POSITIVE K9 GEAR – Chris Loverseed

Talk us through your very varied career that has led you to where you are today?

I left school at 14 and did a chef apprenticeship. After that I sold cars for a bit, then lost my license and needed another gig fast. Ended up in a Telstra call centre and then into sales. The thing that changed everything was getting my first dog when I was 20. Up until then, I was out clubbing most nights and coming up as a Muay Thai fighter. The dog flipped a switch. He changed my life in ways I’m still grateful for.

My now-partner, Michelle, was the one who pointed out I had a knack for it. She told me I should be doing it for work and bought me a Cesar Millan DVD box set. The rest is history, as they say.

I started training dogs on the side while I was still at Telstra. I should have made the leap sooner than I did.

So, what was the catalyst for creating this business?

2020 was a hard year. I’d built Positive K9 Training up to 17 staff, seeing over 400 dogs a week, and I had a breakdown. I needed something hands-on to pull me out of it, and making things turned out to be therapeutic, which I still love to this day.

At the same time, I’d been looking around the Australian dog gear market for years and couldn’t find anything decent. Everything was cheap imported gear, the same stuff repackaged under different brand names, falling apart on the dogs I was training. Nothing was actually being made here, and nothing was built to last.

So, I started making my own. It began with Michelle and me sewing leads by hand on the lounge room floor. That was PK9 Gear day one. From there, it grew into what it is today.

What’s so unique about your business?

Everything we sell is gear I’d personally use on my own dogs. That’s the rule. If I wouldn’t put it on a dog I’m working with, it doesn’t go in the range. Every piece gets tested on real dogs in real training scenarios before it gets near a customer.

We make everything by hand in Melbourne. Not “designed in Australia, made offshore”. I’m a bit obsessed with materials, too. Climbing rope, veg-tan leather, solid brass, stainless hardware. Working with the best stuff is what eventually pulled me into the high-end leather side of the business.

The brand has two sides: tough everyday gear that holds up to serious training, and a bespoke leather range that’s closer to fine craft than pet supplies. As far as I know, we’re the only Australian-made dog brand stocked in a five-star hotel in this country, which still feels surreal to say.

What do you enjoy most about seeing your passion come to life?

Honestly, all of it, but for different reasons. There’s the moment a custom leather piece comes off the bench and looks exactly how I pictured it. There are the messages from customers when their gear arrives and they tell you how stoked they are. And then there are the big, surreal moments. Meeting Jelly Roll and handing him a custom PK9 collar for Bussie still doesn’t feel real.

The business is still hard. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But seeing the work end up on a dog at the Park Hyatt, or in the hands of someone like Jelly Roll, makes the long hours worth it.

What I enjoy most is the variety. One day I’m in the workshop, the next day I’m packing orders, and the next day I’m taking a call from a hotel or a celebrity. No two days look the same, and that suits me.

How do you continue to evolve the business to see it grow?

Marketing is a huge part of it now. Having a great product doesn’t matter if no one knows about it. We’ve got a strong customer base who keep us going, but you can’t just sit there and hope. You have to keep showing up.

On the product side, I’ve got 20 new ideas a week, easy. The hard part is finding the time to actually build them. And once you find the time, you need the finances to get them off the ground. Quality materials aren’t cheap. That’s the constant balance.

What are your plans over the next 12 months?

Plenty going on. The Pride range has just launched and our “Year of the Horse” range is now live, too. Next year is the “Year of the Goat”, so we’ll be doing a range to mark that with collars made from premium goat leather.

The dream beyond that is for the right investor to come on board, so we can scale properly and have a bit of breathing room to be creative. The bigger picture for me is changing the way Australians think about dog gear. We’ve spent too long buying cheap imported stuff that falls apart in a year. The market deserves better, and our dogs definitely do.