101 - Elise Proctor with Canine Company
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Summary:
On episode 101, Elise Proctor, owner of Canine Company, shares how her experiences with her own reactive dogs shaped her pet care business. Elise started her own training groups to be more inclusive and welcoming to owners of reactive dogs, and works hard to meet and set proper expectations with her clients. She also wrote a book about her best stories of being a dog walker to help shine the light on the life a pet sitter.
Topics on this episode:
Her history with reactive dogs
How she handles off-lead walks
Covid in South Lancaster
Favorite tools and equipment
Main take away? Use your own experiences to drive both the services and passion you bring to your business.
Links:
Her website
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
dogs, people, puppies, reactive, business, customers, book, pet, dog walker, gave, owners, walk, classes, confessional, suppose, clients, starting, thought, training, lancaster
SPEAKERS
Collin, Elise
00:17
I'm calling and I'm Megan. And this is pet sitter confessional.
00:20
An open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter
Collin 00:24
brought to you by time to pet. Well, hello, everybody and welcome back to another episode. Today we're so excited to have Elise Proctor on owner of canine company. She shares her experiences of having her own reactive dogs and how that has shaped and impacted her pet care business to this day, from starting her own training groups to specifically focus on owners with reactive dogs to make a more inclusive and welcoming environment to writing her very own book about her experiences as being a pet Tell shed a little bit of light on what it's like. Let's get started.
Elise 01:04
Hello, everyone. My name is Elise Proctor, and I run canine company, which is offering dog walking services and training services in Lancaster, UK. And I work with my husband and quietly quite lucky in that respect, and, and I have staff as well, and you've helped me. So
Collin 01:26
why did you decide to start canine company?
Elise 01:29
It's a long story actually. I actually used to be a history teacher of all things. And I wasn't too happy in that environment. And I quit my job. And the dog walker that I was using taught my own dog was and I contacted her and I said, I won't need a dog walker anymore because I'm unemployed. And she says, Well, do you want to do a few hours working to me and helping out with the dogs? I said, Yeah, sure. And just at They loved it. And it was just fantastic. Such a different environment, fell in love with the dogs really, and thought, This is what I want to do. You know, I've had lots of experience with dogs in the past, and I've always grown up with dogs. I've had reactive dogs, most of my life, so I've never had an easy ride with dogs. I fell in love with the job, really. And I wanted to help more and more dogs. And in that role working for another business, I wasn't able to offer the different services that I offer now. And I wasn't able to connect, I suppose where there's many dogs, because it was just a small dog walking business. And they only did one walk a day. It was just very small scale. So I wanted to create something that would be you know, offering the best in Lancaster, the dogs and so I set up my own business.
Collin 02:56
Well that's really cool. I mean, you found like you kind of just To that passion of being able to work with dogs like, oh, wow, this is awesome. And and then that next step of, I want to be able to do it my way, I won't be able to do this the best possible way to lead you into starting something that has been very, like a wonderful experience for you.
Elise 03:17
Definitely. I mean, I always loved animals and dogs in particular, I always grew up with dogs. You know, when I was younger, the only way you could get into that of working with dogs was to be a vet. That was the only sort of career path and I didn't want to be a vet. It never occurred to me to be a dog walker, you know, and it was just something that I had never even thought of as a possible career. And when I quit teaching and and, you know, made the move, and just fell in love with the dogs, you know, they they became my friends and they became my family. And that's the same now with my own business. You know, the dog That we have what we looked for years. And you know, they are they are like my children, I suppose.
Collin 04:09
They do become that. I mean you see them so frequently, especially if you're offering very, you know, these these type of walks and these training sessions, I mean, you just invest so much into them and you spend so much time with them that it's totally natural that they they do become part of your family, you do begin to think of them like that. So you grew up with with dogs. Do you have any pets now?
Elise 04:30
I do. Yeah, I have a rescue dog called Milo a newbie. And he is a German Shepherd, crocs Labrador Collie and he is nine years old. He looks like a small Black Wolf. And he has fear aggression. When I rescued him, he was feral. And it took a long time to get him right. Which is where I sort of learned all my skills. Actually, my last dog before Milo, and he, he was the opposite. He was very fearful of dogs. He was attacked when he was a puppy and he used to run away from other dogs, whereas Milo runs to other dogs to bite them and then run away. That's his little skill that he has.
Collin 05:21
You mentioned a couple times working with reactive dogs, how has that played into how you treat and handle and deal with the dogs that our clients these days?
Elise 05:30
Yeah, all dogs are assessed and first before they even come out with us. So I need to understand what type of reactivity they have. And so and the customers have to answer lots of different questions about their dog and what sets them off their triggers all of that sort of thing. When we are a little bit picky, I suppose. We don't just take any reactive dog. And you know, we want to make sure that the dogs will fit And that, you know, we feel that we can bring them into a group safely. And there are some dogs that we take to are more reactive than others but and we feel that there we can be like a big help to them and, and they can be a bit of a project for us at the time. And so yeah, we assess them before they come out with us. And then we introduce them very gradually because we do group walking. And so because I have staff and my my husband has plenty of tools to facilitate that.
Collin 06:38
So what do those walks look like? Because I think you also do off lead walks where you where you go so how what is that process for you? How many people are out with you on the team and in all of that, I mean, there's there's a lot involved with doing off leads for you.
Elise 06:51
There is Yeah, and the walks Look, it's hard to explain, but we're quite lucky I suppose, because we rent cars month, which is private, in Lancaster. And so we have a secure field where they can run free and dance with Paul recall, that isn't a problem for us. And quite the same for reactive dogs or dogs who, you know, tend to run off and don't come back. And it's a perfect environment for them. And they get on with the other dogs, you know, it's great that they can socialize in a group and a lot of the dogs that have been with us a long time, they show them the ropes, I suppose,
Collin 07:38
although you mentioned like, part of that is Yeah, you have to go through this introducing a new dog to the to to the group. But as you mentioned, you also have this great resource of the dogs that are already there. Like they're gonna show them the ropes, they're gonna show them what's Okay, what's not, okay, so there's this, they get both ends, they get the human instruction and they get their peer instruction, I guess whenever they're out on those new walks.
Elise 08:00
Yeah, and they're introduced gradually, you know, we don't just sort of lump them all in together and hope for the best. It's, it's a gradual process where we allow them to safely sniff one another and, you know, feel okay and grow their confidence and, you know, learn to trust those people and learn to trust each other dogs that they're with. And because it took a long time for my own dog to trust other dogs, not to bite him, he was very fair for what the other dogs would attack him. And it took him a long time to trust, you know, certain breeds were a trigger for him. And so he's, he's doing a lot better now.
Collin 08:42
That's great. And as you said, you get to be you have the luxury of getting to be picky with the clients that you bring in because you do go through that extensive assessment for them so that you can see if they're really going to be a good fit or not. What is that? What does that assessment look like whenever you are looking To bring on a new client,
Elise 09:01
and we arrange a meet and greet. So we go to the home, and we talk through, and with the customer, we meet the dog. And we stay there for a while. And we've got a form that they fill out with all the sort of different questions on and all different types of information that we might need. And yeah, it's just about talking through with the customer, and just being aware of what common things pop up and, you know, we ask the customer what it is that they would like us to focus on, perhaps, you know, maybe it might be separation anxiety or general obedience, you know, like, Oh, they don't listen to me, you know, if you can get them to come back, that'd be great. And so we ask the customer what they would like from us, as well as what we, you know, would like from them.
Collin 09:48
Yeah, that that would when I hear that I'm hearing making sure that everybody's expectations are aligned and in the proper, proper mindset so that each person is going to have each end of the party is going to have the best possible outcome during a stay or during a visit or during a walk?
Elise 10:03
Yeah, we also do like progress reports. And for the dogs as well. So like if one, they were taken on a dog, and, you know, sometimes the dogs might need a bit of extra work, and from the customer, because sometimes we only see a dog maybe once a week. So, you know, it's really difficult for us to help with certain issues. So we might recommend them in like a progress report to and, you know, come to our obedience training, or we might say, this talks do really well, you know, maybe they'd like to join our agility classes, you know, so it works both ways.
Collin 10:43
Right. And part of that is being attentive, seeing where work needs to be done, and being honest enough to communicate that to the client that I know. Many pet sitters have a hard time telling an owner the bad news or like who they are really not doing well with this, but you're able to offer solution to that you're able to go, Hey, we're seeing some issues here. We can try XYZ and see what happens.
Elise 11:07
Yeah, we try our best. I mean, we're not here to, you know, Judge owners because sometimes there isn't enough time to work with your dog or you know, life gets in the way sometimes but, you know, if we can advise and help, you know, we will, you know, because the dogs come first and if we see some need for improvement, we are going to suggest it. So, for example, I had a corporal who had quite a reactive not a reactive dog but like a hyperactive dog and lovely dog. And but it was down to the nutrition and I realized that they were on this quite bad food that was full of grains and wheat and stuff, which gave natural sugars and made them more hyperactive. So I recommended you know, a different different food stuff. And since then, you know, the dogs calm down a lot and is more or less charging around and bumping into the other dogs more, more socially aware as well, you know, and their behavior as well as, as improved. So you don't realize sometimes how important nutrition is the dogs, and but it's just little things like that that I can see that I might suggest. And then, you know if it helps the dogs and their owners, and that's what we're here for.
Collin 12:32
Yeah. how receptive Do you find most of your clients are to that kind of information when you give that to them?
Elise 12:39
It differs. I mean, mostly I have I'm very lucky to have fabulous customers who do listen to what I say and do take it on as like, this is advice. You know, I'm not trying to put in and but I do find like younger couples who have just got their first Dog Kayla's still learning and they don't know everything yet, then they're very receptive to my suggestions are like, please help us. And so yeah, then they're much more receptive to change, you know, and, you know, our customers are they're really quite, you know, they know that we care about their dogs. I think that's the difference. They know when we're saying it for the good of the dog.
Collin 13:30
Right? Yeah. Because that's part of that trust. That's part of the relationship that you work on from day one with the client so that when you need to explain that kind of information, when you need to have that conversation of Look, this might be a problem. They trust you enough to go Okay, this person has the best interest, both myself and my dog at heart, but that is a that's a process, right? You have a tagline walking while you work. I'm wondering where that came from and how you use that in communicating your services to your clients
Elise 13:59
as well. I just quite like alliteration, to be honest, you know, I was thinking about the types of customers that I wanted to attract. And its customers who were working away from home long hours, you know, the nine to five, I suppose. And the dog needs a break in the day. And so we can come and walk your dog while you're at work. And then when you get home, you know, your dog will be nice and happy because it's been well, it's had a little rest, and it's ready to play with you as you get home. That was the idea behind it. And but actually, our client base is much more varied. You know, we have elderly people, disabled customers who are unable to walk their dogs. So we see them very regularly because they're in and that's really great to speak to the customers and we have a lot of people who work from home I'm particularly met now. And they just want a dog walker because the dogs nagging them. You know, you're trying to do your work on your laptop and the dogs come in and put in his ball on your laptop and stopping you from doing your work and, you know, not going to go out. So when we've got a lot of customers like that, who do it just like, we need you to wear out on dogs, and we've got a bit of time to do our work.
Collin 15:26
Yeah, just need some space. Yeah. So you also offer dog training sessions. What are those liked? And where did those come from? Why did you start those?
Elise 15:36
And I started them because I used to go to a lot with my dogs. And obviously, within being reactive, and it was quite painful because everyone else's dog was fairly well behaved, you know, mine with lunging and barking and, you know, making a six out of the class and he was the worst one in the class and people would look at me and You know, scowling You know, it wasn't a pleasant experience. And so, you know, when I got to the stage where I was working with dogs, I wanted to produce classes that were inclusive and fun. But also, you know, not not strict classes where it's, you know, you're punishing dogs for doing wrong things, you know, it's meant to be an opportunity for owners to bond with their dog and grow their dogs confidence, and make sure that they feel safe and happy. And, and, you know, even now, like, I have dogs in my classes who are over exuberant or barky, and, you know, I just try and be as inclusive as I can. And because I know what it's like,
Collin 16:53
you know, I hear that and I'm going yeah, you have these owners who maybe just don't know what to do and they they're maybe as you Maybe embarrassed to go to the typical training session or, and don't feel like they have that bond and you're giving them an environment to Hey, I understand where you're coming from. This is specifically designed for you to have some time with your dog and we're gonna, we're gonna work together. I can imagine just the transformative power that that has on on them and their relationship with their pet.
Elise 17:23
Yeah, I find a lot of customers come to me after they've been to the training classes. And they said that, you know, this very sort of generic and not diverse enough for them, I suppose. And so it was very sort of like your dogmas set. And this is how they sit. You know, it's very sort of formulaic and it wasn't personable, and where I, you know, being a teacher from that background, you know, I make a lot of jokes and make a fool out of myself. You know, maybe Funny, so that they laugh. And that, you know, we say, you know, this is the way to do it and, you know, keep keep going, you know, I was in your boat before, you know, I had a reactive dog who was a nightmare. And, you know, it doesn't matter because mine's okay now and yours will be okay. You know, it's giving them confidence to progress. Because a lot of it is the owner that, you know, doesn't know what to do. They've got this reactive dog, they love it too bit, but they just don't know what they're doing and they just need guidance and a bit of empathy really.
Collin 18:38
Right? Yeah, well, I get that safe area, that safe space and in that confidence that they have to know that they can do something about this, they can help their talk, they can help work through that and be be more of a team and really just, you know, I can imagine how when they come in and are more relaxed or more at ease, see other people going through similar struggles like that. would probably I can I want to be there like that? What a great community?
Elise 19:04
Yeah, I mean, talking of community, I do run a group on Facebook actually called dogs in Lancaster, and it's the people in Lancaster to communicate with each other and arrange walks with each other, you know, get advice from different businesses local, and you know, just share pictures, share experiences, you know, and we do like to think of ourselves as, you know, a community based business because, you know, all we want to do is help dogs and improve the lives of dogs and their owners through what we do.
Collin 19:42
Absolutely love that. I mean, you you are bringing people together and and connecting them with resources, helping them get plugged in with other people and building that right and just going Hey, there are other let's get dog people connected with dog people like what could be better than that?
Elise 19:58
Yeah, they say it's great. It's Great to see the progress of some of the dogs. And you know, and you know, it's nice that people are asking for advice and help. And there's lots of people saying, Well, have you tried this? Have you tried that, and people who have been lost, and you know, they've got this puppy. It's having problems, they don't know what to do. And, you know, advice is just there. And it's all positive. You know, there's no sniping or judgment or trolling, it's all about, you know, have you tried this? This could work, you know, maybe chat to this person, and it's all about connections.
Collin 20:38
Yeah, no, those connections really do help. Help everybody in the end. I mean, just because you may not have an exact answer. You may know somebody who has an answer and having a group like that really does build and support everybody up. Have you heard about time to pet Claire from Apple. critter sitters has this to say
21:02
time to pet has honestly revolutionized how we do business. My sitters can work much more independently because they have ongoing access to customer and pet information without relying on me. I save hours upon hours of administrative time on billing, processing payments and generating paychecks.
Collin 21:18
If you are looking for a new petsitting software for your business, give time to pat a try. As a listener of pet sitter confessional, you'll get 50% off your first three months when you sign up at time to pet.com slash confessional. How has that community been impacted in response to COVID and recently in your area,
Elise 21:43
create lockdown and pre COVID you know, things were good here and there was a lot of dog walking businesses and a lot of dogs businesses generally, you know, there's lots of dogs in Lancaster. People love their dogs here. And you know, the place is Pretty rural, you know, we're not far from the Lake District. So, you know, there's multiple dogs per household over here. So, you know, Andy, and I say, you know, it's a University City people are well are, you know, they can afford to spend money on their dogs. And so that was good. But then with COVID everything just got threw into chaos really, because, you know, businesses are really struggling and particularly because people are working from home. And so, I mean, dog groomers have really just sort of opened back up. And so they've struggled as well. And, you know, with people working from home, it's really impacted the industry. But on the other side of it, and because people have been off work, and they've been reassessing their lines, and there's been quite a surge in people starting up Talking about undercutting the pre existing businesses that were here. And so that has led to a little bit of frustration in the industry here. And because you've got these businesses who are really struggling, and who have set up, you know, a few years, and that this work in excess of 25% financially, and then you've got these newbies starting up who, you know, other cheap, and they're just trying to get their name out there and do it. So it's kind of a bit of a weird situation.
Collin 23:38
Right? Yeah, because you have so many market forces going on there to have that and I would never have thought of people taking this opportunity. Maybe they were on furlough from their job, or maybe they just quit and decided, Hey, I can be a dog walker. I'll start right now and the impact that that would have Have. So that's really interesting to hear that you have businesses on the decline but you also have an increasing number of businesses competing for who knows how number many of clients are still available when where you are,
Elise 24:14
it's a really uncertain time because as I say, you know, some of our customers will continue to work from home maybe not needles quite so much. But then you've got this massive influx of people getting puppies, and because again, over lock down their mental health maybe, you know, the thought I need to have something you know, or to have a pet. And you know, I really want a dog and so you've got all of these puppies and surfaces so businesses in the pet industry here are sort of like is it going to be all of a sudden a boom come September when the schools go back? Because you know, always new puppies will need walk in because all their own has a bath work. Is it gonna be like everyone's working from home and doesn't need anyone? And so it's really it's really unusual. But yeah, we'll have to watch this space, I suppose.
Collin 25:12
Right? Absolutely. There's so many so many unknowns and so many forces outside of our own control that we're just kind of having to watching waiting and seeing. But you have been doing stuff to prepare for those puppies. I think you've been taking some trainings and things like that. So what kind of things are you doing to prepare for people who have lots of puppies or prepare for the influx of puppies?
Elise 25:36
Yeah, I mean, it's largely the training classes at the moment, where we do probably socialization and puppy playdates and the obedience training for beginners as well. It's just getting them to, you know, work with a dog grow that bond, you know, get to know us as a company,
Collin 25:56
because you know, these, as you mentioned, many people may have got a puppy unprepared or unaware of the consequences or the work, or they may now go back to work and now go, Okay, what do I do with with my new dog? And so doing something on your end to be prepared and start marketing and communicating that to the people that, hey, we're here, our services are ready when you need us.
Elise 26:20
But we're trying to put our name out there as much as we can in preparation, and because we want our staff to come back off furlough, you know, and then get back to
Collin 26:31
normal right now on your staff. How many do you have when they're not being furloughed?
Elise 26:38
President, it's just myself and husband, and we have another lady working for us,
Collin 26:44
because it is an impact. That's not just to you guys, but to the people that you had on your team as well.
Elise 26:49
Yeah, I mean, pre lockdown, and we were interviewing for a job for a new dog walker to join us. We were looking forward to Adding to our team, you know, we were looking to expand, we will look into by our land, and all of those plans has now fallen by the wayside. And but we're hopeful that, you know, with the influx of new puppies and you know, people returning to work that we might be adding to I see,
Collin 27:20
yeah, that may be a 2021 goals post, maybe a 2020 goal, but still having that and still doing what you can to prepare for that when it does become available. Did you ever have to shut down or stop offering services in your area?
Elise 27:35
Yeah, we did. As soon as lockdown was introduced. We start to protect our customers. We have a lot of elderly customers who and maybe more vulnerable. So in terms of protecting everybody, we thought it best to stop and cease all operations and and yes, It was really difficult, to be honest. And it was really hard work because I'm a, I wouldn't say I'm a workaholic, but I do keep myself busy to stop myself getting into trouble. And so it was quite, quite difficult. But we didn't stop working during lockdown. And we stopped our dog walking and dog training, but we were producing training videos on YouTube for our customers, to provide them with a bit of structure and routine. And just help with the dogs really, you know, and help with the owners as well. It just gave them something to watch and to participate in to, you know, improve their mental health as well. So we were doing videos, and it gave me a chance to write my book.
Collin 28:53
Yeah, I want to ask you about that you spent some of your time over lockdown writing a book. So I it's Where did that idea come from? I guess, What's the title? And why did you decide to write it?
Elise 29:05
I've been wanting to write a book for a while. And, and this just gave me the opportunity. And the reason I wrote it largely was because of all the weird and wacky things that happen to us as dog walkers that are just hilarious that you can't even make up. So it's full of those sorts of stories. The book is called monkey tales, and adventure into dog walking. And it's got three core elements really, it talks through my personal journey of becoming a dog walker, and my background and how I set up my business and it takes you all the way up to lock down. And so it goes through, you know, quite an emotional journey of what I went through with with my dog my life. And, you know, my last dog as well, with that I wanted to make it informative as well. So it's got tips and advice for people with puppies or rescues. It's got a chapter on reactive behaviors, and also things like with nutrition as well, and health of your dog and check in and inspections and things like that. So it's kind of informative as well, it's got those things in but largely it's, it's the funny and feelgood factor I would say you know, I wanted because a lot of people got really down over lockdown. And you know, there was quite a lot of people getting depressed and really suffering from isolation and that's not feeling so I wanted to create something that was fun and that you could just kill up on the sofa with the dog. You know, get the book how haven't read and have a laugh.
Collin 30:58
It just seems like to have fall into the exact perfect time you were wanting to do this. You never had time. Now you've got time. And the elements that you talked about, and the whole purpose behind it are to make people smile. Right, and to help help people get through this really difficult time.
Elise 31:14
Yeah. And the story kind of follows how, again, you know, I had trouble with my own dog. You know, I've made mistakes with my dogs, and I've done the wrong things. But it's that sort of positive, you, it doesn't matter what you've done, and that's gone wrong, you can change it. And, you know, you can have a dog like mine, that's fine. Now. You know, we all make mistakes, don't dwell on the mistakes, and don't beat yourself up. You know, like I did, you know, move on, and there's people out there who can help and get help, you know, and talk to people go to puppy parties and, you know, search for dog behavior. Tourists and, you know, get advice. There's people out there who wants to help you.
Collin 32:04
Yeah, it sounds like you've taken some of those elements to from your your in person trainings and that support and that, that sympathy and that being able to empathize with dog owners coming from this and putting that into book form so they can know, I'm not alone and there's so much out there that maybe I didn't know about or maybe I did, but it seemed kind of scary to start looking into and taking their hand and going, it's gonna be okay, let's walk through this together.
Elise 32:29
Yeah, it is like that. You know, I think the most important thing for me is I know what it's like to have this terror of a dog. You know, I've been through it. I've lived through it. And it's, it's not nice, you know, people will judge you, you know, they don't want to talk to you. I mean, there's a there's a chapter in the book about friends. You know, I was hoping that getting a dog I would make new friends in this new new area I'm moved to and it wasn't the case. Because I had to avoid people, because my dog was so aggressive. And so it's, it's kind of a funny spin on that, I suppose. But it's you're not alone, get the help that you need. And because there's some absolutely wonderful professionals out there that just want to help.
Collin 33:18
And you mentioned that part of it too, was to make people smile and kind of tell some of these wacky things that happen to us as dog as pet sitters and as dog walker. So without giving too much away from the book, what's one of your funniest, maybe wackiest stories that you have? Well, being a dog walker,
Elise 33:35
and one of them was walking a group of six dogs on the beach, and I stupidly thought that I could get through a little barbed wire fence. And I didn't quite manage it, and I got impaled like a bat. And, and the dogs all thought it was some sort of fun game because they roll off lead so they were just bouncing off me. As I was completely stuck on this barbed wire, and then I had to strip to free myself
34:09
with people watching me, and
Elise 34:13
yeah, I had to remove all my layers to because I got caught in the back. So the only way to release myself was to strip off of it. And but it's these sorts of things that are just they happen to people all the time. Yeah,
Collin 34:32
yeah, no. They do and it's like there's no way you could have prepared for that or read a book. I guess. Now you could read a book to prepare for that. But beforehand, before this, there was no resources about what to do in cotton barbed wire with six dogs off leash like he just yeah, I mean, that's great.
Elise 34:49
The more I struggled, the more they jumped on me. So when? Yeah, it was a fun day.
Collin 34:54
Yeah, absolutely. Your husband helped do the illustrations, and you work with him. In your business to what's it like working with him on that on a day to day basis great.
Elise 35:06
A lot of people quite amazed that and we worked so well together, but um, we're quite different. He grounds me and slows me down. And which I need because I'm ultra fast and ultra busy. And but also he makes me laugh a lot. And he makes me realize to appreciate things more. And, and yeah, it's just it's like working with your best friends really, you know, you have a laugh, and some great banter. And I trust him completely. And you know, and it's really nice that he's got my back if the dog start having a fight or something, you know, he's usually first in to stop them. Not that it happens regularly.
Collin 35:54
But yeah, having somebody that you know has your back but you can trust explicitly without having To think twice to help come in and help you or to already be one or two steps ahead of you and just have that great. I mean, talk about working relationships when you know, somebody that well, it really does just make that process a lot smoother.
Elise 36:14
Yeah. I mean, we've been together like 19 years, though, like, we know each other, we know very well. And I don't know how he puts up with me to be honest. He must be a saint. But he's, he's really thrilled about the book, because obviously doing the illustrations, it's brought out his slightly hidden talent for producing these quirky animal pictures. And he set up his own little sideline to sell them. It's really nice to have something that's just his
Collin 36:48
I like hearing that this one project brought out two sides of each other, right? You were able to do some writing that you'd always been wanting to do and he's got this, all of a sudden this really awesome knack for illustrating Drawing that wouldn't have happened or wouldn't have come together in any other way.
Elise 37:04
Yeah, I mean, he hasn't stopped drawing since I wrote the book. And he was adamant I should write another book so that he could illustrate that as well. And I was like, I need stories. So we're hoping that there'll be more books in the pipeline, because it's been really well received. You know, a lot of the customers who've bought the book, have said that it's just hilarious. And it's just such an easy read, because it's like me talking. And, and that's why it's so different from any other dog books at the moment because you've got a lot of dog books that are just sort of quite heavy training manuals, or like a sort of personal emotional story about a dog overcoming something perhaps. And those are the two sort of genres that most popular I guess, and whereas mine is just a lot more lighter and You know, positive hope, and hopefully will inspire people to, you know, really seek help if they need it and enjoy their, their dog.
Collin 38:11
Where can people go and find the book and go buy it
Elise 38:14
on Amazon so that makes it easy. Sweet. Yeah. The second one details and adventure into dog walking and it should come up. It's available on them ebook and paperback.
Collin 38:26
What are some of your favorite tools, equipment or maybe recommendations you have that you'd like to use and think others should be using as well.
Elise 38:32
There's a few actually. And in terms of outdoor walking, and I have a belt that I use, and that I put together myself which is a bit of a lifesaver, actually. And it allows me to walk like six dogs hands free, it stops and pulling quite so much. Because when they're on your hands, they might sniff or Bosch and just pull you over and you get lots of shoulder pains actually Like with dog walking, and so when I developed the belt, it was fantastic. A lot, a lot easier and certainly easier to pick up poo whilst being attached to different dogs. And so that was great. And I do use an uncle happier heals harness, which is a no pull harness, and it's like self correcting to any big paws. I tend to use the harness for them. I also have like a Dickey back. It's called and I don't know if you have some hardcover, but it's, it's a container for storing your your dog poo. And it limits the smell. So if you can't find a bin, you can put put them in your bag and carry them with you and it's washable and that's a really good piece of care, but for on the field on my secure field. And I like the long leads, you know the training lines because a lot of our dogs start off on them and Just so that we can grab them if they're getting a bit over exuberant. And we can stop them if they're trying to run away too much. So the long leads are pretty good. I also have a portable shower, which has been really useful. You know, for dogs that rolling in Fox poo or other mentionable and just to hold them down, and it's been really good and also brilliant at the moment for disinfecting over famine things.
Collin 40:29
I that's really cool. I never would have thought of taking out a portable shower to do that kind of stuff. But it's a tool that just makes those processes so easy. Yeah,
Elise 40:37
I mean, the amount of you know if you ever have diarrhea in your van, and when you're transporting dogs, honestly a pair of rubber gloves and a portable shower, you're good to go.
40:56
This thing was in the book, by the way.
Collin 40:58
Awesome, awesome. Well And on that note of learning things about the life of a pet sitter, what advice would you give to other dog walkers? Maybe they're just getting started. Or maybe they've been in the business a while, but maybe something that you wish everybody knew.
Elise 41:12
And big thing of it is that people think the job is quite easy. And when I tell them that I'm a doctoral candidate, Ah, what a wonderful job. And they don't quite understand the level of responsibility that comes with it. Because you have to watch those dogs. And that constant concentration is quite exhausting, actually. But, you know, to be a good dog walker, I really think that you need to be able to keep an eye on the dog's behavior, their temperaments, their body language, all of the time, you know, to really, you know, assess that their plays, okay? And they're happy and the We're all having a good time. And to stop any sort of conflicts, you know, it only takes them to find a stick, and to get possessive over a stick, and they can have a little snapper the little girl each other, you know, so you've got to be on it. And to be a good Doug Walker, it's really tough to keep your eyes on them all the time.
Collin 42:22
Elise, I want to thank you so much for coming on today. And sharing how your history with reactive dogs and your own dogs have really impacted the way you deal with others and the services that you offer and just the great community that you're building where you are and allowing people to get connected and let them know that they're not alone. And I know there's so much going on and people may have more questions for how they can deal with reactive dogs or help guide their clients reactive dogs. So how can people get in touch with you and follow along with everything that you're doing?
Elise 42:53
And well we have a Facebook page where we put all our videos and photos. Oh can you can Contact me on that. That's canine company UK. But we also have our website, which is canine company code at UK. And you can message me on this.
Collin 43:10
Wonderful, thank you so much for coming on today. Again, it's been a real pleasure. Yes, my pleasure. Thank you. What I love about Elisa story is that she looked around her and said, You know what, there are things that I can do that I have experienced that I can make better for other pet owners. She understands where people with reactive dogs are coming from, and she tailors her services, or training and her business to meet those exact needs. We want to thank you so much for listening this week, and for all the love and support that you give to us. We'd also like to thank our sponsors time to pet for making this show possible for allowing us to bring these kinds of stories to you every single week. If there's a story that you want told, maybe it's your own. You can email us at feedback at pester confessional calm Check out our website and everywhere on social media at pet sitter confessional. We hope you have a wonderful week and wonderful weekend and we'll be back again soon. Thank you so much for listening
