This is us, in the never-easy group shot. From left to right, Maya, Nick, Dana, and Tucker
Thank you so very much for visiting us here at HoundAbout and for your interest in learning more about us. Officially, HoundAbout has been around close to 15 years now. It started as a simple blog back when blogs were brand new and has continued to evolve along with the internet.
The eCommerce site you see today was rebranded and launched in October, 2014. The goal was simple enough; to provide a platform for individual and unique product manufacturers to sell their products and keep costs low enough to provide value to fellow dog owners. (Yes, we like cats too, and many of our products are great for our feline friends, but the focus continues to be on dogs.) We do this by keeping costs exceptionally low with limited staff and minimal overhead.
Along the way, we’ve been able to also add many of the big brand products we all know and love, as well as offering helpful and free products such as the Pet Alert Safety Decal and the Disaster Planning, First Aid Kit, and Care & Feeding profile downloads. (Please make sure to get your copies before you leave – they REALLY ARE FREE – no credit card required or anything. We’re not kidding.)
Shortly after launch we also found a great way to volunteer our time and efforts through a local non-profit pet food charity called the Colorado Pet Pantry. They provide pet food to families in need in order to keep their pets in their homes, and with their families, and to keep them from being surrendered to a rescue or shelter. (Awesome, right?) But it gets even better. Almost all of the food collected and distributed would have otherwise been wasted by being thrown away into a landfill. Oh, and as if even more of a bonus were needed get this, it costs our Pet Pantry only about $4 to feed a dog in their home for a month, but it costs the local shelter well over $400 to rehome a pet. (The ASPCA says the national average to rehome a pet is $650.00). The best way to look at this is like this, every dollar you donate to a pet food pantry is equivalent to $100 to a local shelter. Talk about bang for your buck. Needless to say, we were hooked.
So now the question became, how could we do more? Well, we were introduced to an association of fellow pet food charities across the nation, who, like many charities, continually work to find ways of raising funds to keep operations going. Suddenly it became obvious. We could make HoundAbout available to all of them as an option for generating revenue. And that’s what we have done.
When you shop HoundAbout, please be sure to select the Pet Food Charity of your choice with whom you’d like 50% of the proceeds of your purchase to go towards. It doesn’t cost you a thing, and you’ll see it adds exactly $0.00 to the cost of your purchase. We currently have 40+ listed and representing much of the US. Our goal is to keep adding more and helping build others. It’s a lot of work, and we still have our day jobs to manage, but it’s a project of passion we’re thrilled to participate in and welcome you to join us. Thanks again for visiting. Please give us a call or send a note if you have any comments, suggestions, or questions.