For Monika van Zyl, dogs were never just pets; they were family. This love for dogs would later inspire TrailTail, a business built around canine health and nutrition.
After years of city living kept her away from four-legged companions, returning home to Franschhoek in the Western Cape left a void she could not ignore.
A visit to a local rescue shelter changed everything. Adopting a dog set off an unexpected chain reaction that ultimately led her to become an entrepreneur.
A lesson in dog training
Van Zyl’s life took her to Tshwane, Gauteng, where she studied arts and theatre technology, before moving to Cape Town. Years later, she returned to Franschhoek with her husband, Garth van Zyl, and decided it was time to get a dog.
“Something I felt my life was simply incomplete without,” she shares.
They eventually moved from a flat to a property in Klapmuts, where they got a pit bull mix with what Van Zyl describes as unmanageable drive and energy. Working from home became a battle because he constantly wanted to play.
Trying to keep him occupied, Van Zyl became more serious about dog training. She eventually trained him as a service dog to help her manage her attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Later, local children who had watched her train dogs brought her a newborn puppy they had found on a soccer field. Van Zyl ended up keeping her and hand-raising her on formula. She named the Jack Russell mix Jezebel.
Van Zyl later joined K9 Search and Rescue with Jezebel. While training dogs regularly, she became frustrated with the treats available.
“They were highly unhealthy, messy and impractical,” Van Zyl says.
Her husband gifted her a kitchen dehydrator for her birthday in 2024, which marked the true beginning of the business. She began dehydrating single-ingredient meats from her local supermarket to share samples with other trainers and handlers. The feedback was immediate and enthusiastic, she says.
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Encouraged to sell them, she began from home and at Kennel Union of Southern Africa (Kusa) events, initially focusing on sport and working dogs and breeders who cared deeply about canine nutrition.
The business has since grown steadily, with customers buying via online platforms.
Creating a dog treat brand
The first thing Van Zyl dehydrated was sheep lungs. She had never cooked lungs before, but decided to experiment.
“I then dehydrated a whole bunch of other offal and then decided to test the results on my dogs.
“I had never gotten this kind of response from treats before. My oldest dog, Riley, was never food motivated, so when he gave such a unique reaction it made me realise this isn’t just another snack.”
Van Zyl was nervous about sharing the treats at first, but eventually gave some to dog trainers, including Gill Painter of Winelands Dog Training, who had been working with Jezebel since she was six weeks old.
“The first time she handled the sheep lungs, she was impressed and said, ‘This is gourmet. You should sell this!’” This reaction gave Van Wyk the confidence to take the idea further.
She officially launched TrailTail at the Kusa National Championship in Cape Town in 2025, where she had her first stall and sponsored treats for the judges.
“It was my first real stress test, and it was a great success.”
The name TrailTail comes from her love of hiking in the mountains and at the dam with her dogs. She wanted it to capture that outdoor life and the idea of trail mix made specifically for dogs.
Quality and nutrition first
For Van Zyl, quality matters more than mass production. She sources mutton and sheep fat from abattoirs in Robertson, using free-range Karoo sheep.
Fish and chicken are sourced locally, while her olive oil comes from a farm in Paarl and her beeswax from Stellenbosch. The herbs come from her own garden.
She explains that the meat is trimmed, cleaned, hand-cut, and frozen before being dehydrated at 70°C for about 14 hours, depending on the meat. Vegetables are cut, blanched in bone broth, misted with rosemary and dehydrated at 45°C for about 16 hours. Once cooled, the treats are packed in airtight packets.
“Many dogs, like myself, have allergies to grains or some of the fillers used as preservatives to ensure long shelf stability for big retailers who will sit with those treats for several years sometimes.
“My goal is not to mass-produce junk food for dogs. I wanted quality ingredients and simple solutions that gave the best nutritional benefits to dogs.”
Van Zyl says removing moisture through dehydration keeps the treats shelf-stable and easier to carry, without the mess and spoilage associated with raw food.
Growing the customer base
Van Zyl notes that everyday pet owners are now discovering the brand through word of mouth and industry events.
She shares tips from TrailTail:
- Start by solving a real-world problem.
- Prioritise solutions over sales.
- Let quality drive demand.
- Fuel your pitch with genuine passion.
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