Helena groomer bakes locally sourced dog treats for healthier snacks

A Helena groomer is betting that dog owners will pay for treats they can recognize at a glance. Molly D McKeown, who has groomed dogs for 20 years, opened Barking Mad Grooming and Bakery in 2021 and makes the snacks in her own kitchen with locally sourced ingredients.

The bakery side started as a hobby in 2015, first as a way to give extra attention to the pets that came through the salon and to McKeown’s own dogs. That homegrown start still shapes the business: Barking Mad says it focuses on all-natural, homemade treats, with core recipes built around 10 ingredients or fewer.

What looks like a simple biscuit is actually a slow process. McKeown’s treats bake for about an hour, then spend two more days being freeze-dried and dehydrated before they are ready to sell. The lineup stretches from woofles and biscuits to chicken feet, along with pupcakes, donuts, freeze-dried single-ingredient treats, high-value treats, doggy jerky and frosted bones, giving pet owners different options depending on what their dogs like and what they are comfortable feeding them.

The health pitch rests on a simple point: owners want control. The American Kennel Club says homemade dog treats give people control over what ingredients go into them, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says animal-food labels must list ingredients by their common or usual name in descending order by weight. For Helena shoppers, that means reading the ingredient line closely, comparing shorter recipes with longer ones, and keeping the original package so the lot number and best-by date stay available if there is ever a problem.

For McKeown, the business is less about novelty than about trust. In a crowded pet market, Barking Mad has found room by doing the opposite of mass production: making treats slowly, keeping recipes simple and selling to Helena customers who want to know what is inside the bag before they buy it.