Fiona Seeking Dog Poems and Quotes...

"Thorns may hurt you,

men desert you,

sunlight turn to fog;
but you're never friendless ever,

if you have a dog."
~ Douglas Mallock

Fiona is getting very literal and searching for your favorite dog quotes for an upcoming product project we have in development. Let us know your favourite poems and dog or cat inspired ditties! Leave them here as comments and be sure to credit the author if known.

Holiday Photos

Golly! I asked for some holiday pictures and you Friends of Fiona delivered! Thanks to everybody who took the time to answer our call of need for adorable photos.

- Bee

Getting Sentimental

As 2009 comes slowly to an end I wax
nostalgic over the past 12 months and
all the wonderful friends and dog lovers
we have grown to know through this
little collar company.
Lucky Fiona was never meant to be the
"next big thing" or my attempt to retire
early to Bora Bora. Instead a small and
mindful little company focusing on our
four pawed pals and the relationships we
have with them. I honor and nuture that
special relationship with every stitch I sew.
I don't think customers truly know the joy
I receive from making these collars and
knowing they will be given to creatures that
are so loved and cherished by their guardians.
Thank you for supporting us through another
year. With the troubled economy we did see a decrease in sales this past year, but we
remain committed to providing you and
your animal companions with fun and
affordable collars in 2010. If you like what we do, please pass it on. We find our best
source of marketing is you! The New Year will bring new styles, new promotions and contests and hopefully many new friends of Lucky Fiona.
Smooches to all you pooches and kind humans too ~
Shannon (The Head Bitch)

Let's See Your Pictures Lucky Fiona Fans

Calling all Friends of Fiona who were camera happy this Christmas! Please send us your photographs to share here on the blog. Your pooch or kitty does not have to be wearing a Lucky Fiona collar (although one would naturally have to ask "why not?") We simply just want to see how are four pawed pals enjoyed the big day. Any gift wrap shredders? Tired pups? Kittens stuck in curling ribbon? Please send them our way to: info@luckyfiona.com.

Keep in Touch Friends of Fiona

Dear Friends of Fiona ~

The Head Bitch is off on holiday, but have no fear...I'm here! My name is Brigid (Bee for short) and I will be answering emails, convos from Etsy and general vendor requests and questions. All communications will be recorded in the order received and forwarded to Shannon & Alex's attention upon their return.

I appreciate the patience a few of you have shown as I sometimes have to research a bit to answer your queries. Thanks for hanging in there as I find your tracking number from the giant mailing log or figure out exactly how many colors are represented in "The Veronica"!

Merry Christmas to all -

*Bee*

We Love a Rave...

Hello,
I just wanted to pass along a photo of Molly and her Luckyfiona collar. We were introduced to your site a few months ago, and totally fell in love with your collars. The fabrics are trendy and stylish, and of course Molly looks adorable in them. Keep up the great work!
Merry Christmas,
Kelly Manicke

Thanks Kelly! Molly looks oh-so-festive in her ChocoTree Collar!

Reader Mail!

Received this email from Charice (Dogmom of Tula - pictured) from Southbridge, Massachusettes ~

Saw the blog post, Looks like fun for all! We want to make some cookies for all of Tula's dog friends in the neighborhood.... what do you use for a dog cookie recipe and frosting embellishments?
P.S. We love our chocobloom collar and leash set. Will have to send a picture showing it off.

Well Charice it takes a bit more thought to bake and decorate dog cookies as so many things we use in human cookies are not safe for dogs but with a bit of preparation and a Whole Foods you too can make cookies that look delicious and will be safe for Tula to eat.

Basic Cookie Recipe:

2 cups of whole wheat flour (sub oat or barley flour if desired)

1 tablespoon of baking powder

1 cup of Natural Peanut Butter (be sure no added sugar and no added salt)

1 cup of skim milk

Preheat oven to 375. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet in another and then slowly add dry to wet. Knead dough onto a floured surface and roll out to 1/8-1/4 thickness. Place on greased baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. You want a crunchy but not burnt cookie.

The key to storing a dog treat long term is getting all traces of moisture out - to do this leave cookies in low temp oven for a few hours or in a dehydrator till super-duper crunchy.

If you want to be a bit of a cheater like the Lucky Fiona Street Team you can also purchase Cloud Star Buddy Biscuits that come in the shape of Gingerbread men and are nicely embellished with your own frosting and toppings. For those grain-free diet doggies out there the Cloud Star Provence cookies come in the shape of Stars and again are easily jazzed up with frosting and decorations.

*To "frost" we used:

Unsweetened Carob (a safe "chocolate-like" treat for dogs - available in bags of chips at health food stores or Whole Foods) Pipe onto cookies or spread like frosting.

Unsweetened Yogurt Drops (again available at natural stores and melted in microwave)

Sugar Free Vanilla Frosting (a bit gritty to spread but dog safe!)

White Chocolate Wafers - contain some sugar but are safe to ingest unlike regular chocolate and come in different colors to pipe onto cookies.

To decorate we used:

Honey - helps things stick onto cookies and naturally sweet and safe for dogs

Sugar Free Sprinkles - available again at Whole Foods

Sugar Free Aerosol Cookie Coloring - little spray cans you can spray on cookies or frosting to color easily

Ground Peanuts - dogs love 'em and if you have a Slap Chop easy to ground down

Tapioca Balls - instead of sugary nonpareils they make nice accents on frosting

I'm sure there are other ideas out there if anybody else would like to post some! Good luck with your cookies Tula - you will be sure to make tails wag among your furry friends this holiday season.

Lucky Fiona Street Team Does It Again!

Thanks to all for the fun today at the Lucky Fiona Street Team event held at gang member Marcy's home. We so appreciate you opening your home to us at this crazy time of the year for such a messy event! We had a ball decorating dog cookies for holiday gifts for our own Lucky Fiona pups and for friends and family. The creative skills of the group was once again amazing and I know many happy pooches will enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Happy Howl-i-days Street Team and looking forward to more fun and dog oriented gatherings in 2010!

Warmly -
The Head Bitch

Seeing Spots

One of the nicest things about rescuing a dog from a great breed specific organization is the fact they will entertain crazy questions regarding the breed with utmost kindness and won't laugh at you. Such is the case with Ohio English Setter Rescue's Head Bitch Susan England. Not only did she answer my query about Lily our recent adoptee but actually said it was never a bother to contact her. (she said this on a day she posted earlier on Facebook she was relaxing and taking a mental health day...talk about a good egg)

It was a tad embarrassing having to ask her a question about English Setters, but it was driving my husband and I a bit loony. I am also one of those annoying dog people that "knows everything about setters" so when I could not get an answer from my vet or the all knowing internet I had to take a slice of humble pie and admit I didn't know why something was happening with my very own dog. You see, Lily is developing spots. Now I know what you are thinking (hey Dogmom, aren't you on pain meds for that upcoming knee surgery?) and yes, actually I am. (jealous?). But I am not seeing pink elephants dancing around the room, I am just seeing spots appear on Lily that were not there before. The drug induced theory also goes out the window because Alex sees them too. Keeping in mind this is a man who cannot notice the sink if full of dirty dishes or that the cat has thrown up on the carpet, but he notices faint spots getting darker on our English Setter. Our only English Setter experience mind you has been with Fiona and her spots have always stayed the same. Our Irish setters are sans spots so no background there.

Thankfully the kind and experienced Susan explained to me on her Mental-Health-Day-Off that I was not going cuckoo or seeing things. She has seen many English Setters go through rescue that will develop spots and ticking after they are placed in a home. She believes it's due to the dogs getting their stress level lowered and better nutrition coming into their lives.

So now we are are having Spot-Watch 2009" at Lucky Fiona headquarters. Lily seems delighted when we preen her coat praising her newest spots. To keep things fair around here we will compliment Fiona's spots and pretend we see some on our Irish's Dugan and Caelan's coats too, God love them they wag their tails over the folly. So I guess you can teach an old Dogmom some new stuff every once and awhile. No time to Sigh, I have spots to watch.

Collar of the Month Testimonial from Morgan

Excerpt from recent letter we received from Morgan - A Service Dog that works with children who have special needs. Morgan has been a Lucky Fiona Collar of the Month member since March 2009 ~

Dear Fiona,
I want to thank you so very much for all the collars that I’ve been getting through “collar of the month” club!! I’m so excited!! My ma signed me up almost a year ago thinking I would get about 12 collars, and I’ve gotten way more and they are all so fashionable!! My favorites are the thick collars, you were right! They look really good on me, especially since I’ve got such a beautiful black coat with a nice long neck. My ma’s birthday was on Thanksgiving, and you totally nailed the collars that month! I loved the turkeys and the golden book collars! Actually, my student’s really like the golden book collar, they asked me to read those books to them once they saw my new bling! Please tell your mom that she does an amazing job picking out fabric and helping you put them together! My ma isn’t very good at sewing, but she is good at coordinating my outfits! My year of collars is soon coming to an end, which makes me very sad. I’m going to try to convince my ma to join again, hopefully she will even though she’s busy training for an ironman. I’m going to help her train again by riding in my trailer behind her! Remember last year I told you that she flipped it over? Hopefully she doesn’t do that anymore! I didn’t get hurt, but you never know! Life is good out here in Washington...

* Morgan loves her Collar of the Month subscription and so will your dog or gift recipient! Perfect for the dog lover you never know what to buy! $150 for one year of once a month collar deliveries ($251.76 value) Order today!

A Message from Fiona to her Dogmommy

Dear Dogmom,

It is that special time of year again when flashbulbs round the world start going off and canines lose all sense of dignity as Dogparents dress them up for holiday photo cards. Please take a few moments to review the following before you begin your quest to create the "best" holiday photo ever.

I think I speak for canines everywhere when I say we are dogs. Not reindeer. Though both mammals that is where the similarities end. Please do not put reindeer antlers on us. It seems that you forget this every year and the antlers keep getting more elaborate and more humiliating. They started off as brown felt and that was bad enough. Now you seem to find delight in securing antlers to our heads that sing songs or light up via battery packs or are bedazzled in pink sequins and marabou feathers. If dogs were meant to have horns God would have created us that way! Cut it out!

Likewise I do not know of any dog on the planet that enjoys being dressed up as an elf. I don't care how many liver treats you bribe me with I am not putting those damn curly toed elf shoes on my paws. My job is to chew and destroy shoes, not wear them. So I suggest forewarned is fair warned - you force the goddamn elf shoes on me and I cannot be responsible for what happens to your new designer pumps once you leave the house for more than an hour.

I ask for your empathy. Do you enjoy wearing that really ugly holiday sweater your Aunt Francie gave you in 1992? No? Well then, why do you feel the need to put me in a tacky sweater every December that inexplicably has pom-poms on it? Does anybody really want to wear pom-poms? Also have you seen the quality of most dog sweaters? There is a reason they are typically clearanced at Petsmart for $2.99. Truly you love me more than that don't you?

Let's just forget about fake beards, Santa hats I will shake off my head the minute you take 2 steps back to turn the camera on and anything that requires a lot of velcro and a team of assistants to put on my body.

I am a dog and I love you. You love Christmas and due to my undying love for you I will put up with these shenanigans. Just please oh please do not buy that Snowman dog suit from the In the Company of Dogs catalog. I mean it about those pumps.

Signed -

Your Loving Dog Fiona

Just Say No To Puppy Crack

Puppy Crack ~ The dogs viciously attack for a bite of the Crack

You never think it could happen to one of your dogs. I raised them right after all...took them to obedience, monthly grooming, hired the most incredible pet sitter for the days I can't be home with them. They have a nice home, fully fenced yard and dog park passes. My dogs are well socialized, always test negative on Heartworm tests and can tell the difference when fetching a toy between Hedgey the Hedgehog and Pink Eyed Puppy if I ask them to retrieve something specific out of a toy bin. I did everything right. But Crack still found them.

The dealer is a lady who owns a dog boutique called Hairy Winston and she sent this poison directly into my home in a so called "gift" box full of other harmless dog treats and dog related products. An end of the year "thank you" goodie box for Lucky Fiona. Who knew what evil rested inside the gold foil bag she mailed to us hidden beside chicken jerky and sweet potato ropes!

Sure I thought my dogs were hooked on their usual favorite Molasses Buddy Biscuits, but nothing, nothing compares to the fervor that occurred when they first tasted Puppy Crack. It only took one chomp of this innocent looking little biscuits to see there was a problem. Drooling became out of control, whining commenced and dogs that typically are gentle as lambs with each other began to body slam each other looking for crumbs.

My name is Dogmom Shannon and my pooches are Puppy Crack addicts.

Is it my fault? Is it because I try to give them baby carrots as a treat when really it's not a treat but a healthy vegetable? Did I coddle them too much? Why dear God? Why!

I can't even blame it on any outside bad influences like the Lucky Fiona Street Gang who they hang out with every month. Sure those dogs have some quirks, but none of them are Crack junkies. (as far as I know at least, hmmm, Jetty the puppy does seem to have a crazy look in his eyes and that Micky is a newcomer, who really knows her past?)

All I know is I have dogs who will sit under the fridge fixated on the Puppy Crack package on top of the fridge. Like any good Dogmom my first thought was to flush it all down the toilet, but then I thought this may cause withdrawal behavior worse than the current wackadoodle addiction behavior. I also locked up my jewelry as I found Fiona going through the Yellow Pages to see what Pawn Shop is closest to our home.

I love my Puppy Crack addicted dogs. I do. I just hope this does not happen to your dog. Take this opportunity to talk to your dogs about Puppy Crack now and how to say no. You never know when some dealer will push it on your dog. Sigh.

This Week's Friend of Fiona is Izzy!

Look who is this week's Official Friend of Fiona! It's Izzy!

Oh our dear curly coated gal - you look so ready for the Howlidays in your brand spankin' new Lucky Fiona Zuzu Custom Dog Collar. We especially like how the subtle yet classic print says "I fit in with all this lovely holiday decor around here without being obnoxious about it!" We understand Izzy, that's why we try so hard to make seasonal collars that are not your typical run-o-the-mill pet wear. I mean really Izzy, anybody can make a reindeer collar. Gee whiz, that's too easy.

We want to thank your Dogmom for sending in your photo making you our weekly winner. Contact us with your pick of a complimentary custom collar big winner (and feel free to brag to all your poochy pals) info@luckyfiona.com

* Keep those photos coming folks! There is nothing the Head Bitch loves more around here than
looking at sweet dogs and cats sporting our gear!

Lucky Fiona

12 Days of Doggie Deals
List the secret code ''FIONA" in the NOTES section of your Etsy order and receive a FREE RED STARLIGHT COLLAR .

Be sure to indicate size needs in notes as well.
One Free collar per household.
Today only bloggers so don't dilly-dally.
Tell your friends! (but do it in a hush hush tone for dramatic effect)
Lucky Fiona will be closed for business December 15th ~ December 28th
Order your Howl-iday Collars now!"