Amy and Kelly Wise are Cleaning Up in Houston, Texas

Amy and Kelly Wise are owners of the Houston, Texas DoodyCalls franchise. 

When Amy was pregnant with their now 6-month-old daughter, the Wises began to search for a business that would allow her to work from their home.  She attended a small business seminar and she reasoned that providing a service people generally did not like to perform would offer a great business opportunity.  From a Web site devoted to moms who work at home, Amy learned about the pet waste removal business and then she searched the Web and discovered DoodyCalls.  It appeared uncomplicated -- few moving parts – and after the Wises met Jacob and Susan they decided to join the DoodyCalls family.  Now Amy has the freedom to build a business and the flexibility to  care for her family – two children, two dogs, and Kelly.

Before becoming the owner and manager of a DoodyCalls franchise, Amy, 37, enjoyed a successful career in real estate for 14 years and a 4- year career in pharmaceutical sales.  While working in real estate full time and a single mom, Amy earned an undergraduate degree in sales and marketing from the University of Houston.  She thanks God and the support of her family for this accomplishment, which she believes would otherwise have been impossible.  Husband Kelly, 38, holds a degree from Texas A&M University and is employed as a sales representative for a major electrical parts distributor.  Amy and Kelly do volunteer work at their church and at various school events with their son.

Experienced in the commercial real estate business, marketing, and sales, Amy will be making presentations before the executives of some of the major apartment companies in her territory.  Rather than starting at the base, she’s starting at the top.  Her energy, education, and experience are bound to bring her success.  She thinks anyone purchasing a DoodyCalls franchise should have persistence, a ready sense of humor, and flexibility.  She stays fit with Jazzercise and in the family’s home gym.  Kelly played football in high school and now coaches Little League.

The Wises are proud to be building a business of their own.  Amy says that security and a high corporate salary do not go hand-in-hand, nor do they promise that a family will be happy and prosper.  DoodyCalls is one of those business opportunities that offer a way of life that appeals to those who put family first and have the energy and self-confidence to work for themselves.  The Wise’s opened their franchise in September 2006.  Even though the ink on their franchise agreement is barely dry, Amy is already thinking about purchasing additional territories and is convinced that the business will be a huge success.

Traveling Dogs

Search and Find

Kids! Click here to find the hidden words for “dog” in different languages. See if you can circle all the foreign words.

DoodyCalls is Proud to Partner with PetSummary.com

PetSummary.com helps you organize your pet’s vital information. Free trial!

Has your vet asked you questions about your pet’s health you were unable to answer?  If you weren’t present, how would someone know the medications she needs?  If your pet were lost, would the person who found her know how to reach you?  Do you long for a convenient way to tell pet sitters about her?

Being organized isn’t always easy – even if it’s to help someone you love.  In fact, the co-founder of PetSummary.com says the idea for the service “came from a simple idea – helping [his] aging grandmother cope with all her medical needs.”

Wouldn’t it be great if all vital -- sometimes life-saving -- information were gathered in a single place, on a single card, or a few key strokes away?  Sure, you can promise yourself you’ll collect this information, but PetSummary.com will make certain you do.  PetSummary.com is pleased to offer DoodyCalls’ customers a coded-coupon (use CLEANUP as the code when signing up) for a free 60-day trial to its PetSum Card service.

PetSummary.com subscribers use their PetSum Card™  to organize and share contact information, daily routines, medications, comments and more; access and print their pet’s authentic vaccine records from any online computer; and communicate as much up to date information as they wish about their lost pet with the Guardian Pet Tag™.

Piling on the Pounds

Dogs and their owners often resemble each other.  And we’re not just talking about fluffy hair and a goofy grin! 

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), over the last 20 years the percentage of overweight adults in the U.S. has doubled.  The picture for overweight kids is even worse, tripling for adolescents and quadrupling for younger school age children.  It’s no surprise that up to 35 percent of our furry family members are either overweight or obese. 

Recently, two brothers in England were charged with animal abuse.  Their crime?  Overfeeding their dog Rusty until he “looked like a seal” and could only walk a few yards before becoming breathless.  Although the brothers denied overfeeding him, once removed from their home, Rusty lost an impressive 49 pounds. 

The problem of plump pooches has not gone unnoticed by Pfizer Inc, which brought Slentrol™ (dirlotapide) to market: the first diet pill for dogs.  Although the pill is reported to reduce appetite and fat absorption to produce weight loss, even Pfizer doesn’t recommend abandoning exercise and diet.  And side effects are possible:  the drug comes with a warning that your dog might experience vomiting, loose stools, diarrhea or lethargy while on the medication.  Supporters of the new drug see it as another tool to help control canine corpulence.  Opponents remind us that there is truth in the phrase “no quick fix” when it comes to obesity, and it is our job to help our pets live long and healthy lives by providing lots of physical activity and the right amount of nourishing food.

An excellent pamphlet, Your Dog’s Nutritional Needs: A Science-Based Guide For Pet Owners, provides an easily understood comprehensive guide to good feeding practices and healthy canine diets.  It’s available free atthe link above.  Based on Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats, issued by the National Research Council as part of its Animal Nutrition Series, it recommends judging your dog’s weight by his look and feel.  Your dog is probably overweight if :

• You can see fat deposits on his  back and at the base of his tail
• You can’t feel his ribs
• He has no waist behind the ribs when viewed from above
• He has no abdominal tuck in profile  

Most of us will admit that it makes us happy to see our pets’ enthusiasm for the food we provide.  It’s so easy to slide that leftover cheeseburger off the serving dish and into the dog dish, where your buddy has been waiting so hopefully.  However, according Your Dog’s Nutritional Needs, only 989 calories a day are required by the average sedentary 50-pound dog, and your cheeseburger snack weighs in at almost half that, at 461 calories!  It’s hard to resist soft, pleading eyes and a wagging tail, but tough love is needed.  Overweight dogs suffer many of the serious health problems that overweight humans do, including diabetes and painful osteoarthritis.  Poor health can quickly turn your fun loving friend into a very old dog.

Overfed and under-exercised dogs need to eat smaller meals, skip those table scraps and increase activity.  However, rapid weight loss and strenuous exercise can be dangerous for an overweight dog.  Consult your veterinarian about planning a safe weight loss program, and then get moving!  As much as your dog loves snacks, he’ll love going for a walk with you even more.

A Sensitive Children's Story, With an Unlikely Character

Imagine if you were a piece of doggy poo.  How would you feel?  Even a hen scorns you as food for her chicks.  To make matters worse, a clump of earth beside you in the road tells you that you’re the worst kind of poo: you’re a doggy poo.  If doggy poo were not an inanimate object, but a thinking feeling being, how could he escape feeling awful?  Being considered worthless and disgusting by others – expressed through their constant repulsion and rejection -- is not a self-esteem builder, nor is it likely to teach one his role in the cosmos.

Yet everything has a reason for being – a usefulness – and when that usefulness is realized – fulfillment is achieved.  This is the essential lesson of the 34-minute vivid claymation video, Doggy Poo (Central Park Media and the Korean studio Itasca).  Also explored is the capriciousness and inevitability of death.  These lessons are taught through a folktale, whose characters range from a talking piece of dog excrement to a talking leaf, wild bird, hen, dandelion sprout, and clump of earth.  The film is based on the 1968 children’s book by South Korean author Jung-Saeng Kwon, who lived through an early life of poverty and pain to become a well-known children’s author.  The tale is told to a beautiful and  plaintive score composed and played by the brilliant South Korean New Age pianist Yiruma.  A separate music disc accompanies the retail version of the video.  Doggy Poo is available on DVD in an English version and in a Korean version with English subtitles.  The latter best captures the sensitivity of the topics explored.

This video is not for everyone.  It proceeds very slowly, and visual techniques are not well blended in a familiar manner.  But for families wanting to explore difficult issues with children and willing to accept a talking piece of excrement as an avatar of understanding, it will be a very big surprise.  This little poo (and his creator) have plenty of reasons to be proud.  Parents who give Doggy Poo a chance will find it a sensitive tool with which to explore a host of topics – including the inevitability of death as well as rebirth and transformation.  Doggy Poo won the “Best Pilot Prize” in 2003 at the Tokyo International Anime Fair and the Viewer’s Choice Award in 2003 at the Big Apple Anime Fest.

We haven’t given the story away, although we’ve sketched the lessons it teaches.  Doggy Poo may be purchased at online stores such as Amazon.com, rented at some “brick and mortar” establishments, and borrowed by Netflix subscribers.  Visit the official Doggy Poo Web site, and also search Doggy Poo in Google Video.  Doggy Poo has become a bit of pop culture – the video even has an entry in the Wikipedia.