“I’ve learned to set aside production days. We shut down the house; no dinner, no breaks, nothing. It’s Spa Dog day,” she said. “Everyone helps — my kids, my parents, friends, just about anyone who is around at the time. So every jar is just full of aloha.”
SPECIAL TO WEST HAWAII TODAY
Kelli Ann Siefke is hoping the sweet smell of success soon will be wafting across the nation.
Siefke has developed Spa Dog, an after-bath soak set for a national release this week. She hopes it finds its place on the shelves of pet stores and boutiques next to shampoos, conditioners and other bath-time supplies.
“People love to pamper themselves with bath salts and bath oils, so why not their pets?” she said. “It’s just the next step in doggie bath time.” Siefke said she travels to various pet expo shows about three times a year and noticed there was no such product available.
After several test runs, Siefke hit on the formula and the post-bath rinse has been selling well at her store in the Kona International Market.
“There are all kinds of shampoos and stuff, but as for soaks, there really hasn’t been anything,” she said.
“This is certainly a first as far as I know,” said Siefke, who moved with her family from Watsonville, Calif., about three years ago, but did not expect to be a store owner, let alone a canine cosmetic inventor.
“It’s been such a success in our boutique, we decided we just had to go wider with it,” she said.
She and her husband, Louis, opened Pooch Parade, featuring everything from beds to bling to doggie aloha wear.
Each day one of their four pugs accompanies them to the store, serving as a cute, furry, four-legged pet lover’s magnet in the boutique window. Bubbles, Lily, Mitzi and Olivia also were Spa Dog’s first satisfied customers.
“Pugs are little sweat machines,” Siefke said. “They just stink that doggie smell in half the time. Since we’ve been bathing them with Spa Dog, their fur is very soft and their skin also is healthier. They love it.”
Siefke, a pharmacy technician, makes every jar of Spa Dog at her Kona home and tests it all personally.
“Every step is controlled by me,” she said. “This product has been tested on humans. We have all bathed in more Spa Dog than you can believe.”
The winning formula didn’t come without its setbacks. One early batch had too much dye in it and turned one of the dogs green. “We learned from that real quick and now she’s back to her real, regular, pretty fawn color.”
Since the early days, Siefke has refined the process and now can crank out 200 to 250 jars in one batch.
“I’ve learned to set aside production days. We shut down the house; no dinner, no breaks, nothing. It’s Spa Dog day,” she said. “Everyone helps — my kids, my parents, friends, just about anyone who is around at the time. So every jar is just full of aloha.”