About The Ain't No Dummy

To start out, I would like to begin by saying thank you to my family and friends who all contributed in various ways throughout the creation and developmental process, whether by offering encouragement, advice, helping to formulate ideas, testing prototypes, or by being patient teachers when I needed you etc. 

(Rodger & Jane Wakasugi, Elsie Billey, Riata & Rhett Wakasugi, Braydon Wakasugi, Terri Wakasugi Husmann, Larry & Linda Kerr, Jared Sinclair, Liane Nevarez, Robert & Bobbi Schaffer, Quincy Sorensen, Julie Adams, Clara Adams, Jill Francis, Richard C., and Randy W. Also, many thanks to anyone else I may not be remembering as I sat down to write this.)

When my daughter began goat tying in 2024, I reached out to a former collegiate coaching friend, Jill Francis, to coach my daughter. During my daughter’s first goat tying practice session I attended, Jill and I concluded that we were not quite happy with the various goat tying dummies our kids were tying on for various reasons.

I thought to myself well, I bet I can figure out a way to make something feel realistic, 

and before I realized what I was getting myself into, I blurted out with more conviction than I felt, 

“I can make one.”
 

My kitchen table quickly turned into a workspace where my family and I spent many hours and late nights working through developing prototypes. Since then, thankfully, we have converted a spare room into a designated work space.
 

The best part of this whole experience was the chance for my daughter Riata

to be a part of the actual creation process.

My daughter also enjoyed me adding the heart, ears, and tail on to make the goats more personable.

After an entire year of praying over this process and working hard to incorporate the sleeping bag concept, testing various materials, and contemplating suggestions from many family & friends alike, to achieve the “feel” of a real goat, 

my daughter, Jill’s kids, and Jill, all, deemed the dummy’s feel as “realistic”- 

and we finally arrived at what was first only jokingly referred to in conversation as the:

“Ain’t No Dummy”

The phrase became the product name. 

Jill took a few of the initial prototype dummies I had made at the time to a goat tying clinic she put on for kids to use, as well as to a goat tying coach and athlete at the collegiate level to feel. 

The feedback was all the same, that the dummy felt “realistic.” 

I created a social media page for the dummy, an ordering form, and began casually posting to social media. 

Little by little, there has been some growth, and these dummies have slowly made their way across North America.

The goal has always been to create something that truly helps kids practice better. 

The Ain't No Dummy allows kids to "scoop and gather" or "stuff" with ease due to their unique features. 

This has been an amazing, challenging, and fun experience.
 

It may only be a hobby at this point in time, but it brings great joy to my life to spend the time it takes to hand make unique , yet, realistic, feeling goat tying dummies with my two kids and my husband, for a few rodeo kids to practice on and further grow their love for goat tying and the western way of life.

-Amanda