Happy August Everyone! I cannot believe we are already in the 8th month of 2023. Before you know it we will be counting down to the busy holiday season. I wrapped up July’s blog by reflecting on the progress of our 2023 goals. It has been a great year so far and I feel blessed to have been able to make some substantial progress on the goals that I set at the beginning of this year. But we still have 5 more months to go before we close the curtain on 2023 and I still have so much that I hope to accomplish. For this month’s blog I wanted to touch base on a few more of the things that we have accomplished, and a few more that I have planned for the remainder of this year, that may not have been captured in our 2023 goals.
First and foremost, I am delighted to report that we have hired two new fantastic pack members! Krysta Buchholz and Nicole Chambers joined us in early July and have been working hard to complete their online and on-the-job training with Vicktoria and me. I couldn’t be happier with their progress and the perspective that they have brought to our team. If you missed our post introducing Krysta and Nicole to the pack, please visit the Meet The Pack page on our website to read more about them here https://reddogpetservices.com/meet-the-pack/
With Nicole on board now, we are able to expand our coverage area to Graniteville. So if you know of anyone who is looking for pet services in the Graniteville area, please feel free to share our contact information. Nicole also is the owner and operator of Aiken Scoop Group. They offer a variety of pet waste removal packages. They scoop poop so you don’t have to! How great is that? Visit their website here https://www.aikenscoopgroup.com/ to find out more.
Krysta also runs a small business of her own named after her rescue pup, Pickles. Krysta makes and sells acrylic decorative and themed beaded dog collars for those special occasions and days out. Check out her Etsy shop here https://www.etsy.com/shop/thebeadedpickle
Our senior Red Dog pack member, Vicktoria, has been so busy this summer. She not only continued doing a bang-up job for our clients at Red Dog, but she also worked as a beverage cart girl at the 2023 Masters Tournament and then for the rest of the summer at Woodside Golf Club doing the same. She returns to school this fall at Aiken Tech to continue pursuing her degree in Dental Hygiene, but don’t worry, she will still be doing overnights, drop-ins, and dog walks when she is not in school.
As for me, now that I have a few really good pack members to rely on, I have been able to start catching up on the administrative side of things, as well as continue pursuing some additional services that I will be rolling out later this month and for the rest of the year. I head to North Carolina in the coming weeks to complete the final step in becoming a certified PetTech CPR, First Aid, and Emergency Preparedness Instructor for the PetTech company. Once I pass my final class and exam, I will be offering quarterly classes in Pet CPR, First Aid, and Emergency Preparedness. My goal is to become a Master PetTech Instructor so that I can educate clients and other pet providers in our community, as well as train other pet professionals to become Instructors. Stay tuned for class offerings this coming fall!
I am also toying with the idea of offering a “trusted products” shop on our website. I have so many friends and colleagues in the pet industry that have given me such great recommendations on all sorts of pet products that I have been thinking about putting a few of those into an e-commerce shop on the Red Dog website. There will be a small profit for stocking and listing the items, but I would like to be able to offer quality products at an affordable price.
As many of you know I love supporting our local Aiken County Animal Shelter and the 501C(3) fundraising arm, Friends Of The Aiken Shelter. Therefore, I have been working on a few ideas to not only provide some much-needed donations, and by 2024 I hope to be able to donate a percentage of our quarterly profits to the shelter on a regular basis.
Last but not least, by the time this blog is posted, my husband Steve and our 2 dogs, Abby and Teca, will be on our way to North Carolina to spend a few days at Barkwell’s: The Dog Lover’s Vacation Retreat in Mills River. One of my clients and dear friends told me about this place almost a year ago and I have been dying to check it out with my girls. Now that I have such a reliable team I feel comfortable enough to be able to take a few days off and go explore. I have heard nothing but fantastic things about this place and I plan to do a few video posts while we are there so that everyone can get an idea of what they have to offer. If you would like to find out more about Barkwell’s, you can check them out here https://barkwells.com/
That about wraps it up for this blog post. I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer and has been able to stay cool during this heatwave we have been experiencing. I look forward to cooler days and fall dog walks in and around Aiken. Thank you for reading and for your wonderful support.
