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Dave Jackley
Well, good morning. Welcome to another edition of ExactlyAtHome North of Pittsburgh and today I’m here with Christine Galket of Paws in the Sand Pet Treats. Welcome. And we’re gonna find out what she does, where the products get sold and how you can partake.
Christine Galket
Great, yes, my name is Christine Galket. I am the owner of Paws in the Sand Pet Treats. And today we are at Steel City Craft Emporium near the Strip District in Lawrenceville at 3121 Penn Avenue. It’s just one of many locations where you can find our products. As you can see here, we’ve got some great treats, bandanas, collars, and toys. All the products come from small businesses in Western Pennsylvania. We started several years ago making treats for our dog who had ulcerative colitis. We were concerned about her health and we want to be able to give her a fun treat. We also started working with some small pet based businesses in the area and some shelters and rescue groups to make treats. Things grew from there. Stores started reaching out to us saying they wanted to carry our products. In the process of going to farmers markets and events to sell the products, we met so many great other business owners that make products as well.
One of my favorite stories from one of my mentors along the way told me only do what only you can do. I make the treats but I met some great friends who make bandanas and collars. So we came together and collaborated. And so now we carry a lot of great locally made products, great for birthdays great for holidays. We do lots of farmers markets and events, where we showcase all the products. And we just really love that we’re able to carry locally made products that really enhance that relationship with your pet.
So here at Steel City Craft Emporium we have everything represented that we carry and that’s available on our website We also take these items to farmers markets and fundraisers, so we have a nice selection of treats. Right now we have some really fun and festive celebration treats. I know a lot of pets will celebrate birthdays throughout the year, especially in the summer. So we wanted to offer a nice fun and festive treat package like that. I’m really loving our different variety of bandanas that we have. Now, these are very good friends who are sewers. I’m not a sewer, I’m the I’m the baker. So these are great double sided bandanas that go either around the neck, these ones go right on the collar, which is a nice feature won’t fall off when your pet is running around the yard. And speaking of collars, we’ve got these really, really great collars from Color, My World. Debbie does an amazing job. I’m so proud to carry her products at my events, they pair nicely with all the fun and festive treats and bandanas that we have. And these are great. They’re all adjustable. They come in all different sizes. And regardless of the kind of pet you have, and what’s important in your life, we have all kinds of different things to kind of represent that in the collars and the bandanas. We also, I’m originally from Erie, I was really proud to locate a small business in Erie that makes a really great durable pet toy. This is one leg up pet products. And this is made by a rubber engineer. He also decided to start making a treat distribution toy. And he used our small treat as the basis for the way his treat distribution toy works. So I imagine
Dave Jackley
A dog could chew through quite a few of those unless it was the durable type that you sell for your collaborator.
Christine Galket
Yes. And it’s just fun, you know, all the ingredients are FDA approved. That was really important to us. And you know, he really put a lot of thought into into that. And it’s just really fun that we’re able to collaborate. So often times people will pick up like this hydrant and let’s say some small treats and they can fill up the hydrant with these treats. And they have a nice little gift for a friend that has a pet or their their own pet at home. But yeah, so I have another good friend who is very detailed when it comes to her sewing and she’s able to make these really great waste bag holders. I just love these. The waist bags fit right inside. There’s even a little room in there maybe to put some money or lip balm, whatever you might need on your dogwalk. These even coordinate with the colors and the bandanas. So againI was very fortunate and very blessed to meet people like these with whom I can work. As I was doing events, meeting people that are so good at this and we just we’ve come together and you know we cross promote one another and we just have have a lot of fun with it. At the end of the day, we want what’s best for our pets. You know, they’re part of the family in a lot of cases. You know, they’re they’re like your kids and, and so we love to be able to great to create awesome products, all locally made locally sourced for your pets in your family members.
So your initial inspiration was because your pet had some problems?
Yes, yes. She we couldn’t give her a lot of storebought treats. They didn’t sit well with her. So we did a lot of research. We analyzed different ingredients, what would work best for her started to get creative in the kitchen. I love being in a kitchen that I love to bake and cook and I had a lot of fun with that. And then once that all came together, we just really had a lot of fun with the packaging, because I think the presentation is important. Especially you know, when you’re maybe bringing this bag of treats to a birthday party for a dog or, you know, you’re picking up some gifts for relatives or friends pet. We really just enjoyed all the research that we put into it. And I just really love that time in that kitchen, that initial time to come up with the recipes and just really focus in on key ingredients, basic ingredients that you know are good for your pet and you know, all human great as well. Yeah.
Dave Jackley
So you started at home and you live in the Cranberry Township, is that correct?
Christine Galket
Yes, we’re in Cranberry Township, and we’re still still a home based bakery. We started off with one and now are up to three large, very large ovens, multiple layer ovens. So, we have a lot of things that have grown as we’ve grown, and we love the Cranberry Township area, you know, very pet friendly, a lot of people have dogs. And so we’ll do , for example, the Cranberry Township Farmers Market, Zelienople Farmers Market, a lot of farmers markets in the area and events in the area at churches or for school’s fundraisers and for nonprofits in the area, too. So it’s a great area to have a small business, especially a pet-based business.
Dave Jackley
Wow. Well, that’s fantastic. And so you’ve grown to a national level, right?
Christine Galket
Yes, we have a website and we ship nationally. We carry a lot of our products through other companies as well that distribute for example, fairs, Etsy, places like that and Squarespace. We have our products out in a lot of different arenas. And when we also have our website to PawsintheSandPetTreats.com. We have great flat rate shipping., We ship all over. We’ve actually shipped to every state, and we’ve shipped internationally as well, too. So, this business started out with just giving samples and things to people’s neighbors, pets and family and friend’s pets, and we’ve grown to now distribute from coast to coast.
Dave Jackley
Well, thank you, Christine. We had a great discussion with Christine Galket at PawsintheSandPetTreats.com. You can come here in the Strip District, or you can go online, and you might find a store offering the same products across the United States.
Christine Galket
Yeah, thank you so much for having me. It’s been an honor to work with you and just really excited to, you know, continue to grow our business and we’re incredibly grateful for everybody who supported our business along the way and animal lovers. We appreciate it. And thank you so much for supporting our small business and thank you for the opportunity for to allow me to talk about it.
Dave Jackley
Great. We’ll see you next time at ExactlyAtHome North of Pittsburgh .
Christine Galket <info@pawsinthesandpettreats.com> 412-614-1790
Just posted a conversation with Pet Treats entrepreneur, Christine Galket. Learn how searching for ways to help her pet led from her kitchen stove to a nationwide business! Click here for the detailed interview. https://parkbench.com/blog/paws-in-the-sand-pet-treats-pet-stores-cranberry-twp-christine-galket
https://parkbench.com/blog/paws-in-the-sand-pet-treats-pet-stores-cranberry-twp-christine-galket
