Business is Barking

Tamara Lundgren imagines herself living off the land, selling applesauce for a living in rural Vermont.

(As in, Diane Keaton's character in the 1987 film "Baby Boom," the story of a woman whose high-rolling corporate career transitions into motherhood and a simpler, but still comfortable, life on an apple farm.)

"I kind of want it to be like that," she said.

For now, Lundgren's reality is in Buffalo Grove, not living on acres of pastoral bliss but in a modest home on a suburban lot. In this life, she is very busy: a wife, a mother of two, a school bus driver, a dog obedience trainer and an entrepreneur trying to retire a maker of healthy dog treats.

"I want (my business) to be out there," she said. "I want dogs to be healthy and happy. But the process of getting there has been hard – you know, working other jobs. But I also kind of want to have the nice, little neighborhood dog bakery."

It's been five years since Lundgren kicked conventional pet food to the curb, having learned of its less-than desirable ingredients. (Among them were wheat and corn, to which many canines, including her beloved black lab mix Daisy, are allergic. Oats, she discovered, are much more agreeable.) And now the homemade, baked, oat-based biscuits she made with cookie cutters and passed out to friends and students have turned into a bona fide business – Daisy's Delights. She initially produced 10 pounds of treats per month. She now does six times that in one week. Thus, the enterprise now requires industrial equipment, a bakery kitchen beyond her own, paid help and more outlets.

Lundgren has been a regular vendor at Buffalo Grove's farmers market, but she's expanded to shelf space in four boutique shops in Arlington Heights (Bentley's Corner Barkery), Wheeling (America's Market), Northbrook (Spa for Dogs) and Wilmette (Chalet). Masters will find for their mutts a choice of 16 flavors, ranging from "Free Range Buffalo" to "Blueberry/Cranberry Smoothie," not to mention a big variety of shapes and textures that change with the seasons. Each flavor also has its own health benefits. Sweet potato, for example, helps facilitate better digestion.

"I really genuinely want to help people, because they love their dogs so much and their dogs give so much to them that we want to make our dogs healthy and not miserable," said Lundgren, whose inspiration, Daisy, no longer has skin allergies.

Lundgren has looked into selling her wares in the aisles of health-minded supermarkets such as Trader Joe's, but she said she that the costs associated with marketing in stores of that stature have given her some pause. Meanwhile, she has a local storefront in her sights, a prospect, she admits, that is pretty scary. It means she has to pay rent.

Then again, it would put her one step closer to her to that "apple farm."

It's a dream that's evolving.

"If I made it rich, I'd love to have a shelter where I'd train dogs," Lundgren said. "I would have a little bakery in there, and I would have an after-school program for kids and I would teach them how to care for the dogs. I would also make it a women's shelter, because dogs give you such unconditional love."

For more information, visit www.daisysdelights.net or call Lundgren at 630-263-3408.