I'd like to thank the Academy...

Okay, so maybe there was no academy involved in making our birthday party happen Saturday, but there were a lot of great folks who worked really hard to make everything turn out just right. We had a fabulous birthday party - hot dogs and cake got eaten, dog treats got gobbled up and prizes were given away! We had a wonderful turn out, even though it was so hot. And because it was such a fantastic day, I really do feel the need to thank all the people who made it happen... (And fortunately for me, no music is going to start playing after a minute, so that means I actually get to thank the people who made it possible.)

First, I would like to thank everyone who made it out! Thanks also to all of you who dropped by Friday or sent wishes via MySpace or e-mail.

I would like to send an especially big thank you out to all the wonderful vendors who came out and supported us Saturday. These folks spent hours out in the heat so that our birthday party would be a great one. Many thanks to Angel Pet Sitters, Camp Bow Wow , the Bentonville Bark Park , Murphy Dog Park and the Humane Society for the Animals, the Dog Scouts, American K-9 Academy, Pets Rock Photography, New Hope Animal Hospital, Northwest Arkansas Animal Rescue, and Pug Rescue of Northwest Arkansas.

We were also fortunate to have great support from Taste of the Wild. We love this dog food, it's an entirely grain free food that Hannah and Sam love (and one that doesn't give Sam gas, which is REALLY good news) The folks from Taste of the Wild sent out 5 pound bags of food to give away as prizes and samples for everyone else. I know their donation was greatly appreciated. We were also given 15 pound bags of Canidae to give away as prizes. Both of these companies produce high quality foods that you can feel confident feeding to your dog.

I'd be remiss if I didn't say thank you to Anna and Teressa, our employees, who put in a lot of hours before the event getting everything spic and span and stocked and who also got the joyous job of cleaning everything again afterward. These ladies are like family to us. We are very fortunte to have such caring employees.

And last, but not least, I have to say thank you to my in-laws (Cary and Toby's Mom and Stepdad) They were awesome enough to come out and cook hot dogs for everyone, which you can imagine was not an enviable job on a day as hot as Saturday. It was great to be surrounded by family on a day so important to all of us.

Seriously, we had a great time Saturday, and it made us feel great to know that Northwest Arkansas has embraced us so completely. We're looking forward to a great third year!

Lots of Love,
Erin

P.S. When I get pictures, I'll post them here too!

Our Customers Are The Best

As most of you know, BigWag is a family business. From the outset, we wanted to create a comfortable, homey atmosphere where you could bring the furry members of your family and get quality treats that would be just like the ones grandma made. (If grandma had baked cookies for the dogs!) We knew that as we added employees, we wanted them to become members of our family, not just paid help. We wanted to be that little corner shop where they actually know your name, or at least your dog's name. What I never expected was the outpouring of generosity we get from our customers. Sure, I quickly learned no one ever buys their dog treats when they're in a bad mood, which makes working here a joy. But I never expected people to respond so warmly to us and especially to our dogs. A few days ago one of our regular customers stopped by Andy's and picked up puppy cups for Sam and Hannah. (They thoroughly enjoyed them by the way! I'll post the pictures later.) Another customer and I were discussing the difficulty of finding somewhere to board the dogs at Thanksgiving, and she offered to watch them for us if I couldn't find anywhere. I was totally blown away at this extremely generous offer. And there are countless other examples that I can't even begin to completely list here. The numerous customers who donate treats to the Humane Society. The customers who put their spare change in the bottle to help defray vet costs for rescue animals. The customers who made our angel tree a huge hit last year at Christmas time. The customers who advertise for us, taking business cards or treats to their friends, family and co-workers. The ones who post fliers for our events at work. We even had a customer write about us on her own blog, complete with a link to our website! (You can visit her blog by clicking the link to Scott and Kelly under our favorite blogs) It means the world to us that our customers love us so much. So, I just wanted to take a few moments to tell all of you how much all of these gestures mean to us and that we do notice all of them. And we want to say thank you for embracing us so completely.