by Cherelle Witney, Adam Hiscox & Douglas
The electronic toy and treat box designed to keep your dog happy when you can’t be home!
Necessity is the mother of all invention, or for me it was more like ‘a difficult situation inspired an inventive solution’!
My inventive solution was strongly shaped by two men.
Douglas who is a brown and white Beagle I found on the internet. SAFE (Saving Animals from Euthanasia) was looking for a new home for Douglas and for me it was love at first sight.
Adam who is a blue eyed country boy (who I also found on the internet)… And again was also love at first sight!
Douglas and I together are a great team but apart, well… Douglas is not at his best! (Probably the same goes for Adam too.)
I was working long hours, away from home and leaving Douglas alone. Every time I left for work I felt guilty and sad that he was bored and unhappy.
As dog owners, you all know what happens next – destruction! Or separation anxiety and depression. In my case, neighbourhood disturbance was also a problem.
After replacing many dog beds, door mats, shoes, buckets, reticulation hoses, sprinklers, garden beds and more (not to mention a few Ranger fines for dog barking), I needed to find a solution.
I talked to Adam about my ‘crazy idea’ to keep Douglas entertained and happy during the day. To my surprise he didn’t think it was crazy and encouraged me to see if it could actually be made.
That was three years ago.
Since then we have been working with Form Design in Perth to transform my original idea I had presented on a scrap piece of paper into engineering drawings, colours, features, mechanics, electronics and packaging.
It has taken hundreds of hours of hard work in research, testing prototypes and refining my ‘idea’ into a realistic pet product ready for sale.
In addition we have had the help of friends and family in so many ways I can’t begin to list them.
In the last few weeks we have created a film clip, Facebook page and website all with the support of school friend and owner of Tinderbox Creative in Perth. And we were so very lucky to discover my best friend’s husband knew a professional dog trainer. It is her dog Talle who stars in our short film clip, coming out of retirement at 14 just for us.
We have personally funded this entire process from thought to Tricky Treats reality. Now we are ready to make the final step into production, but we need help.
I hope you will order a Tricky Treat for your dog and in doing so, help us deliver happiness to dogs everywhere.
Thanks for being interested in our story.
Furry Hugs
Cherelle, Adam & Douglas x
We have partnered with companies who have track records of progressing products from prototype to successful commercial production. This reduces the risk of delays to our project.
As our backer you are our top priority and we will keep you informed of our progress at regular intervals.
Please don’t hesitate to contact Cherelle, Adam or Douglas at any stage.
(Our biggest risk was ignoring that saying, never work with dogs or children…!)