August 2011

Hi folks! Sorry that this blog has gotten away from us this past year. We will try to do better at keeping you updated on pics, plans and happenings throughout the year. For those of you that don't know, Sharon Kraushaar, was promoted to Manager of Canines Unleashed at the end of 2010. Sharon originally came on board as office manager after working for over 15 years in the office and as a buyer at Andy's Produce. Canines Unleashed had grown so big so fast that my focus had to be on the dogs and unfortunately the office suffered. Sharon came on board and whipped the office into shape with her amazing organizational skills. She also revamped and automated the way we do things up at the front desk and behind the scenes in the office and brought the company into the 21st century. Along the way, it occurred to me that those organizational skills could be put to use organizing the "people" of Canines Unleashed as well. It was at that point that Sharon was promoted to Manager of the company and the re- organization of the entire company began. It was a massive undertaking that would have left a lesser person running for the door but happily we are just now emerging on the other side and even in this economy Canines Unleashed is better and stronger than ever before due in very large part to Sharon. Sadly for us, leaving sometime between now and January will be current management staffer and my daughter, Amy Liberati Rivard. Amy graduated last year from her studies to become a paralegal and has been working for us full time while free lancing part time for various lawyers. She has decided to try to pursue her paralegal work full time. On a happy note : Amy and her husband will also be welcoming their first child in January. Amy has done everything you could possibly do at Canines Unleashed over the years from running the company in my absence, retail supervising, offsite event co-ordinator, website and blog, supervising the back, and of course being the beloved "face of Canines Unleashed", not to mention filling in for any position I needed her for including cleaning positions. There is nothing this girl has been unwilling to do and I will miss her dearly not only as her boss but also as a proud mother. Wherever she lands next, they will not regret it . Please join me in wishing her well with both her new emloyment venture and the new addition to her family. With Amy leaving, I pulled out all the stops to fill a hole in our management team and finally persuaded Jen Edgerton, whom many of our long time customers will no doubt remember, to come back and complete our management team. Jen was one of the people who was instrumental in growing Canines Unleashed from the small company of the old days to the premier dog daycare that you see today. Jen's position will be Supervisor to the pack leaders in the back. She will also be helping us out with front desk duties in the early AM and late PM. Welcome back Jen ! Also, I would like to give a grateful shout out to Alexis and Jenda KwaitkowskI for helping us out this year. Although Jenda left us a year ago to persue a career as a vet tech at Liverpool Village Animal Hospital, she has graciously filled in whenever I call with an emergency temporary vacancy to get us through. Before leaving us for college and LVAH , Jenda had been employed by Canines Unleashed since she was 16 years old. She is also an accomplished artist who has painted our walls with our famous bus and every time I adopt another Dane, she comes back to paint them on the bus. Along the way we luckily acquired Jenda's sister Alexis who left last year to enter college. Alexis came home for the summer and didn't miss a beat in picking up where she left off at Canines Unleashed. I have never met such a natural at this job. She will be leaving for her 2nd year of college this week. These girls are 2 of the hardest working employees we have ever had. A big Thank you to you both for helping us out in our time of need. And a big thank-you to their parents for raising 2 of the greatest ,hardest working, but most of all genuinely nicest kids I have ever met..