Happy Puppies Athleticwear

09/27/2021

Some sad news to share…

Doctor Igor Cheetah Pita, aka Igglebert Pupperdink, aka Iggy Pup, most commonly known as Bad Dog, passed away peacefully this afternoon wrapped up in his sobbing mom’s arms, after a valiant fight with cancer and his love of licking poisonous toads.

Born somewhere at some point in 2009, Bad Dog had a very rough start to life before being rescued by the Broward Humane Society. He was extremely grateful to his boys for choosing him that day in 2010, and loved to show his gratitude by smothering them with his love and attention.

Iggy will be forever remembered for stealing any and all food that was left foolishly unattended and for running out of the gates whenever one was accidentally left open. He leaves behind a family who loves him deeply as well as many bufo toads who can hop along happily without fear of the ferocious mutt’s jaws of doom.

In lieu of flowers the family would like you to give your furry babies extra love, snuggles, and most importantly, tons of treaties. Iggy would like us to remind you that rescuing an adult dog is the best thing you can do in this world.

06/28/2021

It’s been very quiet on the HPA page, and for that I am sorry. My life has been an absolute whirlwind over the past six months — a wonderful, chaotic whirlwind. In December we were lucky enough to be chosen to be the guardians of one of Keagan’s best friends since kindergarten. He lost both of his parents to cancer (his mom in 2016 and his dad last year), and without hesitation we opened our home and our hearts to this wonderful boy, David.

My cup runneth over, and I need to focus my time on my boys. Between their baseball schedules and Keagan’s tutoring needs due to his dyslexia, and the craziness that comes with five teenage boys I haven’t had time to focus on Happy Puppies. I’ve been treading water long enough. Now I’m going to grab on to the life preserver and accept that I simply can’t do it all. For my sanity’s sake I do need to close the business. I will keep the online shop open for now(just Bellas remain in sizes tangerine and lemon, but I do have a variety in the other sizes), and I’m going to throw in extra goodies with every order to clear the shelves.

On August 30th I will close this online shop (happypuppiesrun.com), but I am going to keep Happy Puppies alive in a different way. I’m going to start a new blog called Happy Puppies Run, with our motto: run like the gate is open. I will have a small offering of screen printed items. They won’t made by me, but they will have “run like the gate is open” and Happy Puppies printed on them. I will make an announcement when the blog is ready to go. But mostly I will write about my life, mostly focusing on running, baseball, healthier eating, and my attempts at sewing.

Thank you all for your kindness and understanding. You all are the best, and I’m so grateful to have been part of your running lives.

With love,
Laura

PS. These pictures were taken at David’s bar mitzvah, on what would have been his dad’s 60th birthday — he would have been so proud. It was such a special day, and a big learning experience for us, since we were raised Catholic. John had to watch online since he was starting finals the next day.

05/09/2021

Happy Mother’s Day
To all of the moms
To those longing
To those grieving
To the pet moms
To those raising bonus kids
To those who step up
To all who care for others.
I see you.
I honor you.
Happy Mother’s Day!
With Love,
Laura and the Crew
(Missing from the photo at our youngest’s bar mitzvah is our oldest, who was stuck at school for finals. Sigh.)

01/17/2021

I love this post from Kara Goucher. Our bodies are amazing.

5 years ago I was training for the Olympic Track Trials and my left knee started to hurt. There was a deep ache and it would catch when I was out running. An MRI showed a meniscus tear. After missing the Olympic marathon team by one spot, I was devastated to have to let the dream go completely, no track trials for me. I went in for surgery to have the tear cleaned up, only to wake up to terrible news. There was a very large hole in my cartilage on the medial side of my knee. My bone was deeply bruised and had lots of little mini stress fractures in it from the pounding. My doctor told me, with emotion in his voice, that I may not really be able to run the way I wanted ever again.

I was shocked. Just a few months earlier I was running 115+ miles a week and barely missed our Olympic team, now my career was over? We met to go over options: micro-fracture, cartilage growth and transplant, later a knee replacement. None of these allowed me to live the way I wanted. I cried, a lot. We decided to drain the knee every 4-6 months and get joint fluid injections. I managed. I ran another marathon, I ran a 50k.

This past week I had another MRI. The results weren’t good. The cartilage loss has grown, a lot. We usually get 2 milliliters of fluid when we drain the knee, this time was 10. But good news, the bone, even with more area that is bone on bone, looks good, healthy. I got a joint fluid injection (which I hadn’t done in a while). We believe my cartilage loss is genetic. Both my grandma and mom lost it in the same place and now have replaced knees.

Why am I sharing this? Well, for the first time in my life I’m not worried about how my sponsor, coach, or race director will react when I tell them I need to take a few weeks easy. But most importantly, I want you all to know that for many of us, our bodies aren’t perfect. For some of us, we will never get faster, we will never go farther. And yes, it sucks. But we can still find great joy in our shorter runs, in our appreciation for movement. It is frustrating when our bodies don’t work they way they used too, but it doesn’t make us less. We are still the same people, we are more than our athletic achievements. ❤️❤️

12/03/2020

I’m so proud to share that my son Josh has committed to play baseball at Wells College. He found out that he was accepted to the school on the 10 year anniversary of his leukemia diagnosis and accepted a spot on their roster yesterday. It’s a perfect fit for him academically and athletically.

Every time you put on a pair of our pants, please know that you’re helping to make this sweet kid’s dreams come true. Thanks for supporting our small business.

11/27/2020

Hey everyone! It’s Iggy, stopping by to let you know that the entire store is 75% off! We do have to charge shipping, since everything is reduced so much, but if you spend $100 or more it’s back to free shipping! Help us clear the shelves so we can fill them again with our new merchandise.
Happypuppiesrun.com

09/29/2020

I just finished inventory and I found some Mandy shorts, Bermudas, and Juniper crops hiding in random tubs. Everything is updated in our online store, so grab them while we have them! I even found two pairs of Mandy shorts in size lemon.
(This is a photo of me in size lemon Bella pants.)
https://happy-puppies.myshopify.com/collections/all

08/26/2020

Happy National Dog Day everyone!
Iggy and Rosie would like to remind you that the entire store is 50%off! Items are selling out..only a few items left in size lemon, and we’re very limited in size tangerine.

07/16/2020

I’m packing up to head out to another baseball tournament with these cuties. I love to watch these two on the field together. We leave tomorrow and will return from this tournament on Wednesday. Then we’ll be gone again from 7/25-8/2. All orders placed before 10 am tomorrow will go out before we leave. Thank you so much for all of your patience during the summer of baseball!

06/04/2020

We’ve reduced our prices! Everything in the store is now 40% off. We have very limited stock in size tangerine and lemon. Penny shorts and boot pants in all sizes are close to being sold out. Don’t miss your chance to own the most comfortable athleticwear around. Shop now: happypuppiesrun.com