I never saw myself as an entrepreneur. Lifelong dog lover? Yes. I always knew I had a future with dogs. It was my husband who was the entrepreneur. He was dreaming of business ideas on the beach during our honeymoon. I saw myself doing the typical 9-5 cubicle job, and enjoying my dog-related hobbies on the side, in my evenings and weekends.
Thankfully, one rambunctious dog changed everything.
I should start by saying I NEVER wanted a high energy working dog dog. I assumed it would be too much for me. High energy, intelligent, needing a job - it's great, but it probably wasn't a fit for our busy home. Sure, we're active: we walk daily and hike weekly. But that never seemed like enough for an active dog. It never was for ours.
Enter January 2017...the cutest dog I have ever seen appeared at our local animal shelter. The timing was imperfect, but we scooped her up anyway. Lucy was (supposedly) 11 months old, and a "Spring Spaniel mix". I didn't know at the time how much she would change our lives. I could never have predicted she would inspire a business!
In December 2018, it was our second winter with Lucy. I knew I wanted to try new sports with her, but there was a catch. Lucy is reactive to other dogs, and sometimes people. It's not a great combination for highly stimulating environments, such as agility lessons. While I wanted to do various sports with her, I was concerned about her reactivity and the stress those environments would have on both of us. I decided to start shopping online for some agility equipment that we could set up indoors and get a feel for.
Dead end after dead end later I came to a realization. My options were: inexpensive, impractical, yet affordable kits, which I would have to use outdoors (not ideal in Pennsylvania in December), or dropping big bucks on other kits...which seemed hard to justify. Luckily, the light-bulb started to go off. Why not combine my passion for dogs with my husband's passion for entrepreneurship? We combined his background in engineering and project management with my knowledge of dogs and dog sports to develop our first five piece agility kit to sell online. It took us 7 months from start to finish - but finally, our first five piece kit was launched.
Our mission, from beginning to end, is to inspire and empower people to do more with their dogs. My desire to do more with my dog, and my frustration with the lack of available options, was the driving force behind the creation of Better Sporting Dogs. My wish for you and your dogs is to be enabled to do more together, spend more time together, learn together, deepen your bond - the list could go on and on. Dogs and humans have been better together for thousands of years. Make us a part of your history.
