Whatever happened to Linda's mentor? As life would have it, Coralyn never had any children of her own. Linda has been travelling back and forth to Santa Barbara making sure that the caregiver she hired and Coralyn's finances and home care are in order; for without this wonderful woman, who is now in her 80's and virtually lives in her own little world, Linda may not be whom we respectfully refer to as "TopDog" of Happy Dog Food. As Linda says, "the circle goes around."
Linda Murdock, originally from Detroit Michigan attended Wayne State University, then transferred to University of California San Diego where she eventually got her degree in African and Russian History. One of her professors in African History instilled in her a great desire to go to Ghana some day. It took until recently when she represented her local Rotary as a representative to Ghana with the Rotary International, Polio Plus Program to fulfill her dreams of visiting Ghana. After graduating from UCSD, Linda decided to pursue a law degree. She attended the University of San Diego, where she got her paralegal credentials in litigation. After she got a job in Century City at a major litigation firm, she sent applications to South Western in Los Angeles and Loyola University. She figured she could work and attend law school at the same time. Some friends suggested she meet Stephen Johnson, who she was told had a lot of influence at Loyola. That evidently was a ruse for her and Stephen to meet. Although Stephen was the Director of Facilities at Loyola at that time, he didn't have influence as to who would be accepted through admissions, but as things would happen, acceptance to Loyola took a back seat as, Linda says, "we fell into deep enchantment with each other." Linda attended her second year of law school at South Western. During that year, Linda had to make up her mind to decide on her priorities. She had a relationship with Stephen, she was working as a full time paralegal in a litigation firm and she was attending South Western as a law student. She chose Stephen and her job as a paralegal. These decisions would soon change her career path. When Stephen got transferred to San Diego, Linda went with him. She was able to get her teaching credentials and eventually taught at her alma mater USD in paralegal studies as well as at UCSD. It made Linda realize, "I don't want to wear panty hose. I want to play with dogs, and that's hard to do in a major law firm." She and Stephen were married in San Diego. They moved to Santa Barbara in 1991 where her path towards a career change became more obvious. There weren't any major law firms doing litigation in Santa Barbara, so Linda took a paralegal job in a smaller firm, where she was stuck in the office all the time. Her previous jobs allowed her travel and she spent very little time in the office, but now it was different. "What am I doing here," questioned Linda. "I need to be playing with dogs." Linda always had a dog and even cleverly told Stephen he should have his "own" dog. Dogs just started appearing at her door step, by what she refers to as the "dog fairy." In reality these were dog rescues. Dogs who wouldn't eat, had bad allergies, etc. During this time she made friends with a woman in the same law office, who would become her mentor in dog fundamentals. Coralyn Conant, around 70 years old at that time, took Linda to a Bench Show at the Cow Palace. She introduced Linda to a whole new world. At the Bench Show, dogs actually are placed up on a bench where you can take the time to meet the owners and learn about the personalities of different breeds. It was at this time that Linda fell in love with the Llaso Apso from Tibet. Linda began rescuing and feeding more and more dogs and it was showing in their grocery bills. One day after visiting a "Three Dog Bakery," Stephen suggested to Linda about selling her dog food. She was already feeding a lot of dogs and during this time she had been experimenting on a natural dog food recipe and special blends of vitamins and minerals. That's all the encouragement, Linda needed. She didn't like working at the law firm and she loved dogs, why not give this a try! She got her friends together and told them what she was planning. It became a collective effort. One of her friends was a graphic artist and drew her up a logo; another friend was in the retail business and showed her how to set up a retail stand, others helped her build her stands and put her dog food together. In Santa Barbara at a small dog show, Happy Dog was launched for the first time and it was a hit with the dogs and their owners. Happy Dog Food has been in business for four years now and every year her gross sales have doubled. She has retailers across the United States and has sold to Japan. With her website introduced this year (www.happydogfood.com), her expectations for higher volume sales is greatly anticipated. You can find her dog food in local stores in Salinas and Santa Cruz and hopefully soon in Aromas. What makes Happy Dog Food unique is that it is "fit for human consumption," said Linda. "My husband, Stephen eats it once a week, even though he adds salt to taste, and 'his hair is shiny and soft,'" she chuckles. All kidding aside, even though Stephen's hair may still be shiny and soft, Happy Dog Food is made from natural ingredients that are human grade. That's a fact!
Whatever happened to Linda's mentor? As life would have it, Coralyn never had any children of her own. Linda has been traveling back and forth to Santa Barbara making sure that the caregiver she hired and Coralyn's finances and home care are in order; for without this wonderful woman, who is now in her 80's and virtually lives in her own little world, Linda may not have become whom we respectfully refer to as "TopDog" of Happy Dog Food. As Linda says, "the circle goes 'round." All profits she makes from Happy Dog Food goes towards dog rescue. Her goal is to make Happy Dog Food a self-sustaining profitable business with enough profit to do more dog rescue and education for owners for the care and sustenance of their pets. "Just because a person doesn't abuse their pet," says Linda, "doesn't make them a good pet owner." "People need to take the time to learn about their pet's personality and then take the time to enjoy them." Be sure to check out www.happydogfood.com for more information on Linda's natural dog food and read letters from happy customers and dogs on how Happy Dog Food has worked for them or call "TopDog" herself in Aromas to purchase food directly from her facility. Happy Dog Phone number is (831) 726-7198. END