The Doggie Boat

Golden Boyz Doggie Gifts put on a puppet show for children at the Stourport floating market to link in with the carnival. The video for it can be seen here : https://www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyzDoggieGifts/videos/vb.1456108981274715/1691533401065604/?type=3&theater

Jackie from The Jewellery Boat & Smiffy from Flavours Afloat also gave a hand or two or three at the puppet show. Smiffy can be seen here enjoying his task!!

Each edition we will feature one of our traders. If you’d like to take part in this please email Sandra. This month I didn’t have any volunteers for the spotlight so I’ve done myself!!

This edition we feature Sandra Willis of Golden Boyz Doggie Gifts
Sandra has been trading as Golden Boyz Doggie Gifts for just over a year. She started continuous cruising the year prior & once the savings got thin on the ground realised she didn’t want to leave this lifestyle behind so the thinking cap was put on & roving trading was the answer. Sandra loves dogs & boats & cruises alongside her 2 golden retrievers Cosmo & Daquiri who many of you will have seen (normally sprinting on an escape mission up the towpath at the markets).

Over the winter of 2013 Sandra with the help of RCTA sorted her trading license & insurance & dabbled in a few small Xmas markets on land with selling doggie treats & gifts. Just before the season began in 2014 a visit was made to Crufts & with the help of that & contacts mainly made through twitter Sandra soon had a fully stocked floating doggie shop. Sandra buys all her products in & resells them. As well as lots of doggie treats including unusual ones such as doggie popcorn & herbal teas Sandra sells doggie bandanas. Leads, collars & toys for dogs. There is also a good demand though for doggie themed gifts with one of the best sellers being the 3D doggie breed picture which as Sandra says cause people to instantly go into the 3D dance where they stand in front of the pictures & rock from side to side!

Sandra spent the earlier part of her first year around the Midlands doing many of the floating markets. Then over winter she cruised to London & back doing a great trade in the more rural spots down the Grand Union & running her floating Santa Paws Grotto for doggies to visit before Xmas around Rickmansworth & Cassiobury Park. This year she’s returned back to the Midlands & is taking part in 13 floating markets & events as these work best for her. She has introduced a pic n mix range to her doggie treats & seems to be doing a roaring trade in getting all the doggies along the canal wearing bandanas. At some venues she is also running doggie treasure hunts where doggies have to sniff out various jars of doggie goodies. Plans for the future include having side hatches fitted to the boat so she can trade easier in wet weather & she plans to introduce at that point breed menu cards listing all the products available by breed.

Sandra & Golden Boyz Doggie Gifts will be at Kings Norton festival, Digbeth open day, Bentley Bridge pop up market, Merry Hill floating market, Black Country Boating Festival, Stourport floating market, Tipton festival & Birmingham floating market.

Her Facebook page always is updated with her location:https://www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyzDoggieGifts& Sandra also runs the Facebook group Dogs on the Cut : http://on.fb.me/1en6gx8 Cosmo & Daquiri also have their own Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cosmo-Daquiri/608969362500202

All three of them look forward to meeting lots of fur pals & their owners & friends along their way.

Golden Boyz Doggie Gifts are launching doggie treasure hunts at some of their trading locations where doggies (along with their owners) have to sniff out jars of various treats & if they solve all the clues on the way they get an extra doggie prize at the end.

Golden Boyz Doggie Gifts are launching a new pick n mix doggie treats sale at the floating markets. They’ll have several jars of different doggie treats & customers can select a certain number/weight for a certain price