January 20, 2025 • 53 mins
One of Morgan's first loves: animals. She's been waiting for the perfect time to do an episode that was all about homeless animals and with all of the animal stories coming out among the wildfires in California, this felt like the right moment. Joining Morgan is the founder of Wags & Walks' Nashville branch Kathryn Hurley. Kathryn shared her background on how she started working with rescue animals, and how Wags & Walks was created in Los Angeles. She details the truth behind the current crisis we are facing in the shelter & rescue communities, the neglect & abuse she's seen in many cruelty cases, and the best ways for people to get involved. Kathryn also shared some incredible ways to help families with pets, and homeless animals out in California with all of the wildfire destruction.
Donate to support rescue efforts with the Wags & Walks Wildfire Fund: www.wagsandwalks.org
Follow Wags & Walks: @wagsandwalksnashville | @wagsandwalks
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Personal with the Long Fieldsmen.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I was really excited when I started this podcast because
I was getting to talk about topics that I'm super
passionate about and share things across the board that just
hopefully make us feel like we're learning lessons and growing
as people. But this particular episode might be one of
my favorites because this is a topic that I am
(00:41):
above and beyond one of the most passionate things about,
and it is rescue animals. So this week I'm bringing
on one of the founders of Wags and Walks Nashville.
Her name is Catherine, and that's a rescue organization that's
here in Nashville. They're also out in Los Angeles, and
we're going to get into that interview here shortly, but
I wanted to share some backstory of why I'm such
(01:03):
a huge advocate for rescue animals. So the rescue side
doesn't really come into play for me until later on
in my life. But as a kid, I was a
huge animal lover. I wanted every animal you could possibly
have under the sun, and thankfully I had parents who
also loved animals. We had a farm that had four horses,
(01:24):
and we had guinea pigs and bunnies and turtles and ferrets.
We really truly had just about everything. Cats and dogs
of course too, So I grew up a very animal
loving girl, and enough that you know, when I turned
eight years old, I became a vegetarian once I learned
out where meat came from. So the animal loving thing
(01:45):
was part of my nature. It's always been part of
who I am. But until I got to college, I
didn't really know much about shelters beyond what everybody saw
on the TV was the Sarah McLachlan commercials and the
sadness that comes with them. And I always wanted to help,
but I didn't really understand. It wasn't until I was
(02:05):
in my junior year of college and one of my
really good friends in roommates at the time, there was
five of us girls living together. She suggested that we
all start fostering animals. Because we were college kids, we
couldn't own any animals, but we could help save some.
And there was a rescue organization in our college town
of Manhattan, Kansas called Purple Paws, and she had reached
(02:28):
out to him, brought a dog home, and we were
all sold. We're like, I don't know how we're going
to give this dog up, but we'll figure it out.
And so we started fostering. I want to say by
the end of our junior year, we had fostered over
twenty two animals, dogs and cats, and it was the
most rewarding year of my life. I had no idea
that I had the capability or the strength to help
(02:50):
in that way. I never thought that I could be
a foster. I had such a big heart and I
wanted to keep and love every animal that came into
my presence. But something about being part of all these
dog stories, when I knew in the back of my
head I was a college kid that couldn't have her
own animal at this time, allowed me to really see
that I could do the fostering thing give me the
(03:12):
confidence to do so. So after I graduated college and
we had done all this fostering, I went back home
and I knew immediately that what I wanted to do
was start volunteering at the shelter because I was missing
that portion of my life and what we were doing
with helping all of those animals. So I signed up
to be a dog walker volunteer at Kansas Humane Society,
(03:36):
which ironically I only lasted about two weeks because famously,
I then met my now dog, Remy. She came in
as a puppy and I had actually tried to get
my parents to adopt her because on her card it
read Maltese mix, and we had had a Maltese at home,
we had had a breeder dog, and I loved her.
(03:57):
I will never ever forget her. We had a beagle
before that, and so the beagle was named Riba, the
Maltese was named Bella, and we had a Siamese named Sapphire.
And I will never not love those animals over the
course of my lifetime. They were incredible animals and I
(04:17):
loved them wholeheartedly. But you know, as you grow and
you get older, you learn things and you do better
because of them. So while never take away those experiences
I had with any of those animals, because they allowed
me to learn the love that I have for animals,
I do know better now to now My future dogs
and any animals that I have post college are always
(04:40):
going to be rescue animals. So in meeting Remy at
the shelter at Kansas Humane and trying to bring my
parents in to meet her as they came in to
meet her. They kind of looked at me and said, Morgan,
that's your dog. She doesn't want anything to do with us,
like she kind of imprinted on you. And sure enough,
but again, I was a position where I just got
(05:01):
out of college, I'm living with my parents, I had
just started a brand new job, not in a position
to have a puppy. Well, I really loved her and
I couldn't stop thinking about her, and thankfully my parents
were like, you know, it's okay, you can get her
if you want her. And so as soon as I
got the green light, I called Kansas Humane. She hadn't
(05:22):
been Spade yet, so technically she wasn't up for adoption yet.
She was just kind of in the back waiting for
the Spade happened and then be put on the adoption floor.
So I called them before she ever made it, and
I said, hey, if the Spae goes great, like I
want her, I'm putting a hold on her. And I did,
and thank goodness, the Spade surgery went really well and
(05:43):
I was up there shortly after to officially adopt her.
She was originally named Vulpricks, which I have learned as
a Pokemon name. She's not at all a Vulpricks. She's
totally a Rimy and the rest is history. So we
lived in Wichita with my parents for a year in
the whole puppy phase, which was wildly crazy for me,
especially having a brand new job. It was a very
(06:06):
wild moment for me to do that, but I'm so
glad that I did. And then fast forward to Nashville.
Rimy and I have lived in Nashville together since twenty sixteen,
but it wasn't until February of twenty twenty three when
I started asking questions. Ironically, I had broken up with
my boyfriend that passed fall in twenty twenty two, and
(06:28):
he didn't want to ever have a cat, but I
had always wanted one because I grew up with one
that I loved, and so I had reached out to
Nashville Humane and said, Hey, if you guys happened to
get any Siamese in any kind, to let me know.
I would love to foster and find out if Remy's
even going to allow me to have another pet in
this house. So that's where Hazel came into the picture.
(06:49):
About a week later, I got a message and he
had said that they had a Siamese. She came from
one hundred and thirty cat hoarding situation in Mississippi and
they had taken in about thirty of them, and Hazel
was one of them. And I fostered her for about
two months. And that whole process of fostering and getting
her to get used to me, which is even more
difficult with cats. Cats are a little bit more untrusting
(07:11):
than dogs. But as soon as that two month threshold
kind of hit, she finally started to come out of
her shell and I said, oh, there's no way I'm
going to be able to give her up, and her
and Remy really finally started to get along, and I
was like, Okay, I think this will work, and I
called them officially went in to put in for the adoption,
and you'll hear as I'm talking to Catherine that I
(07:33):
didn't even know how old Hazel was until I actually
went in for the adoption, and at that point it
didn't even matter. I had already fallen in love with her.
So I learned that she was eight years old, which
ironically was also Remy's age, and they were the same coloring,
and she was also named Hazel, which I didn't end
up changing. I figured she had really kind of already
(07:54):
been through enough. But more than that, my previous cat
was a Siamese and her name was Safie, short for Sapphire.
She had bright blue eyes, and she had a color name,
and I felt, you know, this is just really meant
to be. This feels right, and it feels like Saffie
would approve. So that's my animal story history background. But
(08:19):
I also wanted to share this because just because I
grew up with breeder animals doesn't mean I don't get
to change and do better because I know better now,
and my family knows better. My sister adopted two Doberman's
who she both foster failed. My parents have taken in
(08:39):
three rescues since all of this. So just because you
might have been used to breeder dogs, because that was
just the norm, especially a lot of us nineties babies
as we were growing up and before that, just because
you're used to that doesn't mean that's what you have
to keep doing. And that's my hope with this episode
is that you recognize that you can have a beautiful
(09:00):
life and a beautiful family and beautiful relationships with animals
that are coming from shelters and rescues. So thanks for
listening to my personal story. But now it's time for
us to go over and talk to Catherine, who I
know you guys are just gonna love, So let's go
do it. Anybody who has followed me for a long
(09:27):
time is gonna be like, this is a no brainer episode.
I'm so excited because this week I am joined by
Katherine Hurley, who is one of the founders of Wags
and Walks, which is a huge rescue organization for animals,
and I'm just so excited to have this conversation. Catherine.
Thank you for joining me. How are you.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I'm great, I'm so excited to be here. Thank you
for having us and highlighting our work.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah of course. Okay, so give me kind of the backstory.
How did Wags and Walks get started? Why did it
it started? You know, I'm super familiar with a lot
of rescues in shelter work, but I know this is
not a very common thing that people know about. So
break it down for us in like elementary terms.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah, so Wagsmolk specifically was founded. Gosh, it's pushing fifteen
years now, which feels insane by our founder Leslie Bragg.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
She did not.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
I'm sure she would say this herself for see herself
getting into this field per se. When she was growing up,
she was like really successful in pharmaceutical sales, but she
met a pit bull, and I feel like that's like
everyone's kind of trajectory, you know, when they find the
dog that they really fall in love with. And she
decided to you know, really take it ten steps further,
(10:43):
and she realized what was going on in shelters.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
She moved from New York to la and started.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Visiting, getting involved and kind of understanding the footprint of
like what is really the crisis going on? Why are
so many dogs being euthanized? And decided she wanted to
do something about it. So she started Wags out of
her garage again Agent one story, Famous last Words, and
it kind of really just grew organically from there. She
(11:11):
got a really great group of people together that were
interested in helping her grow her mission. And that's really,
you know, the birthplace of Wags and Walks in La.
We And then I met her when I was really
early twenties. I from Michigan and knew that I wanted
to get involved in animal welfare. And I spent about
(11:32):
five years at the La branch and watched it grow
again from her garage to their very own adoption center,
and then I moved to Nashville six years ago where
we started the Wags and Hawks Nashville branch. So a
really organic kind of way of it growing, which I
feel like is the best way to make, you know,
(11:53):
the greatest impact when you really believe in what you're doing,
and then you're surrounding yourself, you know, with the community
that wants to help, and really at the root cause
of this, you know, comes down to overpopulation and lack
of education, awareness and access. And we are kind of
(12:13):
at every at all of those routes trying to address
it as best as we can. And you know, we
save thousands of dogs each and every year and continue
to grow our programs.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
And I want to get into that, especially those reasons
and why we're here, why this is happening, especially now
this it feels like from an outsider's perspective, that we
are in a crisis unlike anything we've ever seen before.
For you, though, what was the reason why you wanted
to get into this and then come to a different
city and start another version kind of this organization?
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Yeah, you know, I really was so inspired by my
entire experience in la and under Leslie. I think I
was told very frequently like how will you really make
this your job?
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Like rescuing dogs.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
I think a lot of people, you know, I get
told all the time, Oh, I just I wish I
had your job.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
I wish I had your job. And I'm like, it
depends on the day, you know.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
I think that people envision it being like rolling around
with puppies, and it's really anything anything but Unfortunately, but
I grew up in Michigan. I my parents had breeder dogs.
Going to a breeder was like all that I certainly
knew growing up, like white, little fluffy poodles and whatnot,
which I still old very near and dear to my heart. However,
(13:31):
I started visiting some shelters for a school project and
I met a pit bull and I thought it was
the coolest looking dog I'd ever seen, just like a
big chonky head and like these like little hamsammies, and
I just I was enamored. And it was he was
so wiggly and so excited to be around me. It
was just like this immediate like I like you, you
(13:54):
like me? Like we're good here, and my parents weren't
anti pitbull per se, but it was definitely met with
like a lot of hesitation. And at that point I
had not come into contact with like the pitfull bias
or discrimination, so it's really confusing to me. And that
just opened up a whole can of worms. And I
(14:15):
was like, Oh, this is very My personality is like
you say that you don't like this, I'm gonna like
root for the underdog. I'm a Troit Lions fan, you know,
like I always just the underdog. So I really from
high school on I decided I wanted to work in
animal welfare and advocate for pit bulls. So when I
moved to LA, I had really studied a lot of
(14:36):
organizations and I was like, who is doing the work,
Who's representing dogs that need it most but also making it,
for lack of a better term, like cool. I think
shelter dogs really had this stigma of like old discarded,
something's wrong with them, and that is just not at
all what's going on in shelters, And I felt like
(14:58):
wags just had this really fresh, fun perspective that it
does not need to always be a Sarah McLaughlin commercial
you can find your best friend, and when you make it,
I think more.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Digestible that way.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
I think it makes it feel for a person who's
not super tied into animal welfare, like we have course,
I'll rescue my dog, and I think you have to
make that feel more obtainable to them than like this
big scary shelter in the metal bars and dogs looking
scared in kennels. So I just like followed Leslie around
for months. Still, she eventually hired me, and yeah, I
(15:33):
mean I've I've certainly made it my whole life. And
in regards to Nashville, my husband works in music, so
I was actually like devastated to leave. I had a
great group of friends in LA. He was over it,
you know, he worked in the music industry and was like,
I'd rather kind of settle it into a little bit
more of a sustainable culture. And I was working remotely
(15:56):
for LA and he has me my dog's playing in
the background.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
That's the most accurate part of this is.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Seriously, this makes sense.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Two pipples playing on a couch, ex.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Pacha all.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
That. I basically I did the exact same thing Leslie did,
and I started to get involved in shelters here and
see what was going on in Nashville, in particular, in
the South, and in particular there was a massive underrepresentation
of rescues. So I kind of pitched it to her
and said, hey, can I start my own branch And
she was like, I support you from a pop far
(16:32):
and but you know, it's really boots on the ground
when you talk about like building a community and finding
resources and whatnot. And we turned five this past year,
and in twenty twenty four, the national branch saved fourteen
hundred dogs LA about the same and we've been just
kind of cruising.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
All you know. I do want to talk about that
stereotype of rescue animals. And I love I just love
your numbers. I follow wags and walks on Somedia, so
I always see the numbers, and I always see the
work that you guys are doing. And I think the
thing that's so alarming to me, like I look at
my dog, Remy, who has this cute, little fluffy teddy bear,
(17:12):
and every time I say she's a rescue dog, people
are shocked, like there's no way she's a I'm like, yes,
you can find any breed that you really want in
a shelter. Unfortunately, I wish that wasn't the case. But
there's this huge stereotype associated with shelters and rescue animals.
So can you speak on that a little bit.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Yeah, I mean you said it really well in the
way that I think that most people think they're seniors,
or they've bitten somebody, or they have behavioral problems, medical problems.
And you know, while certainly that is that is a
portion of any shelter population, it is not the vast
majority by any stretch. Stats kind of go back and forth,
but like at this point, the average age of a
(17:54):
shelter dog is under a year, So then you think
about what that scale of Like, it's because there's so
many litters of puppies that are unwanted that are dumped,
whether that's accidental litters, backyard breeders, hoarding cases. I mean,
it runs the whole spectrum. So you know, just at
least from my experience, when we're going to shelters, it
(18:15):
is tons of puppies, like I said, tons of small dogs,
tons that we call them the fluffies, fluffies galore. My
joke lately is like doodles grow on trees and That's
the thing is like you can want whatever dog you want,
Like that's okay, you just have to be patient enough
and willing to understand that when hundreds of thousands, if
(18:38):
not millions, of dogs are being euthanized and you say
that you care about animals and you care about the
animal welfare of dogs and the quality of life, then
you have to hold that at the front of like
what matters to you and then find that dog and
a rescue And you know, I've had tons of friends,
but I want a doodle. It's like I'll, well, I'll
(19:00):
find you.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
A doodle, like maybe tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
So even when I say be patient, I'm not talking
years or anything like that. Like once you kind of
know what you want, and even that, it's like make
sure that you're finding dogs that match your lifestyle versus
what you idolize in your head or think a dog
is going to be. Assuming personalities, uh, and traits don't
(19:26):
do anyone, you know, any good deal. So it's like
learning about that dog, especially if you're looking to adopt
an adult, like be open and find a rescue that
you trust that's going to be forthcoming about you know
their personality and how they've been doing in a foster home.
That's what's great about Wags. You know, most of our
dogs spend a decent amount of time in foster home,
(19:47):
so we can tell you, hey, this is how they're
doing in the crate, or their body schedule, or their socialization.
This dog may or may not be great in an apartment.
This dog, you know, may or not be great with kids.
And as long as you're trans parents, so is the
rescue then like you can make, you know, incredibly wonderful matches.
What I just what I think Wags sayes really well.
But yeah, I mean, like you said, it's this this
(20:09):
year alone, We've had Frenchies, doodles, your keys. I just
had a whole little of Schnauzer puppies. It's like it's
it's it's sad, like you said, and I wish that
wasn't the case, but it is the reality. And so
we're doing our best to kind of make sure that
we're doing our due diligence on behalf of the dogs
in shelters to accurately represent what's going on, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
And there's a few things you said in there that
I definitely want to bring light to. I'm I'm a
huge advocate. Anytime somebody looks at me and they says
I would like to get an animal, I'm like, please foster. Foster.
You know why, because you may find a dog that
you didn't even realize you want it. That is how
you can understand personalities. You can fall in love with
(20:55):
a breed that you didn't even know existed. Foster as
you also to understand the responsibility of an animal without
the commitment and you're still saving its life. So I'm
a huge advocate for that until like if you have
any questions of like what does this mean before you
just all of a sudden have a puppy in your
lap and you're like this is great for a year
and now I'm over it.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Yeah. And I think, you know, especially like adults coming
into their own and wanting their first pet, I think
that it's romanticized a lot of like what we had
as kids. And I recently had a conversation with a
friend who like wanted a Begele and I was like, right,
but you grew up on a farm and now you
live in like a high rise, so like in your
(21:36):
parents realistic really right, like they took care of said
beagle who got access to outside whenever they wanted. Who
if they were barking their heads off, was fine. You know,
beagles historically are lovely, but they're vocal, they're hawn dogs,
they're little hot dogs. They've got that you know, sweet
little little howl. So yes, I think fostering, especially because
(21:56):
at least with at Wags, you know, we provide all
the supplies so it's cost free, and to make it
feel more digestible to people, we just say it's a
two week commitment. So I think when people hear fostering,
they're like, well, how long am I going to have
this dog in my house?
Speaker 1 (22:11):
And what if?
Speaker 3 (22:12):
And what if and what if? And we have answers
to all of those questions. You know, we have a
medical line that you can text and call, we have
a behavior and training line. At the end of the day,
we want the dogs to be safe and a good fit.
We want the people to feel that way, so it's
in no one's best interest to make a bad match.
So we'll be as transparent as possible and give the
(22:33):
people the support that they need to help. You know,
the dog's transition, which is really key in the success
of all of it and to your point, just just
being open to the dogs' personalities and judging them based
off of what they're showing you. And I think that's
how you get that's how we adopt out so many pities,
because it's like it's just fostering, it's just.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Take your home, you know.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
And I can't tell you how many people we've had
foster failed. They are like I never have even really
met a pit and I did not expect to experience this.
And those are the stories that really, you know, can
can fill up your tank in terms of like it's
obviously a hard industry to work in sometimes and being
(23:14):
able to see, you know, we have this one story
of this dog who had he was burned and was
left in an elevator and it was just all the
horrible things you can think of. And he is like
one hundred plus pounds, just like a big old boy,
and he lives with six children and in a really
sweet neighborhood where I think, you know, a lot of
(23:36):
people probably looked at him like what are they doing?
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Was that dog?
Speaker 3 (23:40):
And that family has just done a really amazing job
advocating for him and his breed, and yeah, it's really
really special.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
And because we're talking about this because right after I
do want to, I really would love to talk about
the shelter crisis because I as much as we highlight
the good and all of the amazing things, there is
a very and horrible side of this that I want
people to recognize, just for the emphasis of how important
this is. Yeah, but I do also the I think
(24:10):
another thing that's so important when you were looking at
rescue animals. I remember this when I was volunteering out
of shelter because I would always convey this information. It
was the three day, three weeks, three months rule. Can
you share that with everybody? What that means?
Speaker 1 (24:25):
We love the three three three heroags.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Yeah, so three days, three weeks, three months, and that
really talks about the expectations of a dog coming into
your home and what those transitional periods look like.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
So how I explain it.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
To people that aren't in this world often is by
the time a dog is coming to you, there is
usually a minimum of four to five transitions. So you
have step one, where was this dog before the shelter?
We don't know in someone's house, how long were you astray?
At this point, most dogs are entering shelters as stray
(25:00):
because they're so backed up they.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Won't take owner surrenders.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
So then what happens then people dump them, so wherever
they were before, and that dog might have then been
in multiple homes before that bounced around on Craigslist like
you know, you never know, and then you're gonna be
in the shelter. So that's drop number two. How long
were you in that shelter? How stressful was that shelter?
So you think about dogs who did come from families
(25:24):
and how horribly terrifying it must be to have lived
in someone's house for however long, and now you're in
a kennel. For this range is obviously for like the
staffing of shelters, but across the board, shelters are incredibly
understaffed and underfunded.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
So like here in.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Nashville and LA, honestly, dogs are maybe let out once
a day, so like you're spending twenty three plus hours
in a kennel, and imagine doing that as a human, right,
like you'd go insane. Like they call it solitary confinement
for a reason, and people lose it. And then so
after the shelter, then you're going to at least with
(26:04):
a rescue. Now you're going to the rescue. Does that
rescue have a facility? A lot of them do yes.
So even for us, even if we're gonna send that
dog to shelter, they still have to then spend a
couple of days with us at the building. Then they're
going to a foster, and then they're going to you.
But even then they might have gone through two foster
homes because they took a couple months to get adopted.
They might have been through four foster homes because maybe,
(26:27):
you know, if they had separation anxiety and they took
a couple fosters to like work through it, so by
the time they're landing and what it should be and
hopefully is their forever home, they've been through it. They
have absolutely no consistency, They have no routine, and they
don't even know who you are. Right Like, you're like,
oh my god, I love you so much, You're my
forever dog, You're my little baby, and I want to
take care of you.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
And they're like, I.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Don't know, have no relationship with you whatsoever. So that
three days we really really really try to hone in on,
keep their world small, do very routine things do not
bring them new places.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Get to know.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Your house, your schedule, your block, or your backyard, whoever
is going to live in that house and be that
nuclear family is really all that dog should be exposed to.
You know, people want to go bring their dogs over
to doggie play dates with the new friends, like absolutely not.
This is setting nobody up for a success. And then
that really does extend to most of that three weeks,
(27:26):
so you know, going on some walks, going you know,
and exploring a little bit more shore, but focusing on
what is that routine giving them that stability. You know,
we promote things like hand feeding to like build that
relationships with your dogs.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Great time.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
People are the hot it's a hot take sometimes which
doesn't make any sense to me. Providing a crate for
a dog is one of the best things that you
can do for them because it provides a safe space.
It's like again, I say, think about coming home from
a long day.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
What do you want to do.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
I want to take a shower, and you want to
get into bed and you want to feel like your comfort,
Like that is their create If you are creating that
space for them, and then the more and more they're
they're coming into their own. You are going to see
new personality things. You might see some regressions, right Like
maybe they were terrified the first three three days or
week and now they're like, oh wait, this is kind
(28:19):
of fun, and keeping that consistency is what will help
through kind of that adjustment period. And then that takes
you kind of to your three month three month mark
of really kind of seeing who is my dog. We've
built this relationship. They trust me to not put them
in bad situations. I trust this dog too, write like,
I can trust you too. If you don't want to
create your dog's long term I can trust you to,
(28:41):
you know, be outside at the grocery store, or I
can trust you to, you know, go on a hike
with me and my friend and their dog and do
a proper introduction. You know, we are not fans of
dog parks. Again, maybe a little bit of a hot take,
but like it just doesn't it's more for the people
realistically that it is for the dogs. When we're talking
about trying to keep everybody safe and socialize them in
(29:02):
a way that won't have repercusions down the line.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
So yeah, we preach it.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
It's on all of our adoption room walls and it
works like it works, It works, it works.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
You know, it's funny. I've had experience as a foster
in multiple different variations. My friends and I in college
were fosters for twenty two different dogs collectively because we
knew we were college girls, and we were like, we
can't own a dog, but we can help some animals.
So US four took on the responsibility one at a
time and we helped so many dogs and that was
(29:34):
a cool experience. And then into my adult life, I've
fostered with rescues here in town and had a variety
of different experiences and different dogs that have come in
and some will adjust quickly, some will adjust in weeks.
Some come in and have all kinds of medical things
that they need time before they can get adopted out,
(29:57):
and you have to be that safe space for them.
I'm really glad that you shared that, and also I
know you guys do all dogs. But one of the
foster situations that I had is my now cat Hazel,
which it's on all fronts here right. So I had
been looking for a Siamese. That's what I wanted, that's
what I grew up with, and I just had told
(30:18):
the Nashville Humane here in town, a guy that I
knew that worked there. I was like, if if one
ever comes in, let me know and I'll do a
foster situation because I have zero idea if my dog
is gonna even like this situation. Yeah, And sure enough,
like a week later, he goes, we just took in
thirty cats from one hundred and thirty cat hoarding situation.
One of them's a Siamese. I'm like, cool, I'll come
(30:38):
grab her and brought her in for for two months,
I fostered her and she stayed under the bed of
one room. She stayed in there the whole time, just
unsure of what anything was. And it wasn't even until
about three weeks that I finally allowed my dog to
go in there to see if they would even get along. Yeah,
And when they did, it was like a both of
(30:59):
them were like, what is happening for you? And then
she became obviously a foster Phille She's now mine. But
I didn't also even find out how old she was
until the day of her adoption. They're like, she's eight
years old. I'm like, well, I'm lady in love with her.
So it is what it is.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
What it is. Sign me up, sign the papers.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Yeah. So all that to say, there are so many
variations of that, and I've seen so many of them
on a personal level. So all the things that you're
talking about I can test to and verify as just
a normal human being, not even somebody who's involved in
a rescue. Now turning to that really big crisis that
(31:40):
we are in right now, Yeah, I've seen it. I
mean I'm on so many different Facebook pages. It's all
over my feeds of just the abandonment that's happening, the
breeder crisis, the lack of resources, everything, what is going
on right now, like this huge crisis that is happening,
And what are some things that people, just a normal
(32:03):
person like me can do to help.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Yeah, it's certainly overwhelming.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
You know.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
I've been doing this since I got out of college,
so like twelve years, and there was a really short
window before COVID where like we saw some numbers improving
and COVID just took us back so far. You know,
there are so many different factors on the why behind it.
(32:30):
You know, I think a lot of it is like
people are struggling financially, so you have a whole sect
of people that like probably would keep their dogs, but
feel like their back is against the wall. And then
because there's like a lack of resources to meet them,
that's where you see abandonment, dogs being dumped. I mean
just the amount of dogs are like literally like left
in apartments because people are like I'm moving, the amount
(32:52):
of emails I get and it's hard, right to balance
empathy for people because you have to have it, Because
you don't, you will be jaded and at the end
of the day, like we have to work together to
get through the problems. But then on the other hand,
you get some of these emails or you see these
scenarios and you're like how how like how is this
what the decision that you made, like to literally lock
(33:15):
the door leave and like your dog is still inside
and who did you think was going to help you?
And that's not even going into the realm of abuse
and the horrible scenarios that can also be the case
of it. So as a rescue, it's like you've got
this reason and this reason and this reason, so it's like, okay.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Well what can we do?
Speaker 3 (33:33):
You know, So going into shelters, it's and again you
it's hard because you want to balance the ge, like
I said earlier the Sarah Malachlin commercial, and not trying
to be that, but also trying to be very honest
of what's going on. Is like I go into shelters
every single week and I see dogs marked up on
their kennels, and I'm like, you're dying today, And it
(33:55):
does not matter how many dogs that we can try
and save every single week, there's the next there's going
to be dogs that have to be euthanized. And there's
a massive misconception surrounding shelters and high kill shelters and
always that to kill shelter. And when you have a
(34:16):
shelter that is one hundred and fifty kennels and one
hundred and ninety dogs come in, what do you think
is going to happen? You know? So I try to
tell people it's at the end of the day, it's
a community problem. And you cannot blame shelter workers who
do what you and I can't even do, Like I
couldn't show up to work every day and take care
of dogs that are there for whatever rhyme or reason
(34:38):
and then euthanize them because no one wants them. Like
that is a gut wrenching pill to have to swallow
and then go up and do it the next day.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
So I'm like, I'm so thankful.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
To people that work in shelters because at least being
on the rescue side, we lose dogs. I have to
see really sad things. I have to be a part
of really sad things. But I still get to go
I'm helping. I'm making a difference. They of course are
as well. But when then you're having to be the
one that, like, is the last person to see a
healthy dog get put to sleep?
Speaker 1 (35:07):
I mean I I don't.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
It's hard to envision, you know, a more heart wrenching job.
So they're a very real crisis going on that like,
and it's not it's not just the old dogs. It's
not dogs of behavior problems. We have taken in so
many puppies this year that they're like no one wants them.
It's a litter of black puppies, Like they're gonna get euthanized.
Can you take them today? And I think people think
(35:31):
that's like clickbait or like fake information, and it is
not in LA in the South, Uh, you know, Tennessee's
horrible Texas is horrible. It's everywhere and it's it's brutal.
You know, we've seen domestic violence went up in COVID,
so did animal abuse, hoarding. You know, you have people
(35:53):
struggling financially, mental health, all of it. I mean, we
went to so many hoarding cases this year, properties where
I'm like, there's literally just dead dogs just on the ground,
and you disassociate in the moment, but I mean, like
that's something that like that stays with you as a person,
and so I say to my husband all the time,
(36:15):
but if they had to go through it and we
had to see it, it is my job to make
sure people hear it, because I think then if you don't,
it's very easy to justify buying your dog or breeding
your dog, or you know, it's like if it's a
supply and demand and you're somebody that's choosing to financially
benefit off of the breeding of animals knowing there's an
(36:37):
overpopulation issue, I think that at that point it becomes
a morality question. How you sit on that side of
it or how you value it is I guess very
personal decision, but certainly from where I'm sitting, I'm like
I don't know how someone does that and can go
to bed feeling good about themselves.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
You know, I often tell people when especially like the
conversation of abandonment comes up, it's it's obviously a thing
that is a very controversial to say. You know, I
there's not a lot of excuses that I believe in
to abandon your animal. There's really not to me. And
I know that's a really strong opinion. And I also
(37:16):
am somebody who is a I am an empathy, like
huge empathy. My heart is as big as it can
possibly get. But there are so many ways to go
about that, and there are so many ways to do
something then abandoning or knowing that when you're surrendering your
animal to a shelter, it is going to die. And
(37:38):
one of my strongest things that I say that often
makes people, you know, stop kind of in their tracks,
is you won't want to abandon your animal or surrender
them or get a breeder dog. If you have watched
an animal happy getting out of their shelter, walking thinking
they're about to have the best day ever, and they're
(38:01):
walking into a room and they don't come out.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
Yeah, it's horrible.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
It Once you have ever experienced that or witnessed that
nothing will ever make sense to you in the way
of abandonment. And so what you're saying, I'm you know,
it's it's so important to hear. Is it hard to hear?
And is it it makes me want to, you know,
cry and and sit in a corner and not do anything.
But it's also why I wanted to have this conversation
(38:27):
because I think it's really easy to look the other way, incredibly,
and especially when we're you know, we live in a
world of social media, and aesthetics are important to people,
and they think I need this animal or I need
to have this look, and I'm like, guys, these are
living beings. Just because they can't talk and they don't
(38:49):
look like us, it doesn't mean we should be treating
them this way just because of an aesthetic. And so
thank you for sharing. And I also know that's hard.
That's also hard to put yourself in a place to
constantly be sharing something that is so emotional and so
dark when all you want to do is help every
single one. So thank you for that, and thank you
(39:12):
for the work that you're doing. So looking at someone
like me or the people that are listening what are
the most beneficial ways that we can help an organization
like yours or shelters or anything, or just get involved
in our community. Even like give me some basic levels,
(39:32):
the easiest ways, and then maybe some more advance if
people really want to dive deep.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Yeah, I think on the most basic level, I think
it's having conversations, and it's doing your own research and
being curious about what's going on. If you've purchased your
dog and you maybe don't want to purchase your second dog,
or you've got a little bit of guilt about purchasing
your first dog, and so you just want to pretend
like it doesn't exist or it didn't happen. Lot of
(40:00):
friends that have bought their dogs that I've had incredibly
meaningful conversations with that I know that they now think
of it differently, So like it's it's never too late
kind of a thing to be an advocate. And just
because you maybe bought a dog does not mean that
you can't now be a voice. It is not one
or the other. I will take anyone at any time
that is willing to kind of like come to the
other side of animal rescue and to make it, you know,
(40:23):
not a judgmental place. So it's it's having conversations, being curious,
and then I think you know if that, if that
speaks to you, it's then then you be that boy.
So that's getting involved in social media is like truly
the most impactful way.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
It's how Wags grew.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
I mean like when I started here, I was just like,
I'm going to make this Instagram handle and pull my
friends to follow it, and you know, here we are
five years later with you know, a ton of people
in that community. So when you share things on social media,
when you see a dog that needs a home or
a fundraiser, I mean that one button spend. Collectively, everyone
(41:01):
spends I think too much time on their phone. But
if you're gonna spend time on your phone, like do it,
you know, supporting you know, voices and rescues and shelters
that that need the.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Need the word spread.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
And then if you are so inclined, I think that
you know, the three kind of areas are volunteerism, fostering, which.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Go kind of hand in hand.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
But I think for people who aren't interested in fostering,
there's still just an entire world of volunteering, whether it's events,
or transporting dogs that we have that you can you
can come volunteer and get hands on with the dogs fostering.
Like I said, we talked about adopting obviously, so when
you are in the market for getting your first dog,
second dog, whatever, making sure that you're adopting and then donating.
(41:48):
You know, I think I tell people a lot that
I think people think, well, what's five bucks or what's
ten bucks?
Speaker 1 (41:56):
It's a lot.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
It adds up, especially like speaking from WHA being like
so grassroots. We had one of our most like recent fundraisers.
We needed to raise like seven thousand, seven thousand dollars
for like her emergency hospitalization, her surgery, et cetera. And
then I ended up dividing to seven thousand we raised
by the amount of donors. The average donation was seventeen dollars.
(42:19):
So it's like half of those people decided, what's my
seventeen dollars, Like I wouldn't have raised enough. You know,
have monthly donors for a pop club at ten bucks
a month, and you know, I can absolutely appreciate that,
Like people are struggling right now, but for the people
that you know are still getting you know, our Starbucks
and our fancy coffees and whatnot. That like what's ten
(42:41):
bucks a month? You know, like when all of that
adds up to making a true impact, it goes a
long way.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Thank you for sharing that. You know, there was a
there's a saying, and I'll pas say it at the
end of this again to whenever I'm sharing stuff on
rescue animals or dogs or trying to get animals adopt.
Did one of my things that I always write and
I don't even know where I saw it. I'm sure
it was on a rescue or shelter somewhere, but it
was if you adopt. If you can't adopt, foster, if
you can't foster, volunteer. If you can't volunteer, then donate.
(43:13):
If you can't donate, then share, like there's always something
you can be doing. And so I'll leave that there
with what you just shared, So thank you. I also
want to talk about it's happening so hard, and I
know that it's also probably really difficult for you to see.
And I'm sure that you guys are involved the wildfires
(43:35):
out in California, and I have so much empathy for
everybody that is going through this. I also have so
much empathy for the animals and the wildlife and how
drastically everything is being impacted out there. So are you
guys doing stuff to involve that that maybe other people
can also help in that way, like what's going on
out there? Because you guys do have the Los Angeles
(43:57):
Wags and walks.
Speaker 3 (43:59):
Yes, it's been horrible being in Nashville and having lived
there and having friends and one of our own WAG
staff members lost her home and she's like weeks away
from giving birth and has little ones and it's it's overwhelming.
But I think this is what like what kind of
(44:19):
Wags is about. It's just like when things go crazy,
I think we go, okay, like how can we help?
I call it controlled fury. It's like when just things
are going crazy, how can we like hone in and
like do what we do best, so we didn't want
to be adding to the noise, like right when it started.
It's like, Okay, let's like figure out which large organizations
(44:43):
are like getting boots on the ground, where can we
fit in and like be the most impactful. So one
is obviously saving dogs. So in the last week they
have saved over sixty five dogs. They're going to different
shelters every single day, and kind of what's happening with
the wildfire. There's so many displaced animals that the shelters
(45:03):
want to create space for them to be reunited.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
With their families.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
And while it might be easy to assume, oh well,
that should not take that long, a like dogs have traveled.
There's so many shelters in LA. If the dog is
not microchip, it's like figuring out where that dog is.
And then even if they found out where their dog is,
do they have somewhere to bring the dog back to.
We know how many, like you know, landlords, leasing companies
do not allow for tests, which I've seen some like
(45:30):
lifting their restrictions and things like that, especially for short
term rentals for you know, to be able to accommodate
families that have pets. So shelters are giving people longer
to claim their dogs. I think most shelters have been
like twenty one days. That is a death sentence for
the dogs that have already been there. Those are dogs
we already know don't have homes. So WAGS is going
(45:51):
to those shelters. The first day we got there, we
met the longest term resident and they're like yep, you're
coming with us, get in the van. So in some
ways it's been so impactful for the dogs that have
been there for so long because I think rescues are going, okay,
like this is this is where we are actually needed.
You know, it's not taking the cute, little fluffy dog,
(46:11):
it's who needs it and who can we help, So
going to tons of shelters for the rest of this week,
they would be going, and they're in communication daily with
like who needs the most help. Two is their supply drive.
Though we knew we hey, we have a building, our building,
a stake, we've got the room, it exploded, and they
have so much supplies. So at this point we're kind
(46:32):
of distributing it two different ways. So one is like
show up tour at option center. It Option center is
in West LA. It's like no questions asked, like take
what you need. It's obviously like you know, pet supplies,
but there's cat and dogs and I honestly probably some
other smaller animals, rabbits, things like that.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
That.
Speaker 3 (46:49):
If you need supplies, show up, if you know people
tell people to go there. We're open every single day.
And then we're also having we have a sign up
sheet so people can say, hey, I need supplies, I
can't come to you, and then we have volunteers driving
the supplies. We have plenty of volunteers and plenty of drivers.
So same thing simple as just fill out this quick form,
(47:09):
let us know what you need, be specific because we
probably have it and we'll.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Get it to you.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
And then three is our grand program that we've just launched.
We've never done anything like this. I'm super proud of
the team for being as creative as possible. I think
WAGS has such trust in the community that when people
are donating their money to our wild Life Wildlife, our
(47:34):
wildfire Fund, we are trusted to make make the most
of their donations. And we had in enormous amount of
support or this fund that we were like, Okay, yes,
we've saved sixty five dogs. We're doing all the supply driver,
we're doing all this work, but at the end of
(47:55):
the day, like this, these dollars should go as far
as they can, and we want to make sure that
we're not just keeping that for our own dogs outside
of what's going on right now, So we're actually giving
away funding to both families and other animal well for organizations.
So we are starting with twenty thousand dollars of that
(48:18):
we're giving away of funds, but we're having other partners
show interest in this, so the more matches we can
get to this, the more that we can give away.
It's a really simple process. It's on our website. You
have to just say if you're an individual, if you're
applying on behalf of somebody else, or if you're an
animal weal for organization and what you're seeking funding for.
So this could be boarding and the costs of Hey,
(48:40):
I got to go get my dog in the shelter,
or I need to go say with family and I
need to put my pet and boarding right now, we're
an animal for organization and we had damage to our building,
or hey I just need costs of betinary care because
my pet was injured. There's so many dogs who have
had burns, who got hit by cars, who you know,
(49:00):
the whole runs, the whole gamut. So we are processing
applications pretty much as we speak and trying to get
those funds distributed.
Speaker 1 (49:08):
As soon as possible.
Speaker 3 (49:10):
And all of these programs right now are ongoing. So
as long as we're receiving a support and we're seeing
the need. We're gonna keep on doing our best to
help as many people and dogs as we can.
Speaker 2 (49:22):
Wow, it's amazing what you guys are doing, not just
you know, in Nashville, in LA and with the wildfires,
but just across the board, and the fact that you
guys are constantly trying to find new ways to do so. Like,
I'm sure that there are people that tell you often,
but I want to be another one who just says
thank you, like thank you for everything you're doing, thank
(49:43):
you for who you are as a person who wants
to do this and do that work. I think it's
really special and the stuff that you're doing doesn't go unnoticed,
especially to somebody like me. So just thanks to you,
your whole team, everyone who's doing all of that, and
you know, you guys share this. Hopefully they can get
even more donations and stuff to help those grants and
(50:04):
help more families and stuff. Because I've seen so many
videos and I you know, I keep watching them waiting
for ways to help, and now we have one, and
this is a trusted way to help. So let's do it,
and let's all go in together and find ways to
help these families and their pets. So thank you and
thank you for coming on like to talk about all
(50:26):
of this, and again just being who you are so.
Speaker 3 (50:29):
Likewise, and you know, I think that I am not
in your position to give, you know, people the opportunity
to talk about what they're doing. So your work is
super important and I appreciate you reaching out and wanting
to highlight the cause in and of itself and also
what's going on in LA or anyone that does listen
to this and wants to get involved. I think I
mentioned this, but everything can be found at wags and
(50:50):
walks dot org. It's all across the banners, whether you
are looking for the supply information or the grants. And
also we're super active on social waxmox waxmox Nashville and
our social team is they're working over.
Speaker 1 (51:05):
Time right now.
Speaker 2 (51:06):
Yeah, they do amazing stuff. That's how I always see
what you guys are up to. I you know, I
follow it myself and I've been fortunate to help you
guys in a lot of different ways and I will
continue to do so. Just again because of the work
that you guys are doing is amazing. So and also
if you know you're like I really want to get
involved locally, there's so many wonderful organizations like Wags and Walks.
(51:28):
If you don't live in Nashville and you don't live
in LA, there are rescue groups everywhere. You can search
on Facebook and say rescue group, and I promise you
you will find one. So if this is you know
you want to get really hands on involved locally, there's
that way too. So again, thank you Catherine, thanks for
being here and everything.
Speaker 3 (51:47):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (51:56):
I just want to think all of you guys too,
because if you've followed me on instead and now you
listen to this podcast, you guys also support this work.
You guys cheer me on in this and you guys
help support and share. And I've seen so much social
engagement over animals I've posted and rescue stories. So thank you, guys,
and thank you to all the people out there who
(52:18):
are big advocates also for Adopt Don't Shop. I hope
you enjoyed this episode, and if you know you're new
to this world, then I welcome you wholeheartedly and I'm
really glad that you're here. So again, go check out
Wags and Walks dot org if you want to help
locally just in general with rescue or if you want
(52:39):
to help with what's happening in the wildfires out in California.
But even more than that, I encourage you once again,
please adopt. And if you can't adopt, foster, and if
you can't foster, then volunteer. And if you can't volunteer,
then donate. And if you can't donate, then share on
social media. There is always a way that you're able
(53:00):
to help in this space, and more importantly, you're needed
in this help. These animals need us. We are their
voice and we have domesticated these animals, so it is
up to us to help through this crisis as a
community across the entire country. And I think we can
do it. And you know, one day, I hope that
(53:20):
I can pull an Elwoods and be on the doorstep
of legalizing stricter breeding laws and other ways to help animals.
But until then, I'm going to keep doing this and
thank you for allowing me to do so.
Personal with the Long Fieldsmen.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I was really excited when I started this podcast because
I was getting to talk about topics that I'm super
passionate about and share things across the board that just
hopefully make us feel like we're learning lessons and growing
as people. But this particular episode might be one of
my favorites because this is a topic that I am
(00:41):
above and beyond one of the most passionate things about,
and it is rescue animals. So this week I'm bringing
on one of the founders of Wags and Walks Nashville.
Her name is Catherine, and that's a rescue organization that's
here in Nashville. They're also out in Los Angeles, and
we're going to get into that interview here shortly, but
I wanted to share some backstory of why I'm such
(01:03):
a huge advocate for rescue animals. So the rescue side
doesn't really come into play for me until later on
in my life. But as a kid, I was a
huge animal lover. I wanted every animal you could possibly
have under the sun, and thankfully I had parents who
also loved animals. We had a farm that had four horses,
(01:24):
and we had guinea pigs and bunnies and turtles and ferrets.
We really truly had just about everything. Cats and dogs
of course too, So I grew up a very animal
loving girl, and enough that you know, when I turned
eight years old, I became a vegetarian once I learned
out where meat came from. So the animal loving thing
(01:45):
was part of my nature. It's always been part of
who I am. But until I got to college, I
didn't really know much about shelters beyond what everybody saw
on the TV was the Sarah McLachlan commercials and the
sadness that comes with them. And I always wanted to help,
but I didn't really understand. It wasn't until I was
(02:05):
in my junior year of college and one of my
really good friends in roommates at the time, there was
five of us girls living together. She suggested that we
all start fostering animals. Because we were college kids, we
couldn't own any animals, but we could help save some.
And there was a rescue organization in our college town
of Manhattan, Kansas called Purple Paws, and she had reached
(02:28):
out to him, brought a dog home, and we were
all sold. We're like, I don't know how we're going
to give this dog up, but we'll figure it out.
And so we started fostering. I want to say by
the end of our junior year, we had fostered over
twenty two animals, dogs and cats, and it was the
most rewarding year of my life. I had no idea
that I had the capability or the strength to help
(02:50):
in that way. I never thought that I could be
a foster. I had such a big heart and I
wanted to keep and love every animal that came into
my presence. But something about being part of all these
dog stories, when I knew in the back of my
head I was a college kid that couldn't have her
own animal at this time, allowed me to really see
that I could do the fostering thing give me the
(03:12):
confidence to do so. So after I graduated college and
we had done all this fostering, I went back home
and I knew immediately that what I wanted to do
was start volunteering at the shelter because I was missing
that portion of my life and what we were doing
with helping all of those animals. So I signed up
to be a dog walker volunteer at Kansas Humane Society,
(03:36):
which ironically I only lasted about two weeks because famously,
I then met my now dog, Remy. She came in
as a puppy and I had actually tried to get
my parents to adopt her because on her card it
read Maltese mix, and we had had a Maltese at home,
we had had a breeder dog, and I loved her.
(03:57):
I will never ever forget her. We had a beagle
before that, and so the beagle was named Riba, the
Maltese was named Bella, and we had a Siamese named Sapphire.
And I will never not love those animals over the
course of my lifetime. They were incredible animals and I
(04:17):
loved them wholeheartedly. But you know, as you grow and
you get older, you learn things and you do better
because of them. So while never take away those experiences
I had with any of those animals, because they allowed
me to learn the love that I have for animals,
I do know better now to now My future dogs
and any animals that I have post college are always
(04:40):
going to be rescue animals. So in meeting Remy at
the shelter at Kansas Humane and trying to bring my
parents in to meet her as they came in to
meet her. They kind of looked at me and said, Morgan,
that's your dog. She doesn't want anything to do with us,
like she kind of imprinted on you. And sure enough,
but again, I was a position where I just got
(05:01):
out of college, I'm living with my parents, I had
just started a brand new job, not in a position
to have a puppy. Well, I really loved her and
I couldn't stop thinking about her, and thankfully my parents
were like, you know, it's okay, you can get her
if you want her. And so as soon as I
got the green light, I called Kansas Humane. She hadn't
(05:22):
been Spade yet, so technically she wasn't up for adoption yet.
She was just kind of in the back waiting for
the Spade happened and then be put on the adoption floor.
So I called them before she ever made it, and
I said, hey, if the Spae goes great, like I
want her, I'm putting a hold on her. And I did,
and thank goodness, the Spade surgery went really well and
(05:43):
I was up there shortly after to officially adopt her.
She was originally named Vulpricks, which I have learned as
a Pokemon name. She's not at all a Vulpricks. She's
totally a Rimy and the rest is history. So we
lived in Wichita with my parents for a year in
the whole puppy phase, which was wildly crazy for me,
especially having a brand new job. It was a very
(06:06):
wild moment for me to do that, but I'm so
glad that I did. And then fast forward to Nashville.
Rimy and I have lived in Nashville together since twenty sixteen,
but it wasn't until February of twenty twenty three when
I started asking questions. Ironically, I had broken up with
my boyfriend that passed fall in twenty twenty two, and
(06:28):
he didn't want to ever have a cat, but I
had always wanted one because I grew up with one
that I loved, and so I had reached out to
Nashville Humane and said, Hey, if you guys happened to
get any Siamese in any kind, to let me know.
I would love to foster and find out if Remy's
even going to allow me to have another pet in
this house. So that's where Hazel came into the picture.
(06:49):
About a week later, I got a message and he
had said that they had a Siamese. She came from
one hundred and thirty cat hoarding situation in Mississippi and
they had taken in about thirty of them, and Hazel
was one of them. And I fostered her for about
two months. And that whole process of fostering and getting
her to get used to me, which is even more
difficult with cats. Cats are a little bit more untrusting
(07:11):
than dogs. But as soon as that two month threshold
kind of hit, she finally started to come out of
her shell and I said, oh, there's no way I'm
going to be able to give her up, and her
and Remy really finally started to get along, and I
was like, Okay, I think this will work, and I
called them officially went in to put in for the adoption,
and you'll hear as I'm talking to Catherine that I
(07:33):
didn't even know how old Hazel was until I actually
went in for the adoption, and at that point it
didn't even matter. I had already fallen in love with her.
So I learned that she was eight years old, which
ironically was also Remy's age, and they were the same coloring,
and she was also named Hazel, which I didn't end
up changing. I figured she had really kind of already
(07:54):
been through enough. But more than that, my previous cat
was a Siamese and her name was Safie, short for Sapphire.
She had bright blue eyes, and she had a color name,
and I felt, you know, this is just really meant
to be. This feels right, and it feels like Saffie
would approve. So that's my animal story history background. But
(08:19):
I also wanted to share this because just because I
grew up with breeder animals doesn't mean I don't get
to change and do better because I know better now,
and my family knows better. My sister adopted two Doberman's
who she both foster failed. My parents have taken in
(08:39):
three rescues since all of this. So just because you
might have been used to breeder dogs, because that was
just the norm, especially a lot of us nineties babies
as we were growing up and before that, just because
you're used to that doesn't mean that's what you have
to keep doing. And that's my hope with this episode
is that you recognize that you can have a beautiful
(09:00):
life and a beautiful family and beautiful relationships with animals
that are coming from shelters and rescues. So thanks for
listening to my personal story. But now it's time for
us to go over and talk to Catherine, who I
know you guys are just gonna love, So let's go
do it. Anybody who has followed me for a long
(09:27):
time is gonna be like, this is a no brainer episode.
I'm so excited because this week I am joined by
Katherine Hurley, who is one of the founders of Wags
and Walks, which is a huge rescue organization for animals,
and I'm just so excited to have this conversation. Catherine.
Thank you for joining me. How are you.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I'm great, I'm so excited to be here. Thank you
for having us and highlighting our work.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah of course. Okay, so give me kind of the backstory.
How did Wags and Walks get started? Why did it
it started? You know, I'm super familiar with a lot
of rescues in shelter work, but I know this is
not a very common thing that people know about. So
break it down for us in like elementary terms.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah, so Wagsmolk specifically was founded. Gosh, it's pushing fifteen
years now, which feels insane by our founder Leslie Bragg.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
She did not.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
I'm sure she would say this herself for see herself
getting into this field per se. When she was growing up,
she was like really successful in pharmaceutical sales, but she
met a pit bull, and I feel like that's like
everyone's kind of trajectory, you know, when they find the
dog that they really fall in love with. And she
decided to you know, really take it ten steps further,
(10:43):
and she realized what was going on in shelters.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
She moved from New York to la and started.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Visiting, getting involved and kind of understanding the footprint of
like what is really the crisis going on? Why are
so many dogs being euthanized? And decided she wanted to
do something about it. So she started Wags out of
her garage again Agent one story, Famous last Words, and
it kind of really just grew organically from there. She
(11:11):
got a really great group of people together that were
interested in helping her grow her mission. And that's really,
you know, the birthplace of Wags and Walks in La.
We And then I met her when I was really
early twenties. I from Michigan and knew that I wanted
to get involved in animal welfare. And I spent about
(11:32):
five years at the La branch and watched it grow
again from her garage to their very own adoption center,
and then I moved to Nashville six years ago where
we started the Wags and Hawks Nashville branch. So a
really organic kind of way of it growing, which I
feel like is the best way to make, you know,
(11:53):
the greatest impact when you really believe in what you're doing,
and then you're surrounding yourself, you know, with the community
that wants to help, and really at the root cause
of this, you know, comes down to overpopulation and lack
of education, awareness and access. And we are kind of
(12:13):
at every at all of those routes trying to address
it as best as we can. And you know, we
save thousands of dogs each and every year and continue
to grow our programs.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
And I want to get into that, especially those reasons
and why we're here, why this is happening, especially now
this it feels like from an outsider's perspective, that we
are in a crisis unlike anything we've ever seen before.
For you, though, what was the reason why you wanted
to get into this and then come to a different
city and start another version kind of this organization?
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Yeah, you know, I really was so inspired by my
entire experience in la and under Leslie. I think I
was told very frequently like how will you really make
this your job?
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Like rescuing dogs.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
I think a lot of people, you know, I get
told all the time, Oh, I just I wish I
had your job.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
I wish I had your job. And I'm like, it
depends on the day, you know.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
I think that people envision it being like rolling around
with puppies, and it's really anything anything but Unfortunately, but
I grew up in Michigan. I my parents had breeder dogs.
Going to a breeder was like all that I certainly
knew growing up, like white, little fluffy poodles and whatnot,
which I still old very near and dear to my heart. However,
(13:31):
I started visiting some shelters for a school project and
I met a pit bull and I thought it was
the coolest looking dog I'd ever seen, just like a
big chonky head and like these like little hamsammies, and
I just I was enamored. And it was he was
so wiggly and so excited to be around me. It
was just like this immediate like I like you, you
(13:54):
like me? Like we're good here, and my parents weren't
anti pitbull per se, but it was definitely met with
like a lot of hesitation. And at that point I
had not come into contact with like the pitfull bias
or discrimination, so it's really confusing to me. And that
just opened up a whole can of worms. And I
(14:15):
was like, Oh, this is very My personality is like
you say that you don't like this, I'm gonna like
root for the underdog. I'm a Troit Lions fan, you know,
like I always just the underdog. So I really from
high school on I decided I wanted to work in
animal welfare and advocate for pit bulls. So when I
moved to LA, I had really studied a lot of
(14:36):
organizations and I was like, who is doing the work,
Who's representing dogs that need it most but also making it,
for lack of a better term, like cool. I think
shelter dogs really had this stigma of like old discarded,
something's wrong with them, and that is just not at
all what's going on in shelters, And I felt like
(14:58):
wags just had this really fresh, fun perspective that it
does not need to always be a Sarah McLaughlin commercial
you can find your best friend, and when you make it,
I think more.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Digestible that way.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
I think it makes it feel for a person who's
not super tied into animal welfare, like we have course,
I'll rescue my dog, and I think you have to
make that feel more obtainable to them than like this
big scary shelter in the metal bars and dogs looking
scared in kennels. So I just like followed Leslie around
for months. Still, she eventually hired me, and yeah, I
(15:33):
mean I've I've certainly made it my whole life. And
in regards to Nashville, my husband works in music, so
I was actually like devastated to leave. I had a
great group of friends in LA. He was over it,
you know, he worked in the music industry and was like,
I'd rather kind of settle it into a little bit
more of a sustainable culture. And I was working remotely
(15:56):
for LA and he has me my dog's playing in
the background.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
That's the most accurate part of this is.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Seriously, this makes sense.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Two pipples playing on a couch, ex.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Pacha all.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
That. I basically I did the exact same thing Leslie did,
and I started to get involved in shelters here and
see what was going on in Nashville, in particular, in
the South, and in particular there was a massive underrepresentation
of rescues. So I kind of pitched it to her
and said, hey, can I start my own branch And
she was like, I support you from a pop far
(16:32):
and but you know, it's really boots on the ground
when you talk about like building a community and finding
resources and whatnot. And we turned five this past year,
and in twenty twenty four, the national branch saved fourteen
hundred dogs LA about the same and we've been just
kind of cruising.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
All you know. I do want to talk about that
stereotype of rescue animals. And I love I just love
your numbers. I follow wags and walks on Somedia, so
I always see the numbers, and I always see the
work that you guys are doing. And I think the
thing that's so alarming to me, like I look at
my dog, Remy, who has this cute, little fluffy teddy bear,
(17:12):
and every time I say she's a rescue dog, people
are shocked, like there's no way she's a I'm like, yes,
you can find any breed that you really want in
a shelter. Unfortunately, I wish that wasn't the case. But
there's this huge stereotype associated with shelters and rescue animals.
So can you speak on that a little bit.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Yeah, I mean you said it really well in the
way that I think that most people think they're seniors,
or they've bitten somebody, or they have behavioral problems, medical problems.
And you know, while certainly that is that is a
portion of any shelter population, it is not the vast
majority by any stretch. Stats kind of go back and forth,
but like at this point, the average age of a
(17:54):
shelter dog is under a year, So then you think
about what that scale of Like, it's because there's so
many litters of puppies that are unwanted that are dumped,
whether that's accidental litters, backyard breeders, hoarding cases. I mean,
it runs the whole spectrum. So you know, just at
least from my experience, when we're going to shelters, it
(18:15):
is tons of puppies, like I said, tons of small dogs,
tons that we call them the fluffies, fluffies galore. My
joke lately is like doodles grow on trees and That's
the thing is like you can want whatever dog you want,
Like that's okay, you just have to be patient enough
and willing to understand that when hundreds of thousands, if
(18:38):
not millions, of dogs are being euthanized and you say
that you care about animals and you care about the
animal welfare of dogs and the quality of life, then
you have to hold that at the front of like
what matters to you and then find that dog and
a rescue And you know, I've had tons of friends,
but I want a doodle. It's like I'll, well, I'll
(19:00):
find you.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
A doodle, like maybe tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
So even when I say be patient, I'm not talking
years or anything like that. Like once you kind of
know what you want, and even that, it's like make
sure that you're finding dogs that match your lifestyle versus
what you idolize in your head or think a dog
is going to be. Assuming personalities, uh, and traits don't
(19:26):
do anyone, you know, any good deal. So it's like
learning about that dog, especially if you're looking to adopt
an adult, like be open and find a rescue that
you trust that's going to be forthcoming about you know
their personality and how they've been doing in a foster home.
That's what's great about Wags. You know, most of our
dogs spend a decent amount of time in foster home,
(19:47):
so we can tell you, hey, this is how they're
doing in the crate, or their body schedule, or their socialization.
This dog may or may not be great in an apartment.
This dog, you know, may or not be great with kids.
And as long as you're trans parents, so is the
rescue then like you can make, you know, incredibly wonderful matches.
What I just what I think Wags sayes really well.
But yeah, I mean, like you said, it's this this
(20:09):
year alone, We've had Frenchies, doodles, your keys. I just
had a whole little of Schnauzer puppies. It's like it's
it's it's sad, like you said, and I wish that
wasn't the case, but it is the reality. And so
we're doing our best to kind of make sure that
we're doing our due diligence on behalf of the dogs
in shelters to accurately represent what's going on, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
And there's a few things you said in there that
I definitely want to bring light to. I'm I'm a
huge advocate. Anytime somebody looks at me and they says
I would like to get an animal, I'm like, please foster. Foster.
You know why, because you may find a dog that
you didn't even realize you want it. That is how
you can understand personalities. You can fall in love with
(20:55):
a breed that you didn't even know existed. Foster as
you also to understand the responsibility of an animal without
the commitment and you're still saving its life. So I'm
a huge advocate for that until like if you have
any questions of like what does this mean before you
just all of a sudden have a puppy in your
lap and you're like this is great for a year
and now I'm over it.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Yeah. And I think, you know, especially like adults coming
into their own and wanting their first pet, I think
that it's romanticized a lot of like what we had
as kids. And I recently had a conversation with a
friend who like wanted a Begele and I was like, right,
but you grew up on a farm and now you
live in like a high rise, so like in your
(21:36):
parents realistic really right, like they took care of said
beagle who got access to outside whenever they wanted. Who
if they were barking their heads off, was fine. You know,
beagles historically are lovely, but they're vocal, they're hawn dogs,
they're little hot dogs. They've got that you know, sweet
little little howl. So yes, I think fostering, especially because
(21:56):
at least with at Wags, you know, we provide all
the supplies so it's cost free, and to make it
feel more digestible to people, we just say it's a
two week commitment. So I think when people hear fostering,
they're like, well, how long am I going to have
this dog in my house?
Speaker 1 (22:11):
And what if?
Speaker 3 (22:12):
And what if and what if? And we have answers
to all of those questions. You know, we have a
medical line that you can text and call, we have
a behavior and training line. At the end of the day,
we want the dogs to be safe and a good fit.
We want the people to feel that way, so it's
in no one's best interest to make a bad match.
So we'll be as transparent as possible and give the
(22:33):
people the support that they need to help. You know,
the dog's transition, which is really key in the success
of all of it and to your point, just just
being open to the dogs' personalities and judging them based
off of what they're showing you. And I think that's
how you get that's how we adopt out so many pities,
because it's like it's just fostering, it's just.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Take your home, you know.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
And I can't tell you how many people we've had
foster failed. They are like I never have even really
met a pit and I did not expect to experience this.
And those are the stories that really, you know, can
can fill up your tank in terms of like it's
obviously a hard industry to work in sometimes and being
(23:14):
able to see, you know, we have this one story
of this dog who had he was burned and was
left in an elevator and it was just all the
horrible things you can think of. And he is like
one hundred plus pounds, just like a big old boy,
and he lives with six children and in a really
sweet neighborhood where I think, you know, a lot of
(23:36):
people probably looked at him like what are they doing?
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Was that dog?
Speaker 3 (23:40):
And that family has just done a really amazing job
advocating for him and his breed, and yeah, it's really
really special.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
And because we're talking about this because right after I
do want to, I really would love to talk about
the shelter crisis because I as much as we highlight
the good and all of the amazing things, there is
a very and horrible side of this that I want
people to recognize, just for the emphasis of how important
this is. Yeah, but I do also the I think
(24:10):
another thing that's so important when you were looking at
rescue animals. I remember this when I was volunteering out
of shelter because I would always convey this information. It
was the three day, three weeks, three months rule. Can
you share that with everybody? What that means?
Speaker 1 (24:25):
We love the three three three heroags.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Yeah, so three days, three weeks, three months, and that
really talks about the expectations of a dog coming into
your home and what those transitional periods look like.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
So how I explain it.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
To people that aren't in this world often is by
the time a dog is coming to you, there is
usually a minimum of four to five transitions. So you
have step one, where was this dog before the shelter?
We don't know in someone's house, how long were you astray?
At this point, most dogs are entering shelters as stray
(25:00):
because they're so backed up they.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Won't take owner surrenders.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
So then what happens then people dump them, so wherever
they were before, and that dog might have then been
in multiple homes before that bounced around on Craigslist like
you know, you never know, and then you're gonna be
in the shelter. So that's drop number two. How long
were you in that shelter? How stressful was that shelter?
So you think about dogs who did come from families
(25:24):
and how horribly terrifying it must be to have lived
in someone's house for however long, and now you're in
a kennel. For this range is obviously for like the
staffing of shelters, but across the board, shelters are incredibly
understaffed and underfunded.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
So like here in.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Nashville and LA, honestly, dogs are maybe let out once
a day, so like you're spending twenty three plus hours
in a kennel, and imagine doing that as a human, right,
like you'd go insane. Like they call it solitary confinement
for a reason, and people lose it. And then so
after the shelter, then you're going to at least with
(26:04):
a rescue. Now you're going to the rescue. Does that
rescue have a facility? A lot of them do yes.
So even for us, even if we're gonna send that
dog to shelter, they still have to then spend a
couple of days with us at the building. Then they're
going to a foster, and then they're going to you.
But even then they might have gone through two foster
homes because they took a couple months to get adopted.
They might have been through four foster homes because maybe,
(26:27):
you know, if they had separation anxiety and they took
a couple fosters to like work through it, so by
the time they're landing and what it should be and
hopefully is their forever home, they've been through it. They
have absolutely no consistency, They have no routine, and they
don't even know who you are. Right Like, you're like,
oh my god, I love you so much, You're my
forever dog, You're my little baby, and I want to
take care of you.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
And they're like, I.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Don't know, have no relationship with you whatsoever. So that
three days we really really really try to hone in on,
keep their world small, do very routine things do not
bring them new places.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Get to know.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Your house, your schedule, your block, or your backyard, whoever
is going to live in that house and be that
nuclear family is really all that dog should be exposed to.
You know, people want to go bring their dogs over
to doggie play dates with the new friends, like absolutely not.
This is setting nobody up for a success. And then
that really does extend to most of that three weeks,
(27:26):
so you know, going on some walks, going you know,
and exploring a little bit more shore, but focusing on
what is that routine giving them that stability. You know,
we promote things like hand feeding to like build that
relationships with your dogs.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Great time.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
People are the hot it's a hot take sometimes which
doesn't make any sense to me. Providing a crate for
a dog is one of the best things that you
can do for them because it provides a safe space.
It's like again, I say, think about coming home from
a long day.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
What do you want to do.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
I want to take a shower, and you want to
get into bed and you want to feel like your comfort,
Like that is their create If you are creating that
space for them, and then the more and more they're
they're coming into their own. You are going to see
new personality things. You might see some regressions, right Like
maybe they were terrified the first three three days or
week and now they're like, oh wait, this is kind
(28:19):
of fun, and keeping that consistency is what will help
through kind of that adjustment period. And then that takes
you kind of to your three month three month mark
of really kind of seeing who is my dog. We've
built this relationship. They trust me to not put them
in bad situations. I trust this dog too, write like,
I can trust you too. If you don't want to
create your dog's long term I can trust you to,
(28:41):
you know, be outside at the grocery store, or I
can trust you to, you know, go on a hike
with me and my friend and their dog and do
a proper introduction. You know, we are not fans of
dog parks. Again, maybe a little bit of a hot take,
but like it just doesn't it's more for the people
realistically that it is for the dogs. When we're talking
about trying to keep everybody safe and socialize them in
(29:02):
a way that won't have repercusions down the line.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
So yeah, we preach it.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
It's on all of our adoption room walls and it
works like it works, It works, it works.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
You know, it's funny. I've had experience as a foster
in multiple different variations. My friends and I in college
were fosters for twenty two different dogs collectively because we
knew we were college girls, and we were like, we
can't own a dog, but we can help some animals.
So US four took on the responsibility one at a
time and we helped so many dogs and that was
(29:34):
a cool experience. And then into my adult life, I've
fostered with rescues here in town and had a variety
of different experiences and different dogs that have come in
and some will adjust quickly, some will adjust in weeks.
Some come in and have all kinds of medical things
that they need time before they can get adopted out,
(29:57):
and you have to be that safe space for them.
I'm really glad that you shared that, and also I
know you guys do all dogs. But one of the
foster situations that I had is my now cat Hazel,
which it's on all fronts here right. So I had
been looking for a Siamese. That's what I wanted, that's
what I grew up with, and I just had told
(30:18):
the Nashville Humane here in town, a guy that I
knew that worked there. I was like, if if one
ever comes in, let me know and I'll do a
foster situation because I have zero idea if my dog
is gonna even like this situation. Yeah, And sure enough,
like a week later, he goes, we just took in
thirty cats from one hundred and thirty cat hoarding situation.
One of them's a Siamese. I'm like, cool, I'll come
(30:38):
grab her and brought her in for for two months,
I fostered her and she stayed under the bed of
one room. She stayed in there the whole time, just
unsure of what anything was. And it wasn't even until
about three weeks that I finally allowed my dog to
go in there to see if they would even get along. Yeah,
And when they did, it was like a both of
(30:59):
them were like, what is happening for you? And then
she became obviously a foster Phille She's now mine. But
I didn't also even find out how old she was
until the day of her adoption. They're like, she's eight
years old. I'm like, well, I'm lady in love with her.
So it is what it is.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
What it is. Sign me up, sign the papers.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Yeah. So all that to say, there are so many
variations of that, and I've seen so many of them
on a personal level. So all the things that you're
talking about I can test to and verify as just
a normal human being, not even somebody who's involved in
a rescue. Now turning to that really big crisis that
(31:40):
we are in right now, Yeah, I've seen it. I
mean I'm on so many different Facebook pages. It's all
over my feeds of just the abandonment that's happening, the
breeder crisis, the lack of resources, everything, what is going
on right now, like this huge crisis that is happening,
And what are some things that people, just a normal
(32:03):
person like me can do to help.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Yeah, it's certainly overwhelming.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
You know.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
I've been doing this since I got out of college,
so like twelve years, and there was a really short
window before COVID where like we saw some numbers improving
and COVID just took us back so far. You know,
there are so many different factors on the why behind it.
(32:30):
You know, I think a lot of it is like
people are struggling financially, so you have a whole sect
of people that like probably would keep their dogs, but
feel like their back is against the wall. And then
because there's like a lack of resources to meet them,
that's where you see abandonment, dogs being dumped. I mean
just the amount of dogs are like literally like left
in apartments because people are like I'm moving, the amount
(32:52):
of emails I get and it's hard, right to balance
empathy for people because you have to have it, Because
you don't, you will be jaded and at the end
of the day, like we have to work together to
get through the problems. But then on the other hand,
you get some of these emails or you see these
scenarios and you're like how how like how is this
what the decision that you made, like to literally lock
(33:15):
the door leave and like your dog is still inside
and who did you think was going to help you?
And that's not even going into the realm of abuse
and the horrible scenarios that can also be the case
of it. So as a rescue, it's like you've got
this reason and this reason and this reason, so it's like, okay.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Well what can we do?
Speaker 3 (33:33):
You know, So going into shelters, it's and again you
it's hard because you want to balance the ge, like
I said earlier the Sarah Malachlin commercial, and not trying
to be that, but also trying to be very honest
of what's going on. Is like I go into shelters
every single week and I see dogs marked up on
their kennels, and I'm like, you're dying today, And it
(33:55):
does not matter how many dogs that we can try
and save every single week, there's the next there's going
to be dogs that have to be euthanized. And there's
a massive misconception surrounding shelters and high kill shelters and
always that to kill shelter. And when you have a
(34:16):
shelter that is one hundred and fifty kennels and one
hundred and ninety dogs come in, what do you think
is going to happen? You know? So I try to
tell people it's at the end of the day, it's
a community problem. And you cannot blame shelter workers who
do what you and I can't even do, Like I
couldn't show up to work every day and take care
of dogs that are there for whatever rhyme or reason
(34:38):
and then euthanize them because no one wants them. Like
that is a gut wrenching pill to have to swallow
and then go up and do it the next day.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
So I'm like, I'm so thankful.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
To people that work in shelters because at least being
on the rescue side, we lose dogs. I have to
see really sad things. I have to be a part
of really sad things. But I still get to go
I'm helping. I'm making a difference. They of course are
as well. But when then you're having to be the
one that, like, is the last person to see a
healthy dog get put to sleep?
Speaker 1 (35:07):
I mean I I don't.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
It's hard to envision, you know, a more heart wrenching job.
So they're a very real crisis going on that like,
and it's not it's not just the old dogs. It's
not dogs of behavior problems. We have taken in so
many puppies this year that they're like no one wants them.
It's a litter of black puppies, Like they're gonna get euthanized.
Can you take them today? And I think people think
(35:31):
that's like clickbait or like fake information, and it is
not in LA in the South, Uh, you know, Tennessee's
horrible Texas is horrible. It's everywhere and it's it's brutal.
You know, we've seen domestic violence went up in COVID,
so did animal abuse, hoarding. You know, you have people
(35:53):
struggling financially, mental health, all of it. I mean, we
went to so many hoarding cases this year, properties where
I'm like, there's literally just dead dogs just on the ground,
and you disassociate in the moment, but I mean, like
that's something that like that stays with you as a person,
and so I say to my husband all the time,
(36:15):
but if they had to go through it and we
had to see it, it is my job to make
sure people hear it, because I think then if you don't,
it's very easy to justify buying your dog or breeding
your dog, or you know, it's like if it's a
supply and demand and you're somebody that's choosing to financially
benefit off of the breeding of animals knowing there's an
(36:37):
overpopulation issue, I think that at that point it becomes
a morality question. How you sit on that side of
it or how you value it is I guess very
personal decision, but certainly from where I'm sitting, I'm like
I don't know how someone does that and can go
to bed feeling good about themselves.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
You know, I often tell people when especially like the
conversation of abandonment comes up, it's it's obviously a thing
that is a very controversial to say. You know, I
there's not a lot of excuses that I believe in
to abandon your animal. There's really not to me. And
I know that's a really strong opinion. And I also
(37:16):
am somebody who is a I am an empathy, like
huge empathy. My heart is as big as it can
possibly get. But there are so many ways to go
about that, and there are so many ways to do
something then abandoning or knowing that when you're surrendering your
animal to a shelter, it is going to die. And
(37:38):
one of my strongest things that I say that often
makes people, you know, stop kind of in their tracks,
is you won't want to abandon your animal or surrender
them or get a breeder dog. If you have watched
an animal happy getting out of their shelter, walking thinking
they're about to have the best day ever, and they're
(38:01):
walking into a room and they don't come out.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
Yeah, it's horrible.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
It Once you have ever experienced that or witnessed that
nothing will ever make sense to you in the way
of abandonment. And so what you're saying, I'm you know,
it's it's so important to hear. Is it hard to hear?
And is it it makes me want to, you know,
cry and and sit in a corner and not do anything.
But it's also why I wanted to have this conversation
(38:27):
because I think it's really easy to look the other way, incredibly,
and especially when we're you know, we live in a
world of social media, and aesthetics are important to people,
and they think I need this animal or I need
to have this look, and I'm like, guys, these are
living beings. Just because they can't talk and they don't
(38:49):
look like us, it doesn't mean we should be treating
them this way just because of an aesthetic. And so
thank you for sharing. And I also know that's hard.
That's also hard to put yourself in a place to
constantly be sharing something that is so emotional and so
dark when all you want to do is help every
single one. So thank you for that, and thank you
(39:12):
for the work that you're doing. So looking at someone
like me or the people that are listening what are
the most beneficial ways that we can help an organization
like yours or shelters or anything, or just get involved
in our community. Even like give me some basic levels,
(39:32):
the easiest ways, and then maybe some more advance if
people really want to dive deep.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Yeah, I think on the most basic level, I think
it's having conversations, and it's doing your own research and
being curious about what's going on. If you've purchased your
dog and you maybe don't want to purchase your second dog,
or you've got a little bit of guilt about purchasing
your first dog, and so you just want to pretend
like it doesn't exist or it didn't happen. Lot of
(40:00):
friends that have bought their dogs that I've had incredibly
meaningful conversations with that I know that they now think
of it differently, So like it's it's never too late
kind of a thing to be an advocate. And just
because you maybe bought a dog does not mean that
you can't now be a voice. It is not one
or the other. I will take anyone at any time
that is willing to kind of like come to the
other side of animal rescue and to make it, you know,
(40:23):
not a judgmental place. So it's it's having conversations, being curious,
and then I think you know if that, if that
speaks to you, it's then then you be that boy.
So that's getting involved in social media is like truly
the most impactful way.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
It's how Wags grew.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
I mean like when I started here, I was just like,
I'm going to make this Instagram handle and pull my
friends to follow it, and you know, here we are
five years later with you know, a ton of people
in that community. So when you share things on social media,
when you see a dog that needs a home or
a fundraiser, I mean that one button spend. Collectively, everyone
(41:01):
spends I think too much time on their phone. But
if you're gonna spend time on your phone, like do it,
you know, supporting you know, voices and rescues and shelters
that that need the.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Need the word spread.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
And then if you are so inclined, I think that
you know, the three kind of areas are volunteerism, fostering, which.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Go kind of hand in hand.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
But I think for people who aren't interested in fostering,
there's still just an entire world of volunteering, whether it's events,
or transporting dogs that we have that you can you
can come volunteer and get hands on with the dogs fostering.
Like I said, we talked about adopting obviously, so when
you are in the market for getting your first dog,
second dog, whatever, making sure that you're adopting and then donating.
(41:48):
You know, I think I tell people a lot that
I think people think, well, what's five bucks or what's
ten bucks?
Speaker 1 (41:56):
It's a lot.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
It adds up, especially like speaking from WHA being like
so grassroots. We had one of our most like recent fundraisers.
We needed to raise like seven thousand, seven thousand dollars
for like her emergency hospitalization, her surgery, et cetera. And
then I ended up dividing to seven thousand we raised
by the amount of donors. The average donation was seventeen dollars.
(42:19):
So it's like half of those people decided, what's my
seventeen dollars, Like I wouldn't have raised enough. You know,
have monthly donors for a pop club at ten bucks
a month, and you know, I can absolutely appreciate that,
Like people are struggling right now, but for the people
that you know are still getting you know, our Starbucks
and our fancy coffees and whatnot. That like what's ten
(42:41):
bucks a month? You know, like when all of that
adds up to making a true impact, it goes a
long way.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Thank you for sharing that. You know, there was a
there's a saying, and I'll pas say it at the
end of this again to whenever I'm sharing stuff on
rescue animals or dogs or trying to get animals adopt.
Did one of my things that I always write and
I don't even know where I saw it. I'm sure
it was on a rescue or shelter somewhere, but it
was if you adopt. If you can't adopt, foster, if
you can't foster, volunteer. If you can't volunteer, then donate.
(43:13):
If you can't donate, then share, like there's always something
you can be doing. And so I'll leave that there
with what you just shared, So thank you. I also
want to talk about it's happening so hard, and I
know that it's also probably really difficult for you to see.
And I'm sure that you guys are involved the wildfires
(43:35):
out in California, and I have so much empathy for
everybody that is going through this. I also have so
much empathy for the animals and the wildlife and how
drastically everything is being impacted out there. So are you
guys doing stuff to involve that that maybe other people
can also help in that way, like what's going on
out there? Because you guys do have the Los Angeles
(43:57):
Wags and walks.
Speaker 3 (43:59):
Yes, it's been horrible being in Nashville and having lived
there and having friends and one of our own WAG
staff members lost her home and she's like weeks away
from giving birth and has little ones and it's it's overwhelming.
But I think this is what like what kind of
(44:19):
Wags is about. It's just like when things go crazy,
I think we go, okay, like how can we help?
I call it controlled fury. It's like when just things
are going crazy, how can we like hone in and
like do what we do best, so we didn't want
to be adding to the noise, like right when it started.
It's like, Okay, let's like figure out which large organizations
(44:43):
are like getting boots on the ground, where can we
fit in and like be the most impactful. So one
is obviously saving dogs. So in the last week they
have saved over sixty five dogs. They're going to different
shelters every single day, and kind of what's happening with
the wildfire. There's so many displaced animals that the shelters
(45:03):
want to create space for them to be reunited.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
With their families.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
And while it might be easy to assume, oh well,
that should not take that long, a like dogs have traveled.
There's so many shelters in LA. If the dog is
not microchip, it's like figuring out where that dog is.
And then even if they found out where their dog is,
do they have somewhere to bring the dog back to.
We know how many, like you know, landlords, leasing companies
do not allow for tests, which I've seen some like
(45:30):
lifting their restrictions and things like that, especially for short
term rentals for you know, to be able to accommodate
families that have pets. So shelters are giving people longer
to claim their dogs. I think most shelters have been
like twenty one days. That is a death sentence for
the dogs that have already been there. Those are dogs
we already know don't have homes. So WAGS is going
(45:51):
to those shelters. The first day we got there, we
met the longest term resident and they're like yep, you're
coming with us, get in the van. So in some
ways it's been so impactful for the dogs that have
been there for so long because I think rescues are going, okay,
like this is this is where we are actually needed.
You know, it's not taking the cute, little fluffy dog,
(46:11):
it's who needs it and who can we help, So
going to tons of shelters for the rest of this week,
they would be going, and they're in communication daily with
like who needs the most help. Two is their supply drive.
Though we knew we hey, we have a building, our building,
a stake, we've got the room, it exploded, and they
have so much supplies. So at this point we're kind
(46:32):
of distributing it two different ways. So one is like
show up tour at option center. It Option center is
in West LA. It's like no questions asked, like take
what you need. It's obviously like you know, pet supplies,
but there's cat and dogs and I honestly probably some
other smaller animals, rabbits, things like that.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
That.
Speaker 3 (46:49):
If you need supplies, show up, if you know people
tell people to go there. We're open every single day.
And then we're also having we have a sign up
sheet so people can say, hey, I need supplies, I
can't come to you, and then we have volunteers driving
the supplies. We have plenty of volunteers and plenty of drivers.
So same thing simple as just fill out this quick form,
(47:09):
let us know what you need, be specific because we
probably have it and we'll.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Get it to you.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
And then three is our grand program that we've just launched.
We've never done anything like this. I'm super proud of
the team for being as creative as possible. I think
WAGS has such trust in the community that when people
are donating their money to our wild Life Wildlife, our
(47:34):
wildfire Fund, we are trusted to make make the most
of their donations. And we had in enormous amount of
support or this fund that we were like, Okay, yes,
we've saved sixty five dogs. We're doing all the supply driver,
we're doing all this work, but at the end of
(47:55):
the day, like this, these dollars should go as far
as they can, and we want to make sure that
we're not just keeping that for our own dogs outside
of what's going on right now, So we're actually giving
away funding to both families and other animal well for organizations.
So we are starting with twenty thousand dollars of that
(48:18):
we're giving away of funds, but we're having other partners
show interest in this, so the more matches we can
get to this, the more that we can give away.
It's a really simple process. It's on our website. You
have to just say if you're an individual, if you're
applying on behalf of somebody else, or if you're an
animal weal for organization and what you're seeking funding for.
So this could be boarding and the costs of Hey,
(48:40):
I got to go get my dog in the shelter,
or I need to go say with family and I
need to put my pet and boarding right now, we're
an animal for organization and we had damage to our building,
or hey I just need costs of betinary care because
my pet was injured. There's so many dogs who have
had burns, who got hit by cars, who you know,
(49:00):
the whole runs, the whole gamut. So we are processing
applications pretty much as we speak and trying to get
those funds distributed.
Speaker 1 (49:08):
As soon as possible.
Speaker 3 (49:10):
And all of these programs right now are ongoing. So
as long as we're receiving a support and we're seeing
the need. We're gonna keep on doing our best to
help as many people and dogs as we can.
Speaker 2 (49:22):
Wow, it's amazing what you guys are doing, not just
you know, in Nashville, in LA and with the wildfires,
but just across the board, and the fact that you
guys are constantly trying to find new ways to do so. Like,
I'm sure that there are people that tell you often,
but I want to be another one who just says
thank you, like thank you for everything you're doing, thank
(49:43):
you for who you are as a person who wants
to do this and do that work. I think it's
really special and the stuff that you're doing doesn't go unnoticed,
especially to somebody like me. So just thanks to you,
your whole team, everyone who's doing all of that, and
you know, you guys share this. Hopefully they can get
even more donations and stuff to help those grants and
(50:04):
help more families and stuff. Because I've seen so many
videos and I you know, I keep watching them waiting
for ways to help, and now we have one, and
this is a trusted way to help. So let's do it,
and let's all go in together and find ways to
help these families and their pets. So thank you and
thank you for coming on like to talk about all
(50:26):
of this, and again just being who you are so.
Speaker 3 (50:29):
Likewise, and you know, I think that I am not
in your position to give, you know, people the opportunity
to talk about what they're doing. So your work is
super important and I appreciate you reaching out and wanting
to highlight the cause in and of itself and also
what's going on in LA or anyone that does listen
to this and wants to get involved. I think I
mentioned this, but everything can be found at wags and
(50:50):
walks dot org. It's all across the banners, whether you
are looking for the supply information or the grants. And
also we're super active on social waxmox waxmox Nashville and
our social team is they're working over.
Speaker 1 (51:05):
Time right now.
Speaker 2 (51:06):
Yeah, they do amazing stuff. That's how I always see
what you guys are up to. I you know, I
follow it myself and I've been fortunate to help you
guys in a lot of different ways and I will
continue to do so. Just again because of the work
that you guys are doing is amazing. So and also
if you know you're like I really want to get
involved locally, there's so many wonderful organizations like Wags and Walks.
(51:28):
If you don't live in Nashville and you don't live
in LA, there are rescue groups everywhere. You can search
on Facebook and say rescue group, and I promise you
you will find one. So if this is you know
you want to get really hands on involved locally, there's
that way too. So again, thank you Catherine, thanks for
being here and everything.
Speaker 3 (51:47):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (51:56):
I just want to think all of you guys too,
because if you've followed me on instead and now you
listen to this podcast, you guys also support this work.
You guys cheer me on in this and you guys
help support and share. And I've seen so much social
engagement over animals I've posted and rescue stories. So thank you, guys,
and thank you to all the people out there who
(52:18):
are big advocates also for Adopt Don't Shop. I hope
you enjoyed this episode, and if you know you're new
to this world, then I welcome you wholeheartedly and I'm
really glad that you're here. So again, go check out
Wags and Walks dot org if you want to help
locally just in general with rescue or if you want
(52:39):
to help with what's happening in the wildfires out in California.
But even more than that, I encourage you once again,
please adopt. And if you can't adopt, foster, and if
you can't foster, then volunteer. And if you can't volunteer,
then donate. And if you can't donate, then share on
social media. There is always a way that you're able
(53:00):
to help in this space, and more importantly, you're needed
in this help. These animals need us. We are their
voice and we have domesticated these animals, so it is
up to us to help through this crisis as a
community across the entire country. And I think we can
do it. And you know, one day, I hope that
(53:20):
I can pull an Elwoods and be on the doorstep
of legalizing stricter breeding laws and other ways to help animals.
But until then, I'm going to keep doing this and
thank you for allowing me to do so.
Host
Morgan Huelsman
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