The Blakes Couple Invents, Markets Adjustable Belt For Hands-Free Exercise With A Dog

For inspiring what may become a retail empire of upscale sports gear for dog owners, Maggie Blake is a humble gal.

In fact, the 3-year-old Labrador is downright oblivious to fortunes and marketing strategies that might arise from her newfangled leash. She just wants her masters to take her for a walk.

Her masters, Deborah and Jim Blake of Spokane, hope to take Maggie’s leash all the way to the bank.

The Blakes are the founders of WalkinTheDog Sportsgear Inc., a twoperson, home-based company that hopes to profit in an obscure but growing niche: high-class, high-tech, mail-order sports equipment and clothes for dog owners.

The couple began advertising their flagship product - an around-thewaist, quick-release dog leash for $24.95 - this month. In addition to ads in Sunset and Walking magazines, the Blakes had a display last weekend at the Bloomsday Trade Fair. The product is on sale at four area pet stores.

“This is going to go far,” said Jim, a consummate yuppie and lifelong Spokane resident. “We want to land a big, national pet chain. We want to market this at the Seattle and Boston marathons, everywhere.”

The epiphany for the WalkinTheDog leash came last July, while Deborah was recovering from back surgery. Her doctor advised walking vigorously, but whenever she tried to swing her arms while walking Maggie, the leash restricted Deborah’s arms and the metal clasp clunked against poor Maggie’s head.

The next day Deborah saw a display for rock climbing gear at Recreational Equipment Inc., and it hit her: Why not use mountain gear to fasten the dog leash around her waist, leaving her hands to swing freely?

She was giddy with inspiration. After purchasing Velcro, hooks and nylon, she ran home to her sewing machine and knocked off what would become the prototype for the WalkinTheDog leash.

Jim was unimpressed. He was jaded by Deborah’s string of unsuccessful inventions, including leather baby moccasins and cloth covers for bars of soap. Neither proved to be the gadgets by which millionaires are made, to say the least.

“When I showed Jim, he just blew me off. He didn’t think it would work,” said Deborah, who had recently quit her job at the Public Works Department to spend more time with her daughter.

Undaunted, Deborah took the prototype to South Hill neighbor Jack Robinson, owner of Robinson Windword and inventor of the nylon/ Velcro wallet. Robinson, who specializes in stitched nylon products, immediately saw the leash’s potential and agreed to become the Blakes’ contract sewer.

After Deborah and Jim passed out leashes to friends, marketing ideas started to gel. They modified the design and hired packaging consultants. Last week they edited a WalkinTheDog video.

“Once we put together the idea of walking your dog with sports gear, things really started flying,” said Jim, a program coordinator for the county’s water quality management program.

“We realized that there’s virtually no name recognition for high-scale dog gear,” he added.

To assess the competition, the Blakes did a patent and copyright search in which they found that only two other inventors had created “hands-free dog jogger apparatuses.”

One of the devices didn’t have a viable quick-release, and the other - a hefty belt surrounded by an orbiting metal hula-hoop - was just plain impractical. Neither was affiliated with a line of sports gear, Deborah said.

“We made it easy and fun, and it’s safe because you can rip the belt off and still have the dog on the leash,” Deborah said in a demonstration.

“Now you don’t have to sit around and wonder, ‘Who’s going to walk Sparky tonight?’ Everyone wants to,” she beamed.

The Blakes are confident that the company will thrive. In fact, they’re already starting to market WalkinTheDog T-shirts and sweat shirts.

Five years from now, they hope to have expanded WalkinTheDog Sportsgear to a full-service mail order business for dog walkers. The line will feature WalkinTheDog Wear and a line of accessories: fanny packs with Walkman holsters and pepper spray, water bottles, shoes and rain gear.

And let’s not forget the four-legged walker who inspired what could become the Chanel of canine couture: The Blakes are also thinking about marketing high-energy power bars for Maggie and other dogs.

MEMO: To order WalkinTheDog leashes or shirts, call 1-800-338-WALK. Or look for WalkinTheDog leashes at local retailers, including Joel Inc., Thunder Mountain Dog Supplies, Northwest Seed & Pet Inc. and Two Wheel Transit.