Emily Ascolillo loves dogs. Not only does she have four dogs herself, but she also is the owner of Quite Fetching, a full service dog bakery that specializes in custom cakes, baked goods, and other pet boutique items.

Quite Fetching started as a small organization in honor of Ascolillo’s late dog, Rags. Road Trips for Rags allowed Ascolillo to honor her dog’s memory and other pets that passed.

“I or my husband would go to the grocery store with $20 in our pockets and we would buy a toy or can of food and make a little memory card,” Ascolillo said. “We would go to the shelter and we would say ‘This donation is being made in loving memory of’ and we would put Rags’ name and anyone else who had lost a pet that we knew.”

Ascolillo created a Facebook group for her endeavors and to collect names. People would message her asking for their animals’ names to be added, and she said “no donation was ever necessary” for a pet to be included.

In 2016, they decided to do a holiday fundraiser, hoping to support all foster dogs in one particular shelter. Ascolillo made dog cookies.

“I was making those dog cookies…and my phone kept ringing and ringing and ringing as I made the dog cookies,” Ascolillo said. “I looked at my phone and I looked at the dog cookies I was making and I just kind of took a deep breath and said ‘I think I’m done. I think I want to do this now.’”

And so Quite Fetching was born. What originally was a pop up event in February 2017, turned into an actual store front at 1 Grafton Common in Grafton just a few months later.

“The recipes are still the same,” Ascolillo said. “The intent was to create a place where dog parents could come and get the same benefits that parents of human children can get at playgroups or at school functions.”

Ascolillo created dog cookies that were Flower’s favorite treats. She shared healthy, homemade snacks and it turned into an ongoing activity that led to the bakery.

Throughout the pandemic, Ascolillo said, the pet industry has grown exponentially. She said it “wasn’t like this” just four years ago. Today, there is a community of people that can relate to what it feels like to “say goodbye to your best friend,” as Ascolillo put it.

“I created this space with the intent to welcome all the dog moms and dads and to just live in the moment like they do,” Ascolillo said. “We still make donations to pets that have passed…It’s just been wonderful. We’ve created such a community.”

When Quite Fetching first opened its doors, it hosted “Yappy Hour” every Friday from 5-7:30 p.m. The organization would offer a complimentary glass of wine or non-alcoholic beverage to anyone that came. All dogs were off leash as well.

“We got to know each other,” Ascolillo said. “We would celebrate something, whether it was a birthday or a bark mitzvah. It really just became a great community. We spent the next two years just building the community.”

When Covid-19 hit, unfortunately events like that had to end, but Ascolillo said that she was able to see what a wonderful community she had created. While Quite Fetching closed for 14 weeks with only curbside options, she was “so overwhelmed with the love that the community showed us.”

“The best part of the week was coming in and seeing the pups pull up,” Ascolillo said. “It’s been wonderful for our mental health and I think for all of us in the community to live in the moment like they do.”

Ascolillo said that the community leaves politics and the fear of the pandemic at the door, and instead they talk about “real things” like the dogs and anything going on in the humans’ lives as well.

The bakery has continued to make cakes to celebrate special occasions within the dogs’ lives. Ascolillo makes the cakes, and her husband does any of the 3D aspects. Recently they made a giant spider on top of a cake for a vet. They made a cake shaped like a green dinosaur, almost like a brachiosaurus, in honor of a dog named Winston’s favorite toy to celebrate his fourth birthday.

“Each and every one holds a special place,” Ascolillo said. “We did a bag of chips. That was fun. We had someone say their dog loves car rides so we did the back of a car…I’m very proud of seeing the stages of the cake and seeing it come into fruition.”

The very first stage for many of her cakes is a cake tasting with her clients. Similar to a tasting that a bride and groom may do for their upcoming wedding, dogs are welcome to try a few flavors with Ascolillo so that she knows their favorite.

“A lot of people say he or she’s a dog and she’ll eat anything, but that’s not the case, at least not in the world we live in” Ascolillo said. “They really are official taste testers.”

Dog treats are made with human-grade fresh ingredients, and there are different flavor profiles for the dogs like carob, pumpkin, peanut butter, and banana. Ascolillo said that with one of her own dogs, Flower, she will sniff the cakes first and then go back to the one she likes the most to eat.

“More often than not you’ll see a dog be like ‘no thank you’ and they’ll turn their nose to one or spit it out and prefer another one,” Ascolillo said. “It’s fun.”

The store is also filled with other treats and goodies for the dogs. One table hosts a bunch of food that look similar to human candy brands. PupTarts have the same pink and blue box as Sweet Tarts. Bark Bars, which are cookie bars for dogs, are designed like Hershey bars and Mr. Goodbars. Ascolillo also makes cupcakes and other treats for pups to enjoy and take with them.

Toys adorn the store, some for dogs to play with there and others for them to take home. There are also fashionable items like bandanas and bow ties.

To celebrate the holidays, Quite Fetching created a Thanksgiving bark-cuterie board. They also offer each year a complimentary Thanksgiving meal for the pups, which includes sweet potatoes, boiled chicken, apple sauce gravy, and a choice of dessert.

“It’s my favorite day of the year,” Ascolillo said.

Santa also visited the boutique for photos with the pups November 28, and proceeds went to Maple Farm Sanctuary. For more events, check out Quite Fetching’s Facebook and Instagram pages or go to its website at www.quitefetching.com.