One Initiative At A Time
This show is dedicated to 2 new initiatives to help rescue shelters and rescue dogs. The first guest is Judi Cogen, author of Puppy Conversations as well as the daily blog DearKidLoveMom. The second guest is Anthony DiPaolo, president and founder of Modern Puppies. Their recent launches particularly have a focus in helping rescue shelters with funding plus more. It's great to see Judi and Anthony pay it forward to our fellow canines in need.
BIO:
Anthony DiPaolo
Anthony has been a lifelong dog lover and entrepreneur. He grew up on a horse ranch and his family always had large dogs that would freely run and play outside.
His need for having a furry best friend continued into his adult life. In 2008, he was living in a small home in California with a limited backyard that regularly had coyotes visiting. The interior of his home was too small to accommodate the larger-breed type of dogs he had grown up with, so he decided to adopt a small breed dog (Prague Ratter) for the first time.
He quickly realized that potty training his new little puppy was going to be very challenging. He thought of installing a small doggy door to give her access to his backyard, but realized the coyotes and the harsh weather was simply too dangerous for her. He was also informed by his veterinarian that he should not let her outside until she had received all the necessary vaccinations.
He then began to think of how he could potty train her to possibly have an indoor doggie bathroom. He researched all the current indoor potty options for dogs and quickly realized they all had major flaws and inconveniences.
He then started to think about how cats easily potty indoors with litter boxes. He knew that dogs were extremely smart and with proper training can do almost anything. He then began to tinker in his garage and created a prototype of his new invention. It was a one bedroom, one bathroom wire crate, and he called it the Puppy Apartment.
He immediately started training her to learn that this is where Daddy wants you to go potty. With the proper training techniques, she quickly became conditioned to know the Puppy Apartment is the only spot in the home that she was allowed to potty. In addition, she also learned that great things happen after she goes potty in her Puppy Apartment.
She then was allowed to freely roam his home and never slept in the Puppy Apartment again. She only uses the Puppy Apartment as an indoor doggie bathroom and has been roaming freely for over 8 years without ever having to be confined in a cage!
Judi Cogen
Judi Cogen is the author of the daily blog “DearKidLoveMom.com” an ongoing (and highly eclectic) letter to her college-age son.
Somewhere along the way she started recording the conversations she had with her 11 year old “puppy” and these have now been turned into the delightful book “Puppy Conversations.” Many DearKidLoveMom readers say the Puppy Conversation posts are the ones they look forward to the most—and that they’ve had the exact same conversation with their dogs.
Not only is Puppy Conversations hilarious, with pictures that will bring “awwww” to the forefront of your vocabulary, 15% of the proceeds are being donated to animal rescue organizations.
Puppy Conversations is available through her publisher, Braughler Books at braughlerbooks.com where it is one of the top ranked books.