He was perfect and easy: quiet, low energy, house-trained, polite to people and other animals. It was pretty obvious that he had a lump in his belly. We took him to the vet, blood work and x-rays later and they tell me it is terminal splenetic cancer. He has five days to three weeks to live. I had had him a month or so at this point; he had potential adopters even. But with a death sentence he was no longer adoptable, I agreed to be his hospice nurse and care for him until he passed or was too sick and had to be put down.
Since he was mine indefinitely but had limited time I started to spoil him like crazy. I fed him the best food I could buy; cooked veggies and special meals for him and made sure he always had a treat or bone or some company. We took a lot of slow, easy walks and played fetch every day. I thought a lot about when he would turn, start to act really sick and the day we would have to say goodbye. I waited and watched. Other than pain medications for his arthritis we did not treat his cancer at all. It should kill him and quickly. But he just kept plugging along. He lost some weight and developed muscle tone. The lump in his belly looked less pronounced even. Summer rolled around and I expected the heat to bother him. But Frank was happy and spry as ever.
After we had been together for about a year I decided Franklin wasn't going anywhere soon and I officially adopted him. We made it through a few moves and starting to work at Bubbly Paws. He loves to come to work with me and has only gotten healthier and happier. I keep a close eye on him but I don’t worry that he is in any imminent danger of death anymore. Frank is my Steady Eddie always. So we cheers to misdiagnosis, a dire prognosis and beatified survival. Two years and counting, Frank pays me back for being his caregiver every day and I can’t thank him (and happenstance) enough.
With all the fresh snow today, we decided to take Roxy to the "unofficial dog park" and let her run and have fun. We were walking around and were quickly greeted by Theo. He kept trying to play with Roxy and she finally gave in and had fun playing with Theo. On another note, Theo is a regular face at Bubbly Paws and his mom is a professional dog walker. Click here to email her.
Hope everyone is having fun with the snow!
Keith