May 17, 2024 • 21 mins
Maria chats with Paws of War President and Co-Founder Robert Misseri about all they do!
Not only does Paws of War train rescue dogs to become service dogs for veterans (at no cost to the vet), they also bring home dogs and cats that soldiers friended overseas (I learned they do this on a weekly basis!)
Click to learn about PAWS OF WAR and give a listen!!
Not only does Paws of War train rescue dogs to become service dogs for veterans (at no cost to the vet), they also bring home dogs and cats that soldiers friended overseas (I learned they do this on a weekly basis!)
Click to learn about PAWS OF WAR and give a listen!!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
It's Maria's MutS and Stuff. Whata great idea on iHeartRadio. Welcome to
Maria's MutS and Stuff. And withme is co founder and president of Pause
of War Robert Masiri. Robert,thank you for taking the time out to
(00:22):
talk about Pause of War today.I really really appreciate it. And you,
Marie, it's a pleasure to bewith you. Well, thank you.
I actually all these years have knownabout Pause of War and then I
saw a piece recently on the newson television and I thought, I need
to talk to you because the workyou guys do it's just so incredible.
(00:43):
So for a listener who is justtuning in and not really sure, I
know you've been together since you've startedin twenty fourteen. Tell me how Pause
of War started. Started out withservice members requesting us to bring dogs and
cats that were just strays when theywere deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. And
(01:07):
fast forward, we started to talkto veterans who are now you know,
back from deployment, out of theservice, but suffering from PTSD dramatic brain
injuries, and they were telling ushow they had to leave their animals behind
because they didn't know they could evenbring them home, right, And we
(01:30):
realized we were dealing with something verydifferent. We were dealing with Long Islanders
New Yorkers who were suffering from avariety of different things and that a dog
would actually help them. And westarted training dogs for these veterans, and
it has become very successful for ourveterans and first responders who were suffering from
(01:52):
you know, dramatic brain injuries andPTSD. And of course we still bring
back dogs on a very on aweekly basis. Watten dogs brought active military,
you know, twenty something years laterthat the war still you know,
continued. But ultimately those two programsare our biggest programs. I was gonna
(02:14):
say, and those are two They'revery similar, but so very different,
I'm sure. I mean, firstof all, I mean, I've spoken
to so many different veterans over theyears who have told me there is nothing
like having a service dog compared tocoming home and having PTSD and being on
drugs. And they said, havingthat dog. I mean, I remember
(02:35):
the first time I heard a story. It brought me to tears because he
said I couldn't even leave my apartment, he said, or even just go
to a store. And now havingthis dog like it brought his life back.
It gives them the liberty that theyonce had. Uh huh. It
gives them the ability to socialize,go back into parts of the community,
(03:00):
to become parts of this community,giving back, which they always did.
Sure, so they people don't realizehow much these dogs affect their lives and
their family lives because they're also theyare affected. Yes, yes, exactly,
No, you're right. People don'trealize it, and I know you're
going to relate to this. Ialways get on my soapbox because I hate
(03:22):
when people who have, you know, have a dog at home, and
they want to take their dog onan airplane. So they go online and
they pay twenty five dollars and theyget a certificate that says it's a therapy
dog, when it's so not andit's so not fair to people who truly
need a therapy dog. It's oneof my biggest pet peeves about some people.
And I know you understand that that'sright, that's right, and it
(03:45):
has caused such heartache bress for somany veterans that have spent so many years
with us examples, training that dogto become a service dog, to walk
into a door to be told,oh, you can't come in here with
your dog. We know you boughtthat idea online, right, And it's
(04:08):
an insult, of course, yes, it's just I and I mean,
obviously it's a topic for another time, but I really wish we could stop
it somehow because I just find itit's insulting. It's just it's so unfair
to these guys and these women whocome home and have this dog because because
(04:29):
it's given them their life back.I just it just it really infuriates me.
I I can't even tell you,but I know you get it.
So let's talk about training the dogs. Where do you find the dogs that
you train to be the therapy dogs? Do they come from shelters, rescues?
Are they puppies? How does that? How does that process start?
(04:51):
All of the dogs that we've placedin our program are all rescued, huh
awesome, And they can be andfrom a from a large scale puppy mill
that we were actually involved in intaking down, believe it or not.
We're very active with a lot ofdepartments over in the middle the Midwest where
(05:19):
they are. Yep, we alsopull from local shelters here, right,
on Long Island. Nice. It'sjust a bad situation where we get a
phone call and a dog is kindof tied up in the backyard and we
get them to surrender the dog.When we take dogs into our facility,
(05:41):
we evaluate every one of them,of course, and we already have implications
pending. We kind of know thepersonalities and the energy levels of the dogs
we want to place his service.And then we pair them up and we
we do meet and greets, andwe once we're comfort and the veteran is
comfortable, he or she will stopgoing into training immediately. And they both
(06:06):
they both have broken they both havecome out of, you know, a
bad situation. Yeah, and thenthey start training together and that builds a
bond like no other, of course, of course, And I'm sure you've
seen it with your own eyes,like just the transformation between both animal and
human with the two of them together. Oh, it's something that unless you
(06:30):
witness, and we witness it somany times, you truly couldn't understand.
Sure, Nope, you're absolutely right, And yeah, yeah, I mean
it has to be. And ofcourse, because this is why you do
it so heartwarming for you, butrewarding too, because I mean, it's
amazing that you're giving this opportunity,of course to the animal, but to
a human as well. When youspeak to one of these veterans eight months,
(06:56):
nine months, a year later,and we speak to them all the
time, and you know, theyremind us that, you know, they
and some of them remind us thatthey were so close to taking their life.
Yeah, and they could now nevereven think of not being here to
be able to take care of thatthe dog. Or they don't know why
they didn't, you know, havea dog when they first got home and
(07:19):
they suffered for three or four yearsSulus. Maybe they're family, you know,
they were divorced, yes, andthe relationship with their family went really
a bit only because no one understoodwhat they were going through, of course,
and now everybody's back together. There. Very unique and it's a great
(07:39):
experience, this witness knowing that thesedogs are really changing their lives. Yeah,
yeah, for sure. Do youhave a waiting list for veterans or
for people who need who are inneed of the a therapy dog. So
we don't, and which is good, try to, yeah, we have.
We really try to get that dogplaced with that veteran immediately and we've
(08:07):
taken on more dogs than we canplace as service and the beauty of those
dogs that don't go into service.We have a program where we place them
as companions with veterans who are notnecessarily looking for service dogs. They're just
looking to adopt the great dog,right right. Oh, that's nice,
(08:30):
that's really cool. That's like anotherangle. That's great, that's right.
And of course the trains they alsocome into training. Training is for free
for them, and they may justwant a really well behaved off leash dog,
sure that they can go to thegym, either at the park with
or the beach, and so forthand so on. So the dogs that
(08:52):
we don't place into service also goup for adoption for companion. Right.
No, that's nice, And Iknow that there's to the veteran or the
person who needs the dog. Thereisn't a charge for them. But how
about what does it? It costsyou thousands of dollars? Doesn't it to
get a dog ready and trained?It does? It? Does? It's
(09:13):
not a cheap you know, andwe are we don't receive any funding from
the government. Everything is just localcorporations, right and and you know it's
very costly because we stay in theirlives. They're in training. We have
dogs that graduate and they're staying inthat in that program two three years afterwards.
(09:35):
Why because that became their family,right, that the camaraderie in those
classrooms and so forth and so on. It's a big part of life.
Sometimes it's their only life, right. Some of these veterans don't have much
family, so, uh, itgets it gets costly, and and but
we we never we never allow moneyto get into the way of placing a
(09:58):
dog. We never say we don'tthe money so we can't place it.
We always figure it out, sure, and we have to, right,
No, I get that. Iget that, and from the people my
listeners, of course, because theyalways ask, you know, the call
to action. They can donate toPause of War by going to Pauseofwar dot
org. Right, because no donationis ever too small or too large.
So uh, you know, especiallythe fact that the government, and that's
(10:22):
again another topic for another time,it doesn't it makes no sense to me
that the government doesn't help so manygroups like yours, because I know there
are others around the country who doso much for veterans, uh, you
know, providing them with a servicedog, and it just I don't understand
that either. That's right, that'sdefinitely a conversation to have at some point,
(10:46):
but it is it is sad.Uh huh uh huh. We struggle
through and we make it work.And there are so many more veterans that
need to know about us and needto know that we provide these services.
And you know, when you whenyou meet one of these veterans in the
beginning, uh and and then yousit with them seven months later, they
(11:11):
really are very, very very differentpeople, Maria, of course, yeah,
exactly, I'm sure they are.I'm sure they are because they've gotten
their life back because of the ofthe dog, that's right. And they
affect other people's lives in a verynegative way when they're struggling, and then
they affect other people's lives when theyget back their freedom. They're the first
(11:35):
ones to go and help a seniorcitizen. They're the first ones to go
to a soup kitchen. They're thefirst ones to shovel the neighbor's snow.
They're the first one to volunteer forsomebody. They're always giving back, so
that it's it's a community thing aswell, and it really affects so many
more people. Yeah, I meanit's win win all around, for the
(11:56):
veterans, for the dog, forthe people that they want to helping.
Like, there's no there's no negativein this at all. It's all it's
win win for everyone and everything.That's right, Yeah, for sure.
So if there's a veteran who islistening or a first responder who's listening to
this interview and they feel like theirlife would be better if they had a
therapy dog, can they apply bygoing to your website? Does it work
(12:20):
that way? Yeah, that's right, So they can go on to there's
two options. They can apply forservice dogs or a companion, and they
can go right onto the website,and of course they can call us and
our phone numbers right on the website, and we're happy to have that discussion
with them. And if they evenwanted to come in and sit with us
before they put the application, we'rehappy to do that. But yeah,
(12:43):
if they go to pausewar dot organd anyone who wants to support us,
they want to volunteer, we encouragethat as well. Okay, no,
that's great, that's so good.So now the other portion about bringing dogs
home, let's and cats. Let'stalk about that. So that started,
you said, back with the warrantAfghanistan. But what does that involve?
(13:05):
I mean, because do you dopeople who fly them? Is that a
people volunteer to fly the animals?Like, how does that work? So
that's a complex mission that we takeon on a weekly basis. So picture
and it happens every day. Weget phone calls and emails every single day.
Request you have active military members,our US Americans who who are deployed
(13:28):
in the Middle East, or inEastern Europe or wherever they are, they
will reach out to us. Theywill find a cat, a dog,
or a litter of puppies who areoften abused in these parts. The animals
are not We don't treat animals viceversa. They don't treat animals the way
we can. We do, ofcourse ye and our soldiers are not prepared
(13:52):
to see what they are witnessing whenthey get there. So they try to
save these animals from really harm's way. They live with them for the entire
deployment, and now they have tocome back to America. The last thing
they want to do is leave thatcat or dog back to a horrific lifestyle
(14:13):
that they fell in love with them, they nurtured them back to help and
they can't play any role. Sothey reach out the pose of war and
we get those animals back safely toAmerica and then we reunite them and we
don't charge them a single penny.It is very complex. It takes between
three and five months with all thered tape quarantine. It's a very complex
(14:37):
scenario. But I can tell youit is so worth it. It is
so worth it. There's nothing worse. And we hear so many stories of
active military members or now veterans whosay we had to leave a dog or
a cat behind. There's note aday that goes by. I don't feel
(14:58):
horrible about it, but there wasnothing they can do about it. And
that's why if someone knows about it, reach out to us, because we
take action immediately, right right?And is I mean, I don't how
can I ask this? Is thereany time that you that you that you
just can't go back, you can'tgo into a country, or that hasn't
(15:20):
happened, So that hasn't happened.Good. We are we have resources in
every country that we have a militaryinstallation or press. Okay, recently,
we just got back a litter fromAfrica. Wow. Nice, Okay,
we had we have our station thereand you know we had to use locals
(15:41):
with donkeys and small boats to getthem off from one island to another island.
Yeah. Wow. If anyone wantsto see those stories, they can
just go on to our social mediaand they can see the stories with some
videos. And it's never easy,and but we make can happen. We
always make it happen. We've dope, We've built relationships with like minded people
(16:06):
in so many countries over the pastten years to make these missions happen,
and we do and we do.That's amazing. No, you're amazing.
You're your whole you and your wholegroup. You're just you're just amazing that
you do this work. It's justand it's rewarding. It's amazing. And
I'm sure for of course, forthe people who come who come back and
(16:26):
they want these animals and then theyget these animals. It just it's like
again like I said earlier, it'sjust win win all around. So have
there been times and I'm just assumedthis that say, uh, like you
said before, like a litter ofcats or or dogs come back, and
then do you put those up foradoption? The ones I mean just say,
(16:47):
you know, there was like asoldier had a veteran knew a dog,
but then when you guys went backto get the dog, the dog
was pregnant and you came back withlike a litter of puppies. That's right.
So that does happen, and notas but it does. There was
four unit members and five dogs,okay, and they will ask us,
you know, we're all taking oneof the dogs, but the fifth dog,
(17:11):
we'd love to find a great,great home. Can you place them
with a veteran and and we woulddo that, of course, and we
have or a big letter, andyou know, there may be two extra
pops that they will ask us toplease, please, please find great homes,
and of course we do. Butthese active military members, we reunite
(17:33):
those dogs with them, and youcan see some great videos on our social
media of recent you know, reunions, and they just they can't even but
they keep shaking their head. Ican't believe that this dog that I spent
nine months with in the Middle Eastis actually here with me in America.
Sure, they love it, andit's it's it's rewarding. They deserve it,
and so does the animal because theanimals tend to yours horrific crowthy,
(18:00):
it's it's beyond Yeah. No,you're right, and no one. I
don't think anyone else in the worldtreats their their dogs and cats like we
do here in America. I don'tthink nobody. Nobody right, no other
country, no other country. Yeah, I see that. I say,
well, it's it's just incredible.Like I just I'm so happy that you
had time to talk to me todaybecause I love this work. I love
(18:23):
what you do, and I lovethe fact that it's like kind of twofold,
because you know, you train dogsand you give out service dogs,
but you also then rescue these dogsfrom other countries where they're in horrible situations.
So again, you know, Idon't think any other group does exactly
like you do. I think you'reI think Pause of War is unique in
(18:44):
that way because it's kind of twofold. We are very Yeah, that's right,
we are very unique in that way, and I think we we will
probably need to live another thousand yearsto understand the the ability of what a
dog or even can do to somebodythat's in a good way, in a
good way, and to think aboutwhat how others treat them in other countries
(19:08):
is sickening. And there's nothing worsethan these US military members having to live
with the pain and guilt because theycouldn't bring that animal back. And we
can make it happen. This iswhat we do, and every single week
we're bringing back more and more catsand dogs for them and it's extremely rewarding.
(19:30):
It just is, Oh for sure. I can't believe you do it
on a weekly basis. Wow.Yeah, it wasn't like that. It
wasn't like that. Now that moreand more are finding out that it's a
possibility and they're learning about pools ofwar, it's been really you know,
exploding. But we say no tono one. We say no to no
(19:52):
one, right well, And that'syou know again, big kudos to you
on that as well, well,Robert. I. You know, I
I'm so grateful for you and yourtime explaining everything about pause of war and
I hope you're around for you know, for you know, one hundred more
years. But I would really loveif my listeners could help out in any
way. And like I always say, no donation is too small or too
(20:15):
large, and they just to pleasego to pauseowar dot org and make a
donation because you hear this great thegreat work that Robert and his group are
doing. So you know, ifyou have some extra bucks, it's totally
you want to do something good withyour money, please donate to Pause of
War. Robert Masseri, I reallyappreciate your time and all that you do,
(20:38):
and I would, actually I do. I want to check in with
you again at some point and talkmore because I just I really do love
the fact of what you do andI really am grateful for you. I
would love that and thank you,thank you for the opportunity. Your rater Barri Kaana
It's Maria's MutS and Stuff. Whata great idea on iHeartRadio. Welcome to
Maria's MutS and Stuff. And withme is co founder and president of Pause
of War Robert Masiri. Robert,thank you for taking the time out to
(00:22):
talk about Pause of War today.I really really appreciate it. And you,
Marie, it's a pleasure to bewith you. Well, thank you.
I actually all these years have knownabout Pause of War and then I
saw a piece recently on the newson television and I thought, I need
to talk to you because the workyou guys do it's just so incredible.
(00:43):
So for a listener who is justtuning in and not really sure, I
know you've been together since you've startedin twenty fourteen. Tell me how Pause
of War started. Started out withservice members requesting us to bring dogs and
cats that were just strays when theywere deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. And
(01:07):
fast forward, we started to talkto veterans who are now you know,
back from deployment, out of theservice, but suffering from PTSD dramatic brain
injuries, and they were telling ushow they had to leave their animals behind
because they didn't know they could evenbring them home, right, And we
(01:30):
realized we were dealing with something verydifferent. We were dealing with Long Islanders
New Yorkers who were suffering from avariety of different things and that a dog
would actually help them. And westarted training dogs for these veterans, and
it has become very successful for ourveterans and first responders who were suffering from
(01:52):
you know, dramatic brain injuries andPTSD. And of course we still bring
back dogs on a very on aweekly basis. Watten dogs brought active military,
you know, twenty something years laterthat the war still you know,
continued. But ultimately those two programsare our biggest programs. I was gonna
(02:14):
say, and those are two They'revery similar, but so very different,
I'm sure. I mean, firstof all, I mean, I've spoken
to so many different veterans over theyears who have told me there is nothing
like having a service dog compared tocoming home and having PTSD and being on
drugs. And they said, havingthat dog. I mean, I remember
(02:35):
the first time I heard a story. It brought me to tears because he
said I couldn't even leave my apartment, he said, or even just go
to a store. And now havingthis dog like it brought his life back.
It gives them the liberty that theyonce had. Uh huh. It
gives them the ability to socialize,go back into parts of the community,
(03:00):
to become parts of this community,giving back, which they always did.
Sure, so they people don't realizehow much these dogs affect their lives and
their family lives because they're also theyare affected. Yes, yes, exactly,
No, you're right. People don'trealize it, and I know you're
going to relate to this. Ialways get on my soapbox because I hate
(03:22):
when people who have, you know, have a dog at home, and
they want to take their dog onan airplane. So they go online and
they pay twenty five dollars and theyget a certificate that says it's a therapy
dog, when it's so not andit's so not fair to people who truly
need a therapy dog. It's oneof my biggest pet peeves about some people.
And I know you understand that that'sright, that's right, and it
(03:45):
has caused such heartache bress for somany veterans that have spent so many years
with us examples, training that dogto become a service dog, to walk
into a door to be told,oh, you can't come in here with
your dog. We know you boughtthat idea online, right, And it's
(04:08):
an insult, of course, yes, it's just I and I mean,
obviously it's a topic for another time, but I really wish we could stop
it somehow because I just find itit's insulting. It's just it's so unfair
to these guys and these women whocome home and have this dog because because
(04:29):
it's given them their life back.I just it just it really infuriates me.
I I can't even tell you,but I know you get it.
So let's talk about training the dogs. Where do you find the dogs that
you train to be the therapy dogs? Do they come from shelters, rescues?
Are they puppies? How does that? How does that process start?
(04:51):
All of the dogs that we've placedin our program are all rescued, huh
awesome, And they can be andfrom a from a large scale puppy mill
that we were actually involved in intaking down, believe it or not.
We're very active with a lot ofdepartments over in the middle the Midwest where
(05:19):
they are. Yep, we alsopull from local shelters here, right,
on Long Island. Nice. It'sjust a bad situation where we get a
phone call and a dog is kindof tied up in the backyard and we
get them to surrender the dog.When we take dogs into our facility,
(05:41):
we evaluate every one of them,of course, and we already have implications
pending. We kind of know thepersonalities and the energy levels of the dogs
we want to place his service.And then we pair them up and we
we do meet and greets, andwe once we're comfort and the veteran is
comfortable, he or she will stopgoing into training immediately. And they both
(06:06):
they both have broken they both havecome out of, you know, a
bad situation. Yeah, and thenthey start training together and that builds a
bond like no other, of course, of course, And I'm sure you've
seen it with your own eyes,like just the transformation between both animal and
human with the two of them together. Oh, it's something that unless you
(06:30):
witness, and we witness it somany times, you truly couldn't understand.
Sure, Nope, you're absolutely right, And yeah, yeah, I mean
it has to be. And ofcourse, because this is why you do
it so heartwarming for you, butrewarding too, because I mean, it's
amazing that you're giving this opportunity,of course to the animal, but to
a human as well. When youspeak to one of these veterans eight months,
(06:56):
nine months, a year later,and we speak to them all the
time, and you know, theyremind us that, you know, they
and some of them remind us thatthey were so close to taking their life.
Yeah, and they could now nevereven think of not being here to
be able to take care of thatthe dog. Or they don't know why
they didn't, you know, havea dog when they first got home and
(07:19):
they suffered for three or four yearsSulus. Maybe they're family, you know,
they were divorced, yes, andthe relationship with their family went really
a bit only because no one understoodwhat they were going through, of course,
and now everybody's back together. There. Very unique and it's a great
(07:39):
experience, this witness knowing that thesedogs are really changing their lives. Yeah,
yeah, for sure. Do youhave a waiting list for veterans or
for people who need who are inneed of the a therapy dog. So
we don't, and which is good, try to, yeah, we have.
We really try to get that dogplaced with that veteran immediately and we've
(08:07):
taken on more dogs than we canplace as service and the beauty of those
dogs that don't go into service.We have a program where we place them
as companions with veterans who are notnecessarily looking for service dogs. They're just
looking to adopt the great dog,right right. Oh, that's nice,
(08:30):
that's really cool. That's like anotherangle. That's great, that's right.
And of course the trains they alsocome into training. Training is for free
for them, and they may justwant a really well behaved off leash dog,
sure that they can go to thegym, either at the park with
or the beach, and so forthand so on. So the dogs that
(08:52):
we don't place into service also goup for adoption for companion. Right.
No, that's nice, And Iknow that there's to the veteran or the
person who needs the dog. Thereisn't a charge for them. But how
about what does it? It costsyou thousands of dollars? Doesn't it to
get a dog ready and trained?It does? It? Does? It's
(09:13):
not a cheap you know, andwe are we don't receive any funding from
the government. Everything is just localcorporations, right and and you know it's
very costly because we stay in theirlives. They're in training. We have
dogs that graduate and they're staying inthat in that program two three years afterwards.
(09:35):
Why because that became their family,right, that the camaraderie in those
classrooms and so forth and so on. It's a big part of life.
Sometimes it's their only life, right. Some of these veterans don't have much
family, so, uh, itgets it gets costly, and and but
we we never we never allow moneyto get into the way of placing a
(09:58):
dog. We never say we don'tthe money so we can't place it.
We always figure it out, sure, and we have to, right,
No, I get that. Iget that, and from the people my
listeners, of course, because theyalways ask, you know, the call
to action. They can donate toPause of War by going to Pauseofwar dot
org. Right, because no donationis ever too small or too large.
So uh, you know, especiallythe fact that the government, and that's
(10:22):
again another topic for another time,it doesn't it makes no sense to me
that the government doesn't help so manygroups like yours, because I know there
are others around the country who doso much for veterans, uh, you
know, providing them with a servicedog, and it just I don't understand
that either. That's right, that'sdefinitely a conversation to have at some point,
(10:46):
but it is it is sad.Uh huh uh huh. We struggle
through and we make it work.And there are so many more veterans that
need to know about us and needto know that we provide these services.
And you know, when you whenyou meet one of these veterans in the
beginning, uh and and then yousit with them seven months later, they
(11:11):
really are very, very very differentpeople, Maria, of course, yeah,
exactly, I'm sure they are.I'm sure they are because they've gotten
their life back because of the ofthe dog, that's right. And they
affect other people's lives in a verynegative way when they're struggling, and then
they affect other people's lives when theyget back their freedom. They're the first
(11:35):
ones to go and help a seniorcitizen. They're the first ones to go
to a soup kitchen. They're thefirst ones to shovel the neighbor's snow.
They're the first one to volunteer forsomebody. They're always giving back, so
that it's it's a community thing aswell, and it really affects so many
more people. Yeah, I meanit's win win all around, for the
(11:56):
veterans, for the dog, forthe people that they want to helping.
Like, there's no there's no negativein this at all. It's all it's
win win for everyone and everything.That's right, Yeah, for sure.
So if there's a veteran who islistening or a first responder who's listening to
this interview and they feel like theirlife would be better if they had a
therapy dog, can they apply bygoing to your website? Does it work
(12:20):
that way? Yeah, that's right, So they can go on to there's
two options. They can apply forservice dogs or a companion, and they
can go right onto the website,and of course they can call us and
our phone numbers right on the website, and we're happy to have that discussion
with them. And if they evenwanted to come in and sit with us
before they put the application, we'rehappy to do that. But yeah,
(12:43):
if they go to pausewar dot organd anyone who wants to support us,
they want to volunteer, we encouragethat as well. Okay, no,
that's great, that's so good.So now the other portion about bringing dogs
home, let's and cats. Let'stalk about that. So that started,
you said, back with the warrantAfghanistan. But what does that involve?
(13:05):
I mean, because do you dopeople who fly them? Is that a
people volunteer to fly the animals?Like, how does that work? So
that's a complex mission that we takeon on a weekly basis. So picture
and it happens every day. Weget phone calls and emails every single day.
Request you have active military members,our US Americans who who are deployed
(13:28):
in the Middle East, or inEastern Europe or wherever they are, they
will reach out to us. Theywill find a cat, a dog,
or a litter of puppies who areoften abused in these parts. The animals
are not We don't treat animals viceversa. They don't treat animals the way
we can. We do, ofcourse ye and our soldiers are not prepared
(13:52):
to see what they are witnessing whenthey get there. So they try to
save these animals from really harm's way. They live with them for the entire
deployment, and now they have tocome back to America. The last thing
they want to do is leave thatcat or dog back to a horrific lifestyle
(14:13):
that they fell in love with them, they nurtured them back to help and
they can't play any role. Sothey reach out the pose of war and
we get those animals back safely toAmerica and then we reunite them and we
don't charge them a single penny.It is very complex. It takes between
three and five months with all thered tape quarantine. It's a very complex
(14:37):
scenario. But I can tell youit is so worth it. It is
so worth it. There's nothing worse. And we hear so many stories of
active military members or now veterans whosay we had to leave a dog or
a cat behind. There's note aday that goes by. I don't feel
(14:58):
horrible about it, but there wasnothing they can do about it. And
that's why if someone knows about it, reach out to us, because we
take action immediately, right right?And is I mean, I don't how
can I ask this? Is thereany time that you that you that you
just can't go back, you can'tgo into a country, or that hasn't
(15:20):
happened, So that hasn't happened.Good. We are we have resources in
every country that we have a militaryinstallation or press. Okay, recently,
we just got back a litter fromAfrica. Wow. Nice, Okay,
we had we have our station thereand you know we had to use locals
(15:41):
with donkeys and small boats to getthem off from one island to another island.
Yeah. Wow. If anyone wantsto see those stories, they can
just go on to our social mediaand they can see the stories with some
videos. And it's never easy,and but we make can happen. We
always make it happen. We've dope, We've built relationships with like minded people
(16:06):
in so many countries over the pastten years to make these missions happen,
and we do and we do.That's amazing. No, you're amazing.
You're your whole you and your wholegroup. You're just you're just amazing that
you do this work. It's justand it's rewarding. It's amazing. And
I'm sure for of course, forthe people who come who come back and
(16:26):
they want these animals and then theyget these animals. It just it's like
again like I said earlier, it'sjust win win all around. So have
there been times and I'm just assumedthis that say, uh, like you
said before, like a litter ofcats or or dogs come back, and
then do you put those up foradoption? The ones I mean just say,
(16:47):
you know, there was like asoldier had a veteran knew a dog,
but then when you guys went backto get the dog, the dog
was pregnant and you came back withlike a litter of puppies. That's right.
So that does happen, and notas but it does. There was
four unit members and five dogs,okay, and they will ask us,
you know, we're all taking oneof the dogs, but the fifth dog,
(17:11):
we'd love to find a great,great home. Can you place them
with a veteran and and we woulddo that, of course, and we
have or a big letter, andyou know, there may be two extra
pops that they will ask us toplease, please, please find great homes,
and of course we do. Butthese active military members, we reunite
(17:33):
those dogs with them, and youcan see some great videos on our social
media of recent you know, reunions, and they just they can't even but
they keep shaking their head. Ican't believe that this dog that I spent
nine months with in the Middle Eastis actually here with me in America.
Sure, they love it, andit's it's it's rewarding. They deserve it,
and so does the animal because theanimals tend to yours horrific crowthy,
(18:00):
it's it's beyond Yeah. No,you're right, and no one. I
don't think anyone else in the worldtreats their their dogs and cats like we
do here in America. I don'tthink nobody. Nobody right, no other
country, no other country. Yeah, I see that. I say,
well, it's it's just incredible.Like I just I'm so happy that you
had time to talk to me todaybecause I love this work. I love
(18:23):
what you do, and I lovethe fact that it's like kind of twofold,
because you know, you train dogsand you give out service dogs,
but you also then rescue these dogsfrom other countries where they're in horrible situations.
So again, you know, Idon't think any other group does exactly
like you do. I think you'reI think Pause of War is unique in
(18:44):
that way because it's kind of twofold. We are very Yeah, that's right,
we are very unique in that way, and I think we we will
probably need to live another thousand yearsto understand the the ability of what a
dog or even can do to somebodythat's in a good way, in a
good way, and to think aboutwhat how others treat them in other countries
(19:08):
is sickening. And there's nothing worsethan these US military members having to live
with the pain and guilt because theycouldn't bring that animal back. And we
can make it happen. This iswhat we do, and every single week
we're bringing back more and more catsand dogs for them and it's extremely rewarding.
(19:30):
It just is, Oh for sure. I can't believe you do it
on a weekly basis. Wow.Yeah, it wasn't like that. It
wasn't like that. Now that moreand more are finding out that it's a
possibility and they're learning about pools ofwar, it's been really you know,
exploding. But we say no tono one. We say no to no
(19:52):
one, right well, And that'syou know again, big kudos to you
on that as well, well,Robert. I. You know, I
I'm so grateful for you and yourtime explaining everything about pause of war and
I hope you're around for you know, for you know, one hundred more
years. But I would really loveif my listeners could help out in any
way. And like I always say, no donation is too small or too
(20:15):
large, and they just to pleasego to pauseowar dot org and make a
donation because you hear this great thegreat work that Robert and his group are
doing. So you know, ifyou have some extra bucks, it's totally
you want to do something good withyour money, please donate to Pause of
War. Robert Masseri, I reallyappreciate your time and all that you do,
(20:38):
and I would, actually I do. I want to check in with
you again at some point and talkmore because I just I really do love
the fact of what you do andI really am grateful for you. I
would love that and thank you,thank you for the opportunity. Your rater Barri Kaana
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