By Allison Candreva, June 2008

With its cupcakes, bagels, cookies and pretzels, Sweet Paws Bakery is sure to satisfy your sweet tooth. Well, if you’re dog that is. 

The 25-year-old owner of the store, Colleen O’Fallon, bakes all of the pet treats from scratch and uses her own recipes.

“I started making treats for my cocker spaniel, Abby, because I thought she was allergic to wheat,” she said. The project grew from there.

Eventually, she made treats for the veterinary office that she worked in, for her friends and to sell at the Haile Village Farmers’ Market. In August of 2005, she decided to start a Web site to sell the treats, and then in September of 2007, she opened a store in the

Haile Village Center. 

A display has a selection of treats, including frosted “Hachi’s Pupcakes,” “Parker’s Pizza” and “Rascal’s Rodeo Hat Treats” — a new addition to the case. For some extra flavor, there are treats like “Nutty Peanut Buddy Cookies” and “Bow Wow Bacon Balls.” Although these treats sound unusual, O’Fallon said they are healthy for dogs.

With some help from her mother, O’Fallon bakes 14 to 15 small batches of treats every night. She said she adds healthy twists to normal recipes to improve their nutritional content for dogs. She uses unsweetened carob, a chocolate substitute, and will also put in ingredients like bananas. For dogs with allergies, she suggests the “Kooky Cocker Carrot Cookie” because it has rice flour and no meat products. All of the treats cost $1, except the “Parmesan Pleaser Pretzels” and the “Beagle Bagels,” which cost $1.25.

O’Fallon also makes cakes, which are not on display in her store but are in an album on top of the display case. She said customers often think the cake looks too good to eat and don’t even want to cut into it.

“I tell people to give the cake to their dogs, and then take pictures for me,” she said. “That way I could have some for my album.”

The cakes range in price from $9.95 to $12.95.

Katie Norris, a teacher at

Wiles Elementary School, said she plans on buying a cake for her dog’s first birthday. Buxton is a chocolate Labrador retriever and is 6 months old. 

“It’s a creative way to have healthy snacks,” she said.

O’Fallon said all of the treats can be eaten by people, even though she doesn’t recommend it.

“They have no salt or sugar in them,” she said. “They would taste bland.”

She knows this because, like a proper chef, she has tasted each one of her creations. She said she tries to create new recipes four times per year and hopes to make either a cannoli or something with apples in the future.

In front of each plate of treats, O’Fallon has a card with a list of the ingredients. Since Abby was her inspiration for making the treats, she uses a picture of her for the store’s logo. So that her other cocker spaniel, Parker, doesn’t feel left out, she puts his picture on the ingredient card.

Along with the treats, O’Fallon sells collars, toys, clothes, beds and bath products. She buys all of the merchandise from about 50 vendors and orders something new every week. Most of the clothes are $15 to $20, except for dresses, which are $24. The shirts say short phrases, including “Yes! I’m on Facebook,” “So Many Squirrels … So Little Time,” and “get this t-shirt off me.”

For the political pooch, O’Fallon has collars and shirts with Democrat- and Republican-Party symbols on them. For dogs with opinions, there are shirts that say “Bark for a cure” and “Bark for green.”

Every Friday, the store has Yappy Hour from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Customers and their dogs come for an hour to socialize, and O’Fallon hands out free treats to the dogs. She said she has many different dogs come in, including

Yorkshire terriers and German shepherds. She said there are a lot of  Labradors that come, and they often try to go behind the display case. 

“That is why all of the plates on the bottom are pushed to the front of the glass,” she said.

Norris said she brings Buxton to Yappy Hour every week. She likes to socialize him for that hour on Fridays, but she also shops at the store during the week. She said she likes to buy collars, treats and toys.

“I don’t buy clothes because my husband won’t let me,” Norris said. “But they’re really cute.”

O’Fallon said she never brings Abby and Parker to Yappy Hour.

“They’d see me handing-out treats the whole time and would think, ‘what about me, what about me,’” she said.

Phil Kauth, a fourth-year graduate student at the

University of  Florida, said he brings his dog Mya and the dog that he fosters, Lady, to Yappy Hour almost every week. Lady, a German shepherd and chow mix, is up for adoption through Puppy Hill Farm Animal Rescue, a local adoption company. 

“I bring Lady so she can socialize with other dogs,” he said. “Mya just loves to see Colleen.”

When O’Fallon first opened the store, there were about two to three dogs that came. Now there are 10 to 20 dogs that come to Yappy Hour. In March, she had to expand and moved her store two-doors down to a larger location because there were so many people bringing their dogs.

Every month, O’Fallon e-mails a newsletter to customers that are on her mailing list. She includes upcoming sales that the store will be having, as well as upcoming events, like adoptions. Puppy Hill Farm comes to her store every third Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The company brings dogs people can adopt and take home that day.

The store, at 5330 S.W. 91st Terrace, Suite B, is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fridays from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. O’Fallon also ships orders all over the country, and the farthest place she has delivered to is California. Although she just graduated UF in May with her master’s degree in public health, she said she is just getting started with her store and plans to continue providing healthy treats for dogs.