Friday, May 04, 2007

I Been Robbed

I've written before of Quiet Waters State Park, the local Mecca for dog lovers. And I have commented on the injustice of not being able to bring Pappy to work. I was on the verge of an epiphany, when some guy just stole the idea I hadn't yet formulated.

I was reading an article in yesterday's Washington Post about a two-year old business called Muddy Paws in a shopping center by the gates of Quiet Waters. They combine self-service dog bathing facilities with a coffee bar where you can bring your pets. When you realize how stinky your dog is after a swim at the beach, you can take her over there and hose her down while drinking an iced latte.

One of the owners, Joe Mutlu, said "I just wanted to be able to take my dogs to work". Who does that sound like? That's right, me, me, me. And locating it outside of Quiet Waters, with the fantastic concentration of dog crazy owners dying to pamper their pets... that's the kind of sheer brilliance that ought to be my signature.

I like coffee, and I have to bathe my dog. If he hadn't jumped on the concept two years ago, it should have been mine. Prior art, shmior art.

10 comments:

Baily said...

stinky? you mean lovely scented! the real crime is that humans wash the nice smell away and ruin all our hard work.....maybe you can open a store and offer mud baths and in poop rolling for us smell-deprived doggies.........i would be your first customer, especially after one of these nasty B-A-T-H-S!

nose licks
~baily

Oscar's mummy and daddy said...

Yeah, something tells me the dogs aren't so keen on this place as the hoomans. No doubt it will be a big sucess nontheless!

Licks
Oscar x

Liza said...

Pappy -

We feel your pain. In the DBD (Days Before Dory) my human had a job that she could occasionally bring her dog too. It sounded like so much fun - but now instead of the dog going - the work comes home and one day a week my huamn spend the morning working from her home office with me at her feet.

ALSO- we had a cool place like Muddy Paws here - it is call Laundromutt and it is right in Cambridge, MA.

Have a happy weekend -

Dory

Gus said...

OK, I see an opportunity here. If the humans are drinking Latte, what kind of dog treats do they sell? Huh? None? Well, what is this business based on? Dog-oriented. The new business motto!

FleasGang said...

100 dogs on a busy Saturday or Sunday?! I wonder how the market is here in SC for a self-serve doggie wash? Sounds like a great idea.

Nat said...

Baily and Gus,
When dogs start carrying wallets, you will get your dog-oriented treats 'n poop rolling stores.

Oscar,
I think they have been pretty successful-- they are talking about opening franchises. But I don't think they will find another location as popular as the one by Quiet Waters.

Dory and Liza,
Pappy would certainly appreciate me staying home and working in my underwear.

Fleas,
There was another Post article about similar stores around the DC area. Go for it baby.

Joe Stains said...

that STINKS!! lol, sorry about that horrible joke. ;)

Bella said...

Sounds like Pappy fella indeed, shame someone got to it first - Pappy you must help your fella to come up with a new idea so you can go to work with him !!!
Then we can tell our mummy to do the same over here on the other side of the planet !!!!

Wuffs
Bella

Stella and Annie said...

They have a place called "Cones and Bones" here in Lansing Michigan. One half of the store sells human ice cream and the other half sells dog ice cream with little bone sprinkles on top. You can get your ice cream, then eat it with your dog on the other half of the store.

Nat said...

Joe-boy,
But you couldn't stink if you tried. Well, maybe if you tried.

Bella,
You should definitely be cribbing ideas from this side of the pond. What else is the point of all this surfing?

Stella and Annie,
Keep the ideas coming... I'm filing them all in my personal think tank.