August 4, 2023 • 30 mins
Tyler Ryan speaks with the founder of PAALS, Jennifer Rogers, about the program and how you can get involved.
You can learn more HERE.
Carolina Cares is hosted by award winning radio and television personality Tyler Ryan, and recorded at iHeart Studio in Columbia South Carolina, and air across the state of South Carolina on the South Carolina Radio Network. In addition to Carolina Cares, Tyler Ryan is seen weekday mornings on ABC Columbia’s Good Morning Columbia television program, where he serves as the Host and Morning Weather Anchor.
Tyler is also a professional Emcee and Brand Ambassador.
If you have an idea for a Carolina Cares topic our would like to appear on the show, you can reach out to him at Tyler@CarolinaCaresRadio.com
You can find Tyler on Instagram www.instagram.com/tylerryanonline and Facebook www.facebook.com/tylerryanonline
You can learn more HERE.
Carolina Cares is hosted by award winning radio and television personality Tyler Ryan, and recorded at iHeart Studio in Columbia South Carolina, and air across the state of South Carolina on the South Carolina Radio Network. In addition to Carolina Cares, Tyler Ryan is seen weekday mornings on ABC Columbia’s Good Morning Columbia television program, where he serves as the Host and Morning Weather Anchor.
Tyler is also a professional Emcee and Brand Ambassador.
If you have an idea for a Carolina Cares topic our would like to appear on the show, you can reach out to him at Tyler@CarolinaCaresRadio.com
You can find Tyler on Instagram www.instagram.com/tylerryanonline and Facebook www.facebook.com/tylerryanonline
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Good morning, and welcome to CarolinaCarres and I heart radio production here on
the South Carolina Radio Network. Ofcourse, the show heard all around the
Great palm Otto State and beyond,from from the up State over to the
Grand Strand, the low Country,love it down there, Horse Country,
and of course right here at homethe Midlands, which is also where we
find our flagship station for Carolina Caresw VOCAMNFA. My name is Tyler Ryan,
(00:24):
your host, and thank you somuch for joining us. You're here
week after week, always great feedback, always great to hear from listeners.
Just I love the interaction, Ireally do. Of course, you can
find us on the socials if you'dlike to interact with us, that's super
simple. Le's go to Carolina CaresRadio on the socials on the Book of
Faces as it were. You canfind us there. And of course if
(00:47):
you have an idea for a show, or maybe like to big guest,
you know what, Tyler, Igot something to say, you can do
that. You can find me directlyemail Tyler at Carolina Cares Radio dot com.
It's Tyler at Carolina Cares Radio dotcom. Is how you how you
get a hold of us out there? You know, there's there's something special
about having an animal in your life. Of course, earlier this week was
(01:10):
National Pet Day, where we celebrateall things pets, whether it's an iguana
or a ferret, a dog,a cat. Sixty eight percent of folks
have have pets in their homes andthere's a reason for that, especially a
dog. I'm a dog guy,and that's just the way it is.
But there's just something amazing. There'sthis there's this undying love that you get
(01:30):
from animals, from a dog,from a cat, that you just look
at them, they look at you, and there's just this pristine connection that
you make. And the thing isdogs, dogs do what they do and
the don't even know it, noteven trained, and they can change your
life. They can help de suddress, they will protect you without even knowing
they're doing it. That's just howthey're designed. So imagine when you take
(01:52):
a dog, specifically a dog whoseonly job is to love you, and
of course you know he wants themlove and return, but his only job
is to be there and be yourbest friend. So imagine when you take
that dog with that pure heart,that pure intent, and you train him
to do something even more special havea mission, have a job to help
(02:13):
you. We're talking about service dogs, therapy dogs. They're used dogs especially
used in all kinds of things.Now I think there are some cats and
rabbits I've heard about doing service thingsas well, but we'll specifically talk about
dogs for the most part today.But of course we were talking about you
using these animals, making them notonly part of your life, part of
your family, but really part ofyour existence. H You know, these
(02:37):
amazing animals can be can be trainedusing for autism, for PTSD, we
hear a lot about that, getthem for home companions. Dogs can be
trained to do things that maybe youphysically can't do, they can do them
for you. Since two thousand andseven, that has been the mission of
PALS the Palmetto Animal Assisted Life Services, essentially to enrich lives, to to
(03:01):
make lives better, which they dojust by their mere existence, but to
actually have a mission. Joining methis morning here in Carolina cares the co
founder of PALS here in South Carolina, Miss Jen Rogers, good morning to
you. Good morning, Tyler.Thank you for joining us. And I'm
always up for a conversation about dogs. So you know we're in the right
place, absolutely one of my favoritetopics. Well, let's talk a little
(03:23):
bit about you. You were theco founder fifteen plus years ago of PALS,
but let's talk about you and andkind of what led you to start
this amazing organization. Well, likeall grown children, I like to blame
my parents a little bit. Youknow, they were big animal lovers,
and so I was surrounded by faithfulcompanions, many of which were dogs,
(03:46):
throughout my life growing up, somehourss and some other fun things turning in
there. But I was kind offascinated by what animals could do to heal
people. And I experienced that,you know personally as I was growing up,
going through all the fun things thatwe when we grow up, right,
And then I saw a show aboutanimals that were helping people with autism,
and I just had this aha momentof I could continue to do the
(04:11):
things I love being around amazing animals, but I could also maybe help people.
And that's really what started PALS.It was your background in you veterinarian,
Was it in working with animals specifically, or just you were like you
know what I loved alf Well,at that point I was too young to
be anything of anything, so itwas still a teenager, I think when
I saw that, and so Istarted volunteering doing things that I thought would
(04:34):
help me get a job doing somethinglike this, And eventually went on to
get my biology degree from Wreckers Universityand did an internship while I was there
and worked with some kids with autismas part of my degree there, and
a culmination of all these experiences eventuallyled me to South Carolina for my position
at Riverbank, SIOU, And thenI left that in order to start what
(04:58):
is pals today? That is that'sincredible? What is it about? And
again a lot of there are serviceanimals of all kinds of shapes and sizes
these days and types. But youknow, I think, I really think
when you think of a service thatyou really think of a dog. I
think, just the way it isright, they're canine officers, They're they're
the seeing eye dogs that we allknow and love, you know, BTSD
dogs. What is it about?What is it about a dog that just
(05:23):
makes us feel better? You justeven take the service aspect out? But
what is it when you come homefrom work and you know, Nix and
my dog he's just sitting there,wait and go, hey man, what's
up? What is it? Yeah, our loyal companions are normally at home
for long periods waiting for us rightto come through that door. So we
get the best greetings because they've reallyjust been waiting for that moment, which
(05:46):
you know, most people in ourlives don't have the time to do right.
So I think you know, that'spart of it is that you know,
dogs are really cohabitating with us.I mean, they're literally sharing our
environments with us. There's been lotsof studies that proved to us on a
neurological level that things change when we'rearound dogs for us that make us better,
which is amazing. But I thinkwhat's really fascinating now is we're starting
(06:10):
to do some studies to see howthings change for the dog too. So
there's this mutual aspect between us thatis really really powerful. And you know,
if you think about how dogs cameto be in our lives throughout history,
it was really out of this mutualkind of partnership, and that's how
we're still operating with dogs today.Sometimes that partnership is just in your home
(06:30):
and there when you need a bighug when you get home from a long
day and need that unconditional love,and for other people it might be a
life saving partnership. We see withsome of our service dogs, you know.
And now that you say that,Jen, I you're right. I
mean dogs have been service dogs tous forever, not just not necessarily therapy
dogs, but hunting dogs, dogswho pull dog sleds, you know,
(06:56):
so many ways. The old theold shepherd dogs. I mean, they've
admissions and they you're right, theyhave connected with us for thousands of years.
Yeah. I mean if you lookback in history, really industrial age
is really what changed everything. Right. So before that point, we were
literally living off the land and wewere working with animals in partnership every single
(07:18):
day in order to survive and tothrive. So when that changed, you
know, we said, hmm,I still kind of like these animals don't
really need them to do all thesethings for me anymore. Let's let's make
them inside companions, you know.And so dogs were like, okay,
you know, but they didn't reallyget to sign a dotted line, if
you will, right, So yeah, I mean they didn't have a lot
(07:40):
of options either, right, Soas they became domesticated, they weren't able
to necessarily survive on their own thesame way as they would with us by
their side. And so it's interestingnow because you know, dogs often are
at home and are living the goodlife, if you will, but many
of them would prefer to actually havea purpose beyond that. And that's the
(08:01):
great thing when you get to seeour dogs doing what they're really made to
do. So that's awesome. I, like I said, I can't talk
enough about about dogs animals, butspecifically they're just they're so incredible animals.
But so let's talk about about usingthem. You know. Obviously, things
like seeing eye dogs in service orienteddog training has been around for a good
(08:22):
long while cane on Officers I mentionedbefore, but it's really been I guess
maybe, and maybe I'm wrong,but I would think at least maybe mainstream
fairly more recently they were starting tosee these service dogs more than just lead
the blind or help sniff out abag of dope. Correct. Yeah,
the seeing eye dog really started inthe nineteen twenties that came over from Europe.
(08:45):
And then there was a person namedBonnie Bergen who actually started the service
dogs fields here in the US.And so that was, you know,
a few decades later, and sheis now Bergen University out in California and
kind of was the champion for ourindustry. And so yeah, ever since
then, we've been really learning allthe different ways that dogs could partner with
humans with varying disabilities, and soit's it's been this ongoing evolution, if
(09:11):
you will. We really as longas we have had these dogs in our
lives, we really haven't seriously studiedthem until very recently, and so there's
a lot of scientific research going intolearning more about them now, and it's
it's kind of an exciting time tobe doing what we're doing. Are there
dogs that are better suited for differentmissions? You know? I think of
like the the canine officers are likeGerman shepherds, and then other drug sniffers
(09:37):
are sometimes you know, goldens orwhatever labs are. Are there dogs that
are are specifically just genetically better suitedfor different kinds of missions? Yeah,
I mean, I would say there'salways that outlier. Right. It's not
to say that a dog of adifferent breed can't do this type of work,
but we just know from past experiencesthat Labrador retrievers and Olden retrievers tend
(10:01):
to excel at this line of workof service for any number of reasons,
but you know, genetics matter,and we have been breeding dogs for purpose
for many, many decades. Sofor Pals, one of the resources that
we have is we're part of aninternational breeding co op for working dogs,
and so that's kind of this agreementbetween programs like us that are nonprofits that
(10:24):
are really just trying to create betterdogs to help people. So that's one
way that we pay attention to whatwe're doing out in the world. We're
not trying to create a lot ofdogs that are not going to become service
dogs and need homes and have tocompete with dogs that are in shelters,
right, So we're really trying tomake sure that we're doing this the best
way possible. So when you're talkingabout breeding the purpose of the this is
(10:48):
their bread specifically with that mission inmind, not just because you think puppies
are so cute, but they are. I mean, they're super cute,
right they are. It doesn't hurtwhen you're cleaning up their poop, right,
it's right, right, thinks socute? Then let me tell you
right now, yeah, but that'sthat's exactly right. We're trying to make
sure that, again, we havea purpose in what we're doing. We're
(11:09):
making sure that these dogs are umset up to be as trainable as possible
to go into this line of work. And with that said, we also
know every dog's an individual and ifit is not what they're meant to do
and they show us that too,then we honor that. So so I
guess walk me through kind of theprocess. You you know, you get
it. You're part of this,this consortium. You know you've got dogs
(11:31):
that the potential dogs are coming in. How do you Is there some sort
of like initial test. I mean, you know when you go to the
military and take the as VAB andthat's what you take and you get placed
based on your score what you shouldbe doing. Yeah, yeah, it's
similar. How it's similar. Sowe have evaluations that we use with our
(11:52):
dogs throughout their time with us,and it does start at about seven to
eight weeks of age. So you'restarting you're starting puppies like legit little dat
baby puppies. Oh. Absolutely.Sometimes the puppies are born into our program.
So if you watch pals closely overthe next month or two, you
might see some puppy show up.Breaking news that is breaking news, so
(12:13):
just you know, keep an eyeon the social media. Um. But
yeah, so we we do.We do that evaluation when they're seven to
eight weeks old, and then wedo another one what we consider our free
college evaluation, so kind of likewe have to take our SATs to get
into college programs. Our dogs dothat too, at about a year and
a half old. Um. Butthat whole time that we're raising and training
(12:37):
them, we have evaluations that they'regoing through, both formal and informal.
And so so you picked the dog, you say, Okay, you know
this guy, he's good, he'sa good sniffer. Whatever. I mean,
how and how does that big?You know, do you have to
I mean, obviously with the largearray we talked about it, we'll talk
about some more about the large arrayof jobs they have where there's autism,
(12:58):
mobility, PTSD. Does it allstart the same or do you say this
would be a great dog for PTSD, this would be a great dog for
a skilled home companion, or youknow they get do they get an elementary
school all the same and then decideon a major. Yeah, what's funny
is we do set up our trainingcurriculum just like school, and so just
like us, you know, youmight look at a kid and say,
(13:18):
hey, I think this kid's reallygood at math. I think they might
go into a career that involves alot of math, but you might not
know exactly what that job's going tobe, right, Okay, It's very
similar with our dogs. So we'lllook at them at puppies and go,
this dog really has a great aptitudefor some mobility related work. I really
love the way the dog was tuggingon that rope, and I love how
(13:39):
they were investigating things. But again, they still have a long way to
go before they're done cooking, ifyou will. Right, So we're going
to watch them closely, and ourcommunity programs give them a test run about
how to be with different people.So when we're doing one of our community
programs where we're reading with kids,for example, get to see them around
(14:00):
younger children and sometimes in a schoolenvironment and how does that look. We
also have a program that we doat a hospital, so we get to
see how do they handle that environmentand people that aren't one hundred percent healthy,
you know, So it really givesus away when they're growing up with
us to kind of test run themon a few different levels and say,
hey, how are you with thisperson? And what's really neat is I
(14:22):
have lots of stories over the yearsof dogs showing us the surprises, right
Like, we're like, this dogis definitely looking like he's going to be
a PTSD dog. And then wego into a summer camp and we have
a child with autism and that dogcrawls across the floor to them no matter
how much we try to keep themapart, right, and we've seen that,
and then that dog does end upbecoming an autism dog. So sometimes
(14:43):
they show us like I know I'mknowing good at this thing over here,
but I really like this. Wego, Okay, that's great. Well
yeah, but that's but that's smart. That's good management too, right.
You you put somebody in a positionthat they want to be, and they're
going to far more succeed if Iwant to be that type of employee or
service dog as it were. Um, absolutely, you know they're gonna be
(15:05):
They're gonna excel at it because they'rethey may be good at some things,
but if they don't, my heart'snot at it. I may be good
at it, but it doesn't meanI really want to do it all the
time exactly. It's not all thatdifferent from us, right. I mean
when I was in college, Iwas excelling at micro macroeconomics. But if
you told me I had to go, you know, do just straight up
business for my whole career, Iwould have been miserable. So, you
(15:26):
know, you have to pay attentionto what the dog likes and what they're
good at. Both count when youand I would just step back one second
question because we're going to talk aboutsome funding and things too. But so
when you obviously if you have dogsinternally, then they're probably there. But
where do these these dogs have tobe purchased or they are? Are you
part of that big consortium that says, hey, I need five dogs please
(15:48):
and that's what you get? Howdoes how does that actually? We wouldn't
that be lovely? If I couldjust order some puppies all the time,
a black one, I'll take ratethose. Yeah, Unfortunately, not that
simple. We do pay a smallfee for being part of the breeding co
op, but it's nominal compared towhat you would normally buy these puppies for.
(16:11):
We do purchase some puppies from outsidebreeders um and we do some breeding
of our own and raising those dogsup, which costs us as well in
order to care for mamas and doall the tests that are involved. So
it's a combination of things. Ideally, long term the breeding co op would
allow us to be self sustainable.It's just not been around long enough and
big enough yet. Sure. Speakingspeaking this morning with Jen Rogers from from
(16:33):
PALS, A great, great programhere in the you covered not in the
middle of your course across South Carolina, but they come out of Animal Assisted
Life Services is the organization. Soor so you get the puppy that they
go through elementary school, they cutthe mustard, you get them. They
crawl over to the to the youngguy who's got autism. You say,
there's an autism dog. We gotit all right? All right, timmy,
(16:56):
how do you How does that traininggo? How long does it take?
I mean, you know, walking? Walk me through that process.
Yeah. So as puppies, wego, Okay, you're going to start
like everybody else. We're going toput you in a pre K program and
work you all the way up tillthat pre college exam if you will.
Once they hit that year and ahalf mark and they pass that evaluation phase.
(17:18):
We then specialized them for individual typesof clients and then the individual client,
and that's about a six month period. During that time, we're building
upon the behaviors they've learned while theywere growing up and specializing skills. So,
for example, if I'm going togive this dog to somebody with autism,
I'm going to be focusing on specializingpressure relief behaviors. So they're going
(17:41):
to be leaning part of their bodyor laying part of their body on parts
of our bodies in order to helpbring down stress and help feel it grounded,
which is a challenge for a lotof people with autism. And so
you know, we're we're really justkind of giving them their special career,
your few wheel. It's kind oflike your first two years of college.
(18:02):
You get all of your general educationout of the way, right, and
then you know, for your lasttwo years typically you're really just studying u
the specific route that you're going togo into for your career. It's very
much the same for our dogs.And so so you're talking a year and
a half six months, it's justtwo and a half two years, two
and a half years from from puppyto being placed with their you know,
(18:22):
with their their best friend. Yeah. I would say usually we try to
place our dogs at about two yearsof age, but just like people,
some of them take a little bitlonger to mature. How do you how
do you decide? Oh, Matthew, it's how many any given time,
how many dogs are in college?Right now? At pal oh I would
say overall, on average we haveabout twenty five dogs in training at all
(18:45):
different levels. That's an average.Dogs are coming in and going at all
different times. Right now, Ithink we have about four dogs in college.
Okay, And so what's the what'sthe process? Obviously I'm sure there's
a lot more need and demand thanyou have dogs. I mean that just
kind of unfortunately where we are.Yeah, yeah, how does that process
(19:07):
work? If somebody's listening and Isay, gosh, you know my son,
my dad, not me. Ihave PTSD, right, I have
autism? Right, you know whatever? Yeah, what is what's the evaluation?
How does one get into that funnelfor a potential placement with you guys?
Yeah, so it starts with eithera phone call to PALS or going
to our website at paals dot org. And there is an application on there
(19:32):
that people can start walking through.There's also a frequently asked questions documents,
so there's lots of information on thewebsite itself for people to try to explore
this. Once they decide they wantto go forward, they do the online
application. If they're not able todo things online, they could stop by
our actual facility or training facility inColumbia and pick up a hard copy application
(19:55):
is another option. But then oncewe receive the application, it's also going
to include things like medical releases fromdoctors. You know, there's going to
be references on there. It's ait's a pretty extensive application process because we
really have to get to know notonly the person their disability, but also
you know, what kind of lifedo they have, is it a safe
(20:17):
environment for a dog? Does theirworkplace? Know? There's just an awful
lot involved, and from there wewould start interview processes. Okay, yeah,
So if we do that and theperson decides yes they want to continue
to work with us, and wesay, yeah, we think we can
do this project, then they goon a wait list and if we don't
think we can help them, weusually refer them to another assistance Dog internationally
(20:41):
accredited program like ours somewhere that mayspecialize in their type of disability if that's
not something we serve. How manyhow many like agencies, organizations whatever you
want to call it, are there? You know, maybe here in South
Carolina, but maybe even nationally thatare you know, granted all different,
but how many? How many palstype? How many pals of PALS have
(21:07):
There's only one PALS but yeah,so PALS is the only assistance dog internationally
accredited program based in South Carolina.Okay, Wow, I believe there's one
in the Upstate that is trying toget their accreditation. I don't think they're
fully accredited yet. And I wouldsay, you know, there's there's hundreds
around the country, and a littlebit more than that throughout the world,
(21:29):
although North America probably has the mostprograms at this point. So yes,
there is obviously a lot more needthan we would like to see out there.
But we also try to work inconjunction with each other and refer to
each other whenever possible, because we'renot really trying to compete. We just
just want to help people. Yeah, I totally understand that what, um,
(21:51):
what's the cost to someone you knowwho applies, goes through the program,
you decide, hey, this guyreally would be great with a little
Timmy the Golden Retriever or the isa perfect match made in Heaven? Are
their costs or their extended cost wasthat look like? Yeah? So it
depends on who you are, right, So if you're somebody who comes in
and you're a typical civilian like myself, then we just ask you to fund
(22:14):
raise or pay the tuition fee forgoing through the class with the dog once
the dog is finished, and that'stypically a three week process, and so
that ends up being about five thousanddollars. If you're somebody in the Rob's
Best Friend fund program, which isa program in memory of my brother who
was a police officer. So ifyou're a police officer, a fire,
(22:36):
fire first responder, veteran, thenyou don't pay anything. You've already paid
your debt to society and we're justtrying to pay you back. So it
just depends on who you are.We also have scholarships for people who aren't
able to raise that kind of moneyor don't have that kind of money.
So I always tell people, don'tdon't let that deter you. If this
is what you need you We'll finda way to help you. That's incredible.
(22:57):
Speaking with Jen Rodgers from pal herethis morning on Carolina Cares. We
will put the links on the socialsand of course on the podcast. It'll
be up a little later on.But it's p A A l S pals
with a hard A. We'll callit that two a's PAA LS dot org.
But don't try to write that downif you're driving again. I'll put
(23:17):
it up there on the socials foryou a little later on. What are
what are some of the laws?You know? Some we see places.
You know a lot of places arebecoming more dog friendly in general, Like
you can go you can bring anybodyinto Walmart, into home Depot in the
Lows. I saw two or threeand Lows just over the weekend that you
know, and I assume and Ibrought Nixon in. You know, there's
you're not challenge. A lot ofpeople are becoming a lot more dog friendly.
(23:38):
But what are the laws or havethey changed as far as an actual
legit service dog versus just you know, my buddy Nixon, who's my best
pal. Yeah, So one thingI would say is there are some stores
that are dog Friendly home Depot lowsTJ Max. They actually publicly tell people
(23:59):
you can bring your dog shopping here, and that's great. I think that's
wonderful. Every Place else is reallyjust set aside for assistance dogs. So
there's the American Disabilities Act, whichis a federal law that allows people with
disabilities to bring their train dogs withthem to help mitigate their disability. And
we have a South Carolina state lawthat basically iterates that not only for those
(24:23):
situations, but also for dogs andtraining. So our trainers have the legal
right to bring dogs everywhere that theygo in order to prepare them for a
life of service. I will saythere have been many laws passed that basically
make it illegal for you to fakea service dog. And so what that
means is, yes, you cango online and buy capes and pretend that
(24:44):
your dog is a service dog.But if you're caught doing that and pretending
to be somebody with a disability,not only is that unethical, but there
are very large fines that you couldpay in addition to getting actual prison time.
Well, yeah, with the military, this Dolan Valor, you know,
there's all those those guys who aretrying to get, you know,
advantages based on service that they neverserved and that that irritates the out of
(25:08):
me. Yeah, and I here'sa little PSA for those listening to,
Like, I understand wanting to bringyour dog everywhere. I have pets on
my own, and it's weird forme because I'm always bringing dogs in training,
out and about with me, andthen when I have my own dog,
I'm like, oh, I can'tbring you, you know. He's
like, yeah, it's a reallyweird situation for me. I get it,
(25:29):
you know. And as a doglover, I do. I want
to do everything with my dogs,you know. So I get it.
I get why people are tempted todo these things, but it really does
badly affect our people with disabilities.First of all, because most people don't
prepare their dogs, you know,through training and raising them a specific way
in order to go to all ofthese places that are not typical for dogs
in our country, you know.So I see a lot of dogs that
(25:52):
are really stressed out, that arebeing brought out and again under the demise
that they're actually a service dog whenthey're not. If the dog starts to
act out at all, then wehave the problem of the public awareness,
right, So now they think it'sa service dog because it's wearing a cape
and it's acting badly, and thereforethey don't want to be around service dogs
and are going to start choosing businessesthat don't cater to service dogs, you
(26:17):
know, I mean, so it'sjust this bad ripple effect that most people
don't really think about. So don'tthink getting in trouble. Just don't do
it. And please don't tell somebodywith a service dog you're so lucky to
have a talk here, because youknow, if you have a disability,
by default, you probably don't thinkof yourself as lucky. Let's we're going
to run a time quick. Gosh, it goes buy so fast. Let's
(26:37):
talk about Paddle for Pals is comingup a bit. I love this.
I'm super excited about this event.We started it last year in merles Inlet,
South Carolina, which is just southof the Myrtle Beach area. Excuse
me. And so what we dois we have people register on a website
called Paddle for Pals dot org.It's also connected to our Pals website.
(27:00):
And for the month of May youget to paddle and collect miles and you
can collect sponsors to raise money excuseme, and people compete for raising the
most money for winning a brand newstand up paddleboard set, which is really
exciting. That's provided by B Soulfish, our premier sponsor. And then in
June, on the tenth, whichis a Saturday, at noon, we
(27:22):
do a paddle parade in Merle's Inlet. We're looking at potentially doing one at
Lake Mary as well, so staytuned for more information on that. We
look like we may have more thanone spot celebrating on June tenth, but
here in Merle's Inlet. Afterwards InletProvisions Company, which is a restaurant right
on the water and has a dogfriendly deck, we'll be having our after
(27:44):
party at one thirty and we'll behaving some prizes and some food and all
that good stuff and just celebrating kindof the organization and all the people who
support it. And right now we'relooking for sponsors again. All of that
information can be seen on the Paddlefor Pal's website. But we have a
poster deadline coming up, so ifanyone's interested in getting some advertising through it,
(28:06):
I encourage them to look at itsooner rather than later. There you
go, and paddleboarding is so muchfun. I love paddle boarding it right,
and you know I bring Nixon outas well. So there you go.
See you you can paddle. You'regonna be paddling anyway. Why not
do it and try to a wina paddle board but support the mission of
PALS. It seems so simple tome, Jennifer. Is a pretty simple
concept, honestly, And people go, well, what if I don't have
(28:27):
a paddleboard as well? We doit in our kayaks and canoes. You
can do it with your hands,you can swim to paddle, you know.
So everyone is welcome to do itwhatever way they want. We just
thought it would be a fun wayto get people doing things with their dogs
that are fun, you know,and get them to enjoy nature at the
same time, all for a goodcause. How about Miles on my boat
and I put Nixon in the boatand do it that way. I think
(28:48):
you'd have to paddle. I thinkstarting the boat puts all right, Jen
Rogers PALS the Pametto Assisted Animal ServicesLife Services. Of course, I just
your name on you, but pA a l S. Palmetto Animal Assisted
Life Services. Thank you, Jen, thank you for what you do.
It's half hour goes by quick.I want to have you back on again
soon. We'll put links episocials foryou, guys. But man, just
(29:14):
just reach out and support this organization. Now. This is such a cool
thing you're doing in the community andfor a community beyond just the town.
You know. Yes, thank youso much. We really appreciate you helping
us spread the word, guys.And this has been Carolina Care. It's
it's an iHeartRadio production here on theSouth Carolina Radio network. Don't forget.
You can find us at Carolina Caresradio dot com. So much great stuff
(29:36):
every single week. So appreciate youbeing a part of the show. My
name is Tyler Ryan. We've gonethrough thirty minutes, which means I have
to say to you. I'll speakwith you in seven days.
Good morning, and welcome to CarolinaCarres and I heart radio production here on
the South Carolina Radio Network. Ofcourse, the show heard all around the
Great palm Otto State and beyond,from from the up State over to the
Grand Strand, the low Country,love it down there, Horse Country,
and of course right here at homethe Midlands, which is also where we
find our flagship station for Carolina Caresw VOCAMNFA. My name is Tyler Ryan,
(00:24):
your host, and thank you somuch for joining us. You're here
week after week, always great feedback, always great to hear from listeners.
Just I love the interaction, Ireally do. Of course, you can
find us on the socials if you'dlike to interact with us, that's super
simple. Le's go to Carolina CaresRadio on the socials on the Book of
Faces as it were. You canfind us there. And of course if
(00:47):
you have an idea for a show, or maybe like to big guest,
you know what, Tyler, Igot something to say, you can do
that. You can find me directlyemail Tyler at Carolina Cares Radio dot com.
It's Tyler at Carolina Cares Radio dotcom. Is how you how you
get a hold of us out there? You know, there's there's something special
about having an animal in your life. Of course, earlier this week was
(01:10):
National Pet Day, where we celebrateall things pets, whether it's an iguana
or a ferret, a dog,a cat. Sixty eight percent of folks
have have pets in their homes andthere's a reason for that, especially a
dog. I'm a dog guy,and that's just the way it is.
But there's just something amazing. There'sthis there's this undying love that you get
(01:30):
from animals, from a dog,from a cat, that you just look
at them, they look at you, and there's just this pristine connection that
you make. And the thing isdogs, dogs do what they do and
the don't even know it, noteven trained, and they can change your
life. They can help de suddress, they will protect you without even knowing
they're doing it. That's just howthey're designed. So imagine when you take
(01:52):
a dog, specifically a dog whoseonly job is to love you, and
of course you know he wants themlove and return, but his only job
is to be there and be yourbest friend. So imagine when you take
that dog with that pure heart,that pure intent, and you train him
to do something even more special havea mission, have a job to help
(02:13):
you. We're talking about service dogs, therapy dogs. They're used dogs especially
used in all kinds of things.Now I think there are some cats and
rabbits I've heard about doing service thingsas well, but we'll specifically talk about
dogs for the most part today.But of course we were talking about you
using these animals, making them notonly part of your life, part of
your family, but really part ofyour existence. H You know, these
(02:37):
amazing animals can be can be trainedusing for autism, for PTSD, we
hear a lot about that, getthem for home companions. Dogs can be
trained to do things that maybe youphysically can't do, they can do them
for you. Since two thousand andseven, that has been the mission of
PALS the Palmetto Animal Assisted Life Services, essentially to enrich lives, to to
(03:01):
make lives better, which they dojust by their mere existence, but to
actually have a mission. Joining methis morning here in Carolina cares the co
founder of PALS here in South Carolina, Miss Jen Rogers, good morning to
you. Good morning, Tyler.Thank you for joining us. And I'm
always up for a conversation about dogs. So you know we're in the right
place, absolutely one of my favoritetopics. Well, let's talk a little
(03:23):
bit about you. You were theco founder fifteen plus years ago of PALS,
but let's talk about you and andkind of what led you to start
this amazing organization. Well, likeall grown children, I like to blame
my parents a little bit. Youknow, they were big animal lovers,
and so I was surrounded by faithfulcompanions, many of which were dogs,
(03:46):
throughout my life growing up, somehourss and some other fun things turning in
there. But I was kind offascinated by what animals could do to heal
people. And I experienced that,you know personally as I was growing up,
going through all the fun things thatwe when we grow up, right,
And then I saw a show aboutanimals that were helping people with autism,
and I just had this aha momentof I could continue to do the
(04:11):
things I love being around amazing animals, but I could also maybe help people.
And that's really what started PALS.It was your background in you veterinarian,
Was it in working with animals specifically, or just you were like you
know what I loved alf Well,at that point I was too young to
be anything of anything, so itwas still a teenager, I think when
I saw that, and so Istarted volunteering doing things that I thought would
(04:34):
help me get a job doing somethinglike this, And eventually went on to
get my biology degree from Wreckers Universityand did an internship while I was there
and worked with some kids with autismas part of my degree there, and
a culmination of all these experiences eventuallyled me to South Carolina for my position
at Riverbank, SIOU, And thenI left that in order to start what
(04:58):
is pals today? That is that'sincredible? What is it about? And
again a lot of there are serviceanimals of all kinds of shapes and sizes
these days and types. But youknow, I think, I really think
when you think of a service thatyou really think of a dog. I
think, just the way it isright, they're canine officers, They're they're
the seeing eye dogs that we allknow and love, you know, BTSD
dogs. What is it about?What is it about a dog that just
(05:23):
makes us feel better? You justeven take the service aspect out? But
what is it when you come homefrom work and you know, Nix and
my dog he's just sitting there,wait and go, hey man, what's
up? What is it? Yeah, our loyal companions are normally at home
for long periods waiting for us rightto come through that door. So we
get the best greetings because they've reallyjust been waiting for that moment, which
(05:46):
you know, most people in ourlives don't have the time to do right.
So I think you know, that'spart of it is that you know,
dogs are really cohabitating with us.I mean, they're literally sharing our
environments with us. There's been lotsof studies that proved to us on a
neurological level that things change when we'rearound dogs for us that make us better,
which is amazing. But I thinkwhat's really fascinating now is we're starting
(06:10):
to do some studies to see howthings change for the dog too. So
there's this mutual aspect between us thatis really really powerful. And you know,
if you think about how dogs cameto be in our lives throughout history,
it was really out of this mutualkind of partnership, and that's how
we're still operating with dogs today.Sometimes that partnership is just in your home
(06:30):
and there when you need a bighug when you get home from a long
day and need that unconditional love,and for other people it might be a
life saving partnership. We see withsome of our service dogs, you know.
And now that you say that,Jen, I you're right. I
mean dogs have been service dogs tous forever, not just not necessarily therapy
dogs, but hunting dogs, dogswho pull dog sleds, you know,
(06:56):
so many ways. The old theold shepherd dogs. I mean, they've
admissions and they you're right, theyhave connected with us for thousands of years.
Yeah. I mean if you lookback in history, really industrial age
is really what changed everything. Right. So before that point, we were
literally living off the land and wewere working with animals in partnership every single
(07:18):
day in order to survive and tothrive. So when that changed, you
know, we said, hmm,I still kind of like these animals don't
really need them to do all thesethings for me anymore. Let's let's make
them inside companions, you know.And so dogs were like, okay,
you know, but they didn't reallyget to sign a dotted line, if
you will, right, So yeah, I mean they didn't have a lot
(07:40):
of options either, right, Soas they became domesticated, they weren't able
to necessarily survive on their own thesame way as they would with us by
their side. And so it's interestingnow because you know, dogs often are
at home and are living the goodlife, if you will, but many
of them would prefer to actually havea purpose beyond that. And that's the
(08:01):
great thing when you get to seeour dogs doing what they're really made to
do. So that's awesome. I, like I said, I can't talk
enough about about dogs animals, butspecifically they're just they're so incredible animals.
But so let's talk about about usingthem. You know. Obviously, things
like seeing eye dogs in service orienteddog training has been around for a good
(08:22):
long while cane on Officers I mentionedbefore, but it's really been I guess
maybe, and maybe I'm wrong,but I would think at least maybe mainstream
fairly more recently they were starting tosee these service dogs more than just lead
the blind or help sniff out abag of dope. Correct. Yeah,
the seeing eye dog really started inthe nineteen twenties that came over from Europe.
(08:45):
And then there was a person namedBonnie Bergen who actually started the service
dogs fields here in the US.And so that was, you know,
a few decades later, and sheis now Bergen University out in California and
kind of was the champion for ourindustry. And so yeah, ever since
then, we've been really learning allthe different ways that dogs could partner with
humans with varying disabilities, and soit's it's been this ongoing evolution, if
(09:11):
you will. We really as longas we have had these dogs in our
lives, we really haven't seriously studiedthem until very recently, and so there's
a lot of scientific research going intolearning more about them now, and it's
it's kind of an exciting time tobe doing what we're doing. Are there
dogs that are better suited for differentmissions? You know? I think of
like the the canine officers are likeGerman shepherds, and then other drug sniffers
(09:37):
are sometimes you know, goldens orwhatever labs are. Are there dogs that
are are specifically just genetically better suitedfor different kinds of missions? Yeah,
I mean, I would say there'salways that outlier. Right. It's not
to say that a dog of adifferent breed can't do this type of work,
but we just know from past experiencesthat Labrador retrievers and Olden retrievers tend
(10:01):
to excel at this line of workof service for any number of reasons,
but you know, genetics matter,and we have been breeding dogs for purpose
for many, many decades. Sofor Pals, one of the resources that
we have is we're part of aninternational breeding co op for working dogs,
and so that's kind of this agreementbetween programs like us that are nonprofits that
(10:24):
are really just trying to create betterdogs to help people. So that's one
way that we pay attention to whatwe're doing out in the world. We're
not trying to create a lot ofdogs that are not going to become service
dogs and need homes and have tocompete with dogs that are in shelters,
right, So we're really trying tomake sure that we're doing this the best
way possible. So when you're talkingabout breeding the purpose of the this is
(10:48):
their bread specifically with that mission inmind, not just because you think puppies
are so cute, but they are. I mean, they're super cute,
right they are. It doesn't hurtwhen you're cleaning up their poop, right,
it's right, right, thinks socute? Then let me tell you
right now, yeah, but that'sthat's exactly right. We're trying to make
sure that, again, we havea purpose in what we're doing. We're
(11:09):
making sure that these dogs are umset up to be as trainable as possible
to go into this line of work. And with that said, we also
know every dog's an individual and ifit is not what they're meant to do
and they show us that too,then we honor that. So so I
guess walk me through kind of theprocess. You you know, you get
it. You're part of this,this consortium. You know you've got dogs
(11:31):
that the potential dogs are coming in. How do you Is there some sort
of like initial test. I mean, you know when you go to the
military and take the as VAB andthat's what you take and you get placed
based on your score what you shouldbe doing. Yeah, yeah, it's
similar. How it's similar. Sowe have evaluations that we use with our
(11:52):
dogs throughout their time with us,and it does start at about seven to
eight weeks of age. So you'restarting you're starting puppies like legit little dat
baby puppies. Oh. Absolutely.Sometimes the puppies are born into our program.
So if you watch pals closely overthe next month or two, you
might see some puppy show up.Breaking news that is breaking news, so
(12:13):
just you know, keep an eyeon the social media. Um. But
yeah, so we we do.We do that evaluation when they're seven to
eight weeks old, and then wedo another one what we consider our free
college evaluation, so kind of likewe have to take our SATs to get
into college programs. Our dogs dothat too, at about a year and
a half old. Um. Butthat whole time that we're raising and training
(12:37):
them, we have evaluations that they'regoing through, both formal and informal.
And so so you picked the dog, you say, Okay, you know
this guy, he's good, he'sa good sniffer. Whatever. I mean,
how and how does that big?You know, do you have to
I mean, obviously with the largearray we talked about it, we'll talk
about some more about the large arrayof jobs they have where there's autism,
(12:58):
mobility, PTSD. Does it allstart the same or do you say this
would be a great dog for PTSD, this would be a great dog for
a skilled home companion, or youknow they get do they get an elementary
school all the same and then decideon a major. Yeah, what's funny
is we do set up our trainingcurriculum just like school, and so just
like us, you know, youmight look at a kid and say,
(13:18):
hey, I think this kid's reallygood at math. I think they might
go into a career that involves alot of math, but you might not
know exactly what that job's going tobe, right, Okay, It's very
similar with our dogs. So we'lllook at them at puppies and go,
this dog really has a great aptitudefor some mobility related work. I really
love the way the dog was tuggingon that rope, and I love how
(13:39):
they were investigating things. But again, they still have a long way to
go before they're done cooking, ifyou will. Right, So we're going
to watch them closely, and ourcommunity programs give them a test run about
how to be with different people.So when we're doing one of our community
programs where we're reading with kids,for example, get to see them around
(14:00):
younger children and sometimes in a schoolenvironment and how does that look. We
also have a program that we doat a hospital, so we get to
see how do they handle that environmentand people that aren't one hundred percent healthy,
you know, So it really givesus away when they're growing up with
us to kind of test run themon a few different levels and say,
hey, how are you with thisperson? And what's really neat is I
(14:22):
have lots of stories over the yearsof dogs showing us the surprises, right
Like, we're like, this dogis definitely looking like he's going to be
a PTSD dog. And then wego into a summer camp and we have
a child with autism and that dogcrawls across the floor to them no matter
how much we try to keep themapart, right, and we've seen that,
and then that dog does end upbecoming an autism dog. So sometimes
(14:43):
they show us like I know I'mknowing good at this thing over here,
but I really like this. Wego, Okay, that's great. Well
yeah, but that's but that's smart. That's good management too, right.
You you put somebody in a positionthat they want to be, and they're
going to far more succeed if Iwant to be that type of employee or
service dog as it were. Um, absolutely, you know they're gonna be
(15:05):
They're gonna excel at it because they'rethey may be good at some things,
but if they don't, my heart'snot at it. I may be good
at it, but it doesn't meanI really want to do it all the
time exactly. It's not all thatdifferent from us, right. I mean
when I was in college, Iwas excelling at micro macroeconomics. But if
you told me I had to go, you know, do just straight up
business for my whole career, Iwould have been miserable. So, you
(15:26):
know, you have to pay attentionto what the dog likes and what they're
good at. Both count when youand I would just step back one second
question because we're going to talk aboutsome funding and things too. But so
when you obviously if you have dogsinternally, then they're probably there. But
where do these these dogs have tobe purchased or they are? Are you
part of that big consortium that says, hey, I need five dogs please
(15:48):
and that's what you get? Howdoes how does that actually? We wouldn't
that be lovely? If I couldjust order some puppies all the time,
a black one, I'll take ratethose. Yeah, Unfortunately, not that
simple. We do pay a smallfee for being part of the breeding co
op, but it's nominal compared towhat you would normally buy these puppies for.
(16:11):
We do purchase some puppies from outsidebreeders um and we do some breeding
of our own and raising those dogsup, which costs us as well in
order to care for mamas and doall the tests that are involved. So
it's a combination of things. Ideally, long term the breeding co op would
allow us to be self sustainable.It's just not been around long enough and
big enough yet. Sure. Speakingspeaking this morning with Jen Rogers from from
(16:33):
PALS, A great, great programhere in the you covered not in the
middle of your course across South Carolina, but they come out of Animal Assisted
Life Services is the organization. Soor so you get the puppy that they
go through elementary school, they cutthe mustard, you get them. They
crawl over to the to the youngguy who's got autism. You say,
there's an autism dog. We gotit all right? All right, timmy,
(16:56):
how do you How does that traininggo? How long does it take?
I mean, you know, walking? Walk me through that process.
Yeah. So as puppies, wego, Okay, you're going to start
like everybody else. We're going toput you in a pre K program and
work you all the way up tillthat pre college exam if you will.
Once they hit that year and ahalf mark and they pass that evaluation phase.
(17:18):
We then specialized them for individual typesof clients and then the individual client,
and that's about a six month period. During that time, we're building
upon the behaviors they've learned while theywere growing up and specializing skills. So,
for example, if I'm going togive this dog to somebody with autism,
I'm going to be focusing on specializingpressure relief behaviors. So they're going
(17:41):
to be leaning part of their bodyor laying part of their body on parts
of our bodies in order to helpbring down stress and help feel it grounded,
which is a challenge for a lotof people with autism. And so
you know, we're we're really justkind of giving them their special career,
your few wheel. It's kind oflike your first two years of college.
(18:02):
You get all of your general educationout of the way, right, and
then you know, for your lasttwo years typically you're really just studying u
the specific route that you're going togo into for your career. It's very
much the same for our dogs.And so so you're talking a year and
a half six months, it's justtwo and a half two years, two
and a half years from from puppyto being placed with their you know,
(18:22):
with their their best friend. Yeah. I would say usually we try to
place our dogs at about two yearsof age, but just like people,
some of them take a little bitlonger to mature. How do you how
do you decide? Oh, Matthew, it's how many any given time,
how many dogs are in college?Right now? At pal oh I would
say overall, on average we haveabout twenty five dogs in training at all
(18:45):
different levels. That's an average.Dogs are coming in and going at all
different times. Right now, Ithink we have about four dogs in college.
Okay, And so what's the what'sthe process? Obviously I'm sure there's
a lot more need and demand thanyou have dogs. I mean that just
kind of unfortunately where we are.Yeah, yeah, how does that process
(19:07):
work? If somebody's listening and Isay, gosh, you know my son,
my dad, not me. Ihave PTSD, right, I have
autism? Right, you know whatever? Yeah, what is what's the evaluation?
How does one get into that funnelfor a potential placement with you guys?
Yeah, so it starts with eithera phone call to PALS or going
to our website at paals dot org. And there is an application on there
(19:32):
that people can start walking through.There's also a frequently asked questions documents,
so there's lots of information on thewebsite itself for people to try to explore
this. Once they decide they wantto go forward, they do the online
application. If they're not able todo things online, they could stop by
our actual facility or training facility inColumbia and pick up a hard copy application
(19:55):
is another option. But then oncewe receive the application, it's also going
to include things like medical releases fromdoctors. You know, there's going to
be references on there. It's ait's a pretty extensive application process because we
really have to get to know notonly the person their disability, but also
you know, what kind of lifedo they have, is it a safe
(20:17):
environment for a dog? Does theirworkplace? Know? There's just an awful
lot involved, and from there wewould start interview processes. Okay, yeah,
So if we do that and theperson decides yes they want to continue
to work with us, and wesay, yeah, we think we can
do this project, then they goon a wait list and if we don't
think we can help them, weusually refer them to another assistance Dog internationally
(20:41):
accredited program like ours somewhere that mayspecialize in their type of disability if that's
not something we serve. How manyhow many like agencies, organizations whatever you
want to call it, are there? You know, maybe here in South
Carolina, but maybe even nationally thatare you know, granted all different,
but how many? How many palstype? How many pals of PALS have
(21:07):
There's only one PALS but yeah,so PALS is the only assistance dog internationally
accredited program based in South Carolina.Okay, Wow, I believe there's one
in the Upstate that is trying toget their accreditation. I don't think they're
fully accredited yet. And I wouldsay, you know, there's there's hundreds
around the country, and a littlebit more than that throughout the world,
(21:29):
although North America probably has the mostprograms at this point. So yes,
there is obviously a lot more needthan we would like to see out there.
But we also try to work inconjunction with each other and refer to
each other whenever possible, because we'renot really trying to compete. We just
just want to help people. Yeah, I totally understand that what, um,
(21:51):
what's the cost to someone you knowwho applies, goes through the program,
you decide, hey, this guyreally would be great with a little
Timmy the Golden Retriever or the isa perfect match made in Heaven? Are
their costs or their extended cost wasthat look like? Yeah? So it
depends on who you are, right, So if you're somebody who comes in
and you're a typical civilian like myself, then we just ask you to fund
(22:14):
raise or pay the tuition fee forgoing through the class with the dog once
the dog is finished, and that'stypically a three week process, and so
that ends up being about five thousanddollars. If you're somebody in the Rob's
Best Friend fund program, which isa program in memory of my brother who
was a police officer. So ifyou're a police officer, a fire,
(22:36):
fire first responder, veteran, thenyou don't pay anything. You've already paid
your debt to society and we're justtrying to pay you back. So it
just depends on who you are.We also have scholarships for people who aren't
able to raise that kind of moneyor don't have that kind of money.
So I always tell people, don'tdon't let that deter you. If this
is what you need you We'll finda way to help you. That's incredible.
(22:57):
Speaking with Jen Rodgers from pal herethis morning on Carolina Cares. We
will put the links on the socialsand of course on the podcast. It'll
be up a little later on.But it's p A A l S pals
with a hard A. We'll callit that two a's PAA LS dot org.
But don't try to write that downif you're driving again. I'll put
(23:17):
it up there on the socials foryou a little later on. What are
what are some of the laws?You know? Some we see places.
You know a lot of places arebecoming more dog friendly in general, Like
you can go you can bring anybodyinto Walmart, into home Depot in the
Lows. I saw two or threeand Lows just over the weekend that you
know, and I assume and Ibrought Nixon in. You know, there's
you're not challenge. A lot ofpeople are becoming a lot more dog friendly.
(23:38):
But what are the laws or havethey changed as far as an actual
legit service dog versus just you know, my buddy Nixon, who's my best
pal. Yeah, So one thingI would say is there are some stores
that are dog Friendly home Depot lowsTJ Max. They actually publicly tell people
(23:59):
you can bring your dog shopping here, and that's great. I think that's
wonderful. Every Place else is reallyjust set aside for assistance dogs. So
there's the American Disabilities Act, whichis a federal law that allows people with
disabilities to bring their train dogs withthem to help mitigate their disability. And
we have a South Carolina state lawthat basically iterates that not only for those
(24:23):
situations, but also for dogs andtraining. So our trainers have the legal
right to bring dogs everywhere that theygo in order to prepare them for a
life of service. I will saythere have been many laws passed that basically
make it illegal for you to fakea service dog. And so what that
means is, yes, you cango online and buy capes and pretend that
(24:44):
your dog is a service dog.But if you're caught doing that and pretending
to be somebody with a disability,not only is that unethical, but there
are very large fines that you couldpay in addition to getting actual prison time.
Well, yeah, with the military, this Dolan Valor, you know,
there's all those those guys who aretrying to get, you know,
advantages based on service that they neverserved and that that irritates the out of
(25:08):
me. Yeah, and I here'sa little PSA for those listening to,
Like, I understand wanting to bringyour dog everywhere. I have pets on
my own, and it's weird forme because I'm always bringing dogs in training,
out and about with me, andthen when I have my own dog,
I'm like, oh, I can'tbring you, you know. He's
like, yeah, it's a reallyweird situation for me. I get it,
(25:29):
you know. And as a doglover, I do. I want
to do everything with my dogs,you know. So I get it.
I get why people are tempted todo these things, but it really does
badly affect our people with disabilities.First of all, because most people don't
prepare their dogs, you know,through training and raising them a specific way
in order to go to all ofthese places that are not typical for dogs
in our country, you know.So I see a lot of dogs that
(25:52):
are really stressed out, that arebeing brought out and again under the demise
that they're actually a service dog whenthey're not. If the dog starts to
act out at all, then wehave the problem of the public awareness,
right, So now they think it'sa service dog because it's wearing a cape
and it's acting badly, and thereforethey don't want to be around service dogs
and are going to start choosing businessesthat don't cater to service dogs, you
(26:17):
know, I mean, so it'sjust this bad ripple effect that most people
don't really think about. So don'tthink getting in trouble. Just don't do
it. And please don't tell somebodywith a service dog you're so lucky to
have a talk here, because youknow, if you have a disability,
by default, you probably don't thinkof yourself as lucky. Let's we're going
to run a time quick. Gosh, it goes buy so fast. Let's
(26:37):
talk about Paddle for Pals is comingup a bit. I love this.
I'm super excited about this event.We started it last year in merles Inlet,
South Carolina, which is just southof the Myrtle Beach area. Excuse
me. And so what we dois we have people register on a website
called Paddle for Pals dot org.It's also connected to our Pals website.
(27:00):
And for the month of May youget to paddle and collect miles and you
can collect sponsors to raise money excuseme, and people compete for raising the
most money for winning a brand newstand up paddleboard set, which is really
exciting. That's provided by B Soulfish, our premier sponsor. And then in
June, on the tenth, whichis a Saturday, at noon, we
(27:22):
do a paddle parade in Merle's Inlet. We're looking at potentially doing one at
Lake Mary as well, so staytuned for more information on that. We
look like we may have more thanone spot celebrating on June tenth, but
here in Merle's Inlet. Afterwards InletProvisions Company, which is a restaurant right
on the water and has a dogfriendly deck, we'll be having our after
(27:44):
party at one thirty and we'll behaving some prizes and some food and all
that good stuff and just celebrating kindof the organization and all the people who
support it. And right now we'relooking for sponsors again. All of that
information can be seen on the Paddlefor Pal's website. But we have a
poster deadline coming up, so ifanyone's interested in getting some advertising through it,
(28:06):
I encourage them to look at itsooner rather than later. There you
go, and paddleboarding is so muchfun. I love paddle boarding it right,
and you know I bring Nixon outas well. So there you go.
See you you can paddle. You'regonna be paddling anyway. Why not
do it and try to a wina paddle board but support the mission of
PALS. It seems so simple tome, Jennifer. Is a pretty simple
concept, honestly, And people go, well, what if I don't have
(28:27):
a paddleboard as well? We doit in our kayaks and canoes. You
can do it with your hands,you can swim to paddle, you know.
So everyone is welcome to do itwhatever way they want. We just
thought it would be a fun wayto get people doing things with their dogs
that are fun, you know,and get them to enjoy nature at the
same time, all for a goodcause. How about Miles on my boat
and I put Nixon in the boatand do it that way. I think
(28:48):
you'd have to paddle. I thinkstarting the boat puts all right, Jen
Rogers PALS the Pametto Assisted Animal ServicesLife Services. Of course, I just
your name on you, but pA a l S. Palmetto Animal Assisted
Life Services. Thank you, Jen, thank you for what you do.
It's half hour goes by quick.I want to have you back on again
soon. We'll put links episocials foryou, guys. But man, just
(29:14):
just reach out and support this organization. Now. This is such a cool
thing you're doing in the community andfor a community beyond just the town.
You know. Yes, thank youso much. We really appreciate you helping
us spread the word, guys.And this has been Carolina Care. It's
it's an iHeartRadio production here on theSouth Carolina Radio network. Don't forget.
You can find us at Carolina Caresradio dot com. So much great stuff
(29:36):
every single week. So appreciate youbeing a part of the show. My
name is Tyler Ryan. We've gonethrough thirty minutes, which means I have
to say to you. I'll speakwith you in seven days.
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