Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Food for Thought with Billy and Jenny,
brought to you by the Box Center.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
For more than fifteen.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Years, this dining duo has been eating their way through
New England, mixing it up with top chefs, jumping behind
the line of the hottest restaurants and giving you the
inside scoop on where to whine, dine and spend your time.
So get ready, it's Food for Thought giving you something
to chew on.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Hey, everybody, welcome into Food for Thought. Billy Costa here.
I'm glad you're listening, and I'm sure you're going to
be glad you're listening because this is going to be
a great show. First to and foremost, I've got a
studio filled with people. We'll get to that in a minute.
It's all about doggy daycare. It's all about dog rescuing,
and that's so important in the world. Right now. Hi, Titus,
my boy Titus is listening at home. He never misses
(00:43):
his show. He's our rescue dog Titus. We'll get into
all that. Everybody has questions about rescuing dogs, about getting dogs,
sheltering dogs. There are so many questions. We'll get to
them all. But I usually like to open the show
with things that are going on or places that I
just certainly ran into that I think you might want
to check out. I'm going to start with the fact
(01:04):
that this has been a crazy week and weekend in
the city of Boston. First and foremost was the Four
Nations Championship Game that happened in the US Canada Thursday
night in the TD Garden. The city of Boston was crazy,
hockey fans going crazy, just a big event there. Also
on Saturday, on City Hall Plaza, we had professional snowboarding.
(01:29):
Red Bull brought the Snowboarding Championship Street Snowboarding to City
Hall Plaza. They brought three hundred tons of snow into
City Hall Plaza and dumped it on the plaza and
then curved and shaped it into snowboarding trails and it
was all free for people, and it was a good deal,
especially if you're a skier or a snowboarder, because a
(01:50):
it was free and in the lineup were some of
the biggest snowboarders in the world, some of them gold
medalists from the X Game. So that was a big
event in the city. And something else I want to
announce because occasionally Aja the executive producer here. Occasionally we
have breaking news on food for thought, and I've got
(02:11):
some right in front of me. Are we selling music?
Could be knowing on. Brad Marshall, who was on the
ice for Tame Canada in the TD Garden Thursday night
with the Four Nations Championship game, is launching his own coffee,
Brad's Brew. Well, I don't think that took much time
(02:35):
to think about a name. Hey, let's just call it
Brad's Brew. Hey, that works. Yeah, He's got his own
coffee now. And by the way, it's going to be
available on the shelves exclusively on a market basket near you.
That's pretty cool. Brad's Bruce. So congratulations to Brad. He's
a nice guy, great guy, and brand new coffee coming
(02:55):
to market basket. In terms of some of the places
I want to recommend, Jenny John and I. You know,
we've got Dining Playbook and we have Meat Boston. But
we recently took our camera crew to the Inn at
Hastings Park in Lexington. It's right in the center of
town in Lexington, very historical place and it is a
gorgeous in five star, five star restaurant. I mean, they've
(03:18):
got it all going on, and the rooms are all different,
and they're all creatively designed and they're beautiful. And they
have a lot of things happening in and around the
Inn and Lexington over the next several months because they're
celebrating like the two hundredth anniversary or something of the
battle Lexington Conquered. So they're even offering helicopter rides over
(03:42):
Lexington Conquered in the area. So you may want to
check out the Inn at Hastings Park. My friend Kristin
Canty tells me she's got a brand new menu this
season over at woods Hill Pier four, which is in
the Seaport district. By the way. The property is what
was the legendary Peer four than He's Pier four when
I tell you spring and summer, the outdoor dining there
(04:04):
at Woodshill Pier four is extraordinary, as is the menu.
And she's got a brand new menu and a brand
new cocktail menu. You may want to check that out.
Another place Jenny and I went to recently and it's
in Southee called Moonshine one fifty two. I know you
always hear about comfort food, but this is when I
tell you some of the best comfort food you will
(04:26):
ever have, So check it out. It's called Moonshine one
fifty two in Southee. And another place fairly new that
a lot of people are buzzing about is called Desnuda,
and that's in the South end of Boston. But I'm
told by Lisa Dunnovan from The Billy and Lisa the
Morning Show, if you're going to Desnuda, it's that hot,
it's that busy, you need to go early. I'm talking
(04:49):
five o'clock and try to grab a table downstairs. And
they've got like a speakeasy atmosphere down below the main restaurant.
So it's very cool. And again, congratulations in my buddy
Brad Marshawn, and I want to give you a heads
up on something else in AJ My executive producer doesn't
even know this, but next Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, I'm
(05:12):
going to be in Portugal in the Azores, in San Miguel.
And this has been tops on my bucket list for
years and years. My dad, God rest his soul, Hey, Frank,
his ancestors were from San Miguel in the Azores. I
don't know why I haven't gone yet, but I'm going
(05:32):
next week, and I want to thank my friends at
Azorian Airlines. They have a direct flight from Boston to
San Miguel, and it's pretty quick, certainly quicker than you
were to imagine, like five hours, maybe five and a
half hours, and you're in Portugal, and they've got so
many islands. Each island is uniquely beautiful, and I will
(05:54):
bring a lot of that back home with me and
to food for Thought, because aj I'll be doing some
interviews with restaurants and chefs and bartenders and so forth
while I'm in Portugal and San Miguel and the Azores,
so stay tuned for that. I'll be taking off Thursday
night and I'll be there for three four days, and
I cannot wait. Now. I've got a studio filled with people,
(06:18):
and I've been wanting to do this show for a
long time. My wife, Michelle and I are enormous lovers
of pets, animals of all kinds. My wife Michelle just
got back two days ago from her second trip to Africa.
She and I went there in October. She took her sister.
They went this past week, and it's because of her
love of animals and she just goes to the sanctuaries
(06:41):
places where they rehab animals and send them back out
into the wild because you know, they have poachers out
there and animals get you know, hurt badly, some of them.
So she goes down and she checks it at all.
She just loves it. So anyway, there's that. But she's
back from Africa and she'll be in Portugal and we'll
come back home with a lot of different stories. But
(07:04):
this week on the show, the main topic is dogs, animals, rescues,
how the whole rescue operation happens, how you can get
a rescue, and by the way, you should get a rescue.
Shout out to my dog Titus. I love you. We're
going to take a break. When we come back, we'll
answer all your questions and have all the information you need. Okay,
(07:26):
so stand by dogs, pats, animals, rescue, adoption, all of
it up.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Next, you're listening.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
To Food for Thought, brought to you by the Box
Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel and Sweets.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Hey, guys, welcome back to Food for Thought. Billy Costa
here and again we're talking about adoption, sheltering, dogs, rescue dogs.
You know, some people rescue dogs other people prefer to
buy them. That's the story in and of itself. We
may or may not address that. I just want to
tell a story about my wife, Michelle and I. We
had a rescue Bessie, Godlover. We lost her a couple
(07:59):
of years ago and we thought we were going to
take six months, maybe a year to take a break
before we rescued another dog. And some friend of ours
happened to see a picture online of a dog in
a cage in Houston and he was two hours from
being put down, which I thought was like, whoa, this
(08:21):
is crazy, And they said, I know you wanted to
take a break. You need a little break, you know,
after losing Bessie gotlover, but they sent he sent us
the picture and my wife brought it to me, and instantly,
well not so much. When she brought she was like,
when can we go get the dog? And I'm like, oh,
I thought we were in a break. I said, can
(08:44):
I have a moment? And I literally went downstairs, got
something out of the car, and came back upstairs and
I said, We're getting a dog, And god, it happened
so fast. Titus was located in Houston, Texas. He had
been abandoned, like hundreds and hundreds of other dogs. I
guess Houston is the capital of dog abandonment or something.
(09:06):
We'll get into that. But we saw the picture and
somehow got in touch with Gal's Best Pal. And I
know you guys are familiar with the Gall's Best Pal
phenomenal operation. Next thing I knew Titus was ours. But
the remarkable story is Gal's Best Pal. They do, and
(09:28):
they're a rescue operation, and they do showcases, as I'm
sure my guests in the studio will probably have and do.
And they were doing a showcase in Charlestown where we
dock our boat at the anchor, and you know, they
have dogs commit and people can adopt on the spot
if they signed the papers or done the paperwork. And
(09:49):
we didn't even know, but a week before we got Titus,
we walked right by him. We weren't at the showcase,
but we walked by that weekend several times. Well, the
showcase was going on, and we found out after we
got Titus that somebody sent us a video of him
at that showcase. We had no knowledge, and what are
(10:10):
the odds we would end up with Titus? So Titus
is our rescue and he's just an absolute treasure and
a dream. So that's why we want to talk about
sheltering versus rescuing, versus buying. We're going to cover as
much as we can, and we're going to start with
affectionately the dog Mother. And only did a step right
(10:32):
up to the microphone and your your real name is
Melissa Melissa. Okay, when did you name yourself the dog Mother?
Speaker 4 (10:38):
So I want to say, yeah, twenty thirteen. I started
and I was going back and forth with names, and
there's the dog.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
Father in the North End.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Oh, and I was like, you know, I don't want
people to think I'm kind of stealing his name or
trying to, you know, mooch off him or everything. And
you know, I just kept going back to this name,
and I just feel like it fits me because I
really feel like I'm the dog mother because I just
like understand dog body language behavior.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
You know, I could have been a vet tech.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
I know, you know, ear infections, eye infections, what's wrong
with the gums if it's supposed to be a certain color.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
And I just know how to.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Do you do dog you know? So, so did the
dog Father have a problem with it? Nobody you get along.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
I don't. I've never even met him.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Oh I just learned great.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Things, you know.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
But you're a daycare. I'm a doggy daycare and board
are located. I'm in the North Shore. I'm in Peebdy.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Oh good, yep.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
So I do doggy.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
Daycare and boarding from my home and it's pretty cool.
I'm allowed fifty five dogs.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
I am sorry. Let me just pause for a second.
Did you just say you have fifty five dogs at
your home? Like, do you have a big yard.
Speaker 5 (11:51):
Or a huge Yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
If you go on Facebook or Instagram, you can see
videos and photos of all the dogs playing and stuff
like that. So after house hunting for two years, you know,
you have to find a commercial space because you can't
just be in residential. I was about to throw in
the towel and you know, all right, maybe I'll have.
Speaker 5 (12:11):
To get a building and both.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
You know, I knew I wanted to have children and
work from home and you know, make my life as
easy as possible. So long story short, we found this
house and it was just absolutely perfect, and we sectioned
off a huge space for the dogs and we have
our own personal space, you know, for the kids.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
And when we have guests, you're.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Saying we, who's we? My husband and I okay, you.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Know, I mean he'd rather cool is full of flowers
in the basement instead.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
Of fifty dogs.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
But what you gotta love him. Yeah, he's totally on board.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
He loves me very much. Okay, I adore him.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Okay, So you have the dogs? Correct? How many at
a time?
Speaker 5 (12:52):
So average?
Speaker 4 (12:53):
You know, this type of weather, I'd say we have
like thirty thirty five. But come the spring and summer,
when it's nice a route everybody's away on vacation, I
average probably forty forty five.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Now, God love him. Your husband? What's his name? Matt?
Does Matt take part at all?
Speaker 6 (13:07):
Or no?
Speaker 5 (13:08):
He would know.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
He's just roaming around the property.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
Yeah, he's well, he's out at work all day, thank goodness.
And then you know you.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Get fascinating forty dogs. You and what's your name again, Matt? Matt,
My Matt, Matt, God love you. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
So, so I have the basement all done over, and
the basement's small, so we try to be outside as
often as possible so they can run and play and
be on the fresh air and all that. But days
like today, where it's super duper cold, or if it's raining,
or even if it's really really hot, when it's above
eighty five, you know where only alpha bathroom breaks. I
get nervous and condition and oh yeah, I get the
(13:46):
air condition to run it all summer along.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
And you know do you do overnights with Oh yeah, yeah, yep, Okay,
I'm just getting a visual. So you'll have forty dogs, no,
so in the building while you're sleeping.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
I could usually the fourth of July, I'll have up
to fourth forty dogs. But on average, i'd say fifteen
to twenty. If it's holiday time, thirty to thirty five
is the average sleepover. But I usually have foster dogs
and that could be about ten to twelve taking up
the spots.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Okay, I foster fer and that involves Cynthia cart get
Cynthia involved in the conversation. But right now I'm fascinated
with the forty dogs. You and Matt just kind of
hanging around. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Well, Matt is usually not there, which is a good
thing because he probably.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Can't find enough work out of the house.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
He's got his own little section on the other side
of the basement, his little man cave that.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
He but like a couple of minutes ago, you listed
all of these things you know about and you can
take care of everything from ear infections and things like that.
Where did you get that?
Speaker 6 (14:49):
Like?
Speaker 3 (14:49):
How were you able to?
Speaker 6 (14:50):
So?
Speaker 4 (14:52):
I grew up having dogs, you know, as a kid,
and you know I always used to pretend that I
was a veterinarian and listen to the hotbeat and yeah,
just you know, figuring stuff out.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
I didn't go to school for it.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
I really truly believe that I was put on this
earth to do what I do. Like nobody ever taught me,
you know, like my dad taught us how to teach
the dog to sit and lay down, and you know,
we never had our dogs on leash. You know, this
was years ago. You know, times are different. And as
I started working for Doggie digg Oh, I actually worked
at a pet store before I knew pet stores were
(15:25):
not a good thing. Doctor Jowitz from Stone Animal Hospital,
I love him, He's absolutely awesome. I was kind of
like the kennel manager, you know for all the dogs
that would make the puppies that would come in, and
he would come in and do health certificates, and he
showed me how to like give a dog a vaccine
and he'd say, Oh, you see this green gunk in
their eye, it's probably conjunctivitis. You see the collar of
(15:47):
their gums. Pink is good, red, you know, is not good,
or white is not good. And like he would just
show me little things and like, you know, if you
there's a smell to an ear infection, or if you
see gunk in the air and stuff like that, know
that they're shaking their head.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
There's signs.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
I have a quick question. Which is the best and
easiest way to cut their nails?
Speaker 4 (16:07):
You can wrestle them sometimes some dogs are super easy.
I mean I've literally had to lay my whole entire
body and my own dog, he's a spaz. I lay
my whole entire body on top of them because you've
got to protect the person cutting their nails.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
And I learned a lot. I used to own another
business years ago. And my groom are Judy, who works
for me now she's my driver. She taught me a lot,
she taught me.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
But does it hurt them?
Speaker 5 (16:33):
Yeah? If you get there there quick, which is their vein?
You know. So it's tough with the black nails because
you can't really see it. I've been doing it for
so long that I can tell by the shape of
their nail, like where we're going to hit.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
And then as I usually like to do the grinder
the Dremo file instead of cutting them because I feel
like it doesn't pinch or it doesn't hurt as much.
Speaker 5 (16:54):
And as you're grinding it.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
You can look at the nail to see where the
vein is not and the command like it's like changes
color almost, so you know when to stop. You know
when you get in too close, because if you hurt
the dog or you know, they're going to associate getting
the nails done as painful and then they're gonna give
you a hot time the next time.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
So you have a excuse me? Do you have a
wait list?
Speaker 5 (17:15):
I do not?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Okay, we mean wait lists. Well, can people still send
their dogs? Are you all filled? Nope?
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Not filled?
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Chance, Matt might have eighty dogs.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Yeah, no, that's up to the city. I cut it off.
I gotta get my new location. I'm going, so we
got to take a break. It's Food for Thought with
Billy Costa and Cynthony. Cynthia's sweet is also with us,
and she's all about rescue So we're going to introduce
Cynthia in a couple of minutes and then we're going
to open the conversation and just have all of us
talk and ask questions and do whatever we want to do.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Anyway, it's Food for Thought. I'm Billy Costa. Will take
a break and we'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Sailing Waterfront Hotel in sweets Hey.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Everybody, welcome back to Food for Thought. Billy here, and
it's all about rescuing dogs and animals, sheltering dogs and animals,
having dogs and animals. And I know you're listening. You're thinking, Oh,
I have so many questions about my pet. Why I
see or she doing this? And why can't they stop
doing that? And why do they bark every time somebody
comes to the door. Anyway, Cynthia Sweet is in studio
(18:19):
with us as well, and it's called Sweet Pause. But
you didn't have to think long and hard for that name,
did you.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I did not, Wedsy.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
And you're a rescue operation correct.
Speaker 6 (18:31):
We are a foster based rescue based out of Groveland,
which is near Georgetown Haveral North Shore. So we do
not have an actual animal shelter. I don't think that
cats and dogs do well in animal shelters. So when
I started this a billion years ago, I just vowed
to never actually have an animal shelter, that all of
(18:51):
our animals would be fostered in people's homes.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Well, that's one of the things I noticed when we
got Titus is that he was originally in a shelter.
And I don't know, I felt so bad, and I know,
you know, at some point dogs have to be somewhere,
but I don't know. I'm with you on that. I'm
kind of afraid of it. And don't they have a
time limit, like a certain amount of time they can
hold on a dog.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
Yeah, it really depends on the area of the country.
So in the southern part of the United States, Texas
sort of all the way over to northern Florida where
there's a massive overpopulation, so an animal control officer, which
is like the dog catcher. Yeah, they have to round
up stray dogs, abandoned dogs, dumped dogs, and they have facilities.
(19:37):
You know, if it's a small rurald town, the facility
might be two or three kennels. If it's a big city,
that has a huge overpopulation problem, like Houston, where Titus
came from. They're going to have big dog, their dog
pounds essentially, and depending on the state, So if you
take in a dog that's been abandoned, depending on the state,
it could be a three day stray hold, it could
(19:59):
be a five day stray holder, seven day stray hold.
And once that that strayhold is up and no owner
comes forward, they get transferred to rescue or they get euthanized.
And unfortunately in this country right now, there are not
enough people in the United States that are looking to
adopt a dog, and there are too many that exist
(20:19):
that are in need.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Okay, we got to take a break right there, But
hold that thought because again, I know so many people
listening right now have so many questions, as do I.
But I'm just thrilled. It was quite a journey, but
I'm thrilled that we've got our He's a good boy,
good boy, Titus. But we'll take a break. We'll talk
about more about rescue, We'll talk more about doggy daycare.
(20:42):
Do you need doggy daycare? Boy? I know there are
moments when I wish I had but I didn't at
that time. We'll take a break. It's Food for Thought.
I'm Billy Costa. Stand by.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel in Sweeds Hi.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Everybody, welcome back to Food for Thought. Billy Costa here.
We just we're talking to Cynthia Sweet from Sweet Rescue
or Sweet Pause and again you're located in Groveland, YEP.
I have so many questions about the whole rescue operation,
but you keep mentioning Texas. And through my experience in
getting Titus the Wonder Dog, he's a good boy. Through
(21:18):
my experience, I learned that Houston, Texas was the dog
abandonment capital of America.
Speaker 6 (21:26):
It's one of the biggest cities that has the biggest
overpopulation of unwanted pets. A lot of it is socioeconomic,
and a lot of it, weirdly enough, has to do
with weather so and the people that live in certain
parts of the country and how they feel about dog ownership.
I hate to say that word, but here in Massachusetts
(21:48):
we let our dogs out to go pee outside and
then they come back in. If you're living in a
temperate climate and you live in a rural area, or
you know, you just don't think that dogs should be
in the house. They don't ever come inside. And if
they're not spade and neutered, and if they're not chained
to the doghouse for their entire life, they wander, right,
they wander. And what does an unfixed male dog want
(22:11):
to do?
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Right, Yeah, exactly, giddy up.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
So now you've got you've got dogs that are wandering
the streets having litters of puppies. And if those litters
of puppies don't get picked up by the dog catcher,
animal control or rescues, then they just multiply and multiply,
and now you have an overpopulation issue.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Give me some sort of an idea, like like Titus.
I always wonder this is the weird thing about rescuing
is I want to know what he's been through, but
I don't want to know what he's been through. But hypothetically,
in this park or in and around Houston, Texas, like,
(22:51):
how many dogs could Titus have been running around with randomly?
Speaker 6 (22:55):
It depends on if it's an urban environment, if it's
a rural environment, depends on if that particular area has
become a known dumping ground. I mean, I have a
lot of I don't rescue in Texas, I do rural
parts of Mississippi, which is sort of the same.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
It's the same issue.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
It's just it's just a different socioeconomic background, it's a
different makeup and sort of geography. So what will happen
is a specific area will become a dumping ground and
then then all of the people in the area who
have dogs that they don't want anymore. Because what a
normal human being will do is they will call a
(23:33):
local animal shelter, I'm sorry, we're full, we can't help people.
Then they'll call another animal shelter and another animal shelter.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
So it's not like the natural.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
They you know, a normal American citizen is going to
most likely say, I'd like to call and see. But
if everybody in the United States is full, where.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Else are they going to? What else are they going
to do?
Speaker 6 (23:56):
And that's happening in Massachusetts now, hence the reason that
we have a crisis in Massachusetts. We never had a
crisis in Massachusetts until post COVID.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Talk about COVID because the big story there, one of
the big stories, the side stories was people were working
from home and they were lonely and they would go
out and get a dog, like oh, let me just
get a dog. And then COVID ended shelters and they
had to go back to work, and like that was
so sad.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
People forgot that life was going to go back to normal.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
And realized oh okay, you know they like I as
soon as I heard that all the shelters were empty,
I was like, yeah, that's not going.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
To last long.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
Like life, we're going to get back to reality.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
That was the story they were saying, the shelters are empty,
and that was a good.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
Story and it was cool, and people are like, oh, well,
I have.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
To go back to work now, so forget it, and
then like they bring it's crazy.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
But the thing is is that the shelters actually weren't empty.
The shelters were empty up here because the overpopulation in
places like Texas and Mississippi. They couldn't get the dogs
up here fast enough to meet the demand of all
the COVID people that wanted dogs. So it's not like
the shelters all across the United States are empty. The
shelters up here we're empty where we tend to adopt
(25:10):
rescue dogs, but not down south because remember, how are
you going to adopt out rescue dogs in places where
they're being dumped by the gazillions every day.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
It just doesn't you know.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
You know what. I always wonder because again, you know,
Michelle and I just love animals so much. But I
always wonder when you see these disasters, whether it be
the wildfires in Los Angeles or the floods, the mud
slides anywhere in the country or the world, my first
question in my mind is, oh, my god, what happens
to the animals?
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Right, I actually up into the rescuing humans.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Yeah, they don't taking care of the animals.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
So I used to deploy. I have all of the
certifications to deploy. I've done floods because I started a
hurricane Katrina twenty years ago, so I've I've.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Rescued dogs, dogs and cats.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Yes, oh, I forget it.
Speaker 6 (25:57):
And it's and it's it's heartbreaking because again, where do
the disasters usually happen. They happen in socioeconomically depressed areas.
So these people don't they barely have homes. And these
dogs and cats are people's sort of people's pets, but
they you know, they live outside and the best thing
that could happen to a poor rural area for the
(26:21):
animals is a disaster because then the big organizations come
in and they come in and they take over, and
then all of those animals get rescued and brought to
other parts of the United.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Statesates they have somebody like you guys in Houston.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
They have millions of rescues. They're just too many, not
on the home.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
It just never ends, never ends. Taking the celebrity who
would famously end every show or something with.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Pet oh, Bob Barker.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yes, the price is right. God, I was just drawing
a blank. It was Bob Barker.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
The price is yep.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
So he was way ahead.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Of the going, way ahead of his time.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Wow, Okay, we have to take a break. Very cool show,
at least for me. I hope you're enjoying it, if
you're listening. I've got Cynthia Sweet here from sweetbas Rescue,
and I also have Melissa the dog Mother. I mean,
a celebrity in the room. Who no, I mean, you know,
there was the Godfather and now there's the dog Mother.
So I'm just saying we're gonna take a break. We'll
have more conversation. I have so many other questions. We'll
(27:19):
take the break. It's Food for Thought. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel in sweets.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Hey, guys, welcome back to Food for Thought. Billy Costi here.
I hope you're enjoying this show, because I certainly am.
I couldn't recommend enough. If you don't have a pet,
and you always thought about a pet, rescue a pet,
It'll just change your whole life. I've got a quick
question for the dog mother, Melissa. Is it okay if
I just call you.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
A dog mother?
Speaker 3 (27:50):
So we have Titus, and he's a rescue and we
love him dearly and couldn't be more perfect. But it
concerns us because we've had him just under two years
now and we still have not left him alone in
the house and it's not because he's done anything or
it's just he doesn't do well, and we're wondering if
(28:11):
it's something about what may have happened to him when
he was on the loose soda speace.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
Does he get like anxiety? Is he destructive?
Speaker 3 (28:17):
He gets that? We don't know because we haven't left
him well Michelle was away. This passed a week. A
couple of times I made it a point to go
downstairs and you know, shovel off the cars, shovel around
the cars. And that was out for a half hour
forty minutes. He didn't bark initially when we left, immediately
him bark right, and he'd just stand at the door
and bark. And it's just not fair to the people
(28:40):
in the building. So is there some trick or something
we could use?
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Well, you just basically said it. So any any new
dog that you bring home. So dogs or creatures have habit, Yeah, okay,
they like routine, they like structure, you know what I mean.
So you bring a new dog into your home, and
you know, they used to be in where they were,
you know, like so for example, when I foster dogs,
I'll have some for weeks or months at a time,
(29:05):
so they used to My routine. We're out at seven
thirty in the morning. We hang out for an hour,
we come back in the house, we eat breakfast, we
digest for an hour, then we come back out and
you know, if it's cold, we come in for breaks,
you know, but if it's nice out, we're done for
the day. At two o'clock. Everybody's tired, they've all played.
They're nice and happy, they're relaxed. So they used to
my routine. You bring Titus home, We don't know where
(29:26):
he came from, what he was doing, you know what
is routine knows before. So now he's going to adjust
to your life, your lifestyle, your routine.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Just one three days, three weeks.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
Three months then so dogs need you know, the first
three days to kind of get acclimated and get us
to the routine. And you know the situation, he's watching
every movie you make. He's gonna know when it's dinner time.
He's gonna know what. He's gonna know when it's time.
You know, we're going for a ride.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
For example, I have customers that bring the dogs to daycare,
say like Tuesday, Thursday or Monday Wednesday, like the dogs
know all the days and if they own it, doesn't
bring the dog that day. Hey, you'll tell me. The
dog's sitting by the door, like, you know, with the
leash in his mouth. You know, come on, we're going
to day kid, Today's my day. They know you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
I'm telling you, Titus. You guys know Amanda yeah. I
think she's just wonderful because like when we go away.
Speaker 5 (30:14):
On a vacation and that's she's the best.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
She'll take a Titus to the play area and then
she brings him home overnight and she's got three or
four dogs and a cat and Titus loves it. So
now in the morning, usually at like seven thirty, Michelle
will just say, oh, Amanda's coming. He goes nuts, yeah,
because he's gonna play with twenty dogs all day and
he comes home exhausted. It's they know, and then she
(30:36):
drops him off. In fact, she dropped him yesterday at one.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
So you said when you first would leave, he would bark. Yeah,
so now he doesn't bark any He didn't.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
When I went down and shoveled the cars, and I'm like, oh,
I wonder if we should chance. I'd love to just
go out to dinner with my wife. Is that too
much to ask?
Speaker 5 (30:54):
Why don't you get yourself a little camera?
Speaker 3 (30:56):
We did that because you know, we kind of live
on the in the summer and we does he choose
things or anything eat dinner? Before we got like two
hundred yards away, he was making howling noises. What Yeah
even know I had never heard them. Yeah yeah, so
he said, okay, let's just walk back.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
And you know what's good too, is you go downstairs,
you shovel off your car, you come back in. So
when we have dogs with like separation anxiety, you leave
for a minute, come back in, leave for a minute,
come back in.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
You want to do that over and over again.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
Then you up into five minutes, and you do that
for a week, and then you up into ten minutes.
Then you go to the store, you know, and then
you come back. The dog needs to They don't have
a concept of time. They live in the moment. So
once they get used to you leaving and coming back
and leaving and coming back and leaving.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
Oh oh well okay, they just stup. Well they'll be
back eventually. They're going to figure it out, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
But what if we want to go to dinner, that's
going to be two or three hours.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
I think you'll be fine. Once you know that you
you go downstairs. You can shovel off the car. He
didn't make a sound, so you know, you can even leave,
go down the hallway, then tiptoe back so he doesn't
hear you, and then just wait and just see if
he stats backing, and.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
That's kind of what I did by just going down.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
Does he like toys?
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Did you have you have a calong with peanut butter?
Speaker 5 (32:11):
Keep him busy?
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Yeah, or one of those long lasting chewy things that
you know. All right, Okay, this is good advice. Okay,
so that's the doggy day, Caro. Let's get back to
the rescue. You really went down to Katrina.
Speaker 6 (32:23):
Yes, that's going to be twenty years in my flip flops.
It's twenty years ago. This pause, it's August twenty years ago,
heard king Katrina happen.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (32:34):
Yeah. I was working at Northeastern. I had just finished
my master's degree. And this is pre Facebook, pre social media.
Can you imagine a life before Instagram.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
And all that.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
Can I was here before.
Speaker 6 (32:46):
My Space and I saw, you know, I was watching.
I was watching on the Worldwide Web, and there was
a dog on a roof and I said to my boss, oh,
this is so sad. I had like five minutes of
a crude vac and He's like, just go yeah, And
so I ended up being there for a month and
almost lost my job that I had.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
I didn't have any vacation. That's the thing.
Speaker 6 (33:09):
I just got on a plane and I went and
I did not get fired. So kudos to Northeastern for
not firing me, and I ended up working there for
ten years.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Okay, so you have Sweet Paws Rescue. You're in Gloveland, Massachusett. Yes,
So primarily where do your dogs come from? And then
how do you go about delivering them.
Speaker 6 (33:25):
To So I think it's important to point out that
I think in every industry that we have pre COVID
and post COVID. Right, So, pre COVID, ninety seven percent
of our dogs came from Alabama, so very similar to Texas,
with Galasbis, pal Ours, Alabama and Mississippi. There's too many animals,
not enough homes. They're poor rural areas. People don't bring
(33:48):
dogs inside, they don't necessarily want dogs, and dogs just
run amok or they're chained to a tree or to
a doghouse three hundred and sixty five days a year
in the lazing sun. The other thing is is there
are almost no animal protection laws in these states at all,
none zero.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
It should be high crime.
Speaker 6 (34:09):
It's just you know, they're bigger fish to fry in
the United States. So we so ninety seven percent of
our dogs came from Mississippi and Alabama and three percent
were from Massachusetts. And people will say, well, what's the
three percent for Massachusetts, Like what rescue dogs from Massachusetts
pre COVID And I would say, yep, they're owner surrenders,
(34:29):
elderly parent going into assisted living, adult child can't take
the dog, being deployed, moving divorce, we had a baby,
you know, all of the reasons why people or behavioral
issues or the dogs snarled at me.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Whatever.
Speaker 6 (34:42):
People give up animals all the time. So that was
three percent. And of that three percent, it was maybe
ten stray dogs a year in twenty nineteen and prior
for Massachusetts, and it was usually like a beat up
piple in Lawrence or Madpan or Dorchester, like somebody would
dump the dog. Maybe it was a product of a
pit bullfight or something nothing, you know, like we didn't
(35:03):
get like teacup Yorkey's you know. So that was twenty
nineteen prior twenty twenty twenty twenty one, it was like
all a blur right rescues across the con We were
out of dogs, like we we were, you know, the
adoptions were just on you know, like warp speed we
were getting like one hundred applications a day, and you know,
we yeah, right exactly. And then in two thousand and
(35:26):
then we actually did the smart thing is we actually
ended up adopting out fewer dogs in twenty twenty and
twenty twenty one and made it harder to adopt because
people knew that at some point people were gonna go
half go back to the office and if they're if
all the doggy daycares were full because there was a
waiting list, or they didn't do right by their dog,
(35:47):
they didn't do training, they didn't socialize their dog because.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
They weren't abandoned exactly.
Speaker 6 (35:51):
They weren't they weren't going out into the world, and
they just weren't becoming good canine citizens. They were cooped
up in their backyard with their owners. And then fast
forward to two thousand and twenty three, twenty twenty four,
it was like boom. People were returned not to us,
not to us, because we had no more returns than
in twenty twenty three, in twenty twenty four than we
(36:13):
would have.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
In a given year.
Speaker 6 (36:15):
It's maybe ten out of a thousand, which is really good.
So now the whole entire country is they're returning their
dogs and the overpopulation. It's not like the dogs stopped
breeding in areas where there's an overpopulation.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
So now the United States is in a serious crisis.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
I ask you, oh.
Speaker 4 (36:33):
Sorry, not to cut you off and talk about all
the city dogs, all the towns that you help, all
the cities that you help, all the dogs.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
Mean, we'll do that after the break. Okay, I'm sorry,
but we have to take a break. But one quick
question before to go to break. I used to see
those dog and cat places in malls. Do those still exist? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Yes, that's a whole nother that's a whole other segment, Gill.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Seeing you don't think very highly of that, right, do
you know?
Speaker 5 (36:57):
It seems?
Speaker 3 (36:59):
And where do those dogs come from? Again?
Speaker 2 (37:01):
I could go on for hours.
Speaker 6 (37:03):
You don't want to talk about paths, pressing, pressing, pressing.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
We're talking with Cynthia Sweet from Sweet Pause Rescue God.
You know we're going to have it. We still have
one more break. I think we're going to need a
sequel on this because I still have so many questions,
and I only ask the questions. I think everybody listening
wants to get answers to it. At least I try,
but it's Food for Thought. Billy Costa here, We're going
to take a break. When we come back. I need
(37:28):
all the information people need if they need you, and
you can provide a daycare for them, dog mother, and
also all of your information in terms of what people
need to know in terms of sweet Pause rescue. We'll
take a break. It's Fruit for Thought. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel and Sweets.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Hey, everybody, welcome back to Fruit for Thought. We've got
a few minutes left. And okay you Cynthia, right before
I turned the microphone on, said we are in worse
shape now in Massachusetts dog wise than we ever were.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
What did you mean by that, Well, I gave you
these statistics.
Speaker 6 (38:06):
So pre COVID only three percent of our intake of
rescue dogs, we're from Massachusetts. The rest were from Mississippi
and Alabama. Now forty five percent and we're and that's
continuing to increase.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Are coming from the state of Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
And is this still because it's post COVID.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
It's post COVID, it's inflation.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Getting a lot of designer dogs now is supposed to be.
Speaker 6 (38:30):
Yep, rising rising cost of vet care, homelessness.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
So when you take the dogs in, where do they
go next? How do you make it?
Speaker 6 (38:39):
If it's a Massachusetts dog, we take them in, they
go to foster, or if it's a fifty pound pit bull,
it goes to Melissa's.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Matt, you got a fifty pounder coming in? Yeah, okay,
all right, and now Melissa the dog mother, It sounds
like you have a wonderful doggy daycare pot. Yes, I
can see and I can hear the passion that you
have for it. Do you still have room? If people
are out there listening, they've got jobs to do. They
love their dog, they wanted to have the dog, but
(39:08):
now they picked up a second job and they're overwhelmed.
Speaker 6 (39:10):
Yeap.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
Do you have space? Do you have hours of care?
I do?
Speaker 4 (39:13):
I do. We offer doggy daycare and boarding. You know,
I'm there ninety nine ninety nine percent of the time.
I have a few employees to help me out, you know. So, yeah,
if you want to do doggy daycare boarding, you're going away,
you know, going out of the country a week, a month,
a weekend. You know, I could certainly help out and
take on your dog.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
Now, how do you schedule walking the dogs? You've got
forty of them, so we don't do walks. Okay.
Speaker 4 (39:39):
I have a huge yard and I have it divided
into three sections. It's not often I have very many
little dogs, but I do have an area for the
little guys to play. And then I have a big
front yard and then a big backyard. So the front
yard is more for like the older dogs, the more
chill dogs, kind of the nervous dogs that need a
little bit to Some dogs need a little bit more
(40:01):
time to get broken in. And then the big part
of the art is for all my crazy young dogs
that want to run and chase each other and Russell
and play.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
Who's manning the pooper Scooper, all of us? Graham, That
sounded like a legitimate question for me. I mean, all
of a sudden, there are forty dogs, big little running around.
I'm just saying, Okay, how do people reach you? Dog Mother?
Speaker 4 (40:22):
You can call me six one seven four zero seven
nine eight eight seven or email the dog Mother at
yahoo dot com. My website is www dot The dog
Mother LLC dot com. I'm on Facebook, Instagram, at the
dog mother.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
Let's see, God bless you and Cynthia. A little bit earlier,
I think it was off Mike, you said you had
just gotten some grants.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Oh yeah, that was actually a couple of years ago.
Speaker 6 (40:48):
But we did just get another Petco grant for twenty
five thousand dollars and another adopter who wrote an awesome
story from pet Co Love.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
So pet cole Love.
Speaker 6 (40:58):
Petco you guys, is one of those big organizations that
really puts the money behind their mission.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
They are fabulous.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
Wow. And what do people need to know in terms
of what information they can get from you? Where do
they go?
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Yep?
Speaker 6 (41:11):
So if you are looking for a rescue dog, like
I said, you know, forty five ish percent of our
dogs are owner surrenders and strays from Massachusetts. The other
sixty percent ish are still from Mississippi and Alabama. We're
we're combating the overpopulation problem. So Sweetpas Rescue dot org.
We also have a Facebook page and also please check
(41:33):
out Gal's Best Pal.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Yeah they are best Pal.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Yeah, yeah, tit is. Yeah, so they're awesome as well.
Speaker 6 (41:40):
They do Texas, we do Mississippi and Alabama, and we
both do Massachusetts with the help of Melissa the dog Mother.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
Well, I said it earlier, I'm going to say it again.
I think we need to do a sequel. So dog Mother,
thank you so much for coming by. Cynthia from Sweet
Pause Rescue, thank you so much. We got to go.
I'd like to stay for another hour, but right now,
up next sixty minutes
You're listening to Food for Thought with Billy and Jenny,
brought to you by the Box Center.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
For more than fifteen.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Years, this dining duo has been eating their way through
New England, mixing it up with top chefs, jumping behind
the line of the hottest restaurants and giving you the
inside scoop on where to whine, dine and spend your time.
So get ready, it's Food for Thought giving you something
to chew on.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Hey, everybody, welcome into Food for Thought. Billy Costa here.
I'm glad you're listening, and I'm sure you're going to
be glad you're listening because this is going to be
a great show. First to and foremost, I've got a
studio filled with people. We'll get to that in a minute.
It's all about doggy daycare. It's all about dog rescuing,
and that's so important in the world. Right now. Hi, Titus,
my boy Titus is listening at home. He never misses
(00:43):
his show. He's our rescue dog Titus. We'll get into
all that. Everybody has questions about rescuing dogs, about getting dogs,
sheltering dogs. There are so many questions. We'll get to
them all. But I usually like to open the show
with things that are going on or places that I
just certainly ran into that I think you might want
to check out. I'm going to start with the fact
(01:04):
that this has been a crazy week and weekend in
the city of Boston. First and foremost was the Four
Nations Championship Game that happened in the US Canada Thursday
night in the TD Garden. The city of Boston was crazy,
hockey fans going crazy, just a big event there. Also
on Saturday, on City Hall Plaza, we had professional snowboarding.
(01:29):
Red Bull brought the Snowboarding Championship Street Snowboarding to City
Hall Plaza. They brought three hundred tons of snow into
City Hall Plaza and dumped it on the plaza and
then curved and shaped it into snowboarding trails and it
was all free for people, and it was a good deal,
especially if you're a skier or a snowboarder, because a
(01:50):
it was free and in the lineup were some of
the biggest snowboarders in the world, some of them gold
medalists from the X Game. So that was a big
event in the city. And something else I want to
announce because occasionally Aja the executive producer here. Occasionally we
have breaking news on food for thought, and I've got
(02:11):
some right in front of me. Are we selling music?
Could be knowing on. Brad Marshall, who was on the
ice for Tame Canada in the TD Garden Thursday night
with the Four Nations Championship game, is launching his own coffee,
Brad's Brew. Well, I don't think that took much time
(02:35):
to think about a name. Hey, let's just call it
Brad's Brew. Hey, that works. Yeah, He's got his own
coffee now. And by the way, it's going to be
available on the shelves exclusively on a market basket near you.
That's pretty cool. Brad's Bruce. So congratulations to Brad. He's
a nice guy, great guy, and brand new coffee coming
(02:55):
to market basket. In terms of some of the places
I want to recommend, Jenny John and I. You know,
we've got Dining Playbook and we have Meat Boston. But
we recently took our camera crew to the Inn at
Hastings Park in Lexington. It's right in the center of
town in Lexington, very historical place and it is a
gorgeous in five star, five star restaurant. I mean, they've
(03:18):
got it all going on, and the rooms are all different,
and they're all creatively designed and they're beautiful. And they
have a lot of things happening in and around the
Inn and Lexington over the next several months because they're
celebrating like the two hundredth anniversary or something of the
battle Lexington Conquered. So they're even offering helicopter rides over
(03:42):
Lexington Conquered in the area. So you may want to
check out the Inn at Hastings Park. My friend Kristin
Canty tells me she's got a brand new menu this
season over at woods Hill Pier four, which is in
the Seaport district. By the way. The property is what
was the legendary Peer four than He's Pier four when
I tell you spring and summer, the outdoor dining there
(04:04):
at Woodshill Pier four is extraordinary, as is the menu.
And she's got a brand new menu and a brand
new cocktail menu. You may want to check that out.
Another place Jenny and I went to recently and it's
in Southee called Moonshine one fifty two. I know you
always hear about comfort food, but this is when I
tell you some of the best comfort food you will
(04:26):
ever have, So check it out. It's called Moonshine one
fifty two in Southee. And another place fairly new that
a lot of people are buzzing about is called Desnuda,
and that's in the South end of Boston. But I'm
told by Lisa Dunnovan from The Billy and Lisa the
Morning Show, if you're going to Desnuda, it's that hot,
it's that busy, you need to go early. I'm talking
(04:49):
five o'clock and try to grab a table downstairs. And
they've got like a speakeasy atmosphere down below the main restaurant.
So it's very cool. And again, congratulations in my buddy
Brad Marshawn, and I want to give you a heads
up on something else in AJ My executive producer doesn't
even know this, but next Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, I'm
(05:12):
going to be in Portugal in the Azores, in San Miguel.
And this has been tops on my bucket list for
years and years. My dad, God rest his soul, Hey, Frank,
his ancestors were from San Miguel in the Azores. I
don't know why I haven't gone yet, but I'm going
(05:32):
next week, and I want to thank my friends at
Azorian Airlines. They have a direct flight from Boston to
San Miguel, and it's pretty quick, certainly quicker than you
were to imagine, like five hours, maybe five and a
half hours, and you're in Portugal, and they've got so
many islands. Each island is uniquely beautiful, and I will
(05:54):
bring a lot of that back home with me and
to food for Thought, because aj I'll be doing some
interviews with restaurants and chefs and bartenders and so forth
while I'm in Portugal and San Miguel and the Azores,
so stay tuned for that. I'll be taking off Thursday
night and I'll be there for three four days, and
I cannot wait. Now. I've got a studio filled with people,
(06:18):
and I've been wanting to do this show for a
long time. My wife, Michelle and I are enormous lovers
of pets, animals of all kinds. My wife Michelle just
got back two days ago from her second trip to Africa.
She and I went there in October. She took her sister.
They went this past week, and it's because of her
love of animals and she just goes to the sanctuaries
(06:41):
places where they rehab animals and send them back out
into the wild because you know, they have poachers out
there and animals get you know, hurt badly, some of them.
So she goes down and she checks it at all.
She just loves it. So anyway, there's that. But she's
back from Africa and she'll be in Portugal and we'll
come back home with a lot of different stories. But
(07:04):
this week on the show, the main topic is dogs, animals, rescues,
how the whole rescue operation happens, how you can get
a rescue, and by the way, you should get a rescue.
Shout out to my dog Titus. I love you. We're
going to take a break. When we come back, we'll
answer all your questions and have all the information you need. Okay,
(07:26):
so stand by dogs, pats, animals, rescue, adoption, all of
it up.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Next, you're listening.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
To Food for Thought, brought to you by the Box
Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel and Sweets.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Hey, guys, welcome back to Food for Thought. Billy Costa
here and again we're talking about adoption, sheltering, dogs, rescue dogs.
You know, some people rescue dogs other people prefer to
buy them. That's the story in and of itself. We
may or may not address that. I just want to
tell a story about my wife, Michelle and I. We
had a rescue Bessie, Godlover. We lost her a couple
(07:59):
of years ago and we thought we were going to
take six months, maybe a year to take a break
before we rescued another dog. And some friend of ours
happened to see a picture online of a dog in
a cage in Houston and he was two hours from
being put down, which I thought was like, whoa, this
(08:21):
is crazy, And they said, I know you wanted to
take a break. You need a little break, you know,
after losing Bessie gotlover, but they sent he sent us
the picture and my wife brought it to me, and instantly,
well not so much. When she brought she was like,
when can we go get the dog? And I'm like, oh,
I thought we were in a break. I said, can
(08:44):
I have a moment? And I literally went downstairs, got
something out of the car, and came back upstairs and
I said, We're getting a dog, And god, it happened
so fast. Titus was located in Houston, Texas. He had
been abandoned, like hundreds and hundreds of other dogs. I
guess Houston is the capital of dog abandonment or something.
(09:06):
We'll get into that. But we saw the picture and
somehow got in touch with Gal's Best Pal. And I
know you guys are familiar with the Gall's Best Pal
phenomenal operation. Next thing I knew Titus was ours. But
the remarkable story is Gal's Best Pal. They do, and
(09:28):
they're a rescue operation, and they do showcases, as I'm
sure my guests in the studio will probably have and do.
And they were doing a showcase in Charlestown where we
dock our boat at the anchor, and you know, they
have dogs commit and people can adopt on the spot
if they signed the papers or done the paperwork. And
(09:49):
we didn't even know, but a week before we got Titus,
we walked right by him. We weren't at the showcase,
but we walked by that weekend several times. Well, the
showcase was going on, and we found out after we
got Titus that somebody sent us a video of him
at that showcase. We had no knowledge, and what are
(10:10):
the odds we would end up with Titus? So Titus
is our rescue and he's just an absolute treasure and
a dream. So that's why we want to talk about
sheltering versus rescuing, versus buying. We're going to cover as
much as we can, and we're going to start with
affectionately the dog Mother. And only did a step right
(10:32):
up to the microphone and your your real name is
Melissa Melissa. Okay, when did you name yourself the dog Mother?
Speaker 4 (10:38):
So I want to say, yeah, twenty thirteen. I started
and I was going back and forth with names, and
there's the dog.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
Father in the North End.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Oh, and I was like, you know, I don't want
people to think I'm kind of stealing his name or
trying to, you know, mooch off him or everything. And
you know, I just kept going back to this name,
and I just feel like it fits me because I
really feel like I'm the dog mother because I just
like understand dog body language behavior.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
You know, I could have been a vet tech.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
I know, you know, ear infections, eye infections, what's wrong
with the gums if it's supposed to be a certain color.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
And I just know how to.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Do you do dog you know? So, so did the
dog Father have a problem with it? Nobody you get along.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
I don't. I've never even met him.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Oh I just learned great.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Things, you know.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
But you're a daycare. I'm a doggy daycare and board
are located. I'm in the North Shore. I'm in Peebdy.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Oh good, yep.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
So I do doggy.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
Daycare and boarding from my home and it's pretty cool.
I'm allowed fifty five dogs.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
I am sorry. Let me just pause for a second.
Did you just say you have fifty five dogs at
your home? Like, do you have a big yard.
Speaker 5 (11:51):
Or a huge Yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
If you go on Facebook or Instagram, you can see
videos and photos of all the dogs playing and stuff
like that. So after house hunting for two years, you know,
you have to find a commercial space because you can't
just be in residential. I was about to throw in
the towel and you know, all right, maybe I'll have.
Speaker 5 (12:11):
To get a building and both.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
You know, I knew I wanted to have children and
work from home and you know, make my life as
easy as possible. So long story short, we found this
house and it was just absolutely perfect, and we sectioned
off a huge space for the dogs and we have
our own personal space, you know, for the kids.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
And when we have guests, you're.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Saying we, who's we? My husband and I okay, you.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Know, I mean he'd rather cool is full of flowers
in the basement instead.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
Of fifty dogs.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
But what you gotta love him. Yeah, he's totally on board.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
He loves me very much. Okay, I adore him.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Okay, So you have the dogs? Correct? How many at
a time?
Speaker 5 (12:52):
So average?
Speaker 4 (12:53):
You know, this type of weather, I'd say we have
like thirty thirty five. But come the spring and summer,
when it's nice a route everybody's away on vacation, I
average probably forty forty five.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Now, God love him. Your husband? What's his name? Matt?
Does Matt take part at all?
Speaker 6 (13:07):
Or no?
Speaker 5 (13:08):
He would know.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
He's just roaming around the property.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
Yeah, he's well, he's out at work all day, thank goodness.
And then you know you.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Get fascinating forty dogs. You and what's your name again, Matt? Matt,
My Matt, Matt, God love you. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
So, so I have the basement all done over, and
the basement's small, so we try to be outside as
often as possible so they can run and play and
be on the fresh air and all that. But days
like today, where it's super duper cold, or if it's raining,
or even if it's really really hot, when it's above
eighty five, you know where only alpha bathroom breaks. I
get nervous and condition and oh yeah, I get the
(13:46):
air condition to run it all summer along.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
And you know do you do overnights with Oh yeah, yeah, yep, Okay,
I'm just getting a visual. So you'll have forty dogs, no,
so in the building while you're sleeping.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
I could usually the fourth of July, I'll have up
to fourth forty dogs. But on average, i'd say fifteen
to twenty. If it's holiday time, thirty to thirty five
is the average sleepover. But I usually have foster dogs
and that could be about ten to twelve taking up
the spots.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Okay, I foster fer and that involves Cynthia cart get
Cynthia involved in the conversation. But right now I'm fascinated
with the forty dogs. You and Matt just kind of
hanging around. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Well, Matt is usually not there, which is a good
thing because he probably.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Can't find enough work out of the house.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
He's got his own little section on the other side
of the basement, his little man cave that.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
He but like a couple of minutes ago, you listed
all of these things you know about and you can
take care of everything from ear infections and things like that.
Where did you get that?
Speaker 6 (14:49):
Like?
Speaker 3 (14:49):
How were you able to?
Speaker 6 (14:50):
So?
Speaker 4 (14:52):
I grew up having dogs, you know, as a kid,
and you know I always used to pretend that I
was a veterinarian and listen to the hotbeat and yeah,
just you know, figuring stuff out.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
I didn't go to school for it.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
I really truly believe that I was put on this
earth to do what I do. Like nobody ever taught me,
you know, like my dad taught us how to teach
the dog to sit and lay down, and you know,
we never had our dogs on leash. You know, this
was years ago. You know, times are different. And as
I started working for Doggie digg Oh, I actually worked
at a pet store before I knew pet stores were
(15:25):
not a good thing. Doctor Jowitz from Stone Animal Hospital,
I love him, He's absolutely awesome. I was kind of
like the kennel manager, you know for all the dogs
that would make the puppies that would come in, and
he would come in and do health certificates, and he
showed me how to like give a dog a vaccine
and he'd say, Oh, you see this green gunk in
their eye, it's probably conjunctivitis. You see the collar of
(15:47):
their gums. Pink is good, red, you know, is not good,
or white is not good. And like he would just
show me little things and like, you know, if you
there's a smell to an ear infection, or if you
see gunk in the air and stuff like that, know
that they're shaking their head.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
There's signs.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
I have a quick question. Which is the best and
easiest way to cut their nails?
Speaker 4 (16:07):
You can wrestle them sometimes some dogs are super easy.
I mean I've literally had to lay my whole entire
body and my own dog, he's a spaz. I lay
my whole entire body on top of them because you've
got to protect the person cutting their nails.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
And I learned a lot. I used to own another
business years ago. And my groom are Judy, who works
for me now she's my driver. She taught me a lot,
she taught me.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
But does it hurt them?
Speaker 5 (16:33):
Yeah? If you get there there quick, which is their vein?
You know. So it's tough with the black nails because
you can't really see it. I've been doing it for
so long that I can tell by the shape of
their nail, like where we're going to hit.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
And then as I usually like to do the grinder
the Dremo file instead of cutting them because I feel
like it doesn't pinch or it doesn't hurt as much.
Speaker 5 (16:54):
And as you're grinding it.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
You can look at the nail to see where the
vein is not and the command like it's like changes
color almost, so you know when to stop. You know
when you get in too close, because if you hurt
the dog or you know, they're going to associate getting
the nails done as painful and then they're gonna give
you a hot time the next time.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
So you have a excuse me? Do you have a
wait list?
Speaker 5 (17:15):
I do not?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Okay, we mean wait lists. Well, can people still send
their dogs? Are you all filled? Nope?
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Not filled?
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Chance, Matt might have eighty dogs.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Yeah, no, that's up to the city. I cut it off.
I gotta get my new location. I'm going, so we
got to take a break. It's Food for Thought with
Billy Costa and Cynthony. Cynthia's sweet is also with us,
and she's all about rescue So we're going to introduce
Cynthia in a couple of minutes and then we're going
to open the conversation and just have all of us
talk and ask questions and do whatever we want to do.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Anyway, it's Food for Thought. I'm Billy Costa. Will take
a break and we'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Sailing Waterfront Hotel in sweets Hey.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Everybody, welcome back to Food for Thought. Billy here, and
it's all about rescuing dogs and animals, sheltering dogs and animals,
having dogs and animals. And I know you're listening. You're thinking, Oh,
I have so many questions about my pet. Why I
see or she doing this? And why can't they stop
doing that? And why do they bark every time somebody
comes to the door. Anyway, Cynthia Sweet is in studio
(18:19):
with us as well, and it's called Sweet Pause. But
you didn't have to think long and hard for that name,
did you.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I did not, Wedsy.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
And you're a rescue operation correct.
Speaker 6 (18:31):
We are a foster based rescue based out of Groveland,
which is near Georgetown Haveral North Shore. So we do
not have an actual animal shelter. I don't think that
cats and dogs do well in animal shelters. So when
I started this a billion years ago, I just vowed
to never actually have an animal shelter, that all of
(18:51):
our animals would be fostered in people's homes.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Well, that's one of the things I noticed when we
got Titus is that he was originally in a shelter.
And I don't know, I felt so bad, and I know,
you know, at some point dogs have to be somewhere,
but I don't know. I'm with you on that. I'm
kind of afraid of it. And don't they have a
time limit, like a certain amount of time they can
hold on a dog.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
Yeah, it really depends on the area of the country.
So in the southern part of the United States, Texas
sort of all the way over to northern Florida where
there's a massive overpopulation, so an animal control officer, which
is like the dog catcher. Yeah, they have to round
up stray dogs, abandoned dogs, dumped dogs, and they have facilities.
(19:37):
You know, if it's a small rurald town, the facility
might be two or three kennels. If it's a big city,
that has a huge overpopulation problem, like Houston, where Titus
came from. They're going to have big dog, their dog
pounds essentially, and depending on the state, So if you
take in a dog that's been abandoned, depending on the state,
it could be a three day stray hold, it could
(19:59):
be a five day stray holder, seven day stray hold.
And once that that strayhold is up and no owner
comes forward, they get transferred to rescue or they get euthanized.
And unfortunately in this country right now, there are not
enough people in the United States that are looking to
adopt a dog, and there are too many that exist
(20:19):
that are in need.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Okay, we got to take a break right there, But
hold that thought because again, I know so many people
listening right now have so many questions, as do I.
But I'm just thrilled. It was quite a journey, but
I'm thrilled that we've got our He's a good boy,
good boy, Titus. But we'll take a break. We'll talk
about more about rescue, We'll talk more about doggy daycare.
(20:42):
Do you need doggy daycare? Boy? I know there are
moments when I wish I had but I didn't at
that time. We'll take a break. It's Food for Thought.
I'm Billy Costa. Stand by.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel in Sweeds Hi.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Everybody, welcome back to Food for Thought. Billy Costa here.
We just we're talking to Cynthia Sweet from Sweet Rescue
or Sweet Pause and again you're located in Groveland, YEP.
I have so many questions about the whole rescue operation,
but you keep mentioning Texas. And through my experience in
getting Titus the Wonder Dog, he's a good boy. Through
(21:18):
my experience, I learned that Houston, Texas was the dog
abandonment capital of America.
Speaker 6 (21:26):
It's one of the biggest cities that has the biggest
overpopulation of unwanted pets. A lot of it is socioeconomic,
and a lot of it, weirdly enough, has to do
with weather so and the people that live in certain
parts of the country and how they feel about dog ownership.
I hate to say that word, but here in Massachusetts
(21:48):
we let our dogs out to go pee outside and
then they come back in. If you're living in a
temperate climate and you live in a rural area, or
you know, you just don't think that dogs should be
in the house. They don't ever come inside. And if
they're not spade and neutered, and if they're not chained
to the doghouse for their entire life, they wander, right,
they wander. And what does an unfixed male dog want
(22:11):
to do?
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Right, Yeah, exactly, giddy up.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
So now you've got you've got dogs that are wandering
the streets having litters of puppies. And if those litters
of puppies don't get picked up by the dog catcher,
animal control or rescues, then they just multiply and multiply,
and now you have an overpopulation issue.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Give me some sort of an idea, like like Titus.
I always wonder this is the weird thing about rescuing
is I want to know what he's been through, but
I don't want to know what he's been through. But hypothetically,
in this park or in and around Houston, Texas, like,
(22:51):
how many dogs could Titus have been running around with randomly?
Speaker 6 (22:55):
It depends on if it's an urban environment, if it's
a rural environment, depends on if that particular area has
become a known dumping ground. I mean, I have a
lot of I don't rescue in Texas, I do rural
parts of Mississippi, which is sort of the same.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
It's the same issue.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
It's just it's just a different socioeconomic background, it's a
different makeup and sort of geography. So what will happen
is a specific area will become a dumping ground and
then then all of the people in the area who
have dogs that they don't want anymore. Because what a
normal human being will do is they will call a
(23:33):
local animal shelter, I'm sorry, we're full, we can't help people.
Then they'll call another animal shelter and another animal shelter.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
So it's not like the natural.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
They you know, a normal American citizen is going to
most likely say, I'd like to call and see. But
if everybody in the United States is full, where.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Else are they going to? What else are they going
to do?
Speaker 6 (23:56):
And that's happening in Massachusetts now, hence the reason that
we have a crisis in Massachusetts. We never had a
crisis in Massachusetts until post COVID.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Talk about COVID because the big story there, one of
the big stories, the side stories was people were working
from home and they were lonely and they would go
out and get a dog, like oh, let me just
get a dog. And then COVID ended shelters and they
had to go back to work, and like that was
so sad.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
People forgot that life was going to go back to normal.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
And realized oh okay, you know they like I as
soon as I heard that all the shelters were empty,
I was like, yeah, that's not going.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
To last long.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
Like life, we're going to get back to reality.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
That was the story they were saying, the shelters are empty,
and that was a good.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
Story and it was cool, and people are like, oh, well,
I have.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
To go back to work now, so forget it, and
then like they bring it's crazy.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
But the thing is is that the shelters actually weren't empty.
The shelters were empty up here because the overpopulation in
places like Texas and Mississippi. They couldn't get the dogs
up here fast enough to meet the demand of all
the COVID people that wanted dogs. So it's not like
the shelters all across the United States are empty. The
shelters up here we're empty where we tend to adopt
(25:10):
rescue dogs, but not down south because remember, how are
you going to adopt out rescue dogs in places where
they're being dumped by the gazillions every day.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
It just doesn't you know.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
You know what. I always wonder because again, you know,
Michelle and I just love animals so much. But I
always wonder when you see these disasters, whether it be
the wildfires in Los Angeles or the floods, the mud
slides anywhere in the country or the world, my first
question in my mind is, oh, my god, what happens
to the animals?
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Right, I actually up into the rescuing humans.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Yeah, they don't taking care of the animals.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
So I used to deploy. I have all of the
certifications to deploy. I've done floods because I started a
hurricane Katrina twenty years ago, so I've I've.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Rescued dogs, dogs and cats.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Yes, oh, I forget it.
Speaker 6 (25:57):
And it's and it's it's heartbreaking because again, where do
the disasters usually happen. They happen in socioeconomically depressed areas.
So these people don't they barely have homes. And these
dogs and cats are people's sort of people's pets, but
they you know, they live outside and the best thing
that could happen to a poor rural area for the
(26:21):
animals is a disaster because then the big organizations come
in and they come in and they take over, and
then all of those animals get rescued and brought to
other parts of the United.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Statesates they have somebody like you guys in Houston.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
They have millions of rescues. They're just too many, not
on the home.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
It just never ends, never ends. Taking the celebrity who
would famously end every show or something with.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Pet oh, Bob Barker.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yes, the price is right. God, I was just drawing
a blank. It was Bob Barker.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
The price is yep.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
So he was way ahead.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Of the going, way ahead of his time.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Wow, Okay, we have to take a break. Very cool show,
at least for me. I hope you're enjoying it, if
you're listening. I've got Cynthia Sweet here from sweetbas Rescue,
and I also have Melissa the dog Mother. I mean,
a celebrity in the room. Who no, I mean, you know,
there was the Godfather and now there's the dog Mother.
So I'm just saying we're gonna take a break. We'll
have more conversation. I have so many other questions. We'll
(27:19):
take the break. It's Food for Thought. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel in sweets.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Hey, guys, welcome back to Food for Thought. Billy Costi here.
I hope you're enjoying this show, because I certainly am.
I couldn't recommend enough. If you don't have a pet,
and you always thought about a pet, rescue a pet,
It'll just change your whole life. I've got a quick
question for the dog mother, Melissa. Is it okay if
I just call you.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
A dog mother?
Speaker 3 (27:50):
So we have Titus, and he's a rescue and we
love him dearly and couldn't be more perfect. But it
concerns us because we've had him just under two years
now and we still have not left him alone in
the house and it's not because he's done anything or
it's just he doesn't do well, and we're wondering if
(28:11):
it's something about what may have happened to him when
he was on the loose soda speace.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
Does he get like anxiety? Is he destructive?
Speaker 3 (28:17):
He gets that? We don't know because we haven't left
him well Michelle was away. This passed a week. A
couple of times I made it a point to go
downstairs and you know, shovel off the cars, shovel around
the cars. And that was out for a half hour
forty minutes. He didn't bark initially when we left, immediately
him bark right, and he'd just stand at the door
and bark. And it's just not fair to the people
(28:40):
in the building. So is there some trick or something
we could use?
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Well, you just basically said it. So any any new
dog that you bring home. So dogs or creatures have habit, Yeah, okay,
they like routine, they like structure, you know what I mean.
So you bring a new dog into your home, and
you know, they used to be in where they were,
you know, like so for example, when I foster dogs,
I'll have some for weeks or months at a time,
(29:05):
so they used to My routine. We're out at seven
thirty in the morning. We hang out for an hour,
we come back in the house, we eat breakfast, we
digest for an hour, then we come back out and
you know, if it's cold, we come in for breaks,
you know, but if it's nice out, we're done for
the day. At two o'clock. Everybody's tired, they've all played.
They're nice and happy, they're relaxed. So they used to
my routine. You bring Titus home, We don't know where
(29:26):
he came from, what he was doing, you know what
is routine knows before. So now he's going to adjust
to your life, your lifestyle, your routine.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Just one three days, three weeks.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
Three months then so dogs need you know, the first
three days to kind of get acclimated and get us
to the routine. And you know the situation, he's watching
every movie you make. He's gonna know when it's dinner time.
He's gonna know what. He's gonna know when it's time.
You know, we're going for a ride.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
For example, I have customers that bring the dogs to daycare,
say like Tuesday, Thursday or Monday Wednesday, like the dogs
know all the days and if they own it, doesn't
bring the dog that day. Hey, you'll tell me. The
dog's sitting by the door, like, you know, with the
leash in his mouth. You know, come on, we're going
to day kid, Today's my day. They know you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
I'm telling you, Titus. You guys know Amanda yeah. I
think she's just wonderful because like when we go away.
Speaker 5 (30:14):
On a vacation and that's she's the best.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
She'll take a Titus to the play area and then
she brings him home overnight and she's got three or
four dogs and a cat and Titus loves it. So
now in the morning, usually at like seven thirty, Michelle
will just say, oh, Amanda's coming. He goes nuts, yeah,
because he's gonna play with twenty dogs all day and
he comes home exhausted. It's they know, and then she
(30:36):
drops him off. In fact, she dropped him yesterday at one.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
So you said when you first would leave, he would bark. Yeah,
so now he doesn't bark any He didn't.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
When I went down and shoveled the cars, and I'm like, oh,
I wonder if we should chance. I'd love to just
go out to dinner with my wife. Is that too
much to ask?
Speaker 5 (30:54):
Why don't you get yourself a little camera?
Speaker 3 (30:56):
We did that because you know, we kind of live
on the in the summer and we does he choose
things or anything eat dinner? Before we got like two
hundred yards away, he was making howling noises. What Yeah
even know I had never heard them. Yeah yeah, so
he said, okay, let's just walk back.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
And you know what's good too, is you go downstairs,
you shovel off your car, you come back in. So
when we have dogs with like separation anxiety, you leave
for a minute, come back in, leave for a minute,
come back in.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
You want to do that over and over again.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
Then you up into five minutes, and you do that
for a week, and then you up into ten minutes.
Then you go to the store, you know, and then
you come back. The dog needs to They don't have
a concept of time. They live in the moment. So
once they get used to you leaving and coming back
and leaving and coming back and leaving.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
Oh oh well okay, they just stup. Well they'll be
back eventually. They're going to figure it out, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
But what if we want to go to dinner, that's
going to be two or three hours.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
I think you'll be fine. Once you know that you
you go downstairs. You can shovel off the car. He
didn't make a sound, so you know, you can even leave,
go down the hallway, then tiptoe back so he doesn't
hear you, and then just wait and just see if
he stats backing, and.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
That's kind of what I did by just going down.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
Does he like toys?
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Did you have you have a calong with peanut butter?
Speaker 5 (32:11):
Keep him busy?
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Yeah, or one of those long lasting chewy things that
you know. All right, Okay, this is good advice. Okay,
so that's the doggy day, Caro. Let's get back to
the rescue. You really went down to Katrina.
Speaker 6 (32:23):
Yes, that's going to be twenty years in my flip flops.
It's twenty years ago. This pause, it's August twenty years ago,
heard king Katrina happen.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (32:34):
Yeah. I was working at Northeastern. I had just finished
my master's degree. And this is pre Facebook, pre social media.
Can you imagine a life before Instagram.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
And all that.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
Can I was here before.
Speaker 6 (32:46):
My Space and I saw, you know, I was watching.
I was watching on the Worldwide Web, and there was
a dog on a roof and I said to my boss, oh,
this is so sad. I had like five minutes of
a crude vac and He's like, just go yeah, And
so I ended up being there for a month and
almost lost my job that I had.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
I didn't have any vacation. That's the thing.
Speaker 6 (33:09):
I just got on a plane and I went and
I did not get fired. So kudos to Northeastern for
not firing me, and I ended up working there for
ten years.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Okay, so you have Sweet Paws Rescue. You're in Gloveland, Massachusett. Yes,
So primarily where do your dogs come from? And then
how do you go about delivering them.
Speaker 6 (33:25):
To So I think it's important to point out that
I think in every industry that we have pre COVID
and post COVID. Right, So, pre COVID, ninety seven percent
of our dogs came from Alabama, so very similar to Texas,
with Galasbis, pal Ours, Alabama and Mississippi. There's too many animals,
not enough homes. They're poor rural areas. People don't bring
(33:48):
dogs inside, they don't necessarily want dogs, and dogs just
run amok or they're chained to a tree or to
a doghouse three hundred and sixty five days a year
in the lazing sun. The other thing is is there
are almost no animal protection laws in these states at all,
none zero.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
It should be high crime.
Speaker 6 (34:09):
It's just you know, they're bigger fish to fry in
the United States. So we so ninety seven percent of
our dogs came from Mississippi and Alabama and three percent
were from Massachusetts. And people will say, well, what's the
three percent for Massachusetts, Like what rescue dogs from Massachusetts
pre COVID And I would say, yep, they're owner surrenders,
(34:29):
elderly parent going into assisted living, adult child can't take
the dog, being deployed, moving divorce, we had a baby,
you know, all of the reasons why people or behavioral
issues or the dogs snarled at me.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Whatever.
Speaker 6 (34:42):
People give up animals all the time. So that was
three percent. And of that three percent, it was maybe
ten stray dogs a year in twenty nineteen and prior
for Massachusetts, and it was usually like a beat up
piple in Lawrence or Madpan or Dorchester, like somebody would
dump the dog. Maybe it was a product of a
pit bullfight or something nothing, you know, like we didn't
(35:03):
get like teacup Yorkey's you know. So that was twenty
nineteen prior twenty twenty twenty twenty one, it was like
all a blur right rescues across the con We were
out of dogs, like we we were, you know, the
adoptions were just on you know, like warp speed we
were getting like one hundred applications a day, and you know,
we yeah, right exactly. And then in two thousand and
(35:26):
then we actually did the smart thing is we actually
ended up adopting out fewer dogs in twenty twenty and
twenty twenty one and made it harder to adopt because
people knew that at some point people were gonna go
half go back to the office and if they're if
all the doggy daycares were full because there was a
waiting list, or they didn't do right by their dog,
(35:47):
they didn't do training, they didn't socialize their dog because.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
They weren't abandoned exactly.
Speaker 6 (35:51):
They weren't they weren't going out into the world, and
they just weren't becoming good canine citizens. They were cooped
up in their backyard with their owners. And then fast
forward to two thousand and twenty three, twenty twenty four,
it was like boom. People were returned not to us,
not to us, because we had no more returns than
in twenty twenty three, in twenty twenty four than we
(36:13):
would have.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
In a given year.
Speaker 6 (36:15):
It's maybe ten out of a thousand, which is really good.
So now the whole entire country is they're returning their
dogs and the overpopulation. It's not like the dogs stopped
breeding in areas where there's an overpopulation.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
So now the United States is in a serious crisis.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
I ask you, oh.
Speaker 4 (36:33):
Sorry, not to cut you off and talk about all
the city dogs, all the towns that you help, all
the cities that you help, all the dogs.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
Mean, we'll do that after the break. Okay, I'm sorry,
but we have to take a break. But one quick
question before to go to break. I used to see
those dog and cat places in malls. Do those still exist? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Yes, that's a whole nother that's a whole other segment, Gill.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Seeing you don't think very highly of that, right, do
you know?
Speaker 5 (36:57):
It seems?
Speaker 3 (36:59):
And where do those dogs come from? Again?
Speaker 2 (37:01):
I could go on for hours.
Speaker 6 (37:03):
You don't want to talk about paths, pressing, pressing, pressing.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
We're talking with Cynthia Sweet from Sweet Pause Rescue God.
You know we're going to have it. We still have
one more break. I think we're going to need a
sequel on this because I still have so many questions,
and I only ask the questions. I think everybody listening
wants to get answers to it. At least I try,
but it's Food for Thought. Billy Costa here, We're going
to take a break. When we come back. I need
(37:28):
all the information people need if they need you, and
you can provide a daycare for them, dog mother, and
also all of your information in terms of what people
need to know in terms of sweet Pause rescue. We'll
take a break. It's Fruit for Thought. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel and Sweets.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Hey, everybody, welcome back to Fruit for Thought. We've got
a few minutes left. And okay you Cynthia, right before
I turned the microphone on, said we are in worse
shape now in Massachusetts dog wise than we ever were.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
What did you mean by that, Well, I gave you
these statistics.
Speaker 6 (38:06):
So pre COVID only three percent of our intake of
rescue dogs, we're from Massachusetts. The rest were from Mississippi
and Alabama. Now forty five percent and we're and that's
continuing to increase.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Are coming from the state of Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
And is this still because it's post COVID.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
It's post COVID, it's inflation.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Getting a lot of designer dogs now is supposed to be.
Speaker 6 (38:30):
Yep, rising rising cost of vet care, homelessness.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
So when you take the dogs in, where do they
go next? How do you make it?
Speaker 6 (38:39):
If it's a Massachusetts dog, we take them in, they
go to foster, or if it's a fifty pound pit bull,
it goes to Melissa's.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Matt, you got a fifty pounder coming in? Yeah, okay,
all right, and now Melissa the dog mother, It sounds
like you have a wonderful doggy daycare pot. Yes, I
can see and I can hear the passion that you
have for it. Do you still have room? If people
are out there listening, they've got jobs to do. They
love their dog, they wanted to have the dog, but
(39:08):
now they picked up a second job and they're overwhelmed.
Speaker 6 (39:10):
Yeap.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
Do you have space? Do you have hours of care?
I do?
Speaker 4 (39:13):
I do. We offer doggy daycare and boarding. You know,
I'm there ninety nine ninety nine percent of the time.
I have a few employees to help me out, you know. So, yeah,
if you want to do doggy daycare boarding, you're going away,
you know, going out of the country a week, a month,
a weekend. You know, I could certainly help out and
take on your dog.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
Now, how do you schedule walking the dogs? You've got
forty of them, so we don't do walks. Okay.
Speaker 4 (39:39):
I have a huge yard and I have it divided
into three sections. It's not often I have very many
little dogs, but I do have an area for the
little guys to play. And then I have a big
front yard and then a big backyard. So the front
yard is more for like the older dogs, the more
chill dogs, kind of the nervous dogs that need a
little bit to Some dogs need a little bit more
(40:01):
time to get broken in. And then the big part
of the art is for all my crazy young dogs
that want to run and chase each other and Russell
and play.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
Who's manning the pooper Scooper, all of us? Graham, That
sounded like a legitimate question for me. I mean, all
of a sudden, there are forty dogs, big little running around.
I'm just saying, Okay, how do people reach you? Dog Mother?
Speaker 4 (40:22):
You can call me six one seven four zero seven
nine eight eight seven or email the dog Mother at
yahoo dot com. My website is www dot The dog
Mother LLC dot com. I'm on Facebook, Instagram, at the
dog mother.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
Let's see, God bless you and Cynthia. A little bit earlier,
I think it was off Mike, you said you had
just gotten some grants.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Oh yeah, that was actually a couple of years ago.
Speaker 6 (40:48):
But we did just get another Petco grant for twenty
five thousand dollars and another adopter who wrote an awesome
story from pet Co Love.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
So pet cole Love.
Speaker 6 (40:58):
Petco you guys, is one of those big organizations that
really puts the money behind their mission.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
They are fabulous.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
Wow. And what do people need to know in terms
of what information they can get from you? Where do
they go?
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Yep?
Speaker 6 (41:11):
So if you are looking for a rescue dog, like
I said, you know, forty five ish percent of our
dogs are owner surrenders and strays from Massachusetts. The other
sixty percent ish are still from Mississippi and Alabama. We're
we're combating the overpopulation problem. So Sweetpas Rescue dot org.
We also have a Facebook page and also please check
(41:33):
out Gal's Best Pal.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Yeah they are best Pal.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Yeah, yeah, tit is. Yeah, so they're awesome as well.
Speaker 6 (41:40):
They do Texas, we do Mississippi and Alabama, and we
both do Massachusetts with the help of Melissa the dog Mother.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
Well, I said it earlier, I'm going to say it again.
I think we need to do a sequel. So dog Mother,
thank you so much for coming by. Cynthia from Sweet
Pause Rescue, thank you so much. We got to go.
I'd like to stay for another hour, but right now,
up next sixty minutes
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