Our Story

It all started with a chocolate chip cookie.

Sammy was born in 1999. The smallest of his Labrador retriever litter, he grew up to be the largest. Over the years, his size has always been matched by his vitality and love for his family. But the story of how he, and Sammy Snacks, grew into what they are today has to do with Sammy’s forbidden love for chocolate.

As any good pet owner knows, raising a healthy and happy pet means balancing their indulgences with what’s best for them. Pamela Peterson, was raising a young pup that, despite diligent training, couldn’t resist chocolate chip cookies.

While consulting Sammy’s vet about the dilemma, Pamela learned that carob, a sweet flowering evergreen plant native to the Mediterranean region, can be used as a safe alternative to chocolate. By combining the natural and dog-friendly ingredients of carob, oatmeal and brown sugar, Pamela baked her first batch of what are now known as Carob Chip Snackers. Knowing the ingredients she had used and smelling the rich aroma that wafted from the oven on that first batch, Pamela decided to try one of her new creations. She knew then that not only Sammy could now enjoy this alternative to chocolate chip cookies, but they could enjoy them together.

Sammy and his family’s diverse palate then led to the creation of three additional snacks — CranOat, GarlicCheese and Peanut Butter. With a variety of snacks and an overwhelmingly positive response from family and friends, Sammy’s family started selling the snacks at a local city farmer’s market held each Saturday in Charlottesville, Va. Week after week, repeat customers shared stories about the incredible reaction to Sammy Snacks.

Sammy Snacks was born!

With the recipes for delicious and healthy treats under their belts, Sammy’s family decided to find the best possible, all-natural dog food for his daily diet. What they soon found was that pet foods were bigger on marketing than providing the all-natural and nutritional ingredients the family was after.

The familiar refrain of “balance” sounded great on the front of a package and in commercials, but it wasn’t something they could understand from closer inspection of the actual labels. What they did find was a list of odd-smelling chemicals they couldn’t pronounce. They learned that the label “by-product” was code for a variety of animal parts that had been scooped from a slaughterhouse floor and then pressure-cooked for consumption.  This wasn’t going to be Sammy’s diet.

Pet stores could set them up with a perfect formula — actually many “perfect” formulas. The large number of formulas seemed more like a salesperson’s product line than the ideal diet for Sammy.

After spending six months researching the practices of the industry, Sammy’s family had compiled useful information they could share with people on similar “quests-for-the-best” for their pets. But they were still in pursuit of that perfectly balanced, all-natural diet.

The pursuit led them to two men in California who had already answered many of their questions. The men helped formulate just what Sammy was looking for — naturally preserved pet food made from human-grade ingredients, free of chemicals, by-products, artificial flavors, colors, corn, wheat, soy and other unnecessary fillers. Working from the men’s advice, Sammy’s family created a limited number of ideal formulas that were specifically geared to dogs of different ages and sizes. Sammy Snacks dog food was now ready for production.

Sammy Snacks has since moved out of Pamela’s kitchen, but is still guided by its founding principles. Every day, Sammy Snacks is helping families find the ideal, all-natural snacks and daily diet for their pets. It’s food that not only makes pets healthier and happier, but food that brings the entire family closer together.