Have a Safe and Happy Holiday

Make the holidays safe for the dog(s) you love!  We’ve prepared a list of safety tips for the season’s joys and challenges.  Why not print it, and keep it handy.

Doodles wishes everyone the best holidays ever.  Jacob and Susan D’Aniello, founders of DoodyCalls – along with the entire DoodyCalls family – send you and yours best wishes.  Thank you for your business.  As 2008 draws near, please remember that we’re always happy and ready to serve you and the dog(s) you love.

Presents and Best Wishes, for Pooches and People

Is your dog spending a lot of time watching holiday specials on television?  A survey some years back found that about 35% of Americans think their dog(s) seriously watches television.  The same survey found 27% of dog owners signing their dog’s name on greeting cards.  It also found 40% of dog owners hanging a Christmas stocking for their dog.

Which brings us to the question: What might you put in that stocking or under the tree?  Well, obviously, there is everything from toys, to clothes, to furniture, to dishes – the list is long.  The importance of dogs in our lives is obvious from the gifts you can find in the online catalogs of such “people” retailers as: LL Bean, Lands End, Orvis, and Cabelas, not to mention the Web sites of Petco and Petsmart.  You can also visit the physical sites of these companies or shop at local businesses.  If you like having the convenience and friendliness of a local business, whether a locally operated franchise or a stand-alone store, this is a great time of the year to show your appreciation. 

While shopping for a gift for you dog, remember this is a great time to remember dogs not in loving homes.  Local and national organizations would appreciate your support through gifts of either money or food.  Think of your local SPCA or your community’s various animal rescue groups – you might also think about volunteering some time.  A quick trip to the yellow pages of your local phone book will turn up lots of opportunities.

And how about a book or two for avid readers who love animals?  A visit to a local bookstore will offer possibilities, or you can visit Amazon.com.  Just type dog, for instance, and you’ll be in “dog land” – that’s “toy land” for dog lovers.  Interested in some great dog stores?  Get some hints from Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl via National Public Radio.

But for the ultimate – super-duper holiday cheer present – please think of us!  Nothing says clean yards and more free time for a dog owner you love as much as a DoodyCalls gift certificate.  

One thing you really should not do though, unless you really know the person you’re giving a gift to, is give a dog or a cat (really, any animal) as a Christmas present.  Pets are not toys – dogs, and cats, and other animals, are smart and sensitive.  They deserve homes with people they will come to love and think are wonderful.  Consider comments by Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer and Dublin, Ireland’s SPCA’s “No Pets for Christmas” campaign.

The Sichlers Are Cleaning Up Counties in New York and Connecticut and Helping Police Dogs Too

DoodyCalls is proud to welcome George and Audra Sichler to the DoodyCalls team as franchise owners.  The Sichlers bring with them a thriving business that serves New York’s Putnam and Westchester Counties and Connecticut’s Fairfield County.  In 2001, George and Audra founded a pooper-scooper company and named it Doody Calls.  In July 2007, they joined our team and now have a slightly different name (DoodyCalls).  They joined us because they were tired of reinventing the wheel and they wanted to grow their business to a higher level.  Our marketing initiatives and advertising materials, the convenience and dependability of our national call center, and our knowledge of this market and our proven expertise in serving it impressed them.  They also wanted help in securing contracts for cleaning commercial residential properties – a market in which we continue to excel.

George is a decorated detective with the New York City Police Department Scuba Team.  He graduated from the police academy in 1999.  Previously, he served as a police officer in the South Bronx.  Among his meritorious actions is the 2006 rescue of a man on the seawall along the Hudson River.  With another police officer, George dove from a hovering helicopter into 12-feet of 34-degree water.  The current was strong, but George and his colleague were able to swim the man to shore and save his life.  Later that year, George helped in the rescue of a veteran firefighter from frigid water 5 miles off Queens.  In 2004, he and fellow officers saved the life of a man who had jumped into Long Island’s Gowanus Canal.

Audra, who is also a busy mom with two children, handles the day-to-day management of the franchise.  One of the Sichlers’ employees is a babysitter.  Previously, Audra worked as an accomplished personal trainer with numerous certifications and accreditations.  She holds a college degree in physical education and among her athletic accomplishments was participation in the 2002 Go Girl Duathlion in Manchester, Connecticut and in New York City’s 2005 triathlon. 

When George is not helping keep New Yorkers safe, he is either helping manage a business that helps keep their yards clean or he and his wife are raising money to purchase armored vests for police dogs.  The Sichlers love dogs – they have two huskies -- and this charity was a natural for them.  Previously, they did charitable work for Guiding Eyes for the Blind and East Coast Assistance Dogs.  For an overview of ballistic or bulletproof vests, visit the Wikipedia entry Ballistic Vest as well as the entry on Police Dog.  How police dogs work is described on the HowStuffWorks Web site.  Also, be sure to visit the Web site of the North American Police Work Dog Association.

In 2003, George and Audra co-founded The Police K9 Foundation in memory of their son Jake.  The charity has donated over 40 vests to police departments across the nation.  The first vest went to K9 Lola of the Westport, Connecticut Police Department in early 2004. When the well-regarded charity Pennies to Protect Police Dogs ceased operation two years later, The Police K9 Foundation assumed the responsibility of providing vests to the over 80 potential recipients remaining on its list.  During its operation, Pennies to Protect Police Dogs raised over $255,000 and provided over 340 vests to over 118 law enforcement agencies.

The Foundation is in the tradition of the public response to the widely publicized 1998 killing of New Jersey State police dog Solo.  Solo was with a group of officers who surrounded an apartment building.  He was ordered into the building to investigate and was shot twice in the chest.  He died from his wounds.  Across his distinguished career, he rescued 11 people and apprehended 19 criminals.  Had he been issued a Point Blank Level IIA vest,  the type donated by the Foundation, he probably would not have been harmed. 

Dogs have been involved in police and military work since ancient times.  Certain breeds were created with this kind of service in mind.  Over 250,000 dogs served in World War II in the contending armies.  Scout dogs saved over 2,000 American lives during the Vietnam War.  Today dogs serve in the Middle East and Marine police dogs are issued body armor manufactured to the standards of human body armor. 

Vests donated by the Foundation cost over $750.  Purchasing and training a police dog can cost more than $8,000.  The price of a vest makes sense financially – not to mention ethically.  Armor canine vests are designed to take repeated small arms fire and to be impenetrable to stabs.  Police dogs are generally the first sent into confusing and dangerous situations and, in these cases, they are generally the first to be physically assaulted.  Since 2000, over 350 police dogs have been killed while working and today there are well over 600 dogs serving in the nation’s police departments.  When they are hurt, it is particularly difficult for the officers who work with them and consider them friends and family members.

Tales of a Pet Sitter

Art “Happy” and Lyn Klein of Happy Pets

Serving America’s pets and their owners is an over $40 billion annual business.  Pet owners want their pets healthy and happy, and gladly spend money on them.  When a pet owner must leave home and a beloved pet cannot come along – and no one is up to the task of providing care – enter the professional pet sitter.

This job is a lot more difficult than it sounds.  It takes intelligence, a quick rapport with animals of all types and dispositions, patience, and a dependability best described by the saying “the mail must go through.”  Pet sitters are responsible for the physical and emotional care of creatures often considered family members by their owners.  Clients pay for absolute dependability and good judgment – excuses are not an option.  Good pet sitters also feel a direct responsibility to the animals they care for. 

Art and Lyn Klein, founders and operators of Happy Pets (“Love and care when you can’t be there”) are everything one could ask for in pet sitters.  They live in their Tonawanda, New York home with four rescued animals: two cats and two dogs.  Prior to starting Happy Pets, the Kleins had long careers in other fields.  Art, appropriately nicknamed “Happy,” is a relaxed, physically active man with a great sense of humor.  He worked on the Great Lakes in construction for the Army Corps of Engineers for nearly forty years, retired in 1990 at 55, and then worked briefly for Literacy Volunteers, where he had been a volunteer.  Lyn, a detail oriented and energetic woman with an easy laugh, worked for twenty-eight years as an assistant in the investment business.  In 1996, they decided they wanted to supplement their retirement income by owning their own business.

After considering other businesses that required minimal capital investment, including house cleaning and interior painting, the inspiration for Happy Pets came when Lyn saw a segment about pet sitters on television’s Animal World.  Art went online to investigate the pet sitting business and explored the Web site of Pet Sitters International.  He gathered information and learned more about operating a pet sitting business.  The more they learned, the more the appeal grew. 

The Kleins joined Pet Sitters International (PSI) in 1996 to secure the liability insurance available to members and to access the collective intelligence of its membership.  Since then, they have attended several Pet Sitters International annual conventions.

At first the Kleins hired several employees to care for their customers’ pets.  However, the legal obligations attached to being an employer and concerns about employee dependability soon convinced them to stay small and do the sitting themselves.  After all, pet sitters provide services that can mean the difference between life and death for the pets they care for.  In the end, they decided they would never find employees as dependable as themselves and they use only a couple of close friends to fill in at critical times.

Working with the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the State University of New York College at Buffalo, the Kleins developed a business plan.  They took full advantage of the Center’s free services and knowledgeable small business advisors.  Word-of-mouth, small local newspapers ads and flyers bought in their initial clients.  Soon they found themselves with a growing client base, but a growing geographic base as well.  Often driving too far for either profitability or comfort, they began to restrict clients to a 5-mile radius of their home.  Their first year garnered a modest $4,000 in revenue, but since then business has steadily increased to gross as much as $30,000 annually. 

When a new customer calls, a free interview is scheduled with either Art or Lyn, or both, depending on the assignment’s complexity.  During this critical visit, they learn from the owners about the pet’s personality, routine, food requirements and special needs.  They also note requested house sitting tasks.  Aspects of pet care that should ensure the pet remain comfortable in his daily life are written into a contract.  And, of course, the pet is met and the house key is taken.

Many of the animals the Kleins care for grow very fond of the them.  A visit from Happy Pets involves more than putting pet food in a dish.  Water is changed, kitty litter is cleaned, dogs are taken for a walk, and cats are treated to a long play session or left alone, if the wish. 

Sometimes Buffalo weather lives up to the horror stories.  On these occasions, Art has used snowshoes and skis to reach pets in need.  Sometimes he has driven a vehicle with chains on its tires and sand bags in its trunk down snow covered streets restricted to all but emergency travel.  A sign in the window announces “Emergency Pet Care.”  When you are bringing food and water and trips to the potty to those who cannot help themselves – it is emergency care!  Police have never stopped Happy Pets and the weather has never prevented the completion of an assignment.

Art and Lyn’s suburban yard reflects their care and concern for the earth and all its living creatures.  Mini ecosystems are rich with plant and animal life.  Sitting with the Kleins by the edge of their water garden in late spring, a deep voiced frog joined in our conversation.  Amazed by some of their experiences, they could not help but chuckle when recounting them.

The Kleins have established enduring relationships with many of their clients and with the pets they care for.  More than one client has checked their availability before planning a vacation.  One former customer forgot he had moved – or maybe hit the wrong button when dialing -- and called them from Chicago to watch his dog.  Art and Lyn reminded him that he no longer lived in Buffalo….but they did! 

Unusual circumstances and unexpected events of every type demand that pet sitters be decisive and thoughtful.  A client once asked Art if he would care for her dog if something happened to her.  When he found her deceased in her home, as promised, he adopted her dog when it appeared that those who inherited him were entirely indifferent to his fate.  Elvis has been an adored member of the Klein family ever since. 

For years, the Kleins have cared for two cats, but have only seen one.  Another client had a very special cat that had her own room and was never sighted by either Art or Lyn.  Empty food and water bowls and lumpy litter boxes alone attested to a presence.  Then there was the cat job from hell with an unforgettable woman who was not a client and called the day before going to the hospital.  Happy Pets arrived to find the cats in the care of an eighty-year-old blind next-door neighbor.  The woman had over twenty cats, some of them feral.  Dirt and filth were everywhere and litter boxes were overflowing.  The clean up effort filled fifteen thirty gallon garbage bags with soiled kitty litter.

One of Lyn’s favorite customers has multiple cats, each of whose health is carefully monitored and recorded and receives a customized diet.  Art related one of his more memorable calls: someone who said he was going to prison for a while and needed someone to watch several reptiles that needed special care -- they lived in baskets and two ate live animals.  Art admits to feeling understandably relieved when he went to the house – not in the best of neighborhoods -- and no one answered the door. 

The Kleins have standing contracts to walk some dogs every day; another, to take a dog to their home daily for care.  These arrangements have allowed several clients to keep lively pets despite their age, physical condition, or busy schedule.

Sometimes the Kleins give medications; but Art points out that sometimes, some things, are just not possible.  Things that are possible for an owner may not be possible for the sitter.  Imagine giving a frightened or uncooperative cat with twenty flaying claws an insulin injection!  Like many pet owners, the Kleins have found that embedding a pill in peanut butter does the trick for dogs and cream cheese works with cats. 

Pet sitting can sometimes demand great empathy and maturity.  Several times the Kleins have been entrusted with the care of a critically ill or dying pet and with the owner’s consent and a veterinarian’s assistance have made the decision to have the animal euthanized.  They always stay with the pet during the procedure.  In memory of the deceased pet, they contribute to a fund that assists low-income pet owners with veterinary care.

How much do people trust their pet sitters?  A lot.  Not only are sitters entrusted with the welfare of a friend; they also have complete access to a client’s home.  The Kleins generally keep their customers’ keys.  Twice customers have changed their locks and neglected to tell them, requiring locksmiths and neighbors with ladders to help them reach the pets.

Even the best job has it’s drawbacks, and Happy Pets’ 24/7 operation affords few opportunities for extended vacations.  Art and Lyn took their first out of town vacation in five years this past summer.  They notified as many “regulars” as they could of their plans far in advance, and enlisted the help of a trusted friend to make sure their furry charges remained “Happy Pets.”