Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael & Christine Mallar.
Hi Michael & Christine, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We are Mike and Christine, and we opened Green Dog in August of 2004. We were originally New Englanders; we met and lived in Boston, then moved to Atlanta for 9 years, and moved joyfully to Portland in 2001. We finally found a city that suits us perfectly – we’re really home now. We make a good little team, professionally speaking. Mike had a gift shop in his house growing up – both of his parents were artists who sold their work out of their little store. He also has about 20 years experience in the customer service industry, and 4 years in retail management.
Christine was a zoo keeper for 12 years, (2 1/2 years in Boston and the rest at Zoo Atlanta). She worked with a lot of different kinds of animals, but her real specialty was primates, especially orangutans. While at Zoo Atlanta, she did a lot of animal training, helping to establish positive reinforcement training programs for a number of species at the zoo (many zookeepers these days train animals using positive reinforcement to both challenge their minds and to help them take care of any medical needs with less stress for them, but it was more of a novelty in zoos at the time). She did a lot of public speaking and fundraising for orangutan conservation at the zoo, and in 1997 won an award that enabled her to work in Borneo for two months, helping an orangutan rehabilitation center develop enrichment and training programs. In 1998, she helped to found a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of orangutans, working with them for 10 years. When we moved to Portland, Christine needed a job and a change from the zoo world (thanks in part to a back injury). She was able to use her training background to secure a job for two years as a certified dog trainer at a large pet supply store, helping customers with their behavioral issues and teaching classes while she and Mike built Green Dog Pet Supply.
We adore sharing our love of human and animal nutrition, positive training advice, sustainable products, and other means of holistic support with our valuable customers.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We have always had such great support from the neighborhood and our regular customers. But covid was a really hard time. Switching to curbside during that time was tricky and came with many challenges. We were able to bounce back from that, but with rising costs and fluctuations with the economy has made it hard to stay viable as a small business.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We’ve made it our mission to specialize in environmentally friendly pet supplies and gifts for dogs, cats and their people. We believe that living sustainably does not have to mean making drastic changes in our lives. Simply considering where things come from and where they go when we’re finished with them can be a big step towards living a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.
We are also strongly committed to helping your pets live as long and healthy a life as possible through access to excellent nutrition and other forms of holistic support. We have always been dedicated to gathering and sharing information with our customers.
We feel strongly about doing our very best to carry sustainable, thoughtfully sourced products, but a company is much more than the products and services it sells. Our feeling of connection and responsibility to our customers and our community goes to the very core of the way that our company conducts business. We love our employees and believe in supporting them as much as our business can support (and then some), we love our customers and try to always go above and beyond to help them, especially when their pets encounter challenges to their health and happiness. Our long term relationships with our customers and their pets mean more to us than we can tell you. We love our neighborhood and we help to plan, sponsor and participate in neighborhood events. We love our city and its amazing animal and environmental nonprofits and we donate large amounts of goods and services to support their efforts.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Online ordering and delivery. Although customers still appreciate a brick and mortar location, especially for their pups to physically visit for treats and attention, more and more people want to have their products delivered directly to their home.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://greendogpetsupply.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greendogpetsupply/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreenDogPetSupply/
