We Love a Rave and a New Shop We're Featured In!

We love fan mail:
"Hello Shannon and Fiona,
Roxy wanted me to tell you thank you so much for the lovely collar. She loves the high heels all over it! She said it realy brings out her innerdiva. She seems to like the girly collars more than when I try and stick her in a dress. I can honestly say thet both Roxy and myself think these are the cutest and most well made collars we have seen. I love that they are non generic! Everything these days is so assembly line and not very special. Thank you for being so creative! xoxo, Lisa and Roxy of Dog of Hudson

If anybody is visiting the scenic upstate New York region please stop in to our latest vendor "Dogs of Hudson" and tell Lisa and Erica and all the pooches hello! Located in gorgeous Hudson, New York on the East Bank of the Hudson River in Columbia County, you are sure to fall in love. This is one of those quaint little towns that you hope nobody else discovers! The wonderful folks at Dogs of Hudson provide play groups, group classes, agility training, private lessons and more. As if their facility could not get any more fabulous it is in an old cigar factory they've renovated to meet all the needs a dog center would have. They also are keeping it green by providing heat and cooling via solar panels. This is the type of establishment that Fiona is proud to have her products featured in! Stop by the shop to see what classes are going on or to pick up some great training products or healthy dog snacks. Tell Roxy the resident doggie maven that Fiona sent you!

Dog of Hudson

355 Warren Street

Hudson, New York

(518) 822-8242

info@dogsofhudson.com

www.dogsofhudson.com

My New Favorite Thing

Yes, you know you've gone dog-gone wackadoodle when a dog product brings such joy into your life you question how sad and boring your life must really be! Hence I am here to rave about the highlight of my week...the Kurga Back Seat Barrier. It retails for $59.95 and I would have paid twice that for the magic of keeping a crazy setter contained to the back seat.
Oh just use a doggie seat belt the normal dog guardian would say. Those who share their lives with setters understand that no normal seat belt will contain all that is "happy setter enthusiasm". Standard seat belts end up in contorted puzzles of nylon and plastic buckles that take longer to get unraveled than the actual drive time. My dogs have put themselves in positions with them that would impress most yoga teachers. Also part of our drive time includes my setters barking/howling at any moving object outside the car while alternately looking out every window and also trying to sit on my lap. They routinely do a 32 point search for anything edible that may be lodged under or between a seat. There is lots of shedding and blowing of dog snot on all interior windows. It's not a calming Sunday afternoon drive by any means. I laugh when my groomer innocently suggests bringing all 3 dogs at the same time for an appointment. If she ever drove with just one of them she'd know how suicidal this suggestion is.
One time in Dugan's youth after several car trips with him raised my blood pressure to unhealthy levels I purchased several devices to keep him put. I had him strapped into a shearling dog harness car belt along with his Gentle Leader head harness connected to a leash tethered to a cargo strap. I was feeling rather smug that I was driving without a dog knocking the gear shift into neutral due to front-seat-back-seat-front-seat jumping. Then I looked to my left at a stop light and saw the horrified expression of the motorist next to me staring at Dugan. I glanced in the backseat and quickly realized my Dugan with his back rigidly upright against the seat and leader around his snout resembled a canine Hannibal Lector in his elaborate restraint system.
So the Kurgo is quite a coup to driving without a dog resembling a serial killer maniac. I simply hook my pooch to a regular slip dog seat belt and commence driving. There is no front-seat-back-seat pogo-ing! Heavenly. I'll take my happiness anywhere I can find it thank you and this little number does the trick. (for your own slice of joy you can purchase one for your crazy pooch at www.inthecompanyofdogs.com)

This Week's Official Friend of Fiona is... Teddy!

Oh goodness gracious...what a picture! Here is Teddy in Central Park. The leaves are starting to sprout a fresh shade of green, the mulch is freshly strewn. Ahhhh, spring. Take it all in.
Teddy looks dashing as always in his 1.5 wide custom width Seamus collar by Lucky Fiona. Not too clear in this shot, but trust me he is wearing it. (and wearing it well one might add)
We're naming him this week's Official Friend of Fiona because we want to be in Central Park to watch watch a New York spring unfold. Sigh. So jealous.
Teddy tell that Dogmom of yours to email us with your choice of a free custom collar for being this week's winner! That is if she can drag your bum out of the mulch long enough.

Facebook Winner Update: Koopa Shows Off his Lucky Fiona Style

Oh Koopa, we don't know what we love about you more...that sleek doxie body or that wise look in your eye. Either way we're so happy to see your follow up pictures from our Facebook Friend of Fiona Photo contest. Koopa is seen here sporting his winning collar "The Carter LeDeux Part Deux" and we think he looks fantastic. Koopa is so cool he didn't even take us up on our offer of a free custom leash to go with the collar because "Koopa don't use no stinkin' leash!" So we donated one to a local shelter instead. Keep checkin' Facebook's Friend of Fiona Group - we'll have more deals and contests for our friends there as we enter the month of May.

Girly-Boy Dogs of the World Unite!

Let me start off by saying I am not a man-basher. I adore my husband. He is a wonderful human being but he has a peeve that I think is a bit universal for men and their animal companions...the worry that their BOY dog looks well, a bit girly. I hear this often from our dear customers so I think I am not alone here folks. I often get emails asking if a particular collar is too feminine for their male dog as their husbands will be upset by this. Also I hear all the time how they love a style if only it didn't have "pink" in it! What is the deal guys? Alex recently commented that I was making Dugan a "sissy-girl dog" by putting The Feedsack on him! (pictured here) First off the collar is blue which is a fine example of a male dominated color. Baby boys wear blue right? Just because this collar has a few daisies on it should not mean Dugan is a sissy-girl dog or gender confused. It just means he likes flowers, what is wrong with that? I think it looks lovely on him.

I wish men would just stop putting their own hang-ups on dogs in general. There is a certain small segment of the male dog guardian population that has to have a "tough" dog to show I suppose that they are tough too. I worked in vet offices for years and saw this over and over again. There was almost a disappointment if their rottie or pitt bull was a sweety-marshmallow personality because they put a spike collar on them and wanted a "tough masculine" dog. Oh and if I had a nickel for every man that wouldn't neuter his male dog because it somehow implied we were emasculating them at the same time. I swear men would self consciously cover their genital region with their hand as protection the minute you mention the 6 month neuter. So silly.

A few years ago I had a great groomer named Paris who thought it would be cute to put green bows in my male Irish setter Seamus' ears after a grooming for St. Patrick's Day. I thought it was hysterically adorable. My husband not so much. I had to hear how "embarrassed" Seamus was although by all accounts he was not acting any differently at all, in fact he seemed a little full of himself post-groom, like "hey I look fine!". Alex felt I had offended Seamus' manhood with the bows. But like most things...dogs really don't give a crap as long as they are loved and fed and there is a soft bed to snooze on. We humans give them the hang ups.

So I invite my female collar buyers to ignore the sneers and jeers from their male counterparts. Purchase that pink collar for your boy labrador! Put a floral print on your male terrier with pride! Pastels for all! Save your gender labels for humans with anxiety, dogs just want to look good. I hate to tell you they're a bit color blind too so they don't know pink from any other light color.