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A Mid Sussex business has enjoyed a busy nine months following the launch of their innovative dog toy.
Managing director Lee Bridges said: “Since then it’s been absolutely bonkers.”
He said: “We did our first show just before Christmas in London. We did Winter Woof, which was our first venture out into the world, and it went really well.”
Lee said he and business development manager John Allard also attended Paws in the Park at the South Of England Showground (May 18-19) and Dogstival in the New Forest (June 1-2).
Lee is ‘elated’ by this, saying: “It’s been so fast because they contacted us just before Christmas.”
John called it ‘the best thing for us’, saying: “We’re still essentially a start-up grassroots company. We only came up with the product in March last year so we’ve been on such a crazy journey. To be able to get it into retail in such a short space of time, it hasn’t fully hit me yet.”
They thanked Pets Corner owner Dean Richmond for spending time with them and for his and his team’s help.
The Roolo aims to be a hyper-stimulating toy that rewards dogs and slows down their feeds. It helps to train dogs by engaging them in scent-work, problem solving and by using their intellectual and physical abilities.
Lee said: “The cool thing is the feedback we’re getting. We haven’t had anything other that ten out of tens.”
“We’re getting a lot of happy dog videos,” he said, adding that they have been speaking to Instgram and TikTok influencers. He also said they have received uplifting feedback from owners who are too ill to go out. Lee said these owners have used the Roolo to help their dogs get exercise at home.
John said: “We’ve also been on a couple of podcasts. We did Anna Webb’s A Dog’s Life podcast and Niki French’s Pup Talk podcast.”
Lee said: “We’ve had Dragons’ Den trying to get us on the show, which is quite mad. I haven’t got any more hair to lose. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster.”
John explained that Pets Corner needed 1,500 Roolos for their stores, so John, Lee and Hannah (Lee’s wife), spent a week getting all 1,500 ‘retail ready’ themselves.
Lee added: “We give away as many as we can to rehoming shelters or people who are running a charity or fundraisers for their local rehoming shelter or dog home, things like that. We send out on average probably 15-20 a month.”
John said they have more ideas for dog toys but said they would ‘rather get a Roolo into the paws of every dog in the country’ first. “We think we’ve got the right thing here,” he said, adding that their toy is now generating interest in America, Canada and Europe. “We’re just trying to ride the wave a bit and not fall off the surfboard.”
