11/10/2023

Benjamin Gwinnett, Shop Manager

Here at the shop, we’re having a really busy month, with Halloween, Bonfire Night and Christmas all at the forefront, as well as activities and events going on throughout the month. With so much going on, it would be easy to quickly look over one particular activity, but I wanted to talk about one of our recent tasting sessions…

Last month we hosted our first tasting session for dog treats. The Visitor Centre has always welcomed our four-legged best friends. They are some of our best customers and we are always excited to greet them, especially if they want a fuss.

As such, the shop has an established history of selling popular dog treats. Pooch's has been a long running favourite with the dogs of the park, and Frozzy's frozen dog yogurts rose to a top seller spot as soon as the freezer was first switched on. 

The newest line of dog treats that we’ve introduced is Hairy Dogs, a dog grooming salon from Market Deeping that have produced a range of all natural raw food dog treats. They are air dried, so need to be stored in a fridge, and come in training treat sizes, as well as tasty snacks. It’s fair to say, we asked you all what you thought, and there is clearly a line in the sand with raw food treats – you either give them to your dogs, or you don’t. So, we thought that creating a tasting session for the treats would help engage you all in them, and Simon and Laura from Hairy Dogs agreed! 

We planned the first ever dog treat tasting session for the shop but the weather was against us on the original date (too hot!) so hot we had to push it back a week. That got me a little worried that maybe it wasn’t meant to be. However, on the day of the session, my fears were quickly quelled!

It was amazing to see how many of you interacted with Simon over the four hour tasting session. He was able to talk to you all about the products, but also your doggy's diets and general health. The sales were superb and so was the positive atmosphere of the event. I was overwhelmed by how well it all went. So much so that we're having another Hairy Dogs tasting session on Sunday 22nd October!

Following Hairy Dog's success, now Pooch's have agreed to send us samples, so we can do a future tasting session for them – something that is completely new to them! So look out for that tasting session coming soon!