Love. Simply put – it’s why we want to help dog people.

We love dogs. We love dog people. And we love helping families find solutions to issues big and small.

As anyone who’s ever worked in retail, from after-school jobs to full-blown careers, knows, there are days that are difficult. Then we get an email, or a phone call, or a note, that tells us we made a difference.

Golly love

For some reason, lately we’ve been thinking about our history in dogs quite a bit. We’re not sure why – we haven’t been cleaning out old picture files or anything. Just being more reflective. Maybe because we’ve welcomed Simon into our lives. Or maybe it’s adjusting to Teddy being gone. 

It occurred to us that many people aren’t familiar with our shop’s history – we’ve been at this quite a while and Golly, the adorable, diva Brussels Griffon we named the shop for, has been a cherished memory for more than a decade.

Small beginnings

Golly was the first dog in the family with any kind of dog sport title. She was one of those personalities that always makes an impression – she would not be ignored. 

And she was the first dog we had trouble accessorizing. She had a tiny little head (as Griffs do!), with a big chest, short back, and a dynamite smile. In all honesty, part of the reason Fran pursued obedience training with her was because she always slipped out of collars, we couldn’t find a harness that fit right and didn’t chafe, and we needed to know she’d come when called.

Sharing our finds

When we started investigating the options for “small dog stuff” for Golly, our family owned a bookstore. We’ve been retailers forever. Thinking about it, and talking to people who also had small dogs, we realized we weren’t alone trying to find proper dog gear for toy dogs. Friends were “making do” with products designed for cats. But it’s not safe to walk a dog on a collar designed to “break away.”

Because we were already in retail, we had resources for finding products from smaller makers, stuff that might not be available to larger operations. And we’re talking about a time long before internet shopping was a thing. We still called it the “world wide web!”

We had to share our finds with other small-dog people. Finding solutions for ourselves, we could also help other people. We carved out a corner of the bookshop, printed a little sign that said “Golly Gear” and a new obsession was born!

Pioneers of e-commerce

Because we know that dog people, while among the most wonderful in the world, didn’t really have a common community (remember – no Facebook back in the day), we did start a website – in 2004! We hold very dear the email subscribers who are still with us after 15 years!

The “stuff” has evolved over the years, but we keep our vision focused on what’s best for dogs. We’re still committed to only carrying products that we use for our own dogs. Dogs aren’t “like” family – they are ours, and we know you think of your dogs the same way.