Camano woman watched men shop to sell pet products

Published 10:21 pm Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Lisa Hegland of Camano Island diligently did her research to understand the stereotypical shopping habits of men:

Step one: Run into one store.

Step two: Look at one or two things.

Step three: Grab your purchase then vamoose as if someone uncorked pepper spray.

Now that’s a great guy shopping trip.

Hegland isn’t trying to change that pattern. She understands and has developed products to which men may instantly bond.

Her Manly Pet Company products include items for dogs and horses made with solid fasteners and materials in subdued colors.

“Men want a product to be simple, have clean lines and make sense,” Hegland said. “I’ve tried to learn how men think and discovered their needs are a small factor in the pet industry.”

I was interested in every detail, chatting in her living room with an outstanding view of Saratoga Passage. With an eye for finding property, she carved out a lovely homestead on a hillside that others would have overlooked.

She was born on a New Year’s Day in Ketchikan, Alaska.

“The doctor wore a black tuxedo and the nurse, a satin gold ball gown, as my delivery interrupted the town’s annual New Year’s revelry,” Hegland said. “My mother had no time to recover because a former city fire-captain-turned-pyromaniac continued eluding the authorities, and was setting fire to the old wooden buildings of downtown Ketchikan’s business district.”

Her mother promptly got dressed, wrapped her daughter in a blanket and drove home from the hospital.

“My Dad held me in the passenger seat due to imbibing a bit much at the ball,” she said.

Alaska demands tolerance, compassion, perseverance and teamwork to survive, she said. The fourth-generation Alaskan always relies on those lessons to attain her goals.

Her family moved to California when she was a teen, where she married the boy next door.

“We had our son, Ryan, then daughter, Danielle, and are still happily married after all these years. We jokingly attribute it to the fact Chuck traveled extensively because of work and we’ve probably been together for only 10 of the past 30 years.”

Hegland wrote “Notes from Home,” a reference book for homeowners in 1998 and is working on other books, including an Alaska cookbook.

Describing herself as part Chinook with salt water in her veins, she discovered Camano Island six years ago.

“It’s very similar to my Alaskan memories where life is not easy but extremely rewarding,” she said. “I am living proof that you can go ‘home’ again.”

A preview of Manly Pet Company’s 2009 equestrian and canine lines will be shown Tuesday through Dec. 23 at Camano Island Coffee Roaster.

For more information, e-mail lisah@manlypet.com.

Some of her products are available mid-Island at Elger Bay Grocery. Manager Josh Flickner says customers shop their gift section and are buying Manly products.

“Men are the missing factor in marketing,” Hegland said.

Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.