For us, Mongrel was born out of years of genuine love for and experience with dogs from all across the world. I've worked for myself more or less all of my adult life. I started my own social media agency in and loved creating something which was my own but that I could also see other enjoying and benefiting from. I always knew I wanted to launch a brand with physical products and that I wanted to design and build a product from scratch, and it was inevitable that this would revolve around my life's biggest passion - dogs.
From as young as I can remember, I've always been in awe of dogs; their loyalty, love, forgiveness and ability to make anywhere feel like home. I then got involved with rescue dogs in by volunteering and fostering before eventually co-founding our Lebanese rescue organisation, Cookie's Rescue. I'm a true believer that all dogs deserve the best, and that's why I wanted to create products from the ground up that wouldn't only be the best for our dogs, but also give back to rescue dogs too.
Mongrel products exist to be loved by all dogs, regardless of whether their lives started in the home of a breeder or on the streets.
However, I also wanted to use this platform as a way to squash the stigma towards rescue dogs, starting with the word 'Mongrel' which still holds such negative connotations.
I have two 'full-time' dogs, Ella and Benjy, and I'm also currently fostering one of gorgeous Lebanese rescues, Zoey. Ella's been part of the pack for four years after being rescued from Cyprus. Benjy joined just a few weeks ago, also from a shelter in Cyprus. They're best friends and never leave each other's sides which is my favourite thing in the world to bear witness to.
