Q. 자기 소개 부탁합니다.
안녕하세요. 저는 뉴질랜드에서 두 마리 털뭉치 친구 스미스(Smith, 골든두들), 버튼(Burton, 스탠다드 푸들)과 함께 살고 있는 소냐입니다. 지금은 뉴질랜드의 자연을 담은 프리미엄 그루밍 브랜드 ‘스미스앤버튼(smith&burton)’을 설립해 운영하고 있어요.

Q. 소냐 님은 어릴 때부터 동물을 좋아했다고 들었어요.
맞아요. 저는 운 좋게 유년기부터 농장에서 여러 동물들을 키우고 돌보는 경험을 했어요. 경주마, 쇼독, 쇼포니(Show Pony)를 정성스럽게 살피고 대회에 나가는 데 매료되어 있었어요. 한 번은 10살 때 초등학교에서 매년 열리는 ‘새끼 양과 송아지의 날(Lamb & Calf Day)’에 출전해 대상을 받기도 했어요.? 저는 동물들과 일하는 게 가장 행복하고, 그 중에서도 개는 제 가장 큰 사랑이랍니다.

Q. 지금 함께 살고 있는 스미스, 버튼과 어떻게 가족이 되었나요?
앞서 말했듯이 저는 인생의 대부분을 동물을 돌보면서 함께 보냈어요. 4살 때 첫 번째 강아지인 래브라도 리트리버를 만났죠. 그러다가 직장 생활을 하면서 12년 정도 개가 제 곁에 없는 삶을 살았어요. 안정적이었지만 늘 일상에서 알 수 없는 결핍을 느꼈어요. 그러던 차에 이직을 하면서 3개월 정도 휴가가 주어졌는데, 스미스가 제 삶에 들어오기에 완벽한 타이밍이었어요.

Q. 스미스가 13살이고, 버튼도 이제 곧 12살인 걸로 아는데요. 스미스에 이어서 바로 버튼도 입양하셨겠네요.
스미스와 가족이 되고 1년 정도 지나서 남동생이 있을 때가 됐다고 생각할 때쯤 버튼(일명 버티, Burtie)이 합류했죠. 저는 녀석들과 함께 있는 걸 가장 좋아해요. 함께 모험을 하고 놀이를 즐기는 가장 친한 친구죠. 우리는 인생을 함께 하는 가족입니다. ?

*골든두들(Goldendoodle)은 골든 리트리버와 스탠다드 푸들의 1세대 혼종(F1)을 뜻하며, 뉴질랜드에서는 리트라두들(Retradoodle)이라고 부릅니다.

Q. 스미스는 어떤 아이인가요?
스미스는 타고난 상남자(Alpha-male)에요. 아름다운 눈을 갖고 있는 제 보호자(?)에요. 그리고 무척 똑똑하답니다. 트레이닝이나 게임에 뛰어난 재능을 갖고 있고, 승부욕도 엄청나요. 수영과 진흙 웅덩이에서 노는 걸 좋아하고, 이름 별로 인형을 갖고 오는 놀이를 즐기죠. 나이가 들면서 약간 거만하고 고집이 세지고 있어요.?

Q. 그럼 버튼은 어떤가요?
버튼은 록스타의 외모를 갖고 있지만, 코미디언처럼 저를 매일 웃게 만들어요. 제 그림자처럼 늘 옆에 붙어서 저를 지켜보고 있죠. 그리고 매우 활동적이고 달리기를 좋아합니다. 무엇보다 사람을 너무너무 좋아해요.





Q. 소냐 님은 평소 아이들과 어떻게 시간을 보내는지 궁금해요.
우리는 비가오나 눈이오나 하루에 두 번 꼭 산책을 해요. 스미스는 지금까지 아마 1만 번 이상 산책을 했을 거에요. ? 한 번은 온 리드, 한 번은 오프 리드로 산책을 하는데요. 늘 냄새로 탐험하는 걸 좋아하기 때문에 새로운 모험 장소를 찾아 떠나죠. 산책 시간이 되면 두 아이는 제 곁을 서성이면서 “빨리 나가자”고 잔소리를 시작해요. 이 밖에 공원 나무 밑에 앉아서 멍때리거나, 양치질과 몸단장하면서 시간을 보냅니다.

Q. 몸단장을 하는 데 시간을 할애하는 이유가 있나요?
아이의 몸 곳곳을 살피는 건 어떤 건강 문제가 있는지 전체적으로 직접 확인할 수 있는 시간이에요. 스미스와 버튼이 모두 노견이기 때문에 아이들과 스킨십하면서, 강아지 때처럼 주의를 기울여 돌보는 게 중요해요.

Q. 골든두들과 스탠다드 푸들의 매력은 무엇인가요?
골든 두들은 훈련이 너무 쉽고, 열정적이고, 무엇이든 함께 하기 쉬운 품종이에요. 게다가 놀라운 충성심과 느긋한 성격도 갖고 있죠. 녀석들은 정말 큰 곰인형 같습니다. 반면 스탠다드 푸들은 아이처럼 생각이 빠르고, 재밌고, 애정이 넘쳐요. 프라이드도 강합니다. 마치 털코트를 입은 어린이같아요. ♥

Q. 골든두들과 스탠다드 푸들을 입양하고 싶은 반려인에게 선배로서 조언을 해주세요.
우선 어떤 개든 평생의 헌신이 필요하다는 걸 꼭 기억하세요. 그리고 두 견종 모두 충분한 운동량과 놀이나 트레이닝을 통한 정신적 교감을 확보해주어야 합니다. 이 두 가지가 보장될 때 가장 행복한 아이들이에요.
추가로 개를 입양할 때는 평판이 좋은 트레이닝 수업에 참가하세요. 매너 교육이 잘 된 개는 삶이 훨씬 편하고 자유로워져요. 또 이아이들은 정기적으로 미용을 해주어야 하기 때문에 강아지 때부터 전문 미용사와 접하게 하여 가위질, 클리핑, 그루밍 테이블, 건조기 등에 익숙해지는 과정도 꼭 필요합니다.

Q. 뉴질랜드의 반려문화를 소개해주세요.
뉴질랜드는 반려인에겐 천국 같은 곳이에요. 사람들이 믿을 수 없을 정도로 동물에게 우호적이고 네 발 친구들을 진심으로 소중하게 여기죠. 반려견 친화적인 공공 시설, 공원, 해변, 산책로 등 동반 공간이 많아서 마음껏 반려생활을 즐길 수 있답니다.

Q. 이런 뉴질랜드 반려문화의 핵심을 꼽자면 무엇일까요?
‘책임감’이라고 생각해요. 뉴질랜드 사람들은 동물의 복지에 매우 민감합니다. 공공장소에서 안전을 유지하기 위해 복종 훈련과 사회화 훈련은 기본이고, 목줄법과 규제도 철저하게 시행하고 있죠. 이건 동물과 사람 모두를 보호하고 공존하기 위한 의지입니다. 같은 맥락에서 유기되거나 방치된 동물을 구조하고 돌보는 입양 기관도 적극적으로 지원하고 있어요.

Q. 지금은 아이들의 이름을 딴 ‘smith&burton’이라는 프리미엄 그루밍 브랜드를 운영 중인데요. 어떻게 시작하게 되었나요?
스미스는 가능한한 자주 더러워지는 걸 좋아하는 13살 골든두들이고, 버튼은 피부 발병이 잦은 11살 스탠다드 푸들이에요. 저는 털에 유분기를 유지하면서 자주 사용할 수 있는 안전한 천연 제품과 피부를 진정시켜줄 약용 샴푸가 필요했어요.
오랜 시간 동안 국내외 150가지가 넘는 그루밍 제품을 사용했지만 만족스럽지가 않았죠. 고도로 합성된 화학적 제형과 과도하게 조향된 향, 자연적이라고 하면 떨어지는 기능에 늘 좌절했죠. 감성 없는 패키지 디자인에 제조 과정도 불투명하고요. ?
그래서 저와 스미스, 버튼이 같이 안심하고 사용할 수 있는 식물성 기반의 프리미엄 제품을 직접 만들기로 했어요. 그게 smith&burton의 시작입니다.

Q. 그 전에는 어떤 일을 했었나요?
오랫동안 마케팅과 브랜딩 전문가로 활동했어요. 뷰티 브랜드를 포함해 현재 국내외 적으로 유명한 브랜드와 제품을 뉴질랜드에서 다수 론칭했었죠.

Q. 그런 경험들이 ‘smith&burton’에 도움이 됐겠네요.
그럼요. 어릴 때 수많은 동물들을 보살피고 대회에 참가한 경험과 브랜드와 제품을 개발하고 마케팅과 세일즈를 기획한 경력 모두가 소비자와 생산자 입장에서 브랜드를 설계하는데 큰 도움이 되었습니다.

Q. 반려인의 입장에서 한국 반려인에게 추천하고 싶은 반려 브랜드가 있으면 소개해주세요.
smith&burton과 유사한 가치와 퀄리티를 가진 뉴질랜드 펫푸드 브랜드 중 ‘어딕션(Addiction)’과 지위픽(Ziwipeak)’을 추천해요. ‘이지독(EzyDog)’은 활동적인 대형견을 위한 하네스와 리시가 아주 좋고요. 그 밖에 ‘솔트삭스(SaltSox)’라는 미국산 신발 브랜드도 소개하고 싶어요. 스미스는 솔트삭스 신발을 12족이나 갖고 있답니다.
그리고 스미스와 버튼 모두 ‘루이비통(Louis Vuitton)’ 칼라와 리시를 갖고 있는데 12년이 넘게 사용하고 있어요. 품질과 장인정신이 돋보이는 제품입니다. ?

Q. 아이들과 함께 할 때 가장 행복하다고 느끼는 순간은 언제인가요?
우리가 함께 있는 모든 순간이 행복해요. 저는 말로 다 표현할 수 없을 만큼 스미스와 버튼을 사랑하거든요.

Q. 아이들과 10년 넘는 시간 동안 많은 것을 경험했을 테지만, 그래도 이루고 싶은 버킷리스트를 하나 꼽자면요.
저는 스미스, 버튼과 함께 매우 활동적이고 모험적인 시간을 보냈어요. 지루한 순간이 없었다고 할 정도로요. 아주 만족스럽고 행복한 삶을 보냈죠. 그래도 해보고 싶은 한 가지는 비행기 일등석이나 전용기를 같이 타보고 싶어요. 비행기는 여러 번 탔지만, 기내에서 함께 여행을 해보진 못했거든요. ✈

※ 본 인터뷰는 서면으로 진행되었으며, 번역 중 일부는 원활한 내용 전달을 위하여 윤색되었음을 알려드립니다.

Q. Please introduce yourself.
I am Sonya and with my dogs, Smith and Burton, we founded and created smith&burton, a luxurious naturally effective health, beauty and wellness canine grooming range. From a young age I have been fortunate to have nurtured, cared and experience a lot of different pets and animals, having grown up on a farm in New Zealand, including in later years owning, breeding, training and racing thoroughbred horses. I have always been passionate, and rather obsessed with the grooming and turnout of my show ponies, show dogs, and racehorses, an even as a 10 year old I had to win best presented lamb and calf at the annual school Lamb & Calf Day! I have had a corporate career in marketing and branding and launched many well-known New Zealand brands both locally and globally, including beauty brands. However, I am at my happiest working with animals, and my greatest love is dogs!

Q. How did you become a family with Smith and Burton?
As I say I have grown up with dogs and horses most of life and had my first puppy, a Labrador at four years of age. I had a period of around 12 years without a dog when I was in a corporate career, and I knew something was missing in my life. As soon as I had an opportunity which was before starting a new job, I had 12 weeks off and it was the perfect time for Smith to come into my life. A year later it was time for Smith to have younger brother, so Burton (aka Burtie), joined our family. As pack animals, I like them to always have company especially when I was away at work during the day. It also meant they could go on adventures together, and always have a play mate and be best friends. Together we are a family.

Q. Please introduce your dogs. (personality, characteristics, specialties, etc)
Smith is the alpha-male, and is very protective of me, he has the most beautiful eyes and is very knowing. He knows almost everything I say. He also is very laidback and incredibly smart, excelling in obedience, tricks, and games. In his youth he loved winning everything. He enjoys swimming, playing in muddy puddles, playing fetch, and retrieving his toys by name. He is getting a tad bossy and stubborn in his old-age and loves to tell Burtie and I where we are going on our walks! Burton just adores his big brother Smith. Burton is an absolute class-clown and has me laughing every day, he is very athletic and a very fast runner, he loved agility. He is very sensitive and very intelligent - more like a human than a dog. He absolutely loves people, adores cuddles and been told how beautiful he is. He has rock-star personality and look! Burton is like my shadow he follows me everywhere in the house and must be in the same room as me, always. He likes to sit close to me watching me as I work.

Q. What are the charms of Retradoodle and Standard Poodle?
Retradoodles are just so easy to train, they love to please you and they are a very easy breed to do anything with, but above all they have an amazing loyalty and laidback nature. They really are like a big teddy bear. Standard Poodles on the other hand have an entirely off the charts intelligence, more like a child, they are quick thinking, highly entertaining, so proud of themselves and extremely affectionate. A Standard Poodle is like having a child in a fur coat.

Q. How do you usually spend time with your dogs?
We go for a walk twice a day without fail, rain or shine. Smith alone has been on over 10,000 walks in his life to date. Usually one walk is an on-lead, and one-off-lead walk daily. We love to go on adventures and find new places to explore, so “the boys” can have some new sniffs and smells. It is like clockwork every day they know the exact time they are going out and start pacing and nagging if I am running late. We spend a lot of time just relaxing together, playing games, and of course brushing and grooming, which is an ideal time to check them all over for any issues. Given they are both senior dogs now it is important to spend quality time with them, love them and cuddle them and give them as much attention as they got as puppies. Some days we like to go to a park and sit under a tree and watch the world together.

Q. What is the happiest moment when you live with your dogs?
When we are all together, which, since smith&burton means every moment of every day.

Q. What your dog means to you?
Everything! I love them more than words can say.

Q. Is there a bucket list you want to try with Smith and Burton?
Given their age and they are now both considered older seniors for their breeds, I think they have led very active and adventurous lives, and there has never been a dull moment for them. They have done so much and experienced so much and achieved so much. I would say they have had very fulfilling, happy lives. One thing I would love to do, and whilst the boys have flown on planes several times, I would love to travel on a plane with them in the cabin with me, preferably first class or on a private jet!

Q. Please give some advice to people preparing to adopt Retradoodle and Standard Poodle.
Remember any dog is a lifelong commitment. These breeds are both retrievers, so they need regular exercise, and if possible a mix of off lead running to build strong muscles, and mental stimulation, they are at their happiest when they have both. They are also highly intelligent breeds, they want to please you so this makes them very easy to train. My advice when adopting any dog is to insure them as soon as you become the owner, having health insurance will pay you back over their lifetime and you will never hesitate to visit a vet if in the slightest doubt. Put time and effort into attending reputable dog training classes starting as a puppy and work up through several levels. A dog with good manners and behaviour will make both theirs, and your life easier, and you will find it makes taking them with you anywhere a pleasure. Ensure your puppy gets good dog socialisation early and introduce them to professional groomers at any early age so they are comfortable and happy on the grooming table, under the dryer and when clipped. These breeds need regular grooming and clipping, so you need to be prepared to put in the time to keep them well maintained, for healthy, happy skin and coat. These breeds like human company and don’t like to be left on their own for long periods of time, so consider your working and social life and how they would fit in.

Q. I think New Zealand is a very good environment to live with dogs compared to Korea. Please tell me the culture and public awareness about raising dogs.
Absolutely! New Zealand is an amazing place for dog owners. The culture here is incredibly dog-friendly, and people truly value their four-legged companions. Dogs are considered an integral part of the family, and you'll find that many households have at least one furry friend. It's heartwarming to see how much love and care Kiwis have for their dogs.
There is an abundance of dog-friendly public spaces, parks, beaches, and walking trails open to dogs, allowing them to enjoy outdoor activities with their owners.
Responsible pet ownership is a key aspect of New Zealand's culture. People here are highly conscious of the welfare and well-being of their dogs. Obedience training and socialisation are widely practiced, ensuring that dogs are well-behaved and can interact positively with others. Leash laws and regulations are in place to maintain safety in public areas, which shows the commitment to safeguarding both dogs and the general public.
There is also a strong emphasis on adopting and rescuing dogs. Many New Zealanders actively support adoption organisations, understanding the importance of providing loving homes to abandoned or neglected dogs. It's a heartwarming sight to see the dedication of these organisations and the compassion of the people who choose to adopt.
Overall, New Zealand's culture and public awareness regarding raising dogs is truly commendable. Our country's commitment to responsible pet ownership, dog-friendly public spaces, and support for adoption make it an exceptional environment for dogs and their owners. It's a place where you'll find a warm and inclusive community of dog lovers who prioritise the well-being and happiness of their furry family members.

Q. How did you start the brand under the name of your dogs?
Smith and Burton are the love of my life, and they are like my children, fully integrated into my home and lifestyle. The three of us do everything together. Smith is 13 years old and is a large creamy-white Retradoodle who loves to get dirty as often as possible. I needed a safe, natural product that I could use as often as needed without stripping the oils from the coat, and leave it soft and healthy. Burton is a very active 11 year old black Standard Poodle. He would suffer from outbreaks of red, irritated skin. I didn’t like the continued used of medicated shampoos.
After using well over one hundred and fifty different grooming products available to us both locally and from overseas, we were left wanting. smith&burton was born out of a frustration with harmful, chemical-intensive, highly synthetic formulations, over-powering and often synthetic fragrances, so-called natural claims, under-performing results, uninspiring packaging and a general lack of transparency of dog grooming products on the market.
We asked ourselves, as dogs are becoming more and more part of the family and living in our homes, why isn't there an alternative. We wanted a dog grooming range which was premium, plant-based and felt as good as what we would use on ourselves. This inspired us to create the most luxurious, health, beauty and wellness canine grooming collection we can, and thus the brand name was born through my determination and passionate pursuit to create something better for Smith and Burton.

Q. What did you do before you started the brand? I wonder if your previous career helped your business.
I have years of experience in the care, attention and presentation of show ponies, thoroughbred racehorses, yearling sales preparation and numerous dogs: show, sporting and pet, along with a corporate career in brand and product development, marketing, design and business. All this combined has certainly been a huge help.

Q. Is there a dream you want to achieve through the brand?
Happy, healthy skin and coats of dogs all over the world.

Q. Are there any pet product brands that you are satisfied with? Please recommend it to Korean readers.
We love two New Zealand made pet food brands Addiction and ZiwiPeak which both share similar values and ingredient qualities as smith&burton, along with EzyDog from Australia for dog harnesses and leads, the shock absorber on the lead is great for large, active dogs and the harnesses fit well and are personalized with the your dog’s name, Cloud7 from Germany for dog beds, SaltSox from the USA for dog boots – Smith has over 12 pairs alone. They are fabulous to prevent dogs, especially older dogs, slipping on wooden floors, and great for outdoor wear on rougher terrains and they help protect older paw pads, and are light and easy for them to wear and put on. For the ultimate in luxury, both boys have Louis Vuitton collars and leads which are now over 12 years old and still look fabulous, they really have stood the test of time in quality and craftsmanship.

Q. If you could define the lifestyle you, Smith, and Burton create together in one word, what would it be?
Enriching!