Apollo has that renegade look. Lucy Lu is sweet and gentle. Izzy has so much fun she has to be coaxed to get back on the bus to go home.
These are a few of the dogs that Hope Mehlberg transports on her old school bus for dog walks near her Oconto, Wisconsin home.
Dogs wait for treats on the bus that takes them to and from their dog-walking adventures. Hope Mehlberg started posting videos in 2023 from her business, K9 Konvoy, and now has a million TikTok followers.
The busload of dogs captured the attention of people all around the world, who comment that the videos Mehlberg posts give them the joy and peace they need each day. She posts videos of the dogs on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, and her TikTok has a million followers.
The venture makes Mehlberg happy, too.
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“I love my job,” she said.
The happy adventure started with a rather sad story.
Mehlberg and her husband were at home when they heard a commotion and went outside to find a dog that had been hit by a car. They tracked down the dog’s owner, who was new to the area and didn’t have a way to transport Zeppelin, who had a collapsed lung and other serious injuries, to an emergency animal hospital.
So Mehlberg drove them. And she told the woman that if Zeppelin survived, he could join Mehlberg and her two dogs, Dodge and Teddy, on walks.
“I told her she could join our pack,” she said.
Months passed. Zeppelin recovered, and the woman took Mehlberg up on her offer.
Like many Americans, Mehlberg was at home during the pandemic.
She added more dogs to her walking group and started K9 Konvoy as her part-time job, picking up and dropping off dogs in her personal vehicle. At the time, there were a half-dozen dogs, mostly shepherds and Labrador retrievers.
“I just wanted to get some exercise, some vitamin D,” she said.
Then in 2023, Mehlberg decided she was tired of office work and wanted to focus on her dog business full-time.
“I decided to take a gamble on myself,” she said.
She advertised on Facebook and got clients through word of mouth around Oconto, a city of 4,600 people in northeast Wisconsin. Mehlberg found a bus on Facebook marketplace in 2023 and started posting photos and videos of her dog transport adventures on social media.
Within a year, people started noticing the videos and following their favorite dogs. Viewers notice when a dog isn’t on the bus, or if one of the canines does something out of character for them.
Mehlberg hands out treats to the dogs patiently waiting in their seats, one at a time. Soon treats started pouring in from Colorado, Oregon, Canada, Mexico and Australia, often with notes of appreciation. Mehlberg said she’s glad to bring some attention to the small town of Oconto.
“It’s drawing in so many people,” she said.
One video on TikTok has 9.2 million views and nearly 12,000 comments. The video features a birthday party for Aspen and all the dogs wearing hats in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.
“As an anxious individual myself, I understand Ziggy,” a commenter wrote about one of the dogs. “Never mind Disney. THIS is the happiest place on Earth,” wrote another.
And in the video Zeppelin, the injured dog that helped kickstart this adventure, sits happily in the driver’s seat of the bus waiting for a piece of cheese.
Mehlberg is a one-woman show, caring for the dogs, driving the bus and posting on social media. She’s not currently taking any more clients and has 17 dogs on the waiting list.
She had to train the first few dogs to get on the bus and find a seat, but after that pack mentality set in so each new dog learns from the others. She won’t admit to having a favorite.
“It depends on the day,” she said. “They all have their own personalities.”
