Ok, not sure this is the right place but... I have a question to all you lovely animal lovers

Basically, I am considering potentially starting this up as a sideline business and wondered if there would be any interest or demand.

Would you buy home made natural dog treats?

Sure I would, if I had a dog. Otherwise, they could also be good for my son

Sure, depending on what is in them. I have to admit I give my dogs imported dog food because of the ingredients.

I belong to a "meetup" group for their breed and maybe you could come to one of their meetings with the treats. The organizer also has a website - http://www.tschigi-shop.ch/index1.html which could be interesting for you too.

Jennifer

Hi Lynn,

Knock up a market research questionnaire on www.surveymonkey.com and publicise the link to it as widely as possible. It's great and free for less than 10 question/survey.

dave

I am a believer in home made natural dog treats? :-)

Yes i would, but only for special treats (btw you would have to hide them from Lilly, or she might eat them all)

Goodluck

Now how did I miss this? Two of my favorite subjects...

(In my mis-spent youth, I did market research - and somehow once found myself doing a customer satisfaction focus group for a dog food company. Trade secret: in blind taste tests, 10 out of 10 dogs preferred carrion to all other flavors... )

But to the question at hand:

Several of my mutts are on special diets so I have to be careful what they eat. Both clear ingredient declaration and analysis (protein, fat, mineral content, calories, etc.) are very important to me. I need to know exactly what is in the product, and where the ingredients came from.

(For instance, it drives me nuts when commercial products list things like 'Fleischmehl'... dear doG, what exactly is that? Usually skin, beaks, and leftover unmentionable bits of whatever critter happened to cross the road...)

It's also very important to me that anything the mutts eat is made with human quality ingredients.

Would you consider treats made to order?

As an example: I've been searching for a long time now for something for one of mine to gnaw on - problem is, he has no teeth. I'd like to find a hard biscuit that he could gum for a while, but would eventually dissolve. Most I've seen are far too big, or to easy to swallow whole and potentially choke, or the wrong shape for his mouth.

I don't imagine too many owners would want the same thing that I do... but I imagine there are lots of owners out there with specific needs. Perhaps if you had a couple of recipes that you could alter on request, or make different shapes and sizes to order?

ETA: As you are doing your research, I'd recommend looking through the last year or so of the Whole Dog Journal, an American magazine. Since the melamine scandal, WDJ has been published a series of articles to discussing product safety, and alternatives to commercial foods. It's one of the best resources for balanced information, IMHO.

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/

(WDJ is available by subscription only, but the website publishes sample articles from various issues.)


(My crew think your idea is a wonderful one, as your treats sound far tastier than the carrot sticks their cruel mum gives them. )

I would buy some, if you use the Post or other delivery method.

Product information and human quality products are important to me too. Where does your recipe come from? Maybe an endorsement from a vet or dog trainer....

Distribution is fairly important as well - - and it's a balance between being able to fufill your orders and having enough orders to make it worthwhile.

I think research is really important - surveys will give you a sense of the overall market, but you might do some "qualitative" research first - talk to some people in depth. you might want to talk to some vets or dog trainers, or as someone else mentioned, club members, and of course look at what's out there already, before you do your survey. The reason for this is that you want to ask questions pertinent to your potential customers (say if you plan to sell in Switzerland).

There's a guy who sells pet stuff over the internet - one of the things he does is fill a plastic jar with treats and if you email him a digital photo of your dog, he'll print it and put it on the jar when you order it. It's a clever idea, I think.

I'd make it myself and save on postage.
(I don't have a pup yet.) Good luck with your idea, Lynn.