80. National Dog Day - Live from NYC!

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Speaker 1 (00:00):

Hey guys. We had an awesome live show last week on National Dog Day. I hope you had an awesome day with your dog, but we were in Times Square. We had the dog moms on the show, and Amanda, and we thought you might like to see Chris and I live on the show last week for that Special Day Pets

Speaker 2 (00:18):

Ad Life, your guide to the latest in Pet Trends products, and the Joy of the Human Animal Bond with Kristen Levine and Chris Bonti, powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog tv.

Speaker 3 (00:33):

Hello and welcome to a very live episode of Pets Ad Life. I am Chris Bonatti, joined as always by the lovely Kristen Levine. Kristen Live in 4K. How are we doing today?

Speaker 1 (00:50):

Oh, wow. I'm doing great. Happy National Dog Day. Chris

Speaker 3 (00:53):

Happy? Yes. Santa Claus. Get out of here. Easter Bunny, never heard of them. Cupid Tiny unimportant. It's National Dog Day, everybody's favorite holiday, and we are bringing you an awesome show for us live in the comfort of our own homes, but we've got some very special content plan for you coming straight from Times Square, New York City.

Speaker 4 (01:18):

How are we doing guys? And there. Hey, is that Chase? Hey Chase. It's Chase. We're out here in New York City and it's National Dog Day. We got a bunch of people out right behind me and we're here with Will and Jacks the Sea.

Speaker 1 (01:32):

Is that Willie Good Dog Studio.

Speaker 4 (01:34):

That's Willie Good dog right here. Chief Dog, officer of Dog tv. And then we have the CNO Jack's the Chief Nap Officer, so they got their microphone. They're talking to people behind us. We got a good crowd of people right behind us just looking at them. But I mean, Hey Willie, what do you think about New York City right now? Is it going well? No, you're right. You're right. You're right. He's saying it's a little loud in here. It's not really the quietest place usually. He likes to park, but we're dealing with it. He likes a lot of people. He is a lot of pets today. But what's really going on today? National Dog Day. I mean, it's going great. We got a good crowd of people. So yeah, back to you guys. We're doing great.

Speaker 1 (02:20):

Awesome. Awesome. Well Chase, we'll come back to you a little bit later in the show, but Perfect. This is an awesome potty in Times Square. And actually, if you're listening from anywhere near Times Square, you can go down and join the party. I know there are going to be lots of free giveaways and just tons of dogs and dog TV has some cool swag, but if you're not in the area, stick with us because we have an incredible show today and we're kind of veering away from our two stories, two guests, two products, two questions, and we're going with four awesome guests and we've got two brand new shows launching on dog tv. We've got the biggest sale dog TV has ever had, just today only. And what else do we had today? Oh my gosh, I feel like we're missing something. Oh, it's our 80th episode, Chris.

Speaker 3 (03:12):

No, it's not.

Speaker 1 (03:14):

It is.

Speaker 3 (03:14):

Is that real?

Speaker 1 (03:16):

It is. Yeah. We've done 80 of these. I know. I know. Time flies when you're having fun, right?

Speaker 3 (03:22):

Yeah. Oh man, that's amazing. So thank you to everybody watching for Keeping us afloat. Like Kristen said, we've got new shows launching on dog tv. We've got live content happening in Times Square. It's National Dog Day, so grab that furry friend plug into the live and oh, here's the details on the sale here for only the next 24 hours. For 24 bucks, you get a one year long subscription to dog TV as well as a bunch of gifts from some of the sponsors, including a Phi collar buddy id. It's a really awesome deal. I do not know how they're going to pay Kristen and I don't know either. Give away the product away at such a ridiculous rate. So be sure to hop on that. You have 24 hours jump on it now for National Dog Day.

Speaker 1 (04:18):

I'm excited because like I said earlier, we're going to talk to four different guests. I don't know how we're going to jam all this into an hour, but it's going to be fun. One of the new shows, well actually it's a new season that's launch. New season. Yeah. The dog moms. We've talked to Chrisy Joy and Amber Car before. Okay, well we could roll. Do you want to roll a clip of the new season?

Speaker 5 (04:39):

Hi, and I'm Amber. It's National Dog Day. That's right. And don't forget to watch our new season of the Dog Moms Only on Unleashed by Dog tv.

Speaker 1 (04:51):

Amber, Amber, Hey, and Whiskey.

Speaker 5 (04:53):

Happy National Dog Day.

Speaker 1 (04:56):

Oh my

Speaker 5 (04:56):

Gosh,

Speaker 1 (04:58):

Good to see

Speaker 5 (04:58):

You. Is

Speaker 1 (04:59):

That Oak

Speaker 5 (05:00):

Oakley too? This is my boy Oakley. He's my 12-year-old boy and this is Crazy Whiskey who is about to start an agility lesson. So you guys caught us right in between a lot of Dog Kings on National Dog Day.

Speaker 3 (05:14):

That's amazing. It is amazing.

Speaker 1 (05:16):

Let me read it. Let me give a little quick intro for you. I mean, our audience probably already knows who you are, Amber, but you are one of the co-hosts of the dog Moms returning for season two, which launches today. You're a professional dog trainer and animal talent coach, and also the host of the adoption show on dog tv, helping spotlight adoptable dogs nationwide. You and together with Chrissy Joy are the powerhouse pet moms that bring heart humor and training tips to the screen. So congrats on the second season.

Speaker 5 (05:46):

Second. I'm so excited this season was even crazier, even more emotional and even sillier. We got to sit in a studio and just really dive deep into being a dog mom, and it was so much fun. I'm really excited. Oh, sorry. Whiskey's bumping my phone. I'm really excited for it. It's going to be really fun and I know it launches today, so I got to go see all the embarrassing things that I said and all the fun dog stories. We had a lot of really great questions from watchers too, and listeners, so it was a really fun season. I'm really excited for it to come out.

Speaker 3 (06:19):

That's great. You are also hosting the adoption show on dog tv.

Speaker 5 (06:24):

Yes. Which is

Speaker 3 (06:25):

A really cool show. You've got to spend a lot of time with adoptable dogs and rescues. What's been the most moving part of that experience for you?

Speaker 5 (06:32):

Oh my goodness. It's such an emotional show and it's like anyone who loves dogs is going to love this show, but it really just shows you how much people are doing behind the scenes to help dogs get adopted. And I would say that what to expect. Don't expect to feel sad. I don't expect to be watching adoption show and be sad. It's an encouraging show, it's an enlightening show and it's really awesome to see that there's so many people helping dogs and you get to learn about rescue stories about amazing places that are really just making a huge difference in adopting dogs. And of course highlighting a lot of adoptable dogs, which is great because if you want to add an extra dog to your home, we highlight a lot of them. So it was a really great show and it's still going, coming out every single week and it's just been an honor to be a part of it for sure.

Speaker 1 (07:18):

I haven't seen the whole show yet, but I've seen bits and pieces and oh my gosh, some really incredible heartwarming stories and it kind of takes me back to my roots. I started out, my pet career started at an animal shelter.

Speaker 3 (07:30):

Yeah, that's what I wanted to ask.

Speaker 1 (07:32):

Yeah,

Speaker 3 (07:34):

Has it changed a lot because it's, oh, we got a clip.

Speaker 5 (07:39):

Welcome to the Adoption show where every week we shine a light on the incredible journey of shelter dogs and the heroes helping them find their forever hump across the country. We meet thousands of dogs waiting for a second chance here. We meet the dedicated individuals and organizations making that possible. Join us as we explore heartwarming stories of hope, resilience, and the unbreakable bond between humans and their canine companions. This is more than just a show, it's a movement, and together we can make a difference one adoption at a time. You ready guys? Let's go.

Speaker 1 (08:17):

Hey Amber, I wanted to ask you a question. You and Chrisy both have very active dogs and you also have a son who's very active. His birthday's today. Happy birthday.

Speaker 5 (08:27):

Yes, thank you. Yeah. Can you believe, what are the chances I would have a kid on National Dog Day? Only perfectly

Speaker 3 (08:33):

High. I feel like the chances are high or high. One in 365 at least.

Speaker 5 (08:39):

It was wild. He wasn't due on National Dog Day, but he was born early two years ago, so he was two years old today, and it was just incredible that all of a sudden, okay, now we have extra celebration every single national Dog day. So okay, happy

Speaker 1 (08:52):

Birthday, Riley.

Speaker 5 (08:53):

Happy

Speaker 1 (08:53):

Birthday. So what I do, well see, I don't really have that problem with Tulip because she's not very active. She, tulip did strike sleep right here. We did celebrate National Dog Day with Tulip with an extra long walk this morning and every day is National Dog Day for her. She gets so much love and attention and treats because she is an only dog at the moment. So

Speaker 5 (09:14):

Lots of celebrations today. Everyone's getting a pup cup and my son's been getting some ice cream, so we're doing lots of celebrating today. That's

Speaker 3 (09:21):

Amazing.

Speaker 1 (09:22):

Awesome. So let's just talk about the bond between dog moms and their pups. What inspired you guys to create the dog moms in the first place?

Speaker 5 (09:30):

I think one part of it was that I wanted to normalize being obsessed with your dog, but also talking about the things that not everyone always wants to talk about. And whether that's feeling like you're not giving enough to your dog or just finding ways to incorporate your dog in your life. It, it's just been a way that we can really dive deep into what it is to own a dog and to have a dog be a part of your life every day. And we talk about all crazy questions, but we also get to be surprised by the topics every single time. And that's just been so much fun to just dive deep into something we don't know what we're going to talk about, but if it's about our dogs, we can talk about it forever. So it's just been a really fun experience.

Speaker 3 (10:13):

I actually think it's becoming normalized. I think that if you have a dog in this day and age, in the year of our Lord 2025, you're obsessed with them. It's that simple. It's true.

Speaker 1 (10:27):

I think it's more uncommon to not be obsessed.

Speaker 3 (10:29):

Yeah, it'd be weird. Imagine you hung out with somebody for the first time and then later on maybe the second time you're hanging out, you find out they have a dog the second time you'd be like, what a weirdo. How did you not bring up your dog that entire first encounter? Yeah,

Speaker 1 (10:49):

It's usually part of that very first conversation for sure.

Speaker 5 (10:53):

I think everyone should check out The Dog Mom show. Even if you like journeying out on dogs, it's definitely the right place for you. My dogs are

Speaker 3 (11:00):

Absolutely there. They are. Have a

Speaker 5 (11:01):

Good time today about

Speaker 3 (11:02):

To start their agility lessons. We've got season two of the dog bombs. It's out now today, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, right now you could hop off this live, which you shouldn't. You shouldn't. And go watch it right now on dog tv. So we're going to say goodbye to Amber. Bye. Thank you Amber. We love you. Happy National Dog Day. And congrats on season two.

Speaker 1 (11:29):

Yes.

Speaker 3 (11:29):

And we are going to be moving on.

Speaker 1 (11:33):

Oh, we're back with Chase. Chase. And Time is,

Speaker 4 (11:35):

How are we doing? How's it going Chase guys? It's going still great here. Still got a crowd of people talking to Willie and Jackson and I'm here with Harrison. Hey Harrison.

Speaker 6 (11:45):

Doing Happy National Dog. We want everybody to come out from three to six today in Times Square. Bring your dog. All furry friends are welcome. We're going to have a contest at four o'clock. I'm going to mc a little best trick competition. So if you've got a dog that knows some kind of super cool trick, they're going to be prizes and awards and a medal, bring them out. Let's see what they got. And then at five o'clock we're going to do a picture with everybody on the Red Bleachers in Times Square. So grab your four-legged friend, bring them out, and let's show everybody how New York City is very dog friendly. And everybody also tune in dog tv.

Speaker 1 (12:23):

Yes. Amazing. Awesome. Thanks Harrison. Harrison. Alright,

Speaker 6 (12:27):

See you guys. Have

Speaker 3 (12:28):

A good one, guys. Yeah. See you there, man. Winning a best trick in New York City. I mean, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere, right? I mean, that's like Broadway for dogs, even though Broadway is already kind of Broadway for dogs.

Speaker 1 (12:45):

Yeah, true, true.

Speaker 3 (12:46):

So maybe this is off Broadway for dogs,

Speaker 1 (12:49):

A little bit of off Broadway. I was going to,

Speaker 3 (12:50):

Yeah, A little bit of off-Broadway for dogs.

Speaker 1 (12:53):

I was going to mention that we're going to be talking to Amanda here shortly, and a lot of these shows that we've been talking about are on dog TV Unleashed. So dog TV is television for dogs, but dog TV unleashed as television for dog parents. So you can see that on Dog TV's app, on Roku, apple tv, Amazon Fire, online on the web, and also on your, of course, on your smartphone app. So now it's really evolved from just content for dogs to now content for dog people.

Speaker 3 (13:26):

And listen, if it's got a screen, you could play dog TV on it.

Speaker 1 (13:29):

That's a good point.

Speaker 3 (13:30):

Yeah, that's a good point. I was playing dog TV on my washer machine the other day. That's not true. And

Speaker 1 (13:36):

Don't forget, if you're just tuning in, dog TV is having their biggest sale ever today. Today only you can get an entire year of dog TV for just $24. That's a 24 hour deal only. And they're also giving away some other cool, let's see, I've got a list of them here. And in addition to the annual subscription, you get a tele training session with a live professional trainer. I mean, who couldn't use that? You get a one month free of Telltales, which is virtual veterinary care.

Speaker 3 (14:08):

Boom,

Speaker 1 (14:09):

You get a buddy ID tag and Lifetime lost pet registration.

Speaker 3 (14:14):

Boom.

Speaker 1 (14:15):

And I mean, what more could you ask for 24 bucks?

Speaker 3 (14:18):

Not much. Oh, now we got Amanda,

Speaker 1 (14:24):

We got her. Hey Amanda.

Speaker 7 (14:25):

Hey guys.

Speaker 3 (14:26):

Hi. Happy National Dog Day.

Speaker 7 (14:28):

Yay. It's the best day in the world ever. Yes, it's It's good to see you again. Good to see you both also.

Speaker 3 (14:35):

So we've got Amanda here, the founder of Sama Dog Wellbeing, and the host of Mindful Moments, a beautiful new dog TV series launching today, an ordained animal chaplain. I'm going to mispronounce this. Ayurveda. Ayurveda, yeah, there you go. I You go practitioner.

Speaker 7 (14:54):

Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:54):

And former vice president of the Chopra Center. Amanda has spent over two decades blending holistic wellness, meditation and canine care with mindful moments. She brings simple calming practices to deepen the emotional bond between dogs and their humans offering peace, healing, and presence to both ends of the leash. And that we have a short clip here.

Speaker 7 (15:22):

Hi there. I'm Amanda, wellness practitioner for animals, and I'm so glad that you're here. In today's session, we're going to explore something that's truly foundational to everything that I teach and share mindfulness with your pets. So now you might be wondering though, what does this have to do with my dog? Well, actually everything. And that's because the truth is dogs are masters of mindfulness and most of us humans don't have this mastered by now. Right. Researchers from institutes like Harvard and uc, Davis have shown that pet parents who are more attuned to their dog's, emotional and physical needs, who are more present, are likely to notice subtleties and their pets. Well, congratulations, Amanda, on the show. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. It was a lot of fun. Very inspiring, and I can't wait to get this experience out to the world.

Speaker 3 (16:18):

Yeah, absolutely. So you've spent a lot of time studying all of this amazing stuff, and there's plenty of mindful people and yogi practitioners and all that in the world, but what makes you unique is you've blended your love of animals and dogs with that too. When did that come into the picture? At what point in your journey did you look at what you were doing and say, I'm going to be animal inclusive in my practice?

Speaker 7 (16:48):

Yeah, that's a good question. And it is, I think something that for many of us that like these holistic practices, yoga, meditation, mindfulness of all the different varieties, eating healthy, being aware of organic foods, eliminating toxins from our life. That's like a lifestyle that we many of us participate in and know and have been healed through, but we haven't thought much to allow it to expand out and to our animals and to touch their lives too. So I, like so many, was practicing and teaching these wonderful techniques for probably 20 years before I saw the way that my own imbalance was affecting my dog. Finally, I had a dog that I tell the story of throughout my teachings, Maya, who had a really, really, really challenging medical situation, physical situation, which was rooted in a lot of nervousness and anxiety, and it was manifesting in many different ways with itchy skin and plucking off all of her hair and not sleeping and not eating, and everything kind of was cascading from there.

(17:59):

So when I finally saw one day that when I got all upset about something, I saw Maya's condition get way worse that day, and we had been making progress. I finally, it's like a light bulb went off and I finally saw, wait a minute, I can see this correlation. And it actually was more like a mirror. So that's when I decided, let me just try it. Let me just try helping myself with these various tools and applying them in some way to dogs. They make a dog version of all of this, and I did it. And Maya, within a few months made a full recovery. It was remarkable. The vets were even blown away, and that inspired me to continue to pursue this, to see if it's out there in the world. It really wasn't. So I said, well, it needs to be because this can really help our animals. And so saw a dog was birthed.

Speaker 1 (18:50):

I love it. I love it. In episode one that's launching today, you talk about pressure points that relieve anxiety. Can you walk us through how touch can calm a stressed dog or really any animal?

Speaker 7 (19:06):

Yes. Yeah. And you think of it for us too. We are animals as well. And when we're stressed out, if the right person at the right time in the right way touches us, we're able to, there it is, we're able to feel a calming, grounding energy that comes into our body. And that's just overall speaking, overall how we act and interact with each other. However, there are specific points as we talk about in this episode that can be touched upon, that have been practiced by the way for thousands of years for different kinds of bodies, whether it's a human body or a various animal body. But specific points that when touched very gently, and that's the technique that I teach, will help to channel the, you could say like stagnation that's created in the body that is moving through channels all the time, except for when it's blocked for whatever reason, physical, emotional, mental, circumstantial. So these pressure points will help to move the energy, the qi, the prana, there's many different words for it down the limbs and throughout the body and release those stagnated points, which can of course be very healing on every level for our animal.

Speaker 3 (20:21):

Yeah, that's a great point. And speaking of healing our animal, how do you know when they need it? I mean, it's very easy to tell when a person is stressed, especially since we can say, Hey, I'm stressed. A dog can't exactly say that to you. So how do you identify that type of discomfort in your dog?

Speaker 7 (20:40):

Well, luckily we created one of our episodes on that as there we go, wow, such

Speaker 3 (20:45):

A good interviewer.

Speaker 7 (20:48):

We foresaw the needs. We really did. We spent a lot of time, the dog TV team and myself to create content that was most meaningful and impactful, not just entertaining, although I hope it is that too. I tried to shine, but no, I actually didn't. I was just authentic in delivering my message and my love for the animals. But anyway, to the point, we do have one that is how to notice stress signals and anxiety signals in our dogs. And so we go through that and it is very subtle. You're right. A person that is speaking loudly and comes home from work yelling about their day is pretty obviously stressed. A dog doesn't do it in that same way, but they do have, especially as we get to know them very specific ways that they're communicating their stress and their anxiety or their fear or worry, and we can learn to communicate with them, there we go. We can learn to communicate with them and to really pick up on their unique signals. Also, because every body, every dog, it is a unique individual so we can learn things like do they yawn? Do they lick lip, lip lick? Do they pant? Do they get whale eyes with the big pupils?

(22:09):

What is our dog's specific signal? And that's a very good thing to be able to interpret. But learning all dog language is very important for people who are around dogs all the time. There's some really great trainers that I've learned from that you tune into the stiff tail, the lack of movement, the ears that are pinned back. There's very specific ways that a dog that we don't know is also telling us, I'm worried, don't approach. That's a very important piece of it. Or give me space or get your child back, whatever it might be so that we can learn to communicate better with them. Which of course is the foundation of every relationship, right? All of our human relationships, communication is it. It's the tie that holds our hearts and our experience of life together.

Speaker 1 (22:56):

Yeah, so true. I just love, as we're showing these clips, Amanda, the visuals are so beautiful and you just calming me, just I can't even hear what you're saying in the clip. You've

Speaker 3 (23:05):

Got a great set. Look at where I have to do this podcast. How

Speaker 7 (23:10):

Do we get a set like yours? That's what I want to know. Well, you guys are doing great. Look at your fabulous outfit also and your backgrounds. It's not about that. I mean, it certainly does help put us in the mood, but at the Chopper Center, I was with Deepak Chopper for like 20 years and we taught so many thousands and thousands of people over the years, and we used to joke about how just buying the expensive Buddha statue from the hallway and bringing it home with you is not going to really impact your meditation practice. It's being the Buddha. Right?

Speaker 1 (23:45):

Right. But this one does help. This is one of my favorite finds for vinyl.

Speaker 7 (23:50):

Oh, there you go. My little, see, look at mine. Oh, you can't see. Look. Oh, it's, oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 3 (23:59):

Why don't I have one? I love that. Join the dog Buddha Club.

Speaker 7 (24:06):

It sets the tone.

Speaker 3 (24:08):

Amanda. Yes. Thank you so much for joining us. We got to let you go. Happy National Dog Day.

Speaker 7 (24:15):

Yes, same to you guys.

Speaker 3 (24:16):

Congratulations to the launch of Mindful Moments. Absolutely amazing achievement. I can't wait to check it out. And we're going to have you back on the podcast again, I'm sure, because it is my watch. She keeps telling me that I'm stressed. So I think we can fix that. We need a little bit more of that kind of content.

Speaker 7 (24:39):

Great to see both of you. Everyone have a great national Dog day. Thank you, Amanda. Much love to all your fur friends too. Thank you, Amanda.

Speaker 3 (24:46):

Thank you.

Speaker 1 (24:47):

Awesome. She's amazing. I can't wait to check that show out. That's going to be awesome.

Speaker 3 (24:51):

I'm just going to play it on repeat.

Speaker 1 (24:53):

Yeah. Hello, this must be Matt Hobbs. Hi. How's it going? Y'all welcome, Matt, welcome. It's great to have you. Happy National Dog Day. I'm glad you could join us.

Speaker 8 (25:06):

Happy National Dog Day. It's great to be here. How y'all doing?

Speaker 1 (25:09):

We're doing great. We are really having a good time. We've just been cutting in live to Times Square and now we've got you. And let's just tell our viewers a little bit about you. You are the musical genius behind puppy songs, the Internet's most joyful collection of original tunes inspired by your pups. Is it Lenny and Marley?

Speaker 8 (25:29):

Lenny and Marley, yes.

Speaker 1 (25:31):

Okay, great. And you're based in Atlanta and originally from New Orleans, you are an award-winning songwriter, producer and viral sensation with over a million fans worldwide and from cheese tax to snooze next to you. Your songs are capturing the hilarity and heart of dog life. So welcome. It's so great to meet you, Matt.

Speaker 3 (25:52):

Wow, that was awesome. Thank you. Yeah, it's a true honor to meet you. I don't think you understand how much cheese tax has been worked into our everyday vernacular. Yeah, there it is. You've all seen it. You all know what it is. Now you're meeting the man behind it. So Matt, at what point, I feel like with a lot of creative things, you start doing it because you want to, but at what point do you think, wow, was there a single moment you're like, wow, this is a real thing. This is something I could actually do. And people are consuming and they like it as much as I do,

Speaker 8 (26:35):

First of all. Wow, thank you for the most incredible intro ever. That was incredibly flattering on a Tuesday. I'm in my home studio right now. I'm just like, geez. No, that's really sweet. Thank you. Yeah, puppy songs has been a wild ride. I started it officially in early 2020, but I mean pretty quickly during those early lockdown days, this was my only music project that I could really work on. I wasn't playing gigs. I had had a full spring booked, a lot booked that year. And so I said, let's figure out how to produce some music on my own in my own little home studio. And I used the most natural resource of inspiration available in the house, which was Lenny and Mar Pop. And so within a few songs, things started to pick up little following, cozy little following on Instagram. And that was where it started. But the fall of 2020 is when I took all the songs that I've been working on and I started to put them on TikTok, and that is when things started to just, that was a magical time on TikTok. And that was when I first put Stuck on My Teeths, which is one of the early songs that made it onto TikTok. And that was the first one that really shone a light on the project. And then from there, it's just been steady growth, one song at a time.

Speaker 1 (27:56):

That is so cool. Thanks. So you obviously get your inspiration from your pups. How often do they inspire new songs?

Speaker 8 (28:05):

So for many years, so Lenny Mar Pup are no longer with us at this point.

Speaker 1 (28:10):

They

Speaker 8 (28:10):

Both, sorry, we lost both of them one early last year and one earlier this year. Life with them. I like to think it was one of the most true, authentic artistic journeys I've been on because everything I'd done prior to that, I was trying to do something. I was trying to sound like somebody, I was trying to, I don't know, act like a cool musician, let's be honest. Aren't we all right? And I just never was particularly successful at that. So I constantly, so many folks I've learned improvising songs about the dogs, giving them little personalities, giving them crazy voices, and that was a part of my life for as long as I've known them. So I mean, it would happen constantly. To answer your question, it was constant. My wife says, I've turned her life into a musical,

Speaker 1 (29:01):

And

Speaker 8 (29:02):

That's just where's where we were? And that's still where we are.

Speaker 3 (29:06):

That's amazing.

(29:08):

You mentioned the improv. You've got a background in musical improv and theater, and it seems like you sort of just live this way authentically and whatever comes to mind, you guess. Yes. And your way through life with those dogs. I think that's so awesome that you were able to kind of capture that lightning in the bottle. Because I come out of this show and I try to be funny, but I'm about maybe 25% as funny as I am when I'm just randomly screaming things at my wife at home. You know what I mean? So if I could take those jokes and bottle 'em up and somehow produce 'em here. So I just think it's really such a really awesome way to go about things and present a authentic view of your home life. I think that's really cool.

Speaker 8 (30:00):

Thanks. Yeah, it's been, even from the old days back when I used to do, and I still do writing all kinds of songs, but it'd be like if you weren't writing something scary or vulnerable or telling secrets, it's probably not compelling enough. And so I used to be at the piano trying to write these heartfelt songs that were scary because they were about people and real things. But then this is a whole nother level because I found that when a lot of people use voices to talk to their dogs, a lot of people sing to their dogs. A lot of people sing for their dogs. And what I've learned after meeting so many friends and fans over the years is that that's a very intimate space because the songs you share that's just inside your house. And usually as soon as somebody comes over, it stops, right? Nobody tends to share that very often. So when I hear that my songs, people sing my songs to their dogs or just knowing that so many people do that too. It's kind of a cool, very human thing that connects us all and our pups.

Speaker 1 (31:02):

It's so easy when you're being authentic, isn't it? Sounds like you were trying really hard to do the thing you thought you were supposed to be doing, and then

Speaker 8 (31:08):

When

Speaker 1 (31:09):

You stumble upon when writing songs for your dogs and about your dogs, it just got really easy.

Speaker 8 (31:15):

Yeah, it's wild. That exact theme. It's funny that we got there. That's exactly the story arc to this one person show. I have a puppy songs live show that I've been developing. It's like a, yeah, it's like a one man musical. It's 60 minutes and it's quick. I did a premier run of it here in Atlanta earlier this year and I'm taking it to Chicago in two weeks to do it, the Annoyance Theater. Wow. But it's that exact story arc where it's, I start off just trying to make a, I am making a fool out of myself by trying to be all these inauthentic things. And then it's not until I stopped doing that and just did something unapologetic that puppy songs happened, and then that becomes my music career, which is wild. It presents a diversion from all my friends who work at the recording studio or different people I meet in theater. Not a lot of people do this stuff. So it's a cool place to be. It's definitely a place to

Speaker 3 (32:15):

Be. And you've got your zany songs, your silly ones like Cheese Text, which is the national anthem of this household, but you've got some more emotional and touching ones as well. Do you have a soft spot for those in particular? Because I feel like that might be more of a blend of the music you were, like you said, that vulnerable music you were originally trying to create and sort of what picked up on TikTok. You also kind of have to make what the people want.

Speaker 8 (32:45):

Yeah, yeah, that's true. That's true.

Speaker 1 (32:47):

Well, Matt, we're getting tight on time here, but can you leave us with one of your songs?

Speaker 8 (32:53):

Yeah, I have my guitar here. Can you hear the guitar? Yeah, sure. It's coming through. Sounds great. Alright, cool. If it's cool, I'll just do cheese tax since we've teed it up. That was kind of the one I wanted to do. And since it's the house favorite, the

Speaker 9 (33:11):

Cheese tax, the cheese tax, got to pay the cheese tax every time you're cooking. When the cheese comes out, this puppy comes looking. The rules are the rules and the facts are the facts. And when the cheese drawer opens, you've got to pay the tax, the cheese tax, the cheese tax, hand it over quick, but things might get ugly. I can get really loud. I'm a really Bucky puppy. I'm not just asking because I'm looking for snacks. This is real important business and you've got to pay the tax, the cheese tax. The cheese tax. The cheese tax. Awesome.

Speaker 3 (33:51):

Thank you. Matt. Still slaps just as hard on the 10000th time. I've heard it.

Speaker 1 (33:56):

It does, it does. Matt, for those who aren't following you yet, where can we follow you

Speaker 8 (34:01):

At? Puppy songs everywhere on Instagram and TikTok. We also have a lot of singles and an album on Spotify, apple Music, Amazon, wherever you listen to music. And if you're in Chicago, you can come check out my show at Annoyance Theater on September 5th and sixth right around the corner.

Speaker 3 (34:21):

Love it. Love it. That is amazing. That is awesome. Congratulations. This has been really special. It's awesome to meet you, dude. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I can't wait to get you back on the pod. When the second album comes out and you've got off Broadway production and you're just rich and famous off of these puppy songs, you're going to be like the Weird Owl. But for dog songs,

Speaker 8 (34:45):

Hey, I'll take anything I can get at this point. I'm just grateful. Just grateful to get to speak with y'all today and have a happy National Dog Day. You

Speaker 1 (34:53):

Too. Awesome. Thanks Matt.

Speaker 8 (34:54):

Thanks.

Speaker 1 (34:55):

Take care. Oh my God, he was awesome.

Speaker 3 (34:58):

Yeah. We are going to be introducing Carol now. Carol Kowski, the co-founder of Boris and Horton, New York City's first apartment of health approved dog friendly cafe. A true trailblazer in the pet lifestyle world. Carol helped create a space where coffee lovers and dog parents can gather work and socialize with their pups by their side. Named after two beloved dogs, Boris and Horton has become a community hub event space. And go-to hangout for NYC's dog lovers. And we have Carol now. Carol, welcome to Pets Our Life and Happy National Dog Day.

Speaker 10 (35:40):

Happy National Dog Day. We're so excited to be here. Hi guys.

Speaker 1 (35:43):

Oh, we're thrilled to have you. We want to learn more about Boris and Horton. I was in the city a couple of weeks ago and if I'd have known, I would've come by, but now I've got a reason to come back. So tell us how the cafe got started and what inspired such a great concept.

Speaker 10 (35:59):

So Boris and Harton first opened about eight years ago just because it was a mother-daughter team that were the founders, or sorry, mother, father team, father, daughter team that were the founders. And they just found that they would be out and about for coffee, looking for a place to go, and one person always had to wait outside with the dogs while the other person ran inside to get their drink and then go on. And so they created a place that we're now sitting in today called Boris Horton, where you can sit inside with your dog compliantly with the health department and enjoy. We've even expanded from just a coffee shop even to, we're a full cafe now, so we have a beer and wine license. We've got a full lunch menu. We do monthly dinners. And so you can come and eat with your dog in a health compliant way in New York City with us.

Speaker 3 (36:47):

If there's one thing I love it is being health compliant, but hey, listen, having anything in New York City is not easy, but there's a lot of rules, regulations, business is incredibly competitive down there. So what are some of the challenges in keeping this place afloat, whether it's regulatory red tape or marketing or hosting events? What are some of those hurdles that you've had to get through?

Speaker 10 (37:16):

I mean, definitely all of the above, but New York,

(37:21):

It's just an expensive place to run a business. And we of course run into additional challenges with keeping everything health code compliant. We actually maintain two different health licenses with the Department of Health here. So we have our regular restaurant license on our human only cafe side, and then we actually have a boarding license on the dog side, which is funny. We never actually take possession of the dog. So owners are always here with them, but there's additional compliance associated with that. And then in ways we keep things, sorry, there are dogs here. That's okay. It's

Speaker 3 (37:55):

Their holiday.

Speaker 10 (37:57):

This is Frankie here. We can give a little Let's, there's Frankie. Hi Frankie. He's got a lot to say. Hey Frankie, here we go. Yeah, I'll get you a treat. There you go. All better. Health code. We serve everything in to go containers. And so from the health department standpoint, it's a little bit of a, oh, hi Frankie. Yeah, it's okay buddy. It's in their minds. As long as we are serving things compliantly on the human side where we prepare all our food, that's how we say HealthCo compliant, then everything. It's the customer's choice to contaminate their food by bringing it into a dog friendly these days.

Speaker 1 (38:33):

Got it, got it. So Carol, Boris, and Horton is more than just a cafe and coffee shop. So tell us a little bit about the community that it's created

Speaker 10 (38:44):

And some of the activities. Community honestly is like everything with this business. I mean, we like to do rescue events on the weekends where we have rescues come in and we adopt out dogs, we do trivia, we do these dinners. We do a monthly CPR dog and first aid class where we can get certified in dog CPR. We really want to provide, we consider ourselves a little bit of a third space. I think that's a little bit of a trendy term to use, but we want to provide a space. It's one of the few places that I've seen where strangers actually strike up conversations with each other because you have the dogs. Dogs are such a natural pointing comment where they bring people together and they strike up conversations and it really provides a nice opportunity for connection.

Speaker 3 (39:31):

Yeah, that's my worst fear is talking to I'm a New Yorker through and through talking to strangers. No thank you. Why

Speaker 10 (39:39):

Are you talking to me? But if you're actually talking about a dog that you have in common, it's not that awkward.

Speaker 3 (39:43):

Yeah, exactly. Can you tell us a little bit about Boris and Horton themselves? The

Speaker 10 (39:50):

Namesake

Speaker 3 (39:50):

Of the cafe?

Speaker 10 (39:51):

For sure. Boris and Horton were our founder's. Dogs Horton is a terrier mix and Boris is a pit terrier mix. Boris actually got banned from the cafe a few years ago because he had a humping problem. And we are a family friendly face, Boris. Oh no. Which is pretty embarrassing for us to get

Speaker 3 (40:11):

Scandal. Get out of your own cafe scandal. Is there a press conference?

Speaker 10 (40:14):

Did

Speaker 3 (40:15):

He have to have one of those embarrassing press conferences?

Speaker 10 (40:20):

But Horton, he loves cheese. They're both seniors now. They're they're still with us. They're not here nearly as often because we're under new ownership and so they're less here. But I will introduce you to Baha. Baha, can you come up up? Yeah. Baja is our new CEO. Hi Baja. Let's see. Let's show her.

Speaker 1 (40:40):

Yeah,

Speaker 10 (40:42):

Yeah. Good hear Earl. There's part her at what a pretty, she's our chief ears officer and we like to joke that I'm in charge of keeping the humans in check here. And Baha is in charge of keeping the dogs in check.

Speaker 1 (41:00):

Yeah. So is humping only allowed on Hump day or is not allowed at all? No, no. Not allowed at all.

Speaker 10 (41:08):

Family friendly establishment. We do allow a little bit of play for the pups, but we like to keep it PG rated, please. Of course,

Speaker 1 (41:16):

Of course, of course. Do you have celebrity dog sightings or are there any unforgettable moments you could share with us?

Speaker 10 (41:23):

I'm not at liberty to comment on that. Oh, a not

Speaker 3 (41:27):

Answer. That is an answer. I love that. That is

Speaker 10 (41:30):

A good answer. Very chic of you. But we love all of the canines and the humans that come through. We're a huge fan of every customer that comes.

Speaker 3 (41:42):

Of course. What's working in a place like that? What's a typical day? Is it very different from, I worked in restaurants and cafes all through my teens. I didn't see any dogs at all. It was a very different world back then. What's it like spending all your time at a place like that?

Speaker 10 (42:00):

I mean, it's easily the best job I've ever had for sure. It's a ton of fun. I mean, there's definitely a lot to manage. Owning a business is always comes with ups and downs and rollercoasters and whatnot. But if you get a little stressed out, you can go pet a dog for a few minutes and that brings all that serotonin rushing back and it's a really good time. But I like to describe it as the happiest chaos that you could ever encounter. Because it can get crowded, especially on the weekends at a little bit chaotic, but it's always with a joyful intention. And we've got a really great group of customers and dogs that come through that are always just happy to be in the space. You literally watch the dogs walking down the street and they're pulling to come inside.

Speaker 3 (42:46):

They all knows and nobody's in there. It's not like a Home Depot. I say Home Depot, it's my least favorite store and I hate having to go there. It's not like one of those places where some of the people are going to be grumpy. They have to be there. No, if you're going to that place you, you're going to be happy and in a good mood, you

Speaker 10 (43:02):

Are seeking joy. Yes, exactly.

Speaker 1 (43:05):

That's true. So Carol, tell us, are there any growth plans for Boris and Horton?

Speaker 10 (43:11):

Well, we just reopened in April, so we give it a minute. Very much so. Yeah, exactly. We're still working things out in the original location here in the East Village. But I mean, I've always got my eye on what's going to be next for the cafe. We're always taking opinions. I have customers come in all the time and be like, oh, I would love this in Cleveland, or I would love it in

Speaker 7 (43:37):

On

Speaker 10 (43:37):

The upper West Side or wherever, Brooklyn, whatever it might be. So we're sticking to one location for now, but I always take the feedback because I want to know where my customers want to be.

Speaker 3 (43:47):

They say the customer is always right, but the customer could also shut the heck up. Sometimes the customer can just keep their mouth shut. I did a lot, also done a lot of customer service work my day. Yes. I could tell. Sometimes I look at something and go, you didn't have to write that email. You didn't have to do that.

Speaker 10 (44:09):

Yeah, that's very relatable.

Speaker 1 (44:12):

Well, Carol, tell us, oh, sorry Chris. I was just want to make sure that our audience knows exactly where you're located so they can come by or come for a visit next time they're in the city. Yes,

Speaker 10 (44:22):

Absolutely. We are at 1 95 Avenue A here in New York City in the East Village. It's East 12th Street and Avenue A are our cross streets. It's just a five minute walk from the all train. If you take it to the first avenue stop, Uber Pet comes here too. If your dog doesn't go on the train yet. And for National Dog Day, we are giving out free pups to all the dogs. So come on by, get your dog a free pup cup. Enjoy the space. Have some lunch or just a hang. And we'd love to see everybody.

Speaker 3 (44:51):

Thank you so much for hopping on this special live episode for National

Speaker 10 (44:55):

Dog Day. Yes,

Speaker 1 (44:55):

Thank you, Carol.

Speaker 3 (44:56):

Super cool. That is such a great place. I love that dog inclusivity or just animal accessibility, whatever weird jargon you want to use is becoming more and more of a trend. So shout out to Carolyn all the work she's doing. Absolutely. And by the way, folks dog tv, they're practically giving it away for free, not quite free. It's $24 for the next 24 hours for a year of dog tv. That's two bucks a month, that's nothing. And there's all these awesome sponsored opportunities too. If you sign up today through Telltales and Buddy ID and Phi Collar, all these great promotions that are running right now for the next 24 hours. So thank you to those sponsors and be sure to jump on that deal. You've got less than 24

Speaker 1 (45:57):

Hours now. I did the math, Chris, I just did the math. It's 6 cents a day.

Speaker 3 (46:00):

Six 6 cents a day. What can you get for 6 cents a day? I can't even breathe fresh air for 6 cents a day. It costs more than that to run my air purifier. Alright, so I have no idea how dog TV is going to be able to afford to run this show after this. They're losing all of their money. I heard that this was all Ron's idea, so if the company folds, he's out of here. They're giving him the crane.

Speaker 1 (46:28):

Well, this has been so much fun, Chris. It's great to see you. I know you've been away for a little bit and you're coming back officially

Speaker 3 (46:34):

Soon in a month. Yeah, I think about a month. I don't know what the production timeline looks like. And hey, when I'm back on a regular two guest, two story, two product, two question episode of pal. We'll go over all the things that I've missed on PAL and all the things that you've missed in this wonderful journey we call the Life of Chris. But until then,

Speaker 1 (46:59):

Is that another new show launching today on dog tv?

Speaker 3 (47:02):

I don't think it's fit for dog tv, it's, it's got to be on Showtime or something where they couldn't make it a little bit more in more swear words allowed, I think is what would be required. But hey, thank you everybody for tuning in for this awesome hour of pal. Kristen, thank you so much for putting up with me. Ron, thanks for having me back on for this special episode and we're going to see you. Today is Tuesday, so we're going to see you in a week again. Look at that. National Dog Day was on a Tuesday, so the tagline still works. See you in a week, folks. Bow wow for now.

Speaker 2 (47:46):

Pets Ad 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.