THE BEGINNING
We adopted Louie from a South Korean rescue who helped arrange his flight to Seattle. While we knew he stayed with a foster family for a short time, we didn't know much about his origins and possibly traumatic past. What we did know was that he was now family and we'd let his personality slowly shine. Pretty soon after that, we learned he was terrified of many things.
I vividly remember our first real walk in the neighborhood. Cars and trucks speeding by had him panicking, low to the ground, and racing away. We immediately consulted a trainer, thinking it could be herding behavior (because we thought he was a corgi mix - turns out he's not - story for another day!). We later learned this was plain anxiety and fear. What he really needed was time, patience, and a lot of positive reinforcement.
And positive reinforcement meant treats. Every trainer we spoke to mentioned that very same thing. There would be lots of treats.
WHAT'S IN "HEALTHY" TREATS?
We started the way most dog parents do, walking into a pet store and looking for "healthy" treats. The packaging said all the right things, but then I read the ingredient lists.
Maltodextrin. Glycerin. Propylene Glycol. Natural Flavors (WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!). I didn't recognize these as ingredients I'd want to eat and it definitely wasn't what I'd want Louie or any pet eating multiple times a day.
The other alternatives suggested by our trainers were hot dogs, ham, cheddar! These were all high value, but here's the thing about training an anxious dog: you will use a lot of treats. More than you'd expect. When your dog is working through their fear, you're rewarding constantly. Every tiny, tiny win, any baby steps, every second of calm was rewarded. So Louie was getting treats at a rate I hadn't anticipated, and the weight gain showed it. This became a concern, given his short stature.
After a month or two, this worry began to gnaw at me. I needed something I felt good about feeding my furchild. Treats shouldn't make us feel guilty about the trade offs between his peace of mind and his physical health.
SO I STARTED MAKING THEM MYSELF
I started looking into which proteins were safe, which were nutrient-dense, which dogs actually went crazy for. I ordered raw proteins. I tested temperatures and times. I tested a lot of things that didn't work before finding the ones that did.
Louie, as it turns out, has extremely strong opinions. Pork liver got an immediate five-star review. Shrimp earned a level of focus I'd never seen from him before — full eye contact, best behavior, completely present. Chicken tenders became the everyday reliable. And as quickly as I started, the test tasting team expanded alongside my testing journey. The crew were fans and I was making something worth sharing.
WHAT LOUIE'S CHEWIES IS NOW
Every recipe we make at Louie's Chewies starts the same way: real, raw ingredients, cooked low and slow, with nothing added that doesn't need to be there. No fillers. No artificial colors. No preservatives. No ingredients you'd have to search up.
We're small-batch by design — we care about quality and safety. Each batch gets tasted and approved by our test team: Louie, Beau, Theo, and Teddy.
Truthfully, Louie is still an anxious boy. He still cowers from sudden loud noises and reacts to large dogs. But he trusts us, and he knows that when we reach for a treat, it's something worth paying attention to. It took a long time to get here. We built that trust one treat at a time — and we think that's worth doing right by anyone who cares for their pet.