Westminster Dog Show 2013

Some say it's the Superbowl of dog shows. If you have a dog competing, I say it's the most fun, stressful, exciting, ulcer inducing time ever! We were more than thrilled to witness, firsthand, his Best of Opposite win.

We just got his official picture and heeeerrrre he is!  Henry, GCH Rock Castle's Jovial Patriot.  His dad won an Award of Merit here in 2004 and 2005 and his great, great grandmother, Peggy Sue, Ch  Gaelforce Post Script, won the whopper - Best in Show at Westminster in 1995.

George, Ch Rock Castle's Mr President, NAJ NJP

My grandfather/Opa - The House that Jack Built

My grandfather was a builder in Florida in the 50s and 60s.  He worked extremely hard and was good at what he did.  His family saw the ups and downs of running your own business but my mom remembered his words that you can't be successful if you don't work for yourself. Not that that is entirely true but I think what he was trying to impart is that working for yourself might be scary and risky but the ultimate reward, if you work hard, is the satisfaction that you called the shots, you won or lost based on your own ability.  That being said, he was a fantastic people person.  He was honest and forthright and did what he said he was going to do.  He built trust in his clients.  It was the combination of his skill and his character that made him so successful.  I wish I had the chance to know him better but a lot of his personality and drive is present in my mom.

My mother has always had the entrepreneurial spirit. After my grandfather died, she started a business called Mandy's which sold children's gifts and clothes and personalized items.  She rented a little store front in Jacksonville Beach and filled the store with things that she designed and made or had made by local artisans.  I was even involved at five years old by decorating the paper bags that we used to wrap our packages. We spent many hours there, day and night, and it was my first taste of working for yourself is definitely not easier than working for someone else.

My obsession, any questions??? Our love for our animals.

So being as this is my first post, I thought I would start with, well, the beginning.  Our business stems from our love of horses and dogs. Our first products were our horse and dog breed obsession tshirts so I thought I would try to examine our own obsession!

My mother was, and still is, horse crazy. She was that kid in the back seat on road trips who spotted even the smallest dot on the horizon as a horse in a pasture.  Her parents and sisters didn't share her passion and only attempted to assuage her desire for owning a horse with tacky little horse figurines from road side gift shops.  That "pitiful" collection (my mom's words, not mine) was housed in a cabinet in the house throughout my childhood.  The plastic and ceramic bodies with coarse, but real, manes and tails were kind of scary but it was the closest thing she had to the real thing.  Now this is the part that I give fair warning to those parents who do not embrace and encourage your horse crazy kids.  My mom got her first horse at 40.  And then another one. And then another one. And then, yes, another one. And so on.  She finally got to have her beloved horses in her backyard and no longer had to look longingly out a car window. 

Because we didn't get the horses until I was a teenager, I didn't grow up with horses.  What I did grow up with are Scottish Terriers. I'm the third generation of Scottie people in my family with my grandparents having the first set. My grandparents made a trip to the pet store thinking they were going to pick out a silky white Maltese. Instead, my mom found a little Scottie that she fell in love with and proceeded to "encourage" her parents to "pick this one! pick this one!," pushing the little guy with dangling feet and a sprouting beard in my grandfather's face.  It worked and forty years later, we have a gaggle of 10 between her house and mine.  Some kids dream of having the house with the picket fence but my dream was to have a Scottie in every color.  Mission accomplished.

Yay!  First post!  We've decided to start blogging so we can hash out where we've been and where we're going.  Over the past couple of years, we have expanded the types of products we have at Painted Pooches and would like to think out loud about our existing products, the creation of new products, and our hopes and dreams for where we see things going in the future! We've been in business since 1996 and started out with our Muckies gloves and Horse Obsession t-shirts and have evolved into shower curtains, Christmas ornaments, towels, mailbox decals, etc., etc., etc.! Our intention with this blog is to give more detail about our current products and the new products we're working on based on feedback from our wonderfully loyal and supportive past customers.  We'll also share a little about ourselves and the menagerie of cuties that are a big part of our lives! Here we go!