Taking Care of Business

The past month or so has been a whirlwind of activity for Rosita. There have been lots of opportunities for her to set up a booth to sell her gourmet dog treats and to get her name out there and within reason she's been doing everything she can.

October held and Oktoberfest and two Dogtober Fest events all reaching new audiences and communities. We have treats and will travel and this ment from Topeka to KC. In this traveling one woman show Mom's learned to pack the car with necessary supplies, do the math on how many treats we need to sell to cover our event expenses and most importantly, how to set up a pop-up tent by herself.

Now if you see Rosita's Ruff Cakes around town you won't see Rosita. She is a high maintenance dog that requires more attention and would draw away from the sales side of the business and Rosita has agreed to remain a pretty face at home.

What is exciting is seeing repeat customers and folks who are watching our website and Facebook updates to join us at our next location to purchase more treats. Its great to hear product testimonials and see the happy parent and pup.

The week of October 19th was crazy busy/awesome. Mom was on call for jury duty but had a booth at the Chamber of Commerce Business Expo and had just come off a double event weekend. Though the Business Expo proved to be a big success in getting our name out there. Rosita's Ruff Cakes LLC picked up two cake orders, a mention in the Topeka Capitol Journal AND won the award for Best First Time Exhibitor. Pretty sweet day!

Now Rosita is working on going big. She has outgrown her home kitchen and looking for a certified kitchen to bake in with more than one oven! Her treats will be processed for an analysis which is required for labeling and production at a commercial level. This is very exciting and educational. What's even better is that there are stores who are interested in selling our product. Rosita and Chase are howling with joy over the growth potential.

November is looking to be a super busy production month as well. First we have the Humane Society's 5k, then we're a vendor at the Junior League Merry Market, followed closely by the Lawrence Animal Fair, Lawrence Holiday Bazaar and the ever popular Pet Photos with Santa. We are really pushing holiday gifts for friends and family as well as business clients.

2 in 3 households have pets
1 in 3 have children (see the potential?)

And to think it all started because Chase has a sensitive stomach.

Pet Product Reviews

I admit I've seen the infomercials and thought, "Hey, that is really cool." Though I've never called the number on the screen to take advantage of their limited offers of up sales and additional product for merely the cost of shipping and handling, I've made purchases in the store.

The first product we got was a rubber brush type thing that was supposed to get hair off of furniture and to brush the dog. I can't remember the name and even though I found it there is no branding, just a black brush. and it was a waste of probably $7. It is just a black rubber brush with rubber bristles and looks like it would be better used to wash your windows.

Now I haven't been able to trim Rosita's nails since she was a puppy and its no secret we have to beg groomers to do it for us. Chase is pretty easy. In a plea of desperation to make Rosita an at-home trim we requested a Pedi Paw for Christmas. I don't know if the noise settled her or what but she laid on her back and seemed open to the idea of me touching her paws when we hit a road block. Her paws were too fury and risked getting caught in the circling grinder. Another product to the garage sale pile.

If you come to the Oxandale house you will be greeted by two very vocal dogs. The mailman comes six days a week forever and the school bus comes and goes like clock work but Rosita will still bark and then cause Chase to join in. What drives me nuts is when the doorbell rings on TV during a commercial or regular programming and the run into the living room barking up a storm. Props to the the producers of such convincing sound work but its hard to handle. In our house I like to leave the door open so we can look out the front screen door. Having a dog that barks when people walk by, dogs walk by, kids ride their bike down the street or the neighbors park makes it near impossible. When using a squirt bottle with water and a touch of vinegar proved futile (Rosita would walk up and try to drink it) I went to something a little more aggressive. A bark collar. I didn't want to leave it on her all the time and with getting only one it could potentially only solve half the problem. Now though either my battery is dead or Rosita is just so fluffy it doesn't phase her. Initially I believe having a new and strange collar on may have caused a distraction but have seen no results.

A few months ago I was in Bed Bath and Beyond and saw for $10 something called Bark-Off. Just a white monitor that you put a battery in and mounted. then when your dogs barked it would emit a high pitched noise only they could hear and stop their barking. This was a joke. I set it up in the living room and the only reaction I got was a bark, tilt of the head and perk of the ear as they looked in the device's direction , and then continued barking.

My latest purchase was made just yesterday. Rosita love to play fetch and chew on tennis balls, but the basic pet store brand was destroyed within the hour and then didn't bounce well for our games. So at the pet store I decided to upgrade to Tuff Balls (industrial strength dog toys). They even came with an option of mint or peanut butter flavor to freshen breathe. I went with the mint and was looking to forward a long-lasting tennis ball. Well at 4 pm we gave Rosita the Tuff Balls and went to dinner. Upon returning home at 6pm she was sitting by the chair with the ball and her face was extremely swollen. The jury is still out on the life span of the Tuff Ball but it will not be decided by our dogs. Right now Rosita is so swollen she can't scratch behind her ears, whimpering and lying on the cold tile floor as she waits for the Benadryl to kick in.

Some things are just better to be seen on TV.