Jessica Pegula Partners with The Farmer's Dog to Give Rescue Dogs a Second Chance

Jessica Pegula and The Farmer's Dog are making a paw-sitive difference.

Jessica Pegula and her dog | Credit: A Lending Paw

The Farmer’s Dog and Jessica Pegula have teamed up to help both pets and pet owners. A Lending Paw Foundation, co-founded by Jessica Pegula, helps rescue dogs get the care, nutrition, and training they need to become service animals for those who need them.

Jessica Pegula is The Farmer’s Dog's first tennis player partnership, and as part of their multi-year contract, The Farmer’s Dog will provide fresh meals to dogs while in A Lending Paw's care.

Serve on Si met with Pegula, WTA world No. 3 and best US women’s player at the moment, to discuss this new partnership and just what this initiative means to her.

Pegula and Her Pups

First off, can you tell me about your dogs, and how often you get to see them during such a busy tennis schedule?

“I have three dogs,” Pegula told Serve. “Mabel, Des, and Maddie, and I don't get to see them as often as I would like, but they actually did get to travel to Cincinnati this year. They went to Charleston this year, which is a little bit more than usual, so that's always really nice when I get to spend some extra time with them, but my husband does a good job of holding down the court at home with the three of them.”

Pegula has three dogs, one of which is a rescue, who are “family” according to the tennis player.

“It just, you know, always feels like home whenever I can come back and see my dogs, and everyone always asks me, like, what do you do when you get home? And I'm like, I just hang out with my dogs all day.”

What Farmer’s Dog products or recipes do your dogs like most?

“Well, we do like a little custom kind of blend just because they all have different needs…”

The Farmer’s Dog provides ‘human-grade’ dog food. Their mission is to help dogs live healthier and longer lives through meaningful nutrition while avoiding excess processing. This helps dog owners choose the best recipes for their dog’s needs.

“I would say right now it's been helpful because my two puppies are pretty high energy. Not pretty high energy; they are very high energy. So, it's actually been really hard for them to keep weight on…”

Jessica Pegula and her three dogs | Credit: A Lending Paw

“…And then one that's older, not super active, and she's also blind, so she's not able to move that much, but we like to keep her weight down.”

Behind the Partnership

As the co-founder of A Lending Paw, what can you tell me about how it came to be and what it means to you?

“My husband and I were trying to find a way where we felt like we could help dogs and help people at the same time, and we started looking into a lot of work with service dogs and service animals, and it just became very clear to us that that was something that we had a passion for. The more we talked to a lot of these people that have really relied on dogs to help with their disabilities, it kind of became our mission, which is to help get them trained for people with disabilities”

How did your partnership with The Farmer’s Dog come about?

“I think it kind of just came organically, honestly; through just me, my dogs, the charity. We've kind of grown that over the last couple years as we've gotten more involved, and I think organically it just kind of happened for my love of dogs. The Farmer's Dog is also going to be a big part of helping our charity, which was really important to us, so I think, yeah, it was just kind of fit our lifestyle, trying to keep our dogs healthy, happy. We're pretty active; everyone kind of knows me as the person with the dogs as well, like as far as my career on the tennis court, and yeah, it just became like a super organic partnership.”

What is the best way for those interested in A Lending Paw to get involved?

“You can just follow us on Instagram, A Lending Paw, or you can go to our website. It's really easy to get involved. I post a lot about it on my socials as well, and I have it in my bio on there. But yeah, if you're interested, you can just check out any of those, and it's super easy, and something that we're really passionate about, and anybody that wants to be interested or help is always more than welcome”

Post-Season Time With Her Pups

Now that the tennis season is almost complete, how are you looking forward to spending more time with your dogs?

“I would say definitely, I mean, like I keep saying, they're very active, so just taking them to do things like going to the beach, taking them for walks, taking them around. They love going for drives. Just spending a lot of time with them, I think, anywhere”

Who likes tennis balls more, you or your dogs?

“Actually, I think they do. I think my shepherd is OCD with the tennis balls. She loves them, and they actually, whenever I come home, she'll search my tennis bag for all the tennis balls.”

The Farmer's Dog 'human grade' dog food | Credit: A Lending Paw

A Lending Paw’s Mission

“Dogs have an incredible ability to make our lives better, and few things are more powerful than seeing a rescue dog get a second chance and go on to change someone’s life,” Jonathan Regev, CEO and Co-Founder of The Farmer’s Dog, said in a press release. “Jess shares our belief that dogs are worth caring for in the best way we can. Through A Lending Paw, she’s putting that belief into action. We’re proud to support their work and help more dogs live healthy lives alongside the people who need them most.”

A Lending Paw rescues dogs and gives them another chance. Through its initiative, dogs are able to learn vital skills in becoming service animals to those who truly need them, giving the dog a newfound purpose and the individual the assistance they need for everyday life.