I spent years in medical device sales. Good job, good money, the whole thing. Then I got laid off, and instead of finding another job, I did something that made complete sense to me and zero sense to anyone else: I started a company that sells stick dispensers for dogs.
Here's how it actually happened. I was doom scrolling Instagram and stopped on a video of a dog pulling a stick off a peg. Just walked up, figured it out, pulled it off and trotted away with it. I watched it three times. My first thought was how clever it was. My second thought was: why isn't this in every dog park already? It reminded me of those little free libraries people put at the end of their driveways. Same charming, community-minded energy, but for dogs.
I looked it up. Nobody was selling it. So I decided to build one myself — how hard could it be? I found a saw on Facebook Marketplace for $100, set it up in my garage, and immediately texted my dad a photo. His response: "oh boy." Three Home Depot runs later, I had a finished product. It was not a smooth process. But it worked. It looked good. And every single person who saw it said the same thing: you should be selling these. So I started.
Tito is a cavapoo. He's almost 6, and everyone he meets immediately becomes his best friend. Not a shy bone in his body. When I worked in corporate, he traveled everywhere with me and befriended entire office staffs within ten minutes of arriving.
Now he works from home with me. We have coffee every morning on the back patio. He follows me into every room. He is always down for a Sonic run or late-night snacks, no questions asked. He is, without exaggeration, the best coworker I've ever had.
Tito isn't here for the sticks. He's here for the people holding them. But he's still the best barometer I have for what makes a dog genuinely happy versus what just looks cute. And the Dog Stick Library makes dogs genuinely happy. I've seen it enough times now to say that with zero hesitation.
Tito's official title
Chief Stick Officer and Director of Morning Coffee. He takes both very seriously.
The Dog Stick Library is a freestanding stick dispenser. Dogs walk up, pull a stick off a peg, and walk away like they own the place. It's not a box of sticks. It's not passive storage. The dog does the thing themselves. And that interaction is exactly what makes it different from everything else out there.
We've shipped to homeowners, Airbnbs, doggy daycares, a dog-friendly coffee shop in Chicago, a private jet company, and a realtor who gives them as housewarming gifts. If there are dogs there, it belongs there.
I'm building this full time. A commercial line for dog parks and municipalities is in development. A community brand called Fetch Nation is in the works. The goal is a lean, largely automated operation that keeps growing while Tito and I have our morning coffee.
I document the whole thing. The wins, the chaos, the moments where I genuinely have no idea what I'm doing. On Instagram at @dogsticklibrary. If you're into founder stories that don't have a neat ending yet, come follow along.