Baron’s K-9 Market is a pet nutrition and retail market with locations in Bel Air, MD and Glyndon, MD. We are Northern Maryland’s leading independent pet store for wellness, proper nutrition, supplements, herbal remedies, and just about every pet related product out there.
At Baron’s K-9 Market our team has over 50 years of experience in the pet industry and we take a natural and holistic approach when it comes to pet health and are devoted to helping our customers improve the quality of their pets lives. We understand the core of our business is our customers. In order to be successful we believe each of them deserves prompt, professional, friendly, and courteous service. We will ensure that our customers will find the highest quality products on the market and empower them with proper nutritional advise.
Each team member is professional, smart, enthusiastic and highly trained, all of whom are extremely passionate and knowledgeable about using our wealth of holistic products to enhance the health and lives of our customer's pets.
Ben Smyser
Owner/President
I’ll put it this way… I don’t think there is a person out there with whom I’d care to trade jobs. You know what I like best? Yeah, playing with puppies during the day is great, but having a team around me who are so supportive and the passion they have for helping our customers is the greatest. Thank you to everybody on the Baron’s team for making us the best at what we do!
Jen Smyser
Owner/Vice President
Jennifer is my wife, best friend, and partner in life. She and I tend to have many of the same thoughts and ideas that we tend to scare each other when we blurt them out at the same time.
Although not much of a risk taker I was able to convince her to allow me to purchase Baron’s K-9 Market in 2018. Since then, she has been helping behind the scenes with events, marketing, and social media all while working full time as a Crisis Counselor at our local hospital.
Jennifer has a BS in Public Administration but has worked in Behavioral Health for over 25 years and has listened to me talk about pet nutrition for 15+ years. (Yes, she does listen much better than I do.) With the growth of our business, it is time for her to join our team full time and help lead our Glyndon location.
My wife is a wonderful mother to Sullivan and is always willing to get her hands dirty while helping me take care of our small farm. Outside of work and off our farm Jen and I love to travel, eat great food, and explore local breweries and wineries together.
Sullivan (Sully) Smyser
Lead Greeter
What’s truly amazing about Sullivan is that customers come to see him and if he has the day off, customers become disappointed. Sullivan loves to have his ball thrown for him to fetch and loves the attention he receives from all our amazing customers.
When Sullivan is not at the store he loves going on adventures with his mom and dad, catching frisbee, and helping to watch and protect his sisters (goats) on our farm.
Karen
Manager (Bel Air)
Karen is a wealth of nutritional knowledge and loves to help pets and their people. She has been working at Baron’s since 2008 and along with Liz and Robin has played an important part of what Baron’s K-9 is today.
Bella and Rosie are Karen’s two pugs who come to work with her most days. They spend most of their time napping behind the counter, but when awake they love the attention all our customers give to them.
Karen spends most of her free time cooking, making water kefir, and spending time with her three granddaughters. She also frequently ponders the rarity of red heads in the world and dreams of traveling to Scotland.
Liz
Manager (Bel Air)
You will know Liz by her friendliness and contagious laugh. Liz is also a wealth of nutritional knowledge and has been helping pets and their people at Baron’s K-9 since 2008.
At home Liz is a great mother to three children, two dogs Suki and Sophie, several snakes, a hedgehog, and a frog. She finds time to also be an avid gardener, voracious reader, usually reading four at a time, and a fitness enthusiast often running six miles before work.
Mike
Manager (Glyndon)
Mike’s journey has come full circle. Raised in Harford County and a graduate of North Harford High School. Mike went on to attend The College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine where he earned his BA in Human Ecology.
In 2015 Mike decided to head west where he spent several years working in Boulder, Colorado as a Pet Nutrition Consultant at a local Natural Pet Store. After leaving Boulder to travel further west, Mike landed in Los Angeles where he managed a Natural Pet Store in Studio City, California. Andy Garcia was one of his favorite celebrity customers.
We are extremely happy that Mike got homesick and moved back to the East Coast. Mike brings a great deal of experience and nutritional knowledge to the table. So, when you come in don’t hesitate to pick his brain with lots of questions. Mike has a spunky rescue shih tzu named Maeby, who is Mike’s pride and joy.
Elizabeth
Assistant Manager/
Operations (Bel Air)
Elizabeth joined our team in April 2022. She brings an educations and operations management background to Baron’s K-9 Market. She attended C. Milton Wright and received an associate from HCC in Special Education. She has been an Operations Manager at CVS for the past 4 years and is a Private Tutor in her free time. Looking to leave the corporate bureaucracy of CVS Elizabeth found Baron’s K-9 Market where she can freely engage and educate our customers on proper animal nutrition.
Elizabeth is an animal lover! She has two dogs and three rabbits who she loves to spoil. Elizabeth and here twin sister once traveled across the country with their three rabbits often having to smuggle them into their hotel rooms.
In doing research for Elizabeth’s bio, I uncovered that she was a ballerina growing up and she also competed in competitive jump roping. Apparently, there are YouTube videos out there of her competing. I haven’t seen them yet to verify.
Elizabeth is continuing her education at Towson University in hopes of being a school counselor someday. In the meantime I hope to convince her that playing with puppies all day is more fun.
Izzy
Assistant Manager (Glyndon)
Izzy is a recent transplant from Washington State. She has years of experience working for small businesses and values being a part of the community! Before leaving Washington, she worked for an outdoor retail store and an integrative canine rehab/conditioning facility. Izzy has seen first hand how good nutrition is vital for dogs living a long and happy life!
Izzy’s passion for animals does not stop at work! She has been training dogs for the past 12 years. She began her dog showing through 4H and transitioned into AKC. Her dogs compete in agility, rally, obedience, barnhunt, conformation, dock diving, and fastcat. Her two companions are Roscoe and Zest. Roscoe is her male Border Collie who loves adventuring and spending time with his family. Zest is her Swedish Vallhund puppy, who adores being Izzy’s “supervisor” whether at Baron’s or making sure she gets enough morning cuddles. Zest is one of only 1,400 Vallhunds in the US, so if you’ve never heard of the breed, you’re not alone! Izzy also incorporates her passion for animals through her photography. She finds joy in capturing the love between pets and their people. Zest and Izzy can’t wait to see you at the Glydon location!
Robin
Pet Nutrition Associate (Bel Air)
Robin has been working in the pet industry most of her working career. She has worked or volunteered at several non-profit animal shelters, has been a pet sitter, worked as a vet tech at an emergency vet hospital, and most recently has been working at Baron’s K-9 since 2006. She has the longest tenure of all team members. She truly loves helping pets live long healthy lives by educating proper nutrition. Robin enjoys reading, crafting, thinking about running six miles before work, and making sure she picks up breakfast for Karen every Friday morning. She has two adorable cats at home who are spoiled rotten. Robin is my go to cat expert. 
Noa
Pet Nutrition Associate (Bel Air)
Noa joined our team in December of 2021. She currently attends North Harford High School and is enrolled in the Natural Resources and Agricultural Science Magnet Program. Noa has been elected to class president and has been selected as a student member of the Board of Education for Harford County. She also has been a member of FFA (Future Farmers of America) for four years.
Noa is involved in many extracurricular activities but when she is not busy with school projects or working at Baron’s K-9 Market she enjoys hiking with her cattle dog Dagger. After graduating spring of 2023 Noa plans to attend a Pre-Vet undergraduate program and work on becoming an Emergency Vet. I think she will be an amazing vet and with her experience and knowledge she will be far ahead of the pack when she enters college.
Liora
Pet Nutrition Associate (Glyndon)
So back before I owned Baron’s K-9 Market I worked for my family’s company selling pet food, treats, and toys to independent pet stores in the Mid-Atlantic region. During this time is when I met Liora some 15 years ago. At that time there was a revolution of sorts with pet parents demanding better quality food for their pets, but unfortunately there were few pet stores catering to this demand.
Liora was on the forefront of this movement and along with her business partner opened a natural pet store in 2005 with one location in Maryland and over the course of 5 years opened three more stores in Maryland and Northern Virginia. These stores not only carried more holistic and natural products, but also had a well-educated team that could help educate pet parents on proper pet nutrition and guide pets with specific needs to the appropriate diet.
After almost 14 years Liora and her business partner decided to sell their highly successful business. However, Liora still has the burning passion to help pets and their people. So, when she heard we were opening our second location in Glyndon she called me, and I knew right away she would be a great addition to our team.
Liora has two dogs, Brodie and Daisi who were adopted through local rescues as well as two cats, Eragon and Arya that were rescued through a feral colony trap and neuter program. Her pets are exclusively raw and fresh fed, so she is fluent in discussing the endless benefits of a species appropriate diet. She has worked with both conventional and holistic vets as well as positive reinforcement trainers and has a wealth of knowledge to share.
When Liora is not working, she enjoys gardening with her husband, cooking with her son, and spending time with her family and pets.
Jackie
Pet Nutrition Specialist
Let’s be honest, pets are better than people. With that being said, it is Jackie’s mission to help your pets live the highest quality life possible through nutrition. Jackie’s passion for rescuing senior dogs has made her well versed in all the health ups and downs that come with owning a dog.
Jackie truly loves your pets as her own and will go the extra mile to answer all your questions. If she doesn’t have the answers, she has no problem doing the research or pointing you to someone who does have the expertise.
Jackie spent years in corporate management, but nothing fulfills her heart like the pet industry. In 2019, Jackie took a leap of faith and left her position as an area manager in the restaurant industry and dove into pet health and nutrition and helped manage a Natural Pet Food Store in Pikesville, MD. After the closing of this store Jackie joined our team in March 2023 and has been a valuable asset to our team.
Jackie’s current rescue Mannny, is a 12 year old Havanese who joins her most days at Baron’s. You will find Manny sun bathing by the doors and begging for treats during the day because his mom makes him go for walks early in the morning.
FRI: 10 am – 6 pm 
