Fall Festival

Mark your calendars! On Saturday, October 24th, CBW Pittsburgh South is going to be a happenin' place (or at least, more happenin' than it always is). To raise money for our Spay and Neuter campaign, we are putting on a Fall Festival with the following activities:

-Garage/Bake sale from 8 a.m. to noon (donations of clean, saleable items and baked goods are needed. Contact caity.tarbert@pair.com for details)
-Puppy Patty Bingo (Buy a square on the grid for a one-in-one hundred chance to win $500!)
-Face-painting for the kids
-Halloween costume contest for the dogs
-Pie Bake-off with a guest judge from The Pie Place
-Raffles
...and more!

We'll elaborate upon some of these ideas in later posts, but for now, turn the page on your calendar to October 24th, save the date, and start looking around your house for things to donate to our garage sale!

Books for Sale

An avid reader was generous enough to donate much of her collection to Camp Bow Wow for our garage sale on October 24th. Since she donated so many books, we thought we'd post a few each day on this site and do a presale of sorts. Please leave a comment if you are interested in purchasing a particular book. All proceeds will go to our Bow Wow Buddies/Cesar & Ilusion Millan Foundation campaign. Prices are listed next to each title.

1. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan: paperback, 50 cents
2. I is for Innocent by Sue Grafton: hardback, $1
3. Skipping Christmas by John Grisham: hardback, $1
4. Empire Falls by Richard Russo: paperback, $1
5. She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb: paperback, $1

Buy the whole list for $3.50

We Want Your Stuff!

You may know that we were attempting to plan a pet supply garage sale for sometime in September. Well, we did receive a few very generous donations, but we don't feel like we have enough to do a solely pet-related sale, SO we are now accepting donations of anything that is clean and in good enough condition to sell. Household items, books, clothing -- whatever you would like to re-home. We are planning the sale for October 25th, so please contact caity.tarbert@pair.com by October 20th with any donations. We can pick them up or they can be dropped off at Camp.

Our New Foster Dog

Meet Roscoe, a 4-year-old Golden Retriever. Roscoe's former family said he was "too pushy," but we're not quite sure what they meant by that. All we see is a gorgeous young boy who seems to love both people and other dogs. Roscoe does not have papers, but he appears to be a purebred Golden. He knows how to sit and give his paw.


We will let you know more about Roscoe as we get to know him better. If you'd like to meet him or if you have any questions, please call us at Camp at 412-885-2267.

Fund-raising Ideas

If you'd like to participate in our campaign to raise funds for Bow Wow Buddies/The Cesar & Ilusion Millan Foundation, but you need a few ideas to get you started, look no further. Here are our suggestions for ways to raise money:

-Casual Fridays -- Ask employees to contribute $5 for every Friday remaining in September and October and they will be permitted to wear jeans or dress casually to work on those days.

-Donut/Bagel sale -- Buy bagels and donuts in the morning and sell them for a slightly higher price than you purchased them for. Donate your proceeds.

-Used book/DVD sale - Set up somewhere in your classroom or office and ask people to bring in their gently used books and DVDs. Mark them at reasonable prices and watch the money flow in!

-Pot luck luncheon - Ask coworkers to bring in an item to contribute to a pot luck luncheon. Charge everyone who attends $5 to enjoy the homemade food.

-Chinese auction -- Everyone loves raffles! Ask a few people to donate a basket of goodies valued at 10 to 15 dollars, then sell raffle tickets and pick a winner (or two or three).

-Donation jar - This one is easy! Simply put a jar on your desk and ask people to donate their spare change. You'd be surprised how much you might end up with!

Find lots more creative ideas here. Remember, the sky is the limit, and it all goes to a great cause!

Spay and Neuter is Nothing to Whisper About!

Camp Bow Wow is teaming up with the The Dog Whisperer to raise awareness about the importance of spaying and neutering your pets. From the end of September until October 31st, CBW Pittsburgh South will be working to raise money for Bow Wow Buddies & The Cesar & Ilusion Millan Foundation, and we're asking for your help! We need you to go out into your schools, workplaces, and communities to help us fund-raise. As a thank-you for contributing to our campaign, CBW Pittsburgh South is offering the following incentives:

Level One -- Raise or donate $50 to $100: Receive a free bath for your dog

Level Two -- Raise or donate $101 to $250: Receive a free day of day care

Level Three -- Raise or donate $251 or more: Receive a free night of boarding

The top fund-raiser or donor* for Pittsburgh South will receive their choice of UNLIMITED FREE day care for a month OR five FREE nights of boarding!

There are no limits to how you can raise money, but check back soon for a blog of suggested ideas. Please note that all contributions are due by October 29th to allow us proper calculation time.

Happy fund-raising!

*Top fund-raiser must contribute more than $250 to be eligible for this prize.

Shopping for Your Best Friend

Erin and I manned a booth today at the craft show to benefit the Distinguished Doberman Rescue. Usually we don't sell things at our event booths, but because the whole point of this particular event was to do exactly that, we decided to bring some products along for the haul. We got a lot of looky-loos, many of which had multiple-dog households, but a substantially smaller amount of purchases were rung up through our handy-dandy calculator. I personally think Camp Bow Wow has a unique selection of items for sale, and they are all reasonably priced compared to other pet suppliers in the area, so I'm wondering why we didn't sell more today. Are people spending less on toys and treats for their dogs because of the economy? Are there certain products and brands you prefer because you know your dog enjoys them? What things would you like to see CBW carry for retail? Your feedback is always welcome and appreciated, so please let us know what you like and dislike about our product selection at Camp!

Guard "Lion"

One of our favorite customers forwarded this to us, and we thought other people might find it entertaining...

This is a true story of a garage owner in the Southwest.

He was sick & tired of thugs breaking into his garage shop to steal tools, etc., so he came up with this idea. He put the word out that he had a new "Mexican lion" at the shop that would attack anyone who tried to break in or climb his fence. The would-be thieves saw the “lion” from a distance and fled the scene.

Ingenious guy!