In January, 2016 we closed on our home in Glenwood. I was very worried that we were making a mistake, after all, I didn't have a steady paying job. My husband is an electrician and will be retiring in 2018.
Our home is small and on an acre. My dogs have plenty of room to run. It is the perfect setup for my business. I have the entire basement for my office. We have a shipping and receiving room, an inventory room and a sewing room. What more can I ask for.
The business is still growing but at a slow pace. As long as I see growth each year, I am happy.
I needed extra money so I became a nanny for my grandchildren. This helped for a while, but in order to make the monthly mortgage payment, I needed to add another income. I starting driving for Uber and Lyft.
Now that is a awesome experience. I have meet so many people from all over the world.
In July we adopted another dog. His name is Marlin, He is a Plott Hound / chesapeake labrador retriever mix.
We now have 4 dogs. Sammy (Maltise poodle mix, Emmy(Morkie), Jordy(Shitzu), and Marlin.
Sammy is the inspiration for the DOGonGEAR Dog Diaper Wrap. He wears a wrap every day of his life. He is a chronic leg lifter and will mark everything. It saves my floor, furniture, and Sammy is happier because he is not getting in trouble for making messes on my floor.
Sammy is getting older now (9) and has seizures when he get upset about a change in his life.
Emmy still has a lot of anxiety, so I take her with me almost everywhere.
Jordy has had an interesting year. In August, he developed IMHA.
With primary IMHA, your dog's immune system mistakenly produces antibodies that attack its own red blood cells. This is the most common cause of anemia in dogs. With secondary IMHA, the surface of your dog's red blood cells is modified by an underlying disease process, drug, or toxin.
Jordy, we think has primary. He is in remission right now and doing great. He really is a fighter. He is on a lot of meds, Prednisone, and a few other drugs to help protect his organs against the side effects of Prednisone.
Marlin is still a puppy. I adopted him from the Humane Society. He was 16 months old and had a lot of aggression. We are still working with him to help him overcome his aggression.
He is learning his basic commands pretty well and a few tricks.
In April I had the Hunting Vest (underbelly and chest protection) manufactured. For the first year, it went pretty well with the hunting community. Thanks to Don J. for helping me with this. I could not have done it without his help to spread the word about the vest.
In May we auditioned again for Shark Tank and again, we did not get chosen. We plan on applying again this year. I will keep trying every year. (I don't like to quit anything).
in June, I did a lot of driving for Uber and Lyft. We have the college world series here and it was pretty busy. I have lived in this area most of my life and always avoided the college world series because there are so many people that attend the series. At the same time, Omaha hosted the Swim trials for the Olympics. So you can say, I drove a lot during those events.
August was the first month that I started calling the pheasant hunters. I needed to get then seen by the hunters and tested in the field. It went really well. I still need to make a few changed to the medium but I think I have the other sizes correct.
September we went to Canada (Niagara Falls). I made the money for the trip driving for Uber and Lyft. Each week I would stash money away and had enough saved for the trip. I was a little worried because I had to use some of it for Jordy's treatment. He was so sick then. My daughter is a nurse and she is the only one I trusted to take care of him while we were on our vacation.
My friend Roxanne took care of Sammy and Emmy. I enjoyed visiting her in Wisconsin.
October, the hunting vest was in full swing. We sold approx 100 medium and 150 large. The small and xlarge size ( sold about 50 of those sizes), I still hand make these sizes and I only manufactured 400 of the medium and large. So for the first year, it went very well.
November the hunting vest were still going strong. Along with the Vest the Diaper Wrap sales starting picking up. Again, thank you Don J.
For my entertainment, I play pool. I am not that good, but I love to play. Our team qualified for Cities. If we win Cities, we go to Las Vegas for a tournament. On my team are my 2 sons, Brian and Kevin, my brother Joel, and my husband Dan. It will be a family experience in Vegas is we win cities,
Family news,
I have 2 new grandchildren this year, for a total of 9. My son was bitten by a bat and got really sick from the rabies vaccine. He spent about a week in the hospital. At his job, he is now called Bat Man. My son Brian and Son-in-law Will Coffey, did the Shark Tank Audition with me. I hope they will do it again next time if we get a call.
For 2017, I am going to start a video journal for DOGonGEAR. Stay tuned to youtube. I am going to start it in February. I am attending the New York Pet Fashion Show and will be driving.
That is all for now. I will keep blogging as much as I can. Thanks for reading.
Dawn
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