10 Years of Big & Little Dogs: How It Started

In November 2026, Big & Little Dogs turns 10. Not a rebrand, not a relaunch - the same two best friends who started this thing in 2016, still running it, still arguing over which dog is cuter (it's a draw).

We wanted to actually tell you how it started, because most people who've bought from us over the years have no idea. So here it is, in our own words.

It started with a Great Dane and a French Bulldog

Emma had two dogs - Charge, a Great Dane, and Chase, a French Bulldog. If you've ever tried to buy matching gear for a dog the size of a small horse and a dog you can carry under one arm, you already know the problem. Nothing on the market worked for both. Brands sized for one end of the scale or the other, never both.

So Emma decided the answer was to just make it herself. She brought Megan in, and Big & Little Dogs was born out of that one, very specific, very annoying gap in the market.

The early days

Neither of us quit our jobs to do this. Big & Little Dogs happened in the early mornings, the late nights, and every spare hour we could find around full-time work - because that's just what building something from nothing actually looks like.

We spent six months sampling. Designs, patterns, products - back and forth, getting it wrong, then getting it closer, before anything was good enough to put our name on. Somewhere in there, the logo came together too - the original dog design, which we've since evolved into the pink logo you see across our socials and website today. But look closely at your harness, collar or leash and you'll still spot the original - it's stayed on our actual products the whole way through.

A look at our original collection and samples:

It hasn't all been smooth sailing

Ten years running a small business is never a straight line, and we're not going to pretend it has been. The last few years especially - rising costs, a tougher economy, everyone's budgets stretched thinner - have made it genuinely hard at times. We've stayed here anyway, because we still believe in what we're doing and we still love this community.

The faces (and paws) behind the brand

If you've followed us for a while, you already know the cast. Megan has her two Cavoodles, Harvey and Charli. Emma's got Bolt, the Great Dane who's basically Instagram-famous at this point and drags her on hikes most weekends. And Charge and Chase - who passed away a few years ago now, but are the two dogs who started all of this.

• Bolt, Harvey and Charli are the three dogs in our logo today, alongside Chase (Emma's original French Bulldog) - the dog who kicked the whole thing off.
• Megan and Emma still film, pack and run the day-to-day themselves.

Then

Now

Still two best friends, ten years on

We started this brand because we couldn't find what we needed. Ten years later, that's still the whole point - accessories that fit properly, look good, and are made for real dogs and real walks, not just the ones that photograph well.

Thank you for being part of this with us - whether you've been here since year one or you found us last week. Here's to the next ten.