Post-It Notes. The Microwave Oven. Pacemakers. X-ray Machines. What do all these products or technologies have in common? They were all invented by complete accident. Sometimes, the most meaningful and impactful products are just that, happy accidents.
That’s why when we heard about this weird, ultra-durable “dog toy”, we had to investigate.
Mark Smith is the owner of a small family business that makes parts for the agricultural industry. Smith’s company is dog-friendly and one day during a meeting, the office dogs got a bit bored.
We’ll let Mark tell you about what happened in his own words. Watch below!
What makes the AgriChew™ so irresistible and durable?
Three letters: TPU.
TPU stands for thermoplastic polyurethane. It’s an ultra-strong, non-toxic, FDA approved, pet-safe material used for many high performance and high stress products. In fact, its most often used by medical device companies. As far as we can tell though, no one has yet made a dog toy out of it, and that’s a shame.
How does it wear over time?
Obviously, no toy is indestructible. If it was, no dog would want to play with it. Not to mention, it would wreck their teeth!
The perfect dog toy is one that wears down slowly over time.
Take a look below at some of our tests of the AgriChew. The first example below is from our one of our team member’s dog Ike. The AgriChew has become Ike’s favorite toy by far and after several months of play and chewing, you can see the results below. This little guy is a young Chihuahua mix who enjoys relaxing with a toy and methodically tearing into it. He prefers to focus on one spot and try to get his chompers as far into it as possible.
By far, our heaviest chewer to test the AgriChew was a 100 lb. German Shepherd. As you can see, the toy below was also very “well-loved.”
Instead of large pieces chunking off (dangerous) the AgriChew slowly wears down over time. The coarse surface then becomes even more attractive to dogs.
Just like any toy in iHeartDog’s Project Play™ program, every toy you buy will provide a donated toy for a shelter dog. To-date, Project Play™ has funded over 100,000 donated toys for animal shelters across the country.
You can learn more about the AgriChew here.
via Whisker Therapy