Jennifer Blevins and her husband Martin own Mad Dogs and Englishmen in Mill Valley, which offers a unique collection of beautiful bikes, ebikes, bicycle sidecars, accessories and apparel. The Mill Valley Lumberyard location is the second branch of the store, which was first opened in Carmel.
The Englishman in the name is Martin, but as far as the mad dogs go, the couple own a number of canines. But none are as unique as EJ, a stray that the couple adopted after rescuing her. She’s about eight or nine years old, and lives between the couple’s Pebble Beach home, the Carmel and the Mill Valley shop. “Our customers at both shops adore her. She loves meeting and greeting everyone that comes through the door.”
The story is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. “We discovered her in the doorway of an abandoned, boarded up building,” Jennifer explains. “We thought she was dead when we stopped our vehicle to check on her. She was in very poor condition. It was 106 degrees that day. She was severely malnourished, dehydrated, had severe mange and hundreds of ticks… she had no collar, no tags, no microchip. (But she had been trained and spayed). At first she would not come to us. I gave her three bottles of water – she drank it all. Then I gave her my lunch. I threw pieces of my chicken sandwich to her and eventually got her to eat from my hand. That’s when we could see how bad off she was. The vet said she would not have lasted much longer in those conditions. A local kid told us she was a stray, and that everyone in the area was mean to her. The girl picked her up and put her in the back of our jeep and told us to take her. She spent a week at the vets before we brought her home. It took her a few months to recover. EJ is the most amazing dog ever.”
We asked Jennifer a few more questions about this special pooch:
Do you know what breed she is?
We believe she is a Belgian Shepherd mix… maybe mixed with some Australia Shephard (since she has one blue and one brown eye). She is a herding dog for sure; she’s highly intelligent and very loyal.
What’s her favorite snack?
She’s a picky girl. She doesn’t like processed dog treats; she will turn her nose up to most. She likes real meat and dairy products. Her favorite treat is rotisserie chicken from Costco. And cheese, she loves cheese! She will woof for treats and give you her paw…
Does she sleep in your bed?
We have several rescue dogs, all mixed breeds. They sleep with us. EJ is a bit of a loner, she usually heads to our living room and claims the sofa.
Does she have any favorite trails or places to walk?
She loves long walks around Pebble Beach, Carmel and Mill Valley with Martin. She also loves Carmel Beach. She loves going everywhere with us. She also loves riding by bike in the sidecar.
Tell us something unique about her.
She is a very special dog, one in a million. She loves all people and is so intelligent. She gets along with all dogs. She rarely barks and is super chill.
She loves cycling around with us in one of our hand crafted bicycle sidecars 🙂
She was even in an American Express commercial that AMEX did to showcase or shop durning the recent US Open. In the 30 second commercial they showed Martin cycling with her down Carmel Beach: it aired across the US and was a big hit!
If you’d like to enter your dog into Marin’s dog-of-the-month, please contact [email protected].
Jessica Gliddon is the Group Digital Content Manager for Marin Magazine. An international writer and editor, she has worked on publications in the UK, Dubai and Cape Town. She is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz, and is the former editor of Abu Dhabi’s airline magazine, Etihad Inflight. When she’s not checking out the latest exhibit at SFMOMA or searching out the best places to eat and drink near her home in San Francisco, she volunteers at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito.
