UdogU was born out of Sherry’s creative ability as a seamstress and her love for dogs. She developed her ability to design and sew articles of clothing for herself at an early age. Sherry and I began our lives together in 1989, and we soon added a Shetland Sheepdog named Cushla McCree (Beat of My Heart in Gaelic) to our lives.
Cushla quickly became the focus of Sherry’s apparel designing projects — the first project was a hat. Cushla was a handsome male Sheltie and I got the feeling he believed wearing a hat was beneath his dignity. This was reason enough for us to add another dog to our pack. Sherry’s lifelong desire was to have a poodle she could dress and treat like a little princess. We soon added a black Miniature Poodle named Chienne Noire (French for black dog) to our pack.
Chienne turned out to be the perfect model, and it was obvious that she delighted in wearing every piece of fashion Sherry made for her. She was, indeed, the “princess” of our pack, and would be today if she were still with us.
It may have been Cushla’s lack of enthusiasm for the hat that caused us to perfect our hat design. We were eager to see whether anyone would be willing to buy our dog hats, and we found a local craft show where we could try it out. Sherry and I knew that customers love to see products demonstrated, so we took Cushla and Chienne with us. As you might imagine, our models were the hit of the show as they sat obediently on their demonstration table, wearing their hats and greeting customer after customer with wags and kisses. Those of you who have a canine member of your family know just what I mean.
We realized that our success at the show probably had more to do with our irresistible canine models than with our skillful sales presentation, but we were delighted to discover that craft shows were a way of selling our products to dog lovers. There were craft shows nearly every weekend during the summer and fall months in our neck of the woods in New England. These were mostly outdoor events with lots of tourist traffic in such picturesque areas as Yarmouth, Maine, Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
We spent the next year developing and finalizing the designs for each of our “high fashion” dog products. In addition to hats, collars, and leashes, our line included our unique Easy-On Harness, by far our most popular product and the reason for our success over the last 25 years. The design was inspired by one of our own small dogs who would choke while wearing any of the harnesses on the market — our design puts the pulling force on the dog’s chest, not at the throat, so it protects any small dog’s trachea from injury.
After selling our products at craft shows in New England for a few years, we decided to look for shows around that country that might take place during the colder months.
At this point I should explain the difference between “craft show” and “flea market.” Most people are familiar with flea markets, kind of a collective yard sale, where little is new or handmade. Don’t get me wrong — these markets can be just the place to find the item you have been looking for, and of course you won’t find a better price. Craft shows, on the other hand, are typically juried, which means that the promoter is satisfied that the items for sale were handmade by the person selling them. Juried craft shows tend to draw customers who are looking for unique high-quality items that might not be available elsewhere.
We scoured national juried craft show directories for shows that looked promising, and we were delighted to be accepted into several, which meant that our future travels would take us well beyond New England into the southeast and midwest. This would require that we gear up for traveling great distances from our home base in New Hampshire — we would be away for days, even weeks at a time. Whereas traveling to craft shows in New England didn’t involve overnight travel, our new schedule of shows would require a monumental change to our lifestyle.
By this time our pack had grown. We added Giselle, a black Miniature Poodle and Tiffany, a Yorkshire Terrier. Cushla did not enjoy all the traveling, so he volunteered to stay behind with some friends who anxiously agreed to adopt him — they also promised to love him and keep him in the lifestyle to which he had become accustomed…
The challenge of traveling for 3 or 4 weeks at a time with our pack of 3 dogs was met with the only sensible solution — we decided to purchase a travel trailer, or, in our case, a dog house on wheels.
After selling my prized possession, a 1963 Austin Healey sports car, we took possession of a used 24’ Terry travel trailer at a local RV dealer. Once in a while I find myself reminiscing about driving down the highway in my Healey with the top down, my hair blowing in the wind, feeling carefree as the miles fly by. Even though my Austin Healey moved on, it was replaced by a sense of excitement as Sherry and I got ready for a new journey, one that would take us to many exciting parts of the country where we would meet people who shared our love for dogs. With our Ford Van loaded with inventory and the travel trailer hitched up, we and our canine family knew that new and precious memories were just ahead.
Sherry (holding Chienne Noire) and Bill Merrill (holding Giselle).
