FARGO – It’s hard to find words to express the magic of Eli Potnin Lanning.
For one thing, she’s 10, which is a refreshing age when kids get excited about things and aren’t obsessed with looking cool.
On the other hand, she has an irrepressible laugh that makes you want to laugh too.
On the other hand, she loves dogs with the loyalty and individual thinking that would impress the world’s most loyal Golden Retriever.
How much does Eli love dogs?
Every month or so, the 10-year-old Fargo girl submits a research paper to her mother, Annalize Potnin, that highlights several perfectly logical reasons why she should own a dog.
No dog wanders into the Ellie building without alerting the finely tuned puppy finder radar. One time, when they were at an event downtown, Annalize remembers counting every dog Eli stopped to greet.
“We stopped at 75,” says Annalize. “She made me fall in love with dogs because I’m actually allergic to some dogs. So now I’m taking hypoallergenic pills because we’re definitely going to have a dog every day.”
Annalize and Elie also live in an apartment, which can make dog ownership difficult.
Fortunately, Ellie has now found a way to love and celebrate canines without having one herself.
With the help of her mother and grandmother, Ellie makes braided dog toys from old T-shirts as well as dog collars from brightly patterned nylon fabric. She then sells her creations through vendor fairs and Bark ‘n Biscuits Co./First Avenue Market in downtown Fargo.
A portion of the proceeds from her business, called El’s Sells For Dogs, are used to purchase pet food, cat litter and other “immediate needs” for the Homeward Animal Shelter in Fargo.
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Ellie is serious about her case too. Once, when her grandmother, Kathy Botnin, was talking about the profits from Ellie’s sales, she interrupted her. “It’s not about the money, Gamma,” she said, using her favorite nickname for Kathy.
But Cathy is quick to point out that more sales translate into more help for homeless pets.
This, Eli decided, made it all right.
Three generations of sewing lovers
It made sense that Ellie’s first job would involve working with fabric, since the sewing gene runs throughout the Potnin family.
Ellie’s grandmother, Cathy Potnin, runs the popular handbag maker, It’s in the Bag, out of her home in South Fargo.
Annalize Botnen also loves to sew; She remembers making pajama pants with her friends during one of her childhood birthday parties.
Thanks to these mentors, Ellie actually tried her hand at sewing. One of the first things I ever made was a mask at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. She also sews clothes for her stuffed animals. “She does a lot of just cutting and sewing,” Cathy says.
Mother and daughter still meet regularly to work on sewing projects in Cathy’s well-equipped sewing room. During one of those sessions last spring, a bored Ellie asked if she could help.
“I wanted to do something, too,” she says.
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With Ellie’s love for dogs evident, they decided it had to be something for dogs. They turned to Pinterest for instructions on how to make pet collars and sturdy braided dog toys.
The toys come in two sizes – a larger size made of square knots and a slightly smaller one made of braided material.
They’re made from old T-shirts donated by friends, acquaintances or followers on the El’s Sells for Dogs Facebook page. It is then cut into horizontal strips, usually blank from neck to sleeve to avoid deodorant stains.
The Botnens have found that T-shirt fabric makes the best chew toys, because it’s stretchy and strong enough for a good game of tug-of-war but has enough “give” that dogs love to chew on it.
While everyone helps braid the toys, Ellie’s little hands and youthful ingenuity make it a gold-plated braid.
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“It makes us all hook them up and who’s the fastest, Ellie?” Kathy asks.
“Me,” Eli says without missing a beat. “We were all learning how to do it, and I figured it out before my grandmother did.”
Cathy adds: “And I’m a 70s caramelist. You’d think I could tie a knot.”
Dog owners will be happy to know that she tested all of her items in Fido’s focus group first—namely, dogs belonging to her mother’s friends and grandmother.
That includes Buster, a 10-year-old Lhasa Apso-Corgi-Shih Tzu-Australian mix owned by Cathy’s friend and neighbor, Joy Nesvig.
Buster and Ellie have long shared a special bond. If Nesvig dared mention that Eli was coming to their house, Buster would repeatedly run from Nesvig to the front door in breathless anticipation.
Eli has also taught him many tricks, such as how to stand on two feet, dance, and “dig” for candy.
Nesvig explains that Buster received many toys from family and friends throughout his life. However, he turns his nose up at all of them, except for the first toy he ever got – a stuffed monkey – at just six weeks old.
But when Ellie presents him with a selection of her toys, Buster goes straight for a bright model in light gray and taupe colours.
“Do you like this, Buster?” Eli asked, shaking the braid in front of him. Buster clearly does, as he bites it and then trots it over to the forum photographer to play tug of war.
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Nesvig was so amazed by Buster’s interest in the game that she bought it. A week later, she reported that he “loves it and plays with it like a puppy again.”
Although customers seem to love chews bearing the colors of their favorite sports teams, Eli’s doesn’t always have the luxury of making them in Bison green or Vikings purple. Since the raw materials are donated, they have to use what they get. But they usually weave a brighter color with more neutral tones. One time, when she received a large donation of white shirts, her mother had the idea of dyeing them in more eye-catching colors. It worked well.
But for now, with the Vikings looking to compete in the playoffs, the Potnins would love one thing: “More gold jerseys,” Kathy says.
Ellie also tries to pick bright colors and fun patterns when choosing nylon webbing for her dog collars.
“I choose them because I like them or I think other people will like them,” she says.
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It outlines all the components that go into the collar: “The nylon, the buckles, the tri-rings, the D-rings. The tri-glide is the thing that makes it bigger and smaller. Then the D-ring is the thing you attach the leash to.”
Although she leaves the process of sewing the thick fabric to Grandma Cathy, she does the other manual labor herself – measuring and cutting the belt and mastering the difficult work of attaching the buckle.
I have also become an expert on dog breeds and proper collar fit. In fact, she compiled a three-ring binder in which she included printouts of the weight range and estimated range of neck diameters for multiple breeds of dogs.
The finishing touch for Ellie is the product labels she makes herself — right down to including a hand-drawn heart and writing “Els Sells for Dogs” in her fifth grade script.
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But as much as she loves making collars, her favorite part is selling them. Especially at outdoor vendor shows, where customers often bring their furry friends. While Cathy and Annalize raise money, Eli specializes in public relations – or perhaps “puppy licking.”
Ellie has the perfect PR personality: “She’s so nice,” her grandmother says proudly. “She’s really interested in the people she meets, especially people with dogs. She always asks the name, breed and age of the dog.
Even when a client is dog-deprived, Cathy says her heart soars when she watches her granddaughter spread joy. “She often compliments strangers and strikes up a conversation when we stand in line at a store,” she says.
Most recently, Eli’s merchandise has been sold through First Avenue Market, 612 First Ave. N., Fargo.
Through all of these outlets, Eli likely sold more than 200 of the braids, which cost between $3 and $5. Her collars sell for $10.
She did everything she could to raise money for homeless pets. Elle and Cathy teamed up to create a Wags, Whiskers, and Wine fundraising auction item for Homeward Animal Shelter: one of Cathy’s tote bags stuffed with El’s Sells goodies. It sold for three times its estimated value.
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Building a small empire of dog toys will be enough for now, though Ellie says she wants to grow up to be a dog trainer, groomer, or veterinarian — as long as she doesn’t have to do any painful things to animals.
“We are so proud of her,” Cathy says.