RV LIFE Podcast
The RV LIFE Podcast, created by one of the premier companies in the RV industry, is for the RV Community with a mission to Educate, Entertain and Explore the RV Lifestyle. The Podcast will explore all things RV Life: living, working, exploring, learning. With hosts Dan & Patti Hunt, full time RVers, content creators, educators and explorers.
RV LIFE Podcast
RVing with Dogs: Expert Trainer Shares Tips for Stress-Free Travels
In this weeks episode, I (Patti Hunt) welcome dog behavior expert Casey Ray to discuss how to make RV life seamless and enjoyable for you and your furry companions. With over 25 years of experience and the creator of the Dream Dog Formula, Casey shares practical tips, personal stories, and training strategies for RVing with dogs. From choosing the right breed to training older dogs for the road, this episode is packed with valuable insights for pet-loving RVers. Plus, learn how Casey transformed his business and life through personal development and the RV lifestyle.
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RVing with a dog, let's make it stress-free. I'm Patti Hunt and you're listening to the RV Life Podcast. Today's guest has over 30 years of experience training dogs and their humans, and he agreed to share some of his secrets to help you make RVing with your dog seamless. At the time of this recording, which was just a week before I put it out, I am in sunny Orlando, florida, enjoying the warmer weather, and I am headed to the Florida RV Super Show in Tampa. The RV Life podcast was created over two years ago to educate, entertain and explore the RV lifestyle, with the mission to inspire you to live life to the fullest.
Speaker 1:This week, what you Need to Know is brought to you by Open Road Resorts with locations in Montana, idaho, nebraska, new Mexico, and two locations near Dallas. I'd say. If you're looking to get away from the cold, these are two great parks to go to, but at the time of this recording, dallas is actually getting some snow. Now. That's unusual, and I hope it will clear up really soon, because these are two great places for you to spend a couple days or a couple months, and that is Good Shepherd RV Park, which is north of Dallas, and Dallas Northeast Campground, which is northeast of Dallas. Not only that, open Road Resorts is giving 25% off stays of two nights or more during the 2025 season. You use code RVLIFE25, r-v-l-i-f-e 25, all capitals, it is case sensitive and you do have to book by January 31st 2025. It's good at all the parks for the whole 2025 season. Certain blackout dates do apply.
Speaker 1:What you need to know according to IRV2, the number of people that RV with their dogs is close to 80% 80%. Now, I knew this was a large number. I did not think it was that large a number and I'll tell you, while I had been on the road full-time for over three years and I had always had dogs prior to that I did not travel with a pet, but I knew this episode was so important because so many people 80% traveling with dogs and I get questions all the time about dogs and pets and travel and how and what's the best breed and all of those things that we're going to cover today how and what's the best breed and all of those things that we're going to cover today. What you need to know is brought to you by Open Road Resorts and you can check them out at openroadresortscom.
Speaker 1:My guest today, casey Ray, is a dog behavior expert with over 30 years of experience training thousands of dogs, their owners and fellow trainers. He is the creator of the Dream Dog Formula, a transformative six-phase process that empowers owners the tools to create their own dream dog. Over the years, casey has been featured on countless news channels and in written publications, sharing his expertise with dog owners worldwide. His first book, paws of Wisdom A Journey to your Dream Dog, is currently in the works. Casey's deep understanding of the unique challenges and joys of RV living with dogs, combined with his extensive expertise, makes him the ideal guest for the RV Life podcast. He and his wife now live in Lake Havasu, arizona. Casey, welcome to the RV Life podcast.
Speaker 2:Hi Patty, thank you for having me. I'll be honest, when man just hearing you say that kind of man, it's like wow, that I mean that really sounds. I mean thank you for that introduction. That was amazing. You are welcome, glad to be here. Yeah, we're in Lake Havasu. We don't have any snow. We are kind of dealing with a little bit of like wind. This time of year it's our winter storm so, yeah, it gets down into the 60s or the highs.
Speaker 1:You poor thing, I know it could be a lot worse. So I'm not no complaints. I left yesterday this recording is about a week and a half before the posting and I left to the beginning of January out of Pennsylvania. It had been snowing. It was 19 degrees in the morning, so you're 60. You're not getting any sympathy from me.
Speaker 2:Right but.
Speaker 1:Casey, we spoke. You told your story. That was so very inspiring and I was hoping that you would share your story with my listeners.
Speaker 2:Well, absolutely. I guess it's what kind of brought me to the Army lifestyle. For me it was temporary, but it's what led to it. So you know I had been trained for many, many years. Me and my wife had successful brick and mortar locations, multiple locations, and you know, year after year, that kind of wears on you. You know what I mean and before you know it, you know this is after 20 plus years. You can't take vacations. You always got to be there. You can't clone yourself. You know all these types of things and it starts to get to you.
Speaker 2:So I started thinking, and what's led me into personal development? I started thinking about other things and because of that my business started to decline. Thinking about other things and because of that my business started to decline, and it was kind of weird. It was all kind of a blessing and that led right into COVID, which put a nail in it. But looking back at it, it was, you know, the things that I started. All I was focusing on is that I can't go on vacation, I can't do this, I can't do this. I wasn't focusing on how lucrative it is, how you know, I mean all the good that came from it. I was just focused on a negative. So what I realized after the fact, once I got into personal growth, is you know, I was basically complaining, I was not in gratitude. So, you know, universe basically said you know what you don't like this, I'll take care of it for you. And we went out of business and it happened fast and after 20 plus years you have to question like, how does that even happen? You have a reputation, you've built up clientele. You know what I mean. So that's when you start realizing there's higher powers and that's what led me into personal development. So, long story short, we we lost all that.
Speaker 2:And then that was right before COVID. And then COVID actually is what put a nail in it. So if we were going to think about doing it again or coming back from it, there was no way. But I also kind of looked up and said you know what? This is all happening for a reason. Right, this is a blessing in disguise.
Speaker 2:I mean it got rough, I'm not going to lie. I mean we lost everything. You know everything because you know we had. It was American dream. You know what I mean. Everything was financed, didn't think about it, had good credit scores, had great income, so it was just like a rolling thing and but once the income stops, bam yeah, I mean your life stops. And then COVID really put us, you know, and, like I said, the income completely stopped and when it's financed, the banks want their stuff back. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:So it's like you know, we lost late condominiums, you know boats and I mean there's all kinds of stuff, and which led us to Lake Havasu and that's kind of what we're getting at is. So we were like, okay, what are we going to do? We were always West coast people, we always came to Las Vegas, you know, yearly, and we were like, well, you know, now's our chance. We're empty nesters. We got a baby and grand babies over in the Missouri area still.
Speaker 2:But so we had, we packed up what we could. Literally we left the vehicle behind. We took one vehicle loaded up what we could in a U-Haul and left everything to the bank and drove cross country to Las Vegas, got there, long story short, we ended up getting a small loan through the business that we had, because some kind of a COVID release thing or something like, hey, let's get a fifth wheel. So what we could afford, we got the fifth wheel. We could, but that's what started this resort style living and the vibe to RV lifestyle, and I loved it so you moved from there, basically had nothing, got into a fifth wheel and that's where you hit the road.
Speaker 1:Now, let's be clear. I thought I saw you had four dogs and a cat with you.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I just want people to know.
Speaker 1:All right, so now you hit the road, so talk about your RV life journey.
Speaker 2:We hit the road, headed for the West Coast with a trailer with our most, you know, beloved belongings um me and my wife actually my mother-in-law and four dogs and a cat and yep oh my goodness yeah, and we hit the road and a lot most people were like how did you leave all that behind and all that?
Speaker 2:and I, I kind of knew there, I mean what was left to stay. I mean we even got bad mouthed you know what I mean like oh, he's a scammer. I'm like after 20 years, you don't scam people a lot. You know what I mean. So we were just like you know it's time to start over and this was our shot and came out here. Like I said, in the meantime I'm also diving into personal development, starting to work with mentors and they're kind of opening my eyes to this stuff. But this is why I'm learning about the RV lifestyle with all these animals, you know to me and people like, how in the heck did you do that?
Speaker 2:You know, just to preface a little bit is me and my wife. We've always had like a pack of dogs, so that that doesn't that come easy. You know what I mean. And we're a lot of people were like you got four dogs and I should say one was actually this guy right here. We've lost her since this. Yeah, sally Joe, and then two or two little ones, and then the third one is another little one. So we have three little ones.
Speaker 1:so we had her, three little ones and a cat and you're pointing for people who are just listening what is, what is the dog?
Speaker 2:it's big that you're pointing yes, sally joe, she was a german shepherd.
Speaker 1:Belgian tavern mix oh, nice little dog to have it in our v okay well, she's about 65 pounds oh okay, she looks way bigger in the picture. Yeah, and that's.
Speaker 2:I just can't. I guess you can't really tell. Yeah, so she's about 65 pounds. Oh, okay, she looks way bigger in the picture, yeah, and that's, I just can't.
Speaker 1:I guess you can't really tell yeah, so she's about 65 pounds, so she was the large one.
Speaker 2:Like I said, we bought but again, so we're used to having a pack of dogs. These dogs are also trained, so you know we can get out at stops and they're not flying out the doors, they're not busted. You know and you see a lot this extra stress when RV lifestyle should be stress-free.
Speaker 1:Right, and that's what I'm hoping you're going to give some of those secrets. Oh good To our listeners. Okay, good, Absolutely.
Speaker 2:We're going to jump into all that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, good.
Speaker 2:That's basically what led me. You know, we bounced around and that was the Las Vegas area with the RVs, before we came down to Lake Havasu. We got out of the RV. We actually stay in, we're in if anyone's listening Beachcomber, which is an RV resort. We're not in an RV, but I love the lifestyle, I love the amenities. You know what I mean. It's nice to meet people all around the world. We got snowbirds come down here, you know, and then they go back to Canada. So this is actually it's a great place for me. I do business online, so you know what I mean. It's just it's a good place for us to be.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, so the times in vegas with the rv and then pulling in and you know, basically he's getting out and learning, watching these people, you know, evening, morning to evening and getting up and even seeing their morning routines, getting out and watching them. You know dogs, sometimes pulling them down the steps, taking them for another walk, and then they're approaching another dog and it's just like. You know, it's almost so many times I'm like I should go to this resort owner or manager and say, you know, we could do some kind of group training here or something, just uh, you know, while I'm here, let's exchange, you know, uh, rent for that kind of thing. But you run into a lot of people and they had they, uh, I guess they just it back to dog. People get dogs on impulse. You know what I mean. It doesn't matter. Most people don't research. Hey, I'm an RVer, let's what I'm going to do. I want to make sure this dog's going to be good for that and you know, with that said, I think any dog could be great as an RV dog.
Speaker 2:The key is is the proper socialization time. So you need to get a puppy young enough. If you're knowing you're going to be RVing with that dog, and then when you properly socialize them between eight and 13 weeks which is when that window is like a sponge they need to be exposed. They're in a motor home, they're in a fifth wheeler getting up and down the steps, they know the routine. By 13 weeks Then it's a breeze.
Speaker 1:And let me ask a question For my listeners. A lot of people decided to go in an be able to be in the rv and in the rv park and and get along with others.
Speaker 2:okay, good so you're gonna give us some of those it's an old wise tale that old dogs can't learn new tricks. We've all heard that saying right okay squash that.
Speaker 2:I mean I, I literally had a dog come in and stay with me for two weeks at one point in my career. This dog was 13 years old, wow, and it came in. It was what we call the board and train. The dog saves me for two weeks and I turn around and trade the owners 13 years old and what I could never figure out, it was the same owner. That was always odd to me. After 13 years he decided dog needed training, which is I've never seen that in all my career. Right, wow, right. But the dog thrived, the owners, they was had a fantastic relationship. Now, I don't know how long that lasted. You know what I mean, because there was. You know the dog was old. But my point is the dog came in and picked it up, just like any dog would. If you kind of understand what you're training, you know you don't kind of make up excuses hey, this dog's old. That kind of thing is. When you fall into these pitfalls of trends is when you get in trouble.
Speaker 1:And we're going to jump into that. I do want to help people because something else and I just want to put a sponsor in there because it is cold out there. Like I said, we were talking before the show. I'm in Pennsylvania. The day I left it was 19 degrees. You were hemming and hawing and not happy because it was 60. Hemming and hawing and not happy because it was 60 and most of the country has no sympathy for you.
Speaker 1:But those people that are struggling with the cold, there is a great product. It's called Air Skirts. It is hassle-free RV skirting and this RV skirting inflates. It goes around the perimeter of the RV and prevents the warm air from escaping, protects pipes from freezing and causing damage, saves on heating costs. And the way it works is it uses the trapped air as a natural insulator. It's made of heavy military grade PVC coating coated canvas and it sets up in minutes. It's amazing. There's a pump that inflates it and then deflates it, so it goes into a nice compact case so it's easy to store.
Speaker 1:Airskirts is giving my listeners $200 off a kid order and that code is RVPOD R-V-P-O-D, and you need to go to airskirtscom if you're looking to get warmer and the weather this year seems like it's going to be crazy weather-wise. So, yeah, you don't sound like you need this, casey, but for those of us that really are in the cold in an RV, like people right now in Dallas, they might be able to use this. So it's an amazing product, okay, so let's jump in. I'm going to leave it up to you. You're the expert. We're going to break it down step by step. I was a teacher for 20 years, so I'm all about breaking things down into bite-sized chunks for people. Let's talk where do we want to start. Let's talk about the RVer that's looking for a dog that they want to travel with Are there certain breeds.
Speaker 1:You tell me what that RVer needs to know. I want a pet to travel with me. I'm traveling solo, I have kids. You know it's me and the wife, or you know. Okay, so let's start there.
Speaker 2:Perfect. What I did want to add to you were talking about the snow and the cold and all you guys out there. You know when you're on the road and if you're somewhere and you're you can beat the snow, but you're parked and you know the snow is coming. Here's a neat little trick and some of you may have heard of this. May not grab yourself a little five by five tarp at the hardware store before the snow comes. Put the tarp down when the snow's done, pull it up and you got a nice little potty area, relief area for your dog that's a great idea.
Speaker 1:I now I've always had dogs. My whole life I had dogs and I had a cat. At one point I moved in with somebody that had a cat, um, and I I can remember trying to shovel the grass because the dog wanted no part. So, that is a great idea.
Speaker 2:A tart for the area, I mean obviously plywood is sheet of plywood, but that's not quite as handy as a folded up tarp that you can put. You know, have in the fifth wheel, boom, put it out, right, and I mean, it's very convenient and it works wonders, especially if you're on the road and you're in the process of house breaking a puppy, which could be challenging, right, let's face it. I mean, you guys are listening to this, you know what I'm talking about. That, right, there could be a game changer alone yes, uh, great, okay, so back to what you were saying.
Speaker 2:So you were asking if you want to lead me back into that again.
Speaker 1:Just to refresh my I, I I'm thinking about people and again I get a lot questions. I see a lot of conversation on social media so I'm trying to hit those kinds of questions. Somebody is either on the road or looking to go on the road and decides that they want to get a puppy. Are there certain breeds, things to look for? Start us out with that person.
Speaker 2:What's what again? So I kind of touched on on it. But here's the biggest thing. So it's not so much really rv years, it's really what your lifestyle is and when, anytime you're thinking about getting a new puppy, just take that in consideration. I mean the the biggest thing. That's not so much honestly. I mean breeds have traits, but within and this is the way I train differently with that dream bug formula within every breed you have different.
Speaker 2:So when people get hung up into breeds, like which breeds bed? But you know it's not always. You know certain, obviously certain breeds have characteristics to be more this way and that way. So you can run with percentages right, but you know the overall game is to just understand that you want to get a dog young enough so you can properly socialize them in the RV or the you know the motor, whatever the case may be, and that is between eight and 13 weeks. Now here's the kicker and here's why a lot of shelters are even full.
Speaker 2:And here's an ongoing problem and I've been dealing with this for many, many years is that a lot of veterinarians and I'm not, I mean we love our veterinarians but you know with they lack some of their behavioral knowledge and what they do is they tend to tell you to keep your dogs inside until they're properly vaccinated at 14 or 16 weeks of age. Well, and that's great, but with certain breeds now, I mean, you almost have a time bomb, because they weren't properly socialized between 8 and 13. They were indoors, they were kept in, and now they're 16 weeks, no-transcript socialization window's gone. So it goes back to you know, becoming aware of what's honestly best for your dog, and I'll kind of leave it at that. You know what what I mean.
Speaker 2:But I always side with socialization because without that you make life so much harder for the dog and owners. If you could just get a dog in time and do what you need to do to properly socialize them to be in an RV, it makes life so much easier. Now, with that said, there are breeds that I would highly recommend, and these are more like family type breeds. Again, what do you do on your rv? Do you park it and go hiking? Do you park it and relax by the campfire? Do you know? I mean so it's not so much just the rv, what, it's still your lifestyle, you know, but just off the top of my head, some fantastic breeds, my, my one breed, and I can.
Speaker 2:I I've been saying it for years when people ask me a family dog, and regardless if it's an rv lifestyle, whatever is a king charles spade man, they're just fantastic. It's almost hard to ruin that breed. So I mean that's one, if you want to take note. But anytime you know these Labradors and Golden Retrievers obviously fantastic dogs. The downsides is a little bit bigger. How big is your RV? Do you want a smaller dog? Do you want a larger dog? You got you know again. Instead of worrying more about breed, it's looking at size, look at energy levels. You know. Is it a low submissive type dog? Is it a high energy? It's going to need walked every day. Are you ready to do that, or do you want to sit by the campfire? You know that's the difference between getting an English bulldog and a border collie.
Speaker 1:Right or like a Jack Russell needs a lot.
Speaker 2:They're very hyper, oh, I mean that is one that could be a great RV dog. But be prepared that when you park that unless you've got a treadmill on your RV, that you need to get out and take the dog for a walk. And if you're not prepared to do that, then you know, look into a different breed. And that's just kind of what the way I approach everything. It's not so much just kind of understanding of what you want to do. Again, the biggest thing is if you could just get a dog at the right age.
Speaker 2:And there's a lot of, like I said, conflicting information with that, with what veterinarians are telling you to do, and it's causing problems. But that is socialize your dog between 8 and 13 weeks in your motorhome, in your rv, up and down the steps in that routine, and you won't miss to be, you will not have a problem. Okay, around around the other dogs around. You know all that stuff and stuff and people say, well, you know. They say what about Parvo? And blah, blah, blah and all that, until the vaccinations. You know what. You can get Parvo vaccinated with Parvo vaccinations anyway. So there's again, I'll leave it kind of at that. But so dig deeper into all this and that's why I'm more on the holistic side and that's for people that.
Speaker 1:Right, and so I just want a little bit of a disclaimer. You're not a doctor, you're not claiming to be a veterinarian and know the ins and outs. Your opinion, your thoughts, is that. It's not that I'm going to say big a deal, so let me just give an example.
Speaker 1:I had a dog I bought, spent a lot of money on her. She was a schnoodle schnauzer poodle. She was just the cutest little thing, didn't know much about you know a lot of the breed. She was supposedly hyperallergenic. Well, at a year old she became very ill. They did not think she was going to make it and which is really difficult with three young children. And so they believed and I don't want to go down this rabbit hole, but I'm saying this for a reason they believe that the vaccinations contributed to what her problem was, and so they decided that she could get the rabies vaccine and should, but the other vaccines they were just going to do a blood test, a titer, to see if she would still immune to those um diseases, was still immune to those diseases, parvo and all those diseases. And so year after year I'd pay however much money over $100 to have her tested and she was still immune. And I even said to the vet so why do we vaccinate every year if they last longer than a year? And he said, well, he was bothered by it. He said, you know, they just don't want to spend the money to do the testing to see how long they last. It's easier to just vaccinate.
Speaker 1:Now, that is a rabbit hole. I know you're biting your tongue. My only, and that is a conversation. And if people want to go on to social media, I'll give your social media mind. They could rant, they could talk about it, they could ask questions. Um, because it is definitely a rabbit hole.
Speaker 1:The only reason I'm saying it is because she was around other dogs, um, you know. And so the concern for me, honestly, was not that I wasn't that concerned, I'm more holistic as well. So, and again, this is not a conversation I want to dive into, but you know, take what we are now saying with a grain of salt. Anybody who's getting a new puppy, if a vet just says, hands down, don't let them be around other dogs until you know this, 13, 14 weeks Maybe, ask questions, maybe do some more. Research is what we can recommend to people, and you and I certainly want to hear people's thoughts, opinions, they're angry, they agree whatever, and we'll lead them. You know my social media is RV Life Podcasts and Instagram and Facebook. Where can people reach you real quick while we're saying this?
Speaker 2:My Facebook is at Coach Casey Ray. I'm on YouTube at Coach Casey Ray, basically at Coach Casey Ray, all across social media.
Speaker 1:Great and I'll put that in the show notes. So people do have thoughts on this. I mean, it's a hot topic, so people have thoughts on it.
Speaker 2:It's a hot topic for sure, because a lot of what's kind of going on in our country today and across the globe, you know, there's a lot of people waking up to the ways things have been and not should have been, and it's not just with us, it's with our animals and it's the same. You know. You can kind of see what I'm getting at again. Yeah, exactly what you said, patty, this is my opinion. I'm not a doctor, I'm not a veterinarian, said Patty, this is my opinion. I'm not a doctor, I'm not a veterinarian. But this is from my gathered knowledge of close to 30 years in the industry and kind of seeing the trend take its course.
Speaker 1:So it's your expert opinion and we're going to invite people to share what their thoughts are, and I'll let you handle that Sure.
Speaker 1:Perfect, I'd love to, but everybody has the right to their thoughts and opinions, and you know again, it's not the platform to go down a deep dive of something that could be quite controversial. Okay, so let's talk. That's a good, a lot of good advice for people who are thinking about RVing, who are in an RV and thinking about that pet. What about people who are? So we now have people who are in a home and they're concerned about I see this all the time on social media getting their pet into the RV. And will my pet be okay? And you know, when we talked, you said absolutely any dog could be. Pretty much any dog could be trained. So let's give those people advice.
Speaker 2:Perfect, and yeah, I was going to jump into that. I'm not sure if we skipped that part about. I know we talked about what to do when choosing a new dog, but I don't know if we really got into. Okay, you already have a new dog. You're either having troubles on your journey in the RV or you're considering an RV journey and you're wondering and you have questions.
Speaker 1:Right. So both we need to cover both of those things. I see those questions Right.
Speaker 2:So what would be the first one? So let's say the first one is you are, you have a dog that's kind of misbehaving around the house and you're thinking of the RV lifestyle and, honestly, guys, this is where you have to be honest with yourself. What is misbehaving to you, you know, are there some challenges? Are there some obstacles? Are there some things that you're kind of overlooking? You know, when you go on that walk, is he growling at the other dogs? But you know, on this side, you're still, you know, focusing on the RV lifestyle, knowing that there's going to be dogs at every stop multiple, you know that kind of thing. So, multiple, you know that kind of thing. So you know, just be honest with yourself. You know, with that said, as long as and this goes back to the socialization between eight and 13 weeks, as long as you have a dog that's been properly socialized, most any behaviors I've been successful with assisting with or you know what I mean, I don't like the word fixing, that sounds tacky but you be successful at attaining or having um owners implement them on their journey. That's kind of what training is is. You know, it's not so much about hey, my dog knows how to sit and down in place and come and heal. It's understanding how to use those, implement those in situations to make your life easier, right? So what I would say to anybody listening about you know, oh, my dog's. I'm not sure about him, but I want to go um ground. You know I'm going to, we're going to go purchase an RV and hit the road. You know, uh, take a quick course, take a quick training course. It doesn't have to be anything major. I'm not talking advanced competition and these dogs have to be completely off leash trained, but have the basics down. You know, and you know that that takes me back to my dream dog formula where you know the basics, basics are great, but you really want to take any training through a reinforcing phase, just so you build that bond and that communication between dog and owner that makes it so much easier when you get on the road and you hit those distractions.
Speaker 2:If everything's been in the learning phase and it's all been treat, you know, hey, hey, hey, I got to treat where you sit and it's all basically been bribed. Now you're in real life scenarios and that blows up in your face. So that's why I always recommend never stop at just a learning phase and that's very typical of like, if you go through a group class, you go through, my dog learns all these great, all these commands. It's great to graduate, boom, and you know everyone's happy. But is your dog really going to do that when they need them to? No, and that's the mistake.
Speaker 2:People think, you know, going on to the road, well, I didn't train well, are they? And be honest with yourself. And that's why I would say make yourself with a little wish list, contact a professional, say, look, these are some things I'm, you know, uh, have some questions about, and here's what I'm thinking about doing, and let the professional kind of guide you. That's what I, I would recommend, right, because it's the only thing. You know it's not going to get better on the road. That's what I want to say. If it's a problem under, in your, under your roof, it's going to blow up when you get out and hit these distractions. You know it could be prayed there's it could be so many different things, right, the point is what I'm hearing you say, and, and you know there's this group training.
Speaker 1:I never did that. One of the experience I had. I had a dog that was, I don't know, something like 80, 90 pounds. She was a New Finland German Shepherd and I was really concerned making sure she was properly trained. Now, where I was living was on a large 14-acre property and I wanted her to be off-leash. But I wanted well-trained because we were surrounded by the road, and so I hired a private trainer to come and train her. Well, that dog not only learned where to stay, but if she wanted to cross the street she would sit down at the road. There was actually a bunch of horses across the way and she wanted to go play with them and the owner was fine with it, but she would sit at the road and look and listen. She literally would look both ways and then cross the street and she was like amazingly trained. And the point I'm making is that was great for that scenario.
Speaker 1:What you're saying is a dog that's lived in the house. Now you're at an RV park. We hear all the time in RV parks a dog ran out, they're missing. So now that's a whole different. You know, that's a whole different thing for the dog and the owner. I was in a dog park. It was um new year's eve in a dog park and I am walking out with two great big steaks to put them on the grill and this great big rottweiler is coming toward me.
Speaker 1:Now in a nanosecond.
Speaker 1:You have to decide drop the stakes and run, or this is okay and the dog came up and he was scared to death and I just I felt so bad so I kind of tried to calm him. There were fireworks and he was so scared and I ended up bringing him into the RV and we went to the ranger's station and said, look, this dog just came up. You could tell he was friendly. There was no tag, which obviously is important. We'll talk about that. The dog just stayed there and would not leave my. He was scared, they left him and he broke out and it took, I think, hours till somebody came looking for him. But again, what we're talking about is making sure the environment you now have the dog in it's a whole different world, Yep.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know that, patty. So, like when you said you had a private trainer and you know a private trainer can also do things incorrectly as well, but usually had a private trainer, and you know a private trainer can also do things incorrectly as well, but usually with a private trainer you get one-on-one and what that does is it takes you through a learning phase and kind of a reinforcing phase in the, in the proper environment. You don't want all these dogs to the left and to the right when you're trying to say, hey, look at me, focus on me, and that's where you know what I mean, that's where. So you know, with a private trainer coming out, they could come out and, you know, work with someone one-on-one. They could maybe say, hey, let's go into, let's go see your RV, let's go train the dog inside the RV. That's what I highly recommend.
Speaker 2:Implement your obedience inside the RV. If you only implement it in that room, it's not going to happen. You got to do it in both, teaching in both rooms so a private trainer can teach. Have to show you how to teach inside of your RV is kind of what I'm saying, whereas if you're going to a group scenario, you're not only not getting the related training that you think you're getting you're getting. You're also not targeting what you need to target. You know, um and again. A lot of that goes back to the proper socialization the poor roddy. I guarantee he wasn't exposed to fireworks or banging the loud noises or firearms or any of that between 8 and 13 police of age, when he should have been right see now he heard it, oh my gosh, in that size, yeah, he can go right through it.
Speaker 2:I mean somebody's already doors, you know what I mean. And and that's what it creates that kind of trauma in these dogs. Where socialization would it just? And you know, again, me being a holistic guy I've, I've been successful with some fantastic quality cbd oils that are great for uh, fireworks, um, natural herbs that can get in there and they affect the brain tissues. There's all kind of neat ways, you know, you can proactively protect your dog from that kind of stuff, and that's maybe for another day, but that's something else.
Speaker 1:That's a great suggestion and, again, people can reach out to you and ask questions and you could decide how you want to help and guide people in that. What about the thunder vest? So I was actually babysitting because I love animals and they love me, and we were in a park and there was a family and they wanted to take the kids for the whole day and I said leave the dog. And the dog had a thunder vest, I believe is what it was called, are they?
Speaker 2:yeah, no. So here's my experience. Again, this is my opinion, just just like everything else we've been talking about on here. But thunder vest for me is like a 30, 30, 33, 33, you know it's. It kind of depends on the dog.
Speaker 2:I've heard some great feedback. I've heard some I could take it or leave it, and bad feedback. So I've never personally used them. But it can't hurt because it does make sense. You know what I mean. It's a natural, nice feeling to wrap up your dog and that kind of thing. So I get the aspect of it and I have seen it work. So if you're struggling, that might be the perfect. Done a shirt, combination, quality CBO with a natural herb and your dog can relax through the process. And then you know cause that. Can you imagine how traumatizing that is? I mean the way. I mean every year dogs disappear on this holiday, yet every year well, not just New Year's, but Fourth of July, right, and every year dogs disappear and then yet every year. Here's the awareness, here's the awareness, here's the awareness. Here's the holiday, here's the post. The dog's missing, here's the post, the dog's missing. It's like someone's missing something somewhere. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:You can prevent a lot of this, right? So you're saying to help acclimate them, not shield them, at a young age, make it okay for them, which and it sounds like there are also things we could do if you have a dog that is older than that, impressionable young, eight to 14 month, uh, week, eight to 13 week yeah eight to 13 weeks.
Speaker 1:so that's a great, um great for those people have the older dog. Now that brings me to my thought, and again I want to tell a story. When my husband, dan, and I lived in Las Vegas, we had friends of ours that had a Frenchie, and a Frenchie is a very what's a nice word? They're very unique kind of dog.
Speaker 2:They very high. They're noisy. High energy, yeah, hyperactive a lot this one wasn't high energy.
Speaker 1:It had a lot of medical issues. It was high maintenance back to breed yeah, exactly so. The Frenchies are a breed that tends to be have medical problems, very high maintenance, very needy because of overbreeding right exactly yes, any breed that gets popular.
Speaker 2:This is what happens. You can see the trend. And then here comes the health issues.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right exactly so this. The parents you know took care of the dog like amazingly well. They were the perfect parents for this type of dog. They were not in an RV, but they were very concerned about who they were going to leave the dog with. They saw how great my husband and I were with the dog and so when they went away we watched the dog. We lived in a house and you open the sliding glass door to the backyard.
Speaker 1:The dog had medical issues so it couldn't go on any kind of major walks. It went outside. It walked around a little bit, did its business and came in. And the one day first time we were watching it, I opened the dog and I said, yeah, go out. And my husband said, oh no, you have to walk outside with her. And I was like what the heck I do? That is just not happening. And so when I opened that door and said go out, that dog went out. When my husband went to open the door to let her out, he had to walk out with her and stay out there with her. So now the humans were trained by the dog, and that's what I'd like you to talk about, because in all of this the humans really need to be trained.
Speaker 2:That's everything this is. You know, this is owner training. Dogs are honestly easy. And if you're not working with all the owners not just one example, what you said right there If I'm working with a family, I don't only want to work with mom, I want to work with dad, you know, because I can get the dog listening to mom, just like you said, but that if dad's not understanding and reinforcing the dogs, I can listen to them and then when dad understands the reinforcing but the kid's not doing the reinforcing, the dog doesn't listen. So it's important to go deep enough in all the training. So everyone is equal and and it is, you know, people training this is yes, this is you know the dog, like I said, is easy.
Speaker 1:And we're talking everybody in the family. So even if there's little kids, they could learn. Because I remember when I was working with a trainer with my dog, I could get her to sit, lay down, shake, paw, stay. I could leave meat on the ground, have her stay and use only hand signals. I did not even need to say anything verbally, it was all hand signals and that dog did not listen.
Speaker 2:But again, that comes from your confidence and that comes from repetitions. Once you do so much of this, you get confident and your dog starts feeding off your confidence and that's what you're seeing there, whereas someone else steps in, a dog's like you haven't proven yourself to me and a lot of times here's what happens is a lot of times a dog's in a scenario in a home where they look at one person as a leader and the other one's a litter mate. So you know, it's like he's always biting me but it doesn't bite him, or vice versa. You know, and that's why I said let's step both of you guys up in training so you both know what you're doing. Train both of you guys so that you both are leaders and then that this stuff just dissolves. There's really no need to even like correct it. Once you come across as a proper leader. You need to be all those little behaviors that you're like man. I hate that man that's dark, that begins to dissolve because they're looking at you through a different set of eyes, so to speak.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and it's the same way with parents and kids. It's funny because and I didn't ask you this when we spoke but my friend's daughter brought her dog in and she was at his house and it's a little dog. It had been previously abused, had been in different families. She adopted it and it just really connected well with her. But when the dog comes to their house, the dog's there, they don't mind the two humans that are in the house, but there's not a lot of interaction. So I walked into the house and the dog barked a little bit at me and I didn't think it barked much for a dog so small. They're usually very yappy and I just put my stuff down and sat down on the ground and like within a minute the dog just kind of bowed down to me like okay, and then the dog wouldn't leave me alone. So it was kind of funny and that's what happens often when you know dogs and babies, just you know that's what it's like.
Speaker 2:You have a natural energy to you. You have a natural calming energy. You can feel it even through this thing here. But that's a lot of what dog training is is energy. Can you control your energy? Do you control your emotions? Are you always frustrated? Are you always on edge? That kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Dog feeds off every bit of that. You know what I mean. So they're picking up on you when you go into a new scenario and this is what stops me from getting nailed with the door has having to learn this early on is that if I go in and this might be a dominant dog or aggressive dog type consultation in their home, I usually don't like to do that because I like to get them on neutral ground. But if I'm going into their home, I know I do not look at those dogs eyes for a split second because all it takes is like that and then lock. You know, if I locked eyes with that Dominic dog and we did that, it's on right there, right, and unless they're under control, unless I'm prepared, it's a problem. But I can go in that same Dominic dog If I don't do that quick eye contact and don't even look at him.
Speaker 2:You know, I just kind of go and shake the mom dad's hand. I don't even look at a dog, nothing going about my business. The dog comes up to me on his terms, smells me, checks me out, we're good. But most people don't do that. They'll reach out, they'll try to pet the dog, they'll do something and it triggers the dog. So yeah, just a lot of this is awareness. Again, going back to if you're having any of these problems while you're in the park in your RV, something that a phone call with a professional can make. A good professional can just walk into it over the phone.
Speaker 1:Is that something you offer? I you know we didn't really talk about that. You have your book you're coming out with, so let's talk about what. Do you have somebody who's trying to transition? You have somebody who has an aggressive dog, or somebody who is concerned about the dog running off in the campground, all of these things, or just hey, I have a puppy and I want to make sure they're properly trained, so what do you offer?
Speaker 2:Great question, patty, and actually what that does is it takes us all the way back to the beginning of the story, where my RV days. I lost the business, right. How did I get to training again? And this is kind of how this ties in. So, as I'm in my RV and kind of just trying to find my way going through personal growth, you know, do a lot of reading, spending time with my mentors, because that's, you know, having some faith, because without that, I mean when you're down and out and we spent time in a storage unit I've shared that with people and it's you know when you don't know where your next bathroom or meals coming from. Sometimes that can be very you know, but you got to have faith and I just I believed in the same thing that took my business out could rebuild my next one, if that makes sense. So I just-.
Speaker 1:Yes, the same thinking process Right.
Speaker 2:I stayed strong and actually I got you know where. I know this mindset Laws of the Universe very well and I started coaching it and that's kind of what kept us going until one day, working with my mentor, and he said okay, casey, I got to talk to you about something. I'm like, oh boy, here we go. But he said so I was kind of just you know on the internet and threw your name around on google and he says I knew you were a dog trainer. But I mean he didn't realize what I was giving up. I mean, and instantly there was a page and I don't even know where this came from. Again, is this something for me? It was a barkcom, but it was 50 plus five star reviews of mine, no other, nothing else about losing a business, none of that. And it was all sitting right there and he's reading them to me. I'm going where do you find this? And he says it's out there on the internet. So he said you really are giving up a lot by. He said so tell me, what didn't you like about the business? And I told him I couldn't go anywhere. I couldn't tell him myself, I couldn't be everywhere at once. He said what? Get rid of the overhead, get rid of that stress that took. You know, that's what took the fun out of it for me to get rid of all that stuff. And so he said look, what's the difference between you doing a one-on-one lesson and an online lesson? And I said, well, in-home lesson or in-person, I would go and grab the dog first, kind of train them and give them back. He said, but you give them back? And I said, yeah, he said so can you practice removing that first part? Because in the end you got to get the dog back anyway, right? So I was like, okay, this takes a little bit different approach for me. But yeah, absolutely I can do this.
Speaker 2:So I started, I kicked off this online program and it's been very successful. I have dogs all over the world, all over the country. You know what I mean that I train. I just come into their living room through Zoom. I can go into their vacation spot, their business, you know anything where they're having a problem, and as long as they can put me on what's going on, we can train through it. So that has given it's. You know my audience is ridiculously larger. I no longer have that overhead that caused all that stress. You know what I mean. So everything comes full circle. And my point here, I guess, is you know, if anyone's going through hard times and just don't ever give up because everything's happening for a reason, you know it's. You know I wasn't thinking about my business. I no longer wanted it, I wasn't grateful for it, and the universe took it away and then brought it back in a better way Once I improved myself, that's, I went through the growth.
Speaker 1:But that's fine and that's where we also connected, because that's our mission. As I say in the beginning of the show, it's my mission to live life to the fullest. You had these great successful businesses, you were making money, but you weren't able to take a vacation, and so that's not living life fully, and that is also always the underlying message of any show. So we're going to put in the show notes where people can reach out to you, to, to you know, look at what you offer as far as online classes, because I, I again, this is just such a big topic, yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, I can literally come into their RV, right, right, and as long as you have zoom and app on your phone, boom, I'm right there. You know what I mean, and we could do one-on-one get rid of the group, get rid of the distractions and get to work, I mean, and so it's very successful.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, I see a lot of potential here. We talked about different categories the person that's looking to get the animal and start on the road. The person that already has an animal, that's older, that's looking to get on the road, and the person that's already on the road with an animal a dog that's just not, you know, they're worried about it escaping and just not helping it to acclimate. A couple of things. I want to bring up a couple questions that I thought of as we were talking, but before we do that, I do want to talk about open roads fuel cards. So, as people travel around the country, whether you have the dog or not, if you're traveling in a diesel RV or diesel truck, open Roads Fuel Card is the way to save money. You get the card for free. So you apply for the card, you get it for free, you go onto the app and you can find national brand diesel places across the country. Could find national brand diesel places across the country, saving anywhere from five cents a gallon. I have, at times, saved a dollar a gallon on diesel fuel, and that's huge, as I travel back and forth across the country three and a half times. So I was full-time on the road for over three years.
Speaker 1:Highly recommend Open Roads Fuel Card, and the link is in the show notes. So I just wanted to take a minute to talk about that, one of the things that people often use in an RV. So when you're in an RV right now, it's really cold. That's why I talked about air skirts. It'll help, but if you're in that RV and there's the potential for it getting cold and the possibility of the heat going out, I know a lot of people use monitoring type systems and we didn't talk about this beforehand, so if I'm putting you on the spot, let me know. But you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2:Like yeah, I'm not sure what you want me to chime in about them.
Speaker 1:As far as people to be able to be safe. So if you're leaving your animal in an RV and there's always the potential of losing the electricity heat, it could get too cold, too hot. How do you make sure your animal's protected when you're away?
Speaker 2:I'm glad you asked that question because that takes me exactly back to buying a camper with the money that you had from that loan from COVID. You know what I mean. It wasn't ideal for a summer in Pahrump, nevada, so when we would leave and our dogs and our cat were in the camper yes, it was. I mean, what do you do? I mean I would definitely have a monitoring system, because that'll I mean you talk about it in that kind of heat it's only going to take minutes and I don't even know if a monitoring system would work, because I don't think you can get back fast enough. I mean, how, how, how would you? What if your air conditioners went out? I mean, most of these rigs these days have multiple air conditioners, but what if you had one and it went out? I don't even know if you have two. Can one go out and one keep running? Or how does that really work?
Speaker 1:It could. Yes, there are situations where it could If the power goes out. Obviously, everything's going out, and I know there are people that use these monitoring systems. But, to your point, I stayed in Las Vegas for July and August. Don't recommend that to anyone. If you're going to do that, air skirts could help keep the rain cooler as well as it does keep it warmer. So I'm just putting that out there. It is an incredible product, so I'd like to talk about it.
Speaker 1:But being in Las Vegas in the summer and it gets to 115, 120, there were times I had to leave the RV because, even with the two air conditioners, it wasn't as cool having an animal in there or something to consider. And then you know, like you said, where are you going to camp, what kind of RVing do you want to do? What you know, some people go on these long hikes and they want to take the dog with. That depends on the breed I am going to look at. I know people who use these type of monitoring systems. I'll look them up and I'll put them in the show notes for people who have recommendations on them. I will them in the show notes for people who have recommendations on them. Yeah, I will do that for people. But to your point, yes, you have to consider how far, how quickly will you be able to get home?
Speaker 2:if it's a bit or cold, yeah, if it's better cold or if it's 110, you gotta be honest with yourself, you know. I mean, and that's just I mean, does the resort have an emergency, someone on standby so you could call them and they can get there and get the dog out, because your monitor went off, or do you have to come back and get the dog out again? Can your dog be handled by someone else, properly socialized, or do you have to handle your dog?
Speaker 1:you know, and that's a great suggestion that comes into play- right, right, because the other thing is look, the rv community is beyond amazing how they help and care about each other. So one of the suggestions then would be you're leaving your dog, the person who I babysat the dog. Then there was another day. They were only going away for a couple hours. They said the dog's there. I said look, if something you have a problem, let us know. So, having somebody around that you could call and say listen, the heat went out, the air went out, can you get the dog? And you're right. Then that dog better be socialized. Make sure you're not asking somebody to come get your animal that's never met them and walking into a disaster right, exactly, so that's that's.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't even. We didn't even talk about that. Yeah, that's just a whole nother angle of it. You know as long a lot of dogs you know someone walking into their home that they don't recognize are going to have a problem with that, you know doesn't mean they can't go camping, Right. But you know what's the backup plan. If you know if your air goes out or your heat goes out or you're away and you can't get back, I think the idea is fantastic to have your camping buddy, have a text, you know, have some backup plan so someone can run over there and hopefully, if someone, again be proactive and introduce this person to your dog in your home, in your camper. So you know, replay the scenario before it happens, Make sure it's going to be okay.
Speaker 1:And before I said I would watch babysit for the dog. The dog was really sweet around the people. But we took the dog while the people were still there and said, all right, let us because you know we wanted to bring the dog in our RV and not you know sit outside or sit with them. They were going to be gone all day. So we took the dog, brought them in our RV, kind of hung out without the parents being there, and we knew the dog seemed fine. So so yes, these are great.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of things to think about, yeah, and that's you know, these are things that I haven't really thought about until that one, right there. I mean, I know, when I was in, when I was there, I was, it was constant stress. I would rather just stay home.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:I could not imagine coming home and seeing that that's what happened. You know what I mean. So for me was like, yeah, I'm just, I'm good, I'll stay here, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:But man, how long you're just gonna stay home exactly because that's why people get on the road is because they want to be able to adventure and then there's scenarios where people take their pets pretty much everywhere they go. I had somebody on this show I'll put it in the show notes who talked about dog friendly places to go, and as you travel, there are lots of places you could go with your animals.
Speaker 2:So that's another um you know option for people another thing to touch on is if, if it's if you're worried about your air conditioner quitting in it in your trailer being too hot for your dog that fast, it's probably too hot also to take your dog out of the train. Right and the pause you I mean you still I see it here in havaseal in the summer. People are walking their dogs on the concrete. It's like people come on. I mean, if you can't take your shoes off and walk on a concrete, your dog shouldn't either and that's a great tip.
Speaker 1:Right there it's a great tip. It's like when you're giving your baby a bottle, we, we put it on our wrist to see the temperature. Put your toes on the concrete, concrete.
Speaker 2:AstroTurf.
Speaker 1:AstroTurf gets heated up like you wouldn't believe.
Speaker 2:I've just seen people walk their dogs to the point that their dogs aren't even reacting anymore and I'm just wondering is there just like nerve damage?
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I couldn't imagine, but you see it every day. So my point there is if it's 115 degrees, you're worried about losing your air conditioner while you're gone. It's probably too hot also to take your dog anyway.
Speaker 1:So a lot of thinking to be done there. I mean, maybe it's just too hot to go outside.
Speaker 1:Right and then it's planning. It's like I said, we were in Las Vegas actually doing a job, and so you know we knew we would. It would be hot, we were fine, but it's something to consider when you have a pet, where you're going to go, what temperatures you want to be in that kind of thing. Okay, a lot of great information. I want to continue. I still have a couple of questions for you, and while I am talking about this next event that's coming up in May that I want to tell people about, think about if there's anything you want to add here. I know there's so much and we could not have possibly covered it all. That's why I want to put your information in the show notes, but think if there's anything else you want to add in. But I do want to talk about the ultimate VIP event for RV buyers, and it's the Music City Motorhome Expo. It's going to be in Lebanon, tennessee, from May 31st to June 4th and you can be the first to see the 2026 model year coaches from all the major manufacturers.
Speaker 1:This event is limited on the attendees, which gives you the ability to test drive all you want, so any RV there. There's class ABC, there's super Cs and you can test drive as many as you want. Chat with the manufacturers, the product developers and the engineers. There are seminars, there are three meals each day, there's entertainment. I was there last year. It was absolutely an incredible, over-the-top event. I'm already signed up to go back. I cannot wait. So I highly recommend this event and you could go to musiccitymotorhomeexpocom and that's from NIRVC. National Endure RV Centers puts this event on and they do an incredible job. Okay, casey, tell us one more time how people could get to you.
Speaker 2:Well, first off, that event sounds amazing, doesn't it? Yeah, amazing. But as far as people reaching me, the easiest way is what I've done is I kind of created a quick 11-minute video that's at CoachCaseyRaycomcom and what it does. It explains that dream dog formula that I created that we were talking about. It's a six-phase system that it's viable to take your dog through, depending on how far you want to take your dog, and you know that kind of goes back to we talked about um, you know the awareness, the learning and a reinforcing phase, but you really want to take any of your dog training.
Speaker 2:This, this is very important, guys. If you're listening about taking your dog on the road, if you want to take your dog on the road, all of your dog training should at least go through the proofing stage scenario, because that's what that does is introduces a dog to reality scenarios. It learns to sit when it's hectic, it learns to come, you know, under distraction. Without that proofing, you just have a dog that's great indoors you know what I mean. Might be great in the RV, but outside they don't listen. So I highly recommend, you know, if you want to check out that video, just make sure you go through the proofing scenario and you'll see me explain all six. But that's at CoachCaseyRaycom.
Speaker 1:CoachCaseyRaycom. Thank you An 11 minute video that you're giving away for free. I really appreciate you doing that because it sounded like when we spoke. There's some great information in that video that's really going to help people.
Speaker 2:You know, get, yeah, I think what it does is it kind of just it shines a light. You know what I mean. And kind of also going back to you know, with my story about moving to online training. You know, this is actually something words from my mentor, but my job, what my job to do, is to shift society's perception of how dog training has to be. Isn't that amazing the way it was a perfect words. And when he said, I was like, yes, I got it. So when, from immediately, when people think of dog training, a lot of times because pet smart and petco are very good at their marketing they think it's got to be group class oriented, $150, that kind of thing, and that's all they think about. So when they, you know, maybe, are looking at hiring me and it's online and I'm coming in from across the world, they're like, wait a minute, this is not what I'm used to. But you know, just, you know, have an open mind is what I would say to that is what I would say to that.
Speaker 1:Right, and it's interesting because for a long time, like I said, there is a slew of questions. It is probably one of the top questions on social media. Huge question I get asked you see it everywhere about dogs, having them travel with you, and so I kept thinking okay, how can you do this when most training is, you know, on site? How does that work? So when you and I were introduced by my friend, Elizabeth and I'm very grateful she introduced us and you said, oh yeah, I do everything online. There's the answer. It was perfect, which goes back to what I was saying.
Speaker 2:You know, when you kind of align yourself, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Everything happens for a reason. I'm a true believer of that and you know I was doing the exact same thing I was before, with less experience, with less energy experience. You know what I mean Having overhead, having distress, having the you know, just the. You know I mean. Anybody has a brick and mortar store knows what goes into that and it's just exhausting even. And it got to the point where you know was where you couldn't even fire high or hire good help. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:It's like man, so I gotta be here all the time you know, I mean this isn't the dream that I thought of you know so everything leads to another, and that's why I'm here. I got rid of all the overhead. Yes, I love it. I'm happier.
Speaker 1:Never can you know as I can be so and you could be living your best life, which is, I know, that's what RVers are looking for. Okay, so now it's time for the question of the week. I'm going to ask you the question, give you a minute to think about it, and the question is for our listeners what's something that you would recommend them putting on their bucket list, so something you were thinking about doing or that you have done and I always put my guests on the spot, so I'm going to give you a minute to think about it. While I mention that the question of the week is brought to you by OpenRoads Innovative Toll Solution.
Speaker 1:This is a toll pass that covers all 48 states. It is one fee. It's $24 a year. You have money on your card, so when you go through a toll, it deducts the money, just like any other toll pass works. What's different about this toll pass? Not only the fact that it covers all 48 states there is no other toll pass that covers all 48 states, it also has they have concierge service, so if you should have a problem, you get those fines in the mail that I'm sure we've all gotten one time or another. They will take care of it for you, they will handle it for you, so you do not have to worry. I have had this toll pass for, I'm gonna say, close to two years and it has been made things like so much easier and saved a ton of money. Highly recommend it. The link is in the show notes. Use that link in the show notes to get your innovative toll solutions. Toll transponder toll transponder. Okay, casey, so to the question. Did you come up with an answer?
Speaker 2:Well, I think I did. I was trying to make it canine related, which would make sense, right? Um, how about? I think everyone should, in their lifetime, experience owning a dream dog and being able to take that dream dog on your dream vacation, right, right, that's to me. I, I live that too. It's's like we you know what I mean Even travel abroad. It's harder, but it's like. You know what I mean. I want my dogs with me, and that's to me. For the dream vacation, you got to have the dream dog. They got to be trained and you got to be able to take them with you. You know, otherwise you may enjoy your vacation, but it's not your dream vacation. And to be a dream vacation on a bucket list, I think you've got to have your dog with you.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. I love that and I am so excited to hear that, whether you're getting that new puppy, whether you already have a dog with bad habits, whether you're looking to change your lifestyle, it is possible to train that dog. So that was I was so happy to hear that, really happy to hear that it is still possible. So let's get people out there having their dream vacation with their dream dogs. And when your book comes out, we are going to make sure that we let the listeners know, so you better keep working on that. Get that out there.
Speaker 2:Yes, well, I appreciate it. Yeah, it's definitely on schedule. It touches on a lot of these subjects we talked about it here, you know the socialization, uh uh, the delicate subjects around the vaccinations. It touches on all that. I share my opinion. It's my opinion, you know. I mean, that's why it's my book, but I think it's going to be a good read and I think it's going to be well received. Put it that way right and again.
Speaker 1:We'll promote it on the RV Life podcast, on social media, but I don't want people to wait. If they're thinking about that dog, they have the dog. They want to go RVing with a dog. Don't wait, and I'm going to keep saying they need to reach out to you and get the conversation started. Check out this quick 11-minute video that you are giving to people for free and we greatly appreciate it. Now we're not done. It's time for the Featured Campground of the Week, and it's brought to you by RV Life Pro. Rv made simple and RV Life Pro is a suite of products that include trip planning, rv safe, gps and campground reviews. And this week's campground Featured Campground is Thousand Trails, birdie Valley, and it's in Cottonwood, arizona.
Speaker 1:I have been to this park and I'll be honest, it is one of my favorite. Three and a half years on the road, I've stayed at many RV parks, resorts, call them what you want. This is one of my favorite. They have 340 sites. It is a Thousand Trails Park, but you do not need to be a member of Thousand Trails to stay there and, like I said, one of my favorite because it's got different areas of the park you could stay at so you could get the cement pad. You could go down on the grass. I prefer the grass and the gravel. I prefer being more in nature. There are many different types of sites. There are pull-through sites, there are back-end sites. They have a dog park, so dog totally dog-friendly is. Most of the parks that I talk about are they do have cottages and cabin rentals and they have a lot going on.
Speaker 1:Another one of my favorite parts of this park not only is it just 15 minutes to Sedona, one of my favorites is there is a vineyard and winery, basically attached. So as you're coming in, it's right off to the left. It's called Alcantara Vineyard and Winery. And I don't really drink. I love. I don't drink wine. I yes, I know it sounds crazy, but I don't. But I love going to vineyards and wineries. It's just such a beautiful I don't. There's something about it being out in nature. Well, this place looks like you're stepping into italy and it is unbelievable. You could be at the park, you could go walk over to alcantara, have your drink, have a meal, you could even have a massage in the vineyard. I didn't do that, but it's definitely on my bucket list.
Speaker 1:It does have there you go this park has a solid 8.5 rating on the RV Life Campgrounds with 271 reviews, and you can easily book this park by visiting campgroundsrvlifecom and just search Thousand Trails, birdie Valley, and then, once you get there, it shows you everything, it shows you tips, it shows you all the photos, it shows you a full list of amenities about this park and there is a great big red book. Now button so you could easily book right from campgroundsrvlifecom. They are the most comprehensive source of RV parks, campgrounds, resorts, as well as city, state and national parks. They've got it all. Playgrounds, resorts, as well as city, state and national parks They've got it all.
Speaker 1:If you aren't a member of RV Life Pro, in the show notes there is a 25% discount. It costs, for the first year, less than $50 for all of this less than $50. You cannot live without it. So that is in the show notes at rvlifecom. Well, casey, thank you so much for being my guest, for giving so many important tips to my listeners, for giving the hope that, regardless of what you're dealing with, chances are that dog can be the dream dog and people can live their dream RV life with their dog. That sounds like a great plan. Thank you for being on.
Speaker 2:Oh well, thank you, patty. Thanks again for having me. Like you can't stress that enough. Guys, you know, don't ever fall into the pitfall of. You know, my dog can't learn, doesn't matter how old it is. You know it's create a lifestyle that your dog can, you know, thrive and be fulfilled in, and that's, you know, once you get that kind of bond, you'll never not have it. And that's what I like to teach with people is you know, a lot of people get it, a lot of people don't yet. But that's what I'm trying to do is like look, get to this level and it's you're having a problem. Just contact a professional. Like I said, you have my contact information and I'd be more than happy to talk to you. Also, if you check out that 11 minute video, there's that you can apply to work right on that same page and that's kind of the easiest way to get everything moving.
Speaker 1:So, and that's Coach Casey Ray dot com and your own social media so people can reach out. I highly recommend people reach out. Ask the question, you know, disagree, agree, whatever it is you want to say, feel free to say it. People can reach out to me on RV Life Podcast, instagram or Facebook, and I would love to hear from people. In whatever podcast platform you're listening on, you could go to the review section, leave a question, a comment. I would love to hear from you Again, thank you, thank you, thank you, and I want to thank you for listening to the RV Life Podcast. Remember, life is a journey. Live it each day to the fullest, without regrets. I'm Patty Hunt and you've been listening to the RV Life Podcast.