114. Cats Take the Spotlight, Rescue Heroes & The Power of Service Dogs

Disclaimer: Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio.

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pets Ad Life, your guide to the latest in Pet Trends products and the joy of the Human Animal Bond with Kristen Levine and me. Chris Bonti, powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog tv. Let's get started. Hello and welcome to another episode of Pets at Life. I am one of your hosts for Bonti, and joining me is Media Mogul. An ex princess of Czechoslovakia, Kristen Levine.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
Not

Speaker 2 (00:31):
My Crown.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
I was not aware that you were royal. I

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Wasn't either. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
There we go. Well, here we are again at Global Pet Expo. Still here?

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yep. Still here.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Still surviving.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Second show at Global.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Still breathing. Ways

Speaker 2 (00:44):
To go. Still.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Still. Yeah. But I mean, just coming off of that last show, I mean, I hope you all are enjoying this kind of quality. Okay. It takes a lot of planning to make this happen. We've got two people in the production studio with us. There's another eight people outside of the studio on the ones and twos making this happen. Real deal. Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot. Can

Speaker 2 (01:03):
You believe they let us do this?

Speaker 1 (01:05):
No, I can't. I cannot believe it. And do we

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Have a crew?

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah, it's probably because they got Ron out the way. Yeah, I think Ron was the problem because I don't see him anywhere around here, but the format of the show is not changing at all. Right, Kristen? That's

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Right. Stick it to the same format. We're going to give you two stories, two guests, two products. Look what I'm doing. I'm doing, I'm holding up ones and talking about twos. Yeah, you do the fingers. Okay. Two stories. Two products, two guests, and two questions from the audience. Just like always.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
My knuckles aren't working. I'm already so swollen just from, I don't know this. I'm just so swollen. Eating a lot of salty food.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
Oh, that's it.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah. But hey, we're going to power through and we're going to get right on to story time. Kristen and Chris, present story time.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Story time,

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Story time. You want me to kick it off? You want to go first? Yes. Go ahead. So we're here at Global Pet Expo and American Pet Products Association. We release a lot of data and you may notice me talking about a lot of that in these story times. And one thing that I really want to land home, and you're going to hear me talking about this a lot in this episode, cats are having their moment. They are US Cat dads. We're carrying this industry forward, but we have this new product showcase in the back of the show, and I don't think we've had a chance to walk back there. Not yet. Walk through the CAT section. We sold out that cat section so fast, and it's almost always like dog and dog food. Like going first, cat sold out so fast. There's so many amazing new products, whether it's feeders that are specific for Cat, because

(02:45):
I've seen a lot of dog companies where it's like, oh, we just took the same product and now we're saying it's for cats too. These companies are now producing actual with the cat in mind and their behaviors and the way they eat and think. I mean, they're really getting a lot of attention beyond just it's a cat. They'll take care of themselves, whether it's these automatic litter boxes and the prices are actually going down on those things, which I mean you might think it's bougie. I highly recommend for both your home's hygiene and the hygiene of your cat. It's amazing what these things can do, whether it's at home testing for certain illnesses. I mean, there's just so much stuff out there and I wish we could bring it all to you. And I wish that all of you at home could come to Global Pet Expo, but you can. It's for industry professionals only. So we're bring

Speaker 2 (03:36):
It as much as we can

Speaker 1 (03:36):
To you. We're going to bring as much as we can to you,

Speaker 2 (03:39):
To your point, for all those people out there that have said, there's just so much more cool stuff for dogs, now is your time. Yeah. There are more and more products for cats these days and you're going to start seeing it at your local retailers. So that's awesome. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
What about you?

Speaker 2 (03:53):
I've got a quick story here. This is about Project Canine Hero. I think we might've talked,

Speaker 1 (03:58):
We've talked to Jason Johnson. Yeah,

Speaker 2 (04:01):
We did. But I got to sit in on a marketing competition the other day, and it was five different nonprofits. One of them was Project Canine Hero, and they had these marketing teams that were pitching cool campaigns to help the organization. And it just reminded me listening to their pitch, it just reminded me what an incredible organization this

Speaker 3 (04:18):
Is.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
What they do is they honor the retired police canines military working dogs by creating an environment that celebrates that heroic service

Speaker 3 (04:28):
And

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Funds that help that pet once they retire. So typically there's plenty of funds for while the dog is in service, but once the dog retires and just becomes a pet, they lose a lot of those benefits. So Project and they're

Speaker 1 (04:42):
Difficult to home,

Speaker 2 (04:42):
They are difficult to home, they really are. But check out Project, Hey, nine hero.org. They've got some really cool, first of all, you can just donate. But they've also got really heartwarming stories that explain. They take each hero dog and they tell you all the incredible things they did in their career. This one Dog Bear that they just retired, saved two found two missing children during his career and a million other incredible things he did. And so you can make a donation to Project Canine Hero, or they have some really sweet merch.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
They do have sweet merch, they have great merch, they have really sweet merch,

Speaker 2 (05:17):
Cool T-shirts, cool stickers. So if you're into that kind of thing, you could buy some of those, knowing that all those proceeds are going to help those retirements.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
And here's a little test or producer. Ron. We had Jason on the show. Ron's going to put the episode number right here as a graphic. He's going to put the episode in case you want more information. Might be, it might be. It might be over here. It might be over here. And if you don't see that graphic tag Ron in the comments and tell him he's not doing his job beyond the leash, exploring the untold stories of pet passion and professionalism. Professionalism. And it is my honor to welcome back to the podcast Jamie Simpson, a service dog advocate and content creator known for sharing her life with her medical alert dog Echo. After being diagnosed with epilepsy, Jamie partnered with Echo who helps detect and respond to seizures providing both safety and independence. Drew her platform, she raises awareness about invisible disabilities, service dog training, and the life changing impact these animals can have on their handlers. Jamie, welcome back.

Speaker 4 (06:20):
Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
Of course, of course. So can we start just, I know we have a lot of fans who probably listened to your episode, but I'm sure we have a bunch of new fans as well who may not be familiar with the story of Echo. So when did you first realized that something was going on with your health, and how did that lead you to finding Echo?

Speaker 4 (06:39):
So I was diagnosed with absence, seizures, which are like the staring spells when I was about three months old. And then in 2019, I was in a really bad car accident. I mean really bad. I was sandwiched in between two cars.

(06:52):
And after that I started having tonic-clonic seizures. And sometimes with traumatic brain injuries, your epilepsy starts shifting. And that's kind of what happened with me. That's when we kind of realized we needed some help. I had no independence. I couldn't be alone by myself. And so having Echo gives me that independence of, okay, she has someone, a dog, but he's basically a person with her at all times. He can press a button to alert my family if I'm having a seizure and he can tell me if I'm having a seizure, therefore I can get my rescue medication and prevent the seizure also preventing Sup. Do you guys know what sup is?

Speaker 1 (07:35):
I do not. And I'm sure a lot of people at home don't either.

Speaker 4 (07:38):
Sup is sudden unexpected death and epilepsy. So the more seizures you have, the more prone you are to suit up. And so what's cool about Echo is, and lifesaving about Echo is that he prevents those seizures from occurring over and over again, and I'm less likely to go through that.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
Wow,

Speaker 4 (07:55):
That's

Speaker 2 (07:55):
Amazing. So you explained a little bit about how it works, but how does Echo actually detect those seizures? What is it that he's picking up on?

Speaker 4 (08:02):
So we swab the mouth. When I have a seizure, I don't, because I'm unresponsive, so my husband does or my mom does, and then he trains a behavior to that scent and he practices that over and over again. We train the behaviors first and then we add the scent, and then he detects seizures. Wow. We do it over time. Power. Yeah. That's amazing.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
That's amazing.

Speaker 4 (08:26):
Something cool that I learned is they smell the scent of medical alerts the same way we smell bacon in the microwave. It's such a good, really? Yeah, that's a really good way to put it. It's that obvious to them. It's not like, I think I smell it. It's like bacon. No, it, it's right there. Wow.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
So what was the process of getting echo? You had that realization of we need some help. So walk us through that process. And for everybody out there who may be listening, who may have a disability and maybe either nervous or unsure about trying to find the right kind of dog, why don't you share your story and give some advice on how to make that happen?

Speaker 4 (09:04):
If somebody wants to have a service dog or thinks they should need a service dog, well, first of all, we have to respect the dog and understand the dog has needs. So before we even consider a service dog, can you take care of the responsibility of a dog because it's still a dog? And then can the service dog benefit me with my disability? Because sometimes it doesn't always work for everyone. But then once you've gotten past that and you're like, I need a service dog, you can go through organizations or you can self-train with help. And what I do is I help people virtually all over the world actually internationally. And I help people train their service dog each week. We do weekly sessions, we have goals, and we practice public access, manners and tests. And everyone's disability is so unique. So I really have to learn the person and what their needs are to help them.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
Interesting. Now, Jamie, you built a really large audience online, and I'm just curious to know, why do you think so many people resonate with your story?

Speaker 4 (10:14):
A lot of people go through hardship. In fact, I think everyone goes through some type of hardship. And I think putting that online and being that vulnerable feels relatable to a lot of people because they know those moments of vulnerability and being scared and fearful and really, truly struggling with life. And not everyone puts theirs on the internet, but at least they feel community when they see videos like that. Yeah,

Speaker 1 (10:46):
Absolutely. I think it's incredible type of impact you could have just by being authentic and sharing your story. But you did recently welcome a new member to your family Eclipse, and we were chatting a little bit about it before we started the interview. So why don't you just give us the rundown on how Eclipse came into your life and how you really are just such an incredible person for helping this dog.

Speaker 4 (11:09):
Thank you so much. We found Eclipse in the desert. We live in Tucson, Arizona, and we saw him walking around close to our neighborhood, and I wanted to see if he had an owner because sometimes people let their dogs out and I didn't want to just take him. So I kind of stalked him a little bit over a couple of days. And then I realized he definitely doesn't have a home. I had a connection with him. I kind of walked with him. He was following me, and I was like, okay,

(11:37):
Tell me where you live. So we kind of walked towards this swan house that was pretty empty, and then the neighbors were outside and I said, do you know who this dog belongs to? And they said, oh, the neighbors just recently got deported. They had warned us about it. They said that they were going to comply and they were prepared for that to happen, but it was an aggressive situation that didn't need to be aggressive, they said, and they ended up letting the dog out of the house afterwards and just leaving it there with no care. So the dog was running around the desert for a while, and so I said, okay, I'm going to take him to the shelter that I work at and let him get his vaccines and all that. He had a respiratory infection, so I helped him through that too. And they were like, do you want to adopt him? And I was like, duh. That's why I'm here. And he's so perfect. He's the calmest dog. He levels out our house. Well, I have two toddlers, so having a really calm dog who's just so gentle, he's so perfect for our family. Yeah,

Speaker 1 (12:45):
That's an incredible story.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah, thank you. Wow. You are a busy lady. You've got two toddlers, you've got three dogs. We didn't mention Everest. You also have a dog named Everest. Yeah, Everest. Golden. Is Echo the only one that's the

Speaker 4 (12:59):
Service dog for you? So Echo does seizure alert response, and he does cardiac alert response. I don't really talk about that much. I also have vascular er, Stan low syndrome. It is a genetically tested condition and it's like a tree trunk and all these branches, new conditions come out of this one condition. So that being said, echo can't do it all, even though he tries. I'm sure he does. And I also have type two diabetes. So Everest alerts a response to type diabetes.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
Wow, amazing. Amazing. That's cool. So I wanted to ask, what challenges do service dog handlers still face in public spaces? I know we're moving to a world that is more pet friendly, but it could still be incredibly challenging when you need your dog around. So what kind of challenges are you facing in your day to day?

Speaker 4 (13:49):
I think just respecting a service dog space, really asking permission. I don't mind if somebody asks permission, especially with children, they don't know. And I love a good learning opportunity, but some people might not want to respect the space or want to learn anything about that. And I think that might be the hardest thing for service dog handlers.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
So if somebody is going through a similar health journey, Jamie, what would you recommend that they do in order to find a service dog?

Speaker 4 (14:20):
Find a community first of people who understand what you've been through and what you're going through and have service dogs because they can tell you the most about what it's like to go through this entire process. And then if they want to train with me, my website is embrace everyday.org.

Speaker 2 (14:38):
Embrace everyday.org.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
That's amazing stuff. The work you do is absolutely incredible. You're such a powerful human being,

Speaker 2 (14:45):
And very few people get invited back twice. Jamie. Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, so we love your story. Thank you.

Speaker 4 (14:52):
It's ever evolving.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
It is. Yeah. Isn't it? Isn't it? But thank you so much for taking some time today to join us. We're wishing you the best. Good luck with Eclipse. I'm so happy he was able to find you. You are the perfect home for him. He's been through a lot and I know you have to, so I'm sure you guys are going to make a happy and healthy home together.

Speaker 4 (15:11):
Oh, thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah, it's always a pleasure to have a return guest. It is.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
She's been so busy since we last spoke with her.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
She is crazy. I mean, it's just insane. She's busier than I am. How does that happen? She got, well, she

Speaker 2 (15:26):
Does have two toddlers.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
Toddlers

Speaker 2 (15:28):
And then what,

Speaker 1 (15:29):
Three? Three dogs now. Third dog.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
She's training service dogs.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
She's training service dogs. I'm pretty sure she's a model too.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
She looks like a model for,

Speaker 1 (15:37):
She always looks like one. She should be, I'm pretty sure she also does modeling. I

Speaker 2 (15:40):
Don't know if you picked up on this, but she mentioned a shelter that she volunteers for which,

Speaker 1 (15:45):
And I'm over here complaining. I don't have enough time. He's an absolutely amazing person. And for anybody out there who may be suffering in silence from some type of disability, reach out, find that local community. And you never know how your life can change from the help of a wonderful service. And it's my absolute pleasure to introduce Leah Craig to all of our listeners, the executive director of Brother Wolf Rescue. And this is a woman with an amazing story as well as just the whole Brother Wolf. Just, I want to call it a saga because it's truly, we're going to get into it, but it's truly just such an impressive story. I think it'd make a great blockbuster movie because it's so inspirational. Yeah, it

Speaker 2 (16:31):
Really

Speaker 1 (16:31):
Is. It really is. Impressive stuff. And

Speaker 2 (16:33):
Brother Wolf is located in Asheville, North Carolina

Speaker 1 (16:36):
In your backyard,

Speaker 2 (16:37):
Which my neighbor, I live in Waynesville, North Carolina. And we're going to talk to you today, Leah, about the hurricane in 2024, how that impacted you and the amazing things that you've done afterwards and your journey that you're continuing on. So we're so happy to have you today.

Speaker 5 (16:51):
Yeah, me too. It's been a wild ride, and I think there's a lot to learn from it in Rescue World. So we'll

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Take us back to that time, to the time of the Hurricane Lene.

Speaker 5 (17:02):
Yeah. So we were in Asheville, North Carolina, and we heard a hurricane is coming and we were like, what the heck?

Speaker 1 (17:08):
What I was These are the mountains. Yes.

Speaker 5 (17:12):
What do you mean? A hurricane is coming and we are in a floodplain. And so we've had some flooding with a lot of rainfall in the past. And honestly, we thought, worst case scenario, three inches of water, three inches of water. But we thought, gosh, it's scary if you're a dog and you're standing in three inches of water. And then we thought, gosh, even three inches of water on roads can be really dangerous for cars. And we don't want our staff taking any dangerous trips just to, because of course they would to care for the animals. And honestly, y'all, why we evacuated? We evacuated because we thought three inches of water, water would be not great. And so that morning at 9:00 AM in a leadership meeting said, let's go ahead and do it. Let's tell everybody that we can start evacuating at 10:00 AM. So it was all hands on deck. Our staff is packing food and getting pets ready, getting gear ready, getting cat carriers ready. We had a hundred animals in the shelter, and about half of our staff had never done an evacuation before.

Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yeah, I'm sure.

Speaker 5 (18:20):
And they were like, no way. This is like, we have a hundred animals in this shelter. No way are we getting them all out. And we worked with local media, we put out a social media post on our pages and sent out an email, and we told people, please come at 10:00 AM We're evacuating into homes. If you home is not in a floodplain and you can take a pet, please just show up. It doesn't matter if you've never been involved with our org before, we can get you in and out the door in 15 minutes with a pet. And so I opened the doors at 10:00 AM and I thought I was going to be opening the doors to wait for people. And I opened the doors to an incredibly crowded parking lot where no one could find a place to park a line of people that were carrying blankets and leashes and carriers, and we evacuated a hundred puts in two hours. Wow. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
Oh

Speaker 5 (19:23):
My.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
That's amazing.

Speaker 5 (19:25):
And people didn't stop showing up, kept coming. They just kept coming.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
And everyone's disappointed, like, oh, what do you mean? I wanted to hang out with a cat.

Speaker 5 (19:35):
I mean, it was amazing. I stood out in front of the shelter until six o'clock that night because I didn't want anybody to show up and not know that they were important, that they wanted to be there. And then also to share in the joy. I mean, people, I just scream. They all went home already. And people were like, I mean, it was incredible. And some people thought we were being a little overreactive. And then we all went home and we woke up the next morning. We didn't have cell phone service, we didn't have internet. None of us knew what was happening. So you just start walking. You go out your front door and you walk and you are talking to neighbors, and you see huge trees down on houses. And we walked a little bit farther and we hit a river, and that river is usually half a mile away from where we hit it.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
That's crazy.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
Is that when you realized,

Speaker 5 (20:40):
Honestly, it's not until you have no idea what is going on, it just doesn't make sense.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
You have no internet, no cell service. No.

Speaker 5 (20:49):
You have no communication. And so I walked about two miles to get to this main bridge, and that was when we were like, oh my gosh. There was probably 400 people standing on that bridge. And you are looking at the top six feet of buildings, like everything under, it was the River Arts District in Asheville, North Carolina. That's where a lot of the photos that you see of Hurricane Helena from that bridge, and the water is rushing the force of that water. I watched semi trailers.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 5 (21:33):
Float

Speaker 2 (21:34):
Down the river and houses and

Speaker 5 (21:37):
I mean, yeah, houses, whole houses. So the

Speaker 2 (21:40):
Shelters literally obliterated

Speaker 5 (21:42):
The shelter had 12 feet of water in it.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
That's too many feet of water

Speaker 5 (21:48):
Mean. And the sad reality is that we hadn't done that evacuation. I mean,

Speaker 2 (21:52):
Well, I was just about to say, what an incredible leadership decision on your part to decide to evacuate, thinking, whoa, we might have three inches of water mean.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, we might have three inches and the animals would be uncomfortable to literally saving hundreds of lives lives. It's incredible.

Speaker 5 (22:07):
Well, and then you're like, shoot, we already had 50 animals in foster homes the day we evacuated. That meant there was 150 brother wolf animals in foster homes in a disaster zone.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
So now what do you do with that situation? I mean, talk us through it, because I'm over here. I'm panicking and you already figured it out, but I'm having a full on anxiety attack just thinking about it.

Speaker 5 (22:30):
Yeah. It's crazy when things get really, really intense. I get really, really calm and good quality to have

Speaker 1 (22:40):
The direct opposite of me.

Speaker 5 (22:43):
So thank goodness I could actually drive from where I was. That was a very weird drive to take. And just seeing your community in a way that you've never seen it look like before. And I could get to the area of where Brother Wolf is, which is a lot of people who watch the news back then will have heard of Biltmore Village. And Biltmore Village was kind of ground zero. And we were right next to Biltmore Village, so we were in one of the hardest hit areas, certainly in the metropolitan area of Asheville. And you don't know what you're going to find when you get there. And we couldn't get that close because the water was so high still, and I could only see Brother Wolf in the distance. And I mean, even the doors were torn off of the building because of the rushing water rushing into it. And so I was with a friend and I got quiet and took out my phone and started taking pictures, and I walked back to the car and I said, okay, this is what we're going to do. We're going to tell everybody this has happened. We're going to get in touch with all the fosters. We're going to get these animals out of Afro, North Carolina. We're going to raise funds and we're going to build a new shelter. And they were like, it's okay. You can collapse. I was like,

Speaker 1 (24:17):
Not yet. Not yet. Not yet.

Speaker 5 (24:19):
We

Speaker 2 (24:20):
Got some stuff to do. We

Speaker 1 (24:20):
Got work to do. We got

Speaker 5 (24:22):
Some stuff.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
And I got to speak to you the other day, and you had shared with me that you bought some property to build the new shelter on, but you can't build on it yet.

Speaker 5 (24:31):
Yes, yes. So gosh, it's been such a whirlwind, mean, so luckily we were able to get all the 150 animals out in six days. Amazing.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
Without

Speaker 5 (24:40):
Communication. I mean, I literally was like, you could get cell phone service in little areas like

Speaker 1 (24:46):
Little blips. Yeah, little

Speaker 5 (24:46):
Blips. And so everyone's there. There's like 150 people with their phones in the air trying to get service. And so I was texting a staff member who lived in South Carolina saying, can you please send me the addresses of our staff members because I got to go drive to their houses. That's the only way we can talk to each other. And so we put together evacuation with the A-S-P-C-A and other partners to get all the animals out of Asheville. And some of our amazing fosters had already left the area to evacuate because of what was going on, and they took their animals with them. Oh, that's great. That's great. As they should.

Speaker 3 (25:22):
Yes.

Speaker 5 (25:23):
Oh, it was just like the way community comes together in crisis and everything else goes out the window of the neighbor you didn't like, or all of that's gone and everybody's just all hands on deck. Let's get this done. That's wonderful. Yes. We had an amazing response, thankfully to the public, really wanted to see Brother Wolf keep going. Of course, the work that we do is incredibly impactful to so many animals who rely on us. We're really the last stop for so many of them. And so thanks to the outpouring of support, we have been able to envision a new future, and we have purchased land, and we're in the midst of buying a building to renovate because the land is going to be a longer story for us. I mean, no turn in this story has come without challenges,

Speaker 1 (26:17):
I'm sure.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
But I know you had a goal of adopting 300 pets last year and you adopted 900. And so the community continues to step up for Brother Wolf, and I know you've got everything figured out. All the interim plans are in place for when you can move into the new building. And all the pets are in foster homes, right?

Speaker 5 (26:36):
Yes. So it's actually become this really unique, what could we do without a building

(26:42):
Experiment? And we're so lucky. The A-S-P-C-A has a physical presence in Asheville, and so we went from having about 15,000 square feet of facility to using about 1500 square feet of their facility. And thank goodness we had something, but we couldn't have animals spend the night there. So we're taking animals in, we're doing medical care, we're giving foster supplies, but everybody's got to be gone at the end of the day. And so really interesting challenges to face. But we did over 2200 foster home placements out of 1500 square feet. Wow. That's great. That also served as our adoption hub too, so people could come and adopt. We had adoption events at least twice a week, and we placed 905 animals in homes without a big facility. So that's

Speaker 2 (27:35):
Amazing. That's

Speaker 1 (27:35):
Amazing. I really chose the power of community and neighborliness. I think, Leah, you've convinced me to introduce myself to my neighbors after living there for four years, just in case. Just in case. Maybe they should just know my name and something like that. But I think that's absolutely incredible stuff. And it wasn't just homes opening up. My understanding is that some businesses took on some of these animals as well.

Speaker 5 (28:01):
Yes. So we had this idea of, okay, well, the thing is, the more places you have to put animals, the more animals you can save. And so you want as many places as possible to put those animals. And 80% of the animals that Brother Wolf takes in are from under-resourced shelters in Western North Carolina who aren't going to be able to serve that animal. And so you are so critical to this animal's future and really them being here at all. And so we got creative and talk to some local businesses, and we started placing cats in local

Speaker 1 (28:38):
Businesses. You took the Bodega Cat and you turned it into something else entirely. I absolutely love that.

Speaker 5 (28:45):
Now you can adopt the Bodega Cat. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
If only. If only. But that's just, I mean, it really is an impressive community. I don't think Norwalk, Connecticut would get together like that, but maybe you never I think Asheville might moved to Asheville. Yeah. I might have to move to Asheville.

Speaker 2 (29:02):
And Leah, we know the story continues, so we'd love to have you back and to learn how the Bodega Cat,

Speaker 1 (29:09):
The

Speaker 2 (29:09):
Shop Cat Initiative is building

Speaker 1 (29:11):
Out

Speaker 2 (29:12):
As well as the status on the new shelter and

Speaker 1 (29:14):
Everything. And for our listeners who may want to follow the rest of this journey the way through, where can they find you on social media or websites out there? Where can they go?

Speaker 5 (29:22):
Oh yeah. We got the cutest content on social media and we love sharing happy, happy content because there's so much joy in rescue. So look up Brother Wolf Animal Rescue on social media, and we are@bw.org.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
Amazing. Excellent. Well, thank you for taking some time today here at Global Pet Expo. Your participation in everything we've done so far with the Marketing innovation lab coming on the podcast. It's been amazing and truly inspiring. So I'm leaving a better person today, so thank you so much. Thanks,

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Leah.

Speaker 5 (29:50):
Guys.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
Whoa. I've heard the story. I've read the story, but to hear it from her mouth, wow.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
Yeah. I'm not built for that. I'm not built for that kind of drama.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
That's some serious drama.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
Your

Speaker 2 (30:05):
Anxiety would be

Speaker 1 (30:07):
This year. Oh, no problem. We'll do it again.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
No worries.

Speaker 6 (30:15):
Still rolling.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
All right, we'll start from the top.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
Okay. Wow. I've read that about that story.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
I've

Speaker 2 (30:22):
Heard about it from many people, but to hear it from Leah's mouth, it was just really moving.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
Yeah. It made me realize I'm not built for that for crisis. Look at me. I sit at the desk all day.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
You better hope and pray. No crisis coming. I've

Speaker 1 (30:33):
Got no skills. I've gotten no skills that would work in a situation like that. No

Speaker 2 (30:38):
Survival skills.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
No, no. I'm anxious instead.

Speaker 2 (30:41):
Do you at least have a leatherman or a pocket knife or something?

Speaker 1 (30:44):
No, no. I've got kitchen knives. I've got,

Speaker 2 (30:48):
Oh my gosh,

Speaker 1 (30:49):
I've got kitchen knives.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
Well,

Speaker 1 (30:52):
I've got no generator. I tell

Speaker 2 (30:53):
You what, you just need to meet all your neighbors.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
Yeah, I should introduce myself to the neighbors. I think that's my takeaway. I'm going to introduce myself. I'm going to be brave and introduce myself to my neighbors.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
No, great story about the community.

Speaker 1 (31:04):
Yeah, really good stuff.

Speaker 7 (31:05):
Product of the week.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
Alright, it's time for our product of the week. Global Pet Expo edition.

Speaker 3 (31:15):
Oh my

Speaker 1 (31:16):
God. You normally don't get to see Kristen's reaction to this kind of stuff. They put it on my face. But anyway, it's all lot fun. I'm going to go first here, Kristen. Okay. And I'm talking about Petmate. Petmate is a leading pet products company, creating innovative solutions that support real life moments of play care, and connection with brands like Chuck it, I'm going to get to in a second. They focus on durable purpose-driven products that enhance how pets and owners interact every day. I've used a lot of Petmate products, but first, I mean, if you haven't seen the Chuck, it's like, come on, what have you been? Look at this thing. I want to play with it so bad, but I don't have scissors to get through the packaging. Otherwise I'd be firing this off at that very expensive camera earning the ire of every producer on the planet. But this thing is so cool and so fun. If you've got a dog park and we have a really big one near our place, this is the perfect thing to bring to the dog park. And guess launch some balls and have your dog get after it. I think that's really cool. Yeah,

Speaker 2 (32:16):
I

Speaker 1 (32:16):
Think, lemme

Speaker 2 (32:17):
Check that

Speaker 1 (32:17):
It Hold that. Hold that John.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
Cool. Nice, nice.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
Got your two this, they call it the quirky kitty, but it's like a cooling mat for your cat. Here's my question. Does your cat not use their own bed? It's probably because they're too warm. That's what I figured out. That's one of the things we've talked about on the show. This is a cooling mat, and I'm feeling it right now. And boy, it feels cool to the touch, despite me playing it with it for the past minute and a half. It's got that crinkly fabric that cats are really going to like and just holding this product. Yeah, you lay this down in your cat's favorite spot on a hot summer day and they're really going to enjoy that. So that's my pitch for Petmate folks. Look at that right there. You've probably seen their products before, but I really like some of this fun stuff and my Petmate stuff. I have a Petmate cat carrier that I used for Tiger. That's from when we got Gizmo when I was in fourth grade. Wow. And that pet, I mean, it's not like the prettiest carrier because that's the quality's 2003, so looks like a pet carrier. But the quality's there. We used it for Tiger's entire life. So their stuff is Chris bonafide endorsed.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
Yes. And I get to talk about my product of the week is from sport. This is another awesome company, female owned. It's a 30-year-old company, and their whole purpose is to make life more fun. One lucky pet at a time. They are pet owners first making toys for our pets that they really want. And let me just show you. Okay. I get the squeaky toys.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
You got the squeaky toys. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah. So at first I thought this was for cats, but it's actually for little tiny top for cups. So a little plus you with sweeter thisk is bull look. This is that. What is the power ram?

Speaker 1 (34:05):
Large bowl? It's a large,

Speaker 2 (34:07):
This is large. And what's this? The excess.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
Oh, ooh. Oh, it's got a butt. There is a butt on the cow.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
You know what, these are so butt. And I got to say toys like this are bets and you play with your dog with the toy because that helps you build the bond together. Course if Chula will play even Plushy bear soap, either she won't engage with, unless I play this and hey, isn't that what it's all about? The human animal bond

Speaker 1 (34:36):
And those rope toys are actually really good for your dog's teeth.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
Yes, they are. They kind of floss

Speaker 1 (34:40):
As, yeah, they floss. Yeah. Yep.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
So check out pet sport. They've got tons of great, I think they said they have over 250 different skews of toys for dogs and cats, including tennis balls, latex rope, lasers, plush bite tech. I'm not sure what bite tech is. And as I said, female owned company and business for 30 years.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
Heck yes. I love it.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
All right,

Speaker 1 (35:04):
Q and as. All right. And it's time for our favorite part of the show. That's right. We're going to answer two questions from our lovely audience, and I know what you're thinking. Lovely audience. How do I get my question answered by Chris and Kristen? Well, it could it be easier? Head on over to pets at life.org/podcast. Scroll on down to the bottom of that page and you will see a form to submit your question. Or if you're feeling as brave, as crisp, trying to do the whole entire intro to the question segment on one breath.

Speaker 5 (35:33):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
Wow. Oh my God, I knocked my mic over. That's how much energy we got. You can record a voice memo and your question may be played live on our show. Wow. I got a whole head rush there. I should probably breathe more. And I got a question for you or better to say. Jason from Denver, Colorado. Hey

Speaker 2 (35:51):
Jason. Thanks for the question. He's

Speaker 1 (35:53):
Got a question for Kristen and asks, my dog pulls a lot on walks and it makes it stressful for both of us. What's the best way to train loose leash walking without using harsh methods?

Speaker 2 (36:06):
Okay, so good question. And I want to say I'm not a dog trainer, but I have had dogs that do this very thing. Sorry. Yeah, that's okay. Suspect block. Okay. You want me to just stop back? Take it from the top? Your

Speaker 1 (36:22):
Top

Speaker 2 (36:22):
From my top. Okay.

Speaker 1 (36:23):
Your top,

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Jason, is it? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

(36:25):
All right. So Jason, great question. And while I am not a dog trainer professionally, I have had this problem with a couple of my dogs. And the thing is that pulling on a leash is self-reinforcing. The dog pulls, moves forward and learns that pulling works. So if your dog's pulling you and you're just sorry and you're following along and not trying to correct the behavior, they think that's just how a walk should go. So what you can do is once your dog starts to pull, you stop. Just stop either completely or change directions and don't move forward until the leash is loose. And I find it's always best to train this early on

Speaker 3 (37:11):
With your

Speaker 2 (37:12):
Dog when they're young, because as they're older, if they've been pulling for a long time, it's a little bit harder to reverse that behavior. But it is totally possible. And then beyond that, I would just talk to a dog trainer or there's some great videos online for common problems like leash pulling. So

Speaker 1 (37:28):
Yeah, I think what you brought up with the don't, if they're pulling, you can't go forward. You got to wait for them to stop. I think that's the biggest mistake is I see people just sort of getting pulled by their dog and then they wonder why their dog pulls. Well, here's the answer because it works, because it works, because it works.

Speaker 2 (37:45):
And lemme just add to that. You can also have some really high value treats in your pocket so that when they're not pulling, when the leash is loose, you reward them. So they get the idea that, oh, she really likes when the leash is loose.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
Loose leash equal treat.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (37:58):
There we go.

Speaker 2 (37:59):
Alright, so Chris, I have a question for you. Okay. This one comes from Ethan in Portland. Okay. Ethan says, I have an indoor cat and sometimes worried that she's not getting enough stimulation. What are the best ways to keep indoor cats happy and engaged?

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Alright, Ethan, thank you for the question. I think this is a really valuable one and thanks for being suc awesome Cat Dad. Thinking about this kind of stuff, I think there's a lot going on with cats. Cats kind of having its moment and a lot of people think it's because, oh, they're less maintenance and it's not necessarily true. And I think you recognize that, Ethan. I would say first add verticality to your home. Cats love to climb. I've talked about a lot of products that are either cat trees or wall installations. If I were to adopt a cat now I have a wall picked out

Speaker 3 (38:51):
Already

Speaker 1 (38:52):
Where the cat tree and some of those shelving things are going to go to give the cat some verticality because climbing is a stimulating and engaging experience for cats. There's also some really great toys on the market now. I mean, we're talking about cat having its moment and its products are following it. There's alsos of automatic dog toys and cat's now catching up with some stuff that's going to stimulate that hunting instinct

Speaker 3 (39:17):
They

Speaker 1 (39:17):
Have. When a cat is bored, it's because they're not hunting. These are predator animals. They want to feel like they're stalking and hunting and being rewarded for that. And there's some really great products out there that are going to stimulate that, that require a little input from you. But I would also say, play with your cat. Get a little cat wand. Give it 15 minutes to 20 minutes. It's a great way for you to bond and stimulate the cat and keep 'em engaged and happy. So I'd say those three takeaways, Ethan, do that. And you're being a great cat dad, which you're asking this question, I'm sure you already are.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
That's another show in the proverbial can. Chris,

Speaker 1 (39:55):
I don't think the can's proverbial, I'm looking around. The show is literally in a can.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
We are in a can.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
The show is in a can. We are in the can. We are the product. We are the beans. We are the beans in the can, two beans in a can. That's what they say about our show. Yeah. Five starts, two beans in a can. Great show. It was a great show. It was a great show. We're having a blast here at Global. This is a lot of fun. I hope everybody's enjoying this kind of content. Whether you're watching on dog tv, dog TV unleashed their fast channel on YouTube, whether you're listening during your morning commute or while snuggling your furry friend, thank you. We'll be back next week. We never stop. Not for any reason ever. No matter what, even if,

Speaker 2 (40:35):
If, I dunno,

Speaker 1 (40:37):
Even if dogs suddenly gain the skill to talk, they're not going to replace us. Okay. The

Speaker 2 (40:43):
AI might.

Speaker 1 (40:43):
AI might AI Chris.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
Well, we're here until AI takes over.

Speaker 1 (40:47):
Did you know this whole episode's been ai? Chris? This is like a Black Mirror episode. Just kidding. We're here in the flesh and we'll be back next Tuesday. We'll see you then. Pets, add Life, your guide to the latest in Pet Trends products and the joy of the Human Animal bond with Kristen Levine and me. Chris Bonafide powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog tv. I not say dog tv. Did I say it weird?

Speaker 8 (41:13):
This episode was recorded at Global Pet Expo 2026. Here's some other moments from this year's show.

Speaker 6 (41:21):
This is where the pet industry comes alive. Welcome to Global Pet Expo 2026, more than 20,000 attendees, over 1000 brands and thousands of products shaping the future of pet care all under one roof.

Speaker 3 (41:42):
The coolest part is there's so many people that are passionate about the work they do. It's like walked in multiple football fields. I

Speaker 9 (41:49):
Am so excited.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
We have over 350,000 square feet of just booth space that doesn't include any of the special areas. That area is the equivalent to 11 US football fields.

Speaker 9 (42:04):
Many people here, many people there. I heard it's so be excited. Things happening in the expo. So what are we waiting for?

Speaker 3 (42:14):
A PPA was one of the original associations that came together to bring the industry together and then we partnered up with the Pet Industry Distributors Association here a number of years ago to bring their organization in and make sure that we're creating an ecosystem that will fuel the next 60 years of growth.

Speaker 8 (42:29):
Oh my gosh. Whatcha guys excited to see? My goal is to find stuff I've never seen before and I think I'm going to find that here. I'm also really excited about the new product showcase and seeing what they've got in there.

Speaker 9 (42:37):
Let's have a ball guys. Let's do it. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (42:44):
This is where trends don't just appear. They're created.

Speaker 1 (42:48):
We had over 800 products submitted to our new product showcase. This is an amazing opportunity for exhibitors to show you and the buyers exactly what's new in the industry. There's so much innovation happening behind me from

Speaker 6 (43:00):
Cutting edge technology to breakthrough products. Global Pet Expo sets the tone for what's next.

Speaker 1 (43:06):
This is the year the Cat Cat is really having its moment. It's a huge shift in the industry and it's only subplated here by this amazing new product showcase. So for all those cat moms and dads out there, you're going to be seeing some of this awesome stuff. Hit your retail shelf soon. Another huge hit at Global Pet Expo was our startup pavilion. We've been talking a lot about new products. These are the newest, some of them haven't even hit market yet. How

Speaker 3 (43:31):
It been for you, Jeremy? It's been great. You know what? We're just having so much fun and love seeing this industry. Love being a part of it. Love seeing the community come together. That's what it's all about.

Speaker 6 (43:43):
The all new pet fluent studio where content meets commerce and innovation takes center stage, capturing the energy of the show and turning it into powerful storytelling beyond the floor industry. Leaders shared insights shaping the future from retail media and AI to shifting consumer behavior and data-driven growth strategies.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
Okay, three more questions and then we'll keep it going.

Speaker 6 (44:12):
And that was really unique. I hadn't seen that much in that kind of setting, so I wanted to show people today the basic nuts and bolts. The stuff is trainers that we all deal with the messy stuff. Yeah, because things get messy before they get clean,

Speaker 9 (44:23):
But I'm very passionate about what I put in my dog's mouth. Right? Great stocking stuffers four, your pits.

Speaker 8 (44:29):
We are going to head to the Wellness Pet Company booth because I heard they are celebrating their 100th year anniversary. You guys found a really fun way to celebrate that

Speaker 2 (44:39):
Crunchers inside. I'm going to have to buy one of these off of you. My dogs are going to lose their mind. Oh my gosh. Look at that thing. That's so fun. This

Speaker 9 (44:47):
Is actually great for those who are working in the hospital.

Speaker 8 (44:50):
When your dog is having a really outside stomach, this is the thing that saves your day.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
And I'm here at our aquatics and exotics lounge, which is one of my favorite parts of the show with all sorts of tropical fish, some really beautiful creatures as well as exotic animals. It was really cool to be able to see that. I've always wanted to own a reptile

Speaker 6 (45:12):
Pets in the classroom.

Speaker 5 (45:14):
What's so amazing is just met them yesterday.

Speaker 4 (45:18):
Once you hear about this organization, you can't unhear it.

Speaker 5 (45:21):
It would been a synergistic brain session and it was like a total mind meld.

Speaker 6 (45:26):
This is where partnerships are built. Ideas turn into opportunities and the global pet community comes together. You

Speaker 8 (45:33):
Guys want to know what you want? Right? Ready? Ready.

Speaker 5 (45:38):
There's so many brands out there, it truly is a big win.

Speaker 9 (45:46):
Real quick, what got you into the animals? What was your first pet that you like? I love animals. Animals love animals. I love animals do for people, mentally, physically, emotionally. Wanted to be able to get in the space and find ways to be able to make a connectivity between pets and people. And mom here

Speaker 8 (45:59):
Made it. Do you hear the music? I hear it. The On Unleash party means we get to dance. I mean, taking her to the dance. That's true.

Speaker 6 (46:16):
At its core, this isn't just about business. It's about improving the lives of pets and the people who love them. Global Pet Expo doesn't just reflect the industry. It defines where it's going next.

Speaker 3 (46:29):
It's cool to see these early stage companies that are bringing new innovation. And here's the thing that's also really amazing, is that we're bringing more capital to these founders now. We're bringing them money now to take these brilliant ideas and to bring 'em to market. That's what every healthy industry does, is we disrupt. We continue to innovate, we get better. And you know what? More than anything, it's better in these pet's lives. It is. I get excited about

Speaker 9 (46:50):
It. It makes life a lot better on the human animal bond. I am for our pets.

Speaker 6 (47:02):
We will see you next year.

Speaker 7 (47:05):
So what exactly is pet's ad life you're asking? It's a weekly podcast with two hosts sharing two pet stories, interviewing two amazing guests, recommending two awesome products and answering two questions from the audience. And all this is produced by two major pet brands, I guess you can say is too good to be true. You're right. Check out pets. Add life with new episodes every Tuesday.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
If you encounter a snake, don't be a Chris. Just walk the other way.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
God. Questions. The experts have answers.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
Every Friday a brand episode of the Experts Drops. Featuring the biggest names in pet care.

Speaker 2 (47:42):
From behavior to health, training to nutrition are panel of top veterinarians, trainers and technicians tackles it all.

Speaker 1 (47:50):
Real questions from real pet parents and real answers. From the best in the business,

Speaker 2 (47:55):
The experts. Every Friday only on Unleashed by dog tv.

Speaker 1 (47:59):
Watch and learn. Your pet will think.