Meet the Founders

Why we started making dog treats — A conversation with Carol and Anna, co-founders of Piper Loop Pets

Every dog owner has reached into their pocket mid-walk and pulled out a fistful of crumbs.

Carol and Anna had the same problem — and decided to do something about it. Piper Loop Pets is a woman-owned company that makes premium training treats, built on a simple belief: dogs deserve better.

That's why our two founders came together to create a brand with the same care you give your dog.

I sat down with the co-founders to understand what makes Piper Loop Pets different from everything else on the shelf.

"Why can't we have nice things? Not just beautiful on the outside — everything. The packaging and what's inside it. The design and the sourcing." — Carol, co-founder

TWO PROBLEMS EVERY DOG OWNER KNOWS

Piper Loop Pets started with a solution to two problems every dog owner knows.

The first: plastic treat bags. Treats get crushed in your pocket, and by the time you need one, they're dust. The solution? Create something portable that won't get crushed on the way there.

The second problem was training.

"I hate yelling," Carol tells me. "So when I was training Maisy, I tried to come up with another way to get her attention. I would shake a little tin of treats, and it worked really well."

Then came a bigger thought: why wasn't there an elegant, functional training tin for dogs? Something aesthetically pleasing, environmentally friendly, and ethically sourced?

Carol realized she was onto something.

THE IDEA TAKES SHAPE

She started mulling it over on dog walks with Anna.

Carol is a photographer who spent her career making products look genuinely compelling — the challenge being that most of what she was given wasn't. Soulless packaging. Design by committee. Products built for profit, not meaning.

Anna comes from biotech. Fifteen years of sourcing, formulation, and supply chains. She's the one who asks how something is made before she asks what it looks like.

Anna agreed that Carol's solution was a good one — and brought her own idea to the table. Why not make a better treat while they were at it?

"Anna's question was simple," Carol says. "If we're rethinking the tin, why not rethink what goes in it?"

Piper Loop sources its ingredients from small Midwest farms, prioritizing ethical meat and good animal welfare. The treats are vet-formulated and made in partnership with a family-owned American bakery whose roots go back to the 1800s.

"It's like a Venn diagram — the perfect mix of form and function." — Carol, co-founder

WHAT IT BECAME

After redesigns, setbacks, and hard lessons, Piper Loop Pets launched with a clear mission: a portable, reusable way to carry dog treats — with something worth carrying inside them.

One last thing: I asked Carol which flavor was her personal favorite. She didn't hesitate.

Pumpkin and cranberry. We won't encourage you to try one yourself. But we won't stop you either.

— Evan Wetherell is an intern at Piper Loop Pets and a person who now thinks about treat tins more than he expected to.