We had the good fortune of connecting with Ashley Snider and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ashley, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Finding the balance between work and life is difficult! I find it to be something you need to keep in check and adjust as you continue to move forward. So many things are changing within your life, family, work, etc. it keeps you on your toes! It’s usually when I find myself in some sort of conflict that I need to make some adjustments to find that balance again. Something that I find helpful with this is knowing what brings me joy or a sense of calm. That may look like taking a morning walk with my pups, a warm bath with essential oils, exercising, and meditation. I fill my daily schedule with these activities first and make myself the priority at the start of the day! THEN I go in and fill in the blank time slots with the work tasks I need to get done that day. I fill my cup at the start of the day and take little breaks throughout the day for refills, by doing this I keep myself energized, clear-headed, and ready for anything the day throws at me. This way I can pour myself into my work, and my relationships and I avoid unnecessarily draining myself.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I’m convinced I was born an animal lover. Growing up we always had dogs or cats and I loved them so much. I enjoyed caring for them and bringing them inside to play (which upset my mom at the time)! Even as a young child I had this sense to be the animals’ voice because they didn’t have one and to stand up for them. Some of my first career choices in elementary school were Veterinarian or Pet Hotel owner. I had an extreme phobia of needles and I let that keep me from pursuing veterinarian medicine, oddly enough I did eventually become a veterinarian technician and confidently administered vaccines, drew blood, and assisted with many types of surgeries.

I initially started my career journey in the retail world which is an exhausting realm but I really did learn a lot from the experience. From there I became a substitute teacher for preschool. I also worked after school for elementary kiddos, where I met my husband. Becoming a school teacher was another career choice of mine as a kid, and I enjoyed every part of it but when the opportunity to work with animals full time came up, I took it! I spent the next several years working in animal welfare, learning about animal behavior, and medical and nutrition needs. I counseled happy adoptions, set fosters up for success, comforted pet parents, and assisted with the difficult decisions many pet parents may have to make. Six months into working in the shelter, I adopted Ralphie, a puppy at the time that was returned 3 times due to being very vocal and a bit of a bully to his friends. He’s a chow chow/border collie mix that needed someone patient and understanding to come along and work with him. My husband and I had only been dating a short time before I surprised him by bringing this teddy bear puppy home, and I remember hiding little Ralphie under a towel and saying “Don’t be mad!” before revealing this ball of fluff. We both made training and socializing this puppy our number one priority. At the time I was going through medical issues and eventually was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. So training Ralphie to be a mobility service dog was also on the list. It was a lot of work but worth it, Ralphie is one of the best, most well-behaved dogs I’ve met. He is such a quick learner and you can see that he truly enjoys working that brain. Ralphie may be older now but he still learns new tricks! A year after adopting Ralphie, we fostered his little sister Adeline as a baby due to medical issues and ended up loving her so we became a “Foster Fail” when we took her home.

Working in an animal shelter helped me realize that this was something I was supposed to be doing, but I didn’t feel like I was making the impact I wanted. I noticed pet parents were having to rehome or surrender their beloved fur babies due to travel or moving. So I started my pet sitting business! I was able to of course help pet parents that were traveling and give them peace of mind knowing their pet was with family. I was also able to keep pets in their homes by offering extended stays, while homes were being built, during long work hours, or for any reason, they couldn’t provide the care they know they needed during a complicated time. Unfortunately, when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down travel, it also shut down my business. No one was traveling for vacation or work, and people were able to stay home with their pets and enjoy them. This is great for pets but not for maintaining a livelihood, which I needed to do. While my husband and I were perusing a local farmers market, we saw something that flicked a lightbulb on in our heads…dog treats! I made delicious treats for all my pet sitting clients, we loved celebrating Birthdays and Holidays with cookies, specialty treats, and cakes all made from scratch. Why not bring those same yummy creations to all the pets!? I wanted to make available something I was not able to find, truly single ingredient treats. It was very important to make treats that all pets could eat, even if they had allergies or nutritional restrictions at any age. We found whole protein treats to fit this need, chicken breast, turkey, beef liver, and bottom round steak were our top choice for taste and nutrition. We set a goal to launch memorial weekend, and did it! The response from people and their fur babies was beyond positive! There were and will continue to be bumps in the road. It took some time and knowledge to get the packaging and labeling correct, and the process to develop our jerky treats was a lot of trial and error but we found success and now we’re celebrating our very first year in business!

I have learned so much just from speaking with pet parents and listening to their pet’s individual needs, I continue to keep extremely high standards from start to finish, including sanitation practices, cross-contamination, and meat source. Our popular treats are just meat, nothing else is added during the cooking process. I hear stories of pet parent feeding their fur babies food from their plates, etc. but there is added salts, gluten, dairy, and oil that can upset your pet’s digestive system or cause long-term issues such as diabetes or obesity. Of course, it’s delicious so we’ve taken the same meat we would cook for ourselves and left everything else out, now we have a safe yummy treat your pet will want seconds of. To make our treats extra special, we’ve done something to them that even pet parents find yummy. That is we do a quick smoke or bake on our treats to finish the cooking process. This not only gives the treats an irresistible smell and taste, but it’s an additional safety layer to insure our treats are safe and edible. Our cooking process though long also provides for us to lock in nutrients and minerals that would otherwise get cooked out.

I’m very proud of what we have been able to accomplish and the happy pets we’ve been able to help. Some of these babies are on special diets that are bland and they’re not eating, then their pet parent finds our treats and they come back just to tell me that their dog is now eating! Some pups aren’t able to have treats because of allergies or they’re just picky and have high standards, then they find our treats and are so happy now because they can spoil their pets.

I’m excited to see where this new venture takes us on our path! I continue to learn as much as I can about animals and how people interact with them, and the impact they have on our lives. I don’t think there is a resource out there to educate people about domestic pets and their care or how to communicate with them. I would eventually like to create a center dedicated to educating people about pets and offering pet care services to pet owners such as boarding, grooming, training, and social events. I think the more we learn about pets and the way they learn the better relationships we will have with them and we will be able to keep more pets in forever homes.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m all about dog friendly! So a lot of my destinations need to welcome my pets. We love nature, so taking some long walks or hikes around Erwin Park, Towne Lake Park or Bonnie Wenk Park in McKinney is a must. With water views, wooded trails, and accessible sidewalks these are some of our favorite places to walk. The Square in Downtown Mckinney is a great place to walk around, with lots of local shops, cute finds, restaurants, and interesting people to chat with. Afterward, we can grab a bite from a local spot with a dog-friendly patio we can sit out and enjoy the breeze at. Layered in Downtown Mckinney is a fave spot and turns into a speakeasy on certain nights. If we are looking for a quick lunch or dinner, One and Only Burger in Mckinney offers the most delicious burgers and you can load up the topping for FREE! Lazy Dog restaurant is another favorite with a dog-friendly patio and some even have a menu for your dog so they don’t feel left out. My friends and I also enjoy playing golf, it gets you out in nature, it’s paced just right, and you socialize with friends and get to frustrate yourself with a good game. My friends and I are learning so a course like Oak Hollow in Mckinney is perfect for us, we can have lots of fun there! If we’re looking for some entertainment, The Comedy Arena is a hilariously good time for some improv. TUPPS Brewery has a great crowd and offers many events including BINGO and live music, and is open air so you can still enjoy some outdoors. Though not in Mckinney, the Grandscape in The Colony is a must-see! It’s my adult amusement park, restaurants, Ferris wheels, expos, movies, putt-putt, live music, and cart racing. There is something for everyone here and you can’t not have a great time! Plus Scheels is dog-friendly! We have several farmers’ markets we would have to check out on the weekends including the Farmers Market at Chestnut Square in Mckinney and the Frisco Fresh Market where you can find us on Saturdays giving pups samples of our treats in Frisco. No trip is complete without a “road trip” to Buccees in Melissa to check out the bathrooms and grab a snack.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I think of myself as extremely lucky to have the support of such caring people all around me. I don’t even realize some of the people or situations that set me up on the right track until I look back. I have an incredibly supportive and understanding husband of 8 years, without him I would be hopping from one task to another without a plan. Our family and friends deserve a huge thanks for supporting our ventures, as crazy as they may seem sometimes. They keep us in check with reality and keep our lives full of fun. I owe a large part of my success to the pet parents that trust us with the care and nutrition of their fur babies. I would not be doing what I do if it wasn’t for them, those happy pet faces make my day! When I hear feedback from Dog Moms & Dads that say their dog is finally eating or able to take treats now because of allergies, it just warms my heart and excites me to keep going!

Website: www.ralphieand.co

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/co.ralphie/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ralphie.Co/

Other: https://linktr.ee/ralphie.co

Image Credits
Amanda Sustaita

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