Fashion or Function? You Don't Have to Choose with the Hugx Dog Bowl

The 3rd annual Pet Fashion Week NY is held this weekend August 23-24 in New York. Now all that poochie couture is back with a big roster of events and the kind of posh prancing the fashionable puppy adores.

One of the missions of PFW is to encourage innovations in pet products by providing a spectacular forum to showcase and share ideas. Each year PFW presents their Lifestyle Innovation Award to the most creative pet product designer in a category that PFW selects. This year 8 designers have been selected from a pool of 35 designs to compete in the "pet dinnerware" category. At Fun Dog Fashion, we are especially impressed with the HUGX 401 series dog dish developed by Northern Ireland designers Jane Grant, Justin McGee and Stephen McGilloway.

This is no ordinary dog dish! The HUGX 401 is a colorful bowl cradled in an attractive, easy to handle framework.

It has no corners and is angled to support a dog's digestive tract. Some veterinarians think that smaller, more frequent meals and a raised, angled bowl such as the HUGX 401, can reduce the risk of torsion or bloat, an often fatal ailment most common to large and broad-chested dogs.

The angling of this bowl keeps the food moving to the bowl's center making it easier for your dog to eat. The lack of an interior edge means it's less likely your dog will tip the dish trying to retrieve food from the sides of the container.

For added stability, the bowl's frame has gripping rubber feet that resemble puppy ears. And when it's time to fill the bowl, the tongue-like tabs on its sides make it simple to lift from its frame without touching the bowls interior. The HUGX 401 not only makes meals more safe and comfortable for your dog, but the fabulous contemporary styling of the frame and the choice of color options on the bowl, means this dog dish looks more like a work of art than a kibble container.

Fun Dog Fashion spoke with one of the bowl's designers, Jane Grant, about the HUGX and her role in the PFW Lifestyle Innovation Award competition.

Have you been involved in Pet Fashion Week in the past?

No this is our first time, as a young brand, based in Northern Ireland, and with a product only in production a year, it has been an exciting acknowledgement to be shortlisted against such products from companies with more resources than ourselves. Hugx has been financed by myself, and it's been a tremendous risk, but a self belief that there must be pet owners out there like me, who will invest in a product that is designed especially for pets with no compromise on functionality, form or fashion. After all, it's a bowl providing food or water and is something a pet uses daily and frequently so it has to work to an optimum.

Describe your thinking behind the functionality of the Hugx:

As a pet owner and purchaser of products, it struck me that all pet bowls were designed from the human perspective. I was watching my pet eating one evening and realised that pets used their noses to access their food, whereas most pet bowls were designed by humans with a fundamental error of just making bowls more "attractive". They forgot that they used their thumbs to help them with objects where dogs and cats had to use their paws to stand. So ergonomically they were at a disadvantage since in the wild they can lie down and hold their food down.

Typical bowls were problematic for me as well. When I tried to clean the bowl, there would be areas difficult to clean that meant it was a chore to face! Watching my dog chase dinner across the floor and hearing the noise associated, I just thought there must be a better way. I was also really frustrated that ceramic could chip on tiles.

Hugx bowls work on the principle the angle of the bowl is just as important as the depth of the bowl because the angle allows the pet to eat comfortably and ergonomically. The angle is just the same as you and I would hug, if we don't tilt our heads we will clash noses, so, the bowl is tilted in it's aluminium casing, which doesn't rust, allowing the pet to access their food and use the gravity to hold the bowl in situ.

Why did you decide to get into designing dog bowls rather than other products?

I travel a lot, and normally I would find a present for my pet to assuage my guilt from leaving my rescue dog to go to work abroad. He used to get very upset, although he only ever stayed with family and they were wonderful to him, but I felt bad. Collars and everything else I could buy were easy purchases, but no matter what I spent on pet bowls, they still didn't solve the problems my dog had at feeding time. I did it for Oscar, and probably because folk told me I was on a mad quest! As a consumer I want value for money, and I hate compromising design or functionality, I wanted the best for my dog!

What inspired your design on the Hugx? Why not the traditional round dog bowl?

My inspiration was originally a rescue dog, Oscar, a wild Irish setter that came into my life and changed it for ever. He gave me so much unconditional love that I really wanted the best for him. Its a bit unfair to say I rescued him because he really changed my life and taught me there is a thing called unconditional love-- quite rare in these days! So when it came to designing his bowl I had some key requirements!

Functionality of hugx:

• It had to be easy for the pet to access it's food.
• Reduce the noise that a stainless steel bowl would create by my pet chasing after it's food.
• Limit the vibrations and "clanging" associated with the dog tags on my pet's collar hitting the wall of the bowl.
• Not chip, I had ceramic and although it was heavy enough to stop slippage, I noticed older friends struggling to carry a heavy pet bowl onto a tiled floor and having problems.
• Minimise the time I had to clean it...never a nice job, if you left it for even a while, the residue food in the base would require serious work to remove and in Ireland the kitchen is where you congregate, so it was unattractive to have a crusty bowl in evidence!
• Work ergonomically. Raised bowls are very difficult to clean and lift, either they have too many components where food can be trapped, or they are too heavy to lift, and if you are cleaning your floor you want t o be able to remove it easily to access all areas. So hygiene was important.
• Ensure the pet could eat or drink even if impede with a post operative collar.
• Be attractive...we invest in our kitchens with the lates toaster, kettle etc, why not have a product that is used just as frequently be a style statement and look as attractive as all our other kitchen appliances?

What has the response been to your product since being nominated for the award?

We are innovative, and with any new product, it takes a while to explain its benefits because when you mention pet bowl folk automatically think of the stereotypes. Being nominated for the award gives Hugx an opportunity as a very young designer brand to encourage pet owners to consider what they are being offered for their pet.

A lot of pet owners are excited because they see Hugx for what it is, a product line that thinks of pets first. Whereas I suppose many companies think of pet owners as an easy market. I like to think of pet owners as discerning, and wanting the best for their pet without sacrificing quality or style. We are all wise consumers and want real value for money. Hugx bowls are arguably not cheap, but then they last, and they are not lazy in their design for pets.

That's why this award is so exciting, it's a lovely thing to happen to see an idea that has kept me awake many nights being shortlisted. Getting feedback from owners who love this product is fabulous, and makes me keen to pursue our other ideas to ensure every pet gets gets a genuine Hugx.

This award gives a small Irish brand great exposure, because Hugx is not a large company with a big marketing budget-- just one female inspired by her rescue dog. Being a finalist has brought Hugx more attention and online sales than I could realise in my first year by myself.

Pets give us unconditional love, I think we should give them back as much as we can.