🎙 Podcast: Welcome to season two! Dog perfume, pet trackers, agility classes, and more

Episode #16: Dog Perfume, Pet Trackers, Agility Classes & Bluey: Welcome to Season Two of the Juniper Podcast!

Welcome to season two of the Juniper podcast!

Tune in to catch up with the Juniper crew—Allison, dog mom of Addie, and Haley, dog mom of Scout—as we answer questions like:

• How long can Haley live in a van with her dog and her partner? 🚐
• What does Juniper actually do? 🧐
• How did Addie handle her first agility class? 🐕‍🦺
• What about cat content?? 🐈
• What do we really think about Bluey? 🩵
• Why are so many luxury brands getting into the pet space? 🎀
• Who wants perfume for dogs? 👃
• What’s our take on pet activity trackers? ⏱️

Tune in for pet news, brand updates, and a dose of cat and dog lover camaraderie. Then join the Juniper Community for more!

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Stream The Podcast Here:

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🔗 Links and resources

• Check out the new Juniper website + sign up for our newsletter
• Follow Haley’s van life on Instagram @paws.andreflect
• Listen to our episode with Ebony of Atlanta Dog Mom Social Club
• Explore our guides for pet parents
• Read Inside of a Dog and Being a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz

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Highlights from the episode:

• Van cats — Haley 10:40 —Probably my biggest regret of the van is that I can't have a cat right now. I keep telling Sean that we need a van cat. Sometimes we'll stay at a winery or a brewery that, like, has a resident shop cat. And I really, really miss cats. But Scout would kill me if I made her live with a cat in a small space. So, when we do finally move out of the van, at least I have things to look forward to even though I'm sure that I will be sad about it too.
• Dog perfume — Allison 25:50 —One of the fancy brands came out with perfume for dogs. And I was kinda like, no. Because it was really expensive, and I struggle with anything scented on Addie. When she gets her grooming or when I wash her with something, I'm like, oh, it's kinda nice when she smells a little bit good, but, like, I try to think about how that might be for her. How do you feel about perfume for dogs?
  Haley: First gut reaction, I really don't like the idea. I don't know what this perfume's composition is or what scent it's trying to emulate. I do know that humans and dogs have very different olfactory systems and often different scents that we find engaging, interesting, pleasant to be around. So there are a lot of common human scents that, you know, researchers have shown dogs don't really enjoy being near.
• Letting dogs be dogs — Haley 28:15 — I sort of just like resent the idea that a dog should not be a dog anymore. And I'm not trying to say that this specific company meant that with this product, but I just think it's indicative of a larger trend that we keep making dogs more and more like people. And you know I'm the first to talk about times when anthropomorphizing is actually beneficial. I don't think that's always bad, but I think it can be a dangerous slippery slope. And, you know, Scout wants to go on a hike and roll in mud and then smell like gross things. And does that bring me joy? No. But it might bring her some joy, and so I'll try to, like, meet her in the middle, I guess.
  Allison: And perfume itself to me is just like a strong scent that would linger. And I think for there's I forgot, is it 5000 times ours or 10000 times ours?
  Haley: The figure is, like, constantly debated. Like, we know it's astronomically larger, but the last I read, there wasn't even an exact number. Like, some sources say 10,000 and some say a 100,000. That's a factor of 10 difference. So I don't even think we fully understand.
• Activity trackers — Haley 38:25 — I live in less than 70 square feet and I'm a super minimalist. I’m a minimalist to an annoying degree. So, like, me not having an activity tracker, there's a good chance that that says more about me and just the way that I've, like, chosen to structure material belongings than whether or not it would actually be useful because I know they have great uses.
  Allison: I think we can bring, like, a nice balance for people because I also I mean, I'm a minimalist in the sense of, like, I'm more of a curator because I lived in a small New York City apartment for the majority of my life. I had to be like that too. And so I was really good at, like, curating, like, really just do we need this? And the minute I'm not using it, it gets donated or sold. But now I have a house, and I'm running a pet company, and people send us stuff. So I'm, like, really big on, like, the pet stuff.

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Thanks to our sponsor: Optimeal

🦴 We love Optimeal and we think your dog will too. Get 20% off their natural pet food with the code 20JuniperPet or at this link.