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@ben_surratt: Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of…
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@ben_surratt: Business over beer. I am your host, Ben Surratt, and today…
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@ben_surratt: I have a guest all the way from the Rocky Mountain country in Colorado.
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@ben_surratt: Uh, guests, who are you?
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Gdogz: Hello, hello! We are GDogz here from Denver, Colorado!
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Gdogz: Neighborhood of, uh, Central Park. We're holding right here, uh…
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Gdogz: Our Chief Financial Officer, she works with our figures and numbers. We're wrapping up the year successful.
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Gdogz: Her name is Zena, the CFO. She was actually, um, bought from Petland in Janesville, Wisconsin. Yes, we are from the Wisconsin state. We're Coach G.
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Gdogz: GDogz Pet Services here in Central Park in Denver, Colorado, neighborhood Central Park.
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@ben_surratt: And what do you do? Like, what do you do? Like, just… what do you do?
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Gdogz: We…
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Gdogz: you know, our day, we get up, sometimes we have dogs that stay with us, a few dogs at a time. We, uh, coach them how to be, uh, good citizens.
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Gdogz: of the world, of Central Park. So sometimes when their families are traveling international, or different places in the world, we take care of them.
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Gdogz: We, uh, offer pickup and curbside, uh.
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Gdogz: Drop-offs for our dogs, and uh, we coach dogs, we walk dogs.
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Gdogz: We train dogs, we take dogs to the vet if needed sometimes if an emergency arise, and we even play with cats.
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@ben_surratt: No.
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Gdogz: Uh, we first started our business by just house-sitting, and then, um, dog walking, 10 years we've been 10 years hustling. Just, uh, Xena is my only employee.
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Gdogz: And, um, she's… she doesn't talk back, but she does the figures really well. So, successful, uh, 10 years in business, and it's the best year so far.
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@ben_surratt: Awesome! Well, I can't wait to get into your story, because you are very fascinating. We talked for almost an hour the other night.
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@ben_surratt: And I was like, okay, hold on, no more questions for you.
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@ben_surratt: I gotta wait to get you on the podcast, but before we do that…
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@ben_surratt: Coach G…
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Gdogz: Oh.
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@ben_surratt: Gina, this is business over beer, so I hope.
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@ben_surratt: He brought a beer.
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Gdogz: You know what? I believe in God, and today I actually have two new clients here.
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Gdogz: Chloe and Wally, and I asked their dad, I told them what I was doing today, and no.
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Gdogz: He pulled my favorite beer out of his refrigerator.
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Gdogz: Spotted cow for the win! Oh, oh, oh!
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Gdogz: So, let's crack it open in cheers!
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@ben_surratt: Ala!
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@ben_surratt: Cheers! I am doing a… something I don't normally do, Gina.
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Gdogz: Okay.
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@ben_surratt: I'm not a stout person.
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@ben_surratt: However, um, I really love our, uh, brewery in Sheboygan here.
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@ben_surratt: 3 sheeps.
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Gdogz: Okay.
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@ben_surratt: And they have this stout, if you can see, called 15-2, and it kind of looks like a cribbage board.
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Gdogz: Okay, yeah, alright. Yeah.
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Gdogz: Oh, yeah, yeah, I used to play cribbage back in the day.
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@ben_surratt: Back in the day.
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Gdogz: 15, 2, 15, 4, 15, two… oh, there we go! Here it is! Oh, that's awesome!
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@ben_surratt: But this sucker's 7.2, so I'm excited.
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Gdogz: Okay, well, go swim.
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@ben_surratt: About this. Alright.
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Gdogz: Cheers!
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@ben_surratt: Hold on. Cheers!
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@ben_surratt: That's a good sound.
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@ben_surratt: Alright.
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Gdogz: I had a chaser of water from… with the Wisconsin Cup. There we go.
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@ben_surratt: Alright, cheers, virtual cheers. Took!
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Gdogz: Cheers! Alright.
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Gdogz: Oh, man.
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@ben_surratt: Ooh, that is every part of that 7.2. Woo!
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@ben_surratt: Um, Gina, tell me a little bit about…
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@ben_surratt: Your transition, because you worked in the mental health.
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Gdogz: I did, I did. Uh, yep. For 15, 20 years, the last 5 years, um, that I lived in Wisconsin, that was, uh, 10 years ago, I worked at a forensic hospital, which everyone probably is aware of.
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@ben_surratt: before, right?
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Gdogz: Uh, in Wisconsin, called Mendona Mental Health Hospital.
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Gdogz: So, I was a direct care staff, bachelor-level person, and I would just entertain the patients!
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Gdogz: And people would be like, how can you work there? They kill people. Sometimes they mess with children. How could you work at that kind of place?
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Gdogz: Well, I'd answer it because I'm cool like that.
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Gdogz: I don't take things personally. And, um, it could happen to you or me, we have a mental breakdown.
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Gdogz: And we could be evaluated for some crime. So…
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@ben_surratt: Mm-hmm.
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Gdogz: it just hits home because it's personal, and a lot of the families, um, I met some of the parents sometimes escorting them into the facility.
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Gdogz: And they all have their stories about what happened with their…
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Gdogz: family member, and mental health's real, so I've struggled with mental health over my life.
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@ben_surratt: Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah.
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@ben_surratt: Oh, yeah.
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Gdogz: And, um, it's okay to be that okay. And, um, dogs help.
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Gdogz: Zena's helped me, she's seen a lot of my life. Um, and… yeah, so…
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@ben_surratt: No.
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Gdogz: It's okay to talk about, it's okay not to be okay, and um, when you're vulnerable enough to ask for help, then that's the first step to recovery of whatever you're challenged with.
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@ben_surratt: Amen to that, sister. I… we have been on this show in forever, been talking about mental health.
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@ben_surratt: And how important it is for… to just start normalizing it, and normalizing it being… and I mean just…
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Gdogz: Yeah.
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@ben_surratt: Not just for, um…
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@ben_surratt: I mean, normalizing it as part of a routine of being checked up on. Like, it should be part of your yearly checkup.
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Gdogz: No.
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@ben_surratt: You're gonna check for your lo- you're gonna check your heart, you're gonna check your, you know, your brain, whatever.
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@ben_surratt: You should check your mental health and make sure that you're okay. That's what I think.
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Gdogz: Yep.
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@ben_surratt: Anyways, so what got you into frickin', uh, going from that into a pet care business, or… yeah.
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@ben_surratt: What was that… like?
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Gdogz: Well, when I moved here to Colorado, I was working at the walk-in crisis units, and those were established… those started because of.
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Gdogz: the awful shooting that happened in Aurora, so they started walk-in clinics. So I worked nights, and to try to stay awake at night.
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Gdogz: When the patients were sleeping and they were, um, just being pretty, you know, sleeping like they needed to be, um.
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@ben_surratt: Oh, hold on, I'm sorry. The Aurora thing, was that the Batman?
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Gdogz: Yeah, the Batman, yep, mm-hmm, yep. Yep, so after that occurred, the state of Colorado started, um.
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@ben_surratt: I remember that, okay.
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Gdogz: opening up walk-in clinics because of the overflow from the ERs would help people get mental health treatment rather than making the ERs so saturated with, um.
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Gdogz: people with mental health problems, so that's why they opened the crisis units. So I started working for Aurora Mental Health at night shift.
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@ben_surratt: Hmm.
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Gdogz: With, uh, one of my cool counselors, social workers, Angie, Angie Kibble.
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Gdogz: She used to work in the prison system in Minnesota, so we worked night shift. And if you know night shift, you're not right in the head, but it's cool.
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Gdogz: And you had to run a tight ship, but you had to have that personal skills. So, in the middle of the night, we would not sleep, but we'd get on the internet, and I saw this.
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Gdogz: One, um, position, looking for a dog walker help.
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Gdogz: And, um, so I applied, and I just started dog walking for a company.
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Gdogz: And a year later, I asked her if I could, um, help grow her business, and she's like, no, I don't want to.
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Gdogz: I was like, okay, that's all I needed to hear, and kind of took off.
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Gdogz: With the idea of starting my name. So the name really mattered, and I needed it to flow right.
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@ben_surratt: Dang.
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Gdogz: Um, just be simple, but different and unique. So that's where we came up with GDogz.
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Gdogz: Mm-hmm. Yeah, but the Z, of course.
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@ben_surratt: With the Z, of course. Did, um…
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Gdogz: Yeah.
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@ben_surratt: Did… did your…
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@ben_surratt: How you… when you, your background in mental health influence how you approach.
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@ben_surratt: Caring for pets, or running a business.
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Gdogz: You know, yes, it did, because you had to be steady, you had to be able to walk into a situation with a family or a dog.
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Gdogz: And evaluate, and stay calm, and take it all in.
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Gdogz: So when there was that crisis at Mendona Mental Health Hospital, where you had to go hands-on, or you had to go get help.
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Gdogz: You had to really be…
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Gdogz: Calm in your core to not…
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@ben_surratt: Hmm.
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Gdogz: I hate this word, it's used too much in mental health, trigger the patient.
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Gdogz: The guy, because I worked with men, uh, they were male patients that I worked with, and just be cool with them.
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Gdogz: And, uh, you don't tell them what they're gonna do. You ask them, can you go do that for us? Can you do that? You know, and just had to watch your chill approach with them.
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Gdogz: Um, so I think that correlated with working with, um…
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Gdogz: Dogs that have anxiety, family members that are anxious that causes their dog to be anxious, um…
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Gdogz: Not exposing them to the right things at first, and just starting within the home. Your energy in the home matters. So, whatever you… however your home flows, that's how your dogs are gonna flow out in the world.
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@ben_surratt: Wow, interesting.
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@ben_surratt: I never… I never, up until recently.
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Gdogz: Okay…
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@ben_surratt: Really are understood or realized how…
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@ben_surratt: Dogs, and aren't there specific breeds that have, like, really high anxiety?
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Gdogz: Um, you know, there's… there's working dogs that…
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Gdogz: People think, like, they're overly anxious sometimes at the Aussie, Australian Shepherds.
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@ben_surratt: That's it, yes, yes.
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Gdogz: Yeah, and they… they need to… they need to be bred like an athlete, right? They need a purpose, they need a workout, they need a plan, they need to know how to jump, they need to know how to.
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Gdogz: come down, um, but people think, like, oh, you need to run your dog, like, 5 miles a day. They need to run, run, run. No, they need brain work so they can come down and then get back up again.
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Gdogz: They're athletes, they're just like Olympic athletes, or, you know, Division I college basketball players.
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Gdogz: In a way, um, some breeds are stubborn, the bully breeds, they're stubborn, French Bulldogs.
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Gdogz: Uh, Bulldogs, they're… they're stubborn. Um…
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Gdogz: Uh, dogs that don't get enough, um, recognition, I think, are Havenese. They're a non-shed dog, and…
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Gdogz: they're social, and they can do many things, and just like the Cavapus, I have a couple Cavapus here.
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Gdogz: Ziggy and Pickles are here, and Hazel's here, right, Hazel? She's snake eyes. She got… she got side eyes.
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Gdogz: She's known for her side-eye, so… mhm, yeah.
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@ben_surratt: You side-eyeing me?
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Gdogz: Yeah, yeah, a little hazel. Mm-hmm.
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@ben_surratt: Um, so I want you to talk about your first year that you started a business and what happened to you.
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@ben_surratt: And I want to talk about that, and then how you were able to overcome that.
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Gdogz: Uh, 10 years ago, um, the person I was dating at the time, um, asked me if I was a biker, and I was like, yeah. I used to do, uh, mountain biking, actually, in Cattlemorine once in a while.
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@ben_surratt: Hmm.
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Gdogz: in Wisconsin. A couple times. So I was used to a bike. Um…
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Gdogz: I… did a…
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Gdogz: there's a mountain peak, it's called Vail Pass, and so I was, um, biking Vail Pass. It's about…
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Gdogz: 3 miles… 4 miles up, and then 4 miles down, about, and you're going on a pretty clip.
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Gdogz: And uh… I was just getting down to the bottom, at the top, going down, and I was wearing this, my favorite jersey.
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Gdogz: right here. Of course, everything's Badger, because it's go Badger time.
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Gdogz: Wisconsin Badger, right here. So this has… Yep, that is… this is the jersey I was wearing.
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@ben_surratt: That was a jersey you were wearing?
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Gdogz: So, as I was going down the hill, this guy goes, go Badgers! Because, you know, wherever you're at, you wear fucking Wisconsin.
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Gdogz: People are like, go Badgers! I was on a cruise in Europe, in Greece, go Badgers! I was like.
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Gdogz: If you're ever feeling like you're sad, just wear Badger People are gonna say, go Badgers! Go Badgers, go Banger where you are at.
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@ben_surratt: It's fact.
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@ben_surratt: Gina, you are spitting nothing but truth on that, yes.
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Gdogz: So, there we have it. So, yep, I was biking down, and I saw this…
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Gdogz: awesome view of the… of the person I was dating ahead of me, and…
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Gdogz: Um, I took my camera out, and I clicked that picture.
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Gdogz: And that's not what you need to do on a bicycle when you're going 22 miles down Vail Pass.
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@ben_surratt: Jeez.
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Gdogz: And, um…
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Gdogz: I crashed. And I remember…
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Gdogz: Sitting up, it was really bright, it was about 2.22…
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Gdogz: PM on June 13th.
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Gdogz: And…
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Gdogz: And I was like…
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Gdogz: Barbie!
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Gdogz: And my sunglasses was cracked a little bit, my helmet was cracked.
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Gdogz: And, um, I remember she came back up, because she was about a mile ahead, because you're going… you're really going fast down this hill.
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Gdogz: And she started assessing, because she had a medical background, and she told.
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Gdogz: One of the gentlemen to hold my neck and, um, I just remember blood and, uh, just lots of blood.
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@ben_surratt: Hmm.
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Gdogz: And I was in and out, and um…
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Gdogz: Then, um, they got a…
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Gdogz: Paramedic to come up the trail, and uh, they're like, what's your name, what's your name?
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Gdogz: And I go, they call me GDoggs, they call me GDogz, they call me GDoggs, and my girlfriend at the time, um, was like, is she okay? They're like, yeah, that's her business, they call her GDogz.
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Gdogz: And, um, then I remember this cute paramedic with long brown hair, she was asking me presidential questions. I said, I don't know, they call me GDogs, they call me GDogs.
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Gdogz: So, we rolled into the ER in Frisco, and um, I was like, I need my phone.
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Gdogz: I need to call some people. I remember, um, I had a puppy I was supposed to take care of the next day.
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Gdogz: And, um, I just started calling some of my clients, but he's like, you sound like you got a concussion. I was like, yeah, I just got in a bike crash.
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@ben_surratt: Okay.
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Gdogz: So, we ended the phone call, but yeah. And then, um, I remember winking at my girlfriend at the time.
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Gdogz: And I was like, I think I know what happened. Um, I took a picture, and I crashed.
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Gdogz: So, I'm glad I…
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@ben_surratt: Now, did you… did you, like, do a flip? Like, how did you crash?
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Gdogz: Yep, I… I braked… I braked with the wrong hand, obviously, and I had the phone in one hand, and then…
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@ben_surratt: Holy…
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Gdogz: I remember the last… my last speed was 22 miles an hour.
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@ben_surratt: Jeez…
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Gdogz: Yeah, it was, uh… it was pretty scary.
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@ben_surratt: So you… so what ended up happening to your neck? Like, what happened?
00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:58.000
Gdogz: It broke my neck, it was a… it was, um…
00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:08.000
Gdogz: It could have been an internal decapitation, that's where your head connects to your brain, your stem right here, but, um, that didn't happen. It was just a stable fracture.
00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:13.000
Gdogz: Or the occipital condyle. And, um…
00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:11.000
@ben_surratt: Oh.
00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:18.000
Gdogz: Yeah, and I remember I was so hungry, and I had to go to the bathroom. That's not why I was going fast.
00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:17.000
@ben_surratt: Oh, okay.
00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:24.000
Gdogz: But I… after they assessed me, they said they could take me.
00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:32.000
Gdogz: we could go home, um, and uh, we went to Wendy's in Frisco, and I wanted… I was so freaking hungry.
00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:35.000
Gdogz: Because I had not eaten since 12, and it was, like, 10 o'clock at night.
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:40.000
Gdogz: And I tried to suck that smoothie from Wendy's, and I couldn't, and then I realized I bit my tongue.
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:45.000
Gdogz: So I had a hole in my tongue, and my tongue was so swollen that I could not eat.
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:50.000
Gdogz: But… that was, um… that was hard times.
00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:53.000
@ben_surratt: So how long did that recovery time take? Like, what was that like?
00:21:53.000 --> 00:22:00.000
Gdogz: Um, it was hard for a little bit. Um, my girlfriend at the time helped me walk.
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:06.000
Gdogz: Um, probably for 3 weeks, just opening doors, and I could hold the leashes and walk.
00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:11.000
Gdogz: But a lot of the turning and twisting, I couldn't really do that well. Um, so…
00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:17.000
Gdogz: It was kind of painful, but, you know, I'm an athlete, I'm a baller. I'm branding my business as a baller, you know?
00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:19.000
@ben_surratt: That's right, because you played basketball, right?
00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:26.000
Gdogz: Yeah, that's right, yeah. Um, actually, um, under the head coach right now of, uh, Wisconsin, go Robin Pinkton.
00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:28.000
@ben_surratt: Definitely.
00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:32.000
Gdogz: She was Robin Becker back in the day when she, uh, drove the buses… drove the vans and didn't fly on charter jets.
00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:34.000
Gdogz: So…
00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:46.000
Gdogz: Yeah, and um… so the pain was really real, and I don't like pain meds, I've never done any, you know, marijuana's legal here, GDog she has done no marijuana meds.
00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:51.000
Gdogz: One of my best friends always says, we don't do marijuana. Well, I've never done it, so it's all good.
00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:53.000
@ben_surratt: Okay.
00:22:51.000 --> 00:23:03.000
Gdogz: Um, but, you know, just doctors, they just wanted to push those pain meds, and I just believe in natural medication, so I'd go to the pool and walk in the water, and did acupuncture, and…
00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:58.000
@ben_surratt: Yeah, they do.
00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:14.000
Gdogz: try to eat pretty well. It's your mind, though. Like, it's your mindset. Like, I remember one of my dear friends who lives in, uh, Madison, Wisconsin, we would do, um…
00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:21.000
Gdogz: Just healing at night. I could not sleep at night. The pain, the nerve pain down my arm felt like the goddamn shark was biting it.
00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:23.000
@ben_surratt: Hmm.
00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:30.000
Gdogz: And so I would go in the other room, and we would visualize the pain coming out of my body at 2, 3 in the mornings. In the middle of the night, I had a really hard time sleeping.
00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:35.000
Gdogz: Because the pain was so bad. Um, but it's just your mindset.
00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:41.000
Gdogz: And, uh, that was the hardest thing, like, probably I've ever gone through in my life, is breaking my neck and…
00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:42.000
@ben_surratt: Yes, yeah, okay.
00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:43.000
Gdogz: Had so much space trauma.
00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:51.000
@ben_surratt: Yeah, and you… but you started a business then, too, like, so what was that like? I mean, you not only had to rehab your body.
00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:45.000
Gdogz: Um…
00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:55.000
@ben_surratt: But you also had to rehab your business, because you just started.
00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.000
Gdogz: Yeah, I did, yeah, it was a year and a half after I started GDogz. Um…
00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:01.000
Gdogz: You know what helped me is…
00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:10.000
Gdogz: the smiles of the dogs walking in their doors, the families. A lot of my families, when I started my business.
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.000
Gdogz: We actually phoned some of my families, and that… that's when I remembered.
00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:23.000
Gdogz: You gotta ask people for help and be okay with that. A lot of my families initially worked at University Hospital, Children's Hospital.
00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:20.000
@ben_surratt: Oh yeah.
00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:29.000
Gdogz: And we, we sent them scans of my neck just to make sure I was okay to drive down the mountain.
00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:32.000
Gdogz: And, um, they really…
00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:38.000
Gdogz: They became my family. I didn't know how much I was going to need my GDogz family that first year, and then later on in my life.
00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:50.000
Gdogz: Uh, with this business, but it's okay to ask for help. So remember, like, whatever you're going through, if you did it in an accident, you broke your neck, or, you know, you made a mistake at your business, you know.
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:56.000
Gdogz: it's okay to ask your customers sometimes, can you help me, please? I'm struggling, whatever that looks like.
00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:02.000
Gdogz: And you'll… you'll really be surprised how they'll sit down and they'll hug you.
00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:05.000
Gdogz: And they'll cry with you, and they'll help you.
00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.000
@ben_surratt: You know what? Coach G, you are correct.
00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:14.000
@ben_surratt: Because a lot of people, when they get into the small business world.
00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:16.000
@ben_surratt: They want to wear all the hats.
00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:18.000
@ben_surratt: And sometimes they're forced to.
00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:26.000
@ben_surratt: Like you, you were forced to wear all the hats but when you do that, you get used to that and.
00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:36.000
@ben_surratt: you forget what you just said. You forget that it's okay to ask for help. You don't need to… you can take one of those hats off and ask for help.
00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:43.000
@ben_surratt: You know what I mean? So I, I dig that. Like, good for you. That's amazing, and that's amazing for your community and your families that you've.
00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:46.000
@ben_surratt: that you helped, and they helped you. That's amazing.
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:58.000
Gdogz: I always say… so I've pretty much localized my business right now to Central Park, and I can go other areas of Denver, but Central Park's my home, and maybe someday I'll expand, and I can expand. I mean.
00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:04.000
Gdogz: If there's people in Wisconsin that needs Coach G, we can do virtual, we can fly to you, we can make happen, because that's what we do.
00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:11.000
Gdogz: But Central Park, I always say that they have the best community for dogs and how they love their children.
00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:13.000
Gdogz: in the world.
00:26:13.000 --> 00:26:16.000
Gdogz: In the United States. I say that so much.
00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:15.000
@ben_surratt: Yep.
00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:25.000
@ben_surratt: I love that. So, you grew… so you're… you're a mid… you're not really from Wisconsin, though. Are you from Wisconsin?
00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:31.000
Gdogz: Um, I live in Wisconsin 10 years, but my heart… my first home that I bought was at 105 Powers Avenue.
00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:43.000
Gdogz: For $114,000. And, uh, my heart is there. It will always be there, and, you know, my… my girls are there, all my girls that worked at Mendota.
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:38.000
@ben_surratt: Yeah.
00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:48.000
Gdogz: Minda… Mindy, Brenda, Ginger, Erica Schwartz, who ran the.
00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:55.000
Gdogz: MJTC, I mean, we're a bunch of ballers, hustlers, and funny hot girls that got done at work.
00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:59.000
Gdogz: Lessons.
00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:05.000
@ben_surratt: What does… what does the… I mean, I love the Coach G thing. What does that title mean to you?
00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:12.000
@ben_surratt: And… how… how does it shape your relationship with your clients, and your pets, and the animals?
00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:18.000
Gdogz: You know, when I decided to start calling Coach G.
00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:21.000
Gdogz: It's for all the coaches…
00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:24.000
Gdogz: That coach me… ballin'.
00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:26.000
Gdogz: From…
00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:28.000
Gdogz: Andy Goff?
00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:35.000
Gdogz: to Gene Albright dealerly, who was the coach at… coached me as a walkout at Northern Illinois University, and then went to.
00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:41.000
Gdogz: University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Robin Becker. I just want to give Robin Becker a shout-out.
00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:46.000
Gdogz: She was a rookie coach at, like, 26 years old.
00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:50.000
Gdogz: Um, at St. Ambrose University, that's where I went my second year.
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:52.000
Gdogz: And she was a rookie.
00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:58.000
Gdogz: And she made mistakes, probably, in her day as a rookie, and…
00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:01.000
Gdogz: Um… so…
00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:09.000
Gdogz: She's inspired that name a lot in my business, Coach G, because I was a rookie. Remember, I broke my neck that rookie year.
00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:08.000
@ben_surratt: Okay.
00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:11.000
Gdogz: And, um…
00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:17.000
Gdogz: Yeah. And now, Robin is doing big things! You know, Robin used to drive the van.
00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:29.000
Gdogz: And not the, you know, shuttle bus to take her to the private jets. Mm-mm. She was a rookie, but she was a fun girl, and she was really pretty to look at, so…
00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:23.000
@ben_surratt: Thank you for that.
00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:34.000
Gdogz: She knows. Yeah, that's right. And, uh, but she made us work.
00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:37.000
Gdogz: You know, she…
00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:49.000
Gdogz: We were in shape, and so that drive and that get up and go, she pushed that in you. Um, was she the best at how she motivated all her players? No, but remember, she was a rookie.
00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:51.000
@ben_surratt: Hmm.
00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:55.000
Gdogz: That was her first head coaching job. She had never lost a national… she never lost a game at Ambrose playing.
00:28:55.000 --> 00:29:00.000
Gdogz: And so, when we lost our first game, you thought her mom had died.
00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:05.000
Gdogz: But a few years later that year, year after that, her mom did die.
00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:03.000
@ben_surratt: Wow.
00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:12.000
Gdogz: So, yeah. Robin is a rookie, now she's the head coach at University of Wisconsin, so shout out to Robin.
00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:17.000
Gdogz: Uh, can't do anything. Coach G, Coach G, you know, says hi.
00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:20.000
@ben_surratt: Did, um…
00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:24.000
@ben_surratt: Do you carry a lot of…
00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:28.000
@ben_surratt: That… that drive from playing ball…
00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:34.000
@ben_surratt: Do you carry that philosophy, a lot of that, what you learned, into your business and business ownership?
00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:45.000
Gdogz: I do, I do. I think a lot of my coaches, you know, Andy Goff, she had the 10-minute rule, don't be late, you're gonna be 10 minutes early. If you're 10 minutes… past 10 minutes early, then you're late.
00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:52.000
Gdogz: Um, and Jane Albright, she brought God into your life, so did Robin Becker.
00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:54.000
Gdogz: Um…
00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:57.000
Gdogz: And… and community.
00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:06.000
Gdogz: and giving to others. So, like, with now, with Coach G, me, I always talk in third person sometimes, which people are like, why do you do this?
00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:10.000
@ben_surratt: Yeah, that's a… but that's a basketball player thing. That is. That is.
00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:12.000
Gdogz: Yeah, right, it's just like, I don't know, we do this, I do that, um…
00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:16.000
@ben_surratt: And wide receivers. And football.
00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:16.000
Gdogz: Yeah.
00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:26.000
Gdogz: I always like to help the community and the people that are up and coming in the pet care industry in Central Park, and we hustle together, community over competition, ballers.
00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:32.000
Gdogz: Hustlers, and um… so yeah, I help them out a lot. And they helped me out, too, because we need overflow.
00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:35.000
@ben_surratt: Yeah.
00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:36.000
Gdogz: If you're good, you're busy. If not, ask for help.
00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:38.000
Gdogz: And, um…
00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:38.000
@ben_surratt: Yep.
00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:44.000
Gdogz: So, yeah, I think, you know, a lot of those coaches, women and men that, you know, were assistants, I worked with a lot of…
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:50.000
Gdogz: There were a lot of, um, incredible coaches and players who became really good basketball players.
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:58.000
Gdogz: You know, being a walk-on, and this is how I think I started how to learn how to hustle and run a business. I was a walk-on at a Division I program.
00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:56.000
@ben_surratt: Over now.
00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:09.000
Gdogz: We got second round of the NCAA tournament under Jane Albright dealer league. Sue Semerow was our assistant coach, yep. And so you watched everything, and how to motivate people, and…
00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:03.000
@ben_surratt: Dang.
00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:14.000
Gdogz: Just sit and take it all in, because running a college basketball program is a business.
00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:23.000
Gdogz: So, I just took that all in, and uh… didn't… didn't get to play, which is cool. I had a dream to play at Northern Illinois University for my life.
00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:16.000
@ben_surratt: No, yeah.
00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:28.000
Gdogz: And, um, I'll never forget when Jane Albrightly was sitting at my high school.
00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:34.000
Gdogz: at East High School on Charles Street in Rockford, Illinois, and I walk and I look to my left, I thought I was gonna pee my pants.
00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:44.000
Gdogz: Well, you couldn't talk to her, there's no talking that then… and she gave my mom a business card and said, I think your daughter knows what… to be a husky. I think my mom still has that business card.
00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:53.000
Gdogz: So, um, then she offered me a walk-on spot for Northern Illinois, and I decided to go there, so that was a dream come true.
00:31:53.000 --> 00:32:01.000
@ben_surratt: That's amazing. Did you… did, um, did that help inspire, uh, the Five Paw standard?
00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:05.000
Gdogz: You know, that was, like…
00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:10.000
Gdogz: Like, integrity, hustle, grit, community, um…
00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:17.000
Gdogz: Excuse the word, but fucking up, and saying sorry, and making it right. Um…
00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:18.000
@ben_surratt: Mm-hmm.
00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:21.000
Gdogz: And… consistency, and, you know.
00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:27.000
Gdogz: early mornings, those are kind of the five pauses, kind of a mix. Uh, because, like, you know.
00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:36.000
Gdogz: It's like high-five pause, so I was thinking, like, it's high fives, like, we'd always high-fives or slap each other's butts, because that's what we did back in the day. Well, they still do it now. Or fists now.
00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:36.000
@ben_surratt: Oh, yeah.
00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:42.000
Gdogz: And, um, so that 5PA standards is, you know, it's just about… it's about that brand, and…
00:32:43.000 --> 00:32:50.000
Gdogz: I was around some, you know, powerful women that had great brands that they were creating, and then careers and, you know.
00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:56.000
Gdogz: such, uh… you know, Jane Albright, she was a grad assistant under Pat Summit back in the day.
00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:57.000
@ben_surratt: That's crazy.
00:32:56.000 --> 00:33:10.000
Gdogz: So, it's like, all these people, and Robin Becker was a grad assistant under Lisa Bluter, the head coach at Iowa, so it's like, all these women have touched their paws on each other in ways.
00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:06.000
@ben_surratt: We'll do that.
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:15.000
Gdogz: Okay, uh, we'll be, uh, clean with that, but, um…
00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:21.000
Gdogz: You know, so everyone's affected by everyone way back in the day, and then they affect all these other people, so…
00:33:21.000 --> 00:33:29.000
Gdogz: I just shout out to everyone who's affected my life in a positive and negative way at times, because you learn from negative and you keep going higher and higher.
00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:34.000
@ben_surratt: Mm-hmm. Oh yeah, yeah. One of the… some of the biggest lessons I learned.
00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:40.000
@ben_surratt: Uh… just in my… my personal life and my business life.
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:49.000
@ben_surratt: came from bad managers, bad business owners, bad experiences. For real. Like, I truly, truly embrace that.
00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:55.000
@ben_surratt: Yeah, in the moment it sucks, but when you reflect on it, and you come through that, you get through that.
00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:57.000
Gdogz: Yep.
00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:58.000
@ben_surratt: It makes you…
00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:06.000
@ben_surratt: It makes you more aware, for one thing, but it also makes you… if you do it right, it makes you, um…
00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:03.000
Gdogz: Yeah.
00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:12.000
@ben_surratt: It shouldn't put a layer up, it should actually make you more open.
00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:14.000
Gdogz: Right.
00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:19.000
@ben_surratt: You know what I mean? It shouldn't harden you, it should make you more open and more exposable, uh, more transparent.
00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:16.000
Gdogz: Yep.
00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:26.000
Gdogz: Yep. When I was… here's something back, it's funny. So, when I was looking to get insurance for my business.
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:22.000
@ben_surratt: You know what I mean?
00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:31.000
Gdogz: Where are they from? Wisconsin! Petser Associates, you rock!
00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:30.000
@ben_surratt: Mm-hmm.
00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:40.000
Gdogz: How did I learn how to brand my business? Look how… look what everything that they paid for as insurance oopsies. You don't want to do that.
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:47.000
Gdogz: So, I kind of branded my business with, you don't want to have those oopses, and I've never had an insurance claim. Have I messed up with my business? Absolutely.
00:34:47.000 --> 00:34:49.000
@ben_surratt: Oh, yeah.
00:34:47.000 --> 00:34:57.000
Gdogz: Um, at times, you know, or whatever it is, you know, I say sorry to people? Yep. Have you learned from that? Yep. Does God got you? Yep. Is sometimes a god and dog for me? Yep.
00:34:57.000 --> 00:34:59.000
Gdogz: That's good.
00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:03.000
@ben_surratt: How do you balance being the business owner?
00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:10.000
@ben_surratt: And treating pets like family, especially when it comes to, like, emotional behavior challenges.
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:12.000
Gdogz: Um…
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:15.000
@ben_surratt: Like, how can you balance that? Is it tough, or are you just the same regardless?
00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:22.000
Gdogz: You know, there's some you get closer to, because you get closer to those families. People don't know this at GDoggs.
00:35:23.000 --> 00:35:25.000
Gdogz: But…
00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:31.000
Gdogz: Um, sometimes I'm in the dogs… in the family's wills for their dogs.
00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:35.000
Gdogz: Sometimes I've seen my human clients take their last breaths.
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:41.000
Gdogz: Uh, almost. I was there, I missed it, but that's okay. Um, I'm with them when they've died.
00:35:41.000 --> 00:35:46.000
Gdogz: Um, I've been with them through their divorces.
00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:52.000
Gdogz: Um… I've been with them when they put their dog down.
00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:55.000
Gdogz: And they asked me to be there. And uh…
00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:58.000
Gdogz: I have a dog.
00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:02.000
Gdogz: I'm on my team right now, who's 19 and a half years old.
00:36:07.000 --> 00:36:09.000
Gdogz: And her name's Ella.
00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:12.000
Gdogz: And choose a puzzle.
00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:16.000
Gdogz: I've known her for 10 years in my business, and that's gonna be the hardest thing for me to…
00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:21.000
Gdogz: To deal with, to work through, uh…
00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:20.000
@ben_surratt: Hmm.
00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:24.000
Gdogz: But… she's still kicking, so…
00:36:26.000 --> 00:36:29.000
@ben_surratt: You get, like… it must be tough.
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:33.000
Gdogz: That's the hardest part of my business, is losing…
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:37.000
@ben_surratt: getting… because you get attached, you know what I'm saying? Like, you're not, like, um…
00:36:33.000 --> 00:36:37.000
Gdogz: Mm-hmm.
00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:47.000
@ben_surratt: you're not like a… working at a strip mall, and you're just taking orders, or you're just… somebody's buying, you say goodbye, you know what I'm saying? You're… you're developing, like.
00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:51.000
@ben_surratt: Literally, lifelong relationships.
00:36:51.000 --> 00:36:56.000
Gdogz: With these fam- yeah, with the fam- with the humans, and when the dogs go, and…
00:36:53.000 --> 00:36:55.000
@ben_surratt: That's crazy!
00:36:56.000 --> 00:37:05.000
Gdogz: You know, a lot of my families have multiple dogs, so… here's, like, a 360 moment in Central Park, because it's such a.
00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:08.000
Gdogz: Wonderful community. I've only had it happen one time, but…
00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:10.000
Gdogz: Um…
00:37:11.000 --> 00:37:16.000
Gdogz: A family, um, bought a house from an old client.
00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:26.000
Gdogz: Of mine, and when I went in that house, I remember texting the family and letting them know, all your dog's energy is still in this house. So that was kind of hard, actually.
00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:34.000
Gdogz: To go in a house knowing all those dogs used to be there, and now it's a different dog in that house. It's only happened one time, it'll happen again with GDogs.
00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:37.000
Gdogz: But I'll never forget that, so…
00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:36.000
@ben_surratt: Hmm.
00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:39.000
Gdogz: Yeah.
00:37:39.000 --> 00:37:41.000
@ben_surratt: Um…
00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:45.000
@ben_surratt: What…
00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.000
@ben_surratt: Did you have to teach yourself?
00:37:49.000 --> 00:37:55.000
@ben_surratt: like, did you get experience along the way? I know you said you worked for somebody for a little bit.
00:37:55.000 --> 00:38:00.000
@ben_surratt: But did you have to, like, learn other things along the way?
00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:57.000
Gdogz: Yeah.
00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:06.000
Gdogz: When I started dog walking, I would always watch.
00:38:06.000 --> 00:38:16.000
Gdogz: Central Park is really a close-knit where you can look in the windows of your neighbors in beautiful homes, which is fine. And they all have lots of dogs and kids around, and there's.
00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:25.000
Gdogz: A lot of FedEx trucks, UPS trucks, a lot of noise, so I would watch my dogs that I was walking, um…
00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:31.000
Gdogz: And how they reacted with the stuff that was going around them, because it's a bustling, wonderful community.
00:38:31.000 --> 00:38:34.000
Gdogz: that's happening. And, um…
00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:42.000
Gdogz: Just kind of watched them, watch what was bothering them. Kind of like when you worked in forensic psych, and you're in a day room, and.
00:38:42.000 --> 00:38:48.000
Gdogz: Some boy or some man's mean-mugging another person, you're like, huh, what's happening here?
00:38:48.000 --> 00:38:50.000
@ben_surratt: Hmm.
00:38:48.000 --> 00:38:53.000
Gdogz: Let's see what's going on. You know, just kind of being a pay attention to your surroundings. Um…
00:38:53.000 --> 00:38:59.000
Gdogz: Then I started using the right gear. Um, I use roughware harnesses.
00:38:59.000 --> 00:39:02.000
Gdogz: Um, on all my dogs a lot of the time.
00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:12.000
Gdogz: And that's just a secure… it's kind of like a heavy-weighted blanket. Think of, you know, if you have anxiety when you go to sleep. A good harness helps a dog feel comfortable.
00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:13.000
@ben_surratt: Mm-hmm.
00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:17.000
Gdogz: And how you steer the leash, but this is the energy of your leash.
00:39:17.000 --> 00:39:23.000
Gdogz: Is really what, um, dog training starts with a lot, is the energy that you bring, just like…
00:39:23.000 --> 00:39:27.000
Gdogz: You know, when you work in forensic Site, like, when you walk up to that person and…
00:39:27.000 --> 00:39:35.000
Gdogz: they're struggling. It's that first initial, hey, how's it going? How can I help you? That was our motto at Mendota, how can I help you?
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:42.000
Gdogz: And so, it's just kind of that energy with the dogs. Um, and, you know, like…
00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:47.000
Gdogz: I don't know, there's 3 seconds to go, you gotta make that free throw, okay? It's about…
00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:56.000
Gdogz: Dribble 3 times, elbow in, bend up, nothing but net. It's just kind of take that flow and that rhythm and that drive.
00:39:56.000 --> 00:40:03.000
Gdogz: that cool drive when you're training these dogs. I mean, I got 3 dogs sleeping on the couch right here. Zena's in my lap. We're chilling.
00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:09.000
Gdogz: It's the energy. People are like, how can you get 6, 7, 8 dogs on the stairs in your homes?
00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:18.000
Gdogz: Well, it's just be cool in your home, and we can do all this, and everyone's sleeping, being cool. And don't talk to your dogs all the time.
00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:25.000
Gdogz: They don't want to hear that. There's this one dog trainer that I follow on Instagram, I forgot their name, or I would shout it out.
00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:30.000
Gdogz: Uh, you have to go one day without talking to your dog, so that means you gotta use your body language.
00:40:31.000 --> 00:40:33.000
Gdogz: Your flow, your energy, your…
00:40:33.000 --> 00:40:39.000
Gdogz: Yeah. People talk to their dogs too much. They don't want to hear all that blah blah blah.
00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:37.000
@ben_surratt: No.
00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:44.000
Gdogz: Because they just tuned you out, and they're just like, what are you saying?
00:40:43.000 --> 00:40:48.000
@ben_surratt: Stop talking to me.
00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:48.000
Gdogz: Yeah, right?
00:40:49.000 --> 00:40:54.000
@ben_surratt: Uh, what is your secret sauce?
00:40:54.000 --> 00:40:59.000
@ben_surratt: Like, what sets you apart? What sets GDogs apart?
00:40:59.000 --> 00:41:01.000
Gdogz: Uh…
00:41:01.000 --> 00:41:03.000
Gdogz: We like to…
00:41:03.000 --> 00:41:05.000
Gdogz: Start our days…
00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:12.000
Gdogz: with drive. If that means sometimes… I'm sure people are like, why is she always sing and dancing in the car? She don't even know the goddamn words.
00:41:13.000 --> 00:41:16.000
Gdogz: Because it kind of, like…
00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:25.000
Gdogz: gets us ready for that next visit, or that next coaching session, or the next jam, because I can't bring that from the dogs.
00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:32.000
Gdogz: Not the coming out of their butt, but the hard stuff, you know, sometimes I swear this is how it rolls, you know, growing up in the hood, Illinois.
00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:41.000
Gdogz: Play with the Black guys on the courts. Um, you can't bring that to the next visit, so it resets me, and I don't care what people think, obviously.
00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:48.000
Gdogz: Um, so there's that sauce. Anything but ordinary. We're not extraordinary, but we're not ordinary.
00:41:48.000 --> 00:41:53.000
Gdogz: Um, it's okay not to be okay. Um…
00:41:52.000 --> 00:41:54.000
@ben_surratt: Huh.
00:41:53.000 --> 00:42:02.000
Gdogz: I don't know, we find girls… girls hot, and Black men fine, what are we? That's… we're just… we're just GDogs. I don't know, that's how we go.
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:02.000
@ben_surratt: He is G-Dogs.
00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:04.000
Gdogz: Yeah, um…
00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:09.000
@ben_surratt: And by the way, by the way, folks, she was talking like this when we talked on the phone, so yes, this is.
00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:14.000
@ben_surratt: This is definitely Coach G, uh, this is the way she is.
00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:22.000
Gdogz: Yeah. You know, I don't drink much at all. Like I said, I've never done drugs, only drugs that Josher prescribed.
00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:30.000
Gdogz: And this is only… I'm only drinking this much of this, and then… water. One of my dear clients who started my… who helped me so much in my business.
00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:26.000
@ben_surratt: Wow.
00:42:31.000 --> 00:42:44.000
Gdogz: Stacey Owen… Stacy and Owen, they relocated to Wisconsin about 6… 5 years ago from Central Park, and they sent me a care package when they moved to Wisconsin of Wisconsin stuff.
00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:52.000
Gdogz: So, they sent me this cup, some cheese, some popcorn, some spotty cow, so, yeah.
00:42:47.000 --> 00:42:49.000
@ben_surratt: That's cool.
00:42:51.000 --> 00:42:53.000
@ben_surratt: For this podcast?
00:42:53.000 --> 00:42:55.000
Gdogz: What'd you say?
00:42:54.000 --> 00:42:58.000
@ben_surratt: For this podcast? Because you're doing… oh, okay.
00:42:55.000 --> 00:43:07.000
Gdogz: I know. This was years ago. Yeah, they moved to Wisconsin. And I was so sad they left, but see, like, God works. Sometimes God's a dog, and then people say, why do you talk about God all the time?
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:02.000
@ben_surratt: Ah…
00:43:07.000 --> 00:43:14.000
Gdogz: And I'm like, well, because I can, first of all, it's my mouth, whatever comes out of it, it's not your concern. If you don't like it, keep on.
00:43:09.000 --> 00:43:11.000
@ben_surratt: Yeah.
00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:23.000
Gdogz: But after they left that day, then the next 2 days later, Chip and Louie moved from my favorite town, Madison, Wisconsin.
00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:25.000
Gdogz: So I got to take…
00:43:24.000 --> 00:43:26.000
@ben_surratt: Boy, your accent is thick.
00:43:26.000 --> 00:43:30.000
Gdogz: Yeah, I think sometimes it is. Mm-hmm.
00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:29.000
@ben_surratt: Holy cow!
00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:33.000
@ben_surratt: Do people comment it in Colorado?
00:43:33.000 --> 00:43:40.000
Gdogz: Yeah, they know where I'm from, usually. Well, they know I'm from… yeah, Colorado.
00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:38.000
@ben_surratt: Oh, Colorado!
00:43:41.000 --> 00:43:46.000
@ben_surratt: Um, what's… I love asking this question to business owners.
00:43:47.000 --> 00:43:56.000
@ben_surratt: What's one unexpected thing that you found out about being a business owner? Period. It doesn't have to be about your specific.
00:43:56.000 --> 00:44:01.000
@ben_surratt: Um, what you do, but just as a business owner, what's one thing.
00:43:58.000 --> 00:44:00.000
Gdogz: Okay.
00:44:01.000 --> 00:44:03.000
@ben_surratt: You didn't think would come up.
00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:08.000
Gdogz: Um… that you need to take time off.
00:44:09.000 --> 00:44:11.000
@ben_surratt: Ooh, that's a good one.
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:12.000
Gdogz: Yeah, like…
00:44:13.000 --> 00:44:15.000
Gdogz: You don't have to say yes to everything.
00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:17.000
@ben_surratt: That's another good one.
00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:18.000
Gdogz: Um…
00:44:18.000 --> 00:44:20.000
Gdogz: You don't have to…
00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:23.000
Gdogz: Um, you can customize your rates.
00:44:23.000 --> 00:44:25.000
Gdogz: Um…
00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:27.000
Gdogz: You can…
00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:35.000
Gdogz: Be vulnerable to go ask the best. How'd you do it?
00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:37.000
@ben_surratt: Hmm.
00:44:36.000 --> 00:44:42.000
Gdogz: And, especially in Central Park, there are so many kick-ass business owners.
00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:44.000
Gdogz: Um…
00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:50.000
Gdogz: And I watched all of them. I don't think we as business owners, you, me, all of us.
00:44:51.000 --> 00:44:56.000
Gdogz: Um, different brands, we're all doing the same thing, we're just selling a different product.
00:44:56.000 --> 00:44:58.000
@ben_surratt: Mm-hmm.
00:44:57.000 --> 00:45:04.000
Gdogz: So, look at different business owners, how they're doing, even if they're not in your industry, and I think that's what I did.
00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:09.000
Gdogz: pretty well at the get-go of starting GDogs. Just watch how they…
00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:12.000
Gdogz: run their businesses.
00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:19.000
Gdogz: Run in there, there's an owner of a Chick-fil-A, Bill Carson, the painter, Adrienne, who runs a…
00:45:19.000 --> 00:45:26.000
Gdogz: Um, a painting, a painting class for kids, um, there's so many workout gyms, the facial girls, the.
00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:23.000
@ben_surratt: Mm-hmm.
00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:27.000
@ben_surratt: Hello, just a moment.
00:45:27.000 --> 00:45:34.000
Gdogz: There's just, yeah. My tax man, there's a lot, especially in Central Park, is small business heaven.
00:45:29.000 --> 00:45:32.000
@ben_surratt: Hold on.
00:45:34.000 --> 00:45:42.000
Gdogz: And you can, you know… I told my friend back a couple years ago, oh, move to Central Park, start a massage business, this is how you do it.
00:45:43.000 --> 00:45:47.000
Gdogz: She's starting 2 years now of successful massage business.
00:45:47.000 --> 00:45:51.000
@ben_surratt: That's amazing! That really is. That's good.
00:45:48.000 --> 00:45:50.000
Gdogz: Yeah.
00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:53.000
Gdogz: Yeah, oh yeah. Central Park.
00:45:51.000 --> 00:45:56.000
@ben_surratt: There's something… I, um, I started a group.
00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:57.000
Gdogz: Okay.
00:45:57.000 --> 00:45:59.000
@ben_surratt: called Passages to Success.
00:45:59.000 --> 00:46:01.000
Gdogz: Mm-hmm.
00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:08.000
@ben_surratt: And, um, it was all about, it was all business owners and, um, entrepreneurs and people in.
00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:11.000
@ben_surratt: Who just have that, you know, that mindset.
00:46:12.000 --> 00:46:16.000
@ben_surratt: And there's something to be said about the shared experience.
00:46:16.000 --> 00:46:18.000
Gdogz: Yep.
00:46:17.000 --> 00:46:25.000
@ben_surratt: You know what I'm saying? There's something to be said about that. What you're talking about is, you know, just because you're doing one thing and I'm doing another.
00:46:26.000 --> 00:46:32.000
@ben_surratt: There's experiences that we… that we come across, that we have, that cross over.
00:46:33.000 --> 00:46:35.000
Gdogz: Right.
00:46:33.000 --> 00:46:37.000
@ben_surratt: You know, like, like, for one, um, paying taxes.
00:46:37.000 --> 00:46:40.000
Gdogz: Yeah. Right?
00:46:39.000 --> 00:46:48.000
@ben_surratt: Doesn't matter what business you're in, you gotta pay taxes. And who do you have? You gotta get a bookkeeper, like, it's great to get that, you know, to get those, um…
00:46:49.000 --> 00:46:56.000
@ben_surratt: those, uh, those experiences, and get those to enter, um, the other people's inputs. It's, it's fantastic.
00:46:51.000 --> 00:46:53.000
Gdogz: Yep.
00:46:57.000 --> 00:47:00.000
Gdogz: Yeah. I think we learn as we grow.
00:46:58.000 --> 00:47:00.000
@ben_surratt: Yeah.
00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:03.000
@ben_surratt: Amen to that. Um…
00:47:01.000 --> 00:47:03.000
Gdogz: Mm-hmm.
00:47:03.000 --> 00:47:15.000
@ben_surratt: For marketing your business, you seem just to put yourself out there. You know, you do the social media, stuff like that, but, um, what's been most effective for you?
00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:19.000
@ben_surratt: And your business. Marketing.
00:47:18.000 --> 00:47:21.000
Gdogz: Um… I think…
00:47:23.000 --> 00:47:25.000
@ben_surratt: Is it referrals?
00:47:24.000 --> 00:47:35.000
Gdogz: Referrals, yeah, word of mouth, yep, especially in Central Park. I run a… I run a Facebook group now in Central Park. Central Park has Central Park Biz Buzz.
00:47:31.000 --> 00:47:33.000
@ben_surratt: Hmm.
00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:44.000
Gdogz: And, um, that's a great platform for small businesses in the neighborhood. Um, I started Community Parks of Central Park, where.
00:47:44.000 --> 00:47:50.000
Gdogz: Pets and Whiskers Unite, kind of for all hustlers, like me. So I run that, um…
00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:59.000
Gdogz: And just reaching out to people that were better than me in the neighborhood initially. Hey, my name's Gino, I'm GDoggs. Uh, can you help me?
00:47:59.000 --> 00:48:05.000
Gdogz: I mean, like, oh god, who is this person? Um, but, you know, now we're all colleagues and friends, and…
00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:08.000
Gdogz: Um, it's kind of funny, because.
00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:16.000
Gdogz: Especially this time of year, Christmas. If you're good, you're booked, but people just go down the list, and they'll call each other, call each other, call each other.
00:48:16.000 --> 00:48:25.000
Gdogz: And, uh, we already know who's gonna call, and which we'll call. So-and-so's gonna probably be calling you next, and so they do. So, we're a small network, but I think.
00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:24.000
@ben_surratt: Mm-hmm.
00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:30.000
Gdogz: Central Park probably knows that, but… um, and then just…
00:48:27.000 --> 00:48:30.000
@ben_surratt: Now, where is… is that in Denver proper?
00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:35.000
Gdogz: Yep, yep, it's where the old airport used to be. It used to be called Stapleton, and then they had a neighborhood, uh…
00:48:36.000 --> 00:48:46.000
Gdogz: Uh, we won't get into the politics of all that, um, I don't talk politics, we talk dogs. And, um, so they changed the name to Central Park, and it's where the old airport used to be.
00:48:46.000 --> 00:48:51.000
Gdogz: So, yeah, where I walk dogs, there used to be airplanes flying, you know, landing, and…
00:48:51.000 --> 00:49:03.000
Gdogz: the airport control towers there. If you come after your visit to Denver, you can… you know, Wisconsin, we're always, how can we help? Come on in. We got bedrooms here. Bring your family, dogs don't care. Uh, I'll take you to the flight call.
00:49:03.000 --> 00:49:12.000
Gdogz: It's where the air… old airport control tower used to be. You can go on the tour up in the air… air tower. It's pretty cool, but there's a business there, Flightco.
00:49:07.000 --> 00:49:09.000
@ben_surratt: Hmm.
00:49:12.000 --> 00:49:17.000
Gdogz: So… Mm-hmm, yeah?
00:49:12.000 --> 00:49:14.000
@ben_surratt: Ooh…
00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.000
@ben_surratt: Um, I love Denver. I think Denver is…
00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:26.000
@ben_surratt: It's… it's definitely one of my top 5 favorite cities in… in the U.S.
00:49:26.000 --> 00:49:28.000
@ben_surratt: Top 5.
00:49:27.000 --> 00:49:29.000
Gdogz: Yeah.
00:49:28.000 --> 00:49:31.000
@ben_surratt: Um…
00:49:29.000 --> 00:49:34.000
Gdogz: They are playing… the Broncos are playing the Packers on Sunday. Go Packers!
00:49:33.000 --> 00:49:37.000
@ben_surratt: The Broncos playing the Packers.
00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.000
Gdogz: Okay.
00:49:42.000 --> 00:49:51.000
@ben_surratt: Um… what's been your toughest challenge? And that can be not just business, but, like, uh, an animal, a family?
00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:47.000
Gdogz: Okay.
00:49:51.000 --> 00:49:53.000
Gdogz: Yeah.
00:49:51.000 --> 00:49:54.000
@ben_surratt: What's been your toughest challenge?
00:49:54.000 --> 00:49:56.000
Gdogz: Um…
00:49:57.000 --> 00:50:01.000
Gdogz: We'll talk about… a doll.
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:02.000
@ben_surratt: Okay.
00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:03.000
Gdogz: And this dog…
00:50:03.000 --> 00:50:08.000
Gdogz: Is… it was just happening within the last, uh, 6 months.
00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:10.000
Gdogz: Um…
00:50:11.000 --> 00:50:14.000
Gdogz: And… his name's Louie.
00:50:14.000 --> 00:50:16.000
Gdogz: And…
00:50:16.000 --> 00:50:22.000
Gdogz: We didn't know Louis' history. His family adopted him, um…
00:50:23.000 --> 00:50:28.000
Gdogz: in June. I started working with him in August.
00:50:28.000 --> 00:50:30.000
Gdogz: And, um…
00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:32.000
Gdogz: He…
00:50:33.000 --> 00:50:42.000
Gdogz: He was special, like, he wouldn't, when I would come into the house, we'll do the meet and greet, a little scared, dogs act a little different.
00:50:42.000 --> 00:50:44.000
@ben_surratt: Mm-hmm.
00:50:42.000 --> 00:50:47.000
Gdogz: And, um, he would not come out of that kennel for…
00:50:47.000 --> 00:50:52.000
Gdogz: His kennel wasn't his safe place, like, kennel should be, it was his hiding place.
00:50:51.000 --> 00:50:53.000
@ben_surratt: Hmm.
00:50:52.000 --> 00:50:56.000
Gdogz: So, I had to really mentally…
00:50:56.000 --> 00:51:04.000
Gdogz: get ready every day to go into his house. So I'd sit in my car, chill, pray, okay, open the door.
00:51:04.000 --> 00:51:14.000
Gdogz: And I'd sit by that kennel probably for 3-4 days, and just throw food in his kennel. You don't want to put your hand in a kennel when a dog's in the back. You have to assess the situation.
00:51:14.000 --> 00:51:17.000
Gdogz: Just like in forensic site, you gotta assess if you need help.
00:51:17.000 --> 00:51:22.000
Gdogz: You can't just go in and think you're all high and mighty, because that never works out for the best.
00:51:21.000 --> 00:51:23.000
@ben_surratt: Mhm.
00:51:22.000 --> 00:51:32.000
Gdogz: So, it was the kind of the energy, and I remember the mom, uh, she has reggae music playing. I didn't know reggae is good for dogs. I do now, because, you know.
00:51:32.000 --> 00:51:35.000
Gdogz: Clients… families teach me stuff!
00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:40.000
Gdogz: So… after a while… yeah, after a while, I didn't know that.
00:51:36.000 --> 00:51:39.000
@ben_surratt: One love!
00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:49.000
Gdogz: Um, so you go in and hear your own about Marlene, cool. I'd get cheese, because you know what? We Wisconsin people love that goddamn cheese.
00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:50.000
@ben_surratt: I know, for real.
00:51:49.000 --> 00:52:01.000
Gdogz: So I'd get cheese, I'd throw it in his kennel, still nothing, nothing. And so then I asked the mom, um, after a while, he would come out of the kennel, then I'd go down the hallway, throw more cheese, but he'd go run right back in, run back in.
00:52:01.000 --> 00:52:04.000
Gdogz: And so, um…
00:52:01.000 --> 00:52:03.000
@ben_surratt: Mm-hmm.
00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:14.000
Gdogz: I asked the mom, we at GDogz, what do we do good? You asked that happy sauce, or that sassy sauce, or whatever you said, um, to think outside the box. I said, you know what?
00:52:11.000 --> 00:52:15.000
@ben_surratt: Yeah. What's your secret sauce?
00:52:14.000 --> 00:52:23.000
Gdogz: Secret sauce. To say something, just throw it out there. Can we spend the night at your house like we used to back in the day when we started GDogz?
00:52:23.000 --> 00:52:25.000
Gdogz: And, um…
00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:32.000
Gdogz: just spend the night, Zina and I will come, sleep downstairs in your house, and just be part of your life for that night.
00:52:32.000 --> 00:52:34.000
Gdogz: And that really helped.
00:52:34.000 --> 00:52:39.000
Gdogz: Um, so… the next visit, after we spent the night, um…
00:52:39.000 --> 00:52:47.000
Gdogz: Saw them interact, and we were talking and stuff, and she opened up about, you know, things in her world, which was great, because then you have a perspective on.
00:52:48.000 --> 00:52:54.000
Gdogz: really what her core is about, right? Or that family's core is about, so it was really good to understand.
00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:52.000
@ben_surratt: Mm, mhm.
00:52:54.000 --> 00:53:00.000
Gdogz: Um, because you can't motivate if you don't know how to motivate from the core of the person and the dog.
00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:09.000
Gdogz: So the next day, I told her, I said, you know what, shut that door. Um, I don't want him going back into his hiding place, um, because crates are supposed to be secure space.
00:53:09.000 --> 00:53:13.000
Gdogz: So, that really helped, and um…
00:53:13.000 --> 00:53:21.000
Gdogz: Because one of the first few visits, he did try to bite at me, and I was like, okay, we're just, you know, we gotta step back.
00:53:21.000 --> 00:53:23.000
Gdogz: So, um…
00:53:24.000 --> 00:53:31.000
Gdogz: I started… he was on his bed in the living room. I sat in the chair, throw that cheese, throw that cheese.
00:53:31.000 --> 00:53:38.000
Gdogz: And, um, then I got a leash on him and you think, oh, you got the leash on, we're going for a walk. No.
00:53:38.000 --> 00:53:47.000
Gdogz: You gotta work in a smaller environment inside the house with him. Um, I didn't even put a harness on, but that leech was gonna be the tool for him to love and trust me.
00:53:47.000 --> 00:53:57.000
Gdogz: And, um, so the next day, I would just walk them in the house and I'd run with them and just have fun with them in the house and bring him up to bring them down.
00:53:57.000 --> 00:54:03.000
Gdogz: But in his calmer environment. And then a couple days later, um, I was able to get his harness on.
00:54:03.000 --> 00:54:09.000
Gdogz: And I'd walk him in his backyard. We're not going outside, remember? Again, Central Park is bustling, and Louie.
00:54:09.000 --> 00:54:14.000
Gdogz: is a dog that you have to take your time. The relationship with dog takes…
00:54:14.000 --> 00:54:20.000
Gdogz: there's no speed limit. It goes, how slow can you go, you know? How slow can you roll?
00:54:16.000 --> 00:54:18.000
@ben_surratt: Hmm.
00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:26.000
Gdogz: And, um, so it probably took another 2 visits, and that family.
00:54:26.000 --> 00:54:33.000
Gdogz: allowed me to take my time, and um… now I can get him in a car.
00:54:33.000 --> 00:54:38.000
Gdogz: He sleeps in my bed, he, um, is just part of my life, and um.
00:54:38.000 --> 00:54:45.000
Gdogz: It's just a… we're gonna hashtag him, one time his mom, she traveled away.
00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:52.000
Gdogz: And, uh, Pyra Vida. That's from Costa Rica. It's a good… it's a good place. So, Louis Pyra Vida now.
00:54:52.000 --> 00:54:57.000
Gdogz: Love and love, and um… but it just takes that time, so I just want to commend Louise.
00:54:58.000 --> 00:55:01.000
Gdogz: family for trusting me, and Louis helped me!
00:55:01.000 --> 00:55:07.000
Gdogz: Um, you know, just to be a better dog coach, and learn about, you know, that self-care of mental health.
00:55:08.000 --> 00:55:10.000
@ben_surratt: Hmm…
00:55:08.000 --> 00:55:22.000
Gdogz: With it… internally of me, so I could have… I could help him, um, because he was struggling. We didn't know his history, you know, he lived in an apartment, or you only hear… when you foster a dog, you get, like, you know, 3 sentences. This is, this, this is this.
00:55:22.000 --> 00:55:29.000
Gdogz: I don't know, I treat all dogs like they're puppies, in a way, so you don't know their history, and if we could only watch their movies, we'd have better.
00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:27.000
@ben_surratt: Mm-hmm.
00:55:29.000 --> 00:55:34.000
Gdogz: Understanding and love and patience with our dogs, if we knew their history.
00:55:34.000 --> 00:55:36.000
@ben_surratt: Yeah, I agree.
00:55:34.000 --> 00:55:43.000
Gdogz: So, like, every dog here, still sleeping. You know, I know their history because their family tells me, but I treat them all like they're just.
00:55:43.000 --> 00:55:52.000
Gdogz: fresh new dogs of GDogs. Like, we have Xander laying here, it's a beautiful doodle, and again, here's a tagline, too.
00:55:52.000 --> 00:56:00.000
Gdogz: Don't wake up sleeping dogs. They're all sleeping, let them sleep. That's the best, that's the best thing you can learn, if you want to learn one thing.
00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:03.000
Gdogz: Tonight, it's Sleeping Dogs Live, right there.
00:56:04.000 --> 00:56:10.000
@ben_surratt: I… I think… because you… you're clearly driven by empathy.
00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:13.000
@ben_surratt: And that's fantastic.
00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:12.000
Gdogz: Yeah.
00:56:13.000 --> 00:56:17.000
@ben_surratt: I think that helps you avoid…
00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:19.000
@ben_surratt: burnout.
00:56:19.000 --> 00:56:21.000
@ben_surratt: And…
00:56:21.000 --> 00:56:24.000
@ben_surratt: Balance compassion with professionalism.
00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:30.000
@ben_surratt: That was going to be a question, but that's a statement. I think… I think empathy helps you balance all that.
00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:27.000
Gdogz: Yes.
00:56:27.000 --> 00:56:29.000
Gdogz: Yeah.
00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:35.000
Gdogz: Yeah, you have to be… and I think…
00:56:36.000 --> 00:56:37.000
Gdogz: You know, especially…
00:56:38.000 --> 00:56:45.000
Gdogz: These families drive me. I work with some very successful families in their professions, or who they are, and how they manage.
00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:50.000
Gdogz: And, um, who they are. You know, small business owners, or…
00:56:50.000 --> 00:56:58.000
Gdogz: Working multiple jobs, running multiple businesses, they got kids, they got this, they got that. So I have empathy with what they can give to their dog.
00:56:58.000 --> 00:57:05.000
Gdogz: In the consistent or lack of consistent ways at times, and they're just trying their best, right? We're all just trying our best.
00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:07.000
@ben_surratt: Mm-hmm.
00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:11.000
Gdogz: And, um, I think when they mess up, or they didn't do right with their dog.
00:57:11.000 --> 00:57:17.000
Gdogz: And I maybe messed up, you know, because GDog has messed up in 10 years, yes.
00:57:18.000 --> 00:57:24.000
Gdogz: And so we have more compassion of love and understanding sometimes, and um…
00:57:24.000 --> 00:57:31.000
Gdogz: The saris are better felt with that sometimes, um, but yeah, empathy goes a long way, and…
00:57:32.000 --> 00:57:34.000
Gdogz: Um, yeah.
00:57:34.000 --> 00:57:38.000
Gdogz: So… and I think it's… it has a lot to do with…
00:57:38.000 --> 00:57:45.000
Gdogz: what I saw where I worked, and with the guys that I worked with, or the juvenile correction kids that.
00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:48.000
Gdogz: You know, did hard things to people.
00:57:49.000 --> 00:57:54.000
Gdogz: Because we're all human. We just didn't have… we didn't have the…
00:57:51.000 --> 00:57:53.000
@ben_surratt: Hmm.
00:57:54.000 --> 00:58:00.000
Gdogz: The coaches or, you know, the influences in our life to help us get through.
00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:06.000
Gdogz: With the choices that we made, or what we thought was cool to do, so…
00:58:06.000 --> 00:58:08.000
@ben_surratt: Do you…
00:58:06.000 --> 00:58:08.000
Gdogz: Hello?
00:58:09.000 --> 00:58:11.000
@ben_surratt: This is a… this is a question I've never asked.
00:58:11.000 --> 00:58:13.000
Gdogz: So feel free.
00:58:12.000 --> 00:58:20.000
@ben_surratt: Um, and this is more towards the mental health part with your experience, but do you, in your experience.
00:58:22.000 --> 00:58:25.000
@ben_surratt: With individuals, especially, like.
00:58:26.000 --> 00:58:33.000
@ben_surratt: Um, juveniles who deal with mental health issues. Is it more nature or nurture?
00:58:28.000 --> 00:58:29.000
Gdogz: Yeah.
00:58:34.000 --> 00:58:36.000
@ben_surratt: Or a little bit of both.
00:58:37.000 --> 00:58:39.000
Gdogz: Um…
00:58:38.000 --> 00:58:42.000
@ben_surratt: Like, are kids born that way?
00:58:39.000 --> 00:58:45.000
Gdogz: I think it's… I think it's nature, nurture, your brain.
00:58:45.000 --> 00:58:53.000
Gdogz: There was a study done on PBS with Mendota Juvenile Corrections, MJTC is what they call it.
00:58:53.000 --> 00:58:55.000
Gdogz: And, um…
00:58:56.000 --> 00:58:58.000
Gdogz: It was…
00:58:58.000 --> 00:59:00.000
Gdogz: Ugh, I can't totally remember it.
00:59:01.000 --> 00:59:08.000
Gdogz: I think it's… I think it's genetics, I think it's upbringing. I think if you were born in a prison.
00:59:10.000 --> 00:59:21.000
Gdogz: And you do… and you're 12, 13 years old, and you're in Milwaukee, and you do your crime, you go to… you go to MJ, then you're back to your same area.
00:59:21.000 --> 00:59:24.000
Gdogz: I mean, we don't set up these kids for success.
00:59:24.000 --> 00:59:31.000
Gdogz: You know, we… we don't have them, like, start small businesses, you know, learning trades.
00:59:31.000 --> 00:59:36.000
Gdogz: they're just back in the hood, wherever they are. And, um, then they're…
00:59:36.000 --> 00:59:41.000
Gdogz: Killing people, or getting high on drugs and doing some dumb thing, or.
00:59:42.000 --> 00:59:49.000
Gdogz: They don't have the resources or the people that can help them get the resources. When they are schizophrenic and when they kill someone.
00:59:50.000 --> 00:59:53.000
Gdogz: you know, the Slender Man girl.
00:59:54.000 --> 00:59:56.000
Gdogz: slain, you know, like…
00:59:56.000 --> 01:00:01.000
Gdogz: That was a girl. She would have been an MJ, but no, she was a…
01:00:03.000 --> 01:00:08.000
Gdogz: have families. So, you know, a lot of big profile crimes.
01:00:08.000 --> 01:00:14.000
Gdogz: I'd be shaking their, you know, hands, or we fist bump at Mendota, we didn't shake hands, we fist-bumped the boys, the guys.
01:00:15.000 --> 01:00:17.000
Gdogz: And the kids. And, um…
01:00:17.000 --> 01:00:23.000
Gdogz: That's just like, yeah, you'd see these crimes happen, oh boy, they're coming to… they're coming to Mendota.
01:00:23.000 --> 01:00:34.000
Gdogz: And I was afloat, so I'd call nursing office every day. Where you got Gina going today? Gina wants me to stay in bed today. No, you gotta go to this track one, or SATU, MJ, MTU, the most max unit.
01:00:34.000 --> 01:00:38.000
Gdogz: In the state of Wisconsin. Um… so…
01:00:37.000 --> 01:00:46.000
@ben_surratt: Your third person speaking is, like, on a different level, sister. You're like, you're like, you ever see Seinfeld, the Jimmy?
01:00:41.000 --> 01:00:43.000
Gdogz: Fair enough.
01:00:44.000 --> 01:00:48.000
Gdogz: Yeah.
01:00:48.000 --> 01:00:54.000
Gdogz: So, yeah, I think it's a… I think it's a mixture of both. The medication stabilizes.
01:00:50.000 --> 01:00:52.000
@ben_surratt: Wow!
01:00:54.000 --> 01:00:59.000
Gdogz: You know, I'll remember… I won't talk about the crime, but when I first was at Mendota.
01:00:59.000 --> 01:01:05.000
Gdogz: I was on the intake unit, and there was a high-profile crime that just happened. And, um…
01:01:05.000 --> 01:01:11.000
Gdogz: the person that came, I remember transferring the phone call, realizing these people have parents.
01:01:11.000 --> 01:01:13.000
@ben_surratt: Hmm.
01:01:11.000 --> 01:01:17.000
Gdogz: So I transferred the call. And over the years, because I was there at Medora 5 years, the individual.
01:01:17.000 --> 01:01:22.000
Gdogz: Went to less secure, less secure will always be committed, but just the clearing…
01:01:22.000 --> 01:01:27.000
Gdogz: Of that individual's aura and face and…
01:01:27.000 --> 01:01:29.000
Gdogz: mannerisms, um…
01:01:30.000 --> 01:01:34.000
Gdogz: cleared a lot from when I saw that person.
01:01:31.000 --> 01:01:33.000
@ben_surratt: Hmm…
01:01:34.000 --> 01:01:37.000
Gdogz: That first time. Um…
01:01:37.000 --> 01:01:39.000
Gdogz: Yeah.
01:01:39.000 --> 01:01:41.000
Gdogz: Yeah. Bye.
01:01:41.000 --> 01:01:49.000
@ben_surratt: Well, I don't want to end there, so I've got a couple more questions, and we gotta… I'm almost up with my beer, so we gotta wrap this thing up.
01:01:41.000 --> 01:01:44.000
Gdogz: Yeah.
01:01:45.000 --> 01:01:47.000
Gdogz: Mm-hmm.
01:01:48.000 --> 01:01:51.000
Gdogz: Okay. Yeah.
01:01:49.000 --> 01:01:52.000
@ben_surratt: Um, so…
01:01:51.000 --> 01:01:53.000
Gdogz: No.
01:01:53.000 --> 01:01:55.000
@ben_surratt: What does success look like?
01:01:56.000 --> 01:02:01.000
@ben_surratt: to you for G-Dogs, both personally and professionally.
01:02:01.000 --> 01:02:03.000
Gdogz: Um…
01:02:04.000 --> 01:02:09.000
Gdogz: It's ever-changing. I don't think we're ever… we're never going to win the championship at GDogz.
01:02:10.000 --> 01:02:13.000
Gdogz: We're always going to…
01:02:13.000 --> 01:02:19.000
Gdogz: Keep changing it up, maybe keep… maybe slowing it down. Maybe someday where we're only…
01:02:19.000 --> 01:02:31.000
Gdogz: we'll work with elderly dogs, because when you get elderly dogs, maybe they have more mental health problems, because they're getting Alzheimer's. Or we'll work with littler dogs, because we're going to get older.
01:02:31.000 --> 01:02:40.000
Gdogz: Um, maybe we'll travel international, GDogz goes international, and we'll take care of dogs traveling.
01:02:40.000 --> 01:02:42.000
@ben_surratt: Heck yeah.
01:02:41.000 --> 01:02:45.000
Gdogz: same homes, um, and coach internationally.
01:02:45.000 --> 01:02:48.000
@ben_surratt: Maybe a G Dogs podcast.
01:02:45.000 --> 01:02:47.000
Gdogz: It's everywhere.
01:02:48.000 --> 01:03:01.000
Gdogz: Yeah, that's coming out, yep, because I probably… I could cry if I wanted to, but I don't want to, because we're not gonna end on that note. But yeah, uh, we are branding a new podcast in 2026.
01:03:01.000 --> 01:03:13.000
Gdogz: we're still tweaking the name, but it's gonna be in her honor. She's gonna be in, uh, basketball gear, with the one arm like this, and another paw like this, with a basketball.
01:03:13.000 --> 01:03:22.000
Gdogz: And high tops, pink and black and white, and it's gonna be, um, beats, barks, and Ballers, or beats, Barks, and Blessings.
01:03:22.000 --> 01:03:30.000
Gdogz: We haven't decided, but we're gonna talk about all different stuff, not just dog stuff. Mental health stuff, small business stuff, kind of just…
01:03:25.000 --> 01:03:26.000
@ben_surratt: Ooh.
01:03:28.000 --> 01:03:30.000
@ben_surratt: I love it.
01:03:30.000 --> 01:03:42.000
Gdogz: And, um, probably interview people of how, like, what dog impacted you, what human impacted you, if you can't answer any of those, then you gotta sing or dance or, you know, be creative.
01:03:41.000 --> 01:03:44.000
@ben_surratt: I love that!
01:03:43.000 --> 01:03:45.000
Gdogz: Yes.
01:03:44.000 --> 01:03:49.000
@ben_surratt: Um, alright. So, I've got one last question, you ready?
01:03:49.000 --> 01:03:53.000
Gdogz: Uh, yeah, hollow. We gonna catch it. We got it.
01:03:52.000 --> 01:03:54.000
@ben_surratt: Alright.
01:03:55.000 --> 01:03:58.000
@ben_surratt: If G Dogs had a mascot.
01:03:58.000 --> 01:04:00.000
Gdogz: Mm-hmm.
01:03:59.000 --> 01:04:01.000
@ben_surratt: Okay.
01:04:00.000 --> 01:04:03.000
Gdogz: No.
01:04:01.000 --> 01:04:07.000
@ben_surratt: I know the animal, probably a dog. Okay, if it… what animal or dog breed would it be, and why?
01:04:09.000 --> 01:04:13.000
Gdogz: Um, I think it would be…
01:04:13.000 --> 01:04:21.000
Gdogz: We already have this in our logo, and it's a boxer, because…
01:04:18.000 --> 01:04:23.000
@ben_surratt: No, I mean, like, like a mascot. When I'm talking mascot, like, Bucky Badger.
01:04:21.000 --> 01:04:25.000
Gdogz: Okay, okay.
01:04:24.000 --> 01:04:28.000
@ben_surratt: Like, doing the hype, a hype mascot.
01:04:28.000 --> 01:04:30.000
Gdogz: Oh.
01:04:38.000 --> 01:04:48.000
Gdogz: It would probably be okay, I don't know. It'd probably be a basketball with dog paws coming out with a big ol' tongue.
01:04:49.000 --> 01:04:51.000
@ben_surratt: That's kinda cool, actually!
01:04:52.000 --> 01:04:54.000
@ben_surratt: I dig that!
01:04:54.000 --> 01:04:56.000
Gdogz: Yep, yep, yep.
01:04:56.000 --> 01:05:03.000
Gdogz: Yeah, yeah, but it paid like it'd be your barks are game, instead of your… your streets are game, it'd be something like that.
01:05:04.000 --> 01:05:12.000
@ben_surratt: Awesome. Gina, you are freaking fantastic. Thank you so much for being on. Um, before you go, though…
01:05:10.000 --> 01:05:12.000
Gdogz: Thank you.
01:05:13.000 --> 01:05:15.000
@ben_surratt: let people…
01:05:15.000 --> 01:05:22.000
@ben_surratt: The know, how they can find you, where they can hit you up, and uh… just promote yourself, do all the things, go.
01:05:22.000 --> 01:05:26.000
Gdogz: Uh, well, we're always dancing, we're always singing.
01:05:26.000 --> 01:05:33.000
Gdogz: is GDogz right here, but Wisconsin, always right here. You can find us on…
01:05:33.000 --> 01:05:41.000
Gdogz: www.gdogs.com, or on Instagram, G underscore dogs, with a Z. Um, your streets are game.
01:05:41.000 --> 01:05:46.000
Gdogz: just… just put Gina GDoggs, you'll find us on Google. Uh…
01:05:46.000 --> 01:05:52.000
Gdogz: Yeah, so reach out. You're ever in town, you ever want to learn anything, just private message, we're always here to help.
01:05:47.000 --> 01:05:49.000
@ben_surratt: Zoom.
01:05:53.000 --> 01:05:58.000
Gdogz: Because you don't know anything unless you ask for help, then you know more. So just ask for help!
01:05:58.000 --> 01:06:01.000
Gdogz: Any business, we're here to help all the time.
01:05:58.000 --> 01:06:00.000
@ben_surratt: Amen.
01:06:01.000 --> 01:06:12.000
@ben_surratt: Amen. And, uh, she's sincere. I talked to her, I talked to Gina so many times, not so many times, but it seemed like we talked a lot this week. Like, we've just…
01:06:01.000 --> 01:06:03.000
Gdogz: So…
01:06:13.000 --> 01:06:16.000
Gdogz: I want to do one last shout-out to Midwest Meg.
01:06:16.000 --> 01:06:18.000
@ben_surratt: Yes.
01:06:17.000 --> 01:06:30.000
Gdogz: Because he is like, who… I asked her, I was like, who can… who helped, who can help you with a podcast from Wisconsin? Because I was just thinking about the idea, and then I reached out to you, and then you're like, VMP on my podcast, you sound cool!
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@ben_surratt: Yes.
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Gdogz: So, come out to Midwest, Meg.
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Gdogz: Keep being real, girl. Holler, love, and light mental health matters, Midwest man.
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@ben_surratt: Amen to that, sister. Awesome. Thank you so much, Coach G.
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Gdogz: Okay.
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@ben_surratt: I appreciate ya, and um… I appreciate you watching, I appreciate you listening, and we will see you all next time.
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@ben_surratt: Bye bye!
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@ben_surratt: That's it! That's a show, you did fantastic!