Samantha Mendoza has been busy baking after getting past a recent illness that temporarily sidelined her.

It’s a Saturday morning and there will be a street market going up soon near West Van Buren in Harlingen. It’s a block over from The Ruff House, where Mendoza is sliding a tray full of freshly made dog snacks into a lighted display. They look inviting and are sure to light up any dog’s eyes. 

There are cookies in the shape of hearts that say “WOOF,” with chocolate-looking treats with white drizzles that even a human would say look inviting. Bone-shaped snacks say, “I Love My Hooman.” Across the bottom of the silver tray, Mendoza has lined up a row of chocolate chip cookies that look fit for humans but are geared for canines.

“I try to make dog versions of chocolate chips and chocolates,” Mendoza said of just two of the wide variety of products she bakes at her Harlingen home for sale at markets, specialty stores and for deliveries to her customers. 

The treats are eye-catching. It’s not long before a Ruff House customer makes her way to the rows of treats under the lights. She snaps a few photos on her iPhone and then purchases a baggie full of doggie cookies. 

“She has a following,” said Angie Guiter, The Ruff House’s owner, of Mendoza’s Paw Paw Bakery. “Our customers love her treats.”

Finding A Niche

The already huge U.S. pet industry has grown bigger.

Home-bound pet owners turned to their dogs and cats for comfort and company during adversity. In 2020, a milestone was reached in the national pet industry. Total sales crested above $100 billion for the first time. It’s not only the big box stores and national chains that are benefiting from this upward trend. Entrepreneurs like Mendoza are finding their own niche in the huge field.

Mendoza is a former PetSmart employee who started batting around the idea in her mind of having her own pet-related business. She left the Rio Grande Valley to live in Abilene. Upon returning in recent years, she found some noticeable changes in her hometown region.

“I was really surprised to see how much the pet community had grown down here,” Mendoza said. “I just decided to go for it, I realized I could do this.”

She was speaking of making and selling her homemade treats made of dog-friendly ingredients like peanut butter, pumpkin and carob to go with savory snacks made of turkey, beef and chicken. They were quick sells at outdoor markets around the Valley, which led to an emerging customer base and deliveries to their homes. When Guiter called to propose she sell her treats at The Ruff House, it represented a new outlet to sell her treats. The partnership has proven to be successful and Mendoza hopes to make other similar connections.

What started as a part-time effort has transitioned into a full-time project. Mendoza isn’t alone in seeing the opportunities of the Valley’s growing pet community. In Mercedes, Amanda and Noe Rodriguez use the Mid-Valley city as a distribution point to deliver their own homemade dog treats throughout the region. Amanda’s Fatty Snacks is what the couple calls their business, which includes raw meat cubes infused with vitamins and supplements. 

They highlight customer service with quality products in seeking to build a customer following.

“People don’t buy products,” Noe Rodriguez said. “They buy feelings.”

Meeting Opportunity & Ambition

Mendoza and the Rodriguezes have another thing in common in addition to their distinctive dog treats.

Amanda’s Fatty Snacks and Paw Paw each began during the pandemic. The entrepreneurs saw a period of adversity as a time to launch their respective businesses. They could reach customers spending more time with their pets.

It also filled a space of time when action was necessary to meet a challenge. For Mendoza, it was a stall in her ambition to be a veterinary technician due to limitations in finding a medical office to do a necessary externship. For Noe Rodriguez, he saw the success his wife was having in selling her homemade dog treats to friends and families. He saw a business opportunity for them to work together and spend more time with their young children.

“What pushed me the most was figuring out a way to have her more at home,” he said of Amanda, who spent long stretches of time away from home working as a detention officer at county jails. 

Mendoza, meanwhile, saw a lull in time and occupied it with something she had long wanted to do. Now she’s making pup cakes with flavors ranging from peanut butter carrot to pumpkin to apple oatmeal. She is currently enjoying the delight it brings to her customers who want to spoil their beloved furry babies.

“It’s a lot of fun and I enjoy seeing everyone’s reactions,” she said.