Eugene Weekly’s 2011 Gift Guide
Gone To The Dogs
Get your pup a collar and a bed
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| Kaiya models her Illumidog collar ($19.95) and Dogma pet bed ($35). Photograph by Amanda Smith |
A black foster dog named Buddy from Lane County Animal Services was the spur that led to the creation of Illumidog’s reflective collars. The jet-black spunky pit-mix was hard to see when his foster parents took him for strolls after work in the dark. Collar co-creator Danielle Werner had trouble finding just the right bright collar that would let Buddy shine in the dark, so she began to make her own.
Soon Buddy found his forever home and Werner had a small business called Illumidog. The collars, which cost $19.95 and come in red, blue and purple, use extremely bright SOLAS prismatic reflective material, which Illumidog says is the same material used by the U.S. Coast Guard for reflective safety vests. A collar and leash set goes for $28.95.
Werner is currently living in Michigan, but says she and Illumidog will return to Oregon in June. “Currently our collars are only available online, although we do plan on finding local retailers to carry our product once we return to Eugene,” she says. You can find the collars and other doggie reflective products at www.illumidog.com
Once your pup has come in from the cold and is ready to curl up and be warm, St. Vincent De Paul has just the right bed for canine snuggling. incredibly affordable at $35 for a large-sized bed and even cheaper for the smaller ones (you can practically buy a human mattress for the price some dog beds go for these days) and made locally out of recycled mattresses and material that would have wound up in a landfill, Dogma Pet Beds are what your pooch has been secretly dreaming of.
Mary Sharkey at St. Vinnies says that, just like a human mattress, the pet beds have quilted tops and basically are made the way human mattresses are. All proceeds go to SVDP, and you can pick the beds up at larger SVDP retail locations like the Division and Seneca stores.
Even better, Sharkey says if you want a particular color or pattern for your pet bed, St. Vinnies can do that too. Give Sharkey a call at 687-5820 or check the beds out on the webpage at www.svdp.us/
Gone To The Dogs
Get your pup a collar and a bed
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