I'm back from the
BarkWorld conference (and missing my new friends already!), and I have so much to tell you all! I'm going to break it up into multiple blog posts over the next couple months so that I don't have a 234901245562 word post coming at you all at once! Aren't I sweet? :)
In this post, I want to introduce you to five great people who you really just
need to know. Seriously, your life will be better with them in it. I have BarkWorld to thank, and now you all will have me to thank! So here we go!
1. Neely Raffellini is the mastermind behind
The Giving Paw and
The Pet Entrepreneur. The former is a pet wish list service where you can register your pet so that family and friends can help you with cash gifts for all of your pets needs and wants. The latter will allow you to contact Neely so that she can help you start up your own pet-related business - and she is currently helping me launch my own (details are soon to follow!) so I can personally vouch for her awesomeness. She will help you take your idea and run with it, educating you about the essential tools that you will need for your business to succeed, and she'll stick with you every step of the way! If she can deal with me and my thousands of questions, she will certainly be able to help you!
2. Lauren Girard is hands down one of my new favorite people, and her dog, Paige, is one of my new favorite dogs
[Watch out, Lauren, because I might steal her if I get the chance!] Lauren is so down-to-earth, hilariously funny (she can keep up with my humor, how about that!), and one of the most genuine people I have ever met. She is a huge proponent of clicker training, and her work with Paige is proof that positive reinforcement is the way to go! Lauren and Paige are in a number of commercials, have been featured on the David Letterman show, and have had an article written about them in Readers Digest. Visit them at
Lauren&Paige; watch some videos, be amazed, and feel your heart melt when you see these two together!
3. Katherine Moore and I hit it off right away - and why wouldn't we, as two gorgeous brunettes who love their dogs?! Katie has a blog entitled
Life With Arie (I, for one, love the title!) where she shares tips on nutrition and pet care, in addition to sharing stories about her beautiful white German Shepherd, Arie. When I started reading Katie's blog, I was instantly pulled in because of her writing style - she writes like she talks, so her personality just shines right through! I do have to tell you all a little secret about Katie, however: she is also a master at making animal faces (particularly the llama). I think you all should visit her blog and leave a comment telling her to post a picture of this imitation... Just don't tell her that you heard it from me!
4. Rabon Major is the fresh new face that you'll see at the
Atlanta Humane Society. She has been working extremely hard to ensure that all goes smoothly for the upcoming opening of their new (and incredible) site in Alpharetta GA. In addition, she manages ALL of the AHS social media - follow her on Twitter (@atlantahumane) and "Like" the
AHS page on Facebook to stay up-to-date about the dogs and cats of AHS, AHS rescue operations, and all of the fundraising events.
5. Lorien Clemens of
Pet Hub had me astounded when she told me all about this business. Pet Hub is your one-stop-shop for all pet owners. But what had me amazed is the part where you can create a profile to streamline all of the information about your pet (care instructions, medical conditions and treatments, veterinary providers, likes/dislikes, etc) and send the profile to those who are caring for them while you are away. In addition, the service provider watching your pet while you're on vacation can write updates about your pet which will then be emailed and texted to you so that you will know what's happening
when it's happening. Thanks to a QR tag affixed to your pet's collar, if he or she gets lost,
anyone who finds them can type in the URL to pull up the profile, allowing your pet to come home to you as soon as possible. Check. It. Out.
There are a number of other fantastic people who I met at the conference, and I will absolutely be telling you all about them in upcoming posts. I'll give you a chance to get acquainted with these five for now, but be sure to check back for more!
...That was still a 234901245562 word post...
