Pedro: The Greyhound Who Inspired Our Sustainable Pet Product Ideas

When the pandemic hit, we joined the wave of city-dwellers moving to the countryside and, like many others, decided to adopt a pet. That's how Pedro, a retired racing greyhound, came into our lives.

Bringing a pet into our lives was a momentous decision. A lot of responsibilities and inconveniences come with it, apart from the wonderful companionship. Once the decision was made, we gave our best to provide a wonderful home to Pedro.

Pedro was our first experience with a greyhound and the first dog we had ever had in our family. We chose a greyhound after careful research: we wanted a dog that would be less fussy or sensitive, friendly, and could enjoy long walks or jogs with us. Most importantly, we needed a dog who could handle being left alone when we were busy. Pedro has ticked all the boxes, and he has been a wonderful chilled hanging-out buddy who keeps us accompanied without ‘being sticky’.

It’s been a very interesting journey for Pedro and us because while he needs to learn about us and accept us as his pack, we have also been learning a lot from him.

I remember once we took Pedro into a local pub, and a little girl was so excited and said, "Mom, look! A pony!" He is quite big indeed. Sometimes, we look at him sleeping next to us and wonder, "This is such a strange feeling; we have such a large animal living with us, and we don't even speak his language!"

Language barrier or not, we definitely have learned to pick up his body language, the meaning of sounds he makes, the habits he has developed and his various preferences. Through such close interaction with him, we discovered how his preferences are not properly addressed by existing products in the market.

Most people assume that, being 'racing greyhounds,' they must need an action-packed lifestyle. The reality couldn't be more different: greyhounds are actually champion nappers, spending most of their time contentedly sleeping!

Pedro likes to rest his back on a bump, just like a soft wall. We didn't know this preference; in the early days, we bought flatbeds for him. But he would always kick his bed, trying to reshape it into a fold where he could lie. It was fun to see him doing this because he was so bad at it. And when he finally made it work, it guaranteed a mess, and the bed would end up nowhere near its original spot.

Then, we got him a doughnut bed. He loved it, but soon, problems emerged. The doughnut beds went flat very quickly, and the synthetic padding inside was not fixed, forming lumps of padding here and there.

Most dog beds are also very difficult to clean. They typically don't have separable mats and covers, so even though the label says machine washable, there's no way a large mat used by Pedro can be washed in a household washing machine.

Synthetic materials are still the dominant materials used to make dog mats/beds. They are problematic in every way you can think of - microplastics in our living environment, large unrecyclable waste at the end of the product lifecycle, and their non-biodegradability make them either continue to pollute our land for generations or be incinerated and pollute our air and water. This is the ugly truth behind the soft and puffy pictures that tempt all dog owners.

These challenges led us to create "The Sustainable, Comfy Donut Dog Bed" - a solution that addresses both comfort and environmental concerns. If you've experienced similar frustrations with traditional dog beds, we'd love your support in bringing this solution to life. Join us in creating a better, more sustainable option for our four-legged family members by voting for our project.

That's it for now. Please let us know if you'd like to see more pet product ideas in the comments below.