Two dogs. One bottle.
A lot of trial and error.

It started in the summer of 2023, on a 96° hike in the hill country, with two thirsty dogs and a stupid water bottle.

Rover—our scruffy trail dog—was panting like a freight train. Oak, our lazy English Bulldog, had given up entirely and was lying in a patch of dust. We had a 32oz Hydro Flask. We had a folded silicone bowl somewhere at the bottom of the pack. We had no patience for unzipping anything.

So I cupped my hand and poured. Half the water hit the dirt. Oak licked the dirt anyway.

There had to be a better way. There wasn’t. We checked.

Every “dog water bottle” on the market was either a flimsy plastic dispenser, a cup screwed onto a Nalgene, or a $4 collapsible bowl that smelled like cheese after one walk. Nothing felt good. Nothing kept water cold. Nothing was made for a real day outside.

THE PROCESS

Eleven prototypes.
Three years.
One vacuum-sealing rig.

We started with a Shapeways 3D print and a $19 stainless flask from REI. Hand-glued a silicone bowl onto the cap with kitchen sealant. It leaked.

Prototype 4 didn’t leak but the bowl popped off in our pack and dumped half a liter of water onto a laptop.

Prototype 7 had a click-lock that worked for three weeks then failed in cold weather.

Prototype 9 was the one. Threaded silicone-to-stainless seal. Vacuum-insulated double-wall body. A click-fit carabiner that survives a 6-foot drop. We bought a $1,200 vacuum-sealing rig from a closing thermos factory in Shenzhen and built the final tooling around it.

Three years from that hike to here. The Trailhound is the bottle we wanted in 2023. Now it’s the bottle we carry every day.