Run For The Cure & Introducing Kville Horace

This weekend is the CIBC Run For The Cure throughout Canada. We've been very fortunate, because we've had quite a few orders for our Crunch for a Cure biscuits over the last couple of weeks. Some of the participants will be giving our biscuits as thank you's to some of their sponsors. Fantastic!

On a personal note, I'd like to share the final results of my Horace knitting project. After spending the spring and summer a broken man (knit but not yet pieced together), Kville Horace finally pulled himself together and is ready to face the world. Nothing but blue skies ahead for him.

You can view Kville Horace and other Horace Bears from around the world on the Horace Gallery at Bears United. (yes, such a thing exists)
You can buy a pattern from Amanda Hone's Etsy Shop here. (oh, and did I mention that Amanda does absolutely amazing abstract art?)

I'm not sure where Kville Horace's adventures will lead him. If he is feeling independent and in need of an adventure, he may just end up in my etsy shop.

Today is a gift. Do something good.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Bananas about Pumpkin

Well, I guess it's safe to say that you guys are bananas about pumpkin (or maybe you just want to win a Barking Biscuit gift pack!)

We've had 63 name suggestions sent to us for our new pumpkin biscuits. Wow. Such a great response. A BIG thank you to all of you!

Because of the overwhelming number of responses, we're going to narrow it down to a handful of finalists. These are a couple of the things we kept in mind when choosing the names:

1. We wanted to keep the word "pumpkin" in the name. We do have a couple of biscuits that don't have the flavour in the name...and that seems to confuse some people. The end result is that some of our stores ask us to put extra labelling on the bags. Our "Crunch for a Cure" biscuits are an example of that. Peamutty Barks is another one (although personally I think peamutty is a bit of a giveaway). Mind you, I've had some people not realize that The Barking Biscuit was a dog biscuit company.
2. We didn't want a name that was too seasonal. The hallowe'en themed names were great, but our biscuits will be available year round so we thought it might be better to have something a little less seasonal.
To everyone who sent us a name suggestion: please don't be disappointed. We'll send you a free Barking Biscuit button pin just for playing. If you want one, please email me with your mailing address. Let me know what kind of pin you want...our logo pin (choice of apple green, kelly green, olive green, golden yellow, orange, light blue, dark pink) or our cat logo pin (choice of apple green, golden yellow, orange, light blue, dark pink).

And, here are the finalists...drum roll please...
Howlin Prowlin Pumpkin
Pawsitively Pumpkin
Tail Thumpin Pumpkin
Pumpkin Paws
Pumpkinlicious
Pumpkin Please!
Pumpkin Bumpkin
Pumpkin Pawty
Howlistic Pumpkin

Please leave a comment or email me your votes by September 30th...I'd really love to hear from as many of you as possible!

Around The Hounds Raffle to help Greyhounds

Char at Around The Hounds has a raffle on her website, which ends on October 1st. 100% of the profits from this raffle will go to help in the vetting and transportation of getting greyhounds off the farms and into homes. The first prize is a Sock Monkey Lover's Dream! Second and third prizes are wonderful too. All the details are available on Char's web site here.
Here are some words from Char:

When a dear friend of mine and a dedicated greyhound advocate, Becky Rollison, contacted me last month with a sad story of one little greyhound brood mamma named Sapphire, I cried with her on the phone and then resolved to help Becky do something in her memory... Sapphire may have just missed the chance to have a comfortable forever home, but hopefully with the proceeds from this raffle Becky can continue to help other senior greys on the long journey to forever homes.
Char HardingOwner/Designer
www.aroundthehounds.com

Char is also offering a 10% discount on all collar purchases during the raffle. Simply type in the code: Sapphireraffle and the discount will apply on checkout.

If you haven't seen Char's stunning collars, take a look. All the collars are available in either Martindale or regular buckle styles in a variety of sizes.

Today is a gift. Do something good!

Ottawa PugFest: September 30

If you want to see 100 pugs all in one place...a special event for all you pug lovers out there. Here is the information we received from the organizer:

Event: Bi-Annual Ottawa PugFest
Invited: Pugs only and their owners
When: Sunday September 30, 2007 (rain date is October 14)
From: 10:00am - 12:00pm
Where: fenced-in area behind Lansdowne Park (beside the baseball diamond) on Bank Street, corner of Holmwood Avenue in the Glebe in Ottawa.
What to bring: your pug, water, plastic bags, chairs and your smile

Some of the fun scheduled: a pug fashion show, raffle prizes (photoshoot by a professional photographer (value of $200), a Bowser Pug Bed (valued at $125))
Tickets will be available on site. All the money collected with the tickets will go to UNDER MY WING - Pug Rescue:
$1 = 1 ticket
$2 = 3 tickets
$5 = 7 tickets
$10 = 15 tickets
$20 = 32 tickets

Here's the contribution from The Barking Biscuit: We even have a bag of biscuits included with 2 pugs on the tag!

Hope to see a lot of pugs on September 30!

A few little updates

Friday night's Going to the Dogs Dinner & Races event was a great success...and lots of fun too! I even managed to snag an item at the silent auction...a certificate for grooming. Our new Cassie is definitely in need of a hair cut. It's called a day at the "Spaw". John was heard commenting that he has never had a day at the spa, so it goes to show where he ranks in the family. (just for the record, I've never had a day at the spa either!)

The BARK picnic in August raised over $6000! Congratulations to Sharon and all the volunteers who made it a success.

Cassie update: things are progressing nicely with the new family. Cinder's nose was a little out of joint for the first couple of days and she growled every time Cassie got near her. We were thinking that Mulligan might be a little aggressive towards Cassie, but actually she is quite submissive. We're on Day 5 now, and they were all playing together outside today.

This is the new gang on our daily visit to the bench at the back of the yard.
Cassie (foreground) and Cinder...our two big black girls.

John bought a mini tire from the adoption centre because Cassie had been playing with one when we first met her. Both Mulligan and Cassie love to fetch it....and sometimes they even bring it back.

So, our life with 3 dogs seems to be progressing nicely.

One more name suggestion arrived by email for our Pumpkin Biscuit Naming Contest:
Howwwlllllling Pumpkins
We've received so many great suggestions that we'll probably be narrowing it down to 5 or so of our favourites. Get ready to cast your vote! And, we'll be selecting a photo to use on our pumpkin tag. If you have a photo you want us to consider (preferably with a pumpkin in it) send it by email in the next few days. Don't forget it needs to be a high resolution photo and will work best in a landscape style (not portrait style) ie, the photo should be wider than it is high.

Guess what? I sent out our first Christmas order of the season today. Seems to get earlier every year. I'll be adding our Happy Holidogs to our web site sometime in October...I just can't add it in September.

There are a few fun events planned for the next few weeks. I'll be posting about that soon. Pug lovers, greyhound lovers, aussie lovers, and bully lovers, and general dog lovers stay tuned!

Maxine

Maxine 1996-2007

One of our "grand-pugs" crossed the Rainbow Bridge. She was a great dog and we'll miss her.

Pumpkin Contest Update & Photos For Sale

We're off to the races tonight...Going To The Dogs Dinner & Race Night. It promises to be lots of fun. Can't wait to see all those great silent auction items. Hey, who knows, maybe John will even pick a winner tonight (stranger things have happened). We'll be sitting with Julie from Chilly Dogs and Sue, the URBAN Dog Photog....2 of the other Paws For Charity members...and their husbands too. Should be lots of fun!

Pumpkin Contest update:
I've received some more suggestions for our new Pumpkin biscuits. Remember, you have until September 30th to send me your ideas. Don't forget to vote! I have a very long list of possibilities, but not too many people have sent me their favourites yet. Here are some more names to add to the list:
Pup-kins (we also already had The Great Pupkin)
Boo-tiful Pumkin
Hauntfull Pumkin
Pumpkilicious (we also have Pumpkinlicious)
Howlin' Prowlin' Punkin
Jumpin' Pumpkin (someone suggested we stick with our former name)

I've added a few photo placques to my little Etsy store. These are photos professionally mounted onto a wooden board (plaque mounted). If you want to see them in the Etsy shop, click here. Or just send me an email if you're interested in buying them. I'll be adding a few photos from our Newfoundland trip sometime soon. Here are the low resolution versions of the photos. The colours in the mounted photos are very vibrant...they really pop. I love these photos...they are extreme close ups of marigolds after the rain. They look like modern art to me.
Enjoy! Have a great weekend.