The iconic Kong dog toy was invented in the 1970s by Joe Markham, a mechanic from Colorado, who needed a safe chew toy for his German Shepherd, Fritz. How It Happened The Problem: Fritz was a former police or shelter dog with a compulsive habit of chewing on hard objects like rocks, sticks, and tin cans, which was wearing down his teeth. The VW Inspiration: While working on a vehicle in his repair shop, Markham threw away a hard rubber rear axle suspension bump stop from a Volkswagen Bus. Fritz grabbed it and started chewing and playing with it joyfully because of its erratic bounce and tough material. The Name: When Markham showed the car part to a friend and asked what they thought of his new dog toy, the friend joked that it looked like an "earplug for King Kong," which inspired the name. Development and Launch: Markham spent about six years experimenting with safe, durable rubber compounds modeled after that shape before officially launching the Kong Company in 1976 – at Cahokia, IL