Starting this week, iTaggit will be choosing one valued, active member a week to feature on our nationally syndicated blog.  Our first iTaggit Member of the Week is Chris Thomas!  Chris (member name: My-Target-Dogs) has been an iTaggit member for nearly two years and is an expert collector of Target Dogs, Antique Books, and Gift Cards from Target, Starbucks, Hot Topic, Nordstrom, and Hooters.  Click HERE to check out his profile and his awesome collections!

Tell us a little bit about yourself: Where are you from and what is your occupation outside of collecting?
Well I am originally from Oregon (a long time ago), but by way of the military. I have lived just about everywhere. Currently I am working as an Engineer in Oak Ridge, TN.

How long have you been collecting?
I have been collecting Target dogs for about six years.

Tell us a little bit about why you collect Target Dogs?
Well, that one was actually an accident. My wife took a part time job working at Target, and became hooked on collecting Target gift cards while she was there. Then one day we saw a Target gift card holder dog for sale at Target, and it all started with that. I was interested mainly because they resembled my old Budweiser Spuds MacKenzie collection, and it only seemed natural to me to collect Target Dogs as well.

Do you have more than one collection?  If yes, what are they?
Ummm, yeah. Probably too many. But some of the main ones include Gift Cards, Grateful Dead Bears, Antique Books, and Movies.

What is your favorite piece of your collection?
It would have to be our large 15" Golf Dog: http://www.itaggit.com/Collection/My-Target-Bullseye-Dog-Collection/42567/Thing/151221-1/

Where and how did you obtain it?
We got it from a random seller on eBay for nearly nothing. It was an amazing steal for that dog.

How long have you been a member of iTaggit?
Almost two years.

Why did you choose iTaggit to manage your collectibles?
Well I know this is not what you necessarily want to here, but it was mostly because I was a little lazy. I created websites for my wife’s Gift Card collections, but those take so much work to maintain, I had to find a easier alternative. So I started searching the internet for a service which would allow me to add custom fields with photos. And after a little searching I ran across iTaggit and found exactly what I was looking for.

What is your favorite feature on the iTaggit website?
Hands down it has to be the ability to create custom templates.

What other websites do you frequent and why?
http://target.ketzra.com and http://starbucks.ketzra.com because they are our websites of course...And http://www.giftcardcollector.com because it is really the only website out there devoted to gift card collecting. Other than that, when we are looking to buy collectibles, we go to either http://www.ecrater.com or http://www.ebay.com

If you had one piece of advice to share with other collectors and iTaggit members, what would it be?
Take pride in your collection and present it with as much quality and information as humanly possible. The better the detail, the more interest you will gather from other collectors or potential collectors.

Think you have what it takes to be an iTaggit Member of the Week?  Shoot me an email with a link to your collection!