SARATOGA SPRINGS | Dawgdom, a dog boutique and specialty store, recently opened at 441A Broadway. Owner Sara Ellis on Tuesday discussed the store’s products and her motivation for opening the novelty store.

Question: How would you define Dawgdom?
Answer: We stock equipment for what I call the active, mountain-biking dog. We have safety harnesses, safety vests, life vests, dog beds, dog travel mats and, of course, leashes and collars. We try to sell unique items that you can’t find at the chain stores.
One popular item is our dog packs. One is two-sided pack for storage, while the other one is a hydration pack designed to carry food and water.

Question: What’s your favorite dog story?
Answer: I could tell you how we met our dog Jackson.
Five years ago, I was walking our other dog Sadie on Caroline Street, when a very old, decrepit, malnourished dog started following us. For three weeks, I would try to get him, but he would run away. It was a frustrating scenario. One day, I was on my way to work and pulled out of the driveway, and he was standing out there in the snow bank looking at my car. With the help of a neighbor, I caught him and brought him to the veterinarian, who said a lot of money would need to be invested in his treatment. But we went ahead anyway. After this, Jackson stayed with us for five years, living with myself and Dave Gamin, my boyfriend, and Sadie and Maverick, our other two dogs.

Question: What motivated you to specialize in dog items?
Answer: I officially moved to Saratoga in 2001, and there were lots of dogs walking around Saratoga all the time. I couldn’t believe that there wasn’t a dog shop, but it never occurred to me to open one myself. As the years passed, [it continued to surprise me] there wasn’t a dog shop, despite all the little stores that were popping up, and eventually Sloppy Kisses opened. But it only occurred to me to open one in August 2007, when Jackson was put down after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer.
He became a special needs dog when his back leg was amputated, and shortly after, he underwent chemotherapy. We, of course, became much more involved with our dogs on an hourly basis than we ever were in caring and thinking about them. Once we put him down, I became very aware of how unhappy I was at my job. I was a territory manager for a distribution company, and I was traveling a lot, thinking about how I would change my career. The loss of Jackson, meanwhile, was extremely significant to me, and I realized I wanted to get involved with one of my passions from childhood: dogs, and the well-being of the community.

Question: What are some of the highlights of the store so far, things you might tell a friend happened on that particular work day?
Answer: So far, I can tell you that the two best things have been a person coming in with their dogs that’s the highlight of any day. I’ve stood here on a quiet day with many people, and they’re crying about dogs they’ve lost, and sharing these moments with each other. Knowing what other people are experiencing every day with their dogs is a wonderful part of this. Also in conjunction with that, one highlight has been becoming involved with the community, and seeing how many fundraisers I can get involved with.

Question: What might you say to people who normally go to a big chain store to obtain items for their pets?
Answer: I would say that every store serves a purpose. I don’t really consider myself a competitor of the chain stores. These serve their purpose by stocking a lot of items that are great for puppies who might outgrow collars or leashes, but for someone who wants a collar they can’t find at these places, or they want something that looks different or lasts longer, they can come to a shop like this where the attempt is to bring in products from manufacturers or vendors that don’t mass market their product.

Question: How do you find these items wholesale?
Answer: Originally I found it a challenge because the industry is huge; searching it for unique items was very daunting.
As time went on, I became somewhat wiser. While at first I was overwhelmed at how many products were the same, now I’m overwhelmed by how many products are different. A lot of these vendors you can’t always find on the internet, so one of the things I found was that once I opened, the vendors started coming to me. I located a large number of smaller vendors by word of mouth.