OUR STORY
I didn’t set out to create a product.
I was simply trying to help my dog settle in unfamiliar environments.
Tujague has always experienced the world deeply. New places, unfamiliar sounds, changes in routine — they stayed with him longer than they did with other dogs I’d known. I began to notice that when we were somewhere new, he wasn’t looking for stimulation or distraction. He was looking for something familiar.
At home, that something was a bath towel.
Without me realizing it at the time, Tujague had attached himself to it — choosing it as his place to settle. When I later spoke with a trainer, she explained that he had essentially place trained himself. He had been showing me what he needed long before I had the language to understand it.
I didn’t want to carry a towel everywhere we went.
But I didn’t want to ignore what he was teaching me either.
So I created the first Ruggie — not as a product, but as a way to give him a consistent place he could recognize in unfamiliar environments.
As I used it more, I began to see how quickly he understood it. When the Ruggie was placed, he knew where he belonged. He settled more easily. He observed more calmly. The familiarity did the work — quietly and without force.
That was the moment I realized this wasn’t just about one dog.
Later, when we welcomed Justine into our home, her response confirmed what I had begun to believe. She experienced the world very differently — confident, curious, eager — and yet she, too, recognized the Ruggie as her place. Same signal. Same familiarity. Different temperament.
That’s when Canine Ruggie stopped being a solution and became a belief.
WHY CANINE RUGGIE
Dogs don’t move through the world the way we do. Where we see adventure, they feel transition. Where we feel excitement, they look for something familiar. And when we include dogs in our lives — traveling with them, bringing them into public spaces, sharing experiences — we often underestimate how much change that asks of them. The Canine Ruggie was created to bridge that gap.
Physically, it’s a lightweight, waterproof mat designed to travel easily and convert into a raincoat when needed. But emotionally, it’s a signal — a familiar place dogs recognize as theirs, even when everything else is new. Over time, I began to see Canine Ruggie not just as a product, but as a way of designing with empathy. Of paying attention to how dogs feel, not just how they behave. Of creating something that supports togetherness — dogs moving through life alongside their people with a greater sense of ease.
That belief now extends beyond my own dogs.
Through our community and social impact work, Canine Ruggie is designed to extend familiarity and care to shelter and rescue dogs as well — inviting others to pass comfort forward in meaningful, tangible ways.
Canine Ruggie exists because I believe dogs deserve to feel at home wherever life takes them. Because when dogs feel at home, every moment together settles into place.