Ryan Guzman & Boogy and Lily

Who is in the photo at right?

I'm Ryan Guzman, the owner of Hawaii’s Original Taste Coffee or H.O.T Coffee. We sell coffee from our family farm in Ka’u, Hawaii. My two dogs are Boogy and Lily. Boogy is 8 years old male and half Rottweiler, half Pitbull. His little sister, Lily is 6 years old and a pure bred Yellow Lab.

What's the occasion for Coffee with a Canine?

Our large dogs need a lot of space so I take them to the park as often as possible. This time it’s been longer than usual because of the bad weather. Boogy and Lily love the open space and walking the trails as much as I love sipping on my H.O.T Coffee.

What's brewing?

As expected I enjoy my family coffee from Hawaii. The roast I prefer is medium. H.O.T Coffee has hints of chocolate, nutty and tropical flavors with low acidity. I use the conventional drip brewing coffee machine and occasionally us the Chemex.

Any treats for you or your dogs on this occasion?

Boogy and Lily’s favorite treat is the “Bully Stick.” They don’t get it often so they are going to be extremely excited to have one today.

How did your dogs get their names? Any nicknames?

Boogy’s nickname is “Fat Head” because he has such a big head. Lily’s nickname is “Monster” because during her puppy phase she eat everything from shoes to baseboard molding.

How were you and your dogs united?

In 2004, my wife and I were looking for a dog that would help protect us and be a great addition to our family. We were also in search of our first house so we knew we were going to have the space for a family pet. One weekend we were reading through the newspaper and came across an ad for puppies. What caught our attention was the uncommon mix of Rottweiler and Pitbull breed. We had to go take a look. We met his parents and got to know all of the puppies. Once we did that we had our hearts set on taking one home. Boogy was playing with his reflection in the glass door of an entertainment center. He had us laughing and that is when we knew we found our new family member.

In 2006, my wife came home from work gushing about seeing the cutest puppies. Her co-­worker knew a breeder of purebred Yellow Labs. The co-worker had chosen male to add to their family and was sharing pictures at work. My wife wanted to go take a look at the puppies and I knew I had no chance trying to stop her. We went to meet Lily’s parents and fell in love with all of the puppies. Lily however was the one that picked us. She climbed onto my wife’s lap and snuggled up in her arms. My wife didn’t let her go!

Dogs have something like 220 million olfactory receptors (roughly 40 times the number found in humans), so obviously they can detect subtle differences in the aroma depending on what you have brewing at any given time. Have you ever noticed them behaving differently when you have, say, dark roast brewing instead of medium roast?

I can’t say that I have noticed a difference.

Do your dogs have any non-­canine pet‐pals?

Boogy and Lily love our newest addition to our family, our son Ryker. They like to eat up all the treats Ryker drops when he is eating. Recently Lily enjoys her time spend with Ryker because he shares his foam blocks with her.

What is each dog's best quality?

Boogy’s best quality is his ability to make us laugh. Whether he is sneaking up behind us to stick his head between our legs and makes funny faces at us or running into things because he is so clumsy, he keeps us entertained.

Lily’s best quality is that she is so attentive. She always keeps an eye on us when we are on walks. She will scout our surroundings and come back to check on us. She even keeps her eye on Boogy.

If your dogs could change one thing about Las Vegans, what would it be?

Boogy would change the temperature in the summer. His coat is black and tan so he is not a fan of the hot, hot sun.

Lily would change the lack of bodies of water. Lily loves to play in water and probably wishes there were closer bodies of water.

If Hollywood made a movie about H.O.T. Coffee in which your dogs could speak, which actors should do their voices?

Boogy’s voice would be Lou Ferrigno.

Lily’s voice would be Renée Zellweger.

If your dogs could ask only one question in English, what would they ask?

Boogy would ask, “Where do you hide the Bully Sticks?”

Lily would ask, “Can we buy a swimming pool?”

Visit the H.O.T Coffee website.

--Marshal Zeringue