FouFou Dog @ Winter Woofstock

Click on the title of this blog to see MORE pictures..



Winter Woofstock Line-Up




FouFou Dog Booth #1515 Line-Up



Win Prizes at Plinko!!



Spin The Wheel to Win!!



Play for Popcorn!!



Happy Winners!!

What's Your Breed @ Winter Woofstock

FouFou Dog is taking 'What's Your Breed?' to a whole new level by kicking off its campaign at the 1st Annual Winter Woofstock consumer show at the Direct Energy Center. November 27, 2010 marked the first day of its launch and FouFou Dog is pleased to announce - it was a great success.

The large 20' x 20' space drew in crowds of families and dog lovers galore with free prizes of FouFou Dog luggage tags, pens, bags, charms, gift certificates, and fresh popcorn.

In order to get your paws on these prizes and give-aways, you merely needed to fill out a ballot registering your dog's breed and birthday with us so that we can be sure to make your pooch feel special on his/her special day every year.

If you missed out on this opportunity today, visit us tomorrow at Winter Woofstock Booth #1515 (Direct Energy Center) from 10 am - 7 pm.

Follow us on Twitter and LIKE US on Facebook to keep up to date on where you will see us next so that you can let us know, "What's your Breed?"...

Back to Back to Back to Back Tradeshows...

It's that time of the year again... trade show season.. starting from ExpoZoo (Quebec) in August to SuperZoo (Las Vegas) and PIJAC (Toronto) in September to HH Backer (Chicago) just around the corner in October. The fall-winter season is THE busiest time of the year and FouFou Dog is running around like a chicken with its head cut-off; with phones ringing off the hook, fax-in orders coming in incessantly, sales reps bombarding us with orders, and incoming shipments full of Fall-Winter-Holiday goodies that needed to ship out yesterday.

It's literally a zoo at FouFou Dog these days... but we're truely loving every minute of it. How can anyone complain about a flourishing business with products that are in high-demand?

The overtime hours, getting down and dirty with sweat, bruises, sore muscles, a constant grumbling stomach, high-stress craziness, and overdose of caffeine is a small price to pay for the joy of watching your business grow.

Trade Show Mishaps

FouFou Dog has encountered many "mishaps" over the years from exhibiting at trade shows worldwide.

We've left samples and display items at home and have had to courier them over to the show on overnight service. We've had our entire crate with all of our exhibiting contents arrive late AND not at all to our booth location. We've had our empty boxes damaged and misplaced when packing up our booth. We've had display cases shatter in our hands as we were dismantling the booth. We've had catalogues shipped to us which were damaged in transit and the most recent mishap which took place at last weekend's ExpoZoo show in Quebec involved forgetting to bring the metal stands that we use to display all of our apparel items.

You would think that after 6 years of trade show exhibitions, that we'd be pro's by now... but I guess it goes to show that everybody makes mistakes. Luckily, we HAVE become experts at pulling things together given our circumstances at the last minute.

When Evelyn and I discovered that we had forgotten to ship metal stands to display all of our apparel items, with 2 and a half hours left of set-up to go, we hauled ass to the nearest Dollarama that we saw en route to the convention center. Evelyn and I purchased all of the paper towel holders that they had on their shelves.



We cut up cardboard pieces and taped them to the top of these paper towel holders.



Et Voila!!



If I hadn't told Cheryl about this mishap, she would never even have known.. hehehehe

FouFou Dog Trade Show Season

It's that time of year again ... Trade Show Season, where FouFou Dog travels North America to feature the newest items from their collection. Entering the fall/winter season, FouFou Dog has come out with new and innovative products to keep your pooches warm and dry. A few new items include:

1) New Sweater Coats (with removable hood)
2) New Toggle Coats (with fur trim)
3) New Sweater / Scarf sets
4) New Fou-ski Parkas (that are reversible)



All of these items, and more, can be found in the new FouFou Dog Fall-Winter 2011 catalogue. Click on the title of this link to download this catalogue.

FouFou Dog will be making the following stops to feature their collection:

1) Expo Zoo Trade Show (Quebec)
2) SuperZoo Trade Show (Las Vegas)
3) PIJAC Show (Toronto)
4) HH Backer Show (Chicago)

Keep your pooch cool this summer

Many cities within Toronto and Quebec have been experiencing heat waves with temperatures of 32 C and up for the past 3 consecutive days and counting. Toronto is having its first heat wave this week since 2007.

While health officials are urging both provinces to keep cool by staying indoors, wearing light weight clothing, and keeping hydrated, FouFou Dog is reminding pet owners not to forget about the health and safety of their furry friends too.

We tend to forget about our dogs and their vulnerability to the heat especially in our eagerness to spend time outdoors in the company of our canine friends. Unfortunately, dogs do not have the luxury of sweating, like humans do, and so they overheat and suffer from heat stroke more easily than their masters. Some dogs are in more danger, especially those with pre-existing heart conditions, with heavy coats, black coats, or dogs with narrow nasal passages such as Bull Dogs, Boxers, Pugs, and Pekingnese.

FouFou Dog suggests some Do's & Don'ts to keep their pooches cool in this summer heat wave:

Do leave water plentily available for your dog.
Putting ice cubes in the water dish will help to keep the water cool and refreshing

Don't leave your dog unattended in a vehicle for more than a few minutes.
When the temperature is 30 C outdoors, the heat inside a car can reach up to 40 C

Do cool your pooch down by putting cold water on his chest, not his back.
Most pet owners automatically assume that if a dog is sitting under the sun, that putting cold water on his back will cool him down, but if his coat is thick or black, this won't do anything, but make him wet

Don't leave your dog on hot surfaces.
Dog owners do not realize that hot surfaces, such as, ashphalt or concrete, can cause serious burns to their pets paws on a hot, sunny day

Do use veterinarian approved sunscreens that can help protect dogs from harmful UVA rays.
Beware of human sunscreens because of their zinc oxide content. White muzzles, ears, and white dogs are more susceptible, especially Chinese Crested hairless dogs

Don't overfeed your dog.
The act of eating and digestion will increase its heart rate and metabolism which can contribute to raising the temperature of your pooch

Do recognize the early signs of heat stroke.
Watch for heavy panting, difficulty in breathing, unordinary breaths, and tacky saliva.

FouFou Dog @ Woofstock

FouFou Dog exhibits at WOOFSTOCK - the largest outdoor dog festival in Toronto.

The FouFou Dog booth is located at the same prime spot, year after year, in front of the Metro grocery store.



While the weather wasn't the greatest on Saturday afternoon, with grey skies and rainy periods, that didn't stop our loyal FouFou fans from visiting us decked out and ready for rain in their FouFou Dog Reversible Raincoats.



This year, even our cousin Daryl Ching (aka "new FouFou Dog mascot") lent us a helping hand.. here's a funny video of Daryl selling FouFou Dog products at our booth!

Testing Teddy's Pride - Oral Care

Does your dog suffer from bad breath, not just in the mornings... but all day long? So does mine...

I've been told that small breed dogs, like my Maltese, are prone to have bad teeth and more likely to have more tartar / plaque build up leading to tooth decay and gum disease, which can ultimately enter the dog's blood stream through their gums and affect other parts of the body. Scary stuff huh?

It's hard not to notice Amie's bad breath when I hold her close for a hug, or when she licks my nose with kisses. What's worse is when people around me are noticing it and commenting about it too.

I've known she had an oral hygiene problem from a young age and have attempted to use all the remedies on the market that I could find including brushing her teeth manually, but found this difficult due to the size of her tiny mouth. I'll admit, I have looked for quick fix solutions to clean Amie's teeth, and resorted to sprays and gels such as "PetzLife Oral Care Spray", a menthol spray that I used to spray directly on her teeth and "Oxyfresh Pet Gel" which my vet recommended, which is a gel-like substance that I would rub directly on her gums.

Of course, her teeth seemed only to get progressively worse with age.

Finally, my sister handed me a bottle of "Teddy's Pride - Oral Care", she said it was a powder that I was to sprinkle on Amie's food once a day and to give it a try. Now, my first thought was that I didn't feel comfortable sprinkling just anything on Amie's food. So of course, I did my research on this product to make sure it was safe for her to consume and sure enough, everything I am reading about this product seems to have nothing but beneficial effects.

At the end of the day, what I learned is that this product uses the science of Probiotics, or good bacteria, to help combat the bad bacteria in the mouth. I'm sure most of us have already heard of Probiotics as it is commonly marketed in many food products such as yogurt to maintain healthy digestion in our stomachs.

The active ingredient in "Teddy's Pride - Oral Care" is ProBiora3™, a custom blend of 3 good bacterias to help support gum and tooth health.

Click on this link to learn more about ProBiora3™: http://www.probiora3.com/

I have been sprinkling "Teddy's Pride - Oral Care" on Amie's food once a day for the past 2 weeks and have found that her breath is becoming more and more tolerable. While she has noticed that her breakfast looks a little different in the mornings, I don't think she is bothered by the additional white stuff, as the powder is odourless and tasteless.

I plan to continue to use "Teddy's Pride - Oral Care" and will continue to monitor any changes in her mouth and to her general health. For the time being, I am happy and satisfied with this product and would recommend it to my fellow pet owners who are looking for a healthy, safe, and effective remedy to their stinky pet's breath.

FouFou Dog Lends a Helping Hand!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Toronto, ON., May 14, 2010 – FouFou Dog, an innovative wholesale company that specializes in dog apparel, accessories, private labeling, and product displays, lends a helping hand to save the remaining animals that have been affected by the saddening ordeal at York Region OSPCA.

FouFou Dog had solemnly removed itself as a major sponsor for Ontario SPCA (Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) earlier this week due to the unforeseen events that occurred. Though FouFou Dog does not condone animal euthanasia, there is still much help required for the remaining surviving animals at the shelter.

It is now the time to focus on the safety of the remaining animals, to ensure that they are being well taken care of. It has been publicized that many of the shelter animals are being housed by foster parents. There is an immediate need for supplies to help out the foster homes. Whether it is food, towels, blankets, beds, litter boxes, or scratching posts, every little bit goes a long way for these innocent animals. This is the time to be proactive and take a stance to help alleviate further pain.

FouFou Dog has agreed to step up to the plate and put one paw forward in helping to assist and foster the recovery of those remaining animals that have been diagnosed for a full recovery. While the past cannot be undone, the future is ours to hold and FouFou Dog chooses to shift from the sadness of this turn of events and direct their emotions towards the more important issue at hand of helping to save the lives of the remaining innocent animals and to make their recovery a more comfortable one.

If your publication is interested in featuring this story about FouFou Dog, please feel free to contact Ann Tran at 416-628-1916 or email her at ann@foufoudog.com

FouFou Dog Does Not Support OSPCA's Actions!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Toronto, ON., May 12, 2010 – FouFou Dog, an innovative wholesale company that specializes in dog apparel, accessories, private labeling, and product displays, has solemnly removed itself as a major sponsor for Ontario SPCA (Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). FouFou Dog has chosen to terminate their sponsorship with OSPCA due to the recent actions of the organization.

FouFou Dog apologizes for any turmoil that this partnership has caused to their community and their affiliates. FouFou Dog is in full support of the prevention of cruelty to animals, but absolutely does not condone animal euthanasia.

“Our hearts go out to all the animals harmed in this unfortunate situation. We are saddened by the outcome of the actions posed by the OSPCA, we do not condone the choice of euthanasia to animals with a sickness or disease that CAN be cured”, says Cheryl, CEO and Founder of FouFou Dog.

OSPCA’s mission is to facilitate and provide for province-wide leadership on matters relating to the prevention of cruelty to animals and the promotion of animal welfare. OSPCA’s lack of responsibility and the tardiness of protocols that were not followed has led to a magnitude of issues that FouFou Dog does not support. This issue has become an emotional one for many people and we can only hope that there will be a more positive outcome.

If your publication is interested in featuring this story about FouFou Dog, please feel free to contact Ann Tran at 416-628-1916 or email her at ann@foufoudog.com.

###

Poochy Pouches

Pampered puppies were made for the new FouFou Dog Poochy Pouches!!



You might feel like a kangaroo, but who cares.. look how cute Gaga, the Shih-Tzu puppy, looks as she sits safely and comfortably in FouFou Dog's new Poochy Pouch!

Available in two sizes, small and medium, to support your pampered pup weighing up to 16 lbs, its adjustable criss-cross straps reduce the pressure from the weight of your pooch to prevent back strain while allowing hands-free access to go about your day with your pooch by your side, or rather, by your belly.

The coolest feature of this poochy pouch is the fact that it zips up into a small, transportable waist pouch when you're not using it.

This next best thing is available June 2010 in White, Grey, and Black and can be purchased directly from FouFou Dog's new online store at www.foufoudog.com

FouFou Dog In Shanghai

The flight from Hong Kong to Shanghai is about 2 hours, I expected to visit a city similar to Hong Kong but was welcomed with what seemed like a very different culture all together. The weather in Shanghai is comparable to Toronto, warm and sunny during the day but gets chilly with wind chill at night. The city is also similar to Toronto in that there is an older part of town, like downtown Toronto, where the streets are congested and the buildings are old and run down. Pedestrians disregard all traffic lights and attempt to jay walk across the street at any given opportunity. The cars are all bumper to bumper and slow moving in these areas where cyclists and motorbikes are all cramped together trying to make it their right of way with Taxi’s using their horns like turning signals.



Ironically, just a few blocks away, the city is modern and beautiful with huge malls and beautiful buildings showing off amazing architecture. The buildings also light up with colourful lights at night time. I haven’t seen much of Hong Kong yet, but so far, if I were to compare, I would say that Shanghai is a more beautiful city, however, the traffic is much more dangerous.



The language spoken here is Mandarin, which is not what I’m accustomed to as my spoken language at home as well as in Hong Kong, is Cantonese. I must feel how most foreigners feel in Toronto. Thank goodness that my mom is fluent in Mandarin and has spent most of her time translating for my sister and me.

Our visit to Shanghai has been both work and personal related. On top of my mom wanting to show my sister and me different parts of Shanghai, we have also made some time to meet with a few of our suppliers who own or work for factories close to Shanghai. They all flew in or took the train / car just to meet with us. Our supplier of coats also brought his entire family, including daughter, wife, mother and father to join him. Everyone has been very friendly and very welcoming by offering us gifts they brought from home as well as treating us to nice meals.

It has been nice to meet with our suppliers face to face to finally put a face to all of the emails that we share on a daily basis. All of our suppliers are much younger than I expected them to be, one being 27, one 28, and another 36. Each brought with them bagfuls of samples and fabric swatches to share with us, to gauge our interest. In return, we have brought back some of the products that they have produced for us that have experienced issues and problems so that we can explain to them in person how we wish they can improve.

Unfortunately all of our suppliers also speak Mandarin as their first language with very limited English speaking skills and so the meetings that we have had to go over samples and any new upcoming orders have been lengthy and, for lack of a better word, boring, as my sister and I are forced to sit in the meetings while listening to my mom speak with them in Mandarin and translating for us what they say while telling them in Mandarin what we need to tell them.

All in all, it has been a good experience and I’m glad that we got to spend some time in Shanghai, where my mother was born and to see the city as well as to meet with our suppliers.

My First Hong Kong Trade Show

As soon as we stepped off the plane, my sister, my mom and myself were off to the first trade show in Hong Kong. I think this was the first of three that we will be attending. At this show, I got to meet our supplier of dog booties and his wife. Interesting fella.

I also got to witness first-hand what Cheryl does when she's working these shows, which involves travelling up and down each and every aisle of 10 different halls in which aisle upon aisle is a different supplier displaying all kinds of different products. The language barrier is very frustrating as Cheryl and I were born and raised in Canada, our first language is English, with some knowledge of Cantonese. However, the mother tongue of Hong Kong is Mandarin and so we have run into many difficulties as we attempt to find out the minimum order quantity and different costs for different items. Luckily my mom is there to translate for us because she can speak different dialects of Chinese including: Shanghainese, Mandarin, Cantonese, and of course, English fluently. I guess my mom was tired when we visited our first booth as Cheryl turned to my mom and said, "Mom can you find out what their MOQ's are?" basically suggesting that my mom ask them in Mandarin what their minimum order quantities are. And my mom turned to the supplier and asked them verbatim, "What is your MOQ?", while the supplier turned back to us with a look of confusion. LOL

Count Down to Hong Kong

My sister, my mom, and myself will be making a trip out to Hong Kong in exactly one week from today. My mom actually makes a trip out twice a year to visit her mom, dad, siblings, other family members and friends, in addition to attending the annual HK trade shows. My sister also makes it out twice a year to network, attend the HK trade shows, meet with our suppliers, source out new factories, visit family members and to meet up with friends abroad. This will actually be the 2nd time in my life to visit Hong Kong. The last time was exactly 20 years ago, I was in the 3rd grade and I'll never forget it because I was actually quite sad to have to depart Canada during the holidays where I was in the running to play Mrs. Clause in our annual Christmas play.

I'm excited, nervous, and a little hesitant. Excited to see Hong Kong, to see my relatives whom I haven't seen in 20 years, especially my grandfather who is becoming a little less coherent as the years go by. I'm nervous to meet with all of our suppliers whom I deal with via email on a daily basis and I'm hesitant to take that 18 hour plane ride, to feel jet lagged, to have to endure such close quarters with my mom and sister who butt heads ALL the time, and most importantly, to be pulled away from my routine life in Toronto. I'm not a huge fan of change. I don't remember the last time I left the country for more than a week, but I think I'm more concerned about leaving my desk and all the work behind. I am concerned that while I'm away, something may go wrong at work and I won't be in the country to fix it.. FouFou Dog will fall apart and life will end as I know it.

But I could be overreacting... I guess we'll see...and so the count down begins...

T minus one week and counting....

Stupid Dog Trick...

Watch as Amie does her "play dead" trick when Cheryl shoots her with a pretend gun.

Too bad she can't fake being dead for very long as her laughing tail is a dead give away.



Ernie has always been a natural at modelling.. it's as if he was born to be the face of FouFou Dog. Watch as he poses naturally on the wall as paparazzi snaps photos of him in his snuggy pj's.

Deer Antlers

"This and That Canine Company" dropped by our office the other day and brought with them some chewable treats for our furry friends at work. To my amazement, these treats were called "deer antlers" which are exactly what they are called. Deer Antlers.

To be honest, I had never heard of such things before in my life. I've picked up a couple raw hide bones, bully sticks, or even pigs ears for my pets to chew on, but deer antlers??... really?!?

These deer antlers are definately not your ordinary bone or chew toy, but believe it or not, our dogs love them.

"This and That Canine Company" actually gave 3 deer antlers to us, one for each of the pets in our office, and of course, as seen in this footage, Ernie managed to steal two of them because he loves them so much.



And what's not to love? These deer antlers are all natural and result from deer physically shedding or dropping their old antlers as new ones grow in their place.

Deer antlers contain a healthy source of calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron, zinc and manganese. All of these healthy ingredients in a compact, odorless and mess-free dog chew, which have a tough exterior, making them harder to chew and longer lasting for your pooch.

You can pick one up today from your local Pet Valu location.

Oh Boy...

It's kind of scary when Cheryl comes into my office, bare foot, with her hair in disarray, as she rubs her eyes, saying, "Oh my god Jenn, there's so much to do.. I'm going crazy and you don't even know it yet... you think you're busy now..."

*sigh*...I'm excited on the one hand to know that business is good, but a little nervous on the other to know that my head could potentially be on the chopping block again in the very near future.

**refer to past "Logistics Nightmare" blog**

FouFou Dog @ Global Pet Expo 2010

VISIT FOUFOU DOG AT BOOTH #356

Every year, FouFou Dog attends about 8 of the most popular pet trade shows in the industry throughout USA and Canada. Attending these trade shows is important because it's one of the main ways that we get our name out to potential clients who can get an idea of who we are, to see our entire collection, to touch and feel the products themselves, and to meet the faces behind FouFou Dog. Another great reason is to meet up with our current clients to show them what new and exciting ideas we have come out with for the upcoming season.

We also bombard each trade show with our FouFou Dog bags which are perfect for retailers walking the show who have to carry all the catalogues they pick up. In addition, these non-woven bags conveniently double as a walking advertisement. By the end of every day, people will usually have seen someone carrying our bag at least once and ask themselves, "hmmm.. what's FouFou Dog?" Or, they'll track down our booth to get one of these handy, while trendy bags for themselves. Trust me, these bags are awesome for grocery shopping.



We have come a long way from the first of our trade show days which included:

1) Driving to all of our trade shows, even if it meant making 8 hour trips to Chicago, New York City, Atlantic City, or Quebec City;
2) Purchasing economical display units from IKEA;
3) Carrying all of our samples in the trunk of our car as well as the back seat, where Cheryl sat uncomfortably for those long road trips.

Now that I look back at what we used to do to attend one of these trade shows, I shake my head and chuckle at the extent we would go through to save a couple bucks.

But hey, every penny counts, and now we can afford to:

1) Travel by plane to all of our trade shows;
2) Design a customized booth to display our products perfectly, which can then be easily torn down and rebuilt to travel from show to show;
3) Have all of our samples shipped to each show and stored until the next.

Here is a picture of what a set-up day looks like for the FouFou Dog Team. Vivien is in the front putting what looks like S-Hooks into one of our banners to hang up as signage and Lillian is at the back setting up our collection of accessories.



And here is a picture of the finished product. Looks GREAT! Good job ladies!!

Not enough hours in a day...

I love the new office and living up to the term “going to work” is awesome, but it’s been almost a month now since we started working out of the new location and I have no idea where all the hours in a day disappear to.

Having been accustomed to working from home for the past 5 years; waking up late, not worrying about brushing my hair nor wearing “professional” clothes, and strolling down 2 flights of stairs into the basement of our “office”, I’m finding it difficult to juggle both my personal errands with my work ones. Doing a load of laundry used to involve waking up 15 min earlier in the morning and putting the wet clothes into the dryer during my lunch break. But these days, I wonder if I’ll have enough clean underwear to last me to the end of the week. I know, you're probably thinking that I probably need to buy more underwear, but that’s not the point.

It’s not just my personal hygiene that has taken a toll; exercising, preparing healthy meals, reading, catching my favourite programs on TV, watching Wheel of Fortune with my dad, or sharing a bottle of wine with my mom at night, have all been put aside, like a pile of work that I keep telling myself that I need to get to.

I know this is the real world and there was once a time that I used to commute to work downtown, 1 hour drive from home, which was manageable and I’m sure I’ll fall into a schedule soon that will allow me to get back into the routine of things, but for now, that saying couldn't be more true; there simply are not enough hours in a day...

FouFou Sidekicks II

When FouFou Dog first hit the scene, our booties were once thought to be a fad or trend for the experimental dog lovers who were all about making a fashion statement with their furry friends.

Six years later, this once comical item, otherwise thought of as merely a conversation piece, has now been accepted as a functional, must-have product and has become a staple line from FouFou Dog's collection. In fact, FouFou Dog comes out with two designs of their bootie: one with a fur trim lining for the cold wintery months designed to protect their pooches feet from ice, snow, and salt and one for the hot summer months also designed to protect those sensitive paws from scorching ashphalt while warranting comfort as well as style for those long outdoor walks.

FouFou Dog came out with the "FouFou Sidekick" bootie, as shown in the video below about 2 seasons ago. This item was such a huge hit that FouFou Dog has brought the Sidekick bootie back by popular demand in a new and improved version with sturdier zippers and an updated design; the "FouFou Sidekick II"

Click on the video below to watch as Amie takes her first steps in the FouFou Sidekick booties. Pick up a set of your own today at a retailer near you... if not to protect those gentle paws or to make that head-turning fashion statement, do it for the sheer joy of watching your pooch attempt to walk for the first time ever in these fabulous booties.

Obsessed with these Shiba Inu's

Click on the title of this link to see what I'm talking about...

Are you sitting at your desk staring adoringly at these puppies too?!?

I have been following this live feed for some time now and have watched these puppies grow .. and boy do they grow fast!! Only 2 weeks ago, they were half the size that they are today.

This live stream is a new obsession of mine, I have the puppies on a separate screen so that I can take a peek at what they're up to every now and then. I can't help but smile every time I take a look at these crazy, active kids... what a great way to alleviate a stressful day... and I have a feeling the concept of live feeds will be the next Reality TV.

Clearly, I'd be a fan...

The Travelling Monkey

It is the most wonderful feeling to hear about FouFou Dog fans loving our collection, telling their friends about it, getting the name out there, and asking us where they can buy it. It puts a huge smile on my face to know that FouFou Dog is somehow, somewhere making an impact, one dog at a time.

Imagine my astonishment when we discovered a photo gallery on Flickr one day consisting of 77 photos of what we call, "The Travelling Monkey", a collection of photos of a FouFou Dog Furry Friend toy, the monkey, to be specific, travelling the world.

It's one thing to know that a customer picked up the Furry Friend Monkey toy and loved it enough to carry it with them around the world, it's another thing to see that they actually took pictures of Mr. Monkey posing in front of a monument from every location that they visited!

If anybody knows who this person is or knows of anyone else who has done something similar to this, please let us know. We would love to see more things like this and of course, we'd love to get to know the face behind the Travelling Monkey :)

Click on the title of this blog, "The Travelling Monkey" to be taken directly to the Flickr site to see these fascinating photos of Mr. Monkey...I wonder where he is now...

FouFou Dog to be featured in an upcoming issue of SNAP Newspaper

Nic from SNAP Newspaper, a local paper in Richmond Hill, dropped by the office yesterday to take a couple shots of Cheryl, myself, and the team to be featured in an upcoming issue. He spotted us (actually, it was probably the giant size poster of Ernie that caught his attention) at the Richmond Hill Chamber of Commerce Business Achievmeent Award ceremony. He wanted a fun shoot that involved Ernie posing next to his own photo which was an effort in itself because Ernie was being so fussy and clearly didn't want to be next to his own larger than life self portrait. I guess we will wait for the issue to go to print before we can see how the shots turned out.

April 9, 2010 - The Article :)



Click on the above Title of this blog to see more photos taken from this shoot.

Video of our struggles with Ernie to get him to pose next to his own photo:



Below is a video of what it's like to get a good shot when dogs are involved in the shoot.

To Blog or Not To Blog

I have recently been advised to blog about more informative, pet related, trend setting, fashion forward issues which may be more insightful to one, but run the risk of being just as boring to another.

With that said, I did do some research online to see what topics I could find which may be of interest to the occassional pet-savvy reader. In doing so, I found that everything about anything pet-related that needed to be said, has so eloquently already been said on numerous already established sites. And to have me elaborate on a given topic would simply involve the reader re-reading what s/he has already read on a previously visited website.

Does it seem like I'm talking in circles? Cause that's my point... I have instead, decided to continue writing about FouFou related topics in hopes to avoid the tossing of redundant facts at our readers.

My intent in writing this blog is to give our fans an insiders update on what goes on behind the scenes and to provide a more personal touch to all the real life issues that we encounter, while getting to know the faces behind FouFou Dog.

In keeping things light, here's one for the road:

Cheryl and Jenn were at Ikea last week picking up last minute knick-knacks for the office.

Cheryl: Hey! Do we need bigger lunch bowls for the office?
Jenn: No... why?
Cheryl: 'Cause I heated up some food last week in one of those bowls and the rice from my lunch was spilling out of it.
Jenn: That just means you're eating too much, dude.

ahhhhahahahaha.. ok, more serious blogs to follow...

Pet Valu Photo Shoot

Cheryl, Ernie, Amie, and myself went to the Pet Valu head office yesterday to take part in a photo shoot for their upcoming Spring 2010 Pet Valu Companion magazine. Ernie and Amie were asked to pose as models for this collection, because the spring apparel are actually items designed by FouFou Dog exclusively for Pet Valu. This line is an adorable collection of baby pink and blue PJ's, tank tops and my favourite, "My Name Is..." tanks which allow you to hand write your pets name directly on the back of the tank using any black marker.

Amie and Ernie were dressed and ready to impress, after coming straight from the spa. Their coats were bright white and nicely groomed specially for Pet Valu.

Keep an eye out for this magazine at your local Pet Valu location available in April 2010.

**click on the title of this blog to see more photos from this shoot**

The Social Media Virus

These days, Cheryl has been focusing the majority of her efforts towards "social media". That is, gaining more interest and public awareness of the FouFou Dog brand name through the everyday tools and media channels that we all use and take for granted. In a way, it's a kind of sneaky tactic that is almost like sending subliminal messages through sight and sound by creating a bug in the air where anybody with access to the internet may become infected. The symptoms of the bug are highly contagious and anyone with close contact to a multi-media device is at risk.

But the world wide web is one of the most explosive, widely used sources of entertainment and communication. With real time broadcasts and up to the minute news flashes, it's literally your one-stop shop to access information about almost anything, everything, and anybody in the world.

With that said, it looks like everybody and their mom's are hopping on this new age, 21st century, social media train. From Facebook to YouTube, Twitter to Blogging... from civilians to celebrities, companies to corporations.

We truely are starting to live in a cyberspace world in which talking to real people have become obsolete, getting noticed means posting new pictures on your Facebook, and reading tweets about your friends is more convenient than catching up over coffee.

If you're reading this blog right now and end up telling a friend about what you read today, then the power of social media works, and clearly, you've been infected.

Logistics Nightmare

I've heard horror stories from talking to people at trade shows about the problems and foreseeable issues that could go wrong with shipments, imports and exports of goods, orders, samples, and other logistics related categories. With that said, I've made mental notes of things I should be more careful of, what to follow up on, and luckily, since starting with FouFou Dog, have only experienced a few mishaps of my own. The most memorable being the first time Cheryl and I travelled to Germany for the hugest, bi-annual, worldwide trade show which costed thousands of Euro to attend and another few hundred Euro for accommodations, food and flight, only to find that the delivery of all of our samples to be displayed in our booth had not arrived to the show. Boy was that a scary time of my life.

But as Cheryl always says, 'Mistakes are allowed to be made, just make sure to learn from them, and never make the same mistake twice'.

To date, I have not allowed that to happen again, however, Evelyn and I have experienced a similar incident last year when the freight forwarding company we used to deliver our crate of samples to our trade show in Quebec ended up misplacing the crate and we had to make do with what we had while we were there.

I've been fortunate enough to say that I haven't encountered any huge, deal breaking nightmares as of yet, but I'm starting to see that it's true what everyone has been telling me; which is the fact that the people dealing with the logistics side of any business have it the worst. When things go smoothly and everything is delivered on schedule, a year will go by and no one will pay any attention to all the work that you've done to ensure things work out accordingly. It's when one little thing goes wrong that sh!t hits the fan, suddenly your head is on the chopping block with all fingers pointed in your direction, and everyone hates you. Go figure.

And the winner is...

FouFou Dog!! FouFou Dog won an award tonight for Business Achievement in the "25 And Under Employees" Category, presented by the Richmond Hill Chamber of Commerce.

Wow, what a fun night it was... Cheryl and I got to meet many of the finalists who were up for an award along with Premier Dalton McGuinty.. who I personally think is a genuinely nice guy. He's also a lot taller in person.

The food was amazing, the company was awesome, and the speeches were heartfelt. Cheryl, of course, had the best speech of all .. and I'm not just saying that because I'm her sister. One after another, recipients of an award gave the same mundane, regular speeches with their ordinary thank you's, while Cheryl approached the stage with a GIANT poster of Ernie dressed in a tux. Oh what a sight and boy were we the talk of the night!

Many people approached Cheryl afterwards congratulating her on a job well done as well as for her unique acceptance speech. If nobody paid much attention to us before, they are definately going to take notice of us now... good job Cheryl!!

Oh, and last night when I dropped a hint to mention me in your speech.. I didn't expect you to have me stand up in front of 4 to 5 hundred people and ask them all to turn their heads towards me... hahaha.. but nonetheless, thank you for acknowledging me.. even if it involved my bright red face. Love you!

**click on the title of this blog to see more photos from this event**

Cheryl's speech:

Nominated for...

For the first time ever, FouFou Dog has been nominated for a Richmond Hill Chamber of Commerce Business Achievement Award, in which the event is an award ceremony, Oscar-style, speech preparing, "black-tie" affair, where Premier Dalton McGuinty will also be in attendance. OOOhhhhh....

With all the excitement of the new office in the air, we haven't really had the chance to sit down and think about this upcoming award ceremony and what's to come if we are in fact winners of an award.

To be perfectly honest, I've actually been more concerned about what I'm going to wear.. "black-tie" affair has got me wondering if women will be showing up tomorrow wearing prom-like dresses and evening gowns.

In the meantime, poor Cheryl has been advised to prepare a speech in advance just in case we do win an award and she has been stressing out about what to say.

I'd be more than happy to help her out with her speech, but for some reason Cheryl has opted not to discuss it with any of us and has decided to prepare it all on her own.

Knowing Cheryl, she probably has something creative, interesting and witty planned. Usually when she gives a presentation, she tries to do something different or special in order to make a stage presence, to capture the audience and to make her 5 minutes of fame - unforgettable. I hope we win tomorrow, cause I am really looking forward to finding out what she has got up her sleeve... and whatever it is, it better include the words, "I'd like to thank Jenn...." lol

Move-In Day

Enjoying a glass of wine while sitting at my desk.. it doesn't get any better than this.. ;)

But it was well deserved. It's close to 11 pm and we just finished putting together the IKEA furniture which actually wasn't as user-friendly as usual.

The new office is amazing though, Cheryl of course, had her hand in adding a personal touch to it all.. dark chocolate hard wood flooring, demasque-themed walls, tempered glass office desks, white leather love seats.. it's as if I've stepped foot into a show home. Makes me feel as though I never left my house, might as well keep a sofa bed in the foyer, so I can just crash when I've finished writing this blog right?

The irony to it all is that I have no idea how I'm going to actually do work out of this office, even though it's 15 km away from home, while working from home seemed more like a workplace to me.

...I'll get used to it.

Long story short, the office is now up and running. Please feel free to check back sporadically for the date of our Grand Opening.. details to follow soon :)

FouFou Freebies

For the first time ever, FouFou Dog is giving away a free D-Ring Charm or Luggage Tag of your choice if you:

1) See a FouFou Dog item in any store and upload a photo of it on our FouFou Dog Facebook fanpage : http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/foufou-dog/15005785766

OR

2) Upload your own pampered pup sporting a FouFou Dog product on our FouFou Dog fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/foufou-dog/15005785766

**limit is one freebie per customer

This limited time offer is a first ever trial interactive program that FouFou Dog is offering in order to gain more consumer interaction and awareness of the FouFou Dog brand name.

Park It Forward

Cheryl and I went to the National Home Show yesterday and of course, we had to find parking at the huge lot across from the big glass building and as usual, purchase a parking ticket from one of those machines for $12.

Cheryl NEVER ceases to amaze me with her "street skills", as we were driving around looking for a parking spot, she tells me to pull over behind a car that looks like it's ready to leave. She tells me she's going to offer them $5 to buy their parking ticket off them. I'm thinking to myself... no way... she hops out of my car and knocks on the driver side window.

"Excuse me? Are you guys leaving?"
"Yes... "
"Do you want to make some money back on your parking ticket?"
She pulls out her $5.00 bill.
"OH! What a great idea! We have never thought of that..."

... yeah.. neither have a lot of people...

"Park It Forward" next time. Do it.

Taking work away from home

For as long as I have been employed with FouFou Dog, I have been working, along with the rest of the FouFou Dog team, out of my parent's basement. "Going to work" has been a trip down two flights of stairs and "getting up early" is more like rolling out of bed at 9:00 am, as opposed to my usual 9:15 am.

My idea of business-casual is a new pair of leggings with a long sleeved shirt and the effects of snow storms or rush hour have had absolutely no significance to me.

In just a few days, FouFou Dog will be moving into a new 3800 Sq. Ft. office about 15 minutes drive from home. This milestone is one that I have been anticipating for the past 5 years, and surprisingly, I am as sad as much as I am happy about the move.

I have come to realize that what makes me the most sad about this move is not the loss of priviledges that I will miss of working from home, rather it is the distance I will be forced to have from the every day interactions between Evelyn, our creative designer, and Vivien, our operations manager, that I have become accustomed to working in such close quarters with for the past 5 years.

But I'm sure in a couple of weeks, once I'm settled into the new office and the regular routine of "going to work" and "having my own office" kicks in, I will be wondering to myself, how I was ever able to get anything done working from home...but let's not tell Cheryl that. hehe

FouFou Dog Spring/Summer 2010 Catalogue

The highly anticipated, widely sought after, FouFou Dog Spring/Summer 2010 Catalogue has finally gone to print and is ready to fall into the hands of every pet retailer, and multi-unit store owner worldwide.

As the back-end, finance and logistics officer, I really have no creative juices whatsoever, and will admit that I had absolutely no hand in preparing this 12 page, colourful, glossy catalogue with back to back products. And for me, getting a glimpse of this FouFou Dog seasonal catalogue is about as exciting as opening a gift on Christmas Day.

The new, innovative, fresh, and exciting products that Cheryl and Lillian continue to come out with season after season; from nappy mats to poochy pouches and even dog picture frames, is proving to be endless. What will they think of next?

If you can't wait for yours to be picked up at the next trade show in Orlando, FL, simply visit www.foufoudog.com to view and download this most up to date catalogue directly from our website.