Take Your Dog to Work Day June 26, 2009

I would love for anyone who has participated in this event to share your experience on this blog. While I love animals and am a big fan of adopting pets (all of my pets have been adopted/rescued), I am not sure I am a fan of Take Your Dog to Work Day. I have worked with people who have severe allergies to animals and see how bringning your dog to work could pose a problem. Additionally, I question how productive one can be with not only his or her dog at work, but also many other dogs. I further wonder how "fun" the experience would be for the dog. Of course, he or she would love being with you all day. However, if you are working (attending meetings, responding to email, answering calls, etc) your dog doesn't really get to play with you. Of course, experience has shown me that dogs often just love to be near you. Please share your thoughts.

In honor of our 2-year anniversary, Around Midnight Pet Services is conducting a donation drive for the Loudoun County Animal Shelter during the month of July. The shelter is located on 13 acres of land in Waterford, VA just outside of Leesburg. The shelter has been in existence since 1967 and provides a number of services including:

Providing adoption services for animals in need of homes
Receiving pets that must be given up by their owner
Assisting with the reunification of lost pets and their owners
Providing services to pets who have owners with a documented financial need

The shelter is in need of the following items:

Unopened canned or dry food (for cats and dogs)
Treats
Chew Bones
Peanut butter
Dog collars
Quick release cat collars
Cat Beds
Baby Blankets
Kitty litter
Heavy-duty trash bags
Bleach

Donations can be placed in the designated box at:

Postal Connections (next to Safeway)
43150 Broadlands Center Plaza
Suite 152
Ashburn, VA 20148

Clients of Around Midnight Pet Services may leave their donations with their invoice payments.
For more information regarding the donation drive, please call Crystal of Around Midnight Pet Services at 703-726-9218 or e-mail Crystal at Crystal@AroundMidnight.net

Shortly after Around Midnight Pet Services officially opened for business (in May 2004), the owner, Crystal, was invited to speak to children in the Arlington County foster care system. Crystal worked as a child advocate for many years and welcomed the opportunity. She was one of three on a panel of professionals who were invited to speak about their profession. Many of the youth were fascinated by the idea that they could earn money pet sitting and dog walking. The highlight of the evening for Crystal was when she was briefly reunited with two children with whom she had previously worked. They were doing well.

Last month, Crystal was invited to speak to a group of women at the Bailey's Crossroads Shelter in Falls Church. The goal was for the women to meet and converse with a "real life" entrepreneur. Crystal spoke about why and how she started the business and the pluses and minuses of being your own boss.

This first post is to explain who and what we are. Around Midnight Pet Services is a pet care services company located in Ashburn, Virginia. Primarily, we serve Ashburn, Brambelton, Lansdowne, Leesburg, Reston and Sterling. We offer limited service to South Riding, Oakton and Fairfax. The purpose of this blog is to keep our clients updated (at their convenience and desire) on the activities of the company and to share pet related information. We hope that our clients will share this blog with their friends and family. We invite all of our readers to ask pet related questions, to share pet related information and to comment on pet topics. We hope that you enjoy the blog and we look forward to reading your posts.

Why is the official blog of Around Midnight Pet Services entitled Snuggles' Corner and who is Snuggles?

As the clients of Around Midnight Pet Services know, Midnight was the dog of the company's owner. What many don't know is that Snuggles is the cat who loved to be "Around Midnight." It was time that something was named after Snuggles. (smile)