It's official ~ The Leash has launched! 💛
My newsletter devoted to curious, dog-loving readers (like you) that explores a range of topics from both ends of the leash.
Hello and Welcome to TheLeash!
Many of you reading this already know who I am — not because you should and certainly not because I’ve ever been in the spotlight — but because it’s me, Suzanne Lavallee of “dogventures” — the adventure service for dogs in Napa Valley. As of today’s inaugural issue, most of you reading this are either clients, friends, colleagues, or family. I pretty much recognize every email address. You also lovingly subscribed to the dv. newsletter which I’m replacing with The Leash.
For those of you who are new subscribers, welcome to the fun! It’s nice to have you here.
Most of the content in this first newsletter can be found on The Leash’s about page. I thought sharing it here would be a good place to start — to introduce myself, to explain how TL. newsletter works (or plans to), and why the name change. So here we go!
Hi Suzanne, who are you?
Hello, I’m Suzanne Lavallee. I live in California. Or as I’m fond of saying, I live in the land of sunshine and wine and endless summers. I make a living working with dogs and their people. I also write this Substack newsletter, The Leash.
I own and operate an adventure service for dogs in Napa Valley called dogventures. It’s where dog daycare meets vineyard hikes and is dedicated to active dogs like mine — those with messy, awesome, exciting lives.
I’m founder and president of Stellina Psychiatric Service Dogs — a local serving nonprofit that provides psychiatric service dogs to Napa Valley residents and Bay Area military veterans diagnosed with a mental health illness.
In my twenties and thirties I used to be a professional dog trainer. I had aspirations of competing in various dog sports, but time and money were a commodity back then.
Why subscribe to The Leash?
Here you will find all sorts of fascinating stories and useful information from someone (me!) who has been working with dogs for years and loving it. I’ve collected a lot of information along the way that I’d like to share with you — do’s, don’ts, and a lot of ‘in between’ stuff.
My goal is to inspire you, to put a smile on your face, to delve into trickier conversations without judgement while strengthening the relationships we have with our dogs and each other.
How does your newsletter work?
The Leash is free — it doesn’t cost you a penny to receive my newsletter.
I’ll send you one newsletter each month. I value quality content over quantity and I greatly appreciate consistency. The last thing I want to do is pepper your inbox with a bunch of emails from me. I become numb to too many emails and I’m guessing you might feel the same way.
Plus, researching and writing content for any newsletter is time consuming and at this moment in my life one per month is what I feel capable of doing.
Why did you start this newsletter?
I’ve actually been newsletter-ing, on and off, since 2011. It helps keep my mind alight… or more to the point it keeps my brain active in ways that the dogs cannot. It’s an engaging way for me to share the wealth of information and interesting tidbits I’ve learned over several decades steeped in the dog world. One of the greatest pleasures I get from writing is a conversation with one of my clients or comments from readers. It’s about connecting in a positive and meaningful way. It fuels my engine. And thanks to Substack, writing this newsletter on their platform is pure joy.
Why “The Leash”?
To me, ‘leashes’ symbolize both the tangible and intangible connections we have with our dogs. We all use leashes, thereby physically connecting us to our dogs for all of life’s (mis)adventures. We clip one end to our dog’s collar, grab ahold of the other end and off we go — together as one unit into the great wide world — for strolls down city streets, for hikes in nature, from the car to the veterinarian’s office, for getting from Point A to Point B, and all the tangled moments in between. This is the tangible connection.
Our dogs mean so much to each of us. They’re our confidants, our teachers, our cuddle bugs, our working dogs, our service dogs, the fluff that gets us through some of life’s more difficult moments, our saviors. That’s the intangible. So, that’s why I called this newsletter The Leash. (Plus, my five teenage nieces had the final say.) Anything goes here, but I will mainly be talking about dogs in all their glory and joy, creativity, wellbeing, and living life on your own terms.
Why the name change from the ‘dv.’ newsletter?
I thought about this long and hard for months last year. For those of you who are new here, ‘dv.’ stands for ‘dogventures’ — my adventure service for dogs in the heart of Napa Valley, California.
I understand the value in brand recognition and that it was logical to use the ‘dv.’ newsletter as an extension of my existing business, but it wasn’t resonating with me anymore.
2023 was an incredibly challenging year for so many reasons and I wanted a breath of fresh air. I needed it. I really did. So I decided to start anew. I wanted to free up my writing style — to make it more genuine, to connect with my readers in a more personal and meaningful way than I had with ‘dv.’ Et voila — The Leash was born.
Can I pitch an article for “The Leash”?
Yes! I’d love you to contribute as a guest writer. Send in your idea, title, and a short paragraph about the piece to TheLeash.1@icloud.com. I only accept pitches on the topics of dogs, the great outdoors (and all that encompasses), wellbeing, and creativity as these are the main themes of The Leash.
A bit more about me:
I am a creative spirit who embraces dirt and hard work and pretty little things. I used to write a blog and design websites. I adore outdoor adventures, small dinner parties with friends, the feeling of getting away from it all on the back of my husband’s motorbike, and greatly appreciate the amazing chef he is. I like trying to make a tasty dinner for him and know it’s all rather painful for him to watch me in the kitchen.
My dogs are my life. They bring me immeasurable joy and happiness and comfort every moment of every day (even when I end up cursing out loud which happens more often than I should admit). I really and truly love my life.
Can I pledge my support?
Yes! I would be honored if you did. The Leash is currently a free newsletter and I plan to keep in that way. However, I’ve noodled on the idea of creating paid subscriptions for certain future content — something that would be “in addition” to the primary, monthly newsletter. This is only an idea and would be something to launch in the future. I’ll let you know if and when I do this.
