Keith Miller (co-owner) from Bubbly Paws and Pampered Pooch Playground was on KARE 11 News talking about the dogs that Good karma Animal Rescue brought back from Texas after Hurricane Harvey. Click here to see the available dogs.
Pampered Pooch Playground on WCCO-TV
Our friends from WCCO-TV and Chuck and Don's stopped out to our other business, Pampered Pooch Playground to talk about dog park safety. You can watch the clips below. 6am Hour
5am Hour
Cold Weather Dog Tips
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.
Tips to find a lost dog
This past weekend, Sophie (one of our customers at Bubbly Paws Dog Wash) was missing. Her neighbors (Norman's parents) were texting me asking for us to put up Sophie's picture on our facebook page. I did that, but I also suggested a few other ideas. I told them about the Lost Dogs MN facebook page, and at 1am, they got a text from someone that saw her picture on there and spotted her. So there is your proof that social media does help people find lost dogs. Social media was so powerful that a few of our customers saw the post and even showed up to help look for her! The next day, Norman's parents suggested I write a blog post on tips to help find a lost dog. So here goes...
First lets talk about prevention.... Make sure your dog has a micro chip and the information has been updated with your micro chip provider. Check your dog's tags, make sure they are secure on the collar, and have a current contact number (a cell phone is always best). Finally, if your pooch is an escape artist, there is the TAGG pet tracker, which has a GPS chip in it, which can show you exactly where your dog is. Norman has one of these and they are pretty sweet. You can draw a map online and anytime your dog leaves the area you get a text message.
Now that you have all your contact information updated, lets go over what to do should the be lost.
1- Get the word out. Make sure you have a good picture of the dog. Post it on your facebook and twitter feeds, but also post it on the Lost Dogs- MN facebook page. Contact pet businesses that you frequent and ask for them to put the picture on their facebook and twitter accounts.
2- Think like a dog - Where does your dog like to go? Think about favorite parks, neighbor houses, etc that they love to go to. Remember a dog can cover lots of space in a matter of minutes if they are running.
3- Make phone calls - Hopefully your dog is micro chipped, and if someone finds them they will take them to the local vets office or animal control center. We even had a customer bring in a dog they found to our doggy daycare because they did not know what to do. So call all the local pet stores, dog dacyares, and vets offices. Another good place to call after hours is the after hours Emergency vet located in Golden Valley and Eden Prairie. Don't forget to call the police non emergency numbers in your city, and the cities surrounding you. Make sure to leave your contact information in case someone calls. Remember, if a person finds a lost dog, they might not know where to go, so the more places that have your information, the better.
If your dog is lost more than 24 hours, which we hope never happens, here is a great article on more long term advice. It is written for a Sheltie, but can be adapted to any breed.
Hopefully you will never need this information, but now you are prepared just in case!
Keith
St Louis Park Magazine
The St Louis Park Magazine did a great photo recap of the 2012 Woof 'n Treat Halloween party. We raised over $3000 for Homeward Bound Rescue! Pampered Pooch Playground and Bubbly Paws put this great event on each year.
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A fun day at Woofstock!
This past Saturday was one of my favorite dog events of the year... Linden Hills Woofstock! Everyone always asks why it is my favorite event, and it is because we live in the Linden Hills area and it is our way of giving back to the community in which we live! Both our businesses have so much in common with those of Linden Hills Businesses (we are small, local, community minded and try hard to be as green as possible). For the past 4 years Pampered Pooch Playground has been a presenting sponsor, and Bubbly Paws has been a sponsor for the past 2 years. All the products that we had for sale were either made by a local company or a green product! People that stopped out got to have fun in the Photo Booth and sample the doggy beer. Jessica, our groomer at Bubbly Paws left the booth for a few minutes to grab something to eat, and her fan club must have stopped out! In a 10 minute period, about 3 people were talking about how much they love her grooming style, and how we groom dogs at Bubbly Paws. I really enjoyed getting this type of feedback! We never wanted to groom a bunch of dogs each day, but focus more on the quality of the groom and the stress free setting!
Have a great day!
Keith
Missy's Bath
Tonight I stopped in at the dog wash to help close up, and I was so happy to see this black lab come in. It was Missy, who was one of the dogs that we fostered at Pampered Pooch Playground. It has been about 7 months since I last saw missy and she was so happy to see me!! Missy and her Mom just left the dog park and Missy really needed a bath! Missy was a Pet Haven dog, which is who we foster dogs for, and Missy really loves playing. If you are a regular at the Dakota Dog Park in St Louis Park, I am sure you know Missy. She went home nice and clean tonight.
Have a good night!
Keith