Small Business Stories - Wag'N Enterprises

Alex Fees talks with Ines De Pablo about her Pet Gear company Wag'N Enterprises at the 2008 Pet Expo convention in Baltimore.

Alex Fees: I’m Alex Fees for small business television SBTV.com. We are on location in Baltimore at the 2009 pet industry spring trade show. It is brought to you by HH Backer associates publishers of Pet Age Magazine. You guys got a lot of cool stuff here you know so tell me about it. Ines de Pablo: Sure no problem. We do everything that has been safety related it springs from having a load of stickers so that the fire department know you have pets in the house. Alex Fees: Sell me a sticker. Ines de Pablo: We have these other stickers for the, that you put on your door so the stickers in the back. And then we have stickers [Voice Overlap]on the front door, and we have two in there because one in the front door, one in the back door. You never know when people come in. Alex Fees: Just notifies the emergency responders if there are pets inside? Ines de Pablo: Exactly. Alex Fees: I see, okay. Ines de Pablo: And then you have this one that you put on the window if you do not want to put it on your door because of, you know regulations or a have a little window next to your front door. Then you put that on the window and this sticks in the window from the inside. And then we also—so having this as the first step, and we also fire departments to make sure that once they get the pet out, extricated out of the house, they can provide them oxygen on the scene. Alex Fees: Okay hang on stop here. Ines de Pablo: Sure. Alex Fees: Oxygen for pets? Ines de Pablo: Yes sir. Alex Fees: Emergency responders have oxygen for pets? Ines de Pablo: They have oxygen, you know like for everyone, an oxygen is an oxygen tank. Alex Fees: So this— Ines de Pablo: Dogs and cats have lungs, like us they suffer from smoke inhalation, so you got to provide them oxygen on the scene Alex Fees: I am guessing most emergency responders do not have that. Ines de Pablo: Most of them do not. Alex Fees: There are three ways to get those, right? Ines de Pablo: Yes sir. Alex Fees: What are they? Ines de Pablo: The first way and the easiest way is for fire departments that hear about our program to just acquire them straight from us. Alex Fees: Okay. Ines de Pablo: The second way is for shelters or organizations to sponsor their local fire department, and the third way is for the departments that can afford, do not have the budget for it from city and state and can’t not find sponsorship, we sponsor them, so just sign for a fellowship program, they tell us how many kids they need, and we raise the funds through them. Alex Fees: Ines show what that product look like. Oxygen mask [Voice Overlap] Ines de Pablo: Sure there is three types. This is the little one, all you need to fit through here is the snout. Alex Fees: So what kind of animal is this for? Ines de Pablo: This is a ferret or a little cat. Alex Fees: Ferret or a little cat? Ines de Pablo: And then you have the smaller dogs, or the bigger cat. Alex Fees: Okay so their snout goes through here. Ines de Pablo: Just the snout, just the nose. Alex Fees: Okay. Ines de Pablo: And then they breath and it is hooked up to the oxygen tank, and well we provide an 02 flow rate to make sure that they provide they do not give them too much oxygen or not enough. Alex Fees: Show me the big one Ines. Ines de Pablo: This can—it can fit a wolf, it can fit a great Dane, because remember all you have to fit in is the nose. Alex Fees: Okay, but does that act kind of like a muzzle. I mean is that thing going to all the way over there, there nose and mouth? Ines de Pablo: When you see, there is─ it depends on the size of the dog. For example on here you can see that little guy, he was given probably the medium size one and so─ they where able to fit the whole mouth and nose in it. But for some others, the bigger guys you do not need to, you can just put the nose. Alex Fees: How does an animal react to that Ines? Ines de Pablo: When they are, if they have suffered from smoke inhalation, they will be happier there, with it. They are very unlikely to fight you. The bigger challenge for the firefighter is to get to extricate the pet because they are scared, and you know that is when they might hide or get cornered. But, once you provide and once they are out kneeling down and you pat them one of the first responders provides the oxygen, the other pets him and keeps it under control. They are just generally happy to be breathing. Alex Fees: Alright, Ines where can people go to get more information about the products you have told us about here today. Ines de Pablo: Sure, they can go wagn4u.com Alex Fees: Wagn4u? That is a W-A-G-N? Ines de Pablo: The number four, and the letter u dot com. Alex Fees: Alright that is your website? Ines de Pablo: Yes sir. Alex Fees: Ines thank you very much. Ines de Pablo: It was very nice to meet you.