The nitty-gritty
What: “Sushi with Your Poochie,” an on-leash event presented by Sidewalk Dog and Tiger Sushi 2

When: Thursday, July 16th from 6:00PM to 8:30PM (Rain date: July 22nd)

Where: Tiger Sushi 2’s huge, lovely, breezy and well-shaded patio. (FREE parking is available after 4:00PM in the Egg & I parking lot across the street.)

Beneficiary: Minnesota Partnership for Animal Welfare (MnPAW), a new coalition of animal welfare organizations who are committed to working together to reduce euthanasia of adoptable animals in our State. Members include A Rotta Love Plus, Animal Humane Society, Pet Haven and RAGOM - Retrieve a Golden of Minnesota.

Menu: Tiger Sushi 2’s awesome Happy Hour menu* will be available throughout the entire event!

Tickets: $15 online ($4/ticket will go to MnPAW)

On to the fun stuff!
Bark Busters will be on hand to make sure all the doggies are getting along. They’ll also take your dog to go potty if you’d like (provided your dog is game).

Pampered Pooch Playground will be offering a special doggy menu of tableside services, including personal water bowl, serving of treats (homemade by Tiger Sushi 2!), personal doggy bed, 3-minute massage, pawdicure, etc.

Sarah Beth Photography will be capturing all the fun.

ScoopyPoo will be scooping poo down on the Greenway and serving BlackDog Whinery’s (first vintage!) Doggy Cabaret, PeeNo Su Casa, ZinFanDog to pooches on the patio.

Stunt Puppy will lend you one of their hands-free leashes for use during the event (if you’d like, that is).

Tiger Sushi 2 will be serving oh-so-fun sake bombs to benefit MnPAW.

UrbAnimal will send you off with a seriously awesome doggy bag filled with treats, food samples, a toy, a poop bag dispenser, other product samples and special offers from local pet-related and dog-friendly businesses.

Prizes!
Your ticket comes with a chance to win fabulous prizes from our sponsors and other pet-related and dog-friendly businesses. Plus, you’ll get to find out if you won upon check-in! Stay tuned for a complete list of prizes.

* Tiger Sushi 2’s Happy Hour Menu

Drinks
Tap Beer $2.75 — Bud Lite & Miller Lite Bottles $2.50 — White & Red Wine by the glass $3.00 — Well drinks $2.75

Appetizers
Edamame, Potstickers $3.50 — Tiger Wings $4.95 — Grilled Kushiyaki Combo $ 3.95  (skewered Chicken, Beef & Salmon) — Ceviche $4.95 — Beef Tataki $5.95

Nigiri Sushi
$1.95 per piece: Tuna, Salmon, Yellowtail, Unagi, Tako, Bincyo, Suzuki, Hirame, Sockeye Salmon, Kampachi

Rolls
The “Favorites” are $2.95: Tekka Maki (tuna roll), Sake Maki (salmon roll), Veggie Roll, Kappa Maki (cucumber roll)

Specialty Rolls
Spicy Salmon Skin Roll $3.50 — California Roll $4.95 — Caterpillar Roll $6.95 — the “Kick in the Pants Roll” is $7.95 — Spicy Tuna Roll $4.95 — Dynamighty Roll $4.95 — Crunchy Roll $5.95 — Crispy Crunchy Tuna & Salmon Roll $5.95

“We celebrate this day in support of its creator, Pet Sitters International, and its 2009 sponsors, Petfinder.com and Dog Fancy magazine,” says Liam Crowe, CEO and master dog behavioral therapist of Bark Busters USA. “This event educates the public on the benefits of responsible pet ownership, raises the awareness of the importance of the human-animal bond, and supports the efforts of our local animal shelters, rescues and humane societies. At Bark Busters, every day is ‘Take Your Dog to Work Day.’”

Will your canine companion get to accompany you to work tomorrow?

• FREE off-leash play for puppies and small dogs hosted by Just Paws Puppy Training
• Doggy vendors giving away FREE samples and treats in Bone Adventure’s parking lot (Stunt Puppy, Lake Minnetonka Pet Sitters, ScoopyPoo, Sidewalk Dog and more)
  
• Warm water dog wash to benefit Homeward Bound Rescue
• Canine Touch demos by Colette Bolster
• Doggy fashion show sponsored by Lulu & Luigi
• Pet tricks contest sponsored by Camp Bow Wow Plymouth
• Pet portraits hosted by Untiedt’s Garden Market in the Wayzata Bay Shopping Center
• Drawings for gift certificates and gift baskets
• Dog-friendly shopping galore
• And much, much MORE!

For full details, visit Wayzata Weekends and download the Puppy Passport.

Hope to see you there!

Sage and Java

So you can imagine how thrilled we were when AM950 radio host Sage Lewis (aka The Creature Teacher™) of Dancing Porcupine asked us to come on The Pet Playground to talk about the dog-friendly Twin Cities. (After all, we hadn’t blabbed on the radio in quite some time!)

Missed it? You can always listen online or download the podcast (May 31st show). Bonus: You’ll also get to hear Trisha Moreland of UrbAnimal talk about her pet supply stores (Did you know about their St. Paul location inside Dog Days on Grand Avenue?) and answer a question or two about pet food.

We used to blab just once a month (via our newsletter). Then we added a blog and started blabbing more frequently (once a week or so). Still unsatisfied, we hopped on Facebook and Twitter and began blabbin’ daily.

You see, we firmly believe it’s our duty to keep you fully informed on the Twin Cities dog scene!

As such, Luc doesn’t have many canine friends. Most dogs find him and his übermellow, slow moving self, well, boring.

But not Eloise!

Eloise sent Luc the following (love?) note last week after we took a walk along Lake Calhoun with her and her mom Christy Lund. (Lund happens to work at one of Luc’s favorite stores in the entire world, Bone Adventure in Edina.)

Dear Luc,

Too much fun hanging out with you last night! Can we do it again soon? I liked having you follow my butt around the lake, and don’t worry that you were kinda slow. (My mommy always goes too fast and doesn’t give me enough time to stop and smell the roses and doggy butts!)

Loved the fish taco crumbs your mom snuck me at The Tin Fish… Yummy! And I can’t wait to try the doggie ice cream she wrote about in her newsletter. My mom’s been reading it and has all these great ideas for hanging out with me around town. You guys just hafta join us for some human/hound fun!

The only thing I was bummed about last night was not getting to see you in your black sling bag. I know you and your mommy both hate the bag, but I also know you need to be in it sometimes and I promise not to laugh at you.

Okay, I’m trying REALLY hard right now to get my mom to throw the ball for me. Doesn’t she get it when I keep putting the ball right next to her?! I’m a Mini Aussie and I need to fetch! Stupid humans…

Looking forward to another day of getting spoiled!

xoxoxo,

Weezie

Eloise aka Weezie

1. It features our new interactive map of dog parks and dog-friendly patios, courtesy of our good friends at Stunt Puppy. Check it out and add (and review!) your own faves here.
2. It was designed by the enormously talented Sarah of Sarah Beth Photography.
3. It stars darling Dachshund Kassi, whose mom is Kari Finkler of Mod-Dog, “modern art for modern pets.” (I recently bought their oh-so-mod Cavalier King Charles Spaniel notecards for a fellow Cav mom.)

Check it out! Isn’t it pretty?

Dog-friendly patios & events, doggy DNA test, plus a chance to win BIG! http://eepurl.com/bz-O

Village Green's Lake Calhoun apartments

Village Green, which owns six apartment buildings in the area, takes the task of being dog-friendly very seriously, with units that any pup (or hip owner) would love to live in. Kim Burggraaf, who works in Village Green’s Minnesota offices, breaks down exactly what makes their apartments a great place for a dog to come home to:

• Affordable pet rent at $20 per month
• Social events for dogs and their owners
• A “dog-sitting exchange program” in which the company keeps a list of dog owners who are interested in exchanging pet-sitting/pet-walking services with another resident. Kim and company are working on setting up play dates as well with this information.
• Dog treats in every office for furry residents
• Locations near dog parks, courtyards, and walking trails (like Lake Calhoun and Loring Park in Minneapolis)
• Wood flooring at two of their locations, which makes cleaning up accidents a breeze

“Overall, we just know how important dogs are in the lives of our residents and are therefore implement everything we can to make them feel just as welcomed in our community as the owners,” says Burggraaf. “We love our doggie residents too!”

Samson: An enigma no more.

Jason Hastings often wondered, and finally got an answer when he received a full doggie DNA testing procedure as a gift. When Hastings adopted Samson, a 9-week-old mixed breed, he had any number of guesses as to the dog’s genetic background, which remained a mystery for 8 years. Most importantly, Samson grew to be healthy, friendly and loyal, but a nagging question turned into a great gift idea, with a little help from the folks at Lake Harriet Veterinary.

“It was a great gift,” says Hastings. “I was surprised by the pamphlet that came with it, which broke down all the results. This was extremely valuable information.” It turns out that Samson gets his good looks from a mix of Labrador Retriever, Rottweiler, German Shepherd, and American Eskimo.

Dr. Cathy Sinning of Lake Harriet Veterinary, who has performed the test, explains that (should your curiosity take over) your vet will take a blood sample from your mystery mutt and send it into the company, who will analyze it, send your vet a basic report and send you a more formal, extensive report with your dog’s family history exposed at last.

“Most people use it for curiosity or fun,” Sinning says. At-home doggie DNA kits are also available, but are considered less accurate by some since they generally use a swab test instead of a blood sample.