YORK COUNTY — Gangsta Dog, a local pet shop in Yorktown and Norfolk, launched its annual Puppy Love cookie sale earlier this month.
From now until Valentine’s Day, Gangsta Dog’s popular peanut butter and chicken stock Puppy Love cookie serves a purpose — for every $2 cookie bought, $1 of each sale goes into a pot. Each cookie purchased earns one vote and during checkout, customers can nominate or vote for a rescue that should receive a donation.
Gary Hughes, owner of Gangsta Dog, explained the process.
“It’s a blind vote. You come in and pick a rescue that you want to nominate. If you don’t have one, you can ask what rescues have been voted for and we’ll tell you. We don’t try to push it one way or another. We let the people do it,” Hughes explained.
On Valentine’s Day, the rescue that has received the most votes gets the entire pot of money from all Puppy Love cookie sales.
In 2024, the Gloucester-Mathews Humane Society won the Yorktown pot, while the Black and Tan Coonhound Rescue won the Norfolk pot.
Hughes and the Gangsta Dog staff have been running the cookie donation effort since 2014.
“I love everything we do. We’re a different kind of pet store. We have our own pet food line, we have our own CBD line, but that, for me, is not enough,” Hughes said.
Puppy Love cookies are for sale at both the Yorktown and Norfolk Gangsta Dog locations.
To learn more, visit gangstadog.com.