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STSE #75: The Ethics of Puppy Yoga with Kate Rapkoch · Sometimes There's Side Eye

0:12
Welcome to Sometimes Their Side Eye, a podcast about two friends
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having real and unfiltered conversations about dogs and
0:20
people. Listen as we talk about our
0:22
lives with dogs, training, behavior, share some laughs and
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a whole lot of banter. I'm Heather.
0:30
And I'm Christy, what are we talking about this week,
0:32
Heather? This week we have a repeat guest
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and I'm as usual, so excited about it.
0:39
We I know we have Kate back from Pause and Breathe and we are so
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happy to have her here. Welcome back, Kate.
0:47
Thanks for having me you guys. If you guys are not already
0:50
following Kate, you should be. And of course, as usual, we will
0:53
link her up in the show notes or the show description so that you
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can follow her on Instagram and Facebook.
1:00
Those are the both the two, right?
1:02
Instagram mostly, yeah. If I don't use Facebook a ton,
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but it's there, it is there for sure.
1:06
Yeah, and then and then your website as well.
1:11
Kate, can you give us just a little reminder to our listeners
1:14
who you are, what you do, and maybe what pets you're living
1:18
with right now? Yes.
1:20
My name's Kate. I'm the founder of Pause and
1:22
Breathe. Kate or Katie, I get called
1:25
different things by different people that know me and Pause
1:28
and Breathe basically exists as an ode to my soul dog Champ who
1:33
passed away in November of 2023. We do a few different things.
1:36
We started out simply just partnering with local rescues to
1:39
do yoga fundraisers to raise money for dogs in need.
1:45
It then evolved into also offering grief support, which is
1:48
what the previous podcast that we did together was all about.
1:52
So Ioffer monthly grief circles for pet loss, because when I
1:55
lost champ, I didn't really have a resource for that.
1:58
So I felt like I it was something I wanted to create for
2:01
the community. So yeah, those are like the two
2:04
the two big things that that we do at Pause and breathe.
2:07
It's really all about healing and Wellness and just community
2:11
for both people and animals. I love it.
2:15
And if you would like to go back to listen to Kate's first
2:20
episode with us, we highly recommend it.
2:22
And that is episode 65. And I would just say if you
2:26
don't need it now or you don't think you need it, you might
2:29
need it in the future. So just maybe take note.
2:32
So yeah. Or you might have a friend who
2:34
needs it. Oh, that's a good point.
2:36
We're all about share the support, share the love.
2:39
So and what dogs are you currently living with?
2:43
Tell us or pet pets. Yeah, I.
2:46
Must remember to say Pat. Yes, I've had to shift like my
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whole model because I I do stuff with cats now too.
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So Champ obviously is no longer in his earthly body.
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My, my girl is Lily. So she's, she's my home girl.
3:05
She's here all the time. And then I kind of have a
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rotating door of fosters, both dogs and cats.
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And right now I have Midge who is being fostered through
3:14
Arizona Chihuahua Rescue. And then I also have Artie, who
3:17
is a Kitty who I actually think I had.
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Oh, you did. The last podcast I've had her
3:22
through Arizona Canine, and I haven't quite made the decision
3:25
yet, but she might just be staying with us.
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So we'll see you. Today in a while, I know it has
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been a little while, so it's. Hard to get attached to those
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long term fosters. Yeah.
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And she's just really great. She's great with people that
3:41
come over. She's great with the dogs.
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You know, she's she is particular in some ways, but we
3:47
really love her. Yeah.
3:48
Cash, there's so much value to in a dog savvy cat.
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I mean, I just love that it's so amazing and it's awesome for
3:55
your fosters too. If you, you know, have future
3:58
fosters that get to learn from a cat who is is savvy with dogs.
4:03
So that's awesome. Yeah, yeah.
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When Midge, when Midge came, you know, it took her a week to
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learn to not chase arty. But now, but now I can very
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easily say to anyone who's interested, you know, she's
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she's cat friendly. So that is, that is always
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really helpful. Yeah.
4:18
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. So today we are here to talk to
4:25
Kate about yoga, but in a little bit of a different way.
4:29
We are going to talk today about the puppy yoga movement.
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And so I think we'll start with how you got involved.
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I know you mentioned a little bit in your in your intro, but
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tell us a little bit about how you got involved in that
4:43
movement and where that began for you.
4:47
Yeah. So I mean, ultimately, like I
4:50
said, I started out doing these fundraisers and usually they
4:54
were just like, it would just be like a fundraiser at a brewery
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and some adoptable dogs would be there, like people would bring
5:00
dogs from the shelter, you know, whatever it might be.
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And then just the more that I put myself out there and more
5:08
rescues were seeing me, I was getting, you know, more offers
5:12
and more opportunities for doing different types of yoga.
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So I started teaching puppy yoga and it's something that I teach
5:19
periodically. It's not, it's not like an all
5:21
the time thing, but if a rescue reaches out and they're like,
5:25
hey, we have adoptable puppies, can we host a puppy yoga
5:28
session? It's really great for
5:29
socialization for the dogs and everything like that.
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And who am I to who am I to, you know, turn that down.
5:35
You know, it has very much become a very trendy thing and
5:40
you can raise a lot of money with puppies.
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And it has also evolved into do kitten yoga.
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I've done kitten yoga for a few rescues as well, kitten and cat
5:50
like with cats, you know, you can bring older cats and you're
5:53
not going to have, you know, big fighting issues or anything.
5:57
But it's really popular right now.
5:59
And so I said, I decided that I just wanted to use it as a way
6:03
to to raise money for the rescues, especially when they're
6:06
pulling Mama dogs and puppies in, like, so much money gets
6:10
poured into one litter. So it just felt like a helpful
6:13
thing to do. Yeah.
6:15
I even saw snake yoga recently. What?
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My God. No, no.
6:22
And I just flashed to, like, goat yoga.
6:25
You know, goat yoga is so popular.
6:28
Yeah, absolutely. I'm just gonna say I loved goat
6:31
yoga when I did it. Mostly the snuggled goats, but
6:34
yeah, it was also like one or two stretches done.
6:37
Yeah. And here's The thing is this is
6:40
something that as a yoga teacher, I do have to be
6:42
transparent to say, like puppy yoga is not.
6:46
I'm putting air quotes here. It's not real yoga.
6:49
Like, there's, there's specific like, practices that we do in a
6:53
real yoga class that like puppy yoga is.
6:57
It's a gimmick. And it is a way to bring in
7:00
money for the rescues, as is something like goat yoga.
7:03
I think people are now doing like, yoga with those highland
7:06
cows, like all that and snakes apparently, too.
7:09
So, yeah, it gets it gets people in the door who wouldn't
7:12
normally pay for a yoga class. Yeah.
7:15
And I, I would just say if you have done puppy yoga with Kate,
7:19
I would go and do non puppy yoga with Kate because because your
7:24
practice is so calming and and such a an amazing practice.
7:29
But I would say like experience both because why not puppies or
7:33
kittens or not snakes? I'm not down with the snakes.
7:37
Yeah. Yeah.
7:38
So that's. Amazing.
7:39
Yeah. And I will say it's funny.
7:41
I, I definitely have a preference.
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Like obviously I would always, always choose to just teach
7:46
regular old, regular old yoga if given that opportunity.
7:50
Kitten yoga can actually be pretty Dang relaxing too.
7:54
They're just not as big. They're not bulls in a China
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shop, you know, they're not chewing on mats and, you know,
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doing crazy stuff like that. But yes, I would always choose
8:02
to, to teach traditional, a traditional yoga class for sure.
8:07
Yeah. I get that.
8:09
And I think one thing I wanted to say before we get too far
8:12
into the puppy yoga is why we think it's important to talk
8:16
about this. Oh, yeah, yeah.
8:18
Because nobody goes to puppy yoga being like, oh, I really
8:22
want to abuse puppies today. Like I really want to like.
8:26
Of course. Puppies in harm's way.
8:28
Yeah. And yet some of those things are
8:30
happening. And so we want our listeners to
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at least be able to say, oh, this is how we can find ethical
8:38
yogas and This is why it's ethical and those types of
8:42
things. Right, I don't I don't think
8:44
anyone's going into this with malice in their heart.
8:46
They just want to see puppies. They see it around and they
8:50
maybe don't realize that there is a quote UN quote.
8:54
I don't want to say right and wrong, but definitely better
8:57
practices and what to look for to make sure that if you are
9:02
participating that you're they're doing it with a group
9:05
who is doing things on the up and up and keeping the people
9:09
and the animals and their well-being at the forefront.
9:14
100% same. Same with and this is something
9:18
that all the three of us have had conversations about, but
9:21
same with someone who buys a dog from a breeder.
9:24
If they don't know any better, if they don't have awareness or
9:27
education, I'm not going to sit there and be like, you're a
9:29
horrible evil, a terrible person.
9:32
You know, that's just, that's just not how my brain works.
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And I totally understand that something like puppy yoga or
9:40
specific breeds of dogs, right? They all have their day and they
9:43
all, they become trendy and people get excited and they
9:47
don't know what they don't know. And so, yeah, you guys are
9:50
totally. Christy, I'm glad you said that
9:51
because I'm I definitely don't want to be here talking about
9:54
puppy yoga in an ethical versus unethical.
9:58
I guess I'll use those terms way to say that any of the consumers
10:02
are to blame. You know what I mean?
10:05
I think until I sat down with you, because we actually sat
10:07
down about something else. And then we started talking
10:10
about puppy yoga and we got into it and Heather and I were
10:13
immediately like, we have to have Kate back on.
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Yeah. Then I don't know, though, that
10:19
I realized that there was this unethical puppy yoga happening.
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And so then I was like, we got to share this.
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Like, people need to know. We're like, get on this.
10:32
Yeah. I think.
10:33
I think for me it was maybe more obvious because so trans breeder
10:40
did do puppy yoga. So we'll like share some of that
10:42
experience and that so like I saw an ethical breeder doing it
10:47
in a certain way. And then also for me and who I
10:51
am, I'm always looking at, OK, who is the breeder?
10:57
What are their ethics? And then that leads me down a
11:01
road, right? But that's like who I am in my
11:03
experience. And so it makes sense that I
11:05
would look at it that way. For sure.
11:07
And and I think one, one of the big things as I've delved
11:11
further into this, this world and, and you know, looked into
11:16
it more is well, first of all, puppy yoga, goat yoga, often
11:21
those, those things started early as a way for rescues and
11:25
sanctuaries to raise money, right.
11:27
So it became this really fun, really gimmicky thing.
11:30
And then I don't know who or how or when, but it became
11:36
industrialized. We're now CE OS or serial
11:40
entrepreneurs or whatever investors are coming in and
11:43
they're like, we're seeing that this is making money.
11:45
And so let how do we build this model?
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And the crazy thing about it is there's a few different
11:54
companies that do puppy yoga and they're kind of like spread out
11:57
all over the country where it's their franchise is, right, but
12:00
it's all under one umbrella. And it's so crazy because when
12:03
you look at their website, when you go to their social media, it
12:05
all looks exactly the same across multiple companies.
12:09
The the branding looks the same, the language is the same, the
12:13
pictures are the same. And so it's like, OK, so is
12:16
there this bigger, you know, entity up at the top that's kind
12:20
of running and pulling the strings for all of this?
12:23
And so for me, as I mean, I wear a tinfoil hat on a lot of
12:27
things, but as someone who pushes back quite a bit on
12:31
capitalism and industrialization, especially of
12:34
things that benefit community members, right?
12:37
Yeah. That's where, that's where my,
12:39
that's where I started getting into all of this and starting to
12:42
do all this research when those ads started coming across my
12:45
feet and I was like, what the what is like, what is going on
12:48
here? So you can say what the fuck.
12:51
You can say whatever you. Want.
12:54
But yeah, that's when I started noticing where I was like, wow,
12:57
this looks highly curated. This looks very Brandy, you
13:03
know. Commercialized.
13:04
Very commercialized. Thank you.
13:05
Yeah, that's a great way to put it.
13:07
So for me, that's probably like if we were to say like what's
13:11
ethical versus unethical or like how do I know?
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I guess if someone's asking like how do I know if this is a good
13:18
yoga class to support or not? It's like look at the brand,
13:21
like look at are they highly commercialized?
13:25
That was my first red flag. I think my second red flag was I
13:28
went to a website and they're charging $70.00 for for tickets
13:32
for puppy yoga. Give give an example of what you
13:36
would normally do in that case so people have an idea of you
13:40
know. So like a standard, well,
13:42
standard class that I would teach, just like a regular yoga
13:44
class that I would teach would be 20 to $25 puppy yoga.
13:49
Like when I've partnered with almost their rescue multiple
13:52
times, I believe they charge $30 and, and again, when I partner
13:56
with them, all of the proceeds go to the rescue.
13:59
So I'm not, I'm not getting a kickback if I do my own yoga
14:02
class, obviously I'm getting paid for that.
14:03
But of course, when I partner and with the rescue, you know,
14:06
the proceeds are going directly to the rescue.
14:08
Now we've tried we're, we're kind of working with different
14:11
models, obviously in order to optimize, optimize funds raised
14:16
for the rescue. So I've like we did a kitten
14:18
yoga this last weekend and we charge $40.00 for a standard
14:22
ticket, but that also came with a coffee and it came with a
14:25
raffle ticket. Oh, nice.
14:26
And then we did like goodie bags.
14:28
So if you wanted a goodie bag, it was 55 S again, Even with
14:32
like, all the extras and all the perks, we're still way below
14:35
what these companies are charging.
14:38
Yeah, Yeah. And.
14:39
What do you think people should know about puppy yoga?
14:42
I mean, aside from the money piece, when we look at these
14:47
more commercialized versions of puppy yoga, what I have seen
14:52
with my own eyes, what I've read on the Internet and what I've
14:56
also heard from once I started posting about it, I started
14:59
getting people reaching out to me to share their experience is
15:03
that often breeders, they're partnering with breeders.
15:07
And you can see it on the website.
15:08
They're, they're very clear as day.
15:10
I've had a couple rescues say they partnered with me, but they
15:13
never got the funds. So they partnered with a rescue,
15:16
then they never sent the money over to them.
15:18
I've heard that a couple of times.
15:20
Unfortunately. A couple other things I've
15:23
heard. Well, what I saw was we could,
15:26
we went and. I just back up and just say
15:28
that. Straight up theft, yes.
15:31
That's. Into the people who need it
15:34
most. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
15:36
Also, you're extorting the people extort art expectation
15:39
class. Yeah, like there's so much wrong
15:41
with that. Totally.
15:44
And it's just. You needed a minute to, like,
15:46
marinate that, I think how terrible that was, yeah.
15:50
Yeah, it's, it's really, really bad.
15:52
I've also, I, I've actually had a couple of yoga teachers from a
15:56
specific company reach out to me and say breeders have brought
16:00
dogs in who've been sick and lethargic.
16:02
They've had ticks on them and like they've, they've said to
16:07
the higher ups this is happening and the higher ups have
16:09
basically just said just take the ticks off and keep going,
16:12
like keep doing the class like, you know, and so very
16:16
disheartening practices. Really hard things to hear, you
16:21
know, especially as someone who loves animals and like freaks
16:25
out if I accidentally step on my dog's paw.
16:27
Like to hear that these things are happening and that there are
16:31
people looking down on it and getting messages from yoga
16:34
teachers and being like, the show must go on, right?
16:37
Like we have to, we have to keep going.
16:39
So those, I've gotten multiple messages from yoga from yoga
16:43
teachers who actually worked for the company, who are now gone.
16:46
And now the company has lawsuits against them for speaking out.
16:50
So like very, very interesting things happening.
16:56
And then the, we actually did a protest last August outside of
17:01
one of the classes and I was able to, we, we saw the breeder
17:05
and we saw her bring the dogs in and then we saw her leave.
17:08
And so I was like, hey, so you're just leaving the dogs
17:11
here. She was like, yeah, just drop
17:13
them off for the day. Mind you, these the, this, this
17:16
specific company runs like four or five classes back-to-back.
17:21
And how, how many hours do puppies sleep in a day?
17:24
20 hours. 18 to 20 hours. 22 hours a day.
17:28
Yeah. And so these are hour long
17:31
classes. I think there's like 10 or 15
17:33
minute breaks in between. But so that no, so that that
17:37
ends up being 5-6 hours, seven hours where they are at a
17:42
studio. No, like no food there, no water
17:46
there and their handler is not there, right?
17:50
The person who is supposed to be looking out for them and is
17:52
supposed to be loving them and raising them and, you know,
17:55
helping them be the best dogs that they can be for their
17:58
future families is, is not, not present, you know, and, and we
18:03
obviously when the breeder dropped them off, we said a
18:06
couple of things and, and basically her response was like,
18:09
well, I, I love my, I love all the dogs, you know, I love them,
18:13
right? And so it's like, well, that's
18:14
not really good enough in my. That's enough.
18:17
It's not. Enough.
18:18
It's not enough. You can love something and not
18:21
care for it properly, like. I love violent.
18:24
Cows. I can't have one because I can't
18:27
properly care for it. Yeah.
18:29
Absolutely. Yeah, I this is obviously like
18:33
where I mean, OK, I don't want any puppies to be mistreated in
18:38
any way. And I hate that this grassroots
18:40
movement has been turned into this whole commercial thing.
18:44
And I don't want to just say that's the way of the world
18:47
because that's not good enough, right?
18:49
Because there's so much harm happening here.
18:52
And so I but I just cringe on so many levels.
18:59
I mean, I reached out to Transbreeder and said to her
19:03
like, Hey, you, first of all, she's doing this in Nova Scotia.
19:06
So like not a large city. They have a lot like basically
19:12
no disease there. So there's less risk from
19:16
disease standpoint for her puppies.
19:18
But even having said all of that, she went to the class.
19:21
It was one class or two classes. It's been a little while now.
19:24
I don't remember. She was wasn't the entire time.
19:27
Yeah. She was making watching how
19:30
these puppies were interacted with.
19:31
And when I say that she is a conscientious breeder, that's
19:35
like the lowest bar I could give for her, you know, And so I and
19:40
she, it was a wonderful experience for her.
19:43
Her puppies like had a great time.
19:45
All of this. Yeah.
19:47
Having said all of that, I, my, you know, back goes up when
19:52
we're talking about the type of quote UN quote, breeders that
19:57
are dropping their litters off for hours at a time.
20:02
These puppies are not being cared for.
20:05
They have no advocate. They're being passed around.
20:08
We're in a city where there is a ton of disease.
20:11
There is no there are no precautions taken.
20:15
We don't know vaccine status of the puppies.
20:18
Yeah, We don't know how people who are coming in and going, you
20:22
might unknowingly pass something totally.
20:25
Not to mention there's no one dictating the interactions that
20:29
are happening with these puppies in a highly formidable period.
20:36
And so you already have someone who probably should not be
20:40
breeding because they have no idea what they're doing from a
20:43
genetic standpoint. And then you're piling on all of
20:47
these potential bad experiences and a lack of security, a lack
20:55
of nutrition, a lack of sleep, a lack of dust rolls downhill in
21:01
such a horrific way. For me.
21:03
It it it makes me irate. Yeah.
21:07
I mean, I, yeah, I feel that same 100% way for those reasons
21:13
and, and and obviously some other reasons for sure.
21:16
And you know. There was no no hand sanitizer
21:21
or anything. Not that.
21:23
Not that I suck now, obviously. And here's The thing is like I
21:27
said, these are these are franchised all over the country.
21:30
And so one other thing that I have had, you know, people reach
21:34
out to me to say which it always cracks me up.
21:38
It's very similar to like the not all men movement, right?
21:41
Like if someone says like blah, blah, blah, they'll be like not
21:43
all men. I've had people be like, well,
21:45
not all classes, right? Not.
21:47
And it's like, but if this is happening once in one city,
21:50
that's enough for, in my opinion to shut it down.
21:54
I agree. You know, and especially in a
21:56
place, you know, I, I think often about, you know, when you
21:59
talk about getting trained from Nova Scotia, and I'm from
22:01
Montana originally. So a lot of people get their
22:03
dogs from breeders there because there's not an overpopulation
22:05
problem there. In Phoenix, there is a massive
22:09
overpopulation problem. And and then alongside of that,
22:14
this commercialized puppy yoga company has come in to steal
22:18
funds, right? To say, oh, we're going to
22:21
capitalize on what all these rescues and sanctuaries have
22:24
been doing and we're going to line our own pockets.
22:27
So not only are we going to be taking funds from thousands of
22:31
dogs who need the help, then we are also going to partner with
22:35
breeders and then we're going to promote more breeding because,
22:39
and here's kind of 1. Of the.
22:41
Things that I, I encourage people to look out for is if you
22:44
see this kind of now, obviously there are breed specific
22:48
rescues. I will say that as a caveat, but
22:50
if you see one of these ads for puppy yoga and they're like,
22:53
hey, come, come play with blue Merle Frenchies or come play
22:57
with the nations, then it's like this is an issue.
23:01
If you can guarantee a breed on a date, it's not 'cause that
23:05
ain't how rescue work. That's not how rescue works, you
23:08
know. The last thing we need is
23:12
another way to promote backyard breeding and scrupulous
23:17
breeding. Like we we don't need another
23:20
reason for people to produce fly by night litters, right?
23:24
Yes. I don't care where you are,
23:27
overpopulated or not, we don't want that.
23:29
And so we don't want people who are doing 0 health testing, not
23:35
selling on contract, not like none of that.
23:39
Not doing house, home. Checks none of it.
23:42
No application process blah blah blah.
23:44
Yeah, so I it just is such a terrible, terrible combination
23:52
of all the things that came from such a pure place.
23:57
And it just, gosh, it hurts my heart.
24:00
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, because I do think like,
24:02
wow, who was that person who was so creative and rescued?
24:06
That was like, you know what, I have this idea.
24:09
You know what we could do to raise funds like, because I do
24:12
feel like sometimes the need of rescue forces this creative
24:16
genius. Absolutely.
24:18
Happens and then and then for somebody to come on the back of
24:22
that creative genius and be like, let me stomp you down so
24:25
that I can just line my pockets like, yes.
24:29
And, and again, this is me wearing a tinfoil hat, but
24:34
unfortunately, isn't that a product of the society that we
24:39
live in, right? Where so many people have these
24:43
beautiful creative ideas and expressions.
24:47
And then someone comes in with bigger capital or with bigger,
24:52
you know, a bigger platform that can say, I'm going to take
24:55
exactly what that is and I'm going to make, make money for
24:58
myself. You know, when it's just one
25:00
individual person who's just trying to pay their bills,
25:02
right? Or the rescue who's trying to,
25:05
you know, pay for the vaccinations for all these
25:07
puppies or whatever it it might be.
25:09
Yes, yes, exactly. You know, the money that we
25:12
raise and even again, when I me individually, when I teach yoga
25:17
classes, like it all just goes back into the community, right?
25:20
It's recirculating. It's not going to some, I looked
25:25
up the guy who owns this, this specific puppy yoga company that
25:29
I'm talking about and he also is, is like the founder of a
25:32
bunch of like dental like dentist franchises.
25:36
So it's just that's just corporate type of person that
25:40
we're dealing with. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
25:42
Obviously, now that we've gone down the road of all the
25:45
negatives, right, and why, why we don't want people to be doing
25:50
this. How if somebody wants to do
25:54
puppy yoga or they want to host puppy yoga, how do they make
25:59
sure that they're doing it in an ethical way?
26:03
How do they make sure that the, if they're, you know, going to
26:06
host it, that the funds are or sorry, if they're going to go to
26:09
one, that the funds are being put towards an ethical cause?
26:12
How do they make sure that the puppies are supported?
26:15
Tell Tell the people how they do it the best way possible.
26:20
What does ethical look like? Yeah, so ethical would look like
26:25
maybe the the entity that is hosting this is, is a nonprofit
26:30
in and of itself or they are partnering with a nonprofit or a
26:33
rescue. That's a really, really
26:35
important thing to look out for, right.
26:37
So again, so if you're scrolling on your feed and you see an ad
26:41
and it says puppy yoga club, right?
26:44
And you go to the website, you can pretty easily recognize that
26:47
this is a for profit, for profit company.
26:50
So that's really one to look out for because path and breathe is
26:53
we're, I'm an LLC. I am technically for profit, but
26:57
all of these events, I am partnering with the nonprofits
26:59
and the money, money goes straight to them.
27:02
Another thing to look out for, let's say you find one and
27:05
you're going and you want to like schedule the class.
27:08
If you like, pull that drop down or if on the, the description
27:12
they're saying, OK, we've got a class at 9:00 and then 10:30 and
27:15
then noon and then two. Like that's a, that's a red
27:18
flag. So like Heather said, when when
27:20
Trin did it or when Trin Breeder did it, they had two classes.
27:24
We usually do one right and it's 1:00 and it's 45 minutes to an
27:28
hour. And then yeah, we hang out for a
27:31
little bit and people have coffee or whatever, but the dogs
27:35
are not there. I think the longest the dogs
27:38
have then like off site from the rescue at one of these events is
27:42
probably 2 1/2, maybe 3 hours. So it's short time frames,
27:47
right? So that's, that's what we want
27:49
to look for too. We also want to look for like,
27:51
are there handlers present, right?
27:53
Is the rescue there? Is the rescue going to be
27:56
present or are they just, you know, which rescues don't do
27:58
this? I mean, again, there's unethical
28:01
rescues too, but an ethical rescue would which the ones I
28:05
work with are like, we're there. We'll have this many volunteers,
28:08
you know, the dogs have this many vaccines.
28:10
So have you sanitized the floor or is there a floor covering?
28:14
You know, everybody needs to take their shoes off.
28:16
You need to sanitize your hand. So an ethical rescue will have a
28:21
protocol that you want to follow.
28:24
And here's the thing, let's say you do end up booking a class
28:27
and you go and you recognize this is not ethical.
28:29
They're not following this protocol.
28:31
Don't do just don't do it again. Right?
28:33
Like it's not like, again, it's not like you're a horrible
28:35
person now, you know, right now, you know, one of the other ones
28:39
was like the the guaranteed designer breed.
28:43
Like you're going to come and we're going to have golden
28:45
doodle, mini golden Aussie doodles for you or whatever.
28:49
Like that's a red flag for sure. Yeah.
28:51
I would agree, yeah, I and, and I'm so glad that you said just
28:56
because a rescue is doing this doesn't mean the rescue is
29:00
ethical. So like you want to know,
29:02
listen, we all work hard to earn our money and we want to make
29:06
sure our money is going to a 'cause we believe in totally.
29:09
So if you are donating your money, do a little research, you
29:13
know, make sure that you believe in where your funds are going.
29:18
And I have no question that everyone that Kate is dealing
29:22
with is on the up and up and ethical.
29:25
But there might be somebody out there that you would rather your
29:28
funds go to, you know, like, like it's a personal choice of
29:31
where your money's going. So just be aware of where it's
29:34
going and make sure that it feels good to you.
29:37
Totally. Yeah.
29:38
And one of the big things is like, I've had people reach out
29:40
to me to ask this very question. How do I know?
29:43
And also it's like ask them like comment on their social media
29:47
feed, e-mail them if they are not responding to you at all.
29:52
Just something to think about, right?
29:55
If they are skirting the answer that you gave them, if they're
29:58
giving you really broad answers like those, those are all that's
30:03
all information to take in. But I like, yes, we have to do
30:08
our due diligence as buyers like, and again, this is a big,
30:10
this is a big, way bigger picture thing than just puppy
30:14
yoga. We all need to be mindful of
30:16
where our money is going, especially now, especially with
30:19
everything that's going on in the world.
30:21
Our money has so, so, so much power.
30:24
So yeah, yeah, absolutely. I could, I could partner with a
30:27
rescue. And if someone doesn't want to
30:29
support that rescue, that's fine.
30:31
You can support and there's millions.
30:33
Of them, there are so many, yeah.
30:35
Just do your research and what feels good for you.
30:37
I know in Arizona, like a very, very, very simple first step is
30:42
to look them up on the Arizona Corporate Commission and see if
30:46
they're in good standing. Yeah, it it's like will take you
30:50
30 seconds to do an entity search and see that they're in
30:53
good standing. That is such a simple place to
30:56
start if you are wanting to like go down that road.
31:00
That's awesome. Yeah, I didn't even consider
31:02
that, but that. If they're a business in good
31:04
standing, that's a that's an easy first place to start.
31:07
For sure, yeah. It's also, I think it would be
31:11
wise, like you said, like contact them if you're like,
31:13
man, they do it looks like a rescue, but they say they're
31:16
going to have mini Aussie Goldendoodles.
31:18
Like totally contact them because they may say, yes, we do
31:23
this one time we ended up getting from a hoarding case.
31:27
And so we can guarantee because we have these litters right now
31:32
and so we can guarantee we're going to have mini Aussie
31:34
Goldendoodles here. And then you can be like, oh, I
31:38
kind of always wanted to interact with one.
31:40
Go to that yoga. Yeah, that's a great point.
31:43
Absolutely. Like I said, there are breed
31:45
specific rescues out there and there are more, more rescues are
31:50
pulling lots of different breeds of dogs at this point because of
31:55
what's going unchecked in the breeding world here in Arizona.
31:58
So you're absolutely right. I think another kind of thing to
32:01
watch out for because you'll obviously everyone's algorithm
32:04
is different. I see all of them.
32:06
I see every puppy yoga event every possible because it's on
32:10
my algorithm. But if it comes up often, if
32:13
it's partnering with a rescue, they often they want to say that
32:16
right? It looks good for a yoga, yeah,
32:18
a yoga company or whatever to say, oh, we're giving our, you
32:21
know, we're giving half of our, our profits back to Halo or
32:26
whatever. I don't know, whatever rescue it
32:28
might be. So usually if they're partnering
32:31
with a rescue, they're going to say it.
32:34
So yeah, if things don't feel transparent, if things feel off
32:39
or I don't know, they'll like a better word like if.
32:42
You get a little like inkling, yeah, if you ask it out.
32:46
Either if it just feels like to me, I think one of the hard
32:49
things is our, our social media feeds have for so many people,
32:54
they feel like it has to be so highly curated and it has to
32:58
look a certain way. And to me, that's often a sign
33:01
of like something weird is going on behind the scenes.
33:04
Support humans, support humans, support the refuse that they're
33:09
doing or the work that they're doing, you know, like actual
33:12
human beings. I know it looks really, really
33:14
cute and it looks like it could be the best experience ever.
33:18
And also, you would be surprised the amount of joy and
33:24
fulfillment and community that can happen at these events that
33:28
maybe aren't the most curated and don't less, you know, the
33:31
dog. The dogs are little, like kind
33:33
of weird little scruffy little mongrels, but they're so
33:36
freaking cute anyway, You know what I mean?
33:38
Yes. Yeah.
33:39
I would say being a business major, good marketing doesn't
33:43
equal good experiences. Absolutely.
33:48
Marketing is not equivalent to to dog care.
33:52
And totally, you know. Absolutely.
33:55
I mean to. Be aware of that too.
33:57
Some of the prettiest websites out there are the most unethical
34:02
breeders I've ever seen in my life.
34:03
So and I honestly myself, if you're out there and you wonder
34:10
if something looks ethical or not, I love to do a little
34:13
digging. So you are welcome to message me
34:16
a Puppy Cay all day on Instagram and I will just dig, right,
34:19
Because it's very easy for me to spot something because I have
34:25
the eye for it. You have the eye for it.
34:27
I have the eye for it on the breeder side.
34:29
You have the eye for it on the rescues, like and yoga side.
34:32
I mean, it'll take me probably a minute to be able to be like,
34:36
Nope, you don't want to go there.
34:38
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
34:40
And I would just love to be able to empower more people to be
34:44
able to see that, to see the the inconsistencies make you pause
34:49
and be like, oh, wait a second, this doesn't look right.
34:52
And obviously I don't, I don't have that.
34:55
I, like you said with, with breeders, I don't have that.
34:58
I, you know, I, I have a general idea of what are the things that
35:02
would would make an ethical breeder versus a backyard
35:05
breeder. But I, yeah, this is something
35:09
that I would I would love for everyone to be educated on so we
35:13
can make make better choices, especially when Phoenix is
35:17
overrun with so much backyard breeding and hoarding and, you
35:21
know, all those unfortunate pieces.
35:23
So today that we're recording is February 21st.
35:27
Do you have any events on the books that are upcoming that
35:31
people can be made aware of or what can they?
35:34
What can they think of that's upcoming for Pause and Breathe?
35:38
Yeah, I actually don't have any. Who did?
35:41
You do kitten yoga for. I did kitten yoga for Whisker
35:45
Outpost. They're a, they're a brand new
35:47
rescue. They, Michael and Krista, who
35:51
run it, were fosters for lost our home rescue for a very long
35:54
time. And they branched off to do
35:56
their own thing, friends of mine.
35:57
And I just wanted to bring more awareness, you know, to their
36:00
rescue. It was great.
36:02
Yeah. It was Valentine's themed.
36:03
It was just so cute, you know, like we had a really great time
36:06
and. And I back what they do.
36:09
I've been, I've been to their house, which is, it's all
36:11
kittens. So that's where they, they
36:13
rescue. And I've seen how they care for
36:14
the kittens and they, they just really, really care.
36:18
They're very special people. I'm trying to think, I don't
36:21
have any rescue stuff. God, I don't have anything on
36:24
the books right now. You know, I've been working on
36:26
some other stuff too with pause and breathe.
36:29
So I've kind of had to just balance my energy with all of
36:32
it. But it'll happen, yes.
36:35
Yeah, go ahead. I do think there is a puppies
36:37
prosecco's. Puppies.
36:40
Puppies and prosecco's coming. You are almost.
36:42
There, Yeah, almost there. Yeah, they have a really.
36:46
And that's such a fun. Oh, it's such an amazing.
36:48
Event. Yeah, or.
36:50
Not yeah. Wrigley.
36:52
Wrigley Manor. Wrigley man.
36:57
Yes, if people want, if people are like itching for some puppy
37:00
yoga right now and they want to support a rescue almost their
37:04
rescue is one of the best ones to do it.
37:07
They do the puppy yoga in house. So you go to the rescue.
37:10
They're very diligent about like infection control protocols.
37:15
They they are incredible. They do really incredible work.
37:19
Isn't that such a such a green flag right there?
37:23
They open their doors and say, come on in, we're doing it right
37:26
here, you know, and of course we all know the founder of that
37:30
rescue. So we're supportive.
37:32
And I think they're doing so many things right.
37:35
And so, and I know that those, those fundraisers are big
37:39
fundraisers for them. So yeah, I, I, I just was
37:43
thinking, well, they're even like, come on in, you know, you
37:46
can always go and, and see what they're doing there.
37:50
So yeah, I think that that's a really good place for people to
37:53
start too, if you're trying to get an idea.
37:55
Well, what does it really look like?
37:57
And and how does it feel when it's being done?
38:00
Well, yeah, absolutely if you're.
38:03
In Arizona, yeah, but. Even still you can follow on
38:06
socials and still get a feel of how it's happening and and what
38:10
the what the promo materials look like.
38:13
And then after the fact, what does it look like with the
38:15
videos from their events and everything and get a real feel
38:19
for for what it should be. For sure, very.
38:21
It's very human. It feels very human.
38:23
Yes. I will say now that we're just
38:26
mentioning rescues, another really good one who I have done
38:30
a few rescue or a few puppy yoga sessions with is Love Connection
38:33
Rescue. I didn't really know a lot about
38:36
them. A couple of years ago.
38:38
I found, I just found them because they had a dog that I
38:40
was in love with God. I think her name was Chavada and
38:43
she ended up getting, she ended up getting adopted.
38:45
But anyway, I am friends with one of the volunteers and, and
38:49
they do a really good job. Again, we held, we hosted the
38:53
puppy yoga sessions at Heidi's Village, which again, Heidi
38:56
Village just lets you come, come in, you can see everything that
38:59
you know, all the operations and what's going on and same thing,
39:01
infection control was there no shoes, you know, hand sanitizer.
39:06
There's, there's water bowls around.
39:08
That's another thing what I have again, heard from eyewitnesses
39:12
at some of these corporate puppy yoga sessions is like they're
39:16
withholding water from these dogs, you know, cuz it's not
39:19
cute if a dog as an, as an accident when it's a puppy, it's
39:23
not, but that's not cute, right? But when you're with a rescue,
39:27
they're running around just like spraying stuff down and wipe it
39:30
because they're dogs, you know, they're not crops, they're not
39:33
stuffed animals. They're, they're dogs.
39:35
So love connection is another really good one to, to just
39:39
consider as well. There's, there's a ton I have
39:42
have the fortune to really partner with a lot of really
39:46
great rescues and learn more about their practices.
39:49
And, and like you said earlier, I, I am picky too.
39:53
I I'm not, yeah, I'm not going to partner with everyone because
39:56
I want to make sure that they're caring for their dogs, you know?
39:59
Yeah. And even as the owner of an
40:02
adult dog, like I would not withhold water from him for five
40:06
hours, no. What is wrong?
40:08
With you like. Out and being active and
40:10
Arizona's so dry and so hot. That's just.
40:15
Cruel. It's just wrong.
40:16
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
40:19
I know you get a little bit of kickback because sometimes on
40:23
social media I'll see you addressing it, that you are
40:27
protesting something that you do yourself.
40:29
Oh, that's a great question. So, So what is your kind of
40:34
response to that? I mean, I think we've kind of
40:37
gone over it, but to wrap it up. Yeah, honestly, I think that
40:42
puppy yoga, if done ethically, I don't wanna say right.
40:45
Or I know I. Know, but if done ethically,
40:48
puppy yoga can be an amazing tool to raise money for rescues.
40:53
It can be an amazing tool to socialize dogs in the right way
40:57
and it can be an awesome way to not only create community
41:01
amongst animal lovers also open the door for yoga right.
41:06
This is a it's a really great way to like get people who have
41:09
never done yoga to come in and be like, Oh my God, I actually
41:12
kind of like that I'm going to try it So to me there are there
41:15
are benefits and puppy yoga can be a really great thing if done
41:19
ethically and so I will stand by the way I teach puppy yoga.
41:23
I think I teach it in the most ethical way that I can with
41:27
making sure that funds are going to the rescues, that the animals
41:32
are loved and taken care of, and there's proper infection
41:35
control, nobody's getting sick, and that we're just doing it in
41:38
a way that continues to give back to the community in
41:41
general. Yeah, I completely agree.
41:44
I think that you're coming at it with a pure heart and keeping,
41:47
keeping the well-being of the people and the animals at the
41:52
forefront. And that's that's exactly what
41:54
we want to see. Yeah, yeah, people and pups over
41:57
profit all day, every day. Yes, I love that.
42:00
I love that. I love that we just love having
42:04
you here and appreciate you taking more time.
42:08
I am so appreciative of you always sharing your knowledge
42:12
and being being a friend of the show.
42:15
Yeah, dude, I love. I mean, obviously I just love
42:17
you guys as people. And it's always great to, it's
42:20
always great to chat about the things you're passionate about.
42:22
So I'm gonna have to find something else that we can talk
42:25
about in another city. I.
42:27
Agree. No.
42:27
We'll have to talk. More dogs.
42:28
We're gonna have to talk. We're about dogs, some work.
42:31
So everyone we will link how to follow Kate on Instagram,
42:36
Facebook, but mostly Instagram and then also your website and
42:40
just give her a follow and then you'll you don't have to look
42:43
very far to know who to support and who not to.
42:47
It's pretty much that simple. I lay it out pretty pretty well,
42:50
very clear. So yeah.
42:52
Thank you. Kate, thanks guys.
42:54
Thanks. If you've enjoyed this episode,
42:59
subscribe, rate and share us wherever you get your podcast.
43:03
Also come on over to Instagram and engage with us at Sometimes
43:07
Their Side Eye. Thanks for listening everybody.
43:10
Talk to you next time. Bye bye.