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THIS WEEK'S TOPICS:

• $230K raised for an indestructible inflatable kennel 🚫🪓

• Your dog is actually laughing at you, seriously dogs can laugh 😂

• The most well behaved super pack of dogs you’ll find 🐕 🐾

• The scoop on the dog food industry 🧆🥄

DOGGYDEX™

Winner 🏆: S&P 500

Proudly introducing the DoggyDex™, an index comprised of 10 publicly traded companies whose primary focus is the dog/pet industry.

The yellow line-plot in the chart represents these companies above (DoggyDex™) and their combined performance against both the S&P 500 and Bitcoin on a weekly basis.

Pawformance is measured by % gains & losses.

$230K RAISED FOR AN INDESTRUCTIBLE INFLATABLE KENNEL 🚫🪓

A company called Diggs, launched in 2018 with the intent of bringing a new and improved dog crate to market. One that was much sturdier than others, but also collapsible and transportable.

Their crates were a hit, winning design awards, as people welcomed a long overdue upgrade to the janky wire crates we’ve all become accustomed to using.

Now they’ve set out to rethink how we utilize our kennels when it comes to transporting pups. They’ve launched a Kickstarter campaign (was fully-backed within 30-minutes of launching) to fund their inflatable dog kennel, the Enventur.

If you’re thinking what we’re thinking…inflatable sounds like the worst possible feature of anything dog-related. However they’ve set out to make a clear example of how indestructible these suckers really are…

They use the same materials that are utilized in inflatable stand-up paddleboards. They claim their kennels are not only puncture-resistant, but also chew-resistant and waterproof 💧.

One of the other impressive qualities of this kennel is that it’s the first one we’ve seen that has a shape specifically designed to fit into a rear cargo space of your car/suv.

They’ve clearly tapped into a serious need for dog owners on the go, having raised over $230K when only seeking $25K for production.

The campaign is running for another 23 days with discounts still available up to 36% for any interested parties.

YOUR DOG IS ACTUALLY LAUGHING AT YOU, SERIOUSLY DOGS CAN LAUGH 😂

For decades psychologists and behaviorists have had the mutual understanding that laughter was unique to human expression.

However, with the recent expansion and exploration into studying animal’s emotions, Nobel Prize-winning ethnologist, Konrad Lorenz, has suggested that dogs are actually capable of laughter. He claims that it’s during play that dogs display their own form of laughter.

He claims that the laughter, which comes in the form of a pant, sounds more like a “hhuh-hhah” as opposed to our typical “ha-ha” cackle.

Research shows that a dog’s sense of humor is personal, similar to humans. Certain dog breeds tend to display a greater sense of humor than others. This means they’re more likely to play-pant (laugh).

3 dog breeds with a big sense of humor:

1. Golden Retriever

2. Miniature Schnauzer

3. German Short-Haired Pointer

3 dog breeds lacking a sense of humor:

1. Akita

2. Samoyed

3. Rottweiler

Please excuse us while we go try some new dad jokes out on our dogs.

THE SCOOP ON THE DOG FOOD INDUSTRY 🧆🥄

Ever look at some kibble and think "Hmm 🤔, I wonder how much dog food is consumed by each state, and what the primary ingredients are by ton?"

No?

Yeah, us neither.

BUT, someone did ask us about it so we decided to put on our research spectacles and give the pack some insider knowledge.

The Overview 🔍

The pet food industry is big, like $30B with a "B" big.

As we have talked about previously, pet ownership has been on the rise in the last few years, and the pet food industry has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of that.

Some other changes have been more focused on personalized food products, meaning food more tailored to different breeds, ages, conditions, etc.

Add in the newer categories of:

• Human grade (e.g. Farmer’s Dog)

• Organic

• Raw food

• Air-dried

• Keto

The industry has changed dramatically in the last 15 years.

Even with all of the newcomers, the big dogs still dominate the industry with ~60% of the global market share consolidated down to 5 companies:

• Mars Inc 🍫

• Nestle Purina Petcare 🍚

• Colgate-Palmolive 🪥

• The JM Smucker Company 🍇

• General Mills 🥣

The Supply Chain 🔗

As of 2020, pet food manufacturers used a humongous 8.65 million tons of animal and plant based ingredients (both 🦮 and 🐈‍⬛ food). If that were a pile, it would be 1/3 of a mile in diameter, and taller than a lot of state's tallest buildings (549 feet tall according to our 15 second google search).

For some more eye popping numbers, check out the whole value chain:

As far as what goes into that food, the top ingredients by ton for dry dog food is corn (by a long shot), meat & bone meal, soybeans, chicken, and corn gluten meal (not sure what that is?). Here you can see the whole breakdown:

Which state consumes the most dog food?

That would be Texas 🤠🏆, followed by California:

KIBBLE BITS:

• Dog becomes mayor of Niagara Falls: A German Shepherd named, Pal, was named honorary mayor of the Canadian 🇨🇦 Niagara Falls.

• Dog uses small chair to get on a big chair 😂: A long dog with short legs, gets clever by using a small chair as a step stool to get onto a bigger chair.

• Jack Daniel’s vs. Bad Spaniels: Jack Daniel’s is suing a dog toymaker for copyright infringement by claiming they’re using the shape of their iconic whiskey bottle.

Every week we love to shoutout a pooch that has made another trip around the sun. Happy 14th Birthday 🎂 to the black beauty that is Roxy!

That's all there is to bark about this week.

If you want more, be sure to follow our Twitter (@dogonomist).