Muzzle Mate
Fetch toy designed specifically for dogs wearing muzzles.
Muzzle Mates is a dog toy designed to solve a problem most toys ignore: dogs wearing muzzles have very few products they can actually play with. The client came to D2M with a working prototype and wanted to develop it into a more refined, market-ready product. D2M developed the design from that starting point through to a resolved concept.
The Story
Most toys on the market simply don't work for a dog in a muzzle, and the few designed for that purpose take a narrow approach to the problem. The existing prototype had the right fundamentals: a shape that could be gripped and picked up from any angle, and colours chosen for how dogs actually see, rather than how the toy looks to a person. What it lacked was a design that felt considered and premium rather than improvised.
D2M reviewed the existing concept and benchmarked it against competitor products and adjacent toy categories to identify where genuine differentiation was possible. Multiple design directions were developed, exploring different shapes, textures and material finishes, while keeping the priorities set out in the brief: safety and durability mattered more than fitting every muzzle type, and the product needed to work as a fetch toy rather than a chew toy.
The Outcome
Muzzle Mates successfully made it to market and is proudly manufactured in the UK.
