The mission of XDOG is to empower dog owners with the tools and knowledge to extend their dogs’ lives through fitness, nutrition, and education. XDOG is committed to eradicating dog obesity globally and inspiring dog owners to embrace a healthy, active lifestyle alongside their furry companions. Their journey began with founders Stan and Steven’s vision of creating an innovative solution to make dog exercise easy, convenient, and effective.
We sat down with XDOG founder Stan Smith to delve into the story behind XDOG, exploring his vision and passion for dogs that drive the company’s mission.
Photo Credit: Toy Soldier Photo
A: In 2003, I got into the American Bullies. Growing up, I always wanted a Pit Bull and never had the opportunity to own one, and then, when I got older, the opportunity arose. I looked up some puppies for sale; they were either on Craigslist or the Yellow Pages, and I met a guy in a parking lot and purchased my first Red-Nosed Pit Bull. And then, I took a deeper dive into it.
When I was growing up, my father specialized in the king pigeon, about a 40-ounce pigeon. It’s like a bull breed pigeon: short beaks, wide nose, big chest, short backs, tight feathers, and a man-made bird, but he specialized in color. His gene was the gold gene. He was one of the first people in the world to produce a recessive gene identified as gold in the king pigeon. He had to do a lot of different breeding with different pigeons, and I was really into learning about the other phenotypes, which ultimately attracted me to the American Bully.
A: When I got into the bully game, I had a pretty sound dog, and with a marketing background in the music industry, it was much easier to market dogs than artists. Within three years I became one of the top kennels in the game at the time.
There were a couple of different supplement companies out there at the time, and the big thing was how to add mass to your dogs – how to get your dogs bulkier because, at the time, they didn’t have that size and mass. I white-labeled a multivitamin, went to a dog show, popped the trunk like we did in the music industry when we used to sell CDs, and within 30 minutes, we sold out. I said, ‘Okay, I think I got something here.’ So, I contacted a manufacturer and asked, “ hey, can you make a weight gain supplement for us? That’s when I came out with the formula mass weight gainer, and then I had to make myself a muscle-building product. That was 2003/2004, and I took a deep dive into dog nutrition from there.
My goal when it comes to supplements is health. First, is it going to improve the dog’s health? The second thing we focus on is the product—what’s the best product in that category? And how can we make the product superior? The pet industry tries to put the cheapest quality ingredients in the products to save on margins. So, it opens up a big opportunity for anybody who doesn’t want to cut corners.
A: No matter what you’re feeding your dog, no matter what lifestyle they have, there’s one key factor that will improve the dog’s overall health, wellness, and longevity. And that is exercise, and a superior form of exercise is fitness and resistance training. That type of product for dogs just wasn’t on the market. I talked to my business partner in 2012, and we decided that creating a weighted dog vest would be a game changer.
When it came to the vest, I took a pencil, a piece of paper, and a ruler and drew it out. I brought the prototypes, threw it on a few of my dogs and the dogs of a couple of trainers I highly respect here in Dallas to get the sizing and stuff right, and then we went ahead and got patents for it. We wanted to make it easy and convenient for dog owners to exercise their dogs. As soon as the dog is wearing the XDOG vests, it is immediately employed and receiving the health benefits of exercise and fitness training. My initial goal for the vest was to just exercise my Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Fast-forward, we’ve seen over 50 physical and mental health benefits linked to the vest, and we now have the home run product.
My goal when it comes to supplements is health. First, is it going to improve the dog’s health? The second thing we focus on is the product—what’s the best product in that category? And how can we make the product superior? The pet industry tries to put the cheapest quality ingredients in the products to save on margins. So, it opens up a big opportunity for anybody who doesn’t want to cut corners.
A: I always promote prevention as the best cure. If you know what you’re trying to prevent, you can build a lifestyle and nutritional program that can address some of those issues or eliminate them. You don’t want to go into war not knowing what the enemy is doing on the other side; you will have a higher chance of winning if you know what you’re dealing with. I think testing is pivotal and extremely important.
A: The XDOG vest is a great tool. The common misconception is that weight training is hard on joints when, in reality, using too much weight and not using weight correctly will injure you.
We’ve had dogs who have never utilized the XDOG vest before getting injured come back, rehabilitate with the vest, and perform better than before. The XDOG improves joint health and longevity, strengthening the stabilizer muscles that protect the joints, ligaments, and tendons. Weight training also creates bone cell activity, which strengthens bones.
