PORTLAND, Ore. -- A local businesswoman got a big chance at expanding her company's reach.
Walmart held an Open Call business event Thursday at their store on Southeast 82nd Avenue.
Terri Entner, the founder of Healers Pet Care, was there to pitch her business and its dog products.
Her dog, Jake, was her inspiration for starting the business.
"Jake is a German Shepherd, very loving and wonderful breed, wonderful dog and went camping with us everywhere," she said.
In 2009, she and her family took Jake hiking in Central Oregon. Entner said it was a 100 degrees outside. So hot, that the rocks Jake melted the pads on the bottom of his feet.
"It was a long process of healing, that's what got me started." Entner said.
That sparked an idea to start Healers Pet Care. Her first product: a bootie for a dog's foot.
"There were zero products on the market to help in the healing process." She says
At the open call event, Terri began her pitch, hoping to make it to the next round, the chance to make another pitch to the corporate buyers at Walmart's company headquarters in Arkansas. What she didn't know is that she was already accepted and would get that chance. So after her pitch a Walmart manager told her the good news.
She says she's excited because, "It means a lot more jobs and I can hire more people, for various skills, engineers, to seamstresses, it just takes a wide variety of skillsets to have a manufacturing company."
She'll make her next pitch on June 13.