The Dog Marketing Blog

Four Legged Media just launched a site called MacroMutt that promotes local dog photographers, targeted at local dog owners.  They pick the photographers, no pay to play, but they will accept sugesstions. I recommended Irene Morden, and I’ll be sending in others as I think of them. It’s fun to browse even if you’re not looking for a photographer, and I’m sure it will only improve as it grows.  FLM also hosts Barkability, a dog merchandise site which features cool dog products.

One really interesting thing about Twitter is checking out my followers.  I’ve been deliberately looking for and tweeting to attract other people interested in dogs, and who should follow me but DogShedding.  DogShedding has only updated their account twice, both times about 12 hours before they started following me.  The Dog Shedding website is pretty intensely focused on – you got it, dog shedding. Non-shedding dogs (in 3 parts) the heaviest shedding dogs (also in 3 parts) how to deal with dog shedding. Everywhere you look, the phrase dog shedding is there.  Browsing the site I saw a number of statements that did not ring true to me, such as that Maltese needed to be bathed daily and you need to brush an Irish Setter “thrice weekly.”  The site was created in Wordpress; curiously there’s very little advertising on the home page, but plenty of text ads on the interior pages, some about anti shedding products (I knew I’d see the Furminator!) and also general dog topics like puppies, rescue dogs, and training.

As promised, here’s more detail on one of the dog show vendors I interviewed last week, Whitman Sharpening. They have been the sharpening vendor of choice for my all breed club, the Progressive Dog Club of Wayne County, for as long as I can remember.  Their mobile repair shop can sharpen and repair scissors and clippers for exhibitors on-site and keeps their staff busy throughout the show  weekend. The business  started out sharpening drill bits, then they learned about the opportunity to work at horse shows.  Show horses, like show dogs, require a lot of grooming and horse shows also need on-site sharpening vendors. The horse people told them about dog shows, and eventually the business evolved to primarily service dog groomers. Their business is based in Coleman, Michigan, pretty much in the heart of mid-Michigan between Midland and Clare.   They repair equipment from dog grooming salons throughout the state as well as dog and horse show exhibitors that ship equipment in. The only horse show they attend regularly is the Quarter Horse Congress, a three week long event in Columbus, Ohio.  They’ve also expanded their business to carry some grooming supplies, focusing on products that grant exclusive territories to distributors, like Chris Christensen.  Their primary means of promotion is word of mouth among groomers; their website lists the products and services available and also allows customers to download a work order form to send with items being shipped in for repair.

Just saw a RT (re-tweet) from PetSmart about Marriott International’s tweet that there was a special promotion for travellers with dogs at the Fairfield Inn in San Diego. The $75 pet fee is waived and a variety of special dog items are offered; special good through April 27, 2009.  I was hoping to use my Marriott Miles to stay at Fairfield Inns on our trip last year from Detroit to Orlando, which requires an overnight stay. Unfortunately, the dog fee exceeded the cost of staying at a Red Roof Inn or Super 8 and I could not use the Marriott Miles to pay for it.

I decided to make use of the time I had free waiting for group competition at the Oakland County Kennel Club show and talk to some of the dog show vendors about their businesses.  My interviews included Gotcha Framed, with artsy magnetic frames, show circuit staple Whitman Sharpening, Glass Garden Engraving with hand painted glassware, Always Special and Personal with scented wax dipped stuffed toys, Diane’s Dream Pet Products, Cedar Creek pet beds, and Pet Fabulous, with high end leather leads and collars. I’ll break the individual interviews out in separate posts, but some general observations. Only one of the people I talked to had ever shown dogs; three had exhibited at craft or art shows first, and heard about the dog show opportunity from other craftspeople.  Others started their business targeting other customer niches and discovered better dog marketing opportunities; two actually started selling pet products.  A quick note re: their web sites – the only one with tracking (Sitemeter) was also the only one claiming to get much  businesss online – cause or effect?  I was also surprised how much people had to share, I thought I could easily get around to all the vendors during my 3 hours of down time, but I wasn’t able to even talk to half of them.  I will admit I might have squeezed a couple more in who were so busy that I didn’t feel comfortable interrupting. The booth selling fleece dog coats on this blustery day was going great guns, not surprising since 4 inches of snow fell during the day and the temperature at my ring time was 9 degrees, but felt like -10!

Just started following Guy Kawasaki (me and 48K+ others) on Twitter; he seems to have more interest in pet issues than I expected, alerting the Twitterverse to an article on Truemors regarding the RSPCA’s intent to prosecute owners who are found “overdressing” their dogs.  This Daily Mail article gives more details on the situation.  I do admit to competing in both dog shows (no dog clothes allowed) and the occasional costume class, but I don’t particularly like the idea of dog as fashion accessory. That said, I think this is well within an owner’s right to enjoy their pet as they see fit and a long way from meeting any reasonable standard of animal cruelty.  Animal rights extremists  . . .

PawLux just started following me on Twitter. The Paw Luxury website is doing a lot of things right; their core business proposition focuses on sustainable, high end dog accessories and treats. Not a large selection, but focused on that proposition, which encompasses the hottest trends in pet marketing today.  They’re announcing specials on Twitter, and rewarding visitors for retweeting and blogging about their site; pretty darn Web 2.0 savvy.  They don’t really explain how it’s sustainable (and I couldn’t find the dimensions, either) but the Bella Bed is adorable!

There’s a great interview with Marion Nestle, author of “Pet Food Politics” by Christie Keith on the Pet Connection blog. I loved that book and am very much looking forward to publication of her next one “What Pets Eat.”  The interview talks about the 2007 pet food recall, different ways to feed pets, and general issues with the food supply in this country.

The New York Times is collecting comments regarding the city’s poop scoop law for Michael Brandow, who recently published a book titled “New York’s Poop Scoop Law: Dogs, Dirt and Due Process,”  Mr Brandow will answer the questions in Wednesday’s (Jan 7) edition of the paper. Sounds like a in interesting book regarding the presence of dogs in our biggest city.  Reminds me of a comment dog trainer/author Job Michael Evans made regarding living in NYC with a dog.  “People ask me how could I live with a dog in the city, I ask them how they can live in the city without a dog.”  I’ll look for an opportunity to review and comment on the book.

Tim O’Reilly’s twitter alerted me to a new article on cloned dogs in the New York Times. The Korean lab that first cloned an Afgan hound 3 years ago is still at it, and his article profiles 4 dogs cloned from “Missy” a border collie – husky mix.  As a dog breeder, the cloning of dogs seems like a cross between cheating and giving up. That elusive “perfect” dog is still not here, and in a way, I like to think we’ll never get there, just continuing to work on our own approximations of that dog in our own interpretation of the breed standard intermixed with our own preferences in dog personality.  Although I’ve been very attached to each of my dogs and regret they leave us so soon, I also revel in the unique personality of each one and really don’t think I’d like to have the same dog over and over again when I can see that dog in it’s offspring’s eyes, but mixed with something else that makes each animal unique.