Treat The Holidays Right

It's no secret that the holidays tend to be a time of dietary indulgence for many of us. Even those of us who usually try to watch what we eat typically allow ourselves a little something special or an extra helping of Aunt Sue's famous family recipe. And while we may let our diet slip a little bit it's important to keep our dogs' diets in check during the holidays.

While we certainly advocate the giving of healthy treats (in controlled amounts), it's important not to change up a dog's diet too much. Drastic changes in diet, whether it's changing to a new food or slipping Buddy something from the table, can wreck havoc on a dog's delicate stomach. So while they may look up at you with adoring eyes that simply beg to have a piece of the spiral-cut ham, it's best to keep their diet as normal as possible. Also keep in mind that dogs can be master thieves when it comes to food so keep any toxic treats - mainly chocolate! - out of dogs' reach.

If you have any questions about what to feed/not feed your dog it's best to ask your veterinarian. A list of toxic foods and houseplants can also be found here: http://www.entirelypets.com/toxicfoods.html

CBS Calls Our Cupcake Mix "A Perfect Holiday Gift"

We're excited to announce that this morning The Early Show, CBS' national morning show, named our Cupcake Mix "A Top Holiday Gift" for pets.

UPDATE: Just got the video.

Something to Bark About

Woof Report came out today with their top holiday gifts under $20 and our Cupcake Mix for Dogs made the list! Check out the complete list here (we're listed under the Gifts Galore for $20 section).

And while you're there, be sure to sign up to receive their free daily email about all things dog (and sometimes a cat or two). They scour the pet world to bring their readers the best products, hints, tips, and services. It's a wonderful resource and since they never share or sell their subscription list you don't have to worry about spam.

Favorite Stocking Stuffers

In our house the holidays are a big deal. Partly because we celebrate both Hannauka and Christmas - that means there's a lot of celebrating in the month of December. Truth be told though, it's the stocking's we put out on Christmas Eve that are always the biggest hit. The goal is to fill up the stockings with thoughtful and inexpensive gifts that the stocking owner didn't even know they wanted. And they need to be small so that they fit into the stocking. I should also mention that gift certificates are not allowed as part of the stocking gifts as that would be way too easy. As such, we are always on the hunt for the perfect stocking gifts.

The family dogs (of which, in the immediate family there are five) all have their own individual stockings of course and are part of the festivities. Actually, I think they get the better part of the deal as they just get to open up the gifts and don't actually have to buy any. Ah, the beauty of being a dog! But that does mean that we're always on the hunt for the perfect stocking stuffers for our dogs so I wanted to share with you some favorites we found this year:

The Healthy Pup System Set is an on-the-go first aid kit that comes with everything you may need for minor scraps and scratches. Best of all, the entire set is made from organic ingredients so that you know while helping your dog you're also helping the earth.
Available for $18.50 through Juno's Garden (www.junosgarden.com)

Etta Says Recycled Rubber Collars are made from recycled bicycle tires though they look like high quality leather. Bright stitching (all done locally in the USA) gives the collars a very smart sophisticated look. Available for $28.00 through Etta Says! (www.ettasays.com)

Yep - it's one of ours but it really is one of our best selling products. Each gift bag holds four hand-decorated petit fours in either carob chip (blue and white) or peanut butter (pink and white) flavors. The bags may be small but the packaging makes them a big gift. Yet at $6 a bag you have plenty of money left over for other fun stocking stuffers. Available for $6 through Petit Four Legs (www.petitfourlegs.com)

Lastly, what can I say, the Hedgehog (or Hedgie, as he's referred to in our house) is a perennial favorite. It doesn't matter how many toys are in the bin, our dogs are always looking for Hedgie. And Hedgie's holiday cap just cracks me up. Available for $4.99 at PetCo (www.petco.com)

Giving Thanks

It's a tradition in our home, like many I know, to share with friends and family what we are thankful for this time of year. As such, I share with you what we here at Petit Four Legs are thankful for:

1. You! We know the economy is rough right now and we are thankful that you've decided to part with a little of your hard-earned money to purchase some of our treats. We promise to always try to make sure that our treats exceed your expectations while also being incredibly yummy to the final treat-tasters!

2. Our extended Petit Four Legs family. All of us are healthy or, at the very least, on the mend. If any of you stopped by our booths this Fall in Las Vegas or Chicago, you may remember that I was on crutches thanks to a broken leg. As such, I relied more heavily then ever on our small staff who met the challenge without complaint. They worked weekends and late at night with me to make sure that all of our orders went out as scheduled. I shuddar to think what we would have done without their dedication and passion for what we're building here.

3. Our furry family. All of us have dogs (and a few cats!) who are the light of our lives and we are thankful, as always, that they continue to be healthy, happy, and - in some cases (Tyr and Murray in particular) - a handful of trouble!

We wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Frequently Asked Question

A question we've been getting a lot lately is where we buy the bone decorations we include with every order of our Cupcake Mix for Dogs. The secret is that we don't buy them.

Each of those bones, and the pink bones included in our year-round pink and brown Cupcake Mix boxes, is made by hand from dog-safe yogurt. For the seasonal variety, we first make the bones and then after they are dry we go back and paint them with FDA-approved food color to achieve the festive candy-cane strip effect. When you figure that each kit contains 18 bones it starts to add up quickly! It is a lot of work and we'd be lying if we said there weren't days that the thought of making more bones didn't drive us near crazy. But we know that you have come to expect that level of detail from Petit Four Legs and, at the end of the day, we want to be able to provide you with something that is not only different, but something that is truly special.

Pupcake Mix Named Top 10 Holiday Gift

Our new Pupcake Mix was recently named one of the Top 10 holiday gifts by Dogtime.com. We were especially honored to be included in the Charitable catagory since we work closely with Homeward Pet, a no-kill animal shelter in the Pacific Northwest. Check out the accolades at the Dogtime.com site where you can see the full list of the charitable catagory winners who donate a portion of their profits to deserving animal organizations:

http://dogtime.com/dog-charity-gifts.html

Take Advantage of Our Fall Special

As we get ready to head to Chicago for the HH Backer tradeshow (come see us at Booth #4134!), we wanted to extend our Fall Special to all retailers. We will cover 50% of the shipping costs for orders of $150 and more. It's easy to take advantage of this special offer - simply place an order via our secure wholesale website (www.petitfourlegs.com/wholesale) and input the promotion code BLGF50. But you need to act soon as the special ends October 4th*

*Special is good for all orders placed by October 4th including preorders for shipping at a later date. As always, any preorders will not be billed until shipment occurs.

Back From Las Vegas

We returned from the Superzoo show in Las Vegas having only lost $3 on one slot machine. Other than that $3 loss, the show went really well and we're very excited with the reception our new Pupcake Mix is getting. Retailers were really excited to bring both our regular Pupcake Mix (in the pink and brown box) and our Seasonal Pupcake Mix (in the holiday packaging) into their stores this holiday season along with a mix of our other products. We'll be busy filling orders for the next few weeks in advance of the HH Backer show in Chicago but invite you to visit our new wholesale website at www.petitfourlegs.com/wholesale to see what has everyone so excited. Of course we also invite you to drop us an email or give us a call if you have any questions.

Las Vegas Here We Come

Petit Four Legs is headed to Las Vegas to attend the WWPIA Superzoo Trade Show. If you're going to be in town we invite you to come visit us at Booth 1861 to see our treats in person.

Since we are a small staff we will not be shipping out orders the week of September 8th as our team will be onsite in Las Vegas. However we will be checking emails and returning phone calls after the show closes at 5pm MST daily and will ship out any orders that come in during the week immediately upon return unless otherwise requested.

Our New Website Has Launched!

By now if you've made it this far into the site you may have noticed that our website has been completely revamped. We hope you like the changes! The piece we're most excited about is the wholesale section which gives retailers the power to learn about our products and our company on your schedule. Best of all, the site is secure so you can place orders 24x7 with full piece of mind knowing that your private information will not compromised or shared with third parties.

Please note that we still have some behind the scenes pieces to finish up with the site so will be updating the list of retail stores in the near future. We do promise to have the list fully updated before the holiday shopping season begins in earnest so that we can hopefully help direct customers to their local retailer.

Petit Four Legs New Website Is Almost Here

Just in time for the busy fall season, our new website is getting the final touches put on it. We're really excited for the launch which we're hoping will happen next week so keep an eye out!

Pedigree Issues Pet Food Recall

Mars Petcare, the parent company to Pedigree, has announced a limited recall of pet food due to possible Salmonella contamination.

The voluntary recall involves:

52-pound bags of Pedigree Complete Nutrition Small Crunchy Bites dog food. The recalled food was delivered to Costco stores in Northern California and Nevada only.

20-pound bags of Pedigree Complete Nutrition Small Crunchy Bites dog food. The recalled food was delivered to Albertsons stores in Southern California and the area of Las Vegas, Nevada.


We would like to again note that Petit Four Legs treats are not affected by this nor has been affected by any pet food recall. We make our treats ourselves using US-sourced human-grade ingredients. Our treats do not contain fillers, preservatives, or additives. Nor do we work with third-party manufacturers so as to better oversee and contol all ingredients that go into our treats.

So What's On the Horizon?

We can't let the cat out of the bag just yet but let's just say that we have some great stuff in store! A variety of options, a variety of tastes, and (as is ever important in this rough economic time) a variety of price points!

First up though will be the launch of our new website which is getting ever closer to being finalized. We're planning to first release a new wholesale section that will enable retailers to go online and learn everything they ever wanted to about Petit Four Legs' products and place secure 24x7 orders. We know that retailers are hard-pressed to find a lot of time these days so this will hopefully make it easier for you to learn about us and place orders anytime day or night.

The new website will have a sneak peek at some of the new items we're bringing out this holiday season which we're really excited about. So excited that we're ready to start playing the holiday music even though it's still a searing 87degrees here in the Pacific Northwest (trust me, for Seattle that's really warm!).

Course we know that it's often best to see the products in front of you before making buying decisions which is why we invite retailers to come visit us at the Superzoo (Booth #1861) and HH Backer Christmas (Booth #4134) shows this Fall.

Pet Style News

This month's edition of Pet Style News featured gourmet treats and our new Pupcake Mix made the photograph cut. They also talked to our Head Chef to get her thoughts and feelings about the products we create. While the article mentioned that she has an MBA, they forgot to mention that she was also a professional pastry chef (her career before going back to get her MBA). It was while at Business School that she decided she wasn't cut out to be a cubicle rat and wanted to come up with something that would combine her love of dogs with her love of working in commercial kitchens. Not to mention that her experience and expertise having worked as a pastry chef meant she could come up with some pretty creative - but still healthy - treats for dogs.

Speaking of which, we have some pretty unique new items coming out for this Holiday Season. Stay tuned and we'll show you sneak peaks from time to time leading up to the Superzoo and HH Backer tradeshows this Fall.

Homeward Pet Board

Petit Four Legs' Top Dog and Head Chef recently joined the Board of Homeward Pet, one of the largest no-kill nonprofit animal shelters in the Pacific Northwest. Her hope is to use her marketing background and understanding of the pet industry to help fulfill Homeward Pet's mission of increasing the number of animals rescued and placed in loving homes. If you'd like to learn more about Homeward Pet please visit www.homewardpet.org.

See Us In CityDog Magazine

CityDog Magazine saw fit to name our new Pupcake Mix product one of their Cool Products for the Summer. We're very excited by the honors!

Food Banks in desperate need of Pet Food

Via contacts I have at animal shelters around the country I've been hearing more and more that people affected by this current economic downturn are being forced to surrender their pets due to the fact that they can't afford to feed them and food banks around the country are now running incredibly low on their pet food reserves. As anyone who has/loves pets knows, our animals are a large part of our family and the idea of having to give them up is to a shelter (not always a no-kill shelter) is heartbreaking.

I'd love to encourage those of you out there who can afford it to think about making a donation (either monetary or product donation) to your local food banks to help provide pet food to our neighbors in need. Not only will this help keep those pets in their loving families but it will also help keep animals out of our already overcrowded shelters. At the very least, think of the karma points...

How to help:
1. Quick google search to find your local food bank and determine if they take pet food
2. Either make a monetary donation (can often be easily done online)
or
3. Next time you're picking up pet food for your own animal consider picking up an extra bag or two to donate. You can often drop these donations off in person or many food banks have drop off stations at local supermarkets so you won't necessarily even have to go out of your way
4. Go home and cuddle with your pet


For what it's worth, Petit Four Legs is working with one of the local animal shelters to try and help raise awareness and increase donations to food banks through a variety of means. On a more personal level, my family is providing a supply of pet food to our local food bank and are trying to encourage our friends and neighbors to do the same. I hope you will consider joining us if you are able.

Petit Four Legs recently attended a charity auction event for Homeward Pet - one of the largest no-kill shelters in the Northwest. In addition to making several personal purchases during the silent auction, the company also donated treats to be part of the centerpiece auction item. Around dinner that evening we had the pleasure of meeting two proud "parents" of a Homeward Pet rescue pup. This couple had adopted Larry from the shelter about a year and a half ago when he was only 8 weeks old. They kindly sent us this video post auction which really brought a smile to our faces:

Introducing...Pupcake Mix

The staff at Petit Four Legs is very excited to introduce the newest product in our line of handcrafted dog treats - Pupcake Mix!

Cupcakes are all the rage right now and, like all our products, we wanted to create a way for dog-lovers to share in that experience with their dogs. However, pre-made cupcakes for dogs can languish on store shelves and we wanted something that would be fresh and delicious.

It took us several tests to figure out that the best way to do that would be to create a Pupcake Mix kit that dog-lovers could use to make easy bake-at-home pupcakes. And because it's a kit that home bakers use, we had to make sure it still lived up to the Petit Four Legs name. That's why every kit includes our natural wheat and corn-free pupcake mix in peanut butter chip flavor, yogurt frosting, handpiped yogurt bone decorations, and baking and decorating instructions all wrapped up in a beautiful pink and brown gift box. All you need to add are cupcake liners, two eggs, water, and a little love. And voila...18 delicious pupcakes! It couldn't be any easier - or fresher!

These treats are available for wholesale sale (contact us for more information) or retail purchase via our online store or a neighborhood store near you.

Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day I wanted to share the staff's new favorite find - biodegradable doggie bags. We have a lot of dogs in the office and it sometimes seems as though at least one of us is out taking one or more of the pups for a walk. And of course, we all know what dogs do when they're out for a walk (but far better out there then in the office!). Since we're also searching out ways to be as green as possible we were incredibly excited when we stumbled upon these BioBags for dog waste. The bags are 100% biodegradable so we know we're not filling up landfills with plastic waste. We just tie one or more onto the leash and go. They cost a little bit more but are more than worth it in our minds.

BioBags:
http://biobagusa.com/biobag_dog.htm

PAWS Wild Night Gala

The Petit Four Legs team went to support one of our favorite animal charities - PAWS - at the PAWS gala dinner and auction on Saturday night.

The event was very well done and we had a great time bidding on several items. We did win a few things but sadly lost out on a beautiful painting by someone who must have swooped in seconds before the bidding was closed. We did return the favor though as we really wanted on particular piece of glasswork done by a local renown glass artist and entered into something of a bidding war before we just finally decided to purchase the piece at the reserve price to ensure it became ours.



Overall the event was a blast and raised a spectacular amount of money for the organization.

Pet Industry Trends in 2008

It's dated from December 2007 but today I found an article in Small Business Trends regarding the trends in the pet industry:
http://www.smallbiztrends.com/2007/12/pet-industry-trends-for-2008.html/

Dog Shot With Arrow In Seattle Neighborhood

This is an incredibly sad and heart-wrenching story. Not to mention the amount of hate and evil someone must be filled with to do this to a defenseless animal who was not hurting anyone. If you live in Seattle please keep a very close eye on your pets.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004310005_webdog27m.html?syndication=rss

In The News...Pet Style News

I was flipping through the most recent issue of Pet Style News (the main b2b trade publication for the boutique pet industry) and saw that we've been featured in the Boutique Bazaar section (pg. 55). Very exciting!

I actually just spoke to a reporter from Pet Style News on Wednesday as they're doing a story on gourmet treats so it was my opportunity to tell her all about the new product we have coming out. The story should be hitting newsstands in June so my fingers are crossed we'll once again be in the magazine.

The New Photos Are In

I picked up the proofs and CD from the professional photo shoot and have to say that I'm overjoyed with the results. We've got some new products in the pipeline that we'll be releasing this year which were the majority of the photos and I don't want to let those slip just yet but I thought I'd give you a sneak peek at what we worked on with this new and very much improved photo of our Artisan Truffles.

Put To the Test

Pet Sale Avenue put us to the test - the taste test. We sent them samples but the review was not run past us before publication so we trusted that our treats would speak for themselves.

Want to know what they said? Read it for yourself here . You can also enter the Pet Sale Avenue contest to win free Petit Four Legs treats.

This Month's Modern Dog Magazine

I think this month's issue of Modern Dog is the staff's favorite yet. Of course it may be due to the magazine's profile of German Shorthaired Pointers and the fact that two staff members are GSPs. Aside from that, this month's edition does have some really good articles in it so check it out if you have a chance.

In the meantime, here is a picture of "The Pointer Sisters" of Petit Four Legs. Don't be fooled by the fact they're sleeping - they are very active girls.

We're getting ready for our closeup

It looks like we've finally scheduled our first of two photo shoots with a great local photographer who is renown for his gourmet food photography. It's very exciting as our last photo shoot was two years ago when we started and since then we've added a new product and have another new product that we hope to release in the next month or two (ideally in time for the big May industry tradeshow). I'll post a new picture as soon as we get them!

Dogs & Reality TV

Rumor has it that this summer a new reality show will hit the CBS airwaves - America's Top Dog. Apparently twelve human-dog teams will live together and face new challenges daily to try and be last dog standing. Applications are due tomorrow if you think your pup is TV star material (and who doesn't?).

Sadly none of the office pups will be trying out for the role. We're too busy working on some great new products! But I imagine we will make time to check out this new show this summer.

Now the NYTimes Goes to the Dogs

There's an article in today's New York Times about how PetSmart has taken advantage of the need for highend grooming and hotel services for its four-legged friends. Just thought I'd pass it along in case anyone else is interested in reading an interview with PetSmart's CEO:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/09/business/smallbusiness/09interview-web.html?_r=1&ref=smallbusiness&oref=login

A Day Off - Sorta

It was another day in the kitchen for us but different in one very big way. Today was all about making human food! A friend of ours who runs a small cupcake company was swamped with orders and needed some help so we chipped in to help her out.

The great thing about our commercial kitchen space is that not only do we meet USDA requirements but also human health code specifications. That combined with the fact that Petit Four Legs staff all have their King County Food Protection Permit (required by State of Washington for anyone working with human food) means we can help out with human food items as needed.

Even though it's not required by law, I run Petit Four Legs like the pastry studios I've worked at in the past. This is why every employee is required to meet the rigerous standards required for human food. Because doesn't your dog deserve the same levels of care, commitment, and cleanliness?

If you are in the greater Seattle area and are looking for a scrumptious human cupcake be sure to check out Wink Cupcakes at www.winkcupcakes.com. I promise you that they are delicious!

Private Labeling

The most recent issue of Pet Product News talked about the rise in Private Labeling in the pet market. Interestingly enough, right now we're working on a new product that would be private labeled. I'm not going to say too much until all the i's are dotted and t's crossed but it's an exciting new market and new product that I think could have a lot of traction in its region. We had professional pictures taken the other day so as soon as those i's are dotted I'll provide some more information and post a picture or two as well!

Business Week Goes to the Dogs...Again

Anyone in the pet world remembers this cover article about pets and their roles in today's families that was printed this summer. Now apparently there's another piece in this week's Business Week (the February 4th edition). We haven't seen it yet but word has it that on page 18 there's a profile of a business called Paradise 4 Paws that should make an interesting read for pet lovers.

Hooray!

The new interim site is up and running! We hope to have the brand new site up in a month or two but hopefully the new site will provide you with everything you need to know. If not, just drop us an email and we'll get back to you with an answer.

Enjoy!

What's going on with our site?

Please bear with us as we're in the midst of some website changes that should be fully implemented in the next day or two. The "new" site we're putting up is actually only an interim site while we work on getting an incredible new and improved website up and running. However, the interim site will still give you all the functionality of our old website along with some great new shopping cart changes to make purchasing quicker, easier, and even safer. And wait until you see what we have in store with the new new site!

Press in CityDog Magazine

While we're getting the new website up and running, I wanted to share with you some of our latest press accolades. We were featured in CityDog Magazine (a wonderful doggie resource for any Northwest readers!) in their article about dog birthday parties. No party is complete without treats, right? So the guests of honor dined on Petit Four Legs Artisan Truffles while their human friends enjoyed some delicious cupcakes.

Welcome!

Welcome to 2008 and our new blog - Inside Petit Four Legs' Kitchen. We hope that through this blog we can provide you with some behind-the-scenes look at what we have going on, help you get to know us, and, whenever possible, provide resources for topics of interest to the dog-loving community.

Why a blog? As a professional pastry chef one of the things I love most when I go out to eat is being able to see into the kitchen. I obviously want to make sure that the food I'm about to eat is up to standards but I also love seeing the hustle and bustle of "the line" and all the people in action.

Since we pride ourselves on the fact that we are a pastry studio - not a manufacturing facility - and all of our treats are made by hand, by us, with top-notch ingredients, and we don't outsource our production, we thought this blog could be like that open kitchen at your favorite restaurant.