Corgi Life Expectancy on the Road: 33 Tornado Seasons With a Senior Co-Pilot

Chris NobleSo, John, thank you very much for joining us.

JohnOf course, it's a pleasure to be here.

Chris NobleTell us who you are and what you do.

JohnSo, I own a company called Storm Photo Tours, and what we do is weather photography tours, workshops, we chase tornadoes, we do lightning photography, we get out there and see supercells, basically any just cool, natural phenomenon that happens, and we try to pair that with... Know epic landscapes and you know not just not the traditional storm chasing where you know you see guys just driving around in their cars next to stuff with the windshield wipers going and they never stop to get out of the car you know we try to you know create a whole scene and a mood and be able to get out and experience it see it and you know a lot of times hopefully see it someplace other than just over a wide open field in the middle of nowhere

Cameron MainAnd when you say we, it's not just you.

JohnNo, I have my trusty Chase partner, Aspen, here who goes everywhere with me. She's been traveling and going on the road with me since she was about, I don't know, I think I first started taking her out on these adventures when she was about four months old. So she had a 13th birthday back in October and is still going strong. So this was her... This was her 13th year out there chasing storms and running around on the road with me and having a good time.

Cameron MainUnbelievable. And she loves it.

JohnShe does. It's very stimulating for her because she gets to go out and see someplace new. A lot of times you're in two or three different states in a day. So new smells, new adventures, getting a chance to just be out there in the outdoors. She just loves being outside. So it's a really good fit.

Cameron MainDoes the sound of lightning and stuff sort of freak her out? Because a lot of dogs, well, a lot of dogs everywhere seem to be very scared when they hear fireworks or thunder. And that seems to be something that a lot of people... Are really worried about, especially when it comes to like, you know, like 4th of July or whatever, how do you, how did you condition?

JohnI've had that question a lot of times before she, um, you know, we did it so much starting at a young age that it was just something that she was accustomed to and it doesn't even phase her. She will not even. Bat an eyelid at thunder, lightning, rain, anything like that. The one thing that she doesn't care for is hail. So we just try to stay out of it most of the time and keep anything that's real loud like that. She doesn't love fireworks. She's on board with that. She's like, nah, I could do without the fireworks. But most of the storm-related stuff, wind, it's just another day at the office for her.

Chris NobleAnd we were just talking about how completely and utterly healthy she looks and how active she is. This must have been an amazing lifestyle for her.

JohnYeah, no, it's worked out really well. And I think the extra stimulation and getting a chance to get a lot of exercise. You know, when you're storm chasing, there's a lot of downtime. Most of the storms happen in the afternoon, the evening, later portion of the day. So a typical day when we're on the road, we get up in the morning, get her a nice breakfast, go out for a walk. And a lot of times it's always in a new place. So there's something different to smell, something different to see, new grass to roll in. And so it keeps her mentally stimulated. And I think we've been really fortunate that that's kept her young and healthy for a lot of years.

Chris NobleThat mental stimulation for dogs is so important. What else do you do when you're out on the road to keep her happy?

JohnWell, she likes to interact when we're on the road and we're traveling. So it's kind of goofy, but one of the things that we started doing when she was a puppy is she likes to get up on the center console for a little while. We'll put on some music and she does her version of singing. So we'll get out there and we'll belt out some, you know, some classic hairband stuff. We'll get some Axl Rose, Guns N' Roses, or some Metallica. And she's more than happy to join in for a few songs. We do a lot of that. Anytime I can, if we're somewhere where I can roll down the window and let her stick her head outside and get some fresh air, there's always something going on. We also interact with so many different people. When you're out there, you meet people from all different walks of life. She's not a big fan of playing with other dogs, but she loves to meet people, loves to meet kids. Every time she gets to meet somebody new, it's another... Another adventure, another thing to keep her perked up and excited about being on the road and the next adventure.

Cameron MainIt's not just her that's happy. The clients also love having her there, right?

JohnThey do. In fact, a lot of our clients, it is now a requirement that Aspen comes along for the journey. When we first started the business, I put it on the website that... You know just as a warning to people if they didn't like dogs or were allergic or something that hey um you know we have we have this corgi aspen who is going to be coming along on the adventure so you're gonna have to be okay with that if you want to do business with us and uh you know first people were kind of like oh yeah you know it's a corgi it's dog and then they they meet her And fall in love with her. And they enjoy the different element that she brings. And she always is really good about entertaining guests on the road. A lot of times we have these long drives where we're going hundreds of miles in a day to get to our chase target. And some of that time on the road, you're driving in the middle of nowhere. It can be kind of boring. She always loves to entertain people. Get up, jump in the back of the van, and she always finds the sucker. There's a sucker on every tour. Every tour there's the one person who will give her whatever she wants. We had a funny group with us last year. One of our bigger tours, I think we had nine guests. And typically anything that's that large, I lead with my business partner, but he had some kind of personal engagement, couldn't do it. So it was just me and this group of nine people. So I was focused on the road and the business of storm chasing. And I had Aspen set up in the passenger seat with her bed in the front of the van. And She was riding along, happy as can be for a little while, and then decided she was going to go investigate what everybody was doing in the back. So she jumps back there, and one of the girls in the front seat says, Do you have any treats for Aspen? I said, sure. You know, we're on the road for two months at a time. I've always got treats. So I had this big bag, you know, gigantic bag of treats. And I pass it back. And this bag of treats was supposed to last, you know, a month and a half while we're on the road, right? And about, I don't know, an hour later... I get the empty bag passed forward. I was like, how many treats did you get? She kept doing it because she does a little high five where she'll put the paw up and it's really, really cute and it's really hard to say no to. So she'll get going with this paw up and down and nobody can say no to her. And this girl just kept giving her treat after treat after treat until the whole bag was gone.

Cameron MainShe kept it quiet.

JohnOh, yeah. She's never going to rat anybody out.

Cameron MainUnbelievable.

JohnOnce she finds out that you're going to feed her or give her what she wants. And then she'll keep coming. Every day she went back to the same person and go sit by her.

Chris NobleThat's an interesting topic that kind of brings up the feeding aspect on the road because you're away for two months at a time. I know a lot of people find it really stressful to go away with their dog for a weekend when it comes to bringing the food and all the accessories and the toys. How do you deal with her nutrition when you're on the road?

JohnSo her breakfast is always about 10 times more complicated than mine. You know, I'll get up and I'll have a hotel breakfast, whatever they happen to be serving, and I'm good. For her, she's got her same breakfast that she eats every day, which she's got a mixture of, you know, she's got a raw kibble, and then she's got a topper that goes on it, and then we do the... We do the little turkey bacon for dogs. And then she loves vegetables. She's a fanatic for sugar snap peas. So I've got it down to a science now where I just have little containers with everything that goes together. And then I have a cooler full of ice that just has her vegetables and her turkey bacon. And so you get up in the morning, pull out the dish, and it's just one, two, three, four. Break up some vegetables, put it on the top, and then pour a little chicken broth over the top. And she's happy as can be.

Chris NobleAwesome. You've got it down to an art.

JohnOh, yeah. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And it's funny because people always laugh at us. They're like, what did you have for breakfast? I was like, I had a banana. Can you just make Aspen like this five-course meal?

Chris NobleSo you're a professional dog traveler. What other tips do you have?

JohnBe organized. If you're going to travel with a dog, you need to, one, be prepared for absolutely everything. So that means extra bags, extra blankets, extra anything that you would possibly need for a dog. The biggest one that I learned the hard way. Lots and lots of towels and beach towels because I you know with aspen she loves to swim and loves to be in the water and I really don't like to take to tell her no because you know if you're in the car for hours and hours and hours also need lots of exercise to maintain that balance and to stay to stay healthy so I really have tried not to tell her no when we go by a lake, a river, a stream, or we're just hanging out somewhere in a park waiting for storms to go. If she wants to go swim, I let her swim. But anytime you let a dog go swimming when you're on the road... You're asking for a wet, muddy disaster if you don't have the right stuff to clean up after. So we've really had to develop a system where I can bring everything that I need to dry her off, clean her, so she doesn't get hot spots or anything like that while we're on the road.

Cameron MainShe's got more luggage than you.

JohnOh, yeah. Oh, yeah. There's always more dog stuff in the car. I travel with a camera bag. And one suitcase with my clothes and then when my stuff gets dirty just stop at a hotel do laundry and we're good and then the whole rest of the car is all of her stuff she's got and on any given day two different beds um is a soft sided crate that she likes to travel in um where we just leave one side open and she'll lay in there on uh typically one of those little cooling mats or a cooling blanket and then uh you know she's got her toys she's got her treats um aspen's a big frisbee fiend uh so you can't go anywhere without her frizz if you go anywhere without frizz She's not coming.

Chris NobleIs that also on the website?

JohnSo, yeah. So, you know, it's always funny when we have a film crew out or a tour group. You know, a lot of times the downtime is just everyone out there in the park throwing the Frisbee for Aspen. She'll just get people to play ball with her, get people to play frisbee. And then she's got this little water, a floating sea turtle, little water toy that she likes. So anytime we're near a lake or a river or something, she'll make somebody throw the sea turtle out and chase the sea turtle and bring it back. And she could do that all day long until your arm falls off.

Chris NobleSo your background is in meteorology, and I guess you can kind of start to understand and see when a storm is coming. Can Aspen do the same?

JohnYou know, she kind of is just along for the ride. She knows when it's go time. She kind of knows when it's go time, when, you know, typically we'll spend most of the early afternoon playing and on those kinds of adventures. But then... Once the clouds start to billow up and we get in the camera gear comes out, then she knows it's like kind of game time. So she'll settle in. She'll sit. And then she's kind of grown to just appreciate the show. Like she loves to actually sit on my lap. And look out the window, especially as we're waiting for a storm to approach our position. Loves to just sit and watch and take it in. I think you get a lot of different scents. Winds from the storm kick up all kinds of different things. And they tend to be very interesting scents for dogs. So she kind of has fun with that.

Chris NobleSo my assumption is that these scenes can be quite dangerous have you ever been in danger when you've been out

JohnIf you're not in danger at some point on a storm chase you're not doing it right okay but you just have to yeah you have to learn enough about what you're doing to just mitigate that risk and to um you know there's always a calculated risk when you're around storms you know you never know exactly where lightning is going to strike um but You know, a lot of times people assume with storms that tornadoes would be the most dangerous thing. A lot of times that actually tends to be the easiest because they're relatively small. Most of the time you can see them, you know where it is, you know where you need to position relative to the tornado. It's the more random stuff like lightning and then the things that you wouldn't think of. Rain is probably one of the most dangerous things you encounter because it can flood low areas and roads and washes. Hydroplaning is one of the biggest risks that we encounter out there. Also, just random debris that ends up in the road from winds, power lines, trees. Uh, you know, different things that, uh, that, that you can encounter, uh, you know, hail's another one, but that's another one that's pretty easy to avoid if you, if you have experience around storms and you know which part of the storm to stay out of. So we usually try to avoid most of that stuff, but, uh, yeah, it's, it, it, it is dangerous, but it's dangerous in a controlled way. Uh, this year was my 33rd season and I'm still doing it. So, um, People say it's dangerous if you don't know what you're doing and there's always some element of risk that you can't control. But if you have escape routes, if you have a plan, if you're doing your navigation correctly, you always know what road options you have when, you can really keep that in its box and keep it under control and focus more on just enjoying the storm and being out there and getting to just see this spectacular thing that's unfolding in front of you.

Chris NobleAmazing. So it sounds like you don't feel like it's too dangerous in the moment. I was going to ask you, dogs are super in tune with their human's emotions. Does Aspen act differently when she knows it's dangerous or when she knows maybe it's getting tense?

JohnSometimes, yeah. And a lot of times I use that as a gauge of... When I'm like, I like to, I have a habit of taking things a little bit to the edge in order to get a shot or to capture something that I've, I've really an angle, a sequence of something that I've really wanted to do. And so sometimes I will push those boundaries a little bit and she's really good about being kind of my, my warning for when to pull back on that. Uh and I I know when she if she starts to get nervous or starts to get on edge that hey I maybe I need to dial dial it back a little bit uh so so that that's a another reason it's just great to have her her on the road because if I get a little too in the moment you know she'll reel me back in and be like okay tap the brakes a little bit yeah yeah yeah yeah

Chris NobleSo you said you've been doing this for 33 years and you've been taking Aspen for the past 13.

JohnYep.

Chris NobleWhat changed when you started bringing Aspen on the road versus not having a dog with you?

JohnIt's very different. You know, when you're out there by yourself, it's just you. The only thing you have to worry about is... Eating a meal now and again uh making sure that your vehicle is maintained and not getting yourself killed it's pretty straightforward you kind of tend to you you know you'll car camp more often you'll you're more apt to take the dive motel and and whatnot and with with her it shifts my whole priority from, you know, the, the, yes, it's important to get out and see the storm and to, and to, you know, do our business. But my, my number one priority becomes looking after her and safeguarding her, her health, her happiness, her wellbeing. So I, I think doing it with her has led to much more healthy choices on my part. Um, When you're out there with a dog, you're very cognizant of when mealtime is. And you're not going to skip meals. Every time I end up giving her water, I remind myself, hey, I got to do the same thing. It is really easy when you're out there chasing, you're doing storms and photography to just focus 100% on that and to forget the essential things in life like exercise and sleep. And she'll always keep you grounded in that department because, you know, she wants to sleep on her regular schedule. She wants to go for her walks. She wants to play. And so it's been really great to keep me in line and make sure that I'm doing all those things that I need to be doing for my own health. That it's real easy when you don't have a dog to just be like, ah, it's fine. I'll go for a walk later. I'll, you know, I can eat later. I don't need to eat now. It's, you know, it's easier to brush that stuff off. But, you know, when you have her... Obviously, I'm not going to deprive her of any of those essential things in life that she needs to be happy and healthy because this dog's my entire world. You know what I mean? I would not want this dog to be unhappy or unhealthy for even a moment. So it's very reciprocal and it creates this feedback loop. So what else has she taught you she's really just taught me to have fun and to not take myself so seriously all the time because you know anytime you're doing something that that you're passionate about it's really easy to get wrapped up and and and take it too seriously, be hard on yourself if you fail. I've really learned to just brush that stuff off because with her, we end up doing everything in the moment and enjoying the experience itself. You know, I know you guys have experienced this too with our phones and all of our technology It's really easy to get wrapped up in that technology and and be taking pictures and video and doing all the stuff but not creating memories and not living in the moment and she kind of forces you to to actually live in the moment and have the experience versus just Recording the experience and going back and watching it later

Chris NobleYou wouldn't believe the amount of people who have the same answer when we ask that question. It's the thing that shocked me most. Excuse me. A lot of people say that. My dog teaches me to live in the moment, which is crazy.

JohnYeah, it's really about... Creating memories and and and just having these experiences because you know part of it is the one thing that's always in the back of my mind and it probably shouldn't be is that their their lives are so much shorter than ours so I feel like you know I I don't ever want to waste a day I want to make sure that we get the most out of every day. If there's an opportunity to have an experience or do a little side trip when we're on the road, maybe see a national park or just get out to experience a place that we've never been to before. I'm so much more likely to do that when I'm with her versus when I'm with. When I'm just by myself. When you travel by yourself, you're thinking about all the human stuff. You're like, oh, if I go to do that, it costs money. I'm going to have to spend $20 to go to that national park or I'm going to have to go to that restaurant and, oh, I'm going to have to order a drink. I'm going to have to do this and that. And you think of things in human terms. But when you have the dog, you're thinking more of, hey, this would make her really happy to do this and go on that experience. And I know if I make her happy, I'm going to be happy because I'm going to get to see her smile and having a good time. So it's much easier to just do those things and to say yes and to just live versus... Going through all the human societal structures where I need to work. I need to work this many hours. I need to do this. I need to clean the house. And they really teach you that as long as all that stuff gets done, there's time to do all the other things too and to have fun and to do those things that you otherwise wouldn't really get a chance to do, especially when you're at home. At home, you get in your own little bubble. And it's easy to just stay in that bubble. And it starts to feel safe. You don't want to break out. Because, you know, when you're traveling and you're seeing things that are new and different, there's an element where you have to pop out of your comfort zone for a minute. And a lot of times people have a hard time doing that. But she has no problem doing that. Her comfort zone is anything that looks fun.

Cameron MainAnything where you're comfortable.

JohnYeah, yeah, absolutely.

Cameron MainAnd I think you're definitely not alone in that. And I think what reveals it the most is on the website you put, hey, this might be a warning, but we have a dog. And that actually turns into a selling point. And you were even saying those guys that you took out, I think from the Sphere in Las Vegas, they loved it.

JohnThey love her. Absolutely.

Cameron MainAnd that's as professional as it gets, right?

JohnIt's so nice to be able to take her with me and to actually share her with that element of my business because she actually becomes part of the business itself. And so we're not just selling tours or we're not just taking people out to see a tornado. We're giving them an experience. Anytime you bring a dog into the mix, it feels more like a family trip than it does a tour. Sometimes if you go on those things, they just feel real structured. It breaks down some of those initial barriers that people have, especially if people in the group don't know each other. It's a common thing for everybody to rally around the dog. Oh, Aspen's being cute and this. And then it spurs conversation and people who have never met before start to talk to each other and they start to interact. And now they have something in common because they've all played with Aspen. They've all hung out with Aspen for a couple of days and gives people something to talk about. So it really gives everything a more relaxed feel to it. Dogs definitely bring people together. It's such an amazing sort of talent that they all seem to have. It's a calming factor too. If you think about it, if you've never gone out to chase a storm before and you've never been in close proximity to a tornado, people can be really nervous and on edge the first time. Because obviously we've done it a bunch of times. It's not a big deal to us. But if you've never seen a tornado before and now all of a sudden you're pulling up in a vehicle right next to one in a field, that can be kind of terrifying. So it's a very... Calming factor to have her and a lot of times people look at her and say well She's not upset. She's not anxious. She's not nervous. And then they kind of take a deep breath and relax. So it's kind of a grounding presence.

Chris NobleI bet. You talked about comfort zone, and I can't imagine anything maybe less comfortable to somebody who's never done it than driving towards the tornado instead of away from it.

JohnYeah. Well, it's that natural fight or flight instinct. And you have to kind of... If you've never done it before, it's a fight because your brain has this risk management thing going on that's trying to tell you, hey, danger, I need to get away from it. You're doing the exact opposite of what your mind thinks that you should be doing in that moment.

Cameron MainSo it's a curiosity versus the safety instinct, right?

JohnYou know, on the one hand, you're seeing this just spectacle of this unbelievable display of the power of nature that's happening in front of you. So there is that draw. It has a magnetic attraction to it. You see these big structured supercells with these amazing clouds, especially if you get one at sunset with the dramatic light. You have this thing just spinning towards you. And a lot of people have never actually seen that before, other than maybe in a movie or in a picture. But it's a whole different thing to go out there and just experience it in real life. So it has that draw, but at the same time, you've got this little chirp on your shoulder going, okay, this is a little uncomfortable. I shouldn't be here. We need to leave. So there's definitely a balance there.

Cameron MainWe might have heard a little rumor of a story which ended up with Aspen's playtime turning into the fire brigade being called with hazmat suits and you having spent at least $350.

JohnI cannot confirm or deny, but actually, if you really want to hear this story, you know, anytime you travel with a dog, you're going to run into some little bumps in the road every once in a while. Some of them are bigger than others. This particular bump was rather large. Every year I take a trip to the Pacific Northwest with Ginger in the winter. And usually Aspen and I spend a couple days adventuring on the roads before we link up with Ginger and Bacon. And so we were out. We had just done a beautiful day in Bryce Canyon. We got to play in the snow. It was wonderful. Then the next day we were in Grand Teton National Park. We had worked our way up through western Montana into Idaho, and we were a little bit early for where we were going to meet Ginger in Spokane, Washington the next day. So we had been in the car for a little while. It was a long day of driving. Montana is a bigger state than it feels like. It's one of those states where you get going, driving and driving and driving. So she was ready to get out of the car. So we get down to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. And it's December. It's chilly, but it wasn't cold enough to snow. So it had been raining there for a little while. So it was kind of dark and wet. But the rain stopped. And they had all the holiday lights. And it looked beautiful out there by the lake. And she's got a favorite park that she likes to go explore. And Aspen was just raring to go play. So I was like, let's do it. Let's go play. And I just thought you know what I'm gonna I'm gonna let her off leash let's just get her

Cameron MainJust enjoy life

JohnRoam around

Cameron MainYeah

JohnRight it's beautiful nice green grass it's a little wet and I I figured it's okay I'll dry her off she's done right so I just let her rip she goes out there plays with her frisbee for a little while and then just starts rolling in the grass she's having good old time just rolling and there was a little ice skating rink out there so I'm watching some of the skaters go around they had some holiday music playing it was very festive it was nice and then I turned back around and I noticed aspen's still rolling in the grass I was like that's a lot of rolling I wonder what she's doing I was like I'm gonna go wander back over there and just check on her see what she's up to so I wander over to where aspen is she's still rolling I get over there and I noticed that suddenly the white fur that she had all over her face was now brown. It's a lot of brown. First I thought maybe, okay, probably a little bit muddy out there. And then I realized it wasn't mud. Aspen had found just a pile of poo that she decided would make a nice perfume for the evening. So she's rolling around in it and just, it was everywhere. It was caked to her face. She could barely even open her eyes. She had this beautiful holiday harness that was just... Cover I mean absolutely covered every inch of it she had this tag that had her little name on it and it was covered you couldn't even see her name anymore and so I thought oh my god what am I gonna do it's 9 30 at night I'm in Coeur d'Alene Idaho um you know all stores are closed so I can't go anywhere to to buy anything to to clean her up I'm like the best I can do is maybe I can hope to find a public bathroom because if it were summertime I could just take her down to the lake wash her in the lake but that lake's 32 degrees I was like I can't take her down to the lake she's gonna get hypothermia so what am I gonna do so I'm walking around this park for 20 minutes and and I've got her on the leash I'm like come on come on come on I'm like we got to figure something out and fortunately a police officer was out there just walking a local beat and kind of noticed our struggles and walks over and gives me a little smirk. He's like... You've got yourself quite into a pickle, haven't you? And I was like, yeah, kind of. He's like, well, I don't really have anything with me that can help you. But he's like, you know what? Let me go ahead and call Coeur d'Alene Fire, and we'll see if maybe they've got some ideas or do something to help out. Next thing I know. Turn around, you've got the full-on ladder truck with the lights on pulling up in the parking lot next to the park. And I'm just doing one of these going, oh my gosh, sometimes dog ownership. And so these guys get out and they've got these big old five-gallon buckets with the soap and the industrial degreaser that they use for, you know, chemical spills. You know, these guys are all in like hazmat gear with the gloves and everything. So they managed to get her down to a public bathroom that was all concrete and they unlocked this public bathroom and you go in there and it looked like a scene from a movie. You've got all these firefighters over Aspen with this degreaser stuff and sponges and they're trying to get it off her and it's just caked. I mean, this is the most stubborn goo I've ever seen in my entire life and it's just in her fur every nook and cranny and the And it took two hours with these guys using industrial degreaser to just get her to the point where I could wrap her up in a towel. Get her back into the car and we had planned to camp that night we had a beautiful camp spot picked out for us I was actually excited about it looked like a nice campground I thought this is going to be great now all of a sudden campground's out right but it's the holiday season's last minute we're trying to figure out where the heck we're gonna go I find a hotel there was one hotel room left in like the entire city was 350 dollars and I was like oh Okay, but what am I going to do, right? I need to give her a proper bath and get her clean to the point where we can actually travel again. I can't show up at the airport to pick up ginger and bacon with a dog that's just covered in crusted poo from the night before. So we get this hotel, and you can't check in. You know, it's frowned upon when you check into a hotel with a dog covered in... Poo, even if they've been decreased a little bit. So I end up having to sneak her up through the fire entrance in the back, so we're sneaking in through the back door. The fire brigade helping you? Yeah! And so the first thing I do is I plop her down in the bathtub and finally get her cleaned up, so another half hour in the hotel, in the shower, in the bathtub, getting her cleaned up, and of course we soiled a few hotel towels that... We won't tell anybody about. But eventually, it came to a happy ending. We were able to get her cleaned up. And then fortunately, there was a little Mexican restaurant across the street that was still serving margaritas at like 1.30 in the morning. And boy, did I need one after that.

Cameron MainYou had four of them.

JohnClose.

Cameron MainOh, man. It's not always straightforward traveling with dogs.

JohnNo, no. You kind of have to be prepared for just about anything. But fortunately, that was the worst usually.

Cameron MainThat was one of the more sort of challenging ones. But I also heard a little birdie told me that you might have been upstate in Arizona. Yeah.

JohnOne thing about storm chasing with a dog is you never know exactly what you're going to run into. Sometimes it's the weather and sometimes it's just the wacky people that you run into when you're out there. So this was a night where we thought, we're not going to run into anybody. It's like 2.30 in the morning. We were out northwest of Wickenburg in this little town called Congress. And it's like next to this old gold mining ghost town. So you get these folks that have just lived there forever and ever, generations in the same spot. And they're not used to having visitors, especially unannounced visitors, right? At 2 o'clock in the morning. At 2 o'clock in the morning, right? So I didn't see that there were houses out there. It's dark. We found a little patch of desert. And I set up my tripod. There was this beautiful storm coming across the mountain. And it's dropping these massive lightning bolts. And I'm getting some great shots. And then all of a sudden I hear a gunshot. Bang! And I was like, what the heck is that? You know, and it's not entirely unusual for people to be shooting in the desert.

Cameron MainThis wasn't thunder.

JohnAt 2.30 in the morning, this was not thunder, and this was not just random drunk guys shooting in the desert. This, I turn and I look, and walking down the road towards me in the darkness... There's this old woman who must have been 86 to 90 years old. She's in one of the old-fashioned nightgowns with the cap and the thing coming over the top. And she's holding a shotgun. And she's walking towards me going, you dang man, people from the government, y'all keep coming out here trying to collect my taxes. I done told you I ain't never going to pay. Get out of here. Boom, fires another shot from the shotgun in the air. And I was like, ma'am, I'm sorry. We made a wrong turn. We were just leaving. Thank you. You have a great night. We're going to be on our way.

Cameron MainAspen handed her notes in right after that.

JohnYeah, I think Aspen was like, I've had enough storm chasing. We can go for tonight. We can go home now. Some of these people are crazy.

Cameron MainYou've not heard that one before?

Chris NobleI've not heard that one. I don't have anything to follow that up with.

JohnIt's hard to follow up stuff like that.

Chris NobleI wish you had that on camera, though.

JohnOh, my gosh. I know that would have been one where if we were rolling a YouTube video or something, that would have been absolute YouTube gold. We could have retired off of that video.

Chris NobleThat's your viral one.

JohnPhew.

Cameron MainThat's brilliant. Is there anything else that's come close to that?

JohnWell, yeah, you know...

Cameron MainI feel like we're scratching the surface here.

JohnI mean, we're based in the desert, so one of the things we always tell our workshop guests is you always have to be alert to snakes, right? Especially at night when you can't see when you're walking around and... So we were out shooting with a group actually just right right up the road here out towards towards Four Peaks. There's a little ATV recreation area with a bunch of dirt roads out there. And it was another night that we were shooting lightning. And I had a I had a younger kid with me who who didn't have quite as much experience. I was just letting him. Tag along with us because he had never really shot storms before and he had contacted me on instagram and was like hey would you mind if I just hung out with you and came out with your your group sure no problem let's go so we're out there uh just east of uh of rio verde and we're watching this beautiful storm come over the mountain from Scottsdale. And we've got stars behind it, and it was one of those where when the lightning would strike, the entire storm would light up, and you could see the desert out in front of it. So we had a couple cameras going, and we're just enjoying this storm. Every time a lightning bolt would hit, we're like, yes! We're hooping and hollering, having a good time. And I just happened to look down... Underneath this kid's tripod. I've got Aspen over here sitting next to my tripod, just probably three or four feet away from where I look down. And a big diamondback rattlesnake had come and just curled itself up right square underneath his tripod. And the thing with rattlesnakes is you don't want to make deliberate movements and scare them because that's when they, you know, they're not aggressive by nature. They're just out there to hunt and do their own thing. But you also don't want to step on one. You don't want to startle one because that's when really bad things can happen, right? I look down, I see this thing and he hadn't seen it yet. His foot is about two inches away from the head of this rattlesnake. And so I'm thinking, how do I I'm like, I need to just calmly communicate to him that he has a huge snake right under his tripod. So I said to him, I said, don't panic, but I need you to look down and then slowly take a step back. He looks down. And jumps and so he freaks out the snake freaks out and takes off and so the snake comes out goes between us and then and now is sitting right underneath my car door Now I can't get into my car because I've got a giant rattlesnake underneath the driver's seat door over there. And now the snake's on edge and its tail's going and it's irritated. So now I've got an angry snake underneath my car door. So we end up having to take our gear, go around to the back of the car. I had to crawl through from the trunk to the front seat so I could move the car away from the snake. But fortunately, nobody got bit. Nobody got hurt. But it was another one of those things where it's just like the unexpected adventures of storm chasing with the dog. And fortunately, the snake didn't seem to want to go in Aspen's direction. And Aspen wasn't really interested in tangling with the snake. So all is well that ends well.

Cameron MainDoes it happen often with snakes?

JohnThis year it has. It has? Yeah, this year we had a workshop group down in Tucson. And, you know, you'd think you're taking people out storm chasing. There's storms all the time, right? Well, we ran into one of the driest weeks that we've had in the desert in I can't tell you how long. So we had this group out and we're trying to do other stuff that was not storm chasing because we got everybody out there on on vacation and so we thought let's go out and just do some milky way photography the desert is a great place to shoot the night sky because it's super dark and the saguaros make a really nice foreground and and and so we we had uh we had spent some time in saguaro national park outside of tucson and then my business partner um had a spot a spot every time he says he has a spot I know I'm like we're getting ourselves into some adventure that's going to be more than we than we bargained for right so his spot involved climbing up this mountain in the dark at night in the middle of summer which you know obviously in the summer it's too hot for the snakes to be out during the day so they come out at night So we're walking up this trail and I'll be darned if I didn't about step on a huge rattlesnake that was just curled up under a rock and it was so camouflaged I didn't even see it until I almost stepped on it. And then I just look and he's right... Down there and I was like whoa okay stop right so I stopped I alerted everybody in the group behind us that hey snake you're gonna have to you know give it a wide pass so we get up and we get to my friend's spot that he had with a couple nice saguaros and we're up on the mountain and it's got kind of an elevated view out over Tucson with the Milky Way coming up over the mountain nice scene right so we've got this group everybody's setting up their composition and one of our tour guests sat down on this rock, opened up his bag, puts the camera bag out, and is getting his settings, taking care of everything. All of a sudden, one of the other girls in the group was like, hey, Bob. So you got a visitor in your camera bag. And I looked down, I was standing behind him and I see rattlesnake comes up over the rock, out of the bushes and right into his camera bag, into and over his camera bag. And he's sitting right in front of the camera bag. So he can't really move at this point. So he's got this rattlesnake coming through his stuff and coming around behind him and he can't move. Fortunately, the snake kind of just passed through and did his thing. But it was one of those things where. That's not the kind of encounter you want to have when you're out there just doing Milky Way photography in the middle of the desert at night when you can't see anything.

Chris NobleAs we're sat in the desert, I'm looking at our camera bags, making sure.

JohnThe one thing that you'll get at night out here is the wind scorpions. And they're fairly harmless, but they look like something out of a movie. They're huge. They're about this big.

Cameron MainOh, my goodness.

JohnAnd they're just these terrifying-looking scorpions. But if you put a bag on the ground and leave it out, they look for little crevices and nooks and crannies to crawl into.

Cameron MainYou checked your shoes this morning.

JohnEvery once in a while, I've brought home a surprise with me in my camera bag. I've got a spot out in Mesa that I love to shoot lightning. It's up on top of this little mountain. So we climb up to the top of the mountain, and when there's lots of storms going on, I have this terrible habit of changing lenses a bunch of times. I'll have two cameras set up and I'll just flop open my bag. And then when I'm done shooting, put all the lenses back in there, zip everything up and go home. And so I had one night where I came home and I get everything into the house, open up the bag. And here's a freaking wind scorpion right in the middle of my camera bag on my lens. And I'm like, God, I brought it in the house. With me, so I'm quickly taking it outside, taking all the stuff, dumping it out. And then, of course, you're paranoid that there's five more in every zippered pouch of your bag.

Cameron MainI feel like we learn about a new danger every day. We knew about the snakes, I think, day one. The second day, we were told about tarantulas, which Chris freaked out about.

JohnAnd they won't usually bother you.

Cameron MainToday's scorpions.

JohnThe funny thing with the tarantulas is August and September is their mating season, so they'll come out and at night they're wandering all over the place in the desert and you'll be out shooting and that's not really something you think about you know you typically you're you're looking out for snakes when you're out there because that's that tends to be the most prominent thing that can kill you other than the lightning that you're trying to shoot um so you're not really thinking spiders but I I can't tell you how many times I've been out there and you know you'll have one and you'll look down it's on your shoe like this big old honking tarantula is just like or crawling up your leg I

Cameron MainDon't like that I've just touched his leg

JohnBut yeah no there are a million and one things in the desert that are are always trying to kill you and then there are the things that can kill you but are not necessarily trying to but you still want to avoid The tarantulas don't really bother you as long as you don't make them mad. Don't step on it. Don't try to squash it. They're usually just passing through doing their own thing. They're very docile. But they, you know, if you're not a spider guy, they look kind of... I'm not a spider guy. They look kind of freaky. You know, they've got the big old shaggy legs. And, you know, some of them are about this big.

Chris NobleNo. I don't like it.

JohnSo, yeah. But, you know, usually that's an August, September thing. And most of the rest of the year, you'll never see one.

Chris NobleCan you just tell me it's not a November thing?

JohnYeah, no, you won't see them.

Cameron MainPerfect.

JohnFor the most part, they should be underground in their burrows and stuff right now.

Chris NobleMaybe I'm not a desert guy.

JohnIt's hard to be a desert person. I mean, you learn to love it living out here, but then there's always something that's annoying. Oh, we got a visitor. Police coming to say hi. We're going to have some friends.

Cameron MainDidn't you have one where the snake came between your legs and you were holding Aspen?

JohnAspen, yeah. I was trying to take a selfie with the comet.

Cameron MainOkay. And you were holding...

JohnI was holding her in the desert in the middle of the night. And the snake comes... I look down, and next thing I know, I've got a rattlesnake coming right through between my legs. And beneath the tripod. We deal with stuff like this all the time while we're shooting storms. There are always things that can happen where even if you minimize risk, you can never get it down to completely zero because there are always things that happen that you can't control. One example was from not this past season, but the season before we were in southwestern Oklahoma. A very large tornado formed on a storm. And this was right in the heart of tornado season. And a lot of times during the peak of tornado season, you have a lot of researchers that are out there deploying probes and with equipment. And you get these big mobile Doppler radar trucks that go out there and take wind measurements on the storms. And they try to get close to do their scans. But they're these massive trucks, like the size of an RV. And that's all fine and dandy if you're on a paved road or something, but it gets a little trickier when they try to take those things on these single track dirt roads. Imagine you're on this narrow little dirt road and you're trying to turn something around that's the size of an RV. So I was out on one of those dirt roads and we were shooting this tornado and we had... A couple of different problems first was somebody tried to to take one of these dow trucks onto a dirt road and then couldn't get it turned around and got this thing high centered and so with the tornado approaching we we weren't sure that he was going to be able to get that thing out of there so our escape route to to get out of the way essentially was blocked so the only choice was to go the other direction on the dirt road So we ended up going down the dirt road, but it had rained in that area a lot in the days leading up to that. It was very, very muddy. We got to a point where we got stuck in the mud. So we've got this large tornado approaching us. We're stuck in the mud one way, and you can't go the other way on the dirt road. And it was one of those things where you literally have to just be innovative and use anything that you can. And we were in this area where it had some of this kind of deserty scrub brush. And so I just started grabbing branches and, you know, little tree branches and things and shoving them underneath the tires to try to regain traction. And fortunately, I was able to get out of the mud. But so there's always stuff like that, that, you know, even when you think you've planned for everything. Other people can do things that you can't control. A road that maybe appears on a map or on satellite that looks like a good road just suddenly ends or disappears. So there's always something. We try to always have escape routes, always have backup plans for everything. But there are certain things that you just can't plan for.

Cameron MainI want to go back to something we mentioned a little bit earlier When what was supposed to be a cute selfie with your dog turned into a near-death experience.

JohnI don't know if I would call it a near-death experience. But if you don't like the desert and you're not used to desert things, it was one of those things that could have been terrifying. So we were on our way back from Corgi Beach Day. We had taken Aspen and Bacon out to go play in California. So I was driving back, and this was during the time that we had about a two-week period where there was a nice comet that was visible in the northwestern sky just about an hour after sunset. And so the year before, I had taken one of my favorite selfies with Aspen. We had gone out to the desert, and we found this big, beautiful saguaro cactus. We had done a selfie where I was holding aspen with her ears up and we had a saguaro cactus with the comet streaking through the night sky I loved that photo and I thought okay I want to do this again with the other comet so we stopped and uh you know we drove around I didn't really have a whole lot of time to scout out uh a location because this comet was only visible for about an hour and we were coming back from California. So it was kind of a last minute thing. But I knew of an area that was kind of off road out by Lake Pleasant. There was a little dirt road that went back into the desert. And I knew there were some nice cacti back there. And I thought, OK, we can we can make this happen on short notice. So I found a really nice cactus that I liked. It was actually two in the composition. I thought, OK, this is perfect. We'll put the comet in the middle, cactus on each side, and I'm going to stand in the middle and hold Aspen. So I set the camera up on the tripod. And, you know, anytime you're doing a selfie without an assistant out there, you just have to let your camera shoot on intervals. And then I went to the car, grabbed her, pulled her out there, and got into the composition where I knew we would be in focus. And then, you know, anytime you're... It wasn't a super long exposure, but it was about two seconds. So I needed a frame where her head wasn't moving, where I wasn't moving. So we get out there. And I've got her uh you know I'm holding her up with with with both arms and I'm standing there and I'm trying to be really still because I want her with both ears up to get the nice like perfect picture to make it look like she's looking at the comet and and all that good stuff so we're standing there being totally still and as we're standing there something in the desert beneath us was not being very still I look down and there's a big rattlesnake. It's literally coming right between my legs while I'm standing there holding Aspen, which all fine and dandy. I could see it. I knew what it was doing. So I'm just kind of waiting for it to go. But then as it goes through on the other side and heads back towards my tripod, I realize I'm holding Aspen. I can't set her down to grab... My light or to turn on a flashlight or to turn on the light on my phone and now I need to walk back through the desert in the dark and try not to step on this rattlesnake which I have absolutely no idea where it is so I've waited as long as I can so I just waited to the point where I I was getting to the point where my arms were shaking because I can't hold her anymore and then I was like alright we need to start walking back here so I'm just taking these little baby steps trying to look and it's pitch black and I have no light so I'm only taking a couple steps at a time because I have absolutely no idea where this snake has gone I mean for all I knew it could be 20 yards away by now but it could also be right back where the tripod is and I don't want to step on it in the middle of the night

Cameron MainPretty sketchy oh yeah a little sketch and always an adventure but did you get a picture we did get a nice shot okay we'll have to share it with everyone as well yeah absolutely she's looking so suspicious she's like yeah she's like I remember that she's like what are we doing are we having to do that again you guys have always been a corgi family

JohnYes and no. When I was growing up, I had a Siberian Husky.

Chris NobleWow.

JohnI followed my dad home when he was out on a run. And we put up signs in the neighborhood and nobody ever claimed it. It didn't have a chip. And so we adapted it. And so I grew up with a big dog. I liked big dogs. I said, big dogs are great, right? Then I met Ginger. When I met Ginger, she had a bunch of little dogs. She had a Chihuahua, and then she had this other one that was a Chihuahua-Corgi mix. And I had never had a small dog before, so I didn't really know what I was doing. I was used to big old dogs that you play in rough house with. The Chihuahua, you definitely couldn't do it with. It was small and barky, and I was like, you know what? But I loved the other one. I thought, this dog is great. But unfortunately, he was a little bit older and ultimately went into kidney failure and we lost him. And so then the discussion between Ginger and I started of, okay, well, we know we want to get another dog, but what? And I kind of wanted a big dog. She kind of wanted a small dog. And we said, okay, we need to compromise. We need something in the middle. And I said, you know what? I really liked the corgi traits in Harley. What about a corgi? She's like, yeah, let's get a corgi. And Aspen was actually supposed to be Ginger's dog. So we found a breeder in Phoenix that had these corgis. And we had the second pick of the litter. So we go out to meet this breeder and to to to see the dogs and make our pick right so we get out to this breeder and we got all these puppies and most of the puppies are hanging around mom there was the one little female that had already been spoken for and had a little tag on it that it had been picked then I found this other little boy so cute tiny little thing fell asleep in my hands and I was like be okay with this one this is perfect dinner so I'm starting to think in my head this is gonna be our dog ginger says nope I want that one I was like what I was like which one that one I was like where where are you even looking she points down the hallway and I see this big fat little puppy butt waddling down the hallway on its own nowhere near mom nowhere near the other puppies and ginger's like I want that one she's active She's like, that's the one we're going to take, right? So they were still like baby babies and needed to be with mom for a little while, right? So we made our pick. And then a couple weeks go by and they call us and they say, okay, she's ready for you to come get her. This is the first time we got a puppy together, right? So this is our first joint puppy. I had no idea what I was doing. I had never had a puppy before. I knew, okay, we needed to get a little carrier and we needed to get some toys and all the basic essentials to life. So We went and bought all that stuff, and we brought this carrier to go get her. So we go pick her up, sign the paperwork, and we're bringing her home. And, you know, she's away from mom for the first time. And so, you know, we hear her whimper in the bag. She's on Ginger's lap in the bag. And I said, oh, she's, you know, she's scared. Why don't you just let her out for a second? Ginger unzips the bag. Tiny little head pops out of the bag and looks at her and goes. And I was like, OK, put her back, put her back, put her back. So we zip the bag back up. And I just thought, OK, you know what? It's just going to be it's going to take a little little bit of time, right, for them to bond and do their thing. So, you know, we're doing all the puppy stuff. We're doing puppy training and we're playing with them. And, you know, Ginger decided one Saturday that. You know, she was really going to try to bond with this puppy and make this puppy hers. She was ready to make the commitment, right? So she's watching. She's a big Alabama football fan. So she's in the living room watching the Alabama football game. And I was in the kitchen cooking something. And so I had my back turned to them. And I'm just doing my thing. And then all of a sudden I hear Ginger going, ah! And I turn around and I see what looks like her choking a puppy. And I was like, what are you doing? And I look and then I realized she's not choking the puppy. But Aspen had latched. She had tried to kiss Aspen and she had those sharp little puppy teeth. And Aspen had latched on to her tongue and wouldn't let go. And I was like, OK, OK, all right, all right.

Cameron MainHow'd you deal with that?

JohnI was like, calm down, calm down. You're okay. And so Aspen let go. But in that moment, I think Ginger decided at that point she wanted a boy puppy. And I had been against getting two dogs because we were both working full-time jobs and traveling and doing a bunch of stuff at the time. I didn't really think we could have two dogs. But I think I realized in that moment that Aspen had kind of started to bond with me and was destined to be my dog.

Cameron MainShe never bit your tongue.

JohnNo. And so that was how Colton and ultimately Bacon came to be then. We decided that Ginger needed a boy.

Cameron MainYeah I can I can tell you guys have a very very strong bond just from the moment we saw you together she was meant to chase storms

JohnI know yeah she

Cameron MainIs her calling

JohnIt it it's funny because I you know I never really I never really thought about getting a dog and having like his and hers or but but I guess naturally dogs bond more to one person than than the other and and she kind of connected with me and she had that little spicy personality and and I took a liking to it you know she said she's very she's very very independent as you can see sitting out there in the desert

Cameron MainJust relaxing

JohnJust doing her own thing but that's what she does she's you know she when she wants to be with you and wants to play and wants to interact she'll do it on her terms and then the rest of the time she wants everybody in the whole rest of the world to leave her alone And I'm totally cool with that. I'm like, girlfriend, that's good. Have your space, you know?

Chris NobleThat works so well, I guess, because you guys both travel so much that you get one each.

JohnAnd the male corgis tend to be like really, really affectionate and cuddly and they want to be right next to you all the time. And Ginger loves that. You know, she wants to like bacon every, like you cannot do anything in our house without him looking for mama. I'll give you a perfect example just from this morning. Right. So we get up, taking the two dogs out to play and get a little exercise and do their potty breaks in the morning. And she goes out and wants to play with her toys. And then I'll stop, and I look, and Bacon stops right at the sliding door. And if Ginger's home, he's not coming outside unless she comes out with him. And so it's funny. The bond becomes very, very, very close to where those two have become almost inseparable. And I never really intended it to be that way, but she and I have been.

Cameron MainAmazing.

Chris NobleYou mentioned when you're on the road that you give her a topper you make sure you give her some supplements and she's getting older but she's still super active and I guess this is this is a dog who's in somewhat high stress environment

JohnYes big time

Chris NobleAnd even if she's not stressed I imagine there's a lot of people around her who are stressed.

JohnJust travel itself is a stressful situation a lot of times too. So yeah, nutrition becomes a really important part of that.

Chris NobleYeah. Tell me more about what you do for her nutrition.

JohnShe loves vegetables. I was really lucky. I've had dogs that just want a protein and that's it. That's all they'll ever eat. They get really, really picky. And I found out when she was really young and we would go visit my parents, whenever my mom would be in the kitchen cutting carrots and vegetables, she was right at her feet and always wanted a carrot, always wanted a vegetable, anything that has crunch to it. So I just started incorporating that stuff into her diet because I figured, you know, that's going to be a healthy way to keep her active. Uh, and you know, as, as much as you want to trust all those different dog products that are out there and the foods and the things that say they're single ingredient, I'm always a little bit skeptical of whether they're getting all the nutrients they need or not. So I always try to supplement that with a good clean protein, like a, like chicken or, or, uh, or maybe a little bit of Turkey. And then I always try to make sure that she has fresh vegetables.

Chris NobleAmazing. And you mentioned she's not really slowing down, but... No, she's not.

JohnBut when she goes on longer walks, you can tell the endurance starts to fall off. And you can tell there's like a little bit of stiffness in the joints because on the longer walks, you know, bacon will get going on that trot. And she used to do that too. And now she's a little bit more deliberate, one foot in front of another. And you can tell it's just on the lengthy stuff, it gets a little bit more labored.

Chris NobleYeah. Are you starting to think about that when it comes to the nutrition and how you're feeding her and how you're looking after her?

JohnDefinitely. And so it's become even more of a priority as she's gotten older to make sure that, you know, I'm really thinking about that and making sure that all of her nutritional needs are being met so that she can stay healthy and active for as long as possible.

Cameron MainAnd I mean, we often talk about the lifespan of a dog, but the health span is also what we're super interested in, right? The real longevity that a dog is having. The quality of life.

JohnAbsolutely.

Cameron MainAnd it is remarkable. I mean, we're looking here, she's now 13, almost 14, but looks like an eight-year-old Corgi.

JohnEveryone tells me that. People say, she looks like she's like seven or eight.

Cameron MainYeah, incredible, incredible. And you did say before, I mean, including those supplements, that the likes of the glucosamine just keep her moving, just keep her joints going. That's something that you've always been passionate about, and I guess also why we're talking today.

JohnYeah, and it pays off in terms of enhancing their quality of life, their longevity, because you really hit on a great point when you said that - you know, it's not just the lifespan that's meaningful. It's the amount of time that they can be active and out there enjoying the things that they love and being happy. Because once they, you know, once they can't play with their toys, once they can't go on those long walks, once they can't swim, play in the snow, do all that stuff, then it's very hard for them to stay happy and have that mental health that's also an important part of their lives.

Cameron MainI guess having something like VitaDog for you then is pretty indispensable with all the travel you do because it saves you having to cart around like 15 different supplements.

JohnAbsolutely, because then you don't have to blend things, you don't have to pack five different bags with all of the different stuff. It's definitely nice to have something that has... All those nutrients and all those ingredients in one because it ends up being less things that you have to think about when you're out there on the road and you're busy doing other stuff.

Cameron MainI mean, on the bottom of every bag, we have our motto, Dog Health Made Easy, and that's exactly what we try to do.

Chris NobleEasy is what we need.

JohnYeah. Especially when we're traveling and we're as busy as we are, easy is key. It has to be good and it has to be quality, but easy is key.

Cameron MainYeah well that was that was when we designed it that was our first requirement the well the first one was the highest quality not the price we said we said to um our manufacturers

JohnPay any price for the for the right stuff for their dogs because you you can't put a price on your dog's health and on your dog's happiness You really can't. And most people, I'm sure you've heard this before, most people tell you that they will spend more money buying a quality product for their dog than they will for themselves.

Cameron MainOf course they will.

JohnBecause it's love and you can't put a price on love and that companionship and knowing that your dog's going to be happy and healthy and able to go on all those adventures with you and do all those things.

Cameron MainI'm sure there is no price that you wouldn't pay for two or three or four more extra years with your dog.

JohnFacts.

Cameron MainYeah.

JohnTrue facts.

Cameron MainYeah. You just can't get long enough.

JohnNo, no, you can't. Their lives are way too short for the amount of joy and happiness that they bring. Anytime we have an opportunity to extend that or support that or give them what they need to have that longevity, I think we've been very fortunate that Aspen has been as healthy as she has for as long as she has. And that doesn't happen by accident.

Cameron MainNo, it's intentional. It's really intentional. And I hope we're able to definitely extend those extra years and make them as healthy as possible without a dog.

JohnFor sure. And we love it. And anything that we can do to keep her moving and ready for the next adventure is great.

Cameron MainYeah. I mean, that's what we do. I mean, high quality ingredients also made in America was very important to us because you don't know where stuff's coming from these days.

JohnYeah. You definitely want to know where anything that you give your dog has been, is coming from. And you want to know that whoever's manufacturing it has that commitment to quality, not only in the ingredients that they pick, but also in the manufacturing process to where, you know. Things can get introduced that you don't want there. So it's a, you know, that, yeah, that's big. That's important.

Cameron MainYeah. There are a lot of cowboys in the industry.

JohnOh yeah. Yeah. And, and I, I, you know, I, when I, when I first, first got her as a puppy, I was really naive and I probably gave her some treats and some things that I shouldn't have given her. And now knowing what I do, I would never let, you know, I'll walk into a pet store. And I walk by 90% of the stuff out there and I'm like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, absolutely not. Wouldn't even think about it. And we've just developed these handful of things that we trust and that we feel good about and that we're willing to give to our dogs because they can't make that decision on their own. You have to make it for them. And so they're depending on you to make a great decision and to get something that's going to give them the benefit that they need.

Cameron MainYou have to educate yourself as well they can't do it for you

JohnAbsolutely

Cameron MainYeah there was I mean chris and I when we started developing this product we spending every single day trying to learn about the nutrients trying to figure out what is right is more than a full-time job

JohnOh I believe it

Cameron MainTo get all those things to put all the research papers together to talk to all the nutritionists that we spoke to and and really put it together and find that one blend also the dogs like

JohnYeah that will that's a big piece of it too because you'll see so many supplements and so many different things out there that you know you look at the ingredients you go okay yeah I yeah I feel pretty good about this and then you offer it to the dog and the dog is like what do you want me to do with that

Cameron MainYeah

JohnYou know especially you know we've got bacon who's one of the more picky eaters that I've ever seen in my entire life if he if he doesn't like it it doesn't matter how good for him it is he's not going to touch it And her to a lesser extent, but she still gets much more excited about something that actually tastes good and she has fun eating and can look forward to as part of her daily routine.

Cameron MainWhen we spoke to Ginger for the first time, she said, I love the ingredients. But let's see if Bacon likes it. Let's see if he eats it. Then we'll talk properly. Always the big challenge with them.

JohnAnd this is a dog where, you know, I wouldn't have believed it if Ginger just told me. I thought, you know, when he was a puppy, you know, you think puppies will eat anything. They're just food machines, right? Little vacuum cleaners going around just gobbling up anything that happens to come their way. From the time Bacon was like, I don't know how many weeks old we got him, he was this little ball of fluff that hadn't even grown into his ears yet. And, you know, he'd look at his breakfast in the morning and be like, nah, I'm good. And then we'd have to try something different and try something different. And then we finally found a food that he would like. And even when you give him something that he likes, if he's not really in the mood for it, to get him to eat breakfast, you're going to have to sit down with him. You're going to have to make sure it's on a dish that he approves of. And you're going to have to hand feed it to him. And we still do this every morning. If he decides that he's going to be difficult because, oh, mama's going to work. I know mama's going to work. I'm hungry. I definitely want to eat. And I like my food. But I'm going to make you feed it to me.

Chris NobleSo unusual, especially for Corgi.

JohnYeah.

Chris NobleBecause Corgis normally eat anything.

JohnAnything and everything, yeah. So the one thing you can be sure of is if bacon likes it, there you go.

Cameron MainI think on the next round of packaging, we're going to put approved by bacon on it.

JohnRight, right. You just say bacon approved.

Cameron MainBacon approved.

JohnIf bacon will eat it, anybody will eat it.

Cameron MainThat's better than any seal we can get out there. Amazing. John, thank you so much for joining us today.

JohnThank you, guys. It's been fun to talk dogs and travel and storms.

Cameron MainYeah.

JohnAppreciate you guys having us on.

Cameron MainAmazing. Thank you so much. It's been a real pleasure.

Transcript edited lightly for readability. Timestamps and captions will follow with the video release.