Chancey met up with the most obedient Service Animal on an Exhibit Hall floor ever. Okay, it was a dog statue wearing a new next generation harness, but good dog! Greg Freyberg, Product Line Manager for RuffWear, describes the design and the plan for a product rollout next year for this telescoping handle based harness. He also provides more information on an audible beacon light and a collapsible bed for travel. To learn more about the products mentioned in this interview, Visit the RuffWear Website.
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Transcript
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Hide transcriptTranscribed by Grecia Ramirez
Direct from Orlando, it’s blindbargains.com coverage of NFB 2018, brought to you by Google
Our friends at Google are working hard to create great technology products for everyone. They’re inviting you to participate in Google user research studies, where you can help shape the future of accessible products and features and get rewarded for it. Check out our tweet for the sign-up link, at blind bargains, or head to google.com slash user research.
Now, here’s Chancey Fleet.
CHANCEY FLEET: I’m here with Greg Freyberg, who is the product line manager for Ruffwear. It’s a company that makes products for dogs, and specifically for guide dogs. So Greg, what are you showing here today?
GREG FREYBERG: Well, we’re actually sharing our new guide dog harness design with a lot of the schools. It’s a product that’s going to be out early next year, it’s made from the latest and greatest technology, it’s a really innovative design we’re really excited about. We also have a cool new audible beacon light that I believe will be very helpful for the blind community.
CF: What does that audible beacon light do?
GF: It just makes an audible tone when you turn it on and makes another tone when you turn it off, and –
CF: Oh. So you know what its state is.
GF: It will remind you every ten minutes that it’s turned on with a couple beeps.
CF: Awesome.
GF: Just so you don’t leave it on and burn the batteries down.
CF: Very cool. And I see you’ve also got a folding bed that’s available that kind of folds down like a --
GF: It’s a –
CF: -- a blanket, almost.
GF: A little, like a little waffle pad. It folds down nice and small. You can throw it in your bag. It’s just a nice, soft place for the dog to be resting while you’re busy doing, you know, at the library or at the grocery store or wherever you might be.
CF: All right. So let’s talk a little bit more about these harnesses. So I’m standing in front of one right now that’s being modeled on a very still and patient dog, because it’s not a real dog.
GF: Yup.
CF: Can’t get mine to stay on the top of the table like this.
GF: You’re very well behaved.
CF: Yes. So it’s a telescoping harness, and as you rotate the handle – the handle is like one pole that terminates in kind of a hand hold.
GF: Right.
CF: And you can telescope it to make it longer and shorter. That’s one attribute of it.
GF: Yeah.
CF: And I also see that the handle will kind of move laterally from left to right, so if you’re on the left of the dog or the right of the dog, there’s a lot of range of motion there. And maybe you can tell me more about what went into the design and when we might be able to see direct access to these.
GF: Okay. Well, Ruffwear’s been around for about 25 years. And we take products and innovation from the outdoor industry, for backpacks and trekking poles and ski poles and all that and incorporate it into the products that we built. So we set out to build a – what I call the next-generation harness, which is very lightweight, innovative new materials, light-weight aluminum, there’s no leather in this harness, and we’ve taken the – the binding is actually fashioned from a cross country ski binding, so it’s a very sturdy, very solid connection. And we’ve incorporated all that great new technology into this new harness.
We will be debuting at the international guide dog federation conference in Sydney, and then we’re going to be shipping them early next year. So –
CF: And how could people buy them?
GF: They’re only going to be available through the IGDF-authorized schools, so if somebody’s interested in one of the harnesses, they would want to contact the school that they received their guide dog from, they’ll get in touch with us. We’d hope that these will be adopted by all the schools in the U.S. and around the world, because we want – we do believe it’s a better solution, and we want to get it out in everybody’s hands.
CF: And for teams that are self-trained, what do they do?
GF: Teams that are self-trained, the best thing to do would be to just contact me directly, and that’s Greg, G-r-e-g@ruffwear.com, and I’ll work with them to get them the appropriate harness.
CF: So it sounds like you really want to support and respect the policies of the schools, but you also have an option for people that did train their own dogs.
GF: We do understand that there are self-trained dogs out there, and so if somebody’s interested in that, I’d like to, kind of, speak with you and interview you. We’re just really trying hard to make sure that these are in the hands of the appropriate people –
CF: Yeah.
GF: -- through the appropriate channels.
CF: People that are actually working guide dog teams and not –
GF: Yeah. Absolutely.
CF: -- not borrowing the service dog label.
GF: Right.
CF: Yes. All right.
GF: Yeah. We want to be part of the solution there.
CF: Awesome. So is there a price point that you have in mind for the harnesses?
GF: You know, it’s not nailed down yet.
CF: Okay.
GF: We’re still finalizing these things.
CF: All right. But if you’re interested in the light or the bed, you can go to Ruffwear now and get the light or the bed. Is there anything else that you’d like to highlight for me?
GF: Well, we’ve got, you know, the boots are very popular with the guide dog community. We’ve got a number of different coats. Really, just check out ruffwear.com. We have dealers all around the country, so if you’re interested in trying something on, you can look up in your local area on our website to see what stores carry it.
CF: And our –
GF: Check it out, and then we also have a great professional purchase discount program that people can apply for on our website. It’s ruffwear.com, forward slash pro-
CF: Okay.
GF: And you can fill out a quick questionnaire. They’re going to ask you where you’ve received your guide dog, and you’ll be approved in a day or two, and then you can order products at a significant discount off of our normal retail price.
CF: And that’s Ruffwear, R-u-f-f; right?
GF: Yes.
CF: W –
GF: E-a-r.
CF: E-a-r.
GF: Dot com.
CF: Dot com. Awesome.
GF: You got it.
CF: Thank you so much for your time.
GF: You’re welcome.
CF: Enjoy the rest of your convention. Great work.
GF: Yeah. Thank you.
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Joe Steinkamp is no stranger to the world of technology, having been a user of video magnification and blindness related electronic devices since 1979. Joe has worked in radio, retail management and Vocational Rehabilitation for blind and low vision individuals in Texas. He has been writing about the A.T. Industry for 15 years and podcasting about it for almost a decade.
