In this episode of the Pets Add Life Podcast, hosts Chris Bonifati and Kristen Levine celebrate second chances: for shelter dogs who need a little more time to find a home, for pets lost for more than a decade, and for pet parents learning to heal after saying goodbye.
Austin Pets Alive volunteer trainer Jess Borda takes listeners behind the scenes of shelter dog rescue in Austin, Texas, the largest no-kill city in the nation. She explains how behavior support, playgroups, flexible foster programs and free lifetime training help long-stay and hard-to-place dogs get adopted and stay adopted. Award-winning writer Matthew Sigman shares the story behind his memoir, Because of a Dog, about losing his dog Augie after 18 years and finding renewal in a tiny Italian mountain village.
Along the way, Kristen shares an incredible reunion from Evanston, Illinois, where Vanessa Antonino was reunited with her chihuahua, Flor, 12 years after Flor went missing. Flor, now 16, turned up as a stray in Gary, Indiana, but the phone number on her microchip was out of date. Volunteer group Microchip Hunters, which traces outdated "dead-end" chips, tracked down Vanessa's current information, and a shelter volunteer drove Flor home to meet Vanessa and her four children. It is a powerful reminder to register your pet's microchip and update it every time you move.
Chris brings some Swiftie news to the show: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's Samoyed, Wendy, is making her on-screen debut in Tommy Hilfiger's "Only in New York" fall campaign, shot at The Plaza Hotel. He also revisits the modeling careers of Taylor's cats, Olivia Benson, Meredith Grey and Benjamin Button, and the hosts talk about why fans care so much about celebrity pets.
The hosts also recommend a cozy handmade fall dog sweater and a pheromone-infused tofu cat litter for anxious cats, and answer listener questions about cat overstimulation and how families with young kids can choose the right shelter dog. Whether you are thinking about adopting or fostering a dog, coping with pet loss, or decoding your cat's body language, this episode is full of practical pet parenting advice and heartwarming stories about the human-animal bond.
Special Guests:
Jess Borda, Volunteer Trainer & Advocate, Austin Pets Alive
Jess Borda has worked hands-on with shelter dogs at Austin Pets Alive since 2012, with a special focus on dogs who need more time, training or support to find a home. She explains how Austin Pets Alive takes in medical and behavioral cases from the city shelter, uses twice-daily playgroups to evaluate and socialize dogs, and offers free lifetime behavior support to every adopter and foster. She also discusses why some great dogs wait months or even years for a home, how a dog's early shelter reputation can follow them long after they change, and the many ways to help, from weekend foster sleepovers to medical fostering and volunteering. Jess was also one of the volunteers who cared for Opie, a senior dog with terminal cancer whose story helped inspire the organization's hospice foster program.
Matthew Sigman, Award-Winning Writer, Editor & Author of Because of a Dog
Matthew Sigman shares the story of Augie, the shepherd-collie mix he adopted from the Humane Society of New York and shared 18 years with in Manhattan's West Village. He describes how Augie connected him to his neighborhood and led him down streets he never would have explored on his own. After Augie died, an impulsive trip and a fluke on an Airbnb map brought Matthew to Quarna, a remote mountain village in northern Italy, where an unexpected friendship and a welcoming community helped him heal. His memoir, Because of a Dog: How an Enchanted Italian Village Mended a Broken Heart, is a story of escape, discovery and renewal, and a reminder that love and community can help us through grief.
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We're thinking about adopting a dog, but we have two young kids and this would be our first family dog. When we visit a shelter, what should we look for to find a dog whose personality and energy level will actually be a good fit for our family? (Submitted by Rachel from Denver, CO)
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