June 22, 2025 • 35 mins
A daily feature for the local area, the van is a meeting point, a place for chats, a part of the local community as much as a shop for dog and cat owners. "What I like about this job is direct feedback all the time, I'm having very positive interactions all the time, and it's really basically about interacting with like-minded humans". #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon #dogtreats
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
I am, or we are just right on the edge of London Fields, very,
very close to London Fields station.
This this part of the park joinson what was originally the
drover's route between, I guess Bittle Fields Market up to sort
of Hertfordshire where people used to bring cattle down and
the sheep down to be slaughteredback in the day.
But it creates there's a whole kind of cycle route that goes up
(00:27):
that way as well. So a lot of people are coming
through here on their way to work or on the way to Broadway
Market or so basically we're on a through route, which is a
great place to have this van where we sell treats for dogs.
There's a pub just over there, there's a market just down
behind us. So it's actually a really,
really good spot to sit all day.And that's what I do.
(00:48):
I sit in the van or if it's sunny and warm, I sit just
outside of the van. So it's quite an outdoorsy job
and I'm here just for whenever people want to buy a treat for
the dog. So for a dog, this is heaven.
This is absolute heaven. Yeah, it's absolute heaven.
In fact, very, very many dog owners tell me when I see them
in other places that even when the van is closed and even at
(01:08):
night, the dogs always come heresniffing around.
Just can't believe that it's closed.
Brilliant, but you need to manage the dogs.
Dogs are very easy to manage. I mean, if you've got a treat in
your hand, a dog will do more orless anything.
I mean, I'm a dog Walker and I'ma dog owner as well.
So I've had a lot of experience with dogs and, and, and also
most dogs are actually just really, really happy little
(01:30):
creatures. They, they want to do nice
things for you or they want a little treat or whatever.
They're all waggly and smiley, which is one of the things that
makes this job really wonderful because it's either the smiley,
smiley dogs or the smiley, smiley owners who kind of come
into my world when I'm, when I'mhere.
But also we attract a lot of people who don't even have dogs
who just want to come and have achat because they see us here so
(01:50):
regularly. I think we've become part of the
kind of, well, we've become partof the community most
definitely, but also very, very trusted part of the community.
And we're here every single day.You said some people come just
for a chat. Yeah, So it's almost like a
social service too. This is very, very interesting
you say that because my boss andI have been chatting about that
(02:11):
and saying that actually we've, we realized we're a very, very
important resource for the community.
So yes, we have lots of people chatting.
There are some people who they're on their way to work or
on their way from work and they'll stop and have a chat.
There are people who are homeless who come here and
they'll have a chat. There are people who have, you
know, very, very different and very, very marginalized lives,
(02:33):
but they, they know that they, they can always come here.
They'll always be a smiling face.
And whereas they might not be able to buy stuff for from us
for if they have a dog. So our clients know about this.
So, so right here, in fact, we've got a donations box.
And so people drop toys and things in there.
Every now and then it gets emptied, we take the stuff there
or it goes into storage. So it's got little treats.
(02:54):
There's there's 3 or 4 toys in there.
There's a couple of balls of rolled up string.
Are those two? Balls.
Those are rope toys. Yeah, those are rope toys.
Is that good for their teeth or?Yeah.
Yeah, look, I'm gonna show you. Yeah.
So it's just a really nice, safeand easy thing.
And it's really good, for example, with fatiguing puppies
and things like that. I noticed the the toys of
different colours. Do dogs like colours?
(03:16):
Did I read somewhere that there are certain, I can't remember
which colours they can't see that well.
But at the end of the day, it's for the owners, you know, I, I,
I quite, I smile when I see owners choosing things for their
dogs. It's not for the dog, It's for
the owners when they're buying acoat or when they're buying a
collar. It's the dog doesn't really care
to be honest, what it looks like.
That's really for the owners whothey're styling.
Dogs and their own is always a point of fascination.
(03:39):
When you see a dog and then you look at the owner, you always do
that. Is it always like giving someone
an up and down and you think, OK, I think I know who they are
according to their dog? Do you do that?
Do you know what, as you were saying that I was thinking of
some of my clients who actually look just like their dogs.
I mean literally the hair styling and everything.
And, or it might be the moustache or whatever.
You look at the dog and the dog's got the same bristly
(04:01):
moustache and is very, very sweet.
So I'm I'm I'm assuming the owners choose the dog because it
reflects something in them. The van we're we're sitting in,
it's covered in things from floor to ceiling leads, balls
for drinking treats, bags. As well.
Yeah, we have toys for cats. Did the dogs know that?
(04:25):
So is is this a treat place or is this an everyday this is what
dogs need place? I mean, when I describe to
people where I work, I say I work in a dog treats van.
There's nothing in here that a dog absolutely needs that you
can't get elsewhere. But but the treats we we sell
are basically part of the meat eating industry.
(04:46):
So it's waste products from thatindustry.
So it's very, very sustainable in that respect.
It's all very, very natural treats.
As you can see, it's it's parts of animal.
There's things like cows trachea, there's rabbit ears,
pigs ears, cow's ears. All of these things are waste
from the slaughtering industry and it's all very, very healthy.
This stuff is not, it's not highly processed at all.
It's just literally sort of dried.
(05:13):
Being here, you've got a window onto the world.
What do you see out of this doorway of the fan?
I've seen amazing things, I've seen amazing things.
So there's all those bikes over there.
A lot of people come and they use one of those bikes or
they'll arrive here and dock their bikes and then they'll
stand right there by the gate and they'll look on their phone
(05:35):
to figure out where their friends are or where they're
supposed to be going from here. Or they'll come off the train
just to my right and as they're standing there, some person on a
very fast bike will whisp past and snatch their phone.
So I've seen lots of phone snatching.
Oh goodness, I've seen a lot of that.
I've seen on one occasion which was absolutely amazing.
(05:56):
We were all sitting out there, me and my couple of my friends
and somebody had their, the phone snatched somebody else who
happened to be near there just screamed if someone could give
me a bike, I can catch that guy.So someone just gave this guy a
bike. He took off and everybody, we
just all went out there and we just watched this guy on a he
was on the line bike. The guy who snatched the bike
(06:16):
the, the phone chased by a guy on a racing bike and he caught
him and he got, he got the phoneback and brought the phone back
to the guy here who'd had his phone stolen.
And like everybody cheered. So I don't know what happened to
the guy at the end the the guy who'd stolen it.
I hope he was arrested. I don't know what happened, but
I see a lot of that. I see a lot of unfortunate stuff
(06:37):
as well. The public toilets are right
there. The train station is right
there. So just to my left is the, the,
the public toilets. Just to my right is the train
station, London Fields train station and a load of people who
are, I would say, people who struggle with substance misuse
or use. They sort of gather in this
(06:59):
area. And then and just outside the
entrance of the station. So the way I pictured it is
somebody's getting off that train with drugs.
They're all kind of hovering around here and you can see all
these sort of little interactions going on.
And then everybody sort of scurries off to the toilets.
You know, that's, that's a really, really sort of sad.
It's a very sad sort of aspect to our modern life, modern city
(07:20):
life. But that's something I see every
day. And, you know, I can only have
compassion for people like that,you know, people who found
themselves in those circumstances.
And it's it sounds like it's regular.
It's. A day, every single day.
And as a dog owner and a dog Walker, it's one of the things
that, yeah, this is this is a very sad aspect of that whole
(07:41):
scenario I've just described because very often people who
are using drugs will need to skews my language.
They will need to poop quite quickly after 3:30 in the
winter. Those toilets are closed by the
local council, so there's nowhere to poop except there in
the woods. So if you're a dog owner, I
don't know why dogs find things like that attractive.
I really don't. But I know of a number of people
(08:03):
whose dogs have ended up needingveterinary treatment because
they've had, they've eaten poop that's been laced with drugs,
basically. I know somebody whose dog died
from that. So that's a really unfortunate
thing. And, and sometimes I, sometimes
I think maybe we should be selling, we sell poop bags here
for dogs. We've got some gigantic poop
bags right up there, which are for big dogs.
Like there are a few Great Daneswho are my clients.
(08:25):
And, but I sometimes think, why can't humans do that?
It will be really, really I, youknow, I understand that if
you've got to go, you've got to go wherever you are.
And it can't be very dignified, you know, having nowhere of your
own to, to use facilities. But I just wish people would use
a bag either pick it up, even ifit's a Sainsbury's bag, but
don't just leave it there. But I guess, you know, they're
not thinking about that at the time.
(08:51):
What about the joyful things outof this doorway?
As you look down the streets, you've got trees on one side.
It's it's got a fair amount of footfall with people walking
bicycles. Do you see moments of happiness
too? I see beautiful moments of
happiness. I see wedding parties.
Hackney Town Hall is just up there and a lot of people when
(09:14):
they get married, they come downthrough here, past those trees
you've just described into the entrance and they're going, I'm
guessing down to Broadway Marketor maybe into London Fields.
So I've seen some extraordinary wedding parties where on one
occasion, and it was actually February the 14th, every member
of that wedding party, and they were probably about 150 of them,
they were all wearing red and that looked really amazing.
I've had little children poppingin here and saying what, no ice
(09:37):
cream. But there is an ice cream fan
who's sometimes here, he's over there, he parks just over there
and he and I have lovely chats. I mean, the other, the other
role this, this, this little vanhas is as a base for, for
example, if people lose stuff inthe park or if people find stuff
in the park, it comes to this van.
We had an Apple Watch here until2 days ago that somebody found
(09:59):
and brought to us because it wasfound out in the streets.
And you know, about a week latera woman turned up and the reason
it took her a week is because she actually lives in Ipswich
and she was down here on a trip.She dropped her phone.
My boss was able to figure out because he has an Apple phone as
well, how to connect with the owner and so a week later she
collected it. So you're a lost property van as
(10:21):
well as a dog treat fan. Seems that we've become that.
Yeah, we've become that. And a social service trap point,
yeah. And for example, recently, I
mean, in this area, probably most areas where there are dogs
and dog walkers, there are various different WhatsApp
groups relating. So there's the London Fields dog
group, there's a Haggerson Park dog group, there's a dog safety
group. And it just happens that a
(10:45):
little dog, little gorgeous little whippet called Ash went
missing a few weeks ago, a couple of weeks ago.
And she's, she's still a puppy effectively, but she loves
coming to this van. I found out about it just before
midnight and I couldn't go to sleep because I had a dog that
was identical to her. And it just triggered me.
So I got up out of my bed. I lived just down there and I
(11:06):
came and opened the van because I thought she loves this van so
much. And she went missing just from
the top of the fields. Anyway, she didn't come.
She didn't come back here. But the next day, everybody on
that WhatsApp group, everybody was out looking for her.
And somebody had seen a dog in Hackney Marshes.
And literally the next morning we found her in Hackney Marshes.
And it was simply because that group of people who own dogs all
(11:27):
got together, all at every sighting was, you know, put into
the group. So we kind of knew where she had
been, where she had been seen. And literally we we found her.
And it was. That was a miracle.
So so having been missing overnight, the the whippet was
searching herself for her owner or or was confused.
(11:47):
It's very, very interesting. We don't know how she got to
where she got because she's never been there before, but her
owner is a marathon runner and had been running there the
previous Saturday. She went missing I think on a
Tuesday and we found her on the Wednesday morning.
Her owner on the Saturday had been running this very, very
particular part of Hackney Marsh's and that is where the
dog was found. So we have no idea.
(12:07):
I mean, whippets are sight and scent Helms.
It's possible she caught a whiffsomehow.
I don't know. They are amazing.
I've, I've got 2 whippets and I can be walking with them down a
road with a brick wall on one side that is waist high and
they'll start sniffing and immediately jump onto the wall
and there'll be a tiny piece of bread on the other side of the
wall. But that's how sensitive their
noses are. So it's possible we, we
(12:28):
literally have no idea how she found herself over there.
But actually it's a really good place to because there's no
roads. She wasn't going to get run over
by a car, but we found her looking like a tiny little
frightened deer in in the dappled woods and we managed to
coax her. There's this amazing person who
sat down. We all had smelly food with us.
We had smoked salmon, people hadbacon, people had cheese.
(12:50):
I had some stinky sticks with me.
And we just sat very, very, verystill.
And eventually she went to this guy who had been sitting there
for quite a while, and he was able eventually to put his hand
on her harness. And it was, it was just quite
remarkable. You know how you know it just
galvanizes? Because actually we would want
people to do that if our dog went missing.
(13:16):
So what are you picking up? I am currently buying the dried
fish skin and the salmon fingersand this sample dry skin cubes
as well. I was going to say that does.
That mean that that's just that's what people to sample.
Sorry, the next one look at that.
There you go there you go. There's a full bag.
(13:37):
Perfect. Thank.
You and these are treats or these are staples for your dog.
It's a good question. Bit of both, bit of training,
stuff that we're buying and basically they're rituals, like
when going to bed and stuff, andthey've been well behaved.
Yeah. But The thing is though, the
French, he's like so acclimatized to it now, he just
(13:57):
literally will wait next to the treat, do his go out and do his
business at night, come back andthen come back and sit straight
next to the treat tin now and then eat it straight to bed.
Well, that's, I can live with that.
That's fine, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
My father's got this terrible habit of getting the dogs up by
giving them a treat, which I don't do.
So when I'm away, the dogs get fat and they're whippets, but
(14:18):
everything is by the treat. But it does mean also that when
I come in and they're just staring at me and then staring
at the treat bag, I think, OK, I'll give you 1.
Then I give them one and they'restill staring at me and I
realise they can count. If I give them 3 then they'll
walk away. So he gives, he's learnt that.
I mean they've learnt that they expect three treats.
So I'm breaking things up into three bits.
I'm not convinced the the Frenchis that smart.
(14:41):
The bizzler might be I think. But yeah, I think bribing them
is is good, but obviously in youneed to keep them active as
well, because otherwise you'd say that the pounds do pile on,
don't they? They do.
I mean, one of the things I do like about these treats, though,
is you're also giving them lots of different micronutrients.
You know, if you're giving them fish one day, you can give them
a bit of rabbit another day. All of those things are really
(15:02):
important. Right.
I think if I kept giving them the same thing over and over
again, they would not be interested.
They like the variety like we do.
Yeah, we do. Exactly.
Oh, that's I wouldn't have thought that.
I would have thought Dogs with creatures of habit and the same
things would always work but butnot true.
No, we've, we've recently had tochange his dog food purely for
(15:22):
the fact that even if you like change the, the toppings and
stuff that you put on top of it,you know, the dry food now he
hit from his perspective, he'll walk away from it.
And then that puts pressure on us because we have to whip it
away because the visitor will get it.
It's a nightmare. Thank you so much.
Pleasure. Thank you.
(15:44):
Bye. See you later.
Next change is getting the Frenchie out.
Come on, let's go. Let's.
See ya. Right in this box here, we've
(16:18):
got rabbit ears. They are, you know, literally
it's just cut off a rabbit's head.
So it's got all the fur and the collagen, and they're hard.
And with my two whippets, I get them one of those at the end of
every day. Because what's amazing about it,
it's not too much calorific value, but all that fur cleans
their guts right out. And you know, some people are a
(16:39):
bit squeamish about that. And I, oh, I don't know if my
dog will like it. But actually if your dog was out
in the Wilds, it would be eatingsomething with the fur on it and
it wouldn't, wouldn't be cooked,it would be raw.
So most dogs love it. They're absolutely fine with it.
Next thing we've got here is chickens feet.
We've got cows, tracheas, Buffalo horn.
(17:03):
That's exotic. Somebody said to me the other
day, is that legal though? And I'm like, it's not an
African Buffalo. It's the kind of Buffalo that
produces mozzarella. So it's it's a Buffalo that is
already in the, I think the water buffaloes anyway, they're
already in the in the, the cuminmeats industry that says cow
(17:24):
who's but it's not it's pigs ears.
It's jumbo pigs ears. This is cow's hooves, which are
really, really good for dogs to chew on when they just need
something to chew. Some dogs like this self
soothing thing a little bit likebiting your nails that some
people do. We've got dried fish skin cubes
these. These I would never have put
fish with dogs. I don't know why I know but but
dogs really like fish. They they, they love it.
(17:45):
Oh, look, this is one of my favorite dogs coming.
This is Mouse. Mouse is gorgeous.
I've met Mouse when he was so baby he was still in arms.
Hello Mouse. So what kind of dog is mouse?
Mouse is 1/2 greyhound, half Saluki, he says.
They're the dogs that run. He's a runner, yeah.
(18:05):
Very much so. It's OK, Mouse.
Tell you what. Why don't you give him a treat?
See what happens? Would you be able to do that,
Mouse? Look, look.
Look. What's in this look.
There you go. Oh, look at this.
So if that's if that's a glow inthe dark board, does this mean
(18:26):
that you take mouse out for walks in the dark?
Good question. The glow in the dark quality is
not what I'm after, it's the superior bounciness.
Superior bounciness, yes. We had a slight we did.
We bought had this before and wedidn't even know it was glow in
the dark until it. Got dark?
Oh so good, so bouncing. And also he's rubbish at
catching stuff so he kind of just bounces it.
(18:48):
Further and follows around. Yeah, I think it takes a while
for them to actually develop that skill.
He's occasionally he's getting better at like on the second or
third bounce or. Snatch it.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they can't.
Like actually. Mine are going to be 4 in August
and they're still, they're just just now getting a click of OK,
you know, catch it, bring it back, all of that business.
Yeah. Let's let's a sausage roll as
(19:10):
well, kind. Of sausage roll.
Why you think so? Chatting.
What kind of what kind of dog isthis?
Can you describe it? She's a Dalmatian, A liver
(19:30):
spotted Dalmatian. She was one of 11 and her her
mum was my dad's dog so I've hadher since she was a little, a
little white spot and now she's a brown and white.
Really. You can have a dog.
Did you change the colour of your spots?
Did you do that all by yourself?But they're born without spots.
(19:51):
But they're born without spots. Oh.
They're all born white. And then?
They oh, absolutely cute, man. It's like colobus monkeys.
Yeah, their their babies are pure white.
Yeah, exactly. And what?
Have you come in for today for Mali?
To have a look. So this is treats, this is, this
is. Sorry, that's fish skin.
OK, You can get that recording in a minute because that sounds
(20:12):
just phenomenal. I'm not that it is great, isn't
it? She's a Hoover.
She loves them, Yeah. Do you want?
(20:38):
A bag with a handle. For that, no, that's fine.
Thank. You great.
Thank you very much. Bye.
Bye, lovely day. Yeah, you too.
Cheers. Bye.
Does anyone ever bring in a cat and a dog at the same time?
We've. Never had a cat and a dog at the
same time, but we've had people bring their cats in here.
(20:59):
So people carry their cats some,some people carry their cats in
special sort of carriers and they come here sometimes.
Well, for the treats, we do somereally gorgeous treats for them.
Our cat owners and dog owners. Different kinds of people, yes.
Very different, very, very different.
Let me think. Number one, I suppose as a
business they're not spending asmuch on their pet as people with
(21:20):
dogs. But then dogs go out, they need
harnesses, they need coats, theyneed a lot more food than a cat.
Obviously dog owners are more talkie, definitely.
Dog owners are more conversational than cat owners,
definitely. There's absolutely no doubt
about that when I'm thinking about it.
But if I think about the conversations I have here, it's
almost always with people who own dogs rather than people who
(21:41):
are cat owners tend to be very specific about what they want.
I think partly because cats are a lot more fussy than dogs.
So they know what their cats want.
And if we haven't got it, they'll wait until we have or or
they'll get it from somewhere else, I guess basically, but.
It's almost as if you're describing the difference in
characters, because people always think about cats as more
doing their own thing and quieter, and dogs as more kind
(22:05):
of like, let's do something together.
Absolutely. I think that I think that is a
big difference. We're just watching a postman
get out of his van, just next tothe van that we're in.
He's just pulled up to deliver letters.
Postman and dogs. Never a good mix.
(22:25):
You're absolutely right. You are absolutely right.
And in fact recently I used to walk a gorgeous dog who was
raised to patrol a traveller site.
She's half whippet and half staffy, so she's very strong and
very fast and she cannot stand apostman.
And she must be able to see red because when I'm walking her
she's hyper vigilant, always looking around if she sees red.
(22:46):
Or, you know, those big red sortof trolleys that postman
sometimes tie up to post, if shesees that, she, her hackles
immediately go up and I have to divert her.
So, you know, from a dog's perspective, the postman is
somebody who just every day comes to the door, makes a funny
noise at the door, drops something through it and then
goes away. So it's infuriating for a dog.
That person's not coming into the house.
What are they doing? The dog doesn't understand that
(23:08):
there's a communication coming through the letterbox.
So yeah, there is, there is a thing, that guy there and that
post. That postman there though, he
comes here every day and this isone of the things I love about
this job as well, is that there are people, it's almost like
another universe, another kind of ecosystem of people whose
lives or working lives are livedon the street somehow.
And as a dog Walker, as a postman, so many postman on the
(23:30):
streets I know, and I say hi to might not know their name,
although I do know some of theirnames, but I will say hi to them
because I'm walking dogs at the same time that they're
delivering and we're always crossing paths.
That's another interesting thingabout that kind of work is that
you become really aware of theseother, you know, is IT service
industry part, you know, part ofthe whole kind of serving of
(23:52):
life going on in your community that you might not really
recognize too much unless you'repart of it and you become part
of it as a dog Walker. How are you here?
Why are you here? What led you to this point?
Did you ever envisage yourself sitting in this van here?
OK, so no, I never envisaged myself sitting in this van
(24:13):
because this van is fairly new. It's only existed, this business
in a van has only existed for about a year and a half.
But I, I met this lovely guy called Aziz who I met him
through another friend actually.She bought some treats for my
dogs and she told me where she bought the treats from.
And it's from this guy who's gota business on a boat.
So I got to meet him, got to know him and started buying my
treats from him. And then sometime later he got a
(24:37):
van. So I used to see him in the
different places with his van chat, chat, chat, chat, chat,
chat. And then one day he said to me,
he's looking to expand and he will be looking to employ
another member of staff. And did I know anybody who might
be interested? And I'm like, well, I would be
interested. He says what?
Really. I said, yeah, seriously, I
would, I would love to do this job. 2 weeks later he called me
(24:58):
up. He says, would you be up for
starting like really soon? I said totally man.
So I just walked into it one day, he spent some time training
me and and then off we went. How does this job compare to
other jobs you've done in the past?
So the jobs I've done in the past have been in public health
(25:20):
very, very much about community development, engaging with
communities, engaging with people.
I've done youth work and I've worked in a Hospice where I've
worked with volunteers in the community, but a lot of that
work means you're also at a deskfrom 9:00 until 5:00 or 5:50 or
whatever in an office and you might be hot desking.
I work for the local authority as well and that kind of work, I
(25:45):
mean, I have to say the compassionate neighbors work I
was doing in the Hospice, that was very, very, very rewarding
because you could see with your eyes and with your, you know,
you're in the space where you could actually see the, the
positive impact of the work you're doing.
Whereas the other work I was doing in public health and local
authority, you don't really see the direct impact of what you're
doing until much later down the line by which time you're on
another project. So you can't really appreciate
(26:07):
it so much. What I like about this job is
direct feedback all the time. I'm having very, very, very
positive interactions all the time.
And it's really basically about interacting with like minded
humans. And you know, we might be
completely different in our interests or our background or
where we live. I've no idea where most of my
(26:28):
clients live or what their home lives are like.
But on this level we're we all have the same thing in mind.
We are all interested in supporting the dog community,
the dogs and looking after them.Hello.
(26:49):
It's all right. Come in.
This is Jodie. Hello.
How are you? We're just recording a
conversation. Please, please continue.
OK, I am seeking out some very fluffy rabbit ears from my
doggy. And they're literally rabbit
ears with the fluffy. Yes, yeah, they are.
This is really good for their kind of intestinal health.
(27:13):
So the fur kind of like gathers up potentially sort of parasites
and things and kind of can draw them out.
So she has one of these every day, typically in the morning,
but I ran out this morning. So she had a rabbit lung this
morning. That's a treat.
And yeah, so I have a two, a 2 1/2 year old rescue from
Romania. She's been here like a year and
(27:34):
two months now. And her name's Janu.
And yeah, she's marvelous. What's her character?
What's her character? She's quite for a young dog,
she's actually quite self-contained, but she does
have a lot of like joyfulness about her and she does play
(27:54):
really well with other doggies and things.
But she's also got this sort of like calmness super as well that
she's quite an interesting creature really.
She's almost like 2 dogs in one.How is she changed or or
otherwise your life? What difference has she made to
your life since she's been part of your life?
Well, I had another rescue dog before called Lulu, who I had
(28:16):
for almost 17 years and she diedvery suddenly in January last
year. That's OK.
And we had a great time together.
But it did really hit me very hard.
And I've, I've not really known grief quite like that.
And someone who maybe is listening might think, well, how
could you have so much grief for, like an animal?
But she'd been by my side. We've been together for almost
(28:37):
17 years. So yeah, it really knocked me
sideways. And Long story short, I just, I
knew of my family member and friends as well, who's one dog
got knocked over, another dog died of old age.
And they got a dog quite quickly.
And it really helped in the grieving process.
So I was just kind of looking atwebsites of like puppies and
(28:58):
dogs. There were so many cute ones out
there, like literally thousands.And then I happened to stumble
across this one picture of Jenny, who I have now, and it
was weird. It's almost like when you meet
someone, you know there's going to be going to be a lifelong
friend or a partner or something.
It was like that and I kind of panicked and I sent a message to
the mobile number and I thought she was in Peterborough.
(29:19):
And I got a message 5 minutes later saying if your home checks
out, she's yours, which was veryquick.
And I was a bit like, oh, I'm not quite ready yet because I
was still in the sort of thickerthings relative to Lulu.
Anyway, it turns out she was in Romania and she turned up a
month later. So I had like a good sort of six
weeks to. And then she, she just really
helped like hugely in reorganizing the grief, I guess
(29:44):
reorganizing it into or towards,you know, caring and loving for
some something else, another creature really helps in
processing the loss. And it's not like a replacement.
And because she's a very different dog.
But she's. Yeah, she's absolutely
wonderful. And I don't know, she just
(30:05):
brought everything back into balance again.
Helped me to sort of define thatbecause for 17 years my life had
been organized, obviously at work and things like that, but
structured around my dog and living.
Creature in your life? Yeah.
Because it's just the two of us,some have various boyfriends in
that over the years, but she'd been a sort of like, constant,
(30:25):
Yeah. So even sort of getting up and
walking around the park and not having that, I was getting up
and walking around the park on my own, just feeling sad,
thinking, oh, you know, And thenso having her just made a huge
difference because, yeah, it just helped in processing it.
And she's wonderful. She's an amazing creature.
It's interesting you say that about the grief when your dog
(30:45):
died. So I had my whippet who was
like, like your first dog was, but she didn't last that long.
She chased a fox out of a park. And you can't call a whippet off
a fox. You just cannot do it.
There's nothing you could give it the best meat in the world.
Not interested. And off she went through the
fence across the road, got hit by a car, died instantly.
(31:07):
And I just collapsed. And that was it.
I literally, it's almost as though every bone had gone to
Jelly. Just literally collapsed.
And it is as an unbelievable grief, isn't it?
Yeah, it's an unbelievable grief.
Quite often people in public places, in parks see dogs and
(31:30):
their owners as a nuisance. They come in their picnic or
people mining out for small kids, etcetera, etcetera.
Is there always going to be thatdivision between people who have
dogs and understand dogs and people who don't who are always
a bit worry? It's something that I would say
(31:53):
most people I speak to who are dog owners, you know, most of us
are very, very, very, first of all, we're all very, very aware
that some people are frightened of dogs.
So for example, when I see people instantly reacting, I
mean, I've got small little black whippets.
They're not that terrifying, butI sometimes see children who
have got an instinctual fear of dogs that maybe that they picked
(32:13):
up from their family and not just myself.
I know a lot of people who do this.
We will quieten our dogs, put them on, you know, keep them on
the lead and invite the child tocome and, you know, maybe stroke
the dog or see it. And we tried to break that sort
of thing, that all dogs are dangerous.
As far as picnics are concerned,I have got whippets.
(32:34):
There's no way I can let my dogsoff in a park when there's
whippets, when there's picnics going on.
So this means very, very early morning walks with very late
evening walks when, when it's picnic season, which is like
anytime the sun's out basically.And you know, sometimes we
grumble about it, but it does mean that you're getting up
earlier. And for example, the other day I
was with my partner in Victoria Park before the gate, before the
(32:55):
before the dawn. Actually the, the sun was coming
up, it was before 5:00 AM and wemanaged to find a gate into
Victoria Park that was open on the canal.
So we just went in there and it was gorgeous.
It was absolutely stunning. We were the only people there.
All the geese were out. All the ducks were out.
Like paddling around on the grass and as the sun's coming
up, it's hitting the tops of thetrees.
And then you can see the colour coming down as the sun was going
(33:18):
up, the, you know, the brightness of the trees.
And then the squirrels, as theirnests got warm, the squirrels
are coming out of the trees as well.
It was just such a beautiful moment that you don't catch
unless you're up that early, which is another wonderful thing
about owning a dog. You know, sometimes it's a boar
to have to get up and walk your dogs.
But at the end of the day, once you're out, you're out.
So you see every seasonal change, you see, you know,
you'll see you pass the same tree every day, for example, and
(33:40):
you notice how it's changing andyou know, the little, tiny
little green buds coming out andthen the blossom coming out.
So it's, you know, much as it can sometimes be a bit of a
chore, having dogs and having totake them out left, right and
centre, it's, it's actually really beneficial.
You know, you're getting your nature experience.
The other thing you're getting, which I think is really
fundamental is that if you have a dog, wherever you go, somebody
(34:02):
will smile at you. You don't even know their name.
You might have a conversation, it'll be a random conversation
about nothing at all. But you've had an interaction,
You've had a positive interaction with another human
being. Because if you're a single
person and you're an isolated person and maybe a lonely
person, it's very difficult to just strike up conversation
randomly with somebody. But if that person's got a dog,
you can go and talk about the dog.
It's a very neutral area and people don't mind.
(34:24):
Most people don't mind if you want to chat and say what a
lovely dog or whatever. But I'm, I'm having these
conversations every single day. I have amazing conversations
with people. It is true that people with a
dog do attract conversation. Yeah, yeah.
Either with other other dog owners, there's always somebody
who will want to have a little chat.
(34:45):
If you're talking to strangers, if you're having conversations
with strangers, you are opening yourself to other points of
view, other experiences, and you're broadening your horizon
and you're broadening your kind of your experience of the world
and how other people experience the world.
And I think it helps you to be more in perspective.
I am, or we are just right on the edge of London Fields, very,
very close to London Fields station.
This this part of the park joinson what was originally the
drover's route between, I guess Bittle Fields Market up to sort
of Hertfordshire where people used to bring cattle down and
the sheep down to be slaughteredback in the day.
But it creates there's a whole kind of cycle route that goes up
(00:27):
that way as well. So a lot of people are coming
through here on their way to work or on the way to Broadway
Market or so basically we're on a through route, which is a
great place to have this van where we sell treats for dogs.
There's a pub just over there, there's a market just down
behind us. So it's actually a really,
really good spot to sit all day.And that's what I do.
(00:48):
I sit in the van or if it's sunny and warm, I sit just
outside of the van. So it's quite an outdoorsy job
and I'm here just for whenever people want to buy a treat for
the dog. So for a dog, this is heaven.
This is absolute heaven. Yeah, it's absolute heaven.
In fact, very, very many dog owners tell me when I see them
in other places that even when the van is closed and even at
(01:08):
night, the dogs always come heresniffing around.
Just can't believe that it's closed.
Brilliant, but you need to manage the dogs.
Dogs are very easy to manage. I mean, if you've got a treat in
your hand, a dog will do more orless anything.
I mean, I'm a dog Walker and I'ma dog owner as well.
So I've had a lot of experience with dogs and, and, and also
most dogs are actually just really, really happy little
(01:30):
creatures. They, they want to do nice
things for you or they want a little treat or whatever.
They're all waggly and smiley, which is one of the things that
makes this job really wonderful because it's either the smiley,
smiley dogs or the smiley, smiley owners who kind of come
into my world when I'm, when I'mhere.
But also we attract a lot of people who don't even have dogs
who just want to come and have achat because they see us here so
(01:50):
regularly. I think we've become part of the
kind of, well, we've become partof the community most
definitely, but also very, very trusted part of the community.
And we're here every single day.You said some people come just
for a chat. Yeah, So it's almost like a
social service too. This is very, very interesting
you say that because my boss andI have been chatting about that
(02:11):
and saying that actually we've, we realized we're a very, very
important resource for the community.
So yes, we have lots of people chatting.
There are some people who they're on their way to work or
on their way from work and they'll stop and have a chat.
There are people who are homeless who come here and
they'll have a chat. There are people who have, you
know, very, very different and very, very marginalized lives,
(02:33):
but they, they know that they, they can always come here.
They'll always be a smiling face.
And whereas they might not be able to buy stuff for from us
for if they have a dog. So our clients know about this.
So, so right here, in fact, we've got a donations box.
And so people drop toys and things in there.
Every now and then it gets emptied, we take the stuff there
or it goes into storage. So it's got little treats.
(02:54):
There's there's 3 or 4 toys in there.
There's a couple of balls of rolled up string.
Are those two? Balls.
Those are rope toys. Yeah, those are rope toys.
Is that good for their teeth or?Yeah.
Yeah, look, I'm gonna show you. Yeah.
So it's just a really nice, safeand easy thing.
And it's really good, for example, with fatiguing puppies
and things like that. I noticed the the toys of
different colours. Do dogs like colours?
(03:16):
Did I read somewhere that there are certain, I can't remember
which colours they can't see that well.
But at the end of the day, it's for the owners, you know, I, I,
I quite, I smile when I see owners choosing things for their
dogs. It's not for the dog, It's for
the owners when they're buying acoat or when they're buying a
collar. It's the dog doesn't really care
to be honest, what it looks like.
That's really for the owners whothey're styling.
Dogs and their own is always a point of fascination.
(03:39):
When you see a dog and then you look at the owner, you always do
that. Is it always like giving someone
an up and down and you think, OK, I think I know who they are
according to their dog? Do you do that?
Do you know what, as you were saying that I was thinking of
some of my clients who actually look just like their dogs.
I mean literally the hair styling and everything.
And, or it might be the moustache or whatever.
You look at the dog and the dog's got the same bristly
(04:01):
moustache and is very, very sweet.
So I'm I'm I'm assuming the owners choose the dog because it
reflects something in them. The van we're we're sitting in,
it's covered in things from floor to ceiling leads, balls
for drinking treats, bags. As well.
Yeah, we have toys for cats. Did the dogs know that?
(04:25):
So is is this a treat place or is this an everyday this is what
dogs need place? I mean, when I describe to
people where I work, I say I work in a dog treats van.
There's nothing in here that a dog absolutely needs that you
can't get elsewhere. But but the treats we we sell
are basically part of the meat eating industry.
(04:46):
So it's waste products from thatindustry.
So it's very, very sustainable in that respect.
It's all very, very natural treats.
As you can see, it's it's parts of animal.
There's things like cows trachea, there's rabbit ears,
pigs ears, cow's ears. All of these things are waste
from the slaughtering industry and it's all very, very healthy.
This stuff is not, it's not highly processed at all.
It's just literally sort of dried.
(05:13):
Being here, you've got a window onto the world.
What do you see out of this doorway of the fan?
I've seen amazing things, I've seen amazing things.
So there's all those bikes over there.
A lot of people come and they use one of those bikes or
they'll arrive here and dock their bikes and then they'll
stand right there by the gate and they'll look on their phone
(05:35):
to figure out where their friends are or where they're
supposed to be going from here. Or they'll come off the train
just to my right and as they're standing there, some person on a
very fast bike will whisp past and snatch their phone.
So I've seen lots of phone snatching.
Oh goodness, I've seen a lot of that.
I've seen on one occasion which was absolutely amazing.
(05:56):
We were all sitting out there, me and my couple of my friends
and somebody had their, the phone snatched somebody else who
happened to be near there just screamed if someone could give
me a bike, I can catch that guy.So someone just gave this guy a
bike. He took off and everybody, we
just all went out there and we just watched this guy on a he
was on the line bike. The guy who snatched the bike
(06:16):
the, the phone chased by a guy on a racing bike and he caught
him and he got, he got the phoneback and brought the phone back
to the guy here who'd had his phone stolen.
And like everybody cheered. So I don't know what happened to
the guy at the end the the guy who'd stolen it.
I hope he was arrested. I don't know what happened, but
I see a lot of that. I see a lot of unfortunate stuff
(06:37):
as well. The public toilets are right
there. The train station is right
there. So just to my left is the, the,
the public toilets. Just to my right is the train
station, London Fields train station and a load of people who
are, I would say, people who struggle with substance misuse
or use. They sort of gather in this
(06:59):
area. And then and just outside the
entrance of the station. So the way I pictured it is
somebody's getting off that train with drugs.
They're all kind of hovering around here and you can see all
these sort of little interactions going on.
And then everybody sort of scurries off to the toilets.
You know, that's, that's a really, really sort of sad.
It's a very sad sort of aspect to our modern life, modern city
(07:20):
life. But that's something I see every
day. And, you know, I can only have
compassion for people like that,you know, people who found
themselves in those circumstances.
And it's it sounds like it's regular.
It's. A day, every single day.
And as a dog owner and a dog Walker, it's one of the things
that, yeah, this is this is a very sad aspect of that whole
(07:41):
scenario I've just described because very often people who
are using drugs will need to skews my language.
They will need to poop quite quickly after 3:30 in the
winter. Those toilets are closed by the
local council, so there's nowhere to poop except there in
the woods. So if you're a dog owner, I
don't know why dogs find things like that attractive.
I really don't. But I know of a number of people
(08:03):
whose dogs have ended up needingveterinary treatment because
they've had, they've eaten poop that's been laced with drugs,
basically. I know somebody whose dog died
from that. So that's a really unfortunate
thing. And, and sometimes I, sometimes
I think maybe we should be selling, we sell poop bags here
for dogs. We've got some gigantic poop
bags right up there, which are for big dogs.
Like there are a few Great Daneswho are my clients.
(08:25):
And, but I sometimes think, why can't humans do that?
It will be really, really I, youknow, I understand that if
you've got to go, you've got to go wherever you are.
And it can't be very dignified, you know, having nowhere of your
own to, to use facilities. But I just wish people would use
a bag either pick it up, even ifit's a Sainsbury's bag, but
don't just leave it there. But I guess, you know, they're
not thinking about that at the time.
(08:51):
What about the joyful things outof this doorway?
As you look down the streets, you've got trees on one side.
It's it's got a fair amount of footfall with people walking
bicycles. Do you see moments of happiness
too? I see beautiful moments of
happiness. I see wedding parties.
Hackney Town Hall is just up there and a lot of people when
(09:14):
they get married, they come downthrough here, past those trees
you've just described into the entrance and they're going, I'm
guessing down to Broadway Marketor maybe into London Fields.
So I've seen some extraordinary wedding parties where on one
occasion, and it was actually February the 14th, every member
of that wedding party, and they were probably about 150 of them,
they were all wearing red and that looked really amazing.
I've had little children poppingin here and saying what, no ice
(09:37):
cream. But there is an ice cream fan
who's sometimes here, he's over there, he parks just over there
and he and I have lovely chats. I mean, the other, the other
role this, this, this little vanhas is as a base for, for
example, if people lose stuff inthe park or if people find stuff
in the park, it comes to this van.
We had an Apple Watch here until2 days ago that somebody found
(09:59):
and brought to us because it wasfound out in the streets.
And you know, about a week latera woman turned up and the reason
it took her a week is because she actually lives in Ipswich
and she was down here on a trip.She dropped her phone.
My boss was able to figure out because he has an Apple phone as
well, how to connect with the owner and so a week later she
collected it. So you're a lost property van as
(10:21):
well as a dog treat fan. Seems that we've become that.
Yeah, we've become that. And a social service trap point,
yeah. And for example, recently, I
mean, in this area, probably most areas where there are dogs
and dog walkers, there are various different WhatsApp
groups relating. So there's the London Fields dog
group, there's a Haggerson Park dog group, there's a dog safety
group. And it just happens that a
(10:45):
little dog, little gorgeous little whippet called Ash went
missing a few weeks ago, a couple of weeks ago.
And she's, she's still a puppy effectively, but she loves
coming to this van. I found out about it just before
midnight and I couldn't go to sleep because I had a dog that
was identical to her. And it just triggered me.
So I got up out of my bed. I lived just down there and I
(11:06):
came and opened the van because I thought she loves this van so
much. And she went missing just from
the top of the fields. Anyway, she didn't come.
She didn't come back here. But the next day, everybody on
that WhatsApp group, everybody was out looking for her.
And somebody had seen a dog in Hackney Marshes.
And literally the next morning we found her in Hackney Marshes.
And it was simply because that group of people who own dogs all
(11:27):
got together, all at every sighting was, you know, put into
the group. So we kind of knew where she had
been, where she had been seen. And literally we we found her.
And it was. That was a miracle.
So so having been missing overnight, the the whippet was
searching herself for her owner or or was confused.
(11:47):
It's very, very interesting. We don't know how she got to
where she got because she's never been there before, but her
owner is a marathon runner and had been running there the
previous Saturday. She went missing I think on a
Tuesday and we found her on the Wednesday morning.
Her owner on the Saturday had been running this very, very
particular part of Hackney Marsh's and that is where the
dog was found. So we have no idea.
(12:07):
I mean, whippets are sight and scent Helms.
It's possible she caught a whiffsomehow.
I don't know. They are amazing.
I've, I've got 2 whippets and I can be walking with them down a
road with a brick wall on one side that is waist high and
they'll start sniffing and immediately jump onto the wall
and there'll be a tiny piece of bread on the other side of the
wall. But that's how sensitive their
noses are. So it's possible we, we
(12:28):
literally have no idea how she found herself over there.
But actually it's a really good place to because there's no
roads. She wasn't going to get run over
by a car, but we found her looking like a tiny little
frightened deer in in the dappled woods and we managed to
coax her. There's this amazing person who
sat down. We all had smelly food with us.
We had smoked salmon, people hadbacon, people had cheese.
(12:50):
I had some stinky sticks with me.
And we just sat very, very, verystill.
And eventually she went to this guy who had been sitting there
for quite a while, and he was able eventually to put his hand
on her harness. And it was, it was just quite
remarkable. You know how you know it just
galvanizes? Because actually we would want
people to do that if our dog went missing.
(13:16):
So what are you picking up? I am currently buying the dried
fish skin and the salmon fingersand this sample dry skin cubes
as well. I was going to say that does.
That mean that that's just that's what people to sample.
Sorry, the next one look at that.
There you go there you go. There's a full bag.
(13:37):
Perfect. Thank.
You and these are treats or these are staples for your dog.
It's a good question. Bit of both, bit of training,
stuff that we're buying and basically they're rituals, like
when going to bed and stuff, andthey've been well behaved.
Yeah. But The thing is though, the
French, he's like so acclimatized to it now, he just
(13:57):
literally will wait next to the treat, do his go out and do his
business at night, come back andthen come back and sit straight
next to the treat tin now and then eat it straight to bed.
Well, that's, I can live with that.
That's fine, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
My father's got this terrible habit of getting the dogs up by
giving them a treat, which I don't do.
So when I'm away, the dogs get fat and they're whippets, but
(14:18):
everything is by the treat. But it does mean also that when
I come in and they're just staring at me and then staring
at the treat bag, I think, OK, I'll give you 1.
Then I give them one and they'restill staring at me and I
realise they can count. If I give them 3 then they'll
walk away. So he gives, he's learnt that.
I mean they've learnt that they expect three treats.
So I'm breaking things up into three bits.
I'm not convinced the the Frenchis that smart.
(14:41):
The bizzler might be I think. But yeah, I think bribing them
is is good, but obviously in youneed to keep them active as
well, because otherwise you'd say that the pounds do pile on,
don't they? They do.
I mean, one of the things I do like about these treats, though,
is you're also giving them lots of different micronutrients.
You know, if you're giving them fish one day, you can give them
a bit of rabbit another day. All of those things are really
(15:02):
important. Right.
I think if I kept giving them the same thing over and over
again, they would not be interested.
They like the variety like we do.
Yeah, we do. Exactly.
Oh, that's I wouldn't have thought that.
I would have thought Dogs with creatures of habit and the same
things would always work but butnot true.
No, we've, we've recently had tochange his dog food purely for
(15:22):
the fact that even if you like change the, the toppings and
stuff that you put on top of it,you know, the dry food now he
hit from his perspective, he'll walk away from it.
And then that puts pressure on us because we have to whip it
away because the visitor will get it.
It's a nightmare. Thank you so much.
Pleasure. Thank you.
(15:44):
Bye. See you later.
Next change is getting the Frenchie out.
Come on, let's go. Let's.
See ya. Right in this box here, we've
(16:18):
got rabbit ears. They are, you know, literally
it's just cut off a rabbit's head.
So it's got all the fur and the collagen, and they're hard.
And with my two whippets, I get them one of those at the end of
every day. Because what's amazing about it,
it's not too much calorific value, but all that fur cleans
their guts right out. And you know, some people are a
(16:39):
bit squeamish about that. And I, oh, I don't know if my
dog will like it. But actually if your dog was out
in the Wilds, it would be eatingsomething with the fur on it and
it wouldn't, wouldn't be cooked,it would be raw.
So most dogs love it. They're absolutely fine with it.
Next thing we've got here is chickens feet.
We've got cows, tracheas, Buffalo horn.
(17:03):
That's exotic. Somebody said to me the other
day, is that legal though? And I'm like, it's not an
African Buffalo. It's the kind of Buffalo that
produces mozzarella. So it's it's a Buffalo that is
already in the, I think the water buffaloes anyway, they're
already in the in the, the cuminmeats industry that says cow
(17:24):
who's but it's not it's pigs ears.
It's jumbo pigs ears. This is cow's hooves, which are
really, really good for dogs to chew on when they just need
something to chew. Some dogs like this self
soothing thing a little bit likebiting your nails that some
people do. We've got dried fish skin cubes
these. These I would never have put
fish with dogs. I don't know why I know but but
dogs really like fish. They they, they love it.
(17:45):
Oh, look, this is one of my favorite dogs coming.
This is Mouse. Mouse is gorgeous.
I've met Mouse when he was so baby he was still in arms.
Hello Mouse. So what kind of dog is mouse?
Mouse is 1/2 greyhound, half Saluki, he says.
They're the dogs that run. He's a runner, yeah.
(18:05):
Very much so. It's OK, Mouse.
Tell you what. Why don't you give him a treat?
See what happens? Would you be able to do that,
Mouse? Look, look.
Look. What's in this look.
There you go. Oh, look at this.
So if that's if that's a glow inthe dark board, does this mean
(18:26):
that you take mouse out for walks in the dark?
Good question. The glow in the dark quality is
not what I'm after, it's the superior bounciness.
Superior bounciness, yes. We had a slight we did.
We bought had this before and wedidn't even know it was glow in
the dark until it. Got dark?
Oh so good, so bouncing. And also he's rubbish at
catching stuff so he kind of just bounces it.
(18:48):
Further and follows around. Yeah, I think it takes a while
for them to actually develop that skill.
He's occasionally he's getting better at like on the second or
third bounce or. Snatch it.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they can't.
Like actually. Mine are going to be 4 in August
and they're still, they're just just now getting a click of OK,
you know, catch it, bring it back, all of that business.
Yeah. Let's let's a sausage roll as
(19:10):
well, kind. Of sausage roll.
Why you think so? Chatting.
What kind of what kind of dog isthis?
Can you describe it? She's a Dalmatian, A liver
(19:30):
spotted Dalmatian. She was one of 11 and her her
mum was my dad's dog so I've hadher since she was a little, a
little white spot and now she's a brown and white.
Really. You can have a dog.
Did you change the colour of your spots?
Did you do that all by yourself?But they're born without spots.
(19:51):
But they're born without spots. Oh.
They're all born white. And then?
They oh, absolutely cute, man. It's like colobus monkeys.
Yeah, their their babies are pure white.
Yeah, exactly. And what?
Have you come in for today for Mali?
To have a look. So this is treats, this is, this
is. Sorry, that's fish skin.
OK, You can get that recording in a minute because that sounds
(20:12):
just phenomenal. I'm not that it is great, isn't
it? She's a Hoover.
She loves them, Yeah. Do you want?
(20:38):
A bag with a handle. For that, no, that's fine.
Thank. You great.
Thank you very much. Bye.
Bye, lovely day. Yeah, you too.
Cheers. Bye.
Does anyone ever bring in a cat and a dog at the same time?
We've. Never had a cat and a dog at the
same time, but we've had people bring their cats in here.
(20:59):
So people carry their cats some,some people carry their cats in
special sort of carriers and they come here sometimes.
Well, for the treats, we do somereally gorgeous treats for them.
Our cat owners and dog owners. Different kinds of people, yes.
Very different, very, very different.
Let me think. Number one, I suppose as a
business they're not spending asmuch on their pet as people with
(21:20):
dogs. But then dogs go out, they need
harnesses, they need coats, theyneed a lot more food than a cat.
Obviously dog owners are more talkie, definitely.
Dog owners are more conversational than cat owners,
definitely. There's absolutely no doubt
about that when I'm thinking about it.
But if I think about the conversations I have here, it's
almost always with people who own dogs rather than people who
(21:41):
are cat owners tend to be very specific about what they want.
I think partly because cats are a lot more fussy than dogs.
So they know what their cats want.
And if we haven't got it, they'll wait until we have or or
they'll get it from somewhere else, I guess basically, but.
It's almost as if you're describing the difference in
characters, because people always think about cats as more
doing their own thing and quieter, and dogs as more kind
(22:05):
of like, let's do something together.
Absolutely. I think that I think that is a
big difference. We're just watching a postman
get out of his van, just next tothe van that we're in.
He's just pulled up to deliver letters.
Postman and dogs. Never a good mix.
(22:25):
You're absolutely right. You are absolutely right.
And in fact recently I used to walk a gorgeous dog who was
raised to patrol a traveller site.
She's half whippet and half staffy, so she's very strong and
very fast and she cannot stand apostman.
And she must be able to see red because when I'm walking her
she's hyper vigilant, always looking around if she sees red.
(22:46):
Or, you know, those big red sortof trolleys that postman
sometimes tie up to post, if shesees that, she, her hackles
immediately go up and I have to divert her.
So, you know, from a dog's perspective, the postman is
somebody who just every day comes to the door, makes a funny
noise at the door, drops something through it and then
goes away. So it's infuriating for a dog.
That person's not coming into the house.
What are they doing? The dog doesn't understand that
(23:08):
there's a communication coming through the letterbox.
So yeah, there is, there is a thing, that guy there and that
post. That postman there though, he
comes here every day and this isone of the things I love about
this job as well, is that there are people, it's almost like
another universe, another kind of ecosystem of people whose
lives or working lives are livedon the street somehow.
And as a dog Walker, as a postman, so many postman on the
(23:30):
streets I know, and I say hi to might not know their name,
although I do know some of theirnames, but I will say hi to them
because I'm walking dogs at the same time that they're
delivering and we're always crossing paths.
That's another interesting thingabout that kind of work is that
you become really aware of theseother, you know, is IT service
industry part, you know, part ofthe whole kind of serving of
(23:52):
life going on in your community that you might not really
recognize too much unless you'repart of it and you become part
of it as a dog Walker. How are you here?
Why are you here? What led you to this point?
Did you ever envisage yourself sitting in this van here?
OK, so no, I never envisaged myself sitting in this van
(24:13):
because this van is fairly new. It's only existed, this business
in a van has only existed for about a year and a half.
But I, I met this lovely guy called Aziz who I met him
through another friend actually.She bought some treats for my
dogs and she told me where she bought the treats from.
And it's from this guy who's gota business on a boat.
So I got to meet him, got to know him and started buying my
treats from him. And then sometime later he got a
(24:37):
van. So I used to see him in the
different places with his van chat, chat, chat, chat, chat,
chat. And then one day he said to me,
he's looking to expand and he will be looking to employ
another member of staff. And did I know anybody who might
be interested? And I'm like, well, I would be
interested. He says what?
Really. I said, yeah, seriously, I
would, I would love to do this job. 2 weeks later he called me
(24:58):
up. He says, would you be up for
starting like really soon? I said totally man.
So I just walked into it one day, he spent some time training
me and and then off we went. How does this job compare to
other jobs you've done in the past?
So the jobs I've done in the past have been in public health
(25:20):
very, very much about community development, engaging with
communities, engaging with people.
I've done youth work and I've worked in a Hospice where I've
worked with volunteers in the community, but a lot of that
work means you're also at a deskfrom 9:00 until 5:00 or 5:50 or
whatever in an office and you might be hot desking.
I work for the local authority as well and that kind of work, I
(25:45):
mean, I have to say the compassionate neighbors work I
was doing in the Hospice, that was very, very, very rewarding
because you could see with your eyes and with your, you know,
you're in the space where you could actually see the, the
positive impact of the work you're doing.
Whereas the other work I was doing in public health and local
authority, you don't really see the direct impact of what you're
doing until much later down the line by which time you're on
another project. So you can't really appreciate
(26:07):
it so much. What I like about this job is
direct feedback all the time. I'm having very, very, very
positive interactions all the time.
And it's really basically about interacting with like minded
humans. And you know, we might be
completely different in our interests or our background or
where we live. I've no idea where most of my
(26:28):
clients live or what their home lives are like.
But on this level we're we all have the same thing in mind.
We are all interested in supporting the dog community,
the dogs and looking after them.Hello.
(26:49):
It's all right. Come in.
This is Jodie. Hello.
How are you? We're just recording a
conversation. Please, please continue.
OK, I am seeking out some very fluffy rabbit ears from my
doggy. And they're literally rabbit
ears with the fluffy. Yes, yeah, they are.
This is really good for their kind of intestinal health.
(27:13):
So the fur kind of like gathers up potentially sort of parasites
and things and kind of can draw them out.
So she has one of these every day, typically in the morning,
but I ran out this morning. So she had a rabbit lung this
morning. That's a treat.
And yeah, so I have a two, a 2 1/2 year old rescue from
Romania. She's been here like a year and
(27:34):
two months now. And her name's Janu.
And yeah, she's marvelous. What's her character?
What's her character? She's quite for a young dog,
she's actually quite self-contained, but she does
have a lot of like joyfulness about her and she does play
(27:54):
really well with other doggies and things.
But she's also got this sort of like calmness super as well that
she's quite an interesting creature really.
She's almost like 2 dogs in one.How is she changed or or
otherwise your life? What difference has she made to
your life since she's been part of your life?
Well, I had another rescue dog before called Lulu, who I had
(28:16):
for almost 17 years and she diedvery suddenly in January last
year. That's OK.
And we had a great time together.
But it did really hit me very hard.
And I've, I've not really known grief quite like that.
And someone who maybe is listening might think, well, how
could you have so much grief for, like an animal?
But she'd been by my side. We've been together for almost
(28:37):
17 years. So yeah, it really knocked me
sideways. And Long story short, I just, I
knew of my family member and friends as well, who's one dog
got knocked over, another dog died of old age.
And they got a dog quite quickly.
And it really helped in the grieving process.
So I was just kind of looking atwebsites of like puppies and
(28:58):
dogs. There were so many cute ones out
there, like literally thousands.And then I happened to stumble
across this one picture of Jenny, who I have now, and it
was weird. It's almost like when you meet
someone, you know there's going to be going to be a lifelong
friend or a partner or something.
It was like that and I kind of panicked and I sent a message to
the mobile number and I thought she was in Peterborough.
(29:19):
And I got a message 5 minutes later saying if your home checks
out, she's yours, which was veryquick.
And I was a bit like, oh, I'm not quite ready yet because I
was still in the sort of thickerthings relative to Lulu.
Anyway, it turns out she was in Romania and she turned up a
month later. So I had like a good sort of six
weeks to. And then she, she just really
helped like hugely in reorganizing the grief, I guess
(29:44):
reorganizing it into or towards,you know, caring and loving for
some something else, another creature really helps in
processing the loss. And it's not like a replacement.
And because she's a very different dog.
But she's. Yeah, she's absolutely
wonderful. And I don't know, she just
(30:05):
brought everything back into balance again.
Helped me to sort of define thatbecause for 17 years my life had
been organized, obviously at work and things like that, but
structured around my dog and living.
Creature in your life? Yeah.
Because it's just the two of us,some have various boyfriends in
that over the years, but she'd been a sort of like, constant,
(30:25):
Yeah. So even sort of getting up and
walking around the park and not having that, I was getting up
and walking around the park on my own, just feeling sad,
thinking, oh, you know, And thenso having her just made a huge
difference because, yeah, it just helped in processing it.
And she's wonderful. She's an amazing creature.
It's interesting you say that about the grief when your dog
(30:45):
died. So I had my whippet who was
like, like your first dog was, but she didn't last that long.
She chased a fox out of a park. And you can't call a whippet off
a fox. You just cannot do it.
There's nothing you could give it the best meat in the world.
Not interested. And off she went through the
fence across the road, got hit by a car, died instantly.
(31:07):
And I just collapsed. And that was it.
I literally, it's almost as though every bone had gone to
Jelly. Just literally collapsed.
And it is as an unbelievable grief, isn't it?
Yeah, it's an unbelievable grief.
Quite often people in public places, in parks see dogs and
(31:30):
their owners as a nuisance. They come in their picnic or
people mining out for small kids, etcetera, etcetera.
Is there always going to be thatdivision between people who have
dogs and understand dogs and people who don't who are always
a bit worry? It's something that I would say
(31:53):
most people I speak to who are dog owners, you know, most of us
are very, very, very, first of all, we're all very, very aware
that some people are frightened of dogs.
So for example, when I see people instantly reacting, I
mean, I've got small little black whippets.
They're not that terrifying, butI sometimes see children who
have got an instinctual fear of dogs that maybe that they picked
(32:13):
up from their family and not just myself.
I know a lot of people who do this.
We will quieten our dogs, put them on, you know, keep them on
the lead and invite the child tocome and, you know, maybe stroke
the dog or see it. And we tried to break that sort
of thing, that all dogs are dangerous.
As far as picnics are concerned,I have got whippets.
(32:34):
There's no way I can let my dogsoff in a park when there's
whippets, when there's picnics going on.
So this means very, very early morning walks with very late
evening walks when, when it's picnic season, which is like
anytime the sun's out basically.And you know, sometimes we
grumble about it, but it does mean that you're getting up
earlier. And for example, the other day I
was with my partner in Victoria Park before the gate, before the
(32:55):
before the dawn. Actually the, the sun was coming
up, it was before 5:00 AM and wemanaged to find a gate into
Victoria Park that was open on the canal.
So we just went in there and it was gorgeous.
It was absolutely stunning. We were the only people there.
All the geese were out. All the ducks were out.
Like paddling around on the grass and as the sun's coming
up, it's hitting the tops of thetrees.
And then you can see the colour coming down as the sun was going
(33:18):
up, the, you know, the brightness of the trees.
And then the squirrels, as theirnests got warm, the squirrels
are coming out of the trees as well.
It was just such a beautiful moment that you don't catch
unless you're up that early, which is another wonderful thing
about owning a dog. You know, sometimes it's a boar
to have to get up and walk your dogs.
But at the end of the day, once you're out, you're out.
So you see every seasonal change, you see, you know,
you'll see you pass the same tree every day, for example, and
(33:40):
you notice how it's changing andyou know, the little, tiny
little green buds coming out andthen the blossom coming out.
So it's, you know, much as it can sometimes be a bit of a
chore, having dogs and having totake them out left, right and
centre, it's, it's actually really beneficial.
You know, you're getting your nature experience.
The other thing you're getting, which I think is really
fundamental is that if you have a dog, wherever you go, somebody
(34:02):
will smile at you. You don't even know their name.
You might have a conversation, it'll be a random conversation
about nothing at all. But you've had an interaction,
You've had a positive interaction with another human
being. Because if you're a single
person and you're an isolated person and maybe a lonely
person, it's very difficult to just strike up conversation
randomly with somebody. But if that person's got a dog,
you can go and talk about the dog.
It's a very neutral area and people don't mind.
(34:24):
Most people don't mind if you want to chat and say what a
lovely dog or whatever. But I'm, I'm having these
conversations every single day. I have amazing conversations
with people. It is true that people with a
dog do attract conversation. Yeah, yeah.
Either with other other dog owners, there's always somebody
who will want to have a little chat.
(34:45):
If you're talking to strangers, if you're having conversations
with strangers, you are opening yourself to other points of
view, other experiences, and you're broadening your horizon
and you're broadening your kind of your experience of the world
and how other people experience the world.
And I think it helps you to be more in perspective.
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