Trooper

Back in 2010, Kim Loper had a dog named Trooper. He was her heart, so when he developed a food allergy, she started baking treats for him using high-quality, all-natural, human-grade ingredients.

Trooper loved them, and as she began giving them as gifts, her friends' and family's dogs loved them, too.

Farmers markets

People began to ask Kim if she would be willing to sell her treats, so she bought a tent and began selling them at a local farmers market and they were an instant hit. Life Is Grruff was born!

Local markets and stores throughout Long Island began carrying her baked goods.

Our first Farmers Market

The day she bought Harbor Pet in Greenport--headquarters of Life Is Grruff

Kim's own store

While delivering her goods to a local pet supply store in the popular tourist town of Greenport on the North Fork of Long Island, New York, the owner mentioned the store was for sale. Kim bought it. The pet supply store and bakery became the "Life Is Grruff" headquarters.

Another expansion!

Within a year, Kim needed even more space. recently moved to a new location that enabled her to double the size of her retail and bakery space. Harbor Pet has become a destination store for customers all over the country.

Harbor Pet expanded again recently, doubling the size of their retail and bakery space

Life Is Grruff's expanded bakery at Kim's new store

A bigger bakery

The new bakery enabled her to expand the Life Is Grruff product line to fourteen flavors including a wheat-free line.

Life Is Gruff goes
national!

With the jump in production due to the larger bakery, Kim began attending national pet-related trade shows and across the country, general stores, craft beweries, restarurants, and other shops whose customers love dogs, began selling her Life Is Grruff baked goods.

Kim's Life Is Gruff line of dog treats is now sold throughout the U.S. and they've recently increased their production capability one hundred-fold.

Increased production capacity enabled Life Is Gruff to go national

A new favorite: Grrowlers Dog Bones from high-quality barley, oats, rye, and wheat grain.

A new product from recycled grains.

Kim learned that the Greenport Harbor Brewing Company, a popular local craft brewery, had high-quality, nutritious, human-grade "spent" barley, oats, rye, and wheat grain left over after their brewing process.

Kim created a new line of baked goods from these ingredients with eight different flavors called Grrowlers Dog Bones.

They became an instant best seller.

Supporting important causes

Life Is Gruff supports a number of initiatives through our annual Dog Diving event (now in its 6th year), in-store events, as well as donate over 1,000+ lbs. of dog and cat food each year.

At a recent dog diving fundraiser with a Guide Dog Foundation volunteer.

Press

"There are many things you can do with spent grain—the barley, oats, rye and wheat that’s left over after brewing beer. For starters, you can feed it to livestock or incorporate it into bread, cookies or other baked treats for humans or their pets. One local business is working with Greenport Harbor Brewing Company to do just that, creating delicious doggy treats out of beer brewing leftovers." Read more...

Five Cool Things About Harbor Pet

1. LIFE IS GRUFF: Not many pet stores have a bakery on-site, ensuring treats are freshly made and readily available. The bakery recently introduced Grrowlers treats, made with spent grains from nearby Greenport Harbor Brewing Co. Read more...