Founded in 2006 by Becca Riker, a local animal advocate in Cleveland, Ohio, Secondhand Mutts has placed hundreds of dogs in great homes. Becca has spent the last few years building friendships and relationships with many of her clients at The Mutt Hutt, her for-profit business she opened in 2005, as well as adopters and volunteers for Secondhand Mutts. Through these relationships, she has created a small team of dedicated, committed and loyal folks to serve as board members.
For Becca, it's always been about the dogs. She grew up a lover of animals and had multiple dogs throughout my childhood. She was always creative in the arts and her career path as a young adult was in the art and service industries on a corporate level. In her late 20’s, Becca realized she was fed up with corporate shenanigans and her career path took a turn. She became an entrepreneur, starting a residential and commercial dog waste clean-up service and a local dog walking service and had dreams of opening a facility for dogs to socialize with one another.
As a dog walker and in-my-home pet sitter, she met many people and dogs in her neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods. At the time, there were no off-leash locations for dogs to play and dog owners to meet so she made it her mission to form a community group advocating for Cleveland’s first dog park. she helped educate residents and city officials about the benefits of dog parks, and Tremont was the location of the first dog park in the city of Cleveland.
Meanwhile, her vision to help dogs never waivered. She wanted to create a fun, safe and structured place for dogs to enjoy the company of other dogs. Since opening The Mutt Hutt on October 5, 2005, Becca's philosophy has remained the same: Placing the safety and needs of the dogs first, before anything else, even profit. They are the priority while in her care. Her intuition for dog personalities and understanding of dog behavior has been a recipe for success for both her business and Secondhand Mutts. Secondhand Mutts started as an offshoot of The Mutt Hutt, which provides the perfect location for our adoptable dogs to come and socialize while in foster care.
It has become Becca's mission in life to Respect the dog.