This series finale of Cruz Through TX is a love letter to Houston and the everyday people who make this city impossible to quit. From Bubbles, the one eyed miracle dog who survived a bullet and a broken jaw, to the hill at Miller Outdoor Theatre built from Texas Medical Center dirt, these stories capture the grit underneath the skyline. You will hear suburban preppers game out an EMP attack, a mugshot that led to sobriety and a veterans court program, and the childhood threads that pulled a future CEO toward Crime Stoppers. Cruz Through TX is ending on purpose, but the archive stays live on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify for anyone who loves Houston, resilience, and real human stories. The next chapter continues at Your Mic, where the focus shifts to helping creators and Houston podcasters build shows that actually matter.

Support the show: https://cruzthroughhtx.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Food writer Megha McSwain talks about balancing two very different rescue dogs with a career writing for Texas Monthly, PBS, and Food Network. She shares micro‑walks, immigrant lunchroom memories, and why she cares more about the people behind the plates than burger‑versus‑burger debates.

Learn more about Megha HERE.

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This season of Cruz through HTX is powered by Speke Podcasting. Have an idea for a show? Let's get a conversation started. Start HERE.

Key Takeaways

1. How Pax and Wadsworth force healthy breaks and protect her from endless WFH grind.

2. Why she wrote for twenty dollars a story just to see her name in print.

3. Shining a light on underdog restaurants that survive hurricanes and floods.

4. The Food Network essay about learning American food in a Houston school lunch line.

5. Why storytelling about people, not dishes, keeps her obsessed with food writing.

Support the show: https://cruzthroughhtx.com/

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Health coach and podcast host Samantha Elizabeth grew up in a vet family with snakes, gators, and rescued farm animals. She explains how pets shape our stress, why dogs absorb our energy, and how coaching differs from therapy when you’re trying to change your life.

Learn more about Samantha’s coaching and consulting HERE, and subscribe to her podcast Stress Mess HERE.

Subscribe on Apple, Spotify and YouTube!

This season of Cruz through HTX is powered by Speke Podcasting. Have an idea for a show? Let's get a conversation started. Start HERE.

Key Takeaways

1. Growing up in a family of vets and feed stores with constant rescue drop‑offs.

2. Life with snakes, alligators, horses, and why nothing grosses her out.

3. The difference between therapy (past‑focused) and coaching (present‑future).

4. How pets regulate stress through movement, routine, and emotional support.

5. Why dogs absorbing our pain should change how we show up for them.

Support the show: https://cruzthroughhtx.com/

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Manready Mercantile founder Travis Weaver connects life with his dogs Delilah and Indy to the discipline of building a national retail brand from a hungover bubble‑bath epiphany and homemade candles in whiskey glasses. Consistency, routines, and responsibility are the throughline.

Learn more about Manready Mercantile HERE.

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This season of Cruz through HTX is powered by Speke Podcasting. Have an idea for a show? Let's get a conversation started. Start HERE.

Key Takeaways

1. Why daily walks and sensory enrichment for dogs mirror business fundamentals.

2. How a hungover bath with stolen Bath & Body gear led to candle classes.

3. The evolution from stove‑top candles to farmers markets to a Heights flagship.

4. Making “unisex but guy‑friendly” products in a pink‑bottle industry.

5. How naming, Twitter‑era character limits, and Instagram helped grow Manready.

Support the show: https://cruzthroughhtx.com/

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Former global program director Andy Raman walked away from corporate oil and gas to turn a house full of rescues into Fido’s Home, a dog resort in Cypress. He breaks down patience, strict love, and why you never treat pet parents like walking dollar signs.

Learn more about Fido’s Home HERE.

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This season of Cruz through HTX is powered by Speke Podcasting. Have an idea for a show? Let's get a conversation started. Start HERE.

Key Takeaways

1. How Andy went from Shell/BP/Accenture to launching Fido’s Home in 90 days.

2. Lessons from living with sixteen dogs and running a dog resort for a decade.

3. Why patience and firm boundaries with dogs mirror leading a team.

4. The “extra mile” tactics that turn grooming freebies into long‑term loyalty.

5. How community barbecues and low‑cost vaccines turn a daycare into a hub.

Support the show: https://cruzthroughhtx.com/

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Doobie Dogs Pet Taxi owner Ron Velez went from oil and gas and cleaning Airbnbs to shuttling Houston’s dogs to daycare, vets, and groomers. He shares traffic nightmares, 165‑pound Newfoundlands, and the fatherly advice that pushed him to buy van number two.

Learn more about Doobie Dogs HERE.

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This season of Cruz through HTX is powered by Speke Podcasting. Have an idea for a show? Let's get a conversation started. Start HERE.

Key Takeaways

1. How a routine Airbnb route and a doggy daycare sparked the pet taxi idea.

2. The greenlight from Ron’s conservative dad that changed his career.

3. Why Houston’s dog culture makes this niche business work.

4. Handling anxious rescues, giant breeds, and kennel‑hating seniors without losing it.

5. How traffic, patience, and being “the fun guy” shape his daily grind.

Support the show: https://cruzthroughhtx.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Freddy explains why he killed Freddy’s Huge ASK, how Cruz Through HTX was born, and why this final “Powerhouse Pet Owners” season is a breakup letter to Houston and a bridge to his new show, Your Mic. Burnout, Pod Bros, pets, and what’s next for the mic.

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This season of Cruz through HTX is powered by Speke Podcasting. Have an idea for a show? Let's get a conversation started. Start HERE.

Support the show: https://cruzthroughhtx.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Baker and business owner Liz Hale shares how a skinny street dog named Rihanna helped her family weather empty‑nest syndrome, post‑COVID gut punches, and the grind of running Cake Fine Pastry and Plum Coffee Shop in Houston. Rescues, cake, grit, and a whole lot of cheese tax.

Connect with Cake Fine Pastry HERE.

Subscribe on Apple, Spotify and YouTube!

This season of Cruz through HTX is powered by Speke Podcasting. Have an idea for a show? Let's get a conversation started. Start HERE.

Key Takeaways

1. How a rescued “diaper dog” became the emotional glue of an empty‑nest household.

2. Street‑dog reality in Houston and why keeping Rihanna was a no‑brainer.

3. The post‑COVID beating independent bakeries took and why Liz refused to fold.

4. What customer obsession looks like when you’re literally getting tickets to deliver cakes.

5. Why being “meant” to own a business shows up most on the hardest days.

Support the show: https://cruzthroughhtx.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.