DOG-loving owners of the Decorating Centre Online (DCO) in County Durham have unleashed a specialist brand of paint developed for use on pets for easy identification in busy public places, as well as helping improve their mood.

With the surge in popularity of pet ownership on the rise since the beginning of the first national lockdown, owners of DCO Helen Johnson and Matt Goddard used the skills of their in-house lab technicians and state-of-the-art mixing equipment at their headquarters in Coundon, to create ‘Valspaw’ – the world’s first wearable paint for pets – to help distinguish them on popular dog routes.

Teaming up with Pet Awareness Welfare Standards (PAWS), which is in the process of getting its charitable status application approved, DCO has committed to ensure purchasers are informed of all ingredients used, reassuring consumers that the product is cruelty free and has adhered to the same strict testing processes that human cosmetic products undergo.

Ms Johnson said: “Animals have a completely different pH balance to humans so we litmus-tested Valspaw in-house to ensure it was safe for animal skin.”

A year in the making, Valspaw has been carefully formulated using all natural ingredients extracted largely from vegetable dye so is also safe for the environment.

“It’s a unique concept but it wasn’t too long ago that dressing your dog up in clothes was questionable but the pet clothing accessories market has boomed in recent years,” she added.

“Farmers often use a dye-marker on sheep, so it is no different to use colour on domestic pets to help identify them while out in public or vast spaces. We used our specialist knowledge of mixing paint in our lab and worked closely with PAWS to get the ingredients and product ‘standards’ approved.

“We believe it will give many dog-walkers piece of mind outdoors which will help their pets’ anxiety levels too as they often pick up on and react to what their owners are feeling.

“It also seems to improve their social skills when they have a new look – our dog Cooper loves the admiration he gets when he goes out donning a different coloured coat and he seems noticeably happier when he receives compliments – his favourite is the Pink Blush.”

Valspaw is available in Pink Blush, Cotton Blue and Moss Green and the team at DCO are in the process of creating a Valspaw summer palette so that consumers can custom their colour of choice for their pet.

Valspaw should not be used on the pet’s face.