If you’ve spent any time in Rochester, Minnesota, you may have seen the billboard. Two large, fluffy dogs, one in a tie, one in a bandana, above the words “We’re All House Trained.” For a lot of people in the city, those dogs are how they first came to know Rochester, MN real estate agent Alex Mayer.
“A lot of people know the dogs before they even know me,” Mayer says. “I’ll show up at a listing appointment, and the seller already knows Atlas and Kaia. They’ve seen them on a bus, on a bar coaster, and heard their voice actors on the radio. The dogs are local celebrities here.”
Atlas and Kaia, both Alaskan Malamutes, are now on billboards, city buses, business cards, gym screens, his car, and three local radio stations, where each dog has a voice actor. But none of it started as a marketing plan. It started with a dog named Ayla and a relationship that shaped everything that followed.
Where It Started: Ayla
Ayla was an Alaskan Malamute that Mayer rescued at 9 weeks old, a year before he started his real estate career. Alaskan Malamutes are often mistaken for huskies, but are typically much larger, more dependent on their owners, and have a calmer temperament. “And they shed constantly. I used to show up at showings and listing appointments with bits of dog fur all over me,” he says. “I told people it was just part of working with me. Over time, clients would ask to meet her. She started coming to closings. As time went on, people would reach out because they’d seen her somewhere.”
Eventually, Mayer put Ayla on the business card. Then the videos. Mayer says he built his life around her. “I used to tell clients, you could take everything, but if you left me the dog and gave me six weeks, I would figure it out.”
In 2021, Ayla was diagnosed with an aggressive soft tissue sarcoma. The prognosis could have been 2 months. “I called up a few agents to cover my business for two weeks. I packed up the Jeep, loaded Ayla up, and we just drove west. No real plan. We were just going west.”
The road trip eventually brought them to the Pacific Coast. When they returned, the decision was made to amputate Ayla’s front right leg. She recovered and lived for another 15 months. In 2022, Mayer was selected as a local celebrity for a community Dancing for the Arts charity. The choreography they performed was written about Ayla’s life.
That same year, he won Best Real Estate Agent in Rochester, MN, for the first time. “I was blessed that she was there for that,” he says. “She was there through my entire professional career, and she passed in November of 2022, just shy of eight years old. The cancer had returned and spread to her lungs. I still wear her dog tag as my necklace. And I still have people who bring up Ayla to me every week.”
Atlas “The Little Titan”
Atlas had come into the picture a year before Ayla passed. On a second road trip East a few weeks before her amputation, Mayer picked up the 16-pound Alaskan Malamute Atlas. “Today he is 131 pounds. I tell people he grew into his name,” Mayer says.
Atlas grew up with Ayla for a year, and after she passed, it left a mark on them both. Atlas stopped eating and lost about 15 pounds in five weeks. The next month, Mayer took Atlas on the same road trip they had done with Ayla a little over a year before, retracing the route West to spread her ashes at the Pacific Coast.
“On the way back, we picked up Kaia.”
Kaia “Yippie”
Kaia came home on the return from that memorial road trip. Mayer describes her as something else entirely.
“The wheels are always turning with Kaia. She is the smartest dog I have ever known. Which comes with its own set of problems.”
After Ayla’s passing, the community response in Rochester was significant. Ayla had appeared in local news, local books, and at events around the city. Atlas and Kaia stepped into that naturally.
“It was a natural progression. The people who had known Ayla already had a relationship with the brand. Atlas and Kaia kind of took on that same thing, and it just built from there.”
The Realtor With the Dogs
Aside from being known as “The Realtor With the Dogs,” Alex Mayer is also an award-winning real estate professional. He is a 4X winner of Rochester’s Best Real Estate Agent, has 350+ five-star reviews, and is also known for his digital marketing, which he’s been at the forefront of since 2019. His business is built around his core values of Education, Communication, and Responsiveness, but Atlas and Kaia have become one of the most recognizable parts of how people know him around town.
Rochester’s “Celebrity Dogs” Today
Mayer is clear that the dog brand was not engineered at first. It grew from something real, and because of that, it has connected with people in Rochester.
Some sellers have requested that Atlas and Kaia attend listing appointments. He obliges. He takes them to Rochester Fest, Thursdays on First, and local events throughout the city. Many of his clients meet the dogs as a natural part of working with him through Rochester Area Homes by Alex Mayer.
He also draws a direct parallel between dog ownership and what it takes to get through a real estate transaction. “Dog owners,” he says, “understand that things will go wrong and the only option is to handle it and move forward. Real estate works the same way. Things don’t always go perfectly. Problems come up. Sometimes the dog pukes on the carpet. The important thing is you take action and handle it. You don’t freeze.”
Many in the Rochester, MN community refer to Mayer as “The Realtor with the Dogs.” Sometimes Mayer jokes, “The dogs are heads of the marketing department.” Mayer says it saddens him that Ayla isn’t featured on much of the brand today. He ends, “Atlas and Kaia are the face of the brand today, but Ayla was my soul dog and was the start of it all.”
Alex Mayer is a full-time Rochester, MN real estate agent, a 4X winner of Best Real Estate Agent in Rochester, MN with 300+ five-star reviews. His core values are Education, Communication, and Responsiveness, which guide every part of his business. He has a “Direct Representation Model,” meaning his clients work directly with him, not a large team with junior agent handoffs. His promise: You’ll know what to expect, how to operate, and what needs to be done to be successful in the Rochester, MN real estate market. He specializes in first-time homebuyers, Mayo Clinic and other relocating buyers, and Rochester, MN sellers, including move-up, downsizing, and estate sales. Alex is also known for his Alaskan Malamute dogs, Atlas and Kaia, who are featured in much of his local branding.
Disclaimer: This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.
