Friday, April 9, 2010

3 4 FREE! with Roof Dog


Meet the Real Top Dog in Detroit!
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This post kicks off a new feature for FREEISMYLIFE called 3 4 FREE! where I will be interviewing local and national celebrities that are attending local metro Detroit area events and asking them just 3 questions on behalf of my FREEISMYLIFE readers.
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On Sunday, April 11th, the most anticipated Detroit "Dogup" will take place at the Canine to Five on Cass Ave. from noon to 3pm. This event will be attended by many local celebrity dogs and their humans. So I was very happy that my first interview of the 3 4 FREE! series was with a true top dog in the Detroit area - Valentino Ruffi, aka Roof Dog.
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Roof Dog is one busy canine, but he graciously granted me an interview after his busy day at the dog park...
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1. Roof Dog, can you please tell my readers a little about yourself, your humans and your rise from unknown puppy to one of the top dogs in metro Detroit.

Oh geeze…you’re making my tail wag with that ‘top dog’ comment. WOOF! I’m far from that… I just try to be a good boy every day (harder than it sounds sometimes, ya know)…but thank you!

A little about me…
My Dog Dad was a German Sheppard and my birth Mom was a Lab/Boxer mix. I don’t have one of those cool names like ‘Labradoodle’ or anything but I guess maybe you could call me a ‘Laboxard’ - HAHA. Anyway – my Mom’s humans apparently didn’t want puppies around so they put us on the doorstep of a dog rescue – luckily, it had a great result for me. I found my humans there on February 8th 2009 when I was about 3 months old – it was really close to Valentine’s day so that was a big reason why I suggested the name Valentino to them. My last name is Ruffi…so some friends started calling me ‘Roof Dog’, hence my online names – but really I’m Valentino Ruffi, Tino for short.

So, a quick side note – People…if you want some really good dogs to choose you, you may want to consider hanging out at an animal rescue. Not knocking breeders, they are great too – but there are lots of options for dogs who just want to be loved!

It wasn’t until about 3 months later that I started playing with my Dad’s laptop and realized how fun the whole Facebook and Twitter thing was. I’ve been hooked ever since. Now, not even a year later, I have over 3,300 Twitter followers…and hope to get more. Cheap plug –
www.twitter.com/roof_dog You’d make my tail wag if you followed me and said hello!!
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2. Roof Dog, please tell my readers about this Sunday's Dog Up event and why you think they should all attend.
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WOW – well, for one – I’LL BE THERE!!! Remember, I am ‘top dog’, right! Ha ha

Joking aside what more reason could a dog lover or dog owner want than an amazing opportunity to get dogs, their owners and dog lovers all in one GREAT place like Canine To Five??! Not only is the facility opening their doors to a great group like US, but Yelp is going to be there with onsite volunteers and some great free goodies…and, as I’m sure you and your readers do, I love Free and GREAT DEALS!! Not only that, but we’re also going to be raising money for the Animal Welfare Society in Madison Heights – you know, without people who loved and cared for animals in need I may have never even been here to do this interview!!!

On top of it – there are going to be raffle prizes there to win and some serious butt sniffing to do….…..oh, sorry, sometimes I let the dog in me get carried away - - - there will be some great opportunities to meet new people and their dogs!!

Oh – and I’ll be giving away free kisses to anyone who wants one…so don’t be shy – come on down and have a wonderful time!
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3. Lastly Roof Dog, since FREEISMYLIFE is all about saving money, can you give my readers your best tip on how humans can pamper their beloved dogs while not breaking the bank?.
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There is one GREAT, albeit basic, answer here. Just give us LOTS of love and attention. We all understand that our people have to work and do ‘human’ things with friends…but when you can, spend time with us! We don’t care what – but we love our families and like being with you!!! Playing in the yard, going for walks, playing inside and even just cuddling and being pet is wonderful – and FREE!!

Trust me, all of us are built for tail wagging, playing and loving…ALL of us. When we get older maybe it’s more the loving and tail wagging…but nonetheless – you don’t have to spend much to make us happy!

Some other inexpensive or free activities that us dogs love are walks and playing/socializing. For walks – take us around the neighborhood, to your local park or even to a pet friendly mall. For places to play/socialize try out your local dog park – or, if you can’t take your dog out there, a place like Canine to Five offers Doggy Daycare (in fact, that’s one of the prizes in the raffle…shhh…think it’s a secret still!)

Personally, I go to the Lake Orion Dog Park – you can find me there every Sunday from about 12 – 3…and often on Saturdays around that time too. Come on by and make friends – my human is well trained and is pretty well socialized with people so I don’t have to watch him much and can just run and play!!! J
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Roof Dog, I know I am only suppose to ask you 3 questions, but I wonder if you have a comment on the controversy of you not being chosen to be the face of the Detroit Dogup on their advertisement flyer?
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.HA! I wish I could say it was some crazy scandal and that you could see more coverage later this week on TMZ, but it’s really a pretty basic story. They had offered me the honor of being on the flyer after the FreeIsMyLife blog had picked up my photo and twitter posts but I wasn’t able to make the photo shoot. I have a new friend, Rosie, (who is only a few months old now) that I’ve been trying to help train and, as much as I would have loved the opportunity, it was her first day at the Dog Park so I thought being a good ‘big brother’ was more important. Oh, and I honestly just didn’t look as good with the cape and hat on as that guy did!!!
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Everyone can meet Roof Dog in person along with many other canines and their humans at the Detroit Dogup on Sunday, April 11th from noon-3pm at Canine to Five. And you don't have to be a dog owner to come join in on the fun. Click here for more infomation and to RSVP.

Everyone can follow along with the Detroit Dogup on Twitter using hashtag #dogup. You can also become a fan of Roof Dog on Twitter at @Roof_Dog.

2 comments:

  1. The picture of Valentino at the computer KILLS me; what a great post. Thank you so much for all of your support, Jackie!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aw this is the CUTEST dog in the whole world! and even more adorable and loving in person.

    ReplyDelete