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Find the Best Pet Insurance on This Marketplace | Pawlicy Advisor - YouTube
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Hi, I'm Woody Mawhinney,
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and you're tuned in to The Animal Innovations Show.
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Excellent introduction, Woody.
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So tell us, who are you and what are you doing
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to help and innovate—help animals.
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My name is Woody.
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I'm the CEO and co-founder of Pawlicy Advisor.
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You can think of Pawlicy Advisor
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as priceline for pet insurance.
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So, we're a marketplace.
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We help people navigate their options and choose one
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that's the best fit for their pet's individual needs
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and a policy that will ultimately save them money,
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not only today, but over their pet's typical lifespan.
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And the way I got into this space is a personal story.
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I adopted my first animal, a Shar Pei named Wrigley.
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I adopted because he was adorable,
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he was cute, he was a good family dog.
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And little did I know that Shar Pei's are prone to
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a lot of different health risks and health concerns.
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And I remember going to my vets,
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and they got really excited to see my new animal,
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and they said, "Have you thought about pet insurance?"
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And I thought to myself: No, I've never heard of it.
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And hearing that my vet said that it was
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really important and that I should look into it
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got me to Google the topic.
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Now, at the time, I was a Homeland Security Risk Analyst,
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so, pretty good with numbers.
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And I took pride in being able
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to navigate Google and pet insurance.
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And when I began—you know, researching the topic,
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I felt like I was in way over my head immediately.
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I couldn't tell what was best or why
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or how many options were out there.
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And then when my animal ultimately came down
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with a very serious health condition that a lot of Shar Pei's
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are prone to get, and my vet handed me basically,
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a bill for $200 that I would have to pay each month
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just for his medication.
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I really realized the value of pet insurance pretty quickly,
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but it never really left me that I had kind of chosen
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pet insurance on a whim, and I didn't know what was the best
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fit to cover that unique condition that my Shar Pei has.
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And so, years later, as I was thinking more about the problem,
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I decided to essentially walk all of Manhattan
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and talk to as many pet owners as I could find
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to ask them: Did they have insurance?
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And if they did have insurance,
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do they feel like they got a good deal?
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And ultimately, what I heard was two things.
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If a pet owner did have insurance,
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they couldn't tell me whether they got a good deal.
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If they didn't have insurance, they couldn't tell me
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whether it was worth the money or not.
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And so ultimately, when I looked at the problem,
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I thought, there's probably a great insurance
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product out there for every pet owner
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or a product that will help them navigate their pet's care,
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but maybe there's an opportunity to develop a platform
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or a product to help pet owners navigate their options
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to simplify the experience.
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So, nobody should ever come away from their experience
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thinking to themselves, did I get a good deal?
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Is my pet really well protected now?
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Am I going to be able to afford that?
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And that's what we've tried to build in Pawlicy Advisor.
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We found that we can save people up to 83%
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over their pet's lifespan doing the analysis that we do.
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So, really tangible savings that people can receive
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looking at their options on our platform.
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What a great way to get just
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some market data I get from people.
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And you didn't have any background—
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It's not like you are an insurance broker or anything were you?
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No, I wasn't and I had to—
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So, I launched Pawlicy Advisor out of business school
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in New York, and that meant that
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I had to go get a license to sell insurance.
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So, I became a licensed insurance brokerage
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while I was in school, so I was doing night classes
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on top of my day-to-day.
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And over time, the space has grown tremendously
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and the amount of research we do has become more robust.
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So that, we can maintain sort of that cutting-edge research
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to be able to do what we do.
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So now, how many years ago did you start this?
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So, I started this in 2018.
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I was probably doing a lot of the research
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in the year leading up to April 2018,
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which is when we launched the business.
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How many different pet insurance
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companies are there these days?
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Yeah, there are over 30 in the US currently.
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If you look at more mature markets like the UK,
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where pet insurance has been around
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for decades longer, there are over 80.
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In the US., it seems like anywhere from 5 to 10
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new companies are popping up just about every year at this point.
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When I first started the company,
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there were just over ten.
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So, it goes to show how quickly the space is evolving,
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which is really exciting.
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It's really good for consumers and pet owners,
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because it means that you're being delivered
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the best products for the best value, really, today,
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more so than ever before, even just in terms of one
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of those categories, coverage or price, or both.
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So now, how does this work, Woody?
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Do I come to your site and I pay a fee
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or something for you to do all this research for me?
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We're absolutely free.
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We really like talking about our business model
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and I think it's important for people to understand,
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and I'm glad we can be transparent about it.
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We are a licensed insurance brokerage in every State.
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So, I'm sure we're going to get the question:
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How do you make money
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if you're free for consumers visiting your site?
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Well, we take an insurance commission from the sale
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of the products, but what we've done that's different
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and unique is we standardize that across our partners.
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So, when we make a recommendation
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it's because we truly believe in it.
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And then, we only make money
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if you hold onto that Policy.
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It's really important because it fosters trust
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between us and the pet parent.
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That we are going to do a really good matchmaking process.
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Because we care that you have a good experience now,
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but also that you continue to have a good experience over time.
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Yeah, I like that, I like the fact that you're invested in me
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having a good relationship with whoever you're
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ultimately recommending and whoever I sign up with.
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Because like you said,
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you're only getting paid if I stick with them.
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If I try them out and hate them and never go back,
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then that doesn't do you any good.
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So, it's in your best interest to really
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help me to find the right product.
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So, where do you take this?
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What does the future look like for this?
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As we grow, we expect to continue to grow our
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partnerships to bring more insurance providers on the platform.
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As I mentioned before, there are probably
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3 to 5 pet insurance companies launching every year.
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So, we've got to stay on top of that
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and work with the most trusted brands available.
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So, my hope is that we can work a little bit more
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closely with the nonprofit community to simplify
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the application and administration of those programs.
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Woody, it sounds like your journey has been
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short to this point, but you've gone through
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so many twists and turns.
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What have you learned about yourself in the process?
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I've really learned to rely on, my great team.
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As a founder, you are out there
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speaking with pet owners,
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you're learning about your consumer.
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You get to know them very, very well,
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but as you grow a team and the responsibility
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of the company grows as well to better serve customers.
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And it's really exciting to see that growth occur.
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We're a small team of twelve, right now,
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currently operating across the country.
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We expect to double over time.
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But one of the things that I've learned very early on
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is just this idea that:
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You have to lean on people, you can't do it all yourself.
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And the more you can trust and support those people,
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it leads to a better company and ultimately
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a better consumer experience on the other end.
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So, why don't you spell Pawlicy?
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Because I know It's spelled a little bit different
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and we want to make sure people get to the right website.
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PAWLICY.COM and if you're a veterinarian,
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you can visit PAWLICY.COM/VET
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Very Cool.
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Well, as I wrap up the show today,
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it's been really exciting talking to Woody.
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And for somebody that's not an insurance broker,
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by background, I mean, it always starts with an idea.
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So just like Woody, if you've got an idea
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for something that can help animals or the people
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that love them, we want to know about It.
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Just go to INNOVATIONS.SHOW
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and we'd love to have you on the show.
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And learn about what you're doing with the product.
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And if you can be a volunteer, we'd love
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to have you at DOOBERT, be a Dooberteer.
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Just go to DOOBERT.COM to sign up where you can
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do transport and fostering and help save even more lives.
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Woody, thank you so much for coming on.
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Really excited to hear what you're doing with Pawlicy
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and really excited to see what you're going to do next.
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Thanks for having me on, really appreciate it.
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