American Dog: Life Happens When You Are Making Other Plans

Meet Rocky, an adorable bundle of energy who arrived to greet his new Mum and Pop last weekend.  Well, almost.

Rocky has been the dog of Geraldine's dreams and after a formidable search with her newlywed husband, Fergus, found Mr. Rocky and had him scheduled for delivery to expand their family from two to a loving group of three.

All was well with Rocky's planned arrival.  Fergus and Geraldine had purchased all the provisions they believe they needed for Rocky's arrival.  The tiny collar, the little kennel carrier, a tiny bed, healthy food, a toy or two and an instruction book for new puppy.

Geraldine, a temporary transplant from Manhattan, was scheduled for surgery at the Brigham with just a one night recovery planned so all was well timed for Rocky's arrival.  Well, until "life happens while making other plans," as they say.

Rocky was en route through friends and, well, Geraldine was not en route from the hospital.  Following surgery, Geraldine needed to stay longer in the hospital than anticipated by anyone.  Poor Fergus, a virtual puppy novice, called Fenway Bark to see if we could help.

Since Fenway Bark isn't quite open yet for general hotel and boarding, and a youngster such as Mr. Rocky would typically be too young for boarding anyway, I volunteered to take Mr. Rocky to my home to meet the Board of Directors to help Geraldine and Fergus out.

Elated, Fergus showed up with a wide eyed Rocky in his little carrier.  And, with as much hand holding as we could offer, gave Fergus our advice on Rocky's care and a plan of action for visiting and caring for Rocky while his wife was recovering from her surgery on an extended stay at the Brigham. 

Fergus was like a new father, cooing at his little boy and enjoying every moment of his time with Rocky.  Fergus even noted that Rocky was attracted to his wedding ring so he must already be committed to the family.  Rocky, realizing that he had good thing going, adopted Fergus right away, even before Fergus had finished reading the owner's manual.



We all grew to enjoy both Rocky and Fergus over the next few days and Geraldine continued to recover.

There is a great moral to this story that dovetails nicely into one of the services we offer at Fenway Bark.  Simply because life does happen while making other plans, it is important to be prepared in the event your dog or cat needs our care.

Yes, Aunt Nancy may take care of your pet most of the time but sometimes Aunt Nancy may not be available when you need her, particularly in an emergency.  Likewise, the neighborhood teenager may be a good option for pet care when your pet is healthy but when your pet's care gets more complicated with diabetes, arthritis or medicine administration, you may need a plan B like Fenway Bark.

Finally, sometime medical emergencies happen.  If your pet is registered at Fenway Bark with vaccination records on file, we will work with police to bring your pet to Fenway Bark for care so that YOU can get the care YOU need without the anxiety of wondering about the condition of your pet.

Do you know someone who lives alone who should have their pet registered at Fenway Bark because if a medical emergency happened to them, there would be no one to care for their pets?  Help them register on line for Fenway Bark so we can help that person in need when the time comes.  Ask any hospital social worker and they can share stories of people who refused treatment because of concern for their pet's care while they would be hospitalized.

Preparation reduces anxiety whether you are a road warrior, a medical emergency, or a free spirit who likes to pick up and go but needs pet care.

Register now.  You will be glad you did!  You will need your veterinary records, food information, and emergency contact information to complete the form.

Yes, our form is long but it is because we care enough to ask the questions.

As always, your recommendation and word of mouth on Fenway Bark makes a big difference to a small business like Fenway Bark.  Thank you for sharing information with your pet loving peers about our services.

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!

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!