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Genesis story of the KONG dog chew toy [1]
['Andrew Yi']
Date: 2022-08-30
Prior to founding the KONG Company, Joe Markham owned a Volkswagen repair shop in a rough part of downtown Denver, Colorado which had experienced to a string of burglaries in 1970. Due to budget cuts, the local police precinct denied a request for increased police patrols near Joe's repair shop, and suggested that Joe should get a guard dog instead. Joe knew of a German Shepard that had failed out of the police academy's canine division for "excessive chewing" and needed a home, thus "Fritz" was adopted and became a fixture at Joe's repair shop. While the burglaries stopped, Joe became concerned after noticing Fritz had a fondness for chewing on rocks and as a result Fritz's teeth were grinding down in the process. Joe tried just about everything he could think of, talking with friends and veterinarians, all the toys in the pet store and even gave radiator hoses a try, alas nothing could deter or survive the voracious Fritz.
One day while working on a late 60's Volkswagen Type 2 Bus, Fritz had gotten ahold of a rubber rear axle bump stop removed during the disassembly process, and "went crazy" with VW part no. 211-501-191.
The Volkswagen rubber axle strop that inspired the KONG toy's shape:
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