Dog pants debate on social media drives sales for Canadian company

OTTAWA, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- A Canadian company said an online debate about dog pants is driving sales of its four-leg-covering Muddy Mutts "underbody dog coats."

The owner of Ottawa company Muddy Mutts said his products, which resemble a pair of pants a dog would wear on all four legs, sold slowly for the first 3 1/2 years that they were available, but orders have spiked in the past 11 days.

"It's a lot. We're talking thousands of coats. ... The only thing we can do at this point is react the best we can," owner Tim Skelly told CBC News. "I don't think there's any turning back now. It is going to grow, and it's out of my hands, and now we'll just try and carve off more time for it."

Skelly attributed the spike in sales to an unlikely source -- a raging Internet debate about whether a dog would wear pants on two or four legs.

The controversy began with a picture tweeted by Jared Keller, which included drawings of both interpretations of dog pants.

The ensuing social media debate brought Muddy Mutts to the forefront, with pictures of Skelly's own dog, Oscar, going viral after being cited as evidence in the controversy.