Great Dane Lifespan: She Lost Hers at Four, Then Opened a Store

Cameron MainSo, Misty, first of all, just I'd like to say thank you for hosting us, for inviting us to your beautiful ranch.

MistiWelcome. Glad to have you guys here at the ranch.

Cameron MainYeah, it's an incredible property. And I can speak for Chris and I, I think neither of us thought it was going to be so...

Chris NobleSo beautiful.

Cameron MainYeah, it's big, it's beautiful. There's so many horses.

Chris NobleYeah, there's a lot of nature around. It's really nice to be out in the open for a change.

MistiWe really love it. We feel like we're miles away. I already screwed up. We feel like we're in Oasis. We're just minutes from the town and we're so close to everything, but yet we're so far away out here.

Cameron MainYeah, and you've got all the families staying here with you now.

MistiAll the family, we're doing a homestead. I got my daughter, my son, my grandchildren. They're all here on the ranch with us. It's quite lovely.

Chris NobleAnd the dogs.

MistiAnd the dogs, yeah.

Cameron MainOf course.

MistiWe had seven dogs, but recently we had one of our Great Danes just recently pass away, and that was quite devastating for our family.

Cameron MainYeah, it's probably one of the hardest things that Chris and I have also had to live through.

MistiOh, yeah. When you lose a pet, it's just heart-wrenching.

Cameron MainYeah, sometimes worse than when you lose a family member.

MistiOh my goodness, you're a loyal companion. My dogs follow me everywhere. And without him here, it just feels really empty. Even though I have other dogs, he was such a big presence in my life that when I turn, he's not there. We've been going through some sad times just recently, losing him.

Cameron MainYeah,

Chris NobleIt must have been tough.

MistiYeah.

Cameron MainSo we met you a few months ago now, back in your shop in Castro Valley. And when I asked you how long you'd been there, you told me 2019.

MistiWell, we started our grooming salon in 2019, and it was incredible. I have come from a background of child care. I took care of children for over 30 years. We did foster care. We did child care. And it's a lot. It's very emotional, very heart-wrenching. We have fostered over 86 children in the past 30 years. And I feel like I've done my due diligence, but I'm not done working. Changed our compassion for children over to our compassion to animals and it's been incredible.

Chris NobleWhy dogs specifically?

MistiWhy dogs? Because I love them. I just absolutely love them. And so what's so funny is that being around people who love dogs and me like being on the outside looking in and seeing these people like I had this inside thought that those are crazy dog people. You know, they just love their dogs and they treat them like their children, like their family. And me watching them, how much they're into their dogs, their care, their nutrition, their grooming, you know, they're such a big part of their family. And I love those people. And I come to the realization that I, too, am one of those crazy dog people. I love them. They're just great companions. They're unconditional. They love you no matter what. No matter what you do, you can have a bad day, and you come home, and they're still happy-go-lucky and shaking their little tails. They're so happy to see you. It's wonderful.

Chris NobleYeah, and yours are definitely full of energy.

MistiOh, yeah. Mine are definitely full of energy.

Chris NobleSo you started with the grooming salon, right? And then you extended that into an outdoor space for activities. And then you brought on the retail store. Is that correct?

MistiCorrect. So we started... With the grooming, our first goal was always to do dog daycare, but the space that came available didn't accommodate that. And so I went in partnership with my daughter. This was her world. She was in the pet industry. She wanted to be a veterinarian and started grooming and changed her mind that she loved it so much that this was going to make her happy for the rest of her life that she decided to do grooming. And so we helped her out a little bit. And then when we got into and purchased the grooming salon, we got excited because, you know, we train our dogs. So we wanted to do dog training. And so we added dog training to what we were doing. And then we got involved with different local organizations and rescues. And we also partnered with the Alameda County Sheriff Department and started to do an event with them called Dogs and Deputies. But as time progressed, our business has grown and we saw a great need in nutrition when it comes to caring for your pets. And sadly, we had a Great Dane that only lived to be four years old. And that was so devastating. You know, my husband had wanted a Great Dane his entire life. And we finally got one. And he's the best dog ever. They think that they're tiny, which makes them more adorable because they will always try to sit on your lap. Well, this one in particular, our Thor. And it was so devastating when he died at four years old. And so we did some research. Some of it was genetics, but a lot of it had to do with diet. And just like our American diet has chemicals and preservatives and all the bad things, that our American food has, it also carries over into our pet food. And, you know, years ago, dogs used to live 15, 20 years, and to have one drop at four years old was just devastating to our family. So we wanted to figure out why, and part of it was nutrition. And so that prompted us to open up our store and be able to provide good, better, best to help with the longevity of your pet.

Cameron MainI think that's something that we're seeing more and more, which is really becoming a known issue in America. And it's something that I think for a long time wasn't really talked about, or at least people didn't know about it. Chris and I, the reason that we both started what we're doing was because of that exact reason. And I guess, firstly, there's a huge lack of education when it comes to it. We fed our dog dog food. What is dog food? I mean, what is kibble? What do you really get from it and most people and for us we certainly didn't we had three retrievers I mean three lifespans of retrievers to go for and through all that time we never questioned are we feeding the right thing because this is what the vet told us that we should have this is what was I guess the standard and I think it's something that definitely people are starting to now realize. And you're finding that through your business, a lot of people are coming to you for this exact reason as well.

MistiCorrect. Correct. A lot of times what happens in the veterinary field is that these products are being sold and they get a profit off of it. And it's not necessarily something that is good for them. You know, they get paid for promoting these products. And so it's, I don't really want to say what the brands are, but the titles of those brands are deceiving because they're not healthy. They're not good. They don't help with the longevity of your pets.

Cameron MainOften I've heard that kibble, for an example, is compared to if we were to eat just cereal every single day for every single meal. That's sort of the nutritional value that you can often get from it.

MistiThat's unfortunate.

Cameron MainYeah, just because of the hot excursion process, a lot of the nutrients which are on the label apparently don't really make it through to the actual bowl when you serve it to the dog.

MistiWell, what happens too is that when they cook the food, it cooks out the color. So they add more color to the food and that transfers over. So we have white poodles. And so we've discovered that if they have staining around their mouth or staining in their paws or staining in their private area, it's usually because of a food allergy or the dyes that are in the food. They're coming out. In their excretions. And so, you know, that's not healthy for them. I don't want my white standard poodle to be having stains on it. I want them white. And it's usually due to the food.

Chris NobleWhat was that process like from, I guess you realized there was an issue with nutrition with Thor and you've come to this point where you now have a store which promotes, I guess, longevity for dogs and feeding dogs the correct diet with your good, better, best system. What was your education process from start to finish to understand?

MistiSo a lot of Google, a lot of ChatGPT, just reading the ingredients, understanding what those ingredients are. Most likely if you can't pronounce it, it's not good for your dog. And just like for us humans, too. I didn't want somebody to go through what we went through. And losing something so grand as a Great Dane at four years old, I don't want people to have to go through that. I want to be able to share our experience of being able to give the nutrition to your dog that's going to help them to live longer. So that's the whole purpose of being behind the store, to help people with educating them and helping with the longevity of their pets.

Chris NobleDo you have any standout moments with customers around the education piece?

MistiI think probably the most significant one is that we have a lot of dog parents that pay an ample amount of money on allergy testing. And so they get their dogs allergy testing. And the majority, I'll say probably 90% of the allergies are usually due to chicken. There's so many dogs that are allergic to chicken and they, um, they don't know that. And so the dogs are eating something that they're allergic to day after day after day. And then even a lot of the, the brands that say that say beef somewhere around the, in those ingredients, they're still chicken. So that was a big eye-opener for me to understand how many dogs are allergic to chicken.

Chris NobleI'm super curious about the due diligence then that you do with bringing products into the store because clearly this is the most important thing for you and the reason behind everything. And we've seen the store and we love how much of a focus there is on food along with the toys and the other cute things that are there. But what's your due diligence when you're bringing a new product into the store?

MistiWhich is basically reading the ingredients and then talking to the supplier and trying to find out, you know, I want them to teach me about their food. There's some that we absolutely love. There's some that we will absolutely not ever have in our store. It's just having an education behind what's in that food.

Cameron MainI actually remember the first time that we came into your store with our good friend Maria. And Maria said, hey, you should try and talk to Misty and see if you guys can partner up in some way or another. And at this time, we didn't really have any plans to go into a store. We thought if someone's going to promote our product, they're going to have to understand what's inside. They're going to have to really be able to, I guess, know the key points of what it is. And the second we talked to you about it, you grilled us on our product. You wanted to know everything. And we were like... This is exactly what we're looking for. We want someone who cares this much, as much as we care about our dogs, to be behind our brand and be promoting it the same way that we would. And that's where we really knew, okay, we've got to work with Misty.

MistiSo yeah, if you're going to come, if you want me to have your product in my store, you need to share with me what it's about and why I want this in my store. So I don't just take anything. Into my store. And that's something that I'm sure that people don't like me because I have that attitude, but it's just the way it is. I'm a mama bear at heart. So I'm a mama bear with my kids. I'm a mama bear with my dog. And health is so important. Nutrition is so important.

Cameron MainAnd with all your customers as well. You care about them and all their dogs just as much. Absolutely.

MistiMama bear doesn't care whose child or whose dog. If I see a kid at the park and they're being mean to this, I'm going to say, hey, don't do that. So same thing with dogs.

Cameron MainYeah, that's what we liked so much about it.

Chris NobleI feel like we really understood that about you when we learned more about your lifestyle and just your life beyond the business and beyond the dogs because it sounds like you're mama bear for the whole community with the Rotary Club and the different projects that you take on.

MistiCorrect. I am. So if you go to my shop on the side of my building, how much this, my story about Thor and losing him at four years old, there is a two-story mural of him on the side of my building as a reminder. This is why we're doing it. We're doing this to help other people not lose their pet at four years old.

Chris NobleAmazing. That's so impactful, I imagine, for the community to have someone like you to come to with the questions because most people don't know where to even direct the questions or what questions to ask.

MistiI'll tell you, I don't have all the questions, but what I do know, I do share. So I'm still learning and I still want to learn more. So that's always, you know, if you, how am I going to say that? You can never have enough knowledge. And so I'm always learning.

Cameron MainAnd I think that is also the reality for pet parents, for people who have dogs. They're never going to have the time to go and get a veterinary nutritionist degree. They're never going to have time to spend hours and hours researching. But at least if you can point them in the right direction and say, okay, this is pretty good. You guys should have this. At least that way they're going to get a good quality diet and their dog's going to live the best quality life that they actually can have. And you're enabling them to do that in your community.

MistiI think our community has, a lot of people are realizing that the dog foods that are out there, they're not that great. And so a lot of parents are cooking for their dogs. And, you know, a meat and a rice is not enough. And this is probably where VitaDog can come in. You know, you want to cook for your pet. You want to give them healthy choices, but they still need extra nutrients.

Cameron MainYeah, and we actually designed the entire product around that. It was to fit within the diet gap of every single diet which is around. It's not just demonizing kibble, because some dogs will actually get on very well with kibble. So you can add it to kibble, you can add it to raw diet, you can add it to frozen fresh, you can add it to a home-cooked diet. All this is doing is being able to top up that diet every single time, every single day. I guess the same way that we all treat our own health by trying to eat the best food, the best vegetables, whether we take our supplements. It's that exact approach that you talk about.

MistiAbsolutely. I want to grill you. Tell me again. Tell me what is in your product that, so we can share it with other people, what is in your product that would make it a great choice for any pet?

Cameron MainThe thing, I guess when you talk about why is this a good choice,

MistiWe're on the farm, so there's flies everywhere.

Cameron MainI guess when you say, why is this a good choice, you can sort of go back to the philosophy of the product and how it came about. So when we designed this, when we were trying to formulate it, we looked back at research papers. So basically trying to figure out every single... Active ingredient every single nutrient that a dog needs to have in its diet to live the most complete sort of have the best longevity possible and when we took that at first the nutritionist was like hang on a second you want to put all of this into one product because currently what's on the market is you can you have to probably buy five six seven different products to get what's in here so we wanted it to basically to be as complete as possible And so that's what we did essentially. We added 40 active ingredients, not too much so that if the dog was to get in and eat a couple spoons extra that there's going to be any problems, but just so that you can top up every single day this dog's diet and give it the best chance at life essentially possible.

MistiSo how does it work?

Cameron MainThe way that the product works is inside there's a spoon. With every order you get a little metal shaker, so it's 100% stainless steel, and you get a little oil dropper. If you have a puddle, for example, like you guys have, you take two spoons into the shaker, you add the water, you add a little drop of the oil and you shake it together. And then you kind of get like a liquid topper. It's almost like a protein shake for your dog or a green supplement for your dog. And then you would serve it over the food like a sauce, essentially. And it's a kind of a way for the dog to, I mean, it's quite an exciting thing for the dog. It adds a little bit of flavor, a little bit of excitement to the meal as well. But most importantly, those extra nutrients, which they really, really need to get.

MistiSo you mix it with water?

Cameron MainYeah. Well, so that's what it says on the bag. I mean, we've had all sorts of feedback from different customers. We have one which mixes it with goat milk. Apparently that's a big hit with her dogs. But there's no right way to do it, essentially. But water is the standard, I suppose.

MistiSo you can use basically any liquid?

Cameron MainYeah, you could do.

MistiOK.

Chris NobleYeah, bone broth is another one that people use. Even mixing it into Greek yogurt is quite popular with some people. Cameron's family does this.

Cameron MainYeah, my mum does that, actually, for our Westies.

MistiOh, wow.

Cameron MainYeah, yeah, they love Greek yogurt, so the second anything comes out like that, they're straight into it. So you mentioned to us dogs and deputies and the canine units. How did all that come about?

MistiSo I was invited by our local deputy at the time. His name was Ruben Pola to participate in a community outreach event. So our community is trying to do all they can to repair the relationship with our officers in our community by having all of these community outreach programs. And so they wanted to do one around dogs in our dog community. And it was called Dogs and Deputies. So the first event, they asked if we can participate. And so I went there and I posted it on social media. And we went and set up a booth, just kind of promote my business and kind of go see what it was about. And so there was just a handful of booths. There was only about 100 people that showed up to this event, and about 90 of those people came because of me and our social media. And so the sheriff's department was, okay, all right, we need you. And so they figured that if they didn't invite me, they probably would have just had maybe 10 people show up. And so the next year, we officially partnered with them, and our first event was at a small park. Our second event was at... Our rodeo grounds called Rowel Ranch Rodeo Park. And so we ended up having about 1,500 people show up the next year. And we just had our fourth year in this past event. We had over 3,000 people show up with their dogs. And it... It's a really fun day and I'll share with you what it's about so the sheriff department they give out pup cups and little little dog bones and then we had over 30 vendors there that were all pet related and we have competitions throughout the day they Sheriff Department, their canine unit, puts on a demo about what their dogs can do. We have the bomb-sniffing dogs, the attack dogs. That was an exciting little segment. But we have competitions. And at the competitions, we have the most beautiful female, the most handsome male, a costume contest, the ugliest dog contest. And we had a pie-eating contest. It's just so fun. And it's all surrounded by the dogs.

Chris NobleSo you were talking about social media and how much of an impact it had on the Dogs and Deputies event. So we've heard you have one of the most viewed dog videos on the internet. Can you tell us a bit more?

MistiSo my daughter is a creative groomer and she had basically set the trend worldwide. We had a video of a groom that she did that I posted in 2017. And to date, there's over 100 million views on that dog in that video. And so we've had several viral videos since then. And one of the videos was the top 100 video worldwide for 2017. Wow, that's incredible. All the craze that you see with all of the creatively groomed dogs has come from Katrina. She started that trend and other people are getting recognition for it, but she's the one that started that trend and whatever she does, It's quite honoring for people to love what she does and do replicas. And it's amazing to see the worldwide trend she started. And her name is Katrina Short. Yeah.

Cameron MainKatrina Short essentially is the reason that when we went to SuperZoo, we saw all these poodles lined up, crazy colors, tigers. I think I saw one with Shrek. Actually, so this is kind of her inspiration.

MistiIt was in the, so Creative Grooming has been in the grooming community since the 1950s. So in the 1950s, you would see, you know, people who were wealthy, they would color their poodles pink. And, you know, it was looked down upon. A lot of people did not like it. And when our viral video went out, it was kind of scary because we had, we got a lot of hate mail and, but the products that we use are safe and they're, they're, they're, they're vegan products and it's it doesn't cause any harm to the the pets but the that video caused um creative grooming to go out of the grooming world and into the everyday human world and I don't even know if I'm saying that right but it caused um Just the notoriety of what creative grooming is to come to the forefront, to not just be in the grooming community, but anybody can get their dog creatively groomed.

Cameron MainDid your demand just soar after that?

MistiIt did soar. It did soar. My daughter, she's pretty well known within the grooming community, and it soared. Everybody wanted to have their dog groomed in a creative fashion. And if you're not one for attention, don't do it. Literally, when your dog is creatively groomed, people will stop on the side of the road. And, you know, if you see a dog that's groomed like a tiger or a zebra and you're driving down the street and you see that, you're kind of bamboozled, like, what am I looking at? You know, it's kind of, they do a double take and sometimes people slam on the brakes. So it's kind of a little bit scary out there. Because people are like, they're shocked to see what they're seeing and they can't, their brain can't comprehend. Is that a dog? Is that a zebra? So people think that you cross the two breeds, the two species together, which is kind of hilarious to us. But the first thing they say, is that real? Is that real? And then they want to touch and they go, oh my gosh, it's real. And so we just kind of play around and joke around that. Yeah, it's an exotic breed.

Cameron MainAn exotic breed.

MistiIt's an exotic breed.

Chris NobleWe've seen the pictures of them. They really suit the personality of being the center of attention.

MistiSo this is Rekeli. Rekeli, she's usually groomed as a leopard. We're letting her fur grow out because she is going to be a lion with a full mane.

Cameron MainOh, I can see it.

MistiYeah.

Cameron MainI can see it.

MistiIt's in the works.

Cameron MainShe's got the energy.

MistiShe's got the color.

Cameron MainYeah. We've seen your your shop we've learned a little bit about you and I mean firstly I don't know how you manage all your time being the president of the rotary club um doing all the things you do in the community dogs and deputies what is it about dogs that inspire you in your daily life I think

MistiI don't know. I think they're a gift from God. And they're just a... They're unconditional. They love you no matter what. And... They just bring so much joy to my life. There's some towns that are in the Bay Area. There is Carmel in Dublin, and they're very, very dog friendly. And so that's what I'm trying to bring to our town is to make our town more dog friendly. It's gonna help boost business. It's gonna help boost outsiders coming in and visiting our town. So I'm on initiative to help do that right now. I just enjoy, I enjoy them immensely. And so many other people do too. They're wonderful gifts, wonderful companions, and they're a joy.

Chris NobleCannot disagree with this. So what are your next steps? And what's the dream? What's the dream?

MistiWell, we're going to adventure into a rescue program, a dog daycare program, and we would love to help veterans. We have also helped with this entity. Called Hogs for Dogs. We met them through Dogs and Deputies. And so what Hogs and Dogs do, they raise money to help school the blind. And what that money goes to is it costs the price of the dog, the price of the training, the price of the medical care, and food for life for these dogs. And what they do after they're trained... They hand those dogs over to the recipient, and a recipient is usually blind or has autism. And it's an incredible program, and it helps people. It's a life-changing program. The program, a gift of a dog in that capacity, is life-changing. And so I love that program. I like to be able to be part of more entities like that. And help the veterans. We have one of our dogs, Zeus, he has a keen sense and he knows if you're hurting or he knows if you're sick or he knows if you're sad. And so he's in the house, but we can have a room full of 50 people. And he's going to find that person and he's going to go up to that person and he's going to hug them and he's going to love them. He's got such a keen sense about him. But there are so many dogs that have that gift and they can see things and they know things and they can tell if you are going to have a diabetic episode or if you're going to have an epileptic seizure or something like that. They know and they can trigger and let other people know or let that person know that this is going to happen. And that's an incredible gift. Dogs are amazing.

Chris NobleWhat can the everyday person do to help? Because these are amazing initiatives, I think for dogs and for humans, you've talked about. If someone wanted to give back to the community, what would you say the biggest impact thing they could do would be?

MistiThe biggest impact they can... Well, I think number one thing is, well, it's always money. But if you don't have... Money there's things that you can do for dogs and that is go rescue one go rescue a dog get them get them out of the shelter because if you don't they're going to die you know they can be a blessing to you just like you can be a blessing to them and if you are a dog owner make a commitment that okay I have this dog and this is going to be part of my family until they pass and when things get tough you wouldn't get rid of your child or you stick it out and you go the long haul and you keep that dog. Don't send it to the shelters because it's most likely a death sentence. So that would probably be my advice to somebody to help the dog community.

Cameron MainOne thing that we're going to be doing actually on our road trip, on our tour around the US is every staff and every person that we speak to, we're going to ask you if you can point us towards a shelter that's very dear to your hearts. And what we're going to do is we're going to sponsor the adoption fees for one of those dogs along the way. So if you've got one that's dear to your heart, tell us and we'll go there and we can sponsor the fees for that dog.

MistiSo that's a hard one for me because for dogs and deputies, we have eight people join, or eight entities of different dog rescues join our event. And so to just pick one, that would be really hard to do. Like we have Pack Lake Rescue. We have... Tiny Paws Pug Rescue. We have NorCal Rescue. There's just so many of them and they all do incredible work. Well, I try to do my part too within my store. You know, food is expensive. And the food that we have is quality food. And so it's gonna be a little bit more pricier than the cheap grocery store food. And so to make it affordable, we do reduce our prices for them so that they can have quality nutrition, but at a lower price. So I would say probably the one that stands out the most and I see does the most work in our community and the passion that comes behind the leaders of that organization is probably Pack Life Rescue. They're incredible. And that lady that runs that, she's amazing.

Chris NobleWe'll have to go check them out, see how we can help.

Cameron MainYeah, we can definitely do that.

MistiWonderful, thank you.

Cameron MainSo what was it that made you want to partner with VitaDog?

MistiI'm kind of a hard person to sell, to get to product. And I think part... That reason was that you guys answered all my questions and you had answers and so that was what was really important to me is to have answers you know it's not just a product it's you guys too and what you stand for and what you believe in and what you're trying to accomplish with the health of dogs and what that meant to me And having your product in my store is so important to be able to help pets live. With what we went through and losing a great Dane at four years old. That's so hard and it's so sad and it makes me want to cry just thinking about it. But I want other people to have to go through that. If we can do something to help with the longevity of a pet and the love that they give us and we give them, four years is too short. You know, wanting to be able to have a product that's going to help with that is why I've allowed your product in my store.

Cameron MainIt was incredible speaking to you.

Chris NobleYeah.

Cameron MainThank you, Misty. Thank you.

MistiGreat product. Great product, everybody.

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