Dad’s Pet Care Inc. got its start because of a Springer spaniel. That was back in 1933, when George (Dad) Lang’s pet had 11 puppies, inspiring him to cook up his own dog food to feed the brood.

These days, however, a pit bull is taking center stage, propelling the Meadville-based company onto the fast track of 21st-century canine dining.

With paws-up approval from Isaboo, the pit bull who’s also her best friend, television food star Rachael Ray is teaming up with a brand-new Dad’s division — Ainsworth Pet Nutrition — to introduce the nation’s dogs to a whole new taste adventure.

The Rachael Ray Nutrish line — featuring all-natural dog food and both crunchy and chewy treats — will officially launch Monday in New York City. If the Nutrish line isn’t already on local supermarket shelves, it will be there soon; by early September, it will be available at approximately 17,000 retail locations nationwide. Once full distribution is in place, a full-scale advertising blitz is scheduled to begin.

“I think you’re going to see a very creative way of delivering this unique message,” Doug Lang, executive vice president of sales and marketing, hinted during a recent interview. “We may not have as deep a pocket as some of the multibillion-dollar corporations we compete with day-in and day-out. They’re very good competitors. But that doesn’t mean we can’t out-think them.”

The entry of Dad’s Pet Care Inc. into the superpremium dog food business with the formation of its Ainsworth subsidiary marks the company’s transition from a regional brand serving pets within an approximately 400-mile radius of Meadville to a player on the national stage. This move will make them one of the only major branded independent manufacturers doing business in this category.

“Ainsworth was the middle name of my grandfather and is my middle name, so we grabbed the family heritage of Ainsworth and put it on our new organization for focus and national scope,” Lang explained.

A partnership forms

The story of the Nutrish line starts in Joplin, Mo., home of Hampshire Pet Products, a bakery company in which Dad’s has an interest. “We’re all under the same tent,” Lang explained.

The husband of Hampshire’s general manager, Julie Larson, is a huge Rachael Ray fan. One day inspiration hit — Larson got the idea of combining baking technology with Rachael Ray’s obvious enthusiasm, love of animals, and appreciation of quality ingredients and great taste. A new direction was launched.

“As we shared the idea and kicked it around and looked at broader applications than just baked treats, we started to have an idea about taking it to a broader scale,” Lang continued. And when a team of marketers, including Larson, took the idea to the Rachael Ray camp, “lo and behold, they were having similar thoughts themselves.”

It didn’t take long for a common vision to emerge. “That common vision was about an unwavering commitment and passion for the animals that we love so much and a need that we believed existed to bring simple, wholesome, finest-quality nutrition and ingredients together with the great taste that Rachael can communicate so well, and do it with a twist which has to do with giving back to the community,” Lang said.

The twist is Rachael’s Rescue, an endowment fund established and controlled by Ray. “We’ve just heard that she intends to give 100 percent of her share of this project exclusively to various charitable organizations that she will select over time,” Lang said. “That’s a good thing, because in these tough economic times, I’m worried about rising food prices for a lot of us. And fuel and everything else. But I’m also worried about the impact this is going to have on our animal friends as well. That was the driving force behind Rachael having a dream of bringing great taste, wholesome ingredients and the ability to give back to our community in a way this industry, in this category, hasn’t seen before.”

As for the great taste, the Ainsworth team was given one very specific bar to pass: Isaboo had to love the product.