The Shiloh Family

Every good blog should begin by introducing you to the thing or person you’ll be reading about, right? Some of you already know us from our Facebook page, so if that’s you, hi! Welcome to our blog!

I thought I would start with a more intimate portrait of Miss Shiloh herself, and of course her furry “siblings” who make up “Shiloh and Company”.

This is Shiloh as a puppy.

You can probably see why I fell so madly in love with her, I mean..just look at that little face! Knowing she’d survived a puppy mill just made me melt that much more.

I had always had male dogs, so a little girl was a new experience, and opened up an entire world I’d hardly given much thought to in the past..dog fashion! Of course, we’d always bought our belated Shih-Tzu sweaters in the Winter, and other basic things like that, but this…this was a whole new world for me, and I got hooked.

By the time Shiloh turned two, she had nearly as many outfits as I did, and I wanted to start my own business. One which would be fun and creative, but would also benefit animals, and thus Shiloh’s Dog Boutique (www.shilohsdogboutique.com) was officially born. I won’t bore you with every little detail, because..they’re boring, but we’ve finally reached a point where we offer a lot of great stuff by various designers, are working toward our own label, and have been blessed to make those monthly donations as we pledge.

We’ve taken part in auctions for rescue groups and for individual causes, such as dogs in need of funds for vet care. We’ve gotten to participate in the celebration for our local dog park’s grand opening. It’s been a bumpy ride at times, and continues to be, but we’re making headway!

Enough about me though, this is supposed to be Shiloh’s intro.

Random Shiloh-ology.

Her middle name is “Rose” because the first time she explored the yard, she marched right up to the rosebushes and took a chomp from one of them.

She had a lazy eye and a gap in her teeth, but grew out of both things.

She doesn’t just love food, she turns into a crazed beast at the sight of it. Ever seen a shark on TV when their eyes roll back as they zoom toward the bait? That’s her with a cookie.

You cannot say the word ‘cookie’ around her unless you intend to give her one. Instead, we actually spell it, lately I suspect she’s figured that one out, too.

Shiloh does not know how to growl. She makes her ‘ugly face’ which I’m sure she imagines looks very scary and mean, and combines that with odd, random sounds that bring to mind images of a drugged hippo or something. She just looks like a demented Jack O Lantern when she does that, so naturally, we laugh. Don’t tell the dog trainer..he thinks we’re scolding her each time.

When Shiloh walks, her back end just naturally sways. Yes, she has booty. I’m always tempted to make Youtube videos of her walking to the tune of “Lady Humps” but remind myself that it would be inappropriate. Or..would it? Yeah, no that’s probably in bad taste, but I still sing it to her when I’m walking behind all that jiggly fluff.

And this, is our darling Oliver (“Ollie”). We adopted him from a shelter in Orange County CA when he was about two years old. They said he’d been a stray. Whomever lost this precious boy, it was certainly our gain!

Ollie is about five years old now, and this photo pretty much sums things up! He’s a perfect lounging companion, howls along with squeaky toys, tolerates his adoring ‘baby sister’ Shiloh like a good sport, and is just generally an absolute joy. A pudgy little pooh bear. A perfect pumpkin every Halloween thanks to his roundness. He loves car rides, but you must always lock the window button or he WILL find a way to step on the buttons, then, when the window comes down, he kind of tries to make a break for it. We had at least one terrifying moment in the car before realizing it was no accidental fluke. Evil genius can take many forms, you know.

Oliver inspires me to design soft, comfortable hoodies for the full-figured gentleman. As you can see, he rocks those clothes.

This is Pippi, our little redheaded wonder.

(Halloween Costume day at agility class)

I was volunteering for a local dog rescue group when they called one day to ask if I could go to the South Los Angeles animal shelter to get this little six month old puppy. “She has a broken leg and has been there for three weeks.” They told me. Before I could say anything, they added “If no one picks her up by 4 today, they’re going to kill her.”

We took her in as a temporary foster. She immediately saw an orthopedic surgeon and had her leg repaired. She was spayed and received all of her vaccinations. We took care of her cast changes, check ups, x rays..the constant battle just to keep the darn cast ON her little leg for four week or so..and did our best to foster her. Temporarily.

That was two years ago or so now, so I suppose we failed Fostering. We have no regrets.

Pippi is our very feisty one (redheads!) and tends to play mother hen with the other dogs even while she kind of pushes them around sometimes. She loves agility and is an absolute natural, and is a very good listener. She definitely makes life more interesting.

Speaking of interesting..meet our failed attempt at Fostering II.

Jax!

Jax was rescued from a shelter after being left there by his former owner (backyard breeder). His brother had already been adopted, and there was Jax. Sound asleep and pretty oblivious to everything going on around him. I took him because he supposedly already had a home waiting, but when that fell through, I wasn’t too sorry over it. Jax is one of a kind! He finds mischief everywhere, and is constantly making us laugh. He has this constant expression of wide-eyed confusion, but I think he’s smarter than he lets on. Very sweet, affectionate, silly and just so much fun. Shiloh does not like anyone disturbing her when she’s sleeping, so naturally he does it all the time, and is rewarded with her ‘ugly face’ for his efforts. No one can rock a hat like our Jax!

Our home is full. With love, with laughter..with dogs. We have our limit, so you can see why I choose now to show my support for rescue in a more financial and less literal way. We are endlessly grateful to each and every customer, not only for being our customers, but because they make our donations possible. They may be small some months, but we hope to see them become larger and larger as Shiloh’s Dog Boutique, and her upcoming clothing line, Shiloh and Company progress.

Without you, we couldn’t do anything. When you buy a sweater or collar or even a squeaky toy from Shiloh’s, you do so much more than that. You are a vital part of what we do as a company, and as dog lovers, and we hope you will always be proud of what you help to accomplish.

We heart you!

The entries to follow will likely revolve around news, updates, and recounting another crazy day with our beloved furballs, so I just thought we’d cover the important stuff in this one.

xoxoxoxoxo

www.shilohsdogboutique.com

Find us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/ShilohsBoutique

 

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