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THIS WEEK'S TOPICS:

• 🛁 $35/mo grooming membership for your dog

• 🎥 The “Pawscars” are a real awards ceremony

• 🤖 AI is coming for your pooch

🛁 $35/MO GROOMING MEMBERSHIP FOR YOUR DOG

There’s a company that has started to catch fire the past couple of years and has recently ranked No. 127 on Entrepreneur’s Top New & Emerging Franchises list.

It’s called Scenthound, and it touts itself as the first wellness-focused, membership-based grooming company.

Your monthly membership of $35/mo gets you one visit (per month) to your local provider where they take care of skin, coat, ears, nails, teeth (S.C.E.N.T) in one go.

Their franchisees are currently located in the following states:

• Colorado

• Florida

• Georgia

• Idaho

• Minnesota

• Pennsylvania

• South Carolina

• Tennessee

• Texas

• Utah

Packages run anywhere from $35-$65, with the higher tiers including blow-outs and proper haircuts. The prices are in range with the average grooming offerings across the board and definitely more competitive for the premium options.

We found that the best deal here is for owners of big dogs, as they do not charge based on sizing or breed.

So a Bullmastiff could effectively pay the same rate as a Yorkie.

Hows business?

It seems that business is booming and showing no signs of slowing down.

• Recently opened the 50th location and aiming to make it to 100 opened by the end of 2023.

• In 2022, the company more than doubled in size, opening 16 new locations and partnering with 33 new franchisees.

• Scenthound sold 96 locations (unopened) across 22 states in 2022, marking a 300% year-over-year increase from 2021.

• They welcomed over 20,000 new memberships and serviced nearly 50,000 dogs across the U.S. in 2022, resulting in 200,000 visits.

  • 200,000 × $35 = $7M (if they were to only sell the basic package)

What do dog owners think?

We pulled 4 sets of Google reviews on Scenthound franchises from both Texas and Colorado and as you can see the feedback seems to be overwhelmingly positive!

We’re usually champions of independent businesses, but if this franchise can bring scales of efficiency to dog owners and can deliver top quality service at a competitive price then we’re all for it!

🎥 THE “PAWSCARS” ARE A REAL AWARDS CEREOMONY

If you are like us, any time we see a dog character pop up on screen, that movie or show just scored extra points.

Whether it's dog focused content like Turner and Hooch or The Secret Life of Pets, or just a great cameo like Frank the pug from Men in Black, we are all for dog-ertainment.

We have heard that in the old days, animals onscreen were not well cared for and often suffered injury and death to make "good" entertainment.

Things appear to be better now, so what protections do they have now?

We don't work in the film industry, so we can't 100% say that dogs are treated well in movies and shows, so this piece is more about sharing what we've learned instead of making any judgement.

Where it started…

Animals owe their current cinema safety to a horse.

In 1939, a horse was killed during the filming of a movie about Jesse James. After which, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) was pressured to work with the American Human Association (AHA) to create guidelines for animal safety and protection.

Those AHA guidelines have continually been updated and are still in place today.

They include provisions such as:

• On-site AHA presence to monitor the use of dogs (and other animals)

• Required vaccinations and health certificates

• Special dispensations for underage performers (i.e. puppies)

• Protective guidelines for interactions with animals that might impact prey or reproductive drives

• Stipulations for crates, shade, fencing and other housing/comfort issues prior to the animals arrival on set

So while you might think that filming with dog actors would be a great opportunity for lots of pets and love, the AHA standards tries to limit cast and crew interactions outside of necessary filming.

Interesting facts

Dogs have their own awards ceremony! The "Pawscars" (FANTASTIC name) has categories like "best puppy under pressure" and "Best chase scene".

There are stunt dogs! Similar to their human counterparts, the main "actor" often has stunt performers trained on specific tricks, like jumping large gaps, or fighting.

The movie John Wick 3 incorporated a large amount of trained stunt dogs which you can learn more about from this behind the scenes clip.

🤖 AI IS COMING FOR YOUR POOCH

At this point, if you haven't heard about the AI trend you might be living under a rock......or you might be a dog!

But seriously, it seems like the promise of AI is everywhere, and that promise continues to grow with all the possibilities.

We decided to learn more about some potential benefits dog owners could see and share it with the group.

Pooch recognition / tracking

The American Humane Society estimates that over 10 million dogs and cats are lost or stolen every year in the US alone.

Now we all know that microchips have helped tremendously with lost pets, but not all pets have them, and not every person on the street walks around with a way to scan them.

But did you know that dogs have a unique noseprint!?

That's right, after the age of 6 months, dogs have their own version of a fingerprint. AI's ability to process images means that dogs could be identified with nothing more than a smartphone camera and app.

Personalized health

AI is great at crunching large amounts of data and finding trends. We've written previously that we expect dog wearables or other ways of monitoring your pup to continue to grow. That produces more data, and more opportunities to look for nuggets on your pet's health.

Are they scratching more, has their heart rate changed, genetically are they pre-disposed to any conditions?

Based on your dogs breed, medical history, blood work, urine analysis, etc, what kind of food would be best for them?

We see a future where all your dogs data can be used to help diagnose issues or provide proactive health plans specific to them.

Entertainment and fun

If it were up to us, we'd be able walk and play with our dog each day. However, the realities of life, work, travel, mean that we don't always get to give our fur babies all the attention and stimulation we want.

With AI based toys (for example, Varram) you'd have something to help pick up the slack and keep them entertained, fed, or even walked!

Training

A team of researchers at Colorado State University designed an AI system to train a dog to obey certain oral commands without human assistance.

A computer uses a camera, speaker, and treat dispenser to give commands and verify that the command was followed. It then dispenses treat if the command was followed.

We don't know how effective this would be, but it could open up the possibility for better at home training, and using an AI assistant to help train your dog on your own.

The future is coming

We feel that AI, like most new technologies, will end up having more gradual impacts than huge overnight changes.

Having said that, in our experience AI isn't a party trick.

Some of the things it's able to do is already impressive, so we expect to see more and more products or services that leverage it's ability to be almost human-like in certain situations.

KIBBLE BITS:

Every week we love to shoutout a pooch that has made another trip around the sun.

Happy upcoming 8th birthday 🎂 to Kirby! We hope you find your furever home on your big day🤞

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

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