Finding a New Way to Help 🐾

The story behind DOG & PURPOSE

I’m Ricky, the founder of DOG & PURPOSE. But the story behind it started long before the business did.

“Maybe I never really changed… I just found a new way to help.”

GROWING UP QUICKLY

I became a dad at 16 and had to grow up pretty quickly.

I went on to build a career in roadside tyre breakdown, starting as a technician before progressing into training others and eventually working in operations, where I managed a team of around 10 mobile technicians.

But the part of the job I always connected with most was the rescue and recovery side.

Someone was stuck. There was a problem. You turned up, worked out what needed doing and helped get them moving again.

I liked being useful when somebody needed help.

WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGED

A back injury eventually changed the direction of my life and brought the career I had built to an end.

Later, I lost my dogs after 13 years together and then lost my mum.

For a long time, I didn't really know what direction my life was going in.

THEN CAME THAILAND 🇹🇭

Thailand changed my perspective in a way I hadn't expected.

I was carrying a lot of grief when I met a young boy named Boat, who had already experienced loss of his own. Despite having very little, I watched him sharing what he could and feeding the dogs around his community.

That stayed with me.

I had spent a long time thinking about everything I'd lost. Being around Boat, the community and the dogs didn't take that grief away, but it made me look differently at the life I'd had — and the time I'd been lucky enough to have with the people and dogs I'd loved.

It taught me something about gratitude.

I started feeding the dogs too, spending more time in the community and learning about the challenges around me. I couldn't fix everything, and I quickly realised that meaningful change would take far more than simply turning up with bags of food.

But something had shifted.

I wanted to take what life had taught me, what I could do, and whatever I could build next — and use it for something meaningful.

That idea eventually became part of DOG & PURPOSE.

“Maybe I wasn't starting again. Maybe I was just finding a new way to help.”

FINDING A NEW WAY TO HELP

Since then, I've been learning, volunteering, creating content and building DOG & PURPOSE around that same idea — finding practical ways to help.

Today, DOG & PURPOSE is growing as a dog-focused store, content platform and community.

We're currently feeding street and community dogs in a small community in Surin, Thailand while building a sustainable business that can support a much bigger ambition over time.

We're sharing the journey openly — the progress, the challenges and what we're learning along the way.

“The job changed. The uniform changed. The problems changed. But the part of me that wants to help never did.”

THE ROAD AHEAD

I'm still at the beginning.

I don't have all the answers and I'm still learning what responsible, sustainable support should look like.

The longer-term ambition is to work towards creating a rescue and recovery project in Surin, Thailand that can help dogs while also working positively with the surrounding community.

That project does not exist yet. DOG & PURPOSE is part of building towards that bigger ambition step by step.