Pet Parenting While Working From Home

In this episode, Amy sits down with Jasmine Jonte, Pitbull Mama, and seasoned online course writer, to tackle the challenges of working from home with pets. From keyboard-walking cats to barking dogs during important calls, they share practical tips for maintaining professionalism while keeping pets happy. Join them as they discuss transitioning from office to home work, creating pet-friendly routines, sharing responsibilities, and the importance of flexibility for maintaining sanity. Tune in for invaluable insights to become both the office hero and your pets' hero!

SEO Keywords: working from home with pets, pet-friendly routines, balancing work and pets, pet care during work hours, remote work tips.

Transcript

Pet Parenting While Working from Home

[00:00:00] Announcer: Welcome to the Starlight Pet Talk Podcast, where we'll talk about and explore ways to help pet parents and future pet parents. Learn everything they need to know. Do you have a happy and healthy relationship with their pet? So, sit up and stay for Starlight Pet Talk Rescue Adoption and pet Parenting done right.

[00:00:25] Amy Castro: If you're a fan of Starlight Pet Talk, you'll love our new line of merchandise. We have t-shirts, hoodies, and more, all featuring your favorite podcast, logos and Designs. Plus, we're offering a limited number of Starlight outreach and rescue items where a portion of the proceeds go directly to Animal Rescue.

[00:00:41] Announcer: Our merchandise is the perfect way to show your support for your favorite. PET podcast and animal rescue at the same time. So, what are you waiting for? Just visit our website at www.starlightpettalk.com to order your merchandise today. Welcome to the Starlight Pet Talk podcast. I'm Amy Castro, your host, and today we're going to talk about trying to juggle working from home with dealing with your pets.

[00:01:07] Announcer: And a lot of times people are old school. They don't necessarily think about trying to focus on the quality of life for their pets while they're working. I have to say that I've been guilty of that in the past where once my office door is shut, everybody's out there doing God knows what and getting into mischief or maybe not.

[00:01:23] Announcer: We've got some that are created, but I think we can probably do a lot better. And my guest today is Jasmine Ty, and she is a done for you course creation coach, and she has an agency that does that for. I would assume experts, authors, things like that, right, Jasmine? Yep. Exactly. Yeah. And she works from home with her dog Juniper.

[00:01:43] Announcer: And so, we got to talking before the podcast and I just felt like she would be a great resource for all of us to figure out how we can basically do better by our pets when we're working from home. So, thank you so much for agreeing to be here with me today. Yeah, 

[00:01:56] Jasmine Jonte: thank you so much for having me. It's always a good time to sit and have a chat about our fur babies, you know.

[00:02:02] Amy Castro: I know once you get people started on that, it becomes a yes, becomes a long conversation. And especially around here cuz we're running an animal rescue in addition to the podcast, in addition to a speaking and training business. And so, there's a lot going on. Mm-hmm. And a lot of critters. A lot of critters around the place.

[00:02:19] Amy Castro: So, the whole thing with working from home is not new to me because I actually have, other than the fact when I go out and speak and train, I do all of my work from home. So, it's not new to me. But I know for a lot of people, their first foray into working from home came during c. And what we're seeing now, and you've probably read the articles, I'm sure just as many as I have, is and the things on the news about people that now that they've figured it out, they don't want to go back to the office.

[00:02:44] Amy Castro: Mm-hmm. As a matter of fact, I read, I read a really interesting article the other day about a guy that had a job in New York City and during the pandemic he up and moved to Michigan, but his company never knew he moved cuz. He was working from home. Yeah. And then suddenly they're like, hey, we want you to come back in the office on Monday.

[00:02:59] Amy Castro: And he's like, yeah, no thanks. Hmm. So, a lot of people, uh, are, are not wanting to go back to the office. So, so tell me for, for you, have you always worked from home in the work that you, that you do with your agency? Or is, was that something pandemic related? That, that started 

[00:03:16] Jasmine Jonte: I haven't always worked from home.

[00:03:17] Jasmine Jonte: I got my start as a teacher, so I taught in uh Oh, okay. I taught in Detroit, Michigan. And that's actually where I adopted Juniper. So, she was with me during two of my four years teaching before I. Began working from home and, and running my own business. So, I've, I've, you know, had a foot in both worlds though, and it's been seven going on eight years in business, so she's much more used to having me at home with 

[00:03:41] Amy Castro: her now.

[00:03:42] Amy Castro: Yes. Yeah, I think that's definitely something that people are struggling with for the ones that have had to go back to an office environment is. Your pets have gotten used to having you around. Mm-hmm. And so, it definitely messes with their messes, with their routine. My first thought in thinking about this, this subject is, you know, why is this really even an issue trying to juggle the, the pet and the work and keeping everybody happy because.

[00:04:04] Amy Castro: You know, working from home wasn't an issue when we were going to the office, you know, our pets either stayed, stayed home, left to their own devices, or those few lucky pets who maybe got to go to doggy daycare did that. So why is this an issue for you in, in trying to, to do that juggling act? 

[00:04:21] Jasmine Jonte: Well, I think it's, as she's gotten older, it's become more of an issue, right?

[00:04:25] Jasmine Jonte: Cuz she has more needs now than she ever used to with them around all the time. I always think of a dog like a toddler. You know, like they just like grow up to be a toddler and then they don't ever age past that. And so, you just have this little fur ball running around all the time. And depending on your dog's demeanor, it might be more challenging, uh, or less challenging.

[00:04:43] Jasmine Jonte: But I think it's, you have to give some thought to the fact that you're now home with this other being all day long. Right, and it's, it's shifting up their routine. Just like you had to set expectations with them when you went to work. Now you have to set expectations with them about what's okay and what's not okay when you're home.

[00:05:04] Jasmine Jonte: So, it's just retraining them to evolve to be a part of this new 

[00:05:08] Amy Castro: lifestyle. Yeah. I wish I could train, train mine not to bark when uh, I'm trying to record a podcast. That would be nice. Yes. It's been quite so far. We'll see how long that, see how long that lasts in working from home with Juniper. Mm-hmm. Uh, and obviously all dogs are going to be a little bit different cuz like you said, as she's aged, she has more needs.

[00:05:25] Amy Castro: So, it could be age, it just could be the personality of the animal. It could be how many animals you have. Mm-hmm. But what challenges have you specifically faced and hopefully overcome? Yeah, 

[00:05:34] Jasmine Jonte: I mean like the current challenge, like the real is we call her the yo-yo because she likes to go outside and inside and outside and inside and outside and inside.

[00:05:44] Jasmine Jonte: So very much like a yo-yo. And she has this really good way of making it look like she really needs to go out when she doesn't. She just wants to go hang out. Right. Until she, but we live in Phoenix. So, you can only hang out outside for so long in May, cuz it's what hits 90, 95 degrees. So that's a, that's a challenge is just like setting expectations with her.

[00:06:04] Jasmine Jonte: You know, you cannot ask to go out right now, like now is, we are not available to let you go in and out right now because my, uh, my fiancé also works from home, so she's like, got two people to play. Right. She's got like two strings to pull on. Yeah. Um, so that's, that's been a challenge. The, the barking that you mentioned.

[00:06:21] Jasmine Jonte: I have an office next to the front door. So anytime there's Amazon, oh, wow. Anytime there's the mailman, anytime there's a person walking by or bunny rabbits, we have bunny rabbits in our front yard. It's like, oh wow. She will go off, you know, and it's, it's, she's really not a barker for anything except for things coming by the front door.

[00:06:40] Jasmine Jonte: And, um, and it's not extensive. She'll give a couple barks and be done, but it's enough to, like, if you're on a sales call or you're in a client meeting, it's enough to be disruptive. Right. So, you know, sometimes what I'll do is I'll like reframe when I'm on a call, like an important phone call and like I'll say like, you know, my dog's here so in case you hear some barking, cuz the Amazon truck's coming by, that might happen.

[00:07:04] Jasmine Jonte: So, I kind of let them know ahead of time. So rather than when it happens and it's like, oh my goodness, what is going on? They know what's going on. But I mean, those are really the two main things. Since she's gotten older and because we're home all the time, she does start to have a little challenge with separation.

[00:07:20] Jasmine Jonte: If we leave for a vacation or for a trip, a business trip, et cetera, she tends to become ill. She, so she, she has tummy troubles, she has digestive upset. The vet calls it stress colitis, just cuz she's so used to being around us. And then when we're gone, it's like all of her foundation. Is just gone. Right.

[00:07:40] Jasmine Jonte: So yeah, that's another challenge that I think is not directly related to working at home, but I think it's exacerbated it. So, what about you? What is your work from home Pet mom 

[00:07:50] Amy Castro: challenges? I started my business, my speaking and training business in 1994. Mm-hmm. And have worked from home ever since. And in that time, I have forgotten about an in-person meeting twice.

[00:08:04] Amy Castro: And it, one of them was the other day, I had put it on my calendar for Wednesday. All of a sudden, it's nine oh five. I'm getting a call from my client and it's like, hey, are you going to be here? And they're like 45 minutes away. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, Nope, I'm not going to be there. I screwed up. But can we jump on a zoom?

[00:08:18] Amy Castro: Mm-hmm. So, I quick rush back to my office, get on the Zoom, and my daughter, who lives here with me, and we run our animal rescue together. Um, normally she's in her office doing her businesses and we're generally not on a call at the same time. Mm-hmm. So, somebody can shut the mutts up if they get going.

[00:08:36] Amy Castro: Well, she wasn't here. And I have a puppy living in my hallway right outside my door. Mm-hmm. Right here. And she. Has this brain piercing screeching app and I think it must have been an Amazon guy that left something at the front, at the front door and she just did not shut up. I, I thought I was going to die because there was no, there was no hiding that on the call.

[00:08:55] Amy Castro: Mm-hmm. So, I kind of did, like you did. It's like, apologies for the dog. We're running a rescue. So, there's dogs everywhere and, but yeah, it, it, it definitely is a challenge and I think you're absolutely right. The doorbell thing, or even, even if they don't ring the doorbell. Yeah. Which nine times out of 10 they don't, but they can see them along the windows.

[00:09:11] Amy Castro: Mm-hmm. And you hate to pull the blinds down because then they're going to be messing the blinds. Mm-hmm. So, it is a bit of a struggle. Yeah. Whether it's keeping them away from the front door altogether. Sometimes that helps. And I think being on a certain type of routine, because that's the other thing that I feel like for us kind of went out the window with the pandemic.

[00:09:29] Amy Castro: That's a good point. Where, you know, it used to be, you know, somebody's up at this, this hour in the morning and everybody's gone all day and then you get fed when some, the first person gets home somewhere between three and five, whatever that might be. That's something I've, I've noticed too is that my, my dogs who used to be very used to eating at four o'clock at one point were acting like they needed to be fed at 10 30 in the morning, and it kind of gradually just snuck up where it was like, oh, they're whining, so feed them.

[00:09:57] Amy Castro: But, but it's only three 30. Ah, doesn't matter. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And we kind of blow our own routines. Yeah. So, I think sticking to those routines, whether you're home or you're not, I think is, is important cuz. ESP dogs especially, I think are creatures of habit. Wouldn't you say percent? I 

[00:10:12] Jasmine Jonte: mean, Yeah, for sure.

[00:10:13] Jasmine Jonte: Juniper, I mean we, with our work from home life, we still work business hours. Like I really try to just stick between nine to five. There was a time in my business, especially earlier on where that wasn't the case, and there are seasons in, in any kind of career where it's a busier season than a slower season and you're working more hours, et cetera.

[00:10:34] Jasmine Jonte: But I really try to stick to. Okay. We get up, you know, and she has a routine with her dad who gets up before me, and then she'll come downstairs and then I'll come downstairs and she's like, okay, it's time for a walk. Right? And then we go on our walk and she is very good about, she gets fed at this time and this time, so she has that really strong internal clock and that kind of helps her keep on track, but.

[00:10:57] Jasmine Jonte: For sure. Just like the, the small things that you know, you do every day. So, for us it's really a morning and an evening routine. Like those are the two things that are always the same. Mm-hmm. And the rest in the middle she can kind of adapt to. Cuz sometimes we're not here, we have business, like you said, we have in-person meetings or you know, whatever it may be, we're at the gym, et cetera.

[00:11:17] Jasmine Jonte: So, we come and go randomly. But if we can keep those bookends the same, she tends to be a lot. Mm-hmm. Happier, A lot more stable. A lot. 

[00:11:26] Amy Castro: It's a lot chiller. Yeah, that's a good point. Even with that feeding issue, my daughter always says, stop giving into the terrorists because they're, you know, they're just begging for stuff.

[00:11:35] Amy Castro: Mm-hmm. And so, I just literally had to ignore her. And, uh, you know, she's had to realize we're, we're going back. I kind of worked my way back to the normal, normal feeding time. Otherwise, it was just chaos. Mm-hmm. Chaos, all day long. Whining and fussing and circling around and, no, like you said, it just, it helps.

[00:11:51] Amy Castro: Level them out when they're, when they have that, uh, even like you said, the bookend mm-hmm. Routines. So obviously you're not living in a vacuum. So, what kind of mistakes do you see other people making, or do you hear about with, uh, friends when it comes to working from home with pets? You know, whether it's either something that's negatively impacting the pet or maybe negatively impacting their work?

[00:12:12] Amy Castro: I think, 

[00:12:13] Jasmine Jonte: uh, any, yeah, I mean there's, there's a few things. One thing is, Having the dog around all the time. I think that dogs also need time on their own. And so, I know some people will just try and keep the dog where, you know, in their office around them all the time, and it's like, give the dog a chance to, you know, have a nap in the living room, or have a nap in their crate or wherever their safe space is.

[00:12:43] Jasmine Jonte: I think that's important just to give them the option. To, to leave rather than to kind of clinging on. So, I think that's, that's one, one mistake, probably the big mistake. I see. And it's also not giving any discipline. Like we have boundaries and when Juniper cross crosses a boundary, we let her know and we are okay.

[00:13:03] Jasmine Jonte: Mm-hmm. To say no to her. Like I was saying, with the yo-yo in and out, this was happening yesterday. Brad and I were in the kitchen and I was about to let her out and he goes, I just brought her in. So she was, she's playing us right. And I was like, okay. And I look at Juniper and she looks at Brad like with her puppy dog eyes.

[00:13:21] Jasmine Jonte: And Brad's like, 

[00:13:22] Amy Castro: she's probably like, man, you ratted me out. And he 

[00:13:25] Jasmine Jonte: says, daddy says, no, you're okay. You can stay inside right now. And then she turns her head and looks at me with puppy dog eyes like, okay, mommy, like, will you let me out? And I was like, daddy said no. You know? So, it's just total manipulator.

[00:13:39] Jasmine Jonte: I mean, God love her, right? Work with what you got, but. I do think it's important to like give them the discipline, give them the boundaries of what's okay and what's not okay. And maybe that's like they can't be in your office during phone calls. And so, if they start scratching at the door, it's like, okay, then it's time to go to our safe space.

[00:13:56] Jasmine Jonte: It's time to go our go to our crate and we're going to be in there. Yeah. That's really important. 

[00:14:01] Amy Castro: Well, and you mentioned the idea of separation anxiety. It's not even just that they need a timeout per se, but it's also learning to be okay being by yourself. So just as an example, I have this puppy. That is in my dining room right now in a pen.

[00:14:15] Amy Castro: And she is like this big, oh, I mean, she's this, she's a little bit bigger now than a Guinea pig, but she's close to the size of a Guinea pig, like two and a half pounds max, probably not even yet. And she was dumped in the street. Uh, she was basically left in a cul-de-sac by a lady who, the person that found the puppy was like, hey, what are you doing?

[00:14:33] Amy Castro: And she said, oh, someone will pick it up. That was her. Dang. And the, and she also told the lady that the puppy was eight weeks old. Well, when the puppy comes into the rescue, we're looking at the puppy's teeth, and that puppy's was maybe five, five and a half weeks old. Mm-hmm. Shouldn't have even been away from its mom yet.

[00:14:50] Amy Castro: So, of course, being a baby baby and being a bean, you know, just a tiny little bean, it was very tempting to want to hold her all the time. Mm-hmm. And, and don't, don't get me wrong, she gets a lot of love and attention, but, the first couple nights I let her sleep in my bed. Mm-hmm. Because I just felt like, ah, you know, she shouldn't be by he, she shouldn't even be by herself yet.

[00:15:12] Amy Castro: Mm-hmm. But then I realized that, you know, I'm, I'm setting a precedent there that might be causing her problems. Mm-hmm. And whoever might adopt her long run mm-hmm. That maybe doesn't want, you know, some people don't want the dogs in the bed. Mm-hmm. So, she actually does very well out on her own. Yes. If we go by, then she's all happy to see us, but I don't hear her out there barking for my attention.

[00:15:32] Amy Castro: So, I think I, I think too many times people put too many human feelings. Yeah. Onto their pets. Like, oh, she's so lonely. It's like, is she or is she sleeping? I bet you a hundred bucks. She's sleeping right now. Mm-hmm. So, I think, I think creating those boundaries are, are good not only for you, but also for the dog.

[00:15:51] Amy Castro: And I think just having your dog around all the time can, can be a distraction. Mm-hmm. So, I would guess from a productivity standpoint, you know, if you're constantly being interrupt, like, oh, don't touch that, or hey, what are you doing over there? I mean, if I, I've tried letting him in my office before and this is one of the few rooms in the house that has carpet and I'm, you know, you've got these.

[00:16:10] Amy Castro: Dogs that you don't really know cuz they're fosters. So, it's like, what are you doing over there in that corner? It's, it's just easier not to have them in here. Mm-hmm. I think also you said about the safe space and the crate. So, what do you hear with people as far, because obviously I hear both sides of the issue.

[00:16:25] Amy Castro: There's. There's a lot of people, I'm, I'm actually kind of shocked at how many people are just, I could never put my dog in a crate. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And then there's the people who, I mean, if I say everyone get in your house. Yeah. They all know where they need to go. Mm-hmm. So, what are your feelings about that?

[00:16:41] Amy Castro: Obviously you're not anti-crate. No. But what do you hear from other people? No, I think, 

[00:16:46] Jasmine Jonte: I think it's like a valuable tool to have, right? Because it's like, it's a place where they can. No is completely their own. Like no human is getting in their crate. No one bothers them when they're in that crate. It's like they know exactly what to expect from that space.

[00:17:01] Jasmine Jonte: And sometimes, right. You know, you can think of, okay, well what about a dog bed? But the truth is, if a dog is on a dog bed, are you going to go pet the dog? Totally. Where does the dog, where can the dog go? If dog doesn't want to be pet dog just wants some alone time. Right? Yeah. Also, it's like a safety concern, like a, like my mentor, she has a, a rescue who.

[00:17:20] Jasmine Jonte: Has some separation anxiety. And so, when the dog, when she leaves the house, and if the dog's ungraded, she'll scratch at the door, right? Mm-hmm. And she won't stop scratching at the door, but the dog is totally happy in her crate. So, it's like she just goes to her house. Yeah. And she's good. And she takes a little snooze.

[00:17:36] Jasmine Jonte: It's just a tool that you can use. Doesn't mean overuse it, obviously you don't want to create a dog for 12 hours. Yeah. Especially was, and I don't use a crate with Juniper anymore, but I did for years and transitioning her. Mm-hmm. From being, I rescued her at three. So, transitioning her from wherever she was before into living with us and having boundaries and a space that she could go to.

[00:17:57] Jasmine Jonte: I mean, she would just go in there sometimes, right? Like even if it was open and we were home and I was like watching TV on the couch, she would just go and have a little moment. So, I, I think it's good, it's good for them to have that opportunity, you know? Now she's got, we've got a bigger house. We've got, she's got plenty of space for her to go and be by herself.

[00:18:15] Jasmine Jonte: But yeah, it was really valuable and now she's older. She just doesn't like get into 

[00:18:19] Amy Castro: stuff like she used to. And that actually brings up another, another point when you first were talking about boundaries too, is that I think one of the things that people have, especially for those who don't normally work from home and then started working from home, you don't realize how poorly trained your pets are until you're around them.

[00:18:37] Amy Castro: That much. Mm-hmm. And the challenges that that faces, whether it's the barking or the constantly going out or scratching at doors, whatever it might be, did you experience any of that when you first started working at home? Um, I, no. Or did you kind of know where Juniper, you knew where she stood? Yeah. No, we were 

[00:18:55] Jasmine Jonte: good, but it, I had done so much training.

[00:18:57] Jasmine Jonte: I mean, like we had done years of training pet therapy dogs, like all kinds of stuff. So, she. She was, and she's a very confident independent dog, so it was like she was confident and independent. I was good at like setting boundaries. We had a really good relationship and by the time I went full-time at home, she was five or six.

[00:19:23] Jasmine Jonte: All the puppy was out at this point. Mm-hmm. Um, I did however, start doing more walks during the day and that helped as well just to like let her energy drain out before I was doing, you know, a walk before work and then a walk after work. I worked, I was in a three-story apartment too, so it was like you had to walk if she had to go to the bathroom anyway.

[00:19:43] Jasmine Jonte: Yeah. But when I went full-time, I was in a single-family home, just a residential area, and I would try to walk her during the day, or at least get her outside during the day as well, just to help flush some of that energy out. So, it wasn't a, she didn't have it pent up and then was causing. 

[00:19:59] Amy Castro: Mischief. Yeah.

[00:20:01] Amy Castro: Right, and that's a good point too. Again, working in a rescue, it reminds me to do some education. When they say, oh, I don't really have a very big yard, or, oh, it's great. I've got a big yard. The size of your yard is not relevant because in the grand scheme of things, I mean, it's nice to have a yard to be able to just open the door and let him out.

[00:20:19] Amy Castro: But your dog needs exercise beyond. Whatever's going on in the yard. Mm-hmm. You know, even if they go out and they run around in the yard, most dogs, you know, especially depending upon the breed, is going to need more than that. Mm-hmm. I know that when we had our Doberman pincher and I've mentioned Jack on the podcast before, even if you did take him for a walk, it wasn't going to be enough.

[00:20:39] Amy Castro: I'm five two and, uh, you know, even when I was. Thinner. I don't, you know, I've got little stubby legs. I don't walk very far and I don't walk very fast. So, he's not going to get great exercise walking with me. So sometimes you've got to think outside the box on that. Is that, no, the yard running around the yard's.

[00:20:54] Amy Castro: Not enough. A walk may be enough for some dogs for him. We ended up getting a, a thing called a walkie dog and attaching it to my bike. Mm-hmm. And that way he could get a good, you know, a good run in, in addition to, you know, whatever running around he was doing with the other dogs in the backyard. Mm. So, yeah.

[00:21:12] Amy Castro: I think exercise, like you said, boundaries. Mm-hmm. Um, getting into those routines. Yep. And, uh, and sticking with that. Sticking with that train, sticking with all of those things along the way. Yeah. What are your thoughts as far as, uh, cuz I'm also always very tempted and I have done it here and there, like with that little bean puppy, it's like, I would love to go get her and show her to you.

[00:21:35] Amy Castro: What do you think, and especially when you are, you know, you're obviously working in a professional business about involving your pets on your virtual meetings or calls, or whether you call it involvement or it's cute or it's fun or it's annoying. Where do you stand on that? 

[00:21:49] Jasmine Jonte: I am pro. Showing your dog on Zoom calls.

[00:21:53] Jasmine Jonte: Okay. But I will caveat it with like read the room, have the emotional intelligence to know who you're talking to. In what instance are you talking to them so that you can make the right call? Whether or not it's a good idea. Mm-hmm. My team members, they're like, where's Juniper? And quite a few of our clients, they're dog people.

[00:22:12] Jasmine Jonte: In our intake form. Mm-hmm. We do an onboarding gift and things and we're like, send us a picture of your dog. And sometimes we'll do, I don't know if you've seen those Vogue paws. Beautiful. It like turns a picture of a dog into like an editorial feature it looks like. So sometimes we'll do gifts like that cuz we really, really are dog people.

[00:22:27] Jasmine Jonte: And so sometimes I'll see in those forms, people will show me like a picture of their dog and I'm like, oh, they're totally a dog person. And then I'll bring them on the phone. So, it’s just I'm for it generally, but there's some situations if I don't know someone well enough yet and not mm-hmm. Sure. Which way they go.

[00:22:45] Jasmine Jonte: I'll just, I'll skip it. 

[00:22:47] Amy Castro: Yeah, you can. You can always introduce them later if you need to. Yes. Reading the audience, excellent point. And I also think it shouldn't take over whatever, you know, if you've got a 30-minute meeting or a 45-minute meeting or whatever, we don't necessarily want to see and hear about your pets for 15 minutes.

[00:23:03] Amy Castro: That's not the best use of everybody's time. But if it's, you know, like a quick introduction at the beginning while we're waiting for people to come in and before we get that, what do they call it? Maintenance synergy. Mm-hmm. You know, that we need to have with people. And I think you're right when you're a pet person and you know somebody else is, or you see that cat walking in the background mm-hmm.

[00:23:18] Amy Castro: Or the picture of the dog on the bookshelf or whatever. I actually did a podcast interview the other day and it was a speaker colleague of mine who also does animal rescue and animal fostering, but I'm looking on her shelf because she had. You know, business books and then pictures of pets and I'm like, that was one of my foster kit kittens.

[00:23:36] Amy Castro: They had this, had gotten this cute picture of some kittens, kind of sleeping and hugging each other and she'd framed it and put it on our big shelf. Went with her color scheme. She's got a lot of orange and it was orange kittens. So yeah, you never know what you're going to see in people's backgrounds there.

[00:23:48] Amy Castro: So, tell us some of the things that you, like, maybe some specific things that you have done to make it work with Juniper beyond the sticking to a routine. Like do you shut your, shut your office, office door, keep her out? Does she have puzzles that she's doing out there? Is she watching dog tv? What is she, what is she doing to keep her mind occupied?

[00:24:06] Amy Castro: Or she's just sleeping? She's doing 

[00:24:07] Jasmine Jonte: a lot of sleeping. She's actually, she's sleeping right behind me right now. Yeah. I do have in my office. I, there's a big window, and so I've put a tall twin bed up there with pillows, so she has a spot to be in my office if she wants to be in my office. Same thing in her dad's office.

[00:24:23] Jasmine Jonte: We have one of her beds in her dad's office, so she can go and be in there if she wants. We also like, I think, like you mentioned, like you're not on calls all day, so when we're not on calls, we will do little treats with her, you know, like sit and turn in a circle and things like that. So that, In between time she's getting a little attention.

[00:24:42] Jasmine Jonte: And like I said, we also, we take her out and we take her on walks so it, it's not rare. Yeah. For Brad to have some time at 11 and just like take her to the park really quick. Mm-hmm. So, like some things like that. But I mean, she is, she's 12 now. She's 12 in a few months, so she's kind of at the point, she's like, mm-hmm.

[00:24:57] Jasmine Jonte: She mostly takes a nap and then she'll get up and she'll say hi, and then she'll take another nap. Like it's a lot of napping 

[00:25:03] Amy Castro: going on here. Yeah. I think it's definitely easier with an older dog. Yeah. As a matter of fact, the, the episode of the podcast that came out, the, the week that we're recording this, was about excuses that people have for surrendering their pets, and one of 'me was being too busy and or, or, I don't have time for my pet.

[00:25:19] Amy Castro: Mm-hmm. Or I work this many hours, it's like, well, your pet's probably sleeping most of those hours anyway. So, I think that's a bad excuse, but I could understand it with a puppy. Right. You know, I could understand somebody, if you have a puppy and you're working super long hours and you're locked in your office, that obviously is probably not conducive.

[00:25:34] Amy Castro: Mm-hmm. But like we like to say, you should have thought of that before you got the puppy. Like it's, think about your lifestyle and how that dog fits 

[00:25:40] Jasmine Jonte: into it. Yeah. When she was younger, we did things like puzzles and you know, the snuffle mats and like, we did more things like that. We also used to play a lot of hide and seek, like with the ball, you know?

[00:25:53] Jasmine Jonte: Mm-hmm. So, I'd put her in one room, I'd say stay, and we still played sometimes, but we played it a lot more back then. And I would put the ball somewhere. Mm-hmm. And then she would go find it and we'd play that a few times. And then she'd be like, okay, I'm good. So, you know, there's some fun things that don't take a lot of time.

[00:26:08] Jasmine Jonte: People always ask me; how did you train her? No. Cuz she's just so good. She's just like, so, I mean mm-hmm. So well trained. And a lot of it is her nature. She's just generally a pretty confident chill dog. But I always say it was doing five minutes, like five times a day. It wasn't these big long training sessions, it was like little micro sessions that she just got a lot of repetition, you know, in short little sprints.

[00:26:32] Jasmine Jonte: Mm-hmm. And I feel like that's something you can use to. If you need to train a habit or train out a bad habit. Right. Once you start working at home. Yeah. And it's so much easier to do cuz you take five minutes to go get a coffee or like to go get some water or go to the bathroom or whatever it is. And it's like, okay, when you do that, just train your dog for five minutes and there's your 10-minute break.

[00:26:53] Amy Castro: Yeah, yeah. There you go. Yeah. And, and I think, you know, I know for me, one of the things that I struggle with is, I can sit down at this computer with my same cup of coffee from, you know, from in the morning and suddenly it's four o'clock in the afternoon. And I ha and I haven't gotten out of the chair.

[00:27:13] Amy Castro: Like, my back hurts now. My butt hurts. I mean, it's, so, I think, you know what you're saying there, for somebody like me, uh, it, it would require, and, and probably I need to get my Fitbit back on. It gives me the little, you know, reminder to get up. But just putting those breaks in so you don't see the pet as a, and it, you know, it could be.

[00:27:32] Amy Castro: Playing with your cat too. Mm-hmm. We talk about dogs when it comes to keeping them entertained during the day because yeah, they do go out and things like that, but I have a blind cat. She has no eyes. She had to have her eyes removed and she gets into a lot of mischief and she does a lot better when she's had some engagement mm-hmm.

[00:27:50] Amy Castro: Throughout the day and not just left up to her own devices. Otherwise, she's all over the place at night. And some cats do have a much stronger need for, for exercise. So, taking those. I think building those breaks in throughout the day so that in, like I said, instead of seeing your pet as. And interference with what you're doing.

[00:28:08] Amy Castro: It's part of what you're doing. And I think that's what a lot of people, especially, you know, I'm old, you're, you look young. Mm-hmm. So, you're certainly younger than me, is that, you know, people, especially true pet parents, the ones that really feel like I. Their, you know, their pet is a family member that is their baby.

[00:28:25] Amy Castro: Mm-hmm. Like you referred to dad, mom, they're looking for, people are looking for ways to integrate their pet into their life. You know? And especially now, you're, now you're integrating your work life, your personal life, and your pet all into one thing. And most of the time, juggling all of those things is not going to happen without some type of routine or some type of scheduling.

[00:28:43] Amy Castro: Mm-hmm. Or at least not effectively. Yeah, absolutely. So do, do you guys have a timeline that you kind of keep, I mean, I know you've got, you said you mentioned the bookends. Yeah. But do you, do you keep to like, okay, it's three o'clock, or is it more like, this is a good stopping point, or how do you manage that?

[00:28:57] Amy Castro: Yeah, I think with, 

[00:28:58] Jasmine Jonte: well with her, you know, Brad will get up at. Usually five 30, and then they'll get up and she'll go downstairs and she'll take a nap on her bed downstairs. And then I'll come down around six 30 and we'll go on a walk. So, 6 37, which being in Phoenix you have to do because you can't walk all like it's too hot throughout the day to walk.

[00:29:20] Jasmine Jonte: So, you really have to do it early in the morning, even late at night. It's like it hasn't burned off yet. So, we'll do that, and then we come in and then she'll get her breakfast. And then we kind of go through our morning routine and we'll usually talk to her a little bit and say Hi, it's such, give her belly rubs before we like go into our day.

[00:29:36] Jasmine Jonte: Right. And our days usually start around nine and then throughout the day she'll, when we get lunch, she'll sit with us. We'll say hi during lunch. You know, right now she's sleeping right behind me. So, she'll hang out when we're on meetings. And then in the evening we try and stop around 4 35. Mm-hmm. We really try and stop then.

[00:29:55] Jasmine Jonte: And five is like when she gets dinner. So, if I'm not done by five, I will have two little pit bull eyes looking at me like, okay mom, it's time. It's time. Uh, and then, and then she gets dinner, and then, uh, we will hang out with her. We'll watch tv. She'll sit on the couch; she'll watch TV with us. She'll go to the bathroom one time before bed and then she comes to bed.

[00:30:17] Jasmine Jonte: So those are our bookends. I mean, really, she keeps us honest about not working too much. A lot of the time. I don't think she has a sense for the weekend. Mm. Because like if I'm doing some work on the weekend, she kind of like looks at me like, what is going on? Like normally we would be going, you're not supposed to be in there on the weekend.

[00:30:34] Jasmine Jonte: We like to take her at least one or two places. We'll take her to the pet store; we'll take her to the park. We'll take Garic dining outside to a restaurant that has a dog friendly patio. Like we try and take her at least a few places on the weekend. Cuz sometimes we get to it during the week. Mm-hmm. But often we don't.

[00:30:48] Jasmine Jonte: And so, she's not going on adventures. Yeah, she's, she gets a little angry. She's like, what the heck? You know? Mm-hmm. Yeah. She's getting up and she's leaving the room now. Right behind me, she's like, not here. I'm not here for this snack talk, mom. Yeah. Really? 

[00:31:00] Amy Castro: Yeah. I mean, that's, that's it. That's a good point too, is that if you're, in that position in life where you are working from home, depending upon the work that you do, at least for me, if I'm, if I've got a speaking gig, more than likely it's going to be in person.

[00:31:12] Amy Castro: So that kind of forces me to, to leave. But you can spend a lot of time at home. And that's another, you know, that's another mistake I think people make, uh, when it, you know, whether it's working from home or not, but they get a new dog, especially with puppies, let's just say. And, oh, I work from home. You know, I, I stay at home, so my dog stays at home and they miss that prime.

[00:31:33] Amy Castro: Socialization opportunity. And then they wonder why my dog's growling at the UPS guy or growling at every guest that comes to the house or uncomfortable around strangers. Mm-hmm. You know, and that doesn't happen with all animals, but what do you think Juniper gets out of her 

[00:31:47] Jasmine Jonte: outings? She loves them. I mean, I've taken her everywhere since I got her.

[00:31:51] Jasmine Jonte: It began because I was working 10, 11-hour days teaching, and so I was gone a lot. Mm-hmm. So when I was around and when I was available, I was like, let's go do things right, because I wanted to, it was like guilt, mom, guilt, you know? Like I wanted to make up for the fact that I was gone by having really fun times with her when I was there, and it just continued.

[00:32:13] Jasmine Jonte: Mm-hmm. I mean, Juniper has been on more planes than I can count. She has traveled across the country. Oh wow. She was a nomad. With me for a while. She has lived in, uh, 5, 6, 7 different states. She's lived with all kinds of different people, like she has seen and done a lot of things. However, when I first adopted her, I don't think she had ever like been on a walk, just the way that she looked at a squirrel like it was, she had never, I'm pretty sure the first time she saw a squirrel with me was the first time she saw a squirrel period, and she was three, so, oh wow.

[00:32:46] Jasmine Jonte: I mean, I don't have any specifics of what happened, but just like her general reaction to the world when I first adopted her, made me think she lived in a backyard in a basement, like something. Something bad. So I, it was, yeah, it was tough in the beginning to like force myself to just keep doing it. But now, I mean, she can go.

[00:33:09] Jasmine Jonte: Anywhere. She's super well behaved. She is great with people, she's great with kids, other dogs, she just doesn't even care to like know. Like we were on our walk this morning and there was this German Shepherd and he was just going, just barking, pulling on the leash, trying to get at her. And it was like she didn't even look.

[00:33:29] Jasmine Jonte: She was just not even phased. She's like, I'm sniffing this grass over here and I'm going on a walk. I don't know what that grass, she didn't even look at him. It was, doesn't even phase her. And I think that's a lot the credit, a lot of that credit goes to just me introducing her to a lot 

[00:33:42] Amy Castro: of different things.

[00:33:43] Amy Castro: Yeah, that's, I think that's super important. Like Chihuahua, she loves going in the car. She's great in the car. And she's great with all kinds of people. I can pretty, I could pretty much take her anywhere my bulldog gets just, and, and it, it's sort of a vicious cycle. Like you said, you know, in the beginning it wasn't so much fun.

[00:34:00] Amy Castro: Mm-hmm. When you were first trying to get her out and about probably because she was overexcited. Yeah. So, you know, you've got the over excitement, you've got the, you know, training process maybe hasn't started yet. And so for a lot of people I think that becomes, well my dog acted the fool last time I brought him out, so I'm not going to bring 'em out anymore.

[00:34:19] Amy Castro: And in reality, what you need to do is you need to keep working on the training and keep working, bringing them out so that bringing them out isn't such a crazy, exciting thing. And unfortunately, I haven't done a good job with that, with my, with my bulldog and it, and it's funny cuz she's the. Uh, she is the mascot for the rescue, so I would like to bring her to a lot of, like, we've got t-shirts with her cartoon picture on them, and I'd like to bring her to stuff, but she just gets so wound up.

[00:34:45] Amy Castro: I mean, she just can't. You know, the panting and the just being so excited and she's, yeah, eight years old now, you know, she still hasn't slowed down, so I don't know if it's, what do you think? You think it's too late? Or should I start getting around 

[00:34:58] Jasmine Jonte: more? I think you should get her out more. I think, uh, short stints are helpful.

[00:35:02] Jasmine Jonte: So like, going somewhere short and then being done, you know, like taking it that route. 

[00:35:08] Amy Castro: Uh, as opposed to a four hour adoption event. Exactly. Also, let not 

[00:35:12] Jasmine Jonte: start with that. If we're at like a, an event for a long period of time, I will take a bed or a crate. I will take something so that she knows she has a place that she can go and be Brad.

[00:35:22] Jasmine Jonte: So speaker, author, all those things. So he had this huge event couple weeks ago and she went cuz, and they were full days. We went around eight, we stayed until about 12. And I made sure that she had a, a bed behind my table. I had a booth, like a promo booth so that she could be there and just like have some time to herself.

[00:35:43] Jasmine Jonte: So, I feel like that's also important is like if you're going to be somewhere for a long time, give them a space they can go. And also, like kind of intentionally setting up easy socialization experiences. You know, like maybe you're going to your friend's house. Mm-hmm. Who doesn't have any dogs? And they have a couple kids there.

[00:36:00] Jasmine Jonte: And so, you're really, you're just taking her to a friend's house and just like giving them time to, to be in a new space with low stakes, cuz it's not super public. Mm-hmm. There's not a hundred people. It's not for a very long time, but it starts to just work on 

[00:36:15] Amy Castro: the, the skill. Yeah, I think that's, that's good advice.

[00:36:18] Amy Castro: And I probably should have done that more with Gunny. Maybe we'll have to get her out. Out and about a little bit. A little bit more. Because yeah, like, like I said, you don't realize how much time you're spending at home and how many experiences your pet isn't having. And then even a trip to the vet turns into chaos too.

[00:36:33] Amy Castro: Mm-hmm. You know? And that you kind of have to do at least. Periodically or a run to the pet store or whatever it might be. What other advice would you have just from your experience having been doing this for a while? For other pet parents who are trying to kind of do the right thing for their job?

[00:36:48] Amy Castro: Mm-hmm. But also, for their pet. Mm-hmm. Talked about training, we talked about schedules. Mm-hmm. Getting them out. Anything else that you would add to that? 

[00:36:56] Jasmine Jonte: Um, yeah, I think it's important to talk to them, let them know what they're going on. You know, people have different opinions on whether dogs can understand what you're saying or not.

[00:37:05] Jasmine Jonte: But like words are energy and they do feel energy. Like I think we can all agree that if you're super stressed, your dog can feel your stress. If you are super happy, yeah, your dog can feel your happiness. Like I think we can all agree that they can mirror our energy and with work being at home, if there's a stressful situation or work or like a really exciting situation at work, now they're in your energy while that experience is happening.

[00:37:33] Jasmine Jonte: And so, I think as long as we can communicate to them, and I verbally talk to June all the time, and especially if I'm feeling frustrated or if I'm feeling upset or any kind of negative emotion because I don't want her to take it on as like she's doing something wrong, which she, because she's pretty very in tune to me.

[00:37:51] Jasmine Jonte: She has a tendency to do that, and she'll like look at me like, are we okay? Is everything okay? And I'll just be like, It's not you, it's nothing. Don't take this stuff on. This is mom's stuff, you know? So, I just think like, honestly, communicating with them and even, you know, my best friend Ellen, we run a, a podcast together actually called Dog Mom's Do Business, and her mom, her, her dog, Sadie, is a Husky.

[00:38:12] Jasmine Jonte: And I talked to about this with Ellen, or I don't even know how to talk to her about it, but she just heard me talking to Juniper all the time. And so, then she started talking to Sadie and it has made a bit of a difference. She said, just feeling like. Sadie kind of knows what's going on now. She just had a new baby, and so it's been a lot of transition, and so Ellen's just tried talking everything through so that Sadie doesn't act up as much, and she's been really, really sweet.

[00:38:37] Jasmine Jonte: Mm-hmm. Since the baby got home. So, I think it makes a difference. Do you talk to your pets? 

[00:38:42] Amy Castro: Well, I, yeah, I talk to myself too, so half the time. So yes, I definitely do talk to my pets. We actually did a, an episode of the podcast, it was probably one of our, one of our most popular episodes about communicating with your pets, Uh huh with an animal communicator.

[00:38:55] Amy Castro: And exactly what you said. I don't necessarily believe that they understand word for word, but I think they've got a bigger vocabulary than we give them credit for, number one. I a hundred percent agree with you that they do pick up on the energy. And so even, you know, we had talked in that episode about, you know, if you're getting ready to move to talk about the process and because I think a dog, even though they, they may not understand, okay, I know we've lived here for 10 years, but where we found this great house and another town and it's got seven acres and you can run around outside, they're going to be able to pick up on your enthusiasm and excitement for that.

[00:39:28] Amy Castro: And so, I do think they at least have a clue. I mean, why is it that we can't ever find our cats when we're getting ready to go to the vet? Cats like to disappear, and I don't know how they know, but somehow, they know that they're going to the vet. They always know. Yeah, they definitely know. And even when you're traveling, you know, as soon as she sees that suitcase, oh yeah.

[00:39:44] Amy Castro: She knows what it means. So, I think we need to give 'em a lot more credit than we do for having a clue about what's, when we go 

[00:39:50] Jasmine Jonte: away, we say, you know, Juniper, we're getting gone for like three sleeps. Even leading up, if we're leaving on a Friday, I'll start, talk to her on Monday, like, okay, the next weekend.

[00:39:59] Jasmine Jonte: We're going to go away. We're going to be gone for this long. And it has made a difference. We'll say, you know, her dog sitter will come over and we'll say, she's coming. Get excited. You're going to see Miss Alicia. So, it's made a difference since talking to her versus not talking to her. She doesn't seem to wig out as much when we leave 

[00:40:17] Amy Castro: now.

[00:40:18] Amy Castro: Yeah. Yeah. So, anything else? Anything else that you'd like to share? Any other tidbits, tips, helpful hints of, uh, working from home with your pet? 

[00:40:28] Jasmine Jonte: So, you know, it's just like love your pet. Give them the best you can. Let go of mistakes when they happen, keep talking to 'em. And how cool is it for them that they get the experience to be around their people more than most other pets out there?

[00:40:44] Jasmine Jonte: So, like already you're doing a great thing for them, even if it wasn't necessarily to be at home with them, that you made the decision to work from home. Mm-hmm. It's still great for them. I mean, I did though, like when I left teaching, I was like, I want to be a stay-at-home dog mom. Like that was my goal for why I wanted to start my business.

[00:41:03] Jasmine Jonte: So, thanks to Juniper for giving me the 

[00:41:06] Amy Castro: inspiration. There you go. People lament all the time about how short. Dogs' lives are, and cats. I know we've been talking mostly about dogs, but we were just talking about this yesterday about gunny. Although she's in great shape as a bulldog, bulldog life expectancy is about 10 years.

[00:41:23] Amy Castro: And so, at eight, you know, I'm hoping she lasts longer than 10 years, but it's like we don't have a whole lot of time with them. So, if we can make it work where we can integrate our work lives and our dog parent lives together, it's better for our relationship. It's, it's better for our, probably our personal health.

[00:41:42] Amy Castro: And certainly, better for our dogs who aren't going to be here forever with us. So, it's a, it's a prime opportunity, I think, if you can, if you can make it work. Now, I can't say I, I started my business because of staying at home with my dog, but it was staying home with my daughter. I was like, well, you know, why bother have kids if you're going to lock them up all day.

[00:41:59] Amy Castro: Yeah. If you're going to leave them in daycare all day. So, it's like, like why get a dog if it's going to be locked up for 12 hours a day? And that's, I think, something people need to think about when, especially when they're thinking about getting a pet. What, what is your lifestyle and how is that going to affect mm-hmm.

[00:42:14] Amy Castro: That animal and you mm-hmm. And your stress. Very good points. So, I do want to hear about your business though, because I mentioned at the beginning it's like, I probably need somebody like you as a speaker slash expert. So, tell me about your done for you course creation. Yeah, so we 

[00:42:29] Jasmine Jonte: build online programs, so I'm sure you've taken an online course before and similar to ghost writing books.

[00:42:35] Jasmine Jonte: We ghost write programs, so we work with experts, authors, speakers, consultants, professional service providers to package their expertise into an experience that allows a student to go through and receive a transformation without requiring the experts time, right? Because so many experts are traveling around the country speaking, doing one-on-one consulting gigs, right?

[00:42:59] Jasmine Jonte: They're trading time for money. And while that's not a bad thing and it, a lot of them find so much fulfillment and joy out of it and they don't want to stop doing it, there's other reasons to have an offer inside of your product suite that allows for you to earn a little bit of passive income. Right. And also reach new audiences.

[00:43:18] Jasmine Jonte: Right? Like a lot of the people who I work with have high ticket, right? And maybe they have free content, they have something low ticket. But it's like, what about the person whose kind of in the middle who can't maybe afford your high-ticket services, but they do want to experience the transformation that you offer in some way, shape, or form.

[00:43:35] Jasmine Jonte: So, what we do is we help those experts figure out what that offer is, how does it fit into their product suite? And then we build everything. I'm talking like video scripts, slide decks, workbooks, online portals, private podcast feeds, like the list goes on and on. But we just, we create those really brilliant world class online learning experiences.

[00:43:54] Amy Castro: Yes. That's great. I mean, I, I think that would be, you know, even though it's not relevant Yeah. To our Yeah, yeah. Pet mm-hmm. Discussion necessarily, but a lot of people that listen to this podcast, yeah. I know I've got a lot of speaker friends that listen, but then also pet professionals, there's opportunities whether if you're a, oh my gosh, pet trainer, you're a dog trainer, you know, rather than, there's only so many hours a day you can physically be in a class, in a puppy class or at, you know, if you go to people's homes, things like that.

[00:44:20] Amy Castro: And so, you can. Greatly increase your income. Yeah. If you can create a course that could be delivered, delivered online probably for a variety of mm-hmm. And human related subjects. So, we're going to talk more about 

[00:44:33] Jasmine Jonte: that. And even rescues, you know, like, I don't know if you guys have a volunteer organization, but I mean, I volunteered at one here in Phoenix and.

[00:44:41] Jasmine Jonte: They had a a one-day volunteer orientation day, and it was so not good. And I was just like, you got, and they have all this, all this demand. People want to do the rescue; they want to help. But like you have to go in person. Mm-hmm. To do this one-day training. I'm like, you could literally do an online program.

[00:44:57] Jasmine Jonte: It could be really, really good. You could assess them. So, it's not just come and listen, but you can actually assess to see if they understood the material. And then you don't need your staff to spend the day a month and then all this time organizing and planning around this day when they could just do an online training.

[00:45:13] Jasmine Jonte: Like there's so many different ways. Yeah, that's good point to take content and manipulate it, but it's just, it's not always so intuitive. Right. Because if you've been doing something the same way for so long, right. It's like, oh, that's a, never thought about it like 

[00:45:24] Amy Castro: that. So, yeah. Yeah. No, that's a good point.

[00:45:27] Amy Castro: Yeah. We do have, uh, our insurance company requires some existing mm-hmm. Online training, you know, it's like cat behavior, dog behavior. Like animal handling training, but that's, that is an, whether it's onboarding mm-hmm. For a company or onboarding for a rescue. I mean, we all know that the experience that people have coming on board, I mean, it's something that we try to stress, you know, making sure I, uh, that mm-hmm.

[00:45:54] Amy Castro: Volunteers feel welcome that they, you know, they have that human contact, you know, cuz it's, sometimes volunteering is a group effort, but for some of the stuff that we do, it's, it can be a little bit isolating. So, making people feel involved is, is an important part of that process. So having the stuff that they have to know in an online thing that they can do that at their pace and then, you know, rather than spending a whole mm-hmm.

[00:46:16] Amy Castro: Single day at a training. You might have other opportunities that are more social. Mm-hmm. Or just kind of getting to know each other, to kind of build, build some bonding that way and not have to focus on here's our insurance rules or whatever it might be, and mixing the two. So that's, that's a good point.

[00:46:31] Amy Castro: Well, I really appreciate, you know, it, it seems so simple, but yet I think so many people have been struggling with juggling, working from home and managing their pets. It's interesting that for some reason people can figure it out with, with human children. But not all of them have necessarily figured out the, the keys to success with their four-legged children.

[00:46:51] Amy Castro: So, um, I thank you so much, Jasmine, for being here today and, you know, sharing your experience with Juniper and, and, and now you, and you've got two people in the house working from home. Yeah. So that's, that's a whole other. Podcast episode for another, for another time. But, um, you know, it, it's great that you guys were able to work that out and have, uh, have found that that balance that works for you and for Yes.

[00:47:13] Jasmine Jonte: Well, thank you so much for having me. It's been lovely to, to connect and swap some pet stories. 

[00:47:19] Amy Castro: Yeah, definitely. And thank you all to everybody for listening to another episode of Starlight Pet Talk. And you know, if you've got friends and colleagues out there that are working from home or contemplating working from home, definitely make sure that they listen to this episode, but also to our other episodes of Starlight Pet Talks so that they can live their best possible lives with their pets.

[00:47:41] Amy Castro: So, like I say, every week, if you don't do anything else this week, give your pets a hug from us. Thank you. 

[00:47:49] Announcer: You've been listening to the Starlight Pet Talk podcast. We're glad you joined us to gain new insight on the many loving ways to adopt and care for your pets. Be sure to subscribe so you'll never miss an episode.

[00:48:00] Announcer: And if you want more information, go to starlight pet talk.com because your pet can't talk. Be sure to join us next time for Starlight Pet Talk.