December 3, 2025 • 43 mins
Is your car a furry disaster zone after every walk or road trip?
If your dog’s claws, fur, or anxiety have ever caused chaos in the car, this episode is for you.
In today’s episode of The Dog Who Asked for More, I sit down with Jim Umlauf, co-founder of 4Knines — the company behind some of the most durable and thoughtfully engineered dog car gear on the market. We talk about how his two Dobermans turned a car into a disaster zone… and sparked a product line now trusted by dog owners (and even auto companies!) across the country.
In this episode:
- Learn the difference between just “keeping your car clean” vs. preventing real damage
- Hear how customer feedback shaped every part of 4Knines’ product development
- Find out why good gear supports enrichment, safety, and calmer rides for your dog
Press play to find out how strong gear leads to smoother car rides — and how a product built with care can help you focus less on cleaning… and more on connection.
The Dog Who Asked for More Extras:
Get a free copy of The Messy Middle: Getting Unstuck with your Big Feeling Doghttps://tinyurl.com/messymiddletdwafm
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https://tinyurl.com/tdwafmbooknow
Email thedogwhoaskedformore@gmail.com to get in touch with Em
Join the Community
https://join.slack.com/t/thedogwhoaskedformore/shared_invite/zt-305kdyab7-y6eTWjbAeSwHItNmloLQUA
This podcast explores real-life dog behavior and training through the lens of a canine nutritionist, dog coach, and retired vet tech—diving into reactivity, dog obedience, dog health, dog food, dog habits, dog lifestyle, canine enrichment, pet enrichment, dog myths, and what it actually takes to support reactive dogs safely and calmly. Whether you’re a dog mom navigating reactivity, building the human–dog bond, choosing dog products, or just trying to create a calmer dog life with your canine, you’ll find grounded strategies to build trust, improve dog behavior, and help your dog feel safe, understood, and supported.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
What if your car could stay clean and damage free even after
muddy walks, beach days and roadtrips with your dog?
Welcome to the dog who Asked formore, the podcast helping dog
parents who feel stuck and overwhelmed by their pup finally
let go of the guilt. Learn to communicate clearly and
build the bond you've always dreamed of through a partnership
(00:20):
based approach that combines training, nutrition and
enrichment instead of chasing the quick fixes that don't
actually work. I'm EM, and in this episode,
you'll learn how 4K nines turnedADIY fix into a patent
protection trusted by thousands of dog parents, the real
difference between keeping cleanand preventing damage, and how
(00:43):
to choose covers that do both. And why durability matters more
than bells and whistles when it comes to gear that actually
lasts. Because the right travel gear
doesn't just keep hair out of your car, it keeps your car safe
from your dog. Joining us today is Jim Umloff,
the founder of Four Canines, thebrand behind top rated seat
(01:03):
covers, cargo liners, and travelgear for dog owners.
Jim, part of your origin story is that you and your wife made
the first prototype out of necessity because your Dobermans
completely destroyed your car. What was your aha moment that
turned all of this into a business?
Just to give everybody a heads up, our first Doberman was a
(01:25):
male. He was 120 lbs.
And our female was 80 lbs and I had a little 4 door car.
They would wrestle in the back seat and it was a disaster.
We tried blankets, we tried everything.
We actually went to all the different stores to buy seat
covers because we didn't know these were something we were
going to need. So we got a whole bunch of
different ones. We went to the actual car
dealerships to try and get one there.
(01:46):
None of them would stay in place.
They were all thin. They were all very basic and
they just, every time they wouldmove around back there, there's
two big dogs in a little car, the cover would just move.
And if they were almost worthless.
And so that was our aha moment that it was like we need
something that will hold these in place and keep these where
they need to be to protect the car.
We were left to our own devices because we couldn't find
(02:06):
anything that would do it. And we figured out how to make
one. And from there, things just took
off. Want to create a space where we
can find things and solve problems that I couldn't find
resources for. So I love that you took the
initiative to figure out your own problem and then provide a
solution for other pet parents just like you.
I have to know how deep the damage was because it's, you
(02:29):
know, destroyed is a pretty big term.
Tell me how crazy this damage was to your vehicle.
That's. The thing that's really
interesting is that if you look at the market now, just sort of
a broader scope, everybody thinks you buy these to keep
your car clean, which is definitely part of what you're
doing. But when I created this cover, I
created it to stop damage. There's two very different
(02:51):
things. You can build 1 that'll keep
your car clean, but trying to build one that prevents damage
is a whole nother task entirely.Aries.
Aries is the big dog, his paw. It was about as big as my hand
and I'm big. What was happening is they were
scratching the leather seats. They put a hole in the leather
seat, not to mention all the dirt that was in there.
And here's the thing, repairing a leather seat is not easy.
(03:11):
It's not something you can do yourself and it costs a lot of
money. And so that's what we designed
the seat covers to do, is to protect the seat from the dog.
So we didn't have that happen anymore.
If you get dirt back there, slobber hair you can vacuum, you
can use some elbow grease, you can clean.
When you have a hole in your leather seat, it's a whole
different problem. It absolutely is.
(03:31):
The worst thing that I've ever seen, just in the history of all
of my years of working with dogswas we had a gentleman who
brought a chow chow to the clinic and he left it in the
car. The dog had anxiety and the dog
literally ate a hole in the car with a Cadillac and he just ate
a hole in the middle of the seat.
And I remember thinking, jeez, maybe he could have done
(03:53):
something to prevent that. But a lot of people don't think
about that because, yes, they think about how can I keep this
clean? And then they buy the products
that you stated before. They RIP open, they get full of
hair, they're very thin materialthat stretch out or their claws
go through and all that kind of stuff.
And that doesn't really protect the seat very well.
(04:14):
And sometimes you get dogs that their nails are long, they don't
like to get their nails clipped.And then you have even more
capability of the dog being ableto RIP stuff up, especially if
they're walking around on your seats or if you're driving and a
slide across the seats. It's really, really great that
you thought about multiple factors when it came to how do
we protect the car versus just how do we keep it clean.
(04:37):
We're very fortunate. You know, when we first started,
quite frankly, we didn't know, we didn't know and we've figured
it out along the way by constantly iterating to the
covers, right. And that's, that's one of our
keys to success is when you started here.
And we've been building on thesecovers, making them better year
over year based on customer feedback, customer reviews, we
take all that and we put it in the cover, we select better
(04:57):
materials. We do things like UV protect the
headrest straps, They don't disintegrate because when we
first started making them, we had problems with the headrest
straps or the clips breaking. And so we've resolved all those
problems after doing this for 1213 years.
Like we've been doing it. And we're very fortunate because
we've had a customer base that has told us what they wanted
and, and we built to it. And we've just constantly been
(05:18):
improving over time. My brother has a pit mix and he
will not let anybody clip his nails.
They just took him to the vet, They tried to sedate, they tried
everything. He won't let anybody trim his
nails. And so we actually have video of
him jumping in the car and you can see the nails going into the
cover and the cover doesn't RIP.And so we've used him sort of as
(05:38):
a use case because his nails arewicked long.
It's just the same way he hates to have his nails trim, so I
need something that is durable because when he gets up in the
car, I don't want him to scratchthe seats.
I don't want him to RIP a hole in them.
And until recently, until I got the Forerunner, we had fabric
seats, which makes it even more precarious with those nails like
that. I, I love that you you think
(05:59):
with that kind of stuff in mind,but also listen to the customer.
Kind of feels like a mantra at 4K nines.
How do you collect the feedback and turn it into new products or
improved products? Yeah, No thanks.
We've been really lucky. So one of the things that we did
early on is every single review that we got, we read and we
(06:20):
replied to and we made modifications and notes based on
what was in the reviews. And as we grew and got bigger,
we have an e-mail list where people can share stuff with us.
They have our Facebook page or Instagram page, all the
different means of communicationmonitor that every single day
our team monitors that. They collate all the
information, they compile it down and then we digest all
that. And where there is a deficiency,
(06:42):
we strive to make it better. One of the things that we always
know and having done this for solong and is that we're not
always going to get it right. We're not perfect, we're not
always going to get this right, but we sure try.
And if you do have a problem, wehave a fantastic customer
service team that will take careof that problem and we're going
to do our best to solve it. And that's the other part of
this. So it's not only just taking in
(07:03):
the feedback and doing somethingwith it, but it's also
supporting it with the right level of customer service, which
is huge for us. And what we've had, fortunate
enough is a great consumer base and they've basically sent us
messages and said, hey, I'd really like to be able to do
this or I'd really like to be able to do that.
And that's what's led to all of our patents, right?
So customers wanted the ability to use the middle seat belt and
(07:27):
it's not something we even thought of, right?
Wasn't even on our radar. And they said, hey, I would use
this not only with my dog, but use it with my kids, but I can't
use the middle seat belt becausethe cover covers it.
And I was like, huh. So we started playing around
with it and we came up with a really cool patented solution to
it that allows you to use the middle seat belt, but it also
allows you to use the armrest, allows you to fold down a seat
and basically use all the functions of your vehicle while
(07:50):
keeping the cover in place, which makes your life easier.
And we did that based on customers asking us to solve the
problem. Our floor hammock product that
we have was based on customers asking us the ability to have a
cover that goes down the back ofthe front seats in a full size
truck. And they wanted their dog to be
on the floor because in full size trucks, the the seats fold
(08:10):
up and they can sit on the floor, which is the most stable
platform in the whole vehicle. And so we developed that.
We developed our Crew Cab cover all the different products.
Products that we're coming out with now are either products
that we wanted because we neededthem or they're products that
customers asked us for. And I think that's why we're
still here 12 years later. Yeah, I think so too.
Tell me the wildest, weirdest, strangest piece of feedback or
(08:34):
request you've ever got. My gosh, it's funny.
We get these. Jeez, I'm trying to think of the
most appropriate one that we canshare.
I mean, I've had crazy stories over the years.
We build our covers as universalfit and we do that for a
specific reason. And it comes down to
flexibility. We want you to have a product
you can use in multiple different situations, whether
you have one car and then you trade your car and you get a new
(08:55):
car. And so everybody, least from our
customer base appreciates the flexibility that we provide in
all of our covers. But we have lots of customers
that say they want all kinds of specific customized stuff for
their cover. They wanted to be able to split
in half and then fold down one other part and then have
something that goes on to the floor.
So it acts as a floor mat and all wants to be modular.
(09:17):
And they wanted to be able to zip back together all these
different things. And I'm like, yeah, all that
stuff sounds fantastic, but I can't solve all these problems
with one product. Somebody wanted it to to have an
extension that would go down from the seat onto the floor and
then up and connect to the hammock section if they wanted
their dog to be able to go on the floor, but then zip back
together if they didn't want their dog to be able to do that.
(09:40):
And I mean, I've had wild customized suggestions with
these covers over the years. And what we realized is that
durability and quality is our hallmark.
And we're trying to make everything the way that
everybody wants it. But we always default back to
this needs to last and be durable enough.
And we won't put components in there for some of these requests
(10:02):
if we don't think the cover is going to last.
Which is wonderful because I don't want a product that is
going to do 15 different things but not protect against the main
thing that I'm trying to protect, right?
It's it's not any good if it's just going to RIP apart and you
start adding too many modifications and too many
modular capabilities and you completely just ruin the
(10:24):
structure of your product. Yep.
Yeah. We actually have a scenario now
where because we have patents and we have protections, people
are always trying to design around our patent.
And they put all these bells andwhistles and all these different
things to try and get around ourpatents, and they build sort of
Frankenstein's monster. And can they get to the
functionality that we provide, Maybe.
(10:45):
Are they doing it as simply and effectively as possible?
No way. And they have all these
different points where the coverfails and it breaks and they
don't last. And it's because they've tried
to engineer around our patent and build all this crazy stuff
into the cover. And you lose the focus on what
problem you're solving. And the problem you're solving
is keeping your vehicle protected and clean.
(11:07):
And we start doing all this other stuff and you lose that
North Star. You end up with problems.
Absolutely, and 4K9 seat covers are famous for that durability
and the thoughtful features, just like you said, the split
bench access, but also your non slip lining.
Yeah. What goes into designing for
real world use? What's kind of process do you
(11:27):
guys go through to make sure that these things are actually
going to work? So we actually test all of
ourselves in real life conditions with our own dogs.
We have two Dobermans now. Our first two have passed, but
we have two now. They're both 80 lbs.
They're big dogs and we test them with the dogs all the time.
What we do is anytime we build aproduct, we we do some research,
we try to identify what problem we're solving and then we build
(11:48):
the cover and then we test and test and test and test.
One of the things that we realized early on several years
ago is that we're using real life quilting in our product.
So they're stitched together andwe realized even though we
waterproof them and all the other stuff, the quilting
stitching would compromise the cover.
And if there was a lot of fluid,whether urine or slobber or wet
(12:11):
dog, sometimes it could could seep through the cover and it
was a problem because obviously we want your seats to be as
protected as possible. So what we developed is
something called Canine Shield. And Canine Shield is a special
laminate layer waterproofing that we put on the seat bottom
and in the cargo area to preventwater from seeping through.
So the top of the cover has a water repellent and a stain
(12:32):
protecting on it. And then underneath we quote
layers together. And then underneath that we have
one solid sheet layer called Canine Shield.
One side is a film waterproof proof layer, so it's the same
stuff that's used in human mattress pads.
It's almost like Saran wrap attached to a piece of fabric.
And on the other side of that isour non slip layer.
So A, keeps the cover from sliding on the seat and B, it
(12:55):
gives you a completely waterproof barrier underneath
the cover. And that's something we learned
over time. The first couple of covers that
we made the first couple years didn't have that feature, but
now all of our products have Canine Shield in because it's
the best way to protect the seat.
When I feel it in mind, you can hear that like little crinkle,
you know, and like you're movingit around.
(13:15):
You can hear it does sound like a mattress cover.
Now that you said that, that's really, really smart, especially
like you said, because dogs do they get slobbery, they get wet
when they're at the beach or if you take them to the pool or
whatever it is that you're out doing.
But also sometimes dogs have accidents in cars and being able
to remove that and protect the seats is really important.
(13:37):
I also would like to touch on the the one-size-fits-all thing
right. I moved up from having a Hyundai
Santa Fe to a Toyota 4 runner and I was worried I was like
this car is much bigger than thecar that I had.
I wonder if this thing is still going to fit in here and it
does. It fits just fine.
You know, you adjust the straps a little bit, but it covers the
(13:59):
size of the seat still. Granted, it went down like a
little bit farther, obviously inthe Santa Fe because it didn't
have as big of a bench, but now it still covers exactly
everything that it needs to cover and it protects the seats.
So I love that you guys think about those kinds of things and
we don't have to go out into ourcar and measure it.
What size do I need? Is this going to fit?
(14:20):
Will it fit around the headrest?You make those things very easy
and accessible for people who probably don't really know
anything about their vehicle other than it's the vehicle that
they drive. I would have no idea what size
car cover to buy for my car if Ihad to measure it and figure it
all out because where exactly doyou measure it?
Does it start at the end of the seat?
Does it start from door to door?Do you have to measure the depth
(14:42):
of the foot wells and all that kind of stuff?
Is it can be really complicating, really frustrating
and really annoying. So I love that you make it
flexible and easy for pet parents to just be like, oh,
Yep, this one-size-fits-all. We'll just stick it in there and
adjust a few things and it and it works great.
Yeah. And we actually just launched on
our website about a couple weeksago a product Finder quiz, which
(15:02):
helps you actually walk through because, you know, one of the
things that we have right now iswe have probably the widest
selection of different products available for in the back of
your car. So whether you want a seat
extender, you want a hammock cover, you want a fitted cover,
you want a Crew Cab seat cover, you want a hard bottom.
We have all these different products now and what we're
finding is customers wanted an easier way to figure out which
(15:23):
one would work best for them. And so now if you go to our
website, it's called Find Your Perfect Fit and there's a little
quiz you can take, takes less than 30 seconds and it'll help
you figure out which one will work best in your vehicle.
It's really worked great. Customers are loving it.
And the other thing to your point is not only is it easy to
find one that will fit, but if you do change cars like you do,
or maybe you have to put it in your partner's car, or maybe you
(15:46):
have to put it in your friend's car or maybe it's in a rental or
something like that. These covers are going to fit
and they actually look great in the vehicle because we've
figured out after all these years what size really works and
how to fit it into a vehicle. And the different things to take
into consideration about where the head straps go, where the
seat belt openings are, where the latch openings are, how big
they should be, and everything like that to give you the most
(16:08):
flexibility in the cover possible.
And they're easy to remove too. It's another thing.
I put it in my car. It's very easy.
And then as soon as I got a different car, I was like, oh,
well, I'm going to have to take this thing out and move it over
there. And I just, I put it in and I
snapped the snaps, I adjusted them and I was like, that was a
lot easier than I thought it wasgoing to be.
I wasn't tangled up in all different kinds of things.
(16:30):
And you guys also have of these,I don't know if they're intended
to be weights. I'm assuming that's what they
are on the back of the seat. Anchor the seat cover.
Yeah, they're like the orange little things.
And so when you put it on the seat, then it like actually
holds it down on the seat versusjust like flips around and moves
around and all that kind of stuff.
So even when you do have it in the bucket kind of look, it
(16:52):
doesn't move around. And then when you take it down
and you let it hang down to the floor all the way, it still
doesn't move. And I love that because a, a lot
of previous seat covers that I've had either wrap like all
the way around the seat and as we talked about before, are very
thin and then they get puncturedor they don't really cover the
seat well and the slip covers then just slide off or there
(17:15):
isn't anything to keep them on the seat.
So then there's the dog is sliding around and the, the
thing rips or it comes off the seat and then you're not
protecting anything from cleanliness or rips at all.
So I love that that that functionality and that is there
because it keeps it stable and sturdy on the seat, which is so
important. Yeah.
(17:36):
And the other important point ofthat, and the reason we have
those seat anchors is imagine ifyou happen to be driving without
your dog and you want to roll the window down.
The last thing you want is a bigpiece of fabric flapping in the
wind in the back seat of the car.
Because if it starts flapping inthe wind, if there is dog hair
on there, you're now going to have dog hair everywhere, right?
And so we needed to make sure that this thing was going to
(17:56):
stay in place. And that's why we have those
seat anchors in there. I never thought about that
because now I have a sunroof andthe back window also rolls down
in a forerunner. So yeah, a lot more air comes
through there. And no, it never flaps around
because I guarantee I would havehad feelings about that.
Yeah, you'd have hair everywhere.
So that that's one of the thingsthat we tested when we first
(18:16):
built the cover, right? I put it in there and I just had
it in the back and I was drivingaround one day, this thing's
flapping in the wind back there and I'm like, that's a problem.
So we solved that early on just because of our own product test
testing in house. It's my understanding that you
have 20 product patents. Can you share one or two
customer LED innovations that became real game changers for
(18:37):
you guys? Our split tech is all based on
sort of that discussion we had earlier where somebody wanted to
use the middle seat belt and that really led to not only for
the rear seats but also for our cargo liners.
Our cargo liners have split techin them.
So you can fold the seats down, you can fold the center armrest
down if your vehicle has that capability.
And what we learned from that initial set and we got patents
(18:58):
and all that was that not only do we want to make something
that protects the vehicle, but we want to make something that
is easy for you to use. You want to be able to fold down
your seat. So you should be able to do
that. You want to be able to fold your
seats up in a Crew Cab seat or in a Crew Cab truck and the
seats fold up in the back in a 6040 fashion.
You want to be able to do all that.
So as we've grown as a company, we've not only incorporated in
(19:21):
high quality construction materials, but also the ability
to use all the functions of yourvehicle while keeping these
things in place. And that's not something
initially we had even considered.
And so now our floor hammock product is something that
customers asked us for that we have patents on our Crew Cab
seat cover, has multiple patentson our Crew Cab seat cover for
full size trucks. We have these new door guards
(19:43):
that we just started building that are patent pending right
now. One of the problems with door
guards is they would flap in thewind and we have a new
connection on these door guards that will keep them connected in
multiple points. You can actually take a leaf
blower and blow it at the cover and it won't blow off the door.
We're basically trying to not only provide great products.
Great. Construction, great materials,
but ease of use for you. We want to make your life easier
(20:07):
and that's ultimately what we put into all this now.
That's incredible. I have to say my favorite
product is the backseat storage.I don't know what you guys call
that, but I love it. It connects around the headrest
and then it hooks to the little rails underneath the seat.
So it doesn't it doesn't move, it doesn't flap around.
I can still hook the seat cover over it so that it's covered up
(20:30):
and it it doesn't, the dog can'tcan't get into it or whatever.
But the storage in there, I meanpoop bags, extra water bowls,
kibble, I can put anything I want in there.
I can even fit my nail trimmers in there.
It's great. I love it.
It's probably my favorite product, but my favorite thing
about it is that it doesn't move.
It stays right there and it's protected by the seat cover just
(20:51):
like the rest of the the car is.And it just gives me that extra
ability to store things in my car that I wouldn't have had
room for without putting some kind of bag or tote or something
for my dogs in there. And it even saves space because
it's right on the back of the seat and it's completely flat.
I absolutely love that thing. Thank you.
(21:13):
Yeah, that's actually new for us.
And you know what's interesting is that that we call it a seat
back organizer or kick shield. We brought that to market
because when we started 4 canines, we only had dogs and
now we have 2 nine year old twindaughters.
And so not only were the dogs making a mess, but they were
kicking up the mess in the car pretty quickly.
There was stuff everywhere and I'm like there's got to be a
better way for them to have all their Knick knacky things and
(21:35):
all the other stuff they want tohave in the car.
And so we built that and I was like, this is great because it
can act like a kick shield for their feet.
So I'm not cleaning feet off theback of my seat.
I can store all the dog stuff inthere from poop bags to we
always have an extra leash in the car so I can put that in
there and the kids can hang their water bottle on it and
they can put all their stuff in there and it just contains the
(21:57):
mess in the vehicle and makes things so much easier for us.
And that's why we actually brought it to market and it
works great for just St. dog owners, for people with kids,
for anybody, because it puts everything in arm's reach,
whether you put on the passengerside and you just have to reach
over or where you open up the back door and you have one
behind your seat. We have them in both of our
vehicles and we love them. The kids love them and they've
(22:19):
been working out fantastic. So we're happy we brought those
to market, but they're brand newfor us and they're selling
great. I love it and I didn't even
think about how well that would work with kids too.
Could stick their snacks and their extra little toys that
there's even room for them. They took their phone or like
you said, water bottles in there.
That's great because when you can combine, especially for
families that have children and dogs and they're toting
(22:41):
everybody around. Anything that you can do to make
all of that easier just on everyone is so important and so
much more helpful, I guess is the word that I'm looking for
for everyone because you are minimizing the clutter.
I cannot stand clutter. It drives me insane.
So if I can compartmentalize allof it, that's that's, that's
(23:01):
even better for me. That's, you know, one of the
things thinking about like the RV journey, yeah, we'll have
extra stuff in the RV. But being able to have that
stuff accessible and extra leash, poop bags, water dish,
things like that for when we stop at rest stops or if we're
at a gas station or things like that.
Just having it right there so it's quick and easy to grab and
not have to think about it is iteases the mind and it helps out
(23:24):
in situations where maybe your other leash breaks or you're
don't have a way to feed your dog because you're out in the
middle of nowhere and you just, it's just right there.
So whether you have an RV behindyou or not, you can have room
for all of those little things without having to carry a
backpack on top of it to just take all of your dog's gear with
(23:45):
you. So I think that's really awesome
that you think about. Thank you.
What will ease people's minds? Yeah, convenience.
It's it's a plus. I mean, if we can, if we can
build something strong and make your life easier than it's a win
win all around. And on top of that, a lot of
brands hide behind bots. But you guys have a really high
priority on high touch customer service.
(24:06):
How do you think that that shapes customer loyalty and
feedback loops? For us it's been critical.
I remember being on vacation andwe were skiing and somebody
called right in the middle of the slope and I stopped to take
a phone call right in the middleof the slope when we were brand
new. For us it's been the most
important thing, quality products and better customer
service. We have USA based customer
(24:26):
support. We have somebody on the East
Coast, somebody on the West Coast so that we have somebody
for the different time zones andyou always have the ability to
call in and talk to a person to get your questions answered.
That's not something we are evergoing to take away.
In a day and age now where there's a lot of companies, you
can never talk to anybody. It's only e-mail or it's only
chat bot. We strongly believe having good
(24:47):
qualified people that can take aphone call and do a great job
solving your problem because like I said earlier, we know we
don't always get it right. I mean, it's impossible to be
perfect, but we strive if there is a problem to do our best to
solve it and to do it as fast aspossible.
So I can't tell you. We have tons of reviews on the
website that are all about my customer service team and what a
great job they do. It's one of the points of pride
(25:09):
for us outside of outside of just producing great products.
But having a great business means supporting your customer
and supporting your customer means they can get support when
they need it. Absolutely.
And not only do you provide really incredible customer
service, your seat covers are built to last and they come with
a lifetime warranty. So how do you uphold that
(25:29):
promise? Depending upon how long you've
our cover, we've had people callus seven years later and say it
finally broke and they're actually surprised and sometimes
they actually feel kind of guilty because they know they
got more than the use they expected out of the product.
But we stand behind that right now.
If you do something silly honestly, and you install it
wrong or your dog eats it or something bad happens, that's
(25:51):
not necessarily covered by the warranty.
But if that even happens, we go out of our way to to make it
right and we'll do something foryou.
That's what we believe in. We lifetime warranty these
against manufacturing defects and any problems.
It's in there because we know that our craftsmanship is so
good and the materials we use are so good.
We've gone through three different kinds of clips on
these covers to find the perfectone that doesn't break and lasts
(26:13):
a long time. All these different things that
we can do to make sure that you're satisfied with the
product, the customer service team and having them in place to
be able to support you is a critical component of what we
do. And we're very proud of it,
actually very proud of our customer service.
You should be. Customer service is so important
and it is lacking so much in many industries, but especially
(26:36):
the pet industry because it really is difficult to get
somebody on the phone that will help you in any way, shape or
form, but also that actually knows something about the
product, knows how the product should be used, knows how to
install the product, all that kind of stuff.
I spoke to another guest a whileback about she was doing
something for her podcast and she was calling around asking
(26:58):
random questions about shop callers and she called a bunch
of different companies who sell shop callers.
And the answers that she were getting were completely varied
and vast. And with a product like that,
but you need to know how it works.
You can't just put some random person on the phone and say,
yeah, my 5 year old kid can, canuse this to the person that's
(27:18):
asking the questions when in fact they've never actually used
one and don't know how it works.It's the same thing with seat
covers. You, you have to have some
knowledge of the materials, how it's installed, how to clean it.
All of those things is so important because you do provide
to warranty and you want people using it properly and if you
don't have the customer service to support that, you're going to
(27:41):
be having a lot more complaints.Yeah.
I mean, we're lucky because one of our customer service
representatives, she's actually the director of customer
experience for us here. She's been with us for nine
years, maybe 10 years at this point.
So she's been with us just aboutthe entire time.
She gives us suggestions, she does the research, she talks to
all the customers. She compiles all that
information for us and she's been with us almost since the
(28:03):
get go. One interesting thing that you
started talking about there, andthis is if you were to go on
Amazon or you to go on websites and you were to look at just the
pictures of how these covers work, they might all look the
same. The problem is just because they
look the same doesn't mean they're going to perform the
same. And when you talk to Jen or you
talk to anybody on our team, that's one of the things they
can help you figure out really quickly.
(28:23):
Just because they may look like this or they may look like that
doesn't mean they're going to work the same.
And they can explain to you why,and they know the benefit that
goes into these design things. We made the zippers go in one
certain direction versus the other direction.
And there's a reason behind all these different design elements
we have in there that you can't get from a picture.
So being able to talk to somebody to explain all that to
(28:46):
you is, I mean, it's invaluable.It really is.
It really is. You said that about the zippers
and that is interesting because I did notice that they do go a
certain direction and they're very easy to use.
They don't ever get stuck. That's something that I find a
lot with linings of the zipper lining is too close to the
lining of the fabric. Then they get stuck and they
catch and then the zippers RIP and all that stuff.
(29:08):
And I haven't had any of those issues with with your zipper.
So I imagine that there's probably some engineering that
goes into that whole thing as well.
A. 100% When our rear seat covers, the zippers go in One
Direction and our cargo liner, they go the other direction and
it's all based on how the coversused and how you're going to
manipulate the cover and making it as easy as possible for you.
(29:28):
We have a lot of customers who are elderly and so manipulating
the covers on some of these products.
When you have these small zippers and you have to put them
together and they're in a weird spot, We've solved all that by
just easily changing the direction of the zipper so it's
easier to put together, whether it's easier to zip it and our
rear seat covers, the zipper zipdown.
So it does two things. One, you never have to worry
(29:49):
about that zipper falling and the cover opening up.
You start the zipper at the top and you pull the zipper towards
the bottom. But the other thing is when
you're going to zipper the coverback up, it's so much easier for
you at the top of the cover to manipulate that zipper and put
the ends together versus trying to do it down in the seam at the
bottom of the cover, right? It's little things like that for
the seat back organizer that we were just talking about.
(30:11):
There's a zipper on that and we had put the zipper on and we're
using it for a while and I'm in the car and noises drive me
crazy. And I'm like, what is that
jingling noise? It's driving me nuts.
Like what is that? And my daughter was like, it's
the zipper. And I'm like, what zipper?
She's like, it's a zipper on theorganizer.
And I'm like, are you kidding me?
She's like, no, the zipper's jingling around and you're
hearing the zipper Dingle around.
And I was like, huh, So now the zipper doesn't Jingle because
(30:34):
it's one of the locking zipper. So it it locks shut and it does
that specifically because I don't want anybody to hear
jingling. So it's all these little things
to go into making these covers. I was having this discussion
with some of the other day. I'm we've done this for 12
years. This this is what we do.
I like engineering covers. We think about all these little
things that people don't normally think of.
(30:55):
And when we look at competitive covers, you can tell that
they're just copying what's out there.
They're just copying it. They're not building it because
they understand it. They're copying what's out there
to try and sell something competitive, but they don't know
the why behind all the little things.
And so they change some of theseaspects of the covers.
They don't use the zipper that locks shut.
(31:15):
They put the zipper in the otherdirection.
And it's because they don't know.
They're just sellers from overseas that are trying to make
a buck and they're building these products without the why
behind them. There's a big difference between
knowledge and wisdom is something I tell my kids all the
time. You can get knowledge from
ChatGPT, you can get it from copying somebody's product, but
you don't have the wisdom that goes behind building.
(31:38):
And that's where we've been veryfortunate because we have all
this knowledge and experience that we're putting in these
products. The considerations about why we
build these is very different than just somebody off the shelf
deciding they want to make one of these one day.
I love that there's a differencebetween knowledge and wisdom
because it's so true. I have a lot of knowledge that I
can share with everyone, but thewisdom is my experience behind
(31:59):
it. That's really neat.
I love that you made it that deep because it's seat covers,
but it's important. Yeah, if you're going to do it,
do it right. You know what I mean?
My friends would be like, you have patents on seat covers.
And I'm like, yeah, like we had a lot of fun.
And they're like, how do you even do that?
And I'm like, well, it's just because it's not your thing,
right? That's how deep we get into
these things to the point where they are that differentiated
(32:20):
that you can get a patent out ofit.
And it's made a huge difference for us.
When you're obsessed about what you do, it makes a difference.
It does make a difference. Speaking of being different and
being obsessed about what you do, you guys are based in
Oklahoma, but you import a lot of materials.
How are tariffs affecting your business and what are your
strategies that you're leaning into to stay float in this
(32:43):
economic change? Yeah, I'm not going to lie to
you. It's it's been a challenge.
I mean it's been a challenge ever since 2018 nineteen when
when initial round of tariffs went in place, we designed our
whole business around the model where tariffs were considerably
less than they are. And then we got hit thousand
1819 and now obviously it's a lot higher.
We manufacture in China and a lot of people don't like that.
(33:05):
But I can tell you that 90% of the synthetic textiles and
materials that go into making our cover come from China, even
though we've tried to make it inthe US, US, we've tried to make
it in Mexico. We tried making all these
different places. They're importing all the raw
materials from China because it's the only place they're
made. We've elected to stay in China
because the level of manufacturing we've got and
we've used the same supplier for13 years and we have a great
(33:27):
relationship with them. They build great products for
us, but these tariffs have been a challenge.
So what have we done? We have modified some of our
packaging to try and help with packaging.
But what we're not doing is modifying the product.
And right now what I'm seeing asI do comparator tests versus the
competition is trinkflation in the products.
The clips are getting smaller, the straps are getting smaller.
(33:49):
The materials that they're putting into these products are
changing as these tariffs go in place.
And that's what a lot of folks are having to do right now is
they're changing the quality of the product to try and survive
the tariffs situation. And it's really sad to see, but
it's, it's the reality. We have elected not to change
any of the components that we'veused over the 13 years.
(34:09):
We've used the same materials over time that we've upgraded
when we learned our lesson. So the 600D material we build
our covers out of we've used for10 of the 13 years, the heavy
duty straps, the clips, everything like that we've used
for multiple years. And we will not change those
because that would ruin the quality of the product.
And that's just not something we're willing to do.
(34:29):
So we've tried to find differentshipping options.
We've tried to work with our manufacturing team to lower some
of our costs. We've tried the order in bulk in
some instances to save money by ordering bulk.
We've tried to ship at differenttime periods and in different
ways. But we've done everything that
we can possibly do to try and mitigate the impact without
reducing the quality of the product.
(34:50):
And ultimately, what it really means is we're losing some
profitability along the way. We're hopeful that the tariff
thing will resolve itself over time and maybe we'll get down to
a better tariff level, but we have not compromised the quality
of the product or the materials that go into it because we just
don't believe in that. That's super important,
especially when you have a product that you give a lifetime
(35:11):
warranty on. If you change the components to
be less than what they are rightnow, you're just going to be
replacing more and more and more.
And how does that cost benefit way out?
You're probably going to be spending more money doing that
because you're going to be replacing more covers because
you compromised on components and and then they get a new one
(35:32):
and that one breaks and now you're replacing that one.
I think that not compromising onthose pieces of your product is
really, really important. And that really says something
about you as a brand, that quality is that important to
you. Thank you.
Brand reputation is everything for us.
We can make mistakes, but if youkeep making mistakes over and
over again, you take shortcuts and your brand reputation is
(35:54):
something that goes away. And it's hard to, it's hard to
survive that. And that's just not, not
something we're willing to do. So we're figuring it out and
we're hopeful that things will get better.
But in the meantime, we're stillcontinuing to produce the same
product we've always produced. So you've been around for 13
years and we hope that you're around for many more.
(36:14):
As your brand grows, how do you plan to continue innovating
while staying true to your customer first roots?
What we've noticed over time is the demand is changing and we're
always trying to keep up with what customers are looking for.
So our hard bottom seat extendernow is a new product that came
to market where there's there's a hard panel on the bottom that
cantilevers out over the seat togive her dog more room.
(36:35):
That's not something that we hadever thought of before, wasn't
around. And so we've now taken that and
adapted it to our version of a hard bottom seat extender as
they've become popular. We came out with the seat
organizer, which is something wenever thought of before.
And the other thing that we justreleased is a dog car seat, a
little bucket seat for smaller dogs.
And we always had big dogs and so we always catered to mid to
(36:57):
large size dogs. And my sister has a little
Chihuahua, she's in all the pictures and we needed something
for her. And there's basically so many
different directions we can go based on just finding new
opportunities in the marketplaceand trying to solve problems for
customers to make things better.That's really what we do is we
say, all right, well, what are we interested in doing?
What are customers looking for? And how do we make it even
(37:19):
better and raise the expectations?
That's what we're trying to do. We've expanded out from travel
products as some of our dogs haddifferent needs.
Like one of our our dogs had dilated cardiomyopathy and she
was on medicines that made her incontinent.
So that's how we came out with our dog bed liners and our dog
bed covers. Just as you have more
experiences and you meet new people and your customer base
(37:40):
gets bigger and they ask you newquestions, there's always
opportunity for us to create newstuff.
We had a customer just asked us the other day for some swag
items. And so now we have all these
really cool T-shirts now that we're starting to offer on the
website that have all these great sayings, something we've
never done. Having great customers is what
helps us figure figure out what to build.
I love that. I love that you have swag that's
(38:03):
super fun and I love that you guys are so focused on comfort
and quality. You guys sent me one of your
blankets and I think that's probably the best blanket I have
ever had. It washes easily, it is very,
very soft, it's comfortable, it's warm and my dogs absolutely
love it. I love it and it's big enough
(38:24):
that we can all use it too. I can put it in the car for
comfort, but also I can bring itin the house and we can use it
to cover up the couch and keep the fur off of the couch.
It's a nice product as well. You have a lot of nice products.
Out of all of your products, what is your favorite?
I think our Crew Cab seat cover,I have a full size truck and
it's something I use every day. It's one of the products I'm
(38:45):
most proud of because it took a long time to develop it.
We actually now sell that product to lots of different
automotive OEMs like Ford, etcetera.
And it's because it's so differentiated.
That is probably one of my favorite products.
And the other one, believe it ornot, it's kind of silly, but is
our leash. We have a slip lead.
And I've always liked slip leadsbecause when we're in the house,
(39:06):
the dogs all don't always have acollar on.
And sometimes I just want to take them for a quick walk.
And it's just so easy to throw aslip lead on them.
But all the ones I had in the past had this really crappy
little leather thing on there. You had to slide to adjust it
and it just never worked very well.
And so we just came out with a metal toggle on ours and it's so
easy just to put over their head, slide the toggle up and
then you can go for a walk or dowhatever you want.
(39:27):
And so that's one of my other favorite products.
It's not not our most popular product, but we sure use it a
lot here in the house. I have had slip leads over the
years and they do they just theyfall apart.
That little leather piece alwaysbreaks.
It gets stiff, it falls apart, it frays and then it slides
through the lead and it doesn't work at all.
That's really interesting. I don't have your slip leads, so
(39:49):
I'll have to look into it. OK, That's definitely something
that I recommend to my training clients.
When we're first learning leash skills and stuff, we go through
a lot of different products, youknow, does a harness work
better? Does the slip lead work better?
I don't use choke collars or prong collars, so slip lead is a
good alternative to those things.
And so I like to be able to recommend a good strong slip
(40:12):
lead. So now I know that I have one to
recommend so. That's wonderful.
Thank you. Yeah, we love it.
It's nice because it's got the metal thing, so you can get it
as high up on their neck as you want with a little metal thing
and a hold it in place versus that leather thing just never
really worked for me. So that's kind of what we do is
we look at it and we say how canwe do this better?
And that's that's what we endeavor to do.
I love that and I feel like thisis probably going to be the same
(40:33):
answer that you give for the next question, but what advice
would you give to a pet parent or dog crow looking to create
products that solve real problems?
On doing your research, ask yourself this.
And I, I tell this to my kids, Itell everybody, what is the
problem you're really trying to solve?
Because you think it may be one thing and you could actually be
solving a completely separate problem.
(40:54):
So what are you really trying tosolve?
Do some research and then try tofigure out what you don't know
that you don't know. We, we started building these
covers and a lot of things we didn't even know, we didn't even
consider, like access to the middle seat belt, etcetera.
So take some time to try and really understand what are all
the different aspects of things and then go about solving the
problem and don't just do what everybody else is doing.
(41:17):
I mean, there's too many other people out there doing that.
You can copycat all day long, but I don't think that that is a
recipe for long term success. Try to provide value.
If I had to summarize it all up,and it'd probably just be make
sure you're providing value and and high level value if you can.
And if you can do that, you're going to be in good shape.
I absolutely agree. You pretty much touched on
(41:38):
everything that I would say in the same place.
Do your research, figure out what you don't know, because I
always tell people you don't know what you don't know and it
takes a lot of trial and error to figure those things out.
And being curious and really diving in there to figure out
what your why is, is so important and providing value.
That's what we try to do here onthe show is provide solutions
and provide value so that peopleknow that this is a great place
(42:01):
to come to and find businesses and brands and other trainers
and whatnot to work with so thatthey have the right solutions
for their dogs. With all of this in mind, what
would you like to leave our listeners with this evening?
First off, I just want to thank you for the opportunity to being
on the show. And the one thing that I would
just sort of ask everybody to dois do your own research before
(42:22):
you buy a product. Take the extra 5 minutes and
really try to figure out what you're getting before you get
it. There's so many different
options out there right now. The other day I went and I
bought a squeaky ball for my dogand I took it out and it smelled
like oil and gasoline. And I was like, how does this
happen? And it, and what I'm seeing is
it's happening more and more, especially with the tariffs in
(42:43):
place right now as people are cutting corners.
And so do the extra 5 or 10 minutes, research something,
make sure you're getting something that's good quality.
Because if you're going to spendyour hard earned money, make
sure you're getting a good return on your investment.
And really it only takes 5 or 10more minutes.
It's just like doing just a little bit more and you can end
up with a much better solution. That's a really powerful
(43:04):
statement. I think that's something that we
tread on a lot here on this podcast in so many different
ways. So again, thank you so much,
Jim, for taking the time to be here with me today and have this
conversation. And remember, be kind, spread
joy, and do your research, whether it's for the dog that
you're getting or the product that you're getting for your dog
(43:26):
because it will make the biggestdifference.
If you've been feeling like no one really understands what
you're going through with your dog, it can feel really
isolating and heavy carrying allthat weight by yourself day
after day. That's why I created a free
community, a safe space where you can share the hard stuff,
get support, and be surrounded by people who truly get it.
(43:47):
You'll find the link in the shownotes.
Thanks for listening to The Dog who asked for more.
New episodes drop every Monday and Wednesday.
I'll see you next time.
What if your car could stay clean and damage free even after
muddy walks, beach days and roadtrips with your dog?
Welcome to the dog who Asked formore, the podcast helping dog
parents who feel stuck and overwhelmed by their pup finally
let go of the guilt. Learn to communicate clearly and
build the bond you've always dreamed of through a partnership
(00:20):
based approach that combines training, nutrition and
enrichment instead of chasing the quick fixes that don't
actually work. I'm EM, and in this episode,
you'll learn how 4K nines turnedADIY fix into a patent
protection trusted by thousands of dog parents, the real
difference between keeping cleanand preventing damage, and how
(00:43):
to choose covers that do both. And why durability matters more
than bells and whistles when it comes to gear that actually
lasts. Because the right travel gear
doesn't just keep hair out of your car, it keeps your car safe
from your dog. Joining us today is Jim Umloff,
the founder of Four Canines, thebrand behind top rated seat
(01:03):
covers, cargo liners, and travelgear for dog owners.
Jim, part of your origin story is that you and your wife made
the first prototype out of necessity because your Dobermans
completely destroyed your car. What was your aha moment that
turned all of this into a business?
Just to give everybody a heads up, our first Doberman was a
(01:25):
male. He was 120 lbs.
And our female was 80 lbs and I had a little 4 door car.
They would wrestle in the back seat and it was a disaster.
We tried blankets, we tried everything.
We actually went to all the different stores to buy seat
covers because we didn't know these were something we were
going to need. So we got a whole bunch of
different ones. We went to the actual car
dealerships to try and get one there.
(01:46):
None of them would stay in place.
They were all thin. They were all very basic and
they just, every time they wouldmove around back there, there's
two big dogs in a little car, the cover would just move.
And if they were almost worthless.
And so that was our aha moment that it was like we need
something that will hold these in place and keep these where
they need to be to protect the car.
We were left to our own devices because we couldn't find
(02:06):
anything that would do it. And we figured out how to make
one. And from there, things just took
off. Want to create a space where we
can find things and solve problems that I couldn't find
resources for. So I love that you took the
initiative to figure out your own problem and then provide a
solution for other pet parents just like you.
I have to know how deep the damage was because it's, you
(02:29):
know, destroyed is a pretty big term.
Tell me how crazy this damage was to your vehicle.
That's. The thing that's really
interesting is that if you look at the market now, just sort of
a broader scope, everybody thinks you buy these to keep
your car clean, which is definitely part of what you're
doing. But when I created this cover, I
created it to stop damage. There's two very different
(02:51):
things. You can build 1 that'll keep
your car clean, but trying to build one that prevents damage
is a whole nother task entirely.Aries.
Aries is the big dog, his paw. It was about as big as my hand
and I'm big. What was happening is they were
scratching the leather seats. They put a hole in the leather
seat, not to mention all the dirt that was in there.
And here's the thing, repairing a leather seat is not easy.
(03:11):
It's not something you can do yourself and it costs a lot of
money. And so that's what we designed
the seat covers to do, is to protect the seat from the dog.
So we didn't have that happen anymore.
If you get dirt back there, slobber hair you can vacuum, you
can use some elbow grease, you can clean.
When you have a hole in your leather seat, it's a whole
different problem. It absolutely is.
(03:31):
The worst thing that I've ever seen, just in the history of all
of my years of working with dogswas we had a gentleman who
brought a chow chow to the clinic and he left it in the
car. The dog had anxiety and the dog
literally ate a hole in the car with a Cadillac and he just ate
a hole in the middle of the seat.
And I remember thinking, jeez, maybe he could have done
(03:53):
something to prevent that. But a lot of people don't think
about that because, yes, they think about how can I keep this
clean? And then they buy the products
that you stated before. They RIP open, they get full of
hair, they're very thin materialthat stretch out or their claws
go through and all that kind of stuff.
And that doesn't really protect the seat very well.
(04:14):
And sometimes you get dogs that their nails are long, they don't
like to get their nails clipped.And then you have even more
capability of the dog being ableto RIP stuff up, especially if
they're walking around on your seats or if you're driving and a
slide across the seats. It's really, really great that
you thought about multiple factors when it came to how do
we protect the car versus just how do we keep it clean.
(04:37):
We're very fortunate. You know, when we first started,
quite frankly, we didn't know, we didn't know and we've figured
it out along the way by constantly iterating to the
covers, right. And that's, that's one of our
keys to success is when you started here.
And we've been building on thesecovers, making them better year
over year based on customer feedback, customer reviews, we
take all that and we put it in the cover, we select better
(04:57):
materials. We do things like UV protect the
headrest straps, They don't disintegrate because when we
first started making them, we had problems with the headrest
straps or the clips breaking. And so we've resolved all those
problems after doing this for 1213 years.
Like we've been doing it. And we're very fortunate because
we've had a customer base that has told us what they wanted
and, and we built to it. And we've just constantly been
(05:18):
improving over time. My brother has a pit mix and he
will not let anybody clip his nails.
They just took him to the vet, They tried to sedate, they tried
everything. He won't let anybody trim his
nails. And so we actually have video of
him jumping in the car and you can see the nails going into the
cover and the cover doesn't RIP.And so we've used him sort of as
(05:38):
a use case because his nails arewicked long.
It's just the same way he hates to have his nails trim, so I
need something that is durable because when he gets up in the
car, I don't want him to scratchthe seats.
I don't want him to RIP a hole in them.
And until recently, until I got the Forerunner, we had fabric
seats, which makes it even more precarious with those nails like
that. I, I love that you you think
(05:59):
with that kind of stuff in mind,but also listen to the customer.
Kind of feels like a mantra at 4K nines.
How do you collect the feedback and turn it into new products or
improved products? Yeah, No thanks.
We've been really lucky. So one of the things that we did
early on is every single review that we got, we read and we
(06:20):
replied to and we made modifications and notes based on
what was in the reviews. And as we grew and got bigger,
we have an e-mail list where people can share stuff with us.
They have our Facebook page or Instagram page, all the
different means of communicationmonitor that every single day
our team monitors that. They collate all the
information, they compile it down and then we digest all
that. And where there is a deficiency,
(06:42):
we strive to make it better. One of the things that we always
know and having done this for solong and is that we're not
always going to get it right. We're not perfect, we're not
always going to get this right, but we sure try.
And if you do have a problem, wehave a fantastic customer
service team that will take careof that problem and we're going
to do our best to solve it. And that's the other part of
this. So it's not only just taking in
(07:03):
the feedback and doing somethingwith it, but it's also
supporting it with the right level of customer service, which
is huge for us. And what we've had, fortunate
enough is a great consumer base and they've basically sent us
messages and said, hey, I'd really like to be able to do
this or I'd really like to be able to do that.
And that's what's led to all of our patents, right?
So customers wanted the ability to use the middle seat belt and
(07:27):
it's not something we even thought of, right?
Wasn't even on our radar. And they said, hey, I would use
this not only with my dog, but use it with my kids, but I can't
use the middle seat belt becausethe cover covers it.
And I was like, huh. So we started playing around
with it and we came up with a really cool patented solution to
it that allows you to use the middle seat belt, but it also
allows you to use the armrest, allows you to fold down a seat
and basically use all the functions of your vehicle while
(07:50):
keeping the cover in place, which makes your life easier.
And we did that based on customers asking us to solve the
problem. Our floor hammock product that
we have was based on customers asking us the ability to have a
cover that goes down the back ofthe front seats in a full size
truck. And they wanted their dog to be
on the floor because in full size trucks, the the seats fold
(08:10):
up and they can sit on the floor, which is the most stable
platform in the whole vehicle. And so we developed that.
We developed our Crew Cab cover all the different products.
Products that we're coming out with now are either products
that we wanted because we neededthem or they're products that
customers asked us for. And I think that's why we're
still here 12 years later. Yeah, I think so too.
Tell me the wildest, weirdest, strangest piece of feedback or
(08:34):
request you've ever got. My gosh, it's funny.
We get these. Jeez, I'm trying to think of the
most appropriate one that we canshare.
I mean, I've had crazy stories over the years.
We build our covers as universalfit and we do that for a
specific reason. And it comes down to
flexibility. We want you to have a product
you can use in multiple different situations, whether
you have one car and then you trade your car and you get a new
(08:55):
car. And so everybody, least from our
customer base appreciates the flexibility that we provide in
all of our covers. But we have lots of customers
that say they want all kinds of specific customized stuff for
their cover. They wanted to be able to split
in half and then fold down one other part and then have
something that goes on to the floor.
So it acts as a floor mat and all wants to be modular.
(09:17):
And they wanted to be able to zip back together all these
different things. And I'm like, yeah, all that
stuff sounds fantastic, but I can't solve all these problems
with one product. Somebody wanted it to to have an
extension that would go down from the seat onto the floor and
then up and connect to the hammock section if they wanted
their dog to be able to go on the floor, but then zip back
together if they didn't want their dog to be able to do that.
(09:40):
And I mean, I've had wild customized suggestions with
these covers over the years. And what we realized is that
durability and quality is our hallmark.
And we're trying to make everything the way that
everybody wants it. But we always default back to
this needs to last and be durable enough.
And we won't put components in there for some of these requests
(10:02):
if we don't think the cover is going to last.
Which is wonderful because I don't want a product that is
going to do 15 different things but not protect against the main
thing that I'm trying to protect, right?
It's it's not any good if it's just going to RIP apart and you
start adding too many modifications and too many
modular capabilities and you completely just ruin the
(10:24):
structure of your product. Yep.
Yeah. We actually have a scenario now
where because we have patents and we have protections, people
are always trying to design around our patent.
And they put all these bells andwhistles and all these different
things to try and get around ourpatents, and they build sort of
Frankenstein's monster. And can they get to the
functionality that we provide, Maybe.
(10:45):
Are they doing it as simply and effectively as possible?
No way. And they have all these
different points where the coverfails and it breaks and they
don't last. And it's because they've tried
to engineer around our patent and build all this crazy stuff
into the cover. And you lose the focus on what
problem you're solving. And the problem you're solving
is keeping your vehicle protected and clean.
(11:07):
And we start doing all this other stuff and you lose that
North Star. You end up with problems.
Absolutely, and 4K9 seat covers are famous for that durability
and the thoughtful features, just like you said, the split
bench access, but also your non slip lining.
Yeah. What goes into designing for
real world use? What's kind of process do you
(11:27):
guys go through to make sure that these things are actually
going to work? So we actually test all of
ourselves in real life conditions with our own dogs.
We have two Dobermans now. Our first two have passed, but
we have two now. They're both 80 lbs.
They're big dogs and we test them with the dogs all the time.
What we do is anytime we build aproduct, we we do some research,
we try to identify what problem we're solving and then we build
(11:48):
the cover and then we test and test and test and test.
One of the things that we realized early on several years
ago is that we're using real life quilting in our product.
So they're stitched together andwe realized even though we
waterproof them and all the other stuff, the quilting
stitching would compromise the cover.
And if there was a lot of fluid,whether urine or slobber or wet
(12:11):
dog, sometimes it could could seep through the cover and it
was a problem because obviously we want your seats to be as
protected as possible. So what we developed is
something called Canine Shield. And Canine Shield is a special
laminate layer waterproofing that we put on the seat bottom
and in the cargo area to preventwater from seeping through.
So the top of the cover has a water repellent and a stain
(12:32):
protecting on it. And then underneath we quote
layers together. And then underneath that we have
one solid sheet layer called Canine Shield.
One side is a film waterproof proof layer, so it's the same
stuff that's used in human mattress pads.
It's almost like Saran wrap attached to a piece of fabric.
And on the other side of that isour non slip layer.
So A, keeps the cover from sliding on the seat and B, it
(12:55):
gives you a completely waterproof barrier underneath
the cover. And that's something we learned
over time. The first couple of covers that
we made the first couple years didn't have that feature, but
now all of our products have Canine Shield in because it's
the best way to protect the seat.
When I feel it in mind, you can hear that like little crinkle,
you know, and like you're movingit around.
(13:15):
You can hear it does sound like a mattress cover.
Now that you said that, that's really, really smart, especially
like you said, because dogs do they get slobbery, they get wet
when they're at the beach or if you take them to the pool or
whatever it is that you're out doing.
But also sometimes dogs have accidents in cars and being able
to remove that and protect the seats is really important.
(13:37):
I also would like to touch on the the one-size-fits-all thing
right. I moved up from having a Hyundai
Santa Fe to a Toyota 4 runner and I was worried I was like
this car is much bigger than thecar that I had.
I wonder if this thing is still going to fit in here and it
does. It fits just fine.
You know, you adjust the straps a little bit, but it covers the
(13:59):
size of the seat still. Granted, it went down like a
little bit farther, obviously inthe Santa Fe because it didn't
have as big of a bench, but now it still covers exactly
everything that it needs to cover and it protects the seats.
So I love that you guys think about those kinds of things and
we don't have to go out into ourcar and measure it.
What size do I need? Is this going to fit?
(14:20):
Will it fit around the headrest?You make those things very easy
and accessible for people who probably don't really know
anything about their vehicle other than it's the vehicle that
they drive. I would have no idea what size
car cover to buy for my car if Ihad to measure it and figure it
all out because where exactly doyou measure it?
Does it start at the end of the seat?
Does it start from door to door?Do you have to measure the depth
(14:42):
of the foot wells and all that kind of stuff?
Is it can be really complicating, really frustrating
and really annoying. So I love that you make it
flexible and easy for pet parents to just be like, oh,
Yep, this one-size-fits-all. We'll just stick it in there and
adjust a few things and it and it works great.
Yeah. And we actually just launched on
our website about a couple weeksago a product Finder quiz, which
(15:02):
helps you actually walk through because, you know, one of the
things that we have right now iswe have probably the widest
selection of different products available for in the back of
your car. So whether you want a seat
extender, you want a hammock cover, you want a fitted cover,
you want a Crew Cab seat cover, you want a hard bottom.
We have all these different products now and what we're
finding is customers wanted an easier way to figure out which
(15:23):
one would work best for them. And so now if you go to our
website, it's called Find Your Perfect Fit and there's a little
quiz you can take, takes less than 30 seconds and it'll help
you figure out which one will work best in your vehicle.
It's really worked great. Customers are loving it.
And the other thing to your point is not only is it easy to
find one that will fit, but if you do change cars like you do,
or maybe you have to put it in your partner's car, or maybe you
(15:46):
have to put it in your friend's car or maybe it's in a rental or
something like that. These covers are going to fit
and they actually look great in the vehicle because we've
figured out after all these years what size really works and
how to fit it into a vehicle. And the different things to take
into consideration about where the head straps go, where the
seat belt openings are, where the latch openings are, how big
they should be, and everything like that to give you the most
(16:08):
flexibility in the cover possible.
And they're easy to remove too. It's another thing.
I put it in my car. It's very easy.
And then as soon as I got a different car, I was like, oh,
well, I'm going to have to take this thing out and move it over
there. And I just, I put it in and I
snapped the snaps, I adjusted them and I was like, that was a
lot easier than I thought it wasgoing to be.
I wasn't tangled up in all different kinds of things.
(16:30):
And you guys also have of these,I don't know if they're intended
to be weights. I'm assuming that's what they
are on the back of the seat. Anchor the seat cover.
Yeah, they're like the orange little things.
And so when you put it on the seat, then it like actually
holds it down on the seat versusjust like flips around and moves
around and all that kind of stuff.
So even when you do have it in the bucket kind of look, it
(16:52):
doesn't move around. And then when you take it down
and you let it hang down to the floor all the way, it still
doesn't move. And I love that because a, a lot
of previous seat covers that I've had either wrap like all
the way around the seat and as we talked about before, are very
thin and then they get puncturedor they don't really cover the
seat well and the slip covers then just slide off or there
(17:15):
isn't anything to keep them on the seat.
So then there's the dog is sliding around and the, the
thing rips or it comes off the seat and then you're not
protecting anything from cleanliness or rips at all.
So I love that that that functionality and that is there
because it keeps it stable and sturdy on the seat, which is so
important. Yeah.
(17:36):
And the other important point ofthat, and the reason we have
those seat anchors is imagine ifyou happen to be driving without
your dog and you want to roll the window down.
The last thing you want is a bigpiece of fabric flapping in the
wind in the back seat of the car.
Because if it starts flapping inthe wind, if there is dog hair
on there, you're now going to have dog hair everywhere, right?
And so we needed to make sure that this thing was going to
(17:56):
stay in place. And that's why we have those
seat anchors in there. I never thought about that
because now I have a sunroof andthe back window also rolls down
in a forerunner. So yeah, a lot more air comes
through there. And no, it never flaps around
because I guarantee I would havehad feelings about that.
Yeah, you'd have hair everywhere.
So that that's one of the thingsthat we tested when we first
(18:16):
built the cover, right? I put it in there and I just had
it in the back and I was drivingaround one day, this thing's
flapping in the wind back there and I'm like, that's a problem.
So we solved that early on just because of our own product test
testing in house. It's my understanding that you
have 20 product patents. Can you share one or two
customer LED innovations that became real game changers for
(18:37):
you guys? Our split tech is all based on
sort of that discussion we had earlier where somebody wanted to
use the middle seat belt and that really led to not only for
the rear seats but also for our cargo liners.
Our cargo liners have split techin them.
So you can fold the seats down, you can fold the center armrest
down if your vehicle has that capability.
And what we learned from that initial set and we got patents
(18:58):
and all that was that not only do we want to make something
that protects the vehicle, but we want to make something that
is easy for you to use. You want to be able to fold down
your seat. So you should be able to do
that. You want to be able to fold your
seats up in a Crew Cab seat or in a Crew Cab truck and the
seats fold up in the back in a 6040 fashion.
You want to be able to do all that.
So as we've grown as a company, we've not only incorporated in
(19:21):
high quality construction materials, but also the ability
to use all the functions of yourvehicle while keeping these
things in place. And that's not something
initially we had even considered.
And so now our floor hammock product is something that
customers asked us for that we have patents on our Crew Cab
seat cover, has multiple patentson our Crew Cab seat cover for
full size trucks. We have these new door guards
(19:43):
that we just started building that are patent pending right
now. One of the problems with door
guards is they would flap in thewind and we have a new
connection on these door guards that will keep them connected in
multiple points. You can actually take a leaf
blower and blow it at the cover and it won't blow off the door.
We're basically trying to not only provide great products.
Great. Construction, great materials,
but ease of use for you. We want to make your life easier
(20:07):
and that's ultimately what we put into all this now.
That's incredible. I have to say my favorite
product is the backseat storage.I don't know what you guys call
that, but I love it. It connects around the headrest
and then it hooks to the little rails underneath the seat.
So it doesn't it doesn't move, it doesn't flap around.
I can still hook the seat cover over it so that it's covered up
(20:30):
and it it doesn't, the dog can'tcan't get into it or whatever.
But the storage in there, I meanpoop bags, extra water bowls,
kibble, I can put anything I want in there.
I can even fit my nail trimmers in there.
It's great. I love it.
It's probably my favorite product, but my favorite thing
about it is that it doesn't move.
It stays right there and it's protected by the seat cover just
(20:51):
like the rest of the the car is.And it just gives me that extra
ability to store things in my car that I wouldn't have had
room for without putting some kind of bag or tote or something
for my dogs in there. And it even saves space because
it's right on the back of the seat and it's completely flat.
I absolutely love that thing. Thank you.
(21:13):
Yeah, that's actually new for us.
And you know what's interesting is that that we call it a seat
back organizer or kick shield. We brought that to market
because when we started 4 canines, we only had dogs and
now we have 2 nine year old twindaughters.
And so not only were the dogs making a mess, but they were
kicking up the mess in the car pretty quickly.
There was stuff everywhere and I'm like there's got to be a
better way for them to have all their Knick knacky things and
(21:35):
all the other stuff they want tohave in the car.
And so we built that and I was like, this is great because it
can act like a kick shield for their feet.
So I'm not cleaning feet off theback of my seat.
I can store all the dog stuff inthere from poop bags to we
always have an extra leash in the car so I can put that in
there and the kids can hang their water bottle on it and
they can put all their stuff in there and it just contains the
(21:57):
mess in the vehicle and makes things so much easier for us.
And that's why we actually brought it to market and it
works great for just St. dog owners, for people with kids,
for anybody, because it puts everything in arm's reach,
whether you put on the passengerside and you just have to reach
over or where you open up the back door and you have one
behind your seat. We have them in both of our
vehicles and we love them. The kids love them and they've
(22:19):
been working out fantastic. So we're happy we brought those
to market, but they're brand newfor us and they're selling
great. I love it and I didn't even
think about how well that would work with kids too.
Could stick their snacks and their extra little toys that
there's even room for them. They took their phone or like
you said, water bottles in there.
That's great because when you can combine, especially for
families that have children and dogs and they're toting
(22:41):
everybody around. Anything that you can do to make
all of that easier just on everyone is so important and so
much more helpful, I guess is the word that I'm looking for
for everyone because you are minimizing the clutter.
I cannot stand clutter. It drives me insane.
So if I can compartmentalize allof it, that's that's, that's
(23:01):
even better for me. That's, you know, one of the
things thinking about like the RV journey, yeah, we'll have
extra stuff in the RV. But being able to have that
stuff accessible and extra leash, poop bags, water dish,
things like that for when we stop at rest stops or if we're
at a gas station or things like that.
Just having it right there so it's quick and easy to grab and
not have to think about it is iteases the mind and it helps out
(23:24):
in situations where maybe your other leash breaks or you're
don't have a way to feed your dog because you're out in the
middle of nowhere and you just, it's just right there.
So whether you have an RV behindyou or not, you can have room
for all of those little things without having to carry a
backpack on top of it to just take all of your dog's gear with
(23:45):
you. So I think that's really awesome
that you think about. Thank you.
What will ease people's minds? Yeah, convenience.
It's it's a plus. I mean, if we can, if we can
build something strong and make your life easier than it's a win
win all around. And on top of that, a lot of
brands hide behind bots. But you guys have a really high
priority on high touch customer service.
(24:06):
How do you think that that shapes customer loyalty and
feedback loops? For us it's been critical.
I remember being on vacation andwe were skiing and somebody
called right in the middle of the slope and I stopped to take
a phone call right in the middleof the slope when we were brand
new. For us it's been the most
important thing, quality products and better customer
service. We have USA based customer
(24:26):
support. We have somebody on the East
Coast, somebody on the West Coast so that we have somebody
for the different time zones andyou always have the ability to
call in and talk to a person to get your questions answered.
That's not something we are evergoing to take away.
In a day and age now where there's a lot of companies, you
can never talk to anybody. It's only e-mail or it's only
chat bot. We strongly believe having good
(24:47):
qualified people that can take aphone call and do a great job
solving your problem because like I said earlier, we know we
don't always get it right. I mean, it's impossible to be
perfect, but we strive if there is a problem to do our best to
solve it and to do it as fast aspossible.
So I can't tell you. We have tons of reviews on the
website that are all about my customer service team and what a
great job they do. It's one of the points of pride
(25:09):
for us outside of outside of just producing great products.
But having a great business means supporting your customer
and supporting your customer means they can get support when
they need it. Absolutely.
And not only do you provide really incredible customer
service, your seat covers are built to last and they come with
a lifetime warranty. So how do you uphold that
(25:29):
promise? Depending upon how long you've
our cover, we've had people callus seven years later and say it
finally broke and they're actually surprised and sometimes
they actually feel kind of guilty because they know they
got more than the use they expected out of the product.
But we stand behind that right now.
If you do something silly honestly, and you install it
wrong or your dog eats it or something bad happens, that's
(25:51):
not necessarily covered by the warranty.
But if that even happens, we go out of our way to to make it
right and we'll do something foryou.
That's what we believe in. We lifetime warranty these
against manufacturing defects and any problems.
It's in there because we know that our craftsmanship is so
good and the materials we use are so good.
We've gone through three different kinds of clips on
these covers to find the perfectone that doesn't break and lasts
(26:13):
a long time. All these different things that
we can do to make sure that you're satisfied with the
product, the customer service team and having them in place to
be able to support you is a critical component of what we
do. And we're very proud of it,
actually very proud of our customer service.
You should be. Customer service is so important
and it is lacking so much in many industries, but especially
(26:36):
the pet industry because it really is difficult to get
somebody on the phone that will help you in any way, shape or
form, but also that actually knows something about the
product, knows how the product should be used, knows how to
install the product, all that kind of stuff.
I spoke to another guest a whileback about she was doing
something for her podcast and she was calling around asking
(26:58):
random questions about shop callers and she called a bunch
of different companies who sell shop callers.
And the answers that she were getting were completely varied
and vast. And with a product like that,
but you need to know how it works.
You can't just put some random person on the phone and say,
yeah, my 5 year old kid can, canuse this to the person that's
(27:18):
asking the questions when in fact they've never actually used
one and don't know how it works.It's the same thing with seat
covers. You, you have to have some
knowledge of the materials, how it's installed, how to clean it.
All of those things is so important because you do provide
to warranty and you want people using it properly and if you
don't have the customer service to support that, you're going to
(27:41):
be having a lot more complaints.Yeah.
I mean, we're lucky because one of our customer service
representatives, she's actually the director of customer
experience for us here. She's been with us for nine
years, maybe 10 years at this point.
So she's been with us just aboutthe entire time.
She gives us suggestions, she does the research, she talks to
all the customers. She compiles all that
information for us and she's been with us almost since the
(28:03):
get go. One interesting thing that you
started talking about there, andthis is if you were to go on
Amazon or you to go on websites and you were to look at just the
pictures of how these covers work, they might all look the
same. The problem is just because they
look the same doesn't mean they're going to perform the
same. And when you talk to Jen or you
talk to anybody on our team, that's one of the things they
can help you figure out really quickly.
(28:23):
Just because they may look like this or they may look like that
doesn't mean they're going to work the same.
And they can explain to you why,and they know the benefit that
goes into these design things. We made the zippers go in one
certain direction versus the other direction.
And there's a reason behind all these different design elements
we have in there that you can't get from a picture.
So being able to talk to somebody to explain all that to
(28:46):
you is, I mean, it's invaluable.It really is.
It really is. You said that about the zippers
and that is interesting because I did notice that they do go a
certain direction and they're very easy to use.
They don't ever get stuck. That's something that I find a
lot with linings of the zipper lining is too close to the
lining of the fabric. Then they get stuck and they
catch and then the zippers RIP and all that stuff.
(29:08):
And I haven't had any of those issues with with your zipper.
So I imagine that there's probably some engineering that
goes into that whole thing as well.
A. 100% When our rear seat covers, the zippers go in One
Direction and our cargo liner, they go the other direction and
it's all based on how the coversused and how you're going to
manipulate the cover and making it as easy as possible for you.
(29:28):
We have a lot of customers who are elderly and so manipulating
the covers on some of these products.
When you have these small zippers and you have to put them
together and they're in a weird spot, We've solved all that by
just easily changing the direction of the zipper so it's
easier to put together, whether it's easier to zip it and our
rear seat covers, the zipper zipdown.
So it does two things. One, you never have to worry
(29:49):
about that zipper falling and the cover opening up.
You start the zipper at the top and you pull the zipper towards
the bottom. But the other thing is when
you're going to zipper the coverback up, it's so much easier for
you at the top of the cover to manipulate that zipper and put
the ends together versus trying to do it down in the seam at the
bottom of the cover, right? It's little things like that for
the seat back organizer that we were just talking about.
(30:11):
There's a zipper on that and we had put the zipper on and we're
using it for a while and I'm in the car and noises drive me
crazy. And I'm like, what is that
jingling noise? It's driving me nuts.
Like what is that? And my daughter was like, it's
the zipper. And I'm like, what zipper?
She's like, it's a zipper on theorganizer.
And I'm like, are you kidding me?
She's like, no, the zipper's jingling around and you're
hearing the zipper Dingle around.
And I was like, huh, So now the zipper doesn't Jingle because
(30:34):
it's one of the locking zipper. So it it locks shut and it does
that specifically because I don't want anybody to hear
jingling. So it's all these little things
to go into making these covers. I was having this discussion
with some of the other day. I'm we've done this for 12
years. This this is what we do.
I like engineering covers. We think about all these little
things that people don't normally think of.
(30:55):
And when we look at competitive covers, you can tell that
they're just copying what's out there.
They're just copying it. They're not building it because
they understand it. They're copying what's out there
to try and sell something competitive, but they don't know
the why behind all the little things.
And so they change some of theseaspects of the covers.
They don't use the zipper that locks shut.
(31:15):
They put the zipper in the otherdirection.
And it's because they don't know.
They're just sellers from overseas that are trying to make
a buck and they're building these products without the why
behind them. There's a big difference between
knowledge and wisdom is something I tell my kids all the
time. You can get knowledge from
ChatGPT, you can get it from copying somebody's product, but
you don't have the wisdom that goes behind building.
(31:38):
And that's where we've been veryfortunate because we have all
this knowledge and experience that we're putting in these
products. The considerations about why we
build these is very different than just somebody off the shelf
deciding they want to make one of these one day.
I love that there's a differencebetween knowledge and wisdom
because it's so true. I have a lot of knowledge that I
can share with everyone, but thewisdom is my experience behind
(31:59):
it. That's really neat.
I love that you made it that deep because it's seat covers,
but it's important. Yeah, if you're going to do it,
do it right. You know what I mean?
My friends would be like, you have patents on seat covers.
And I'm like, yeah, like we had a lot of fun.
And they're like, how do you even do that?
And I'm like, well, it's just because it's not your thing,
right? That's how deep we get into
these things to the point where they are that differentiated
(32:20):
that you can get a patent out ofit.
And it's made a huge difference for us.
When you're obsessed about what you do, it makes a difference.
It does make a difference. Speaking of being different and
being obsessed about what you do, you guys are based in
Oklahoma, but you import a lot of materials.
How are tariffs affecting your business and what are your
strategies that you're leaning into to stay float in this
(32:43):
economic change? Yeah, I'm not going to lie to
you. It's it's been a challenge.
I mean it's been a challenge ever since 2018 nineteen when
when initial round of tariffs went in place, we designed our
whole business around the model where tariffs were considerably
less than they are. And then we got hit thousand
1819 and now obviously it's a lot higher.
We manufacture in China and a lot of people don't like that.
(33:05):
But I can tell you that 90% of the synthetic textiles and
materials that go into making our cover come from China, even
though we've tried to make it inthe US, US, we've tried to make
it in Mexico. We tried making all these
different places. They're importing all the raw
materials from China because it's the only place they're
made. We've elected to stay in China
because the level of manufacturing we've got and
we've used the same supplier for13 years and we have a great
(33:27):
relationship with them. They build great products for
us, but these tariffs have been a challenge.
So what have we done? We have modified some of our
packaging to try and help with packaging.
But what we're not doing is modifying the product.
And right now what I'm seeing asI do comparator tests versus the
competition is trinkflation in the products.
The clips are getting smaller, the straps are getting smaller.
(33:49):
The materials that they're putting into these products are
changing as these tariffs go in place.
And that's what a lot of folks are having to do right now is
they're changing the quality of the product to try and survive
the tariffs situation. And it's really sad to see, but
it's, it's the reality. We have elected not to change
any of the components that we'veused over the 13 years.
(34:09):
We've used the same materials over time that we've upgraded
when we learned our lesson. So the 600D material we build
our covers out of we've used for10 of the 13 years, the heavy
duty straps, the clips, everything like that we've used
for multiple years. And we will not change those
because that would ruin the quality of the product.
And that's just not something we're willing to do.
(34:29):
So we've tried to find differentshipping options.
We've tried to work with our manufacturing team to lower some
of our costs. We've tried the order in bulk in
some instances to save money by ordering bulk.
We've tried to ship at differenttime periods and in different
ways. But we've done everything that
we can possibly do to try and mitigate the impact without
reducing the quality of the product.
(34:50):
And ultimately, what it really means is we're losing some
profitability along the way. We're hopeful that the tariff
thing will resolve itself over time and maybe we'll get down to
a better tariff level, but we have not compromised the quality
of the product or the materials that go into it because we just
don't believe in that. That's super important,
especially when you have a product that you give a lifetime
(35:11):
warranty on. If you change the components to
be less than what they are rightnow, you're just going to be
replacing more and more and more.
And how does that cost benefit way out?
You're probably going to be spending more money doing that
because you're going to be replacing more covers because
you compromised on components and and then they get a new one
(35:32):
and that one breaks and now you're replacing that one.
I think that not compromising onthose pieces of your product is
really, really important. And that really says something
about you as a brand, that quality is that important to
you. Thank you.
Brand reputation is everything for us.
We can make mistakes, but if youkeep making mistakes over and
over again, you take shortcuts and your brand reputation is
(35:54):
something that goes away. And it's hard to, it's hard to
survive that. And that's just not, not
something we're willing to do. So we're figuring it out and
we're hopeful that things will get better.
But in the meantime, we're stillcontinuing to produce the same
product we've always produced. So you've been around for 13
years and we hope that you're around for many more.
(36:14):
As your brand grows, how do you plan to continue innovating
while staying true to your customer first roots?
What we've noticed over time is the demand is changing and we're
always trying to keep up with what customers are looking for.
So our hard bottom seat extendernow is a new product that came
to market where there's there's a hard panel on the bottom that
cantilevers out over the seat togive her dog more room.
(36:35):
That's not something that we hadever thought of before, wasn't
around. And so we've now taken that and
adapted it to our version of a hard bottom seat extender as
they've become popular. We came out with the seat
organizer, which is something wenever thought of before.
And the other thing that we justreleased is a dog car seat, a
little bucket seat for smaller dogs.
And we always had big dogs and so we always catered to mid to
(36:57):
large size dogs. And my sister has a little
Chihuahua, she's in all the pictures and we needed something
for her. And there's basically so many
different directions we can go based on just finding new
opportunities in the marketplaceand trying to solve problems for
customers to make things better.That's really what we do is we
say, all right, well, what are we interested in doing?
What are customers looking for? And how do we make it even
(37:19):
better and raise the expectations?
That's what we're trying to do. We've expanded out from travel
products as some of our dogs haddifferent needs.
Like one of our our dogs had dilated cardiomyopathy and she
was on medicines that made her incontinent.
So that's how we came out with our dog bed liners and our dog
bed covers. Just as you have more
experiences and you meet new people and your customer base
(37:40):
gets bigger and they ask you newquestions, there's always
opportunity for us to create newstuff.
We had a customer just asked us the other day for some swag
items. And so now we have all these
really cool T-shirts now that we're starting to offer on the
website that have all these great sayings, something we've
never done. Having great customers is what
helps us figure figure out what to build.
I love that. I love that you have swag that's
(38:03):
super fun and I love that you guys are so focused on comfort
and quality. You guys sent me one of your
blankets and I think that's probably the best blanket I have
ever had. It washes easily, it is very,
very soft, it's comfortable, it's warm and my dogs absolutely
love it. I love it and it's big enough
(38:24):
that we can all use it too. I can put it in the car for
comfort, but also I can bring itin the house and we can use it
to cover up the couch and keep the fur off of the couch.
It's a nice product as well. You have a lot of nice products.
Out of all of your products, what is your favorite?
I think our Crew Cab seat cover,I have a full size truck and
it's something I use every day. It's one of the products I'm
(38:45):
most proud of because it took a long time to develop it.
We actually now sell that product to lots of different
automotive OEMs like Ford, etcetera.
And it's because it's so differentiated.
That is probably one of my favorite products.
And the other one, believe it ornot, it's kind of silly, but is
our leash. We have a slip lead.
And I've always liked slip leadsbecause when we're in the house,
(39:06):
the dogs all don't always have acollar on.
And sometimes I just want to take them for a quick walk.
And it's just so easy to throw aslip lead on them.
But all the ones I had in the past had this really crappy
little leather thing on there. You had to slide to adjust it
and it just never worked very well.
And so we just came out with a metal toggle on ours and it's so
easy just to put over their head, slide the toggle up and
then you can go for a walk or dowhatever you want.
(39:27):
And so that's one of my other favorite products.
It's not not our most popular product, but we sure use it a
lot here in the house. I have had slip leads over the
years and they do they just theyfall apart.
That little leather piece alwaysbreaks.
It gets stiff, it falls apart, it frays and then it slides
through the lead and it doesn't work at all.
That's really interesting. I don't have your slip leads, so
(39:49):
I'll have to look into it. OK, That's definitely something
that I recommend to my training clients.
When we're first learning leash skills and stuff, we go through
a lot of different products, youknow, does a harness work
better? Does the slip lead work better?
I don't use choke collars or prong collars, so slip lead is a
good alternative to those things.
And so I like to be able to recommend a good strong slip
(40:12):
lead. So now I know that I have one to
recommend so. That's wonderful.
Thank you. Yeah, we love it.
It's nice because it's got the metal thing, so you can get it
as high up on their neck as you want with a little metal thing
and a hold it in place versus that leather thing just never
really worked for me. So that's kind of what we do is
we look at it and we say how canwe do this better?
And that's that's what we endeavor to do.
I love that and I feel like thisis probably going to be the same
(40:33):
answer that you give for the next question, but what advice
would you give to a pet parent or dog crow looking to create
products that solve real problems?
On doing your research, ask yourself this.
And I, I tell this to my kids, Itell everybody, what is the
problem you're really trying to solve?
Because you think it may be one thing and you could actually be
solving a completely separate problem.
(40:54):
So what are you really trying tosolve?
Do some research and then try tofigure out what you don't know
that you don't know. We, we started building these
covers and a lot of things we didn't even know, we didn't even
consider, like access to the middle seat belt, etcetera.
So take some time to try and really understand what are all
the different aspects of things and then go about solving the
problem and don't just do what everybody else is doing.
(41:17):
I mean, there's too many other people out there doing that.
You can copycat all day long, but I don't think that that is a
recipe for long term success. Try to provide value.
If I had to summarize it all up,and it'd probably just be make
sure you're providing value and and high level value if you can.
And if you can do that, you're going to be in good shape.
I absolutely agree. You pretty much touched on
(41:38):
everything that I would say in the same place.
Do your research, figure out what you don't know, because I
always tell people you don't know what you don't know and it
takes a lot of trial and error to figure those things out.
And being curious and really diving in there to figure out
what your why is, is so important and providing value.
That's what we try to do here onthe show is provide solutions
and provide value so that peopleknow that this is a great place
(42:01):
to come to and find businesses and brands and other trainers
and whatnot to work with so thatthey have the right solutions
for their dogs. With all of this in mind, what
would you like to leave our listeners with this evening?
First off, I just want to thank you for the opportunity to being
on the show. And the one thing that I would
just sort of ask everybody to dois do your own research before
(42:22):
you buy a product. Take the extra 5 minutes and
really try to figure out what you're getting before you get
it. There's so many different
options out there right now. The other day I went and I
bought a squeaky ball for my dogand I took it out and it smelled
like oil and gasoline. And I was like, how does this
happen? And it, and what I'm seeing is
it's happening more and more, especially with the tariffs in
(42:43):
place right now as people are cutting corners.
And so do the extra 5 or 10 minutes, research something,
make sure you're getting something that's good quality.
Because if you're going to spendyour hard earned money, make
sure you're getting a good return on your investment.
And really it only takes 5 or 10more minutes.
It's just like doing just a little bit more and you can end
up with a much better solution. That's a really powerful
(43:04):
statement. I think that's something that we
tread on a lot here on this podcast in so many different
ways. So again, thank you so much,
Jim, for taking the time to be here with me today and have this
conversation. And remember, be kind, spread
joy, and do your research, whether it's for the dog that
you're getting or the product that you're getting for your dog
(43:26):
because it will make the biggestdifference.
If you've been feeling like no one really understands what
you're going through with your dog, it can feel really
isolating and heavy carrying allthat weight by yourself day
after day. That's why I created a free
community, a safe space where you can share the hard stuff,
get support, and be surrounded by people who truly get it.
(43:47):
You'll find the link in the shownotes.
Thanks for listening to The Dog who asked for more.
New episodes drop every Monday and Wednesday.
I'll see you next time.
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