Episode 1: How Do Pets Add Life? The Science Behind the Human Animal Bond & Pet Ownership

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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.

00:00:00:07 - 00:00:11:13
Kristen Levine
Welcome. It is the very first episode of our podcast Pets Add Life, and today in the show we're going to talk about dream dates with rescue dogs, and you're going to find out who Chris Bonifati is and who I am. Kristin Levine.

00:00:12:14 - 00:00:23:07
Voice Over
Pets Add Life. Your guide to the latest in pet trends, products, and the joy of the human animal bond, with Kristin Levine and Chris Bonifati powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog TV.

00:00:23:09 - 00:00:25:16
Kristen
We’re finally here Chris, our first show.

00:00:25:18 - 00:00:28:13
Chris Bonifati
Yeah, the first one. First of many, hopefully.

00:00:28:15 - 00:00:49:03
Kristen
Yeah, yeah for sure. Yeah. This is Pets at Life's the podcast, and I'm Kristin Levine and my my cohort here is Chris Bonifati. So let's just give a short background on us. I've been in the industry for over 30 years. I've been educating about pet parenting for a long time on my blog, Pet Living. How about you, Chris?

00:00:49:08 - 00:00:50:14
Kristen
Where are you? Where do you come from?

00:00:50:17 - 00:01:13:15
Chris
Involved for about nine years now, I got involved in the pet industry pretty much straight out of college, so it's been my entire career. I work for APPA and Global Pet Expo. I get to meet a ton of interesting, pet brand owners and pet retailers and pet parents. so I'm hoping to bring some of their stories, to light when in this beautiful audio and video format.

00:01:14:22 - 00:01:30:08
Kristen
Absolutely. And we're gonna this show is for you guys, the pet parents. So we're going to share stories with you to inspire and make you laugh. We're going to share our must have or must try products with you that you might not know about. And, we're also going to have some really great guests come on the show.

00:01:30:10 - 00:01:33:17
Chris
Yeah. And we're hoping we make you laugh along the way a little bit, too.

00:01:33:19 - 00:01:36:19
Kristen
Yeah, we want to earn your five star review.

00:01:36:22 - 00:01:40:09
Chris
Yeah. And I'm willing to work for a five star review. So if you have any questions.

00:01:41:08 - 00:01:54:03
Chris
Or comments already, I know we're only at the intro, but if you have, if you are already wondering and have burning questions, be sure to submit them so that we can answer them. We're going to get to some of those questions. towards the end of the episode.

00:01:54:05 - 00:01:58:23
Voice Over
Kristen and Chris present story time.

00:01:58:25 - 00:02:15:17
Kristen
So so let's I'm going to start my story. You know, you don't know anything about my story and I don't know about yours. So we like to kind of keep that surprise element going. I think I teased it in the open. it's it's a, it's a story about dream dates for dogs. So I came across the story on the Dodo yesterday.

00:02:15:24 - 00:02:17:10
Kristen
Where do you know about the dodo?

00:02:17:10 - 00:02:20:12
Chris
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, very familiar with the dodo.

00:02:20:14 - 00:02:46:11
Kristen
Yeah. Great. Heartwarming pet stories on the dodo. Yeah. And they started these episodes, these short video episodes. They're only like five minutes each. And they've paired celebrities like Scarlett Johansson and Antoni Porowski. They pair them with rescue dogs. And they. The celeb has to plan a dream date for the rescue dog. And so they they meet up and they show you the whole day how they spend the day together.

00:02:46:13 - 00:03:10:26
Kristen
like Scarlett Johansson was with a rescue pedi named Ocean, and she took ocean for a spa day and she got a massage. She got a bath, you know, she, you know, she had some play dates and. But what's really cool about this is that the stories are shared on Scarlett Johansson's massive social following their shared on the Dodo, which is also a massive, platform.

00:03:10:29 - 00:03:22:16
Kristen
And then, of course, the shelters and rescues involved, promote that. That pet is looking for adoption. So it's a really great way to, you know, to highlight pet adoption and to get these pets pet home. So a good use of a celebrity's time in my opinion.

00:03:22:18 - 00:03:45:22
Chris
Yeah, absolutely. What do I have to do to earn a spa day with Scarlett Johansson? Somebody somebody let me know. I was scouring the web as well for my story, and for the first episode, I wanted to find something, positive. And fun, and that'll make everybody feel good. So, through The independent, I saw a story about a Pennsylvania animal shelter, the Adams County SPCA.

00:03:45:22 - 00:04:10:23
Chris
They've been open for, 47 years. So these and it's been run by the same people for 47 years is a long time to commit yourself to, you know, helping stray animals find new homes. And for the first time in 47 years, they have run out of animal adoptions. All of the animals in their SPCA have been adopted.

00:04:10:25 - 00:04:34:09
Chris
they said, this is the the owner said two weeks ago our kennels were almost filled and now we don't have any dogs in the building at all. Our last cat came in as a stray a little bit ago, but has already been promised to a new family. So what an incredible story. I always encourage people adopt, don't shop, look around for ways that you could rescue or foster.

00:04:34:12 - 00:04:38:16
Chris
and, with your help, we can have even more stories like this.

00:04:38:18 - 00:04:44:24
Kristen
Oh, I love that one. That's great. I wonder, do they do any special promotion to empty out the shelters or.

00:04:44:26 - 00:05:13:10
Chris
No, they they said that they actually became quite overwhelmed. I think it just sometimes things just click and things start going right. There's sometimes no rhyme and reason to it at all. and I'm sure that within their community, there's, there have been steps taken to lower the number of strays. I mean, that's the best way to help animals is, you know, make sure your animals are fixed, and, and, ensure that they're, they're being housed properly and things like that.

00:05:13:10 - 00:05:34:09
Chris
So sometimes it's just, a two pronged assault, I suppose, where, you're lowering the number of animals that need help and increasing the number of families willing to take a new pet. And I think it's really inspiring. and if anybody ever has, free time, your local SPCA can almost guarantee they're looking for volunteers. So look into that if you feel like lending a hand.

00:05:34:12 - 00:05:42:10
Kristen
Absolutely. Hey, that's where I got my start. My pet career. I worked for the SPCA of Tampa over 15 years. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Wow. That's a great adoption.

00:05:42:10 - 00:05:46:16
Chris
And I'm already learning so much about you.

00:05:46:19 - 00:06:05:15
Kristen
okay. Well, let's let's jump into our first guest. I love this guy. He is a great asset to the pet industry. And I think, I think our listeners are going to really be interested to learn more about what he's doing with his organization. His name is Steve Feldman. He's the president of the Human Animal Bond Research Institute, or Hab for short.

00:06:05:18 - 00:06:16:14
Kristen
And have read basically, they fund scientific research on the positive impacts that pets have on human health and well-being. And I met up with him recently in San Diego. So check out our chat.

00:06:16:17 - 00:06:24:06
Voice Over
Beyond the Leash Exploring the untold Stories of pet passion and professionalism.

00:06:24:09 - 00:06:34:23
Kristen
I am excited to introduce you to our very first guest on the podcast, Steve Feldman from HABRI, which stands for Human Animal Bond Research Institute. Welcome, Steve.

00:06:34:25 - 00:06:37:07
Steve
I am so honored to be the first guest.

00:06:37:08 - 00:06:40:00
Kristen
How did you score the first interview?

00:06:40:02 - 00:06:59:28
Steve
Well, I could tell you why. It's because pets add life. And that's not just the feeling there's actual science behind it. HABRI does the scientific research to show why pets add life, why they're good for our mental health, why they're good for our physical health. But it's really all about the bond. Yeah. And what a what a great way to kick this off.

00:06:59:29 - 00:07:14:12
Kristen
Exactly. And I'm so excited to talk to you about this. So I think we're all, all of us pet parents. We're familiar with the human animal bond and what it means to us. But when did we actually start recognize it, recognizing it and researching it?

00:07:14:15 - 00:07:43:06
Steve
Well, those are two questions, right? Because when do we start recognizing it? I'm going to say 30,000 years ago when the when we first started taking, you know, dogs into our into our lives. Yeah, they we helped them survive. They helped us survive. And so we began this this love affair between cats. And then, of course, cats. You know, you can't look at ancient Egypt or places like that where cats were revered.

00:07:43:06 - 00:08:02:16
Steve
And so we've had these animals in our lives for a long time. And that's really the the origins of the bond. Yeah. Now we started studying it probably, you know, back in the 70s and 80s, but it's really picked up later. number of academic centers, the number of places that are studying the human animal bond has exploded.

00:08:02:23 - 00:08:12:29
Steve
And because we, give out research money. Yeah, we've seen a real increase in the quality and number of places that are submitting for grants to study this.

00:08:12:29 - 00:08:33:05
Kristen
That's fantastic. Now, we're coming to you today from the pet leadership, Pet Industry Leadership Summit. And I heard you give an update earlier, for the industry. And I wanted to ask you some specific questions around that. For example, what are you working on now? that is going to help improve the lives of pets and people in that in the very near future.

00:08:33:08 - 00:08:57:06
Steve
But, you know, we're really focused on research with impact. So I'll give you an example. We just, had published a study we funded at the University of Georgia, which placed foster cats with older people living alone. Right. so guess what happened? The mental health improved for the for the humans. Right. the the loneliness scores went down, so people were less lonely.

00:08:57:06 - 00:09:04:03
Steve
They had better mental health. And it was great for the cats. Almost everyone in the study ended up adopting the the force.

00:09:04:04 - 00:09:06:10
Kristen
And why does that not surprise us? Right?

00:09:06:12 - 00:09:27:22
Steve
Right. So so think about what that means. if we could really help with the epidemic of loneliness, especially affecting older Americans, right? If we could help clear out the shelters by getting more foster cats into those homes, we can help both the people and the pets. And if we could scale that up, just think about what a difference that would be.

00:09:27:22 - 00:09:40:06
Kristen
Right? And I think I heard you say, wasn't it something like if just to percent, there was 2% more foster homes for these animals and these cats, we could eradicate the, you know, feline.

00:09:40:06 - 00:09:46:24
Steve
Products, right? We can get rid of unnecessary euthanasia shelters. Right. and we can make a lot of people happier and healthier.

00:09:46:27 - 00:09:56:15
Kristen
That's awesome. So what what kind of therapies or interventions are gaining more acceptance now? Are really getting starting to get traction, due to some of your research?

00:09:56:17 - 00:10:17:04
Steve
Well, one of the things I'm really proud of, I think we're all really proud of is, service dogs for veterans with post-traumatic stress. For a long time, the Veterans Administration wouldn't, support these programs. They said there wasn't enough evidence. So we went out and funded some of the most important research. Right. showing the benefits of service dogs for veterans.

00:10:17:06 - 00:10:30:17
Steve
And then Congress passed legislation, appropriating $10 million, so that they can fund more service dogs, for these veterans. So that's that's life saving. And it's based on the research that we did. So I'm really proud of that.

00:10:30:17 - 00:10:33:29
Kristen
And how many years is it been since since that started?

00:10:34:02 - 00:10:53:13
Steve
well, the research was, 2018. Okay. So very brief lives. And the legislation passed in 2021. Right. and now we're seeing those dogs getting out there and helping people. A lot of the private organizations have waiting lists, and if we can, we can help people get these dogs sooner. We can really save lives.

00:10:53:13 - 00:11:08:19
Kristen
Sure. So talk to us a little bit about, how for the average pet parent, watching or listening, how can we benefit from having this research? And second question, how can we get involved?

00:11:08:21 - 00:11:33:01
Steve
Well, we are a nonprofit. The Human animal Bond Research Institute is a 501 C3 nonprofit organization. We happily accept donations, so that's an easy way to get. Yes. so many organizations like the American Pet Products Association, which is one of our founding organizations, help keep us going. So, so many folks in the pet industry help helping us do this research.

00:11:33:03 - 00:11:54:04
Steve
But I think the public can help, too. Yeah. One of the other things really is to just go to have records, right. Look at the research and share it. Yeah. people are always looking for great things to put on their social media, right? Pets are the most popular, right? But why not put a little data on some facts similar to showing why pets are good for us?

00:11:54:06 - 00:12:00:25
Steve
And here's the secret sauce. When people know that pets are good for them and that there's science behind it, they'll actually take better care of their pets.

00:12:00:27 - 00:12:23:17
Kristen
That's incredible. And I love that. I love that suggestion. If you're looking for something to put on social media, go to HABRI.org and post something positive and uplifting about pets. Spread the word about the incredible research, database that you all have. And, we're going to make the world a better place with your help for pets and people.

00:12:23:20 - 00:12:25:03
Steve
Pets Add Life. That's what we're all about.

00:12:25:03 - 00:12:28:02
Kristen
That's right. Thank you so much for being our first guest.

00:12:28:07 - 00:12:29:00
Steve
Wonderful to be here.

00:12:29:04 - 00:12:31:22
Kristen
Okay. All right. I'll see you in a bit.

00:12:31:24 - 00:12:53:24
Chris
Pets add life. It really was a pleasure to hear from Steve Feldman. And Abby is near and dear to my heart. it's one of the things that APPA helps fund. I'm a firm believer in science and the scientific method, being able to measure things like the positive effect that pets have on our livelihood. It's something we all feel, but it's so difficult to measure though.

00:12:53:24 - 00:12:58:16
Chris
So thank you, Steve, for joining us and providing that context. for all of the listeners at home.

00:12:58:18 - 00:13:20:23
Kristen
Yeah, you can find out more at HABRI.org too, if you want to learn more or donate. So now so what we do here on the Pet Side Life podcast is we feature two different guests. so this next guest, you know, Chris, I believe you work with her. that is true. She is the esteemed doctor Kerry O'Hara, PhD.

00:13:20:27 - 00:13:43:11
Kristen
She's the chief insights officer at the American Pet Products Association. And, you know, data and psych psychology geeks are going to love this, because Kerry is going to dig into the spending analytics and the consumer behavior. And with her background in psychology, she could tell us how and why we make the pet and the pet decisions we make and the products that we purchase, just because she kind of knows how that all works.

00:13:43:11 - 00:13:48:15
Kristen
So, again, I saw her in San Diego recently, and here's our chat.

00:13:48:18 - 00:13:54:24
Voice Over
Beyond the Leash exploring the untold stories of pet passion and professionalism.

00:13:54:27 - 00:14:14:06
Kristen
I am so excited for you all to meet my guest. First of all, let me tell you that we are coming to you from the Pet Industry Leadership Summit in sunny Coronado, and I'm joined by Doctor Kerry O'Hara and hello, Doctor Kerry, and you have such an incredible job with the American Pet Products Association.

00:14:14:06 - 00:14:15:04
Kerry
Yes, absolutely.

00:14:15:04 - 00:14:16:21
Kristen
Tell it tell us about a little bit about it.

00:14:16:21 - 00:14:32:24
Kerry
So I am chief insights officer at the American Pet Products Association. It's a brand new role that was created last year that we can, elevate to the intelligence of the pet industry at the American Pet Products Association. So very excited to join with you today.

00:14:32:24 - 00:14:42:23
Kristen
Well, I'm grateful that you had the time to chat with us today before we get into the business of of our discussion, I would like for you to tell me about your precious puppies.

00:14:42:28 - 00:15:06:29
Kerry
Oh, is. Well, my puppies are not really puppies. They're going to be three years old. there's two of them. Their sisters are from the same litter. One is Cassandra and the other is Zoe, and they are 105 pounds each. My little mutt, baby. So they're, Great Dane boxer mixes. They're just love bugs. And they are both very, very, very certain of that.

00:15:06:29 - 00:15:20:03
Kerry
They are lapdogs. So, they left off their big lap dogs. So they they're about the same size as me. So they just, you know, sit right down on my lap and, you can't even see me anymore. Those are my baby. Well, you.

00:15:20:03 - 00:15:20:29
Kristen
Light up when you talk.

00:15:20:29 - 00:15:22:29
Kerry
About. Oh, yes. Absolutely.

00:15:23:01 - 00:15:37:20
Kristen
Okay, so let's talk business a little bit here. you are the chief insights officer. And, what I'd like for you to help the audience understand is how does what you do with the American Pet Products Association, how does that relate to us as pet parents?

00:15:37:22 - 00:16:10:11
Kerry
That's a really great question. So one of the the things that we are dedicated to doing it at the American Pet Products Association is to increase the intelligence of the pet owning community. And part of that is highlighting the benefits of pet ownership, similar to what other industries and, and other organizations do inside of our industry. But it's also to educate pet owners, and people who surround the pet owners, like veterinarians and organizations to help grow this industry.

00:16:10:18 - 00:16:39:12
Kerry
One of our key, initiatives is, is not just to educate the the intelligence of the community, but to help the community thrive. We're really interested in helping this community thrive. Right. And the first way of doing that is to show is to highlight the incredible things that happen, the decisions that millions of pet owners make on a daily, weekly, hourly, basis to enrich the, the, lives of their pets and, and our industry as a whole.

00:16:39:17 - 00:16:52:25
Kristen
Excellent. That's a great explanation. So tell us, what are some of the trends, in the past five years? Let's let's go there first. What are some of the trends in the pet industry that are meaningful?

00:16:52:27 - 00:17:18:06
Kerry
That's a really good question. Well, think about what's happened in the past five years a lot. I mean, we've had a little thing called Covid, right? So specific to the last five years, what we've seen is, since 2019, which is our pre-COVID period, 2018, we have certain behaviors or preferences, ways of shopping, learning, all that kind of thing that really changed significantly when Covid happened.

00:17:18:09 - 00:17:44:06
Kerry
industry expanded or industry, closures were systematic across the board. People had to pivot their behaviors. So new behaviors emerged. And then now that we're out of the the what we call the post-Covid recovery era, we're really starting to see which of those Covid behaviors that cause pivots in pet owner behaviors, which persisted and which ones have gone away for good.

00:17:44:08 - 00:17:54:24
Kerry
So it's been a really interesting, place to really, you know, unpack what some of those pivots have been and, and which ones came back with the with a vengeance.

00:17:54:24 - 00:18:14:28
Kristen
Right, right. Yeah. I think we can all remember we all have stories in our minds about pet care during, during the pandemic. And, as we're going to learn, I'm sure there are some positive things that came out of those pivots. And of course, that some not so positive or not so convenient. Right. okay. So what trends are there any trends?

00:18:14:28 - 00:18:22:26
Kristen
Because you spend your time digging through the data all the time. are there trends that with surprise, the average pet owner? Well, I think that.

00:18:22:26 - 00:18:43:13
Kerry
There are there are three main trends that we're, that we're tracking, I would say at this point, and they really have to do with, with these post-Covid pivots that we're seeing. But the first and the foremost, I think, and maybe what might be most surprising for pet owners, because, you know, when you're just, you know, with Cassandra and Zoe at home, you're not thinking about the largesse of our industry.

00:18:43:16 - 00:19:20:07
Kerry
but the pet industry, since I think we we've been tracking it for a very long time, industry expenditure has been strong and will continue to be very strong for the foreseeable future. We've been tracking industry expenditures, since 2009, and and we're projecting out to 2030. It's going to be almost a $300 billion industry by 2030. And that's in some and some sectors, maybe a conservative estimate that's very similar to a Morgan Stanley released last year with their economic, forecasts.

00:19:20:09 - 00:19:20:29
Kerry
So that's a lot.

00:19:20:29 - 00:19:21:25
Kristen
Six years away.

00:19:21:25 - 00:19:44:00
Kerry
No, it's only six years away. It's not crazy. Or are you talking about 2030? It's only six years away. But I mean, that's one thing is that, you know, we we even during the depths of the recessions of 2008 to 2014, post, recession recovery, and then you had Covid happen in the post Covid happen. Even through all of that, the kegger is a compound annual growth rate.

00:19:44:00 - 00:20:15:11
Kerry
So we've been tracking during that time in this industry have remained very stable and steady over time and not just explained by inflationary indices. but really because of of, preferences that people make about how they choose to spend their dollars. So that's, that's one big thing. The second big thing is that that I think might be kind of surprising to people is that and I know, especially with our generation, because I'm a Gen Z pet owner and, it's our Gen Z owner.

00:20:15:11 - 00:20:46:24
Kerry
And for the first time, what we're seeing is that Gen Zs and millennials have equaled the, number of, of Xers and Boomers in terms of pet ownership. So for the first time, we really seeing kind of a younger, emergence of pet owner dominate our industry. We're going to continue to see that because we're not even considering Gen Z hasn't really age into the category yet, and they've already equaled the number of Xers and Boomers as as pet owners.

00:20:46:24 - 00:21:14:15
Kerry
So we have to watch out for Zs, right? from here on out, because I think they're going to be a very formidable group of pet owners. And the third one, which is also driven by younger pet owners, is that, multi pet households over time have increased significantly, mostly driven by younger people. Really. So what we're seeing as younger pet or specifically millennials and Zs are true multi pet believer households right.

00:21:14:15 - 00:21:38:06
Kerry
Much more than older generation. So it's surprising and it's it's a great kind of foreshadowing of our community because if you think about, even as the, the percentage of U.S. households that maybe owns a pet remains kind of steady over time, we're projecting very steady over time. multi pet households are only increasing and increasing increase.

00:21:38:17 - 00:21:41:05
Kristen
And that’s great, news for the industry.

00:21:41:08 - 00:21:44:20
Kerry
Couldn’t have said it better myself. So it's it's great news all around.

00:21:44:22 - 00:21:59:29
Kristen
Fantastic. And that kind of leads into my last question which is about predictions or projections of what we might expect our industry to look like in 3 to 5 years especially, you know, with the impact that the Gen Zs are making.

00:21:59:29 - 00:22:41:19
Kerry
Oh, yes. That's great. So, you know, more to come. We are, having our state of the industry that we are for 2024 and beyond, that we're highlighting at Global Pet Expo in March, which will include projections, I think, updated projections for 2030. But one thing that we're seeing right now, which is driven by younger pet owners, is that the way that they learn about the way they become aware of the where they want to shop, the the way that they have, they believe in subscriptions, for, for pet products, all of these things that younger pet owners are doing is so much different than what older pet owners are doing.

00:22:41:19 - 00:23:22:19
Kerry
And the the emergence of social media as a specifically tick tock, as a medium by which they want to learn about pet products, they want to learn, about brands. Brands are also much more important to these younger generations than they were to to Xers and to boomers. And so things like brand becomes important and things like, having a social media presence becomes very important, being able to integrate it in a omnichannel presence, understanding that are probably going to do research, online or through social media, and then maybe follow it up with a conversation with their veterinarian or something.

00:23:22:19 - 00:23:36:19
Kerry
So really understanding how, omnichannel works with, with products and services, it's going to become even more important as, as we learn more and more about how Gen Z, really wants to engage with our industry.

00:23:36:19 - 00:23:50:26
Kristen
Yeah, well, if we can get into a time machine, it would be really fun. Yeah. To fast forward 50 years and see how millennials and Gen Z have changed the life of pets and pet ownership. I'm sure it's just going to be incredibly amazing and very good for our pets.

00:23:50:26 - 00:24:10:24
Kerry
I'm sure very good for them. And we'll we'll see it unraveling real time, right? Yeah. So I mean, they are aging every year. Well, we're going to see more Zs come into our category. And they are exerting their influence as pet owners and their preferences. And so everything is I said, and how they shop and how they learn and all that kind of stuff is going to have to it's going to have to evolve.

00:24:10:25 - 00:24:21:15
Kristen
Yeah. Fantastic. Well be fun to watch. Doctor Kerry, thank you so much for joining us today. I'm going to be very excited watching the work that you do and and see what comes out of it. And thank you for doing the work.

00:24:21:19 - 00:24:23:28
Kerry
It was a pleasure. Any time.

00:24:24:01 - 00:24:27:12
Kristen
Thank you. Okay. We'll see you later.

00:24:27:15 - 00:24:57:25
Chris
You know, it's really always interesting to hear Kerry speak. She brings such a unique perspective to things. I think in our day to day life, we don't think too much about aggregate data and the way it shapes business and the economy and the decisions we make, but that's the world that Kerry lives in daily. and so being able to hear some of her insights, I'm sure may have, may have impacted some people's decision making, even because when you become aware of the decisions that you make, it even changes your behavior.

00:24:57:28 - 00:25:02:06
Chris
So, thanks, Kerry, for for joining us. It's always interesting to hear you speak.

00:25:02:09 - 00:25:06:11
Kristen
I think I want to start reading some of my decisions by her before I make them.

00:25:06:14 - 00:25:15:08
Chris
They're that smart. She's incredibly intelligent and wise. The product of the week.

00:25:15:11 - 00:25:39:25
Kristen
All right. Chris, it's this is one of my favorite parts of the show, you know, sharing our product ideas. Yeah. So, mine this week is very low tech but very high function. it's called is called. And it's great for bonding with your pet. So it's this tool called Hands on gloves. And what these are are they are like nylon gloves that you put on.

00:25:39:27 - 00:26:11:26
Kristen
And they have these little rubber nubs on the inside of your palm and fingers, and they're used to you can use them to groom your pet and any pet with hair so it can be dark cat, horse, you know, rabbit, whatever. Use them to groom, to massage, to like shed. So they're multi-functional and and, you know, my dog and cat would always come running when I would get the gloves out because it just meant it was time for, like, that soothing, that soothing moment of massage and spa kind of feeling.

00:26:12:00 - 00:26:15:02
Kristen
So have you ever seen those?

00:26:15:04 - 00:26:26:09
Chris
Now that you mention it, it's like one of those things I forgot existed. And then as soon as you said they're gloves, you put them. I've definitely seen them before. and now I'm thinking I might need them.

00:26:26:12 - 00:26:43:18
Kristen
Yeah, well, this the hands on brand is the actually original. the guy that developed. I forget his name, but he's. He's really cool guy. He developed these things that he he started out with horses, so he found that they were really handy way to, you know, groom and shed the horse and and of course, they work for any animal.

00:26:43:18 - 00:27:00:24
Kristen
And my actually my husband likes when I, you know, like rub his, his head with the, the hands on gloves. It feels great. but they come in many sizes, so like, even your kids could get a pair. they come in, like, a junior size all the way up to XL, and then they come in cool colors, too.

00:27:00:24 - 00:27:15:04
Kristen
But I just think it's a really neat way to, you know, you know, I think we tend to think of, oh, it's time to brush the cat as like kind of a maybe a chore, but yeah, pet the cat, your pet your cat all the time. You're sitting there watching TV. She's in your lap. You might be petting her.

00:27:15:06 - 00:27:18:12
Kristen
You put these gloves on. You can do both at the same time.

00:27:18:14 - 00:27:34:27
Chris
Yeah. And as a cat owner, I'll tell you this much. Trying to get the cat to cooperate with the brush. Difficult. But then suddenly it's like, okay, let me pet you. And you got all that hair on your hands, and it's somebody with allergies. I don't like that. so I'll be looking into this for sure.

00:27:35:00 - 00:27:37:29
Kristen
Okay. Awesome. So what do you what do you time for?

00:27:37:29 - 00:28:09:18
Chris
My. Yeah, my product of the week. I went with the theme of sustainability here. so, it's a big push in the pet industry to, find sustainable ingredients and packaging. And, this is a, company called the Natural Dog Company that has launched all, recyclable, all plastics in all of their packaging. So 100% of the products that they ship, come in 100% recyclable packaging.

00:28:09:21 - 00:28:35:03
Chris
they're the the company name is The Natural Dog Company. You may be more familiar with them as Tuesday's Naturals. they, have natural based ingredients, organic based ingredients. But really, this 100% dedication to the packaging is what's impressive, because what you end up with when you talk about recycling as a concept, when you have mixed materials, that makes it incredibly difficult to recycle.

00:28:35:09 - 00:28:55:23
Chris
The oftentimes mixed materials makes for the best packaging. So I love to shout out these companies that are taking what certainly a financial hit because these materials are more expensive. The packaging needs to be more creative, in order to, create a product that's not just good for the animal, but also good for the Earth.

00:28:55:25 - 00:28:59:23
Kristen
Yeah. And that's what our pet parents are looking for. Sustainable product. Absolutely.

00:28:59:23 - 00:29:19:08
Chris
It's one of the fastest growing trends. And if you're listening at home and want, to learn more about sustainability in the pet industry, go, do a quick search on your favorite search search engine for the pet sustainable City Coalition. They're really leading the charge in the industry. they'll be, at Global Pet Expo, actually.

00:29:19:08 - 00:29:29:04
Chris
So you may be seeing some more news from them. and stay tuned to learn more about some of these sustainable products. I'm going to try and call them out as I see them come in.

00:29:29:06 - 00:29:33:29
Kristen
Hey, Chris and I might have missed this, but what kind of products are they? Is are we talking like shampoo?

00:29:34:03 - 00:29:56:16
Chris
So their dog treats? Yeah, they make all sorts of treats and shoes and things like that. specifically for dog this, this, this company specifically. but yes, again, it's, it's, it's that kind of thing where it's a good product for your dog. It's it's organic, it's natural. But also the packaging, is good for the planet. So it's it's really, a great concept on both both fronts there.

00:29:56:19 - 00:30:03:24
Kristen
Love it. Love it. All right. I think it's time to move into our audience Q&A. And,

00:30:03:26 - 00:30:06:12
Chris
This is my favorite part of the show.

00:30:06:15 - 00:30:20:13
Kristen
since this is our first show, you know, we're kind of going down the line of the different segments. We do. We have the, you know, we have the two stories we share with the two. We have great guests. We have the two products that we share. And then we kind of wrap things up with our two audience questions.

00:30:20:13 - 00:30:34:19
Kristen
So you guys can leave a question for us. You can submit it via audio or, or just type it into the to the question box. If you visit Pets at life.org/podcast and we just might select your question.

00:30:34:22 - 00:30:36:28
Voice Over

Q and A's.

00:30:37:01 - 00:30:40:14
Kristen
So am I one for a story or are you up for us this time?

00:30:40:16 - 00:31:00:19
Chris
I'll go first. This time, how about how about that? so a question for you coming in from Elena out of Austin, Texas. Here's the question. I've recently started working from home and noticed my cat seems more anxious than usual. Do you have any tips for helping pets adjust to having their owners home all day?

00:31:00:21 - 00:31:06:02
Kristen
Yeah. Well, and I bet, Chris, I bet you experienced this with Tiger during Covid right. When you're.

00:31:06:02 - 00:31:07:15
Chris
Absolutely absolutely.

00:31:07:18 - 00:31:31:19
Kristen
Yeah. And this is something a lot of us have experienced staying home. working from home when our pets are used to not having us at home. so, Elena, I would say a couple of things. cats are creatures of routine, and they typically don't like it too much when their routine changes. So obviously your routine has changed, meaning her environment has changed your home more often.

00:31:31:21 - 00:31:57:16
Kristen
It doesn't mean that she's not happy about that, but she had her routine. So I think that if you can just, work to establish the new routine and make sure that she also has plenty of time alone, then she's got a great warm, comfy place to go if she wants to be alone. Because if you think about it, when you were working away from the home, she had all that alone time, so that might be why she seems a little bit more anxious.

00:31:57:18 - 00:32:14:01
Kristen
And, yeah, I think that that's not really goes for a lot of pets, right, Chris like dogs to that. They're creatures of habit. They they know what time feeding time is even without a watch. So. Yeah. So yeah. Do you have anything to add to that because you have a cat.

00:32:14:04 - 00:32:32:02
Chris
Yeah I do, I do have a cat. and it's, it's funny that this question came up because as soon as we started recording and I got into my broadcast voice, my cat Tiger, who is usually behind me, just went under the bed as a way. Hi, dad. Hey. Come on. Yeah. What are we doing here? So why is he.

00:32:32:02 - 00:32:33:11
Kristen
Talking to you?

00:32:33:13 - 00:32:53:25
Chris
Why are you talking like that? So, to Kristen's point, I think having, separate space that's theirs and they know is theirs, and you don't really touch, Tiger has a special pillow she likes to lay on. And she also has a blanket near one of our windows. So, when it's sunny out, one of those spots is usually nice and sunny so that she can bask.

00:32:53:27 - 00:33:10:13
Chris
and we try not to interrupt her when she's. When she's there. And, I also understand that when a cat meows, cats don't meow to each other. They meow to people, to to humans. So when they're meowing, that's when they want attention. So if you notice that your cat is meowing a lot, they want something from you.

00:33:10:13 - 00:33:16:16
Chris
They're trying to communicate something to you. And when they're quiet, it usually means leave them alone.

00:33:16:19 - 00:33:38:15
Kristen
Yep. Good advice. so I have a question for you now, Chris. And this one comes in from Marcus in San Diego. he says, let's see. What does he say? Okay. He says, I'm thinking about adopting a second dog to keep our first dog company. What should we consider to ensure that both dogs get along well?

00:33:38:18 - 00:33:43:15
Chris
That's a great question. First, love hearing that word adopt. Just absolutely adore that.

00:33:43:18 - 00:33:45:26
Kristen
and another and in the words another dog.

00:33:45:28 - 00:34:08:14
Chris
Another. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why not a third? Come on. What were you doing over there? so I think a very important thing to think about is matching energy levels. What how does your first dog act? Is it energetic? Is it lazy? Does it go outside a lot? Does it take long walks, short walks and then try to match that energy?

00:34:08:14 - 00:34:34:22
Chris
Because what you don't want to end up with is one dog that really likes to walk. And when they go outside, they are they are moving. They're they're closing distance. And then one dog that needs to stop and smell everything, right. So really understand your dog's energy, their routine, the things that they like to do. And then do a little research on the types of different breeds and mutts that create that kind of energy.

00:34:34:24 - 00:34:54:11
Chris
there are plenty of dogs out there that need homes. So if you can't find the right breed or the right energy initially, just give it some time because it does matter. Making these decisions are important. You're bringing another another life into your home, and you want to make sure that it's working out so that you only have to make that choice once, right?

00:34:54:13 - 00:35:07:00
Chris
So I would say just figure out, really pay attention to your current dog and think about what their life is like, and try to find a dog who's going to match it, almost like you're trying to get them hitched, like married, like trying to find that acceptable and.

00:35:07:00 - 00:35:08:07
Kristen
Compatibility support.

00:35:08:07 - 00:35:19:08
Chris
For them because that's what you're doing. You are setting, you are giving, you are giving your, your current dog, in theory, a partner for life. So treat it. Treat it like a marriage.

00:35:19:10 - 00:35:37:02
Kristen
Yeah. And I would just add to that, once you do all that research and you make the right decision, give give both dogs time to adjust so they don't have to immediately spend time together in the same room. Maybe just introduce them and then give them both their own space and then just kind of slowly let them spend more time together.

00:35:37:04 - 00:35:44:06
Kristen
Unless they're super just it's very obvious they love each other. but, you know, let them ease into this relationship.

00:35:44:08 - 00:35:47:19
Chris
Absolutely. That's great advice, Kristen.

00:35:47:22 - 00:35:50:22
Kristen
Well, you know what? We've come to the close of our first show already.

00:35:50:24 - 00:36:12:23
Chris
Already, man. well, listen, if you've made it this far, thank you so much for listening or watching. If you like the show, please leave us a five star review. If you didn't like the show, leave us a five star review and tell us in the comments why you didn't like it so that we can improve. If you'd like your question answered, go to Pets Add life.org/podcast.

00:36:12:29 - 00:36:30:17
Chris
You can, record a voice memo and you may even hear yourself, which I know may be nerve wracking. So you could also write your question in, you can find us on on LinkedIn. You could find pets, add life on all sorts of different socials on that, on that page. so be sure to engage with the show in whatever capacity.

00:36:30:17 - 00:36:32:20
Chris
And thank you so much for listening.

00:36:32:22 - 00:36:34:22
Kristen
Absolutely. This was a lot of fun. Thanks, Chris.

00:36:34:22 - 00:36:37:00
Chris
No, no, no, thank you.

00:36:37:03 - 00:36:47:20
Voice Over
Pets add life. Your guide to the latest in pet trends products and the joy of the human animal bond with Christine Levine and Chris Bonifati Powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog TV.