Meet Alicia Paniccia of Lakewood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alicia Paniccia

Hi Alicia, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
It started over 20 years ago. I was a kid desperate to surround themselves around animals, especially dogs. Ever since I can remember, I wanted to hold every leash, see inside every shelter, read every book, know every breed and I was lucky enough to have a family who made it all possible for me. When I turned 16, the first thing I did was drive straight to the local ASPCA and volunteer. When I bought my first car, I outfitted it with a puppy. When I bought my first house, I signed up to foster dogs in need. When I learned that those fosters needed more, I offered to take on the behavioral cases, Dogs that just needed someone to understand them better. I eventually quit my day job and began interning as a dog trainer. I soaked in as much information and hands on experience as I possibly could. I just kept learning and training and eventually started to pursue dog sports all over the country.

In 2018, I moved from Upstate New York to Northeast Ohio and continued training and competing with dogs. I continued to engulf myself in competitive frisbee, dock diving and protection sports. Ohio provided me with incredible opportunities to continue pursuing sports and training with my dogs. I was shocked and surprised to find out so many of these sports were established and thrive right here in the greater Cleveland area.

After all these years of traveling the country and mending relationships with some of the most respected and skilled trainers, I realized there is a huge gap between pet owners and world-renowned dog trainers. Many of us who love our dogs simply do not know what’s out there for them. I asked myself “what if there was a place to get really cool exclusive dog stuff AND be able to access the resources that you can only find if you know somebody?” That’s really when the idea of NEO Pet and Working Dog was born.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I would be lying if I said it wasn’t smooth sailing getting NEO Pet up and off the ground, mainly just a lot of steps and of course, financial burdens– the real challenge lies in the dog training industry, so comparatively this was easy for me. I have seen a lot of really terrible things in this industry from other people and it has pushed me to do better and be different. It’s a hard line of work but a good dog trainer challenges themselves to get better and more creative. That is what I love about it.

And I wasn’t alone, I am extremely grateful to have an amazing support system. Especially my partner, Bryan, who you will see very frequently at our store working diligently!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My niche is inspiration, I am very good at getting people and dogs to love things and have a good time. There’s nothing that makes me more proud than that. I love connecting good people with other good people.

When you see the spark in a dog’s eyes while they are being biologically fulfilled in a thrilling activity, it’s unlike anything you’ll ever experience with an animal. Whether they are running full speed, jumping into a body of water or biting as hard as they can– The dog is just simply so happy and it’s all thanks to you. It builds a bond that cannot be matched. You see videos all over the internet of dogs doing all this cool stuff but nobody really has access to the resources to get them involved in these things. I wanted a space to bring those things you only see on Instagram to life.

At NEO Pet, you might walk inside and say “what’s that?” and a staff member can tell you all about it. It’s a hub where pet owners and dog trainers unite, No matter what kind of training or level you are on. We don’t push training on anyone, but we do advocate for our customers and their pets if they need us to. What makes us even more different from other stores is that we offer a private shopping experience on Mondays and Tuesdays, where you can bring a dog in that may want a quieter setting versus the hustle and bustle of when we’re open to the public. A lot of owners today experience reactivity or fearfulness with their dogs and we want to do everything we can to assist owners with their training journey.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
The NEO Pet mascot is my dog, Gunner. He turned 10 years old one week after our grand opening. I picked him up when he was just a little potato from a breeder in upstate New York, where we found out he was born on July 24th, which is also my birthday! It was such a surprising and special connection to him. Not thinking it could get any better than that, it absolutely did. Gunner has blessed me with 10+ years of badass companionship. He has worked as my service dog and won ribbons in all kinds of disciplines such as dock diving, frisbee, and more. He is a do everything kind of guy and I wouldn’t be where I am without him today. When you stop in NEO Pet, you will see a few really cool shots of him in action posted up on our walls and you might even see him behind the desk!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.neopetandworkingdog.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/neopetandworkingdog
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/neopetandworkingdog
• Other: tiktok: @neopetandworkingdog