Our Story
From Sketch to Concept to Reality
I’m Brian Zibricky, the creator of the Pup Stack. Pictured with me is my wife, Sue, and our dog Cooper. We also have two incredible kids, Kayla (20) and Kevin (17).
We’ve always loved dogs but with Sue and I both working full time jobs outside of the home, and both kids in school, the idea of having a family pet seemed like a difficult choice at the time.
LIFE CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES
That all changed about 8 years ago when Sue was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Her condition quickly worsened and in a matter of a few years she was wheelchair-bound and forced to give up her job as an Elementary School Reading Specialist, a job she truly loved. At the same time, I began working from home on a full-time basis to care for Sue. Her diagnosis had completely upended our lives and sent us in a direction that neither of us ever anticipated.
Since I spent my days working in my home office, and the kids were off at school, it seemed the ideal time to introduce a furry friend into our lives to keep Sue company during the day. I arranged a surprise, and we picked up Cooper 2 days after Christmas in 2019.
Here’s the pic I showed Sue and the kids to reveal the surprise on Christmas Eve of that year. Cooper turns 4 this year, but it feels like he’s been part of our lives forever. It’s difficult to remember life without him! Cooper has been the one and only positive outcome from Sue’s diagnosis.
CREATING THE PUP STACK
Soon after bringing Cooper home, I realized that this very tiny - and very cute - pup had an agenda all his own. I created the Pup Stack to solve several problems.
I needed an easy way to contain his space while at the same time making sure he could enjoy his time with us. Our backyard is not fully fenced in, but I wanted Cooper to enjoy the outdoors. That also included our concrete patio where we spend a lot of time during the summer. I loved taking him places but I never had what I needed anytime we left home. I would forget poop bags or his treats, and there was never an easy way to get him some water if we were away from home for a bit.
It also felt like a chore whenever I got to where we were going. I always wanted to give Cooper some freedom, but I was forced to hold his leash the entire time. If I tried to tie his leash to a stationary object, he would end up in a tangled mess in a matter of minutes. I knew there had to be a better way.
I began sketching out an idea for a product that would address all of the issues I was having while incorporating features that I knew every small dog owner would appreciate.
The goals for my product were simple:
· It had to be portable to allow an owner to take his / her pup on any adventure they could dream of.
· It had to have a retractable tie-out line that could be locked at any length allowing a pup to either stay or play.
· It had to rotate 360 degrees for fewer tangles.
· It had to have storage so it could quickly be packed up with everything an owner might need for their dog.
· It had to be expandable to accommodate a range of dogs up to 35 – 40 lbs.
Those goals led to some initial sketches and very shortly the idea for a “stacked” weight system was born.
Once the idea was discussed with our design firm, some professional sketches were created (that looked a lot better than mine!) and the full feature set was fleshed out.
From Sketch to Final
Initially the storage container on the Pup Stack was going to be an optional extra, but after discussing the product with several friends and getting a lot of feedback from other dog owners, it was clear; everyone agreed that a storage container should be included with every Pup Stack. So now it is.
Our commitment for any future product update (or for any future product), is to always listen to YOU, our customer, the pet parent.
After working through several iterations and design changes (for instance, the straight carry handle being replaced with a more rounded handle for a more comfortable grip) it was time to build our first prototype.
Then we built another. And another. Aaaaand another. Multiple prototypes and countless rounds of testing to get every last detail just right. We're thrilled with the final version of the Pup Stack and we're sure you will be too.
Thank you to every Pup Stack customer out there for being part of this incredible journey.
We can't wait for the story to continue.