75. Dog-Friendly Pools, Office Pets & Global Pet Wisdom

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Speaker 1 (00:00):

Pets, add Life, your guide to the latest in Pet Trends products and the joy of the Human Animal Bond with Kristen Levine. And Chris Bonafide, powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog tv.

Speaker 2 (00:14):

Hello and welcome to another episode of Pets Add Life. I am Chris Bonafide and she's from the future. And here to save the day. It's Kristen Levine.

Speaker 3 (00:26):

Hey Chris here. Welcome to Save the Day.

Speaker 2 (00:29):

Yes. How are you doing? Did you get the heat wave that we got up up here? Oh my

Speaker 3 (00:33):

Gosh, we did. I don't think it was as bad as what you had, but it was pretty hot, pretty uncomfortable.

Speaker 2 (00:39):

What kind of numbers were you putting up down there?

Speaker 3 (00:43):

Low nineties.

Speaker 2 (00:44):

Oh, okay. Yeah, we hit 103. Oh yeah, it was one of those weeks you just didn't leave your house. You really just didn't. Exactly. But hope was getting a little stir crazy. So we made a run for ice cream at one point.

Speaker 3 (01:05):

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06):

There's nowhere to eat inside because everybody's eating their ice cream inside. And in the five minutes of being outside, you should have seen the ice cream that was melting. It was incredible. It was incredible.

Speaker 3 (01:19):

You had to speed eat your ice cream.

Speaker 2 (01:20):

Yeah, really eat it. Which is not good for my belly. It was not good for my belly. Nobody slept well that night. But nonetheless, we've got a great show lined up for everybody. As always, we are going to be sharing two stories, sharing two products, sharing two guests, and sharing two of your questions. That one doesn't really work with share, but we're going to share 'em anyway. We're going to share two of your questions. So without further ado, let's get into story time.

Speaker 1 (01:52):

Kristen and Chris, present story time. Alright. Kristen, you want to lead us off?

Speaker 3 (01:58):

I'd love to. So my story is this is a great way to help your pooch stay cool this summer. So there is a company called Swim Lee, which is, I didn't know this, but they are the Airbnb for pools. And they just announced a couple of weeks ago that they're expanding to include pet friendly pool rentals. So pet parents can now book a private pool by the hour, specifically for their dogs to swim and play. So I thought that was pretty cool. I've heard of Sniff Spot, which is where you can rent somebody's backyard or piece of property for your dog, but Swim Lee. Yeah, this is really kind of cool.

Speaker 2 (02:41):

That is really cool because you're not really supposed to let dogs in normal pools. You need special filters, especially if you have a long-haired dog. So it can be tough to find that kind of thing.

Speaker 3 (02:53):

Exactly. And what's interesting is that this company's been around for a few years, but in 2024 they had a 700% surge in pet related inquiries. So the demand just became impossible for them to ignore. So they decided to allow dog-friendly pool rentals. So they currently have 1500 dog-friendly pools on the platform and they're expecting 50,000 dogs to enjoy pool experiences this summer. That's amazing. Yeah. Isn't that cool?

Speaker 2 (03:24):

You got to cool the dogs off. Cool the mouth. That's

Speaker 3 (03:26):

Right.

Speaker 2 (03:27):

Yeah. Hope and I were exploring our town a little bit and one thing we noticed is that the splash pads, like the little water parks, and I'm not talking water park like Six Flags. Imagine a park that has water features to it. All of them in Norwalk are no dogs.

Speaker 3 (03:46):

Really?

Speaker 2 (03:46):

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pretty much every space in Norwalk that is really designed for children and families, they don't allow dogs. And we do have a beautiful dog park with a pond pond that they could jump in and everything. A huge, huge, huge dog park, really large plot of land. But yeah, there's no shared spaces. There must've been an incident at one point down the line because even the beach with the park, so it's great. No

Speaker 3 (04:16):

Dogs on the beach either.

Speaker 2 (04:17):

Yeah, no dogs on the beach, but you got to keep them dogs nice and cool this summer.

Speaker 3 (04:21):

Well you got Swim Lee, so there's your backup plan.

Speaker 2 (04:23):

You got Swim Lee. You got Swim Lee, that is great.

Speaker 3 (04:27):

What's your story?

Speaker 2 (04:28):

Yeah, so everybody knows that I'm not exactly raking in the funds here from doing the PAL podcast. I've still got my day job over at A PPA and A PPA has released their dog and Cats national pet owner survey, which if you are a brand or manufacturer of pet products, you should definitely check out. But I have the press release here, which just has some interesting statistics that I thought our listeners would appreciate. So I want to share some of this with everybody. So the first is that cat ownership is on the rise, a 23% increase in ownership, which is insane, most dramatically in multi cat homes, which is absolutely incredible because we all know how well bonded pairs do. And here's one I really like. 32% of cat owners have a leash.

Speaker 3 (05:32):

What?

Speaker 2 (05:33):

Yeah. That's crazy. That's insane. Listen. Have ever used it? I love my cat. My cat is not going on a leash. And what's this last one here? The percentage of owners hosting holiday and birthday parties for their cats in 2024 increased by 250% since 2018. So 34% of cat owners purchased pet theme merchandise for birthday parties. An 89% increase from 2018 to 2025. So cats are definitely being celebrated for dogs. The highlight information is more dogs owners are building active healthy lifestyles that include their dogs. 53% of owners take their dogs at least once a week on foot for daily errands, which is a 6% increase from 2023. And owners continue to include dogs in their travel plans. So a growing number of dog owners have traveled with their dog by plane in the last year up 68% from 2023. Important to note, this data was collected in 2024 and 87% have traveled with their dog by car, which is a pretty consistent trend, but it's always interesting for me to see some of these stats that come out. Again, the National Pet Owner survey is an exhaustive piece of research that A PPA puts out surveying all types of pet owners across the United States, asking them about the activities they do and the products they purchased. So if you are a manufacturer or brand or you're thinking about getting into the business, this could be the right tool for you to spot the trends and see the opportunities.

Speaker 3 (07:21):

Yeah, you got to have data. You got to have data to be

Speaker 2 (07:23):

Successful, you simply must.

Speaker 3 (07:25):

You know what my whole takeaway from that is that cats are the new dogs.

Speaker 2 (07:29):

Cats are the new dogs. Dogs are the new kids and kids are the new Corvettes. I haven't heard that one. They're really nice. But a little bit of you got to have a two car garage

Speaker 1 (07:43):

Beyond the leash exploring the untold stories of pet passion and professionalism. It is

Speaker 2 (07:49):

My absolute pleasure to introduce Anna Webb, a UK-based dog behaviorist, trainer, nutritionist, and broadcaster with a psychology degree in qualifications from the College of Integrated Veterinary Studies. She's a member of the International Association of Animal Therapists and the Raw Feeding Veterinary Society. As a familiar media figure, Anna regularly appears on TV and radio hosting the popular podcast, A Dog's Life with Anna Webb where she dives into canine psychology and nutrition. Anna also writes for publications like Your Dog Addition, dog Animal Therapies and Vanity Fur, hilarious and serves as an ambassador for the Wild at Heart Foundation and all dogs matter. What a list of credentials. Anna, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to join us.

Speaker 4 (08:38):

No, it's a huge pleasure. Thank you so much for inviting me on.

Speaker 2 (08:42):

Of course. We love having some experts on our show to balance out my own personal idiocy. So thank you for acting as a diffusal agent here. But I want to start by asking about your holistic expertise because you fuse psychology, behavior, raw feeding, nutrition, all of this different stuff into your work. So what drew you towards this integrated approach and how do you find balance between all of these different disciplines?

Speaker 4 (09:16):

So I was introduced to the holistic side, if you like, when my first dog as a grownup, Molly, my really quite famous miniature terrier, she got sick and she was diagnosed with a suspected bladder cancer. And I asked for a referral to a fantastic, very famous holistic retired called Richard Allport where my baptism of fire truly began. And Molly was nine at the time, very young, really. And with Richard's help, my study with the College of Integrative Veterinary Therapy is kind of going along side by side because I really thought, hang on, I need to learn a lot now. I need to help to save my dog's life. She is far too young to die. So this is what happened. And I learned and I learned and I learned. And Molly lived till she was 13. So yeah, with cancer actually. And this opened my eyes to really want to just learn more and more, which I've had the honor to do, but to also help people, help people that maybe have found themselves at a dead end and can open doors to other modalities that can really help longevity. It sounds a big deal, but this can happen.

Speaker 3 (10:42):

And for the average pet parent, they just don't have access or the resources to all the amazing therapies and treatments and things that are available for our pets. But you've done an incredible job of using your media, television, radio experience to kind of help spread those messages. So how has your media experience shaped your messaging about dog care?

Speaker 4 (11:06):

Very good question. I think it's helped me shape it to be accessible to people and also to always show don't tell everyone is entitled to an opinion and that's great. But I also feel that more and more pet parents are becoming more aware of health themselves. I mean, I read somewhere, I might get this number wrong, but it's a big number, something like over $3 billion. That's what the value of the pet supplement market is today in the USA. I mean Chris, you may know that figure better than me, but it's a huge figure which does kind of reflect the fact that people are interested in exploring avenues for health.

Speaker 2 (11:51):

Yeah, absolutely. You're not far off pet supplement. I mean the amount of money people spend on their pets is growing at exponential rates and a lot of that is being pumped towards what I kind of refer to as maintenance care. Instead of having to worry about emergency procedures or things like that, people are getting more involved in the maintenance of their animal's health. So for some of our listeners out there who may not know where to begin, what are some best practices in increasing an animal's longevity through supplements or any other advice you may be able to give?

Speaker 4 (12:28):

Well, I think a great idea is to approach a holistic veterinarian or a qualified wellness expert and talk through it with your conventional vet as well. I mean, what I would love to see happening more certainly here in the uk, dunno about the US particularly, but it's literally to see a way more integrated approach between conventional and holistic because they do compliment one another. I mean that's where the word complimentary really comes from and I think that would be a great step forward rather than people being kind of stuck in their grooves and contradicting one another, maybe sometimes, and so on. And I just think it's our duty of care. We're the guardians to sentient creatures that we form deep bonds with. Their passing can rip. It does rip your heart apart. There's studies that say you grieve more for your pet than a family member. So it's important that we do due diligence even and integrate like we are doing on a human level more and more.

Speaker 3 (13:37):

So Anna, so the areas of behavior and nutrition are among the tops in terms of interest and growing market wise for pet parents. What do you see as common misconceptions among dog owners around behavior or nutrition? Both whether it's UK only or UK and the us.

Speaker 4 (14:00):

Yeah, okay. My big thing is this. I think everyone must understand that their dog is not a little person in a furry suit. We call ourselves pet parents now, which I go with. But look, let's face it, we didn't give birth to our dog and they think in a very different way. They have a completely different digestive system. So to have this comparison is kind of where a lot goes wrong in Britain at the moment. Our big veterinary association, the Royal Veterinary College came out with a figure just not long ago that 70% of Britain's dogs currently suffer from some form of anxiety, which is really, really sad. And I think a lot of this comes from messages getting lost in communication with your dog, people not really understanding why dogs do what they do and therefore we've got a rise actually of vets prescribing fluorine, otherwise known as Prozac at the moment in the uk, which is it's causing discussion, shall we say, that it's causing some discussion going on. So I would say it's perhaps evenly between behavior and nutrition and related to the furry suit aspect. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:17):

So I wanted to ask about your work as an advocate specifically. You're an ambassador for the while that Heart Foundation and all Dogs matter, so can you take a little time to talk about the work that those programs do?

Speaker 4 (15:34):

Yeah, absolutely. Well, they're two very different charities. They're both very focused on helping dogs. Wild At Heart Foundation raises funds to then give to global organizations, be it in Mexico, Mexico, Chile, India, Thailand, where you've got the street dog population that needs to be managed. There needs to be a spaying and vaccination program going on there for the safety of the people living in the communities as well. And of course the health and welfare. We don't want these puppies being born and born and then having awful lives. So that's World At Heart Foundation. And recently I did a talk at a big very glamorous event actually, where they were the designated charity actually about this 70% of Britain's dogs having anxiety quite recently. So that was great. All dogs Matter different. They're a UK based charity that really helped dogs now in shelters, dogs being abandoned, left, right, and center for lots of reasons.

(16:34):

Cost of living crisis here has risen dramatically. A lot of people can't afford their dogs anymore, which is so tragic. Other people change of circumstance. Also this awful trend, I dunno if you have it in the states like we have here where dogs are being sold and bought on the internet through specific websites and people don't want the dog anymore and then they'll put them for sale like you might a car or something. And that I feel very tragic. So on the frontline out there with rescue at the moment in the uk, it is actually now officially a crisis. There is very, very little room or none left in shelters. So some dogs are losing their lives for no fault of their own at all. So recently actually I did a talk about looking after your senior dog with all dogs matter as that's another thing you see, I think people forget that dogs have life stages just as we do and that you need to tailor the nutrition and the exercise and so on accordingly to every individual dog.

Speaker 3 (17:32):

For sure. And speaking of nutrition, I know you have a love of experience and knowledge around raw feeding and we actually have a viewer question that came in this week about raw feeding that we might have you stick around to answer. But I thought I'd just start by asking you, the raw diet trend is somewhat controversial. So what key advice would you give our listeners that are interested in learning more about raw feeding?

Speaker 4 (17:58):

Absolutely. Look, it's the same over here, perhaps controversial. I don't personally think so. I think it's normal and natural. I grew up in a household where we fed our dogs on meat and they eat meaty bones. And then I basically channeled all of that into my first miniature bald terrier. We mentioned her Molly back in 2002 and raw green tripe was a great favorite of hers. What I recommend people to do is to do a lot of research to really also really go back a step and look at the canine digestive system and all the ways in which it differs from Mars to all as a carnivore. Also to look at the difference between a sterile diet and one that isn't sterile. Now we know there's a huge amount going on at the moment with the human microbiome. Research is just really scratching the surface.

(18:52):

It's the same with dogs, but whether you're human or dog, the general vibe if you like, is that sterile, overly processed food contributes nothing. Well, very little to your microbiome health and the trillions of bacteria that we need to basically send messages through our body to our immune system, so to speak, to veterinarians, wellness experts about the raw, but also to realize that not all raw is the same, not all meat is the same. So you really need to look at the provenance of the suppliers, talk to the people behind the brand, find out, for example, are the cows raised on grass and finished on grass? Obviously choose organic meats if you can over non-organic because of the antibiotics and so on that may be filtering through his system.

Speaker 2 (19:43):

Amazing. Anna, we are coming up on time here, but before we let you go, where can our listeners and viewers find you and learn more about your work or catch some of your shows and programs?

Speaker 4 (19:56):

Okay, great. Well, my podcast, the Dog's Life Streams on All Channels, it's a weekly show. The radio show that I do weekly on the BBCI think you can listen on BBC sounds is every Friday night UK time at 10:00 PM we often have guests on from across the pond and that's been going for 15 years. Very proud of that. We've developed that from a seed into a huge strong tree. So I'm very happy for that. And my website is just anna webb.co do UK

Speaker 3 (20:27):

Awesome.

Speaker 4 (20:28):

Instagram. Instagram. Don't forget, forget Instagram. Don't forget the gram, the ground.

Speaker 3 (20:37):

Thank you so much, Anna, for joining us today. We appreciate all your insights.

Speaker 4 (20:41):

Thank you so much for having me. Thank you so much, Gris and Kirsten.

Speaker 3 (20:48):

Wow, she's an expert in so many areas. I mean what a great resource.

Speaker 2 (20:51):

Yes. Really taking the concept of holistic and applying the literal definition, being well-rounded and having many different approaches. Not something you often see in animal medicine or behaviorists. Usually they're more specialized. But Anna brings a lot to the table, which is amazing.

Speaker 3 (21:15):

Alright, everybody, please join me in welcoming Beth Ante. She's the program director of vodka for dog people, TE's handmade vodkas. That's a mouthful. Tito's Handmade vodkas beloved philanthropic initiative supporting animal welfare. And the adorable Roy, which we'll get to know Roy here in a second with Tito's since about 2002 she started in marketing. Beth helped launch this cause-driven effort as distillery dogs began populating the grounds. Now under her leadership, the program has teamed up with over 2300 animal welfare groups yearly and rescued and re-homed more than 165 distillery dogs and cats. They've also sponsored veterinary care, spay neuter clinics, yappy hours and emergency animal relief. Beth brings her lifelong passion for rescuing animals, which is rooted in a family of lifelong rescuers to accompany culture that stays true to Tito's founders original love of dogs. Welcome Beth and Roy.

Speaker 5 (22:21):

Thank you.

Speaker 3 (22:22):

It's so good to see you again. I got to run into you a few months ago and we decided that we had to get you on the podcast.

Speaker 5 (22:29):

Yes, it's so good to see you again.

Speaker 3 (22:31):

Well, lemme kick it off by asking if you could share how seeing those stray dogs at the early Tito's distillery, how did that inspire the creation of this program and how do your fundraising and rescue efforts, how did they kind of evolve from there?

Speaker 5 (22:47):

Well, team Tito's from the very beginning were always dog people. We've always had them at work. And in being that I was always kind of involved in rescue in my life and most of us here at Tito's as dog lovers as well, I just noticed when I had started working there that it was a very rural area. So there's just a lot of feral dogs and dogs that don't necessarily get the vet resources that they need. It's kind of a vet desert out there. So we just were like, okay, well we rescue at work now. And so we make every effort to make sure they're not just lost, of course. But we started calling them distillery dogs because we thought those would kind of give them their own identity and maybe would become more interesting or adoptable. So we would just get them, we have a safe place where we put them while we're getting them vetted and figuring out what's next for them.

(23:49):

And we were working at the time, we were really helped by a low cost nonprofit, low cost vet care nonprofit called Emancipet. So I was in that lobby all the time and got to be friends with them. And in those early years we donated vodka to nonprofits just as we do now. We started very early on doing that and so that gave us a bond to emancipate and we decided as we became deeper into our dog culture that we wanted to pay it forward to them. And around that time was sort of this movement of bars and restaurants becoming more dog friendly and the yappy hour evolved and so we thought, well, we can start using our sales of Tito's handmade vodka to benefit Emancipet and other animal nonprofits. So this was just a very organic evolution. It was never like, oh, dogs are going to be part of the marketing at Tito's. It was like, no, they're just there and where we are, they are. And so it was just a natural evolution to be like, all right, let's call this something and pay it forward. And so it's just grown and grown and grown since those early years of those first dogs. And like you said, we're up to 165 right now. Amazing. Yeah, it's inspired us and we continue to celebrate them.

Speaker 2 (25:09):

Yeah, that's some truly amazing stuff. And I'm a huge fan of the product. I think this is the first time we've had a guest where I've enjoyed the product, but my cat can't. But in the introduction, and you guys alluded to it, there's some big numbers, 2300 over 165 animals. Those are truly impactful numbers. But what areas of impact would you personally highlight as the most meaningful or surprising, maybe something you didn't expect when this all started?

Speaker 5 (25:45):

I think it's all very meaningful, but we take great care into really trying to stay up to date on what are the innovations in animal wellbeing where we can actually help with real problem solving. So whereas yes, we work with lots of rescues and we do a lot of in-person work, volunteering and helping them too to make those places, places where people really want to visit and be at. But I think it's the low cost veterinary care and spay neuter because we believe every family should be able to have a pet despite the financial part of it. So just keeping everything easier for everyone to have a pet. So spay neuter is really important to us and low cost vet care. But we don't just work with dogs. We work in cat nonprofits, we've worked with a donkey alpaca. We're very into helping with wildlife rehab and we've got a bat rehab here in Austin that we're really close to. So it's all animals. The dogs are just part of our story, but we do a lot of help with natural disaster kind response when that's happening. And of course rescue, but it comes in many forms.

Speaker 3 (27:05):

Well at Tito's every day is bring your dog to work day, I would imagine. Yes. You guys are famous for welcoming dogs at work, and I wanted to ask how distillery dogs, I know Taki, who is your dog who you lost recently, and we're very sorry to hear of your loss, but how do dogs like Taki enrich your team's daily environment and what lessons do you learn as humans from them?

Speaker 5 (27:32):

I think I always joke about it, we always had dogs at the office and the distillery and we never asked permission. It was just a given. We all started doing it from the beginning. But I think that has really bonded us closer in our culture together. There's lots of coworkers watching each other's dogs when they have to travel. I think when you're in the office, you're taking a break, getting out in nature for a minute. I just think it just really brings everyone together and we feel like we're so lucky that we're able to do that here and it's made us really passionate about pet policy in offices and how to help other offices that are thinking about it. They can use our best practice and we're always researching who else is doing it to see if there's anything we can pick up as well to keep everyone healthy and safe and stay at work longer if you're not running home like left my dog. So I think that it just makes lots of sense, but again, it was just an organic thing that happened here, so we've just tried to do it right, so we can hold onto that.

Speaker 2 (28:46):

Yeah, we have a pet friendly office with a PPA as well. And let me tell you something right now, that there is a huge morale difference on the days where the people who bring their dogs into the office are there and the days that they aren't there. And one of the things that was important to us is we did a big move recently and we were moving offices and you go with the realtor and you see all the different spaces and we eliminated any space that was not flexible with their animal policy. And I think it's really important for any company that wants to be pet friendly and pet forward to include that in their thinking because that's going to shift the culture around office space. I mean commercial real estate's hurting right now post COVID and a lot of people working remote. So if you are like a Tito's or like an A PPA and you have a little bit of power to swing, use it to find real estate that is animal friendly. It could be very, very helpful to our doggos. But enough of my soap box, that is my soap box for the day, Chris's soap box sponsored by Tito's vodka. But speaking of which, you've got the vodka for dog people merchandise storefront. So can you tell us a little bit about that and how you balance that brand marketing with Tito's brand and ensuring that this is done in a way that benefits both your brand and animal causes?

Speaker 5 (30:16):

Yes. Well, it's actually not just the vodka for dog people merch, it's all the human merch as well. And so that is, we have a retail brick and mortar store here in Austin, and then we have the web store and there's a variety of different nonprofits. A hundred percent net proceeds goes to the nonprofit of their choice when they're checking out. So the animal focused one is Emancipet, which again is that nonprofit that helped us with our dogs out in rural Austin and now they've expanded a much bigger footprint and we're so proud of them. We feel like we've kind of both grown up together and we just have really aligned on their mission. So yeah, it's human and animal merchandise and again, we really have fun with it. We're kind of always keep a few classics, but we're always kind of changing it up and figuring out what people love and need. So you can just go to titos vodka.com or come visit our retail store in Austin to see that and pick a nonprofit for the purchase to go to.

Speaker 3 (31:22):

Before we let you go, Beth, I want to recognize Roy who's there with you. Tell us a little bit about Roy.

Speaker 5 (31:29):

Adorable. Well, he's got a story so well behaved. He is, I feel like he's really, he can tie this whole thing up because Roy was an adoptable at a Take your dog to Workday yappy hour.

Speaker 2 (31:43):

Oh my goodness.

Speaker 5 (31:44):

And I had never really had little dogs before. I was always a big dog person or I was taking the big distillery dogs and adopting them myself a lot, which was Taki who's behind me. So Roy was up for adoption and I think we picked him up and never put him down. I think he's yours, so I'll say he's so special in that out of all the dogs I've had, and it's a lot, Roy just got in the car and went home. He knew he was coming his entire life. He knew I was his mother the minute I picked him up and he had zero adjustment. He just was very matter of fact about coming home. I mean, I'd never seen anything like that. So that was in 2017. So he is a little bit of an older man now, but he was a stray in Bastrop, Texas and he's just a lovely gentleman. I love taking him everywhere.

Speaker 2 (32:44):

He is a lovely gentleman. Yeah, he is, he is. And for those of you who aren't watching this on video, man, I always tell you you're missing out. He has just been so polite and sitting there, he's just chair number two waiting for his turn to talk. Beth, before we let you go, where can folks go to learn more, see some of that Merck store, give us the socials, the websites, all that good stuff?

Speaker 5 (33:08):

Yes, it's titos vodka.com and on social media on Instagram, it's at Titos vodka and at vodka for dog people. And on Facebook it is just Tito's vodka and you will see a lot of dog content. Yes, been there. And on the website we use all of our own office and distillery dogs and all of our images, everything you see are literally our dogs. That's

Speaker 2 (33:33):

Amazing.

Speaker 5 (33:34):

That's awesome. Roy's on the website, I believe. Yes,

Speaker 2 (33:38):

Roy, you're a model.

Speaker 3 (33:39):

Yes.

Speaker 5 (33:39):

Well,

Speaker 3 (33:40):

Beth, thank you so much for joining us today and for all that you and Tito's and vodka for Dog People does for pets, we greatly appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (33:48):

I appreciate you. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 3 (33:52):

Isn't that a brilliant concept? I mean vodka for dog people.

Speaker 2 (33:56):

Yeah, big fan of the brand, not in a problematic way. I don't want people to get the wrong idea. I'm not that big of a fan, but

Speaker 3 (34:06):

Yeah, an occasional fan.

Speaker 2 (34:07):

Yeah, we got a bottle on hand. You got to keep the bar stocked for guests and stuff and the mother-in-law, mother-in-law loves Titos. Shout out to Hope Marine. If you're listening, we're keeping it stocked for you. But I think it's really great when brands can marry their product with their passion, especially when that passion lies outside of what their brand does. There's no vodka for dogs,

(34:40):

But there's vodka for dog people and I think that's really awesome. It is time for the product of the week. I am going to kick us off here, Kristen, and I'm going with a little bit of a summer theme. It's not one particular product, but I've talked about this company before. It's rough wear and I've talked about the releases and harnesses and some of their outdoor gear on the show, but they have a whole page link in the show notes dedicated to summer gear for your dog, including life jackets, a cooling neck gator that you could kind of put in the freezer and put on in these really, really hot days. Some floating toys, some collapsible bulls, some packable bulls, the different types of waterproof leashes and collars that won't expand because if you have a common just regular nylon or rope collar, that will expand and loosen if they get in water.

(35:47):

And typically if your dog is in water or a lake, there's a lot of room for 'em to kind of get out of there. I've talked about this hitchhiker leash, the one that attaches to your belt before. They have all sorts of great stuff. They have these portable dog pads if you're camping, they have the dog boots, the grip text I've talked about before on the show. So if you are looking for a great brand that I highly recommend competitive price points, all sorts of different stuff, really cute designs, get that dog outfitted for summer. If you plan on spending a significant amount of time outside with your dog, they are going to need some gear. So be sure to check out Rough wear or any other dog summer apparel company, but make sure they have just like you need the right stuff when you're going out in the heat, your dog needs the right stuff when they're going out,

Speaker 3 (36:44):

They check, they do, they do. Ware is a really great brand, really good quality stuff. So Chris, we're kind of on the same page here today. Okay, I thought you were going to hone in on my product, but you covered off on it. But I'm going to take a deep dive and talk a little bit more about life jackets for dogs.

Speaker 2 (37:00):

Yes, please, please, please.

Speaker 3 (37:01):

We just talked about swim lead at the top of the show and lots of pooches like to join the family on boat outings or lake outings, but it's really important to have a life fest for your dog, even if your dog is a good swimmer because I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but dogs who love to swim, they will swim beyond the time they should be swimming. They will be exhausted and keep swimming.

Speaker 4 (37:27):

And

Speaker 3 (37:27):

So it's a really good idea to have a life vest. I'm going to talk today about a brand called Paws Aboard, PAWS aboard. They have some really great life vests, obviously safety is number one. So they're made with high quality materials, but they're also really comfortable. They've done a lot of work in the design space to make sure that these are really comfortable for your dog to wear and lightweight. But if you go on, I'm on their Amazon store right now and they just have so many to choose from, you can just get something that's just plain and unassuming or you can get something like with a shark fin on the back of it, which totally tulip would be rocking the shark fin on her back. But I just think that they have a really great selection and I have purchased their life vest before for my dogs. So check out Pza board online or on Amazon

Speaker 2 (38:20):

The board. Super important stuff there, Kristen. Definitely y you know what, if you're out there in deep water, you wear a life jacket too. The number of people I see on my parents' lake swimming around no life jacket, it's like, man, what if you got a cramp and now somebody's got to get in there and save your sorry ass. Just wear the damn life jacket Q and as. Alright, Kristen, it's time for our favorite part of the episode. That's right. We're going to answer two questions. I don't know why my cadence is so off. My cadence is all over the place. I sound like a Mid-Atlantic guy calling a horse race.

(39:03):

That's right. People step right up. You could have your question answered here. Coming around the corner is our first question, and I know what you're thinking people, why is Chris talking like that? Well, the answer is simple. He wants you to writing your questions, head on over to pets at life.org/podcast and you'll see a little form right at the bottom of the page to submit your question. Or if you are feeling as brave and stupid as somebody swimming in a lake without a life jacket, you could record a voice memo and you'll hear your question played live on air. Enough of Chris, let's get into our question for Kristen so that I could shut the heck up and we could hear from some people who matter. Let's see, Kristen, I have a question from Maria in Denver, Colorado and thank you for your question, Maria. She asks, my senior dog is stiff in the mornings and struggling with stairs. When should I talk to the vet and are joint supplements or therapies effective?

Speaker 3 (40:01):

This is a really great question and a very common thing that older dogs struggle with. Now you didn't mention, well you said senior, so we'll assume he's obviously up there in age because believe it or not, your pet can be considered senior at like seven years old depending on the breed. Usually the larger the dog breed, they become seniors at an earlier age. But I would say talk to your vet right now if Chris and I have talked about this a lot on the show, animals are so great at masking pain. So if your dog is exhibiting signs that he's uncomfortable or ouchie, he's probably in more pain than you even know. So not to scare or freak you out, but I would definitely make that appointment with your vet today. When it comes to arthritis, osteoarthritis in dogs, very common. I'm not saying that's definitely what it is, but quite possibly could be.

(40:55):

There are some great supplements. There are even medications that reduce the inflammation that help our pets get around more comfortably. Also, weight might be an issue. I don't know if your dog is at a healthy weight or maybe a few pounds overweight, but keep in mind our senior pets, it's always important to have our pet at a healthy weight, but even as they age, it's even more important because you want to take that additional stress off the joints. So maybe get an orthopedic bed and limit his activity. But definitely I would make the call to the vet today.

Speaker 2 (41:28):

That is great advice. Yeah, I think that key point about animals, masking pain is incredibly true. Tiger's going through a tough time right now with all sorts of problems. I mean, she's 22, oh goodness, name a problem. She ain't got

(41:45):

Poor thing, but just recently she's going through this issue too, not going up and down the stairs and all sorts of issues in her joints and she's a little too far gone for supplements. But because we were giving her a healthy balanced diet and some supplements all throughout her life, she made it to 22 before those hips gave out. It's incredible, which is incredible. So talk to your vet. Work with your vet. I only did that because a vet told me to, not because I am on a podcast or anything because my veterinarian gave me really good advice. So do the same. Same Maria, and thank you for your question. Alright, Kristen, I was staring down the barrel of these questions on our little show notes here, and I feel like I shouldn't be answering the one that you're going to be asking me. So we're going to phone a friend here. We're calling back in Anna Webb from the uk.

Speaker 3 (42:40):

Hey

Speaker 2 (42:40):

Anna, taking some time. Hey, welcome back to the program, Anna.

Speaker 3 (42:43):

Thank you. Thanks for saving Chris on this question.

Speaker 2 (42:47):

Yeah, yeah, I was panicking. I was using chat GPT to give me an answer and it just told me, call Anna back, get her back on.

Speaker 4 (42:57):

Well, great. Well I'm really honored and I hope I can help.

Speaker 3 (43:00):

Okay, so Anna, I'll read you this question. This comes from one of our listeners, David in Houston, Texas. He says, I've been reading about raw diets for dogs. Can you explain the benefits and risks and how to switch safely if I want to try it?

Speaker 4 (43:18):

Okay, so David, in Texas, I think you need to research the brand, which I mentioned in a podcast that I've done and with you guys to make sure that the meat is as ethically reared, organic if possible, without antibiotics and finished on grass. That way you are ensuring that the meat is a really, really good quality meat. The reasons to feed raw, look, it's a biologically appropriate diet for your dog. Dogs are not little people in a furry suit. Dogs hardly produce any amylase, which is the sugar digesting enzyme compared to us. We produce gallons of it from the moment food goes into our mouth. Hence, we are very good at digesting complex carbohydrates like pasta, sweet potato and so on. Dogs really aren't. So any ingredients like that, literally I'm afraid to say, kind of just go through your dog and what doesn't kind of doesn't have a really good effect at a cellular level because dogs aren't meant to eat potatoes, really think about it.

(44:20):

So dogs are meant to eat meat and a small amount of leafy greens. Some berries, imagine a dog scavenging in the wild. It would have a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but they kind of know what's good for them. Also, the acidity of a dog's gut is way higher than ours. We have a very alkaline digestive system, so that's why we can get a stomach ulcer ulcer. Dogs can't actually get a stomach ulcer because kind of their digestive tract is already at the level of a stomach ulcer and they need their stomach to work with all that acidity in there, and that's why they need something like a bit of meat to really get their stomach working properly. A lot of digestive issues is caused by stomach's. Irritable bowel system syndrome, for example, is because the stomach hasn't got anything to work on, so there's extra gas accumulating in the stomach from not the right food.

(45:14):

So for me, I really recommend you switch, take it gradually a third at a time that what you've been feeding your dog already. Take a bit away, put a bit of raw in and gradually till you have the whole bowl full of raw. One thing that you may see, but this is not a negative, is that your dog may have a little bit of the runs. Now, what I've learned through my study and my experience that this is kind of normal and what this is, is that the raw food is helping to let toxins that have accumulated come out, which is what you want, and then this will settle down very, very quickly, probably two or three days. And what you will see in your dog will make you really be pleased. I think gleaming eyes, a shiny coat, more vitality, more muscular in the body, far less kind of plumpness and tone will come to your dog just without you having to do anything at all. Kirsten, tell me, have I answered that question enough yet? Happy to go on.

Speaker 3 (46:14):

Oh, you've done a fantastic job, David.

Speaker 2 (46:17):

Yeah, much better job than I would've done. The only thing I know about raw food is sushi. That's it.

Speaker 3 (46:25):

Well, Anna, we so appreciate you coming back to answer that question for David. Thank you very much. And you see, if you're a listener or a viewer here on the podcast, you can actually get your question answered, not by just Chris or I, but by one of our amazing, talented and very highly qualified guests. Thanks Anna. Thank you.

Speaker 2 (46:46):

Alright, Kristen, that brings us to the end of our show. What a fun bummer little episode. Yeah, bummer. That was

Speaker 3 (46:52):

A fun one.

Speaker 2 (46:52):

It was a fun one. Yeah, we're getting through the dog days of summer. I love saying that. It's just like your good animal fun dog days. The dog days. We're in the dog days. I don't know what's with me today. I'm all over the place. I'm doing weird. We're

Speaker 3 (47:05):

A little quirky today. Quirkier than usual, I should say.

Speaker 2 (47:08):

I'm corking through it.

Speaker 3 (47:11):

Thank God you're not twerking through it.

Speaker 2 (47:13):

I might be, you don't know. You can't see my lower half on camera. This is the Top Half program, a family friendly top half program. Yeah, thank goodness. Thank goodness is right. But hey, listen, we'll be back next week. New episodes every Tuesday, wherever you enjoy your podcasts. And if you aren't already, enjoy us in beautiful video format on the Dog TV YouTube page on your dog TV subscription. If you don't have one already, check that out. Or dog TV's Amazon Fast Channel Dog tv. Unleashed pets

Speaker 1 (47:45):

Ad life, your guide to the latest in pet Trends products, and the joy of the human Animal Bond with Kristen Levine and Chris Bon, powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog TV.