The Dog Collar guys at Canny Collar
The Dog Collar world is not something we know about but it is where the guys at Canny Collar excel. This blog is all about them and their innovative dog collar.
As you know if you follow us, we have the dog collar world visiting us week in, week out, and we really embrace having well-behaved dogs come to stay. So we hooked up with the team at Canny Collar for a chat, who are also all about well-behaved dogs.
I came across them online and had heard about them from a number of guests so I just thought I’d look into what they do for you. I am not a dog owner personally so I’m just giving you an insight into the canny collar so that you can dig a little deeper for yourself and see if it’s the dog collar for you and your pooch/es.
It’s aimed at those dogs who are constantly pulling and is a loose-lead solution, which is simple to fit and easy to use, kind to your dog, comfortable, safe and effective. All backed up by their Lifetime Guarantee.
I’ll point out right now that I’m not on commission, I’m just trying to let you know about something that might be of interest to you.
Their dog collar is the favoured training head collar of UK Guide Dogs and is recommended by trainers, training schools, rescue shelters & veterinarians. Please take a look on the website for much more info but I wanted to get behind the scenes with the Managing Director of the business, Sean McElherron.
The people behind the collar…
Sean and his father-in-law were dog trainers visiting people in their homes and helping them to fix behavioural problems when they came across the Canny Collar.
Father-in-law Tony had been trying to develop an alternative head collar to the Halti for years. He had mockups with bits of webbing and staples trying to come up with a prototype. He knew it needed to work from both sides and as soon as he saw the Canny Collar, he said, ‘This is it’!
So I fired a few questions at Sean that’ll give you an insight into the human behind the dog collar.
What’s your background?
Crikey. I’ve done lots of things from being a cartographer, teacher, charity worker, musician, salesperson and eventually, for the last 18 years, a dog trainer. I think the teaching has certainly helped with the dog training as it’s all about training the owner in the end. Once you get the owner and dog communicating in a way they both understand, progress is generally quite quick.
What made you decide to do this?
I had always loved dogs and thought I knew a little bit about them before I started to become a dog trainer. Turns out I was the same as many people, interpreting dog behaviour as if they were another human being. After my initial study and then several years into the job, I developed a pretty good insight into canine behaviour.
It was whilst training an owner that I saw their dog was wearing a ‘Brian Smith Original Canny Collar’ with Brian’s phone number sewn on to the side. I called Brian and myself and Tony, my business partner, went to Scotland to meet him to see if we could help him promote the idea.
He was initially sceptical but after a few weeks, gave us the go-ahead to start marketing his fantastic product. I’d estimate in the 13 years since then, we’ve sold close to a million Canny Collars worldwide.
What would you say your role is?
When you run a small business, you wear a lot of hats. I try and guide the business and promote the fact that we’re not a huge multinational. We are a small and friendly family enterprise but inevitably, with only three of us involved, you take on several different roles. From building and managing the website to being the face of the business at trade shows.
I’d like to say my main role is to keep our customers happy. Whether that be the owner of a pulling dog, or a pet store looking to sell a quality product. They can then in turn give their own customers the best service they can. But as I’m sure you know yourself, Carl, it’s a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week life running your own business. You have to be ready to step in and do the best you can. Even with the jobs you’re not 100% qualified to do.
What do you think makes The Canny Collar stand out from the crowd?
The Canny Collar is a simple design that is easy to use and comfortable for the dog. For that reason, it is a recommended training aid of UK Guide Dogs. They use it with their puppy trainers. It was also voted ‘Best New Product’ when it was first launched way back in 2005 by the UK Pet Product Retail Association. They’re a network of pet stores up and down the country.
The fact is that it is designed to train your dog to eventually walk on a regular collar and lead. So that is also a strong point. It’s a training aid, not a restraining aid. Your dog can open his mouth, breathe, pant and drink while wearing it. They will accept it more readily than something that closes his mouth.
What does the future hold for you and the business?
We want to carry on helping people to enjoy walking their dogs. In recent years, we’ve moved our focus away from strictly ‘dog training’ to dog walking. This is because we feel that more people simply want to walk their dogs with no stress. The alternative is actively training them on a regular basis.
Most people are ordinary dog owners rather than dog trainers. The Canny Collar is a quick and easy way to get your dog walking well on a loose lead. If you then want to follow this up with a programme of dog training then that’s great. We should all be responsible dog owners. But there’s no need to be a dog trainer to be able to use our products.
We are now busy expanding into new markets. We have our website in seven languages and we are about to add Finnish. Our point-of-sale material is in almost 20 languages as we try to support our distributors around the world. We have just taken on a Russian distributor. Moscow is somewhere I’ve always wanted to go, that one is particularly exciting!
So, there you go. A really interesting insight from Sean into the history of his involvement with the Canny Collar.
You can contact them directly here:
The Canny Company Ltd
Suite 455 275
Deansgate
Manchester
M3 4EL
0161 706 0048
Email: info@cannyco.com
