By this point, you know that we gals are totally obsessed with our dogs and basically anything that has to do with dogs, especially our own pups… Like anything. So when we came across a brand that embodies everything that we are, we, obvi, are obsessed forever! And that’s exactly what happened when we ran across To The Rescues!
This amazing dog mom-led company was started by a badass dog momma named Samantha with an 80 pound German Shepherd in her heart! She has built an amazing lifestyle brand that has connected dog moms from all over the world!
We luckily got the chance to ask Samantha some questions about how she started To The Rescues and what her plans are for the future!
How did you get started?
It all started with a really, really good dog. Indy was my first “me” dog, and after he died in 2015, I was a disaster. I was just coming to terms with having spent a ton of money and three years of my life on becoming a lawyer, only to pass the bar exam and not actually want to be a lawyer. Right in the middle of my little quarter-life crisis, bouncing around trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up, my dog died. I knew I wanted to do his memory justice somehow and to find a way to give all of those dogs who are sitting in a shelter right this second the chance to be somebody’s Indy.
To The Rescues combines a lot of things I love: designing and creating products people can hold in their hands, making people laugh (and occasionally cry), supporting rescue, supporting women-owned businesses, and connecting with other dog lovers. It was worth the wait.
Tell us about your pups?
Brooklyn is our very oversized, very derpy husky who loves babies and belly rubs and being told she’s pretty. I adopted this cute little 8-week-old fuzz-nugget from animal control during my second semester of law school and spent the next year and a half of my life regretting that decision. (So did Indy. ) As perfect and sweet as she is now, she was the WORST puppy. Honestly, puppies are adorable, obnoxious, squishy, exhausting WORK… unpopular opinion: Y’all keep your puppies and send me all the potty-trained three-year-old lapdoggos. I swore off puppies for the rest of my life after her.
…and then earlier this year my husband fell in love with a tiny gray pupperoni on Petfinder, and now we have Gryff! He’s our little Eeyore-Yoda-gremlin-shaped weirdo, the chattiest dog I’ve ever met (huskies included), and he’s such a super mutt that his DNA test came back 50% unknown. He definitely has his moments of extreme bad-dog-ness, but he’s such a joy in our house that I’m *considering* lifting my lifetime puppy ban. Which was clearly working super well anyway.
What/who influences your work?
The absolute best part of what I do is hearing stories from people about how they rescued their dog, and how that dog came in and changed their entire life. I follow a ton of rescue organizations and auxiliary organizations that provide services for rescue and seeing that boots-on-the-ground commitment to saving lives always inspires me. Oh, and We Rate Dogs and Thoughts of Dog on Twitter. Basically, I run on rescue stories and h*ckin’ funny doggo memes doin’ me a snort laugh. ??♀️
Dog brands I love!
Before To The Rescues, I had a startup that completely bombed. My co-founder was in tech, so she had a much healthier outlook on competition than I did – “competition means it’s a good idea and people want it.” Without that experience and without her perspective, I couldn’t survive in a product business, especially not t-shirts – it’s like the wild wild west of flat-out stealing other peoples’ ideas. Copycats aside though, there are so many people in this space doing their own thing, coming up with new designs and putting a new spin on stuff we’ve seen before, that if I didn’t have that voice in my head, I would be so, so intimidated. Sometimes I still am, but now I know that their success doesn’t take away from mine – it makes my success more likely.
So all that said, here are some other women who design pawesome tees for dog people that I love and I think you will too:
What’s new for To The Rescues?
I’m so stoked to be doing our first in-person pop up shops in 2019. We’re also expanding our product line, so I’m on a quest to find a women’s cut tee I don’t absolutely hate (this can’t just be me, right?) and cute mugs that hold an unreasonable amount of coffee, because never in my life have I only wanted 11oz of anything. We’re working with some really amazing brand pawtners and other small businesses who support rescue, and I’ve also got this pipe dream for an event for rescue advocates later in the year. Honestly, I think I’m more ideas than human at this point – but it’s such a good time.
If you are looking for new #dogmom swag to fill your closet with, then make sure to check out our new favorite online shop! To get you started, here are some of our personal, most-loved items from the Wag & Gem line!
PS, they also make GREAT gifts for all the dog lovers in your life! Basically, you can’t go wrong with To The Rescues!
Megan Rose
Megan is the Co-Founder of Gal's Best Friend and the East Coast Editor. She lives in New York City with her 3 dogs. Megan works in the pet industry on the marketing side, Megan is also the Pet Contributing Editor at Bestprodcuts.com is an author of Rescuing Rumba (coming Fall 2021), and a border member of Global Strays.
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