Who We Are:

My name is Christine, and my husband's name is Mike. We're New Englanders; we met and lived in Boston, then moved to Atlanta for 9 years, and moved joyfully to Portland in 2001. We finally found a city that suits us perfectly - we're really home now. Mike and I make a good little team, professionally speaking. He had a gift shop in his house growing up - both of his parents were artists who sold their work out of their little store. He also has about 20 years experience in the customer service industry, and 4 years in retail management. This is hugely important, as I wouldn't have felt comfortable doing this without his expertise.

I was a zoo keeper for 12 years, (2 1/2 years in Boston and the rest at Zoo Atlanta). I worked with a lot of different kinds of animals, but my real specialty was primates, especially orangutans. While at Zoo Atlanta, I did a lot of animal training (we train the animals using positive reinforcement to both challenge their minds and to help us take care of any medical needs with less stress for them). I did a lot of public speaking and fundraising for orangutan conservation, and the zoo was nice enough to send me to Borneo for a few months to become even more involved. In 1998, I helped to found The Orangutan Conservancy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of orangutans ( http://www.orangutan.com ). When we moved to Portland, I needed a job and a change from the zoo world (thanks in part to a back injury). I took a job as a certified dog trainer at Petsmart for two years, helping customers with their behavioral issues, and teaching puppy, basic and advanced classes.

Why We Did This

Mike and I have always been huge animal lovers and we've always marveled at the power animals have to reach people emotionally. We've always wanted to do something together, and we just kept coming back to the idea of pet supplies. Any other sort of shop seemed so much more boring than a store with animal visitors, and becoming a place where we could be a resource to people for nutrition and behavior questions was really appealing to us.  I enjoyed my time teaching classes at Petsmart, but couldn't wait to sell only products that I really believed in—especially when it came to food.

Once we decided on pet supply, it was a very quick decision to try and do a "green" store. Mike pointed out that we would already be looking for interesting green products just because of who we are and the kinds of choices we try to make as consumers - why not make it a public mission? We were worried that there wouldn't be enough environmentally friendly products out there to fill a store. The good news is that though there are still a few challenges with certain types of products, there were far more choices these days than we thought there would be.

Fun Facts About the Store:

We really wanted to make the store itself as green as possible. This was easier than we ever thought it would be, as we never expected to be so lucky as to rent a space in a Green building! Fremont Commons was designed as and efficient and environmentally friendly building. The construction process was very low waste—no giant dumpsters involved. The building has a geothermal heating and cooling system, and glass and paint that reflects heat so the inside stays cooler more easily. There's even a shower to encourage folks to bike to work.

It was important to us that the inside of Green Dog was designed to reflect our philosophy as well. We had always wanted to use antique furniture instead of traditional store fixtures, as we knew it would not only look cuter, but we wanted to reuse and recycle as much as possible. Luckily we also found a fantastic carpenter who has a business specializing in reclaimed materials. With his help, we were able to create most of the store from reclaimed and scavenged materials, including the walls and built-in shelving. Looking around the store, you'll find windows, weathered barn wood, vintage doorknobs, stair banisters, old doors, picket fencing, wash basins, a coal scuttle, and many other antique pieces. The long wooden counter at the back of the store was waste material from the building's construction. The front of the sales counter was made from scavenged end-pieces from another store that was building their counters and shelves from new materials.

Even our sign on the front of the building was made with our mission in mind. The face is made from bamboo flooring material (a gorgeous and "green" alternative to hardwood floors), and the frame was made from lumber reclaimed from a building in the Pearl. We hope that our store serves as an example of how unique and interesting building and designing with reclaimed materials can be. Not only is it a low cost way to decorate, antiques and other "found" materials add a great deal of character and warmth to any room. This sort of creative design serves to both recycle old things that might otherwise be landfilled, and to lessen the need for the use of virgin materials like tropical hardwoods.

Do you live in Portland? Check out:

http://www.rebuildingcenter.org
http://www.ecohaus.com/
http://www.scrapaction.org/index.html

If not, use the power of your search engine to find reclaimed lumber, green building supplies, and environmentally friendly building materials near you.