In this episode, we delve into the touching story of Freddie: The Rescue Dog Who Rescued Me with its author, Grant Hayter-Menzies. While Grant is renowned for his historical works, his latest book shifts the focus to a more contemporary and deeply personal subject – his cherished rescue dog, Freddie who has crossed the rainbow bridge in 2021.
In this episode, Grant shares the invaluable insights, steps, and tools they used to facilitate Freddie's acclimatization to overcome his fears and alleviate his general anxiety in the world. As we celebrate Freddie's life, Grant's tips and experiences offer a guide for those who wish to follow in his footsteps. His new book not only pays tribute to a remarkable rescue dog but offers comfort to others who resonate with loving and losing a pet, gone through a medical journey with a pet, or adopted an animal with a history of abuse. Freddie may have rescued Grant, but his legacy now extends to countless others through the lessons he imparts.
EPISODE NOTES: From Puppy Mill to Loving Home: How One Man Rescued and Rehabilitated His Best Friend
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/save-a-pooch-rescue-dog-welfare-pet-life-radio-original--6669238/support.
In this episode, Grant shares the invaluable insights, steps, and tools they used to facilitate Freddie's acclimatization to overcome his fears and alleviate his general anxiety in the world. As we celebrate Freddie's life, Grant's tips and experiences offer a guide for those who wish to follow in his footsteps. His new book not only pays tribute to a remarkable rescue dog but offers comfort to others who resonate with loving and losing a pet, gone through a medical journey with a pet, or adopted an animal with a history of abuse. Freddie may have rescued Grant, but his legacy now extends to countless others through the lessons he imparts.
EPISODE NOTES: From Puppy Mill to Loving Home: How One Man Rescued and Rehabilitated His Best Friend
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/save-a-pooch-rescue-dog-welfare-pet-life-radio-original--6669238/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Is pet Life Radio. Let's Talk Pets.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome to Save a Foods on pet Life Radio. Thank
you for listening In Today, I am Beverly Isla, your host.
Our guest today is author Grant cater Menzies, who will
share with us his experience and journey and adopting his
best friend Freddy from the British Columbia SPCIA, who had
rescued Freddy from a puppy male hoarding scenario.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
So, in tribute to Freddie, who.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Has passed in twenty twenty one, Grant pent a heartforming
memoir called Freddie The Rescue Dog who Rescued Me. So
when we get back from these messages, we will hear
from Grant cater Menzies about his experience as well as
how he helped Freddy with spears anxieties that may inspire
others going through similar transitions with an adopted dot.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Take a bite out of your competition, advertise your business
with an ad In Petlife Radio podcasts and radio shows,
there is no other pet related media that is as
large and reaches more pet parents and pet lovers than
Petlife Radio with over seven million monthly listeners. Pet Life
Radio podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms, and
(01:30):
our live radio stream goes out to over two hundred
and fifty million subscribers on iHeartRadio, Odyssey, tune In, and
other streaming apps. For more information on how you can
advertise on the number one pet podcast and radio network,
visit petlife radio dot com. Slash advertised today.
Speaker 5 (01:50):
Let's talk pets on petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Welcome back to Sable Food.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
We are talking with author Grant hater Megzies about his
incredible journey with his adoptive dog, Freddie, who has crossed
the Rainbow Bridge in twenty twenty one and now has
his very own memoir called Freddy The Rescue Dog Who
Rescued Me. So thank you Grant for taking the time
to talk about your new book and your experience helping
(02:25):
Freddy rehabilitate into the world.
Speaker 6 (02:27):
Thank you so.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
First off, can you share with us the moment you
first met Freddie and what drew you to him or
his story coming from a puppy male hoarding situation.
Speaker 6 (02:39):
Yeah, it was in September twenty ten, and my partner
and I had just lost our elderly dog, Jesse two
years earlier. Actually, we had just got to the point
where we felt we could welcome another dog into our lives.
So we were at the BCSBC and Shelter in Victoria, DC,
(03:00):
and we went to see Freddie. We'd seen his picture
on the website the night before, and I was very
doubtful that he would still be there because he was
a sweet little sort of like a little dark fox
looking dog, but obviously very very scared in the photo.
But I could see somebody snapping him up right away.
But when we got there, there he was. I had
(03:22):
never seen a more terrified dog in my life, a
dog that had been through horrible situations I could only imagine.
I knew it would be a challenge taking him on,
but I couldn't leave them there, so we brought him home.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
That's awesome for you because I love hearing stories, especially
from puppy mill. Maybe actually you can educate us, even myself,
on what exactly is the puppy mill hoarding situation, like
what does it really look like?
Speaker 6 (03:51):
Well, a puppy mill is basically an unauthorized, unofficial breeding
operation where the dogs are kept in substandard conditions, often
not fed, often not cared for, often not socialized, solely
for the purpose of breeding puppies that are then passed
along to pet shops that do not care where their
(04:14):
dogs come from, and who then pass on to the
public dogs that have all kinds of issues and problems
that may result in them being given up because of
their abnormalities, either health physical health or mental health or both.
Ready had had a great deal of trauma to work
(04:34):
for I never work through, and there were things he
never got passed. So a hoarder, as I explained to
the book, it's not not everybody who hoards animals is
a demonic. You know. Some of these people really think
they're doing the best thing they can for the dogs
(04:58):
or cats or whatever it is they are collect being.
But there's a lot of psychological, uh, trouble part of
the the human human beings that do this. In Kim
Cabin's book Little Boy Blue about her her her way
of going back through history to see where her adopted
(05:20):
mill dog had come from, she met a lady who
hoarded dogs that were basically stacked in boxes to the
ceiling in her in her home, and some of them
left in a room with mid light on. And she
thought she was doing the right thing. And I have
known some I have known people who were who were hoarders.
(05:40):
But it's it's bad because it's it results in animals
that are socialized, animals that who have health problems that
are never addressed. Freddie came from both both of those situations.
Whether he was ever used for or prepared to be
used for reading is it is doubtful because he was
terrified of by the dogs. That can't imagine him being
(06:02):
used for breathing. But he was with the others when
it was scooped up by the PCSPCA. That was in
August twenty ten, and then we adopted him in September.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Wow, you've had it for a decade at least. That's
great that he lived that long.
Speaker 6 (06:19):
Yeah, he was about thirteen or fourteen when he passed away.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Okay, now, your book, Freddy the Rescue Dog Who Rescued
Me is a deeply personal account of your journey with him.
What inspired you to write this memoir and what message
do you hope readers take away from it.
Speaker 6 (06:36):
Freddy had been through so much and had reached a
point where it was like he he felt he could trust.
He felt it was okay to trust people, to trust
humans again, after what they had done to him. This
inspired me so much that I'd spent years writing biographies,
(06:58):
mostly of extraorinary women's lives. And when Freddie came into
the picture, I watched him grow stronger and more courageous,
and more open and accepting of things and learning how
to live in a normal world. And I thought, I
(07:18):
really want to write about animals that have been through
hell and have have managed to survive that and overcome it.
And he's really the reason I started writing about animals
in war, the dogs, horses, and so in that regard,
(07:39):
he and many of these books I give woralties to
animal charities. So in that regard, Freddie was certainly helping
with current issues that animals are having. But in his
last year he fought two panthers, one of them the
most deadly cancer that can have amandusarcoma, and then heart
(08:03):
disease on top of that, and it was a battle
that was waged with grace, with joy, and never complaining,
and it just I thought, and I kept the diary
of all of this, and I thought, well, I really
I really should tell the story, because it's important that
people see how animals, how brave they can be, how
(08:26):
to learn by the way they navigate tragedy, the way
they navigate pain, and the way they insist on living
with joy. I wanted to share the story. It was
part of my healing process as well. For the first
six months I basically lost the world to live after
Freddy left, and by reading over my diary that during
(08:49):
that period, I thought, you know, you can't keep this
to yourself. He's so and so important to my career
as a writer and to my development as a human,
seeing me through so many of my own problems in minds,
and I just I had to tell the story. So
I'm glad. I'm glad my publisher was interested in publishing it.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
That's amazing, And I can imagine the loss of a
beloved pet can be difficult. Maybe you could talk about
how you coped with Freddie's passing and the impact that
he continues to have. So maybe someone that's going through
this kind of grief, can you feel that they're not alone?
Speaker 6 (09:27):
Yeah? There was. I was part of a Facebook group
during this whole period where people who had dogs that
were living on barrow time, people who would share their
ideas of how to what they could eat, what to
do to help them through this, and also what to
do to help ourselves do it. One of the things
I did after Freddy passed away and I could think
(09:51):
rationally was to set up a sort of Freddy wall.
The portrait on the cover of the book is actually
a painting Ready that was made in around twenty twelve
and by a wonderful BC artist, Vicky Bows, and we
(10:11):
have that on the wall in our bedroom. Under it,
we have a cabinet full of all of his favorite
jackets and his some of his toys and some treats
that he left when he died, and some photos of him,
and then under that we keep the urn with his ashes.
(10:31):
I am very, very grateful I was able to commission
an artist in New York to create his urn. It's
got a portrait of Freddy on top, based on photographs
of him. It's in ceramic. The artist asked me, well,
how do you want him to appear, and I said, well,
(10:52):
I want him to appear the way he was in
the last moments when my partner and I walked into
the ice see you on October twenty to twenty twenty one,
and Ready too could barely Breathe got up and he
stood to be held by us until he went to sleep,
and so that's that's on his shelf in his little cabinets.
(11:15):
And I think keeping pictures, I mean it's not for everybody,
but for us, it works. Keeping his things, our new
adopted dog, also a former mill dog. He plays with
some of Praddy's toys, and that in a way keeps him,
keeps him with us.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah, that's that is a very touching story, and that
is a useful tool because a lot of people may
have emotionally difficulty keeping those past items of the dog.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
So that's great that that that's something that helps you.
Speaker 6 (11:47):
M I even have. I mean I kept thinks. It
was like every every step of the way with Freddy
was a new step forward. I mean he went from
being completely shut down. The first hour we brought him
home from the shelter, he stood in a corner and
shook with his head down, and you know, just seeing
him chewing on a cardboard tube, I thought that so
(12:10):
I kept the two. I mean, he learned how to
do things that I had grown up with what I
could considered normal dogs, and it just it was amazing
to see a dog learn how to do these things
that I thought they knew how to do just you know, normally,
and I had to teach him what a toy was,
to teach him that his food would always be there
(12:30):
and that we would always be there for him. I
kept every little memento over the years, and for some
people that that could be upsetting to see those things.
We couldn't really talk about him or look at pictures
for the first several weeks. But now we have him everywhere,
and like I say, with some of his toys in
(12:52):
Nko's box and seeing Nico play with them, it feels
like we're he's still contributing. And of course he's still
contributing because he influenced these books of mind that celebrate
courageous animals that are helping support animals.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Absolutely, yeah, I really appreciate that you have all that
content that you've created. But we're just gonna have a
quick break and when we get back we'll continue.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
We're talking with graph cater Menzies.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
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Speaker 3 (14:28):
Welcome back to Saying Wood.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
We are talking with author Grant hater Menzies about his
new book, a memoir release called Freddie The Rescue Dog
Who Rescued Me. To get into some practical tips that
you've gone through and you've pretty much gone through it
seeing that Freddy came from a puppy mail and hoarding situation,
which is which does involve pretty much training the dog
(14:50):
to learn everything from the start again, he had to
overcome fear anxiety. Could you share some of the specific
steps and tools you used to help him achlimize to
your home.
Speaker 6 (15:00):
Yes, one of the things that that has has always
struck me is how pernicious fear is it. It interferes
with almost everything. I think it is is literally the
basis of unhappiness, and it's so easy to fall into fear.
I spent a lot of my my bullied boyhood in fear.
(15:21):
And it can stunt one. It can. It can kind
of put things on hold until you're ready to get
away from it or deny its force in your life.
So watching Freddy being afraid of everything, he didn't know
what When when the wind blew desper he didn't know
what that was our neco is the same way the
wind blows and he sits down. He doesn't. Oh wow,
(15:44):
they came. They grew up in boxes. I mean they didn't.
They never went outside. And Freddie didn't know what birds were.
He thought cars. It's like when he saw cars go by,
he didn't know what that was. That everything was new
and almost everything was terrib fine. He was terrified of
dogs till the end of his life. He could never
be around other dogs. They scared him. There was only
(16:08):
one dog, and I acknowledged this in the book A
Very Old I'll also Rescue. Chelt mix was a neighbor's
dog and Freddie. I think Freddie loved Tolly in the
short period he knew her. She died about a month
after we brought Freddie home, but she was the only
(16:28):
dog he ever tried to play with. And I think
it's because she was slow and she was older that
other dogs terrified him. We had to work really hard
to keep him in a place where it was where
he felt safe, so we avoided other dogs. We let
people know well ahead of time they were coming down
the street, you know, he's not he's afraid, or we
(16:50):
would pick him up. But we also let him be
who he was. We didn't ever put him to training.
It was suggested a few times, but the only time
we actually brought in an expert was when it appeared
that Freddie was afraid of me. And that was curious
because I was the one who chose him. I was
the one who my partner at the time, tended to
(17:14):
be more I guess rational about holding and touching dogs.
It was like, you know, let's just let let him be,
don't You don't have to hover over him all the time.
But that's unfortunately the way I am. Freddie seemed to
run away from me, or was he just wasn't sure
of me. This was very upsetting. So I called an
expert in Victoria, Janet Parker, and she came and she said,
(17:37):
you know what you need to do. You need to
sit down on the floor with him, beat him his
dinner by hand, and this, however long this takes, do it.
So we started doing that and there was no there
was no change, really, but it felt like it was
we were on our way to you know, to improvements.
And I also stopped wanting that from him. I just
(17:58):
let him be who he was. It's like, you know what,
I'm happy to look after you all of your days,
just you know, if you need anything, let me know,
but I'm not going to force myself on you. One evening,
when my partner was away, I was upstairs and sitting
in the hall through shelving some books and sitting there
reading a book in the dark, and I heard Freddy's
(18:23):
clicking toenail paw nails coming up the staircase. He came
down the hall, stood there and then put his put
his head on my knee and looked up at me,
and I realized he had made the decision that I
was okay. And after that we were always close. He
(18:46):
never shied away from me. He came to me when
he was afraid, and we let him. I think it's
important to let them decide when it's right. There's against training,
but I'm not a proponent of it in all cases.
I think these dogs have been through so much the
last thing they need is somebody saying, no, do this,
(19:08):
do that, do this? Do that? Did with Ournico, he
came to us completely no, no house training. He didn't
know what toys were, he didn't know he's he's has
many of the same fears that Freddy had, and thanks
to Freddie, we know what to do. And now he's
(19:28):
he plays and he's actually becoming more a normal dog
than Freddy was. So again Freddie helped with that.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
That's amazing and it's great that you give a different
perspective out there. You have to train the dog. You
have to train the dog. Your approach was just more
passive and patient, So that's that's good to know that
that approach also works.
Speaker 6 (19:53):
Yeah, being paid, be patient, let them develop and if
there's a. If there's a reason why you need to
interfere further, it'll come to you. But but just these
dogs that have been through this puppyno hoarding situation, they
need unique solutions. They can't just it's a cookie cutter
training thing won't work at least at least sparred licency.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
And Nico, Nico hasn't gone through I'm assuming he hasn't
gone through any training.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
No, no, I mean it was suggested, but it's it's
not I mean, it wasn't necessary. He's his approval. He's
very very smart.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Oh yeah, yeah, he picked up what to do.
Speaker 6 (20:30):
He wants to be. He wants to be the happy
little dog he is. That it was in there the
whole time, even when it was terrible. When we first
brought him home and he just was terrified. He ran around,
he didn't know where he was. He he didn't know
the difference between inside and outside. So we lived with
(20:54):
pea pads instead of carpeting like for like three months,
three or four month, But that he really did. He's
come a long, long, long way, and it's not forcing.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
He's also from the same situation like a puppy mail hoarding.
Speaker 6 (21:13):
He came out of He came out of the puppy
no boarding situation. Just didn't you know, it was just
he never went up, was never taken outside. They aren't
they just kept in boxes. They're kept for breeding purposes.
And so he's younger than Freddie was when when he
was sprung out of his situation. So I think that
(21:35):
has helped as well.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
That's great that you got them both from the same situation,
and they're also both from the bc SPCA No.
Speaker 6 (21:44):
Only friend and you can hear Nico.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
In the background Malone Nico.
Speaker 6 (21:52):
Nico comes from a It came from a rescue on
the DC mainland and they take in little dogs that
have been through hell, and we could only have a
small dog in our in our living situation here, so
(22:13):
it was perfect for that. Knew we were taking on
a big, a big job because they have lived such
a strange life of no stimuli, no socialization, fear. It's
hard to even imagine why anybody thinks that's okay. But
luckily there are wonderful people rescuing them.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Absolutely absolutely shout out to all of those people that
have done so.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
But we are out of time.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I really appreciate you Grant taking the time talk to
you today, and thanks to our shop producer, Mark Winter
for making the show possible.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
The link to Grant's work will be on the show
notes page.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
I'm not going to say it because of it it
gets a little confusing, but you can see all of
his past writings on the web page as well.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
So if you have any questions, comments, or ideas for.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
A show, please email me at Beverly at petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Until next time, Spread Animal Compass
Speaker 5 (23:09):
Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on petlfradio
dot com.
Is pet Life Radio. Let's Talk Pets.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome to Save a Foods on pet Life Radio. Thank
you for listening In Today, I am Beverly Isla, your host.
Our guest today is author Grant cater Menzies, who will
share with us his experience and journey and adopting his
best friend Freddy from the British Columbia SPCIA, who had
rescued Freddy from a puppy male hoarding scenario.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
So, in tribute to Freddie, who.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Has passed in twenty twenty one, Grant pent a heartforming
memoir called Freddie The Rescue Dog who Rescued Me. So
when we get back from these messages, we will hear
from Grant cater Menzies about his experience as well as
how he helped Freddy with spears anxieties that may inspire
others going through similar transitions with an adopted dot.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Take a bite out of your competition, advertise your business
with an ad In Petlife Radio podcasts and radio shows,
there is no other pet related media that is as
large and reaches more pet parents and pet lovers than
Petlife Radio with over seven million monthly listeners. Pet Life
Radio podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms, and
(01:30):
our live radio stream goes out to over two hundred
and fifty million subscribers on iHeartRadio, Odyssey, tune In, and
other streaming apps. For more information on how you can
advertise on the number one pet podcast and radio network,
visit petlife radio dot com. Slash advertised today.
Speaker 5 (01:50):
Let's talk pets on petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Welcome back to Sable Food.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
We are talking with author Grant hater Megzies about his
incredible journey with his adoptive dog, Freddie, who has crossed
the Rainbow Bridge in twenty twenty one and now has
his very own memoir called Freddy The Rescue Dog Who
Rescued Me. So thank you Grant for taking the time
to talk about your new book and your experience helping
(02:25):
Freddy rehabilitate into the world.
Speaker 6 (02:27):
Thank you so.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
First off, can you share with us the moment you
first met Freddie and what drew you to him or
his story coming from a puppy male hoarding situation.
Speaker 6 (02:39):
Yeah, it was in September twenty ten, and my partner
and I had just lost our elderly dog, Jesse two
years earlier. Actually, we had just got to the point
where we felt we could welcome another dog into our lives.
So we were at the BCSBC and Shelter in Victoria, DC,
(03:00):
and we went to see Freddie. We'd seen his picture
on the website the night before, and I was very
doubtful that he would still be there because he was
a sweet little sort of like a little dark fox
looking dog, but obviously very very scared in the photo.
But I could see somebody snapping him up right away.
But when we got there, there he was. I had
(03:22):
never seen a more terrified dog in my life, a
dog that had been through horrible situations I could only imagine.
I knew it would be a challenge taking him on,
but I couldn't leave them there, so we brought him home.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
That's awesome for you because I love hearing stories, especially
from puppy mill. Maybe actually you can educate us, even myself,
on what exactly is the puppy mill hoarding situation, like
what does it really look like?
Speaker 6 (03:51):
Well, a puppy mill is basically an unauthorized, unofficial breeding
operation where the dogs are kept in substandard conditions, often
not fed, often not cared for, often not socialized, solely
for the purpose of breeding puppies that are then passed
along to pet shops that do not care where their
(04:14):
dogs come from, and who then pass on to the
public dogs that have all kinds of issues and problems
that may result in them being given up because of
their abnormalities, either health physical health or mental health or both.
Ready had had a great deal of trauma to work
(04:34):
for I never work through, and there were things he
never got passed. So a hoarder, as I explained to
the book, it's not not everybody who hoards animals is
a demonic. You know. Some of these people really think
they're doing the best thing they can for the dogs
(04:58):
or cats or whatever it is they are collect being.
But there's a lot of psychological, uh, trouble part of
the the human human beings that do this. In Kim
Cabin's book Little Boy Blue about her her her way
of going back through history to see where her adopted
(05:20):
mill dog had come from, she met a lady who
hoarded dogs that were basically stacked in boxes to the
ceiling in her in her home, and some of them
left in a room with mid light on. And she
thought she was doing the right thing. And I have
known some I have known people who were who were hoarders.
(05:40):
But it's it's bad because it's it results in animals
that are socialized, animals that who have health problems that
are never addressed. Freddie came from both both of those situations.
Whether he was ever used for or prepared to be
used for reading is it is doubtful because he was
terrified of by the dogs. That can't imagine him being
(06:02):
used for breathing. But he was with the others when
it was scooped up by the PCSPCA. That was in
August twenty ten, and then we adopted him in September.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Wow, you've had it for a decade at least. That's
great that he lived that long.
Speaker 6 (06:19):
Yeah, he was about thirteen or fourteen when he passed away.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Okay, now, your book, Freddy the Rescue Dog Who Rescued
Me is a deeply personal account of your journey with him.
What inspired you to write this memoir and what message
do you hope readers take away from it.
Speaker 6 (06:36):
Freddy had been through so much and had reached a
point where it was like he he felt he could trust.
He felt it was okay to trust people, to trust
humans again, after what they had done to him. This
inspired me so much that I'd spent years writing biographies,
(06:58):
mostly of extraorinary women's lives. And when Freddie came into
the picture, I watched him grow stronger and more courageous,
and more open and accepting of things and learning how
to live in a normal world. And I thought, I
(07:18):
really want to write about animals that have been through
hell and have have managed to survive that and overcome it.
And he's really the reason I started writing about animals
in war, the dogs, horses, and so in that regard,
(07:39):
he and many of these books I give woralties to
animal charities. So in that regard, Freddie was certainly helping
with current issues that animals are having. But in his
last year he fought two panthers, one of them the
most deadly cancer that can have amandusarcoma, and then heart
(08:03):
disease on top of that, and it was a battle
that was waged with grace, with joy, and never complaining,
and it just I thought, and I kept the diary
of all of this, and I thought, well, I really
I really should tell the story, because it's important that
people see how animals, how brave they can be, how
(08:26):
to learn by the way they navigate tragedy, the way
they navigate pain, and the way they insist on living
with joy. I wanted to share the story. It was
part of my healing process as well. For the first
six months I basically lost the world to live after
Freddy left, and by reading over my diary that during
(08:49):
that period, I thought, you know, you can't keep this
to yourself. He's so and so important to my career
as a writer and to my development as a human,
seeing me through so many of my own problems in minds,
and I just I had to tell the story. So
I'm glad. I'm glad my publisher was interested in publishing it.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
That's amazing, And I can imagine the loss of a
beloved pet can be difficult. Maybe you could talk about
how you coped with Freddie's passing and the impact that
he continues to have. So maybe someone that's going through
this kind of grief, can you feel that they're not alone?
Speaker 6 (09:27):
Yeah? There was. I was part of a Facebook group
during this whole period where people who had dogs that
were living on barrow time, people who would share their
ideas of how to what they could eat, what to
do to help them through this, and also what to
do to help ourselves do it. One of the things
I did after Freddy passed away and I could think
(09:51):
rationally was to set up a sort of Freddy wall.
The portrait on the cover of the book is actually
a painting Ready that was made in around twenty twelve
and by a wonderful BC artist, Vicky Bows, and we
(10:11):
have that on the wall in our bedroom. Under it,
we have a cabinet full of all of his favorite
jackets and his some of his toys and some treats
that he left when he died, and some photos of him,
and then under that we keep the urn with his ashes.
(10:31):
I am very, very grateful I was able to commission
an artist in New York to create his urn. It's
got a portrait of Freddy on top, based on photographs
of him. It's in ceramic. The artist asked me, well,
how do you want him to appear, and I said, well,
(10:52):
I want him to appear the way he was in
the last moments when my partner and I walked into
the ice see you on October twenty to twenty twenty one,
and Ready too could barely Breathe got up and he
stood to be held by us until he went to sleep,
and so that's that's on his shelf in his little cabinets.
(11:15):
And I think keeping pictures, I mean it's not for everybody,
but for us, it works. Keeping his things, our new
adopted dog, also a former mill dog. He plays with
some of Praddy's toys, and that in a way keeps him,
keeps him with us.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah, that's that is a very touching story, and that
is a useful tool because a lot of people may
have emotionally difficulty keeping those past items of the dog.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
So that's great that that that's something that helps you.
Speaker 6 (11:47):
M I even have. I mean I kept thinks. It
was like every every step of the way with Freddy
was a new step forward. I mean he went from
being completely shut down. The first hour we brought him
home from the shelter, he stood in a corner and
shook with his head down, and you know, just seeing
him chewing on a cardboard tube, I thought that so
(12:10):
I kept the two. I mean, he learned how to
do things that I had grown up with what I
could considered normal dogs, and it just it was amazing
to see a dog learn how to do these things
that I thought they knew how to do just you know, normally,
and I had to teach him what a toy was,
to teach him that his food would always be there
(12:30):
and that we would always be there for him. I
kept every little memento over the years, and for some
people that that could be upsetting to see those things.
We couldn't really talk about him or look at pictures
for the first several weeks. But now we have him everywhere,
and like I say, with some of his toys in
(12:52):
Nko's box and seeing Nico play with them, it feels
like we're he's still contributing. And of course he's still
contributing because he influenced these books of mind that celebrate
courageous animals that are helping support animals.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Absolutely, yeah, I really appreciate that you have all that
content that you've created. But we're just gonna have a
quick break and when we get back we'll continue.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
We're talking with graph cater Menzies.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
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Speaker 5 (14:12):
Let's talk past, Let's done, talk about life Radio Headline Radio.
Speaker 8 (14:16):
Cat Live radio dot com.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Welcome back to Saying Wood.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
We are talking with author Grant hater Menzies about his
new book, a memoir release called Freddie The Rescue Dog
Who Rescued Me. To get into some practical tips that
you've gone through and you've pretty much gone through it
seeing that Freddy came from a puppy mail and hoarding situation,
which is which does involve pretty much training the dog
(14:50):
to learn everything from the start again, he had to
overcome fear anxiety. Could you share some of the specific
steps and tools you used to help him achlimize to
your home.
Speaker 6 (15:00):
Yes, one of the things that that has has always
struck me is how pernicious fear is it. It interferes
with almost everything. I think it is is literally the
basis of unhappiness, and it's so easy to fall into fear.
I spent a lot of my my bullied boyhood in fear.
(15:21):
And it can stunt one. It can. It can kind
of put things on hold until you're ready to get
away from it or deny its force in your life.
So watching Freddy being afraid of everything, he didn't know
what When when the wind blew desper he didn't know
what that was our neco is the same way the
wind blows and he sits down. He doesn't. Oh wow,
(15:44):
they came. They grew up in boxes. I mean they didn't.
They never went outside. And Freddie didn't know what birds were.
He thought cars. It's like when he saw cars go by,
he didn't know what that was. That everything was new
and almost everything was terrib fine. He was terrified of
dogs till the end of his life. He could never
be around other dogs. They scared him. There was only
(16:08):
one dog, and I acknowledged this in the book A
Very Old I'll also Rescue. Chelt mix was a neighbor's
dog and Freddie. I think Freddie loved Tolly in the
short period he knew her. She died about a month
after we brought Freddie home, but she was the only
(16:28):
dog he ever tried to play with. And I think
it's because she was slow and she was older that
other dogs terrified him. We had to work really hard
to keep him in a place where it was where
he felt safe, so we avoided other dogs. We let
people know well ahead of time they were coming down
the street, you know, he's not he's afraid, or we
(16:50):
would pick him up. But we also let him be
who he was. We didn't ever put him to training.
It was suggested a few times, but the only time
we actually brought in an expert was when it appeared
that Freddie was afraid of me. And that was curious
because I was the one who chose him. I was
the one who my partner at the time, tended to
(17:14):
be more I guess rational about holding and touching dogs.
It was like, you know, let's just let let him be,
don't You don't have to hover over him all the time.
But that's unfortunately the way I am. Freddie seemed to
run away from me, or was he just wasn't sure
of me. This was very upsetting. So I called an
expert in Victoria, Janet Parker, and she came and she said,
(17:37):
you know what you need to do. You need to
sit down on the floor with him, beat him his
dinner by hand, and this, however long this takes, do it.
So we started doing that and there was no there
was no change, really, but it felt like it was
we were on our way to you know, to improvements.
And I also stopped wanting that from him. I just
(17:58):
let him be who he was. It's like, you know what,
I'm happy to look after you all of your days,
just you know, if you need anything, let me know,
but I'm not going to force myself on you. One evening,
when my partner was away, I was upstairs and sitting
in the hall through shelving some books and sitting there
reading a book in the dark, and I heard Freddy's
(18:23):
clicking toenail paw nails coming up the staircase. He came
down the hall, stood there and then put his put
his head on my knee and looked up at me,
and I realized he had made the decision that I
was okay. And after that we were always close. He
(18:46):
never shied away from me. He came to me when
he was afraid, and we let him. I think it's
important to let them decide when it's right. There's against training,
but I'm not a proponent of it in all cases.
I think these dogs have been through so much the
last thing they need is somebody saying, no, do this,
(19:08):
do that, do this? Do that? Did with Ournico, he
came to us completely no, no house training. He didn't
know what toys were, he didn't know he's he's has
many of the same fears that Freddy had, and thanks
to Freddie, we know what to do. And now he's
(19:28):
he plays and he's actually becoming more a normal dog
than Freddy was. So again Freddie helped with that.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
That's amazing and it's great that you give a different
perspective out there. You have to train the dog. You
have to train the dog. Your approach was just more
passive and patient, So that's that's good to know that
that approach also works.
Speaker 6 (19:53):
Yeah, being paid, be patient, let them develop and if
there's a. If there's a reason why you need to
interfere further, it'll come to you. But but just these
dogs that have been through this puppyno hoarding situation, they
need unique solutions. They can't just it's a cookie cutter
training thing won't work at least at least sparred licency.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
And Nico, Nico hasn't gone through I'm assuming he hasn't
gone through any training.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
No, no, I mean it was suggested, but it's it's
not I mean, it wasn't necessary. He's his approval. He's
very very smart.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Oh yeah, yeah, he picked up what to do.
Speaker 6 (20:30):
He wants to be. He wants to be the happy
little dog he is. That it was in there the
whole time, even when it was terrible. When we first
brought him home and he just was terrified. He ran around,
he didn't know where he was. He he didn't know
the difference between inside and outside. So we lived with
(20:54):
pea pads instead of carpeting like for like three months,
three or four month, But that he really did. He's
come a long, long, long way, and it's not forcing.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
He's also from the same situation like a puppy mail hoarding.
Speaker 6 (21:13):
He came out of He came out of the puppy
no boarding situation. Just didn't you know, it was just
he never went up, was never taken outside. They aren't
they just kept in boxes. They're kept for breeding purposes.
And so he's younger than Freddie was when when he
was sprung out of his situation. So I think that
(21:35):
has helped as well.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
That's great that you got them both from the same situation,
and they're also both from the bc SPCA No.
Speaker 6 (21:44):
Only friend and you can hear Nico.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
In the background Malone Nico.
Speaker 6 (21:52):
Nico comes from a It came from a rescue on
the DC mainland and they take in little dogs that
have been through hell, and we could only have a
small dog in our in our living situation here, so
(22:13):
it was perfect for that. Knew we were taking on
a big, a big job because they have lived such
a strange life of no stimuli, no socialization, fear. It's
hard to even imagine why anybody thinks that's okay. But
luckily there are wonderful people rescuing them.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Absolutely absolutely shout out to all of those people that
have done so.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
But we are out of time.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I really appreciate you Grant taking the time talk to
you today, and thanks to our shop producer, Mark Winter
for making the show possible.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
The link to Grant's work will be on the show
notes page.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
I'm not going to say it because of it it
gets a little confusing, but you can see all of
his past writings on the web page as well.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
So if you have any questions, comments, or ideas for.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
A show, please email me at Beverly at petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Until next time, Spread Animal Compass
Speaker 5 (23:09):
Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on petlfradio
dot com.
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