Dog fight! Paw Prints The Magazine growls at Three Dog Bakery

Yesterday, the publishers of Paw Prints The Magazine called out Three Dog Bakery, accusing the pet-food store of pooping on a fundraiser for area animal shelters scheduled for next month.

At that event, known in the past as “Dog’s Night Out,” dog owners take their pooches to a Wizards game, with ticket proceeds benefiting Animal Haven, the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City and Wayside Waifs. In a post titled “Three Dog Bakery screws the pooch,” Dale and Stacy Smith claim that Three Dog Bakery tried to “extort” the title sponsorship after trademarking the name “Dog’s Night Out.” The Wizards and the Smiths had already started selling tickets and contacting event sponsors, including Three Dog Bakery, using the old name.

Paw Prints

editor Stacy E. Smith tells The Pitch that she tried to call Three Dog to

see if it would sponsor the event. But no one at Three Dog returned

her calls (Three Dog also hasn’t returned calls from The Pitch).

“Finally, we realized why we didn’t get a call back because they were consulting with attorneys,” Smith says.

On Wednesday, Three Dog Bakery sent an e-mail to the Wizards saying that using the “Dog’s Night Out” phrase violated Three Dog’s trademark. If the Wizards wanted to use the name, then Three Dog wanted to be the title sponsor. But Three Dog didn’t offer to throw in any bones.

“They tried to extort a title sponsorship out of it,” Smith says. “A nationally televised game

that’s going to get a lot of publicity without offering one dime of a

donation to these charities. And that’s what the title sponsorship is

for. That’s why we were so shocked.”
 

No dice. The Wizards are changing the name of the event to “Dog’s Night at the Wizards.”

The fundraiser is a go under the new name on May 23, with the Wizards playing Chivas USA at Community America Ball Park. A kickoff “Yappy Hour” is scheduled for April 29 at the 810 Zone in Leawood.