It's a dog eat dog world, or is it?

This is the first time ever blogging about anything. Why would someone want to read about anything I have to say. So for those that do find this, thanks for taking the time. This blog is about starting and running an online pet boutique for pet lovers who treat their little ones, as kids!

My name is Julie Sterk and I started Fur My Pet in July of 2007 with my mom. We didn't get the website up and running until about Christmas of that year. That was fun! What a learning curve to building your own website! wow! But I did it and I'm very proud of myself. We had to purchase all my inventory before we had the permission to put any pictures online, so talk about an investment. But what were my goals? I don't think I really had any at that time! I was just excited to say I had a company - success or fail!

So the pet clothing and accessories started to pour in and OMG how cute! They are like little baby clothes hahahaha. On a personal concession, I was not one to dress up my dog, but, now, if I had my own little one, I totally would. Okay, so now you are thinking, wait, you didn't like dressing your dog, you don't even have your own pet, then why on earth would I start a pet site? Well the answer to that question is simple. It definitely wasn't about making any kind of money, in fact, we don't even plan to break even for another 5 or more years!!! It is only about one thing. I love animals. My older brother is allergic to animals and we never had any dogs or cats growing up! I wanted to have a pet so badly, I had hamsters, birds and fish. Anything that didn't shed. Finally my brother went off to college and my mom let us (my younger brother and I) have a cocker spaniel. So cute! And until I got married and moved out of my mom's house, the "family" dog was all of ours. Moose is our cocker spaniel and he has the sweetest face! He was the inspiration behind it all. Now that I'm married, we don't have the space for a pet and I don't have the proper time to dedicate to one and it wouldn't be fair to any pet to do that. So until then, I wait!

But in the mean time, I get my kicks with connecting to fellow animal lovers who spoil their "kids". It's amazing how passionate this pet loving community is. We get emails and thank you notes all the time about how much they love what they received and most importantly, how much they appreciated the customer experience. I don't hesitate to call people or email them if I feel something seems wrong on their order. Did so-and-so really want 6 of the same item? Was it a typo or a glitch? The clothing they ordered seems to fit a specific size animal, but one item was way bigger - was that a mistake? Our customers love that! And frankly I don't do it because they love that I do, I do it so they feel they have someone who really cares about their connection with Fur My Pet and their own pet. I am like their personal shopper and it's a nice relationship.

Until next time...