Latest / Giving Pain Purpose with Lyndsay Soprano / A New Leash On Life
Transcript
- 0:03This is Your Pain Game podcast where we talk about the game of living in
- 0:07and with chronic pain and trauma get into the heart of how to heal.
- 0:12I am your host, Lindsay Soprano. On the show, I plan on
- 0:18discussing with doctors, chronic pain patients, holistic practitioners, loved ones, and
- 0:23anybody that is interested in having their voice heard in the chronic pain and trauma
- 0:27world that we live in. We have many things to celebrate in this life
- 0:41of ours, right, and one of them that is epic beyond epic is
- 0:46friendships. When it comes to celebration, lifelong friendships are pretty damn remarkable in
- 0:54my opinion. I mean, they eb and they flow, They go through
- 0:56up and downs like a marriage does. Right, you fight, you,
- 1:00you love hard. There are gaps in communication as we all grow up,
- 1:04right, We move around, we get married, we don't get married,
- 1:07we get divorced, we have kids, don't have kids, change jobs,
- 1:10all the things. Right, But when you have a friendship that truly has
- 1:14lasted through the years, from being a child to a teenager, to fallen
- 1:19in love, to college and then onto adult teen you hang onto those kind
- 1:23of friendships. Right. We need to hold on of them tight. And
- 1:26as we get older, I'm finding that those friendships become fewer and fewer,
- 1:30and those friendships that stay with you are so much more valuable than you thought
- 1:34that they ever could be. So today I have a guest for you guys
- 1:40who holds a spot in my heart that has a forever protected place for him.
- 1:46We grew up together from when we were little groms. We have been
- 1:49through a ton since then, and we're continuing to grow up together as adults.
- 1:55We're not really sure how today is going to go here. On this
- 1:57episode, we kind of do a practice run and then we had a big
- 2:01tear jerky version. Now we're both just exhausted. So here we go,
- 2:07unscripted, unscripted material, unscripted lifelong friends. Here to chit chat today a
- 2:13little bit with you guys, and a little bit of it, unfortunately,
- 2:15is going to be about childhood trauma, a little bit of religion, how
- 2:21to heal from some of the things that happened to us in our lives,
- 2:24but most importantly out of all of that, the power of dog rescue.
- 2:29So let's talk about it. So the further Ado, I'd like to introduce
- 2:32you today to my guest, Scott buzzbe Hey, yeah, oh, thanks
- 2:38for being here with me. Buzz. Okay, So if you heard me
- 2:42saying Buzz, that's him. Okay. So Buzz is the founder of CEO
- 2:46of Baxter Dog Media. Scott has charted a unique path by establishing his own
- 2:53publishing company, combining his storytelling passion with a steadfast commitment to animal welfare.
- 3:00Connection with Baxter, his own rescue pup you guys are going to Meet shortly
- 3:04sparked a journey of awareness and advocacy. Drawing from their unique bond, Scott
- 3:08wrote his first of many heartwarming children's books, Baxter's Second Chance, a new
- 3:15leash on life that highlights the beauty and potential of every shelter dog. He's
- 3:20on a mission, and we're going to help him get there, to change
- 3:23perceptions, encourage adoptions, and support organizations dedicated to giving vulnerable dogs a second
- 3:30chance. All Right, So I'm rolling out the red carpet for you,
- 3:31babe. I'd like to well, I mean, if anybody deserves it,
- 3:36it's you. I'd like to start talking about this power of dog rescue and
- 3:42meet Baxter and have you introduced us to him? Basically, when and why
- 3:46did you decide it was time for you to rescue a dog? You know,
- 3:51I just kind of got to a point in my life where I,
- 3:53you know, kind of everything lined up and I was working from home,
- 3:58and you know, I was in a position where I wasn't traveling as much
- 4:00and I was able to have, you know, really give the kind of
- 4:04love that you need to give to a dog. And I got to that
- 4:09point. I had wanted to have a dog for a long time and it
- 4:11just kind of felt right, that's awesome. So and did you too that
- 4:16you were you thinking about getting a dog? And were you going to rescue
- 4:18right out of the gates or what were you doing? Were you like puppy
- 4:21shopping or were you just gung hell right out of the gates you wanted to
- 4:25rescue. Yeah, So not trying to promote pet Finder, but that is
- 4:29the app that I used, and I started at pet If nobody has heard
- 4:33of it, pet Finders a really cool app that connects you know, shelter
- 4:38animals to would be adopting parents and it's, you know, a great app.
- 4:43I was scrolling through looking at different animals and Baxter and one other dog
- 4:48kind of popped out at me, and I had been doing that for probably
- 4:53a couple of months at this point, and so I made the decision that
- 4:56I was going to reach out to the shelter and h just go through that
- 5:00process. And that was my first time ever rescuing. So I didn't know
- 5:03what I was doing. I didn't know how often do we really know what
- 5:09we're doing? Big picture? I mean, but I mean, you grew
- 5:12up with a dog, because I remember, and you know, so you
- 5:15were lucky that you had an animal grown up. I didn't like my parents
- 5:18super Remember I didn't have a dog. I had like a turtle on a
- 5:20hamster. It was so lame. And the power of the relationship that you
- 5:27the bond that you make with animals, especially dogs. I know we're dog
- 5:30people on this particular show here, but I mean, my dogs are so
- 5:35incredibly important to me, the ones that are in heaven and the ones that
- 5:39are here with me. I mean, if I'm crying in the other room,
- 5:42one of ours, Tommy will come barreling down the hallway little Weeni dog
- 5:46style and find me and attack me and kiss me and make sure that he
- 5:49knows that I know that I'm comforted in that I'm loved and he's got me.
- 5:54You know. It's like it's such a special place. And for people
- 5:57that I've been through a lot in life, that bond and that emotional support,
- 6:01if you will, I really find valuable in my healing as I continued
- 6:06to heal from all the dynamite stuff that's happened in my life. So I'm
- 6:14proud of you for going and rescuing, because that's cool. It's really cool.
- 6:16Thank you. Yeah, So what was your experience like? So I
- 6:23found Baxter in one other dog and the both Baxter and the other dog were
- 6:30posted Ontipetfinder by a rescue organization called The Little Red Dog here in Orange County,
- 6:36and I, yeah, I didn't really know much about them or anything,
- 6:40but you know, they had an email address and they had an application
- 6:43process, and so I filled it an application and I ended up having a
- 6:46zoom meeting interview with the founder of the Little Red Dog. And she's a
- 6:51super neat lady, but she grilled me. I mean, she put me
- 6:56through the ringer like she I mean, she's asking me the questions about my
- 7:00living space and you know, asked me questions about dog behavior and you know,
- 7:05just really was trying to understand me and make sure. I mean,
- 7:10she did such a great job. She wanted to make sure that he went
- 7:13to a home where he was going to stay. And they steered me towards
- 7:17Baxter and couldn't have made a better match than that. So I mean they
- 7:25say they pick you, yeah, and you know, and then you kind
- 7:29of pick them back. I know, when we rescued Gucci, it was
- 7:32literally like the minute we found out about COVID, like we were just like
- 7:36holding our shirts up over our noses, you know, like we did not
- 7:40know what was going on. We were already rescuing a dog before COVID started,
- 7:44so don't everybody freak out. We kept ours too. But we were
- 7:48there and we had gone on Petfinder ourselves and we had found this other little
- 7:54dog and we got there and the dog was just like she looked like she
- 7:58was going to be ours on the website. When we got there, Gucci
- 8:01just looked at us and we were like, Okay, that's our dog.
- 8:07And she's just been the sweetest thing that man. Her story is just absolutely
- 8:11traumatic and sad. Do you know the backstory of Baxter. I don't know
- 8:15the full backstory. I got bits and pieces. I've asked the Little Red
- 8:20Dog since then, I've talked to them quite a bit since the book came
- 8:22out, but I don't really know. He was maybe a year to a
- 8:26year and a half. He's half French bulldog, half shitsu. I did
- 8:30a DNA test and actually in the interview process PG told me that he was
- 8:35a bullshit, which I didn't believe her because I thought she just was looking
- 8:39at me and was like, Oh, this is the kind of guy that
- 8:41would totally want a dog. One. Yeah, she was totally right.
- 8:48She was totally right, but I didn't believe her because I thought she was
- 8:52just trying to sell me on this dog. And so after the fact,
- 8:56I ended up paying for my own DNA test for him. And she was
- 9:00I mean, she was spot on, just pretty much exactly half French bulldog,
- 9:03half shits. But so I went to their house. They have a
- 9:07facility now in Anaheim, but I went to their house and when I met
- 9:11Baxter, he was really kind of anxious and not interested in anybody. In
- 9:20fact, they told me that he wasn't really he was like as men in
- 9:24particular had to be careful around him, just like a loof or more like
- 9:28skidding. Ye, well, he was the guy that introduced me to him
- 9:31at that event, was like, you need to make sure and like he
- 9:35doesn't snap at you and bite you, so be very careful when approaching him.
- 9:39Okay, So anyhow, I kind of let him do his thing.
- 9:45I let him do his thing, let him check me out. And we
- 9:48weren't really vibing at all in the beginning for like a good twenty thirty minutes.
- 9:52And my buddy and I were hanging out there and just kind of letting
- 9:56Baxter do his thing, and they said, look, you should take him
- 9:58for a walk down the street. So I took him for a walk about
- 10:01a hundred I don't know, a hundred fift the yards down the street,
- 10:03sat down on the curb. It was just him and I and I let
- 10:07him sniff around me. I kind of had my like elbows on my knees
- 10:11and I'm just sitting there holding the leash, let him do his thing.
- 10:13And he came around and he put his head underneath my armpit and rested his
- 10:18chin on my thigh and he just let out this sigh like oh God,
- 10:22and I'm like, okay, dude, okay, you're coming I get the
- 10:26tissues out immediately. Yeah, oh my god. And that's that's we've talked
- 10:31about. That that sigh of relief, that feeling of safety, that feeling
- 10:35that we all long for when you know, especially when we've been through the
- 10:41like I'm musing on this episode, the dynamite things that have happened to us,
- 10:43you know, because when we do find those safe havens, and we
- 10:48do find those friendships and relationships in our lives, we have to hold on
- 10:52to him and and but also embrace that and and be open to what that
- 10:58relationship can be, no matter what what kind of relationship we're talking about.
- 11:01You even know, we're talking about dogs right now. But it works in
- 11:03life that way too. When you find those people, you really got to
- 11:07give him love and be grateful for that. The friendships that you have,
- 11:09no matter how short or long they've been, you know, so well,
- 11:13that's really cool. So you end up so so then you ended up just
- 11:16taking him that day, or I took him home that day. He got
- 11:20to my place, and you know, I think one of the first things
- 11:26I did was take him to pet Smart to get some toys and stuff.
- 11:28And of course he's like peeing on everything in pet smart. I'm like,
- 11:31no, you know, like just a boy he was. He was so
- 11:37anxious because I don't think he he didn't have a home, he didn't know
- 11:43where his place was. He you know, just kind of observing him.
- 11:48He you know, he marked up my home like for weeks, and you
- 11:54know, I didn't really know what I was. Like I said, I
- 11:56didn't know what I was doing. The Little Red Dog had an app to
- 12:01help me. They had they had so many different tools. They followed up
- 12:03with me, you know, they set my first vet appointment and all of
- 12:07that stuff. But I made the decision that I was going to just stay
- 12:13with him twenty four to seven and make sure that he knew that this was
- 12:18his home. I wanted to make sure that there was no doubt that this
- 12:22was his space. So I think for the first two months, I never
- 12:24left his side for even like a minute. That's awesome. Did you just
- 12:28instacart like a like a motherfucker? H Yes, I did. I did.
- 12:35I did. But but I mean if I went somewhere, if I
- 12:37went out, you know whatever, I went somewhere that I could take him,
- 12:41yeah, you know, And I mean maybe I left him for one
- 12:45or two minutes here and there, but all of those issues stopped, all
- 12:48of the peeing and my place stopped, all of the issues stopped and over
- 12:52the next you know, I've had him for two and a half years.
- 12:54Everything. I've just watched this dog go from being so anxious, so skittish
- 13:01around other people, to now being excited and like jumping on people. And
- 13:07my friends all love him, and everybody that I know have watched him,
- 13:11and now he's like everybody's favorite dog. But at the beginning they're like,
- 13:15the what kind of dog did you get? Scott like you know it.
- 13:18So it's been a it's been a really awesome experience watching him become comfortable in
- 13:22his own skin essentially. Yeah, well, and feel safe. Yeah,
- 13:28you know, I mean that that is a huge deal. And I always
- 13:31say that I have safety issues. I do. I think I probably will
- 13:35always have them to a certain extent. But there are places and people and
- 13:39things not unlike Tommy and Gucci who make me feel safer, who make like
- 13:43at night, if Tommy isn't next to me, I like cannot sleep.
- 13:48Screw my sweetie and Gucci, sorry you too, But if Tommy's not there,
- 13:52I am like I am up. I'm checking for him. I don't
- 13:56know where he is. I'm like, is he okay? It's total like
- 14:00maybe more. I'm almost having anxiety and panic even though he's okay, I'm
- 14:05one needing him. It's funny, it's a catch twenty two for me.
- 14:09It's like, if he's in bed with me, I can't sleep, and
- 14:13if he's not, I can't sleep. It's like, either he's getting in
- 14:16my way, yeah, like you know, on top of the comforter,
- 14:18and I'm like, dude, why are you hogging all the blankets? Like
- 14:22yeah, either way, it's like, you know, I feel like you
- 14:26guys wear the same pjs working on it. Actually, I'm going to order
- 14:33some that have for him that have my face on them and for me that
- 14:37have his face absolutely perfect. Yes, I would love every second of that.
- 14:41You can sell them little pjs, Baxster pjs, so cute. See,
- 14:46we're already trying to turn your book into an empire. One's one episode
- 14:52out of Time become a series, that's for sure, it absolutely is,
- 14:56and we're going to continue to follow that journey. But I want to get
- 14:58back to talking a little bit about the safety and that that the safe haven
- 15:05in the home that you've been able to provide for Baxter and that wonderful experience,
- 15:07and you've talked about it with me as well, But how much he
- 15:11changed, But you've also mentioned so much about how he helped change you.
- 15:16Can we talk a little bit about that? Yeah, I don't think you
- 15:24know when you when you change slowly and you heal slowly over time, you
- 15:28don't notice things as much, right, But then when you look back over
- 15:31time and you're like, oh wow, can you remember certain events and you
- 15:35remember certain situations? You know? I I mean I've had Look, I've
- 15:41had a lot of trauma throughout my life. You know, I don't compare
- 15:45my trauma to anybody else's because everybody's as different. Everybody's experience is different.
- 15:50Yep. I can tell you that I have struggled my whole life with feeling
- 15:54like I'm good enough and feeling like I'm never going to be good enough,
- 16:02and it's a horrible feeling to have. And Baxcher doesn't care. I am
- 16:07always good enough for him, and it's likely and and also like just having
- 16:15him in my life and and doing all the fun things that we do together,
- 16:19I feel like one of the main ways that it's helped that he's helped
- 16:23me is I'm not jumping from crappy relationship to crappy relationship anymore. I'm not
- 16:30out there seeking for acceptance from other people as much, well, at least
- 16:37in a romantic standpoint. And and whether I coulntribute that to Baxter or not,
- 16:42since I've gotten him my and since my last crappy relationship, whatever,
- 16:48but I if I'm in a relationship there's any sort of red flags, I'm
- 16:52out. I'm like, I'm like, I'm out. I'm like, I
- 16:56don't want to introduce Baxter into this garbage, Like yeah, he like I
- 17:00care way too much about him, and maybe I should care more about myself.
- 17:03But it's almost like I care way too much about him that I'm not
- 17:07going to put him into any sort of situation that's unhealthy. And also I
- 17:11don't need to because I'm happy with just him. And I think that that's
- 17:15that is your way, that you've put up a boundary of providing yourself with
- 17:19better self care. And you and I both have done our fair share of
- 17:26all of our substances. Yes, put that nicely and kindly. We both
- 17:32some together some not, but we you know, over the years of some
- 17:37of the abusive things that we've done to our bodies and to ourselves for lack
- 17:44of a better term. I know for me, it was perfectionism that I
- 17:48was never going to hit, so why bother. There was that kind of
- 17:51element behind a lot of my rebellion. I also had to adult so so
- 17:56young because I was put into such icky situations at such a young age that
- 18:00adulting had to start so early that I feel like I missed out a lot
- 18:04on what junior high and even high school was kind of about, because I
- 18:07felt like I was so tainted and I was already so eh that I don't
- 18:14even know why, Like I didn't hang on to all of these memories.
- 18:18I bounced, as you know, from school to school, and I had
- 18:19all of these different friends circles, and I never felt like I was good
- 18:26enough or that I was ever gonna be like I was ever gonna find a
- 18:30safe spot because I had to move. You know how much I've moved.
- 18:33I mean it's nuts, not just schools, but out of state, multiple
- 18:38times, out of the country. I mean, it's been nuts. You
- 18:41also were a seeker, like you mentioned, you know, seeking outside of
- 18:45ourselves. And I think a lot of what Baxter has helped provide you,
- 18:51at least from my perspective, is giving you that safety as well, in
- 18:55that you don't have to go do all all of these wack could do things
- 18:59too get attention or or or try to strive for somebody or something that you're
- 19:03not, or who you'll never be, who you never even wanted to be.
- 19:06I mean, I think it's I think it's pretty awesome that it came
- 19:08into your life. So there, Well, I will tell you that you
- 19:11were you were always good enough, and I loved you exactly the way you
- 19:17were, so you for all the listeners out there, Oh godess I knew.
- 19:22I knew Linz when we were kids, and I was just absolutely in
- 19:27love with her, adorter, She was my very best friend. We started
- 19:32walking home from school together as freshmen in high school, and you know,
- 19:37I mean, I was so stoked. I was just stoked being around you.
- 19:41So, you know, I think oftentimes, I mean, the way
- 19:47we view ourselves in our own head is so different than the way other people
- 19:51see us, for sure, you know. And I think one of the
- 19:53hardest things is converting how you feel inside to a pausive thing, especially when
- 20:00you've just experienced so much crap. Yeah, you know, I went through,
- 20:07you know, thousands and thousands of dollars of therapy in my thirties to
- 20:11you know, get over this feeling of and I'm still not totally over it,
- 20:15but I'm way better this feeling of not being good enough and like you
- 20:21know, and healing some of that trauma. You know. It's yeah,
- 20:25And you know, anyways, I think you're the bomb. I think you're
- 20:30fantastic. Well, thank you. I really appreciate that. And you're not
- 20:33too shabby you're self concern. Thanks, No, we just we've had such
- 20:37an interesting friendship and relationship with each other over the years, and it's been
- 20:42it's been awesome being part of your life and to see where you've been and
- 20:47where you were and where you are now and where you're wanting to go.
- 20:49And I'm not going to spill any beans because they aren't yours to be spilled
- 20:53yet. But he's got all kinds of incredible things that he's working towards,
- 20:59and all this because he rescued Baxter. So let's chit chat a little bit
- 21:04about what you're up to, what you've been doing. I want to talk
- 21:07about your roadship, what you're planning on doing as far as your book,
- 21:11how we can help and what, you know, talk a little bit more
- 21:15about the proceeds and your book pledge and all that stuff. Yeah. So,
- 21:21you know, as I spent the last I don't know, two and
- 21:22a half years with Baxter, as I watched him grow and heal and myself
- 21:27heal, I just kept having this like recurring thought of how can I enjoy
- 21:34how can I truly enjoy my time with this awesome little guy, knowing that
- 21:41so many other dogs out there don't ever get the same chance that he did.
- 21:45Yeah, And so that's the reason why I wrote the book. And
- 21:48you know, I mean literally, I was sitting around one day. I
- 21:52had been looking, you know, looking in so many different places for my
- 21:55next project, and I was literally sitting there with a couple of buddies and
- 22:00I'm like, I'm going to write a children's book about Baxter, and and
- 22:03they're like, okay, dude, sure, you know, like your kid.
- 22:08And so I wrote the first draft within the next week, and I
- 22:14shared it with some people that are close to me, and I got a
- 22:15really positive response, and I came up with the title, which is Baxter's
- 22:19Second Chance, a New Leash on Life. And I reached out to the
- 22:25Little Red Dog and I said, hey, can I use your name and
- 22:26likeness and logo and stuff in this book because I want to write a thank
- 22:30you and a dedication to you. And they're like, of course you can,
- 22:33like yes, yeah, of course, yeah, and so yeah.
- 22:37So I wrote the book and I went through the process of getting it published,
- 22:40and I found like this new Like I mean, honestly, I've I've
- 22:45done a lot of different things in my life from a career perspective, and
- 22:49I've I've made a couple of transitions, you know, throughout there, but
- 22:53I'd done kind of the same thing for the last you know, fifteen plus
- 22:56years working in technology. But you know, I was burnt out. But
- 23:02yeah, I for the first time I could say in my adult life that
- 23:07my business endeavor is also my passion. I mean, I am so not
- 23:15only did I discover how much I really enjoy the writing and making things rhyme
- 23:22and you know, going through the creative process with the illustrators and putting together
- 23:26this work of art that I can share to people. And then obviously my
- 23:32ego gets all excited because it's like, oh my god, oh well,
- 23:34yeah, I make I make these jokes to my friends, like when we're
- 23:37out, and I'm like, I'm like, well, as a published children's
- 23:41book author, like you know, but but I really and I say that
- 23:47tongue in chic obviously, right, I'm not like, you know, I'm
- 23:49not like super prideful about it because I just feel really lucky. No,
- 23:52that's not who you are though as a person anyway, that's not that you
- 23:56don't even have that kind of a bone in your bod. So good for
- 24:00you on that way, Thank you, thank you, of course. So
- 24:04you know, I wrote the book, I got up published. I went
- 24:07through that whole process, but what I learned was a how much I enjoyed
- 24:11doing the writing and the creative part of it. And I've always been creative,
- 24:17but I kind of stifled that to go into other stuff for most of
- 24:19my life, which now I feel alive. Also I get to hang out
- 24:23with my dog. But what that has morphed into is this business with a
- 24:29whole series that I'm launching. And so the business is Baxter Dog Media.
- 24:34You know, I formed the LLC, I got all that stuff, and
- 24:37I mean, look, starting your own business is a lot of work.
- 24:40I could talk about all the trauma from that, but we're doing a m
- 24:45d R just because of that. I went, I went, I went
- 24:51through that process, and just kind of briefly going into that, I I
- 24:55launched the book, got the business. I'm giving half of the profits of
- 25:00all of the book sales to animal rescue organizations. I'm working on a series
- 25:06called The Adventures of Baxter Dog, which now that he has a home,
- 25:08now he's going out into the world and he's you know, he's learning life
- 25:14lessons and he goes to exotic places, meets animals that are indigenous to that
- 25:18area, learns different characteristics about them, but then learn some sort of a
- 25:22valuable life lesson and that everything about that series is all everything's going to be
- 25:26going to help other dogs like Baxter get their own second chance, and cats
- 25:33too. I mean, whatever animal rescues. This is only for dogs.
- 25:37This is an only dog show. Now we're trying to help animal rescues,
- 25:44and unfortunately cats and dogs seem to be there more. And you know,
- 25:51if I have to watch one, we're ASPCA commercial. You know, Sarah
- 25:55McLaughlin we love you. But my god, time I hear it, I
- 26:00just want to like slit my wrists or go save a million dogs. I
- 26:03mean, it's just unbelievable, and we can do better. We can do
- 26:08better in our shelters, we can do better as human beings. You know,
- 26:15you've got these bully breeds. They weren't born bullies, guys, you
- 26:18know it is. It is how they're raised and how they're or how they're
- 26:22not raised, and if they're encouraged to fight and kill people, guess what
- 26:26they're gonna do, fight and kill people Like it gave me a break.
- 26:30So if we're better humans as a whole, not just to each other,
- 26:33but to the animals and to our planet, I mean, gosh, we
- 26:37can find There was a statistic that you brought up, and I'm totally putting
- 26:41you on the spot, so I'm sorry if you don't have it, but
- 26:42you had mentioned something about how many dogs, How was it, how many
- 26:48years you could what was the stat Well, so the stats that I know
- 26:55last year, three point two million dogs wound up in shelters last year,
- 27:02and last year, three hundred and sixty thousand of them didn't make it out
- 27:06alive. I'm sure that some of them were put down because of health issues
- 27:11or old or you know or whatever. Right, I mean, some of
- 27:15them might have been they weren't right, right, Yeah, but the vast
- 27:19majority of them was because of the fact that these shelters are just they run
- 27:25out of space. They they are government funded, they have very finite budgets,
- 27:30and they're doing the best they can. And when new dogs come in,
- 27:33they're overwhelmed and the dogs that have been their longest just run out of
- 27:37time and they have to be put down. And Baxter was one of those.
- 27:41He was in that spot, and thankfully for the little red dog,
- 27:45he was saved before his time. Yeah, and we can do more as
- 27:49people too, you know, instead of I mean the adopt, don't shop
- 27:52is a legit thing, you know, And don't go get a dog just
- 27:56because it's Easter. You know. It's just why they say don't go buy
- 28:00rabbits for Easter, because it's like one of the worst things that you can
- 28:03do. Don't do it. Also, don't turn them into a coat.
- 28:07Okay, so but when it comes Yeah, lessons from PETA Definitely don't definitely
- 28:15don't turn them into a coat. These don't do these things. No,
- 28:19but we can spend more. We can give a little bit more energy to
- 28:22our communities that are around. Within our communities because there are shelters around.
- 28:27I mean, it only takes a little bit of time to even volunteer or
- 28:30bring toys or bring dog bet you know, there's things that you can do
- 28:33that don't take a lot of your time either, that are at least helping
- 28:37the welfare of the animals and the people that are trying to save them.
- 28:41So I'm sorry, that's a little just like slide us. I think.
- 28:45I think the other statistic that you were referencing was, you know, the
- 28:48way that I've set up my business and I'm built I mean writing these books
- 28:52and you know have a plan to write many many more. Is so let
- 28:56me remind there's two things that are that are basically stopping us from being able
- 29:02to save those three hundred and sixty thousand dogs. One is money and the
- 29:06other one is adoptive parents or foster parents. Right, there's other things that
- 29:11we want to do about the adoptive parents foster parents side that I'm working on
- 29:14the back of my head, But the first and foremost is if we could
- 29:18get all of the animal rescue organizations that exist today, if we could get
- 29:22them enough money to save all of those three hundred and sixty thousand dogs,
- 29:30those three hundred and sixty thousand dogs could be saved. And so the way
- 29:33that I the math that I've done is like, if a quarter of the
- 29:37households in the United States were to buy one of my books each year,
- 29:41we could raise enough money to save all of them. Essentially, that's what
- 29:45I was trying to get at. I couldn't put it into words. Even
- 29:49though this is a podcast, I knew it was your statistic, so it
- 29:53was like your your brain math that you put together for that. But yeah,
- 29:56so that's the point that if we could, mean we put everybody on
- 30:00this that's listening, you're gonna go buy this book, Okay, thanks,
- 30:04and we'll put all of that in show notes and all that stuff too.
- 30:07So yeah, it's really long, No, it's darling, And I'm just
- 30:17so proud of you for all of this, because I've seen that it didn't
- 30:21just get a new leash on life for Baxter, but it did for you
- 30:25too, And it's really nice to see because and I understand turning your passion
- 30:30into business because that's what's happening here with my show. I don't find this
- 30:33to be work. It's work, but I don't find it to be work,
- 30:37you know what I mean. It's like I wake up and this is
- 30:41all I want to do because I want to help others meet people like you.
- 30:45I want to have other people meet other people that can help them heal
- 30:48in whichever way they want to and hear messages of hope. And I think
- 30:52that we both have been in some pretty dark places in our lives, and
- 30:56I lost hope in a lot of those dark places, and you're one of
- 31:00those people that saw me through some of those and vice versa, I think
- 31:06for sure. And they happen the dark and twisty, and it's okay,
- 31:11there is hope, and you've got me, You've got Scott, You've got
- 31:15Baxter, you got Tommy sometimes Gucci, but we're always here. You know,
- 31:19if you want to slip into our DMS, you know, suit me
- 31:22and email what have you. I can make any connections that you want to
- 31:25with Scott, myself, or anybody else that's on this show. Furthermore so,
- 31:30anyways, this has been really fun having you on. I'm so proud
- 31:33of you, and I'm excited to see where you end up. And we're
- 31:34gonna do everything we can here to help you succeed in whatever way we can.
- 31:40So let's talk really quick. Where can I know you gave the pledge,
- 31:44but do it again. Give me what you're doing with the book and
- 31:48the donation of profits where we can find you, so on and so forth.
- 31:52So you can find the book today on my website. It's www dot
- 31:57Baxterdog dot com. That's b a x T e R d Og dot com,
- 32:02DG yes, Baxterdog dot com. And as far as the series is
- 32:10coming along, we're gonna be launching maybe the end of this month, a
- 32:14kickstarter to raise funds to publish, illustrate, publish, and get the first
- 32:20of the Adventures of Baxter Dog series going. The first book is called Baxter's
- 32:24Rainforest Rumble and the subtitle is a Ferocious Friendship and Baxter goes out into the
- 32:31jungle to prove himself and find a worthy foe, and he ends up running
- 32:36it at Jasper the Jaguar. They duke it out, get exhausted and realize
- 32:40why are we fighting when we can just become best friends. So we're gonna
- 32:45be launching that a Kickstarter, so you can look out for that. Yeah,
- 32:50that's for now. That's it. That's it, all right, Well,
- 32:53it's been a pleasure. Yeah. You can also fight him everywhere on
- 32:59social media at Baxter Dog Media, FOLLO him on and stub. We're trying
- 33:04to increase as much awareness of what his mission is here with Baxter and his
- 33:08books and trying to help save all of these animals that we've got in these
- 33:12shelters across the United States and hopefully globally. My gosh, it would be
- 33:15amazing to see where you are in ten years, which I will, So
- 33:17there you go. Is there anything that you'd like to leave us with before
- 33:22we hit the dusty trail? I don't know. I think I think this
- 33:28has been really productive. I think it's been a great time. I always
- 33:30love talking to you, so oh well, thank you. I love talking
- 33:32to you too. And you've got such good voice for podcasting too. But
- 33:36you already knew that we're going to be we're going to be doing some advertising
- 33:42for you guys for on the show and PLoP in some of your own vocals
- 33:45and maybe a little bark from Baxter here and there too. Oh, there
- 33:50is one thing I could introduce Baxter. But I did have a great experience
- 33:53this last week is I had somebody bring my book in and they sent me
- 33:58a private message and they said me a video of them reading with their with
- 34:01their daughters and like matching pajamas. It was adorable, right, and I'm
- 34:06running some ads right now using that. But I got a private message and
- 34:08she said, we were so impressed with your book that we ended up taking
- 34:13our name off of the Purebred Breeders' List waiting list, and we went to
- 34:17the shelter and we went and rescued a dog. I love it, and
- 34:21I was so stoked. I mean, that was so awesome. But we'll
- 34:23see if we can get Bachelor. Come up, come on, come on,
- 34:27We'll see. We'll see if he'll come and make an appearance. He's
- 34:29coming, Come on, buddy, is he coming? Ye? Come on
- 34:31up. Well, I love hearing success stories like that for you, Scott,
- 34:36so early on in the game too, because that's so that's so awesome,
- 34:39you know, immediately getting affirmed in the work that you're doing so quickly.
- 34:45I think that's awesome. And for those of you that are just listening,
- 34:49let's see if maybe he'll snort. Do you feel he'll give us a
- 34:52grantce when when I'm like petti him and levin on him, he just does
- 34:54out these like we'll see. Oh I know, buddy, I know,
- 35:00I know. You're on the spot right now. Oh my gosh. Well,
- 35:02you guys can't see him or hear him, but those that can't see
- 35:05him, there he is. And he's got a big long mohawk that goes
- 35:07all the way down his back. It's really cute too. So well,
- 35:12thanks for saving my buddy. Thanks for saving my buddy. Yeah, actually,
- 35:17you guys rescued. There's that old adage, right, who rescued?
- 35:21Who? So you two little cuties. I love it. Thanks so much
- 35:25for being here today with me, Scott, I appreciate. And Baxter,
- 35:29of course, thanks for making an appearance. Buddy, it's been a pleasure
- 35:32having you. You are exclusively invited to share this rescue yourself and others VIP
- 35:38pain game journey together. Let's get to the heart of how to heal with
- 35:43you by my side. Do you know someone who is living in and with
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- 36:15listening, my little VIPs. Catch you on the other side.