The Dog Marketing Blog

I just finished reading Pets in America by historian Katherine C. Grier, published in hard cover in 2006 and paperback in 2007.  Although I found it a bit dry in places, overall it is a fascinating account of the subject. The book includes a tremendous amount of information about the marketing of pets, pet products, and retailing of all things related to pets.   Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the topic, for a longer review I’ll refer you to Alida Baker’s in the New York Times.

I got an email today from Packaged Facts announcing that one of their analysts, David Lummis, will be presenting at the Petfood Forum next week in Chicago.  His topics will include the increased involvement of celebrities in pet food marketing (Rachel Ray, Cesar Milan), the influence of online marketing, and the trend toward organic/natural pet foods.  The forum runs from April 20-22 at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare and covers a wide spectrum of topics including manufacturing, ingredient approval, marketing and the impact of petfood on behavior.  Sounds like a fascinating program!

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.

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.