Pastries for pooches at Waggle Dog Bakery

ARE your dogs always begging for your pastries while you’re eating but you can’t share because of the ingredients used? Or perhaps you just want to celebrate them in a grand way. Well, Waggle Dog Bakery can help you out, or rather, help them out. Disclaimer: More than likely, your dogs will still continue to beg for your snacks.

The 23-year-old San Fernando bakery owner Amelia Mahabir told Sunday Newsday that growing up she was always surrounded by dogs but never really owned one until recently.

“It was always my dad’s dogs or somebody (else) in the family’s dogs,” she recalled. “My love for dogs grew way more when I had my own.”

Sadly, her father died in 2018, leaving his dogs in her care, and she later added more to the pack.

“(Losing him) was really hard. It was just me and him that was living there (at home) so (after his passing), it was literally just me and dogs.

“Dogs helped me through that time and I feel like that’s why they’re so important to me.”

She said the responsibility that comes with owning and caring for dogs, along with spending quality time with them, increased her love for and appreciation of them.

She now owns five dogs: Bear, Luna, Leo, Ellie and Ella, whom she referred to as her “guinea pigs” for testing new flavours and recipes.

With a general love for baking, she once tried a popular cake mix for dogs but wasn’t too pleased with the finished product.

“​It didn’t look good at all. It was just like a hard cookie,” she said with a laugh.

She did some research on dog-friendly ingredients, including consultations with a veterinarian, and made a three-tiered doggie birthday cake from scratch.

She uses ingredients like peanut butter, carrots, a range of fruits safe for dog consumption, varieties of meat and cream cheese, among other things.

Recalling her first cake, she said, “It looked so good! I wasn’t expecting it to look so good with just dog ingredients.”

But it was only in September she decided to turn this hobby into a business venture and started Waggle Dog Bakery.

Initially, she thought she’d only get about two orders a week, but she has had to do 30 and even 40 speciality boxes (doggie snack boxes) in a week.

“I realised everybody loves their dogs and I was so shocked there is a huge market in TT for these things.

“It’s actually so good because I mean, obviously, I love to see people love their dogs, and doing this bakery thing is just fuelling your love into your dog and involving them in every occasion.”

She makes a range of pastries for furry good boys and girls including cakes, cupcakes, cookies, donuts, meat cakes, and even popsicles and frozen treats. The treats do not include added sugar or preservatives, and she caters to each dog’s specific dietary needs, allergies, etc.

She’s got orders for occasions like birthdays, “gotcha days” which is the anniversary of adopting an animal whose date of birth you may not know, Halloween and Christmas.

Mahabir said she hopes to continue not only doing general orders but for other specific occasions including Valentine’s Day and Easter.

She does free delivery to C3 Centre, South Park and Gulf City Mall, while deliveries to Brentwood, Chaguanas and Price Plaza, Grand Bazaar, MovieTowne Port of Spain and West Mall cost extra.

For now, she works from her home kitchen but says she hopes to have a dedicated business place in the near future.

Customers, or rather, customers’ owners have had some funny reactions to their baked goodies.

“When they (the owners) put the stuff in front of their dog, the dog would watch it like, ‘is this for me? Did you drop something? This looks like human food.’ They’d sniff it and it takes some of them a while to try it.”

She said so far, every dog that has tried her treats has fallen in love with it, leading to many repeat customers.

She enjoys seeing the photos and videos of dogs enjoying the treats.

“People buy so much stuff for their dogs and celebrate with them and it makes me so happy.”

She has also donated some baked goods to the Animals Alive animal shelter in Fyzabad.

One Facebook review said, “Koda approved. I was not prepared for what I got. Everything was done perfectly and my pup loved all of it. You’ll definitely hear from me again and the service was excellent.”

And another said, “Snoopy absolutely adored his birthday cupcakes and he’s a very picky eater but he (definitely) approved. Thanks, Waggle, you made his birthday party a success and snoopy and I will be ordering soon.”

Of course, she has been asked before if she does treats for cats as well. She said she is open to the idea and will take such an order if it is made.

Follow Waggle Dog Bakery on Facebook and Instagram or email Mahabir at wagglebakery@gmail.com