FouFou Dog Fall-Winter Collection Available Now

FouFou Dog's new Fall/Winter collection is now available for purchase on our FouFou Dog online store: www.foufoudog.com

Back by popular demand and in a wider range of colors and sizes (going up to 3XL) are our:

SWEATER COATS (with removeable hood) & REVERSIBLE FOU-SKI PARKAS

One of my personal favourites is FouFou Dog's new Animal PJ that is simply to die for!

And nothing says cute like this Baby Pink Polka Dot Dress:

Finally, who can forget our REVERSIBLE RAINCOATS - highly functional while fashion forward:

Note: some products on our website are not available until September

PJ's Pet Center launches "Every Pet Deserves A Home" program

For some time now, I've had my mind set on picking up my next pet from a local animal shelter or the Toronto Humane Society where rescued, homeless, lost, or abandoned animals are housed. 

Statistics from the ASPCA website state that approximately 5 million to 7 million companion animals enter animal shelters nationwide every year, and approximately 3 million to 4 million are euthanized (60% of dogs and 70% of cats), in America.

If I can offer an animal a better home or potentially save an animal from euthanization, then I definately want to be a part of that and was ecstatic to hear the recent news about PJ's Pet Center and Pets Unlimited's recent launch of "Every Pet Deserves A Home".

PJ's is a Canadian owned chain of pet stores across Canada, founded in 1969 and is well-known for its quality products in bright, welcoming, and clean environments.  

Their recent announcement of the "Every Pet Deserves A Home" program involves increasing awareness to people visiting PJ's stores about pet adoption agencies within local communities by offering participating organizations space in their stores to hand out pamphlets and information about their efforts and adoption opportunities.

I am so excited to witness the growth and development of this program, which is scheduled to be in full swing by October 1, 2011, and am eager to step foot into PJ's Pet Center to learn more about where I can find the closest animal shelter to me.

With the efforts of PJ's Pet Center and supporting groups across Canada, together we can work to save lives; one animal at a time.

Promoting Intrapreneurs Within A Company

When the word intrapreneur first came out of Cheryl’s mouth, I thought she was merely pronouncing the word ‘entrepreneur’ incorrectly. Little did I know that intrapreneur was a word all on its own with the definition of a person behaving or acting like an entrepreneur within a larger organization.

At FouFou Dog, intrapreneurs are made, not born; and when recruiting members to join the FouFou Dog organization, it is pertinent that each individual possess a set of skills to become their own intrapreneur. This is important to the success of FouFou Dog and other companies with similar fast-paced company cultures that break down the standard formal corporate structure which allow for autonomy and freedom for innovation.

Flexible, creative, innovative, self-motivating, risk-taking, organized, able to multi-task and responsible are all character traits that FouFou Dog looks for in recruiting people to join their team.

These character traits are important in order to keep up with the demands of any given role at FouFou Dog as each member of the team wears a number of different hats; which is important in establishing the goal of turning an idea (usually Cheryl’s idea) into a profitable finished product without really being taught how or knowing where to begin.

With the limited staff on hand, every individual at FouFou Dog is expected to take matters into their own hands as there is no time for hand holding or standardized training. When it is unclear as to how to approach a problem, it is encouraged to discuss the issue with the team, ask questions, and at the same time, figure out the most optimal solution that will continue to keep the brain churning. This approach may involve risk taking in addition to mistake-making, but sometimes an intrapreneur needs to take detours to unusual and unexpected opportunities in order to make magic happen. As the saying goes, “It doesn’t matter how many times you fall, as long as you have the confidence to pick yourself back up and keep going.”

A typical day when Cheryl is in the office involves a new idea that is openly discussed with the team, where a million thoughts are running a mile a minute, and then it's off to develop feasible solutions taking things one step at a time.  Miraculously, this method of madness has created intrapreneurs within the company and has been working for FouFou Dog, but of course, it wouldn’t be possible if not for the skills and creative juices that come from each individual of the FouFou Dog team with their efforts to contribute to the whole.

At the end of the day, credit is shared. As a business that thrives on innovation and initiative, the FouFou Dog team of intraprenuers believes that no one ever succeeds alone. Everyone works together as a team to accomplish all goals and in the end, successes are shared.

The Chaotic Journey to Dallas

FouFou Dog has been working day and night for the past 4 months to design, develop, and market a completely NEW collection of breed-specific products targeting the gift and toy industry, called "Love Your Breed".  The initial launch of this collection was set to take place in Dallas, TX at the "Dallas Finds Show" for the home and gift market.  This show was booked months in advance and paid for in full.  Samples, display items, and signage were also shipped to the show site ready and waiting for the FouFou Dog teams arrival to build the backdrop, set up the showroom, display the products, and educate the rep team in Dallas on the best way to market this exciting new line.

Cheryl and Mike started their journey to Dallas, TX yesterday afternoon when I dropped them off at the Toronto airport around 3 pm.  Their trip had a scheduled stop over in Chicago, IL which turned out to be a complete disaster.

Their flight in the air was met with turbulence as the captain warned them of severe thunderstorms building in the Chicago area.  Upon landing, they were faced with tornado warnings and hundreds of flight cancellations throughout the O'Hare Airport. 

All passengers who had been stranded at the airport were forced to take cover in an underground tunnel as the tornado made its way through Chicago.  Below is an image taken from Cheryl's camera phone of the tunnel or 'hideout' that they were in.

Once the tornado had passed, and things were slowly starting to return to normal, it was still uncertain as to when flights would be able to leave the O'Hare Airport again and the night was still young.  Cheryl and Mike attempted to book a hotel nearby with the assumption that their first available flight out might not be until the next morning, however, all hotels within a 40 km radius were fully booked.  And so Mike resorted to sleeping in a charging pod.
 

 
Below is an image of other passengers who were given cots to sleep in at O'Hare Airport.
 

 
Finally, Cheryl and Mike were airbound again and en route to Dallas, TX where the show had already started without them.  Upon arrival, their booth was empty and on barely 2 hours of sleep, they were forced to hustle in order to get the show set up with products displayed nicely so as not to waste anymore time.  Every minute that went by could potentially be another sale lost.  

 

Four hours later, the FouFou Dog team made a miracle happen and the booth was set up, all products nicely displayed and were ready to start selling their butts off.

GREAT JOB CHERYL & MIKE!!!!

An Update On Ernie

Ernie has been doing very well since his Cataracts surgery over a week ago.

Ernie says "Look mom! Another conehead!"

Initially, Ernie absolutely hated wearing his "cone", Cheryl was convinced that Ernie was holding a grudge against her because she felt that he was probably thinking it was her fault he had to wear it.

Ernie has been limited to restricted activity, no long walks or play dates in the park. He has not been able to get a bath and has been wearing his protective "cone" 24/7. He's been taking an oral liquid medication every morning with his breakfast along with 4 different types of medicated eye drops, three times daily, in addition to his daily allergy pills that he's been prescribed to since before the surgery.

While Ernie has learned to adjust to life with his new "cone", it still prevents him from running up and down the stairs easily and so he needs to be carried. He hasn't quite figured out that he needs to tilt his head upwards when he tries to go upstairs and so bangs his "cone" into the step everytime before he bounces back. Walking down the steps is easier for him, but I still carry him in fear that he might trip on his cone. Better safe than sorry right?

Ernie has also learned to drink water out of the water bowl by lowering the cone underneath the bowl so that his tongue could reach the water, we just have to remember to keep the water bowls full.

Eating was messy at first, and so we did resort to hand feeding Ernie, like a big baby.

Today, I brought Ernie to the Vet for a follow up appointment where the Dr. has advised us that Ernie's left eye is healing perfectly well and he is well on his way to a full recovery.

I think Ernie recognized the Vet's waiting room because as soon as we sat down, he began getting anxious; and seemed to desperately want to get out of there.

Below is a video of Ernie at the vet earlier today....