About Us
We are a husband and wife team who are crazy about our dogs and cats. We have 4 dogs and 3 cats. We do not have human children, just canine and feline. We realize we are part of a new demographic in American Society - the generation Xers that have humanized their pets! We humbly admit, we are a bit of a stereotype, even!
Garrett and I are both licensed Social Workers by profession. We lived in Boston with one dog, Pixie and one cat, Lily. Then we moved to North Adams and our whole lives changed. The first thing we noticed when we moved to this area was that we could not find the brand of pet food we'd been feeding. We used to drive to Great Barrington for our food until we changed to another brand. However, we still had to drive to either Pittsfield or Bennington.
I started a pet sitting business, Pet Minders, and worked part-time as a social worker. Then, we slowly, or not so slowly, started to accumulate more pets! This occured after we fell in love with a "designer dog breed", the "Bassador". A "bassador" is a retriever mixed with a basset hound. One should never purchase this breed because there are tons of them on rescue sites.
Bijou, our second dog and first "bassador", is a Cheseapeake Bay Retriever mixed with a Basset Hound. We had to have another one, so we got Owen, through Help Orphan Pets in Albany, NY. He is a basset lab, but must have beagle in him. Last year we inherited Bijou's brother, Low Rider, our third "bassador" and 4th dog. We rescued our second cat, Delima, to keep our first cat, Lily, company when we went on vacation. We rescued our third cat when our groomer found one in her barn, Willa. Before we knew it, we had a house full of pets and our friends thought we were nuts! This, of course, led to an obsession with toys, treats, and health. Our interest in supplements and nutrition grew when Bijou developed partial ligament tears in her back legs. We did a lot of research on how to avoid bilateral cruciate surgery for Bijou and utilize supplements for joint health and to prevent arthritis. We learned a lot about food, as well, from people all over the world on list serves for dogs with orthopedic problems.
Our obession with pet products comes full circle thanks to the Suters who are incubating Bark N' Cat, in their Pernsickety Toys space! Please come visit us. We are almost 1 year old in our "incubation" period! If we are at our social work jobs, Monique Suters is there to help Bark N' Cat customers.
We love to hear about your pets so please contact us if we miss seeing you at the shop!
Our vision is to become a resource for all things dog and cat in North Adams, MA and Northern Berkshire county! Please let us know how we can help you and support the bond between you and your pets!