Who Is The Dog Behind Ruffley’s?
When I first decided to create Ruffley’s, I had a brand image already in my head. Ruffley’s was going to represent high quality, fashionable goods for the pet owner. I had a logo designed which I thought reflected this – very similar to the logo you are familiar with, but with a different dog mascot.
However, after disaster struck with my own dog, I decided I wanted something more personal that represented who we are.
My dog, Pablo, sadly broke his leg around the time we got him. It was a shock for us all, as he was such a happy, crazy dog that you’d never have known there was a problem – he wasn’t even very lame! Immediately, we referred him to an orthopaedic surgeon who did an amazing job pinning his bone back together. The thought of his tiny bones being held together by equally tiny pins was terrifying.
He was on strict crate rest for six weeks – it seemed like an impossible task with a lively bouncy eleven-week-old puppy. But every day he surprised us – he never lost his happy-go-lucky spirit. We spoilt him with mountains of toys, trying to keep him entertained while also keeping him rested.
We were over the moon when he started using his leg again, tiptoeing around as we took him out for short toilet breaks. And then, disaster struck again.
Two weeks before we were hoping to get the all clear, and with him doing so well, he slipped on the floor and became as lame as he was the day after his surgery – even worse than before he’d had any surgery at all. We rushed him back for another x-ray, terrified that he had re-fractured his bone – luckily he hadn’t. But it took two more weeks of strict rest before we could evaluate the damage. When he slipped on the floor he had managed to move the pins out of position, and they were now poking into the hip joint. This meant surgery number two.
We were gutted. We had been overwhelmed with how lucky we had been to have a dog with such a wonderful, relaxed character. It felt unfair that we had gone back to the beginning, another surgery, more rest, more cone of shame (which he has a passion against now). But we wanted to give him the best shot of long term mobility in that leg, so further surgery went ahead and the pins were pulled out.
Since then, he improved dramatically – he went from holding his leg out awkwardly and never putting it down, to hobbling around, running and finally building up much needed muscle.
The future of his leg is still uncertain – he may need further surgery if the leg stops growing as well as the other leg, or if he develops arthritis as a result of all the trauma he’s been through. But he is the happiest dog you could ever meet, he loves absolutely everyone, he’s happiest when he’s exploring outside and hoarding his toys. He will follow us around like a shadow, I’m still in disbelief how lucky we are to have such a social dog after such a knock back on his training due to the surgery.
We love Pablo's profile, and thought who better to represent a happy dog than one who has gone through so much and still loves everything life has to offer
So this is why we chose the logo you recognise – we think Pablo’s features give the logo a more personal feel, and represents the average customer – a happy dog!
We hope you enjoyed reading about the story behind our logo – please leave any comments below. We’ll be adding more blog posts relevant to the business and dog ownership over time so keep checking back!
– The Ruffley’s Team
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