Bone or Coal?

Thank you to everyone who participated in our mini-contest! You shared your wonderful stories on why you feel you dog is deserving of a special Christmas treat. It was so hard to choose! We are convinced around here. Our customers have some pretty special dogs, and these dogs have some pretty special owners too. Five of you are going to be sent a free doggie bone rawhide advent calendar. If you haven’t already sent me your address, please do so and I’ll get it mailed right off to you.

If you would like to get priority notification of these special contests, make sure you have registered on this website at least once. You will then know about them in time. 🙂

To read all the great winning stories, click below!

1 “My dog, Hobie, deserves a special treat because he is always so willing to “work” and be trained. I will be doing something and he will come and get me and lead me to the door. Recently, he led me to the door, ran to my coat and bumped it with his nose (not something I have trained him to do!), and then led me to the place I keep the treats and clicker. He acts dejected and follows me around when I put the training stuff away. His favorite word in the whole world is “Agility.” When I tell him we are going to “Agility” he goes crazy and can’t wait to get out the door. When we are at Agility class or near our backyard Agility set, he gently nudges me until we get to run. Although, he has a lot to learn, he is very willing to try anything. Hobie is a perfect example of a servant that is thrilled to serve his master. Hobie is a great reminder how we should behave towards the One Advent and Christmas are really about.”  ~Kristen Montgomery (Columbus, IN

2 “My dog is the best because she’s such a smart little cracker.  She is GREAT in agility and would probably do so much better with a handler that knows what the heck she’s doing – but she’s very very patient with me.  She takes everything that we throw at her (especially when I dress her up in silly halloween costumes – see attached).  She was so humiliated at the Texas Corgi Celebration but was a real trooper about it.  After the costume contest she did an AMAZING herding instinct test. 

Along with having to deal with me she has to deal with a 10 year old Jack Russell who is the fun police and an 11 month old Aussie who wants to play play PLAY and Addie is his best playmate.  She’s never met a dog that she didn’t get along with and just is a true rockstar.

Addie is a very very patient and loving dog and I’d love to honor her in this way =)” ~By Kristi Summers (San Antonio, TX)

3 “My dog, an Australian Shepherd named Travis, definitely deserves a special treat. For the past 8 years, he has given me not only his heart, but everything he could. If I asked him to do it, he tried his hardest to give me what I want. Even though he’s only 8, he had to retire this year. He is developing spondylosis, and any jumping hurts his bad and makes him sore for days. No dog could have given me more, and for all he’s done, he deserves a special treat.” )~ By Nita Gandara (Hereford, AZ)

4 “I would like to recommend “Woody” my five-year-old rough collie. Woody is a cheerful soul, always smiling and happy, eager to learn new things and growin proficiency of his favorite games, agility and obedience. He has a dog’s unique intelligence, calm, wise, taking hours and days to quietly ponder things, then coming up with the most unexpected and timely response.

We are working toward a CDX and have most of it in good order, except the delivery of the dumbbell to hand. Woody is thrilled to come in to me, over the jump with the dumbbell, so excited that he “plops” it at my feet. Yesterday, I was coming out of the shower and he showed up with a red ball in his mouth, holding it securely and sat in front of me waiting for me to take it from him. The serious look on his face indicated that he considered this effort quite a while and required a proper response from me. I quickly dried off and made a ceremony of taking his offering with lots of praise. Smart, sweet Woody, he had been thinking about the training session of several days ago, realizing what had yet to be mastered, and was independently offering his best offer with love. Just at a funny time. Whenever people underestimate the minds and souls of our dogs, I just breathe in, think of so many wonderful moments like this with Woody, and say, “You have no idea, and if you did, you would be so happy to have such a dog as your best buddy.”  ~By Susan L Martin (Tenants Harbor, Maine)

5  “I know that many dog owners feel the same as I do that their pet is super special!! Two years ago I had emergency surgery on my spinal cord which left me laid up for several months. During that time my little sheltie Buddy would lay by my side and would look at me with those deep beautiful brown eyes as if to say I understand and will be by your side until you are better.

I have to give credit to Buddy for my recovery. After feeling sorry for myself for so long, I think Buddy finally ran out of patience and he decided to do something to get me up and moving. One day he came to me and started barking and barking and looking into my eyes with great intent. He was unrelenting and very persistent, so I got up from my bed ,let him outside and thought I would return to my bed to rest. Well that wasn’t it so I gave him a treat, that wasn’t it either. Buddy persisted doing this behavior all day, I just could not figure out what he wanted. It was a puzzle to me until I finally realized how many times a day he was getting me up and moving. I’m better today and thanks to Buddy…….. our pets are so in tune to their masters that even we do not realize their capacity for compassion, intelligence, and their incredible sense of what is. I feel Buddy deserves a special treat, he is more to me than just an agility dog, he is my teacher, companion,and most of all gives unconditional love every single day. He is a little dog with angel wings!!” ~By Carlotta Trevino

HONORABLE MENTION: “Oliver turned 9 years old on 12/01/09 and no one sent him a happy birthday card. He is really irked, too. See attached picture. I think an edible advent calendar might bring him out of this grumpy state he’s fallen into.”  ~By Helen

Sorry about the earlier mixup!