Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Fort Collins. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Nick George helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Fort Collins, Colorado.
Is your business serving the residents of Fort Collins? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpFortCollins.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins
E58: Your Pets Deserve to Stay Home While You're Away
Ever wondered who's caring for your furry friend while you're away? Forget the stress of kennels and boarding facilities. David Westfall, co-owner of Inside and Out Pet Care, reveals a refreshing approach to pet care that prioritizes your pet's comfort and familiar environment.
The journey began when David's wife Kim Plache transformed her hobby into Northern Colorado's premier pet sitting, dog walking, and behavioral dog training company. What started as a side project during her CNA career blossomed into a thriving business dedicated to animals' wellbeing. Recently, David joined full-time after retiring from apartment maintenance at 63, bringing his own passion to their growing enterprise.
What makes Inside and Out Pet Care special? They come to your home, where your pet knows their food dish, favorite resting spots, and bathroom areas. Their dedicated sitters are personally introduced to your pets, establishing trust and familiarity. From dogs and cats to horses, mice, snakes—and as David jokingly mentions, even elephants if needed—they accommodate all creatures with personalized care plans. "We take care of your pet and love your pet like we love our own," David emphasizes, highlighting their commitment to the American Kennel Club's principle that animal welfare comes before all other concerns.
Beyond business, David revealed his personal side—his love for music, vintage pocket watches, fly fishing, and his distinctive 1880s-1890s fashion style that frequently draws comments from passersby. His philosophical approach to life's challenges reflects the same thoughtful care they bring to their pet services.
Want peace of mind knowing your beloved pets are receiving exceptional care in the comfort of their own home? Visit https://insideandoutpetcarellc.com/ to explore their services and use their convenient self-booking portal to schedule appointments that fit your needs and your pet's routine.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Nick George.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of an all-inclusive pet services company driven by hands-on care, unwavering honesty and a deep commitment to the well-being and loyalty that your pet deserves? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, david Westfall, with Inside and Out Pet Care. David, how's it going?
Speaker 3:It's going wonderful. How about yourself? Awesome?
Speaker 2:We're excited to learn all about you and your business, your practice. Please tell us about it your practice.
Speaker 3:Please tell us about it Well Inside and Out. Pet Care is Northern Colorado's premier pet sitting, dog walking and behavioral dog training company. My wife is an awesome dog trainer. She's got me almost housebroken.
Speaker 2:She's on the website, right, that's Kim.
Speaker 3:Yes, it is, kim, Plaché is my wife.
Speaker 2:Awesome. How did you guys get into this business?
Speaker 3:Kim started this several years before I moved up here from Arizona a little over 10 years ago and she had Inside Now as a hobby business and she was working as a CNA. And she had Inside Now as a hobby business and she was working as a CNA and it was just something to keep her busy and she loves animals and it was just something for her to do as a hobby. And then there was an issue at one of the locations that she was working at and there was an RN involved and a CNA always loses and she wound up looking for a job.
Speaker 3:I was up here, we had been married just a few months. I was working at a complex up in Fort Collins doing apartment maintenance and was doing well with that. And I told her I says, don't worry about it, take inside now, you've already got it started. Grow the business, get some people working for you and then you can do what you love working with the animals. And she picked up the ball and she ran with it and here back in February I kind of retired from doing apartment maintenance and at 63, running up and down the stairs and changing garbage disposals and doing all that wonderful stuff is just a little hard at my age, so I came to work for her.
Speaker 2:Awesome. I'm sure she's really appreciative of that. What are some myths and misconceptions in your industry?
Speaker 3:A lot of the misconceptions that I run into are people that want to put their dog in a kennel when they leave, take it to a place, drop it off with strangers in a strange environment, inside and out pet care. We don't do that. We take care of your dog, cat, horse, mice, snakes, whatever in the care of your own home, where the animal knows where its food dish is, knows where its favorite spot to use the bathroom is. Our sitter is introduced to the animal and the animal gets to know the sitter and then knows when the sitter will be there to take it for a walk, feed it, pet it, play ball, brush it, whatever's needed or whatever's brought up as to the needs of the animal by the owner, and we just take care of the animal as if it were our own.
Speaker 2:Right. So the myth is that people need to take these dogs and put them somewhere else, and you're solving that. Who are your target customers and how are you attracting them now?
Speaker 3:We don't actually have a target group. We're kind of targeting everybody, because almost everybody in Colorado has a dog or a cat and things come up. I was talking to a nice lady earlier on the phone. Her work schedule is such that she's having to leave her dog at home during the day with no one to take it for a walk, take it out to do its business, feed it, and she's inquiring with us about pet care for her dog and we're going to set her up with the best service that we can. We take care of all the animals and, like I said, horses to mice, yeah, we take care of all of them. If somebody had an elephant, we'd probably try to figure out how to take care of it.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Outside of work, what do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:Well, I like to play music. I like to write and record my own stuff. Occasionally I'll hit an open mic night just to try something out in front of a crowd. I like to get outdoors fly fish. I really enjoy vintage pocket watches and I normally dress in the style of the late 1880s and 1890s. I had a lady stop me the other day and say you look like you just walked out of a Western movie. Okay, well, I've got the high top Calvary boots with spurs and they shine pretty good.
Speaker 2:It's too bad people can't see you in the incredible guitar collection that's behind you. Let's switch gears. Can you describe a hardship or life challenge you overcame and how it made you stronger? What comes to mind?
Speaker 3:I've had a lot of hard times and I've had a lot of good times and I'm not going to get into too much of that. But life is full of turns. You have right turns, you have left turns, and sometimes it's a good turn to take, sometimes it's a bad turn to take, but each one is a learning experience and I've made a lot of wrong turns in my life but I've made a few right ones. But every single move I've made in my life has brought me through to this day, this point, at this moment, and I am happy and content where I am. It's just you take life as it comes and don't let it beat you up.
Speaker 2:David, please tell our listeners one thing they should absolutely remember about inside and out pet care.
Speaker 3:We are here for you. We are here for your pets, for you, we are here for your pets. We adhere to the principles. Of the AKC is set down that the health, welfare and well-being of the animal comes before all other concerns. We take that to heart. We take care of your pet and love your pet like we love our own and like you love yours. That's our job and if you have to leave, we want to know that you can rest assured that your animal is in good hands.
Speaker 2:David, including a phone number. How can our listeners today learn more about Inside and Out Pet Care?
Speaker 3:That would be go to InsideAndOutPetCarecom and the, and in there is spelled out LLC. And just look at our website. We have pictures, we have a complete description of the company, our services and just about anything you'd want to know. There is a button up in the corner where you can actually set up your own account and you can request services. Through your client login portal, you can actually go into our scheduling and set up your own appointments on your schedule as to what you need for your pet, schedule as to what you need for your pet, and we take our sitters will take that information. Log in.
Speaker 2:Accept the appointment and we'll be there on time. Self-booking is the way to go. I'm glad you have it Well, david. I really appreciate you being on the show and we wish you and your pet practice the very best moving forward all right, you have a wonderful rest of your day thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast.
Speaker 1:To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpfortcollinscom. That's gnpfortcollinscom, or call 970-438-0825.