Today’s four-question interview is with Paris Permenter of Dog Tipper. We had been emailing back and forth since the inception of Happy Tails Books, but we finally got to meet in person at the BlogPaws conference. I was excited to find out about Paris and her husband, John’s free eBook and upcoming paperback book about how to live frugally with a dog, but I’ll let Paris tell you the rest:
Paris Permenter and her Pups, Irie and Tiki
UFP: Paris, please tell us how you came up with the idea for DogTipper.com.
PP: My husband, John Bigley, and I have been professional writers for 20 years, and we’d always focused on travel, writing Caribbean travel guidebooks and, since 2000, publishing travel websites. In 2008, though, the economy was taking a downturn and freelance travel writing assignments were tough to find.
With our travel schedule lighter, we began a search for a new family member. Several shelter visits later, we welcomed Irie—whose name is a Jamaican patois word that fittingly means “all’s good”—into our lives. This six-month-old Lab mix brought so much fun into our home that a few months later we were in search of a companion for her. Tiki—a six-month-old Sheltie mix—fit right in.
When taking Tiki for her first vet visit, we brought Irie along so she’d learn to be comfortable at the vet’s office and not think that every visit meant poking and prodding. When we explained to another person in the waiting room about Irie’s accompanying role, she remarked, “What a great tip for dog owners.”
Later, on a thrift store visit to buy heavy jeans to make a dog bed the puppies couldn’t chew, the clerk mentioned what a good idea when we explained why we were buying jeans many sizes too big for either of us. And it got us thinking…
What if we could transition our travel writing into dog writing? Before our marriage, I’d written an article for Reader’s Digest about my childhood pets: a best-friend dachshund and duck combo. Maybe I could return to those early writing roots and we could write about a topic close to home.
Soon, DogTipper.com, featuring tips for dog lovers, was born. We just marked the two-year anniversary of the site and it has been an incredible two years. We’ve met so many great dog lovers and enjoy having a chance to write about a topic so close to our hearts.
UFP: What can web visitors expect from your website?
PP: DogTipper.com features daily tips covering all aspects of life with your dog, from selecting a dog to raising your canine. We also have a strong emphasis on shelter and rescue dogs as well as cats (since our dogs share our home with four former shelter cats!)
Along with tips, DogTipper also features dog news, pet product reviews, celebrities and their canines (especially spotlighting rescue and charity work of the stars), dog-friendly festivals, and travel. We’ve recently started a special treat recipes section featuring easy-to-make, healthy dog treats.
UFP: I noticed your eBook, How to Put Your Dog On a Budget. How can this book help people who adopt dogs?
PP: The economy has been very difficult on pets with shelters overflowing these days due to increased owner surrenders and decreased adoption rates. We wanted to highlight ways people can save money on their dog care, from dog food to veterinary care to dog supplies, both to help people facing financial stress to keep their dogs and to encourage people wanting a dog to work one into their family budget.
After I graduated with double degrees in Economics and Accounting (followed by graduate school then a few years of teaching Economics), I started our writing business with John with a slim budget. Self-employment requires some strict discipline when it comes to the dollar. We’ve always lived with multiple pets (presently two dogs and four cats) on a tight budget so through the years we’ve learned a lot of frugal tricks for saving money on pet care, tips that we turned into How to Put Your Dog on a Budget.
That free eBook has been so popular that last spring we decided to expand the concept into a full-length book; in November, Barkonomics: Tips for Frugal Fidos will be released in paperback. We surveyed the readers of DogTipper.com about types of pet expenditures they were trying to trim and we interviewed numerous pet professionals ranging from veterinarians to groomers to trainers on ways to save money.
With over 300 ways to help save money on your dog’s expenses, we’re hoping Barkonomics will help people enjoy a rich life with their dogs and recognize which aspects of dog care can be trimmed—and which can’t—when the budget gets tight. We hope to reach all income levels, whether people are looking for ways to keep their dog in these tough times, to pay for veterinary expenses, to cut back in some areas so they can enrich their dog’s life in other areas, or to trim costs so they can add another dog to their family.
UFP: What advice would you give someone who is struggling to make ends meet but would still like a furry companion?
PP: Dogs are definitely an added line in the family budget but the payback from a dog is enormous. Studies have shown that people with dogs are generally healthier, both physically and mentally.
We’ve found that, in so many aspects of our life, dogs actually help us save money! With our dogs at home, we love staying at home in the evenings rather than going out. Instead of gym memberships, we both enjoy over an hour or more of walking and hiking with our dogs every single day (and there’s no better personal trainer than a dog for reminding you it’s time for that walk!)
Saving money on your dog’s care, like saving money on any aspect of your life, takes a little effort. We clip coupons and shop sales and plan our dog treat recipes to coincide with vegetables that are in-season and lower priced. It’s a small price to pay for the companionship and love of dogs that remind us every day that the best things in life are free!
Great interview! And what a really cool niche