Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of the Tri-Cities region. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around The Tri-Cities.
Is your business serving the residents of Tri-Cities? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpTri-Cities.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP#: 251: Made in America: Ortho Dog's Mission to Keep Pets Moving
What makes Elizabeth Eve and Karen Mobilia with Ortho Dog a good neighbor?
Discover how a dog lover's mission to help her own pet led to a revolutionary approach in canine mobility care. When Elizabeth Eve's rescue dog developed hip dysplasia, she found no suitable bracing options available. Drawing on her background as a massage therapist, she created what would become the first in a line of innovative mobility braces for dogs, establishing Ortho Dog over 20 years ago.
The conversation reveals how this small business has grown from addressing one dog's needs to shipping mobility solutions worldwide. Their flagship product—the Canine Cruciate Care Knee Brace—now offers an affordable alternative to ACL surgery, which can cost pet owners up to $4,500 per knee. Elizabeth and Customer Experience Manager Karen Mobilia share how their braces address both chronic conditions like hip dysplasia and acute injuries, helping dogs maintain active, pain-free lives without surgery.
What truly sets Ortho Dog apart is their unwavering commitment to values rarely seen in today's business landscape. All their products are hand-sewn in North Carolina using 97% American-sourced materials. They ensure every team member earns at least the local living wage, and they provide personalized customer service including free fit consultations and lifetime support for each brace. Through challenges including COVID-19 price increases and Hurricane Helene's impact, they've maintained these principles while continuing to innovate.
Ready to explore non-surgical options for your dog's mobility issues? Visit orthodog.com to learn about their full range of braces and access educational articles about canine orthopedic conditions. Your furry family member deserves the chance to keep moving comfortably through every stage of life.
To learn more about Ortho Dog go to:
Ortho Dog
(828) 475-2171
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. So today I am really excited to have two very special guests with us here in the studio, and I'm sure you'll be just as excited as I am because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbors, ms Elizabeth Eve, who is the owner, and Karen Mobilia, who is the customer experience manager for OrthoDog Ladies. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Welcome, thank you.
Speaker 2:We're glad to have you and, like I said, we're excited to learn all about you guys and what you do. So if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about your business?
Speaker 3:Sure OrthoDog. It's a company of dog lovers who love helping dogs live pain-free, active lives and we've been in business for over 20 years and we are the home of the original canine mobility brace. We started with a hip hound brace that addresses hip dysplasia, arthritis and general back leg weakness in dogs, and then from there we moved on to two smaller braces that address tendons in the wrists and the hock ankle joint. And then, because we got a lot of calls from customers whose dogs had torn ACLs, known as a CCL in a dog, we came up with the Canine Cruciate Care Knee Brace as an alternative to the TPLO surgery, and that's our number one seller the Knee Brace.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow. So do you sell to the general public and or veterinarians?
Speaker 3:Both we sell all over the world and we have wholesalers and direct customers from our website.
Speaker 2:Wow, with your knee brace. That's incredible. And so you guys have been in business for 20 years. Congratulations, that's no small task at all. How exactly did you get into this business?
Speaker 4:So OrthoDog actually started in 2002. I had a beloved rescue who came to me as an adult dog with hip dysplasia, and as a massage therapist I knew how effective soft braces were for humans, so I started looking around for a soft brace for my dog. There were none out there. I understood how braces worked on humans, so I just transferred that knowledge of human anatomy to dog anatomy and so the first brace we created was for hip dysplasia and my beloved dog really benefited from that. A vet asked us to develop a brace for the hock joint, which we did. And then came the wrist wrap and then, as Karen mentioned, finally we developed the knee brace for a dog's torn ACL. That took many iterations. We made many, many braces and tested on many, many dogs until we really came up with the perfect brace. It was important to me when we started the business to really offer dogs a soft brace which could just improve their quality of life.
Speaker 4:There are some basic values that we began the business on and actually still are very, very important to us as we continue with ortho dog. One is to keep manufacturing local. All of our braces are hand sewn in Black Mountain, north Carolina. We resource as many of our raw materials within the United States as possible and that's about 97% of our raw materials are made in the United States. The other thing that has been important to us is to pay a fair living wage and just economics, which every year comes up with a basic living wage that's specific to Asheville. We go by that and pay at least a minimum Asheville living wage or above. So those really are values that we continue to really keep at the forefront of the business to offer incredibly accurate customer service. So Karen corresponds with most of our customers by phone, by email, just to ensure that the brace is fitting the dog correctly, sure that the brace is fitting the dog correctly. That's very important to us to continue to offer direct, person-to-person customer service.
Speaker 2:That's amazing, bravo. There's so many companies that don't do that. Thank you. When it's your dog, you've got to do that.
Speaker 4:That's right. Members of our family.
Speaker 2:That's right. Well, you mentioned hip dysplasia. I used to have a German shepherd that had hip dysplasia. Is that pretty common with just certain types of dogs, or does that happen across all breeds?
Speaker 4:It can happen across all breeds but there are certain breeds, like German Shepherds. It's much more common in usually larger breed dogs, but German Shepherds specifically because they have that natural slope on their lower body near their tail and then the hip, just yes. So it's very common for German Shepherds, and hip dysplasia is a chronic condition. It doesn't improve, but it can certainly be managed with a brace. Doesn't improve, but it can certainly be managed with a brace.
Speaker 2:Very good to know, Wow. Well, I know your business is very unique, but I was going to ask what are some myths or misconceptions in your industry?
Speaker 3:The biggest misconception that we deal with is when we hear our customers tell us that their vet says surgery is the only option. And you know, dog ACL surgery can cost anywhere between $1,100 and $4,500 per knee. Hip dysplasia starts at $1,700. So fortunately, when surgery is not an option because the dog may be too old or have other things going on or the surgery is just too cost prohibitive for the owner, there are affordable alternatives and our braces address these chronic and acute conditions. Unfortunately, many veterinarians are trained to think of surgery as the only option and this causes a lot of our customers to go out and do their own research. So they come to us, they get the brace and a lot of times they go back and they show the results to their vet. And we do know that vets are seeing it because we get calls from customers saying my vet told me my dog has a torn knee and my vet told me to get this brace. We love hearing that.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, wow. Well, that's good news actually.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and we also do work directly with vets on occasion. So that's, we also do work directly with vets on occasion, so that's hopeful too.
Speaker 2:Yes, definitely, definitely. Well, you know, marketing is key to just about any business. Who are your target?
Speaker 3:customers and how do you guys attract them? Well, our target customers are dog owners all over the world. We do ship internationally and we utilize online channels, online advertising, but we do have a lot of word of mouth customers, Like I mentioned people tell their friends and veterinarians and we get a lot of recommendations from off the street, which is the best advertising you can get Word of mouth. You guys ever thought about doing your own podcast?
Speaker 2:It's an idea. Well, yeah, absolutely, it's a new thing.
Speaker 4:Well outside of work. What do you like to do for fun? What I love to do for fun and I try to do this every day is get out in the woods with both of my dogs and let them off, lead and they run and explore, and we both are in nature and get exercise. So that's my favorite daily activity.
Speaker 3:I have a dog, a small Chihuahua-Rat Terrier mix, and I love to take them hiking and walk around the neighborhood, hang out with his other friends in the neighborhood. But I also have some backyard chickens and he's like I can't have a rooster because I'm inside the suburb city suburbs, so they kind of think of him as the rooster with his barking and he kind of they kind of follow him around when he walks around the backyard. It's pretty cute.
Speaker 2:He's the alpha chicken. Yeah yeah, that's so funny, very cool. Well, let's switch gears for just a second. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you've overcome and how it made you stronger?
Speaker 4:COVID was a hardship, of course, for everyone, for so many reasons. We were able to keep the office open, and initially we joined another group of local sewers and began to mass produce masks that were used locally. In addition to continuing to sew our braces, we had four children who were children of staff, and for two and a half years our sew shop also became a homeschooling place. The kids came here every day, which enabled their parents to continue to work. Um, so that was good.
Speaker 4:One of the hard hits of covid is that the price of all of our raw materials went up 25 to 37 percent, which, uh, was a hard hit for a small business, and it forced us to raise our prices to accommodate some of the extra increase. But you know, we all got through it, everybody got through it, so I'm grateful for that. Our latest challenge, of course, has been Helene. We were closed for a week plus after Helene and then we were able to reopen. Karen actually left town to work remotely for two to three weeks so she could continue to provide customer service and to fulfill orders. I think the hardest part of Helene was, and continues to be, just the massive devastation, and all of us were affected either directly or indirectly by that storm and continue to be either directly or indirectly by that storm and continue to be. It's been hard and it continues to be hard and I'm sure it is for all of you up that way as well.
Speaker 2:So yes, and absolutely Were you guys. Was your facilities damaged or anything during? No?
Speaker 4:we were very lucky the office sew shop was not hurt at all, so that's wonderful.
Speaker 3:We're in the basement, so we were expecting flooding, and so we had lifted everything onto higher surfaces, but we were shocked that no water came in.
Speaker 4:We were very lucky.
Speaker 2:But it's been so impressive to me how resilient the community in both around the Asheville area and Hot Springs and you know, and here how resilient and how neighbors have come together to help each other. That's been amazing to me.
Speaker 4:You're right. It's amazing, and it's also just such an incredible gift to know that we can all be there for each other in that way and we'll all be there for each other in that way.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well. If you could think of one thing that you would want our listeners to remember about ortho dog, what would that be?
Speaker 3:It's just really important to know that there are options out there available other than surgery to help your dog recover from a knee injury or to deal with a chronic situation with her hips. We provide alternative alternatives for your dog to live pain-free, active lives, so we're here for you.
Speaker 2:You don't do anything for cats, do you?
Speaker 4:Cats would not tolerate having anything done for them. Skip, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:That is correct. That is correct.
Speaker 4:But I have to say, this year, two times, two times, two times, we've braced goats a baby goat and an adult goat, oh wow. So we do brace goats.
Speaker 2:Well, how, for those of us who have a geriatric dog or a dog that has hip dysplasia or some sort of problem that you guys could possibly help them with, how could they learn more?
Speaker 3:sort of problem that you guys could possibly help them with? How could they learn more? The best way to find out about us is to visit our website, wwworthodogcom. We've been doing business online for over 20 years. We don't really have a brick and mortar for people to visit in person, but we ship, like I said, all over the world and we do free fit consultations. We offer free support for the life of the brace, and the way people participate in these fit consultations is they receive the brace, they get a video on how to apply the brace and an instruction card, and we ask them to place, put the brace on their dog to the best of their ability and take the dog on a short walk and on that walk, take three photos of their dog standing in the brace and still photos work the best and we see how it's applied and we write back with any recommendations for adjustments that we think need to be made. We go back and forth as many times as needed and at some point people get it and they're off on their healing journey.
Speaker 2:Wonderful, wonderful, very good to know.
Speaker 3:One other thing we do have articles on our website under a learn link at the top of the page, and we have a lot of articles that address the conditions that we support and other conditions, so that people can get educated and know what's what their options are free consultation and they can look on wwworthodogcom to look at, learn about what you guys do Correct, awesome, awesome. We welcome phone calls and emails, feel free.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Well, karen and Elizabeth, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to spend with me and with our listeners and appreciate what you do. I'm a dog guy, you don't have to be a dog guy to appreciate it, but it's wonderful to have options because it can get very expensive with surgeries and I have a lot of experience with that, unfortunately. But but we appreciate what you're doing and appreciate your commitment to your products being manufactured in the United States. I think that's wonderful and we appreciate that so much and appreciate what you do for the community and moving forward. Wish you guys and OrthoDog all the best.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Thank you for having us.
Speaker 4:Yes, thank you. Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2:Thank you, and maybe we can have you back on the show sometime. Sounds great, all right.
Speaker 3:And maybe we can have you back on the show sometime Sounds great.
Speaker 2:All right, y'all have a great rest of the day.
Speaker 1:You too. Thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Try dash citiescom. That's GNP Try dash citiescom. Or call 4, 2, 3, 7, that's gnptry-citiescom. Or call 423-719-5873.