Oh Behave!

It was August 2013, I had just been let go from my retail job, I hated my college classes, and I just wanted to have one more day with my childhood dog, Skip. My need to be around animals, and my desire to be self employed led me to make flyers for a pet sitting and dog walking service. I didn’t know anything about starting or growing a business, but I was determined to learn, so I hit the pavement and my roster was full within just a few months, and I made my first hire eleven months in.

Fast forward nine years, and Bad to the Bone Pet Care is a multi-award winning team of pet professionals servicing Northeast and Central Florida. Our mission is to uplift and inspire our community through our work with pets and their families, and we bring our mission to life every day not only by offering dog walking and pet sitting as a team of highly trained and vetted employees, but by partnering with other businesses and nonprofits in our area.

My business was voted Best Pet Sitting Service in Northeast Florida in 2016 and 2017, voted Best Jacksonville Dog Walking Company 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and I was chosen as the 2023 Pet Sitter of the Year by Pet Sitter’s International! I often say that all of this has been a dream come true for a dream that I didn’t know I had. I have made every mistake you can think of over the years, and building Bad to the Bone has taught me more about life and business than I ever could have imagined.

I have always believed in the power of collaboration over competition, so I founded the Northeast Florida Pet Professionals Network in 2019, and I became Co-Founder and Vice President of the Florida Pet Services Association (501C3) in 2022. I am a longtime member of Pet Sitter’s International, and the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters. I have also been writing articles for Pet Sitter’s World Magazine since 2021.

I started posting YouTube videos about my experience as a pet sitter, dog walker, and pet business owner during the pandemic. I had no idea if anyone would be interested in my story, but the support I have gotten on these YouTube videos has been incredible, and has led me to offering coaching and consulting services to pet sitting and dog walking businesses all over the country. The opportunity to help other businesses succeed has given me a whole new purpose and meaning, and I could not be more thankful.

I led a session on Client Retention Strategies at the 2021 Pet Sitter World Conference, a session on Systems and Processes at the 2022 Pet Sitter World Conference, and a session on Combining Personal and Professional Passions at the 2023 Texas Pet Sitters Conference. I have also been featured on several episodes of the Pet Sitter Confessional Podcast, the Covered in Pet Hair show, the Poodle to Pitbull Pet Business Podcast, the Happy Paws Podcast, and several other shows and publications like the Resident Newspaper, Jacksonville Magazine, and the Talking Animals Radio Show.

Outside of my experience in the pet industry, I am also a proud alumnus of the University of North Florida, where I earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, and I worked for several years as an Investor and Marketing / Technology Advisor for the largest antique and estate sale company in Northeast Florida. I am the proud dad of a Golden Retriever named Turkey, a Chihuahua named King, and two cats, Allen and Athena. In my free time, you can find me on a hiking trail, standing in line at the airport, or in a yoga class.

I am passionate about raising the bar for the entire pet sitting and dog walking industry, and I can’t wait to help you build the business of your dreams!

Transcript:

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Announcer: Pet Life Radio, this is Pet Life Radio.

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Announcer: Let's talk pets.

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Announcer: It's Oh Behave with Arden Moore.

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Announcer: his show that teaches you how to have Harmony in the household with your pets.

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Announcer: Join Arden as she travels coast to coast to help millions better understand why cats and dogs do what they do.

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Announcer: Get the latest scoop on famous faces.

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Announcer: Their perfectly pampered pets in Who's Walking Who in Rin Tin Tinseltown.

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Announcer: From famous pet experts and best selling authors to television and movie stars, you'll get the latest buzz from wagging tongues and tails.

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Announcer: Garner great pet tips and have a doggone fur flying fun time.

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Announcer: So get ready for the pause and applause as we unleash your Oh Behave host, America's Pet Edutainer, Arden Moore.

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Arden Moore: Welcome to the Oh Behave Show on Pet Life Radio.

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Arden Moore: I'm your host, Arden Moore.

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Arden Moore: Got pets?

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Arden Moore: Of course you do.

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Arden Moore: But we cannot be with them 24-7.

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Arden Moore: So we need a guy like our special guest.

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Arden Moore: He knows pets.

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Arden Moore: He actually knows people pretty well too.

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Arden Moore: And he knows how to bring out the best in all of us.

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Arden Moore: I want you at this time to give pause and applause to the 2023, this is a mouthful, here we go, Pet Sitters International's Pet Sitter of the Year, Doug Keeling.

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Arden Moore: Welcome, welcome to the show, Doug.

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Doug Keeling: Oh, thanks so much for having me, Arden.

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Doug Keeling: I'm so excited.

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Arden Moore: All right, strap yourselves in, you know, it is a tough job to be a professional pet sitter.

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Arden Moore: And you are in the trenches, the front lines.

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Arden Moore: You have seen everybody's dirty laundry, I'm sure.

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Doug Keeling: Quite literally.

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Arden Moore: You have seen well-mannered pets, cray cray ones.

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Arden Moore: I guess the only thing I could say is your job is not boring, is it?

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Doug Keeling: Never.

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Doug Keeling: Every day is a little different.

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Doug Keeling: And that's part of what I love so much about it.

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Doug Keeling: You know, you never quite know exactly what to expect.

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Arden Moore: Oh, my gosh.

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Arden Moore: So let's back the clock up.

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Arden Moore: Let's go to before 2013.

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Arden Moore: What was Doug Keeling doing?

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Doug Keeling: Oh, man.

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Doug Keeling: So I had just graduated high school and moved to Jacksonville, Florida to go to the University of North Florida.

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Arden Moore: Are they the Jaguars or what?

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Arden Moore: What are they?

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Arden Moore: I forgot.

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Doug Keeling: Yeah, we're the Jags.

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Arden Moore: I used to live in Florida.

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Arden Moore: Yeah, go ahead.

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Doug Keeling: Yeah.

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Doug Keeling: So I had just moved to Jacksonville.

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Doug Keeling: I was going to college and I was doing marketing for a local antique and estate sale company.

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Doug Keeling: And I was a cashier at Target while taking full time college classes.

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Doug Keeling: So I had a really hectic life.

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Arden Moore: You never slept.

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Doug Keeling: No, I didn't.

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Doug Keeling: I didn't.

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Doug Keeling: And that was a running joke with all of my friends, actually.

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Doug Keeling: And I just missed my dog.

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Doug Keeling: You know, I grew up with dogs.

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Doug Keeling: And my best friend growing up was a Jack Russell named Skip.

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Doug Keeling: I got him for Christmas when I was like five years old.

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Doug Keeling: And we grew up together.

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Doug Keeling: We did everything together.

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Doug Keeling: He went everywhere with me.

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Doug Keeling: And when I moved to Jacksonville for college, you know, I was just coming home from school and work every day, just missing my buddy.

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Doug Keeling: And I came to a point where I had to leave the job at Target and I needed some extra income.

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Doug Keeling: And I was on Reddit.

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Doug Keeling: I was on a subreddit called Beer Money.

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Doug Keeling: And this guy had posted on...

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Doug Keeling: Yep.

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Doug Keeling: This guy had posted in there and said, he had posted in the Beer Money subreddit and said, my wife won't let me buy beer.

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Doug Keeling: So I started walking my neighbor's dog in exchange for beer money.

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Doug Keeling: And I read that and it was like instant light bulbs went off.

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Doug Keeling: I said, if this guy can walk dogs for beer money, why can't I walk dogs for my light bill and for gas and for food money?

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Doug Keeling: Why not?

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Arden Moore: Maybe a beer or two.

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Doug Keeling: And maybe a beer or two.

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Arden Moore: Why not?

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Arden Moore: And that's how it started, huh?

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Arden Moore: Well, I love the name of your company.

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Arden Moore: Everybody tell us the name of your professional pet sitting company.

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Doug Keeling: Bad to the Bone Pet Care.

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Arden Moore: Bad to the Bone.

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Arden Moore: You feel like you're doing the guitar, Rick.

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Arden Moore: All right.

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Doug Keeling: Oh, man.

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Doug Keeling: If I had a dime for every time somebody sang that to me on the phone, you would have more than beer money.

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Doug Keeling: Yeah, there we go.

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Arden Moore: And I know for you YouTubers, we have a tail that looked like a cat tail mustache that just went across the screen of Doug's already mustache.

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Arden Moore: Who is this beauty?

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Doug Keeling: This is my baby Athena.

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Doug Keeling: She's the star of all my Zoom calls and all of my YouTube videos.

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Arden Moore: And she goes into the cat butt mode.

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Arden Moore: All right.

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Arden Moore: Your company, Bad to the Bone Pet Care, you served portions of Florida.

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Arden Moore: Tell us some of the areas that you're covering.

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Arden Moore: You're still in Jacksonville, aren't you?

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Doug Keeling: Right.

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Doug Keeling: So I started just as a solo pet sitter as Doug the Dog Guy in 2013, just kind of servicing my neighborhood in Orange Park, Florida.

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Doug Keeling: And we slowly just expanded from there over the last 10 years.

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Doug Keeling: I changed the name of the business from Doug the Dog Guy to Bad to the Bone Pet Care when I started hiring.

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Doug Keeling: I had brought on my first employee at 11 months in and I sent her to a home and they said, wait a minute, I thought we were getting Doug.

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Doug Keeling: What?

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Doug Keeling: I'm confused.

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Doug Keeling: So I changed the name of the business to Bad to the Bone Pet Care.

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Doug Keeling: And we now have a team of 30 employees.

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Doug Keeling: We service the majority of Northeast and Central Florida.

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Doug Keeling: Downtown Jacksonville is our primary service area, but we also service all of the surrounding areas.

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Doug Keeling: So meaning Jacksonville Beach, Orange Park, Middle Bird, Green Cove Springs.

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Doug Keeling: And then we dip into Central Florida with Northern Lakeland, Plant City and Eastern Tampa.

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Arden Moore: Well, I know my Florida geography.

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Arden Moore: There are 67 counties, maybe bad to the bone pet care one day, you'll be in all 67 counties.

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Doug Keeling: It could be one day, one day, slowly, but surely you dream big, you dream big.

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Arden Moore: So what I love is when I was doing some research about you, you're not a competitor, you're a collaborator and you expand on that because you want to get the gig.

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Arden Moore: But at what cost?

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Doug Keeling: Absolutely, that is something that is crucial to everything that I do and every step that I've taken over the last 10 years is, you know, I do this because I want what's best for the pets.

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Doug Keeling: I don't do this to build a huge company or to get rich or to do anything like that.

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Doug Keeling: I want all pets to get the same care that I want for my own pets.

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Doug Keeling: And with that in mind, I am always trying to find ways to collaborate and build community with the entire pet industry.

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Doug Keeling: You know, I don't compete with other pet sitters and dog walkers.

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Doug Keeling: I reach out to them and I find ways that we can help each other.

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Doug Keeling: We can help each other's clients and really just try to raise the bar for the pet sitting and dog walking industry each and every day.

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Arden Moore: So, in addition to Bad to the Bone Pet Care website, you also give professional consulting to professional pet sitters.

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Arden Moore: What's the website on that one?

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Arden Moore: I think isn't it dougthedogguy.co?

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Doug Keeling: That's it.

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Doug Keeling: That's it.

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Doug Keeling: dougthedogguy.co.

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Doug Keeling: You know, I kind of came full circle with that.

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Doug Keeling: I started my pet sitting business as Doug the Dog Guy, switched to Bad to the Bone Pet Care.

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Doug Keeling: And then during COVID, you know, I watched my business go from at that point, we had 33 employees to zero overnight.

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Doug Keeling: And yeah, I spent the first couple weeks of the COVID lockdown just in bed crying because it felt like, you know, everything that I had put all this time and effort into was gone and I had no idea what was coming next.

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Doug Keeling: And as I kind of came out of my depression there, I kept thinking to myself, I want other people to get to experience what I've experienced.

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Doug Keeling: I love this.

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Doug Keeling: I'm passionate about it.

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Doug Keeling: And there's so much opportunity in the animal care field.

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Doug Keeling: So I figured, you know, I'm just going to start posting these YouTube videos, kind of sharing my knowledge and sharing my experiences, and we'll see where it leads.

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Doug Keeling: And within a couple of months, you know, I had a couple thousand subscribers on YouTube and I had people reaching out to me for coaching.

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Doug Keeling: And fast forward a couple years now, I love it.

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Doug Keeling: You know, I have almost 5000 subscribers on YouTube.

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Doug Keeling: I have over 1000 people on my email newsletter and I've coached over 150 pet businesses over the last two years.

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Doug Keeling: And I tell everyone that both my pet sitting business and now my coaching business are both kind of dream come true for dreams that I didn't even know that I had.

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Arden Moore: Well, it sure beats just checking out people at Target.

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Doug Keeling: You can say that again.

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Arden Moore: So everyone, we're speaking with Doug Keeling and he got the award for Petsitter of the Year by the international group Petsitters International.

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Arden Moore: Actually people argue that maybe Patty Moran really started or gave birth to professional petsitters and she created PSI.

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Arden Moore: And tell us about what it felt to win that.

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Arden Moore: We just had the Golden Globes on.

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Arden Moore: So come on, give me a better speech than those actors.

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Doug Keeling: Well, if you watch the video of me accepting the award at the conference, I did cry.

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Doug Keeling: So I was not expecting to cry, you know, I knew I was going to get the award before I went on stage and I kind of prepared a speech and everything and I got up there and it just hit me.

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Doug Keeling: You know, I'm looking out at the crowd of people and I couldn't control myself.

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Doug Keeling: I just broke down and to me, it's, you know, everything that I've worked for for the last 10 years kind of coming to this head and it's beautiful, it's surprising, it's shocking, you know, I'm still in shock from it.

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Arden Moore: And it'll always be with you.

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Arden Moore: That's the cool thing.

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Arden Moore: We're speaking with Doug Keeling, he is the 2023 Pet Sitter of the Year by PSI.

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Arden Moore: We're going to delve into some crazy kind of client requests and some other things, some strange pets he has to take care of and more after we take this break.

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Arden Moore: But you all know the drill, we're going to sit, stay, we'll be right back.

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Announcer: Time for a walk on the red carpet, of course.

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Announcer: Oh Behave will be back in a flash right after these messages.

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Announcer: Take a bite out of your competition.

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Announcer: Let's Talk Pets.

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Announcer: On Pet Life Radio.

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Kate Walsh: Hi there, I'm Kate Walsh and I hope you're gonna tune in and listen to Oh Behave on Pet Life Radio with Arden Moore because she's a delight.

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Announcer: >We're back from the lot.

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Announcer: Just checked the paper and we had our record showing at the box.

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Announcer: The litter box that is.

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Announcer: Now back to Oh Behave.

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Announcer: Here's Arden.

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Arden Moore: Welcome back to the Oh Behave Show on PetLife Radio.

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Arden Moore: I'm your host, Arden Moore.

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Arden Moore: I'm speaking with Doug Keeling.

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Arden Moore: He's a pretty cool dude.

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Arden Moore: He knows pets and he is here to help you.

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Arden Moore: And he is the professional pet sitter of the year.

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Arden Moore: He's just finished his term, but it'll be with you forever.

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Arden Moore: And you're helping pets.

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Arden Moore: So every time I talk to a quality professional pet sitter, you guys have a dark secret.

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Arden Moore: You never spill the beans in a book about some of the weirdest requests that a client will ask you.

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Arden Moore: But you gather around a table at a pet conference and I've actually seen people laugh so hard they blew snot out of their nose.

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Arden Moore: So no pressure, but come on.

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Doug Keeling: You must have been talking to Scott Black.

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Arden Moore: Yes, Scott's a great guy.

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Arden Moore: Give us a couple, can you?

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Arden Moore: You know, you never know.

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Arden Moore: You walk into that door, you've done the meet and greet, you've met the pets, you met the people, you got all the paperwork set up, they go on a vacay and what?

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Arden Moore: Give me some examples.

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Arden Moore: Come on, you don't have to name names.

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Doug Keeling: I'll tell you, you know, all of my best stories, it's the clients, it's the humans that will surprise you.

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Doug Keeling: The pets, you know, I love them and I kind of know what to expect when I'm walking in with them.

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Doug Keeling: But I have walked into men washing the dishes completely naked.

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Doug Keeling: I have more than once.

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Doug Keeling: I have had clients invite me to have a threesome with them.

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Doug Keeling: I've got stories.

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Doug Keeling: I don't know how far you want to go with this.

00:13:20.160 --> 00:13:22.920
Arden Moore: No, but I mean, what do you think people are thinking?

00:13:22.940 --> 00:13:24.700
Doug Keeling: I think they're not thinking.

00:13:24.840 --> 00:13:26.520
Doug Keeling: I think that's what it comes down to.

00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:38.200
Doug Keeling: They're in their own home and they're in their own move and groove of things, and they forget sometimes that they've booked the dog walker to come over, or it leads to interesting conversations.

00:13:38.800 --> 00:13:45.220
Arden Moore: So to help the young, new professional pet sitters, they've got a 10 o'clock to walk a oodle.

00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:52.780
Arden Moore: They've got a 10 o'clock to walk a golden doodle or something, and you walk in and you see a naked man washing dishes.

00:13:53.140 --> 00:13:57.380
Arden Moore: What do you tell your staff and you tell other pet professionals?

00:13:57.400 --> 00:13:58.500
Arden Moore: How do you handle that scene?

00:13:58.700 --> 00:14:00.780
Doug Keeling: Get out of there as fast as possible.

00:14:01.300 --> 00:14:02.340
Doug Keeling: That's step one.

00:14:02.360 --> 00:14:04.280
Doug Keeling: Step one, run out the door.

00:14:05.420 --> 00:14:07.440
Doug Keeling: It's happened to me a couple of times.

00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:15.000
Doug Keeling: I just leave and then I will text or I'll yell through the door, maybe, I'm sorry, didn't realize you were home.

00:14:15.800 --> 00:14:19.680
Doug Keeling: We'll reconvene at a later date and go from there.

00:14:20.280 --> 00:14:24.860
Arden Moore: Now, the other flip side too, besides naked men, I now have that image in my head.

00:14:26.740 --> 00:14:28.740
Arden Moore: I'm so glad they're washing dishes though.

00:14:28.760 --> 00:14:29.380
Arden Moore: That's nice.

00:14:29.860 --> 00:14:30.900
Arden Moore: We love our pets.

00:14:30.900 --> 00:14:31.580
Arden Moore: Come on, Doug.

00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:33.200
Arden Moore: We really, really love our pets.

00:14:33.420 --> 00:14:43.860
Arden Moore: But we have these little rituals insist that the pet sitter does this, this or this when you're caring for the pet, when it comes to feeding or how you pick up their poop or whatever.

00:14:44.220 --> 00:14:45.420
Arden Moore: Can you share some of those?

00:14:46.560 --> 00:14:47.200
Doug Keeling: Oh, man.

00:14:47.540 --> 00:14:54.140
Doug Keeling: First thing that comes to mind here is I take care of these two Jack Russells, and they've been clients for years.

00:14:54.160 --> 00:14:54.980
Doug Keeling: I love them.

00:14:55.000 --> 00:15:03.520
Doug Keeling: I spend most holidays at their home, and they have a 18-page instruction manual.

00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:05.760
Arden Moore: I bet it's really small font too.

00:15:06.220 --> 00:15:06.740
Doug Keeling: Oh, yeah.

00:15:06.880 --> 00:15:07.380
Doug Keeling: Of course.

00:15:07.400 --> 00:15:09.100
Doug Keeling: It's like 0.8 font.

00:15:09.160 --> 00:15:10.600
Doug Keeling: It's double-sided.

00:15:10.660 --> 00:15:12.080
Doug Keeling: It's laminated.

00:15:12.120 --> 00:15:13.480
Doug Keeling: It's in a binder.

00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:15.960
Doug Keeling: I mean, I've got pictures to prove it too.

00:15:16.540 --> 00:15:18.240
Arden Moore: So what's for the JRTs?

00:15:18.260 --> 00:15:20.120
Arden Moore: What is a couple of things you must do?

00:15:20.340 --> 00:15:20.780
Doug Keeling: Yeah.

00:15:20.860 --> 00:15:25.660
Doug Keeling: So they have to be fed like every hour, just a little bit.

00:15:25.920 --> 00:15:32.260
Doug Keeling: And I have to weigh it on a scale and take a picture of the food on the scale at each meal.

00:15:32.280 --> 00:15:37.920
Doug Keeling: And it's literally, I'm not even joking, like six or seven pieces of kibble at each meal.

00:15:39.260 --> 00:15:48.100
Doug Keeling: It's a little obsessive and then I have to microwave the food for exactly 20 seconds, not 19 seconds, not 21 seconds.

00:15:48.140 --> 00:15:50.580
Doug Keeling: It has to be exactly 20 seconds.

00:15:50.920 --> 00:16:03.060
Doug Keeling: The dogs have to sleep with a leash tied around my wrist because the lady is scared that the dogs will try to jump off the bed, but she doesn't want them to sleep in a crate.

00:16:03.100 --> 00:16:04.460
Arden Moore: You're doing an overnight.

00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:06.680
Arden Moore: You have to have a leash around your wrist.

00:16:06.880 --> 00:16:07.140
Doug Keeling: Yep.

00:16:07.500 --> 00:16:07.760
Doug Keeling: Yep.

00:16:08.060 --> 00:16:09.860
Doug Keeling: And she wants proof, all of this.

00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:12.380
Doug Keeling: She wants a photo proof.

00:16:12.680 --> 00:16:17.580
Doug Keeling: And I do charge her extra, you know, for these things, but I love the dogs.

00:16:17.700 --> 00:16:20.440
Doug Keeling: I've really grown to love the whole family.

00:16:20.540 --> 00:16:24.940
Doug Keeling: And it's just some of the things that we are willing to do with professional pets that are.

00:16:25.060 --> 00:16:26.100
Arden Moore: Give me another example.

00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:27.740
Arden Moore: You have any oddities with cats?

00:16:28.140 --> 00:16:31.320
Doug Keeling: All kinds of oddities with cats, all kinds.

00:16:31.340 --> 00:16:36.420
Doug Keeling: I actually right now I'm taking care of a little kitty across the river.

00:16:36.700 --> 00:16:39.400
Doug Keeling: And when I walk into the home, I have to sing to her.

00:16:39.680 --> 00:16:41.820
Doug Keeling: She loves to be something.

00:16:41.980 --> 00:16:42.820
Doug Keeling: I'm not a singer.

00:16:42.840 --> 00:16:44.140
Doug Keeling: I'm not going to sing for you.

00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:45.640
Doug Keeling: I'm not a singer at all.

00:16:45.660 --> 00:16:48.960
Arden Moore: But you know, what is this song you have to sing or the lyric?

00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:52.380
Doug Keeling: The cats just love 90s country.

00:16:52.580 --> 00:16:57.900
Doug Keeling: So I've been singing a lot of Tim McGraw, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson.

00:16:58.180 --> 00:17:00.820
Arden Moore: So what does a cat do when you come in singing?

00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:03.320
Doug Keeling: So if I've tested this, I've tested this.

00:17:03.340 --> 00:17:06.880
Doug Keeling: If I walk into the house not singing, she won't come out for me.

00:17:06.900 --> 00:17:08.520
Doug Keeling: She doesn't want anything to do with me.

00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:15.300
Doug Keeling: But if I walk in and I'm singing when the corn pops up in rows, she comes trotting out and she's ready for love.

00:17:15.380 --> 00:17:17.380
Arden Moore: Is she wearing little kitty cowboy boots?

00:17:18.060 --> 00:17:18.800
Doug Keeling: Oh, you know it.

00:17:18.820 --> 00:17:20.660
Doug Keeling: You know, and I've got a little hat ready for her.

00:17:21.940 --> 00:17:26.860
Arden Moore: So we said this is not a boring job, but we have to be careful.

00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:28.660
Arden Moore: And I like to equate our pets.

00:17:28.740 --> 00:17:31.120
Arden Moore: I think they're our most priceless asset.

00:17:31.420 --> 00:17:33.020
Arden Moore: You know, you can ding my car.

00:17:33.340 --> 00:17:34.200
Arden Moore: Something can happen.

00:17:34.220 --> 00:17:35.160
Arden Moore: I could lose a ring.

00:17:35.840 --> 00:17:37.560
Arden Moore: You better not hurt my pet.

00:17:37.580 --> 00:17:41.420
Arden Moore: You better not do something to harm my pet or hurt them, get them lost.

00:17:41.860 --> 00:17:44.100
Arden Moore: This is a big responsibility, Doug.

00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:47.720
Arden Moore: What can you instill in other professional pet sitters?

00:17:48.020 --> 00:17:49.200
Arden Moore: What should they be thinking?

00:17:49.540 --> 00:18:00.180
Arden Moore: And secondly, why should somebody with pets hire a professional, board-certified, licensed, bonded, insured professional pet sitter?

00:18:00.340 --> 00:18:02.420
Doug Keeling: Oh man, I could talk all day about this.

00:18:02.500 --> 00:18:03.640
Doug Keeling: I could talk all day.

00:18:03.820 --> 00:18:12.420
Doug Keeling: First thing I would say to other pet sitters and dog walkers is to think about what your pets want and need.

00:18:12.620 --> 00:18:21.840
Doug Keeling: I think it's easy to get into our heads and overthink things and to kind of even blow things out of proportion maybe.

00:18:22.280 --> 00:18:28.340
Doug Keeling: But if we can just keep it simple and think, what do my pets want and need, you know?

00:18:28.520 --> 00:18:31.720
Doug Keeling: And for example, I have a golden retriever and my golden retriever.

00:18:31.740 --> 00:18:34.380
Arden Moore: You got to say your goatee's name because I see pictures.

00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:35.380
Arden Moore: Come on, shout out.

00:18:35.400 --> 00:18:38.200
Doug Keeling: Turkey bird, my baby boy, turkey bird.

00:18:38.560 --> 00:18:41.240
Doug Keeling: He's staring at me on the other side of the computer right now.

00:18:41.260 --> 00:18:43.920
Arden Moore: I've heard of foul names, but this one takes the clock.

00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:44.840
Arden Moore: Okay, good.

00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:49.480
Doug Keeling: I picked him up on Thanksgiving two years ago, so it just seemed fitting.

00:18:49.940 --> 00:18:50.400
Arden Moore: Perfect.

00:18:50.580 --> 00:18:52.000
Arden Moore: So talk about turkey bird.

00:18:52.060 --> 00:18:55.100
Arden Moore: You think of turkey bird when you walk into a client's home, right?

00:18:55.400 --> 00:19:03.600
Doug Keeling: So I know that turkey needs everyone to be gentle, to keep a gentle tone when you're speaking to him.

00:19:03.660 --> 00:19:05.620
Doug Keeling: He's kind of emotional.

00:19:05.640 --> 00:19:06.820
Doug Keeling: He's a little fragile.

00:19:07.360 --> 00:19:11.400
Doug Keeling: And I bring that into all of my pet sitting clients.

00:19:11.400 --> 00:19:17.680
Doug Keeling: I never go in just throwing the door open, yelling, talking in a loud voice.

00:19:17.820 --> 00:19:18.780
Arden Moore: Singing country.

00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:22.560
Doug Keeling: You know, I think about how does my dog want to be spoken to?

00:19:22.580 --> 00:19:25.320
Doug Keeling: How does my dog want me to approach him?

00:19:25.740 --> 00:19:28.900
Doug Keeling: And then how often does my dog need to go out to potty?

00:19:29.020 --> 00:19:31.560
Doug Keeling: How often does my dog need to eat?

00:19:31.820 --> 00:19:38.100
Doug Keeling: You know, all of these types of things I'm thinking about with every one of my clients, first and foremost.

00:19:38.260 --> 00:19:44.760
Doug Keeling: And then I think it's really important to remember that this is a relationship based business.

00:19:45.100 --> 00:19:45.780
Doug Keeling: Good point.

00:19:45.800 --> 00:19:53.620
Doug Keeling: And we are not just swiping a credit card and dragging the dog around the block and we're in and out, bing bang boom, we're done.

00:19:53.640 --> 00:19:55.960
Doug Keeling: That's not how this can be.

00:19:56.100 --> 00:20:05.060
Doug Keeling: You know, we have to protect their emotional well-being, their mental well-being on top of of course, their physical safety and all of that.

00:20:05.900 --> 00:20:08.380
Doug Keeling: Same goes for the families too.

00:20:08.620 --> 00:20:16.180
Doug Keeling: You know, we never know why these people are actually booking us and what they may be going through.

00:20:16.380 --> 00:20:28.480
Doug Keeling: You know, they may be traveling to see a sick family member for the last time or to go to a funeral or maybe they're traveling because it's their wedding or their anniversary and something exciting.

00:20:28.800 --> 00:20:38.780
Doug Keeling: We have to keep these things in mind when we're communicating with our clients and when we're structuring how our services work and all of our day to day operations.

00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:39.260
Arden Moore: Good.

00:20:39.780 --> 00:20:44.680
Arden Moore: And why should somebody hire a professional pet sitter and not the kid next door?

00:20:45.100 --> 00:20:56.380
Arden Moore: I'm not going to mention the two companies that are very big, but there's no real background check and I'm telling you, I use a professional pet sitter.

00:20:57.220 --> 00:20:59.660
Arden Moore: You might know Joette White from Park City Pet Sitter.

00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:00.280
Doug Keeling: Oh, yeah.

00:21:00.300 --> 00:21:00.600
Doug Keeling: Yeah.

00:21:00.620 --> 00:21:03.480
Arden Moore: And our furry Brady Bunch, they mean everything to us.

00:21:03.840 --> 00:21:09.720
Arden Moore: Why shouldn't you just have the neighbor come pop in, let the dogs go pee if you're going on a long trip?

00:21:09.880 --> 00:21:14.100
Arden Moore: I understand if it's a thing during the day or whatever, but I'm talking why.

00:21:14.460 --> 00:21:15.500
Arden Moore: Why not go cheap?

00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:16.560
Doug Keeling: Oh, man.

00:21:16.760 --> 00:21:19.820
Doug Keeling: There's so many different rabbit holes I could go down with this.

00:21:19.840 --> 00:21:20.700
Arden Moore: Go to a good one.

00:21:20.800 --> 00:21:33.760
Doug Keeling: You know, what I always ask people is what's going to happen if you have the 10 year old kid coming down the street and he opens the door and your dog bolts past and goes running down the street?

00:21:33.960 --> 00:21:37.420
Doug Keeling: What is that 10 year old actually going to be able to do?

00:21:37.620 --> 00:21:39.100
Arden Moore: Besides wet their pants.

00:21:39.140 --> 00:21:39.840
Doug Keeling: Exactly.

00:21:39.860 --> 00:21:40.400
Doug Keeling: Exactly.

00:21:40.420 --> 00:21:41.680
Doug Keeling: And go crying to their mom.

00:21:41.980 --> 00:21:45.180
Doug Keeling: You know, and I'm not trying to talk bad about those kids.

00:21:45.340 --> 00:21:46.580
Doug Keeling: We all started somewhere.

00:21:46.760 --> 00:21:49.980
Doug Keeling: I was pet sitting for the neighborhood pets when I was 10 years old.

00:21:50.300 --> 00:21:56.480
Doug Keeling: But that is a completely different service and it's a completely different way of going about it.

00:21:56.540 --> 00:22:08.220
Doug Keeling: You know, as a professional pet sitter, I have been trained both through Pet Sitters International, their certification course, the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters, I've gone through their training course.

00:22:08.580 --> 00:22:12.780
Doug Keeling: I've gone through full pet CPR and first aid certification.

00:22:13.140 --> 00:22:16.900
Doug Keeling: I have worked with multiple positive reinforcement.

00:22:16.900 --> 00:22:18.240
Arden Moore: Fear-free certified.

00:22:18.420 --> 00:22:44.280
Doug Keeling: Yes, I'm also fear-free certified and I've worked with multiple positive reinforcement and fear-free certified dog trainers to get really in depth with leash handling skills, animal body language, all of these types of things that I can come into your home and your dog never would bolt past me and get out of the door, but if it were to happen, I would know how to address that situation and get him back safely.

00:22:44.620 --> 00:23:02.220
Doug Keeling: Or if your cat has diarrhea, I had that happen last week, I know how to approach these situations and how to handle it from a true professional standpoint and protect their physical well-being as well as their emotional well-being all at the same time.

00:23:02.420 --> 00:23:04.260
Doug Keeling: And that is vital.

00:23:04.560 --> 00:23:06.660
Arden Moore: And everyone, we're speaking with Doug Keeling.

00:23:06.680 --> 00:23:11.740
Arden Moore: He was the 2023 Professional Pet Sitter of the Year by Pet Sitters International.

00:23:12.440 --> 00:23:17.300
Arden Moore: And I'll work and no play makes Doug a real stressed out guy.

00:23:17.940 --> 00:23:23.380
Arden Moore: I did see a picture of you taking a vacay in front of the Eiffel Tower.

00:23:23.520 --> 00:23:25.260
Arden Moore: I just went to Paris too myself.

00:23:25.280 --> 00:23:26.040
Arden Moore: I didn't see you there.

00:23:27.080 --> 00:23:30.580
Arden Moore: Where do you as a pet sitter, where do you like to go for a break?

00:23:30.700 --> 00:23:32.620
Arden Moore: And would you take your dog with you?

00:23:32.900 --> 00:23:34.100
Arden Moore: Or do you go petless?

00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:35.140
Arden Moore: What's your downtime?

00:23:35.460 --> 00:23:35.840
Doug Keeling: Oh, man.

00:23:35.860 --> 00:23:37.340
Doug Keeling: I always have pets with me.

00:23:37.380 --> 00:23:44.960
Doug Keeling: Even if I can't take my own pet with me, you know, I'm finding where the local cat cafe is or I'm at the local humane society.

00:23:45.260 --> 00:23:50.520
Doug Keeling: If I go more than six hours without touching something with four legs, I'm going to go crazy.

00:23:51.800 --> 00:23:52.760
Doug Keeling: Pet withdrawal.

00:23:52.780 --> 00:23:53.600
Arden Moore: All right.

00:23:53.720 --> 00:23:55.620
Doug Keeling: I mean, they really are my therapy.

00:23:55.620 --> 00:24:03.480
Doug Keeling: But with that, you know, I tell everyone my two biggest passions in life are animal welfare and traveling.

00:24:03.960 --> 00:24:12.420
Doug Keeling: And one of my life goals is to immerse myself in every different culture of the world and learn all about the people of the world.

00:24:12.820 --> 00:24:28.700
Doug Keeling: So if I'm not pet sitting, you can often find me on a flight to China or Paris or I'm actually heading down to Ecuador next week to go to I'm going to spend a few days in Quito and then I'm going to go to the Galapagos and see as many animals as I can see, you know.

00:24:29.220 --> 00:24:31.140
Arden Moore: Well, we definitely want to have you back.

00:24:31.420 --> 00:24:33.200
Arden Moore: You have a lot of tales to tell.

00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:36.180
Arden Moore: I really appreciate Doug, you being on the show.

00:24:36.200 --> 00:24:39.020
Arden Moore: Tell us again how we can find what you're up to.

00:24:39.720 --> 00:24:41.980
Doug Keeling: Yeah, so you can find me on YouTube.

00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:48.940
Doug Keeling: I post videos there every week sharing my experiences as a professional pet sitter and dog walker and pet transporter.

00:24:49.300 --> 00:24:52.900
Doug Keeling: It's youtube.com forward slash Doug the dog guy.

00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:55.980
Doug Keeling: You can also check out my Instagram.

00:24:56.060 --> 00:25:00.140
Doug Keeling: It's instagram.com forward slash Doug the dog guy official.

00:25:00.340 --> 00:25:02.460
Doug Keeling: I'm on TikTok at Doug the dog guy.

00:25:02.580 --> 00:25:06.640
Doug Keeling: Facebook is Doug Keeling, a K-E-E-L-I-N-G.

00:25:06.760 --> 00:25:09.980
Doug Keeling: And of course my website is dougthedogguy.co as well.

00:25:10.540 --> 00:25:11.840
Arden Moore: All right, that's a lot.

00:25:11.860 --> 00:25:13.720
Arden Moore: But keep doing what you're doing, Doug.

00:25:13.760 --> 00:25:15.680
Arden Moore: I really appreciate you being on the show.

00:25:15.960 --> 00:25:18.600
Arden Moore: Want to give a shout out to my producer, Mark Winter.

00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:22.100
Arden Moore: He is the executive producer of Pet Life Radio.

00:25:22.320 --> 00:25:24.820
Arden Moore: We're the largest pet radio network on the planet.

00:25:25.020 --> 00:25:27.720
Arden Moore: And I got some news to share to everybody.

00:25:27.800 --> 00:25:35.840
Arden Moore: This show, Oh Behave, which has been on the air since before Doug graduated from high school, I guess, has been on the air since 07.

00:25:36.200 --> 00:25:40.860
Arden Moore: And we have just been named the best pet podcast for 2020.

00:25:41.720 --> 00:25:42.460
Arden Moore: Get that out!

00:25:42.460 --> 00:25:47.420
Arden Moore: Like you, we have no car, no money, but we're really happy.

00:25:47.620 --> 00:25:52.220
Arden Moore: So everybody check out our shows and get on my YouTube.

00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:52.920
Arden Moore: Come on, guys.

00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:54.580
Arden Moore: It's Arden Moore, easy to do.

00:25:55.020 --> 00:26:04.680
Arden Moore: And until next time, this is your flea free host, Arden Moore, delivering just two words to all you two, three, and four legged out there, Oh Behave.

00:26:06.220 --> 00:26:10.400
Announcer: Coast to coast and around the world, it's Oh Behave with Arden Moore.

00:26:10.420 --> 00:26:13.280
Announcer: Find out why cats and dogs do the things they do.

00:26:13.540 --> 00:26:17.760
Announcer: And get the latest buzz from wagging tongues and tails in Rin Tin Tinseltown.

00:26:18.260 --> 00:26:26.180
Announcer: From famous pet experts and best selling authors to television and movie stars, you'll get great tail wagging pet tips and have a fur flying fun time.

00:26:26.420 --> 00:26:29.740
Announcer: Oh Behave with America's Pet Edutainer, Arden Moore.

00:26:30.260 --> 00:26:33.840
Announcer: Every week on demand, only on petliferadio.com.