Interview with Celebrity PET Mom Elisa...meet The Furry Beauties!

Welcome to the Kuri K9 blog, Elisa! Please tell me more about yourself, and your background with dogs in general.

My name is Elisa and I was a professional singer but unfortunately I ended up with Thyroid cancer and my career ended very quickly. Most of my life was concentrated in music so that was a huge part of my life but my next passion and love in life was animals which is how I got started with that. I had dogs for most of my life, although they were larger dogs but they were always part of my life in some way.

And tell me about each of your dogs!

Sage is the oldest in the pack, who is almost 10 years old. She is a Longhaired chihuahua. The one dog who will go to people first and will never leave. Loves attention and making people smile in general. She is also the first I got from the 5. She was 3 years old when I got her as well.

Foxy was the next dog I got after Sage. I actually got her 3 days after Sage so they bonded pretty quickly. She is a Pomeranian and will be 8 in the middle of April. Most people when first meeting Foxy would call her shy but when you get to know her she has one of the funniest characters. She is a little clown who loves to play. Her trademark of course is her pink tail.

The 3rd dog I got was Mitzy. She is the 1st dog I got from a breeder. She is also a Longhaired Chihuahua. Originally when I had the 3 of them they were called Three Furry Beauties before I changed the name to The Furry Beauties. Mitzy will be 7 in June. She is only 3.6 lbs but don’t under estimate her size. Although she is the smallest in the group, she is in fact the Alpha and leader of everyone. She knows what she wants and she goes for it. She is also one of the most intelligent dogs I have ever had to date. Her problem solving skills for anything are truly immaculate.

Next is Toby. He came from a breeding situation in Indiana so I got him when he was 2 years old. He will be 8 in May. He is a Black and Tan Pomeranian. Toby probably gets the most attention whenever I’m at shows and seems to be one of the favourites for many. He’s just a handsome dude. A very docile character who knows how to look into your eyes and win your heart with his precious face. He’s also one of the best models and knows how to work a camera, that’s for sure.

Last is Pollyanna. She is a Longhaired chihuahua but often gets mistaken for a Papillon due to her butterfly like ears. She is 6 years old. She came from the same breeder as Mitzy. She is actually a dog I knew as a puppy and tried to get for a very long time. I fell in love with her the second I saw her but she was the last in her line and she was meant to continue on in the breeding world but fortunately for me she wasn’t meant to be a mom. She was meant for me and that’s how she entered into my life. She has a very spunky character. She either loves or hates someone. After all she is a chihuahua. One thing for sure is she prefers women over men for some reason.

How long have they been modelling and performing?

They started pretty early on when I got them. They started by entering best dressed contests which they won many. They have a very large collection of clothing which helped greatly. It also improved their stage presence and gave them amazing experience in front of the camera.

How to they prepare for a photo shoot? A TV shoot? A Pet Expo?

They are generally groomed often but if it’s specifically for events then I have them groomed 2 days before big events especially the Pet Expos. All events are generally the same preparation. Brush them all. Make sure they look nice but on a daily basis I always brush them anyways.

The Pet Expo is probably the biggest events for them. So I always have clothing sets custom ordered for each day weeks before that. Grooming is already taken care of. That’s pretty much it. They are not very hyper dogs, so they are very easy to deal with and take care of.

What’s involved in their celebrity appearances at Pet Expos? What Pet Expos have they attended? Do they end up travelling a lot?

We have done the Canadian Pet Expo for many years. That includes the Spring, Fall and Christmas One. We haven’t traveled out of Ontario yet for anything. We would love to but that opportunity hasn’t come up yet. We also have done the Ottawa Pet Expo and the Niagara Pet Expo a couple times.

We have a booth that I choose a theme for each Expo. I always spend an entire day prior to the Expo setting up. It takes a lot of work. It’s also not the cheapest as I like to purchase a lot of fun stuff to give away at my booth. Examples like pens, buttons, stickers, cards etc.. I always have lots of options for everyone. I set up 2 large dog beds on a table and they basically sit on the table all day and people come and pet them and take photos. It’s a lot of fun but there is also a negative side sometimes to that as unfortunately some people don’t control their dogs and there has been situations where dogs have snapped at mine or jumped at them. So always have to be alert and watching. Generally the whole experience is amazing and I love doing it. The smiles on peoples faces makes the whole thing worth it.

What’s involved in keeping up their social media accounts?

A lot of it is making sure you have good photos to post and making sure you stay active. It can be a challenge at times to keep at it but in order for it to stay successful you have to keep at it. That includes interacting with comments and other accounts. Hard work always pays off.

Please tell me about some of the productions they’ve been involved in (and their roles), and any stories you might have!

My dogs and cats both do filming. The cats to be honest tend to get more calls due to the fact that well behaved trained cats are harder to come by.

Some stuff they have filmed to name some are:

Mitzy was in Kim’s Convenience. She played a dog named Chicklet in the last season it aired. She was also in a commercial for Open Farm Pet Food.

Foxy was in a commercial for Planet Fitness. She also did one for Hillshire Snacking.

Sage has done a commercial for Moderna. She also has a short film that I’m very excited about coming out in September called Christina.

There is other stuff they have filmed that haven’t aired yet that unfortunately I’m a unable to mention but wish I could.

The cats have filmed for Home Hardware. Canadian Tire which airs constantly. Did an episode of Tallboyz. Other stuff which hasn’t currently aired as well.

I look forward to updating this blog when the other productions have aired and we can check out there work. Thanks so much for chatting with me via email, Elisa!

Find the Furry Beauties on Facebook & Instagram!