140. Halloween Special: Pet Costumes, True Crime & Keeping Pets Safe

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pets Ad Life, your guide to the latest in pet trends, products, and the joy of the human animal bond with Kristen Levine and me, Chris Bonafati, powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog TV. Hello and welcome to a spooky episode of Pets Ad Life. I am one of your co-hosts, Mickey Mouse, and joining me as always is a real girl and definitely not a cat. Kristen Levine. Kristen, how we doing?

Speaker 2 (00:32):
I'm doing great. I'm doing great. I love Halloween.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yes, Halloween is brilliant. I'm a little peeved because I thought I had a Batman mask and I had to settle for mouse ears. Luckily we're still both animal related.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, we're a cat and a mouse.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Cat and a mouse.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Actually, I asked Ron, our producer earlier, if I'm a cat or a bat. I'm not really sure. I guess, is this a bat?

Speaker 1 (00:55):
It's a cat.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
It's a cat. Okay, it's a cat.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
It's a cat. Yeah. The bat ear, I feel like they'd be closer together.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
That's true.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
This is that. This is mouse. I was literally just complaining that these things are the cheapest things. People wear this at a theme park in the Orlando Sun for days on end. I don't know how to do it. I'm over here. We've done the show for now a minute and 22 seconds, and I'm ready to tear it off of my head. So Alas, don't say I never did anything for you out there, dear.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
I've got a riddle for you.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Oh, okay. Okay. Let's hear it.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Halloween one, what do you call a golden doodle dressed as a ghost?

Speaker 1 (01:45):
I don't know, Kristen.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
A golden boodle.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
A golden boodle. Well, we hope all you golden -

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Good clean humor here.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
You golden boodles at home. Lock in and let's hop into story time.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Kristen and Chris present Story Time.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
All right, Kristen, story time. You want to kick us off please?

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, sure, sure. I found this interesting statistic on what Americans spend on Halloween. We love Halloween in this country. So this is a study that was done by the National Retail Federation. It was just dropped in September, so it's very, very current. Apparently we're going to spend $13.5 billion this year just on Halloween.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Just on Halloween?

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Like everything, like candy, decorations, costumes.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, candy, costumes. However, get this, 920 million. Almost one billion of that is going to go to pet costumes.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
And that's up a few percentage points from last year. So you're probably wondering what are pets wearing this year? Would you like to guess at what the number one costume is going to be?

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Number one, I'm going to go with pumpkin.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Ooh, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Very good. Very good. I got it. You got it.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
You got it. I am terrible at riddles. Incredible at trivia.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
You are. Okay, so you're on a roll somewhat. So what do you think the number two costume is?

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Number two, I'm going to go with ghost.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Okay. Well, that's number three. Number two is hot dog.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
I was going to say hot dog. I was going to say hot dog. I also have pirate in my head because we always did pirates. I thought that was biased because we always did our cat growing up. Gizmo wore pirate, a little pirate hat for Halloween. It was all he would allow is the little strap on hat is all he would let us do. I

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Love

Speaker 1 (03:44):
It.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
I love it. So anyway -

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Hotdog is so funny. Probably every dash end in the United States is a hotdog on October 31st.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Oh, I'm sure. I mean, it's like a rule, I think.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Is this a mask swap? Why is it? Hold on. Why am I blind?

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Why do I look like I'm bald?

Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah. You don't look like your baldwick is great. I look like a superhero named Eyebrow Man.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Super brow power.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Super brow. And my sidekick, Anthony Davis for you NBA fans.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Oh, what's your story for the week, Chris?

Speaker 1 (04:23):
My story. So every now and again, Dog TV gets folks writing in with their own little personal stories. And our producer, Ron, had sort of flagged this one because A, it's incredibly heartfelt and B, has a little Halloween spin to it. I'm going to read the letter we received almost verbatim. It's a bit long and I don't want to go straight through time, but this letter comes from Greg in New Jersey. So thank you, Greg, for sharing this story with us. Greg writes, "I have a special needs dog named Sammy, who's a dashing chihuahua or the legendary Chiweenie, and at one time was not physically challenged. I adopted him from a local rescue at seven months old. He's 12 years old now, but when he was three, he had an accident and ruptured/herniated a vertebrae in his spine and was paralyzed for several weeks." So to this day, he's not able to walk normally inside the house and out in the backyard he needs use of his wheelchair.

(05:23):
Despite over 60,000 in cost, the best medical care, and along with every service and support one can provide, he's never really regained his ability to walk normally. And I know this sounds like a very sad story, but I promise we're going to get to an upside because Sammy is quite a celebrity when he is out. Hundreds of people come to take photos. They want to pet him. They ask about his story. Thank me for loving and caring him the way I do. Sammy, a few years ago was the inspiration for a special needs dog to be featured on a shirt being sold by a local park named Freedom Park in their off-leash dog area. And in 2025, Sammy has now won six consecutive Halloween pet costume contests back to back.

Speaker 4 (06:05):
Go Sammy.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
Yeah. And I think Ron, do we have pictures of some of the costumes that got sent in? We might have some pictures to share with everybody because some of them are, they're so good.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
Oh

Speaker 1 (06:18):
My gosh. The Amazon delivery truck is so good. Sammy loves children and attention is a pillar of determination, braveness, will, strength, positivity, and so many other qualities. Sammy can inspire anyone as he's been doing for years without even knowing it.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
So good luck this year, Sammy.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
If you're not watching us on YouTube, you're missing out on these adorable costumes and pictures of Sammy. So be sure to check us out.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
Beyond the Leash, exploring the untold stories of pet passion and professionalism.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
It's Halloween, so we've been talking about costumes, spooky pets, and all the fun ways we celebrate our animals, but our next guest has found a way to make your pets Halloween costume last forever. Scott Myers, the CEO of Budsys and Petsys. Through Petsy's, he leads a company that turns photographs of people's beloved pets into custom stuffed animal keepsakes, capturing everything from their markings and expressions to yes, their Halloween costumes. I was checking out the site. It's awesome. The company's attracted national attention, including appearances on today while Budsys has even had its moment on Shark Tank. But behind all the fun is something much more emotional. Some customers create a pet sea to celebrate an animal who's very much part of their everyday life. Others come after losing a beloved pet because they want something tangible they could actually hold onto. And Scott's connection to animals goes beyond stuffed ones.

(07:41):
He recently joined the Sato Project, I hope I pronounced that right, and Wings of Rescue on a mission that helped transport 100 rescued dogs and cats from Puerto Rico to the US mainland for a chance at new homes. Scott, welcome to the Pets Ad Life Halloween special.

Speaker 5 (07:59):
Awesome. Thank you both so much.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
There we go. Let's start with Halloween. I want to know how crazy does your business get this time of year? And I also really want to know about some of the funniest or most outrageous costumes that you guys have created.

Speaker 5 (08:17):
Oh, costumes. I mean, the one that stands out in my mind, which I don't know if it's funny because it's really about a differently abled dog, but we made a ferret in a wheelchair, not a dog, we made a ferret in a wheelchair. So it had the armature and everything because this was a real ferret that was a beloved pet of somebody. And they were like, "I want to have a Petsy have it, but it's just not my pet unless it has this whole beautiful thing." I think they made fun videos and all that stuff with the ferret as well. So that was a long time back, but we've done... I mean, the sky is the limit really. Especially Budsies, we started out taking kids' drawings, which could be anything and turned that into a one of a kind stuffed animal. And people were like, "Well, can you do my pet?" And we're like, "Yeah, it's a little different process." Because when you look at a cat versus a giraffe, a butterfly, which is over my shoulder here, the difference is this is they're all handmade from scratch.

(09:31):
It's not from a base or anything, but this one, our artists and artisans are hand detailing and airbrushing every single thing so that it has the same markings. You can see this little guy even has the nipped ear, the tag.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah. That is amazing.

Speaker 5 (09:50):
He sits behind my desk.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
Scott, I'm fascinated with this process. So if I were to send you a picture of my dog Tulip wearing her costume as a taco or I don't know, Taylor Swift or even Dracula, how do your artisans actually turn that photo into a three-dimensional stuffed version of Tulip?

Speaker 5 (10:13):
Sure. So it all starts where we get your photos and then our team looks at them and sometimes photos can come in low quality and so we try and ask questions if needed. And then also we need to make sure we can see the things that are most important to you about your pet because when you show us a picture, the thing that might be most important to you was actually not shown in the picture because it's on their bag. It's also the white star on their neck. And so we clarify that if there's something that we feel like we might be missing. And then our design team goes through and identifies the color palette of the pet and they go through and they then hand it off to our actual cutters and sewers and they're judging the size and looking at all the details and figuring out everything that our customer you've selected from eye color to how are the ears?

(11:19):
In the case of a dog, are they both up or down? There's a lot that goes into it because every single one is one of a kind. I guess people don't realize what that is this day and age because if you're like me, I'm mad when Amazon says it delivered and then it's been 24 hours and I'm like, "I don't see the package." Very

Speaker 2 (11:46):
Liberal.

Speaker 5 (11:46):
This is a truly bespoke process where our artists and artisans are making these from scratch and looking at every detail. So it is something that you just don't see that much, even custom furniture. I'm trying to think of something else. I know there's tons of artists out there, but -

Speaker 1 (12:11):
In this sort of day and age with AI making its way into everything, I think there's something to be said about a product that has people's attention to it. It has individual attention and thought that goes into it. And I think that's what makes it so special. And I was reading the introduction to see that people make this purchase after their pet is gone and we've moved past these photographs and they want something tangible to hold onto. I mean, how special does that feel that your company is sort of tapped to provide that type of closure and allow somebody to grieve in a more complex way?

Speaker 5 (12:55):
So we have probably almost 15,000 stories that we don't share enough that people that write us, there's a part of the checkout, the creation process on our site, especially for Petsys is you tell the story. And I go through there, if I'm ever having a hard day and wondering like, "Oh, stuffed animals, is this like I should have been a doctor?" And I go in there and in under five minutes I'm crying, hearing stories about people who it was their pet was going through hospice with their child who's going through hospice and the bond that they had and then the pet passed and the child was missing the pet. And so we're able to get a petsy and fill that void to the happy side where it's a kid going off to college and just cannot leave Sadie behind. That was my childhood's dog name.

(14:13):
And can't leave Sadie behind because they're homesick and they're supposed to be adulting, but really they just want their dog and it's 500 miles away. So we see people get a petsy in that situation or family dynamics are interesting. Sometimes the kids are between multiple homes and the pet is with dad, but they want to have a piece of that bond when they're in mom's house too. And so there's an endless number and what we're trying to do is just honor that emotion, that raw emotional bond that we all have with our pets. And if you see our social media, again, that's another place I go. I'm like, "All right, time to..." If you're ever sad, but you're not a good crier, you just go watch a sad movie or go watch. You need something like that emotional primer. And I feel like our YouTube and Instagram, our social media team does an amazing job and our customers are so kind to share their emotional experience with us.

(15:29):
And so we in turn share those out and you see it. It's like there's no words for that. You can try and describe it, but when you talk to a true animal lover, they're like, "Yeah, I don't know why I totally derail my life in order to take care of my dog more than sometimes my friends or other people, but I do." And that bond I think is beyond description. The best poets I think have tried, but yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
Sure.

Speaker 5 (15:59):
And I don't have a poem, so don't.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
We won't put you on the spot for one.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Scott, listen, we're coming up on time. So why don't you let the good people listening at home know where they can learn more about you or where they could go get their own Petsi if they're interested.

Speaker 5 (16:16):
Amazing. Yeah. So it's mypetsies.com, which is M-Y-P-E-T-S-I-E-S.com. And then budsies.com if you want to do a stuffed animal of your drawing. We also do bulk projects for all kinds of businesses, which is really cool too, at stuffedanimalpros.com. And you can follow us on our socials, on YouTube. I think we have two and a half million followers and Instagram coming up on a million, which we're really proud of because it means that some other people care as much as our team cares because we're all dog lovers and cat lovers. And there is not a meeting that goes by where there isn't a cat that crawls across the screen or the keyboard. So thank you both for having me here. This has been super fun and I'm going to go get out of the rain.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
We appreciate it, Scott. Have great rest of your day. Take care Scott.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Halloween.

Speaker 5 (17:12):
Bye. Thank y'all. All right. I'm looking for the button.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah. These things cause headaches, these masks. Yeah, I love that business. I would imagine those Petsys are not inexpensive.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
No, I'm over here messing with my whole costume situation. It's losing its novelty real fast. Here's the thing, here's the thing. It's like I said in the interview, when something's handmade, you're not just paying for the time and the labor. It's also you're getting human attention on it. You're getting people who see how much Scott cares, all of their employees care. They want to give you something that feels real, as close to real as possible. Even if you're just curious, I highly recommend you go check out their website because they have a lot of really cool info and some behind the scenes stuff there too. So you could see how the sausage is made, how the sausage is stuffed really.

Speaker 2 (18:17):
There you go.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
That's kind of fun. It's really cool and such a unique business. I mean, can you imagine?

Speaker 2 (18:25):
It is. I love it. It's our Halloween special, so time for a little true crime with a Pets Ad Life twist. Paula Quintada is the creator, host and producer of Dog Days of Murder, a true crime podcast with a fascinating premise. The animals aren't simply part of the story. They help solve the crime. How cool is that? Now, along with our trusty canine co-host, Paula digs into real cases where dogs, cats, birds, and other animals have helped investigators uncover the truth in extraordinary ways. Sometimes it's an animal's behavior that leads investigators to something they otherwise might not have found. And sometimes it's a search dog's incredible nose. Sometimes the animal doesn't have to do anything at all because a single dog hair or even a drop of blood can become a critical piece of forensic evidence. In just two seasons, Paula has uncovered some remarkable stories that remind us that animals could be companions, survivors, witnesses, and occasionally unlikely crime solvers.

(19:29):
So for our Halloween special, we're combining two things people can't seem to get enough of pets and true crime. Paula, welcome to Pet Sad Life.

Speaker 6 (19:38):
Thank you so much. I'm so thrilled to be here.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
Oh, we're thrilled to have you. And what a cool theme for your podcast. It's a great show. Yeah. Where did the idea come from and at what point did you realize there were enough real cases involving animals to solve crimes to build an entire true crime podcast around it?

Speaker 6 (19:59):
Who would've though? Me. It actually started on a walk. My neighbor and good friend and I would walk every day. We're both true crime addicts as many of us are. And we're constantly texting each other, "Did you see last night's 2020?" And talking about the latest podcast. So we're walking our dogs one day as they're picking things up. We're watching what are the dogs doing? What are they eating? If you've heard the episodes, my dog finds something on every episode. So we were discussing the previous night's Dateline, which was about a story that was local to us. The victim lived very close and he was last seen maybe around 10 miles from where I live. So we were talking about this episode and in the end it was a gentleman walking his dog in the desert and he stumbled upon his body. And because they found his body, they were able to bring more specific charges and it proceeded in a way that it wouldn't have without the body.

(20:57):
So in the end, the dog Buddy was the hero of the story. And so as we discussed this, I thought this should be a podcast. And immediately I looked at my friend and I said, "Monica, we need to do this. This is a podcast and we're going to call it Dog Days of Murder," just right there. That was probably two and a half years ago. And it just kind of sat there. And about four or five months ago, I though, "You know what? I'm going to put my foot on the gas pedal and we're going to go." Unfortunately, Monica was not able to commit to it with me and I panicked because I needed a co-host, so I enlisted my dog.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yeah. Tell me a little bit about your co-host. Listen, I would love to work more closely with animals and some days I feel like I do, but how does your canine co-host come into play here?

Speaker 6 (21:53):
She's great in a supervisory manner. She's a corgi, so she's incredibly bossy and controlling.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
Good. Very good.

Speaker 6 (22:01):
Yes. Yes.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
All producers are.

Speaker 6 (22:03):
She's in charge of security around here.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
All producers are.

Speaker 6 (22:07):
Thanks. I love that. I love that. She provides me with material when we're walking, of course. Our cold open is always she finds something on a walk. So she provides that material. That's her job. Otherwise, she's just really good company. And of course she's cute, so can't beat that.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
That helps.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
That's awesome. And her name is Anne?

Speaker 6 (22:30):
It's Ein, short for Einstein. She was my daughter's dog originally, and they named her after an anime, cowboy bebop, where there was an Einstein corgi with superpower, super intelligence.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
Cool. I like that name. All right. So you've obviously researched a bunch of cases. Was there one that you were just blown away by? You just couldn't believe that it actually happened or that whatever the animal's role was, was hard to believe?

Speaker 6 (23:01):
Several, actually. And there are some that are still waiting to be written. A lot of research goes into it. I have to make sure that the story ends the way I mean the podcast to be, that has to somehow lead to a conviction or a resolution to the story. So right now I'm not doing unsolved, but I would say in season one, there's an episode called Found in a Ditch, and it's about a dog that was rescued. She had been terribly abused and was rescued by an organization. They put her up for adoption. She was rescued by a lovely couple who took her home and one morning she was insistent to go out in the freezing weather. And so the gentleman put his jacket on, followed her out. She went straight to the back of the house where there was a ditch and there was a little three-year-old girl naked in a ditch.

(24:00):
And when they found her, they were able to rescue her ultimately from her own abuse. But had the dog not found her, she probably would have frozen to death.

Speaker 2 (24:11):
Oh my goodness. And the dog just knew, just had to get out of the house.

Speaker 6 (24:15):
She was insistent and they couldn't figure out why. So listen to the dog.

Speaker 1 (24:21):
Yeah. We should be listening to our dogs. And I was flipping through some of the episodes and our questions here, and it's dog days of murder, but that doesn't mean dogs are always taking the spotlight. I see here that you covered a case involving a talking macaw parrot. So how -

Speaker 6 (24:39):
Oh, recently.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
How? Yeah. How? Just tell me, the question is bigger than that, but just I think how is a better question.

Speaker 6 (24:48):
Again, it involves a little girl. That one was actually particularly difficult for me to record. It was really ugly. Just what happened to this little girl was really ugly. I tried to smooth it over as much as possible, but she had been abducted. And when she was taken to this home, she was blindfolded and she didn't see anything except for as she approached the house, she saw, of course, the outside, the bricks, the wall, the barbecue. But when she was in the house, she was blindfolded and she couldn't see anything, but what she could hear was the bird. And the bird kept saying, "You're fired." So that gave them a huge clue, and once they were able to access the house, they're looking for that bird. And because of that bird, they were able to connect her to the inside of that house. So

Speaker 1 (25:38):
It's also parrot rescue team. It's not just dog days, parrot rescue team. We've got a whole menagerie of animal superheroes.

Speaker 6 (25:48):
It really is. Awesome.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
Awesome. That sounds great.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
Dog days of murder.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
I'll be getting this in the backlog. I got a couple of long drives coming up through the holiday season. And I need to find stuff that I like and my wife is willing to listen to. Oh, sure. Perfect. I'm more of a pet person. She's more of a true crime person. So I believe we have found our - You can't go wrong. Agreed upon middle ground for the next girl.

Speaker 6 (26:11):
Absolutely. I support that.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
Great. Well, thank you again, Paula, so much. And please say hello to your co-host, Ian Forrest. I will.

Speaker 6 (26:21):
I will. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
Hey, I just have to say, not only is it a great topic for a podcast, but she just came up with the idea and she just decided to do it. Just decided to go

Speaker 1 (26:33):
Do it.

Speaker 2 (26:33):
No podcasting background. Apparently she's a dog groomer by trade.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
But I just think that's so cool. Good for her.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah. I mean, here's the thing. If you are doing something because you like to do it and you like going through the process, it doesn't matter who's listening, it's for you. And if a few people tune in and want to hear your stories as well, that's great. And I think Paul is really awesome. And if you're out there, you have an idea for a show, you could definitely do this better than we do. Bar's pretty low folks, so go for it. Shoot your shot.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yeah. You don't need a Ron.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
And you definitely don't need a Chris.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
Or me, or me. Well, if you think your dog has a great Halloween costume, our next pair of guests know exactly where you can put it to the test. Now, every Halloween, Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn transforms into one of the wonderfully ridiculous dog runways you'll ever see for the great Pupkin Dog Costume Contest. It's become a beloved Brooklyn tradition now celebrating its 28th year. Wow, that's been going on for a long time. And Alana Davis has a particularly great history with the event. Back in 2021, Alana entered with her dog, Howie, a Chiweenie, who used a wheelchair. Now she and her family transformed Howie's wheels into an iconic New York City Sabric hotdog cart, complete with Howie as the hotdog vendor, and they won Best in Show. So Alana subsequently went from Pupkin Champion to helping run the whole thing along with Courtney, Courtney Cox.

(28:14):
We're going to talk to her as well. I guess they're co-coordinators of this event. It's a nonprofit community organization behind the contest and a longtime advocate she is for the dogs and people who share Fort Greene Park. Welcome to Alana and Courtney.

Speaker 7 (28:32):
Yay. Thank you for having us. This is so exciting.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
Of course. Yes. So we'll start with you, Alana. Before you were running the Great Pupkin with Courtney, you actually won it. Take us back to 2021 and tell us how Howie and his incredible New York hotdog cart costume came together.

Speaker 7 (28:52):
One of our favorite stories to tell. We've been friends for a long time. So it was 2019 we attended the Pupkin as visitors.

Speaker 4 (29:01):
I dragged her out of bed. I'll actually take the origin story credit. I loved this event. I would just roll out of bed and go and watch it by myself and have the best day ever. And I was like, "Alana, you're going to love this. You have to come with me. You have to come with me." And I remember 2019, you were like, "I don't know." And I got her out of bed and we went and she caught the vision. And what did you say in 2019?

Speaker 7 (29:30):
And I said, "We're entering Howie next year. We're entering Howie." And then it was 2020 was the following year, so the event didn't happen.

Speaker 1 (29:39):
Pretty interesting year.

Speaker 7 (29:40):
Right, exactly. So then 2021 rolled around and Courtney and I are neighbors and we're thinking, "What can we do?" We had some ideas and nothing was really coming together as far as a costume. And the Pupkin really gravitates towards creative handmade DIY. DIY, New York centric costumes. So we're throwing ideas around, nothing was really landing. And it was two nights before, I feel like.

Speaker 4 (30:12):
We did it the week of, and we didn't even have... You entered him with a completely different costume name.

Speaker 7 (30:17):
Costume idea.

Speaker 4 (30:18):
We really just weren't sure. And I think I hauled over cardboard and tape and construction. We were like, "Whatever. We'll see what happens."

Speaker 1 (30:26):
Yeah, the recycling bin.

Speaker 4 (30:28):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 7 (30:29):
Fully. Yeah. And Courtney came over and we spent a couple nights just constructing it. And there's a great photo that Courtney has of the moment where we were both -

Speaker 4 (30:39):
We were like, "This might work."

Speaker 7 (30:41):
We were like,

Speaker 4 (30:42):
"Oh,

Speaker 7 (30:43):
This is actually-" This idea is crazy.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
It's so crazy. It might just work.

Speaker 7 (30:47):
It might just work. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (30:48):
But yeah, we landed on the hot dog cart because we felt like, one, Howie obviously has wheels. And so we were like, how can we incorporate this into the costume to honor just even his story, which is awesome. That's a good story, you guys. How he found your family.

Speaker 7 (31:07):
Totally.

Speaker 4 (31:07):
But yeah, it worked. We were like, this is actually not that work.

Speaker 7 (31:11):
It worked. So it's like he had a mission. Everything was working together that morning. He was on a mission walking and he only uses the cart when he's outside. When he's inside, he doesn't use it. He'll just scoot around on his front legs. So he was on a mission. He didn't stop the whole walk to the park and walked across the stage and stood right in the middle. He kind of knew that he was supposed to.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
He knew his mark. Yeah.

Speaker 7 (31:41):
The wildest thing. And Courtney was in the crowd.

Speaker 4 (31:43):
Yeah. You and your cousin and her sister walked across the stage with Alana. We let it be a family affair. And then I was in the audience with our good friend, Priya. And we afterwards were like, the crowd cheered loudest for him.

Speaker 7 (31:59):
Yeah, it was wild.

Speaker 4 (32:01):
I was like, that was a definite crowd roar where I was like, wow, this is exciting. And I don't know, it was awesome. I think a lot of times the costumes are like, they put dogs in wagons and the wagons are... And they do incredible, incredible stuff, like build outs with that. But somehow the fact that Howie was mobile and walked himself across the stage, it was a good moment.

Speaker 7 (32:25):
It was. Yeah. So we were hooked. We're like, "Oh, this is fun." And then just the following year they posted on Instagram that they were looking for a volunteer event manager. And I was like, "This sounds fun."

Speaker 1 (32:38):
All right, I'm doing it.

Speaker 7 (32:40):
I'll do it. And I roped Courtney in. I was like, "You want to help me with this?"

Speaker 1 (32:44):
Oh,

Speaker 7 (32:44):
That's amazing.That's so fun.That was how we got started.

Speaker 4 (32:47):
The pressure was too high to do a repeat, so nowhere to go.

Speaker 7 (32:49):
Yeah. Howie's a one and done situation. He hasn't returned. He has his ribbon, his winning ribbon.

Speaker 1 (32:56):
I can retire undefeated.

Speaker 4 (32:59):
His winning moment as my top moment in New York.

Speaker 7 (33:03):
Totally.

Speaker 1 (33:04):
That's amazing.

Speaker 4 (33:05):
I love

Speaker 1 (33:05):
That.

Speaker 4 (33:05):
It's just truly one of the greatest moments of my whole life.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
I got to ask about it now. I got to know what the story is.

Speaker 7 (33:12):
The condensed version is in 2016. So how he's now getting close to 12, doing great. And he's been paralyzed since about 2019. So this is pretty new in his wheelchair use. But in 2016, he came to my family the day that our older dog passed away. She was 13 maybe and had been sick for a little bit. So she had just passed away. And then hours later, my friend had come over to be with the family, pay her respects to our dearly departed Trixie. And as my friend's leaving, this is like 11 o'clock midnight, I get a text that says, "There's a little dog in your driveway. I don't know what you want to do about it." And in my head I'm like, "Wait, what is going on? What are you talking about?" And sure enough, we look outside and there's this little cheweenie that is, he puts his paws up on the side of the house and we ran outside.

(34:14):
He had no collar. We took him inside overnight because someone's got to be looking for this dog. We'll find his owner tomorrow. No shelters. No one was looking. Finally found his owner via the chip that he had. And it was a neighbor four houses down that was like, "Oh yeah, I got him and he must have gotten out. Do you guys want him? He seems to be enjoying his time with you." And our neighbor pretty much gave us a finder's 50 bucks for finding him and then was like, "Yeah, you can come pick him up later with all of his stuff if you want," because he was a bachelor and he was working a lot and he was just finding that he didn't have time to take care of this very energetic escape prone dog.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
Misgenious.

Speaker 7 (35:06):
Mischievous chewinies. We call him Howdenie because he used to get out of situations. So yeah, he just was kind of given to us.

Speaker 4 (35:17):
He's always been a dog with a destiny. Yeah, truly.

Speaker 7 (35:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (35:21):
Best dog.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yeah. So if you miss the contest, you can jump over and follow them on Instagram, mark your calendar to sign up next year, one month before. And we really appreciate you sharing your story with us today.

Speaker 4 (35:35):
Or people are always welcome to just come attend. It is a free event to come and watch. So it's a great day for the community.

Speaker 7 (35:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
Fantastic.

Speaker 7 (35:43):
Thank you guys.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
All right ladies.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
Thank you very much y'all.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Thanks for joining us today. Happy Halloween.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
Happy

Speaker 2 (35:48):
Halloween.

Speaker 1 (35:52):
You got to love New York, Kristen. This is such a New York thing.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
No place like it.

Speaker 1 (35:57):
No place like it. We were talking afterwards about how sometimes the crowds get chippy, like there's disagreements and that also is such a New York thing. They latch onto something that suddenly becomes so important to them and they won't let it go.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
I think Alana and Courtney might need bodyguards this year for the event.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
They stress their dogs up as Secret Service agents.

Speaker 2 (36:21):
Yeah, I like that.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
That would be a good custom. The little glasses, the little earpiece, the earwig.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
Yeah. If you could get your dog to wear an earwig as part of a costume.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
And a sidearm.

Speaker 1 (36:33):
Yeah, a sidearm. Do they need a license for that?

Speaker 2 (36:37):
I don't think dogs do. No.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
Maybe in New York.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
Dogs are exempt.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
Dogs are exempt. Yes. We're letting the dogs carry guns, small sidearms, of course, for defensive purposes. I can't wait to see the winners on... We're recording this a little beforehand, so we're going to have to look back and check. We can't deliver those to you quite yet, but I think when we know, we'll revisit this during story time. Definitely. And share some clips with you.

Speaker 3 (37:04):
The product of the week.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
It is time for our product of the week. Can't shake my head that hard. Going to lose my headphones. Spooky edition. The deals are scary, people. The products are horrifying. I've got neither a spooky deal nor a horrifying product, but I do have a line of products here from Soda Pup, which we've talked about on the show before. They're good old fashioned APA members and Global Pet Expo attendees. But hey, they've got a whole line of Halloween themed products, everything from licky mats to chew toys. They've got glow in the dark chew toys. They've even got this one here. I love this. It's like silicone molds and you could use them for making your own ice pops sure or things like that. But if you've ever done a really simple peanut butter treat, like frozen peanut butter treat, they're really easy to make. Look up the recipe.

(38:13):
It's like two ingredients. You mix it up, you put it in these things and they're going to come out in all fun skulls and bats and witches and things like that. And you could give your dog some Halloween treats. Maybe you could put together a trick or treating bag for your dog. So Kristen brought it up in stories. We're spending a lot of money on Halloween. We spend a lot of money on Halloween for our pets. If your pet is unwilling to participate in the costume aspects, there are alternatives.

Speaker 7 (38:44):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (38:45):
Soda pup, I think literally all I did... I think all I had to do here was go hover over their products area and... Oh no, their collections area. And you can see they both have a Autumn and Thanksgiving collection and a Halloween collection. So if you're missing the boat here, listening to us a little late and Halloween's already passed, maybe check out their other Autumn and Thanksgiving themed products.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
Awesome. Well, I have another treat for your dogs this Halloween. Now obviously there's lots of candy around the house and pretty much none of it is safe for them. So I dug up a product of the week that is called Boo Bars and they're from Blue Buffalo. And this is a seasonal batch of crunchy dog biscuits and spooky Halloween shapes. They've got... Actually, I can't see the shapes in this picture I'm looking at, but the ingredients, check out this ingredient list. It sounds like a fall bakery list. Oatmeal, barley, oat flour, pumpkin, flaxseed and cinnamon. There's no chicken, poultry, byproduct or meals, no corn, wheat or soy. They're only 14 calories a piece and they're good for dogs of all sizes. You can just snap them in half for the smaller guys. And get this, under $5. Under $5 treat for an 11 ounce bag.

(40:07):
These are at PetSmart right now, but they do say get them while they last because they sell out fast. Ooh,

Speaker 1 (40:15):
Limited time.

Speaker 2 (40:15):
Get the boo bars.

Speaker 1 (40:16):
Get your boo bars, people. Get your boo bars. It's very funny how they list all those great ingredients. They go, "It doesn't have chicken, corn or soy products." And I went, "Damn, that's my entire diet. That's all I can eat nowadays." So the dogs are eating better than me. That's really great. I didn't realize that they're so cheap. I though they'd be more expensive.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
I know. I know.

Speaker 1 (40:38):
That's a great deal.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
Q and A's.

Speaker 1 (40:43):
All right, Kristen, it's time for our favorite part of the show. That's right. We're going to answer two Halloween burning questions from our lovely audience. And I know what you're thinking, lovely audience. Well, how do I get my question answered by Chris? And Kristen, it can't be easier. Pets@life.org/podcast, bottom of the page, fill out the form. You guys know the drill, but if you're feeling as brave as the final girl in a Halloween horror movie, you can record a voice memo and you may hear your question played live on the air. We've got two write-ins today, Kristen. The first one is for you.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
Oh, and it's Ron's neighbor. This is Lisa from Hoboken.

Speaker 2 (41:23):
Hey, Lisa.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
And Lisa says or asks, "With candy everywhere, the decorations, the candles, the trick-or-treaters constantly at the door. Halloween feels like it's a minefield for pets. What are the biggest Halloween hazards we should watch out for? And is there anything people are often surprised to learn can be dangerous?"

Speaker 2 (41:43):
Lisa, those are great questions. And you're right. Halloween can be super fun, of course, but it can also be very scary and dangerous and spooky for pets. So for example, I think the biggest problem with Halloween and pets is your pet getting into the candy. The busiest night of the year is Halloween for the Pet Poison Control Hotline, and that's because chocolate is toxic to pets. It has a chemical in it called... I think it's called Theobromine or Bromine. And the darker the chocolate, the more toxic it is to your pet. So make sure that you keep chocolate out of reach from your pets. The other big one, the other big poison is xylitol, which it's a sweetener that's used in sugar-free gum, certain candies and mints, and it can cause a blood sugar crash and liver damage in dogs. So just keep all the candy and gum and mints and things like that out of your pet's reach.

(42:44):
Let's see. Raisins are often included in candies. Those are risky for dogs. But I think what might surprise you is wrappers, those lollipop sticks, glow sticks, candles, just things that we associate with fun and festivities for Halloween and the candy can also be really dangerous if your pet either ingests it or goes to sniff a candle. It burns their little cute nose. Let's see. But I think another big risk I have to talk about is escaping from the house because if the doorbell's ringing a lot, there's little spooky gremlins at the door. This can be really, really stressful for dogs and cats too. And so I would say if your pet seems stressed out by the whole Halloween thing and the kid's coming to the door trick or treating, put them in a separate room because a lot of dogs and cats do escape just because they're terrified of what's going on.

(43:42):
So I think that covers the main dangers. Maybe we can put in the show notes the ASPCA Poison Control hotline, 426-4435, just in case you need it. Hopefully you won't. But thank you, Lisa.

Speaker 1 (43:58):
And if you do need it, why are you listening to Pets Ad Life right now? Get to it. Get to it.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
That's right. Okay. So we have another great Halloween themed question for you, Chris. This comes from Jason in Austin, Texas. All right. Jason says, "My family loves dressing up our dog for Halloween, but sometimes I can't tell if he's enjoying it or just tolerating it. What signs tell you that a dog is uncomfortable in a costume and how can we make dressing up safer and more enjoyable?"

Speaker 1 (44:30):
Great question. And we've been over this a few times, but we can't ask our dogs how they're feeling. So we just kind of have to look at what we got. And in my experience, dogs have two modes when you put them in a costume, if they don't like it. One is they just love it and they're fine and everything's hunky-dory. Mode number one is the deer in headlights freeze frame. I've now locked all of my joints and look like I'm about to tip over. Freeze frame. Yeah, they go dead weight like that. Yeah, exactly. That usually means they're not having a good time. That's a pretty short sign of, "Oh, I'm not having a good time." The other is the exact opposite where they will do anything to get the costume off and you'll know. Here's the thing about these costumes, any animal costume. A, if it's a real animal costume from a reputable company, it's going to be really easy for the dog to remove because you don't want to create any sort of choking or wrapping hazard for your pet, something that could really harm them.

(45:34):
So that's another great piece of advice if you're making your own costume for your dogs. It should be lightweight, shouldn't have anything that could get wrapped around the neck or the paw or anything like that. And that if the dog kind of wants it off, they're going to be able to achieve it in some capacity or at least demonstrate it. I've seen it all the time with dogs who'll be out for Halloween and it looks like they're having a good time and then they get three blocks down and they're nawing at the little straps and they're pulling off their costumes. And it's normal, man. These are dogs. Not all of them want costumes. In fact, I'd say only a minority of them want costumes. Most of them usually don't. So what my family always did with our dog is we'd all get dressed up and we'd dress the dog up.

(46:17):
We would take our pictures and then we'd take the costume off the dog and let the dog relax for the rest of the night and enjoy the holiday stress-free. So yeah, keep it simple. There are some dogs who love it. I think looking at those pictures earlier of Sammy, Sammy seems to really thrive in their costumes and be really comfortable with them. So if your dog's comfortable, there'll be no change in behavior. My headphones are falling off again because of my costumes. Some costumes are thoroughly annoying people. Sometimes it's really annoying to do your normal job and have to wear a costume while doing it. So keep that in consideration before you tell your dog or your podcast host what to do. And nobody reminded Ron that this was my idea.

Speaker 7 (47:06):
True. It was.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
Yeah, it was. I'm my own worst enemy. Jason, thank you for your question and happy Halloween. That brings us to the end of this episode. Oh no. Yeah, it's time. The sun is setting. The spooky ghosts are out. The creatures that go bump in the night are ready to party.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
Yes. And I got to leave you with one last riddle for Halloween. What's a cat's favorite Halloween treat?

Speaker 1 (47:37):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
Mice cream with catnip sprinkles.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
Oh, we all scream for ice cream. A catnip sprinkles?

Speaker 2 (47:44):
Yeah. Happy Halloween, everybody.

Speaker 1 (47:46):
Happy Halloween. Pets Ad Life, your guide to the latest in pet trends, products, and the joy of the human animal bond with Kristen Levine and me, Chris Bonafati, powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog TV.