One day, a few years back, we (the creative team at TOM BIHN) were hanging out with our dogs, as we do most of the time. It was at the beach, or on some mountain trail, as the story is now told. At some point we all looked at each other and said: “We are designers. We have our own factory. We have dogs. We should design and make our own dog gear. Duh.” And so it was: Skookum Dog was born.

Skookum is a Chinook word that translates to: "good," "strong," "brave." If you're a Pacific Northwesterner, you know this word: creeks, rivers, and trails here are often named Skookum. And that's where you'll find us in the mornings, the evenings, the weekends—whenever we can find the time: on the trails, along the rivers, in the mountains and meadows, hanging out with our friends, human and canine alike.

Skookum's Creed is this: Loyalty first. Have Fun now, not later. Be Good. Be Strong.

It's what our dogs have taught us. You are loyal to your friends. There's no reason to put off doing something fun. Being good means being who you are and being good to those around you. Being strong means remembering all of this no matter what.

The Skookum Dog company was on its own for its first year -- now we're bringing it back into the TOM BIHN family. Many of you wrote to us over the last year asking us to do this so that you could get TB and SD gear from the same website, and we realized that's a good point. So from today on, you'll find all Skookum Dog gear (including our new treat bag, the Citizen Canine, which debuts tomorrow) available at TOM BIHN: here's the link.

It might be important to note the similarities and the differences between Skookum Dog and TOM BIHN stuff. In common, Skookum Dog and TOM BIHN have the same designers (Tom, Nik, Darcy), the best materials, and Made in USA manufacturing.

There's differences in aesthetics between TOM BIHN and Skookum Dog, though we think they compliment each other nicely. Notably, Skookum Dog gear is intended to age and to age well: there's just no way SD gear is going to look new for very long. Dogs are tough on stuff: we're good with that, and if you're dog people, you probably are too. Skookum Dog gear is built to have a nicely broken-in look for years to come.

And while we don't think we need to tell you not to chew on your TOM BIHN bags, we do feel compelled to remind you not to chew on your Skookum Dog gear. Note that if you (or any of your friends) do chew on this stuff, repair (when possible) isn't covered by our Lifetime Guarantee. Unlike TOM BIHN bags, it's okay to machine wash some Skookum Dog gear; here's a video we made about how to clean and care for SD stuff.

As long as you or your dog don't chew on it, your Skookum Dog gear is, as we intended, good and strong. It'll handsomely show off its battle scars and road dust: nice reminders of the adventures it's seen. Many of the new photos we've taken of Skookum Dog gear show the actual Skookum Dog stuff we've been using: Ichiro's Sheepskin Bed has been in use coming up on two years now, and Lily's Camp Mat has been on road trips all over Idaho, Oregon and Washington and machine washed 10+ times.

Stay tuned over the coming months and years for new designs for you and your canine BFF -- there's some good and strong new stuff in the works.