CLEARLAKE >> More than ever, people are actively educating themselves on what’s in the food they put into their bodies. The desire to avoid items with ingredients that can’t even be pronounced is a pretty strong one. But people may not have the same consideration for their pet’s food, and this is where Charles and Tabetha Atwood come in. The couple recently opened Our Happy Tails Etc. in Clearlake, a dog bakery that sells treats for pups with all-natural, wholesome ingredients. It’s the only business in the county of its kind.
The Atwoods started the bakery after spending some time making goodies for their own pets. “I felt that every dog deserved to have a healthy treat that was not chemical based, didn’t have any preservatives in it and at affordable prices,” said Tabetha Atwood. “I was making them for my dogs and I said to my husband one day, ‘I wish people could afford to have healthy treats, not full of chemicals…’ My husband said, ‘Why don’t we be those people?’ and Our Happy Tails Etc. was born.”
The couple was spurred to action by tragic reports. When it hit the news that more than 1,000 dogs had died due to toxic jerky imported from China, Atwood began baking her own food for her five dogs. “I stopped buying those treats for our dogs. We started making our own,” said Atwood. “We were just so worried because so many dogs were dying from treats. I didn’t want to be that person that said, ‘Oh you’re such a good boy, here’s a treat’ and my dog croaks over.”
According to Atwood and her husband, some shocking and indeed very worrying ingredients in traditional dog treats include some of the same chemicals found in items such as fake nails and glow sticks. “There’s red dyes number 7 and 13 and all sorts of stuff that you cannot pronounce,” Atwood said. When she started looking up the ingredients listed on the labels of her dog’s treats, her mouth dropped open.
“If you Google what they are it has the chemical that you actually have in acrylic nails, it says ‘used as a preservative’ in this,” she said, referring to a box of Milk-Bones.
Atwood also finds the lack of expiration dates on dog treat packages upsetting. According to her, treats on store shelves are typically six to nine months old. “None of them ever have an expiration date and that scares me,” she said. “Our food has expiration dates. You know when it goes bad. I won’t give my dogs store bought treats anymore.”
So Atwood began her quest to feed her furry friends only quality items. But her treats are not just a handful of healthy ingredients thrown together. She reached out to everyone in the dog scene in order to ensure her animals got the best foods for them. “We’ve talked to several veterinarians, the ASPCA. We’ve talked to anybody and everybody that we can,” she said. “It’s what I call the dog chain, or the bark chain, and it’s just a bunch of animal lovers making sure what is in these ingredients are good for dogs.”
While homemade dog treats can be purchased through numerous internet retailers, Atwood quickly became wary of this method. “I started going online and looking at recipes that people had for pre-baked dog treats, because you can get them online. But the problem online is that no one’s done the research. It’s just something that somebody put online. One thing that I discovered is that they had ones that had half a cup of honey and so forth,” she explained. Some websites even suggested corn starch or corn syrup, ingredients that dogs shouldn’t consume, according to Atwood.
After veterinarian recommendations and research on the ASPCA website, Atwood figured out the best ingredients and began the process that brought her to Our Happy Tails Etc. “So what we did was we got a basic composure of what goes in them, and we just basically went from there,” she said. “I came up with all of these [recipes] and changed them to not have a whole lot of honey for dogs. Most of them do not have any honey in them. We have no corn.”
Every ingredient is listed on a sign hanging in front of each treat at the store. “See these green labels that are in front? See how they’re written in plain English and you recognize every ingredient? That is what we use. Brown rice, all natural, whole ingredients,” Atwood said. “The only thing that’s not listed in these cards is water. But everything is whole ingredients, all recognizable.”
One of the Happy Tails Etc. all-natural treats is “Fetch,” made with rice or oat flour, cheddar cheese, applesauce and vegetable oil. “Gone Fishing” has just four ingredients: salmon, egg, oat flour and Parmesan cheese. Whole coconut is sprinkled on the stops of treats, some are dipped in plain carob and others are given color with the help of yogurt. “What you see is what you get. There is nothing hidden. That’s what makes our treats so different,” Atwood said.
Customers can also order from their websites, and request custom treats, without any extra charges. “You can actually go online and look at our ingredients. We have a website online where you can actually pre-order ingredients, you can customize it. We do dog cakes, we do all sorts of stuff,” Atwood said. “We’re just really big on making sure that everything is fresh, everything is good for a dog.”
Part of making sure that a dog gets exactly what it needs means checking for irritants. “A lot of people don’t realize that dogs have allergies, just like humans,” Atwood said. It’s clear that she and her husband have a passion for animals, which makes them excellent at their job. Given just the breed of a dog and the color of the coat, the couple are able to decide which ingredients a pup is likely allergic to.
All of this knowledge came in handy when the Atwoods applied for their pet treat license. For six months they conducted research and fine-tuned their store. “[The State] actually had to look it up, because no one’s done what we’ve done to the scale that we’ve done it,” Atwood said, explaining that many dog bakery owners make treats in specific quantities, pre-packaging everything, which leaves less room for picking and choosing. But the Atwoods didn’t like that approach. “Here it’s bakery style, just like if you were to go buy donuts for yourself. And you actually pick how much you want.”
While this may have made acquiring a license more complicated, the benefits of this approach outweigh the difficulties. Atwood explained that she gets calls from owners of small dogs who are unsatisfied with their store-bought jerky. Often they complain that the jerky is too dry, or it takes their pup a year to finish it. They ask if they can get half an ounce of the treat, and Atwood is more than happy to oblige. “I love to be able to give something new to the owners and the companions that they bring in,” she said. “And we try to accommodate all dog sizes. That’s not something that everybody can do.”
In addition to selling smaller treats in smaller quantities, Atwood also makes two different sizes of the same treat, to better fit the mouths of various breeds. “We have certain treats that are one size and then you look right next to it and there’s a smaller. But it’s the same treat,” she said. A chihuahua can’t eat the same sized treat that an English mastiff can and Our Happy Tails Etc. caters their business to this fact.
Besides their commitment to providing dogs with quality treats, Our Happy Tails Etc. works hard to make everything affordable. Almost all of the treats are under a dollar, with the exception of bigger items for large breeds. “Our big thing is that we want all dogs lovers to be able to spoil their dogs with pocket change,” Atwood said. This is why customization never costs extra. Customers can special order anything they want, in any size, and pay the normal price. If Our Happy Tails Etc. runs out of a treat that a dog really loves, Atwood will make another order specifically for that pup. “I say, ‘… I’ll make a whole batch just for you. Just the size you want. Just tell me how much you want to spend, and I will stop at that dollar amount.’”
More than anything else, Atwood simply cares about making the dogs of the community happy. “That’s what we’re all about. Because if your dog likes what they eat and it’s healthy and it doesn’t make them sick, and there’s no chemicals in it, you’re gonna buy it for your puppy.”
While the treats seem to be the focus of the store, Our Happy Tails Etc. also sell dog beds, clothing, leashes and collars, all at a low price. They even leave baskets of dog toys on the ground so that the animals who come in can sniff out what they want. “That’s why we have it, because dogs like to pick their own stuff. It’s a new concept,” said Atwood. She tells customers, “We like to make sure that your dog is just as happy with it as you are.”
Furthering their commitment to the county’s animals, the Atwoods also recently donated $200 worth of treats to the Animal Coalition. “We donate to whatever charities we possibly can,” Atwood said. “We’re all for the animals. Anything that benefits the animals We’re about a happy tail and that’s what we want.”
Aside from the obvious benefit to pets and their owners, Atwood believes that her business is helping the whole Clearlake community. “It brings something positive. It’s not a bar. It’s not a smoke shop that’s questionable,” she said. “It’s something new. It’s a change It accommodates our best friend and that’s not something that a lot of businesses do. You can’t even bring your dogs into half the businesses.”
It’s clear Atwood is thrilled to be the one to usher in this change. “I’m excited to bring something that’s positive to the community that people really love. And people really love their dogs,” she said. “It’s exciting. I love coming to work every day. And when you come to work and you love what you do, you don’t work a day in your life.”
Our Happy Tails Etc. is located at 14458 Lakeshore Drive in Clearlake. The store is open Wednesday and Thursday, 10am-4:30pm and Friday through Sunday, 10am-5pm. Their custom treats can also be picked up at Pet Country in Lakeport.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
