First and foremost, we hope you and your pets enjoy Memorial Day while we all remember the brave Americans whom this holiday honors!
I was 15 years old when Wellness was first introduced by Old Mother Hubbard in the late 90’s. I vividly remember sitting at a picnic table in North Conway and going through the mock-ups of Wellness bags with my father, Jim Scott Jr. While I wasn’t employed at the company at that time, I witnessed the countless hours my dad spent working on the new brand’s launch. From my teenage son’s vantage point, my dad always worked tremendously hard, but even for him this seemed crazy.
Fast-forward to 16 years later and my father asked me to go for a walk with him. By this time my family had been through a lot with both my brother Andy and I sustaining life-altering injuries. After my accident, which followed Andy’s, my father decided to get out of the business and spend more time helping my Mom, “carry the lumber”, as he says. I never actually saw him do any heavy lifting, but I did have a qualified chauffeur in my father bringing me to and from rehab appointments! It was nice to see Dad not working crazy hours, relaxed, and enjoying being semi-retired.
As we walked, my dad told me of an idea for a revolutionary new pet food that he’d been thinking about. I was surprised that he would want to introduce a new category of pet food all over again until he told me why: My little brother had wanted a puppy. With Andy being in a wheelchair and living on his own in New Hampshire, my dad introduced the idea of his getting a service dog for pragmatic reasons. Andy, however, wanted a puppy. Andy’s the baby in the family and eventually got his way (as usual), but suggested that my father take his idea and use it as a way to help people get service dogs.
I try and avoid giving my little brother credit whenever I can, but I have to give him some here. After experiencing the incredible power a pet can have in helping people handle adversity with our dog Boomer, my family truly appreciates the spiritual bond between a pet and it’s human companion(s). With RAWZ we’re presenting the next best thing to feeding raw while promoting the use of service dogs with the hope of allowing others to benefit from this connection!
