The dog breeds that are most notorious for destroying their toys are Staffies, Jack Russels and Border Terriers, followed closely by all other Terriers as well as Collies. We recently had a letter from a lady with two miniature Dachshunds who managed to take apart a Tuffy toy. The lady was very upset and wrote ‘I hate to think what a Rottweiler would have done to the toys’. If you sell any of our toys, Tuffy, Zogoflex, K9 Active, but especially Tuffy, you will probably have had a customer like this at some point.

Interestingly, we get very few complaints from the league of Rottweilers, Dobermen and German Shepherds, and it’s a misconception of these breeds that they are any more destructive than other breeds. Size doesn’t seem to matter either when it comes to a dog’s ability to rip into a toy. A Chihuahua can do it just as well as a Deer Hound.

And this brings us to one clear understanding: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN INDESTRUCTIBLE DOG TOY!

Yet owners up and down the country keep hoping for one, and they will buy any toy that promises to be extra tough, virtually indestructible or designed for chewers, frequently misreading this marketing promise as ‘indestructible’.

So I’d like to explain how you can give a good service to a dissatisfied customer whose dog has destroyed a good quality dog toy. But before I do, let me tell you a little more about our toys, how they’re made and what they can and can’t do.

Tuffy soft dog toys

If you’ve been selling Tuffy dog toys for a while, you will know that they not only sell well, but they attract only very few complaints. Less than 2% of all Tuffy dog toys sold are returned to us as ‘chewed within minutes’. This is because they are extremely well made, with several layers of material and multiple rows of stitching. This makes them tougher than other SOFT dog toys and it takes longer for a dog to chew its way in. All Tuffy’s toys are rated on ‘Tuff Scale’. Depending on its shape, a Tuffy’s toy is more or less tough and it is the feedback from customers and the number of toys returned chewed that informs the ‘Tuff Scale’. This means that over time a rating may change, so always check any new Tuffy toy delivery to make sure you’re familiar with the rating and to update your website if you are an online retailer.

Please note: the above image shows the construction of all Ultimate dog toys

The Tuffy’s Mega Range contains the toughest dog toys, followed closely by the Ultimate Range. Creatures are less tough because of their complex shapes. A Shark is more vulnerable than a Whale because it has a soft mouth, and both Gary Gator and Larry Lobster have recently been downgraded to a Tuff Scale 5! Keep this in mind when customers buy one of these as they’re the lowest ranking of the Sea Creatures. Barnyards, Zoo Animals and Dinosaurs usually rate between 7 and 8, but VIP Products make it clear that these large toys are not guaranteed due to their detailed construction.

So what is the guarantee? At Collarways we operate the same ‘guarantee’ as VIP Products, the makers of Tuffy toys. If a toy is destroyed within 7 days of purchase, we will replace it as a courtesy. This means you can offer the same to your customer and we will give you a credit on your account. You will need to email us a picture of the destroyed toy, date of purchase and the name of the customer. You should always give a replacement, and if possible a different toy with a higher ranking. It’s best if you really engage with your customer by finding out what kind of dog it is and then recommend a toy that may work better for them.  Very often, you will find that the dog is actually a puppy between 3 and 18 months. ‘Honestly,’ your customer will say, ‘he’s had the toy for 5 minutes and he’s only 10 months old!’, failing to realise that puppies have to chew to exercise their jaws and should be given appropriate ‘chews’ rather than a Tuffy toy. It’s also a good idea, at this point, to encourage them to play more interactively with their dog and if they have a ‘chewer’ to remove the toy when they see the dog starting to rip into it or seriously work on an edge. Tuffy dog toys are completely safe for the dog to play with, even if some of the layers have been destroyed, as long as the stuffing is not revealed. Always remove the toy straight away, once the dog has chewed through to the stuffing.

People of course love the creature toys and they are very good sellers, but for some dogs it might be better to replace it with an Ultimate or Mega. Our German Shepherd Timba has had her Tuffy Bowmerang and Tuffy Stone Bone since the 2006 and while the toys are worn, they are still useable, and they are frequently put in the washing machine to keep them clean. However, if we were to give a Sea Creature to her she’d plan on tearing it apart as soon as she’s left alone with it!

Tuffy’s are the toughest soft dog toys I’ve ever come across, and used correctly can last for many years, but they are by no means an indestructible dog toy. If you’re interested in VIP Product’s safety policy for Tuffy toys, you can find out more on their website.

Zogoflex dog toys

Zogoflex toys are much tougher than a soft toy can be. They make an excellent alternative if your customer has already tried all the different Kongs and now would like something new and different, but very tough. We also offer them to customers where we know the Tuffy soft dog toy is not right for them. The added benefit of the Zogoflex is their buoyancy, making them ideal for playing in water. Zogoflex dog toys feel like rubber, but they’re not. They are made from a non-toxic, FDA compliant composite plastic that is recyclable and creates virtually no waste during the manufacturing process. Zogoflex toys float, are pliable and dishwasher safe and yes, they are extremely tough. Like on the Tuffy dog toys, the shape of the toy plays a big part in how well it defies a determined set of canine teeth. And because of the shape, the Tux is by far the toughest in the range. It bounces and floats like all the others and can also be stuffed with treats. This stuffable dog toy is particularly suitable for the flat-nosed dog breeds who can have trouble with a Kong.

The Tux is followed closely by the Hurley and the Huck and it very much depends on the dog’s jaw, teeth and paws… and I guess preference… as to which one he is less likely to damage. Dogs use their paws to hold a toy securely while they chew it, just as they would hold a bone or their prey. If a customer returns a Hurley it might be a good idea to replace it with a Huck to see if that will be the better toy for their dog.

West Paw Design's check list for Zogoflex dog toys

Then there are three interactive dog toy designs from Zogoflex. The Zisc, Bumi and Twiz (the latter will be available in the UK from mid November 2011). These are not toys suitable for extreme chewers but they make excellent toys for tug and fetch games and will endure many trips in strong clenching jaws as the dog retrieves the toy and brings it back.

Fortunately, all Zogoflex toys come with a one-off guarantee. So you can easily replace or refund (if the customer really doesn’t want to give the toy another try) and we will credit your account. Email us a photo of the damaged toy, name of your customer and date of purchase and we will send you a credit note. But remember, it’s a ‘one-off’ replacement. If your local authority recycles all plastics (not just milk and household cleaning bottles), please take the damaged toy to the recycling collection point.

Less than 1% of Zogoflex toys are returned because dogs have damaged them, making this toy a great choice for the extreme chewers.

Katie’s Bumpers firehose dog toys

Honestly, we have never, ever had a Katie’s Bumpers returned or a complaint about one. Yet American firehose is an extremely tough material by nature. We’ve found that our own dogs will only need a new Katie’s Bumper because they’ve lost theirs, not because it didn’t last. Katie’s Bumpers are also frequently bought by dog owners who really understand the concept of ‘interactive play’ and use Katie’s Bumpers for agility and obedience training as well as for recreational play on land, snow and in the water.

A final word about serving your customers

Whether you’re a shop, vet, groomer or online retailer, you should always try to deal with a customer complaint yourself. I hope this blog gives you enough understanding to do this. You can also always refer to our return policy page. Of course we’re always happy to help and, in extreme cases, will communicate with your customer directly. However, keep in mind that dealing with a customer complaint yourself and doing it well will help your business and keep your business in the customer’s mind for future purchases.

Deal with product complaints fast, with minimum fuss and a positive outcome for your customer. Even the most upset customer can usually be turned into a happy customer if you’re willing to listen, apologise and and put it right quickly. While we can act for you, it is in your best interests to handle these kinds of communications yourself. Your customer will feel taken care of and will appreciate your service. So my recommendation is, seek advise from us if you need to, but then take care of your customer yourself and do it well!

So how can you optimise your shop layout and product displays in a way that makes it more appealing to pet owners and is more likely to generate sales for you.

It may seem obvious that a well stocked, clean environment sells better, but have a look around your store with an honest eye and ask yourself whether you are really displaying your products at their best. I know it’s time consuming and, if you have a very busy shop, it may seem like an ardous task but I recommend a daily check to make sure everything looks its best.

Customers want shopping to be easy. My daughters like to shop at TK-Max because they can find a nice t-shirt or a pair of jeans at bargain prices. They will spend a good two hours in the store to find that pair of jeans that fits them. A small price to pay for a student who doesn’t have a lot of money but has the time. Me, on the other hand, I can’t cope with TK-Max, because I can’t face searching through rows and rows of untidy clothes organised only by their size and not even that very well. The squashed in t-shirts, jumpers and tops don’t tempt me. But contrast this with the high street fashion stores and you will notice that one of their priorities is to keep their displays tidy and the clothes looking great. If fashions shops can do it, surely pet shops can do it too.

A messy rack of collars & leads of various brands, quality and price may be a place where somebody who urgently needs a collar will spend some time searching, but it won’t be a place where the dog lover who comes to your shop to buy a bag of food will be stopped in their tracks and impulse buy a new collar for their dog because it’s just too damn pretty to ignore.

So go and have a look at your displays now. Ask yourself this question: do our products look like brand new stuff that’s just come in or does it look like it has been handled by too many people too many times? If the latter is true it’s time to do a spring clean even though it is September. Start cleaning, reorganising, restocking and then make this a regular job.

And while you’re at it, why not try something different and turn your shop around to astonish your customers. Have you ever thought of organising your dog toy section by ‘purpose’? A section for fetch & tug toys, a section for the fluffy, cuddle up with toys, a section for the hard to destroy chew toys. Organise the toys into these sections, demarcate clearly and even create some headers or banners that show what the customer can find in each section. The Zogoflex and Vibram K9 dog toys can both be displayed in the section for ‘tough toys’ and you should not only advertise that these are near indestructible dog toys, but also that they are guaranteed!

The same is true for Lupine collars and leads. We know for a fact that those shops and vets who have dedicated a good space in their showroom to display Lupine well, sell significantly more Lupine products than shops who mix some Lupine collars in with the cheaper, non-guaranteed collars. Lupine are also about to change the way their leads are hung. Both 4′ and 6′ leads will come folded and clearly marked, making it easier to create neat and tidy displays. If you make good use of our pattern exchange programme, you will be able to show your customers a continuously changing display of the newest patterns. Keep in mind though that we only give a full credit for ‘as new’ products. So there’s another good reason to keep your products clean and tidy.

Finally you may also change the layout of your store. Even if you’re limited because of the structure of the shop, you can still move collars to where the toys were, toys to where the food was and food to where the collars were. If you always have your collars & leads stored on the right hand side of your store behind the bird cages and your food to the left of the store by the till, your food customer will never ever even look at the collars and leads but go straight to the food and till. So why not try something new and create a display near the till that’s well lit with a couple of low energy spotlights and which changes frequently to highlight different products. This month it could be your new Lupine display, next month a focus on cat toys, the following a range of tough dog toys and then it’s December and you can use the space for your Christmas specials.

And don’t forget to send us photographs of your displays! We’d love to see what your shop or surgery looks like.

Our large dogs, Timba (a white Alsatian) and Karma (a Tervuran Belgian Shepherd) don’t particularly like the hot weather. Timba especially is a typical winter dog (in fact I often wonder whether she isn’t really a Siberian Huskie) and loves nothing better than a huge pile of snow. But that’s a topic for later in the year…

When it’s hot the dogs will naturally retreat to a cool spot – under a shrub in the garden or into the ground floor bathroom which is cool at all times. If we take them to the beach on a hot day, they’ll cope ok as long as we have plenty of fresh water with us and they are allowed  to go into the sea as much as they like. Travelling in the car we always have a Road Refresher non-spill travel bowl with us, so there is water available when they need it. Of all the non-spill bowls I like this one best, because it’s so easy to open and clean. Plus it looks good enough that it even gets a place (or two or three) in our house as it keeps ‘slobber’ down significantly – and that can be important after three dogs have drunk from the bowl!

With our new dog, William (the Pug), it’s a bit of a different matter. As a brachycephalic (short muzzled) breed he’s already destined to have a few breathing problems. He’s also black – very black – and he loves lying in the sun and stays there even when he is hot. For a breed like him that can mean getting into a life threatening situation. And there are plenty of other breeds that suffer in the heat: those with very short, single coats, black coats, and more or less all those dogs that weren’t bred to be outdoors. But even Collies can easily collapse in warm weather as they have a tendency to overheat through too much exercise. Its important to keep those dogs cool by allowing them access to plenty of fresh water, frequent dips in the sea, a lake, river or a paddling pool at home.

We carry a Cool-Dog cooling coat with us for William at all times. It can quickly be activated by soaking it with water and it keeps him cool in the car, office, at home, at agility shows and on walks. I should also mention that dogs should never be walked in very hot weather. Early morning and evenings are the times to take them out. But for all other activities a cooling coat is a very sensible and good investment. Sharon, our logistics manager at Collarways, has a black Lab called Jake. They have a boat and spend many sunny weekends out on the sea. She’s totally delighted with the cool coat and says it keeps Jake much more comfortable for longer when they’re on the boat in the open.

Did I mention not walking in the heat of mid day, but rescheduling it for early morning or late afternoon/evening? Well, it’s not just dogs that don’t like to be active in the heat of the day. Mosquitos, horseflies, midges and other flying biting insects all prefer the cooler time of the summer day. I’m not so sure about ticks, I fear they may be waiting for their prey all day. Biting insects are a nuisance to dogs as much as they are to us and it’s a good idea to protect yourself and your dogs against bites. (You may already use Frontline or Advantage for your dogs, which is recommended particularly if you live in an area where ticks transmit lime disease). We also use Flea The Scene from Happytails Canine Spa line – it is an excellent complement to the products your vet may prescribe. It contains a combination of herbs that keep insects at bay, such as eucalyptus, frankincense, tea tree, peppermint and comfrey. It also contains the natural sunscreen mineral titanium dioxide. Just spray on lightly, avoiding the eyes, but make sure you rub a little on the dog’s nose and those parts of the skin exposed to sunlight. It’s slightly waterproof, but it’s probably best to reapply it after a swim.

To treat any insect bites after they’ve happened, I recommend Itchin’ For Relief, another great product from Happytails. The natural ingredients of Itchin’ For Relief bring an immediate relief to itchy skin. The bottle comes with a clever long ‘nozzler’ which allows you to treat exact spots on the skin even through a long coat. It’s all round quick relief for everything from itches from bites, allergies, hot spots and irritation. I always have a bottle of Itchin’ For Relief handy and actually we all use it – family members and friends included – not just the dogs and cat! Its even been known to stop in it’s tracks the huge swelling of a horsefly bite if applied early.

So get prepared for hot weather, that hot day will come and so will your customers, looking for products to help their dogs stay comfortable through the Summer.

Collarways supports the Don’t Cook Your Dog Campaign!

Our family holiday in Portugal was a fantastic break from my normal busy life. But since we had to leave our three dogs at home I found my head turned whenever I met a dog, and I met a lot!  I was surprised to find that in a little sleepy village by the sea you can come across so many different breeds of dog. We saw Labradors, Jack Russels, a Leonberger, a French Bulldog, an Iberian Sight Hound and even a Huskie, plus any number of cross breeds. (Unfortunately I didn’t see a Portuguese Water Dog – but that’s another story).

Something that struck me was that we didn’t see a single dog that was walked by it’s collar. Every dog, large and small, was walked on a harness. I’ve also observed this in Germany and Austria. It seems that on the continent, walking dogs on harnesses is much preferred to walking them on a collar. So I began to wonder why harnesses are relatively ‘slow sellers’ in England compared to collars. We sell approximately one harness to every ten collars! I’ve come to the conclusion that owners simply do not know about the benefits of using a harnesses to walk their dog.

So why would you choose a harness over a collar for walking a dog?

Most dogs don’t really like being walked on collars
A dog pulls on the lead for various reasons, including wanting to ‘lead the walk’, or because they feel ‘trapped’ on the lead. If you think about it,  the neck is a very vulnerable part of the dog’s body, both physically and psychologically so it makes perfect sense that a dog might not like that constant tugging. Dog’s don’t like being walked on collars because it puts pressure on the neck. Would you like it?

A harness is more than a remedial tool
Many people consider a harness a remedial tool used for dogs with a tendency to pull. But although there are a number of special so called ‘anti-pull’ harnesses on the market this is not the real purpose of a harness. A good quality, well fitting harnesses is intended to be an anti-pulling device as such. A dog that pulls on the lead may pull just as much on a harness as it would on a collar, unless it is trained not to! I’ve heard it said by a few people that a dog pulls even harder on a harness, though I’ve never found this to be the case.

Harnesses are much more comfortable
Compare this to a harness, where the pressure is evenly distributed across the chest. You can see why it would make for a more comfortable experience for a dog on a walk.

Discovering the value of harnesses for dogs
For a long time our dogs rarely wore harnesses, even when I began to stock them. I suppose I expected it to be a hassle to put a harness on the dog, and since both our Belgian and German Shepherds were pretty good on the lead they always just wore Combo collars. But then they are country dogs and are rarely ever are on the lead at all!

Then we got William (our pug) and he started his lead training on a collar. Last year we began the process of getting him his pet passport (a story for another time) and the vet shaved a bit of fur off his neck (WIlliam’s not the vet’s) to take some blood. I didn’t want a collar to rub on the naked skin, so decided to ‘temporarily’ walk William on a harnesses. This was an eyeopener for me, and William has been on a harness ever since.

William now wears his harnesses on every walk, and I love the way he feels so unrestricted when walking on the lead. There is no pressure on the neck and I can give him gentle messages through the lead without pulling his head in any way. The harness also allows me to get hold of him quickly when off lead and I find it a much gentler way to restrain him.

William doesn’t mind wearing the harness at all, but some dogs may have a tendency to chew on the harness if it’s left on. (With Lupine harnesses this isn’t a problem. As with all their products Lupine offer an ‘even-if-chewed’ guarantee, and will replace any product whatever damage it has. So if a harness gets chewed, just replace it under the Lupine guarantee).

Styles of harness
Lupine produce two types of harness for dogs (plus one designed specially for cats and rabbits) – a Roman Harness and a Step-in Harness. Which harness to choose has largely to do with the shape of the dog and the preference of the owner. I’ve had customers where the Roman Harness caused soreness and when we switched the dog to a Step-in, the problem disappeared. I’ve also seen this issue the other way round, where the Step-in harness rubbed and the Roman harness worked better for that particular dog. Some owners find the Step-in Harness easier to put on, but with a bit of practice the Roman also takes a less than a minute. (Refer to our sizing and fitting guide on how to choose the correct harness for your canine customer).

So I’m now a big harness fan. Not only are they practical, comfortable, and offer more control without putting a dog’s neck under strain, but they also look great – especially if its a Lupine collar in one of the great Lupine patterns.