Hiking Dog Co. opens in Lincoln’s Gateway Mall [Video]

The nest was empty. The next challenge was on the horizon. And it was up to Heather and Eric Rhea to determine what their next quest might be.

Heather had worked in health care and the technology sector for decades. Those fields paid the bills but never provided the enjoyment she sought.

“I really, really love dogs, and the best kind of job I could do would be to work with dogs and people,” she said. “That could be a lot of fun.”

They were throwing around ideas, trying to figure out a business that would incorporate people and dogs. While in Arizona, they ran into a couple of guys who had put together a first-aid kit for dogs.

“They were interested in selling the whole thing because they did it for a few months and it wasn’t quite what they wanted to do,” Heather Rhea said.

And in buying …