Fetch! Pet Care Featured in Entrepreneur Magazine

Fetch! Pet Care was recently featured in Entrepreneur Magazine in an article titled, "Disaster Response," that is running in the March 2013 issue.

The article, which leads with Fetch! Pet Care, talks about how businesses rose to the challenge and helped provide above and beyond services in their communities hard hit by Hurricane Sandy. As a local businessowner wanting to help, Ed and Janice talked about their story housing their customer’s pets at their own home so the pet’s owners could seek shelter for themselves, mostly in hotels not allowing pets. The article also talks about how Ed conserved much-needed gas for the community by bicycling to customer’s homes to make sure they were OK and to ensure their pets were serviced as well. Overall, this showed how amazing Fetch owners stepped up and made a difference in assisting their customers during this disaster. This was a great story to be told!

To view a PDF of the full article, click HERE or begin reading below:

Disaster Response

By: Jason Daley

The dogs started arriving the morning after the storm. As people awoke to the reality that their homes were flooded, or damaged by high winds, or that the electricity wouldn't be turned back on anytime soon, they began dropping off their pets at Ed and Janice Saxton's home before seeking out that rare hotel with a vacancy. 

Soon the Saxtons, owners of a Fetch! Pet Care franchise and one of the lucky families in Bergen County, N.J. that didn't lose power during the Superstorm Sandy, were sheltering nine dogs. 

At one point, Ed remembers, there were six pups crowded onto the foot of their bed. "I don't think anybody could have prepared for what the hell happened," he says. "It was brutal for a lot of families. Our inconvenience was insignificant compared to what happened to other people."

Fetch! Featured on The Urban Mutt

Fetch! Pet Care Chicago was featured on an episode of the web series The Urban Mutt.

In the video, Urban Mutt host Chad takes his dog Guinness to the Wicker Dog Park in Chicago, IL. In the video, Fetch! Chicago representatives speak about the history of the franchise and its fast paced growth, including over 20,000 clients, along with many services offered from hotel to in-home sitting. An important focus of the video is the fact that keeping the pets in their routine is of the utmost importance, from a routine sitter and walker to anti-kennel boarding that doesn't remove the dog from the comfort of its own home. And not just dogs! Cats, rabbits, ferrets and guinea pigs are all taken care of by this diverse staff.

The real stars of the video? The pets! You'll be able to see a group of dogs who are a part of Fetch!'s group exercise that allows social dogs to get interaction with other furry friends - a great change from the solitary walks many dogs may be accustomed to.

A wonderful job done by the team at Fetch! Pet Care Chicago, and many thanks to Chad and the Urban Mutt team for their wonderful interview. To view the video click HERE or view it below:

Chicago Fetch! Fans

From Facebook to flyers, there are lots of ways to advertise a business. But when you're dealing with pet lovers, sometimes the best bet is to simply let the proud parents speak. Fetch! of the Greater Chicago has created a new video that does just that. Listen to what these satisfied customers have to say about the quality care given to their furry friends by Fetch!'s awesome sitters.

Did you hear that? Your pets don't even have to leave home to get great care while you're away. Our sitters come to them, whether it's an overnight stay or just a walk mid-day. Even the tortoise felt the love. Those of you with anxious animals no longer have to fear boarding them for extended periods when you have a last-minute business trip. Even post-surgery, the delicate care of our sitters is sure to have your pet feeling fine in no time!

To find a Fetch! near you, check our locations website HERE.

Bigger is Better?

The American Kennel Club has released their list of the nation's most popular breeds. While the Labrador retriever retained its #1 spot for the 22nd year in a row, the list shows some interesting finds. Larger breeds are on the rise, while the once-popular smaller breed slid down the ranks. The German shepherd was again runner-up, but the golden retriever rose to third, dropping the smaller-sized beagles to fourth. The bigger bulldog surpassed the tiny Yorkie to round out the top five.

Regionally, Labradors even managed to swoop the top spot in NYC, where the Yorkie dropped from first to fifth. However, German shepherds took Chicago's most popular spot where they're increasingly popular among families in addition to police, guard and military personnel.

The Labrador's two-decade reign seems almost unbeatable, and yet, the poodle also held the top spot for 22 years from the 1980s through the 1990s. Perhaps the bonsai hair grooming became too much to maintain for pet owners.

To find the most popular breed in your city, check the AKC's stats by clicking HERE.

FETCH! Pet Care featured in the Times Free Press

In the article, Will Feldman, owner of Fetch! Pet Care in Chattanooga discussed his background, his pets and his new Fetch! Pet Care opening in Chattanooga. He explains why he wanted to bring the Fetch! brand to the Chattanooga area, and talks about his future expansion, development and overall marketing plans.

Click HERE for the full feature, or begin reading below.

Small Biz: Fetch! offers insured, in-home services for pets

By: Shelly Bradbury 

Name: Fetch! Pet Care of Chattanooga.

Owner: Will Feldman.

Website: chattanooga.fetchpetcare.com.

Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

Opening: Feb. 1.

Staff: Between three and six insured, background-checked pet-sitters.

Services: "We offer dog walking; in-home care for dogs, cats, fish, reptiles; yard cleanup. If they're out of town we could change the lights, take the mail in -- basically if the client needs it, we'll provide it," Feldman said.

The Name Game

Everybody remembers begging their parents for a puppy. You probably created lists or PowerPoints about how you would take care of it, and how you would schedule play time after homework, and how you would never forget to feed your new love.

But I remember one thing that was the most exciting:

Getting to name the puppy.

I created lists, just like you would a newborn baby, and practiced calling them out loud across the yard to see which had the best ring. I wanted to beam with pride every time I called my pup's name because I had chosen it myself.

It's been years since I named my dog (Serge, short for Sergeant), and I began to wonder

What are the most popular dog names? Books upon books are dedicated to baby names, but how are we picking names for our dogs? Of course, I didn't have to look much deeper than the Huffington Post. All I have to say is

How dare we subject our dogs to Twilight.

MOST POPULAR PUPPY NAMES OF 2012

New Years Pet Resolutions

As 2012 has come to a close we begin to look back at what we have and haven’t accomplished over the past year. It’s a common tradition to make a New Year’s Resolution for yourself. You may think that you need to live a healthier lifestyle by exercising more and eating better, or maybe you’re a procrastinator and want to become more action-oriented.

We don’t often make New Year’s resolutions for anyone other than ourselves, but isn’t it time for New Year’s resolutions for our pets? For example, if we have a weight problem that we would like to solve we can say we’re going to cut out sweets and fatty foods. Our pets can’t do that, but we as pet owners can help them on their path to a useful New Year’s resolution.

Just like humans, pets need to exercise often to stay fit. So if you’ve found that your pet is becoming a bit less active than they used to be, help them get back on track by exercising them more or by hiring a professional pet sitter or dog walker to maintain their daily routine . If you’ve found that your pet is eating more than they used to, change their food to a healthier choice of kibble or wet-food, or make sure you’re not over-feeding them with things such as treats and table scraps.

There are other resolutions that can also help your pet enjoy the New Year. Grooming is another one of the activities, like ample exercise, that we often allow our pets to go too long without. It is an easy thing to forget because it is not ourselves that we are grooming, but pets need to be cleaned too. These ideas are just a jumping off point. If you have any more ideas submit them in the comments section.