Premier Pets makes safe leashes, harnesses, collars, toys, treats, and training aids for pets — from dogs and cats to birds, ferrets and rabbits. About 6,000 stores nationwide sell the company’s merchandise. New products includeLinkables toys and treats, The Pleat Sheet, and Funkitty toys.
Premier Pets generates about $30 million in revenue a year in consumer product business and handles production, warehousing, marketing, administration and finance.
"We develop products that work," said Jason Hart, Premier's director of marketing. "It's easy to identify the key problems people encounter with their pets, but we developed products that very effectively solved them."
For example, traditional buckle collars can slip over greyhounds' and other breeds' necks. "They can back out of a collar," Hart said, "and they are also very fast. Once they back out, they're gone."
Sharon Madere found a solution after experiencing that problem with her greyhound. The Chesterfield woman learned of a collar that worked on dogs such as greyhounds, and she started making them.
In no time at all, requests started to come in for the collars, and Premier Pets was born in Madere's home with a $5,000 loan and two refurbished sewing machines. The martingale type of collar allows the person walking a dog to tighten the device gradually. The best-selling Premier nylon collar has become Premier Pet's signature item. For more information please contact Premier Pet Products at (804) 379-4702.