Beyond the Border: How Tariff Uncertainty Is Reshaping Rocky Mountain Dog

Rocky Mountain Dog In The Media

Over the past few weeks, our small business, Rocky Mountain Dog, has unexpectedly found itself part of a much bigger conversation. We’ve had the opportunity to speak with television and radio journalists at CBC News, including Kris Reyes, Terri Trembath and Loren McGinnis, about American tariffs and what changes in cross-border trade can mean for businesses like ours.

Listen to Rob's CBC News radio interview: Calgary Eyeopener with Loren McGinnis

While tariffs can seem like a far-away, abstract economic issue when discussed in the news, from our perspective at Rocky Mountain Dog, the effects have become very real, very quickly. Everything from the price we pay for materials and products to the decisions we make about suppliers, pricing and future growth can be affected.

For Canadian small businesses that depend on cross-border trade, uncertainty has become part of the daily operating environment.

As negotiators continue going back and forth in an effort to reach a deal ahead of the tariff deadline, there have been few positive signals. For us, the approach right now is largely one of waiting and watching.

As our founder Rob Johnson told CBC News, “I think it’s just a wait-and-see approach. We’ve been at this for a while.”

Watch Rob Johnson's full CBC News Interview with Kris Reyes: CBC News Network's Kris Reyes speaks with business owner Rob Johnson

Watch Rob Johnson on CBC News with Terri Trembath: Calgary business owners forced to watch and wait as tariff deadline nears

That uncertainty is particularly difficult because, not long ago, we viewed the United States as one of our biggest opportunities for expansion. That went away over a year ago with the introductions of the first round of tariffs from the United States in 2025. We have always been a Canadian brand and doubled down on that post tariffs.

A Canadian Brand First

Rocky Mountain Dog is proudly Canadian, and that identity has been at the heart of the brand since the beginning. Founded in Calgary in 2018, the company was inspired by the Rocky Mountains and a simple idea: create great-looking, functional gear for people who want to get outside and adventure with their dogs. Eight years later, that idea has grown into an established Canadian brand with customers and retail partners across the country.

A major part of that growth has come through Rocky Mountain Dog's direct-to-consumer business. From the beginning, the company invested heavily in its website and e-commerce presence, building a strong relationship directly with Canadian dog owners. Today, thousands of customer reviews and a growing range of adventure products from harnesses and leashes to collars, travel gear and accessories, reflect how far the brand has come.

At the same time, Rocky Mountain Dog has developed an established wholesale business, working with independent pet stores and other retailers across Canada. Those partnerships have allowed the brand to reach customers well beyond its online store while building long-term relationships with Canadian retailers. Rocky Mountain Dog products can now be found through retail partners in communities across multiple provinces.

Our loyal dog community is ultimately what makes our brand. Rocky Mountain Dog was built around a shared love of dogs, the outdoors and the places Canadians are fortunate enough to explore. After eight years of building the business, developing products and growing both direct-to-consumer and wholesale channels, Rocky Mountain Dog has established a strong foundation in Canada and a community the company is incredibly proud to be part of.

Going Beyond Canada

Before trade tensions escalated, the United States represented a natural next step for us.

We had been building a growing U.S. wholesale business and attending SuperZoo, one of the largest pet industry trade shows in North America. We were meeting retailers, attracting new wholesale customers and seeing real potential for growth south of the border.

We were also planning to grow our direct-to-consumer business in the U.S. Before last year Rocky Mountain Dog’s attendance at SuperZoo brought in wholesale revenue and a lot of direct to customer shipping as well. The change in tariffs has impacted us by about $200,000 of lost revenue from the United States. 

Previous tariff threats and changes affecting low-value shipments with the US$800 de minimis threshold have made selling into the United States more complicated and less attractive for us. As a result of all these changes, we decided to stop shipping to the United States all together at the end of 2025. 

Now, we're concerned about what another round of tariffs could mean, not only for products we might ship south, but also for the materials and products we bring in.

Growth into other markets as an alternative has always been an option. The familiarity and proximity however are not the same. Most other countries serve more as ‘the great unknown’. 

There is a lot more research and risk involved with unfamiliar ground. It still remains an option though and one we have not yet shied away from, given our options.

Impacts Of Future Tariffs

Since we decided to stop shipping to the United States last year, we’re more concerned about any tariffs by Canada, put on US imports. 

Some of the materials we use in products made here in Canada are highly specialized and difficult, or potentially impossible to source elsewhere. For example, we import biothane from the U.S. for all our waterproof gear we make here in Canada. It's a specialized product, and we don't have an obvious alternative supplier.

If those inputs become subject to retaliatory Canadian tariffs, it can change the economics of an entire product line.

If significant tariffs were applied to that input, we would have to reconsider whether that product line continues to make sense.

For a small business, that's a very real consequence.

Supply Chains Aren't Simple

One thing this experience has reinforced for us is just how complicated modern supply chains are.

Products don't always fit neatly into a “Canadian product” or “American product” category.

We might purchase something from a U.S. supplier that was manufactured in Taiwan. Another material might cross the border as an input before becoming part of a product we manufacture here in Canada.

That makes figuring out exactly which tariffs apply, and when, far from straightforward.

We've even encountered situations where products appear to be tariffed when we don't believe they should be.

As a small business, we're left trying to understand changing regulations while continuing to run the company. At the same time, we have to make decisions about inventory, suppliers, pricing and expansion without knowing exactly what the trading environment will look like several months from now.

That uncertainty itself has a cost.

Waiting for the Final Verdict

With another deadline approaching, there isn't much certainty to plan around.

We've already adapted. We've concentrated more heavily on Canada and reduced our exposure to the U.S. market.

But that doesn't mean the American opportunity has stopped mattering.

Quite the opposite.

If anything, this experience has demonstrated just how deeply connected our two economies are. It's also shown us why prolonged uncertainty can sometimes be almost as challenging for a small business as the tariffs themselves.

For now, our strategy is pretty simple. We keep operating and adapting. We keep building Rocky Mountain Dog here in Canada and watch to see what happens next.

The decision and announcement may finally bring some answers, or, like much of the past year, it may bring another round of uncertainty.