Mike Bowling had drop nearly 20 years work on a Ford automobile assembly line in Cincinnati , Ohio , never once think about inventing toy dog . During the 1983 holiday season , he bought his girl a handcrafted doll that she took everywhere and doted on like it was her babe sister . Soon , formulate a toy — one that could be produced with the same efficiency as the gondola roll out of the factory — was all he could think about .
Well over a decennary beforeBeanie Babiescaused pandemonium , Bowling issued tiny , shot - stuffed tool of his own dubbed Pound Puppies . With sagging ear and wide-eyed , expressive eyes , they came in composition board “ crateful ” and with adoption papers . Despite a total deficiency of experience in the extremely militant world of kid products , Bowling took his estimation and turned it into a brand that would go on to gross hundreds of million in sales andmakeTIMEmagazine ’s list of the world ’s top 100 toy .
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Because he have intercourse virtually nothing about miniature maturation , Bowling firstcontactedan intellectual property attorney , who told him that registering trademark and filing for patents would avail protect his estimation . He go to one designer to have his Pound Puppies guide sketched out and another to fabricate the cardboard box that double up as a carrier .
Armed with a plan and mock - ups , Bowling was swiftly turn down by 14 different companies . One executive puff that the Puppies were the wretched things he ’d ever get word .
Bowling ’s persistence eventually landed him an consultation with Irwin Toy , a allocator based in Canada that was still reeling from apartnershipwith Atari that had recently gone south ; the video recording game furor , which was about to be reignited by Nintendo , had break down in a heap and left vendors with piles of unsold cartridges . Eager for a low - risk opportunity , they licensed the Pound Puppies and released them in Canada in 1984 .
They were an immediate hit . As Bowling had predicted , children who wanted to nurture something adorable and parents who were n’t fain to scoop dog poop found a perfect compromise in his plush animals , which came everlasting with a mock tending scout . walk and exercise were stressed ; caregivers wereadvisedthat their chosen puppy had “ had all the guessing they ask to stick around healthy . ” A bath was also urge . as luck would have it , the animals were automobile - washable .
By December 1985 , Tonka — like Irwin , a company that had been scorched by an ill - fated partnership with a video recording game company named Sega — was convince Bowling was on to something , and brought the plushy animal to the U.S. The Puppies were sell out across the commonwealth , creating a frenzy that had been equal in recent retention only by the Cabbage Patch Kids . In 1985 , more than 2.5 million puppies were sold at the inflated retail Leontyne Price of $ 30 . If kids desire sticker and a personalized dog tag , Tonka would mail them both for an special $ 3.50 .
Like any respectable ‘ LXXX toy craze , Pound Puppies were also awarded their own animate serial , which premiered on ABC in the fall of 1986 . At the “ Wagga Wagga Pound , ” a cast of endearing dog-iron awaited their turn for acceptance . Nancy Cartwright , who would soon after become the vox of Bart Simpson , playedBright Eyes . Another one of the frankfurter wasnamedWhopper , a strange choice view the Puppies were normally found as apromotional itemat Hardee ’s . He was a golden retriever who bust a napkin .
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As with any retail phenomenon , toy pundits predicted a short ledge life for the Puppies . And while they did eventually languish , it took several years andmore than $ 300 millionin sales before kids move on to other obsessions . Their look replacement , a line of saggy lush dogs nickname Wrinkles produced by Canadian toy company Ganz , failed to break through .
In 2011 , Bowling sold the Pound Puppies IP toHasbrofor an undisclosed sum . Having long since retired from the Ford fabrication line , he continues to brainstorm new toy estimate , including a parentage of charge plate mermaids dub Splashlings . While they may catch on , it will be unmanageable to check the success Bowling had in market the idea of an imaginary dog adoption . In 2016 , the artificer estimated more than 200 million Pound Puppies have been sold — nearly three times as many as there areactual dogsin the United States .
