November 19, 2025 • 34 mins
This week on Double A Chattery, we're opening up about one of the hardest love stories we live — loving an ageing pet.
We're joined by Dr Alicia (Lissi) Kennedy, an end-of-life veterinarian and founder of Cherished Pets, who calls herself a “social-hearted vet”. Lissi talks about the grace of ageing pets, why the human–animal bond has grown so intense, and what a good death for a pet can look like. She explains her guiding principles for “when it’s time”, the role of euthanasia, how to involve children, and why aftercare and ritual (ashes, candles, small ceremonies) matter so much.
Content note: This episode includes discussion of pet death, euthanasia and grief. Please listen gently.
https://www.cherishedpetcare.com.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This podcast is for general information only and should not
be taken as psychological advice. Listeners should consult with their
healthcare professionals for a specific medical advice.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Hello, I'm Amanda Keller and I'm Anita McGregor, and welcome
to Double A Chattery.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
I thought we'd talked today about something that I spoke
about on the radio show, something that touched a huge
nerve with millions, literally millions of people. I was talking
about my I'm going to cry just talking about it. Nina,
don't let me. Don't let me.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
This is going to be a hard one.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
You have to put my fingernails out.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Okay, Okay, let's reach your Okay. Did you notice how
quickly I know you.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Were doing it already?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Weird?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
This is something I said on the show about my
aging dog. Well, I was away with my I'm crying already.
I was away with my dog on the weekend. And
she's fine. Anyone that knows me, she's not time, No,
she's not. But she's thirteen and I have to lift
her into the car now, little front paws going off
to pull up her back legs. She's going deaf, she's
gray in the face, she's kind of stands at the
(01:23):
bottom of the stairs and tries to will herself to
go up them. And there's a lot that's hard for
me at the moment. My husband's m well, my dad's
ninety one. And I look at the dog and I think,
you cannot go anywhere. And I follow this woman on Instagram.
My name is Carol I mcchriisten, and she lives in
this beautiful little tiny cottage in this I'm come back
now in the Scottish Highlands. And she has a Border
(01:46):
Collie and she takes that dog out walking in the
most beautiful scenery I've ever seen, and she bakes and
she has this lovely life, it seems. And she posted
this some images of her dog having a dog sitting
in the dog on the car, and she posted it
to a poem written by a woman called Josie Bullcup
and it's about her dog. And I watched about a
(02:09):
thousand times and I cry and cry, and I think
of my dog and let's play the palm. Now.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I have a bit of a week.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
If it could be with this dog, I'd want the
dog days to last forever. It would always be this
dog on the end of the leash, no matter the weather,
rain or shine, taking our time on even the coldest
of days. It would always be this dog, leaving scratches
on the hardwood and getting it my way while I
vacuum up the very furry evidence that this house belongs
to both of us. It would always be this dog
(02:35):
at the front door when I get home from work,
pacing around like nothing has ever been more joyful than
this moment, every single time. If it were up to me,
I'd have to leave every party early for the rest
of my life to get home to this dog. I'd
forfeit the ability to swollowed in bed. I'd share the
last plight of every meal, apologize to every guest for
the pread of excitement when they arrive. I take a
(02:56):
rain soaked coach and muddy pop burns in the front hallway,
only find hairs on every sweater I ever wear. But
I only knew it for this dog, because if it
were this dog, I don't want the dog days to
last forever. Oh.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Even hearing it again, then, Anita, you.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Know, all I could as I was listening to that,
all I could think of is that first night that
you had many and our friend Janet and me looked
after Minnie and she was just.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
This little bundle of her and it's just she was
also a demon for that first year. You don't have
to deny that. I thought, what the hell have we done?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Yeah she was a little yeah, yeah, would.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
You'd like to say she was possessed? And then it's
like she trained herself overnight. She just well, smartest breed
in the world. She kind of just sorted herself out
and has as you know, she's my little soulmate.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
She was, you know, absolutely, and she has guided us,
shepherded us through all of our walks for years, and
it's just it's it's you know, when you know she
still comes along with us. She's you know, she's a
little slower. You know, she likes to stop and have
her you know, feet of bacon. Yes she does, she does.
(04:17):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
So many comments came from that, thousands of comments from
people all over the world, because this is a thing
that so many people go through, and we thought we'd
just read out some of these comments. I feel you're
pain Amanda. My mum has a terminal lung disease and
my soul dog is now eleven and a half and
I tell him he can't of believe me. The two
most important things in my life are my mom and
(04:40):
my fur baby. I cry every time I think of
the day I have to come home without him there anymore.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
And this is and this is from Megan Beckenzal, who says,
we have two old gentlemen. One is fifteen, the other
is fourteen. Both are on borrowed time going through the
same thing. I come home now and the don't hear me.
All the years are being rushed out at the front door.
And how I yearn for that now?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Oh amnop stop, I'm keeping gleanings in business.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
I'm going to do one more, just to go, Okay,
you tor true, do it do? This is from Nicky Hopkins,
who says the loss of my Chili Girl was way
harder than losing my dad. I know a lot of
people look at me with shock when I say that,
but it's true. I had my dad for nearly nine decades,
but my girl was my daughter that I was unable
to have in human forum.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
It's so true.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I've got another friend who talks about this. She was
very close to her mum, extremely close, but when her
mom died, she'd kind of I don't know she had
a different that's the world's biggest grief, but the grief
of she said, then her dog died and that was
every day harder. But this one. And as someone who
has written this is Mitro Vixen nice anticipatory grief is tough.
(05:54):
That's what I'm going through now. Absolutely, I lost my
soul dog. He was ten and a half. But grief
is love with nowhere to go. And there was a
lot of love, which is why there's a lot of
grief missing him. I'll spend my lifetime missing him, but
the pain is worth the ten and.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
A half years I had.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Oh, but she said, I agree with you. There's something
very graceful about an aging dog. Now another comment we got,
I think is really interesting.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You've got it there in front of you and someone.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Who reached out through the teacups.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
This is like the Wegi ball. Yes, And we responded,
we read that we did. This is Lucie Kennedy and
she reached out. She is what she calls a social
hearted vat and she talks about that grace of an
(06:48):
aging pound and she reached out to tie because she
wanted to talk about how do we do this, how
do we support pats and people through this profound what
she calls the top end of life phase, how we
hold hands and hearts and paws, and how we witness
the magic and the awe of the human animal bond
(07:12):
through this vulnerable time.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
And well, we thought we'd get her on the show
and she can talk us through what she has learned
about how to handle.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
All of this.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
We'll be talking to listen next. Thank you for reaching
out through Double a Chattery to get in touch with us.
So many people were moved by the poem, by the
(07:46):
idea of their pet dying. But this is something that
you well know.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Indeed it is. It's my life actually, So being an
end of life veterinarian and focusing on the human animal
bond is what I do. And end of life is
such a precious time. It's a sacred time. It's a
profound time. So, you know, seeing that post and reading
(08:14):
some of the comments, I reached out because I know
that people want to talk about this topic and they
actually need to talk about this topic.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, can I ask you?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
I was thinking that that people now and is it
because of social media that we do talk about it
and people talk about their dog passing over the Rainbow Bridge.
I don't remember in years gone by that people would
discuss this stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah, such a good question, because it has really shifted.
So I've been a vet for four decades now, and
the shift in the end of life space, for people
feeling comfortable talking about it, being able to take leave
from work when they've lost a chair, fish pet. It
(09:00):
is a lot more normalized now. And I do think
social media has played a huge part in that because
it's given people a platform to share tributes, and then
the response that people get to their tributes is huge.
So you know, it's good. It's really good, and we
know we can do so much more for pets with
(09:22):
after care and with supporting them through their end of
life journey. I mean, even palliative care in the veterinary
space and the home euthanasia services that now exist, they
weren't here ten years ago. So I think that, you know,
there's been a couple of things playing into that. I mean,
(09:42):
the human animal bond has intensified over the last you know,
twenty twenty years. No question. When I first became a vet,
A didn't talk about pet death. There were no options
for cremation and after care, and particularly in the last
ten to fifteen years, we've seen an intensification of the
(10:07):
human animal bond in people's lives. And I think part
of that is, you know, because of disconnection and you know,
social isolation, people are leaning in on their pets. The
bond with their pet matters more now than it ever has.
And so that means that when a pet is approaching
(10:29):
end of life, it's like losing a loved family member.
And as you mentioned before, for a lot of people,
they'll say it's harder than when they lose a human
family member. Our pets are family members.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yea, So let's see. So it sounds so again four decades,
what an amazing accomplishment. But when you think about the
how you came into this kind of end of life focus,
was it one of those things that kind of gradually,
as you know, culture changed, social media came up, or
(11:04):
was there some event or a situation that kind of
triggered you into this, Yes, into this process.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
So much so the death of my mum. So when
I was thirty six, so that's what I'm sixty now
to your mass. All the time ago, so I had
already been working as a vet. I really felt comfortable
in the death space with pets, whereas a lot of
other vets didn't feel comfortable in that space. So what
(11:35):
I found back then home euthanasia services didn't exist. I
started my home euth in Asia service ten years ago,
but back then it was within the context of a
veterinary practice, and I found my receptionist started referring people
to me and she would she would phrase it compassionate euthanasia,
And I asked her one day, why are you putting
(11:56):
compassionate euthanasia? And she said, will you bring something to
that ex experience for people that they're not getting from
the other vets in this practice, And that really landed
for me and made me start to think about our
role as vets in supporting pets and their people through
the death of their pet. Then, when my mum died,
I was with her, and that experience of seeing someone
(12:20):
die was just life changing, and it made me She'd
had a very long battle with throat cancer, so it
had been a very long journey up to her actually dying,
but we were with her seeing her die, and then
I realized, Wow, you know, in my professional life as
(12:42):
a vet, I am assisting pets to die every single
day as part of being a vet, And from that
moment it became very much as spiritual. There was a
spiritual element playing into my professional work as a vet
assisting a pet to die, and I started to appreciate
(13:03):
the magnitude of my responsibility in that moment to the
pet and to the people, and it really shaped how
I then progressed in that space as a bit.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Is there a good way to do it?
Speaker 3 (13:20):
What have you learned that we can take from this conversation?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Yeah, there is a very good way to do it.
I mean, so many vets are assisting pets to die
every day. It's happening now, and there's different contexts for
pet death. I use the language death, which makes some
people uncomfortable, but I actually think we need to be
(13:44):
using the language. And if you translate the word euthanasia,
it does mean assisting to die. And what I explain
to people is that the role of euthanasia is to
help pets die when they're dying anyway. So I have
(14:06):
developed I have three guiding principles around when it's time.
So people come to us as vets, and it's an
agonizing decision because you don't want to get it wrong.
Because you can't reverse it once it's happened. So it's
a huge responsibility and people get very stressed by knowing
(14:26):
when it's time to die, and that is our duty
as their veterinarian to guide them. So my guiding principles
that have developed just by me working in this space
is that the condition is terminal, and there's lots of
things that contribute to that. So a geriatric, frail old
(14:47):
dog that's having trouble with mobility and not able to
go to the toilet, that's pretty terminal, you know. So
aging is terminal ultimately, but we obviously assist pets to
die for lots of other reasons when they're younger. That
the suffering is becoming irreversible, so the pain management or
whatever options are available, that this animal is starting to
(15:11):
suffer and there's not a lot of light. And the
third consideration that's really strong for me is the human
animal bond element, how people are coping or not coping,
how people are whether or not they have the capacity
to meet extra needs of their pet, whether that's financial
capacity or physical capacity. I'm thinking of a client who
(15:34):
had a really bad back and she was trying to
lift her thirty five kilo labrador, you know. And so
we then guide that decision on its time, and then
it's around holding people. I often say we hold hands, hearts,
and pores through that journey.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Yeah, you mentioned about after care, What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (16:07):
What we mean by after caries? So the death journey
starts from that moment when we realize that death might
be coming, and for some people that is. And I'm
going to just talk about pets here because I actually
talk a lot about death and dying in people too,
because it's so intricately connected. And I find in my
(16:28):
work as an end of life that you end up
having conversations with people about their own death and dying.
You can't separate them. They're intricately connected. But the moment
of death is coming from when we know that it
might be that my dog has turned twelve and he's
and old. People come to us and he's old, what
(16:49):
do I expect? Or we've had a terminal diagnosis, or
something unexpected happens, like a ruptured splinic tumor or seizureing,
and a lot of the focus is to the euthanasia
or to the death. After care is pretty much what
happens from death, how we support people, how we manage
(17:11):
the body, what the options are for body disposal, whether
that's burial at home or cremation, and then you're moving
into that really sacred time. So let's use the most
common scenario is cremation. The moment of death is when
(17:35):
we have euthanased your cherished pet, and then the decision
needs to be made what happens now, And often we've
already had that conversation. But in the event of you
choosing cremation where you want the ashes returned to you,
you enter that period that I liken to between the
death and the funeral of a human. So somebody dies
(17:58):
and then you have seven to ten days and then
you have the funeral and you're in that period of mornings.
I encourage people to create an altar space, have a
candle and a photo and flowers, and then when the
ashes are returned home, that's a profound moment and opportunity
(18:20):
to really honor the bereavement process through a ceremony, particularly
for families with young children. I'm sorry, Amanda.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
I'm preemptively grieving, but please continue. What you're saying is
just so interesting and insightful.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I am just struck, you know, when you're talking about
ways of creating this ritual around grieving, because you know,
I think as you're kind of alluding to, grieving is grieving,
it's grieving, and it's humans. Perhaps it's all the same.
Let's see, I was going to ask you. When I
was thinking about preparing for this, I put one word
(18:58):
down on my pece of paper about about having thinking
about this. So I've had two dogs. I have not
had a pat since coming to Australia, but in Canada
I had two Bouviers, so you know, just one after
the other, and they're just these big, boofy dogs. They're
(19:19):
just amazing. And when we moved to Australia, our old dog,
her name was Crunch, that we went to the vat
they said she's too ill to come with us, she'd
never make it through that whole process. And so my
in laws were so lovely and they took Crunch and
(19:42):
she passed about about a month after we had to.
We euthanized her at that point. And the word that
I put down was just that guilt of just not
being there, not being able to be with and not
being like and I was, you know, obviously still able
to grieve, but it was such a different experience than
when we lost our first you know, our Cali, our
(20:03):
first movie. It was just so tough. So any thoughts
about how to manage that, you know that the complexity.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
The guilt of choosing the moment or choosing the moment,
and then the guilt of any way you choose to
do it.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean guilt and euthanasia. I mean
they go together, and guilt is such a part of grief.
People can be very you know, they will whip themselves
and be very hard on themselves around making what is
the most courageous and kind and loving decision. I think
(20:43):
where I come back to on that is having the
conversations with people, and the role of the veterinarian in
that experience is the professional objective neutral in a way
because it's not our pet. Having said that, it's impossible
for us not to get a little bit emotionally involved,
(21:07):
particularly for patients that we've known for a period of time.
But at the end of the day, our role is
to support people and advocate for what's best for the animal,
and so acknowledging the different feelings that come up with
grief and guilties probably close to the most common one,
(21:30):
but there's a whole realm of feelings that come out
at that time. And so then it's also vets aren't
bereavement counselors, and so it's also around knowing when somebody
needs additional support to what we've been able to provide
as part of our service. We actually so, I'm the
(21:53):
founder of an organization called Cherished Pets. Everything we do
revolves around the human animal bond and as part of that,
we provide a social service to support vulnerable people with
their pets. So we are blessed to have a social
worker on our team and we're able to provide additional
bereavement support to people when they've lost a cherished pet.
(22:18):
We also will connect into other services like Vanessa rolf
here in Melbourne who's a grief counselor for pets and
she's incredible.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Yeah, for many families, this is the first time a
child has encountered death. That's a big thing that you
have to live through with a family too.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
And it's beautiful, Amanda, and we work a lot with
families with children and there's so many questions about should
the children be here, not be here. You know how
to involve the children, and that is a whole conversation
because it depends on the age of the children and
the circumstances of the death, the timing, the urgency, and
(23:04):
also the individual temperament of children. But what I do
say to parents is it may not feel this way now,
but you will look back on this experience as a
family and treasure the moment that it has been as
a parenting opportunity as a family to introduce death into
(23:27):
your children's lives in a supported and safe way. So
you know, Amanda asked me earlier about the actual planning
for euthanasia, I can say this with a whole heart.
I have not had a youth in Asia that hasn't
(23:47):
been beautiful. So it is the opportunity for a pain
free for your pet to pass without, free of pain,
peacefully rounded by the love of the people that they know.
Or for some people, they can't be there, and I
(24:08):
don't judge that. So then it's who's there by proxy,
and that might be the vet and the nurse, and
we deliver the love that their humans aren't able to deliver,
and in the comfort of their favorite place. When that
is possible, whether that's home or the beach or a park.
Just last night, I was supporting a family through an
(24:28):
emergency euthanasia. I was supporting them remotely, and their cat
really needed to be euthanized, and they were in emergency
at the hospital, and it had been their wish to
bring their cat home and have a euthanasia at home.
And I just had to gently say to them, right now,
your cat just wants to be dead. I didn't use
(24:50):
those words. I said, he just doesn't want to be here.
He doesn't care whether he's at home or in emergency.
We need to try and create a bubble experienceerience for
you with him in that emergency hospital environment, because our
emergency vets are incredible and they do honor this time
and they create space as best they can. But it's
(25:13):
not the same as being at home. But for that
little cat, there was too much risk of too much
suffering if they were to relocate him home. So you
have to work with what's happening. And you know, I
reassure people it's not People get very anxious about the
(25:34):
actual euthanasia, and I say to people, it's not scary.
It's actually quite a peaceful experience. For a lot of people,
their pet is the link to someone who they have
loved dearly, who has died. That's a very common scenario.
So this happens a lot where husband may have died
(26:01):
and then five years later his dog. He's that end
of life. And so for the family, you know, the
wife and the kids or whoever the family is, it's
that it brings up grief from losing their human family member,
you know. So pet loss is a web that connects
(26:23):
into our lives.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Wow, I'm sorry that what you say is beautiful. What
you say is beautiful, and that these tears aren't sad. Well,
they probably are, but they're also you know, it's the
inevitability of time that's coming. Yeah, but I think I've
got a better brain around it now.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Yeah, And I'm just thinking about the the the the
idea that Jack and Liam and many al kind of
grew up together and that this is going to be
when many does go, that it's going to be what
it is from now, in twenty years from now. Absolutely
that it's there. It is complex, just thinking about all
(27:09):
the dynamics of yeah, you know, the memories of the
childhood and all the yeah, Oh, it's a lot.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
It's a lot. But thank you lot allowing us to
acknowledge that it's a lot, which is why initially people
responded to what I'd said on the radio, because it's
a lot, and we finally get to say out loud,
this is a lot.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yeah, it's a lot, and it's sacred, it's profound, it's deep,
it's love, it's human it you know, it is just
one of the most memorable experiences we have. So you know,
(27:50):
the tears are good. That's part of the journey and
ensuring people have that person in their life that can
hold hand, hand, hearts and pause through it all. It's
it's a we walk together and it's profound. Thank you
for bringing it into you know, the conversation through your
(28:15):
post that had me crying in.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
The part.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Lizzie, thank you. I mean you are really doing important work,
the Lord's work, and need absolutely and bringing and bringing
a different perspective to the thing that we all you know,
fear dread. You know, you know those conversations about about
death and dying are important ones. So thank you so much.
(28:42):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Thank thank you, thank you for having me lots of love.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Ah oh, big size, big size.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
You know what I learned from that? And I think
I probably would normally have run away from thinking about
what was to come, whereas she's saying, maybe plant and
think about it and have some agency and how it happens.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, I would imagine that there are moments where you
do wanna, can't make me ninety moments yep, But then
there's going to be every once in a while when
you're going to have to think about the inevitability of this.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Yeah, you know how I thought about. I thought about
doctor Chris Brown, who's a very good friend of mine.
He knows my love of many, he knows how much
many means to our family.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
But the guy he.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Might be the guy you know what I might do. Actually,
I'm not going to do this, but I read this
week that Tom Brady, the NFL star, has cloned his dog.
He mentioned the company he's worked with. You take the
blood from your very very elderly dog and when the
time comes new cloned dog.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Barbra Streisan did this, and apparently she said it wasn't
like the dog that was cloned, wasn't her dog like
inevitably wasn't going to be her dog. It was a
different because you can have from it well as it
should be.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
You can have you can have identical twins who's still
a different, have different personalities, different soul energy.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Yeah, and yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Think you don't. I don't know if you want to
your dog by bringing the same one back again.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
No cloning has like it was. Do you remember with Dolly?
It was a big thing and the sheep, Dolly the sheep,
and then it's going to sing beautiful? Is that the
way it happened? Is that true?
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Amount you finished crying now, so at least now we
can do glimmers.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Actually, my glimmer is you and Ea.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
We spoke a couple of weeks ago, and you said,
by the nature of your job, you don't cry. I
saw you, I saw your eyes get glassy, and I.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
I think I saw a little tear escape. I've witnessed this,
You have witnessed it. This was It was such a
profound conversation, Amanda. It's just you know.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
When you were talking about Crunch, Oh.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Yeah, she was just I mean, my Bouviers were just
such special dogs. They were just amazing, and I just
it just brought it just brings lots up. I mean,
grief is a layered thing, isn't it. It just comes
and comes and comes.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
All right, well that's my glim I seeing you go
the blob. Okay, well yours mine. This is my son
told me this and it's.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Such a hilarious story. So Connor was had gone into
a one of those phone fix it places and because
he needed the screen to get replaced, and in doing that,
he went he walked back out to the car he
had to go and pick up Logan, my grandson, and
realized that the app on his phone had somehow been disconnected.
(31:58):
And this is how he got into his car and
started the car. So it meant that he stranded and
he needs to go and pick up Logan from daycare.
I didn't have the key, he'd use the DApp to
get in. He was using the app to get in
and turn on the car. And so every parent's nightmare.
You don't want to go and be late for day
you know, daycare pickup. And so he you know, tried
(32:20):
calling his wife and unfortunately Tia is kind of like
me that she often has her phone on silent and people,
you know, recently, my husband just called me ten times
in a row to try to get my attention. And
so he was trying to get Taya's attention and couldn't
and just but just think about this lateral thinking, Amanda.
He went and piloted the little rumba, the little you know,
(32:44):
the little floor black vacuum cleaner because that app was
still working, and drove it and was trying to like
wave itself to go and get TIA's attention, to get
to get her to answer her phone, and she wasn't.
She was still like in the kitchen doing something, and
so he had to go and drive the little rumba
(33:06):
thing into her to get her attention. She did, she
was able to go and get the key. She was
you know, it all worked out. But I think that
that was the most unique kind of lateral solution to
a problem that I'd heard in a while.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
He piloted the vacuum cleaner to smash her in the legs.
What did she think was happening? Why am I being
attacked by my vacuum cleaner?
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Yes it was, but it was he was making it
wiggle to kind of say, pay attention, and she finally
she finally figured it out, looked at her phone, answered
it and Yeah, isn't that hilarious?
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Yeah, I wouldn't have paid attention to my phone. I
would have got some kind of priest to come around
and throw that thing out the window.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
It's possessed. It's a little exorcism on your on your
little room.
Speaker 4 (33:51):
Brother.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
It isn't that hilarious?
Speaker 4 (33:53):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Well we've covered a lot in this podcast. Thank you
for holding my hand through this, antail, hold.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Your hand any day around this and you're going to
we will hold each other's hands through this because I will.
I will be. I will be with you on.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
This journey, even though I'm going to clone Miny and
she's never dying.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Remember absolutely, I do remember that, Amanda. All right, let
me bash this back, all right?
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Thank you, Tea cups, love you too.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
We'll next see you next time.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
See you.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
M
This podcast is for general information only and should not
be taken as psychological advice. Listeners should consult with their
healthcare professionals for a specific medical advice.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Hello, I'm Amanda Keller and I'm Anita McGregor, and welcome
to Double A Chattery.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
I thought we'd talked today about something that I spoke
about on the radio show, something that touched a huge
nerve with millions, literally millions of people. I was talking
about my I'm going to cry just talking about it. Nina,
don't let me. Don't let me.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
This is going to be a hard one.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
You have to put my fingernails out.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Okay, Okay, let's reach your Okay. Did you notice how
quickly I know you.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Were doing it already?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Weird?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
This is something I said on the show about my
aging dog. Well, I was away with my I'm crying already.
I was away with my dog on the weekend. And
she's fine. Anyone that knows me, she's not time, No,
she's not. But she's thirteen and I have to lift
her into the car now, little front paws going off
to pull up her back legs. She's going deaf, she's
gray in the face, she's kind of stands at the
(01:23):
bottom of the stairs and tries to will herself to
go up them. And there's a lot that's hard for
me at the moment. My husband's m well, my dad's
ninety one. And I look at the dog and I think,
you cannot go anywhere. And I follow this woman on Instagram.
My name is Carol I mcchriisten, and she lives in
this beautiful little tiny cottage in this I'm come back
now in the Scottish Highlands. And she has a Border
(01:46):
Collie and she takes that dog out walking in the
most beautiful scenery I've ever seen, and she bakes and
she has this lovely life, it seems. And she posted
this some images of her dog having a dog sitting
in the dog on the car, and she posted it
to a poem written by a woman called Josie Bullcup
and it's about her dog. And I watched about a
(02:09):
thousand times and I cry and cry, and I think
of my dog and let's play the palm. Now.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I have a bit of a week.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
If it could be with this dog, I'd want the
dog days to last forever. It would always be this
dog on the end of the leash, no matter the weather,
rain or shine, taking our time on even the coldest
of days. It would always be this dog, leaving scratches
on the hardwood and getting it my way while I
vacuum up the very furry evidence that this house belongs
to both of us. It would always be this dog
(02:35):
at the front door when I get home from work,
pacing around like nothing has ever been more joyful than
this moment, every single time. If it were up to me,
I'd have to leave every party early for the rest
of my life to get home to this dog. I'd
forfeit the ability to swollowed in bed. I'd share the
last plight of every meal, apologize to every guest for
the pread of excitement when they arrive. I take a
(02:56):
rain soaked coach and muddy pop burns in the front hallway,
only find hairs on every sweater I ever wear. But
I only knew it for this dog, because if it
were this dog, I don't want the dog days to
last forever. Oh.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Even hearing it again, then, Anita, you.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Know, all I could as I was listening to that,
all I could think of is that first night that
you had many and our friend Janet and me looked
after Minnie and she was just.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
This little bundle of her and it's just she was
also a demon for that first year. You don't have
to deny that. I thought, what the hell have we done?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Yeah she was a little yeah, yeah, would.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
You'd like to say she was possessed? And then it's
like she trained herself overnight. She just well, smartest breed
in the world. She kind of just sorted herself out
and has as you know, she's my little soulmate.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
She was, you know, absolutely, and she has guided us,
shepherded us through all of our walks for years, and
it's just it's it's you know, when you know she
still comes along with us. She's you know, she's a
little slower. You know, she likes to stop and have
her you know, feet of bacon. Yes she does, she does.
(04:17):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
So many comments came from that, thousands of comments from
people all over the world, because this is a thing
that so many people go through, and we thought we'd
just read out some of these comments. I feel you're
pain Amanda. My mum has a terminal lung disease and
my soul dog is now eleven and a half and
I tell him he can't of believe me. The two
most important things in my life are my mom and
(04:40):
my fur baby. I cry every time I think of
the day I have to come home without him there anymore.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
And this is and this is from Megan Beckenzal, who says,
we have two old gentlemen. One is fifteen, the other
is fourteen. Both are on borrowed time going through the
same thing. I come home now and the don't hear me.
All the years are being rushed out at the front door.
And how I yearn for that now?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Oh amnop stop, I'm keeping gleanings in business.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
I'm going to do one more, just to go, Okay,
you tor true, do it do? This is from Nicky Hopkins,
who says the loss of my Chili Girl was way
harder than losing my dad. I know a lot of
people look at me with shock when I say that,
but it's true. I had my dad for nearly nine decades,
but my girl was my daughter that I was unable
to have in human forum.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
It's so true.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I've got another friend who talks about this. She was
very close to her mum, extremely close, but when her
mom died, she'd kind of I don't know she had
a different that's the world's biggest grief, but the grief
of she said, then her dog died and that was
every day harder. But this one. And as someone who
has written this is Mitro Vixen nice anticipatory grief is tough.
(05:54):
That's what I'm going through now. Absolutely, I lost my
soul dog. He was ten and a half. But grief
is love with nowhere to go. And there was a
lot of love, which is why there's a lot of
grief missing him. I'll spend my lifetime missing him, but
the pain is worth the ten and.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
A half years I had.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Oh, but she said, I agree with you. There's something
very graceful about an aging dog. Now another comment we got,
I think is really interesting.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You've got it there in front of you and someone.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Who reached out through the teacups.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
This is like the Wegi ball. Yes, And we responded,
we read that we did. This is Lucie Kennedy and
she reached out. She is what she calls a social
hearted vat and she talks about that grace of an
(06:48):
aging pound and she reached out to tie because she
wanted to talk about how do we do this, how
do we support pats and people through this profound what
she calls the top end of life phase, how we
hold hands and hearts and paws, and how we witness
the magic and the awe of the human animal bond
(07:12):
through this vulnerable time.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
And well, we thought we'd get her on the show
and she can talk us through what she has learned
about how to handle.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
All of this.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
We'll be talking to listen next. Thank you for reaching
out through Double a Chattery to get in touch with us.
So many people were moved by the poem, by the
(07:46):
idea of their pet dying. But this is something that
you well know.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Indeed it is. It's my life actually, So being an
end of life veterinarian and focusing on the human animal
bond is what I do. And end of life is
such a precious time. It's a sacred time. It's a
profound time. So, you know, seeing that post and reading
(08:14):
some of the comments, I reached out because I know
that people want to talk about this topic and they
actually need to talk about this topic.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, can I ask you?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
I was thinking that that people now and is it
because of social media that we do talk about it
and people talk about their dog passing over the Rainbow Bridge.
I don't remember in years gone by that people would
discuss this stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah, such a good question, because it has really shifted.
So I've been a vet for four decades now, and
the shift in the end of life space, for people
feeling comfortable talking about it, being able to take leave
from work when they've lost a chair, fish pet. It
(09:00):
is a lot more normalized now. And I do think
social media has played a huge part in that because
it's given people a platform to share tributes, and then
the response that people get to their tributes is huge.
So you know, it's good. It's really good, and we
know we can do so much more for pets with
(09:22):
after care and with supporting them through their end of
life journey. I mean, even palliative care in the veterinary
space and the home euthanasia services that now exist, they
weren't here ten years ago. So I think that, you know,
there's been a couple of things playing into that. I mean,
(09:42):
the human animal bond has intensified over the last you know,
twenty twenty years. No question. When I first became a vet,
A didn't talk about pet death. There were no options
for cremation and after care, and particularly in the last
ten to fifteen years, we've seen an intensification of the
(10:07):
human animal bond in people's lives. And I think part
of that is, you know, because of disconnection and you know,
social isolation, people are leaning in on their pets. The
bond with their pet matters more now than it ever has.
And so that means that when a pet is approaching
(10:29):
end of life, it's like losing a loved family member.
And as you mentioned before, for a lot of people,
they'll say it's harder than when they lose a human
family member. Our pets are family members.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yea, So let's see. So it sounds so again four decades,
what an amazing accomplishment. But when you think about the
how you came into this kind of end of life focus,
was it one of those things that kind of gradually,
as you know, culture changed, social media came up, or
(11:04):
was there some event or a situation that kind of
triggered you into this, Yes, into this process.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
So much so the death of my mum. So when
I was thirty six, so that's what I'm sixty now
to your mass. All the time ago, so I had
already been working as a vet. I really felt comfortable
in the death space with pets, whereas a lot of
other vets didn't feel comfortable in that space. So what
(11:35):
I found back then home euthanasia services didn't exist. I
started my home euth in Asia service ten years ago,
but back then it was within the context of a
veterinary practice, and I found my receptionist started referring people
to me and she would she would phrase it compassionate euthanasia,
And I asked her one day, why are you putting
(11:56):
compassionate euthanasia? And she said, will you bring something to
that ex experience for people that they're not getting from
the other vets in this practice, And that really landed
for me and made me start to think about our
role as vets in supporting pets and their people through
the death of their pet. Then, when my mum died,
I was with her, and that experience of seeing someone
(12:20):
die was just life changing, and it made me She'd
had a very long battle with throat cancer, so it
had been a very long journey up to her actually dying,
but we were with her seeing her die, and then
I realized, Wow, you know, in my professional life as
(12:42):
a vet, I am assisting pets to die every single
day as part of being a vet, And from that
moment it became very much as spiritual. There was a
spiritual element playing into my professional work as a vet
assisting a pet to die, and I started to appreciate
(13:03):
the magnitude of my responsibility in that moment to the
pet and to the people, and it really shaped how
I then progressed in that space as a bit.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Is there a good way to do it?
Speaker 3 (13:20):
What have you learned that we can take from this conversation?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Yeah, there is a very good way to do it.
I mean, so many vets are assisting pets to die
every day. It's happening now, and there's different contexts for
pet death. I use the language death, which makes some
people uncomfortable, but I actually think we need to be
(13:44):
using the language. And if you translate the word euthanasia,
it does mean assisting to die. And what I explain
to people is that the role of euthanasia is to
help pets die when they're dying anyway. So I have
(14:06):
developed I have three guiding principles around when it's time.
So people come to us as vets, and it's an
agonizing decision because you don't want to get it wrong.
Because you can't reverse it once it's happened. So it's
a huge responsibility and people get very stressed by knowing
(14:26):
when it's time to die, and that is our duty
as their veterinarian to guide them. So my guiding principles
that have developed just by me working in this space
is that the condition is terminal, and there's lots of
things that contribute to that. So a geriatric, frail old
(14:47):
dog that's having trouble with mobility and not able to
go to the toilet, that's pretty terminal, you know. So
aging is terminal ultimately, but we obviously assist pets to
die for lots of other reasons when they're younger. That
the suffering is becoming irreversible, so the pain management or
whatever options are available, that this animal is starting to
(15:11):
suffer and there's not a lot of light. And the
third consideration that's really strong for me is the human
animal bond element, how people are coping or not coping,
how people are whether or not they have the capacity
to meet extra needs of their pet, whether that's financial
capacity or physical capacity. I'm thinking of a client who
(15:34):
had a really bad back and she was trying to
lift her thirty five kilo labrador, you know. And so
we then guide that decision on its time, and then
it's around holding people. I often say we hold hands, hearts,
and pores through that journey.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Yeah, you mentioned about after care, What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (16:07):
What we mean by after caries? So the death journey
starts from that moment when we realize that death might
be coming, and for some people that is. And I'm
going to just talk about pets here because I actually
talk a lot about death and dying in people too,
because it's so intricately connected. And I find in my
(16:28):
work as an end of life that you end up
having conversations with people about their own death and dying.
You can't separate them. They're intricately connected. But the moment
of death is coming from when we know that it
might be that my dog has turned twelve and he's
and old. People come to us and he's old, what
(16:49):
do I expect? Or we've had a terminal diagnosis, or
something unexpected happens, like a ruptured splinic tumor or seizureing,
and a lot of the focus is to the euthanasia
or to the death. After care is pretty much what
happens from death, how we support people, how we manage
(17:11):
the body, what the options are for body disposal, whether
that's burial at home or cremation, and then you're moving
into that really sacred time. So let's use the most
common scenario is cremation. The moment of death is when
(17:35):
we have euthanased your cherished pet, and then the decision
needs to be made what happens now, And often we've
already had that conversation. But in the event of you
choosing cremation where you want the ashes returned to you,
you enter that period that I liken to between the
death and the funeral of a human. So somebody dies
(17:58):
and then you have seven to ten days and then
you have the funeral and you're in that period of mornings.
I encourage people to create an altar space, have a
candle and a photo and flowers, and then when the
ashes are returned home, that's a profound moment and opportunity
(18:20):
to really honor the bereavement process through a ceremony, particularly
for families with young children. I'm sorry, Amanda.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
I'm preemptively grieving, but please continue. What you're saying is
just so interesting and insightful.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I am just struck, you know, when you're talking about
ways of creating this ritual around grieving, because you know,
I think as you're kind of alluding to, grieving is grieving,
it's grieving, and it's humans. Perhaps it's all the same.
Let's see, I was going to ask you. When I
was thinking about preparing for this, I put one word
(18:58):
down on my pece of paper about about having thinking
about this. So I've had two dogs. I have not
had a pat since coming to Australia, but in Canada
I had two Bouviers, so you know, just one after
the other, and they're just these big, boofy dogs. They're
(19:19):
just amazing. And when we moved to Australia, our old dog,
her name was Crunch, that we went to the vat
they said she's too ill to come with us, she'd
never make it through that whole process. And so my
in laws were so lovely and they took Crunch and
(19:42):
she passed about about a month after we had to.
We euthanized her at that point. And the word that
I put down was just that guilt of just not
being there, not being able to be with and not
being like and I was, you know, obviously still able
to grieve, but it was such a different experience than
when we lost our first you know, our Cali, our
(20:03):
first movie. It was just so tough. So any thoughts
about how to manage that, you know that the complexity.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
The guilt of choosing the moment or choosing the moment,
and then the guilt of any way you choose to
do it.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean guilt and euthanasia. I mean
they go together, and guilt is such a part of grief.
People can be very you know, they will whip themselves
and be very hard on themselves around making what is
the most courageous and kind and loving decision. I think
(20:43):
where I come back to on that is having the
conversations with people, and the role of the veterinarian in
that experience is the professional objective neutral in a way
because it's not our pet. Having said that, it's impossible
for us not to get a little bit emotionally involved,
(21:07):
particularly for patients that we've known for a period of time.
But at the end of the day, our role is
to support people and advocate for what's best for the animal,
and so acknowledging the different feelings that come up with
grief and guilties probably close to the most common one,
(21:30):
but there's a whole realm of feelings that come out
at that time. And so then it's also vets aren't
bereavement counselors, and so it's also around knowing when somebody
needs additional support to what we've been able to provide
as part of our service. We actually so, I'm the
(21:53):
founder of an organization called Cherished Pets. Everything we do
revolves around the human animal bond and as part of that,
we provide a social service to support vulnerable people with
their pets. So we are blessed to have a social
worker on our team and we're able to provide additional
bereavement support to people when they've lost a cherished pet.
(22:18):
We also will connect into other services like Vanessa rolf
here in Melbourne who's a grief counselor for pets and
she's incredible.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Yeah, for many families, this is the first time a
child has encountered death. That's a big thing that you
have to live through with a family too.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
And it's beautiful, Amanda, and we work a lot with
families with children and there's so many questions about should
the children be here, not be here. You know how
to involve the children, and that is a whole conversation
because it depends on the age of the children and
the circumstances of the death, the timing, the urgency, and
(23:04):
also the individual temperament of children. But what I do
say to parents is it may not feel this way now,
but you will look back on this experience as a
family and treasure the moment that it has been as
a parenting opportunity as a family to introduce death into
(23:27):
your children's lives in a supported and safe way. So
you know, Amanda asked me earlier about the actual planning
for euthanasia, I can say this with a whole heart.
I have not had a youth in Asia that hasn't
(23:47):
been beautiful. So it is the opportunity for a pain
free for your pet to pass without, free of pain,
peacefully rounded by the love of the people that they know.
Or for some people, they can't be there, and I
(24:08):
don't judge that. So then it's who's there by proxy,
and that might be the vet and the nurse, and
we deliver the love that their humans aren't able to deliver,
and in the comfort of their favorite place. When that
is possible, whether that's home or the beach or a park.
Just last night, I was supporting a family through an
(24:28):
emergency euthanasia. I was supporting them remotely, and their cat
really needed to be euthanized, and they were in emergency
at the hospital, and it had been their wish to
bring their cat home and have a euthanasia at home.
And I just had to gently say to them, right now,
your cat just wants to be dead. I didn't use
(24:50):
those words. I said, he just doesn't want to be here.
He doesn't care whether he's at home or in emergency.
We need to try and create a bubble experienceerience for
you with him in that emergency hospital environment, because our
emergency vets are incredible and they do honor this time
and they create space as best they can. But it's
(25:13):
not the same as being at home. But for that
little cat, there was too much risk of too much
suffering if they were to relocate him home. So you
have to work with what's happening. And you know, I
reassure people it's not People get very anxious about the
(25:34):
actual euthanasia, and I say to people, it's not scary.
It's actually quite a peaceful experience. For a lot of people,
their pet is the link to someone who they have
loved dearly, who has died. That's a very common scenario.
So this happens a lot where husband may have died
(26:01):
and then five years later his dog. He's that end
of life. And so for the family, you know, the
wife and the kids or whoever the family is, it's
that it brings up grief from losing their human family member,
you know. So pet loss is a web that connects
(26:23):
into our lives.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Wow, I'm sorry that what you say is beautiful. What
you say is beautiful, and that these tears aren't sad. Well,
they probably are, but they're also you know, it's the
inevitability of time that's coming. Yeah, but I think I've
got a better brain around it now.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Yeah, And I'm just thinking about the the the the
idea that Jack and Liam and many al kind of
grew up together and that this is going to be
when many does go, that it's going to be what
it is from now, in twenty years from now. Absolutely
that it's there. It is complex, just thinking about all
(27:09):
the dynamics of yeah, you know, the memories of the
childhood and all the yeah, Oh, it's a lot.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
It's a lot. But thank you lot allowing us to
acknowledge that it's a lot, which is why initially people
responded to what I'd said on the radio, because it's
a lot, and we finally get to say out loud,
this is a lot.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yeah, it's a lot, and it's sacred, it's profound, it's deep,
it's love, it's human it you know, it is just
one of the most memorable experiences we have. So you know,
(27:50):
the tears are good. That's part of the journey and
ensuring people have that person in their life that can
hold hand, hand, hearts and pause through it all. It's
it's a we walk together and it's profound. Thank you
for bringing it into you know, the conversation through your
(28:15):
post that had me crying in.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
The part.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Lizzie, thank you. I mean you are really doing important work,
the Lord's work, and need absolutely and bringing and bringing
a different perspective to the thing that we all you know,
fear dread. You know, you know those conversations about about
death and dying are important ones. So thank you so much.
(28:42):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Thank thank you, thank you for having me lots of love.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Ah oh, big size, big size.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
You know what I learned from that? And I think
I probably would normally have run away from thinking about
what was to come, whereas she's saying, maybe plant and
think about it and have some agency and how it happens.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, I would imagine that there are moments where you
do wanna, can't make me ninety moments yep, But then
there's going to be every once in a while when
you're going to have to think about the inevitability of this.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Yeah, you know how I thought about. I thought about
doctor Chris Brown, who's a very good friend of mine.
He knows my love of many, he knows how much
many means to our family.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
But the guy he.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Might be the guy you know what I might do. Actually,
I'm not going to do this, but I read this
week that Tom Brady, the NFL star, has cloned his dog.
He mentioned the company he's worked with. You take the
blood from your very very elderly dog and when the
time comes new cloned dog.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Barbra Streisan did this, and apparently she said it wasn't
like the dog that was cloned, wasn't her dog like
inevitably wasn't going to be her dog. It was a
different because you can have from it well as it
should be.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
You can have you can have identical twins who's still
a different, have different personalities, different soul energy.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Yeah, and yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Think you don't. I don't know if you want to
your dog by bringing the same one back again.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
No cloning has like it was. Do you remember with Dolly?
It was a big thing and the sheep, Dolly the sheep,
and then it's going to sing beautiful? Is that the
way it happened? Is that true?
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Amount you finished crying now, so at least now we
can do glimmers.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Actually, my glimmer is you and Ea.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
We spoke a couple of weeks ago, and you said,
by the nature of your job, you don't cry. I
saw you, I saw your eyes get glassy, and I.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
I think I saw a little tear escape. I've witnessed this,
You have witnessed it. This was It was such a
profound conversation, Amanda. It's just you know.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
When you were talking about Crunch, Oh.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Yeah, she was just I mean, my Bouviers were just
such special dogs. They were just amazing, and I just
it just brought it just brings lots up. I mean,
grief is a layered thing, isn't it. It just comes
and comes and comes.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
All right, well that's my glim I seeing you go
the blob. Okay, well yours mine. This is my son
told me this and it's.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Such a hilarious story. So Connor was had gone into
a one of those phone fix it places and because
he needed the screen to get replaced, and in doing that,
he went he walked back out to the car he
had to go and pick up Logan, my grandson, and
realized that the app on his phone had somehow been disconnected.
(31:58):
And this is how he got into his car and
started the car. So it meant that he stranded and
he needs to go and pick up Logan from daycare.
I didn't have the key, he'd use the DApp to
get in. He was using the app to get in
and turn on the car. And so every parent's nightmare.
You don't want to go and be late for day
you know, daycare pickup. And so he you know, tried
(32:20):
calling his wife and unfortunately Tia is kind of like
me that she often has her phone on silent and people,
you know, recently, my husband just called me ten times
in a row to try to get my attention. And
so he was trying to get Taya's attention and couldn't
and just but just think about this lateral thinking, Amanda.
He went and piloted the little rumba, the little you know,
(32:44):
the little floor black vacuum cleaner because that app was
still working, and drove it and was trying to like
wave itself to go and get TIA's attention, to get
to get her to answer her phone, and she wasn't.
She was still like in the kitchen doing something, and
so he had to go and drive the little rumba
(33:06):
thing into her to get her attention. She did, she
was able to go and get the key. She was
you know, it all worked out. But I think that
that was the most unique kind of lateral solution to
a problem that I'd heard in a while.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
He piloted the vacuum cleaner to smash her in the legs.
What did she think was happening? Why am I being
attacked by my vacuum cleaner?
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Yes it was, but it was he was making it
wiggle to kind of say, pay attention, and she finally
she finally figured it out, looked at her phone, answered
it and Yeah, isn't that hilarious?
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Yeah, I wouldn't have paid attention to my phone. I
would have got some kind of priest to come around
and throw that thing out the window.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
It's possessed. It's a little exorcism on your on your
little room.
Speaker 4 (33:51):
Brother.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
It isn't that hilarious?
Speaker 4 (33:53):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Well we've covered a lot in this podcast. Thank you
for holding my hand through this, antail, hold.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Your hand any day around this and you're going to
we will hold each other's hands through this because I will.
I will be. I will be with you on.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
This journey, even though I'm going to clone Miny and
she's never dying.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Remember absolutely, I do remember that, Amanda. All right, let
me bash this back, all right?
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Thank you, Tea cups, love you too.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
We'll next see you next time.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
See you.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
M
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