Is Your Pet Business Home Office Pet Proof?

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Pet Business Home Office SafetyAs pet professionals we care for the pets of others every day.  Because my business keeps me so busy I sometimes feel that my own pets get less attention than they deserve.

One very simple way to care for our pets is to make sure that our home is pet safe.  The addition of the home office that we use to run our pet business can easily introduce new hazards to the home that can pose a threat to our pets safety.

On Kristie T’s Home Business Blog I found 9 great tips to pet proof your home office to make sure your pet business isn’t hazardous for your pets!

1. Protect your pet from power cords. Tuck electrical cords out of site when possible. You should block power strips so that your pet can’t access them. Put outlet covers on any unused outlets to prevent electrical shock.

Here are some products to protect your pet from power cords.

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A clear cord protector that goes over power cords to prevent your pet from chewing on it and getting shocked.

- 1.2 inch flexible plastic tubing - You can pick this up at Menards or Home Depot. Just take scissors and cut the tubing open. Use the opening to insert the cord. That way when your pet bites the cord, they bite the protective tubing instead and won’t get hurt.

- Bitter Apply spray - You can get this at any pet supply store. Spray it to stop dogs from biting furniture, cords, and other items. It has a bitter flavor and will discourage them from biting again.

2. Remove small items from the floor.
If you have any paper clips, binder clips, loose change, staples, push pins or other small items your pet could choke on, remove it from the floor.

3. Secure any bookshelves to the wall.
If there is something tempting on your bookshelf that your pet my want to climb to get, make sure your bookshelf if secured to the wall so that it won’t tip over on them.

4.  Set ground rules. Tell your pet what behavior is a “no no” in your home office. If they chew on something, climb, or do something you don’t want, say no. It may take some reinforcing, but they’ll get the rules if you are consistent.

See IAMS free dog training videos to teach your dog to behave in the office and the whole house

5. Keep messy items out of reach. Store ink cartridges, white out, pens, markers, highlighters, stamps up on shelves where pets can reach.

6. Keep computers and equipment up high where pets can’t reach.

7. Contain pets if you can’t supervise them. If you are working intensely on a project and can’t keep an eye on your pet, you may consider putting them in a kennel, play yard, or fenced in area where they will be safe.

8. Store office cleaning supplies up and away. If you have special cleaning solutions for your laptop screen, your desk, and other areas of your office, keep it out of pets reach. These items can be toxic and possibly deadly to your pet.

9. Shredders. Keep shredders unplugged and put away so pets can accidentally access them.

10. Sharp Stuff. Take extra care to put scissors, letter openers, and other sharp items where pets can’t reach them.

Make sure that your home office is pet safe by checking these 9 suggestions next time you are working in your office.  Leave these tips for customers if you notice that their home office could use some improvement or if you see a safety hazard. Be aware of common pet safety hazards when you are on the job and help others keep their pets safe.

These tips are especially important for offices tht let their staff take their pets to work. If you know people in this type of workplace pass these tips along and keep more pets safe!

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Dancing Porcupine - Pet Business Interview

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Tellington TTouch for Dogs Excited to be back with another unique business to highlight. Today I am interviewing Stacy Lewis owner of Dancing Porcupine Tellington TTouch Practitioner and author.

Stacy describes herself as a “Creature Teacher” and uses TTouch to overcome dog behavior problems. She is also an expert in Shamanic healing and Animal Communication and holds workshops, does consultations and is a speaker and author.

I was curious to find more about TTouch so I visited the TTouch website. On the website they describe TTouch as :

Using a combination of specific touches, lifts, and movement exercises, TTouch helps to release tension and increase body awareness. This allows the animal to be handled without provoking typical fear responses. The animal can then more easily learn new and more appropriate behaviors. By using the TTouch and a variety of other tools, like the Confidence Course, you can assist the animal in experiencing self-confidence in previously frightening situations. Even the most difficult problems are often eliminated. You can also learn how to apply the Tellington TTouch to assist with recovery from illness or injury, or just enhance the quality of your animal’s life.

The Tellington TTouch can help cases of excessive barking, leash pulling, jumping up, aggressive behavior, extreme fear and shyness, resistance to grooming, car sickness and excitability and nervousness.

1. What type of pet business do you run?

Dancing Porcupine - Better Pets, Better People. Better Planet. Tellington TTouch - Shamanic Healing - Animal Communication

2. How long have you been in the pet business?

5 years

3. Why did you choose to start a pet business?

I had a wonderful and challenging dog show up in my life who nudged me to move in another direction. Java is the reason I do what I do for a living. On another level, I do this work because it is my way of giving back and there is a definite need for balance among pets, people, and the planet.

4. What advice would you give someone about to launch a new pet care business?

Be clear on what your mission is - why you’re doing the work, who your competitors are, and what your niche is - do your research!

5. What has been the greatest challenge in growing your business?

Having the time to grow it while working as an Art teacher. So, I let go of my full time job this past June to pursue my passion full time - working with animals and people together. It’s amazing what a difference that has made!

6. What are the pros and cons of your profession?

People want their animals to be “fixed” but want fast results with very little work on their part. If I could wave a magic wand, I’d have double the business. But what I love about what I do is that it’s thorough, it works, and it helps to balance creature on all levels - mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The best part about this profession is that the level of consciousness is rising so there are more people interested and aware of holistic methods.

7. What daily tasks do you enjoy most?

Every day is different, so there is not a specific task each day other than making sure Java and I have some playtime together in some way. I absolutely love teaching classes and doing private sessions. Depositing money in the bank is really wonderful too!

8. If you could have done anything differently what would it have been?

I’m not a person who looks back with regret. I’m incredibly pleased with the way things have gone in my life and career with animals and people. But, if I had to pick one thing, I would have put Java in a different place the day she was attacked by a group of dogs so that I still learned the lessons of life but she didn’t have to suffer the consequences for a lifetime.

9. Did you have a mentor or business coach? If so, how did they help you?

I’ve had a number of coaches and I wouldn’t be where I am without them. I worked with two professional life coaches and business coaches to get me to the place of letting go my “day job” in order to live my passion, and have also worked extensively with one of my coaches on internet marketing and promotion. Their input has been a goldmine!

10. What form(s) of marketing have you found the most effective in reaching pet owners?

I have a large mailing list with a sign-up on my website. That’s been the greatest source of getting information to animal lovers. I’ve also done teleclasses, written a number of articles, done some television and radio spots. And then, there’s the tried and true tactic of handing out your business card at the gas station or Target.

11. Do you offer clients incentives for giving referrals?

Yes, I do. I think it’s really important to acknowledge people who are referring. I give my clients a free shamanic healing or animal communication session when they send new clients to me.

12. At what stage of your business growth did you choose to take on help?

I’m not there yet in the big sense, but when I teach large classes I hire an assistant to help me out. This started happening after about 2 years - when the business was growing and the need was growing.

13. Did you choose to use employees or independent contractors? Why?

Independent contractors because my need is sporadic.

14. What have you found is the best way to find new staff members?

I work with other Tellington TTouch practitioners as independent contractors for my TTouch classes. They are familiar with the basis of the work that I do and are able to offer their expertise. My shamanic healing and animal communication work doesn’t call for added help from contractors.

15. What have you done to differentiate your business from your local competitors?

My niche is working with extreme cases. I won’t turn a person away or an animal away and believe that if they came to me, they came for a reason. From a marketing standpoint, my business stands out because I keep myself in front of people. My truck has my business name on it and many people notice my truck all over town. I send out a newsletter and updates to my mailing list a few times a month, and I write articles and also lecture about my work in a variety of venues.

If you would like to learn more Stacy’s journey with Java you can pick up her book “JAVA The True Story of a Shelter Dog Who Rescued a Woman” at her website.

Thank you Stacy for so much for sharing your business with us!

If you would like to share your business by and be interviewed here at Working with Pets please email me at daniellechonody@gmail.com

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Get Daily Pet News Updates via Email

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Since I started this blog I have discovered a couple of great ways to make sure I stay alerted to all the latest pet news.  They are both automated and arrive in my email box with a summary of each story so I can skim over them quickly.  This saves a lot of time that I could spend surfing the web to pick up news stories.

The first is Congoo - an online news service where you can set up your own News Group to receive the news on topics that interest you.  Once you have set up a news group you can also add your own articles and share it with friends or clients.

Here is how they describe their service:

Congoo’s news service is a uniquely valuable tool for staying current on anything. Congoo News is the most comprehensive news source on the Web aggregating stories from over 25,000 free and subscription content sources. Congoo’s technology organizes articles into stories and stories into subjects.

Setting up an account with Congoo is easy and free. To look at my News Circle visit my Pet News Circle.

The second way to get news delivered is via Google Alerts. This is just as easy as Congoo and usually I get different pet stories from each source.  To get Google alerts all you need is a Google account which is also free.  To set up an account visit Google Account Home Page.

Once you have your account and log in you will see My Accounts in the top right hand corner of the screen. Click on this and it will take you to account screen and you will see Google Alerts in the menu of options on the right side of the screen. Once in the Alert screen it is as simple as specifying a topic and then choosing whether to receive email updates once a day or once a week.  I like to get mine once a day to keep up with new pet news.

I find that fun or curious pet news stories are great to spark ideas for blog topics, articles, or newsletter posts.  Your clients will look forward to hearing from you if you can always brighten their day or week with funny pet stories or informative news.

Let me know if you use any other type of online news service to get the latest pet news!

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Dog Chefs of America - Pet Business Interview

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Hope you enjoyed our first interview yesterday. Our second comes hot on it’s heels and we have the pleasure of hearing from Micki Voisard the owner of Dog Chefs of America. Dog Chefs of America is a kitchen, gallery, and dog park in Tubac, Arizona just south of Tucson.

At the kitchen Micki holds cooking classes that show dog owners how to prepare nutritionally sound meals for their pets. She advocates that improvements in your pets diet can improve their health and behavior.

1. What kind of pet business do you run?

My Dog Chefs of America business is 4 fold - it is a Dog Chef Cooking School, where people learn what natural food works for their particular dog and how to prepare it - and how to buy meat and other food that is inexpensive and healthy.

The 2nd part is the dietary consultations I do, usually over the phone for an hourly charge. People fill out a consultation form and tell me the problems that their dog is having with his present food and we go from there. It’s real popular, since most people will never be able to come to my Kitchen in Arizona and take a Cooking Class.

The 3rd part is my speaking - I get paid to travel and speak around the country and many places around the world on Cooking for Dogs. This is my favorite part.

The 4th part are the sales of my book, Becoming the Chef Your Dog Thinks You Are and my 4 DVD’s on Cooking for Your Dog and why one would want to do it.

2. How long have you had your pet business?

I created Dog Chefs of America in 2000 but have been involved in dog health and food for 28 years, working for many years in shelters and dog rescues.

3. Why did you choose to start a pet business?

A pet care business was always a natural transition for me since I have been involved with pets since I was 8 years old. I’ve done other things in my life but always came back to pets on some level.

4. What advice would you give someone about to launch a new pet business?

Make sure you know your avenue real well. I see a lot of people in the pet care business who know very little about dogs but are just following the latest trend or money. That doesn’t work well, since working on any level with dogs can have liability problems - so volunteering at shelters, dog walking, and fostering are good ways of learning about many different dogs.

5. What has been the greatest challenge in growing your business?

Staying clear and focused

6. What are the pros and cons of your profession?

Pros: I get tremendous rewards working with people and their dogs and seeing the changes that happen pretty quickly when changing a dogs food from heavily processed to a natural diet.

Cons: Lots of resistance from the pet owners and unwillingness to make changes.

7. What daily tasks do you enjoy most?

My consultations - each one is different and like a mystery puzzle.

8. If you could have done anything differently what would it have been?

Nothing really. I firmly believe that everything I do and what happens to me - whether I perceive it as positive or negative - is all in the big picture and has led me to where I am today. I don’t look backwards - I’ve learned to live like a dog - in the moment!

9. Did you have a mentor or business coach?

Every pet owner was a mentor. I never wasted that energy - even if they were not receptive - somehow, I did not communicate my information properly or the timing was off for one of us.

10. What form (s) of marketing have you found the most effective in reaching pet owners?

I stayed away from the obvious - never do pet expos or shows - those are for people in the business of selling a product. I’ve always stayed on the “fringes” and it has always worked.

11. Do you offer clients incentives to give you referrals?

No I don’t offer incentives for referrals - I like people who come to me on their own accord.

12. At what stage of your business growth did you choose to take on help?

My dog Carlos, is my only employee. He just shows up with me and acts like Carlos, goofy and cute. Will not take on help unless I need something I cannot do, then I hire independent contractors.

13. How do you differentiate your business from other local competitors?

I don’t have competitors like most dog businesses, but I always change my approach every 2 years and never ride the wave where everyone else is. The media loves that approach - they are always seeking me out because I am always 10 steps ahead of the curve.

Thank you so much Micki for your time and for letting us learn about another unique pet business.

Please visit Micki at www.dogchefs.com to learn more about nutrition for dogs.

If you would like to see your business interview here at Working with Pets please email me at daniellechonody@gmail.com

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Four Paws Acupuncture - Pet Business Interview

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Dog Acupuncture BusinessOur first professional interview on Working with Pets is with Jeanie Marie Kraft, the owner of Four Paws Acupuncture in Salem, Massachusetts.

Jeanie specializes in acupuncture, herbal medicine, and nutrition and primarily treats dogs that suffer from pain or have difficulty moving due to dysfunction syndromes such as hip dysplasia. Jeanie graduated with her masters degree in Traditional Oriental Medicine and she is a Licensed Acupunturist in Massachusetts

1. What kind of pet business do you run?

Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine for dogs. I make house calls.

2. Why did you choose to start a pet business?

I love dogs. When I was in grad school working on my masters of Traditional Chinese Medicine, my German Shepherd had hip dysplasia. I learned how to treat him with acupuncture, herb, and a diet change and decided to specialize in treating dogs.

3. What advice would you give someone about to launch a new pet business?

Research the field, check out the competition and find a niche.

4. What has been the greatest challenge in growing your pet business?

Educating the public that most acupuncturists are trained much longer than vets in the Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine with about 3,500 hours of school. Depending on which state, vets are only required to take 4 weekend courses and allowed to practice after that. Even hairdressers are required 1000 hours before they are allowed to cut hair!

5. What are the pros and cons of your pet business?

Pros: Besides doggie kisses and happy wagging tails, I love those positive feedback calls or emails from owners after a treatment saying their dog can walk, or stand up, or is out of pain.

6. Did you have a mentor or business coach? If so how did they help you?

My husband is my marketing genius. He does my website and takes care of my ads.

7. What form (s) of marketing have you found the most effective in reaching pet owners?

Writing articles, blogs, my website, referrals from vets and pet sitters. Wearing a t-shirt with my logo. Having my logo and website on the back of my car.

8. Do you offer clients incentives for giving referrals?

I send a thank you card and some sort of gift, like a t-shirt.

9. At what stage of your business growth did you choose to take on help?

I am solo.

10. What have you done to differentiate your pet business from your local competitors?

House calls and being better educated in the field.

Thank you Jeanie for sharing your experience.

You can learn more about Jeanie at her website - www.FourPawsAcupuncture.com . Jeanie also has a blog which covers pet news and health which you can find on the links page of her website.

Please visit Jeanie and thank her for sharing her business knowledge with us at Working with Pets.

If you would like to be interviewed for a future post please send me an email at daniellechonody@gmail.com.

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