Because Dogs Don't Wear Glasses
By Heather Gaghan

When you sit down and ask a business owner how their company got started and you hear the words, “animal communicator,” you know it’s going to be a good story. …So let’s begin.

The story of Katie’s Bumpers™ began one sunny day in New York when Jill’s mother, a Newfoundland breeder, asked an animal communicator to come and speak to Katie, a beautiful and smart Landseer Newfoundland. Having 15 dogs at home, there were a lot of questions that Jill’s folks would have for their dogs and they would often have a very good animal communicator come and speak with them. Specifically, a Newfie water judge had asked Jill’s mom if she could ask Katie why she and the other Newfs were having so much trouble jumping off a boat for water rescue.


For this Newfoundland, water rescue was a daily job and for Katie and the others, it seemed a somewhat daunting duty. According to the communicator, Katie told her that “We don’t know where we are going. And, by the way, the bumpers should be striped.” (Don’t you just love a dog with an eye for patterns?!)

A couple months after the meeting with the animal communicator in the fall of 2001, Jill was home visiting her family where she was told the story. She recalls, “Without taking a breath, I knew that I could make these bumpers. Within two weeks, I had found a manufacturer in the states who could make checked and striped bumpers for me. I thought I was only going to do this for a few months, make them for Newfoundland water training, and get a “real” job by late spring. Well, that never happened!”

What did happen was a woman who was previously making six figures a year in computer sales had now discovered a business idea that combined her three loves—sales, creativity, and her true affection for dogs.

As an ardent supporter of domestic small business, Nazimek found a local manufacturer for her products—a short 30 minutes drive from her home. In her first year, Jill introduced 3 new products; Katies Bumpers ™ Originals, the Heave Hose ™ and the Sqwuggie™. According to Jill, her philosophy is to make products that are fun, unique, practical and well made for both the dogs and the people. “We make great, durable, interactive toys for dogs and their people who love to get out and play.”








Traditional bumpers that are used in field and water rescue training come in white and orange. So once Katie made it known that patterns are better, Nazimek designed her products with bright colors and patterns to make them stand out better in the water. Jill says “the dogs overwhelmingly preferred our patterned bumpers over the plain ones.”

When Jill speaks of her creative process you can almost hear the wheels turning in her head. “I always wake up around 3AM and have to draw whatever has been floating around in my mind. Then, I take some fire hose and webbing or whatever the medium is and get out the stapler and tape.” Once at the manufacturers, they sit at the sewing machine and test out different concepts and designs until they get a toy that looks like it might work. Jill is always able to find ready and willing participants to test out the new products. As she says, “What good is any product unless you know it works as intended? If it is a success, I always broach it with my best clients and see what they think. After all, they are going to have to buy it and sell it and they know what sells. I never want to work in a vacuum. That is just a recipe for potential disaster!”

Nazimek may not work in a vacuum, but sure does work with plenty of hose—fire hose that is! She says they “must buy about 15,000 feet of fire hose a year, not to mention the 25,000 squeakers we go through!” Why squeakers? Well one of the many unique products Katie’s Bumpers ™ offers is a “Sqwuggie™.” These dog friendly, durable, fetch and floatable tug toys “have a strong sewn-in loop tug handle for tugging and a muffled squeaker so they are quiet for the 2 legged ones among us but perfect for the sensitive ears of every dog!” Both the Sqwuggies™ and the Heave Hose™ are made from pre-consumer recycled fire hose material. The Heave Hose™ is another unique product that comes in four sizes: Puppy, Medium, Large and Big Mouth.







After many trials and tests, Jill and her partners realized that not only do dogs come in different sizes but so do their mouths and sometimes it’s not what you would expect. “We thought that really big dogs like Newfies would be able to use the Big Mouth Heave Hose™, but they have softer, smaller mouths and can only use the Medium or Large Heave Hose™.”

The artist recalls her disbelief when watching a four month old Golden pup pick up a Jumbo Original bumper and carry it around forever like it was a stick! As she says, “So now I know that retrievers have really big mouths and they can practically pick up a house!”

Another unique idea to come from the creative mind of Jill Nazimek is the Oval Office™ Tote. As the website claims, “Where all the important stuff goes!” This tote is great for any trip, any location, is available in seven colors and is made of washable fabric as are all the Katie’s Bumpers™ products.











The artist says her family is an integral part of the business. “This crazy business is totally a family affair. The katiesbumpers.com site is critical to the success of my business and I have my sister, Julie, to thank for its ease of use and great look. She has spent an enormous amount of time building my website. My husband, Greg, ties ALL of those knots on the toys and packs all of the boxes that ship out to the many places around the country and Canada that can’t seem to get enough of the bumpers! My folks raise Newfoundlands and Katie gets to put every new toy through the Newfie ringer.”

When asked how she feels about the pet industry compared to her previous line of work, Jill responds, “I love what I am doing. I work 80 or more hours a week. It is worth every minute of what I am doing. When you own your own business, you eat, sleep and breathe it. If you don’t, you won’t be successful. It is very creative and very satisfying. The great thing about the people who buy our products is that everyone loves their dogs. I don’t care if the dog is a three-legged mutt or a Westminster Champion. Everyone loves their dogs. It’s a happy industry.”

And what better than to see dogs happy at play! So we say thank you Jill for making such wonderful and unique products that our dogs love to fetch. You can check out all her wonderful products by visiting our All Labs Store.