Dogland started with a simple question.

My sisters both got dogs (Walt and Kevin), and suddenly their lives began to orbit around them. One sister celebrated her dog’s birthday with gelato. The other brought her dog on a full family vacation. I remember thinking: Wait…are people really structuring their lives around their dogs?

One afternoon at the dog park, I watched people with their dogs — pulling homemade treats from their pockets, tossing toys across the grass, chasing after them like they were playing tag. Everywhere I looked there was this shared delight, people soaking in the joy of the dogs they loved.

And I found myself wondering: Would people go so far as to take their dogs to Disneyland…if they could?

Around that time, I was going through a breakup. I had started to really want a dog — something that had grown after watching how much my sisters loved theirs — but he wasn’t sure he could commit to getting one. My sisters gently nudged me to poke around anyway. Just look, they said.

Not long after, I came across an ad for the cutest Westie puppy I had ever seen. It felt almost too good to be true — like he had appeared exactly when I needed him. 

It was peak COVID, so I assumed it would take months, but the next morning I woke up to an email.

“I have a Westie puppy. Can meet at Costco at 2:00 PM.”

The next day, I met Rick in a Costco parking lot. And that was it.

Through heartbreak, a move to Austin, and life’s ups and downs, Rick was there right beside me: curled up in my bed, riding shotgun, or pulling me out of bed for a mental health walk.

And Rick has this way of finding joy in the smallest things: chasing pretend mice, hopping through the snow, and chasing his best friends at the park.

Dogs live in joy. And that joy changes you. It changed me.

Rick reminded me that dogs aren’t just pets. They are chosen family.

If you watch parents with their kids, you start to notice the little rituals they create to bring their kids joy. The first trip to see Santa. Birthday cakes with candles and everyone singing. Popcorn on the couch for family movie night.

Some families save for years to take their kids to Disneyland — not because the rides are for them, but because watching their child light up with joy becomes the best part of the day.

There’s a special kind of happiness that comes from witnessing someone you love experience pure joy.

That’s what it felt like being with Rick.

And it made me wonder: where are the experiences like that for people and their dogs?

Dogland is built around that idea.

It’s a place where people can bring their chosen family — their dogs — and spend a day sharing in joy together. A place where the best part isn’t just what you do, but watching the dog you love have the absolute best day ever.

Because when your dog is that happy, somehow you are too.

That shared joy — between people and the dogs they love — is what Dogland is all about.