Mutual Rescue: The Incredible Healing Power of Dog and Human Relationships

Voiceover:

Welcome to the Doggy Dan Podcast Show, helping you unleash the greatness within your dog.

Doggy Dan:

[00:00:30]

[00:01:00]

Hello and welcome everybody to another Doggy Dan Podcast. This is almost becoming my tagline today. I am so excited and it's genuine, it's true because I have a wonderful lady with me named Carol Novello. Who is the founder of Mutual Rescue. She's also the author of the book Mutual Rescue, which is all about adopting homeless animals and how they can save you too. Mutual Rescue is a national initiative in the USA that highlights the connection between people and pets in order to inspire and support lifesaving efforts in communities across the nation in the world. Mutual Rescue's first short film, which was called Eric & Peety went viral around the globe. It's been viewed more than a hundred million times. This is where it gets fascinating. Carol is a former senior software executive, and she actually graduated with an MBA from Harvard business school. You're probably thinking, how did she end up crossing from where she was to where she is now. Carol, it is wonderful to have you with us.

Carol Novello:

Well, thank you so much. It's a delight to be here.

[00:01:30]

Doggy Dan:

Carol, since getting to know you and finding out more about Mutual Rescue, I've been watching the videos and I'm right on board. I'm right behind what you're doing and anybody who knows me knows I love animals. I know they know that I love people who are coming from the heart and wanting to help. Tell us more about Mutual Rescue. It just looks like the most wonderful operation that you're involved with. How did it all begin and where's it going?

[00:02:00]

Carol Novello:

[00:02:30]

Yeah. Well, thank you for the opportunity to share with your listeners. Mutual Rescue came about because I used to be in high-tech. I was a senior executive at a software company and I ended up transitioning into animal welfare, which was a pretty unusual thing to do. When I did that, people would say to me, “Why are you helping animals when you could be helping people?” I thought that was rather unusual, especially because I knew how much animals had supported me in my life. Then when I became president of Humane Society, Silicon Valley, people were asking me that question. I was seeing what was happening when our adopters were bringing animals into their families. I thought wow, we really need to change the conversation. We need to make this obvious for people that when you are giving time or money or caring about animal causes, it is not at the expense of human causes. In fact, animals can help be part of the solution.

[00:03:00]

Doggy Dan:

Absolutely. Yeah.

Carol Novello:

[00:03:30]

Yeah, it was that it was that challenge of people asking me that question that made me think about, there's got to be a better way to do this. I started doing a presentation out in the community, it was called Why Helping Animals Helps People. I was telling stories of our adopters and one thing led to another and I was introduced to a guy who used to be the producer of The Tech Awards in Silicon Valley and he wanted to do something with animals. His name was David Whitman, and he actually coined the phrase Mutual Rescue. He suggested that we start doing short films to really bring this magic of the experience of being transformed by an animal. Bring that to life, make it really this role for folks. That led to the creation of our first call for stories and our first short film, which was Eric & Peety, the film that you just mentioned.

[00:04:00]

Doggy Dan:

Brilliant, I must say it does make me smile when I heard that the president of the Humane Society of Silicon Valley. It probably rolls off your tongue, but for me it's this bizarre thing in my mind, Silicon Valley is just buildings of high-tech companies and you don't think of dogs. But of course I say even the people who are in that very businesslike space of Silicon Valley still love dogs. There's still rescue centers in Silicon Valley. It's a fascinating concept for me to be on.

[00:04:30]

Carol Novello:

[00:05:00]

Well, it's interesting on a couple levels, I think honestly, for people that are involved in really high stress work that having animals in your life is one of the things that can ground you and really keep you connected to life and not let you get overly consumed by things that ultimately can take you away from your sense of self, your sense of humanity, your connection to life. I think that's one thing. The other component of it as well is that that same spirit of innovation that exists in Silicon Valley is something for me that was really important to bring to animal welfare.

[00:05:30]

One of the things that Humane Society Silicon Valley accomplished through my leadership when I was there was we became the world's first model shelter. We became the first shelter to ever implement the standards, put forth by the Association of Shelter Veterinarians. There's actually innovation to be done in animal welfare, just like there's innovation that can happen in almost any field. It's a really unique marriage I think of caring about animals, caring about people, driving innovation, to help create new results that benefit both peoples people and animals.

Doggy Dan:

[00:06:00]

[00:06:30]

Beautiful. I totally get you about the grounding that dogs give us. I often look at the dogs in the white house and think of all the presidents who've had dogs. I sometimes wonder, will there ever be a president who doesn't like dogs? He says, “I'm not going to have a dog.” But I don't think they will because like you say, it's more than liking them that they just ground us. I kind of always tickles me when I think about how most humans are not allowed anywhere in the right house, but these little dogs, they probably run around and I wonder which ones are allowed in the oval office and which are, fascinating. You touched on about helping animals versus helping people. That's so fascinating because we often think, are we giving or taking. Of course the thing is when it comes to love, being able to give when you're truly coming from that place of love, and you're giving. It's like when you give a present to your children or you give your dog a bone, you are actually receiving when you're able to give.

Carol Novello:

Yeah.

Doggy Dan:

That's, I totally get you when you say we need to change the mindset of what we rescuing the dogs or are they rescuing us because it does go both ways. Would you say, yeah?

[00:07:00]

Carol Novello:

[00:07:30]

Oh, absolutely. I think in so many different human conditions, the lack of connection can be something that creates part of the problem. By welcoming an animal into your life, whether it's a dog or a cat, or I have examples in the book of pigs and horses and donkeys, any connection we have with another living being can help us connect back into our own humanity, give us a better sense of self. There's a variety of human conditions that I talk about in the book, but one of the things I found most interesting in doing the research was learning that there's more and more research that's showing that addiction is actually a disorder based on a lack of connection.

[00:08:00]

That essentially you're trying to establish connection through the addiction. There's a great, one of our films that we released after Eric & Peety was called Sarah and Domino. It was about a young woman who struggled with a heroin addiction and basically overcame it because she adopted a neglected dog and it gave her purpose. It gave her a reason to clean herself up and stay clean so she could be there for this animal and helped her see that it was important to take care of herself. It really was because she established this connection with this animal that she might otherwise not have had.

[00:08:30]

Doggy Dan:

[00:09:00]

Totally. The last few days I've been just watching more and more stuff on the Mutual Rescue website. I came across the Eric and Peetey video. For those of you who want to watch it, I'll put all the links on my website and we'll give you the website of Mutual Rescue. It's mutualrescue.org, but we'll go through all these websites again so you can find them. Watch these videos because they're absolutely beautiful, high quality and fantastic. I was just cracked up laughing because, I don't want to spoil it too much, but this dear man who was obese and dying, because he was so obese, basically he goes into the rescue center and says, I'm looking for a middle-aged obese dog.

Carol Novello:

Yeah, so they'd have something in common.

Doggy Dan:

I just thought, well that's so cool. He wanted to get fit and healthy and live and he said, “That's my dog, that one there.” Talk about connection, so beautiful.

Carol Novello:

Yeah, they did it together.

Doggy Dan:

[00:09:30]

Can you give us an example? I'm thinking of the one that we chatted about off air just before we pressed start recording this show about some of an example of the stories because it's not just dogs is cats as well. You shared one, which I just thought it'd be beautiful to share that one, to get people an idea of what the book is about and what the short films are about and what we're talking about here when we talk about these stories of connection.

Carol Novello:

[00:10:00]

[00:10:30]

Yes. the films are wonderful because they tell the heart piece of the story. They're all about the transformation of both the animal and the human and that interaction. Then the book not only tells stories, which is the human connection, it also brings in the science. The book is both head and heart, which I think is really critical because a lot of times you think, “Oh, that's just one story, or that's just my reaction to something.” But then to have the science support what is actually going on with an individual and be able to extrapolate that and say, it's not just a one-off thing. It's actually very real and very visceral in a way that multiple people can experience because it's and it's factual. That helps I think, reinforce the power of the stories.

[00:11:00]

[00:11:30]

But the way the book is organized is it's broken into four sections, heart, body, mind, and connection. In each of those sections, there's specific chapters that talks about a particular aspect of humanity's woes. Some of the films are talked about in the book, but the book contains a lot more stories beyond what we've done films for. But the film you and I were talking about earlier was Josh and Scout, which is actually a story about a cat. Josh was overseas serving in the military and he suffered a traumatic brain injury. It created a great deal of problems for him. He came back to the States and at one point it had gotten so bad that he was contemplating suicide. He actually had written his goodbye letter, went out to the back of the barracks and was smoking what he thought was going to be his last cigarette.

[00:12:00]

[00:12:30]

This cat crawled out from under a bush and came up to him and he just broke down. It was that connection with that animal in that moment that really caused him to jolt him out of himself. He decided he wanted to live in and take care of that cat. There's some twists and turns in terms of how they ultimately end up together. But one of the things that I love about our films is reading all the comments that people write. You were commenting to me earlier, gosh I hate to admit it, but I did tear up a little bit. I always love it when someone who might not otherwise cry or be susceptible to crying admits that these films really really moved them. There was one particular comment about Josh and Scout. This guy said, “I consider myself to be a brick. Gosh, darn it, Scout. You made me cry.”

Doggy Dan:

[00:13:00]

[00:13:30]

Yeah, there's some good films. If you want to be moved, if you're thinking, what should I do this evening? I don't want to watch some more, I don't want to watch Netflix a lot. I don't want to watch some rubbish-ish show. I want to watch something moving and inspirational and thought provoking then. The videos on mutualrescue.org are absolutely fantastic and they're very short, some of them are five, 10 minutes long, so you can watch a whole one and just, you come away feeling really good and inspired. It's beautiful. Now one thing, Carol, you mentioned earlier about how it's not just one story, there's science behind it. Can you tell us a little bit about that when you say the science behind it, behind what? Because I mean, I know what you're talking about. I love this angle that more and more we're able to actually measure what's going on with regards to connection between humans and animals.

Carol Novello:

[00:14:00]

Yeah. Well, one of the most interesting thing is some of the studies about what is happening physiologically in not only our bodies, but also they've done this with dogs as well, the feel-good biochemicals that are released through interacting with an animal. Prolactin, serotonin, oxytocin those chemicals are being released when you're petting your animal and they flood your system. It makes you feel better, makes you feel good. What's really exciting is that the science has been done that shows at least for dogs, I think it's true for cats, but I don't think they've done that research yet. But basically dogs are having a similar reaction. They're experiencing that feeling of love as well.

Doggy Dan:

Oh, brilliant.

Carol Novello:

It really is mutual, which is really cool.

Doggy Dan:

Yeah. In a way you can just see it. You don't have to be a scientist to figure.

Carol Novello:

Yeah, I know. Right?

[00:14:30]

Doggy Dan:

My lovely mother-in-law lives in a property next to us and she's got a little white Staffy dog and she's called Bonnie, she's the bonniest little thing. She was actually called Booboo, but we couldn't say Booboo in a nice way. we called Bonnie, Bonnie and then she kept running down from the top and I've got three dogs and she runs around the three dogs. Then she just throws herself on the back. Tickle my little pink tummy.

Carol Novello:

Oh, indeed, yeah.

[00:15:00]

Doggy Dan:

It's just, and you can feel the love and it's two-way, it's beautiful. I think you've got a whole load of programs if I'm thinking about it. You're doing a lot of stuff, mobilizing people around the world.

Carol Novello:

[00:15:30]

Yeah, there's three elements. Basically what ended up happening is with the success of the films, we really realized that we were onto something and that led to the opportunity to write and get a book published. In concert with all that, we said where people are having such a strong, emotional reaction to the work that we're doing, we need to leverage that. We want people to take action with that. How can we do more with the energy and the emotion that we're creating? We basically decided we wanted to build Mutual Rescue into a new animal welfare brand. There's basically three pillars to the brand. One is what we've been talking about, which is authentic storytelling and great content.

[00:16:00]

The second pillar is actually about engagement. It's about finding ways to connect people to get engaged at the local level with animals and rescue groups and things that help improve the lives of animals and humans. Pre pandemic we collaborated with a number of shelters in the US to put together a tool kit to create a Doggy Day Out program. Which essentially lets the general public come in and take an animal, a dog specifically out for the afternoon for field trip.

[00:16:30]

Doggy Dan:

I love it.

Carol Novello:

It's great for the person. They get exercise and some fresh air and some interaction with the dog. The dog gets a break from the shelter, gets an opportunity to have some change of scenery. It's a win-win and what's really exciting is those animals get adopted more quickly.

Doggy Dan:

Yes. Got you. Why is that? Just because they're more well-rounded and they get viewed by more people.

Carol Novello:

[00:17:00]

[00:17:30]

They get viewed more people, they get more exposure. One of the things that's really cool about it is that somebody might take a dog out for an afternoon and they may not be in a position to adopt an animal at that moment in time. They may feel that they work too much or travel too much or whatever, but they could take an afternoon. But they've now created a connection with this animal and they go, “Gosh, if I can't adopt this animal, I sure hope somebody else will.” They take their photos, they start posting it on social media and that helps give broader exposure to the animal. It's great to see the impact that the program has been having. As I said, we collaborated with shelters all across the country to put this toolkit together. Then we've been helping other shelters that didn't have the program get it implemented.

[00:18:00]

If you go to mutualrescue.org, you can check out the directory of shelters that have this program, it's listed by state. Then if you're a shelter that's interested in starting a program, you can download the toolkit that will help you get started faster. In the United States, it's a bit on hold right now because of the pandemic. We're actually right now looking at piloting a new program. Until we know for sure that it's going to launch real scale, we'll keep that under wraps. But we are working on some new stuff that would benefit again, both people and animals. Then the third thing is bringing in corporate sponsors. Because Mutual Rescue has international appeal, our films have been viewed in so many countries across the world and the Mutual Rescue book has been released in Italian and in German.

[00:18:30]

[00:19:00]

It really is an international phenomenon. We are providing a way for corporations that want to tap into this energy and love of animals to have a broad message and then use those funds and get them distributed at the local level. It's a national message, but it has the ability to impact the local level versus any one local organization wouldn't be able to go to a large corporation because they don't have a big enough geographic footprint. It's very exciting. We just received a lovely donation from Dutch Bros. Coffee, which is a regional chain on the West Coast of the US and that enabled us to give $10,000 gifts to local shelters that are in the operating area of Dutch Bros. Coffee. We're excited that that's getting off the ground as well.

Doggy Dan:

[00:19:30]

Wow, brilliant. Anybody who's running a rescue and thinking I could do a bit of support, a bit of a framework, some ideas just connect and get some sort of assistance be with them, well worth them checking out mutualrescue.org. Is that right?

Carol Novello:

Yeah. Especially if you're interested in doing a Doggy Day Out program, that toolkit is there and you can also just sign up on our email list. As we have other programs where we're collaborating and putting together toolkits or resources just helps us know who you are and then that way we can get you involved as we continue to move forward.

Doggy Dan:

Brilliant.

[00:20:00]

Carol Novello:

The other thing that we do is we make our films available to groups that are interested in fundraising offline for animal welfare. If you're a shelter and doing an event and you want to show one of our films, you can reach out to us and we can help you with that as well.

Doggy Dan:

[00:20:30]

Wonderful. I guess if you're not involved at a rescue center or not, you don't own one or run, whatever the word is, then you could always approach a rescue center and say, “Hey, have you ever thought you may be working at one or something?” You just recommend that they maybe have a look at the Mutual Rescue ideas and how they could assist.

Carol Novello:

Yeah, absolutely. Folks can, again go to mutualrescue.org and see all the films, learn more about our programs, learn more about sponsorship, learn more about the book. The book is available wherever books are sold and easy to find on an independent book site or Barnes & Noble, Amazon, wherever you buy books.

Doggy Dan:

[00:21:00]

I've been wanting to ask you this for a while, Carol. Can you tell us about what's your favorite movie or story? I love stories. When it comes up, can you make it a dog one? Have you got a favorite or maybe you don't have one?

Carol Novello:

Oh my gosh. They're all my favorites. That way it wouldn't be fair for me to pull one out and say I have a favorite because honestly, they're so amazing. But what I will do is-

Doggy Dan:

Yeah, tell us one.

Carol Novello:

[00:21:30]

I will share a story that's actually not in the book, but you can go to the website and you can view the short film. Mike and Abby is a wonderful story. Have you seen that film yet? Just out of curiosity?

Doggy Dan:

No.

Carol Novello:

Oh, I don't want to ruin it for you.

Doggy Dan:

No, go on. I'll still watch it, Mike and Abby.

Carol Novello:

[00:22:00]

[00:22:30]

Yeah. Mike had gone through a series of misfortunes. He's lost his job. His fiance broke up with him. He couldn't make the mortgage payments on his house. He had this triple whammy. His life basically fell apart. He was super depressed and really not pulling out of it. His friends were just encouraging him to go look at adopting a dog. He actually came to Humane Society Silicon Valley, looking for a dog and saw Abby. She had her own horrible story. She and her litter mate had been thrown out of the window on a busy highway. Fortunately somebody, a good Samaritan had seen that and stopped and spend an hour trying to coach these two dogs into her car. They were petrified and brought them to Humane Society Silicon Valley.

[00:23:00]

Abby, her sister actually got adopted relatively quickly, but Abby was basically shut down. She had been so traumatized by the experience. Mike saw her and was like, that's me. He just saw himself in Abby. The first year he really spent a lot of time working with her, helping her overcome her fears, learning to trust him. Slowly, they just became this team and started working together. One day they were out on the beach together and they'd gone swimming and Abby followed him everywhere. If he's swimming, she's going to be swimming with him.

[00:23:30]

He was getting a little worried that she might be a little bit tired. He just said to this random surfer dude, “Hey could my dog like rest on your surfboard?” He was like, “Yeah, sure, man, no problem, whatever.” Next thing this wave comes up and rather than getting freaked out, Abby stood up on the board, like I'm ready to go. Mike like pushed her on the surf board and she rode it all the way into shore, hopped off of like, “Oh my God, that was so fun, let's do it again.”

Doggy Dan:

Wow.

Carol Novello:

[00:24:00]

[00:24:30]

Long and short of it is they started entering dog surfing competitions and Abby just started winning them all. She holds the Guinness book of world records for the dog that surfed the longest wave. I mean, completely changed their lives. Mike now travels the world doing sporting events with Abby, although Abby is getting a lot older now, so it's going to be a sad day. But just an amazing, amazing dog and an amazing, amazing story about how Abby and Mike were transformed together and the mutuality of that experience. It's a great story. It's a great film and just recommend you go to mutualrescue.org and check it out.

Doggy Dan:

[00:25:00]

Oh, sounds fantastic. I wonder whether I've seen the dog catching that wave. Because I watched a video of a dog catching a wave and it's unreal how far this dog goes. The wave almost spits it out. It's like it catches this wave and it levels out. Most of, I think there's people on the wave on surfboards as well, and they're too heavy and they kind of drop off the back of the wave. But this dog who's on the board, balances it and keeps going and then the wave starts up again. The dog catches it all the way in. It's insane. You can see people loving it.

Carol Novello:

[00:25:30]

Yeah. I mean, it's really fun and really inspiring. Not all dogs want to surf, not all little dogs love water, but those that do it's super fun and dog surfing competitions have popped up all over the place. I think one of the other things that I love about that story is it just shows you, we all deserve our own second chances.

Doggy Dan:

Oh, yeah.

Carol Novello:

That's what I find so inspirational is that these animals show so much resilience and overcome things that quite honestly, it's like, wow, I'm not sure I could overcome that kind of trauma. Yet they do and they go on to not only survive, but to really flourish.

Doggy Dan:

[00:26:00]

Yeah. Oh, I've got so many thoughts going through my brain. You touched on how not all dogs want to surf and it's my brain went, yeah, not all people want to surf.

Carol Novello:

Exactly, yeah, right.

Doggy Dan:

[00:26:30]

Some people love it. Then my brain went into this thing, dogs and people, we have so much in common. Then my brain went into this thing of, I just want to put it here, but I want to put it out here. I know we are different because this is what I teach. That there is some important differences when it comes to dog training that we have to understand if we get that stuff wrong. I'm not saying dogs are humans and we're exactly the same, but there's some very important things, especially around energy, which is almost the same. That's when it then opens up into we all deserve a second chance and we can spot similarities in a dog. I'm thinking of Eric and Peety, Eric was overweight and he recognized that this was a dog who overweight and they got like a house on fire. So many similarities.

Carol Novello:

[00:27:00]

You bring up a really important point though, which is, I think people need to understand that dogs just like each human is an individual and it has individual needs and ways of interacting and approaching, the same is true with dogs. We have to respect our differences, whether they're between people or between animals and work at creating a relationship that is mutually satisfying for both.

[00:27:30]

Doggy Dan:

[00:28:00]

Yeah. What's really funny is we run what we call a men's circle. It's just a group of guys who come together and we share and we talk about how we can become better men. Last night we actually, we talked about the gut and the heart and the mind, those three places and how we can connect all those up as men. Our gut instinct, that when we go into our gut instinct, that's how our whole body is feeling. You might walk somewhere and feel something which makes you go, “Ooh, I don't feel good about this.” That's your gut. Then you'll probably, the heart is where are you choosing to come into a place of love? Then the mind is obviously that part which is thinking and trying to figure it out in the head. It's just fascinating. We were working on that, looking at that last night, and here we are talking about it this morning, heart, body, mind of the dog and the connection with humans.

Carol Novello:

[00:28:30]

Yeah, absolutely. I think that animals can help us tune into each of those aspects of ourselves, which helps us become better at integrating them within our own selves.

Doggy Dan:

[00:29:00]

I think often our minds get in the way. Humans mind gets so in the way and the dogs go, “What are you talking about?” I'm actually on a TV show here in New Zealand called Dog Almighty. It's a lot of different people are bringing, owners bring their dogs to compete, to try and find out the greatest dog in New Zealand. It's all about the humor around that. One of the dogs is called Maisy and she only has three legs. Of course you see her at the start and they've got to do these things, jumping and running and crossing bridges are over water and little planks and you think, well, she ain't going to be able to do that. Oh, you're dead wrong. She does it.

[00:29:30]

[00:30:00]

Then there's one where you've got to pull the door open with using a rope to get through these four doors. It's like a maze, you're stuck in this maze. You got to pull the door open with your teeth while of course, the only way to put it open is to use the front leg and push backwards to pull back. You think, well, she won't be able to do that. Uh-uh (negative), you're wrong. She can do that and she keeps. Then there's a sled where you have to pull the sled and you're pulling your own body weight. The 50 pound dogs have to pull 50 pounds. Maisy's only got three legs, how's she going to push? She does. She does great.

Carol Novello:

Isn't that Inspiring? It's just inspiring.

Doggy Dan:

It's so inspiring. Because you literally think, well, hang on. If this dog is saying, “Don't tell me I can't do it just because I'm, got three legs.” How many places in my life do I go, “Oh, I can't do this,” and we give up,

Carol Novello:

[00:30:30]

I know, right? That's I think one of the things I find most amazing is that they show such resilience and an ability to adapt. That is downright inspirational and something that I think every human can use in one form or another.

Doggy Dan:

Totally. I think that is probably a word that we don't often put down to our dogs, but they are inspiring. They inspire us in so many ways that we don't often, just the way they get out of bed every morning and have a stretch to go, “Ooh, it's good to be alive.”

Carol Novello:

That's right.

Doggy Dan:

Ooh, some more food, gosh, I ate yesterday and I'm eating today. Gosh, two days in a row, this is wonderful.

[00:31:00]

Carol Novello:

Well it's interesting. There's a phrase and it's often used, but quite honestly it couldn't be more true. It's like I want to become the person that my dog thinks I am.

Doggy Dan:

[00:31:30]

Oh, totally. Yeah. I was watching the video. There's a beautiful video for those of you who don't know of Keema, it's called Keema and Her Pack. I just don't know why this is coming to me, but it's just the bit where I don't want to spoil it, but she walks into the doggy daycare and the big Rottie comes up to her. Puts her paws on her and looks at her right in the eye. I think what it is is that moment where the dog puts his paws on her shoulders and looks as dead in the eye. That's the bit where, as a man who's done quite a bit of work becoming a better man. I know that to be able to look in another man's eyes and what you can read when you know what you're looking for. It's, they call it the window to the soul.

Carol Novello:

Well, I think that one of the reasons that was so transformative for Keema is I think it's the first time she had truly been seen.

[00:32:00]

Doggy Dan:

Yes.

Carol Novello:

That's why it was so transformative.

Doggy Dan:

The dog basically gave her the tick of approval. He went, yeah, you're a good soul.

Carol Novello:

You're a good soul, yeah.

Doggy Dan:

I see, that's an avatar.

Carol Novello:

I see you.

Doggy Dan:

[00:32:30]

I see you, that's an avatar I said. Wow. Any other things you'd like to put out there for people who are interested? I know we've touched on the Doggy Day Out volunteers. Is there any other thing you'd like to mention?

Carol Novello:

[00:33:00]

[00:33:30]

Just what I would encourage people to, if they have room in their house in their life to think about adopting a homeless animal. Going to your local shelter or rescue and even if you don't feel like you're at a point in your life right now that you can make a permanent commitment because it's opting is about making a commitment to the life of the animal. A lot of shelters and rescue groups are need in foster parents. That is a great way that you can help the cause and you can help an animal without necessarily having to make a lifetime commitment. Just encourage people to do that. You can go to mutualrescue.org, and there's a tab there where you can search for shelters that might be in your area at least in the United States. Then just check out the book, check out the films. If you've already got an animal in your home, just give them an extra big hug tonight and remember how lucky you are to have them and as they sure are feeling lucky to be with you

Doggy Dan:

[00:34:00]

Something which is coming to me is sometimes I'm thinking of two men that I know of who have never owned a dog before. One was my mortgage broker and was a good friend, too. He sells a hairdressing salon products. Neither of them really knew anything about dogs. I think they'd be happy for me to say that. They're a bit uncertain about getting them because they weren't really connected to animals or dogs or that sort of stuff. My dear mortgage broker, he just, literally, every time he speak to me, he says, “It was the greatest decision of my life. This dog loves me. She sits under the desk, when I'm doing my work.

[00:34:30]

She follows me in the car. She sits in the car, she apps-” It's the unconditional love and that connection, which so many of us are looking for. What I'm coming from is it may be that there's somebody in your life who's never owned a dog. Doesn't think they're a dog person, but actually they just don't realize it. My mate who lives in LA, who had never had a dog, he literally texted me everyday for two weeks when he first got his puppy saying, “This thing adores me. I'm telling you this little puppy, she loves me.” Now he's saying, “I don't know how I existed in life. I can't believe I never had a dog for 40 years.

[00:35:00]

Carol Novello:

[00:35:30]

Yeah. There's something really, really special for people I think that have not been around animals and then they have the opportunity to experience it. I write about it, this is actually in my book. I guess my father had been around animals, but he pretty much said that he didn't like animals and didn't specifically like cats. He used to say to me, “Don't kiss the cats, cats have germs.” That was his whole thing. Then we had this cat named Chester that showed up in our lives. He just decided that my dad was going to be his person.

[00:36:00]

Every Friday night, my dad would go upstairs and watch Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser. No one in the family wanted to do that, but Chester did. He followed my dad upstairs and he sat in his lap and he watched Lou Roo with my dad on public television. One night I walked by and I did a double-take and I'm like, “Well, look who's kissing the cat.” Like I couldn't believe it. It's like, there's something about somebody who who's had a gruff exterior about animals. Then when that's finally penetrated and they melt, they really do turn into a puddle of goo and it's amazing. I love it.

Doggy Dan:

[00:36:30]

Yeah. The thing is to reach your life never having experienced that and felt that. I don't want to make out people have missed out, but I truly think they have. If you've never connected with, and it doesn't have to be a dog. It can be a cat or a horse or a monkey or whatever, or a pig. But to have never connected with any animal and realize that there is a connection there that they do feel like you said, they're feeling the same chemicals and emotions and very emotions and stuff happening in their bodies, it's powerful.

Carol Novello:

Absolutely is.

Doggy Dan:

[00:37:00]

It all comes back in a way to when we rescue an animal, are we actually rescuing them or who's gaining. Is loving about getting, or is it about giving. It's where we started this conversation?

Carol Novello:

Well, one of the things I close out the book by saying more often than not. I think if you asked a rescue animal, what they would say to us, I think they'd say two things. The first one is, thank you. The second one is you're welcome.

[00:37:30]

Doggy Dan:

[00:38:00]

I was going to say, you're welcome. Yeah. I couldn't agree more. Oh, I just look at my three dogs or the four dogs that I've had and all of them I've given so much to them, but they've also taught me so much and they are so different and they've all taught me something totally different. It's preached to me in a totally different way. I actually look at my dogs and I go have you fulfilled your goal here on earth? My first dog and we were drifting off topic here, but I'd love just to verbalize this. My first dog was to share the message be here now and experience love. That was her goal on earth, I believe, was to get that message through to me, which she did literally in her last 60 seconds on earth. I got it. My other dog called Inca, hers is to become all of who she can be and accept herself for being Inca.

Carol Novello:

Wow, interesting.

[00:38:30]

Doggy Dan:

I can see it. There's just just amazing depth to animals and yeah, it's been beautiful.

Carol Novello:

[00:39:00]

How lucky are we that they are, they're part of our lives and that they have allowed us to be part of their lives. I think that's the where their responsibility comes in. It's a commitment to have an animal and you do need to be ready to honor that commitment and care for that animal. There's a great line, I think it's in the little prints, which is we are responsible forever for that which we have tamed. We have a responsibility to these animals to take care of them because we have domesticated them.

Doggy Dan:

[00:39:30]

Yeah. It's taken care of not just the physical needs, but I guess part of it, I'd love to end on this and maybe leave it to you to finish this, is recognized the emotional ability skills needs that they actually have. That if you imagine they have no emotions and you shut that down and believe they don't, well, you won't see anything. But if you choose to believe and have a look and feel, you'll realize they actually have an awful lot more skill and gift in that emotional department for healing as an understanding and reading us. That is the true joy.

Carol Novello:

[00:40:00]

It really is a true joy. I think that's something for me that just makes me sit back in awe and wonder because it makes you recognize that love isn't something that is unique to humans. It's bigger than that. To be able to see that and experience that with an animal really helps you understand the universality of it. That's pretty inspiring and pretty mind lowing.

Doggy Dan:

[00:40:30]

It is. That's where I feel us a lot of humans, we have resistance and barriers and we don't trust, especially strangers. Whereas your dear dog, you totally trust them in that respect that they love you. You can go real deep and just bringing your dog in tonight and sitting down with them and spending some time with them, calming your own heart rate and breathing, giving them a little stroke and a cuddle, and then look in their eyes and just feel. For me it's one of those beautiful experiences in the world is when I stop and I do nothing, but look at my dog and I look my dog and I look them in the eye.

Carol Novello:

They bring you into the present moment. I think that's one of the greatest gifts that they give us.

[00:41:00]

Doggy Dan:

Yeah. I know my dogs look at me and they know that I am thinking of nothing but them. I know that my dog is thinking of nothing but me.

Carol Novello:

It's a blind note.

Doggy Dan:

It is. I really encourage you guys do that tonight, and you'll be laughing. You go, “Well, that was like better than any Netflix movies. This is the real deal. I connected.”

Carol Novello:

Yeah, exactly.

Doggy Dan:

[00:41:30]

All right. I want to just leave with you any where people who want to know more, let's just go through again, the website it's mutualrescue.org. Anything else you'd like to say before we finish up.

Carol Novello:

No. Just take care of those animals that you've got in your home. If you're thinking about it, check out mutualrescue.org and see if there might be an animal that you want to adopt and welcome into your family.

Doggy Dan:

[00:42:00]

Lovely. For those of you who want to get a transcript of this whole podcast and want to find some of the the links of stuff I've mentioned of it, this podcast will also be under theonlinedogtrainer.com/mutualrescue. You can go there as well and get hold of everything. Well, it's been a pleasure, Carol. It's been really fun.

Carol Novello:

Yeah, likewise. Thank you so much. It was great chatting with you.

Doggy Dan:

Had a lot of fun. All right guys. Thank you, Carol. Thank you for listening guys. You've been listening to another edition of the Doggy Dan Podcast Show. Thanks so much. Love your dog. As always have a great day,

Voiceover:

[00:42:30]

You've been listening to another episode of the Doggy Dan podcast Show, bringing you one step closer to creating harmony with your dog.