67. Service Dogs, Disability Advocacy & Adopt-A-Cat Month

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.

00:00:00:03 - 00:00:06:12
Voice Over
Pets Add Life. Your guide to the latest in pet trends, products and the joy of the human animal bond. With Kristine

00:00:06:12 - 00:00:07:03
Voice Over
Levine and.

00:00:07:03 - 00:00:14:13
Voice Over
Chris Bonifati powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog TV.

00:00:14:15 - 00:00:29:20
Chris
All right, everybody. Hello and welcome to another episode of Pets Add Life. The only place where you get me, Chris Bonifati. And those who yearn for the youthful Kristen Levine.

00:00:29:22 - 00:00:33:09
Kristen
That's so sweet of you to say that you're.

00:00:33:11 - 00:00:34:08
Chris
In there in my.

00:00:34:13 - 00:00:35:07
Kristen
I don't know about that.

00:00:35:13 - 00:00:42:10
Chris
We need. We need the show twice a week, but, Chris. Only once a week. That's what they're saying everywhere.

00:00:42:12 - 00:00:44:15
Kristen
Is that what you're hearing?

00:00:44:17 - 00:00:47:15
Chris
I dug a place up. Yeah, but. Hey, Jim.

00:00:47:17 - 00:00:49:08
Kristen
Do you. Yeah. I can't believe it.

00:00:49:10 - 00:00:55:00
Chris
Sheesh. I feel like we were just at Global Pet Expo. We were. We were there, like, yesterday, and it was March.

00:00:55:01 - 00:00:56:24
Kristen
That was March. Yeah.

00:00:57:01 - 00:00:58:19
Chris
Yeah. And we were through the.

00:00:58:19 - 00:01:01:04
Kristen
Worst part time flying, Chris.

00:01:01:06 - 00:01:21:06
Chris
It's crazy, it's crazy, it's crazy. It's absolutely insane. But as time flies, we keep up with it. That's what we do here. You don't need to go onto the internet and look for all your their awesome pet, stories and news and all these products. We bring them right to you. We're serving up two stories, two products, two guests.

00:01:21:06 - 00:01:31:14
Chris
We're gonna answer two of your questions. It's never changing. It's just. It's a it's a time test. And what do we call it? Format to time tested. Yeah. There we go, I nailed it. I into the plan.

00:01:31:15 - 00:01:36:16
Kristen
Oh that's good. I was going to say about a pet we package. Pet package. We package it up for you.

00:01:36:18 - 00:01:41:03
Chris
Once we package it up for you. We're the pet packaging people.

00:01:41:08 - 00:01:42:13
Kristen
Professionals.

00:01:42:15 - 00:01:45:09
Chris
Professionals.

00:01:45:11 - 00:01:48:01
Kristen
Okay, maybe we should get to our stories.

00:01:48:03 - 00:01:59:11
Chris
Yeah, let's go ahead and guess. Let's just cut to story time, play the jingle around. Kristen and Chris present story time.

00:01:59:13 - 00:02:01:00
Kristen
All right, Chris, you want to.

00:02:01:01 - 00:02:09:07
Chris
Chris, I want you to listen. I know, I want you to go for what you've got. Yeah. Ladies first thing. You've got some. Really? You got some really cool stuff to talk about.

00:02:09:09 - 00:02:28:19
Kristen
I do, I'm kind of excited because it is June and this marks the ninth annual Pet Anxiety Awareness Month. This is an event that I created. Back in 2017. All because I wanted to help educate pet parents about, you know, recognizing the signs of fear, stress and anxiety in their pets. So this year, something kind of new.

00:02:28:19 - 00:02:55:12
Kristen
I mean, dog TV has always been a great sponsor, for the for the month. But this year we have partnered with dog TV's new unleashed channel. I'm going to tell you more about that in a minute. And, and just recently we recorded a show that is going to premiere on Friday, June 6th. It's a show, a new series called The Experts, and it's where I get to sit down with four of the brightest minds in pet care veterinarians, trainers, all kinds of experts.

00:02:55:12 - 00:03:18:23
Kristen
And in this particular show that drops on Friday, we talk about pet anxiety and specifically we're focusing on canine, anxiety for this show. And then we're going to do cats on another show. But I was joined by amazing, brilliant pet professionals like Doctor Lisa Rider star, Alex Sessa, who is from peach on a leash, which is a trained dog training company that she started.

00:03:19:00 - 00:03:40:10
Kristen
Victoria Stilwell like celeb status actress Stilwell from Izmir, the dog and doctor Andy Rourke. So that is going to premiere Friday. Check it out on you now. Here's where you watch it. It's on the new unleashed channel, just dog TV. And, it is on the Amazon Fire channel. It is free and you can also check it out on YouTube.

00:03:40:11 - 00:03:55:12
Kristen
So, and then lastly, I just want to thank, reconcile file, which is an FDA approved drug for separation anxiety that you can talk to your vet about, nationwide pet insurance, doggy hush and pet meat for making all of this possible this year.

00:03:55:14 - 00:04:07:06
Chris
It sounds awesome. And you know, you know that that show is truly the experts because I'm nowhere on it. I'm not on it. I'm not on it, folks. That's how you know, if you.

00:04:07:06 - 00:04:10:15
Kristen
Weren't available, you you weren't available to work in your day job.

00:04:10:17 - 00:04:26:14
Chris
I wasn't available because I'm an idiot. What is there like? No, this is a serious show. This is a serious show. No, but it's going to be chock full of great information, folks. Truly. I mean, it's called The Experts because it is. So check out, you.

00:04:26:16 - 00:04:29:14
Kristen
Know what what what do you have for us today, Chris?

00:04:29:14 - 00:04:57:16
Chris
I I've also I've also got something to celebrate. Something, close to me this month. As many of you know, June is in season. It is, biologically, if cats were to exist sort of in the wild, still, this would be the time of the year that they're all having their kittens. So the American Humane Society names June adopt the cat month.

00:04:57:18 - 00:05:16:13
Chris
So while we will definitely be focusing in on animal anxiety and pet anxiety, I just want to call out we've been talking a lot about rescues and and cats and stuff like this. And this is, you remember last episode? I messed it up because I had two stories prepared, and I forgot when we're airing. What? So this is now true information.

00:05:16:13 - 00:05:35:09
Chris
We're in June for real, folks. Okay, this is not May 27th. This is June 3rd. There's the shelters are going to be filling up, because the stray cats are going to be having their kittens. And I know it's not the only time of the year that kittens are born, but this is really when shelters start to fill up.

00:05:35:09 - 00:06:04:19
Chris
So if you've been listening to Pets at Life, then listening to Chris and Christina, you're like, you know, I really think I want to get a cat. Now is your time. You're going to be seeing a lot of shelters, running specials, where they're going to discount the adoption fees. A lot of shelters will be picking up sponsors, you know, whether they're private, folks making big donations to cover, fees or corporate with organizations, maybe sending parents home with a gift basket with some of their products.

00:06:04:21 - 00:06:22:12
Chris
If you have been waiting for your sign to pull the trigger, here's your sign, folks. Here it is. Chris, telling you right now it's adopt a Cat month. Check it out. I really think, in my opinion, there's no reason to get a cat from anywhere other than a shelter. And I understand people want to have a kitten.

00:06:22:12 - 00:06:38:06
Chris
They want to see that animal grow. I get that even though I've pretty much always adopted full grown, cats, that's just always been my, my choice. But now is your chance to, find that kitten and get them a forever home. So be sure to check it out.

00:06:38:08 - 00:06:57:22
Kristen
Yeah, great. Great suggestion. You know, I just realized I've never adopted a kitten, either. I've always adopted adult cats. But I did foster kittens once, which was really fun. So that might be another option. For those of you who maybe don't want to commit for. Yeah, maybe you're trying out, being a cat parent. Maybe do some fostering.

00:06:57:24 - 00:07:23:20
Chris
Yeah. Fostering kittens is a tough job. No, it depends. It depends on the age. Because there are there are parents and these people are, you know, godsend who foster kittens that were fully abandoned by their parent and a kitten, like a true newborn kitten, is about the same amount of work as a newborn human. Truly. Yeah. It's the same amount of feeding, the same amount of attention.

00:07:23:22 - 00:07:49:12
Chris
The same risk. I mean, these things are not like other mammals that are born and pretty much good to go. They are super vulnerable and will find ways to endanger themselves and incredible, incredible ways. So, thank you to all of those, surrogate fosters and anybody who fosters animals. You are you are doing very difficult and rewarding work beyond the leash exploring the untold stories of pet passion and professionalism.

00:07:49:14 - 00:08:17:17
Kristen
All right. Join me in welcoming our guest, Jamie Simpson. She's an influential entrepreneur, dedicated disabilities advocate, and the founder of New Life Working Dogs. This is an organization committed to training, highly skilled service and working dogs. A proud Cherokee First Nations native, Jamie leverages her extensive experience as a professional dog trainer and social media influencer to amplify awareness around epilepsy and other disabilities.

00:08:17:19 - 00:08:50:09
Kristen
Now diagnosed with epilepsy herself, Jamie openly shares her personal journey online, helping to eliminate stigma and to provide critical insight into living as Sophia in life despite medical challenges. Jamie service dogs Echo and Everest play essential roles in her health management, detecting and responding to medical emergencies. Now, she also leads Embrace Every Day an organization aimed at connecting communities, providing vital support and advocating for systemic improvements for disabled individuals.

00:08:50:11 - 00:09:00:07
Kristen
Jamie continues to inspire others with her authenticity, resilience, and advocacy through powerful storytelling and compassionate leadership. Welcome, Jamie.

00:09:00:09 - 00:09:04:00
Jamie
Thank you so much for that. That wonderful introduction.

00:09:04:02 - 00:09:09:07
Kristen
Well, you're wonderful. You're doing all of that. You sound very busy, I love it.

00:09:09:09 - 00:09:13:18
Jamie
I am right, you see, I also see kids on the side too.

00:09:13:18 - 00:09:26:20
Kristen
Oh my goodness. Wow. Well, well you filled obviously a very impressive platform as an influencer. What inspired you to share such a personal and vulnerable experience?

00:09:26:22 - 00:09:43:09
Jamie
I think mostly the fact that no one really shares that side of disability and dogs that help, in that way, openly and vulnerably.

00:09:43:11 - 00:10:16:05
Chris
I think there's a lack of true authenticity on the internet nowadays, and I think your story is incredibly authentic and your Australian Shepherd echo is more than just a companion. He he's there to help save your life regularly. So can you walk us through, how echo first started detecting your seizures? Sort of what his role is in your day to day life and how it just really improves your, you know, the quality of life that you get to enjoy.

00:10:16:07 - 00:10:47:04
Jamie
Wow. A lot of questions there. Echo. Echo is wonderful. I first start him with the intentions of just meeting his needs. I know that I'll share in shepherds. They're energetic and they need to stay busy, but they don't always want to work in a way that helps people. They sometimes like to herd and do other things. And I was perfectly fine and prepared to meet his needs.

00:10:47:04 - 00:11:22:15
Jamie
However, I started noticing that he was very interested and sense. And actually I was in a car accident. And I didn't realize I had, such severe epilepsy until after I already had echo. And when that epilepsy started getting worse, echo picked up on it, pretty fast. Well, and, I started noticing some differences in body language, and I think more so in my family because I'm unresponsive when I'm having a blood tick seizures.

00:11:22:17 - 00:11:42:18
Jamie
But I did notice when I was coming out of it. And to preface, when you're coming out of an epileptic seizure, you kind of almost get your senses one by one. So I was not completely there. But I did notice that echo was always right by my side, and he was always helping, and the best way he could.

00:11:42:20 - 00:12:08:19
Jamie
And so I kind of shaped him bringing me random stuff and him sitting right next to me to, okay, he understands this. And how can we add behaviors to this that helps me and teach him, to love what he does, automatically. And so that's kind of where that came from. Well, but as you can tell from our videos, we've created such a great bond.

00:12:08:19 - 00:12:14:08
Jamie
Aside from that, that has just really, connected the both of us.

00:12:14:10 - 00:12:24:11
Kristen
Yeah. And what's so interesting is if if I'm understanding this correctly, echo was not trained to detect your epileptic seizures, right?

00:12:24:13 - 00:12:40:24
Jamie
At first she wasn't. And then, we did put him in training, and I also worked with him. I worked with my mentors more than anything. And I asked a lot of questions because I do know that also in shepherds aren't your average service dog.

00:12:41:01 - 00:12:41:22
Chris
Right?

00:12:41:24 - 00:12:43:22
Jamie
So, yes.

00:12:43:24 - 00:12:54:16
Kristen
That's true. I wanted to ask you to talk to us more about your organization, embrace every day. So you're advocating for disability awareness and service dog support. Talk to us a little bit about that.

00:12:54:18 - 00:13:26:15
Jamie
So embrace every day really came from the fact that, I felt vulnerable myself. Not necessarily having someone that I could look up to for seizures specifically because seizures are a little bit of a, an embarrassing thing for some people to show online, but partially now. And I also have pots and I have vascular alerts, Danlos syndrome.

00:13:26:20 - 00:13:56:18
Jamie
And there's just so many disabilities that I found that aren't spoken for. More so than what I just carry. There's many and when I started seeing other people share their stories, to me personally, my inboxes were full of just a plethora of people sharing their stories. I was like, okay, we need to advocate for some of these people because I have never heard of many of these diagnoses and they're very serious and people do need to be heard.

00:13:56:20 - 00:14:17:18
Jamie
And so embrace every day was just really started because I wanted to give a voice to people who didn't feel like they had a platform to speak on. And so we also have embrace of friends. So where we, we, we connect to people with similar disabilities, similar places, and there's been a lot of friendships and support built through that as well.

00:14:17:20 - 00:14:50:10
Chris
Yeah. That's that's amazing. I mean, one thing, my day job, I always say my day job is organizing a major trade show, Global Pet Expo, and it's a challenge for an organizer to consider the abilities of all of the show attendees. And, you know, us creating things like, you know, almost like sensory deprivation rooms, like quiet rooms and nursing mother rooms and making sure that there's wheelchair access everywhere that I've been doing the job for ten years.

00:14:50:10 - 00:15:07:10
Chris
Ten years ago, that really wasn't something that we considered or talked about. And now it's ingrained into part of our plan. So organizations like your, embrace every day it's working because we're hearing it and we're saying, wow, this is like, this is something we need to consider for the work that we're doing. So, huge kudos to you.

00:15:07:15 - 00:15:33:12
Chris
But my my big question in, this is one that I just, I really got to ask, you know, balancing motherhood with this, I can only imagine. I mean, becoming a parent is stressful enough, but, you know, how do you navigate these, these daily challenges of parenting as well as your own health and having the dogs and this this growing family?

00:15:33:14 - 00:15:35:17
Chris
How do you keep those plates spinning?

00:15:35:19 - 00:16:08:18
Jamie
I'm not going to lie to you. It's very challenging. With very specific routine and to working like a well-oiled machine. You can get it done. But it is definitely hard. And you have to make sure you meet everyone's needs in the house. Because if you don't, then your routine is thrown off in itself. My one daughter, my oldest daughter just turned three, and then I have a nine month old, so they have very big needs.

00:16:08:18 - 00:16:21:05
Jamie
And, high maintenance at the moment because they're little. And then you have dogs that have, need to just the same as a toddler. So, yeah.

00:16:21:11 - 00:16:21:22
Chris
Yeah.

00:16:21:24 - 00:16:35:08
Jamie
So we are working with almost four children basically. Yeah. And the first two is basically an extra additional child to being outside. So I have.

00:16:35:10 - 00:16:42:01
Jamie
But yeah, it's it's challenging. I don't really know how to say how besides routine, routine, routine.

00:16:42:03 - 00:16:47:22
Kristen
Well, I'm envisioning a reality show for you, Jamie. With all that you're all that you're managing, it would be.

00:16:48:01 - 00:16:49:11
Jamie
It would be so entertaining.

00:16:49:11 - 00:17:10:18
Kristen
I'd probably I oh, I can see it now. So beyond your, obviously your family life managing all of that and the advocacy work that you do, you're also really involved in disability rights. So what's the most critical change that you would like to see in how our society interacts with and supports people with disabilities?

00:17:10:20 - 00:17:49:23
Jamie
I think educating themselves, humbling yourself to a point where you realize there will be no point where you know everything and, even I mean, if I was 70 years old and I did this my entire life at 70, I'd probably still say I don't know, nearly enough. And I think that establishments, at times and even schools or, they might figure that they know enough about disabilities.

00:17:49:23 - 00:17:56:02
Jamie
And education is so important because you just don't know what people's needs might be.

00:17:56:04 - 00:18:27:01
Chris
Yeah. That's a that's a that's a great point. I think having that open minded approach and and never really resting on your laurels like understanding like things change too. I mean, you know what what we are capable of diagnosing what we're putting names to, is ever evolving. And it's important to stay on top of that, that kind of thing, especially if you have any type of public facing, job if you're in, in service or I guess, dealing with the public, these are important things to stay on top of.

00:18:27:03 - 00:18:28:03
Jamie
Right.

00:18:28:05 - 00:18:52:01
Chris
Jamie, I want to go back to, echo. And, you know, Kristin had asked that question, about him, sort of not not having that training before. So you have, experience training a a service dog who he clearly had a natural knack for this, but you had to get him, to the point where he was really capable of doing a job.

00:18:52:03 - 00:19:07:15
Chris
I'm sure you have a lot of listeners who may be considering training their dog for service. So do you have any tips or tricks or, best practices, misunderstandings, anything like that for for training your dog and getting them to the point where they could do a job?

00:19:07:17 - 00:19:49:18
Jamie
Yeah, I actually got the dog training. I have a lot of oh, wow, family who trains dogs. So dogs for me is it's natural and it's not for everybody. And I think the biggest misconception that I see, because I train service dogs on a day to day basis, is that it really is kind of my full time job, along with advocating for disabilities, is that once you prepare a dog mentally for the outdoor world and their basic obedience and they feel confident and comfortable, the task training is actually the easy part because that's the fun stuff for the dog.

00:19:49:20 - 00:20:17:04
Jamie
Whereas I think sometimes people might get so caught up in, my dog needs to be able to sniff this out. Dogs love sniffing. They're way better at smelling than we are. That's the easy stuff for them. Comforting you. That's natural for them a lot of the time, but more so than anything, it's meeting their needs and then loving to do the basics.

00:20:17:04 - 00:20:22:07
Jamie
That really needs some, emphasis.

00:20:22:09 - 00:20:52:07
Kristen
Yeah, that's great advice. Now, Jimmy, before we let you go, I'd like to ask you, and this is kind of getting back to what we were just talking about with the need for education. If if someone, following you or maybe they're listening to this podcast and they've been inspired to share their own experience or journey, with their disability, what advice would you give them, to help them feel more comfortable sharing, you know, the vulnerable parts of themselves?

00:20:52:09 - 00:21:15:19
Jamie
There will always be a moment when you're showing an active medical episode that you all second guess it, but the the easiest thing that helped me be able to share continuously is knowing that there's somebody out there who's going through the same thing and they just don't know what to do. They don't know how to handle it, and they're scared and alone right now.

00:21:15:21 - 00:21:19:00
Jamie
And you could be that person to help them.

00:21:19:02 - 00:21:33:20
Chris
Yeah, that's really inspirational stuff. Jamie. Thank you so much for taking the time today to join us. Where can all of our beautiful followers and listeners, find you on social or the internet?

00:21:33:22 - 00:21:43:03
Jamie
Instagram. Tick tock. Our website at Embrace everyday.com. And our socials are called Embracing Echo.

00:21:43:05 - 00:21:48:16
Chris
Amazing. Thank you so much for taking the time today. Well, I'll be following your story closely.

00:21:48:18 - 00:21:50:02
Kristen
Yeah. Thank you Jamie.

00:21:50:04 - 00:21:54:14
Jamie
Thank you so much guys.

00:21:54:16 - 00:22:03:16
Kristen
Wow. She's really inspiring. You know, with her ability to share her vulnerability. And, I'm not surprised she has such a strong following.

00:22:03:18 - 00:22:26:04
Chris
Yeah, I mean, it's tough to be honest on the internet about all the parts of you. I've been dishonest with everybody. Listen to this. You guys don't know anything about it, did you? Do you think you do? Because I talk about my cat. You don't know anything about me. So to go out there on the internet and share those truly vulnerable parts, it's tough because I'm sure there's a lot of backlash and hate messages and bunch of creeps out there.

00:22:26:04 - 00:23:01:07
Chris
Right? So, sure, really, really proud of Jamie for for putting her best foot forward because it's like it's like she said right at the end of the interview, you could be that person who really helps somebody who need who needs it. So that's and that's using social media for good. And we are joined now by the lovely Julie Castle, the CEO of Best Friends Animal Society, a leading national animal welfare welfare organization dedicated to ending the killing of dogs and cats in shelters across the US.

00:23:01:09 - 00:23:35:14
Chris
After graduating magna cum laude from Southern Utah University, Julie was headed to law school when a visit to Best Friends Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, inspired her to change course. Starting as the 17th employee, she took on various roles from animal caregiver to tour guide and eventually rising to CEO in 2018. Under her leadership, Best Friends has expanded its reach, forming partnerships with over 2200 organizations nationwide and spearheading initiatives to promote pet adoption and community involvement.

00:23:35:19 - 00:23:47:17
Chris
Julie is recognized for her innovative approach to animal welfare and her commitment to creating a No Kill nation. Julie, thank you so much for taking some time out of your busy schedule to join us today.

00:23:47:19 - 00:23:50:24
Julie
Of course, it's an honor to be here. Thank you for having me.

00:23:51:01 - 00:24:07:24
Chris
Yeah. So I want to jump right into it and say, you you made a very brave choice early on in your life. You were headed to law school and then decided, nope. So can you share a bit about how that initial visit, to the sanctuary just kind of made you change gears?

00:24:08:01 - 00:24:31:03
Julie
It was, you know, it was one of those moments in your life where I think it's a good lesson to be open to whatever the universe throws at you. Yeah. This is a massive curveball by the universe. And I was heading back from a trip to Mexico with my friends, and one of my friends really wanted to stop at this sanctuary in southern Utah.

00:24:31:03 - 00:24:59:14
Julie
And of course, we were thinking, we've got to get back. We're headed to graduate school, and we pull into this magnificent red rock canyon in southern Utah, wedged between Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon. And in any other state, it would have been a national park. And we took a tour with one of the founders and had lunch with the rest of them, and they shared their philosophy about no kill, and I've never heard of it before.

00:24:59:14 - 00:25:27:15
Julie
And of course, the only experience I'd had in a shelter was that the typical vision out by a city dump, cinder block building, corrugated metal roof. I walk into adopt a Cat and there's this cowboy sitting at the desk reading a newspaper with his wife on the table, and I asked them, hey, where are all the animals? And he said, well, we took care of them this morning.

00:25:27:17 - 00:25:55:16
Julie
And I said, well, what is that? And he said, well, we every morning we collect them all and take them in the back and put them in a barrel and hook them up to the gas, the exhaust pipe of a truck. And I could not believe what I heard. And so that that was the image that I had a couple of years before I visited the sanctuary, and I was so taken by the founder's vision and this idea of no kill.

00:25:55:18 - 00:26:16:21
Julie
And it really captivated my imagination. Like, this is something that as the wealthiest country in the world, we can do. And so we pulled out of the sanctuary and I stopped at a gas station, put a couple of quarters in the payphone, and I called my dad, and I said, I'm not law school.

00:26:16:23 - 00:26:34:24
Julie
I was this long pregnant. Pause. And he was not a happy guy, but I basically never left. I became employees 17 and have done virtually every job in the entire organization. And what a great choice I made.

00:26:35:01 - 00:26:38:05
Kristen
Yes, you sure did. That's a great story.

00:26:38:07 - 00:26:41:17
Julie
That's the that's what the universe dealt me that day.

00:26:41:19 - 00:26:57:24
Kristen
Well, as Chris mentioned in the intro, you know, Best Friends has grown significantly under your leadership with the 2200 partnerships, what have you found have been the most effective strategies? And as you build that network of shelters and partners, you.

00:26:57:24 - 00:27:25:09
Julie
Know, it's I think I think the biggest moment for us was, you know, here we had this vision of creating a no kill nation. You know, a time when we don't have to kill animals in our local shelters simply because they don't have a home. But the missing piece for us was, we we really needed to just declare it publicly and say, we're going to do it by this date.

00:27:25:09 - 00:27:58:09
Julie
And so in 2016, we put our stake in the ground to say we're going to end the killing in this country by the end of 2025. And what we then had to quickly get to work on was nobody in our field or anywhere else knew even how many shelters there were in this country, if you can believe that in that time and that year of 2016, with so much technology and knowledge, we didn't know how many shelters there were, let alone how many animals were dying.

00:27:58:11 - 00:28:31:13
Julie
And so for us, we we decided the most important thing was to get our hands on the data. What are we really dealing with here? How many animals are dying, where are they dying and what shelters? And so we went about county by county all over the country to round up this data. And then from there we could build the strategy on okay, we now know that the top five states in the country that are killing the most animals are California, Texas, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.

00:28:31:15 - 00:28:57:16
Julie
Let's focus the bulk of our efforts on those states. You know, those are the kind of decisions that the really acquiring this data really allowed for us. And from there, we got more and more refined as we got more sophisticated with this. And it's proven to be very attractive for our partners, too, because, they didn't have that knowledge either.

00:28:57:18 - 00:29:10:05
Julie
And so we we really have leaned on that data to drive our decisions and to pull in strategic partners along the way to save lives.

00:29:10:07 - 00:29:27:21
Chris
Yeah. That's, incredible the amount of reach you all have. I said in the intro, it community involvement is a huge cornerstone of Best Friends mission. But what does that mean? What does that mean for an animal shelter to engage their community?

00:29:27:23 - 00:29:59:04
Julie
You know, it's, it's such a great question. And I think, that is, it feels like a no brainer, I think, to most people. But when you think about the shelter system in this country, it was created 150 years ago, and it virtually did not change for decade after decade until really the founders started Best Friends, and they asked a simple question, which was, wait a second, why are we killing our best friends rather than trying to save them?

00:29:59:06 - 00:30:25:15
Julie
And so really that if you look at it from that lens and you say, okay, how do we help these shelters? Well, you fast forward to today and you look at the team that we have and the volunteers and the, advocates, see members we have all over the country. The biggest thing is going into these shelters and really thinking about them more as a retail location.

00:30:25:17 - 00:30:49:17
Julie
And so a lot of these places that we are walking into, you know, their hours of operation were like 10 a.m. to, to, and not thinking about most people have jobs. They can't just slip away during the day to pop down to the shelter. And oh, by the way, how about opening on the weekends? And what about marketing yourself to the public?

00:30:49:17 - 00:31:23:19
Julie
Those were all really, really basic, basic, techniques and tactics to engage and involve a local community and helping save lives. And that that to me was, you know, it wasn't a shocker, but it was really pervasive when we started our work that a lot of the people in communities didn't even know these shelters existed and didn't know down the street, a couple of blocks, thousands of animals were dying right under their noses.

00:31:23:19 - 00:31:30:05
Julie
And once the community knew that, the engagement just really happens organically.

00:31:30:07 - 00:31:50:02
Kristen
So, Julie, I know that, dog TV recently had the opportunity to film at Best Friends for the new adoption show. And, that was such an honor. And, the and the crew and Amber really enjoyed doing that. And I think if it's okay, we're going to play a little clip of it here. Is, is this this is for the dog TV unleashed channel.

00:31:50:02 - 00:31:59:18
Kristen
So let's take a quick look.

00:31:59:20 - 00:32:17:20
Speaker 5
Hi, I'm Amber Akar and we are here at Best Friends Animal Society's lifesaving center in Soho, New York City. We're here to learn more about the impactful efforts that they put into rescuing and rehoming animals. So we're going to go chat with Marlin Roberts, the executive director, to go learn more about their mission and how they save animals every single day.

00:32:17:21 - 00:32:32:24
Speaker 5
Let's go. Hey, Marlin, how are you going? Thanks for having me. I'm this close to bringing home a cat and. But can you tell us more about Best Friends mission? You know, nationwide and all the things they're doing to help rehome and rescue animals?

00:32:33:01 - 00:32:53:10
Speaker 6
Best Friends Animal Society was founded in 1984, and has pioneered the movement to end the killing of dogs and cats in America. Shelters lowering that number from around 17 million to down to about 415,000. Wow! Best Friends Animal Society is leading the way to end the killing of dogs and cats in America's shelters, and we want to bring about a time when there's no more homeless pets.

00:32:53:13 - 00:33:04:01
Speaker 5
So here is the executive director. Are there any ways that you partner with your community, with local shelters here that help rescue animals and involve the community here locally?

00:33:04:03 - 00:33:23:10
Speaker 6
Best friends in New York City. We offer so many opportunities to get involved with the community. Us personally. We work with our local municipal shelter animal care centers of New York City. We work with them to host local events to really get the community engaged. And in addition to that, we offer opportunities to foster, to volunteer, to collaborate with other shelters.

00:33:23:16 - 00:33:27:17
Speaker 6
And that's all in the sake of really ending the killing of dogs and cats in America's shelters.

00:33:27:19 - 00:33:30:07
Kristen
How come I didn't get that assignment?

00:33:30:09 - 00:33:32:23
Julie
Wait, we should hire that guy. He. He did.

00:33:33:00 - 00:33:35:15
Chris
It seems like he knows what he's doing.

00:33:35:17 - 00:33:37:14
Julie
Yeah, right.

00:33:37:16 - 00:33:54:01
Kristen
So, so, by the way, that's going to be on, the new adoption show on, dog TV's unleashed channel, on Amazon Fire and on YouTube. So look forward to that. Looking ahead, Julie, what are your primary goals for best friends in the next five years?

00:33:54:03 - 00:34:24:10
Julie
You know, I think that when we when we set out to create a no kill nation and do it by the end of 2025, we know that there are going to be shelters that still haven't achieved that no kill status. And so our primary goal is to finish the job. And the way that we look at this is, look, there are a lot of causes out there, a lot of great causes, a lot of great charities, but a lot of them don't have a solution or a cure.

00:34:24:12 - 00:34:58:18
Julie
But we know exactly how to do this. We have the solution. We have the cure to ending the killing of shelter pets in America. And I think about it in terms of that, you know, this is a golden opportunity for us as a nation, for us as human beings to say we we need to do right by our best friends and our our dog and cat friends that ended up in this, this situation in a shelter by no fault of their own.

00:34:58:20 - 00:35:32:22
Julie
And it's our charge and duty to finish the job. And so for us, it really is about, you know, the the December 31st, 2025 doesn't just come and go for us. It means we still, get up in the morning and what we're thinking about and what the most important thing for us is, is to solve this forever and sort of create that situation where we really are changing society.

00:35:32:24 - 00:35:39:07
Julie
Yeah, that that is, what what a blessing and an honor to have that kind of responsibility.

00:35:39:09 - 00:35:50:19
Chris
So, Julie, before we let you go, if any of our wonderful listeners want to either learn more or find ways to contribute, where can they go?

00:35:50:21 - 00:36:13:15
Julie
So I would say the best thing that you can do is pop on to our website. It's Best friends.org. You can go on our live life saving dashboard and look up the status of where your community is at. Because we have every shelter in the country on that dashboard, and you can look to see where they need help.

00:36:13:16 - 00:36:41:17
Julie
If, every shelter needs volunteers, every shelter needs foster homes, every shelter needs donations. And so I would say start with our website. Go from there. Everybody can open their home or their bathroom for a couple of weeks to some kittens that you're actually going to be saving their lives by giving a shelter, the opportunity to take a breath and not have these kittens in their care.

00:36:41:17 - 00:36:51:12
Julie
And there's so many ways that you can get involved, but fostering is a huge way. Volunteering and donating great advice.

00:36:51:14 - 00:37:03:11
Kristen
Julie, and thank you so much for the work that you're doing. And, I hope to get out to the best friends facility of myself one of these days. I would love to have a tour like you had back in the day. I'd love to check it out because I've never actually gotten to see it in person.

00:37:03:11 - 00:37:09:01
Kristen
So, thanks so much for joining us this week. And, keep up the great work.

00:37:09:03 - 00:37:17:20
Julie
Hey. Thank you. And it was, again, an honor to be here. And we'll have you at the sanctuary any time. It'll it'll change your life. So open invitation for me.

00:37:17:23 - 00:37:19:21
Kristen
Looking forward to it.

00:37:19:23 - 00:37:20:20
Chris
Thank you.

00:37:20:22 - 00:37:25:08
Julie
All right. We'll see you later.

00:37:25:10 - 00:37:43:17
Chris
A lot of lives. And it was great having Julian and I. I can't wait to check out the adoption show on dog TV. On the on the channel? Yeah, it looks really exciting. It's always a pleasure to see him Barakat do what she does best. And it might have been better if it was Chris Levine, but I'm be I'm not here to play favorites.

00:37:43:17 - 00:37:45:13
Chris
I'm not here to play favorites.

00:37:45:15 - 00:37:50:16
Kristen
Maybe we'll do a second episode, and maybe I'll throw my hat in the ring to to.

00:37:50:16 - 00:37:51:04
Chris
Do.

00:37:51:06 - 00:37:51:18
Kristen
That gig.

00:37:51:18 - 00:38:04:18
Chris
I mean, you're an original, an OG shelter guy. You really are. I mean, like, that's that's where you cut your teeth. So listen, listen, Ron, what are we doing here? What are we doing here, man?

00:38:04:20 - 00:38:07:24
Kristen
Now, Amber does a great job, and, I can't wait to see the show.

00:38:08:01 - 00:38:08:22
Chris
Yep.

00:38:08:24 - 00:38:11:03
Jamie
The product of the week.

00:38:11:05 - 00:38:37:08
Chris
All right, Kristen, it's time for the product of the week. And to go with my little cat theme I got going on today. Yeah. You know, we've we've been, changing over some furniture in our, in our home, because we just had such a hodgepodge of you know, what was a relatives and what we bought at for our old place and what we bought here.

00:38:37:08 - 00:38:52:00
Chris
And it's like, okay, it's time to get everything matching under one Grown-Up furniture. Yeah. No, maybe I don't know. I don't know what grown up furniture is. Does that mean it was expensive? Because it's definitely not expensive. No, I money.

00:38:52:02 - 00:39:01:14
Kristen
Well, if it's matching. If it's matching, if it looks more cohesive now then yeah I think that's grown up. You're adulting with your friend, with your with your decor.

00:39:01:17 - 00:39:22:12
Chris
I got to be adulting somewhere. So maybe the furniture will do it. Well. So we've been looking for cat stuff that sort of matches the esthetic. And I found these accounts on Chewy and Link in the show notes, as always. And this is from a company called Briscoe. And it's this really esthetically pleasing, scratching post and ball.

00:39:22:14 - 00:39:49:13
Chris
So it's like got it's triangles and then gets like this big scratching ball that your cat can just kind of go crazy on. It's got like a written design side too, but that's also scratching by the cats. And it's got like very natural wood, neutral tone, sort of like every, I don't know, 30 year old's dream nowadays. So I'm not sure on the actual quality of the toy.

00:39:49:13 - 00:40:15:12
Chris
Tiger doesn't really demand much. She's not really scratching much anyway. But she does like to have something to rub against. And Poland. So we decided to go with this. And, you know, if you're if you're looking for some attractive furniture, I checked out their site. They have all sorts of stuff, that that just sort of looks better than, you know, those cat towers that kind of look like, you know, grandma's retirement home, right?

00:40:15:12 - 00:40:24:18
Chris
Like. Oh, you know what I mean? Like that. They really like weird colored carpeting that's on there. So I, you know, there's options out there, folks. There's options.

00:40:24:20 - 00:40:45:19
Kristen
All right. That's a good one. My product this week has to do with Pet Anxiety Awareness Month. One of our partners is a company called Doggy Hush. And check this out. Well, okay, if you're watching us on YouTube or social, you can see this. If you're not, you need to go check this out because it's so cool.

00:40:45:21 - 00:40:50:18
Kristen
The company is called Doggy Hush. And these are like, noise canceling headphones for a dog.

00:40:50:18 - 00:40:51:12
Chris
That's awesome.

00:40:51:18 - 00:41:14:17
Kristen
And he gathers so cool. They're really well made to, specially designed, ear covering that helps reduce the impact of loud noises. So whether it's fireworks or thunderstorms or construction and this is obviously ideal for dogs that have noise phobia. And it just really it muffles the sounds and kind of gives them a calming effect without the use of medication.

00:41:14:19 - 00:41:32:16
Kristen
I'm not saying it would work for every dog, but I think it's, you know, a great new innovation. I've seen so many different products for, you know, noise, phobias. And this, this is really cool. They also make not this company. But there's another company that makes, like a band that goes off the ears. But this would be so much more comfortable.

00:41:32:19 - 00:41:34:17
Chris
Yeah, that looks comfy.

00:41:34:19 - 00:41:35:10
Kristen


00:41:35:12 - 00:41:41:00
Chris
It kind of looks like Madonna's bra. It's it's. Well, it does look.

00:41:41:02 - 00:41:43:00
Jamie
Cakey, but they do.

00:41:43:02 - 00:41:43:20
Chris
Come in and.

00:41:43:20 - 00:41:47:02
Kristen
They come in all different sizes and you can check out.

00:41:47:06 - 00:41:52:02
Chris
Because those. Look, no one's held up, look pretty big. And I was like, what are you if you have a tiny guy. So yeah they haven't.

00:41:52:04 - 00:42:02:24
Kristen
They got 4 or 5 sizes and doggy hush.com is where you can learn more and get a pair and they're there I don't know I don't remember the price but I remember thinking oh that's pretty reasonable. So check out doggy hush.

00:42:03:01 - 00:42:09:12
Chris
Yeah. Clever idea. Very clever. Well well done doggy hush.

00:42:09:14 - 00:42:10:24
Kristen


00:42:11:01 - 00:42:30:02
Chris
Q and days. All right, folks, we have arrived. We have. We are here at our favorite part of the show. That's right. We're going to answer two of your burning questions, dear listener. And I know what you're thinking. How do I get my question answered by Chris and Kristen? Well, the answer's a lot simpler than you might think.

00:42:30:02 - 00:42:52:24
Chris
You're going to head on over to Pat's at life.org/podcast. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. You're going to see the form to submit. Or if you're feeling as brave as our, guest Jamie, sharing your story, you can share your question with us. Take that step forward. Take the risk, people, and you might hear your question played live on these air.

00:42:53:01 - 00:42:57:03
Chris
So let's go ahead and get into it. Kristen, I heard you got.

00:42:57:03 - 00:43:11:05
Kristen
Okay for me. Yeah, I do, this one comes from Emily. Emily in Portland. Emily says is it safe for my indoor cat to explore the backyard? I'm concerned about potential risks.

00:43:11:07 - 00:43:35:15
Chris
Yeah, this is like one of those where I need a lot more info a day. How long has your cat been an indoor cat? B? What's that? Backyard like? Portland. It could be anything, you know. Do you have a fence? How energetic is your cat? How capable is your cat of getting over barriers? My immediate answer with no further information is no.

00:43:35:17 - 00:44:00:19
Chris
Cats instincts can be dulled really, really quickly. Tiger used to be an outdoor cat. And would spend days outside, come back for meals, you know, just every couple days. Now we can pretty much leave our back door open, and she won't go out there. She knows it's not safe. She doesn't really care. So my advice is, let's take this in baby steps.

00:44:00:21 - 00:44:19:24
Chris
Maybe a cardio might be a good solution. Maybe a little, maybe a little harness and leash action. Because cats can be unpredictable with their behavior. And unless you are a star athlete, if that cat decides to bolt, you're not catching it. You're not catching it, decides to jump over a fence and take off. There's there's no way.

00:44:19:24 - 00:44:39:16
Chris
So maybe start harnessed in leash with a couple of walks and see how they react to things. You definitely want to keep this tuning enclosed thing, and don't underestimate what your cat can get out of there. If they want to be somewhere, they're gonna find a way. They're geniuses. They are escape artists. They each one's a little Houdini.

00:44:39:16 - 00:44:58:13
Chris
So, I would take this in baby steps and and especially if maybe, maybe this is a case where you move from an apartment to a house, and now you have a backyard. And, and I don't think this is just, like, let the back door open and let them go. This would be a transitional type process to get them where they're comfortable.

00:44:58:17 - 00:45:17:07
Chris
And then if your cat was raised indoors, never let them out at night when there's, raccoons and, and other nighttime animals to contend with that are going to be nasty. Your cat was not raised in the street, does not know how to throw hands, does not know how to fight. And we'll we'll get paid. So throw hands there and.

00:45:17:09 - 00:45:18:10
Kristen
I mean fight.

00:45:18:12 - 00:45:28:10
Chris
Yeah, that's very new. And my New Yorker is showing. Okay. Your cat is not is not prepared for it. So just caution is what I recommend.

00:45:28:12 - 00:45:33:03
Kristen
Excellent advice. All right. Do you have a question for me, Chris.

00:45:33:05 - 00:46:02:10
Chris
Obviously. Obviously. Obviously this fits in very well with, the the thing we got going on today for you, Kristen. And, this is, this is such this is a great quote from Michael T who normally people put the city there from his foot Long Island, which is the most Long Island thing to do. So Michael from Long Island asks, my dog gets anxious when hearing the construction noises because it's Long Island, from next to his house.

00:46:02:10 - 00:46:16:22
Chris
Oh, stuck in a Long Island thing. The neighbor. The neighbor is probably doing the construction on their own. Two without a contractor. Yeah. Or permits. Yeah. What are some effective ways to calm him down?

00:46:16:24 - 00:46:42:15
Kristen
Okay. So, hey, Michael T from Long Island. I wonder if you know my husband, Paul Levine. He's from Long Island. Anyway, you probably do. So, if your neighbors are in construction, this is probably a new sound for your dog. So I'm not terribly surprised that he's, you know, getting freaked out or anxious. What I would say is, create, like, a little zen zone for him where he can go when the noise starts.

00:46:42:15 - 00:46:58:11
Kristen
And now this could be, you know, a bedroom that's maybe on the other side of the house. Where? From where the construction is. It could be a crate. If your dog has a crate, it could be a bathroom. It could be wherever your dog is going to feel most comfortable and just make it super comfy.

00:46:58:11 - 00:47:16:16
Kristen
Put his favorite blanket in there, some toys, maybe put dog TV on in the background or play some calming music. Anything to kind of drown out that noise. That place where he can go to chill. When those noises are happening and you know, it just so happens and this was not planned, but these doggy hush ears.

00:47:16:18 - 00:47:40:13
Kristen
This might be something to try. I mentioned that was my product of the week. What else? If you notice that his anxiety is escalating to where maybe he's trying to escape. Or if the symptoms get any more than just. He's. You could tell he's nervous. I would definitely talk to your veterinarian because there are medications.

00:47:40:19 - 00:47:58:00
Kristen
There are also some, supplements that veterinarians, approve that might help him relax. And hopefully the construction will finish up, wrap up soon, and you won't have this problem anymore. But I think it's great to have some of those tools on hand to make it more comfortable.

00:47:58:02 - 00:48:06:02
Chris
Kristen. It's Long Island that construction's never ending. It's going to be by the time that neighbor is done. The other neighbor is going to start.

00:48:06:06 - 00:48:09:20
Kristen
Yeah, because they're going to keep it. Want to keep up with the Joneses? Now they want to.

00:48:09:20 - 00:48:16:06
Chris
That's how it is over there. Best of luck to you, Michael. Best of luck. You picked a great episode to ask that question. Hope you're.

00:48:16:06 - 00:48:17:22
Kristen
Listening.

00:48:17:24 - 00:48:34:23
Chris
But, hey, listen, that does it for this week's Pets Add Life. Don't worry. Hey, we're going to be back next Tuesday. We're always back. We're never quittin, for you guys. It's the beginning of, Pet Anxiety Awareness month, which is a big deal for Kristen. This is huge. This is our favorite month of June.

00:48:34:23 - 00:48:53:21
Chris
So we're going to be we're going to be having some really amazing guests. Kristen's got all sorts of products lined up this month. Chris is just going to be trying his best. He's. He's just going to be trying his best. You talking about keeping up with the Joneses? I'm just. I'm just trying to retain my role as co-host of the show.

00:48:53:23 - 00:49:16:20
Chris
Stop. Yeah. Chris is doing laps around me. Listen. Well. Oh, a whatever. Yeah. Now you're a cool teenager. Yeah, whatever. Or whatever. I hope everybody out there is going to be enjoying their June. It's the start of summer vacation. All those kids out there enjoy, enjoy those summers off. Some of us got to work all summer like us.

00:49:16:20 - 00:49:22:08
Chris
So we'll be back here next Tuesday. Until then, be kind to yourself. Be kind to your pets and Kristen.

00:49:22:10 - 00:49:25:11
Kristen
Boops wolfs and meows. Till next week.

00:49:25:13 - 00:49:31:23
Chris
Pets add life. Your guide to the latest in pet trends, products and the joy of the human animal bond with Kristen.

00:49:31:23 - 00:49:32:13
Julie
Levine and.

00:49:32:13 - 00:49:36:24
Chris
Chris Bowen, a fan powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog TV.