Mrs. Tulip, DC
Age and Occupation: 36, Retired
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Counsel/DOO for Small Gov't Contractor
Engagement Date: August 8, 2007
Wedding Date: March, 2008
Venue: Still Looking!
About Me: In all my dreams of the man I'd someday marry, I never pictured anyone as perfect for me as Mr. Tulip. So now we just have to make it through the craziness of the wedding and the moving in together! I love crafts, sewing, jewelry making, and photography, so am looking forward to this chance for DIY fun. When not wedding planning, I'm playing with our dog and 4 cats, Ebay shopping, or watching too much TV (often simultaneously!).
How Does This Dog Thing Work, Exactly?
February 29th, 2008 @ 4:14 pm by Mrs. Tulip
Meet Zoe. Our ring bearer.
Zoe is 14 months old, and the love of our lives. She adores everyone in the world, perhaps because she’s been fawned over by strangers from the moment she first put her pointy snout out into public. Our main pastimes seem to be Walking the Sheltie, Playing Fetch/Soccer with the Sheltie, Hanging out with the Sheltie at the Coffee Shop … you get the idea.
So, of course we couldn’t imagine celebrating our special day without her.
But we’re having some trouble with the details. We’re going to ask a friend to be Sheltie Wrangler for the day and look after her when she’s not performing her actual duties. But how do people actually get their ring-bearing dogs down the aisle?
She would come if we called her, probably. But it might be safest if someone walked her down the aisle?
And ring bearers usually walk before the bride, right? But I wouldn’t want to miss her!
And how to adorn her? A ribbon collar with a few flowers pinned on? But what about a leash, if she’s walked?
In some ways, it seems like a lot of trouble for 5-10 seconds of participation. Except that we really, truly cannot imagine NOT having her with us!
Any advice???
26 Responses to “How Does This Dog Thing Work, Exactly?”
Aw! How adorable! Can I come and snuggle your dog? 
I think Miss Penguin wrote a post about training her little dog, Billie, way back when and was saying something about doing kind of a little practice drill with the dog and rewarding her with treats when she reached the end of her aisle walk. However, like you said, depending on your setup, it might be slightly safer to have someone walk her up the aisle, especially since animals can be spooked by crowds of people.
As for costume, is there anyway you can adorn a collar with some of the same flowers found in your bouquet? That would be super cute!
ZOE! I want to smooch you! What a beautiful girl you are!
We’re also including our dog in our wedding ceremony, we think we’re just gonna let her loose down the aisle and have Mr. Penguin call her to come. Its really just a gesture of inclusion, we wont really care if it doesnt work out and she just runs in another direction, but we’re trying to train her to sit, stay and come when called. Its working well in our home but obviously, in front of a crowd, we figure that it might not go so well
Billie Jean will wear a cute pearl collar we bought her in our wedding, and it will probably be accompanied by a DIY leash. You can probably take a plain old nylon collar/leash from the pet store and hot glue gun/sew on some beautiful silk or satin ribbon to cover it if you cant find a premade leash that coordinates with your color scheme! I think thats what we might do!
Good Luck Zoe! Big hug and kiss from Penguin!
Very Cute Dog!! You could always have her on a leash that matched the colours of your wedding…also if you didn’t want to miss her you could always have her walk you (or walk with you) down the aisle!! and have someone waiting to come in and pick her up at the end. I too am a major dog lover (have 2 boxers, Zoe 3 1/2 and Abby 7 months!) and think it would be great to have your Zoe a part of your wedding.
I also saw your post about deciding between your two dresses…I think they are both beautiful! Have you decided? I am wondering if you would be interested in selling the alfred angelo? (after your wedding if you are wearing it…..) If so, what size is it?
Our two dogs will be in the wedding, a flower girl and the ring bearer. We too couldn’t imagine any day let alone our wedding day without them.
My brother is not in the wedding party but he will be walking the dogs down the aisle. They are going to go right before my dad and I make the big trip. I got a bow tie collar for the little guy and I am making a flower collar for the lady (I’m opting to use fake flowers to avoid any accidental poisoning) and they will be walked down the aisle in leashes made of the same ribbon that wraps my flowers.
I don’t trust my dogs to sit at the alter so my brother is going to sit on the outside end of the front row with their leashes tied to the chair. (He’s also going to give them their favorite treats to keep them distracted during the ceremony).
Good luck and post pictures of any collar/leash creations you discover.
zoe, you’re such a cutie, i want to just eat you up!!!!!!!! no matter what mommy puts you in, you’ll be a great ring bearer!!!!
My cousin had his dog be the ring bearer. My mother made the dog a tiny tuxedo collar w/bow tie. Let me tell you that it helps to be able to practice, practice, practice in your venue! We had the dog go up the aisle just before the vows, for full effect (and so he wouldn’t have to sit up there so long). We trained him to jog importantly up the aisle, and sit between the bride and groom to have the ring untied, and then take his place at the end of the row of groomsmen. It took an afternoon and a lot of snausages, but it was totally worth it.
What an ADORABLE pup! My parents have a Sheltie and this picture is making me miss her!We are also going to have our dog in the wedding. My future FIL will walk him down the aisle (Since my Dad will walk me, My Mom and FI’s Mom will participate in our unity tree ceremony,it seemed like a nice way to include him). I am not sure what kind of leash he will wear, but it would be easy to DIY with some rhinestones, a glue gun and a nylon leash in your colors. Since our dog is a boy, I am a little less sure what he will wear. Classy Bride has a whole section of attire for pets in case you want to buy something.
I have no advice but just wanted to say,
awwwwww.
Thanks for the comments and good advice, everyone. (Keep ‘em coming!)
I’ll be sure to pass all your comments along to Zoe. And of course she’ll be happy to snuggle/smooch each and every one of you upon request.
Shelties are really, really smart dogs!
You could have a floral collar made, talk to your florist if you want fresh flowers or hit up a craft store and get enough fake flowers to hot glue to a budget collar..OR
you could cover a budget collar in wedding matching colours or even buy a really dazzling sparkly collar you could get the matching leash for that. You can co-ordinate the leash the same way(hot glue flowers or cover with materals or glue a ribbon on it.)
I wouldn’t have her off leash, to much room for run aways and distractions!
You might also want to have a kennel pick her up after the ceremony, she might become overwhelmed at the reception. That’s what I plan on doing with my baby.
Aww we used to have the best Sheltie ever, this is making me miss her!
Miss Tulip, if you want someone to walk sweet Zoe down the aisle on a leash, you can make your own from ribbon or something! There was an article in MS Weddings (from last year, I think) about how you can make some different styles yourself.
I couldn’t find it at the MS Weddings website, but I managed to track it down on Faye and Greer, since they blogged about it. The link is below. Good luck!
Zoe’s so precious!
http://fayeandgreer.blogspot.com/2007/06/martha-obsesses-over-dog-details-too.html
Oh and there is a good article on Martha Stewart about making rhinestone collars for your dog.
My sheltie passed away about a year ago. They really are the sweetest, cutest dogs!
But - ours at least - could get a little shy if there were lots of people and activities around, especially for a puppy.
Aww! So cute! Cutest widdle puppy wuppy!
weet!
im thinking you could have her walked up….perhaps by an usher or semi important person.
i plan to order a mini tux for my black and white shih tzu…take pics with him…and then send him off to the boarder.
he’s such a playful, independent spirit, we just cant trust him in a star role on the big day. 
love him to bits though. stubborn thing!
Oh my gosh! That is the sweetest face ever!!!! Sorry I don’t have any better ideas than what was already said, I just had to swoon & smooch over your adorable dog!!
What a fabulous link, MissJenny, thanks! Am now thinking of the pearls-with-ribbon idea, but need to figure out whether they’ll show over her enormous white ruff….
Suzanno, love how you trained your dog to participate!
Melanie, thanks for your dress comments. I’ll email you privately about it….
I know I should offer something more constructive, but really the only suggestion I have is to make me your backup Sheltie Wrangler. They’re just the best dogs! Mine, sadly, passed away just before I met my wonderful husband, but I’ve already told him that when we get our dogs we’re going to have to have his ‘n’ hers, as he’s a dog lover with breed requirements of his own. We can’t wait!
Happy wedding! And big hugs and a scratch or two to Zoe!
such an adorable dog!
i think it would be a good idea to have someone walk Zoe just in case…
she will be a wonderful part of your wedding!
She’s a gorgeous girl!
I don’t mean to rain on your parade, but have you made sure that none of your guests are either terrified of dogs or severely allergic to them? Just thought I’d mention it in case you hadn’t thought about it…I know you don’t want anyone freaking out or having an allergic reaction to your beautiful girl!
Can I just add that Zoe is an awesome name and I just love that photo of her, she’s so beautiful!!! We didn’t include our dog but I would have loved to. She’s not too well behaved but we did include her in our engagement photos, which worked out. It’s the thought that counts.
I’m going to second redshoegirl (#20) on this. One of my good friends was badly mauled by a dog a few years ago, and something like this would definitely affect her. And for children it can be much worse. At the very least I would make sure Zoe is *always* on a leash.
check out this site for really cute collars: http://www.petfashionista.com
could she walk with you down with you? Buddy cant make it to our wedding so hes going to be apart of our cake topper!
You should check out this website that makes a special ‘doggie wagon cart.’ You basically hook it onto the dog, and when the dog walks down the aisle, it distributes flower petals behind it … Wah- Lah! Flower Doggie The product is by Pawsitively Purrfect Products, LLC and is called the ‘Pet Petal Pullcart.’ Enjoy
You mentioned that you didn’t want to miss her walking down the aisle if she went before you, and I don’t blame you–it will be so adorable! What if she didn’t come in until you needed the rings? Do the processional without her, have someone to watch her at the back of the ceremony, and when it’s time to exchange rings you can both call for her and she can come then. That way you’ll both be there to greet her.
