Lisa Hoffman and Charles Atkins

Published November 3, 2005

It’s another rainy days, the leaves are starting to turn and Lisa and I are in her living room waiting for the arrival of today’s interview subjects, Nancy Stokes, the owner of Litchfield Pet Supply and her dog Maggie—a pit bull. I have to admit, I’m somewhat reticent about meeting Maggie, that while I like big dogs, a friend was recently bitten by a neighbor’s pit bull; it was not pleasant.

The phone rings; it’s Nancy’s in the parking lot wondering if it’s okay to bring in a somewhat soggy Maggie. But where animals are concerned Lisa doesn’t mind a bit of damp. So I head out into the rain and am soon met by Nancy and her snuffling black-and-white pit bull, who looks a bit like Petey from Our Gang with one black and one white eye. "She loves people to death," Nancy remarks as we hurry through the rain.

"Is that figurative or literal?" I ask. Keeping an eye on the dog, who seems quite friendly as he pulls Nancy forward by the leash, almost as though he knows where we’re going.

"Figurative, of course."

Inside, Maggie quickly checks out Lisa, and gives her a few wet kisses.

"How long have you been in business?" Lisa asks, jumping into the interview, while scratching Maggie behind the ears.

"It’s going to be a year this month."

"What made you decide to open an organic pet food store?"

"I have eleven animals," Nancy says, "six dogs and five cats and I’ve been involved in animal stuff my whole life. I was a professional pet sitter for ten years. And then a friend of mine opened up a pet-food store and I got interested in pet nutrition. I wanted my animals to be healthier, and so I learned a lot about that. I decided I’d like to do this, have my own place."

"How did you acquire all of these animals?" Lisa asks.

"They’re all rescues. A lot of them were from the streets of Waterbury. The dogs were pound puppies. The cats were strays."

"Do they all get along together?"

"You know two of my boys, not so much," Nancy admits. "They tolerate each other, but as a group they do really well."

At which point Maggie begins a nose-first exploration of the condo.

"Sit." Lisa says. "Sit." Maggie obliges and is rewarded with a liver treat. "How much does she weigh?

"About 55 pounds," Nancy says. "She needs to lose a little weight."

"Is she pure bred?"

"I think so. I have a friend who does show pets, and those are more petite, probably between 40 and 50 pounds. But Maggie came from the streets. She was found loose and running around with no collar, no nothing."

"How old was she?" Lisa asks.

"Probably around 3 months. So I don’t know if she got away or someone dumped her. She barked a lot, so people were afraid of her. But we looked at her and just laughed."

"Her bark is worse than her bite," Lisa quips.

"She makes a lot of noise," Nancy admits. "She’s a good guard dog. But she’s also very silly."

"Now, you know people have bad PR about pit bulls," Lisa says. "How do you feel about pit bulls as a breed?"

"I think like any dogs there are bad ones and good ones. Maggie is great with people, but with other dogs--unless she knows them for a while--she’s not great. The pit bulls, I swear, they have to be the most loving dogs and she’s a couch potato. She waits at night to go to sleep with us. In fact, she won’t let us go to sleep without her. But you do have to be careful with them. I don’t go to the store with her, whereas I do with some of my other dogs. But she’s a good representation of what a pit is."

"Tell us a bit about your store," I ask.

"We sell all natural food, health food, supplements and supplies. Everything is dealt with holistically."

"What are the big differences between health foods for animals and those more commercially available?" I ask.

"It’s the ingredients. The products we sell have no meat byproducts and only natural preservatives. We look at things that are oven baked and that don’t use artificial colors. Many of the more commercial foods use dyes to make them look more appetizing. You have to remember that a lot of animal health problems stem from poor diets and bad environmental situations."

"When you say environment what are you thinking of?" I ask.

Nancy ponders her answer, "They need exercise, and a positive atmosphere. You don’t want a "junk-shop dog" type environment."

"How are you doing in the shop?" Lisa asks. "Are you getting enough customers?"

"We’re getting there. It’s night and day between now and a year ago."

"And how can people find you? What is the address?"

"We’re at 583 Bantam Road, 860-567-7737. And our email address is Luvyourdogs@aol.com . We’ve started to construct a web site; there’s a picture of Otis on it. He’s my boxer puppy."

"Where’d you get the name Otis?" Lisa asks.

"It’s Otis my man from Animal House; my husband named him."

"Do you bring your animals with you to work?"

"I always take two with me, and pets are welcome in the store. So Otis has a lot of play dates. We also have a lot of rescue weekends."

"What are those?" I ask.

"We get different rescue groups like Rottweiler rescue, Meow and so forth. Sometimes we have animals there for adoption, although we prefer to raise money for the animals and have pictures of them to start the adoption process."

"Do you follow up when animals are adopted?" Lisa asks.

"The adoption groups do that. We’re even having a Halloween party on the 29^th for Rottweiler rescue."

"Will they come in costume?" I ask.

"Hopefully. We’ll have bobbing for biscuits, musical hoops…kind of like musical chairs only with hula hoops. We’ll think of some other games, and of course a costume competition."

"Are you still catering?" Lisa asks.

"A little bit, including the Federation luncheons."

Lisa pulls another treat from the jar

Maggie watches her very closely.

"Ask her to do something." Nancy says

"Sit…sit."

Maggie sits and gets a cookie. But she wants more and she begins to sing. It’s a strange keening, kind of a cross between the call of a bull moose and a two-year old in the candy aisle pleading with his mother.

"Are you researching this field of nutrition?" Lisa asks, while feeding Maggie a steady stream of treats.

"I read up and I have a lot of good books on holistic care of animals. But I always tell people to check with their vets; it’s very important to do that. A lot of the people that come into the shop are dealing with pets that have allergy issues. It’s frequently food allergies, more so than environmental ones. I have a Labrador that has very bad allergies that’s now on venison and minimal carbohydrates; she’s doing much better. For other dogs it’s a matter of switching the protein. There are so many options out there."

"Yes, a lot of vets seem to suggest that they get raw meat. You carry that in your freezer?" Lisa asks.

"Yes, I have three freezers filled with four different brands of raw food. There’s Nature’s Variety, Bravo, which I probably sell the most of there’s Abady, and Breeder’s Choice."

"Is it all beef?"

"I have beef I have chicken I have lamb, turkey, venison, buffalo, goat, rabbit."

"A whole menu," Lisa says.

"Salmon."

"Salmon? Is that for the cats or the dogs?"

"Either. And then we have treats like buffalo jerky, freeze-dried venison liver. Freeze dried tuna and salmon that the cats like. We even have some vegetarian based foods for dogs that can’t handle animal proteins."

"What about owners who are vegetarian. Do they want their pets on the same diet?" I ask.

"I have a lot of vegetarian owners who understand their animals need meat. I even have some die-hard vegetarians who will have their dogs on the raw-meat diet. I can see their faces getting a little grossed out as they pick the meat out of the freezer. Some will even put gloves on before doing it."

And apropos of nothing, Maggie is back up and singing.

"You mentioned to me on the phone you cook Kosher," Lisa says. "Is there such a thing as Kosher for dogs?"

"Yes, there’s a brand of dog food called Evanger’s that’s certified Kosher. It flies out of the store. Dogs and cats like it. But I don’t think it’s on account of its being kosher. It’s just awesome food. It smells really good. There’s one called ‘hunk of beef’ and you open it up and there’s a huge hunk of meat with gravy and it smells just like corned beef. People go crazy for it." She laughs. "I mean dogs go crazy for it."

"Maybe I can serve some the next time I have a cocktail party," Lisa says having gone for over ten minutes without a pun. "It would be cheaper, and I’m all about making meats end."

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