Welcome back! Here is another edition of Interview with a pet blogger! Today we’re chatting with Kimberly Gauthier, a famous blog owner who created the great blog - Keep The Tail Wagging
Interview
1) What is the story behind the name Keep The Tail Wagging? What were your inspirations to create it?
When I chose the name Keep the Tail Wagging®, my goal was to choose a name that encompassed how I felt about my dogs. My ultimate goal is to keep them happy and healthy - to keep their tails wagging. I tried several variations of the name until I found the one that clicked.
2) Keep The Tail Wagging is a wonderful blog, which has inspired and helped many pet owners with a lot of useful articles. Why did you decide to start this blog?
I started Keep the Tail Wagging® as an outlet for my stories about our puppies, Rodrigo and Sydney. My focus changed many times over the first couple of years until I discovered raw feeding for dogs.
Rodrigo had a history of allergies, food intolerance, and other health issues. Nothing his vet was doing for him helped and he predicted Rodrigo would live a short life. I heard about the health benefits others were seeing after switching their dogs to a raw diet so I switched my dogs and within a couple of weeks, most of Rodrigo's health issues had cleared up.
Today, I write about raw feeding for dogs, sharing my experience to help others who are interested in transitioning their dogs.
3) Are you are now pet parent to any dogs? Can you share us an interesting memory between you and your pet?
Today, we're raising four dogs and one cat and I wish we had more. I have several memories that make me smile but one that comes to mind is when Scout and Zoey were puppies.
During the first few months, my boyfriend and I took turns sleeping in the living room where their playpen/kennel was set up. One morning as I was quietly gathering my things to leave for work, trying not to wake the puppies or my boyfriend, Zoey jumped down (she had been sleeping in my boyfriend's arms) and padded over to me to be picked up. She gave me a few puppy kisses, I put her down, and she went back and curled up with my boyfriend.
It was the sweetest moment and I live for those moments, moments when I'm reminded why I love dogs.
4) What is the most important thing you have learned as an owner of Keep The Tail Wagging?
The most important thing I've learned as the owner of Keep the Tail Wagging® is that everyone in the pet community is passionate and loves their pets.
This passion sometimes makes us behave in a way that isn't nice and although people say things that are hurtful, their intent isn't usually to hurt others - instead, we sometimes become frustrated when we feel that we're not being heard.
I've learned that we all have very strong beliefs and in a social media world where we lack tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language, it's important to acknowledge each other's contribution to a discussion while we respectfully share our points of view.
5) As the owner of Keep The Tail Wagging with a lot of knowledge about raw feeding, can you give pet lovers 3 useful advice for those who plan to feed their dogs raw food?
If you're interested in transitioning your dog to a raw food diet, I think it's important to educate yourself about raw feeding. I wrote a book called A Novice's Guide to Raw Feeding for Dogs, available on Amazon, that is a great introduction to raw feeding. There is also a wonderful course called Raw Feeding 101 that takes you through the steps of raw feeding, from sourcing to prepping meals.
I suggest finding a support group to help answer questions and to provide continued education. Three Facebook groups I recommend are Raw Feeders "Kicked Out" Club, Raw Feeding 101 - Learn to Feed Raw, and RFU - Raw Feeding University.
And finally, I recommend always doing your homework. Raw feeders give and receive a lot of advice. While others may be more experienced in raw feeding, I'm more experienced in my dogs so it's important that I follow up all advice with additional research to make sure those suggestions will work for my dogs.
6) What is your goals for your blog in the next 6 months?
I am working on my second book about raw feeding for dogs, which I plan to publish in June 2018. I'm also creating more videos for my followers because sometimes it's easier to show people how I feed raw than tell them. My videos will also include interviews with influencers in the raw feeding and dog lover communities who are sharing their expertise with my followers and readers.
And there is an amazing online event coming up in April that will be announced soon. I think 2018 is going to be a big year for our community and I'm excited to be a part of the changes happening today.
Thank you for sharing, Kimberly!
Ending
Keep the Tail Wagging blog posts receive over 200,000 views each month from dog parents who want to learn how to feed a raw diet to their dogs. If you want to learn more about raw feeding, check their Facebook fanpage. Join them you would find helps.
