Healthy Paws Promote Healthy Pets with Tim Petsch

Welcome to Hey Joe, a podcast answering questions asked by our listeners. Created by pet professionals for pet professionals. And now your host, Hey Joe’s very own Joe Zuccarello.

Joe Zuccarello: What’s up everyone? Joe Zuccarello here and welcome to Hey Joe, a podcast brought to you by Paragon School of Pet Grooming. Check out our site at paragonpetschool.com for lots of really cool information on a variety of programs, products, and to connect to educational resources such as webinars, podcasts, current events, special news, certifications, and lots of other helpful information to help you grow yourself, your team, and of course your business. Let’s get started with this week’s episode.

Hello Hey Joe podcast listeners. This is your host, Joe Zuccarello. This podcast is designed to give you, our listening audience, a seat at the table. You get to sit at a table and listen to myself and subject matter experts that bring a wealth of information to you so that you don’t necessarily have to go looking for it. I got to tell you, I’m really, really jazzed about our guest today. It’s a gentleman that I have had the pleasure of knowing for quite some time. In fact, actually lives very close to my office, so we’re in the same neighborhood and the same neck of the woods, and he allows me to meet with him and pick his brain probably about once every quarter or so, every couple months.

His name is Tim Petsch, he is with Pawz Dog Boots. Maybe you know of that product. I’ll let him introduce himself to you in a moment. But again very, very excited to have him with us. He is changing the way that we view pets’ overall health through the health and wellbeing of their paws, so I’m very excited to hear the information he’s going to be sharing with our listening audience. Just a quick reminder, if you have not already subscribed to this podcast, if this is the first time you’re hearing us, welcome to the Hey Joe podcast. We’re very excited to have you. Whether you are a retailer, you are a baby groomer, you are a groomer wannabe or you are any type of pet care professional, the content that we bring to you, we believe is helpful no matter what role you play in this great industry that is the pet industry.

Please, if you haven’t already subscribed to the Hey Joe podcast, please do so so that you can be taking part and listening to any Hey Joe episodes as soon and as regular as they are produced. So as we move forward, one of the things that Tim is also going to do is make sure that you have access to a really, really great free guide, a free tool, at the end of the podcast. So please make sure you stick around and I hope you enjoy what Tim has to say and that you can put it to work for you and for the wellbeing of pets.

So again, Tim and I will be talking about the overall health and wellbeing of pets and these types of questions come from our listener audience. So it is important that you understand how much our podcast thrives because of the questions you ask of us. So if you hear anything during the podcast that you’d like to learn more about or if you have a topic that you’d like to hear about and challenge me, maybe, to find a subject matter expert for, please email us at heyjoequestions@paragonpetschool.com.

So let’s go ahead and get started. Tim, thanks for joining us today. I did a little bit of an intro, probably cannot at all sing your praises loud enough. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and about what you’re up to.

Tim Petsch: Sure Joe. First of all, back at you. Like Joe said, we get a chance to meet about every quarter and he said that he allows me to meet with him, but the pleasure’s all mine and I certainly learn more from Joe than what he’s learned from me so it’s definitely a two way street. But boy Joe, it’s hard to believe like, gosh, I’ve been in the industry 15 years now. How time flies. And you know, it’s amazing how much things have changed in 15 years in a way. That’s when the term of the humanization of pets just started and you realize how far even that has evolved, becoming pet parents and basically our friends and our pets being part of our family, part of our children. So just when we think it can’t evolve anymore, it keeps developing.

Joe and I met years ago when I was with a pet product company called the FURminator deShedding tool, not sure how many you remember that product, but back 15 years, in the day, that was something pretty revolutionary. And it really goes back to the health of the pet. Besides addressing the problem of shedding at the time, which there wasn’t much out there 15 years ago, it was more about the health of the pet. How it helped with the coat, it helped with the skin, it helped with a clean home. And really that’s where that product kind of took off of the more we related it to health and that’s really where we’re going with the Pawz Dog Boots we’re at today.

Joe Zuccarello: That’s great Tim. And I’ll tell you, it’s interesting you talk about this evolution and I know that the word humanization was used. I remember when that term first kind of came on scene and it was very accurate. And I think we’ve even went even further now and I remember rubber dog boots being something that you put on the dogs … I would compare it to the early days of dog boots being compared to wearing wooden clogs instead of your favorite tennis shoes as far as the difference in technology and advancements and focus and that sort of thing. So I’m sure our audience is very excited to hear how that benefits the pets.
And really that’s kind of where we start from Tim is, as you and I have talked before, you’ve taught me that healthy paws promote healthy pets. And you know, I come from, I’ve been in a business a little longer than you and the pet industry for a little longer than you, but the healthcare to your point of evolving, now folks are buying health insurance and life insurance and just doing some pretty remarkable things to focus on the health and wellbeing of their pets. And I got to believe, and I am so guilty of this myself, but I’ve got to believe that most people are just like me and many of your pet parent customers out there that I don’t know that we pay attention to their paws.

I always thought that, and I’m sure you’re going to be able to steer me in the right direction, I always thought dogs and cats brought their own shoes to the party. The pads of their feet. I was raised with folks telling me, “Well listen, the pads in their feet are like shoes. Just feel how rough they are.” You know, it feels like a bottom of a shoe and it might. But I think after listening to you and I talk today, our listeners of the Hey Joe podcast are going to get a new appreciation, and Tim, I try to identify our audience for you so that you know who you’re talking to out there. We’re talking to pet professionals out there, we’re talking to pet retailers, and I don’t know that either one is any different from one another when it comes to educating pet parents about this whole notion, this new way of looking at paws being healthy paws promote healthy pets. So what have you seen happening with overall health conscious pet parents now than ever before?

Tim Petsch: Yeah Joe, you’re right on this continued evolution of healthcare and you look at basically any other category in the pet world. Look how far food has come. I mean, think about 10 years ago, people were feeding their dog Old Roy from Walmart and not even blinking. That would almost be considered a crime these days. You look how far the food has developed, the treats, the supplements, the oral care, sweaters, whatever. The whole healthcare has really evolved.

But unfortunately the paw category’s kind of been ignored and really, step back and look at it. It’s probably the second most important thing to a dog’s health besides the food. They have to have healthy feet just like we do, to walk, to run, to go outside, to be healthy, that don’t get infected, and so forth. So it’s been a heavily underdeveloped market. And look at your comment on, well, they’re kind of like shoes to people. That’s probably true, but today in dogs’ environment, they’re getting into things that they were never designed to do. Let’s look at winter, to living in a city, they’re walking in the snow which has street chemicals on it that they’re putting out, they have salt, other things that are just totally eating away and drying out and infecting paws in those severe conditions every day.

Joe Zuccarello: I’m sorry, Tim, go ahead.

Tim Petsch: Well, I was just going to say then that holds absolutely true for other parts of the year. You look at what dogs are getting into into the summer. They’re stepping on hot pavement, hot sand, lawn chemicals, and I think the more important part of that, not just the health of the dog, but it’s hurting the health of the pet owner also. Those chemicals and those dirt are being drug into the house, getting on the carpet, getting on the furniture, getting on the baby, and getting on everything. And people haven’t really just really been visualizing of the trickle down effect of unprotected paws, clean paws, healthy paws, and how it affects the dog’s health and the pet owner’s health.

Joe Zuccarello: Okay. So let’s unpack a few of those then because you got my brain just swimming in questions now. So, what you’re saying, okay, so I think what you’ve pointed out is obviously, okay, so folks are, and we did together a minute ago, we pointed out just the overall health consciousness of pet parents. And that’s wonderful. So you started giving some examples and I really do want to kind of take a deeper dive into each one of those. One of the things I heard you say was that the pets are doing things and being exposed to circumstances or environments that maybe they didn’t have before. And you know, as I think about that, I think about the humanization. I think about them being our family members. And you know, you don’t leave your family members at home, although sometimes you wish you could, you don’t, you take them with you.

So you know, if we’re more active or if we’re living a different type of lifestyle, and pet ownership is higher than it’s ever been, and all of the healthcare consciousness and such is higher than it’s ever been, it’s then very safe I guess to assume that the lifestyle for the pets has changed. So to your point, they’re probably, maybe they’re running more, maybe they’re biking more. I definitely want to unpack the dangerous parts of their environment, but how about just over-use or just stress or activity issues that are caused with paws? Do you see-

Tim Petsch: Absolutely.

Joe Zuccarello: … that as a problem?

Tim Petsch: You know, it’s always kind of a long slope and again, we don’t realize how far things have come in 10 or 15 years. 10, 15 years ago it was unheard of that you would bring a dog to a Lowe’s department store or that you would see them at an airport or that you would see them at a dog park. Dog parks didn’t really exist 10, 15 years ago. So this is something that, like you said, is rapidly developing and they’re being put in environments that they’d never had before and getting mass exposure to a lot of different elements anytime of the year.

Joe Zuccarello: Mm-hmm (affirmative), yeah, and I can imagine some of our listeners say, “Well, you know, dogs are built this way and their ancestors several generations ago were running through the woods and running through snow and running through some of the same elements we point out.” But to your point earlier, as far as the lifestyle and what they’re being exposed to, are they doing it as often? Or are we also, here’s a notion, and I don’t know, I could be thinking about it wrong, but are we also kind of creating our own worst enemy? Are we creating a cycle where the pet comes inside and lives on our leather furniture and sleeps in our silk sheet bed and sits in our recliner with us and lays on a pillowy bed and then we ask them to go outside to the elements. So are we not helping them? Are we creating a cycle that’s … are we creating a kind of a troublesome cycle?

Tim Petsch: Well, I don’t think it’s a troublesome cycle. Certainly, we all want our pets inside and bond and have time with them and enjoy the emotional benefits of having a dog around, but I’ll take a step back further. We talked about 15 years ago, think about 30, 45 years ago. How odd would it be to see a dog even inside or a dog that slept on the bed or dog that were on the couch? I remember my grandparents’ day, they weren’t allowed in the door. And just to the amount of exposure they’re getting, it’s dramatically different.

So we don’t really think about … and I would say imagine putting a video camera on your dog’s path throughout the day. And I’m going to use a little bit of rough words here, but think about what they step in. They step in the mud, they step in their pee probably, step in their poop, they step in pigeon stuff, they step in, you name it, they’re stepping in it and we kind of just ignore it. And we don’t think about looking at that video camera and saying, “Oh my, this is what … they are getting on my lap, they’re getting on my couch, they’re sleeping on my bed at night.”

Joe Zuccarello: Tim, Tim, you’re ruining my lunch, my friend.

Tim Petsch: And just what that’s doing the the health of their paw. You know, think about this. I always say, imagine Joe, you going out on a Saturday in the backyard and you’re going there mowing the grass barefooted, you’re stepping in whatever, you think your wife’s going to let you in the door with your dirty feet or sleep in your bed.

Joe Zuccarello: No, no, not so much. In fact, I think my dog would have my spot there if I did that.

Tim Petsch: Exactly.

Joe Zuccarello: My dog probably has cleaner feet than I would have in that circumstance.

Tim Petsch: So, you know, clean is certainly part of the story, but the other story is health, the effect it has on them. Think about the germs and the fungus that grows. And I always say smell your dog’s feet if you’re brave enough. It gives it that a Frito popcorn smell, it has that distinct smell and that’s kind of a fungus that develops on it, and look how rough they’re getting, look how beat up. Dogs start having troubles with traction control because they do get that, you know how they get kind of slick after they get worn down for a while, especially as they get more elderly? That’s because the health of the paw’s not good.

Joe Zuccarello: So let’s unpack a couple of other things. So we already kind of unpacked the lifestyle where maybe they’re running on gravel or they’re tethered to a bicyclist as he or she is navigating through trails or on the road or runners or that sort of thing. So I definitely think of that. And you know that I talked to you about you see them as boots, I almost see them as footwear, you know? So can it be that commonly used where we have to start thinking about them? And you drew a great comparison. If I went out in the backyard, cut the grass, stepped in whenever I’m stepping in and came inside, would I be allowed inside with bare feet after all of that? But here we are letting our-

Tim Petsch: Joe, you’ve been to the beach before, you’ve stepped on the beach where your feet get hot and burnt to step on it, and the dog paws are no different. How many dogs … You get on a hot, even at St. Louis here, when it’s 80, 90 degrees out, the pavement’s like 135. You can fry an egg on it. Why would you want your dogs stepping on the same thing?

Joe Zuccarello: Let’s talk about that. I think you had sent me, in my show prep material, I think you had sent me a study that you had done and used a-

Tim Petsch: Infrared.

Joe Zuccarello: … an infrared thermometer, if you would. I’m not really super techy but I think you had said that the pavement was 132 degrees. And what was the difference when the paws were protected, what was the difference with protected paws versus paws exposed directly to that heated pavement?

Tim Petsch: Yeah, and as far as that, a little more detail on that research that we did, when this was shot out in Las Vegas with an infrared camera with a dog, it was 107 degrees out. The temperature was 135, but the dog boot was actually only slightly above their own body temperature because it protected from the heat, there was a barrier, and actually built its own little air conditioning system up in the boot.

Joe Zuccarello: That’s amazing. I mean if you’ve ever … Touch your steering wheel or sit on a hot leather seat or, for that matter, walk barefoot on, like to your point, hot sand or hot sidewalk. And here we are putting the pets … I’ve got a spoiled little dog and I can tell you he looks like he’s tiptoeing when he walks outside sometimes on those hot days. And really the same for cold. So you had that extreme heat situation but extreme cold-

Tim Petsch: Yeah. And Joe, as far as, back to the research, I hate to cut you off, but I just want to say that it’s not just our internal research. A lot of the research we got is very widely publicated. If you would type in, just on Google, put burnt dog paws, you could see all the charts and all the information. But it is backed by the American Medical Association. I’m sure a lot of your professionals out there, whether they be a vet or groomer or a boarding facility, see it all the time and it’s becoming a lot more prominent. So it’s not just our own little internal research, it’s what we’re seeing out there from all the major medical influencers in the world out there.

Joe Zuccarello: So if we stay with, let’s say they have an injury due to heat, and I’ve seen some pretty graphic images of that and to your point, our listeners, the Hey Joe podcast listeners, can Google those and see those very troublesome pictures. But the pets, they don’t know how to necessarily react to that, right? So they might start licking their feet and then all of a sudden now you’ve got more germs and bacteria introduced to very vulnerable injured skin. Just like if they were licking a part on their leg or their tail-

Tim Petsch: Exactly. Well Joe, on that note, they’re ingesting that then. They’re ingesting the bacteria they’re licking in, the salt, the chemicals, the lawn, whatever, and it kind of just multiplies the problem as we go forward by ingesting those things into your body.

Joe Zuccarello: So that ripple effect, it doesn’t just start and stop with the paws then, is what you’re saying.

Tim Petsch: Exactly.

Joe Zuccarello: Oh wow, okay. Okay, so the heat is one thing, the extreme cold, I know that when my little dog goes out, I’ve got a little Shih Tzu, his name is Vinny, he’s like the center of our world. So yes, he wears pajamas and I am that type of customer, Hey Joe listeners out there. I have turned into that customer you probably talk about, I’m that guy, my wife is even worse but-

Tim Petsch: You drank the Kool-Aid, so good.

Joe Zuccarello: I absolutely have. So you know, Vinny goes outside on these cold, snowy days or whatever, and we’re very cautious as to … we really don’t put down any chemicals because we’re afraid of that. I’ve learned from my buddy in the dog boot industry, not to do that.

Tim Petsch: I’m sorry, and once the dog, once the dog paw gets hurt or damaged, it’s not like a human where we can cover it with a shoe or be on crutches or a wheelchair and be off it for awhile, the dogs need mobility. So the more a problem happens, exasperated as time goes on, you know? So you want to prevent that original injury, and think about on the hot pavement the paw pads peel off, they get delicate, they get more infected. You can’t keep a dog down, they’re active, they want to go with you. So again, that’s another big difference than human, that once it happens, it’s hard to turn that situation around.

Joe Zuccarello: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah, it just keeps spiraling I would imagine is the best word I can find for that. So you know, when they go outside in the cold, they get those little ice balls that happen kind of between their feet and that causes an issue as well. And just extreme cold, just like extreme heat, that is a body part for them, so to some degree there’s still susceptible to challenges.

Tim Petsch: Yeah, and I got to say Joe, it’s not that all boots are the right solution for different problems. I’ll give you a couple of examples. You know, regular dog boots have zippers, they have straps, they have soles to them, and it’s just not a very comfortable feeling for a dog, especially in the summer, to have to wear something that hot and bulky. And how many times, Joe, have you seen on Facebook, people pass the video around the dog doing the funny high step with those boots on, “What are these things?”

Joe Zuccarello: I think that’s right, I have seen that.

Tim Petsch: Facebook before.

Joe Zuccarello: I guess where you’re going with that is yours are not like that.

Tim Petsch: Right. And the big difference with ours is they are very comfortable for the pet. And here’s why, because they are a disposable but reusable rubber dog boot and basically they’re a natural rubber, and I’m going to say it, because once you see it, everybody says it looks like a balloon. But that’s the beauty of it, the simplicity. It’s thin enough, when the dogs have it on, can feel the ground. It feels very comfortable, it feels very natural to them, and it’s not a sole where they feel very awkward because the dogs, more than us, rely on the feeling of the ground to feel natural. But it’s durable enough that they can multi-use the thing many times.
You know, they come 12 per pack and how many have bought other dog boots out there and you lose one the first time and we always call it, you’ll lose one you’re done, based on 40, 50 dollars, and you lose that boot and you say, “Ah, the heck with it.” And there goes your whole theory of paw health out the window, versus ours which come 12 per pack, disposable but reusable, and they are very secure fit, very comfortable. We make them in seven different sizes so you can fit them toward the size of your particular pet.

Joe Zuccarello: So Tim, so obviously we’re really focusing on the paw health, right? As a kind of a gateway to overall pet health or certainly promoting overall pet health. So one of the things that I would be afraid of and one thing that I think that your product and you are addressing is, as a pet parent, if I buy a product and I know why I’m buying the product, so let’s say we’ve convinced all of our listeners that they have to be doing a better job of educating the pet parents that they come into contact with about overall pet paw safety and health as it relates to promoting overall health. So let’s say they’re, “Yup, we’re all in,” all my Hey Joe listeners are fully on board.

But the moment that a pet parent goes home and puts, let’s say one of those other type of boots on their dog or even tries to kind of go the cheap route and say, “Well, I’m just going to put some socks on them, infant socks.” I’ve seen all kinds … Ziploc bags, right?

Tim Petsch: We’ve see them all.

Joe Zuccarello: Yeah, I bet you have. The moment that a pet responds negatively, like even if it is just those funny videos we laugh at, those pets are uncomfortable, and we find some laughter in it, but at the end of the day the pets are uncomfortable. So if they’re uncomfortable or they don’t have the same type of behavior or it alters their conduct or their personality, the pet parents are going to abandon this and that’s the worst thing they can do. So what you’re saying is that your boots offer the most natural feeling so that you reduce, greatly reduce, the chance of a pet rejecting these.

Tim Petsch: Yeah, absolutely. And Joe, reduce is really good word because as we know, all our pets are different just like our children would be, and they’re all going to react differently. But you know, I would say the high percent, the majority, are going to feel very comfortable in this boot. And there’s going to be some who don’t like anything, you know? They maybe don’t like a certain treat or don’t like a certain coat or don’t like a certain whatever. They all have their unique personalities and like anything, something that affects them, they’re going to have a little bit of a reaction, “What are these things,” at first, you know? But once they get their mind on something else and start running around or you give them a treat, they get their mind off it, they’re good to go. And again, that’s the word that you’d use, reduces. I would no way guarantee and say every pet’s going to love them, no if, ands, or buts. I can’t honestly make that claim. But you know, a very, very, very high percent do.

Joe Zuccarello: Good. That’s all great to hear. So Tim, we know our audience, I know the Hey Joe, listener audience out there. Many of them might be saying, “Okay, great. I think the product’s great.” Maybe some of them already went to the website and started looking at them or maybe they’ve heard of them before, maybe they’ve seen them in the retail stores or what. But let’s say we’ve got pet professionals out there, these pet care service professionals, namely groomers, right? So we’ve got groomers out there who, you know, they cut hair, they bathe dogs, they do deshedding, they do nail trimming and filing. You know, they do all of the things that make pets comfortable cosmetically and also with their skin and coat and all of those types of things.

What is that conversation? I’m sure you’ve talked to other pet care professionals out there. What’s that conversation look like when they have pets coming through their door, sometimes four, five a day, all the way up to 40 or 50 or a hundred dogs a day, that come into these pet care facilities, both boarding, grooming, daycare, all of those pet professionals? What does that conversation look like, in your opinion, that they can enter into with pet parents?

Tim Petsch: Joe, both you and I have been on the grooming pet services side for a long time and in the early day of FURminator, we actually officed out of a grooming facility. So we are very familiar with the challenges that groomers have to go through, or any pet professional. But I think it’s more just education, making people think about the things we just talked about. Thinking about protecting, both what’s happening in the winter, what’s happening in the summer, and certainly that varies by geography and you’re going to have your own story. But the health of the paw, it’s getting in the allergens, getting in the chemicals, getting in you name whatever, it is on the paws, and clean home.

In your home and getting in your life and on your family or on your furniture and just painting a very simple a picture. I think a lot of it’s leading by example. You know, the grooming world puts a lot of work in sending those dogs home clean. And I would put the boots on them when they leave and say I’m sending home clean and by the way you can buy this product here to keep them clean at home. And I think it’s just leading by example and some subtle things is putting those boots on the dog when they’re leaving the service to start showing the importance of paw health.

Joe Zuccarello: So Tim, I like that idea. For all of our pet retail professionals, pet service professionals out there, having the product right there at hand so that you’re not asking the pet parent then to … you can talk to them, you can educate them, but then you’re going to send them away to go down the street to try to buy that. In many cases they’re either crunched for time or they just forget about it, right? And I like the idea, like you said, maybe the pets go home with the Pawz product on their feet. And I call them feet, right? So I’m even starting to move away from … I know the name of your business is Pawz but I’m actually starting to call them feet because here I am already starting to look at their paws differently. So maybe our pet professionals out there …

And that kind of brings me to your offer that you are excited to bring to the Hey Joe listener audience and do you want to speak a little bit about the free guide that you’re going to make available to the Hey Joe listener audience?

Tim Petsch: Yeah, it basically is just a free guide and kind of summarizes all the things we talked about today, Joe. You know, the protection of the paw, the health, the winter, the summer. It’s just a nice summary, so they’ll have a easy, I’ll call cheat sheet almost, to learn and educate their customers on. And you know how it is, you teach one customer that tells another then another and another and before you know it, you have a very educated client base.

Joe Zuccarello: That’s a really cool tool that I’m sure that they’ll find very beneficial because too many times these … we’re talking, these are grooming experts in many cases or doggy daycare experts or boarding experts or retail experts, they’re not dog boot experts. So the more that-

Tim Petsch: Certainly Joe, I make myself personally available for anybody who wants to call with more questions or get more information or whatever they need. So I would always be available for a conversation.

Joe Zuccarello: That’s great. That is awesome. So what we’ll do just so that our Hey Joe listener audience knows, we are going to take Tim’s offer and we are going to make that available to you on our website at www.paragonpetschool.com and so start there. And from there you’ll be able to grab up this information and take advantage of this free guide from Tim and hopefully the information that Tim has provided you helps not only grow the trust factor with pet parents, but also your business as a result, not only from maybe the sale of the boots, but certainly helping to partner with pet parents on the overall wellbeing of the pets by taking superior care of their paws.

So Tim, I wanted to thank you for your time today.

Tim Petsch: Thank you, Joe.

Joe Zuccarello: You continue to impress me and I tell you, I mean, and I’ll tell my listener audiences, Tim had to convince me and I am certainly convinced and I hope that he’s done a good job of convincing you as well. Again, you can access Tim’s gift by jumping on our website at paragonpetschool.com. Just a quick reminder, again, subscribe to the podcast so that you can hear other subject matter experts on a very regular basis. And please remember, if we did not cover something you were hoping we were going to cover, shoot us a question, an email with your question and we will be sure to circle back to you. Or if there’s a topic that you have an interest in and you would like us to cover on a future Hey Joe podcast episode, please send us an email. Again, our email address is heyjoequestions@paragonpetschool.com.

Tim, I wish you, your company, and all of the pets the very best now and into the future, and I really am looking forward to seeing these little colorful boots on dogs everywhere.

Tim Petsch: Agreed, Joe. Hey, great seeing you, we’ll see you at a show or over coffee soon.

Joe Zuccarello: That sounds great. Thank you all. Take care.