Marley's Mutts Launches New Veterans Therapy Program: Shelter Dogs Healing Others

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Are you ready to discover how rescued dogs are transforming the lives of veterans and first responders? In this eye-opening episode, I welcome back Connor Long, Operations Manager at Marley's Mutts Dog Rescue, to discuss their groundbreaking program, Troops N Tails.

Connor shares his personal journey with equine therapy and how it inspired this innovative initiative. We explore how Troops and Tails bridges the gap between animal-assisted therapy and mental health support for veterans, offering a safe space for healing and growth.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The power of animal-assisted therapy in addressing PTSD and trauma
• How Troops and Tails provides flexible, personalized support for veterans
• The importance of building community and shared experiences among veterans
• Creative approaches to mental health support, including workshops and outdoor activities
• Ways to get involved and support this life-changing program

Key takeaways:

• Animal-assisted therapy can break down barriers and facilitate healing in ways traditional therapy cannot
• Providing a judgment-free space allows veterans to process emotions at their own pace
• Rebuilding community is crucial for veterans transitioning to civilian life
• Innovative programs like Troops and Tails can fill gaps in mental health services for veterans

This conversation with Connor Long sheds light on the incredible potential of animal-assisted therapy to support our veterans. It's a powerful reminder of the healing bond between humans and animals. Follow Troops N Tails on Facebook,

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episode is all about my guest,connor Long, who works for

(00:50):
Marley's Mutts Dog Rescue.
He came to us a year or two agoto talk about his role in
Marley's, how he ended up therein his journey in animal rescue,
and today we are going to talkabout the new program that
Connor has helped to startwithin Marley's.

(01:10):
That is called Troops and Tails.
I will let him tell you thedetails, but basically it's a
great program that they'vecreated to start utilizing
shelter dogs to help veterans ofthe military.
Animal therapy is very powerful.
Connor will share his ownexperience doing equine therapy

(01:33):
after he left the military andhow that experience not only
shifted his life and work withanimals but is kind of the
groundwork of what he is doingnow with Marley's and the new
program Troops and Tales.
So I know you're going to enjoythis story.
I can't wait for you to hearour conversation.

(01:54):
I am super excited to do whatI've gotten to done a few times
now, and that is to do a parttwo with a guest from.
So I'm very happy to welcomeback to the podcast Connor Long.

(02:14):
Connor, thank you so much forbeing here.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Absolutely.
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
So I'm repping for you with my Marley's Mutt's
T-shirt on Perfect.
I love.
T-shirts even better when ithelps a cause that I love.
So I'm repping for you with myMarley's Mutt's t-shirt on
Perfect.
I love t-shirts.
Even better when it helps acause that I love and the reason

(02:42):
Connor is here.
Many of you regular listenersheard a recent episode of me
doing a part two with MelissaBrunson, who is the executive
director of Marley's Mutt's, andin that conversation we learned
about a new program that wasjust about to launch when I
spoke to her and that is Troopsand Tails.
So Connor is here to talk aboutthat.
As that is, he is a big part ofthat program, from what I
understand.
So before we get into that,connor, let's say a year and a
half ago, what has changed?

(03:02):
What is new with you and yourrole at Marley since we spoke
last?

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Oh, wow.
I think the last time we spokeI was the ranch supervisor.
I'm now the operations manager,so I'm helping oversee all of
the different programs we havegoing on, Still very hands-on at
the ranch.
You know that's the big hub forthe rescue.
We have seen a lot of dogs comeand go in that amount of time.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
I can't even imagine how many.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
It's been quite a lot , it blows my mind.
Sometimes I'll look at picturesand I'll have completely
forgotten about a dog.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Sometimes they're in and out real quick Dude if you
see that photo, you know who itis Exactly and all that memory's
fled back.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Some of these dogs, you know, there's just something
about them.
They come in and a week laterthey're adopted, Whereas we have
other dogs that we have for ayear or two years and those ones
that go quick.
I do have to see a picture.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
And then it's oh yeah , I forgot, we have that.
No, I get it.
It's funny because year beforelast I worked part-time at the
at Kern County Animal Services.
I was helping to run andcoordinate their dog adoption
events all over, and so I wouldpost on my socials talking about
the dogs where we are and allof that.
So all the time now I get oneyear ago, two years ago, and the
pictures of me or the dogs, orme with the dogs, and I'm just

(04:29):
like it's this amazing thing tojust have, without me thinking
about it, this memory of ananimal that I was like just a
small touch point in, and thenjust be like, oh my gosh, I
wonder how he's doing.
You know, so I can't evenimagine.
For you guys it's always greathaving those memories pop up
though.
Absolutely.
I know that one thing that hasbeen created, happened and is

(04:53):
ongoing since I spoke to youlast is the new kind of
county-wide coalition I can'tremember the name of it, my
brain isn't working and I knowI've seen you post about that
and you've been doing a lot withspay and neuter and vaccine
clinics.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat before we move to the
other?

Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah, absolutely so.
That is Kern Safe, and we justall banded together.
We've got a lot of differentrescues, a lot of different
volunteers that are involved.
You know, I think all of usthat came to the table together
were like each one of us hasbeen involved for Marley's

(05:31):
months, has been around for 16years Right, we've all given it
our best, but it feels likewe're not making a difference.
So how about we all come to thesame table and understand that
each person, each organization,is going to have a different set
of resources that they canshare, and that's okay.

(05:52):
Some can do more, some can doless, that's all right.
We all have differentperspectives on how to address
the problem, and that's abeautiful thing.
Instead of that being an areaof contention, let's embrace
that as a way to do some problemsolving and have a multifaceted
plan of attack.

(06:13):
And so we all came together.
We're pooling resources, we'resharing volunteers, we're
sharing social media all bigno-nos, media, all big no-nos
and you know, it's amazingseeing a group of people come
together.
We're trying to keep thepopulation healthy, offering a
ton of free vaccine clinics.

(06:33):
We saw so many letters ofpuppies, even adult dogs, coming
into the shelter with parvo,with distemper.
Those are so preventable andthat's the first line of defense
is get those vaccines out intothe area.
When you're looking at havingto pay a hundred bucks between
an office visit and two vaccinesand you need a series of

(06:57):
vaccines that's for a family totake on, you know, being able to
say you're here today, here'sshot number one, here's where

(07:18):
we'll be in three weeks come,yeah, for us to spread awareness
.
You know how many people knowhow rampant distemper is, or
parvo is, or giardia is.
We can't vaccinate againstgiardia, but we can talk to
owners about what that lookslike and about how to protect

(07:39):
their pets.
And again, oh and.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
I can say from my very little bit of experience
but doing those events out inthe community, I learned a lot
of what people don't know, likethey don't even understand why
you need those vaccines and whythere's certain ones for dogs
and certain ones for cats, andyou know, there were so many
things that we would try to tellthem, especially if they hadn't
had a dog or they were worriedabout something else.

(08:02):
It's not even.
There's the first barrier ofhaving access to a vet and be
able to afford it, and then thenext thing is to even understand
why you have to do it and whythey need to be seen on a
regular basis.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
Absolutely yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah, and I think that for communities we have to
bridge those gaps betweenorganizations and having been
involved and worked innonprofits in different
capacities, I know there can becompetition sometimes, you know,
because there's a limitedamount of funding resources, all
those things.
And here in Kern County we havethe Kern County Shelter, we

(08:36):
have the Bakersfield CityShelter and then we have.
So there's a lot of crossover,but they don't always
communicate.
So I can see how important thiswhole like kind of unity is for
all of you.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
Yeah, it's been really great, you know.
And then we have the SNP bus.
So again, different resourcesfor different organizations, but
we've all been trying to pulland put in what we can.
The SNP bus has been absolutelyfantastic working with us.
They're out in the community,they're talking to the community

(09:06):
.
They're 60 dogs today, 97yesterday, 105 over the weekend
and they are just out therereally putting the work in and
getting a lot of pets spayed andneutered and that is huge for
our community.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
So important and they are like a machine is what I
learned and I, before I startedhelping with adoptions there, I
had fostered for Kern County andwe ended up adopting one of the
kittens and when I brought herback to do the her spay, it was
a snip bus day.
Her spay, it was a snip bus dayand it was really amazing to

(09:48):
just watch the process fromcheck-in to in, to prep to
surgery, to recovery, and I alsohandled some of the dogs
sometimes when I was helpingwith the recovery and people
don't realize all that entailsbeing able to offer a service
like that.
And the staff is the biggestissue because we don't have
enough vets, we don't haveenough vet techs and all of that
.
So it's great to see and whenit pops up on my feed I'm like,

(10:09):
yes, kern County, we are workingtogether when we can.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
Absolutely yeah, and I think when the shelters can
work together, when the rescueorganizations can work together,
when the independent rescuerscan work together, our
volunteers all work together, itsets a really good example for
the community too.
You know, bickering and havingour own, I've just got to worry

(10:35):
about me, right?
We're not really setting thebest example for the community.
Part of what I love to see isall these folks with the
different organizations involvedand just how well they're
working together andcommunicating, and that's what
the community gets to seefirsthand, right, and I think
that's just a really amazingthing to watch.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah, because no one's going to be inspired by a
group yelling at each otherabout what's the right thing to
help.
If you do jumping in help, thenpeople are going to be like,
okay, I can do that too, so thatmakes a lot of sense.
So obviously, marley's is afull-time job and all the
various programs that you arenow overseeing At what point did
you thought you know I have anhour that I don't have anything
to do, so let's and startsomething else um, as far as the

(11:23):
current safe stuff goes, I tryto stay involved.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
I end up getting pulled in too many directions.
That one I've really got tohand it to melissa.
She's, she's in contact witheverybody.
She's helping coordinate things.
She's really from the marleyside of things.
She's been the one to tospearhead the current safe
efforts.
Again, I'll show up to a clinicwhen I can, but she's done a

(11:49):
fantastic job on our end.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
I think I've just learned, especially in community
work.
But with animals, once you'rein you're sucked in.
It's like you're just findingnew ways to go at a problem or
help people.
And so when Melissa first toldme about Troops and Tails, I was
like that's amazing One.
You know, my dad was a WorldWar II vet.
I'm a huge supporter of themilitary and our veterans and I

(12:13):
saw what my dad went through fordecades fighting to get
disability from what hadhappened to him and so people
that aren't a part of that orhave that in their family, they
don't realize the complexityveterans go through just to have
access to services and evenharder, mental health services
and having enough.
So I love when I heard it's thebridge between the animals and

(12:36):
the therapy dogs and theveterans and their health.
So could you talk about wherethe idea came from or how it
started?

Speaker 1 (12:49):
Way back when I got discharged from the Navy, I was
really fortunate when I wasgoing to what they call a TAPS
class.
It's a transition assistanceprogram.
It's a one day class where theygive you, like your regional,
your VA, regional contact.
They tell you where the closestmedical clinic is or veteran
service offices.
Here you can contact the localDAV, disabled American Vets,

(13:11):
they can help you with claims,and then they just boot you out
the door.
In my TAPS class there was thisteeny, tiny little blip on one
of the handouts we were given.
That was an equine therapyprogram.
Prior to my naval service I hadactually lived and worked on a
working ranch for a year and ahalf and my job was to take care

(13:33):
of the horses.
So I thought, okay, I'll checkthis out.
Didn't really know what toexpect because there wasn't a
lot of information.
But I called him, I made anappointment, was able to go out
to Ojai If you've ever been inOjai, it's just a beautiful
setting in and of itself, verytherapeutic and I started doing
therapy work with horses.

(13:54):
So we had with that program,there was a certified therapist
she was the founder, she wasrunning it and an equine
behaviorist.
What they do is everything wedid was groundwork.
Two of the three horses that Ihave a hard time trusting people
and I have a hard time askingfor help and trusting that

(14:31):
somebody's actually going tohelp me.
I'd walked in and I had saidyou know, this is one of the
things that I'm currentlyexperiencing.
So they set up a tarp on theground in the arena.
They blindfolded me after Ihaltered one of the horses to
work with and said OK, walk thehorse across the tarp.
What?

(14:54):
Because horses don't like tarps.
It makes noise, it moves undertheir feet and now I'm
blindfolded.
And now I'm blindfolded.
You know the component where Ican't see.
I know I have two other peoplein the arena with me, I know I'm
safe, but it's still scary.
I have this 1,200-pound animalnext to me and I can't see it.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
And you just met it.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
It's body language and having to vocalize and find
a way to articulate I can't.
They wouldn't allow me to justsay I need help.
It was okay.
But what do you need?
You know, can somebody comestand on the other side of the
horse and help me guide it?
Can somebody put pressurebehind the horse to try to move

(15:41):
it forward?
And I had to be very specificabout what I needed.
Through that exercise I was ableto get the horse moved across
the tarp, which then just thisoverwhelming sense of pride and
an increase in confidence andtrust.
You know, Sissy trusted me, Itrusted her, we worked together,

(16:03):
we got across the tarp and thenit was after each of those
types of exercises, there was abreak and okay, what did you
feel?
What did you experience?
What did that bring up for you?
When you go sit in an officesomewhere, it's hard to really
get down to the meat of what isgoing on.

(16:26):
But when you're working with ananimal who oftentimes will
mirror your emotions and yourbehavior now you can't deny it
now it's much easier tounderstand and it's much easier
to put into words.
I I participated in that equinetherapy program for a year and a

(16:47):
half and it was life alteringand it changed the direction of
my life because I started toreally realize that, with
everything I had, going onaround the animals was huge.
It made me want to be a betterperson.
It made me feel like I was partof something bigger again,
which was something I had lostcoming out of the military.

(17:09):
I realized that animal peopletend to be weirdos.
I'll admit, I'm a weirdo.
So you find your people, youknow, you find the people that
have the same goals and the samevalues and sometimes you know
the same quirks, and so buildthat camaraderie which, again,

(17:30):
when I came out of the military,I lost that camaraderie.
I lost my family.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
And your community.
You have to find your place inthe world again.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
And so getting more and more involved in the animal
world and obviously just forease of everything, I shifted
from horses to dogs.
I started to find my peopleagain, I started to find my
value again, I started to findmy purpose again and I worked at
the shelter for a long time.
And then I came over toMarley's Mutts and one of their

(18:02):
creeds has always been rescueddogs, rescuing people.
And we have Miracle Mutts,which is going into hospitals,
it's going to libraries to readwith kids.
It's so many beautiful thingsthat they do with the dogs to
help people.
And then we have PositiveChange, which is going into the

(18:23):
prisons to help people.
And then we have positivechange which is going into the
prisons and again taking theserescue dogs and teaching people,
helping people grow, helpingthem develop the skills that
they might not have had beforeproblem solving, communication,
teamwork being responsible foranother being yeah yeah, and you
, when that is just such a partof the daily life within

(18:48):
Marley's Mutts?
I was looking at it and we don'thave anything that's servicing
veterans.
We do offer free adoptions toveterans.
We have a partnership with anorganization called Hounds and
Heroes that will work to pairveterans with dogs and then
train those dogs to be servicedogs, but they're based in Texas

(19:10):
so logistics can be hard.
Finding really the appropriatetemperament for service dog
training can be pretty difficult, so we haven't really been able
to to like really dig intobeing there for the veteran
community through that programand so I just started keeping it

(19:31):
in the back of my head what canwe do?
What can we do?
What can we do and I didn'twant to want it to be.
There were so many things thatpopped into my head.
What can veterans do for us?
You know we can get veterans tovolunteer, we can get veterans
to foster, but I want to giveback to veterans and you know it

(19:51):
was just rolling around in theback of my head for a while and
I started really looking back onmy time with the horses and
really trying to be mindful ofmy interactions with the dogs
and how my interactions with thedogs could evoke the same
emotional response that I gotworking in therapy with the

(20:14):
horses and understanding that ina lot of ways I was getting
that same therapeutic work,although I didn't have a
therapist sitting right therewith me to ground.
For me, it was there and if Ipay attention to it, it was
helpful, and so I said that's it.
In Kern County we have 46,000veterans.

(20:35):
When you call the VA clinic andyou say I'm in a mental health
crisis, you're either given thecrisis line or told oh you know,
we can do a telehealth visit inabout a month or you can see
our therapist in about three.
When you're in a mental healthcrisis that doesn't do anything.
That doesn't help and so justthe sheer backlog in very

(20:59):
specifically mental healthservices, that kind of gave us
the gateway to be like, okay,this is what we can offer.
So I started making some phonecalls and I got in touch with a
really wonderful woman who'sbeen involved in therapy for
decades, really well known inthe community, qualified, really

(21:28):
well known in the community,very qualified, and he put me in
touch with her network of othervery qualified, very well
connected therapists in the areaand we have six or seven that
are all set to be involved andto rotate through and to help us
and, you know, create aschedule where we can have
coverage.
I I have experience withveterans and first responders.
They all have experience withtrauma, with PTSD, so they're

(21:51):
very qualified.
That was one of the otherthings I wanted to ensure is
that if we were asking veteransand first responders to trust us
, we needed people on site whowere qualified to help them.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
You needed credibility, but you also needed
to make sure that the peoplethat were doing it actually know
how to handle those.
People Not always realize thattherapists are trained in
different modalities to bespecific to different disorders
eating disorders, depression,anxiety, and PTSD is very
specific.
Ptsd for the military is, then,also specific right, and that

(22:28):
it's so important that not onlydo they have access to resources
, but they're resources that areactually going to be able to
help them, because then there'salso the side of the veteran
having to trust this therapistperson that they've never met
before with these deep, darkissues that they're having.

Speaker 1 (22:44):
Yeah, and again, for me, when I started going through
all of it, I didn't even knowhow to express what I was
feeling.
There was a certain level ofshame and embarrassment that
shouldn't have been there butthat prevented me from saying
some of the things I knew how tosay, but so much of it I didn't

(23:07):
even know how to articulate.
And having the animal and thetherapist be able to pinpoint
and ask the right questions todraw it out and over time then
creating the self-awareness inme to be able to pinpoint those

(23:28):
things and know how toarticulate them, that was huge.
A lot of the things that cameup in those therapy sessions for
me I never would have eventhought to bring up in a session
because I didn't really evenunderstand them Right and
couldn't express them.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
And even in mental health there's terminology like
triggers and trauma, and generalpublic don't know what those
mean, necessarily.
And also, as you were talkingabout, I was imagining you're
sitting with a dog and you'repetting it and you have this
physical reaction, like you feelemotions.
That doesn't mean you know howto explain that feeling and that

(24:07):
is a lot of the difficulty whendealing with mental health.
We don't even know what it iswhen we're feeling it ourselves,
let alone being able to explainit to someone.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:16):
The dogs are helpful for that.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
They definitely are.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
Dogs don't make fun of you or say you're stupid or
you know there's no negativethere.
And also working with animalsis such a therapeutic process.
But you have to have that trust.
You have to trust yourself andyou have to trust the animal.
And it takes time, and so Icould just imagine the power
that this program can have forthe veterans.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
Yeah Well, and again, it lends itself to a safe space
when you're working with ananimal.
They're not going to turnaround and tell every other dog
on the ranch what you said whenyou leave.
There were plenty of timeswhere I showed up to my therapy
session really not in a goodplace and I said you know what?
I can't talk today.

(25:03):
And the response was okay, gograb a brush and go brush a
horse, just be with them, watchtheir breathing, and a lot of it
was taking our cues.
So animals don't hold grudges,they don't think about what
happened yesterday, they livevery much in the moment and

(25:25):
they're naturally very in tuneto self-care, which we've been
horrible at.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
We act like it's a bonus.
We don't need it.

Speaker 1 (25:37):
All of a sudden, one of the horses would stop and
roll in the sand and they'd okay, do you see what that horse is
doing?
Why is that horse doing that?
Maybe we had a really heavysession that day and that was
the horse going anddecompressing a little bit and
catching its breath, and okay,that was heavy.
I'm gonna take a minute formyself like them shaking it off.

(26:00):
Okay, I helped them, but I gottalet it go yeah, and you know,
just being able to watch thenatural behavior of an animal
and be able to say, look, youknow, grace was just in the yard
with us and she took thisreally big breath and then
settled breathe, stop andbreathe for a minute.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
Breath work, just like I have friends and clients
who do coaching online, and someof the best ones of them are
the ones that know at the pointin a process to say, okay, I'm
going to take a deep breath orstretch, you know there's.
You have to let your bodyprocess things.
Animals do it.
Naturally, we're always like go, we have too many things to do

(26:44):
and that's why we're always sohyper-focused and stressed
because we don't roll in thegrass like they do.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
Yeah.
So again, it just presents somany opportunities, for you know
, the veterans and firstresponders tend to put up these
walls and I don't need help.
I don't need somebody to tellme X, y, z.
When it comes from watching ananimal's behavior, you're much

(27:11):
more open to receiving it Right.
So it's just another layer ofgetting through and breaking
those walls down.
And again, if you just want togo sit with a dog and not say a
single word to a person, do whatyou got to do.
If that's going to help youtoday, if that's going to allow
you to catch your breath, todecompress a little bit before

(27:36):
you go back out into the world,if that's what you need, that's
what you'll get from us.
You don't have to talk to usand just again, give them the
freedom to build their own.
This doesn't have to be a come,sit down and talk to me.
This is designed to be flexibleenough that every individual

(28:00):
who walks through our doors cantailor it around what they need
and what they want.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
And that is the amazing things about animals is
they can sense it.
They can sense, if you go, whatthey need.
You know I've different dogs.
I had growing up or like thatwith me.
I had a lot of illness and itwas like I realized now that
they always came and sat with meon the days I felt worse or I
felt sad or whatever it was.
And there is that no judgment.
You can just pet them andthat's fine, and they love it,

(28:31):
they love you for it, you cantalk to them, and so I can
imagine how powerful just thespace to have that space for
veterans is powerful.
So are you going to be offeringthis process on the ranch?
Is there other locations?
How does that work?

Speaker 1 (28:46):
So for now we're planning on having everything at
the ranch.
We did build a yard on thebackside of the ranch, away from
all the daily comings andgoings, so it's private.
It's not the ranch fencing, butit's fully fenced, so it's so
much stigma around mental health.
Right Wanted this to be areally safe place for veterans

(29:15):
to come in.
You don't have to feel likesomebody's watching you or
monitoring you coming and going.
This is completely private.
So, yeah, we have our own spaceset up for it at the ranch.
We are offering individualsessions, but if you work better
in a group, we can schedulegroup sessions and then,

(29:35):
quarterly, we're picking topicsahead of time.
We did our first workshop.
That was about journaling andagain, the journaling means
something different to everybodyand it tends to be a very
specific thing, but about howbroad that term is and all the

(29:59):
things that fall under thatumbrella word of journaling.
You might not like journalingbecause you think it's writing
an essay or writing somethingprivate.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
Yeah, I can see how that word would automatically
have a very positive or negativeresponse to people.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
Yeah, and so we did a workshop that breaks it down,
and you know, because part ofthe program that I went through
was we would journal at the endof it, and that was just to
reflect on what we experiencedduring that session so that
later, anytime we wanted, wecould go back and walk ourselves
through it again.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
Right.

Speaker 1 (30:40):
And I wanted that to be offered to the veterans.
If you have just this hugeepiphany, I want you to be able
to write it down so that fromnow, when you're feeling super
down and super overwhelmed andthere's no light at the end of
the tunnel, you can go back tothat moment.
You can remind yourself thatthere is a light at the end of

(31:01):
the tunnel.
So we really wanted to startoff our workshops with breaking
down that negative connotationthat can so often follow
journaling.
So we'll be picking hot topicslike that.
Where you know something that'sspecific, we can have guest
speakers come in and talk aboutit.

(31:21):
If one of our participantswants to handle a topic, totally
allowable.
But that one also we wanted touse as an opportunity to rebuild
community.
So that one we want to be a biggroup.
Even if you're not attendingindividual or group sessions,
you're welcome to the workshop.

(31:41):
We'll have snacks, we'll do anhour-long topic conversation and
then we'll just hang out.
We have a local veteran inBakersfield that has offered to
help us in any way he can and heowns a tackle shop.
So I'll be reaching out to himto see if one of our workshops
can be going down to Bright Lakeand fishing for two hours, you

(32:05):
know, and just really build thecommunity back up.
I know even now I still feelvery isolated.
So finding that group ofveterans where we all understand
each other's experiences andmaybe we didn't serve together.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
It's a shared experience yeah.
And that type of sharedexperience.
That's what community is aboutand that's why we all retreat to
our communities when we'rehaving a hard time.
But not everyone has acommunity to retreat to and I
imagine as a veteran and I sawit with my dad it's like that
was his community, that's nothis life.

(32:43):
So he has to find communitywhere he is now no-transcript

(33:11):
out somewhere, otherwise.
You know it impacts all of yourlife and you know it's so sad
that our veterans don't haveenough resources available to
them.
But you know programs like thiscan make a difference in a
local community for sure.
So if a veteran happens to belistening to this, how would
they get access or talk to youor someone in the program about

(33:32):
what services they may be ableto get?
So again.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
you know, if they're comfortable sending something
through our general inquiriesemails, they're more than
welcome to reach out through thewebsite.
Otherwise, I would be honoredif they were willing to email me
directly.
I am a veteran.
I am participating as the kindof dog component of the therapy
sessions, so there.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
I will put Connor's email list in the show notes.
You could just click and you'rethere as well, of course, as
the website for the program.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
Yeah, there is such a stigma in veterans and their
world and mental health and soalmost like double time for a
veteran dealing with mentalhealth struggles and I think
that a lot of that educationyou're talking about and people
getting to understand it helpsbreak down the walls of oh,
everybody has something likethis and even the dogs go

(34:28):
through it.
I remember holding one of thedogs that just shivered for 30
minutes before it finally letthe guard down and relaxed.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
Humans don't show it like that.
We don't know, you can't alwayssee what's going on the inside,
but that tapping into the dogsis, you know, such a beautiful
way to help them.
So what are you doing to chooseor train the dogs to be a part
of this program?

Speaker 1 (34:50):
So we're really not training the dogs to be
specifically helpful to this.
We really wanted again to allowthis program to have as big of
an impact even on the dogpopulation as possible.
So, the only exclusions we'vereally made, obviously underage
puppies.
We don't want them out andbeing handled.

(35:12):
So if it's underage and notvaccinated, they won't
participate in the program.
If they have a bite or in anyway considered unsafe to have
around people, they won't be inthe program.
People they won't be in theprogram.

(35:33):
Other than that, basically anydog that we have on the ranch
that is adoptable is going to berotated through.
Ideally, the way that we wouldlike to see it run, you know and
we're still working out thekinks is we touch base with the
person that's coming in for thatsession.
And you know what do you wantto work on today?
And you know, maybe it's trust,maybe it's communication, maybe

(35:54):
it's problem solving.
I'm really excited about theproblem solving one because I
have two very beautiful I lovethem pitties at my ranch who
love to come out of their yardand then immediately put the
brakes on and they don't want towalk.
And so every day our staff haveto problem solve.
How am I going to motivateVelvet Hippo to walk today?

(36:16):
How am I going to motivateGrace to walk today?
And so I'm excited.
You know I'm already thinkingin my head Grace would be good
for this.
Bruce would be good for this,but Ross would be great for this
, and you know, we're just somaybe a little matching but,
allowing the human and theanimal to gain from it, whatever

(36:37):
they're going to get.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
And sometimes it is the unknown that is the most
powerful.
You know connection with ananimal or you look at it and
think, oh, it'll never like me,and then they're, you know, in a
cuddle, puddle, five minuteslater.
That's definitely what Ilearned.
You can't, and I think, gosh,that goes back to education in
the broader sense of animalwelfare is people like to
stereotype dogs by looking athim.

(37:00):
Oh, it must be mean, it must bethis, it must be that, but it's
no, just like people, you can'ttell.
You can't tell if I'm a niceperson or a really mean person.
And so it's that bringing that,using the dog to bring their
guard down, in that sense, sothey can just feel the field,
whatever it is.
Yeah that's amazing.
To wrap up, I want to say thatsomeone's listening and, oh,

(37:21):
this is an amazing program.
I want to support it.
What would be the best way atthis point, as you're just
starting this program, forsomeone to support it?
Obviously donations.
Just starting this program forsomeone to support it Obviously
donations, but beyond that, arethere any resources, support,
volunteer hours that you wouldforesee needing to help this
program grow?

Speaker 1 (37:39):
So one of the big ones right now is getting the
word out, whether that's sharingthe social media posts, sharing
your podcast being.
You know, when we have flyers,we have rack cards for the
program, you know, being willingto grab a stack of those and
you know, run down to we'veplaced them there before but I'm
sure they've run through themall.

(38:01):
But, like the campuses, thecollege campuses have vet
centers dropping them in the vetcenters, you know.
So, really, one of the bigthings we need right now is
definitely help with networkingthe program because it is so new
.
And then I've had a couplepeople talk to me about it there
might be a need at some pointfor transportation for veterans

(38:24):
If we're asking them to comefrom Lancaster or Arvin or
Bakersfield or Taft.
Some of them will be able toprovide their own transportation
, but some of them that will bea struggle, and so we've thought
about, you know, if and whenthat does present itself, having
a group of volunteers thatwouldn't mind picking two or

(38:45):
three veterans up, bringing themup, letting everybody run
through their sessions and thentaking everybody home.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
No, you know that popped in my head at one point
when you were talking to it andI was going to ask.
So, you know, is there alimited region people have to be
in to be able to contribute.
So that makes sense that yousee long term.
And you know people don'tnecessarily know that Kern
County is a very large county,even if you're serving just the
county, that's, you know,multiple hours in all directions

(39:13):
.
So yeah, I could see howvolunteers could really help
with that aspect of it.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
It doesn't therapy.
A lot of it's going to have tostay private.
So there's, we're going to haveto get creative with the
volunteering, but I'm stokedthat so many people have asked
about volunteering opportunitiesalready.
I think that's amazing.
It warms my heart, lets me knowthat the community is open to
helping veterans and wants tosupport a program like this, and

(39:39):
that's huge.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
Yeah, absolutely, and , of course, any way I can help,
please let me know.
It's very near and dear to myheart animals and veterans and I
will say you know and youstarted by talking about your
experience with equine therapythat's come up for me a couple
of times recently, not even inthe pet podcast I have a friend
who does coaching around, beinga speaker and doing video and

(40:02):
all these things.
Well, a lot of her coaching isthe confidence part of it.
It's like the people know theirthing and know what they're
talking about.
They just't have the confidenceto do it.
And so she has a cousin, I think, that lives in southern
california and has a ranch, andso she had clients go there and
they did days of the equinetherapy and people just don't
realize that if you haven'texperienced it, what something

(40:24):
like that just opens you up toand allows to heal but also
something we talk about I'vebeen talking about with a lot of
fellow podcasters recently isit's that legacy of being able
to share our story.
But for a lot of us we don'tknow how to put it into words,
and that came to mind when youwere talking about journaling
that you know this isn't justabout them meeting a dog and

(40:44):
feeling better.
You guys are really trying togive them skills that are going
to help them overall in life andyou know to give them skills
that are going to help themoverall in life and, you know,
moving forward, yeah, absolutelyLove it, love it, thank you.
I know you're a very busy manand lots of programs to manage
and lots of dogs, so Iappreciate your time and I'm so
happy we're able to catch up andshare this and I can't wait for

(41:05):
, you know, to hear all theamazingness that you do as this
grows.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate yoursupport.
It was great talking to youagain and, yeah, I'm excited for
where this is going to take usand we'll just keep on going.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
Yeah, I love it.
Thank you so much for listeningto this episode of the Story of
my Pet.
I hoped you enjoyed it as muchas I did listening to it again,
as well as during my recordingwith Connor from Marley's Mutt.

(41:43):
I hoped you learned a littlebit more about what Marley's
Mutt's Dog Rescue does for thecommunity where I live in
California, in Kern County, andalso learned about their brand
new program, troops and Tails.
You can follow them on socialmedia and go to their website.
All links are in the show notesso that you can follow, like,

(42:07):
share and support, if you can.
Thank you for being a listenerof this podcast.
Every single one of you meansthe world to me.
If you know any animal loversor people thinking about
adopting a pet and want to helpthem learn more about it, please
share this episode or thispodcast with them.

(42:28):
Make sure you are following usand, if you haven't yet, check
out the YouTube channel andstart watching the full video
episodes now.
Until next time, my friend,much love to you and your pet.