Soul Touched by Dogs

Welcome to the Soul Touched by Dogs
Podcast, the show for dog lovers who

see dogs not as toys or tools, but
wise souls worth our respect and care.

I'm an Herrmann, and I'm your host.

I talk to poor some humans, people who
do great work for dogs and their people.

So come and join us for
today's conversation.

Anke: hello and welcome Marisa.

Like, I'm really, really excited.

I always say it, but it's like, it's
always true, but like this topic

is, uh, really dear to my heart.

So I've got, I've had my own
not so great experiences.

So if somebody like you, so, and I'm
gonna stop teasing now at hand handover.

Um, Marisa, let people know where in
this lovely world, world you are based

and what's your business with dog books.

Marisa: Awesome.

Thank you Anka.

I really appreciate you
having me on the podcast.

Um, so I have two rescue dogs and
we are currently based in Phuket.

Uh, I'm Canadian.

And um, so this was our
second international move.

We've been enjoying beach life
and we're gonna be having a

third one back to Canada in June.

Um, my current business, uh,
is pause abroad, which is.

As a, our starting product, um,
at the time of this recording

is, um, a digital pet travel,
um, pet tra pet travel planner.

Uh, because, you know, in doing
multiple international moves

with my dogs, um, I realize that
this industry is so fragmented.

There is no up to date information.

Um, and so we, our goal is to provide
customized information to pet parents,

to make pet travel more accessible.

And our long-term goal is to really
become that go-to place for international

pet travel, for people that, you
know, love that sense of freedom

and lifestyle, but also, you know,
not bringing their dogs alongside

for those adventures, not an option.

Anke: Oh, that's so needed because
it, it literally does feel like.

Or you travel somewhere or
you stay with the dogs, right.

To, yeah.

And the thing is, PI think places
have become more pet friendly.

Mm-hmm.

But the travel part is still, so,
you know, I mean, we were just

chatting before, it's like, I've
had several experiences that were,

well, let's call them suboptimal.

So, so I'm like, oh my God.

When I, when I heard that's what,
what you are, you are, uh, launching,

it's like, oh boy, this is so needed.

So what, what's the.

Sort of what's the biggest
challenge that people face?

That, that there is no information,
that there's wrong information.

That it's like, not doable for
the people or the dogs or, or like

what's the, the big biggest issue?

Marisa: Yeah, well there's several.

I'll give you a little bit of
story into how we got started.

Um, so I have two rescues that are here
with me and I adopted them in Hong Kong

and I moved back to Canada in 2018.

So this is when I kind of first
became aware of this issue.

Um, and, you know, one of the
biggest challenges in this.

Face is like, especially in expat
communities, you know, you see a

lot of people giving up their dogs.

It's really sad because the places
are transient because they feel

they can't, um, travel with them.

And, you know, that long term is one
of the problems I really wanna tackle.

But in doing this international
move back to Canada.

I was so fearful.

This was my biggest fear about the
move, something going wrong with their

paperwork or their not being able to come.

I hired a pet transportation
company at the time, and it was like

thousands and thousands of dollars.

It was so expensive.

Um, this particular company was not great.

Like they weren't friendly.

They didn't really, you know.

Reassure me with the
whole process anyways.

Like I just was so stressed throughout
this whole process and I just didn't

really feel like I was understood what was
going on or what the requirements were.

And anyways, so I moved back to
Canada in 2018 and after that this

whole thing was like so stressful.

I thought at the time, oh
my gosh, I can never travel

internationally again with my dogs.

This was like so stressful.

And, uh, one of my dogs, so.

I got really involved in
the pet space in Canada.

So one of my dogs, she was actually a
breeder dog at a puppy mill in Hong Kong,

and she had several different health
problems, um, including the fa fact that

she was so overweight, she could barely
walk and, uh, multiple vegetables means

she needed a $5,000 knee surgery or
would never be able to walk long term.

And anyways, um, just to give you like
a bit of background on me and how.

This comes back around to pet travel
is, um, I ended up making this

mission to really heal her health.

Started working with a veterinarian,
uh, a holistic veterinarian in

Canada who recommended that.

Um, I switched my dogs
to a Whole Foods diet.

And anyways, long story short,
I ended up, um, you know, really

getting into the Whole Foods space.

I'm actually a certified
canine nutritionist now.

And, um, I, uh, my dog completely
healed her health through whole food.

She lost half her body weight,
never needed knee surgery.

And so this was.

Um, seven years ago now.

Right.

And so, you know, still here in, in
Thailand and, uh, we won awards of I and

based on that, um, sorry I didn't mention.

And then after that I saw
the big gap on the market.

Um, and I ended up founding,
uh, my first company, which is

called Puppy Gang Fresh Foods.

And it was a direct to consumer,
human grade dog food company.

Um, worked with a holistic veterinarian to
develop the recipes and we won awards for

the most nutritious pet food in Canada.

And, uh, got to the point of, um, I
sold the company and was working for the

company that acquired us for two years
and did a plan to exit out of that.

And then at this point, so this was, um.

A little over a year ago, and I was
kind of thinking of my next move and I

realized, so I had been, you know, tied
to Canada, uh, because I was growing my

business and finally, you know, I had
this kind of unprecedented freedom and

I was looking at my next move and I was
like, I really just miss living abroad.

Um.

But I kept feeling that my
dogs were a barrier to this.

But then I decided, you know what?

We've done one international
move, I can do it again.

Um, you know, so that's when I decided to
like take the plunge and like, yes, you

know what, we're gonna move to Thailand.

Like, 'cause I lived in Thailand in 2018,
spent a lot of time here over the years

and just want, it was really craving that
kind of beach life and slower pace and.

I, obviously, because of my own business,
knew a lot of people in the pet space

in Canada, and I reached out to, um,
a pet transportation company that I

knew to get help with the paperwork.

But I had lived in, uh, Asia for
eight years before, you know, I, you

know, know my way around relatively
well, and I did obviously my own

research before getting on this call.

And she had got me in touch with her
Thailand relocation expert, and the

woman gave me the wrong information.

So, uh, she told me that I
couldn't fly into, uh, Phuket.

I could only fly in through Bangkok.

And the really interesting thing
is I've spoken to multiple other

people in Phuket who've had the same
thing happen and they've had to then

drive all the way for, which is a 12
hour drive, by the way, from bang.

This misconception.

And, um, and the other thing, you know,
recom, I was, you know, wanted to use

Korean Air, which is a Sky Pets program
and they're an excellent airline.

She was kind of trying to
deter me from using them.

And so I didn't, didn't have
a good feeling about the call.

And then I got the quotation, 'cause
this was just the preliminary call,

um, for just consulting services.

So bear in mind, this doesn't include the
vaccinations or the flights or anything.

It was 1300 Canadian dollars after
I received the wrong information.

And I was like, oh my God.

And this is when I realized,
I'm like, you know what?

I'm gonna do this on my own.

And then I realized how confusing
this industry really is and how.

It's people gate keep information.

They charge exorbitant amounts of
money just for access to information.

And that's when, and I happen to have
a brother who is a software engineer.

That's what does, yeah.

And so we've created as our first
product, um, a digital travel platform,

um, to travel planner where you enter
your dog's customized information

and they give you customized
checklists based on, we've started

with 10 different countries to see.

Start, um, all of the import
export requirements alongside with

timelines, calendar integrations,
and recommended airlines and flights

for the dates that you're going.

So this is just our initial product.

Uh, we're going to, what we're really
excited about, we're launching now the.

Early access, but we really
wanna build a community of users.

So we're getting people in now and
we'll be building out features and

routes based on what um, users need.

But we really wanna be that, like
go-to community and see like the

Anke: Airbnb for golf travel, right?

Marisa: Yeah.

Like, because there's.

So many people that are craving this
international lifestyle and you know,

like you, you and I connected because
my post went viral on LinkedIn.

It just shows people are really
craving this lifestyle of freedom

and remote work, but then feel like
having their dogs as a barrier.

And I really want to, you know, debunk
that whole thing that, you know,

Anke: I just love this so much.

I mean, in, in my case, I got the dogs
after I'd moved to the nice place, so.

It's always a concern.

It's always a concern, and there's
all these different, and the, the

biggest and the nerves that go
around it, like that sense of.

What if they told me something wrong?

What if I get there?

And, you know, and the whole travel
thing, it's, it's stressful for

us and it's stressful for the dog.

So I'm always like, what if I now get to
the airport and they go, oh, well yeah,

well that's, but you'd also need this
other thing that nobody told you about.

Right?

So, to know you, you are
well informed and not coming.

Like, oh, but this is
only valid for 12 hours.

You know, like that was
something that was told.

To me many years ago that, oh,
there's a particular certificate

from the vet that's only, and so if
you, if your flight's delayed, oops.

You know, and then the dog's
gonna be in a, in a, in a

quarantine or something like that.

So, I mean, it's, it's so scary.

It's stressful.

Anyway, so you definitely don't
wanna do anything wrong, right.

So, and like to have all the
information to know that you can.

You know, for sure you are prepared
and well prepared then, then that

just takes all the, all the, you know,
all the pain out of it, out of it.

So that's incredible.

Marisa: A hundred percent.

And the way that we see this is, you know,
so we, long term, I think, you know, the,

as as we know, like the whole, you know,
pet people as a whole are recognizing

pets as more part of the family now, and
they're really, you know, you're seeing

that human humanization of pets now, but.

For whatever reason, that's still
not reflected in this industry.

So we really wanna change that,
and I see what we're doing as not,

um, you know, necessarily competing
with other people in this space.

I think this is such a big issue
that we're trying to solve.

So for us, we're, you know, really
trying to build out, um, a community

and strategic partnerships around
the world to really, um, you know,

you know, I think it's, I'm, I'm
a big believer in collaboration

over competition, and that's.

You know, my vision for it long-term
is for, you know, us to have this like

str these strategic partnerships on
the ground in these different countries

to help us as well, and us kind of
be that like intermediary platform of

connecting everyone and everything.

Yeah.

Anke: I think, um, like looking at,
at uh, sort of initiatives that I've

had over the years where I was like,
oh my God, like, you know, nobody.

Knows.

And so the UpToDate information
can be quite challenging.

Like how do you manage to stay
up to date with all of it?

Marisa: Yeah.

Well, we're Lever, we're leveraging
technology where we're pulling in

monthly UpToDate, uh, information.

Um, so we are actually, you know.

Just the, the way we're leveraging
technology is that we're actually, um, we

are, we're actually pulling in information
from government websites and, uh, on

the import export regulation, and we're
doing regular, uh, searches on these

as opposed to the existing solutions
on the market, our static information.

So they're just like relying
on someone to update.

They're not up to date information.

And then, you know.

You're seeing the younger generation
going to something like CHATT

PT and entering the answer.

But like the worry, something
is like CHATT can be so

convincing, but they lied to you.

So Yeah.

It just

Anke: tells you what you

Marisa: wanna hear.

Yeah.

And this is another reason
because it's such a big problem.

We're trying to solve why we've decided
to start with only 10 countries and

just make sure we have all of the
up to date information and forms.

We also have embeddable, uh, PDFs,
so if you, the country has forms

that you need to fill out, we also
have that all in there in one state.

Bought.

So yeah, we're really excited.

So there's nothing quite like us on
the market right now and we're really

excited 'cause this is just the beginning.

Anke: Oh my god.

Like so, so even like,
literally there's a checklist.

So say you need this and
here's the form for it.

Oh my God.

Yeah.

Marisa: So if it's some kids, generally,
so we don't have the forms for vet,

we, part of our rollout plan is
to build out a vet portal as well.

'cause vets are actually
having the same problem.

They rely on Marisa for example, to go
in and say, Hey, I'm going to Thailand.

What do I need?

So that is in our, um, our plan.

We are going to, um, like be
building in pet passports and

a vet portal to help kind of.

Track of the vaccinations and paperwork
side of things for the vets, as well

as one of kind of our initiatives
we have planned in the next year.

But for now, it's certain countries
like Thailand for example, there's

a form you need to fill out.

So we have that embedded in, uh,
directly in there because that

was one of the problems I had.

I was like, I knew I had to fill out
this form and I was like, literally

like in forums, like crying like it was.

So inaccessible.

So yeah, we, and that's where

Anke: you, I mean, like, I'm just looking
at this like in Spain, it's like, oh yeah,

where the heck did you find the form?

Right?

And then, then, then quite often you
have the language barrier on top of

it because it might be just hidden.

And I mean like here.

Government websites are
just like, I don't know.

You know what, like user interface
design just wasn't invented

when they come out with these.

And so they have like, it's really
hard to, sometimes the stuff is

there, but it's like not intuitive.

It's not, it's sort of at the bottom.

It's some weird link that
usually doesn't work.

And if it does, you know, like it's like.

Even finding the form is, is, is an issue.

And then on top of it, if you are
in a, in a country where you don't

speak the language that well, you
can't even read all this stuff because

it's that formal kind of language.

And I know that in French it's the same.

It's like you might be able to speak,
but you know, read a government website,

that's a whole different language.

It's

Marisa: totally different ball game.

Yeah.

So to

Anke: have the like, okay, you need this
form, and here it is, like that alone.

Like, like a game changer.

And also not missing any steps.

Right.

Because that's the thing.

It's like quite often when
there's this different.

Organizations and
different things involved.

Like one doesn't know about the other.

They know to do their thing, but they
don't like, it's easy for you to kind of

skip a step if you don't know about it.

Marisa: Yeah, a hundred percent.

And yeah, so that's why our first, so
we'll, we will be getting into more,

you know, personalized solutions.

'cause we know, you know, people that,
as of right now, we just wanted an

affordable, accessible solution, uh,
for people to, to get started with

and be able to travel with their pets.

Anke: So good, so good.

Like I'm like, this is, and you
know, when one of those, when you see

it, it's a little bit like Airbnb.

It's like, why didn't
nobody think of this before?

Right?

Yeah.

So it's incredible.

Yeah.

It's So where can people go?

Go to sign to sign up to
find out more about it?

Yeah.

And one of the 10 countries
like to start with.

Oh

Marisa: yes.

So the website is pause abroad.co.

And also always happy if any
of your readers have any direct

questions, you can, um, reach
out to me at my email, which is

Marisa, MAR ia, at pause abroad.co.

Um, and the starting 10 countries.

Don't worry, we will add Spain
and Italy in there as well.

Those are in part of the book.

As of right now, it's, uh, Canada
and the US Costa Rica, Mexico, uk,

uh, France and Germany and, uh,
Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Anke: Or Yeah.

I mean, that's the thing.

There's so many countries, it's
like, Jesus, it's, it's, it's

gonna be, it's gonna be big, right?

Ah, exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's, and it makes sense.

You know, like I've, a, my background
software development is sort of like,

okay, let's just start with, you know,
and then HOA to, to amplify rather than

to create a giant mess from the start.

Like, makes all the sense,
all the sense to me.

Marisa: And that's what I'm most excited
about because I don't see this as like

us building, just building for people.

We also, you know, and that's why we're
getting our early A, we've opened up

early access and we're leaving, you know,
a lot of, for me, um, my big specialty

is, you know, customer retention.

I also have a consulting business,
so I work with brands on like

messaging and positioning and, um.

And, uh, and, um, loyalty
and retention as well.

And so my big thing is really
thinking about like, building with

the user in mind and building that
community and giving people a voice.

So we're built in that, um,
that user feedback loop.

So we'll be building out like
features and that's where

we're opening up early access.

So it's not, you know.

A, you know, it's, it's an, you know, it's
an ever-growing thing that we're trying

to build and we're gonna keep, you know,
building in different routes and different

features based on that user feedback.

So that's also really
what I'm excited about.

'cause that really makes people feel like
they're part of something too, and it's

not just us building for them, you know?

Anke: For sure, for sure.

I've, I've joined several.

You know, platforms like in
those, like wasn't even beta or

alpha, it was like, yeah, no.

We'll, like the code is still wet, right?

So, and it.

It does create that community
because you'll have questions and

they go, oh yeah, well actually
how we gonna make this work?

So it's, it's, um, it's just that mean,
that process needs to be managed well

because it gets great, it gets messy
quite quickly if everybody, you know,

like those different things that users
want and uh, you know, but it's like.

It's so needed.

I'm so, I'm, I mean, I'm so glad
I found I stumbled across this

post because you, I'm so glad

Marisa: we that as well, you know, because

Anke: it's so, it's such a, it's such a
game changer because I live abroad, so I'm

like, you know, I've not lived in my home
country in like 30 years, so it's like.

It's so needed.

Right.

Because the experience that
I've had with like, yeah, I wish

something like this existed.

So I'm very like, I'm
very glad it now does.

Marisa: Me too.

I'm so excited.

And I'll probably be in Spain in the fall,
so we'll have to meet in person if I am Oh

Anke: be, that would be amazing.

I, that's always.

Yeah.

The, the, the, the real fun thing.

Awesome.

Awesome.

Well, thank you so much.

I'm gonna, obviously, we're
gonna pop the link right below,

so it'll make it really easy.

And, um, yeah, I, I can't wait to see
where, you know, where this takes you.

And, uh, thank you traveling,
the traveling dogs.

Marisa: I really appreciate it.

And thank you for having
me on your podcast.

Well, my, my

Anke: pleasure.

Thank you so much for coming.

Marisa: And we'll be
in touch soon for sure.

Anke: Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Marisa: Thank you.

Thanks so much for listening.

If you enjoyed the episode, don't forget
to subscribe, and leave a review so

other dog lovers can find the show.

If you haven't already, head
over to soul touched by dogs.

com and sign up for weekly doggy cuteness
tips, recommendations, and personal

stories to warm your dog loving heart.

And if you know a pawsome human
you think I should interview,

I'd love an introduction.

Email me at Anke.

That's A N k E at Soul
touched by dogs.com.