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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
Seat belt for dogs keeps Rover, riders safe |
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BOULDER, COLORADO, Jul. 31 -/E-Wire/-- The difference between life and death for canine and human car-passengers may be nearly indistinguishable: a simple pull and click of a seat belt.
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Convincing people that their dog companions need a seat belt has taken some work, but Carl Goldberg, founder and marketing and sales director of Ruff Rider Products LLC, says people are starting to come around.
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"Our June business is double that of May's," Goldberg said. The sales boost was, perhaps, helped along by an appearance on NBC's "Today Show."
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Boulder-based Ruff Rider logged sales of about $55,000 in the first quarter this year, and Goldberg expects business to continue to improve. "We're in the process of going from a small local operation to a major international player."
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Goldberg said he is talking to an international insurance company about a possibility of giving a premium discount to any client who uses the Roadie canine vehicle-safety harness.
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"People are starting to realize that restraining their 80-pound dog is just as important as restraining an 80-pound package," said Dr. Joseph Evans, a Nederland veterinary orthopedic surgeon. "It not only protects the animals, but also it protects the people in the car."
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If you brake hard at 30 mph, a 60-pound dog will fly forward with a force of 1,200 pounds per square inch, Goldberg said.
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Yet when he first started the business, people thought he was crazy. "They said 'Seat belt for dogs? Ha ha ha,"' Goldberg said.
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He didn't give up. "They couldn't tell me I was wrong," he said.
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"I saw my own chocolate Lab fly through my windshield and land on the hood of my car; and I was only going 10 miles an hour when I made the hard brake," he said.
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Goldberg wanted to prevent the situation from happening again. The strongest harnesses he could find were only designed to control the animal's forward motion, but did nothing to keep the dog from falling out of the harness laterally. So he set out to make his own.
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After 10 years of creating prototypes and with some advice from Evans, Goldberg said he was able to manufacture an effective belt designed not to injure the animal.
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"The way the Roadie restrains the bulky part of the body works well," Evans said. "It won't choke the dog, fracture its sternum, or injure the liver."
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Commercial Testing Laboratories, a division of CTL/Thompson Inc., a Denver-based engineering firm, found that 9,300 pounds of force could be applied before the harness tore.
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"It was tested six times," Goldberg said. "The first model withstood up to 6,675 pounds of force."
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The Roadie was named Product of the Year and Top Choice in Your Dog magazine. The magazine's editorial staff tested other products, including the Quick Stay, Four Paws Pet Safety Sitter and Premier Sure-Fit Harness.
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In a 1999 article, the editorial staff described the Roadie as a "well-thought-out, ruggedly made restraint that should do the job it's designed for."
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Pet owners also approve.
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Mackenzie Poulin, who sells pet products at McGuckin Hardware in Boulder, said customers give the product such good reviews that the Roadie is the only harness the store has ever sold.
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Pet Outfitters in Greenwood Village, has seen similar responses. "We rock with this product," store manager Kim Cheney said. "The seat belt we used to carry would have given someone a brain aneurysm trying to put it on."
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Mary Lee Withers, owner of PC's Pantry for Dogs and Cats in Boulder, said customers can also use the Roadie as a lead when they come into the store.
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Ease of use is one of the Roadie's best qualities, said Evans, the vet. "Since most accidents occur within 20 miles of home, short trips are exactly when owners should use the Roadie. But if it's hard to use, these are the same people who won't want to use it."
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Carl Goldberg sits in his minivan with his Labradors, Marley, left, and Havana, both secured with his Roadie canine restraint. Goldberg designed the harness, which attaches to a vehicle's seat belts, and markets it through Ruff Rider Products in Boulder By Vicky Lio
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