Life for Bethany and Brody drastically changed when their two furry friends, Gracie and Pyper, joined the family. From working in education and healthcare IT, to starting their own business, Bethany and Brody Rathman give us the inside scoop on how an idea quickly became their full time job.
Tell us the most exciting thing you’ve done in the past few years.
Well, about 5 years ago we adopted our two dogs, Gracie and Pyper. When it came to choosing a kennel for them, all we could find were the classic wire crates. Having an eye for design, these kennels were not going to cut it. So, we decided to just make our own! After a photo of our first homemade Doggie Den went viral on Facebook we realized we had a business and, from there, we launched B&B Kustom Kennels. In August 2016 we had a second picture go viral, reaching about 8 million people. It actually broke our website and put our lead time back to 8 months! Running our own business has definitely been a whirlwind but we love it!
If your dogs could talk, how do you think they’d describe you?
Hmm, if Gracie and Pyper could talk, they’d probably describe Brody and I as fun! We love to take them on long walks and adventurous hikes. Also, our 2-year-old son has recently started to dance with them which is pretty entertaining to watch – ha! They’d also probably say we’re loving… I’ve seriously never seen 2 dogs who are more cuddly than Gracie and Pyper so they’re always getting lots of snuggles!
What do you find to be most challenging about being a pet parent?
I’d say the most challenging thing about being a pet parent is making sure to give them enough attention. Before we had our son, the dogs were like our children so they got all of our time. However, since starting our own business and having our son, our household always seems to be buzzing! Knowing that Gracie and Pyper have each other makes it easy to accidentally put them on the back burner. That said, we give them plenty of treats and Brody is great about giving them one-on-one time to play and during the day, they stick by my side in the home office, so we make it work!
