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The Chihuahua Who Went To The Amazon · Every Pawprint! Every Story!

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of Every Pop Rent, Every Story.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dan Popovic.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: For those of you new listeners, we're getting lots of new listeners weekly, so I wanted to kind of share with you a little bit about what this podcast is about.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it is a weekly conversation space where people honor pets they've lost, celebrate the joy pets bring, and support one another through pet grief.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Each episode centers on a guest memories, the ritual that keeps those pets present in daily life, and the lessons of love and loss that pets teach us.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: The goal with this podcast is to inspire, guide, and support each other.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm excited for our guest today.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think the listeners, you're gonna have fun with this one.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're gonna be talking about a lot of different stuff with fur kids.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Augustina, welcome to the show.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I I got the name right, right?
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, well, it's Agustina, but it's in Latin.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: I I know everybody who speaks like whose native English actually pronounces like that.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's it's okay.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, no, I knew I'd I knew I'd I'm sorry, my last name, my last name gets chopped up a lot too, so it's all good.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: I imagine so.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you are, I know you told me earlier today you're uh you're in Portugal right now, is that right?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm in Brazil.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Brazil, okay.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm actually an Argentinian, but I've been living in Brazil for 11 years now.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, yeah, awesome.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I know for the listeners of this show, I got a sneak peek of the the little fur kid.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll try to get some pictures for y'all to see this little bundle of joy, but yeah, let's let's jump, let's jump into it.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: So today you've got one fur kid today, right?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Is that we got one?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah, just the one.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: And and lit how how did um was it what's what's his name again?
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Gavin.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Gavin.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Gavin, did he come with that name or did you get to name him Gavin?
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: I named him after Gavin de Gros.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know Gavin de Gros?
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: He's a singer, he's not that big.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: He's from US, actually.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Country, he's not that big.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of pop, really.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: I I used to listen to him when I was like 14 years old, something like that, 16.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: He's still like touring and making music, but um, and I was like, because when I was little, I was obsessed with chihuahuas, and I was like, When when I get older, I'm gonna have a chihuahua, I'm gonna name him Gavin.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so I did.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: I named it after him.
• 2:36
  unknown: Cool.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we got Gavin the Chihuahua.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, how old is Gavin?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: Gavin is five.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: November, yeah.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and how how how did he become a part of the family?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I actually sorry.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, uh, I'm a doctor, right?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then when I was uh going through residency, for those who don't know, it's a really tough time uh when you're becoming a specialist, you know, you and you finish medical school and then you choose uh some area to specialize in.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I choose pediatrics, uh, ematologies and ecologies.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: And it was a lot of work, a lot of work.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just um something was missing, you know, when you when you come home, and then I was like, but he's gonna be alone a lot of the time.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: And but I was like, but this is the time, it's now or never.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: So then I went and and got Gavin.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then to your point, though, with with being the doctor and a lot of time, is he is he with you?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, obviously he's with you right now.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Is he with you a lot?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Or how do you how do you work that dynamic out?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: So when I was going through residency, um um he was alone for for a big part of the day.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I used to leave him like there's I don't know if you guys have that over there.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: We have like little uh daycare dogs.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, yep.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so he I used to drop him up at a daycare, uh, but he never was into like mixing up with other dogs.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: He always, every time I picked him up, there would be like he spent the whole day in my lap.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like he was in my lap or somebody else's lap.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: He's like uh he needs human touch, like human contact all the time.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then that was for like less than a year because I I got him right at the end because I didn't want, you know, I didn't want that to get a dog and just leave him alone the whole day, and it was just by the end of it, so it lasted a few months, and then after that, my my work um routine became uh a little, you know, I work a lot, but not as much.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we became best buddies, like we've been together, like he's even uh went to the Amazon with me.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow, so yeah, he's been to the Amazon.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: He's he's a Chihuahua that's been to the Amazon because my after I finished my residency, I met my husband and he's from the Amazon.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow, that's not where we where we currently live.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: But one of the times that we went to visit, we were like, What if we take Gavin?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so off we went to the Amazon.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: He loved it, but it was yeah, it was it was an adventure.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Any wow, yeah.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, Gavin.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like a sounds like a little storybook here.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Gavin and the Amazon.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, any any crazy being out there with him, any crazy um experiences with like any uh any other animals or anything?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Did you do any hiding?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, he's been close to alligators, that was scary, yeah.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: Because he's so tiny, you know.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: And then well, my because people get the the the idea of that Amazon being like a whole forest, but no, we have you know there's cities there, and of course, my husband was born and raised in the city, and but where we where uh he lived, there's like this this little area, and there's all kinds of animals, and there's a little bit, it's not a river, it's like a little, I don't know what how you would call it, and we would you we used to take walks every day, and then this one time we were just walking, I was like, and Gabby was just near the water, and I was like, Is that an alligator?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I was I didn't want to see how the interaction is going to be like and just grabbed him as okay, from now on you're walking on mom's lap because you know I didn't that was scary.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: It was a tiny alligator, but it, you know, alligators, chihuahuas.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think they will not get along really well.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: No, so yeah, just yeah, I don't think so.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think you didn't want to see how that interaction would go, so yeah, yeah, that was Gavin's adventure.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: So he's so a very adventurous chihuahua.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: He is, he is not like the biggest on, like uh he loves the beach, for example.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: He loves the beach, which is incredible.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: He he runs for miles and miles and miles.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't know how he does that because he's so tiny, you see those little tiny legs, and he just off he goes.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because where we live in Brazil, here we live in an island, so it's a lot of you know beautiful beaches, and then he loves it.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: He loved the he loves the beach.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and then when we were home, he's not like I I I I kid that he he doesn't seem to be like an animal because he's only wants to be on the couch and on or sitting on my lap.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, You're you know, you're an animal, go have fun.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: But no, he when he's when he's at home, he likes to be with us the whole time.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: So big cuddle bug, okay.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um now the beach.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now the beach, I'm kind of curious, how does he do with the water?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the water, he's not the biggest fan, actually.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes he likes you know, goes there and see what's going on, but then when the water actually comes at him, he just runs just like that.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: But the sun, it's it's it's ridiculous.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: He just puts his face in the sand and it gets all dirty.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: We just let him because he's so happy, so happy.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, our our uh not not so much with the water when they see that.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: Not really.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Our our Marley was the same way.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: She uh tried to no, she wasn't tiny though.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean big Doberman, but she was scared of the water, but loved the loved the beach.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um so all right, big cuddle bug.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: What other like funny goofy things does he seem to kind of do often that just makes you laugh?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Anything?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: Lots, actually, because the island that we lived in, it's really, really hot in the during the summer.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: We're well, we actually just uh transitioning right now from the summer to the to the autumn here, but it's even though it's like 32 degrees Celsium, so it's really hot.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: But when it's when in during the winter it gets cold, and he likes to let's say you're just tilling in the couch, he will just come and just jump you know on you and try with this little pause, try to go underneath your clothes, and he just goes underneath your clothes and he just stays there all comfy and and and and warm, and you just like oh, you know, I'm not gonna do anything else, just gonna stay here.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're thirsty, maybe you're hungry, maybe you just you know have to do something.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: You just know just let him be underneath my clothes.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's hilarious.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's the cutest thing that he does.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's funny.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so then you you were mentioning so Gavin's Gavin's really your first one, right?
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: So you had you didn't have one before.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Did you have one growing up as a child?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: I did, I did, I did.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I my first dog was a German shepherd.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, she was the best.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, she passed away like many, many years ago.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: I was still a child.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't really know how how long, but we had it for like maybe 10 years.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm not really sure.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: She was the best, she was absolutely the best.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: She was so loving, and then, but what was funny about her, the the um she had babies, and then my cousin adopted those babies, and then so we had like generations clothes from our family.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: So that that that was when when we lost her.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, that was like uh a really nice way to still kind of have her around, like a piece of hood around.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: That is that was really nice.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Is that is the generation still going on, or has it kind of no, no, because uh well maybe it does, but we lost track of the because uh some of the puppies weren't actually adopted from you know, yeah, by other families, so we kept like three maybe three generations, and then we kind of lost track of them because our family was already set on dogs, so it's not there was nobody else to give the dogs to.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: So that okay, so that's fascinating.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: So German Shepherd to a Chihuahua, that's quite a right, and then I have uh a Rottweiler as well.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you had a Rottweiler, yeah.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Oh okay, but my heart was then on the Chihuahua, and I couldn't convince my family growing up.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: So when it was my time to choose a dog, I was like, okay, now I'm going with it with the little one.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's fun.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: But so the but uh so the German Shepherd, what was their name?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: Her name was Addie.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: Addie, what was the what was the convention behind that name?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Anything like Gavin?
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, no, because uh we me and my cousins, we were like trying to decide the name, and then we started combining our uh our initials.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: So me is Agustina, and then my sister is Daniela, and then we went like that, and we just we came uh we came up with the name with our our initials, kids, kids stuff.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, that's awesome though.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of yeah, I thought, yeah, it was cute.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it it is not a common name, Addie.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's really cool.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now the Roddy, what what was tell us talk about a little bit about the Roddy?
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: How how how young were you?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um well I was around 10, I guess.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: We got him.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: His name was Aaron.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: He came with that name.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron came with that name.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: And the the story behind it is like we brought it to our house to be our protector because uh I lost my dad pretty young.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Oh and it was me, my mom, and two other sisters.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: We were all all girls, and we were like, okay, we kind of feel you know, it was the same neighborhood and all, but we were like, Yeah, but we just lost uh uh uh Addie.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: Addie actually was getting really old, so my mom decided on him, and my friends, what was funny, my two best friends from school, they got one as well.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: So we were like the Rod Weiler Club, and we were all like just you know, talk about them and mine is doing this and this is things like that.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: And we got it, he was the protector of our home for like many, many.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even know how many years I lost count, really, because I left home, and then he just you know kept my mom safe, so it was many, many years.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm glad you mentioned that because I was like, well, hang on a minute, you got a rottweiler for protection.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Wait a minute, that's what a German shepherd is, too.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: But sounds like she was such a fuzzy, she was like the key, she was I don't I don't know she would do anything to protect anybody.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's funny.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: She was the cutest and the the you know, the most kind dog.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, we never saw her uh in a position that she had to defend us, so I don't know she had it in her, maybe, but yeah.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: But it sounds like you got uh Aaron shortly after Addy had passed, or did you did you get actually she was getting old?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: My mom sensed that, and I don't know if it was because we were kids, and she was like, Okay, I don't want my kids to go fully, you know.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: She she she she noticed maybe she was in her last years, maybe months.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: So she was like, Okay, let's transition this a little bit more, you know, to be more smoothly, actually.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: So you've been through, um, obviously we always talk about it in the show to help others, so you've been through a couple of of losses of pets um in your young age.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: So you know, did any kind of impact on you after the losses?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, or were you just not around enough?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Or talk a little bit about that.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: How do you how did you exp how did that experience hit you?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well, when with Addie, I was uh uh I was really, really young.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, I was still not not even in my teen years, so but I remember um it was tough, really.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: It was really tough because she was since I remember she was around, right?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: So she was my my first dog, and I remember that I'm the oldest of three sisters and three siblings, and then I remember that when they gave they they brought her, and she was like, This is your dog.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I used to, you know, say this is my dog, it's not anybody else's dog.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: She said, This is my dog, so that's what they say, so it's mine.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like the most you know protective of her.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: But I remember me as a kid, it was tough because I saw her start like getting blind, and then she was struggling to eat, and it was so it was like I understood at the time, okay, she, you know, she's in she's it's the time for her to go because luckily I've never lost a dog, you know, for um like uh what do you say, like sudden circumstances?
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: I it never it was never okay, got sick and died uh of early age or anything.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: I had three dogs, previous Gavin, I had Uma as well.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and they they all die from like really, really old age.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's natural causes, okay.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, that's what of it was every time we went, we were devastated.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: But for me, what what actually uh made me feel a little bit better was that okay, they live a full life.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: I know the life we gave them, I know that I know for a fact they were all really, really happy dogs.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so that what that what actually made me feel a little bit better because uh I know the life that we provide them with.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, that's awesome.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that's beautiful.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: And to your point, that's that's a blessing to be able to kind of have that experience where yeah, there it's just it's old age, that's what we all want.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, didn't happen with my Marley, but I'm hoping it happens with my Marshall.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but Uma, okay.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't talk about Uma.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: What was what what kind of breed was Uma?
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: She was her own breed at until this day, we don't know.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: She was a straight dog.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's funny, yeah.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: She was a tiny.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: What's what's funny about her, because I was obsessed with chihuahuas growing up, obsessed with them.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: And um with Uma, I was one day I was uh actually in medical school, and medical school was at the same city that I grew up, so I didn't have to leave home for that.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I was still living with my mom, and um, I remember I was in this um the town square, and there was this lady selling something, and then she has a little tiny dog wearing a sweater vest, and I was like, What is that?
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: She looked like a tiny rat, actually.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: She was like black with huge pointing uh ears, and I was like, Is that a dog?
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: It was the cutest dog.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: She was so ugly, she was so ugly that she was the best dog I've ever seen.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, and started talking with with this woman, and she was like, Well, she actually she actually uh you know my dog uh had her, but I cannot keep her.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: And the mom is a chihuahua, and the dog is and the father is I don't know what she said at the time, so I'm pretty sure she's gonna be pretty tiny.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: And if you want her, and I was like, Really?
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, because I I would love to keep her, but I'm not able to, blah blah blah blah blah.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: And and then just grabbed her and just I remember that uh I didn't drive at the time, and um you know, Sudan didn't have a car, didn't have even the money to have a car and stuff, and I was like, okay, but I can't take the bus home with this dog, so I walked all the way from home.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, I don't know, an hour and something.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: Me walking through the streets with this little tiny dog, and I was not prepared at all.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: And they came home, and my mom was like, What?
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: What are we going?
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: We have a Rottweiler, what are we coming to do with this little tiny rat?
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: And she became my best friend.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: She ended up weighting like 12 kilos, so she wasn't a chihuahua at all.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like she said, the mom was a chihuahua, but I don't know what the the the father was actually because she she was pretty huge for you know for for a little dog, actually.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then she became best friends with the Rottweiler, actually.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and yeah, and she was like my study companion through my whole you know journey through medical school.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: I was I was almost passed away like two years ago.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, she passed away a couple years ago.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I was almost about to ask you how they got how she got along with the Roddy, because yeah, you just never know, but yeah, I know they were I was really scared about it because you you know, but yeah, they get they got along really, really well, really, really well.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's good, and then so it passed away two years ago, and then yeah, um remind me, did you get um Gavin when Uma was still around, or did you kind of yes, I did, but I actually was already living in Brazil and Uma was uh living with my mom back in Argentina.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so they they they never really got to meet.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, didn't get to meet, gotcha.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then not that we're switching gears.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, what you mentioned earlier today to me, I'm kind of fascinated.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think you mentioned something about a program with with pets and and and the kids and on call.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, tell tell me more about this program.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: I so uh so okay, so I work uh being a you know immathologist, uh pediatric immathologist, I work with all kinds of uh blood disease uh in children's and also and also blood cancer.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I work here in a in a public hospital actually.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: We have a really big uh uh public uh health system here in Brazil.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I work I've been working in that hospital uh here uh the city that I live is Florianopolis, and I've worked here for eight years in the same hospital.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, did my residency and after my residency I I stayed there, uh still work there.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so we have this not me actually.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: We have there is uh this um organization called our Helen Keller here in uh around the area that we live.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's another city.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: And what they do is like they train dogs for pretty much uh mainly for blind people, you know, for people that that have um, you know um how do you say it?
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, people with disabilities actually, all kinds of disability, but uh mainly.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, I've been speaking in Spanish a lot with my my kids today.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like switching from Portuguese to English to Spanish is sometimes you know, my my boys, my my kids, my uh they're twins, Emma and Nico, and they're three months old, so my brain's still adjusting.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: So it's all this language switching.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: So um, so what I was saying, they work mainly with um uh uh people we have with with blindness or some kind of disability.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: So and they give those dogs for free to these people, so they train the dogs, yeah, and they uh they give the dogs for free.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: And well, we all know how expensive it is to train those those the most elaborators and how expensive it is, and they do it for free.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's an amazing organization, and so there I was in my resonance years, and then sorry, Gavin wants to go with the siblings, and so there I was, uh, and then everybody knows I'm a dog freak.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I was I was walking one day, and then I saw a black Labrador in the corridor from the hospital, you know, at the hospital.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, This is what right, and then and this doctor he came to me and and he and talked to me about the the Helen Keller organization, and I was like, I need to be a part of this to sell me what it needs to be done, I need to be a part of this.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: So he was he was one of the keepers.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes when they're training a dog, they need a family to look after the dog for a couple of months, maybe years to socialize and stuff.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, I'm I'm I'm I'm doing this for this dog.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um and he did actually for two dogs.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: One her name was Dakota, and the the other one, what was his name?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I don't remember his name now.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then they he he used to bring the dogs to the hospital, and then for example, we have this this chemo room, and they keep the the kids will come and spend hours and hours there getting their chemos and stuff, and is we we try to make it as playful and and as homey as we can, you know, because well it's chemo, it's cancer, and it's kids.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: So we try to, you know, try to not make it look as you know as much as a hospital, as much as you know, needles and everything that goes through, you know, with that.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: So what we used to do uh is like we bring the dogs and the kids would like just be there petting the dogs while they're getting their chemo and talking to them, and and it was just amazing every time.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: Or maybe when they're the this kids go through, you know, uh having to be in the hospital admitted for many um days, sometimes weeks.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: We used to bring them, and and it was always like me and this other doctor, it's like, okay, so this time in the afternoon, I'll go be a I'm gonna make myself available, I'm gonna just you know, delegate everything that I have to do, and then I'm gonna be with the kids and the dogs.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: And you have to see it's amazing, like the look in their faces.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: And this, if if you think about an adult going through, you know, cancer treatment or any kind of uh blood disease treatment, and sometimes they are as bad as cancer, and then you see their little faces lighting up when they see these dogs, and they were like they are the most like kind dogs, and they would just lie there, and all the kids will be like, you know, the smallest kid would be like not as gentle trying to play with them, you know, because little kids sometimes they they don't know, and then and they would just lie there, and the kids will like pet him and talk to them, and it was it's it's an amazing experience.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's amazing.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, anything that I I don't know, um enlighten like our listeners on this about that.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, is that like is that just a local program with the hospital there?
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh is is it something they're trying to roll out more or well?
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, what happened um because we don't have those dogs anymore, because what happened?
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: This this particular doctor, he's he's a surgeon, he's not working at the hospital anymore.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: So he's you know, he didn't have uh the way to bring those dogs again, you know, to this kid.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: But there's another organization, I'm not really remembering the name of them right now.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so they took over and they they they do bring it's like volunteer work.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody that's involved with this is just volunteer work, and they bring and similar dogs, you know, lavradors as well.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: And they they still bring it's not exclusive to the oncology department anymore.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's just yeah, other areas.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: But those dogs, what was what was nice about those other two dogs is the uh atoba.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: Now I remember the name.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's atoba, it's uh is a uh a name, it's a native name from okay from here from Brazil.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, very cool.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: He passed away actually last year, sadly.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: From old age, too.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: And the kids from the oncology um uh wing, they they knew it was like it's our dogs, you know.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: That was what was cute about it, because those are our dogs, and everybody will just see us go, you know, through the hospital with the dogs and just walking around the hospital with the dog, and you don't expect to see, you know, an animal inside the hospital, right?
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: So they were all proud, like okay, this is our dog, and and that took their minds off, you know, all the complicated things they were going through.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: I can imagine though that that's awesome.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I I feel like I'm starting to see and hear more of things like that.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um even bringing pets into the workplace for people that get just stressed out at work.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um exactly, even though yeah, what you described, obviously, yeah, that that's a lot more powerful, and just how that kind of brings a smile to the day.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's really cool.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, no, thanks for sharing that.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um I know we're getting close to the end of our segment.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: Gosh, we talked a lot about Gaddy.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: Gavin, I'm sorry.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: I see what look what I did there.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: I did Gavin and Addy together.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: Gaddy, yeah.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Aaron and Uma.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: Any any um Gavin's five, so that that's awesome.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: Goes with you everywhere.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: Any like any any anything to share, like like advice for like people with pets and um you know just spending time with them.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you've you've had three losses you in your life with pets, um, but yeah, any any any advice that that you can think of sharing.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, you mean about about the losses.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, for me, for me, what what like I said before, for me what makes it a little bit easier was to know that I did my best, you know.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we think we're lacking, you know.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I should spend more time with them, I should, I don't know, give them this.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because we actually I have kids now, but to me, Gavin is like my third kid.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's just he's the oldest, you know.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: And and for me, it's just try to give them the life that the best life you can.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because then sadly, like I said, it's like you know, we all are to lose our our fur kids because they live less than we do.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember talking to this this colleague at work, and she was like, I'm never getting a dog again.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just because she lost a few dogs, and she's much, much older than me.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: And she was like, Do you have no idea how many pets I've lost in them?
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm done with it.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: And and she's so great with them.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Yeah, but you look the life you're giving them.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: Look at look at the way they lived, like for 15, 20, not 20, I think she had a chihuahua that was like 18 years old, something like that I've never seen.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, it's been like you know, near to 20 years with you, and she had the most amazing life.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I think we need to focus on that, you know, and don't give up, get another pet, because you know, even no, even more when you're when you adopt like a dog from the streets and stuff like that, the life you give them is not near as the life you they will would have had if they didn't meet you.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, to me, it's like give them the best life you can.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: And then of course we're gonna suffer when they're gone, of course, we're gonna be devastated, we're gonna feel like we lose like a member of our family, because we actually do when they when they leave us, is losing uh, you know, a family member, right?
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: But just give them the best life you can, and then that's gonna be like, okay, he was happy or she was happy, and we, you know, she had a great life.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: No, I I I appreciate I appreciate you um coming on the show today, sharing with us, sure, taking the time, sharing these stories.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then as we kind of wrap it up, just for the listeners uh of this uh episode, um definitely subscribe, you know, be on the lookout for more.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, if you've got some family, and even if you want to come on the show, send me uh send me a note, send me an email.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: But um, Augustina, I think I got it right that time, right?
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um just a big thank you for being on the show today.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: Don't worry just yet, but um, yeah, just thank you very much.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: No problem, anytime.