Latest / Every Pawprint! Every Story! / One Dog Changed Everything: Gracie, Marley, and a Life Dedicated to Rescue

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One Dog Changed Everything: Gracie, Marley, and a Life Dedicated to Rescue · Every Pawprint! Every Story!

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, everybody.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to another episode of Every Pop Rit, Every Story.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: I am your dog dad host.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in this episode today, we have a a fun special guest coming at us today from uh Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: But for you new listeners, before we kind of hop into it, just to let you know what this show is about is simple, our pets, our dogs, the impact that they have had on our life, what they've inspired us to do.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so I'm super excited today to jump into this uh episode with Gracie from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: How are you today?
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing great.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me on today.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for being on here.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the first questions I always kind of jump right into right out the gate, love asking is how many dogs andor cats do we have a part of the family today?
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Dan, you're gonna think I'm a crazy person.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: I have three dogs and six cats.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: They're all rescued and they all have their own very unique stories.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, cool.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Then we're gonna have a lot to talk.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Three dogs, six cats.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't see that one coming.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I have I have three dogs as well, but not cats.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: So let's okay.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we've got nine stories to talk about.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if we're gonna have enough time, but when where do you want to start?
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Who do you which story do you want to start with first?
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I guess we'll start at the beginning.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Marley, she is my eight-year-old blue-nosed pit bull, and she is um everyone has that special dog, that heart dog, you know, and that's that's Marley.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: She kind of um, you know, I honestly it sounds crazy saying this, but she gave me purpose.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um I was scrolling on Facebook one morning.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: It was really early.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't couldn't sleep, and someone had um posted on Facebook that this dog was tied up in the middle of the park overnight and asking if someone could go and look for this dog.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: This park was right across the street from my house.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I ended up in my pajamas, yeah, put my slippers on, bundled up because you know, Milwaukee, uh, you know, the mornings here are kind of cool in the fall.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so I ended up walking across the street to um go look for her, couldn't find her, looked all over the park, ended up connecting with the original lady on Facebook.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, she got more information about the dog.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and there was the dog was actually being kept in um the bathroom of this person's house, her previous owner.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: And um, she was very neglected, very skinny.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, the person that owned her said, I don't want to have a puppy anymore.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's too much for me.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: So pretty much just kept this dog in the bathroom.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: So um I ended up going and knocking on her door, didn't know who she was, knocked on her door.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, hey, this is all the cash I have on me.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Did I buy this dog off of you?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I, you know, didn't have any dogs at the time.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: I worked a really busy job, so I didn't think I was just gonna, you know, rescue this dog and find a home for her.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't really, you know, didn't think I was gonna keep her.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: So they ended up um letting me buy the dog off of her.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I I brought her home, you know, gave her some food, gave her some water, brought her to the vet right away, got the vaccines done just to be, you know, safe.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And um I ended up falling in love with her just instantly, you know.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: It was um I went into the walk-in vet clinic here, and she was just she was so happy and just so just wiggly butt, you know, nonstop wiggly butt.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I fell in love with her.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: I it was it was right away, and I think I do by the end of that day, like she wasn't going anywhere.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: I had no idea what I was doing.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: It was my first pit bull I've ever rescued.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was my first, you know, time rescuing a dog.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And um yeah, I just I I was so in love with her, and she was just, you know, Velcro, she was attached to me.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, and I say that that's kind of the beginning to my story, and and she changed my life because um the person that ended up posting about her on Facebook was actually a very incredible woman who lives here in Milwaukee, and she um is the president of Chain Dogs MKE.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: So she founded it.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so Marley is kind of the beginning of where my story started as well with uh the whole entire organization.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, we're gonna keep, yeah.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: No, I I love it, love, and I was not gonna I wanted to interrupt you, but I wanted to keep the story going because you and I have got a bond right out the gate um with the name of Marley.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um Marley was my first uh female Doberman, and um she's kind of the inspiration behind all my movements now.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: I lost her about three years ago, and probably published the I published the book as a result of that, and a lot more's happening.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: So when you said Marley, you stopped me in my tracks.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: So Gracie, I love it.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, two to you and I got an immediate bond right out the gate right there.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um now I'm curious.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: Marley, was she already named that or did you get to name?
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: I named her that.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: What's okay.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: I I now I'm now as I now I'm curious, uh what what's the inspiration behind the name?
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I my parents like they loved my dad especially.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: He loves reggae music, and so we always listen to Bob Marley, the whalers.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I love and I think when we were driving, I think it was when we were driving home from the vet, um, the song Three Little Birds came on my shuffle on my music.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was like, Marley, oh my goodness, that's yeah, so it kind of stuck.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Love it.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah, it was similar there.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't I tell folks it was more the movie Marley and me is what kind of was not that Marley.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: I love Ray Gay and and Bob Marley as well, but um I don't know about you with your Marley.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: I I figure I made a little bit of mistake because that Marley and Marley and me felt like she was always getting into things, always getting into trouble, always getting injured.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: And that was the case with my Marley.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: How about yours?
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, same thing.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's hilarious.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, where do you want to go next?
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so you're yeah, I'm curious because you mentioned this is the start of your journey, the beginning of your story.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: Where do you want to, where do we go next?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I think um I think we'll probably do the dogs first, right?
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then the cat.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: And the cat.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then Mark, but Marley is still with us, right?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think you said she's she's nine, right?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she's still with us.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: She's okay.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Still puppy energy.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think next we'll go to Bowie, um, named after David Bowie.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: We got the music things going.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Got the music themes.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I was um, oh my goodness, someone had messaged me.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: This is after I started working with the rescue.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is two years later.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm working with the rescue and volunteering.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it's starting to get kind of busy.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: And um someone had messaged me on Facebook, hey, I have a family lined up for this dog, but they're at Chicago Animal Control.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And this, you know, dog is on the euthanasia list.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Chicago Animal Control, they have so many dogs in their care.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, the stray pickups, they have a limited amount of time before they get euthanized just to you know make room for uh, you know, more incoming stray dogs.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: That so these are unclaimed, you know, they weren't vaccinated, no tags, nothing.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like they don't have any rabies tags or anything attached to them or microchips.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's down in Chicago.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, when I was there, there was, I think they had um like 200 kennels, and there was 266 dogs in the kennels, so they're doubling up.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's you know, a lot.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's a big, big facility.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: So um I, you know, I was like, okay, this family fell in love with this dog.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're on the East and Asia list.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'll go down there.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it was a low-income family that lived in the area.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: They just didn't have the means to get all the way down to Chicago from here.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, okay, I will go on my way home from work.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: We'll, you know, go and uh go go down to Chicago, you know, get all this the ball rolling here, make sure this dog is safe tonight.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: And um I ended up thankfully, um, you know, my my boyfriend had um a SUV.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So we he met me after work and um he ended up loading up the SUV with just, you know, we had like a couple of snacks and we were sitting in traffic on our way down to Chicago.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And um he was like, okay, like what's the game plan, you know?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: And and they said, we're just gonna go in there, just get this one dog.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: His name's Rambo, and um, we're gonna adopt him and bring him back, and then you know, we'll bring him to the family right away, and you know, we'll give them some dog food and some resources so that they could get all of the other vaccines if they need them.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so we talked about the game plan.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, great.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we get down to Chicago Animal Patrol.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: I met Rambo, he was wonderful.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: I loved him.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: He's just a big meatball of a pit bull.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then, you know, I uh out of curiosity, I asked um one of the volunteers there, said, Hey, who else is on this list for tonight?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, I know Rambo's on the list.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're getting him.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Who else is on the list?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so they um she brought out Chucky and she brought out Metro, two other dogs, and I was like, Okay, sounds good.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna get those guys too.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just adopt them.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I looked at my boyfriend, I was like, hey, you know, are you okay with this?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, Yeah, we can't, you know, we can't just leave these guys here.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're taking one and not the others.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: So we ended up adopting all three of them and yeah, loaded them in the back of his his um, he had a uh a Honda CRV, thank goodness.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: So we put the back seats down and loaded them up in the back of his SUV and brought them back up to Milwaukee.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so that started my um my journey with actually fostering, you know.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: I um Rainbow went to his family right away.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Chucky was, you know, we were fostering for um just probably two or three months, and then I ended up finding a really great family um out in Dubuque, actually, Dubuque, Iowa, who adopted him, fell in love with him instantly.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then Bowie, who hit his name was Metra, but um I changed it to Bowie.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, he had some upper respiratory, he had upper respiratory infection, he had eye infection going on.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, both ears, you know, were were infected.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I ended up holding on to him a little bit longer, getting them all, you know, uh all those infections kind of cleared up.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: And um I found a family for him, but they came down, they met him.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: It just it seemed like he wasn't really interested in them, and he just kept um kept running back around towards me.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: And they kind of told me they were like, Yeah, I think Bowie kind of already figured out who his mom was.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I'm sorry, you know.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: So Bowie picked me.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't that cool how they do that, right?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's like you, yeah, they they they they rescue us as much as we rescue them.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: So that's really cool.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: So now were all three of them part of the same, did they come from the same family, or it's just they were all had that unfortunate thing that was supposed to happen to them, and that's why I mean you save them.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: So it was it, they were all, I believe, picked up as strays around the same time.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: So they were all taken into the animal control at around the same time.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's awesome.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: That I love that.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, you're amazing right there.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then Bowie is still with us.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, Bowie's still with us.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, good.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: How how old is Bowie?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he is six years old.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: So six.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: So how do how does he and uh Miss Marley get along?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, they get along too well.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like if I take Bowie to the vet, you know, if he has to go in for whatever, Marley's crying.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: If I had to take Marley out, you know, even if I, you know, take him out for a walk separately, you know, one's crying for the other one, and they're just they're attached to each other.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: So that's awesome.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so I guess we're on to number three now, right?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Number three is Gladys.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um Gladys Knight is yeah, Gladys Knight.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: Love it.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: She is um, you know, Gladys Knight just has this big, beautiful, soulful, amazing, incredible voice.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: And um my Gladys is four pounds.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: She's a tiny miniature chihuahua.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think she's a miniature chihuahua, I'm not sure.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but she's very much she is Miss Personality, Miss Big Voice, you know.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: She will let you know, she's upset.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: She's got that typical Chihuahua energy.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I thought that um Gladys might be a fitting name, you know.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds like it.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: So she was another rescue that was supposed to be a foster.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: I foster fail a lot.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: I swear, Dan, it's it's a bad problem.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: So she her story was her owner um pretty much um her owner abandoned her, um, ended up tying her up to the front front porch um of an apartment complex that that they lived in.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: The neighbors were feeding her, you know, we got um a message in on on Facebook, on our chain dog's Facebook page, like, hey, you know, we see this tiny dog just just you know leached up to the front porch here.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um is there anything you guys can do?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I was actually working at um at the hilltop in Waukesha.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great place.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: And the owner, she's a huge dog advocate.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was working, you know, my my regular shift there, and I showed her the message and she was like, close up, you know, I'll take care of cleaning up, just just close this place up, go get that dog.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Oh my goodness, thank you.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, she let me go leave work early, go down there, pick her up.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was raining.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was yeah, it was pretty cold outside too.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: So um I ended up grabbing her and the first night I had her, she bit me like three times, you know, but I kept her in a separate room and just I gave her some food and kind of just let her decompress.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: But she was in that room for oh my goodness, it took a while to decompress.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think you know, Pibles are so happy and just like resilient and they bounce back from anything so quickly.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, with a tiny little chihuahua, it's a little bit different.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it was a learning curve for me.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I gave her time and I had her separated from my dogs, um, you know, and cats for about a week.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then after that initial week, I put up the baby gate so they could just smell each other and see each other, and so she could just yell at everybody, you know, through the through the baby gate.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then after a few days of that, she she was fine.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: It it it took a little less than two weeks to get her fully acclimated to, you know, being around.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that's Gladys.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: Gladys, and so everybody's all happy, joyful now, getting along pretty good.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I adopted Gladys out twice to two different families, and she was returned twice.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, she just she picked, you know, she has got a couple of people that she she likes.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it didn't work out.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: And and you know, I I told them, I said, hey, it's trial run, you know, if it doesn't work out, she has a home.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's fine, you know, she's got a home here.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so she is now mine.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: Does she like does she get along with a boyfriend?
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yes, yeah.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: She gets along with you know, it took a long time, you know, but now she's uh, you know, she lays on on his lap and you know, she'll lay on his lap and just kind of stare at me like, you know, hey mom, look at me.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: So four pounds.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's man, that's tiny.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: Four pounds.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Four pounds, yeah.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, now I feel like we're we're just still just getting started now.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: We got six cats to I love I love this though, because we just don't have I or we I just don't have enough folks come on talk about cats.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're just as important as vital to our our well-being as dogs are, but um, so I'm excited to you where where do you want to start with so we got six different stories, or do we have like two stories lumped in all six?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Or I think I think we have, I mean, they're all they all have their own story, right?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: But we could definitely lump them together or lump a few together.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: So um my cat Julian, he was um he's backyard breeding.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: It was a bad kind of situation um out here in Wisconsin.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I ended up um, you know, we didn't, I didn't know at the time.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: This was before I got into the rescue world.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um my you know, partner at the time.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: He's now 10 years old, but you know, he ended up falling in love with his cat.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: And he, you know, saw him as like, oh my goodness, he's this beautiful little kitten.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: But um long story short, ended up being a pretty bad operation back there.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I believe it's now shut down.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um last time I looked into it, they weren't operating anymore.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: But he's a very loud voice, there's a bungle cat.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, his name is Julian.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: He was the first cat I've ever had.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: So my first experience with cats was this crazy uh Bengal cat.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: They have their crazy outgoing personalities, you know, the house is pretty much their kingdom.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: And um yeah, it was a lot of fun.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, as he was a kitten and growing up, and you know, now that he's 10 years old, he's just as loud and boisterous and kitten-like as ever.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Julian doesn't sound musical.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, it's not musical.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's um, have you seen the um the Madagascar movie with King Julian and the little penguins?
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Been a minute, but I know which what you're talking about.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so he was okay, yeah.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: King Julian was that loud, like King and sorry, just I thought he was, yeah, a good fit for that one.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then he gets along with all the the dogs.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, he loves all the dogs.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, oh, very cool.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, all righty, who's next?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: So George Michael, he was, yeah.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: He was trap.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: My cousin is a funeral director.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and there was two kittens in the um in the garage area, you know, where they break where they parked the hearse.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: And um my cut he called me, like, hey, we have two kittens in here.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think the mom hasn't come back.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: They were watching him on the camera for a few days.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I ended up trapping um George and his sister.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, his sister, um her name's Elvira.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the uh the neighbors now have her, and then I kept George, so he was uh a trap and and keep.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: Same with um uh my cat Sully, who was named after the monsters ink, um, the big blue monster, you know, James P.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sullivan.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so he um has one eye and he has pretty bad diabetes, but um, he was also a cat that was trapped by one of our good volunteers that chained.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: His name is Victor.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so Victor called, hey, I trapped this cat.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: He's very friendly.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Victor already has a menagerie of cats at his house because he's a great cat dad.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I was like, Victor, don't feel like you have to take another one on.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'll come pick him up.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: So picked him up, ended up taking him to the vet right away, and he has some um diabetes.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he had to get his eye removed um because of some really bad glaucoma.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then they ended up contacting his um family that was listed on his microchip.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: And his family had uh responded back and said, Hey, we let him out three years ago.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want him back.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, please don't call us.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Well, I'll just keep him.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: He's mine now, so that's fine.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I have a wonderful diabetic cat, and I'm learning all about that.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it's crazy doing the the um glucose readings, and uh it's just a something I'm very um I, you know, I was very nervous about at first.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: I you know, I think at first it seems like it's a lot, but it it turns into like second nature.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it it took me a couple months, but it's really easy.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: So um I guess I have a message for anybody who's listening that you know encounters a cat with diabetes.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be overwhelmed and don't be afraid like I was, you know.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, yeah, no, I think I think that's amazing because like you said, I yeah, you you think about these things and I mean these these illnesses and the diseases they get are exactly like us, right?
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: But I think to your point, it yeah, we're more challenged in how we interact and treat them, and they're great patients and they're so much more resilient than us.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just yeah, how do we learn to give them so that that's awesome?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then go going back, Elvira.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: We kind of passed over that one quickly, but you made me think about the um, I know she passed away.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it was after that, that um the the female actress Elvira, right?
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, yep.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that yeah, that they still the neighbors still have her, so they'll send me pictures all the time of her, you know, and I'll send them pictures of George Michael back.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: Love it, love it.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so who's next?
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I think there are two more cats.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no, three more cats.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: So um Frankie, who's named after Frankenstein.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I got him around this time of year, actually, a few years ago.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so Frankie and Audi.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, she's the only female cat in the house, Audi, named after the cars.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um she uh she was just the Audi Audi U D I, like the Audi cars.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, you're we I have a Midwest accent, so I don't say Audi, I say Audi.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's all right.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in the Southeast, so I'm I've got a completely, you know, crazy accent too, but it's funny.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: We all right, music, Halloween, monster themes now, car.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I didn't see that one coming.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, I know.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: My brothers, my younger brothers named her, so yeah.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: Love it.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: So um she's uh she's a calico, wonderful cat, and she's the only female cat in the house.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, they she gets along with all the all the little men running around.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: So um her and Frankie were both barn cats, you know, they're found on a on a barn, but they're just too nice for them to just, you know, the the owner was like, I don't I don't want to leave them outside, you know.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean they're great barn cats, don't get me wrong, but they're just you know, they're feral cats, but they are so docile and and so nice.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so I ended up, you know, through various meet, like friends or whoever reached out, you know, let me know about them.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: So they're now in my house.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh the last one is Watson, who's named after I was watching um Sherlock Holmes like crazy, and you know, Dr.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: John Watson, he has the limp, like he has a bad leg.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and so Watson only has three legs because he was hit by a car.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, yeah.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: So and he was at I was at um animal control here in Milwaukee.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: I was there to meet a dog that I was interested in adopting.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: This was a while back before Marley.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and I stopped in there.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: I was on my way to work and ended up um looking at Watson, and you know, the bond was instantly formed, and he had a a flyer on his uh cat condo saying adoption fee waived.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so he was three years old, three legs, was hit by a car, just had surgery to get the amputation.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that was that was crazy because he's would still get those phantom itches, you know.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so that was really weird getting used to, but he's a great cat.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, oh my goodness, he's I think he's 12 years old now, but he is wonderful.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I remember the first time.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it took a while, but I was always kind of encouraging him to, you know, jump up on the furniture just because my other cat, Julian, was doing it.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so he would be running around the house with Julian and then he'd stop as soon as Julian would like jump up on you know the chair or the couch.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so the first time he was actually able to do it, I was so happy.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like I called my dad, I was like, Dad, guess what?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: Watson can jump, like he's fine, you know.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if it just took him a little while, you know, a few months to kind of get his bearings and adjust.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, the tripod cats are great.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: No, I I love the story.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so then everybody is still with us today.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody get gets along well and everybody interacts with each other.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, everyone loves everybody, they're great.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's amazing I'm just I'm trying to picture three dogs, six cats just cruising through the house, and man.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's um love love the story, and then yeah, the the mu yeah, I always love just the fascination behind the naming convention of of pets, right?
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: The you got the music themes, and then you got the Halloween, and then the one car, and then I guess yeah, Dr.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: Watson can you can almost kind of lump that like in Halloween-ish, but maybe not really.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um no, I love this.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: This is awesome.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: So, so it kind of feels like dying to ask you.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: We've got the shirt you have on there.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm seeing Chain Dog.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, is that is that something you started, more you're involved with, or you know, with this fascination, you know, with everything that you've done, but talk more about in the you know, in the few minutes we have left on the podcast.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, more uh, you know, what your inspire, inspiration, what you're doing today, and what Chain Dogs is.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: So Chain Dogs, oh my goodness, how do I start this?
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: We are a small organization in Milwaukee, but um our reach is is very far and you know, we go um deep within the community.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're just in Milwaukee.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it was started by uh my best friend Katrina.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: She is, you know, an incredible woman.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: She's gotten an insane testimony, you know, single mom of two, um, you know, two great boys with special needs.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: And she works full-time and still has time to to you know run this rescue.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, we say we're a rescue, but really we're a more of a community um resource.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we help low-income families in Milwaukee with dog food, cat food resources with low-cost spay and neuter vaccines.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, our biggest thing is we don't want to see dogs going into the shelters.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, a lot of dogs, they just either shelters are so full, right?
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like Milwaukee um animal control here is so full.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: And um I also know that the dogs just don't do like their full personalities don't um go on display when they're at the shelter.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, a lot of these great dogs get passed up, unfortunately, you know, and I mean that's I'm glad that we have that resource within the city, but we're trying to prevent that from happening in the first place.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: So we have about um 350 dogs that we help with food between 270 um and 280 families.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then we also help with toys, um bones, shoes, you know, we bring them all the good stuff.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there is uh there are different laws here in Milwaukee, which I believe were just very recently changed, but there's um different laws regarding tethering and um, you know, dogs being outside and just kind of the welfare of animals.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um it they're very vague.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: So if the dog has to live outside, which a lot of dogs, you know, in the city here do, um we go in, we build them dog houses, and we'll bring them dog houses, we'll bring them fresh straw, we change it out every two weeks.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we bring them instead of having them on these big toe chains, we'll replace those with these lightweight kind of outdoor tie-outs.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it's more comfortable for the dog.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then we also bring the dogs, you know, like the longer lasting like nylobones are are huge.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, we love nylobones and Kong toys.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we we go through those like crazy.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, um, so yeah, that's so there's the um, you know, resources that we provide to the family.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: We also do, you know, the welfare checks on these dogs, they're at-risk dogs.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we're kind of um an emergency, like, hey, this dog is, you know, on the porch and he doesn't look so good.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: Can you guys come out?
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, we'll be there right away.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's every message that comes into the organization, it gets sent to mine and Katrina's phone right away.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we can respond as soon as possible.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we have a bunch of very great volunteers and always looking for more.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, the what the work is is uh always growing.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so and um yeah.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, I feel like I cut you off.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, no, that's amazing.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll definitely have to get some links from you to share with listeners of this because I'm sure yeah, donations and that kind of support go a long way with the food, with the toys.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll see what we can do to get people to kind of get get links to your to the websites and where and how to donate.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and every um, you know, because the need is so great here, every every you know, penny that comes into the organization goes right back into you know, into the rescue.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: Katrina and I both have our our full-time jobs with our own thing going.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, her and I are full-time volunteers and we're just, you know, everything, every minute, every penny goes right back into helping these guys.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, definitely.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I should mention we do have a community cat program.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: So this the stray cats, we we take care of different cat colonies too.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we had to actually pause our TNR, the trap neuter and release.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: We recently had to pause that program just because we're in desperate need of cat foster homes and cat adopters.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: So so yeah.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: Hate to hear that.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, we'll make sure we get those those least resources and links.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, gosh, as we see how time flies with these podcasts, probably a lot more to talk about, but is always hate, always hate ending these things because your stories are fascinating and everything that you're doing is amazing.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm curious, and and hopefully this is for the listeners too, with your stories, what you're doing today, man, what what has what's the inspiration behind this drive that you have?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think Marley is my main inspiration, you know.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: If it wasn't for Chain Dogs, I would have never, you know, she would have never been posted on Facebook.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if it wasn't for Katrina, I would have never seen her on Facebook.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: I never would have, you know, Katrina.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: I met her, you know, when I first rescued Marley.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so this whole entire like life-changing thing happened because of, you know, and it's crazy to say because of one dog, you know, one dog named Marley, but she's just she's my passion for everything.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I saw, you know, the bad condition that she was in and, you know, how much she just loves life now.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I see it every day with the dogs that we go in and help, you know, even the ones that do live outside.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: Man, being able to take off a 50-pound tow chain off of a pit ball and replace it with an outdoor tether and give him a Kong or give him a big nylobone to chew on, and he's happier than a clam, like it's the best day of his life.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like it may like it makes me cry, you know, and we just don't deserve how incredibly kind and resilient these these dogs are to us, and they just love us no matter what, you know.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I love that, and that's probably a phenomenal way to end this podcast.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I I love that, Gracie.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for being on the show.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I love that Marley's your muse because she was mine as well, which continues to drive the things that I do today.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_01: So you and I have quite the unique bond there.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, thank thank you for you know, thank you so much for being on the show today.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and uh we'll make sure we we save all the links, get all the links out to the listeners.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: But any I feel like you you said enough and kind of ended it, but I any anything like last to say, parting words, or uh we we we're good to go.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, very emotional.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: So, but you don't go anywhere just yet, but listeners to of this episode, um, you know, thank you again for listening.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: That was a phenomenal episode.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_01: We'll make sure you guys have links to the causes that Gracie's involved with, her passion, supporting her passion, and the links.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: So again, thank you for another episode of Every Paw Print, every story.