Episode 3: You Scared the Cr@p Outta Me!

Intro:
(Happy Music 🙂 Hey, welcome to “Happy Tales of Happy Tails”, the podcast where
you’ll hear stories of the way pups have touched our hearts and our lives. So for
the next few minutes, let everything else go and just listen and smile. I’m your
host, Julie Jackson.
Julie:
Hey, friends. I’m so excited to have my friend Carrie Barton join us today. Carrie
is an avid dog lover, obviously. But one thing we did not talk about in this
episode. She’s also an extremely gifted singer. So not only will you hear a really
funny story from Carrie today, she will also tell us about a really cool business
that she has, where she has actually bundled those passions together to use them in
a way to help others and work with dogs. I will post her link with this episode so
you can check it out and learn more. So sit back and enjoy.
Carrie:
Super stoked. This is the first pod I’ve ever been on.
Julie:
Well, me too. Okay, so who are you going to tell us about?
Carrie:
Okay, so I would like to share about our Jack and we had Jack for over a decade.
He’s the Rotti I always wanted. I just always loved Rotti colors, that black and
tan. They were always so handsome. And my mom would always tell me she would disown
me if I ever got a Rottweiler because of their bad raps. Um, but he was definitely a
mix and a mutt, but he had the Rottweiler head. And His personality was very, we
nicknamed him “Suspicious Jack”, because he always kind of looked skeptical, like
you were a little sketchy, not quite sure of what the situation was. We had him in
the laundry room for the first part of his time with us and he’d had a kennel in
there and he would often go in there when it was dark and guests that were over our
house would walk by that hallway, and they would just see his eyes and this large
growl and it would scare the bejebus out of them. But um, Brian would say, my
husband would say, that he was like the creature on The Munsters you know, “Spot”,
who lived under the stairwell?
Julie:
Yes!
Carrie:
The dragon under there, because they weren’t suspecting him. But the story that that
I wanted to share, that we tell often to whoever will listen, is when it was around
Halloween time. Actually, I don’t even think it was Halloween time but there was a
certain Halloween mask that we had. And Brian put that Halloween mask on and came
downstairs with it and scared Jack so bad, that, literally, poop came out! Joke is
that, literally, Jack got the crap scared out of him. Because he did not know it was
Daddy. He just thought it was his monster coming down stairs. He barked and dropped
a duece, simultaneously! So that’s our, “Jack got the crap scared out of him” story.
Julie:
You’re kinda like, “Dude that just destroyed all the street cred that you’ve built
from watching people from under the stairs!”
Carrie:
Right? You look so rough and tough and you just couldn’t even keep your crap
together.
Julie:
Literally.
Carrie:
But we love our Jack. And his other talents, other than pooping when scared, he was
a good singer. He would always sing whenever I sang and he would do the (howl). And
it was so sweet. We have many a video of him singing with us. And he, like dogs
often do, they hide when they’re sick. And they don’t let you know sometimes until
it’s really, really serious. To change the tone of the pod real quickly. He started
one day normal as can be. And then by that evening, he was lethargic. And his tongue
was gray, and we knew something was off and so we lost him that night. We took him
in and he had splenic tumors. And we had to say goodbye to him and it was horrible
and heart wrenching. But like I said, we had over a decade of really wonderful
memories with him and we adored him. He was… so he had big, big Squishy Paws and
when he did crossy paws, when he’d sit you know or lay down with both paws stacked
on top, I’d say “Double squish, double squish”. Like double Stuffed Oreos, double
the squish.
Julie:
I love it when they do that, too. It’s like so regal or so, you know, just like so
official. Sweet Jack. That’s awesome. I love it. Bless his heart. He’s like, “Why
are you telling that story now mom?!
Carrie:
You could have told anything!”
Julie:
I know and you know what? Jack, wherever you are listening from right now she can
come back until other Jack stories later. But that one was a great one.
Carrie:
Yeah, that one, it gets a lot of laughs at parties for sure. It was the simultaneous
bark and poop drop that really did it. He was ready to defend us. But also
scared…crapless!
Julie:
Yes, but he was really scared at the same time. Good on him good on him. Okay, so
also you have a really great dog related business. Tell us about your business and
what you do.
Carrie:
So four years ago, I saw a commercial for Wag on TV and at that time, I was full
time at home and not getting out much and so with my love for dogs and the need to
get outside more, I thought this was the perfect way to get some activity in and
some exercise. So I signed up on the WAG app platform. Which, for those that have
never heard of it, it’s like Uber for dog walking. So it’s like you can do on-demand
walks, you can schedule boarding, sitting, they even do training now or 30 or 60
minute walks or 20 minutes. So I signed up for that, have been doing it ever since.
And through that have met a lot of amazing you know doggy clients and owners. And,
so through word of mouth and friends I also do private dog sitting and boarding. So
sitting is in the pet owner’s home. Boarding is when they come to our “Barkin’
Barton Bed and Breakfast”. And they just get that, you know, one on one attention,
24 hour care, potty breaks whenever needed, walks, all the love that they could ask
for. And and we love doing it and opening up our home. With Jack, unfortunately, his
personality didn’t mesh well with most dogs. So I wasn’t able to offer that boarding
option. It just wasn’t a good fit it would have caused him a lot of stress and
anxiety and would not have been safe for our fur friends visiting us. But now we
have two fur girls who love playing with all the doggy friends that come over. So
we’re able to open that up and open our home.
Julie:
I’m sure they’re like, “They all came to see me!”
Carrie:
I know. And they have a ball with them and they have no problem sharing toys and dog
beds and blankets and all the things.
Julie:
That’s cool. So I’ve never done that before. And if I wanted someone to come walk my
dog, say I wanted you to come walk my dog, if I’m at work, how does that work? Like,
how do you get the dog? How do you and if someone wanted to do that, and say they
couldn’t call you, if they were somewhere else? What are questions they should ask
like, about, you know, you know, what, what should they look for?
Carrie:
So your fur babies are like your children, you know that. And I know that. So if at
all possible, I would always recommend a meet and greet. So you know, who’s coming
into your home and you feel comfortable with the person being around your fur baby.
And that what I offer privately is a meet and greet for free. And then obviously, if
they book services, we go from there. If it’s not a good fit, that’s fine. And we
can both move on. Some great questions to ask at that meet and greet, from my end
is, you know, how would you like me to access your home? Is there a hidden key? Is
there a door code? Is there a garage code? What’s your comfort level? And what is
their feeding schedule like? Do I need to feed them when I come in? Are there any
allergies that I need to be aware of? Are there any toy agressions, leash aggression
when they’re out on the walk? And then from the pet owners perspective, same
questions, I mean, and an experience from the caregiver. You know, what is your
experience around dogs? Do you have some of your own? Have you ever volunteered at a
shelter? Are you comfortable giving meds? Or by capsule or by rectal or whatever
they need. Just the depth of their experience. And then at the end of that 20 minute
time, or 30 minute time, the goal is to be comfortable with who’s in your home?
Julie Jackson:
That’s fantastic. And I’m just kind of laughing to myself that, as a pharmacist, I
never even thought about the medication question.
Carrie:
There are definitely senior fur babies or just for babies that have chronic issues,
or ongoing illnesses from birth that that need, you know, meds every day.
Julie:
So when you, like if they have someone that comes through WAG, does that cover, is
there insurance stuff that has to be done through that?
Carrie:
Wag offers insurance and and fully vets all their caregivers with background checks.
So when a person enters your home, a caregiver, they are covered and insured by Wag.
Julie:
Okay, I wondered about that, too, because I imagine that something people would
probably they might not think that they need but probably that’s something that they
should think about.
Carrie:
Yes. And a lot of pet owners, with technology being available, they have nanny cams,
Ring cams, outdoors and indoors. So if you’re not able to schedule that meet and
greet when you’re both available in person, you have that peace of mind as a
homeowner and a pet owner. And we, as pet care providers, go into every home we
visit with that knowledge of we are most likely being recorded and we need to be
aware of that and respectful.
Julie:
Yes, yes. Yeah. It’s nice that those things are more accessible now, then, you know,
not that long ago, that was a luxury. Now, it’s a lot easier for people to have
that. So. Okay. Yeah, that is fantastic. I appreciate it. Because those are things I
thought, I wonder how that would, I would almost be afraid to do that to any poor
dog walker in our house because of the mayhem they’d be walking into. So I’ve been
like, well, we’ve never done that before. But if we did, I wouldn’t know. You know,
I mean, I know you. So that would be different. But if I didn’t know you, then I was
like, I wonder how that works and how someone would feel and know that, that
everything’s safe.
Carrie:
We had an exchange student live with us from Germany and she LOVES dogs. And so when
she heard what I did, and got to go on a couple visits with me, she’s like, “Oh,
this would never happen in Germany! You would never have someone come into your home
that you didn’t know, a complete stranger. Like we all walk our own dogs like this
is not, you know, this is definitely a big difference.”
Julie:
Yeah, yeah. But uh, you know, a lot of times it’s tough, especially, I know a lot of
people, well, our floofs were COVID dogs. A lot of people, you know, ended up with
COVID dogs, and then a lot of them were able to stay work-from-home, but a lot of
them weren’t. And then people were going back on site. And they had these dogs that
were used to someone being around all day and they weren’t accustomed to being in a
crate all day long or being on their own. And then they’re like, “What do we do with
these dogs?” So that’s, you know, fabulous that they can do that, because sometimes
it’s not like they work around the corner where they can run home and let them out
in the middle of the day. Thank you so much for your time! I appreciate it!
Carrie:
Yeah, and I think you, you are so good with, like being quick witted, and like great
with words. So if you ever needed to be on the WAG app, you have the ability to
create a profile, you know, for your dog and their personality and what to expect
and for each individual fur a baby. So I feel that, if I saw your dogs on there, I
would get a real clear picture of what I was coming into before I entered.
(laughing) I would love it. And I just would love to leave your podcast listeners
with a phrase that I that I love to say and it’s that God is dog spelled backwards
because they are the earthly evidence of his unconditional love.
Julie:
Oh, that’s SOOO true. So true. Yeah, it’s amazing. So that’s a perfect ending. I
really appreciate it. I appreciate your time!
Carrie:
Oh, it’s my pleasure. Thank you so much for the invite, and I’m glad I could come
on. It’s so good to see your face, Julie. Thanks for doing this.
Julie:
Thank you so much for being here and have a great one friends! Don’t forget to head
over to Facebook and Instagram to see pup pictures. Head to the website for your
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one y’all!