Remy Bibaud is the co-founder of PetPerennials.com, an online resource of gifts for pet lovers that cover all the milestones of our pets’ lives.
She and Lori Davidson started out eight years ago wanting to create a personalized way to bring comfort to families going through pet loss.
Because of Olive.
A beautiful yellow Labrador retriever mix, Olive loved to play fetch, go on long walks with Remy and sniffing out the deer in the backyard.
She went to work with Remy every day at her old business office and claimed her spot on the loveseat for seven years.
Olive became suddenly ill one day and was diagnosed with acute kidney failure. There was nothing that could be done.
Combining their experiences with love and loss, Lori and Remy came up with the Pet Perennials Kit, a do-it-yourself gardening kit that generates new life by sowing and growing perennial wildflower seed wafers.
Remy has some wonderful thoughts to share about the gifts we can send to our friends and family who are experiencing pet loss grief, and how the pet business industry can change to support pet guardians through all stages of their beloved companion animals’ lives.
What to listen for
0:23 The beginning of PetPerennials.com
5:58 The most popular items at Pet Perennials
16:53 How ignoring pet loss grief is a disservice to mankind … and pets
32:18 How Remy gives space for people in grief to be heard
43:12 What to write in a sympathy card to a pet lover in grief
Find Remy
Angela Schneider
Welcome back to One Last Network.
Can our 20th episode be a milestone of sorts? I sure hope a 20th episode can be a big deal.
Especially because I have a super special guest today. I mean, all of our guests are special … how can they not be? We’ve had Carol Bryant, Coleen Ellis and some other fantastic individuals on already.
The conversation I have today with Remy Bibaud, co-founder of PetPerennials.com, left my cup feeling so full.
She and Lori Davidson started out eight years ago wanting to create a personalized way to bring comfort to families going through pet loss.
Because of Olive.
A beautiful yellow Labrador retriever mix, Olive loved to play fetch, go on long walks with Remy and sniffing out the deer in the backyard.
She went to work with Remy every day at her old business office and claimed her spot on the loveseat for seven years.
Olive became suddenly ill one day and was diagnosed with acute kidney failure. There was nothing that could be done.
Combining their experiences with love and loss, Lori and Remy came up with the Pet Perennials Kit, a do-it-yourself gardening kit that generates new life by sowing and growing perennial wildflower seed wafers.
Remy has some wonderful thoughts to share about the gifts we can send to our friends and family who are experiencing pet loss grief, and how the pet business industry can change to support pet guardians through all stages of their beloved companion animals’ lives.
Have a listen.
Angela
Good morning, Remy Bibaud. How are you today?
Remy Bibaud
I am very good. Angela.
Angela
You are the head honcho at a lovely online business called Pet Perennials. Can you tell us a little bit about Pet Perennials?
Remy
Yes, well, so Pet Perennials, we help people celebrate all of the occasions in a pets life with direct to consumer gifts. So whether you’re someone who’s buying a gift for a friend or family member, or you’re a business such as a photographer, a groomer, a vet, a doggy daycare center, a pet sitter, I mean, really any type of business that has employees, or customers that are pet lovers, we send gift packages directly to the recipient on behalf of the shopper. So we started out in pet loss, because we felt there was a void. And we were inspired by our own experiences with losing our pets at the end of life.
So my dog Olive, who was my first dog as a grownup, when she passed, I thought, what do you do for someone. And that’s literally where the idea bloomed from. And so we started out in sending pet sympathy packages, you can include a card, we handwrite the card, we gift, wrap it and ship it directly to the recipient. And then as we move forward, our businesses even consumers started to ask well, what do you have for get well, what do you have for birthdays? What about new pets when people add them to their family? So we started expanding into those milestones. And so that’s why we say, you know, thoughtful gifts for pet lovers, elebrate the journey with your pets.
Angela
I like that. It’s always a journey, isn’t it?
Remy
It is yeah, definitely.
Angela
And this isn’t the first stop on your journey. So where did you come from? And how did it evolve into a company for gifts and pet lovers?
Remy
OK, so I mentioned my dog Olive. She used to come to work with me every day. I’m a two-time entrepreneur, I had a business prior to this, in which my business partner, my now business partner, Laurie Davidson, had worked with me. And when Olive passed, you know, it really left a mark on me in so many ways. And so at that time, that’s when that seed was planted. And then we decided together, as I was looking to sell, my other business to move into something pet related. And so I really love this idea of guerilla gardening. The idea of seed balls or seed bombs, I don’t know if you’ve heard of those. It’s a way that you can grow wildflowers pretty easily with, you know, these small little seed bombs. And I said, well, I wonder what, how can we leverage that for pets and for, you know, memorial gardens.
And so we created a product called Pet Perennials in … we actually have a patent on it. It’s a way to grow wildflowers in memory of a pet. And you can include the cremated remains of a pet. And then grow wildflowers. It’s an activity where you make seed wafers in the shapes of hearts and paws. And that original idea created what we now call the Pet Perennials Kit. So it’s a do it yourself gardening kit that includes everything inside of that kit, to start a wildflower garden. To go through an activity, you can include some of the ashes of your pet, if you want to, you don’t have to. But it’s a healing activity, where you walk through this process of making these little seed wafers in the shapes of hearts and paws. And then being able to plant those, those seed wafers then propagate wildflowers that come back year after year. And that’s how we actually got the name for the business PetPerennials.com. And it started with our original product, and then kind of covers the perennial, that whole lifecycle of the pet right from the beginning to the end and start it all back over again. So …
Angela
Do you have a memorial garden for olive?
Remy
I do. Yes. It’s actually I have several areas in my backyard. But the nice thing about those Pet Perennial seed wafers is you can put them anywhere, you don’t have to start like … plan a garden, you can just toss those wafers into a hillside. They just need water and sunshine, and they propagate right out of the wafer itself. So you don’t dig a hole, you don’t have to put it under the ground, you can just place it right on the earth. And then through rain, water sunshine, the blooms or the, it’ll start to germinate right out of the seed wafer, and then break down and become part of wherever they are. Olive actually, some of her seed wafers are still propagating since 2014, in my hillside, so it’s really nice in the spring. And in the fall, as I see these blooms coming up, I always think of her and it’s really sweet.
Angela
That is so beautiful.
Remy
Thank you. Yeah, I do, I always say, there you are,Olive. You know, it’s always just that, that reminder that she’s still here. And so that, you know, that was the whole idea is we want something that’s simple to grow. And wildflowers can basically grow anywhere, we use a species 15 different species of wildflowers that are all pet safe. So if you have other pets, you don’t have to worry about them munching on, you know, the, the green leaves or on the flowers themselves. We have a kit for horses as well, because we find that a lot of equine lovers like to do something with the remains of their pet or they like to memorialize that pet on those trails that they used to ride.
Angela
Are you familiar with the term disenfranchised grief?
Remy
Yes, absolutely. That’s … we talk about that, actually. It’s befitting to why we do what we do. And why it means so much to the recipient, when they get our gift packages, whether it’s coming from a friend or a loved one, or whether it’s coming from a business they’re a customer to, because it is disenfranchised, you know, sometimes people feel alone with their grief. Because some, they don’t feel that people would understand that they’re in, you know, such grief because of a dog or a cat or a horse or, you know, any kind of pet any kind of, you know, animal companion. So these little gift packages that get sent by someone, when that lands in their mailbox. The person that receives it feels love, they feel, they feel understood. They feel comforted.
Angela
Was that your experience when Olive died?
Remy
Yeah, I think with some people, I mean, my mother and my father, those closest to me, they knew that I was hurting. In fact, when, when the day came that we had to say goodbye to Olive, I had the vet come to the house, and even my mother and father came to the house and were present. So when you know, we were, you know, saying goodbye and letting her go. But the folks around me, not everybody in my neighborhood completely got it, and probably people in my building. So yeah. And here we are, you know, what did I do for someone’s grief? I started a business.
Angela
And I started a podcast! So what are some of your aside from pet, the pet perennials garden kit? What are some of your really popular items when it comes to …
Remy
Sympathy?
Angela
Yeah
Remy
Yeah, absolutely. Well, so we produce a handful of unique products. These are ideas that come out of my head or my business partner’s head and then we find a way to create them. Find partners to either provide the raw materials or produce some of the product and then we resell those they go in our packages, we can wholesale them as well. But we also get really nice products from other companies that do things well, and that meet the quality standards that we would want.
But as far as our most popular items, one of them is our Healing Hearts candle. And that’s one of the products that we created. It’s a soy candle, lavender and chamomile essential oils so the scents are very soothing. When the candle melts, embedded inside every candle is a feng shui stone keepsake heart. And it’s only after the person melts the candle that they discover the heart that’s inside. And each of those different hearts has a message associated with it. So people love that product, whether it’s a male or a female, somebody older, somebody younger, it’s a really nice gift. And they love the fact that they can then remove that little keepsake, tuck it away in a pocket or a wallet or put it in their little makeshift altar at their house and be reminded of that pet.
And so that’s really what we do when we design our own products. The idea is one, to bring comfort to the griever and the other is to honor the pet’s memory. So with the wildflower kit, you’re bringing comfort to the Griever through that activity of making those seed wafers, of growing, of seeing them. And then you’re also honoring the memory of that pet and those flowers that grow and spread and come back year after year on that pet’s memory.
The same as with the candle, you know, that little stone keepsake, you … you run into it here and there and you’re reminded of that pet.
We have a beautiful crystal suncatcher it’s handmade. It’s a cascade of the rainbow-colored crystals. It has two metal charms on it. One is a pair of angel’s wings. At the bottom, there’s a teardrop prism and a heart that says “always in my heart.” Each of those elements of that handmade keepsake all have significance.
So that’s another item, we have a mug you know, with our rendition of the Rainbow Bridge that says you know, “someone over the rainbow is thinking of me,” we have a butterfly blessings candle similar to the Healing Hearts candle, but it’s little butterfly key chains that are embedded inside. We’ve got picture frames, they’re very popular as a gift. And the nice thing is you can upload a photo of someone’s pet, we’ll insert it in the frame before we send it to the recipient.
We also have wind chimes, those are very popular, we can engrave or we hand stamp the names of the pets onto the sail of the wind chimes. We have little figurines, we have garden signs and garden stakes. We have a little tribute kid in there, that is a craft as well, because we like to think of all of the, the people from children to you know, the golden, you know, the Golden Oldies, I suppose or the you know, the elder community that lose their pets. So there’s something for everyone
Angela
I’m looking at the Remembering Pet Tribute Kit right now and seeing that you have in your description about how it’s an activity in which you can involve your children. And uh, yeah, I don’t have children, human children. But I appreciate the, the death of a pet may be traumatic to the children in the family in addition to the adults. So …
Remy
Absolutely, yeah. And that’s, that’s why we try to … when I’m looking at products, or I have an idea for a product that we’re going to create, I always think who is this for? Is it for a child? Is it for an adult? Is it for somebody older? Can it cross all of those demographics, and obviously, this tribute kit can cross all demographics, any type of activity is good. It’s a healing activity for anybody. But you know, there are the children that this is something they can do. The parent can talk with their child while they’re working through the activity or doing it and it’s fun. It’s a fun way to discuss it, right? Just like, just like making the seed wafers are. Kids love to garden and then you know, within a couple of weeks they’re starting already see them start to sprout and grow. It’s really exciting.
Angela
That’s really cool. How long has Olive been gone?
Remy
She passed away in 2012. And we started our company in 2014. We started again with … first just got ourselves up and running and we filed a patent on the process for the original Pet Perennials product. And then in 2015, I think, 2016 timeframe, we started to roll out this gift program. And so, as a gift company, we’ve probably been in effect for the last seven years, I guess now that it’s 2023. Yeah, yeah. So we went from being a product, we went from being one product, to a business to a gift company, that then that’s how we get these products into the hands of people who need them the most. Because when we first came onto the scene, with our Pet Perennials, we thought, oh, boy, every pet supply store, every pet store would want to carry this because everybody eventually loses their pet. And when we first got out there, and we went into some of these retail trade shows, and knocked on some doors of companies, nobody wanted to talk about the loss of a pet, even in the pet industry. And you’ve probably experienced that yourself, you know, people say, Oh, I don’t even want to think about that day. But it’s reality, we lose our human loved ones, and we use lose our animal loved ones.
Angela
And we can lose multiple animals in a lifetime.
Remy
Right, and if there aren’t people like us, creating these businesses that focus on the end of the life journey, as part of the journey, the entire journey with a pet, then we’re doing a disservice to mankind, right? And to our pets. So because that’s a very, very important part of that whole process. And I think I could say that, when we first came onto the scene 2014, 2015 with the idea and started our patent process, to now, there has been a drastic shift in the consciousness, the collective consciousness of people.
Angela
I was going to ask you that. My Shep died in 2014. And I don’t think there was a lot out there at the time. I, my really good friend sent me a car charm for the old Escape. It doesn’t fit in my new car anymore, which is kind of a kind of an upset, but I looked around myself, and in the couple of years following that when friends had lost their pets, because I wanted to pay it forward. But there was, still wasn’t all that much out there. So you’ve seen an evolution in how we are facing pet loss grief, have you?
Remy
Yes, for sure. I would say that we still have quite a ways to go collectively.
Angela
Yes.
Remy
And even in our industry, in the pet industry. But I think despite all the terrible things that came because of the pandemic, I think the good things that came out of it were the increase in people taking comfort, with pet companions, more people getting pets, more people realizing in that period of time in our history that they brought comfort, they brought companionship when we weren’t able to be out mixing and mingling with our friends and our family. That brought a new perspective. And so I think that helped elevate where we are right now too.
Angela
The term collective grief is a gift from the pandemic, I think, a gift. In my own experience, I have dived deeply into the world of grief and specifically pet loss grief. And that is where I kind of exist now. And I’m not sure I know how, what, what life is like outside of it. Now, if that makes sense. So I think there’s a lot more being done around the discussions of grief in general. And normalizing …
Remy
Yeah, yeah, I think, and I see just here, we’re, we’re based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, even though, you know, we send packages all over the country. And we send them, you know, internationally as well to some, some places, but in Pittsburgh, just our, our pet rescues some of our larger animal societies have grief classes, grief meetings, where people can come and gather as a group, to help, you know, folks go through that process. It’s a good thing, because then they’re coming into those centers and at some point, they’re … have an interest in a new pet. So they might find one at the shelter. I see, I’ve seen a shift in males, you know, being more open with it. The dog dads, even if they’re single dog, dads, you know, there, there’s a pride in it. And then also, they’re more open to sharing in their grief.
And I’ve also in our industry, which is interesting that the stores and even the big chains, that are mostly dealing in consumables like toys and treats, by me, and I’m foods and toys and treats and hard goods, that I’m seeing a shift there where they’re examining gifts, gifts of all types, and including some sympathy products. They didn’t want to mix. I mean, when again, you know, when we went to SuperZoo, which is a huge industry trade show, or retail trade show, and Global Pet Expo back in 2016. A lot of those big box stores just kind of were like, No, we don’t want to get into that we don’t want to, we don’t want to talk about death, when people are coming in to buy food for new puppies.
Angela
Right.
Remy
Or new kittens. When it’s, it’s a reality. But I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you the services, the groomers, dog daycare centers, the pet sitters, the ones that service our pets, on a consistent basis, they understand they get it, they say when a client loses their pet, we lose their pet too. It isn’t about losing the revenue or, or the money that it brought to her. It’s about that animal that we cared for, for often 12 years or longer, that they got upfront, close and personal to. That’s why a lot of those types of businesses use our service. Because we make it super easy for them to do something thoughtful in the middle of their busy day. They don’t have time to go get a gift to get a car to sit down to write it to then take it to the post office. They just log into their account or call us order what they want and it’s out the door on their behalf. But they get all the credit when it lands in the mailbox of their customer. They’re the ones that you know, the customers calls and says, Oh my gosh, thank you so much. Or they cry with.
Angela
Even in my line of business which is professional pet photography. I just look at it and see it as a, as a way to send something nice to a client who came to me to document the incredible love that they had with … have … sorry, love is always in existence so it’s not a “had” … with their with their dog in. It’s a privilege and an honor for me to create those images. And so I don’t want to just hand off a few prints and then say goodbye. I want them to know that I hurt for them.
Remy
Right.
Angela
And the loss that they’re experiencing,
Remy
Right, oh, you’re making me cry.
Angela
I know. Right. I do that to a lot of people and my room’s getting dusty here too.
Remy
And it’s a wonderful thing. Right? It isn’t just about … Well, first off, it’s very special that you can capture that for that pet parent or pet family. That too shows the shift that people want to document that end of life journey too. And then how much that experience touched you. You’re showing by adding a little something extra from you to them. That’s wonderful. That is what we’re doing here. Right? We’re helping bring comfort, you’re bringing them comfort. And then that helps in the healing process. And it honors that pet.
Angela
Well, they bring so much to our lives, don’t they?
Remy
They sure do. They sure do.
Angela
We wouldn’t be the same people without Olive and Shep, right?
Remy
No, I don’t think that I would be … ever. It’s funny, you know, I was on Facebook last night and there was a meme on there that has this image of this man holding up a piece of cardboard that says, I will not watch the movie if the dog dies.
Angela
I’ve seen that one!
Remy
And I said that’s me, right? And then my mother happened to comment. Always because ever since I was a little girl, anything that involved a pet or a pet passing, I would just go into hysterics. And I then thought when she made that comment, I thought, oh my gosh, I guess, you know, I was meant to do this all along. Because it impacted me so much when I was a child like I just I, they there was no consolation. They could not console me.
Angela
I can’t remember what the name of it was, there was a movie in the 80s. Some of those famous Brat Pack people we grew up with. And there was I remember a train scene or something. But there was a dog whimpering in the background. It was very much, it was obvious that, it was very much … I got up and walked out. I could not handle the sound of that dog being in pain. Where do you see pet loss grief and the grief industry going in the next seven years?
Remy
Well, I’m hoping it continues, it becomes even more normalized … for pet owners, pet lovers, people that don’t even have pets. So the collective consciousness, it becomes a normal thing that when a pet passes, and you’re aware of it, that you’re more considerate, more understanding, more empathetic to someone who’s lost a pet.
In the industry itself, whether that’s pet or it’s in the, as they call it, the death care industry. That’s the funerals and things. I’ve seen that evolution, where more people are doing things at the end of life that you wouldn’t have heard of 30 years ago, even 15 years ago, with the cost of cremating a pet. Having celebration of life, ceremonies, doing something to acknowledge publicly that they’re saying goodbye to their pet.
So I see that continuing. And then I see in the pet industry, more pet product companies, pet service companies … this process, this end of life just becomes assimilated into their business model. They expand what they offer in gifts to their customers. They encourage their service arm of their business, their groomers, their dog, daycares, their vets and everything else to do something, even if it’s just sending a card, or it’s making sure they take that, make that phone call to that customer.
Because at the end of the day, that’s goodwill, right. And goodwill is good PR. So if we bring it back to … we’re in business, because we were inspired to be here, but we still have to pay our bills, right? So we still have to cover the costs. And we want to grow our businesses to help more people. So businesses that recognize this, it again brings goodwill to that customer, to that employee. And then they in turn share that out. And with everybody being so interconnected through the internet, through social media, and all of these different ways that story gets out there. They tell somebody who tells somebody, and that comes back to the business. It works as PR, it works as a marketing, it brings in new customers to the business. It brings existing customers back when they get new pets. So there’s a lot of return on investment. As businesses naturally want to do more, it also benefits their business and the bottom line.
Angela Schneider
My husband asked me yesterday what I want to achieve with this podcast, and the work I do in training other pet photographers to support their clients on their end of life journey with their pets. And I said, I think I want people to just listen with compassion and without judgment.
Remy
Very good goals for the podcast.
Angela
Yeah, I think we exist in a very self-centered society where we are constantly posting our own crazy thoughts out into the ether. And, and looking for feedback on those thoughts, whether in the form of likes or comments, or retweets, or whatever. And we often don’t put ourselves in a situation to support people who need it, and to listen to the people who are speaking because it’s just so easy to scroll on past and not recognize that someone is in pain, or it’s so easy to scroll on past. And because oh, I don’t want to deal with that.
Remy
Right.
Angela
So how does Pet Perennials and sympathy gifts fit into that puzzle where it helps people A, be heard and B, fosters the idea that we can be a more compassionate, less judgmental society.
Remy
Right? Well say one, one thing is we have a phone number that you can find on our website and you can call and which is hard with a lot of online businesses, you can’t find a phone number to save your life. Our numbers out there it’s public. We get phone calls. You know sometimes daily, and it’s someone who’s calling that received a package. And they need to just let us know what it meant to them. Or they want to order something, and they’re not good with being online. And they don’t know how to do that, or don’t have access or something and we’ll talk to them, they start telling us their story, or we’re talking to our business customers, and they’re phoning in an order, and they’re crying because they’re upset. And, you know, I’ve said to Lori, my business partner, I feel like a counselor sometimes, and I said, we’re probably going to have to hire just counselors to man the phones.
I just stay on the phone, if I take a call like that, and somebody starts to get upset, you know, I, I find myself just like, on this podcast, crying. And that’s OK. That’s OK. And then we have, you know, our Facebook page, we have some social media presence. My business partner handles a lot of that, and she does a really good job of interacting with the folks, especially on our Facebook page, and making sure to reply, when they post something that she’s, you know, genuinely listening.
We also, every month, we put out a grief blog. That’s a consistent blog that we have every single month. And we have a partner that helps us with that. We have a Facebook group, that’s called I’m not crazy, because I talk to animals. And our partner Ann Marie Hoff, she’s an animal communicator. She is on that with us. We do it once a month. And it’s a live Facebook. The group you can interact with every day. And Laurie heads that up and Ann sometimes chimes in, and then the Live every month, Ann we’ll get over, you know, we’ll be on to do animal communication with the people that are on the call.
Angela
We will have the link to that Facebook group in the show notes.
Remy
Yes, let me tell you. Let me tell you exactly the name of it. Because I always get a little. I used to be on them early on. And then I wasn’t able to keep up with it. So I’m not crazy, because I talked to animals or something like that. Let me find it. I’m trying to find one of my messages, you know, on my Facebook. Yeah. Where I get the notifications. I’m not crazy because I talk to animals. Yes, that’s the name of it. And Laurie Davidson is the moderator.
Angela
I just found it. So I will make sure I have that link in the show notes for people to join.
Remy
Great. And again, once a month and is on and she’ll do you know, some readings for who’s ever on and whatever’s coming through or if somebody wants to have some of her time.
Angela
OK, I am I’m trying to join the group right now as we speak. And I have in front of me a question that says On a scale of one to five, how often do you talk to your animals? And I’m gonna go with five and I think I’m crazy … and I’m pretty sure Bella talks back.
Remy
I do. My Harley certainly has a way of communicating with me.
Angela
Yes, absolutely. Even if it’s just in the eyes …
Remy
The eyes of course. And now that mine is she’s seven. She’s got the gray, she’s a black Lab with the gray so her eyebrows are more noticeable. When she does that she communicates with her eyes, it’s even more noticeable now.
Angela Schneider
One of the things I love to hear from you was that your clients and customers aren’t just two-legged beasts with a credit card.
Remy
Right.
Angela
They’re humans with thoughts and feelings. And that’s really where I stand when it comes to my pet photography. business too, which is why I started studying pet loss grief. Three years ago when I realized that one-third of my clients were coming to me for legacy sessions.
Why is it important to you to treat people as more than just a credit card?
Remy
I mean, that’s, that’s my nature. It’s innate, right? And I think, obviously my business partner and anybody that works with us, it’s, we’re empathetic beings. But it’s important, you know, I … even when I was a waitress all those years ago, the customer’s always right. So in this case, it isn’t it that they’re right. It’s just that the customer is important. And you acknowledge them as whatever feelings they’re having, whatever it is, they’re going through, that’s acknowledging.
Our customers are both consumers as well as businesses. We donate gift baskets, and gifts and have giveaways and things throughout the course of the year to shelters. And then also the giveaways to consumers that can share pictures of their pets with us and stuff. We use those in our advertising or marketing or social media.
And then with our businesses, you know, if we know about our client’s pet loss, we send them packages. So people that use us to send packages to their customers, when we know their pet has passed, we send them a package. So they get that surprise in their mailbox, when they don’t think anybody’s thinking of them. So, and they all say, Oh, my goodness. So this is what I send, I love it. Thank you so much. This was wonderful. And the way we know because again, somebody doesn’t call you up and say I just lost my dog. But we connect with all of our businesses, Facebook pages, and as much of their social media as we can, when they come on board. So that we stay abreast of what’s happening in their business. And oftentimes, that’s where they will post about the loss of their, their own pet, or their shop dog.
A lot of independent pet retailers and pet supply stores, they have shop dogs and shop cats, you know, they’ll rescue them, and they might have 10 at home, and then they’ll have some in the store. Because they end up saying, Well, I couldn’t let this dog get in, or somebody brought it in. And so you know, I have 12 at home already. So it’s the shop dog. But yeah, it’s important to us to acknowledge that with our customers.
Angela
Remy, one last question. You have an empty, blank, sympathy card in front of you, and a pen in your hand? What are you writing in it?
Remy
Oh, my goodness, you caught me on the spot, you would think I’d come up with this stuff right away. Because I actually do help our customers that call in say, I don’t know what to say. And I have to think of things on the fly. But there is one, one thing and I’m probably at a loss for words of exactly what it is that … it’s a quote. But I always suggest that one is, you know, acknowledge the loss. Just say, you know, I’m very sorry to have learned of the loss of your dog, or your cat and use the pet’s name if you know it … to address the person, the person if there’s family members, just you know, Maria and family, you know, I’m very sorry to have lost, you know, and then something to just honor that memory. Essentially, show them that you care, you can keep it short and simple. But make sure you you know, recognize that loss, how it affects them. And then just let them know you’re there, you know, in writing that message.
Angela
I think that’s a good formula to follow, to just recognize the loss and offer to provide support in any way we can.
Remy
Give me a call. Let them know you’re open. Beyond just you know, the package and you know, that’s typically what ends up happening anyway because the person gets your package or your card or your message, and they want to call you back and … and thank you. So it ends up being a conversation. You know?
Angela Schneider
Wonderful. Remy, thank you so much for sharing all of this information about Pet Perennials and how to help people in grief over the loss of their pet. It’s been a real treat talking with you this morning.
Remy
It’s been a treat talking to you, Angela, too, and I’m so glad that we connected.
Angela
About a month ago, I placed an order for a Healing Hearts candle to gift to a client who was helping her dog transition to the next realm the very next day after our session.
Something went screwy with my credit card and Remy called me right away to make sure my order would go through.
We hit it off right away and I knew I had to have her on the podcast.
She came through, didn’t she?
I know she sure as heck earned a customer for a lifetime, and it’s certainly the kind of service I want to extend to my clients at Big White Dog Photography.
The kind of service that offers compassion and community, especially to my clients who come to me while experiencing anticipatory grief.
Next week, I chat with Nancy Gordon, a pet loss grief specialist who holds dear a mission to make a difference in how the world perceives, understands, experiences, supports and heals from loss and grief.
She’s a No. 1 international bestselling author, speaker and a transformational life-changing expert who knows firsthand what it is like to deal with serious loss and grief.
Until then …
