Petsmart's Grooming Breed Book! (Featuring Jasmine and Kaine!)

Last March, Jasmine was chosen to be in a photoshoot for Petsmart. They were creating a book for their grooming department called "Grooming Styles by Breed". I knew it was coming out in the fall, and have been eagerly waiting it's arrival! I kept asking my groomer at Petsmart if it has come in yet. She said she would call me when it did. Well... last week was the big day!

Now this book is sitting on the counters in the Petsmart's grooming salons in 1200 stores across the US and Canada!

If you flip to the letter "H" for Havanese, you'll see Jasmine- she's the model for the "Havanese- modified cut".

When she had to model for these pictures, I was standing behind the photographer with chicken and a squeaky bone!


She has to stand/sit on this white pedestal which was against a white backdrop. But the pictures turned out great! And it was really fun to do. The photographers at Petsmart were very nice. This was Jasmine's 1st photoshoot. I think she enjoyed it! (who wouldn't enjoy getting treated for just standing there!!)

It's cool because they even mentioned each dog's name in this book! :)




This is the day it came out. I went down right after work.

LEFT: Nice-looking, well groomed Jasmine
RIGHT: Scruffy, needs a bath Jasmine!






Our friend Ashley and her dog Kaine were chosen to be in it too! (If you check out the German Shepherd section!)

They were a big help to us. They went a few weeks before us, and told us all about the process. So we knew what to expect! (I was nervous/excited since it was our 1st photoshoot.)
But we were well-prepared thanks to Ashley& Kaine!




Here's what a Havanese looks like if they have a full-length show coat. Jaz would never allow me to keep her coat this length (and have it look nice!) She likes to run and play too much. She tends to get dreadlocks in her hair too. That's why it's nice keeping it short!







So... this was quite exciting for us. I think this grooming breed book is a great idea! This isn't the cut I normally choose for Jasmine, but now since this book has all the options, I can SHOW the groomer which cut I had in mind!


This book was a great idea- and I'm really thankful Jasmine got to be a part of it!! :)

Tails Magazine Costume Contest Winner!! :)

Guess what!!!

Tails Magazine was having a photo contest called "Animals Dressed as Other Animals". I submitted a photo of Jasmine in her skunk costume, and in her cowboy/horse costume. And the skunk costume won!!! How cool is that?? Here's the link to the article! Check it out!

http://www.tailsinc.com/post/animals-dressed-as-other-animals-photo-contest-is

It's funny because Jasmine is only 4 years old (she'll be 5 in December.) But she owns way more than 4 Halloween costumes!! (At last count, she had 12!) They're just too cute to pass up! Plus, if you go to the stores the day after Halloween, they are always 50% off! (or more!) So you can't go wrong!

Jasmine really dislikes wearing the stinky skunk costume! So I only make her do it for a few pictures. When the kids come around trick-or-treating, she'll be wearing one of her other ones that she likes more.

She dislikes wearing things on her head. (Which is why she doesn't like the skunk costume!) But she's okay with little dresses or outfits.

We were looking at costumes for this Halloween, and here's some photos I took on my cell phone. (So they're not great quality.) We haven't decided on one just yet.

I think this dragon one is cute. (and Jaz didn't mind it)








This bug on is hilarious, but Jaz would never go for it! (Plus she can't see!) But she's a good sport, and just stands there to model it!

Hospital Time

Tonight was another shift volunteering as a dog therapy team at the hospital. Every time I go, I leave feeling so renewed about life.

This time was a little different. Some days, it seems like everybody adores Jaz. And then sometimes we get off to a slow start. But by the end, I'm always glad I went. Tonight I started w/ the 7th ward (Oncology), which is usually our favorite floor. We did our visits, but didn't find anybody we really connected with. (any obvious dog lovers). Then we went down to the 5th floor. The first room we went into was of a 17 year old boy and his dad. When I asked if he wanted to see some dog tricks, he said "I guess". Jaz did her usual routine (be shy, sneeze, say hello, wave, sit pretty, high 5, cover your eye, etc.) And the boy was mildly interested.

Then we went into the next rooms. A few rooms down, we found a 4 year little girl who was SOOO excited to see Jaz! She just pet her and pet her, and Jaz laid down beside her. I talked to her and her mom for quite a while. The little girl told me all about their cats, dogs, and ferret. Before we left, we did some tricks for them. (which they LOVED!) The mom even wanted to take a picture of Jaz with the little girl. So that was a fun room.

Then the next room was a really shy little girl who didn't want to pet Jaz. But when I showed her some tricks, she became interested. (Still didn't want to touch her, but liked watching her.)

The next room was a really cool 16 year old girl. You never know why these kids are in the hospital (except of course, if they're on the 7th floor- oncology). But this girl didn't seem like she should be in a hospital bed. She had her hair and make-up done. She was wearing cute clothes. The only reason I could tell she was sick is because she had a monitor connected to her. She was really interesting to talk to. She loved dogs, and had a yorkie. She even knew what a havanese was because her grandma had one! Jaz really liked her too. There is a spot in the middle of Jaz's back that is her "itchy tickle spot". (It's the spot she just can't reach.) This girl found that spot. So Jaz was happy.

By the time I left that floor, I felt like I had done a good thing. And had connected with quite a few people. And had brightened the day of some of these kids. (and just provided a good distraction from the TV for the others.)

But there was a really poignant lesson for me when I was down in the lobby. The dad of the 1st boy I visited came down the elevator with his wife. She said- "Is this Jasmine??" I said yes (assuming she had seen Jasmine's name badge.) Then the wife proceeded to tell me how as soon as she got back to the room, her son told her all about the cool dog that had come to visit him. And all the tricks she could do. And went on and on how cool it was. (That was a surprise to me!) When I left the room, it felt like that 17 year old boy didn't care one way or the other! But yet, he had told his mom all about our visit when she got back. So that really stood out to me- that we don't really know how we effect people in the grand scheme of things. You could have an impact on somebody's life and not even know it.
It was a good lesson to learn.