_Dear Friends,_

Grace and I have some sad news to report. Our puppy, Pirate, was hit by a car and died on Friday. It was a shocking blow and the little guy was just starting his life. We cried a lot and we appreciate all the support and love from our friends. We will be getting a new pup soon because I know that there are at least a couple schools of thought on how to react to the death of a pet. For me, however; it is not much choice, I know that I will live my life in the company of dogs and that the best way to ease the pain and heartbreak is to find new love. We have adopted a female Olde English Bulldogge that will soon be smothered in love.

I went over to the store here in Key West this week because Joe had called saying he needed help with some projects. He wasn’t kidding about the “projects” part. First, we took down the big false walls covering beautiful plate glass windows on the Grinnell Street side of the store. This made the store so much brighter and even made it feel bigger. Then he needed my help carrying the service desks from upstairs where we had moved the service room back downstairs where we want it now. In between some gentle comments about my age we did manage to horse the heavy desks down the stairs and the Key West store is looking great.

If you haven’t been to our Waitsfield or S. Burlington stores lately, we have also done some renovations to these stores that should make shopping easier.

This week’s “**Kibbles & Bytes exclusive**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002506/kibbles-bytes-readers-take-100-off-macbook-pro-13in-w-touch-bar-2-9ghz-i5-dual-core? is the new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar bundled with an AppleCare Protection plan. This 13-inch MacBook Pro has the 2.9GHz i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD drive. It features the new OLED Touch Bar and this week we are bundling it with AppleCare that extends the Apple 1-year warranty to 3 years and also extends the 90-days of free technical support from Apple to 3 years. This bundle is normally $2049 but this week for Kibbles & Bytes readers you can take $100 off and buy this brand new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and AppleCare for only “**$1949.99**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002506/kibbles-bytes-readers-take-100-off-macbook-pro-13in-w-touch-bar-2-9ghz-i5-dual-core?

Two-Step verification is being used now for more and more accounts. When we first started to use two step verification for some accounts here at Small Dog I was a little unsure how it worked and honestly thought it did nothing but slow my workflow down. Waiting for the verification text or e-mail has delays occasionally which is frustrating. But after I had a break-in to an e-mail account, I’ve learned the value of this added security step. I was lucky, there wasn’t anything personal stored in the e-mail account that was compromised, but that is rarely the case for many users whose accounts are compromised or hacked.

It seems we hear almost weekly information about a new security breach. I remember most recently one involving Yahoo accounts. Strong passwords are something that is always recommended and some sites even require it, but not all. We’ve talked a lot about not using kids and pets for passwords. Keeping track of your passwords is becoming more and more complicated. I am a fan of ( and rely heavily on! ) “iCloud keychain”:https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204085 password storage myself. I also utilize “1Password”:https://1password.com for some of my accounts as well. Using these kinds of password management systems can be critical in not only your organization, but also your account security. Having to move away from simple passwords and utilizing more complex passwords with special characters can be complicated to keep track of. I know I’ve more than once reset passwords and then found myself locked out because I couldn’t correctly remember the password…very frustrating. Utilizing password management software to keep track of passwords as they get more complex is extremely helpful, but often a complex password isn’t enough. This is where two-step verification comes in.

With a normal account, a bad guy has to get only one thing to break in, your password. With an account that’s protected by two-step verification, breaking in becomes far more difficult. That’s because logging in requires both your normal password and a time-limited one-time password or numeric code. This one-time code is generated by a special authentication app and sent to you in a text message or via e-mail. This secondary passcode is only valid for a short amount of time and you can only use it once. Depending on your account ( you can’t control this yourself ) you’ll either have to enter the one-time code each time you log in or sometimes they last for extended periods of time. I have some Apple accounts that I have to use the code each and every time I log out of the account. For some of my e-mail accounts I only have to use the code once every 30 days. So it does vary.

Most accounts that offer ( some will require it ) two-step verification provide fairly detailed instructions on setting up your two-step authentication. One very important note and step is safely storing your recovery key. Your recovery key is your emergency lifeline or safety net if you find yourself locked out of your account for some reason. I was recently locked out of my Apple ID and easily got back in only because I had my recovery key handy. I do not recommend keeping your recovery key physically on your device, you should print it out and put it in a safe place. If you do choose to store your recovery key on your device, I recommend also printing and filing your recovery key. If your end up losing your device or a drive fails etc, you’ll be thankful you have this on hand!

Ultimately having two-step verification is the next best step for safeguarding your accounts, especially during the busy holiday shopping season! Does it have draw backs? Sure, but I feel the perceived inconvenience felt in the beginning becomes second nature with time. My best suggestion is to have your mobile device set up if possible to receive your codes. Most of us carry our phones with us 24/7, so even if you’re not physically with the device that’s needing the verification you’ll know when someone is trying to access your account and quickly determine if it’s someone who should be or someone who shouldn’t.

As you are considering your end of year purchases, don’t forget to take into account section 179 deductions that may be available to your business. The tax code often allows you to deduct the full cost of equipment now, even as you’re paying for it over the next couple of years. So if you purchase or lease a $25,000 piece of equipment, tax savings could effectively reduce the cost to $16,250 ( assuming 35% tax bracket ). Contact your tax professional today to see how you can benefit from Section 179 so that you can plan your end-of-year purchases before time runs out! Contact Rob Amon or Tony Amenta to discuss these kinds of purchases further.

We had some friends from Vermont come to visit this week who also happen to live with bulldogs so it was good to get that support in our difficult time and to show them around Key West, too. They were particularly taken with the Christmas lights in the palm tress. They missed the lighted boat parade, the Christmas parade and the lighted bicycle parade, all unique Key West events.

I have been regularly replenishing stock in the stores so we should be in pretty good shape for the holidays. Grace and I haven’t shopped yet but it is on the list for this weekend.

Thank you so much for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes team,

_Don, Emily & Hadley_