I never thought I would create a business. During junior year, my twin sister Kayla and I began to plan and create Doggy Goodies by talking to Mrs. Manzi Smith, our Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) advisor and the Small Animal Science teacher. We came up with the idea of making dog treats, toys, and bandanas to sell in the ag-store. Kayla and I created a business together called Doggy Goodies. 

Every student in the agri-science program is required to have an SAE project. This is how we learn about Connecticut and Federal Child Labor Laws. Every agri-science student has a summer visit from their SAE supervisor to discuss their project, goals for next year, the strengths and weaknesses of the project, calculate finances, and discuss leadership activities for the following school year. During the summer, Kayla and I decided to bake dog treats, sew dog bandanas, and make dog toys to sell in the ag-store for our SAE project. When we first started we were clueless on where to begin. We had no fabric to make the toys and bandanas. Luckily, our aunt had bags of fabric from when she was making dog toys to donate. She sat us down at the kitchen table to teach us how to make a square knot toy. One of the toys is called Tug-N-Pull, which is a toy with a ball. The other type of toy is called Tug-N-Pull Toy. The toys are different sizes and strengths for different types of dogs and they last for a long time.

Kayla and I decided to make two different kinds of dog treats. We named the treats Peanut Butter Oat Balls and Peanut Butter Banana Biscuits. The Peanut Butter Oat Balls are non-bake treats made out of peanut butter, oats, water, and cinnamon. They are good for small dogs or puppies. The Peanut Butter Banana Biscuits are made of peanut butter, two ripened bananas, grind up oats using a food processor, and beaten eggs then kneaded into dough and rolled out to get cut on to circle shapes. Then popped in the oven to get golden crunchy biscuits. Both teats are nutritional and every dog loves them.

 The bandanas are in sizes x-small, small, medium, and large. They are doubled-sided with different patterns. The patterns are fun with flowers, Marvel, Star Wars, spaceships, Christmas, and more. Kayla and I made our own templates to get the right sizes every time. After the bandanas are sewed up we would iron them to get them all crisp. 

No one was buying when we first put our products in the ag-store. After a few weeks, Kayla and I told our favorite teachers about our Doggy Goodies business. Some teachers were very interested in buying the dog products, but they were asking too many questions like, “Where do I go? Are the products online? Where’s the ag-store?” After a month, one student from ag-science bought a small bandana. We were glad that people were interested, but we wanted more people to buy our products. Mrs. Manzi asked us if we wanted to participate in the exhibition. The exhibition is where new students to the agri-science program would walk around to each table and look at other people’s SAE projects to get ideas for their own project. We told Mrs. Manzi that we had to think about it first. At first we didn’t want to do the exhibition because we don’t like talking in front of a group of people, but we realized that it would get people to buy the products. Also, it would push ourselves to get out of our comfort zone. We decided to do the exhibition and quickly got to work on making a banner that says Doggy Goodies and a presentation for our table. 

Our table caught people’s attention and more people were very interested in buying products from Doggy Goodies. After the exhibition, Kayla and I were proud of ourselves that we made the decision to do the exhibition. We had to make more products because pretty much everything got sold. People showed us pictures of their dogs to show us how much their dog loves the toys. 

This year, Kayla and I had to come up with a growth for our SAE project so we decided to make Christmas ornaments for the family to enjoy. The ornaments all have different dog quotes like “We Woof you a Merry Christmas,” “Here comes Santa Paws,” “I believe in Santa Paws,” and “Oh Christmas treats.” They are made out of colorful sparkly vinyl and cut out with the cricket machine. 

 Please come down to the ag-store, in Mrs. Jordan’s room, to purchase dog treats, toys, a bandana, or an ornament for your dog from Doggy Goodies. Kayla and I are selling these items in the ag-store because we want to donate all the money to support a non-kill local animal shelter. We believe that every dog and cat should be able to get a second chance to find a forever home with a loving family.

Making the business Doggy Goodies with Kayla is one of the best things we have done in my high school years. We really enjoy making dog products for Doggy Goodies. It makes us happy that the people are enjoying the products that we are selling. We can’t wait to donate the money to the animal shelter because we always have a heart for the animals. 

Hailey Veal, Staff Writer

Hailey Veal is a staff writer for 2023-2024 Colonel Newsmagzine. She likes to draw, bake, go mountain biking, archery, play card and board games, Disney and Marvel movies, and animals.