About Darcie

Hi, I’m Darcie and I am totally and absolutely blessed to to get to live and work with dogs in this lifetime.

I’m the founder of  SitStay.com , it was one of the very first dog supply stores online in the history of the Internet, I think the very first, I can’t find anyone who was active as a store before SitStay. That’s pretty cool, isn’t it! Our products are hand picked and we try every product before we carry it so you get the best value and the most good out of everything you buy. Good for Your Dog Supplies. And our motto? Above all, Be Kind.

SitStay.com became my obsession in 1996 and I love it even more today than I did then. I was born in the foothills of California, grew up on, lived, and worked on ranches in the western United States until I was 27 years old. I went through the school of hard knocks, some knocks being harder than others, working and learning to keep my children and myself fed and not naked. My children were very grateful about that as were the people I worked with side by side.

I was born Darcy Turner and went to school in Cody, Nebraska from the 5th grade through my freshman year.  I was born in California in the foothills of the Sierras.  We moved to western Nebraska when I was 8 years old. Why the name spelling change to Darcie? That’s just one of the interesting things that ever happened to me (there have been many through the years!) My Mom named me “Darcy” from a romance novel she was reading before I was born. When I was 15 and ready to start my first real job, I needed a social security number and to get that I needed my birth certificate which I’d never seen before. I dug through Mom’s hope chest and found it. “Mom, why is my name spelled “Darcie” on my birth certificate? “The hospital made a mistake,” she said. Plain and simple. The hospital made a mistake. So the spelling of my name on my birth certificate became the name on my social security card and thus, I became legally “Darcie” instead of “Darcy”. My Mom and my family still spell it “Darcy” and I will always be Darcy. I like “Darcy” better. I’ve just never changed it legally. So who am I?

I’m a born romantic. I believe that no matter how many times we get hurt in life, no matter how many times we fail and even when we’re successful, that we need to keep going, to keep on living. To savor life.  I believe in the supernatural power of love. I’m a day dreamer. Though I’m a lot more than those things, those things have served me well in the bad times and the good times of my life. I was painfully shy when I was a child. Not so much now. I enjoy the sound of my own words and the words of those who tell the greatest stories. Mari Sandoz, a famous writer, was a friend of my great Uncle Henry. She told me when I was 9 years old that one day I would be a famous author. She died the day after my 12th birthday. I’d just finished reading “Old Jules.”

The love of my life, so far, was a boy a year ahead of me in school. I was terribly shy back then, I don’t think I ever spoke more than 15 words to him in all the years we knew each other. I don’t know if he knew that I loved him, a movie once and some hand holding that I will never forget, my 12 year old heart still flutters when I think about that, and a quiet talk before I had to move away. I never saw him again. He wrote a poem once and gave it to a girl to give it to me. She handed it to me in the girl’s locker room and all the other girls cooed, “Oooooo.” I blushed and opened the little white piece of paper. “Spinach is green and so is parsley, I’m in love with a girl and her name is Darcy.” He had my heart long before he wrote that poem. That’s all I have to say about that.

I worked a lot of jobs through the next many years and although I really wanted to be a writer, I knew that I had to support myself in the meantime. The only way I knew of making money was working hard. So work hard is what I did. Working for other people led me to the desire to be my own boss and it seemed that the best thing to that end was to learn everything I could learn from people who had their own businesses. Every time I interviewed for a job I’d say, “I’m only staying until you can’t teach me anything else.” They hired me anyway. I was true to my word, I learned from them what I could and I moved on.

College was wonderful, a BS from University of Lincoln, Nebraska. I loved every minute of it and although it came later in life for me than it did for my children, I got it done. I would have liked to stay there and stuff more education under my belt but they told me graduation day was at hand and I really should go get my diploma.

I raised children. I train dogs. I ride a Harley. I cooked on a wood stove in the wilds of Montana for a crew of 12-70 men each meal. I’ve rounded up cattle on horseback. I milked cows. I’ve made homemade butter. I cook from scratch. I’ve flown a WWII fighter plane. I grew up on horseback. I’ve slept in the barn with animals who needed a little extra care and sometimes just because it was really nice; I give special thanks to the dogs who cuddled with us, it was more fun with than without them.

I built a huge one of a kind underground dome house that I designed when I was 12 years old. I sold it in 2010. I replanted a poor old worn out farm to prairie and I’ve planted thousands of trees.

My grandson calls me Nana and I love it. I’m a bit of a risk taker and an outdoor girl. That’s where all of my wrinkles have come from: the wind, the sun, the fear, the fun, the rare worry, the laughter, and the lack of vanity.

I’m a single gal these days and I love the peace and happy harmony of my home.

I’ve been working with dogs for well over 50 years, I guess that’s a fairly extensive background in dogs, and a very nice way to live. Public speaking and writing are some of my favorite things to do.

I’m a simple country girl with a wide open mind and a deep and abiding love for dogs that will put any dog lover to shame.

Thanks for reading The Dish by Darcie and if you like, join the conversation with your comments and questions. Please do honor our Readers with constructive and helpful words.

SitStay.com is different than a lot of other dog supply stores. We don’t sell electric shock or metal collars. We don’t carry food that will shorten a dog’s life. We don’t sell bleached rawhide or any rawhide made with chemicals, it’s been proven to hurt and has killed dogs and emptied a lot of pocketbooks to surgeries.

My personal and working philosophy is Above All, Be Kind.

A day at a time, a dog at a time, a life at a time. It’s how I choose to live. When we don’t support those who would hurt a dog, it makes us all better human beings and the dogs collectively love us better for it.

Thank you for shopping at SitStay.com where you find only Good for Your Dog Supplies. We appreciate your business, your friendship, and your love for dogs.

On October 14, 2011, I sold SitStay.com to Danelle Benker. Danelle had worked for me as our accounting manager and she is marvelous. Danelle told me that the only way she would buy SitStay was if I stayed and worked with her side by side. And I agreed. We’re a marvelous team. All products are still my choice. We will never carry anything that will hurt your dogs or ours. I do get a bit more rest than I used to. Now Danelle works 24/7 and I go home to bed at night. I love this place!

I hope you enjoy The Dish. Hugs to Your Dogs!