CANINE CALMER

To soothe his goldendoodle, Dosi, during storms, phil Blizzard devised the Thundershirt, which Velcros tightly around a dog’s torso. now his company, Thunderworks, founded in 2009 and based in Durham, north Carolina, has sold millions of the shirts for $39.95 and up.

How did you come up with this, exactly?

one drawback of sedatives is that you have to anticipate a storm by an hour. Wake up with a dog standing on your chest and you’ve missed the window. a friend suggested we try a tight wrap. it sounded idiotic. but then a storm came in, and my wife said, “We’re going to try this.”

What was your next step?

i approached a couple friends who were entrepreneurs. When i first proposed it, they fell on the floor and laughed at me.

Was there much awareness of pet anxiety at the time?

Pet stores said, “We’re going to put it in the apparel section.” We were like, “no, that’s not where it needs to be.” most stores now have a section filled with calming solutions.

What size is the market?

in the U.s., 90 million dogs and 94 million cats.

How well-known is the brand?

We’ve become part of the vernacular. There’s a whole Dilbert strip based on it. and in Oh, Hello on broadway, one of the guys says that if he had money, there are two things he’d want. one is a Thundershirt.