A few years ago, Ang Wong fulfilled the dream of many burned-out millennials and Beyoncé followed suit early Break My Soul advice: He quit his corporate job. It’s a high-paying role with a great location in New York City, but the work is exhausting. Unfortunately, this admirable effort to prioritize personal happiness over salary has been overtaken by an unexpected factor – a looming global pandemic. Wong left his job before the world closed in 2020, so he didn’t have many career options. “I’m in this dark hole. I quit my job after the pandemic happened so I couldn’t do anything. I’m trying to find things, but it’s a terrible time to start anything,” he told The Wildest.
Luckily, opportunity soon came knocking on her door in the cutest way possible. An almost seven-week-old Jindo puppy foraging for food sits outside her steps. After exhausting the proper channels to ensure that this stray puppy was not previously adopted, Wong took him in. said. This adorable creature he named Mia — the Italian word for me — would inspire Wong to launch the Lambwolf Collectiveopens in a new taban elegant and inventive pet brand.
Up until this point, Wong wasn’t much of a dog person, so he didn’t have extensive knowledge of what to buy for Mia, or where to buy it. With a background in art and design, as well as a creative spirit, she started DIY-ing engagement toys. At first, it involved simply tying foods inside a towel to create a sort of puzzle for Mia.
“I make these things for him, but also for me because I’m trapped inside, and I don’t have friends to be with. I also want to have fun, so I create all these toys that we can enjoy together together and have this interaction together,” he said. When Wong realized that he didn’t want to sacrifice all their fabrics for this work, he invested in some fabrics and started making homemade toys with a sewing machine. These were the precursors to some of Lambwolf Collective’s most popular products.
The brand offers a variety of dog toys that stem from this original concept, and each item is hand-designed by Wong. An early creation of the pandemic was, a twisty rope toy that looks somewhere between a heavy-duty camping knot and a Jeff Koons sculpture. It features four hidden squeakers to keep pets on their toes as they search for treats inside, where there’s plenty of room. It is made of soft corduroy fabric, so it is gentle on the mouth and gums. Plus, all seams are double stitched to help resist power chewers.
Lambwolf Collective also offers food-inspired options, like its Butternutopens in a new tab — a crinkly snuffle mat-type toy. The look and shape matches its vegetable name but with more room for treats. Not to mention, the gadget is reusable with a hidden soft squeaker ball buried inside. Lambwolf also offers pumpkinopens in a new tab,and snuffle gear version. And for bigger dogs who love French bread, there’s the baguette opens in a new tabedition with four treat-fillable creases at the top (oui, oui).
If they look enough to tickle even the least food-loving pet parents among us, they were created with that in mind. Every Lambwolf Collective product is meant to offer as much to dogs as it does to people. In fact, this is part of why you rarely see the term “toy” used anywhere on a brand’s website.
“If you notice, I don’t call them toys. I call them play objects because I truly believe that it is not just a play or learning tool but a piece of home,” explained Wong. It helps that each “play object” is made of beautiful and — dare we say — Instagrammable materials. Throughout the product listings, you’ll find plenty of pastel and muted colors that should complement most modern decors. “I want to make sure it’s good. I don’t want to look like something that when people come around you feel like you have to hide,” he added.
In the spirit of this desire and Wong’s early attitude towards DIY when Mia first came into his life, Lambwolf Collective offers the option to on their site. You can choose from a selection of Lambwolf products, like “Nou,” to combine and twist with each other to create a unique and personal play item for your pup. In essence, it’s essentially Build-A-Bear for pets.
“I want to put front and center to anyone who shops with us that this experience is not just about your dog; it’s about you,” Wong said. “Your dog notices, in a magical way, how much you like something about yourself. Then when they see you interacting with the object, they like it more because they see it as quality time with you.”
This personal touch extends to the check-out process. With every purchase on the Lambwolf website, the brand donates a portion of the proceeds to a charity of the consumer’s choice. Lambwolf lists a variety of organizations to choose from beyond animal welfare, including environmental, minority, and women’s rights groups to support.
Additionally, the brand actively strives to offer almost every product a pet parent could need with leashes, collars, jackets, sweaters, beds, and treats all available. As for where the Lambwolf Collective ends up, Wong doesn’t have any goals in mind other than staying true to his original mission: “What’s important to me is that it’s not just about the dogs. It’s about a lifestyle, life with dogs.”
