El Paso, Texas–Some dogs at the shelter enjoyed delicious Thanksgiving meals, all thanks to Double Dog Dare Bakery.
The locally owned dog makes it a mission not to forget about the shelter pets during the holiday season.
“It really is the joy of giving your pets the holiday season,” said Alexandria Serra, owner of Double Dog Dare Bakery.
Serra is a lawyer by day, but her passion for providing healthy meals for dogs began when she was tired of feeding her senior dog treats that weren’t good for him.
“So the dog treats, if you take a look at the back, most of them have preservatives and non-human grade ingredients and my dog couldn’t tolerate them so I started in my kitchen at home making things for him and that evolved to farmers markets and then eventually evolved into a physical location,” Serra said.
Double Dog Dare Bakery has been in business for four years and bakes fresh, all-natural, gluten-free treats from scratch for dogs.
Creating safe food for dogs during the holidays was an idea that has now grown into something even bigger.
“We thought we would sell 8 to 10 and we sold almost 400 the first year we did it, which was two years ago and then we sold over 500 last year and now we’re at 600 plus another 300 for donation,” Serra said.
Within 24 hours, the Christmas dog meals would run out and Serra, her staff, and other volunteers would be tasked with cooking over a thousand Thanksgiving dog meals.
“The meal includes shredded chicken, peeled carrots, we drizzle them with honey and then mashed potatoes, we have our signature puppy pies and a cookie,” Serra said.
300 of those meals would go to the Humane Society of El Paso, the Animal Rescue League and Laws ‘n Paws rescue.
For Serra, seeing the joy on the faces of these shelter dogs is the reason she continues to offer these holiday meals for local shelters.
“They are like our children,” Serra said. “I don’t have human children, so mine are like my children and it’s much better to do something like this because it makes you feel good, supports a good cause and also makes sure they don’t get table scraps or you. don’t have that impulse to give them a piece of turkey with the skin on.”
Double Dog Dare Bakery is located at 2030 Montana Ave., 79903. You can learn more about their products by clicking here.
Hours of operation:
Monday – Friday from 7:30 am – 6:30 pm
Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Sunday closed