About Us

Tiki was our best friend and the smartest most amazing dog either of us have ever met. We had over 100 words for walk and even hand signals and she knew them all. When Brittany first met Tiki, Tiki hazed her by consitently shaking water on her to try and chase her away, which made Brittany even more determined to befriend this doggo. 

After Tiki’s passing we searched for answer to why she was taken from our life so early. Brittany began to discover the world of recalls on pet food, including some of the most heavily advertised “best” brands. The connections between large sums of money donated to vet schools and vets’ “approved” dog food brands. As well as the overall lack of oversight, regulation, and consistency on “FDA Approved” dog food and treats. It began to make her question everything about the pet products industry. 

A few years later when she got Valory, Brittany was terrified to buy any brand of food or treat and began religiously researching each and every ingredient in foods and treats. What she can tell you from all her research is that there are no great options on the market. So she began to make her own treats (something Valory consumes in large amounts as we spoil her rotten). Valory loved all of them and shared with many of her friends and family who also loved them, and thus we began to sell them.

As Val’s Barkery grows we hope to become large enough to influence change. Part of the reason we chose to put Valory on the label is to bring positive association with pitbulls (the other part is that she is so stinking cute!). Pitbulls are a group of dog breeds (there are many breeds that fall under the pitbull nomenclature) that are unfairly discriminated against. They are discriminated in public with people saying things like “keep your dangerous dog away from me”, they are discriminated against at pet stores with companies not allowing them to participate in puppy socialization classes, home and rental insurances deeming them “dangerous” and not insuring someone’s home because of the pup, or landlords not renting to people who have pitbulls, to entire cities banning the ownership of them. 

We find this discrimination deplorable! People who have actually interacted with a well socialized Pitbull will tell you things like they are couch potatoes, they are so friendly, they just want to lick your face, they are cuddly couch hippos. Our little Valory seems to be the representation of all of these traits. She literally gets out of bed about an hour after her parents. She never barks at other dogs and the few times she has been attacked by other dogs she tries to climb Jordan like a tree and needs hugs and love before she will calm down. She wants to say hello to every human, to the point where if a neighbor says hello to her even once we have to wait outside their house on the next walk for at least 5 minutes to make sure they aren’t going to come out again. About as aggressive as Valory gets is when she wants to lick her family members face, she will pin us down and lick our face and she is over half of Brittany’s weight… (we could train this out but dang it is nice to be loved so thoroughly). 

To make a long story short, while we don’t make much selling dog treats, what we are selling is love for all pets, security knowing that what is on the label is every ingredient in the treat and no nasty preservatives or unpronounceable chemical compounds, and you are supporting a small business as well as a dream to end breed discrimination.