Meet Liz Zarro, a young designer at Oregon-based dog gear company, Ruffwear, which specializes in making products that help dogs and humans have outdoor adventures together. Liz and Annie discuss how Ruffwear's innovative products are developed, the thinking that goes into designing gear meant to please both dogs and humans, and how the products we use can affect how dogs are trained.  You'll learn about the though process behind everything from treat pouches to dog seatbelts and more.
This episode contains an Easter egg:  a 25% discount on all Ruffwear products from now through 11:59PM ET on Monday 11/30.  Find all the Ruffwear products mentioned in this episode, and more, at StoreForTheDogs.com!
Follow Liz Zarro on Instagram: @liz_zarro
Take Annie's Master Class and get a free e-book on the three keys to dog training success! http://anniegrossman.com/masterclass
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Partial Transcript:
[Intro and music]
Liz Zarro:
My name is Liz Zarro, and I’m a product designer and developer at Ruffwear in Bend Oregon.  Ruffwear is an outdoor dog gear company. We basically design and develop the items that you would need to take your dog out on adventures with you and enable those outdoor pursuits. So things like dog boots, harnesses, backpacks, we kind of specialize in that area.
Annie:
And you studied in Bend, right? Isn’t Ruffwear in Bend. Am I right?
Liz:
Yes. Ruffwear is in Bend.
Annie:
And when you were going to school there in Oregon then, was Ruffwear kind of a spot that you thought, wow, that would be a great place to work as a dog lover and designer?
Liz:
Yes, I did. Yeah. When I was in college, actually, I sent an email to Ruffwear to see if they needed an intern or any extra help on their design team. And at that time I got an email back that was basically saying that at this time we don’t really need any help in that area.
But fast forward a few years, after I had graduated and I was working as a freelancer. Ruffwear came back, and they did need a little extra help. And so I was able to freelance with their team, before I was offered a full-time job, and being able to move to Bend and join the team to make great performance dog gear. That was definitely like a dream come true,
Annie:
Ruffwear as a brand, it sells at REI. Do you think that’s how a lot of people discover it?
Liz:
I do. I think that, who I would consider our sort of core base, so outdoor and dog lovers, that sort of cross section.  To me, that’s a total REI customer.  For those people shopping at REI for other things, and then seeing Ruffwear, I think that is a big way that we become known.
Annie:
Yeah, it’s interesting because REI doesn’t carry a whole lot of pet gear. So it’s like the gear that they do carry, I guess, seems like it would have some kind of great stamp of approval on it.  Because like I was saying, you know, you guys have huge fans, we carry it at my online store, storeforthedogs.com. We carry a lot of different brands and I don’t think any sort of thing, any specific brand has as big of a fan group. Have, have you, have you experienced the Ruffwear fandom?
Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

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