Six years ago today I was quietly reading 50 Shades of Grey on my iPad in the park when a homeless man approached me. The man was holding two tiny puppies and walking his dog (who had clearly just given birth). Well…this man just happened to be trying to get rid of these puppies and offered me one.

I quickly snagged one of the puppies, snapped a selfie and sent it to my friends and mother with a text that asking if I should keep the dog. My friends said yes and my mother, of course, said no! After a bit of negotiating with the man (he wanted $100 and I only had $60) and one last mayonnaise sandwich (yes, he was feeding the dog mayonnaise sandwiches in the park) the dog was mine!

Within 10 minutes I had myself a new puppy. A new puppy whose name was Spartacus and spent the first four weeks of his life living in the park and eating mayonnaise and wonderbread sandwiches!

The man walked away and all of a sudden I started to panic. I did not have ANY dog supplies. I had my iPad, a bottle of Rosé and a puppy with mayonnaise all over his face! I quickly grabbed my phone, selected the Yelp app and searched for the closest pet store. Jeffrey’s Pet Store came up and it was just footsteps away from the park. I grabbed my puppy, my Rosé, and my iPad and ran to Jeffrey’s.

I am sure Lynette (the owner of Jeffrey’s) thought I was a batshit crazy lady when I first walked into her shop. I mean how often does someone say I just got this puppy from a homeless man in the park and now I need EVERYTHING for this dog ASAP…and a vet!

Lynette stayed cool, calm and collected and slowly but surely got me everything I needed for little Spartacus. We got a bed, bowls, harness, leash, puppy pads and a sampling of Jeffrey’s Natural Pet Food.

I walked home with Spartacus, got him all set up in my apartment and took a good look at him. This dog was tiny, probably less than two pounds. He was not a Spartacus. I sat on my floor with him and tried to think of a more suitable name for him. Who was this little dog? Then it came to me. I was sitting underneath a statue in the park earlier that day when I got him, the Benjamin Franklin statue. That was his name! This dog was not Spartacus, this dog was Benjamin Franklin Ensign. If you wish to buy dog lick mat for your pet, you can check from here.

Within a couple of days, young Benjamin Franklin had his first round of shots and was slowly adjusting to life in North Beach. After a couple of visits to the vet, we learned that he left his mother WAY too early and had developed a bit of a stomach infection (probably from those mayonnaise sandwiches). With Lynette’s guidance Jeffrey’s we got Benji on a raw food diet and quickly put a stop to any stomach issues the dog ever had.

Flash forward to today and Benji is a healthy and happy dog thanks to Lynette and the team at Jeffrey’s Natural Pet Food store. I am constantly sending anyone with a dog or a cat to Jeffrey’s and decided to team up with them today to celebrate the day Benji walked into our lives! Head to my Instagram post here and enter our giveaway! Every pet in San Francisco needs a little Jeffrey’s in their life.

Enter the Jeffrey’s Natural Pet Food giveaway on my Instagram here.