March 10, 2011 • 39 mins
Listen to this week's episode of "Wynn with Dogs" and you may end up volunteering with your pup! Our guest is Nancy Stanley, animal therapy pioneer and author of the book, "Pillow with a Heartbeat". Her new book follows Truffles, her tiny, chocolate poodle, from adoption through finding his real purpose in life - sharing his unconditional love. Nancy and Truffles shed light on the rewards and benefits of pet love! Nancy and Truffles work with Make-a-Wish Foundation as well as Tender Loving Zoo (a non-profit organization which Nancy started in 1982).
We all know the benefits of having an animal in our lives - the health benefits are numerous and documented! How wonderful to have people and animals in this world sharing their love. It's sooo important to hold space for positive energy, light, and love. Listen in and let your gratitude swell - thanks to all you therapy volunteers! Remember to take on the day and win with your dog!!
More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Get in the Game! Be a Volunteer! with Raquel Wynn
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/wynn-with-dogs-healthy-happy-dogs-pet-life-radio-original--6670203/support.
We all know the benefits of having an animal in our lives - the health benefits are numerous and documented! How wonderful to have people and animals in this world sharing their love. It's sooo important to hold space for positive energy, light, and love. Listen in and let your gratitude swell - thanks to all you therapy volunteers! Remember to take on the day and win with your dog!!
More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Get in the Game! Be a Volunteer! with Raquel Wynn
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/wynn-with-dogs-healthy-happy-dogs-pet-life-radio-original--6670203/support.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 4 (01:01):
Raquel Win Welcome back listeners to Win with Dogs here
on Pet Life Radio. Thank you so much for joining
me today. I'm super excited about my next guest, Nancy Stanley.
She is an author and also recognized as one of
the modern day animal therapy pioneers, which is so close
(01:23):
to my heart. I cannot wait to introduce you to
her wonderful book pillow with a heartbeat. It's about a tiny,
tiny chocolate poodle named Truffles who finds his purpose in life,
which is dog therapy. Please don't go away, we will
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Thanks for hanging around. We're back to Win with Dogs
with Me Raquelwyn on pet Life Radio.
Speaker 6 (04:35):
Welcome back, Welcome back.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
I hope you're all settled in and ready to listen
as we welcome Nancy Stanley to the program.
Speaker 6 (04:43):
Hello Nancy, thanks for joining me today.
Speaker 10 (04:45):
Hi, I'm very very happy here. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
You're welcome, Nancy. You have done so much for animals.
I'm thrilled to have you on my show. I know
one of your great passions by reading about you is
animal fair and that's fabulous, fabulous. I want to talk
specifically today about that, and also about your new book,
Pillow with a Heartbeat, which all of you all listening
(05:12):
should get.
Speaker 9 (05:13):
This.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
One thing that I love about this book, Nancy, is
that it is written from Truffle's perspective, which I know
all of us animal lovers and owners and parents love
to think about what our dogs are exactly thinking.
Speaker 6 (05:28):
At any given moment.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
And I tell you, this short little book brought me
to tears and joy, tears of joy and everything. So
thank you so much for writing it. Tell our listeners
a little bit about the story.
Speaker 10 (05:42):
Well, first of all, I was inspired. I'm not a
wrisk granted for the Baker Wish Foundation and the little
girl that I had while she was sixteen inspired me
not only to write the book, but just in my
life altogether, because her zest for life was just unbelievable,
Like I just couldn't believe going through what he's been
going through for treating leukemia, that she had such an
(06:03):
incredible outlook on life. And one day and her bond
with Truffles was so fantastic and she actually understood what
he was talking about. I'm sure imagine if Yeah, she
was in tune, just like we are all in tune
to our dogs, but this was special. And she said,
Trufle could just talk. Could you imagine what this dog
would be saying? And this bulb went off in my
(06:26):
head and I went, I think I'm going to write
a book and he's going to talk. I never wrote
a book before, but it was so easy because it's
easy to talk to Truffles and he had so much
to say.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
And so Truffles, I love the story of you getting
Truffles and him meeting you for the first time, and
then you left and then you came back. So when
you got this little guy, this little guy was quite tiny, tiny,
little tiny Truffle.
Speaker 10 (06:55):
Yeah, he was less than two towns and all the
way sounds now and he's sick years old, but it
was it was that's exactly how he was feeling. Because
I went to meet him and and I wanted him,
but I had to go away for two weeks and
I couldn't take him home and then put him in
a boarding or anything like that. So so the so
the woman kept him for me, and I just was
(07:17):
so stick. The whole my vacation was ruined because I
was a dog loved me for an hour on the
floor and then I left him, and how as soon
as I saw him, it was he actually remembered me,
I'm beautiful and and so it just developed. This whole
story developed, you know, from from that moment on before
(07:37):
I even knew I was going to write the book.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Yeah, and you know, I have two rescue dogs also,
and one thing that struck me, well, I've had many
in my life, but I have two currently, and one
of the things that struck me in this book was
Truffle's desire to catch on to and fit into your life.
And that's one of the things that I love dogs
(08:00):
is that they try to bond and fit in and
the whole therapy dog thing that Truffles was so great
at it. It was almost like Truffles knew that that's
what his purpose was, because that's what your purpose was,
right he did.
Speaker 10 (08:17):
And from a minute then he crawled into my lap
while the other dogs were playing. All these puppies were
so cute, and he didn't want to play with them.
He wanted to come to me. And that's the first
sign of a great therapy dog is that they're not
a dog dog, they're a people dog. He crawled on
my lap with a great struggle to get up on
my lap because he was so teeny, and he just
(08:39):
looked like thank you, can you please take me home?
And put his head down and fell asleep.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
I mean a lot of people that I know have
thought that their dogs would be great at therapy in
the therapy dog role.
Speaker 6 (08:53):
What should we look.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
For if we are interested in doing that with our animals,
with our dogs. Well, you are a pioneer of therapy dogs.
Speaker 6 (09:04):
I want to know what you think.
Speaker 10 (09:06):
Let okay, Well, I think the most important characteristic of
being a therapy dog is their temperament. That's that's like
the bigest thing to me. I know. They train they
get these dogs certified, and they go through all these
tests and throwing down heavy things and heavy machine next
to them so they don't freak out and all that stuff.
(09:27):
But my personal opinion is that it's just their temperament.
They have to be just friendly and patient and gentle
and confident and at ease at all different situations. And
the most and other most important thing is they have
to enjoy human contact and be content to be petted
(09:48):
and handled, and and even if they're handled clumsily, sometimes
they have to just flow, go with the flow, because
they're just the way they are. They're so benign. And
Truffles is exactly like that. I have to see all
him on his back. He's not too happy, but he
will put up with it. I just don't let people
do that because you know your dog, and you have
to watch for you watch out for your dog first
(10:09):
and foremost that you protect your animal. And it is
jobs just to allow people who are not familiar to
him to make some kind of physical contact and enjoy
that contact. And children in particular, they enjoy hugging animals,
and adults usually enjoy just heading them, but kids want
to play with them and hug them and squeeze them
(10:30):
and wore a trouble love was that soon as soon
as I no kidding, I pick up his therapy dog jacket,
he takes a bee line three flights downstairs and sits
by the door because he knows he's going to have fun.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Yeah, And it's interesting when if you've ever done any
work with that, and I have experienced it myself, when
the animal and the human make that connection, and it
truly is like I imagine Truffles just holding a radiant
space of love and energy and understanding and unconditional love
(11:05):
for this person. And it's almost like Truffle's is saying,
and I'm reading this book going the whole time, Truffles
is going, I understand, I understand you. I am here
for you, I understand you. I would love to hear
some stories of Truffle's therapy experiences a couple, you know,
particularly moving moments for you when you knew it was
(11:26):
worthwhile all of.
Speaker 10 (11:27):
This, Well, when I first realized it was worth while,
I was when I first started in eighty two, That's
how long ago I started this program. Tender Loving Zoo.
Speaker 6 (11:37):
Tender Loving Zoo. Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 10 (11:39):
The first the first school that I went to, I
went through on my own with my dogs Freeway. That's
when I knew I was on the right. This mission
was just something I had to do forever as long
as I could. There's there's children in this particular center
where all and I mean all of them were never
(12:01):
going to get any better than they were. They were
going to grow older if they if they lived to
grow older, and they would always have to have one
hundred percent care. They were laying on mattresses, you know,
and having therapy and meds and all this stuff. Well,
when when I first came in there, there were a
bunch of you know how little children if they have
(12:21):
like cerebral palsy and then other complications, and their bones
are rigid and their fingers are all tight and you know,
gnawled up, and when they put their hands on my
dogs Freeway, it was just as huge as treffle and
soft and black not chocolate. Their hands relaxed. All of
(12:43):
this gnarled up, hard, rigid, rigidness went away, and the
attendants were freaking out. They could not believe this was
happenings with all their therapy and massaging and nothing to
do that when they touched the bag and they set
the warmth and the.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
I think that's so amazing, that's so true.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
I have to take this path for a minute with
you because a lot of the work I do is
energy work, and I think dogs are natural energy healers
and a lot of human pain conditions and disease, as
you're saying, it totally affects the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous
systems of the body, and nothing else can calm that
(13:27):
except energy, calming energy, And it's almost like animals and
your dog, Freeway and Truffle know how to radiate the
proper frequency to calm a human down. And it's truly
amazing when you see, like you're saying, someone who, no
matter what therapy they do, their.
Speaker 6 (13:48):
Muscles won't relax.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
They cannot get to that calm space in their body.
Speaker 6 (13:53):
And I think.
Speaker 10 (13:54):
Also of finary I think it's also because they're so
in the moment with this animal. Yes, but their brain
stops working over time thinking about a lot of the
stuff that's making them stressed and making them sick and
making their blood pressure high. They don't think about it.
They think about this moment and once they can let
(14:15):
go in their brain, it just becomes a physical thing
with them.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
And that that's so true because I often say to
people my perspective is that your brain is over your body,
but your spirit is over all of those and being
in the moment and connecting with an animal and an
unconditional love that is truly a spirit connection where you
are not this You are not bound by your what
(14:41):
your brain tells you or what your body tells you.
Your connected completely spirit. And I assume you are completely
connected with all your animals. And you have noticed this,
and that's why you've been doing so much work with it.
Speaker 6 (14:55):
Your whole life is.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
You know the spirit connection of an animal, and honestly, and.
Speaker 10 (15:01):
I also know for a fact because you know how
children come from broken homes, which I did, and I
was very very sensitive, and I battled everything up inside,
and my dog was the only being on this earth
that I could talk to and get all these feelings out.
And I think I became a really good, non druggy
(15:23):
kind of person because of my animals, because I let
everything go and nothing was inside anymore. I could just
talk to them. And I think that happens with most
of the people that I see, they get so in tune,
too trouble that they start talking to me about everything
that was never bothering them, on how lonely they were
and they lost their dog, and especially the elderly. I mean,
(15:45):
that's just mind blowing to see what I see when
I'm with these old people, to have parents or grandparents
that are going to be in these situations where they're
in these places where they need to have this extra
love and attention, and it is I think it's the
for them, the best.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Yeah, and it translates to, you know, health benefits. That
interaction translates to, like you mentioned, lower blood pressure, you know,
slower heart rates, slower respiratory rates, all of these things
are affected just by being in the presence of a dog,
which is or an ant or a horse for that matter.
Speaker 6 (16:23):
I know you do a lot of work with horse
rescue as well. You know this.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
We're here talking about truffles, but I would love to
hear just a little bit about your equine welfare and
rescue that you do, because that is so important. Horses
actually are where I learned my energy work with animals.
I worked on polo horses and fox hunting horses, and
you talk about completely in tune.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
Energetically.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Horses are extremely sensitive to this, to energies of humans
and their surroundings. So you're doing a lot of work
with equine rescue currently, right, I've read.
Speaker 10 (17:04):
And the reason why I'm doing that is because most
of the people in this whole entire United States don't
know that the horses are being butchered and tortured for meat,
for horse meat, go to Europe for delicacy, and they're
taking all of our horses, all of our serbirds that
ran for all their owners, and then they're supposed to
(17:26):
be going out to pass or somewhere to live out
the rest of their lives after making them hundreds of
thousands of dollars, and these care buyers come and get
them and they put them on these trucks for eighteen
hours all together, the stallions and the mayors and the babies,
and they're all shoved into these trailers, and by the
time they get to Mexico or Canada that half of
them are dead or injured. And then they slaughter them
(17:48):
without any any seese or nothing. They just hang them
up and slaughter them, I mean, on all of that.
So this woman calculauis good of films who We're working
on it for two years. Serve in America's horses a
nation betrayed, Yes, and it's going to be premiered on
March twenty seventh in Los Angeles.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
Disturbing.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Disturbing to say the least, but even more than that,
I think, and I'm sure you would agree with me
that just the state of our society and our perspective
and where we're at.
Speaker 6 (18:20):
Enlightenment, whatever word you want to use.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
I mean, how we treat our animals is tantamount to
how we end up treating ourselves, I think. And just
the blatant disregard for life, and you know, the cruelty
which we throw at it is something that has to
be brought to light. I think, as difficult as it
is to watch it totally does. Let me take a
(18:45):
short break and pause for our sponsors, and we'll be
right back and continue chatting with Nancy Stanley.
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Speaker 1 (21:40):
Let's talk past it, Let's done pets on pet Life Radio,
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Speaker 3 (21:52):
Thanks for hanging around We're back to Win with Dogs
with me Raquelwin on pet Life Radio.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
We are back with Nancy Stanley, pioneer of animal therapy
and author of her first awesome book, Pillow with a Heartbeat.
If you want to find out more about it, you
can go to Pillow with a Heartbeat dot com or
you can find some links on pet Life Radio on
our site. Thank you Nancy for staying with me too.
And we were talking about just treating our animals in
(22:22):
such a way that we as a society can be
proud and what that would say to us. And I
think animal therapy, we have so much to learn from
our animals. And you know, you have touched on something
with the animal therapy movement that I think in the
future will be extremely hopefully used more as we search
(22:45):
for ways to be healthy and try to take our health,
you know, take accountability for our health. And your book
of Truffles and his purpose being found, I thank you,
thank you, thank you for writing it. I also would
love to hear about on a personal level Truffles. I
know in the world he's done tons of therapy and help,
(23:06):
but personally, I'm sure he has changed your life and
filled your life so much as my dog that inspired
me to write my book. How was he your little inspiration?
How did he become that big master dog in your life?
Speaker 10 (23:23):
Well, you know, I'm a New Yorker to start off.
We have this kind of personality where kind of hard,
a little bit, you know, and right out there. I mean,
you're honest, but we're right out there. And Truffle in
my book. And there's a saying I have in my
book and to me, I use it all the time.
Be the kind of person your dog thinks you already are. Yeah,
(23:44):
because our dogs think. Now, even if you're not the
best owner in the world, your dog love you, thinks
you are perfect, and there's no you get an A
plus no matter what you do. And well, that's the
way we should be acting. We should be acting the
way they think we are, because if we do that,
we won't have wars, and we won't have people being
(24:05):
mean to people, and we won't have bullies in school
burying the children. And this is how I ever since
I got him and Freeway, but more Truffles. Truffles is
more exceptional than any dog I've ever had. He taught
me to always think before I talk, you know, say
something kind at least once a day to somebody. He
(24:25):
makes my life just so much better, and he brings
people around me. He attracts people around me who are
worth being in my life, and he helped me dismiss
people who were not worth being in my life.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
Nancy, your little Truffles helped you be the person you
could be. I love that, And I was saying that
Truffles is probably like a member of the family. I
know there are a lot of dog behavioral iss who
kind of say, you know, take the alpha role and
don't let the dog lay in bed with you and
all that. That's not how things go in my household,
(24:59):
is it how they are in yours?
Speaker 10 (25:01):
No troubles first of us, just me and Treffles right now,
my kids are out of the house and it's just us.
But Truffles has trained me to be a perfect owner.
Speaker 6 (25:11):
Yeah, that's right. You're paying attention.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
And you know, I ninety three percent of human communication
and animal communication is nonverbal, and that blows my mind
because most of us are just chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
Not aware, not aware, not aware.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
And honestly, you know, you were saying, you know that
having a dog as a member of the family actually
is helpful to you as your growth as a human.
Speaker 10 (25:40):
It saved me, and it saved me, and I am
now from this age on feeling really really good about
mostly everything, which is most people don't get to that
point unfortunately.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
Yes, well not all of us can be saved. We
can all strive, but we can all be saved. So
how often do you volunteer with truffles?
Speaker 6 (26:02):
What is his day? Do you do? Make a wish foundation?
Do you do?
Speaker 10 (26:07):
I go to the senior centers about once or twice
a month if I can, and I do to make
a wish. Well, I have a little boy that I'm
going to be meeting I hope next week, but I
try to do that every three months because it takes
about that long to get it all together and meet
the child, interview them, find out what they want, get
the wish put together, and then go do some enhancement
(26:28):
parties for them. So that takes about two I'd say
two months, and then we wait for another I wait
for another list and see if I pick somebody at
least in my area because some of them are really
far from me. So yeah, you know, with everything else,
I'm trying to do. And since I I market my
own book and so I've published, it's really difficult to
do everything all day long, every day, right, But I
(26:50):
I do enough.
Speaker 6 (26:51):
I mean, how do we if I want to volunteer?
Speaker 4 (26:54):
Are there sites I can go to online to like
look for people specifically or organizations space typically looking for that?
I mean, if I wanted to do that, how do
I even begin?
Speaker 10 (27:04):
No, Actually, when you get your dog certified, everybody who
lives anywhere has a center in their community, like a
home for the elderly or residential area, you know, and
you can just call the administrators, look up their names
carb they administrator and say, hey, look, I have this
fabulous dog and I'd love to come and you know,
spread some lovely looks over there. Yeah, and very happy
(27:29):
to have you as long as you're certified and your
dog is clean. And I mean there are things that
you have to do to have your dog go there,
like be totally well groomed and have your inoculations. But
that's all done with the certification, right, Just go through
the relow pats, go on groogle piping, senior centers, you know,
(27:49):
convalescent homes for the elderly children's centers that maybe boys
and girls court, yeah, or these places I've gone to
before for.
Speaker 6 (28:00):
Women. That was fabulous.
Speaker 10 (28:02):
And I've been to the to to one of those
places down here, which I won't say because it's kind
of hidden, but that's where all the children go who
were of you, yeah, present, away from their families while
their parents are in treatment. And that was just mind blowing. Yeah,
I bet many different places you can go, and you
just have to give her research online.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
And I mean, I assume you know you have gone
through incredible transformation and gotten completely intimately connected to, like
you said, people who are not going to get any better.
Speaker 6 (28:35):
And one part of the book I was.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Particularly moved by was you talk about your friend's daughter Olivia,
who had leukemia and had her head shaved, and you
yourself decided to not only bring a dog that would
look at her without any kind of shame and unconditional love,
who would only give her unconditional love, but you connected
(28:57):
by shaving your own head.
Speaker 10 (29:00):
You let me stop you there. That's one of the
very few parts of the book that aren't true. I
personally didn't share in my head, but I tell you
why I put that in is because when the day
I met the family, they opened the door to me
and Treffled and there were seven people standing in front
of me with bald heads.
Speaker 6 (29:19):
Oh how cool.
Speaker 10 (29:20):
It was the coolest thing I ever saw. And I
knew right then and there I was in trouble because
I don't get connected to the family. That's the boys
that I have. I knew I was an all boys.
That's just what I said to them. I am in trouble.
I love this family, and for a whole year, I'm
still very good friends with them. Yeah, I saw their
(29:43):
bald heads. And I had met Michelle. Her name is
Michelle Butler, but she wanted to be Olivia in the book.
So so I met Olivia and we connected like she
was my daughter and my sister all together. And she
took one look at Truffles and picked him up and
that was it. Is it for me? I mean, Treffles
was in her arms, melting into her body. And when
(30:05):
she said to me, Nancy, if Truffles could just talk
to me, can you imagine? And that's when I decided,
what a great idea, I'm going to write a book
and Tule.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
Yeah, that's I think that's great. That you don't get
intimately connected. I as an energy worker and such, I
work very hard, and I think this is important point
for anyone listening that is interested in doing this kind
of therapy work and getting involved with people. Is to
kind of keep your autonomy and you know you can
(30:37):
only you can help better if you are not connected
and you are more objective. You can be connected energetically,
but you don't carry that weight of anyone else.
Speaker 10 (30:49):
Yeah, because I do get moved and sometimes I get
back on my car and I shed a few tears,
you know, like I wish this child didn't have to
go through this, because then I relate to my I
think about my own children and God forbid that anything
happened to them, and I you know, that's what That's
where Treffle comes into my life. He keeps me calm.
He makes everything okay, it's not going to happen to me,
(31:11):
and I'm going to just take care of those that
it happens too. But with Michelle, it was different because
I couldn't help it. She most operational girl I've ever met.
Her whole family, the way, her love for life, this
whole thing, it just it just made me want to
be want her in my life because I wanted to
learn from her, yeah, and which I did my book,
(31:33):
But no, I will not get involved with anyone else
like that. I mean, I have to quit for three
months doing more. Maybe it was five months after she
passed away. I was a basket case.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
And a lot of people don't even understand, you know,
like we were saying before, we go through life and
aren't really paying attention to some of the internal, spiritual,
energetic things going on our life. And you experienced a
process of what I would call energetic unwinding after that.
Speaker 6 (32:03):
That lasted five months, and that's okay.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
But you know, for anyone who is interested in helping,
do not shame yourself or beat yourself up if you,
you know, feel like you have no energy after working
with someone or that is completely normal because I think
with a therapy dog and what you're doing and what
I'm doing, we're trying to connect on an energetic level,
(32:30):
not just a chatter level, and that is what really
changes changes the world, truly changes the world. And that's
where animals come in. I'm kind of jumping across the
board talking about the horses again, but I just I
want to make sure everyone hears that the show Saving
America's Horses is airing this month in LA And is
(32:53):
there a website that we can go to if we
want to try to encourage its release on a more
national lege.
Speaker 10 (33:00):
Yeah, go to the website. It's www dot Serving America's
Horses dot org. And they don't have all the information
on there about this premiere. This is just the premiere.
We're hoping that that after people fee this, we can
distribute it so it becomes in every theater. It's just,
you know, you never know that it It's a fantastic
(33:21):
beginning to let people aware how important horses are in
this world and that they think they don't. They're not
like other cows. And I mean, I'm just terrible for
the cows and all that too. I'm not a meat eater,
but neither I.
Speaker 6 (33:36):
Can't after working with animals so closely, I can't. I can't.
Speaker 10 (33:40):
But horses are different. They're intelligent and they do feel,
like you said, they know what people are thinking. I mean,
they are the best animals, just the therapy pets. But
they have a place here Helen Woodward where they have
a therapy program all the time with the horses. And
it's an amazing, amazing thing down syndrome kids that the
(34:02):
regularly and it's just amazing how the course understands them
and the kids learn from them. I think that they
learn aggression and they learn the disconnection just from that
kind of you know, handling them. I just think it's fantastic.
Speaker 6 (34:16):
I think it is fantastic.
Speaker 4 (34:17):
And I also think this is kind of indicative of
like what's going on in our society. I know a
lot of friends who have had children that are talking
a lot later, like three four years, are not talking.
They're not talking, and that's okay. And I'm saying to them.
You know, of course, all the doctors are like, oh no,
we got to get them in therapy and this and that.
But I say, look at all of the stuff that
(34:39):
they are ingesting, all of the radio waves, and what's
in the ether right now is way more to be
absorbed than even ten years ago for a child, So
it's no big deal. That's where animals come in, is
that we can relate energetically, and I think that resonates
(35:00):
with any human child or adult. You know, it resonates
when you make this connection and are actually interacting on
a level that I think we are intended to interact
on that we never do.
Speaker 6 (35:14):
That's why it's so powerful.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
So I really appreciate all the work you've done all
these years, you know, bringing this to the forefront.
Speaker 10 (35:23):
Its forces for psychotherapy, super therapy, and all the therapeutic writing.
It's it teaches writing skills for a person that has disabilities.
And now, even though it's not legally a therapy or
they can't say it's real therapy, this activity has profound
and multiple benefits for the people. So who cares what
(35:44):
you call it?
Speaker 9 (35:45):
You know?
Speaker 4 (35:45):
Yeah, exactly, Yeah, totally exactly.
Speaker 6 (35:49):
Hello, who cares?
Speaker 10 (35:52):
It's the cheapest psychotherapy I could ever have. I couldn't
afford a psychiatrist, and this is cheap therapy.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
Yeah, and it's fabulous. It's fabulous and it works. And
along the lines of you not eating meat, just it's
funny because I often say to my husband, oh, I
can't I work so much with animals, and he says
to me, it's not about the cute factor, it's about digestibility.
So whatever motivation you need to maybe look at eating
(36:19):
less animals. All you listeners out there, check into it,
because I think for the earth itself. It is going
to be quite hard to feed all of our voracious
meat eating appetites. But that's another another whole topic in itself.
Speaker 10 (36:34):
I've been off meat kicking a knee. I just I
do eat, even though they're up pretty cute. Sometimes I
fish too, I fish eating fish. But I just can't
give up everything. I mean, I just, you know, I
r I might at some point. I was.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
I was actually a vegetarian full fledged for four years
and started eating fish again two years ago.
Speaker 6 (36:59):
And I do feel.
Speaker 4 (37:01):
You know, a little bit more alert, I would have
to say, But I struggle with it too, because what's
the difference, you know, I don't know what's the difference.
Speaker 6 (37:11):
It's still a living, a living thing. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
That's a whole other topic. But I thank you so much.
We're out of time, and I loved talking about your
book and all the animal therapy. Pillow with a Heartbeat
dot com is the website. Buy a book, let's get
this good mojo going in the universe.
Speaker 10 (37:29):
We love that, and go to Amazon. Don't have it
on Amazon and.
Speaker 6 (37:34):
Perfect, perfect and on Kindle awesome. I love it.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
I hope my book's on Kindle. I don't know I
have to check. My book is called Stretch Your Dog Healthy.
It's a therapy book on stretching and energy and like
holistic health for dogs, which yeah, I'll send you one
for sure.
Speaker 6 (37:57):
And an oh, it's fair as fair, fair as fair, I.
Speaker 10 (38:03):
Would love to do that, very brilliant title. And trestle
stretches all the time, so I guess he's already healthy.
Speaker 6 (38:09):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 4 (38:10):
My intention was to just have people spend a little
time hands on giving back to their dog, staying at
you know, monitoring health, touching, touching, touching. You know, I
have a lot of people that say, oh, you could
touch a dog's tail or a dog after knee surgery.
We haven't touched that knee forever. It's like that's what
(38:30):
heals it, touch.
Speaker 6 (38:31):
Touch his knee. See you know.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
So anyway, but thank you so much Nancy and listeners.
Speaker 6 (38:38):
I hope you enjoyed it.
Speaker 4 (38:40):
Thank you, and we will stay in touch and thank
you for another exciting episode of Win with Dogs.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
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Raquel Win Welcome back listeners to Win with Dogs here
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She is an author and also recognized as one of
the modern day animal therapy pioneers, which is so close
(01:23):
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her wonderful book pillow with a heartbeat. It's about a tiny,
tiny chocolate poodle named Truffles who finds his purpose in life,
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Thanks for hanging around. We're back to Win with Dogs
with Me Raquelwyn on pet Life Radio.
Speaker 6 (04:35):
Welcome back, Welcome back.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
I hope you're all settled in and ready to listen
as we welcome Nancy Stanley to the program.
Speaker 6 (04:43):
Hello Nancy, thanks for joining me today.
Speaker 10 (04:45):
Hi, I'm very very happy here. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
You're welcome, Nancy. You have done so much for animals.
I'm thrilled to have you on my show. I know
one of your great passions by reading about you is
animal fair and that's fabulous, fabulous. I want to talk
specifically today about that, and also about your new book,
Pillow with a Heartbeat, which all of you all listening
(05:12):
should get.
Speaker 9 (05:13):
This.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
One thing that I love about this book, Nancy, is
that it is written from Truffle's perspective, which I know
all of us animal lovers and owners and parents love
to think about what our dogs are exactly thinking.
Speaker 6 (05:28):
At any given moment.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
And I tell you, this short little book brought me
to tears and joy, tears of joy and everything. So
thank you so much for writing it. Tell our listeners
a little bit about the story.
Speaker 10 (05:42):
Well, first of all, I was inspired. I'm not a
wrisk granted for the Baker Wish Foundation and the little
girl that I had while she was sixteen inspired me
not only to write the book, but just in my
life altogether, because her zest for life was just unbelievable,
Like I just couldn't believe going through what he's been
going through for treating leukemia, that she had such an
(06:03):
incredible outlook on life. And one day and her bond
with Truffles was so fantastic and she actually understood what
he was talking about. I'm sure imagine if Yeah, she
was in tune, just like we are all in tune
to our dogs, but this was special. And she said,
Trufle could just talk. Could you imagine what this dog
would be saying? And this bulb went off in my
(06:26):
head and I went, I think I'm going to write
a book and he's going to talk. I never wrote
a book before, but it was so easy because it's
easy to talk to Truffles and he had so much
to say.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
And so Truffles, I love the story of you getting
Truffles and him meeting you for the first time, and
then you left and then you came back. So when
you got this little guy, this little guy was quite tiny, tiny,
little tiny Truffle.
Speaker 10 (06:55):
Yeah, he was less than two towns and all the
way sounds now and he's sick years old, but it
was it was that's exactly how he was feeling. Because
I went to meet him and and I wanted him,
but I had to go away for two weeks and
I couldn't take him home and then put him in
a boarding or anything like that. So so the so
the woman kept him for me, and I just was
(07:17):
so stick. The whole my vacation was ruined because I
was a dog loved me for an hour on the
floor and then I left him, and how as soon
as I saw him, it was he actually remembered me,
I'm beautiful and and so it just developed. This whole
story developed, you know, from from that moment on before
(07:37):
I even knew I was going to write the book.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Yeah, and you know, I have two rescue dogs also,
and one thing that struck me, well, I've had many
in my life, but I have two currently, and one
of the things that struck me in this book was
Truffle's desire to catch on to and fit into your life.
And that's one of the things that I love dogs
(08:00):
is that they try to bond and fit in and
the whole therapy dog thing that Truffles was so great
at it. It was almost like Truffles knew that that's
what his purpose was, because that's what your purpose was,
right he did.
Speaker 10 (08:17):
And from a minute then he crawled into my lap
while the other dogs were playing. All these puppies were
so cute, and he didn't want to play with them.
He wanted to come to me. And that's the first
sign of a great therapy dog is that they're not
a dog dog, they're a people dog. He crawled on
my lap with a great struggle to get up on
my lap because he was so teeny, and he just
(08:39):
looked like thank you, can you please take me home?
And put his head down and fell asleep.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
I mean a lot of people that I know have
thought that their dogs would be great at therapy in
the therapy dog role.
Speaker 6 (08:53):
What should we look.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
For if we are interested in doing that with our animals,
with our dogs. Well, you are a pioneer of therapy dogs.
Speaker 6 (09:04):
I want to know what you think.
Speaker 10 (09:06):
Let okay, Well, I think the most important characteristic of
being a therapy dog is their temperament. That's that's like
the bigest thing to me. I know. They train they
get these dogs certified, and they go through all these
tests and throwing down heavy things and heavy machine next
to them so they don't freak out and all that stuff.
(09:27):
But my personal opinion is that it's just their temperament.
They have to be just friendly and patient and gentle
and confident and at ease at all different situations. And
the most and other most important thing is they have
to enjoy human contact and be content to be petted
(09:48):
and handled, and and even if they're handled clumsily, sometimes
they have to just flow, go with the flow, because
they're just the way they are. They're so benign. And
Truffles is exactly like that. I have to see all
him on his back. He's not too happy, but he
will put up with it. I just don't let people
do that because you know your dog, and you have
to watch for you watch out for your dog first
(10:09):
and foremost that you protect your animal. And it is
jobs just to allow people who are not familiar to
him to make some kind of physical contact and enjoy
that contact. And children in particular, they enjoy hugging animals,
and adults usually enjoy just heading them, but kids want
to play with them and hug them and squeeze them
(10:30):
and wore a trouble love was that soon as soon
as I no kidding, I pick up his therapy dog jacket,
he takes a bee line three flights downstairs and sits
by the door because he knows he's going to have fun.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Yeah, And it's interesting when if you've ever done any
work with that, and I have experienced it myself, when
the animal and the human make that connection, and it
truly is like I imagine Truffles just holding a radiant
space of love and energy and understanding and unconditional love
(11:05):
for this person. And it's almost like Truffle's is saying,
and I'm reading this book going the whole time, Truffles
is going, I understand, I understand you. I am here
for you, I understand you. I would love to hear
some stories of Truffle's therapy experiences a couple, you know,
particularly moving moments for you when you knew it was
(11:26):
worthwhile all of.
Speaker 10 (11:27):
This, Well, when I first realized it was worth while,
I was when I first started in eighty two, That's
how long ago I started this program. Tender Loving Zoo.
Speaker 6 (11:37):
Tender Loving Zoo. Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 10 (11:39):
The first the first school that I went to, I
went through on my own with my dogs Freeway. That's
when I knew I was on the right. This mission
was just something I had to do forever as long
as I could. There's there's children in this particular center
where all and I mean all of them were never
(12:01):
going to get any better than they were. They were
going to grow older if they if they lived to
grow older, and they would always have to have one
hundred percent care. They were laying on mattresses, you know,
and having therapy and meds and all this stuff. Well,
when when I first came in there, there were a
bunch of you know how little children if they have
(12:21):
like cerebral palsy and then other complications, and their bones
are rigid and their fingers are all tight and you know,
gnawled up, and when they put their hands on my
dogs Freeway, it was just as huge as treffle and
soft and black not chocolate. Their hands relaxed. All of
(12:43):
this gnarled up, hard, rigid, rigidness went away, and the
attendants were freaking out. They could not believe this was
happenings with all their therapy and massaging and nothing to
do that when they touched the bag and they set
the warmth and the.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
I think that's so amazing, that's so true.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
I have to take this path for a minute with
you because a lot of the work I do is
energy work, and I think dogs are natural energy healers
and a lot of human pain conditions and disease, as
you're saying, it totally affects the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous
systems of the body, and nothing else can calm that
(13:27):
except energy, calming energy, And it's almost like animals and
your dog, Freeway and Truffle know how to radiate the
proper frequency to calm a human down. And it's truly
amazing when you see, like you're saying, someone who, no
matter what therapy they do, their.
Speaker 6 (13:48):
Muscles won't relax.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
They cannot get to that calm space in their body.
Speaker 6 (13:53):
And I think.
Speaker 10 (13:54):
Also of finary I think it's also because they're so
in the moment with this animal. Yes, but their brain
stops working over time thinking about a lot of the
stuff that's making them stressed and making them sick and
making their blood pressure high. They don't think about it.
They think about this moment and once they can let
(14:15):
go in their brain, it just becomes a physical thing
with them.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
And that that's so true because I often say to
people my perspective is that your brain is over your body,
but your spirit is over all of those and being
in the moment and connecting with an animal and an
unconditional love that is truly a spirit connection where you
are not this You are not bound by your what
(14:41):
your brain tells you or what your body tells you.
Your connected completely spirit. And I assume you are completely
connected with all your animals. And you have noticed this,
and that's why you've been doing so much work with it.
Speaker 6 (14:55):
Your whole life is.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
You know the spirit connection of an animal, and honestly, and.
Speaker 10 (15:01):
I also know for a fact because you know how
children come from broken homes, which I did, and I
was very very sensitive, and I battled everything up inside,
and my dog was the only being on this earth
that I could talk to and get all these feelings out.
And I think I became a really good, non druggy
(15:23):
kind of person because of my animals, because I let
everything go and nothing was inside anymore. I could just
talk to them. And I think that happens with most
of the people that I see, they get so in tune,
too trouble that they start talking to me about everything
that was never bothering them, on how lonely they were
and they lost their dog, and especially the elderly. I mean,
(15:45):
that's just mind blowing to see what I see when
I'm with these old people, to have parents or grandparents
that are going to be in these situations where they're
in these places where they need to have this extra
love and attention, and it is I think it's the
for them, the best.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Yeah, and it translates to, you know, health benefits. That
interaction translates to, like you mentioned, lower blood pressure, you know,
slower heart rates, slower respiratory rates, all of these things
are affected just by being in the presence of a dog,
which is or an ant or a horse for that matter.
Speaker 6 (16:23):
I know you do a lot of work with horse
rescue as well. You know this.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
We're here talking about truffles, but I would love to
hear just a little bit about your equine welfare and
rescue that you do, because that is so important. Horses
actually are where I learned my energy work with animals.
I worked on polo horses and fox hunting horses, and
you talk about completely in tune.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
Energetically.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Horses are extremely sensitive to this, to energies of humans
and their surroundings. So you're doing a lot of work
with equine rescue currently, right, I've read.
Speaker 10 (17:04):
And the reason why I'm doing that is because most
of the people in this whole entire United States don't
know that the horses are being butchered and tortured for meat,
for horse meat, go to Europe for delicacy, and they're
taking all of our horses, all of our serbirds that
ran for all their owners, and then they're supposed to
(17:26):
be going out to pass or somewhere to live out
the rest of their lives after making them hundreds of
thousands of dollars, and these care buyers come and get
them and they put them on these trucks for eighteen
hours all together, the stallions and the mayors and the babies,
and they're all shoved into these trailers, and by the
time they get to Mexico or Canada that half of
them are dead or injured. And then they slaughter them
(17:48):
without any any seese or nothing. They just hang them
up and slaughter them, I mean, on all of that.
So this woman calculauis good of films who We're working
on it for two years. Serve in America's horses a
nation betrayed, Yes, and it's going to be premiered on
March twenty seventh in Los Angeles.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
Disturbing.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Disturbing to say the least, but even more than that,
I think, and I'm sure you would agree with me
that just the state of our society and our perspective
and where we're at.
Speaker 6 (18:20):
Enlightenment, whatever word you want to use.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
I mean, how we treat our animals is tantamount to
how we end up treating ourselves, I think. And just
the blatant disregard for life, and you know, the cruelty
which we throw at it is something that has to
be brought to light. I think, as difficult as it
is to watch it totally does. Let me take a
(18:45):
short break and pause for our sponsors, and we'll be
right back and continue chatting with Nancy Stanley.
Speaker 6 (18:53):
Don't go away, Hey.
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with dogs right after this quick water break.
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Speaker 12 (21:09):
Stop what you're doing and start horsing around. Every week
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Speaker 1 (21:40):
Let's talk past it, Let's done pets on pet Life Radio,
het Life Radio, pet live radio dot com.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Thanks for hanging around We're back to Win with Dogs
with me Raquelwin on pet Life Radio.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
We are back with Nancy Stanley, pioneer of animal therapy
and author of her first awesome book, Pillow with a Heartbeat.
If you want to find out more about it, you
can go to Pillow with a Heartbeat dot com or
you can find some links on pet Life Radio on
our site. Thank you Nancy for staying with me too.
And we were talking about just treating our animals in
(22:22):
such a way that we as a society can be
proud and what that would say to us. And I
think animal therapy, we have so much to learn from
our animals. And you know, you have touched on something
with the animal therapy movement that I think in the
future will be extremely hopefully used more as we search
(22:45):
for ways to be healthy and try to take our health,
you know, take accountability for our health. And your book
of Truffles and his purpose being found, I thank you,
thank you, thank you for writing it. I also would
love to hear about on a personal level Truffles. I
know in the world he's done tons of therapy and help,
(23:06):
but personally, I'm sure he has changed your life and
filled your life so much as my dog that inspired
me to write my book. How was he your little inspiration?
How did he become that big master dog in your life?
Speaker 10 (23:23):
Well, you know, I'm a New Yorker to start off.
We have this kind of personality where kind of hard,
a little bit, you know, and right out there. I mean,
you're honest, but we're right out there. And Truffle in
my book. And there's a saying I have in my
book and to me, I use it all the time.
Be the kind of person your dog thinks you already are. Yeah,
(23:44):
because our dogs think. Now, even if you're not the
best owner in the world, your dog love you, thinks
you are perfect, and there's no you get an A
plus no matter what you do. And well, that's the
way we should be acting. We should be acting the
way they think we are, because if we do that,
we won't have wars, and we won't have people being
(24:05):
mean to people, and we won't have bullies in school
burying the children. And this is how I ever since
I got him and Freeway, but more Truffles. Truffles is
more exceptional than any dog I've ever had. He taught
me to always think before I talk, you know, say
something kind at least once a day to somebody. He
(24:25):
makes my life just so much better, and he brings
people around me. He attracts people around me who are
worth being in my life, and he helped me dismiss
people who were not worth being in my life.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
Nancy, your little Truffles helped you be the person you
could be. I love that, And I was saying that
Truffles is probably like a member of the family. I
know there are a lot of dog behavioral iss who
kind of say, you know, take the alpha role and
don't let the dog lay in bed with you and
all that. That's not how things go in my household,
(24:59):
is it how they are in yours?
Speaker 10 (25:01):
No troubles first of us, just me and Treffles right now,
my kids are out of the house and it's just us.
But Truffles has trained me to be a perfect owner.
Speaker 6 (25:11):
Yeah, that's right. You're paying attention.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
And you know, I ninety three percent of human communication
and animal communication is nonverbal, and that blows my mind
because most of us are just chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
Not aware, not aware, not aware.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
And honestly, you know, you were saying, you know that
having a dog as a member of the family actually
is helpful to you as your growth as a human.
Speaker 10 (25:40):
It saved me, and it saved me, and I am
now from this age on feeling really really good about
mostly everything, which is most people don't get to that
point unfortunately.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
Yes, well not all of us can be saved. We
can all strive, but we can all be saved. So
how often do you volunteer with truffles?
Speaker 6 (26:02):
What is his day? Do you do? Make a wish foundation?
Do you do?
Speaker 10 (26:07):
I go to the senior centers about once or twice
a month if I can, and I do to make
a wish. Well, I have a little boy that I'm
going to be meeting I hope next week, but I
try to do that every three months because it takes
about that long to get it all together and meet
the child, interview them, find out what they want, get
the wish put together, and then go do some enhancement
(26:28):
parties for them. So that takes about two I'd say
two months, and then we wait for another I wait
for another list and see if I pick somebody at
least in my area because some of them are really
far from me. So yeah, you know, with everything else,
I'm trying to do. And since I I market my
own book and so I've published, it's really difficult to
do everything all day long, every day, right, But I
(26:50):
I do enough.
Speaker 6 (26:51):
I mean, how do we if I want to volunteer?
Speaker 4 (26:54):
Are there sites I can go to online to like
look for people specifically or organizations space typically looking for that?
I mean, if I wanted to do that, how do
I even begin?
Speaker 10 (27:04):
No, Actually, when you get your dog certified, everybody who
lives anywhere has a center in their community, like a
home for the elderly or residential area, you know, and
you can just call the administrators, look up their names
carb they administrator and say, hey, look, I have this
fabulous dog and I'd love to come and you know,
spread some lovely looks over there. Yeah, and very happy
(27:29):
to have you as long as you're certified and your
dog is clean. And I mean there are things that
you have to do to have your dog go there,
like be totally well groomed and have your inoculations. But
that's all done with the certification, right, Just go through
the relow pats, go on groogle piping, senior centers, you know,
(27:49):
convalescent homes for the elderly children's centers that maybe boys
and girls court, yeah, or these places I've gone to
before for.
Speaker 6 (28:00):
Women. That was fabulous.
Speaker 10 (28:02):
And I've been to the to to one of those
places down here, which I won't say because it's kind
of hidden, but that's where all the children go who
were of you, yeah, present, away from their families while
their parents are in treatment. And that was just mind blowing. Yeah,
I bet many different places you can go, and you
just have to give her research online.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
And I mean, I assume you know you have gone
through incredible transformation and gotten completely intimately connected to, like
you said, people who are not going to get any better.
Speaker 6 (28:35):
And one part of the book I was.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Particularly moved by was you talk about your friend's daughter Olivia,
who had leukemia and had her head shaved, and you
yourself decided to not only bring a dog that would
look at her without any kind of shame and unconditional love,
who would only give her unconditional love, but you connected
(28:57):
by shaving your own head.
Speaker 10 (29:00):
You let me stop you there. That's one of the
very few parts of the book that aren't true. I
personally didn't share in my head, but I tell you
why I put that in is because when the day
I met the family, they opened the door to me
and Treffled and there were seven people standing in front
of me with bald heads.
Speaker 6 (29:19):
Oh how cool.
Speaker 10 (29:20):
It was the coolest thing I ever saw. And I
knew right then and there I was in trouble because
I don't get connected to the family. That's the boys
that I have. I knew I was an all boys.
That's just what I said to them. I am in trouble.
I love this family, and for a whole year, I'm
still very good friends with them. Yeah, I saw their
(29:43):
bald heads. And I had met Michelle. Her name is
Michelle Butler, but she wanted to be Olivia in the book.
So so I met Olivia and we connected like she
was my daughter and my sister all together. And she
took one look at Truffles and picked him up and
that was it. Is it for me? I mean, Treffles
was in her arms, melting into her body. And when
(30:05):
she said to me, Nancy, if Truffles could just talk
to me, can you imagine? And that's when I decided,
what a great idea, I'm going to write a book
and Tule.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
Yeah, that's I think that's great. That you don't get
intimately connected. I as an energy worker and such, I
work very hard, and I think this is important point
for anyone listening that is interested in doing this kind
of therapy work and getting involved with people. Is to
kind of keep your autonomy and you know you can
(30:37):
only you can help better if you are not connected
and you are more objective. You can be connected energetically,
but you don't carry that weight of anyone else.
Speaker 10 (30:49):
Yeah, because I do get moved and sometimes I get
back on my car and I shed a few tears,
you know, like I wish this child didn't have to
go through this, because then I relate to my I
think about my own children and God forbid that anything
happened to them, and I you know, that's what That's
where Treffle comes into my life. He keeps me calm.
He makes everything okay, it's not going to happen to me,
(31:11):
and I'm going to just take care of those that
it happens too. But with Michelle, it was different because
I couldn't help it. She most operational girl I've ever met.
Her whole family, the way, her love for life, this
whole thing, it just it just made me want to
be want her in my life because I wanted to
learn from her, yeah, and which I did my book,
(31:33):
But no, I will not get involved with anyone else
like that. I mean, I have to quit for three
months doing more. Maybe it was five months after she
passed away. I was a basket case.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
And a lot of people don't even understand, you know,
like we were saying before, we go through life and
aren't really paying attention to some of the internal, spiritual,
energetic things going on our life. And you experienced a
process of what I would call energetic unwinding after that.
Speaker 6 (32:03):
That lasted five months, and that's okay.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
But you know, for anyone who is interested in helping,
do not shame yourself or beat yourself up if you,
you know, feel like you have no energy after working
with someone or that is completely normal because I think
with a therapy dog and what you're doing and what
I'm doing, we're trying to connect on an energetic level,
(32:30):
not just a chatter level, and that is what really
changes changes the world, truly changes the world. And that's
where animals come in. I'm kind of jumping across the
board talking about the horses again, but I just I
want to make sure everyone hears that the show Saving
America's Horses is airing this month in LA And is
(32:53):
there a website that we can go to if we
want to try to encourage its release on a more
national lege.
Speaker 10 (33:00):
Yeah, go to the website. It's www dot Serving America's
Horses dot org. And they don't have all the information
on there about this premiere. This is just the premiere.
We're hoping that that after people fee this, we can
distribute it so it becomes in every theater. It's just,
you know, you never know that it It's a fantastic
(33:21):
beginning to let people aware how important horses are in
this world and that they think they don't. They're not
like other cows. And I mean, I'm just terrible for
the cows and all that too. I'm not a meat eater,
but neither I.
Speaker 6 (33:36):
Can't after working with animals so closely, I can't. I can't.
Speaker 10 (33:40):
But horses are different. They're intelligent and they do feel,
like you said, they know what people are thinking. I mean,
they are the best animals, just the therapy pets. But
they have a place here Helen Woodward where they have
a therapy program all the time with the horses. And
it's an amazing, amazing thing down syndrome kids that the
(34:02):
regularly and it's just amazing how the course understands them
and the kids learn from them. I think that they
learn aggression and they learn the disconnection just from that
kind of you know, handling them. I just think it's fantastic.
Speaker 6 (34:16):
I think it is fantastic.
Speaker 4 (34:17):
And I also think this is kind of indicative of
like what's going on in our society. I know a
lot of friends who have had children that are talking
a lot later, like three four years, are not talking.
They're not talking, and that's okay. And I'm saying to them.
You know, of course, all the doctors are like, oh no,
we got to get them in therapy and this and that.
But I say, look at all of the stuff that
(34:39):
they are ingesting, all of the radio waves, and what's
in the ether right now is way more to be
absorbed than even ten years ago for a child, So
it's no big deal. That's where animals come in, is
that we can relate energetically, and I think that resonates
(35:00):
with any human child or adult. You know, it resonates
when you make this connection and are actually interacting on
a level that I think we are intended to interact
on that we never do.
Speaker 6 (35:14):
That's why it's so powerful.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
So I really appreciate all the work you've done all
these years, you know, bringing this to the forefront.
Speaker 10 (35:23):
Its forces for psychotherapy, super therapy, and all the therapeutic writing.
It's it teaches writing skills for a person that has disabilities.
And now, even though it's not legally a therapy or
they can't say it's real therapy, this activity has profound
and multiple benefits for the people. So who cares what
(35:44):
you call it?
Speaker 9 (35:45):
You know?
Speaker 4 (35:45):
Yeah, exactly, Yeah, totally exactly.
Speaker 6 (35:49):
Hello, who cares?
Speaker 10 (35:52):
It's the cheapest psychotherapy I could ever have. I couldn't
afford a psychiatrist, and this is cheap therapy.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
Yeah, and it's fabulous. It's fabulous and it works. And
along the lines of you not eating meat, just it's
funny because I often say to my husband, oh, I
can't I work so much with animals, and he says
to me, it's not about the cute factor, it's about digestibility.
So whatever motivation you need to maybe look at eating
(36:19):
less animals. All you listeners out there, check into it,
because I think for the earth itself. It is going
to be quite hard to feed all of our voracious
meat eating appetites. But that's another another whole topic in itself.
Speaker 10 (36:34):
I've been off meat kicking a knee. I just I
do eat, even though they're up pretty cute. Sometimes I
fish too, I fish eating fish. But I just can't
give up everything. I mean, I just, you know, I
r I might at some point. I was.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
I was actually a vegetarian full fledged for four years
and started eating fish again two years ago.
Speaker 6 (36:59):
And I do feel.
Speaker 4 (37:01):
You know, a little bit more alert, I would have
to say, But I struggle with it too, because what's
the difference, you know, I don't know what's the difference.
Speaker 6 (37:11):
It's still a living, a living thing. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
That's a whole other topic. But I thank you so much.
We're out of time, and I loved talking about your
book and all the animal therapy. Pillow with a Heartbeat
dot com is the website. Buy a book, let's get
this good mojo going in the universe.
Speaker 10 (37:29):
We love that, and go to Amazon. Don't have it
on Amazon and.
Speaker 6 (37:34):
Perfect, perfect and on Kindle awesome. I love it.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
I hope my book's on Kindle. I don't know I
have to check. My book is called Stretch Your Dog Healthy.
It's a therapy book on stretching and energy and like
holistic health for dogs, which yeah, I'll send you one
for sure.
Speaker 6 (37:57):
And an oh, it's fair as fair, fair as fair, I.
Speaker 10 (38:03):
Would love to do that, very brilliant title. And trestle
stretches all the time, so I guess he's already healthy.
Speaker 6 (38:09):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 4 (38:10):
My intention was to just have people spend a little
time hands on giving back to their dog, staying at
you know, monitoring health, touching, touching, touching. You know, I
have a lot of people that say, oh, you could
touch a dog's tail or a dog after knee surgery.
We haven't touched that knee forever. It's like that's what
(38:30):
heals it, touch.
Speaker 6 (38:31):
Touch his knee. See you know.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
So anyway, but thank you so much Nancy and listeners.
Speaker 6 (38:38):
I hope you enjoyed it.
Speaker 4 (38:40):
Thank you, and we will stay in touch and thank
you for another exciting episode of Win with Dogs.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
Exercise, nutrition, interaction and love make for one healthy, happy hound.
Give yourself the gift of knowledge on demand every week
right here at pet Life Radio with me Raquel Wyn
and Win with Dogs
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