Your Pet Isn’t the Problem, You Are | 6/8/25

Speaker 1 (00:01.91)
All right, baby, we are we are up and rolling. Pilot episode, pilot episode. Silly in love with you because you're actually you've been talking about this for so long and actually you've been spewing this knowledge since I've met you. And it only took. You know, some people at work to say that you needed a podcast. I everybody's got a podcast, but this one actually is useful.

it's not kind of, it's educational. It's informative, but before, you know, we just start going what it's about. Hi, how are you doing, sweetheart? Doing good. All right. So, just my name is Wes Castellano, the owner of Psycho 4 Studios and, head producer, whatever, you want to be, but, I'm so happy to bring to you, Victoria Castellano's epic new series called

Victoria knows pets and Victoria, take it away.

Okay, first off, going to just say I am.

If there is something medically traumatizing to your pet, please, dear God, take them to the vet. Don't rely on this. This is to teach you the common sense of having a pet. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:20.654)
So this is more behavioral. Okay. Just want to that out there. It's more about.

Yeah, I have a little bit of tips and tricks when it comes to typical first aid for a pet, but again, not a vet. So, so please, dear God, don't just keep your pet at home if there's something seriously wrong with them.

Right. So this is, so the kind of the tagline of the show that we came up with is it's not you. It's not your pets. It's you. And I totally agree. Okay. Now we're back to rolling.

100%.

Speaker 2 (01:57.454)
Okay, so yes, if your pet is acting absolutely psycho, look inward.

Look inward. Okay, so.

Your pet picks up your emotions even though you don't think that you're giving them off. You can't play, put on a fake smile like you're working at a perfume counter and pretending to like somebody. Your pet's gonna...

Right. So it's kind of the, when they say the dogs are the world's first supercomputer. And I didn't realize, and not like I didn't believe you, but when we lived in South Carolina, we are, for those who don't know, my mom and my brother lived with Victoria and I for a little bit. And Drew, my brother, had a dog boss who absolutely is awesome, but he's always been scared.

They are.

Speaker 1 (02:47.886)
of the rain like most dogs are. While their intentions were good when they knew it was going to rain, there was there was panic.

They would literally give the dog a Prozac. So you're already amplifying your nervous.

Yeah

They're stressed because you're stressed about being stressed for them. So your heart's in the right place. It's just that you have to, cooler heads have to prevail. Exactly. So what, well then we tried, we tried something out and I just, when we knew it was going to rain, we just had boss just come in and we just hung out with them. Didn't even acknowledge it.

No, same with fireworks. If your dog is terrified of fireworks and you know that there's going to be fireworks because it's the 4th of July, do yourself a favor. Take your dog for a walk before it happens. Watch a really loud movie like, I don't know, something with a lot of shit that blows up.

Speaker 1 (03:39.682)
Yeah, I think we put on like heat one time. Yeah, we put on it because of the gunfight.

Um, and those loud noises and the vibration of it will prepare them. But then you also have to just not be like, Oh God, the neighbors are doing fireworks again, because they're going to be like,

Yeah, so yeah, you just have to like like Samuel Jackson says Pulp Fiction bitch be cool. Yep. Yeah, or we're be like Fonzie. What's Fonzie? Yeah. Yeah. But before, you know, people like, well, who the hell is this bitch thinking that, you know, who, who is she? How does she know? Give us a little bit about.

I am an only child who grew up with dogs all over the place, cats all over the place. Never had a sibling, only had my pets and just grew up always being left alone with them, taking care of them. Even when, you you panic because something happened, you try to blame it on the dog. That doesn't work because the dog doesn't care.

Right. So, but you've also, you've worked at PetSmart.

Speaker 2 (04:54.338)
Yep, I was the pet care manager for quite a few years there.

So what were like some examples when you had customers come in and you saved them a shitload of money? Like just where you just said, Hey, why don't you just try this before you go spend a thousand dollars at the vet? Again, it wasn't medical.

So yeah, like if they had hot spots or something like that, all you have to do is get some athletes tape that's breathable and put a little bitter apple on it so that it'll heal and the animal will stop gnawing on their paws. It'll save you a couple grand. I mean, at the end of the day, like I had to do that for my lab back in Minnesota because he used to get them all the time.

And the reason why he was getting them is because when I would come home from work, when I worked at Subway, I would be so stressed out that he would literally pick up on it and start gnawing away at his paw.

So he was just mimicking mom. You weren't chewing your foot too.

Speaker 2 (05:51.406)
Yes. You're done. I'm pretty sure I was chewing my fingernails. So same thing. So your pet will literally just copy everything that you even think that you're hiding.

Okay, so I mean, even so another example was with.

So I got Taylor at four weeks old and her mom quit nursing, but I had to end up feeding her from the bottle to the point where I literally would take her to work with me every day because I couldn't have a dog in my apartment. me and her spent so much time together. She always knew her spot in the car. If I was ever sitting on the couch eating food,

and I would get up and walk away, she would literally always jump into my spot. And then when I would come back in the room, I wouldn't have to say two words. She would just look at me and get up and move.

Okay, so you guys were not in the nonverbal level.

Speaker 2 (06:53.102)
Yes, 100 % on nonverbal levels because me and her went through a lot of traumatizing events throughout her her young pup stage that Yeah, pretty much and She always knew the safest place was always by mom. She would sleep under the covers at the foot of my bed, right? And it would drive me frickin bonkers, but she would stay there all night and she knew how to wake mommy up

You saved her life, she saved your life.

Speaker 1 (07:20.696)
Good thing she was short-haired because god damn it seems hot.

Well, Dakota with her with his black hair, when he would try to lay underneath the covers, it would only last a little while. But I would wake up with him on the other pillow, laying like a person whenever I would wake up.

So for people like, I've had dogs to that note, go, Victoria had my Christmas party for this company I work for. Had a lot of fun, that's not the issue. But she had little too much fun, we get home. She's drunk, she's vomiting in the toilet. So me, we just met. We've only been dating for a little while. And Koda, the bubba, knew exactly what to do. I went to go hold her hair back and he kind of.

And I'm.

Speaker 2 (07:55.342)
my lab.

Speaker 1 (08:03.118)
pushed me out of the way and I'm not exaggerating. He literally kind of nudged me over and Victoria's arms are on the toilet and he took it, stuck his nose under her and like almost like flipped her and just kind of was like her crutch as she crawled back to bed. he's like, this wasn't, he just knew mom doesn't feel well. I have to get her to bed. And it wasn't like that was like a normal thing for you, but he just said that mom was, I'm not saying.

Probably two other times that I ever been that way, but eight years when it's just my two dogs, my cat and me.

Bye, brother.

Speaker 1 (08:41.503)
Mom doesn't feel good. Yeah. Get her to bed. Yeah. That's all he knew.

No roommates, no nothing. It was always just the four of us. I was happy with that.

Yeah. Until you met me.

Well, until I lost Taylor and Dakota would literally take his bag of puppy treats and put them in the window right where Taylor used to always sit and look out the window and he left them there waiting for her to come home.

Okay, that's heartbreaking. Let's not talk about that.

Speaker 2 (09:12.11)
But I mean, like he knew, he could tell from me too, he knew that mommy wasn't gonna stay in that house anymore because there's too much that reminded me. So then I moved to South Carolina and brought them.

Right. So why don't you, so we know that you know dogs, cats. So obviously we have to, and they're amazing. They are bagels because they are everything. are everything. But you, you talked about bottle feeding Taylor. What about you bottle fed Si who was a trauma.

Cy was traumatized. He, didn't bottle feed. I got him at 10 months old. It took me three months to get him to come out from underneath the bed, but I didn't force it. And I had to make him understand. have, whenever you get a new animal, you have to be patient. I mean, even when we got our new kittens, don't expect to get a lot of sleep.

Okay, but you...

Speaker 1 (09:52.887)
Right.

Speaker 2 (10:06.06)
It's just like when you have a new baby, you know? Say goodbye to a good night's sleep. You're gonna have someone that pukes on you, doesn't talk to you, and then screams and cries right before you have to go to work.

that first month I thought I was losing my mind.

Yeah, I mean, every pet is going to be like that.

Right. But you just gotta love him. Hang in there.

It's through that, that you grow those bonds. And it doesn't matter the age of the pet. Cause Maggie was an older dog and I bonded with her instantly. You know, it was just like every time it came to visit, she knew that like I gave pop a hug. showed love and affection towards pop. So she was like, okay, he's my main provider. He's my everything. Right. And

Speaker 2 (10:49.31)
And she's literally always going straight to him and giving him a hug and everything else like that. So she took me right away as somebody that cheered him up. his whole aura, whatever, like lit up. So she was like, this is a great person. And then she got really excited every time she saw him. She was like,

I mean she was happy to see me too.

Yeah, well, Papa's happy to see both of us.

But he was really happy to see you. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not. Yeah. No, I'm fine with that. was as long as he was happy. That's all that mattered. Yeah. So when. So it's kind of going and here's like another thing with an example, like a little tidbit of advice. So pop lived on a golf course. Maggie was a big German shepherd. The backside of the house was basically all windows. People would walk past golfers and all that stuff and she would start barking. And of course,

So it's a misunderstood reaction that she's trying to attack. She's protecting the house. Yes. She's protecting pop. Can you elaborate a little more on that?

Speaker 2 (11:52.43)
It's a

Your animals are never being vocal to be annoying or to be threatening. They're more or less just like my cats do. If they, if they bark, all you have to do is turn around and say their name because it gets their attention, draws it back to you. And you just sit there and you go, okay, what's going on? You know, you just have to interact with them more, treat them like they are a little kid, you know, because in your, in their mind,

You are their everything. Yeah. And if you don't play the role of being the parent in it.

You are God. You are mom, dad.

You're their whole world. mean, they sit at home all day long and just wait for you. It's just like Secret Life of Pets. I'm gonna sit here and wait.

Speaker 1 (12:42.552)
Yep. And then it's like, this is the greatest ball. She's going to love this ball so much. So, OK, so what's now we kind of got your pedigree, but that's actually perfect. Instead of background, we got your pedigree. So let's do a few quick fix challenges. How about that? I'm to throw some stuff at you. We have not gone over these, but I'm just going to try to do some very cliche. Kind of questions or.

Pretty much.

Speaker 1 (13:12.396)
Why is my dog or why is my cat? so we actually already did one of these, but, here's, here's a good one. Why does my dog suddenly ignore me when we're outside?

because he's overstimulated.

Can you what would be the fix of the human?

free liver treats with you.

Libertry. Okay, yeah, you get those by the tub.

Speaker 2 (13:38.894)
Yeah, keep a little baggie of treats and then always just call their name to try to get their attention and have that liver treat to where then they know every time my owner says my name, I get rewarded. And then eventually you'll be able to take those away.

It's literally the Pavlov's dog. They start salivating as soon as they...

And it's just like with my cat, have her trained to come into bed whenever I'm laying down to go to sleep and she lays on me because I used to play the game laser. So if I say laser, she comes running so fast and every night I would play on the bed with her with the laser and then I would set the laser down on my stomach and let her play with it. so that was her reward was she actually got a hold of the laser and she could pick it up in her mouth and move it around and play with it.

And we can't even when we pick the laser pointer up, like we have to be stealthy silent and she'll come across the apartment. Impressive.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then I wonder why she does that all the time. It's like, well, because I've trained her.

Speaker 1 (14:46.958)
Yeah, she's awesome.

So now I can't lay down anywhere without her jumping up and going, I get to lay with my mom.

In a little tidbit with, with cat owners, you, the CIA spent what? $25 million, $30 million on trying to control a cat. And then it died on the first mission because it got hit by a But you know what you're to really do it laser pointer. You have a laser pointer. You pretty much that's like a leash.

Yeah, but the thing is though, Keanu doesn't care for the laser pointer. He cares more about treats.

Right, because he's fat and awesome and amazing. He's my he's my baby.

Speaker 2 (15:25.211)
And Kyla is not treat driven at all. She won't even eat a treat.

No, she's too sassy. Yeah. She's not like sassy like a bitch. She's just, you know, she's just trying to watch her figure. Keanu, he's very, he's very affectionate.

Exactly.

Speaker 2 (15:39.86)
Extremely and very vocal. He's way more vocal than Kylo. Okay, so give me another question.

Very loud.

yeah, let's see my, does my cat meow nonstop when I get home?

because he's happy to see you. He wants your attention, so meow back at him. And then they'll usually stop and look up at you.

So just mail back at him. Yep.

Speaker 1 (16:02.542)
That's why. Well, that's every day I come home and the cats run up to the door. I give them some inches on their nose. I bet like I make it a point to bend down and go back. If you don't, even if I don't really kiss them, it's like the gesture of like just trying to touch your nose. OK, let's do another cat one.

No

Speaker 1 (16:23.286)
Let's see, why won't my cat use the expensive litter box I bought?

Okay, if he's going to the bathroom in other places, either the litter box isn't clean or you need to take him to the vet. If it's a male cat, absolutely take him to the vet because chances are they have a urinary tract infection.

Okay, so first thing, maybe it's, he's, so what's the first thing before they take him to the What's the first kind of, okay, just clean the litter box. And if that doesn't work, go to the vet. Okay, that's not really a behavioral thing, right. But it's not, he's not trying to be an asshole.

Clean out the litter box.

Speaker 2 (16:59.316)
No, it's because when he tries to go into the litter box, it's hurting. So put another litter box somewhere else. Maybe they can't get to the litter box. Maybe they can get down the stairs, but they can't get up the stairs. So once they go down, they're stuck there. Make sure there's a litter box down at the bottom of the stairs. Okay. But usually the, whenever a cat won't use a litter box, it means because he's associating pain with using that litter box.

When you say all this, like, I feel like no shit, but I never thought of it. You know what I mean? That's kind of like, I

What a lot of people do is they don't realize that you have to take it down to its smallest factor.

level. if take in any psych course 101, even in high school, it's basic human psychology. Okay, so here's a really good one to kind of wrap up the rapid fire questions. Ready? here it is. Am I spoiling my pet? I thought you might like that one.

Never.

Speaker 2 (18:06.7)
There's no such thing as spoiling a pet. You can over stimulate them and then they can just get excited to where they they'll do like the accidental pee. So then you know you're probably doing too much.

Right.

Speaker 1 (18:20.43)
Okay, so I think maybe the question was more like, they, I don't want to say become like prissy pants, like they almost to where they get spoiled so much like they forget how to be a dog. know, not possible. No, I'm just saying like people just carry him and baby Bjorn's adorable.

Adorable, yes, but you're also taking away their natural instinct to walk and you're also taking away their daily exercise.

Right. So, don't do. Yes. So right. So you can never all know such thing as buying them too many toys. No such thing. But like. What would be Right. So what would be like a good spoil? Like, so what do you think they mean by if somebody randomly would ask you that? What do you think they're referring to? Like, oh, I bought this and I buy this. Am I spending too much? No. And you're not working. We're not sponsored by Chewy.

Yeah, they might not play with all of them. They'll always pick a favorite just like mine likes the snowball.

Speaker 1 (19:19.416)
yet at all. Yeah. Well, that's a different story. But what, what would be, let's say that something that doesn't hurt your wallet, how can you spoil your pet every day?

Just show them attention. At the end of the day, that's all they really want is attention. Yeah, if you snuggle up with them, know, pet them, like encourage them to come up and be next to you, you know, interact with them when they're playing with toys. All they want to do is interact with you. Some cats don't as much because they actually need to sleep a majority of the day. That's why they also

This even

Speaker 1 (19:39.554)
They love you.

Speaker 1 (19:55.918)
because

Speaker 2 (20:02.85)
you know that life spans are different than ours is because of the fact that they need to get that extra sleep and if you constantly turn them away from it they will start to get testy.

Right. So that's when they become aloof. just like, bitch, why you woke me up? So yeah, so our fix, well, this is never going to issue, but we bought them hammocks that are stuck onto the windows. And that was probably the best thing we ever bought them.

yeah, because every time of the day, the same time of day, they will always go and lay in there when the sun's going down, because then the sun hits them. Their sun bathe o'clock.

It's on day the clock. It's better than a sundial. At least I know what time of day. And the sun's going down. It's somewhere. It's like, yeah, I'm like, it's yeah, once it goes past that, go, OK, it's past seven thirty. All right. Well, this was my wife, the love of my life. This is I feel good about this one. Yeah. So we'll start trying to do this weekly. You know, we're still trying to figure out, but I get it.

At least I know it's summer.

Speaker 2 (20:42.978)
between three and five.

Speaker 2 (21:03.118)
try to do it on every Sunday.

It's Vic knows pets is obviously you're listening to. So you know that. What was the one that Matt said? What was it? It was a. man, well, I'll figure that out. But so Vic knows pets. It's not your pet. It's you. Yeah. So train your human. That's basically what we're doing. Again, we are not psychologists. We are not. We're not vets. If there is something literally going wrong. Just take him to the vet. If you're not sure.

hit remember

Speaker 1 (21:32.332)
And we can't answer, we shouldn't be the first call. But if it's behavioral.

Exactly.

Speaker 2 (21:39.63)
Shoot us an email.

I'm happy to answer all questions and yeah, Vic, I love you. This was awesome. We'll have this coming up weekly again. If you go to Vic knows pets dot com or Vic for more episodes that will be coming up, it will be VK the Vic knows pets dot transistor dot FM. And that will be where everything is archived. Or you can check out the second floor studios website or in the YouTube website. We'll start doing videos here in a little bit, but we'll all be there. We'll.

make it so easy for you to find this series that's gonna be, you're gonna be thanking us. You might even pay us. No, I'm just kidding. All right, think I love you. We'll see you next week.