Meet Cortlyn Raymond | Co-owner of Hercules Dog Gaiters.

We had the good fortune of connecting with the family behind Hercules Dog Gaiters and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cortlyn, every day, we talk about how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
We are a small family owned business and were inspired by our love for our French Bulldogs to start this business together. If you know anything about frenchies you know they tend to overheat! The summer time can be a very brutal time for all dogs and especially flat faced dogs who have a hard time regulating their body temperatures. We noticed many athletes and folks who do physical activities in the summer use cooling towels and gaiters! So we thought why not create something like this for our precious pups? We wanted to create and start this business together because we thought it would be a perfect way to spend more time together and create something very functional for all the “Paw-rents” out there! It has been a lot of fun getting to learn everything about running a business together. We are just getting started so we are so excited to see where this journey will take us.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
We are Hercules Dog Gaiters! We are a family owned and operated business. We started the idea for our business in August of 2022 and opened our online shop on December 1st, 2022. We did our very first pop up in January 2023- shoutout to the lovely folks who run “The Uptown Flea Market” in Whittier, CA who let us vend at their market for our very first event!

Our dog gaiters in a nut shell are cooling towels for dogs! You can dunk them in cold water, ring them out a bit and then put them around your dogs neck and/or ears and it helps keep them cool! Then you can continue to wet it as you need to. They are also perfect year round! In the cooler months they can be used as-is (without wetting them) and placed around the pups neck and/or ears to help keep them warm! They also can cover their ears to help keep rain, snow, etc. from getting in their ears. They also can help keep dogs calm. For some dogs, when their ears are covered they tend to relax. Our customers have even noticed a difference when they use our gaiters to take their dog to vet appointments! Lastly, our gaiters come in cute and fun designs that are a nice accessory for pups! Especially for those dog owners who love a good bandana for their dog! Our gaiters are easier than bandanas because there is no tying involved! So they tend to stay on a bit better!

Throughout this process of starting our business less than a year ago we have learned how to be patient not only with each other as we navigate life on top of running the business, but also with the business in general and always remembering we will have good days and not so great days and that success doesn’t come over night.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
LA is such a fun city! Now, we all live in the Inland empire, but we frequently visit LA and one of our favorite things to do together is attend Dodgers Games! One of our favorite places to go before a Dodgers Game is to this small Chinese Restaurant called Hop Woo BBQ & Seafood Restaurant. After a Dodgers game, we also enjoy going to get Tacos! We are huge foodies and always looking for the best and tastiest food.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Our beloved Pup, Hercules! Hercules is one of our pups who got sick and unfortunately passed away! They were the inspiration behind starting our business. So that is why he is the face on our logo and why we named our business after him!

We would also love to shoutout all the markets who give us the opportunity to vend at their events! We have had the opportunity to sell our products at Uptown Flea (Whittier, CA), Shop Small Soiree (Santa Ana, CA), The Adventure Markets (Riverside, CA/ Redlands, CA), The Sisters Marketplace (Ontario, CA/Riverside, CA), and Zaynas Vendor Fairs (Riverside, CA). We are so thankful for all the entrepreneurs who run those events and allow us to be apart of them!

We are also so thankful for all of our current and future customers! Everyone who sees us at an event and stops by our booth whether that is just to meet our pups or buy our products we are so thankful for everyone.

Website: https://herculesdoggaiters.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herculesdoggaiters/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/herculesdoggaiters

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@herculesdoggaiters