649: Caring for Senior Pets and Serving Senior People with Angela Dinsmoor
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How do we better serve aging pets and their senior owners? Angela Dinsmoor, gerontologist and founder of Grey Whiskers, joins the show to share how her background in human aging informs her unique approach to senior dog care. From adapting grooming practices to handling emotionally complex client conversations, Angela outlines the deep overlap between pet and human aging. She discusses the importance of mental enrichment, emotional sensitivity, and communication with senior clients. This episode sheds light on a growing, underserved part of the pet care industry—and how we can all do better.
Main topics:
Communicating with senior pet owners
Grooming adaptations for aging dogs
Emotional needs of elderly clients
Quality of life assessments
Pet care industry gaps for senior pets
Main takeaway: Senior dogs, and their owners, are falling through the cracks in the pet care industry, and we need to have a solution for them.
Senior dogs, and the people who love them, are falling through the cracks of the pet care industry. Their needs don’t fit neatly into standard daycare, walking, grooming, or even vet care systems. Arthritis, dementia, anxiety, mobility issues—most services simply weren’t built with them in mind.
But here’s the truth: This isn’t only a senior pet issue. It’s a business issue.
Every great pet care business starts by noticing the gaps—places where people quietly whisper, “I wish someone offered this…”
When we intentionally design services for a specific group—like senior dogs—we’re offering more than a service. We’re creating a lifeline. We’re saying:
“I see you. I see your dog. And I’m willing to build something just for you.”
People don’t choose you because you exist. They choose you because you exist for them. That’s where real care—and real business growth—begins
About our guest: I’m Angela Dinsmoor, and I’ve spent over 20 years in the pet industry-teaching, grooming, and supporting families and professionals alike. But over time, one truth became impossible to ignore: we don’t talk enough about senior dogs. They’re aging. Their needs are changing. And yet even the most experienced groomers and pet pros often aren’t trained to care for them properly. That’s why I created Grey Whiskers, a purpose-driven platform built around education, empathy, and specialized care for our oldest companions.
Grey Whiskers stands on four senior paws:
🐾 In-home grooming is designed specifically for senior dogs
🐾 The Senior Dog Digest, a trusted newsletter for pet parents and pet professionals
🐾 The first Senior Dog Grooming Certification in the industry
🐾 And a growing community built to celebrate and support pet professionals, aging pets and their owners, not sideline them
This is a conversation about care, dignity, and the deep bond we share with our animals, especially as they grow older. If your audience loves dogs, works in pet care, or simply wants to better support their aging best friend, I’d be honored to share what I’ve learned. It’s not a sad story; it’s a hopeful one. And it’s time we start telling it.
Links:
angela@greywhiskers.dog - Email
https://www.greywhiskers.dog/ - Website
https://www.greywhiskersdigest.dog/ - Newsletter
https://www.linkedin.com/company/greywhiskersseniordogs - LinkedIn
808-457-2169 - Phone
https://www.instagram.com/greywhiskerspet/#
https://www.linkedin.com/in/angeladinsmoor/
https://www.facebook.com/greywhiskerspet
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Pet Sitter Confessional, its hosts, or sponsors. We interview individuals based on their experience and expertise within the pet care industry. Any statements made outside of this platform, or unrelated to the topic discussed, are solely the responsibility of the guest.
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
aging pets, senior dogs, gerontology, pet care industry, pet grooming, senior pet owners, emotional support, pet health, pet care challenges, pet care professionals, pet care services, pet care communication, pet care training, pet care resources, pet care business
SPEAKERS
Collin Funkhouser, Angela Dinsmoor
Collin Funkhouser 00:00
Collin, welcome to pet sitter confessional, an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Today, we're brought to you by our friends at tide. Pet and pet sitters International. Aging pets and their owners is an aspect of the industry that is going to become increasingly relevant from year to year moving forward, I believe there's a statistic out there actually, of by 2050 the number of people who are 60 or older, at least in the United States, is going to increase by 10 to 20% and so this is an area of the market that is very important for us as pet sitting and dog walking of businesses and owners and as pets continue to live longer and longer as well. Sometimes there are hard conversations that we need to have. And so today we're really excited to have Angela Dinsmore, owner of gray whiskers, on the show, to talk about this aspect of dealing with aging clients, the humans and their pets throughout their journey with us as businesses. Angela, I'm really excited to have you on to talk about this topic. It's really important to us. For those who aren't familiar with you, could you please share a little bit more about who you are and what you
Angela Dinsmoor 01:04
do Sure. My name is Angela, as you mentioned, and gray whiskers is my baby. The vision for my business is to improve the lives of all senior dogs everywhere and as well as the lives of the people who are caring and providing for them. And that's people in the pet care industry and pet families as well.
Collin Funkhouser 01:22
Now this is a pretty specific aspect of the pet industry. What What got you started and what inspired you to move in this direction?
Angela Dinsmoor 01:31
Yeah, it definitely is unusual. So far, I'm the only one of me I've ever met, so that tells you that it's a unique niche. I have a Gerontology degree by background, so I graduated from college with a Gerontology degree, and I worked in long term care for a short period of time before I realized it really wasn't what I wanted to do. So I left to start my own business and work with animals. So I trained as a groomer initially, and I worked with dogs of all ages, and then I trained to do pet massage, and I was a certified massage therapist for animals for over a decade, practicing massage and teaching with the school that I went to as well. And I own my own business doing that as well. And then somewhere along the way, we started adopting old dogs. Our first one was sort of by accident, and then after that, it was intentional. So we adopt old dogs in our family, and that's just become a passion for me ever since our very first generation of dogs started getting old. And then one day, I was having coffee with a friend who told me that her senior dog had passed out on the grooming table, and she didn't know what she was going to do for her. So I thought to myself, I didn't ever realize before, but senior dogs are falling through the cracks in the pet care industry, and we need to have a solution for them. So that's when gray whiskers was born. So I started first with grooming the senior dogs, and now we've kind of branched out into other areas of the business as well.
Collin Funkhouser 02:55
Why do you feel like they're falling through the cracks?
Angela Dinsmoor 02:59
I feel like there's just not a lot of information. You know, I'm a gerontologist who's an animal lover and a very well trained animal pet care industry person, but there, to this day, there isn't a Gerontology degree for animals. And a lot of veterinarian a lot of veterinary colleges aren't really going too much in depth into the aging process. For dogs, they're getting the basics, but dogs are living longer now. Pets are living longer now, and there just isn't the information in the industry. There's no part of any training program that specifies what senior dogs need and senior pets need and how their needs are changing as they live longer.
Collin Funkhouser 03:40
Well, it's your background in gerontology, right? So it's not just the physical aspect too. It's the psychological, the social, the emotional aspect. How does that translate into the pets,
Angela Dinsmoor 03:51
too? I think, you know, so many dogs have dementia and and so many clients are just being told by the veterinarian that it's a normal part of aging. And there are some things you can really do to address dementia and keep your dog more comfortable and enrich their lives a little better. And people aren't necessarily being told those things, because I think, you know, there's still that little bit of that concept of like, well, it's a dog. You know, we don't really need to worry about stuff like that with the dog, but some of those things are probably problems that can be solved, and some of them can be managed a little more easily with that kind of, with just a little more dedicated care to them, right?
Collin Funkhouser 04:31
I, like you mentioned, it kind of is just this quote, unquote, normal aspect of that puppy, puppy dementia, right? Like, Oh, sometimes Baxter goes into the room and gets lost, or sometimes he I find him barking in a corner. Well, I just, I've just got to move him over and move on, because that's just what I'm told is normal, and what I'm hearing is that's not really a the case, but also B, it's kind of this. There's just no information there to kind of go to that next level to start doing something about
Angela Dinsmoor 04:57
correct there's an information gap. I feel. Like they haven't. There isn't a whole lot of there aren't a ton of studies that have been done on pets to my knowledge. And of course, I'm not in the veterinary industry and, and I'm not on the science side of things, but if there are studies being done, you know, the the drugs that are coming out, the loyal drugs that are being tested, offer great promise, and, and there's a dog aging project now, so there are things that are working on the dog aging process specifically, I think those are, those are all geared towards dogs. At this point, there's not much happening for cats. I don't know if there is. I don't know about it, but yeah, there's just not information being provided, either to when you train to learn to do what you do, or there's nobody in gerontology who's coming in and saying, Okay, now you've learned how to be a pet sitter, or you've learned how to be a groomer, or you've learned how to be a veterinarian. Here's how you specialize in those areas.
Collin Funkhouser 05:48
Now, one of your specializations was actually, or is actually in the grooming side of things. How is grooming an older dog different than a younger dog or the dog in its prime.
Angela Dinsmoor 06:02
There are so, so many ways, I think, primarily, dogs don't have the attention span for the whole grooming process as it exists right now. They don't have the physical stamina to be able to handle it either, and they don't have the comprehension, in some cases, of what's happening and their emotions do not allow them to tolerate that kind of in depth handling. To use another example about dogs with dementia, a lot of dogs with dementia don't like to be handled. They don't like to be restrained from moving, and they don't like to be held in arms as like, oh, come here and snuggle with me fluffy. They don't like either of those things, and so it can be quite challenging to work with that kind of a situation as well.
Collin Funkhouser 06:48
I think that's that comprehension aspect of being more lost and confused during that process and not understanding what's going on. So I mean, does that mean that the grooming process takes longer? Is it more simplified? Kind of what are some of the the changes that have to be made in order to serve them?
Angela Dinsmoor 07:08
That's something that I've worked out over the years. I didn't figure it out right away. I started off doing the groom in the traditional way, but in the dog's home, and it didn't take me long to realize that that wasn't really working. So I started doing things like, we skip the bath, or we bathe at the end, or we bathe a few days ahead of time and give the dog a chance to recover, and then we can just focus on the haircut. And taking that approach really does make all the difference in the world. And then I'm giving simpler haircuts, things like, you know, what we call a puppy cut, which is the dog's kind of all one length, all over, with a short face, versus big, Goofy, magnificent looking legs and like long, flowy ears that are photograph worthy. So we're doing cute little, what I call teddy bear trims in situations like that. So modifying the process for them has been really
Collin Funkhouser 07:56
helpful. What's that conversation like with the owner when you start having to make changes to cuts like that, because I know some of our owner, like some of our clients that we serve, are very particular with about how their pet is groomed, and this is all the way has it's been and, you know, it's, it's a process for them. So when you come along and say, We need to change what they look like, how is that usually received?
Angela Dinsmoor 08:19
That's funny. You kind of like, honed right in on that, didn't you? Yeah, it is a challenge at first. Nice work. Yeah. I think for sure that there are some clients who are just like, Fine, whatever. He's not in Show mode anymore, which is always their joke, right? Because most of these dogs were never being shown before. And I love that attitude, but not everybody is. So sometimes I have to say, you know, I think that we need to talk about a more practical haircut, and here's why. And so I try to be very diligent about not just saying it's my way or the highway, because that's not what this is about. It's a conversation. It's a dialog. It's a it's a, you know, we come to an agreement on what works for them and what works for the dog. So I try to make sure that I'm very clear about why I'm giving these suggestions. And then most people later, like, you know, maybe they have a little bit of an adjustment period to that, and then later they're like, Oh my gosh. You know what, that shorter face is so much easier to take care of? Or, Wow, he is so much less stressed after grooming with you. So I really think that was the perfect decision. I don't know how he could have handled the bath and the haircut all at one time. So I think that's really good that you suggested that I didn't understand it at first, but now I'm totally on board. So people usually hop on once they understand why we're changing the process,
Collin Funkhouser 09:34
taking that time right? Just explaining here's where we're going and why we're doing that is always a better solution than just doing the thing or forcing it on them or feeling like they have no more options, because you do kind of if that. If you do that method, it removes agency from the owner and the relationship that they have with their pet.
Angela Dinsmoor 09:55
It does, and I think another big part of that is I have to walk along. Mind too, because when a dog gets to be old, in the extreme old years, like we're talking last year to two years of life, people really start getting sad about the trajectory of the dog's life and the time they have left with them. And it doesn't sound maybe like an important prospect or prospect to someone like you or me, but for them, changing the way the face looks is huge. It's a really big deal, because they don't necessarily see their dog the way they saw him when he was in his finest years. And there's an emotional component to that that I have to work with clients on.
Collin Funkhouser 10:38
It's emotional already because they they're developing the gray whiskers. I mean, as your company is named, they're maybe walking differently. Their body, their muscle mass is decreasing. You know, their hair may be thinning in certain places. And so it's then to add on top of this, the face change and the haircut. I can't imagine that. That's just a very emotional aspect, but I think being able to link it to quality of life, upkeep, and, you know, it's easier for them as well. Like I think there are these huge benefits, but there's that massive emotional hurdle that you have to overcome initially,
Angela Dinsmoor 11:13
correct, yeah, and I think people learn to love the haircuts eventually. And I always make sure they're super cute. So I think change is hard. Nobody likes change, but if I can give them something that walks the line between what they've always known and loved and what is more practical for them, most people are like, wow, this is much better. Anyway. You know
Collin Funkhouser 11:33
well, and I know that this is actually a conversation that older humans have to deal with and go through. I know we have several clients who live in care facilities or retirement communities, and they have a hair salon on site, and that's a big thing, because people love their own hairstyle, and so when they have to make that change for themselves, because of some of the limitations on their own hair, or because of they may be suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia, you know, and they don't look the same, or it's a longer process. So it's interesting that there is this overlap also into the humans that are owning these same pets too,
Angela Dinsmoor 12:11
right? Yeah, there's a lot of overlap in the aging process between dogs and humans. Haircuts is not, is not the only one.
Collin Funkhouser 12:20
So, you know, we, I know for our business, we, actually, we have a large number of our clients are, are seniors. They're senior people. What are, from your perspective and some of your background, what are some challenges that senior pet owners? I know this is a tough conversation, because we've got seat the senior pets and the senior owners, but from this, from the owner's perspective, what are some challenges that they face that we as pet sitters and professionals need to be more aware of?
Angela Dinsmoor 12:51
I would say that's a really poignant question. I feel like the most important thing for senior citizens dealing with senior pets. We have no idea how important, to the extent that pet is so important to that person, in many cases, they've lost a spouse, if it's an elderly man or an elderly woman, they might have lost the spouse who was the CO parent with that pet with them. So that pet remains, the last bond that they have with that that human who's gone now. So there's that. And also, just in general, senior citizens, social circles tend to shrink, statistically, tend to shrink with age. Increasing age means older people have less friends. Their friends are passing away, they're losing touch with people that are further away from them, so they have less connections in their lives, and that dog becomes, sometimes their only source of love and companionship. And I think it's really important for us to realize all of that when we're trying to I would, you know, pushing agendas is kind of an aggressive way to say it. But when you're having a conversation with a senior citizen who has a senior pet, it's really important to be aware of where they are in their stage and how that pet has a different significance for them than he does for someone who has like a husband and a wife and three kids and soccer and you know, all of those things going on at the same time.
Collin Funkhouser 14:20
We each year, we host a pet loss memorial event for our community, where people who've lost pets can come and go, you know, just be together, find a little bit of connection. And our very first one that we hosted, we were having the event, and this lady pulled up in the parking lot, and she never fully came down. She just got out of her car and stood at a distance as everyone was dispersing, she came down, and she was clutching this picture to her chest, and she was, she was a senior citizen, and she came down, and I just came over and said, Hey, who are you here for today? She showed me a picture of her cat, and I'm gonna cry, but she said, she said he was my only. A, you know, connection after I lost my husband, and then she said, I don't know what I'm going to do now, yeah, and I remember just, you know, understanding that the social circles close in. They feel alone, isolated. They have less and less resources available to them, and this is so when they get a little frustrated about how the care is going, or they ask those really poignant questions, or they're a little hovery over what we're doing, it's we have to what you're saying here is we have to go, Yeah, I do understand that. I understand that they might not have said it in the most appropriate way. They may have been a little bit more terse, but there's so much emotion built up behind this and around this animal that okay, I may not like the way they said that, but I understand why they did,
Angela Dinsmoor 15:48
and I think it's really important to respect that there's no greater there's no greater thing you can offer them, because we, just as much as we love our dogs, it's just not the same if you're not a senior citizen alone in a house with one dog or one cat, that it's been just the two of you for 10 years since your wife died, or something you just don't it's just hard to understand. I think
Collin Funkhouser 16:09
it's really interesting as well, that you brought up the emotional aspect of this. Because I think when many people think about serving senior clients older clients, we immediately think of the physical aspect, right? The they they can't get out and walk the dog, or they can't get down and scoop the litter now, or they can't do these things, and that's important. But you know, also realizing this huge emotional aspect and connection that they have is even more important.
Angela Dinsmoor 16:36
Yeah, my brain is always going to go to like, what it's like to be in their shoes.
Collin Funkhouser 16:41
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Collin Funkhouser 17:03
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Angela Dinsmoor 17:24
I think one of the things is to slow down and be more deliberate and patient with your senior clients. They don't necessarily have all the answers, but they have strong opinions, and you may know better about what will work in this circumstance, but they know more what makes them feel like they can sleep at night. So being able to and, and I will say, from a tactical standpoint, again, just educating everyone, trying to explain why you're asking to do what you're doing, or why you want to change this, or why you want to address it that way. Have an open conversation, because sometimes it's just a miscommunication. Sometimes you know you have to change the way you're saying things and approach it in a different way for
Collin Funkhouser 18:15
them to the the we have, we have experience. They have a lifetime behind them on a lot of stuff, and a lot of times it's well, they for what it is. Sometimes, you know, they've been doing or caring for a dog the same way for the last 40 years, right? For longer than I've been alive, and they're like, Well, this is what I'm going to do. And you go, okay, sure, right, we'll get that. Like I we were doing an onboarding for a client. She was a senior citizen, and she had a plant that was older than I was. And I was like, Okay, I I'm gonna, we gotta like, I'm really like that. When she, when she said that she'd had this, she got this plant when her 50 year old daughter was born, I was like, Okay, I could take a lot of really detailed notes as you're talking right now. Okay, okay,
Angela Dinsmoor 19:04
right, right. That's the thing. They have different. I and it's a bit of a generational difference too. I feel like the older people right now have a different it feels to me like when I talk to them, they have a different connection with the things around them and the processes around them and all of that than we do. You know they're not, and that's part of aging, right? Things sort of sometimes you feel like things are passing you by, and maybe you can't keep up with all the cool new things and all the easier way to do things. You still like to do it the way you used to do it when things were easier and you understood them better well.
Collin Funkhouser 19:39
So an aspect of that is actually a lot of the businesses, and our business included, we've gone all in on technology, right? We've got booking software, we've got, you know, websites, we've got all of this stuff. How do we help serve our clients, you know, senior clients who may struggle with that aspect of our business?
Angela Dinsmoor 19:57
Gosh, that's a good question, because. I'm kind of old fashioned in my scheduling as well. I feel like when you're working with software and things, you always, if there's any way, you can always just integrate a phone call option. That's probably the simplest way to do it. And I know it's a hassle for those of us who are like, Yeah, but I gotta get to a place and I gotta stop and take notes, or I've got to enter it into the computer myself, and if it's not going through the software routing, you know that it normally takes, but I a lot of senior citizens that I work with, they just get frustrated by the technology. They can't even barely text, and so sometimes I have to just handle their needs separately from the way I handle everyone else's and just sort of like, do the back end work on that myself and make up for it that way.
Collin Funkhouser 20:47
Yeah, I think that's a decision that we as a business have to make. Like, what are we willing to do to serve these people and their pets? And it because it is, it what we are taking on is more administrative time and overhead and potential costs. You know, if we have an administrative assistant doing these things of manually entering requests, manually changing information, taking those phone calls, but at the end of the day, we have to decide, does this align with my values as a business, to serve people and their pets, whatever your mission statement is and whatever that aligns with you, but for us, it's we want to serve people so they can live their best life through every stage of life with their pet. So that does mean that we take an awful lot of phone calls, because that's what, what these with this segment of our clients, really need. And it was hard for Megan and I at first, because we were so tech centric, tech focused. Book online. I don't want to talk to you like just go enter your dates. Just do it for us to pull way back and really assess, what were we willing to do to make this happen,
Angela Dinsmoor 21:50
correct? Yeah. And I think that you know, in some cases, dealing with an older person can be a little more challenging, because they're going to take up a little extra time. Every time you have to do a meet with them, you need a little extra time. I always build in like an extra, you know, allow them to talk to me about the things that they think are important about their dog and and their lives too. Because, again, if you're coming in to provide a walking service for them, and you're the only person they see that week. You know you, you really have to be prepared to slow down, just take a few breaths and allow them a few minutes to chat with you, because they, they they're humans. They need that connection. Even if they're getting it from the dog walker versus a friend, they still need that connection. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 22:39
and that's, that's a big when you when you understand that, that you may be the only face they see for the entire week or more, and we come in, we kind of bluster in, ask some questions, don't really make eye contact, and then run away because our timer's up, like, that's, like, that's, that's not how you know, we go, I wouldn't want to treat somebody like that, like, and so how can i Okay? I need to be more flexible in my schedule. I can't book back to back to back to back to back. I should probably give myself some breathing room, just as a general principle anyway, like, don't stop rushing.
Angela Dinsmoor 23:13
Life Principle number one, right?
Collin Funkhouser 23:15
But just, but just taking that time and that that is, that's okay. I think giving ourselves permission to do that as from a business owner perspective, I think is often hard when we're like but I've got to do look at my schedule. Look how busy I am. Look at all things I have to
Angela Dinsmoor 23:30
get done. I find that it actually makes me a better human being because I feel better. This is selfishly motivated, but I feel better about myself if I feel like I took care of the human in the process of taking care of their pet, if I offered a Small Kindness, like spending 10 minutes sitting with her on the couch and listening to how her week has been, or something like that, I feel like it makes me feel like I've done a good thing for the world too well, yeah, and you
Collin Funkhouser 24:00
can make somebody happy, and who doesn't want to do that? To do that, right? That's, that's good, yeah, you mentioned, you mentioned the phone call aspect, and just having something that available for that personal connection, because a lot of people are looking for that. What other ways should we adjust our communication style or our approach to working with with older adults.
Angela Dinsmoor 24:22
I think, you know, there's nothing specific. I think listening is a big part of listening and having respect are big parts of changing communication, for dealing with an older person. But in terms of, you know, sometimes you have to explain things a little differently or a little more clearly or a few more times you may have to explain things more often when you go there to visit their dog, but otherwise, I feel like just having in general, having respect and being clear with your communications is a big thing that goes along with that slide. Slowing down piece, right? Because a lot of us move so quickly that we don't necessarily look at someone we're talking to to see that they don't understand what we're saying. But if you just slow down, listen to them, take a breath and look at them, you may realize they need a little bit more expounding on your point. So something like that can help too
Collin Funkhouser 25:19
well and just a real physical limitation sometimes is hearing might not be as good, and I know when I'm talking, I can modulate my voice where I'll go from really loud to really low during different points. And sometimes I'm communicating and I'm sharing everything, but they're only hitting whenever I'm, you know, basically yelling, and whenever I dip down below, they're they're lost, and so being being mindful sometimes too. And of that, I think can be beneficial during some conversations of just how again, watching their face is what you're saying. Are they? Are they getting what we're saying, and not being afraid to go back and maybe repeat something a time or two.
Angela Dinsmoor 25:56
And I think speaking more clearly, slowing down and enunciating better goes along with that, if you're talking about actual hearing loss, yeah, slowing down, enunciating better. And I always feel like making eye contact helps too, because then you can again, like, monitor that comprehension if it's happening, or if they're starting to turn their head. Maybe you didn't know they were hard of hearing, but you're seeing that they're starting to turn their head towards you in one direction or another, or they get really close to you, and you don't understand why. Sometimes it's things like that, and people are hearing loss is one of those things that people are kind of embarrassed to admit still, I think so they won't, they won't talk to it, and then you end up like they didn't understand half of what I said. It's because they didn't hear you and they didn't want to tell you. So that's a big aspect of it as well.
Collin Funkhouser 26:44
I've also found providing more print materials or having stuff for us to bring can be beneficial, because, again, we're so Megan and I are so digital in our company. Of all the onboarding documents, they're all, I'm going to email those to you and, oh, I don't have an email or, like, I can't open that on my phone. I can't do this. Like, okay, I should bring my pamphlets in so you can have these, put them on your fridge, have them physically in the home. Can be beneficial too, when you're trying to relay information to them
Angela Dinsmoor 27:14
right, and leaving signed copies probably would be good too, so they know what they've signed. I you know, I think it's one thing to just leave them with your rates schedules and things like that, but if they're signing documents, it's not a bad idea to give them a little file that has everything signed in it for like your company. Yeah.
Collin Funkhouser 27:30
Now an aspect of this is as in the senior citizens and their walk. A lot of times they have caregivers or they have adult children who are also caring for them, that can kind of complicate operating a business, too. If now I have the pet owned by the mom, but the daughter is the one who's booking a request. How can we walk through those relationships still respect the parent, while also, you know, listening to the adult children who are in charge of their care and well being. Yeah,
Angela Dinsmoor 28:03
that's kind of a tough one. I have that I navigate, that myself in my business, and I there, it tends to be a like a child or someone, a friend, sometimes, who reaches out to me for the help. So I get everything I can from that person, and then I ask a few basic questions about the actual pet parent, you know, are they, you know? Are they? Are they able to still have conversations? Because I've got some people who have dementia and assisted living facilities or nursing homes, and you know, what's their comprehension, what's their engagement levels, or anything I need to know about dealing with your your parent or your loved one. And then I just make sure that, you know, I go in and if I can, I talk to the to the older person, but then I follow, I tend to follow, the guidelines that the the other responsible party has given me. And then I'll talk that out with the older person if I need to, you know, like, Oh, your daughter said we need to do a shorter haircut this time, because he can't get groomed as often. Now that you're living in the assisted facility, assisted living facility, so you know, and I will talk it out with them, but then trying to make sure they still feel incorporated as a part of the connection and the decision making process, but still taking direction from another person is a bit tricky, but that's how I manage it.
Collin Funkhouser 29:23
Yeah, as you're talking, I was reminded I did a meet and greet one time. The owner of the pet that we were going to be caring for was 86 and she had her daughter on FaceTime with her as I came in, and so her daughter could be part of this conversation. And initially I found myself just talking to the daughter on FaceTime, and then I started to realize, like, Oh, I've completely cut the lady who's in front of me out of this conversation. And so just something is swiveling, excuse me, just something is swiveling is like, the daughter and I were trying to problem solve, where to put the lockbox on the house to, like. Hey, Mary, are you okay with this? Like, are you can I put the lockbox over here, you know? And she was like, Yeah, that's fine, whatever. But like, little things like that of well, this is your home, right? And so bringing them back, you know, into making sure that always, you know, involving the most conversations can be, it's a huge thing.
Angela Dinsmoor 30:18
And for me, I offer bandanas or bows at the end of every grooming for every dog. So in those cases, I'll give that obviously, give that choice to the person who's in front of me, which is quite often the elderly person who is not the one in charge of the decisions. So I think even just allowing them that small ability to be like, oh, I want that bandana, or I like those bows or whatever, or both or whatever they want. You know, I also try to do whatever I can to make sure that the dog stands out for the people around them. This is probably not something you have to deal with much in your particular line of pet care, but taking something simple, like a bandana to give the dog some pizzazz is a really good way for the dog to get attention in the facility which gives the human some happiness and gratification. So something simple like that is a good way to, like, bring the client into the actual dog parent, into the care of his or her dog when he's not really the one taking care of him for the most part anymore,
Collin Funkhouser 31:21
and it also gives a little expands that little bit that social network too. Right of now, all of a sudden, they've got the superstar dog on the floor or in the in the
Angela Dinsmoor 31:30
air. Look at her. She's got a fancy bandana now and then, and then the human gets all kinds of attention. So that's why I try to specifically make sure that I go all out for those dogs so that they get more attention, which gives the human more attention, which makes the human happy. So that's that's a big thing.
Collin Funkhouser 31:47
Unintentionally, I realize we kind of do the same thing. We have a client, she lives in assisted living and has Alzheimer's and dementia. And, you know, we work on training our employees to first, always introduce ourselves when we're overcoming and going, so that even if she does remember us, because sometimes she has better days than not, but it's all just kind of out of respect of just, hey, always come in Hi. I'm, you know, I'm so and so here to walk your dog. But also when we see her walking in the hallways doing big hellos, you know, when we've got the dog, and making sure that she sees how things are going, and kind of making it a thing and a little event for whenever she's in there, so she can see that her dog's being cared for.
Angela Dinsmoor 32:24
That's a huge thing. I love, that you're doing that, yeah, anything you can do to make the dog stand out or to make the day brighter for that senior, for both the dog and the human, is a win in my book.
Collin Funkhouser 32:37
Yeah, and just make Remembering again, that you can make those little moments special, right? And they are, they are really important. And unfortunately, part of this, this journey, as we go with our with our clients, is we started off talking about, you know, aging, aging pets. There is going to come a time where we have to have some tough conversations around around the pets and their health. How do we start having those conversations, especially with our elderly clients?
Angela Dinsmoor 33:07
Yeah, it's difficult enough with younger clients, let alone elderly clients. I feel like that's two separate and distinct categories. But yeah, yeah, one of the things is to always think of where that person's heart is first. You know, remember that this is a very difficult time for them, and coming at it, instead of starting a conversation by making a statement about how you think their dog is doing, I always recommend that you start by getting us ask some questions. Ask them, you know, how's your dog eating? How is he sleeping? Does he sleep through the night? Is he still interested in playing with toys at all? Does he still like to go for walks? And some of this, you'll know, because as pet care providers, as pet sitters and walkers, you're seeing this on a daily basis, but not everybody is, or not everybody's paying attention. So and then just get a conversation going, so that you get the person thinking about, Gosh, how is my dog doing? A lot of times they don't necessarily realize small changes, because they live with compounding decline in function and happiness over the course of three months as very small, incremental changes, and we see them as, Wow, he looks a lot different than he looked last week when I came in. So I think if you start the conversation with some questions to get them like, get their eyes looking at the dog, get them thinking about, how has this changed and and then I think you can really start to make some headway on how is the dog managing on a day to day basis? He's be having more good days than bad days. And do things terrify him that didn't used to terrify him, or is he too stressed out now to go for walks, things like that. When you put in the perspective of individual components, I think people are more likely to see the changes, and then you can have a better conversation about how close are we. To the end of life, and you know, do you have a plan for him?
Collin Funkhouser 35:05
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Angela Dinsmoor 36:18
I find too that anecdotes about other situations, when handled delicately, can be really helpful, too. I just had a client with it. I just had a conversation with a client who, you know, she's struggling because her dog has started to have seizures now, and she's trying to navigate that for him, and he's 15, and she doesn't know what she's going to do about that, you know, just anything that you can do to, like, get them thinking about how how it looks at the end. For some dogs, you know, can really help them navigate that thought processes in their head. Because a lot of people are just sort of burying it under the rug because they don't want to deal with it, because they don't want to talk about the end. Doesn't mean the end is not coming, but they just don't want to talk about it to sharing other people's stories with them, I feel like can have some emotional support component for it for them,
Collin Funkhouser 37:08
and gives them some idea of what things look like. I know many times we can come in and say, Okay, well, you're in your 80s. You've had dogs your your entire life. Well, but how many times did they actually have to process this specific thing, or deal with this specific issue with a dog, probably never right, or they never had this dog with this issue at this time, with their own health concerns, and every, every time it's new and fresh, and how much education did they do since the last time their pet died, about end of life care and what that actually looks like, and not taking that In. You know, we can also often come in assuming a lot of things, and instead going, I'm not going to assume anything, but I am just going to come in here and have this conversation with you. And I love the idea of giving some examples, talking about other things that you've seen or heard about, just to start that moving when a lot of times it's it's not going to and it kind of waits
Angela Dinsmoor 38:00
too long. It's planting a seed. We've had, I've we've adopted six dogs in our household, and not a single one of them has passed away from the same thing. Well, that's not true. We had two who had the same thing right back in the beginning, back to back, and that was super weird. And I was convinced every dog we ever had was going to die from that issue after that, but, but that was the only time that happened, and then everything else since then has been different things. So you just never know what it's going to be. And I think also some of these people, they have, they have one dog at a time, and it's been 16 years since they had their last dog, and a lot has changed since then. So, you know, just, and they can't approach it the same way they did when it was 16 years ago, you know, so just sort of, it's like a communal sharing of ideas and how things are different and how things are common these days. Anything
Collin Funkhouser 38:52
that we should avoid doing or be cautious around when having these kind of conversations.
Angela Dinsmoor 38:58
The biggest thing I have to say about avoid doing it would have to be, don't tell him. Don't tell anyone. Well, your dog just needs to be put to sleep. I mean, that is a first and foremost. I i would like to think that not everybody is saying things like that in the background, and houses are across America and the globe, but the reality is, I do have clients who tell me that their veterinarian told them, you know, you could just put him to sleep. He should probably just be put to sleep instead of explaining why, instead of having the conversation about, here are the changes I see, and here are the things we're dealing with. And perhaps that is a kind consideration, also disparaging comments. We say things kind of flippantly sometimes in society in general, that I don't think we necessarily know that we're doing. But I had a lady who told me, told me the other day that she picked up her dog from the groomer, and the groomer said, Here's your crazy old dog. And that woman the dog. As advanced hip dysplasia. So standing still for the groom on the table was incredibly difficult for him, and that was why he was so antsy. And it came off as being badly behaved when he was in pain. And so my client was really she was really hurt by that, because she knew her dog was hurting, and she had trusted them to take care of him, and they were being jokey about it. I don't it wasn't an intentional thing. It was just like, hey, here's your crazy old dog. Like, you know, have fun with him in the end. And I think it was really hurtful to her, so she didn't want to go back to that place after that. And it's a great place. I know the place. They're fantastic there. They do a really good job taking care of old, older dogs. It just that kind of simple comment can really wound,
Collin Funkhouser 40:43
you know, I, you know that comment, whether it's a grooming on a grooming table or during a pet sitting visit, you know, we may see they say, Oh my goodness. We may say some things, like while they were at a bit, you know, old and cranky today, right? Or kind of like, just a cranky day today, and when we're saying it as well, you know, they may have been a little unsettled by us being there, and a little bit more, you know, uncomfortable on the walk. And we kind of, like you said this, this disparaging way of just kind of dismissing or throwing it out there. We don't know how that's going to land, because, again, going back to the beginning of our conversation here about just the careful, how you have to carefully walk changing the groom of an older pet with an older individual. Now we're talking about the behavior. We're talking about making fun from their perspective on physical, mental, emotional limitations of their pet that they see, and how hurtful that could be in our language, inadvertently. So, yeah, yeah, from, from your perspective, what's something that one or two things that we could do better as dog walkers, as pet sitters, or just in the pet care community, to better support older dogs and their, you know, and their older owners? This is
Angela Dinsmoor 42:01
actually, it just occurred to me, as you were saying something a few moments ago, this is maybe perhaps not something that is easily integrated into your practices, but is something I advocate for. If a dog is having a bad day, the option to change a walk last minute would be huge for an old dog. So this is in regards to senior dogs specifically. But sometimes I confirm with all my clients the day before we're scheduled, and then sometimes the morning of like, the dog didn't sleep all night. He was up with tummy problems in and out to go to the bathroom all night long, or was in pain last night from something that they don't know, what it is giving the option for last minute cancelations in cases like that. That's a that's a tricky minefield to navigate, right? Because then we don't want people to take advantage of our time when their schedules change, but learning the clients that you can trust to do that appropriately. It's really, it would be really beneficial to say like, oh, you know, George didn't feel good last night after he finished his dinner, and he was up all night and he's really tired this morning. And I think it would be better if he didn't have that walk. And then I don't know how that would work in the structuring of the payment process, but allowing for something like that is a really simple thing that can prevent the dog from having a setback going forward with his walks. Because if you walk him that day and then he is hurting even more after that walk, then the chances are good that you're going to end up losing some business anyway, because she's gonna, they're gonna have to cancel some walks for you for the future, while he recovers. So something like that is difficult to conceive of, but would be really beneficial,
Collin Funkhouser 43:47
yeah, well, just being being flexible in these instances is really what this is, right and and it takes us being educated on these topics, us working closely with the client to make sure that every that this line of communication is open in ways that are accessible to them, and that sure okay, we need to cancel, or we'll just get this rescheduled. We'll reschedule it to the next day. We'll just carry it over, whatever that is. But there's kind of these, these little carve outs that we can make again, if this is something that we want to pursue and make sure that we are adapting to and maybe even if we don't cancel it, maybe we still show up, but we do something different with that day. I know you were scheduled for a walk, right? But let's maybe we're just gonna sit inside or do some backyard, you know, potty and play time, do a snifari or just snuggle today, you could take the
Angela Dinsmoor 44:36
dog a couple yards down and throw some treats around in the grass and let them hunt for them or something, or, you know, put them in put him in the backyard, and play with him with his favorite toy. Even if he can't chase it anymore, you can, just like, you know, toss it to him. You know, there are simple things you can do for mental enrichment that on days like that. Let's be real. Most of us as pet owners aren't necessarily. Doing all of the mental enrichment we should be doing with our dogs anyway, if you look at the experts, so perhaps having your dog walker do something like that on a day where the dog is struggling might be exactly
Collin Funkhouser 45:10
what he needs. Yep. And again, it takes us being informed about that. Do you, Angela, do you have recommended resources for people who are interested in learning more about this, or, you know, places where you go to continue learning,
Angela Dinsmoor 45:25
there are a lot of there are a lot of things popping up. My newsletter is probably one of the really good ways that I like to find information, because I offer all kinds of different topics that are not really being talked about much, like mental enrichment and quality of life conversations. And there's a like, basically, my newsletter is an amalgamation of anything that I'm hearing people say they're struggling with with senior dogs. There are also places like, I'm trying to think there's a there's a couple people on social media who are doing great things for like advocating for better care and different care for senior dogs. Places like there's one called Adopt old dogs, and your dog lovers might be the other one. And then there's, there's the senior dog veterinary society, which offers information about veterinarians who are practicing. And I think there's some resources in there as well. Dr Busby's toe grips actually has a pretty good newsletter segment for older dogs too. So a little bit of an unexpected one there.
Collin Funkhouser 46:31
Well, the the toe grips is actually a good reminder that sometimes when we're walking into the care, like really capturing all that information for the and like that kind of detail of, well, how do those stay on? Do they like them putting on process like we thought, like, where are your rugs? Like, all of this stuff is all of a sudden, like, we have to be able to capture that information and know about it and work with the owner on some of these more complicated aspects
Angela Dinsmoor 47:01
of that care, right? Observing when you go in is a huge portion of the communication that you have with the client, because you may see things that they don't even know the dog's dealing with. You know, they not everybody. You'd be surprised when people's dogs start sliding on the floors. They don't necessarily attribute that to Okay, let me check the toenails to see how long they are. Let me check to see how long the hair is on the paw pads. How slippery are my floors? How weak are his muscles? All of those things combined together to provide information to you that they may not necessarily understand. Like, yeah, he started slipping on the floors a whole lot. And I don't know what's going on, but you turn the paw over and it's like he's got a slipper on the bottom side of his foot because his hair hasn't been trimmed in so long, or he's walking on his toenails and he can't hold himself up.
Collin Funkhouser 47:44
Or we had a client one time who didn't understand why the dog never wanted to go through the entryway. Well, it was because it was this highly polished wood floor, and the dog would go from the kitchen through the dining room, through a little walk, through bathroom, into the hallway, and they were like, they were like, I don't think he likes the sound of is the thing. I'm like, possibly. But also, let's look at this. And you're right, the pads were just, they were just slip and slide basically on the bottom pads of the feet. And was like, we need to work on this. Or do you have a rug, or things like that? And just Yes, or even taking note of that they it might not be us problem solving, but if you walk into a home and it's all nice hardwood or tile, and there are rugs everywhere, and their little path rugs are like, four or five rugs that are kind of stacked in this zigzag thing to the back, like, that's a great mental note to then ask them, How are their how their stability, right? How are their hips like, how are they? Like, that's a great question to just from observing and look, and then two questions to the now, okay, because sometimes we may have clients who go, I want you to take my dog on a big walk. I can't do it anymore. And you come in and there are rugs everywhere, and the dog is struggling to stand up. And it's like, I do need to talk about what this is actually going to look like with us now and try and find a solution that can make everybody happy.
Angela Dinsmoor 49:05
I had a client once who reached out to me ages ago for walking for her dog. I did a like a minute and a half of dog walking when I was between things in the pet industry, and she reached out to me for him. And he was obese. He was quite obese, and her his people were elderly, and they were not able to take him for walks any longer. And she wanted me to take him out for long walks so that he would lose weight, and I could look at him and see that he was in so much pain that that was not going to be how the process went. So I had to talk to her about talking to her vet about pain medicine for him, so that we could start very slowly with the walks, and as he was and I tried to talk to her about diet too, but that was a line that we couldn't cross. We never got there with her on the diet, but trying to address diet and pain management so that we could slowly increase the duration of the walks over time would have been the goal, but we we got part of it done. We got the pain medicine so. But, yeah, that's difficult to navigate, and I think, you know, realistic conversations about it's going to take some time to build up to this, given your dog's strength and stability, and we may never get there, but we might be able to maintain where he's at right now, if he has good, good enough days
Collin Funkhouser 50:14
for it. Angela, I really want to thank you for coming on the show today and sharing with us on this topic, and encouraging us to take these small but yet meaningful steps for caring for our elderly pets and our clients as well, and working on our communication slowing down, and all these aspects to pay attention to their needs and really focusing on that partnership and relationship. I know there's a lot here, and you work a lot on this with your newsletter and your online community and things like that. How can people get connected with you and follow along with everything?
Angela Dinsmoor 50:45
Going to gray whiskers dot dog will give you everything you need. There's the booking of grooming services for me specifically, as well as a connection to me. That's where the newsletter lives too. So you can sign up and subscribe there and read all the back articles that you're interested in. And then the groomers certification program. When we get that launched, that'll be there as well. And then the community for groomers will there'll be a separate community just for groomers in that space, and then community for pet owners. Once we get that launched, we're building that right now as well. We've got a lot of things in the works, but the but the links to all of them are a gray whiskers. Hot
Collin Funkhouser 51:21
dog, cool. It's a lot of exciting stuff that you're working on, and I can't wait to see it tick off and people start learning and being able to serve this aspect of pet owners and pets with excellence. Angela, this has been an immense pleasure. I'm so thankful for your time. Thank you for coming on the
Angela Dinsmoor 51:37
show today. Thanks for having me on. It was great. I had a lot of fun.
Collin Funkhouser 51:41
We all know that senior pets have unique needs, whether that's physically, emotionally or behaviorally, but most pet professionals, even veterinary services, aren't designed with them in mind. As pet care professionals, it's our job to look at our services, how our businesses are arranged and set up, and see how we can adapt and change them to meet the needs of the seniors that we are serving or need to be served, whether that's adding in unique services, or just changing our business from top to bottom and focusing only on them and niching down so that we can truly meet them where they are. That is the job of the professional to see needs and fill them as they can. We want to thank our sponsors today, time to pet and our friends at pet sitters international for making this show possible. And we really want to thank you so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, and we'll be back again soon. You.
