Sarah McLean | Co-Founder & CEO, Big Damn Dog Co.
A joint supplement label that stopped at 60 pounds sent Sarah McLean looking for a product that did not exist. Big Damn Dog Co. is the bootstrapped answer: giant-breed formulations, dosing built for 120-pound dogs, and a customer list the founders still call by phone. Six months after launch, its Gravy Blend already accounts for roughly 40% of joint supplement sales.
For most dog owners, joint supplements are pretty straightforward: check the label, find your dog’s weight, and follow the recommended dose. But when Sarah McLean brought home Lucy, her 120-pound Great Dane, she quickly realized that system wasn’t built for dogs like hers. The supplement her veterinarian recommended had one instruction for every dog over 60 pounds. Lucy weighed twice that. Was one chew enough? Should she double it? And how could she know whether either option was actually effective?
That problem became Big Damn Dog Co., a brand built specifically around the health needs of giant breeds. Today, Sarah and her husband Jared McLean are building beyond their original joint supplement, with a fast-growing Gravy Blend and a bigger ambition to become the go-to brand for giant-breed health, education, and eventually everyday life.
We spoke with Sarah about bootstrapping the business, why giant breeds remain underserved, building DTC, listening closely to customers, and what it will take to turn a niche supplement company into “The Giant Breed Brand.”
Big Damn Dog Co. started with your own Great Dane and a problem you couldn’t find a good solution for. What was missing from the market, and when did you realize there could be a business here?
It started at a vet visit.
After we adopted Lucy, we took her in to establish care, and our veterinarian made it clear how important it was to start joint care early for giant breeds. So we bought the product she recommended most highly.
Then I turned the bottle around and read the dosing instructions: For dogs 60 pounds and over, give one chew.
Lucy was 120 pounds.
So what was I supposed to do? Double it? How could I know whether she was getting enough, whether I was giving her too much, what was safe for her, or what would actually be effective?
I just wanted to do right by her, and the label couldn’t tell me how.
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