September 12, 2025 • 45 mins
In part two of her powerful conversation with Dixie, Ashley Gardenier, founder of Southern Paws Inc., continues her deep dive into the South's animal welfare crisis. She highlights a crucial, often overlooked solution: dog training.
Ashley explains how training isn't just about teaching a dog to "sit" or "stay"; it's a vital tool for preventing dogs from being surrendered to already overcrowded shelters. By addressing behavioral issues—like separation anxiety, leash reactivity, or house-soiling—training helps keep dogs in their homes and out of the shelter system. These common behavioral challenges are often the main reason families feel they have no choice but to give up their pets, particularly in times of economic hardship.
Ashley shares how Southern Paws Inc. is tackling this head-on with its new training center. This initiative is designed to equip pet owners with the skills and knowledge they need to build stronger bonds with their dogs and navigate common challenges. By offering accessible training resources, Southern Paws Inc. isn't just saving one dog at a time; it's empowering entire communities to keep pets where they belong—at home, as part of the family.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dixie (00:02):
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
people and rescues making adifference in the lives of animals.
Last week's episode featured AshleyGardinier with Southern Paws Inc.
And we talked a lot about the animalwelfare crisis, so if you didn't
listen to last week's episode.
Make sure you go back and check it out.
But today we're back to talk aboutthe other things that Ashley does,
(00:25):
and one of 'em is dog training.
Ashley Let's get into how dog trainingcan help to keep dogs in homes, First off,
where did you learn to do dog training?
Ashley (00:39):
Oh so honestly I learned to dog train when I got Goose.
, I have a dog named Gooselike Goose and Maverick.
And he is my soulmate.
I love this dog.
He is my soul dog.
He is my best friend.
And many years ago, like going back,15 some odd years ago before our animal
rescue was even a thought in my mind.
(00:59):
I had a dog who I had gotten andsome rescue, just gave me a puppy
and they didn't educate me at all.
They didn't tell me I wassupposed to socialize her.
They didn't still tell me I was supposedto train her or do anything with her.
They just said here's a puppy.
So I got her and I didn't knowI was supposed to do all these
things because nobody told me.
And when she was seven years old,she jumped up and she bit a little
girl in the face and she rippedoff half of this child's face and.
(01:24):
After it happened which was devastating.,
I was young, I was like in my very earlytwenties, and I had to , sit down and
make this decision on what do I do?
Because she had alreadybitten a couple people.
This was obviously the worst biteand really, at that point had calmed
down to it's gonna happen again.
And I had tried everything.
(01:44):
I had dog whisperers, I had triedtraining, I had tried ecollar work.
So through Kylie I went through the gamutwith dog training from the beginning.
And after this bitehappened, it was really bad.
There's still a woman thatwalks around with scars on
her face today because of me.
Okay.
Not because of my dog, not because shewas like hardwired, because of me, right?
(02:06):
Just because I didn't know any better and.
When I ended up euthanizing her.
It was still to this day, like oneof the hardest things I've ever done.
It's probably one of the worst momentsof my whole life, honestly, looking back.
And when I decided, like right aroundthe time I actually got exposed to animal
rescue , goose was actually on thatfirst transport back from Louisiana.
(02:31):
So I had seen this little chocolatelab puppy it's chocolate lab Catula.
And I just thought they were so cool.
Johnna had them in her barn andhis brother was just gorgeous.
And I was like, oh, soGoose, I ended up fostering.
I was really concerned if Maverickgot adopted before Goose did.
'cause Goose was like thisreally sensitive sweet dog.
(02:52):
And ironically Christmas Eve, maverickgets adopted now, I end up with Goose and
everybody was like, you're not gonna keepthis dog, you're not gonna keep this dog.
I go into Petco and somebodygoes oh my God, I love him.
I want him.
And I was like no, nope.
Sorry.
Nope.
He is mine.
And she was like, oh, Ithought you were fostering.
I was like, no, he's mine.
And I like took him out.
The next day I walked into thelocal training center and I said to
(03:15):
them, this is what I went through.
How do I, what do I have to do tomake sure this never happens again?
Because I can't go throughthis again with this dog.
And if we're gonna do it, we'regonna do it right this time.
And , the local training center byme Stacy, who's actually one of my
mentors I trained with her for 10 years.
I brought all of ourbehavioral dogs there.
(03:35):
I brought Goose there.
Not only that, but I got Gooseand Lexi, my other dog, both of
them are certified therapy dogs.
I didn't just go through the likebright and beautiful program like.
I went through a two yearextensive training with them.
So that literally if my dog was on theother, like a mile away from me and I
saw him like move a certain way, I waslike, I knew exactly what he was thinking.
(03:58):
I knew exactly where his head was at.
It was just this bizarreconnection, right?
And I really learned how to read dogsand I actually have a master's degree in,
in human psychology in forensic psych.
That's a whole nother story in itself.
But it was interesting the more trainingI did, the more I was able to understand
(04:19):
dog psychology in a very humanized way.
So.
I say all the time, one of my besttalents, I'm not necessarily good at
demonstrating what to do with your dog,
i'm great at it 'causeGoose is great at it.
That's the only reason.
But it's funny because I say all the timemy, like the best part of me training
(04:40):
and the thing I'm really good at istaking a situation and putting it in
human terms so that you can understandwhat your dog's doing, why they're doing
it, why it's not okay and how to fix it.
And letting you have that likelight bulb moment of oh my
God, I didn't think about that.
So I always had this psychology.
(05:01):
And then with the rescuecrisis, I said like, all right,
listen, adoptions are dead.
We just had this opportunitylike fall in our lap.
I'm tired of being a part of,just like getting dogs out.
I wanna start working on solutionsthat are gonna keep dogs out of the
shelter and out of the, the thing.
So if we can provide a programthat's maybe a little bit lower
(05:23):
cost than like our local programs,and then the money, it's a win-win.
The money is a donation, themoney goes back into the rescue.
So we're able to actually use thetraining center to help provide
financing for the rescue that we're,that we lost in our adoption fees.
And on top of that, the real winis we get to work with people to
(05:44):
keep their dogs in their home.
So once the upstairs kind of cameavailable, I said, oh, I guess
I better go get a certificationlisten, you don't have to have a
certification to be a dog trainer.
I personally think everybody should justso that you learn the fundamental basics.
But I had also worked with every singlebehavioral problem in our rescue.
(06:05):
I had worked with dogs, during disasterrelief in flooded houses that I now
needed to carry, that didn't know meand were terrified, I had to work with
feral dogs to be able to get them totrust me enough to come near enough to
me where we could get them help, therewere all these just different things
that I had learned along the way.
And I said, you know what?
(06:25):
I said, I bet we couldturn this into something.
So I went back actually to my trainers.
I have a trainer, Stacy, thatI just adore, and then she's
just incredible and amazing.
And then I have another trainer,Anne, who is also just like
absolutely phenomenal, amazing.
None of them sugarcoat things like,I don't do well with these like fru
trainers, I like the down and dirty.
(06:46):
What were you thinking when you did that?
Like, why would you think that's okay?
That kind of stuff.
And, I had built these relationshipswith them over years and years between
my own dogs and dogs in the rescueand dogs with behavioral problems and,
asking advice and all these things.
And now I put it all together.
I got the certification throughanimal Behavioral College.
(07:06):
It was an online course.
It took me about a year toprobably get through it.
And like I said, it was cool 'causeI got to learn the fundamentals
of it was really cool to learnhow dogs were like domesticated.
I knew the commands, like the sitand the down and the, whatever, but
I didn't necessarily understand thepsychology behind them which was
really cool as well as all of the.
(07:28):
The methodology, right?
And the psychology behind the methodology.
That was another elementthat I found really helpful.
I had all these things surfacely,but didn't really understand
the education behind 'em.
And I had to do like an externship whichI did over at and at Good Dog training.
And yeah, I just had these reallyamazing women that I really respect.
So I just pulled me under theirarms and were like, okay, we're
(07:49):
gonna, we're gonna teach you.
And I started teaching.
I'm still not super confident.
I really don't do behavioral modification.
I try those are like your biggerbehaviors, your aggression, your
reactivity, your severe anxiety disorders.
The dogs that I actually love to workwith the most are very fearful dogs.
Those are the ones that Ireally love to work with.
(08:10):
The, fear, almost likefear reactive a little bit.
Like I love that I do a lot ofwhat I call exposure work that
is not what it's actually called.
It's called desensitizationand generalization, but like
to humans, they're like, Idon't know what that means.
Those are big words.
So, I dumb it down.
It's exposing them to just like very mild,like uncomfortable stimulus ultimately,
(08:33):
and pairing it with really yummy treats.
Like we make it rain hot dogs.
But yeah, so that's how it startedand , I think the hardest part
is getting people to train.
But it's been really helpful too tobe able to also offer up myself as
a resource for my adopters, right?
Like I tell my adopters all the time,if you, they all have my personal
(08:55):
cell phone number, I've had the samecell phone number since I was like 12.
The amount of people that havethis cell phone number are just,
is in incomprehensible, but theycan call me anytime day or night.
And usually I'm like, okay, listen,if it's a real in-depth thing,
like I'm gonna have to send yousomewhere, but they can call me.
It doesn't matter if you adopted forme yesterday or 10 years ago, you can
(09:17):
call me with any behavioral problem.
I'll give you some pointers.
I'll give you, I'll tell youdirection on where you should go.
I had an doctor call me theother day from eight years ago.
Their dog is having some neuro issuesand they were like, what do we do?
And I was like, okay, this is what you do.
This is where you go, this is the doctor.
So I, I think that's more importantthan anything and it's given me the
(09:38):
opportunity to be able to providemore of that from a more educated
standpoint, if that makes sense.
Dixie (09:44):
Yes, it does.
Would you recommend other dog rescuesto have a person maybe go through the
same course that you did so they knowthat basic psychology of dog behavior?
Ashley (09:58):
Yeah.
The more education you have, the better,like the more education you have.
And listen, a lot of thiscomes from experience, right?
Like I had an issue today with oneof one of our teammates where like
she just didn't know the rightquestions to ask because she's just
not as experienced yet as I am.
She's still a little bit green.
(10:18):
And we had an issue with itbecause we almost pulled a dog
that has like severe neurologicalissues by accident which was fine.
Like it would've been fine.
We're still looking at pulling the dog.
We just needed way moreinformation than we had.
It's like one of those situations wherelike the more information and the more
you can educate yourself, the better.
And it's not, you don't have tospend, $3,000 and go get a piece of
(10:40):
paper, find a local training center.
I have never met a trainer who I waslike, Hey, I wanna sit down on your class.
And they were like, no,like that's never happened.
Everybody should have a trainer in theirpocket, like a real trainer, right?
Somebody that's good.
Somebody that's been doingthis for a long time.
Somebody that's like really hasa background, in dog training.
(11:02):
Not like somebody that's oh, I justgot a certification like yesterday.
It's like me, like I justgot my certification.
Have I worked on a lot of things?
Yes.
Am I really confident?
Working with like behavioralmodifications, stuff like that.
Absolutely not.
So I'll defer thoseclients somewhere else.
Now, I also tell every single one of myclients that they need to do at least a
(11:23):
minimum of a year of dog classes anywhere.
It doesn't have to be withme, it could be anywhere.
And if they're not local somebodyjust asked me they're like 20
minutes away from us and they werelike, well, is there anybody here?
And I was like, yes.
This is who I recommend.
Go there.
So it's not so much, even if youdon't know the psychology or you
don't wanna learn the psychology,sorry, or you don't wanna learn.
(11:48):
Like even if you don't know thepsychology or you're not interested
in learning the psychology, at theend of the day, have somebody at
least in your pocket that does.
Somebody that's really good that you'reclose with or that you can consult with.
Because if it wasn't forthat half of the issues.
That we've had wouldnever have been fixed.
(12:09):
And then it's just the dog that suffers.
Like you develop all these behavioralproblems just simply because you
really didn't know any better.
Like you dealt with a problem and youwere like, oh, I think I can fix this.
And like you tried to do what you thoughtwas best, which was like all the wrong
things, so even if you don't do ityourself, like just have somebody there
that you can use as a sounding board andsay Hey, this is going on with this dog.
(12:31):
What do you suggest I do?
Dixie (12:35):
Let's get onto some of those behavioral issues.
You said that a lot of people werecomplaining about behavioral issues in
these COVID puppies or pandemic puppies.
Yeah.
What are some of those specificbehavioral issues that you're seeing?
And then how do you address those issues?
Ashley (12:55):
I had so many things.
So this is one of my favoriteexamples to use dog on dog reactivity.
Okay.
. And dog reactivity can come from allkinds of different things, right?
And what that mean, what dog reactivityis like your walking down on the
street and your dog sees a dog andthey just lose their ever loving mind.
Okay?
This is something we see a lot, right?
And a lot of it is because duringCOVID, dogs didn't see other dogs.
(13:18):
Dogs are a lot like humans.
They're a lot like child,like children when it comes to
psychological and social development.
So during COVID, we were not allowedto leave our houses, correct?
Correct.
So we were home all the time, whichmeans our dogs were home all the time.
They didn't meet people, theydidn't go out in the world, they
(13:40):
didn't interact with other dogs.
They lived at home.
We lived at home.
And then when the world openedback up again, now we are
trying to take our dogs places.
We're trying to do things with them,we're trying to get 'em off the property,
and the dogs are either terrified orlike they don't know how to act, right?
So a great example ofthis is dog reactiveness.
So, I did dog walking for a yearand there was this dog Yeti,
(14:04):
and I use her all the time.
She's my claim to fame this dog.
Because she was so reactive andit was anything she saw, like
it didn't have to be a dog.
If she saw a squirrel, she was a lunatic.
If she saw a deer, oh, forget it.
Like she would throw herself on the floor.
She would scream like a lunatic.
(14:24):
She was this like 40 poundwhite like Aussie husky mix.
And she had taken her momdown like multiple times.
She actually really hurt Elise's elbow.
At one point and she, when Istarted walking her, I was like,
oh no we're not doing this.
I was like, we are absolutelynot gonna be doing this.
(14:45):
We're not pulling.
So within two weeks I said to, she hadtaken me down like once, and I said
to Elise, I was like, absolutely not.
We're not doing this.
I'm getting a gentle leader for your dog.
And Elise was very against it.
She didn't wanna do it.
And I said, listen,let me at least try it.
If you really feel like it's awful, likewe've used this, I've used this before
(15:06):
on dogs, that I've trained, especiallydogs in the rescue that are like large
breed and really gonna take you out.
'cause they just are big puppies.
There's a great it's mildly invasive.
Like it's not a big deal.
And what I did was I was aPez dispenser for treats.
And I would do a lot of, in thebeginning, turning around and walking
in the other direction, right?
(15:28):
So we'd see something at a distance.
We really, as a society, I'msure you know this, we need
to get out of our cell phones.
We need to start paying attention toour surroundings and things like that.
A big mistake that I see made a lotis we're in our phones, or, so we're
not necessarily looking at what'shappening around us that's going
to potentially trigger our animals.
So in Yeti's case, it's a lot of lookingaround, looking for deer, looking
(15:53):
for dogs, looking for people that arewalking, looking for, whatever it is.
So that I could use thatas a learning moment.
And I'm not gonna put her in a situationthat I know she's gonna fail in, which is
like walking towards a dog or, walking intheir space and getting closer to them.
I'm gonna literally watchher, she's gonna get alert.
(16:13):
She's gonna, get stiff and she's gonnastare and before it gets close or I
get close, I'm gonna turn around, I'mgonna shove a cookie in her mouth and
I'm gonna walk in the other direction.
And we would take adifferent path that day.
And we would just dothat over and over again.
And eventually over time we wereable to get closer and closer.
This is actually what I call,this is the exposure work
that I was mentioning before.
(16:34):
Eventually you get closer and closer andyou're desensitizing the dog to being in
the presence of whatever that stimulus is.
You're counter conditioning her.
So that to the point where she would seesomebody else and she would literally look
at me like, where's my cookie lady like?
And it got to the point after,and it took me eight months.
Eight months, and on in the eighth month.
(16:55):
There was a lady that walked by with adachshund that was losing its ever loving
mind, and she sat right next to me.
The dog walked probablybetween six feet away from her.
She looked right at me and waslike, lady, where's my cookie?
And I'll never forget, the lady saidto me, how'd you get her to do that?
And I was like, oh, it's beeneight months, but it works.
(17:18):
And she was like, I was like, she'scould you teach mine to do that?
And I was like, ironically, yes I could.
I'll tell you what, thelady never called me.
So it's things likethat, that are so simple.
And the reason that these resourcesand being a resource and being,
having the training certificationand understanding the psychology
there's a basis to these behaviors.
(17:39):
And this is actually in theconversation I have with every
single one of my adopters, okay?
Because I tell all of them,like I mentioned before,
everybody's gotta go to training.
So.
It's not, I'm not telling you, you needto train because I think you're stupid and
you can't teach your dogs to sit and stay.
I'm teaching you to trainbecause you're not a dog expert.
You don't know dog psychology.
(18:00):
I still don't like, there's still, I callmyself number one dog mom, and I say all
the time, there are literally like timeswhere I don't know things like, and my
trainer's like, why are you doing that?
I'm like I don't know.
I take my own dogs to other people'sclasses because every time I
go I still learn something new.
I co-teach with Stacey in the morningon Saturdays, just so I can learn
(18:21):
from her, and Stacey will test me.
She'll let me, stick my footin my mouth and then say, okay,
you're wrong and this is why.
And I'm okay with thatbecause I'm learning.
So what happens with dogs, likeleading up to that behavior, right?
That behavior was built.
It was, the dog wasn't born like that.
The dog, that behavior was built.
(18:42):
She was got during COVID, I.
She wasn't around other dogs.
She wasn't around a lot of people, okay?
And so when she was seeing these otherdogs, people, animals, whatever, she
was getting so amped and nobody evertaught her how to handle herself.
Okay?
Imagine you have a child, right?
(19:04):
And that child has never been aroundpeople and you stick it in, middle
school with 400 kids in his class.
How do you expect that child to acclimate?
They're either going to be runningamuck and psychotic, or they're gonna be
terrified and hiding under their desk.
(19:25):
They're not gonna know the social skills.
They're not gonna know how theinteractions, they're not gonna know the
appropriate way to interact with humans.
So why would we think that ourdogs would, and that's where the
reactivity come from, comes from.
So those are the kind ofbehaviors that we see a lot of.
We're seeing that we're seeingI'm seeing, we're seeing a lot
of we call it stranger danger.
Okay?
And it stems fromliterally the same thing.
(19:46):
They're not used to peoplecoming into their space.
And I'm not gonna lie,people are stupid, okay?
We do stupid things when we, when it comesto dogs, because everything, every five of
our being is oh my god, dog, I love you.
And that's not a dog'slove language, right?
The love language of dogs issmell my butt, like body language.
(20:07):
This don't come at my face.
And we've just done all the things wrong.
They're not used to that.
They don't know how to react.
So maybe they're getting afraidand they're going to fear
react, which is they're going toovercompensate and they're gonna
bark at you and tell you to back off.
'cause that's their language, right?
Things like that.
It's a lot of things.
(20:28):
We also never, none of these peopletrained during COVID because none
of the training centers were open.
So you also have all of theseunruly dogs that are now just like
large dogs that don't have matters.
They don't have structure, they weren'ttold, they were never given any rules.
And just like children, it'sthe same concept, right?
(20:48):
You ultimately have what I had with myfirst dog, there was no rules, there was
no consequences, there was no structure.
If you do that with a child, you'regoing to have a monster who's
climbing your curtains, right?
And getting into trouble.
So why would we expect our dogs to, inthe same scenario, to be well-behaved
(21:10):
and not have behavioral problemsor not be emotionally balanced?
So that's really what we're seeing.
And the bigger issue we'rerunning into is a, we as a
rescue, we are really overwhelmed.
So we, we don't have anywhere to puta dog that's got behavioral issues.
And on top of that, wedon't have the finances.
Like I used to be like, oh,your dog's a little afraid.
(21:32):
No problem.
I can work with that.
We have a great foster and we wouldthrow them in training three days a week.
I can't afford, a thousand dollars a weekfor a dog that's got behavioral problems
because you didn't do right by your dog.
You didn't train your dog appropriately.
And now your dog has behavioral problemsand now I'm supposed to try and fix
(21:53):
it and spend all this money to doit because you either don't have the
money or don't care or don't want to.
Dixie (22:00):
What do you do in the situation if somebody does call you and they tell
you, I've got this dog to surrender'cause this dog has behavioral problems?
Well, I'm sure of course you'regonna recommend training.
But how do the people react to that?
Being that, you said this dog thatyou had the one that took eight
months to train, it's eight months.
So are people open to even wanting to waitthe eight months to see if their dog Nope.
(22:26):
Will start reacting differently?
Ashley (22:28):
Nope.
Nope.
Not at all.
I will tell you, I wouldsay 95% of them do.
But I educate themabout the rescue crisis.
And I tell them, listen, your bestbet is this, working with your
dog, training your dog, socializingyour dog, getting a trainer.
I would get a trainer in thereimmediately working on it with
(22:51):
them, trying to get them fixed.
I will, if they're local.
There's some people who have beenlike, I can't afford it, and I've
been like, bring me your dog.
We'll work together.
Like I have a little bitof time on Tuesday nights.
I got you.
Let's see if we can atleast fix this portion.
And sometimes I get lucky, andsometimes they're like, yes, I got this.
(23:11):
But you know that 95% of thetime they just call another
rescue, and if it's really bad,what am I supposed to tell them?
And that's why I don't callpeople back anymore because
what am I supposed to tell them?
I'm the rescuer.
I'm supposed to be theone that's there to help.
I'm supposed to be the onethat has all the answers.
(23:32):
And it goes back to what you were sayingbefore is we are supposed to be here for
dire circumstances, and we're not likepeople treat us like crap because we can't
help you because you have a responsibilityto this animal that you committed to.
That has done nothing be loyal to you orbe the way you trained them or raised them
(23:55):
to be, and now you just are dumping thembecause you don't feel like putting the
time, the energy, or the money into 'em.
That's really the heart of it.
And people could argue with me all dayabout it, but really at the end of the
day, if you I am a big believer in youwant, you will, you won't, you don't, if
(24:16):
you wanna fix it, you are gonna fix it.
If you don't wanna fix it,you are not gonna fix it.
So we have to look at that as a populationand say Hey, what am I supposed to say?
Some cases where a dog's had multiplebites and there's like stitches
involved and things like that.
(24:37):
I don't recommend they go toa shelter because I also don't
think it's fair to the dog.
Dixie (24:43):
Yeah.
And I was gonna say too, like when yousay you're not calling them back, you
don't have the room, you don't have theresources to take care of 'em, and I
understand that, but let's suppose thenext rescue that they call takes 'em.
What does that rescue, do?
What does that rescue left working with?
Ashley (25:01):
Yeah.
I don't know.
And you know what?
There are times like weactually got wrecked.
Like we got blown up on social media.
Like all hell broke loose because.
There was a dog thatwas brought one of ours.
And I work very hard toget all of our dogs back.
Like right now I have two dogsthat I'm trying desperately
(25:21):
to get back into rescue.
They're 10 years old.
The guy has got medical issues.
Luckily the dog walker has been reallyhelpful and she's been working with me
because I don't have anyone who put thesedogs, one of which has behavioral issues.
The other one's great, but like they'retwo bonded, 10-year-old pit bulls.
So we've been trying, but like we can't.
So I've told them like, reach outto other rescues and if you can find
(25:42):
a rescue that's got the resourcesright now, let them go there if you
asked me that three years ago, Iwould've been like, absolutely not.
Nobody is allowed to touch my dogs.
Those are mine.
Like they come back tome, no questions asked.
That is my responsibility.
That is my dog.
The problem we're running intonow is we don't have the resources
anymore that we used to have.
One of the things I do is now I educatepeople about that when they adopt with me.
(26:06):
Everybody gets a spiel about this,about the animal welfare crisis
and how nobody has resources.
And I pretty much tell themlike, nobody's got help.
Nobody can help you now.
This is gonna be on you, soreally think this through before
you leave here with this dog.
But like we got wrecked years agobecause I had a dog that came in.
It was at a local shelter.
The dog had pretty roughbehavioral problems.
(26:29):
The dog had attacked a child.
There was like quite a bunchof things that I had heard.
So the dog ended up there.
They had contacted us to take the dogback and I said, I'm really nervous
about taking this dog in because thedog had gone after a child twice.
And I said, okay.
They were like, well, just put it in ahome where it doesn't, but I didn't have,
at the time, it didn't have a placement.
So they dumped the dog at thelocal shelter and the shelter
(26:51):
calls me and they're like, Hey.
Will you take this dog back?
And I was like, listen, wouldyou guys, I don't have anywhere
to put this dog right now.
Would you guys be willing, I knowthat you guys do behavioral analysis,
like evaluations on your dogs.
Would you guys be willing to doa behavioral eval on this dog
and let me know what you find?
(27:12):
And they said, okay.
So they did the behavioralevaluation, which did not go well.
Okay?
Not at all.
Like dog bit.
The hand twice, didn't go well.
Then they did another evaluation twodays later and the dog failed again.
Okay.
So they call me back and they'relike, while I'm on the phone
with them, I'm like, okay.
I'm like, Jesus.
(27:32):
I'm like, where are we gonna put this dog?
And I'm like, all right,let me make some calls.
Let me see.
And the girl says to me, we do have otherorganizations that like to work with this
type of dog that do have the resources.
Would you want me to reachout and network them?
And I said, yeah, absolutely.
I said, if you have another organizationthat has better resources than I do right
(27:53):
now to be able to help this dog please.
Because at the end of the day, it'snot about my ego, it's not about
the money, it's not about whatever.
It's about the dog.
So if we can find somebodyto help the dog, great.
Let's do it.
Like in the meantime, I'm gonnakeep looking for a placement.
You guys let me know if you find anything.
I was looking for a placement.
Looking for a placement.
(28:13):
Never found one Calledback, talked to 'em again.
They said, listen, we have a rescuethat's willing to take the dog.
I said, okay, well listen, if itdoesn't work out, if God forbid this
dog is gonna be euthanized, let meknow and I will come and get it.
I promise you just callme and let me know.
They were like, okay, dog goes to rescue.
We get blown up all over social mediathat like, what a bunch of trash we are
(28:38):
because we dumped our dog at a shelterto die and we would rather the dog
be euthanized than come and help it.
When I, we were getting like hate mail.
I got phone calls about this andevery time I told them like, we
still have a review on the SouthernPause page about this situation.
And literally my answer was, inthat moment, we did not have the
(29:01):
resources to care for this dog.
The dog would've been put downif it was, if it came to us.
So we found there, they found arescue where this was supposed to
be a partnership where like theywere providing a, helping us to
provide a solution to a problem and.
The dog ended up going there.
They placed this dog with children, okay?
(29:23):
They sent me pictures of this dogin a home with young children,
with all kinds of other things.
I never would've putthat dog there, never.
But whatever they did worked okay.
And they sent me, so every couple ofyears I get our social media gets blown
up again with pictures of this dogliving its best life with children and
(29:47):
whatever else is in the home with the dog.
And they send it to us to shame usevery time this organization to tell us
all about well we, you know this dog.
Look, it's with children.
And look, we placed it withthis and you left it to die.
And like all these different things.
And every time I say, oh my God, I'mso happy that this dog is alive, he's
(30:08):
thriving, and we made the right decision.
Sad.
'cause at the end of the day, it'snot about me or them or anybody else,
or it's about the fact that the dogis alive, the dog is thriving, and
the dog is living its best life.
Dixie (30:24):
Yeah.
And that's terrible though, that you hadto go through that with the bad reviews
Ashley (30:28):
Oh, we go through it all the time.
All the time.
Especially now, anytime one of our dogscomes up and we don't have somewhere for
it to go, we get some rescue or socialmedia warrior or whatever calling us and
telling us how awful we are because wecan't take our dogs back because right
now we just don't have the resources.
Dixie (30:47):
It's wild, even if another rescue steps in, why would you
drag somebody else's name into it?
If the dog is safe.
Ashley (30:55):
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
I know the best.
One of the biggest criticizers thatcame out during that whole thing.
She had a whole bunch of stuff to say.
A couple years ago.
It actually turned out she was a hoarder.
And she got busted andcharged with animal cruelty.
And I was like, are you kidding?
I was like, like somebody sentit to me and I was like, shut up.
(31:17):
I was like, that's unbelievable.
Dixie (31:19):
Most of the people that are leaving the comments, they're people that never
would foster in a million years anyway.
It's like an ego boost for them.
It makes them feel good to say something.
Ashley (31:30):
Oh yeah.
100%.
100%.
Nobody knows.
Like even listen, even sometimes my boardmembers, they just don't get it, right?
And they're actively in thetrenches with me every day, right?
So to have Joe Schmoe on the internet,,like I said before, 95% of these
people have no idea what's actuallygoing on , in animal rescue or with
(31:52):
the animal welfare crisis or anything.
And the only thing we can do is justeducate them, and that's what I try to do
every time somebody is mad at me becauseI can't take a dog or, or the best is
they're like, like we got a call theother day, I still can't believe this.
And I called the local rescue my contactover there and I was like, Hey, be
advised this call is coming to you next.
(32:14):
I got a call from a guy who breeds.
Bernice Mountain Dogs, backyardbreeds Bernice Mountain Dog.
And his unspayed female is fightingwith his pregnant female, so he needs
to rehome the the not pregnant female.
(32:37):
And I was like, I'm sorry, what?
I was like, is this real?
And I said to him, I said, listen,we can't help you with that.
I said, but.
I know the shelter nearby, they're great.
Like they, they do a really amazing job.
We actually pull from them all the time.
So I was like, all right, well let'ssend it over there and see if it at
least gets behaviorally tested, andthen we can see if maybe we can pull it.
(33:00):
But I called up my contactover there, Mike, and I was
like, Hey, just be advised.
Wait for this call.
It's coming.
He was like, are you kidding?
And I was like, Nope.
I was like, I told him to call you'cause I got nowhere to put that.
He was like, unbelievable.
I was like yep.
Because I can't make this up.
Dixie (33:17):
Yeah.
I would've been like, well, if you spayand neuter, it curbs those behaviors, so,
Ashley (33:22):
oh, yeah, I mentioned that.
Or the better one is they're like,well, we're gonna go buy a dog.
That's one of my favorite things, likepeople say to me, especially when we
reject them because I told you I'ma snob when it comes to my adopters.
I have a very specific typeof adopter that we adopt to,
and I'm a total snob about it.
And I'll get certainpeople and they're like.
Well, this is why people go to breeders.
(33:43):
And I'm like, okay, so go to a breeder?
Like I, I actually don'tknow what to tell you.
That's fine, but youcannot have one of my dogs.
I'm sorry, but I'm not,I'm really not sorry.
Dixie (33:53):
I understand that too.
'cause I'm the same way and I do alot of bottle feeding I do kittens.
When you put that much time and effortinto getting them well because Yeah,
bottle feeding, they're very delicate.
And then sometimes you have to dealwith things like, with illnesses
that'll pop up and you essentiallyhave to go nurse them back to health.
(34:15):
So I feel like if I'm gonna haveto be up in the middle of the night
every two hours to feed a sick kitten
I want that kitten to go to a homewith somebody who's gonna do the same.
So I'm picky.
Exactly.
I'm picky too because it's like that's allof my love and dedication and everything
goes into taking care of these animals.
And so I wanna make sure that they'regoing into a home that's gonna
(34:36):
provide the exact same for them
Ashley (34:39):
As you should.
And that's, I love, like I said,I keep going back to this I love
what you said before about likeanimal rescue isn't just for you to
dump all your animals on us, right?
It's here for a last resort.
It's here for an emergency, it's here fora medical case, it's here for whatever.
And I've been there, right?
Like I, I don't typically do cats.
(35:00):
Occasionally, I told you I liketo fill needs wherever I'm needed.
So occasionally I will do kittens.
It's rare, but it's usually like somebodyfound them and they're like, whatever.
So I'll get them in and I'll takecare of them and I'll feed them
and I'll do all the things until.
I'll ultimately foster them throughour rescue and then send them to do
(35:21):
adoptions with a partner rescue thatwe work with that's like a cat rescue.
And even in those situations I've hadkittens that came in practically feral
that I spent time and energy befriending,and I want them to have the best life
ever, like I and every one of these dogs.
And I don't know about you but I knowevery time I get a dog back, especially
(35:44):
a dog, that came out of like a situation.
'cause no matter how hard we work, nomatter how diligent we are, no matter
how meticulous we are, there's alwaysgonna be that like 1% of douche baggery
that somehow manages to evade us.
And the dog still endsup in a crummy situation.
It's rare, but it I've seen it acouple times in my career and I don't
(36:06):
know about you, but every time it'shappened, I've looked into the eyes
of that dog and just felt awful.
Like I was like, I madethe wrong decision.
This is because of me.
And I know we're notsupposed to think that way.
And everybody's you can't think that way.
But at the end of theday, that's how I feel.
Well, every time I have a dog that'sreturned, every time I have the dog,
(36:26):
especially a puppy that comes backwith behavioral problems, I'm like,
damn, I should have picked better.
I'm so sorry buddy.
I should have picked better.
Dixie (36:35):
Yeah, I totally understand that.
Ashley (36:39):
Yeah, it sucks.
That's the one part that, and likeonly have to do euthanizations.
'cause we have this puppy hospice programthat we started totally by accident.
This thing came on and it'ssuch a long story, but it's,
we call it Griffin's legacy.
We call it the Baby Sharkprogram, and it's specifically
for neurologic hospice, puppies.
(37:01):
Okay.
Like babies.
And it is the hardest program.
It is the most rewarding program.
But I think when it comes tothe downsides of rescue, like
we have a couple of downsides,that's the one that's the worst.
Anytime we have to euthanizeanything, I feel like it's awful.
Anytime something dies, I feellike that's the worst part.
But I also feel like on the samelevel, having to look a dog in the
(37:24):
face and know you failed them, that'ssomething that like it, it falls.
I don't know about you, but itfalls in the same category for me.
Dixie (37:34):
Yeah, no, I agree.
Before we end the call, what final messageor advice do you have for our listeners
regarding the animal welfare crisis?
Ashley (37:44):
Oh, God.
Spay and neuter your animals.
All of them.
Train your dogs.
Okay.
Reach out for help if you needit before you get to the point
where you need to rehome.
One of the biggest things I say tomy clients all the time is always
is like my most disappointing thingis I wish you reached out sooner.
Don't wait six months make the call,even if it's just to ask the questions.
(38:05):
And I think, honestly, I think Ican speak for an entire community
of rescuers and trainers andwhatever animal professionals.
In saying we, we would ratherhave you ask too many questions.
We'd rather have you reach out withsomething stupid that and send us a
picture and are like, is this normal?
(38:26):
Or, should I fix this?
Or, we don't expect you tobe a dog like expert, right?
But we do expect you to have thecommon sense to reach out to the ones
who are, and it's important to knowthat everybody in the rescue community
right now needs to band together.
We need to help each otherin whatever way we can.
(38:47):
Whether that's with information,whether it's with education, whether
it's with, help with transport, whetherit's somebody's got an extra foster.
Maybe it's somebody has moreresources than the other one right
now and they can step in and help.
Or maybe it's just, hey, aphone call for a plea for help.
Right now, if you can't fostervolunteer, if you can't volunteer,
(39:08):
donate, if you got no money, share it.
Just keep sharing because right now,the only way that the animal crisis is
going to get better is if we all change.
Like the communities have to change.
The people have to change.
The mentality has to change.
If it doesn't change, it'snever going to get any better.
(39:30):
We're not gonna be able toun dig ourselves outta this
one, like we're too far in it.
It's gotta be something thatlike changes as a whole for us
to be able to fix it, right?
Or we just have to hold on forthe next 10 years until everything
finally writes itself and the adoptionpopulation goes back up again.
And the finances, the financialworld gets a little more
(39:53):
stable or, that kind of thing.
. So.
Be supportive, be kind just be nice.
Please be kind to one another.
And like I said, train youranimals spay and neuter them.
Take responsibility for them.
Take accountability for them.
Start working with thembefore they develop problems.
Build the kind of dog you wantinstead of trying to correct it later.
And always reach out and ask questions.
(40:15):
Like I said, I don't think anybody'sever going to turn around and be
like, no, we, or shun you becauseyou asked if that behavior was
a little weird and is it okay?
That kind of thing.
So, use the resources that are there foryou and don't wait too long to use them.
Dixie (40:30):
It's a great message, and I would rather answer a
question than take an animal back.
That's the first thing that anybody shoulddo is, even another rescue if you're
having difficulty with something just.
Reach out to somebody else and seethey might be able to help you.
Ashley (40:48):
You'd be amazed.
One thing that I've always found my wholelife is the power of a phone call, right?
Even if it's just a, Hey, I don'treally know who I'm supposed to
talk to about this, but I'm hopingsomebody can give me some guidance.
You'd be amazed the kind ofresponse you're gonna get.
There's never been a time that I'vedone that where I've never somehow
(41:11):
gotten something that benefited me.
Whether it was knowledge, whether itwas the answer to a question, whether it
was direction, whether it was whatever.
It's make the phone call becausethat's another thing, like we
don't ever call people anymore.
And it's something I also tell,we work with teenagers too.
And in the rescue and my teens, I tellthem all the time, like, when you get
into college, make friends with yourprofessor, talk to people, call them.
(41:34):
That's how you're gonna get your footin the door with things like, and it's
the same thing in animal rescue, right?
Make the phone calls, ask the questions.
You'd be shocked how manyanswers you're gonna get.
Dixie (41:45):
Thank you so much for joining me today, Ashley.
I really enjoyed our conversation.
Ashley (41:50):
Yeah, thanks so much for having me.
This was really fun.
Dixie (41:54):
We've reached all the time that we have for today's episode . If
you are enjoying our show, pleaseconsider leaving us a donation.
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(42:23):
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(42:46):
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Song by Suno.ai
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
people and rescues making adifference in the lives of animals.
Last week's episode featured AshleyGardinier with Southern Paws Inc.
And we talked a lot about the animalwelfare crisis, so if you didn't
listen to last week's episode.
Make sure you go back and check it out.
But today we're back to talk aboutthe other things that Ashley does,
(00:25):
and one of 'em is dog training.
Ashley Let's get into how dog trainingcan help to keep dogs in homes, First off,
where did you learn to do dog training?
Ashley (00:39):
Oh so honestly I learned to dog train when I got Goose.
, I have a dog named Gooselike Goose and Maverick.
And he is my soulmate.
I love this dog.
He is my soul dog.
He is my best friend.
And many years ago, like going back,15 some odd years ago before our animal
rescue was even a thought in my mind.
(00:59):
I had a dog who I had gotten andsome rescue, just gave me a puppy
and they didn't educate me at all.
They didn't tell me I wassupposed to socialize her.
They didn't still tell me I was supposedto train her or do anything with her.
They just said here's a puppy.
So I got her and I didn't knowI was supposed to do all these
things because nobody told me.
And when she was seven years old,she jumped up and she bit a little
girl in the face and she rippedoff half of this child's face and.
(01:24):
After it happened which was devastating.,
I was young, I was like in my very earlytwenties, and I had to , sit down and
make this decision on what do I do?
Because she had alreadybitten a couple people.
This was obviously the worst biteand really, at that point had calmed
down to it's gonna happen again.
And I had tried everything.
(01:44):
I had dog whisperers, I had triedtraining, I had tried ecollar work.
So through Kylie I went through the gamutwith dog training from the beginning.
And after this bitehappened, it was really bad.
There's still a woman thatwalks around with scars on
her face today because of me.
Okay.
Not because of my dog, not because shewas like hardwired, because of me, right?
(02:06):
Just because I didn't know any better and.
When I ended up euthanizing her.
It was still to this day, like oneof the hardest things I've ever done.
It's probably one of the worst momentsof my whole life, honestly, looking back.
And when I decided, like right aroundthe time I actually got exposed to animal
rescue , goose was actually on thatfirst transport back from Louisiana.
(02:31):
So I had seen this little chocolatelab puppy it's chocolate lab Catula.
And I just thought they were so cool.
Johnna had them in her barn andhis brother was just gorgeous.
And I was like, oh, soGoose, I ended up fostering.
I was really concerned if Maverickgot adopted before Goose did.
'cause Goose was like thisreally sensitive sweet dog.
(02:52):
And ironically Christmas Eve, maverickgets adopted now, I end up with Goose and
everybody was like, you're not gonna keepthis dog, you're not gonna keep this dog.
I go into Petco and somebodygoes oh my God, I love him.
I want him.
And I was like no, nope.
Sorry.
Nope.
He is mine.
And she was like, oh, Ithought you were fostering.
I was like, no, he's mine.
And I like took him out.
The next day I walked into thelocal training center and I said to
(03:15):
them, this is what I went through.
How do I, what do I have to do tomake sure this never happens again?
Because I can't go throughthis again with this dog.
And if we're gonna do it, we'regonna do it right this time.
And , the local training center byme Stacy, who's actually one of my
mentors I trained with her for 10 years.
I brought all of ourbehavioral dogs there.
(03:35):
I brought Goose there.
Not only that, but I got Gooseand Lexi, my other dog, both of
them are certified therapy dogs.
I didn't just go through the likebright and beautiful program like.
I went through a two yearextensive training with them.
So that literally if my dog was on theother, like a mile away from me and I
saw him like move a certain way, I waslike, I knew exactly what he was thinking.
(03:58):
I knew exactly where his head was at.
It was just this bizarreconnection, right?
And I really learned how to read dogsand I actually have a master's degree in,
in human psychology in forensic psych.
That's a whole nother story in itself.
But it was interesting the more trainingI did, the more I was able to understand
(04:19):
dog psychology in a very humanized way.
So.
I say all the time, one of my besttalents, I'm not necessarily good at
demonstrating what to do with your dog,
i'm great at it 'causeGoose is great at it.
That's the only reason.
But it's funny because I say all the timemy, like the best part of me training
(04:40):
and the thing I'm really good at istaking a situation and putting it in
human terms so that you can understandwhat your dog's doing, why they're doing
it, why it's not okay and how to fix it.
And letting you have that likelight bulb moment of oh my
God, I didn't think about that.
So I always had this psychology.
(05:01):
And then with the rescuecrisis, I said like, all right,
listen, adoptions are dead.
We just had this opportunitylike fall in our lap.
I'm tired of being a part of,just like getting dogs out.
I wanna start working on solutionsthat are gonna keep dogs out of the
shelter and out of the, the thing.
So if we can provide a programthat's maybe a little bit lower
(05:23):
cost than like our local programs,and then the money, it's a win-win.
The money is a donation, themoney goes back into the rescue.
So we're able to actually use thetraining center to help provide
financing for the rescue that we're,that we lost in our adoption fees.
And on top of that, the real winis we get to work with people to
(05:44):
keep their dogs in their home.
So once the upstairs kind of cameavailable, I said, oh, I guess
I better go get a certificationlisten, you don't have to have a
certification to be a dog trainer.
I personally think everybody should justso that you learn the fundamental basics.
But I had also worked with every singlebehavioral problem in our rescue.
(06:05):
I had worked with dogs, during disasterrelief in flooded houses that I now
needed to carry, that didn't know meand were terrified, I had to work with
feral dogs to be able to get them totrust me enough to come near enough to
me where we could get them help, therewere all these just different things
that I had learned along the way.
And I said, you know what?
(06:25):
I said, I bet we couldturn this into something.
So I went back actually to my trainers.
I have a trainer, Stacy, thatI just adore, and then she's
just incredible and amazing.
And then I have another trainer,Anne, who is also just like
absolutely phenomenal, amazing.
None of them sugarcoat things like,I don't do well with these like fru
trainers, I like the down and dirty.
(06:46):
What were you thinking when you did that?
Like, why would you think that's okay?
That kind of stuff.
And, I had built these relationshipswith them over years and years between
my own dogs and dogs in the rescueand dogs with behavioral problems and,
asking advice and all these things.
And now I put it all together.
I got the certification throughanimal Behavioral College.
(07:06):
It was an online course.
It took me about a year toprobably get through it.
And like I said, it was cool 'causeI got to learn the fundamentals
of it was really cool to learnhow dogs were like domesticated.
I knew the commands, like the sitand the down and the, whatever, but
I didn't necessarily understand thepsychology behind them which was
really cool as well as all of the.
(07:28):
The methodology, right?
And the psychology behind the methodology.
That was another elementthat I found really helpful.
I had all these things surfacely,but didn't really understand
the education behind 'em.
And I had to do like an externship whichI did over at and at Good Dog training.
And yeah, I just had these reallyamazing women that I really respect.
So I just pulled me under theirarms and were like, okay, we're
(07:49):
gonna, we're gonna teach you.
And I started teaching.
I'm still not super confident.
I really don't do behavioral modification.
I try those are like your biggerbehaviors, your aggression, your
reactivity, your severe anxiety disorders.
The dogs that I actually love to workwith the most are very fearful dogs.
Those are the ones that Ireally love to work with.
(08:10):
The, fear, almost likefear reactive a little bit.
Like I love that I do a lot ofwhat I call exposure work that
is not what it's actually called.
It's called desensitizationand generalization, but like
to humans, they're like, Idon't know what that means.
Those are big words.
So, I dumb it down.
It's exposing them to just like very mild,like uncomfortable stimulus ultimately,
(08:33):
and pairing it with really yummy treats.
Like we make it rain hot dogs.
But yeah, so that's how it startedand , I think the hardest part
is getting people to train.
But it's been really helpful too tobe able to also offer up myself as
a resource for my adopters, right?
Like I tell my adopters all the time,if you, they all have my personal
(08:55):
cell phone number, I've had the samecell phone number since I was like 12.
The amount of people that havethis cell phone number are just,
is in incomprehensible, but theycan call me anytime day or night.
And usually I'm like, okay, listen,if it's a real in-depth thing,
like I'm gonna have to send yousomewhere, but they can call me.
It doesn't matter if you adopted forme yesterday or 10 years ago, you can
(09:17):
call me with any behavioral problem.
I'll give you some pointers.
I'll give you, I'll tell youdirection on where you should go.
I had an doctor call me theother day from eight years ago.
Their dog is having some neuro issuesand they were like, what do we do?
And I was like, okay, this is what you do.
This is where you go, this is the doctor.
So I, I think that's more importantthan anything and it's given me the
(09:38):
opportunity to be able to providemore of that from a more educated
standpoint, if that makes sense.
Dixie (09:44):
Yes, it does.
Would you recommend other dog rescuesto have a person maybe go through the
same course that you did so they knowthat basic psychology of dog behavior?
Ashley (09:58):
Yeah.
The more education you have, the better,like the more education you have.
And listen, a lot of thiscomes from experience, right?
Like I had an issue today with oneof one of our teammates where like
she just didn't know the rightquestions to ask because she's just
not as experienced yet as I am.
She's still a little bit green.
(10:18):
And we had an issue with itbecause we almost pulled a dog
that has like severe neurologicalissues by accident which was fine.
Like it would've been fine.
We're still looking at pulling the dog.
We just needed way moreinformation than we had.
It's like one of those situations wherelike the more information and the more
you can educate yourself, the better.
And it's not, you don't have tospend, $3,000 and go get a piece of
(10:40):
paper, find a local training center.
I have never met a trainer who I waslike, Hey, I wanna sit down on your class.
And they were like, no,like that's never happened.
Everybody should have a trainer in theirpocket, like a real trainer, right?
Somebody that's good.
Somebody that's been doingthis for a long time.
Somebody that's like really hasa background, in dog training.
(11:02):
Not like somebody that's oh, I justgot a certification like yesterday.
It's like me, like I justgot my certification.
Have I worked on a lot of things?
Yes.
Am I really confident?
Working with like behavioralmodifications, stuff like that.
Absolutely not.
So I'll defer thoseclients somewhere else.
Now, I also tell every single one of myclients that they need to do at least a
(11:23):
minimum of a year of dog classes anywhere.
It doesn't have to be withme, it could be anywhere.
And if they're not local somebodyjust asked me they're like 20
minutes away from us and they werelike, well, is there anybody here?
And I was like, yes.
This is who I recommend.
Go there.
So it's not so much, even if youdon't know the psychology or you
don't wanna learn the psychology,sorry, or you don't wanna learn.
(11:48):
Like even if you don't know thepsychology or you're not interested
in learning the psychology, at theend of the day, have somebody at
least in your pocket that does.
Somebody that's really good that you'reclose with or that you can consult with.
Because if it wasn't forthat half of the issues.
That we've had wouldnever have been fixed.
(12:09):
And then it's just the dog that suffers.
Like you develop all these behavioralproblems just simply because you
really didn't know any better.
Like you dealt with a problem and youwere like, oh, I think I can fix this.
And like you tried to do what you thoughtwas best, which was like all the wrong
things, so even if you don't do ityourself, like just have somebody there
that you can use as a sounding board andsay Hey, this is going on with this dog.
(12:31):
What do you suggest I do?
Dixie (12:35):
Let's get onto some of those behavioral issues.
You said that a lot of people werecomplaining about behavioral issues in
these COVID puppies or pandemic puppies.
Yeah.
What are some of those specificbehavioral issues that you're seeing?
And then how do you address those issues?
Ashley (12:55):
I had so many things.
So this is one of my favoriteexamples to use dog on dog reactivity.
Okay.
. And dog reactivity can come from allkinds of different things, right?
And what that mean, what dog reactivityis like your walking down on the
street and your dog sees a dog andthey just lose their ever loving mind.
Okay?
This is something we see a lot, right?
And a lot of it is because duringCOVID, dogs didn't see other dogs.
(13:18):
Dogs are a lot like humans.
They're a lot like child,like children when it comes to
psychological and social development.
So during COVID, we were not allowedto leave our houses, correct?
Correct.
So we were home all the time, whichmeans our dogs were home all the time.
They didn't meet people, theydidn't go out in the world, they
(13:40):
didn't interact with other dogs.
They lived at home.
We lived at home.
And then when the world openedback up again, now we are
trying to take our dogs places.
We're trying to do things with them,we're trying to get 'em off the property,
and the dogs are either terrified orlike they don't know how to act, right?
So a great example ofthis is dog reactiveness.
So, I did dog walking for a yearand there was this dog Yeti,
(14:04):
and I use her all the time.
She's my claim to fame this dog.
Because she was so reactive andit was anything she saw, like
it didn't have to be a dog.
If she saw a squirrel, she was a lunatic.
If she saw a deer, oh, forget it.
Like she would throw herself on the floor.
She would scream like a lunatic.
(14:24):
She was this like 40 poundwhite like Aussie husky mix.
And she had taken her momdown like multiple times.
She actually really hurt Elise's elbow.
At one point and she, when Istarted walking her, I was like,
oh no we're not doing this.
I was like, we are absolutelynot gonna be doing this.
(14:45):
We're not pulling.
So within two weeks I said to, she hadtaken me down like once, and I said
to Elise, I was like, absolutely not.
We're not doing this.
I'm getting a gentle leader for your dog.
And Elise was very against it.
She didn't wanna do it.
And I said, listen,let me at least try it.
If you really feel like it's awful, likewe've used this, I've used this before
(15:06):
on dogs, that I've trained, especiallydogs in the rescue that are like large
breed and really gonna take you out.
'cause they just are big puppies.
There's a great it's mildly invasive.
Like it's not a big deal.
And what I did was I was aPez dispenser for treats.
And I would do a lot of, in thebeginning, turning around and walking
in the other direction, right?
(15:28):
So we'd see something at a distance.
We really, as a society, I'msure you know this, we need
to get out of our cell phones.
We need to start paying attention toour surroundings and things like that.
A big mistake that I see made a lotis we're in our phones, or, so we're
not necessarily looking at what'shappening around us that's going
to potentially trigger our animals.
So in Yeti's case, it's a lot of lookingaround, looking for deer, looking
(15:53):
for dogs, looking for people that arewalking, looking for, whatever it is.
So that I could use thatas a learning moment.
And I'm not gonna put her in a situationthat I know she's gonna fail in, which is
like walking towards a dog or, walking intheir space and getting closer to them.
I'm gonna literally watchher, she's gonna get alert.
(16:13):
She's gonna, get stiff and she's gonnastare and before it gets close or I
get close, I'm gonna turn around, I'mgonna shove a cookie in her mouth and
I'm gonna walk in the other direction.
And we would take adifferent path that day.
And we would just dothat over and over again.
And eventually over time we wereable to get closer and closer.
This is actually what I call,this is the exposure work
that I was mentioning before.
(16:34):
Eventually you get closer and closer andyou're desensitizing the dog to being in
the presence of whatever that stimulus is.
You're counter conditioning her.
So that to the point where she would seesomebody else and she would literally look
at me like, where's my cookie lady like?
And it got to the point after,and it took me eight months.
Eight months, and on in the eighth month.
(16:55):
There was a lady that walked by with adachshund that was losing its ever loving
mind, and she sat right next to me.
The dog walked probablybetween six feet away from her.
She looked right at me and waslike, lady, where's my cookie?
And I'll never forget, the lady saidto me, how'd you get her to do that?
And I was like, oh, it's beeneight months, but it works.
(17:18):
And she was like, I was like, she'scould you teach mine to do that?
And I was like, ironically, yes I could.
I'll tell you what, thelady never called me.
So it's things likethat, that are so simple.
And the reason that these resourcesand being a resource and being,
having the training certificationand understanding the psychology
there's a basis to these behaviors.
(17:39):
And this is actually in theconversation I have with every
single one of my adopters, okay?
Because I tell all of them,like I mentioned before,
everybody's gotta go to training.
So.
It's not, I'm not telling you, you needto train because I think you're stupid and
you can't teach your dogs to sit and stay.
I'm teaching you to trainbecause you're not a dog expert.
You don't know dog psychology.
(18:00):
I still don't like, there's still, I callmyself number one dog mom, and I say all
the time, there are literally like timeswhere I don't know things like, and my
trainer's like, why are you doing that?
I'm like I don't know.
I take my own dogs to other people'sclasses because every time I
go I still learn something new.
I co-teach with Stacey in the morningon Saturdays, just so I can learn
(18:21):
from her, and Stacey will test me.
She'll let me, stick my footin my mouth and then say, okay,
you're wrong and this is why.
And I'm okay with thatbecause I'm learning.
So what happens with dogs, likeleading up to that behavior, right?
That behavior was built.
It was, the dog wasn't born like that.
The dog, that behavior was built.
(18:42):
She was got during COVID, I.
She wasn't around other dogs.
She wasn't around a lot of people, okay?
And so when she was seeing these otherdogs, people, animals, whatever, she
was getting so amped and nobody evertaught her how to handle herself.
Okay?
Imagine you have a child, right?
(19:04):
And that child has never been aroundpeople and you stick it in, middle
school with 400 kids in his class.
How do you expect that child to acclimate?
They're either going to be runningamuck and psychotic, or they're gonna be
terrified and hiding under their desk.
(19:25):
They're not gonna know the social skills.
They're not gonna know how theinteractions, they're not gonna know the
appropriate way to interact with humans.
So why would we think that ourdogs would, and that's where the
reactivity come from, comes from.
So those are the kind ofbehaviors that we see a lot of.
We're seeing that we're seeingI'm seeing, we're seeing a lot
of we call it stranger danger.
Okay?
And it stems fromliterally the same thing.
(19:46):
They're not used to peoplecoming into their space.
And I'm not gonna lie,people are stupid, okay?
We do stupid things when we, when it comesto dogs, because everything, every five of
our being is oh my god, dog, I love you.
And that's not a dog'slove language, right?
The love language of dogs issmell my butt, like body language.
(20:07):
This don't come at my face.
And we've just done all the things wrong.
They're not used to that.
They don't know how to react.
So maybe they're getting afraidand they're going to fear
react, which is they're going toovercompensate and they're gonna
bark at you and tell you to back off.
'cause that's their language, right?
Things like that.
It's a lot of things.
(20:28):
We also never, none of these peopletrained during COVID because none
of the training centers were open.
So you also have all of theseunruly dogs that are now just like
large dogs that don't have matters.
They don't have structure, they weren'ttold, they were never given any rules.
And just like children, it'sthe same concept, right?
(20:48):
You ultimately have what I had with myfirst dog, there was no rules, there was
no consequences, there was no structure.
If you do that with a child, you'regoing to have a monster who's
climbing your curtains, right?
And getting into trouble.
So why would we expect our dogs to, inthe same scenario, to be well-behaved
(21:10):
and not have behavioral problemsor not be emotionally balanced?
So that's really what we're seeing.
And the bigger issue we'rerunning into is a, we as a
rescue, we are really overwhelmed.
So we, we don't have anywhere to puta dog that's got behavioral issues.
And on top of that, wedon't have the finances.
Like I used to be like, oh,your dog's a little afraid.
(21:32):
No problem.
I can work with that.
We have a great foster and we wouldthrow them in training three days a week.
I can't afford, a thousand dollars a weekfor a dog that's got behavioral problems
because you didn't do right by your dog.
You didn't train your dog appropriately.
And now your dog has behavioral problemsand now I'm supposed to try and fix
(21:53):
it and spend all this money to doit because you either don't have the
money or don't care or don't want to.
Dixie (22:00):
What do you do in the situation if somebody does call you and they tell
you, I've got this dog to surrender'cause this dog has behavioral problems?
Well, I'm sure of course you'regonna recommend training.
But how do the people react to that?
Being that, you said this dog thatyou had the one that took eight
months to train, it's eight months.
So are people open to even wanting to waitthe eight months to see if their dog Nope.
(22:26):
Will start reacting differently?
Ashley (22:28):
Nope.
Nope.
Not at all.
I will tell you, I wouldsay 95% of them do.
But I educate themabout the rescue crisis.
And I tell them, listen, your bestbet is this, working with your
dog, training your dog, socializingyour dog, getting a trainer.
I would get a trainer in thereimmediately working on it with
(22:51):
them, trying to get them fixed.
I will, if they're local.
There's some people who have beenlike, I can't afford it, and I've
been like, bring me your dog.
We'll work together.
Like I have a little bitof time on Tuesday nights.
I got you.
Let's see if we can atleast fix this portion.
And sometimes I get lucky, andsometimes they're like, yes, I got this.
(23:11):
But you know that 95% of thetime they just call another
rescue, and if it's really bad,what am I supposed to tell them?
And that's why I don't callpeople back anymore because
what am I supposed to tell them?
I'm the rescuer.
I'm supposed to be theone that's there to help.
I'm supposed to be the onethat has all the answers.
(23:32):
And it goes back to what you were sayingbefore is we are supposed to be here for
dire circumstances, and we're not likepeople treat us like crap because we can't
help you because you have a responsibilityto this animal that you committed to.
That has done nothing be loyal to you orbe the way you trained them or raised them
(23:55):
to be, and now you just are dumping thembecause you don't feel like putting the
time, the energy, or the money into 'em.
That's really the heart of it.
And people could argue with me all dayabout it, but really at the end of the
day, if you I am a big believer in youwant, you will, you won't, you don't, if
(24:16):
you wanna fix it, you are gonna fix it.
If you don't wanna fix it,you are not gonna fix it.
So we have to look at that as a populationand say Hey, what am I supposed to say?
Some cases where a dog's had multiplebites and there's like stitches
involved and things like that.
(24:37):
I don't recommend they go toa shelter because I also don't
think it's fair to the dog.
Dixie (24:43):
Yeah.
And I was gonna say too, like when yousay you're not calling them back, you
don't have the room, you don't have theresources to take care of 'em, and I
understand that, but let's suppose thenext rescue that they call takes 'em.
What does that rescue, do?
What does that rescue left working with?
Ashley (25:01):
Yeah.
I don't know.
And you know what?
There are times like weactually got wrecked.
Like we got blown up on social media.
Like all hell broke loose because.
There was a dog thatwas brought one of ours.
And I work very hard toget all of our dogs back.
Like right now I have two dogsthat I'm trying desperately
(25:21):
to get back into rescue.
They're 10 years old.
The guy has got medical issues.
Luckily the dog walker has been reallyhelpful and she's been working with me
because I don't have anyone who put thesedogs, one of which has behavioral issues.
The other one's great, but like they'retwo bonded, 10-year-old pit bulls.
So we've been trying, but like we can't.
So I've told them like, reach outto other rescues and if you can find
(25:42):
a rescue that's got the resourcesright now, let them go there if you
asked me that three years ago, Iwould've been like, absolutely not.
Nobody is allowed to touch my dogs.
Those are mine.
Like they come back tome, no questions asked.
That is my responsibility.
That is my dog.
The problem we're running intonow is we don't have the resources
anymore that we used to have.
One of the things I do is now I educatepeople about that when they adopt with me.
(26:06):
Everybody gets a spiel about this,about the animal welfare crisis
and how nobody has resources.
And I pretty much tell themlike, nobody's got help.
Nobody can help you now.
This is gonna be on you, soreally think this through before
you leave here with this dog.
But like we got wrecked years agobecause I had a dog that came in.
It was at a local shelter.
The dog had pretty roughbehavioral problems.
(26:29):
The dog had attacked a child.
There was like quite a bunchof things that I had heard.
So the dog ended up there.
They had contacted us to take the dogback and I said, I'm really nervous
about taking this dog in because thedog had gone after a child twice.
And I said, okay.
They were like, well, just put it in ahome where it doesn't, but I didn't have,
at the time, it didn't have a placement.
So they dumped the dog at thelocal shelter and the shelter
(26:51):
calls me and they're like, Hey.
Will you take this dog back?
And I was like, listen, wouldyou guys, I don't have anywhere
to put this dog right now.
Would you guys be willing, I knowthat you guys do behavioral analysis,
like evaluations on your dogs.
Would you guys be willing to doa behavioral eval on this dog
and let me know what you find?
(27:12):
And they said, okay.
So they did the behavioralevaluation, which did not go well.
Okay?
Not at all.
Like dog bit.
The hand twice, didn't go well.
Then they did another evaluation twodays later and the dog failed again.
Okay.
So they call me back and they'relike, while I'm on the phone
with them, I'm like, okay.
I'm like, Jesus.
(27:32):
I'm like, where are we gonna put this dog?
And I'm like, all right,let me make some calls.
Let me see.
And the girl says to me, we do have otherorganizations that like to work with this
type of dog that do have the resources.
Would you want me to reachout and network them?
And I said, yeah, absolutely.
I said, if you have another organizationthat has better resources than I do right
(27:53):
now to be able to help this dog please.
Because at the end of the day, it'snot about my ego, it's not about
the money, it's not about whatever.
It's about the dog.
So if we can find somebodyto help the dog, great.
Let's do it.
Like in the meantime, I'm gonnakeep looking for a placement.
You guys let me know if you find anything.
I was looking for a placement.
Looking for a placement.
(28:13):
Never found one Calledback, talked to 'em again.
They said, listen, we have a rescuethat's willing to take the dog.
I said, okay, well listen, if itdoesn't work out, if God forbid this
dog is gonna be euthanized, let meknow and I will come and get it.
I promise you just callme and let me know.
They were like, okay, dog goes to rescue.
We get blown up all over social mediathat like, what a bunch of trash we are
(28:38):
because we dumped our dog at a shelterto die and we would rather the dog
be euthanized than come and help it.
When I, we were getting like hate mail.
I got phone calls about this andevery time I told them like, we
still have a review on the SouthernPause page about this situation.
And literally my answer was, inthat moment, we did not have the
(29:01):
resources to care for this dog.
The dog would've been put downif it was, if it came to us.
So we found there, they found arescue where this was supposed to
be a partnership where like theywere providing a, helping us to
provide a solution to a problem and.
The dog ended up going there.
They placed this dog with children, okay?
(29:23):
They sent me pictures of this dogin a home with young children,
with all kinds of other things.
I never would've putthat dog there, never.
But whatever they did worked okay.
And they sent me, so every couple ofyears I get our social media gets blown
up again with pictures of this dogliving its best life with children and
(29:47):
whatever else is in the home with the dog.
And they send it to us to shame usevery time this organization to tell us
all about well we, you know this dog.
Look, it's with children.
And look, we placed it withthis and you left it to die.
And like all these different things.
And every time I say, oh my God, I'mso happy that this dog is alive, he's
(30:08):
thriving, and we made the right decision.
Sad.
'cause at the end of the day, it'snot about me or them or anybody else,
or it's about the fact that the dogis alive, the dog is thriving, and
the dog is living its best life.
Dixie (30:24):
Yeah.
And that's terrible though, that you hadto go through that with the bad reviews
Ashley (30:28):
Oh, we go through it all the time.
All the time.
Especially now, anytime one of our dogscomes up and we don't have somewhere for
it to go, we get some rescue or socialmedia warrior or whatever calling us and
telling us how awful we are because wecan't take our dogs back because right
now we just don't have the resources.
Dixie (30:47):
It's wild, even if another rescue steps in, why would you
drag somebody else's name into it?
If the dog is safe.
Ashley (30:55):
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
I know the best.
One of the biggest criticizers thatcame out during that whole thing.
She had a whole bunch of stuff to say.
A couple years ago.
It actually turned out she was a hoarder.
And she got busted andcharged with animal cruelty.
And I was like, are you kidding?
I was like, like somebody sentit to me and I was like, shut up.
(31:17):
I was like, that's unbelievable.
Dixie (31:19):
Most of the people that are leaving the comments, they're people that never
would foster in a million years anyway.
It's like an ego boost for them.
It makes them feel good to say something.
Ashley (31:30):
Oh yeah.
100%.
100%.
Nobody knows.
Like even listen, even sometimes my boardmembers, they just don't get it, right?
And they're actively in thetrenches with me every day, right?
So to have Joe Schmoe on the internet,,like I said before, 95% of these
people have no idea what's actuallygoing on , in animal rescue or with
(31:52):
the animal welfare crisis or anything.
And the only thing we can do is justeducate them, and that's what I try to do
every time somebody is mad at me becauseI can't take a dog or, or the best is
they're like, like we got a call theother day, I still can't believe this.
And I called the local rescue my contactover there and I was like, Hey, be
advised this call is coming to you next.
(32:14):
I got a call from a guy who breeds.
Bernice Mountain Dogs, backyardbreeds Bernice Mountain Dog.
And his unspayed female is fightingwith his pregnant female, so he needs
to rehome the the not pregnant female.
(32:37):
And I was like, I'm sorry, what?
I was like, is this real?
And I said to him, I said, listen,we can't help you with that.
I said, but.
I know the shelter nearby, they're great.
Like they, they do a really amazing job.
We actually pull from them all the time.
So I was like, all right, well let'ssend it over there and see if it at
least gets behaviorally tested, andthen we can see if maybe we can pull it.
(33:00):
But I called up my contactover there, Mike, and I was
like, Hey, just be advised.
Wait for this call.
It's coming.
He was like, are you kidding?
And I was like, Nope.
I was like, I told him to call you'cause I got nowhere to put that.
He was like, unbelievable.
I was like yep.
Because I can't make this up.
Dixie (33:17):
Yeah.
I would've been like, well, if you spayand neuter, it curbs those behaviors, so,
Ashley (33:22):
oh, yeah, I mentioned that.
Or the better one is they're like,well, we're gonna go buy a dog.
That's one of my favorite things, likepeople say to me, especially when we
reject them because I told you I'ma snob when it comes to my adopters.
I have a very specific typeof adopter that we adopt to,
and I'm a total snob about it.
And I'll get certainpeople and they're like.
Well, this is why people go to breeders.
(33:43):
And I'm like, okay, so go to a breeder?
Like I, I actually don'tknow what to tell you.
That's fine, but youcannot have one of my dogs.
I'm sorry, but I'm not,I'm really not sorry.
Dixie (33:53):
I understand that too.
'cause I'm the same way and I do alot of bottle feeding I do kittens.
When you put that much time and effortinto getting them well because Yeah,
bottle feeding, they're very delicate.
And then sometimes you have to dealwith things like, with illnesses
that'll pop up and you essentiallyhave to go nurse them back to health.
(34:15):
So I feel like if I'm gonna haveto be up in the middle of the night
every two hours to feed a sick kitten
I want that kitten to go to a homewith somebody who's gonna do the same.
So I'm picky.
Exactly.
I'm picky too because it's like that's allof my love and dedication and everything
goes into taking care of these animals.
And so I wanna make sure that they'regoing into a home that's gonna
(34:36):
provide the exact same for them
Ashley (34:39):
As you should.
And that's, I love, like I said,I keep going back to this I love
what you said before about likeanimal rescue isn't just for you to
dump all your animals on us, right?
It's here for a last resort.
It's here for an emergency, it's here fora medical case, it's here for whatever.
And I've been there, right?
Like I, I don't typically do cats.
(35:00):
Occasionally, I told you I liketo fill needs wherever I'm needed.
So occasionally I will do kittens.
It's rare, but it's usually like somebodyfound them and they're like, whatever.
So I'll get them in and I'll takecare of them and I'll feed them
and I'll do all the things until.
I'll ultimately foster them throughour rescue and then send them to do
(35:21):
adoptions with a partner rescue thatwe work with that's like a cat rescue.
And even in those situations I've hadkittens that came in practically feral
that I spent time and energy befriending,and I want them to have the best life
ever, like I and every one of these dogs.
And I don't know about you but I knowevery time I get a dog back, especially
(35:44):
a dog, that came out of like a situation.
'cause no matter how hard we work, nomatter how diligent we are, no matter
how meticulous we are, there's alwaysgonna be that like 1% of douche baggery
that somehow manages to evade us.
And the dog still endsup in a crummy situation.
It's rare, but it I've seen it acouple times in my career and I don't
(36:06):
know about you, but every time it'shappened, I've looked into the eyes
of that dog and just felt awful.
Like I was like, I madethe wrong decision.
This is because of me.
And I know we're notsupposed to think that way.
And everybody's you can't think that way.
But at the end of theday, that's how I feel.
Well, every time I have a dog that'sreturned, every time I have the dog,
(36:26):
especially a puppy that comes backwith behavioral problems, I'm like,
damn, I should have picked better.
I'm so sorry buddy.
I should have picked better.
Dixie (36:35):
Yeah, I totally understand that.
Ashley (36:39):
Yeah, it sucks.
That's the one part that, and likeonly have to do euthanizations.
'cause we have this puppy hospice programthat we started totally by accident.
This thing came on and it'ssuch a long story, but it's,
we call it Griffin's legacy.
We call it the Baby Sharkprogram, and it's specifically
for neurologic hospice, puppies.
(37:01):
Okay.
Like babies.
And it is the hardest program.
It is the most rewarding program.
But I think when it comes tothe downsides of rescue, like
we have a couple of downsides,that's the one that's the worst.
Anytime we have to euthanizeanything, I feel like it's awful.
Anytime something dies, I feellike that's the worst part.
But I also feel like on the samelevel, having to look a dog in the
(37:24):
face and know you failed them, that'ssomething that like it, it falls.
I don't know about you, but itfalls in the same category for me.
Dixie (37:34):
Yeah, no, I agree.
Before we end the call, what final messageor advice do you have for our listeners
regarding the animal welfare crisis?
Ashley (37:44):
Oh, God.
Spay and neuter your animals.
All of them.
Train your dogs.
Okay.
Reach out for help if you needit before you get to the point
where you need to rehome.
One of the biggest things I say tomy clients all the time is always
is like my most disappointing thingis I wish you reached out sooner.
Don't wait six months make the call,even if it's just to ask the questions.
(38:05):
And I think, honestly, I think Ican speak for an entire community
of rescuers and trainers andwhatever animal professionals.
In saying we, we would ratherhave you ask too many questions.
We'd rather have you reach out withsomething stupid that and send us a
picture and are like, is this normal?
(38:26):
Or, should I fix this?
Or, we don't expect you tobe a dog like expert, right?
But we do expect you to have thecommon sense to reach out to the ones
who are, and it's important to knowthat everybody in the rescue community
right now needs to band together.
We need to help each otherin whatever way we can.
(38:47):
Whether that's with information,whether it's with education, whether
it's with, help with transport, whetherit's somebody's got an extra foster.
Maybe it's somebody has moreresources than the other one right
now and they can step in and help.
Or maybe it's just, hey, aphone call for a plea for help.
Right now, if you can't fostervolunteer, if you can't volunteer,
(39:08):
donate, if you got no money, share it.
Just keep sharing because right now,the only way that the animal crisis is
going to get better is if we all change.
Like the communities have to change.
The people have to change.
The mentality has to change.
If it doesn't change, it'snever going to get any better.
(39:30):
We're not gonna be able toun dig ourselves outta this
one, like we're too far in it.
It's gotta be something thatlike changes as a whole for us
to be able to fix it, right?
Or we just have to hold on forthe next 10 years until everything
finally writes itself and the adoptionpopulation goes back up again.
And the finances, the financialworld gets a little more
(39:53):
stable or, that kind of thing.
. So.
Be supportive, be kind just be nice.
Please be kind to one another.
And like I said, train youranimals spay and neuter them.
Take responsibility for them.
Take accountability for them.
Start working with thembefore they develop problems.
Build the kind of dog you wantinstead of trying to correct it later.
And always reach out and ask questions.
(40:15):
Like I said, I don't think anybody'sever going to turn around and be
like, no, we, or shun you becauseyou asked if that behavior was
a little weird and is it okay?
That kind of thing.
So, use the resources that are there foryou and don't wait too long to use them.
Dixie (40:30):
It's a great message, and I would rather answer a
question than take an animal back.
That's the first thing that anybody shoulddo is, even another rescue if you're
having difficulty with something just.
Reach out to somebody else and seethey might be able to help you.
Ashley (40:48):
You'd be amazed.
One thing that I've always found my wholelife is the power of a phone call, right?
Even if it's just a, Hey, I don'treally know who I'm supposed to
talk to about this, but I'm hopingsomebody can give me some guidance.
You'd be amazed the kind ofresponse you're gonna get.
There's never been a time that I'vedone that where I've never somehow
(41:11):
gotten something that benefited me.
Whether it was knowledge, whether itwas the answer to a question, whether it
was direction, whether it was whatever.
It's make the phone call becausethat's another thing, like we
don't ever call people anymore.
And it's something I also tell,we work with teenagers too.
And in the rescue and my teens, I tellthem all the time, like, when you get
into college, make friends with yourprofessor, talk to people, call them.
(41:34):
That's how you're gonna get your footin the door with things like, and it's
the same thing in animal rescue, right?
Make the phone calls, ask the questions.
You'd be shocked how manyanswers you're gonna get.
Dixie (41:45):
Thank you so much for joining me today, Ashley.
I really enjoyed our conversation.
Ashley (41:50):
Yeah, thanks so much for having me.
This was really fun.
Dixie (41:54):
We've reached all the time that we have for today's episode . If
you are enjoying our show, pleaseconsider leaving us a donation.
A hundred percent goes to our animals.
Paws in
the night Claws in thefight Whiskers twitch and
(42:23):
tails
take flight
They’re calling in Stories to spinFrom the wild to the heart within
Broken wings and hopeful springsWe’re the voices for these things
animal posse hear the call.
(42:46):
We stand together.
Big and small Rescue tales We’vegot it all Animal posse Saving
them
(43:09):
all
The vet’s got tips The rescuer’sgrit The foster homes where love
won’t quit From a pup in the rain toa bird in pain , Every soul’s worth
(43:30):
the
strain
Animal posse
Hear the call
We stand together Big
(43:56):
and small Rescue tales We’ve gotit all Animal posse Saving them all
Every caller tells a tale, everyhowl a whispered wail, we rise up.
We never
(44:16):
fail.
This
is
the
bond
The holy grail
(44:37):
Animal posse Hear the call We standtogether Big and small Rescue tales We’ve
got it all Animal posse Saving them all
(45:01):
Every caller tells a tale Every howla whispered wail We rise up We never
fail This is the bond The holy grail.
Song by Suno.ai
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