Ready to discover the heartwarming world of animal rescue and fostering? Want to learn more about how you can prepare to become an animal foster parent? Need training tips for your dog? We will be covering all of this and more in this episode, a treasure-trove of stories, tips, and insights for all animal lovers.
The Story of My Pet Podcast host, Julie Marty-Pearson speaks with Courtney and Erin Clerico, of Foster Tales Rescue, a dog rescue non-profit organization in Kern County, California. They detail their journey, packed with personal anecdotes and advice, serving as a guiding beacon for anyone considering fostering, adopting, or simply wanting to make a difference in the lives of animals. One story that will tug at your heartstrings involves Courtney taking in a dog with an injury and how that encounter lead her back to animal rescue.
We talk about how you can become a foster parent, emphasizing the importance of preparation. Researching reputable rescues or shelters is essential when considering fostering is vital. We explore the profound bond formed between a pet parent and their adopted animal, a testament to the fact that fostering might come with its challenges, but it is incredibly rewarding and life-altering.
We also explore the nuances of introducing a new dog into your home, the importance of setting boundaries, and the power of positive reinforcement. Erin, a budding professional dog trainer, will share practical tips for training adopted pets while Courtney reflects on her own experiences, demonstrating how dogs from shelters and rescues can transform into wonderful companions. They also reveal the secrets to fostering a dog responsibly, underscoring the crucial role of research and resources to transition dogs from shelters to loving homes.
Join Courtney and Erin as they unravel the powerful narrative of their experience in animal rescue and fostering, reminding us all of the difference we can make in the lives of these animals. So, tune in, get inspired, and let's make a change together. You follow Courtney and learn more about Foster Tales Rescue on Instagram and
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello, my friends and fellow animal lovers, welcome
to another episode of the storyof my pet podcast.
I am your host, as always,julie Marty Pearson, and I'm
happy to have you joining us foryet another story of animal
adventures in rescue, fosteringand adoption.
Today, I have two guestsjoining me who are people from
(00:27):
my own local community who Ihave connected with through my
local shelter, through fosteringand learning more about their
rescue, as well as throughsocial media.
I will definitely have all thelinks for you guys to follow
them in the show notes and theirrescue, which is called
Fostered Tales Rescue, and wetalk a lot about all of the
(00:49):
varied experience that they havewith fostering and rescue and
bringing new animals into theirfamilies.
We will discuss all things thatyou're thinking about fostering
and how you can get started,ways you can help outside of
fostering and adoption,including supporting rescues
with donation, with your time asa volunteer, as well as helping
(01:11):
to network animals on socialmedia, which is a very important
piece to helping rescues andshelters find adopters for their
animals.
So I hope you enjoy thisconversation.
You're also going to hear somereally great dog training tips
along the way.
I just appreciate having you allhere.
Please make sure, if youhaven't already, to hit,
(01:33):
subscribe or follow on whateverplatform you are listening to
the podcast.
That way, you will not miss anynew episodes coming out.
And now here is the new episode.
Okay, my friends and fellowanimal lovers, I am happy to
have my new guests on thisepisode of the story of my pet.
I'm welcoming Courtney andAaron Clareko.
(01:55):
Thank you both for being here.
Thanks for having us.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Tell us a little bit about what you do and how
animals are a part of your life.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
My name is Courtney Clareko and I am an animal lover
.
I have now basically madeanimals my whole life.
I've been obsessed with animalssince I was a little girl and
growing up, they were alwaysjust a huge central focus for me
and I volunteered with a lot ofdifferent rescue organizations
and I always wanted to start myown, but it would be when I was
(02:26):
older.
But here I am.
I quit my day job and I'mrunning foster tails now.
I am super happy to be doingthat and it's a lot of fun.
We're saving lives.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Hello, my name is Aaron Clareko and I'm Courtney's
dad.
I've always had dogs and it wasCourtney that got me into or
really our whole family intoanimal rescue.
And she was a teenager she metsomeone who was involved with a
greyhound rescue down in LaHabra and she got us involved
(02:57):
with fostering greyhounds and Ithink over the years that we did
that, I think we must havefostered about 60 greyhounds 100
, dad.
Oh, 100 greyhounds Holy smokes.
We got 100 greyhounds over theyears and we really got into the
right way, the right protocols,the right ways to foster dogs,
(03:18):
to bring dogs into our home.
So we got pretty good at it.
We got so good at it that mywife, kathy Courtney's mom,
became the foster coordinator,which was a really important
position for the greyhoundrescue and what was the name of
the greyhound rescue?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
we were involved with Bast Friends Greyhound adoption
.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yep, really great rescue and we learned so much
from Joyce McRory who runs thatrescue.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
My idol.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And in any case, courtney's mom became the foster
coordinator and so she wouldhelp new fosters receive their
dogs and she would provide shewould like to help desks
whenever they had problems.
She would help peopletroubleshoot their problems and
give them advice for how tohandle all kinds of different
problems with the fosters.
So we got so good at this overthe years and we also did a lot
(04:05):
of just regular shelter dogs too.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Shelter dogs.
We also did a lot of cats.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Oh, my goodness, we have a.
Yeah, we read through a lot ofcats as well, so we really
enjoyed that, and I am actuallytraining to become a
professional dog trainer rightnow so that when I retire, I
would like to help other peopletrain their dogs.
I've always done easy basictraining with my dogs and then I
wound up, through a series ofcircumstances, getting a Dutch
(04:31):
Shepherd, which is one of themore challenging dogs, I think,
to train.
He's probably not the rightplace to start, but he was so
well bred, such a good dog, sucha smart dog and so devoted to
me that, despite the fact thatI'm really a terrible dog
trainer right now, I'm workingon getting better.
Shelter has just turned out tobe a great dog, so I've enrolled
(04:55):
in animal behavior college andI'm going through their
comprehensive program onbecoming a dog trainer.
I'm really looking forward tohelping more families receive
their dogs, their adopted dogsfrom the shelter and our fosters
that are taking care of ourshelter dogs.
I'd like to be able to providegood training support to them
(05:17):
and help families really be moresuccessful with their dogs.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I think training is such an important piece and so
many people adopt and try to doit themselves when they really
and not all dogs needspecialized training.
But there's so many resourcesavailable.
People need to take advantageof them and it's going to be
able to make them a moresuccessful for family, for sure.
(05:42):
100%.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
And what we've found success with is my dad actually
mentors our adopters and as apoint of contact for our
adopters, as he's a trainer intraining, he's our trainer in
training, right, and so he talksto all of our adopters or most
of our adopters and helps themthrough issues and helps them
(06:06):
sustain that commitment thatthey've made to that dog.
When people adopt a dog, theyneed to take it more seriously
and see it as a commitment andsay, hey, I'm gonna get you to
where you need to be completely.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And it also helps, I think, for people to be made
familiar with some of thepatterns of dog learning.
When a dog comes out of ashelter and into a home, that's
a lot of changes that the dogneeds to get used to all at once
, and one of the most commonproblems that our fosters and
our adopters have had, even inthe past when we work with the
(06:38):
Greyhounds, is separationanxiety.
The dog sees that the person isleaving Some dogs.
They're okay with it, but wefound that many dogs, especially
new dogs, get anxious and theybecome afraid and their reaction
to the separation is not adesired behavior.
And one of the simplest tricksin dog training really is
(07:01):
habituation, and in this casethe habituation would be if the
dog becomes anxious and reactswhen you grab your car keys and
walk out the front door, thenyou need to do that 30 times in
a row and you need to do thatday after day and you need to
leave for varying periods oftime.
You need to leave for threeminutes and five minutes and 10
(07:22):
minutes, and you need to do itall throughout the day.
It's a lot of trouble, but whatyou're trying to do is you're
trying to make the event happenso many times that the dog
begins to realize there's noconsequence.
To me, this is something thathappens all the time and the dog
will eventually get used to it.
Really, the best way to handleit?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
I think that's really important because I definitely
saw it a lot when I did off-siteadoption events and we'd worked
so hard to get a dog out andthen a few days later, or even a
week later, they'd come backand they would have destroyed
something while they were out orthey would have dug in the
backyard or something that it'slike you can't expect a dog to
(08:03):
understand.
They're in another, newenvironment and now you're
leaving them and they don't knowwhat that means and they've
been left before.
Obviously, that's how theyended up in the shelter.
I think separation anxiety is abig issue, especially for
shelter and rescue dogs.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
It is, as is setting up the environment for your dog
to be successful.
For example, if a family needsto be warned that any small
object that dog may regard as apotential chew toy, yeah, you
actually do have to put yourremote control and your hair
barrette, so your comb orwhatever it is, you've got to
(08:42):
set it out of the dog's reach.
If you don't want the dog tochew on your shoes, put your
shoes in your closet, close thedoor.
If you set the environment upso that the dog can't fit, then
the dog's not going to make amistake, and you don't want to
break too hard on people, but ifyour dog makes a mistake, it's
really not on the dog, it's onyou, and this is a behavior that
(09:03):
you haven't trained out.
This is a behavior that youhaven't addressed and you need
to properly address it.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Same thing with dogs, especially young dogs that are
puppies or even just under ayear.
They're going to chew.
There's reasons they're chewingand so you've got to give them
something appropriate to chew onor they're going to find
whatever is available to them.
I think that's really importantthat for fostering and for
adoption, that a big part Ithink of the disconnect,
especially with shelters becausethey're so busy and they're
(09:31):
just trying to get dogs out isthe family's not being set up
for success, and if they don'thave any experience with dogs or
they've never had a dog, theyneed to train.
I'd love for you guys to talk alittle bit about how you set up
fosters now and how you guyswere setting yourself up for
success being foster parents.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I was in my teen years that I learned of retired
racing grayhounds and I gotlinked up with someone in town
who was one of the placementreps and I got to adopt one at a
young age.
My parents had to technicallyadopt it and then the head of
the rescue sent out an email toOliver Reedford adopters saying
(10:11):
I need more fosters.
And so I went to my parents andI was like hey, my grayhound we
just got.
Do you want to get a new one?
And after much discussion, itdidn't take much they said yes,
and so the grayhound rescue wasa magical experience because
they had this whole operationset up.
They worked hard to build arelationship with the track at
(10:33):
Mexico and not be pro or againstracing, just neutral.
Hey, we're just here for thedogs, that's all it was.
And so, because of this, thetrack actually allowed them to
build what was called the playyard on the track property, and
this play yard is where the dogsanyone, no questions asked,
could walk a dog up to this playyard and leave it and know that
(10:57):
the rescue was going to comepick it up.
It saved a lot of dogs fromgetting hurt or killed, and they
worked hard to educate andbuild relationships with the
staff at the track and teachthem things.
And these staff members grew tolove the dogs and I'm not
saying I'm pro racing becauseI'm not and I'm actually against
it myself, but the organizationitself stayed neutral and that
(11:19):
was a really key operationalpiece to their mission.
And anyways, they drive back upto La Habra Heights, California
, in this beautiful hillyneighborhood where Joyce had
this huge setup on a personalproperty where the dogs would,
one by one, be taken out of thetrailer and volunteers.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Air condition trailer An air condition trailer.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
By the way, yeah, they would be given to a handler
for the day.
So if someone could volunteerto be a handler for the day, we
had to drive two and a halfhours to get to this event and
pick up the dog, and so you'dhandle the dog all day.
You'd go down to the corral,the dog would have some time to
relax and unwind and then, oneby one, as you were called up,
you would get taken to the dogwashing station so all the dogs
(12:02):
would wash, given flea and tickmedication.
Then they would go over to atent where Joyce had hired a vet
tech to come out and pull bloodso they could send off blood at
a reasonable rate to alaboratory and get all their
blood work done.
And then they would get theirnails trimmed and their ears
cleaned and they'd get theirpicture taken and then they'd go
home to a foster.
(12:23):
So got our first dog fastforward.
We did this 100 times and welearned a lot about fostering.
We learned a lot of ways tomanage dogs and one of the key
elements is that you staycommitted as a foster or a
doctor they.
You stay committed to themission and you never give up on
that dog and guaranteed there'sa solution to the problem.
(12:44):
So that's how I approachsetting up.
My risk, and that's how Iapproach onboarding dogs is I
try to mimic what I saw- andthen I want to talk about where
does a new foster family start?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
They bring home their dog and what is the first thing
that they do and what we wouldalways instruct our new foster
families to do is tether the dogaround your waist and make the
dog walk around the house withyou.
You don't necessarily have totether the dog to your waist,
but when the dog first comes inthe house he's not loose, he's
(13:16):
not free to explore wherever hewants.
You're going to have that dogon leash and you'll take that
dog around to every room in thehouse and introduce the dog to
what's going on, and the dogreally might not get to be free
off leash indoors, maybe eventhat first night, until they get
calm down and understandingwhat's happening.
(13:36):
If there is another dog in thehome and you're bringing in a
foster dog, the two dogs shouldprobably meet on a walk.
They should probably meet inneutral territory and have the
dogs walk for a little bit andthen walk into the front yard or
the backyard so that they canget to know each other, to show
(13:59):
a dog their proper role in thefamily, not necessarily to
establish dominance or anything.
A lot of that stuff has beendebunked, but nonetheless there
is a hierarchy in a dog pack andthe best way for a family to
show the dog a new dog its placeis to first of all eat before
(14:23):
the dog eats.
You're not going to free feed adog.
You're going to feed him, Ithink, just one meal a day and
make sure the dog sees youeating before the dog gets to
eat.
That is one sign of you havinga higher position in the pack
and the dog has to wait for you.
Don't allow a dog to own andresource protect bones or toys.
(14:44):
Pick the toys up and put themaway and bring the toys out when
it's time for the dogs to playwith them.
You can use the toys as areward.
You can use the reward.
Use the toys as an alternatebehavior to chewing on something
you're not supposed to chew on,and be sure you teach the dog
that a toy can also be takenaway.
(15:05):
But don't make it a negativeexperience.
Bring the dog a better toy andremove the toy from the dog.
Give the dog the better toy andthen hand the other dog in the
room the toy that you just tookaway from the first dog, and
that will feeds the dog, butthey don't own the toy and they
don't get to.
They don't get to dog it.
Walk the dog frequently.
Some families even need to betold to let the dog out every
(15:29):
half an hour until the dog getsused to going potty in the yard.
It can take a while for the dogto be very nervous when you
first bring it home.
Sometimes it might take acouple of days.
They just get nervous and won'tdo it.
But you have to keep trying andkeep trying so that the dog has
success with doing theirbusiness outside and then
(15:50):
obviously you'll offer a lot ofpraise and excitement around
that time.
Try to build the positivereinforcement around the desire
action which is pooping out theyard.
So it's really basic stuff likethat.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Those first three days especially are really
important that you're settingthose boundaries and you're
letting them know what to do andwhat not to do and you're
praising them when they're doingit.
You're not punishing them to dosomething wrong, because
they've just gotten there.
They're not gonna know what'ssupposed to happen and a lot of
times, with dogs from sheltersand rescues, we have no idea
(16:23):
what their experience was beforewe got them.
So we have to set the stage andset the boundaries for them,
and those first three days, Ithink, are just so important,
but over time you just have tokeep reinforcing it.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
That's real, you really do and you really don't
wanna start.
You mentioned you do not wannastart on punishment at first,
because you're more likely tomake the dog fearful.
And once you've made the dogfearful of something, then
you're beginning perhaps an evenworse behavior.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
So, really, all those principles that we just covered
are how we onboard dogs and howwe handle bringing new dogs
into the house, and that's howwe instruct both not just
ourselves, but also our newfosters and our adopters,
because the same stuff appliesto adopters as well, because
sometimes, even though they'recoming from a home environment
(17:14):
transferring to another homeenvironment, it can still be
shocking to them.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Yeah still unknown.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
That's how we find success with fostering is just
those call and sense principles.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Just basic things I've seen a couple videos of you
, courtney, on social media withwhen you brought in a new dog
and you have them tethered toyou as you're doing things.
I think that's something Ihadn't heard of before seeing
you do it and I think that'ssuch a great thing because they
feel safe, maybe next to you,but you're still keeping them a
part of what's going on.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
They're looking to me for direction.
They know that I'm in chargeand, just like my dad said, it's
not a dominance thing.
I'm not standing over the dogtelling it what to do.
I'm just going about my normalroutine so they can see what
it's like, and sometimes thisencourages them to be a little
bit of a shadow dog, but I don'tmind them doing that.
It's checking out what's goingon in the house and I want them
(18:02):
to know that tethered to theleash tells them that they can't
be running around like crazydog.
They can't be scouring off intothe corner and hiding.
They have to be out here in theopen.
They have to be calm.
So I'm going to givecorrections.
And you don't let them have WWEwrestling matches all over your
living room.
There's manners you need tohave, and so we started stealing
(18:25):
those manners and we work onthe dogs being quiet because we
live in a residential area sothe dogs can't be barking.
My dogs are quieter than mostof the dogs on my block.
I tell the dog as I'm walkingup to my house.
I tell them hey, this is aspecial place, can't mess it up.
You've got to behave.
And I really believe in thatlittle talk that I give them
(18:47):
because it seems to work, and somy approach is more free, slow,
creative.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
My dad's is technical and we just figure it out
Sounds like it's a good balancefor one thing, but also what you
mentioned about because I haveit a lot in my neighborhood are
dogs that are outside andthey're just barking.
And I think so many times whenpeople hear that or have that as
a neighbor or have anexperience like that, people
jump to blame the dog.
But it's not the dog's fault.
(19:13):
The dog is doing that becausethey've been left outside.
They're not getting anyattention, they don't have what
they need, they haven't been setboundaries like you guys are
talking about, and I thinkthat's such a stereotype of
shelter dogs.
They must be there becausesomething's wrong with them.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Yeah, and I'm showing the world that.
Number one you can have bigdogs in a small house.
Number two you can have dogsfrom a shelter with unknown
paths, who might have had somesort of behavioral problem, but
I really blame the first one whogave them up along the way or
bought them or whatever.
I don't think it's the animal'sfault.
They're just existing.
And I come from trauma.
(19:49):
I had some traumaticexperiences in my 20s and so I
relate to them in that factor.
I've made mistakes and I stillmake mistakes.
When I see these dogs, I justrelate to them so much and I
want to give them that secondchance.
And more often than not theyshow me actually every single
time they show me that they'recapable of being great dogs with
(20:11):
the right love and support orboundaries and all that
Absolutely.
The other thing is dogsescaping the yard.
That's a symptom of being leftoutside.
By the way, right, a dog that'spart of the family and who goes
inside with you and all that,is less likely to run away.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Yeah, I heard that so many times in the shelter,
especially with Huskies andGerman shepherds, that they
would jump the fence, they wouldleave or they'd get out.
And so there's a reason they'refleeing because they're not
getting what they need.
They're not bad dogs, they'relooking for attention or
whatever it may be, and all theHuskies you know, I've rescued a
lot of Huskies.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
You've seen it?
Yep, I don't have any escapeartists None of them and my yard
is barricaded, by the way, soit's hard to get out, but even
still, no one prized to leave.
We don't have a problem.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
I think another good idea too, to bond a new dog to
you or to your family and Ipicked this up from the trainer
that I got Riker from is feedhim from your hands, feed him
dinner from your hands for thefirst few weeks.
I actually went several monthswhere every single thing that
Riker ate came from my hands.
(21:19):
I wanted Riker to understandthat everything wonderful came
from me.
I never chased Riker.
It's critical to never play agame where you chase a dog.
You must always play a gamewhere the dog chases you.
You always want to teach the dogto run after you, and I would
do that with Riker.
(21:40):
I would play hide and go seekwith him.
I would have my wife hold himacross the yard and then I would
give him the come to you.
I would issue the command comeor use the arm motion that I
trained him on, and she wouldrelease him and he'd run across
the yard and he'd get a littlebit of hot dog for doing that.
So it really drove home that heneeds to return to me and so,
(22:02):
consequently, I've got a dog whoI can drop a leash on a
neighborhood walk.
I can let him go in the backcountry.
He's never very far from me,he's always checking in with me
and he'll always come back to mewhen I call.
I think my biggest challenge isgoing to be talking to the
people, convincing the peoplethat training a dog is it's not
black magic, it's not mysterious.
There's really well-knownsimple things you can do to have
(22:26):
a better-behaved dog.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
It's fun and it's rewarding.
It sounds like we're beingsuper technical, but it's a fun,
rewarding experience 100%.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
So if someone, listening to this episode, has
thought about fostering, knowshow important it is, but they're
not sure what they have to do,how they have to be prepared or
not, what would you say to them?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
So I would say first, research who you want to foster
through, because who you'refostering through will determine
what kind of experience youhave first of all, and so you
want to make sure you're with areputable rescue or a shelter
that is going to assumeresponsibility of the dog in the
event that you can't continuedoing this.
(23:11):
It needs to be known that it'sthe shelter or rescued dog.
And the other thing you want tolook at is how do they get
their dogs adopted?
Who do they want to adopt to?
Because you're going to end upkeeping that dog if you don't
have the same standards as thatshelter or rescue and finding
homes.
And so, in order to not be afoster failure, you want to work
with an organization thatreally bets their homes and gets
(23:32):
the type of home that's similarto your standards and standard
of living and your idea of whatis needed for a dog to thrive
and be happy, because Iguarantee you're not going to
let that dog go, and then you'regoing to give up on fostering
and it didn't work right.
Finding a good rescue orshelter is number one, and then
just reach out to them, andthat's another test that you can
(23:53):
run on a shelter or rescue ishow responsive are they If you
reach out to them with somequestions about how their foster
program works, becauseeveryone's works a little
differently and they don't.
If you reach out to a couple ofshelters and rescues and they
don't get back to you in adecent amount of time, then that
might be a sign that they'renot going to adopt the dog out
or be responsible in talking toadopters or you when there's a
(24:13):
problem.
And so you want to reach outand get comfortable with the
organization and then justfollow their process and look
for resources.
It's not hard to learn how totrain dogs.
Of course want to encouragepeople to come foster with us at
FosterTeal because this levelof love and care and thought
goes into our foster program.
But just get involved, jump inand have a commitment that
(24:38):
you're just not going to keepthe first dog that walks through
your door.
And this is an experience toget to know lots of dogs.
There's nothing more magical onthis earth getting to know a
lot of dogs.
It's a fun ride.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
It really is.
I think you've made a couple ofgood points.
One you're not signing up inany way, in any shape or form,
that you have to keep the dog orcat or whoever you're fostering
.
A lot of people feel like, no,I have to keep them.
No, that's not a requirement.
But what you talked about interms of responsiveness I think
is important because ultimately,whoever you're fostering for,
(25:12):
they are supporting you to dothat, and most rescues and
shelters pay for food, pay forhealthcare and all of that.
But if they're not responsiveto you and there is an emergency
or the animal gets sick and youdon't know what to do, you want
to make sure you're withsomeone that you know is going
to respond to you quickly andhelp you in that situation.
Exactly, and are you?
Speaker 3 (25:33):
going to get stuck with that dog.
How responsive are they toadopters?
Because I can tell you I knowof rescues and shelters that let
emails and texts and phonecalls go unanswered and so you
could have a potential adopteron the line who never gets a
response and then that dog sitsin foster care for another three
months.
If you don't want to end upkeeping that dog, you need to do
a little bit of research,because I've also heard her
(25:56):
horror stories where people havegone and worked with rescues
that have abandoned the dogswith them, so they had to adopt
the dogs because of that.
So there's just a lot of trustthat goes into it.
Right, and making sure you havethe same standards as their
adoption standards is soimportant to.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
And ask lots of questions.
There's no such thing as astupid question.
There should be no such thingas a stupid question when you're
dealing with a rescue in termsof how, what do we do if this
happens?
What do we do if that happens?
And you might be able to tell alot by their willingness or
ability to answer thosequestions.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I think that's really important.
People shouldn't be afraid toask questions or say, well, that
doesn't work for me, orwhatever it may be, but finding
the right rescuer or shelter,because then anything you need,
they're going to be there tosupport them Exactly.
So, let's say, someone'slistening.
They've been listening to myepisodes about how overcrowded
our shelters are, what crisiswe're in, especially here in
(26:54):
Curtin County in California andother areas of the US.
They can't on adopt, they can'tfoster right now because of
their home or maybe theircurrent pets of their own, but
they want to do something tohelp.
What are the things that youwould encourage them to do to
help rescues like yours?
To help get the dogs out ofshelters into fosters and
(27:15):
adopted.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
I think the number one need is resources.
If you can't foster or adopt,resources are needed and the
best way to help is to find areputable rescue or shelter to
donate funds to or donate itemson a wish list.
I can tell you, by running arescue donations are rare We'll
fundraise for a particular dogand we get a flood of donations
(27:39):
and for that one dog, butoutside of that I get 25 bucks
here and there.
And so if you're listening andyou can give, please give, but
if not, volunteer.
There's so many roles that youcan do today to get involved,
and whether it's walking dogs ornetworking dogs or cleaning
(28:03):
kennel.
I'd love to point to CurtinCounty Streets of Bakersfield.
I know even some people fromout of town have come in for
that program and taken a dog outof the shelter for the day and
helped get pictures and video.
So all that's great and it'sall very much needed.
But the last thing I want to sayabout this real fast is that if
you're listening and you can'tdo anything and you're feeling
(28:28):
like man, I can't volunteer, Ican't donate.
What do I do?
Find a rescue or a network oronline that is networking dog
and share their content, or it'sa huge piece to our success and
to rescue, is having peopleshare and comment on our content
.
That gets it seen in thealgorithm more and that gets the
word out to other people whomight be able to do things you
(28:50):
can't do.
I am really big on this, julie.
I got to tell you the middleclass is hurting right now and
when we ask for funds and we askfor help, I realized that most
people are encumbered by out ofcontrol cost of living fees, out
of control grocery costs andfuel costs and everything.
Most people have to work twojobs.
(29:11):
So if you don't have money, youdon't have time.
I get it, I hear you and Iunderstand you.
Just share and comment.
That can help save a dog's life.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
People don't realize that just by liking, just by
commenting, like you said somany of the social media
platforms, it feeds into thealgorithm More people that stop
the scroll and listen to a video, who like a post, who share it,
who put it in their stories,whatever it may be, it impacts
it and it gets out to more andmore eyes that wouldn't normally
(29:44):
see it.
I saw this recently from avolunteer from our county
shelter.
I'm a huge Bravo Housewives fan, I will admit it, and one of
the real Housewives of OrangeCounty, who has hundreds of
thousands of followers, hadreposted a video of that.
Volunteers from our countyshelter, so it was getting seen
(30:05):
at a level that we can't do.
But that only happens if peoplecontinue to share and like and
keep the movement going.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
I'd always been rescuing animals and then I got
involved with rescueorganizations pretty heavily.
I was sat on some boards ofdifferent nonprofits.
But in 2018, I became a victimof domestic violence and I had
some pretty bad head injuriesfrom that experience and so I
really lost myself and I had tospend a lot of time recovering
(30:36):
from that experience.
But I definitely lost touchwith the animal rescue world.
But in 2018, that's around thetime that our county shelter
came out and said that there wasa five year plan for no kill.
You can imagine, witheverything going on in my life
injuries that I was trying toheal from I didn't have a lot of
bandwidth to really processthings.
(30:57):
I actually got my master'sdegree in 2016 and studied the
companion over population crisishere in Kern County and
examined different ways to solveit.
When I heard that Kern wasgoing no kill, I, like so many
other people in my hometown ofBaker's Hill, heard just the no
kill word and thought, oh God,thank God.
(31:18):
And, believe it or not, Ibecame one of those Baker's Hill
people that thought everythingwas going okay at the county
shelter, and the county shelteris where my heart was always
based, because that's theshelter that I'd always been
involved with when I was younger.
I get into my career.
I finished my education, I gotout of that abuse of marriage
(31:40):
and I started to just go see onmy career.
I became a union president andI volunteered that way and that
was really intense and I workedfor a large government agency
here in town and it wasinteresting and it's last year,
in 2022, I was asked totransport a dog some red pressed
(32:01):
shelter to the Baker's HillCity shelter to get it on a
rescue bus to go to Washingtonto be adopted.
And I said, oh my gosh, yes,absolutely.
And so I did this trip and Igot to Baker's Hill City shelter
with the dog and I met Carrieand Carrie is one of the most
amazing volunteers at the KernCounty Animal Shelter.
(32:22):
She just man, she just remindedme so much of all my rescue
work and what was important tome.
She was a foster, she was avolunteer, she just had that
passion for animals and she madeit okay to be that passionate
about animals.
And so, as we're sitting theretalking and I'm just getting
(32:43):
flooded with all these memoriesof animal rescue, an odd looking
couple approached the door tothe Baker's Hill City shelter
that happened to be closed atthe time, with a dog in their
arm but appeared to have someblood on it, and so, as they
trudged back to their car,obviously not getting the help
that they were seeking, Istopped them and I said, hey,
(33:04):
what's going on?
And these people just I don'tknow what was going on in their
life.
I'm not going to judge them,but they did not have their
things together, let me just putit that way.
And they're holding this dogwith a whole cut in its throat,
and they told me that the doghad wandered into their house
however true that might be, andthey didn't know what to do.
(33:24):
And I said put the dog in mycar.
They're just instantly rescue.
Courtney kicked in.
I said put the dog in my car.
What are you gonna do?
Put the dog in my car.
So they put the dog in my carand they left and I went up to
Kerry.
I didn't know what to do.
Kerry said the county sheltersopen.
Go to the county shelters.
So I went to the county shelterimmediately On the way there I
got a better look at her throatand it was cut into her trachea.
(33:46):
So she's actually fuddling outof her throat.
She's just a puppy.
And so I get to the frontcounter and start pleading my
case and telling them whathappened and I get rejected.
The person didn't hear that thedog was injured because their
mandate had taken an injured dog.
And so a supervisor overheardbecause I was starting to get
emotional and so they sat medown and I told them what
(34:09):
happened and they looked at thedog and they rushed the dog over
to DCA and they took the dog inas one of their county dogs and
they said listen, whatever ittakes to save the dog, there's a
woman who will donate funds.
If we can donate funds, I willfoster the dog whatever it takes
.
Just know that this dog has ateen rooting for it.
And they heard me.
And so then I had to wait.
(34:30):
I called the vet hospital there.
No one could tell me anythingbecause it was the county
sheltered's dog, and so I had towait three days and finally a
supervisor called me to tell methat she had died.
Her trachea collapsed and shedidn't make it.
And I was just so emotional, Iwas bawling on the phone and I
(34:51):
said I was willing to take onemedical foster.
So if you ever get anothermedical foster in.
Put me on the list, I'll takethe dog in, of course, me not
knowing much at the time comingout of his head in three.
Of course they already have amedical dog, of course they do.
And she said we have one now.
And I said what she said she'sa Husky.
And I was like okay.
(35:11):
And so she told me that this doghad been attacked by another
dog on the street.
Her and her brother were bothattacked.
Her brother didn't make it andshe happened to be kenneled
right next to the dog at theanimal hospital that I brought
it.
They happened to be right nextto each other so they knew each
other and so I made theappointment to go pick up the
dog.
I just I couldn't believe thestory.
(35:32):
She had a broken jaw.
She wasn't bleeding.
I was gonna have to force feedher, give her antibiotic
injections, all this stuff.
She was really sick.
Bring her to my house, thisskinny, ratty looking Husky.
And then her deuser and man.
This dog just stole our heartsaway.
She just was the most gentledog, the sweetest dog.
(35:53):
We could not bear to let her goanywhere else and this is why I
talked about what I talkedabout earlier.
I love the County shelter, and Ithink it's an important
facility of government that weneed.
But they're overrun, they can'tdo a lot and there's laws in
place.
(36:13):
What forced them to adopt a dogto anyone who walks in the door
, who has a driver's license anda pulse, and I couldn't stand
to think of her being leftoutside or being thrown away
again.
And so one night my husbandsaid he looked at me and then
looked at Straza.
What we need her?
And he said, straza, do youwanna live with us?
(36:34):
And I just started bawling andso she became ours, and I also
found myself wanting to save alot more dogs than what I could
take on myself, and so I thoughtit's finally time to start
Foster Tales and Foster Taleswas a name, by the way, that my
dad and I had come up with about10 years prior, when we were
fostering all the time.
We just didn't know what to dowith it.
And so I started the process ofstarting my nonprofit, and it
(36:57):
started occurring to me that allof a sudden, the HR work that
I'm doing for this governmentagency in town it wasn't
fulfilling.
The union work was fulfilling,but it wasn't sustainable and I
made the tough decision to startexiting that part of my life
and deciding to dedicate my lifeto the dogs, and at this point
(37:17):
I don't have kids.
I don't know if I'm going to beable to have kids because the
dogs and I'm fine with that.
I think it's why I'm here.
I think it's seriously why I'mhere.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
No, I think that's a powerful story.
I appreciate you being open andsharing all of it.
One thing I've learned myselfjust having since starting this
podcast is there are so manymore people like us that, for
whatever reason, their life hasbecome dedicated to the animals,
to saving them, to caring forthem, to finding more people to
(37:47):
help.
It's not easy.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
I'm scared, I'm constantly terrified.
I don't enjoy my life muchright now, but it's for the dogs
and I love it.
I wouldn't have it any otherway and, by the way, you really
inspired me.
When I was getting startedearlier, I saw what you were
doing and I detected that youwere doing what I wanted to do,
which is dedicate my life to theanimals and not be ashamed of
it, and so I just want to thankyou for that.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Courtney, why don't you share with Julie our
tradition in this family when weadopt a dog, the clerico family
tradition when we adopt a newdog or a cat, or any animal for
that matter?
Speaker 3 (38:22):
It's to give them our last name.
Our last name means a lot.
I've kept it even in my marriedlife, my now happily married
life.
But our last name means a lotto us.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
It does, and even with animals that we have had
for and we had taken medicalanimals before, animals that we
have had for a short time we aremaking it absolutely certain
it's important to us that weadopt them.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
And that they get to have our last name, even if we
know that the dog may not liveor the animal may not live long.
We've had those circumstancesand it just makes me feel good
Because finally welcome that dogto a family and make sure that
dog is part of the family.
Yeah, once, and our way ofdoing that is giving them our
last name.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
Yeah, once we know a dog or a cat's not going to make
it, he's in our care, we make apoint to go a few of them and
hold them and tell them thatthey're part of the clerico
family and say their name withour last name.
We look that dog or cat in theeyes and we tell them that they
are a clerico and through andthey have been adopted and we
love them.
And we tell them to go meet upwith Peter, my original gray
(39:33):
held.
We tell them to find Sid thekitty, one of my cats that I
thought when I was in secondgrade.
We tell them to find Cree, oneof Peter's descendants, that I
rescued about 10 years laterfrom the track.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
They'll be waiting for us at the rainbow bridge.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
Waiting for us at the rainbow bridge.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
It's so funny Hearing you guys talk about the flashes
to all of my pets, and thefirst foster kitten I ever had
didn't make it.
He crashed.
He had a fading kitten syndromeand I'd never had any.
I'd bottle fed babies that we'dkept and everything, and it was
really hard for me but myhusband made sure that we buried
him in our backyard so hestayed here.
(40:15):
This was now his home.
Probably would have been if hehad made it as well.
You get so attached to thosemedical babies.
Let me tell you, yeah, so true.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
My favorite, one of my favorite adopted animals was
we named her BL Kitty.
She had been horribly abusedSomebody had actually broken one
of her front legs and therescuer that brought her to us
saw the person toss BL Kittyfrom their window on a highway.
And they stopped and found thispoor, scruffy kitten.
(40:46):
And BL was wild as could be,definitely a feral cat.
And I made the bestrelationship with BL Kitty.
We always told her that hername was it was Brenda Lim Kitty
, because we didn't want her tobe defined by her injury.
But BL Kitty, she was the bestkitty and we just we were so
(41:06):
close and she never stoppedbeing serile, but yet she would.
Let me pick her up and pet her.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
It's an important thing for people to realize that
rescue and fostering and all ofthis isn't easy and sometimes
we see the worst of the worst interms of what humans can do to
animals.
But when it comes to thatanimal and the love and the
connection that you make withthem, all the negative, all the
bad just goes away.
It's those memories, it's thoseexperiences that really are why
(41:36):
the people in rescue andshelters and all of us do this,
and that's what we.
And it's so funny because withmy kitten being because it
didn't make, it took me a weekbefore I could take his carrier
back to the shelter.
I just couldn't do it.
And the day I walked in with itto give it back, the foster
coordinator said I was justgoing to call you, we just got
six bottle babies and we needsomeone to take them.
(41:58):
Wow.
And so I brought him home andthen they all became big,
healthy kittens.
Five of them got adopted andone became my first official
foster male.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
You didn't give up.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
You didn't give up Honestly it hadn't been for
beings, in that experience ofrealizing how fragile they are
and how much help they need, Iprobably wouldn't have said yes,
but they I think it's somethingwe, all of us pet parents say
the right, the animals that aremeant to find us and for
whatever purpose they have inour life, whether they become a
part of our family or not.
(42:30):
And I know one thing I love,courtney, about following you
guys and looking at your videosis I was working in the shelters
for a while and so I knew thedogs, and whenever I see Shai
Shaiyoti, as she was known, inthe shelter in your home just
living her best life, I wouldpass her in that corner candle
(42:51):
dozens of times in a day when Iwas getting dogs in and out.
Speaker 3 (42:54):
Breaks my heart to think of her there.
She did so badly there.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
She did.
She just was literallyscreaming out for someone to
give her the love she wanted,and so getting to see her in
your home.
It's like those are theconnections we make.
Look at her, she didn't getleft there, she didn't have to
die there in that shelter, shewent on somewhere.
And I think that's what peopledon't realize.
If you follow along and youtrack these stories, no matter
(43:18):
how bad it looks and no matterhow awful some of the situations
are, you'll see the light,you'll see the reason.
It'll give you that motivationto keep doing it.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
Julie, that's just beautiful and that's really what
I'd try to capture at BobfordNails.
I think that's why peopleconnect with our content so well
is that I really try to tellthe story.
I don't just tell theheartbreaking one, I tell the
happy one and I try to show thedog's journey from shelter to
adoption and even past adoption,what their forever home looks
(43:50):
like, what their forever lifelooks like.
And that's what I'm trying todo is I'm trying to spread
awareness about this veryimportant will show you by
telling story, and so far itseems to be resonating with part
of you folks.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
How many dogs have you placed?
Speaker 3 (44:07):
I don't know how many I've placed.
I just keep account of how manyI've pulled through the shelter
and rescued.
I keep a notepad of adoptedcurrently and foster transferred
to other rescues.
We just hit 64 today, wow.
That's amazing we have.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
we only got involved in this late winter of this year
, but as a rescue you've juststarted and that's a huge impact
.
Even just one makes it worth it.
But when you can have a systemin place to save one after
another and I think what yousaid, too, is it's not all about
you and getting to claim them.
If you have a dog, that's goingto fit better somewhere else
(44:49):
when the rescues spawn togetherfor transport, for getting into
other areas, that's a huge partof it, as long as a rescue meets
my standards.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
It's all work with them and I've been burned before
and that's a lot of people knowI've been burned but for the
most part I've found some reallygreat rescues that I love
working with and I love when Iget to take a dog from a shelter
, make it healthy, get it allgroomed, beautiful and send it
off to a rescue that can work onthe adoption piece of it,
Because I don't need to shareall the glory.
(45:19):
I really don't.
I don't need to pinch them allover it.
It's not about owning thesedogs.
These dogs are sentient beings,they're not property.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
And they all deserve a loving home, wherever that
ends up being.
And we're so overcrowded inKern County if that means
another city or another state oreven another country.
Some of our dogs even end up inrescues in Canada.
Yep, that's all it's about, andthe networking is so crucial.
People don't realize how muchwork goes on behind the scenes
to get these dogs and cats savedout of shelters and rescues.
Speaker 3 (45:51):
I agree 100%, and I have worked with people all over
the state of California.
In fact, out of the 64 dogs,only two of them have been
adopted in Bakersfield.
Most of them are even fosteredout of the area, so my goal is
to get them out of here.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
Yeah, we have too many here.
Wherever we can get them tohappy, healthy homes is what's
important.
I just want to thank you,courtney, and you, aaron, for
spending this time with me.
I think you've given someincredible advice and
information for people, itdefinitely importance of rescue
and fostering, as well as sometraining tips, and just thank
(46:25):
you both for everything you havedone and everything you
continue to do for the dogs ofour community.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
Let's say sweet Thank you, Julie, and thank you sir.
Speaker 3 (46:36):
You do.
Speaker 2 (46:38):
Yes, absolutely, thank you, and thank you.
This has been fun.
I've really enjoyed this.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
Yeah, me too, thank you all so much for listening to
this episode.
I hope you enjoyed thisconversation that I had with
Courtney and Aaron.
I hope you enjoyed hearingtheir experience and the work
they're doing with rescue andit's maybe inspired you to get
more involved with animal rescue.
If you can, please follow themon social media.
(47:05):
All the links are in the shownotes so that you can follow
Foster Tails Rescue and help tosupport by liking and commenting
and sharing their posts as theybring in more dogs from the
shelter, finding fosters andadopters for those amazing dogs.
As always, I appreciate yourfeedback.
If you guys have any topics oryou know someone in rescue,
(47:30):
working in shelters or nonprofitorganization and you would like
to see them featured on thepodcast, just follow me on
social media Instagram at thestory of my pet podcast, or
email me at Julie atthestoryofmypetpodcastcom and
let me know what topics, whatgroups, you would like to see
(47:51):
featured on upcoming episodes ofthe podcast.
Thank you again, my friends andfellow animal lovers, and I
will see you on the next episode.
Thank you.
Hello, my friends and fellow animal lovers, welcome
to another episode of the storyof my pet podcast.
I am your host, as always,julie Marty Pearson, and I'm
happy to have you joining us foryet another story of animal
adventures in rescue, fosteringand adoption.
Today, I have two guestsjoining me who are people from
(00:27):
my own local community who Ihave connected with through my
local shelter, through fosteringand learning more about their
rescue, as well as throughsocial media.
I will definitely have all thelinks for you guys to follow
them in the show notes and theirrescue, which is called
Fostered Tales Rescue, and wetalk a lot about all of the
(00:49):
varied experience that they havewith fostering and rescue and
bringing new animals into theirfamilies.
We will discuss all things thatyou're thinking about fostering
and how you can get started,ways you can help outside of
fostering and adoption,including supporting rescues
with donation, with your time asa volunteer, as well as helping
(01:11):
to network animals on socialmedia, which is a very important
piece to helping rescues andshelters find adopters for their
animals.
So I hope you enjoy thisconversation.
You're also going to hear somereally great dog training tips
along the way.
I just appreciate having you allhere.
Please make sure, if youhaven't already, to hit,
(01:33):
subscribe or follow on whateverplatform you are listening to
the podcast.
That way, you will not miss anynew episodes coming out.
And now here is the new episode.
Okay, my friends and fellowanimal lovers, I am happy to
have my new guests on thisepisode of the story of my pet.
I'm welcoming Courtney andAaron Clareko.
(01:55):
Thank you both for being here.
Thanks for having us.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Tell us a little bit about what you do and how
animals are a part of your life.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
My name is Courtney Clareko and I am an animal lover
.
I have now basically madeanimals my whole life.
I've been obsessed with animalssince I was a little girl and
growing up, they were alwaysjust a huge central focus for me
and I volunteered with a lot ofdifferent rescue organizations
and I always wanted to start myown, but it would be when I was
(02:26):
older.
But here I am.
I quit my day job and I'mrunning foster tails now.
I am super happy to be doingthat and it's a lot of fun.
We're saving lives.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Hello, my name is Aaron Clareko and I'm Courtney's
dad.
I've always had dogs and it wasCourtney that got me into or
really our whole family intoanimal rescue.
And she was a teenager she metsomeone who was involved with a
greyhound rescue down in LaHabra and she got us involved
(02:57):
with fostering greyhounds and Ithink over the years that we did
that, I think we must havefostered about 60 greyhounds 100
, dad.
Oh, 100 greyhounds Holy smokes.
We got 100 greyhounds over theyears and we really got into the
right way, the right protocols,the right ways to foster dogs,
(03:18):
to bring dogs into our home.
So we got pretty good at it.
We got so good at it that mywife, kathy Courtney's mom,
became the foster coordinator,which was a really important
position for the greyhoundrescue and what was the name of
the greyhound rescue?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
we were involved with Bast Friends Greyhound adoption
.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yep, really great rescue and we learned so much
from Joyce McRory who runs thatrescue.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
My idol.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And in any case, courtney's mom became the foster
coordinator and so she wouldhelp new fosters receive their
dogs and she would provide shewould like to help desks
whenever they had problems.
She would help peopletroubleshoot their problems and
give them advice for how tohandle all kinds of different
problems with the fosters.
So we got so good at this overthe years and we also did a lot
(04:05):
of just regular shelter dogs too.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Shelter dogs.
We also did a lot of cats.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Oh, my goodness, we have a.
Yeah, we read through a lot ofcats as well, so we really
enjoyed that, and I am actuallytraining to become a
professional dog trainer rightnow so that when I retire, I
would like to help other peopletrain their dogs.
I've always done easy basictraining with my dogs and then I
wound up, through a series ofcircumstances, getting a Dutch
(04:31):
Shepherd, which is one of themore challenging dogs, I think,
to train.
He's probably not the rightplace to start, but he was so
well bred, such a good dog, sucha smart dog and so devoted to
me that, despite the fact thatI'm really a terrible dog
trainer right now, I'm workingon getting better.
Shelter has just turned out tobe a great dog, so I've enrolled
(04:55):
in animal behavior college andI'm going through their
comprehensive program onbecoming a dog trainer.
I'm really looking forward tohelping more families receive
their dogs, their adopted dogsfrom the shelter and our fosters
that are taking care of ourshelter dogs.
I'd like to be able to providegood training support to them
(05:17):
and help families really be moresuccessful with their dogs.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I think training is such an important piece and so
many people adopt and try to doit themselves when they really
and not all dogs needspecialized training.
But there's so many resourcesavailable.
People need to take advantageof them and it's going to be
able to make them a moresuccessful for family, for sure.
(05:42):
100%.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
And what we've found success with is my dad actually
mentors our adopters and as apoint of contact for our
adopters, as he's a trainer intraining, he's our trainer in
training, right, and so he talksto all of our adopters or most
of our adopters and helps themthrough issues and helps them
(06:06):
sustain that commitment thatthey've made to that dog.
When people adopt a dog, theyneed to take it more seriously
and see it as a commitment andsay, hey, I'm gonna get you to
where you need to be completely.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And it also helps, I think, for people to be made
familiar with some of thepatterns of dog learning.
When a dog comes out of ashelter and into a home, that's
a lot of changes that the dogneeds to get used to all at once
, and one of the most commonproblems that our fosters and
our adopters have had, even inthe past when we work with the
(06:38):
Greyhounds, is separationanxiety.
The dog sees that the person isleaving Some dogs.
They're okay with it, but wefound that many dogs, especially
new dogs, get anxious and theybecome afraid and their reaction
to the separation is not adesired behavior.
And one of the simplest tricksin dog training really is
(07:01):
habituation, and in this casethe habituation would be if the
dog becomes anxious and reactswhen you grab your car keys and
walk out the front door, thenyou need to do that 30 times in
a row and you need to do thatday after day and you need to
leave for varying periods oftime.
You need to leave for threeminutes and five minutes and 10
(07:22):
minutes, and you need to do itall throughout the day.
It's a lot of trouble, but whatyou're trying to do is you're
trying to make the event happenso many times that the dog
begins to realize there's noconsequence.
To me, this is something thathappens all the time and the dog
will eventually get used to it.
Really, the best way to handleit?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
I think that's really important because I definitely
saw it a lot when I did off-siteadoption events and we'd worked
so hard to get a dog out andthen a few days later, or even a
week later, they'd come backand they would have destroyed
something while they were out orthey would have dug in the
backyard or something that it'slike you can't expect a dog to
(08:03):
understand.
They're in another, newenvironment and now you're
leaving them and they don't knowwhat that means and they've
been left before.
Obviously, that's how theyended up in the shelter.
I think separation anxiety is abig issue, especially for
shelter and rescue dogs.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
It is, as is setting up the environment for your dog
to be successful.
For example, if a family needsto be warned that any small
object that dog may regard as apotential chew toy, yeah, you
actually do have to put yourremote control and your hair
barrette, so your comb orwhatever it is, you've got to
(08:42):
set it out of the dog's reach.
If you don't want the dog tochew on your shoes, put your
shoes in your closet, close thedoor.
If you set the environment upso that the dog can't fit, then
the dog's not going to make amistake, and you don't want to
break too hard on people, but ifyour dog makes a mistake, it's
really not on the dog, it's onyou, and this is a behavior that
(09:03):
you haven't trained out.
This is a behavior that youhaven't addressed and you need
to properly address it.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Same thing with dogs, especially young dogs that are
puppies or even just under ayear.
They're going to chew.
There's reasons they're chewingand so you've got to give them
something appropriate to chew onor they're going to find
whatever is available to them.
I think that's really importantthat for fostering and for
adoption, that a big part Ithink of the disconnect,
especially with shelters becausethey're so busy and they're
(09:31):
just trying to get dogs out isthe family's not being set up
for success, and if they don'thave any experience with dogs or
they've never had a dog, theyneed to train.
I'd love for you guys to talk alittle bit about how you set up
fosters now and how you guyswere setting yourself up for
success being foster parents.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I was in my teen years that I learned of retired
racing grayhounds and I gotlinked up with someone in town
who was one of the placementreps and I got to adopt one at a
young age.
My parents had to technicallyadopt it and then the head of
the rescue sent out an email toOliver Reedford adopters saying
(10:11):
I need more fosters.
And so I went to my parents andI was like hey, my grayhound we
just got.
Do you want to get a new one?
And after much discussion, itdidn't take much they said yes,
and so the grayhound rescue wasa magical experience because
they had this whole operationset up.
They worked hard to build arelationship with the track at
(10:33):
Mexico and not be pro or againstracing, just neutral.
Hey, we're just here for thedogs, that's all it was.
And so, because of this, thetrack actually allowed them to
build what was called the playyard on the track property, and
this play yard is where the dogsanyone, no questions asked,
could walk a dog up to this playyard and leave it and know that
(10:57):
the rescue was going to comepick it up.
It saved a lot of dogs fromgetting hurt or killed, and they
worked hard to educate andbuild relationships with the
staff at the track and teachthem things.
And these staff members grew tolove the dogs and I'm not
saying I'm pro racing becauseI'm not and I'm actually against
it myself, but the organizationitself stayed neutral and that
(11:19):
was a really key operationalpiece to their mission.
And anyways, they drive back upto La Habra Heights, California
, in this beautiful hillyneighborhood where Joyce had
this huge setup on a personalproperty where the dogs would,
one by one, be taken out of thetrailer and volunteers.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Air condition trailer An air condition trailer.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
By the way, yeah, they would be given to a handler
for the day.
So if someone could volunteerto be a handler for the day, we
had to drive two and a halfhours to get to this event and
pick up the dog, and so you'dhandle the dog all day.
You'd go down to the corral,the dog would have some time to
relax and unwind and then, oneby one, as you were called up,
you would get taken to the dogwashing station so all the dogs
(12:02):
would wash, given flea and tickmedication.
Then they would go over to atent where Joyce had hired a vet
tech to come out and pull bloodso they could send off blood at
a reasonable rate to alaboratory and get all their
blood work done.
And then they would get theirnails trimmed and their ears
cleaned and they'd get theirpicture taken and then they'd go
home to a foster.
(12:23):
So got our first dog fastforward.
We did this 100 times and welearned a lot about fostering.
We learned a lot of ways tomanage dogs and one of the key
elements is that you staycommitted as a foster or a
doctor they.
You stay committed to themission and you never give up on
that dog and guaranteed there'sa solution to the problem.
(12:44):
So that's how I approachsetting up.
My risk, and that's how Iapproach onboarding dogs is I
try to mimic what I saw- andthen I want to talk about where
does a new foster family start?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
They bring home their dog and what is the first thing
that they do and what we wouldalways instruct our new foster
families to do is tether the dogaround your waist and make the
dog walk around the house withyou.
You don't necessarily have totether the dog to your waist,
but when the dog first comes inthe house he's not loose, he's
(13:16):
not free to explore wherever hewants.
You're going to have that dogon leash and you'll take that
dog around to every room in thehouse and introduce the dog to
what's going on, and the dogreally might not get to be free
off leash indoors, maybe eventhat first night, until they get
calm down and understandingwhat's happening.
(13:36):
If there is another dog in thehome and you're bringing in a
foster dog, the two dogs shouldprobably meet on a walk.
They should probably meet inneutral territory and have the
dogs walk for a little bit andthen walk into the front yard or
the backyard so that they canget to know each other, to show
(13:59):
a dog their proper role in thefamily, not necessarily to
establish dominance or anything.
A lot of that stuff has beendebunked, but nonetheless there
is a hierarchy in a dog pack andthe best way for a family to
show the dog a new dog its placeis to first of all eat before
(14:23):
the dog eats.
You're not going to free feed adog.
You're going to feed him, Ithink, just one meal a day and
make sure the dog sees youeating before the dog gets to
eat.
That is one sign of you havinga higher position in the pack
and the dog has to wait for you.
Don't allow a dog to own andresource protect bones or toys.
(14:44):
Pick the toys up and put themaway and bring the toys out when
it's time for the dogs to playwith them.
You can use the toys as areward.
You can use the reward.
Use the toys as an alternatebehavior to chewing on something
you're not supposed to chew on,and be sure you teach the dog
that a toy can also be takenaway.
(15:05):
But don't make it a negativeexperience.
Bring the dog a better toy andremove the toy from the dog.
Give the dog the better toy andthen hand the other dog in the
room the toy that you just tookaway from the first dog, and
that will feeds the dog, butthey don't own the toy and they
don't get to.
They don't get to dog it.
Walk the dog frequently.
Some families even need to betold to let the dog out every
(15:29):
half an hour until the dog getsused to going potty in the yard.
It can take a while for the dogto be very nervous when you
first bring it home.
Sometimes it might take acouple of days.
They just get nervous and won'tdo it.
But you have to keep trying andkeep trying so that the dog has
success with doing theirbusiness outside and then
(15:50):
obviously you'll offer a lot ofpraise and excitement around
that time.
Try to build the positivereinforcement around the desire
action which is pooping out theyard.
So it's really basic stuff likethat.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Those first three days especially are really
important that you're settingthose boundaries and you're
letting them know what to do andwhat not to do and you're
praising them when they're doingit.
You're not punishing them to dosomething wrong, because
they've just gotten there.
They're not gonna know what'ssupposed to happen and a lot of
times, with dogs from sheltersand rescues, we have no idea
(16:23):
what their experience was beforewe got them.
So we have to set the stage andset the boundaries for them,
and those first three days, Ithink, are just so important,
but over time you just have tokeep reinforcing it.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
That's real, you really do and you really don't
wanna start.
You mentioned you do not wannastart on punishment at first,
because you're more likely tomake the dog fearful.
And once you've made the dogfearful of something, then
you're beginning perhaps an evenworse behavior.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
So, really, all those principles that we just covered
are how we onboard dogs and howwe handle bringing new dogs
into the house, and that's howwe instruct both not just
ourselves, but also our newfosters and our adopters,
because the same stuff appliesto adopters as well, because
sometimes, even though they'recoming from a home environment
(17:14):
transferring to another homeenvironment, it can still be
shocking to them.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Yeah still unknown.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
That's how we find success with fostering is just
those call and sense principles.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Just basic things I've seen a couple videos of you
, courtney, on social media withwhen you brought in a new dog
and you have them tethered toyou as you're doing things.
I think that's something Ihadn't heard of before seeing
you do it and I think that'ssuch a great thing because they
feel safe, maybe next to you,but you're still keeping them a
part of what's going on.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
They're looking to me for direction.
They know that I'm in chargeand, just like my dad said, it's
not a dominance thing.
I'm not standing over the dogtelling it what to do.
I'm just going about my normalroutine so they can see what
it's like, and sometimes thisencourages them to be a little
bit of a shadow dog, but I don'tmind them doing that.
It's checking out what's goingon in the house and I want them
(18:02):
to know that tethered to theleash tells them that they can't
be running around like crazydog.
They can't be scouring off intothe corner and hiding.
They have to be out here in theopen.
They have to be calm.
So I'm going to givecorrections.
And you don't let them have WWEwrestling matches all over your
living room.
There's manners you need tohave, and so we started stealing
(18:25):
those manners and we work onthe dogs being quiet because we
live in a residential area sothe dogs can't be barking.
My dogs are quieter than mostof the dogs on my block.
I tell the dog as I'm walkingup to my house.
I tell them hey, this is aspecial place, can't mess it up.
You've got to behave.
And I really believe in thatlittle talk that I give them
(18:47):
because it seems to work, and somy approach is more free, slow,
creative.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
My dad's is technical and we just figure it out
Sounds like it's a good balancefor one thing, but also what you
mentioned about because I haveit a lot in my neighborhood are
dogs that are outside andthey're just barking.
And I think so many times whenpeople hear that or have that as
a neighbor or have anexperience like that, people
jump to blame the dog.
But it's not the dog's fault.
(19:13):
The dog is doing that becausethey've been left outside.
They're not getting anyattention, they don't have what
they need, they haven't been setboundaries like you guys are
talking about, and I thinkthat's such a stereotype of
shelter dogs.
They must be there becausesomething's wrong with them.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Yeah, and I'm showing the world that.
Number one you can have bigdogs in a small house.
Number two you can have dogsfrom a shelter with unknown
paths, who might have had somesort of behavioral problem, but
I really blame the first one whogave them up along the way or
bought them or whatever.
I don't think it's the animal'sfault.
They're just existing.
And I come from trauma.
(19:49):
I had some traumaticexperiences in my 20s and so I
relate to them in that factor.
I've made mistakes and I stillmake mistakes.
When I see these dogs, I justrelate to them so much and I
want to give them that secondchance.
And more often than not theyshow me actually every single
time they show me that they'recapable of being great dogs with
(20:11):
the right love and support orboundaries and all that
Absolutely.
The other thing is dogsescaping the yard.
That's a symptom of being leftoutside.
By the way, right, a dog that'spart of the family and who goes
inside with you and all that,is less likely to run away.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Yeah, I heard that so many times in the shelter,
especially with Huskies andGerman shepherds, that they
would jump the fence, they wouldleave or they'd get out.
And so there's a reason they'refleeing because they're not
getting what they need.
They're not bad dogs, they'relooking for attention or
whatever it may be, and all theHuskies you know, I've rescued a
lot of Huskies.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
You've seen it?
Yep, I don't have any escapeartists None of them and my yard
is barricaded, by the way, soit's hard to get out, but even
still, no one prized to leave.
We don't have a problem.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
I think another good idea too, to bond a new dog to
you or to your family and Ipicked this up from the trainer
that I got Riker from is feedhim from your hands, feed him
dinner from your hands for thefirst few weeks.
I actually went several monthswhere every single thing that
Riker ate came from my hands.
(21:19):
I wanted Riker to understandthat everything wonderful came
from me.
I never chased Riker.
It's critical to never play agame where you chase a dog.
You must always play a gamewhere the dog chases you.
You always want to teach the dogto run after you, and I would
do that with Riker.
(21:40):
I would play hide and go seekwith him.
I would have my wife hold himacross the yard and then I would
give him the come to you.
I would issue the command comeor use the arm motion that I
trained him on, and she wouldrelease him and he'd run across
the yard and he'd get a littlebit of hot dog for doing that.
So it really drove home that heneeds to return to me and so,
(22:02):
consequently, I've got a dog whoI can drop a leash on a
neighborhood walk.
I can let him go in the backcountry.
He's never very far from me,he's always checking in with me
and he'll always come back to mewhen I call.
I think my biggest challenge isgoing to be talking to the
people, convincing the peoplethat training a dog is it's not
black magic, it's not mysterious.
There's really well-knownsimple things you can do to have
(22:26):
a better-behaved dog.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
It's fun and it's rewarding.
It sounds like we're beingsuper technical, but it's a fun,
rewarding experience 100%.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
So if someone, listening to this episode, has
thought about fostering, knowshow important it is, but they're
not sure what they have to do,how they have to be prepared or
not, what would you say to them?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
So I would say first, research who you want to foster
through, because who you'refostering through will determine
what kind of experience youhave first of all, and so you
want to make sure you're with areputable rescue or a shelter
that is going to assumeresponsibility of the dog in the
event that you can't continuedoing this.
(23:11):
It needs to be known that it'sthe shelter or rescued dog.
And the other thing you want tolook at is how do they get
their dogs adopted?
Who do they want to adopt to?
Because you're going to end upkeeping that dog if you don't
have the same standards as thatshelter or rescue and finding
homes.
And so, in order to not be afoster failure, you want to work
with an organization thatreally bets their homes and gets
(23:32):
the type of home that's similarto your standards and standard
of living and your idea of whatis needed for a dog to thrive
and be happy, because Iguarantee you're not going to
let that dog go, and then you'regoing to give up on fostering
and it didn't work right.
Finding a good rescue orshelter is number one, and then
just reach out to them, andthat's another test that you can
(23:53):
run on a shelter or rescue ishow responsive are they If you
reach out to them with somequestions about how their foster
program works, becauseeveryone's works a little
differently and they don't.
If you reach out to a couple ofshelters and rescues and they
don't get back to you in adecent amount of time, then that
might be a sign that they'renot going to adopt the dog out
or be responsible in talking toadopters or you when there's a
(24:13):
problem.
And so you want to reach outand get comfortable with the
organization and then justfollow their process and look
for resources.
It's not hard to learn how totrain dogs.
Of course want to encouragepeople to come foster with us at
FosterTeal because this levelof love and care and thought
goes into our foster program.
But just get involved, jump inand have a commitment that
(24:38):
you're just not going to keepthe first dog that walks through
your door.
And this is an experience toget to know lots of dogs.
There's nothing more magical onthis earth getting to know a
lot of dogs.
It's a fun ride.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
It really is.
I think you've made a couple ofgood points.
One you're not signing up inany way, in any shape or form,
that you have to keep the dog orcat or whoever you're fostering
.
A lot of people feel like, no,I have to keep them.
No, that's not a requirement.
But what you talked about interms of responsiveness I think
is important because ultimately,whoever you're fostering for,
(25:12):
they are supporting you to dothat, and most rescues and
shelters pay for food, pay forhealthcare and all of that.
But if they're not responsiveto you and there is an emergency
or the animal gets sick and youdon't know what to do, you want
to make sure you're withsomeone that you know is going
to respond to you quickly andhelp you in that situation.
Exactly, and are you?
Speaker 3 (25:33):
going to get stuck with that dog.
How responsive are they toadopters?
Because I can tell you I knowof rescues and shelters that let
emails and texts and phonecalls go unanswered and so you
could have a potential adopteron the line who never gets a
response and then that dog sitsin foster care for another three
months.
If you don't want to end upkeeping that dog, you need to do
a little bit of research,because I've also heard her
(25:56):
horror stories where people havegone and worked with rescues
that have abandoned the dogswith them, so they had to adopt
the dogs because of that.
So there's just a lot of trustthat goes into it.
Right, and making sure you havethe same standards as their
adoption standards is soimportant to.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
And ask lots of questions.
There's no such thing as astupid question.
There should be no such thingas a stupid question when you're
dealing with a rescue in termsof how, what do we do if this
happens?
What do we do if that happens?
And you might be able to tell alot by their willingness or
ability to answer thosequestions.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I think that's really important.
People shouldn't be afraid toask questions or say, well, that
doesn't work for me, orwhatever it may be, but finding
the right rescuer or shelter,because then anything you need,
they're going to be there tosupport them Exactly.
So, let's say, someone'slistening.
They've been listening to myepisodes about how overcrowded
our shelters are, what crisiswe're in, especially here in
(26:54):
Curtin County in California andother areas of the US.
They can't on adopt, they can'tfoster right now because of
their home or maybe theircurrent pets of their own, but
they want to do something tohelp.
What are the things that youwould encourage them to do to
help rescues like yours?
To help get the dogs out ofshelters into fosters and
(27:15):
adopted.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
I think the number one need is resources.
If you can't foster or adopt,resources are needed and the
best way to help is to find areputable rescue or shelter to
donate funds to or donate itemson a wish list.
I can tell you, by running arescue donations are rare We'll
fundraise for a particular dogand we get a flood of donations
(27:39):
and for that one dog, butoutside of that I get 25 bucks
here and there.
And so if you're listening andyou can give, please give, but
if not, volunteer.
There's so many roles that youcan do today to get involved,
and whether it's walking dogs ornetworking dogs or cleaning
(28:03):
kennel.
I'd love to point to CurtinCounty Streets of Bakersfield.
I know even some people fromout of town have come in for
that program and taken a dog outof the shelter for the day and
helped get pictures and video.
So all that's great and it'sall very much needed.
But the last thing I want to sayabout this real fast is that if
you're listening and you can'tdo anything and you're feeling
(28:28):
like man, I can't volunteer, Ican't donate.
What do I do?
Find a rescue or a network oronline that is networking dog
and share their content, or it'sa huge piece to our success and
to rescue, is having peopleshare and comment on our content
.
That gets it seen in thealgorithm more and that gets the
word out to other people whomight be able to do things you
(28:50):
can't do.
I am really big on this, julie.
I got to tell you the middleclass is hurting right now and
when we ask for funds and we askfor help, I realized that most
people are encumbered by out ofcontrol cost of living fees, out
of control grocery costs andfuel costs and everything.
Most people have to work twojobs.
(29:11):
So if you don't have money, youdon't have time.
I get it, I hear you and Iunderstand you.
Just share and comment.
That can help save a dog's life.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
People don't realize that just by liking, just by
commenting, like you said somany of the social media
platforms, it feeds into thealgorithm More people that stop
the scroll and listen to a video, who like a post, who share it,
who put it in their stories,whatever it may be, it impacts
it and it gets out to more andmore eyes that wouldn't normally
(29:44):
see it.
I saw this recently from avolunteer from our county
shelter.
I'm a huge Bravo Housewives fan, I will admit it, and one of
the real Housewives of OrangeCounty, who has hundreds of
thousands of followers, hadreposted a video of that.
Volunteers from our countyshelter, so it was getting seen
(30:05):
at a level that we can't do.
But that only happens if peoplecontinue to share and like and
keep the movement going.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
I'd always been rescuing animals and then I got
involved with rescueorganizations pretty heavily.
I was sat on some boards ofdifferent nonprofits.
But in 2018, I became a victimof domestic violence and I had
some pretty bad head injuriesfrom that experience and so I
really lost myself and I had tospend a lot of time recovering
(30:36):
from that experience.
But I definitely lost touchwith the animal rescue world.
But in 2018, that's around thetime that our county shelter
came out and said that there wasa five year plan for no kill.
You can imagine, witheverything going on in my life
injuries that I was trying toheal from I didn't have a lot of
bandwidth to really processthings.
(30:57):
I actually got my master'sdegree in 2016 and studied the
companion over population crisishere in Kern County and
examined different ways to solveit.
When I heard that Kern wasgoing no kill, I, like so many
other people in my hometown ofBaker's Hill, heard just the no
kill word and thought, oh God,thank God.
(31:18):
And, believe it or not, Ibecame one of those Baker's Hill
people that thought everythingwas going okay at the county
shelter, and the county shelteris where my heart was always
based, because that's theshelter that I'd always been
involved with when I was younger.
I get into my career.
I finished my education, I gotout of that abuse of marriage
(31:40):
and I started to just go see onmy career.
I became a union president andI volunteered that way and that
was really intense and I workedfor a large government agency
here in town and it wasinteresting and it's last year,
in 2022, I was asked totransport a dog some red pressed
(32:01):
shelter to the Baker's HillCity shelter to get it on a
rescue bus to go to Washingtonto be adopted.
And I said, oh my gosh, yes,absolutely.
And so I did this trip and Igot to Baker's Hill City shelter
with the dog and I met Carrieand Carrie is one of the most
amazing volunteers at the KernCounty Animal Shelter.
(32:22):
She just man, she just remindedme so much of all my rescue
work and what was important tome.
She was a foster, she was avolunteer, she just had that
passion for animals and she madeit okay to be that passionate
about animals.
And so, as we're sitting theretalking and I'm just getting
(32:43):
flooded with all these memoriesof animal rescue, an odd looking
couple approached the door tothe Baker's Hill City shelter
that happened to be closed atthe time, with a dog in their
arm but appeared to have someblood on it, and so, as they
trudged back to their car,obviously not getting the help
that they were seeking, Istopped them and I said, hey,
(33:04):
what's going on?
And these people just I don'tknow what was going on in their
life.
I'm not going to judge them,but they did not have their
things together, let me just putit that way.
And they're holding this dogwith a whole cut in its throat,
and they told me that the doghad wandered into their house
however true that might be, andthey didn't know what to do.
(33:24):
And I said put the dog in mycar.
They're just instantly rescue.
Courtney kicked in.
I said put the dog in my car.
What are you gonna do?
Put the dog in my car.
So they put the dog in my carand they left and I went up to
Kerry.
I didn't know what to do.
Kerry said the county sheltersopen.
Go to the county shelters.
So I went to the county shelterimmediately On the way there I
got a better look at her throatand it was cut into her trachea.
(33:46):
So she's actually fuddling outof her throat.
She's just a puppy.
And so I get to the frontcounter and start pleading my
case and telling them whathappened and I get rejected.
The person didn't hear that thedog was injured because their
mandate had taken an injured dog.
And so a supervisor overheardbecause I was starting to get
emotional and so they sat medown and I told them what
(34:09):
happened and they looked at thedog and they rushed the dog over
to DCA and they took the dog inas one of their county dogs and
they said listen, whatever ittakes to save the dog, there's a
woman who will donate funds.
If we can donate funds, I willfoster the dog whatever it takes
.
Just know that this dog has ateen rooting for it.
And they heard me.
And so then I had to wait.
(34:30):
I called the vet hospital there.
No one could tell me anythingbecause it was the county
sheltered's dog, and so I had towait three days and finally a
supervisor called me to tell methat she had died.
Her trachea collapsed and shedidn't make it.
And I was just so emotional, Iwas bawling on the phone and I
(34:51):
said I was willing to take onemedical foster.
So if you ever get anothermedical foster in.
Put me on the list, I'll takethe dog in, of course, me not
knowing much at the time comingout of his head in three.
Of course they already have amedical dog, of course they do.
And she said we have one now.
And I said what she said she'sa Husky.
And I was like okay.
(35:11):
And so she told me that this doghad been attacked by another
dog on the street.
Her and her brother were bothattacked.
Her brother didn't make it andshe happened to be kenneled
right next to the dog at theanimal hospital that I brought
it.
They happened to be right nextto each other so they knew each
other and so I made theappointment to go pick up the
dog.
I just I couldn't believe thestory.
(35:32):
She had a broken jaw.
She wasn't bleeding.
I was gonna have to force feedher, give her antibiotic
injections, all this stuff.
She was really sick.
Bring her to my house, thisskinny, ratty looking Husky.
And then her deuser and man.
This dog just stole our heartsaway.
She just was the most gentledog, the sweetest dog.
(35:53):
We could not bear to let her goanywhere else and this is why I
talked about what I talkedabout earlier.
I love the County shelter, and Ithink it's an important
facility of government that weneed.
But they're overrun, they can'tdo a lot and there's laws in
place.
(36:13):
What forced them to adopt a dogto anyone who walks in the door
, who has a driver's license anda pulse, and I couldn't stand
to think of her being leftoutside or being thrown away
again.
And so one night my husbandsaid he looked at me and then
looked at Straza.
What we need her?
And he said, straza, do youwanna live with us?
(36:34):
And I just started bawling andso she became ours, and I also
found myself wanting to save alot more dogs than what I could
take on myself, and so I thoughtit's finally time to start
Foster Tales and Foster Taleswas a name, by the way, that my
dad and I had come up with about10 years prior, when we were
fostering all the time.
We just didn't know what to dowith it.
And so I started the process ofstarting my nonprofit, and it
(36:57):
started occurring to me that allof a sudden, the HR work that
I'm doing for this governmentagency in town it wasn't
fulfilling.
The union work was fulfilling,but it wasn't sustainable and I
made the tough decision to startexiting that part of my life
and deciding to dedicate my lifeto the dogs, and at this point
(37:17):
I don't have kids.
I don't know if I'm going to beable to have kids because the
dogs and I'm fine with that.
I think it's why I'm here.
I think it's seriously why I'mhere.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
No, I think that's a powerful story.
I appreciate you being open andsharing all of it.
One thing I've learned myselfjust having since starting this
podcast is there are so manymore people like us that, for
whatever reason, their life hasbecome dedicated to the animals,
to saving them, to caring forthem, to finding more people to
(37:47):
help.
It's not easy.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
I'm scared, I'm constantly terrified.
I don't enjoy my life muchright now, but it's for the dogs
and I love it.
I wouldn't have it any otherway and, by the way, you really
inspired me.
When I was getting startedearlier, I saw what you were
doing and I detected that youwere doing what I wanted to do,
which is dedicate my life to theanimals and not be ashamed of
it, and so I just want to thankyou for that.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Courtney, why don't you share with Julie our
tradition in this family when weadopt a dog, the clerico family
tradition when we adopt a newdog or a cat, or any animal for
that matter?
Speaker 3 (38:22):
It's to give them our last name.
Our last name means a lot.
I've kept it even in my marriedlife, my now happily married
life.
But our last name means a lotto us.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
It does, and even with animals that we have had
for and we had taken medicalanimals before, animals that we
have had for a short time we aremaking it absolutely certain
it's important to us that weadopt them.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
And that they get to have our last name, even if we
know that the dog may not liveor the animal may not live long.
We've had those circumstancesand it just makes me feel good
Because finally welcome that dogto a family and make sure that
dog is part of the family.
Yeah, once, and our way ofdoing that is giving them our
last name.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
Yeah, once we know a dog or a cat's not going to make
it, he's in our care, we make apoint to go a few of them and
hold them and tell them thatthey're part of the clerico
family and say their name withour last name.
We look that dog or cat in theeyes and we tell them that they
are a clerico and through andthey have been adopted and we
love them.
And we tell them to go meet upwith Peter, my original gray
(39:33):
held.
We tell them to find Sid thekitty, one of my cats that I
thought when I was in secondgrade.
We tell them to find Cree, oneof Peter's descendants, that I
rescued about 10 years laterfrom the track.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
They'll be waiting for us at the rainbow bridge.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
Waiting for us at the rainbow bridge.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
It's so funny Hearing you guys talk about the flashes
to all of my pets, and thefirst foster kitten I ever had
didn't make it.
He crashed.
He had a fading kitten syndromeand I'd never had any.
I'd bottle fed babies that we'dkept and everything, and it was
really hard for me but myhusband made sure that we buried
him in our backyard so hestayed here.
(40:15):
This was now his home.
Probably would have been if hehad made it as well.
You get so attached to thosemedical babies.
Let me tell you, yeah, so true.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
My favorite, one of my favorite adopted animals was
we named her BL Kitty.
She had been horribly abusedSomebody had actually broken one
of her front legs and therescuer that brought her to us
saw the person toss BL Kittyfrom their window on a highway.
And they stopped and found thispoor, scruffy kitten.
(40:46):
And BL was wild as could be,definitely a feral cat.
And I made the bestrelationship with BL Kitty.
We always told her that hername was it was Brenda Lim Kitty
, because we didn't want her tobe defined by her injury.
But BL Kitty, she was the bestkitty and we just we were so
(41:06):
close and she never stoppedbeing serile, but yet she would.
Let me pick her up and pet her.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
It's an important thing for people to realize that
rescue and fostering and all ofthis isn't easy and sometimes
we see the worst of the worst interms of what humans can do to
animals.
But when it comes to thatanimal and the love and the
connection that you make withthem, all the negative, all the
bad just goes away.
It's those memories, it's thoseexperiences that really are why
(41:36):
the people in rescue andshelters and all of us do this,
and that's what we.
And it's so funny because withmy kitten being because it
didn't make, it took me a weekbefore I could take his carrier
back to the shelter.
I just couldn't do it.
And the day I walked in with itto give it back, the foster
coordinator said I was justgoing to call you, we just got
six bottle babies and we needsomeone to take them.
(41:58):
Wow.
And so I brought him home andthen they all became big,
healthy kittens.
Five of them got adopted andone became my first official
foster male.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
You didn't give up.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
You didn't give up Honestly it hadn't been for
beings, in that experience ofrealizing how fragile they are
and how much help they need, Iprobably wouldn't have said yes,
but they I think it's somethingwe, all of us pet parents say
the right, the animals that aremeant to find us and for
whatever purpose they have inour life, whether they become a
part of our family or not.
(42:30):
And I know one thing I love,courtney, about following you
guys and looking at your videosis I was working in the shelters
for a while and so I knew thedogs, and whenever I see Shai
Shaiyoti, as she was known, inthe shelter in your home just
living her best life, I wouldpass her in that corner candle
(42:51):
dozens of times in a day when Iwas getting dogs in and out.
Speaker 3 (42:54):
Breaks my heart to think of her there.
She did so badly there.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
She did.
She just was literallyscreaming out for someone to
give her the love she wanted,and so getting to see her in
your home.
It's like those are theconnections we make.
Look at her, she didn't getleft there, she didn't have to
die there in that shelter, shewent on somewhere.
And I think that's what peopledon't realize.
If you follow along and youtrack these stories, no matter
(43:18):
how bad it looks and no matterhow awful some of the situations
are, you'll see the light,you'll see the reason.
It'll give you that motivationto keep doing it.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
Julie, that's just beautiful and that's really what
I'd try to capture at BobfordNails.
I think that's why peopleconnect with our content so well
is that I really try to tellthe story.
I don't just tell theheartbreaking one, I tell the
happy one and I try to show thedog's journey from shelter to
adoption and even past adoption,what their forever home looks
(43:50):
like, what their forever lifelooks like.
And that's what I'm trying todo is I'm trying to spread
awareness about this veryimportant will show you by
telling story, and so far itseems to be resonating with part
of you folks.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
How many dogs have you placed?
Speaker 3 (44:07):
I don't know how many I've placed.
I just keep account of how manyI've pulled through the shelter
and rescued.
I keep a notepad of adoptedcurrently and foster transferred
to other rescues.
We just hit 64 today, wow.
That's amazing we have.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
we only got involved in this late winter of this year
, but as a rescue you've juststarted and that's a huge impact
.
Even just one makes it worth it.
But when you can have a systemin place to save one after
another and I think what yousaid, too, is it's not all about
you and getting to claim them.
If you have a dog, that's goingto fit better somewhere else
(44:49):
when the rescues spawn togetherfor transport, for getting into
other areas, that's a huge partof it, as long as a rescue meets
my standards.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
It's all work with them and I've been burned before
and that's a lot of people knowI've been burned but for the
most part I've found some reallygreat rescues that I love
working with and I love when Iget to take a dog from a shelter
, make it healthy, get it allgroomed, beautiful and send it
off to a rescue that can work onthe adoption piece of it,
Because I don't need to shareall the glory.
(45:19):
I really don't.
I don't need to pinch them allover it.
It's not about owning thesedogs.
These dogs are sentient beings,they're not property.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
And they all deserve a loving home, wherever that
ends up being.
And we're so overcrowded inKern County if that means
another city or another state oreven another country.
Some of our dogs even end up inrescues in Canada.
Yep, that's all it's about, andthe networking is so crucial.
People don't realize how muchwork goes on behind the scenes
to get these dogs and cats savedout of shelters and rescues.
Speaker 3 (45:51):
I agree 100%, and I have worked with people all over
the state of California.
In fact, out of the 64 dogs,only two of them have been
adopted in Bakersfield.
Most of them are even fosteredout of the area, so my goal is
to get them out of here.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
Yeah, we have too many here.
Wherever we can get them tohappy, healthy homes is what's
important.
I just want to thank you,courtney, and you, aaron, for
spending this time with me.
I think you've given someincredible advice and
information for people, itdefinitely importance of rescue
and fostering, as well as sometraining tips, and just thank
(46:25):
you both for everything you havedone and everything you
continue to do for the dogs ofour community.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
Let's say sweet Thank you, Julie, and thank you sir.
Speaker 3 (46:36):
You do.
Speaker 2 (46:38):
Yes, absolutely, thank you, and thank you.
This has been fun.
I've really enjoyed this.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
Yeah, me too, thank you all so much for listening to
this episode.
I hope you enjoyed thisconversation that I had with
Courtney and Aaron.
I hope you enjoyed hearingtheir experience and the work
they're doing with rescue andit's maybe inspired you to get
more involved with animal rescue.
If you can, please follow themon social media.
(47:05):
All the links are in the shownotes so that you can follow
Foster Tails Rescue and help tosupport by liking and commenting
and sharing their posts as theybring in more dogs from the
shelter, finding fosters andadopters for those amazing dogs.
As always, I appreciate yourfeedback.
If you guys have any topics oryou know someone in rescue,
(47:30):
working in shelters or nonprofitorganization and you would like
to see them featured on thepodcast, just follow me on
social media Instagram at thestory of my pet podcast, or
email me at Julie atthestoryofmypetpodcastcom and
let me know what topics, whatgroups, you would like to see
(47:51):
featured on upcoming episodes ofthe podcast.
Thank you again, my friends andfellow animal lovers, and I
will see you on the next episode.
Thank you.
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