Win a bunch of delicious dog biscuits for your dog. That’s right – in conjunction with the makers of Benevolent Dog Biscuits we want your dog to win delicious dog biscuits handmade by monks!

Benevolent Bakery is up and running, with monks now baking more than the new cookie flavors Apple Blossom, Apple and Cinnamon, and bone shaped breath mints for Bo. People get a chance to indulge, too, with four or five different cakes, like Kirsch Cherry Cake, Dorothea Peach Brandy Cake,  Limoncello Poundcake (mmmm) to name a few.  Cistercians are known for very high quality goods, making entering their new target market, the gourmet/specialty niche, a natural fit.

Each year Benevolent Bakery partners with and supports other groups helping people, like StoryBrook Farm, providing equine assisted therapy for those challenged children 2 years old to young adults afflicted with physical or mental disabilities. And Haley House in Massachusetts, addressing root causes of joblessness through their café and bakery business.  Proceeds are donated to help another nonprofit, and so on to the next, taking the “paying it forward” concept and radically supercharging it for exponential growth – love this idea! And it’s in perfect harmony with things happening in the pet blogosphere today where all will be blogging to raise funds and awareness for animals.  With that in mind…

Wholesale and not-for-profit inquiries are welcome! Benevolent Biscuits are a natural at fundraisers. Special holiday products are available, too.  You can reach the office at (866) 808-8080, visit their websites: lasermonks, and lasermonksgreen.  And…

Sarah and I decided to run a Contest.

In honor of Spring and cookies with names like Apple Blossoms and because the Service Dog provider Canine Companions for Independence gets 10% of the purchase price on all dog cookie saleseach and every day, if you like to buy in bulk here’s a chance to make a difference. You could start a new permanent giving program, a money tree for service dogs in your business, shelter, vet clinic, pet store, sports store, any store! Give Sarah a call or email–get some good cookies and help service dogs get trained!  Should anyone just want to smell the apple blossoms, just buy a bag now – if you win, you’ll just have more!

First Prize:

Baked and packaged by the monks of Our Lady of Spring Bank Cistercian Abbey, these nutritious dog treats can be ordered for small or large dogs.

This is a decoratively packaged pet basket with a dog-themed bow and greeting card and includes: Value: $32.95

1 Bag of Carob Dog Treats,   1 Bag of Breath Mint Bones,  Doggie Soap on a Rope (Good for Dog Baths),  Book of Dog Psalms,   Doggie Paw Balm,   St. Francis Medal

Second Prize

Two bags of Benevolent Biscuits – Gigi should be happy for awhile! Value: $15.90

How To Enter:

In 25 words or less, and in more than one sentence, tell us why your dog deserves a little nibble of heaven from Benevolent Bakery!

You must be a US resident and at least 18 years old to be eligible to win. In the event of an ineligible entry an alternate will be chosen.

One entry per person. Duplicate and anonymous entries will be discarded.  Send entries to: dancingdogblog@yahoo.com  Make sure the subject line reads “Contest Entry”.  Any kind of automated entrys are invalid. Include the address you want your prize sent to if you win. We are a no spam zone, and we will not sell your address.

Deadline

Entry closes at 11:59, Friday April 30, 2010.  Winner will be announced on May 2 on the website.  Sarah and I will put the best entries in a hat and chose from those finalists. Decisions are final.

MORE INFO & LEGAL STUFF ON NEXT PAGE

Legal Stuff

Employees of LaserMonks, the Abbey, or Dancing Dog Blog (that would be Tashi!) are not eligible to enter the contest.  No substitutions including for cash are permitted, with the exception that Benevolent Bakery and Dancing Dog Blog reserve the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater monetary value for the prize. The winner shall be responsible and liable for all federal, state and local taxes on the value of the prize. ##

Have fun, do some good for animals (and people), and we will, at our discretion, randomly publish entries for your enjoyment! Below is more information on the Monks.

The Order of Cistercian Monks, founded in the 11th century, whose mission is entrepreneurial in nature, and is referred to as “Commerce with Compassion.”  Monks choose work in keeping with a contemplative life, and donate all the profits to charitable causes. They are very much involved in their communities and conduct as much local trade as possible.

I spoke by phone with Sarah Caniglia, and she, along with partner Cindy Griffith have grown LaserMonks product line, the brainchild of the monastery’s superior Rev. Bernard McCoy, from a $2000 per year income to a $4.5 million dollar enterprise.  When this partnership began, it was all about the eco-conscious soy ink printer replacement cartridges business Sarah and her partner sold to the Order.  Now, with Sarah and Cindy running the business, there’s coffee, preserves, gift baskets, Benevolent Dog Biscuits and some new products for 2010.  When we left our conversation last year, I had asked Sarah what plans for expansion were in the works.  She mentioned they hoped to build a bakery on the Abbey grounds to accommodate growth on the wholesale side of the business. For the original interview, read on…

The recent New York Times article on the entrepreneurial Monks of the ancient Cistercian Order called attention to the vastly different worlds that coexist within this Sparta, Wisconsin Abbey’s walls-the contemplative ring of Abbey bells in a call to prayer, and the frenetic ringing of the office phones, with calls from institutions to individuals ordering high quality, low cost, socially responsible products. When LaserMonks began, it was all about the eco-conscious soy ink printer replacement cartridges; now, with some expert help, there’s coffee, preserves, gift baskets, and Benevolent Dog Biscuits. Of course, the latter piqued my interest!

I spoke with Sarah Caniglia, who, with partner Cindy Griffith, came to sell their online ink and toner business to the Order, and ended up staying to manage and take LaserMonks products to a whole new level: from $2000 a year to the $4.5 Million business it is today. And only three people do all the work! Monks of any Order, after all, are not intended to be all about commerce. True to their Order, all profits go to charities and to support the community in which they reside.

Sarah, one smart cookie if she doesn’t mind my saying so, thought of the treats concept, noting that the dog biscuit product truly fit the work of the Order: “Monks, and Cistercians in particular, have a long history of being “entrepreneurs” (founded in 1098) and also lovers of the earth and living things…this combination of having to work to support the abbey and the love of animals is a perfect reason for this product.”

And between the Monks and the women, they have their own built-in taste testers, with six dogs licking their chops each day as the ovens emit the heavenly scent of peanut butter, sesame, carrot, and applesauce. (Sarah also mentioned a cat and 3 horses…hmmm, do I smell at least one new product line here?)

“Monks bake the biscuits and this helps them sustain their contemplative lifestyle. Because proceeds are donated to charity (i.e. Canine Companions for Independence as well as Storybook Farm, an equine therapy camp for children with life – threatening illnesses), they chose the name Benevolent Biscuits” says Sarah. It’s obvious they all take their role of producing socially responsible products seriously.

I spoke to Sarah about how the 2007 pet food recall has broken trust with so many people who now actively read labels searching for quality, US ingredients in their companion animal’s foods and treats, and how would their biscuits measure up? Her response follows.

“We are also very conscious of healthy living for the animals…because of this we felt that the biscuits/treats should have natural ingredients.

Our biscuits use wheat flour, natural, unsweetened applesauce, no salt (except for the low sodium chicken soup granules in the Divinely Originals), all-natural peanut butter.

We use no sugar or butter–the only ingredient with sugar are the frosted biscuits and for those we use white frosting, but very little on each biscuit.

We also purchased as many ingredients as we can locally–for example, we purchase the wheat bran in bulk locally from an Amish store.

The idea to bake and sell the biscuits came about because we feel people should always have a choice when purchasing products or services…we wanted to offer healthy, reasonably priced, attractively packaged treats, where the proceeds would benefit good works (which is our business model for LaserMonks and our corresponding sites)that would give consumers a message about us and our mission–we like to call it “commerce with compassion”…we feel when given a choice, consumers will choose the company which sells a product that represents social and ethical responsibility and that donates proceeds back  to communities.”

The Monks, Sarah, and Cindy are looking to build a bakery next year on the Abbey grounds to accommodate growth in the wholesale side of the business, while providing employment for the community.

Wholesale and not-for-profit inquiries are welcome. Benevolent Biscuits are a natural at fundraisers. Stay tuned for new product announcements. You can reach the office at (866) 808-8080 and visit their websites: lasermonks, and lasermonksgreen

If you like Gregorian chants (and who doesn’t?) take a moment to create a peaceful space in your busy life and go to the listening room on their website. Enjoy!

From the book Dog Psalms (also available):

“I Nest

I am dog. I nest. I turn and turn to lie down. I know the basket, the rug, the corner, the couch. I make the place my safe nest. I nest like a bird making sure my place is right. I nest where I can see you, feel you near, hear your voice, guard you. I nest in a ritual of comfort, knowing I am now home.” (publisher, Augsburg Books)