Who We Are
Fionulla (Finn) : Chief product taster/ behavioural analyst.
Our top dog, Finn, is the best black lab x princess we have ever had the pleasure of having as our companion! Slightly biased opinion as she is also the first “child”.
Nothing and no-one gets past Finn without her approval and we rely heavily on her to do our “meet and greets” before new visitors come for their holidays with us. Although not the most discerning product tester due to her make up, we give her first taste test of any new cookie lines we are trying, just to appreciate her position and role in the company.
Jesse : Retrieving analyst/quality controller (toy division).
Our middle girl is a certifiable wing nut and trick master! Not enamoured by many other dogs she certainly critiques the human visitors on their throwing arms. Jesse came to us as one of our first (paying) training clients and when her parents decided they didn’t have enough time for her, we offered to foster but she never went anywhere else! Also our alert dog, she is often mistaken for a shepherd cross but she is in fact exactly half border collie and half labrador retriever – hence the fixation on anything that can and should be thrown for her! Her sister Cleo resides in Calgary with her new brother Buddy (golden retriever). Jesse loves her comforts, mainly sleeping at our feet in our bed and is often seen smiling at new guests.
William (King Billy) : Entertainment manager.
William is our youngest and will be two years old on July 11th – hence the name! A leonberger mixture, he’s no pocket pooch, weighing in at around 100lbs. As gangly and large he is, he’s quite an agile boy and takes immense pleasure in playing with all our four legged visitors. He is becoming more sociable with human visitors and is getting over his shyness but would rather be playing a good game of chase through the woods with anyone who can keep up. Our puppy by all means and possibly a little spoilt as the youngest always seems to be, he’s still a very clever boy and loves to give hugs!
Wendie : CEO (we think it stands for chief excrement officer!)
Wendie’s dedication to her canine companions (and everyone else’s) involves constant research and education improvement to set her apart from the rest. Wendie was certified as a Canine Beautician by a certified master groomer in the United Kingdom and had the honour of working for Jackie Boulton in Calgary before her move to Nova Scotia. Currently the only member of the International Professional Groomers Incorporation east of Quebec, she is working towards obtaining her certificate as a master groomer and strives to encourage other groomers to take pride in their profession and become members too. She realises there is a lot to do in educating people on how to care for their dogs, whether it be through nutrition, grooming or training and she welcomes enquiries of all sorts to get the ball rolling. Wendie has been handling dogs in one way or another for the past 30 years and credit’s the late Barbara Woodhouse for opening her eyes to the world of canine language. She also attended the animal behaviour conference at Hershey’s GroomExpo by Sarah Wilson and some behavioural seminars by Gary Wilkes at SuperZoo in Vegas who she thanks for pushing her forward with her training abilities and turning them into such a rewarding part of her career.
Chase (the cat) : Wherever I Please, I’m a cat.
Sorry, we couldn’t get out the door without giving a mention to Chase (we’re still not sure if this is a name or a command!) Chase was given to us by a friend and named by their daughter. Wendie thought it would be nice to let her name the cat as she had a history for choosing interesting names (the chicken called Rope!) and she did us proud! Chase loves to play with the smaller dogs and is often found perching on the side of the grooming tub (pointing and laughing) or jumping onto the grooming table if one of his friends is getting a hair do. He does a good job though at distracting the more nervous puppies from the daunting thought of grooming and has settled many a shaker and nervous nelly. We have the feeling he thinks he’s really a dog and he loves chasing the squirrels in the yard.
