Wombourne inventor going global with dog safety sleeve

David Daly has put his former aerospace engineering skills to good use by coming up with a range of behaviour sleeves for the canine market that are attached to a harness or a lead.

Branded 'Gizapaw', the products use a simple colour coding system to indicate the temperament of a dog, with green being 'safe' and red indicating 'caution'.

The entrepreneur, who also owns the cafe at Baggeridge Country Park, has been assisted by the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) and has already received orders from responsible owners, training bodies and re-homing centres.

He has also used exhibitions, such as Crufts, Interzoo and Winners in Amsterdam, to generate demand from overseas clients in Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, Spain and the US.

David said: "It all started about two years ago when I was over Baggeridge Country Park with my daughters. They went to stroke what appeared to be a friendly dog and the next minute it lurched at them – fortunately the owner was prepared for it and pulled the dog back.

"I got chatting to him and his words were 'he's fine with me but doesn't like kids, I could really do with some way of warning people'. This got me thinking and I went away and came up with several ideas to solve this problem, eventually settling on the Gizapaw concept due to its simplicity, yet effectiveness."

David used strategic support and mentoring from MAS's New Product Development programme to help him in the early-stages before turning to Wolverhampton-based LS Manufacturing for production of the animal behaviour sleeves, which are reversible and embroidered on both sides.

Over 1,600 have already been sold via trade shows, www.gizapaw.co.uk and the Baggeridge Country Park shop, with Betterware placing a 1,000-strong order and a letter of intent received from the RSPCA for 4,500 units for their rehoming centres across England.

The idea is to help workers easily identify what stage of resettlement the dogs are at, which will help reduce the number of attacks and help the organisation negotiate a more cost-effective insurance policy.

"This shows the flexibility of our products, which are patented in the UK. If the order is large enough, we can manufacture in different colours and the text can be different to suit the messages you are trying to get across," said David.

"We're already looking at creating dog jackets and have taken our first step into the equine market, with the launch of animal behaviour sleeves for horses.

"These can be fitted to the head collar, bridle nose band, or even on the tail to warn people if it is a novice (green) or a kicker (red)."

Manufacturing Advisory Service advisor David Nuttall believes the future is bright for this innovation: "David has shown tremendous determination in taking an exciting idea and turning it into commercial reality.

"David has even sent a sample to Owen Paterson, Secretary of State for the Environment, in a bid to nationally promote responsible dog ownership."

If sales volumes continue to rise, David has the long-term vision to bring the manufacturing in-house at a dedicated factory in the West Midlands.