Meet Karen Hopper | Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Karen Hopper and we’ve shared our conversation below.

What was your thought process behind starting your own business?
It all started when we rescued our little dachshund Cashew.  The first night she slipped through the fence pickets and we were devastated!  We were lucky that we were eventually able to get her back but from that moment on, that desperate feeling of losing our pup stuck with us.  We realized that dogs escaping through fences was a fairly common problem and that we should help others that were in our same situation.  I told my husband that we needed to fix the fence….he disagreed.  His response was that he was going to “fix the dog instead.”  Why spend a great deal of money dog-proofing the fence?  Why not fence-proof the dog?  And with that he designed the first prototype.  After a few iterations, we finally had a product that we were extremely excited about and decided to share the idea with a few family members and friends.  It didn’t take long before they were asking us how to purchase one.  

We sold our first Picket Protector in June of 2023.  Sales were fairly slow for the remainder of the summer and into the fall as we focused on spreading the word about the Picket Protector.  And then December came and our sales quadrupled!!!  Business in 2024 has been crazy to say the least – we continue to grow every month as our constantly increasing client base helps us spread the word about the effectiveness of our product and how it keeps their pups safe INSIDE the fence.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As for our professional experience, I have a master’s degree in marketing and have worked as a Systems Analyst for Campbell Sales Company, taught computer education classes with ExecuTrain of Philadelphia and have owned two other businesses in my previous years (Curves gym and Atlantic City Cruises).  My husband, and partner in Picket Protector, has been a civil engineer with Remington and Vernick Engineers for 24 years.  He has a master’s degree in engineering and is credited with the design of the Picket Protector. 

We have been developing our Picket Protector business for about a year now.  We first started selling on Etsy and then my husband and son created our website, www.thepicketprotector.com, at the beginning of 2024.  We’re currently selling on both platforms and at a few retail locations in the Myrtle Beach area.  Response to our product has been incredible!  People are constantly describing it as “simple but genius” and “a must have for small dog owners with picket fences at their homes.”  We have clients in every state in the country except for Maine…we’re still waiting on that first order from there!  Our future plans include continuing to increase our online presence, developing new products in the Picket Protector line and hopefully being selected to appear on Shark Tank!  We have submitted our initial application and are eagerly waiting to hear back!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
It ultimately comes back to our pup! We have always been large dog owners and Cashew was our first little dog. It only took about 2 hours to realize that there are challenges associated with small dogs that we didn’t experience with our previous dogs. I guess our shoutout would go to All-American Dachshund Rescue, whom we rescued Cashew from. They were extremely accommodating during the adoption process and were diligent in assuring that Cashew found a great home…..OURS! I will say though….during the home visit, they did assure my husband that Cashew would not be able to fit through the fence pickets. Well, she did and the rest is history.

Website: https://www.thepicketprotector.com

Instagram: picketprotector

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PicketProtector