A dog Ate the Soap...Oh No!

[TeriDk]

Hi all. Did well at my first craft fair but got a note from a buyer that her dog munched the blood orange soap I sold her. I used Brazilian clay for color, and organic oils: olive oil, palm, coconut, castor, and Shea and cocoa butter. The soap was made in late Jan. Anyone have experience with this situation? Yikes.

As always, thank in advance for your thoughts and kind, encouraging words on my pic in the photo gallery.

 

[Sammi_552]

I don't know if this link will help answer any questions. Another forum member went through the same thing with her dog eating soap.

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f15/dog-ate-salt-bar-way-emergency-pet-clinic-31668/

 

[TeriDk]

Thx Sammie. My opps, I think I posted this in the wrong section of the forum.

 

[TeriDk]

I sold a bar of Blood Orange (FO) soap at my first craft fair to a person who later emailed me about a replacement because her dog ate the soap. Organic oils: olive, palm, coconut, castor and Shea and cocoa butters. Used Brazilian clays for color. Soap was made in late Jan. I mistakenly posted this under the photo gallery and thought I should post here. Anyone with experience and hopefully a happy ending?

As always, thank you in advance for your input

 

[Hazel]

Does she want you to replace it for free? If so, I don't see why you should since it wasn't your dog that ate the soap (if this actually happened). This customer sure has a lot of nerve. I'm amazed anyone would even think to contact someone to replace something destroyed by her own negligence. My dog ate the goat milk powder which I left out on the table after using it. I never even thought of contacting the supplier and asking for a replacement because it's not the supplier's responsibility that I didn't take the time to put the GMP away while I was soapmaking.

I know it's important to keep customers happy but I don't think you should be responsible for her - in an attempt to be polite - let's say lack of judgement in putting the soap away in a safe location.

Thx Sammie. My pops, I think I posted this in the wrong section of the forum.

Not a problem. I moved your other thread and combined it with this one.

 

[melstan775]

how long ago was the fair and how long between the fair and contact? If it was a recent contact after the fair, say a week or two, I might consider replacing it. Beyond customer responsibility is something called customer goodwill. Customer goodwill is a business' willingness to keep a customer happy for happiness' sake. Goodwill practices help a business build a positive reputation.

A simple replacement and a note saying - "Sorry to hear your dog ate the soap. Here is a one-time replacement. Try to keep it out of the dog's way so you can enjoy it yourself. - Teri" - - might go a long way in keeping someone happy and build loyalty.

If however, it's been some time, well, anything could have happened, so you might try something like "Sorry the dog ate your soap. I can't replace that for you at this time, but I am very happy to hear you enjoy my soaps enough to reach out. Here is a 10% off coupon for your next order." This method is making an effort to meet your customer's need or desire without shooting yourself in the foot, so to speak.

 

[TeriDk]

Does she want you to replace it for free? If so, I don't see why you should since it wasn't your dog that ate the soap (if this actually happened). This customer sure has a lot of nerve. I'm amazed anyone would even think to contact someone to replace something destroyed by her own negligence. My dog ate the goat milk powder which I left out on the table after using it. I never even thought of contacting the supplier and asking for a replacement because it's not the supplier's responsibility that I didn't take the time to put the GMP away while I was soapmaking.

I know it's important to keep customers happy but I don't think you should be responsible for her - in an attempt to be polite - let's say lack of judgement in putting the soap away in a safe location.

Not a problem. I moved your other thread and combined it with this one.

No, she wants to buy a replacement. We don't have critters in the house at this time so it never dawned on me that a dog would eat the soap. I know of dogs that eat socks but not soap. From the post above, I'm glad it wasn't a salt bar. I'm wondering if eating the soap will hurt the dog. This brings up another question. Do people come up with stories to weasel a free bar of soap? Have tons to learn about selling soap.

 

[TeriDk]

how long ago was the fair and how long between the fair and contact? If it was a recent contact after the fair, say a week or two, I might consider replacing it. Beyond customer responsibility is something called customer goodwill. Customer goodwill is a business' willingness to keep a customer happy for happiness' sake. Goodwill practices help a business build a positive reputation.

A simple replacement and a note saying - "Sorry to hear your dog ate the soap. Here is a one-time replacement. Try to keep it out of the dog's way so you can enjoy it yourself. - Teri" - - might go a long way in keeping someone happy and build loyalty.

If however, it's been some time, well, anything could have happened, so you might try something like "Sorry the dog ate your soap. I can't replace that for you at this time, but I am very happy to hear you enjoy my soaps enough to reach out. Here is a 10% off coupon for your next order." This method is making an effort to meet your customer's need or desire without shooting yourself in the foot, so to speak.

The fair was yesterday, Saturday and she wanted to buy a replacement. I'm thinking of giving her an extra bar if she contacts me again (a 2 for 1). I certainly will suggest people keep the soap away from dogs in the future. I'm interested in finding out if there are serious medical problems for the dog. I assume she is not pulling my leg.

 

[makemineirish]

I agree that requesting a replacement for consumer negligence is ridiculous. I often wonder what scenario prompted some of the asinine warnings on the products I buy.

I would hope that anyone contacting you about this issue was doing so merely to request an ingredient list for their vet... given that the wrapper with that information would have been discarded or ingested.

While a newbie to soap, I an old hat at veterinary emergencies for everything from squirrels to horses. Disclaimer: My primary advice is: Always contact a veterinarian and take your animal in IMMEDIATELY. That being said, I understand that there are those of us who live in small towns or rural areas where an emergency clinic may not nearby...or available at all.

For those in the United States:
In an emergency situation in which your dog has ingested something toxic, you can call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center 24/7, 365 days a year at 888-426-4435. They will possibly ask for a $65 consultation fee that benefits the ASPCA. If your veterinarian or the poison control center feels that you need to induce vomiting, you can do so by administering 3% hydrogen peroxide at a dosage of 1 tsp (equivalent to 5 ml or 5 cc) per 10 lb (equivalent to 4.5 kg) of body weight.

I am not a veterinarian and am not indicating that you should treat your beloved pet (or instruct your customer to do so) without their guidance. I simply wanted to clue everybody in to a resource that can be incredibly beneficial when where you live limits your veterinary options.

 

[Hazel]

Okay, I misunderstood your first post. I thought you you were asking if anyone had experience about someone trying to get a free product. I recall a few people mentioning people trying to get free soap or some product by using specious reasons. Selling can be hard. You'll meet some wonderful people but there are always a few who will try to take advantage or cause problems.

I suppose some dogs will eat almost anything. I had a dog who had been starved for such a long time before we were able to rescue her that she became a scavenger. She'd eat anything if it smelled interesting to her. We used to joke she was part shark and occasionally "sing" the Jaws theme when she'd come cruising into the kitchen. I don't think the soap would have harmed the dog but might have made the dog a little sick for awhile. It's possible the dog ate it and then threw it up. I've seen that happen with a few of our dogs - not from eating soap but other things they found.

 

[TeriDk]

I didn't mean to imply this person was trying to get a freebie. Just surprise to hear about a dog eating a soap I made. Thanks for the vet poison control. I will pass that number along to her.

 

[OHello]

Our old family dog used to have a real thing for soap. She would sleep in the bathroom when she was a puppy and had figured out how to open the shower screen so she could get in there and gobble the soap up. She did it quite a bit and it never did her any harm...didn't even give her an upset stomach.

I don't know how she could have stood it as it was highly perfumed commercial soap. It definitely didn't smell like something that was remotely edible. I asked the vet about it and she said that it was attractive to her because of the animal fats in the soap.

It's interesting that your customer's dog ate that particular soap as most dogs have an aversion to citrus scents. I don't think that it will cause any problems though.

 

[Ruthie]

My Sadie (a rotweiller mix) is always a little too interested when she follows me into the room where my soap is curing. So far she has only sniffed, but I keep a close eye on her just in case. When she was a puppy she did "eat" a brand new pair of blue jeans. Still had the tags on them. DH said I should take them back, but was not able to tell me why it was the store's fault. LOL! She has also eaten a corner off of a wooden shelf and occasionally tries to eat the blankets the dogs have on the floor for resting. She is our "special" girl!

As for having a customer whose dog ate a purchase, sounds like she has her head on straight, since she wants to BUY a replacement. And I bet she keeps this one out of reach.

 

[Aunt Polly]

Our greyhound (Heart) munched on some cinnamon honey oatmeal soap and some chocolate peanut butter soap and had no problems. He can counter surf in a "Heart"-beat.

 

[pamielynn]

My dog eats soap bits all the freakin' time. He just recently chowed down on a 100% lard bar that was less than a day old. The vet said to watch for vomiting and diarrhea. His name is Chewie - which is appropriate, but we joke that his real name is Marley Gave him some yogurt (yogurt fixes everything, right??). By the end of the day he was back to stealing my coffee - so he was fine.

I think they're better off chewing up a handmade bar than a detergent bar. Tell her to keep an eye on the dog for reactions, but I bet he's ok.

 

[100%Natural]

how long ago was the fair and how long between the fair and contact? If it was a recent contact after the fair, say a week or two, I might consider replacing it. Beyond customer responsibility is something called customer goodwill. Customer goodwill is a business' willingness to keep a customer happy for happiness' sake. Goodwill practices help a business build a positive reputation.

A simple replacement and a note saying - "Sorry to hear your dog ate the soap. Here is a one-time replacement. Try to keep it out of the dog's way so you can enjoy it yourself. - Teri" - - might go a long way in keeping someone happy and build loyalty.

If however, it's been some time, well, anything could have happened, so you might try something like "Sorry the dog ate your soap. I can't replace that for you at this time, but I am very happy to hear you enjoy my soaps enough to reach out. Here is a 10% off coupon for your next order." This method is making an effort to meet your customer's need or desire without shooting yourself in the foot, so to speak.

That is good advice. Thanks for posting!

 

[Shannon_m]

Dogs eat the strangest things! I have a little guy, a papillion, and while I don't think he's eaten any soap (I clean up my bars in the living room and frequently get scraps on the carpet, I've never noticed him eating them but he could have, they were there lol) he has gotten a hold of my e-cig liquid. It's liquid nicotine and highly toxic. Yeah, that was a bad day but after $300 vet visit with charcoal IV flush, he was good as gold.

 

[birchcoulee]

Our Lab loves my soap, have to keep it up or he munches on it. Shouldn't be surprised I guess, it is tallow based and usually smells so good! It has not seemed to do him any harm, even after most of a bar!

 

[Ruthie]

Our Lab loves my soap, have to keep it up or he munches on it. Shouldn't be surprised I guess, it is tallow based and usually smells so good! It has not seemed to do him any harm, even after most of a bar!

Butchie, our boy grey hound, ALWAYS sticks so close when I have the lard or tallow out! I know he'd love for me to drop some!

 

[mel z]

I sure hope the dog is okay.

I've been thinking about this since this a.m. I could understand a tallow or lard soap, my dog would have eaten that in a nano second. I looked at your ingredients list again and I think this dog liked the cocoa butter. Dogs and chocolate. I'm sure the dog is fine, but something to be aware of.