Would you buy this? Business advice much appreciated please :)

[TheFantasticMrsFox]

We went to the county show yesterday and saw a woman with a fantastic stand selling dog treats. The display was amazing, beautifully set out with a huge selection of roasted bones, ears, pizzles, liver treats, homemade biscuits etc, all set out in lovely baskets on checked fabric with handwritten signs. Prices seemed quite reasonable and our buys came in a lovely plain paper bag rather than shoved in a cheap carrier bag.
Around our way we are fortunate to have a lot of farmers markets etc. and I also have a friend who deals in game (specifically venison) who I imagine pays to have the bones disposed of. I also have a large catering butcher within a few miles where I used to buy raw food from, which could be a potential source of ears, hooves etc.
This idea is very much in its infancy as I have yet to even find out how much a stall would cost and how badly my house would smell but in theory, is it the sort of place that you would buy from? Have I missed anything vital in my initial musings? Any feedback or suggestions would be really appreciated :)

[Aked]

I probably would!

My main worry would be the smell in the house if it were me :)

[ender]

Slightly missing the point of your post but roasted (i.e. cooked) bones are dangerous for dogs, even though they might look tasty.
Unlike raw bones which are safe, cooked bones are brittle and can splinter and cause gut perforations.
Why would anyone sell them as dog treats?

[TheFantasticMrsFox]

ender I am aware of the cooked bone thing but was under the impression that cooked knuckles and load bearing bones are ok? At least that's what is on sale in every pet store and what I have fed my dogs for years

[MitchellMummy]

I think to sell dog treats at shows etc. that comes under food hygiene and other laws (though I think some people do make them at home to sell ...) - you'd also need gazebo, vehicle to transport it all in, advertising etc. etc. The county shows are expensive to have a stall at, whereas smaller shows you could get a pitch for a couple of hundred or so. Good luck if you go ahead!

[ender]

OP - perhaps load bearing bones are more likely to stay intact because they're harder but the risk is still there because roasting changes the structure of the bone. Depends on the dog and jaw strength/persistence I suppose, a toy poodle probably wouldn't be able to do much damage to itself or the bone.
My dogs, lab and GSD, are raw fed and bones are eaten in minutes. If they had a cooked (or raw) load bearing bone they'd keep trying until they either broke their teeth or managed to eat it all.

[nuttymutttie]

Umm I would never ever give my dogs cooked bones. I would not give my dogs load bearing bones as they can splinter and damage the dogs teeth. I do raw feed and my dogs do have raw bones but never cooked.

Shops have been selling these for years and damaging dogs for years. I am not a fan of pigs ears as dogs can choke and if they are not chewed correctly can damage the dogs intestines. Biscuits I would avoid if they contained grain.

I would feed dehydrated meat and liver cake if home produced.

There are so many more raw feeders these days who are educated on what is healthy for dogs to eat that I am not sure if a dog treat business would be successful unless it catered for us fussy feeders. Also many raw feeders have really cheap suppliers so probably would not want to pay the prices that you would have to charge to make a profit

[ender]

Agree with nuttymuttie, treats need to be healthy as dog owners are much more aware than they used to be.
Treats can be a challenge for raw feeders as not convenient to take chunks of meat to training classes or on walks.
Dehydrated meat and gluten free liver/sardine cake might sell.

[Aked]

I'm not a raw feeder. I wouldn't buy her bones at all, but the liver treats etc I would buy if I saw them. I've often thought to make liver cake and all that but never get round to it.

[TheFantasticMrsFox]

Hmmm, this stall was all healthy, preservative free etc. There was also a lot of dehydrated meat chips, dried tripe, little fishes and so on which I suppose falls under the heading of healthy snacks with no bones.
Thank you for that, it's definitely food for thought particularly the amount of people who wouldn't buy bones. I will spend the next couple of weeks researching healthy dog treats on the internet and see if I can gauge whether it would be cost effective and whether I could put up with the smell! :)

[WeAllHaveWings]

Apart from the cooked bones I (and many others) buy these type of treats all the time and are likely to have regular suppliers (I buy 100 cow ears for £27).

I am unlikely to buy off a stall as I don't feed the dog many "one offs". I' ll try new treats but with a view to then a regular (and cost effective) supply if they don't give him the runs suit him.

[Scuttlebutter]

If you're making treats, then you will need to licensed as a food premises (inspections etc), so worth looking into that side of things.

We sell sighthound coats via our website and at specialist sighthound events (usually on weekends). Don't underestimate the cost of the kit you'll need for shows, and the time/hassle factor of attending these sorts of events. Useful to have PayPal for business, and also a card machine for credit/debit cards. Time wise, generally, we work on:_ the day before for loading/organising - day of the show - selling/travelling - day after - unloading, unpacking, stock check, processing orders. You'll probably need either an estate car or a van. Even if you sell via a website, you need to do shows to get your name known, and as a valuable extra income source.

Doing lots of shows is knackering, eats into your family time and plays complete havoc with your social life in the summer months. If the weather is bad at a show, think about how you will manage unsold stock.

We buy treats from Doggy Bags bakery - they have a website and also attend various events. We often include these as treats for our customers, and have customised cookies made for things like Christmas, birthday celebrations etc.

There is also a market for dog birthday cakes - seen some gorgeous ones recently. The "cakes" are more a sort of terrine - made with lots of lovely things like game, venison etc. with decorated topping and dog's name, in shape of bone.