Good Reasons Dog Treats Review

At MyDogLikes we love to tell you about new and exciting pet products and businesses.  Especially when these businesses align so closely with our own values.  For that reason, we are extremely excited to tell you about Good Reasons – A pet treat company with a very important mission.

About Good Reasons Dog Treats

Good Reasons was founded by Vicki Sylvester, PhD who wanted to integrate her love of animals with her lifelong work as an advocate for the disabled community.  With this goal in mind, she founded what was then Three Brown Dogs Barkery LLC and would later become Good Reasons, an organization which describes itself as a not-for-profit dog treat company on a mission to create delicious and healthy dog treats while providing opportunity and employment for people with autism and other disabilities. Founder, Vicki Sylvester shared the following about the rebranding:

“We want to let our customers know that by buying our treats their pets get to experience the best human-grade, tasty treats on the market while helping people with autism and other special needs achieve independence through the power of an integrated workplace,” explained Sylvester. “We are a company that employs people with and without special needs in an inclusive, supportive environment. We’re here to sell treats, create opportunities and prove to other companies that hiring people with disabilities works!”

With every purchase that is made, Good Reasons is able to provide meaningful work to people of all abilities. Additionally, all of the profits that are made from the sale of treats go directly back into supporting their sister organization, Community Based Services, which offers residential and non-residential (respite, community habilitation, service coordination) services.

Click Here to Shop Good Reasons on Amazon!

Wow-I don’t know about you, but I can already think of a few “Good Reasons” to support the work that they do!

A Personal Connection

You all know that healthy and high quality dog treats are important to us here at MyDogLikes, but what really excited us about Good Reasons is their work with the disabled community – a cause near and dear to our hearts. What you may not know is that my (Rachael) career is as a School Psychologist. In this position I work primarily with students with educational and emotional disabilities. Though the work is hard and often thankless, I am a passionate advocate for children and young adults with disabilities. One of my main job functions is working with students with developmental disabilities through group and individual counseling. You may be thinking more about traditional counseling the “tell me how you feel” kind, which certainly happens, however, primarily I work alongside their team of teachers and related service providers to teach, coach, and reinforce the skills that they will need to negotiate the social world that they live in. My career interest and much of my passion for what I do was sparked by my life experiences, growing up with my sister, Hannah, who is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and has many special needs.

Though we do our best as professionals and loving family members to prepare these young adults for the world that they will enter, I would be lying if I said that worrying about their future didn’t occasionally keep me up at night. What I want for my sister and the young adults that I work with is the same as what I want for the non-disabled students that I work with, a fulfilled and happy life. However, with uncertain budgets and funding, it’s not uncommon to see cuts to the programs and services that support adults with disabilities. Additionally, depending on where you live (like the county that I work in) there can be very few options available for meaningful work. For these reasons and so many more, the work that Good Reasons does-providing meaningful, sheltered work for disabled adults, is so vital. We just knew we had to share their mission and work with you, our readers!

Tasting Good Reasons Treats

Good Reasons found us on Facebook, reaching out with a sweet little Carly Rae Jepson throwback- “We just found you, and this is crazy, but it looks like we already have a treat named after your sweet Charlie!”

After checking out their website we just knew that we needed to review their treats for our readers and help spread the word!

Good Reasons so kindly offered to send Harley and Charlie a box of their treats to sample and review.  They of course happily obliged!

As soon as the box arrived it attracted a great deal of attention in the house.  When you write a dog blog, the animals seem to think that every package that comes to the door is for them – and they are usually correct. After our cat Maxwell finally relinquished claim over the box, we excitedly opened it up to see what was inside!

The shipment was beautifully packaged and included 3 types of treats and even a t-shirt (I’m sensing a fashion photo shoot)! The packaging, like the ingredients, is simple and beautiful.

With all the excitement in the house (both human and animal) Charlie couldn’t wait for the official photo shoot and taste test to start, so he got a quick sample of his namesake treat to hold him over. Upon opening the package, Charlie and I were enveloped with the smell of homemade cookies-this got everyone’s attention pretty quickly and soon all four-legged creatures, large and small, were gathering around for a sample!

That initial taste certainly grabbed Charlie’s attention and he followed me down the hallway as I stashed them away for later.  Note a jealous looking Harley in the background.  Don’t let that sad face fool you – he was involved in all of the sampling as well!

About the Treats!

Good Reason’s treats are carefully formulated by their head chef Allan Katz who is a Culinary Institute of America alumni.  All of the ingredients are natural and human grade!!

We received 3 varieties in our Good Reasons pack:

Charlie’s Cheddar Chomps:  Wheat free, with Brown Rice Flour, Green Peas, Cheddar Cheese, Applesauce, Coconut Oil, Powdered Milk.

Bella’s Barkery Bone: Water, Barley Flour, Flour, Peanut Butter, Coconut Oil.

Hudson’s Pumpkin Peanut Butter Pieces: Pumpkin Puree, Peanut Butter, Rice Farina, Barley Flour, Oatmeal, Powdered Milk, Salt.

Though we feed grain-free we are not opposed to giving the dogs treats that have grains when they are otherwise healthy. This perfectly describes the ingredients found in Good Reasons treats. Are there grains? Yes, but they are otherwise chocked full of real, healthy, and recognizable ingredients? Yes! I mean do you see those chunks of peanut butter?! A perfect treat, made with loving hands for our real, healthy dogs! Are you starting to feel the love people!?

What more could you ask for?  How about delicious?

Ok – Done. As I already shared, the dogs, cat, and humans (I really wanted to sample one) were enamored by their aroma. I think I could have zapped a couple of these in the microwave and fooled people into thinking I had actually baked cookies! HA!

They have a great crunch and a taste that kept Harley and Charlie coming back for more, and more, and more…we even had a little thievery going on when I was taking photos of his brother!  Bad boy Charlie!

I hope you all didn’t forget about what else was in the box….The T-shirt!!! Of course, the photo shoot wouldn’t be complete without a little modeling by our big, barrel chest boy, Harley! I think he loves it when I dress him up!!! Don’t you??

Ok, fine, I guess Kev and I will wear the T-Shirt! 

Why MyDogLikes Good Reasons Dog Treats

So what did we think about Good Reasons?  Well I think Charlie’s expression below pretty much sums it up.

Good Reasons treats are healthy, delicious, and full of wholesome, human grade ingredients! We can feel good about feeding them to the boys because they are nutritious but also because we are supporting this excellent organization which provides meaningful work for adults with disabilities. Additionally, every dollar goes right back into supporting Community Based Services, Good Reasons sister organization that helps disabled adults live active and independent lives.

These treats put a big smile on our faces for so many reasons…. In fact, I can’t think of a single “Good Reason” not to try these treats out!

Take comfort knowing that you can feel good feeding wholesome treats while at the same time giving back to a worthy cause!

Click Here to Pick Some up on Amazon!