Exclusive offer for RVA Muttropolis readers:

Receive $5 off any Wag-in-the-Box purchase this fall!  Promo code: (case sensitive!) 5Wags4RVAMuttropolis

You’ve likely heard the buzz around Birch Box for people; well, this is Fido’s local-to-RVA edition.  Sample the best boutique shop treats, chews, and toys—all natural and health conscious ingredients.  It makes for the perfect gift for the dog-lover, especially those who have it all!  Wag-in-the-Box will also make a donation to a charity of your choosing, like Fetch a Cure.

Gift a friend a few months subscription and they’ll thank you over and over again.  Here’s to waggy tails.

THE DOG ECONOMY:  
It’s bigger than the beauty product industry.  Wrap your paws around that for a minute.

American Pet Products Association (APPA) reports that its 2011-2012 National Pet Owners survey found 62 percent of United States households own a pet; that’s roughly 72.9 million homes.  It also reports that in 2011, $50.96 billion—yes, with a B—was spent on pets in the United States.

How to make money in the $50 billion pet industry.

Pet Photo Nights with Santa Paws

If you have yet to fashion your holiday card, here’s your chance to get the perfect picture worthy of mantel real estate.  Chesterfield Towne Center and Holiday Barn Pet Resorts are partnering to present “Pet Photo Nights with Santa Paws” on December 2nd and December 9th from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., at Chesterfield Towne Center.  Exotic pets may be accomodated if you give advance notice.  So bring the furry, feathery, leathery family members and get your merry on.

Who can resist?!

If you need inspiration, here’s a sneak peek at my holiday 2012 card featuring Jack, the dazzling maltipoo from RVA.  Yes, many treats were involved in this photo shoot.

Jack’s Holiday Photo Card – 2012

Thanksgiving getaway

Jack tests the dog-friendliness of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, boutique retail.  The ruling: five paws, way way up.

Don’t forget tomorrow is Small Business Saturday, and many dog-friendly mom and pop shops will offer special discounts and if you hit the right ones, like Mod Cottage in Rehoboth Beach, Fido can get a treat, too.

Jack makes his first Black Friday purchase — a bird cage holiday card holder — at Mod Cottage in Rehoboth Beach.

 

Mod Cottage — dogs welcome

Happy puppy; Happy Thanksgiving.

Dog opposes “Redskins deal” at Richmond City Council

11-12-12 Dog in line at City Council public hearing on an economic development package with Bon Secours, the City, and the Washington Redskins.

In case you missed it – Railey: Forget the election; focus on protecting real friends: our pets

Richmond Times-Dispatch Op/Ed, November 11, 2012, John Railey

“Geneva ‘Eva’ Railey is the curious sort.” – RTD

I was trying to write about a serious subject, the presidential election, as I worked on this column Tuesday night, watching CNN and the national poker game play out on the red-state, blue-state map. I was hanging on each breathless new report from Wolf Blitzer as he’d turn to John King and his endless updates of the map. President Obama was waltzing ever closer to what would be his win over Mitt Romney.But my Shetland sheep dog, Geneva “Eva” Railey (named both for a great-grandmother named Geneva and Eva Peron of Argentina), kept interrupting, dropping her favorite ball beside me and giving me a nose nudge to throw it for her.

Of course I did, every time.

But not being a perfect parent (my wife is a lot better), I kept my eyes on the screen as I played with Eva. After all, I’d talked to her on our daily walks about the election, I couldn’t believe she wasn’t showing more interest. Sometimes she’d get tired of my yelling at the TV screen, take her toy and trot off to her favorite room in the house, the one where she can stretch out on her pillow and stare out a front window, barking at passersby. But then she’d come back and start licking my hand, nudging me to play. I started thinking that pets are the serious subject I should be writing about.  Continue reading at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Note: It is Veteran’s Day, and given this post is not focused on veterans, you can read my unique tie with my dog and the service from my very first blog post, here.

Santa Paws: 2012 retail forecast

thisnext.com

Whether we like it or not, it is officially the holiday season.  Thank goodness I love to shop.  Stony Point Fashion Park is brilliant and I will make every effort to patronize businesses there rather than the non-doggy enthused alternatives.

The 2012 holiday season is gearing up to be “one of the busiest in years,” according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).  The NRF projects a four percent increase in spending on holiday loot—gifts, cards, trees and décor—to $586.1 billion, with greatest attention to gift picks.  This is where the dog economy can chime in.

Young professionals are staying single longer, and with this rising trend many take the starter family plunge via furry child.  If (factually) more Americans have dogs than kids, and more dog owners treat their dogs like family members, it is a safe bet to drive investment in canine gift giving.  An added bonus, stagnant household incomes have shown less affect on the pet product purchases than on people.  I.e., dog lovers are fanatical and will sacrifice their own indulgences before their pet’s.

Experts say more than half of the holiday shoppers will purchase online.  Web-based businesses in RVA, like Best Bully Sticks and Wag-in-the-Box, will see amplified traffic.

Bone conservative yet socially liberal.

Buy/bark local

Shop local with today’s GROUPON deal for Pets at Play doggy daycare – my Jack has been going there for years and gives it four paws up!!

Here’s the deal:  two days for the price of one.  Jack will be there tomorrow, sporting his “I voted” sticker.  If you/your furry child go, tell Maria Lyn that he sent you.

We love this: Wine Dogs

Richmond Times-Dispatch reports: At Veritas Vineyards and Winery, wine dogs play important role.  Although it is near Crozet, just west of Charlottesville, we love this vineyard.  We do need to work on bringing back their dog-friendly Starry Nights summertime events, however.

Hank, a brown and white hound, lounged in the shade of the grapevines at Veritas Vineyards and Winery in Afton recently.

He rose from his spot in the grass and padded off through the lines of grapes, patrolling the vineyard for unwanted critters.

Hank is one of five wine dogs Veritas keeps in the vineyard. Their jobs are to keep deer and small animals, like groundhogs, away from the fruit by chasing them away and barking. Their scent also deters bears from coming to the vineyard, said Ruth Terry, who takes care of the winery’s animals.

“They try to keep more grapes on the vine,” Terry said.  Continue reading at RTD.

Howl-O-Ween in RVA

Within a neighborhood crowd of hundreds, I took the blue ribbon for a costume contest.  At five years old, I was Little Bo Peep and my Yorkshire Terrier, Duchess, was the sheep.  My mom helped me glue about 100 cotton balls onto a baby costume.  Duchess surprisingly loved it.  Maybe it was warm or maybe she just basked in the attention.  In the end, the judges revoked my “best costume of the year” after public backlash—Duchess was oozing so much cuteness that they disqualified us as unfair competition.  Sour grapes?

For the love of blogging, I will share this photo. Circa 1980’s.

Luckily, canine costume contests are now all the rage.  I like to think that I played some small part in the trendsetting.  Duchess is posthumously a trailblazer.

Here are three costume contests for Fido in the RVA area this month:

Costumes for a Cure: October 30, 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. happy yappy hour, followed by pet costume contest at Station 2.  Sponsored by Fetch a Cure, Wag-in-the-Box, CVVA, inLieu, and Station 2.

Stony Point Fashion Park: Costume Contest for dogs October 21 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.  Prizes sponsored by Three Dog Bakery.  Refreshments and trick-or-treats for pups. 

Chesterfield County: Calling all costumed canines! The Ruff House Dog Park is hosting its annual Howl-A-Woof event at Rockwood Park, Saturday, Oct. 20, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Dogs big and small can compete in a costume contest to see which is the best dressed, while humans can enjoy food and drinks, and browse the merchandise available for sale. A musical sit competition will challenge both two and four-legged competitors. All proceeds from the event will benefit the Friends of Ruff House Dog Park, a not-for-profit volunteer organization sanctioned by the Chesterfield County Department of Parks and Recreation to maintain and improve the park and enforce rules.