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12 JULY/AUGUST 2008

Making Waves is our honor roll for residents ofSouthwest Florida’s island coast who,in their everyday

lives, make the community special.

Judging by the number of canines that serve as greeters atlocal businesses, the islands seem to be going to the dogs

Four-legged GreetersGive Customers Paws

More individual portraits on page 18.

by Karen Nelson

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“When Brian leaves them at home (whichisn’t very often) we’re all very annoyedwith him,” says Lauren Davies, Presidentand Associate Publisher. Twelve-year-oldWeimaraner Tyra, and 11-month-oldStandard Poodle Bijou (she’s huge!) “offi-cially” belong to Creative Director BrianStromlund, but everyone thinks of themas the magazine’s dogs. “We have a rou-

tine,” says Maria Dispenza, OfficeManager and Editorial Assistant. “Tyracomes in and goes directly to the waterbowl for her morning drink, while Bijougoes directly to greetings, and always inorder, Lauren first, then me. And whenour Sales Manager Kip Buntrock arrives,she expects him to play fetch with herimmediately. They just make our day!”

P Times of the Islands/RSW Living and Tyra & Bijou

Hollie Smith Schmid’s Nico, anakita/huskie mix, began “working” atSanibel Island Bookshop when Holliedid, eight-and-a-half years ago. Shih TzuKiwi joined Nico three-and-a-half yearsago, when she was just eight weeks old.

“People say, “We’re just coming in tosee the dogs”, says Hollie. “They have a

loyal following for sure.”On a recent morning, a favorite of

the dogs came in, followed by a cus-tomer from Captiva who, Hollie says,“Picks up Kiwi and lets her lick all overhis face and give him tons of love. Thedogs were so happy to see two of theirfavorite customers first thing.”

P Sanibel Island Bookshop and Nico & Kiwi

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) MAKING WAVES (

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14 JULY/AUGUST 2008

Liza Clouse, co-owner of Island Paws onSanibel, says she began bringing eight-een-month-old yellow lab Jordyn into theshop because, well, “We owned a pet storeand it seemed fitting. People who come in

expect to see a shop dog.“Everybody loves her. A lot of peo-

ple who come into the shop are onvacation. They tell us how much theymiss their pets, and they come in to get

P Island Paws and Jordyn & Lola

P Salty Sam’s Marina and RileyParrot Key Caribbean Grill and Salty Sam’s Marina owner MattHanson’s seven-year-old Weimaraner, Riley, is an office fixture.Since he was a puppy, Riley has been coming to work every daywith Matt. “Riley just hangs out. He’s very laid back and friend-ly,” says Patty Payne, their accountant. “A day without Riley inthe office just doesn’t feel right.”

P VIP Realty Group and Konnie & IzzieBrother and sister Long-haired dachshunds Konnie and Izziecome to VIP’s Periwinkle office with their proud papa JohnFjeldstad. “Konnie is an ‘Isabella’ dachshund male, and Izzie isa ‘Blue Dapple’ dachshund female,” says John, explaining thedifferences in their markings. “They are sweet and so darnedcute,” he says. “People just love seeing them.”

their ‘dog fix’.”You may also see Island Paws’ employ-

ee Billy Kay’s two-year-old Lola at theshop. The ½ Chihuahua, ½ Pekinese occa-sionally accompanies Billy to work fix.’”

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P Barrier Island Title and Frannie, Dewey, & MaggieBarrier Island Title owner Janet McBeeexplains that “Frannie is with her dad[David McBee] in the Bahamas.” Eight-year-old golden retriever Frannie, long anisland fixture, has taken an early retire-ment. Golden retrievers Dewey andMaggie, both one-and-a-half, come to

work occasionally, but McBee notes thatthey still have to learn their manners, sothey’re not regulars. Clients occasionallycome in and ask for the pooches. “A cou-ple of days ago, a friend came in looking forthe dogs,” says Janet. “‘Hi to you,’ they saidto me, ‘but we really came to see the dogs.’”

Kenny Hall, owner ofGeneration Skating Rinkin Fort Myers, brings histwo-and-a-half-year-oldblack lab/pit bull Mollyto the rink. The seniorswho come in for his“Organ Music Skates”just love her and bringin treats.

A Valentine’s Day giftfrom Kenny’s wife,Molly had been rescuedby the Humane Societyfrom an abusive owner.At adoption, she weighedtwenty-five pounds (sheshould have weighedfifty). “She’s a real nicedog,” says Hall. With herpit bull face, she can lookintimidating, but oncepeople get to know her,they discover “she’s abig, old baby.”

P Generation Skating Rink and Molly

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Loretta Geiger, a sales associate with Waterstone Real Estate(formerly PMR Realty), loves bringing her Chinese pug tothe friendly Captiva cottage at the corner of Andy RosseLane. Moosie loves to sit in the doorway and people love tocome over and talk to her. In fact, says Loretta, a lot of peo-ple who first come in to talk to Moosie “wind up talking tome about real estate.” Not a bad day’s work for an eight-year-old, sixteen-pound sales rep.

P Loretta Geiger and Moosie

P Island Dental and LucyLucy the schnoodle (a schnauzer andpoodle mix) has been soothing patientsat Island Dental for the eleven-and-a-half years she’s been with Lyle andCookie Hotchkiss.

“People ask for her,” says Lyle.“They say that she calms them down.When they’re nervous, she can sit in thechair with them and they can pet her.She’s definitely a positive.”

Lucy graduated from therapy dogtraining in March and, in her off-hours,visits hospital patients recovering fromsurgery. “She’s very popular there,”notes Lyle. “We like to leave people inthe hospital with a smile on their face,and she’s a natural.”

P Trek Bicycles and VerucaBoston terrier Veruca, a little over a year old, is riding highwith Jane Avery-DuBois and her husband Steve. Veruca eitheraccompanies Jane to the newly-opened Trek Bicycles inNaples, or Steve to Trek Bicycles at Coconut Point in Estero.

In Coconut Point, especially, “Veruca has fans who comeinto the store,” says Jane, “but not to buy. The kids like to seeher, so they stop in when they’re in the mall. She’s a little dogwith a big dog personality.

“She was named after the spoiled rotten brat in WillyWonka and the Chocolate Factory,” adds Jane. “She lives up tothe character. What she wants, she gets.”

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18 JULY/AUGUST 2008

P Lily & Co.’s Lily and GracieLabradoodle Lily not only holds court in Sanibel’s Lily & Co. jew-elry store, she is also the mascot and model in all of the advertising.

Karen Bell, who co-owns Lily & Co. with Dan Schuyler, notesthat some jewelry designers originally balked at having their jewel-ry shown on a dog, but she says, “Now that they have seen theresponse, they think it’s great!” In fact, Schuyler notes that a speak-er at a March jewelry expo in New York City talked about how Lily& Co. had used their dogs as a brand.

Lily is not the only canine rep in the shop. Mellow Gracie, a yel-low lab, “is the strong friend—the rock—standing behind the star,”says Bell. Both dogs are about four years old.

This year, over ninety dogs (and their owners) came to Lily’sbirthday party (on May 3). Lily and Gracie are civic-minded, andmoney donated for caricatures and the proceeds from the raffle atthe catered event went to ARC.

“Not a day goes by that a visitor doesn’t come by to see and askfor the dogs,” says Bell.

) MAKING WAVES (

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WWW.TOTI.COM 19

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If you know of someone who deservesrecognition, call us at 239-472-0205 orsend an e-mail to editor@toti.com.

P Luc Century and Gracie

A greyhound in a room full of delicateglass items might seem like a prescriptionfor disaster, but Gracie is welcome towander in and out of Sanibel artist LucCentury’s glass workshop anytime.“She’s so aware of her body, such an ath-lete, that she’s never touched the glassand never broken anything,” says Luc.

A former track dog, seven-and-a-half-year-old Gracie loves her early morningstroll to greet the people waiting forbreakfast at the Lighthouse Café. “Peopleremember her year after year.”

Gracie “wants to meet everybody,” hesays. “Anywhere I go, I take her if possi-ble. She loves to go for a ride, and she’s sosocially adept.” n

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If you find Tyra in this issue, email us at weimaraner@toti.com with the pagenumber and description of where she’s hidden, your name, full address, andphone number. If you locate her, we’ll send you a certificate for a special giftredeemable at our sponsor Island Paws on Sanibel. Remember…you haveto find the “hidden” Tyra. There are several photos of Tyra in this issue thatdo not qualify as finding her! Good luck!

CURRENT ISSUE CLUEIt looks like Tyra has gotten herself into really dangerous waters.

In our Arts Issue, Tyra took a trip toSanta Fe’s Indian Market (page 58).Look closely and you might find asecond Tyra in the same photograph.

For quite some time now, our office dog, Tyra, has been “hidden” somewhere in thepages of our issues. As readers became more aware of this, we’ve been inundatedwith the question “Where’s the weimeraner?” To keep up with this demand(and because it sounds like a lot of fun!), we are devoting space in each issue toanswer that question. We’ll tell you where Tyra was in the previous issue andprovide a clue to help you find her in the current issue. We hope you’ll play along.

where’stheweimaraner?

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