Tazlab "cofounder" Tasman at play with young onlooker at Caltech

This story begins with the love of a great dog  named Tasman, the six-year old Australian Shepherd who lives with former Pasadenans Rick and Noelle Fredland.

“Tasman was our first kid,” says Rick. “He's one of those dogs that's smarter than we are – he outthinks us all the time – he understands 50 words, has 20 hand signals, he brings me beer from the fridge... he's one of those dogs that just gets it...”

So when the Fredlands heard a horror story from friends who had come home to find their dog hanging from a fence, strangled by its collar, they immediately looked into safety collar options for Taz.

It turns out that man’s best friend all to often falls victim to manmade and natural hazards. Fences, sprinkler heads, heating vents, tree limbs and possibly most often, getting jaws stuck on collars while playing with other dogs that can lead to deadly results.

The Fredlands looked for quite a while to find a safety collar that lived up to their standards – with a background working for Patagonia, the outdoor company which reveres pure, functional design, their standards are quite lofty. They found nothing that satisfied them.

Rick began to bring home materials from the Outland Mountain Shop, the climbing shop he and Noelle ran here in Pasadena. Sewing prototypes on a home machine and using Taz as chief product tester they continued to hear more and more stories.

“People saw our collar and said, 'Can you make me one?’ So I started making them for people. Finally we had so many people saying, ‘Gosh, I get it, I want that for my dog!’ that we just knew we should start manufacturing them,” Rick remembers.  “We were forced by the marketplace to start our own company!” they say. The process unfolded over four years.

“We defined what we wanted the collar to do,” Rick explains. “We wanted it to be static when it’s on a leash to work just like a regular collar, but we wanted our dog to be able to escape when not on a leash. We wanted to be able to grab the collar and have some control over the dog, too. Finally, we wanted it to be simple with an appealing esthetic. All day we sold highly designed, functional and safe outdoor gear for humans, why wasn’t there the same options for our canine pals?”

Tazlab also offers "slide tech leashes" which extend from 30 inches to 70 inches, in matching color sets

The Tazlab collars are lightweight, yet very durable – a reflection of Rick’s familiarity with tough mountain-climbing gear. The design contains a stretchable inner-collar constructed from elastic webbing, so a dog can pull itself out of the collar if snagged. “For some dog owners this collar will work for all their needs, however others may want to use it as a safer ID collar that they leave on their dog when unattended or crated and use harnesses or other training collars for their walks.

“We’re on a second generation of elastic webbing,” Rick says. “Our elastic is woven with a reinforcement which enhances its ability to retain its original shaping. It is very durable and will hold your dog if you should need to grab the collar.  It is not designed to breakaway. 

The collar is distinctively buckle-less and is made in specific neck sizes for a custom fit. (There is a small line with sizes from eight to thirteen inches and a larger line from thirteen to twenty-two inches all one-inch increments).

To make clipping the collar onto the leash easier, Rick designed the collar so the D-rings stick up and stay on top of the dog’s neck, so they remain really easy to see and access. The rings aren’t metal, and they are not plastic; using what amounts to aeronautics technology, Chris Hillyer, who came on board as Tazlab’s head designer, selected a particular Nylon, a high tech material that is tough but stichable.

“The folks who sew this for us hated us at first!” Rick laughs. “This is not simple construction for a dog collar. There's a lot going on. It's quite a bit of sewing work. Every part is custom made for us with no off the shelf parts. The clip rings are molded, the metal logo (that doubles as a tag holder and a counter weight to orient the clip rings on the back of your dogs neck) and the webbing that is made to Tazlab’s specifications and colors.”  There really hasn't been such innovation in the dog collar in years.

The attention to design is paying off. Until November the Fredlands were able to handle the sales and marketing and oversee manufacturing themselves, but an uptick in sales has led to signing up sales representatives so Rick and Noelle can focus on PR, manufacturing and next generational improvements.

They recently picked up a representative for the Northeast, took on a west coast rep group covering Washington all the way down through the Southwest and Texas. Tazlab now has distributors in Australia, Japan and Canada.

Pasadenans can purchase the collars and leashes at I Dig My Dog  (2160 East Foothill Boulevard, 626 844-7877) or online at www.tazlab.com.

“We believe that the love of a good dog is irreplaceable and perhaps far outweighs what most people give on any good day,” the Fredlands say on their website. “Believe in your dog – keep him safe and happy!”