"You know, there is much to be said for the distinctive country lifestyle and all of its pleasures and satisfaction. But one of the best parts, by far, is that you get to hang around with a lot of interesting dogs."

Of all the products Orvis has introduced over the years, none have received a better reception than Orvis Dog Beds. No doubt this is because the dog is perhaps the greatest common element shared by everybody remotely familiar with the Orvis lifestyle.

How Orvis Collared The Dog Beds

The Orvis company introduced one of its all-time best-selling products to the United States in 1976 when an English tweed salesman sent a cosy, soft bed to the United States - for a goat. Our President and CEO, Perk Perkins, got a pet goat for a graduation gift and the Orvis Dog Bed dog bed was born. Here's how Perk tells it: "In 1976, my pet goat, 'Williams' (given to me as a graduation present from college!), made such an impression on a visiting salesman that he sent a home-made pet bed as a present." Leigh Perkins, Chairman and CEO from 1965 to 1992, says of the Dog Bed, "When we saw how much all the dogs in our house took to the bed, we decided the product was a perfect match for our dog-loving customers. They were just the thing for people who wanted to pamper their dogs and make them comfortable, and they also appealed to people who didn't love their dogs so much as they wanted to keep them off the furniture."