March 25, 2025 • 38 mins
Tired of dog collars and leashes that feel generic, boring, or just don’t reflect who you and your pup really are?
In this creative and heart-centered episode of Straight Up Dog Talk, Em chats with Diana—founder of Dainty Paws—about how handmade dog accessories are more than just cute. They’re a statement of partnership, identity, and the special bond we share with our dogs. Whether you're a proud dog mom, dog dad, or just want to ditch the cookie-cutter gear, this episode will inspire you to upgrade with purpose.
You'll Learn:
Learn how Diana built a successful small business that’s changing the pet gear game
Discover what makes handcrafted dog collars, leashes, and bandanas so meaningful
Understand how your dog’s everyday wear can support small business, express your values, and feel good—inside and out
Press play to explore how stylish, intentional dog gear can elevate your bond, your walks, and your values—one collar at a time.
Check out Dainty Paws for stylish pet accessories and to support Diana’s small business: daintypawsco.com
Use Code SUDT10 to save 10% on your purchase!
This episode is proudly sponsored by our partnership with Dainty Paws.
This affiliate link supports the podcast and helps fuel the RV dream 💛
Straight Up Dog Talk Extras:
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This podcast explores real-life dog behavior and training, diving into reactivity, barking, dog anxiety, aggression, picky eating, gut health, and dog food—while unpacking enrichment, mental stimulation, supplements, calming aids, and holistic pet wellness. Whether you’re raising a rescue dog, supporting a senior dog, managing a velcro dog, or just navigating life with a dog who’s asking for more, you’ll find practical tools to build trust, strengthen communication, and create a safe, thriving life together.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
This week's episode is brought to you by Dainty Paws Pet
Accessories. Want your pet to stand out in
style? At Dainty Paws.
They create handcrafted, high quality beaded collars and
leashes designed to add a touch of charm to every furry friend.
Made with love, inspired by elegance, and built for comfort.
Because your pet deserves the best.
(00:20):
Shop now and give your pet the dainty look they deserve, and
you can use our code SU DT10 to save 10% on your purchase today.
Check the description in today'spodcast episode to click the
link and shop now. Welcome to Straight Up Dog Talk,
the podcast where pet parents, pet guardians, and pet
professionals come together to dive into real issues in dog
(00:42):
parenting. From controversial training
methods to sensitive health topics, we're getting raw and
real about what it means to carefor our canine companions.
Join us every Wednesday for unfiltered conversations, expert
insights, and personal stories that will make you laugh, cry,
and grow as a pet parent. Note topic is off limits and no
question goes unanswered. You won't get one perspective
(01:04):
here. You'll get them all because
every dog is different and everyhuman is too.
You can follow along on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook
at straight up dog talk or by visiting
www.straightupdogtalk.com TuneInfrom any of your favorite
podcast platforms. Welcome to straight up dog talk.
I'm em and we are back again this week with another amazing
(01:24):
guest. This week we have Diana from
dainty paws. I'm sure a lot of you guys are
familiar with dainty paws. If you're not, they are beaded
necklaces for your dogs that areabsolutely adorable.
They also support some pretty amazing causes.
So welcome, Diana, and how are you today?
I. Am great beautiful Saturday
morning so I can't complain. Yes, beautiful.
(01:47):
Such a weird winter we are having here in Iowa.
It's maybe 50 something degrees outside right now, which is very
strange for Iowa. We usually have snow and cold
right now also. I cannot complain either about
this interesting year that we'rehaving weather wise.
So why don't you tell everybody a little bit about what Dainty
(02:07):
Paws is, how it got started, andjust a little bit about you
yourself as a person? Yeah, so if I start at the
beginning, I had twin boys in 2017, I stopped working and my
goal was to be a stay at home mom and take care of my
children. Moving forward a couple years.
(02:28):
I was very bored and I was always a very, very creative
person. So the first thing I started to
do was Vita jewelry with semi precious gemstones and I did
that for about a year and a halfand it was called loops and
stone. I would do a lot of local
markets and so forth and startedthinking I looked at my elder
cats, which she's no longer withme.
Ali. She passed away two years ago
(02:50):
and I'm like, you know what? I need to make some type of
bling for my cat. I searched around and all of
this is self-taught. So I never had anyone teach me
how to do any of the product that I make.
It's just basically teaching myself and watching some videos
on YouTube as a lot of us do. And I've crafted these beautiful
colors and necklaces and she wasmy inspiration.
(03:13):
I made a small collection and I took it with me to my, my market
that I was doing here locally inFlorida and I sold and I
thought, you know what, this is what I need to be doing.
So if you move forward to 2023, that's when I created Dainty
Paws as an LLC because Loops andStones doesn't really come
(03:33):
together as a pet brand. And I really wanted to make a
name that was cute but also catchy so people wouldn't know
what it is. And I have pet accessories in my
name as well. I was still making that product
with Loops and Stones and I was in about 3 stores and 2022
locally. So what I did was I went out to
local mom and pop shops. I took product samples and asked
(03:57):
them if they wanted to consign my product because my goal was
really to get my product out there.
I don't have the knowledge or the know how of really how to
get it out online besides socialmedia because it takes a lot of
work when you're just one personand I did a lot of cold calling.
By the time I ended 2023 after Iswitched over to Dainty Paws, I
(04:18):
was in about 10 stores nationwide and by the time 2024
started from the help of some ofmy amazing ambassadors that I
have online, which I love them all very much.
I treat them like they work for me, so I'm always giving them
perk. I have to because it's like a
dream of mine to have Dainty Paws become something big to
(04:39):
where I leave something for my children.
It's something I have a strong passion for and initially the
product that I was making was all out of silicone and a lot of
people are familiar with those. They see them, other people make
them. I'm not the only one all over
the world, but they can use different materials.
So initially my first main focuswas just the silicone because
(05:01):
they're non-toxic. The beads are actually made of
the silicone use for baby teethers.
It's the exact same beads. Basically.
I wanted something that was safeso if for any reason a dog or
cat were chewing on it, they wouldn't get sick.
It would just come out naturallyeventually.
That's always good. As a vent tech, I would say
that's always good. We like it when it just pops out
(05:22):
the other end without doing any damage or causing anybody to get
sick. By the end of 2024, with the
help of some of the ambassadors that I built relationships with,
some of them are in the industries where they work with
pet brands as well and they havegreat clients who would say, do
you know any other companies that might be selling unique
(05:43):
products? I've gotten into store in
Bermuda, which is boats and barks and I've been with them
now for almost 2 years, which was very exciting.
I also am in a store in Australia, so that was exciting
also just from going wholesale this year and really pushing the
wholesale because that's my mainfocus.
I also have products in Hawaii and all my other stores are here
(06:06):
in the US and also I have a few in Canada and I would love to
branch out more in Canada, not only because that's where I'm
from, I'm from Toronto. I feel this connection like they
have to have my product, but it's just really exciting to
know that now when I finish the year, I was in 40 plus stores
pretty much worldwide and that was just me by myself doing
(06:30):
everything. I don't have any other
employees. It's working hard and just
putting my foot forward and focusing on what I want Dainty
Paws to be, which is a brand that people know that's.
Really cool. And Bermuda, what a random but
very cool place to end up havingyour product be.
I discovered you through pretty girl Pippa, who unfortunately is
(06:54):
no longer with us. But her mom Caitlin is just such
a sweet soul and I know that herfoster dogs are all benefiting
from Pippa's wonderful collection of things.
And she is. She's such a sweet person and
just just the biggest heart and Pippa, she was such a deserving
(07:14):
dog of that loving home. And just to be able to watch her
thrive through all of the hardships of cancer and really
feel safe and comfortable at theend of her life is such a
beautiful gift to give a dog. And you guys have a memorial
necklace for her, is that correct?
Yes. Well, what happened was this
(07:35):
necklace was created because like I had stated earlier, I
like to have all my ambassadors really inclusive with the brand.
I don't want it to be where you're an ambassador, you post
stuff and I don't interact with you.
That's not how I am as a person.I talk with my ambassadors every
single day. I know them like they're my best
friend. I do a lot of contests and
(07:55):
giveaways, so they have ways of getting free product as well,
not just with their discount. And Kaylin, of course, Pippa,
the model that she was, she was always rocking all those collars
and styles and she won every contest literally with flying
colors and was to design her very own collar.
(08:16):
And that's how the Pippa collar came to be.
And I've kept it in my collection.
I will never get rid of the Pippa collar.
When she passed away, I spoke toKaylin because I know she works
with Barks a lot, fostering. And I wanted to do something to
give back because even though I didn't know Pippa, I felt like
she was a part of me because shewas the sweetest pup and I
(08:39):
always wanted to do things to help, even when I heard her
story. When she passed away, I asked
Kaylin if I could do a male version of it.
And that's when I asked her to talk to Barks and see if we can
sell both the PIPA collar and male and female version.
And then a portion of the proceeds I want to donate to
Bark. So once I have a certain amount
(09:00):
and I'll send it over to what's in her memory.
And I mean, if you look at my brand ambassador, she'll always
be there. I know I just launched a new
collection and I was showing allmy ambassadors because we've
grown so much in the last couplemonths with the ambassadors.
I have over 2728 of them now andI have her in there.
And she was. So grateful, you know, she's
(09:21):
like, wow, you still kept her inthere.
And I'm like, I'm never, ever gonna take her out.
She'll always be a part of the brands no matter what.
That is so cool and what an amazing way to give back to
somebody that really representedyour brand well, but also to her
community because she does volunteer for barks and she does
foster other dogs and she's really active in that whole
(09:44):
rescue community, which I told her from the beginning after
Pippa passed, I said I don't know how you are doing this
because I would just be a mess after losing my dog.
Look at me. Yeah.
We're both crying because of Pippa right now.
Even in her interview, she said something that really surprised
(10:05):
me, which was she had already made peace with the fact that
she knew that she had limited time with her and she knew that
it would be hard when she lost her, but that would just give
her the ability to help another dog.
And what a beautiful way to lookat it, because I think all of us
who have dogs or work with dog were a little bit obsessed with
(10:27):
them, right? We love them so much, and losing
them is the last thing in the world we want to think about.
But it is going to come to that point because that's
unfortunately how life works. Yeah.
And I just think that it's so beautiful that everything that
she does, she does in memory of Pippa.
And this one's for Pippa. And I'm going to save another
(10:49):
one for Pippa. And I'm going to get another one
a home. And I know that she'll probably
eventually adopt another one when she's ready.
That takes time. And I'm sure that dog will be
just as special. Oh, yeah.
Probably just as good of a model.
She starts them off right away, so.
She does, She does. So tell us a little bit about
(11:10):
your collections. Do they have a theme?
Do they have multiple necklaces in each collection?
Do you do only the jewelry or doyou have other accessories and
things that you sell as well? Tell us a little bit more about.
That yeah, so initially when I started it was just the
necklaces. If you look at a lot of my older
(11:30):
posts, I used to make these wooden beads that paw with my
logo in the middle because I wanted something with my logo on
the necklace. So I bought a laser engraver and
taught myself how to use it. So I was making hundreds and
hundreds of paws to use as the finishing piece for all these
necklaces. And then one of my ambassadors
said my cat is nipping at the wood.
(11:51):
And honestly, that was the only thing I had to hear to change
that aspect of the necklace. So I invested at that point in
silicone mold with a company andI had the paws made with my on
them. So everything is now silicone.
The last thing I need is a dog or cat ingesting wood.
That wouldn't be good. I know it looks pretty but I got
(12:12):
rid of that and then I was like you know what, let me try the
collars. So the collars was a lot of
trial and error but I have Maplenow which is a pity and she
loves to pull. So she is the perfect tester for
everything that I make because she's 70 lbs and she pulls a
lot. The collars are collars that you
can attach your leash and walk your pet.
(12:33):
They're made with vinyl coated stainless steel aircraft wire
and they can handle about 265 lbs of pulling.
Completely waterproof, super strong, not going to go
anywhere. I will say I'm more inclined to
focus more on the collars now just because with the necklaces,
what people don't know is if youhave a home that has multiple
(12:54):
pets, they're going to rough play, they're going to nip at
each other's necks and that's going to snap because it's just
a cork. It's a string, like a stretchy
string, but it's a string. It's, it's good for, I always
say small animals, cats, little dogs who don't do all that crazy
stuff that my Maple does. I'm always trying to do new
things because coming from the retail background, I was in
(13:17):
retail for over 20 years as a district manager.
I understand that keeping product fresh and having new
things come out is important. And for me, I don't just like to
release a new color. I like to do collections.
That's a little, maybe it's a little bit weird, but that's
just my thing. And I've come up with a few
collections. The one that I had most recently
(13:38):
launched was called Vintage Glam.
And I'll be honest, this came tome.
People are going to think I'm crazy, but I don't, I don't
sleep that great and I wake up at 5:00 and that's when I get my
best ideas sometimes. And I was putting, I was putting
a style together and when I was done with it, I'm like, this is
absolutely beautiful. I have never seen anything like
(13:59):
this with the florals and the the tones of the Peach and the
pearls. And I'm like, I could do a
vintage collection and then I could do one for each era.
So I started researching about the 1930s, Nineteen 40s.
I researched about the colors from those eras, and I designed
a collar for each year. So 1930s, forties, 50s.
(14:20):
And then it didn't stop there. I was like, you know what?
I need to buy some outfits from those eras and match them up.
And I reached out to an ambassador of mine who has a
gorgeous greyhound called Geordie because I knew from back
in the day greyhounds and standard poodles were the main
thing. I also knew someone on social
(14:41):
media that had a standard poodlethat was stunning.
So I reached out to them and I'mlike, I want to do this photo
shoot in Fort DeSoto that we have here in the park.
They have tanks and all this that people can walk through.
I'm going to supply all the clothes, just bring the dogs,
I'll have all the merch and let's go do a photo shoot.
And that's how the vintage glam came to be.
So if you go to my website or even on my social media, you'll
(15:04):
see the full collection and it is amazing with Pearl beaded
leashes and everything is representative to each era
perfectly and I absolutely love it.
That is so cool. I have not seen that collection
yet. I'm going to have to go check it
out. That is really, really, really
cool. I love that you hide in
(15:25):
something old with something newand then made an entire thing
out of it. I just, I think that is so cool.
That's what I love creatives, right, Because we just come up
with these weird ideas and then we make them into something
that's functional or decorative or special.
That makes our pets personality just pop that much more.
(15:47):
That's really cool. We definitely need to have a
conversation too, because I would love for you to do
something for the podcast to design or colors, and because
Fitz is really good at modeling.We have our harness and our
leash and everything that has the logo and all that stuff on
it. We had beaded necklace made by
Bao Bao Ties, which is adorable.It's a girl that donates half of
(16:11):
her earnings to shelters and she's been doing it for a couple
of years and she's raised like $6000 for shelters.
She started when she was nine and she's 12 now.
So just a really cool story there too.
But I think that you're doing the same thing, right?
You're giving back in areas too.You're giving back to your
ambassadors, you're giving back to rescues, which we'll get into
(16:33):
that here in a second. But I just think it's so cool
because this is one of those areas that I love to support is
the small business. I love that there are so many of
us out there just working our butts off.
Like you said earlier, it's justyou.
It's, it's the same for me with the podcast.
It's just me. I do everything with the podcast
and people don't realize that behind the scenes of a small
(16:56):
business, there's a lot of stuff.
With the podcast, it's recordingthe episodes and editing the
episodes and writing all the descriptions for the episodes
and then uploading and scheduling and all that stuff.
But with a small business like yours, you have to string the
necklaces, you have to purchase the product, you have to ship
everything out, you have to package everything.
(17:16):
There's all these little details.
Honestly, I think a lot of timeswhat people don't realize is
that we are like real life superheroes because we're doing
the job of many people by ourselves.
It's so. Insane.
I've had people ask me, that's why I did that little trivia.
I'm not sure if you saw that I was doing on Instagram to see if
people really knew much about mebecause it's not the first time
(17:39):
I've put it out there. And a lot of people say, wow, I
can't believe after they see theanswer, you're doing this all by
yourself. And I'm like, you know what?
Back in October, I flew my mom in from Toronto to come and help
me because I had so many wholesale orders.
My hands can only take so much, and it was getting to the point
where I hadn't found a pneumaticcrimp machine that had the
(18:02):
tinsel strength strong enough for the wire that the wire
wouldn't slide out. I'm doing everything manually
with a hydraulic crimp, doing that motion all the time.
My hands were getting numb at night and they were falling
asleep and I'm like Oh no, something bad is going to happen
to me in the future. Like carpal tunnel or whatever I
went through and I'm not joking.6 different products, ordering
(18:24):
back and forth, huge machines that crimp everything and now I
just have to hold it and it has a foot pedal.
So I'm like thank you because I finally found when it was worth
the money. I'm just thankful to that aspect
because it is a lot of work and like you said, a lot of people
don't realize I love what I do. I won't complain one day if I
(18:44):
have too many orders or whateverit may be.
My whole thing is I want to makethe product perfectly.
So I'm a little bit of a stickler and knows on how things
have to be. She's like, you better look at
this before you do that. Everything has to be perfect.
I'm not a person who will say, hey, it's gonna take two weeks
for you to get this product. If you order online for me, I
make sure it goes out the next day or the same day.
(19:06):
That's just how I am. Wholesale orders are different
depending on the quantity, but it's just one of those things
where I want my product to be made well and I want people to
love what their pets are wearingbecause it's a part of them now.
It's it's their fashion. And there are so many dogs out
there who love their fashion, right?
(19:27):
I love it when we'll do the unboxings.
And then they put them on their dogs.
And the dogs are just like posing and they're holding their
necks up and they just look like, oh, look at me, look how
fancy I am. It's so cute to see that Fitz is
not. I don't necessarily think that
he's like a let me show off. So I look so cute.
(19:48):
He's more of a, it's a security thing for him.
So I like to have options for him when I take off his collar
because he has one of those spy collars and I have to take it
off to charge the battery on it occasionally.
And so then he doesn't have his normal everyday collar on.
So I like to have a collar or a necklace or something that I
can. Can put on him instead because
(20:10):
he freaks out when I take his collar off and he's like, that's
funny. Well, what's going on?
Like what are you doing that putthat back on me that that's my
necklace. So then I give him something
different to put on and then he kind of is like, OK, this is
fine. I'm I like this put on your
pretty necklace for a little while and he's totally fine with
it. Dogs are just, they're funny, so
(20:31):
silly, and I love it. I mean, it's like Maple she's
been mauling for me since I rescued her.
When she was two months old and every time I'm working in my
office, she'll come to me and she'll start doing the little
pity. I think most pities do this, a
little grunt type of moan and she'll put her head on my lap.
She thinks everything I make is for her.
(20:52):
And when I say OK, pick 1 and I used to have a whole bunch of
I'm like, which one do you want to wear?
And her tails will all wagon andshe's all excited and she like
puts her nose on and I'm like fine, let's put this one on and
she's all happy and she walks away.
So if I put anything else on her, she hates it so and
everything, and she starts nipping at it.
But a necklace? It's like, OK, even when we're
(21:13):
doing our photo shoots, she knows already I have a handful
of them. She'll follow me and she'll sit
in place. My gosh, that's so funny.
I mean, why wouldn't she think that they were all for her?
Because of course we've been putting them all on her up to
this point. So immediately my brain would be
like, oh, that's for me, that's for me.
Mom's making something new. That's for me.
(21:34):
That's so fun. So you only have silicone beads
or you have other beads too? So it was only silicone up until
this last collection launched that I just did yesterday, the
Dainty Collective. And that was a 27 piece
collection that I did for my ambassadors.
So I wanted them to design A collar representative of each
(21:57):
one of their dogs, cats that they have, and it would be named
after them. So we know it's an authentic
piece representative of, let's say Clover, who's a corgi or
Pepper. Who's this real fashionista?
Sassy Kitty? And it was really fun.
It took a lot of work and I absolutely love it.
So those I decided to incorporate some acrylic beads.
(22:18):
I did a lot of research and the acrylic bead, they're not toxic
to animals that wouldn't use them if they were.
They're just more shiny. And I knew people out there
really love that. There's huge market for it.
And I don't want to miss out on what people are asking for
because I had either my ambassador saying, do you have
the shiny ones? And I'm just like, OK, so over
(22:40):
the holidays is when I decided to get a few of these in and see
how they look. And I don't do them all acrylic.
I actually mix them with the silicone and it looks really
nice. So it's not just all shiny.
Beads, I just pulled it up so that I could look at them and
these are so cute. Cash's necklace colors are what
(23:01):
I would say are Fitz's colors, the teal and the blue and I'd
love that is so cute and she's also cute.
Our new ambassadors to Dainty Paws, which I'm so excited
about. We got 12 or 13 new ambassadors
within the last month, so that was really exciting because I
love having ambassadors. To me, there's no limit.
(23:21):
You want to be an ambassador, reach on out to me.
And some of them I even reach out to and they're like, I don't
meet the requirements on my website.
I have had to become one and it says 1000 followers on social
media. And I'll tell them don't worry
about it. Within a month you're probably
going to be way over the requirements.
So I'm not even a stickler for that.
(23:42):
I'm very easygoing. I.
Love that. I'm looking here so I can talk a
little bit about some of these because you have some very
unique things like the paw stone, the customized birthstone
that is adorable. Yeah.
And now I'm looking at your vintage collection that is so
cute and the glam collection, the pothecly loved collection,
(24:04):
the neon bright. You just have some really unique
fun things. And my gosh, the glam collection
is so cute. All of these pastel colors and
pearls and these Pearl hearts. Oh my gosh.
Like I said, I had seen a lot ofyour stuff based on what Pippa
had worn, but I, I don't, I, I'mgoing to tell the solicitors
(24:29):
right now. I don't try to do a whole bunch
of research before I do these interviews because I want it to
be revelatory for me too. I want to learn about the
product as the listeners are learning about the product.
I want to learn about you as I'mlearning about you with the
listeners because I think it's more authentic and I think it's
(24:51):
more genuine. If you guys get my response to
this is what's going on here andthen I'll start working with the
the business afterwards. That's usually how it goes.
So by the time this episode comes out, I'm sure we'll have
two or three of these because that's that's just how it goes.
There are very few brands that Iworked with prior to recording
(25:14):
their episodes. And most of those were just
because when I started with the podcast, I had to start
somewhere, right? I had to make connections and do
all of the things. But I am pretty picky and choosy
about who I have come on the podcast as far as small
businesses, because I've been burned a couple of times by
small so businesses. Yeah.
(25:36):
And I I think that it's really important to have people come on
here who are referred by other people who have really strong
integrity, also have really great business model, but also
believe in their product. And you want this to be
something that you can hand off to your kids.
That to me says that your whole heart is invested in this.
(26:00):
And it's not just about putting pretty necklaces on dogs.
This is something that you want to build for your family's
future, which to me just says everything I need to know.
And I think that is so cool. So what do you think is the next
thing? What's the next step for Dainty
Paws? Do you have an idea?
I have a lot of goals from last year to this year.
(26:22):
I will say there was a huge improvement and we did very,
very well and I'm hoping to evendouble that this year.
When it comes to the amount of stores we're in, we're a little
bit over 45. There's a lot of companies that
do sell our product, but it's through drop shipping, so it's
more online and I don't really include those on my website
(26:44):
because it's not a physical place to shop.
I did go into one major retailer.
It wasn't the best step for me. And I think when you talk to a
lot of small businesses, even from someone like me who loves
watching Shark Tank and I wish Iwas on there so they can be mean
to me. But a lot of them I've heard say
it was the worst step they did when they went to a major
(27:05):
retailer because they do eat youalive.
And I learned my lesson and I don't want to go there again.
My focus is all the mom and pop retailers out there because they
do want unique handcrafted products that are well made that
you can't find everywhere. And they're very successful.
A lot of the retailers that I'm with are repeating orders all
(27:27):
the time. It's not just a one time order
and that's it. And that warms my heart.
Every time I see them put another order through, I get so
happy because I'm like, they love dainty paws, their
customers love dainty paws. So this makes me so happy to
know what I make with my hands is in stores and it's hard to
explain. I get goosebumps.
It's exciting. But I hope by the end of this
(27:49):
year I'm getting closer to 80 stores if not more.
And I would love to hire help. Can imagine you would.
I would love to be in this situation to where I have the
ability to hire someone to help me when my mom comes from Canada
once twice a year. My gosh, it cuts my production
time in half having her with me.And that's a huge difference
(28:11):
when you're trying to get product out there quickly and
orders are coming in all the time.
And to be able to hire someone to do my social media, which a
lot of us know is such a daunting task.
Yeah, it's not my favorite thing.
That's that's for sure. And there's a huge difference
too, when you're a business, let's say on social media and
you're just a creative posting for your dog because there's
(28:35):
that algorithm and you don't getthe following that you would if
you were an individual. It's very different.
And I've tested it and I've seenthe results in the exact same
posts on same platform, but likedifferent accounts.
And one had thousands and thousands of views and then the
other one just had a couple. And I'm like, OK, it's because
this is a business page. So it's a how to work, and to
have someone that really understands social media and how
(28:57):
to do all that stuff would be tremendous help.
Yeah. I've spent a lot of time the
last six months is just trying to learn social media and the
strategy of how to post and how to present and all that kind of
stuff. And it really is hard because
I'm trying to grow the podcast as a business, but I'm also
trying to grow virtual dog training.
And so it's two very different mindsets.
(29:21):
And yes, having a business page does restrict you on Instagram.
It's crazy. That was something that I
learned, thankfully very early on.
But it's also one of those things that's like, geez, you
would think that they would try and help businesses, but it's a
social platform, not a business platform.
So it's all that knowing all those little things, researching
(29:42):
things on YouTube, it's me over there watching videos about
social media on YouTube all the time.
Like, OK, what do we need to learn this week?
So I get it. But it would be major, major
help to have somebody who did know how to do that.
And obviously extra hands alwaysare good.
So cuz then you're making more product and you're able to get
(30:04):
it out to more places. Do you have a preference for the
kind of shops you're in? Like you said mom and pop, you
hope that to just get into any kind of shop that sells like
miscellaneous little things or artsy Craftsy things or pet
only. No, because I have a bit of mix.
I have some stores in Vegas thatare more of home products like
(30:26):
furniture and things, but then they have a little section
that's for pets, so they bought some of my products to put it in
there with all of their products.
When I say mom and pop, I just mean not big box because big
box, it's not easy. The one that I did get into, it
took over a year and it wasn't even near the quantity that I
(30:47):
thought it would be. It's not worth it in the long
run. For everything, I had to invest,
and I invested more than I got in return, let's just say that.
It's really hard to with the bigbox stores because especially if
you want to stay as true and authentic to your mission and
your quality and all that kind of stuff, you have to give a lot
of that up when you move into the big box stores.
(31:10):
And then that doesn't make your product unique anymore and it
takes away from your ability to be creative and put out these
amazing, cool different things. You to fall into the line and
fall into the rules and these are your limitations.
What if one week you're like, oh, I have this really great
idea and I come up with 17 necklaces and I want to release
(31:30):
them and then two months later you have another amazing idea
and you're able to come up with 15 more.
You can release that right away.You don't have to hold out on
it. Whereas within a big box,
they're going to want this everysingle however many, and you
have to have X number of designsand all this stuff.
And I think that that takes a lot of freedom and choice away
(31:51):
from your business too, which ishard, right?
I honestly flat out do not buy anything from big box stores
except for Fitz's Toy, just because the toys that he likes,
like his Kong toys. I can't get that from a small
business. There isn't a small business
that has recreated something that is similar to that.
(32:13):
So we don't buy food from box stores, We don't buy treats from
box stores, nothing. Our slick mats are slow feeders.
Anything like that are homemade treats and stuff.
If I don't make it, I buy it from somebody who does collars,
leashes. Everything comes from small
businesses because I think that especially right right now when
corporate America is kind of taking over everything, it's
(32:36):
even harder to run a small business.
And I want to support people whoare really out there trying to
run the game and trying to do their own thing and live their
life and pay their bills becauseit's what they love to do, not
because it's what they have to do, right?
Yep. Exactly.
I'm just so obsessed. With everything that you have
made, I don't know, I'm really honestly kind of glad I don't
(32:58):
have a girl dog because I think that I would be broke right now
if I. Have some ambassadors.
So one of them was not an ambassador, she was a customer
and I saw her orders come through all the time and she
would buy 8 at a time, eight at a time, 8 at a time.
And I was like, wow, I need to reach out to her.
This is when I was still Loops and Stones.
(33:19):
So she has a lot of my older product and I reached out to her
and I said I would love for you to be in for Dainty Paws.
It was like she was almost in tears.
She's like, are you serious? I don't even have the following.
I said I don't care. You're my best customer.
You're the person I want representing Dainty Paws.
And yes, they're part of Dainty Paws now.
And it's like I said, I'm a genuine person making these
(33:42):
products and I care about the people that are my ambassadors.
People might think that's crazy because they're not getting
paid, but honestly, my ambassadors get paid in products
because every time their codes are used.
I have a track record of all thesales that are used that have
their codes when people are buying things and that goes
(34:03):
towards them getting products sothey don't have to take up money
out of their pocket. Well, and these little giveaways
and things that I do, I've told them over and over, if I could,
I would hire them and they wouldhave to move to Florida.
I just think that's so. Incredible.
I love that. I love that you are including
people that don't have the following because there are a
lot of people out there. I'm sure that they get on social
(34:23):
media for fun, right? They are not trying to post or
sell or teach people or listen to this podcast that could help
you with stuff or whatever. There's a lot of people out
there that literally just get onto scroll.
So to to know that that those people have just that equal
opportunity to participate that that's just really incredible.
So what do you think that your favorite thing about running
(34:46):
your own businesses Freedom is the.
Big part because I don't have someone telling me what I can
and can't do. Coming from the retail world, I
always, always, always, since I can remember, always wanted my
own business. My mom was always an
entrepreneur. She always had coffee shops or
stuff like that. When I was younger.
My dad was a Baker. My family's originally from
(35:07):
Portugal, so he was a Baker. And when I was little growing up
in Toronto, he had his Portuguese bakery.
And I just remember as a young kid playing in the basement and
he was upstairs in his bakery and having fresh bread and
Donuts and all these Portuguese pastries.
So it's something that's always been me.
I just never knew what it was going to be.
(35:28):
And it started a little bit later maybe than what I when I
wanted it to. But you know what?
It came at the perfect time because being a stay at home
mom, my life is crazy because ofthe twins and they're boys and
they're wild. But when they're at school, my
life is dainty paws. And then in between doing all
the mom stuff and whoever's a mom understands, it doesn't
(35:49):
stop. And I have two dogs, 2 cats Ally
that passed away two years ago and I have fish because kids
wanted them and look who has to take care of them now.
How it goes, that's what. Goes gosh, well, I love that.
That's so cool. I, that's not actually something
I've ever talked about, I don't think on the podcast before, but
when I was young, my parents hada restaurant.
(36:10):
They had a diner and I remember it was kind of a retro's diner.
It had the black and white checkered floor and my mom made
homemade pies. They had breakfast and lunch.
They weren't open at dinner. And I remember the waitress that
was there, her brown curly hair.But you know, those are those
really cool nostalgic moments from your childhood and that it
(36:32):
inspired you to create your own business going forward.
And you know what? I feel like I had the same
thing. The podcast, the dog training,
it all started a little bit later in my life than I would
have imagined or planned for that kind of thing to take root
in my life. But I've learned that everything
kind of takes place when it's supposed to happen and
everything happens in its own time.
(36:52):
And I mean, look at how much you've done in just a few years.
And I am so excited to see you grow and to continue to work
with you and learn more about Dainty Paws and just share it
with the world. So thank you so much for being
here today. What would you like to leave the
listeners with? Don't forget to go.
Check out our website because ithas the coolest styles from the
(37:16):
tiniest little pets like little chihuahuas that have 9 inch
necks or even smaller. And I forgot to mention I have
done many things for bearded Dragons and that's something
that is coming up. I won't say anything else within
the next month. That's awesome.
I definitely keep your. Pets stylish, I think that's
important. Keep them stylish and just make
(37:38):
them happy and remember they deserve to be treated just like
we love to be treated and spoiled.
I think that's an excellent message.
Thank you so much again for being here and we will see you
guys next week on Straight Up Dog Talk.
Straight Up Dog Talk was createdby Emily Breslin.
It is edited and produced under the supervision of Straight Up
(37:58):
Dog Talk, LLC and Emily Breslin.You're enjoying this podcast.
Follow or subscribe and be sure you don't miss an episode and
leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform.
Looking for more honest and relatable dog content?
Check out our sister show, Unpacked with Jerry Sheriff and
Madison Simpson. Thanks for listening to Straight
Up Dog Top. See you next week.
This week's episode is brought to you by Dainty Paws Pet
Accessories. Want your pet to stand out in
style? At Dainty Paws.
They create handcrafted, high quality beaded collars and
leashes designed to add a touch of charm to every furry friend.
Made with love, inspired by elegance, and built for comfort.
Because your pet deserves the best.
(00:20):
Shop now and give your pet the dainty look they deserve, and
you can use our code SU DT10 to save 10% on your purchase today.
Check the description in today'spodcast episode to click the
link and shop now. Welcome to Straight Up Dog Talk,
the podcast where pet parents, pet guardians, and pet
professionals come together to dive into real issues in dog
(00:42):
parenting. From controversial training
methods to sensitive health topics, we're getting raw and
real about what it means to carefor our canine companions.
Join us every Wednesday for unfiltered conversations, expert
insights, and personal stories that will make you laugh, cry,
and grow as a pet parent. Note topic is off limits and no
question goes unanswered. You won't get one perspective
(01:04):
here. You'll get them all because
every dog is different and everyhuman is too.
You can follow along on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook
at straight up dog talk or by visiting
www.straightupdogtalk.com TuneInfrom any of your favorite
podcast platforms. Welcome to straight up dog talk.
I'm em and we are back again this week with another amazing
(01:24):
guest. This week we have Diana from
dainty paws. I'm sure a lot of you guys are
familiar with dainty paws. If you're not, they are beaded
necklaces for your dogs that areabsolutely adorable.
They also support some pretty amazing causes.
So welcome, Diana, and how are you today?
I. Am great beautiful Saturday
morning so I can't complain. Yes, beautiful.
(01:47):
Such a weird winter we are having here in Iowa.
It's maybe 50 something degrees outside right now, which is very
strange for Iowa. We usually have snow and cold
right now also. I cannot complain either about
this interesting year that we'rehaving weather wise.
So why don't you tell everybody a little bit about what Dainty
(02:07):
Paws is, how it got started, andjust a little bit about you
yourself as a person? Yeah, so if I start at the
beginning, I had twin boys in 2017, I stopped working and my
goal was to be a stay at home mom and take care of my
children. Moving forward a couple years.
(02:28):
I was very bored and I was always a very, very creative
person. So the first thing I started to
do was Vita jewelry with semi precious gemstones and I did
that for about a year and a halfand it was called loops and
stone. I would do a lot of local
markets and so forth and startedthinking I looked at my elder
cats, which she's no longer withme.
Ali. She passed away two years ago
(02:50):
and I'm like, you know what? I need to make some type of
bling for my cat. I searched around and all of
this is self-taught. So I never had anyone teach me
how to do any of the product that I make.
It's just basically teaching myself and watching some videos
on YouTube as a lot of us do. And I've crafted these beautiful
colors and necklaces and she wasmy inspiration.
(03:13):
I made a small collection and I took it with me to my, my market
that I was doing here locally inFlorida and I sold and I
thought, you know what, this is what I need to be doing.
So if you move forward to 2023, that's when I created Dainty
Paws as an LLC because Loops andStones doesn't really come
(03:33):
together as a pet brand. And I really wanted to make a
name that was cute but also catchy so people wouldn't know
what it is. And I have pet accessories in my
name as well. I was still making that product
with Loops and Stones and I was in about 3 stores and 2022
locally. So what I did was I went out to
local mom and pop shops. I took product samples and asked
(03:57):
them if they wanted to consign my product because my goal was
really to get my product out there.
I don't have the knowledge or the know how of really how to
get it out online besides socialmedia because it takes a lot of
work when you're just one personand I did a lot of cold calling.
By the time I ended 2023 after Iswitched over to Dainty Paws, I
(04:18):
was in about 10 stores nationwide and by the time 2024
started from the help of some ofmy amazing ambassadors that I
have online, which I love them all very much.
I treat them like they work for me, so I'm always giving them
perk. I have to because it's like a
dream of mine to have Dainty Paws become something big to
(04:39):
where I leave something for my children.
It's something I have a strong passion for and initially the
product that I was making was all out of silicone and a lot of
people are familiar with those. They see them, other people make
them. I'm not the only one all over
the world, but they can use different materials.
So initially my first main focuswas just the silicone because
(05:01):
they're non-toxic. The beads are actually made of
the silicone use for baby teethers.
It's the exact same beads. Basically.
I wanted something that was safeso if for any reason a dog or
cat were chewing on it, they wouldn't get sick.
It would just come out naturallyeventually.
That's always good. As a vent tech, I would say
that's always good. We like it when it just pops out
(05:22):
the other end without doing any damage or causing anybody to get
sick. By the end of 2024, with the
help of some of the ambassadors that I built relationships with,
some of them are in the industries where they work with
pet brands as well and they havegreat clients who would say, do
you know any other companies that might be selling unique
(05:43):
products? I've gotten into store in
Bermuda, which is boats and barks and I've been with them
now for almost 2 years, which was very exciting.
I also am in a store in Australia, so that was exciting
also just from going wholesale this year and really pushing the
wholesale because that's my mainfocus.
I also have products in Hawaii and all my other stores are here
(06:06):
in the US and also I have a few in Canada and I would love to
branch out more in Canada, not only because that's where I'm
from, I'm from Toronto. I feel this connection like they
have to have my product, but it's just really exciting to
know that now when I finish the year, I was in 40 plus stores
pretty much worldwide and that was just me by myself doing
(06:30):
everything. I don't have any other
employees. It's working hard and just
putting my foot forward and focusing on what I want Dainty
Paws to be, which is a brand that people know that's.
Really cool. And Bermuda, what a random but
very cool place to end up havingyour product be.
I discovered you through pretty girl Pippa, who unfortunately is
(06:54):
no longer with us. But her mom Caitlin is just such
a sweet soul and I know that herfoster dogs are all benefiting
from Pippa's wonderful collection of things.
And she is. She's such a sweet person and
just just the biggest heart and Pippa, she was such a deserving
(07:14):
dog of that loving home. And just to be able to watch her
thrive through all of the hardships of cancer and really
feel safe and comfortable at theend of her life is such a
beautiful gift to give a dog. And you guys have a memorial
necklace for her, is that correct?
Yes. Well, what happened was this
(07:35):
necklace was created because like I had stated earlier, I
like to have all my ambassadors really inclusive with the brand.
I don't want it to be where you're an ambassador, you post
stuff and I don't interact with you.
That's not how I am as a person.I talk with my ambassadors every
single day. I know them like they're my best
friend. I do a lot of contests and
(07:55):
giveaways, so they have ways of getting free product as well,
not just with their discount. And Kaylin, of course, Pippa,
the model that she was, she was always rocking all those collars
and styles and she won every contest literally with flying
colors and was to design her very own collar.
(08:16):
And that's how the Pippa collar came to be.
And I've kept it in my collection.
I will never get rid of the Pippa collar.
When she passed away, I spoke toKaylin because I know she works
with Barks a lot, fostering. And I wanted to do something to
give back because even though I didn't know Pippa, I felt like
she was a part of me because shewas the sweetest pup and I
(08:39):
always wanted to do things to help, even when I heard her
story. When she passed away, I asked
Kaylin if I could do a male version of it.
And that's when I asked her to talk to Barks and see if we can
sell both the PIPA collar and male and female version.
And then a portion of the proceeds I want to donate to
Bark. So once I have a certain amount
(09:00):
and I'll send it over to what's in her memory.
And I mean, if you look at my brand ambassador, she'll always
be there. I know I just launched a new
collection and I was showing allmy ambassadors because we've
grown so much in the last couplemonths with the ambassadors.
I have over 2728 of them now andI have her in there.
And she was. So grateful, you know, she's
(09:21):
like, wow, you still kept her inthere.
And I'm like, I'm never, ever gonna take her out.
She'll always be a part of the brands no matter what.
That is so cool and what an amazing way to give back to
somebody that really representedyour brand well, but also to her
community because she does volunteer for barks and she does
foster other dogs and she's really active in that whole
(09:44):
rescue community, which I told her from the beginning after
Pippa passed, I said I don't know how you are doing this
because I would just be a mess after losing my dog.
Look at me. Yeah.
We're both crying because of Pippa right now.
Even in her interview, she said something that really surprised
(10:05):
me, which was she had already made peace with the fact that
she knew that she had limited time with her and she knew that
it would be hard when she lost her, but that would just give
her the ability to help another dog.
And what a beautiful way to lookat it, because I think all of us
who have dogs or work with dog were a little bit obsessed with
(10:27):
them, right? We love them so much, and losing
them is the last thing in the world we want to think about.
But it is going to come to that point because that's
unfortunately how life works. Yeah.
And I just think that it's so beautiful that everything that
she does, she does in memory of Pippa.
And this one's for Pippa. And I'm going to save another
(10:49):
one for Pippa. And I'm going to get another one
a home. And I know that she'll probably
eventually adopt another one when she's ready.
That takes time. And I'm sure that dog will be
just as special. Oh, yeah.
Probably just as good of a model.
She starts them off right away, so.
She does, She does. So tell us a little bit about
(11:10):
your collections. Do they have a theme?
Do they have multiple necklaces in each collection?
Do you do only the jewelry or doyou have other accessories and
things that you sell as well? Tell us a little bit more about.
That yeah, so initially when I started it was just the
necklaces. If you look at a lot of my older
(11:30):
posts, I used to make these wooden beads that paw with my
logo in the middle because I wanted something with my logo on
the necklace. So I bought a laser engraver and
taught myself how to use it. So I was making hundreds and
hundreds of paws to use as the finishing piece for all these
necklaces. And then one of my ambassadors
said my cat is nipping at the wood.
(11:51):
And honestly, that was the only thing I had to hear to change
that aspect of the necklace. So I invested at that point in
silicone mold with a company andI had the paws made with my on
them. So everything is now silicone.
The last thing I need is a dog or cat ingesting wood.
That wouldn't be good. I know it looks pretty but I got
(12:12):
rid of that and then I was like you know what, let me try the
collars. So the collars was a lot of
trial and error but I have Maplenow which is a pity and she
loves to pull. So she is the perfect tester for
everything that I make because she's 70 lbs and she pulls a
lot. The collars are collars that you
can attach your leash and walk your pet.
(12:33):
They're made with vinyl coated stainless steel aircraft wire
and they can handle about 265 lbs of pulling.
Completely waterproof, super strong, not going to go
anywhere. I will say I'm more inclined to
focus more on the collars now just because with the necklaces,
what people don't know is if youhave a home that has multiple
(12:54):
pets, they're going to rough play, they're going to nip at
each other's necks and that's going to snap because it's just
a cork. It's a string, like a stretchy
string, but it's a string. It's, it's good for, I always
say small animals, cats, little dogs who don't do all that crazy
stuff that my Maple does. I'm always trying to do new
things because coming from the retail background, I was in
(13:17):
retail for over 20 years as a district manager.
I understand that keeping product fresh and having new
things come out is important. And for me, I don't just like to
release a new color. I like to do collections.
That's a little, maybe it's a little bit weird, but that's
just my thing. And I've come up with a few
collections. The one that I had most recently
(13:38):
launched was called Vintage Glam.
And I'll be honest, this came tome.
People are going to think I'm crazy, but I don't, I don't
sleep that great and I wake up at 5:00 and that's when I get my
best ideas sometimes. And I was putting, I was putting
a style together and when I was done with it, I'm like, this is
absolutely beautiful. I have never seen anything like
(13:59):
this with the florals and the the tones of the Peach and the
pearls. And I'm like, I could do a
vintage collection and then I could do one for each era.
So I started researching about the 1930s, Nineteen 40s.
I researched about the colors from those eras, and I designed
a collar for each year. So 1930s, forties, 50s.
(14:20):
And then it didn't stop there. I was like, you know what?
I need to buy some outfits from those eras and match them up.
And I reached out to an ambassador of mine who has a
gorgeous greyhound called Geordie because I knew from back
in the day greyhounds and standard poodles were the main
thing. I also knew someone on social
(14:41):
media that had a standard poodlethat was stunning.
So I reached out to them and I'mlike, I want to do this photo
shoot in Fort DeSoto that we have here in the park.
They have tanks and all this that people can walk through.
I'm going to supply all the clothes, just bring the dogs,
I'll have all the merch and let's go do a photo shoot.
And that's how the vintage glam came to be.
So if you go to my website or even on my social media, you'll
(15:04):
see the full collection and it is amazing with Pearl beaded
leashes and everything is representative to each era
perfectly and I absolutely love it.
That is so cool. I have not seen that collection
yet. I'm going to have to go check it
out. That is really, really, really
cool. I love that you hide in
(15:25):
something old with something newand then made an entire thing
out of it. I just, I think that is so cool.
That's what I love creatives, right, Because we just come up
with these weird ideas and then we make them into something
that's functional or decorative or special.
That makes our pets personality just pop that much more.
(15:47):
That's really cool. We definitely need to have a
conversation too, because I would love for you to do
something for the podcast to design or colors, and because
Fitz is really good at modeling.We have our harness and our
leash and everything that has the logo and all that stuff on
it. We had beaded necklace made by
Bao Bao Ties, which is adorable.It's a girl that donates half of
(16:11):
her earnings to shelters and she's been doing it for a couple
of years and she's raised like $6000 for shelters.
She started when she was nine and she's 12 now.
So just a really cool story there too.
But I think that you're doing the same thing, right?
You're giving back in areas too.You're giving back to your
ambassadors, you're giving back to rescues, which we'll get into
(16:33):
that here in a second. But I just think it's so cool
because this is one of those areas that I love to support is
the small business. I love that there are so many of
us out there just working our butts off.
Like you said earlier, it's justyou.
It's, it's the same for me with the podcast.
It's just me. I do everything with the podcast
and people don't realize that behind the scenes of a small
(16:56):
business, there's a lot of stuff.
With the podcast, it's recordingthe episodes and editing the
episodes and writing all the descriptions for the episodes
and then uploading and scheduling and all that stuff.
But with a small business like yours, you have to string the
necklaces, you have to purchase the product, you have to ship
everything out, you have to package everything.
(17:16):
There's all these little details.
Honestly, I think a lot of timeswhat people don't realize is
that we are like real life superheroes because we're doing
the job of many people by ourselves.
It's so. Insane.
I've had people ask me, that's why I did that little trivia.
I'm not sure if you saw that I was doing on Instagram to see if
people really knew much about mebecause it's not the first time
(17:39):
I've put it out there. And a lot of people say, wow, I
can't believe after they see theanswer, you're doing this all by
yourself. And I'm like, you know what?
Back in October, I flew my mom in from Toronto to come and help
me because I had so many wholesale orders.
My hands can only take so much, and it was getting to the point
where I hadn't found a pneumaticcrimp machine that had the
(18:02):
tinsel strength strong enough for the wire that the wire
wouldn't slide out. I'm doing everything manually
with a hydraulic crimp, doing that motion all the time.
My hands were getting numb at night and they were falling
asleep and I'm like Oh no, something bad is going to happen
to me in the future. Like carpal tunnel or whatever I
went through and I'm not joking.6 different products, ordering
(18:24):
back and forth, huge machines that crimp everything and now I
just have to hold it and it has a foot pedal.
So I'm like thank you because I finally found when it was worth
the money. I'm just thankful to that aspect
because it is a lot of work and like you said, a lot of people
don't realize I love what I do. I won't complain one day if I
(18:44):
have too many orders or whateverit may be.
My whole thing is I want to makethe product perfectly.
So I'm a little bit of a stickler and knows on how things
have to be. She's like, you better look at
this before you do that. Everything has to be perfect.
I'm not a person who will say, hey, it's gonna take two weeks
for you to get this product. If you order online for me, I
make sure it goes out the next day or the same day.
(19:06):
That's just how I am. Wholesale orders are different
depending on the quantity, but it's just one of those things
where I want my product to be made well and I want people to
love what their pets are wearingbecause it's a part of them now.
It's it's their fashion. And there are so many dogs out
there who love their fashion, right?
(19:27):
I love it when we'll do the unboxings.
And then they put them on their dogs.
And the dogs are just like posing and they're holding their
necks up and they just look like, oh, look at me, look how
fancy I am. It's so cute to see that Fitz is
not. I don't necessarily think that
he's like a let me show off. So I look so cute.
(19:48):
He's more of a, it's a security thing for him.
So I like to have options for him when I take off his collar
because he has one of those spy collars and I have to take it
off to charge the battery on it occasionally.
And so then he doesn't have his normal everyday collar on.
So I like to have a collar or a necklace or something that I
can. Can put on him instead because
(20:10):
he freaks out when I take his collar off and he's like, that's
funny. Well, what's going on?
Like what are you doing that putthat back on me that that's my
necklace. So then I give him something
different to put on and then he kind of is like, OK, this is
fine. I'm I like this put on your
pretty necklace for a little while and he's totally fine with
it. Dogs are just, they're funny, so
(20:31):
silly, and I love it. I mean, it's like Maple she's
been mauling for me since I rescued her.
When she was two months old and every time I'm working in my
office, she'll come to me and she'll start doing the little
pity. I think most pities do this, a
little grunt type of moan and she'll put her head on my lap.
She thinks everything I make is for her.
(20:52):
And when I say OK, pick 1 and I used to have a whole bunch of
I'm like, which one do you want to wear?
And her tails will all wagon andshe's all excited and she like
puts her nose on and I'm like fine, let's put this one on and
she's all happy and she walks away.
So if I put anything else on her, she hates it so and
everything, and she starts nipping at it.
But a necklace? It's like, OK, even when we're
(21:13):
doing our photo shoots, she knows already I have a handful
of them. She'll follow me and she'll sit
in place. My gosh, that's so funny.
I mean, why wouldn't she think that they were all for her?
Because of course we've been putting them all on her up to
this point. So immediately my brain would be
like, oh, that's for me, that's for me.
Mom's making something new. That's for me.
(21:34):
That's so fun. So you only have silicone beads
or you have other beads too? So it was only silicone up until
this last collection launched that I just did yesterday, the
Dainty Collective. And that was a 27 piece
collection that I did for my ambassadors.
So I wanted them to design A collar representative of each
(21:57):
one of their dogs, cats that they have, and it would be named
after them. So we know it's an authentic
piece representative of, let's say Clover, who's a corgi or
Pepper. Who's this real fashionista?
Sassy Kitty? And it was really fun.
It took a lot of work and I absolutely love it.
So those I decided to incorporate some acrylic beads.
(22:18):
I did a lot of research and the acrylic bead, they're not toxic
to animals that wouldn't use them if they were.
They're just more shiny. And I knew people out there
really love that. There's huge market for it.
And I don't want to miss out on what people are asking for
because I had either my ambassador saying, do you have
the shiny ones? And I'm just like, OK, so over
(22:40):
the holidays is when I decided to get a few of these in and see
how they look. And I don't do them all acrylic.
I actually mix them with the silicone and it looks really
nice. So it's not just all shiny.
Beads, I just pulled it up so that I could look at them and
these are so cute. Cash's necklace colors are what
(23:01):
I would say are Fitz's colors, the teal and the blue and I'd
love that is so cute and she's also cute.
Our new ambassadors to Dainty Paws, which I'm so excited
about. We got 12 or 13 new ambassadors
within the last month, so that was really exciting because I
love having ambassadors. To me, there's no limit.
(23:21):
You want to be an ambassador, reach on out to me.
And some of them I even reach out to and they're like, I don't
meet the requirements on my website.
I have had to become one and it says 1000 followers on social
media. And I'll tell them don't worry
about it. Within a month you're probably
going to be way over the requirements.
So I'm not even a stickler for that.
(23:42):
I'm very easygoing. I.
Love that. I'm looking here so I can talk a
little bit about some of these because you have some very
unique things like the paw stone, the customized birthstone
that is adorable. Yeah.
And now I'm looking at your vintage collection that is so
cute and the glam collection, the pothecly loved collection,
(24:04):
the neon bright. You just have some really unique
fun things. And my gosh, the glam collection
is so cute. All of these pastel colors and
pearls and these Pearl hearts. Oh my gosh.
Like I said, I had seen a lot ofyour stuff based on what Pippa
had worn, but I, I don't, I, I'mgoing to tell the solicitors
(24:29):
right now. I don't try to do a whole bunch
of research before I do these interviews because I want it to
be revelatory for me too. I want to learn about the
product as the listeners are learning about the product.
I want to learn about you as I'mlearning about you with the
listeners because I think it's more authentic and I think it's
(24:51):
more genuine. If you guys get my response to
this is what's going on here andthen I'll start working with the
the business afterwards. That's usually how it goes.
So by the time this episode comes out, I'm sure we'll have
two or three of these because that's that's just how it goes.
There are very few brands that Iworked with prior to recording
(25:14):
their episodes. And most of those were just
because when I started with the podcast, I had to start
somewhere, right? I had to make connections and do
all of the things. But I am pretty picky and choosy
about who I have come on the podcast as far as small
businesses, because I've been burned a couple of times by
small so businesses. Yeah.
(25:36):
And I I think that it's really important to have people come on
here who are referred by other people who have really strong
integrity, also have really great business model, but also
believe in their product. And you want this to be
something that you can hand off to your kids.
That to me says that your whole heart is invested in this.
(26:00):
And it's not just about putting pretty necklaces on dogs.
This is something that you want to build for your family's
future, which to me just says everything I need to know.
And I think that is so cool. So what do you think is the next
thing? What's the next step for Dainty
Paws? Do you have an idea?
I have a lot of goals from last year to this year.
(26:22):
I will say there was a huge improvement and we did very,
very well and I'm hoping to evendouble that this year.
When it comes to the amount of stores we're in, we're a little
bit over 45. There's a lot of companies that
do sell our product, but it's through drop shipping, so it's
more online and I don't really include those on my website
(26:44):
because it's not a physical place to shop.
I did go into one major retailer.
It wasn't the best step for me. And I think when you talk to a
lot of small businesses, even from someone like me who loves
watching Shark Tank and I wish Iwas on there so they can be mean
to me. But a lot of them I've heard say
it was the worst step they did when they went to a major
(27:05):
retailer because they do eat youalive.
And I learned my lesson and I don't want to go there again.
My focus is all the mom and pop retailers out there because they
do want unique handcrafted products that are well made that
you can't find everywhere. And they're very successful.
A lot of the retailers that I'm with are repeating orders all
(27:27):
the time. It's not just a one time order
and that's it. And that warms my heart.
Every time I see them put another order through, I get so
happy because I'm like, they love dainty paws, their
customers love dainty paws. So this makes me so happy to
know what I make with my hands is in stores and it's hard to
explain. I get goosebumps.
It's exciting. But I hope by the end of this
(27:49):
year I'm getting closer to 80 stores if not more.
And I would love to hire help. Can imagine you would.
I would love to be in this situation to where I have the
ability to hire someone to help me when my mom comes from Canada
once twice a year. My gosh, it cuts my production
time in half having her with me.And that's a huge difference
(28:11):
when you're trying to get product out there quickly and
orders are coming in all the time.
And to be able to hire someone to do my social media, which a
lot of us know is such a daunting task.
Yeah, it's not my favorite thing.
That's that's for sure. And there's a huge difference
too, when you're a business, let's say on social media and
you're just a creative posting for your dog because there's
(28:35):
that algorithm and you don't getthe following that you would if
you were an individual. It's very different.
And I've tested it and I've seenthe results in the exact same
posts on same platform, but likedifferent accounts.
And one had thousands and thousands of views and then the
other one just had a couple. And I'm like, OK, it's because
this is a business page. So it's a how to work, and to
have someone that really understands social media and how
(28:57):
to do all that stuff would be tremendous help.
Yeah. I've spent a lot of time the
last six months is just trying to learn social media and the
strategy of how to post and how to present and all that kind of
stuff. And it really is hard because
I'm trying to grow the podcast as a business, but I'm also
trying to grow virtual dog training.
And so it's two very different mindsets.
(29:21):
And yes, having a business page does restrict you on Instagram.
It's crazy. That was something that I
learned, thankfully very early on.
But it's also one of those things that's like, geez, you
would think that they would try and help businesses, but it's a
social platform, not a business platform.
So it's all that knowing all those little things, researching
(29:42):
things on YouTube, it's me over there watching videos about
social media on YouTube all the time.
Like, OK, what do we need to learn this week?
So I get it. But it would be major, major
help to have somebody who did know how to do that.
And obviously extra hands alwaysare good.
So cuz then you're making more product and you're able to get
(30:04):
it out to more places. Do you have a preference for the
kind of shops you're in? Like you said mom and pop, you
hope that to just get into any kind of shop that sells like
miscellaneous little things or artsy Craftsy things or pet
only. No, because I have a bit of mix.
I have some stores in Vegas thatare more of home products like
(30:26):
furniture and things, but then they have a little section
that's for pets, so they bought some of my products to put it in
there with all of their products.
When I say mom and pop, I just mean not big box because big
box, it's not easy. The one that I did get into, it
took over a year and it wasn't even near the quantity that I
(30:47):
thought it would be. It's not worth it in the long
run. For everything, I had to invest,
and I invested more than I got in return, let's just say that.
It's really hard to with the bigbox stores because especially if
you want to stay as true and authentic to your mission and
your quality and all that kind of stuff, you have to give a lot
of that up when you move into the big box stores.
(31:10):
And then that doesn't make your product unique anymore and it
takes away from your ability to be creative and put out these
amazing, cool different things. You to fall into the line and
fall into the rules and these are your limitations.
What if one week you're like, oh, I have this really great
idea and I come up with 17 necklaces and I want to release
(31:30):
them and then two months later you have another amazing idea
and you're able to come up with 15 more.
You can release that right away.You don't have to hold out on
it. Whereas within a big box,
they're going to want this everysingle however many, and you
have to have X number of designsand all this stuff.
And I think that that takes a lot of freedom and choice away
(31:51):
from your business too, which ishard, right?
I honestly flat out do not buy anything from big box stores
except for Fitz's Toy, just because the toys that he likes,
like his Kong toys. I can't get that from a small
business. There isn't a small business
that has recreated something that is similar to that.
(32:13):
So we don't buy food from box stores, We don't buy treats from
box stores, nothing. Our slick mats are slow feeders.
Anything like that are homemade treats and stuff.
If I don't make it, I buy it from somebody who does collars,
leashes. Everything comes from small
businesses because I think that especially right right now when
corporate America is kind of taking over everything, it's
(32:36):
even harder to run a small business.
And I want to support people whoare really out there trying to
run the game and trying to do their own thing and live their
life and pay their bills becauseit's what they love to do, not
because it's what they have to do, right?
Yep. Exactly.
I'm just so obsessed. With everything that you have
made, I don't know, I'm really honestly kind of glad I don't
(32:58):
have a girl dog because I think that I would be broke right now
if I. Have some ambassadors.
So one of them was not an ambassador, she was a customer
and I saw her orders come through all the time and she
would buy 8 at a time, eight at a time, 8 at a time.
And I was like, wow, I need to reach out to her.
This is when I was still Loops and Stones.
(33:19):
So she has a lot of my older product and I reached out to her
and I said I would love for you to be in for Dainty Paws.
It was like she was almost in tears.
She's like, are you serious? I don't even have the following.
I said I don't care. You're my best customer.
You're the person I want representing Dainty Paws.
And yes, they're part of Dainty Paws now.
And it's like I said, I'm a genuine person making these
(33:42):
products and I care about the people that are my ambassadors.
People might think that's crazy because they're not getting
paid, but honestly, my ambassadors get paid in products
because every time their codes are used.
I have a track record of all thesales that are used that have
their codes when people are buying things and that goes
(34:03):
towards them getting products sothey don't have to take up money
out of their pocket. Well, and these little giveaways
and things that I do, I've told them over and over, if I could,
I would hire them and they wouldhave to move to Florida.
I just think that's so. Incredible.
I love that. I love that you are including
people that don't have the following because there are a
lot of people out there. I'm sure that they get on social
(34:23):
media for fun, right? They are not trying to post or
sell or teach people or listen to this podcast that could help
you with stuff or whatever. There's a lot of people out
there that literally just get onto scroll.
So to to know that that those people have just that equal
opportunity to participate that that's just really incredible.
So what do you think that your favorite thing about running
(34:46):
your own businesses Freedom is the.
Big part because I don't have someone telling me what I can
and can't do. Coming from the retail world, I
always, always, always, since I can remember, always wanted my
own business. My mom was always an
entrepreneur. She always had coffee shops or
stuff like that. When I was younger.
My dad was a Baker. My family's originally from
(35:07):
Portugal, so he was a Baker. And when I was little growing up
in Toronto, he had his Portuguese bakery.
And I just remember as a young kid playing in the basement and
he was upstairs in his bakery and having fresh bread and
Donuts and all these Portuguese pastries.
So it's something that's always been me.
I just never knew what it was going to be.
(35:28):
And it started a little bit later maybe than what I when I
wanted it to. But you know what?
It came at the perfect time because being a stay at home
mom, my life is crazy because ofthe twins and they're boys and
they're wild. But when they're at school, my
life is dainty paws. And then in between doing all
the mom stuff and whoever's a mom understands, it doesn't
(35:49):
stop. And I have two dogs, 2 cats Ally
that passed away two years ago and I have fish because kids
wanted them and look who has to take care of them now.
How it goes, that's what. Goes gosh, well, I love that.
That's so cool. I, that's not actually something
I've ever talked about, I don't think on the podcast before, but
when I was young, my parents hada restaurant.
(36:10):
They had a diner and I remember it was kind of a retro's diner.
It had the black and white checkered floor and my mom made
homemade pies. They had breakfast and lunch.
They weren't open at dinner. And I remember the waitress that
was there, her brown curly hair.But you know, those are those
really cool nostalgic moments from your childhood and that it
(36:32):
inspired you to create your own business going forward.
And you know what? I feel like I had the same
thing. The podcast, the dog training,
it all started a little bit later in my life than I would
have imagined or planned for that kind of thing to take root
in my life. But I've learned that everything
kind of takes place when it's supposed to happen and
everything happens in its own time.
(36:52):
And I mean, look at how much you've done in just a few years.
And I am so excited to see you grow and to continue to work
with you and learn more about Dainty Paws and just share it
with the world. So thank you so much for being
here today. What would you like to leave the
listeners with? Don't forget to go.
Check out our website because ithas the coolest styles from the
(37:16):
tiniest little pets like little chihuahuas that have 9 inch
necks or even smaller. And I forgot to mention I have
done many things for bearded Dragons and that's something
that is coming up. I won't say anything else within
the next month. That's awesome.
I definitely keep your. Pets stylish, I think that's
important. Keep them stylish and just make
(37:38):
them happy and remember they deserve to be treated just like
we love to be treated and spoiled.
I think that's an excellent message.
Thank you so much again for being here and we will see you
guys next week on Straight Up Dog Talk.
Straight Up Dog Talk was createdby Emily Breslin.
It is edited and produced under the supervision of Straight Up
(37:58):
Dog Talk, LLC and Emily Breslin.You're enjoying this podcast.
Follow or subscribe and be sure you don't miss an episode and
leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform.
Looking for more honest and relatable dog content?
Check out our sister show, Unpacked with Jerry Sheriff and
Madison Simpson. Thanks for listening to Straight
Up Dog Top. See you next week.
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