Latest / The Natural Dog Mum / Healthy Dogs, Healthy Planet: The Seaweed Chew Revolution with Sara Gibson from Kelpy Bone

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Healthy Dogs, Healthy Planet: The Seaweed Chew Revolution with Sara Gibson from Kelpy Bone · The Natural Dog Mum

• 0:00
  Hi and welcome back dog mums and dads for another episode of the
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  Natural Dog Mum podcast. We are here today with the
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  lovely Sarah. Her brand is called Kelpie Bone,
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  and I have to tell you, I'm a little bit obsessed.
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  I'm going to let Sarah tell you all about it and what it is and
• 0:19
  why it's so good and all the rest of it.
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  I will just say that it is a healthy dog chew that has a
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  whole bunch of other benefits and is great for dogs that for
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  whatever reason, can't have raw bones.
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  So very, very excited to talk to her and let you guys know more
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  about her amazing product. So stick around.
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  I'm so excited to make people know about your product.
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  Everyone I told and I have been telling people left and right
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  about you. Everyone I've told you is just,
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  Oh my God, that's brilliant. Unbelievable.
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  So you're probably going to get some more enquiries and some
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  more calls because there's there's a couple of retailers
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  and like independent pet stores that I've mentioned.
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  Yeah, that were interested. Thank you.
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  So much, I feel like it's been such a journey to get here.
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  I mean, I was talking to not PLA, who's the person that I
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  source the seaweed from like 2 years ago now.
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  And I kind of just started as such, like A Little Dream.
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  And then yeah, it feels so good that it's finally here now,
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  honestly. And yeah, I'm so excited to
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  bring out all the different seaweed products, to be honest.
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  It's just such a great idea. I don't know why someone didn't
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  do it sooner, but good for you that they didn't.
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  Yeah. So tell us a little bit about
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  where where the ideas? Come from when I started my dogs
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  really loved those like, I don't know if you've seen them but you
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  know those plastic dog toys that have like beef flavour in the
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  like peanut butter flavour Well, my dogs loved them and then one
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  day they were chewing them and because my my day job is in the
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  sustainability sector they were chewing them and I was like they
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  this the plastics coming out the other end because of course dogs
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  eat everything so they just ended up eating and then I was
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  like this is so wrong. So then I was like, I need to
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  fix this and I couldn't find like, you know, one of my dogs
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  is allergic to like rawhide and it doesn't sit well with her
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  and. So you don't want to sleep raw
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  anyway. It's horrible stuff.
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  Exactly because I didn't know that at the time.
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  And then like I was doing all this research into it and I was
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  like, Oh my goodness, there's so many things.
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  And I was chatting to my vet and my vet was like, you've got to
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  be super careful with meat bones.
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  And then like if they so I just got this like laundry list of
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  things and I was like, I just need to make something that my
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  dogs can have, like cassette chewers.
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  I mean, you know how some dogs just love to chew.
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  That is my dog. Yes, mine.
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  They just, that's all they want to do, I think especially
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  because for me, like I'll give them a kelpie bone to make them
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  settle as well because, you know, working dogs after they've
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  been for a runaround, I feel like sometimes they just need a
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  hand calming down. Yeah, 100%.
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  Yeah, I've got retrievers and exactly the same, especially
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  after they've had a big run or they've been out and they've
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  been socialising with their mates, all that kind of thing.
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  Sometimes they need just a little bit, you know, of an
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  extra hand, you know, and, and it's not just the chewing and
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  the fact that it's, you know, it's good for their teeth and
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  their gums and everything. It's that form of enrichment and
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  it's really soothing for them to.
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  Totally. Like I was reading this research
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  study and it was talking about dogs and when they chew and all
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  the happy hormones that get released, like serotonin and
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  dopamine. Yeah.
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  And like how important it is for them to be able to have that
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  outlet, just like when they dig in the yard or something.
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  Like it's just a dog thing to do.
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  So I really wanted to like, that's why I started because I
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  would love to bring out lots of different toys that aren't made
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  of like just redesigned toys that are already made of plastic
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  but make them out of seaweed. But the first one was I chose
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  was the bone because it's just like it just makes sense for my
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  dogs. And I was selfish.
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  I was like, maybe I just I'll recreate something I want.
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  I know, but it's it's good because that's where that's
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  where so many great business ideas come from.
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  You're solving a problem for yourself.
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  That is, you know. And it's a problem with a lot of
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  other owners have as well. I mean, they don't want them
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  chewing on, on yucky, raw smelling bones in the house and
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  marking the furniture. Every, everything smells like
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  deer. And then you've got dogs that
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  can't digest them or they haven't got the teeth for them,
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  what have you. So, you know, it's, it's a, it's
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  a great option that's healthy, that's sustainable.
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  It's not going to splinter and you don't have that smell.
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  Totally, like when we were designing the bones, we, we
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  really wanted to make sure that when the dogs chew them, it like
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  crumbles off so that you don't have that problem with like
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  sharp edges or splintering. Because that's another thing
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  that my dogs would do. They would chew like crazy and
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  then their gums would be bleeding and I would just be
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  like, Oh my God, what are you doing to yourself?
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  Like they get so excited and they chew so like aggressively
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  almost. But yeah, it was like, it was so
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  interesting when I was trying to find something like before I
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  found not PLA. Who are the people that I get
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  the seaweed from? I was like looking all over and
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  I was like, what, what could I make this bone out of?
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  Like because like when I looked for sustainable options, my dogs
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  didn't really love like a lot that was already there.
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  So I was like, what's going to really make them excited?
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  And then when I did find not fly, I was like, Oh my, that was
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  talking about how great seaweed is.
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  And I know from a sustainability perspective, be weed is so good
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  for the environment. It takes in carbon more than
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  land based forest do. And it's a regenerative plant.
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  So it means it just grows really quickly.
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  So we're not taking up land where our food would be grown or
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  anything like that as its notion.
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  Yeah, I was like, oh, this is a perfect material.
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  Absolutely not. And not only the fact that it's
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  good for their dental health, it's it's good for their general
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  health as well. Just so, so many, you know, so
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  many vitamins and minerals and and all the good stuff in there.
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  I mean normally something you would be looking at adding to
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  their ball anyway. Yeah, yeah, totally.
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  And I think, I think so many people focus on the toy, their
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  food and you know, everyone buying great.
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  Well, a lot of people are buying great quality of food now.
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  And I felt like there was a real gap with their toys.
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  Like if we're buying quality dog food, we shouldn't be feeding
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  them toys that are made from plastic because micro plastics
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  shed off so easily off toys. And there's all this research,
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  especially here in Australia now, they're banning a lot of
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  chemicals that go into plastic. So I was like, this just doesn't
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  make sense if it's so harmful to human health and our wildlife.
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  And, you know, in Australia, we've got so many microblussets
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  even in our soil. I thought, you know, why not?
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  Let's just redesign this. It's, there's no point for us to
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  have plastic anymore. It's for our dogs.
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  Absolutely. Can you tell us a little bit
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  about because I'm I'm curious how they actually use the
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  seaweed to make the bones. Yeah, so it's really
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  interesting. It was an interesting process
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  for me to learn. So basically Nopla takes seaweed
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  and they when you have plastic, plastic is made out of little
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  pellets. Basically it's like little
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  before you process plastics, it's all these little pellets.
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  So Nopla through their technology, they take the
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  seaweed and then they basically make make it into little pellets
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  that are like like plastic resin, but they're not plastic.
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  And then I got, so I got like a little injection mould made and
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  it's kind of made exactly the same way that a plastic toy
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  would be made. It runs through a machine and
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  then it's like stamped into the kelpie, the kelpie bone shape
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  that you can see now. But it was kind of an
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  interesting process because it's seaweed, it doesn't act anything
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  like plastic through the design process.
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  So we had a long, which is why it took us a while to get the
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  product to market was it was a lot of learning on how to
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  process the material because it isn't plastic.
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  So it's very thick. It's kind of difficult to work
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  with in comparison to plastics. Yeah, it was really cool.
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  It's a really good learning curve in the way that I think
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  when going forward, when we make other toys, we're going to know
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  how to make it because I've had quite a few people ask me for
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  like different enrichment toys. And so we're going to be coming
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  out with a super chewer bone, so like a big healthy bone for
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  like, you know, your dogs with like really strong jaws because
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  I've had quite a few people ask me for that.
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  Some people have asked me for puppy versions that are a little
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  bit smaller. So yeah, it's basically just
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  called for a machine. Sorry, that was a really long
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  winded wave. No, that's all right.
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  I was. I was just curious how you got
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  from A to B, but that makes sense.
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  Yeah, yeah, it's really interesting.
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  I mean, the material scientists at Knoppla are amazing.
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  You know, they, they, when they made this technology because
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  originally kelpie bone was. So I saw on Knoppl's website a
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  little spoon and they made single use cutlery with the
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  material I use. And I was like, if it's made
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  into a spoon, surely I can make it into a dog toy.
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  And then Knoppla, like very, very kindly, I reached out to
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  them and they got, I was like, I want to make a dog toy out of
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  it. And I'm sure they went back to
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  their office and they were like, what is this girl talking about?
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  But they they were nice to me. They listened to me.
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  And yeah, we're here now. So I'm very thankful to that
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  team all the way that they're put in in making such a cool
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  product, because I think seaweed is going to save the world.
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  Personally, the list of benefits is just, you know, as as long as
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  your arm on. I mean, besides the
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  environmental and the sustainability side of things,
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  it's just so good for them. But there's so true, there's not
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  a limit really. It's, it's just your imagination
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  and coming up with a different sizes, different shapes,
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  different, you know, different concepts and playing around with
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  it. It's it's amazing.
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  Definitely. And I think I was quite
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  frustrated before I started kelping going.
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  It was because my background is in sustainability and always see
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  kind of the health and I'm I'm a dog mum like my my dogs are my
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  children. So I was yeah, you get it.
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  I feel like a lot of people get it.
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  So I was really frustrated when I went to the pet store and I
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  couldn't find any like brands that I could see myself in, if
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  that makes sense. Like I was like, I just want, I
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  want a natural dog toy that isn't going to like look boring
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  or like I want it to be fun. And when we were creating the
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  brand, my friend Easy did the branding for us.
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  And I really just wanted the whole thing to feel like, you
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  know, like community driven. So when you come into Kelby Bone
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  or you buy a Kelby Bone product, you're a part of a group of
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  people who really care about their dogs, they care about the
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  planet. They want a healthier life for
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  their dog and all of us. I guess so.
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  Yeah, I think it's a great way to approach it.
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  You know, it's when you do it in a way that is creating that
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  sense of community. It's, you know, it has that
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  feeling of warmth and being inviting and Oh yeah, I want to
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  be a part of that. You know, it's definitely the
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  way to go. And it's, it's a really, really
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  good way to not only introduce people, but to keep building on
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  that and introduce new products and introducing educational
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  elements like your social media post that you're doing.
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  I mean, there's, there's just so many, so many different things
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  that you can do with that that goes well beyond one product.
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  Yeah, I completely agree. And I think people are really
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  looking, oh, I know in myself, I'm really looking for that
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  community with dogs. Like, I mean, I think people are
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  kind of, I think a lot of people, I feel like especially,
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  especially a lot of my friends, but they're not having children
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  and their dogs are kind of their kids.
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  And like we we want those like dog moms we can get a coffee
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  with and talk about the new food we're going to give them and
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  obsess over that stuff. So I felt like healthy bone.
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  Yeah, you're the same. If we went for a coffee, we
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  won't do the same thing. Well, certainly.
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  They're our children. Absolutely, absolutely.
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  I think it's definitely the direction that things are going
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  in, in the industry. We're just a little, a little
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  bit slow to catch on to new things sometimes in Australia.
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  I mean, if you look at some of the brands overseas, US, Canada,
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  UK and Asia as well in terms of sustainability, in terms of
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  healthy products, in terms of, you know, raw feeding and those
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  sorts of things, they've got so many more options than we do at
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  the moment. But I mean, we'll get there.
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  Totally. It's amazing.
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  And I think we I just found out this morning that we're going to
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  be in pop up Grocer in New York, which is like a little store
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  over Christmas time. So I'm really excited about
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  that. Yeah.
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  I was like, because I, I also, I see what you're talking about
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  with the US brands when I look over there, I'm like, I wish
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  that we had that type of thing here sometimes.
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  Like they're really, they're really moving towards like the,
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  we do have quite a few like great brands, but I just feel
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  like they have so many of the US normally does.
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  But yeah, so. I think your product will do
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  really well over there because there's nothing that I'm aware
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  of at this point in North America that compares with
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  Kelpie Barn Show. Be prepared to be very busy.
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  I hope so. I'm still, I, I'm still working
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  full time. I don't know how I'm in debt,
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  but I, yeah, I still work full time while balancing kelpie
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  bone. So at the moment I wake up at
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  4:00 AM and then I do 2 hours of work before I start and then I
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  work and then I do afterwards. I'm like, oh, hopefully I can go
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  and like be able to, you know, it'd be busy and you know, it
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  grow like that, But I think it's kind of fun bootstrapping it and
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  doing like going through that because I feel like you get such
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  a huge buy in to the company because you do have to do it in
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  all hours of you know that whenever you can come at me.
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  Well, I mean, it's a sensible way to do it.
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  I mean, you don't, you don't want to be living in a tent and
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  and eating 2 minute noodle sort of thing or doing it that way.
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  Is is is smart? Exactly.
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  Yeah, I mean, also true. I was just saying off camera I
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  did the same thing when I launched my my first business.
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  I kept my full time job as well as long as I possibly could.
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  Yeah. And that's the thing, I think.
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  I think it's also something that isn't spoken about enough is
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  that a lot of people that is what you have to do and you out
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  of business. So I like, I know it is great
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  when you know, but like both of us speak out on that.
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  But I think sometimes you can see on such for me, yeah, these
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  people who are working on their business full time and that's
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  not the reality for a lot of people.
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  And you can still, you know. Yeah, exactly.
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  And raising capital, those sorts of things as well.
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  Again, that's not realistic. So everybody.
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  Know exactly? Pretty much everyone that I know
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  who's ever had a business, it started as a sign hustle.
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  Yeah, me too. And think I think, you know,
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  like a big part of when I was building Kelpie and I really
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  wanted to be really out there in the fact that I live in a van.
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  You know, I have a full time job.
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  Like all these things was because I think that there's so
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  many people that have really good ideas but don't go after
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  them because they're like, oh, I've got work or, you know, all
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  those bits and pieces. Yeah, true, but a lot of us are
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  also bored sometimes in our full time jobs.
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  And so, you know, it's a way that you can experiment without
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  losing that security or you might love your full time job,
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  but you love this other thing too.
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  And there's no reason why, you know, you can't, you can't do
• 15:43
  both, at least for a while and, and see where it goes.
• 15:46
  Well, I know that you've got another meeting that you've got
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  to get to, so we will let you go.
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  But thank you so much. It's been so lovely chatting
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  with you and we, we need to, we need to catch up again, I think.
• 15:57
  You so much.