Pet Fashion Week Guest Post

A couple of weeks ago I promised all of you a personal account of Pet Fashion Week from friend and Chief Executive Officer of Printed Puppy Inc., Kristy Sevag. Well, she's finally digging herself out of the paper pile-up that happens when you leave the office for a week, and here's that promised post. Enjoy!

Well, I am back from Pet Fashion Week 2008 and I must say my back hurts. You may think it's from from lifting boxes, setting up our booth, or just general nervous tension. Nope!

My back kills from having to bend down every time I saw an ADORABLE little dog! I had to crouch down and pet every single one, they were all so irresistable. Almost every cutie I saw had to be under 10 pounds and wearing an adorable dress. The only dog I could pet standing was a gorgeous full sized Boxer who won my heart. He belonged to another exhibitor and would come visit me during our two days of showing. Sometimes he stole my display items! It was so funny!

Saturday morning was the first of two runway shows. 8 companies, including Printed Puppy Inc., were selected to strut the walkway. With the music blaring and the lights dim, in came the models. Each company had 6 looks to showcase what they are all about. I had given my gift packaging line to the staff at Pet Fashion Week and told them to go all out, and what I saw astounded me! The artists took my line of paper goods and made flapper dresses, hoop skirts, and cocktail dresses for the models, and matching attire for the accompanying dogs! Every look that past by me got better and better.

The show came to an end and the crowd of 400+ went wild! All the human models handled the canines with such grace and care. The real stars, the dogs, were proud and happy to strut! The same show repeated for the Saturday night crowd.

Overall my first Pet Fashion Week experience was one to remember. The fact that I launched my product line less than 8 months ago and I've had the opportunity to show at the largest Pet Fashion industry convention is amazing. I met so many interesting and wonderful people, who were all so helpful and willing to share their loads of industry experience with a newbie.

I really look forward to showing again next year and who knows, maybe Printed Puppy, Inc will come to the runway with a new line of doggie fashion attire. We shall see!

To view my gift line please visit Printed Puppy. If you have any questions please email me at info@printedpuppy.com !

XOXO,
Kristy!

Post Op

Well, as fate may have it, I've really got very little to write about today, other than that I've been spending more than 16 hours a day for the past three days in bed. What a let down huh? After my 100th post!

I had laser surgery called PTK done on my right eye on Friday afternoon, to treat something I've had for the past year called a Recurrent Corneal Erosion. I won't get into all of it, but let's just say it's not fun. Actually, I felt fine the day after the surgery, but yesterday and today I've been feeling pretty darn crummy. I couldn't even make it in to work this morning.

The dogs have been great company through all of this. They stick close to me when I'm napping and rarely leave my side unless grandma's coming over to take them for a walk. Today is one of those days I really wish Daniel were here, instead of in Germany, so far away. Actually, I wish he were here all the time, but today it feels like a stronger need, rather than just a simple desire. I'll see him soon. And then I'll miss the dogs, so I better relish this recovery.

100!

Oh Oh! This is my 100th post. And my brother Bruno promised he'd take me out to dinner when I made it here. Honestly, I can't believe it. I never thought that I'd actually be able to keep up with this blog, write every day, find enough products that I feel are worth mentioning here...

But I've made it. This is post number 100. And I think I promised I'd write a Best of House&Hound post to recap some of my favorite products that I've featured here so far. So here goes... in no particular order... I love them all!

Acqua Bol from Wow Bow

Organic Hemp Dog Bed from Doggy Archy

Drink Better Bowl from Contech

Dog Carrier from Dog Interiors

Gift Bag from Printed Puppy

Bumper Stickers from Euros

Le Chien Table Lamp from Ballard Designs

Door Mat from Vive La France

Gocco Print Cards from Paper Menagerie

Foot Stool from Atelier de Tapisserie Decoration

Print Art from Dolan Geiman

Hot Diggity Dog Pillows from Modern Dose

Pull Around Hound Toy from Zipper Gifts

Sofa Pillows from Karen Hilton Designs

Blanket from Mungo and Maude

Bookends from Restoration Hardware


Wegman Sofa Pillow from The Diva Dog

A Wee Nursery For Baby And Puppy

My sister-in law Alicia is pregnant with her first kid, and like every first time mom, she's totally obsessed with anything baby! Just like me, except I go bananas over hot pink leashes and pug pillows, while she fawns over baby booties and baby slings.

This weekend she and my brother Bruno went shopping at Babies R Us and came home with a brand new, very beautiful, and may I add safe (it's actually the safest in the industry) baby car seat. You can read about the product on Wee Baby Stuff, a website they just started featuring product reviews for all things baby.

And as it turns out, Babies R Us happens to have a lot of dog inspired products for your baby nursery remodel. Alicia sent me this picture of baby's room, all decked out in a graphic mix of brown and white. I love the puppy accents, like the puppy mobile hanging above the crib and the doggy art on the wall.

P.S.

Microchip. Microchip. Microchip!

A Rookie Mistake

Daniel and I went out to dinner on Friday night to celebrate our last weekend together in Minneapolis. There's a pretty good Italian restaurant on Lake Street called Amore Victoria, and we were lucky enough to score a beautiful table outside, on a more than beautiful evening.

Five minutes into our meal a random puppy dog runs up to our table and starts licking up the parmesan cheese crumbs. Turns out the poor little guy is lost, and we grab him just before he runs back out into the traffic on Lake.

So now we're in the middle of dinner, and we're holding onto the lost dog, who's got no leash and no tags, just his collar and the stretched key ring where the tags used to be... It was pretty obvious the owner had accidentally hooked the leash up to the key ring instead of the collar and the pup had pulled his way loose, breaking off his tags.

I must admit that this happened to me several times when I first got my dog, except Charly never ran off further than our next door neighbor's yard. After the third or fourth time I decided I'd had enough with the broken key rings and lost tags, so I went to Lowe's and bought an S Hook. I opened it up with some pliers, strung on Charly's tags, and used the pliars again to close the hook around the existing metal hook of the dog collar. The S Hook is so small there's really no way you can hook the leash up to it, but it's also super strong, so you'll never lose those tags again.

Daniel quickly finished up his pasta dish and biked back to our house to pick up a leash and our car. We'd have to take the puppy over to grandma's house since Gus won't be having no stray pups up in HIS house. Before we left the restaurant we decided to take a quick walk around the neighborhood, now that we had a leash to hold on to the dog. And within 10 minutes we ran into his owner. She'd only had him for a couple of months and he'd never run off like this before. I'm just glad we didn't have to take the dog to animal control the next morning.

So remember, never use a key ring to hook up your dog's tags to his collar. Go buy an S Hook. They're only 0.93 cents and well worth it.

Berlin Schnau

Daniel and I spent the whole three-day weekend packing up our house, getting ready for our move to Germany. We'll be spending the fall semester in Deutschland, where Daniel will be doing research at the University of Bonn.

So Dan left yesterday, and he's on his way to Europe, via Chicago. I'll be joining him in a month, after I wrap up some things with my job. They've been incredibly supportive and have allowed me to take a three month leave of absence, which means I have to work extra hard this month to help out with as many projects as possible.

The dogs of course will go to grandma's, since we're just too scared to stick them in the bottom of an airplane for the 8 hour flight to Germany. My mom is thrilled because she'll get the puppies all to herself, for four entire months.

There are so many things I'm going to miss while on this European Adventure; my family and friends, our coffee maker, a washing machine and dryer in the basement, the autumn colors of the Midwest.

Most of all I'll miss those dogs. Damn, I love those guys.

And second, I'll miss our Select Comfort Sleep Number Bed. Honestly, we've never slept better. The back pain is gone, and we are so happy and rested when we get up in the morning. I just know that little European double bed waiting for us in Deutschland is going to kill.

But at least I can rest assured Gus and Charly will be getting their beauty sleep. I just got them their very own doggy beds from DoggyArchy to take with them to grandma's. These eco-friendly beds are made from organic cotton and pesticide-free industrial hemp fibers and fillers, reducing your dogs daily exposure to the hazardous chemicals released from your typical synthetic pet bed. And these beds are gorgeous, so you can promote your dog's natural health without compromising your style.