A ?COTTAGE industry? based at Brentor is about to receive a big boost, after its products caught the eye of a renowned American pet therapist. Equafleece was the brain child of Mary and Robert Leigh, who produce fleece clothing for animals ? and humans. The idea for the polar fleece clothing came after the couple?s horse suffered rain scalds and developed blisters. Mary and Robert tried a fleece blanket with remarkable success ? Mary made more blankets for horses and then started to make dog coats for friends with the off-cuts. ?That was when it all started to take off,? said Mary. ?I had cut down a jumper for a friend?s old dog years ago and she asked me to make a fleece jumper ? and from the word go, they were what people seemed to want.? The fleeces keep horses, dogs and humans warm and dry ? but it is the range of dog T-shirts which could make the real difference to Mary and Robert?s business, now in its fourth year having got established after the foot and mouth crisis. Mary said: ?Originally we started making the T-shirts because a lot of dogs suffer from grass contact allergy, they were more of a veterinary type of aid, but suddenly we had contact from these T-Touch people who recommend a swaddling system, which I believe has only just been discovered ? you wrap your dog up and it stops feeling threatened and insecure.? Mary and Robert are now working with Tellington T-Touch, pet therapy experts from America, on the ?business nitty gritty? which could see a big expansion in their business. ?When I first heard about this therapy I thought ?what a load of old rubbish?, but it?s actually amazing how it works.? said Mary. ?We were at the CLA game fair recently, where they do a lot of clay pigeon shooting, so there was a lot of gun fire. This women came up to us with a whippet who was completely out of it with fear from the shooting. I said, ?Let?s try one on her to see if it makes a difference?. She paid and we were just chatting about something completely unrelated, when the girl I was with pointed out the dog had completely stopped shaking ? I wouldn?t have believed it if I hadn?t seen it.? Mary, who is a graphic designer, and Robert, a solicitor, work from home producing and marketing Equafleece products. ?It?s a true cottage industry ? half the ground floor of our house is taken up as a stockroom,? said Mary, who said they were extremely grateful for the support of local people who have worked for them. Now the couple are waiting to see if pet therapy T-shirts prove even more popular than animal fleeces have been in combating Dartmoor rain.