My Fire Hydrant

Whatever you celebrate, Bailey asked me to wish everyone a very Merry Merry and Happy Happy!!!

Here’s a really cool thing: We are just launching a probiotic to help dogs with diarrhea resolution. The name of the product is Prostora Max (where do we get these names?). It’s just starting to ship to vet clinics.

Some people collect dolls. Some people paintings. Some even collect thimbles. It appears I now collect videos! I’ve been watching for YouTube videos of the Eukanuba Championship and all the other attendant events associated with the Long Beach dog event. I’m now up to 30!!

I’ve been trying to post since Saturday night, and between my laptop and my connection, things have been gummed up in the extreme! ARGH! Sometimes I HATE technology!!!!!

Sandy sent me an email Saturday night from Cleveland (Cleveland Crown Classic) detailing day 3 of the event. She says:

WOW WEE!! What a day! Busy, busy, busy – but not craziness. Great people stopping by to visit, chat and learn about our products. We had a grand time talking to the many consumers and breeders. There were a few hairy (no pun intended) minutes, but all went well. People amaze me with their knowledge of and thirst for knowledge of our food and nutrition. Like I said before, it is wonderful to put a face to all the consumers we educate over the phone.

I am so thankful for this opportunity!

Sounds to me like Sandy (and probably Michele) had a great time working the Eukanuba booth in Cleveland!

I am not the only one having technical difficulties. On Saturday I had messages from my buddies at the AKC/Eukanuba National. From Marti…The weather is nice. I am taking lots of pictures! I had every intention of sending you some pics this morning but the adapter for this camera does not work with my new computer. The building is beautiful – a bizzilion passionate breeders – another bizzilion terrific people from Pet Care trying to bring it all together. What an amazing combination! And from Staci…I’ve been shooting, but am unable to send video from here (rats!). I am going to try to do it from the hotel this afternoon and try to send you a BUNCH of video. Sorry for the delay. It is quite hectic here.

Technology has not been by friend this weekend.

Billy Wheeler over at Dog Show Poop has show results for the Cleveland Crown Classics shows and for the AKC/Eukanuba National. Also….

….here’s some video provided by our PR agency. Spoiler alert: This shows winners for the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship and also for the The Eukanuba World Challenge (where dogs from all over the world have been invited to compete to be crowned the Eukanuba World Champion.) If you float your mouse on the bottom of the video, you’ll see a playlist of other videos I found were shot at the Long Beach shows over the past four days.

I didn’t get to post this last night–we’re having a potluck at our house today and I spent last night cleaning house!

Here is what Sandy has to say about her experience on Friday at the Cleveland Crown Classic…

Day 3 is over and I just can’t get enough of the dogs and their owners. Everyone is so passionate and SO FUN TO TALK TO. It is really refreshing to talk to people with the same love and loyalty I have for my dogs (and cats). I was able to watch one small “round” of the Aussie confirmation and I may be ready to buy my very own “show” dog. I just have to find a way to break it to my other two Aussies that they aren’t “show” quality (at least in the judges’ eyes). Although I may be more of the agility type, I will let you know more after I watch a “live” trial.

Dog owner’s are very like myself, can’t stop talking about our babies. I get to hear of the undeniable, wonderful circle of life, love and loss. As unbelievable and unconditional the love we share with our dog, the loss of our beloved friend is just as unforgettable. And then you lock eyes with another, whether you’re ready or not, the great journey begins again; sharing another bond, different, but equally as wonderful and unforgettable.

Bev, this is, without a doubt, a memory I will always cherish.

Michele writes….

OH, what at day… first Sandy and I decided to go to Denny’s for breakfast, although, not sure why Sandy called it breakfast since she ate cheesesticks, fries and chicken fingers,,, gotta love her even if she is strange… (just joking) I had strawberry pancakes… yum… so off to the IX center, it was pretty busy this morning when we got there. I walked by all the boxer pups in their first showing… that was of course exciting to me!! After setting up, I ran over to buy these really cool Christmas cookies, I got honey, peanutbutter, bacon, liver, and chicken cheese wraps… sounds good, huh?.. hope my Boxers enjoy them since they were dog cookies… although they look good enough to eat! We had a lot of people stop by today and get samples of the food and a Eukanuba Healthy Extra biscuits.. actually we had some return visitors during the day that I thought couldn’t get enough of Sandy and me.. but really I think they just like the biscuits. It stayed pretty steady all day and I really enjoyed meeting a lot of giant breed owners… I can’t get enough of those big old dogs!!! We got out of there just in time for the snow to really start coming down. We enjoyed a delicious meal at the Olive Garden and even had a very cute waiter!! So I came back to my room and called my hubby who is currently at our youngest son Logan’s Christmas band program…I had him hold his cell phone up so I could hear my baby play…[sigh]… I guess that’s it for the day, I’m heading off to bed for an early Saturday morning love fest at the Cleveland Crown Classic!

Billy Wheeler over at Dog Show Poop has an excellent report of what happened in Cleveland on Friday: The Usual Suspects in Cleveland.

He also has news about Friday’s events in Long Beach: Historic Final. Pretty exciting stuff!!

There’s more than confirmation competition going on at the National. Here a dog named Mack (that’s his “call” name–his real name is Double Take’s Flight Leader), a Rottweiler, competes in Utility B. This is a longish video, but it’s worth watching. Imagine all the hours of work and training that Mack and his trainer put in so that they could compete at this level! Be sure to notice his hand signals:

Mack is a very handsome fellow!!

My teammates at the Crown Classic in Cleveland, Sandy and Michele, started meeting breeders this morning at 8:30. Here’s what Sandy has to say:

Many people were very interested in the Naturally Wild product. Some owners had heard about it and wanted to know more, some consumers had heard nothing of it and, again, very interested.

There are SO many passionate dog owners out there; it’s wonderful to see this side of their lives, face-to-face. Michele was making fun of me and my responses to all the Aussies (I have two), she was equally fun to watch with the Boxer’s (she has 3).
As I was working tonight, I came across a brilliant blog that’s all about dog shows. Dog Show Poop smells fabulous and Billy Wheeler is writing the way I wish I could! I’m gonna continue to post what I hear from Cleveland, but I think I’m gonna watch Mr. Wheeler’s blog for more details.

Iams Home 4 the Holidays runs through January 5. Our average now is 10,563 pets adopted into forever homes per day since we started on October 1. Our goal of 1 million pets adopted is in sight!!! This is so cool!!!!!

In honor of the new numbers, I want to post a story I received a little while ago. I’ve been bugging my buddy Kris Parlett (who manages Iams Home 4 for the Holidays from our end) to help me connect with Mike Arms so that I could do an interview. Mike Arms (my hero!) manages IH4tH from the Helen Woodward Animal Center end. Mike has been on the road so much for the past few months promoting pet adoption and IH4tH that we were never able to get the interview together. However, John Van Zante (who helped rescue Lava) was kind enough to sit down with Margo Caskey (Mike’s assistant) to try and reconstruct what Mike has been doing since the beginning of the year to promote pet adoption and Iams Home 4 the Holidays. Here is what he sent me:

When the phone rang a few weeks ago the caller, a shelter manager in the southwestern United States, had just heard Helen Woodward Animal Center President Mike Arms speak at the Best Friends Conference in Las Vegas. She had been very impressed by Mike, but then she dropped the bomb. “So what’s the deal with this guy? Is he really a part of Iams Home 4 the Holidays or does he just talk a good game?”

The answer is…

`YES and YES!” Mike is the driving force behind Home 4 the Holidays. He created H4TH in 1999 to help the original 14 shelters in San Diego County, California increase adoptions, lower euthanasia, and take business away from puppy mills and breeders during their most profitable time of year. And today, as in 1999, he’s spreading the word wherever people will listen.

Mike’s assistant, Margo Caskey, opened his 2008 calendar and got as far as January 15 before she came to his first trip of the year to help others and encourage participation in Iams Home 4 the Holidays. Passport in one hand and carry-on bag in the other, Mike traveled to Canada and appeared at a conference in British Columbia.

Early March found him leaving the warm sunshine of San Diego for a trip to Albany, New York. Again, Home 4 the Holidays was a major topic.

April began with a trip to a conference in Toronto. The next day he hopped a plane bound for New Jersey. As always, he talked about the future of animal welfare and how Iams Home 4 the Holidays is educating the public about the importance of pet adoption.

During these engagements, Mike was also preparing himself for a trip “down under”. On the first day of May he boarded a plane in Los Angeles. When he stepped onto the tarmac he was in New Zealand! During the next week, he spoke at conferences in Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington.

After four days rest Mike was back on a plane on May 13, headed for Orlando, Florida to be a featured speaker at the HSUS Animal Care Expo. What was scheduled as a small, two hour session soon expanded to two full rooms and four hours with attendees clamoring for more. “Tell us about Iams Home 4 the Holidays. Help us save lives!”

Throughout the year Helen Woodward Animal Center hosts a series of free “Animal Center Education Services” (ACES) workshops for animal welfare professionals. When we presented the conference in Calgary, Alberta in 2007 our friends there called it the “Business of Saving Lives” conference. During each ACES workshop Mike explains how Iams Home 4 the Holidays has found forever homes and loving families for millions of orphaned pets and become the largest and most successful pet adoption drive in history.

September found Mike in Dayton, Ohio speaking at an event sponsored by the Dayton Humane Society. Of course, this involved a pitch for IH4TH. From Dayton he traveled to Cincinnati where his “pitch” was the opening pitch at a Cincinnati Reds baseball game!

Mike returned to San Diego for a few days, but ended September with a trip to Saskatoon where he again promoted IH4TH at an event held by the Saskatchewan SPCA.

This 10th annual IH4TH campaign began one month earlier than usual. Why? Because our friends in Canada asked us to start early. Thanksgiving Day in Canada is held in October. Since IH4TH usually began in November, the Canadians explained to Mike that they were missing out on one of their major holidays. Once we changed the start date, the participation in Canada surged with more than 100 shelters and rescues. This also marked the first time that our “How-To Guide” was translated into French!

October 4 through the 8th Mike was in New York for the east coast Iams Home 4 the Holidays kickoff event and a number of television appearances featuring our friend and supporter Felicity Huffman.

October 24 through 26, during what most people consider a Las Vegas vacation, Mike spoke at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary “No More Homeless Pets” conference.

And here’s where it gets hectic. He returned home from Vegas on October 26. Then on the afternoon of October 27 a flight took him to the “International Companion Animal Welfare Conference in Milan, Italy where Mike shouted the praises of Iams Home 4 the Holidays to 250 animal welfare professionals from 30 European countries.

As this summary of Mike’s quest to spread the good word about Iams Home 4 the Holidays is being written in mid-November, his office sits empty. Margo has told him to stay home, deal with his jet lag, and stop calling the office. He just returned to San Diego from a whirlwind, 48 hour trip to Australia where he taped a television show, again spreading the word that we can change the world, one adoption at a time.

Mike Arms in incredible!! If you ever have a chance to listen to him speak–grab it with both hands. He will move you to tears, reaffirming in your heart the reason why you share your life with dogs and cats.