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Looking For Feedback From Dog Trainers


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Hi All,

We are and Australian company in the process of designing a new belt especially for dog trainers. We would love to hear your ideas about what features we can add to the belt design to make it the most beneficial to you as a dog trainer.

My questions are

What features would you like to see on the belt that are not currently available to you in the marketplace?

How important is it for the belt to look stylish as well as be practical?

What would be a reasonable price point for this product?

Anything else you think we should consider when designing the product with dog training in mind?

Thanks so much for your time and I look forward to reading your responses.

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For me the most important thing for a training belt would be the ease of getting treats out. There are some really good belts out there and there are some shockers (sadly we only stock shockers at work :cry:) The ones that we stock are just too hard to get your treats out quick enough for your dog. They look great when your not wearing it but once you put it on it tightens up not allowing easy hand access. For me style would be no issue, I'd much rather pay for something that does what it is designed for and does it well, not something that looks fantastic. a pocket or two for my clicker and poo bags is always handy. Something I wouldn't mind on my current belt would be a ring to attach my lead clip to when doing off lead work, I know I could always attach it to the strapes but I find being a fairly lean person I spend a bit of time stuffing around getting my clip on and off getting it caught on my jump and things like that :laugh:. As for price, I'd be happy to pay $30-$50 for a decent belt.

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I agree with the points above, but with a few exceptions which are:

- I want it to look nice. I am not going to spend that much on a belt unless it looks cool. Sad but true.

- I want a choice of colours.

- I want somewhere safe and secure for my car/house keys and phone as well because I don't want to need another bag as well as the belt.

- definitely treats (lots of them and easy to grab), clicker and poo bags all need somewhere to go. I only need one pouch of poo bags. Hand wipes not needed (my current belt has a spot for hand wipes but I always have extra bags in there instead.

Yep the latch for a lead to clip onto is also good.

Obviously needs to be fully adjustable and comfortable around my hips.

My current belt is pretty good really. I would only make minor changes. Hardest thing is finding enough space for keys and the phone.

Edited by Zug Zug
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I agree with the points above, but with a few exceptions which are:

- I want it to look nice. I am not going to spend that much on a belt unless it looks cool. Sad but true.

- I want a choice of colours.

- I want somewhere safe and secure for my car/house keys and phone as well because I don't want to need another bag as well as the belt.

- definitely treats (lots of them and easy to grab), clicker and poo bags all need somewhere to go. I only need one pouch of poo bags. Hand wipes not needed (my current belt has a spot for hand wipes but I always have extra bags in there instead.

Yep the latch for a lead to clip onto is also good.

Obviously needs to be fully adjustable and comfortable around my hips.

My current belt is pretty good really. I would only make minor changes. Hardest thing is finding enough space for keys and the phone.

yep, that sums it up for me too

:thumbsup:

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Hi Jessegirl,

currently the best treat pouch I have is a leather and canvas carpenters tool bag from bunnings. It has a series of pouches, the first and tighest is where I keep keys and phone, poo bags in the next. Treats go into the next one which is a bit roomier - easy to get my hand in fast, and deep enough to catch most dogs doing the 'self-help' trick before they get rewarded. The last pouch is big enough I can rollup the long lead and carry it there.

When we're not training, its in use as a general purpuse chew toy,and has lasted several years.

I have irish terriers, so not particularly small dogs, either!

I haven't found anything else that comes close for sheer functionality to that carpenters tool bag!

Will you show us the prototypes? I think most of us would be interested!

Christinex

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I agree with the points above, but with a few exceptions which are:

- I want it to look nice. I am not going to spend that much on a belt unless it looks cool. Sad but true.

- I want a choice of colours.

- I want somewhere safe and secure for my car/house keys and phone as well because I don't want to need another bag as well as the belt.

- definitely treats (lots of them and easy to grab), clicker and poo bags all need somewhere to go. I only need one pouch of poo bags. Hand wipes not needed (my current belt has a spot for hand wipes but I always have extra bags in there instead.

Yep the latch for a lead to clip onto is also good.

Obviously needs to be fully adjustable and comfortable around my hips.

My current belt is pretty good really. I would only make minor changes. Hardest thing is finding enough space for keys and the phone.

yep, that sums it up for me too

:thumbsup:

Me too but also able to wash/clean the bag.

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I would like one that can keep my iphone (which is pretty big) and car keys (also very fat) as well as a good amount of treats and a tug and/or a ball and poo bags.

I'm not to fussed with look, but it has to be easy to access.

Also a washable liner would be an added bonus for me.

I have one I am quite happy with at the moment, the only problem is the front pocket (where I put my keys and phone) is not secure and the items can plop out especially if the bag is full.

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Something in between the black dog treat pouch and the doog walkies belt would be nice. The latter is quite bulky, but I like that it has several pockets and somewhere to hook the leash.

The only other thing I can add to what everyone else has said, is keeping the belt flat agaist my body, there's nothing I hate more than running around the agility ring and having the belt pockets flapping.

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I just joined this forum because I saw this thread. I would love to be involved in helping you. I have been a dog trainer for over nine years and I use my treat bag everyday of the week. It has been so hard to find one that is durable and effective at holding all of my things. Only one has lasted more than 6 months and even it broke.

I have been so desperate for a good treat bag that I even looked in to making my own but did not have enough $$$$ to do it myself. I have purchased several treat bags from all over the world and only one has come close to meeting my needs- it's the one I use at the moment.

I would love to help you and I have heaps of ideas for you. You can use my email contact to get in touch with me.

For starters you probably need to have two made- one for agility people and another for straight obedience, both disciplines have very different needs, another thing I would suggest is a magnet closure on the obedience bag. The spring systems rust and break after a couple of months of use- I will never buy a bag with a spring system again.

I'm sure that if you can come up with a durable bag with a guarantee on it against breakage you could price it much higher, the cheaper bags need constant replacement of items.

I am also the purchasing officer of my dog club (we have over 200 members and have thousands of clients come through our club each year) and if you came up with a good idea I would be more than happy to be your first customer.

Please feel free to contact me.

Katarina

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Hi All,

We are and Australian company in the process of designing a new belt especially for dog trainers. We would love to hear your ideas about what features we can add to the belt design to make it the most beneficial to you as a dog trainer.

My questions are

What features would you like to see on the belt that are not currently available to you in the marketplace?

How important is it for the belt to look stylish as well as be practical?

What would be a reasonable price point for this product?

Anything else you think we should consider when designing the product with dog training in mind?

Thanks so much for your time and I look forward to reading your responses.

Any future plans to design an Australian made obedience training jacket? I currently use a Schweikert obedience jacket.

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Wow! Thanks for all your great feeback. If you would like to send me any pictures or emails then we would be really pleased to hear from you. Just send them through to [email protected] (yes it's us) We are always trying to improve the product and have had lots of requests for a training belt with a bigger pocket so we are currently doing some prototypes. For those of you using your Walkie Belts it's great to hear you like them so much. Thanks again everyone.

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Wow! Thanks for all your great feeback. If you would like to send me any pictures or emails then we would be really pleased to hear from you. Just send them through to [email protected] (yes it's us) We are always trying to improve the product and have had lots of requests for a training belt with a bigger pocket so we are currently doing some prototypes. For those of you using your Walkie Belts it's great to hear you like them so much. Thanks again everyone.

lol. I love my walkie belts. I would like a bigger zipped area too as the newer smart phones are a struggle to fit in.

I would like a treat bag that could be clipped on to the walkie belt.

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I think a treat section that I could easily clean- so it clipped on. I use soft treats and just wash my current pouches after training. But they fling around a little too much, so perhaps an attachment point at the top and bottom of the pouch to the belt?

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If we were to do a treat pouch that could be clipped to the belt would it be best to have it at the front of the belt or would the side be okay? Also what kind of opening do you find is best for easy access to the treats?

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Any future plans to design an Australian made obedience training jacket? I currently use a Schweikert obedience jacket.

Hi Yesmaam

K9 Pro are designing a training jacket at the moment - we'll release details on our website/facebook page once we have it available for sale :)

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If we were to do a treat pouch that could be clipped to the belt would it be best to have it at the front of the belt or would the side be okay? Also what kind of opening do you find is best for easy access to the treats?

I normally have my treats on the side but I would just move the belt so the treats were where I wanted them.

I have a treat bag with a draw string and don't find that as easy as the metal Black Dog treat bag opening.

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