August 21, 2024 • 51 mins
In this episode of In The Vet’s Office, Taylin Lewan (animal advocate & wife of former NFL player/Bussin’ with the Boys co-host Taylor Lewan) and her senior Husky, Akira, join Dr. Josie. Taylin discusses rescuing Akira when she was just 18-years-old after losing two family members and immediately bonding with her during one of life’s hardest seasons. Taylin shares that Akira recently survived cancer and moves around a little slower these days. She discusses handling the anticipatory grief of knowing Akira won’t be around forever. Taylin also shares about her plethora of farm animals and learning some hard lessons through trial and error -- from keeping her chickens alive amongst Tennessee’s many predators to learning her goats had ‘goat herpes.’ After the interview, Dr. Josie and Shannon wrap up the episode with PAW & ORDER where Dr. Josie details things she’d never do with her own pets including keeping lilies out of your cat’s reach which can cause fatal kidney failure!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Yeah, you're listening to In the Vets Office with doctor
Josie Horshak. All right, everybody, welcome to in the Vet's Office.
I am your host, doctor Josie, and as always, we
are joined by Shannon.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Hey, how's it going going great? How are you this week?
I'm good.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I'm always excited for this episode because I feel like
we have great guests and such great conversation and there's
always something interesting or funny that happens in the Vet's
Office and you just still don't know what goes on
behind closed doors when you take your pets in.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, and I feel like you have had a lot
of interesting stuff happen.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I was reflecting this week on what case to talk about,
and I was like, you know, this isn't really a case.
It's more of an observation, okay, that I've had. And
when I as many of you know, I was working
in downtown Chicago for almost five years and I really
prided myself on being very efficient in and out of
my exams, a throw of course, but never behind, never
(01:03):
making owners weight. And I have found that since moving
to Nashville, I'm always like three to four minutes behind
and I'm like, why is this happening? And I think
a lot of it has to do with like the
demeanor of the owners coming from the big city to
now being you know, in the South in Nashville. Yeah,
a little more laid back, a little more laid back.
(01:23):
And then also just like there's just more conversation. So
for example, if a pet is coming into the exam
room in Chicago, the owner would be like, listen, I'm
here for rabies de simper parva lepto. I've got a
meeting in four minutes, Like can you get me in
and out? And I'm like, you got this, Linda, I
got you girl, Like I'm going to get you in
and out so fast. And now it's like, well, Fliffy
(01:45):
likes to watch Animal Planet. Sometimes he's scared of the
flask water and he likes to go in the yard,
but not when it's raining.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
He doesn't want to get his toes wet. And so
I find that. I'm just like and.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
You're like, why are you here?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I'm like, wait a second, what do we do?
Speaker 1 (01:59):
No, I'm confused, And we're talking about fly swatters and
an animal Planet, which I love, I adore. I think
it's amazing because I get to learn so much about
my clients now, Like I learn about their children and
their parents and their significant other. Like there's just some
like this added conversation piece.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, it's that Southern hospitality. It really is.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And I feel like that you've had a lot of
your clients be a part of the podcast because you've
actually developed relationships with them. Yes, and that's before in Downtown,
which I don't fault them at all, but they're like
go go, go go. So now it's just kind of like, okay,
like this is great. Like do I need to know
that Fluffy scared of fly swatters?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
No?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
I don't, Like that's not going to change when I
do medically, but I do, deep down really.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Love the added details.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
It's pretty great not to pull a fly swatter out
if Fluffy is coming in there you go, which you
might not have known that about a Chicago patient exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I know. I know my pets, I know their their loves,
their hates, everything, so hilarious.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I think it is true though, Like I come from
Canada and like I have noticed that been in like
meetings and stuff like in Toronto is like everyone is
like in a rush constantly and like, I'm sure there
are people in Nashville and Tennessee that are like that too,
but I think there is such a little bit more
of a like building a relationship while also in you know,
(03:17):
contact with someone. Yeah, and they'll even be to me
the like how are you. I'm like, oh, you're talking
to me.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
You're like, thank you? How am I? I don't know how.
I'm like, no one's ever asked me that before.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
So yeah, I mean, just yeah, coming down here was
It's a cultural difference and I love it.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I think I noticed that too with like our horse
vet that we had come out to our farm here.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
I love doctor Meghan, like my our vet.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
She's great and like we would hang out and have
a coffee, and I'm like I would never do that
when I.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Was back home, just get to shoot the shit.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, Like they would come in, give the horse like
a you know, their vaccines, and then be gone. Like
doctor Meghan and I were like hanging out. It might
need to make my appointment times a little longer, but
I'm here for it that maybe just make it a
little bit of an adjustment. Yeah, yeah, here for it.
So that you can talk about Fluffy.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Fluffy and his loves and hates. That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
All right, Well, we've got some great questions this week.
I actually got some from some listeners, so this was
for you, Doctor Josie. My dog is so itchy. She's
scratching at her ears and armpits, licking her paws. I'm
giving her zertech daily, but it doesn't seem to be helping.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
What do I do? That is a very good question.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
I'm actually going to do an entire episode on allergies
in our pets because I need a whole hour to
talk about it. But what it makes me think is
a she probably has allergies, whether it's seasonal, environmental, food allergy,
it's hard to say. I'd have to see her and
we'd have to talk about it. But a lot of
the times those over the counter anahistamines do not cut
(04:41):
it for these dogs, and so what I would recommend
is bring her into your vet. A lot of times
when they do have allergies, they can get a secondary
skin infection. So their skin is already you know, angry
because they're allergic right now. They can get a bacterial
or yeast infection on top of that. So we'll treat
that skin infection if they have one, and then we
have some really great prescription medications to help control the itch,
(05:03):
one of them being Sido Point.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
It's an injection that I really like.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
And then if we can get to the bottom of
what they're allergic to, then great, we're treating the underlying issue.
So sounds like allergies, you should probably go to the vet.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I help that helps.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, I dealt with that all the time with our
friend Gie.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
She was constantly going through like allergy cycles and it
actually the main cause was her food mm hmm yep,
And you know, we kind of trial and error just
figured it out over time. But yeah, she ended up
on like the hypoallergenic. I would tell owners every time
we even start an allergy conversation, I say, this is
far and away the least favorite.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Thing I enjoy working up in animals.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
It is so frustrating because you kind of have to
go through some trial and air and owners want like
an overnight fix, and there's just there just isn't one,
So we kind of all have to be on the
same page. And like I said, I'm gonna do a
whole episode about it, so stay tuned. I can't wait,
all right, next one, Doctor Josie. This may be a
dumb question. There's never a dumb question. But I've only
ever had male dogs. What does it mean to spae
(06:02):
an animal? I don't think this is a dumb question
at all. I think a lot of people don't understand
how just how involved a spae procedure is. So a
spe is for a female animal really cats and dogs,
and then a neuter is for a male. Neuter easy psy,
You take the testicles out. You don't have to go
in through that body wall. Now, as spae, their reproductive
(06:23):
tract lies inside their abdomen. So just like when a
woman gets a C section, we cut through those tummy
muscles and we take out both ovaries and their uterus.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
I mean it's a oh wow, I did not know that.
Mm hmm. Yeah, it's a big surgery. It's a huge surgery.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So it is.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
And it's not to say we shouldn't do it. We
absolutely should, but it's important to know, like, hey, this
is a pretty involved, slash somewhat invasive procedure and postop
they really need to be arrested and closely monitored because
it is such a you know, a big procedure. Yeah,
and like female dogs that I've had, they definitely were
not taking it easy as they probably should have been. Yes,
(06:59):
I say, like really the first ten days, especially like
super strictly arrested. Most of the dogs that were spaying
and neutering are like parcouring off the walls because they're
young and excited. Anyways, So tell your vet that and
they can give you a little something to take the
edge off at home and keep them calm.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Right, Okay, good deal?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
All right, Well those are our questions for this week,
and don't forget you guys can submit your questions too
if you want to ask doctor Josie something.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
There's no dumb questions. And who do we have joining
us today? This week? We have Taylor Lawan.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
She is the wife of Taylor Lawan, who was a
former offensive LINEMSS for the Tennessee Titans. He is now
at one of the hosts of Barstools Busting with the
Boys podcasts. Yep, I heard of that, and Taylan and
her family live here in Nashville. She's always been a
big animal advocate and now they have a decent amount
(07:47):
of land and they're really kind of creating their own farm,
and so I'm excited to hear how it's gone from
just being a dog owner to like owning an entire
farmful of animals. So amazing, all right, Taylor Lawan, we
are so excited. I'm excited because I at some point
we are going to have a full on farm with
goats and chickens and cows and everything.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
So I'll hopefully learn some tips.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I'm sure you will. I'm sure you will. All right,
Welcome to in the Vets office, Taylor Lawan.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here with Akira.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
I know we've got Missakira here. She We're gonna dive
into all about Akira. But she is your husky that
you've had since you were eighteen. Yeah, that's a long time.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Not to age you, but I no, she ages me.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
That's a long time. Yeah. So she's twelve. I turned
thirty this year, so that's how I obviously keep track.
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
She's actually one of my patients, and she's one of
the very, very best. She's so sweet and you would
never know she's thirteen.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah. Yeah, she's turned thirteen this year. Yeah, almost thirteen. Yeah,
sozy she has she's my senior dog. So she hasn't
left my house in a long time unless I take
her for a drive. So she's probably like, what are
we doing? Why are we here?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Like this is a weird outing for sure? What are
these bright lights?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Exactly?
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Well, well, I'm glad she's here today.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Taylan and I actually met at a Wags event and
bonded over horses. And for those of you that don't
follow Tailan, I love your account because I feel like
all the things you post are just like so aesthetically
pleasing and wholesome. You're like making sour dough, You've got chickens,
and I guess, like you know, for those of us
that are just looking from the outside in, it looks
so beautiful. But I'm sure it's a lot of work
(09:28):
because you basically have your own little farm.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Oh yeah, like it. I think it's a lot of
work for those moments, you know, right, it's like those
moments that I capture because it's usually when I'm like
like this is like I always treat my Instagram like
it's a scrap book.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Oh this is amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
That's why she's trying to get my attention.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Akira has taken a poop.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I was gonna say, she really doesn't bother me unless
she has to go outside. That's why she's trying to
get attention.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
That's okay, this is our first poop of the pot.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Guess Okay, we're gonna take a brief intermission so that
we can clean up the little poop.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
No gets she's left behind, and we'll be right back.
We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
All right, We're back from our brief intermission of cleaning
up at Caraspoo. I was like, you know what, Taylor,
this is a great bow movement. Like this is solid,
good consistency, nice and healthy. Yeah, we got no concerns,
no concern great shape for her age. Actually we were
just discussing her age. Yeah, very consistent bow movements. Anyways, Okay,
(10:44):
so back to your your little farm.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yeah, okay, So I have always wanted a farm, and
I grew up on a cattle ranch, but I mostly
grew up outside outside, So I grew up in Canada
and my all, my my grandparents and my mom and everybody.
We've always had a big heart for animals, and when
I moved to Nashville, that was kind of always the goal.
I remember, even when I first moved out into a
(11:09):
place that was not allowed having chickens. I got chickens
and I put them in a garage, thinking that would
be fine. Of course, they destroyed that garage. It took
me forever clean. So it's always been a goal of mine.
So me and my husband we built the house that
we live in now, and one of the first things
I did was get a chicken coop. Okay, and I
knew chickens is going to be the first thing, just
(11:30):
it seemed detainable. Yeah, And when COVID happened, I actually
came to realize that I had I can't do anything for.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Myself, Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
When I was stuck in my house, I was like, wow,
I'm I'm really dependent on everything, you know and everyone.
So when things started shutting down, I was like, okay,
I want to be more prepared next time, just to
have you know, more things at home, and you know,
learn how to garden and learn how to maintain animals
that will like work for me and all the things.
So I got chickens. And then getting chickens, you kind
of like, once you get them, you start learning them. Yeah. Hey,
(12:06):
once I got chickens, I started learning them and started
getting like little routines. Okay, so you don't really know
until you get them, you know. Well I didn't. I
yea did very learn as you go.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Most people moved to Tennessee and they're like, I'm going
to get a chicken. I just feel like it like
comes one part of the territory and they don't know.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Yeah. So yeah, and so once you get like we
got a good routine in the automatic waters and you know,
and it's an excuse to get me outside every day.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
How many chickens do you have right now?
Speaker 2 (12:32):
I have twelve?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
And are any of them roosters? Are they all?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
You're not a lot of roosters? Okay, yeah, so I
don't even know. Yeah, you're not well within the city
limits that I'm in.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
You're not allowed roosters because they make noise.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah exactly. Okay, so you're not allowed of roosters. We've
got four parcels of land kind of conjoined, and so yeah,
that's how many chickens we have. And then we had ducks,
but for some reason we have We're in the city,
we're not too far away. But the predators are insane.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yes, that is something that when I moved here from
downtown Chicago. I was shocked. Yeah, bobcats.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Oh yeah, we have a we have a I mean
the land we're on too, is like really historical. We've
got a graveyard and we've got an old house, so
it's a lot of history on it and a lot
of it's untouched. Most of it's untouched, and I have
to assume that's where they've all lived within the city.
That's my story, I tell myself because it's shocking to me.
But like at one in the afternoon, they'll just be
(13:25):
a bobcat walking around.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Yeah. It's like, Yeah, I was on a walk with
my sister and a bobcat went in front of us.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
She's like, what the is going on? Yeah, She's like,
do they travel in packs? I'm like no, I just
wanted to Yeah, and it was huge. I was like,
you've probably lived here this whole time.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah, they're big.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yeah. So I lost all my ducks, all four of them.
I guess a duck is a delicacy. I'm assuming. I
know that I can't. I'm assuming because they just would
go right past the chicken straight.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
To the duck. Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Interesting, Yeah, I thought that was too. I think that
that well. At least two out of four of those
was for sure. Now, just the way that we found
the duck, I was like, this is now wow. But yeah,
that was Another thing is learning predators. You know, you
see all these pictures of the chickens running around free,
and you think it's all, you know, storybook, but no,
sometimes it's also a mystery, like studying the blood splatter exactly.
(14:14):
I'm like, okay, this was taken, so that must mean.
But one of the main reasons I did this was
for my kids. We live in a really blessed lifestyle,
and you know, my kids have chores, and my kids
have duties that they have to do, and they have
to take care of something other than themselves, and so
that's where kind of chickens came into. And you know,
my oldest daughter, her job is getting the eggs every day,
(14:36):
and I don't get put them in charge of doing
the chickens because this is also a learning group. Cleaning
them is because I didn't know you're supposed to wear
like a mask or like a respirator. I got myself
so sick, really like or your symptoms. I was like,
I think I started the new Avian flu.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
It's not Okay, you were patient zero.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I was.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
So it's like like stomach or like respiratory.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Wow, hardcore respiratory.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Okay, do that as things you just wouldn't know. I wouldn't.
I would never wear a respirator.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
They don't look cleaning my own chicken coop just a
real home setter. Now yeah, no, I'm like I can't
and you were dying in your bed. Okay, yeah, good
to know. So they don't clean out the coop. So
they don't clean out the coop. And then after chickens,
we got bunnies, and bunny seemed like an easier thing
for the kids to cuddle with.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
The thing I do know about bunnies is they they
even look at them the wrong way and they're a goner.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Oh yeah, we've lost a couple bunnies from heart attacks usually. Yeah. Literally,
they're like, bring up to the bed. They're like just
kind of happens. Yeah, what do you mean if a
branch fell too loud, or if the boil changed too fast,
or if you move them out of their because I
switched habitats like that' stress of that, we'll just kill
them to die. And so kind of like what we
(15:58):
were talking about beforehand, though, is living on the farm
kind of like I had grown up too, is like
your in first introductory to death is with an animal,
which I think is such a blessing because they understand
forever through like a bunny or through a chicken, you know,
And it's a hard concept for even adults to understand.
And so you know, the few months. Honestly, I have
(16:21):
two really sensitive daughters, especially one the few months of
the night time cries because their chicken didn't come home,
or when's the chicken kind of come back because they
miss them, or you know, stuff like that. Like those
are easier conversations to have. And we just recently lost
my grandmother last October, and that's I'm actually thankful for
the conversations we had that led up to that, because
(16:41):
I think it would have been even harder to wrap
their head around when it comes to the concept of
like a person who knows in their lives rather than
an animal.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Yeah, we had talked about this before, and that was
really eye opening for me. I feel like, a yes,
having them do tours and teaching them the value of
work is really important. But also I never thought about
the concept of life and death. Oh yeah, and that
is like such a beautiful thing to be able to
teach your children. It is, and like we're important.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
We are meat eaters in our house, we're animal lovers,
which we are meat eaters. And understanding that concept too
young and having that conversation because I remember just being
absolutely floored when I found out that I've eaten a
cow when I was like twelve. I was maybe not so,
but older than I should have been to know that,
like I was, you know, questioning everything. And so I've
kind of introduced that concept to my kids just to
(17:28):
let them stomach it and at the end of the
day they can make their own choices as they get
older and stuff like that. But it comes with so
many life lessons. Living amongst animals in general comes with
life lessons, I don't agree. More so having the farm that's,
you know, the main focus. Most of the animals we
have come with the purpose. The bunnies are more pets.
The bees we have for honey and to also because obviously,
(17:50):
you know, bee populations are constantly plummeting, so the land
we had, I wanted to try to get some bees
out there and we get beautiful honey with it, and
then the oats. We had big plans for the cons
but we went to a livestock barn, which learning curve.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Yep, we're going to add that right up there with
the chicken poop cleaning.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I didn't understand the concept. I thought, you know, you
go there and it's all fine and dandy, but it's
actually pretty shell shocking experience for somebody who's a little
bit of an animal advocate. Because again, there's no there's
never judgment from me in this aspect, especially with true
farmers who make a living out of things, because my
experience and what my environment, what I've been exposed to
(18:34):
is different than like their lifestyle and their experience and
their means to a living. But for me to come
in and see all these animals crammed in and you know,
kind of on top of each other, I was like,
oh my god, we got to buy these alls.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
We will take them all exactly.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
And so that was kind of shocking to me. But
the worst part of it is, I guess, because because
they are so jam packed and they're kind of breathing
on top of each other, if there's a sick animal,
it kind of spreads like wildfire in there. Yeah, so
it's a run. So it is a risk that I
guess I took unknowingly at the time. And I got
a lot of sick goats and it was pretty touch
and go for a while there. We ended up getting
(19:10):
five at the auction and then I got four more
and ended up giving them care end up giving them
to uh my nanny's brother and he kept them and
one of his died that night. Yeah, and so uh
you know, again, in this world, a lot of times
it's like you can kind of let it run its course,
like you know, the amount of money yield to save
(19:30):
trying to save them. You could get five new goats,
and I was like, you don't understand what this is like,
you don't get it. You don't get it. And we're
going to save these goats. Yeah, so we started with
five and now we have four because just a few
months ago we lost haw because we had yeen Haw,
two little Nigerian dwarf ones. They actually passed away from
(19:54):
goat herpes, which I didn't know was a thing.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Learning that's that's taking me back to my that school boards. Yeah,
I remember, I remember when.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Because I guess when a livestock animal passes away you
like send the body, yes to like a lab, but
that investigates it to make sure it can't go across. Ye. Learning,
All of this is learning.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Anyways, I sent it in and they called and they're like, yeah,
just so you know, it's not zoo zo zoonotics. Zoonotics
can't catch it from your animal, right, And I was like,
so that was an option, like never crossed my mind
one time that I think that I could get a
disease from these things. And so anyways, they're like, it's
not too zoonotic, yep, so you'll be fine, But yeah,
(20:36):
it's it's a it's got herpes. They got it from
a sheep. They could get it from a sheep, but
they can't get it from each other. But there's no
telling if they all have.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
It once they're infected. If they're infected, they have it
for life and it lays latent and then it'll flare
up like just randomly and they can you know, as
you know, die from it, and so you're kind of
just like waiting to see.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Yeah, like at this time, we're just trying to give
them the best life that they can have, and they
live out there, and which led me into getting my
fourth dog, which is Bear.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
See how this happened? Just now we need another it's.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
A snowball effect.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Yeah, yeah, tell me about Bear.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
So Bear is my great Pyrenees. I got him from Dunlap, Tennessee.
His mom and dad and grandpa and grandma and all
of them were all livestock animals. He grew up with
goats and stuff until I got him at six months old.
And he's an angel.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
They're the best.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I didn't know that. I didn't realize what an incredible
breed they are.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Yeah. They're very sweet, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
And calm and just like his name was Arthur when
we first got him. Yes, his name was Arthur when
we first got him. But he like runs like a bear,
kind of like outwardly pause it, and so we're like,
we just kept calling him bear, like there's our bear.
So now his name is Bear. But he's my first
outdoor dog. And I remember we were talking about that. Yeah,
that's been It can be controversial, it is. I had.
(22:03):
I had animal control called on me before this last
cold snap, which made me question my existence. I was like, okay,
have I gone too far? Like I'm like, am I
doing the right thing? Like is this the okay to do,
like is he okay? Like am I putting this dog
in danger? Like you know, I advocate and I stick
up for and I try to support animal advocacy, and
(22:27):
I have animal control called on me.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I'm like, wait, wait a second, yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Like like I it really kind of stunted me. And
I mean I have two beautiful shelters, and like, I
mean I overcompensate for Bear all the time, Like I
bring them toys and bones, and I groom them and
I bath them, and I, you know, spend as much
time as I can with him. He's really spoiled with you.
But yeah, but yeah, that that shook me to my core.
But you know, then you go and I talk to
(22:52):
the people that are have done it before, and they're like,
this is what he's spread to do. And to be
honest with you, like there's times where I'll sit back
and watch him and it kind of was the first
time I've ever seen an animal kind of take the
lead in their own life, if that makes sense, and
kind of do what they're bred to do.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, he
has a job, job to do.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah, and he loves it, like he really loves his job,
and so that's what kind of brings me back home,
you know, if I kind of let go of that
potential judgment that I have, because there's times that there's
times that I have neighbors come over and they'll ask
me about him, like is he okay? And I'm like,
he doesn't feel this cold like my goats. See that
little shivering guy, Like that's why I'm stacking the straw
(23:33):
up to hear. That's another thing of people think you're
getting goats when it comes to these weather extremes. Like
I'm running water out five times a day because their
water keeps freezing. I'm, you know, like I'm constantly having
to make sure that they got enough heat. But you
can't bring heat lamps because if you bring heat lamps
then it makes some shed their winter coat and then
they're really unprepared if anything goes wrong with the heat lamp.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
It cannot be too cold, they cannot be too hot.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
You kind of have to just like help them, but
like don't nurture them too much, right, actually descend for themselves. Yeah,
So it's just been a wild ride to you, just a.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Lot of learning across the board.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
It's interesting though with Bear, like I think about all
the other I mean, I'm sure the majority of our
listeners and you and I include it with our dogs.
Our dogs like live like better than most humans. They're pampered.
But there are so many cultures and other countries where like,
these animals have a job and they're happy doing their job,
I think, And so as long as they have access
(24:29):
to shelter, food, water, like all the things that you're providing,
I mean I think that I'm sure Bear has a
beautiful life.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Yeah, that's what I keep telling myself. My husband keeps
being like, come down, yeah, yeah, you're fine. Yeah, but no,
that's what we kind of keep telling ourselves too. Like
at the end of the day, dogs were domesticated for
a reason, you know, And like that's another argument that
you always hear, Like dogs were domesticated for a reason,
and because in the lane of survival, we offered each
(24:55):
other something. I mean, that's what created that bond, right,
And so it's like you and with horses, yeah, and
with horses, that's kind of how we did it. And
I think sometimes we obviously can take advantage of that
as humans. And you know, that's where neglect comes in.
But neglect has to be present, and there's no neglect here, right,
and that's what I have to kind of remind myself of.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Right, You're like, but should I get him Egyptian cotton?
Speaker 2 (25:17):
I'm like, does he mean like a king sized bed?
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Yeah, maybe that's funny. Okay, so we've got bear mm hmm.
Next on the dock is Smoke.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Smoke was my second husky, which was supposed to be
like a cure's protege.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Okay, and Akira was like, no, thank you, no, and.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
It went actually south fast. Akira said no thank you
without the thank you, just said no and did not
like smoke, and Smoke really wanted to like a Kira.
And Akira said, I'm gonna sit in my corner and
you can have whatever you want, but not nowhere near me.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Nowhere near you?
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Oh her Okay, yeah, yeah, she's very protective of me,
but now in her old age, Like if she was
in her prime, I think my house would be fight club.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Really do, then you'd really have animals on you.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Because she she came to me, really, she had her
issues when she came to me, and we've come a
long way. But she's not a big fan of dogs,
so I but she liked huskies, like always at the
dog park, loved huskies. So you're like, well, we'll get
you one, and she said that's them at the park.
She's like, you really read the whole room long. But anyways,
(26:24):
Smoke came in. Smoke's a great dog. She's very much
typical husky, like a curra is like unique in her
own way. Smoke is like loud, talks to twenty four seven. Yeah,
like all of the things husky. If you looked up
the definition I think would be her genuine face, like
she is.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Like the textbook poster child she is. I feel like
people don't.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
That's interesting because so many people I hear like in
the city, you want to get a husky, and I'm like.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Ooh, I wouldn't do that. No. They have very high energy,
very talkative.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Oh yeah, shed more than you could ever imagine. Yeah,
but they're smart. And I always say, like husky in
my experience, like with a dog wants to serve you
in some ways, like wants to make you happy, or
like wants to like bond with you and stuggle with you.
Huskis are like I'll live with you and we'll be roommates.
But you show me respect, yeah, and I'll show you.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Respect, yeah exactly.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
And I'll give you exactly what I want to give you. Yeah,
and you can try.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
But like I got this, yeah exactly. That's actually a
very cat like too. Cats are kind of like.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
That, very cat like. Cuties are very cat like. Everyone
jokes around that a cure is a cat. A Kira
is gonna sniff every inch of this room. By the way,
she will not settle until she knows everything that's going on.
Then she'll lay down. She's very cat like us, but
calmer like Curreas. Never chewed anything, so for one shoe
of my best friends, I don't think she'll ever forgive before.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
If you're listening, we're sorry, so sorry.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
But she never chewed anything, never really dug she At
the time when I had her, we lived like gypsies
because I was eighteen. But anyways, we lived with a
lot of land, so there'd be times where I just
let her run, like we're in the middle of nowhere Alberta, Canada,
if anybody know what that means, Like literally it's so flat,
I could probably see her run like tundra. Yeah exactly.
(28:01):
And so she lived like a little wolf out there.
Like she just would run for hours and then come
home and sometimes she'd catch a.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Bird some and that's what they need.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
I feel like being like cooped up in an apartment
or in the city like that can just be really
hard for them.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Smoke is my biggest investment, really enough training I've had
to spend on Smoky to be like a dog is
insane to the point where like my husband's like, we
can ever do another husky because of it, and I'm like.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Well we will. She just ruined it for you guys.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Like little do you know this is not my last reusky?
That's funny, But no, Akira, I think was just the
perfect recipe and just how she was born. She was
one of those unique ones. Fact was it called factory
setting dogs?
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yeah. She just came perfectly for the environment that she
was in.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I love the story about Jake. Jake for everyone listening.
Jake was a Wags and Walks puppy and I met him.
He came in for his intake exam with me, and
he came with his sister. Her name was Josie. Funny enough,
and they were these big like maybe the biggest yellow
lab puppies I've ever seen, like huge belly, probably full
(29:05):
of worms, and they were the Actually I can guarantee
you they were because I ran their feecals on them
and I they were left in one of our exam rooms.
Whoever had transferred them or transported them to the hospital
had to go out and park their car. And I'm
going in to go look at Jake and Josie and
I like get the smell and I'm like, this isn't good.
And then I opened the door and Jake's just sitting
(29:26):
there with like his stanky leg, his big belly's out
and he's just staring at me and there's like ten
piles of diarrhea and he's like suck And I was like,
oh my god.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Yeah, that sounds like Jake. I mean, if Jake eats
like a crumb on the ground, his stomach's ract. Yeah,
Jake has just had stomach juice. He said, g alreadya
three times. We don't know how very lab of him.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
I think he just eats everything anything that falls on
the ground.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
So Jake was our foster fail. He was the second
time we've ever fostered with wags. And I was you know,
very content with the animals we had, and my husband
was never been a fan of one me all getting
all the period. And secondly like even fostering. He's like,
we don't need more responsibility at this point, and like
we're doing this again. We're doing it. And so I
(30:11):
brought Jake home and him and Jake started a bond.
There's not very many boys in my house. We are
very feminine, formal between the animals and the children. Yeah,
they do. And so uh, once Jake came in, him
and my husband really bonded. And Jake is when people
meet Jake. Someone said it before, they're like someone could
write a movie about Jake, Like he'd be like a movie.
(30:33):
People would cry over just watching him because he's so
sweet and he's so he just wants to be.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Loved as like a jock with the sensitive jock.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Oh yeah, Like he's like you look at him and
he's just on his belly, like like everything about him
is just like love me and I love you and
all the things. So he calls him a bag of
water because when you pick him up, he's just like
he's just lim. Yeah, he's just a squishy. So one
day we're supposed to meet and then a potential adopter
(31:00):
and we went to go do the meeting and our
assistant had Jake somewhere I can't remember where he was,
and Taylor came in and he goes, where's Jake, And
I'm like, oh, you got adopted, like just jerking around
and my husband started like tearing up, and I was like,
oh my god. I did not see this coming. I
was like, Oh, he's not adopted, he's here, but like,
are we keeping Jake that? Like, because he never bonds
(31:22):
with animals like this, Yeah, it's so rare, and so
I was like, like, we can have the conversation and
he was like yeah. At the time, he was still
playing football. So he's like, I'm gone a ton, But
you know, I really really wanted with Jake and I
really enjoy him and he's my boy. I was like, okay,
we can do it.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Are they still like is that he was here today?
And I was like, who's your favorite?
Speaker 2 (31:40):
He'd be like Jake, Oh, yeah, okay, well Akira. A
Kira is kind of the just unspoken, like she's the classhouse.
Yeah like that nobody would ever beat a Cia, right right,
But Jake is for sure his boy like a son.
Yeah son, he never had the closest thing. He's getting
into one of this one. But yeah, he's Jake's person
is Smoke.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Yeah, So the best thing that we ever did was
get Jake because a Cure completely rejected Smoke, so Smoke
was on her own. And then Jake and Smoke bonded.
Not that I'm recommending that people get three dogs because.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
If you're we're not working out with one, just get five.
It's fine, that's the motto.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
But it is a lot. Yeah, so Smoke and Jake.
But again, Smoke was one. Jake was six months right,
so having puppies grow up together.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Whoa, it's like the Bash Brothers. It's a lot.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
It still is. But we made a rule and I'd
recommend it for anybody that no playing in the house,
but outside they just go absolutely ham So like a
lot of times I'll ask to go outside just to
go absolutely insane. Yeah, that's the best we can do.
Not that they don't try to play in the house, right,
but that's the kind of like rule because if not,
I think.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
It would just be creation.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
I do, Okay, I don't create her, but she Both
of those are my first created dogs, and I could
not imagine not.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Yes, that's how I feel.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
I have a shepherd at home and he's young and rambunctious,
and we have to create him, and it's like the best.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
He likes us creat he does.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
It's like a little bit structure. Yeah, And it's so
routine for them. They don't know any better, to be honest,
They just I say go home, and they go home,
and they go to bed, and.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
It's perfect and your house stays intact.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah, for the most part, Between toddlers, dogs, it's just funnies, goats, chickens.
Wasn't great.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
One thing that we had talked about that I think
a lot of people will be able to connect with
and really resonate with, is I know how bonded you
are with Akira, but I feel like just having her
since you were a teenager and you know you had
shared with me, like going through some like really hard
family hardships with you know, family members passing away, and
like having that bond with her. I feel like so
(33:55):
many of us bond with our animals because of the
own traumas that we experience and like the way we
rely on them.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Yeah. So I was eighteen, and honestly, if anybody who's
a big animal advocate in their early twenties, I actually
would say, get a dog. Yes, Like, if you have
the means for it, it's it'll be the best experience
you ever have with a dog. I agree, before the
kids come and the husband comes and all the other
things come, Like, your dog will just do so much
(34:23):
for you. But I got a cure at eighteen when
I had no business getting an honor and I got
her after my my uncle had committed suicide right after
my eighteenth birthday and graduation. And then I was kind
of like it kind of like diff like I had
a great childhood. My family's incredible, and it was the
(34:44):
first time I kind of saw the bubble pop, you know,
especially like you're coming into an adulthood too. There's just
so much going on, and so at that time in
my life, it was like, you know, the people who
were my rocks were really sad, and so all of a sudden,
I was just like, I kind of think I need
to leave. Because I came from a small town. I
was like, I think I need to go away for
while and go figure out who I am. So I
moved to Calgary, which is like eight hours away from
(35:04):
my hometown, and that's where I found her. And right
right before I found her, my mom's boyfriend, like my
stepdad of ten years, he committed suicide. Wow, it was
just back to back. It was crazy. It's almost you know.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
When you're eighteen, like it's hard to process that.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yeah, because he had two sons that were like my
little brothers that were now gone, you know, because we
didn't get to see them anymore because of his situation.
And so I got a Kira and a care kind
of just fell into my life. And I think that
like I got a Curio. She was probably six months.
She didn't come like from the best situation. I don't
think she had a lot of aggression issues. They I
(35:46):
never know. It's like I'm thinking, like, oh, they're gonna listen.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
To this, Okay, probably not.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
They called her eat them like they wanted a different
path for her, okay, you know, like she had like
a bad to the bone collar on and stuff. Okay,
So I ended up getting her and we just I
mean she came everywhere with me, like we would go hiking,
if I went to I would become a yoga instructor.
Is the first thing I did after high school. And
she would like sit on my yoga mat with me,
(36:12):
and or she'd it was with winter, and I'd make
a little nest for her, and she'd sit in my
car while I was in class, and you know, anything
that happened, she was with me. I never left her
at home, And I mean, I can't tell you how
many times I've buried my face into her fur, like
she's got the world's softest fur. But she was always
very and even now like a cat like. I love
that she's facing away from the camera because that's exactly
(36:34):
where she should be because she doesn't care about people
very much unless unless she truly bonds with you, and
then you're almost you feel chosen. Yeah, yeah, so many
of my friends, like the day that a Kiara passes,
if I was to through a funeral, they'd be like
five people, but they would be crying so hard that
they'd be like an ugly cry.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Her chosen circle, small circle exactly.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
I think that, and I said this to you that
I think that when building my foundation up from the
grief that I was feeling at Kira a Kia was like.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
She was your girl.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
She was a lot of those bricks. Yeah, And I assume,
especially because when I talk about it, that when she passes,
I think some of those bricks will fall.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
It's hard.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
I mean being in your early twenties and eighteen nineteen,
twenty twenty that's hard enough. And then having you know,
losing people on top of that.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Yeah, you're discovering yourself, you know. And so like I
was never alone, souse, I had a Kira. So like,
if I want to go for a hike, I could,
you know, side a Kira, If I want to go
for a kayak, I could. And she was always down
for everything, right, That's what I loved about her, Like,
I mean, she moved to Florida with me, then we
came up to Nashville and she's you know, I always
had this thing with her that I needed her to
meet all my kids. Yeah, not that she loved kids,
(37:45):
She's just really good.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Like this is about me.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
It was like, you got to meet all my kids
and me and my husband have been gone to playing
number three and she's actually like a big part of
that because she's getting slower and that's been hard for
me to swallow. Like she lost her eye to cancer
three four years ago, and that was kind of the
first Okay, like she's not invincible, you know, like the
(38:10):
day's coming, and you know the days it's like I have,
the day is shorter to win. I don't have her
to win, I did, you know what I mean? Like
that's around the corner. And so when she lost her
eye to cancer, that was an eye opening experience. But
then all of a sudden, I went through something weird
and I don't know if anyone would be able to
relate with this. I carried guilt about it, but I
found that I avoided Akira for a while.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Yes, I've had a lot of clients, yeah, not to me.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
And I didn't notice it, but I found that like
I gotten routine with her, but I didn't like go
see her or like do things with her. I kind
of avoided her. And it was because she was aging.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
And I did like a coping mechanism almost yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
And I didn't know I was doing it. And then
one day I kind of had to like go to
the terms of like you know, she's gray, she's white,
she gets up slower, she's different. You know, she's not
who she was in her prime. And I had a good,
solid cry about it and then we even good ever
since we're back.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Yeah, I mean it's hard to they've been, she's been
with you such a huge part of your life, and
trying to picture life without her, I'm sure feels impossible.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Yeah. I don't remember life before her, you know, like
it's like majority like my whole adult life, she's been
in it, you know, and it's like before her, I
was a kid. Yeah, And so like that's just as
hard as this grief will be.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
I will.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
I mean, I'm so thankful, yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
And it's like she walked you through your hardest some
of your hardest days, I'm sure. And now look at
this beautiful life you have from when you were eighteen,
and so she's gotten you to where you are, and
when it's her time, you know, she'll leave you better
than she found you.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Yeah, I've you know, I've always I've always said I
don't think a care will ever go until she knows
I'm good.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Yeah, I believe that. I do believe that.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
And I'm and just think that what you said about
like especially being a woman and not not not for
the guys out there, but for women like that are
young and in their twenties, like that relationship you have
with your dog, you were like, it is the deepest
bond in the world.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
It's unbeatable.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
And then like I truly believe, and I you know,
I've asked some people like older, like my grandparents and
stuff like that. I'm like, I believe there's like a
soul dog that you have in a lifetime. Like I
love all my dogs, but then there's a dog who's
like literally a piece of you. And my grandparents are like, yeah,
that was this dog for me or that dog for me.
And I think that the the catch of this is
I think she came to me exactly when I needed her,
(40:35):
cause I was going through really traumatic events in my life.
But it's a bummer that, like I have so much
my life to live without her. Yeah, and I think
that's the trade that you kind of make. But she's
one hundred percent my soul dog. She's a piece of me.
Like yeah, I mean, even my friends always joke around,
They're like, I don't know what we're gonna do for
you and a cure douse. My husband's like I don't know,
(40:55):
like what we do, Like do we pack the kids
up and we leave for a bit like, do you
need to go somewhere? Do I get another dog?
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Like, He's like, I need a roadmap.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
He's like, what's the plan of Actually he's like can
you do it? Yeah? He's like should I get her stuffed?
I'm like, please get my dogs.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
We will not be getting her taxidermy to Taylor, Okay,
rule number.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
One absolutely not. That's a hard noe. So there's just
a lot to go on. But I mean, again, as
much as I do joke around and say that, like,
I'm gonna have to, like I tell my kids too,
because they're like, what are you gonna do? Like my
daughter asked me what I'm gonna do when a care
passes away, And I'm like, Mommy's gonna be different. Mommy
will be an all black for many miny months exactly.
(41:34):
But yeah, I'm so thankful for her. Yeah, I mean,
like especially because not everybody gets to have a dog
till er twelve. Yeah, you know it's like when we're
still going and you know I always woke Aroundiceick got
five good years with her.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Yeah, Hey, age is just a number, and she like her.
I can tell you her blood works perfect. Yeah, she's
she's got many years left, I would say.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Yeah, So I'm just you know, I got I'm just
so lucky with her that when she when she does pass,
not that I will gree it, but like I have
more gratitude than anything absolutely for her. So, I mean
she's the reason why I'm such a crazy dog lady.
I just keep kidding because you know everything that she's
done for me.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
She opened can of worm, Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
For sure. And she opened up the can of husky worms,
so which she fooled me. Yeah, she's not like the
old bait and switch. Yes, I just fostered two huskies
for weggs, okay, and they're really special. Yeah they give
a cua vibes to me. Yeah, no, believe me. Even
my husband was like trade smoke, like.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
Poor sm girl.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
She she's such a good girl now, especially before she
was a little feral, but now she's amazing, like, yeah,
the investment paid off. Like she's truly she's so special
and she's my little like bel girl. If I brought
her here, she'd be like belcrode to me.
Speaker 3 (42:49):
Love that.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Yeah, she's the best. I mean she's a hard time
because she's got a lot of energy, But I think
she's the best it would be a big debate in
the household with my husband. But I think she's a it's.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
All that matters.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Yeah, one thing I always love to end this podcast
on a positive note.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
What is something that you guys do? I feel like
a lot of us.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
When we're at home and no one's watching, Like, is
there anything that you guys do with your animals? Like
I have had someone on here that like sings a
song to her dog, Bobby Bones, like to let his
dogs out in the middle of the night and like
run free like anything.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
But you guys do.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
I mean, yeah, I'll, I mean we a cure. We
dress up for every holiday, which is so funny because
she's the last of them all that would appreciate feeling
like she probably hates it because to the pictures, like
the drench she looks so upset. She like dresses. Yeah,
like I've put like two teos on her, like I
put like little Irish caps like.
Speaker 3 (43:41):
That is amazing.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Yeah, I've got so much of that. But we also
dance like she'll as much as she's a little like
stick in the mud at times of their personality, if
I've got a song and I'm dancing, she'll actually come
into the kitchen to dance with me. But my husband.
Speaker 3 (43:55):
Daughter's Jake in a way.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Because Jake is like, even if I'm like sitting here
and I do like bad if I do that, Jakes
like if you change your body, like immediately he's away
and he's like, well, what's going on, stranger. Yeah, so
Taylor will go put like a mask on or something
and like go outside in the windows and iron. Poor
Jigs probably lost. So when he hears of his life,
but Taylor tells me it's because he's preparing him in
case there's an intruder. And I'm like, well, okay, I
(44:21):
guess we learned that Jake's really scared of he is
not the guard dog. No, we've got other dogs really
hard to call beer. Yeah exactly. But I mean we're
always up, We're always up to something with them. But
that would probably be the little weird nuances we do.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
With funny, like they're just such a part of or
family and like the antics that you do with them
at home and no one's watching, You're like, people would
think we're insane.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
Oh for sure, for sure.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
Well, thank you so much for coming on, Thanks for sharing.
Thanks about all your animals. They're so special and I'm
going to keep watching your farm on Instagram.
Speaker 3 (44:56):
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
Everyone gives Taylor a follow. Her farm looks amazing, her
animals look amazing. It's at tailing Lawan.
Speaker 2 (45:08):
All right.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
That was tailing the wan, and I'm so glad that
we got to learn so much from her. And I'm
gonna have to keep up with her socials and keep
learning because there are when you like I've had horses
and dogs, but when you venture out to other farm animals,
like there is a learning curve with every single one.
So that was interesting.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
I think people think I'm gonna get a few chickens
or some goats, but you don't realize like all the
responsibilities and yeah, I did not know don'ts that come
with it.
Speaker 3 (45:34):
So so yeah, she was a great guest. I'm glad
we had her on today.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
Yeah I've never because I've thought about getting chickens to
have her own eggs, but make sure a lot more
you get the gas masks. Ye, clean out there coop,
they're coop, they're poop in the coop, all right. So
we are going to move on from tailing the one
and get to pawn order this week, So do does
(46:00):
and dolts?
Speaker 3 (46:01):
What are we doing all right? Paul?
Speaker 1 (46:02):
And order Number one on the list this week is
I would not let my significant other husbands take my
pet to the vet unless they are super involved and
the caretaking and they know what's going on. Now, listen,
I love my husband dearly. There are some husbands that
come in and are amazing, like they take care of
(46:23):
the animal, they know what they eat, they know when
they poop, they know everything. But I'm going to say
the overwhelming majority do not fit that bill and so
I love that they're helping out and I love that
they're bringing the pet in. But for us veteran Harians,
it can be frustrating because we'll be like, you know,
what's the dog eat? I don't know, okay? And what
prevention are they on? I don't know okay, And then
(46:44):
we'll get through the whole exam and they'll be like,
you know what, I think I need to call my wife.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
You're like, yes, or send her here? Can we have
called her forty minutes ago?
Speaker 1 (46:52):
So if you are going to come, I do have
some wives now that will write me a note being
like this is what the pet's here for. This is
what I'm saying at home, This is the meds that
they're on. And then they send their husband with the
pet and the note yeah, which I think is very
funny and.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
Also very smart.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
Yes, because I couldn't take our cat to the ved
the other day, so I literally I sent Stephen with
like his shot, like his vaccine records, what he's been eating,
what he's been doing, like last time.
Speaker 3 (47:17):
He was seen with like a whole thing. I was like,
this is dummy proof.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
You cannot fail at this, and he was like, thank
you so much for doing this, because normally I have
to call you every time.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
I'm like, I know, so don't do that anyways.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
The worst is sometimes the husband will come in and
the pet sick and I'll be like, okay, well we
need to do X, Y and Z, you know, and
then he'll be like, you know, I think my wife's
just being exaggerating, like I don't think this pet sick
will be fine, just give us a medicine and we'll go.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
And then the wife will call and be like, why
didn't you do any tests?
Speaker 1 (47:44):
And I'm like, man, I'm like your husband, she said, no,
your husband told me no, So, yeah, I don't want
to start any marital fights.
Speaker 3 (47:52):
Be prepared, like Shannon, I love that.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Yeah, it's like sending your sorry honey, I have to
say this, but it's like sending your significant other grocery store.
Like if you don't send a list, you're not getting
what you need. You're gonna ask for cottage cheese and
you're gonna get sour cream. Yeah. Send them with like
a dummy proof, just like all the records they need,
all the questions you need to ask.
Speaker 3 (48:11):
Yeah, and you'll be fine, yep. Or just call doctor Josie.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
Yeah, directly, directly, Okay, number two on the list, we
do not want to bring any lilies into the household
if you own a cat. The entire plant lily plant
is toxic, so the stem, the leaves, the pollens, even
the water in the vase. And cats like to drink
you know, standing water on countertops. And it's not just
like a mile toxicity. They can get fatal kidney failure.
Speaker 3 (48:37):
Wow. Yep, they need to put a warning on Lili's
so not know that. So easter time funerals anything like that.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
If you have a cat, no lilies, man, that's scary
because I mean, is there other plants. I'm sure there are,
but is lilies like the main one, yescause it's more
common that you have them in your house.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
Yeah, you cannot.
Speaker 1 (48:55):
There's a website like the ASPCA Plant Toxicity Okay direct,
you can basically go through all the plants. But lilies
is like the one that with cats, like we really have.
That's scary because we've definitely we have a cat. He's
not allowed on the counters, but yeah, sometimes he does
and he gets in trouble. But we've definitely had lilies
in the house. Yeah, well he's okay, Murphy. That's why
(49:18):
you don't know, you really counter buddy exactly. Yeah, that's
good to know, all right. Number three on this week's list,
I would not let my dog lick my baby's face.
I just watched a TikTok video of this, and it's
so cute and endearing. But y'all, their mouth, it's a
great myth that their mouth is cleaner than ours. That
is so not true. They are licking their own butts.
They are eating dog food, and it makes me when
(49:42):
I watch them, like, yeah, this face is my like
little eyeball starts to twitch a little bit, so better
safe than sorry. I would not let them lock my
baby's sace. I just wouldn't. Yeah, I know, I was,
I think because I had a frenchie and she had
the most disgusting mouth on the planet. Like we did
all the fetwork that was necessary, but it was just
like not a good mouth health And all she wanted
to do was try to lick our son's face. And
(50:05):
everyone thought I was crazy because I was constantly like
diving to be like no if she was about to, Yeah,
I'm like, oh my god, it's not a big deal.
I'm like, you have no idea how gross her mouth is.
And he does not need that all up in his business. Yeah,
And that's it's like being older adults like a look
to the face and some kisses are fine, but when
they're younger or you know, a lot older, they are
(50:27):
just naturally amino compromise. Yeah, because of their age. So yeah,
I think it's better safe than sorry. Don't do it, yep,
don't do it? All right, Well, thanks so much for
joining us this week on in the Vet's Office. Don't
forget You guys can rate and review wherever you listen
to podcasts.
Speaker 3 (50:40):
Just click the link and as.
Speaker 1 (50:42):
Always, you can reach out to me on my Instagram
at doctor Joe's event with any of your questions common feedback.
Speaker 3 (50:48):
We want to hear it all. We'll see you next
weeks
Yeah, you're listening to In the Vets Office with doctor
Josie Horshak. All right, everybody, welcome to in the Vet's Office.
I am your host, doctor Josie, and as always, we
are joined by Shannon.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Hey, how's it going going great? How are you this week?
I'm good.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I'm always excited for this episode because I feel like
we have great guests and such great conversation and there's
always something interesting or funny that happens in the Vet's
Office and you just still don't know what goes on
behind closed doors when you take your pets in.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, and I feel like you have had a lot
of interesting stuff happen.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I was reflecting this week on what case to talk about,
and I was like, you know, this isn't really a case.
It's more of an observation, okay, that I've had. And
when I as many of you know, I was working
in downtown Chicago for almost five years and I really
prided myself on being very efficient in and out of
my exams, a throw of course, but never behind, never
(01:03):
making owners weight. And I have found that since moving
to Nashville, I'm always like three to four minutes behind
and I'm like, why is this happening? And I think
a lot of it has to do with like the
demeanor of the owners coming from the big city to
now being you know, in the South in Nashville. Yeah,
a little more laid back, a little more laid back.
(01:23):
And then also just like there's just more conversation. So
for example, if a pet is coming into the exam
room in Chicago, the owner would be like, listen, I'm
here for rabies de simper parva lepto. I've got a
meeting in four minutes, Like can you get me in
and out? And I'm like, you got this, Linda, I
got you girl, Like I'm going to get you in
and out so fast. And now it's like, well, Fliffy
(01:45):
likes to watch Animal Planet. Sometimes he's scared of the
flask water and he likes to go in the yard,
but not when it's raining.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
He doesn't want to get his toes wet. And so
I find that. I'm just like and.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
You're like, why are you here?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I'm like, wait a second, what do we do?
Speaker 1 (01:59):
No, I'm confused, And we're talking about fly swatters and
an animal Planet, which I love, I adore. I think
it's amazing because I get to learn so much about
my clients now, Like I learn about their children and
their parents and their significant other. Like there's just some
like this added conversation piece.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, it's that Southern hospitality. It really is.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And I feel like that you've had a lot of
your clients be a part of the podcast because you've
actually developed relationships with them. Yes, and that's before in Downtown,
which I don't fault them at all, but they're like
go go, go go. So now it's just kind of like, okay,
like this is great. Like do I need to know
that Fluffy scared of fly swatters?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
No?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
I don't, Like that's not going to change when I
do medically, but I do, deep down really.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Love the added details.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
It's pretty great not to pull a fly swatter out
if Fluffy is coming in there you go, which you
might not have known that about a Chicago patient exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I know. I know my pets, I know their their loves,
their hates, everything, so hilarious.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I think it is true though, Like I come from
Canada and like I have noticed that been in like
meetings and stuff like in Toronto is like everyone is
like in a rush constantly and like, I'm sure there
are people in Nashville and Tennessee that are like that too,
but I think there is such a little bit more
of a like building a relationship while also in you know,
(03:17):
contact with someone. Yeah, and they'll even be to me
the like how are you. I'm like, oh, you're talking
to me.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
You're like, thank you? How am I? I don't know how.
I'm like, no one's ever asked me that before.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
So yeah, I mean, just yeah, coming down here was
It's a cultural difference and I love it.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I think I noticed that too with like our horse
vet that we had come out to our farm here.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
I love doctor Meghan, like my our vet.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
She's great and like we would hang out and have
a coffee, and I'm like I would never do that
when I.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Was back home, just get to shoot the shit.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, Like they would come in, give the horse like
a you know, their vaccines, and then be gone. Like
doctor Meghan and I were like hanging out. It might
need to make my appointment times a little longer, but
I'm here for it that maybe just make it a
little bit of an adjustment. Yeah, yeah, here for it.
So that you can talk about Fluffy.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Fluffy and his loves and hates. That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
All right, Well, we've got some great questions this week.
I actually got some from some listeners, so this was
for you, Doctor Josie. My dog is so itchy. She's
scratching at her ears and armpits, licking her paws. I'm
giving her zertech daily, but it doesn't seem to be helping.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
What do I do? That is a very good question.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
I'm actually going to do an entire episode on allergies
in our pets because I need a whole hour to
talk about it. But what it makes me think is
a she probably has allergies, whether it's seasonal, environmental, food allergy,
it's hard to say. I'd have to see her and
we'd have to talk about it. But a lot of
the times those over the counter anahistamines do not cut
(04:41):
it for these dogs, and so what I would recommend
is bring her into your vet. A lot of times
when they do have allergies, they can get a secondary
skin infection. So their skin is already you know, angry
because they're allergic right now. They can get a bacterial
or yeast infection on top of that. So we'll treat
that skin infection if they have one, and then we
have some really great prescription medications to help control the itch,
(05:03):
one of them being Sido Point.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
It's an injection that I really like.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
And then if we can get to the bottom of
what they're allergic to, then great, we're treating the underlying issue.
So sounds like allergies, you should probably go to the vet.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I help that helps.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, I dealt with that all the time with our
friend Gie.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
She was constantly going through like allergy cycles and it
actually the main cause was her food mm hmm yep,
And you know, we kind of trial and error just
figured it out over time. But yeah, she ended up
on like the hypoallergenic. I would tell owners every time
we even start an allergy conversation, I say, this is
far and away the least favorite.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Thing I enjoy working up in animals.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
It is so frustrating because you kind of have to
go through some trial and air and owners want like
an overnight fix, and there's just there just isn't one,
So we kind of all have to be on the
same page. And like I said, I'm gonna do a
whole episode about it, so stay tuned. I can't wait,
all right, next one, Doctor Josie. This may be a
dumb question. There's never a dumb question. But I've only
ever had male dogs. What does it mean to spae
(06:02):
an animal? I don't think this is a dumb question
at all. I think a lot of people don't understand
how just how involved a spae procedure is. So a
spe is for a female animal really cats and dogs,
and then a neuter is for a male. Neuter easy psy,
You take the testicles out. You don't have to go
in through that body wall. Now, as spae, their reproductive
(06:23):
tract lies inside their abdomen. So just like when a
woman gets a C section, we cut through those tummy
muscles and we take out both ovaries and their uterus.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
I mean it's a oh wow, I did not know that.
Mm hmm. Yeah, it's a big surgery. It's a huge surgery.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So it is.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
And it's not to say we shouldn't do it. We
absolutely should, but it's important to know, like, hey, this
is a pretty involved, slash somewhat invasive procedure and postop
they really need to be arrested and closely monitored because
it is such a you know, a big procedure. Yeah,
and like female dogs that I've had, they definitely were
not taking it easy as they probably should have been. Yes,
(06:59):
I say, like really the first ten days, especially like
super strictly arrested. Most of the dogs that were spaying
and neutering are like parcouring off the walls because they're
young and excited. Anyways, So tell your vet that and
they can give you a little something to take the
edge off at home and keep them calm.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Right, Okay, good deal?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
All right, Well those are our questions for this week,
and don't forget you guys can submit your questions too
if you want to ask doctor Josie something.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
There's no dumb questions. And who do we have joining
us today? This week? We have Taylor Lawan.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
She is the wife of Taylor Lawan, who was a
former offensive LINEMSS for the Tennessee Titans. He is now
at one of the hosts of Barstools Busting with the
Boys podcasts. Yep, I heard of that, and Taylan and
her family live here in Nashville. She's always been a
big animal advocate and now they have a decent amount
(07:47):
of land and they're really kind of creating their own farm,
and so I'm excited to hear how it's gone from
just being a dog owner to like owning an entire
farmful of animals. So amazing, all right, Taylor Lawan, we
are so excited. I'm excited because I at some point
we are going to have a full on farm with
goats and chickens and cows and everything.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
So I'll hopefully learn some tips.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I'm sure you will. I'm sure you will. All right,
Welcome to in the Vets office, Taylor Lawan.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here with Akira.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
I know we've got Missakira here. She We're gonna dive
into all about Akira. But she is your husky that
you've had since you were eighteen. Yeah, that's a long time.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Not to age you, but I no, she ages me.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
That's a long time. Yeah. So she's twelve. I turned
thirty this year, so that's how I obviously keep track.
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
She's actually one of my patients, and she's one of
the very, very best. She's so sweet and you would
never know she's thirteen.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah. Yeah, she's turned thirteen this year. Yeah, almost thirteen. Yeah,
sozy she has she's my senior dog. So she hasn't
left my house in a long time unless I take
her for a drive. So she's probably like, what are
we doing? Why are we here?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Like this is a weird outing for sure? What are
these bright lights?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Exactly?
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Well, well, I'm glad she's here today.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Taylan and I actually met at a Wags event and
bonded over horses. And for those of you that don't
follow Tailan, I love your account because I feel like
all the things you post are just like so aesthetically
pleasing and wholesome. You're like making sour dough, You've got chickens,
and I guess, like you know, for those of us
that are just looking from the outside in, it looks
so beautiful. But I'm sure it's a lot of work
(09:28):
because you basically have your own little farm.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Oh yeah, like it. I think it's a lot of
work for those moments, you know, right, it's like those
moments that I capture because it's usually when I'm like
like this is like I always treat my Instagram like
it's a scrap book.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Oh this is amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
That's why she's trying to get my attention.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Akira has taken a poop.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I was gonna say, she really doesn't bother me unless
she has to go outside. That's why she's trying to
get attention.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
That's okay, this is our first poop of the pot.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Guess Okay, we're gonna take a brief intermission so that
we can clean up the little poop.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
No gets she's left behind, and we'll be right back.
We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
All right, We're back from our brief intermission of cleaning
up at Caraspoo. I was like, you know what, Taylor,
this is a great bow movement. Like this is solid,
good consistency, nice and healthy. Yeah, we got no concerns,
no concern great shape for her age. Actually we were
just discussing her age. Yeah, very consistent bow movements. Anyways, Okay,
(10:44):
so back to your your little farm.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yeah, okay, So I have always wanted a farm, and
I grew up on a cattle ranch, but I mostly
grew up outside outside, So I grew up in Canada
and my all, my my grandparents and my mom and everybody.
We've always had a big heart for animals, and when
I moved to Nashville, that was kind of always the goal.
I remember, even when I first moved out into a
(11:09):
place that was not allowed having chickens. I got chickens
and I put them in a garage, thinking that would
be fine. Of course, they destroyed that garage. It took
me forever clean. So it's always been a goal of mine.
So me and my husband we built the house that
we live in now, and one of the first things
I did was get a chicken coop. Okay, and I
knew chickens is going to be the first thing, just
(11:30):
it seemed detainable. Yeah, And when COVID happened, I actually
came to realize that I had I can't do anything for.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Myself, Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
When I was stuck in my house, I was like, wow,
I'm I'm really dependent on everything, you know and everyone.
So when things started shutting down, I was like, okay,
I want to be more prepared next time, just to
have you know, more things at home, and you know,
learn how to garden and learn how to maintain animals
that will like work for me and all the things.
So I got chickens. And then getting chickens, you kind
of like, once you get them, you start learning them. Yeah. Hey,
(12:06):
once I got chickens, I started learning them and started
getting like little routines. Okay, so you don't really know
until you get them, you know. Well I didn't. I
yea did very learn as you go.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Most people moved to Tennessee and they're like, I'm going
to get a chicken. I just feel like it like
comes one part of the territory and they don't know.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Yeah. So yeah, and so once you get like we
got a good routine in the automatic waters and you know,
and it's an excuse to get me outside every day.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
How many chickens do you have right now?
Speaker 2 (12:32):
I have twelve?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
And are any of them roosters? Are they all?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
You're not a lot of roosters? Okay, yeah, so I
don't even know. Yeah, you're not well within the city
limits that I'm in.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
You're not allowed roosters because they make noise.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah exactly. Okay, so you're not allowed of roosters. We've
got four parcels of land kind of conjoined, and so yeah,
that's how many chickens we have. And then we had ducks,
but for some reason we have We're in the city,
we're not too far away. But the predators are insane.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yes, that is something that when I moved here from
downtown Chicago. I was shocked. Yeah, bobcats.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Oh yeah, we have a we have a I mean
the land we're on too, is like really historical. We've
got a graveyard and we've got an old house, so
it's a lot of history on it and a lot
of it's untouched. Most of it's untouched, and I have
to assume that's where they've all lived within the city.
That's my story, I tell myself because it's shocking to me.
But like at one in the afternoon, they'll just be
(13:25):
a bobcat walking around.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Yeah. It's like, Yeah, I was on a walk with
my sister and a bobcat went in front of us.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
She's like, what the is going on? Yeah, She's like,
do they travel in packs? I'm like no, I just
wanted to Yeah, and it was huge. I was like,
you've probably lived here this whole time.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah, they're big.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yeah. So I lost all my ducks, all four of them.
I guess a duck is a delicacy. I'm assuming. I
know that I can't. I'm assuming because they just would
go right past the chicken straight.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
To the duck. Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Interesting, Yeah, I thought that was too. I think that
that well. At least two out of four of those
was for sure. Now, just the way that we found
the duck, I was like, this is now wow. But yeah,
that was Another thing is learning predators. You know, you
see all these pictures of the chickens running around free,
and you think it's all, you know, storybook, but no,
sometimes it's also a mystery, like studying the blood splatter exactly.
(14:14):
I'm like, okay, this was taken, so that must mean.
But one of the main reasons I did this was
for my kids. We live in a really blessed lifestyle,
and you know, my kids have chores, and my kids
have duties that they have to do, and they have
to take care of something other than themselves, and so
that's where kind of chickens came into. And you know,
my oldest daughter, her job is getting the eggs every day,
(14:36):
and I don't get put them in charge of doing
the chickens because this is also a learning group. Cleaning
them is because I didn't know you're supposed to wear
like a mask or like a respirator. I got myself
so sick, really like or your symptoms. I was like,
I think I started the new Avian flu.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
It's not Okay, you were patient zero.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I was.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
So it's like like stomach or like respiratory.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Wow, hardcore respiratory.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Okay, do that as things you just wouldn't know. I wouldn't.
I would never wear a respirator.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
They don't look cleaning my own chicken coop just a
real home setter. Now yeah, no, I'm like I can't
and you were dying in your bed. Okay, yeah, good
to know. So they don't clean out the coop. So
they don't clean out the coop. And then after chickens,
we got bunnies, and bunny seemed like an easier thing
for the kids to cuddle with.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
The thing I do know about bunnies is they they
even look at them the wrong way and they're a goner.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Oh yeah, we've lost a couple bunnies from heart attacks usually. Yeah. Literally,
they're like, bring up to the bed. They're like just
kind of happens. Yeah, what do you mean if a
branch fell too loud, or if the boil changed too fast,
or if you move them out of their because I
switched habitats like that' stress of that, we'll just kill
them to die. And so kind of like what we
(15:58):
were talking about beforehand, though, is living on the farm
kind of like I had grown up too, is like
your in first introductory to death is with an animal,
which I think is such a blessing because they understand
forever through like a bunny or through a chicken, you know,
And it's a hard concept for even adults to understand.
And so you know, the few months. Honestly, I have
(16:21):
two really sensitive daughters, especially one the few months of
the night time cries because their chicken didn't come home,
or when's the chicken kind of come back because they
miss them, or you know, stuff like that. Like those
are easier conversations to have. And we just recently lost
my grandmother last October, and that's I'm actually thankful for
the conversations we had that led up to that, because
(16:41):
I think it would have been even harder to wrap
their head around when it comes to the concept of
like a person who knows in their lives rather than
an animal.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Yeah, we had talked about this before, and that was
really eye opening for me. I feel like, a yes,
having them do tours and teaching them the value of
work is really important. But also I never thought about
the concept of life and death. Oh yeah, and that
is like such a beautiful thing to be able to
teach your children. It is, and like we're important.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
We are meat eaters in our house, we're animal lovers,
which we are meat eaters. And understanding that concept too
young and having that conversation because I remember just being
absolutely floored when I found out that I've eaten a
cow when I was like twelve. I was maybe not so,
but older than I should have been to know that,
like I was, you know, questioning everything. And so I've
kind of introduced that concept to my kids just to
(17:28):
let them stomach it and at the end of the
day they can make their own choices as they get
older and stuff like that. But it comes with so
many life lessons. Living amongst animals in general comes with
life lessons, I don't agree. More so having the farm that's,
you know, the main focus. Most of the animals we
have come with the purpose. The bunnies are more pets.
The bees we have for honey and to also because obviously,
(17:50):
you know, bee populations are constantly plummeting, so the land
we had, I wanted to try to get some bees
out there and we get beautiful honey with it, and
then the oats. We had big plans for the cons
but we went to a livestock barn, which learning curve.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Yep, we're going to add that right up there with
the chicken poop cleaning.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I didn't understand the concept. I thought, you know, you
go there and it's all fine and dandy, but it's
actually pretty shell shocking experience for somebody who's a little
bit of an animal advocate. Because again, there's no there's
never judgment from me in this aspect, especially with true
farmers who make a living out of things, because my
experience and what my environment, what I've been exposed to
(18:34):
is different than like their lifestyle and their experience and
their means to a living. But for me to come
in and see all these animals crammed in and you know,
kind of on top of each other, I was like,
oh my god, we got to buy these alls.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
We will take them all exactly.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
And so that was kind of shocking to me. But
the worst part of it is, I guess, because because
they are so jam packed and they're kind of breathing
on top of each other, if there's a sick animal,
it kind of spreads like wildfire in there. Yeah, so
it's a run. So it is a risk that I
guess I took unknowingly at the time. And I got
a lot of sick goats and it was pretty touch
and go for a while there. We ended up getting
(19:10):
five at the auction and then I got four more
and ended up giving them care end up giving them
to uh my nanny's brother and he kept them and
one of his died that night. Yeah, and so uh
you know, again, in this world, a lot of times
it's like you can kind of let it run its course,
like you know, the amount of money yield to save
(19:30):
trying to save them. You could get five new goats,
and I was like, you don't understand what this is like,
you don't get it. You don't get it. And we're
going to save these goats. Yeah, so we started with
five and now we have four because just a few
months ago we lost haw because we had yeen Haw,
two little Nigerian dwarf ones. They actually passed away from
(19:54):
goat herpes, which I didn't know was a thing.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Learning that's that's taking me back to my that school boards. Yeah,
I remember, I remember when.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Because I guess when a livestock animal passes away you
like send the body, yes to like a lab, but
that investigates it to make sure it can't go across. Ye. Learning,
All of this is learning.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Anyways, I sent it in and they called and they're like, yeah,
just so you know, it's not zoo zo zoonotics. Zoonotics
can't catch it from your animal, right, And I was like,
so that was an option, like never crossed my mind
one time that I think that I could get a
disease from these things. And so anyways, they're like, it's
not too zoonotic, yep, so you'll be fine, But yeah,
(20:36):
it's it's a it's got herpes. They got it from
a sheep. They could get it from a sheep, but
they can't get it from each other. But there's no
telling if they all have.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
It once they're infected. If they're infected, they have it
for life and it lays latent and then it'll flare
up like just randomly and they can you know, as
you know, die from it, and so you're kind of
just like waiting to see.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Yeah, like at this time, we're just trying to give
them the best life that they can have, and they
live out there, and which led me into getting my
fourth dog, which is Bear.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
See how this happened? Just now we need another it's.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
A snowball effect.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Yeah, yeah, tell me about Bear.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
So Bear is my great Pyrenees. I got him from Dunlap, Tennessee.
His mom and dad and grandpa and grandma and all
of them were all livestock animals. He grew up with
goats and stuff until I got him at six months old.
And he's an angel.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
They're the best.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I didn't know that. I didn't realize what an incredible
breed they are.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Yeah. They're very sweet, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
And calm and just like his name was Arthur when
we first got him. Yes, his name was Arthur when
we first got him. But he like runs like a bear,
kind of like outwardly pause it, and so we're like,
we just kept calling him bear, like there's our bear.
So now his name is Bear. But he's my first
outdoor dog. And I remember we were talking about that. Yeah,
that's been It can be controversial, it is. I had.
(22:03):
I had animal control called on me before this last
cold snap, which made me question my existence. I was like, okay,
have I gone too far? Like I'm like, am I
doing the right thing? Like is this the okay to do,
like is he okay? Like am I putting this dog
in danger? Like you know, I advocate and I stick
up for and I try to support animal advocacy, and
(22:27):
I have animal control called on me.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I'm like, wait, wait a second, yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Like like I it really kind of stunted me. And
I mean I have two beautiful shelters, and like, I
mean I overcompensate for Bear all the time, Like I
bring them toys and bones, and I groom them and
I bath them, and I, you know, spend as much
time as I can with him. He's really spoiled with you.
But yeah, but yeah, that that shook me to my core.
But you know, then you go and I talk to
(22:52):
the people that are have done it before, and they're like,
this is what he's spread to do. And to be
honest with you, like there's times where I'll sit back
and watch him and it kind of was the first
time I've ever seen an animal kind of take the
lead in their own life, if that makes sense, and
kind of do what they're bred to do.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, he
has a job, job to do.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah, and he loves it, like he really loves his job,
and so that's what kind of brings me back home,
you know, if I kind of let go of that
potential judgment that I have, because there's times that there's
times that I have neighbors come over and they'll ask
me about him, like is he okay? And I'm like,
he doesn't feel this cold like my goats. See that
little shivering guy, Like that's why I'm stacking the straw
(23:33):
up to hear. That's another thing of people think you're
getting goats when it comes to these weather extremes. Like
I'm running water out five times a day because their
water keeps freezing. I'm, you know, like I'm constantly having
to make sure that they got enough heat. But you
can't bring heat lamps because if you bring heat lamps
then it makes some shed their winter coat and then
they're really unprepared if anything goes wrong with the heat lamp.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
It cannot be too cold, they cannot be too hot.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
You kind of have to just like help them, but
like don't nurture them too much, right, actually descend for themselves. Yeah,
So it's just been a wild ride to you, just a.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Lot of learning across the board.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
It's interesting though with Bear, like I think about all
the other I mean, I'm sure the majority of our
listeners and you and I include it with our dogs.
Our dogs like live like better than most humans. They're pampered.
But there are so many cultures and other countries where like,
these animals have a job and they're happy doing their job,
I think, And so as long as they have access
(24:29):
to shelter, food, water, like all the things that you're providing,
I mean I think that I'm sure Bear has a
beautiful life.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Yeah, that's what I keep telling myself. My husband keeps
being like, come down, yeah, yeah, you're fine. Yeah, but no,
that's what we kind of keep telling ourselves too. Like
at the end of the day, dogs were domesticated for
a reason, you know, And like that's another argument that
you always hear, Like dogs were domesticated for a reason,
and because in the lane of survival, we offered each
(24:55):
other something. I mean, that's what created that bond, right,
And so it's like you and with horses, yeah, and
with horses, that's kind of how we did it. And
I think sometimes we obviously can take advantage of that
as humans. And you know, that's where neglect comes in.
But neglect has to be present, and there's no neglect here, right,
and that's what I have to kind of remind myself of.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Right, You're like, but should I get him Egyptian cotton?
Speaker 2 (25:17):
I'm like, does he mean like a king sized bed?
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Yeah, maybe that's funny. Okay, so we've got bear mm hmm.
Next on the dock is Smoke.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Smoke was my second husky, which was supposed to be
like a cure's protege.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Okay, and Akira was like, no, thank you, no, and.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
It went actually south fast. Akira said no thank you
without the thank you, just said no and did not
like smoke, and Smoke really wanted to like a Kira.
And Akira said, I'm gonna sit in my corner and
you can have whatever you want, but not nowhere near me.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Nowhere near you?
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Oh her Okay, yeah, yeah, she's very protective of me,
but now in her old age, Like if she was
in her prime, I think my house would be fight club.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Really do, then you'd really have animals on you.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Because she she came to me, really, she had her
issues when she came to me, and we've come a
long way. But she's not a big fan of dogs,
so I but she liked huskies, like always at the
dog park, loved huskies. So you're like, well, we'll get
you one, and she said that's them at the park.
She's like, you really read the whole room long. But anyways,
(26:24):
Smoke came in. Smoke's a great dog. She's very much
typical husky, like a curra is like unique in her
own way. Smoke is like loud, talks to twenty four seven. Yeah,
like all of the things husky. If you looked up
the definition I think would be her genuine face, like
she is.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Like the textbook poster child she is. I feel like
people don't.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
That's interesting because so many people I hear like in
the city, you want to get a husky, and I'm like.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Ooh, I wouldn't do that. No. They have very high energy,
very talkative.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Oh yeah, shed more than you could ever imagine. Yeah,
but they're smart. And I always say, like husky in
my experience, like with a dog wants to serve you
in some ways, like wants to make you happy, or
like wants to like bond with you and stuggle with you.
Huskis are like I'll live with you and we'll be roommates.
But you show me respect, yeah, and I'll show you.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Respect, yeah exactly.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
And I'll give you exactly what I want to give you. Yeah,
and you can try.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
But like I got this, yeah exactly. That's actually a
very cat like too. Cats are kind of like.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
That, very cat like. Cuties are very cat like. Everyone
jokes around that a cure is a cat. A Kira
is gonna sniff every inch of this room. By the way,
she will not settle until she knows everything that's going on.
Then she'll lay down. She's very cat like us, but
calmer like Curreas. Never chewed anything, so for one shoe
of my best friends, I don't think she'll ever forgive before.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
If you're listening, we're sorry, so sorry.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
But she never chewed anything, never really dug she At
the time when I had her, we lived like gypsies
because I was eighteen. But anyways, we lived with a
lot of land, so there'd be times where I just
let her run, like we're in the middle of nowhere Alberta, Canada,
if anybody know what that means, Like literally it's so flat,
I could probably see her run like tundra. Yeah exactly.
(28:01):
And so she lived like a little wolf out there.
Like she just would run for hours and then come
home and sometimes she'd catch a.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Bird some and that's what they need.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
I feel like being like cooped up in an apartment
or in the city like that can just be really
hard for them.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Smoke is my biggest investment, really enough training I've had
to spend on Smoky to be like a dog is
insane to the point where like my husband's like, we
can ever do another husky because of it, and I'm like.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Well we will. She just ruined it for you guys.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Like little do you know this is not my last reusky?
That's funny, But no, Akira, I think was just the
perfect recipe and just how she was born. She was
one of those unique ones. Fact was it called factory
setting dogs?
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yeah. She just came perfectly for the environment that she
was in.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I love the story about Jake. Jake for everyone listening.
Jake was a Wags and Walks puppy and I met him.
He came in for his intake exam with me, and
he came with his sister. Her name was Josie. Funny enough,
and they were these big like maybe the biggest yellow
lab puppies I've ever seen, like huge belly, probably full
(29:05):
of worms, and they were the Actually I can guarantee
you they were because I ran their feecals on them
and I they were left in one of our exam rooms.
Whoever had transferred them or transported them to the hospital
had to go out and park their car. And I'm
going in to go look at Jake and Josie and
I like get the smell and I'm like, this isn't good.
And then I opened the door and Jake's just sitting
(29:26):
there with like his stanky leg, his big belly's out
and he's just staring at me and there's like ten
piles of diarrhea and he's like suck And I was like,
oh my god.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Yeah, that sounds like Jake. I mean, if Jake eats
like a crumb on the ground, his stomach's ract. Yeah,
Jake has just had stomach juice. He said, g alreadya
three times. We don't know how very lab of him.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
I think he just eats everything anything that falls on
the ground.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
So Jake was our foster fail. He was the second
time we've ever fostered with wags. And I was you know,
very content with the animals we had, and my husband
was never been a fan of one me all getting
all the period. And secondly like even fostering. He's like,
we don't need more responsibility at this point, and like
we're doing this again. We're doing it. And so I
(30:11):
brought Jake home and him and Jake started a bond.
There's not very many boys in my house. We are
very feminine, formal between the animals and the children. Yeah,
they do. And so uh, once Jake came in, him
and my husband really bonded. And Jake is when people
meet Jake. Someone said it before, they're like someone could
write a movie about Jake, Like he'd be like a movie.
(30:33):
People would cry over just watching him because he's so
sweet and he's so he just wants to be.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Loved as like a jock with the sensitive jock.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Oh yeah, Like he's like you look at him and
he's just on his belly, like like everything about him
is just like love me and I love you and
all the things. So he calls him a bag of
water because when you pick him up, he's just like
he's just lim. Yeah, he's just a squishy. So one
day we're supposed to meet and then a potential adopter
(31:00):
and we went to go do the meeting and our
assistant had Jake somewhere I can't remember where he was,
and Taylor came in and he goes, where's Jake, And
I'm like, oh, you got adopted, like just jerking around
and my husband started like tearing up, and I was like,
oh my god. I did not see this coming. I
was like, Oh, he's not adopted, he's here, but like,
are we keeping Jake that? Like, because he never bonds
(31:22):
with animals like this, Yeah, it's so rare, and so
I was like, like, we can have the conversation and
he was like yeah. At the time, he was still
playing football. So he's like, I'm gone a ton, But
you know, I really really wanted with Jake and I
really enjoy him and he's my boy. I was like, okay,
we can do it.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Are they still like is that he was here today?
And I was like, who's your favorite?
Speaker 2 (31:40):
He'd be like Jake, Oh, yeah, okay, well Akira. A
Kira is kind of the just unspoken, like she's the classhouse.
Yeah like that nobody would ever beat a Cia, right right,
But Jake is for sure his boy like a son.
Yeah son, he never had the closest thing. He's getting
into one of this one. But yeah, he's Jake's person
is Smoke.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Yeah, So the best thing that we ever did was
get Jake because a Cure completely rejected Smoke, so Smoke
was on her own. And then Jake and Smoke bonded.
Not that I'm recommending that people get three dogs because.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
If you're we're not working out with one, just get five.
It's fine, that's the motto.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
But it is a lot. Yeah, so Smoke and Jake.
But again, Smoke was one. Jake was six months right,
so having puppies grow up together.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Whoa, it's like the Bash Brothers. It's a lot.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
It still is. But we made a rule and I'd
recommend it for anybody that no playing in the house,
but outside they just go absolutely ham So like a
lot of times I'll ask to go outside just to
go absolutely insane. Yeah, that's the best we can do.
Not that they don't try to play in the house, right,
but that's the kind of like rule because if not,
I think.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
It would just be creation.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
I do, Okay, I don't create her, but she Both
of those are my first created dogs, and I could
not imagine not.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Yes, that's how I feel.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
I have a shepherd at home and he's young and rambunctious,
and we have to create him, and it's like the best.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
He likes us creat he does.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
It's like a little bit structure. Yeah, And it's so
routine for them. They don't know any better, to be honest,
They just I say go home, and they go home,
and they go to bed, and.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
It's perfect and your house stays intact.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah, for the most part, Between toddlers, dogs, it's just funnies, goats, chickens.
Wasn't great.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
One thing that we had talked about that I think
a lot of people will be able to connect with
and really resonate with, is I know how bonded you
are with Akira, but I feel like just having her
since you were a teenager and you know you had
shared with me, like going through some like really hard
family hardships with you know, family members passing away, and
like having that bond with her. I feel like so
(33:55):
many of us bond with our animals because of the
own traumas that we experience and like the way we
rely on them.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Yeah. So I was eighteen, and honestly, if anybody who's
a big animal advocate in their early twenties, I actually
would say, get a dog. Yes, Like, if you have
the means for it, it's it'll be the best experience
you ever have with a dog. I agree, before the
kids come and the husband comes and all the other
things come, Like, your dog will just do so much
(34:23):
for you. But I got a cure at eighteen when
I had no business getting an honor and I got
her after my my uncle had committed suicide right after
my eighteenth birthday and graduation. And then I was kind
of like it kind of like diff like I had
a great childhood. My family's incredible, and it was the
(34:44):
first time I kind of saw the bubble pop, you know,
especially like you're coming into an adulthood too. There's just
so much going on, and so at that time in
my life, it was like, you know, the people who
were my rocks were really sad, and so all of a sudden,
I was just like, I kind of think I need
to leave. Because I came from a small town. I
was like, I think I need to go away for
while and go figure out who I am. So I
moved to Calgary, which is like eight hours away from
(35:04):
my hometown, and that's where I found her. And right
right before I found her, my mom's boyfriend, like my
stepdad of ten years, he committed suicide. Wow, it was
just back to back. It was crazy. It's almost you know.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
When you're eighteen, like it's hard to process that.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yeah, because he had two sons that were like my
little brothers that were now gone, you know, because we
didn't get to see them anymore because of his situation.
And so I got a Kira and a care kind
of just fell into my life. And I think that
like I got a Curio. She was probably six months.
She didn't come like from the best situation. I don't
think she had a lot of aggression issues. They I
(35:46):
never know. It's like I'm thinking, like, oh, they're gonna listen.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
To this, Okay, probably not.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
They called her eat them like they wanted a different
path for her, okay, you know, like she had like
a bad to the bone collar on and stuff. Okay,
So I ended up getting her and we just I
mean she came everywhere with me, like we would go hiking,
if I went to I would become a yoga instructor.
Is the first thing I did after high school. And
she would like sit on my yoga mat with me,
(36:12):
and or she'd it was with winter, and I'd make
a little nest for her, and she'd sit in my
car while I was in class, and you know, anything
that happened, she was with me. I never left her
at home, And I mean, I can't tell you how
many times I've buried my face into her fur, like
she's got the world's softest fur. But she was always
very and even now like a cat like. I love
that she's facing away from the camera because that's exactly
(36:34):
where she should be because she doesn't care about people
very much unless unless she truly bonds with you, and
then you're almost you feel chosen. Yeah, yeah, so many
of my friends, like the day that a Kiara passes,
if I was to through a funeral, they'd be like
five people, but they would be crying so hard that
they'd be like an ugly cry.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Her chosen circle, small circle exactly.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
I think that, and I said this to you that
I think that when building my foundation up from the
grief that I was feeling at Kira a Kia was like.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
She was your girl.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
She was a lot of those bricks. Yeah, And I assume,
especially because when I talk about it, that when she passes,
I think some of those bricks will fall.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
It's hard.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
I mean being in your early twenties and eighteen nineteen,
twenty twenty that's hard enough. And then having you know,
losing people on top of that.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Yeah, you're discovering yourself, you know. And so like I
was never alone, souse, I had a Kira. So like,
if I want to go for a hike, I could,
you know, side a Kira, If I want to go
for a kayak, I could. And she was always down
for everything, right, That's what I loved about her, Like,
I mean, she moved to Florida with me, then we
came up to Nashville and she's you know, I always
had this thing with her that I needed her to
meet all my kids. Yeah, not that she loved kids,
(37:45):
She's just really good.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Like this is about me.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
It was like, you got to meet all my kids
and me and my husband have been gone to playing
number three and she's actually like a big part of
that because she's getting slower and that's been hard for
me to swallow. Like she lost her eye to cancer
three four years ago, and that was kind of the
first Okay, like she's not invincible, you know, like the
(38:10):
day's coming, and you know the days it's like I have,
the day is shorter to win. I don't have her
to win, I did, you know what I mean? Like
that's around the corner. And so when she lost her
eye to cancer, that was an eye opening experience. But
then all of a sudden, I went through something weird
and I don't know if anyone would be able to
relate with this. I carried guilt about it, but I
found that I avoided Akira for a while.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Yes, I've had a lot of clients, yeah, not to me.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
And I didn't notice it, but I found that like
I gotten routine with her, but I didn't like go
see her or like do things with her. I kind
of avoided her. And it was because she was aging.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
And I did like a coping mechanism almost yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
And I didn't know I was doing it. And then
one day I kind of had to like go to
the terms of like you know, she's gray, she's white,
she gets up slower, she's different. You know, she's not
who she was in her prime. And I had a good,
solid cry about it and then we even good ever
since we're back.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Yeah, I mean it's hard to they've been, she's been
with you such a huge part of your life, and
trying to picture life without her, I'm sure feels impossible.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Yeah. I don't remember life before her, you know, like
it's like majority like my whole adult life, she's been
in it, you know, and it's like before her, I
was a kid. Yeah, And so like that's just as
hard as this grief will be.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
I will.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
I mean, I'm so thankful, yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
And it's like she walked you through your hardest some
of your hardest days, I'm sure. And now look at
this beautiful life you have from when you were eighteen,
and so she's gotten you to where you are, and
when it's her time, you know, she'll leave you better
than she found you.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Yeah, I've you know, I've always I've always said I
don't think a care will ever go until she knows
I'm good.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Yeah, I believe that. I do believe that.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
And I'm and just think that what you said about
like especially being a woman and not not not for
the guys out there, but for women like that are
young and in their twenties, like that relationship you have
with your dog, you were like, it is the deepest
bond in the world.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
It's unbeatable.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
And then like I truly believe, and I you know,
I've asked some people like older, like my grandparents and
stuff like that. I'm like, I believe there's like a
soul dog that you have in a lifetime. Like I
love all my dogs, but then there's a dog who's
like literally a piece of you. And my grandparents are like, yeah,
that was this dog for me or that dog for me.
And I think that the the catch of this is
I think she came to me exactly when I needed her,
(40:35):
cause I was going through really traumatic events in my life.
But it's a bummer that, like I have so much
my life to live without her. Yeah, and I think
that's the trade that you kind of make. But she's
one hundred percent my soul dog. She's a piece of me.
Like yeah, I mean, even my friends always joke around,
They're like, I don't know what we're gonna do for
you and a cure douse. My husband's like I don't know,
(40:55):
like what we do, Like do we pack the kids
up and we leave for a bit like, do you
need to go somewhere? Do I get another dog?
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Like, He's like, I need a roadmap.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
He's like, what's the plan of Actually he's like can
you do it? Yeah? He's like should I get her stuffed?
I'm like, please get my dogs.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
We will not be getting her taxidermy to Taylor, Okay,
rule number.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
One absolutely not. That's a hard noe. So there's just
a lot to go on. But I mean, again, as
much as I do joke around and say that, like,
I'm gonna have to, like I tell my kids too,
because they're like, what are you gonna do? Like my
daughter asked me what I'm gonna do when a care
passes away, And I'm like, Mommy's gonna be different. Mommy
will be an all black for many miny months exactly.
(41:34):
But yeah, I'm so thankful for her. Yeah, I mean,
like especially because not everybody gets to have a dog
till er twelve. Yeah, you know it's like when we're
still going and you know I always woke Aroundiceick got
five good years with her.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Yeah, Hey, age is just a number, and she like her.
I can tell you her blood works perfect. Yeah, she's
she's got many years left, I would say.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Yeah, So I'm just you know, I got I'm just
so lucky with her that when she when she does pass,
not that I will gree it, but like I have
more gratitude than anything absolutely for her. So, I mean
she's the reason why I'm such a crazy dog lady.
I just keep kidding because you know everything that she's
done for me.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
She opened can of worm, Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
For sure. And she opened up the can of husky worms,
so which she fooled me. Yeah, she's not like the
old bait and switch. Yes, I just fostered two huskies
for weggs, okay, and they're really special. Yeah they give
a cua vibes to me. Yeah, no, believe me. Even
my husband was like trade smoke, like.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
Poor sm girl.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
She she's such a good girl now, especially before she
was a little feral, but now she's amazing, like, yeah,
the investment paid off. Like she's truly she's so special
and she's my little like bel girl. If I brought
her here, she'd be like belcrode to me.
Speaker 3 (42:49):
Love that.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Yeah, she's the best. I mean she's a hard time
because she's got a lot of energy, But I think
she's the best it would be a big debate in
the household with my husband. But I think she's a it's.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
All that matters.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Yeah, one thing I always love to end this podcast
on a positive note.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
What is something that you guys do? I feel like
a lot of us.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
When we're at home and no one's watching, Like, is
there anything that you guys do with your animals? Like
I have had someone on here that like sings a
song to her dog, Bobby Bones, like to let his
dogs out in the middle of the night and like
run free like anything.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
But you guys do.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
I mean, yeah, I'll, I mean we a cure. We
dress up for every holiday, which is so funny because
she's the last of them all that would appreciate feeling
like she probably hates it because to the pictures, like
the drench she looks so upset. She like dresses. Yeah,
like I've put like two teos on her, like I
put like little Irish caps like.
Speaker 3 (43:41):
That is amazing.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Yeah, I've got so much of that. But we also
dance like she'll as much as she's a little like
stick in the mud at times of their personality, if
I've got a song and I'm dancing, she'll actually come
into the kitchen to dance with me. But my husband.
Speaker 3 (43:55):
Daughter's Jake in a way.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Because Jake is like, even if I'm like sitting here
and I do like bad if I do that, Jakes
like if you change your body, like immediately he's away
and he's like, well, what's going on, stranger. Yeah, so
Taylor will go put like a mask on or something
and like go outside in the windows and iron. Poor
Jigs probably lost. So when he hears of his life,
but Taylor tells me it's because he's preparing him in
case there's an intruder. And I'm like, well, okay, I
(44:21):
guess we learned that Jake's really scared of he is
not the guard dog. No, we've got other dogs really
hard to call beer. Yeah exactly. But I mean we're
always up, We're always up to something with them. But
that would probably be the little weird nuances we do.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
With funny, like they're just such a part of or
family and like the antics that you do with them
at home and no one's watching, You're like, people would
think we're insane.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
Oh for sure, for sure.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
Well, thank you so much for coming on, Thanks for sharing.
Thanks about all your animals. They're so special and I'm
going to keep watching your farm on Instagram.
Speaker 3 (44:56):
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
Everyone gives Taylor a follow. Her farm looks amazing, her
animals look amazing. It's at tailing Lawan.
Speaker 2 (45:08):
All right.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
That was tailing the wan, and I'm so glad that
we got to learn so much from her. And I'm
gonna have to keep up with her socials and keep
learning because there are when you like I've had horses
and dogs, but when you venture out to other farm animals,
like there is a learning curve with every single one.
So that was interesting.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
I think people think I'm gonna get a few chickens
or some goats, but you don't realize like all the
responsibilities and yeah, I did not know don'ts that come
with it.
Speaker 3 (45:34):
So so yeah, she was a great guest. I'm glad
we had her on today.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
Yeah I've never because I've thought about getting chickens to
have her own eggs, but make sure a lot more
you get the gas masks. Ye, clean out there coop,
they're coop, they're poop in the coop, all right. So
we are going to move on from tailing the one
and get to pawn order this week, So do does
(46:00):
and dolts?
Speaker 3 (46:01):
What are we doing all right? Paul?
Speaker 1 (46:02):
And order Number one on the list this week is
I would not let my significant other husbands take my
pet to the vet unless they are super involved and
the caretaking and they know what's going on. Now, listen,
I love my husband dearly. There are some husbands that
come in and are amazing, like they take care of
(46:23):
the animal, they know what they eat, they know when
they poop, they know everything. But I'm going to say
the overwhelming majority do not fit that bill and so
I love that they're helping out and I love that
they're bringing the pet in. But for us veteran Harians,
it can be frustrating because we'll be like, you know,
what's the dog eat? I don't know, okay? And what
prevention are they on? I don't know okay, And then
(46:44):
we'll get through the whole exam and they'll be like,
you know what, I think I need to call my wife.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
You're like, yes, or send her here? Can we have
called her forty minutes ago?
Speaker 1 (46:52):
So if you are going to come, I do have
some wives now that will write me a note being
like this is what the pet's here for. This is
what I'm saying at home, This is the meds that
they're on. And then they send their husband with the
pet and the note yeah, which I think is very
funny and.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
Also very smart.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
Yes, because I couldn't take our cat to the ved
the other day, so I literally I sent Stephen with
like his shot, like his vaccine records, what he's been eating,
what he's been doing, like last time.
Speaker 3 (47:17):
He was seen with like a whole thing. I was like,
this is dummy proof.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
You cannot fail at this, and he was like, thank
you so much for doing this, because normally I have
to call you every time.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
I'm like, I know, so don't do that anyways.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
The worst is sometimes the husband will come in and
the pet sick and I'll be like, okay, well we
need to do X, Y and Z, you know, and
then he'll be like, you know, I think my wife's
just being exaggerating, like I don't think this pet sick
will be fine, just give us a medicine and we'll go.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
And then the wife will call and be like, why
didn't you do any tests?
Speaker 1 (47:44):
And I'm like, man, I'm like your husband, she said, no,
your husband told me no, So, yeah, I don't want
to start any marital fights.
Speaker 3 (47:52):
Be prepared, like Shannon, I love that.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Yeah, it's like sending your sorry honey, I have to
say this, but it's like sending your significant other grocery store.
Like if you don't send a list, you're not getting
what you need. You're gonna ask for cottage cheese and
you're gonna get sour cream. Yeah. Send them with like
a dummy proof, just like all the records they need,
all the questions you need to ask.
Speaker 3 (48:11):
Yeah, and you'll be fine, yep. Or just call doctor Josie.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
Yeah, directly, directly, Okay, number two on the list, we
do not want to bring any lilies into the household
if you own a cat. The entire plant lily plant
is toxic, so the stem, the leaves, the pollens, even
the water in the vase. And cats like to drink
you know, standing water on countertops. And it's not just
like a mile toxicity. They can get fatal kidney failure.
Speaker 3 (48:37):
Wow. Yep, they need to put a warning on Lili's
so not know that. So easter time funerals anything like that.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
If you have a cat, no lilies, man, that's scary
because I mean, is there other plants. I'm sure there are,
but is lilies like the main one, yescause it's more
common that you have them in your house.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
Yeah, you cannot.
Speaker 1 (48:55):
There's a website like the ASPCA Plant Toxicity Okay direct,
you can basically go through all the plants. But lilies
is like the one that with cats, like we really have.
That's scary because we've definitely we have a cat. He's
not allowed on the counters, but yeah, sometimes he does
and he gets in trouble. But we've definitely had lilies
in the house. Yeah, well he's okay, Murphy. That's why
(49:18):
you don't know, you really counter buddy exactly. Yeah, that's
good to know, all right. Number three on this week's list,
I would not let my dog lick my baby's face.
I just watched a TikTok video of this, and it's
so cute and endearing. But y'all, their mouth, it's a
great myth that their mouth is cleaner than ours. That
is so not true. They are licking their own butts.
They are eating dog food, and it makes me when
(49:42):
I watch them, like, yeah, this face is my like
little eyeball starts to twitch a little bit, so better
safe than sorry. I would not let them lock my
baby's sace. I just wouldn't. Yeah, I know, I was,
I think because I had a frenchie and she had
the most disgusting mouth on the planet. Like we did
all the fetwork that was necessary, but it was just
like not a good mouth health And all she wanted
to do was try to lick our son's face. And
(50:05):
everyone thought I was crazy because I was constantly like
diving to be like no if she was about to, Yeah,
I'm like, oh my god, it's not a big deal.
I'm like, you have no idea how gross her mouth is.
And he does not need that all up in his business. Yeah,
And that's it's like being older adults like a look
to the face and some kisses are fine, but when
they're younger or you know, a lot older, they are
(50:27):
just naturally amino compromise. Yeah, because of their age. So yeah,
I think it's better safe than sorry. Don't do it, yep,
don't do it? All right, Well, thanks so much for
joining us this week on in the Vet's Office. Don't
forget You guys can rate and review wherever you listen
to podcasts.
Speaker 3 (50:40):
Just click the link and as.
Speaker 1 (50:42):
Always, you can reach out to me on my Instagram
at doctor Joe's event with any of your questions common feedback.
Speaker 3 (50:48):
We want to hear it all. We'll see you next
weeks
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