 Barked: Thu Apr 26, '07 4:23pm PST |
 | |  | | It's not something our humans want to think about, but eventually they end up knowing a fur baby that goes to the Bridge.
This guy, Matthew Dow, lives in Albion. Sister says that's in Southern Maine, but the guy makes caskets for the recently departed in the four-legged world. His story was in the Portland Press Herald of Tues. April 24, and he's looking for business - well, not to be mean, but to provide a service for man's best friend. So when the time comes for you to join me here, ask your humans to call this fellow. 
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ALBION - An Albion man is diversifying his wood-products business by building caskets for family pets.
Matthew Dow, who operates Dow's Wood Products, is making custom-built pet caskets and urns that he is marketing through animal shelters, pet stores and veterinary clinics.
Dow began making the caskets a couple of years ago after talking to funeral directors, who told him that Dow could fill a void. An Albion family then hired him to make a casket after the family cat died.
"They didn't want to just throw the cat in a hole," Dow said. "They wanted something to put the cat into."
A year later, the family ordered another casket for their dog.
Dow comes from a family of woodworkers and is carrying on in the family tradition -- but in ways his forebears would probably never have imagined. When Dow first mentioned his pet-casket idea to others, they responded with amused skepticism.
Now he's trying to turn the venture into a viable enterprise.
He has a brochure in which he lists four casket sizes ranging in price from $95 to $395. The boxes are made of pine and are lined with satin, and customers can buy engraved brass plaques for an additional fee.
For now, all his caskets are custom-made.
The biggest challenge is getting the word out.
"I had many people telling me I had a great product at a reasonable price, but I needed to advertise," he said. |  |  | |  |
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The Dog Show: Who's Your Mama?
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