The Juniper Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome back to the Juniper podcast! Michael J. Baines's journey from restaurant owner to dog shelter founder in Thailand began with a single moment: locking eyes with a dog in need.

Today, Michael has 1200 dogs in his care, a full staff, and a heart that’s been softened by the love and gratitude of his canine family.

Grab your tissues and get ready to hear about Michael’s journey to becoming “The Man Who Rescues Dogs.”

We chat about:

• How the Wheelchair Mafia came to be
• Why sometimes leaving a dog on the street is the best choice
• How Michael balances caring for his dogs and caring for himself
• Michael’s upcoming book
• And more!

💯 And if hearing Michael’s story makes you want to spend a little more time with your pup, get our FREE guide with 101 Easy Dog Enrichment Ideas!

Do you want to cook for your dog at home, but worry that the recipes will be too complicated or lack essential nutrients? Meet Nicole Marchand. She solved that problem when she founded Dog Child, the leading recipe community for dog parents.

Today Nicole is here to share what inspired her to start Dog Child (spoiler, it was her dog!) and why she’s passionate about helping us all feel more confident about cooking for our fur babies.

We also chat about:

• The benefits of adding whole foods to your dog’s diet
• Getting over the intimidation factor
• Why making your own treats is a great place to start
• Nicole’s journey from investor to founder
• How Nicole grew the Dog Child community to 250,000+ dog parents
• And more!

Psst! We collaborated with Dog Child to create a guide with 7 easy homemade dog treat recipes— grab it HERE!

Tune in for a dog-walk-length dose of camaraderie. Then join the Juniper Community to meet more dog parents like you!

Jess Adam is a licensed therapist who runs Handlers & Humans, a coaching program that helps dog owners manage their emotions — especially with complex, sensitive, or reactive dogs.

If you or someone you know is overwhelmed by their pet’s challenging behavior, tune in to learn more about:

• Dog dreams vs. dog realities
• Examining expectations for yourself and your dog
• How dogs can amplify our emotions
• Creating sustainable mindsets vs. overwhelm
• How to support others with challenging dogs
• The Complex Canine Community

Tune in for an episode reminding us how to appreciate our pets and ourselves. Then join the Juniper Community to meet more pet parents like you!

🦴 We love Optimeal and we think your pet will too. Get 20% off their natural pet food with the code 20JuniperPet or at this link. (sponsored)

Sophie Vershbow runs social and influencer marketing at Eventbrite and is a freelance journalist based in New York City.

In this episode, she tells us about her journey with fostering, how she adopted her Instagram-famous dog Simon from Hearts & Bones Rescue, and why she just started calling herself a writer after 50 bylines.

We also discuss:

• Why Simon loves the Upper West Side
• How Sophie started her career as a freelance journalist
• The importance of pitching and practice for writers
• Fostering pets as a way of resetting and grounding yourself
• How she handles negative attention on social media
• And more!

Tune in for a conversation about fostering and forever homes. Then join the Juniper Community to meet more pet parents like you!

🦴 We love Optimeal and we think your pet will too. Get 20% off their natural pet food with the code 20JuniperPet or at this link. (sponsored)

Kassidi Jones is a first-time dog mom, social justice advocate, Ph.D. candidate, and the content creator behind @gingers_naps. And Ginger is her three-year-old mixed breed pup!

This week Kassidi is here to share her journey with Ginger and to teach us about antiracist animal advocacy, including:

• Hard truths about racism in the pet industry
• Bias in animal rescue
• The Pet POC Directory
• How Kassidi approaches the content she creates
• Critter Fixers
• Racist and classist origins of pitbull hate
• And more!

Tune in for a dog-walk-length dose of antiracist pet education. Then join the Juniper Community to meet more dog parents who want to make the world a better place for humans and animals!

🦴 We love Optimeal and we think your pet will too. Get 20% off their natural pet food with the code 20JuniperPet or at this link. (sponsored)

Ivana Tay is the founder of the pet brand Playfield and the proud steward of her soul dog Bailey.

This week she joins us to talk about how she left her job at Google to create The Bailey Kit, a multifunctional dog-walking system that makes it easy to head out on a walk anytime and anywhere.

Tune in for a plenty of inspiration to make your dog walks even better and more fun. Then join the Juniper Community to meet more dog parents like you!

📍Episode Highlights:

• Ivana 7:40 — Connecting your everyday life with your dog — Your life with your dog is not so separate from your everyday life. I think it’s so interwoven. Bailey hardly leaves us, and we hardly leave her. So we needed things that fit seamlessly between our lifestyle and our lifestyle with Bailey
• Ivana 11:00 — The value of community — There are so many communities out there. You just have to seek them out.
• Ivana 16:10 — Getting to know your customers — You can’t build in a silo. You can’t just have an idea and work on and not tell anybody about it. There’s a balance where you want to make sure you get enough feedback from the right people. So not talking to friends and family, but for me, talking to dog parents. I’d go to the dog park and go up to total strangers and ask them questions about their dog.
• Ivana 21:55 — How to test your ideas — If you have an idea, test it. Go talk to people. Go analyze and try to do it outside your own circles.
• Ivana 24:50 — The key to success — No matter what, if you don’t give up and you’re not willing to give up, you will eventually succeed. And I really genuinely believe that. If you’re open to feedback, you’re open to pivoting, you’re open to asking for help, and you’re not stubborn about the direction you’re going in — as long as you don’t give up, you will be fine, and you will eventually be successful.

🦴 We love Optimeal and we think your pet will too. Get 20% off their natural pet food with the code 20JuniperPet or at this link. (sponsored)

This week on the Juniper podcast we’re getting to know our cohost and founder, Allison Medina, who shares how her experience founding Tech Ladies eventually led her to pivot into the world of pets and start Juniper.

Tune in for a dog-walk-length dose of encouragement to make big changes in your work and life. Then join the Juniper Community to meet more dog parents like you!

📍 Episode Highlights:

• Haley 3:10 — Being an adventurous homebody — I got excited about this idea of being an adventurous homebody.
• Haley 3:45 — How a van can help you adventure — That’s the reason I love living in a van so much. It’s not because I’m cool, it’s because I’m a little bit of a wimp and I need my crutch. The van is my crutch.
• Haley 33:05 — Making lifestyle choices for your family — It doesn’t matter if someone thinks living in a van is weird or if they hate it or they can’t imagine it, because it’s been so great for me and Sean and Scout.

🦴 We love Optimeal and we think your dog will too. Get 20% off their natural pet food with the code 20JuniperPet or at this link. (sponsored)

Welcome back to the Juniper podcast!

This week we’re getting to know our cohost Haley Young of Paws and Reflect and talking about how she lives on the road with her partner, Sean, and dog, Scout.

Tune in for a dog-walk-length dose of imagining all the lives you can live with your dog. Then join the Juniper Community to meet more dog parents like you!

📍 Episode Highlights:

• Allison 3:50 — The relationship between the pet industry and tech — What’s been fun for me is that the pet space seems to be a little bit suspicious about tech and technology and tech solutions in pets. Which I’ve found really interesting and refreshing.
• Allison 6:05 — Taking the leap — It’s really easy for people to say, “I’ve only ever done this, so I can’t go into that.” I didn’t even really think about that. I just started a new company in pets, because that’s what I wanted to do.
• Allison 9:15 — How an active dog can change your workday — After I got Addie, my dog, I always joke about my step count going up. … We need to walk. We need to get out. We need to be running. We go running together now. So getting those ten to twelve thousand steps a day is a new non-negotiable. And when you start to put that into your workday, it changes everything.
• Allison 11:00 — Helping dogs helps people — At first I was like, “well I love dogs, so sure, let’s help dogs.” But now I realize that any time you’re doing that, you’re also helping people, too. It’s so interconnected.
• Haley 26:30 — How our content can support dog parents & dogs — I might factually understand a piece of information but I just haven’t touched it in so long, haven’t thought about it, and it’s not top of mind. A nicely curated piece of content can jog my memory and make me think, “oh yeah, when was the last time I gave Scout a designated chew?”

🦴 We love Optimeal and we think your dog will too. Get 20% off their natural pet food with the code 20JuniperPet or at this link. (sponsored)

This week on the Juniper podcast, we’re unpacking what we thought dog mom life would look like, and what having a dog has actually been like.

If you’ve ever felt embarrassed in training class, experienced the puppy blues, or compared your dog (or yourself) to your local #dogfluencer, this episode is for you.

Tune in for a dog-walk-length dose of camaraderie. Then join the Juniper Community to meet more dog parents like you!

📍 Episode Highlights:

• Haley 00:45 — Loving your dog for who they are — When I first adopted Scout, I thought that if I worked hard enough and trained her well enough, then I could make her into anything. And that’s a really nice idea, and it’s not completely untrue … but I can’t fundamentally change who my dog is. She’s not a robot that I’m programming.
• Allison 3:38 — Letting go of naiveté and embracing dog training — I was so naive. I was like “dogs! they’re cool. they hang out. they sit.” I understood naively that there were some dogs that have challenges, but I thought they were extreme cases. But no, with most dogs you’re going to have to do some level of training and adjust your expectations.
• Haley 12:38 — Puppy blues — I think sometimes the puppy blues come from understanding that you’ve committed to this creature, and sometimes a sense of feeling a little trapped or worried that you’ve made this decision that feels irreversible and is shaking up your whole life.

🦴 We love Optimeal and we think your dog will too. Get 20% off their natural pet food with the code 20JuniperPet or at this link. (sponsored)