You're listening to in the Vets Office with doctor Josie Horschak.
All right, welcome to in the Vets Office. I am your host, Doctor Josie, and I am so excited about this week's episode. We have the infamous og social media sensation, Doug the Pug coming on. He I'm pretty sure is the most followed dog in the world, and we have produced a Morgan here today.
Hello. Not nearest important as Doug the Pug.
Doug the Pug takes the cake, but you're a pretty close second.
Glad to be here.
So before we jump into our interview with Doug, we are going to do our case of the week. So this case happened back when I was living in downtown Chicago. I was a fairly young veterinarian. It was just another boring day in the office when all of a sudden, this young man comes in very shaken up, in shambles. He had been out on his patio drinking his morning coffee, reading his newspaper, and all of a sudden a cat came falling out of the sky, Oh my god, and
onto the table of his patio. This cat lived twelve stories above him, and his owner had often let him out onto the balcony. He would just kind of sunbathe and hang. But on this day a bird flew by and he got a wild hair and decided he was going to go catch that bird. So he jumped up onto the railing, made the leap of faith, and gravity took over and he went down twelve stories to this man's patio.
Did this cat live?
This cat lived, So when they say cats have nine lives, they truly mean it. The things that cats indoor and then come out on the other side is amazing. This is just one of the examples. The cat came in. It was in shock. It had a broken jaw, a broken leg.
Very when you say it's in shock, what is an animal in shock?
Look like being in shock is a medical term meeting like your blood pressure is affected, your heart rates affected, you're dehydrated. So usually they have like really pale gums, their heart rate can be through the roof, their blood pressure is low. So he kind of checked all those boxes.
Do you immediately look at this cat and go hmmm, oh it's aron great, or he's got a fighting chance.
This is uh yeah. I was like, this is probably not going to end up well. But you never know it's a cat. I'm telling you, they are survivors. Survivors. So the owner wasn't there. So the guy you know, brings the cat, comes running to the clinic. He was only just a couple high rises away.
Good on him for bringing the cat that wasn't his into the office.
Yes, he puts that bill And funny enough, the cat was one of our patients. So he just happened to bring it to the right clinic odds. And we immediately start stabilizing it and taking X rays and doing all the things, giving it oxygen and fluids and doing life
saving procedures on it. And and somehow the owner, I can't remember if he got a hold of the owner, but the owner finds out, she comes in and we were able to you know, he had to have surgery on his broken bones, but we were able to save his life.
First off, claps for doctor Josie and I don't want to pet parents. Shame. But the owner wasn't home and they let their cat on the balcony.
The owner was home, but it's like you leave your little sliding door open. A lot a lot of owners do this in the city. We saw this all the time. In Chicago, where you leave the balcony open, pets come in and out. Even here in Nashville, I see it and they kind of come and go at their leisure, usually while the parents home, And ninety nine percent of the time they're fine.
But that one percent do you.
Go home that day and just feel like you really rock that shit?
I go home that day and I'm like, oh my gosh, that was I don't know. I don't think I rocked that shit. I think about the owner. I'm like, gosh, they must feel so guilty. You think about the man drinking his coffee now as PTSD of cats falling out of this. Sometimes I'll pat myself on the back every once in a while, but for the most part, I'm like reeling from how emotional everyone else must feel.
I bet it took that man a few weeks to be able to go back on his patio after that. Talk about the PTSD.
Absolutely, you're getting the therapists after this. So now I was, Yeah, I was a reminder for me, if you're sending your pets out onto the balcony, please keep a very very very very close eye on them. And uh, I guess if you're sitting on the tenth floor. Maybe we're a helmet.
Be careful.
Oh man, that's a really great pace of the week.
It was, And now we'll just dive right into our our interview. So, as I said, we have Doug the Pug coming on and his sister Dory. She's a new addition to the family, and of course his mom, Leslie, who will be answering the questions for him. Doug is, as you know, the og social media pet sensation.
He has paved the way for.
The likes of like Mispeaches and all of these you know pets that we've come to know and love on Instagram and TikTok. He has over eighteen million followers across his social media platforms and he is probably the most famous dog in the world.
So it's more successful than we'll probably ever be.
Oh he is more. We will never come a tenth of us clothes. That's the successful bug walked.
So Alex Earl could run exactly exactly, and that's the perfect segue. We're gonna take a quick break and when we get back, we'll have Doug here.
Awesome all right.
In the Vets office, we have Doug the Pug, who's here today with his mom, Leslie, and his baby sister Dorry. I'm so excited to have you guys.
Story's podcast debut. Oh my gosh.
I mean, Doug is a he is a veteran in this, He's like, I'm over it. But Dory's here. She is ready to go, so I'm excited. It's her first podcast.
She's so we're probably gonna hear a lot of snores today. Doug is like in total chill mode next to me, and Dorry is all about this.
She's at attention, She's ready to go. Well, welcome. I'm so excited to have you here. I have been following Doug for many years, and I knew that he was probably like one of the most famous dogs in the world. But when I was researching today's interview, I didn't realize just how impressive his resume is. So I'm going to read a snippet of this for the listeners out there who probably also follow him, but just like didn't realize how big of a deal he is. So Doug has
won two People's Choice Awards. He starred in a Super Bowl commercial. He has a New York Times best selling book, a top selling calendar. He has his own merchandise and holistic pet care line. He has starred in music videos for Katie Perry, Dncee, and Fallout Boy. He has been kissed by the one and only Justin Bieber, and the mayor of Nashville has declared his birthday, which is May twentieth, as the Doug the Pug Day in the city.
That's wild. It's wild, I mean that is crazy. Yeah, It's been a very fun and insane ride that never ceases to blow our mind. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I'm like, what happened?
Like, Yeah, can you just to kind of like rewind all the way back to the beginning?
How did this all come to me? So? I used to actually work a few buildings over Okay, on music row. I went to Belmont and that's what moved me to Nashville. And I had dreams of working in the music industry and doing marketing and PR and like graphic design and branding and stuff for bands. And so I got a job doing that at a small record label artist management company.
And I got Doug when I was a junior at Belmont, and so I was in college in college, and so I was going to work on music row and then I would come home and I had my dream pug who loved getting dressed up and loved doing activities with me around town. And it became this kind of true where I would get home from work and go out around Nashville and take pictures with him. This was in the very beginning of Instagram. I think this was twenty thirteen when I started posting him, and so I just
did it for fun on my personal Instagram. I mean, no one even really had like my friends didn't even really have it. It was mostly Facebook at that time. And I would post him and say, Doug the pug doing that Doug and I blah blah blah, and people just wanted to see Doug. So if I posted anything on my personal Instagram that wasn't Doug, people were like, where's Doug, Like, we don't really care. They just wanted
to see Doug. And so I started getting a little more creative and doing I started getting a little more creative and doing you know, things that were on trend, like holiday type things, or if a famous artist was
coming into Nashville. I would like play off that and big Instagram pug accounts that had all these followers the time when they would take our photos and post them and tag us, they would get so many likes, and it was this rush of like, WHOA, that's so cool a photo that I took and a concept that I came up with, and the styling and everything, like people are resonating with this, they like it. And again this
is very condensed. But I ended up switching my account from me to just dug and putting more effort and time into it. And he reached one hundred thousand followers on Instagram, which was insane and huge and amazing at the time, and we had a little party and I was just honestly a very fun hobby. It got me, brought me a lot of joy, and it brought other people joy. And I would be lying if I didn't say that. At that time, I saw it being something
like what it is now. I had this gut feeling to pursue it, and so I actually when he hit one hundred thousand followers, I put in I noticed to quit my job. Wow, and people thought I was crazy. I kind of lied to most people and said I'm starting my own graphic design business because I didn't want to be like so I have this dog that has on Instagram, and I think he would make a really cute, stuffy animal. But it happened as soon as I put
my notice in for that job. At that one hundred thousand party, we had a pug balloon left over, and Rob and I were just dating at the time, and he was on tour and so all by myself, I went to Dragon Park in Hillsborough Village, which was right by my old apartment, and I tied the pug balloon to Doug. And again, he doesn't care about anything, so he was all about it. He was running around the park with this pug balloon attached to him and I sent the footage to Rob and I said, can you
put a cute song over this? Can you put like people? Let me tell you about my best friend, Like, let's make the pug balloon his best friend. And I posted it to Doug's Facebook, his Instagram, and then I made him a Twitter because I was like, what would a band need, Like if I were to help one of my artists at the label, what would they need? And so I put it on all these things and I had a logo for Doug and I took it very seriously. But that night I posted it, didn't think anything of it.
I woke up and I looked on Facebook. He had three thousand likes at the time on Facebook, and the next day he had like fifteen thousand. I'm like, what happened? And I looked at the video and had twenty million views.
Wow, and this is the one hundred k party where he's running around with a pug bull.
Yes, Like right after that party, I took a little video with a leftover balloon and I was like, whoa. All of a sudden, it was real okay, you know, And by the end of that week he had a million likes followers on Facebook.
Doug was like, my mom just quit her job. I got to go to one.
He was like, let's go. And so it was this crazy feeling of like I felt very ready for it, because I had already kind of set it up for success, but for it to actually happened and for me to have the free time to do it. So Rob luckily got home from tour right around then, and we just started making videos. I mean every day we were coming up with like, let's dress dug up as Harry Potter and call him Harry Pugger. Or you know all these
popular TV shows The Walking Dead. I dressed him as a zombie and we were crazy people running around Radnor Lake with our dog with a dressed as a zombie and like but we didn't care. It was just this very exhilarating time. And within a few months we had a book deal and later that year we were going on a book tour all over the world. We went to London.
Did he hit his first million followers that year?
Oh? Yeah, so he on Facebook went from three thousand to a million within like a few weeks. Okay, on Instagram. Instagram's a harder platform to grow, so I think it took a little longer. But honestly, Justin Bieber posting. He posted two pictures of Doug. His label actually hit us up and was like, hey, remember the Justin Bieber era of like sorry and what do you mean?
It was like the best era, take me back?
And he was like on the Calvin Klein ads, they asked Doug to be a part of a countdown for how many days until? What do you mean? Okay? And so I took pictures of Doug wearing Calvin kleins and that little sign that said eight days what do you mean? And Justin posted two of those photos and tagged Doug. We went up like one hundred thousand followers in a day,
I bet, and it was. It's just still so crazy to even look back on that and to see what it is now, and just it's been the most amazing fun ride and Doug loves every second of it.
One thing that you said that I just feel like sitting here and talking with you is I feel like there's Instagram influencers and TikTokers where you're like, Okay, this is like their job and you can kind of tell like it just seems so organic and you just enjoy I mean, obviously he's like your child, so you enjoy doing it. He loves to do it, and like that just really translates. I thank you on his page is why he's so successful.
I really appreciate that. I feel like, obviously social media has changed exponentially. We've been doing it full time for almost ten years and it's changed so much. And I think every day I have to make the conscious choice and Rob as well to do it because we love it, right, Because we would have a completely different approach to social media with Doug if we were doing it just for
the followers and the clout at this point. Yeah, and so it's honestly become so much more laid back, and we're a lot happier because of it because we're just sharing like literally what we want to share doing anyway there. Yeah, we feel like we have nothing else to prove at this point, right, and it's it's just like truly for fun and to like we still have so many big dreams obviously, but his happiness and our happiness is like most important.
Of course, does he have an agent or do you guys do everything?
He does have an agent And that's a funny story too. So again, when this video went viral, it was March of twenty fifteen, and there were no the term influencer wasn't even a thing. Content creator wasn't even a thing. He's really the og. He's the og dog, celebrity dog. But we didn't know what to do because it was like, Okay, we're having these brands that want to collaborate with us, but like we I guess we need to set up a business like for our dog, Like okay, I think
we can do this. Like again, people thought we were crazy and we met our agent at a wedding and she was working in the music industry but came from the agency world, and she was like, I think I think we could do this, guys, Like what if we just did a six month trial contract. I'll pitch you to the brands, I'll negotiate for you, Like, let's just
see what happens. And her name's Toy. She has been with us for almost ten years now and she's now the president of Talent at Whaler Agency, which is like the biggest creator agency, And she was just invited to the White House to speak in front of the President about content creators and like raising like rights for content creators and helping with like things like insurance, like treating us as real business owners. Yeah, and so even she's
evolved so much. So. Yeah, we have a small but mighty team and ninety percent of those people have been with us since the beginning, before it was even a thing. That's amazing.
Well, that speaks a lot to probably working with you guys, and thank you of course Doug too. Has there been I mean, from all the concerts and red carpets and sporting events, has there ever been a moment where you're like, I cannot believe that. I'm sure it happens all the time, but like, what is the moment where you're like, I can't believe this is happening.
So this is my go to answer. I have a lot of moments where I'm just like, it feels very out of body. I've had to learn that before we walk into something where we're like, Okay, this is crazy, I have to like be as present as possible because afterwards, when it becomes just a memory, it's it's just so weird, like did I just black out? So Shakira flew us to Barcelona, Sony Latin, her label hit us up and they were like, we want Doug to promote her song
El perro Fiel. And it was like a natural thing and they're like can you come to bar Salona next week? And we're like okay, and they're like, oh yeah, and you're gonna shoot with Shakira and this time, this place is. It ended up being at her house, wow, And it was so low key and laid back that we actually like got to spend the day with her amazing, and she was so lovely and so beautiful and kind and loved Doug, and Doug was playing with her kids. And
that's probably the most pinch me moment is I have goosebump. Yeah, being in Shakira's mansion looking over Barcelona and it being like a genuine moment. I think that's the cool thing about Doug is when we do meet these people that,
like a lot of them are my heroes. Like, you know, I grew up as a musician, my husband too, So like when we get to meet people from the past that we listened to, it's really cool because when they meet Doug, it to them is like a breath of fresh air to meet a dog, you know, like they're not on right, they are just solely excited to meet a dog, right, And so we get to kind of see people for who they are. Oh high doors do.
Has jumped off of my chair and now she's like, I want to see another you can hang some of baby.
Oh there we go. There we go, two pugs in that chair. Good shot.
Okay, it's funny you say that because I've said that on this podcast. When I interview celebrities or musicians, they're always talking about their jobs and their career and they're this, but when you talk about their pets, Oh, they immediately softened, and it's just like a different side of them. I think it's like such a special side that most people don't get to see.
Yeah, it's the best of us. It totally takes off that veil. And that's like been one of the coolest parts is again meeting people that we grew up listening to and realizing that they're just humans. They're just like us, just like us, and they love it. If they don't love animals, that's the red flag.
We have nothing in common, Like I can't really, it is the ultimate red flag.
I agree.
Obviously, he's a very chill guy. I mean he's like half asleep on the chair as we speak right now. Story's laying on top of this is what we call pug piling. I love it, and they are the masters of it. And Doug just doesn't mind. And he's just like, come on top, He's here for it. Has there ever been I mean, clearly he enjoys the attention. He's very
laid back. Has there ever been an experience or a circumstance We're like, hmm, I don't know if he's really liking this, Like I kind of feel like I need to step in there.
Have been parts of like meet and greets when it just gets to be too much and I pull him away. Obviously,
his safety and happiness is number one. And the nice thing is that we've figured it out over the years, like what is appropriate and what's not, because you know, I feel like Doug and I are so cosmically intertwined, to say the least, where we both pick up on each other's energy to a fault, where like, if I'm really stressed, Doug is not going to be feeling all that day, and so I have to be very cognizant and in that same breath, I can pick up on
if something is wrong and you know, it doesn't ever really happened, but like, you know, if there is a situation where I'm like, Doug doesn't like this, or you know, if there's another animal on set or something that like is not making him feel good or bad, then I pull him away. And we've learned to like have those boundaries for him and advocate for him like that.
Sin They're so cute, They're amazing. We're getting this on video. Yeah, I think that. You know, it's so interesting when owners come into me and they're telling me how their dog is sick and they'll be like no, like I know they're not doing it right now, but I promise you they're sick. And I look at them and I say, you know your dog better than anybody, like I trust you, And so I think there's such a It's I know we didn't birth them, but it sure feels like we
birthed them. I joke that I've birthed my dogs, and I get one hundred percent what you're saying, like how you feel like you are like soul twins and you understand like when each other's off. So he's lucky that he has a mom that advocates for him in that sense. He probably would not have, you know, had the long of a successful career if you didn't Thank you.
So that's good.
Any crazy dms that he's gotten on Instagram, are they all pretty tame?
We've had some interesting people for sure, Like people have offered to purchase him, to purchase him, yes, feel like there's not a price chat and it's it's kind of insane to see.
That's really crazy to me. It's very are they going out numbers.
It's very strange or like there's a lot of people that think that. It's like almost like they live in our house. It's like they know all these things. I'm like, how do you know that? Like I've never even posted that. It's mostly like people just loving them and being sweet. I think again, the crazy part is like when someone shows up in our dms that's like from our past, like when I was young, you know, Backstreet Boys, biggest deal. Like still, I'll listen to it and it brings me
right back. And then Nick Carter's just like, hey, can Doug come? I want to hang out with him before the show? Can we make a video? And it's it's just very wild to get a message like that, and then you realize that it really was him. It wasn't like his agent or manager or something. Right. Oh, Dory's arm is literally around Doug.
This is a perfect segue because I was gonna ask. I know, Dory is a new addition to the family. She, from what I have seen, was rescued. I'm really interested in how she came into your family. How is Doug feeling about having a sister.
Yeah, so we had talked about getting Doug a sibling for quite some time, and we didn't know what it would look like. I knew that I wanted to rescue, and I followed a ton of Hug rescues and was just like, Okay, I'm going to leave it up to the powers that be and if I see a dog that I know, when I the moment I see the photo, I know that's our dog. We'll pursue it, we'll figure it out. I've just got to let it go and see what happens. And it was a crazy kind of
six seven, eight months of waiting. So not to get too heavy on here, but Rob, Doug's dad, my husband, was diagnosed with MS almost a year ago, and so our decision to add another dog into the family was partly as a therapy dog for him, you know, Doug and I obviously Doug is obsessed with Rob, but he is like very attached to me. Like if I'm sitting, he's next to me. If I'm laying, he's laying next to me. And we were like Rob needs like his
you know, his soul dog. And he was actually in his one year MRI or no six month MRI something. It was a very important scan and so I'm like in the back room at Vanderbilt Hospital, he's in there. I'm like doom scrolling, you know, like the dog Doug was not with me. I'm just kind of all alone. And then I see one of those rescues that I followed, like posted a graphic and there were three pugs on it. Very small picture, but one of them caught my eye and I'm like, oh my gosh, she looks like Doug.
Like that's crazy, because Doug, you know how it is with your dogs. It's rare to see another dog that like really looks like your dog. But when you do, it's like whoa. And that happened, and so like I start messaging the rescue, and before I knew it, Rob woke up. It was a you know, tough tough night for him. He had to take some medication to calm down in the MRI, so he was conked out when
we got home and fell asleep at nine pm. But here I am messaging the foster the rescue all night I could, and I did not sleep one minute because I was like, I just think I found our dog. And so Rob woke up and I'm like, Hi, like, hope you feel good, but what do you think?
Yeah?
And he was like, let's do it. Ending Within a few days, she the rescue was amazing enough to fly her to Nashville from California. We got her from Tiny Paws Plug Rescue. They're an amazing organization. And she was actually found abandoned in a field, because who would ever do that to any animal? But she was found and she stayed with an amazing foster for about a month. And now she is the second love of our life, actually the fourth love of our life because we have two cats.
That we love.
Oh my goodness, how I mean it seems like they get along great. Was Doug at first like, whoaa, I'm an only child, our only dog?
Yeah, I mean there's there's always an adjustment period, you know, but he he like totally accepts her and they do really cute things together. And do they clean each other? No, oh sometimes Doug has done that before. We got it on video, so he did it once and I was like, maybe this will be a thing. Yeah, hasn't been anything, but yeah, they he's he's been doing so great. We're really really proud of him. And she just adores him, like, oh she obviously she can't get enough of him.
And do you feel like it's worked out? Because I have found that in our little family at home that our girl dog loves my husband. Of course she loves me, but she really loves my husband and the boy dogs really love me.
It's exactly that, I mean crazy. That's why it's so amazing that it worked out this way, because we knew Rob needed his own dog. I mean, obviously dor is mine too, but of course she is like daddy's girl, like so cleany. She always has to be with Daddy.
It's so cute. It's so special. It's nice because we had similar where it was like, Okay, the dogs all love their mom and my husband's like I love them so much, but like they really love you, and so it's nice when they have their own sort of like you said, their own dog. Yeah, it's so special story. You're so cute. He might be the start of the show.
Tory Doug is like, I'm going to use any opportunity to that, but I like, I'm going to sleep. Uh.
One thing, this is sort of switching topics, but one of the things that you had talked about on your Instagram that I had never heard anybody verbalized. I guess I subconsciously have thought about it, but I thought it was really interesting that you brought up was and I
don't know exactly how it way. I'm kind of paraphrasing here, but you had gone to the park or you were out and about and someone had saw a Doug and they were like, oh wow, it's not like he's looking wow, he's looking old or something along those lines, and you were like, hey, like that doesn't make me feel great, which is completely understandable. I think that's really interesting. Is that something that you hear often?
Yeah? So I find that, you know, it is a very common question to people are curious how old is your dog? You know, it's one thing with Doug, but I think anyone that has an aging dog is going to get these questions. And the issue isn't asking the question. The issue is when the person or I in this case, says how old he is, they make a visible reaction that has no purpose other than to make you feel
bad and think of the worst. And so, you know, that post was kind of just to like shed some light on maybe, I don't know, changing the stigma around how to react when someone asks or is told how old their dog is. I mean, we don't need to
be reminded of that inevitable future. Ever, obviously it's a thing, but like, I'm here to enjoy every single day, and why don't we turn that into like, wow, he looks so great or like good for you, like you must be taking such great care of him, right, and instead of oh gosh, like well mine blah blah blah, like nine, like great, thanks, yeah, and it does happen. I mean, we, you know, bring him out and about a lot, and most people and his followers and fans, they don't care
about it at all. But it's usually people that are like either skeptical of what we do or just kind of want to make you feel bad. They're like they they say that, and it never feels good. I kind of made the reference earlier that, you know, when we have an elderly human in our life, like a grandparent or someone, and we ask how old they are and you know, oh they're ninety five, we don't go oh no, we go wow, that's amazing, what a long, beautiful life.
Like I hope they keep going, like keep going grandma like hell yeah yeah, instead of like oh, like god, my grandma died. Yeah, it's it's it doesn't it's not necessary.
Yeah.
I think that's such a good point. It's something that I hadn't really thought about, but I think it's so important, like having we talk about this on the podcast Anticipatory Grief, and a lot of my listeners really like felt that they feel this a lot at home, and it's preparing for your dogs passing, which of course you want to live in the moment, but it's something that as a
dog owner you know your time is finite. It's something that you think about and the last thing we need is other people and outsiders like bringing it to our attention, like let us just enjoy each day with them, right, So I think that's a good like for us to all be aware of when talking to other dog owners, especially as senior pets.
I think, you know, chances are when you meet someone who has their dog with them, they're obsessed with their dog, like that's that's that's a family member, right, and only positive things should be shared about a family member. You know, if it were a child, they wouldn't be saying things like that. And obviously dogs are not children, but to me, my dogs are my children, so it does hurt and it is taken personally. Yeah, but yeah, I just I
think everything should be positive and good vibes. Obviously that's not the way work the world works. But when I meet someone's dog, I always say good things.
Always on that note, dog looks amazing for his age, thank you. The first thing I noticed as event I'm like, wow, his weight is perfect. Yes, he looks amazing. Is there anything you would attribute to how great he looks for twelve? Yeah, So starting at a young age.
He actually had a very severe health scare when he was younger. We gave him it was prescribed of pill for his allergies, and he ended up having like a very rare reaction to it, and his blood platelet levels went life threateningly low. And at the time, oh my gosh story. At the time, I had no idea about nutrition,
about you know, the products in my home. We hadn't dealt with any health issues ourselves, and so that really kind of woke us up to like, what what are we doing that we could do better or more naturally for Doug. And so we started using you know, more natural ingredients and products, and honestly, him not being kibble fed for us personally, has made the biggest change.
He looks amazing, Thank you, And I think there is such a fine balance of you know, of course being a veterinarian, we do practice Western medicine, but also like incorporating Eastern and holistic.
It's not one. It's not all or nothing for either side. It's just just balance. Yes, So we give Doug. We give Doug as much balance as possible.
Yes, and sometimes less is more and going more holistic route is you know, it can be really important. And whatever you guys are doing, he looks amazing.
Thank you. Tory is such a hymn.
She's sleeping on her little noggins on you. So typically on this podcast, we'll start with I'll have uh listeners call in and ask questions and then I answer them. Today, I figured we would do something a little different, and I asked our listeners if they had any questions about Doug.
Perfect.
So I'm gonna ask you some questions that people are dying to know.
Okay, I'm ready.
Does Doug have a morning or bedtime routine?
Morning routine is absolutely sleeping until I make him get out of bed. And nighttime routine is going out with me to put the chickens away. We have fourteen chickens. Oh, okay, that is a newer thing. We've had them for a little over a year and it's so fun. You guys have a little zoo. I love it. I can keep going. But Rob is like, nope, you're fourteen chickens is enough.
We all'll need to check the balance. He'll come out with me and Dori will too, and well we'll get the chickens out and then we'll like just get super cozy and we're all about coziness them.
Do they sleep in bed with you guys?
Oh?
Yeah, okay, I figured as mussed.
Yeah, what is his favorite activity? Sounds like it might be sleeping eating? Eating, eating, It's that's like the best.
Time of day for Doug's his favorite snack to eat? Oh so he loves blueberries? Oh, he loves loves blueberries. I give him these freeze dried minnows okay, and it's just like good protein and he just he can chomp them all up. What else?
Watermelon? Oh isn't it cute to watch them eat watermelon? And he how many teeth does he have left?
Like? Is he he has a lot? On the top? Okay, Robs holding up five? He is more than five the bottom I means, you know, pugged. Oh yeah, more than it.
I definitely know it is a constant struggle. It is so but enough that he can still chomp on his minnows. That's all we need. And any birthday traditions that you do with Doug.
We take birthdays very seriously with the dogs. Whoa, well, we don't know Dory's birthday, Well we'll celebrate her gotcha day. But Doug, we just like take him all over town and give him a good day and he gets a little cake and we're just like, you know, sing to him, and yeah, he's very spoiled.
I had a pet psychic on previously and she had mentioned that birthdays, that of all the pets that she talks to, that they am getting their birthday celebrated as one of their favorite things and that even though we may feel like, oh my gosh, are we over the top, do they really even know? Like they definitely know, and they love it.
Doug.
He loves it, And I really I think they love him. But I'm like, maybe I'm a crazy dog mom. But that made me feel better to hear that she said that, Oh I love that. Do you have a nickname that you call him at home? I always think it's funny how you'll see like how things can spiral a little out of control.
I am yeah, it's pretty out of control. He's Yuga bubbus bubs Coco no no Coco, no no, what am I missing? Yeah, I mean.
The great bubb Zo, the great Busino.
Dorry is Dory NONI. Yeah, that's a good segue. So my mom is Spanish and it's like a term of endearment to say Nony. It's like oh, like no, no, no ne. It's just like a sweet thing. And that's why our holistic dog product company is called Nony Pup. I love that. It's just it was just like I would say no kamir noni and yeah that's stup.
I love that. It's a great name. All right, let's see any with you being an artist, I guess both of you artists. Any songs that you sing to them at home?
Yes, actually, so a thing for me over the past few years, which I never expected. I've been able to blend like my music world and Doug and I wrote him a song called Song for My Dog and it's just a ukulele kind of a cappella ukulele song. And it's cool because a lot of dog owners have really resonated with it, and it's been used like six hundred thousand times on TikTok or something gosh, and so like, that's kind of the classic song because it just came
so easily. But I sing a lot to them. I sing a lot to them.
That's so nice. You got to blend your two passions together.
Yeah, it's really fun. I love that.
Okay, one last thing before you guys go, we I am on TikTok. And there's this new viral trend going on of who's more likely to most people are playing it with couples or friends. What I figure to be fun to do with Doug and Dorry. I'm in okay, So who is more likely to finish their food first?
Dory? Dory?
But she does to eat oh yeah, but he like savors it a.
Little more than her. She's like, you're done, and yeah, like should probably get her a slow fear. Did you even enjoy that?
Who is more likely to wake you up from storing so loud?
Dory? Okay?
Who's more likely to poop in the house?
Dorry.
We're working on that, to be fair. Doug. It's had more time with the potty training. She's like I'm a risk.
Yes, who's more likely to hog the bed? Doug where does he sleep in the bed?
So it's very cozy, Like as soon as I lay down, I'm like, oh, I say, assumed a position, and he comes and he like spin probably laughing through bark. He like spins around and then he plops right in between my legs and everyone knows that has a pug, Like that's the thing, okay, But throughout the night he does not move and it gets hot. Yeah, and so like if I want to flip on my side, I have to do this whole maneuver to not disturb him. Of course, so he's the bedthog for sure.
It is funny like in the middle of the night, I'll change positions and I'm like, I will not disturb my dog. It can't happen like ORMI I saw hole and they are hot although they're small, they're little space heaters.
Yeah. We have a whole like talk about bedtime routine. It's like Dory starts the night with rob and dugs in between my legs and then Fiona, our cat, the white kiddie, she starts off sleeping on the corner of the bed. But when I go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I have to flip on my side and open my left arm to have a little circle, and then Fiona will walk up to me and lay in my arms a second only after I
go to the bathroom. It's just but it's like heaven, you know, I wouldn't have it any other way, all right.
Who's more likely to ignore you when you say no?
Oh? Doug? He's very stubborn. Oh really, Yeah. When he's on, he's on, like when he's like doing a commercial or you know, we're doing a video shoot, he's like freaking amazing. But you want him to heal on a walk? Good luck? He's like, mom, do you know who I am? He literally just wants to smell and pee? Okay.
Who's more likely to play fetch?
Dory? Just a fetcher.
Who's more likely to console you when you're sad?
Douggie and Dory. They're both kind of equal in that regard. They do it in their own ways. Last, but not least.
Who's more likely to sneak a tree off the table when you're not looking?
Doug? Yeah, he's I mean, he's like the food food monster.
He loves snacks, I have my little dog at home. I like tell people that if I left him with an endless a pie of food, he would eat himself, oh, until he exploded.
Yeah, I think so. It's like doggy muck bangs, like they trust they would. They would just eat until they can't.
I can't eat anymore. Oh, I hope we got that Dory snoring so loud. She's like, I'll show them amazing. Well, thank you guys so much for coming on. It was so nice to finally meet you guys in person. You're so welcome. I love Doug so much. And if you guys aren't following Doug already, you're crazy and you must. His handle is it's jug the Pug.
Thank you so much.
You're welcome. That was such a great interview. I loved having Doug and his sister Dory here.
They were so cute.
They were so cute, and all of you listeners out there, if you were hearing snorts and snores and farts and all the things, that was them really enjoying it.
We definitely picked up a lot of their their sounds, but they were adorable.
That's just pug life.
Yes, you get the sounds and they're so cute, and Doug was sleeping most of the time. I think this studio has the effect of like putting dogs to sleep.
You know what, I've noticed, ever since you had that pet psychic on, all the animals are so chill when they're in this space. I don't know what she did, and.
She said she did some reiki on Saya, so maybe she like left her.
I think call me energy.
Because Doug was so active before he got up here. In the second he sat down.
He was like night night, good night, good night. I loved him.
God, he was able to take a little snooze.
Yeah, exactly.
All right, Well we'll jump right into our paw and order, all right, in honor of Doug the Pug, I made this paw and order addition for breaky cephalic breeds. Those are gonna be our smushed face breeds, like our Frenchies, Pugs of course, English bulldogs, Boston Terriers, Boxers, shitsus which Morgan has one.
Up of sure do, and she snores a lot.
They are little snores and they are so stinking cute. And I know I've talked about this one hundred times, but they just cannot breathe as well as dogs with long snouts can so any dog can overheat, but rereaky cephalic dogs are way more likely to overheat. So on days where it's over eighty degrees, if it's super humid outside, I highly recommend not going outside for long, long periods
of time. If you have to go outside, like let's say you're on a patio or you're hanging out, make sure they have access to shade and plenty of water. I would avoid long walks. Don't play fetch. It can go from like a really fun afternoon where everything seems hunky dory, and then to all of a sudden, they're not able to regulate their body temperature. They're overheating, and it's a life threatening emergency.
I've been able to tell this recently with my shit too. Andy will go on walks around my apartment and we make it maybe halfway around my apartment building, just my building, right, and I'm like, okay, I'm picking you up and we're going back now, and.
I'm gonna get you a stroller.
Yep.
Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, and they won't. I mean, they'll be usually the young ones too. They're tails wagging, they're bouncing around. Oh I'm super happy, and then all of a sudden they become too hot. They can't sweat like we can.
Andy immediately comes in the house and she just lays flat out Superman pretty much and just has the cool floor on her stomach and then seems to get it back together. But yeah, it's worrisome.
It is worrisome, and it's better to just be preventative and keep a really close eye on it and just know if it's hot out, if you're laying your hand on the concrete or cement and you know it feels very warm to you, that's what their paws are touching, that's what their bellies touching when they're laying down, and that's a recipe for them to overheat pretty quickly.
Is there a sign when it's like, okay, they're not cooling themselves down, maybe I should take them into the vet.
If they're a respiratory rate like let's say you were outside and now you're back inside and you've been inside for a couple of minutes and their respiratory rate is still really high. They're panting, they're you know, drooling from the mouth a lot of times. Their gum color or their tongue color will change. So if you see any like purplish color, if it's not that like bright healthy pink, that's like no boin, no sos, emergency, go to the hospital right away.
Got it is that button still right over there, the one on the board. Yeah, okay, just checking.
Producing and producer, Morgan.
You just want to make sure you're glad to hear capturing this, you.
Know, Yeah, this is very important information, all right.
Number two, if you are planning to own a break ecephalic breed, then be prepared to wipe. My friends, there's a lot of wiping involved.
Wipe.
You have to wipe those nasal folds, those cute little wrinkles and folds all around their nose and their eyes are adorable, but they fill up with gunk. They get infected, and you want to start wiping from day one. You want to get them used to it as a puppy. And Morgan's like, I have never done this in my life.
Once in my life have I wiped.
I will say shitzuos, although they're breakie saphalac, they tend to have less folds than like a frenchie or a pug. Like they really I mean as you saw with Doug and Dory, like they have some pretty thick nasal folds.
Yeah, I think Andy's a little better off.
Yeah, maybe some less folds. So you're not don worry. We're not owner shaming you, I feel it.
Okay.
Uh so yeah, be prepared to wipe. You got to like open those folds up, get in there with your wipes, and really really clean them out. Unscented baby wipes are best, but if they are getting infected, if they're red, if they're stinky, you probably want to talk to your vet and get some medicated wipes.
Imagine someone just tunes in the podcast like right here at this moment, and you're like, open those folds, get in there, white, get on, and then in there. Okay.
And on that note, a lot of them have quirkscrew tails, like our bulldogs are Bostons, and those have a lot of folds around them too, So you want to clean out those little butt folds around their tails too.
Oh my gosh, such high maintenance.
It is not a glamorous job, but someone's got to do it and it's important. So just start your wipe fund right now. If you're going to own a break eecephalic breed.
And get in those folds, y'all.
Get in those folds all right, last, but not least if they are coughing or sneezing excessively. Obviously a sneeze here and there is not the end of the world. But if you're like, hey, my dog's sneezing a lot, there's not coming out of its nose, take it to the vet right away. Any sign of a respiratory infection, and these pets that already can't really oxygenate that well
should be taken really seriously. Sometimes our dogs that have a mile cough, we can give them a day or so see if they can clear it on their own, just like when you and I get a cold. But with a break acephalic, it's like nope, red flag, straight to the vet.
I've been lucky there too. Andy hasn't done a lot of that. She had a little reverse sneezing spell for a few weeks and then that went away.
M hm.
And we've been smooth sailing since.
We're going to do a whole thing on reverse sneezing for our listeners out there. I've had so many people ask me about this, so we will get to that, but yes, you are very lucky and that you haven't had that issue. Yeah, coughing is Coughing is no bueno, especially in our breaky syphlex So that's it. That's our last poll in order of the day. It was such a great episode. Loved having Doug here, Love having Morgan,
producer Morgan President Morgan here. Oh my gosh, the president of the Nashville Podcast Network.
Join more often. This has been a lot of fun and I feel like I can just use you to ask all my questions.
I think. So this is your first appearance, but it won't be your last day.
Awesome.
And for all the listeners out there, if you have any questions, you can always DM me on Instagram at doctor Josie Vett. You can click the link in my bio to record any questions you have for the podcast, and as always, please rate, review, and subscribe.
Five stars really help a new podcast. So if you could spare ten seconds just to hit I have stars on all the platforms you listen, that would be awesome.
You'll take all the help we can get and we'll see you next week.
Thanks for tuning in.