Joe Rider oven bakes hundreds of handmade goodies per week, and his discerning customers love him for it. “Woof!” they rave. It all started when Joe and partner Patrick Kiker began making veggie treats for their loveable Labradors, Harley and Boomer, but it wasn’t until after Rider lost his corporate job in 2006 that they considered trading the canine cookies for cash. “Our dogs loved them, so we decided to try to market them,” Rider says. Things started to take off for the animal-loving entrepreneurs, until the economy took a turn for the worse and their plans to open up a storefront fell through. Only slightly discouraged, the men almost immediately launched flyingdoggiesonline.com, where they have been selling the wholesome treats along with high-end pooch products since last October. Rider points out that canine luxury shouldn’t be reserved for the toy poodle and its ilk — “There are a lot of choices for the smaller breed, but we are geared toward larger breed dogs,” he says. As the name implies, Flying Doggies delivers, within about a four-mile radius of Rider and Kiker’s M Streets area home, and they are willing to drive farther in some cases, if you ask nicely.
