Hello Skaneateles, I’m one of your newest residents and grateful to be in town.  What a precious little hidden gem you have here, I can see why folks from all over come to visit … and from what I hear, why many of you leave in the Winter!

My parents named me Duke.  I have quite a swagger about me and plenty of courage, so among other dogs I go by “The Duke”.  

I came here by way of Houston, TX about 4 months ago … needed a place to stay and Mom & Dad saw my cute face on the Internet … well the rest is history.  Turns out I’m the “shop dog” at Skaneateles Dogs, the local dog groomer.  It’s a pretty good gig … I meet new friends every day and I usually see them again every 6-8 weeks.  Sometimes they come a little bit scared, but I tell them that everything will be ok.  Once they see that we are really nice and calm and gentle here, they start to feel safe.  They get a few treats from the staff which really gets them comfy and I usually find a way to nudge myself in for a tasty morsel as well.   That’s probably one of the best fringe benefits here.  By the time they leave, they look and feel like a million bucks and are very thankful.  It makes sense, because everyone here is always working hard and doing a good job.  I guess that is pretty rare these days, which makes us kinda’ special.

My parents also have 2 sons, Peter & Luke. They are 7 and 5 years old and go to Waterman school.  Mom & Dad are in charge, but I seem to think I rank higher than the boys in the pack’s pecking order … I don’t really listen to them very much.  Grandma Carol let’s me come in sometimes, but I do shed so that keeps the visits quite brief. 

My best friend is the neighbor dog Ellie.  She and I play hard and run every morning at 7:30 a.m.   We must have herding dog genes in our lineage because we both try to bite the back of each other’s legs as we run & play.  Dad just recently rubbed a cotton swab in my cheek and sent it to some lab to find out what my DNA looks like … we’ll get to the bottom of this soon.

I’m glad to get to the office in the morning to grab some breakfast and rest up a bit for the hard day ahead.  It’s not easy being the greeter and always needing to be on top of my game.  I would like to mention one of my best friends at work, Farley.  He was our first customer and is such a nice guy.  One of the coolest Golden Retrievers that you could ever meet.  He likes to carry shoes around and play catch with them … I prefer to chew shoes … but to each his own.  Shout out to my little friend Bronte, along with Tucker, Brooks, Lexi, Shadow, and so many others!

Well, I have some squirrels to chase and some kibble to finish up, so I’m going to say good-bye for now.  It was a pleasure meeting you and I hope to see your pup getting a bath and a manicure soon !

Wooof,

Duke