April 12, 2024 • 47 mins
When the unconditional bond between a service dog and a veteran harmonizes, the melody of healing begins to play. We had the privilege of welcoming Michael Welsh from Working Dogs for Warriors to share this symphony of support and transformation. Michael recounted how Gunny, a loyal family dog, sparked the inspiring idea to train service dogs for alleviating PTSD in veterans and first responders. With heartwarming stories of companionship and the unveiling of the rigorous K9 training, this episode walks you through the deep emotional impact and the behind-the-scenes dedication that forge these incredible canine-human partnerships.
Imagine a dog that not only offers comfort but has the ability to sense stress hormones before a PTSD episode even begins. We discussed the cutting-edge training that equips service dogs to be lifesavers in the truest sense, detecting the invisible signs of stress that even their handlers might not be aware of. Michael brought us closer to the reality of these service animals' lives, from their rigorous one to one-and-a-half-year training to the eight to twelve years of joyous service. Listeners are also guided through the etiquette of interacting with service dogs, the importance of certifications, and the diverse roles these heroic dogs play in public safety and personal well-being.
Wrapping up our conversation, we explored the varied purposes for which service dogs are trained, from bedbug detection to search and rescue missions. Michael revealed how e-collars are used responsibly as part of training and shared advice on how the public, particularly children, should interact with working dogs to maintain their focus and effectiveness. The episode is a tribute to the silent heroes on four legs and the veterans they serve, resonating with the spirit of volunteerism and the critical role of community support in empowering Working Dogs for Warriors' noble mission. Join us in this remarkable journey that not only touches the heart but also opens the mind to the profound capabilities and profound impact of service dogs.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Good morning, good morning, good morning.
It's a beautiful day, april 8th.
Actually, we're supposed tohave the eclipse in about 15
minutes.
Today's an extra special dayfor B2Z Podcast.
We have our first guest on withus today.
It's Michael Welsh from workingdogs for warriors.
(00:26):
Michael, or Mike, that's whatI've been calling, or, sir,
you've been so for my militaryguys out there.
This guy is the closest thingto an officer I've seen without
going to officer school.
(00:47):
He runs his organization justlike a company commander would,
and I've credited with himbefore.
But just so we're on the airand it's recorded.
I'll say it again for you.
I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Zach, and I'm saying it again for you I appreciate
you, Zach.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
We want to know a little bit more about you.
We want our audience to know alittle bit more about you.
What's some things you'd liketo tell us about yourself and
your organization?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
So we started back in 2016 under the name of Mike
Gunny Bear.
Cares Kind of pulled that namefrom our first dog that I named
Gunny.
My grandfather was a Marine.
You know we talk about his gun,but you know, when we first got
that dog we were looking at atraining and we started training
with a couple of the decoysover at with Fontana PD and kind
(01:47):
of branched from there.
You know, the reason why we gotthat dog was my wife worked for
the police department.
She was a dispatcher for 10years and you know, going
through those traumatic callsyou know I was starting to see
some PTSD signs and stuff, youknow.
So we wanted to, we wanted anoutreach for that.
So that's when we got our firstdog, you know, started working
(02:08):
with them a bit and then, youknow, maybe even 20 years ago
now, a Vietnam veteran you knowsuffered from severe PTSD night
terrors.
You know that whole array ofstereotypical Vietnam veteran
stuff.
You know.
Suffered from severe PTSD nightterrors, you know that whole
array of stereotypical Vietnamveteran stuff.
You know Didn't really have anyfaith in the VA.
(02:31):
You know they basically shippedhim a box of pills every month
for more of a function.
You know I'd literally see himwake up in the morning and have
to take this now.
Take a pill in two hours.
Take a pill to go to sleep.
Take a pill to make sure hewoke up.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
That's not a way to live, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
So having friends go to the military and coming back
and having those same ailments,you know the same.
I can't sleep at night walkingaround the yard, you know,
having those nightmares andnight terrors and stuff, you
know, and the VA's answer for itbeing the exact same.
How is that possible?
How is there no other way ofdealing with mental health?
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Right right.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So we started looking more and more into animal
therapy, you know, trying to seehow we can basically make a
difference in the lives of ourveterans and our first
responders by being able totrain these dogs for them.
So I started volunteering moreand more with the training
aspect with the policedepartment guys, but I'd put the
(03:37):
bike suit on and run and hideand get bit.
You know there's videos of meon Instagram being pulled down
by a 90 pound malinois, you know, flipped over and all that fun
stuff.
Uh, and I owe a lot of mytraining to a gentleman named
daryl de santos.
He's with centurion canine umgreat mentor of mine back in the
(03:57):
day.
You know he was a uh he well,he has retired law enforcement.
Uh, he still runs a lot ofstuff out of Fontana and with
agencies all over.
You know this guy.
I showed up one day, literallypulled up, walked in their gate
and they all looked at me.
I was like hey, darryl, youknow, I was told to come out
(04:20):
here and ask for you.
He's looking at me like who thehell are you, you know, and I
told him you're looking at melike who the hell are you, you
know.
And I told him, you know, mywife works police department.
You know we run similar circlesand stuff and I'm interested in
training dogs, you know.
I told him what we're lookingat doing.
He said, all right, show up onsaturday and we'll put the bike
suit on and you'll run, you know.
So, sure enough, I showed up onthat saturday.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
I put bikes behind that ramp um, and what was that
experience like, that first timeyou put on the bike suit and
the dog's running at you?
Speaker 2 (04:48):
It was awesome.
You know, and that's the thing.
Like people look at me like I'mcrazy, it's fun taking bites
from dogs.
You know Mine are being blackand blue afterwards, you know,
having cuts and bruises and allthat fun stuff.
But looking down at the dogfrom that level, you know it's
totally different.
You know that side of themuzzle, with them just bark,
bark, bark, bark, bark, showingteeth, jowls and everything,
(05:11):
just slobber coming out of theirmouth to bite.
You know, but having thecontrol of those dogs, those
handlers do it when they sit out, the dog stopped.
You know just one word to talkabout.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I didn't realize.
I know you got something.
I didn't realize, mike, youwere such an adrenaline junkie
because that's, that's like.
What did that clip to he's?
Like I liked it, I was all okay, yeah that's different, right?
Speaker 3 (05:36):
what'd you got, um, when, when you're out there in
the bite suit and stuff likethat, I guess, mike, it's not an
intense question, but if I'mnot in a bike suit and I'm out
there and there's a dog gettingready to bite me, what's the
best thing I could do as justregular civilian to like don't
move, don't move, don't move.
And what if he's just justdon't move?
(05:58):
And what is that gonna do?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
like is this like a random dog off the street or is
this like, yeah, just like a?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
stray dog comes up, oh he's 100 going to bite me.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
You know what I mean, yeah so we I have had those
instances too where it's alittle like we were at the park,
you know.
So when we first started theorganization, we would train out
of a park in fontana umliterally like there was times
in life.
We get shut off on this youknow, yeah, uh but there was
many times where we meet clientsand stuff and obviously it's a
big park, big dog park up thereuh, but there's other dogs
(06:30):
running around and stuff, and uh, I remember this.
One day I'm teaching a gal withthe german shepherd and I'm
looking at her like this and she, her face goes, goes white, you
know, and I like turn aroundreal quick and there's 100
hundred pound German shepherdrunning from here across the
park straight towards us, youknow, and so I like, all right,
don't know what's gonna happen,but I need to make sure that
(06:52):
she's okay and the dog's okay,right, you know.
So as the dog comes and he getswith it, like from me to you,
and I like pop the dog rightunderneath the chin, like just
picked it straight up, basically, and the dog immediately fell
back, turned around and lookedat me and then just stopped.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
I'm going for the throat, yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
With anything, with the dog or an animal, you
control the head.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
You control the animal In that situation.
Was it the right thing to do?
I have no idea.
But, like Zach said, adrenalinejunkie and adrenaline perks up
and I'm like, oh shoot, you know, I need to make sure that
everyone's not or everyone's OKand no one's going to get bit.
So that's what I chose to do.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
I was going through some of the paperwork that you
had submitted and it said thatyou know there was hormone for
ptsd.
Like what is explaining to mewhat that is?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I thought that was interesting so, over the years
of working dogs for warriors,you know they started focusing a
lot on, uh, really making surethat these dogs are fine-tuned
into their hands, right, uh, sothat we we started a program
called our care team canineprogram.
Um, as well, as you know,seeing how these dogs can really
impact the lives of a veteranby training the dog to do
(08:10):
something for them.
You know, obviously, like withservice dogs, people see them
and say, oh, guide dogs, or C&Idogs, you know that type of
thing or medical alert dogs,right.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Well with.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
PTSD it's a little different.
You know we're training thesedogs to pick up high cortisol
levels in the body.
You know.
So we actually have asynthesized hormone of cortisol.
You know.
So when you, when you getstressed you know, that's why I
wear an Apple watch you knowchecking heart rate and stuff.
You know, but when you getstressed, your body releases
this hormone and we couldspecifically train the dogs to
pick up that odor and dosomething for us.
(08:42):
So what we're teaching them iswhen they smell that odor, you
know they'll lay on our feet,jump up on our on our chest or
something start licking our face.
You know, because at thebeginning, uh, we would train a
lot on the outward signs of PTSD.
You know, covering your face,shaking your legs, messing with
your hands, picking at your face.
You know those types of thingswhich the dogs are fantastic at
(09:03):
at picking up and being able toredirect you know where you'll
see some dogs start nudgingpeople and you'll see some dogs
start moving underneath theirhands, but with utilizing an
odor for it, before we evenstart doing those outward
displays.
You know there are thoseoutward uh uh tells.
Basically, you know these dogsare able to pick up and you'll
(09:24):
start to see them move aroundand start coming closer to you
or be hyper focused on you towhere they don't want to go away
.
You know they're constantlyright on you and, believe me,
I've had times where handlersthey come in all stressed out
because of training and they'relike oh this damn dog's not
listening to me, constantlypushes dog off.
I'm like go take a lap what do?
You mean, you know, go for awalk.
(09:44):
You know you're stressed out.
You're stressing your dog out.
Your dog is trying to do.
What we taught your dog to dois to resend you yeah is to get
you to you know, how do younotice, like?
Speaker 3 (09:56):
how do you train yourself to notice when the dog
is in an emotional state?
Like, what are you?
What is it the key size thatyou're looking for from the dog?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
there's a lot of tells.
You know like we want to makesure that because the lifespan
of these dogs the workinglifespan of these dogs is going
to be eight to 12 years you know, especially for a service dog,
for what we're teaching them.
We want to make sure that thesedogs are able to work for the
your entire life with being withthat bedroom you know.
So we want to make sure thatthe dogs are happy at it.
For one, and that's probablythe most important thing, is
(10:29):
that the dogs are always happy.
Old school ideologies behindtraining the old
cruddy-eating-the-grape methods.
Those don't really work anymorebecause we want to make sure
that 10 years from now that dogis still your buddy.
You go outside, you go whereverwith your buddy.
You know you go outside, you gowhatever, wherever with your
dog.
You go hiking with them, you gocamping with them.
You know these dogs, they'renot just pets.
(10:50):
You know they're literallychanging lives by being able to
change your life, you know, bybeing able to alert to you when
you're high strung or you'restressed out.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
You know by Can you give me a scenario and where,
where you know, say, I'm aveteran and I'm dealing with a
past, uh, trauma, how the dogwould come to is does the dog do
a specific thing in thatstressful moment?
Like so I'm, I'm enraged andI'm having a flashback?
(11:24):
Due to something that I wentthrough before.
What is the dog's response inthose moments?
Speaker 2 (11:30):
okay, so I have a, uh , first responder.
She, she was a police, a policesergeant.
Uh, she volunteered with ourorganization, you know, she, she
didn't think she needed aservice dog, right, but we had
this little dog, a little yellowlab.
(11:51):
He got injured with us, youknow.
So I was like crap, I needsomeone to help, you know.
So I asked her, I gave her acall, I'm like hey, can you
foster him for us?
You know, just kind of see howhe does with you and stuff.
He needed stitches and stuff,so we needed to make sure he was
in a sterile environment andstuff.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
So she was like absolutely so.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
She took him home.
That dog ended up becoming herdog, yeah, but during that time
of you know them bondingtogether, she would always tell
me like she would have nightterrors and stuff, always
replaying the same nightmareover and over and over, every
single night.
And during the training we tellthem to keep the dogs in a
(12:32):
kennel when they're sleeping andstuff, until we can trust them.
So one night she forgot to putthem in the kennel and he's
sleeping there on the foot ofher bed and stuff.
She goes to sleep, ends uphaving the same nightmare, the
same night terror.
But the dog picks up and a wordto her and literally woke her
(12:54):
up out of that night terrorbefore it got to the typical
spot she usually wakes up atWhoa, he knew it, she was having
a terror.
He was able to pick it up andshe literally said he's never
slept in the kennel since.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
So she's had him now.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Okay, that's a great story, Probably about two years
now.
That's a good one.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Yeah, there's so many more stories With these dogs
being able to it's life changing.
You know, I get phone calls andtext messages from the vets in
our programs and fishers andmuggers in our programs.
When they're about a year intothe program, when it's finally
clicked, then like hey, this dog.
You know it's not just.
Why am I coming to trainingevery week?
Speaker 3 (13:33):
You know it's.
How long does it take for a dogto like go through the training
to be considered a service dogthrough you guys?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
So our program is a little different.
We require 360 requiredtraining hours.
That goes into each dog.
That could take anywhere from ayear to a year and a half to
complete.
Just recently we switched to sowe required phases.
Zach was actually one of thefirst groups to give this new
phase program because we wantedto make sure that people
understood the commitment thatthey're having to give to these
(14:02):
service dogs you, the commitmentthat they're having to give
with these service dogs, theirlifelong commitment.
So I had them the first threemonths they're coming out and
volunteering at our kennels,learning how to properly walk
and care for and maintain dogsproperly, bathe them and all
that stuff.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
And it's not easy at our kennels.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
I think at that time when Zach was volunteering with
them, they probably had 20 dogson average there and it gets
messy, yeah, but you know itshows that, it shows dedication,
you know it shows them that, itshows me that they're ready to
make that commitment for thatservice dog.
(14:38):
So after that volunteer phase,that's when they start training.
You know, every three monthsthere's a test they have to pass
.
Every every three monthsthere's a test they have to pass
.
Every three to four monthsthere's a test they have to pass
.
They have to complete trainingrecords after every single
training.
You know, because we want tomake sure they're working with
their dogs and stuff.
But you know, once they hit 360hours and they pass the tests
(15:00):
and they show me that their dogsare performing and able to
provide a task or several tasksfor them and they're a service
dog.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Okay, nice, nice, it has been exciting for me, as
with Koa, my service dog, towatch him go through all the
steps and he's really beenflourishing.
He, he, he loves training, helooks forward to the actual
training classes and I formyself, a approach to
(15:36):
organization work-wise veryserious.
But I didn't start opening upuntil more recently and I felt
like that was another and that'ssomething everyone's going to
have to figure out on their own,that time where they're going
to open up.
And everything has been bettersince then and I feel that goes
(15:58):
along with life too, once, onceyou start opening up and being
being your true self with peopleif people want to want to want
to fuck with you.
People want to mess with you.
That's, that's the time, Right?
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Yeah, yeah man, I mean, I just want to ask a few
general questions, If you don'tmind.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I mean I just want to ask a few general questions.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
If you don't mind?
Can any dog be a service dog?
Is there a certain type of dogor requirements?
I know we have listeners andthey're like well, I wonder if I
could do this with my dog.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
So we have this, the program that we our main program
, you know is dedicated toveterans and virtual swimmers.
Okay, like I said there's 360required training hours that
each of them go through.
They're required to come out toa fellowship group like a peer
support group at the beginning,just because we really want to
focus on the mental health andwell-being of that veteran and
virtual responder.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
So you definitely have a target that you're going
for.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
That's good, but we do have, as a nonprofit, we need
to keep the lights on.
So we have public programs tohelp fund that, you know.
So we train public service dogs, we train, uh, pet dogs and all
that stuff.
So yeah we have classesthroughout the week.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Okay, that's good, um , and you guys are located where
?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
So our training facility is currently under
construction in the city of.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Rancho.
I've been following onInstagram.
I see you guys doingconstruction.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yep, so we had a facility in Rialto for the last
about four years we wereoperating out of there.
Prior to that we were operatingout of a couple of parks out of
Fontana.
So we've seen the growth in theorganization so we knew it was
time to find another locationand, all right, a little bigger,
that rats.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Yeah, congratulations that's a big deal absolutely,
yeah, we were excited for it.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
you know, something that we've been looking for for
the last few months um thewarehouse, you know, with no
heating or air conditioninginside um so I knew when we were
looking out for a new placethat's something we had to have,
because in the summers it getshot, okay.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I know you have an event coming up that we're
supposed to go do somebroadcasting.
Tell us that event you havecoming up.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
So on May 11th we are hosting our first annual Walk
for Suicide Prevention.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
It's a walk in the city of Fontana up at the
Fontana Park.
We've been wanting to setsomething up like this for a
while now, but you know we'rejust trying to get people out
who just want to help supportour mission.
You know we're going to have abunch of vendors out there who
have the same missions as us,you know, just to help combat
suicide.
It's unfortunate, but thenumber of 22 a day has been
(18:36):
surpassed.
You know, I think they'resaying it's close to like 30 or
40, um, which isn't bad.
You know it's ridiculous thatit's at that high of a rate of
veteran suicides.
Um, you know, and in ourveteran brand, our first
responder community, uh policeofficers and firefighters, you
know the number of uh suicideshave far surpassed the number of
(18:58):
suicides have far surpassed thenumber of on-duty deaths.
So we wanted to bring everybodytogether to just help show your
support in this fight againstPTSD-related suicide.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Good good.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Wow, that sounds like it's going to be fun.
Yeah, you know.
How many dogs do you personallyhave?
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I personally have three dogs.
Three dogs, yeah, I say I havelike 17 because, like all the
dogs in the kennel, yeah, what'syour favorite breed as well.
Labs and Shepherds.
Labs and Shepherds.
Yeah, either Shepherds, dutchShepherds, malinois Absolutely,
they're working dogs, like Isaid I was on the biting end of
(19:39):
those for a while.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Yeah, you know my brother has a and I think it's
called yeah, and they listen alot better than mine.
You know, they do little thingswhen they need to.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
It's always funny because I get people who send me
those shits and videos.
Oh my god, I want my good dogto do this and I'm like, okay,
you understand, that dog isalways on the level right,
always on the level like, notjust in the ring, but you know
you wake up for work, that dogis on 11, the dog.
Dog is like let's go.
You know, like there's noshutoff switch for that, they're
(20:21):
beautiful dogs though, oh,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Do you prefer the larger?
Speaker 3 (20:25):
breeds or the smaller breeds within those dogs.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Like the medium builds.
I think my Dutch is the Dutchmale mix Loki.
He was probably maximum weight.
Mel Mix Loki, he was probablymaximum weight, was about 70
pounds, yeah.
So then I have a shepherd who'sabout the same, a little bit
bigger, and then I have a blackman.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Give me, give me like the worst day you've had at
work and then give me the bestday you've had at work.
Uh, I want to know, like ahorror story in your world you
(21:06):
know.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
So we obviously focus a lot on what we focus on our
veterans and financial support.
We do a lot of public classes,so often times it's worlds
intertwined.
So you know, we get some of theveterans who come out who like
to banter back and forth witheach other and then they don't
realize they're in a publicclass and I get some public
(21:28):
people looking at me like whatthe heck did that person just
say you know and I'm sure Zach,you understand and you know
exactly what I'm talking aboutthose comments they make and you
know it's like, oh crap, I'mstill running the business here.
I need people to come out andpay and have fun at training.
But it's always fun.
I don't think there's ever beena crap moment to an extreme.
(21:52):
Obviously there's verystressful and emotional days,
you know, dealing with veteransand first responders
contemplating suicide.
You know there have been timeswhere I've been called out 2, 3
o'clock in the morning to go tosomebody's house, to go find a
(22:12):
spouse, you know.
Or their husband didn't gethome from work, you know, or
their husband to get him somework.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
You know, Is it just a segue?
I got questions going throughmy head and I'm just going to
keep rifling them off you guysknow how I am, and I'm here too.
You feel me.
What are some do's and do nots?
Like I've always heard, youdon't touch a service dog, do
you, or do you not?
(22:46):
If I'm the if?
It's not my dog and somebody'sout there and they have a
service dog.
Should I go up to this dog ordo I leave it alone never?
Speaker 2 (22:54):
okay, yeah, definitely don't go up to them,
uh, because you never know whatthat service dog is trained to
do.
There's a lot of medical alertdogs that are really dialed into
their handlers to where youcan't miss a beat with them,
whether it's for a high heart.
We have a gentleman in ourprogram where multiple times
during training his dog hasjumped up on him to alert him to
(23:16):
.
He needs to be too fast, so wedon't want to distract those
dogs.
We do train our dogs a littledifferent where we want our dogs
to be very sociable because ofthe people that we deal with
have a lot of seclusion anyways,where they don't want to be out
(23:38):
and about and really be in thecrowds and all that stuff.
So I guess what we do, we trainin crowds, you know so we get
them to take their dogs to themalls and do all that stuff in a
group setting, you know so it'sa comfortable environment for
them.
You know it's not like I'mtelling them.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
okay now today, zach, you know we go with 15 other
dogs sometimes you know so uh, Iwas kind of it was like so oh,
but touching service dogs yesyeah, yeah so like do not so, uh
, like with zach, for instance.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
right, you know, walking through the mall and
stuff, I'm sure you get peoplewho walk up to you and pull all
the tough ones, all the toughones, you know.
But we train our dogs to bevery personal you know, very
social.
We want them to have a commandto go say hi.
You know so.
If someone does walk up to thembecause it happens anyways you
know Ko is a nice looking dog,so you get like some of the
doodle breeds whose kids aregoing to run up to you know so
(24:35):
you can't have those dogs bejumping or anything like that.
So we typically teach our dogssome sort of go say hi command
where you know someone asks hey,can I pet your dog?
So we put them in the sitposition, have them open up
their hand, like show their palmface up, and then say go say hi
.
And the dog goes out and letsthem know something like lifts
their hand and stuff.
So you know we train our dogssomewhat different in that sense
(25:02):
.
You know I want the veterans togo out.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
You know, I don't want them to be like no, no, no,
no, absolutely.
And you are.
I've known you for over a yearnow.
You're a very modest man, youhave good humility, you're very
humble.
But tell us some of thecertifications or classes that
(25:24):
you yourself have completedthroughout the year to bring you
to the level that you're at.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
So I am certified with explosives, firearms,
narcotics and bed bug detection.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
That's the one specifically I wanted to put you
out.
Yeah, I know he's got a lotmore, but I like that one.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
That was a fun one.
I spent a month in Vegastraining with a gentleman named
Cameron Ford, a Ford caninefantastic guy.
But I was literally out theretraining, I think, 60 different
dog teams over the course ofthat month and working with all
different types of explosivesand firearms and gunpowder and
then bedbugs.
(26:04):
So then I'm also trained in, orcertified in, tracking and
trailing.
So we have trained a couple ofsearch and rescue dogs.
Huffman Canine from Oregonactually came down to teach me
that another fantastic guy and Iwant to make sure I give these
(26:26):
guys a credit if they everlisten to this podcast, you know
very humble gentleman but youknow, being able to teach a dog
to search for somebody who'slost and then end up finding the
person, like that.
You know being able to teach adog to search for somebody who's
lost and then end up findingthe person like that, it's worth
(26:46):
everything right there.
So, like an AKC evaluator, sowe do all the AKC stuff.
The American Kennel, you know,good citizen tests and all that.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
How many years total do you have within the?
What is it?
The canine business, the canine?
Speaker 2 (26:58):
business.
I think about 10 years, alittle over 10 years of hands-on
with dogs.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
That's great, man.
Do your kids enjoy watching youwork with the dogs?
Absolutely my daughter.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
She literally brought home a little paper that she
did at school the other day.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
It says my dad's a dog trainer and I want to be a
dog trainer too.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Oh, that's good man, that's awesome.
Yeah, I'm looking at thewebsite.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
You guys are offering financing and great prices.
You guys check him out um,working dogs for warriors, dot
dot com, dot com.
There.
There you go.
This guy is doing really goodwork out there.
He's highly decorated and he'sgot Got a good program going on.
You know, when I think of dogsand working dogs and stuff like
(27:53):
that, usually I think of searchand rescue and stuff like that.
You said bedbugs.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Like how do you?
Speaker 3 (27:59):
train a dog to sniff out bedbugs.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
So they utilize an actual, like live bedbug.
That's what you can buy them,but the dogs are able to pick up
one single bed bug.
There's a place you can buythem, but the dogs are able to
pick up one single bed bug.
When we were, out there in atraining situation there was a
camper that we sent a GermanShorthair Pointer to jump in and
find a bed bug.
In like 15 seconds he foundthat bug and sit there and stare
(28:27):
at it.
These dogs, especially fordetection work.
Uh, the detection world is isinsane, you know, and these dogs
are incredible, you know.
People always say oh, the dog'snose is like 10 times better
than a human nose no, it's like100 million times better than a
human nose.
And then there's a dog thatpasses that number.
You know the breeding of these,of these working dogs.
(28:48):
It's incredible, you know theyalways break it down to.
The dog doesn't smell aspecific odor, they smell broken
down compounds in that odor.
They're able to teach a dog tofind.
They're not looking for the gun, they're looking for the
gunpowder and the smokelesspowder, the chemical makeup of
(29:08):
that, with cortisol, forinstance, right where I've done
it, I put a little drop ofcortisol in the back of my hand.
Um walked up to the dog andkind of waked in front of them
and the dog like looked at meand backed up a little bit.
You know that's their naturalinstinct to cortisol, you know.
And then when we teach themwhat to do with it, you know
(29:30):
that's when the dog smells andthey're able to come up to us
and start redirecting their hand.
But seeing how incredible dogsknow this is, it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
I was on a TV show where they had a dog that was
trained for acting and stufflike that.
It was called Lost and thatlady, that dog, it did what it
was supposed to do.
It did what it was supposed todo.
Yeah, I'm just throwingtangents going off on a tangent
there.
Yeah, what dog stuff did youknow?
(30:03):
That's cool man is there?
Is there a specific thing thatpeople should be doing with
their dog?
Non-service related?
You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (30:17):
What's your what's one of your.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Achilles heels.
When you see people handlingtheir dog, what's one thing that
you can give everybody outthere.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
That's like yeah, we want to give a lot away for free
.
But yeah, like one.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
One tip that you can get is leash control.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
You know, that's my big thing.
You know you'll get peoplewalking at the park or whatever,
their dog's dragging them downthe street.
You know and then those are thesame people like my dog's face.
(30:56):
Right, I'm not gonna go up inyour face and my kids are bad
with that.
Yeah, you know.
Oh, that's the biggest thing.
Either you know, stay clear ofthem, or you know, ask the
handler, type of thing.
But even like if she was likewell, we went to, uh, knott's
berry farm, you know, and wetook, I think it was like 10 of
(31:18):
our service dogs out there andyou see the difference between
our service dogs and some others.
Yeah, you know, where the otherones are not paying attention to
their handlers, or any littlenoise that goes by, even like
the, the roller coasters that goover.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
I have videos of all of our dogs sitting right
outside of a ghost ranch.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
They just leave there as the roller coasters go by
and all that noise and then,there's other dogs that walk by
who are just scared of it, soyou never know how these dogs
are going to react.
So we want to make sure thatwhen you're out and about, don't
run up to dogs especially kids.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
What's your opinion on the e-collar?
I love them I love e-collars.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
They're a fantastic training tool.
You know, when used properlyit's great.
You know it's a mile-long leash, a mile-long invisible leash.
But when used improperly,incorrectly, it's a horrible
training device, you know.
So you really want to make surethat you know what you're doing
with it.
You know you're not justputting it on and trying to zap
your dog.
You know it's the old schoolway of thinking with it.
(32:18):
You know, nowadays thetechnology in these e-collars
are simply, it's the sametechnology as a tin zero.
You know where it's providingthe stem to the dog.
You know, and you know whereit's providing the stem to the
dog.
You know, and it'scommunication to those.
You know.
I know hunters who use them toget their dogs to go out, to
push out, to go flush birds.
You know when they hit a buttonnow, the dog will lock up you
(32:40):
know, flush something.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
You know my bro's got a.
He's got a pointer poodle andit's a, it's a hunting dog.
He just sent it off to betrained and stuff like that.
Do you work with breeds as well, like, can a breeder contact
you and say, hey, I would likefor you to train my dogs to be
service ready?
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Yeah, so I have.
We have had a few dogs donatedto us for breeders and stuff
over the years.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
You hear that guys Get your dogs right.
Exactly Shoot.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
I want my dog to come ready.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
You know I can eliminate all that stuff before
I get shoot.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Well, we do have boarding training programs you
know so, like I mentioned, we'rea nonprofit, so everything that
people spend to put towards ourpublic training classes go
right into providing these dogsfor our veterans and first
responders.
You know so.
Even with our board and trainprograms, I'm technically a
volunteer with this organization.
I don't get paid a penny, butwe want to make sure that if the
(33:38):
dog was to come to us fortraining, that dog's going to be
trained at the highest standard.
Would I hold all of my dogs toit?
So with our board and trainprograms we teach anywhere from
two to five weeks where the dogwill stay with us, from basic
foundation stuff to moreadvanced like scent detection
stuff is there ever been a dogthat you weren't able to train?
(34:01):
not necessarily.
You know, a lot of times withpuppies you know it's important
that we kind of let them growand stuff to become mature.
So you know sometimes we needto hang on to them for a little
bit longer, you know.
But you know it's always fun.
People love puppies anyways,and an old dog can learn new
tricks Absolutely Okay.
(34:22):
So quick story.
It's going to end up being likean hour long.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
I'm sorry, that's all right man.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
We're here for this Exactly, so when, that's right.
So when we first started, wehad a veteran well, the family
member of a veteran reach out tous.
It was the sister.
So her sister, his wife, justpassed away.
It was like November when theyreached out to us, so I think he
(34:48):
was kind of a little hesitantto come out, so it probably took
him a few months but he cameout to us with an eight-year-old
Maltese Poodle, something mix,you know, smaller dog, you know.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
He was like this is my wife's dog.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
We're like all right, you know, let's see what we can
do with it, you know.
But he was living by himself.
His sister-in-law would tell usthat he would stay in the house
for days and days and dayswouldn't do anything.
You know, didn't really want togo outside, uh he had a doggy
door, so he'd open up the doggydoor and kick the dog out.
You know, let him go sit downand lay down outside, you know.
(35:26):
So, uh, when, when we finallystarted working with him, uh,
you know, he was a little, alittle more, uh, he was a little
more eager to work with him,you know, because he was like
this is the last thing I have.
So, all right, let's make thiswork for you.
You know, so we trained the dogto be able to uh, learn on the
(35:48):
ptsd stuff, you know.
But so Max would jump on hisbed and sit there and bark at
him until he would get up andwalk outside.
And that's what the sister, sothe sister-in-law, lived next
door, so thankfully she was onthe cross street, but she was
like I'd look over and he's notoutside.
He'd be inside for days.
So she was like I just want tosee him go outside.
So what did we do?
(36:08):
We made sure the dog took himoutside, you know.
So, uh, he would, initiallywould tell the dog to go go
outside, and dog would gooutside laying by himself.
But now, like when he would say, max, go outside, max would
turn around and sit there andbark at him, wait till he got up
out of bed walked outside andsat down in his chair.
You know it's like hey as longas we got him outside.
(36:28):
You know we did it now I heardthat, uh, he's traveling the
country in a trailer, like atravel trailer, and living with
his dog wow, like to startwrapping stuff up with our
(36:49):
roundup.
Start wrapping stuff up withour roundup.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
We're going to start something new with you.
Okay, being our first guest,we'd like you to lead that
roundup.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Was there a quote or something significant you'd like
to put out to our listenerstoday?
So you've been with us forabout a year, yes, and you know
that we're a family andChristian-based organization.
Yes, sir, that's something thatwe really wanted to make sure
that we stuck to our roots Inopening this organization.
Literally the month that wefiled for our paperwork, my
brother-in-law passed away, youknow.
(37:32):
My wife's brother ended up in adomestic accident.
So we took a break, you know,and then picked it up a few
months later, you know, knowingthat this is where God is with
us.
You know, Isaiah 5811 says whereGod leads, god provides you
know, so that's something thatwe've kind of geared our whole
organization to.
You know.
There's something that we'vekind of geared our whole
organization to.
You know.
There's been many times whereI'm like why are we going down
(37:55):
this road?
You know, why are we doingsomething?
And then something happens andlike that's why, you know, we
had a.
We go to events sometimes andit's like all right, you know,
nothing's really coming out ofit, no one's coming up.
And then the next day I get aphone call from a veteran.
He's's like hey, I met you.
You really changed my life.
You know, I really want to getinvolved.
I had like a five-minuteconversation with this guy you
(38:15):
know, thinking it was nothingand he's been in our program for
like three years now, fouryears now actually.
You know so.
You know that's something, whatyou know at any time we get
together, you know we alwaysopen with prayer.
You know we always open withprayer.
We really want to make surethat we stay true to our roots.
This organization has changedmany lives.
(38:37):
It's changed our life, my wifeand I being able to just make
these connections, being able tohelp veterans and first
responders, and so many morepeople we have a lot of
volunteers who have told us thesame thing.
just being a part of something,it's changed their life for the
better.
A couple of the other thingsthat we do throughout the year
(39:03):
we have paint nights or MarioKart tournaments, just these
little events that are typicallyon big drinking holidays like
St Louis, St Patrick's Day, typeof thing, but we don't allow
alcohol at our facility.
So we would have these eventson those specific days and guys
and gals would come out and havea fun evening just with food
(39:23):
and all that stuff.
I had a first responder he wasa police officer come out.
He was real hesitant to comeout at first.
He didn't like to be in crowdsand stuff.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
And then a couple days later when.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
I talked to him he was like that was the first
single that my eyes built, sobeing able to go somewhere with
my wife and grandson, I think itwas and enjoy an evening in a
large group, like it was at ourfacility so we probably had over
100 people there, you know, butit was.
It was one of those thingswhere you know we understand why
(39:58):
we're doing it.
You know, being able to justhave a safe place for veterans
and first responders and peoplesuffering with mental health to
come out and not be judged, notbe looked at different.
You know, not be condemned foryour past, you know, and just be
(40:20):
there for them.
You know, I think that's thebiggest thing, is that
camaraderie.
You know a lot of times whereyou know why are we doing X, y
and Z?
You know so I'm part of theFontana Rotary Club and I have a
friend in there and we weredriving to.
Arizona one day, bisbee, arizona, it was like four of us and as
(40:42):
we're talking he started talkingabout like their pancake
breakfast they would do back inthe day and stuff, and he was
the one that started the inflow.
He was like, hey, why do wealways do this Like wrapping
napkins or something like that,wrapping silverware around the
napkins and one of the gentlemenhad told him it's not about
what we're doing at the moment,it's about the fellowship that
(41:04):
we're having and that totallyresonated with me.
You know, really many times youknow when we're doing just all
the crazy chaos throughout theday, but listen to the
conversations that people haveduring that time.
You know that's really where itmakes a difference.
You know being there to listento one another, being there for
somebody.
You know we have a lot ofveterans in free ride.
(41:27):
You were one of them, you know,you just said it where you
didn't really open up too muchin the beginning but you started
to feel more comfortable to thepoint where you did.
And that's what we really wanteverybody to understand.
We're not going to pryinformation out of you.
We're not going to force you todo things.
It's like, hey, if you'recomfortable doing it, I always
(41:49):
tell people you get as much outof this organization as you put
into it.
Speaker 3 (41:53):
It's the same with tattooing man, you only gonna
get out of it what you put intoit.
You know, plus those watching.
I think it's a blessing to beable to provide a positive
resource and make a living atwhat it is that you do.
A lot of people make a livingoff of trying to pinch people's
(42:15):
pockets and, you know, get overand this, that and the other,
but you're truly providing apositive resource and I commend
you for that.
I wish you success in yourfuture endeavors.
Really, hearing you speak aboutit it's opened my eyes to the
service dog world a lot more,Just because, if you're not a
(42:36):
part, of it, it's something thatyou really don't know about
Absolutely, and you know, asfrom B to Z.
You know we definitely want toprovide you guys with resources
that we have tapped into.
You know Zach goes to thisgentleman and that's picking
people specifically and tryingto provide resources for you
guys for mental health.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
And this is one of them.
So if you're listening, this isone of those things where it's
hey man, what are you?
Speaker 3 (43:02):
going to do with it?
We could give it to you, butnow, what are you going to do
with it?
You know?
If you guys want a resource forPTSD or mental health.
That is, I would say,unorthodox, because it's not
something that people think ofimmediately, you know.
But now think about that, youknow.
Seek this man out and he canoffer you a way to redemption or
(43:24):
just a better path, you know,around pills, around the
conservative way, you know, andlike man, it's cool.
Like you get to, you get a dogat the end of it.
How are you complaining aboutthat?
Speaker 2 (43:37):
You know, what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
Can somebody seek you out if they don't have a dog?
Is that?
Can they come work with you ifthey don't have a dog?
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Oh, absolutely.
You know, we have a pack boxwhere we have people come out
and I've had veterans come outto those pack walks at first you
know, before they even startedthe program, before they even
applied, you know, just to kindof see how it is and stuff.
But yeah, you know we haveevents, how we mentioned our May
11th, our suicide preventionwalk.
Every August we do what'scalled the Sound Mind, that's
(44:04):
with an organization we partnerwith Frontside Military Outreach
.
Speaker 3 (44:07):
And that's a mental health resource fair.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
We do in the city fontana as well and that we do a
911 memorial bike ride, youknow.
So that's something where youknow, if you guys are interested
in learning more about theorganizations, you can
definitely come out to thoseevents.
Uh, if you need resources, youknow, especially at a sound mind
and at our suicide preventionwalk, um, we're gonna, you know,
really focus on boots on theground, organizations that we
(44:31):
invite to come up, organizationsthat are actually doing the
good in our communities, notjust the stuff, the people you
see on TV or hear on the radio,but the actual boots on the
ground, people that are doingthe good in our communities.
So, if you guys need help withany resources, if you want to
come out with more, I urge youguys to come out.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
I appreciate you.
I really, really, really, fromthe bottom of our hearts.
We appreciate you coming on,definitely.
I love you, man, I really do.
You've been a big pleasantchange in my life, as well as my
dog Cola now.
So that'swwwworkingdogsforwarriorscom.
(45:12):
Their social media handles areat workingdogsforwarriors and
that's it, man.
Yeah, I just can't express.
We really like having you on.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Before we wrap it up, I did bring you guys two of our
challenge coins.
This is a big deal.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
So in the military world I'll express what I know
now.
This is a real big deal in themilitary world.
You get a coin a challenge coin, usually from a leader or an
organization, and you'reexpected to carry this on you at
all times, and the running jokewas or the or the process was
(45:58):
if you were in a, if you weresomewhere and you didn't have
your coin on you, you'd get coinchecked Okay.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
Like you all.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
Yeah, you're almost like those old school, like you
know what I mean.
The old school rules, thegentleman rules Where's your
coin at, yeah, and then if youdon't, you owe that guy
something, you owe him a drink,you owe him dinner that day if
you don't have your coin on you.
So this is a big.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
This is all I didn't know you had these.
Thank you, brother.
Yeah, I don't pass them out toooften, so I was thank you so
much, man.
Speaker 3 (46:29):
Well, guys, our first guest.
You guys wanted us to bringguests on here's number one, and
we brought in Eclipse too.
So there you go, guys yeah,give us some feedback.
Speaker 1 (46:39):
We'd love to hear from you, and please check out
Working Dogs for Warriors andMike have a great day.
Thank you, guys appreciatebeing here.
Thank you.
Good morning, good morning, good morning.
It's a beautiful day, april 8th.
Actually, we're supposed tohave the eclipse in about 15
minutes.
Today's an extra special dayfor B2Z Podcast.
We have our first guest on withus today.
It's Michael Welsh from workingdogs for warriors.
(00:26):
Michael, or Mike, that's whatI've been calling, or, sir,
you've been so for my militaryguys out there.
This guy is the closest thingto an officer I've seen without
going to officer school.
(00:47):
He runs his organization justlike a company commander would,
and I've credited with himbefore.
But just so we're on the airand it's recorded.
I'll say it again for you.
I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Zach, and I'm saying it again for you I appreciate
you, Zach.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
We want to know a little bit more about you.
We want our audience to know alittle bit more about you.
What's some things you'd liketo tell us about yourself and
your organization?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
So we started back in 2016 under the name of Mike
Gunny Bear.
Cares Kind of pulled that namefrom our first dog that I named
Gunny.
My grandfather was a Marine.
You know we talk about his gun,but you know, when we first got
that dog we were looking at atraining and we started training
with a couple of the decoysover at with Fontana PD and kind
(01:47):
of branched from there.
You know, the reason why we gotthat dog was my wife worked for
the police department.
She was a dispatcher for 10years and you know, going
through those traumatic callsyou know I was starting to see
some PTSD signs and stuff, youknow.
So we wanted to, we wanted anoutreach for that.
So that's when we got our firstdog, you know, started working
(02:08):
with them a bit and then, youknow, maybe even 20 years ago
now, a Vietnam veteran you knowsuffered from severe PTSD night
terrors.
You know that whole array ofstereotypical Vietnam veteran
stuff.
You know.
Suffered from severe PTSD nightterrors, you know that whole
array of stereotypical Vietnamveteran stuff.
You know Didn't really have anyfaith in the VA.
(02:31):
You know they basically shippedhim a box of pills every month
for more of a function.
You know I'd literally see himwake up in the morning and have
to take this now.
Take a pill in two hours.
Take a pill to go to sleep.
Take a pill to make sure hewoke up.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
That's not a way to live, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
So having friends go to the military and coming back
and having those same ailments,you know the same.
I can't sleep at night walkingaround the yard, you know,
having those nightmares andnight terrors and stuff, you
know, and the VA's answer for itbeing the exact same.
How is that possible?
How is there no other way ofdealing with mental health?
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Right right.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So we started looking more and more into animal
therapy, you know, trying to seehow we can basically make a
difference in the lives of ourveterans and our first
responders by being able totrain these dogs for them.
So I started volunteering moreand more with the training
aspect with the policedepartment guys, but I'd put the
(03:37):
bike suit on and run and hideand get bit.
You know there's videos of meon Instagram being pulled down
by a 90 pound malinois, you know, flipped over and all that fun
stuff.
Uh, and I owe a lot of mytraining to a gentleman named
daryl de santos.
He's with centurion canine umgreat mentor of mine back in the
(03:57):
day.
You know he was a uh he well,he has retired law enforcement.
Uh, he still runs a lot ofstuff out of Fontana and with
agencies all over.
You know this guy.
I showed up one day, literallypulled up, walked in their gate
and they all looked at me.
I was like hey, darryl, youknow, I was told to come out
(04:20):
here and ask for you.
He's looking at me like who thehell are you, you know, and I
told him you're looking at melike who the hell are you, you
know.
And I told him, you know, mywife works police department.
You know we run similar circlesand stuff and I'm interested in
training dogs, you know.
I told him what we're lookingat doing.
He said, all right, show up onsaturday and we'll put the bike
suit on and you'll run, you know.
So, sure enough, I showed up onthat saturday.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
I put bikes behind that ramp um, and what was that
experience like, that first timeyou put on the bike suit and
the dog's running at you?
Speaker 2 (04:48):
It was awesome.
You know, and that's the thing.
Like people look at me like I'mcrazy, it's fun taking bites
from dogs.
You know Mine are being blackand blue afterwards, you know,
having cuts and bruises and allthat fun stuff.
But looking down at the dogfrom that level, you know it's
totally different.
You know that side of themuzzle, with them just bark,
bark, bark, bark, bark, showingteeth, jowls and everything,
(05:11):
just slobber coming out of theirmouth to bite.
You know, but having thecontrol of those dogs, those
handlers do it when they sit out, the dog stopped.
You know just one word to talkabout.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I didn't realize.
I know you got something.
I didn't realize, mike, youwere such an adrenaline junkie
because that's, that's like.
What did that clip to he's?
Like I liked it, I was all okay, yeah that's different, right?
Speaker 3 (05:36):
what'd you got, um, when, when you're out there in
the bite suit and stuff likethat, I guess, mike, it's not an
intense question, but if I'mnot in a bike suit and I'm out
there and there's a dog gettingready to bite me, what's the
best thing I could do as justregular civilian to like don't
move, don't move, don't move.
And what if he's just justdon't move?
(05:58):
And what is that gonna do?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
like is this like a random dog off the street or is
this like, yeah, just like a?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
stray dog comes up, oh he's 100 going to bite me.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
You know what I mean, yeah so we I have had those
instances too where it's alittle like we were at the park,
you know.
So when we first started theorganization, we would train out
of a park in fontana umliterally like there was times
in life.
We get shut off on this youknow, yeah, uh but there was
many times where we meet clientsand stuff and obviously it's a
big park, big dog park up thereuh, but there's other dogs
(06:30):
running around and stuff, and uh, I remember this.
One day I'm teaching a gal withthe german shepherd and I'm
looking at her like this and she, her face goes, goes white, you
know, and I like turn aroundreal quick and there's 100
hundred pound German shepherdrunning from here across the
park straight towards us, youknow, and so I like, all right,
don't know what's gonna happen,but I need to make sure that
(06:52):
she's okay and the dog's okay,right, you know.
So as the dog comes and he getswith it, like from me to you,
and I like pop the dog rightunderneath the chin, like just
picked it straight up, basically, and the dog immediately fell
back, turned around and lookedat me and then just stopped.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
I'm going for the throat, yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
With anything, with the dog or an animal, you
control the head.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
You control the animal In that situation.
Was it the right thing to do?
I have no idea.
But, like Zach said, adrenalinejunkie and adrenaline perks up
and I'm like, oh shoot, you know, I need to make sure that
everyone's not or everyone's OKand no one's going to get bit.
So that's what I chose to do.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
I was going through some of the paperwork that you
had submitted and it said thatyou know there was hormone for
ptsd.
Like what is explaining to mewhat that is?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I thought that was interesting so, over the years
of working dogs for warriors,you know they started focusing a
lot on, uh, really making surethat these dogs are fine-tuned
into their hands, right, uh, sothat we we started a program
called our care team canineprogram.
Um, as well, as you know,seeing how these dogs can really
impact the lives of a veteranby training the dog to do
(08:10):
something for them.
You know, obviously, like withservice dogs, people see them
and say, oh, guide dogs, or C&Idogs, you know that type of
thing or medical alert dogs,right.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Well with.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
PTSD it's a little different.
You know we're training thesedogs to pick up high cortisol
levels in the body.
You know.
So we actually have asynthesized hormone of cortisol.
You know.
So when you, when you getstressed you know, that's why I
wear an Apple watch you knowchecking heart rate and stuff.
You know, but when you getstressed, your body releases
this hormone and we couldspecifically train the dogs to
pick up that odor and dosomething for us.
(08:42):
So what we're teaching them iswhen they smell that odor, you
know they'll lay on our feet,jump up on our on our chest or
something start licking our face.
You know, because at thebeginning, uh, we would train a
lot on the outward signs of PTSD.
You know, covering your face,shaking your legs, messing with
your hands, picking at your face.
You know those types of thingswhich the dogs are fantastic at
(09:03):
at picking up and being able toredirect you know where you'll
see some dogs start nudgingpeople and you'll see some dogs
start moving underneath theirhands, but with utilizing an
odor for it, before we evenstart doing those outward
displays.
You know there are thoseoutward uh uh tells.
Basically, you know these dogsare able to pick up and you'll
(09:24):
start to see them move aroundand start coming closer to you
or be hyper focused on you towhere they don't want to go away
.
You know they're constantlyright on you and, believe me,
I've had times where handlersthey come in all stressed out
because of training and they'relike oh this damn dog's not
listening to me, constantlypushes dog off.
I'm like go take a lap what do?
You mean, you know, go for awalk.
(09:44):
You know you're stressed out.
You're stressing your dog out.
Your dog is trying to do.
What we taught your dog to dois to resend you yeah is to get
you to you know, how do younotice, like?
Speaker 3 (09:56):
how do you train yourself to notice when the dog
is in an emotional state?
Like, what are you?
What is it the key size thatyou're looking for from the dog?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
there's a lot of tells.
You know like we want to makesure that because the lifespan
of these dogs the workinglifespan of these dogs is going
to be eight to 12 years you know, especially for a service dog,
for what we're teaching them.
We want to make sure that thesedogs are able to work for the
your entire life with being withthat bedroom you know.
So we want to make sure thatthe dogs are happy at it.
For one, and that's probablythe most important thing, is
(10:29):
that the dogs are always happy.
Old school ideologies behindtraining the old
cruddy-eating-the-grape methods.
Those don't really work anymorebecause we want to make sure
that 10 years from now that dogis still your buddy.
You go outside, you go whereverwith your buddy.
You know you go outside, you gowhatever, wherever with your
dog.
You go hiking with them, you gocamping with them.
You know these dogs, they'renot just pets.
(10:50):
You know they're literallychanging lives by being able to
change your life, you know, bybeing able to alert to you when
you're high strung or you'restressed out.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
You know by Can you give me a scenario and where,
where you know, say, I'm aveteran and I'm dealing with a
past, uh, trauma, how the dogwould come to is does the dog do
a specific thing in thatstressful moment?
Like so I'm, I'm enraged andI'm having a flashback?
(11:24):
Due to something that I wentthrough before.
What is the dog's response inthose moments?
Speaker 2 (11:30):
okay, so I have a, uh , first responder.
She, she was a police, a policesergeant.
Uh, she volunteered with ourorganization, you know, she, she
didn't think she needed aservice dog, right, but we had
this little dog, a little yellowlab.
(11:51):
He got injured with us, youknow.
So I was like crap, I needsomeone to help, you know.
So I asked her, I gave her acall, I'm like hey, can you
foster him for us?
You know, just kind of see howhe does with you and stuff.
He needed stitches and stuff,so we needed to make sure he was
in a sterile environment andstuff.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
So she was like absolutely so.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
She took him home.
That dog ended up becoming herdog, yeah, but during that time
of you know them bondingtogether, she would always tell
me like she would have nightterrors and stuff, always
replaying the same nightmareover and over and over, every
single night.
And during the training we tellthem to keep the dogs in a
(12:32):
kennel when they're sleeping andstuff, until we can trust them.
So one night she forgot to putthem in the kennel and he's
sleeping there on the foot ofher bed and stuff.
She goes to sleep, ends uphaving the same nightmare, the
same night terror.
But the dog picks up and a wordto her and literally woke her
(12:54):
up out of that night terrorbefore it got to the typical
spot she usually wakes up atWhoa, he knew it, she was having
a terror.
He was able to pick it up andshe literally said he's never
slept in the kennel since.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
So she's had him now.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Okay, that's a great story, Probably about two years
now.
That's a good one.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Yeah, there's so many more stories With these dogs
being able to it's life changing.
You know, I get phone calls andtext messages from the vets in
our programs and fishers andmuggers in our programs.
When they're about a year intothe program, when it's finally
clicked, then like hey, this dog.
You know it's not just.
Why am I coming to trainingevery week?
Speaker 3 (13:33):
You know it's.
How long does it take for a dogto like go through the training
to be considered a service dogthrough you guys?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
So our program is a little different.
We require 360 requiredtraining hours.
That goes into each dog.
That could take anywhere from ayear to a year and a half to
complete.
Just recently we switched to sowe required phases.
Zach was actually one of thefirst groups to give this new
phase program because we wantedto make sure that people
understood the commitment thatthey're having to give to these
(14:02):
service dogs you, the commitmentthat they're having to give
with these service dogs, theirlifelong commitment.
So I had them the first threemonths they're coming out and
volunteering at our kennels,learning how to properly walk
and care for and maintain dogsproperly, bathe them and all
that stuff.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
And it's not easy at our kennels.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
I think at that time when Zach was volunteering with
them, they probably had 20 dogson average there and it gets
messy, yeah, but you know itshows that, it shows dedication,
you know it shows them that, itshows me that they're ready to
make that commitment for thatservice dog.
(14:38):
So after that volunteer phase,that's when they start training.
You know, every three monthsthere's a test they have to pass
.
Every every three monthsthere's a test they have to pass
.
Every three to four monthsthere's a test they have to pass
.
They have to complete trainingrecords after every single
training.
You know, because we want tomake sure they're working with
their dogs and stuff.
But you know, once they hit 360hours and they pass the tests
(15:00):
and they show me that their dogsare performing and able to
provide a task or several tasksfor them and they're a service
dog.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Okay, nice, nice, it has been exciting for me, as
with Koa, my service dog, towatch him go through all the
steps and he's really beenflourishing.
He, he, he loves training, helooks forward to the actual
training classes and I formyself, a approach to
(15:36):
organization work-wise veryserious.
But I didn't start opening upuntil more recently and I felt
like that was another and that'ssomething everyone's going to
have to figure out on their own,that time where they're going
to open up.
And everything has been bettersince then and I feel that goes
(15:58):
along with life too, once, onceyou start opening up and being
being your true self with peopleif people want to want to want
to fuck with you.
People want to mess with you.
That's, that's the time, Right?
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Yeah, yeah man, I mean, I just want to ask a few
general questions, If you don'tmind.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I mean I just want to ask a few general questions.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
If you don't mind?
Can any dog be a service dog?
Is there a certain type of dogor requirements?
I know we have listeners andthey're like well, I wonder if I
could do this with my dog.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
So we have this, the program that we our main program
, you know is dedicated toveterans and virtual swimmers.
Okay, like I said there's 360required training hours that
each of them go through.
They're required to come out toa fellowship group like a peer
support group at the beginning,just because we really want to
focus on the mental health andwell-being of that veteran and
virtual responder.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
So you definitely have a target that you're going
for.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
That's good, but we do have, as a nonprofit, we need
to keep the lights on.
So we have public programs tohelp fund that, you know.
So we train public service dogs, we train, uh, pet dogs and all
that stuff.
So yeah we have classesthroughout the week.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Okay, that's good, um , and you guys are located where
?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
So our training facility is currently under
construction in the city of.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Rancho.
I've been following onInstagram.
I see you guys doingconstruction.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yep, so we had a facility in Rialto for the last
about four years we wereoperating out of there.
Prior to that we were operatingout of a couple of parks out of
Fontana.
So we've seen the growth in theorganization so we knew it was
time to find another locationand, all right, a little bigger,
that rats.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Yeah, congratulations that's a big deal absolutely,
yeah, we were excited for it.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
you know, something that we've been looking for for
the last few months um thewarehouse, you know, with no
heating or air conditioninginside um so I knew when we were
looking out for a new placethat's something we had to have,
because in the summers it getshot, okay.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I know you have an event coming up that we're
supposed to go do somebroadcasting.
Tell us that event you havecoming up.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
So on May 11th we are hosting our first annual Walk
for Suicide Prevention.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
It's a walk in the city of Fontana up at the
Fontana Park.
We've been wanting to setsomething up like this for a
while now, but you know we'rejust trying to get people out
who just want to help supportour mission.
You know we're going to have abunch of vendors out there who
have the same missions as us,you know, just to help combat
suicide.
It's unfortunate, but thenumber of 22 a day has been
(18:36):
surpassed.
You know, I think they'resaying it's close to like 30 or
40, um, which isn't bad.
You know it's ridiculous thatit's at that high of a rate of
veteran suicides.
Um, you know, and in ourveteran brand, our first
responder community, uh policeofficers and firefighters, you
know the number of uh suicideshave far surpassed the number of
(18:58):
suicides have far surpassed thenumber of on-duty deaths.
So we wanted to bring everybodytogether to just help show your
support in this fight againstPTSD-related suicide.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Good good.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Wow, that sounds like it's going to be fun.
Yeah, you know.
How many dogs do you personallyhave?
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I personally have three dogs.
Three dogs, yeah, I say I havelike 17 because, like all the
dogs in the kennel, yeah, what'syour favorite breed as well.
Labs and Shepherds.
Labs and Shepherds.
Yeah, either Shepherds, dutchShepherds, malinois Absolutely,
they're working dogs, like Isaid I was on the biting end of
(19:39):
those for a while.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Yeah, you know my brother has a and I think it's
called yeah, and they listen alot better than mine.
You know, they do little thingswhen they need to.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
It's always funny because I get people who send me
those shits and videos.
Oh my god, I want my good dogto do this and I'm like, okay,
you understand, that dog isalways on the level right,
always on the level like, notjust in the ring, but you know
you wake up for work, that dogis on 11, the dog.
Dog is like let's go.
You know, like there's noshutoff switch for that, they're
(20:21):
beautiful dogs though, oh,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Do you prefer the larger?
Speaker 3 (20:25):
breeds or the smaller breeds within those dogs.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Like the medium builds.
I think my Dutch is the Dutchmale mix Loki.
He was probably maximum weight.
Mel Mix Loki, he was probablymaximum weight, was about 70
pounds, yeah.
So then I have a shepherd who'sabout the same, a little bit
bigger, and then I have a blackman.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Give me, give me like the worst day you've had at
work and then give me the bestday you've had at work.
Uh, I want to know, like ahorror story in your world you
(21:06):
know.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
So we obviously focus a lot on what we focus on our
veterans and financial support.
We do a lot of public classes,so often times it's worlds
intertwined.
So you know, we get some of theveterans who come out who like
to banter back and forth witheach other and then they don't
realize they're in a publicclass and I get some public
(21:28):
people looking at me like whatthe heck did that person just
say you know and I'm sure Zach,you understand and you know
exactly what I'm talking aboutthose comments they make and you
know it's like, oh crap, I'mstill running the business here.
I need people to come out andpay and have fun at training.
But it's always fun.
I don't think there's ever beena crap moment to an extreme.
(21:52):
Obviously there's verystressful and emotional days,
you know, dealing with veteransand first responders
contemplating suicide.
You know there have been timeswhere I've been called out 2, 3
o'clock in the morning to go tosomebody's house, to go find a
(22:12):
spouse, you know.
Or their husband didn't gethome from work, you know, or
their husband to get him somework.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
You know, Is it just a segue?
I got questions going throughmy head and I'm just going to
keep rifling them off you guysknow how I am, and I'm here too.
You feel me.
What are some do's and do nots?
Like I've always heard, youdon't touch a service dog, do
you, or do you not?
(22:46):
If I'm the if?
It's not my dog and somebody'sout there and they have a
service dog.
Should I go up to this dog ordo I leave it alone never?
Speaker 2 (22:54):
okay, yeah, definitely don't go up to them,
uh, because you never know whatthat service dog is trained to
do.
There's a lot of medical alertdogs that are really dialed into
their handlers to where youcan't miss a beat with them,
whether it's for a high heart.
We have a gentleman in ourprogram where multiple times
during training his dog hasjumped up on him to alert him to
(23:16):
.
He needs to be too fast, so wedon't want to distract those
dogs.
We do train our dogs a littledifferent where we want our dogs
to be very sociable because ofthe people that we deal with
have a lot of seclusion anyways,where they don't want to be out
(23:38):
and about and really be in thecrowds and all that stuff.
So I guess what we do, we trainin crowds, you know so we get
them to take their dogs to themalls and do all that stuff in a
group setting, you know so it'sa comfortable environment for
them.
You know it's not like I'mtelling them.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
okay now today, zach, you know we go with 15 other
dogs sometimes you know so uh, Iwas kind of it was like so oh,
but touching service dogs yesyeah, yeah so like do not so, uh
, like with zach, for instance.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
right, you know, walking through the mall and
stuff, I'm sure you get peoplewho walk up to you and pull all
the tough ones, all the toughones, you know.
But we train our dogs to bevery personal you know, very
social.
We want them to have a commandto go say hi.
You know so.
If someone does walk up to thembecause it happens anyways you
know Ko is a nice looking dog,so you get like some of the
doodle breeds whose kids aregoing to run up to you know so
(24:35):
you can't have those dogs bejumping or anything like that.
So we typically teach our dogssome sort of go say hi command
where you know someone asks hey,can I pet your dog?
So we put them in the sitposition, have them open up
their hand, like show their palmface up, and then say go say hi
.
And the dog goes out and letsthem know something like lifts
their hand and stuff.
So you know we train our dogssomewhat different in that sense
(25:02):
.
You know I want the veterans togo out.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
You know, I don't want them to be like no, no, no,
no, absolutely.
And you are.
I've known you for over a yearnow.
You're a very modest man, youhave good humility, you're very
humble.
But tell us some of thecertifications or classes that
(25:24):
you yourself have completedthroughout the year to bring you
to the level that you're at.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
So I am certified with explosives, firearms,
narcotics and bed bug detection.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
That's the one specifically I wanted to put you
out.
Yeah, I know he's got a lotmore, but I like that one.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
That was a fun one.
I spent a month in Vegastraining with a gentleman named
Cameron Ford, a Ford caninefantastic guy.
But I was literally out theretraining, I think, 60 different
dog teams over the course ofthat month and working with all
different types of explosivesand firearms and gunpowder and
then bedbugs.
(26:04):
So then I'm also trained in, orcertified in, tracking and
trailing.
So we have trained a couple ofsearch and rescue dogs.
Huffman Canine from Oregonactually came down to teach me
that another fantastic guy and Iwant to make sure I give these
(26:26):
guys a credit if they everlisten to this podcast, you know
very humble gentleman but youknow, being able to teach a dog
to search for somebody who'slost and then end up finding the
person, like that.
You know being able to teach adog to search for somebody who's
lost and then end up findingthe person like that, it's worth
(26:46):
everything right there.
So, like an AKC evaluator, sowe do all the AKC stuff.
The American Kennel, you know,good citizen tests and all that.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
How many years total do you have within the?
What is it?
The canine business, the canine?
Speaker 2 (26:58):
business.
I think about 10 years, alittle over 10 years of hands-on
with dogs.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
That's great, man.
Do your kids enjoy watching youwork with the dogs?
Absolutely my daughter.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
She literally brought home a little paper that she
did at school the other day.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
It says my dad's a dog trainer and I want to be a
dog trainer too.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Oh, that's good man, that's awesome.
Yeah, I'm looking at thewebsite.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
You guys are offering financing and great prices.
You guys check him out um,working dogs for warriors, dot
dot com, dot com.
There.
There you go.
This guy is doing really goodwork out there.
He's highly decorated and he'sgot Got a good program going on.
You know, when I think of dogsand working dogs and stuff like
(27:53):
that, usually I think of searchand rescue and stuff like that.
You said bedbugs.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Like how do you?
Speaker 3 (27:59):
train a dog to sniff out bedbugs.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
So they utilize an actual, like live bedbug.
That's what you can buy them,but the dogs are able to pick up
one single bed bug.
There's a place you can buythem, but the dogs are able to
pick up one single bed bug.
When we were, out there in atraining situation there was a
camper that we sent a GermanShorthair Pointer to jump in and
find a bed bug.
In like 15 seconds he foundthat bug and sit there and stare
(28:27):
at it.
These dogs, especially fordetection work.
Uh, the detection world is isinsane, you know, and these dogs
are incredible, you know.
People always say oh, the dog'snose is like 10 times better
than a human nose no, it's like100 million times better than a
human nose.
And then there's a dog thatpasses that number.
You know the breeding of these,of these working dogs.
(28:48):
It's incredible, you know theyalways break it down to.
The dog doesn't smell aspecific odor, they smell broken
down compounds in that odor.
They're able to teach a dog tofind.
They're not looking for the gun, they're looking for the
gunpowder and the smokelesspowder, the chemical makeup of
(29:08):
that, with cortisol, forinstance, right where I've done
it, I put a little drop ofcortisol in the back of my hand.
Um walked up to the dog andkind of waked in front of them
and the dog like looked at meand backed up a little bit.
You know that's their naturalinstinct to cortisol, you know.
And then when we teach themwhat to do with it, you know
(29:30):
that's when the dog smells andthey're able to come up to us
and start redirecting their hand.
But seeing how incredible dogsknow this is, it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
I was on a TV show where they had a dog that was
trained for acting and stufflike that.
It was called Lost and thatlady, that dog, it did what it
was supposed to do.
It did what it was supposed todo.
Yeah, I'm just throwingtangents going off on a tangent
there.
Yeah, what dog stuff did youknow?
(30:03):
That's cool man is there?
Is there a specific thing thatpeople should be doing with
their dog?
Non-service related?
You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (30:17):
What's your what's one of your.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Achilles heels.
When you see people handlingtheir dog, what's one thing that
you can give everybody outthere.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
That's like yeah, we want to give a lot away for free
.
But yeah, like one.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
One tip that you can get is leash control.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
You know, that's my big thing.
You know you'll get peoplewalking at the park or whatever,
their dog's dragging them downthe street.
You know and then those are thesame people like my dog's face.
(30:56):
Right, I'm not gonna go up inyour face and my kids are bad
with that.
Yeah, you know.
Oh, that's the biggest thing.
Either you know, stay clear ofthem, or you know, ask the
handler, type of thing.
But even like if she was likewell, we went to, uh, knott's
berry farm, you know, and wetook, I think it was like 10 of
(31:18):
our service dogs out there andyou see the difference between
our service dogs and some others.
Yeah, you know, where the otherones are not paying attention to
their handlers, or any littlenoise that goes by, even like
the, the roller coasters that goover.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
I have videos of all of our dogs sitting right
outside of a ghost ranch.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
They just leave there as the roller coasters go by
and all that noise and then,there's other dogs that walk by
who are just scared of it, soyou never know how these dogs
are going to react.
So we want to make sure thatwhen you're out and about, don't
run up to dogs especially kids.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
What's your opinion on the e-collar?
I love them I love e-collars.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
They're a fantastic training tool.
You know, when used properlyit's great.
You know it's a mile-long leash, a mile-long invisible leash.
But when used improperly,incorrectly, it's a horrible
training device, you know.
So you really want to make surethat you know what you're doing
with it.
You know you're not justputting it on and trying to zap
your dog.
You know it's the old schoolway of thinking with it.
(32:18):
You know, nowadays thetechnology in these e-collars
are simply, it's the sametechnology as a tin zero.
You know where it's providingthe stem to the dog.
You know, and you know whereit's providing the stem to the
dog.
You know, and it'scommunication to those.
You know.
I know hunters who use them toget their dogs to go out, to
push out, to go flush birds.
You know when they hit a buttonnow, the dog will lock up you
(32:40):
know, flush something.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
You know my bro's got a.
He's got a pointer poodle andit's a, it's a hunting dog.
He just sent it off to betrained and stuff like that.
Do you work with breeds as well, like, can a breeder contact
you and say, hey, I would likefor you to train my dogs to be
service ready?
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Yeah, so I have.
We have had a few dogs donatedto us for breeders and stuff
over the years.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
You hear that guys Get your dogs right.
Exactly Shoot.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
I want my dog to come ready.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
You know I can eliminate all that stuff before
I get shoot.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Well, we do have boarding training programs you
know so, like I mentioned, we'rea nonprofit, so everything that
people spend to put towards ourpublic training classes go
right into providing these dogsfor our veterans and first
responders.
You know so.
Even with our board and trainprograms, I'm technically a
volunteer with this organization.
I don't get paid a penny, butwe want to make sure that if the
(33:38):
dog was to come to us fortraining, that dog's going to be
trained at the highest standard.
Would I hold all of my dogs toit?
So with our board and trainprograms we teach anywhere from
two to five weeks where the dogwill stay with us, from basic
foundation stuff to moreadvanced like scent detection
stuff is there ever been a dogthat you weren't able to train?
(34:01):
not necessarily.
You know, a lot of times withpuppies you know it's important
that we kind of let them growand stuff to become mature.
So you know sometimes we needto hang on to them for a little
bit longer, you know.
But you know it's always fun.
People love puppies anyways,and an old dog can learn new
tricks Absolutely Okay.
(34:22):
So quick story.
It's going to end up being likean hour long.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
I'm sorry, that's all right man.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
We're here for this Exactly, so when, that's right.
So when we first started, wehad a veteran well, the family
member of a veteran reach out tous.
It was the sister.
So her sister, his wife, justpassed away.
It was like November when theyreached out to us, so I think he
(34:48):
was kind of a little hesitantto come out, so it probably took
him a few months but he cameout to us with an eight-year-old
Maltese Poodle, something mix,you know, smaller dog, you know.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
He was like this is my wife's dog.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
We're like all right, you know, let's see what we can
do with it, you know.
But he was living by himself.
His sister-in-law would tell usthat he would stay in the house
for days and days and dayswouldn't do anything.
You know, didn't really want togo outside, uh he had a doggy
door, so he'd open up the doggydoor and kick the dog out.
You know, let him go sit downand lay down outside, you know.
(35:26):
So, uh, when, when we finallystarted working with him, uh,
you know, he was a little, alittle more, uh, he was a little
more eager to work with him,you know, because he was like
this is the last thing I have.
So, all right, let's make thiswork for you.
You know, so we trained the dogto be able to uh, learn on the
(35:48):
ptsd stuff, you know.
But so Max would jump on hisbed and sit there and bark at
him until he would get up andwalk outside.
And that's what the sister, sothe sister-in-law, lived next
door, so thankfully she was onthe cross street, but she was
like I'd look over and he's notoutside.
He'd be inside for days.
So she was like I just want tosee him go outside.
So what did we do?
(36:08):
We made sure the dog took himoutside, you know.
So, uh, he would, initiallywould tell the dog to go go
outside, and dog would gooutside laying by himself.
But now, like when he would say, max, go outside, max would
turn around and sit there andbark at him, wait till he got up
out of bed walked outside andsat down in his chair.
You know it's like hey as longas we got him outside.
(36:28):
You know we did it now I heardthat, uh, he's traveling the
country in a trailer, like atravel trailer, and living with
his dog wow, like to startwrapping stuff up with our
(36:49):
roundup.
Start wrapping stuff up withour roundup.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
We're going to start something new with you.
Okay, being our first guest,we'd like you to lead that
roundup.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Was there a quote or something significant you'd like
to put out to our listenerstoday?
So you've been with us forabout a year, yes, and you know
that we're a family andChristian-based organization.
Yes, sir, that's something thatwe really wanted to make sure
that we stuck to our roots Inopening this organization.
Literally the month that wefiled for our paperwork, my
brother-in-law passed away, youknow.
(37:32):
My wife's brother ended up in adomestic accident.
So we took a break, you know,and then picked it up a few
months later, you know, knowingthat this is where God is with
us.
You know, Isaiah 5811 says whereGod leads, god provides you
know, so that's something thatwe've kind of geared our whole
organization to.
You know.
There's something that we'vekind of geared our whole
organization to.
You know.
There's been many times whereI'm like why are we going down
(37:55):
this road?
You know, why are we doingsomething?
And then something happens andlike that's why, you know, we
had a.
We go to events sometimes andit's like all right, you know,
nothing's really coming out ofit, no one's coming up.
And then the next day I get aphone call from a veteran.
He's's like hey, I met you.
You really changed my life.
You know, I really want to getinvolved.
I had like a five-minuteconversation with this guy you
(38:15):
know, thinking it was nothingand he's been in our program for
like three years now, fouryears now actually.
You know so.
You know that's something, whatyou know at any time we get
together, you know we alwaysopen with prayer.
You know we always open withprayer.
We really want to make surethat we stay true to our roots.
This organization has changedmany lives.
(38:37):
It's changed our life, my wifeand I being able to just make
these connections, being able tohelp veterans and first
responders, and so many morepeople we have a lot of
volunteers who have told us thesame thing.
just being a part of something,it's changed their life for the
better.
A couple of the other thingsthat we do throughout the year
(39:03):
we have paint nights or MarioKart tournaments, just these
little events that are typicallyon big drinking holidays like
St Louis, St Patrick's Day, typeof thing, but we don't allow
alcohol at our facility.
So we would have these eventson those specific days and guys
and gals would come out and havea fun evening just with food
(39:23):
and all that stuff.
I had a first responder he wasa police officer come out.
He was real hesitant to comeout at first.
He didn't like to be in crowdsand stuff.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
And then a couple days later when.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
I talked to him he was like that was the first
single that my eyes built, sobeing able to go somewhere with
my wife and grandson, I think itwas and enjoy an evening in a
large group, like it was at ourfacility so we probably had over
100 people there, you know, butit was.
It was one of those thingswhere you know we understand why
(39:58):
we're doing it.
You know, being able to justhave a safe place for veterans
and first responders and peoplesuffering with mental health to
come out and not be judged, notbe looked at different.
You know, not be condemned foryour past, you know, and just be
(40:20):
there for them.
You know, I think that's thebiggest thing, is that
camaraderie.
You know a lot of times whereyou know why are we doing X, y
and Z?
You know so I'm part of theFontana Rotary Club and I have a
friend in there and we weredriving to.
Arizona one day, bisbee, arizona, it was like four of us and as
(40:42):
we're talking he started talkingabout like their pancake
breakfast they would do back inthe day and stuff, and he was
the one that started the inflow.
He was like, hey, why do wealways do this Like wrapping
napkins or something like that,wrapping silverware around the
napkins and one of the gentlemenhad told him it's not about
what we're doing at the moment,it's about the fellowship that
(41:04):
we're having and that totallyresonated with me.
You know, really many times youknow when we're doing just all
the crazy chaos throughout theday, but listen to the
conversations that people haveduring that time.
You know that's really where itmakes a difference.
You know being there to listento one another, being there for
somebody.
You know we have a lot ofveterans in free ride.
(41:27):
You were one of them, you know,you just said it where you
didn't really open up too muchin the beginning but you started
to feel more comfortable to thepoint where you did.
And that's what we really wanteverybody to understand.
We're not going to pryinformation out of you.
We're not going to force you todo things.
It's like, hey, if you'recomfortable doing it, I always
(41:49):
tell people you get as much outof this organization as you put
into it.
Speaker 3 (41:53):
It's the same with tattooing man, you only gonna
get out of it what you put intoit.
You know, plus those watching.
I think it's a blessing to beable to provide a positive
resource and make a living atwhat it is that you do.
A lot of people make a livingoff of trying to pinch people's
(42:15):
pockets and, you know, get overand this, that and the other,
but you're truly providing apositive resource and I commend
you for that.
I wish you success in yourfuture endeavors.
Really, hearing you speak aboutit it's opened my eyes to the
service dog world a lot more,Just because, if you're not a
(42:36):
part, of it, it's something thatyou really don't know about
Absolutely, and you know, asfrom B to Z.
You know we definitely want toprovide you guys with resources
that we have tapped into.
You know Zach goes to thisgentleman and that's picking
people specifically and tryingto provide resources for you
guys for mental health.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
And this is one of them.
So if you're listening, this isone of those things where it's
hey man, what are you?
Speaker 3 (43:02):
going to do with it?
We could give it to you, butnow, what are you going to do
with it?
You know?
If you guys want a resource forPTSD or mental health.
That is, I would say,unorthodox, because it's not
something that people think ofimmediately, you know.
But now think about that, youknow.
Seek this man out and he canoffer you a way to redemption or
(43:24):
just a better path, you know,around pills, around the
conservative way, you know, andlike man, it's cool.
Like you get to, you get a dogat the end of it.
How are you complaining aboutthat?
Speaker 2 (43:37):
You know, what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
Can somebody seek you out if they don't have a dog?
Is that?
Can they come work with you ifthey don't have a dog?
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Oh, absolutely.
You know, we have a pack boxwhere we have people come out
and I've had veterans come outto those pack walks at first you
know, before they even startedthe program, before they even
applied, you know, just to kindof see how it is and stuff.
But yeah, you know we haveevents, how we mentioned our May
11th, our suicide preventionwalk.
Every August we do what'scalled the Sound Mind, that's
(44:04):
with an organization we partnerwith Frontside Military Outreach
.
Speaker 3 (44:07):
And that's a mental health resource fair.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
We do in the city fontana as well and that we do a
911 memorial bike ride, youknow.
So that's something where youknow, if you guys are interested
in learning more about theorganizations, you can
definitely come out to thoseevents.
Uh, if you need resources, youknow, especially at a sound mind
and at our suicide preventionwalk, um, we're gonna, you know,
really focus on boots on theground, organizations that we
(44:31):
invite to come up, organizationsthat are actually doing the
good in our communities, notjust the stuff, the people you
see on TV or hear on the radio,but the actual boots on the
ground, people that are doingthe good in our communities.
So, if you guys need help withany resources, if you want to
come out with more, I urge youguys to come out.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
I appreciate you.
I really, really, really, fromthe bottom of our hearts.
We appreciate you coming on,definitely.
I love you, man, I really do.
You've been a big pleasantchange in my life, as well as my
dog Cola now.
So that'swwwworkingdogsforwarriorscom.
(45:12):
Their social media handles areat workingdogsforwarriors and
that's it, man.
Yeah, I just can't express.
We really like having you on.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Before we wrap it up, I did bring you guys two of our
challenge coins.
This is a big deal.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
So in the military world I'll express what I know
now.
This is a real big deal in themilitary world.
You get a coin a challenge coin, usually from a leader or an
organization, and you'reexpected to carry this on you at
all times, and the running jokewas or the or the process was
(45:58):
if you were in a, if you weresomewhere and you didn't have
your coin on you, you'd get coinchecked Okay.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
Like you all.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
Yeah, you're almost like those old school, like you
know what I mean.
The old school rules, thegentleman rules Where's your
coin at, yeah, and then if youdon't, you owe that guy
something, you owe him a drink,you owe him dinner that day if
you don't have your coin on you.
So this is a big.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
This is all I didn't know you had these.
Thank you, brother.
Yeah, I don't pass them out toooften, so I was thank you so
much, man.
Speaker 3 (46:29):
Well, guys, our first guest.
You guys wanted us to bringguests on here's number one, and
we brought in Eclipse too.
So there you go, guys yeah,give us some feedback.
Speaker 1 (46:39):
We'd love to hear from you, and please check out
Working Dogs for Warriors andMike have a great day.
Thank you, guys appreciatebeing here.
Thank you.
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