An upscale pet boutique in Fernandina Beach, Florida, is offering a novel way to shower your new puppy with gifts. In fact, you can even register online so that shower guests can easily order from the gifts you select. Puppy showers are the brainchild of Stacy Cruikshank, owner of Bark Avenue Pet Boutique. And her concept has received recent publicity in USA Today, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as well as on ABC and NBC television.

Fernandina Beach/Amelia Island, FL (PRWEB) August 31, 2005 — An upscale pet boutique in Fernandina Beach, Florida, is offering a novel way to shower your new puppy with gifts. In fact, you can even register online so that shower guests can easily order from the gifts you select.

Puppy showers are the brainchild of Stacy Cruikshank, owner of Bark Avenue Pet Boutique. And her concept has received recent publicity in USA Today, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as well as on ABC and NBC television.

She says, “When you get a new puppy, in some ways it’s similar to having a new baby; you need a lot of supplies in the beginning. With a puppy you need a bed, feeding dishes, collars and leashes, bath products, food, treats, crate, etc.”

“The idea came to me after talking to several customers who would visit the store and plan their purchases before even picking up their new puppy. One day I said to one of them, ‘You know what you need? You need to have a puppy shower.’”

Cruikshank’s puppy shower idea took off locally and has evolved to the point that it’s now available on her website at http://www.barkavenuepetboutique.com/puppy_showers.html. And it includes an online gift registry.

Bark Avenue’s Gift Registry works much like a bridal shower registry: the “new mom” requests a Puppy Shower Gift Registry Checklist from Bark Avenue to create her wish list of items she wants for her new pooch.

After filling out your Puppy Shower Gift Registry form, you email or fax it to Bark Avenue where they create a special page on their website exclusively for you and your pooch, listing the items in your registry. (View Bark Avenue’s Sample Gift Registry at http://www.barkavenuepetboutique.com/sample_gift_registry.html.)

Then you invite your guests to the shower, informing them that the “new mom” is registered at Bark Avenue Pet Boutique on a page that’s devoted exclusively to your Puppy Shower Gift Registry. Then your friends can easily order online from the registry.

Bark Avenue’s staff maintains the list up-to-date as items are purchased, to minimize duplicate items and the need for returns.

Cruikshank offers “7 Easy Steps to a Successful Puppy Shower”:
1. Think about the items you need/want now that you have a new puppy and register in advance. Registering for the items you need and want will minimize duplicate gifts and the need to return items.
2. Send out Puppy Shower invitations. Or email them to your friends.
3. Allow guests to bring their pet, assuming they are all up to date on their vaccinations and do not have any communicable diseases. This will allow your puppy to get used to being around other dogs as well as people.
4. Decorate using paw print balloons, napkins and plates, bone shaped cake and/or cookies, etc.
5. Be sure to have enough treats, water bowls and poop bags available for the pooches who attend.
6. Allow for play time for the pooches to get to know each other and socialize. Keep in mind, if your dog will be meeting other dogs for the first time, be sure to introduce them to the other dogs in small groups first rather than putting them with a large group of dogs they don’t know.
7. Relax and have fun!

Bark Avenue Pet Boutique’s retail store, serves Northeast Florida/South Georgia area, including Fernandina Beach, Amelia Island, Jacksonville, and Ponte Vedra Beach.

The store carries brand names which include PuchiBags, Eloise, Jasper and Lenore, PeTote, Cosmic Knits, Happy Tails Spa, Cain & Able, Pet Snobs, Dog Squad, Dogz Togz, Poochie of Beverly Hills, Chrome-Bones, Preston, JoSherwood Designs, Austin Coterie, Planet Dog, MuShu, Tailwaggerz, Spot Organics, Ruff N’ It, Doggles, FuzzeFace, Lady Churchwells, SoSadie, CocoJor Hawaii, Dogcessorize, Eye Envy, Ella Dish, Fox and Hounds, Jake and Barkley, Global Pet Products, Snoozer, Gooby, I See Spot, Meche, Room Candy, Retro Rover, Woof, Kittywalk, Family Pet Pride, Zeppa, Manual Woodworkers, Merrick, Solid Gold and Innova, Silver Bones, Loopies, and many others.

Product categories include: apparel/clothing including sweaters, coats, dresses, shirts, mufflers, boots; carriers and tote bags; beds and armoires; feeding dishes, bowls, treat jars; collars, harnesses, and leads; food and supplements; spa products; car seats; gift items; books, artwork, picture frames, and note cards; toys; and miscellaneous items including bow tie and rose scrunchies.

For more information, visit www.barkavenuepetboutique.com or call 904.261-BARK (2275).