"Dude's Doghouse in Spa" is named after my talk of labs dude.
He really was my soulmate.
Fortunately, he passed way too young. It's only proper to name it after dude.
“People will come in and say, "I read the story about you and dude."”
Andrew McBride is an entrepreneur, business owner, and the founder of "Dude's Doghouse in Spa." Drawing from his commitment to exceptional pet care, he has built a trusted business dedicated to enriching the lives of dogs while providing peace of mind for the families who love them.
One of my favorite things though, it dudes, is the owners coming home to take their dog home. The dog runs out into the office. Happy to see Mom and Dad. They go in there, go in there, and they go.
That's great. I'm going back in. What do you must excited about? Taking on and opening up a non-profit. One of the things we've noticed is elderly dogs. They need their love and care as well.
So. The living your legacy podcast for those who live to leave a legacy. [MUSIC PLAYING] Hey, welcome back everyone to another episode of "Living Your Legacy Podcasts." I'm your host, Jason Langen, and yes.
We've made it to the new studios down here in Miami Beach, and we're excited to have another great guest on the legacy makers show. Joining us here in the studio, I call this "The Whiskey Room." 'Cause it got like this "The Whiskey vibe." But yeah, introduce yourself.
“What's the name and what are you from? What do you do?”
This is Andrew McBride. I'm coming from Falls Church, Virginia, just right outside of DC. And I own a dog daycare boarding facility. Nice. Cage free, so we really are able to take care of the dogs on a one-to-one level.
Yeah, that's funny 'cause one of my first jobs was working at this dog daycare,
but I'm not really dealing with it. But okay, so I'm maybe 16. And they just threw me in there. They're like, okay, he like dogs, I'm like, yeah, right? And then all of a sudden they're like giving me,
like having me like on my first day, right? Give medicine to the dogs. And there was like a whole room, maybe like 16 cages, and then 16 cages, and then like four rows of 16. It's pretty big, right?
Yeah. And they're just like, yeah, okay, here's the list of medicines. And here's how you get in the ear of the mouth. And then, yeah, just run through this list, give the dogs a medicine. I'm like, what, right?
So then I went through that. And now through that. Those actually took the meds, right? It was intense, right? And then, like, yeah, the German Shepherd who coming at me,
and I'm just like, just a dog lover. I didn't even own a dog yet, right?
“So I'm just like, I don't know what is going on, right?”
There was just like, just had in the food, you know? Throw it in. So yeah.
And then, what was kind of really gross that made me quit that first day,
right, only to one day. Step two was, all right, step three made me quit, right? Okay. Step two was they had me, they're like, okay, now you got to take the dogs on a walk. Like 20 dogs.
I'm just like, oh my god, right? It was a nice, nice, nice nature trails, which are like, I've met them like these trails all the time, right? Yeah. But I've spent, for like, you know, it felt like 20, but it was probably like 10, right? But it was a lot.
It was like two handfuls of like groups of dogs. And then the third thing, which may be quit, right? I'm like, I've had it because I'm already low. I know we're going. It was cleaning the cages, and they didn't give me any gloves,
and like the hose had went through the water, which I just cleaned, and then I had to wrap it up, like, mm, mm, no, not for me, right? But I'm a dog lover. Since then, I have had a pug, right?
I called it a thug pug, right? I was in Thailand. Oh, okay. And I just seen a meme on like a thug pug, right? It was like a pug, and they had a hoodie,
and they were playing his hip pop music. And then it was like wrapping or something. I was like, oh, okay, I have one. Yeah. So then my girlfriend at the time was like, yeah, she's had a ton of dogs.
She's like, yeah, we're going to go, let's get you a dog, man. I was like, all right, yeah. So then we went to Pugs, and I was like, oh my god, I'm going to get a thug pug. So I got the dog, and yeah, I called it like Thailand.
Ties are called ties, right? So I called it Tyrone, like Tyre. Tyre. Tyre land Tyrone, like my thug pug, right? Yeah.
Yeah. So anyways, that was my, when she said that, it got brought me back a time to that job one day. But yeah, I'm, I'm sure you guys are way better than that. We really do try to give a little more training.
Yeah.
To people, especially, actually, on their first day,
go through and, um, sorry to pump it up, throwing it to the dogs. Yeah, yeah. Immediately. But yeah, tell us about your dog day carry.
And you know, it's been one of the most rewarding jobs I've ever had. It's not even a job. Yeah. It really is. You have dogs itself.
I do already have grown up with dogs, my whole life. German shepherds, but labs have really been my favorite. Right now, I actually do have two German shepherds. We have adopted, um, and a black lab mix. And they can get beautiful German shepherds.
They are, um, when I'm walking through the neighborhood, usually people give me a wide birth. Okay.
“Yeah, how are they like super well-trained German shepherds?”
They are. Um, that's one great thing with German shepherds. I mean, they'll test you. But once they know that you're the alpha. Yeah.
You're as in trouble. They're going to listen to you.
They'll always try to push it a little bit.
But, um, otherwise, yeah, I mean, in German shepherds. You know, it's own. And you said you're favorite, uh, golden or the-- Um, actually chocolate labs. Oh, great, my favorite.
Right. Um, if I have to have a favorite. Um, and that being said, the business dude's dog house at Spa is named after, um, when my taco labs dude.
Okay. Um, he really was my soulmate. All right. Of a dog. Yeah.
Um, and of all the animals that I've had. He got me. And, uh, just the time that we spent together, um, you know, uh. So you're going around the neighborhood.
If you ever lost your dog, you're going to do that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Did you name the other one, bro? Yeah. Dude. Oh, no. Okay.
So maybe there was a lot of like dude. Go ahead. What are you doing? But, uh, being in the dog business, uh,
“and he was really like that little ambassador.”
Um, this is even before open, like the brick and mortar place. Um, we have, uh, people come to the house with their dogs. He set everybody at ease. He was the most awesome dog. Nice.
Um, the other dogs. Even if they were like barking, he's just like, what's the matter? Yeah. Come on.
It's all good. Um, he'd go up to the owners. The dude abides. Yeah. He does.
Dude abides. All right. So you talk a little more about your business. Dude, uh, yeah. I see this dude's named after your dog, right?
Yeah. And, um, so talk about the brick and mortar. Okay. It didn't really trying to open the location for quite a while. I was like really looking into my partner and I Dan.
We're looking to try and open a place. Um, and it wasn't until the pandemic hit that we, uh, locked upon a building, uh, that was close by. It was an old laundromat, um, but ended up being a perfect space to be able to open, uh, do dog house.
“Uh, had outdoor space, um, plenty of open areas.”
But it was just like an open shell. I mean, you really had to see the vision. Yeah. And being able to go in there and just who knew once we got this going, that everybody and their mother during the pandemic got a dog.
So, I mean, it really was kind of a leap of faith opening this. So you're going to ask one after you get it. The dog apocalypse is coming. Yeah. Um, you know, we built out through 2020 and opened up the beginning of 2021.
As things were starting to ease up. Yeah. And, uh, could not have been more fortunate. They really, um, came in and started our business off with the bang.
It was, uh, it was amazing to see.
Yeah. And so I'm sure you get a lot of puppies coming in because if they're all from the pandemic. Yeah. You know, so that must have been awesome. Yeah.
There's the, um, separation anxiety because these dogs have been spending the past year with their family at home all together. And now they're leaving and the dogs are going. What, you know, so it was a fortunate to have a place for them to be able to come to. A lot of the separation anxiety really was the pet. Yeah.
Was the owners to got you. Gotcha. Yeah. They were having a problem. Like, you know, leaving their dogs somewhere.
I'm sure you're a kid at the first day of school. One of my favorite things though it dudes is into the day. You've got a, the owners come in home to take their dog home. The dog runs out into the office. Happy to see mom and dad.
Um, or they're, they're a brother sister. And they go in there and they go, and they go. That's great. I'm going back in. They turn around and like try to go back in.
Yeah. Yeah. They don't want to go home. Gotcha. Gotcha.
That's when you kind of know that you've really hit this week. Because they hit that puppy face. Yeah. Right. And then they, and then it's like, Oh, God.
I'm coming back. Yeah. So they're like, I don't want to go home. So what kind of services you offer? Oh, we really are the full deal.
Okay.
We do dog daycare. Yeah. Boarding overnight. Yeah. Gruming.
We do some training.
And you got a little cafe there.
People can hang out when they're watching. Right. We don't have the room to leave me. People love to come in and like, look. It's almost like dog TV.
They look at him to see what the dog to do. So do you guys have, um, right now. You see some of these poodles that are like yellow pink purple. Or they're like, you know, they got their hair dyed. Like a pink leopard or something.
Yeah. Some crazy, right?
“How about any of that stuff you gave wild like that?”
I do have one of my groomers. He's a master groomer. Mm. And there have been occasions where he's done some die jobs. Okay.
On on some dogs. Yeah.
That came out, uh, well, interesting.
Looking to say the least. But fortunately, yeah. We are gruming part is pretty much, uh, conservative. Okay. But um, that's one of the, uh, that's good.
Keep a conservative. Yeah. I think I if I saw that that pink leopard going on the street. I'd be like, you know, even the other dogs. You put that pink leopard dog in a dog park.
The other dogs. I mean, like, what? Yeah. Dude will be like, dude. Yeah.
Exactly. Um, yeah.
“So speaking of the dude abides, did that have anything to do with the name of your dog?”
Or, uh, the big Lebowski or anything? It did.
Oh, I was, I think that's the exactly where we came up with the next.
Oh, dude, so that I just totally nailed it. Yeah. Do it totally, totally. Absolutely. And he really did. He lived up to his name. Yeah. And unfortunately, he passed way too young. But we should have had some way Russians.
That is. We, um, opening the dog daycare thought about it. And like, it's only proper to name it after dude. Yeah. And people really have taken to the name itself. I'm sure. Yeah. And on the website,
I even kind of explained, you know, my history. I guess that would kind of be like, yeah, dudes. We don't do the purple leopard dogs. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. But if you wanted to like a nice brown pullover, right, for your dog, right?
We could do that. Yeah. Yeah. You might have nice, you know, some dog trees, dude. Yeah, dudes. But people will come in and say, you know, I read the story about you and dude and, you know, how it can't be, you name the place after him. And I just, you know, I had a dog like that too.
Right. I mean, they, it'll get emotional. Yeah. And because it's one of the dogs, our dogs. That's one of the connecting points, right? Um, especially if it's so is once you own a, once you have a dog, right? Uh, it's, it's just like, wow, the personality that comes out of this thing.
And then you really like, man's the best friend. It's like, that is my home boy, right? Exactly. Really? Right. Caps are great. Don't want to say the thing is cats.
Moon, I mean, the dogs, right? I mean, you're out and about, um, you're walking them. You're going to dog parks. Yeah. It's really something that brings me to be cats and dogs.
It's like introverts and extraverts. I must, you know, kind of. Uh, but I ask everyone, what are you most excited about? In the progression of having dude's dog house at Spa, um, kind of the next step with this is, um, taking on and opening up a non-profit.
All right. Because one of the things we've noticed is elderly dogs. Um, and as dogs have been with us as they start to age, being in an open dog day care kind of situations, not really optimal. Um, and they need their love and care as well.
So we're going to be opening something up. And, uh, hopefully you could maybe at separate part of our business to really cater to and take care of elderly dogs. Now, as they need a whole separate level of care. Yeah.
Um, and you see so many people. And you know what? And we say the riches are in the niches. And that's kind of a niche that's maybe being overlooked in the dog care in the, in the dog care industry, right?
So I think that's a good move. Yeah. I mean, everybody's got puppies, right? Correct. No one thinks about the elderly dogs.
And you say that they have a whole different needs that they need. You're right. Yeah. And the owners of these dogs talk to so many people. They're like, I haven't been able to go on a trip or leave the house in,
like, two years because they're caring for their dog and they can't leave. Yeah. Yeah. Or they don't trust for their dog. Of course.
These somewhere else. Um, and so that's.
“Well, you need to be much more knowledgeable that we can care for the dogs.”
Yeah. You have, you know, uh, arthritis or who knows what kind of their blind or, uh, uh, yeah. They're kind of dealing with all kinds of issues. It's a care for that dog.
Uh, you need to be have a really specialized skill set and much, much more knowledgeable. Exactly. And that's something that is come through opening this business and doing it and going,
Wow, there really is a need there.
Yeah. Um, for some of those. Sure.
“And then, uh, they drop off your dogs and they're like,”
I was going to see you on Wednesday and now I see you on Saturday instead, man.
Yeah. Yeah. You would have no idea how it happens. We're like, our thanks for being going home. They've been with us for like three weeks now.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
You get a lot of that which, um,
is great because it shows that there's people really good trust us. Um, and taking care of their animals for them. Yeah. So. Um, all right.
So, uh, well, thank you for joining. I could talk dogs all the way on that. Yeah. Yeah. I'm super dark guy.
Right. Rest in peace, Tyrone. Oh, yeah.
Um, and rest in peace a dude.
“I think the dude and Tyrone would have been homies.”
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Would have been, yeah. They're maybe chilling right now.
They're chilling right now. Oh, yeah. Exactly. All right. Well, thanks for joining us.
And yeah. I mean, wow, you learned a whole bunch of stuff. Uh, because I sat in his episode. Uh, in between podcasts. And I was hearing stuff that had nothing to do with dogs talking about the Olympics in Atlanta.
And what he did for a bombing, but that's, you got a tune into this episode to hear that story, right?
“But, uh, but that's why you guys tune into the podcast and the episodes.”
And I can't wait to hear his episode as they get more involved in what he does. The day to day, the entrepreneur ship becoming the success, right? Uh, but thank you guys for joining us, too. And we'll see you next time. Thanks.
Cheers, everyone.
