03/11/2025
Vacuum suggestions needed!
Fellow pet parents, another vacuum has hit the dust. I have cats and dogs and looking for something that has good suction that actually lasts. What is working well for your home? Bonus points if it will work well on this really fluffy couch for dog hair!!!
One of the sweet faces that causes the mess
little story about my Giacomo how he turned from client dog to my child:
In 2021, I serviced a house in STV who had 2 outdoor only dogs. Both such sweet babies, Mimi and Paco. The owner was from Mexico where that is the culture to have outdoor dogs.
In May, I walked into the yard, and 5 adorable puppies came running at me approximately 7 weeks old. Naturally, I get extremely excited!! Puppies!!!!! The 8.5 year old female was not fixed, nor was the male, so she had a litter. The owner asked if I wanted a dog, and my brain went to “can I get these guys into a rescue so they get fixed?” He allowed me to take both female puppies and found them a rescue
The 3 boys he found homes for.
December 3, 2021: I’m training Amanda and showing her the yards on her route. As we are walking in, I’m telling her the story about the puppies, and to our shock, we see mama dog laying by the AC unit on a small fleece blanket… with puppies! The tiniest puppies we have ever seen in person. I called the owner to get more information and was told she started giving birth last night. It’s cold in December and that’s no way for a mama to be giving birth to new puppies.
At this point, she’s nine years old and should not be having any puppies and I’ve already offered to have her get fixed, but he didn’t want to take her in for the appointment even if I paid for it. He asked me if I would take the puppies with me that day and I said I absolutely could but I would need to take mom with me so that she can stay with the puppies for eight weeks and then we will get her fixed and bring her home. He would not allow that. I was working closely with the Rescue at that time and thankfully more brains are better than just my own, so we brought over a big dog igloo so she had shelter for her and the puppies and some blankets that would be suitable enough so they would not suffocate in other items that they needed. It was the best that could be done given the fact we could not separate mom
From babies at a day old.
He made it clear that by Christmas, he wanted the puppies gone, and that wasn’t much time, but it was something. We agreed to take them at that point, but I was not prepared for him to contact me almost a week prior to Christmas telling me to pick them up that day or they were going on craigslist. So I drove myself down to Salem Valley in the evening to pick up the 8 babies and bottle feed. Luckily other families from the rescue were able to take some of the puppies to foster because all 8 was a handful.
I fostered Audrey and Giacomo, and needless to say, Giacomo never left and quickly became my soul dog. He’s the kindest most gentle soul and secretly an old man. Audrey is living her best life with an amazing family.
The rescue paid to have mama Mimi fixed as no 9 year old should ever be having puppies, and she was returned to the owner. My client eventually stopped paying and avoided communication, so I had to cancel service. I think of Mimi and Paco often and hope they are still happy and healthy babies.
So now we have a policy: no more outdoor only dogs. We become sooooo invested in your babies. They become family to us and we look forward to seeing them. I cannot tell you how many times Amanda groomed Mimi, completely free of charge, because she loved Mimi and hated seeing her in pain from all the matting.
