March 15, 2025 • 30 mins
New York Times bestselling author, Larry Levin, talked with me about his debut book, Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love. The story about Oogy illustrates how a dog, by given a second chance with people that love him, persevered to overcome the greatest of odds. Find out from Larry how he and his family met Oogy simply by chance. We also discussed what life has been like since the release of the book, what breed of dog Oogy really is, and what it was like to drive cross-country with Oogy to be featured on Oprah Winfrey’s show.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to Petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to Animal Rights on pet Life Radio. I'm your host,
Tim Link. Thank you for joining us today. My guest
today is Larry Levin. He'll be talking with us today
about his recently released book Oogi, The Dog Only a
Family Could Love, and he illustrates how a dog, by
(00:28):
giving a second chance with people that love him, persevered
to overcome the greatest of odds.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
And it's a great book and we'll talk a lot
about Oogi.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I'm sure Ugi is there with us as well, so
we're going to be excited to talk to Larry about that.
But first, before we started, I always like to give
everybody little tidbits bits of news, things that I think
are interesting and exciting, and today we're going to be
talking about the Holland Military Working Dog Hospital Now. The
Holland Military Working Dog Hospital is located at Lakeland Air
Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Now.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
This hospital's purpose is to care for the health needs
the more than two thousand working dogs currently serving in
the military, the Transportation Safety Board, the TSA, the US
Custom Service, and other government agencies. Approximately sixty dogs per
year are seen at the hospital for everything including regular
checkups to life threatening emergencies. The director is Colonel Bob Vogelsong,
(01:22):
and Colonel Vogosong was quoted recently in an article on
People Pets magazine and online as saying, these dogs are
veterans and their veterans too, like any other veterans served
in the war. We should be taking care of them,
and that's exactly what they do at Holland Military Working
Dog Hospital. So I applaud them for the great work
that they're doing, and I applaud them for taking care
(01:44):
of the animals realizing that the dogs are veterans and
serve their purpose, serve their duty for America and help
everyone out. So you can learn more about the dogs
and learn more about the Holland Military Working Dog Hospital
by going to my blog on pet Life Radio that's
pet Life Radio dot com. Click on the Animal Rights
Little Picture and that'll lead you over to my website
(02:06):
which you can read more about the articles and I'll
have the links on there as well. So big kudos
down to the folks in Santatotio Holland Military Working Dog
Hospital and take care of those veteran dogs.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
So we applaud them.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Now We're gonna go take a break here briefly, but
we'll be right back with Larry Levin to talk about Oogie.
You're listening to animal rights on pet Life Radio.
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Hi, this is Marcy Davis and my service dog Whistle,
and we're your hosts of Working Like Dogs on pet
Life Radio. Working Like Dogs is the show where you
can learn everything you've ever wanted to know about working
animals or working dogs. Whether you're a member of a
working dog team, or you've just seen a working dog
or animal out at the mall or the grocery store
(04:44):
and you're curious about how these amazing animals work with
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Like Dogs on Petlife Radio dot com.
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Let's talk pets on Petlife radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Welcome back to animal rights on pet Life Radio. Joining
me now is Larry Levin, who recently released his New
York Times best selling book, Ugi, the Dog only a
family could love. Larry good to hear from you. Congratulations
on the success of the book and congratulations on realizing
Ugi is a valuable part of your family.
Speaker 9 (05:29):
Well, thank you very much. I would say the first
part about the dog came easy. The part about the
book has been quite another adventure. Who would nobody would
have ever guessed that it would end up where it
ended up.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Absolutely well.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
I think when you put the right and perfect words
out there, and you put the right and perfect message
and love out there, things amazing things can happen. And
that's exactly what's happened with Ugi. And this is your
your first book, it is.
Speaker 9 (05:52):
My first book, I'm and which made one reason why
I don't feel any I keep telling my wife that
I should feel different, but I don't, And maybe because
I'm not a young man. And so things have plodded
along the way they have for a good long while.
And aside from seeing the notification on the book cover
(06:13):
that it's a New York Times bestseller, there really hasn't
been any change in our lives whatsoever, except we've met
some really great people that we probably wouldn't have bother
was gotten to.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Me it's great, heartwarming story Ugi. It's a lot of fun.
And now Ugi's been with your family since two thousand
and two. So what finally inspired you to write the
book about him?
Speaker 9 (06:33):
Well, I don't know if you're familiar with the story
we were. Initially I was asked by a local rescue
to do it a short piece on Ugie. And this was,
guess about two thousand and six. They were starting. At
that time the movement was starting to get more accurate
recognition for fighting dogs, and there were the bully breeds,
(06:56):
I should say, and what great pets they can be.
So I wrote this short article about Ugi an unbeknownstant
be it started kicking around the internet, and one day
in February of two thousand and eight, I believe it
was one evening. It's like six thirty the evening, and
I was making dinner for the boys and the telephone
ran and this young woman introduced herself as being from
(07:17):
some production company that I'd never heard of, and would
I be interested in telling my story on television? So
we talked for a while and then she said, well
that sounds great. Can you come out here next week?
I said, there's no way I can come out there
next week. My wife's an attorney. One boy it's on
the wrestling team. The other places Winner Lacrosse, you know,
maybe by April. And she said, no, we want to
put you on our Valentine's Day show and you're filming
(07:38):
that next week. I said, there's just no way I
can do it. What's the name of the show and
the woman said, it's the Oprah Winfrey Show. So I said, okay,
we'll be there. So just you know, I was easy.
So I drove Ugi out because that's the least stressful
way for him to travel. Ugi can't be in a crate.
He associates being in a steel creer with having his
(07:58):
face torn apart. And I would leave them alone for
that long, you know, in an unfamiliar place. Anyway, So
I drove out, and my wife and the boys flew out,
and they flew back, and I drove back. And then
a young man who had just finished being just finished
eight years as an editor was starting a new job
as a literary agent, and I was his first phone
(08:20):
call and he said, have you ever thought about writing
about this? And I've always wanted to write. And in fact,
when the boys went away to college, they were juniors
at the time in high school. When they went away
to college. I had planned on writing some of the
things I've been carrying around with me to write, never
had the time to do, and I said, sure, let's
give it a try. And three or four months later
(08:41):
he sold the idea, and I finished the first draft
and got the first draft back, and a quarter of
it was gone without explanation, just whole chapters with the
lines through them. And so I had a few words
to say to my editor, And after four or five days,
the proverbial light bulb went on, and I saw what
she was challenging me to do, and she So what
(09:05):
started out as the story that I wrote didn't end
up being the story that we finished with because she
challenged me, and she took me great places, places I
wouldn't have gone myself. And so what started out as
a book about Boogie and a book about rescue ended
up also being about my sons who were adopted when
they were three days old, and issues of rescue beyond
(09:30):
the superficial one of we lucked out and took this
dog home, or took the dog home and lucked out.
As it turns out, you know, there was No, I
don't know that I would have been so quick to
jump in if I knew then what I knew now
about the problems that you can encounter with an abused dog.
But there will never wear any complications. There never were
(09:50):
any problems. He's always been happy to be here, so
he made it easy.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Yeah, absolutely, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
And for the listeners out there, I'm sure everybody's aware
of the book, but definitely pick up a copy and
w Yeah, it's just a great book of warm story.
And you know Oogie was used for a bait dog
and a dog fighting ring. But tell the listeners a
little bit more about how Ougi came in your life,
because you know, I'm a firm believer that animals pick us.
Speaker 9 (10:17):
Oh, there's absolutely no doubt. And I know it sounds silly.
You have to realize that Ugi was about somewhere between
three and four months old when this happened to him.
So he's a dog that never knew any human kindness.
And after his face was torn apart, and I mean literally,
he lost the left side of his face from just
behind his muzzle to back where his ear was, he
(10:40):
was just thrown into a cage and left to die.
And the vet who saved him. Doctor Bianco estimates that
he lay in that condition for up to a week,
five to seven days, no food, no water, no medicine,
bleeding and fully and becoming fully infected. And something drove
that something kept that dog alive. And when we met him,
he had been at the animal hospital for about three weeks.
(11:04):
And I can only describe it as though he as
soon as he saw us, he recognized us. It's like
he'd been waiting for us. And one of the boys
went down. The boys were twelve at the time, and
they were bringing Ugie out of the back of the
animal hospital for a walk. We had a cat that
was dying, so we had taken the cat over there,
and the technician was bringing this a little white dog
(11:27):
out and the dog literally tore the leash out of
her hand. And Noah had gone down on one knee
and Oogie rocketed in him so hard he knocked him
over and then just stood on licking him. I mean,
it's it sounds unbelievable, but I saw it.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
I was there, so a hallmark moment there.
Speaker 9 (11:46):
It was well, I mean I can still see the
dog knocking Nolla over and I don't answer for morphires animals,
but I do know that they have. You know, when
we were growing up, when I was growing up years ago,
dogs were sort of like they weren't part of the family.
The dog was a pet. It was sort of like
maybe even like like a car, sort of like a
(12:09):
living car table. I don't know how to describe it.
Not long ago, somebody said to me, if Oogie could
talk to you for five minutes, what do you think
he say? And I said, Oogie and I talk all
the time. You just have to learn how to listen.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Ah, brilliant. I love that answer. Being an animal communicator,
I love that. I'm gonna it's ply.
Speaker 9 (12:27):
Amazing what goes on that way. And I never had
the experience before. But we share a wavelength and so
we get along really well. Right.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, that connection, that heart connection, and like you said,
you open up your heart, opening up your mind to it.
And then they definitely talk to you, and they definitely do.
Speaker 9 (12:43):
And he definitely understands things that I say to him.
There's verbal communication, there's nonverbal communication. When I take his
collar off, he knows he's gone for a walk and
he gets really excited. But sometimes I can just say
to him you want to go for a walk, and
or you want to go If I said, do you
want to go to the park, go go bananas, he knows,
(13:04):
he understands.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Absolutely, absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Well, we're going to rid to take a break here
just in a moment, but we're going to come back
with Larry Levin talk about Oogie, the dog only a
family could love. You're listening to animal Rights on pet
Life Radio. Stay tuned.
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All right, we're back with Larry Levin on emal Rights
with pet Life Radio.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Now, I'm gonna ask you one thing.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
When you take a look at the beautiful picture of
up on the cover, everybody would assume when you first
take that that glance, you think, well, he's an American pitmulterier.
But you found out and we found out that he's
not actually an American pitmulterrier.
Speaker 9 (17:00):
No, No, I think that's Doctor Biaco. Might be his
most professionally embarrassing moment was to tell me that Oogie
was an American pitbull terrier and that he'd weigh about
fifty five pounds when he was fully grown, and six
months later when we went back for the first checkup,
he was already seventy five pounds. And I remember walking
in the door of the animal hospital and the Texas
(17:23):
sitting behind the desk said, that's a dogo. And I said,
what's a dogo? And she started to laugh and she said,
I'm not sure. So when I got home, I went
online and the first picture that I saw of the
breed looked exactly like Ugi, exactly like Googie. The dogo Argentina, Argentina. Actually,
(17:43):
I've read it's the most genetically engineered breed on the planet.
I read that. I don't know if it's accurate. There
are nine different dogs that went into the breed that
was developed in Argentina in nineteen twenties to haunt mountain
lion and wild boar. Mountain lion are terribly destructive of livestock,
and wild boar are terribly destructive of crops, and in fact,
(18:07):
they have the same problem in the Southwest. They hunt
ogos in the American Southwest, and they hunt in packs.
And Bugie is actually small for the breed. He weighs
eighty five pounds because he was starved as a pup.
But they normally, the males normally weigh around one hundred,
two hundred and ten pounds. And they're military dogs, they're
drug dogs, they're rescue dogs. They're a great breed because
(18:30):
they're also bred to be family animals.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, they're very, very family oriented. Remember the mastiff group,
which you know basically are worker dogs. They are hunting dogs,
they're protectors. They have all the good stuff inside of them.
Speaker 9 (18:43):
Some of the some of them have a much more
mastiff kind of face, the rounded forehead. Oogie's kind of narrowed.
I mean, I've seen pictures of other dogos that look
just like him, But the others he can tell that
there's a mastiff in the breed. They were bred with
the Spanish mastiff as one of I think was one
one of the dogs that was used to develop the
breathe fantastic.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Now I got to go back to asking you about
your best friend. Now Oprah Winfrey.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
So here you are.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
You wrote an article. I got a little bit of traction.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Next thing, you know, producer for Oprah's group, Causia, has
you out there because you can't say no to Oprah.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
I understand that.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
And then most recently they listed Ugi in OH Magazine
is one of the sixteen recommended books for dog lovers.
How's that changed things? I know you said earlier that
it hasn't really changed your life. Maybe hasn't sunk in.
But with being on Oprah and then being in OH
magazine is one of the sixteen recommended dog books. How
all the different dog and animal books out there?
Speaker 3 (19:37):
How's that changed for you? And Ugi?
Speaker 9 (19:39):
I told my wife I know what it's like to
date George Clooney because when I go out, people will
come up and go, didn't I see your dog on television?
You know it's never me. He's so unmistakable looking. You know,
there aren't a lot of white, eighty five pounds one
of your dogs around. So once you see what Ugi
looks like, you remember him if you see him again.
(20:00):
I got a call the following summer. We were on
the Valentine's Day Show in two thousand and eight, and
the following summer a friend of mine called from Dublin
and she had just seen the show in Dublin. And
later that summer, we were down my wife and I
were getting some ice cream and a guy came up
to me and said, was your dog on television last week?
And I said no, we were on television in February.
(20:22):
Said well, I was in Israel last week and I
saw your dog on television. So he's been all over the.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
World, international superstar.
Speaker 9 (20:30):
Yeah, it hasn't gone to his head though. But you know,
the book's coming out in the UK, I think Saturday.
It's also going to be published in Italy, in Indonesia,
and it's already been published in Portugal and I think
Brazil because I got two copies of the Portuguese book
and a woman we know is from Portugal, so I
gave her one.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Fantastic. Now, any plans for the next Oogie book or
the children's edition.
Speaker 9 (20:56):
Well, actually there's lots of talk. We're going to do
ets and whatever profits are made, we're going to donate
to various rescues I'd like to set up doctor Bianco.
Doctor Bianco has never nobody had ardmore Animal Hospital has
ever charged at the Dome for anything they've done for Lugi.
(21:18):
I mean, it's sort of like that was their gift
to us because they were so gratified. You know, if
the police had taken this is eight years ago. The
story is that Ubi was found in a drug bust.
If the police, as they are now required to do,
had taken him to the SPCA, then he'd been euthanized
on the spot. And in fact, the emergency room that
was at the animal hospital wasn't part of a hospital,
(21:39):
just used the facilities, hadn't done any work on them
other than bandage them up pretty much, and they were
going to send them to the SPCA. And the woman
who runs the hospital and knew that if that happened,
he'd be killed. So she got doctor Bianco to try
and save the dog. At first, he thought he could
not do it. In fact, he told her he said, Dianne,
I don't think I could save this dog. And she said,
(22:01):
doctor bay uncle, You've got to save this dog. And
so he operated for hours to save the dog. But anyway,
I'm getting away from my point, I'd like to set
up a fund so that if people come to ourd
More Animal Hospital and need work that they can't afford,
maybe there'll be some money available to contribute to the services.
You know, I could make six dollars out of selling
(22:23):
t shirts. I could make six hundred dollars. I have
no way of knowing. But we're also going to do
Bogie Soft toys and the same thing will happen. Whatever
money is made by way, a profit will go to
rescue and to save animals.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Fantastic. Well, that's a big kudos to you for that.
Keep us posted on that please, and we'll help you
get the word out.
Speaker 9 (22:44):
Well if I can figure, I had to get a
web page going. I told you before. You know technology
and I it's like when I used to go down
to my inlaw's house, you would see the clock on
the on the VCR flashing, And I think that as
a general role, the younger you are, the more technologically
(23:04):
adept you are. Yeah, so I had to go up
to New York to the publisher to get tutored on
how to Luke he's got a Facebook page.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Yeah, he's got a Facebook page. Everybody sign up in
friend Oogie.
Speaker 9 (23:14):
On that and I had to go up to New
York so they could teach.
Speaker 8 (23:17):
Me how to do it.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
It's hard to keep up with technology before that, sure is.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, before I started working with animals full time, I
spent twenty years in telecommunications with advanced seller of phone
technologies and been now that business for a while now,
and I think it's already slipped me by. There's so
much stuff you can do with those devices now.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
You know.
Speaker 9 (23:38):
I'm reading The Lost Dogs now. Somebody gave it to
me as a gift, and that's a pretty powerful book.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Yeah, it is very powerful book, a great book. And
I had an opportunity when the whole Michael Vick thing
came down, being from Georgia to be involved in some
of that, as far as going down to the legislature
and talking to them about dog fighting anti dog fighting laws.
And actually, you know, the good news from that book
and all that tragedy that happened is now in Georgia
(24:07):
and other places, we're realize how bad it is and
we're starting.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
To do some things about we have some laws.
Speaker 9 (24:11):
Oh yeah, we've gone we and I that's Ugie and
I when I say we've started to go into schools
in the area to talk about dogfighting. We've been to
two so far. I've got two more scheduled, and we're
involved with a couple of organizations that are very active
in combating breed specifical legislation. So, as I said to me,
(24:35):
the major change in my life has been all these
wonderful people. You hear a lot about what I found.
What I came to believe is that for all the
people that are doing horrible things to animals, there are
even more people doing great things for animals. And the
rescue networks are so amazing, and people do the most
amazing things. You just don't hear about them as much.
(24:56):
You know, plane crashes get the news, so you know,
equivalent of you know, pitbulls. Up until the moment that
I met Ugie and the doctor told me he was
a pit bull, you couldn't have gotten me into the
same room as one of with a pit bull because
I was so prejudiced by all the negative publicity. But
you know, they're a wonderful, wonderful breed of dog. And
(25:18):
I heard a great story the other day which is
actually it's the genesis. I started writing another book and
it's a book about a guy who saves a dog.
And what gave me the idea is a woman whose
husband received a terrible head injury in a rock and
he can't he's lost the ability to concentrate, so it
can't work. And she read him the book and he
(25:40):
wants to meet ugi. So I told her that they
live across the state. So I said, when the weather
gets nice, we'll figure out a place to meet and
I'll drive and I'll meet you. You know, no, since
you're driving five hours, I can drive two hours and
meet you or something. But they have a rescued pit
bull and when her husband has a nightmare, the dog
will lick him away and then just sleep next to them.
(26:02):
And that story grabbed me so much. That's that gave
me the idea for the book that I'm writing now.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Fantastic will keep us breast on the progress of that.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
They are definitely Pibulls are a great breed, great family breed,
and they definitely knew how to take care of a family.
Speaker 9 (26:16):
When they were first bread they were called nanny dogs
or known as nanny dogs, because they were so protective
and loving of the family. You know, there are three
I don't have the statistics in front of me, and
I won't tell you what the breeds were in case
I have the information wrong. But there are three other
breeds of dogs who had more dog attacks than pitbulls,
(26:37):
And the last figures I heard were for two thousand
and eight, I think are two thousand and nine, So
one of which is a America's most popular family dog
attacked more people than pit bulls did that year. Absolutely,
we'll leave it at that.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Well, we're coming to the end of the show, Larry,
But I do want to mention a quote you recently
were quoted in People Pat's article as saying, what we've
learned is you can't avoid bad things happening. You can't
let them define who you are. You have to wait
and see what's going to come out of the other end.
Speaker 9 (27:10):
Oh, you know, I can give you the real life
example of that. My one son was a top flight
wrestler and he was slated to be captain of the
wrestling team and co captain of the football team and
co captain of the lacrosse team his senior year, and
he quit football because he said to the coach, I
have no future as one hundred and sixty five pound
(27:32):
football player, and I can't put on twenty five pounds
and take it off for wrestling. It affects my grades.
So he wrestled starting in June. He wrestled five days
a week and worked out, and the third match of
the season in November, he tore the tendon in his
elbow and he lost the entire season. Yeah, I mean,
he literally wept in my arms. And he came back
(27:53):
with two weeks left, and he went to the tournament,
and he not only won the district tournament, but he
was the first and only wrestler in the history of
the school to be voted by the coaches the outstanding
wrestler in the tournament because they knew what he had
gone through to get there. And about a week later,
he and I were sitting around and I said, did
you learn anything from your dog that helped you through this?
And he said, yeah, I did. And I was surprised.
(28:15):
I said, really what? And he said, and I will
phrase it for the radio. He said, stuff happens, but
you can't let it define who you are.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
There you go great lessons and Ugie teaches us once again, huh,
you don't know where.
Speaker 9 (28:28):
It's going to end up. The worst things can happen,
and they're not going to stay there. I mean, Ugi
is living proof that you can go through the most
awful experience and come out fine on the other side.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
That's right. It's a great.
Speaker 9 (28:40):
Example from By the way, I took a note of
I want to get that information on Colonel I think
its Vogel Song, Bob Vogel Song. I was told that
Walter Reed Army Hospital will not allow any of the
pitbull breeds in as therapy dogs, and so I promised
myself that I would see what I could do about that.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Absolutely well, go to Petlife radio dot com, click on
my icon Animal Rights, and now lead you to.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
The articles so you can learn more.
Speaker 9 (29:06):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
You're welcome. I appreciate you being on board with us today.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
We've been talking to Larry Lovin about Ugi, the dog
only a family could love. Larry, appreciate you coming on
Animal Right. My pleasure, pleasure to absolutely keep us abreast
of what's going.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
On in your life and with the new book.
Speaker 9 (29:25):
Okay, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Thank you what we're coming to the end of the
show today. I'd like to thank everybody for listening to
Animal Rights on pet Life Radio. I'd also like to
thank Larry Levin and Ugi for being on my show today,
and thanks to our sponsors and producers for making the
show possible. To find out more about me, Timlink and
other podcasts that I have done on the Animal Rights
Show and my blog on pet Life Radio, please go
(29:48):
to petlifradio dot com, and while you're there, be sure
to check out all of the other hosts and shows
on pet life Radio. If you have any questions, comments,
ideas for a show, or any authors, writers or bloggers
you'd like to see on the show, please email me
at timat petlifradio dot com. It's petlife radio dot com
and I'll do my very best to answer your questions,
(30:10):
entertain your comments, and see if we can get the
writers on the show that you want to hear the most.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
So when you tell next time, write a great story
about the animals in.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Your life, share it in a blog, article, or book,
and who knows, you may be the next guest on
Animal Rights pet Life Radio.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 5 (30:26):
Let's talk pets every week on demand only on petlfradio
dot com.
You're listening to Petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to Animal Rights on pet Life Radio. I'm your host,
Tim Link. Thank you for joining us today. My guest
today is Larry Levin. He'll be talking with us today
about his recently released book Oogi, The Dog Only a
Family Could Love, and he illustrates how a dog, by
(00:28):
giving a second chance with people that love him, persevered
to overcome the greatest of odds.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
And it's a great book and we'll talk a lot
about Oogi.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I'm sure Ugi is there with us as well, so
we're going to be excited to talk to Larry about that.
But first, before we started, I always like to give
everybody little tidbits bits of news, things that I think
are interesting and exciting, and today we're going to be
talking about the Holland Military Working Dog Hospital Now. The
Holland Military Working Dog Hospital is located at Lakeland Air
Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Now.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
This hospital's purpose is to care for the health needs
the more than two thousand working dogs currently serving in
the military, the Transportation Safety Board, the TSA, the US
Custom Service, and other government agencies. Approximately sixty dogs per
year are seen at the hospital for everything including regular
checkups to life threatening emergencies. The director is Colonel Bob Vogelsong,
(01:22):
and Colonel Vogosong was quoted recently in an article on
People Pets magazine and online as saying, these dogs are
veterans and their veterans too, like any other veterans served
in the war. We should be taking care of them,
and that's exactly what they do at Holland Military Working
Dog Hospital. So I applaud them for the great work
that they're doing, and I applaud them for taking care
(01:44):
of the animals realizing that the dogs are veterans and
serve their purpose, serve their duty for America and help
everyone out. So you can learn more about the dogs
and learn more about the Holland Military Working Dog Hospital
by going to my blog on pet Life Radio that's
pet Life Radio dot com. Click on the Animal Rights
Little Picture and that'll lead you over to my website
(02:06):
which you can read more about the articles and I'll
have the links on there as well. So big kudos
down to the folks in Santatotio Holland Military Working Dog
Hospital and take care of those veteran dogs.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
So we applaud them.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Now We're gonna go take a break here briefly, but
we'll be right back with Larry Levin to talk about Oogie.
You're listening to animal rights on pet Life Radio.
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Hi, this is Marcy Davis and my service dog Whistle,
and we're your hosts of Working Like Dogs on pet
Life Radio. Working Like Dogs is the show where you
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animals or working dogs. Whether you're a member of a
working dog team, or you've just seen a working dog
or animal out at the mall or the grocery store
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Speaker 5 (05:03):
Let's talk pets on Petlife radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Welcome back to animal rights on pet Life Radio. Joining
me now is Larry Levin, who recently released his New
York Times best selling book, Ugi, the Dog only a
family could love. Larry good to hear from you. Congratulations
on the success of the book and congratulations on realizing
Ugi is a valuable part of your family.
Speaker 9 (05:29):
Well, thank you very much. I would say the first
part about the dog came easy. The part about the
book has been quite another adventure. Who would nobody would
have ever guessed that it would end up where it
ended up.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Absolutely well.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
I think when you put the right and perfect words
out there, and you put the right and perfect message
and love out there, things amazing things can happen. And
that's exactly what's happened with Ugi. And this is your
your first book, it is.
Speaker 9 (05:52):
My first book, I'm and which made one reason why
I don't feel any I keep telling my wife that
I should feel different, but I don't, And maybe because
I'm not a young man. And so things have plodded
along the way they have for a good long while.
And aside from seeing the notification on the book cover
(06:13):
that it's a New York Times bestseller, there really hasn't
been any change in our lives whatsoever, except we've met
some really great people that we probably wouldn't have bother
was gotten to.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Me it's great, heartwarming story Ugi. It's a lot of fun.
And now Ugi's been with your family since two thousand
and two. So what finally inspired you to write the
book about him?
Speaker 9 (06:33):
Well, I don't know if you're familiar with the story
we were. Initially I was asked by a local rescue
to do it a short piece on Ugie. And this was,
guess about two thousand and six. They were starting. At
that time the movement was starting to get more accurate
recognition for fighting dogs, and there were the bully breeds,
(06:56):
I should say, and what great pets they can be.
So I wrote this short article about Ugi an unbeknownstant
be it started kicking around the internet, and one day
in February of two thousand and eight, I believe it
was one evening. It's like six thirty the evening, and
I was making dinner for the boys and the telephone
ran and this young woman introduced herself as being from
(07:17):
some production company that I'd never heard of, and would
I be interested in telling my story on television? So
we talked for a while and then she said, well
that sounds great. Can you come out here next week?
I said, there's no way I can come out there
next week. My wife's an attorney. One boy it's on
the wrestling team. The other places Winner Lacrosse, you know,
maybe by April. And she said, no, we want to
put you on our Valentine's Day show and you're filming
(07:38):
that next week. I said, there's just no way I
can do it. What's the name of the show and
the woman said, it's the Oprah Winfrey Show. So I said, okay,
we'll be there. So just you know, I was easy.
So I drove Ugi out because that's the least stressful
way for him to travel. Ugi can't be in a crate.
He associates being in a steel creer with having his
(07:58):
face torn apart. And I would leave them alone for
that long, you know, in an unfamiliar place. Anyway, So
I drove out, and my wife and the boys flew out,
and they flew back, and I drove back. And then
a young man who had just finished being just finished
eight years as an editor was starting a new job
as a literary agent, and I was his first phone
(08:20):
call and he said, have you ever thought about writing
about this? And I've always wanted to write. And in fact,
when the boys went away to college, they were juniors
at the time in high school. When they went away
to college. I had planned on writing some of the
things I've been carrying around with me to write, never
had the time to do, and I said, sure, let's
give it a try. And three or four months later
(08:41):
he sold the idea, and I finished the first draft
and got the first draft back, and a quarter of
it was gone without explanation, just whole chapters with the
lines through them. And so I had a few words
to say to my editor, And after four or five days,
the proverbial light bulb went on, and I saw what
she was challenging me to do, and she So what
(09:05):
started out as the story that I wrote didn't end
up being the story that we finished with because she
challenged me, and she took me great places, places I
wouldn't have gone myself. And so what started out as
a book about Boogie and a book about rescue ended
up also being about my sons who were adopted when
they were three days old, and issues of rescue beyond
(09:30):
the superficial one of we lucked out and took this
dog home, or took the dog home and lucked out.
As it turns out, you know, there was No, I
don't know that I would have been so quick to
jump in if I knew then what I knew now
about the problems that you can encounter with an abused dog.
But there will never wear any complications. There never were
(09:50):
any problems. He's always been happy to be here, so
he made it easy.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Yeah, absolutely, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
And for the listeners out there, I'm sure everybody's aware
of the book, but definitely pick up a copy and
w Yeah, it's just a great book of warm story.
And you know Oogie was used for a bait dog
and a dog fighting ring. But tell the listeners a
little bit more about how Ougi came in your life,
because you know, I'm a firm believer that animals pick us.
Speaker 9 (10:17):
Oh, there's absolutely no doubt. And I know it sounds silly.
You have to realize that Ugi was about somewhere between
three and four months old when this happened to him.
So he's a dog that never knew any human kindness.
And after his face was torn apart, and I mean literally,
he lost the left side of his face from just
behind his muzzle to back where his ear was, he
(10:40):
was just thrown into a cage and left to die.
And the vet who saved him. Doctor Bianco estimates that
he lay in that condition for up to a week,
five to seven days, no food, no water, no medicine,
bleeding and fully and becoming fully infected. And something drove
that something kept that dog alive. And when we met him,
he had been at the animal hospital for about three weeks.
(11:04):
And I can only describe it as though he as
soon as he saw us, he recognized us. It's like
he'd been waiting for us. And one of the boys
went down. The boys were twelve at the time, and
they were bringing Ugie out of the back of the
animal hospital for a walk. We had a cat that
was dying, so we had taken the cat over there,
and the technician was bringing this a little white dog
(11:27):
out and the dog literally tore the leash out of
her hand. And Noah had gone down on one knee
and Oogie rocketed in him so hard he knocked him
over and then just stood on licking him. I mean,
it's it sounds unbelievable, but I saw it.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
I was there, so a hallmark moment there.
Speaker 9 (11:46):
It was well, I mean I can still see the
dog knocking Nolla over and I don't answer for morphires animals,
but I do know that they have. You know, when
we were growing up, when I was growing up years ago,
dogs were sort of like they weren't part of the family.
The dog was a pet. It was sort of like
maybe even like like a car, sort of like a
(12:09):
living car table. I don't know how to describe it.
Not long ago, somebody said to me, if Oogie could
talk to you for five minutes, what do you think
he say? And I said, Oogie and I talk all
the time. You just have to learn how to listen.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Ah, brilliant. I love that answer. Being an animal communicator,
I love that. I'm gonna it's ply.
Speaker 9 (12:27):
Amazing what goes on that way. And I never had
the experience before. But we share a wavelength and so
we get along really well. Right.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, that connection, that heart connection, and like you said,
you open up your heart, opening up your mind to it.
And then they definitely talk to you, and they definitely do.
Speaker 9 (12:43):
And he definitely understands things that I say to him.
There's verbal communication, there's nonverbal communication. When I take his
collar off, he knows he's gone for a walk and
he gets really excited. But sometimes I can just say
to him you want to go for a walk, and
or you want to go If I said, do you
want to go to the park, go go bananas, he knows,
(13:04):
he understands.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Absolutely, absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Well, we're going to rid to take a break here
just in a moment, but we're going to come back
with Larry Levin talk about Oogie, the dog only a
family could love. You're listening to animal Rights on pet
Life Radio. Stay tuned.
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Speaker 2 (16:41):
All right, we're back with Larry Levin on emal Rights
with pet Life Radio.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Now, I'm gonna ask you one thing.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
When you take a look at the beautiful picture of
up on the cover, everybody would assume when you first
take that that glance, you think, well, he's an American pitmulterier.
But you found out and we found out that he's
not actually an American pitmulterrier.
Speaker 9 (17:00):
No, No, I think that's Doctor Biaco. Might be his
most professionally embarrassing moment was to tell me that Oogie
was an American pitbull terrier and that he'd weigh about
fifty five pounds when he was fully grown, and six
months later when we went back for the first checkup,
he was already seventy five pounds. And I remember walking
in the door of the animal hospital and the Texas
(17:23):
sitting behind the desk said, that's a dogo. And I said,
what's a dogo? And she started to laugh and she said,
I'm not sure. So when I got home, I went
online and the first picture that I saw of the
breed looked exactly like Ugi, exactly like Googie. The dogo Argentina, Argentina. Actually,
(17:43):
I've read it's the most genetically engineered breed on the planet.
I read that. I don't know if it's accurate. There
are nine different dogs that went into the breed that
was developed in Argentina in nineteen twenties to haunt mountain
lion and wild boar. Mountain lion are terribly destructive of livestock,
and wild boar are terribly destructive of crops, and in fact,
(18:07):
they have the same problem in the Southwest. They hunt
ogos in the American Southwest, and they hunt in packs.
And Bugie is actually small for the breed. He weighs
eighty five pounds because he was starved as a pup.
But they normally, the males normally weigh around one hundred,
two hundred and ten pounds. And they're military dogs, they're
drug dogs, they're rescue dogs. They're a great breed because
(18:30):
they're also bred to be family animals.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, they're very, very family oriented. Remember the mastiff group,
which you know basically are worker dogs. They are hunting dogs,
they're protectors. They have all the good stuff inside of them.
Speaker 9 (18:43):
Some of the some of them have a much more
mastiff kind of face, the rounded forehead. Oogie's kind of narrowed.
I mean, I've seen pictures of other dogos that look
just like him, But the others he can tell that
there's a mastiff in the breed. They were bred with
the Spanish mastiff as one of I think was one
one of the dogs that was used to develop the
breathe fantastic.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Now I got to go back to asking you about
your best friend. Now Oprah Winfrey.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
So here you are.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
You wrote an article. I got a little bit of traction.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Next thing, you know, producer for Oprah's group, Causia, has
you out there because you can't say no to Oprah.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
I understand that.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
And then most recently they listed Ugi in OH Magazine
is one of the sixteen recommended books for dog lovers.
How's that changed things? I know you said earlier that
it hasn't really changed your life. Maybe hasn't sunk in.
But with being on Oprah and then being in OH
magazine is one of the sixteen recommended dog books. How
all the different dog and animal books out there?
Speaker 3 (19:37):
How's that changed for you? And Ugi?
Speaker 9 (19:39):
I told my wife I know what it's like to
date George Clooney because when I go out, people will
come up and go, didn't I see your dog on television?
You know it's never me. He's so unmistakable looking. You know,
there aren't a lot of white, eighty five pounds one
of your dogs around. So once you see what Ugi
looks like, you remember him if you see him again.
(20:00):
I got a call the following summer. We were on
the Valentine's Day Show in two thousand and eight, and
the following summer a friend of mine called from Dublin
and she had just seen the show in Dublin. And
later that summer, we were down my wife and I
were getting some ice cream and a guy came up
to me and said, was your dog on television last week?
And I said no, we were on television in February.
(20:22):
Said well, I was in Israel last week and I
saw your dog on television. So he's been all over the.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
World, international superstar.
Speaker 9 (20:30):
Yeah, it hasn't gone to his head though. But you know,
the book's coming out in the UK, I think Saturday.
It's also going to be published in Italy, in Indonesia,
and it's already been published in Portugal and I think
Brazil because I got two copies of the Portuguese book
and a woman we know is from Portugal, so I
gave her one.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Fantastic. Now, any plans for the next Oogie book or
the children's edition.
Speaker 9 (20:56):
Well, actually there's lots of talk. We're going to do
ets and whatever profits are made, we're going to donate
to various rescues I'd like to set up doctor Bianco.
Doctor Bianco has never nobody had ardmore Animal Hospital has
ever charged at the Dome for anything they've done for Lugi.
(21:18):
I mean, it's sort of like that was their gift
to us because they were so gratified. You know, if
the police had taken this is eight years ago. The
story is that Ubi was found in a drug bust.
If the police, as they are now required to do,
had taken him to the SPCA, then he'd been euthanized
on the spot. And in fact, the emergency room that
was at the animal hospital wasn't part of a hospital,
(21:39):
just used the facilities, hadn't done any work on them
other than bandage them up pretty much, and they were
going to send them to the SPCA. And the woman
who runs the hospital and knew that if that happened,
he'd be killed. So she got doctor Bianco to try
and save the dog. At first, he thought he could
not do it. In fact, he told her he said, Dianne,
I don't think I could save this dog. And she said,
(22:01):
doctor bay uncle, You've got to save this dog. And
so he operated for hours to save the dog. But anyway,
I'm getting away from my point, I'd like to set
up a fund so that if people come to ourd
More Animal Hospital and need work that they can't afford,
maybe there'll be some money available to contribute to the services.
You know, I could make six dollars out of selling
(22:23):
t shirts. I could make six hundred dollars. I have
no way of knowing. But we're also going to do
Bogie Soft toys and the same thing will happen. Whatever
money is made by way, a profit will go to
rescue and to save animals.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Fantastic. Well, that's a big kudos to you for that.
Keep us posted on that please, and we'll help you
get the word out.
Speaker 9 (22:44):
Well if I can figure, I had to get a
web page going. I told you before. You know technology
and I it's like when I used to go down
to my inlaw's house, you would see the clock on
the on the VCR flashing, And I think that as
a general role, the younger you are, the more technologically
(23:04):
adept you are. Yeah, so I had to go up
to New York to the publisher to get tutored on
how to Luke he's got a Facebook page.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Yeah, he's got a Facebook page. Everybody sign up in
friend Oogie.
Speaker 9 (23:14):
On that and I had to go up to New
York so they could teach.
Speaker 8 (23:17):
Me how to do it.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
It's hard to keep up with technology before that, sure is.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, before I started working with animals full time, I
spent twenty years in telecommunications with advanced seller of phone
technologies and been now that business for a while now,
and I think it's already slipped me by. There's so
much stuff you can do with those devices now.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
You know.
Speaker 9 (23:38):
I'm reading The Lost Dogs now. Somebody gave it to
me as a gift, and that's a pretty powerful book.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Yeah, it is very powerful book, a great book. And
I had an opportunity when the whole Michael Vick thing
came down, being from Georgia to be involved in some
of that, as far as going down to the legislature
and talking to them about dog fighting anti dog fighting laws.
And actually, you know, the good news from that book
and all that tragedy that happened is now in Georgia
(24:07):
and other places, we're realize how bad it is and
we're starting.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
To do some things about we have some laws.
Speaker 9 (24:11):
Oh yeah, we've gone we and I that's Ugie and
I when I say we've started to go into schools
in the area to talk about dogfighting. We've been to
two so far. I've got two more scheduled, and we're
involved with a couple of organizations that are very active
in combating breed specifical legislation. So, as I said to me,
(24:35):
the major change in my life has been all these
wonderful people. You hear a lot about what I found.
What I came to believe is that for all the
people that are doing horrible things to animals, there are
even more people doing great things for animals. And the
rescue networks are so amazing, and people do the most
amazing things. You just don't hear about them as much.
(24:56):
You know, plane crashes get the news, so you know,
equivalent of you know, pitbulls. Up until the moment that
I met Ugie and the doctor told me he was
a pit bull, you couldn't have gotten me into the
same room as one of with a pit bull because
I was so prejudiced by all the negative publicity. But
you know, they're a wonderful, wonderful breed of dog. And
(25:18):
I heard a great story the other day which is
actually it's the genesis. I started writing another book and
it's a book about a guy who saves a dog.
And what gave me the idea is a woman whose
husband received a terrible head injury in a rock and
he can't he's lost the ability to concentrate, so it
can't work. And she read him the book and he
(25:40):
wants to meet ugi. So I told her that they
live across the state. So I said, when the weather
gets nice, we'll figure out a place to meet and
I'll drive and I'll meet you. You know, no, since
you're driving five hours, I can drive two hours and
meet you or something. But they have a rescued pit
bull and when her husband has a nightmare, the dog
will lick him away and then just sleep next to them.
(26:02):
And that story grabbed me so much. That's that gave
me the idea for the book that I'm writing now.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Fantastic will keep us breast on the progress of that.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
They are definitely Pibulls are a great breed, great family breed,
and they definitely knew how to take care of a family.
Speaker 9 (26:16):
When they were first bread they were called nanny dogs
or known as nanny dogs, because they were so protective
and loving of the family. You know, there are three
I don't have the statistics in front of me, and
I won't tell you what the breeds were in case
I have the information wrong. But there are three other
breeds of dogs who had more dog attacks than pitbulls,
(26:37):
And the last figures I heard were for two thousand
and eight, I think are two thousand and nine, So
one of which is a America's most popular family dog
attacked more people than pit bulls did that year. Absolutely,
we'll leave it at that.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Well, we're coming to the end of the show, Larry,
But I do want to mention a quote you recently
were quoted in People Pat's article as saying, what we've
learned is you can't avoid bad things happening. You can't
let them define who you are. You have to wait
and see what's going to come out of the other end.
Speaker 9 (27:10):
Oh, you know, I can give you the real life
example of that. My one son was a top flight
wrestler and he was slated to be captain of the
wrestling team and co captain of the football team and
co captain of the lacrosse team his senior year, and
he quit football because he said to the coach, I
have no future as one hundred and sixty five pound
(27:32):
football player, and I can't put on twenty five pounds
and take it off for wrestling. It affects my grades.
So he wrestled starting in June. He wrestled five days
a week and worked out, and the third match of
the season in November, he tore the tendon in his
elbow and he lost the entire season. Yeah, I mean,
he literally wept in my arms. And he came back
(27:53):
with two weeks left, and he went to the tournament,
and he not only won the district tournament, but he
was the first and only wrestler in the history of
the school to be voted by the coaches the outstanding
wrestler in the tournament because they knew what he had
gone through to get there. And about a week later,
he and I were sitting around and I said, did
you learn anything from your dog that helped you through this?
And he said, yeah, I did. And I was surprised.
(28:15):
I said, really what? And he said, and I will
phrase it for the radio. He said, stuff happens, but
you can't let it define who you are.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
There you go great lessons and Ugie teaches us once again, huh,
you don't know where.
Speaker 9 (28:28):
It's going to end up. The worst things can happen,
and they're not going to stay there. I mean, Ugi
is living proof that you can go through the most
awful experience and come out fine on the other side.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
That's right. It's a great.
Speaker 9 (28:40):
Example from By the way, I took a note of
I want to get that information on Colonel I think
its Vogel Song, Bob Vogel Song. I was told that
Walter Reed Army Hospital will not allow any of the
pitbull breeds in as therapy dogs, and so I promised
myself that I would see what I could do about that.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Absolutely well, go to Petlife radio dot com, click on
my icon Animal Rights, and now lead you to.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
The articles so you can learn more.
Speaker 9 (29:06):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
You're welcome. I appreciate you being on board with us today.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
We've been talking to Larry Lovin about Ugi, the dog
only a family could love. Larry, appreciate you coming on
Animal Right. My pleasure, pleasure to absolutely keep us abreast
of what's going.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
On in your life and with the new book.
Speaker 9 (29:25):
Okay, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Thank you what we're coming to the end of the
show today. I'd like to thank everybody for listening to
Animal Rights on pet Life Radio. I'd also like to
thank Larry Levin and Ugi for being on my show today,
and thanks to our sponsors and producers for making the
show possible. To find out more about me, Timlink and
other podcasts that I have done on the Animal Rights
Show and my blog on pet Life Radio, please go
(29:48):
to petlifradio dot com, and while you're there, be sure
to check out all of the other hosts and shows
on pet life Radio. If you have any questions, comments,
ideas for a show, or any authors, writers or bloggers
you'd like to see on the show, please email me
at timat petlifradio dot com. It's petlife radio dot com
and I'll do my very best to answer your questions,
(30:10):
entertain your comments, and see if we can get the
writers on the show that you want to hear the most.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
So when you tell next time, write a great story
about the animals in.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Your life, share it in a blog, article, or book,
and who knows, you may be the next guest on
Animal Rights pet Life Radio.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 5 (30:26):
Let's talk pets every week on demand only on petlfradio
dot com.
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