I've always been a dog lover. I'm that person who goes to a party and makes friends with the dog. Needless to say, I have spent my entire life around dogs and I am very grateful for that. I'm not going to bore you with details of my life- instead I will tell you about one moment in it that "knocked over the first Domino."

A few years ago I was on a local high kill shelter's website when I saw the most heart-wrenching photo of a little brown female dog who has been at the crowded shelter for a week. Her "due out" date was the next day. She had a big tumor on the side of her face, had a horrible skin infection, was missing hair all over her body, and looked absolutely terrified.

"I already have three dogs of my own and I could not possibly get another one" I thought to myself "I can't save them all."

So two hours later, I was at the shelter, signing her adoption papers. I named her Emma.

I promised to myself that I will buy her some time by fostering her while I nurse her back to health, and find her a good home. Turns out that my Mia (reindeer in photo above) was looking for a dog and ended up adopting her. What a coincidence...

Anyway, you're probably wondering "Where is this Domino moment?!" Here it comes:

See, although Emma listens very well and is a wonderful dog, she has a little problem. She is a destructo-dog. Emma's prey instincts are stronger than your average dog's. A new toy lasts her an average of 30 seconds. She usually goes straight for the limbs, and dismembers the poor thing beyond recognition. So one day I came home from work to find my bedroom COVERED in shreds of my yoga mat, wooden blinds, a box containing shoes I was meaning to return to the store, and some tennis balls. Emma had no clue who did that.

As I was picking up the remains of my finely-shredded, brand new, $40 yoga mat I thought to myself "It would be really nice if I could just put this thing back together instead of buying a new one." And there it hit me! I will make her a toy that she can destroy over and over again, and I can just put back together. After 9 months of planning, drawing, trial and error,Tearribles were born.