What's the Deal?

Some of you may be asking, what's the deal? Where have you been? No new blog posts as of late! Well I have been quite busy over the fall season. Not just with Poooh Busters but with Canine Correction, and a few personal projects. Not to mention, losing weight (planned meals and a fitness regime), rescuing a dog and a cat, my Mom's passing and on and on...

I am happy to report that Poooh Busters has in all this, had a stellar year so far. So much has happened in 2009 it's hard to know where to begin. How about a point form list? Apparently, lists are a part of my personality profile.

January 2009

• The team started off the year with very bad weather and lots of snow.
• We handed out our new complimentary 2009 calendar to our loyal customers.

March 2009

• I decide to step forward and become a larger presence on the Poooh Busters Team.
• The Team geared up for the annual Calgary Pet Expo.

April 2009

• We worked hard at the 2009 Calgary Pet Expo and announced the winner of our pet expo draw for a free year of pet waste removal service.
• The field team, Roland and Erin, struggled through more bad weather and snow dumps but provided service with a smile when they could.
• I decided to create a blog for the company in order to increase my online presence and as an attempt to keep our customers up-to-date on the happenings of the team.
• Mrs. Big Nate and I decide to adopt a rescue dog named Oscar from a crappy and now defunct resue society. Dog good, whole experience, BAD!

May 2009

• Me and the Mrs. attend the Humane Society's Annual Dog Jog. We raised over $600 on behalf of the team!

June 2009

• I decide to increase the Poooh Busters newsletter from one page to two pages.
• The team gets a call from the Federal Government stating that we must now start collecting GST...booo, hisss!
• I decide now is the time to get in the online game and create a Twitter account and a Facebook group.
• Our family loses our beloved cat, Monster. We still miss her dearly.

August 2009

• Poooh Busters launches their first month of collecting GST and becomes a truly recognized, small business.
• Roland asks me to start looking into how we can provide enhancements to our website allowing clients to pay online.
• My wife and I adopt a little kitten from the Humane Society. Chloe is a handful and we love having her in our family. Well everyone except Mojo.

September 2009

• We launch our first crack at online payments through Paypal.ca. It was a bit of a learning curve at first but we found it to be very beneficial to our customers.
• Poooh Busters and Canine Correction strike a deal and aquire Pet Ala Mode. This company provides personal dog walking and professional dog sitting services. All business is handled through our company but Caroline provides the service. Welcome aboard Caroline and Cam. Here we GROW again!

October 2009

• I worked very hard to set up online payments with a company called BeanStream.com. We were aboe to integrate our site into their payment system so payments are now seamless. No more Paypal in your face! And with that we were also able to implement Interac Online. The only drawback is that it is still very new and not all banks are online with it yet. Currently only BMO, TD, RBC and Scotia participate. If you bank with another company like CIBC or ATB, you're stuck using Visa or Mastercard.

November 2009

• The field team buy a new house and move head office to SE Calgary! Roland and Erin are very excited to have purchased a home together and are moving there as I write these words. Congratulations!

Well it has been a very exciting and eventful year so far. Still another 6 weeks to go. We are already planning for the 2010 Pet Expo and we are getting close to producing our complimentary calendars. The calendars feature the Poooper of the Month for each month in 2009. We love this little project and hope everyone finds the calendar fun and useful.

I'm going to try and keep up on my blogs and updates more frequently. So till next time, take care!

No excuse not to spay and neuter your pets!

Alright I have to get on my soapbox today. It was brought to my attention that an incident occurred recently where there are two small dogs living together in the same household. One attacked the other and cause severe damage and injury to the other one. Guess why? At least guess why the onwers though it happened.

They blame it on the fact the attaking dog is a bitch in heat. Something triggered the attack but the root cause is because the bitch is not her normal, tolerant self while in heat. The vicitm dog is fine and recovering nicely but at what cost to his or her mental stability towards the other dog, not to mention to the owners who had pay a hefty sum to their vet to repair the damage and provide mediciations?

What's the lesson here people? Spay and neuter your animals immediately upon receiving them or as soon as safely possible depending on their young age. This incident just another reason to get this responsible act done!

Let's see what other reasons could there possibly be?

1. Health risks with pregnancy and birthing

• try watching a birthing video first and see if you still want to go down this road
• the mother may need a cesarean section

2. Even one litter sounds like a good idea until considering what adding 12 new puppies to your family really means

• you and you alone are responsible for the entire litter
• can you guarantee quality home for all the puppies/kittens?
• if not are you prepared to own more than one dog/cat afterwards?

3. The cost of the extra veterinary care

• check ups, shots, and deworming-for 12 dogs
• the puppies may need substantial veterinary care

4. The state of current dog and cat overpopulation epidemic

• one female dog and her offspring can produce more than 4,000 offspring in only 7 years.
• for cats, that number is more like 400,000
• only one puppy or kitten of every nine born will find homes, the rest will likely be euthanized

5. Offers several key health benefits for the animal

• spaying your pet before her first estrous cycle, or "heat," greatly reduces her chances of developing breast cancer and eliminates the risk of uterine and ovarian cancers
• neutering your male can increase your dog's longetivity; why did Spot cross the road? He loved the ladies on the other side.
• 80 percent of dogs hit by vehicles every year are unneutered males
• testicular cancer and prostate problems commonly afflict unneutered male dogs
• neutered males are far less aggressive because they are less territorial (apparently so are female dogs)

There are really not many excuses to not spay your pet. Any shelter and most reputable breeders will require that you agree to have the dog spayed or neutered. Even if your have an older adult dog or cat, it is never too late to spay or neuter. The health benefits decrease the longer you wait, but a little benefit is better than none at all.

So to those who say "it's not natural" or "I want to breed my dog ", I say grab a brain, get realistic and be a responsible pet owner...NOW!

Pardon my venting but I'm quite passionate about this subject and the recent news of this attack has really made me feel the need to get this message out to anyone who will read it.

Taking Online Payments Sooner Than We Thought!

Things moved a bit faster than I expected! I was able to create a payments page on the Poooh Busters website and add a few links to get to it throughout the site.



So if you are a customer of Poooh Busters and wish to make a payment using your credit card, please be sure to visit our Payment Page and start using our very convenient online, credit card processing.



As I stated before, we are using Paypal to process our payments for us so it is very secure and we never see your credit card number or personal information. Just please be aware that when going to our customized payment site on Paypal, it may appear as if you need a Paypal account to continue but you don't. Just click the "Continue" link beside the credit card symbols. See example.



Poooh Busters wants to thank all it's loyal clients for the conitnued support and patronage!

Taking Online Payments Soon!

Well Poooh Busters is moving into another new era of online technology. We are going to start using the Paypal online payment service to process payment transactions!

We are doing this for a couple of different reasons but the main one is for the convenience of our customers. It's always easy to get on our computers and fire off a payment while you're thinking about it. It's fast, convenient and immediate!

Right now when payments are due, our loyal clients are asked to do crazy things like leave a cheque (or even cash if they prefer) in the backyard somewhere, the BBQ, the mailbox, etc. This is not really a safe thing to do. The envelopes get lost, stolen, blown away, rained or snowed on, or chewed up by the dog (yes that has really happened). Not to mention, our customers have to try and remember to leave the envelope out on pickup day. That can be a difficult thing to do given our very busy lives and schedules. And you have to dig up an envelope in the first place. I know I don't always have one lying around when I need one!

So Roland and Erin at Poooh Busters asked ole' Nate to come up with a way for our customers to easily make their payments without the risk involved with leaving cheques or cash stashed away in the yard somewhere. I looked into a few options and Paypal seemed like a good idea for present moment and situation. Poooh Busters is still not big enough to get into accepting credit cards just yet. There all kinds of hoops to jump through as a business to get to that point as well as the fees involved when processing transactions. Also our business account at the bank does not allow for personal email money transfers, so that option is out too.

Paypal.ca allows us to process credit card transactions immediately without any hassle. As we move forward, we will also be able to accept interac online but we're just taking this first step for credit cards until we get our feet wet and test the waters.

Well there you have it! Our latest news is exciting and we can't wait to give it a try. Once everything is finalized and I get a new payment page added to our website, we'll announce it here, on our news page and in our monthly newsletter. Probably throw it up on Twitter and Facebook just to be safe.

How far would you go for your dog?

We all love our dogs. Usually that means putting up with any problems they may have either physically or mentally. For every dog their is a "thing" that we as owners must work at managing. Some bark, or get into the garbage, or runaway, some jump up and are so energetic they are hard to control. Some dogs tear up furniture, walls and floors, or dig up the yard. Some even have serious aggression issues with their food, towards people and other dogs. Some aggression issues have been so intense that they have even killed other dogs.

In my house, our dog Oscar, pees in the house. He's not marking, he just doesn't think to ask to go outside when he gets the urge to relieve himself. He'll happily go outside but only when told to. So we manage this by crating him at night and during the day when we are at work. If we go out for an hour or two, we just make sure we let him out and 9 out of 10 times the house is still pee-free when we get home. It's just something we have to deal with. He came to us this way and we must take the bad with the good. There may be some training we could do I'm sure, but it's impossible to catch him in the act. He's very stealthy when it comes down to it!

My point is, I am impressed with how far some people will go when dealing with their dog's problems. My dog's problems are nothing compared to someone with a dog who gets out of the yard, happens upon another dog walking with their owner and a confrontation ensues where the poor innocent dog on his happy walk gets killed. Can you imagine? I love walking my dogs every day but I don't know what I would do if this happened to me.

Let's look at it from the other side. Here is an owner that has a dog with serious aggression problems. They love this dog. He is a gentle, loving animal that played as a puppy, grew up in front of his owners eyes and is as loyal to them as the day is long. This dog has toys and loves to run and jump and play. But for some reason, when he is around other dogs, the owners have to watch their loving dog turn into an uncontrollable monster they don't recognize. So what do they do? They try their best to manage their dog's behaviour, they love their dog and they aren't going to just throw him out like so much garbage because he has issues. They fight for him.

As many of you know, the owner and operator of Poooh Busters is Roland Pearson. Well you may or may not know that he also is an expert dog trainer who runs a company called Canine Correction. I invite to visit his site and you'll see what a wonderful service he provides to people who face the kind of situation as I just described. He helps people who on their last hope at saving their beloved dog's life. Those dogs that seem hopeless, especially after having just killed another dog.

I want to share with you a story of one of Roland's recent training clients. The folks that contacted him were at their wit's end. Their dog had so many issues they were having a hard time managing everything. This dog cam with many challenges:

• barked at the doorbell,
• would run away when it time to clip his nails,
• would jump at and eat any food that even came near the floor,
• would nervously growl and bark whenever strange noise would occur around the house,
• wouldn't stay to save his life,
• leads and pulls his leash when on a walk,
• excitedly jumps on visitors the come to the home,
• would shake and quiver when his owner would chew gum
• and eventually got out, happened across a small dog and inadvertantly killed it

It was very quick and happened in a blink of an eye, a simple grab and shake. I'm sorry to paint such a gruesome picture but I want to make the simple point that every dog has a fighting chance to become a good, respectful and well-behaved dog if we fight for them and give them the chance.

The owner called Roland following the incident, after he found the Canine Correction website and knew Roland could help. He generally wanted to save his dog's life knowing that his dog is not the monster that comes out in him around other dogs. Roland agreed to help him and they together have been working with the dog since mid-July. It has been only two weeks of Roland providing the owner with the know-how and tools to train his dog and recognize him as a pack animal that needs leadership. Now this dog is almost a completely different animal.

As part of the training program, Canine Correction asks the owners to take time and write an email every now and then to update them on their progress. This particular owner writes, "Just wanted to give you an update as to my progress with our homework training. There has been significant changes around the house with less tension, fear, and worrisome which I used to feel. We trained for a couple hours yesterday and a few hours today. Well, today I had the leash on him and later I took it off but he was still following me around the house and sitting next to me and just starring at me like he is waiting for me to tell him what his next move should be. He hasn't barked when the door bell rings, or goes crazy when I chew gum." The client goes on to say, "I've had friends come over and they tell me he is a different dog."

So let's give this tragic story the attention it deserves. An owner who saw potential in his "last chance" dog and didn't give up on him. Instead of giving up, he got Roland's help and in return saved his dog's life.

Big Nate ain't so big no more!

Well what can I say? It's been a long road but we're getting there!

Mrs. Big Nate and I decided one year ago this month that it was time to do something about our health...well, our weight to be more specific. More about this in a minute but you might wonder why do I call myself "Big Nate"?

I got the nickname Big Nate from my friend and yours, Roland. He and a few of our co-workers at the time gave me the now infamous nickname, Big Nate when I was tipping the scales around 260 lbs. The name comes from the NFL football player, Nate Newton. I don't follow NFL but apparently this guy is huge. Well, see for yourself, here he is in all his glory! I guess he also is famous for being busted a couple times for possession of large amounts of marijuana. I'm talking like 175 to 213 lbs worth. Looks like Nate Newton does everything big! But just to get the record straight, I got the nickname due to my size and not because of any type of involvement with narcotics.

Anyway, the nickname stuck and I have taken advantage of using it for my alias as writer of this blog, the Poooh Busters newsletter and as webmaster of the Poooh Busters and Canine Correction websites.

But the point of today's blog is to say that I had allowed myself to creep even further up the scales where I reached 284 lbs. I dread to think about where I would have been if my wife and I had not brought Mojo home 4 years ago. We were dedicated in walking him almost every day and I hate to think how much more I would have weighed if we had not been walking the 30 to 60 minutes every night. So for those of us who have dogs, be sure to use them to help you increase your activity levels and healthy lifestyle. They don't mind...really they don't. If fact they need it as much as we do, if not more.

As I mentioned earlier, my wife and I decided to take some serious action towards our goal to lose weight. Mojo was helping to keep us from getting completely out of hand but we needed even more to get us to our goal. We signed up for a boot camp last July and it was the best thing we ever did! It started us on the road to a healthy, active lifestyle that we are still following today. The pic of us here on the right was taken in Mexico a couple a years ago. We were well on our way to becoming the heaviest both us has ever been in our lives! I was wearing XXXL shirts and size 48 to 50 pants. I couldn't do a flight of stairs without getting winded and I pretty much refused to run for my bus. Screw it, I'll catch the next one! Mrs. Nate was into size 22 and was purchasing 3X clothing from stores like Additionelle and Pennington's.

I won't kid you, boot camp was the hardest and most physically challenging thing I ever attempted. The first day we were told to run a kilometre and time how long it takes. Right! A 284 lb, 41 year old man who has never run for anything is now going to attempt a one kilometre run as part of a fitness test. It was the longest 7 minutes, 31 seconds of my life. Well after six weeks at three nights a week, I had lost almost 30 lbs and completed my one kilometre run in five minutes, 50 seconds! After that, we joined the Running Room's Learn-to-Run clinic, where we learned to run properly and at the end of that six weeks, ran a 5 km race. I finished the five k's in just under 39 minutes. After that, we started to sign up for cardio classes, body sculpting classes, step classes, and even dusted off our bikes to go for hour long bike rides. We started eating better and eating less. It just got easier and easier the longer we kept it up.

Of course during this whole time, we were doing our nightly walks with both Mojo and Oscar to add to all the other activities we were doing. So to keep this long story from getting longer, so far we have both lost approx. 70 lbs each. It has taken a year to get here but we made it without having any heart attacks or sustaining any major injuries. We still have a ways to go yet, I would like to lose another 45 lbs to get to the doctor recommended weight of 165 lbs for my height and age. Mrs. Nate has about 30 lbs to go. But we'll get there as we have given in to the process and plan to keep our healthy lifestyle well into our senior years!

It can be done if you really want it bad enough. And your dogs will love you for it! Not to mention your loved ones will be happier knowing you might live just a little bit longer.

Dealing With A Death

I think the worst part of owning a pet is the inevitable passing of our fur-friend. Nothing can be done to stop it, it's just a fact of life and something that we all have to go through.

Mrs. Big Nate and I just recently lost our cat, Monster. She was my wife's first pet and it was devastating to her and to me. Monster was a curious and slightly eccentric cat, she was extremely

playful even at her very mature age of 12 years. Her loss was great to us and I'm feeling pangs of hurt as I write these words.

Monster started to show signs of not being herself for a few days. She was still eating and using her litter box but we noticed she was drinking excessivley and wasn't her usual, playful self. She wasn't sleeping in her usual spots and seemed very lethargic. We decided to take her to the vet where they instantly told us that she was extremely sick and directed us to take her to the emergency facility. The "doctor" at our usual office was disturbingly harsh saying that we were neglectful and irresponsible for not bringing her in sooner. This upset my wife immensely! I could get into this more but I won't. Needless to say we are not longer patients of this vet clinic! Anyway, she took Monster to the emergency hospital where we were told that Monster had contracted Chronic Renal Insufficeincy. Check it out here: http://www.felinecrf.com/

The last thing we expected was to leave her there for treatment. Then to make the decision the very next

day to let her go as she wasn't responding to the treatments. It's the worst feeling in the world to tell the vet to euthanize your very best friend. My wife was strong and we decided to be there for it. She held Monster while she passed peacefully without any further pain or discomfort. We stayed in the little room holding her and cried.

But what about those of us who have extreme difficulty dealing with the loss of our beloved dog, cat, bird, reptile, fish, rodent or what have you? Some pet lovers have a much harder time dealing with the loss that others. After all, many of us look at our pets as members of the family, as kids. We hold their lives and well-being in our hands and they rely completely on us for love, care and attention. They in return give us unconditional love and loyalty.

I did some research and found something I'm sure most people could find with a few choice search words in Google. It's a great site and has many helpful ideas to help those of us who have trouble getting over the unexpected loss of our fur-kids. I wanted to share it: http://www.pet-loss.net/index.html

Be sure to check out the 10 tips to coping with loss portion of the website. They have some great ideas for memorial products. Things like this may make things a little easier to deal with.

As for Monster, we are glad to have had her as long as we did. She brought much joy to our lives. We will miss her dearly and she will be forever in our hearts.