About Us
Dog-ON-It-Parks is a collaboration of ideas in many ways. When you combine 35 years experience as a veterinary assistant (including showing and breeding dogs!) with 25 years of experience designing playground equipment for public parks, the result is a wide range of pet-friendly products designed by experts.
Our goal at Dog-ON-It-Parks is to specialize in products that draw people to dog parks and help make off-leash areas a destination in every community. A trip to the dog park is one of the very few multi-generational activities the whole family can enjoy, in a setting that is welcoming to everyone regardless of age or physical ability.
As avid dog owners – We have over 800 pounds of dogs at the office! – we want each and every product to be safe, fun, and incredibly durable.
Top Dog! With the assistance of our enthusiastic and extremely dedicated staff (see directory below), we have quickly become the world leader in products specifically designed for dog parks and pet-friendly communities.
Here in the dog-friendly Pacific Northwest, we say that if your town doesn’t have a dog park, it is one! While that's just fine for "dog people" like us, it can sometimes cause friction within the community if people are using undesignated areas as dog parks (especially if they forget to pick up afterwards).
Our vision is to make every community more pet-friendly by helping to create destinations where both people and their dogs can get exercise and fresh air.
Feel free to contact us if there's a product you'd like to see or just to let us know how we are doing. Thanks for stopping by!
Julia Saunders
Partner, Comptroller
julia@dogonitparks.com
Pet’s Name(s): | Lulu and Gozer | |
Age: | 8 and 5 | |
Favorite/Funniest Quirk: | She's a tri-pawd by choice and likes to run using only three of her legs. | |
Favorite Treat: | Anything that smells and/or tastes like bacon! | |
Best Trick: | Lulu can jump and leap over 4 times her height. | |
What I love about my pet(s): | Lulu is a fierce mole chaser. Gozer is a cuddle bug. |
Kathy Max
President
Pet’s Name(s): | Sage | |
Age: | 4-year-old Bernese Mountain Dog | |
Favorite/Funniest Quirk: | Allows our pet rats to ride around on her back | |
Favorite Treat: | Any kind of cheese | |
Best Trick: | Sage can climb backwards up the stairs. | |
What I love about my pet(s): | She can read my mind! |
Nora VandenBerghe
Managing Partner, Sales, Marketing & Operations
nora@dogonitparks.com
Pet’s Name(s): | Rory (Mutt/Gremlin), Otto (Great Dane) and Ripley (Great Dane) | |
Age: | 13, 5 and 2 | |
Favorite/Funniest Quirk: | They all love chasing the vacuum cleaner and eating ice cubes. | |
Favorite Treat: | Sardines, dog biscuits, green beans, anything raw...and they all especially love getting their cheeseburgers on their birthday's! | |
Best Trick: | Rory is an expert at begging and shaking hands, Otto knows "Jump Up and Hug" which makes him taller than most people and Ripley opens doors on her own. | |
What I love about my pet(s): | They are each other's best friends; if you separate them, they howl and are generally miserable until they're reunited. They make me smile every day and I can't imagine life without them. |
Shawn Mac Avoy
Partner, Production Manager
shawn@dogonitparks.com
Pet’s Name(s): | Duke, Aragon and Daisy (camera shy) | |
Age: | 6, 2 & 13 | |
Favorite/Funniest Quirk: | They love to sleep all day, and when they're not snoozing they're jumping and playing tug-of-war. | |
Favorite Treat: | Table scraps! | |
Best Trick: | They all do dog agility, but they also know "Down" and "Stack" (for showing) | |
What I love about my pet(s): |
I love that my pets are individuals; they each have something unique about them that makes me love them more every day. |
Christina Clifton
Sales Support & Accounts Receivable
christina@dogonitparks.com
Pet’s Name(s): | Banjo & Frankie | |
Age: | 2 and 1 | |
Favorite/Funniest Quirk: | Banjo likes to "play" in the fish pond and Frankie has a fondness for nibbling ears. | |
Favorite Treat: | Cheese! | |
Best Trick: | Banjo likes to help us all with our office yoga and Frankie already knows how to sit. | |
What I love about my pet(s): |
They make me smile! |
Susan Zaretzke
Sales Support & Accounts Receivable
susan@dogonitparks.com
Pet’s Name(s): | None currently, but Fairy Godmother to all the office dogs | |
Age: | Don't ask! | |
Favorite Part of My Job: | I love coming into the office when one or more of our four-legged co-workers are there too. | |
Favorite Treat: | Chocolate for Susan and Trader Joe's Cheeseburger Dog Treats (not for Susan!). | |
Best Trick: | Banjo (pictured) is a HUGE help with customer quotes. | |
What I love about my co-workers pet(s): |
They are always in a good mood and it's contagious! |