Working Like a Dog « blog for active outdoor dogs

Check out what our Ruff Wear pack is up to!

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Powder Hounds

All work and no play makes Ruff Wear a dull company. So, in true Ruff Wear fashion, we traded our Grip Trex™ boots for snow boots and closed up the office for a February 25th ski day. The trip was an enjoyable and amazing experience for all, giving us a chance to reconnect with the outdoors. Each employee was given the option to alpine, cross-country, or skate ski. Some were experts, daring to ski backcountry down the back side of Mt. Bachelor, while others tried to keep their balance learning a new sport.

The team poses on Mt. Bachelor

Top highlights from the trip?

Chelsea can now tell her friends that she gets paid to ski
Young was left seeing stars and hear canaries tweeting
Ryan’s board went missing
Ryan’s board is found strapped to Young’s feet
Patrick can do somersaults in the snow
Lindsey took a group on a “round the volcano” magical mystery tour
Skier/boarder cross – Jesse threw the smack down
Avalanche rescue demonstration of the DoubleBack™ Harness – Seeing is believing

The Mt. Bachelor Avalanche Team demonstrates how they use the DoubleBack™ Harness

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Two Events, One Day, Tons of Dogs

The crew shows off their new tent courtesy of Expand A Sign

Two events on Saturday, February 13, left our tails wagging, but our bodies panting, as we geared up for a fitting event at REI in Bend, Oregon, and a Demo Sale at our Headquarters.

At one time, we had the largest and smallest dogs in Bend at our booth

Winterfest, a popular winter sport event in Central Oregon, was the perfect excuse to hold dual events for active outdoor dogs–so that’s exactly what we did. Beginning at 1pm, we hosted a fitting and demo event at REI, where dogs were encouraged to come down and get a professional fitting of dog boots, coats, and lifejackets. In addition, REI offered 10% off all Ruff Wear gear for the event.

Dog-friendly events allow us to properly measure and size dogs for their Ruff Wear gear

Meanwhile, beginning at 2pm, Ruff Wear held a sale of our used/demo/sample gear at our Headquarters. This sale is a great opportunity to get slightly used gear at a killer deal–sometimes 70 percent off MSRP! A portion of the proceeds from the sale went to benefit the Central Oregon Trail Alliance (COTA) to help improve trails, including Wanoga Sno-Park–a dog-friendly cross-country ski and snow-shoe park in the Deschutes National Forest.

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Ruff Wear Shoots for Fall / Winter 2010 Catalog

Ruff Wear Dog On Location

What do boxers, skate skiing, and winter boots all have in common? They are all part of our photoshoot for our new Fall / Winter 2010 products.

It wasn’t easy finding photo models (of the canine and human form alike) that were able to skate ski, fit in our product samples, and recreate off-leash in areas around Bend. But it was nothing a little research and few miles of hiking in the Deschutes Forest couldn’t solve. The bonus…we were able to use a few of our customers as photo models!

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Ruff Wear Returns from Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City

Ruff Wear has just returned from another successful trip to Salt Lake City for Outdoor Retailer. This show gives us the opportunity to meet with outdoor accounts across the nation and set orders for the upcoming Spring/Summer season.

We were extremely excited to share an array of new products with our accounts, including our SingleTrak Pack™–a low-profile hydration pack which is more like a harness, our Headwater™ collar–a stink, stain and dirt-resistant reflective collar, Highlands™ backpacking bed, and Hydro Plane™ floating foam disc.