Want to pamper the pooch in your life? Bones Dog Bakery, located at 39 South Goodman Street, helps you spoil your pup with dog treats and delicacies for every occasion. Owner Dani Fischer started baking for her dog when she began questioning the ingredients in store- bought treats, and what started as a hobby bloomed into a full-time business. I caught up with Fischer to find out the secrets to her sweet success.
How did you get into the pet bakery business?
I started making treats for my dog that had skin issues. After we attended some markets and festivals, our following started to grow, and I transitioned into doing birthday cakes as well.
How did you choose your shop’s location?
I started out of my house five years ago. After my first year I had a shop in Victor before expanding to Park and South Goodman. It’s a fun area to be in, and it has a great dog community.
Do you only cater to dogs?
While we focus on dogs, we do make treats for humans as well. We often have giant cookies, frosted brownies, cutout cookies, and our famous cinnamon-walnut rugelach. We also have an espresso bar … humans need treats, too!
How important are the ingredients that go into your treats?
All of our treats and cakes are my original recipes, and the ingredients arevery important. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen trying out different fruits and vegetables to get the right texture and quality. My goal was to have them as basic (and allergy friendly) as possible while still full of natural color and flavor. All of our treats are corn, wheat, soy, chicken, salt, sugar, and preservative free.The more basic the recipe, the more allergy friendly the treat.
What are your favorite things to create?
My favorites to create are the themed cookies that we do for our different events and holidays. We have a themed weekend event once every month and do a cookie collection for each event. Recent themes include farmer’s market, camping, “Woofstock,” and Rochester Flower CitySpring Fling. For the holidays, I like to do a variety of themed cookies. In the past we’ve done Snoopy, a yeti, Santa, and Rudolph, to name a few.
Most memorable creations?
I’ve done quite a few unique requests, including a cake with carob (doggy chocolate) drip and carob-covered strawberries. A really fun one was a two-tiered tennis ball-themed cake for Finley Molloy (IG @finnyboymolloy), a golden retriever in Canandaigua that set a Guinness World Record for holding six tennis balls in his mouth!
Do you create custom treats?
Yes, I do a lot of custom cookies for local businesses, weddings, and birthday favors. A recent order I did was for a local animal urgent care. They were heart and bone shaped cookies that say “I donated” for the dogs that give blood at the animal hospital. I have done a few three-tiered doggy wedding cakes, too.
What are some unusual, indulgent ways to treat your pup?
A few of our most popular treats that dogs come in for are our celebration (birthday/gotcha day) cake, goat’s milk puppacinos, pumpkin woofie pies, and dognuts. Birthday cakes are super popular, we hold a Bones Puppy Bowl every February, have a variety of doggy froyo, and as always, a bottomless treat sample bowl. Our in-store doghouse is repainted with the seasons so it’s always a fresh photo op!
You can follow along with Bones Bakery at @BonesDogBakery on Facebook and Instagram.
