Understanding Canine Fitness: Insights from Lisa Miksis, Paw Prosper

Speaker 1 (00:04.13) Hi, I'm Karen. And I'm Elise. Welcome back to Poodle People. Where we talk about all things poodles. Speaker 2 (00:21.27) And now on to today's guest. Speaker 2 (00:28.632) Hi everyone. Today my guest is Lisa Mixis from Paw Prosper. I'm really excited to talk to Lisa because as everyone who listens to the podcast knows, I'm quite interested in canine fitness. I think it is something that is underutilized with all types of dog activities. And I always like to focus on these kinds of things when I can. If you don't know, it is National Canine Fitness Month. So Lisa is going to talk a little bit about herself and then the company that she works for and then a little bit about Canine Fitness Month. So Lisa, welcome. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here today. Wonderful. Would you start by telling us a little bit about you, your journey into leading Paw Prosper and your background with dogs? Absolutely. So I have been probably in the industry for close to 15, 20 years now. and my start within the the pet and the veterinary therapy world was with I used to own a brand called Response Systems. and we were incorporated in 1983. Speaker 1 (01:54.938) and the primary products that we make and continue to make actually are cold laser therapy systems, so class three B and class four lasers, both for pet parent and the professional, and also PEMF, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy. So I was that's a it was a family second generation family-run company. And in 2022, we decided to join Paul Prosper and sold to Paul Prosper so that we could expand the brand beyond just what a family business kind of can do on their own and really reach out into more audiences both within North America and internationally and innovate within our brand and the products. So moved from just doing PEMF therapy and laser therapy for small animals and equine into now Paw Prosper is a family of 10 brands, all that are in the space of prevention, support, and rehabilitation. And I know we'll probably chat on a few more of those then, but in just a moment. But we have you know, brands ranging from FitPAUS, which is our canine fitness brand to support devices like help them up harnesses and wheelchairs for aging or potentially injured dogs and and pets and are able to bring these all together into one platform for our professionals our veterinary professionals and then also have all the independent brands where all of our pet parents can access them as well. So Our goal is to really you know, really help innovate within that prevention support and therapy division within veterinary medicine and provide more resources and more devices and support so that animals and our pets can live their most their best lives. Speaker 2 (04:08.342) I so I am interested in canine fitness, but I love looking at your suite of brands and seeing, you know, like the Halo, which is so cool. Do you wanna tell the audience about the Halo in case they don't know it from i Instagram or other social media? Yeah, absolutely. So our Muffins Halo is a product designed for blind dogs. and yeah, and or those that are slowly you know, aging or a lot of diabetic animals have obviously vision issues related to that to that as well. So it is a a halo basically that surrounds the head. So as that animal is trying to kind of map out a new space. they are not bumping their noses into the walls or into the furniture. the halo, which is a kind of a soft device, will hit first and provide a little bit of resistance so they're not banging their noses into into that furniture. And the interesting thing about the muffin's halo is that a lot of people aren't even don't even know that their that their dog has is slowly going blind or has gone blind because They're so good at adapting and they know their environment so well. So it's only we we find a lot of uptick during the holiday season when people do a little bit of decorating and move some things around and then can't figure out why all of a sudden their dogs are bumping into the furniture. So it's just because they've they've you know the dog has done such an amazing job at mapping their environment. that now that they've moved something is when they realize there's a potential site vision issue. Speaker 2 (05:53.186) That is very interesting. so I I wanna just make sure that the audience understands that Paw Prosper is where your vet or your trainer, a professional, would make your purchases, but that they also can make purchases on the individual website. Am I getting that correct? Exactly. So the the Paw Prosper brand is for that veterinary professional, where they can access all of these products to provide to their patients and to their clients. So they have them on hand within their clinic or within their facility. So the the pet parent, the end user can purchase the the products through their veterinarian or their trainer or or physiotherapist potentially. and we have a a a whole portal that the pet parent can do that directly through their their referral of their professional. and then we do also have the front-facing retail sites as well. So some you know, some people will learn about the products through, I know you mentioned Instagram and Facebook social media earlier. so they can access it that way as well. So so the pet parent can access through any of the retail sites or through their veterinary or trainer professional. And then the professional is who is able to access the Paw Prosper platform. And I will say, I have the Fit Pause Fit Connect. I think I was one of the early purchasers because as soon as it came out, I knew that I would be able to use that on a regular basis. my dog I love it. I do love it. Yeah. I kind of wish I had waited because the bundles that you were going to talk about are pretty awesome and I don't have the any of the squishy. Speaker 1 (07:35.022) Love it. It's such a cool Yeah. Speaker 2 (07:50.67) Yeah, I don't have any inflatables. but I do use a lot of stacking, a lot of the more traditional things, and we do cavaletti every day. So I love the versatility that Fit Connect gives me in such a small area. Inflatable. Speaker 1 (08:10.804) thank you. That's exactly yeah. You hit the nail on the head as why we, you know, how it was designed and why it was designed. And and the the concept had come from exactly that. Like how do we provide an environment for fitness and training and, you know, for every stage of life, from your active sport agility dog potentially all the way through to senior or you know, even for therapy and rehab. post like a CCL injury or for instance. How do we provide the as much versatility in a small space? so that is exactly what where Fit Connect came from and how it was built out to give as much many options as possible in in one product. and it it was we we were kind of blown away at the reception of the product. You know, you design something and you get all excited about it internally, of course. But when the audience and and you know the the customer has that same excitement once it launches, it's just so rewarding. and and we are now iterating, you know, upon the original design to add more more to it per feedback that we've gotten over the last year to make larger platforms able to connect it in many more ways than you can with just the basic. bundle to start. So it's it's been a real fun journey with that product. So thank you for bringing it up. That is awesome. I really love it. I I love doing Cavalletti. I think because I'm a horse person, Cavaletti using Cavaletti. I I would say I'm a horse person before I'm a dog person. gotcha. So horses are what I learned first. and I only got my first dog in twenty twenty years ago, twenty plus years ago. Yeah. So Speaker 1 (09:48.899) You're a host person. Good to know. Speaker 2 (10:08.664) But dogs totally changed my life in ways that horses didn't. Yeah. but I remain a horse person at heart. And one of the things that I see is that in my opinion, the horse industry adopts these things earlier. Like we've been using PMF for for forever. You know, we've been doing PRP and stem cell therapy and massage and chiropractic and acupuncture way before The dog industry. Okay. So tell me a little bit about your perspective because you have been in both spaces for a very long time too. So what are you seeing and what kind of changes are you seeing for the canine industry? Mm-hmm. Agreed. Speaker 1 (10:54.7) Got very good question. So you you are absolutely correct. a lot of the innovation in therapy and rehabilitation does happen on the equine side. and I think that stems from probably part of it stems from how expensive things can potentially be when your horse gets injured. So anything that you can do to help prevent an injury is is definitely going to reap benefits for horse and for the owner's pocket in the end. so I think horse owners are a lot more quickly to adopt some potentially new types of modalities or therapeutic exercises because they are so driven for on prevention on the prevention side. so we have seen a lot of Products start within the equine industry. but it has been flowing pretty quickly over the last 15, 20 years into the small animal world. it took, I think, a long time for it to get going on the small animal side. but now that it has gotten there, there is a massive amount of adoption about what. The benefits of we call it prehab or pr you know prehab and prevention of how you can utilize all of these amazing modalities and products and devices to get ahead of potential age-related in you know conditions down the line, and especially with your sport audience and confirmation, just maintaining peak condition in a very safe way. We're really starting to see. how all of this kind of kind of exploding on the on the on the small animal side and pet parents really seeing the benefit of of that prehab and that conditioning and especially you know when you when you as a human in in the animal world we always call everybody humans instead of people but right in the in the human world Speaker 1 (13:16.538) you know, you don't go get a surgery and then they just send you home. Like sometimes even before you leave for outpatient, you the PT, you know, comes to start doing it, what you're gonna start doing for rehab and what you're starting to do for PT. So the mentality on on in the human medicine really is PT and rehab forward. So that is trickling now into the benefits of well, if it works for me, you know, when I get my surgery. And my dog just had an ACL surgery or a CCL surgery. Maybe this is it makes logical sense. So I think mindset is shifting. people are seeing the benefit of you know, not only on in human medicine, but on the small animal side as well, as to what exercise conditioning and rehabilitation and therapy, the power of what it can do, not only after an injury, but to help prevent as well. I am I think I'm particularly passionate about fitness because Max Lieberman, my first dog, was born in 2004. Lovely name, I think. Max was my vet's first patient for laser. And yeah, first we we tested it on Max Lieberman and A great name. Speaker 2 (14:44.37) He you know, he was just aging. He died at fifteen. So, you know, there was nothing wrong with him. He just Exactly, you know, but I wanted to do every single thing I could to continue walking with him. And if I had known then what I know now, his aging journey might have been more comfortable. Mm-hmm. A long healthy life. Speaker 2 (15:07.798) You know, I could have done more than acupuncture and laser, which were really the two modalities that I used. so I am really passionate because dogs have relatively short lives. I think it's incumbent upon us to make sure that we are addressing their needs. And when I am talking to people who kind of look at me like dogs need to work out, and I'm like, okay, it's just like women in menopause, you know, you are losing muscle. very quickly and you lose your fitness. Right. So think of it that way. Yeah, and and to and to that point, you know, I I was obviously we've we we've been in I've been in this world for a w the sport world and therapy and rehab world for a while, so have now seen the benefits. But you know, bas as a young dog owner or first dog owner, you think walking is I mean, walking is wonderful, but you think going for walks is pretty much this is what I need to do. We just need to go for walks. Absolutely. Yeah, we need to shift that mindset somehow. And it's yeah, walks are amazing. Like definitely get out there. Get out there for the walks, for for mind, for body, for spirit, for the dog and yourself. but but we forget sometimes that, you know, these the kind of the the natural biology of these animals is not just walking. They're usually jumping and running and hunting and you know, that's sort of where their origin has come from. So if we even just walking your dog uphill and downhill can make a significant difference in Speaker 1 (16:37.58) protecting their joints and building muscle mass. So, so kind of understanding beyond just kind of the basic walk and what the power of like I said, simply just going uphill or going downhill, you know, and doing some simple exercises like sit to stands can really benefit the, you know, the the the the support on those tendons and ligaments, you know, to to try to get ahead of potential issues down the line. And it does build a bond with people. I think that's another thing that people overlook. My dogs are always fighting to be the one who gets to go next to do exercises because they're with me, they're getting treats, they, you know, have that feeling of achievement. They're like, yeah, pause up, pivot. I know these things, you know. So there definitely is an aspect to it. I think that, you know. i is similar to teaching obedience. Your your dog does enjoy it. Absolutely. It's enrichment. I mean, we call it enrichment. So you know, it's just like it is funny when you see some of them. all I have to see is the equipment, like you'd reach over to where you pull it out from and they start doing the circles, you know, getting all excited because it it is exactly that it is physical, but it is also a mental enrichment as well. I mean, dogs want to to please, I mean, they want to make you happy. and and they know they get they get you know, that adrenaline boost and that that endorphin boost out of that too. And when they when they do the exercise correctly and they see the smile on your face and you know, makes it's a it's a positive reinforcement all around. So not just physically but also mentally. You're very right. Speaker 2 (18:23.362) Yeah. so let's move on to National Canine Fitness Month. Tell me a little bit about what you do for that month and how it's evolved since I know that you've been celebrating it for some years now. Yeah, absolutely. So we National Canine Fitness Month is kind of us a Fit Pause. Fit Pause is our brand that is canine fitness and conditioning equipment. So for for those that that may not know. so the brand itself has everything from kind of the Fit Connect bundle you talked about to inflatables, ramps and all sorts of different products to help. with conditioning and fitness and also rehabilitation. So we get the month of April to celebrate canine fitness. And when we do that, we always love to throw out specials for our customers and audience that allows them to get some of the kind of core products that help whether and and and all the core products can be used on a basic level. all the way through to advanced by just combining different things together and utilizing the products in different ways. So we like to take this month kind of as an opportunity to promote fitness by offering somewhat significant discounts on a lot of our products and bundling some together to make them to help encourage and make them more accessible to more people so that we can really promote canine fitness in that month and and Get these tools into the hands of as many people as we can. Speaker 2 (20:09.854) I love that. I think that my first product that I bought from your entire group were the Paw Pods. Yeah. okay. You started a little more on the advanced side, but that's totally fine. Did so I was trying to find something to stack with. and they didn't really work that well for stacking. My dogs did not love them as a stacking tool, but it was something that had been recommended to me as a stacking tool. So I have been using the combined companies for quite some time, which is kind of interesting. I really just realized that today that I had your paw pods. that's funny. Yeah. Actually, it's funny. When you say combined companies, we just actually acquired Blue Nine products as well. Blue Nine for your audience is probably most known for their climb. there, I say I should say ours now, the climb product, which is again, you can kind of stack as well, but a platform, a fitness platform with a grippy surface as well. So it is it is a kind of a a staple in a lot of fitness and conditioning and rehab programs. Speaker 2 (21:29.602) I actually don't have a climb yet. I'm trying to, you know, not buy every single thing. because it's just me and my dogs. but the climb is really, you know, it it is a great tool. it's a little bit pricey, which is why I haven't bought it, but it is fabulous. So if anyone is thinking about it, it was really nice to use the climb when I I occasionally take a fitness class that's offered locally. by someone who has gone through the University of Tennessee Knoxville's training program and she's a certified canine fitness trainer and she uses the climb as one of the core, you know, we are always on the climb and I love it. It it is a really quality product. It is and it's so versatile now and and now that we can combine it with a lot of you know the Fitpaws products, we we just welcomed them into our portfolio in March. So we didn't have time to sort of incorporate them into National Canine Fitness Month, but I can definitely say that in years to come we'll be doing a lot of collaborations with with different types of cross-brand specials in bundles during during this month. So do you grow the company by creating new product or by recognizing a great product that needs a little bit of attention that you can give it to blossom? Very good question. and I'm gonna say both, any any and all. So we take a look at we are very diligent about listening to comments and suggestions and feedback on social media, working with our core fitness trainers and veterinarians and rehab specialists, and constantly it's a two-way street. how can we improve? What can this product do better? Is it perfect the way it is? What are we missing? What have you seen out there? Speaker 1 (23:34.648) What would you love to have that just like doesn't exist at all? so it's a constant ongoing conversation and two-way street with all of our customers and our t internal team and trying to either improve upon an existing particular product, Or as it relates to the Fit Connect, coming up with something completely new. again, based on that feedback and the demand and the and the questions that have been out there. So we do all. we'll look at and I please encourage everybody, you know, it your your comments really do make a huge difference. And and just within the groups that you're in, and you know, they wind up trickling back and and don't hesitate to just, you know. Message us directly. if you have a suggestion or you know, would love to see or will you guys ever make a they all go into a filter where our product team takes a look at all of those. So it's you know, we do it innovate within, we do create brand new and we work on improvements. and you know, another piece of that is just as technology and you know. product manufacturing changes over time. You know, what we can do today gives us a completely different opportunity than we had twenty years ago with just the way you make things and and the advances in that as well. What are what is on your horizon for growth in the next five to ten years? Maybe five years. Ten years is a long time. Speaker 1 (25:11.106) Yeah, I know. how about how about we look at just one year now? ten five years. you know, we want to continue to grow our portfolio of brands. So for instance, we just added to the Paw Prosper portfolio two brands for education. one of them is the canine rehab institute, which is focused on certifying canine rehab professionals in the veterinary and PT space. And then we also added an online education port portal, online pet health, which is focused on virtual learning for hydrotherapists and professionals. So we re and and veterinarians obviously and PTs as well. So we see growth potential happening across all spectrums. We want to innovate within product, and it's not just fitness products, but support. we have a brand that our Sleepy Pod brand is our full line of crash tested carriers and safety harnesses for pets in vehicles and on airplanes. And they are they are the crash tested to the same safety standards as children's car seats. So vigorous, very rigorous testing standards for these products. So we will be looking at anything growth wise in that Prevention, support, and rehabilitation space, product-wise, education-wise, we want to expand the knowledge of the power of prehab and rehab, not just in the pet parent space, but also in the professional space. There are a lot of professionals you know, who really are focused on you know, specialists like internal medicine and and you know, maybe skin conditions, but as long as we can continue to say the benefit of prevention, support, and rehabilitation and just growing the awareness and the possibility of what the benefit this can have on the on the life and quality of life of all of our pets. Speaker 2 (27:21.61) I love that you also use education. working at a university and I have a certificate in distance education from way back when, when it was still, you know, kind of new to us. So I love the idea that you're offering that as well. Thank you. Yeah, well, and we once we when we chat about the bundles too, we do have an education session that's kind of a value add in there. So I'll I'll tell you about that once we get to the the end of the podcast. I wanted to ask a little bit about your European or international footprint. Mm-hmm because I know you you do have one. So tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, absolutely. so we have warehouses now that we're fulfilling for all of our customers in North America. So we have one in the USA and also one in Canada for all of your Canadian listeners. we ship directly now in Canada from our Canadian warehouse, which makes it much more easily accessible to get the products there. and then we have a warehouse in the UK. in the Netherlands and the EU and have just started opening our our distribution center in Australia for Australia New Zealand. So there has been a challenge of getting, especially when you talk about something like an inflatable, you know, or the some of the Fit Connect products, they are larger and bulkier, right? They're not, they're not shrinking down to the tiny little package. So shipping can be a challenge. So Speaker 1 (29:02.262) by opening these warehouses internationally, we are hoping again to create better accessibility to these resources for all of our pet parents worldwide. And do you manufacture do you use manufacturers all over the world? Yes, good question. Good question. Because we have I guess eight product brands, we are all over the world, yes. so our PEMF and laser therapy devices are all manufactured in the USA in Connecticut. and then interestingly, you know, when you get into things that have to do with plastics, et cetera, a lot of those The right the raw materials are sourced internationally and we really try to manufacture as much as we can in the US, but and in North America, but sometimes we just don't have the facilities or the manufacturing opportunities to do that. So we we have product that comes from Vietnam. a lot of our harnesses, for instance, we work with a phenomenal team there. So some product is manufactured here right in the US and then others are kind of scattered throughout throughout the world. Speaker 2 (30:20.332) So based on the wide portfolio that you have, I'm going to ask you a question that I think will probably be interesting for you to answer. Okay. What does your typical day look like? I'm excited. Speaker 1 (30:35.254) boy. that's a very good question. So typical day in actually my typical day, I think, is different than a lot of others within the org, but I have a lot of conversations with all of our different brands and the marketing team and the product team. because I am very customer facing on the professional side, there's a lot of interaction between the professional needs and and things functionality that we need on the software side. So I guess I guess my day is a lot of connecting different departments so that we can achieve the experience you know that is best for the end user. and then also constantly talking to our our key opinion leaders and others in the market to say How are things going? What can we do better? What do you need? and then also really working with them to to you know schedule webinars and I mean these podcasts are fabulous, just ways to innovate and get that inf information out in a way that is you know coming from We pride ourselves at Hall Prosper that we have an amazing team of advisors and veterinary partners, that all of our products and any innovation that we do all is stems back to the veterinarian and the professional so that we can ensure that the product is safe. it is going to be the most effective. so a lot of my day is spent kind of with that kind of liaisoning as well. Awesome. Do you I know you work with veterinarians. Do you do any independent research with them or by yourself? Speaker 1 (32:32.626) very good question. I I we I love research. if I if I could spend all my day doing research and working with collaborating with partners, I certainly would. research is very expensive. so if there's anybody out there that's listening that would love to do some research and has some some resources to be able to help finance that, that would be absolutely amazing. but Yes, we have will be we've done pardon me a case study recently with PEMF and arthritis and that will be coming out shortly and we'll probably host a webinar to chat about that one and the effects of PEMF therapy and our OA osteoarthritis in dogs and the benefits of that. we have a webinar actually at the end of this month. where we took a look at, speaking of canine fitness, the effects of stable and unstable surfaces on on muscle and stability in a dog. So taking them from standing on a stable surface to a slightly unstable fit bone all the way through to a fit pause peanut. And how is that how are their muscles reacting to that? How are they adjusting? Are we engaging muscles that we were hoping to? Or which ones are we surprised that all of a sudden when they went from unstable, stable to unstable, either became engaged or disengaged? So we did find a lot of support and activity related in the rectus abdominis, so the core and abdominal area. and the benefits of how we can strengthen core and abdominal by using unstable surfaces. So at it is a free free webinar. So you can take a look we actually I I'm trying to think of the best way to send I'm wondering if it is listed on our FitPAuse website. but we definitely need to get it on there if it's not. So everybody has access to that. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2 (34:43.094) And I'd be happy to share it in the show notes so you can send I appreciate that. Thank you. Absolutely. So I probably am taking up enough of your time or what we agreed to. So I wanted to This is always fun. I love chatting with you. Good. Well, I wanted to circle back to the fitness and the discounts that are available so that people I I think everyone who listens to my podcast knows I think fitness is really important. So if you can buy everything at this great discount, it's a a fabulous opportunity. So tell us what's on offer. Speaker 1 (35:19.726) Absolutely. So it's both an offer for our pet parents through fitpaws.com or also our professionals that they can purchase them through their account at PawProsper. So these offers are going to exist on do exist, I shouldn't say are going to. They're already live. We have specials running on the FitConnect product that you and I had chatted about earlier, where we're running a 20% discount throughout the entire month. We're running a 50% discount off all of our tracks peanuts of all the varying sizes that we have. we do have a Fit Pause made to move harness and leash that came out last year. And that one we're writing a special where you can get a free leash when you purchase a harness. we have a inflatable duo disc where you buy a duo disc and you can get two a pair of free trax targets. the trax targets are great for those that don't know. They're they're they're like basically like a mat that then have these, we call them proprioception bumps on them. most of our inflatable products have those proprioception bumps. and what those are designed for are when is to kind of make sure that when the foot, especially for your rehab or your older, your aging animals who are kind of having a little bit of neurological issues or Just some body awareness issues of of knowing where their feet are in time as they age. These bumps are wonderful about with sending signals from the foot up to the brain to just keep those neurons firing. so you'll see a lot of our fitness products have those. the tracks line has all those proprioception bumps on them. so those are some specials running throughout the entire month. We also have a wonderful. for our fitness partners, our respond PEMF beds. right now, if you buy a Respond PEMF bed and a fit bone together, you get 15% off the entire bundle. and that is on the FitPause website. So 15% off the bed and the bone. and then we have what we call our hero bundle, which is super exciting. Fit Connect, a Fit Mat, a Fitbone, and a ramp. Speaker 1 (37:42.802) all those products bundled together. and the discount is about 35%. So when all of those are purchased, it takes you to about 35%, saving anywhere from $100 to $125, depending on what size Fit Connect product you get. so you'll see significant savings on and on I'm not gonna call it a starter bundle, but it is a wonderful way to get started. Or to bring in more equipment just to get more advanced so it can work in both ways. And the coolest thing about that bundle is that when you purchase one of those, you also automatically get a free one hour training session with Bobby Lyons, who is a I know. Yeah, I know it's very exciting. and and that will be Live on May 17 at 6 PM. every it's basically $150 value. So everybody will get a custom link and access to that free training with Bobby, who's gonna help kind of go through how to really optimize that equipment in the best possible way. So yeah, we're really excited. I mean, fitness, it's just It feels good. It just feels good. It feels good when your dog, when you know you're doing something beneficial. It's it's helping their bot, like I said, body, mind, and spirit. So we're more than happy to offer these discounts this month to really start to try to raise that awareness on the benefits of canine fitness. That's just fabulous. I'm so glad that you had time to talk to me today. I really appreciate it. And I know that my audience is going to receive this information really warmly and be really interested in it. So thank you so much. Speaker 1 (39:25.396) Thank you so much for your time and and you know, any time. And if anybody has any questions, they can certainly or ideas for product. my email is just Lisa at pawprosper dot com. Don't hesitate to drop a line. And I just wanted to thank you for hosting this and creating this podcast and getting all this wonderful information out there. So thank you. Thank you so much. Mm-hmm. Speaker 2 (39:55.566) Thanks for listening and remember a poodle will change your life. Mm. Speaker 2 (40:07.534) Thanks for listening to this episode of Poodle People. See you next week.