A dream came true when I bought my first lake house in 1996. It was early July and I had been unpacking boxes for hours. My three dogs were anxious to check out the new area and I wanted to take a quick swim in the lake. Grabbing leashes and towels headed for the dock. The dogs became excited as we neared the water. It was 99° degrees; all I could think about was diving into the cool blue water. My dogs were Shelties aka miniature collies. They were smart and fun loving and known for their herding abilities rather swimming. Two of my fur kids were rescues that rarely let me out of their sight. The third one a puppy named Tully who was completely independent and seemed to like the water.

As soon as we were on the dock, I dove into the water and as I rolled and turned to see what my Pups were doing, I was delighted to see Tully swimming like a pro as she followed me. My excitement at seeing her paddling confidently was short lived, I noticed Annie jumping on to the seat of my wave runner, trying to see where I was heading. As she balanced on the seat, the dock line tightened and threw her into the lake. It would have been funny except, I could see she was panicking. I swam as fast as I could with Tully following. “It’s okay Annie, good job!” I kept saying as I swam to her. As soon as I had her in my arms, the unexpected happened. Reese, the third dog had been watching from the dock. Sensing my stress she got excited and started barking and rolling on the dock. She tumbled into the water. OMG, we were all in the water, and I had to act quickly. Tully, kept paddling in tight little circles, looking amused, but offered no help. There was no dock ladder or shoreline, so I climbed onto the wave runner and jumped to the dock. I managed to pull each of them out of the water. I was relieved to see they were unfazed by the swim as they shook off the water and chase each other around the dock as if nothing had happened. I didn’t share their excitement, I was exhausted, filled with anxiety and panic, I kept thinking, “this is not good, they have no fear of being near water, and this could easily happen again. The next time I might not be here to pull them to safety. I spent the rest of the day thinking about worst case scenarios. The next morning Tully, woke me barking. She could see the lake from the sliding door in the bedroom. I realized this was exactly what I wanted, a dog that loved the water. After a quick drama free swim, we came back to the house and I began calling local marine supply and pet stores. I was looking for a product that people used to get their dogs out of the water when there was no shoreline.

To my amazement, no one had ever heard of anything like I described. I was baffled this type of product did not exist. Frustrated I fired up my computer with the dial up connection and began to search the internet hoping to get better results. After hours of dead-end searches, it was clear this type of product did not exist. I was torn between my loves of the lake or knowing my dogs would be safe on the docks.

In that moment, I knew I had to figure something out in the event they fell off  the dock and I was not around to scoop them out. I envisioned a ramp of sorts, but I did not own the dock we were using which limited my design options, I tried all of different designs and eventually we had our first doggydocks®. It was crude but it worked and I spent my days stress free. Over the summer, I did my best to make it look nicer, since I was using my neighbors dock. I had been using empty gallon milk jugs for floatation and soon created a floatation bag that held foam.

Neighbors began bringing their dogs over to use our ramp and boaters on the lake would anchor a few hundred yards away and watch the dogs leaping off the docks only to race up, and do it all over again. I imagine the sight of different size dogs leaping off the dock and running back up, was entertaining to the boaters and residents.

I never thought about selling doggydocks commercially, although I eventually made a few for neighbors and a couple for the local pet store, it would take another eight years to bring doggydocks® to the market because I wasn’t convinced there was a market.

The other reason, the doggydocks was personal. Over time I realized other dog owners had the same concerns as me about keeping their dogs safe around the water.

A few years after we began selling doggydocks, a writer with a national boating magazine asked me a simple question, “Why did you develop doggydocks?” A question, I had heard many times before, but this time it triggered something inside and I was flooded with the memory of my dog that drowned in a friend’s swimming pool 20 years earlier. I was devastated to a point I suppressed the memory. It was in that moment, I realized why I had spent the time, energy, and money to find something that would keep my dogs safe around the water. As I looked back it as my way of healing from the grief and guilt of her death, because she had no way out of the water.

Over the years doggydocks® have prevented countless dog drowning and remains a driving force behind the product. The icing on the cake: dogs that love water have turned doggydocks® into an interactive toy that entertains humans and keeps dogs safe. I appreciate you taking the time to read the doggydocks story.

If you are looking for a way to get your dog out of the water and have question please feel free to email or call our office or shoot us an email at:

Sales@pupgearpetproducts.com Alternatively, call 1.844-781-PUPS Happy Boating! Theresa Marler doggydocks® Creator.