Drago: Villain in "Rocky IV", Hero Here!

Drago is a BIG lab name after Ivan Drago of Rocky IV fame who does customized design work on the house, steals the blankets and loves BIG. His mom and I also had great conversation about the important role dogs play in our families and some heeler chat too.

Episode Transcript

Unknown (00:00):
Hey.

(00:02):
Hey, welcome to Happy Tales ofHappy Tails, the podcast where
you'll hear stories of the waypups have touched our hearts and
our lives. So for the next fewminutes, let everything else go
and just listen and smile. I'myour host, Julie Jackson.
Hi friends and welcome back.
This week, I'm sharing with youa conversation I had with my

(00:24):
friend Phedra. Phedra and Iactually met through a dog group
on Facebook that she moderatesthat's dedicated to Australian
cattle dogs or Blue Heelers. Sowe have that in common our love
of that breed. But as you'llhear, Phedra has a long history
with many different dog breeds,and also just many different

(00:49):
animals. She's very, veryknowledgeable on all kinds of
traits of breeds. And thisconversation was so great,
because even though we've nevereven met in person, I just love
how when you connect onsomething that you're passionate
about. And of course, in thiscase, I assume it's dogs for
everyone, you can just reallyclick and the conversations just
flow, you immediately discoverdifferent things that that you

(01:12):
have in common or that you canappreciate or understand. And I
one thing I just really loveabout dog lovers, some people
are passionate about rescue,some people are passionate about
specific breeds. Some peoplelove having their dogs on the
furniture, some people don'tallow it, everyone has different
things that is their comfortlevel. But one thing that

(01:35):
everybody shares is their loveof the pups and how those pups
have enriched their lives. Sothank you for joining. It's a
longer conversation this weekthan usual, but I hope that you
will enjoy it and just findthings that you can relate to
and appreciate and that it justhelps to bless your week have a

(01:55):
good one. So I think it's funny,you're like you call the puppies
the floofs and I'm like...
It's a great word well, and seehere, here we go. I see when I
see a new floof.
And originally, I never intendedto use the video. And if you're

(02:16):
cool with it, I might, you know,post some excerpts. But one
reason that I started thinkingit is because like one day I was
talking to someone and all of asudden Barney comes flying in.
And then he leaps over thechairs behind it was like a
whole show going on in it's likeI was doing, I was doing an
interview for work. And it waslike a live stream thing. And

(02:37):
I'm just in there interviewingme because I'm going up. So for
my job, I work at a nonprofitand you know, they're following
my journey getting diagnosedwith arthritis, because Oh, do
you know? So they're recordingme and they're asking me like my
fears and concerns and all thisand the entire time. This one
high drug is assisting Oh, he'sbarking the entire time. And

(02:59):
every time she asked a question,he's just barking away. And I'm
like, Excuse me. This is aboutme right now. Like, thank God,
the audio engineer, he was ableto like go through and like
clean it all up. Because theyuse this for social media stuff.
And I'm like,and you see me while she's
talking? You see me like doinglike a mom is like you shut up,
you know, unmuted. Park, youknow, you see banks hiding him

(03:20):
and rubbing his chest like stopbarking, you know, kind of
thing. And I feel bad becausethey've muted so it's like
really out of context. So itjust looks like I have crazy
eyes going on in the background.
It's funny. I wonder how many,like how many dog people can
watch this and be like, Oh, Iknow what's happening right
there. I know what's going on.
Like, you know, ya know, thatlook? Yes. At work. Um, it's a

(03:42):
privilege to be able to workfrom home sometimes. And so I
get to do it one or two days aweek. And usually they're great
and they just do their thingthey usually crash and that's
why they take their puppy napsand everything's wonderful. Yes,
every now and then No, all of asudden out of the blue they'll
just decide to have like WorldWar Three is going on. And I'm

(04:02):
on a call with say a doctor'soffice or a patient and I
realized I need to start keepingthings on my desk I can throw at
them because yes, they're justout of reach and I'm like why
don't wanna throw a water bottlebecause that's hard and I and so
I need to keep like some ofthose stress levels or something
Yeah, if they're a Koosh ballsfrom back in the era yet oh my

(04:23):
gosh, that would be perfect.
Yeah, and then it always happenswhen I'm not where I can ever do
I think they just like they knowlike Apollo will come and I'll
be on a video call and Apollowill almost always want to come
and like sit like right on mychest like and I'm at my desk
and so he will have to likeliterally like walk over and

(04:44):
like you know lie on me and I'mlike why?
Pleaseknow and I have like a heating
pad on like on the kitchenbecause my offices it kind of
like kitty corner kitchen. It'syou know, you know all
Like in the 70s, they had likethe little nook area for where
the little table was near thekitchen. So that little nook

(05:05):
areas were at my my desk andstuff. See the kitchen behind
me. So the cats have like awhole island area where it's
just heating pad and food. Andthey like lie there most of
times, but sometimes they liketo wrestle in the background. So
I'm on a meeting. And here thecats are like wrestling in the
background. Or they come overand they want to lie on me or
like join me. Or then Dragowants to assist and sometimes he

(05:27):
likes to cram himself underneathmy desk this morning. So my
pound dog and I'm like I have noroom for you. Yeah, and yes and
no room is not something theycomprehend as a smart now, even
the smartest animal they don'tknow that. Yeah, I tell them I'm
like there's no room at the endright now. I am sorry. No room

(05:48):
at the inn does not compute.
Yes, no. We're gonna be righthere. What are you talking? Oh,
yeah, exactly. So. So who areyou going to tell us about
today?
I'm probably Drago because Ihave so many stories about
Drago.
I mean, I don't know where tobegin. I mean, it's just he was

(06:09):
I've done. So I had many manydogs my entire life like I was
raised English bull terriers.
And then we had lots of liketerriers, like Bedlington
Terriers and stuff like that.
Airedales you know, I'm veryfamiliar with bullheaded,
tenacious, stubborn, intelligentanimals. You know, I'm used to
that. And then we went on and wedid Border Collies and standard

(06:29):
poodles, you know, so I've hadlike, you know, when I didn't
rescue so we just did differentbreeds throughout my life.
Before I got this thing, youknow, I had, I thought I Allah
was difficult because I've neverhad a healer before in my entire
life. I didn't want a healerwhen I was fostering. I found
Isla off the side of a road andhighway on Arizona. And I didn't
know what she was. Nobody knewwhat she was. We thought maybe

(06:52):
she was an Aussie mix. She's sostunning to she assumed
beautiful, but she is so like,it's she's still reactive with
the healer bit. So that's thethings I learned. So as I was
like, as she got older, I'mlike, she's less. I'm like,
she's not an Aussie, like herbehavior is not an Aussie it's
not a border collie. What areyou? And finally it like clicked

(07:15):
and like, she's, she's a bluehealer, she, you know, like, I
never had good experience withblue hair was before and so I
had Islaan eyelid taught me a lot. You
know, like a lot. I thought Iknew dogs before, but I like
taught me a lot. And then I cometo find out later. She's heeler
and Chow Chow. Primarily heelerand Chow Chow. So she's like,
double dose of independence,stubborn, difficult, but she's

(07:37):
also the most amazing dog ever.
You know, she's just I love herto pieces. I think because of
her. I'm obsessed with heelers,you know, let's just that's
she's my segway dog. You know,she did that thing. So, you
know, here I am. I have when Imet Greg, I have Isla, you know,
my heeler, chow chow, whatevermix and she's also got like,

(07:57):
Malamute and Husky stuff and arttoo. So she's like a mix. Yes.
And then I have Morgan my agingBorder Collie. And when I met
Greg, he had had avery old Labrador. He was like
15-16 years old use any as areal because he had valley
fever. And, you know, his nosewas all barnacles and everything
and you know, either all bad.

(08:18):
You know, he was half blind, buthe was he was Greg's dog and
Greg adored this dog. So myhusband's a big rocky fan.
Everything rocky everythingSylvester Stallone. So his dog's
name was Sylvester sly. So whensly passed, I promised him that
we would get a Labrador in thefuture. You know, I promise
because that was his heartbreak.
So fast forward two years later,we have house and you know,

(08:41):
Washington, we finally have themeans to get said Labrador for
him. And we hunt for a reputablebreeder, because we want to make
sure it was a healthy breed, youknow, because they the breed can
come with, you know, did on it.
Yeah. So yes, yes. So, we didall of our due diligence, and we

(09:01):
found a breeder and the breed,the breeder had
a dog, you know, a bitch, andshe was going to have puppies.
Well, she gave birth and sheonly had three, which is very
rare for Labradors. It's, youknow, so you only have three.
One of them was this stunningwhite puppy, like, you know, you
know, cream colored like Englishcream is, you know, rare enough,

(09:23):
but this one was like, prettymuch like a polar bear from the
beginning. Greg wanted him butwe were third on the list. There
was like, didn't think we didn'tget him. So we go to get this
puppy, knowing that we have oneof the two boys one Drago and
the other one was like anotherone. So we go and we pick we
have no idea which one we'regetting until we get there.
Because we were not first pick.
We get there. And there's thewhite puppy that my husband

(09:46):
wanted his polar bear puppy. AndI guess they told us the time.
The reason that they didn't pickhim is because he was playing in
his water bowl. And he was veryrambunctious. I'm like always
The puppy got a bigsteer where I'm going with. I do
I do, but keep going. Yeah. Somy husband is obsessed with this

(10:07):
puppy. It's everything he wantsis his heart dog, everything
that drove like he, like, I'venever seen a man more enamored
with a dog in my entire life. Hewas just obsessed with
everything. And the reason hecalled them Drago was again
harkens back to his love ofRocky. So Rocky, I have an
Apollo cat. And I was Apollowhen I rescued him, you know,

(10:30):
and so we have an Apollo you hada sly now we have Drago. Drago
in Rocky for was you know,Yvonne Drago. He was the big
Russian guy. So when we gotbrought we've got Drago and all
of my petshave voices. I'm just gonna be
full disclosure. Here I am thatperson that speaks for my pets.
And so all of my pets have theirown individual voices. And I

(10:51):
speak for all of them. Love, Ithink, yeah. So Drago since he
was baby, had the Russian accentis throngs of people. No, that's
copying the world. No, that'sthat's how we speak for him.
And we got a caller when he wasa baby. My husband went out of
his way to find a person whowould make a caller that had the

(11:12):
little Russian sickle hammer andsickle Yes. Because you know,
this is back in the USSR days,we're not going to. So he had
hammer and sickle on his collarand he was you know, best puppy
in the world. And when we sangfor him, it was the Russian
national anthem to drag us withstruggles people.

(11:33):
This is what we raised.
Now, I mean, the name alone wasforeshadowing, wasn't it?
My dad calls him Putin puppy.
Just to let you know, like,that's, he is.
He used to make me cry. And thereason like I gave that whole

(11:53):
backstory about all the breedsthat had before is to give an
idea of how much experience withdogs I'd had before you know,
yes, I'm very experienced withpuppies very experienced with
very difficult stubborn,intelligent animals. Drugs I
used to make me cry on theconstant like we would we had

(12:15):
them crate trained. We hadeverything we took them to, we
took them to Puppy Obedience.
By the second to last one, theteacher had to take us aside and
ask us not to come back. Becausestruggle was distracting the
other dogs so he was sostubborn, like she couldn't even
deal with them. And she's aprofessional trained like, like

(12:37):
he we even she couldn't dealwith him. He was just so much
dog. And when he was a puppy, wekept him in the spare room
you know, during the day becausewe didn't want to lock them too
much in the crateand we'd come home and it would
just be dreading what the truckwould do in the room

(12:58):
because he was getting too bigfor the crate and so we didn't
want to give him the big bigcrate until you know he got to a
certain point so it was like thein between stage yes
he ripped up and ate all thecarpet and the guest room which
was fine because we were goingto learn model it anyways but it
just kind of sped the timelineup. He customized when he got

(13:19):
older. He customized all thewood trim around the house so
almost every single piece ofwood trim in my house has been
customized by Drago. I have acat right now.
Yeah, hi Apollo may would meankitty. Oh sweet boy. I love that

(13:41):
he customized the customizedjust for you to customize this.
Yeah, my hope chest the cedarHope Chest customized by Drago
the corners. nibbed Yes. Yeah, Ilove this. Mm hmm. I'm glad
somebody loves this because Ididn't. Well, I appreciate your

(14:03):
I appreciate your outlook on it.
I have you know, yes. You haveto it's it made me cry. I mean,
I like I said I used to go tobed crying because he wouldn't
let a slip. He was alwayswhining. He was always just
obnoxious. I mean, but he wasbut as he got older, he became
an amazing amazing dog like iHe's my head I am sorry. Full

(14:25):
disclosure. I swear a lot likehe is my head
I love him, but he drives menuts. But he is my baby boy. And

(14:49):
sorry, I am odd this word here Ihave no idea. No. It's okay. I'm
gonna try to make it familyfriendly.
So I'm silent now thatwe put out yes fine all right.
No Either way though cuz we'regood cuz either way yeah. Um so

(15:12):
yeah he's just he's a big jerkydog so that was my story of him
growing up now now um when hewas you know like other dogs
like he you know they have theirstuffy stage where they go

(15:35):
through to destroy all the stuffis in the world that thing can
survivehe has certain ones that are has
babiesso he takes like certain stuff
peas that like we have one wecall pumpkin bear which is

(16:00):
basically likelooks like a Labrador dressed up
in a pumpkin outfit.
And he said pumpkin bear sincehe was a baby, and that's one of
the like, one of the few thathas carried over since he was

(16:25):
baby is he suckles onzero very, very, you were here
you have this dog. Who isnothing but trouble. He's
suckles on his babies.

(16:48):
Well, and funny too, becausewhen they do all those, like we
say bad things, or whatever,it's, you know, it usually is no
reflection of their personalityat all. As far as like, they're,
you know, they're usually stillso sweet and affectionate. Or

(17:17):
busy or mischievous.
Or yeah, yes. Yeah, exactly. AndI know that you know, things can
we easily director of her hamone of the big things because he

(17:37):
is a lot but I've never had alab so I'm still learning. Like,
I've never had a job that I didwas called I call it a recce of
love.
So aggressive love but I let inthe morning she'll come and

(18:02):
she'll greet me she gives mekisses and she you know she
called see known that's herthing you know when I Allah
wants attention she's getcertain when she's done she
moves on you know, I thinkthat's very healer like thing

(18:23):
they want their attention onthey want it and then they're
done. They move on. They dotheir own thing.
Fromone job Oh, one tension. You
have 120 pound Labrador all upin your face. And he does this
thing where he takes a big hugeknob ahead and he loves Jesus

(18:56):
loses thewiggles his whole body but
presses the kids. Geez, what areyou doing? And then he comes
over and he washes you and it'svery like, I am loving you

(19:19):
love me, you know and I'm justlike, it's it's just like in
your face. And I found outOh, that's normal. That's a lot.
That's that's normal like II'm learning this aggressive
love.

(19:44):
I'm learning that.
I will go to sleep and I willhave this dog that comes up or
cuddles and he will like crossmy chest and I will have 100
squat a poundwould he call my go weighted
blanket? Like?

(20:09):
Yeah, no. Three names. That's myson.
Um, you know,and I get used it's, you know,
he steals blankets like I'venever had a jogger still. Let's
talk like it as much as this onedoes the He's terrible. My

(20:32):
husband loves him slipping inme. I'm like,
Give me space. You know, like,because it goes.
Pushes, you know, it's it'stypical, but yeah,

(20:54):
you're hanging off the side ofthe bed shivering is Drago has
all the blankets.
Greg like,trouble can do no wrong. Drago
can take off his blankets andgray walls. So be like,

(21:21):
it's okay. He's comfortable. Youknow, I got lamb was like good
and bad. You know? I'm freezing.
I guess. You know, like, justget him off the bat. You know,
maybe he'll come back. Likedon't disturb him. He's sleep.
easiness you know, I tease Rickymy husband all the time. I was
like, one day I hope you talk tome like you talk to the dog.

(21:46):
And it's funny because he's thesame way with he's he's a self
professed, like dog person whenI first met my husband, like he
tolerated cats, but he wasn't acat person. So when we went and
we rescued Mila, I told him Iwas getting a kitten, you know,
we I am not a single cat person.
Like I have Apollo. But he needsanother cat friend like me is
another one. So he was like, Ah,so we went to the Humane

(22:09):
Society. And we got we went togo pick up this kitten. And I
was going to choose this onefloofy little tabby. And he's
like, whatever. And he goes overyou see this little kitten in
the corner. She's in a cage andshe's batting through the cage.
And he's like, you know, pokinghis finger and she's batting and
next thing I know, we come homewith that kitten. That's the one
that Greg chose.

(22:33):
And so Greg had never had a kitand so it was just like, you
know, raising with that. So tothis date when we when he got
Mila it was we have to get a cattoy for Mila. We have to do this
for Mila. So yes. You know, it'sit's funny because he has to get
the finest things for Mila arethe finest things for Drago. But

(22:54):
it's like, oh, Apollo and youknow, ilm, whatever, we'll just
go whatever. But it just cracksme up. It's just like, you know,
like there's secondary. But it'sbabies are like first come first
serve everything. Soyeah, it was funny because I had
our healers before Ricky and Istarted dating. And I had three
at the time that just we lost alittle Roscoe in November. But

(23:19):
so it was so funny though,because Eleanor, Eleanor and
Lily are our seniors and theirlittermates. And Eleanor, we
call her the office manager.
She's always very serious. Andshe's the one that keeps
everything. Like if if it startsgetting out of control, she
shuts it down. So she's Andrewon the office. That's that's her
like, kind of Yes, yes, exactly.

(23:42):
And only she's probably notquite as well. So tightly.
You've kind of got Yes, yes, butvery, very serious all the time.
And I don't know if you everwatched the I guess it was from
the 2000s Phineas and Ferb. Idon't know if you ever saw the
cartoon. Yeah. Perry thePlatypus. That's always like

(24:03):
very stoic, but has the one lazyeye. That's her. She has the the
lazy eye and who you know, andwe even joke, we'll call her
agent II. Because whenever she'sdone, she'll just retreat to
wherever and you know how theywould always be like, where's
Perry? And he'd be off beingAgent P. So we'd be like,
where's Eleanor? And we're like,oh, she's agent II right now.
But it was so funny because shewalked up to Ricky, the very

(24:24):
first time He came over, andimmediately sat down and just
stared him down. And then shejust put her paw up on his leg.
And like, yes, and from thatmoment on, and so then it was
funny because, you know, thenonce we married and he moved in
here, and every night when we goto bed, even though she's very
serious. She's not highlydramatic like healers can be.

(24:47):
She hops up next to my bed everynight, every night and she flops
across his chest. Oh my sir.
It's like Miss Piggy. SomethingMiss Piggy would do in the
Muppet. Oh, and so we call her?
Yes, it's very true.
Have you ever seen it forheelers? That's extremely
dramatic like that's not normal?
Yes, I guess I'm envious like Iused to mock the heeler page
people who have like their dogsand like you know can flip them

(25:09):
over on their back and cuddlethem and I'm like why would you
do that with a velociraptor likewell no no raw people yes Roscoe
would do that Roscoe love to getup and he loved to lay on his
back and our arms and now hewould never he was small. He was
a tiny healer but he would neverlet us pick him up because in

(25:29):
his mind he was not a tinyhealer and you don't go picking
up big dogsbut yeah, super snuggly and
everything but these two they ofcourse very healer always want
to be there. But it was so funnybecause of course even though
they were here before RickyRicky Of course now how can he
resist that when they you know,just so especially l&r, so

(25:51):
obviously is like you're myperson. You know, you're my love
for that. I mean, I let one it'sfunny because Morgan immediately
loved Greg like that. Morganclaimed Greg as his like, he
became his guest and it wasfunny. Like I had this is my dog
same it was mine my baby like mysoul puppy like he helped me

(26:15):
through like, like when I brohad a really nasty breakup
before I met Greg, and like Iwas very very depressed and I
got Morgan Morgan helped methrough like he was mine. Yes,
one look at Greg he's likeyour mind your mind like and I
and I was just chopped liver myIsla however my eyelids sky. She
she actually grow but him thefirst time

(26:44):
you know, but But ya know, butshe she still gives her the
betrayal. Because when Dad comesover, and Dad wants attention,
she just she flirts.
flirts and cracks me up just hada little tail. You know?

(27:08):
They're so sweet. Yeah, graders.
I have said that too. I've beenlike little Benedict Arnold's.
Yes. Yeah. And all of Roscoe toRoscoe became Ricky would call
him his wing man. And, you know,you may know him from Facebook,
but Roscoe only had three legs.

(27:28):
And he had the face of a babyseal. And he had a little
underbite. And so he could dowhatever he wanted. He was just
cute. Yeah, yes, he could dowhatever. And he actually now
when he was a puppy, he waspretty precocious and
mischievous. But he you know, ashe grew up, he was such a good
dog, too. But yeah, so dramatic.
He very athletic, very capable,very fast, great jumper, it was

(27:55):
one of his hind legs that wasmissing, and did not stop him at
all. But boy, if he did not gethis way, you could suddenly hear
Sarah McLachlan in thebackground. And the lamp would
be so heavy and heavy limp, andhe'd get to the door. And then
he would turn and look to makesure that everyone was watching.

(28:16):
And then he would heavy limp outof the room. So and it was so
funny. And so I used to teaseRicky and I said because Ricky
would say that's my wing man. Healways referred to to Roscoe is
his wing man. And I used to tellhim, If I ever see the two of
you leaving the house withoutme, then I know that you are out
to cheat. Because he is a chickmagnet. Zed you have? No there's

(28:40):
no way you could go out of thishouse with him without
attracting underbite Yeah, yes.
Yes. Always. So that was alwaysthe joke. But he immediately
took to Ricky to he, but he hewould still just like now, you
know, they they all adore him.
But I came up here and thehealers came with me. Yeah. Same

(29:02):
with me because my husband hegets like a little little
butthurt sometimes because Iwork from home. And ever since
pandemic I've pretty much beenhome with the animals. So
you know, and when that happenedDragon was about like one and a
half two years old. So he's beenwith me pretty much every day

(29:22):
and he's of course he's barkingright now. He's been with me and
I've always been with me almostevery single day you know like
there that's so we have our ownpecking order for sure because
yes, it's mom you know I have towork so you know, we all figure
this out and it's funny becauseGreg comes home and dribble
loves Greg like drug was likestill his dog but he listens to

(29:45):
me more. Oh, right. Because youknow, I I've established it you
know, like this is I have to sohe looks at Greg Moore's like a
toy. I tell him that like he'sGreg toy you know he comes home
and look as they runSo on the ground, they put it
together and do all that, youknow, he gets drugged with every
once. But you know with me, it'slike this mom, you have to

(30:06):
listen to mom. And so I thinksometimes the husband gets
jealous because struggle willcome over and cuddle with me
more and stuff because that'swhat we do sometimes, like
during, you know, for a break,I'll have my coffee or something
and I'll sit in the couch withthem and they come snugs you
know, whatever, lunch, so, andwhen I tell them to shut up,
like he listens, so It cracks meup because everyone thinks that

(30:29):
when a dog gets to be an adult,you know, because puppies sleep
a lot, right? Everyone, youknow, that's just normal.
They're toddlers, puppies,sleepless. But people forget
that even adult dogs need sleepa lot. It's very, very normal
for adult dogs to sleep even,you know, herding breeds like
they will do their job, butthey'd still be asleep. Yes,
Drago does not get a nap. He islike an overgrown toddler and he

(30:51):
will throw temper tantrums.
And there'll be times where he'sthrowing a temper tantrum. And
he won't respond to the normallike, you know, people say to
ignore it, that doesn't work.
People will say to do X y&zdoesn't work. I've been like,
single training thing that youcan tell me to do. I've done it
doesn't work with him. So what Ihave to do is I have to raise my

(31:13):
voice and mom voice and get realsnarly with him. And then he
looks at you like like,nobody wants you here. Go take a
nap. You know, go lay down likenobody likes you right now. And
he'll look at you likewhy would you

(31:34):
do what rightly Roscoe thing hewill take himself very
dramatically from the room. Andyou know, when he goes in, he
puts himself to bed in thebedroom and takes a nap in the
bedroom. But if he's feelingvery dramatic, he will go into
the hallway. You can hear himcollapse.
You know, I'd love to collapsethe heavy side.

(31:57):
It reminds me in many ways ofNapoleon Dynamite.
So that is my dog just sodramatic. Everything's terrible
like my life is awful. Like justyou know, why don't you love me?
galley stop barkinghe's like you're talking about

(32:18):
doing this is what he was doingwhere my interview just barking
non stop. There's no reason forhim to bark. He's gotten potty.
He's had treats. He's justsorry. Nope.
Are you done?
Ah, that's that's her biscuit.
You leave it alone. Oh, this isanother thing. Nobody taught me

(32:38):
about labs. They throw tempertantrums if there's food. Like
if he sees Isla has a trait andshe hasn't eaten it like because
she doesn't eat it immediately.
Shouldn't she like wait,sometimes, you know,
he will throw a meltdown. Ifthere's something on the ground
and he wants to get it like aphone a treat or something and
she's just buy it pay can't gethe throws a meltdown over it.

(33:02):
And the net my people Mike.
Okay, so another quick storyabout Rob. He.
I call him my savant because hewill act like he will act like
an idiot 90% of the time, likejust like some think there's
something going on up there. Butit's not quite computing. Like
he just he's special. You know,you just Yes. However, if food

(33:25):
is involved, all the sudden heis just like Stephen Hawking
puppy. He will figure outequations like okay, so he will
pleaseOh, oh. Oh, like he's been a
puppy calculus over here liketrying to figure out like how
can I get my sister's food youknow, without her knowing. So he
will go to the door and he willbark we can use to go outside to
go potty. And so whenever theygo outside, I always ask I

(33:48):
really do want to go with him.
You know want to go potty. And Iwill of course be my good girl.
abandon her food and come withme to go potty. Well, Drago will
double back and then go overreally quick and run run over
sneaky to the thing and eat herfood as quickly as possible and

(34:08):
I have to run from the door overintercept. Go to touch her dip.
And he's a lap so they will Ciaobut he's gonna slow Peter for a
reason. I never I again.
Labradors. Yes, volume and whichthey inhale food. And he knows

(34:30):
because I was you know thehealer and Chatto
Are you my buddy?
So he knows, he knows because ifI LS sees him because the healer
she will go after him. You knowlike i are the healer but like
people don't talk about whenthey go they go they're like

(34:51):
cobras they will strike andthey're merciless. Yeah, yeah,
yes. So I had a yellow lightAB named Daisy, that lived to be
16. And yes, she let's see lasther probably it's probably been
about six years now. And I usedto laugh because so stubborn.
And so that year, peopleprobably thought it was a little

(35:17):
bit morbid bit, they would sayhow old is she? And I was like,
well, she's 16. I suspect thatthis year, she's either gonna
pass away or get her driver'slicense. Because she was so
independent and so stubborn. Andshe would just do whatever. And
she would, up until the very endwhen she couldn't anymore. She
knew better, but she wouldcounter serve. And I would come

(35:39):
in the kitchen. And it was thatsame thing that you were talking
about. The inhaling of the food.
Yes. And you know, it's mostdogs. If they are busted, they
will, you know, will jump downand oak or something. Oh, no,
she would try to grab as muchfood as she possibly could.

(36:01):
Before I can make it to her.
Yes.
I guess we'll talk about it. Butuntil you see it in action, it's
just like, it's yes sign. Andthere's and they're, they're
defying like laws of physicswhile they're doing it. And the
other thing, she as she gotolder and started losing

(36:23):
mobility, she had a big bed andshe would lay on that bed. And
it was so funny, because likeone of her things, sometimes she
would start doing the incessantlicking. And finally, I'd be
like, Daisy, stop licking. Andshe'd look a few more times and
then I go Daisy, stop licking.
And then you hear this big oldpaw slam on the bed. And that
became her thing is anytime ifshe couldn't, she couldn't

(36:46):
protest any other way. She wouldfinally do whatever I was
telling her to do. But she woulddo really loud dramatic pause
lamb like, to make sure thateverybody knew I'm doing it that
I'm not doing it willingly orJosie
Isla when she barks, because,you know, when, when when the

(37:06):
healers bark, it's like WorldWar Three. It's like, she's
just, she, it's and she's myguard dog. Like she takes like
she takes very, very seriously,but will tell her, you know,
okay, that's enough. And thenshe just keeps going enough, you
know? And so what she does, isshe was very quiet, just so

(37:29):
you know, it's like a last word.
You're like Islaare very quiet grow. You know,
just just but that's her littledefiant to the end has to get
the last word.
Just, every time cracks me up.
And that's the thing that'sfunny is that when they do those
things, and they're the they'rethose I know, I shouldn't laugh,
but I can't help but laughingYeah, you're covering your mouth

(37:51):
or, like at all.
Because, you know, becauseyou're trying to be you know,
trying to be the firm parent thesame time. They do things that
are either so cute, or it's justlike, Why? Why are you doing
this? Why? You know? So we havea joke. One of my dear friends

(38:13):
actually she's also she's theone who got me on onto the ACD
page. And I'm sure you've seenher all the time on there.
Michelle matter now ski is herokay. And she's she's like
family to me. And she and I jokebecause when you were saying
this earlier, too about Dragobarking for no reason. That's
our joke. Whenever the dogs dothings, we always laugh we're

(38:36):
like, well, we're not capable ofunderstanding why they're no
threat right now. Yeah. Yes,yes. We're not capable and so
are we will just say to eachother anytime anything like that
happens. All we'll say isreasons. Yes. Reasons. Reasons.
Yes. Yes. Exactly. Like I'll bein a meeting and you know, to

(38:57):
like, though, nothing happened.
I'm like, I'm at home. I'm sosorry. There's obviously a
threat going on. I apologize.
Maybe something's gettingdelivered. There could be a
leaf. Who knows?
Bliss? Oh my God. When we firstmoved to Washington, and I love
coarseness, she was Arizona. Shelandlocked puppy. She didn't
understand the concept of boats.
So, when we because we, youknow, our apartment at the time

(39:20):
was in looked over the Narrows.
So which is in you know, part ofPuget Sound. So I didn't
understand the concept ofsailboats. So in sailboats will
go by Oh,meltdown and a half that gives a
huge threaten, you know, they'refar away like they're not like
by me like you know, you can'treach out like we're on a cliff

(39:42):
kind of thing like looking overthis. So it's like quite a ways
away through the foliage, youknow.
Just it just it is just funnythings like that of all things.
Boats, or when II attempted the other day to put
on you know like we have likepuppy TV like on YouTube or

(40:03):
something you know things torelax them
drive out so I tried putting onlike dogs playing to see how
they would be drug and flippedout dogs on TV was not an option
really? Oh no not an option so Ithought I'll go safe so I found
like this one had like pastoralso it had like sheep grazing and

(40:25):
had very soft music I thoughtthis will be good you know it's
something visual.
Drago had a meltdown over sheepmy Labrador meltdown like I can
understand the healer noLabrador meltdown sheep were not
okay like he went like ran up tothe TV and was like rattling but
hacklesthey knew was serious when the

(40:48):
book first go up. It's serious.
Like my healer it's the tail thetail goes up. Oh she can curls
over that serious like whenthreats you know threat averted
toe goes down with Drago. Butfor action, the hackles in the
buffers the full MohawkIt cracks me up like you know.

(41:09):
And of course, like he learnedhe realized, you know, it's just
the TV but even so.
i It's cheap. Yeah. What is thischeap kind of duty? What what?
Well, like, and even though thesheep were in the TV, they were
a threat until he took obviouslyscrapey there. I mean, I could

(41:30):
have been hurt. You know,something that happens. You have
no idea what you avoid? Yes.
Foot and Mouth Disease scrapingI'm, I'm safe. I'm
obviously some boy Jocko. Goodboy. Thank God, thank God, you
know, but It cracks me upbecause, you know, I work from
home and there'll be days whereI work late. And then I'll be

(41:51):
nights where I work on homeworkor something. So because I'm
doing grad school, so I willhave really late night sometimes
like 10 o'clock at night.
I was taking herself to bed. Myhusband's taking himself to bed.
Drago will sit with me and onhis little nest his little bed
and he will be with me. And he'ssaying the entire time like
we go to bed yet. Like he likehe's working late with me. It

(42:14):
just cracks me up like everyonehas gone to bed. But Drago is
with me. But it's like he feelslike he's working late. Yes,
he's exhausted. Does he sleeplate the next day? Oh, yeah.
Like there'll be times like myhusband because he has to get up
at work at three in the morningbecause he has been there by
five he's a delivery driver saysto go really early. So he will
take the dogs out in themorning. And then bring them
back in. I'm like, passed out tothe world. Like I've no idea

(42:36):
what's going on to my husbandcomes over and like gives me a
kiss. Goodbye. But sometimes ifDrago has been up late or
something, he won't get up forthat potty time. Oh, he'll be
awake to take the treat fromDad's hand. But that's about it.
You know, it's it's like it'snormally like, buddy, it's a
treat real quick that goes backlike he passes out, you know?
Well, that's just overtime pay.
Because you know, you had himhave worked hard last night, you

(42:59):
know, he assisted he was there.
Well, as far as you know, he wasactually doing the work and you
were assisting. He had to alertfor danger. Like there could be
things that happen in the night.
You know, we have raccoons thatcome out and eat the food, you
know, for the capital. Yeah. Oh,if you hear so we can. It's
funny. I didn't know this aboutraccoons. I didn't know that

(43:20):
they have like little familiesthat they're in like little
Coney. Yes. And I guess thatthey are by like male and
female. So we have this group.
And I saw them when they werebabies. And they've grown up
together. And they're sisters.
And they're all together. Andthen there's like a couple
others that come and go. Butit's primarily the three sisters
and they come in and they eatdrugs always knows when they're

(43:41):
there. Because we'll be out hereat like nine o'clock at night.
You hear me just, you know, justget very upset. The sisters are
there, you know, and they're notgonna do anything. They're just
either there for the cat move.
They're gone. Now, yes. But itjust cracks me up because
they're a threat.
So what do you think you'velearned from your dogs?

(44:06):
I mean,everyone talks about how,
you know, when you become aparent, you know, it changes you
and all of this stuff.
You know, I'm not a parent, I,my husband and I, we've tried
for many years, it just it's notin the cards for us,
unfortunately, you know, but,you know, but I'm an I'm an

(44:26):
aunt, and I've taken care of myniece and nephew many, many
times when they were younger,like stayed over at my house.
Like nobody talks to you abouthow much kids eat. Like, they
may never tell you that, likethey eat all the time. Like
small monthly snack all thetime. Like it's like they will,
if anything, that's where themoney goes for snacks for the
children, you know, because theynever get the same thing,

(44:48):
especially if one has ADHD likemy nephew does, like me. And it
like it's not the same thing asthe other one. You know, it's
different snacks, you know, sobe prepared for that. But nobody
tells you howsimilar certain dogs are when
they're puppies, they commandthat same amount of attention.
And this is something thatpeople have been like, oh, it's

(45:08):
not the same. No, it's not thesame.
But they humble you. So dogs arewonderful. And like children,
they will humble you, you thinkyou know everything you think
you have it figured out, but youdon't. You know, you think
you're prepared. Like I said,like, I thought I, you know, 20
some odd, you know, like, God,30 some odd years on me, you

(45:30):
know, when I had dropped, youthink you're prepared? You think
you know, you? Don't they humbleyou. So I think that's one thing
that my dogs constantly teach meabout myself is, you know, how
resilience kind of thing likeyou become very resilient. When
you have dogs, the you know,especially during the pandemic,
where I, you know, I didn't knowthat I could be that person that

(45:53):
stays home every single day. Butbecause of my dogs, I'm okay
with that. Like, I'm totallyfine. Like, some people will,
we're just like, climb up thewalls. Like, I'm an introvert.
I'm like, I'm totally fine withthis. But they taught me that
they're the best coworkers ever.
Like, sure, you know, they havetheir own, you know, drama and
everything, but they're awesome.
coworkers. I would have them anyday of the week over the

(46:15):
politics of office spaces, youknow, like, just any day.
I can bribe them with food. It'snot that hard, you know, so.
And it all comes back to thesnacks. You know, it's critical.
It's like, those hours feedinghim, you know, just well,

(46:36):
you understand? So yes, yes,totally. And, you know, it's
funny, because I,I mean, I don't know, I, before
I was a parent, and even after aparent, I always hate it when
people are like, Oh, but youdon't know if you don't have
kids? Okay. It is a differentexperience. I mean, that is a
unique experience. But therethere is something just as,

(46:57):
like, the responsibility is noless. Absolutely no, no. And I,
it makes me wonder, like, if yousay that it's not respect, like,
what kind of a dog parent? Areyou? Why? Well, when you say
things like that, yeah, thething too, is, I mean, the dogs
are brilliant at learning tocommunicate with you. Yeah, but
your dog is never going to learnEnglish and eventually, one day

(47:23):
be able to tell you My earhurts, or my stomach hurts or my
end, you know, so and I knowthat there are some parents that
that don't ever have that happenand that they have that's a
different nonverbals Absolutely.
But But for many for the mostpart, eventually, it becomes

(47:45):
easier with kids, you know, andbut with with your little furry
people, it's always that youalways have to stay in tune to
Yes, you know, and always haveto be
paying attention. And kind oflike, okay, what are you telling
me and what's going on here andinterpret, learn to interpret

(48:09):
what they're, you know, whatthey're saying and what they're
communicating, right? And itYeah, teach, it teaches you the
communication and communicationpart for sure. And then, you
know, at the opposite end of thespectrum, to and this, you know,
people probably will think thisis insensitive to but like, I've
had a lot of loss in my family,my, my mom, my dad, and my only

(48:30):
sibling, I lost all of them tocancer. And so I'm not saying
this from Thank you, thank you.
But I'm not saying this from aplace of not having experienced
it. But when I've lost dogs to,you know, people, when someone
loses a dog, I think a lot oftimes people tend to kind of
minimize that. But one thingthat always well, it is but you

(48:50):
know the other thing too, andthen once again, not minimizing
the loss of a person either. Butif you lose a family member,
that is not someone that livesin your home, that you spend all
day, every day with or manyhours every day with, it's a
different kind of loss. And whenyou lose one of your pets,
that's a huge that's a void inalmost every single thing you

(49:15):
do. Absolutely. You know, it's Imean, like with my parents, I
talked to them on the phone allthe time. And of course, I you
know, and spent lots of timewith them and all that. So, of
course, I missed all thosethings. But, you know, like with
Roscoe every single nightRoscoe, who eventually crawled
up and curled up to me andsnuggled next to me and that was

(49:36):
something like every singlenight and every single day when
I would come home from work, hewould come around the corner and
so I mean, they're they're suchan integral part of your every
day that I hate to hear to whenpeople minimize those losses
because it's a it's a differentloss, but it's equally huge.
When I lost my MorganUm, it it, it shattered me, you

(50:00):
know. And it's not even justdogs, like, you know, when I was
younger when I was 18, I hadrescued this mom and her brand
new litter of kittens. And, youknow,
I rate them in the remainingkittens, you know, because, you
know, kittens pass, you know,things happen. So, yes,

(50:20):
the mom would love my brother,but I had the three boys and I
had my boys, my three huge catson your beasties, from when I
was 18. Until, you know, early30s. You know, like, they were
my boys, they were my world.
Yeah. And they weren't, theywere there. They were consistent
for me, you know, through all myheart aches and everything, and
like learning lino, because Ididn't get diagnosed with ADHD
until I was 39. So I wentthrough my entire life, you

(50:45):
know, feeling like something waswrong with me. And the only
animals the only the only onesin my life that were consistent,
who didn't feel like werejudging me or anything? Was my
pets, you know, so it was verydifficult for me when I lost
them. Because they all didn'tdie at the same time. You know,
it was just like, you know,what, you know, a lot, you know,

(51:05):
different periods. Butit's, you know, and it's been
over 10 years, but I still, Istill can't talk about them.
Well, you know, it's notwhat I saw it, a meme of all
things, you know, of all thethings recently, but it was
interesting, because it was a,it was illustrated with like a

(51:27):
ball and a mason jar, and it hada sequence of the ball with the
mason jar in it and the masonjar, the ball keeps getting
smaller and smaller, but the jarstays the same. And then there
was another one where the ballstays and the jar keeps getting.
Anyway, I can't describe thevisual. But the point was that

(51:50):
it was saying, people tend tothink that over time, our grief
gets smaller. But instead wejust grow around our grief. I
think I agree with that. Yes.
And you know, it's, there wasone I don't know if you've ever
heard of it, but it wasit was something that I came
across, like Apollo so he's he'she's hunting right now. So he's

(52:15):
Oh, oh, thank you. He he killshis little stuffed aliens. So my
cat brings me things so he'scome up on he has a stuffed
alien right now that he carriesaround. He's killed it and he's
bringing your so safe. I have noaliens. No, she. Oh, it's not
even just that. He has stuffeddinosaur. So dinosaur is an

(52:36):
alien that he kills and hebrings them to me. So yes, I
save every night from like agalactic invasion or from
dinosaurs. You know, likedresses are gonna happen on his
rock, Drago and sheep andsailboats, think about
all of it.
I don't want to leave my house,because Thank God, you know,

(52:59):
all these threats, but often so.
But sorry, getting back to whatyou were saying it was there was
a poem or even a poem, a littlestory I heard years ago. And it
was about how dogs aren't,aren't dead. They're napping in
your heart. And it was, youknow, sometimes, you know, when,
in the beginning of grief, youknow, they're so close to your

(53:20):
heart that their little tail waswagging and it was beating
against your ribcage. And that'swhy it was hurting is because
they were wagging their tail somuch. But then they would settle
down in nap. And sometimes theywould wake up again and they
hear you when they beat youknow, and then they would settle
down again. And so it was justthis visual thing of you know,
they're not dead. They'renapping in your heart. And when

(53:40):
you think about them, sometimeswhen you feel that pain in your
chest, it's them just beatingtheir tail thinking of you.
That's a beautiful. You don'teven know I'm just like the
field. I know. I get it.
Yeah, like it's Yeah.

(54:02):
Lock it down. Yeah, it's just,you know, it's grief. Grief is
grief. It doesn't matter who itis what it is, if it touched
your heart, you're allowed togrieve and whatever way you need
to afford as long as you need togrieve. Yes, yeah. Minimizing
grief is just that's just a veryselfish mentality for people to
have. All right. Yes, I totallyagree. And I and I feel sad too,

(54:27):
for people who minimize thatgrief of the loss of a pet.
Because I've know that they'venever acts like they've missed
out on something. They know,thank you. If, if somebody is
not grieving the loss of a pet,and the same way it would, or
just anything that that means tome that they may need to work on

(54:48):
something in themselves andmaybe this could be they have
their own trauma or something orjust the way they were raised,
you know, and I'm not going tojudge anybody for what that is,
butyou don't like I just you don't
get totell somebody how to grieve,
like keep right, don't do thatyou don't have that, right? You
don't know that relationship,you don't know the situation
around it, you just don't getthat mentality the same way to
me, like you don't get tominimize, like, my relationship

(55:09):
with my pets. They're mychildren. And I know the concept
of Furbabies. Like, it offendspeople, but these are my
children. I've tried, you know,and this is what I have, in
someday, maybe my husband, Iwalked up, we're going to try
that. But adoption andfostering, it's extremely
expensive and very difficultthat people don't realize that

(55:30):
like, no, that's hard. It'sreally hard. So to me, it's
like, we as a society need tounderstand that we having
children is a luxury, having theability to raise a family is a
luxury. So for some of us, thisis all we're gonna have. And
it's not just, you know, catsand dogs, it could be horses, it

(55:50):
could be, you know, you know,snakes, it could be whatever it
is. It's that's, you know,people have connections with
other animals, and we can't,like, you know, judge that or
minimize that, because itdoesn't fit into our ideals,
right. No, exactly. And, andhaving it's really not even just
having that it's not a just, youknow, what I mean? Like, it's,

(56:12):
it's equally powerful. I mean,you know, very, so this is kind
of on a different note, buta little bit more.
I'll leave you with a little bitof humor, sort of maybe, I don't
know ifmany podcasts or not, I bet no,
a couple. Yeah, I would work Ihave to do them. So I help with

(56:33):
the whole like, there's a lot ofwork of podcasts, people don't
realize there's a lot of workbehind the scenes. Yeah. So one
of my favorites. There's a radiostation here, and I'm in the
Dallas Fort Worth area, and it'sa country station. And it's ks
ces 96.3 been here forever. Andthey do a bit every Monday
through Friday called seconddate update. Oh, yes, I love

(56:56):
second date update. We just havean Arizona Yep. Okay. So they
actually I think are the oneswho started it. And I always
have to, I always have toqualify the statement, though,
that if you search for thepodcast, there are radio
stations all over the countrythat do it now. And I get caught
up on the one here. And so Iwant to hear more. And I'll
listen. And the one here is muchmore family friendly than a lot.

(57:19):
So a lot of them I've listenedto you from other markets, and I
just can't because it's like, Ifeel like I need to take a
shower after some of thesestories. But the ones here, so
so there's the graphic thatactually looks like a
like a comic strip, graphic art,cover photo, and it's new

(57:45):
country second date update. Soanyway, there was one last week.
And the girl called in becausethey had a great first date. And
she couldn't understand and whythey didn't go out again. And
she said that she even talked tothe guy when they were on the
date and was saying that shewanted to adopt a puppy and
asked him if he would be willingto go with her and help her

(58:07):
adopt a puppy. And he said,Yeah, and so she's like, I
thought we had plans that wewere gonna go and he was gonna
help me adopt a puppy. And sothey're like, Okay, so they get
him on the phone. And they askedhim what happened? And he's
like, yeah, she asked me if Iwould pay the adoption fee for
her to adopt the puppy.

(58:29):
And they go, okay, she didn'ttell us that. No, yeah. And he
said, If she can't afford the$75 adoption fee, she doesn't
need to be adopting a puppy.
And so they bring her back onthe line. I thought my head was
going to explode the whole time.
She's like, what's the big deal?
Well, no, I can't afford the $75adoption fee. But puppies aren't

(58:52):
expensive. It's not like I haveto start a college fund. I'm not
gonna it's not going to costanything. But I
got, um, my eyes are likerolling right now. And I'm just
like, I know, I know. And Ilistened to it on the podcast. I
didn't hear it when it was live.
But I thought I'm really glad Ididn't hear it was live because
I think I would have been in araging in my car. Yes, I might

(59:14):
have actually been pulling overand calling the radio station
and I think they evenacknowledged afterwards. I think
they even said to her, you know,maybe you should not be adopting
a puppy right now. While butyeah, so when you were saying
that to just about how somepeople think, well, it's not a
big no, no, it's a thing. It isa thing. Like you have to like

(59:38):
just and I say this as somebodywho used to work in rescue, like
I understand, you know, like, ii You know, I I remember being
I'd never had a lot of moneymyself, personally, like, I
understand being the poorcollege student, you know,
wanting to help with animals. SoI get that some rescue fees can
be very, very, like extreme.

(59:58):
Sometimes they're just like,they're very
expensive sometimes like andthey want, you have to like a
poster or they want to have X,Y, and Z. And they want to have
all this stuff and you're like,Look, I just want to help a dog.
They don't want to, I don't wantto spend 600 bucks to, you know,
rescue a dog like, yeah, just,you know, some of them I think
can just be a little extreme.
But that said, I agree that ifyou can't spend $75 to rescue

(01:00:18):
the dog,how are you going to find the
food? How are you gonna affordthis? Because Are you gonna feed
them old boy, you know, and ifthat's all you can afford,
there's no shame there. Butlike, you know, most people tend
to try to do a little bit morethan the bare minimum. Well, and
you, you don't ever plan for anillness you don't ever plan for

(01:00:40):
I mean, I mean, you could planfor it. But you don't ever
schedule it. You don't ever say,Oh, yes. When this happens, you
know, the things happen withthem that you don't ever when he
was a puppy, we were always atthe vet because again, Labrador,
nobody talks about it.
They eat everything they don'tsee. There's like children,

(01:01:04):
every they pick things up withtheir mouths and their mouths,
or their hands. And so it wasalways just what the drug would
get into. And it was diarrhea.
And I was going back to that.
Oh, yes. Giardia because he hadyou know, something. And so it
was deal with that. Then it wasafter that would be fixed.
Something else was picked up inhis mouth. And he's got diarrhea
again, because it was constant.
Diarrhea, like people don't talkabout how sensitive their

(01:01:26):
stomachs are, when they'resensitive. They just they put?
Yes.
And sometimes that means aspecial diet. Yes. And so he was
for a long time on a veryspecial diet. He's a lot better
now. But it was as a puppy. Itwas just he was very delicate,
you know? So it was just, andthe vet things that the vet

(01:01:47):
things are expensive. Yes, thereare not cheap, because it was
almost always an emergent vetsituation. So
wait, so I know you're veryknowledgeable about I know, I've
seen people ask breed questions.
And I know you're veryknowledgeable about those
things. So here's an interestingone in our household. And tell
me if you've ever heard of sucha thing, but Lily and Eleanor

(01:02:10):
are the healers. And summerbefore last. We were taking them
to the vet now we're Texas hotsummer. Yeah, we were taking
them to the vet.
And it was in the afternoon. Itwasn't as 1015 minute car ride.
And we had Roscoe and Lily andEleanor. So this is interesting,

(01:02:32):
too. With Lily. She's prettymuch completely blind now. And I
know bless your heart. I know. Iknow. And she smiles all the
time. Like she's the happiestbest nature's best though. I
love I love puppies. The greatNicole wooden. Yes, the frosty
face.

(01:02:57):
So ever since she was littlethough this is a healer. Ever
since she was little she has notliked to go outside. She's
almost been agoraphobic. Shelikes her backyard. Yes. But
then as she started losing hervision, it was gradual. I almost
wondered if maybe there wasalways something about her

(01:03:17):
vision that made her feelvulnerable when she was outside.
And that's why she didn't likeit. It could be because she's
fine going out in our backyard,but could never take her out
front to go for a walk. And atour old house, she didn't even
like going into backyard there.
You know, it could have beensomething because that she
doesn't know her environment. Sothat's why she was hesitant to
do it. That could have beensomething that maybe scared her.

(01:03:38):
So we're making this vet visit.
And like I said, we don't wedidn't take little we don't take
her a lot of places because itis traumatic for her. So Ricky
was taking Lily into the vet andI was getting Eleanor and Roscoe
because it was going to beeasier for them to be managed
and he was going to take her. SoI opened the door to the vet.

(01:04:01):
And Ricky is on the floor in themiddle of the waiting room. I'm
trying to process what'shappening. And Lily is having a
grand mal seizure.
Oh, and as I'm watching this,all of a sudden I feel tugging
on my leash and looked down andEleanor is having a grand mal
seizure.
It was the strangest and mostterrifying thing I've ever seen.

(01:04:23):
Oh my gosh. So the vets they runout they take care of them. Get
them out, you know? Yeah, cuzall you can do at that point is
just wait it out. Yes. And thenwe get them drinking some water
and settle down and clean themup because of course bless their
hearts. They tinkled everywhereand you know, salivating? Yep. I
don't have a border collie whohad seizures a lot. And it was
just it's the worst. Theythey're out of it. They just

(01:04:46):
they don't know what's going on.
And you know, and it's noteveryone always thinks it's
gonna be the shaking sometimes,but it's really not all the
time. Like, you know, when WhenSasha had hers, it was just she
would just her eyes would be onFocus and she'd just like, look
around. So kind of her sort ofkind of more like the absence
seizures. Yeah. And it was just,you know, but she didn't. And

(01:05:08):
she would, you know, urinate andstuff like that, you know, and
she would be very embarrassedafterwards. Oh, yeah, came out
of it. But they would lastanywhere from a couple seconds
to sometimes up to a minute, youknow, and she was on an iguana,
phenobarbital and it helped hera lot. And she's much better,
but she was a rescue. So yeah,yeah. You don't know the
history. You never know whereYeah, so anyway, we chalked that

(01:05:29):
up. That was a couple summersago. We chalked that up to the
heat, we thought that the heatcould be the heat stress. Yeah,
right. Well, that time wethought well, so then we were
like, okay, We'll rescheduleagain for the fall, and try
again in the fall when it's notso hot. And it happened again.
So very short, we cannot takeeither of our senior girls to

(01:06:00):
the vet, because as soon as wetake them out to the car, they
both start having grand malseizures. So it has taken us
it's it took us over a year tofind a mobile vet in our area.
And so now they will come here.
So just talking about vetexpenses that you don't plan on
and bless their hearts theyhave. So I had a vet vet that

(01:06:21):
did house calls for decades. Buthe would always bring his his
table into the house. And so thedogs never had to leave the
house. Well, this is a fatherdaughter that are both vets, and
they have a van and it's all setup with their treatment stuff.
And they came a few weeks ago.
And even just taking the girlsout into the van, they both had

(01:06:42):
seizures out in the van. So thegood thing is this, the vets
were super sweet and said we'reso glad we saw this so we can
see what you're talking about.
And next time we'll come in andthey said obviously, we know
that there's some things we justaren't going to do. Because it's
so stressful happens. You neverknow. Until it happens. Like you

(01:07:04):
just don't. You don't know. Itwas so bizarre though that both
of them that it both of them doit and both of them it happens.
But I never in all of thedebate. There's like a gene, I
think that can be associated,did they ever get a genetic test
or anything like that?
Okay, because I know that therecan be certain genes that can be

(01:07:27):
responsible, or sometimes have arelationship with dogs,
developing epilepsy or havingepileptic, you know, type
events. So interesting. Well,yeah. And, obviously, obviously,
these are triggered by thestress of, yeah, and it could
just be something that asthey've gotten older, they're
just their tolerance for certainthings. You know,

(01:07:50):
like every, it's an it couldjust also be
I hate to say like learnedbehavior, but it could just be
some their body. That's how theycompute it now. Like, that's how
it used to be. Maybe they hadlike a threshold, but that
thresholds gone. Yeah, yeah.
Well, I mean, I know that's theway with people, you know,
sometimes like they're fine wassomething until something makes
them faint. And then from thatpoint on, whatever that

(01:08:12):
something was, will always makethem faint, even though up until
they develop an allergy tosomething as you get older
sometimes, yep. It's just yourbody's like, you know, like an
autoimmune response type thing.
It could be a million differentthings, you know, and without
knowing the physiology of what'sgoing on with your dogs, it's
just, I would say, in this case,it's just it's a stress
response, most likely, yeah.
Well, if you ever hear anythingof anyone else experiencing

(01:08:33):
that, I'm gonna share my name.
Yes, I will hunt start hunting,because I think like, you know,
again, like my nerdy, like,people don't know, I'm a science
person like that. That's mything. Like, I love the science
that I like to dig into thingslike that. So I will kind of go
down that rabbit hole for youand see what I can find. Oh,
well, yeah. And please don'tfeel like you have to but if you

(01:08:54):
ever run across that, or Oh, no.
Well, thank you. Yes, yes.
Because it has been a crazy,crazy thing. And, of course, I
feel, you know, we feel likehorrible pet parents, because we
got to the point to where wecouldn't give them their heart
guard, because we couldliterally Yeah, you know, and
it's like, no, we really can'ttake them to the vet. We really
cannot do you can't do anything,just type people that recognize

(01:09:17):
like, it's not just the badlike, I'm sure you probably
can't go on vacations easilyanymore, because you can't
afford them. unless somebody'sat the house with them. You
know, that's what we've we haveto board. Yeah, yeah. So I'm on
board with it. Oh, that'sanother thing people don't
understand. Like what petboarding is expensive. People
talk about like daycare atboarding is like the same like
when we were gone for like twoweeks cost like two or $3,000.

(01:09:38):
For the dogs. Yes. The cost ofthe vacation. It doubles the
cost of your vacation. It'speople don't recognize that.
Like it's you know, having petsis like children, it's a luxury.
You don't realize it, you know,it depends on like, I mean, if
you don't really care about yourdog and you leave them outside
and the leash you knowneeded a lot cheaper, but you

(01:10:00):
know, like, you know, I takecare of my babies, they come
home, they have, you know, pilesof toys. Oh, that's their life.
I guess she knows she'sguarding. She's using the flu.
So yeah, but you know, and Ispend money, you know, getting
there, like, you know,entertainment things that you
know, because dogs need to bestimulated, you know. So they're

(01:10:20):
busy toys and things like that,like I prepare them and I, you
know,just like having children. So
I'll cut all this part out, butI'll share with you that
the podcast is part of a dreamthat I am working towards.
That's awesome. Good for you.
Thank you. Well, you know, thegood Lord willing, we'll see.

(01:10:40):
But what I would like to do iswhat we want to do, and Landry
our daughter's in her first yearof college, we want to get her
through her second year becauseshe's doing that from home. And
then when she moves out, we'llhave a little more freedom to
move. But my dream is to open anRV park with a full service

(01:11:04):
doggy daycare. Nationallyawesome. That'd be cool. Oh, we
love national parks. And ofcourse, most national parks dogs
can only go where cars can go.
Yeah, so if people want tovacation in a national park, and
if they want to vacation withtheir dog, it's very hard to do
everything. Sowe want to have mostly RV sites

(01:11:26):
but also have about half a dozencabins and make everything
completely dog centric. So likeeverything verse, you know,
where a lot of places you cantake your dog, but there's a
pet, you pay an additional petfee every day. They have like
limits on the weight, which isnever for big dogs. Yes. Yes
limit?

(01:11:49):
Yeah.
Yeah, yes. And so we want tohave like the cabins would
actually be the joke. Thetagline is where we like you,
but we love your dog. And it'sgoing to be a people friendly
pup resort. So they can bringtheir people as long as they
promised their people willbehave. People behave. Yes,

(01:12:12):
please. Yes, yes. So that's whatwe're, we're, I've been working
on a business plan for about ayear and a half. And that's what
we're kind of hoping to do. Ithink that'll be awesome. Yeah.
But while we're kind of in aholding pattern, I was like, You
know what, I want to use thistime to maybe start trying to
build a community and just kindof start establishing a brand.

(01:12:33):
That's the way to do it. Like mymy boss, like the way that she
started was, she wanted to bringattention to the fact that the
you know, arthritis, forexample, there's a lot of
autoimmune issues that come withcertain types of arthritis. And
so, over time, like she's sortof doing her own thing where it
was, you know, she's sort ofdoing like bracelets, like, I'll

(01:12:54):
make a bracelet to bringawareness to it. And then the
next thing she knows she'sgetting all these orders for the
bracelet. So she creates afoundation. And now she's got
this, you know, internationalfoundation that she's running
and you know, we're working onit, and it's just International,
anti inflammatory, antiautoimmune. Arthritis. That's
all we focus on. That's right.
Yeah. But it's it starts small.

(01:13:17):
It's, she did her face, butthat's what she did. So good for
you just do this. Get your feetgoing, you know, and you'll
figure it out. Yeah. So anyway,but when you said that about
traveling, that's kind of how itwas born out of two, because
we've always been blessed tohave someone that stays here
with our dogs, and it's muchmore affordable. But we did a
trip up to the Grand Tetons andYellowstone a couple summers

(01:13:40):
ago. And, of course, I have tomeet all the dogs. And as I'm
meeting all the dogs on thetrip, then I was realizing how
limited the those families wereon what they were able to do on
their vacations. And I was like,wait a minute, there's and then
I started doing the math. Andand that was one of the things
if we had boarded our dogs,boarding the dogs for that trip

(01:14:03):
would have cost more than thevacation cost. And we couldn't
have done no idea. Yeah. Or ifyou like and that's if you do
like a small like room orsomething like we always had our
dogs together and space becauseyou're bonded. We always we had
the bigger space for them. Likewe didn't we'd never we never do
like basic like you know, we'rethere are babies, we got to make

(01:14:25):
sure that we got puppy camp whenthey go to puppy camp answer
yourself. Yes. Well, and that'swhat you know, we want to have
like, enrichment activities andthings during the day for the
dogs and we want to incorporatehydrotherapy to there's kind of
a long story behind that. Butanyway, so when you're saying
that I appreciate what you'resaying, because that's what

(01:14:48):
we're actually kind of workingtowards. I think it'll be
amazing if you guys can get somelike that gone because, like,
you know, that's something thatwe've talked about is even when
we're, you know, becauseeventually we want it we want to
move across country.
Yeah, but it was we're trying toplan out things. And there's so
many places where we would haveto just like how do you plan to
move cross country and stayovernight in certain areas?

(01:15:11):
Because so many places are notpet friendly. Yeah, yeah. There
are more and more pet hotelsnow. But it still leaves the
problem of if you want to dosomething during the day, and
you can't come in a crate andthis thing or even then it's,
they're limiting to, like, youknow, 50 pounds or less or no
cats or something. But we're amixed family, you know, so, what

(01:15:35):
are the cats like me? In thecar? Like? Yeah, it's just yeah.
So this is a good thing you guysare gonna do so. You know. Thank
you. Well, thank you for yourtime. I appreciate you. It was
so much fun and everything likeyou know, I was one story turned
into like six or seven. But youknow, it's when we were all
right. It's awesome. I love it.
I love it. And, you know, if youthink of more if Drago

(01:15:58):
customizes more stuff, whatever.
There's lots of stories. Trustme like we'll find more. Don't
worry, like, yeah, anytime. No,just ping me and go, Hey, I got
one and we'll do it because I'mhoping to have a story a week at
least. And, God. I know theother thing. Oh, I'm gonna say I

(01:16:21):
just remember like one one,because Morgan's passed, but I
remember years ago. It wasduring like Thanksgiving or
something. And like my, my mom'shusband at the time I was living
next. I was going to school atASU. And he had taken out a ham
to rest on the counter.
AndI don't know how they did it.

(01:16:42):
But Morgan got the ham and hetook the ham and obviously it
flew.
Two flips came in. Yeah, thischuck. Hi, Chuck. Hi, Barney.
He's beautiful. Thank you. Theyare they're the biggest derps
but they they're verythat's yeah, that's struggle.
Please dirt 100 percenter. Butya know, it was more going to
take in the ham and ham and Islahad just finished off his ham.

(01:17:03):
And so they had them.
They're like you're the bestparents ever. Like but it was
one of those things becauseMorgan never ever, ever counter
surfed. But that day, well, youknow what his sad limit was?

(01:17:24):
It just addresses where myobedience ends.
Is and he was just used thebest.
I remember when Morgan like whenhe was to lie on a side so Oh,
here's I don't know if you cansee this is.
Oh, this is beautiful. Thankyou. At least my blind girl. I
see your eyes are allreflective. Right? Yeah. Hi,
gorgeous. Girl, baby girl. I seea little bit nice off shining.

(01:17:49):
Yes.
So anyway, sorry. She cracked meup because Morgan would just
like lie on his side and hewould just put his leg in the
air and but it's one littlepinky toe just like
and even up until the day hepassed it was lifted like so.

(01:18:13):
So yeah, you know what that is?
Reasons.
Me news was invisible cup of tearight now you know, like, you
know, spread it she just didn't.
Protocols English border, ofcourse. Yeah. Well, also, if you
know of any, like rescues,groups that do transport you

(01:18:37):
know, anything like that. Iwould love love love to be able
to use this as a platform to tohelp spread their stories. I
will. I mean, I my friend, Alexused to do a lot of rescue
stuff. I will ask if she's got,you know, stories, but she used
to, you know, do transport stufffor free. So I'll ask, you know,
I'll ask my friends. I'll seewhat I got. So yeah, just any,
you know, and it just at anypoint, if it's something that

(01:18:59):
could be helpful to someone elseto you know, because it's also
potentially I mean, right now,we've got from Washington to
Texas covered.
You know, so who knows, butI mean, we'll find what I mean,
you What is it you've got?
Rebecca has Hilo and he lovesyou know, her her search and

(01:19:21):
rescue puppy. He's a search andrescue healer. See, so you can
reach out to Rebecca and talk toher. Tao with lucky ones. Yes,
Lucky wants to and then tryingto think because there's there's
a couple of people I know likeover an East Coast. I'll see
what I can find out for you andlet you know, but I mean, Puppy
stories I like preppy stories.
Doesn't like happy stories. Andit just cracks me up because

(01:19:43):
like, you know, it wasn't forIsla. I would never have gone
into the healer group. I wouldnever have joined and I've never
met all these people in my life.
So is it that I know and i iLily was my first healer we kind
of stumbled upon her. And whenwe
went together. also fell in lovewith Eleanor. Eleanor had been

(01:20:03):
committed to someone else. Andwe were going on a weekend
vacation right after we gotLily. So excuse me, the people
we got Lily from said, You knowwhat? You can bring her back and
we'll keep her that weekendbecause she was so little and we
didn't want to do that to ourdog sitter. Yeah. And which was
very sweet of them. And we cameto pick her up after the weekend

(01:20:25):
and Eleanor, who we had fallenin love with it was supposed to
be somewhere else was stillthere was only one left. And,
and they said that it had fallenthrough. I don't know what
happened. But they said, Yeah,she's still here. And they're
not going. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Okay. So. So that's how we endedup with both of them and that
they were our first experiencewith healers. I did not

(01:20:47):
adventure. It is an adventurebut just the most Yes, yes. Just
the most amazing, brilliantlawyer.
Bad. Loving. Yes. Like peopledon't realize like when they

(01:21:08):
talk about like, learning likethe communication thing. Other
breeds, you get lots of warningscience. Like they give you like
a long a bigger bandwidth of youknow, between reactivity,
healers, it's winner this time.
It's 100%. And Isla, like thatwas the one thing I learned with

(01:21:29):
isla. It was just you have towatch her because her body
language signs. Oh, my.
Speaking of which, yes.
Yeah.
She's in major floof mode rightnow. We need to shut up. We have

(01:21:49):
the gardener's are here. Oh, oh.
Oh, God.
Danger and half. So yeah. Butyeah, it was just I had to
learn. Like, I had to learn towatch her because
it was just so sudden, so quickwith it. It was just like that
snap. It was I, I've never hadthat before. So yeah,

(01:22:11):
Landry was in first grade whenwe got them. And when Landry and
they knew that Landry was theirresponsibility, like they
quickly knew, and when landerwould have friends over, I would
have to make sure that they werewith me, or that I watched him
closely. Because if they gotjealous of the attention, that
lander was giving the friend orif the friend did anything that

(01:22:31):
they thought was threateningthat? Yes, yeah, they would be
right there. And I had to alwaysmake sure that once you know the
San Juan, when she gets allworked up, she will go and
she'll grab like a toy orsomething and shake it but if
draw goes next, her she willboom by Drago, because she's so
reactive that she has to justlike, I have to bite, you know,

(01:22:52):
and I've never had that withanother breed before. And I
think it's just it's a healerthing. You know, and it's
something that I just had to becognizant of with her and just
be aware of it and you know,plan for it, but I've never had
that my entire life with anotherdog of mine, you know, and I've
had bully breeds, you know,like, and, you know, they're
instinctively other dogaggressive depending on that,

(01:23:13):
you know, sometimes you cansocialize them enough they don't
have that, but most of the timethat's just that's instinctive
for them because they were bredto be dog biting dogs. Yeah. So
yeah, you know, but it's justvery, very interesting. Just
watching the healer go from zeroto 60 because they will go from
being the sweet wonderful dog tofull on Dingo mode. Yes. And

(01:23:35):
these now like there'll be tellsyou how they mount when they
play. And they bite like, shedoes like the Happy Girls.
Right? Well wrestle with herbecause he's scared of her. When
she does like the playful girlslike, and she like I'm just used
to it but like, she comes overand she will straight up like,
bite me and like on the leg,like chop like Let's go. Let's
move lady. I gotta go Pope.

(01:23:57):
Well, I when I was when theywere little, and I would get up
in the morning, and I would haveto walk across the house to get
to the back door to let themout. And it was funny because
they would heard me Yes, but Inever had to look, I knew who it
was because Lilly nips, andEleanor shoved. So they they had

(01:24:19):
their other Yes, yes, but I knewwho I was being herded by, or
who was hurting which leg basedon whether I was
I'm so sorry. Oh, no, you'regood, but
I just couldn't do this all day.
I'm sorry. Yeah. Oh, ego. Butit's, you know, I'm glad to be
able to talk about this becausepeople don't get it. Healers

(01:24:40):
they don't understand. Ya know,it's a thing.
And even if they're a mixedbreed that the heeler geez,
she's 60% healer, so, yeah,definitely. You know, this is
her. So yeah, yeah. All right.
Well, let's you go. Yes. Thankyou have a great one.
Anything you can buybut it's just very very

(01:25:03):
interesting just watching thehealer go from zero to 60
because they will go from beingthe sweet wonderful dog to full
on Dingo mode. Yes. And there'sno like there'll be tells you
how they mouth when they play.
And they bite like, she doeslike the Happy Girls like
wrestle with her because he'sscared of her when she does like

(01:25:24):
the playful girls like, and shelike I'm just used to it but
like she comes over and she willstraight up like, bite me like
on the leg like chop like Let'sgo. Let's move lady I gotta go
poop.
Well, I when I was when theywere little, and I would get up
in the morning, and I would haveto walk across the house to get
to the back door to let themout. And it was funny because

(01:25:46):
they would heard me. Yeah, but Inever had to look, I knew who it
was because Lily nips, andEleanor shoved. So they they
read their other Yes, yes. But Iknew who I was being herded by,
or who was hurting which legbased on whether I was

(01:26:07):
I'm so sorry. Oh, no, you'regood. But I'll let you go.
I just couldn't do this all day.
I'm sorry. Yeah, I'll let yougo. But it's, you know, I'm glad
to be able to talk to you aboutthis because people don't get
healers. They don't understand.
Ya know, it's a thing.
And even if they're a mixedbreed, that's the healer. Geez,

(01:26:29):
she's 60% healer. So yeah,definitely. You know, this is
her. So yeah, yeah. All right.
Well, let's you go. Yes, thankyou have a great one you again.
Bye.
Thank you so much for joining metoday. I know that you are busy.
And I really appreciate that youchose to spend some of your time

(01:26:49):
with me. So let's do a littlebit of bookkeeping before we
head out. If you enjoy this, andyou would like to receive the
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(01:27:11):
about it. Please go visit thewebsite. It's really cute. It's
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(01:27:32):
That's the best way to get to mefor that. Check us out on all
the different socials, Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn,
all of them. That's where you'llsee pictures of the pups that we
talk about each week. Also, justother fun pup things. I'm going
to put episodes on YouTube aswell. Sometimes the episodes are

(01:27:52):
recorded via zoom. And sothere's video, a lot of times
it's just us talking but everynow and then there are some fun
cameos from puppies are thereshenanigans in the background,
and you can catch all that onYouTube.
If you want to help me out ifyou would leave a positive
review and share the podcastthat would be fantastic. I would

(01:28:13):
be really grateful. And onceagain, if you want to help me
out, I would love to share yourstory. So please hit me up and
let's schedule a time that wecan talk. Some people have
shared their stories in writing.
Some people have gotten on thephone and done a chat with me so
we can do whatever you are mostcomfortable with. Finally, do
not forget that you are as greatas your dog thinks you are and

(01:28:35):
go smooth. Thanks, y'all.