With a career coaching freeride skiing in Big Sky, Cooper Raasch has always loved helping people hone their skills. When he started Ruff Riders, he saw an opportunity to use his talents to teach dogs how to use and eventually master slatmill techniques, helping them gain confidence and strength along the way. We sat down with Cooper to learn a little more about his business, and how it has been working with dogs across the Gallatin Valley.
What inspired you to start Ruff Riders?
My inspiration to start ruff riders is my shelter dog, Amyas. He’s always had trouble around other dogs, and I thought slatmills would be a great way for him to get fulfillment from exercise. He was the first dog I taught to use a slatmill. Our branding is an homage to my father Brian, who was a history teacher and loved Teddy Roosevelt. Our logo is my dog Amyas wearing the hat Teddy Roosevelt had on in his famous rough riders photo.
Can you describe a slatmill and what kind of specialized exercise it provides?
Slatmills are interesting, they’ve been around a lot longer than people think. The first known American slatmills trace back to the 1800s. They were used on farms to churn butter and mill grain, powered by farm dogs. In 1920, the first slatmills for canine fitness started to appear; I believe they were used to gain better fitness in racing dogs. Our slatmills are decidedly more advanced in that we can adjust the incline and resistance to meet a dog's specific exercise needs. We use them to strengthen sport and pet dogs to increase quality of life and extend a dog's life. We also help dogs coming off injuries or surgery. They can be used to give a reactive dog like my Amyas their genetic fulfillment of exercise without exposing them to dangerous situations and environments. We teach some dogs competitive skills like backing up straight and stopping and starting to increase agility, start line, power and drive.
Do you have any fun success stories to share?
We have lots of success stories! I think the most profound are the huge bumps in confidence shy dogs get when they learn they can run as fast as they want with no distractions. We run a very sweet medical alert service dog every week and it’s beautiful to see him blow off steam from a long week in a way that he loves.
You can learn more about Cooper and Ruff Riders at ruffridersmobiledoggym.com.