Latest / Every Pawprint! Every Story! / How A Tuxedo Cat Named Hiccup And An Aussie Named Max Changed One Life

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How A Tuxedo Cat Named Hiccup And An Aussie Named Max Changed One Life · Every Pawprint! Every Story!

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to another episode of Every Paw Print, Every Story.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I am your host, Dan Popovic.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: And for you new listeners out there wondering what this podcast is about, quite simple.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: We invite families in to just talk about their fur kids.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about the fur kids.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, this this podcast, you will hopefully you'll get some inspiration.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: You'll laugh.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: You may cry.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: We do talk a little bit about pet loss, pet grief, and that profound impact.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but hopefully you'll also feel supported and listening to the families and guests on this show, no matter where you're at in the journey with your fur kid.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: But really, every paw print has a story to our heart.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm excited today to introduce a new guest to our show.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Alex, welcome to the show today.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: And remind me, where are you where are you calling in from?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: You're out on the West Coast, right?
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm in Seattle, Washington.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: And and for the listeners, Alex, we uh we had a gosh, it's probably been a month about a month prior episode or prior interview.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: We had John Rutlajohn here, and um, and you work uh closely with John in in pet-related endeavors, right?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, we we both work at the the same dog training facility, uh, a himsa dog training.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll get into that, so we'll touch on that.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: But naturally, I always love starting off the show with how many fur kids do you have a part of the family today?
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: I currently have a dog named Max, and I have a Tuxedo kitty named Hiccup.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I love okay.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: So let's start with a hiccup.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Tuxedo kiddie.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: So how did that name come to be?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I used to work at a 24-hour emergency vet hospital, and uh animals are frequently surrendered there when their owners cannot uh financially care for them.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, life happens.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: And he was a four-month-old kitten who had been attacked by a dog, they couldn't afford treatment, and I couldn't say why, but as soon as I saw him, I attached to him and I was like, you know what, I want to give him a chance.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: So instead of uh euthanizing him because they didn't have the funds, I offered for them to surrender, and it turned out he was not as injured as we were worried he was, and he he was the little hiccup in my life.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: I did not go to work that day planning to bring home a cat.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I was wondering if that's where you're going.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that that makes perfect sense.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's that's amazing, that's awesome.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, at the same time, I guess tough to hear that he was um injured.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess what what happened?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know all of the details from what I gathered.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: His his owner and I guess two girls, they were roommates.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: They just got this new kitten, they were super excited, he was super adorable, and a friend came over with their dog, and the dog, from what they described, picked him up from the middle and shook him.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: So they weren't sure if he had like back issues or internal bleeding, and ultimately we decided we weren't gonna do anything extreme, just give him time and see if he made it through the night, if he kind of got better on his own, and he did, and he is a sassy little muffin who uh it makes perfect sense.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, Yeah, I got attacked by a dog when I was four months old, and I lived to tell the tale.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's nothing.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh love that love that story.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Hate to hear what Hiccup went through.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: How old is Hiccup today?
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, today he is 13 years old, um, still pretty sassy.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: He makes these random, I call them raptor noises, which if you're not familiar with him, it he he can be very dramatic.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: It it makes it sound like he is in horrible pain or dying.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: And like, dude, I am literally just clipping your nails.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: You're fine.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's manipulating you a little, right?
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, and he's good at it too.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: He's really stinking cute.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's so in tuxedo.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: So when you say tuxedo, so uh black, and then just kind of like the white little uh uh tuxedo right here, Mark.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm assuming.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, on him, uh the white is more all over, and he's got kind of splotches of black.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, but on his nose, he actually has the black outline of what looks like a cat.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, well, that that's that's cute.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: So that all right, so that's a great lie.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: So 13 from uh he went and he said he was four months old when that that happened in the surrender, and wow.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Fast forward 13, you know, oh yeah, 12 and a half years later.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's phenomenal.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that's fairly common, as you might imagine, in the vet field.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, staff bring home surrendered animals quite frequently.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's interesting you said that.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I I recently had uh an interview which has not aired yet.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, with so I guess by the time folks might listen to this one, it may have, but I had my vet on an interview, and yeah, she talked about a lot of the same stuff.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: It was a special interview for us because of the connection we had with her.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: She worked on both of our fur kids.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Granted, the first one didn't end the way we wanted to.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: We lost her, but she saved the life of the second one.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't thank her enough and give her hugs, and so it was a pretty emotional episode.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't realize how much her hearing that was so impactful, because definitely talk through this with some of your experience too, because you probably you're probably dealing with a lot of emotions from families, and it's like uh they don't they look at you maybe as a robot and hey, can you fix this one or not?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: If not, uh we're gonna do something else, and and and you walk away.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas there's more to the meaning of you know the the veterinarian community and the impact that they have on our families, and um it was a it was a powerful interview because like I said, I told her he's he's eleven, so it's about a year and a half ago he flipped his stomach.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: And um she saved him and he's still with us, and it was just and she you know, you hear a lot about caregiver fatigue, but she she said compassion fatigue, and I'm like, you know what?
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: I hadn't heard that before.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's you don't think about that as a pet parent going in that hang on a minute, there's some fatigue over here that uh this profession is experiencing because of all of the situations that they're dealing with.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it sounds like you've got a lot of uh experience there from the things that you've done.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: It it's kind of remarkable how resilient the veterinary community has to be, really, like going from one room to another and having to feel all of your feelings and then get ready to give new vaccines to the brand new puppy and the excited family in the room next door.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, how long were you in that uh field?
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: I did that on and off throughout college, and then I worked full-time for about six years after college.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I did pretty much everything that did not w require a certain level of certification.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I worked in Kennel, I worked in the office, I was an assistant practice manager, um, I was a veterinary assistant.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: I considered going to vet school for a while.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I I just I have too many things on my list of what I want to be when I grow up.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, uh, I gotta narrow down my list.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then fast forward today with what you're doing, but we'll come back to that.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um I want to switch back over to Tuxedo and then talk a little bit about Max.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, we haven't had a lot of interviews with cats.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you can as you can imagine, a lot, a lot of dogs.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's fun to have those cat experiences and what it means to have them, you know, in your life now.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Is is Tuxedo your first cat, or have you had cats in the past?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so up until a couple months ago, I actually had another cat as well.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: He his name is Pow.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: He's about 15.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he is he and my uh ex got him as a little kitten.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: And even after we split up, we kind of shared custody of him, uh, which has been great because Pow we call him the little lemon.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: He and he just keeps surviving everything.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: He has more than nine lives.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: And he's got IBD and chronic kidney failure and diabetes.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like I was giving him insulin shots every 12 hours for a while.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: He has allergy, like he just all of the things, and he's doing really, really well now.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: He's actually in remission from everything, and which is really unusual.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I don't know how much to get into this, but a couple years ago I got sick myself, and so it's been much more challenging to take care of all the fur kids as well.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, there was a point where I was I think Max was on medications, I was on medications, pal was on medications, and I almost gave the wrong medications to you know the wrong one.
• 11:25
  unknown: Right.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, ooh, yeah, this isn't going well.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um so PAW is now staying with my ex.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: He's getting lots of love and attention, uh, and hiccup is living the the single life.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: I do miss Pow quite frequently.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: He's a golden retriever in a cat's body.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Apparently no one ever told him he's a cat, and I I don't want to be the first.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: That so expand on that.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's I love that.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: What is so yeah, how how what does he do to reflect that?
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, he he fetches, he whenever you eat food, he has to get right up in your face.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what are what are you eating?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: What is that?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: He is just a little love bug and he cuddles so hard, like smooshing himself into you.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really fun to watch him try to hunt things because he he would never survive out in the wild.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: He he's like talking to himself the whole time through his pouncing, like purring and with like, dude, you you can't think out loud.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone knows what you're about to do.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's hilarious.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: So he's distracting himself.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I just he is my beautiful little sunflower, and he I'm I can't even believe how much he survived, but that's that's awesome.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's already here, you know, the the challenges you're going through.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you get getting better or still kind of in the middle of things.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's basically a chronic illness at this point.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: So it's I'm still trying to figure out how to manage it long term.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry to hear that.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm sure having the fur kids there helps on one hand because they probably understand it and that that let's call it empathy that they probably the loving that they give you, I'm sure just helps tremendously.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: I I live alone otherwise, and it I think it's absolutely necessary that I have them around.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's so and then did Pat so I'm assuming Pal and Tuxedo got along.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um they did in the way that brothers kind of do.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'd I'd catch them cuddling on the couch and they'd be asleep perfectly content, and pal would move, and all of a sudden it was like, ah, he touched me.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Make him go away.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, guys.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's funny.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what kind of um you might have mentioned it and I missed it.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: So we got pick up tuxedo.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: What what kind is pal?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he is also a tuxedo.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, very cool.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, love it.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's got a little theme going on there.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I have discovered I have a thing for the black and white animals.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: So uh so staying on that since we hadn't talked about Max, is Max black and white or what what's Max?
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Max is uh he's an Australian shepherd and he's a blue Merle.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: So he's like the splotchy black and white.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: There's a little bit of brown in there, but he's primarily like gray, black and white.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: So all of my clothes and furniture is just covered in black and white hair.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: I know that too well.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Does he have the beautiful blue eyes?
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: He has one eye.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: His eyes are brown, except for one corner of one that's got like a splash of blue.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's really pretty.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: So what's Max's story?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: How did he become family?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Ooh, um, I have been I've always loved dogs.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: I grew up with dogs.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: I I knew I was going to get a dog, and I was trying to be very responsible and wait until the perfect time, until everything was right, and I had a yard and was financially stable enough and all of these checkboxes.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: And my parents are local.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: They their family dog passed away suddenly.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: And in chatting with my mom about finding the breeder and you know, looking for another puppy a few months later, it just kind of occurred to me, I don't know what I'm waiting for.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: There's never gonna be a perfect time.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: And this isn't an impulsive decision.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: This is more like a bucket list item.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: I know I need a dog in my life to feel fulfilled.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I got a puppy, I got Max, I brought him home in the beginning of 2023, and I knew it would be challenging living in an apartment, living alone, uh, and trying to raise a high-energy breed.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I worked at a dog training facility, I had access to resources.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's not gonna be easy, but it's doable.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: I could do this.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then later that year is when I got sick.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so when he was about nine months old, I was suddenly wondering is it fair for me to keep him?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Is it is it fair to him to uh put him through this and and have to deal with the unpredictability?
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: And basically in watching him, and he is such a sensitive guy.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: He's so I mean Australian Shepherds are very sensitive to begin with.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: He is like beyond that.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: So smart.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: I just kind of decided at one point it would be harder for him to go anywhere else now that we have a routine and a relationship and a connection.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: And in the process and you know, training him and trying to deal with my own health issues, uh, he just kind of became my little biofeedback monitor.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: And he I I don't know how I would have gotten through the last couple years without him.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: No, I I love that mate, that made me think about um I mean, obviously it sounds something it sounds like it was meant to be, but as much as we are here for them, they are so much here for us.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now the name Max, how did that name become?
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um honestly, I was watching a show.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: It was a medical show, and I'm blanking on the name now, but it was about a new hospital administrator whose name was Max, and I just really liked the character.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: He he was a great leader, he was really connected to the people.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, if I was ever a leader, this is this is who I'd want to be.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was like, okay, my dog's gonna be Max.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, okay, no, no, I love it.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Not not this is probably before your time, not anything like Mad Max.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you know that show, Mad Max.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: I I yep the I have found connections after the fact.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um it absolutely Mad Max applies.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I actually wound up his uh breed breeder name, like his registered name, is Maximum Impact.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of other things started falling into place once I decided on Max.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, yeah, no, that was a good choice.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: No, yeah, you just made me think of what's the Maximus Prime, I think, with uh oh what is that?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: What's that show?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: Was it the Gladiator?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's the ones that like the Autobots, the ones where they they oh trans trans Transformers.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, yep, yeah.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Maximus Prime.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's awesome.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um so would you so Matt sounds like Matt?
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: So is Max truly your your first one, even though you grew up with him, but he was he's truly your first one.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: I would say he's my first one as an adult that I raised and trained and did everything for 100% on my own.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I did have an Australian Shepherd growing up named Maggie, who was technically the family dog, but she was my dog.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I did 4-H with her, and she's what kind of kicked off this whole passion for dog behavior and dog training.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we didn't realize it at the time, but she did not come from the most reliable breeder.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: She she came with a fair amount of sensitivities and Phobias and she was a very serious, very focused dog.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, give me a job, we're gonna we're gonna focus and we're gonna get the job done.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it was really funny.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: That was my mom's only experience with an Australian Shepherd.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: So she assumed that's like all Australian Shepherds were just very serious and a little neurotic.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then she met Max, who's this goofy little gremlin who just flops and wiggles everywhere.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like, What's wrong with him?
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like that.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: This is actually what Australian Shepherds are supposed to do.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's funny.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then you said, How old is Max today?
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Six?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he is three.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: Three.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: I I thought I knew I got that one wrong.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then Matt Maggie.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: That was the one we were just Maggie, right?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um Maggie, yeah.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: How old was she when you when she passed?
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh she was 14 or 15.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she lived a very long time.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's natural causes.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we did eventually make the decision just because it came down to quality of life.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um it was hard for her to move and she was developing dementia, and it it just felt like the kinder choice at that point.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's yeah, no, well, that's that's tough.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: That makes sense.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think to your point, it's becomes, as you said, quality versus quantity.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, hey, I want to get another week out of them, but is it fair to them?
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so and you mentioned 4-H.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: What's what is 4-H?
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: 4-H is it started off for rural communities for the kids to show off their livestock.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: They'd take their sheep or their cows, and they'd go do little like child versions of livestock shows, and it expanded from there.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so I joined the dog project of 4-H, um, which I found is actually a very common way people get introduced to dog training.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I I trained Maggie once a week for five years.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then in the summer, we would go to the county fair and show off what we learned.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, so keep it, keep it on this.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: So then it sounds like Maggie may have inspired you to what you're doing today.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: She my my family had golden retrievers, uh, all golden retrievers, and they're great.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't realize that there was such a difference in connection between different kinds of dogs until they got Maggie.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, ooh, I all of a sudden I have this dog who not just wants to be near me, but wants to work and gets super excited every time I have a new idea.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: And like, I want to try this thing.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: I wonder how this would work.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: And she was game every time.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm so happy that Max is the same.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: I, you know, decide one day, it's like, hey dude, what if we did Barn Hunt, where we like hunt down rats in PVC tubes amongst hay bales?
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: And he's like, sure, let's give it a try.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: I like we just kind of go on little adventures.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, very cool.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, talk more about yeah, what are some of the so that that helped in the early days with Max with that the puppyhood, the craziness of being puppy.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: What uh like what are some of the different um things you did uh with Max, some of the different training?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: I've done a lot of things with him.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um I so I live in Seattle, in the city limits, uh, but I've taken him down to Olympia about an hour and a half away to herd sheep.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he is a herding dog.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: I thought, you know, at the very least, it'd be fun to just let him do what he's bred to do.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: And it was a lot of fun to just put him in a ring with sheep, and I don't know what I'm doing there.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just letting him be him, and he just naturally starts circling sheep.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, wow, that's just like ingrained in you.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we've done we've done Barn Hunt, which is usually for terriers, uh, because they are bred to hunt rats.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: Max, I had to, he loves the game part of it.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: I had to actually teach him to let loose a little bit.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, when you find the PVC tube, you could go crazy.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: You could get excited.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: You can bark and stuff.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: This isn't obedience.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: Why what what would he have what would he what was he previously doing?
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Just kind of finding it and that was it.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he he'd find it and then like look at me, like, hey, there it is.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: I found it.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, that that's really polite, but you don't have to be polite here.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Very cool.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of that is what you're doing today with other families.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I um I teach nosework, so that's a different searching activity.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they take essential oils on Q-tips and hide them in boxes in the environment, out inside, outside, around cars.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: And we train dogs to search out the scent of these various essential oils.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a lot of fun because I found scent work is a really great way to teach dogs how to get excited.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I can do this, I can do hard things, and then settle at the end.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not just getting more and more and more excited.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and it's such a good activity for all dogs.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: Shy dogs, overexcited dogs.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: It there's a place for all of them, and it's just a lot of fun to see over the course of a class how the shy dog who didn't want to get anywhere near me because I was standing too close to the the box full of treats.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: By the end, she's you know running over to me and jumping on me, and she's like, You're the treat lady.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: I love this.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of cool though, the uh the nose scent.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, obviously you're uh you're having them smell at first and then you're hiding it and they're just hunting it down.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so because we use the same essential oils, so it's always birch, anise, and clove, we just train them to know that those are the scents they're looking for.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then I have a specific cue for that activity, so I can tell him basically go search for birch, anise, or clove.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: And he does.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: Very cool.
• 30:20
  unknown: Yeah.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: Is there common breeds, or I guess maybe it's more like the the families that you're interacting with, or is it just kind of all over the place of the type of dog?
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's all over the place.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um people think that that the hounds, the ones that are bred to, you know, sniff out raccoons and whatnot, make the best nosework dogs.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I found it's actually kind of random.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like there will be just this little chihuahua in class who loves it so much.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, wow, you you're actually a really fantastic nosework dog.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: You are so into this.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's odd.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now, so when you're doing some of these classes, is Max right there with you or is Max?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, Max is usually hanging out in the car.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he gets to come in before class and after class to hang out with me while I like set up and take down.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm really glad he likes the car.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's yeah, no, that's good.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then you said um setup, takedown, or is there a specific location, or do you come to people, or do the people all come to you?
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, I teach at Ahimsa Dog training in Ballard.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we have a bunch of different classes.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: I I also do private training sessions uh in person and online.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I I love teaching nosework specifically.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you are trying to do the competition style thing, that's great.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: I also just really love nose work for emotional regulation.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I found because we live in an apartment and I call it walking the gauntlet, just to get outside to go pee at 11 o'clock at night.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: But I found that playing little nosework games really helps make it through that scary narrow hallway and the doors that open randomly.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's interesting.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um shooting.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: I know we're getting close to time here.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: We can keep going.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: We may have to, I may have to get you back on just to talk more about this.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm glad you mentioned the the online too.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll definitely get your information and share it with the listeners.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: So listeners listening to this, yeah, look in the description um for some of those details.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so it's not just Seattle, so it could be somebody like where I am in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, definitely.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um one question I do want to ask before we kind of start to you know wrap this up is um you know, I don't know if it's Maggie or Max with this training, having them in your life, how has it how has it helped you?
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: How has it made you stronger?
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: So many ways.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I found raising Max that I I was essentially it's like teaching a toddler resilience.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yes, I know you're having big feelings, and that's okay, but you don't need to scream about it right now.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so often I found myself having very similar reactions, and so it was really really helpful to have this kind of external mirror to see, like, oh, I'm telling Max how to do all these things in this very kind, compassionate way, and then I turn on myself and get really impatient.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, hmm, what what if I just talk to myself the way I talk to Max?
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: What what would happen then?
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's great.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great way to close this out.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um again, Alex, thank you.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm gonna give John a a shout-out in here too.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully he listens to this.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you, John, for connecting us.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: So this was great.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely want to get you back on.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um prayers with with everything you're going through.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's uh I'm sure Max and Hiccup are giving you loads and loads of hugs every single day.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um we'll definitely share with the listeners more about what you do with the training so they can kind of connect with you.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: But Alex again, uh it's a it's a Sunday morning for you listeners, which sharing that.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, thank you for being here.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it's I guess what is it like?
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's not even nine o'clock your time on a Sunday morning, right?
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: Nope, not quite.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: But just yet.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for being on here today um and being a part of us and everything that you do.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you so much for inviting me.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_01: This was great.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: Don't go anywhere just yet.