Becoming Dog Parents and Creating a Brand Around our Family!

Our Story begins in 2017 when we adopted our easy-going, water-loving, big baby dog Beau! Beau, like other shelter pups, comes from humble beginnings. When he was 6 weeks old, he and his sister were found by the Miami Humane Society in a trash bin. Afraid, mal-nourished, covered in fleas, and sad. How could they not be sad after being treated this way? Kevin and I were told about Beau and his sister from a friend of ours in the keys. Beau and his sister were later transferred from the Miami Humane Society to the Key Largo Humane Society and this is where we stepped in. After hearing the story of how poorly mistreated these pups were, we knew we had to do something. We had been looking for a dog for a while now and knew this would be the perfect opportunity.

When we arrived at the Humane Society, Beau and his sister were separately placed in their room (due to some medical issues they had, that they didn't want to spread around the shelter). Kevin and I step into the room and got a feel for the pups. Beau was the more quiet one of the two pups. You could tell he was very shy, scared, and tried to stay away from us for most of the visit. All the while, Luna (his sister) was running left and right, jumping up and down. You could tell she had a lot of energy and was a rambunctious pup ready for an adventure! If you know Kevin and I, you know we love being outdoors, we love playing sports, we love being on the water, and love animals. We thought she would be a perfect fit, but even though she was running around like a maniac she didn't give us a sign that she wanted to come home with us, just yet. So, like most people who are about to adopt a pup, we sat there some more and just thought about what we were going to do. This was a huge decision, that would be in our lives for 15+ years, we wanted to be 100% sure!

Initially, we went in thinking we wanted a girl pup, but then a moment of magic happened that changed our minds completely! As we were leaning towards Luna, all of a sudden Beau comes out of the corner and decided to sit on Kevin's foot. At that moment we both look at each other, look back down at Beau who is starring into Kevin's soul, and knew he would be the dog that would change our lives forever...

3 years later, here we are starting a lifestyle brand focusing on everything dogs, beach, boating, and drinking! The idea came to our head when Beau one day did something he shouldn't have done. When reprimanding him I called him a "Naughty Dog". It was at this moment that Kevin and I got to thinking. This was a catchy name, that had a great ring to it. How could we make this a part of our life? So we started thinking of ways to write it, ways to say it, and a way that others would love as well. Thus, The Knotty Dawg was born! We spelled "Knotty" like so because it reminded us of a boat knot, making the name sound a little bit more nautical! Then we spelled "Dawg" like this because we are always saying "What up Dawg" as a joke. Eventually, we put the two together, and BOOM! The Knotty Dawg would be the name we would build our brand around!

I know what you're probably thinking, " Okay, but what makes you guys different?" and I'll tell you. Typically, people start brands because of situations in life that they feel people would be able to relate to. This is not much different. We love living the salt life, we love our dog Beau, and we love drinking! So we thought, why not put it all together and see what we get. We believe that our shirts tell a story, a story of our lives reenacted by our favorite furry friends! The pictures we paint on each one of our shirts, tell a different story. Each story is unique, funny, and relatable! Creating something of our own has been such an amazing experience for us and we can't wait to see what you guys think of our brand! Thank you for following along and we hope that you will be apart of our Knotty Dawg Family for years to come!