Dough Face Dog Treats – Interviewed – Saturday November 20, 2021
Julia Whitehouse Cannioto
Dog Treats | Dough Face Dog Treats LLC
Wolcott, NY
(607)329-5355
KnC Worm Farm always has a blast talking to Julia and going out to her lovely homestead to visit her now three labs, Gambol, Puck and little Chewy. However, this visit had to be over the phone as our friend was not feeling too hot this last weekend for our interview. That’s ok, we go to see the things that she is doing on her, and her husband’s acreage located in Wolcott, NY. But enough about her, because in this interview, it’s all about the dogs…
Let’s get started.
-
How and why did you decide to go into this business?
Peer pressure if you will. My dog loving friends were really encouraging me to do this as a business. Quite frankly, working for other people is just not my jam. I was looking for a way to get back to self-sufficiency. I was baking for my own pups and I was really excited about the potential of creating a business out of something that I love – being in the kitchen and my dogs! Doing the markets pre-covid, I received great feedback and interest, so I thought, why not?
-
What is the most important thing that you would like people to know about your business?
Honesty. Dogs are the center of my world. Happy and healthy dogs. Being Real- as opposed to artificial and that fits into everything in my life. Everything about my product is real. People know who made it, what’s in it, where it came from, when it was made and most importantly, where the ingredients come from. There is nothing in my product that is not honest, pure ingredients. The bags whether being sold at the local markets or that are being sold on the shelve are as fresh as they can be. What goes into my product is locally sourced. If it did not come from the local farmers, it comes from Wegmans and other organizations that share the same underlying philosophy.
-
How did you come up with the name of your business?
A picture! A few years ago, Puck (Julia’s beautiful black lab), was about 1 year old, maybe a year and a half – he was being naughty. I was baking, not dog treats of course, and he had taken something off the counter. He had knocked off a bag of wheat flour and ate most of the bag. He had his saliva mixed with the wet flour stuck to his face. I shot a picture of him being very sorry. Because I had no idea how to get it off his face, we had to wait for it to come off naturally, and this is the image on the label and of course Dough Face became the name. However, I have changed the ingredients to oats, as oats are friendly for more dogs and their tummy’s.
-
What is unique about your business?
There is very little that is unique about the homemade dog treat business. Using organic, locally grown products. You can literally throw a dog bone in any direction and there is someone out there making dog treats. I have to say that the different factor…is me! When I am creating, I am literally in my happy place, be it the kitchen or the garden and it becomes even better with my dogs right by my side. I put out a pure, healthy product for these amazing creatures that bring us all so much joy…even when they are peeing on the way out the door.
I don’t like to toot my own horn, but if we are talking about things that are important in being unique, Dough Face gives back. We are very centered on making charity donations which ties in back to what is unique, which is me! I strongly believe that at the end of the day, I hope to have left the world a better place.
-
What makes you most excited about your business?
Well…there is no bigger thrill than getting phone alerts for me that I have an upcoming order to fill. The financial component of being in your own business makes me very excited because if we were not doing this for money, we would be giving everything away! So, making a sale validates what I am doing and why I am doing it. The more that goes into the bank account helps keeps the business going. You just can’t give what you do not have and the more that you have the more that you can give.
-
What is it that you most want people to know about your business?
That everything that I say that I am doing, I am actually doing. I grow everything that I can. I locally source what I can. I bake to order so that you are getting fresh products. I love my dogs and I know that you love your dogs.
You can find Dough Face Dog treats at the following locations:
Sodus Feeds and Needs
Bodine’s Corner Market in Newark
Sara’s Country Barn in Ontario
Wingnut Acres in Newark
You can always order online
Dough Face will be at Sodus Feeds and Needs as a vendor this coming Saturday 11/27/2021!!
Notes from Website-
Superior service, personalized attention
The farm behind Dough Face Dog Treats is a family-owned and operated 15-acre property including chickens, fruit trees, vegetables, and herbs located in Wayne County, New York.
Ingredients for my dog treats are either grown right here, or are sourced from within 20 minutes of the farm.
Given the option I would spend all my time with my fingers in the dirt, with my two labs – Gambol (on the left) and Puck (on the right), the face of Dough Face – playing tug of war in the background. Dough Face Dog Treats started because I wanted to give them the best I could, including homemade food and treats.
If asked what I am most proud of concerning Dough Face Dog Treats it’s that the product is true to who I am and what I believe in: real ingredients from a trusted source, as low an impact on the environment as I can manage, and something to show for a hard day’s work.
Julia Cannioto