Global Pet Expo Takeaways: Dog Toys

sonally enjoy, they’ll love sharing that fun with their pets!”

“At Huxley & Kent, we’ve seen a surge in popularity over recent years when it comes to Instagrammable and TikTok-worthy items such as nip™ to encourage play and helps pets chill.”

“This year’s Global Pet Expo exceeded my expectations for what I hoped to accomplish. Our business is at a tipping point, where a number of larger retailers and distributors are becoming interested in our products. The show gave us an easy venue to reach many of these potential new customers. As a result of this show, we will likely pick up new distribution on three continents.”

— Adam Baker, SodaPup

our pet hats, bowties and plush toys that clearly celebrate an event or holiday. Our collection of birthday, Yappy Hour, Halloween, Christmas, Patriotic, Pride and more are always very popular and add some social media fun for our customers!” he continued.

“We’re always following current trends and prioritizing ideas and key product categories that offer opportunities to expand. We recently launched our ‘Tiny Tuff’ line of plush toys for dogs under 15 pounds. These are offered in the cute styles we’re known best for and built with a new ‘Diamond Mesh’ inner lining technology that can handle extended play. We’ve also expanded our selection of hats based on the overwhelming popularity and social media attention we’ve seen over the years!” Dagne added.

Doggijuana, brand to parent company SmarterPaw, highlighted everything the company was able to achieve at the expo and the various takeaways the company walked away with. “Global Pet Expo 2023 far exceeded all of our goals and expectations,” said Managing Partner and CEO Scott Ragan. “We were able to connect and grow our existing retailer relationships and partnerships as well gather important feedback and ideas from retailers and the industry as a whole. We also launched our new Doggijuana Tuffer Chewer line with reinforced plush with rope designs that still incorporate our proprietary Juana-

“Both SmarterPaw brands (Doggijuana & Meowijuana) are always very committed to retailer and pet-parent education,” said Ragan. “In today’s omnichannel (multiple sales channel) climate, education must be offered in many different ways - through video, photos, social media, engagement marketing, e-mail marketing, promotions, collateral, distributor/retail shows and demos. We strive to help retailers identify Doggijuana as a solution and CBD-alternative for pets, as well as something fresh and new in the “toy plus” category of toys with purpose and more benefits and we like to make that information. We launched our Doggijuana Tuffer Chewer line at GPE for retailers in Q3 2023 to promote more durable toys and toys that encourage play.”

As to be expected, there were several trends circulating the exhibit floor and companies like Doggijuana noticed how these trends play a part in the company’s growth. “A hot topic, trend and growth driver for Doggijuana comes from pet-parents continuing to look for natural products and solutions for their pets, as well as toys that are designed to meet the needs of the dogs who are tougher, chewers are strong and growing demands. As it relates to natural solutions, we hear many pet-parents and retailers alike looking at solutions for the calming market, but may be less comfortable with supplements or CBD. Doggijuana offers fun toys to promote natural play and exercise with the added benefit of Juananip—natural, organic herbs that promote play engagement and calming,” Ragan added.

“At Global this year we continued to deliver on that trend, but took it a step further with the sneak peak and tease of Q3 launch of our Tuffer Chewer line of Refillable Juananip Toys”