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Growing Joy with Plants - Wellness Rooted in Nature, Houseplants, Gardening and Plant Care

Dogs + Houseplants: How to Keep Your Pup Safe (and Your Plants Intact)

Growing Joy with Plants - Wellness Rooted in Nature, Houseplants, Gardening and Plant Care

Maria Failla- Happy Plant Lady and Author of Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness

Education, Wellness, Gardening, Leisure, Eco Therapy, Nature Therapy, Self Care, Health & Fitness, Houseplants, How To, Home & Garden, Mental Health, Plants

4.8 • 912 Ratings

🗓️ 2 September 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

If you love your dog as much as you love your monstera or other houseplants, you’ve probably run into this dilemma: how do you keep your plants alive without putting your pup at risk? This has been a problem for plant parents who are also pet parents. Some plants are toxic, some dogs are curious nibblers, and sometimes it feels like your plants and your pets are destined to clash. To figure this out, I talked with Dudley, the plant lover behind Pablo’s Plants on Instagram and TikTok. His brand centers on his golden retriever, Pablo, and he’s here to share with us how to keep both plants and pets safe at home.In this episode, we learn:[00:00] Can dogs and houseplants really live in harmony?[02:06] What does Dudley’s plant setup look like[02:53] Who is Dudley (aka Pablo’s Plants) and his golden retriever (Pablo)?[06:45] Who handles the plants better: the cats or Pablo?[08:18] How do you actually train a dog to “leave it”?[09:38] Which common houseplants are secretly toxic to pets? (Lilies, pothos, philodendrons)[12:10] Living with toxic plants: know your pet's personality[13:20] Bitter apple spray and other deterrent tricks[14:53] Wind River Chimes[16:39] Non-toxic plants for pet parents[18:07] Dudley’s gardening journey[19:15] Pablo's one toxic plant incident![23:06] How did Dudley’s plant business evolve?[25:59] The hoya love-hate relationship[28:24] Fragrant orchids (coconut-scented orchids)[29:31] What does Pablo’s Plants look like today?[31:55] Craziest deals buyers have taken during auctions on Whatnot & Palmstreet[33:05] How plant shows turned into a global friend network[34:57] Plant show strategy: shopping vs. selling vs. networking[36:16] Where to find him next: PlantCon NYC & IAS Miami[39”02] Where to shop Pablo’s Plants and join his “coffee & swiping” lives[40:13] Visit growingjoywithmaria.com/palmstreet and save on your first purchase!Mentioned in our conversation:Growing Joy 9: Double Joy: Plants and Cats and Poisonous Plants to Avoid with @Plant_Lady_is_the_New_Cat_LadyBarrina ledASPCAGrannick's Care Dogs Bitter Apple No Chew Spray 8ozWhatnotPalmstreetFor more pet and plant care tips,check out the full show notes and blog here!Follow Dudley:WebsiteInstagramStoreTikTokWhatnotThank you to our episode sponsor:Wind River ChimesVisit windriverchimes.com and use code GROWINGJOY to receive free engraving on your chosen wind chimes. Follow Maria and Growing Joy:Order my book: Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness (and Plants) by Maria Failla, Illustrated by Samantha LeungJoin the Bloom and Grow Garden Party Community Platform & App AKA the plantiest and kindest corner of the internet! Get your FREE 2-week trial here!Take the Plant Parent Personality Quiz (Get the perfect plants, projects and educational resources for YOUR Lifestyle)Support Bloom and Grow Radio by becoming a Plant Friend on Patreon!Instagram: @growingjoywithmariaTiktok: @growingjoywithmariaSubscribe to the Growing Joy Youtube channel! /growingjoywithmariaWebsite: www.growingjoywithmaria.comPinterest: @growingjoywithmaria

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

If you love your dog as much as you love your Monstera and other houseplants, you have probably

0:04.5

faced this dilemma before. How do you keep your leafy friends thriving without turning your home

0:10.6

into a danger zone for your pup? In this episode, we're tackling the ultimate plant parent

0:16.1

pup parent challenge living in harmony with dogs and house plants. We're going to cover what plants are secretly toxic to dogs to the clever training trick

0:25.9

that actually works.

0:27.4

My guest, Dudley, who you might know is Pablo's plants on Instagram and TikTok because

0:32.1

his whole brand is centered around his adorable giant golden retriever Pablo, shares real life tips from protecting

0:38.8

both your plants and your pet from each other, and ideally getting them to live in harmony.

0:43.8

So if you're puppy curious or if you've just brought home a pup and you want to make sure that

0:48.0

you set them up for success, you're going to walk away from today's episode with practical

0:52.8

pup-approved strategies to keep tails wagging and leaves lush.

1:02.9

Welcome to the Growing Joy with Plants podcast, where we not only learn how to care for plants successfully, but how to simply and affordably use our plant babies to

1:11.3

cultivate more joy in our lives by doing so. I'm Maria, former plant killer turned happy plant

1:17.1

lady, author of Growing Joy, The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness, speaker, podcaster,

1:22.1

and most importantly, your new best plant friend. On Growing Joy with Plants, you'll find

1:26.6

conversations about house plant care,

1:28.5

gardening tutorials, and wellness through the lens of plants.

1:32.0

Plant care is self-care on growing joy.

1:41.3

Dudley, I don't know if I've ever had to ask someone to, I've had to ask many guests to turn off fans before, before interviews, but I've never had a plant fan need to be turned off.

1:51.4

Plant fan, yeah. So the thing is, my office is my plant room. So all my plants that we grow and sell is it took over my office. So that's what you heard.

2:00.2

Oh my gosh. I love it. Yes. I've seen on your

2:02.1

Instagram. You have like the full grow setup in your office. What is your grow setup look like?

...

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