May 30, 2025 • 35 mins
In this captivating episode of "Dog Friendly," host Brandon Bennett sits down with Kevin Ferman, the social media star and beloved pup personality known as @the_uber_dog. In this part of their in-depth interview, Kevin shares insights into his childhood, revealing his natural entrepreneurial spirit and noting that he was never quite motivated in school but always driven to create and innovate.
Kevin takes us behind the scenes of his life with Bowie, sharing touching stories about their daily walks and the bond they've built through training and companionship. He reflects on growing up with dogs, the lessons he learned from their training, and how those early experiences shaped his approach to life and relationships with animals.
He also opens up about the craziest of Uber stories — including a life-saving moment where he helped a lady after she rolled her car right in front of him. It’s a wild, inspiring, and real look at the unpredictable life of an Uber driver turned social media sensation.
Looking to the future, Kevin discusses his plans beyond the "Uber Dog" persona, revealing what’s next for him outside of the viral videos. With honesty, humor, and a deep love for his furry friends, this episode offers a well-rounded glimpse into Kevin’s life, his wild adventures, and the road ahead.
For dog lovers, adventure seekers, or fans of real-life hero stories — this episode is packed with heart, humor, and insight. Don't miss it!
Romeros K9 Club - https://www.romerosk9club.com/
Winnie Lou - Locally Made (Louisville, Colorado) dog treats in the form of pretzels. https://www.winnielou.com
Skate Lab - https://www.skatelab.com/
FFL Brands - Located in Boulder, Colorado is where Brandon Bennett started his professional journey. https://www.furnitureforlife.com/
Alpinehowl.com for your Handcrafted apparel for dogs and matching hats for their best friends.
Info@alpinehowl.com
IG: @alpinehowl
Check out Bixbipet.com for dog and cat food.
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SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
Good morning, dog lovers.
Welcome to Dog Friendly, thepodcast where we celebrate the
joy of dogs and the adventureswe share with them.
I'm your host, Brandon Bennettfrom Alpine Howell.
Each week, I take you todog-friendly locations to chat
(00:20):
with passionate dog owners abouttheir furry companions and the
unforgettable experiencesthey've had together.
We'll also hear from experts whoshare valuable insights on
training, health, and making themost out of our time with our
canine pals, all while enjoyingthe great outdoors.
So whether you're a seasoned pupparent or just a dog lover, grab
(00:41):
your leash, maybe a libation,and join us as we enjoy the
world of dogs and incredibleadventures that await.
Let's dive into today's episode.
And we're back.
Season 3, Episode 19.
We sat down with Kevin Furman,the Uber dog.
Check him out on Instagram, allthe handles, YouTube.
(01:03):
This is part two of ourinterview, him as the Uber dog.
He drives around Uber with hisdog in the front seat, and it's
just fantastic.
You can see it on YouTube,awesome videos, it's hysterical.
But this time, this part, we sitdown, we talk with Kevin about
early on entrepreneurialaspects, his love for Bowie and
(01:27):
more about Bowie, and what hisaspirations are for the future,
what he wants to do, and also acouple crazy stories.
Saving the lady's life, justrolled her car in front of him.
Wow, that's crazy.
But enough from me.
Let's get to it.
SPEAKER_00 (01:51):
Now, I started being an entrepreneur.
Okay.
Yeah, so, yeah, ninth grade inhigh school, I was, like,
failing every class, and I juststopped really caring about
school altogether.
Yeah.
And I figured, you know, it'smore important that I start my
business and I make money.
You know, when I was 13, I hadmy own skateboard company.
That's awesome.
(02:12):
I had the lemonade stand when Iwas a kid.
So I've always been trying tosell stuff and make a name for
myself.
And, yeah, ninth grade, when Istopped caring about school, I
decided that instead of bringingbooks and binders to school
because books and binders areboring.
I don't need to bring that toschool.
I'm going to fill my backpack upwith sodas and energy drinks and
hot Cheetos and all the stuffthat our cafeteria didn't have
(02:33):
because our cafeteria had justmade the switch to all the
healthy stuff.
All the kids were bummed.
They were like, I don't want toeat this crap.
It was supply and demand.
I brought them what theyactually wanted.
They wanted Monster and Red Bulland hot Cheetos.
Hot Cheetos were
SPEAKER_02 (02:48):
wonderful.
SPEAKER_03 (02:49):
Dad would take him to Costco and buy Oh, love it.
SPEAKER_02 (02:54):
That's
SPEAKER_03 (02:54):
awesome.
SPEAKER_02 (02:57):
Okay.
Oh, sneaking under table.
We all did that shit.
SPEAKER_03 (03:03):
Me
SPEAKER_02 (03:04):
too.
For sure.
Private school early on.
SPEAKER_03 (03:11):
about it because, you know, the backpack's really
getting heavier and heavier andthe books are staying at home.
I'm like, what kids?
And then one day I'm sitting inmy office interviewing a client.
I get a call from a sister.
SPEAKER_02 (03:22):
Jerry Block.
SPEAKER_03 (03:23):
Jerry Block.
SPEAKER_02 (03:23):
Yep.
Ken Block?
No.
R.I.P.
R.I.P.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (03:28):
I got your son, Kevin, here in my office.
Seems he's got himself athriving business here.
Oh.
And
SPEAKER_00 (03:38):
I was failing every class simultaneously.
So that's when they reallycracked down their Like, we're
either holding you back a yearor you're going to go to
Oakview.
And I'm like, what's Oakview?
So that was the continuationschool I ended up going to,
which gave me the spare timebecause we got out at 140 every
day to focus on skateboard filmsand like doing all the stuff I
wanted to do.
Like school wasn't my thing.
I was always going to createsomething on my own and do my
(03:59):
own thing.
So that was sort of, I mean,even that downward spiral from
private school to public tocontinuation.
On paper, it looks bad, but itended up giving me the freedom
to like, I can just explore anddo whatever I want and build
school.
skills doing stuff like this andI mean it took till I was 30 but
here we are it's kind of workingnow so yeah you know
SPEAKER_02 (04:17):
what and there's something to be said about that
I mean you know God rest hissoul my parents that you know
obviously we grew uptraditionally going through
schools the way we did andthings like that but some people
again I look back in college Ididn't need to go to college I
could have went to a tech schoolI could have welded and that
would have been a great welder Igot a welding scholarship
Believe it or not, just weird.
I mean, I wasn't very goodvisually, like grammar and all
(04:38):
that stuff.
It just didn't click on mybrain.
But that's the truth rightthere.
Like that's how your brainworked.
And now you're here today doingthis amazing content with things
that people love and you holdyourself right.
I mean, and thank you.
What's
SPEAKER_00 (04:53):
your name again?
She supported me all along.
She helped me get the videocamera.
That's great.
Supported my skateboard thing.
My dad probably couldn't see thevision.
Yeah.
And that vision never reallycame true.
For a little bit, I was workingand skateboarding and it was
going all right.
But for the most part, it was afailed dream.
But I built all the skills Ineeded for this.
Right.
So it ended up just beingperfect.
SPEAKER_02 (05:12):
Now he's teaching me.
See, and that's fun because I'mdoing the same with my dad.
My dad was an actor, is an actorstill.
He's been in a couple movies,been out to L.A.
That's his dream.
He's a hand model.
My whole family, other than mymom, have all been on reality
shows.
Wow.
Yeah, so not to talk about me.
This is about you, this podcast,but we can cut this shit
SPEAKER_00 (05:30):
out.
I talk about myself on the showas much
SPEAKER_02 (05:32):
as everyone else does.
My dad wrote a book on how tosell cars.
You know, not this easy.
My dad was honest.
He always taught his kids, behonest, and that was his claim
to fame as being a good carsalesman, and he wrote a book,
and one of the things he said inthere, gosh, I just lost my
train of thought with that.
That was just goofy, but part...
Part of the...
(05:53):
It's good to edit.
Oh, yeah.
Editing.
I taught myself how to editgoing through school and all
that stuff.
That was one thing I wasthankful for in college was that
and my friends.
But I don't know where I wasgoing with that.
See?
SPEAKER_03 (06:05):
I'm going to let you guys do your thing.
Okay.
I want you to talk about Bowie.
SPEAKER_00 (06:08):
We're going to talk about Bowie.
SPEAKER_02 (06:09):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:10):
But continuing on that thought.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_02 (06:12):
you as well.
We'll talk more.
SPEAKER_00 (06:14):
On the subject of, you know, school not being for
everybody and you could findyour path without excelling at
school.
Yeah.
One thing I found fascinatinglooking into is like the Amish
community.
You know, what they do that'sdifferent than our society, like
normal people, as you could say.
If you have a kid in the Amishcommunity that's super like
ADHD, bouncing off the walls,running around the place, the
(06:35):
last thing they're going to dois sit that kid at a desk and
shove his face in a book and saysit down and shut up and read
and learn they don't have thatkid do that at all they say
you're gonna be ahunter-gatherer you're gonna go
outside and you're gonna youknow so not every kid is meant
to be forced into that same moldmakes sense and that's what I
think is wrong I mean not to getpolitical but with our education
(06:57):
system and all that stuff yeah Ithink there's a lot of different
kinds of kids that can excel ina lot of different things and
they're not all gonna be schoolsmart I wasn't I was terrible at
school but I have other skillsthat excel in other areas.
SPEAKER_02 (07:10):
Yeah.
And here you are today again.
And I'm my last life.
And I mean that in the sense ofmy last job, I worked in Boulder
for 11 years at a roboticmassage chair company.
A lot of it was just high endseating was it's called FFL
brands.
I will plug them too, because Istill have lots of friends
there.
And I'm not, I'm here todaybecause I also got to travel the
world and learn some of theskills and marketing things.
(07:34):
Oh, That's my motto of dogs andpeople who have dogs is just
living their best life.
Oh, yeah.
You know what I mean?
For sure.
Yeah, Bowie in those Uber rideswhen I'm watching those, just
living the best life.
Oh, he's loving it.
Yeah.
Every minute of it.
But anyway, there was a seat inthere.
It's called the Move Stool.
It's a Scandinavian-esquecompany called Varier.
(07:59):
And back in the day, a companycalled Stokey.
They made kneeling chairs, andIconic, it's in the Smithsonian,
this kneeling chair.
And we, when I was workingthere, we grabbed them as the
North American distributor.
But they made this stool, andit's basically, it's called a
move stool.
It's a post, and basically, itallows you to move and not sit
(08:21):
still while you're at your desk.
They did a study over in the UK,two different classrooms, and
two different, I mean, twodifferent, like, Rooms,
actually.
Kids that had these stools andkids that didn't.
And the kids that were usingthat and rocking back and forth
did better on tests and thingslike that.
It was pretty amazing.
Because I'm the same way in thesense of, like, I don't stop.
(08:43):
This isn't my full-time gig yet.
At some point, I would love itto be.
But I worked general contractingto remodel houses and things
like that.
Oh, I was getting that beforeabout reality shows.
All my whole family's been onone.
Myself included.
But...
our brains aren't meant to sitstill.
And I think part of that withthe dogs is that dogs allow us
(09:06):
to move.
We want to walk them.
They, they don't allow us to sitstill too long.
I mean, obviously there's somedogs that are consoling and
stuff like that, but I mean,That's the best part about it,
you know, that just and moving,keeping yourself moving because
then you just otherwise you'relost in whatever it is going out
there, you know, sitting on thecouch, doom scrolling or
whatever, that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00 (09:26):
That was one of the main reasons I got Bowie in the
first place was, you know, soafter I moved out here, I was
running a skateboard factorywith my friends.
It was wildly successful and Iwas kind of working my dream job
for a while.
And that business, you know,they went bankrupt.
So when that place went underand I had just bought a house.
I had a mortgage now.
(09:47):
And when that business wentunder, I'm like, what the heck
am I going to do?
I mean, it was the lowest low ofmy life.
I'm like, I'm out here inColorado.
I just lost all my friendsbecause they're not my coworkers
anymore.
A lot of bridges were burnt andI'm sitting here in this house
that I can't afford anymore.
I don't have hardly any friends.
I don't have any family outhere.
And I was in the lowest place Ihad ever been.
And around that time, someonetold me, you know, cause I'm
(10:09):
sleeping until two, three in theafternoon, you know, and once I
go broke, I'll go and drive aUber for 16 hours straight just
to try to make it past the nextbill.
Sure.
You know, renting out all myextra rooms in the house to
roommates I find on Marketplacethat ended up being nightmare
roommates.
SPEAKER_02 (10:25):
Oh gosh, you got an old podcast in that.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_00 (10:27):
it was like, I was having a bad time and someone
told me around that time,they're like, you know, you
should really get a dog becausea dog is going to give you a
sense of purpose.
You want to have anothercreature that relies on you.
Yeah.
You want to have something thatforces you to wake up and get
outside every day and go for awalk and the dog, a dog is an
answer to that and I'm like ohmy god you're right I had dogs
(10:48):
my whole life growing up and Ialways loved having dogs but I
was in apartments for sevenyears I never wanted to get a
dog I'm never home and you knowI was finally at the point in my
life where I'm like I have ahouse I'm going to do whatever
it takes to keep this house nomatter how many roommates at one
point I had five roommates and Idon't have a big house so I'll
do whatever it takes to keepthat house I knew I was going to
(11:10):
have my little backyard and I'mlike you're right I need a dog
and that's why I got a dog inthe first place because they're
just the best companions yeah nodoubt about it he gave me a
sense of purpose he forced me towake up at 5 a.m every day or at
1 a.m when he'd throw up on therug in the middle of the night
you know it's like sure whateverit is it doesn't matter because
now it's not all about you andyour sorrow it's about you have
(11:32):
this creature that you have tolove and take care of and that
set everything i mean it changedthe pace of life really yeah and
it made me think about thingsdifferently like i want to give
this dog the best life ever andyou know He deserves that.
And if I'm miserable, how isthis dog going to be happy?
So, yeah, we went out.
We started going on walks allthe time.
(11:52):
We started going to the dogpark, getting out, talking to
people, meeting people.
And then when I started bringingthem on rides to Uber with me,
it just brightened everybody'sday.
I mean, there's been 12 peoplethat have cried actual tears in
the car just to be in thepresence of a dog.
You know, sure, half of them aredrunk or whatever.
Sometimes it's like this oneguy, he had just put his dog
(12:13):
down that morning.
Oh, my gosh.
And then he just happened to getmy Uber that night.
And he was like, oh, my God,this is like meant to be, you
know.
And that ride went viral.
So it's like a million differentscenarios, whatever you could
imagine.
It's like dogs just make peoplehappy, you know.
And that's kind of the wholepremise of the thing is bringing
Bowie around, seeing a dog in anunsuspecting place, it just
(12:35):
makes people happy.
So if I could provide that forpeople, just the way that– Bowie
has provided that for me in mylife.
That's my purpose here on earth.
I'll do that forever.
SPEAKER_02 (12:45):
Yeah, that's awesome.
And I don't claim to ever, andthis is not my goal for this
podcast or anything like that,as far as being an expert in
dogs or anything like that.
My goal is to talk to people andhave them talk about their story
about dogs and what theirrelationships with dogs.
And so...
(13:06):
What I have the question for nowis, like, do you have...
Is there qualms of juggling yourday-to-day with the dog?
Or is it just because it's sowrapped up in Bowie that it
makes life that much better?
It
SPEAKER_00 (13:19):
does make life better.
It also has, you know, enabledBowie to be, like, the worst
version of his whole, like...
His whole, like, you know, maincharacter syndrome.
Like, he's always the center ofattention.
Yeah.
It's always all about Bowie.
So it's...
It's actually made it moredifficult, and I've enabled the
worst behavior for my dog.
(13:40):
Oh, bummer.
Because, you know, he's living alife where he's just getting all
this praise and attention allthe time.
Yeah.
You know, when the day starts,if I've been awake for an hour
and we have yet to leave thebedroom, he just starts staring
at me all crazy.
He just starts whining like,what gives, dude?
It's all about me.
I am king, and we need to go dowhat I want to do.
Yeah.
And he wants to go to the dogpark.
(14:00):
So it's like, I would say out ofthe last year, probably 354
days, we've gone to the dogpark.
I mean, it is every day.
SPEAKER_02 (14:07):
Oh, good.
SPEAKER_00 (14:08):
And he has to.
Yeah.
He has so much energy.
You know, he's an American lab.
Yeah.
Which is the skinny version ofLabrador Retrievers.
The English ones are like bigand thick.
SPEAKER_02 (14:17):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (14:17):
So he is very agile.
He's very fast.
He has a lot of energy.
And his thing is he just wantsto run free every day.
Yeah.
He wants to sprint as fast as hecan.
Yeah.
And if he doesn't do that once aday, he is just going to stare
at me and whine all day.
He gets whatever he wants.
Oh, my gosh.
But as he should.
You know, he's paying my bills.
Right.
Right.
Right.
What can I do?
Yeah, right.
(15:05):
He's so well-behaved, sowell-mannered, never barks at
anybody.
He just sits there and lookscute and turns around and gets
pets from everybody.
But then the second he's outsideof the car, what I say, I don't
know if it's acceptable forthis, but he's a crackhead.
SPEAKER_02 (15:20):
No, it's fine.
Anything goes.
We talk about it, it's good.
SPEAKER_00 (15:23):
Crackhead energy, that is the definition of Bowie,
except for in the car.
That's the one place.
He's very mellow and sweet.
Wow.
And everywhere else, he's afull-blown crackhead.
Yeah.
And, you know, I enable him.
But it's fine.
I don't care.
You know, Bowie deserves theworld.
Yeah.
And, you know, if it means hemisbehaves here and there, it's
fine.
I give him whatever he wants.
SPEAKER_02 (15:43):
Yeah.
And have you taken him to anyformal training or anything like
that?
Has there been anything likethat?
SPEAKER_00 (15:48):
Not at all.
Not at all.
So, yeah, I grew up with dogs.
You know, we trained them thebest we could.
Yeah.
Right.
Me too.
Some of the dogs my parents got,like, they were getting the
whole designer dog, like Englishcream, golden retriever,
straight from the breeder to thetrainer.
Yeah.
Even that.
I mean, I don't think.
So Toby's not in here.
Bowie's best friend.
Okay.
My I'm with you.
(16:12):
Yeah.
take those things home.
You have to work on them.
It's more about you.
It's hit or miss.
I never trained Bowie formally.
I never got him any training.
I tried my best when he was apuppy.
It was a nightmare.
I tried my best to untrain badbehavior and train him to do
(16:34):
certain things.
Some things worked.
Some things didn't.
I find the first dog we had whenI was a little kid, I was
probably eight years old and wegot our first golden retriever.
He was the definition ofstraight from the breeder to the
trainer and it was a stricttrainer you know like we used to
joke back then i come from ahalf jewish family so i could
joke about it this dog traineryou came from it was like nazi
(16:55):
germany
SPEAKER_01 (16:56):
okay
SPEAKER_00 (16:57):
it was like he wasn't any fun you know he was a
beautiful dog model worthy frontcover magazine dog very well
trained did whatever he wassupposed to but he had no
personality he was way too welltrained i think so then our next
dog biscuit was like off thewalls crazy and he was a lot of
fun much more memorable dog anduh you know he might have not
(17:21):
listened all the time but he wasa great dog and he had
personality sure and biscuit isactually the reason that i have
bowie okay and the reason myparents have toby so biscuit was
their first english cream goldenretriever he grew on us he was a
great dog he used to pull medown the street on the
skateboard with the leash and umbiscuit was 12 and a half years
old he passed away a few yearsago and around the time he was
(17:43):
getting old and he was about topass my parents were like and
myself we were like we don'twant to go through that grieving
period after losing a dog whereit's like six months of like you
know you're so excited on theway home i can't wait to see my
dog oh wait the dog passed awayso we kind of preemptively like
got puppies before biscuitpassed away to help with that
(18:03):
transition yeah so my parentsgot toby and i got bowie and
then biscuit passed away yeahand it made losing biscuit a
little bit easier becausebiscuit was everything he was
the best dog ever i mean fromthe time i was 15 after to the
time I was, you know, I mean,what was it, 27, 28 years old?
So every time, you know, I'm outof the house now.
(18:25):
So my parents think that I'mgoing to visit them.
Really, I was going to visitBiscuit.
And Biscuit was the best dogever.
So when he passed, it was goodthat we had new puppies to take
our minds off of losing Biscuitbecause he was such a good dog.
And, you know, really, Bowie andToby is like the reincarnation
of Biscuit.
We got
SPEAKER_02 (18:43):
people waving.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:45):
If you combine them together, you know, you would
get biscuit.
SPEAKER_04 (18:51):
What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00 (18:52):
So, yeah, shout out, Biscuit.
Cool.
If it wasn't for Biscuit, noneof this would have happened.
If it wasn't for Bowie, I don'teven think all four of my family
members, my parents, my brother,we all live in Colorado now.
Oh, cool.
The only reason I chose to stayin Colorado is because
everything started working outwith everything.
Sweet.
And then my parents moved toColorado.
It's like Bowie is to thank foreverything.
(19:14):
My whole family's here now, andI'm trying to build this into, I
don't know what's next, but it'slike trying to keep it going.
SPEAKER_02 (19:21):
Yeah, yeah, and that leads.
leads me to the question islike, I mean, what does, what
does next look like for you andBowie?
I mean, you guys are, you know,you're running hundreds of
thousands strong on followerson, on Instagram.
I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm lookinginto the details and stuff like
that.
I'm like, what, what's next?
What do you have any goals andaspirations?
What, what does that look like?
SPEAKER_00 (19:42):
Totally.
Yeah.
So, I mean, there's one maingoal, um, but I would, I would
say, you know, on average, thelife of a social media
influencer, personality,whatever is about eight years.
Okay.
So I figure I have a window herewhere my goal really is to have
fun with it spread Bowie's goodenergy and just make people
happy continue making contentthat makes people happy when
(20:04):
they watch it yeah and if I cancontinue supporting myself and
save save up a little bit ofmoney sure put some money aside
keep with the morals and valuesonly work with good companies
that I want to get behind yeahbut there is a long-term goal
and you know that I want tostart my own business and it has
nothing to do with dogs okay hasnothing to do with any of this
stuff it is strictly what I'vealways wanted to do my entire
(20:26):
life, which is, you know, forexample, I grew up at Skate Lab.
It was an indoor skate park.
I've
SPEAKER_02 (20:31):
heard of Skate Lab for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (20:32):
It was...
Absolutely.
It was 25 minutes from the houseI grew up in California.
SPEAKER_02 (20:36):
Where in California?
Escondido?
SPEAKER_00 (20:38):
I'm from Thousand Oaks.
Okay.
Ventura County, north of LA,about 45 minutes.
Okay, okay.
And Simi Valley was 25 minutesaway.
That's where Skate Lab was.
Okay.
So that was my whole life.
Business from like 97 until 2018or something like that.
Right, yeah.
And actually, I had the last...
Right.
Right.
(21:00):
Right.
Right.
(21:24):
Yes.
Okay.
No.
It's real estate that just youpay...
SPEAKER_02 (21:54):
taxes and
SPEAKER_00 (21:55):
you've got to pump
SPEAKER_02 (21:56):
money
SPEAKER_00 (21:56):
into keeping it there.
And then insurance is crazy andyou have kids getting hurt
breaking their arms all the timeso I figure okay if I want to
open up an indoor skate park Ihave to accept the fact that
it's not a profitable venture.
So if that's my main goal how doI make it something that's
profitable?
So the idea is that it's like 10different businesses under one
roof.
It's not just an indoor skatepark.
There's going to be staging andlighting for live shows.
(22:17):
We're going to have local bandsand DJs come play shows all the
time.
That's going to help pay thebills.
We're going to have like alittle miniature your bowling
alley there, a bar, arestaurant, a skate shop, and
just maybe an arcade.
It's all under one roof.
It's just going to be paradise.
I mean, whether you ride askateboard or not, you're going
to want to come hang out at thisplace.
(22:38):
Love it.
And that's really my goal.
I want to have paradise, like20,000, 30,000 square feet under
one roof and just have a placethat really the community needs
a place to go skate.
The parents are worried sick.
They drop the kids off at theskate park in who knows what
part of town.
they're outside they're goingdown the street they're doing
who knows what with who knowswho and they need like a safe
(22:59):
place where they can drop theirkids and hang out like i had
when i was growing up um so iwant to provide that for the
community and then be able tomake it float itself by having
other sides of the businessthat'll make it more profitable
um so it's going to be a reallyfun place and all the guys that
i used to run the skateboardfactory with we had you know 25
employees a lot of those thatjust been bouncing from
(23:20):
different jobs and stuff so istill have people out here i
still have connections i haveemployees that i'm going to want
to hire.
Yeah.
And we have a vision.
So if I ever get the budget todo it or I write a business
plan, find an investor, I mean,that's really the end goal.
That's what I want to be doing.
And if my content continues tothrive, you know, maybe build a
(23:40):
podcast studio in there, dosomething dog related and kind
of keep the theme of what I havegoing that's been working and
incorporate that into thatsomehow.
Sky's the limit.
I don't know.
I
SPEAKER_02 (23:52):
got some ideas.
I'll, you know, I won't tell theviewers online but i will i'll
i'll uh i'll express some thingsuh that i have and i can pump to
you because i just myaspirations are you know a
little more road friendly andthings like that and but uh um
not to keep you too much longerbut uh a couple more questions
is that so uh one is uh gettingback a little bit to the uber
(24:16):
you ever had any scaryexperiences
SPEAKER_00 (24:19):
Well, usually my way to answer this is I've been
driving Uber for over 10 years,and I've driven over 30,000
people.
So anything you could possiblyimagine that could happen in an
Uber has happened to me.
One common example and storyI've told a million times is
like New Year's 2017.
This lady was driving up on anoverpass, like a bridge, like an
(24:42):
80-foot tall bridge, and she wasdrunk.
She drove through the guardrailoff the side of the bridge, and
her car rolled down this wholelike hillside basically and it
had just got done rolling infront of my car and i had uber
passengers in the back like fourin the morning on new year's eve
and um you know we got out ofthe car and like basically saved
this lady from the rubblethere's like gasoline wow her
(25:04):
car and there's cars going like80 miles per hour like hitting
all of the rubble and likelaunching it up in the air like
it was a scary holy experienceand my uber passengers and i had
to like pry her door open pulledher out of the car she was all
messed up had like a broke andleg and stuff and there's empty
alcohol bottles all over her carlike it was kind of a sad
experience yeah but that was thecraziest thing that ever
(25:26):
happened is we watched a ladydrive off a bridge and we saved
her and called for help andstuff and um that's there's kind
of two common stories that's thecrazy one yeah and then the
other crazy cool one is um onetime i picked up a passenger and
it was like this little girlwalking out of like a 20 million
dollar house yeah and i pull upto this house it's like
waterfalls big like hotel circlecobble stone like I'm like who
(25:50):
the heck lives here and this isback in California and she gets
in with a little backpack andlike you know basketball gear
she's like going to basketballpractice she's like 11 years old
and I'm like who the heck liveshere you know I asked her and
she's like my dad I'm like okayyeah but like who's your dad
she's like Jamie Foxx I'm likeoh my god no way Jamie Foxx's
daughter to basketball practiceno way so that was a crazy one
(26:12):
too sure more commonly wouldhappen living near LA out here
it's a Uber stories and I meanthere's millions of other ones
SPEAKER_02 (26:22):
sure yeah no that's fine and any like times where
you were worried about Bowie
SPEAKER_04 (26:27):
while you're driving
SPEAKER_02 (26:28):
not at all okay I mean I figure people will want
to hear about that like theyworry about your dog more than
you or your
SPEAKER_00 (26:35):
passengers 100%
SPEAKER_02 (26:36):
in Colorado especially
SPEAKER_00 (26:37):
yeah so exactly Colorado it's really the most
dog friendly place in the worldand there's just dogs everywhere
you look in the state so it'spretty common you know I think
if I was to drive uber with adog in la yeah i'd have people
complaining left and right andit'd be a negative experience
you know that never happens outhere especially now because i'm
(26:58):
not doing normal trips i'm onlyreally driving in a college town
at night on money yeah it'stotally money that's awesome
it's uh i never really have badexperiences everyone's happy to
see bowie you know a lot of thecommon you know complaints or
questions on social media likewhat if someone's allergic what
if someone's afraid of dogs youknow i've had probably a dozen
people who are allergic to dogsevery one of them had the same
(27:19):
response like oh I'm allergic todogs but like it's okay I love
dogs like I'll suffer through ityeah you know one of them like
ran inside to grab like anallergy pill or something and I
came back out and was like I'mgood let's go that's awesome you
know so we've been that isawesome we've been very lucky
we've only ever had one okaywe've had two people cancel
because of the dog okay one ladyshe didn't speak English she was
(27:40):
from overseas somewhere she wasjust afraid of dogs totally
understandable yeah yeah if thatever happens they can cancel
free of charge yeah I wastedfive minutes of their day in
turn I've made thousands ofpeople's day right so I don't
really look at it as beingirresponsible to do what I do
and that's like one of the mainthings online people are like
that's so irresponsible likewhat if someone's scared what if
they're allergic but it's justit hasn't been my experience
(28:03):
sure so people online are a lotmore worried about that and day
to day what I actually deal withand then you know I had one guy
he was with his wife and twokids and they had luggage and it
was an airport ride and Bowie'ssitting shotgun so like I had
enough room technically I couldsee three of cross and i could
have one in the third row andhave one of those seats down and
that would have been more thanenough room for their luggage
(28:24):
but the dad was just having abad day okay you know he's
traveling with young kids yeahand i think oh gosh that's his
real problem absolutely youngkids yes he needed a scapegoat
he needed someone to take it outon i happened to inconvenience
him slightly so he canceled theride and you know told me off
whatever yeah that's really theonly bad experience i've ever
had yeah and i don't reallythink it had anything to do with
(28:47):
the boat yeah so um We've had areally good track record.
And, you know, I figure if weever run into something where it
inconveniences someone that thedog is in the car, I mean,
10,000 fold, we have madepeople's day.
We've brought people to tears.
We've made videos that have beenseen by half a billion people
that make their days when theywatch the videos.
So it's like we're doing a lotmore good than harm.
(29:10):
So I don't feel bad about itwhatsoever.
And I'm just going to keep doingwhat we're doing.
It's a lot of fun.
It's a lot of work, but it's alot of fun.
And it makes me feel good.
people happy.
So as long as people care tokeep watching, we're going to
keep doing
SPEAKER_02 (29:22):
it.
That's good.
And I, I support you because Ithink that, you know, our lives
are too short and dogs make themwonderful.
There's, there's things aboutthis that just blow my mind that
you're doing and bringing thejoy because that's part of, you
know, dogs and what they do.
My last question, you'reofficially an Alpine howler.
So you're a howler.
(29:42):
Thank you for being on here.
We're going to plug all this.
We're going to, this has been atrip.
The last thing I always ask whoI'm interviewing is if Bowie
could talk to you.
What would Bowie say?
My dog, Hazel, looks at me inthe morning and she goes, Dad,
Dad, Dad.
She just says my name.
(30:03):
Just Dad.
She's got other voices and Igave her a voice as well.
But what would Bowie say to you?
SPEAKER_00 (30:08):
It's funny that you mentioned that question because
one of the ideas that my buddywho helps me edit the videos,
one of our main ideas we keeptrying to run is like we need to
put a voice on Bowie.
Yeah.
We need to figure out what he'sthinking, give him a voice, and
narrate so that in the videosBowie can be saying whatever he
thinks about.
Yes.
It's a situation.
(30:29):
That could be an
SPEAKER_02 (30:30):
offshoot show, dude.
SPEAKER_00 (30:31):
It could be.
That would be awesome.
You've
SPEAKER_02 (30:33):
got to do it.
SPEAKER_00 (30:34):
I'm thinking of doing that.
I'm going to have to dosomething to mix it up because
there's people now that arecopying my show.
Yeah.
There's other Uber drivers withdogs that sit shotgun that now
film it because they've seen myvideos.
Of course.
And they're going viral, too.
Okay, yeah.
So now we're like, okay, damn,the market's getting flooded.
Now we have to do something toget it apart.
Maybe we'll do that.
I don't know.
If Bowie could talk, I mean— Allhe ever wants is to sprint and
(30:59):
run and go to the dog park andsee other dogs and just go
crazy.
So I think he would ask for thatall day.
He gets it.
And then after that, he wouldjust, I don't know.
He would ask to go see his bestfriend, my parents' dog, Toby.
He would say, where's Toby?
I want to go play with Toby.
That's what he
SPEAKER_02 (31:14):
would do.
There you go.
So that's great.
Hey, thank you so much forsitting down with me.
This is amazing.
I am grateful that you took thetime and I got to hear your
story because, you know.
People don't know what it,you're a breath of fresh air in
the limelight of the blue checkmark per se, and you really
(31:35):
broke it out for me.
So that's great.
So thanks so much.
I got some great gear for you.
Alpine Howl, that's my parentcompany.
Dog Friendly is a podcast that Ijust want to go around the
country and just talk to peopleabout dogs, uplifting stories,
not political, not religious,and talk to people like you that
are just doing your love fordogs.
SPEAKER_00 (31:54):
That's awesome.
I appreciate you having me on.
This is
SPEAKER_02 (31:55):
fun.
Absolutely, Kevin.
Thank you so much, man.
Thank you.
All right.
Great time talking with Kevin.
Thank you so much, Kevin.
Wow.
A lot there in two parts.
So cool to hear about his crazystories of saving the lady's
life.
Thank you for Ubering that dayto what Bowie would say and an
(32:17):
entrepreneur, you know, slingingRed Bulls and hot Cheetos in
high school, just making money.
You know, school's not foreverybody, but make sure you,
You know, do your best.
The education that we have outthere, we want to make sure
we're all reading and writing.
But, Kevin, your path is herenow, so thank you, man.
(32:41):
I appreciate it, again, forcoming on.
And thank you, Romero's, forhaving us.
That was a spectacular venue.
I will be back, I'm sure.
So check them out.
And romeroscanineclub.com.
On to reviews.
This week we have Winnie Lowe, acompany out of Boulder,
(33:02):
Colorado.
They're on a package that saysLouisville, Colorado, but I
wanted to make sure that I wentonline and checked them out.
Great locally sourcedingredients, food from Colorado
that you can get.
You can buy them online.
But the peanut butter pretzelsmy dogs are in heaven with.
So five out of five.
(33:22):
They nailed it.
Great.
uh, ingredients, good packaging.
They donate 3% to local rescuesand my dogs are just in love
with them.
So I'll put them on the website.
You can check them out online,winning low.com.
And, uh, you know, if you're notsupporting local, you know, we,
we do have, I'm sure there'splaces around you, but this is
(33:45):
the one that I just, I've justpicked up and I wanted to give a
happy shout out to him.
So there you have it.
That's, uh, all we have.
Until next time, pet them dogs.
Today's episode was written andproduced by me, Brandon Bennett,
the owner of Alpine Howl.
(34:07):
To get the latest gear,handcrafted scarves for your
dog, and a matching hat fortheir humans, check out
alpinehowl.com.
It's summertime, so dogs lookgreat in their bandanas and a
matching ball cap for you.
Again, check them out atalpinehowl.com.
Remember, everybody, pet themdogs.
Good morning, dog lovers.
Welcome to Dog Friendly, thepodcast where we celebrate the
joy of dogs and the adventureswe share with them.
I'm your host, Brandon Bennettfrom Alpine Howell.
Each week, I take you todog-friendly locations to chat
(00:20):
with passionate dog owners abouttheir furry companions and the
unforgettable experiencesthey've had together.
We'll also hear from experts whoshare valuable insights on
training, health, and making themost out of our time with our
canine pals, all while enjoyingthe great outdoors.
So whether you're a seasoned pupparent or just a dog lover, grab
(00:41):
your leash, maybe a libation,and join us as we enjoy the
world of dogs and incredibleadventures that await.
Let's dive into today's episode.
And we're back.
Season 3, Episode 19.
We sat down with Kevin Furman,the Uber dog.
Check him out on Instagram, allthe handles, YouTube.
(01:03):
This is part two of ourinterview, him as the Uber dog.
He drives around Uber with hisdog in the front seat, and it's
just fantastic.
You can see it on YouTube,awesome videos, it's hysterical.
But this time, this part, we sitdown, we talk with Kevin about
early on entrepreneurialaspects, his love for Bowie and
(01:27):
more about Bowie, and what hisaspirations are for the future,
what he wants to do, and also acouple crazy stories.
Saving the lady's life, justrolled her car in front of him.
Wow, that's crazy.
But enough from me.
Let's get to it.
SPEAKER_00 (01:51):
Now, I started being an entrepreneur.
Okay.
Yeah, so, yeah, ninth grade inhigh school, I was, like,
failing every class, and I juststopped really caring about
school altogether.
Yeah.
And I figured, you know, it'smore important that I start my
business and I make money.
You know, when I was 13, I hadmy own skateboard company.
That's awesome.
(02:12):
I had the lemonade stand when Iwas a kid.
So I've always been trying tosell stuff and make a name for
myself.
And, yeah, ninth grade, when Istopped caring about school, I
decided that instead of bringingbooks and binders to school
because books and binders areboring.
I don't need to bring that toschool.
I'm going to fill my backpack upwith sodas and energy drinks and
hot Cheetos and all the stuffthat our cafeteria didn't have
(02:33):
because our cafeteria had justmade the switch to all the
healthy stuff.
All the kids were bummed.
They were like, I don't want toeat this crap.
It was supply and demand.
I brought them what theyactually wanted.
They wanted Monster and Red Bulland hot Cheetos.
Hot Cheetos were
SPEAKER_02 (02:48):
wonderful.
SPEAKER_03 (02:49):
Dad would take him to Costco and buy Oh, love it.
SPEAKER_02 (02:54):
That's
SPEAKER_03 (02:54):
awesome.
SPEAKER_02 (02:57):
Okay.
Oh, sneaking under table.
We all did that shit.
SPEAKER_03 (03:03):
Me
SPEAKER_02 (03:04):
too.
For sure.
Private school early on.
SPEAKER_03 (03:11):
about it because, you know, the backpack's really
getting heavier and heavier andthe books are staying at home.
I'm like, what kids?
And then one day I'm sitting inmy office interviewing a client.
I get a call from a sister.
SPEAKER_02 (03:22):
Jerry Block.
SPEAKER_03 (03:23):
Jerry Block.
SPEAKER_02 (03:23):
Yep.
Ken Block?
No.
R.I.P.
R.I.P.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (03:28):
I got your son, Kevin, here in my office.
Seems he's got himself athriving business here.
Oh.
And
SPEAKER_00 (03:38):
I was failing every class simultaneously.
So that's when they reallycracked down their Like, we're
either holding you back a yearor you're going to go to
Oakview.
And I'm like, what's Oakview?
So that was the continuationschool I ended up going to,
which gave me the spare timebecause we got out at 140 every
day to focus on skateboard filmsand like doing all the stuff I
wanted to do.
Like school wasn't my thing.
I was always going to createsomething on my own and do my
(03:59):
own thing.
So that was sort of, I mean,even that downward spiral from
private school to public tocontinuation.
On paper, it looks bad, but itended up giving me the freedom
to like, I can just explore anddo whatever I want and build
school.
skills doing stuff like this andI mean it took till I was 30 but
here we are it's kind of workingnow so yeah you know
SPEAKER_02 (04:17):
what and there's something to be said about that
I mean you know God rest hissoul my parents that you know
obviously we grew uptraditionally going through
schools the way we did andthings like that but some people
again I look back in college Ididn't need to go to college I
could have went to a tech schoolI could have welded and that
would have been a great welder Igot a welding scholarship
Believe it or not, just weird.
I mean, I wasn't very goodvisually, like grammar and all
(04:38):
that stuff.
It just didn't click on mybrain.
But that's the truth rightthere.
Like that's how your brainworked.
And now you're here today doingthis amazing content with things
that people love and you holdyourself right.
I mean, and thank you.
What's
SPEAKER_00 (04:53):
your name again?
She supported me all along.
She helped me get the videocamera.
That's great.
Supported my skateboard thing.
My dad probably couldn't see thevision.
Yeah.
And that vision never reallycame true.
For a little bit, I was workingand skateboarding and it was
going all right.
But for the most part, it was afailed dream.
But I built all the skills Ineeded for this.
Right.
So it ended up just beingperfect.
SPEAKER_02 (05:12):
Now he's teaching me.
See, and that's fun because I'mdoing the same with my dad.
My dad was an actor, is an actorstill.
He's been in a couple movies,been out to L.A.
That's his dream.
He's a hand model.
My whole family, other than mymom, have all been on reality
shows.
Wow.
Yeah, so not to talk about me.
This is about you, this podcast,but we can cut this shit
SPEAKER_00 (05:30):
out.
I talk about myself on the showas much
SPEAKER_02 (05:32):
as everyone else does.
My dad wrote a book on how tosell cars.
You know, not this easy.
My dad was honest.
He always taught his kids, behonest, and that was his claim
to fame as being a good carsalesman, and he wrote a book,
and one of the things he said inthere, gosh, I just lost my
train of thought with that.
That was just goofy, but part...
Part of the...
(05:53):
It's good to edit.
Oh, yeah.
Editing.
I taught myself how to editgoing through school and all
that stuff.
That was one thing I wasthankful for in college was that
and my friends.
But I don't know where I wasgoing with that.
See?
SPEAKER_03 (06:05):
I'm going to let you guys do your thing.
Okay.
I want you to talk about Bowie.
SPEAKER_00 (06:08):
We're going to talk about Bowie.
SPEAKER_02 (06:09):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:10):
But continuing on that thought.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_02 (06:12):
you as well.
We'll talk more.
SPEAKER_00 (06:14):
On the subject of, you know, school not being for
everybody and you could findyour path without excelling at
school.
Yeah.
One thing I found fascinatinglooking into is like the Amish
community.
You know, what they do that'sdifferent than our society, like
normal people, as you could say.
If you have a kid in the Amishcommunity that's super like
ADHD, bouncing off the walls,running around the place, the
(06:35):
last thing they're going to dois sit that kid at a desk and
shove his face in a book and saysit down and shut up and read
and learn they don't have thatkid do that at all they say
you're gonna be ahunter-gatherer you're gonna go
outside and you're gonna youknow so not every kid is meant
to be forced into that same moldmakes sense and that's what I
think is wrong I mean not to getpolitical but with our education
(06:57):
system and all that stuff yeah Ithink there's a lot of different
kinds of kids that can excel ina lot of different things and
they're not all gonna be schoolsmart I wasn't I was terrible at
school but I have other skillsthat excel in other areas.
SPEAKER_02 (07:10):
Yeah.
And here you are today again.
And I'm my last life.
And I mean that in the sense ofmy last job, I worked in Boulder
for 11 years at a roboticmassage chair company.
A lot of it was just high endseating was it's called FFL
brands.
I will plug them too, because Istill have lots of friends
there.
And I'm not, I'm here todaybecause I also got to travel the
world and learn some of theskills and marketing things.
(07:34):
Oh, That's my motto of dogs andpeople who have dogs is just
living their best life.
Oh, yeah.
You know what I mean?
For sure.
Yeah, Bowie in those Uber rideswhen I'm watching those, just
living the best life.
Oh, he's loving it.
Yeah.
Every minute of it.
But anyway, there was a seat inthere.
It's called the Move Stool.
It's a Scandinavian-esquecompany called Varier.
(07:59):
And back in the day, a companycalled Stokey.
They made kneeling chairs, andIconic, it's in the Smithsonian,
this kneeling chair.
And we, when I was workingthere, we grabbed them as the
North American distributor.
But they made this stool, andit's basically, it's called a
move stool.
It's a post, and basically, itallows you to move and not sit
(08:21):
still while you're at your desk.
They did a study over in the UK,two different classrooms, and
two different, I mean, twodifferent, like, Rooms,
actually.
Kids that had these stools andkids that didn't.
And the kids that were usingthat and rocking back and forth
did better on tests and thingslike that.
It was pretty amazing.
Because I'm the same way in thesense of, like, I don't stop.
(08:43):
This isn't my full-time gig yet.
At some point, I would love itto be.
But I worked general contractingto remodel houses and things
like that.
Oh, I was getting that beforeabout reality shows.
All my whole family's been onone.
Myself included.
But...
our brains aren't meant to sitstill.
And I think part of that withthe dogs is that dogs allow us
(09:06):
to move.
We want to walk them.
They, they don't allow us to sitstill too long.
I mean, obviously there's somedogs that are consoling and
stuff like that, but I mean,That's the best part about it,
you know, that just and moving,keeping yourself moving because
then you just otherwise you'relost in whatever it is going out
there, you know, sitting on thecouch, doom scrolling or
whatever, that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00 (09:26):
That was one of the main reasons I got Bowie in the
first place was, you know, soafter I moved out here, I was
running a skateboard factorywith my friends.
It was wildly successful and Iwas kind of working my dream job
for a while.
And that business, you know,they went bankrupt.
So when that place went underand I had just bought a house.
I had a mortgage now.
(09:47):
And when that business wentunder, I'm like, what the heck
am I going to do?
I mean, it was the lowest low ofmy life.
I'm like, I'm out here inColorado.
I just lost all my friendsbecause they're not my coworkers
anymore.
A lot of bridges were burnt andI'm sitting here in this house
that I can't afford anymore.
I don't have hardly any friends.
I don't have any family outhere.
And I was in the lowest place Ihad ever been.
And around that time, someonetold me, you know, cause I'm
(10:09):
sleeping until two, three in theafternoon, you know, and once I
go broke, I'll go and drive aUber for 16 hours straight just
to try to make it past the nextbill.
Sure.
You know, renting out all myextra rooms in the house to
roommates I find on Marketplacethat ended up being nightmare
roommates.
SPEAKER_02 (10:25):
Oh gosh, you got an old podcast in that.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_00 (10:27):
it was like, I was having a bad time and someone
told me around that time,they're like, you know, you
should really get a dog becausea dog is going to give you a
sense of purpose.
You want to have anothercreature that relies on you.
Yeah.
You want to have something thatforces you to wake up and get
outside every day and go for awalk and the dog, a dog is an
answer to that and I'm like ohmy god you're right I had dogs
(10:48):
my whole life growing up and Ialways loved having dogs but I
was in apartments for sevenyears I never wanted to get a
dog I'm never home and you knowI was finally at the point in my
life where I'm like I have ahouse I'm going to do whatever
it takes to keep this house nomatter how many roommates at one
point I had five roommates and Idon't have a big house so I'll
do whatever it takes to keepthat house I knew I was going to
(11:10):
have my little backyard and I'mlike you're right I need a dog
and that's why I got a dog inthe first place because they're
just the best companions yeah nodoubt about it he gave me a
sense of purpose he forced me towake up at 5 a.m every day or at
1 a.m when he'd throw up on therug in the middle of the night
you know it's like sure whateverit is it doesn't matter because
now it's not all about you andyour sorrow it's about you have
(11:32):
this creature that you have tolove and take care of and that
set everything i mean it changedthe pace of life really yeah and
it made me think about thingsdifferently like i want to give
this dog the best life ever andyou know He deserves that.
And if I'm miserable, how isthis dog going to be happy?
So, yeah, we went out.
We started going on walks allthe time.
(11:52):
We started going to the dogpark, getting out, talking to
people, meeting people.
And then when I started bringingthem on rides to Uber with me,
it just brightened everybody'sday.
I mean, there's been 12 peoplethat have cried actual tears in
the car just to be in thepresence of a dog.
You know, sure, half of them aredrunk or whatever.
Sometimes it's like this oneguy, he had just put his dog
(12:13):
down that morning.
Oh, my gosh.
And then he just happened to getmy Uber that night.
And he was like, oh, my God,this is like meant to be, you
know.
And that ride went viral.
So it's like a million differentscenarios, whatever you could
imagine.
It's like dogs just make peoplehappy, you know.
And that's kind of the wholepremise of the thing is bringing
Bowie around, seeing a dog in anunsuspecting place, it just
(12:35):
makes people happy.
So if I could provide that forpeople, just the way that– Bowie
has provided that for me in mylife.
That's my purpose here on earth.
I'll do that forever.
SPEAKER_02 (12:45):
Yeah, that's awesome.
And I don't claim to ever, andthis is not my goal for this
podcast or anything like that,as far as being an expert in
dogs or anything like that.
My goal is to talk to people andhave them talk about their story
about dogs and what theirrelationships with dogs.
And so...
(13:06):
What I have the question for nowis, like, do you have...
Is there qualms of juggling yourday-to-day with the dog?
Or is it just because it's sowrapped up in Bowie that it
makes life that much better?
It
SPEAKER_00 (13:19):
does make life better.
It also has, you know, enabledBowie to be, like, the worst
version of his whole, like...
His whole, like, you know, maincharacter syndrome.
Like, he's always the center ofattention.
Yeah.
It's always all about Bowie.
So it's...
It's actually made it moredifficult, and I've enabled the
worst behavior for my dog.
(13:40):
Oh, bummer.
Because, you know, he's living alife where he's just getting all
this praise and attention allthe time.
Yeah.
You know, when the day starts,if I've been awake for an hour
and we have yet to leave thebedroom, he just starts staring
at me all crazy.
He just starts whining like,what gives, dude?
It's all about me.
I am king, and we need to go dowhat I want to do.
Yeah.
And he wants to go to the dogpark.
(14:00):
So it's like, I would say out ofthe last year, probably 354
days, we've gone to the dogpark.
I mean, it is every day.
SPEAKER_02 (14:07):
Oh, good.
SPEAKER_00 (14:08):
And he has to.
Yeah.
He has so much energy.
You know, he's an American lab.
Yeah.
Which is the skinny version ofLabrador Retrievers.
The English ones are like bigand thick.
SPEAKER_02 (14:17):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (14:17):
So he is very agile.
He's very fast.
He has a lot of energy.
And his thing is he just wantsto run free every day.
Yeah.
He wants to sprint as fast as hecan.
Yeah.
And if he doesn't do that once aday, he is just going to stare
at me and whine all day.
He gets whatever he wants.
Oh, my gosh.
But as he should.
You know, he's paying my bills.
Right.
Right.
Right.
What can I do?
Yeah, right.
(15:05):
He's so well-behaved, sowell-mannered, never barks at
anybody.
He just sits there and lookscute and turns around and gets
pets from everybody.
But then the second he's outsideof the car, what I say, I don't
know if it's acceptable forthis, but he's a crackhead.
SPEAKER_02 (15:20):
No, it's fine.
Anything goes.
We talk about it, it's good.
SPEAKER_00 (15:23):
Crackhead energy, that is the definition of Bowie,
except for in the car.
That's the one place.
He's very mellow and sweet.
Wow.
And everywhere else, he's afull-blown crackhead.
Yeah.
And, you know, I enable him.
But it's fine.
I don't care.
You know, Bowie deserves theworld.
Yeah.
And, you know, if it means hemisbehaves here and there, it's
fine.
I give him whatever he wants.
SPEAKER_02 (15:43):
Yeah.
And have you taken him to anyformal training or anything like
that?
Has there been anything likethat?
SPEAKER_00 (15:48):
Not at all.
Not at all.
So, yeah, I grew up with dogs.
You know, we trained them thebest we could.
Yeah.
Right.
Me too.
Some of the dogs my parents got,like, they were getting the
whole designer dog, like Englishcream, golden retriever,
straight from the breeder to thetrainer.
Yeah.
Even that.
I mean, I don't think.
So Toby's not in here.
Bowie's best friend.
Okay.
My I'm with you.
(16:12):
Yeah.
take those things home.
You have to work on them.
It's more about you.
It's hit or miss.
I never trained Bowie formally.
I never got him any training.
I tried my best when he was apuppy.
It was a nightmare.
I tried my best to untrain badbehavior and train him to do
(16:34):
certain things.
Some things worked.
Some things didn't.
I find the first dog we had whenI was a little kid, I was
probably eight years old and wegot our first golden retriever.
He was the definition ofstraight from the breeder to the
trainer and it was a stricttrainer you know like we used to
joke back then i come from ahalf jewish family so i could
joke about it this dog traineryou came from it was like nazi
(16:55):
germany
SPEAKER_01 (16:56):
okay
SPEAKER_00 (16:57):
it was like he wasn't any fun you know he was a
beautiful dog model worthy frontcover magazine dog very well
trained did whatever he wassupposed to but he had no
personality he was way too welltrained i think so then our next
dog biscuit was like off thewalls crazy and he was a lot of
fun much more memorable dog anduh you know he might have not
(17:21):
listened all the time but he wasa great dog and he had
personality sure and biscuit isactually the reason that i have
bowie okay and the reason myparents have toby so biscuit was
their first english cream goldenretriever he grew on us he was a
great dog he used to pull medown the street on the
skateboard with the leash and umbiscuit was 12 and a half years
old he passed away a few yearsago and around the time he was
(17:43):
getting old and he was about topass my parents were like and
myself we were like we don'twant to go through that grieving
period after losing a dog whereit's like six months of like you
know you're so excited on theway home i can't wait to see my
dog oh wait the dog passed awayso we kind of preemptively like
got puppies before biscuitpassed away to help with that
(18:03):
transition yeah so my parentsgot toby and i got bowie and
then biscuit passed away yeahand it made losing biscuit a
little bit easier becausebiscuit was everything he was
the best dog ever i mean fromthe time i was 15 after to the
time I was, you know, I mean,what was it, 27, 28 years old?
So every time, you know, I'm outof the house now.
(18:25):
So my parents think that I'mgoing to visit them.
Really, I was going to visitBiscuit.
And Biscuit was the best dogever.
So when he passed, it was goodthat we had new puppies to take
our minds off of losing Biscuitbecause he was such a good dog.
And, you know, really, Bowie andToby is like the reincarnation
of Biscuit.
We got
SPEAKER_02 (18:43):
people waving.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:45):
If you combine them together, you know, you would
get biscuit.
SPEAKER_04 (18:51):
What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00 (18:52):
So, yeah, shout out, Biscuit.
Cool.
If it wasn't for Biscuit, noneof this would have happened.
If it wasn't for Bowie, I don'teven think all four of my family
members, my parents, my brother,we all live in Colorado now.
Oh, cool.
The only reason I chose to stayin Colorado is because
everything started working outwith everything.
Sweet.
And then my parents moved toColorado.
It's like Bowie is to thank foreverything.
(19:14):
My whole family's here now, andI'm trying to build this into, I
don't know what's next, but it'slike trying to keep it going.
SPEAKER_02 (19:21):
Yeah, yeah, and that leads.
leads me to the question islike, I mean, what does, what
does next look like for you andBowie?
I mean, you guys are, you know,you're running hundreds of
thousands strong on followerson, on Instagram.
I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm lookinginto the details and stuff like
that.
I'm like, what, what's next?
What do you have any goals andaspirations?
What, what does that look like?
SPEAKER_00 (19:42):
Totally.
Yeah.
So, I mean, there's one maingoal, um, but I would, I would
say, you know, on average, thelife of a social media
influencer, personality,whatever is about eight years.
Okay.
So I figure I have a window herewhere my goal really is to have
fun with it spread Bowie's goodenergy and just make people
happy continue making contentthat makes people happy when
(20:04):
they watch it yeah and if I cancontinue supporting myself and
save save up a little bit ofmoney sure put some money aside
keep with the morals and valuesonly work with good companies
that I want to get behind yeahbut there is a long-term goal
and you know that I want tostart my own business and it has
nothing to do with dogs okay hasnothing to do with any of this
stuff it is strictly what I'vealways wanted to do my entire
(20:26):
life, which is, you know, forexample, I grew up at Skate Lab.
It was an indoor skate park.
I've
SPEAKER_02 (20:31):
heard of Skate Lab for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (20:32):
It was...
Absolutely.
It was 25 minutes from the houseI grew up in California.
SPEAKER_02 (20:36):
Where in California?
Escondido?
SPEAKER_00 (20:38):
I'm from Thousand Oaks.
Okay.
Ventura County, north of LA,about 45 minutes.
Okay, okay.
And Simi Valley was 25 minutesaway.
That's where Skate Lab was.
Okay.
So that was my whole life.
Business from like 97 until 2018or something like that.
Right, yeah.
And actually, I had the last...
Right.
Right.
(21:00):
Right.
Right.
(21:24):
Yes.
Okay.
No.
It's real estate that just youpay...
SPEAKER_02 (21:54):
taxes and
SPEAKER_00 (21:55):
you've got to pump
SPEAKER_02 (21:56):
money
SPEAKER_00 (21:56):
into keeping it there.
And then insurance is crazy andyou have kids getting hurt
breaking their arms all the timeso I figure okay if I want to
open up an indoor skate park Ihave to accept the fact that
it's not a profitable venture.
So if that's my main goal how doI make it something that's
profitable?
So the idea is that it's like 10different businesses under one
roof.
It's not just an indoor skatepark.
There's going to be staging andlighting for live shows.
(22:17):
We're going to have local bandsand DJs come play shows all the
time.
That's going to help pay thebills.
We're going to have like alittle miniature your bowling
alley there, a bar, arestaurant, a skate shop, and
just maybe an arcade.
It's all under one roof.
It's just going to be paradise.
I mean, whether you ride askateboard or not, you're going
to want to come hang out at thisplace.
(22:38):
Love it.
And that's really my goal.
I want to have paradise, like20,000, 30,000 square feet under
one roof and just have a placethat really the community needs
a place to go skate.
The parents are worried sick.
They drop the kids off at theskate park in who knows what
part of town.
they're outside they're goingdown the street they're doing
who knows what with who knowswho and they need like a safe
(22:59):
place where they can drop theirkids and hang out like i had
when i was growing up um so iwant to provide that for the
community and then be able tomake it float itself by having
other sides of the businessthat'll make it more profitable
um so it's going to be a reallyfun place and all the guys that
i used to run the skateboardfactory with we had you know 25
employees a lot of those thatjust been bouncing from
(23:20):
different jobs and stuff so istill have people out here i
still have connections i haveemployees that i'm going to want
to hire.
Yeah.
And we have a vision.
So if I ever get the budget todo it or I write a business
plan, find an investor, I mean,that's really the end goal.
That's what I want to be doing.
And if my content continues tothrive, you know, maybe build a
(23:40):
podcast studio in there, dosomething dog related and kind
of keep the theme of what I havegoing that's been working and
incorporate that into thatsomehow.
Sky's the limit.
I don't know.
I
SPEAKER_02 (23:52):
got some ideas.
I'll, you know, I won't tell theviewers online but i will i'll
i'll uh i'll express some thingsuh that i have and i can pump to
you because i just myaspirations are you know a
little more road friendly andthings like that and but uh um
not to keep you too much longerbut uh a couple more questions
is that so uh one is uh gettingback a little bit to the uber
(24:16):
you ever had any scaryexperiences
SPEAKER_00 (24:19):
Well, usually my way to answer this is I've been
driving Uber for over 10 years,and I've driven over 30,000
people.
So anything you could possiblyimagine that could happen in an
Uber has happened to me.
One common example and storyI've told a million times is
like New Year's 2017.
This lady was driving up on anoverpass, like a bridge, like an
(24:42):
80-foot tall bridge, and she wasdrunk.
She drove through the guardrailoff the side of the bridge, and
her car rolled down this wholelike hillside basically and it
had just got done rolling infront of my car and i had uber
passengers in the back like fourin the morning on new year's eve
and um you know we got out ofthe car and like basically saved
this lady from the rubblethere's like gasoline wow her
(25:04):
car and there's cars going like80 miles per hour like hitting
all of the rubble and likelaunching it up in the air like
it was a scary holy experienceand my uber passengers and i had
to like pry her door open pulledher out of the car she was all
messed up had like a broke andleg and stuff and there's empty
alcohol bottles all over her carlike it was kind of a sad
experience yeah but that was thecraziest thing that ever
(25:26):
happened is we watched a ladydrive off a bridge and we saved
her and called for help andstuff and um that's there's kind
of two common stories that's thecrazy one yeah and then the
other crazy cool one is um onetime i picked up a passenger and
it was like this little girlwalking out of like a 20 million
dollar house yeah and i pull upto this house it's like
waterfalls big like hotel circlecobble stone like I'm like who
(25:50):
the heck lives here and this isback in California and she gets
in with a little backpack andlike you know basketball gear
she's like going to basketballpractice she's like 11 years old
and I'm like who the heck liveshere you know I asked her and
she's like my dad I'm like okayyeah but like who's your dad
she's like Jamie Foxx I'm likeoh my god no way Jamie Foxx's
daughter to basketball practiceno way so that was a crazy one
(26:12):
too sure more commonly wouldhappen living near LA out here
it's a Uber stories and I meanthere's millions of other ones
SPEAKER_02 (26:22):
sure yeah no that's fine and any like times where
you were worried about Bowie
SPEAKER_04 (26:27):
while you're driving
SPEAKER_02 (26:28):
not at all okay I mean I figure people will want
to hear about that like theyworry about your dog more than
you or your
SPEAKER_00 (26:35):
passengers 100%
SPEAKER_02 (26:36):
in Colorado especially
SPEAKER_00 (26:37):
yeah so exactly Colorado it's really the most
dog friendly place in the worldand there's just dogs everywhere
you look in the state so it'spretty common you know I think
if I was to drive uber with adog in la yeah i'd have people
complaining left and right andit'd be a negative experience
you know that never happens outhere especially now because i'm
(26:58):
not doing normal trips i'm onlyreally driving in a college town
at night on money yeah it'stotally money that's awesome
it's uh i never really have badexperiences everyone's happy to
see bowie you know a lot of thecommon you know complaints or
questions on social media likewhat if someone's allergic what
if someone's afraid of dogs youknow i've had probably a dozen
people who are allergic to dogsevery one of them had the same
(27:19):
response like oh I'm allergic todogs but like it's okay I love
dogs like I'll suffer through ityeah you know one of them like
ran inside to grab like anallergy pill or something and I
came back out and was like I'mgood let's go that's awesome you
know so we've been that isawesome we've been very lucky
we've only ever had one okaywe've had two people cancel
because of the dog okay one ladyshe didn't speak English she was
(27:40):
from overseas somewhere she wasjust afraid of dogs totally
understandable yeah yeah if thatever happens they can cancel
free of charge yeah I wastedfive minutes of their day in
turn I've made thousands ofpeople's day right so I don't
really look at it as beingirresponsible to do what I do
and that's like one of the mainthings online people are like
that's so irresponsible likewhat if someone's scared what if
they're allergic but it's justit hasn't been my experience
(28:03):
sure so people online are a lotmore worried about that and day
to day what I actually deal withand then you know I had one guy
he was with his wife and twokids and they had luggage and it
was an airport ride and Bowie'ssitting shotgun so like I had
enough room technically I couldsee three of cross and i could
have one in the third row andhave one of those seats down and
that would have been more thanenough room for their luggage
(28:24):
but the dad was just having abad day okay you know he's
traveling with young kids yeahand i think oh gosh that's his
real problem absolutely youngkids yes he needed a scapegoat
he needed someone to take it outon i happened to inconvenience
him slightly so he canceled theride and you know told me off
whatever yeah that's really theonly bad experience i've ever
had yeah and i don't reallythink it had anything to do with
(28:47):
the boat yeah so um We've had areally good track record.
And, you know, I figure if weever run into something where it
inconveniences someone that thedog is in the car, I mean,
10,000 fold, we have madepeople's day.
We've brought people to tears.
We've made videos that have beenseen by half a billion people
that make their days when theywatch the videos.
So it's like we're doing a lotmore good than harm.
(29:10):
So I don't feel bad about itwhatsoever.
And I'm just going to keep doingwhat we're doing.
It's a lot of fun.
It's a lot of work, but it's alot of fun.
And it makes me feel good.
people happy.
So as long as people care tokeep watching, we're going to
keep doing
SPEAKER_02 (29:22):
it.
That's good.
And I, I support you because Ithink that, you know, our lives
are too short and dogs make themwonderful.
There's, there's things aboutthis that just blow my mind that
you're doing and bringing thejoy because that's part of, you
know, dogs and what they do.
My last question, you'reofficially an Alpine howler.
So you're a howler.
(29:42):
Thank you for being on here.
We're going to plug all this.
We're going to, this has been atrip.
The last thing I always ask whoI'm interviewing is if Bowie
could talk to you.
What would Bowie say?
My dog, Hazel, looks at me inthe morning and she goes, Dad,
Dad, Dad.
She just says my name.
(30:03):
Just Dad.
She's got other voices and Igave her a voice as well.
But what would Bowie say to you?
SPEAKER_00 (30:08):
It's funny that you mentioned that question because
one of the ideas that my buddywho helps me edit the videos,
one of our main ideas we keeptrying to run is like we need to
put a voice on Bowie.
Yeah.
We need to figure out what he'sthinking, give him a voice, and
narrate so that in the videosBowie can be saying whatever he
thinks about.
Yes.
It's a situation.
(30:29):
That could be an
SPEAKER_02 (30:30):
offshoot show, dude.
SPEAKER_00 (30:31):
It could be.
That would be awesome.
You've
SPEAKER_02 (30:33):
got to do it.
SPEAKER_00 (30:34):
I'm thinking of doing that.
I'm going to have to dosomething to mix it up because
there's people now that arecopying my show.
Yeah.
There's other Uber drivers withdogs that sit shotgun that now
film it because they've seen myvideos.
Of course.
And they're going viral, too.
Okay, yeah.
So now we're like, okay, damn,the market's getting flooded.
Now we have to do something toget it apart.
Maybe we'll do that.
I don't know.
If Bowie could talk, I mean— Allhe ever wants is to sprint and
(30:59):
run and go to the dog park andsee other dogs and just go
crazy.
So I think he would ask for thatall day.
He gets it.
And then after that, he wouldjust, I don't know.
He would ask to go see his bestfriend, my parents' dog, Toby.
He would say, where's Toby?
I want to go play with Toby.
That's what he
SPEAKER_02 (31:14):
would do.
There you go.
So that's great.
Hey, thank you so much forsitting down with me.
This is amazing.
I am grateful that you took thetime and I got to hear your
story because, you know.
People don't know what it,you're a breath of fresh air in
the limelight of the blue checkmark per se, and you really
(31:35):
broke it out for me.
So that's great.
So thanks so much.
I got some great gear for you.
Alpine Howl, that's my parentcompany.
Dog Friendly is a podcast that Ijust want to go around the
country and just talk to peopleabout dogs, uplifting stories,
not political, not religious,and talk to people like you that
are just doing your love fordogs.
SPEAKER_00 (31:54):
That's awesome.
I appreciate you having me on.
This is
SPEAKER_02 (31:55):
fun.
Absolutely, Kevin.
Thank you so much, man.
Thank you.
All right.
Great time talking with Kevin.
Thank you so much, Kevin.
Wow.
A lot there in two parts.
So cool to hear about his crazystories of saving the lady's
life.
Thank you for Ubering that dayto what Bowie would say and an
(32:17):
entrepreneur, you know, slingingRed Bulls and hot Cheetos in
high school, just making money.
You know, school's not foreverybody, but make sure you,
You know, do your best.
The education that we have outthere, we want to make sure
we're all reading and writing.
But, Kevin, your path is herenow, so thank you, man.
(32:41):
I appreciate it, again, forcoming on.
And thank you, Romero's, forhaving us.
That was a spectacular venue.
I will be back, I'm sure.
So check them out.
And romeroscanineclub.com.
On to reviews.
This week we have Winnie Lowe, acompany out of Boulder,
(33:02):
Colorado.
They're on a package that saysLouisville, Colorado, but I
wanted to make sure that I wentonline and checked them out.
Great locally sourcedingredients, food from Colorado
that you can get.
You can buy them online.
But the peanut butter pretzelsmy dogs are in heaven with.
So five out of five.
(33:22):
They nailed it.
Great.
uh, ingredients, good packaging.
They donate 3% to local rescuesand my dogs are just in love
with them.
So I'll put them on the website.
You can check them out online,winning low.com.
And, uh, you know, if you're notsupporting local, you know, we,
we do have, I'm sure there'splaces around you, but this is
(33:45):
the one that I just, I've justpicked up and I wanted to give a
happy shout out to him.
So there you have it.
That's, uh, all we have.
Until next time, pet them dogs.
Today's episode was written andproduced by me, Brandon Bennett,
the owner of Alpine Howl.
(34:07):
To get the latest gear,handcrafted scarves for your
dog, and a matching hat fortheir humans, check out
alpinehowl.com.
It's summertime, so dogs lookgreat in their bandanas and a
matching ball cap for you.
Again, check them out atalpinehowl.com.
Remember, everybody, pet themdogs.
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