Nikolaus “Niko” Connell (White German Shepherd) - w/Jason Connell - Dog Gone

Episode Transcript
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Jason Connell (00:01):
Whoa, just curious. Welcome to Just curious
media. This is dog on. And I'mJason Connell on the show today
I'm joined by special guest SalRodriguez.

Sal Rodriguez (00:14):
Thank you, Jason.

Well, Sal, I always have you on. So it seems,
launch a new show. Yes. And herewe are.

And I'm usually honored, and I'm even more
honored for this one.

Well, thank you.
Thank you this show the conceptand the name of the show date
back to when I was launchingjust curious media. Oh, yeah. I
probably told you about it evenbefore you were involved in just
curious media. I was coming upwith different show ideas and
was like, you know, I'm verymuch a dog person. Yep. Have
been for much of my life haveraised two incredible dogs as an

(00:50):
adult had dogs growing up familydogs, of course. But two that I
named raised the whole bit andyou knew one of them. Sure.
Brody back in the day. Yeah. Sothis show was kind of just
sitting there idling becausewhat happened was we got busy
doing let's talk Cobra Kai. Andthat led to now we're over 100

(01:12):
episodes. So kudos to us and theshow. And we were involved in
that show before Netflix gotinvolved with Cobra Kai and it
became even more popular

now that you mentioned that Cobra Kai needs a
dog. Dog on Cobra Kai.

Yeah, yes, indeed. And so we also launched
that's a crime, a really funcrime show that we do. And there
was always let's talk movies. Sovery pop culture, a lot of fun,
great stuff, entertainment. ButI was always gonna round out
just curious media with moreshows and just different
offerings. And so one was thisshow called doggone. And the

(01:51):
concept for the show is, or thesynopsis is a dog lovers podcast
devoted to honoring the livesand memories of man's best
friend. And so you say that tosome people, and they're like,
oh my god, that could beincredible. And others are like,
whoa, that's like watching themovie Marley and Me, they know,
it could evoke emotions, andsadness. And so I nearly

(02:15):
launched the show sell in 2019.
I, you know, he doesn't know howthings are gonna go. We were
just doing Cobra Kai, eachepisode, you know, of the
seasons. That's all we weregonna do. We now do special
features. And we haven't gone asa weekly show. But there was
moments where I was like, Okay,I was working on another show
called pot finance. And you'rejust kind of trying to figure
and navigate a new venture out.

(02:37):
So I had a person that contactedme, we were still misses pre
pandemic. And I was gonna havehim on the show. But I didn't
have episode two, three, Ididn't have the format, timing
didn't work out. And it justkind of got shelved. It happens.
So I have been thinking aboutthis show more and more over the
last, I don't know, six, sevenmonths. Now that we're kind of a

(02:59):
well oiled machine. Maybe it'stime to bring this show in. But
then it's like, well, where doyou get people? You know, it's
not just easy. It's not like,hey, Sal, you and I can just
talk about Cobra Kai or, or thiscrime or it's like, there's
another layer involved, and thenkind of out of nowhere. Real
life happens. Right? Yeah. Andmy super healthy dog, Nicholas

(03:23):
Nico Connell, this beautiful, abeautiful white German shepherd
that I've raised sincepuppyhood. Passed away very
recently, two weeks to the dayof this recording. And so we're
gonna get into his life. Andthat's the whole purpose of this
show is to mourn and to shareand to grieve and tell stories
and the highs and lows and howwe're still figuring this format

(03:46):
out. But this is still new andfresh to me. And I wanted to
honor him. And the moment inafter I kind of realized what
was happening because he gotsick, and it all happened very
quickly. But when I had a momentof clarity, I thought so this is
I told Sophia, I have to do thisshow now. And now meaning like
an honor Nico in the firstepisode, it will just be that

(04:08):
spark that can help so manyothers.

Oh, yeah. The operative word, I think is
sharing. Like you said, yeah,yeah, we share you share in our
grieving. They share in ourgrieving, we share in their
grieving. We're all grievingtogether in a way.

Totally. And I was like, This is not an
opportunity. It just felt likemy calling to do this. Nico's
calling. What would be a betterpoint to say, hey, this happened
to me. I'm going to go on thisjourney and share and maybe
others would want to follow thatlike, well, he can do it and and
I understand the framework ofthis, who knows this show could

(04:44):
go so many episodes and justkind of fade away but hopefully
it will help heal me. And maybeanybody else listening in some
regard or at least reflect ontheir dog in their life current
or past or from the childhood orsomething. I mean, I will say
Been thinking? I'll do like nineepisodes, and maybe I'll do one
for Brody, Brody con on mychocolate Labrador Retriever

(05:07):
that I lost in 2013. Now that'sbeen a while, but I was
thinking, Yeah, well, how couldI honor him? So this was I was
blindsided by these currentevents that took place. Most
recently,

you have been talking about this show for a
long time. Who would haveguessed that you would, in a
sense, be the first guest? Yeah,it's a timing thing. And the
timing is right, right now.

It is. And so here we are. And so anybody
listening to this first episode,or wherever you are still
navigating here. This firstepisode is also going to give
the backstory of the showitself. Obviously, if we move
forward and get more guest, itwill be more streamlined. But
Brody, my other dog, like Imentioned, did pass away in
September 2013, at 12 years old.
And he had a great run greatlife. And I always had this

(05:53):
assumption, that Nikko would bein that family. Now they're
bigger dogs, but it was over 100pounds. Nico is a bigger dog,
and I'll get into his stats andbackground. But I was always
planning, you know, this guy,his grandparents were still
alive. When I got him, hisparents were alive. 12 1314. So
he got taken to me much earlierthan that. So again, just out of
nowhere, and to say that I'm inthe middle of grieving, I don't

(06:17):
even know where I am in thatscope. But there's much more to
go much more grieving and loss.
And it's like, Brody had gottensick and lived a little bit
longer. I wouldn't say it makesit easier sell. But at the same
time, it's less shocking.

So Brody had what a diagnosis and then until his
final demise was how long

about a year I knew something was coming nine
months, 12 months, and they'relike, Yeah, this is only gonna
get worse. But I'm thinking, youknow, he's about to turn 12. And
so you don't feel better. But atthe same time, maybe it's to be
expected at some point.

It's a little more time to brace yourself, you
know,

and I brace myself for that long. And then
we'll get into the timelinehere. And it's just like, huh,
yeah, and then it's life,though. I mean, some dogs are
hit by a car. Sure. Healthy isanything and then a real tragedy
what I mean it just a suddentragedy, there's zero. Time to
brace for that. So I relishingand cherishing all the memories

(07:16):
I have, but the sting and thepain and the loss all of that
we're dealing with. So I reallywant this show to celebrate
Nico's life, but also how I'mtrying to deal with his loss.
The show is called Dog on. Andyeah, it's a play on words. And
I think it's clever and touchingand meaningful. And anyone who's

(07:37):
had a dog has most likely lost adog. And people can relate to

Sure. There's so many talking points. When it
comes to this topic, you know,you have Niko himself, right?
You have you, you have yourrelationship. You have how you
grieve. And then you get intohow other people grieve, how
maybe men are supposed to grieveversus how women are supposed to
grieve and how your friends willcomfort you or attempt to

(08:03):
comfort you or things that theysay or don't say. There's a lot
to unravel here. So much isunspoken. So much.

I mean, I've told my friends, I've been making
friends out here in the Bostonarea and sports friends mainly,
it seems basketball friends,soccer friends. And yeah, I
mean, they're like, Hey, man,and I'm just getting to know
these guys. And I told them,because that's just who I am,
when it happened, you know, andthey said, Oh, you know,
everyone, they've been there.
And it was nice to hear, Oh, mygosh, I lost my dog six months
ago, or a year ago, or it kindof bonds you more, but really,

(08:36):
it doesn't go much deeper thanthat. No one wants to get into
how they really feel or no onewants to get into. Especially a
bunch of guys talking about tostart crying and the wires are
still raw, you know, they, butI'm not gonna go dump that on
them. It's just it's kind oftaboo, Sal.

No. And you know, what I would like to do in
grieving what I personally wouldlike to do, when I grieve. I
would just like to, like, go tosome island and just totally
just, like, shut down for amonth or two, at least, you
know, and then come back. Andhere I am now, you know, but
yeah, so like, we need that.
Instead, we gotta go about ourlives. We got to conduct our
business, and we got to go andwe got a podcast, you know what
I mean? We keep doing our thing.

(09:19):
And I really feel like that'sone of the things people do is
you just go about your lives andyou just hope that the pain
diminishes over time. You know,but there are different
practices and ideals that peoplehave about this very topic.

Yeah. And I'm no expert. I'm not here to say I
know anything other than I'm apodcaster I'm a dog lover, and I
want to share his story and mystory, you know, our story,
essentially Nico and myself thebest I can and that I'm going to
attempt to do so. Let's go back.
I lose a dog 2013 I purchased ahome I was in another

(09:56):
relationship is forever ago,purchased Home in spring of
2014, and that it started to, Iwanted to scratch that itch of
like, ah, you know, it's missinga dog, you know, had been nine
months plus I thought I mightyou never know You just know
it's time when you're ready. Andthen when I felt that, that urge
to this new house, this new kindof passage in life, then the

(10:21):
research began. And immediatelyI wanted to get another
chocolate Labrador Retriever. Ihad one as a kid, Brody was my
first adult dog, and he meanteverything to me, he moved to LA
with me. So he was like thatpart of my life. And was even
contacting the breeder and justthought, Wait a second. This is
a chance to not replicate Brody,maybe I get a different breed

(10:46):
that I've also been intriguedby. And I happened to be
watching the show Game ofThrones at the time. Around that
time, you know, it was on formany years and, and there was
these dogs or more wolves, andone was named ghost, and he was
white. And it was gorgeous andhuge. If you watch the show,
like bigger than life, thesearen't just normal dogs or

(11:06):
wolves. But yeah, so I just kindof planted that seed like Well,
I've always been interested inGerman Shepherds. They're just
like a lab and the way thatthey're smart and trainable. And
family dogs and all thesethings. They can learn lots of
words, but they have thatprotection gene where the lab
may or may not. Yeah, startedlooking online. And that led me

(11:26):
to a breeder that special. Iknow people might get mad about
this. I know but I did find abreeder that had white German
Shepherds, also known asAlsatians, and it was in the
middle of the country. It was inMissouri, this particular
breeder but I talked to them itwas a horse farm their ethical
the way they did everything. Andit wasn't it wasn't a mill. It

(11:50):
wasn't a puppy mill factory. No,it was like they wouldn't even
breed that much. And I justthought I wouldn't mind having
good stock. Brody was AKCregistered. I wanted to do the
same for Nico. It's all I know,I've only had one at the time.
One adult dog. So I was gettinga second but I also wanted to
raise him from puppyhood. I'm upfor that. Can

I just qualify real quick? My sister breeds
dogs. Okay. My sister is a dogbreeder. Believe me. I know.
It's sort of a topic that somepeople. Yeah, I know. People
talk about it. You know what Imean? Right. So no, I just want
to say my sister's a dogbreeder. I've been a dog shows
I've been a birthing. So youknow, I've been there.

Yeah. Okay. As my preference. So I was on a trip
and Oklahoma visiting family,and was like, hey, maybe now's
the time and found them and setthis thing up. And when I was
leaving, Oklahoma wouldbasically drive it was going to
be two hours, and they agreed tomeet me, they will drive one
hour and save my time becauseI'm gonna go pick him up and

(12:47):
then just head on my way all theway back to

shoot him. Fornia was like a bed and breakfast
where you can go like, staythere. Now. That would

have been nice.
Yeah. And they really weretrying to pitch me or sell me on
the other male. They only hadtwo big males. I was like, oh,
yeah, two would be cool for the siblings.

But yeah, oh, yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah,

I really thought long and hard about it. But I
was like, you know, I havealways had the one. I know what
that's like. And it's a lot ofwork because we would do
training and Nico, and I would.
And so I went with Nico. And Ihad no name for a little while
and it on his name. To be clear.
It's Nicolas, which is German.
Yeah. The German Shepherd. Mylast name is on his paper. So I

(13:25):
always went with Connell. Yeah.
And then, but you can't sayNicolaas 1000 timesolv. And you
have a dog. You got to have aname. It's like, you know, Brody
was great Brody Brody. So itbecame Nico and I knew that
right away. It wasn't just byhappenstance, it was like, we
may have come up with Nicofirst. And then Nicolaas later
to kind of have the Germanroots. Because Nico is actually

(13:48):
Japanese. And it means sunlight.
And so it was kind of funny. IfI say his name is Nico.
someone's like, oh, well, youknow, it's Japanese so that I
tell the whole German story. Butanyway, that's how he got his
names. Of course, he was a maledog. I liked the bigger dogs.
His father was 120 pounds. Hismother was 100 pounds. So I was
always like, come on, Nico. Youknow, I want you to be a big

(14:09):
boy. And he did get to 120pounds. So and then he would
kind of fluctuate a little bitbecause he was super active. But
it was born on June 7 2014. AndI met him on August 27 2014. The
day that I drove up to Missouri,and they met me at some gas
station basically just said,here he is. And he's this big. I

(14:31):
mean, this guy is huge, but he'sstill in a hand, you know, kind
of an arm. Yeah. And so I gothim and he'd only been in a car
that day. And here he is on athree day trek, and it doesn't
know me from anything. Yeah. Andwe're bonding right out.

Have you had car rides before that just to get to
me so the second car ride waswith

you. The second car ride he handled it well,
brilliantly. Some dogs, they getupset stomachs, they might vomit
but he was like champ andsomething about that. German
Shepherds also wanted to say Iwas I know this, but some of
those traits that intrigued mewhich I pulled this online or
offline, intelligent, curious,stubborn, alert, obedient,

(15:12):
loyal, confident, protective,courageous and watchful, all
true. And that might be trueabout a lot of dogs. But
especially true with Nikko andGerman Shepherds. They want a
job, they need to feel part ofthe family, they figure things
out, and they do have thatprotective gene about them.
anybody's gonna come up on theset, come in the house or

(15:35):
whatever. They're not gonna bitefirst, but they're gonna bark
and protect and once I know,it's all good. Hey, you're
there, buddy. It's kind ofamazing to see how breeds
different breeds respond todifferent situations. But oh,
yeah, the Missouri is the showme state which I always get a
kick out of the seat on license.
Oh, he's not those funny. Sothat's the beginning. You know,
again, this is new ground forme. But like all dogs, I mean,
yes, that puppy hood phase isfast. So I mean, they go, I was

(15:59):
just taking photos and videos ofhim every day. It's like, oh my
gosh, they're sleeping. They'regrowing. They're sleeping.
They're growing. I mean, he hadthese huge years. And by the
way, I'm gonna post photos ofall dogs on dog on on the
Instagram. So I'll share that atthe end, which is really just
going to be dog on podcast canfind that on Instagram,

(16:20):
Facebook, as well. But he'sbeautiful white Shepherd. When I
first got to know he had thesehuge years and he kind of had to
grow into them. I think the earswere full grown and you don't do
anything. They stand up on theirown for a shepherd some dogs.
You have to cut them. Yeah.
Yeah, these are this. And it washilarious. It's like he kinda
looks like a rabbit. So I havethese photos of him riding

(16:40):
shotgun tiny little guy, hugeears, and big pulse. So I knew
he had some growing to do to saythe least it was it was quite
funny. You're using photosthough? No, you

know what though?
I haven't seen any photos ofNico from puppyhood until today
I saw a couple I think onInstagram. But before today I
don't think that I've seen anypuppyhood photos

all I encourage you to go to Nico white shepherd
and I K O white Shepherd and youcan see some of them so yeah,
shot to

there Can I just say very handsome dog Thank you
very handsome

Yeah, we would get stopped by cars because he
does look as very good lookingand be it's unusual to see a
white German Shepherd somepeople like that's not a husky
that's what people do

that's what I thought very different. Yeah,

well when you look at him knowing you know
dogs you know that's not a huskywith the shape and the body and
the head it's just not like theyhave smaller ears that fluffier
to there's there's a difference.
And so I would a lot of timesthis happen. I mean, a ton I
can't say every day but ithappens a lot. Either a car
pulls over or someone comes overit's like oh my god he's
gorgeous. What is the or or theyhad a white Shepherd and they

(17:51):
spotted him immediately and theywant to bond I mean dogs are
such bonding animals that peoplewant to come over they will
share their story

only people in my neighborhood have a civil
conversations in my neighborhoodour dog walkers, total dog
walkers commensurate with eachother. You do if you're not
walking down the street herewith a dog. No one's gonna talk
to you. Yeah, if you're withouta dog, forget. Yeah.

Who are you? So on the intelligent thing? Well,
we went to puppy kindergartentogether. I did the same thing
with Brody. Because it had beena while since I trained to Doc
think about it. You know, Ihadn't trained a dog since 2001.
Here I am in 2014. It's like, Iread three books about German
Shepherds. And then I read.
What's that famous dogwhisperer. Cesar Millan TV show.

(18:34):
I read one of his books becausehe deals with all different
breeds. Yeah, of course itseasonable Ansari, but went to
classes. He was like head of theclass. It was really fun.
They're really just training me.

Sure What's happening? Well, that's what
Cesar Milan says, You have totrain. They're the owners. Yeah,
this is

not one of those places that you've dropped your
dog off and come back andthey're training you know, we go
through it together and, and hewas really great. And he started
doing of course, he could sitstay rollover shake with both
pause, high five with bothpause. He also did this pray
thing, which was so good. I havevideos of this, he would hop up
and do his hands like this, andyour hand and pray and then

(19:12):
expect the treat after he ranthe whole gamut of these things,
which is hysterical. And then hecould speak on command, which I
really loved a lot of footage ofthat which I'll have to put some
of those up on online. But youget through that and you've got
to he understands differentwords. I didn't keep it going.
Now. Bernie did have one claimto fame that Nico was not
interested in. But Brody couldgo to the refrigerator, open it

(19:35):
and get a beer that you saw himdo. I'm sure at one of our
parties or they heard me talkabout it. It's true. He really
could. Labradors a littledifferent. They'll like oh,
yeah, I'm uncomfortable. But I'mgonna do this. He would go in
there, open it, bring a beer,canned beer and bring it to you.
But Nikko never liked thefridge. He's like, Yeah, I don't
want to open this. He said hewas not interested in doing that

(19:56):
trick, but he could do otherthings.

Wait, hang on.
Let me ask you, Jason, did youdo it? years past I've seen
people training GermanShepherds. And they do I think
they do with Dobermans, too,because I think Dobermans,
German also, they do the Germanwords the German commands. Did
you do any of that? Yeah,

initially, I would do that I'd be like
Octomom are different things andtell him but then we just got
away from it. So I would justsay things like go look and go
look meant like run around thehouse and look at because our
old house in LA you could like,oversee like the neighborhood
below and across the street. Sohe would go to all the there's a
lot of windows, he would go toall the windows and checkup. So

(20:32):
that was his job. Like one andtwo. Yeah, but so I just kind of
I kind of went American English,I should say, I got away from
the German words, but I thoughtit was cool if I if I was gonna
make him a full on guard dog,which I was not. I was making a
family dog a Frisbee dog. Butyeah, he easily could have
picked that up. But he didn'tknow the English words. So yeah,

(20:54):
go look. And he'd be like, oh,yeah, I'm gonna go check this
out. It's hilarious to see himrunning around the house with a
job to do. Couple of greatthings about him as well. Never
once did he ever attempt to geton any furniture sale. I didn't
have to stop him. Not warn him.
He just didn't care for it. Hekind of you know, German
Shepherds. He's running kind ofhot. He wants to be lower to the

(21:15):
ground. We always had hardwoodfloors or some sort of stain
concrete. So he just loved thefloor. Never wanted to get on
the bed. So I was like, this iseasy, never destroyed anything
that wasn't his.

Well, Jason, this is where we kind of diverged,
because when I have a pet, I'mlike, get on the bed and sleep
with me right now. That's whyyou're here. Come on, let's

go on the pound dog. It is a difficult thing. So
you have to brush up a lot. Oh,yeah. He had two coats. I was
brushing him daily. Definitelyevery other day or every third
day, like different times of theyear. Yeah. Oh, I was every day
I was sweeping or running thevacuum. So he would have been.
It was a routine. I mean, itwasn't. Yeah, there's that.

(21:59):
Exactly. It wasn't terrible inthe house because I had kept it
up and I hit we play outside andwe're super active when I was
brushing him. But yeah, the bedwould have been destroyed. Yeah.
So I wasn't into that. He was asuper athlete. And Nico was a
champion frisbee ball catchernot being a retriever. I wasn't
sure if he would take to it. ButI play a ton of frisbee from my
disc golf days ultimate days,and he has special frisbees that

(22:23):
he inherited from Brody, whichwas nice. But Bernie would bring
you the Frisbee back and wantyou to throw it again. Yeah,
Niko, not so much. He has theone you better have one more.
And then he dropped the one forthe one in your hand and catch
it. And then you just gotta walkover and take the other one
away. So it was a differentgame. But it was like on his

(22:43):
terms. Oh, and then when if heever got to so come get me. He
had leverage. He knew. So you'dhave to have a third one. And
then he'd way does one himthrowing at me catching outweigh
me having to you'd see him thinkabout these things. It was
hilarious.

That's very intelligent. That's the Stanford
marshmallow game that they woulddo with the kids or Stanford
marshmallow test, where theywould get the kids in the lab,
they would say here's amarshmallow. If you leave the
marshmallow alone, in 20minutes, I come back with two
marshmallows, or you could havethe marshmallow and then they
leave and they you see the kidlike that? Do and they say it's

(23:22):
a sign of delayed gratificationand delayed gratification is
supposedly a sign ofintelligence. They say,

yeah, well he knew. Then I have to really
entice him to catch it in theair. Like check this out. You
love this. And he loved doingthat so much. He would give up
the goods for the unless he wasdone for the day. And then he
just he would finally just dropthem and go inside. So he was
just it was incredible at it. SoI have so much footage of him
catching Frisbees. I have aGoPro, some funny shots, I put

(23:47):
it all over the yard, or myiPhone, so more fun things to
view. He was a Cross CountryRoad Trip warrior. You couldn't
have a better co pilot neverasked to go to the restroom. I
mean, we stopped I was worriedabout him. Yeah, he will say a
peep. We went from California toMinnesota, not in one swoop,

(24:08):
we'd stop and stay in like, likehave a zoo Santa Fe, I have a
Colorado we would stop along theway and enjoy ourselves, meet
people or meet friends. But itwas amazing. That whole road
trip and back from California toOklahoma when I moved there
during the pandemic just tocheck on family and do things
here he is my co pilot and a uhaul that time. Never one

(24:31):
complaint. Oklahoma,Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania,
Massachusetts, where I live now.
And then most recently, his lastbig road trip was Massachusetts
to Florida and back. Loved it.
The guy was amazing on roadshow.

Jason Nico has seen more of us than I have.
Yeah, exactly.

I've been everywhere, man. He he's just
like he's spotting licenseplates.

Yeah. Playing the buggy game. Yeah, he's

doing all that.
Now. He was always my dogs. Ihad several cars with Nico but
he was always in the very back Idedicated the back of an SUV to
him for him patted it out plentyof height. These are always
bigger SUVs, FJ Cruiser and Inow have a really great Grand
Cherokee. So he had plenty ofroom to move around. I put
nothing back there with himbesides his beds and his comfort

(25:19):
zone. So when you're travelingacross country, you're taking
the back seat. And that's it,you know, you don't get the very
bag which is designed for cargo,but he was the precious cargo.

So he didn't like the passenger seat. He's so

big. I wanted to give him that he could turn
around. And so no, I didn't putdogs in the second seat.
probably safer back there, too.
I'm thinking much safer, I wouldthink Yeah. And I keep the
window down. But if he needsair, I just put the back windows
down. Quiet as can be so never acomplaint. Not one. I'm even
saying hey, do you want to stopand we'll go potty soon and you

(25:55):
see it pop up. Just gonna throwhim a bone there. And then we
would get out of restaurants andwhatnot. Also, so this is
something that I'm still dealingwith. Because if I left the
house for five hours or fiveminutes, I'm going to get
greeted by him running down thestairs like I hadn't seen me in
forever. And that's somethingthat you just can never get

(26:17):
enough of.

And one of the primary differences between dogs
and cats.

Yeah, cats are like, Oh, it's you again.

Yeah, you again.

So soon? Yeah, there is a difference in the
two. Yeah, the dogs probablyunfortunately, they run a little
bit on the anxiety side. Youknow, they have that fear.
You're never coming home.
Separation anxiety. But it's socute. Hey,

audition that goes a little both ways. Because
I think I always have a fearthat what if I don't come back
home? What if I don't come backhome? You know? Well, there's
that. Let me put a little alittle extra water out. Let me
let me make sure that dry foodsfilled. You know, let me make
sure that if I didn't come back,they'd be okay for a few days.

I think about that, too. I would always have
them go to the restroom. Again,before I left. I would always
make sure he had enough. He wasso good though. So he wouldn't
eat or drink. The minute we leftunless he was finishing dinner.
And I was like, I'll see youlater. You'd come home and he'd
see you. He go potty come in,and he'd drink for a whole
minute. He knew if he drank andate. He didn't really know what

(27:24):
I'm popping back in. So hefigured it out. And then it was
in a holding pattern. Yeah, verysmart. Now in one house in LA,
which is really cool, becausethe climate and the access to
this big backyard, and I couldleave this door open through the
garage. He had access. And Ilove that when you get to other
parts of the country. And theclimate is not as just stable. I

(27:46):
couldn't do that here. But Idon't leave him for long stunts
or I did not do that. So verysmart. Figured it out. Oh,
you're gonna go I'm gonna holdoff on drinking. He doesn't even
take the risk. Here's questions.
He loved Sal questions. He lovedthese things. Do you want to go
outside? It's like he could bein a deep sleep. And just that
was like he do a spin. He's up.

(28:10):
Oh my gosh, it was hilarious. Orvery similar. You want to go for
a walk? Or maybe the biggest ofa mall is do you want to go for
a ride? He could be in thebackyard with three frisbees
holding him back from me. Youknow, keeping them away. I could
say you want to go for a ride.
He's dropping them and he'srunning to go get in the back of
the SUV. So cute. Sopredictable. Yeah, right. So

(28:31):
predictably,

amazed, like how we can distinguish between the
phrases. Yeah, he knew thedifference.

A ride well, he loves going around town. It
could be a five minute ride. Orwe can go cross country.

Did you ever take him for a walk? Could you get
that a new electric bike? Itdid. Was he ever alongside any
of your rides when you bike? Ididn't

introduce that.
Too complicated. Yeah. I mean, Iwould just go for long walks. He
saw the bike or he would seeback in the day would see my
scooter, but I never neverincorporated them. He's just so
big sound. Yeah. I mean, alittle fufu dog, you know, maybe
you could carry them and he'sjust like a person. Yeah. So no,
I

think I weighed about 120 and Middle School.
Exactly.

Or he would also like questions like, do you want
to eat? Do you want to treat ordo you want a bone those also
triggered him big time. Thebones he would go to a certain
spot if it was outside the bighuge cow bones with all the
stuff that meat still on therein the bone marrow he'd work on
it for days but that guy couldknock him out man strong jaw

(29:38):
strong teeth.

Would you special order those if you were to go to
the butcher? I would

get him at well let the pet stores or order the
Archein Okay, and yeah, hethought they were amazing.

I hadn't thought of a pet store because I think
when I was growing up my motherwould go to the butcher and say
hey, well, they would like itwas from the butcher little the
leftovers. Right. Sam thebutcher from Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, we would get them but nowI guess Yeah, pet stores
eventually would have But yeah,they're

more they're not as media as the ones from the
butcher, probably. But thesebones are safe and not going to
splinter. So I just was like,well, we'll go with that. He
also knew when the night wasover, because I would say, Let's
go to bed. And he would, in thishouse, he would come upstairs,
and then sleep on the floor, onhis bed, on the floor in the

(30:22):
master bedroom. But he knew whatthat meant. And when I'm like
getting ready and brushingteeth, and maybe showering, if I
hadn't showered, he'll just laythere by the bed and look up and
wait for me to pet him some moreand then get into the bed. So it
was incredibly cute. And youjust count on that? Yeah, yeah,
just part of the thing. It'sreliable.

He knew

what I was recording, he'd seen me kind of
getting ready to go in the roomto record and I would say, I'll
be right, you know, I'm gonna goon here. I'm gonna record I'll
be done on while and he'd bewaiting outside that door right
there. When I got done, when youand I mostly it's you and I
would walk outside areas. Andhe's he knows I'm gonna take him
outside. So that's what you getused to? Yeah, so. And that's

(31:08):
just part of what you startmissing. Sure. And like, wait a
second, this doesn't make sense.
Conversely, here are somephrases he disliked. I would say
to him, not a fan of this, I'vegot to go immediately was just
head down. He knows I'm leavingour I'll be right back. Both
means that I'm going to be gonefor a while. Again, to him five

(31:30):
minutes could be 30 hours. Theirconcept of time is not very
good. So the dogs don't reallyget it. But he also knew the
drill when he saw me get mysports gear out. Or if you saw
suitcases, or duffel bags thatcaused him great anxiety. So if
he saw that happening, and itwas a trip that he was going on,

(31:52):
I had to hurry up and tell himHey, hey, don't worry, you're
coming. You're coming with us.
It's all good. But then he getfired up and want to go to the
SUV like early. I'm stillpacking. So you have to kind of
be wary when you introduce thosephrases. Sure, he could not stop
his enthusiasm, even you know,when he was almost eight, it was

(32:13):
almost like he was still alittle puppy. They get so
excited. And they're just like,locked in on it. But I'd put him
outside and let him run aroundfor a while I'm getting like the
suitcases and the trips of thecar. Because he's so big. So hit
us getting away. Sure. Sosometimes I would just give it
and put him in the car early andhave all the windows down and
just keep loading the car. Buthe's like I'm in let's do this.

(32:35):
So those are really cute timesindeed. So I'm sure people can
relate to some of these things,if not all of them. And then
just a few stories and then I'llkind of get into when things
pivoted and obviously it becameabout losing my best friend.
Just a few things came into mindthe day we met. I've talked
about the first car ride it wasincredible to meet a dog and to

(32:57):
it's a weird way to bond it'slike you're literally going to
hotels or Airbnb. I suppose hedidn't have all of his shots
because he they do them instages. Yeah, so I couldn't even
let him run free. So I'mliterally like carrying this dog
around learning him. He'slearning me dropping him to go
pee and you know, do hisbusiness

or not potty trained yet right now I

didn't quite know I had a little tiny crate not
potty trained, just dealing withall these new sensations. You
know, he's whining all night. SoI'm trying to keep fans going
and while I that was aninteresting time, but it was
amazing. But it was like havinglike a little infant with me on
this road trip.

You went from Missouri to back to California.
Yeah, we drove

we stopped three nights. Yeah, I think it was in
Norman, Oklahoma. Albuquerque,New Mexico. We actually drove by
the Breaking Bad set house withNico this young. I've had him
for the second day.

Already seen my he's already said to me, okay,
he's he's like, this is my

life. I'm gonna see movie sets. And then the
third day I think we stayed atneedles. Yes. And then we made
it was like, well, let's justsleep here and then we'll get in
at a good time the next day. Soyeah, it was like bang, bang,
bang. Very nice. When he was apuppy, he'd pee just a little
bit when he got excited. He waspotty trained, but if he was
outside and someone came over,you didn't see like, he doesn't
have control of everything justyet. When he was little, but it

(34:18):
was it was so funny. This onekid came over. And Nico peed on
his band system a little bitnice. He's potty training. But
this is a level of excitement.
He can't control himself. But hetook it well, he loved his crate
crate train them. I bought thebiggest crate you could get but
they give you a divider. So youcan slowly move the divider out
and then take it away, ratherthan keep buying a new crate for

(34:43):
a dog that's going to keepgrowing rapidly. Oh, that was
really smart. So I even got inthe crate. I mean, I could fit
in there myself and he was inthere. So if it's too big,
they'll just find a corner to gopie in. Yes. But if you shrink
that to a manageable state andthen I just made it bigger and
then you so funny how he took tothat credit sale, I'd make him
also sleep in it. I didn't wanthim wandering around the house

(35:05):
those that first year, and heloved it. I would say that's
gonna be great. And he'd goright in and close it and get a
good night's sleep. So they findcomfort in that.

Yeah, it's like a den. Like a den. Yeah,

I took it away after a year. He was done with
it. It takes up a lot of space,a big dog Crusher. But that was
really cool. And in that firsthouse, I mean, I think he lived
in four houses all said and donestay in another for a little
while. But his first house, theone you visited, we had movie
screenings outside. That's wherehe really came into this world.

(35:38):
And the neighbor had a cat namedCharlie. And he didn't really
have anything against cats, buthe's very territorial. Nico was
sure. Sometimes the cat wouldlove to just come over on our
side of the wall or the frontyard. And he more than see him
he would just hear the ownerscall for him. It would always be
like this, Charlie. And if theydid that, Nico went nuts because

(36:03):
he knows Charlie's on the loose.
He might be in the backyard. Andhe might not be something I
would tease him. I'd be like,Charlie and copy them and he'd
be like, what? And he'd runaround the house. Look at it
every window looking for thatdarn Charlie. That's funny. was
so funny. And when when Nico gotbigger, and Charlie was
sometimes in the front yard whatthe front yard wasn't fenced in.

(36:26):
So Nico didn't play out therewithout me. But there were many
times were bigger. Nico wouldsee Charlie and Charlie go up a
tree. Sure. And then I felt thatI had to help the neighbor put
Nico away help the neighbor getCharlie out of century. But it
was a good cat dog game they hadI guess?

Well, because I don't know what it's like in
other counties or states. But Ido know that in this city in the
county of Los Angeles, a catdoes not have to legally be on a
leash whereas a dog does. Yeah.
So yeah, cats can run around allover the place. But dogs have to
be on a leash.

Yeah. And it's cool. But Charlie drove us a
little crazy sometimes. Almostlike he's teasing Nico. Yeah, he
pushed his luck a few times.
Yeah. I don't think Nico haddone anything. But he's gonna
get really close and scareCharlie to death. Sure. Then
there was a time that Nico wherethere was a park right there in
Mount Washington. This is in LosAngeles, real close to downtown
Highland Park, great area. Butreally, we could walk five

(37:20):
minutes and be at this park,Heidelberg Park. And one day
we're off leash training him.
And all of a sudden he getsspooked another dog a bigger dog
than Nico at the time. Scaredhim and I was like, I saw a dog
run by me. And I thought whatand I saw Nico, fly through the
park. And this isn't like a parkpark. This is like, you know,

(37:42):
lots of elevation and trees. Soit's not like I can see
everything. And he disappeared.
So I was Yeah. Oh my gosh, thatwas a terrifying few moments or
15 minutes. I'm running nonstopthrough the park yelling his
name going through theneighborhood. I don't know where
he is. And there is a couple ofroads. And I'm running all over

(38:04):
the place roads with cars,couple cars, FedEx trucks. Yes.
But not a main road, but a windyroad in the mountains. And I
thought oh my gosh. And I'mrunning and screaming and these
two girls walk in said, Oh, wejust saw a dog in the house down
the street. And I was like,thank you. And I ran all the way
home. And if it wasn't Nico onthe front porch just sitting

(38:28):
there. He ran home. He shouldn'tlaugh me. Yeah, but at least he
went home. Wow. Nice. So there'sthat it's safe. He still got
grounded by me scared me todeath. The I'm ever forget the
FedEx guy. Because he would seeme go a lot. He saw me running
frantically. It was like Jasonis it Nico. I was like, I don't

(38:50):
know where he is. And then laterhe sent me on the front porch
Petit Nico. And he was like, Oh,it's okay. Great. They get to
know each other people see youwalking your dog. Sure. All the
time. Right? Yeah. And that samehouse, we would encounter a lot
of coyotes up in MountWashington. Yeah. If see one
there, Ron and Nico, learn thatthey were predators. I didn't

(39:12):
ever teach him that he just knewlike, these are bad things. And
one night, we rounded a cornerand we encountered six of them.
And I was like, Hey, this is alittle hairy here. Sure. And
they broke out though. There wasan old man up the street. This
is crazy Sal. And he would openup a bag of cat food and dump it
on the sidewalk for all thesestray cats to come in. And I

(39:32):
didn't know the guy I just movedin. I was like, What's this guy
doing when I saw him? Do thiswith my own eyes? Yeah. Well,
guess what, bro? You're bringingskunks and opossums and coyotes
and not cats can eat all thisfood. Someone finally stopped
him from doing it. Like that's abit much. You don't need all
these feral cats. That's justtoo much food. And that's one of
the nights that we encounteredis Cody. So they're there for

(39:56):
easy food but they got freakedout by us but I wouldn't leave
dogs outside that area. Right,even Niko six coyotes if they
came in our backyard. Yeah, it'snot a good situation. But he
learned to scare them away, man.
And he was bigger than them. Butthey're clever in their own in
their own right. Yeah.

And when it comes to packs, it's a different story
than if it's one on one, youknow? Yeah,

yeah. Yeah, I was like, are we gonna go back to
back kung fu fighting here, andthen those things did shot out
and they can go, you know, 100miles an hour? Sure. So then we
moved the goal, and I moved, andhe was part of that big time. If
life happens, you know, a newrelationship, or, I should say,
a relationship ending. I moved.
Of course, he was my dog. Itwasn't about who's gonna get

(40:40):
custody. And it was never aquestion. Never an argument.
Nico and I were a bonded pair.
Yeah. So he moved with me. Andwe moved to the valley and a
really cool spot. That littlegated community like a duplex,
but huge backyard bigger than wehad in Mount Washington. And he
loved that backyard. So I mean,it was massive. It's like a

(41:00):
park. It's like a little park,if you want to be clear, and
it's private. And so during theprivate Oh, yeah. All the way
around privacy fence all the wayaround us rose bushes and palm
trees and plenty of room forFrisbees, and a big water
feature. I mean, I work outthere a lot. It was a big patio.
So it was a shared backyard. Butthe person on the other side was

(41:21):
rarely there. They weren't evenin the same state half the time.
So during the pandemic, man, itwas him and I just on lockdown.
Remember how crazy LA was likewe were literally on curfew
locked down. And at least we hadthat sanctuary. Sure he loved
it. Yeah. And he loved chasingthose squirrels out of that
backyard. Like he wouldliterally chase a squirrel out

(41:45):
of the backyard and go up theprivacy fence and he'd go up and
hit the privacy fence with hispaws to maybe knock that
squirrel off the fence. It waspretty funny. The new Charlie?
Yeah, exactly. There's noCharlie, but there's Charlie's
everywhere meanwhile, so it wasso funny. And then during
lockdown, I started doing mymartial arts training in the
garage because not much wasgoing on. I had my mats and, and

(42:07):
he was so cute. I get my GI ongo through the whole class. And
he'd lay there and watch me andif I was stretching, I may be
patting him. There's even photosof I had to take some photos.
Sometimes it was just too darncute.

There's a great photo when I was looking through
the Instagram today. You'relaying there on the mat in your
karate gi Yeah. And then you'rereaching over. I think he has
his paws on your hand.

Yeah, yeah, we're touching hands. I did. Like I
said, I'm

watching that like something in my eye. You
know, something?

I know looking at that now is is extra touching.
Yeah. Yeah. So he was good likethat a few more. That particular
area was called Candy Cane Lane.
Because of how big they takeChristmas. Now we were just
adjacent to that. But we couldjust walk right over and enjoy
candy cane like Yes. And I wouldtake Nico I mean, this is before
the pandemic right before Ithink it was 2019 is Christmas.

(42:53):
Right? So it was like, festiveand hundreds of people. So we
would walk over there. He wasgetting so much attention.
Almost like he's Christmas dog.
Yeah. And they have a step andrepeat in this White House. And
so we're doing the step andrepeat like background. I'm
taking photos, but then peoplewho don't even know him are

(43:16):
taking photos of him up on thisthing. It was I loved living
there. It was very festive thattime of year. And he was always
a hit. You know, people I've gotto do just like that are
everyone's got a story. So yeah,if I had a penny or a nickel,
this is called a nickel forevery story I'd have. Well, I
have a lot of nickels. So thenwe moved cross country like I

(43:36):
talked about, we'd go toOklahoma for a few months to
deal with family stuff and fixup a house that I have there for
I rented it out. So you could Ilive there. Well, I'm doing this
cleaning it out. He's Hey, he'snot complaining. This is great,
whatever. And it's a greathouse. It was really a great
house. I loved it, and also kindof remote and no back fence

(43:59):
though. It was like kind of anatural fence with these big
rocks. Right? Well, there wascreatures out in these parts. I
saw foxes and gophers and allsorts of things. So one night
around midnight, I only moved inthere a few weeks. I was
assembling something in thehouse. Like a really cool
tripod. I have an easel I shouldsay an easel for a television.

(44:20):
It's really cool, very classic,elegant and modern. And I've
just finished it get the TV onit. And I was like once you go
potty and then we'll go to bed.
He goes out there and I hear himchase something. It's I can't
see a thing. He does hear hisbody moving fast. Like Nico,
don't whatever that is. Youdon't chase it. Well, he comes
running back and he starts likesliding on the ground. Because

(44:43):
he's got something in his eyeand I'm like, What's going on
here? He's doing his dives, andhe's getting closer to me. And
when he got next to me south thestench was horrendous. I nearly
vomited. Smelling he got skunkedin the face. He He chases Scout
through this like Bush. Yeah.

(45:04):
And the scout guide him and ohmy god never faced that before.
Yeah.

What do you do so?

Well, it's midnight. I'm already tired. I'm
like, Dude, you're not coming inthe house. I went and got the
dog shampoo. We had washed himthree times, move my car out of
the garage, put fans in thegarage. He slept in the garage.
It's a night it was attachedgarage. Nice, but his smell was
so bad. And the next day I wentand got the actual disc gunking

(45:30):
shampoo, put it on him and thenwash him three more times. And
by the next day, he couldfinally come in. But that was a
nightmare. And you think youwould learn his lesson. But it
happened one more time.

You were more bothered than he was? Well,

he got I was worried about his eye. The next
time it was more faint. I thinkhe saw this guy. He's like, Oh,
and the skunk maybe was the sameguy. It was months later. Yeah.
And kind of got his coat alittle bit and I washed him off.
We knew what to do. But ifanyone has had their dogs, they
also say tomato juice is good.
Yeah, no tomato juice. Andeverything's closed at midnight.

(46:06):
In this particular town. I waslike,

Oh, my things like that usually happen at the
most inconvenient times.

Yeah, exactly.
Like I was exhausted. And it'slike, okay, and I'm on a new
timezone. But we made itthrough. We made it through. And
then more recently, before wemoved to Massachusetts, he
knocked over my aunt and uncle'schiminea. I was playing frisbee
in the backyard. He rounded thecorner, put on the brakes, but
barely touched it. And we alljust watch it like, Oh, that's

(46:36):
not good. It was like, whoa,whoa, whoa, boom. And then it
just exploded. Yes. And I waslike, oh, and their child died.
No, I already had a crack in it.
And so, Nick going on, I went toa place a pottery store chiminea
store, found them gave them agift certificate and they

(46:57):
replaced it. They didn't evenwant it. But I felt like it's
the least I could do. I couldn'tbelieve that happened. It wasn't
on video. That was it. I wouldhave paid anything for that. His
his reaction to our reactionlike it was going that Gemini
was going to also fire as thoughit was okay. But it was just
like, slow. It was hilarious.
And then on that trip toPennsylvania, before moving to

(47:23):
Massachusetts, we went canoeingon the Delaware Water Gap. It's
the Pocono Mountains. We show upand Nicholas just the best is
they have to drive you there. Sohe's like, all cuddled up with
Sophia and I in the van thatthey drive you to the spot. And
when we're getting out, I seethe canoe and I'm like, yeah,
it's kind of narrow. The guy'slike, yeah, you know, most

(47:43):
people that tip over, it'salways the dog to the kids. And
I'm like, No one told me thisbefore we got here. Yeah. Right.
Well, he was on a short leashthat day. And I just kept giving
him water. It was a really hotday. Thank goodness. We did not
tip over once but I just wasthinking this is going to be the
worst. I'm gonna have Sofiagoing down. I got Nico are

(48:06):
trying to tip this. So I justkept them on a short leash. He
enjoyed it. But I was stressedout and I'm also doing all the
canoeing. Yeah, yeah. Cuz you'reright, the minute he got up
there, or the guy was right, ifhe took one step over too far
with his weight, and

we all went away, so he'd never been on a canoe
prior to that. He'd been on onebig

boat like a pontoon boat. he'd ever been on
a canoe before. So he was justlike, whoa. So I just made him
lay down.

And had he been in the water before? Yeah, but
he's not

a water dog like Brody, Labrador. Yeah. And that
probably was a good thing for usat pi bode well, because he
didn't want to jump out and goswimming. Yeah, he was like,
I'll just stay here. I'll takesome water. Sure. And I just
petted him the whole day,canoed, but then we took a break
at one point in time, halfway,and there's all this mud. And
what's he do? Well, he just getsall up in the mother's photos on

(48:58):
his Instagram. He's just a muddymess. And I'm like, eventually,
you're gonna have to get in thatwater. Dude. He had a great day,
but I gotta say, I was a littlestressed out if I could do it
again. It was not going to bewith Nico and that size of boat.
I just was so scared. We weregonna go tumbling over. But we
made it through.

How do you keep a white German Shepherd clean?

Surprisingly enough with two coats and
brushing, it gets clean. Youdon't have to pay them that
much. Nor should you bathe bigdogs that bark Yeah, once a
month or when he got skunked ormaybe once every few months, but
really that code the oilsprotect him. And if you brush
him, he can get I mean muds. Onething, sure. But if he gets
dirt, you can brush it off. It'samazing how resilient that code

(49:41):
is nice. So and he sheds enoughto kind of keep replenishing
Sure. So last couple I put onhere we made a Halloween ghost
and put it on the front porchfor the last Halloween he was at
and this is a very Halloweenyarea, the New England right. And
so everyone was like oh theneighbors are doing some cool
other things, let's at leastmake a ghost and have some candy

(50:04):
on the front so the kids canjust come up and get the candy
out of this big fake ghost.
Yeah, but I have a video ofthis. Sophia opens the door and
Nico sees me in the yard andhe's like, Hey, and he sees this
girl she's like, so here's like,this big brave dog just got like
so scared. He liked ducks. Andhe tends to hide back. It's like
Scooby Doo live. Yeah, it's likewhat? I've never I don't even

(50:26):
how to process this. And thisthing has no scent. Yeah, he
went back at the peak back. Oh,my gosh, hilarious. And then on
our trip to Florida, we kind ofavoided Massachusetts in January
and half of February, which wasgreat because the weather in
Florida was divine. And we hadtwo different pools that the two

(50:46):
different Airbnbs were at. Well,again, he's not a pool dog like
Brody. Yeah, right. So he waslike, Oh, you guys are swimming.
Okay, there's a step here. MaybeI'll just step right here on
this one step. So he was alwayslike, kind of putting his Paul
in and, and then one pool hadthis big weight area. Like I
guess it's for kids. It's a lotlonger. Yeah, real shallow. And

(51:07):
one day I went and did like acannonball on the deep end. So
he got brave and ran and jumpedin the kiddie side about this
deep, but he felt real braveover there. So I was like,
that's him being a water dog.
And that's the extent of it. Hedoesn't want to be submerged and
swimming, but I have somefootage of that as well. It's

(51:27):
hysterical. So you could tellhis inner Labrador was trying to
come out? Yeah, not so much. Notso much.

Have you bonded with any other white German
Shepherd owners either in thearea or online or anything

funny you mentioned that so that first
house that he was at the one inMount Washington up the street,
so it's about a mile walk up tothe elementary there, Mount
Washington Elementary. So wewould do these walks it's what
you do when you have a dog youexplore the Ayrshire give you
access to everything people arenice to you. People are nice. We
still want to do another whiteGerman Shepherd longer hair.

(52:03):
Nico's was medium this waslonger hair got the same size.
That dog's name was ghost fromGame of Thrones. They went
there, they went on the nose.
And so we met and this is amigosby like, two ish, right to
range. And so Ghosts was aroundthe same age. And we would go on
walks close together, the ownerswere talking having a great time

(52:26):
talking about our dogs aboutlife. As they got a little bit
older and didn't see each otherfor a few months. Then it became
an issue. Oh, ghost was veryprotective of the owner. Yeah.
And so we would get close and hewould like bark, Nico, and then
Nico would retaliate. So then wetried on the other sides of the
streets. And then pretty soon itwas like, hey, it just wasn't

(52:47):
gonna be a union anymore. Soit's interesting. But yeah, that
was another one. I ran into anEagle Rock, a little bit older,
and I took a photo as well,white shepherd, and it was just
funny seeing them together. SoI've had those two experiences.

Nice. When Nico will see his own kind. Yeah,
like, Hey, I know you sure youlook familiar?

And it's true when you see someone or someone
sees us with a white Shepherd.
They feel like they know you,right? Oh my gosh, what the heck
are black? There's a blacksheep. In fact,

I haven't even seen a black Shepherd I've seen

a little more menacing. There's the black and
tan like the red tinted. Yes.
But we were driving I want tosay back either to Florida are
from Florida. No, we had to begoing to Florida. And it's a
rest stop. Typical restaurant,lots of grass. I like those
areas. You feel safe and, andthere was a state trooper. I
forget what state he was from itwas on that drive. And he comes

(53:43):
roaring up and they look prettytough. You know, they get the
hats on. And they're like, nononsense. You know, he sees Nico
and he pulls over. He's like,That's a good looking dog. And
he was sharing about how theyhave a black Shepherd and how
the two would look greattogether so he could just win
over anybody Nice.

Making Friends with the popo, you're so

proud of them those moments because like, hey,
ya know, he's great dog. Andthey could just tell by his
demeanor, you know, he's sodistinguished and it was like,
oh, yeah, and you just you bondfor a moment. It's very
pleasant. I gotta say, I'm notgonna have that conversation.
Otherwise, no, you know, it'sreally special. No,

most likely not.
So,

those are some fun stories. Some interesting
things about Nico the dog andfunny things and everyone can
relate to probably. But then howthings pivoted. I would say,
yeah, well hang up before I getto that. His health was always
top notch. You didn't have toworry about much. He'd sprain a
Paul sometimes one time he wascatching a Frisbee in the yard

(54:45):
and that valley with a hugebackyard had a couple of ceramic
deers off on the side. Well, onetime he caught a Frisbee really
high. I was like, Oh, that's alittle too close. And he like
his paw hit the ceramic beer.
And he had like a light springand a day later he's fine or he
would cut in the yard becausehe's no strong he could like cut
jump. And it's like equivalentto like spraining a paw. Yeah,
there was a few times he hurtone. And like three months

(55:08):
later, he's hurt the same one.
And so he was always in shape.
But I had to get a few poundsoff because he was 120. He could
handle it. Yeah. But for thattype of mobility and jumping,
that was like, get him closer to100. He might be less stress on
a couple of these joints. Sure.
So we did. I did that. And itwas fine. So really beyond that.

(55:29):
It was like this guy's likeBrody cruising along. Just the
littlest thing, get your shots.
On the one time we were in thevalley. I had coffee and we're
going to a park. And all sudden,he yelled really loud. I was
like, What the heck, really loudand stopped and he was fine. But
he got shocked. There was likethis sign and it had an open
wire. And he must have touchedit. Yeah, I could not believe

(55:52):
this out. He walked up next toit. All of a sudden he did that.
He's shocked for a second. Hewas fine. I called security.
They came over and said, Oh mygosh, this was never patched up.
We went to the vet. They're likehe's fine. It was just probably
a shock. And they covered thefee. But that could have been
worse. Had he been a little doga little like accessory dog or

(56:14):
both? Well, I don't know howcharged that was. Yeah. And
those guys are like, they wereso afraid to touch it. Like I'm
not touching that man. He He's atough dog. And he you know, he
barked for a few seconds andsquealed. I was like, oh so mad,
but he was fine. So he's a toughguy. Now cut two are coming home
from Florida. So that's thisyear, we get back mid Feb. And

(56:38):
I'm looking at him because I'malways looking at him, you know,
petting him caring for him andhe's laying on the floor in the
bedroom and I'll never forget,man his stomach because I also
got a few pounds off him so hecould be more mobile not get
hurt. And I was like, why he'sbeen eating really good. He's
not even a big eater. He eatshis food, he doesn't overeat.

(57:01):
But his stomach started pushingon his stomach, his abdomen
more. And I just felt somethingand he's big and he's slim. So
we'd always go to the vet forappointments and everything it
just kind of went undetected butthere was something in there and
I was like, Okay, we've got toand he's kind of breathing
heavy. Like maybe this isbothering him or maybe he's
running hotter went to the vetand they told me I found out

(57:24):
that it was some sort of tumoror says it was something in
there yeah foreign and we hadgone to same vet not that long
and goes undetected you're notlooking and you can't it's if he
moves it kind of does pivots youknow, but he was laying a
certain way and I found it thenthey went in and so that
recommended I go to a surgeonI'm thinking oh my gosh this is

(57:44):
like becoming complicated and wedon't have we have the normal
pet insurance not like the ifthis happens like he's a super
healthy dog he doesn't haveanything maybe an accident I
have an accident policy or hadan accident policy so we get
this diagnosis that he is thistumor that's good size attached
to some Oregon's and it's apretty extensive and expensive

(58:07):
very expensive surgery and it'slike but doing nothing that
clock is just he's finally nowstarting to feel issues from it
right? Yeah. And they don't knowhow long it's been there. I'm
just like, what's going ondetected so it could have been
several months it could havebeen one year we don't know. But
enough to grow like the size ofa volleyball Yeah, are close to

(58:30):
it. That's big. So he goes inthese people at this clinic or
that Darien hospital areamazing. They they brace you
they give you how much it'sgonna cost when you're talking
like $10,000 to do this andthere's no guarantee he's gonna
walk out of there. Sure, like,let's do it.

You got to do a DNR and everything got to sign a
DNR Yeah, he

had to sign all that stuff. And so they're not
liable. So the surgery was setbrought a man. Well, hang

on. I'm sorry.
Just to be clear, they asked ifyou want to sign a DNR because
when an animal goes for surgery,they're like, well, if anything
happens, should we attempt torevive or not revive?

They would call me and so I put on there like,
within reason. Yeah, right.
Within reason. If they get inthere and realize this tumor is
opened up, it's causing issues,and it's going south call me and
let me know we'll do all we canso it was that type of thing.
They're very commutative. I haveto say that. In the surgery,
they took breaks and called meon speakerphone so we both could

(59:32):
hear it. And it was like, Hey,he's, he's doing good. It's
gonna be tough to cut out claim,but we could do it. Do you want
us to proceed? Or we could juststop now. So I'm up and you can
have a few days with him. But Iwas like, no, go get this thing
out of him because I'm thinkingBrody dealt with something
similar and he was older and itwas really in an area that they

(59:53):
couldn't remove it and it was aslowly took him but 12 years old
He goes not even eight isclosely like seven years and 11
months. So they go in, they getit out, they call back. He's
doing great. You know, we havehim at the hospital, he's given
to stay for a few days and toreattach something so he can pee
properly. They were using acatheter for a few days. So like

(01:00:17):
a day goes by two days go by andand it was so stressful. So just
to know your dog's cross tag,you can't see him, but he made
it through the surgery. So theylet us do a visit. We went and
visited him. And yeah, he justlooked wiped out. But he was so
happy to see us and he wasfreaking out. And they were to
come back and take him on a walka day later, or two days later,

(01:00:39):
if he could pee, he could gohome. That was the thing because
he was on that catheter. Theydon't want to send us home with
that. And he did a little bitand then he came home. And it
was like, like don't play anyfrisbee give him three weeks
just was real light. But thisguy's tough bed is run up the
stairs like I slow down Tiger,slow down Nico, you know no

(01:01:00):
Frisbees. And after three weeks,it was like the hair starts to
grow back in. He wants to playwe're on walks every day. This
was in the rear view. I thoughtwe made it this incredible. They
got it out. Thank you, Doc, thegreat team, he's back are all
good. And then I noticed thistwo months later. So I'm not

(01:01:21):
even thinking about the surgery.
It's like, man, thank God, wehad that behind us. And I
started noticing when I comehome, he comes running
downstairs and he starts like alittle bit of cough like
symptoms. And then it would passwhen he's excited it would
happen. So I call the vet. Andthey're like, well, it could be

(01:01:43):
the cancer coming back. I'mthinking what? Or I'm thinking
it could have been ammonia, likesomething's going on? Well, we
go in to our normal vet, becausethe clinics like, you know,
they're booked and they can'tsee him for a week or something.
So I go into the vet that weknow pretty well. And I'll never
forget this is May 5, and we doX rays. And I'm just thinking,

(01:02:05):
okay, great. It's pneumonia,you're gonna give me some pills?
Route here, right? No problem.
I'm a little concerned becauseyou know, it's a big surgery,
but we find out he has stagefour cancer in the lungs. And
he's got a few days, maybe aweek left. And so if he could
make it that day, and I'm justlike, I get was a lot to hear.
And you know, in that moment,all that cough is much more

(01:02:31):
severe. And they show me the Xrays. And not that I know what
I'm really looking at, but theyexplain it. Here's normal lungs,
and here's what this is goingon. And it had just spread
everywhere. So maybe taking outthat foreign body was great. But
it had metastasized. And it wasa cancerous cell and it just

Sal Rodriguez (01:02:54):
spread. That's what I was gonna say. So the
tumor was connected. It wasn'tjust coincidental.

Jason Connell (01:02:59):
No, not coincidental. And I knew that
they told us that it had cancer,but it's like, you know, I
didn't want to introduce chemo.
And they're like, yeah, that canbe a mixed thing. And even the
vet was like, Hey, we got thisthing out of him. He lived with
it for what maybe six months,nine months, 12 months. We don't
know. He's strong. We got itout. We bought him some time.
And that's what we're all justbuying them some time. I had no

(01:03:20):
idea in two months, they couldcome back in that form. And
just, I was just numb. Iremember walking out of the vet
to see him and I just think inand so it's like, that guy that
I saw post surgery never cameback. He was there but not the
energy. He'd have in littlebursts like not like him. He'd

(01:03:42):
run one lap in the yard. Andthen just kind of be like, it's
it's taken its toll. And he'sfighting it, but it was I just
never have seen that Brody. Itwas a slow decline. As he got
older, Neko, it's like night andday. Oh, here's this thing. And
it's gone crazy in a system. Andhe fought it and fought it and

(01:04:03):
fought it. And then it juststarted to get the best of him.
So it's almost like getting thatdiagnosis for me. That was May
fifth. Okay, so cut to his lastnight. May 10. Okay, May 10, the
night before we lose him. I'mpetting him. And literally while
I'm petting him, he's kind ofhe's really has a hard time

(01:04:27):
breathing now. It's like, it ishere. And he started to kind of
make these whimpering noises alittle bit. It's like, oh my
gosh, it's like 11 at night andI have my other hand is looking
up places for dog euthanasiaservices. I'd never even done
that before. Yeah, because BrodyI didn't mention this. Died in
the middle of the night. At thefoot of the bed. I was on a

(01:04:52):
trip. He was with me inMinnesota and passed away very
gracefully. I heard himbreathing really heavy and I
petted him. And then he passedSo it was there. I didn't have
to call anybody. Right. So Miko,I'm thinking he's younger, he
can fight this thing. But thisis a fight that he can't win. So
I'm struggling with like, who doI call? How do you I was a

(01:05:14):
little distraught. So I went tobed, and I was gonna call, or I
did get a hold of the vet. Andhe told me a wonderful place
that he had used before. So myplan, May 11, the next day was,
which is a Wednesday was to dothis work I had to do. I had to
go record two episodes of justcurious media's podcast, one of

(01:05:37):
Let's Talk movies. And one let'stalk Cobra guy, you didn't make
that one. It was with DarylMadol. So I go to the remote
studio because I had to recordit during the day, not at night.
And the plan was to come homeafter these two early
recordings, pick Nikko uptakenwith a grocery store to get him
a cooked rotisserie chickenbreasts, which he loved. And by
now we're just giving him evenbetter food. Sure, you know, he

(01:05:58):
always had like the highest enddog food. But now it's like,
Hey, this is a lot more humanfood. And the planet was taken
to do that. And check him likewatch him, see where he's at and
then plan this service, which Iwas struggling with. And so he
was like, Wait, that soon. Hecan't make his birthday. And I

(01:06:20):
was like, I know this guy. Iwatch him every day. This is not
good. Yeah, this is gonna haveto be today, or Thursday or
Friday, if we're lucky. So thenI patted him, he's outside
because that sounds a littlecooler. I said goodbye. I gotten
the jeep. I looked up. He'dalready gone to the back fence

(01:06:42):
to see me get in the jeep.
Right. And I was like, I'll beright back. I love you. And
that's the last time I ever sawhim alive.

But I mean, I'm sorry. Specifically, how did it
happen? Well,

I leave Yes.
Okay. Yes. And I'm off doingthat for about two and a half
hours. Yes. During that time,Sophia was still she was working
from home that day and and shewent outside because it was a
nice day, played ball with him.
And he's barely moving filmed.
It happened to film theirplaytime, which I'm very
thankful for. Yeah. Also, I havemy own guilt, which I'll talk

(01:07:18):
about. But they're playing inthe backyard that she goes back
inside for a meeting like a Zoommeeting. And then she calls me
cuz she's like, Hey, I justpeeked outside to the window
didn't see Nico, did you comeget him to take him to go to the
grocery store? And I like No,no, no. The recording just
ended. I'm literally packing thegear and I'm coming home now to

(01:07:40):
get him. And she's like, Okay,on the phone with me. She then
walks down goes outside. She'slike, I don't see him. Oh, here
he is. And then she's quiet fora second. And then she says he's
gone. And I'm thinking whileshe's looking at him, and then
of course it hits you in asecond like, and you can hear

(01:08:01):
her the vibrations. And so shediscovered him he had actually
passed away in a spot in thebackyard, little very
distinguished out of the way.
After they had played heprobably hung out for a while
and then just he just passedaway, gracefully. Yeah, I'm on

(01:08:24):
the phone with her getting thisin town. This thinking. I'll
never forget. I'm packing up thestudio. I'm alone, thank God.
But it's that same feeling I hadwhen I lost Brody. Yeah, it was
just like overwhelming. Youknow, it's coming. You know,
it's coming. And no, it'scoming. But then it's just gone.
Yeah. Emotional and I'm crying.
I can't even pack my gear up.

(01:08:48):
And I go tell them at thestudio. Like, hey, this just
happened. My dog just passedaway off to come back and pack
my gear up. And they're like,Oh, my, of course, you know,
whatever. We'll be waiting foryou. And I go outside and I I
get my car and I I can't evendrive. I'm really just not in a
good place. And I tried to callSophia back but her phone was

(01:09:10):
dead. So so I just know it'slike she's there. She is only
like a mile away. So but my momwas happier wasn't driving in
the moment. Yeah. So I kind oflike sat there for a minute or
two. And said, I better just goget my stuff. Now. Take me five
minutes. I don't want to comeback here. So I went in, thank
them, got the staff drove homesafely. And went in the backyard

(01:09:35):
and she was with him and sittingthere. It was very emotional to
see him in that state. Yeah,they look peaceful, at least
very much. It was so shocking.
He was laying the same directionthat Brody was almost is eerie,
how peaceful. He looked. And itwas still very warm. And I mean
it was it was a lot and I laidthere and held him and she took

(01:09:59):
Some photos of me and himtogether. Yeah. And it's as much
as you know, it's coming. And asmuch as I was about to make that
call, here it is, he's gone. Andit's the way to that is
something that you you can neverreally planned for. It was
intense. And I felt guilt.

That's why I was gonna say you mentioned the
guilt, is it but you felt guiltfor leaving and going to the
studio?

Yeah, of course.
Because most days I'm there andI would have paid anything to
have him. Or if he's gonna go, Iwish I was there in that moment.
It would have been tougher. Butyeah, I feel like he probably
wanted me there. Maybe hedidn't, I'm projecting. But I
had guilt with that.

I believe that traditionally, you know, without
human intervention, animals,especially dogs, and we have
this happen when I was growingup, especially because we had a
backyard, the dogs would go off.
And that's what they do. Theydon't necessarily want the pomp
and circumstance that we want.
That's right, they go off andthey and I've even seen them

(01:11:04):
dig, dig a little bit, dig alittle bit, lay down and go off.

He went behind the garage to it. I don't think
I've ever seen him lay there.
Which is shocking to me. So outof sight from the windows, never
a spot where you would seebecause he was always watching
us from the backyard. Yeah, hewent to a spot or so I'm playing
in my head and birdie wasactually inside. So we didn't
have an option. You know, hejust expired. So I did have

(01:11:31):
guilt. And I had a lot ofsadness from that. And I'm sure
it'll dissipate and all the goodmemories. I have, like, I just
went through some of them. Butthere's so many more will
replace that. And I feel evenless guilty today than I did for
the first week. It's been twoweeks now. But every once a

(01:11:52):
while it hits you hard, like ohmy god, just one more Walker.
Yeah, or that ride. I was gonnatake him on McChicken one more
ride. I'm thinking like, wow,the last ride we went on was
that, I guess it was Fridaynight or Saturday night. We went
for a ride around town because Icould just tell he wasn't

(01:12:13):
feeling very well. And I thoughtit was going to pass away on
Saturday night. He actually madeit, you know, the Wednesday but
yeah, it was really tough. Andthen it's like, oh, now what did
we do? I don't have a vet that'snearby, the closest vet we never
got into they have a longwaiting list. It's already like,
Wednesday, 430 things areclosing. I'm calling some

(01:12:37):
cremation places. And I'm noteven I don't have my wits about
me. It was really tricky. Butthen it's like, like all things,
it opens up this vet down thestreet, which is great. They're
like, Oh my god, we're so sorry.
You weren't even our patient,but we want to help you because
we were going to be on thewaiting list. And so they they

(01:12:59):
said if you can bring Nico here,we can put him in this facility.
And then we call it thecremation place who are
fantastic. And they said, we'llpick him up there. And then
we'll do everything and get youhis ashes. And that was really
beautiful. And it was also nicethat I although I was a little
worried about this, but I muchlike Brody. I with the help of

(01:13:21):
this person from the crematoriumat the time helped me load Brody
up and I drove him to the placeand then they took Brody and
they so it was almost the samething. It was myself and Sophia
helped a little. But I pickedNico up and put him in the back
of the Jeep for that one lastride. And it was a that was kind
of special actually,

how long from the house

to the crib. It's only like a five minute drive.
No, he just went to the vet. Andthe vet would take him to the
they know they would put him intheir facilities by like a
morgue. Yeah, people. It's builtfor that. And then they came by
and picked him up the way theydo with them, the protocols and
such. But that ride was reallyspecial for Sophia. And I know
we got out and stood over in theback of the Jeep until they

(01:14:06):
finally came out and took himaway. And that was it was
beautiful. How it went down.
Yeah, it's tough is it is it waslike that couldn't have been any
more beautiful. And in fact, thecrematorium was fantastic. And
he's usually on the mantel. Butright here to my right is the
beautiful bamboo box that Nikkoashes are in and at some point I

(01:14:27):
will sprinkle some about inplaces that he loved. And
backyard all the walks we driveacross the country. I'm sure
Sophie and I will do trips andplaces he's been and maybe some
beautiful places and then justkeep some of the ashes as well
like I've done with Brody. Andin fact a beautiful thing is

(01:14:48):
when you're subscribing todifferent dog places this that
and the other I'm I've been withchewy for a while and chewy
because I just gotten somemedicine that showed up
literally the De he passed awayand I called them and said, I
haven't even opened the box. Butthis happened. So can you take
it back and then don't worry,this gift it to someone
veterinarian or some sort ofshelter. And they gave me the

(01:15:12):
refund, which is beautiful. Andthen a few days later those
flowers showed up, which wasincredibly touching. Sunflowers
are nice, beautiful arrangement.

And by the way, we are not endorsed by chewy. So
this is an extra special shoutout to a company like this that
goes above and beyond.

They do they really do. And they said, We're
so sorry to hear of your loss ofNico and our hearts go out to
you. We know this time is tough.
And we're always here if youneed anything love Stephanie
from chewy. So thank you,Stephanie. Very touching, very
switched in my eyes. And it wasyou couldn't ask for anything
better. And it does help withthe grieving and making things

(01:15:52):
just a little bit easier. Sure.
Right and thoughtful. And so inthe ashes also helped to because
there was a couple of days thatwere waiting for the ashes and I
wasn't like waiting, but when Igot them so we went out of town
and I've done this to kind ofhelp cope as you talked about
earlier. We went on a trip. Thefirst weekend, we went to

(01:16:13):
Vermont and just tried to getaway because it's just you know,
this is the house that he was inlast year and and then we went
to Maine this last weekend andsaw friends and just tried to
get away. But when we came backfrom Vermont, literally driving
back into town on Monday, thevet called and had the ashes
ready. So we've lost dry by nowpick them up, and it brought

(01:16:35):
some closure, not closure withall the healing. The fact that
he's back home with us. Yeah,it's a finality. Yeah, it was
really beautiful. I felt thesame way with Brody. Brody
passed away in Minnesota, thecrematorium got back to me gave
me the ashes. And then I had todrive across the country back to
California. And he you knowwhat, I left the back of his

(01:16:56):
little bed back there. And I putBrody is ash as well like this.
And it's a little container, bigcontainer on the bed. And he
made that trek back home. Andthat was really special. So that
helped. The deep sadness. Isthere so sure, the holes in my
heart, I mean, the constantreminders. So I have been home

(01:17:17):
during the week, the work weeksgone on the weekends. But I will
get up from my chair, turn mycomputer off or do something and
just anticipate him coming inhere. I mean, they learn your
routines, oh, he's doing thisnow or that or if I open a door,
all the chimes go off from thesecurity that notifications.
He's down there you go outside,you go on the front yard

(01:17:39):
backyard, I keep opening thedoor thinking where's his
footsteps? It's crazy how yourmind can play these tricks on
you. If I bang something, anynoise out of the ordinary would
stir him up. So I'm stillgetting used to that. It's only
been two weeks, I'm sure thatwill remain for a while

getting used to the silence. Absolutely. Right.
I mean, I like I like silence,but not that type of silence
when there's something missing.

Exactly. I found myself staring in the backyard.
He's an indoor dog. But he lovedthe outdoor for playing. And
that represented him more whenthe weather was good or was
snowing. He loved it. But he wasalways inside. But he loved
playing out there. And I findmyself just looking out there
hoping he'll the merge. Youknow, deep down, hoping he will

(01:18:31):
and it's really interesting thatthe backyards also kind of
become an animal sanctuary inthe last two weeks. It's crazy.
Like now the grass is growingagain, because I have footage of
after surgery. It was alwaysBrown and like starting to grow.
And now we're getting grassbecause Massachusetts is a
little behind what I'm used to.
But I've seen these two rabbitsplay back they're constantly
living back there some chipmunksand birds. Now I know he's not

(01:18:55):
back there chasing everybodyoff, but he really had the
problem with the squirrels. Butit's almost as if they sense
something, I don't know. ButI'll go out there and I move
slow and I'm not really in thebackyard that much if I take the
trash out, and I just don't evendisrupt the rabbits. I must
think like it's just like, it'sokay, now, let them just kind of
partake in this and, and Nico'sa part of that. The backyard as

(01:19:18):
long as we live here is gonna bethat now. I'll let them just
kind of live there and a lot ofrabbits in these parts, but it's
kind of special. I don't know. Ifeel something connected to him
when I see them.

Yeah. Becomes enchanted. That's it. Yeah. I
love looking at Little Rabbitsscurry about. They're adorable.
It

really is. I saw these two chipmunks a day that I
had never seen running around bythe trash can on the side of the
garage. Like there's somethingthere. That's really special and
I am embracing his spirit andthe memories. Of course I'm
constantly looking at photos,thinking of him knowing this
episode was coming. And I gottatell you, it's helpful just talk
about Sure. Right? It just isI've talked to Some people this

(01:20:01):
last week in in Maine who aredog lovers, and they heard what
happened. And I just tell them alittle bit and share a couple of
photos. And that helps. But I'vebeen really nervous about this
episode too, because it's like,I don't know how this show's
gonna take. This might be toolong, or it might be too
emotional, but it's healing andit's helping and I hope other
people can get something fromit. And maybe, hopefully, we get

(01:20:23):
more people on and they sharetheir stories, and it helps
them.

Yeah, the word I'm hearing is help. Yeah,
because it's not just Justcurious meat is other shows that
are entertainment in nature,even though they're listed as
after shows. Let's talk CobraKai, listen as an after show.
We're chatting about a show. Soit's fun and entertaining.
Inherently, this is somethingdifferent. And you have
something different now.

Yeah. And we're still figuring out what it is.
And not every episode we do talkabout the origins of the show
Sure, get more streamlined. Butgetting through such a thing is
not an easy task. It's beeneasier to talk about than I
realized, though, because it'shelpful. But

I would imagine all the listeners from just
curious media, on any show, andevery show has been along in the
journey. Every show had itsbeginnings, and then morphs and
becomes what it is. And thiswill be no different. This is
where it starts. This is true.
This is genuine, this is real.
And then where it goes fromhere. Well, it takes on a life

(01:21:23):
of its own is what starts tohappen.

Absolutely.
Absolutely. Well, a lot ofplaces like the crematorium. And
the vet vet also sent me emailsbecause he went to various
events over the years, and I letthem know. And they're very
kind. So there's always that,you know, they've been down this
road. Sure. They're verygracious about it. But I
received and I'm not going toread this, but most people are
familiar with the RainbowBridge. Oh, yes, poem. And so I

(01:21:46):
encourage anyone to go online,Google it, read it, if you will.
But people do like to pass thatalong. I noticed it when I
posted, you know, Nikko past oreven Brody before that someone
will post on that social media,the Rainbow Bridge, and people
find comfort in that show aboutmaybe being reunited with your
last dog, our pet, whatever itmight be. Down the road. Yeah, I

(01:22:10):
don't really subscribe to someof that. But it's a beautiful
sentiment. Sure. And it's alllike good memories, and they're
in a good place. And I do agreewith that. They're in a good
place, whatever that is, and nolonger suffering. Yeah, that's
the key. Yeah. So rather thanread that, because you can find
that online. And before we wrapup, I was just trying to maybe,

(01:22:31):
in my own words, to Nikko, and Icould probably write this 10
times and it will come out 10different ways. And I was trying
to compress it. But I read thisand part of this grieving
package that I was sent fromthis place. They're really
professionals. I gotta say, Iread this pamphlet, I was like,
wow, I am kind of doing this.
I'm actually going to do apodcast. So I was checking the

(01:22:54):
boxes approaching myaggrievement. But it did say
some people write their dog, aletter, their pet a letter. I
was like, wow, yeah, I haven'tdone that. I've do a podcast, I
made a video for Brody that Iposted years ago. So this is
real short and sweet. I wouldsay I'll try to read this. And
maybe it's a nice way to endthese episodes. Again, we're

(01:23:16):
still figuring this show out.
And then we'll wrap it up andwant to do a call out for other
future guests which you can helpme with but here goes nothing.
Nico, I loved you with all myheart. You are a fixture in my
life for nearly eight amazingyears. And in that time, we
shared some of my fondestmemories. You gave me strength

(01:23:36):
when I needed it to handle somemajor life changes, a breakup, a
pandemic moving cross countrytwice, and the whole time never
complaining for a moment. Iwould do absolutely anything to
hold you one more minute to kissyour face. And to take you on

(01:23:56):
one more walk. You were the bestdog I could have ever hoped for.
And I promise you that yourlegacy will live on through me
forever. Thank you for cominginto my life and making it so
much better. I love you, Nico.

(01:24:17):
So short and sweet.

Jason I've never seen the Sadio I never seen the
Sadio

nor have many people.

Well, thank you.
Thank you.

Thank you for helping me get through this. I
think alone I would have wentdown a rabbit hole and never
come out. So ourprofessionalism, our history,
our friendship. helped me kindof go through this not
unattached but more like I needto do this. This is bigger than
me. It helped me It helpedground me that's for sure. Yeah,

(01:24:54):
I would have done 50 takes sell.
Okay, starting stopping. Okay,let's go back to one. Yeah. I
know it because I was preppingthis last couple of days. And
just of course, tears are goingto be shed, you're going to just
sit and reflect. And that's notgoing to translate that well.
Yep. Here I am settingCannatonic and missing. Now I
wanted to share this guy, Nicomeant so much to me. I was also

(01:25:16):
telling a friend the other day,I think that one of his greatest
gifts potentially, and it's kindof happening now. was helping me
connect with the new love of mylife not replacing him but my
new and female my life. And hadshe not take the Nico well, that
wouldn't work. And I almostneeded his strength to help me

(01:25:39):
do something. It's souncomfortable to not only move
my plan was to go to Oklahomaand then go back to Los Angeles.
That's where I've built a homefor 17 years. Yeah, the pandemic
opened up the world and you meetsomeone on a different coast.
And you're like, Well, I mean,things are different now, but
I'm telling you his strength andjust that bond and not really
being alone when you're alonesounds Yeah, you know, it helped

(01:26:03):
me and to see them bond andconnect, it was almost like, I'm
going to be okay. That wasn'this goal in my life. But it's
something he definitely helpedfacilitate. Yeah. And I could
see us even just getting moreand more, we're super connected.
But that connects you even more.
Our bond is even stronger now.
Just going through the surgerieswith Nico, I wasn't alone

(01:26:26):
through that. She was anincredible partner, to me
through that and for him. Andyeah, I really think this whole
thing has a beautiful tail. Butsometimes life is tough man, you
know, and it doesn't always lastas long as they want it to.

No, no, no, you know, if I would ever have you
know, one of those like, whatwould you ask God, like, if I
would ever have a face to facewith God? Why are we so fragile?
Why can we live? You know, giveus 1000 years or something? I
mean, if you look at thetimeline of the Earth, I mean,
we live we you and I humansanimals together. It's just such
a tiny part of that. God, whycouldn't we have had more time?

(01:27:05):
Why wouldn't you make our bodiesmore durable? Right? Why that
will be what I would love theaging

down? You're absolutely right. And think
about dogs think of theiraccelerated timeline. Yes.
What's that all

one year for us?
And what seven years for them?
Yes, is peel that back a little.
Yeah, give us more time.

There is a company in the Bay Area. I
looked them up early on when Iwas looking at doggone and
potential partners orpartnerships. And I looked them
up and they're and they're gonnastart up and they're trying to
slow down the genes and thetimeline or the longevity of
dogs. It's like, good luck.
That's amazing.

I don't want to go into the Sci Fi here, but
some people I feel that theyhave grieving is so difficult or
loss is so difficult. They'regetting their dog's DNA and
trying to replicate. They'retrying to regrow their love
again. I mean, I think that'sstrange. And listen, if you do
it, more power to you. I thinkthat's odd, though.

I can't fault someone for doing it.

They don't want to let go.

You know, if someone could say, Hey, here's a
magic pill and Nico can be backtomorrow. I'm not saying I
wouldn't be interested.

But no, I would say in that instance, it's gonna
be Nick. It's not Nico. It'sNico's genes and DNA, but it's
not Nico.

It's not him.
It's like Pet Cemetery. He comesback. I mean, no, you don't
know. And I don't I wouldn'trisk that the memories are
amazing. This pain, it comes inwaves. That's what I've noticed.
Yeah. I find myself finishingsomething like I'm gonna work on
this. And it's like, hang on, Igo into a trance. And it's a
wave, and it's emotions. And ithas helped me being gone the
last couple of weeks. Not thatI'm trying to avoid it. But I'm

(01:28:39):
also just trying to heal. Yeah.
And this was the plan. Anyway,when the weather gets better, we
explore more of New England.
Nikko was part of the package.
If we were going to Vermont andMaine. He was coming with me. So
I'm just trying to continue ourjourney. But I've been down this
road before, but it's a toughroad. Right? Especially when

(01:29:00):
they go early. It's just I wasthinking, Oh, Nico will meet my
future kids and he won't, but hewill always be such a big part
of my life. Yeah, such animportant part of my life
forever. Forever. I mean, Brodyrepresented a certain time and
you can't change that. It'shistory. It's amazing. And now
Nico's that time and maybe justto talk about this for a second.

(01:29:22):
I am not in a hurry to try toreplace Nico and get a dog to
fill a void. I am going to bewaiting until that time is
right. Yeah. I'm not gonna put atime on it, but it's gonna be a
while. And the time will happenwhen it's right. Yep. And that's
different for everybody.
Absolutely. So I know that thiswas my story, I should say Nico
story our story and a story ofmy wonderful best friend

(01:29:45):
Nicholas Nico Connell whiteGerman Shepherd who recently
passed away but forever left hismark and my life and so Sal I
know we're gonna want or I'mgonna want but I know you
affiliated with Just curiousmedia want to see this show,
continue and prosper. But we'regonna need more people's
stories. Yeah, I

was gonna ask you about that because I think it's
not just that I like it. Oh, Iliked this show. And I liked the
topic, I think it's important. Ithink this is an important thing
for people to look into withinthemselves and to share with
each other. As I said earlier,you know, we share with you you
share with us you share, youqualify as host of the show
after today, right? This is yourstory. And then Episode Two is

(01:30:29):
someone else's story, and wehear their relationship. But
this is your qualification. It'sno different than you walk into
an AAA meeting and say, My nameis Sal. I'm an alcoholic. I'm
qualifying here today. You'requalified here today. The timing
the way this happened? You'vebeen talking about the show for
a long time. This is the timeand I think what you're doing is
good. And I think it'simportant.

Thanks for saying that. And that was never the
plan. I think that may have beenone thing that was I don't know
if it was holding me back. Butit was a concern. It was a
hurdle. Like, I'm going to askyou who I don't know, it'd be on
a show to be super vulnerable.
But I'm a dog lover. Yeah,right. This wasn't my design.
But that's what it felt likethis is that time, if I can do
this, and I can get through thisactually, this whole

(01:31:09):
conversation with you andsharing? Oh, it has been
helping. And I know it, I canfeel it. So I want to help
others now. We'll need morestories. So if you're hearing
this podcast or seeing thesocial media, and you find out
about dog on the dog on podcast,please send us a message you
potentially could be a good fit.

(01:31:31):
Are the tiny might be writemessages on Instagram and
Facebook. We'll talk about thatin a minute and the outro. You
know, ideally, we're looking forpeople that have experienced the
passing of a dog. More recently,there's no special timeline.
Right. Mine's two weeks ago.
That may be too soon. For some Iget it. I felt like I had to do
it now. But we're probably notgoing to go out and try to book

(01:31:55):
guests that have lost a dog 10years ago right now. Yeah. That
memories just a little fresher,a little more relatable for
others who are going through itat that stage. I think that's
kind of the plan. There alwayscould be more I could do an
episode abroad. And you could doone on your first dog or the dog
before Sure. But right now, Ithink that's what I'm focused.
Yeah. And we'll see where thatgoes. Yeah.

And right now, you know, this is what I think
about to someone listens to it.
Who is going through the samething? Totally. They know
exactly how you feel becausethey're in it along with you.

Yeah. And I know, we didn't talk about one thing
earlier and just add it herethat I didn't have to go through
with the euthanasia service Iwas going to, and I've read
that. Had I done that. There's awhole other level of guilt that
comes with Oh, yeah, sure.
People are dealing with thatnow. And I'm here to say that my
plan was to do that. Yeah.

(01:32:51):
Because if your dog is facingjust, they're struggling,
they're suffering. You see it,you know them. Yeah. You know,
your creatures. Yeah. Very well,very intimately. I was going to
ease that pain. He just made iteasier on me in some respects.
Sure. And just expired withoutme doing that, but I could see

(01:33:13):
how that would be anothergrieving point. And we'll
probably have some people on whoare struggling with that. And
again, I don't have the answers,but talking and sharing can help
in that. Yeah, there's that Imeant to say that earlier. So I
at least wanted to add

that No, you're right though. And that's one of
the facets of this whole thingis like you say the name of the
show dog gone we've talked aboutthe dog now let's talk about the
God and the God is how are youdealing with that? How are we
dealing with that? The thingsyou have to deal with? Like
having guilt? Yeah, what if youhave to euthanize your dog and
yeah, that may affect peopledifferently. That's not an easy
choice to make. It's not an easything to do. And it's not an

(01:33:47):
easy thing to recover from it'sit's almost like a secondary
recovery needs to take placewith that alone, so yeah,
there's a lot to unpack here andthis is only the beginning. So I
don't think you should feelpressured. Jason did not cover
everything on the first episode.
Believe me, there's gonna be allkinds of stuff, which we
probably haven't even thought ofyet.

I don't have the answers I hope to learn on this
journey. And listen, you and Iare weren't the world's best
podcasters for let's talk CobraKai episode one not that we're
the world's best now but weimprove we learned it I thought
we were pretty good out of thegate Yeah, but we learned what
it was how to do episodes how tostructure it how to come back

(01:34:26):
every week with the same energyand so all that's important
right? Well I want to learn frommyself and others and one thing
I'm gonna do I was thinkingabout this the other day I'm
probably going to keep hisInstagram account going sure and
share I was so many photos Inever got around to posting and
not like daily but having justsome things come out and
continue to share Nico kind ofbeing the spokesperson but a

(01:34:49):
participant an honor re ondoggone and I do want to keep
that presence going at least inthe interim, at least for now.
So I think I can honor him that

way. No, no, I like keeping the memory alive. I
have loved ones, whether twolegged or four legged. I love
the movie Coco. And the movieCoco talks about when we forget
our ancestors is when they'rereally gone. As long as you
remember them. You keep theirmemory alive. They are alive.
You know. So think about Nico,remember him look at his

(01:35:19):
pictures. I'm a big fan of thatkeep his memory life.

Well, that's all I have. So I can't thank you
enough for going on this journeywith me. First episode of
doggone. Couldn't have done thiswithout you.

Thank you, Jason.
It's been a pleasure and anhonor and, um, besides myself
that you would even have me onhere, you know, I didn't need
quote unquote, need to be here.
So thank you for thinking of me.
And believe me, hey, people thatare grieving animals, dogs, any
animal, I can relate. Believeme, I've been there. I've been
there. So my hearts go out toall of you. Rest in peace, Nico,
and my condolences Jason to youand Sophia.

Thank you. And I was about to say rest in peace.
Nikka. Throw that in there. Sothank you for doing that. So
thank you so much for listening.
And please be sure to subscribeto the dog on podcast as well as
the doggone YouTube LiveChannel. You can also really
help us by giving the show afive star rating on Apple
podcast. And for all youlisteners that enjoy sharing

(01:36:16):
your thoughts. You can leave usa review on Apple podcast, send
us a direct message or post acomment on any doggone social
media platform. We also highlyrecommend checking out our other
podcast and visiting justcurious media.com

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Nikolaus “Niko” Connell (White German Shepherd) - w/Jason Connell

Episode Transcript

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Nikolaus “Niko” Connell (White German Shepherd) - w/Jason Connell