Olga Guanabara's Shop Dog Steals Attention From the Furniture

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This is Store Sidekicks, an occasional end-of-the-week feature in which we profile the fuzzy wuzzy creatures who inhabit shops around the city. If you'd like to nominate your favorite store animal, drop us a line at tips@racked.com.

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Everything about the furniture store Olga Guanabara invokes Brazil: the owner, Richard Velloso, the artwork and tchotchkes that line some of the shelves, and the 10-year-old shop dog Olga, who Richard bought in Brazil when she was only two months old. The chocolate lab is calm, cute, and very cuddley, and she's been in the Dumbo store nearly every day since it opened in March 2011.

Richard says she's even tried to help create some pieces of her own. When the store first opened, she would carry around sticks and planks of wood six times her size. "She likes to show off her strength," he said. Often, she can be found snuggling up in the bed he made for her toward the back of the shop. Even then, Olga draws regular customers who come in to say hello. Richard sometimes wishes they'd come in to say hello and buy a table, but with that face, how could you focus on anything else?—Lauren Frankfort
· Olga Guanabara [Official Site]
· All Store Sidekicks Posts [Racked NY]