Today we’d like to introduce you to Suzanne Adkisson.
Suzanne, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am a cancer survivor, who has been cancer free for ten years, however, it left me unable to have kids. We have had two cats for years, but we never thought we could be “good” dog-parents due to our work schedules and social lives.
Our family acquired our first dog by accident, Libbey was a stray. She climbed our back yard fence and into our hearts in 2014. Six months later, we adopted our second dog from the Denton Animal Shelter. Soon after his adoption, he became sick. We took him to our vet, and they passed it off as normal dog stuff and assured us it would pass. However, Artemis dropped weight and was vomiting after every meal. We took him to the emergency room, they did a complete work up on him with and didn’t see anything wrong with him. We then took him for a third opinion; at this point, he had lost 20 lbs. and we had spent thousands of dollars. Thankfully, they were willing to do exploratory surgery on Artemis and found that he had a blockage in his intestines that was not showing up on his x-rays. Apparently, this is fairly common in large dogs because they tend to eat things that should not be eaten by dogs. But this made us wonder, what else is “common” in dogs and what do we need to know to become educated pet-parents.
What we found honestly scared us. What the pet industry is “allowed” to use as ingredients in pet food/treats is criminal. Out pets are members of our families, what pet companies are using in their food is leading to health issues in our family members. We all know of the recalls of pet food due to the dyes leading to toxicity in dogs. In addition, 65% of dogs will have at least one seizure in their lifetime and the majority of dogs will have some type of cancer if they live long enough. Most of this can tie into their diets. Needless to say, we started making our dogs treats and food. It started as us just doing this for our dogs. However, family and friends started asking for treats for their dogs and for my husband (a former trained chef) to teach them to make meals for their dogs.
After resisting at first, my husband talked me into starting a treat company as it became bigger than just being about our dogs. Then, the company I worked for closed and I launched full-force into La Barkeria. I launched our website and placed a few of our treats on Etsy. Then, I decided to sell out our local farmers markets in Keller. This lead to a few more, and now we do deliveries in the North Fort Worth area once a week to ensure our customers have their dog treats.
Recently, we adopted our third dog from Arlington Animal Shelter and Libbey dog had her first seizure. Watching Libbey have a seizure and not being able to do anything to help her was one of the worst experiences of my life. This lead to our expansion into holistic dog treats and CBD dog products. The benefits of CBD for dogs has been tested and is showing promising results. Libbey is on CBD for her seizures and she doesn’t have to take large drugs that would lead to her being tired and not being able to express her personality. In addition, We have a customer with a dog diagnosed with advanced stage bone cancer. They have been using CBD for 6 months and have seen improvements in the dog’s health.
Basically, this all started because we wanted to be good to our dogs, and do what we could to keep them healthy. We found that most people want the best for their pets, and we owe it to them, to be honest with them about what we are feeding their animals. At La Barkeria, we believe in truth in labeling and utilizing natural ingredients without fillers (the chemicals and dyes); because it matters!
Has it been a smooth road?
I think we have had some of the same issues that all small companies have starting out. I do not really have any time for myself – and balancing the business and the family is always a struggle. My husband travels for work, and it is hard to manage both of our work schedules.
The hardest question is always what’s next? We are in the process of converting an RV into a mobile dog treat company. We have looked at various retail rental properties in the Weatherford and Fort Worth area, but have been unable to find the perfect retail location for what we would like to do for La Barkeria long-term. But, for the immediate future, we are excited about the potential for our mobile business. We are revamping our online store to be more user-friendly and mobile-friendly.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the La Barkeria story. Tell us more about it.
La Barkeria is a female owned dog bakery specializing in handmade all-natural dog treats. We want our customers to know what they are feeding their family and to feel good about it. Over the past year, we have grown our business to include a consistent source of regular customers. I feel good knowing that people trust us, and come back time and time again to spend their hard earned money on a product for their pets they can feel good about.
My husband and I work hard to know what is going on in the pet industry, and we work hard to keep up on what is going on in canine health. We donate a portion of all our sales to local shelters. We have plans to organize adoption events this year.
We have only been in business for a year, but we want to help dogs – in any way we can – even if that affects our profits. Doing the right things for our canine companions is our primary focus.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
1. HOLISTIC HEALTH: CBD has obviously bombed in the pet industry. There are pet CBD companies starting every day and CBD companies that service humans have starting to make pet products. This is going to go even further, and companies are going to market more holistic approaches to caring for dogs.
We are already seeing more education on vaccines and treatment of daily aliments in dogs (such as allergies) with herbalism and acupuncture. I have purchased a book to learn canine massage, and it has a section on Reiki. There are classes taught for canine CPR and First Aid
2. MEDICINE: Because there is so much information on the internet, people are requiring more from our vets. Because we are able to educate ourselves on diseases and treatments; we are demanding more of our animal doctors to stay up on the latest treatment methods. With this, also comes the downside of being misinformed; but at least, it leads to a dialog between doctor and patient.
3. INCLUSION: We also expect service providers (restaurants, hotels, etc) to cater to us with our dogs. We have Mutts Cantina and The Shacks at Austin Ranch; both which are dog-friendly restaurants with menus that cater to human and canine; with dog parks for socializing and exercise for Fido. Families take their dogs everywhere, and they patronize dog-friendly places.
4. SERVICE DOGS: There is going to be a further evolution in service dogs, We already see a program in prison to help the prisoners to transition and rehabilitate. I believe we will also see a dog therapy develop like art therapy; where dogs are used in the therapist office as a treatment tool to help clients relax and talk more openly about their issues.
5. DESIGNER DOGS: We are already starting to see the downside of designer dogs. The local shelters are fuller than they have been in the last 5 years. They are at or above capacity in the major facilities in the DFW area. The designer dog crazy is in part to blame. No matter the breed, there are downsides to overbreeding. I met a young man at the Watauga Farmers Market who’s family purchased a Goldendoodle because he was the only dog in the litter that was unadoptable due to it not having the desirable curly hair trait like its siblings. This dog had straight black hair; not the desirable curly golden locks.
In addition, the Arlington Shelter recently had a Doberman Pincher available for adoption because the family didn’t educate themselves on the pros and cons of caring for such a breed; they were just in love with having a pure breed Doberman Pincher.
6. FAD DIETS: We are starting to see fad diet and diet trends in dogs health as we do in human. We treat our dogs as a member of the family – and we want the best for them. This sometimes does not manifest in what is actually best. For example: Dogs are NOT obligate carnivores; most dogs need balanced diets like human. But the recent fad of feeding our dog’s primary meat diets (like wolves would eat in the wild); we have caused harm to our dogs. I hope this fad transitions into more breed specific diets and leads to more education. I do not believe it takes a scientist to suggest that a chihuahua may require a slightly different diet than a great Dane.
Pricing:
- Ultimate Treat Club: La Barkeria monthly subscription service for all-natural dog treats is $28 per month for 2 pounds of treats (shipping included in monthly price)
- CBD Dog Treats: $15 (2MG); $25 (5MG) and $40 (10MG) – are prices are below market average of our direct competition
- Classic Dog Treats: $6 (4oz); $10 (8oz); $18 (16oz) and $30 (32oz)
- Soft Dog Treats: $7 (4-oz); $12 (8-oz); and $20 (16-oz)
- Barksicles (Frozen Dog Treats): $2 Each or $10 for 6
- Frozen Yogurt Coming Soon!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.labarkeria.dog
- Phone: (817) 330-0130
- Email: info@labarkeria.dog
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/labarkeriadog
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/labarkeriadog
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/labarkeria
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/labarkeriadog
Image Credit:
Instagram Account @naughty_rottyy for the picture with the Rottweiler and the picture with two bags of treats on the same deck/porch. Official Name: Elisabeth Henery and Garm the Rottweiler
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