09/24/2026
🐾 WE DIDN’T WIN… BUT SOMEHOW WE CAME HOME WITH TWO TROPHIES. ❤️🏆
I’ve been trying to figure out how to put last night into words.
Dear Dog Treats walked into the 2026 Alberta Business Awards of Distinction as a finalist for Small Business of Distinction.
We wanted that trophy. We wanted to bring it home to Fort Saskatchewan for our staff, customers, stores, rescues, families and everyone who has helped build this crazy little company.
Our name wasn’t called.
Yeah… that stung.
But as we listened to the stories of the incredible businesses around us, I remember thinking:
Look around this room. Dear Dog Treats belongs here too.
Honestly, that would have been enough.
Except the night wasn’t finished with us.
Later came Alberta’s Best of Business Award of Distinction.
This wasn’t just our Small Business category anymore.
And then…
DEAR DOG TREATS WAS CALLED.
Somehow, our little dog-treat company from Fort Saskatchewan had been selected as ONE OF THREE FINALISTS FOR ALBERTA’S BEST OF BUSINESS.
I sat there somewhere between shock, pride and did they seriously just say our name?! 😂
Eight years ago, we weren’t dreaming about business awards.
We were trying to sell dog treats.
We built this company market by market, store by store, customer by customer and dog by dog.
There have been fires and rebuilding. Long nights and stupidly early mornings. Hundreds of markets. More than 180 stores. Setbacks, sweat, tears, rescue donations, community projects…
…and enough dog hair to build several additional dogs. 😂🐕
And suddenly we were TOP THREE for Alberta’s Best of Business.
We didn’t take home that trophy either.
But Ricky Bobby was wrong.
If you ain’t first, you’re NOT last. 😂
Because this sure doesn’t feel like a loss.
And what made that moment even better was who was there to experience it with us.
My wife Jen, my mom Stella, Josephine, and the Chair of the Fort Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce were there cheering us on.
These are people who know what happened before the nice clothes, fancy room and nominations.
They know the sacrifices. The fire. The rebuilding. The markets. The late nights. The moments when quitting would have been easier.
They know what it took to get into that room.
And they got to hear our name called with us. ❤️
Then there are these two little crystal diamonds.
They were decorations from the tables. We managed to bring two home.
One little. One big.
Last night they decorated a table.
Today, they’re our trophies.
The little one represents Small Business of Distinction, the ring we knew we were entering.
The big one represents Alberta’s Best of Business, the ring we never dreamed we’d be standing in.
They’re probably worth almost nothing.
To us, they’re priceless.
And maybe my favourite picture is afterwards, sitting on the floor at home, dogs wandering through the shot, holding these two pieces of glass like we’d just won the Stanley Cup. 😂🐾
Because when I look at them, I don’t see glass.
I see eight years.
And maybe that’s what makes this recognition mean even more.
While Dear Dog Treats has been growing, so has the giving around it.
We’re also into harvest with our Grow Your Own Project, and the first harvest numbers are starting to come in.
One single day of that first harvest produced approximately 4,600 pounds of fresh vegetables for food banks and families in Fort Saskatchewan, Gibbons, Redwater and Sturgeon County, with another roughly 800 pounds heading to the Edmonton Veterans Food Bank.
And that’s only the beginning. We’re still harvesting.
There’s something pretty powerful about going from being recognized alongside some of Alberta’s best businesses to getting back to what matters most to us.
The same hands that help build a business also pull potatoes from the dirt.
The same people who pack dog treats help fill food-bank shelves.
And the same success that allows us to grow gives us an even bigger opportunity to give.
Because ultimately, that’s what we want all of this to mean.
Dog treats are what we sell. Giving is what we’re trying to build.
We help rescues because sometimes a dog needs somebody in its corner.
We grow food because sometimes a family needs somebody in theirs.
And whether it has two legs or four, when we have an opportunity to help, we’re going to try.
So here’s our next crazy goal:
By the end of our 10th year in business, Dear Dog Treats wants to have donated $250,000 back to rescues, our communities and the causes we believe in.
A quarter of a million dollars.
Pretty big tree for a little dog-treat company to bark up.
Good. We’ve gotten pretty good at barking at big trees. 🐕🌳
To our staff, customers, stores, rescues, volunteers, families, friends, community and every dog who has ever stared someone directly in the soul until they opened a bag of Dear Dog Treats…
THANK YOU.
You put us in that room.
We didn’t bring home the hardware.
We brought home two pieces of glass.
The little one reminds us how far we’ve come.
The big one reminds us how far we intend to go.
We got close enough to see it.
And now we know the way back.
TOP THREE, BABY. TOP THREE. ❤️🐾🏆
Alberta…
we’ll be back.
Until then, we’ll keep doing what got us here:
Making treats. Helping dogs. Feeding people. Supporting our community. Giving back.
And this little dog-treat company?
We aren’t done barking yet. 🐕❤️
