*Effective from midnight on 4th January 2020. Full Guidance release HERE*

No matter how much I said to friends and family over the weekend, that I felt another ‘lockdown’ would be announced shortly, I have still had those normal mixed feelings that I know that you will all be going through over the past few hours.
And let’s just say day 1 of healthier eating is out the window and Hotel Chocolat stash has been opened ;0) At least its’ not the gin …. yet!

But having recognised (again) that I can’t control what is going on in our bananas world right now, I’ve spent a few hours working on our Save-Uary campaign that we launched this morning and now finally have some headspace to try and articulate what this means for Millie’s and our furiends.

Related Blogs:

• How to Save Money as a Dog Owner in January: Introducing Save-Uary
• January Monthly Offers: Slow Feed Activity Bowls and Forthglade Wet Dog Food Multipacks

So here goes (and always just holler if you have any questions):

 

 

 

#1 RETAIL SERVICES/OUR SHOP (1D High Street, Carnoustie) – OPEN

We continue to be listed as an essential service and therefore our shop based on the high street will remain open.

This week, our opening hours this week 10 am to 4 pm Tuesday to Saturday and Millie will be hanging out this week with me. I will review our opening hours during the week if we need to amend for the rest of January to take into account any significant increase in deliveries.

One significant change is that we will no longer be able to carry out any close contact fittings. You can still try on harness and dog jackets that we have in stock as we have processes in place to sanitise stock, but we will not be able to do this for you.

UK deliveries will continue to be posted as normal, and if you live more locally there are three options available to you:

• Click and Collect -shop online first then collect from our shop. You can either call us from your car and we’ll bring these out to you (we have a car park at rear suitable) or come into to collect
• Local Delivery – our extended delivery postcode remains in place to cover both Monifieth and Arbroath along with Carnoustie.
• Shop in store. If you do prefer to come into the shop, then a gentle reminder of our existing processes:
  o Only 2 people will be permitted in the shop at any one time and ask that if you can, you shop alone. We have a traffic light outside – red indicates that you need to wait until a customer leaves before entering. I will be re-marking out the outside area and internally within the shop with 2m sections to aid with social distancing.
  o Please make sure you use hand sanitiser before entering. This is attached to the wall before you enter the shop. Just push the bottom of the dispenser and foam will be dispensed. We have an additional unit next to our raw food freezers for you to use, plus bottles at our till area too.
  o You will not be allowed to enter the shop without a mask. We have a spare box at the front door if you do forget (we’ve all been there!).

You’ll find our online shop HERE but as always if you don’t see something you do need, then do call or pop us a message and I’ll get back to you asap.

 

Supply Challenges

Both the UK and much of Europe is continuing to experience issues and delays regarding shipping, loading and landing of containers, this impacts not just finished products but also raw materials. All of our suppliers are continuing to keep us updated with how they are managing the issues.

While we source most of our food via UK suppliers, this continues not to cause any concerns re food supply but is impacting accessories and some treat ranges.

I’m working hard to stay on top of this and happy to help with suggesting alternatives

 

#2  SELF SERVICE DOG WASH – TEMPORARILY CLOSED

Unfortunately, as per tier 4 changes, our self-service dog wash will remain closed throughout January.

 

#3  DOG GROOMING SERVICES – TEMPORARILY CLOSED

I know this is the hardest one for both ourselves and you as pawrents to both understand and deal with the impact closing dog grooming services has.

At present, the “Stay at Home” guidance states a reasonable excuse to go out includes:
• for essential animal welfare reasons, such as exercising or feeding a horse or going to a vet.

And Dog Grooming services are not listed as an essential service either (note the guidance issued in December with full list has not been updated).

It’s for that reason that we can only assume right now that dog grooming services will not be allowed throughout January. But, as you can imagine, the guidance is still being updated and filtered out and could change.

Many different professions will be raising questions and as such it may take a little time to get a definitive answer on this via scot.gov and our local council.

At present, due to leave, we don’t have any dogs booked in until Saturday, so we will not cancel appointments until we do some further checks and will update you asap. Please try to hold off calling about your appointment and we’ll get a call to you asap.

HOWEVER, please do not assume your dog groom will be going ahead soon. If we can groom at all, I suspect it will be welfare grooms only as I will have to manage the risk this presents not only to the team but to you too.

Do get on top of your grooming at home now. Combs are an absolute must and try to focus on those hot spots for matting – legs, tails, ears and underneath their bodies.

Related Blog:

• How Do I Groom My Dog at Home During COVID-19? Dog Face and Eye Tidy at Home
• Why Do I Need to Groom My Dog? 5 Reasons to Groom Your Dog

While it’s likely that our furiends will all have another lockdown short hair ‘trend’ this will be much easier on them if you start to address at home.

I do have a waiting list for those we have already pushed back, so please don’t fear, we have a note and order of dogs that we’ll bring in as soon as we can.

 

 

Tomorrow I will be redirecting our work phone to my mobile during the hours the shop is closed – please do pick up the phone to discuss your dogs coat our any issues whenever you need to. I will help where we can!

As always .. love and hugs to you all. I know that being in the shop and out on deliveries has given me the much needed human and furiends interaction to keep me going so I cannot begin to think about the impact the news may be having to each and every one of you.

Stay safe.

Vicky (and Millie too) xx

 

Related Blogs:

• How to Save Money as a Dog Owner in January: Introducing Save-Uary
• January Monthly Offers: Slow Feed Activity Bowls and Forthglade Wet Dog Food Multipacks
• How Do I Groom My Dog at Home During COVID-19? Dog Face and Eye Tidy at Home
• Why Do I Need to Groom My Dog? 5 Reasons to Groom Your Dog