96. A Very Merry Pets Add Life Christmas

Disclaimer: Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio.

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 a very, very special episode of Pets Add Life. I am Chris bonafide, and joining me back in the studio filled with the Christmas spirit is Kristen Levine. Kristen, I've got three words for you. Can you guess what they are? What's that? Ho, ho, ho.

Speaker 3 (00:35):

Oh, I thought you were going to say ugly Christmas flannel.

Speaker 2 (00:39):

That's part of it too. Yeah, we are both part of the ugly Christmas club. I think I'm winning that competition though. This sweater has been in my closet for 364 days.

Speaker 3 (00:50):

You got to stand up so that they can see the bottom. I wasn't sure what that top

Speaker 2 (00:53):

It's like you got the belt. Stand

Speaker 3 (00:56):

Up. There's the belt.

Speaker 2 (00:57):

The belt.

Speaker 3 (00:57):

Okay. You're just missing the big belly.

Speaker 2 (01:00):

Yeah, yeah. Missing the big belly because I'm a healthy young lad. But I'm sure with enough effort we'll be getting there across this holiday season. But it's a Christmas episode and we have a really, its, yeah, we have a special one lined up for you guys.

Speaker 3 (01:18):

It is was the night before. The night before Christmas is when this show is dropping, and we have got a really special show for everybody, some great guests, and just going to leave you ready for the holiday itself.

Speaker 2 (01:35):

Fun, festive holiday spirit, no holds barred 100% all the way through until we make it to the end of the year, and then we will rest. Just kidding. Because guess what, in 2026, we'll be back with more episodes. The train never stops. That's right. The train never stops.

Speaker 3 (01:52):

And you know what we're coming up on Chris Kringle bonafide. We're coming up on 100, the 100th episode.

Speaker 2 (02:01):

You listeners out there have made a critical mistake. You've listened to the show too much, and I've been allowed to do a hundred episodes of these. So we will be having a very special hundredth episode. We will be having a New Year's celebration like we always do. But for now, let's sit back and enjoy Christmas. So let's go ahead and hop into a story time.

Speaker 1 (02:29):

Kristen and Chris, present story time.

Speaker 2 (02:33):

Alright, Kristen, story time, story time, holiday edition. What do you got for us this year?

Speaker 3 (02:40):

Oh my gosh. Well, if you don't mind, I have a few stories. They're short. They're very short stories, but I couldn't picked

Speaker 2 (02:47):

One. I'm feeling generous today.

Speaker 3 (02:49):

Okay. Okay. Well, I found these stories at a website called pet place.com, and they were just so cute. So I thought I'd share a few of them. So this first one, these are all people that were sharing funny holiday stories about their pets. And Bonnie has a real short one. She says, my two huskies used to sneak raw hide candy canes off of the Christmas tree without touching anything else on the tree. It's funny how they can be so careful when they take them off the tree. And then Maryanne has a funny story about her dog who ate the garland. So she said one Christmas she decided that she would string popcorn for the tree. That didn't work out so well. So then she saw an ad in a magazine to string cranberries and dried mini marshmallows, alternating, alternating them along the string. So the first night they were on the tree, they heard a strange noise from downstairs, and when she went down to check, she found her eight month old German Shepherd had decided to taste the fruits of her labor. But what they noticed was he only ate in the marshmallows and he left all the cranberries berries. Those things are bitter.

Speaker 2 (03:57):

Yeah, I'd do the same thing.

Speaker 3 (03:59):

And then this last one, there's no name on this one, but I'll give you a hint what it's about. It's called festive feces.

Speaker 2 (04:06):

Oh no.

Speaker 3 (04:07):

After decorating their Christmas tree, they came home the next day to find that their Irish setter had eaten all the tinsel off the tree that she could reach. And for the next few days, picking up in the backyard was very festive.

Speaker 2 (04:20):

Oh goodness.

Speaker 3 (04:21):

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:22):

Yep.

Speaker 3 (04:23):

By the way, there is an editor's note that says ingestion of tinsel can cause life-threatening gastrointestinal obstruction. So please do not put tinsel where your dog can or your cat can reach it.

Speaker 2 (04:34):

Yeah, yeah. They'll go for it. They'll go for it every time.

Speaker 3 (04:39):

Yeah. I think we all have our own funny pet Christmas stories

Speaker 2 (04:44):

Over the years.

Speaker 3 (04:44):

Yes.

Speaker 2 (04:45):

I always loved rolling up the balls of wrapping paper for the cats, and they would go nuts or the, what's it called? Cellophane? Is that what that clear stuff is called? Yes. Love. You put it on the floor and they can't see it, and then they step on it and it just changes their day. Better or worse, who knows? But it just changes the course of their day entire.

Speaker 3 (05:06):

Exactly. What kind of store do you have for us?

Speaker 2 (05:10):

I've got a little year end wrap up here because I'm all about data and I'm all about surveys. And this is an interesting one from the Dodo that did a Gen Z pet parent survey, which I think is a very funny because the top line stat they pulled from this 90% of respondents said that having a pet is one of the most important things in their lives and one of the first adult decisions they've made, which I think is a very funny way to put it. Yes, it is a very adult decision to get a pet. But their interesting stat about this, I know a lot of people are saying, oh, they're getting gen getting pets and they're not having children. Well, 74% of the respondents said that they're getting a pet to better prepare for future responsibilities of bearing.

Speaker 3 (06:11):

See, they have a plan children, this is part of their strategy.

Speaker 2 (06:14):

This was part of my strategy too. Not that I would have a pet regardless, but it was definitely the waking up early in the morning for the cat was a good litmus test how our marriage would unfold through the labors of child rearing. But let me tell you something right now, everybody out there who's like, oh yeah, I'm going to get a dog and then that dog will inspire me to have children. It won't it.

Speaker 3 (06:45):

Are you saying that being a cat daddy did not prepare you effectively for being a human

Speaker 2 (06:51):

Daddy? No. The human is already. I mean, he's what, four months old. He's smarter than the cat ever was already. He's figured out more stuff than the cat, the cat figured out in 23 years on the planet earth. So no, I don't think it will. But I think it's very fun to see these younger generations come in. They have this picture that somebody submitted with their survey of a full on bedroom that looks bigger than my condo for a dog named Harrison. He's got a little crib type toddler bed and bins for all his toys. Even a little chair with a monogram on it room looks huge. I don't know if it's a fish eye camera, but it's bigger than my master bedroom for sure. So there's some doggos out there living the good life. I'd like a piece of that. If any rich families would like to adopt me, I'm available. I'm available. I've needed a sugar daddy for a while and I'm not afraid to say it. That's what I want for Christmas. Santa

Speaker 1 (07:58):

A

Speaker 3 (07:59):

Sugar daddy.

Speaker 1 (07:59):

Yeah, beyond the leash, exploring the untold stories of pet passion and professionalism. And it's my

Speaker 2 (08:05):

Pleasure to introduce Mimi Council, the founder of Mimi's Organic Eats, a blog and recipe platform dedicated to organic bakery style treats for both humans and their dogs. She began her career as a bake shop owner designing and selling desserts made with fresh organic ingredients. After stepping away from her retail business, Mimi launched her online bake shop mission co-hosting alongside her pug John John. So nice. She named them twice to share recipes that serve you and your dog alike. On her dog's recipe page, Mimi offers dog friendly treats, meals and DIY food recipes such as peanut butter, dog cookies, pumpkin peanut butter, dog cookies and veggie treats for dogs emphasizing simplicity, clean ingredients, and homemade flavor. On the pet's Ad Life podcast, Mimi's bring in a fresh, fun, kitchen friendly perspective on how pet parents can cook and bake for their dogs with intention and joy, taking the stress out of special treat time and making it both safe and delicious. Mimi, thank you so much for hopping on the podcast today.

Speaker 4 (09:09):

Oh, thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (09:12):

Well, as always, when a dog is in the introduction, it's always the first question. So let's begin with Jonjo. How did John John inspire this whole you and your dog in the kitchen philosophy?

Speaker 4 (09:26):

Well, it wasn't actually John. I would say Jonjo just lucked out.

Speaker 2 (09:30):

Jon John is just raking in the benefits.

Speaker 4 (09:34):

He's just the lucky second dog. So my first pug Otto was really the inspiration for cooking with your dog. He was such a foodie always by my side in the kitchen. So that's when I started first researching dog say foods and began incorporating them into his food when he was a puppy. And then he also had some allergies as a puppy and he basically couldn't eat any store-bought treats. They were full of chicken meals and chicken byproducts, and he was having issues with that. And what is a life for a dog without treats? So that was when I started making him homemade dog cookies that he was able to eat. That recipe later went on to be the peanut butter dog cookies that you mentioned on my website. Those were what I served at my bakery to all of our dog customers. And it's also in my first cookbook. So when auto passed away, cha Jon was just the lucky pug that was brought into a household of dinner that are basically obsessed with him and what he eats. And I would say he's adjusting pretty well.

Speaker 3 (10:37):

Yeah, I bet he is. I bet he is.

Speaker 4 (10:39):

Yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:39):

So I have a question. Why is it so much more fun to cook or bake for dogs than for people?

Speaker 4 (10:46):

I mean, think about it. I mean, people get excited when you bake cookies, but just think about how much more excited your dog is when I know when you're making them cookies, they're just so much happier

Speaker 3 (11:00):

And they're so grateful for everything. No, but actually I also wanted to know when you've transitioned from running a human focused bakery to designing recipes for dogs, what's the biggest difference when baking for pups versus humans besides the fun factor?

Speaker 4 (11:19):

Well, it's mainly sugar because human baked goods are basically made up of butter and sugar. Those are the two main components. But with dogs, they can't eat cane sugar and brown sugar. They can have natural sweeteners like honey. So that's a really good ingredient to add into dog treats because it makes it sweet and it also has some health benefits for them, obviously still in moderation. And then instead of butter, we just want to focus on dog friendly fats such as coconut oil and olive oil. But other than those two things, baking for your dog is really just the same as baking for you. I like to say it's even easier because you're using less ingredients usually than you would if you were baking for a human and you don't really have a tough critic at all. They're really excited no matter what. That's

Speaker 2 (12:10):

So funny. So I am a bit of a home cook myself, but baking has always been something I avoid actively. I always say baking is more of a science and cooking is more of an art. But for someone like me who may be intimidated by the prospect of baking dog treats, what's a simple go-to recipe that I could pull off this holiday season?

Speaker 4 (12:42):

So one of John John's, or I should say John John's absolute favorite baked recipe on my website is our mini peanut butter oat treats. And there's really three ingredients in them. There's peanut butter honey and oat flour and you can't mess it up. Come on

Speaker 2 (12:59):

Chris. Even you can do that. That sounds like a challenge. That sounds like a challenge.

Speaker 4 (13:05):

You can mix it up with your hands. You can mix it up with a spatula. You can use a mixer. It really doesn't matter. You roll 'em into little ropes, you can cut 'em with scissors, you cut 'em with a knife, you could roll 'em into little shapes. You could really do whatever you want with him. We make him so tiny for jonjo that they're literally like, I like to say cocoa puff because he's obsessed with them. And so this way I can give him more. But that's one of our favorite recipes. And then we have a dog friendly whipped cream recipe on our website, and it's not a baking recipe, but I always tell people, especially during this holiday season, don't take your dog to Starbucks, skip the Starbucks because all they're doing in those pup cups is giving them human whipped cream, which is made up of heavy whipping cream sugar and vanilla flavoring. And that's inflammatory dogs. It's not good for them. So our dog friendly whi cream, you can make your own pup cup. It's super fun. Humans can eat it too. We dip strawberries in it just like whipped cream. It's just made with coconut cream and a little honey, whip it up in your mixer and you have dog friendly pup cups at home.

Speaker 3 (14:16):

I'm so glad you mentioned that because I don't think many of us have ever really considered that that's not good for our dogs. It seems like it's such a fun treat, but we can make them at and a lot healthier. It's

Speaker 4 (14:26):

So fun and the dogs love it, and that's like the dog isn't going to not realize that it even could be upsetting their stomach. Some dogs are lactose intolerant and you wouldn't know really, your dog's going to eat the puff cup no matter.

Speaker 2 (14:41):

Yes, true. Sounds a lot like me.

Speaker 4 (14:44):

Yeah,

Speaker 2 (14:45):

I know I shouldn't have that, but I do it anyway. It's nice,

Speaker 4 (14:49):

But at least you're making that conscious choice where your dog might not necessarily quite understand what's going on, just that they might not feel that great afterwards. True,

Speaker 3 (14:57):

True. And speaking of making those choices, how do you approach ingredient selection for your dog recipes? Because with commercial treats, there's all these trending new ingredients, but what is your approach for selecting ingredients?

Speaker 4 (15:10):

That is such a good question. So basically you need to treat packaged dog treats just like you would treat packaged human treats. So if you don't know what an ingredient is and you can't pronounce it, it's most likely a bad idea. So you want to look for real food ingredients. Common ones that are great for dogs would be like pumpkin, apple, blueberries, real beef, chicken, lamb, stay away from the meals and the byproducts, and you want to look for that single ingredient listed. And a lot of dog treats, especially packaged ones, you'll see natural flavors these days. I see natural bacon flavor, natural beef flavor and all kinds of stuff when it's so not necessary. I mean, some even go as far as putting in artificial flavors and colors and stuff like that. So you want to stay away from all that. I mean, obviously homemade is always going to be best because you're using real ingredients like eggs and oat flour and peanut butter and coconut oil. Just like if you wanted to eat cookies, making one with real butter and sugar is way better than buying a package off a shelf. Right?

Speaker 2 (16:17):

Absolutely, absolutely. And I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who have the same anxiety as me. A, is this safe? I'm going to make this stuff for my dog. I am an amateur. I have no idea what I'm doing. I can't possibly be better than these companies that have been doing this forever. So what are your recommendations for a new pet parent who might have some like, oh, is this really safe for my dog? Maybe talk about portions and frequency and what ingredients to use and how to balance these homemade treats with a regular diet.

Speaker 4 (16:56):

So that is also a really great, great question. And so many people don't realize that dogs actually evolved from eating human scraps. And so people get so worried about feeding them human food and giving them things like that. And I feel like the pet industry kind of will scare you a little bit sometimes to be not knowing if your dog's food or your dog's treat

(17:19):

Is balanced. And I think that's kind of a sad thing when we should be able to just cook with our dogs in the kitchen and that sort of thing. So I think just really remember that dogs are similar to humans because that's how they evolved, where yes, they need a balanced diet and treats can totally be a part of that balanced diet. That's a hundred percent. And not every single meal or every single treat needs to be a hundred percent perfect, just like with you. And not every single meal needs to be a hundred percent perfect, right? We eat a bagel with cream cheese in the morning, that's not a balanced meal, not at all. But we do it all the time. And then we eat fruit, so we eat protein and other meals and it balances out over time. And dogs are just basically exactly like that.

(18:07):

And that's what I think a lot of people don't really realize or that it hasn't really been thought of in that way. And so this is kind of like how you guys should view feeding your dogs meals and treats balance with variety of healthy protein, veggies, fruits, carbs, all over time is all they need. And then treats are totally acceptable as long as the total amount isn't in excess, just like us. So if you have a treat dog like John John's a treat dog. If he needs them, he expects to get them right. So we kind of balance his meals a little bit less at mealtime so that he can have a little bit more treats. But then we're also doing homemade treats and fresh treats, just organic chicken and beef. So it's kind of just like an extension of his meal. And then obviously his favorite peanut butter treats, I mentioned those make up part of it too.

Speaker 3 (18:59):

I love that you mentioned the balancing. If it's a season where you're getting more treats like the holiday season, just kind of balance that out with the portion size of their regular food. That's really smart. So John John's favorite is the peanut butter oat treats, right? Yes. I think I'm going to make the pumpkin donuts for tulip. Those look really cool. Oh,

Speaker 4 (19:21):

Those are so fun.

Speaker 3 (19:23):

But is there a holiday treat recipe that you are most excited about?

Speaker 4 (19:31):

We love all treats in our house, but good answer. We have a Christmas dog cookie and it's like a cutout cookie recipe, so that's especially fun for this time of year. And anyone who knows me from my bakery days or even as a V blogger, I usually don't decorate things, especially cut stuff out. So that would be something extra special that I would do for John. John this year is make the cut out cookies, cut out some candy canes and that sort of thing. Those are brushed with honey before they go in the oven, and he absolutely loves that part. It makes them a little sweet. It makes 'em really crunchy, which we discovered he likes crunchy cookies better than soft ones. Just something. Yeah, I was surprised by that as well. He's entitled to his opinion. He's entitled to his opinion. So we'll probably be making those among so many other things.

Speaker 2 (20:24):

Is there dog friendly cookie decoration? I know we'd use icing, obviously. Can't use icing for dog cookies, but is there an alternative we could use to decorate our Christmas cookies for our dog?

Speaker 4 (20:37):

Yeah, definitely. So if you're making that recipe and you cut 'em out and you want to have a frosting icing, you can use plain, creamy peanut butter, just make sure that it's dog safe. It doesn't have xylitol, sugars, flavors, anything like that. And then you could also use plain Greek yogurt that is a really delicious one for dogs, and they absolutely love it. Plus it looks like frosting. Yes. Yes, you can. Then if you wanted to color it too, you could even color the plain Greek yogurt with an organic beet powder or a blue spirulina or a green spirulina. That would totally work. And those are all dog safe.

Speaker 2 (21:15):

Amazing.

Speaker 3 (21:16):

That sounds awesome. Well, I don't know about you, Chris, but I'm going to get baking for two. I'm hungry. Mimi, tell us where we can find all these fabulous recipes.

Speaker 4 (21:27):

So you can find them on my website, which is mimi's organic eats.com, and you guys can also follow us along on YouTube and Instagram as well as Mimi's Organic Eats. And John, John has his own Instagram as well, which is Plug.

Speaker 2 (21:42):

Amazing. Amazing. Well, I'm going to get to bacon. I've got the oven preheating already. Mimi, thank you so much for taking some time out of your day. I hope you have a very merry Christmas and end of your year.

Speaker 4 (21:54):

Yeah, thank you. Merry Christmas to you guys as well. Thanks. Bye, John, that you are baking, so make sure to on Instagram, they'll

Speaker 2 (22:03):

Not be posted. They're going to be no pressure, ugly, ugly, nothing like yours. It doesn't matter if they're ugly, they just

Speaker 4 (22:08):

Have to taste. Taste, right? Yeah, don't taste just the same. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:11):

Yep.

Speaker 4 (22:12):

And your dog won't know the difference.

Speaker 2 (22:14):

No, not at all. Well, thanks again and have a great rest of your day.

Speaker 4 (22:18):

Thanks

Speaker 3 (22:18):

Guys. She's got some cool human food recipes too.

Speaker 2 (22:25):

Yeah, I saw the website. It's very interesting. I'm feeling inspired, Kristen. I might give this whole baking thing a whirl. She had me at three ingredients. I could do three ingredients. That sounds really simple.

Speaker 3 (22:39):

I think you can handle it, but you'll have to make 'em for tulip because you don't have a dog. So you can just bake them and then send them to tulips.

Speaker 2 (22:46):

I'll find a dog. I live in a condo complex. There's plenty of dogs. I'll set up a little tu try by. I'll be like Magnolia. I'll set up a little stand in my community and I'll raise some money this holiday season with Chris's crusty, crunchy treats

Speaker 3 (23:01):

Cradles crunchy dog

Speaker 2 (23:03):

Treats. There we go, misshapen and ugly.

Speaker 3 (23:09):

I am so excited to introduce this guest. I've been hearing about her for weeks from our producer Ron, and we finally get to meet her Magnolia harder. She's a 13-year-old girl from Massachusetts who turned heartbreak into hope. After losing her beloved dog Crosby to cancer, Magnolia decided to honor him in a way that would help other dogs and their families. Now, with nothing more than a mixing bowl determination and love, she began baking homemade dog treats, now known as Crosby's Crunchies. I love that name. And Crosby's Crunchies raises money and awareness for canine cancer research. Now her story is the focus of an upcoming dog TV documentary called Magnolia Bakes, A difference produced in partnership with the Animal Cancer Foundation. The film follows her journey from grief to action as she bakes sells and donates her proceeds to support cancer research proving that no one is too young to make a difference. Magnolia's warmth, courage, and entrepreneurial spirit have inspired her community and countless pet lovers everywhere. And that's why we thought it was a perfect interview for our Christmas episode. Welcome, Magnolia. It is so great to finally meet you. Thanks for joining us on the show today. Let's just start off with Absolutely, we're going to start off at the beginning here. Can you tell us about Crosby and what inspired, tell us about him and then what inspired you to start baking treats in his memory?

Speaker 5 (24:41):

Yeah, of course. So Crosby, he was a mixed breed, so he was medium-sized doggy. He was five when he passed, and he was a very nervous dog. He would not walk in the kitchen. That's how nervous he was. He would back out of the kitchen. He did not want to turn his back on that evil, evil kitchen. And when he passed, I remember feeling so sad because before he passed, I didn't even know that dogs could get cancer. It never occurred to me that they could get sick like that. And when he got diagnosed with lymphoma, I was crushed. He's going to die. We got him when I was seven and I had only had him for five years, but it felt like I had him all my life. So it was very, very sad. Then a few years later, it was eighth grade, so this year they were, so my school does this thing called Capstone, which is a community service project we do in eighth grade. And it's like this big thing where you pick an organization, you work for them. And so I decided in honor of Crosby, I wanted to do animal cancer, is my problem checked. So I reached out to the Animal Cancer Foundation and to my surprise, they offered to put me in a movie. And I'm like, that's normal, I'll do that.

(26:51):

And so I decided, well, I mean, what should I make to raise money? And I decided to do something dog related, bake dog treats. So yeah, that's what really,

Speaker 2 (27:08):

That's amazing to do this. I mean, when I was in eighth grade, I recall falling down the hill at my school into a pile of mud, and that was probably the biggest thing I achieved. But eighth grade's tough. Eighth grade's tough. You've got afterschool activities, you've got homework, you've got exams, you've got a social life, a budding social life. How do you do all of that normal kid stuff and also do Crosby's crunchies? How do you balance all of that?

Speaker 5 (27:40):

I cry. No, no, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. It doesn't get any better. It doesn't get, I'm kidding. I don't really have much of a social life, so that doesn't get any better either. And I did a lot of it over the summer when I had more free time. So that was part of it. And then I had my family that supported me, and we have a capstone advisor, which is a teacher that walks you through Capstone, and she helped me with balancing it and stuff. So there's that. That's how I balanced it.

Speaker 2 (28:30):

That's good.

Speaker 5 (28:31):

Mostly crying though.

Speaker 2 (28:35):

I wish I couldn't relate, but alas.

Speaker 3 (28:39):

So fun fact, for our listeners and our viewers as we're doing this interview, Magnolia, you're also being video taped for this film that with the Animal Cancer Foundation. So no pressure. You're doing great. But I know that this film is not only going to show your successes, but also the moments of doubt, some of the burnt batches of Crosby's Crunchies, any rejection and just basically the curves that an endeavor like this can throw at you. What keeps you going when things get hard? And was there one particular down moment that you'd like to share that you overcame?

Speaker 5 (29:22):

So we originally intended to bake two different types of treats. The Crosby's Crunchies was going to be the brand, and then we were going to have peanut butter, banana bites and sweet potato something. The banana bites were a success. They turned out great. They were easy to make the sweet potato ones. When we tried rolling them out, the entire batter stuck to the rolling pin. No matter how much flour I put on it, I was so close, I just, all the flour all over it.

Speaker 3 (30:04):

Oh my gosh.

Speaker 5 (30:07):

And the baked product wasn't worth, we lost half of the batter because it kept getting stuck to the wrong pin. And so we decided this isn't worth it. So we scrapped that recipe. That was one of the main obstacles. As for what keeps me going, I just remember that Crosby would absolutely love these treats. I decided I'm going to make enough for that him, so that hopefully if he's somewhere he can sneak down and steal one. I love that. Just like floating treat.

Speaker 2 (30:49):

So you were talking about you have the support of your family and that Capstone advisor, but you've received a lot of community support too from local markets and people online. I mean, they're making a Hecken movie out of you. So how does it feel knowing that your story is inspiring so many others to do good in their own way?

Speaker 5 (31:12):

It's kind of surprising because going into this, I thought, okay, I'll raise 150 bucks, do my capstone, it's done right,

Speaker 2 (31:21):

Getting a

Speaker 5 (31:23):

Yay, and then it turned into something that's like, I feel like it's so much bigger than me. And as I've been going through this, all the people I've encountered have been sharing stories about their pets and pet loss with me as well. When I did the farmer's market, there were so many people who would talk about their pets and their experiences, and that just made me feel so inspired, and I'm blanking on words. And it made me realize that I'm not alone. Other people who've gone through this too.

Speaker 3 (32:04):

Yeah, yeah. And along those lines, for our listeners or viewers who may be going through having lost a pet just recently or having an ill pet, what would you want them to know about how to cope with that grief through finding a purpose?

Speaker 5 (32:30):

Well, something that really helped me get through was I had also lost a pet. I mean, I had lost a pet, but I had a friend who had also lost a pet at the same time as me to cancer. So we bonded over that and I spent time with my family, but I didn't just do that. I also did things to distract myself or to cope with it. I watched a lot of sad things and listened to a lot of sad music, and it helped me process my emotions and my loss and get through it. So that's how I got through it.

Speaker 3 (33:12):

That's a very grownup thing for you to do. That's not easy to do, but you're right, it does help you get through it.

Speaker 5 (33:20):

Also just like sad things.

Speaker 2 (33:22):

Yeah. I mean, sometimes you just have to walk with your Walkman. You don't even know what that is in the pouring rain and listen to a sad song. It helps. Well, we've been talking a lot about this upcoming documentary. It's called Magnolia. What was it? Magnolia

Speaker 3 (33:42):

Makes the difference.

Speaker 2 (33:43):

Makes a difference. I almost said Bakes the day. And I was like, that would make no sense. Why would they call that Magnolia Bakes a Difference? Which is an amazing title. And I think Producer Sam has the trailer ready for us. So we're going to take a sneak peek at the trailer now.

Speaker 6 (33:58):

He was sitting there wagging his tail. He was my little brother.

Speaker 7 (34:02):

It's really hard to tell a child that their best friend's going to die.

Speaker 6 (34:06):

He was diagnosed with lymphoma

Speaker 5 (34:08):

When

Speaker 7 (34:08):

It was her turn to pick a

Speaker 5 (34:09):

Project she knew. So I looked up animal cancer places. Hi Magnolia. We're really excited to hear about your goal to help. What if we make dog treats? Do you think you can make a bunch of them? I think so.

Speaker 8 (34:21):

As long as I can remember. She's loved animals.

Speaker 5 (34:24):

We are going to donate all the money to animal cancer. That's what the whole project's about. Wow. We have there supposed to be no audio?

Speaker 2 (34:35):

I'm not sure. I dunno. They'll fix. That's not our job. We don't have to worry about that. They'll fix

Speaker 3 (34:42):

It. We couldn't fix that if we tried. But fortunately Sam and Ron know what they're

Speaker 2 (34:45):

Doing. They'll fix that.

Speaker 3 (34:47):

So is there a release date for the documentary yet?

Speaker 5 (34:55):

Maybe Spring, I'm sure once we

Speaker 3 (34:58):

Have the

Speaker 2 (34:59):

You're already wise putting it generally saying Spring is great.

Speaker 3 (35:03):

Yeah,

Speaker 2 (35:03):

That's smart.

Speaker 3 (35:05):

Don't get in any trouble. Even

Speaker 2 (35:06):

Better would be next year you say. Yeah, next year.

Speaker 3 (35:12):

I'm sure we'll be updating all of our listeners when we do have a release date. But I have a very important question and that is where can we go to purchase Crosby's Crunchies?

Speaker 5 (35:26):

So we're going to Super Pet Expo in January. In January, and I'll be selling my treats there, a few cafes. And we're also going to be in a few cafes, so maybe check us out online.

Speaker 2 (35:45):

Alright.

Speaker 5 (35:46):

I love it. I

Speaker 2 (35:47):

Love it. Well, super Pet Expo a blast. You're going to have a really good time. Magnolia, you are inspirational. If I was half the person that you were when I was 13, I wouldn't have to be sitting here in a Santa sweater doing a podcast probably. So keep up all the amazing work. I hope you stick with it. If you don't, it's okay. You're only 13. You could change your life entirely. A million times. Still million. But I hope in a few years that you are an up and coming pet entrepreneur and we'll have you back on the podcast as a successful business woman.

Speaker 3 (36:24):

That's right. It was great to, I might get too tired.

Speaker 2 (36:29):

I get you are. You get it.

Speaker 5 (36:32):

I'm going to slip for three years.

Speaker 2 (36:34):

There you go. That's fair. Hibernation. That's fair. You've earned it. There you go. You've earned it. What an amazing young lady.

Speaker 3 (36:46):

So impressive, so unspoken for 13.

Speaker 2 (36:50):

I was an idiot when I was 13. I was dumb as dirt.

Speaker 3 (36:53):

So was, I

Speaker 2 (36:54):

Don't

Speaker 3 (36:55):

Think I was as dumb as dirt, but I was nothing like Magnolia.

Speaker 2 (36:59):

I didn't have the attention span to do stuff like that, to actually see a project through that. I didn't have the attention span for Boy Scouts. I didn't have the attention span for baseball. I had to do a sport that you played the whole time.

Speaker 3 (37:13):

You could play one inning baseball.

Speaker 2 (37:15):

Right. So I think that's really, really awesome. I mean, we've had a few young pet product entrepreneurs, but Magnolia has a very special and touching story that's very different from the other stories we've heard on this podcast and around in the industry. So wishing her nothing but the best and a happy middle school experience.

Speaker 3 (37:42):

Right. And we will definitely keep you posted on that release date for Magnolia Bakes A

Speaker 2 (37:46):

Difference. Absolutely. The producers would never let us live it down the product of the week. Yeah. Alright, it's time for this year's Ho Ho Christmas edition of the product of the Week. I'll kick us off here, Kristen. And we've got this nice little baking themed episode going on with Christmas and baking all these wonderful dog treats for our furry friends. And I have a feeling that you're thinking at home. Well, how do I do that? Well, three Dog Bakery, which makes all sorts of confections and pastries and treats for animals actually sells cake and cupcake and cooking mix that makes it as easy as baking human stuff. I've never baked anything from scratch ever. I go to the store, I go consult my good friend and longtime listener of the Pet Side Life podcast, Betty Crocker, and I look at the back of the box and I buy some eggs and I get some vegetable oil and I make mediocre cupcakes. Well, you too can make mediocre cupcakes for your pet. I'm sure they're delicious. But it is the same concept. You add applesauce, vegetable oil, and eggs to whip up a tasty dog friendly cake. A box of this stuff runs you like six bucks.

Speaker 3 (39:21):

Pizza does

Speaker 2 (39:22):

Golden to Chewy the link I provides Chewy. Sure. Amazon has it. You probably get it straight through the Three Dog Bakery website too. Nice little holiday activity for you to do with your loved ones and your pets.

Speaker 3 (39:34):

Chris, I find it hard to believe that you've never baked anything from scratch, coming from a guy who makes his own pickles.

Speaker 2 (39:42):

Yeah, I love cooking, but cooking is an art. Baking is a science, and I don't mess with it because you put it in the oven and you just have to have trust and I trust nobody

Speaker 3 (39:52):

And you just do this and hope it comes out

Speaker 2 (39:55):

And it never comes out right For me. I'm not trusting anybody in this economy. If I can't mess with it and taste it on the stove top, it's not great. I do make my own pickles though. They're good little pickle hands going into a little pickle jar. I made Kristen once cry hysterics at a dinner in Las Vegas talking about making pickles during the pandemic.

Speaker 3 (40:16):

You did.

Speaker 2 (40:16):

It's one of our earliest memories together.

Speaker 3 (40:19):

It left an impression.

Speaker 2 (40:20):

I

Speaker 3 (40:20):

Mean, I'm still talking about,

Speaker 2 (40:22):

And now we have a podcast from Pickles

Speaker 3 (40:26):

To podcast,

Speaker 2 (40:26):

Dude, from Pickles to podcast.

Speaker 3 (40:29):

Okay. So alright, I decided since we're leaning kind of heavy into the dogs on this show, I picked a cat product. Nice. This is from a company called Knots of Fun. Now I've actually featured this company before because they make dog toys, but they finally came out with a cat version. And in December and in January, a lot of cats are going to be spending, well, probably spending a lot of time indoors, especially if they're indoor cats. But they need toys, they need things for you to play with them. And this is really cool Polar tech fleece made in the USA. And what they do is they braid these really tightly and they put these cute little kind of a, I dunno what you call this little feather wand kind of thing on the end. And I think, and they're only 12 bucks. And I think a really good idea would be to sprinkle catnip on this thing and then maybe hide it somewhere for your cat to find just a really fun toy. But it's going to be the most fun if you play with your cat with this

Speaker 1 (41:34):

Toy. Yes.

Speaker 3 (41:35):

So that's really important because our cats need exercise enrichment and that's a great way to do it. So check out Knots of Fun. I love this company. They're out of the north, the Pacific Northwest, and they're finally making things for cats as well.

Speaker 2 (41:54):

Yay.

Speaker 3 (41:55):

Yay.

Speaker 2 (41:55):

Yay. Ka. Awesome q and a. Alright, Kristen, it's time for our favorite part of the episode. We are going to answer two questions from our lovely audience, and I know what you're thinking. How do I get my question answered by Chris and Kristen? While you're going to head on over to pets at life.org/podcast, scroll on down to the bottom of the page and you'll see a form to submit your question. Or if you're feeling as brave as Rudolph leading Santa Slay, you could record a voice memo and your question may be played live on our show. That would be cool. It would be pretty cool if you did that. So I've got a question here for you, Kristen, that comes from Lily in Phoenix, Arizona. Thank you for the question Lily. Lily asks, my dog loves to watch tv, especially when there are other animals on screen. Do pets actually recognize what they're seeing or are they just reacting to movement and sound?

Speaker 3 (43:02):

I love this question, Lily. And as you may or may not know, this Pet's ad Live podcast is co-produced by Dog tv. And I kind of wish Ron, our producer, was here to answer this one because he actually created dog tv. And here's my best attempt at the answer. So Ron, I hope I do be proud here. So dogs have what's called Dichromatic vision. So they can see blues and yellows, but they struggle with reds and greens. There's many studies on this, and if you go to dog tv.com and I think there's a button that says science or something like that, you can read all about the science and data that shows that dogs do watch TV and they all react a little bit differently. But once they found that dogs are more likely to show interest when they see other animals on the screen, particularly dogs, although my dog tulip will bark at any animal on the screen.

(43:59):

And also 45% of dogs vocalize or approach the screen when they heard or saw dogs on tv. So yes dogs, not all dogs, but many dogs will watch tv. But even the dogs that don't appear to be watching, they can definitely interact with the sounds. And that's one of the reasons the dog TV was created was to help dogs that maybe are spending time home alone to be more calm and relaxed because they specifically develop content for dogs based upon how dogs hear and how dogs see. So even though you might have a dog that doesn't appear to be watching, they are listening for sure. And there can be lots of benefits for dogs and tv

Speaker 2 (44:49):

And it's fun. There's some fun stuff on there. I think one of the cool things dog TV does is adjust the colors for the dog content because dogs don't see and color the way we do. So it's really cool research that was done to create this amazing platform for your dogs to enjoy. You're watching Netflix dogs watching dog tv. Everybody's happy.

Speaker 3 (45:13):

Okay, so Chris, I have a question for you. This one comes from Jordan in Minneapolis. I bet it's cold in Minneapolis today. Is it true that pets can sense when we're sick, like detecting illnesses or changes in our mood before we even realize something's wrong?

Speaker 2 (45:31):

The short answer is yes. The long answer is longer, but I'll give a medium answer. Do dogs know we're sick? I don't know if dogs know what sick is, but there is science to back that Dogs have such a sensitive sense of smell that they could actually detect chemical changes in the body. So things that are non-detectable to humans, like if you have an infection, it might change the way your breath smells or the way your sweat smells because of the presence of that bacteria. And they know enough to know you're not feeling well. That's why when I was a kid and I'd be homesick from school, my cats would always cuddle up next to me even though they were not cuddly cats that they knew. They knew that something was different. They knew that something had changed. And I mean, you've seen all this amazing content on things like the diabetic assistant dogs who could sense the changes in their owner's blood sugar. And that's all through their incredible sense of smell. So do they know that you're sick? Are they diagnosing you? I don't know. I'm not a dog and I never will be. But are they capable of that level of empathy? Absolutely. Absolutely. And that brings us to the end of this very special Christmas episode of Pets at Life. I hope everybody enjoys their Christmas coming up in just a couple days here.

(47:03):

We'll be back next week in between Christmas and New Year's. Check in on what Santa brought everybody. But we'll see you guys in a week.

Speaker 6 (47:11):

Paula, la, la, la, la, la, la, la la. He was sitting there wagging his tail. He was my little brother.

Speaker 7 (47:18):

It's really hard to tell a child that their best friend's going to die.

Speaker 6 (47:22):

He was diagnosed with lymphoma

Speaker 7 (47:24):

When it was her turn to pick a project she knew.

Speaker 5 (47:27):

So I looked up animal cancer places. Hi Magnolia. We're really excited to hear about your goal to help. What if we make dog treats? Do you think you can make a bunch of them? I think so.

Speaker 8 (47:37):

As long as I can remember. She's loved animals.

Speaker 5 (47:40):

We are going to donate all the money to animal cancer because that's what the whole project's about.

Speaker 1 (47:47):

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 Bon, powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog TV.