Happy Dog Mom’s Day from The Yap Corner | The Yap Corner Podcast

In this episode of The Yap Corner, hosts Madison Bennett and Jess Ramberg dive into the joys and challenges of being dog parents. They discuss fun facts about dog ownership, share personal stories about their pups Apollo, Gemini, and Ziggy, and explore the emotional support their dogs provide. The episode includes a new segment called 'Pup Confessions' and a fun game guessing dog vs. baby names. Madison and Jess also look ahead to future adventures, including a trip to Chonkfest in St. Louis. This episode is dedicated to all dog moms and dog lovers, filled with heartwarming tales and laughter.

00:00 Welcome to the Yap Corner
00:49 Dog Mom Life: Matching Shirts and More
01:24 Celebrating Dog Moms
02:01 Fun Facts About Being a Dog Parent
04:37 Pup Confessions
07:58 Hardest Dog Parent Moments
14:36 Social Media for Dogs
18:12 Buying a Home for Your Dog
19:47 Custom Pet Spaces and Fun Ideas
22:02 The Emotional Journey of Being a Dog Mom
24:06 Adding a Second Dog to the Family
26:30 The Story of Getting Ziggy
30:41 Dog Names and Their Origins
33:07 Dog Mom Day Shoutouts
33:41 Guess the Name: Dog or Baby?
35:41 Upcoming Events and Road Trips
37:15 Conclusion 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Jess: Welcome to the Yap Corner, A podcast for dog parents. By dog parents.

[00:00:10] Madison: We're your hosts, Madison Bennett and Jess Fremberg. Two dog obsessed. Humans who know that life is just. Better with a pup. I'm Madison, a dog mom, also a cat mom to four fur babies, and I'm more likely to remember your dog's name than a human name.

[00:00:27] Jess: And I'm Jess. I became a dog mom five years ago to Ziggy, and my must have item in my bag right now is cuticle oil. This isn't your typical dog podcast. We're not here to have food debates or training manuals,

[00:00:40] Madison: just real life. Talk

[00:00:42] Jess: about the everyday chaos and joy of life with a pup. So grab your pup.

[00:00:45] Coffee, soda, your beverage of choice, and let's yap about it all. First off, we have to give some recognition to our shirts. Shout out Madison for getting me a matching shirt to hers. As you can see or n see, there are our pups faces and mine says Ziggy. And yours says Apollo and Gem. Yes. And they're an array of puppy photos.

[00:01:09] Action shots. Funny photos. These are perfect. We love repping these at dog events. Yeah,

[00:01:14] Madison: I think these actually started with humans with, they give them for their girlfriends, but we got 'em for our dogs, and they're super cute.

[00:01:21] Jess: They're always a conversational starter.

[00:01:23] Madison: Yes.

[00:01:24] Jess: We're dedicating this episode to dog moms, to all those who have treats in their bags.

[00:01:28] Talk to their dogs like people and who will do anything for their pup.

[00:01:32] Madison: We've had so many convos with dog moms who are. Also human moms. So total rock stars for doing both. We'll bring that into a future episode where we'll chat with them about that. Also, shout out to all those human moms. Happy Mother's Day.

[00:01:47] Hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day.

[00:01:49] Jess: We're excited for this episode to talk about stories, what it's meant for us to be dog moms. Some fun facts, of course, and just a fun conversation dedicated to dog moms. We're gonna get

[00:02:01] Madison: this started with some fun facts about being a dog parent. I'm gonna bring out my phone, uh, because I can't remember them all, and we'll do the same.

[00:02:10] The first fun fact I have is Dog Moms Day was created in 2018 by day, which is a dog persons dating app. I've actually never heard of this app. I don't

[00:02:20] Jess: know if you have no. Dig. Did you say dig? Never heard of It sounds amazing though, like if you were dating, looking for other dog moms or

[00:02:32] Madison: Yeah, it was, I was

[00:02:33] Jess: interested in dogs.

[00:02:34] It was really

[00:02:35] Madison: created, uh, dog moms day to recognize dog moms everywhere. I am also wishing that this was around when I first started dating. I mean, I love my husband, don't get me wrong. But what a great app.

[00:02:45] Jess: Second fun fact here, average dog parent spends over $1,300 per year on their pup, often more than they spend on their own partner for gifts.

[00:02:55] Do you think that's true? I don't

[00:02:56] Madison: doubt

[00:02:56] Jess: it. Yeah, I think it's true.

[00:02:58] Madison: I think it's true. Yeah. Has to be. I need to fact check that, but I think I probably spend more than $1,300 a year on my pup. Especially when you have two. Yeah. Yeah. Devils and cats, so triples, quadruples, whatever you wanna call it. Next fact I have, dogs can sense emotions and that's often why they'll come cuddle you when you're sad, which is so cute.

[00:03:22] I love my dogs for that and can definitely feel that they sense our emotions.

[00:03:28] Jess: Oh a hundred percent. They comfort you. They get excited when you get excited. I know when Ziggy, if I get mad, especially if we're in the car and like a swear word comes out, she's so sensitive to those and she'll wanna like come cuddle and comfort me and it's just really cute.

[00:03:43] Madison: Yeah, that's really cute. I feel like my cats can't sense

[00:03:46] Jess: emotions, so I'm curious to know if they can, I need to look that up. And our last fun fact, women are more likely to own pets. 58% of women in the US own pets compared to the 49% of men. I mean, that's not a huge difference. No. Compared to women and men, but

[00:04:03] Madison: I think I'm actually more surprised that it's so close.

[00:04:06] Jess: Yeah. I would think the number would be way higher for women.

[00:04:10] Madison: Yeah. I don't know though. I know a lot of men that use dogs as a pickup opportunity, but also just another companion. Any reason that anybody would have a dog

[00:04:22] Jess: for us, obviously. We love them in our life to do tons of adventures and be best pals with them.

[00:04:28] But there are dogs who have jobs, who are working dogs.

[00:04:32] Madison: Mm-hmm.

[00:04:33] Jess: Hunting dogs, many different other functions.

[00:04:35] Madison: Yeah.

[00:04:35] Jess: Family, dogs, everything.

[00:04:37] Madison: We have a new segment that we're gonna start called Pup Confessions, where we'll share some fun facts or information about us, honestly, just a confession space. So if you have any yourself, feel free to ride into us on the Yap It Out forum.

[00:04:51] We're gonna kind of dive into that a little bit here. What is your most ridiculous thing you bought your dog? Okay, I have to admit, if you open that closet, my closet in my office, in our studio, half of it is. Filled with dog clothes. And when I first got, I think it was Apollo, I was like, I will never put a sweater, whatever, a bandana, sure.

[00:05:17] But any clothes on my dog, I just think it's ridiculous. And I think, I don't know what kind of came about. I think it might've been costumes. Costumes, yeah. A lot of birthday parties we'd go to that were found, and maybe somebody's here. Thank you for alerting us. But yeah, costumes definitely started it all.

[00:05:38] I think I have a whole costume bin just for the dogs alone outside of the closet, and I remember I saw a friend having a Carhartt jacket for their dog. And my husband loves Carhartt and that's all he wears. And I was like, I have to get this for Apollo. He's worn it a couple times, but we've definitely slowed down on the, on the outfit buying game.

[00:06:01] They don't really wear as much anymore, but I still have a whole closet full.

[00:06:05] Jess: How are the dogs with clothes on? How do they act?

[00:06:07] Madison: Very different for Apollo and Gemini. So Apollo actually, I think he likes it. He'll approach me and and wanna put it on. I think it's almost like a safe. Warm feeling comforting him, just something wrapped around him.

[00:06:20] You know, there's even those, uh, thunder jackets and stuff I know dogs have. So he loves that. Gemini? Mm, not so much. She kind of just wants to roll and get it off of her. They both also don't mind shoes, which are great for where we live. It gets really hot in the summer, you know, over a hundred degrees.

[00:06:41] Honestly, for us it's a way to protect their paws. What is Ziggy, how does she feel about clothes? Does she have a lot?

[00:06:47] Jess: Yes, she has a lot. A whole closet. I've definitely downsized it a ton with us moving to a, a place with smaller storage and, but she'll just freeze. I'll put clothes on her and she just freezes.

[00:06:59] Which is great for if, when I get photos or something, but eventually she'll get used to it and adapt. Same with shoes. She just adapts to it and she'll be fine. But when I take it off, she runs around, gets the zoomies, gets excited, rolls around on the floor. So tries to get

[00:07:15] Madison: that sent off of her,

[00:07:16] Jess: whatever it was.

[00:07:17] Yeah. She prefers to be

[00:07:18] Madison: nude. Is is that also the most ridiculous thing you buy your dog? Or is there something more particular?

[00:07:24] Jess: Well, this isn't a good example because I would just say like anything with Ziggy's face or name on it, a KAA shirt like this. Um, custom items. I recently went to Mark Jacobs during their Bark Jacobs event and.

[00:07:41] Bought a purse. I mean, it, you, you have to buy it like 300 bucks for a purse and then you get a hand painted portrait of your dog on the, on the bag. Anything like that just gets me and I'm like, yeah, I need it. Convince myself I need it. Yeah.

[00:07:55] Madison: Put my dog's face on it and I'll buy it.

[00:07:57] Jess: Yeah, exactly.

[00:07:58] Madison: What for you has been your hardest dog parent moment?

[00:08:03] Jess: Uh, such a tough one. Taking Ziggy to the vet when she's in pain. She's had some tooth cracks. But she actually wasn't in pain for those I, those were my first experiences taking to, to the vet and I was freaking out and nervous, like, how's her lifestyle gonna be? And the vet's like, she has plenty of teeth, she's gonna be just fine.

[00:08:24] But I did have an experience with her this past year where she had a little tweak in her back and was a in a lot of pain. And I was in Boise, so I wasn't even home. And I took her to the emergency vet and obviously I could, she was very visibly in pain and that was just hard not knowing what to do or make sure she's as comfortable as possible.

[00:08:47] But we got into the emergency vet, they were able to give her meds. They took an x-ray, you know, kind of just saw that everything's okay, just was a little muscle tweak and she needed rest. And from there we kind of snowballed into doing physical therapy and just making sure she's as strong as she can be.

[00:09:03] But that was the toughest. Moment for me. What about you? Yeah,

[00:09:07] Madison: no, I definitely remember that moment too with Apollo the first time he had like tweaked his leg and I think I called you and I, I probably was crying like, oh my gosh. Yeah, I, I was

[00:09:18] Jess: FaceTiming you like in the vet's office bawling my eyes out and you were reassuring me.

[00:09:22] It's okay. It's just hard when they're in pain.

[00:09:25] Madison: I know. Well, it's also 'cause we're very aware of, you know. These kinds of dogs and the things that can happen to them. A lot of them end up, you know, with wheelchairs, if that's just the case. And, and so with Apollo, he had also tweaked his leg. Um, he's fine now.

[00:09:40] It was literally just one time. But at that time we were like, okay, well let's get. The stairs for the dogs, make sure they have the things that they need for the, to get up to the bed or whatever, just to keep them healthy. But for me, I think it's more, as I've mentioned, Apollo has anxiety and sometimes that's really just hard to feel for him.

[00:10:00] You know, I want him to be this happy dog, you know, come with us everywhere. And I've just realized I kind of have to slow down sometimes and realize like not everything. Is for me and bringing him places. For example, the bark at the park, at Petco Park, we love going to that event. It's a, an event happens about four times a year where you could bring your dog and so.

[00:10:23] We used to bring him and we just finally realized that he doesn't enjoy it as much as we, we do. Um, so we leave him at home and bring Gemini 'cause she's really brave. And actually getting Gemini has made him more brave, which is really awesome to see. And so he is starting to come out of a shell.

[00:10:41] Jess: I think that awareness, I think you learn that and you start to advocate for your dog and fit their needs again.

[00:10:48] Every dog is so different. It's a great reminder that they all have. Their own fears and joys and everything that they prefer.

[00:10:57] Madison: Yeah. They are two totally different dogs. So it's been interesting to see, 'cause even with you and Ziggy, I remember, I. A first few times we hung out. You know, Ziggy has great recall, comes back, doesn't get scared of things as easily, but DePalo does.

[00:11:13] And so we just have to live a different lifestyle with that. But when I got Gemini, she's now better with recall. Can have more trust in her and and me as well, which is a great bonding. But like I said, getting Gemini has honestly helped Apollo a lot.

[00:11:29] Jess: What's a moment you just randomly started crying about your dog?

[00:11:34] Madison: Every time I see a Instagram post about, you know, another dog passing it re really makes me realize how precious and short their lives are. It's really hard to think about. I know it's just the cycle of having a dog. I just really don't want that day to come and, and so if I even just sit here thinking about it.

[00:11:56] I'll cry and I'm not gonna Yeah, we, we gotta

[00:11:58] Jess: change topics. I mean, mine's not gonna help. Mine is when I'm scrolling through and it's a sad song and it's like the end of life pet portrait and the photographer setting the couple up with their dog. And the one that gets me is when they all put their hands together and the dog's paw is on top.

[00:12:18] I baw my eyes like it just gets me every time, but those photos are so good. Hey, like no doubt, I'm probably gonna end up doing that with Ziggy Jess, you're about to cry. I'm about to cry. Anyways, those videos, that content will get me. Thank you for those photographers that do that because that is an amazing gift.

[00:12:43] To give, but if I'm not photographer, I'm crying every session.

[00:12:47] Madison: Yeah. I was literally just about to say even thank you to all those people that adopt the senior pets and are willing to. Live through that moment. Yeah. Again, that'll come for us and we will probably get more used to it, unfortunately, as we get older and get more pets.

[00:13:04] Jess: Yeah. My sister-in-law is a rock star in that she'll adopt dogs that they're going to put down and she brings 'em home and gives 'em the best end of their life anyways, you're gonna.

[00:13:15] Madison: Take this down. We're sorry. So many good people in this world. I don't even know if I wanna ask the next one. Have you ever canceled plans or vacation because you have vacation guilt because of your dog?

[00:13:28] Jess: Well, I'm very spoiled in that. Ziggy has been on 98% of my trips. I get to luckily experience having Ziggy with me, but there are definitely trips I'm on where she's not, and I'll have a little guilt or wish she were with me, but I'm also. Learning and being way more intentional and present in life and not being so attached to.

[00:13:53] My dog. Have you had to cancel any plans?

[00:13:56] Madison: So I've never actually canceled any plans because of the dogs, but I've definitely planned things to accommodate the dogs. Every Tuesday I go to agility training and every time I walk outta the house without Apollo, 'cause I bring Gemini, I just look at him and I look so sad.

[00:14:16] So I, I do feel that guilt. Even if I'm bringing another dog, but not hi, but not one of 'em. So. Even going to the vet, I'm like, oh, should I bring 'em both just so I don't have to leave them at home? I just see these eyes for the dog and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is so sad. So I definitely get guilt just leaving the house.

[00:14:36] Jess: We both have social media accounts for our dogs, and there's a time that we stopped even posting on our personal. Let's kind of dive into social media engagement. The social accounts for our dogs.

[00:14:49] Madison: I guess a confession here is that my dogs definitely have way better engagement on their posts and on their account.

[00:14:58] I mean, personally, I love seeing dogs. I love posting about the dogs. It's so freeing and. Really easy to post about them versus posting about myself. I don't know, it's just, do you feel the same way?

[00:15:11] Jess: A hundred percent. It's such a fun space and you know, you're instantly lifted of your mood, swiping through dogs, smiling, their adventures.

[00:15:21] I mean, we're obviously both dog people, so we love seeing the content on our Instagram and social accounts with dogs. I mean, I'm totally the momager. For Ziggy's social account.

[00:15:33] Madison: There's also something about the feed. I love going into their feed and seeing on Instagram and just seeing all the different dogs and it brightens my day versus I go into mine and there's some weird stuff or some reality TV stuff that I don't really care about.

[00:15:49] Just a totally different world with social media of a dog. I have a

[00:15:53] Jess: question for you. Okay. When you comment or message, oh. I know.

[00:15:57] Madison: Are

[00:15:57] Jess: you in the voice of the dogs or you?

[00:16:01] Madison: You okay? 90% of the time I do my own voice. I say thank you, like Apollo and Gemini love you, or whatever it might be. I know some people, a lot of people actually, I don't know what the split is, but a lot do.

[00:16:17] Comment on their dog's through their dog's voice. And I haven't really figured out their voice and I don't know that I will. So I don't lean towards that. Uh, however, sometimes, I mean if I'm saying happy birthday, I'll be like, happy birthday bro. For, or something that's a little cringey, but I mean, it's cute for the dog to account.

[00:16:38] What about you?

[00:16:39] Jess: Yeah, I think I'm in both places more so than not, I'm kind of like human me, Jess talking about Ziggy or. Answering for Ziggy, but you're definitely in those moments sometimes, and sometimes I'm like, what are we talking about? This is a human on the other end. Why? Why is this conversation talking about the dogs?

[00:17:01] It's like when, when they say, my mom would love to meet you, and I'm like, wait, aren't I talking to you right now? So those are moments where I kind of have to balance it or figure it out, but I think there's. There's a, there's, you know, sides to it. Yeah. Definitely

[00:17:17] Madison: got confused and been like, wait, is this like a kid on the mom's account asking to hang out with me or the dog hanging out with me?

[00:17:25] I don't know. Or we've even been in group chats where it's like people, and some people will use the dog voice and some will use the human voice, and we're just like. Having to figure that out balance and who are we talking to? But

[00:17:38] Jess: I think it's just like a natural thing. If you have a social account for your dog, I think there are times where I'm saying I'm so excited and it's a post of Ziggy, or like a story post.

[00:17:49] But then there's another post where I'm saying, we did this and I'm so proud of what happened. And look at Ziggy over here. So I think I'm in. A little bit of both.

[00:18:00] Madison: I also feel like there's some things I could feel what the dog would think. Like, yeah, I'm really happy. Oh, this is a great day. They went to the park, they loved it.

[00:18:09] Of course. So yeah, there's always time and a place. Last confession, I know you own a home and we do as well and we're blessed for that, but we definitely bought our house for our dog and to have a backyard. We had moved. Further than we'd prefer. Um, just so honestly we could get that backyard. How about you guys?

[00:18:33] Jess: It wasn't the only reason, but when we were getting tours and searching, any place that had a fenced in backyard caught our attention. And then the place that we're at now even has a turf spot. So when we saw that, we were like, oh, Ziggy will love this backyard. Oh, Ziggy will love this space. Oh, it'll be so fun to sit out here with Ziggy.

[00:18:56] You're thinking of your house, your space with you and your dog.

[00:19:00] Madison: Mm-hmm. Definitely one

[00:19:02] Jess: day we'll

[00:19:02] Madison: probably be like, oh, there's stairs. Like we live in a two story. So we're like, oh, there's stairs. Our dog can't get to the stairs. Maybe we need to go to one

[00:19:11] Jess: story for our dogs. Well, I saw, uh, like a bulldog, it went viral and it was a woman from across the street who recorded this bulldog being not carried, but it was like one of those.

[00:19:25] You know when you're older and you can't go up the stairs, you sit on it, it's like the

[00:19:29] Madison: wheelchair, like the lift

[00:19:30] Jess: and it, yeah, the lift up the stairs and it was a bulldog and the woman just witnessing this through the window and the dogs just sitting there and watching it just go up the stairs. I've even seen elevators in houses, four dogs where people have installed them in their house.

[00:19:46] So the dog. Just boop goes up, gets to the second floor.

[00:19:50] Madison: Okay. I have a question for you from that actually. We've seen like a guy in a Golden and some other accounts put in dog like rooms or dog houses in their house. Is that something you guys would do?

[00:20:03] Jess: I would totally do a custom build. And sometimes I'll find myself scrolling through content and those really cool, like even in the kitchen, you'd like pop it out under mm-hmm.

[00:20:16] Like your cabinets and it would be the dog bowl and dish, and then you'd pop it back in. I'm sure there's so many fun little things like that. But you have a under the stair closet? Yeah. For the cats?

[00:20:28] Madison: It is. For the cats. We do have a cat room. We like to call it the Harry Potter closet. 'cause under the stairs and honestly it's the cat's safe space owning corgis.

[00:20:38] They are known for herding. We'll get into that in a future episode I'm sure. But the cats. Are always getting herded. So we gave them that space to have their cat tower, have their food, have their litter box, everything that they need. If that wasn't the cat room, that would 1000% be a dog room and probably with a tv, some pictures on the wall of Ziggy and their other friends.

[00:21:04] It'd be so cute.

[00:21:05] Jess: I think I remember from some of the like builds I've seen, or even people that will build out like a custom. You know, crate area, they have a picture frame and a, a dog bed that looks like a couch. And then they have like a TV and a a water station. It. It's amazing.

[00:21:25] Madison: Oh, I've seen some crazy ones.

[00:21:27] Actually, I can't remember the count right now, and I'll find it and post it in the link below later. But there's this account that they even had almost like posters on the wall and they were funny. Like if it was a do a boy dog, it'd be like cute. Hot dogs. Hot chicks or whatever it is, and I'm like, that is so funny.

[00:21:48] I can, I can just dream. My Pinterest board already is like filled with ideas, like you said, even the water bowls and things like that. If I had all the money in the world, that'd probably be my first purchases, like build out all the custom dog and cat stuff.

[00:22:02] Jess: Let's slow it down a little bit and really reflect and talk about what it's meant to us to be dog moms and dog owners and.

[00:22:12] You know, really just dive into what does it mean for you to be a dog mom to Apollo and Gemini?

[00:22:19] Madison: This is actually kind of a emotional topic for me, but funny enough, when I first was thinking about getting a dog, we were living in an apartment and you know, totally had space for a dog, but. I had to be convinced by friends.

[00:22:37] My friends were like, they all had dogs and they were like, Madison, you need a dog. I had just moved to California a few years before, and at that time had just moved to San Diego. Didn't know a lot of people, and so they were like, get a, get a dog. You'll meet some people. When I had looked for, you know, a dog or companion and I needed something that was loyal, smart, trainable, all those things, because for me, when I finally.

[00:23:04] Got Apollo, I was going through a lot of nightmares and had some PTSD that I was dealing with, so it was really emotional support for me. And so just being able to cuddle a dog at night and I. Really get that love from him and warmth and I'm gonna like cry thinking about it, but it really means so much to me.

[00:23:26] And it, it helped my nightmares a lot. And that was just an add-on. I had wanted a dog. And then with that came so many other add-ons. I mean. Like my friends were saying, like, you'll meet so many people. I think we talked about in our first episode, you know, the covid happening and meeting you. My best friend and the dogs meeting their best friends.

[00:23:48] It's just been so many things that came with adding, having a dog that I didn't expect. I'm so thankful for him and, and even for Gemini. Gemini's taught me a lot. They're very different dogs and I'm, I'm still learning and I'm sure I will continue to learn more about. Being a dog parent and things that come with that.

[00:24:06] Jess: What made you bring a second dog into your life?

[00:24:10] Madison: Yeah, we had been thinking about it for a while. I'm definitely that person that has two of each. When I got, and I'll bring it back to when we first got a cat, I had a cat by myself and, and I had moved out, um, from roommates that did that. They had a cat, and so I was like, oh, you know, our cat.

[00:24:32] He's a cat. So we got our cat. A cat. Turns out they weren't friends, but that's for another thing I didn't realize, like not all cats like each other. So then when we got Apollo, um, we had been thinking about it for a while, like. When we moved, especially away from San Diego, like I said, we were gonna the dog park a lot hanging out with friends who had dogs.

[00:24:53] And so when we moved away, there weren't so many dog events near us as there were in San Diego. And I was like, well, Apollo needs a friend now. So we started looking around and we saw Gemini on an Instagram and somebody was. They couldn't find her a home. And we were like, well, we don't really want a dog right now.

[00:25:13] And they just kept posting like, Hey, we're looking for a home for this Corgi. Turns out, you know, she's a black and white corgi. If you don't see her, that's not as common. And, and I. To be honest, most people want the red and white corgi or the try color, and so they were just having a hard time finding her home.

[00:25:30] So we took her in, took her in, we got, we got her. And not like a saying it like a bad thing, like no. We definitely brought her into our lives and brought her into a Paul's lives and they became honestly immediate best friends. At first, there was some. Things that we had to figure out, but they love each other now and, and it's done exactly what we wanted him to have.

[00:25:51] A friend, they run together, they play so hard, they get zoomies, they wrestle all day. And, and so it's definitely made our lives a little difficult because like I said before, traveling, having two pets doubles the food costs, doubles, the vet costs everything. Doubles. Doubles the trouble. And so, but I wouldn't take it back for anything and, and so yeah, there's a lot that comes with dogs that you don't think, like you're not just getting a dog, you're getting a best friend, you're getting a compan, you're getting emotional support.

[00:26:23] Maybe you're their emotional support too. So it's been a blessing, honestly. So how about for you, for getting Ziggy? What has that meant to you? Why did you guys decide to get a dog in the first place?

[00:26:34] Jess: Always wanted a dog. Just needed to find the right timing and. We just moved to San Diego and we were here for a couple months and then Covid hit and we both got no travel orders from work and figured it was the best time to get a dog.

[00:26:53] We'll be home, we could train it. 'cause that was really important, that we could just be set up for success to have a dog that's great in our life. So we found a breeder and the breeder said, I have one dog left that you could take home today. Or I have a, a litter that's 10 days behind that you can come back, pick one out and do that.

[00:27:13] And on our way I said, should we just run by the bank and get the cash just in case? Like obviously we're gonna pick one out and come back in 10 days. So I said, okay. Of course we get there and I see what now is Ziggy this little pup running in the field with two Bernie's mountain dogs next to her.

[00:27:31] 'cause the breeder also bred Bernie Mountain Dogs. And I said, yes, you're coming home with me today. Of course, we signed all the paperwork, brought her home, had nothing. And stopped at PetSmart, got all the supplies and the rest is history on figuring it out. But I was really in a place where we moved from Boston and I had a fantastic life in Boston and was kicking and screaming.

[00:27:56] Being moved to California, I was just like, I don't want any more friends. I'm just gonna focus on my work. I'm bummed that I'm moving out here. I don't have friends or family out here. And so getting Ziggy instantly took me out of the house. Obviously it brought me to you. It brought me to all these dog events.

[00:28:15] It gave me a career. It gave me like confidence with someone to travel with, to be adventurous with. I love solo traveling and just leaning into new experiences and being able to enhance that with Ziggy by my side. Man, I just like can't imagine anything else. And Ziggy's my first dog. And there's been so much to learn, not just about having a dog, but about yourself.

[00:28:45] Your patience, your kindness towards just learning new things, meeting really cool people and their stories I think is one of my favorite things. And having a dog sparks up a conversation wherever you go. I think we, we've mentioned that where if you've got a dog, people will just wanna chat and have a conversation, and that can lead to a friendship, a new business opportunity, a new experience, open a door to something new.

[00:29:14] Such a blessing. And I don't even know what words to put, what it means.

[00:29:20] Madison: No, I feel the same way completely. I know that Ziggy has also brought you to doing like a lot of charity events. You wanna talk about little about that with the ice cream story and how that kind of came

[00:29:33] Jess: about? We're also part of Corgis for a cause.

[00:29:35] So we do a calendar every year and then we donate to a charity of our choice of, you know, something that is in need. And then it brought us to a passion project with Scoop San Diego, which is a nonprofit in San Diego, and they do an ice cream festival every year. This year we have over 35 shops. We've expanded our space.

[00:29:54] I work with the co-founder, Dan. He's also a dog. Parent, has his dog. Little does. I know Ziggy would take me to places and new opportunities and things to. Be part of and be part of the community that was also, you know, moving around so much and being busy, you don't have those roots because you're just on the go.

[00:30:17] And so having something that Ziggy has brought me to, to be part of something bigger than just me. It was really cool.

[00:30:25] Madison: It's just crazy how this world comes together with your dogs and all the events you do and all the things that you get involved with. Just through meeting people through our dogs. I mean, we've met a lot of friends and gone to different events, like you said, scoop San Diego or anything else, but it's crazy to see.

[00:30:41] I have a question 'cause I know this gets mistaken a lot if Ziggy is a boy or a girl, but how did you come up with the name Ziggy?

[00:30:50] Jess: The Dogist has. He's a, a street photographer in New York, obsessed with him. Would love for him to come on the podcast. He has one of his like coffee table books of photos of dogs and their names and we spent hours just flipping through this book looking figure, thinking like a name would just pop up and be like, that's our dog.

[00:31:11] The breeder named all her dogs puppy. That's funny. Ziggy. Was we just puppy? Come here, puppy over here, puppy. Oh, she, she responded to that. Yeah. She is looking at us for the first like three, four days. We were like, come here. Puppy. Puppy. And anyways, we saw Ziggy in the book, but it didn't stick out to us.

[00:31:33] They always ask Is a Ziggy Marley, Ziggy star us? We're like, no. No connection at all. Even though they're really cool. We just saw the name and said, yeah, that, that's it. I think we were done with calling her puppy. So we, we picked Ziggy and it's perfect for her. It fits her personality. How'd you pick the dog's names?

[00:31:52] Madison: We decided on our dog's names, mainly because we have a space theme going in. In this house. Our cats are Luna and Lara, which RA's a constellation for those that don't know. And so we wanted to continue with that. Theme and keep it going. And my husband's a aerospace engineer, so he loves all things space.

[00:32:14] And so I kind of let him pick it out. And so he is like, well, I really just like this name Apollo, and I honestly just had nothing against it. It's perfect for him now 'cause it's. The sun God, and he looks like a little sun God to me. Um, but we also just joke 'cause one of his favorite bands is Coheed and Cambrian.

[00:32:33] I guess Apollo is a part of that. I don't know exactly how. So if you, if you know, please share with me and I'm sure I'd make my husband very happy with the fact. He always just jokes that it was actually that and he tricked me. But no, it really is that, uh, space theme. And then, and then we've got Gemini.

[00:32:51] We just continue with the space theme and space missions and Gemini came along and people always ask me, is she a Gemini? And she's not. I actually don't know her sign, so I should look that up.

[00:33:02] Jess: It's fun to have a theme like that.

[00:33:04] Madison: Yeah,

[00:33:04] Jess: it's cool.

[00:33:05] Madison: It makes it easy. For sure.

[00:33:07] Jess: So Dog Mom Day has already happened.

[00:33:10] We're posting this after Dog Mom day, so. We wanna give a shout out to all those dog moms. If you have a dog mom that you want us to give a shout out, or you wanna kind of spotlight them, feel free to comment them below, tag 'em, send them to us. We wanna give all those shout outs and recognize all those dog moms out there

[00:33:28] Madison: and give all the love

[00:33:29] Jess: to the dog

[00:33:29] Madison: moms

[00:33:30] Jess: and give your.

[00:33:31] Doggo pet from us. Yeah. Give him a little scratch on the belly.

[00:33:35] Madison: So, you know, I love a game, and I've kind of already alluded to this already with asking about Ziggy's name. So we're gonna play a game, um, called Guess if This is a dog name or a baby name. So these are. Dog trending names and baby trending names that I found online from 2025.

[00:33:51] So I'm gonna tell 'em to you. I know them myself, so I'm not gonna play this game except for asking you and you have to guess. Okay, let's do it. Let's see. Olivia

[00:34:02] Jess: baby. Okay. Ding.

[00:34:04] Madison: Felix

[00:34:05] Jess: baby.

[00:34:06] Madison: Yes. Bailey

[00:34:08] Jess: dog. Yes. You're so good at this. Okay,

[00:34:12] Madison: Luna. Dog, both. Oh yeah. It's actually a trending human name, even though my cat's name is Luna and I, I think it's the most popular pet name actually.

[00:34:22] Lucy.

[00:34:24] Jess: Ooh, dog

[00:34:25] Madison: it is. Yeah. Dog. Oliver

[00:34:28] Jess: Dog.

[00:34:29] Madison: Baby. Cooper

[00:34:30] Jess: dog.

[00:34:31] Madison: Yeah. Max

[00:34:32] Jess: Human. Yeah. Baby. No dog. Oh,

[00:34:37] Madison: oh. Uh, Asher

[00:34:39] Jess: Baby.

[00:34:39] Madison: Yep. Milo Dog. Both.

[00:34:43] Jess: Both. Yeah.

[00:34:44] Madison: Or Kai Dog. Baby Amelia.

[00:34:50] Jess: Baby

[00:34:52] Madison: Lucy.

[00:34:53] Jess: Didn't we do this one?

[00:34:55] Madison: Oh, shoot. Lola both. No, dog. Yeah. Good job.

[00:35:03] Jess: What a fun game. I

[00:35:04] Madison: know. Actually wanna play this more often.

[00:35:06] Jess: I love the dogs that have human names.

[00:35:09] Madison: Yeah. Like

[00:35:09] Jess: Kevin. Oh, I know.

[00:35:11] Madison: Tom

[00:35:13] Jess: Benjamin. Yeah. I guess Ben is like a Benny dog name. Yeah. Benjamin

[00:35:18] Madison: Benny. Yeah. I mean, yeah.

[00:35:20] Jess: But yeah, dogs with human names and hearing them out in the wild, like at the dog park or the dog beach and people are like, Kevin, Kevin, sit down.

[00:35:30] Madison: You are like, are you talking to her?

[00:35:32] Dog. I mean kid like that, or No, the dog. Yeah. One day maybe I'd get a dog and name it. Kevin. Hilarious. Tell us what's coming up next. We're going to be on the road. We have Cho Fest coming up. I know we've mentioned it already. Heading to St. Louis. Fun little road trip. Of course with the dogs, and we're gonna be staying at this wild Airbnb that Jess booked.

[00:36:00] She just booked this and then was like, here you go. Look at this listing. And I'm like, I looked at it and we'll have to share pictures, but it's the doghouse of course. And I go, Jess, did you know that this is non-refundable? Like thinking that she just booked it as a joke. She didn't book it as a joke, of course,

[00:36:19] Jess: but she had, but I didn't know that it was non-refundable because at that point, like both of our husbands are coming with on this trip, but we didn't know if that was like a, for sure.

[00:36:29] I just assumed, oh, it's refundable, but I'm just gonna get it right now and like send it in the group chat. It has portraits all over from like floor to wall to ceiling in the living room. It has all these like trinkets and antiques of dogs and everything. It's. It's gonna be something we've never, ever seen or experienced.

[00:36:47] Yeah, it's gonna be wild. We're definitely gonna have to share it with you all. So make sure you're following our socials on Instagram and TikTok at the Yap Corner pod. So you can experience this with us.

[00:36:58] Madison: Yeah, with us it's the Key Words

[00:37:01] Jess: After Trunk Fest, both of us are headed to work events. So our next episode's gonna be a little different.

[00:37:07] It's gonna be our first remote recording episode, so. I'm excited for that.

[00:37:11] Madison: Yeah, that'll be different and interesting to figure out remotely. All right. That's it for today's episode of the Yap Corner. Thanks for tuning in.

[00:37:19] Jess: Make sure to follow us at the Yap Corner pod on Instagram and TikTok. Share this episode with a dog, mom, dog lover, dog, parent.

[00:37:27] So everyone can find us and tune in just like you are. We'll be back next week

[00:37:32] Madison: for more chaos laughs and dog stories.

[00:37:35] Jess: If you have any stories that you wanna share or a shout out or want to vent anything out to us, make sure to check out the Y It Out form and submit your. Anything.

[00:37:47] Madison: Anything.

[00:37:48] Jess: That's all we have for today.

[00:37:50] Madison: Thanks. Thanks for

[00:37:50] Jess: yapping.