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Finally!!

May 29, 2017 By The Food Lady 9 Comments

I found a use for Winter!

Chuck him in the swimming hole and he makes excellent funny faces when he comes tearing out!

To be fair to me, I didn’t just chuck him in the swimming hole to be a jerk and get funny photos of the aftermath…I chucked him in there because it was HOT and he looked like he was on fire.

Now Fae … Fae I chucked in because it was funny.

She gets the zoomies afterward, makes for great action shots.

I’m kidding, I’m kidding!  I tossed everyone who didn’t voluntarily swim into the water because we were walking on a hot, dry, dusty gravel path and everyone had their tongues down to their ankles, so they needed to be wet.

I did NOT, however, toss Gotham in, because Auntie Fiona is a Helicopter Mommy and would’ve beaten ten kinds of holy hell outta me.

He went in on his own.  I did not nudge him in with my foot.  I swear.

Isn’t he the cutest though?

Almost as cute as my puppy Dexter (who gracelessly splooshes into any available body of water all of his own volition)

Poor Dexter, he is so deaf now.  He can barely hear anything at all, unless I’m right up close to him and speak in a certain register (IOW, I sound like I’m practicing my “man voice” when I speak to him).  In talking to some of his siblings’ owners, I have learned that several of them are quite deaf as well.  It’s called “Adult Onset Deafness” and it’s genetic in border collies.  I can tell it’s frustrating for him because he peers very sternly at my mouth, trying to lip read, and then runs through a variety of behaviours in case one of them is what I was asking for.  I have misplaced him a couple of times while hiking because he runs off to poop (another family trait – the need for extreme distance and privacy whilst pooping!) and then can’t find us again, nor hear me calling him.  Once upon a time we had a vibrating collar floating around my rescue … if I can’t locate it, I’m going to have to look into getting him one I think.  I don’t want to lose my baby boy!!

Being nearly stone deaf does not stop him from having fun though.  Unfortunately, he has fun with Peetie, so I’m stuck with her.  The things I do for love.

We went out to the dykes in Pitt Meadows today because it’s closer and uses less gas, and because I didn’t have any client dogs to walk today.  I’m very sad, because my full time client is moving out of an area that I service and I am going to miss him :(  If you know a fantastic dog walker in East Van, let me know so I can refer her to someone good.

It also means a good portion of my monthly income goes down the drain.  Poop.  I need some ideas for marketing me – but the catch is, they have to be pretty much free.  I know you gotta spend money to make money, but I can’t spend money I don’t have!  Any brilliant ideas to share with me?  I have some great clients and they are all super happy with what I do, but I need to acquire several more of them to make a go of this.  I just picked up a couple new clients, but I want to pick them up (not to chuck them in the watering hole, I swear!) faster and in greater numbers.  So hit me with your best free or cheap marketing ideas please!!  You are smart peoples, you must have some hidden gems you’re willing to share.

I shall reward you with photos of my foster puppies at the ripe old age of two weeks.  Their eyes all opened on the same day, about day 13, and now they all stare at me like I’m a Bigfoot sighting when I get into the xpen.  They aren’t very interactive yet, just eyeball-y.

Sable male remains my favourite because I think he’s the cutest, but all of them are pretty damned adorable.  When do you think we should start the naming contest?  Like, when they have more personality or sooner than that?

This puppy already has a name; he goes by Warren and he’s the same age as my puppies!

His mom said “Your foster is going to have the puppies on the ASCBC trial weekend” and I was all “Shut up!  No she isn’t!  You’re gonna have YOUR puppy on the trial weekend!” and she was all “Nuh uh!  I refuse to have a baby on Mother’s Day!” And so Mini Mama had her puppies on the trial weekend Saturday, and Hailey had Warren on Mother’s Day.  Karma is so cruel.

However, it worked out awesome because then we could get photos of them being adorbz together and being all the same age and stuff.

Maybe I should get into baby photography…I hear that (and weddings) is where the money is!  Sadly, I do not have a constant supply of puppies to increase the level of awesome.

It was a good excuse to practice compositing though.  Still need a lot more practice, but it’s super fun!

I got some other baby things this weekend too!  Handsome Terrence made me some more baby turkeys.  I hope they all turn out like him!

And the ducks made me some more ducks.

The dogs have settled into the new farm very well.  I can now leave them outside by themselves for short periods of time without worrying about them getting into trouble.  They know the boundaries now and they no longer fence fight with the neighbours’ dogs.  I still have to pick up all the eggs before I let the dogs out, otherwise they go egg hunting and eat them, but otherwise they just hang out, nap in the shade, steal apples from the chickens, stuff like that.  They really are settling in nicely.  They still bark at/chase horses along the fence, but not as often and not for as long.  They are starting to get used to the idea of horses I think.

Now the Littles have to wear their Coyote Vests again though … not because coyotes, but because Bald Eagles!  I learned the eagles have been stealing my ducks and last week I was making dog dinners, saw a huge shadow go past the window and heard a chicken freaking out … I ran outside (with the bag of frozen peas still in my hand) and saw a bald eagle with one of my hens in its grasp.  Utterly without thinking I ran across the yard and KICKED the eagle square in the chest!!  Who does that??  It let go of my hen and flew off though.  Scared the crap outta me.  But now I know where my ducks went for sure.  So Coyote Vests it is, because my dogs are NOT going to be some stupid bald eagle’s afternoon snack!

Life in the sticks is always interesting, if nothing else!

The weather is supposed to turn tonight and all of our hot sunny days will skulk back into rainy drizzle.  It would be great if it didn’t do that thing on Saturday though, as I have a day of mini sessions booked.  And the weekend after that is Regionals, also known as “Springs Annual Ring Pooping Event.”  BTW, I hear they are looking for volunteers for Regionals still … you get a stipend of I think $50 a day or something.  If you’re interested in volunteering, check out their website.

Gotham will be there, so you could meet him!

Filed Under: Nowhere Particular Tagged With: agility, big air photography, Dexter, Fae, farm, foster puppies, Mr. Woo, rescue dogs, wildlife, Winter

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Adrienne says

    May 29, 2017 at 10:18 pm

    During my house cleaning days I found the best source of new clients was asking existing clients if they had a friend who would be interested. I would offer some nice discount if a referral signed up for work.

    It’s a great way to get more people similar to who is already a client. The caveat being, if you have a client you do not like, don’t ask them for referrals, you’ll get more of the same!!

  2. Shasta says

    May 30, 2017 at 3:52 am

    On behalf of the USA, I apologize for the bald eagles terrorizing your livestock. Hey! Did you know that Ben Franklin advocated for the turkey to be our official bird? Not sure why, being Canadian, you would know that, but no joke. Terrence is a handsome feller, to be sure, but a turkey on a tank doesn’t have the same lethal vibe. Your chickens and ducks would probably agree, poor things.

    Anyway, just popped in to say that I have no particular ideas other than what you’re doing, but I’ve been following this author/social media guy Jon Acuff, who has some really great ideas about branding yourself and getting your name out there. It’s simple, easy stuff to build a following. Might be worth checking out. Good luck!

  3. Carole says

    May 30, 2017 at 6:42 am

    I second the referral idea! But I would encourage you to be creative with the “reward” for a referral. The problem with discounting the regular services that people are already paying for is that it devalues that service. People think that if you can offer your services for 20% less today, why not offer that lower price ALL the time, and then you can get pushback on your prices. It’s better to offer a bonus item or one-time service that people can pay for the next time they want it, or an introductory pricing offer on a different service like photography. Then you can get more business from the existing client as well, but still provide a tangible thank-you for the referral.

  4. Jen says

    May 30, 2017 at 11:50 am

    Is there a feed store, main grocery store or library near you? When I was living in a small town (super tiny – pop 500 in winters, 2k in summers) people would frequently post ads seeking work or offering work on the community bulletin board at my grocery store and library. It might be a way to pick up some dogwalking or farm-sitting work.

    You might also check with your local paper. Some offer free classified space.

    Also, network, network. Be brazen in asking for referrals. “Do you know anyone who might need their dog walked? Can I have their contact info? No? Would you give them my card? Here, take an extra one for anyone else who might need their dog walked.”

    You can pick upfree advertising with Google, and I think you can set it up to target IPs in a region. I’m not sure how effective it is, but it might be worth trying.

  5. Kylinn says

    May 30, 2017 at 5:00 pm

    Some older deaf dogs can adapt quite well to hand signals instead of vocal commands. It wouldn’t help the out-of-sight issue, but it might with the ‘what is Food Lady trying to say?’ issue.

  6. Sharon says

    May 30, 2017 at 5:49 pm

    Maybe it’s time for you to get a Great Pyrennes?! She’ll guard your critters.

  7. Jeff says

    May 31, 2017 at 5:41 am

    You KICKED an EAGLE?!? You are bad ass! So f*cking bad ass!
    Note to self: Do not get between The Food Lady and her critters.

  8. Alissa says

    June 3, 2017 at 6:23 am

    It takes some money but flyers at vets offices and other dog/pet businesses can help, talking to and handing out business cards to people who work at those stores, and also a Facebook page just for dog walking (you may have this) where you can post lots and lots of awesome pictures/videos can be a good source of marketing/advertising – tag people whose dogs you walk, their friends will see, they will all comment, and next thing you know those pictures are reaching a lot of people. Not sure of the return but I know it helps.

    Also – go to events with little flyer coupons with candy attached, or in a bag with a piece of candy, or a dog biscuit, something people want to grab.

    And yes, it can feel like social media consumes your life for a bit but it does help, and a lot of non-pet businesses wish they could have an excuse to post more dog pictures, because everyone wants to share/like/comment on dog pictures.

  9. Suzanne says

    June 7, 2017 at 7:46 am

    I don’t know if they are still available but they used to make shoelaces for small children which had some kind of a chip in them thus enabling the parents to locate their child within a certain radius using a hand-held scanner. If they are still available and the radius is big enough you could tie one of those shoelaces on Dexter’s collar when you go on these kinds of jaunts

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