Speaker 1: Personal with the Long Fieldsmen.
Speaker 2: I was really excited when I started this podcast because
Speaker 2: I was getting to talk about topics that I'm super
Speaker 2: passionate about and share things across the board that just
Speaker 2: hopefully make us feel like we're learning lessons and growing
Speaker 2: as people. But this particular episode might be one of
Speaker 2: my favorites because this is a topic that I am
Speaker 2: above and beyond one of the most passionate things about,
Speaker 2: and it is rescue animals. So this week I'm bringing
Speaker 2: on one of the founders of Wags and Walks Nashville.
Speaker 2: Her name is Catherine, and that's a rescue organization that's
Speaker 2: here in Nashville. They're also out in Los Angeles, and
Speaker 2: we're going to get into that interview here shortly, but
Speaker 2: I wanted to share some backstory of why I'm such
Speaker 2: a huge advocate for rescue animals. So the rescue side
Speaker 2: doesn't really come into play for me until later on
Speaker 2: in my life. But as a kid, I was a
Speaker 2: huge animal lover. I wanted every animal you could possibly
Speaker 2: have under the sun, and thankfully I had parents who
Speaker 2: also loved animals. We had a farm that had four horses,
Speaker 2: and we had guinea pigs and bunnies and turtles and ferrets.
Speaker 2: We really truly had just about everything. Cats and dogs
Speaker 2: of course too, So I grew up a very animal
Speaker 2: loving girl, and enough that you know, when I turned
Speaker 2: eight years old, I became a vegetarian once I learned
Speaker 2: out where meat came from. So the animal loving thing
Speaker 2: was part of my nature. It's always been part of
Speaker 2: who I am. But until I got to college, I
Speaker 2: didn't really know much about shelters beyond what everybody saw
Speaker 2: on the TV was the Sarah McLachlan commercials and the
Speaker 2: sadness that comes with them. And I always wanted to help,
Speaker 2: but I didn't really understand. It wasn't until I was
Speaker 2: in my junior year of college and one of my
Speaker 2: really good friends in roommates at the time, there was
Speaker 2: five of us girls living together. She suggested that we
Speaker 2: all start fostering animals. Because we were college kids, we
Speaker 2: couldn't own any animals, but we could help save some.
Speaker 2: And there was a rescue organization in our college town
Speaker 2: of Manhattan, Kansas called Purple Paws, and she had reached
Speaker 2: out to him, brought a dog home, and we were
Speaker 2: all sold. We're like, I don't know how we're going
Speaker 2: to give this dog up, but we'll figure it out.
Speaker 2: And so we started fostering. I want to say by
Speaker 2: the end of our junior year, we had fostered over
Speaker 2: twenty two animals, dogs and cats, and it was the
Speaker 2: most rewarding year of my life. I had no idea
Speaker 2: that I had the capability or the strength to help
Speaker 2: in that way. I never thought that I could be
Speaker 2: a foster. I had such a big heart and I
Speaker 2: wanted to keep and love every animal that came into
Speaker 2: my presence. But something about being part of all these
Speaker 2: dog stories, when I knew in the back of my
Speaker 2: head I was a college kid that couldn't have her
Speaker 2: own animal at this time, allowed me to really see
Speaker 2: that I could do the fostering thing give me the
Speaker 2: confidence to do so. So after I graduated college and
Speaker 2: we had done all this fostering, I went back home
Speaker 2: and I knew immediately that what I wanted to do
Speaker 2: was start volunteering at the shelter because I was missing
Speaker 2: that portion of my life and what we were doing
Speaker 2: with helping all of those animals. So I signed up
Speaker 2: to be a dog walker volunteer at Kansas Humane Society,
Speaker 2: which ironically I only lasted about two weeks because famously,
Speaker 2: I then met my now dog, Remy. She came in
Speaker 2: as a puppy and I had actually tried to get
Speaker 2: my parents to adopt her because on her card it
Speaker 2: read Maltese mix, and we had had a Maltese at home,
Speaker 2: we had had a breeder dog, and I loved her.
Speaker 2: I will never ever forget her. We had a beagle
Speaker 2: before that, and so the beagle was named Riba, the
Speaker 2: Maltese was named Bella, and we had a Siamese named Sapphire.
Speaker 2: And I will never not love those animals over the
Speaker 2: course of my lifetime. They were incredible animals and I
Speaker 2: loved them wholeheartedly. But you know, as you grow and
Speaker 2: you get older, you learn things and you do better
Speaker 2: because of them. So while never take away those experiences
Speaker 2: I had with any of those animals, because they allowed
Speaker 2: me to learn the love that I have for animals,
Speaker 2: I do know better now to now My future dogs
Speaker 2: and any animals that I have post college are always
Speaker 2: going to be rescue animals. So in meeting Remy at
Speaker 2: the shelter at Kansas Humane and trying to bring my
Speaker 2: parents in to meet her as they came in to
Speaker 2: meet her. They kind of looked at me and said, Morgan,
Speaker 2: that's your dog. She doesn't want anything to do with us,
Speaker 2: like she kind of imprinted on you. And sure enough,
Speaker 2: but again, I was a position where I just got
Speaker 2: out of college, I'm living with my parents, I had
Speaker 2: just started a brand new job, not in a position
Speaker 2: to have a puppy. Well, I really loved her and
Speaker 2: I couldn't stop thinking about her, and thankfully my parents
Speaker 2: were like, you know, it's okay, you can get her
Speaker 2: if you want her. And so as soon as I
Speaker 2: got the green light, I called Kansas Humane. She hadn't
Speaker 2: been Spade yet, so technically she wasn't up for adoption yet.
Speaker 2: She was just kind of in the back waiting for
Speaker 2: the Spade happened and then be put on the adoption floor.
Speaker 2: So I called them before she ever made it, and
Speaker 2: I said, hey, if the Spae goes great, like I
Speaker 2: want her, I'm putting a hold on her. And I did,
Speaker 2: and thank goodness, the Spade surgery went really well and
Speaker 2: I was up there shortly after to officially adopt her.
Speaker 2: She was originally named Vulpricks, which I have learned as
Speaker 2: a Pokemon name. She's not at all a Vulpricks. She's
Speaker 2: totally a Rimy and the rest is history. So we
Speaker 2: lived in Wichita with my parents for a year in
Speaker 2: the whole puppy phase, which was wildly crazy for me,
Speaker 2: especially having a brand new job. It was a very
Speaker 2: wild moment for me to do that, but I'm so
Speaker 2: glad that I did. And then fast forward to Nashville.
Speaker 2: Rimy and I have lived in Nashville together since twenty sixteen,
Speaker 2: but it wasn't until February of twenty twenty three when
Speaker 2: I started asking questions. Ironically, I had broken up with
Speaker 2: my boyfriend that passed fall in twenty twenty two, and
Speaker 2: he didn't want to ever have a cat, but I
Speaker 2: had always wanted one because I grew up with one
Speaker 2: that I loved, and so I had reached out to
Speaker 2: Nashville Humane and said, Hey, if you guys happened to
Speaker 2: get any Siamese in any kind, to let me know.
Speaker 2: I would love to foster and find out if Remy's
Speaker 2: even going to allow me to have another pet in
Speaker 2: this house. So that's where Hazel came into the picture.
Speaker 2: About a week later, I got a message and he
Speaker 2: had said that they had a Siamese. She came from
Speaker 2: one hundred and thirty cat hoarding situation in Mississippi and
Speaker 2: they had taken in about thirty of them, and Hazel
Speaker 2: was one of them. And I fostered her for about
Speaker 2: two months. And that whole process of fostering and getting
Speaker 2: her to get used to me, which is even more
Speaker 2: difficult with cats. Cats are a little bit more untrusting
Speaker 2: than dogs. But as soon as that two month threshold
Speaker 2: kind of hit, she finally started to come out of
Speaker 2: her shell and I said, oh, there's no way I'm
Speaker 2: going to be able to give her up, and her
Speaker 2: and Remy really finally started to get along, and I
Speaker 2: was like, Okay, I think this will work, and I
Speaker 2: called them officially went in to put in for the adoption,
Speaker 2: and you'll hear as I'm talking to Catherine that I
Speaker 2: didn't even know how old Hazel was until I actually
Speaker 2: went in for the adoption, and at that point it
Speaker 2: didn't even matter. I had already fallen in love with her.
Speaker 2: So I learned that she was eight years old, which
Speaker 2: ironically was also Remy's age, and they were the same coloring,
Speaker 2: and she was also named Hazel, which I didn't end
Speaker 2: up changing. I figured she had really kind of already
Speaker 2: been through enough. But more than that, my previous cat
Speaker 2: was a Siamese and her name was Safie, short for Sapphire.
Speaker 2: She had bright blue eyes, and she had a color name,
Speaker 2: and I felt, you know, this is just really meant
Speaker 2: to be. This feels right, and it feels like Saffie
Speaker 2: would approve. So that's my animal story history background. But
Speaker 2: I also wanted to share this because just because I
Speaker 2: grew up with breeder animals doesn't mean I don't get
Speaker 2: to change and do better because I know better now,
Speaker 2: and my family knows better. My sister adopted two Doberman's
Speaker 2: who she both foster failed. My parents have taken in
Speaker 2: three rescues since all of this. So just because you
Speaker 2: might have been used to breeder dogs, because that was
Speaker 2: just the norm, especially a lot of us nineties babies
Speaker 2: as we were growing up and before that, just because
Speaker 2: you're used to that doesn't mean that's what you have
Speaker 2: to keep doing. And that's my hope with this episode
Speaker 2: is that you recognize that you can have a beautiful
Speaker 2: life and a beautiful family and beautiful relationships with animals
Speaker 2: that are coming from shelters and rescues. So thanks for
Speaker 2: listening to my personal story. But now it's time for
Speaker 2: us to go over and talk to Catherine, who I
Speaker 2: know you guys are just gonna love, So let's go
Speaker 2: do it. Anybody who has followed me for a long
Speaker 2: time is gonna be like, this is a no brainer episode.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited because this week I am joined by
Speaker 2: Katherine Hurley, who is one of the founders of Wags
Speaker 2: and Walks, which is a huge rescue organization for animals,
Speaker 2: and I'm just so excited to have this conversation. Catherine.
Speaker 2: Thank you for joining me. How are you.
Speaker 3: I'm great, I'm so excited to be here. Thank you
Speaker 3: for having us and highlighting our work.
Speaker 2: Yeah of course. Okay, so give me kind of the backstory.
Speaker 2: How did Wags and Walks get started? Why did it
Speaker 2: it started? You know, I'm super familiar with a lot
Speaker 2: of rescues in shelter work, but I know this is
Speaker 2: not a very common thing that people know about. So
Speaker 2: break it down for us in like elementary terms.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so Wagsmolk specifically was founded. Gosh, it's pushing fifteen
Speaker 3: years now, which feels insane by our founder Leslie Bragg.
Speaker 1: She did not.
Speaker 3: I'm sure she would say this herself for see herself
Speaker 3: getting into this field per se. When she was growing up,
Speaker 3: she was like really successful in pharmaceutical sales, but she
Speaker 3: met a pit bull, and I feel like that's like
Speaker 3: everyone's kind of trajectory, you know, when they find the
Speaker 3: dog that they really fall in love with. And she
Speaker 3: decided to you know, really take it ten steps further,
Speaker 3: and she realized what was going on in shelters.
Speaker 1: She moved from New York to la and started.
Speaker 3: Visiting, getting involved and kind of understanding the footprint of
Speaker 3: like what is really the crisis going on? Why are
Speaker 3: so many dogs being euthanized? And decided she wanted to
Speaker 3: do something about it. So she started Wags out of
Speaker 3: her garage again Agent one story, Famous last Words, and
Speaker 3: it kind of really just grew organically from there. She
Speaker 3: got a really great group of people together that were
Speaker 3: interested in helping her grow her mission. And that's really,
Speaker 3: you know, the birthplace of Wags and Walks in La.
Speaker 3: We And then I met her when I was really
Speaker 3: early twenties. I from Michigan and knew that I wanted
Speaker 3: to get involved in animal welfare. And I spent about
Speaker 3: five years at the La branch and watched it grow
Speaker 3: again from her garage to their very own adoption center,
Speaker 3: and then I moved to Nashville six years ago where
Speaker 3: we started the Wags and Hawks Nashville branch. So a
Speaker 3: really organic kind of way of it growing, which I
Speaker 3: feel like is the best way to make, you know,
Speaker 3: the greatest impact when you really believe in what you're doing,
Speaker 3: and then you're surrounding yourself, you know, with the community
Speaker 3: that wants to help, and really at the root cause
Speaker 3: of this, you know, comes down to overpopulation and lack
Speaker 3: of education, awareness and access. And we are kind of
Speaker 3: at every at all of those routes trying to address
Speaker 3: it as best as we can. And you know, we
Speaker 3: save thousands of dogs each and every year and continue
Speaker 3: to grow our programs.
Speaker 2: And I want to get into that, especially those reasons
Speaker 2: and why we're here, why this is happening, especially now
Speaker 2: this it feels like from an outsider's perspective, that we
Speaker 2: are in a crisis unlike anything we've ever seen before.
Speaker 2: For you, though, what was the reason why you wanted
Speaker 2: to get into this and then come to a different
Speaker 2: city and start another version kind of this organization?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I really was so inspired by my
Speaker 3: entire experience in la and under Leslie. I think I
Speaker 3: was told very frequently like how will you really make
Speaker 3: this your job?
Speaker 1: Like rescuing dogs.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of people, you know, I get
Speaker 3: told all the time, Oh, I just I wish I
Speaker 3: had your job.
Speaker 1: I wish I had your job. And I'm like, it
Speaker 1: depends on the day, you know.
Speaker 3: I think that people envision it being like rolling around
Speaker 3: with puppies, and it's really anything anything but Unfortunately, but
Speaker 3: I grew up in Michigan. I my parents had breeder dogs.
Speaker 3: Going to a breeder was like all that I certainly
Speaker 3: knew growing up, like white, little fluffy poodles and whatnot,
Speaker 3: which I still old very near and dear to my heart. However,
Speaker 3: I started visiting some shelters for a school project and
Speaker 3: I met a pit bull and I thought it was
Speaker 3: the coolest looking dog I'd ever seen, just like a
Speaker 3: big chonky head and like these like little hamsammies, and
Speaker 3: I just I was enamored. And it was he was
Speaker 3: so wiggly and so excited to be around me. It
Speaker 3: was just like this immediate like I like you, you
Speaker 3: like me? Like we're good here, and my parents weren't
Speaker 3: anti pitbull per se, but it was definitely met with
Speaker 3: like a lot of hesitation. And at that point I
Speaker 3: had not come into contact with like the pitfull bias
Speaker 3: or discrimination, so it's really confusing to me. And that
Speaker 3: just opened up a whole can of worms. And I
Speaker 3: was like, Oh, this is very My personality is like
Speaker 3: you say that you don't like this, I'm gonna like
Speaker 3: root for the underdog. I'm a Troit Lions fan, you know,
Speaker 3: like I always just the underdog. So I really from
Speaker 3: high school on I decided I wanted to work in
Speaker 3: animal welfare and advocate for pit bulls. So when I
Speaker 3: moved to LA, I had really studied a lot of
Speaker 3: organizations and I was like, who is doing the work,
Speaker 3: Who's representing dogs that need it most but also making it,
Speaker 3: for lack of a better term, like cool. I think
Speaker 3: shelter dogs really had this stigma of like old discarded,
Speaker 3: something's wrong with them, and that is just not at
Speaker 3: all what's going on in shelters, And I felt like
Speaker 3: wags just had this really fresh, fun perspective that it
Speaker 3: does not need to always be a Sarah McLaughlin commercial
Speaker 3: you can find your best friend, and when you make it,
Speaker 3: I think more.
Speaker 1: Digestible that way.
Speaker 3: I think it makes it feel for a person who's
Speaker 3: not super tied into animal welfare, like we have course,
Speaker 3: I'll rescue my dog, and I think you have to
Speaker 3: make that feel more obtainable to them than like this
Speaker 3: big scary shelter in the metal bars and dogs looking
Speaker 3: scared in kennels. So I just like followed Leslie around
Speaker 3: for months. Still, she eventually hired me, and yeah, I
Speaker 3: mean I've I've certainly made it my whole life. And
Speaker 3: in regards to Nashville, my husband works in music, so
Speaker 3: I was actually like devastated to leave. I had a
Speaker 3: great group of friends in LA. He was over it,
Speaker 3: you know, he worked in the music industry and was like,
Speaker 3: I'd rather kind of settle it into a little bit
Speaker 3: more of a sustainable culture. And I was working remotely
Speaker 3: for LA and he has me my dog's playing in
Speaker 3: the background.
Speaker 2: That's the most accurate part of this is.
Speaker 1: Seriously, this makes sense.
Speaker 3: Two pipples playing on a couch, ex.
Speaker 1: Pacha all.
Speaker 3: That. I basically I did the exact same thing Leslie did,
Speaker 3: and I started to get involved in shelters here and
Speaker 3: see what was going on in Nashville, in particular, in
Speaker 3: the South, and in particular there was a massive underrepresentation
Speaker 3: of rescues. So I kind of pitched it to her
Speaker 3: and said, hey, can I start my own branch And
Speaker 3: she was like, I support you from a pop far
Speaker 3: and but you know, it's really boots on the ground
Speaker 3: when you talk about like building a community and finding
Speaker 3: resources and whatnot. And we turned five this past year,
Speaker 3: and in twenty twenty four, the national branch saved fourteen
Speaker 3: hundred dogs LA about the same and we've been just
Speaker 3: kind of cruising.
Speaker 2: All you know. I do want to talk about that
Speaker 2: stereotype of rescue animals. And I love I just love
Speaker 2: your numbers. I follow wags and walks on Somedia, so
Speaker 2: I always see the numbers, and I always see the
Speaker 2: work that you guys are doing. And I think the
Speaker 2: thing that's so alarming to me, like I look at
Speaker 2: my dog, Remy, who has this cute, little fluffy teddy bear,
Speaker 2: and every time I say she's a rescue dog, people
Speaker 2: are shocked, like there's no way she's a I'm like, yes,
Speaker 2: you can find any breed that you really want in
Speaker 2: a shelter. Unfortunately, I wish that wasn't the case. But
Speaker 2: there's this huge stereotype associated with shelters and rescue animals.
Speaker 2: So can you speak on that a little bit.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you said it really well in the
Speaker 3: way that I think that most people think they're seniors,
Speaker 3: or they've bitten somebody, or they have behavioral problems, medical problems.
Speaker 3: And you know, while certainly that is that is a
Speaker 3: portion of any shelter population, it is not the vast
Speaker 3: majority by any stretch. Stats kind of go back and forth,
Speaker 3: but like at this point, the average age of a
Speaker 3: shelter dog is under a year, So then you think
Speaker 3: about what that scale of Like, it's because there's so
Speaker 3: many litters of puppies that are unwanted that are dumped,
Speaker 3: whether that's accidental litters, backyard breeders, hoarding cases. I mean,
Speaker 3: it runs the whole spectrum. So you know, just at
Speaker 3: least from my experience, when we're going to shelters, it
Speaker 3: is tons of puppies, like I said, tons of small dogs,
Speaker 3: tons that we call them the fluffies, fluffies galore. My
Speaker 3: joke lately is like doodles grow on trees and That's
Speaker 3: the thing is like you can want whatever dog you want,
Speaker 3: Like that's okay, you just have to be patient enough
Speaker 3: and willing to understand that when hundreds of thousands, if
Speaker 3: not millions, of dogs are being euthanized and you say
Speaker 3: that you care about animals and you care about the
Speaker 3: animal welfare of dogs and the quality of life, then
Speaker 3: you have to hold that at the front of like
Speaker 3: what matters to you and then find that dog and
Speaker 3: a rescue And you know, I've had tons of friends,
Speaker 3: but I want a doodle. It's like I'll, well, I'll
Speaker 3: find you.
Speaker 1: A doodle, like maybe tomorrow.
Speaker 3: So even when I say be patient, I'm not talking
Speaker 3: years or anything like that. Like once you kind of
Speaker 3: know what you want, and even that, it's like make
Speaker 3: sure that you're finding dogs that match your lifestyle versus
Speaker 3: what you idolize in your head or think a dog
Speaker 3: is going to be. Assuming personalities, uh, and traits don't
Speaker 3: do anyone, you know, any good deal. So it's like
Speaker 3: learning about that dog, especially if you're looking to adopt
Speaker 3: an adult, like be open and find a rescue that
Speaker 3: you trust that's going to be forthcoming about you know
Speaker 3: their personality and how they've been doing in a foster home.
Speaker 3: That's what's great about Wags. You know, most of our
Speaker 3: dogs spend a decent amount of time in foster home,
Speaker 3: so we can tell you, hey, this is how they're
Speaker 3: doing in the crate, or their body schedule, or their socialization.
Speaker 3: This dog may or may not be great in an apartment.
Speaker 3: This dog, you know, may or not be great with kids.
Speaker 3: And as long as you're trans parents, so is the
Speaker 3: rescue then like you can make, you know, incredibly wonderful matches.
Speaker 3: What I just what I think Wags sayes really well.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean, like you said, it's this this
Speaker 3: year alone, We've had Frenchies, doodles, your keys. I just
Speaker 3: had a whole little of Schnauzer puppies. It's like it's
Speaker 3: it's it's sad, like you said, and I wish that
Speaker 3: wasn't the case, but it is the reality. And so
Speaker 3: we're doing our best to kind of make sure that
Speaker 3: we're doing our due diligence on behalf of the dogs
Speaker 3: in shelters to accurately represent what's going on, you know.
Speaker 2: And there's a few things you said in there that
Speaker 2: I definitely want to bring light to. I'm I'm a
Speaker 2: huge advocate. Anytime somebody looks at me and they says
Speaker 2: I would like to get an animal, I'm like, please foster. Foster.
Speaker 2: You know why, because you may find a dog that
Speaker 2: you didn't even realize you want it. That is how
Speaker 2: you can understand personalities. You can fall in love with
Speaker 2: a breed that you didn't even know existed. Foster as
Speaker 2: you also to understand the responsibility of an animal without
Speaker 2: the commitment and you're still saving its life. So I'm
Speaker 2: a huge advocate for that until like if you have
Speaker 2: any questions of like what does this mean before you
Speaker 2: just all of a sudden have a puppy in your
Speaker 2: lap and you're like this is great for a year
Speaker 2: and now I'm over it.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And I think, you know, especially like adults coming
Speaker 3: into their own and wanting their first pet, I think
Speaker 3: that it's romanticized a lot of like what we had
Speaker 3: as kids. And I recently had a conversation with a
Speaker 3: friend who like wanted a Begele and I was like, right,
Speaker 3: but you grew up on a farm and now you
Speaker 3: live in like a high rise, so like in your
Speaker 3: parents realistic really right, like they took care of said
Speaker 3: beagle who got access to outside whenever they wanted. Who
Speaker 3: if they were barking their heads off, was fine. You know,
Speaker 3: beagles historically are lovely, but they're vocal, they're hawn dogs,
Speaker 3: they're little hot dogs. They've got that you know, sweet
Speaker 3: little little howl. So yes, I think fostering, especially because
Speaker 3: at least with at Wags, you know, we provide all
Speaker 3: the supplies so it's cost free, and to make it
Speaker 3: feel more digestible to people, we just say it's a
Speaker 3: two week commitment. So I think when people hear fostering,
Speaker 3: they're like, well, how long am I going to have
Speaker 3: this dog in my house?
Speaker 1: And what if?
Speaker 3: And what if and what if? And we have answers
Speaker 3: to all of those questions. You know, we have a
Speaker 3: medical line that you can text and call, we have
Speaker 3: a behavior and training line. At the end of the day,
Speaker 3: we want the dogs to be safe and a good fit.
Speaker 3: We want the people to feel that way, so it's
Speaker 3: in no one's best interest to make a bad match.
Speaker 3: So we'll be as transparent as possible and give the
Speaker 3: people the support that they need to help. You know,
Speaker 3: the dog's transition, which is really key in the success
Speaker 3: of all of it and to your point, just just
Speaker 3: being open to the dogs' personalities and judging them based
Speaker 3: off of what they're showing you. And I think that's
Speaker 3: how you get that's how we adopt out so many pities,
Speaker 3: because it's like it's just fostering, it's just.
Speaker 1: Take your home, you know.
Speaker 3: And I can't tell you how many people we've had
Speaker 3: foster failed. They are like I never have even really
Speaker 3: met a pit and I did not expect to experience this.
Speaker 3: And those are the stories that really, you know, can
Speaker 3: can fill up your tank in terms of like it's
Speaker 3: obviously a hard industry to work in sometimes and being
Speaker 3: able to see, you know, we have this one story
Speaker 3: of this dog who had he was burned and was
Speaker 3: left in an elevator and it was just all the
Speaker 3: horrible things you can think of. And he is like
Speaker 3: one hundred plus pounds, just like a big old boy,
Speaker 3: and he lives with six children and in a really
Speaker 3: sweet neighborhood where I think, you know, a lot of
Speaker 3: people probably looked at him like what are they doing?
Speaker 1: Was that dog?
Speaker 3: And that family has just done a really amazing job
Speaker 3: advocating for him and his breed, and yeah, it's really
Speaker 3: really special.
Speaker 2: And because we're talking about this because right after I
Speaker 2: do want to, I really would love to talk about
Speaker 2: the shelter crisis because I as much as we highlight
Speaker 2: the good and all of the amazing things, there is
Speaker 2: a very and horrible side of this that I want
Speaker 2: people to recognize, just for the emphasis of how important
Speaker 2: this is. Yeah, but I do also the I think
Speaker 2: another thing that's so important when you were looking at
Speaker 2: rescue animals. I remember this when I was volunteering out
Speaker 2: of shelter because I would always convey this information. It
Speaker 2: was the three day, three weeks, three months rule. Can
Speaker 2: you share that with everybody? What that means?
Speaker 1: We love the three three three heroags.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so three days, three weeks, three months, and that
Speaker 3: really talks about the expectations of a dog coming into
Speaker 3: your home and what those transitional periods look like.
Speaker 1: So how I explain it.
Speaker 3: To people that aren't in this world often is by
Speaker 3: the time a dog is coming to you, there is
Speaker 3: usually a minimum of four to five transitions. So you
Speaker 3: have step one, where was this dog before the shelter?
Speaker 3: We don't know in someone's house, how long were you astray?
Speaker 3: At this point, most dogs are entering shelters as stray
Speaker 3: because they're so backed up they.
Speaker 1: Won't take owner surrenders.
Speaker 3: So then what happens then people dump them, so wherever
Speaker 3: they were before, and that dog might have then been
Speaker 3: in multiple homes before that bounced around on Craigslist like
Speaker 3: you know, you never know, and then you're gonna be
Speaker 3: in the shelter. So that's drop number two. How long
Speaker 3: were you in that shelter? How stressful was that shelter?
Speaker 3: So you think about dogs who did come from families
Speaker 3: and how horribly terrifying it must be to have lived
Speaker 3: in someone's house for however long, and now you're in
Speaker 3: a kennel. For this range is obviously for like the
Speaker 3: staffing of shelters, but across the board, shelters are incredibly
Speaker 3: understaffed and underfunded.
Speaker 1: So like here in.
Speaker 3: Nashville and LA, honestly, dogs are maybe let out once
Speaker 3: a day, so like you're spending twenty three plus hours
Speaker 3: in a kennel, and imagine doing that as a human, right,
Speaker 3: like you'd go insane. Like they call it solitary confinement
Speaker 3: for a reason, and people lose it. And then so
Speaker 3: after the shelter, then you're going to at least with
Speaker 3: a rescue. Now you're going to the rescue. Does that
Speaker 3: rescue have a facility? A lot of them do yes.
Speaker 3: So even for us, even if we're gonna send that
Speaker 3: dog to shelter, they still have to then spend a
Speaker 3: couple of days with us at the building. Then they're
Speaker 3: going to a foster, and then they're going to you.
Speaker 3: But even then they might have gone through two foster
Speaker 3: homes because they took a couple months to get adopted.
Speaker 3: They might have been through four foster homes because maybe,
Speaker 3: you know, if they had separation anxiety and they took
Speaker 3: a couple fosters to like work through it, so by
Speaker 3: the time they're landing and what it should be and
Speaker 3: hopefully is their forever home, they've been through it. They
Speaker 3: have absolutely no consistency, They have no routine, and they
Speaker 3: don't even know who you are. Right Like, you're like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, I love you so much, You're my
Speaker 3: forever dog, You're my little baby, and I want to
Speaker 3: take care of you.
Speaker 1: And they're like, I.
Speaker 3: Don't know, have no relationship with you whatsoever. So that
Speaker 3: three days we really really really try to hone in on,
Speaker 3: keep their world small, do very routine things do not
Speaker 3: bring them new places.
Speaker 1: Get to know.
Speaker 3: Your house, your schedule, your block, or your backyard, whoever
Speaker 3: is going to live in that house and be that
Speaker 3: nuclear family is really all that dog should be exposed to.
Speaker 3: You know, people want to go bring their dogs over
Speaker 3: to doggie play dates with the new friends, like absolutely not.
Speaker 3: This is setting nobody up for a success. And then
Speaker 3: that really does extend to most of that three weeks,
Speaker 3: so you know, going on some walks, going you know,
Speaker 3: and exploring a little bit more shore, but focusing on
Speaker 3: what is that routine giving them that stability. You know,
Speaker 3: we promote things like hand feeding to like build that
Speaker 3: relationships with your dogs.
Speaker 1: Great time.
Speaker 3: People are the hot it's a hot take sometimes which
Speaker 3: doesn't make any sense to me. Providing a crate for
Speaker 3: a dog is one of the best things that you
Speaker 3: can do for them because it provides a safe space.
Speaker 3: It's like again, I say, think about coming home from
Speaker 3: a long day.
Speaker 1: What do you want to do.
Speaker 3: I want to take a shower, and you want to
Speaker 3: get into bed and you want to feel like your comfort,
Speaker 3: Like that is their create If you are creating that
Speaker 3: space for them, and then the more and more they're
Speaker 3: they're coming into their own. You are going to see
Speaker 3: new personality things. You might see some regressions, right Like
Speaker 3: maybe they were terrified the first three three days or
Speaker 3: week and now they're like, oh wait, this is kind
Speaker 3: of fun, and keeping that consistency is what will help
Speaker 3: through kind of that adjustment period. And then that takes
Speaker 3: you kind of to your three month three month mark
Speaker 3: of really kind of seeing who is my dog. We've
Speaker 3: built this relationship. They trust me to not put them
Speaker 3: in bad situations. I trust this dog too, write like,
Speaker 3: I can trust you too. If you don't want to
Speaker 3: create your dog's long term I can trust you to,
Speaker 3: you know, be outside at the grocery store, or I
Speaker 3: can trust you to, you know, go on a hike
Speaker 3: with me and my friend and their dog and do
Speaker 3: a proper introduction. You know, we are not fans of
Speaker 3: dog parks. Again, maybe a little bit of a hot take,
Speaker 3: but like it just doesn't it's more for the people
Speaker 3: realistically that it is for the dogs. When we're talking
Speaker 3: about trying to keep everybody safe and socialize them in
Speaker 3: a way that won't have repercusions down the line.
Speaker 1: So yeah, we preach it.
Speaker 3: It's on all of our adoption room walls and it
Speaker 3: works like it works, It works, it works.
Speaker 2: You know, it's funny. I've had experience as a foster
Speaker 2: in multiple different variations. My friends and I in college
Speaker 2: were fosters for twenty two different dogs collectively because we
Speaker 2: knew we were college girls, and we were like, we
Speaker 2: can't own a dog, but we can help some animals.
Speaker 2: So US four took on the responsibility one at a
Speaker 2: time and we helped so many dogs and that was
Speaker 2: a cool experience. And then into my adult life, I've
Speaker 2: fostered with rescues here in town and had a variety
Speaker 2: of different experiences and different dogs that have come in
Speaker 2: and some will adjust quickly, some will adjust in weeks.
Speaker 2: Some come in and have all kinds of medical things
Speaker 2: that they need time before they can get adopted out,
Speaker 2: and you have to be that safe space for them.
Speaker 2: I'm really glad that you shared that, and also I
Speaker 2: know you guys do all dogs. But one of the
Speaker 2: foster situations that I had is my now cat Hazel,
Speaker 2: which it's on all fronts here right. So I had
Speaker 2: been looking for a Siamese. That's what I wanted, that's
Speaker 2: what I grew up with, and I just had told
Speaker 2: the Nashville Humane here in town, a guy that I
Speaker 2: knew that worked there. I was like, if if one
Speaker 2: ever comes in, let me know and I'll do a
Speaker 2: foster situation because I have zero idea if my dog
Speaker 2: is gonna even like this situation. Yeah, And sure enough,
Speaker 2: like a week later, he goes, we just took in
Speaker 2: thirty cats from one hundred and thirty cat hoarding situation.
Speaker 2: One of them's a Siamese. I'm like, cool, I'll come
Speaker 2: grab her and brought her in for for two months,
Speaker 2: I fostered her and she stayed under the bed of
Speaker 2: one room. She stayed in there the whole time, just
Speaker 2: unsure of what anything was. And it wasn't even until
Speaker 2: about three weeks that I finally allowed my dog to
Speaker 2: go in there to see if they would even get along. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And when they did, it was like a both of
Speaker 2: them were like, what is happening for you? And then
Speaker 2: she became obviously a foster Phille She's now mine. But
Speaker 2: I didn't also even find out how old she was
Speaker 2: until the day of her adoption. They're like, she's eight
Speaker 2: years old. I'm like, well, I'm lady in love with her.
Speaker 2: So it is what it is.
Speaker 3: What it is. Sign me up, sign the papers.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So all that to say, there are so many
Speaker 2: variations of that, and I've seen so many of them
Speaker 2: on a personal level. So all the things that you're
Speaker 2: talking about I can test to and verify as just
Speaker 2: a normal human being, not even somebody who's involved in
Speaker 2: a rescue. Now turning to that really big crisis that
Speaker 2: we are in right now, Yeah, I've seen it. I
Speaker 2: mean I'm on so many different Facebook pages. It's all
Speaker 2: over my feeds of just the abandonment that's happening, the
Speaker 2: breeder crisis, the lack of resources, everything, what is going
Speaker 2: on right now, like this huge crisis that is happening,
Speaker 2: And what are some things that people, just a normal
Speaker 2: person like me can do to help.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's certainly overwhelming.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: I've been doing this since I got out of college,
Speaker 3: so like twelve years, and there was a really short
Speaker 3: window before COVID where like we saw some numbers improving
Speaker 3: and COVID just took us back so far. You know,
Speaker 3: there are so many different factors on the why behind it.
Speaker 3: You know, I think a lot of it is like
Speaker 3: people are struggling financially, so you have a whole sect
Speaker 3: of people that like probably would keep their dogs, but
Speaker 3: feel like their back is against the wall. And then
Speaker 3: because there's like a lack of resources to meet them,
Speaker 3: that's where you see abandonment, dogs being dumped. I mean
Speaker 3: just the amount of dogs are like literally like left
Speaker 3: in apartments because people are like I'm moving, the amount
Speaker 3: of emails I get and it's hard, right to balance
Speaker 3: empathy for people because you have to have it, Because
Speaker 3: you don't, you will be jaded and at the end
Speaker 3: of the day, like we have to work together to
Speaker 3: get through the problems. But then on the other hand,
Speaker 3: you get some of these emails or you see these
Speaker 3: scenarios and you're like how how like how is this
Speaker 3: what the decision that you made, like to literally lock
Speaker 3: the door leave and like your dog is still inside
Speaker 3: and who did you think was going to help you?
Speaker 3: And that's not even going into the realm of abuse
Speaker 3: and the horrible scenarios that can also be the case
Speaker 3: of it. So as a rescue, it's like you've got
Speaker 3: this reason and this reason and this reason, so it's like, okay.
Speaker 1: Well what can we do?
Speaker 3: You know, So going into shelters, it's and again you
Speaker 3: it's hard because you want to balance the ge, like
Speaker 3: I said earlier the Sarah Malachlin commercial, and not trying
Speaker 3: to be that, but also trying to be very honest
Speaker 3: of what's going on. Is like I go into shelters
Speaker 3: every single week and I see dogs marked up on
Speaker 3: their kennels, and I'm like, you're dying today, And it
Speaker 3: does not matter how many dogs that we can try
Speaker 3: and save every single week, there's the next there's going
Speaker 3: to be dogs that have to be euthanized. And there's
Speaker 3: a massive misconception surrounding shelters and high kill shelters and
Speaker 3: always that to kill shelter. And when you have a
Speaker 3: shelter that is one hundred and fifty kennels and one
Speaker 3: hundred and ninety dogs come in, what do you think
Speaker 3: is going to happen? You know? So I try to
Speaker 3: tell people it's at the end of the day, it's
Speaker 3: a community problem. And you cannot blame shelter workers who
Speaker 3: do what you and I can't even do, Like I
Speaker 3: couldn't show up to work every day and take care
Speaker 3: of dogs that are there for whatever rhyme or reason
Speaker 3: and then euthanize them because no one wants them. Like
Speaker 3: that is a gut wrenching pill to have to swallow
Speaker 3: and then go up and do it the next day.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, I'm so thankful.
Speaker 3: To people that work in shelters because at least being
Speaker 3: on the rescue side, we lose dogs. I have to
Speaker 3: see really sad things. I have to be a part
Speaker 3: of really sad things. But I still get to go
Speaker 3: I'm helping. I'm making a difference. They of course are
Speaker 3: as well. But when then you're having to be the
Speaker 3: one that, like, is the last person to see a
Speaker 3: healthy dog get put to sleep?
Speaker 1: I mean I I don't.
Speaker 3: It's hard to envision, you know, a more heart wrenching job.
Speaker 3: So they're a very real crisis going on that like,
Speaker 3: and it's not it's not just the old dogs. It's
Speaker 3: not dogs of behavior problems. We have taken in so
Speaker 3: many puppies this year that they're like no one wants them.
Speaker 3: It's a litter of black puppies, Like they're gonna get euthanized.
Speaker 3: Can you take them today? And I think people think
Speaker 3: that's like clickbait or like fake information, and it is
Speaker 3: not in LA in the South, Uh, you know, Tennessee's
Speaker 3: horrible Texas is horrible. It's everywhere and it's it's brutal.
Speaker 3: You know, we've seen domestic violence went up in COVID,
Speaker 3: so did animal abuse, hoarding. You know, you have people
Speaker 3: struggling financially, mental health, all of it. I mean, we
Speaker 3: went to so many hoarding cases this year, properties where
Speaker 3: I'm like, there's literally just dead dogs just on the ground,
Speaker 3: and you disassociate in the moment, but I mean, like
Speaker 3: that's something that like that stays with you as a person,
Speaker 3: and so I say to my husband all the time,
Speaker 3: but if they had to go through it and we
Speaker 3: had to see it, it is my job to make
Speaker 3: sure people hear it, because I think then if you don't,
Speaker 3: it's very easy to justify buying your dog or breeding
Speaker 3: your dog, or you know, it's like if it's a
Speaker 3: supply and demand and you're somebody that's choosing to financially
Speaker 3: benefit off of the breeding of animals knowing there's an
Speaker 3: overpopulation issue, I think that at that point it becomes
Speaker 3: a morality question. How you sit on that side of
Speaker 3: it or how you value it is I guess very
Speaker 3: personal decision, but certainly from where I'm sitting, I'm like
Speaker 3: I don't know how someone does that and can go
Speaker 3: to bed feeling good about themselves.
Speaker 2: You know, I often tell people when especially like the
Speaker 2: conversation of abandonment comes up, it's it's obviously a thing
Speaker 2: that is a very controversial to say. You know, I
Speaker 2: there's not a lot of excuses that I believe in
Speaker 2: to abandon your animal. There's really not to me. And
Speaker 2: I know that's a really strong opinion. And I also
Speaker 2: am somebody who is a I am an empathy, like
Speaker 2: huge empathy. My heart is as big as it can
Speaker 2: possibly get. But there are so many ways to go
Speaker 2: about that, and there are so many ways to do
Speaker 2: something then abandoning or knowing that when you're surrendering your
Speaker 2: animal to a shelter, it is going to die. And
Speaker 2: one of my strongest things that I say that often
Speaker 2: makes people, you know, stop kind of in their tracks,
Speaker 2: is you won't want to abandon your animal or surrender
Speaker 2: them or get a breeder dog. If you have watched
Speaker 2: an animal happy getting out of their shelter, walking thinking
Speaker 2: they're about to have the best day ever, and they're
Speaker 2: walking into a room and they don't come out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's horrible.
Speaker 2: It Once you have ever experienced that or witnessed that
Speaker 2: nothing will ever make sense to you in the way
Speaker 2: of abandonment. And so what you're saying, I'm you know,
Speaker 2: it's it's so important to hear. Is it hard to hear?
Speaker 2: And is it it makes me want to, you know,
Speaker 2: cry and and sit in a corner and not do anything.
Speaker 2: But it's also why I wanted to have this conversation
Speaker 2: because I think it's really easy to look the other way, incredibly,
Speaker 2: and especially when we're you know, we live in a
Speaker 2: world of social media, and aesthetics are important to people,
Speaker 2: and they think I need this animal or I need
Speaker 2: to have this look, and I'm like, guys, these are
Speaker 2: living beings. Just because they can't talk and they don't
Speaker 2: look like us, it doesn't mean we should be treating
Speaker 2: them this way just because of an aesthetic. And so
Speaker 2: thank you for sharing. And I also know that's hard.
Speaker 2: That's also hard to put yourself in a place to
Speaker 2: constantly be sharing something that is so emotional and so
Speaker 2: dark when all you want to do is help every
Speaker 2: single one. So thank you for that, and thank you
Speaker 2: for the work that you're doing. So looking at someone
Speaker 2: like me or the people that are listening what are
Speaker 2: the most beneficial ways that we can help an organization
Speaker 2: like yours or shelters or anything, or just get involved
Speaker 2: in our community. Even like give me some basic levels,
Speaker 2: the easiest ways, and then maybe some more advance if
Speaker 2: people really want to dive deep.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think on the most basic level, I think
Speaker 3: it's having conversations, and it's doing your own research and
Speaker 3: being curious about what's going on. If you've purchased your
Speaker 3: dog and you maybe don't want to purchase your second dog,
Speaker 3: or you've got a little bit of guilt about purchasing
Speaker 3: your first dog, and so you just want to pretend
Speaker 3: like it doesn't exist or it didn't happen. Lot of
Speaker 3: friends that have bought their dogs that I've had incredibly
Speaker 3: meaningful conversations with that I know that they now think
Speaker 3: of it differently, So like it's it's never too late
Speaker 3: kind of a thing to be an advocate. And just
Speaker 3: because you maybe bought a dog does not mean that
Speaker 3: you can't now be a voice. It is not one
Speaker 3: or the other. I will take anyone at any time
Speaker 3: that is willing to kind of like come to the
Speaker 3: other side of animal rescue and to make it, you know,
Speaker 3: not a judgmental place. So it's it's having conversations, being curious,
Speaker 3: and then I think you know if that, if that
Speaker 3: speaks to you, it's then then you be that boy.
Speaker 3: So that's getting involved in social media is like truly
Speaker 3: the most impactful way.
Speaker 1: It's how Wags grew.
Speaker 3: I mean like when I started here, I was just like,
Speaker 3: I'm going to make this Instagram handle and pull my
Speaker 3: friends to follow it, and you know, here we are
Speaker 3: five years later with you know, a ton of people
Speaker 3: in that community. So when you share things on social media,
Speaker 3: when you see a dog that needs a home or
Speaker 3: a fundraiser, I mean that one button spend. Collectively, everyone
Speaker 3: spends I think too much time on their phone. But
Speaker 3: if you're gonna spend time on your phone, like do it,
Speaker 3: you know, supporting you know, voices and rescues and shelters
Speaker 3: that that need the.
Speaker 1: Need the word spread.
Speaker 3: And then if you are so inclined, I think that
Speaker 3: you know, the three kind of areas are volunteerism, fostering, which.
Speaker 1: Go kind of hand in hand.
Speaker 3: But I think for people who aren't interested in fostering,
Speaker 3: there's still just an entire world of volunteering, whether it's events,
Speaker 3: or transporting dogs that we have that you can you
Speaker 3: can come volunteer and get hands on with the dogs fostering.
Speaker 3: Like I said, we talked about adopting obviously, so when
Speaker 3: you are in the market for getting your first dog,
Speaker 3: second dog, whatever, making sure that you're adopting and then donating.
Speaker 3: You know, I think I tell people a lot that
Speaker 3: I think people think, well, what's five bucks or what's
Speaker 3: ten bucks?
Speaker 1: It's a lot.
Speaker 3: It adds up, especially like speaking from WHA being like
Speaker 3: so grassroots. We had one of our most like recent fundraisers.
Speaker 3: We needed to raise like seven thousand, seven thousand dollars
Speaker 3: for like her emergency hospitalization, her surgery, et cetera. And
Speaker 3: then I ended up dividing to seven thousand we raised
Speaker 3: by the amount of donors. The average donation was seventeen dollars.
Speaker 3: So it's like half of those people decided, what's my
Speaker 3: seventeen dollars, Like I wouldn't have raised enough. You know,
Speaker 3: have monthly donors for a pop club at ten bucks
Speaker 3: a month, and you know, I can absolutely appreciate that,
Speaker 3: Like people are struggling right now, but for the people
Speaker 3: that you know are still getting you know, our Starbucks
Speaker 3: and our fancy coffees and whatnot. That like what's ten
Speaker 3: bucks a month? You know, like when all of that
Speaker 3: adds up to making a true impact, it goes a
Speaker 3: long way.
Speaker 2: Thank you for sharing that. You know, there was a
Speaker 2: there's a saying, and I'll pas say it at the
Speaker 2: end of this again to whenever I'm sharing stuff on
Speaker 2: rescue animals or dogs or trying to get animals adopt.
Speaker 2: Did one of my things that I always write and
Speaker 2: I don't even know where I saw it. I'm sure
Speaker 2: it was on a rescue or shelter somewhere, but it
Speaker 2: was if you adopt. If you can't adopt, foster, if
Speaker 2: you can't foster, volunteer. If you can't volunteer, then donate.
Speaker 2: If you can't donate, then share, like there's always something
Speaker 2: you can be doing. And so I'll leave that there
Speaker 2: with what you just shared, So thank you. I also
Speaker 2: want to talk about it's happening so hard, and I
Speaker 2: know that it's also probably really difficult for you to see.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure that you guys are involved the wildfires
Speaker 2: out in California, and I have so much empathy for
Speaker 2: everybody that is going through this. I also have so
Speaker 2: much empathy for the animals and the wildlife and how
Speaker 2: drastically everything is being impacted out there. So are you
Speaker 2: guys doing stuff to involve that that maybe other people
Speaker 2: can also help in that way, like what's going on
Speaker 2: out there? Because you guys do have the Los Angeles
Speaker 2: Wags and walks.
Speaker 3: Yes, it's been horrible being in Nashville and having lived
Speaker 3: there and having friends and one of our own WAG
Speaker 3: staff members lost her home and she's like weeks away
Speaker 3: from giving birth and has little ones and it's it's overwhelming.
Speaker 3: But I think this is what like what kind of
Speaker 3: Wags is about. It's just like when things go crazy,
Speaker 3: I think we go, okay, like how can we help?
Speaker 3: I call it controlled fury. It's like when just things
Speaker 3: are going crazy, how can we like hone in and
Speaker 3: like do what we do best, so we didn't want
Speaker 3: to be adding to the noise, like right when it started.
Speaker 3: It's like, Okay, let's like figure out which large organizations
Speaker 3: are like getting boots on the ground, where can we
Speaker 3: fit in and like be the most impactful. So one
Speaker 3: is obviously saving dogs. So in the last week they
Speaker 3: have saved over sixty five dogs. They're going to different
Speaker 3: shelters every single day, and kind of what's happening with
Speaker 3: the wildfire. There's so many displaced animals that the shelters
Speaker 3: want to create space for them to be reunited.
Speaker 1: With their families.
Speaker 3: And while it might be easy to assume, oh well,
Speaker 3: that should not take that long, a like dogs have traveled.
Speaker 3: There's so many shelters in LA. If the dog is
Speaker 3: not microchip, it's like figuring out where that dog is.
Speaker 3: And then even if they found out where their dog is,
Speaker 3: do they have somewhere to bring the dog back to.
Speaker 3: We know how many, like you know, landlords, leasing companies
Speaker 3: do not allow for tests, which I've seen some like
Speaker 3: lifting their restrictions and things like that, especially for short
Speaker 3: term rentals for you know, to be able to accommodate
Speaker 3: families that have pets. So shelters are giving people longer
Speaker 3: to claim their dogs. I think most shelters have been
Speaker 3: like twenty one days. That is a death sentence for
Speaker 3: the dogs that have already been there. Those are dogs
Speaker 3: we already know don't have homes. So WAGS is going
Speaker 3: to those shelters. The first day we got there, we
Speaker 3: met the longest term resident and they're like yep, you're
Speaker 3: coming with us, get in the van. So in some
Speaker 3: ways it's been so impactful for the dogs that have
Speaker 3: been there for so long because I think rescues are going, okay,
Speaker 3: like this is this is where we are actually needed.
Speaker 3: You know, it's not taking the cute, little fluffy dog,
Speaker 3: it's who needs it and who can we help, So
Speaker 3: going to tons of shelters for the rest of this week,
Speaker 3: they would be going, and they're in communication daily with
Speaker 3: like who needs the most help. Two is their supply drive.
Speaker 3: Though we knew we hey, we have a building, our building,
Speaker 3: a stake, we've got the room, it exploded, and they
Speaker 3: have so much supplies. So at this point we're kind
Speaker 3: of distributing it two different ways. So one is like
Speaker 3: show up tour at option center. It Option center is
Speaker 3: in West LA. It's like no questions asked, like take
Speaker 3: what you need. It's obviously like you know, pet supplies,
Speaker 3: but there's cat and dogs and I honestly probably some
Speaker 3: other smaller animals, rabbits, things like that.
Speaker 2: That.
Speaker 3: If you need supplies, show up, if you know people
Speaker 3: tell people to go there. We're open every single day.
Speaker 3: And then we're also having we have a sign up
Speaker 3: sheet so people can say, hey, I need supplies, I
Speaker 3: can't come to you, and then we have volunteers driving
Speaker 3: the supplies. We have plenty of volunteers and plenty of drivers.
Speaker 3: So same thing simple as just fill out this quick form,
Speaker 3: let us know what you need, be specific because we
Speaker 3: probably have it and we'll.
Speaker 1: Get it to you.
Speaker 3: And then three is our grand program that we've just launched.
Speaker 3: We've never done anything like this. I'm super proud of
Speaker 3: the team for being as creative as possible. I think
Speaker 3: WAGS has such trust in the community that when people
Speaker 3: are donating their money to our wild Life Wildlife, our
Speaker 3: wildfire Fund, we are trusted to make make the most
Speaker 3: of their donations. And we had in enormous amount of
Speaker 3: support or this fund that we were like, Okay, yes,
Speaker 3: we've saved sixty five dogs. We're doing all the supply driver,
Speaker 3: we're doing all this work, but at the end of
Speaker 3: the day, like this, these dollars should go as far
Speaker 3: as they can, and we want to make sure that
Speaker 3: we're not just keeping that for our own dogs outside
Speaker 3: of what's going on right now, So we're actually giving
Speaker 3: away funding to both families and other animal well for organizations.
Speaker 3: So we are starting with twenty thousand dollars of that
Speaker 3: we're giving away of funds, but we're having other partners
Speaker 3: show interest in this, so the more matches we can
Speaker 3: get to this, the more that we can give away.
Speaker 3: It's a really simple process. It's on our website. You
Speaker 3: have to just say if you're an individual, if you're
Speaker 3: applying on behalf of somebody else, or if you're an
Speaker 3: animal weal for organization and what you're seeking funding for.
Speaker 3: So this could be boarding and the costs of Hey,
Speaker 3: I got to go get my dog in the shelter,
Speaker 3: or I need to go say with family and I
Speaker 3: need to put my pet and boarding right now, we're
Speaker 3: an animal for organization and we had damage to our building,
Speaker 3: or hey I just need costs of betinary care because
Speaker 3: my pet was injured. There's so many dogs who have
Speaker 3: had burns, who got hit by cars, who you know,
Speaker 3: the whole runs, the whole gamut. So we are processing
Speaker 3: applications pretty much as we speak and trying to get
Speaker 3: those funds distributed.
Speaker 1: As soon as possible.
Speaker 3: And all of these programs right now are ongoing. So
Speaker 3: as long as we're receiving a support and we're seeing
Speaker 3: the need. We're gonna keep on doing our best to
Speaker 3: help as many people and dogs as we can.
Speaker 2: Wow, it's amazing what you guys are doing, not just
Speaker 2: you know, in Nashville, in LA and with the wildfires,
Speaker 2: but just across the board, and the fact that you
Speaker 2: guys are constantly trying to find new ways to do so. Like,
Speaker 2: I'm sure that there are people that tell you often,
Speaker 2: but I want to be another one who just says
Speaker 2: thank you, like thank you for everything you're doing, thank
Speaker 2: you for who you are as a person who wants
Speaker 2: to do this and do that work. I think it's
Speaker 2: really special and the stuff that you're doing doesn't go unnoticed,
Speaker 2: especially to somebody like me. So just thanks to you,
Speaker 2: your whole team, everyone who's doing all of that, and
Speaker 2: you know, you guys share this. Hopefully they can get
Speaker 2: even more donations and stuff to help those grants and
Speaker 2: help more families and stuff. Because I've seen so many
Speaker 2: videos and I you know, I keep watching them waiting
Speaker 2: for ways to help, and now we have one, and
Speaker 2: this is a trusted way to help. So let's do it,
Speaker 2: and let's all go in together and find ways to
Speaker 2: help these families and their pets. So thank you and
Speaker 2: thank you for coming on like to talk about all
Speaker 2: of this, and again just being who you are so.
Speaker 3: Likewise, and you know, I think that I am not
Speaker 3: in your position to give, you know, people the opportunity
Speaker 3: to talk about what they're doing. So your work is
Speaker 3: super important and I appreciate you reaching out and wanting
Speaker 3: to highlight the cause in and of itself and also
Speaker 3: what's going on in LA or anyone that does listen
Speaker 3: to this and wants to get involved. I think I
Speaker 3: mentioned this, but everything can be found at wags and
Speaker 3: walks dot org. It's all across the banners, whether you
Speaker 3: are looking for the supply information or the grants. And
Speaker 3: also we're super active on social waxmox waxmox Nashville and
Speaker 3: our social team is they're working over.
Speaker 1: Time right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they do amazing stuff. That's how I always see
Speaker 2: what you guys are up to. I you know, I
Speaker 2: follow it myself and I've been fortunate to help you
Speaker 2: guys in a lot of different ways and I will
Speaker 2: continue to do so. Just again because of the work
Speaker 2: that you guys are doing is amazing. So and also
Speaker 2: if you know you're like I really want to get
Speaker 2: involved locally, there's so many wonderful organizations like Wags and Walks.
Speaker 2: If you don't live in Nashville and you don't live
Speaker 2: in LA, there are rescue groups everywhere. You can search
Speaker 2: on Facebook and say rescue group, and I promise you
Speaker 2: you will find one. So if this is you know
Speaker 2: you want to get really hands on involved locally, there's
Speaker 2: that way too. So again, thank you Catherine, thanks for
Speaker 2: being here and everything.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2: I just want to think all of you guys too,
Speaker 2: because if you've followed me on instead and now you
Speaker 2: listen to this podcast, you guys also support this work.
Speaker 2: You guys cheer me on in this and you guys
Speaker 2: help support and share. And I've seen so much social
Speaker 2: engagement over animals I've posted and rescue stories. So thank you, guys,
Speaker 2: and thank you to all the people out there who
Speaker 2: are big advocates also for Adopt Don't Shop. I hope
Speaker 2: you enjoyed this episode, and if you know you're new
Speaker 2: to this world, then I welcome you wholeheartedly and I'm
Speaker 2: really glad that you're here. So again, go check out
Speaker 2: Wags and Walks dot org if you want to help
Speaker 2: locally just in general with rescue or if you want
Speaker 2: to help with what's happening in the wildfires out in California.
Speaker 2: But even more than that, I encourage you once again,
Speaker 2: please adopt. And if you can't adopt, foster, and if
Speaker 2: you can't foster, then volunteer. And if you can't volunteer,
Speaker 2: then donate. And if you can't donate, then share on
Speaker 2: social media. There is always a way that you're able
Speaker 2: to help in this space, and more importantly, you're needed
Speaker 2: in this help. These animals need us. We are their
Speaker 2: voice and we have domesticated these animals, so it is
Speaker 2: up to us to help through this crisis as a
Speaker 2: community across the entire country. And I think we can
Speaker 2: do it. And you know, one day, I hope that
Speaker 2: I can pull an Elwoods and be on the doorstep
Speaker 2: of legalizing stricter breeding laws and other ways to help animals.
Speaker 2: But until then, I'm going to keep doing this and
Speaker 2: thank you for allowing me to do so.