Transcripts
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
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people and rescues making a
difference in the lives of animals.
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Today on the show, we're talking
with Nikki from Parish Pets.
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She started out as a hobbyist and
an animal lover, but her vision
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grew into something much bigger.
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She's proven that business can be a force
of animal welfare and community support.
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We're so excited to sit
down with you today.
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Nikki, welcome to the show.
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Nikki: Thank you so much for having me.
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Dixie: Yeah, I wanted to talk to
you because I got to meet you a
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couple of weeks ago and I got to
tour your store and you were telling
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me the story of how you got started
and then also how you give back.
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I wanted to talk more about that because
I thought it was very interesting.
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I love that you're in a business
for animals, and then you're
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also giving back to the community
and helping animals in need.
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Nikki: Awesome.
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Yeah.
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We loved having you at the store and
thank you guys so much for visiting.
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And I love to share our story
with anybody who wants to hear it.
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Dixie: Yeah.
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I know a little bit about it.
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So tell my audience how you got started
and what your store is like today.
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Nikki: So basically I used to
work in the medical field and I
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had to take some extended time
off of work because of a surgery.
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And I bought a sewing machine
with the thought of just.
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Filling some of my time and taught myself
how to sew dog collars because I wanted
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my dog at the time to have something fun
and interesting that nobody else had that
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was just, off of the shelf at any store.
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And basically.
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Friends and family started asking
me for some, and then I opened
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a Etsy shop and then I started
doing local markets around town.
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And after a couple of years of
that, I made the decision to take
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a leap of faith and do that as
my full-time job out of my house.
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And after a few years outta my house
it started taking over my home.
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And at that time I started making treats.
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I was in about 13 different retailers.
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Around Baton Rouge and Gonzales and
Prairieville and surrounding areas.
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And I just decided if we had a
storefront we could offer other things
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like treats and toys and but also
with the thought of they could be.
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Good things for animals.
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Healthy food, healthy
treat things like that.
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Dixie: I met you because you were able
to do the grant check presentation from
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the Mission Meow Grant that I received.
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Yes.
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You are a partner with Mission Meow.
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How did you come to partner with
them and how did you find them?
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Nikki: One of the things that I'm pretty
passionate about in the store besides
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just having good options for pets is
having local or handmade and other small
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businesses because that's how I started.
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I definitely wanna highlight.
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Them.
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And at the time I was carrying
a brand called for Mu Cat toys.
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And my customers loved her toys.
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They were always so cute.
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And cats went crazy for 'em.
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And she actually introduced
me to Mission Meow.
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And there's.
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Usually a lot more opportunities
to give back when it comes
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to dogs for the most part.
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And I wanted to make sure when I
started Parish pets, that's why I
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made sure to include the name pets
and not, dog or anything like that.
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'cause I wanted to include
cats and other animals.
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After she explained mission meow to
me I really loved what they were doing
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and how they were going about it.
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And reached out to them
about partnering with them.
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And that was probably, I think about I
feel like it's been at least three years
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that I've been a partner with them.
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Dixie: That's amazing, and I know it's
because of people like you that they
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can afford to give these grants out.
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Nikki: Yeah, I'm just, honestly thankful
that my customers continue to shop
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with me and I'm able to donate to them.
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I think their organization
is so important.
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What they're doing, they're
helping so many different rescues.
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Just their whole entire platform and
how they go about it is so amazing
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to me just because their reach is
so big and they can do so much.
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Dixie: What kind of pets
do you have at home?
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Nikki: I have two dogs.
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And, but we're excited because we are
talking about partnering with one of
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our local rescues and having some foster
cats available in the store as a little
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bit of a shop pet for us but also so
they can get a little more exposure.
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And hopefully, find a good home for them.
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Dixie: That's awesome.
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Now I know the place that I
visited, it was really spectacular.
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Like you have the most amazing yard.
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Thank you.
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You had some incredible ideas of
what you wanna do with that yard.
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So can you tell everybody a
little bit about your new place?
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And I thought the story on how you
got your place was interesting too,
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if you wouldn't mind sharing that.
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Nikki: Yeah.
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So I was in another building for
almost right at four years at,
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not far from our new building.
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It was basically not even
a mile down the road.
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But I really needed to expand.
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I wanted to be able to just offer
more to my customers and be a
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little more visible because I've.
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Wanna hold events, wanna
hold adoption events.
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And where I was, it just wasn't, didn't
have the visibility I wanted for that.
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And there was this one building
that was probably sitting empty
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for a good three to four years.
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And I really loved this building.
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I just loved, it was a mid-century
modern looking building.
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It's one of my favorite time
periods for stuff like that.
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And I just always really liked it.
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And I was actually supposed to go look
at it for a showing finally, the week
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I was supposed to go someone else put
a contract in on it and bought it.
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And I was super devastated.
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Could not get over it because the person
who bought it ended up not doing anything
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with the building and it sat empty
for another, almost a year and a half.
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And so that hurt my feelings way more.
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And.
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We kept looking.
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And I just happened to be at another
place one day looking with my real
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estate agent and I wasn't even inside.
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I was outside looking around and the
guy who was in the current building I
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was looking at, just randomly happened
to mention to my real estate agent
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that he had a friend that had a piece
of property that he was about to need
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to get rid of and put on the market.
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It was on Government Street
somewhere around the post office.
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And , this building is right next to
the post office on Government Street,
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and I had to go to work, so I left.
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And as soon as my real estate agent left,
he called me and was like I think it's
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the building you've been waiting on.
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And so he ended up
doing some research and.
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We figured out who owned it and
the rest is kind of history.
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We ended up with it.
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But it just almost feels like
we were meant to be there.
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It's crazy how it worked out.
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And we've been.
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Opened there since the end of
November last year . It has a yard
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that we fenced in to make secure
and we're super, super excited.
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We actually have our first pet centered.
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Vendor market this weekend on Sunday.
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So we partnered with a market
that was already established in a
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different city and we're bringing
them to Baton Rouge in our space.
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And we're gonna have like vendors but also
keeping it pet centric with the vendors.
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So we have some local treat makers,
dog food some boarding places coming
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out, some vet clinics some trainers.
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We're gonna have adoptable dogs out there
from apaws the rescue that we're working
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with to have the foster cats in-house.
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And, we're, we'd love to keep the
space open for events and just over
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the next year or so, wanna kind of
figure out what we want to do with it.
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We have, thoughts of possibly turning it
into a really nice neighborhood dog park.
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We have thoughts of just really not
doing anything with it and leaving
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it like it is so we can continue
to host pet friendly events.
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And, we have plans with some of the local
yoga and Pilates studios to eventually
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do yoga and Pilates with adoptable pets.
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So many.
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I feel like the possibilities are
just so endless in that space.
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And that's what we're super
excited about with being there.
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Dixie: Yeah, that's amazing.
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And congrats on having your first
event too, 'cause I know you were
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telling me a little bit about it.
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How many vendors are you
gonna have out there?
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Nikki: I think we have.
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Between 12 and 13.
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And then we have the adoption
agency on top of that.
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We're super excited to have that many
people out 'cause it's definitely a
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trial to see, how it all goes, how
everybody fits in the backyard and
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and it's gonna be a beautiful weekend.
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So also very thankful for that.
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Dixie: Yeah, I did hear it's
supposed to be really nice
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this weekend, so that's great.
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Another thing that you did in your
store too, you have a section where
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you had pet food for the community.
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Nikki: Yeah.
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Honestly, I took that idea from the
community fridges that we have in a lot
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of different places around Louisiana.
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We have a we have one in Baton Rouge
that's pretty close to our store.
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And I do, a few things with the place that
the community fridge is located at the
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Red Shoes and they're great organization.
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And I just wanted to take that same
model because they even told me they
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had some people asking for pet food,
sometimes looking for pet food.
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And I donated to it a few times.
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But it's hard.
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It's like I don't wanna bring a.
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Whole bag, a 30 pound bag of dog
food and only one person gets it.
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And unfortunately at our last
location, we just didn't have the
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space to do anything like that.
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So we just made sure when we moved,
we kept a little area and made a
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little shelf and we, put everything
in Ziploc bags, label it and people
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can bring unopened stuff to us
and we'll, put it on the pantry.
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We've even had some customers that
are in the store and they've bought
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a bag of dog food right off the shelf
and told us to put it, towards the
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pantry which was extremely touching.
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That people just really care in the
community about things like that.
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And we have, a little.
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Basket where we'll take gently
used toys, people have brought
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blankets, all kind of things.
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And it, it gets used a good
bit and everybody, everyone
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is super respectful of it.
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They take what they need,
leave enough for others.
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It's been, a really, I think it's just
really awesome to have it in the store.
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Dixie: Do you have a lot of
people coming in to get it then?
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Nikki: We do honestly, we
have a good bit of people.
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I've even had customers that come
in and regularly buy dog food from
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me and, there's a little bit of
a tight month and they need to
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grab a couple bags off the shelf.
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It's you just never know
when somebody might need it.
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The one thing I will say, we
usually have a lot more dog food
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available on there than cat food.
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So we're usually, a little more
short on the cat side, but we
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do have quite a few people.
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Who use it.
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And we put a sign at the Baton Rouge
community fridge letting people
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know that it's at our store in
case they're looking for pet food.
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Dixie: Yeah, I was just gonna
ask you that, how people were
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finding out that you had that.
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Nikki: Yeah, the the, we spoke, with
the red shoes and like they let us
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put a little sign 'cause they have.
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A shed built around their fridge.
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So we have a sign with our hours and,
where we're located about the pet pantry
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in their community fridge, and then
we, try to post it on social media and
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have it up there as much as we can.
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Dixie: Yeah, I think that's such
an important thing to have too,
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because a lot of the times when it
comes to people having to rehome
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their pets or keep their pets.
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It's a matter of being able to feed them.
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So having that resource for them
is so incredibly helpful because it
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does allow them to keep their pets.
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Nikki: Yeah, for sure.
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I mean it.
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And like I said like we
definitely have some people who,
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are regular customers of ours.
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I mean there are definitely people,
it comes down to sometimes it's
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just a few weeks that you know they
need help and yeah, I mean there
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are people that definitely have
had to rehome a pet or something
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to that, just because they can't.
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Feed 'em at that time.
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And that's terrible.
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People love their pets.
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They're a part of the family.
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I think it's definitely important
if we're able to help people in
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any kind of situation like that.
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Dixie: Had you always
helped pets prior to this?
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Nikki: I've always loved animals.
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We had animals growing up.
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We always had dogs and cats.
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My best friend growing up, her family
always had everything, all the dogs,
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all the cats, all the reptiles.
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And I actually, when I
was younger, wanted to.
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Be a vet tech and I wanted to be in
an animal related field because I
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wanted to do something helping animals.
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And I was also interested in the.
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Surgery or medical part of it or whatever.
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And I ended up taking a turn
and going into the surgery
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world with people instead.
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And that was great and it was
a very interesting career and
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I loved my job for a long time.
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But it's funny how when I had to step
back from that, I ended up, taking a turn
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back towards animals without even really
meaning to or trying, just by making
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my own dog a dog collar at my house.
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So it was crazy how that worked out.
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Dixie: Yeah.
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Yeah.
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It is.
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And I think that's what
I liked about your story.
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When you were telling me just
about how you started and then how
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you got the building, it was like
everything fell into place so that
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you could, in a way help animals.
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Nikki: Yeah.
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I love thinking about it that
way, I hope honestly, if that's
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the only way people think about
parish pets, I would love that.
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Obviously we want to be here, given.
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People, fun toys and, good
treats and those sort of
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things to give their animals.
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But I also want people to think about us
as a staple in the community of, giving
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back and helping and doing things for the
betterment of animals around our city.
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Dixie: Since you did start making dog
collars, do you still make your collars.
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Nikki: I do.
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So that's the one hill that I'll
die on in the store is I feel like
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since that's what started it all
like I still carry my collars now.
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They're the only place.
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In town that they are at.
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I don't have them in any
other stores or retailers or
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anything like that any longer.
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But basically I don't carry
many other collars in the store.
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I pretty much only carry collars
that like, I can't make myself like
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I don't do any kind of leather.
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Or anything like that.
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So I may have a few leather
options and stuff like that.
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But as far as everything else,
the majority of the collars in
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our store, probably a good 90%
of them are all made by me.
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Dixie: That's pretty cool.
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With the foster kittens that you
have coming in the store, when do
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you expect to get those kitties in?
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Nikki: Not sure about that.
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We literally just started
talking about that.
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So we're gonna get through this weekend.
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And then I also have a, another
busy weekend next weekend.
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Myself and one of my dogs are actually
on the Furball court which is an annual.
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Basically dog friendly ball that's held.
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It's a fundraising event for our like
big like Baton Rouge, like city shelter
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here, companion Animal Alliance.
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So myself and my dog Manny are
on the fur ball court this year
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and the ball is next Saturday.
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So we have a lot of fun.
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Planning to do right now.
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So I think once we get through these next
two weekends, we're gonna pick out a good
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spot for the cats and then hopefully get
them in the shop in the next few weeks.
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Dixie: That's awesome.
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What about for your little pet
show that you're doing too?
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Do you have any plans of doing
like more dog adoptions or
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more events using your yard?
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Nikki: We definitely do.
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We are talking with a couple
of people trying to get some
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rescues on a a schedule.
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00:20:18,766 --> 00:20:23,116
And also one of the things that I
used to do at my old location, we
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used to have a yappy hour monthly.
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And I'd really love to bring those back.
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We just basically had a big dog party
once a month and we had a different
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00:20:34,601 --> 00:20:41,061
theme every month and usually had an
activity for pet parents to do with their
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pets, a painting make an ornament around
Christmas time those sort of things.
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So hopefully I really wanna
work on bringing that back soon.
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Dixie: That's awesome.
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00:20:54,711 --> 00:20:55,431
That's awesome.
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00:20:55,431 --> 00:21:00,141
Thank you so much for coming on the show
to share all of this and I wish you the
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00:21:00,141 --> 00:21:04,611
best luck too with your new building
and like I said it, it is awesome.
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The yard was so spectacular and
I'm so glad that you can use
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it to help animals in need too.
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Nikki: Thank you so much and
thank you guys for having me.
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It really means a lot.
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Dixie: Yeah, I'm just trying to spread
the word and see if we can inspire other
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businesses to do something similar too.
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'cause I do think it's important.
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A lot of the times people go into business
and they just think about that money
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00:21:25,625 --> 00:21:30,995
aspect of it and they don't involve the
other side of it, which is giving back.
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And I love that you do that.
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Nikki: Yeah.
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I tell people, I'm like, if you're
trying to start up a small business,
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00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:44,050
to make money, you're in a wrong reason
I feel that way about a lot of things,
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but yeah, it's such an easy platform
to be out in the community and be seen
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00:21:50,310 --> 00:21:54,330
it's really should be used for good.
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Dixie: Absolutely.
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That's it for today's
episode of Animal Posse.
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00:21:58,811 --> 00:22:01,751
If you love what we're doing,
please consider becoming a member.
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00:22:01,991 --> 00:22:06,101
Your support directly helps us continue
highlighting the people and stories
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00:22:06,101 --> 00:22:07,721
that save lives across the country.
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00:22:08,141 --> 00:22:11,441
Just a quick reminder, the views
and opinions expressed by our
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00:22:11,441 --> 00:22:15,461
guests are theirs alone and are
provided for entertainment purposes.
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00:22:15,671 --> 00:22:16,961
They don't necessarily.
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00:22:17,001 --> 00:22:21,621
reflect the official position of the show,
and this information should never replace
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00:22:21,621 --> 00:22:23,961
the advice of your own veterinarian.
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00:22:24,134 --> 00:22:26,384
Thanks for listening, and
we'll see you next time.
