Ace Hardware’s dog a customer favorite

Todd Jones of Spring Valley Ace Hardware is a dog lover, and he especially loves Doberman dogs.  But when his most recent pet Doberman died, fate had a change in mind for the Jones family.  Todd said, “I’ve always had Dobermans in the past.  And we had a fire, and the last one died in the fire.”  So they bought a “fixer-upper” house, and fixed it up good as new.  Then Todd says, “I told the wife I’d love to get another Doberman, but I’m not going to have dog hair all over the place when we’ve done this nice of a job on this place.”

Then, about five years ago, Todd and Jill had gone to do some shopping in Decorah, and came through Canton on the way home, so that they could stop and look at some rescue dogs.  “So we stopped in there, and boom, like an unplanned pregnancy, we came home with a dog.  Their new bundle of joy is what Todd describes as a “hybrid mutt”.  He explains, “The mom was a Pomeranian and the dad was some type of poodle.”

Despite the major difference between Jack and the Dobermans that the Jones family was accustomed to, Todd says, “He’s been the most phenomenal dog, the most loving dog,… he’s just a little snuggle bug!”  

Over the past five years, although Jack’s home is at the Jones house, Jack has become a regular fixture at the hardware store.  Todd says that customer reaction has been almost exclusively positive, but he says that if any customers are not comfortable with Jack, the staff will keep Jack in the office or away at that time.  Todd added, “We’ve got customers that do come in just specifically for Jack… some that when they’re shopping will just pick him up and carry him around.”  Todd also said one customer was previously scared of dogs, but has become comfortable with Jack.

Jill stated that Jack’s usual routine is, “He likes to lay on the bird food or the potting soil or the dog food, whatever’s on the pallet out front.  He likes to lay there, and everybody can come by and pet him.”  Jill and Todd also shared that Jack seems to be especially fond of babies, and will always come to check out any babies that are brought into the store.  Todd adds, “He’s never bitten, he’s the most mild-mannered dog I’ve ever had.  We’re just thankful to have him.”  And it appears the customers at Ace agree.