Miranda de Haan is an Animal Health Technologist and Pet Care Safety Expert passionate about helping people and their pets have the safest and happiest relationship possible by understanding that a little planning and preparation goes a long way to prevent stress down the line. 

In the episode, she joins Susi Vine to discuss: 

• The different considerations in taking full responsibility as a pet owner,
• How long-range planning prevents stressful changes for you + your animal, 
• The unique nature of pet behaviors,
• Why training is important from the very beginning, and
• The powerful benefits we receive from our pets – physical, mental + emotional!

Follow Miranda + Petwell Navigation on Facebook for updates on her offerings and her soon-to-be-published podcast about the spirituality and science of pets! 

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Watch the episode here:

The Power Of Pet Love 

Miranda de Haan and I talk about all things pets, from health and behavior to pet-proofing your home and planning for emergencies. If you know how to prepare yourself, then your relationship with your animal can be deeply beneficial! Join us to discover what preparations will set you up for an optimal pet experience.

I’m excited to introduce you to Miranda de Haan and her work with Petwell Navigation. Her mission is to make pet ownership less stressful by recognizing the best ways that we can prepare to take care of our pets, as we start out and throughout our relationship with our animals so we can be prepared and we don’t need to run into stressful situations so our relationship can be truly as beneficial, as powerful, and is relieving of stress and other issues as it has the potential to be. I know you’re going to love this episode, so enjoy.  

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I’m so happy to have you with me for my conversation with Miranda de Haan. Miranda is an animal health technologist, speaker, author of Light at the End of the Funnel Volume Two, and podcaster. Miranda is a pet safety expert at Petwell Navigation. Miranda grew up with a cat named Miss Piggy, who helped her through an emotional time in her life. She didn’t have anyone in her life that she could talk with or help her with processing her feelings, and Miss Piggy listened and gave unconditional support. Miranda’s relationship with her pet led her to want to help others. First through becoming an animal health technologist and now through sharing her knowledge to help other pet lovers have the best relationship they can with their furry family members.  

Petwell Navigation’s mission is to reach as many parents as possible to deepen their relationships with their furry loved ones, enhance their knowledge and awareness, and discover the actions they can take to keep their animal companions as safe as possible. Also, it helps parents to feel more empowered in making decisions so their pets can be the happiest and healthiest versions of themselves. Miranda, I’m excited to have this conversation with you because I’m a farm girl and I grew up with animals. It’s such an important topic to help people recognize how they can support their pets. We tend to take for granted that pets bring us happiness, but it’s a two-way street.  

That’s true. A lot of people don’t realize the benefits that can go both ways for both the pets as well as helping themselves.  

It’s so important. Aside from Miss Piggy, the infamous and always the best first pet influence, have you always had pets in your life from that point forward?  

I haven’t. I know that surprises probably a lot of people, but the reason I haven’t is because my life has not been conducive timewise to properly take care of a pet. I felt it was unfair for me to have a pet for my enjoyment and benefit when I can’t give it the time that it needs to flourish and thrive.  

That’s a great point. We’re off to a huge start already because I agree completely. A lot of people don’t recognize when they take on the responsibility of a pet, how much they owe to support that animal and give them the best life that they can have. Pets need that engagement, that stimulation, the attention, especially when we leave and we’re away from the house for work or whatever calls us away. We can make up for that if we can be invested when we’re at home. If we travel around a lot and things are going on and divide our attention, that’s hard on a pet to have that time without that bond with their humans. That’s an important point to start off with. It’s a big commitment not only to take on a pet and the financial responsibility, but you’re also taking care of another creature that is building a relationship with you and wants to be fulfilled in that. 

It’s one of the things that I feel a lot of people don’t take the time to think about when they first decide to get a pet because there are so many things to consider in their care. What is their energy level like? What size are they going to be? How much time is it going to take care of them? What is going to be the cost involved? There are all these different things. Even how to set up your home so it’s as safe as possible because you think about it with children. You childproof a home to keep them safe. It’s the same thing for pets. There are a lot of things to consider and some people can end up feeling stressed after they get a pet because they end up discovering these things after the fact.  

I had a dog. My dog I got when she was one-year-old from the shelter and this was when I was still living up in Seattle. She was a red heeler or cattle dog and lab mix, which are smart dogs. They need a job. Fortunately, through different living arrangements, I tended to have someone around the house. Even if I was out working, she had that stimulation. I was lucky and grateful that she was a year old. She hadn’t come from a difficult situation so she didn’t have issues that we needed to work through and resolve. She had the basics of training. She was puppy trained, her energy level was starting to come down a little bit from that rambunctious puppy phase, and those are all things that people don’t process when they fall in love with an adorable puppy. It’s like an infant. They take a lot more time, energy and focus on the front end. You’ve got all of that fundamental training and if you skip that part, you’re setting yourself up for a lifetime of your pet of difficulty to try to track back, retrain and break bad habits and that sort of thing. 

People look at purebreds, for example, and they look at how they look and they get it based on their appearance without considering what the characteristics are of that particular breed. With working dogs, they’ve got lots of energy but a mistake people make with that too is they think, “I’m a runner or I’m a biker or whatever, I can take them along with me when I go and do these types of activities.” It’s more than the physical exercise that they need. They need that mental stimulation as well, which is why they do well in jobs because it gives them something to focus on. It gives them a purpose is what I’m trying to say. Even with animals that aren’t working dogs, or even cats, they need that enrichment and that stimulation in various levels. A Border Collie or a Cattle Dog or whatever is going to need a huge amount because of their type of breed. Even a cat who is maybe not very active still thrives a whole lot better when they have that stimulation and enrichment activities included in their daily lives.  

That’s such a great point because it’s not only energy level. It’s that mental acuity that they have. They’re all unique and even beyond stereotypes, German Shepherd dogs are working dogs. Poodles are working dogs. I don’t think many people think that they are, but they are as well. It’s certainly worth the research. If you think you want to get a purebred dog or even if you come across a dog at a shelter, and you can learn a little bit more about what you’re bringing into your home. I remember a story of a friend of mine who brought home an adult dog from the shelter and said, “It’s nice and calm. She’s lovely. She’s lay around at our feet and keep us cozy.” They took her to the vet, took care of some health issues and the dog’s energy level came back and they had a rambunctious Labrador. It ultimately worked out beautifully but it took them a little time for that to level out, so they could sustain it a little and get what they thought that they had signed on for.  

Another thing too is a lot of people don’t realize that animals have their own personalities. Even though you have a whole bunch of Border Collies, in a general sense they’re alike, but they have their different personalities, and they’re going to have different needs based on those personalities. It can sometimes be challenging too with mixed breeds because you can discover certain things, certain characteristics about certain specific breeds. When you’ve got a mixed breed, you don’t necessarily know specifically, especially if it’s from a Humane Society or someplace like that what they’re mixed with, so it can be a toss-up of what their characteristics are going to be like. You have to decide whether you’re willing to work with what comes up. The rescue shelters and the Humane Societies can help with that somewhat because they’ve had them for a little bit of time and have been able to see how they behave. They can give some guidance on that.  

That’s a great point, the source be it one of the shelters, foster family or that sort of thing. They all try to work hard to get a little bit of a personality profile of the pet, so it is worthwhile to pay attention to that and not fall for the looks. Consider how this creature is going to be a part of your family for the next ten years or if it’s a cat after twenty years. Pets go through a lot of our life stages with us, so we can’t expect everything that comes along but we have to understand we’re bringing somebody else along on the ride with us.  

We’ve decided that we are taking responsibility for another living being. Can you see your life with this animal for the next 10, 15 or 20 years? What happens if certain situations happen? Maybe you end up having to move into an apartment? Are you going to give up your animal in order to find an apartment that doesn’t allow pets? Are you going to make sure that you find something that allows the pet to come with you? There are a lot of things to consider and what your commitment level is when you decide to get a pet.  

I agree completely, and part of what you were saying there, I’d like to explore a little bit more. When you’re thinking about the plans that you want to put in place, what planning or preparations do you suggest people have in mind when it comes to looking long-range to take care of their pet?  

For long-range, I would say look at your work situation. Does it look fairly stable in being able to continue taking care of them? Also helping pets to adjust to different situations, do you think you’re going to stay in the same home for the next 10, 15, 20 years or whatever, or is there a possibility you’re going to sell your home or move someplace? Maybe you might move because of a job or whatever the situation may be. This can be stressful for pets because they like routine and familiarity. Anytime those things are suddenly uprooted for them, it can cause behavior issues if you don’t know how to help them with those adjustments.  

Also, it’s being open-minded to working with other pet experts like talking to the Humane Society. There are people who can give resources to help with different situations. If you get into a situation where you’ve had the pet for a little bit and something comes up, and you’re thinking, “I don’t think I can keep my dog, cat, rabbit,” for whatever the reason might be, there is usually help out there that can help you work through that. As I said, it’s not 100%. There are some situations where you can’t avoid it.  

That’s a great point. Even to the extent of life changes and happens unexpectedly but if you expect that you might start planning to have a family within the near future, that certainly would affect the type of dog, the energy level and the type of pet. If you’re in a job where they transfer you every couple of years to a new place, not all rentals accommodate large dogs, but smaller dogs tend to be easier. A lot of places put cats on the No List because they tend to have a bad reputation for rentals unfortunately. All of that is definitely an important factor. You have to weigh it like you do with anything else as you’re making long-term choices like that. Do you have an opinion on pet health insurance? Do you think that tends to be a good investment?  

It definitely is helpful when you have these unexpected large costs, because it can help you make the decision on being able to maybe get a lifesaving surgery or treatment or something like that whereas without the insurance, you may end up having to choose euthanasia. It is pretty much like with any insurance. You need to weigh the different options out there because some are better than others and some are going to give you more assistance and be more honorable in what they decide to cover.  

There are also other options as well. You can choose to have a savings account that you set aside that’s solely for your pet. There are so some out there that will do a payment program. There are some nonprofit organizations too that will assist, but then again there’s a waiting list on that. Whether or not they’re going to be able to help you in time is questionable. There are a few different options out there. Probably being able to do pet health insurance combined with a savings account could probably be the most beneficial.  

I’ve thought about that in the past and I didn’t have insurance when I had my dog. My husband is much more a numbers person than I am but he pointed out if we committed to putting money into a savings account every month, whatever that cost might be for your pet $13, $30 or whatever they charge, and let that accrue over time. The odds are it’s an exceptional situation. My dog ate the garbage and we have a situation arise from that. Dogs get out of their yard and run into the street or cats have a run–in with another pet. You’ll never know, and as anything in life, it’s always best to be prepared so when you’re in the thick of that situation, which is heartbreaking, you don’t have to make even more difficult choices because of that situation. That’s a great point. Thanks for bringing that up.  

You can take a look and weigh the different options of our health insurance, so that makes sense. Perhaps you can look at reviews or do some research online and see other people’s experience in working with that insurance company before you decide that’s the policy you’re going to commit to. We’re talking about it. It’s not always an easy street to have an animal, things come up and life situations change. Are there any other situations where you see that sometimes having a pet might not be all rewarding all the time? Sometimes stress comes up. How can we try to pay attention to those?  

Some of the things that pets can do that can potentially add stress for people is a lot of the time it’s revolving around their behaviors. They could be barking a lot, they could be doing some damage to the home, they could be shedding an extreme amount, they could be scooting on the rugs. The need for dogs to be walked twice daily because ideally, they should be walked twice at least or pulling on the leash. These are some of the things that people can find frustrating and struggle to deal with. It’s important for people to understand that animals are not doing this to be bad. It’s a communication in a sense from them.  

They can’t communicate in the same way that we can. It’s trying to develop an understanding of what they’re trying to communicate to us, so we can take the actions that are going to help them to have the behaviors that we would prefer them to have. One of the things that could be causing issues is they could be getting bored. A lot of people work long hours and if an animal is by itself especially, they could be left alone for 10 to 12 hours, depending on how long somebody has to be gone if they’re commuting, have long shifts or whatever. If there’s nobody else at home, they’ve got no interaction. It’s hard to entertain yourself by tossing a toy over and over again.  

Along with that too is that they can also develop anxiety from that same situation. Those emotions can lead to things like barking and damage to the home particularly. It’s trying to get to the core of the issue instead of trying to punish them and finding alternative ways of dealing with it. Maybe if you do have to work long hours and you have nobody at home, you can maybe look to have a dog walker come in once or twice a day to give them some attention, some exercise and whatnot, or even a pet sitter to come in and play with them for a little while. That would be one thing that could be done.  

There are also enrichment–type things that you can bring into the home. You can have, for example, a KONG that you can put some frozen peanut butter in, but you have to be careful with that too because some dogs are destroyers and no matter what you give them, they’ll completely destroy it. They could potentially swallow pieces which could end up in an expensive vet bill or worse. You have to be aware of what your pet’s personality is like and whether they’re safe to be alone with those types of things. You can give them interactive feeders or food puzzles that maybe can only be accessed at a certain time or something, or they have to figure out how to be able to get to the food. Those are things you can do too but those are limited because those wouldn’t be effective if that was the only thing you were doing over a twelve-hour span or something. 

With the shedding, grooming is important because that will help them with the shedding. It keeps their hair, undercoat and everything else under control so they’re not going to shed as much. You can either take them to a professional groomer or you can take care of yourself depending on what their coat is like. That has a dual purpose because that helps to reduce the shedding but it also helps them to feel better. Like ourselves when we feel better, we behave differently. It can be a bonding experience by brushing them, and bathing is probably better to be done by professionals because what they use is better for their skin than we do it on our own.  

There’s also communication and the proper training. They do have body language, so learning to understand what they could be telling us with their body language so we can respond in an appropriate way to deal with that. You can talk to a trainer or behaviorist and that can help you with dealing with certain specific situations. Proper training is important because dogs particularly like to please. Although some people think cats can be trained, they can be trained. It’s easier to start doing it when they’re younger but if it’s reward–based, that you have to find the reward that is going to be the right fit for them.  

They can be trained to do tricks in that too, which is an enrichment activity for both dogs and cats, the training activities. There are some aspects of training that can be tricky as well because there are a couple of different types of training. There’s training that’s come out now called Force Free Training, and what that’s based on is reward–based training instead of punishment. It’s more science–based and it tends to get better results because pets are more likely to want to do what you want to do because they’re going to get rewarded for it, rather than they’re doing it out of fear.  

When you have a behavior that you’re not wanting them to do, you find the behavior that you want them to do whenever they start doing that behavior, you reward them rather than punishing them when they’re doing the other behavior that you don’t want. There’s a lot of detail in that but another critical thing is that if you have multiple people in the home and you’re trying to train a certain behavior, everybody has to be on board. If you have one person who is trying to train the dog to not jump up on you or the cat to not jump up on the counter or something like that, and other members of the household allowed the dog to jump up on them or don’t do anything when the cat goes on the counter, it’s conflicting messages. The animal doesn’t know which the right thing to do is. That can cause a lot of stress for them not knowing which behavior is appropriate, but it causes stress for the humans because they can’t get their pets to do what they want them to do.  

My advice for that is when you want to train a certain behavior, get everybody in the household together have a meeting, talk about it and say, “I want to train this behavior and this is why.” Get an agreement on it and clarify that we all need to make sure that we are correcting this behavior or rewarding the behavior that we want in order to be able to get where we want to be. Both pets and humans are going to be a lot happier and a lot less stressed.  

That’s such an important part and people don’t recognize it. Our pets are animals. They have a different way of thinking and responding to stimuli. The reactions are completely different. They have a different drive, they have a different body language. I was surprised when I found out that dogs tend to think of people smiling as a threat because we’re baring our teeth. It’s so illogical. At the same time, dogs are smart and they learn our behaviors. I’ve certainly seen dogs that smile back but it’s a learned behavior, it’s not natural to them. It’s so important to recognize especially if you’re approaching an animal that you’re not familiar with. They have a different way of being. They’re not humans on four legs.  

At the same time, if they’re a pack animal, it’s that pack mentality. If you are setting the structure, if you’re going to be the alpha in the relationship and not your pet, that has to be established. You can’t try to take that back after you’ve let them rule the roost for a bit and train everybody. The dog jumps. The kids think it’s cute and they encourage it, but the adults realize it’s a danger to people who are visiting the house and they’re trying to discourage it. You go round and round and the dog doesn’t understand why half the time they’re getting yelled at, and the other half the time it’s, “More treats because you’re funny.”  

Jumping up and down is an issue too. Usually, it doesn’t start getting trained until later because when they’re young and they’re a small little puppy, everybody is like, “It’s cute,” or even nibbling on their finger because they’re not doing it hard and that’s okay it’s cute. They’re not causing any harm in that. They get older and their dogs get more powerful or they can potentially knock somebody over or damage clothing or something like that because they’re jumping. Not until they get to be a year old or something before people go, “We need to stop this.” It gets to be harder to train because they’ve been allowed to do it for the first year of their life. It’s recognizing that this is a potential issue and thinking ahead of time what behaviors do we not want to have, and working on training those wanted or unwanted behaviors right from the get-go.  

That’s an important point, I agree completely. You have to have some foresight. What is this new member of the family? How do you want them to be a part of it? That little five–pound puppy is cute, but that 35 to 50–pound dog, that’s a different story. It’s a different thing. I’m sure there’s a pretty well–known saying, “You can’t teach old dogs new tricks.” Let’s make life easier and teach them the right tricks the first time around.  

You can teach them, but it’s going to take a lot longer. I wanted to add one additional thing that I feel will help people. If they were wanting to work with an animal trainer or behaviorist, there are three questions that they can ask these trainers that will help them to determine whether it’s the right fit or not. The questions are, “What will happen to my dog if he or she gets it right? What will happen to my dog if he or she gets it wrong? Are there less invasive aversive alternatives to what you propose if you don’t like what their answers are?”  

That’s so important. It’s like everything else we talked about. It’s getting as much information as you can on the front end, not getting yourself into a situation where this person that you trusted with the behavior of your pet is now maybe ingraining harmful situations, a bad response or that sort of thing. I love this concept of Force Free Training. I’m definitely going to be looking into that myself as well. I’m an old obedience training girl, so I’m excited about the potential of that.  

We can’t over-humanize our animals. We need to be good stewards of them. We can have a tremendous relationship with them but we are their caretakers, so it’s up to us to do that due diligence. That’s awesome. Thanks for those questions. That’s going to be helpful for people being able to size up the method and responsibility of trainers that they might be working with. Work with a trainer. It’s so important. Everybody’s happier. The pet is keeping you happy, you’re less stressed by their good behavior and everything is so much easier. 

Remember that a trainer and a behaviorist are not the same thing, but a person can have both designations.  

It’s good to know. If you’re having behavioral issues with your pet, that insight can be invaluable and a trainer certainly is not always as in tune with those nuances as a behaviorist. It’s another powerful tool. We dove into the middle of the conversation. We’ve been talking about there’s a lot of responsibility that goes into having pets. Like I’ve said at the beginning of the conversation, I’ve grown up with them. I’m a farm girl, so I have a little bit more practical mindset to pet ownership than some people now that I live in the city. I’ve always valued having them around and they bring me so much happiness. It’s such a wonderful part of a home in my opinion, and a lot of people feel that way. What are some of the other benefits that you see to people in having pets?  

There are a few physical, mental and emotional benefits that they can have. The one that I wanted to focus on is having a dog is beneficial for your movement because you need to go and take them out for a walk. That’s getting you up off the couch or whatever. Getting you outside and moving. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re doing an athletic walk or something like that. I’m going to add a side note to that. When you’re walking a dog, it’s for them to sniff, check out their environment and stuff like that, so it’s not to walk as fast as you can and not let them stop and smell the roses so to speak. I don’t know if you’ve heard the saying, but with them sniffing, it’s equivalent to us reading the newspaper. It tells them what’s going on in their world. It’s an extra stimulation, enrichment activity for them.  

Going back to the movement activity, especially if you’re an older adult, sometimes our joints in our body can stiffen up and we can have more difficulty with moving and stuff like that. You hear of adults who aren’t playing with their children or the grandchildren because they’re in pain or they have difficulty crouching down and standing up and that type of thing. This can allow adults to have more activity and playtime with their children. That will help with the bonding between the parents and the children as well. It can also benefit elderly people too because elderly people especially tend to have a lot of body issues. 

It can be a real struggle for them to do their day-to-day activities. Having a dog especially can help them with their independence and help them to be able to manage on their own for a longer period of time, as opposed to necessarily potentially having to go to assisted living or something like that. Along with that too, both cats and dogs can help with depression and anxiety. People with depression can sometimes want to hide in bed and don’t want to face the day. They want to curl up. Having another living being to be responsible for gets them out of bed. It’s like, “I have to get up. I have to give them some food, take them for a walk, change their litter box, or whatever the case may be.” Having that responsibility can help to shift what’s going on in the mind and that can lessen those feelings of depression.  

With anxiety, animals have a tendency to have a calming nature about them. We tend to love to pet animals, particularly furry ones. That’s a benefit for both pets and humans because it’s been known that petting can lower your blood pressure and your cholesterol as well. It also affects your hormones, so it can lower your cortisol level to reduce stress because a lot of us live with overactive adrenal because we have so much stress in our lives. We’ve got this adrenaline that’s constantly pumping through our system. Our body can only handle that for so long. I can speak from experience for that because I have adrenal fatigue. 

Being able to lower your cortisol level helps to reduce that pumping of the adrenaline that’s coming through. It also increases dopamine, which is that feel-good feeling, so you get increased feelings of pleasure, and dopamine also plays a part in humans being able to think and plan better. There was a study that was done where people were in a room and they were given a math test to do. They had one room that didn’t have pets in it and the other one did have their own pets. The ones that had their pets in it were able to solve the equation much more easily because they didn’t get stressed as easily. They are able to focus and concentrate on it.  

Oxytocin is another hormone as well because think about oxytocin as being the hormone that’s been called the hormone of love. It’s connected with trust, love, nurturing and bonding. There are those aspects of it. Cats particularly too when they purr. A lot of people find purring to be soothing, so this can have a healing effect on people. The last one I’m going to mention is that it can help people with loneliness quite a bit and also with dealing with their emotions because people can struggle with how to deal with their emotions, and maybe don’t know how to deal with them appropriately. They can either explode on other people or they can shove it down and not deal with it at all. Having a pet gives people another living being to talk to, and there’s a benefit to that, as opposed to another person because the pets are going to listen. It’s not going to question, judge and invalidate your feelings. It’s going to accept and listen. It’s going to let you talk it out. This is a great way for people to process how they’re feeling.  

That’s such a powerful list. That relationship with another being that is non-judgmental, that accepts you completely, the way that you are. If you have to go to work and feel you have to fit into a certain role there or you have issues with family dynamics, and there can be some difficulty there. With pets, you get to be you. They’re so happy to see you. The welcome is nothing else. It makes you feel your whole day fades away. You’re home, enjoyed and appreciated just as you are. It’s such a powerful connection. That’s such a gift to the people who are willing to take on the responsibility. Recognizing that there’s work to be done, but the reward far exceeds it in my mind. 

There are a lot of people with pets who thrive so much more as human beings, as long as they are willing to take on that responsibility. You know that ahead of time, “I’m willing to take this on,” then there’s not going to be that resentment or that stress. Both you and your pet are going to thrive immensely.  

That’s the beauty. Everybody’s thriving, everybody’s happy and everybody has a purpose. It’s a beautiful thing. Let us know what we can be looking for moving forward. You’ve got your podcast and I’m interested in the way that you support pet owners to help them have less stress by recognizing the resources and tools, and the best way to move forward so they can have the optimal relationship with their animals. Give us a little bit of an idea of what you have in store. 

There is a podcast, and it’s basically going to be focused on the science and spirituality of pet care. It’s going to be merging the two. It’s not only the practical side of that but understanding the animals themselves. We’re going to be having interviews with various pet experts. I’m going to get a lot of value from these other experts that are going to come on in various different ways. There are many new ideas that are going to be presented that people aren’t aware of.  

I’m also partnering on a course with someone who helps people to understand what the legal documents are and how to prepare that for their lives. What is important to get completed and set up ahead of time? I’m adding a bonus module that is going to be the legal aspects of healthcare, which a lot of people aren’t aware of. For example, what happens to your pet is you suddenly die or end up in the hospital for a few weeks, or are no longer physically or mentally capable of taking care of the pet, what happens to them and what are your options.  

We’ll be dealing with that thing as well as other aspects. I’m also working on a membership site which is set up as a course. That’s still in the works but that’s going to be taking people through a lot of aspects of pet safety, which is my main focus. Although I do talk about a lot of aspects of pet care but safety is my main focus. We’re helping people to understand how they might be putting their pets in danger and what they can do to minimize those risks so they can be with their pets and enjoy their life with their pets for as long as possible. 

I love that you’re bringing the whole foresight and preparation aspect that is so easy for people to overlook. It’s that planning so if you have it in place, it’s Murphy’s Law, it means you won’t need it. You won’t find yourself in that situation where you wish you had plans in place if you need somebody to step in and take care of your pet. As you mentioned earlier in our conversation about pet-proofing your home. Safety is important, and if you know how to prepare and have the best things in place, then it’s a huge load off. You don’t have to worry about some of those emergency situations like we were talking about.  

It’s a tremendous peace of mind and you can be enjoying your relationship with your animal, getting all the positive neurotransmitters, the happy hormones, the great feelings, the affection, and all of that that comes along, but that’s what we think about snuggling our pets. Thank you so much, Miranda. I’m glad we were able to have this conversation. In terms of my perspective and helping people have less stress, that is a broad approach. Any way that you can look and recognize that you can be bringing down areas of concern so life can be in flow and as easy as we can set it up to be, that’s a powerful tool.  

It sounds great. Thank you.  

Thank you so much. I appreciate your time. Until next time, have a great day. 

Thanks. You too. 

Important Links: 

• Miranda de Haan 
• Petwell Navigation 
• Light at the End of the Funnel Volume Two 
• Podcast – The Animal Files Podcast 

About Miranda de Haan

LEADERSHIP/MEMBERSHIPS:
2000 – Pres. AAAHT, AB Assoc. of Animal Health Techs
2006 – 2007 Toastmasters
2004 – 2008 WeBA, West Edmonton Business Assoc.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS/ADDITIONAL VALUE/SPECIAL SKILLS:
 Organized & co-ordinated catering & set-up for final speaking event for Christopher Leadership course resulting in a delicious meal suitable for all that attended & an enjoyable atmosphere for both speakers & audience.

 Improved communication & leadership skills and increased confidence greatly through partipating in all roles of Toastmaster meetings. Successfully applied an incident that occurred just prior to role as Toastmaster, matched it with the current theme, and audience was convinced that it wasn’t spontaneous.

 Gained skills in research while preparing lesson plans; learned alternative ways of communication; gained further confidence in speaking to a group, and learned how to use humour to maintain interest. Tutoring & mentoring PALS/Frontier College students of ESL gave immense enjoyment in seeing them understand & become more confident with their English skills.

 Completed 5-week Animal Health practicum in 4 different South African clinics; gained valuable experience in how other cultures operate/view things. Also, had opportunity to show & explain new ideas to staff.

 Completed Personal Best program – learned to be more proactive, deal with situations more effectively & in a more positive manner; to communicate more effectively; to be more accountable for the results in life; & to take risks to enhance personal/professional life.