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THIS WEEK'S TOPICS:

• 🥜 Fake dog testicles made this man millions

• 🏅 Olympics for dogs?

• 🐶 History of National Dog Day

 🥜 FAKE DOG TESTICLES MADE THIS MAN MILLIONS

Dog owners have been going NUTS for artificial dog testicles…

One man's invention has sparked both admiration and controversy. Gregg Miller, the creator of Neuticles—patented prosthetic testicles for neutered dogs—has turned his novel idea into a multimillion-dollar enterprise, challenging traditional views on pet care and raising questions about the ethical and practical implications of such products.

Neuticles, which were introduced in the 1990s (patented in 1995), offer a solution for dog owners who want their pets to retain the appearance of being intact after neutering.

The idea stemmed from Miller's own experience with his beloved bloodhound, Buck, whom he didn't want to see "defaced" by the necessary procedure.

Since then, the product has gained traction, with over 500,000 implants sold worldwide, earning Miller the title of a pet industry pioneer.

The average pair will set a dog owner back about $310. However, some pairs cost significantly more; today they can run as much as $469. Miller has even made a $2,800 “watermelon-sized custom set” for a zoo elephant 👀.

Supporters of Neuticles argue that the product provides peace of mind for owners who are emotionally attached to their pets' natural appearance.

This has been especially true for breeders and show dog owners, who value the aesthetic integrity of their animals.

Furthermore, the presence of Neuticles may alleviate some owners' reluctance to neuter their pets, potentially contributing to better population control.

However, the product is not without its detractors.

Critics question the necessity and ethics of such an invention, pointing out that the primary purpose of neutering is to prevent overpopulation and reduce aggressive behavior.

They argue that by focusing on the superficial appearance of pets, Neuticles may perpetuate vanity in pet ownership, diverting attention from more pressing issues such as responsible breeding and animal welfare.

Adding a new layer of innovation, Neuticles recently announced the launch of a "world’s first implant-within-an-implant."

This cutting-edge product aims to mimic the natural feel and movement of testicles even more closely, a feature that is likely to appeal to an even broader audience of discerning pet owners.

The impact of Neuticles on the pet industry is undeniable.

On one hand, it represents a significant shift toward the customization of pet care, catering to the emotional and aesthetic preferences of pet owners.

On the other hand, it raises important questions about where we draw the line in the humanization of animals and the commercialization of pet ownership.

Whether seen as a groundbreaking innovation or an unnecessary luxury, Neuticles challenges us to reconsider the balance between our pets' well-being and our desires as their caretakers.

🏅 OLYMPICS FOR DOGS?

We are still riding high after a thrilling olympics in Paris (anyone catch that men's 1500!?), and we saw a quote from gymnast Simone Biles about her dogs:

I think we can all agree that is true!

It also got us wondering if there were any dog olympics out there, so we did some digging and found out that there are a few different regional or smaller events, and the next closest things are the AKC's National Agility Championship and the Westminster Dog Show.

So is there an opportunity here? Well let's take a look at some of the smaller events and see:

The Doggy Summer Olympics

Started in 2021, the Summer Doggy Olympics is put on by Golden Dog Adventure Company, a New Hampshire based company that focuses on events for dogs and their owners.

The competition is usually held over 2 weeks in a number of different locations around Manchester NH and features 18 different events.

This last year they had 23 "athletes" compete in contests around agility, treat toss, and ice cream licking 😆.

We weren't able to find any attendance numbers, but they did have 19 sponsors and got coverage on local TV as well as offered a livestream. The company itself has about 2.9k FB followers, so not a super large presence.

The event has had enough legs to run for three years, but this seems more like a savvy marketing campaign for the company, than an event that could be a big business opportunity.

The Doglympics

Next up we found the Doglympics from Do More With Your Dog, which is a dog training company that focuses on certifications for things like tricks, fitness, and dog acting?

Kind of a strange website, but their FB page does have 29k followers, and we were able to find of number of people posting about their dogs receiving medals from the Doglympics.

The format is more of a take home test style, where to get a medal, your dog has to pass 5 different titles from Do More's training catalog.

It does seem like they've "awarded" dozens of medals on their Instagram page, so it's clear that owners are engaging with this event to a decent degree.

Again, this is more of a marketing tactic for the company, but it does seem to get engagement, so something to keep in mind.

The Canine Olympics

Put on by the Woodford Human Society, this event seems to be the most organized and is coming up in October in Kentucky.

The event brings together vendors, food trucks, and dog competitions to a local park and awards medals for each game.

Compared to the others this seems more like a purpose driven event (likely to raise money). It being local, we don't have many stats on past success, but it does have a number of sponsors listed so there seems to be participation.

Is there an opportunity?

There seem to be two ends of this spectrum. You have the big televised events like the Agility Championships and the Westminster Dog Show, but everything else seems to be pretty small.

Our gut says that unless you have a competition dog, you might not care about having your dog do a bunch of events, nor going to watch amateur dogs fumble their way through agility courses they've never seen or trained for.

So we would probably recommend a general dog festival instead of an olympics style competition.

Search volume for "Dog Olympics" is also pretty low, with volume at sub 100 searches/mo except for a spike around the olympics up to 800/mo.

🐶 HISTORY OF NATIONAL DOG DAY

Did you know it was National Dog Day on Monday?

While we think a "National __ Day" has gotten a little out of hand (c'mon, National Battery Day??), but National Dog Day (NDD) definitely should be a thing.

Let's find out how it got started, what it is, and maybe some business ideas around it.

The start of NDD is credited to Colleen Paige, a dog trainer turned advocate and author. She started it in 2004 on August 24th which was the same date that Colleen's family had adopted her first dog "Sheltie" years before as a child.

As we find with a lot of events for dogs, Colleen started NDD to bring awareness to dogs in general. Things like the number of dogs that need to be rescued each year, acknowledgement of service dogs, etc. Colleen has also gone on to found a number of other "days":

• National Mutt Day

• National Puppy Day

• National Wildlife Day

• National Cat Day

The public quickly bought into NDD and it's been a well celebrated day ever since. In 2013, New York even wrote NDD into their state legislation!

Looking at search trends, it's clear to see that there is a lot of interest each year in the US:

That large spike in the middle is from 2020, when dog adoption was at an all-time high.

What opportunities do we see here?

Well, we have a high volume of season search interest and coverage from a lot of news outlets. eCommerce is probably the most likely thing we see here. Possibly creating some unique designs or customized clothing to market to dog owners leading up to or on the day.

We noticed that Colleen nabbed the nationaldogday.com domain in 2005, a marketing strategy known as Exact Match Domain, where you try to match a common search with a domain to drive traffic.

Her domain ranks at the top of search, but there doesn't seem to be any other closely matching domain that pops up on the first page. So there could be some opportunity for domains like nationaldogdayshirts.com or others.

If you work for a company in the dog space, you can also consider running a photo contest or giveaway with proceeds going to charity.

A great way to give back and elevate your brand. Here are a few examples:

Events are another interesting avenue. There already seem to be a number of events around the country to celebrate NDD such as the Dogs & Lager Fest in Bend, Pupstock in NJ, and Critz Farms Dog Days.

For an event, you'll want to think through a few things:

• Where can you get attendees from? - A good strategy here is to find some partners who have a large following that you can tap into. Maybe that's a dog business, a brewery, a social media influencer, etc

• Can you find sponsors? - Events can cost a lot up front, so having some sponsors to provides goods and services (food, drinks, raffle items, etc) can help offset those costs

• Will you charge for admission? - Maybe you want to give everyone free access and get a cut of food or goods sales. Or maybe you want to make money on the event

• Where will you hold it? - Location, location, location. Not only do you need a venue that can hold them people, but it can be a big expense. Partnering with a business that has a space or using a city venue can help with that

As always, we like to highlight the opportunities out there in the dog industry, so maybe next year one of our readers can share their National Dog Day project or business!

DOGGYDEX™

Winner 🏆: BITCOIN

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

List of tickers used can be found at the very bottom of the newsletter.

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.

• 🤭 School therapy dog has wardrobe malfunction on stage: During a holiday concert that the kids put on, their therapy dog was a part of the show and had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction mid-concert.

• 😰 Delivery man very unsure if dog is a good boy: Watch this delivery man stand at the end of a long driveway slowly approaching a dog ready to greet him and trying really hard to see if he’s a good boy or not.

• 💗 Dog dad refuses to sit on couch if his dog can’t either: This pup had ACL surgery and therefore wasn’t allowed to hop up on the couch so the dad would only hang out on the floor or dog bed with him so he didn’t feel left out.

A REALLY GOOD DOG

• $CHWY - Chewy: E-commerce platform for pet supplies

• $IDXX - Idexx Labs: Vet point of care instruments and vet software

• $FRPT - Fresh Pet: Pet food company

• $PETQ - PetIQ: Pet health products and medicines

• $PETS - PetMeds: Online pet pharmacy

• $ZTS - Zoetis: World's largest producer of meds and vaccines for pets and livestock

• $TRUP - Trupanion: Pet insurance company

• $WOOF - Petco Health & Wellness co.: Pet health & wellness company

• $BARK - BarkBox: Subscription service providing dog products, services, and experiences

• $PET - Wag! Group Co.: Tech platform that allows pet owners to connect with industry professionals for services such as, walking, training, etc.