---
title: "In-home usage testing for a new dog treat | antedote"
description: "In-home testing for a new dog treat, tried beside established products, then focus groups with owners on the design brief."
url: "https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/three-week-in-home-treat-test/"
author: "antedote"
---

# Settling the design brief for a new dog treat

Dogs can’t say why a treat works, and owners can only describe what they see. Before a pet food company locked the design of a new dog treat, we tested it in real homes, then talked it through with owners.

**Client**
Pet food company

**Industry**
Pet food

**Kind of work**
Concept and product testing

**Our role**
In-home usage testing, then focus groups with owners, for a new dog treat

## What happened next

Development went ahead on a design brief rewritten from the evidence.

## The question

In dog treats, a product either keeps a dog’s attention or it doesn’t. Getting the format wrong would commit manufacturing investment to something real dogs might reject.

So before locking the design of its new treat, the company wanted to know whether the lead prototype deserved confidence, how it compared with what dogs already get, and what the brief should specify.

## Our approach

We took the test into real homes, where treats are actually given, for long enough to see past the first taste.

The new prototype went beside established treats already on the market, each size-matched to the dog, with the order rotated so neither novelty nor fatigue skewed the read.

Owners recorded each treat at the moments that matter, from opening the pack to the feeding itself and a considered view afterward, capturing how the dog took to it and what that looked like from across the kitchen.

Focus groups then put the prototypes, the products already on the market and mocked-up design variations in front of owners, turning what they had seen at home into terms a development team could specify.

## What the team came away with

Innovation leadership had evidence from real homes and design guidance for the development brief, covering the treat’s form and the experience it should deliver.

Owners’ responses to the written concept came with it, so the product and the story told about it could be developed together.

Who we heard from

Dog owners feeding the treats at home, then in focus groups

## Related work

[View concept and product testing case studies](https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/?work=Concept%20and%20product%20testing#library)

- Pet food

    ### [Preparing two pet food brands for a retailer review](https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/concepts-built-for-the-retailer-review/)

    The company presented all seven concepts at its key retailer’s innovation review, and two further engagements followed.

- Beauty and personal care

    ### [Checking a new personal care product against its promise](https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/five-days-with-a-new-personal-care-product/)

**What we do**
[Concept testing and portfolio prioritization](https://antedote.com/what-we-do/concept-testing/)

## Developing new products or concepts?

We’d be happy to help you assess and improve them.

[Talk to us](https://antedote.com/talk-to-us/) · [hello@antedote.com](mailto:hello@antedote.com)

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