Speaker 1: This is pet Life Radio. Let's Talk Pets.
Speaker 2: Hello, pat levers, Welcome to Best Bets for Pets. I'm
your show host Michelle Burn. Now, in this day and age,
there's all kinds of amazing technology, especially when it comes
to your pets and your dog. My guests today have
this great new product, and we're going to talk about
how the technology of the future can come to your
aid when you're freaking out about what is my dog
doing or what does he have or what does she have?
So stay tuned, we'll be right back.
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Speaker 4: Let's Talk Pets. On Petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 2: Welcome back, every one. I'd like to welcome Anthony Cospito
and Alu Gomes. They are both co founders of Ask Mambo.
Speaker 5: Welcome general, Thank you, Michelle, pleasure to be here.
Speaker 6: Hello Michelle, thank you for having us.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited to have you. So I alluded in
the beginning of the show that ask Mambo is about
technology and kind of gives it away when it says
ask mambo, because it wouldn't be a phone. Who uses
their phone to call anybody these days?
Speaker 6: Right?
Speaker 2: We use it more for other stuff? So what is
ask mambo and what inspired its creation?
Speaker 7: Sure?
Speaker 5: So ask mambo was essentially a smart assistant to help
people get closer to their dogs. And what inspired it
is basically baked right into the name is Mambo. Mambo
was our thirteen year old Shitsu. He was adopted.
Speaker 6: Amazing dog.
Speaker 5: You know, if we found him alone in a crate
at an adoption event, we picked them up, fell asleep
in our arms, this amazing little creature, best dog we
ever had. And over time, you know, as things happen,
dogs get a little bit older, he got sick. He
had special needs that we had to take care of
something called cushi disease. He later developed issues with breathing
and enlarged heart and eventually even brain tumor. So over
all that time we wanted to make sure that we
had the best quality time with him, and when he
actually passed, we really sat back and we said, you know,
he was such a special dog. We want to do something,
you know, to honor him. And my background is in innovation,
digital strategy and AI, so what we really wanted to
do is sort an opportunity to humanize the AI process
and develop a tool for dog parents to get closer
to their dogs. So on ask Mombo, you could essentially
ask anything, and it's really a very conversational tool. You
don't have to know prompt engineering or anything like that.
It's very friendly. We built it with a personality that's
you know, half New York comedian and very friendly and
then a very very steeped and you know, medical information
and everything that's available out there to the open API protocol,
so you know a world of information on that side,
and it brings it all together and again with the
goal of really helping people get closer to their dogs, understand,
you know, with those little towel wags mean, what those
little funny, quirk little behaviors mean in a way that
we can really cuddle up a little bit closer.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm a big fan of AI. I use chat
GPT all the time. I don't use it as a substitute.
I'm never going to have a chat GPT friend. It's
just not going to happen. I don't know. Maybe I'm
of older generation. I like like live people or communicating
with someone. I know it's living and breathing for sure,
but I love the fact that there are so many options,
you know, available, when there weren't even five years ago.
I had a situation once where it freaked me out.
I didn't know what to do. Are you familiar with
old dog disease? Similar old dog disease, not under that name. No, well,
maybe it has another name. I don't know, but but
it happens late at night to old dogs. I came home,
my dog was faced the other way, his eyes were
rolling in his head, he was shaking, and I didn't
know what the heck to do. So that was very expensive,
that appointment. And I heard that it only happens, you know,
at night, and this and that and that could have
been something that I reached out to technology for even
though with this one, I probably would have had to
go to the you know, uber expensive uh that hospital,
the nighttime, that hospital. But let's talk about what ask
mambo can do to use you know, the data or
AI to help have parents make better decisions, not just
maybe in obvious situations of anxiety, but just for general
good decisions. And it might not always be in times
of stressful health issues.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 5: And you know, one of the things that we say,
you know on the side whe where we're talking about
it is it's not a replacement for full stop you know.
It could augment information, it can give you additional information.
It really serves as a guide. But if there's something
that's going on with your dog, like the story that
you shared, that's scary, right when when a dog is
like having a seizure or there's something going on, absolutely
number one, get get into a vee, get an emergency
emergency professional on the phone, for sure.
Speaker 6: But I also wanted to add, Michelle, was that being
a dog parent, it is an emotional journey and from
the time the dog ampers your life down to getting
to know the dog, having the dog grow old with you,
and finally when the dog is in its last years.
It is an emotionally charged journey. And so what we
thought was maybe with ask Mombo, if it could give
some kind of clarity, some kind of structure to the
questions that dog owners have, even if they're silly, like
sometimes we wonder do dogs dream? Or do dogs get jealous?
And so these are topics that we can easily ask
ask Mambo and easily go down this rabbit hole of
of a delightful exchange with the platform as to why
dogs dream and why their dogs their tales wag a
certain way. And I've spent hours on ask Mambo, laughing
and just just entertaining myself and getting to know behavioral
traits of this this creature sitting next to me on
the couch. It's been it's been actually quite fascinating.
Speaker 2: Okay, thank you. What does ask Mambo do differently than
traditional vet hotlines, because now we have a lot of
you know, airbed and virtual vet capability with Google or
even dog gpt for sure.
Speaker 5: You know, it's essentially it's a it's a first line
of defense, right, it's getting to know your dog over time.
So initially When you first sign up, we get the
basics about your dog, and then it gets smarter with
every single conversation, so you know, over time it gets
to know what breed you have, the age of the dog.
You can upload medical reports, about reports and it could
translate it in and plain English, so you know what
to worry about, what not to worry about. Really explains
medical terms and you know, in a really easy, easy
to understand way. And again we will do a handoff
whenever it's something that's pressing or something that does sound
like an emergency, we'll hand that user off, will recommend
that they that they call their vet. There's a certain
you know, protocols in place to help them get there.
But you know, looking at the overall like what does
asked Mambo do? What areas as a focus on It's
really kind of think about it in four journeys, right,
It's everything from getting a jog, raising a dog, senior moments,
you know, when they're starting to get a little bit older,
and then also saying goodbye, you know, and we saw
that with Mambo, that's a really sensitive time. Whether there
is not a lot of information out there, there's not
a lot of guidance out there. So basically, as Mambo
just takes everything that it knows about your dog, the
best information that that's publicly available out there, brings those
two worlds together and kind of guide you through the process.
What we're also doing that's you know, different than a
lot of different firms that are out there, is we
really believe in again helping dog parents get closer to
their dog. You know, there's only so much you can
do on a screen. So what we're doing is we're
taking that experience off the screen and we're planning packwalks
for twenty twenty six where people come together in a
community in New York, in California and different areas and
they get out there in their fresh air, they get
together and they have some good old fashioned community time
as well. So it's you know, it's all it's off
the screen community building and then really that companionship online
that's right there with you from the minute you say
I think we want to get a dog, Why are
we going to name it? All the way to you know,
we have to say goodbye. How do we memorialize him?
How do we make it special? Like we lost Mambo
for example, on June tenth and we've we've named you
Intent Mumbo Day, So every year on you Intent, we're
going to be settle a little a little special for Mumbo.
So it's just things like that. I mean, these dogs
are so special and it mean so much to us,
so we really wanted to kind of celebrate that.
Speaker 6: And I think just to add what we also are
hearing from people who have used ask Mumbo is that
they're enjoying the personality of the platform. And this is
something that we've been very particular when we were building
it out that we wanted it to be a companion
that also exuded kindness and compassion. We do realize that
this technology is new and so in many ways where
the world is still trying to figure out how to
make the best use of it. And this is our
proposal that we use the technology specific for dog owners,
infused with the kindness and compassion that one would expect
when dealing with our lot of ones. And it looks
like so far people are responding to the humor, the width,
and the generosity of compacity of the platform.
Speaker 2: Okay, how does it differ from another similar AI based
platform like dog GPT.
Speaker 5: Sure, Well, basically we set it up again. We really
spent a lot of time building the persona so it
can be it's it's very friendly. Uh, it's very you know,
engaging and warm. And then when it gets to anything serious,
when it gets something medical, you know, it's it's not jokey.
It focuses specifically on the human side of it. And
what I mean by that, it's very focused on keeping
humans calm.
Speaker 2: Which we need to be.
Speaker 5: Yeah, right, I mean when and I keep going back
to Mama because it was such a gut wrenching experience
when he's having seizures. This little thing is just having seizure,
is locked frozen, staring off. You don't know what to do,
you know, in moments like that, And then even when
it's over and you're preparing for the future, like what
is this thing called cushions disease? How should I understand it?
It's really focused on everything that it says. It goes
through this filter of keeping humans calm, because we know
that we get you know, we get worried. So it's
a matter of really keeping people calm, knowing what to
expect when it comes to medical things, and then also
helping them really understand their dog in a different way
to the point I alill mentioned before about things like
a tail wag. You know, what does a tallwag mean?
Speaker 7: You know?
Speaker 5: And this is something that we even learned with as
mambo with. You know, when it wags to the right,
it's happy and confident. When it wags to the left,
it's uncertainty, your stress, you know, and those little things.
But then when you see your dogs short to wag,
its tell you know a little bit what kind of
mood it's in. And that's something that's based in It's
based in science. It's based in academic research papers that
have come out. So it's not we're not anthropomorphizing, but
we're looking at what is a science, what is your
dog's specific situation, and how can we communicate that in
an effective, fun way to really to really again deepen
that relationship.
Speaker 2: Okay, we have to take a quick break and we'll
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Speaker 4: Let's talk past it, Let's done.
Speaker 1: Pets at Life.
Speaker 8: Radio Headline Radio at life Radio dot com.
Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone. We're talking to the founders of Ask Mambo,
Anthony and R. Lou So very interesting information in our
first half. Here's something I'm curious about. What is the
strangest question that's been asked on ask Mombo.
Speaker 5: Well, you know, I'll tell you.
Speaker 2: I mean, dog parents are there are a lot of
strange ones. And then also I want to know are
you going to have cats as well?
Speaker 5: You know, Michelle, we're laser focused on on dogs. It's
completely inspired from Mambo. You know, I've been a dog
person my whole life. Are lose Well, we love cats,
they're they're they're wonderful little creatures, but just a special
place in our heart for dogs.
Speaker 2: Okay, now let's get to the fun. What is the
strangest question? Because people are really passionate about.
Speaker 5: Their dogs, for sure. For sure, there's a couple of
different levels of strangeness. Level one would be not that strange.
But people like when they're naming their dog, right, they
really have to they really kind of have to think
about why is you know, what is it going to mean?
What kind of personality? And people have all sorts of
different quirks. One question was I'm really into anime and
this is a user told us about this. I'm really
into anime. What are some good anime names? For my
for my pug. So you know, the Asbamba came back,
gave them some really good answers, and now it's bolt
Us five, I think is where they landed. So you know,
that's one what was the name Voltus five and that's
I'm not into anime either, but it's but I don't know.
Speaker 6: That's all this five is is a cartoon series from
the eighties, so yeah, it's it's a retro anime, okay.
Speaker 5: And then the second level of strangers, things like you
know what, wondering about things that dogs do that are
kind of strange. Like, for example, one time somebody did ask,
what is my what does my pug do the unspeakable
with his poop? That's one of the ways they worded it,
So you know, why do they you know what, why
why do they do things like that? And then that
was that was more of a medical situation. But it
comes back and it talks about you know, it could
be nutritional gaps that could be boredom.
Speaker 2: Wait, you're talking about eating their poop.
Speaker 7: That's right.
Speaker 2: All dogs do that, A lot of them do. It's
not just not just pugs. I've had mine were mutts
and they both did that and it's gross. But yeah,
dog thing.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so you know, when you first see that, it's
kind of it's kind of jarring. It's something people that
you don't really want to, you know, a little embarrassed
to talk about. But uh, you know again, it's bringing
things like that to to light and saying, hey, it's
it's not the end of the world. It's very common.
Here's some of the specific reasons for it. You know.
So a lot of things like that, and then you know,
just questions about is what is my dog? You know,
is what does he said a certain way? What does
he wink at me? Things like that, Michelle. One of
my recent interaccess with ask Mambo. It is very personal,
and the guess shifting gears a bit because of course
Matthew was matching anime names. There's a lightness to it.
But there was one We have another dog, Murph, and
he's fourteen. He's also a rescue he's a Shitsu mall
tease mix.
Speaker 6: And just after Mambo passed, there was something in this
behavior that we noticed that whenever we leave the house,
we'd be walking back to our door and right outside
we'd hear howling. And until we realized that it was
Murph howling while we were gone. And we've had Murph
for ten years and we've never heard him exhibit We've
never seen him exhibit this behavior, and so you know,
we just asked when to ask him when you said, hey,
Mrph seems to be howling.
Speaker 5: And we don't know why.
Speaker 6: And after a bit of some some questions, it was
revealed that dogs do grieve and that since Murph and
Mambo were together twenty four seven, that Mrph was also
probably going through his own grieving process and that for
us was something that you know, we don't really think
about pet grieving, but in this case it was. We
were convinced that him missing Mambo, there's now a vacuum
in his life, and so now it makes us more
responsive to him. We've been taking him on longer walks,
we've been including him whenever we were, we're in the bedroom,
or whenever wherever we are we have Mrph with us,
and so it just made us a little more cognizant
of how we are post Mambo's passing.
Speaker 5: And what to do, like now we know, you know,
we could leave the radio on, that the TV on
for him a little while we get him a lick
mat so he's a little distracted when when we go
and and then we come back. So it's really it's
really helped. And that was something that was really a shock.
I mean, Murf had never made those sounds before. So
it's just so interesting to see the parallels between dogs
and humans. Of course they're completely different beings, but there
are certain similarities that you know, from from a heart perspective,
kind of tie us together.
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, let's talk about seasonal risks. So we're recording
right before the holiday season in twenty twenty five, we
probably won't be posted to even closer to the holiday season.
Holiday season we always say, means like November, December, Thanksgiving, Hanika,
Christmas time or winter break. But what there's also other
times of holidays like fireworks and when people are traveling.
How does ask mombo, how pet parents? During those times?
Speaker 5: Sure, so a couple of different ways. One is explicit,
ones implicit. So by implicit, when somebody can go on
there and they can ask questions based on the time
of year, you know, the holidays are coming up fourth
of July, great example, you know, looking at a thunderjacket.
Does that kind of thing help and then also, like
around the holidays, there's a lot of food around. People
are always asking what can my dog eat?
Speaker 7: This?
Speaker 5: Can my dog eat that? What happens if my dog
swallows tinsil? You know, those sorts of questions come up.
So those are the ways in so like you know,
implicitly and then explicitly. We also have a newsletter called
dog People that's going to be starting to come out
in December of this year, and for that it comes
out monthly, and that we basically deal with the questions
that are coming up related to that month. So if
there's a holiday around that month, and then also you know,
change of season when it gets really hot out, if
you have a pug and it's you know, it's August,
there are certain things that you really have to be
aware of. Again, same thing on the flip side. If
you have a small dog, short hair and it's the winter,
obviously certain things to be concerned with there in terms
of bringing them out, little tips and tricks, little hacks.
If your dog hates the rain and you happen to
live in Seattle, it reads all the time, or.
Speaker 2: More South Florida or Florida in general, but especially the
South except this year has been dry. Yeah, not any
hurricane season. But yeah, so you have seasonality coming up
in your newsletter. Let's talk about this what is because
I have some more questions I want to ask for
you run out of time. What is the one thing
that pet parents think they know but they get wrong.
Speaker 5: That's a really good question. I think a lot of
it has to do with when they first get a
dog and they think, oh, we're going to wing it.
You know it'll be fine, but how difficult can it
be for that one times that I'd like to admit,
And you know, there is a lot to it, especially
if you have kids, especially if you have another dog.
Then there's crate training and you need a crate training plan.
That's something actually that ask Mombo creates like for a
crate training or training, it could be day by day,
hour by hour, a month by month, whatever is needed
to build a specific plan for something like create training,
but also for for meal planning. And when you first
get a puppy too, you know there's a lot of
times that they have to be sleeping, you have to
get them up, get them outside, take them for a walk.
Like having an assistant for all of those things really
makes a lot easier. You know, my sister has had
tons of dogs, just got a puppy and asked, Mama
has been helping her, and she said, you know, it's
really been a godsend because otherwise she wouldn't know what
to do with this dog that's constantly always needing something.
It's like it's like a baby.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 5: You think, oh, yeah, how difficult can it be? But
it could be pretty difficult.
Speaker 6: And there's another thing, Michelle, that a dog owners tend
to overlook or not give much importance to, and that
is the non verbals of their pets. There was one
time where Murph was sitting on the couch and one
afternoon I just looked looked over at him, and I
noticed that it almost looked like he was winking at me.
And at first I thought maybe there was an irritation
in his eye, but he was he was totally comfortable,
and so I checked to ask Mambo, and apparently dogs
communicate even with small blinks and winks. That it was
his way of just looking at me and saying, hey,
I'm okay, I'm fine chilling here. So there are a
lot of non verbals that could be very informative for
dog owners that ask Mambo can help them decode.
Speaker 2: Okay, thanks, And you know what, by the way, I
know you don't do cats, but they say cats if
you stare at their eyes and they like close one.
They don't blink. They're not that fast, but they do
like a little slow shut. That's supposed to be them
saying they love you.
Speaker 5: Oh that's so interesting.
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's true, but I've heard that
and read that a few times other shows cat to
So see why I ask about cats even though I
started always having dogs, now I have a cat crew. Okay,
so let's talk about the future of pet wellness. What
would you say the future of pet wellness looks like
with tools like ask Mambo.
Speaker 5: Sure, you know, I'm so excited to be living and
the times that we're living in, right, because if this
question was asked thirty years ago, forty years ago, we
would have some pretty limited answers.
Speaker 2: Right well, we had no Internet.
Speaker 5: So right, phone based assistance before.
Speaker 2: It started, right ninety eight got more prevalent, right for sure?
Speaker 6: For sure?
Speaker 5: So I mean the web game in mobile and you know,
and and looking at AI now, which is just completely
disrupting everything and I really see it through the lens
of how can technology humanize the experience of having a dog?
How can And that's why our mission truly is helping
people get closer to their dogs. So what that means is,
as AI gets better and as the functionality gets deeper,
our focus is always going to be figuring out ways
that it could it could you know, strengthen that bond
and build that bond. So for us, you know, it's
looking at AI as a tool that can be part
of the overall mission of as Mambo. Like I mentioned,
we're doing things with AI, but also we have you know,
these community meetups and these events that really do bring
people together. You know, should see meetups in Central Park.
I mean, it's just something so special about that. And
then also other technology that's out there has been incredible,
Like you look at smart collars, you look at things
you could attach your dog if they happen to get lost. So,
you know, technology, you know, in and of itself is interesting,
but when you look at it through the lens of
how it could actually help your dog in your relationship
with them, that's what gets us excited.
Speaker 6: Right, And this for us is a very unique opportunity
given the newness of this technology that since we're dabbling
in technology that is still growing rapidly, we felt our
roles in this case are stewards of the technology. We're
going to bring this to a place where we feel
it's great to help humans in general. And by that
I mean technology that is kind, technology that is compassionate,
technology that has a gen that has and even heart,
and that is what we're trying to instill and ask Mambo,
so that people using the platform feel in love.
Speaker 2: Like when we started off. I mean, I'm a big
fan of AI. I don't think AI should replace people,
you know. I don't like the fake AI actress that
they built, and people shouldn't use that as a cheat.
You know, you're cheating yourself if you're not learning something.
But to educate and to inform, you know, I think
it's fantastic and to help you work and take care
and facilitate things, you know, in a better way. Yes,
of course, where do you see ask Mambos saying five.
Speaker 5: Years you know, I really see it being part of
an overall you know, community again that connects people off
the screen and online as the go to resource from
the day somebody says Hey, let's get a dog again,
helping you throughout that whole process raising that dog, you know,
dealing with the dog getting older, and then and then
you know, saying.
Speaker 7: Goodbye to that dog.
Speaker 5: So really throughout the whole life cycle of the dog
being there to help them. You know, one thing we
didn't mention is it's what they call multibodal and AI,
meaning that people can upload a photograph so people can
take a picture of their dog and do a vibe check.
You know, how does mambo seem right now? Does he
seem happy? Does he seem healthy, does he seem relaxed?
Does he seem like he's in pain?
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 5: So again, the technology will only get better, but we're
always going to be looking for ways to leverage that
technology that in ways that connects you and a deeper
way to your dog.
Speaker 2: Okay, thanks, What is the one thing you would want
every pet parent that is listening today to do to
improve their dog's quality of life?
Speaker 5: Really understand the dog's breed and understand your realistic lifestyle
and how you can give that dog the best life
possible day in and day out, not only for the
basics in terms of you know, diet, nutrition, and health,
but happiness. How can you really make sure that your
dog is happy? And what are the some of the
different things that you can do, you know, tangibly to
make that to make that a reality.
Speaker 2: Okay, thanks so gentlemen. First of all, how can listeners
get started with ask mambo and where do they go
to find to ask mambo?
Speaker 6: Sure?
Speaker 5: Thanks, It's very simple. Just go to ask mambo dot
com and you can sign up right there, and we
start with the most important piece of information, the dog's name.
So right, we get the dog's name first, that a
couple of other questions, and then right from there you're
in and you could start using ask mombo immediately. And
again it's basic questions, normal language. You don't have to
structure in any way. It's very conversational.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so this would be the perfect time to ask
questions you've always wanted to ask about your dogs and
have fun.
Speaker 2: Okay, thank you so much.
Speaker 6: Basically, what you wanted to say was that ask mambo
is built not just with code, but with love. I
think we keep going back to our relationship with mambo
and how having a dog just and our lives many
times over and so by with ask Mombo, and give
me the clarity to dog parents. We hope that they
two can feel the same way with their dogs here.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, I want to thank both of you. Thank
you Anthony and our Loo for coming on Best Bets
for Pets and telling us all about Ask Mambo. I
so appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Speaker 7: Michelle was great having us.
Speaker 4: The pleasure is ours.
Speaker 2: I hope you all enjoyed the show. Please go check
out Askmambo dot com. I want to thank my guests
Anthony and our Loo for coming on Best Bets for
Pets and talking about Ask Mambo. Thanks to my cat
crew Dennis, Charlotte and Mollie. I will be asking about
Charlie on Ask Mombo, but my cat crew keeps me inspired.
Thanks to everyone listening to Best Bets for Pets. I
so appreciate everything you do and thank you for your listenership.
And of course the show would not be the same
without the magic of Mark Winter for doing all he
does to make every show sound amazing. And hey, keep listening,
you never know what we'll up next on Best Bets
for Pets.
Speaker 4: Let's talk Bets every week on demand only on petlight
Radio dot com.