Welcome to the Fenway Bark team Vickie Bunty, licensed acupuncturist and massage therapist

We would like to welcome Vickie Bunty, licensed acupuncturist and massage therapist, to the Fenway Bark family!

Vickie has over 25 years of experience in the health care field including therapeutic massage, speech-language therapy, sports medicine, aromatherapy, and of course, acupuncture.  She has treated a wide variety of animals including dogs, cats, and horses.   Specializing in orthopedic injuries, headaches, and digestive problems, Vickie's expertise will allow you to rest easy, knowing that your pet is in the hands of a trusted professional.

Being a teacher at New England School of Acupuncture, Vickie is able to keep up-to-date on the latest developments in acupuncture & alternative medicine, making her an invaluable asset to Fenway Bark. 

We look forward to having Vickie on our team!  

Vickie will be at Fenway Bark every Monday.  While your dog is at Fenway Bark, why not include a therapeutic massage or acupuncture to your pup's stay? Your dog will thank you for the extra level of care.

Welcome to the team, Vicki!

Register today at Fenway Bark by clicking here.

Howl-o-ween Celebrations in Beantown!

Boston may be rated the 4th worst place to have a dog but Fenway Bark and a lot of fun loving people (and dogs) are trying to change that ranking for the better by offering really cool events.  This coming October 30 is clearly Howl-o-ween in Boston!  Here are a couple of events you may want to consider:

•  Liberty Hotel Howl-o-ween, October 27, 5:30 - 8:00 pm
• Mike 93.7 FM - Dog Howl-o-ween costume contest at Faneuil Hall
• Audrey's on Newberry Street - ARL adoption event
• MSPCA Howl-o-ween adoption events October 29 - 31, 2010.

Remember that Fenway Bark on Facebook is having a virtual Howl-o-ween parade all month.  Post a picture of your dog in costume and possibly win a two night stay for your pup in one of our luxury boxes!

Here is a recipe for pumpkin dog cookies that you and your pup might enjoy making and taste testing together.  While you are at it, how about carving a pumpkin in your dog's likeness?
If you know of other Howl-o-ween events that you would like us to publish before Saturday, October 30, please send them to jane@fenwaybarkonline.com and we will be happy to send an update to the Fenway Bark community.

Our on line registration is now available!   Register now so we are ready to have your pup as a guest when you need us. Registering now will also afford you the opportunity to receive promotions and discounts from Fenway Bark when we open in late Fall.

Register Now at Fenway Bark!

We are delighted to share with you the link to our registration page!  We recognize that completing the registration will take a few minutes but it is really important to capture important information about your pet so that we can provide best in care service for you and your pet.  Depending on the special needs of your pets, the form should take 5 - 15 minutes to complete.

You will need your veterinary vaccination records and the name of your pet's food to complete the registration.

We highly recommend that you register now even if you don't have an immediate need so that your records are up to date when you need dog or cat care services in a crunch.  Once your registration is complete, making a reservation will be as simple as going on line or calling 617-464-4364 to talk to our concierge.

Our online reservation system will open shortly.  We will do our best to return phone calls for reservations as quickly as possible.  We apologize for return calls taking more than 48 hours.  We are increasing our staff imminently to meet the demand.

If you would like to secure a $10 gift certificate to Fenway Bark, please complete a 10 questions survey telling us about your needs and preferences.  The $10 certificate will be sent to you shortly before we open toward the end of November.

Click here to take survey

Thank you for your input and we look forward to meeting you soon!

We want to get to know you and your pet(s) better!

Fenway Bark will be opening soon and before we open we would like to get a better understanding of you, our valuable future customers.  Please take a moment to answer a brief 10 question survey that will help us understand your needs and your priorities.

If you complete the survey and provide your contact information, we will send you a $10 gift certificate for your time and effort helping us understand you and your pet's needs.

Click here to take survey

Our on line registration window will open tomorrow evening and our reservation phone line will be opening on Tuesday with on line reservations soon to follow.  Please be sure to have your pets vaccination records on hand for the registration.

Thank you again for taking the time to complete the survey.

American Dog - Halo

Halo wasn’t born at a posh breeder’s facility, wasn’t promised to a loving family before taking her first breath, or showered with puppy toys early in life.  Halo was born at the MSPCA in Boston and although finely cared for while in their steed, didn’t find a home until four months old.  Halo was brought to a foster home where she quickly learned commands, and after a number of months, was given a stellar report card.

 

Enter Linda.

 

Linda, believing in adoption as the way to find the perfect dog, adopted Halo and brought her into her home.  She and her husband, Russell, made Halo a part of their family.  With the love, affection, and security of her forever family, Halo blossomed into a wonderful spirited and devoted dog who is Linda’s best friend. 

 

A perfect companion and greeter, Halo now joins Linda as her co-worker at her new business, Urban Exchange, at 36 A Street where Linda features upscale consignment home furnishings, edgy artwork, and unique items to decorate a home with style.  It's about recylcing those special pieces for someone else to enoy.

 

If you happen to be heading to the Red Line at Broadway, swing around the corner and say “Hi!” to Linda and give Halo a good scratch.  You will be glad you did and your home will undoubtedly be treated to a refreshing new item, too. 

Dogtoberfest 2010 - SoWa Sunday

We had so much fun at Dogtoberfest at the SoWa Market in the South End on Sunday, October 10.  We met (and gave some love) to well over 250 dogs, as calculated by the amount of frozen doggy yogurt dispensed!. 

The South End is such a vibrant, wonderful community and we truly appreciated your warm welcome, your interest in Fenway Bark, and your suggestions for ways we can continue to enhance our product offerings to meet your needs.



It is our continued dialogue that will help us shape Fenway Bark to continue to be the Premier Destination for the Discriminating Dog! We thank both Dr. KC from the South Boston Animal Hospital and Yoghund for joining us to meet and greet the South End community and the pups that are part of making it great!


Registration and reservations begin on October 18!  Based on feedback yesterday and the NABB parade the prior week, we will have a full house for the holidays so we recommend your reserve early! 

Today is International Dogs Rule Day! Prepare to Register Your Dog/Cat with Fenway Bark

Today, according to the Pedigree website, is International Dogs Rule Day.  The website provides you with 101 Ways to Show Your Dog You Love Them.  There are a lot of good ideas on this list, many of which I am sure your well loved dog appreciates you for already.

One thing your dog is hoping you will do to show him/her your love is to begin to prepare to register your dog at Fenway Bark!  It is only a matter of 10 days before we open our registration and reservation systems!  We are beta testing our system this week to shake out any bugs and all is going very, very well. 

What do we mean by "prepare to register" your dog?  Well, we are going to warn you in advance that our registration form is comprehensive (but efficient for multiple dogs!).  We ask a lot of questions so that we have as much information as we feel we need to ensure our future guests have a very positive experience from day one.  The information helps us ensure that your pet has current vaccinations, what type of playgroup is likely to work, and anticipate your pet's needs and more.

We offer an apology upfront for the length of the registration form but there is a very important benefit to you, the caring and thoughtful parent:  Once you register with Fenway Bark, the records are automatically accessible by our daycare staff, hotel staff, groomers, physical therapists, customer service specialists, food experts, and the entire professional staff of Fenway Bark. 

You no longer will have to provide individual providers with updated records on vaccinations, allergies, behavioral bug-a-boos, food preferences, medicine administration requirements, and more as long as long as you choose Fenway Bark's services for your pet's care (obviously if you choose services outside of Fenway Bark, you will need to continue to provide all the important records to your other care providers and keep those records up to date).  If you haven't been asked for this information by your groomer, dog walker, etc., it is one more reason you should consider Fenway Bark going forward.

Additionally, if you need to make a change to your pup's profile (e.g., change of medicine), you can go on our registration site any time of night or day and make an adjustment to your pet's registration to ensure that all the information is current and accurate. 

Even if you don't have plans to use Fenway Bark's services in the immediate future, we recommend that you carve out time between October 18 and October 31 to register your dog(s) and cat(s) so that when you have to make a reservation, all of your information is already up to date and you are ready to make a reservation without delay. 

Proactively registering your pets will reduce your stress when you get sent out of town for a business trip unexpectedly or a New England Nor'Easter changes your well honed travel plans and your pet care plans are suddenly shaken to their foundation.

Preparing is simple.

• Make sure all of your pet's vaccines are up to date.  Our health requirements for dogs are on our website under game rules. Our cat requirements will be posted shortly.  

• Secure a copy of your individual pet's veterinary records and complete the registration form.  Giving your veterinarian's office a window of a week or so to give you the form will put less stress on them and their busy days.

• Make note of medicines and herbal remedies currently administered and the frequency it is provided.  

• Have a digital picture of your pet ready to upload (optional but encouraged, particularly if you have multiple pets).

• Finally, either ask your veterinarian or take a moment yourself to fax a copy of the vaccination record to Fenway Bark at 617-507-8271.  Make sure each pet's name is clearly noted on the form.

 We know this is a new system for securing all of your adjunct pet care needs in one place and it will be a new experience for you instead of trying to reach many providers with your valuable spare time.  Although it is new, we are confident you will like it! 

Welcome to a new world where the best vetted adjunct care and advice can be found under one roof (note: our advice is never a substitute for your veterinarian's sound advice). 

Welcome to a New World. . .Welcome to Fenway Bark!

IED Sniffing Dogs Working with Marines

Here is a GREAT story that captures the important role that dogs play in our lives.  The Marines are deploying dogs to help sniff out IEDs (Improvised Explosive Device) which may result in more of our soldiers coming back alive and uninjured.  I'm thankful for every dog and dog handler that has helped our troops and the innocent people who are at risk of being killed and injured by IEDs.

We are also proud to have NEADS as one of our charitable partners to supply service dogs to combat veterans returning from the Middle East who are injured in the service of our Country.



To those in old Southie who are posting tasteless and concerning signs because of dog poop left behind, take a moment to watch this video and then think about what you are saying and what kind of message you are sending to your neighbors, children in the neighborhood, and what signs like that say about you as a person. 

As Gandhi said,  

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”.

Fenway Bark's Dogs Have Talent!

Hello, this is Jess Ward with America's Cutest Dog II.

I work for Animal Planet's television network on their special - America's Cutest Dog II. We are currently searching for cute dog videos to air on our special – especially dogs in cute costumes! These can be home videos – they do not have to be professionally done!  All it takes is 30 seconds to 1 minute of doggie cuteness to be in the running for America's Cutest Dog.  NO PICTURES PLEASE - ONLY VIDEOS!

Submitting is easy and can be done on-line in just a few minutes. Our show will feature the best videos of dogs and puppies doing the most amazing, hilarious and just plain adorable things.  We have narrowed down the categories are are looking for the following videos:

• DRESSED TO THE K-NINES - dogs in cute costumes looking adorable
• DANCING WITH THE DOGS - dogs that like to shake their booty (without music)
• LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE - dogs that snore, bark, dream, or walk in their sleep
• THE HOUND OF MUSIC - dogs that like to sing, play a music instrument or both
• AWWWWW INSPIRING - dogs that have an amazing talent
• ODD COUPLES - dogs that have an unusual best friend - pig, horse, bird, baby
• THESE PAWS WERE MADE FOR WALKING - dogs that walk in an usual way - on two legs, backwards, in doggie booties, ect.
• DOGS DO THE DARNDEST THINGS - dogs doing something that makes you laugh

If interested, please follow the below instructions and email me at dogsvscats@powcasting.com with the below info:
1. Subject: America's Cutest Dog - Attention Heather & Jessie
2. Your Name and contact information
3. Your dog's name, gender, age and breed
4. quick description of video(s)

Instructions on how to upload your video are attached. It takes less than 3 minutes via SendSpace on the Internet.  Also included is our Animal Planet Release, which states you own the video(s) and are allowing us to submit it to America's Cutest Dog II.  YOU STILL OWN THE RIGHTS TO YOUR VIDEO(S) - NOT US!

If you want to know how your clip would be used please go to America's Cutest Dog I to see some of the clips we picked for last years show:
http://animal.discovery.com/videos/top-10-cutest-dogs/

If you dog does make the top 40 you will be notified of the air date and will be sent a DVD of the show once it airs.  If you have any questions, please feel free to send me an email or give me a ring at 617.908.4899.

Videos must be submitted ASAP - latest October 11th!

Thank you for your time. I hope to hear from you soon.

Announcing the Fenway Bark virtual Howl-een Parade!

Throughout the entire month of October we invite you to post pictures of your pup in costume on our Facebook site! We will pick winners on October 31. The grand prize is a two night stay for one dog in a luxury box at Fenway Bark! We will have some additional prizes, as well.

We have a great Fenway Bark community and I look forward to seeing our future guests mugging it up for the camera!

Neighborhood Association of Back Bay (NABB) Pooch Parade!

We had a lot of fun meeting the nice folks and their dogs who were participating in the Neighborhood Association of Back Bay Pooch Parade!  We met everything from toy poodles to Bernese Mountain Dogs who were walking Commonwealth Ave for the event.  Each enjoyed a frozen cup of yogurt courtesy of Yoghund and Fenway Bark!

From Videos

If your neighborhood association would like to learn more about Fenway Bark, please let us know when we can join an upcoming meeting and we will be happy to come and share more information or participate in a neighborhood event!

Thanks to NABB for inviting Fenway Bark to their parade. We look forward to seeing your neighbors at Fenway Bark!