January 29, 2011 • 38 mins
Robert Haas is a businessman turned aerial photographer turned author. However, one of the titles he's most proud of is being the best friend to Oliver his beloved 14 year old dog. When Oliver had an accident that left his hind legs paralyzed, Haas asked for just 100 more days together. We all know the strong bond we have with our pets, especially when our pets age into their golden years and we know just about everything about them, and they about us. Haas decided to keep a journal about Oliver's recovery, and the lessons he learns along the way in his book, Miracle Man: 100 Days With Oliver. Hear about the remarkable journey they take together.
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More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - 100 Days With Oliver on Pet Life Radio
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to Petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hello everyone, thanks again for joining us for another edition
of Sassy Seniors. I'm your host, Kelly Jackson. It's been
a while, so happy New Year. I haven't had a
chance to really say happy New Year to all of
our listeners, and I hope that twenty eleven is a
good one for all of you. I want to start. Normally,
we start the show talking about a wonderful dog that
(00:38):
has made the headlines, but today I want to kind
of start on a sad note. I want to take
the time to remember a friend of the show, Don
Sylvia Soviitz. She died of respiratory failure earlier this month,
and she was a true expert and leader and canine behavior.
She was perhaps best known as the trainer to the
(00:59):
late untor Ted Kennedy's Portuguese water dogs, and of course,
the official and the first trainer to the first dog,
bo Obama.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I had the.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Pleasure of interviewing Dawn on Pet Life Radio as well
as on my own website ARF dot com. She was
a wonderful interviewer, a wonderful woman. She also came to
Saint Louis where I live, and I also had the
opportunity to interview her on my morning show. She will
truly be missed. She was a true expert in her field.
(01:31):
So our thoughts and prayers go out to her family.
She died much too young at the age of fifty two. Now,
on another note, we're going to take a quick break
and we are going to interview a man who has
written a wonderful book. It's called Miracle Man one hundred
Days with Oliver. We're going to talk to Robert Hawes
(01:51):
after the short break, right back.
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Speaker 2 (04:49):
Welcome back, everyone to pet Life Radio's Sassy Seniors. I'm
Kelly Jackson, your host, and I'm so pleased to have
an author of business men turn artist turn author, I
should say in that order. He is Robert Hawes and
he has written truly a wonderful, beautifully written book. It's
(05:10):
called miracle Man One hundred Days with Oliver. Thanks for
joining us, Robert.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
It's my pleasure, Kelly, great to be a board.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Well, I know who the miracle Man is, but our
readers need to learn a little more about mister Oliver,
one of six of your dogs, correct.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
That is right, That is right. Oliver was our first
rescue of six and that occurred fifteen years ago now,
and Oliver quickly became our clan leader, and within a
few months he became my best friend, and he's remained
my best friend to this day. Literally.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Well, I'm looking at your book right now, and since
we are not a visual medium with the Pet Life Radio,
I'm going to just describe what Oliver looks like and
then you can share what you think. He's a big, cute,
fluffy ball of fur. He has gray for now. I
think when you first got him he was black. Is
that right?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
He was black. He had two white socks in the
back and a white goatee and a white chest and
the rest was black. But black has turned to gray
over the years.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Well, it's the cutest picture of him. He is walking
on a beach, He's in a wheelchair, and he is
smiling like any dog I've ever seen, just a beautiful smile.
So tell us about Oliver and why you wrote this book.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Sure, well, Kelly, what occurred about a year and a
half ago, now almost two years ago, was an accident
which at the time I thought as the beginning of
a tragedy. Oliver fell down an embankment when we were
out in California. He was almost fourteen at the time,
and when he landed, he was paralyzed in the back
(06:58):
and we at him treated out in California, but he
needed a specialist. He was really fighting for his survival,
and fortunately there was a neurology specialist here in Dallas.
We flew back to Dallas, which is our home, and
he had Oliver examined, and at the time of his
examination it was discovered that he had a lung disease,
(07:21):
which is usually fatal in dogs, particularly older dogs, and
he was immediately taken into intensive care. And things went
from bed to worse to the unthinkable in a matter
of twenty four to forty eight hours. And I was
faced with the prospect of losing my best friend. And
(07:42):
while Oliver was in intensive care, I visited him frequently.
At first, there was very little recognition. He was hooked
up to intravenous feeding tubes and heart monitors and an
oxygen chamber. And I told Oliver I just wanted him
to live one hundred days, and if you would live
(08:04):
one hundred days, I would write a journal entry about
him every one of those days, and that one day
we would walk this beach together, which you'd describe on
the front cover of the book, which is on a
tiny little island in the Caribbean, where Oliver and I
had journeyed before. And one miracle after another brought him
(08:26):
out of ICU. The lung disease was treated and he
got rid of it, and he began some back leg
motion and Oliver and I went on this one hundred
day journey together, and I think I learned a lot
more about myself than I did about treating an elderly dog.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
So, Robert, why one hundred days in the book? You said, Well,
thirty days doesn't seem like I love. Three hundred maybe
pushing it. So how did you come to the number
one hundred.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Well, I think that people from the investment business, such
as myself, thinking round numbers. So when I was praying
for enough time to spend more and more time with
him and appreciate the brilliant life that he had led,
and just more time to bond with him, presumably before
(09:22):
an ending that seemed very imminent, I felt if I
had roughly three months, roughly one hundred days, that it
would provide the kind of bonding time to appreciate one
of the things in life that we often take for granted.
And that is just how fragile life is for ourselves,
for our pets. And I said to Oliver, just give
(09:46):
me one hundred days, that's all I want, and we
will be together like never before.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Oliver came into your life. He was a puppy back
in ninety five, he was three months old, and you
call him your first son, and he's truly an alpha
dog in your household, right he is.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
He's only twenty pounds, but he's a tough twenty pounds.
And we added five other dogs along the way, and
Oliver maintained the throne as the clan leader, even though
the others were usually bigger. But he and I just
became very, very close. I'm a very private person, even
(10:28):
though I lead a fairly public life, but I could
always confide in Oliver. I felt close to Oliver. I
would talk to Oliver, Oliver would talk back to me
in a language that I could understand, and we just
maintained that bond throughout what are now fifteen years of
his life.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
So how has this changed? I'll ask you, how has
changed you? In a little while, But how is this
accident that he had? How has it changed Oliver? Is
he a different dog or is he the same dog
with a few challenges.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
I think Oliver has used the same traits that he
had before the accident. He was a mentally tough dog.
He was a proud dog, very very intelligent. He would
take on challenges and attempt to overcome them. Whether that
was another dog trying to get on our property. Even
(11:23):
if the dog got weighed him five to one. But
I think what's changed in Oliver, which is a wonderful change,
is this occurred right before his fourteenth birthday, and he
was in a period of decline, as our senior four
legged citizens are when they get to be that age.
And what this really allowed him to do was to
(11:45):
start over again on some of the things that a
young dog handles, such as beginning to walk and the
challenges of physical rehab, and he began to get better
as opposed to declining. So I think Oliver actually rejuvenated
himself in the process of a challenge, a physical challenge.
(12:09):
He was also going blind from cataracts, his hearing was disappearing,
but he really did take on this challenge of trying
to bring himself back, and he did a magnificent job
at it.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
You know, that's such a good point in one part
of your book. You're at home and you guys are
just relaxing some of the few times because you're such
a busy person, but you looked over at Oliver's wheelchair
and you say that you kind of grew a fondness
for his wheelchair, for two things, his wheelchair and for
the hydrotherapy tank that truly ate it in his recovery.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
No question about it. I was sitting around one day
and I remember I was glancing at the TV as
the Dallas Cowboys lost another football game, which is not
an unusual occurrent down here in Texas, and I just
looked at his wheelchair. And his wheelchair we got a
little Texas license plant on it, that says Oliver. And
(13:08):
I looked at that wheelchair and it was like a
feeling of appreciation inside that without that wheelchair, Oliver could
not have moved. And it was custom fitted for him
and he did take to it. Some dogs do not.
And that wheelchair gave him something that all of the
wonderful vets that we've had the pleasure of working with,
(13:30):
and all the medications and so forth could not give him,
and that is it gave him mobility, It gave him
self esteem, It gave him an opportunity to head the
plan again. And I just looked at that wheelchair and
I just felt appreciation for it. And the same for
this big tub of water which is his hydrotherapy tank,
(13:52):
calling it a big tub of water probably understates the
technology behind it. But inside this tank Oliver suspended in
harness us there's a treadmill underneath. The water fills up
to his shoulder and gives him buoyancy. But once that
treadmill starts, he needs to move his back legs and
his front legs, and he does, and that big cub
(14:15):
of water has allowed him to build up his endurance
and his front legs strength, some movement in his back,
and that's been critical to his survival because he needs
that strength to pull himself around in a wheelchair. When
Ali's in the wheelchair, it's like you and me being
in a wheelbarrow, and we just would have our front arms,
(14:36):
our two arms to pull us around, and we need
a lot of strength. And this contraption has helped him
with that strength.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
And how is he getting around these days? Is the
wheelchair slowing him down at all? From the look on
the cover of the book, it looks like he's going
at a pretty good pace.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Well, Oliver has like all of us, he has his
great days in a slower day. But for example, I
flew in from misdown bo I had some business in Istamboul,
and I flew in last night and Oliver was a
bit tired, but we hadn't walked together in a week,
and I took him on a walk and I thought, well,
(15:16):
you know, if we go for a three or four
minute walk, that would be great. Oliver went for about
a fifteen to twenty minute walk, Oh my god, for
grass and mulch, and I'd hold on to the leash.
So he went tumble into the pond beyond our house
and so forth. But he was very vigorous, and I thought,
this is great. You know, I haven't seen him in
(15:37):
a week, and I thought, you know, maybe he would
go the other way on me, but he just he
seemed thrilled to be back in my company and to
be walking around the pond together. So Oliver just has
one miracle in his pocket after another.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
He is a miracle man. Well, what we're going to
do is take a quick break, and when we come back,
we're going to learn a little bit about you and
how Oliver and his situation and how he came into
your life, how he has changed you. So we're going
to take a quick break and we'll be right back
with Robert Haas.
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Welcome back everyone. My guest today is Robert hass.
Speaker 8 (19:43):
He is the author of a new book.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
It's called Miracle Man one hundred Days with Oliver. Oliver
being his fifteen year old dog who took quite a
tumble in California, causing his hind legs to be paralyzed.
But it's not slowing him down. Even though he is
a senior dog. This little fella can really move around
and he's really I'm sure changed your life and your
(20:08):
wife and your daughters, But I want to kind of
take you back because you are, as I mentioned earlier,
a businessman turned artist and a now author. But your
IVY leave educated. You not only went to Harvard, but
you went to Yale. You made a boatload of money
with the buyout, acquiring Doctor Pepper and seven up and
(20:29):
a w with some other brands, and then you reinvent
it yourself. I believe. Was it in the eighties when
you became an aerial photographer.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Actually was in the late nineteen nineties and early two.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Thousands, Okay, so that was around the time that Oliver
came into your life too, right when you started the
aerial photography.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
That's right, that's right. Oliver has been my guide post
on how to take pictures from a helicopter and you're not.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Just saying any kind of pictures. I mean You're photos
have been in National Geographic Time CNN, and I know
I'm leaving some things out for CBS Sunday Morning, which
is one of my favorite shows. But what made you
want to reinvent yourself?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Well, I think you alluded to the fact that I
had been very, very fortunate in business, and I do
mean that. I think that our small firm here in
Dallas had caught a couple of very good tailwinds at
the time that the private equity business was in its infancy,
and it did allow me, after about a couple of
(21:38):
decades in that business. But when I was still relatively young,
I was only forty, to look around and say, is
this is what I want to do the rest of
my life. I've been very, very fortunate and very blessed,
and there must be other things to do. And I
started to develop an interest in photography. When I took
my first trip to Africa, I didn't even own a
(21:59):
camp and I was forty seven years old. So I
started at the very very bottom a real neophyte, and
eventually started hopping on helicopters with more sophisticated gear and
my work came to the attention of National Geographic and
I ended up doing nine books, five of which were
(22:23):
with National Geographic. And then there were the television documentaries
and the exhibits around the world that you allude to.
So it has been a wild ride. I've been extremely
blessed in what I've been able to do and the
time that this has allowed me to devote to passionate pursuits.
(22:46):
And one of my passions is my dogs, and that
includes Oliver and his clanmates. And then I began to
think in terms of writing as a serious third career
once miracle Man was being drafted.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I find that truly amazing that you really hadn't picked
up a camera until you know, I went to Africa,
and you have such a distinguished career with your aerial photography.
What's it like though, when you're gone, because you just
got back from Istanbul. What was it like when you're
gone for stretches of time and then when you come
back home and you see your pets. Because I think
(23:22):
pets put everything up to perspective no matter where you
are in life, they just kind of they really ground you.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
They do. I think that it's interesting because when I
would go on these two or three week shoots, and
usually the very remote places, and the shoots are relatively
dangerous because you're going into wild zones. You're hanging out
of a helicopter with just a harness attached to you.
So it isn't like taking pictures at a birthday party.
(23:52):
It's a serious undertaking. And when I would leave, I
would have a very deep sense of melancholy. I didn't
know if I would see all the members of the
Klan when I got back, and Oliver, as you know
from reading the book, has had a series of health crises,
so leaving him and worrying that maybe I was seeing
(24:15):
him for the last time made my departure a tough experience.
But then when I would come back and I would
go into the kitchen or go outside, and there were
the guys and they would just overwhelm me, even before
I had taken a shower, which I can assure you
my wife did not overwhelm me until after I took
a shower. And the guys loved the smells of these
(24:39):
distant zones that were on my jenes and my duffel
bag and all that. It was the most amazing feeling.
I had that last night when I was just gone
for a week and I just sat on the floor
and I let them jump all over me and lick
me and bump into me and so forth. It's the
greatest feeling in the world. It brings you back to
what's really important in life, the love, the companionship, the
(25:03):
simple things.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Well, you know, our show was obviously we focus on
our older pals, our older buddies, and with six dogs,
it sounds like you have I know Oliver, I know Elmer,
who is Oliver's close pal. How many of your pets
are considered seniors, how many are past six or seven?
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Well, actually, we lost the one female in the Klan
just a few months ago. I was Chloe, and that
was an extremely tough experience. Chloe was thirteen at the
time of her passing and she got a pancreatic disease.
And the others are all rather elderly. Actually one has
(25:46):
birthday tomorrow, but they're now fifteen, fourteen, eleven, ten, except
for the puppy. The puppy, Cooper is four, so he's
probably the next generation. But worth with and playing with
and living with older dogs, I think is an incredible experience.
(26:07):
In many ways, I think we learn a lot more
with our older dogs, our senior citizens than we do
with the younger ones, because in their older years they
begin to teach us things. They teach us how to
prepare for losing a loved one, They teach us to
look ahead to our own inevitable decline. They teach us
(26:30):
to savor the time that we're given with them. And
I think you can see in the book that Oliver
was teaching me all.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Of those things absolutely, And I'm sorry to hear about Chloe.
I'm so sorry she'd.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
We visited Oliver, and I visited her gravesite last night.
And the one thing I can say, there is no
pain like losing I think a pet, or a child
or a parent. But the one thing I'm beginning to
realize is that the memories that they've left with you
and the impact they've had on your life create a
(27:05):
little pinch of immortality that these pups have. And Chloe,
you could have named your show after Chloe. She was
a sassy senior.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
I love it, Robert. I'm going to read a passage,
page seventy eight of your book because I love it.
In the aftermath of Oliver's accident, I was sometimes left
to wonder what could possibly have prepared him to endure
the physical pressure that had imploded it on his life.
Two successive bouts with the misdirected immune system, the gradual
(27:39):
loss of virtually all his sight and hearing, and then
his partial paralysis. And yet there stood Oliver without the
essential accouterments of his inheritance as a great wolf, demonstrating
the most amazing grace under pressure.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Well, I appreciate your reviewing that passage and reading that passage.
I get a little bit of a lump in my
throat when I hear or read that passage myself. And
it's true Oliver did and has demonstrated tremendous grace grace
under pressure. And I think we all come under the
(28:16):
pressure eventually of physical decline, now or jury. It's just
part of the life we live. It's part of the
life that our loved ones live. And the one thing
I've noticed about Oliver I noticed this as a wildlife photographer,
and that is animals seem to have an incredible capacity
(28:36):
to adapt and to seek a new level of happiness
even though they've been compromised physically and you see that
in the wild. You'd see that with wolves and with
lions and with leopards, because in the wild, if you
are injured or you have a physical problem, if you
don't adapt, you die. And I think animals carry with
(28:59):
them in a bill to adapt. And Oliver today only
as partial use of his back legs. He can barely see,
he can just barely hear, and yet he is an
incredibly happy guy. And I have learned so much from
looking at him and recognizing that this is just part
(29:21):
of the life process. And particularly for your listeners who
have older dogs, I think it's very instructive for us
to watch how those dogs or cats find a new
level of happiness with a different body. And that certainly
has been part of the lesson I've taken away from
my love relationship with Oliver beautifully said.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Okay, so take us to the one hundredth day when
you are on the beach, and what's it like.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
You know that one hundredth day could not have been
stage better if it were a Hollywood movie. Oliver and
I I have gone down to this tiny little island
in the British West Indies along with my wife and
kids and dogs every year a couple of times, and
(30:12):
it is his favorite place in the world. He loved
to walk along the beach when he could see everything.
It's a tiny island. There's virtually no one there when
he could hear the waves pound, and we would sit
there and we would share a corona together. And my
job is to take care of the inside of the bottle,
and Ali looks the outside of the bottle. And we
(30:35):
moved our site of family vacation for this particular year
where the hundredth day was going to occur for the
holidays at the end of the year, to Parakeet, which
is the name of this tiny little island, and we
actually named our home there Oliver's Cove, so he was
(30:58):
famous before he was famous for having a piece of
land named after him. And once we got down there,
every day we would do what we had done for years.
We would walk the beach together. And on the one
hundredth day, we just sat at the pier and we
looked out at the ocean. We walked the beach, we
shared a corona together, and it was a journey that
(31:22):
I felt we both deserved credit for having made it
to one hundred days. We both had devoted ourselves to
each other. It was just an exquisite moment. I will
tell you that I smiled, I cried, and Oliver just
seemed to appreciate the joy of being alive. It was
(31:43):
one of the greatest days of my life.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
And the picture on the cover of your book really
does tells it all. It's just the cutest little doggie
smile that he has on his face.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
You know, he's just he is that image. And I've
taken several one hundred thousand images for National Geographic and
I had the good fortune of published quite a few
in a lot of different countries. But if you ask me,
tell me I only get to keep one picture and
everything else is going to be absconded with. That would
(32:15):
be the picture I would keep because it tells it all.
Here's a dog in a wheelchair. He's running along a beach.
His hair is being ruffled by the wind, and his
mouth has open, his little pink tongue is there, and
he looks like the happiest two legged or four legged
being alive. And that was taken on about the ninety
(32:37):
fifth or ninety sixth day. It was taken on this trip.
And on the other side of the book, as you
know on the back cover as Oliver from the back
staring out at the ocean with his little license plates,
Oliver visible.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
It is absolutely adorable. Well, it's been such a pleasure
talking with you. I have a couple other questions though,
before we wrap up, Sure what is next for you
and Oliver? And I also understand that my friends, the
Humane Society of the United States are going to include
copies of your book at the Genesis Awards right in LA.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
That's right, the Humane Society of the United States, with
whom I've maintained a close relationship, has honored Oliver and
me by including our book as the giveaway to over
a thousand people who will be at the Genesis Awards
(33:35):
in March, celebrating the twenty fifth anniversary of the Genesis Awards,
which are granted to people in the media who have
created something that relates toanimal welfare. So we're looking forward
to that. I think in terms of what's next, in
terms of our life together, we take it one day
at a time. As I mentioned to we've now passed
(33:58):
five hundred days. Five hundredth day after I see after
intensive care was on Saturday, a monumental milestone for us.
So I know I'm four hundred days into the gravy zone,
and I take each day as it comes, and I
appreciate the moments that I have with Oliver in terms
(34:20):
of what's next. This book was a bit of a
departure for me. I've been doing photography books for about
ten years. I enjoyed writing this and this has led
to another thought in my mind, and that is how
the lessons that I've learned from animals in the wild
and animals in my backyard have applicability in the business zone.
(34:44):
So I've started to draft a book about what I've
learned from animals that I've used in my life as
a businessman and negotiator an investor. And at first you'd
think those two worlds have virtually nothing to do with overlapping.
But business is all about survival and the one thing
our animals know how to do. As we've shown in
(35:07):
Miracle Man one hundred Days with Oliver, animals know how
to survive, and in their survival there are lessons that
we can all apply in our life.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Absolutely, and I highly recommend this to everyone, regardless of
what age your animal is. It's truly a life lesson
and it's a beautiful book. I loved it, totally, totally
loved it.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Thank you, Kelly. You know, probably the most gratifying part
of writing this book once it was released. The most
gratifying book part was being able to write the book,
because Oliver did survive this long. But the number of
letters and emails that I received from people with dogs
who are twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen years old, who
(35:51):
are still alive or who have just passed away, has
been so enormously rewarding. People who have come back to
me and said, from your book, I took such a
different perspective on my own animal, or I share your perspective.
That's been the best part of writing this book.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Well, I'm glad that you were able to write it seriously,
and maybe, who knows, maybe there's a part two five
hundred days with Oliver.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
We'll call it marathon Man.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
And it should be absolutely marathon Man, miracle man, Oliver
pack leader, whatever you wanted to call him. He is
amazing man, yes man, and we thank you for sharing
his story in your story, both of your stories with us.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
Kelly. It's been an absolute pleasure all.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Right, And that does it for another edition of Sasey Seniors.
And if you can get this book, I highly recommend it.
Can people get it on Amazon or in bookstores.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Or they can Probably the easiest place to get it
is on Amazon dot com. And also Oliver has his
own website which is Miracleman Dash Oliver and www dot
miracleman Dash Oliver dot com and you can talk to
(37:13):
Oliver on there, and also you can order the book
right from there. I love that. I love his own
He answers all his fanmail. He asked me to help
him out with it, every every Gmail that he gets,
every email that he gets, and as the email address
is listed on the site, he answers. I help him
(37:33):
a little with the spelling, but he answers it.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Okay, thanks again.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Robert Hawes, my pleasure. Kelly B Well you too.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
And that does it for another edition of Sassy Seniors.
You can also catch me on my own website and
my own little dog, my fourteen year old dog rf
dot com. That's double A R, double F dot com.
As always, thanks you guys for joining us to see
you back here for another edition coming up.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
Have a good one.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Let's Talk pets every week on demand only on petlifradio
dot com.
You're listening to Petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hello everyone, thanks again for joining us for another edition
of Sassy Seniors. I'm your host, Kelly Jackson. It's been
a while, so happy New Year. I haven't had a
chance to really say happy New Year to all of
our listeners, and I hope that twenty eleven is a
good one for all of you. I want to start. Normally,
we start the show talking about a wonderful dog that
(00:38):
has made the headlines, but today I want to kind
of start on a sad note. I want to take
the time to remember a friend of the show, Don
Sylvia Soviitz. She died of respiratory failure earlier this month,
and she was a true expert and leader and canine behavior.
She was perhaps best known as the trainer to the
(00:59):
late untor Ted Kennedy's Portuguese water dogs, and of course,
the official and the first trainer to the first dog,
bo Obama.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I had the.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Pleasure of interviewing Dawn on Pet Life Radio as well
as on my own website ARF dot com. She was
a wonderful interviewer, a wonderful woman. She also came to
Saint Louis where I live, and I also had the
opportunity to interview her on my morning show. She will
truly be missed. She was a true expert in her field.
(01:31):
So our thoughts and prayers go out to her family.
She died much too young at the age of fifty two. Now,
on another note, we're going to take a quick break
and we are going to interview a man who has
written a wonderful book. It's called Miracle Man one hundred
Days with Oliver. We're going to talk to Robert Hawes
(01:51):
after the short break, right back.
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Speaker 2 (04:49):
Welcome back, everyone to pet Life Radio's Sassy Seniors. I'm
Kelly Jackson, your host, and I'm so pleased to have
an author of business men turn artist turn author, I
should say in that order. He is Robert Hawes and
he has written truly a wonderful, beautifully written book. It's
(05:10):
called miracle Man One hundred Days with Oliver. Thanks for
joining us, Robert.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
It's my pleasure, Kelly, great to be a board.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Well, I know who the miracle Man is, but our
readers need to learn a little more about mister Oliver,
one of six of your dogs, correct.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
That is right, That is right. Oliver was our first
rescue of six and that occurred fifteen years ago now,
and Oliver quickly became our clan leader, and within a
few months he became my best friend, and he's remained
my best friend to this day. Literally.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Well, I'm looking at your book right now, and since
we are not a visual medium with the Pet Life Radio,
I'm going to just describe what Oliver looks like and
then you can share what you think. He's a big, cute,
fluffy ball of fur. He has gray for now. I
think when you first got him he was black. Is
that right?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
He was black. He had two white socks in the
back and a white goatee and a white chest and
the rest was black. But black has turned to gray
over the years.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Well, it's the cutest picture of him. He is walking
on a beach, He's in a wheelchair, and he is
smiling like any dog I've ever seen, just a beautiful smile.
So tell us about Oliver and why you wrote this book.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Sure, well, Kelly, what occurred about a year and a
half ago, now almost two years ago, was an accident
which at the time I thought as the beginning of
a tragedy. Oliver fell down an embankment when we were
out in California. He was almost fourteen at the time,
and when he landed, he was paralyzed in the back
(06:58):
and we at him treated out in California, but he
needed a specialist. He was really fighting for his survival,
and fortunately there was a neurology specialist here in Dallas.
We flew back to Dallas, which is our home, and
he had Oliver examined, and at the time of his
examination it was discovered that he had a lung disease,
(07:21):
which is usually fatal in dogs, particularly older dogs, and
he was immediately taken into intensive care. And things went
from bed to worse to the unthinkable in a matter
of twenty four to forty eight hours. And I was
faced with the prospect of losing my best friend. And
(07:42):
while Oliver was in intensive care, I visited him frequently.
At first, there was very little recognition. He was hooked
up to intravenous feeding tubes and heart monitors and an
oxygen chamber. And I told Oliver I just wanted him
to live one hundred days, and if you would live
(08:04):
one hundred days, I would write a journal entry about
him every one of those days, and that one day
we would walk this beach together, which you'd describe on
the front cover of the book, which is on a
tiny little island in the Caribbean, where Oliver and I
had journeyed before. And one miracle after another brought him
(08:26):
out of ICU. The lung disease was treated and he
got rid of it, and he began some back leg
motion and Oliver and I went on this one hundred
day journey together, and I think I learned a lot
more about myself than I did about treating an elderly dog.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
So, Robert, why one hundred days in the book? You said, Well,
thirty days doesn't seem like I love. Three hundred maybe
pushing it. So how did you come to the number
one hundred.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Well, I think that people from the investment business, such
as myself, thinking round numbers. So when I was praying
for enough time to spend more and more time with
him and appreciate the brilliant life that he had led,
and just more time to bond with him, presumably before
(09:22):
an ending that seemed very imminent, I felt if I
had roughly three months, roughly one hundred days, that it
would provide the kind of bonding time to appreciate one
of the things in life that we often take for granted.
And that is just how fragile life is for ourselves,
for our pets. And I said to Oliver, just give
(09:46):
me one hundred days, that's all I want, and we
will be together like never before.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Oliver came into your life. He was a puppy back
in ninety five, he was three months old, and you
call him your first son, and he's truly an alpha
dog in your household, right he is.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
He's only twenty pounds, but he's a tough twenty pounds.
And we added five other dogs along the way, and
Oliver maintained the throne as the clan leader, even though
the others were usually bigger. But he and I just
became very, very close. I'm a very private person, even
(10:28):
though I lead a fairly public life, but I could
always confide in Oliver. I felt close to Oliver. I
would talk to Oliver, Oliver would talk back to me
in a language that I could understand, and we just
maintained that bond throughout what are now fifteen years of
his life.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
So how has this changed? I'll ask you, how has
changed you? In a little while, But how is this
accident that he had? How has it changed Oliver? Is
he a different dog or is he the same dog
with a few challenges.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
I think Oliver has used the same traits that he
had before the accident. He was a mentally tough dog.
He was a proud dog, very very intelligent. He would
take on challenges and attempt to overcome them. Whether that
was another dog trying to get on our property. Even
(11:23):
if the dog got weighed him five to one. But
I think what's changed in Oliver, which is a wonderful change,
is this occurred right before his fourteenth birthday, and he
was in a period of decline, as our senior four
legged citizens are when they get to be that age.
And what this really allowed him to do was to
(11:45):
start over again on some of the things that a
young dog handles, such as beginning to walk and the
challenges of physical rehab, and he began to get better
as opposed to declining. So I think Oliver actually rejuvenated
himself in the process of a challenge, a physical challenge.
(12:09):
He was also going blind from cataracts, his hearing was disappearing,
but he really did take on this challenge of trying
to bring himself back, and he did a magnificent job
at it.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
You know, that's such a good point in one part
of your book. You're at home and you guys are
just relaxing some of the few times because you're such
a busy person, but you looked over at Oliver's wheelchair
and you say that you kind of grew a fondness
for his wheelchair, for two things, his wheelchair and for
the hydrotherapy tank that truly ate it in his recovery.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
No question about it. I was sitting around one day
and I remember I was glancing at the TV as
the Dallas Cowboys lost another football game, which is not
an unusual occurrent down here in Texas, and I just
looked at his wheelchair. And his wheelchair we got a
little Texas license plant on it, that says Oliver. And
(13:08):
I looked at that wheelchair and it was like a
feeling of appreciation inside that without that wheelchair, Oliver could
not have moved. And it was custom fitted for him
and he did take to it. Some dogs do not.
And that wheelchair gave him something that all of the
wonderful vets that we've had the pleasure of working with,
(13:30):
and all the medications and so forth could not give him,
and that is it gave him mobility, It gave him
self esteem, It gave him an opportunity to head the
plan again. And I just looked at that wheelchair and
I just felt appreciation for it. And the same for
this big tub of water which is his hydrotherapy tank,
(13:52):
calling it a big tub of water probably understates the
technology behind it. But inside this tank Oliver suspended in
harness us there's a treadmill underneath. The water fills up
to his shoulder and gives him buoyancy. But once that
treadmill starts, he needs to move his back legs and
his front legs, and he does, and that big cub
(14:15):
of water has allowed him to build up his endurance
and his front legs strength, some movement in his back,
and that's been critical to his survival because he needs
that strength to pull himself around in a wheelchair. When
Ali's in the wheelchair, it's like you and me being
in a wheelbarrow, and we just would have our front arms,
(14:36):
our two arms to pull us around, and we need
a lot of strength. And this contraption has helped him
with that strength.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
And how is he getting around these days? Is the
wheelchair slowing him down at all? From the look on
the cover of the book, it looks like he's going
at a pretty good pace.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Well, Oliver has like all of us, he has his
great days in a slower day. But for example, I
flew in from misdown bo I had some business in Istamboul,
and I flew in last night and Oliver was a
bit tired, but we hadn't walked together in a week,
and I took him on a walk and I thought, well,
(15:16):
you know, if we go for a three or four
minute walk, that would be great. Oliver went for about
a fifteen to twenty minute walk, Oh my god, for
grass and mulch, and I'd hold on to the leash.
So he went tumble into the pond beyond our house
and so forth. But he was very vigorous, and I thought,
this is great. You know, I haven't seen him in
(15:37):
a week, and I thought, you know, maybe he would
go the other way on me, but he just he
seemed thrilled to be back in my company and to
be walking around the pond together. So Oliver just has
one miracle in his pocket after another.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
He is a miracle man. Well, what we're going to
do is take a quick break, and when we come back,
we're going to learn a little bit about you and
how Oliver and his situation and how he came into
your life, how he has changed you. So we're going
to take a quick break and we'll be right back
with Robert Haas.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
We'll be right back right after these messages stay tuned.
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(18:59):
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Welcome back everyone. My guest today is Robert hass.
Speaker 8 (19:43):
He is the author of a new book.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
It's called Miracle Man one hundred Days with Oliver. Oliver
being his fifteen year old dog who took quite a
tumble in California, causing his hind legs to be paralyzed.
But it's not slowing him down. Even though he is
a senior dog. This little fella can really move around
and he's really I'm sure changed your life and your
(20:08):
wife and your daughters, But I want to kind of
take you back because you are, as I mentioned earlier,
a businessman turned artist and a now author. But your
IVY leave educated. You not only went to Harvard, but
you went to Yale. You made a boatload of money
with the buyout, acquiring Doctor Pepper and seven up and
(20:29):
a w with some other brands, and then you reinvent
it yourself. I believe. Was it in the eighties when
you became an aerial photographer.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Actually was in the late nineteen nineties and early two.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Thousands, Okay, so that was around the time that Oliver
came into your life too, right when you started the
aerial photography.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
That's right, that's right. Oliver has been my guide post
on how to take pictures from a helicopter and you're not.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Just saying any kind of pictures. I mean You're photos
have been in National Geographic Time CNN, and I know
I'm leaving some things out for CBS Sunday Morning, which
is one of my favorite shows. But what made you
want to reinvent yourself?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Well, I think you alluded to the fact that I
had been very, very fortunate in business, and I do
mean that. I think that our small firm here in
Dallas had caught a couple of very good tailwinds at
the time that the private equity business was in its infancy,
and it did allow me, after about a couple of
(21:38):
decades in that business. But when I was still relatively young,
I was only forty, to look around and say, is
this is what I want to do the rest of
my life. I've been very, very fortunate and very blessed,
and there must be other things to do. And I
started to develop an interest in photography. When I took
my first trip to Africa, I didn't even own a
(21:59):
camp and I was forty seven years old. So I
started at the very very bottom a real neophyte, and
eventually started hopping on helicopters with more sophisticated gear and
my work came to the attention of National Geographic and
I ended up doing nine books, five of which were
(22:23):
with National Geographic. And then there were the television documentaries
and the exhibits around the world that you allude to.
So it has been a wild ride. I've been extremely
blessed in what I've been able to do and the
time that this has allowed me to devote to passionate pursuits.
(22:46):
And one of my passions is my dogs, and that
includes Oliver and his clanmates. And then I began to
think in terms of writing as a serious third career
once miracle Man was being drafted.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I find that truly amazing that you really hadn't picked
up a camera until you know, I went to Africa,
and you have such a distinguished career with your aerial photography.
What's it like though, when you're gone, because you just
got back from Istanbul. What was it like when you're
gone for stretches of time and then when you come
back home and you see your pets. Because I think
(23:22):
pets put everything up to perspective no matter where you
are in life, they just kind of they really ground you.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
They do. I think that it's interesting because when I
would go on these two or three week shoots, and
usually the very remote places, and the shoots are relatively
dangerous because you're going into wild zones. You're hanging out
of a helicopter with just a harness attached to you.
So it isn't like taking pictures at a birthday party.
(23:52):
It's a serious undertaking. And when I would leave, I
would have a very deep sense of melancholy. I didn't
know if I would see all the members of the
Klan when I got back, and Oliver, as you know
from reading the book, has had a series of health crises,
so leaving him and worrying that maybe I was seeing
(24:15):
him for the last time made my departure a tough experience.
But then when I would come back and I would
go into the kitchen or go outside, and there were
the guys and they would just overwhelm me, even before
I had taken a shower, which I can assure you
my wife did not overwhelm me until after I took
a shower. And the guys loved the smells of these
(24:39):
distant zones that were on my jenes and my duffel
bag and all that. It was the most amazing feeling.
I had that last night when I was just gone
for a week and I just sat on the floor
and I let them jump all over me and lick
me and bump into me and so forth. It's the
greatest feeling in the world. It brings you back to
what's really important in life, the love, the companionship, the
(25:03):
simple things.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Well, you know, our show was obviously we focus on
our older pals, our older buddies, and with six dogs,
it sounds like you have I know Oliver, I know Elmer,
who is Oliver's close pal. How many of your pets
are considered seniors, how many are past six or seven?
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Well, actually, we lost the one female in the Klan
just a few months ago. I was Chloe, and that
was an extremely tough experience. Chloe was thirteen at the
time of her passing and she got a pancreatic disease.
And the others are all rather elderly. Actually one has
(25:46):
birthday tomorrow, but they're now fifteen, fourteen, eleven, ten, except
for the puppy. The puppy, Cooper is four, so he's
probably the next generation. But worth with and playing with
and living with older dogs, I think is an incredible experience.
(26:07):
In many ways, I think we learn a lot more
with our older dogs, our senior citizens than we do
with the younger ones, because in their older years they
begin to teach us things. They teach us how to
prepare for losing a loved one, They teach us to
look ahead to our own inevitable decline. They teach us
(26:30):
to savor the time that we're given with them. And
I think you can see in the book that Oliver
was teaching me all.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Of those things absolutely, And I'm sorry to hear about Chloe.
I'm so sorry she'd.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
We visited Oliver, and I visited her gravesite last night.
And the one thing I can say, there is no
pain like losing I think a pet, or a child
or a parent. But the one thing I'm beginning to
realize is that the memories that they've left with you
and the impact they've had on your life create a
(27:05):
little pinch of immortality that these pups have. And Chloe,
you could have named your show after Chloe. She was
a sassy senior.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
I love it, Robert. I'm going to read a passage,
page seventy eight of your book because I love it.
In the aftermath of Oliver's accident, I was sometimes left
to wonder what could possibly have prepared him to endure
the physical pressure that had imploded it on his life.
Two successive bouts with the misdirected immune system, the gradual
(27:39):
loss of virtually all his sight and hearing, and then
his partial paralysis. And yet there stood Oliver without the
essential accouterments of his inheritance as a great wolf, demonstrating
the most amazing grace under pressure.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Well, I appreciate your reviewing that passage and reading that passage.
I get a little bit of a lump in my
throat when I hear or read that passage myself. And
it's true Oliver did and has demonstrated tremendous grace grace
under pressure. And I think we all come under the
(28:16):
pressure eventually of physical decline, now or jury. It's just
part of the life we live. It's part of the
life that our loved ones live. And the one thing
I've noticed about Oliver I noticed this as a wildlife photographer,
and that is animals seem to have an incredible capacity
(28:36):
to adapt and to seek a new level of happiness
even though they've been compromised physically and you see that
in the wild. You'd see that with wolves and with
lions and with leopards, because in the wild, if you
are injured or you have a physical problem, if you
don't adapt, you die. And I think animals carry with
(28:59):
them in a bill to adapt. And Oliver today only
as partial use of his back legs. He can barely see,
he can just barely hear, and yet he is an
incredibly happy guy. And I have learned so much from
looking at him and recognizing that this is just part
(29:21):
of the life process. And particularly for your listeners who
have older dogs, I think it's very instructive for us
to watch how those dogs or cats find a new
level of happiness with a different body. And that certainly
has been part of the lesson I've taken away from
my love relationship with Oliver beautifully said.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Okay, so take us to the one hundredth day when
you are on the beach, and what's it like.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
You know that one hundredth day could not have been
stage better if it were a Hollywood movie. Oliver and
I I have gone down to this tiny little island
in the British West Indies along with my wife and
kids and dogs every year a couple of times, and
(30:12):
it is his favorite place in the world. He loved
to walk along the beach when he could see everything.
It's a tiny island. There's virtually no one there when
he could hear the waves pound, and we would sit
there and we would share a corona together. And my
job is to take care of the inside of the bottle,
and Ali looks the outside of the bottle. And we
(30:35):
moved our site of family vacation for this particular year
where the hundredth day was going to occur for the
holidays at the end of the year, to Parakeet, which
is the name of this tiny little island, and we
actually named our home there Oliver's Cove, so he was
(30:58):
famous before he was famous for having a piece of
land named after him. And once we got down there,
every day we would do what we had done for years.
We would walk the beach together. And on the one
hundredth day, we just sat at the pier and we
looked out at the ocean. We walked the beach, we
shared a corona together, and it was a journey that
(31:22):
I felt we both deserved credit for having made it
to one hundred days. We both had devoted ourselves to
each other. It was just an exquisite moment. I will
tell you that I smiled, I cried, and Oliver just
seemed to appreciate the joy of being alive. It was
(31:43):
one of the greatest days of my life.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
And the picture on the cover of your book really
does tells it all. It's just the cutest little doggie
smile that he has on his face.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
You know, he's just he is that image. And I've
taken several one hundred thousand images for National Geographic and
I had the good fortune of published quite a few
in a lot of different countries. But if you ask me,
tell me I only get to keep one picture and
everything else is going to be absconded with. That would
(32:15):
be the picture I would keep because it tells it all.
Here's a dog in a wheelchair. He's running along a beach.
His hair is being ruffled by the wind, and his
mouth has open, his little pink tongue is there, and
he looks like the happiest two legged or four legged
being alive. And that was taken on about the ninety
(32:37):
fifth or ninety sixth day. It was taken on this trip.
And on the other side of the book, as you
know on the back cover as Oliver from the back
staring out at the ocean with his little license plates,
Oliver visible.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
It is absolutely adorable. Well, it's been such a pleasure
talking with you. I have a couple other questions though,
before we wrap up, Sure what is next for you
and Oliver? And I also understand that my friends, the
Humane Society of the United States are going to include
copies of your book at the Genesis Awards right in LA.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
That's right, the Humane Society of the United States, with
whom I've maintained a close relationship, has honored Oliver and
me by including our book as the giveaway to over
a thousand people who will be at the Genesis Awards
(33:35):
in March, celebrating the twenty fifth anniversary of the Genesis Awards,
which are granted to people in the media who have
created something that relates toanimal welfare. So we're looking forward
to that. I think in terms of what's next, in
terms of our life together, we take it one day
at a time. As I mentioned to we've now passed
(33:58):
five hundred days. Five hundredth day after I see after
intensive care was on Saturday, a monumental milestone for us.
So I know I'm four hundred days into the gravy zone,
and I take each day as it comes, and I
appreciate the moments that I have with Oliver in terms
(34:20):
of what's next. This book was a bit of a
departure for me. I've been doing photography books for about
ten years. I enjoyed writing this and this has led
to another thought in my mind, and that is how
the lessons that I've learned from animals in the wild
and animals in my backyard have applicability in the business zone.
(34:44):
So I've started to draft a book about what I've
learned from animals that I've used in my life as
a businessman and negotiator an investor. And at first you'd
think those two worlds have virtually nothing to do with overlapping.
But business is all about survival and the one thing
our animals know how to do. As we've shown in
(35:07):
Miracle Man one hundred Days with Oliver, animals know how
to survive, and in their survival there are lessons that
we can all apply in our life.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Absolutely, and I highly recommend this to everyone, regardless of
what age your animal is. It's truly a life lesson
and it's a beautiful book. I loved it, totally, totally
loved it.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Thank you, Kelly. You know, probably the most gratifying part
of writing this book once it was released. The most
gratifying book part was being able to write the book,
because Oliver did survive this long. But the number of
letters and emails that I received from people with dogs
who are twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen years old, who
(35:51):
are still alive or who have just passed away, has
been so enormously rewarding. People who have come back to
me and said, from your book, I took such a
different perspective on my own animal, or I share your perspective.
That's been the best part of writing this book.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Well, I'm glad that you were able to write it seriously,
and maybe, who knows, maybe there's a part two five
hundred days with Oliver.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
We'll call it marathon Man.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
And it should be absolutely marathon Man, miracle man, Oliver
pack leader, whatever you wanted to call him. He is
amazing man, yes man, and we thank you for sharing
his story in your story, both of your stories with us.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
Kelly. It's been an absolute pleasure all.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Right, And that does it for another edition of Sasey Seniors.
And if you can get this book, I highly recommend it.
Can people get it on Amazon or in bookstores.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Or they can Probably the easiest place to get it
is on Amazon dot com. And also Oliver has his
own website which is Miracleman Dash Oliver and www dot
miracleman Dash Oliver dot com and you can talk to
(37:13):
Oliver on there, and also you can order the book
right from there. I love that. I love his own
He answers all his fanmail. He asked me to help
him out with it, every every Gmail that he gets,
every email that he gets, and as the email address
is listed on the site, he answers. I help him
(37:33):
a little with the spelling, but he answers it.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Okay, thanks again.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Robert Hawes, my pleasure. Kelly B Well you too.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
And that does it for another edition of Sassy Seniors.
You can also catch me on my own website and
my own little dog, my fourteen year old dog rf
dot com. That's double A R, double F dot com.
As always, thanks you guys for joining us to see
you back here for another edition coming up.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
Have a good one.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Let's Talk pets every week on demand only on petlifradio
dot com.
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