I've always had an instinctive love of animals. Before I could read, I'd pour over our encyclopedia set, and dream about seeing the various breeds of dogs, horses and cows up-close one day. I wanted to own a dog all my adult life, but because of work schedules, living quarters or lack of proper facilities, it wasn't possible. Then we moved to 11/2 acres and there were no more excuses.
As my husband, Mike loaded a cardboard box, papers and towels into the Jeep, he quipped that he knew me better than to think once he got me in a gaggle of nine-week-old pups, we'd be coming home without one.
We named our buttery yellow bundle "Rosco". Ross is one good dog. The kind of dog that makes other people want one. The kind of dog that heals children of their fear of dogs and makes people who aren't fond of wagging tails change their minds just a little.
After three years, we added a baby sister to the mix. "Sophie" is a different kind of dog entirely. Timid, sweet and very-high maintenance, she sometimes appears as a beautiful marble statue, with ears erect and head held high. But her interior is something more akin to "junk yard dog". The "bird nests" she coughs up are just slightly less horrifying than those she passes, and her greatest pleasure is rolling in a disgusting assortment of animal feces and other indescribable goo that make keeping her looking like a princess a big problem.
Sophie hates a bath, cannot tolerate being squirted and we'd resorted to calling her baths "B's", so she wouldn't know there was one in her future. One evening, as I groused about having to give her yet another "B" (the third one that day), it occurred to me there must be a better way. Like the proverbial light bulb, it lit above my head: "I know...I'll make a dry dog shampoo!"
That weekend, I gathered ingredients from my pantry, bought a few more, got my Cuisinart and began to experiment to create my first version of "Rubba Dub Dog". Since then, I've reformulated a number of times, making "Rubba Dub Dog" better with each making. It solved a big problem for me, and now that it's handy in my mud room, garage and car, it's easy to use often. It saves me a lot of work, bathing two big dogs and it's soo nice to give them a quick "freshening" before company comes!
Some have asked how I came up with "Dogmatism" as a business name. I wanted "Dogma", but it was taken. Right under it in the dictionary was the word "dogmatism". Though I had no idea the word existed, I thought "Dogmatism - A natural attraction to dogs...how lovely!"
So here it is! Welcome to our Dogmatism Home! Feel free to drop by, shop, learn something new, express your dog love and by all means, stay a while.
