Hi, my name is Christian, I am the founder of DogDash and here is my story. Back in 2016, I worked for Color Fun Fest and Mud Factor, in charge of setting up the events and being the hype man on event day. This was my passion, my dream job, but on August 3rd, 2016 the hype life had carried over into my daily life and as a result of drinking and driving I was the passenger in a crash going 130mph.

 I woke up in the hospital several days later with several life-threatening injuries and my family close by all around me. When I came out of a coma, my parents promised me a dog if I would just make it. I had 17 “major” injuries including a broken neck causing me to have two strokes, a TBI, collapsed lung, shattered pelvis, dislocated hip, broken femur, both feet shattered with a bone even ripped out of my right foot to name a few of them. 

Despite all of that I made it out of the hospital and when we got home, I reminded my mom and dad that they had to start looking for a dog! That’s when they found Millie, my best friend! She is a German Shepherd who is 5 years old now. We got her to be my service dog because I was told I may never walk again and that the right side of my body wouldn’t work due to the strokes I had. I ended up healing more than I was supposed to and Millie became way more of a princess than she was supposed to. As I was sitting on my porch with Millie close by my side looking up at me urging me to get up with her and play, I shot up to my feet from my wheelchair with as much gusto as I could come up with. While at that time it wasn’t much, I had the biggest smile on my face as she went hopping down our stairs hoping for me to chase her! Even though I was in an incredible amount of pain from all the movement I had just done, I hadn’t felt any of it because of the joy and drive my dog had brought me. She made me jump up and chase her, and I could feel it getting easier and easier every time! 

Then I had the thought; I need to celebrate my dog and can’t find any place where we can take our dogs and celebrate them with all their favorite toys, smells, and treats. With my event background I couldn’t think of any better way than to throw a huge event celebrating dogs and everything they do for us. After having my first two events I started to realize that the dogdash mission was so much bigger than just celebrating dogs and all they give us. I was humbled and felt very blessed to be able to have my dog and buy her toys, and always have the best food for her. It only felt right that dogdash needed to start working on getting every person that needs a dog and a dog that needs a person into their forever homes. That is where my story ends and DogDash’s story begins!

Dogdash’s mission is to help dogs and their people stay together forever and live a healthy life. We will find a rescue center in every city we travel to to support and promote. In Bozeman, we have teamed up with Tiny Tails k9 rescue in Manhattan, Montana and are raising donations to help with their needs and promoting them on all platforms so we can connect them with as many people as we can. 

With your support we will be able to provide a DogDash event to celebrate dogs, highlight dog shelters and help the dogs and people that need it most! We look forward to seeing you out there!