Learn The Early Warning Signs Of Heat Stress Before It Turns Into An Emergency

Your dog can’t say “I’m overheating” or “I’m done” and that’s why summer is so dangerous for even the most “normal” family pet. We break down dog overexertion and heat-related injuries the way handlers actually experience them: the first subtle changes in breathing, the difference between content panting and exhausted panting, and the early red flags that mean you stop right now instead of finishing the trail.

We also get practical about canine first aid. We talk safe hydration without encouraging gulping that can raise bloat risk, simple cooling methods that help in the field, and how to read gum color, drool, and behavior when heat stress turns serious. Then we go deeper into planning: knowing your dog’s baseline temperature, what numbers should scare you, how to cool while transporting, and why having your vet and emergency vet saved with a real route plan matters when traffic and minutes can decide outcomes.

A big part of the conversation is vehicles. We share a painful story about how fast things can go wrong when a car shuts off, even with AC running earlier, and why heat sensors and alarms are helpful but not a substitute for frequent eyes-on checks. We wrap on a better note with a heroic service dog story and a wider takeaway about purpose, recovery, and the relationship we choose to build with our dogs.

If you got something useful here, subscribe, share it with a dog owner who needs the reminder, and leave us a review. What’s one heat-safety habit you want to improve before summer hits?

Transcript

Welcome And Summer Risk

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Talk Shit Get Bit Podcast. I'm your host, Michael Parker.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

I'm your co-host, Chris.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

And on today's episode, we're going to talk about something that's very relevant, especially with the warmer weather coming. Summer is fastly approaching. So today we're going to talk about the very important subject of overexertion and talk about some heat-related injuries. And we'll talk about the dangers of those, along with how to avoid them. Chris, you want to kick us off?

What Overexertion Really Looks Like

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Let's start breaking down what overexertion looks like.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Yeah, I mean, uh, overexertion is it's it's a very more relevant topic than people would assume. You think overexertion, you're you're looking more towards like working dogs, sport dogs, things like that. But don't forget that it can happen to just a regular pet dog. And it always seems to happen to the person or the family that thinks that'll never happen to me. That's when it happens. So especially if you have any kind of active lifestyle, like say you enjoy hiking, going to the park. Maybe so, one of my trainers they get a seasoned pass to the zoo every year. And we here in Louisville, we have a pretty large zoo. It's one of the bigger zoos, and they walk it with their kids uh multiple times a week. Taking a dog out there to do that, especially after coming out of the colder months where you're kind of cooped up in the house and you're relaxing. Maybe the dog hasn't been getting that that much exercise, not really used to it anymore, even if you used to have an active lifestyle, you have to kind of work your way back into that. And recognizing the signs of overexertion and heat injuries is pretty, pretty important.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Yeah. I and let's be honest, unless you've got a really big like facility that you can work your dog in, you probably haven't worked your dog much. Most of us haven't. Most people don't, you know, you don't want to get out there when it's, you know, 10 degrees outside or even colder. But I mean, now's a good time to start reconditioning your dogs as it's gradually getting warmer. Take advantage of that, start building them up. And, you know, even though we have the facility here, I I know that my dogs, even though they got worked through the winter, they didn't get worked the same as they do during the summer or the spring or the fall. So you got to build that in endurance back, build that that stamina back up in them. But like you mentioned, it's not just working dogs, it's pet dogs too. You know, like clients, I know we have several clients that love to go running with their dogs and stuff. This is relevant for them. Like, hey, you didn't run during the winter. You should probably ease your dog back into that uh so you can avoid that. But I guess that another important topic, subject on that is, you know, what are those signs of overexertion and what do they

Panting Clues And When To Stop

SPEAKER_01 3:02

look like? And you know, I'll start with one, you know, ex excessive panting. That's that is a big telltale sign. At that point, you need to be getting them some water pretty rapidly when they're excessively panting like that.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Yeah, and there's there's a couple other things to keep in mind with that. GDV bloat. Bloat is most commonly most commonly takes place right after it's with feeding or drinking excessive amounts right after strenuous activity. So keep in mind what's that? I said or before. Yeah, or before. So keep in mind, you know, hey, if your dog is excessively panting, if your dog has a heavy flank heaving, the ribs are just pounding, whoom, whoom, whoom, whoom, spatula tongue, the tongue's not, you know, out. So a good rule of thumb, too. If if the tongue is out the front of the mouth, then your dog is exhausted, it's tired, it's hot, it's panting to cool down. If your dog's tongue is out the sides, more often than not, that's an indication that the dog's actually content with its environment and surroundings. Fun fact. But keep in mind that when you do those things, you want to make sure that you limit the amount of access your dog has to water so it doesn't just sit there and gulp, gulp, gulp. Here in our facility, and with my personal working dogs, we give them about an inch and a half to two inches of water. That's enough for the dog to kind of self-regulate, and we will monitor. If the dog is, say, we just got done doing a bite session, or we just got done doing tracking, the dog's super amped up. We'll give the dog about 10 to 15 minutes to just kind of chill out and cool its body down on its own and regulate in a cool climate-controlled environment. So that could be your car, it can be inside of a building, and then we'll give that inch and a half to two inches of water. That is something that I was taught also, and it just kind of carried on

Water Timing And Bloat Danger

SPEAKER_00 4:57

with me. Also, another couple good ways to cool your dog down. Dogs do actually sweat, they sweat out of the pads of their feet and on their bellies primarily. So, with knowing that taking a cold compress or damp cloth and getting some some moisture and some water on the paws or the pads of the feet and the belly is another good way to regulate body temperature in a non-emergent situation.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Yeah. You know, some kind of things that I'll do. I always keep a bottle of water, but for that reason, a bloat, I don't give my dog uh, you know, a lot of water, but I'll I'll pour a tiny bit in my hand and give them that, you know, just kind of give them some a little small amount to to cool down, or I'll keep like a cup of water and ice, and I'll just fish out a couple ice cubes, just kind of keep them a little hydrated, but they're not getting an excessive amount. And you know, if there's a water source, I'll let them pop in it to cool, but I don't let them drink from it. I'll let them hop in there to kind of cool themselves off for a moment. But again, I don't want my dog bloating, whether it's a pet dog or a working dog, but those are those little tricks that you can use. Like say we're out on a hike and it's five miles back to the vehicle. Clearly, I I can't make them wait until we get all the way back. So I need to do something along the way. Those are a couple little tricks that I use in those situations. But yeah, I do kind of the same thing when we work dogs in in the hotter months, even during the colder months, I make them wait probably 15 minutes before I even offer them a little bit of water that to help them cool down just because of the exertion, extra particular and careful to avoid any kind of injuries and stuff like that. Obviously, overexertion

Cooling Methods That Actually Work

SPEAKER_01 6:55

leads into heat-related injuries. So let's let's let's talk about what those heat injuries look like.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

So, heat injuries, one, we're gonna we'll talk about the signs and the different stages of signs, like the early signs that uh this is probably getting a little bit more serious signs, and then the emergency signs, like, hey, we need to go to a vet now. And then how to safely get to the vet. I think that's something that's important to consider too. By the way, just a real quick processor. So we teach a canine first aid course, and one of the things that we teach is always make sure that you have a vet and an emergency vet in your phone and a plan on how to get there. So, for example, our vet has different offices, they've got like four different offices across the city, and they're open on different days. So it's important for us to know is the vet gonna be close or is the emergency vet gonna be closer? Also, I live in a city, so there's really bad traffic here during rush hour. And I may need to be able to take neighborhoods, something like bloat or a heat stroke on a dog is seconds count. If your dog's stomach actually inverts during bloat, you're looking at anywhere from a $10,000 to $15,000 emergency surgery as long as you can get the dog there alive. So, again, excessive loud panting, some of them kind of mimic overexertion, that's why you have to look for the combos. And another one that we do is we'll look for the eyes, glassed over eyes and gums. If you check your dog's gum, so you look, the dog's excessively painting, the eyes are kind of glassy and kind of distant, like they're not really looking at you. Reach down and pull a gel up and check the gum. This doesn't really count, obviously, for dogs that have dark gums, but for dogs that usually have pink gums, then if the gums are like a deep cherry red or really, really like a burgundy almost, that's a bad sign. So that's a precessor to a heat-related issue. Going on from that, you're gonna start getting next will come like lethargy if your dog's kind of stumbling around looking confused, vomiting, diarrhea, shade seeking. Shade seeking is a good one that also kind of branches into the next level, which is self-retirement. They'll actually look for like a puddle to go lay down in. They'll they'll try to hide from that. Uh, if they're not interested, if your dog has a food drive and is no longer interested in eating, or if your dog doesn't want to drink, then you probably need to go to a vet. Excessive saliva, if your dog's drooling a ton. You have to kind of watch that one. We know that some dog breeds drool more than others, but we also know that in that process there's a difference between drool and like medical issue drool. If you're looking down and like Cooley, Cooley will drool. If I have a ball in my hand, he's gonna have a string of drool from his mouth to the ground because he's looking at me with complete, total, and utter emptiness in his head. But if his drool is like frothy and foamy and real thick, then he needs to get some water, he needs to get to a cool place, he needs to cool down. And I think it's important to know what is normal for your dog. So we, you know, it for those of us that are parents, we know that you know, 102 is the point on a kid where we're gonna start worrying. 103 is where we're gonna start checking about every 10 to 15 minutes. If he gets anywhere 103, two, one oh three. That's where brain damage starts on a kid. So, one, if you are going to be, if you're gonna be a handler, this is something that you should be doing anyways. It's not fun, but it's a part of being a handler and being a part of that team is knowing your partner's baseline. And if you're a responsible pet owner, especially with an active lifestyle where you're in a heightened risk of heat injuries, you need to know your pet's baseline. So at a resting state, you need to collect a temperature. Collecting a temperature on a dog is exactly how you think it's done. A little bit of petroleum jelly, digital thermometer. On a small dog, you're looking for about an inch of penetration. On a larger dog, you're looking for about an inch and a half, two inches. Wait for the beep. Do that about two, three days in a row. Make a log and keep keep that in mind. Sometimes smaller dogs or different breeds will have different baselines, but a good rule of thumb is about 101, 102 is normal for a dog. So on us, that's a fever. On a dog, that's normal. 103 and above is where you start getting into the fever, and like you you kind of need to start paying attention. 106 is like your dog is about to cook. You you need to get that dog into a cool, cool water, an ice bath, cold compresses, you need to transport to the vet. Below 100 is gonna be like the hypothermic range. So you need to be collecting temperatures in that process. Like I said, we're gonna talk a little bit about how to get your dog to the vet. That's gonna be the best way to do it is to hopefully have someone else with you to be able to drive while you manage the dog. Towels. If you're in a house, the the best way is towels with ice or towels with that are soaked in in cold water and just keep rotating them out. Take a bunch with you, get in the car, get in the truck, and go get the AC turned on, get it cranked up, keep the dog cool, keep collecting temp about every you know 10-15 minutes and bounce back and forth. If the dog drops below 102, you probably need to lay off of it for a minute. If the dog starts to rise above 103 towards the 104, 105, 106, then you need to get the dog cooled back down. So it's a balancing act to say the least. However, it it's gonna fall on you in that moment. And if you can keep in mind the signs that we talked about, you should be able to catch it ahead of time.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Yeah.

Heat Stroke Stages And Red Flags

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Honestly, this is a hard this is a hard topic for me. I lost my service dog last year in May to heat stroke, nearly lost a client's dog as well, which kind of ties into the next topic of dogs and vehicles. So share that story with you guys. If I start crying, that's probably because this is I haven't I haven't shared talked about this very much because it's it's very hard. But we were down in Memphis doing training with some new trainers and training that we had for our location down there. I had my service dog with me, I had a client's dog with me that we had been working along with another's another client's dog, which we had had out working with, and my protection dog, all four, had them in the vehicle. It was a hundred or not a hundred, it was like 95 degrees that day. So the windows were up, obviously, and the AC was full blast to keep it cool in there. Unfortunately, with that new vehicle, what I didn't realize we hadn't realized was it has an automatic shutoff after a certain amount of time. And so while we were working with my protection dog and another client's dog, the vehicle had shut off. And there was probably only about 15 minutes between 15, 20 minutes between when I had checked on them when we had swapped out the dogs, and when we came back and the vehicle had had shut off. And at some point along that time, and in that very short time, both dogs in the vehicle were well, Levi was gone already, probably just gone. And you know, I attempted to resuscitate him the whole way to the hospital, along with attempting to cool off the other mal in the back who was like you were saying, that that heavy panting. It's different than normal panting. You can tell the difference. It's hard to just for me to describe what that sound sounds like, but it's different. You you can tell that it's not normal. And to your point, of luckily I had somebody there to drive so that I could attempt to resuscitate him the whole the whole way there. Well, that's that's where it pays to know what's going on and where the vet is, because the closest vet was 20 minutes away. Yeah, even driving 100 miles an hour still took 15 minutes to get there. And to your point, seconds count. And I was pouring every ounce of water that I could find in that vehicle on both dogs, trying to keep them cool and keep keep the one alive and keep any uh hope of Levi being all right, getting there. You know, we take a lot of precautions, like we're very careful with the dogs, and even when you're being super careful, like there's there's always that slim chance that something you know off happens. So being careful of that, I now we we we keep heat sensors in the vehicle just in case. And I am so paranoid, even with the heat sensors, AC full blast, I will go check on the dog like like every like seven minutes. Like I'm like, I gotta go check on the dogs. I gotta go check on the dogs, like because I I'm so paranoid about leaving dogs in vehicles. And in my head, I'm like, well, what if the the sensor fails and doesn't let me know, right? So there's real risk and it can happen very, very quickly. You know, it's just like babies in the car, right? Talk about how they overheat really quickly, and it's the same with dogs, and it's a real possibility when that happens. And you know, I'm not the only trainer that's experienced that. I've heard it from lots of other really better trainers than I am, and how they've had close calls or similar incidents, you know. Shit happens. But you do everything you can to avoid that stuff happening. So the more you know, the better. Now I keep a med kit, uh, just a canine specific med kit in my car. I've attended several canine first aid. I had already attended a couple canine first aid kit classes at that point, but I you know continue to learn more and more about canine care so that I can try to be better, learn how to administer IV to a dog and keep that kind of stuff with me. My my vet's just very nice. And she's like, Yeah, I'll I'll teach you and kind of hook hook me up. But the the more you know, the more likely you are to keep something from happening and ideally intervene before it reaches that point. But you know, certain situations, just avoiding that altogether. If you don't need to keep your I I know you want to go everybody wants to go places with their dog and stuff, but being cognizant that if you get to run in somewhere, how long you're in there and leaving your dog in the vehicle, you know, what happens? I know a lot of people don't kennel their dogs like we do, you know. So what happens if your dog accidentally rolls up the windows or accidentally turns the car off or something, right? And now it's in there cooking. Just thinking about those possibilities because strange things happen sometimes. So just kind of keeping that in mind when you are out and about with your dog over the summertime.

Temperatures And Vet Transport Plan

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Yeah, and that's so that brings up like another really good point. One, if you are going to be conducting those activities, you need to be prepared prepared for for stuff like that. We take a lot of precautions as well. And honestly, it's it's because of the training, it's because of this, you know, the schools, the training, the experiences, the stories. We don't want to end up being a part of any of that for us. So what we've done, every trainer that we have, including myself, we keep a canine specific first aid kit with us. And we go through, uh, I actually teach them a canine first aid and response class. We do put them on for the community as well. And it's very if you're gonna be going places and you're not willing to take your dog in, then about every 10 minutes you need to have eyes on the dog. And the reality of it is you're not overdoing anything when you say, you know, hey, even with you know, temp monitors or heat monitors, I still go out and check on the dog all the time. The school I went to trains primarily police dogs, and it is in their policy that even with a patrol vehicle with a heat alarm, that when it hits a certain temperature, drops all the windows, blasts the AC, and starts hitting the siren and alarms to notify the handler. Even with that, you had to go. It doesn't matter if you're in the middle of class, doesn't matter if you're in the middle of watching another dog work, you will go physically lay eyes on your dog. Those systems fail. Waggle is a really good one. I don't know if they're gonna be mad that I use their name when I say this, but they work on Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi goes down. If Wi-Fi goes down and it just happens to go down long enough that you're sitting there counting your dog's life on it, what if it is 15 or 20 minutes? That's plenty long enough. And that's why I said during that emergency situation, you need to be checking that temperature about every 10 minutes, about every 10 to 15, because it doesn't take more than just a few minutes for something to take a real bad turn. Knowing how to respond, knowing how to control yourself under pressure, knowing how you can the options that you have to face that, and then having the tools on hand. Even if you don't know how to, I'm not a vet, I'm not giving veterinary advice, and I'm not condoning any kind of medical procedure on a dog if you're not qualified or trained to do so. Um, however, in an absolute emergence situation, if you have the equipment or the supplies with you, if you don't know where to stick a dog for an IV, if the dog is you know severely dehydrated or needs fluid quickly, the scruff of the neck is what most people call it. You can pull it up and inject fluids there. It'll create a bubble, massage the bubble. When it dissipates, do it again, and that puts in subcutaneous fluids. And we'll actually hydrate the dog. That's that's a lot of times that's how we do it on puppies. We do all of a lot of that stuff ourselves here. But we've also, again, like you said, we've also been trained to do that. We by qualified personnel, qualified individuals who that's what they do for a living. Yeah. So it's very important to know that stuff and act within your scope.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Yeah, and and let me clarify on that. The uh the client's dog that was in the vehicle was fine. I think he was up to like one high 104s, low 105s when he got there. But because I did the things that I needed to, oh, trust me, every fiber of my being wanted to panic in that that motion, in that moment. But you know, I I guess we'll blame it on military training. You you can't freeze under pressure because that's how people get killed, you know. And if I if I freeze under pressure, then I'm no good to anyone. And everybody else around was frozen, so somebody had to take charge and bark orders and tell everybody what to do. And luckily I had the wherewithal to designate out hey, you call the vet, let them know we're going, you drive, you help him navigate, you get back here and help me take care of these dogs. And you know, because of that, the the other dog was fine. He just got, I think, two bags of IV when when he got to the vet and you know, cooled him off, and and he was was fine, but very lethargic. This was a protection dog, so luckily he trusted me because I picked his ass up and carried him in there, but it wasn't shit. Anybody else that tried to do that, he probably would have bit him, but because it was me, he he he let me pick him up and and carry him in there.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

But that bring that brings up another thing that I meant to mention the the first time that I was I was talking, I

Leaving Dogs In Cars Can Kill

SPEAKER_00 23:54

forgot. At absolute minimum, if you have a dog, you need to have a lot of people call him a grooming muzzle, it's just a mesh muzzle, it just goes around the snout. You need to have a muzzle that will appropriately fit that dog. It does not matter. It does matter. Yours is a good example of, you know, hey, luckily this dog trusted me, this dog needed me. There's been a million and a half cases reported where it's been like the best dog in the world, and under stress, under pain, and out of response for those things, the dog has lashed and bit.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

And if you're not safe, what's the very first thing to a crisis response? Secure the scene, right? Yep. If you're not safe, that then you can't help that dog. That's just like you know, uh uh shooting incident with a police officer. A lot of people ask, they're like, Well, do you shot him in the head and three times in the chest? What'd you handcuff him for? The scene's always safe. You have to make sure. What if, what if he's not, what if he wakes up, what if he has a gun? So, yes, we're gonna render aid, yes, we're gonna do CPR, yes, we're gonna do these things, but we have to make sure the scene's as safe as possible first. So always, always, always muzzle your dog. Yeah, you can do it with a leash in an absolute emergency, but even with a even with a really good diagram explaining how to do it, it's a very confusing process until you've done it a few times. And then taking into consideration trying to do that the first time under pressure. Yeah, not not it's just not just get look, go spend the six bucks at feed your supply and get a muzzle that fits. Throw it on the dog, throw it in your backpack, throw it, buy several of them, put one in your bag. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

We I keep I keep one, I keep three different sizes of the mesh muzzles, and I keep three different sizes of the Baskerville muzzles, the the most co common sizes for the dogs that we work with in my canine. It's a sling backpack, but it's my canine first aid kit, and that's and it stays in the vehicle, and I have a couple other canine medkits scattered here and there, and along with human medkits, and a lot of stuff in the human med kit can work for the canine as well. But I keep the muzzles, muzzles in there, a slip leash, or a couple slip leashes, all the different tools that I might need that in in a moment, you know, when a crisis hits, I am not gonna think to go grab a leash until I need it. And so having it all in that bag just in case when I'm like, oh shit, I forgot to grab a leash. I'm like, no, no, no, there's one in the bag, or the muzzle. I forgot to mention that I did muzzle him. I don't remember if that was before or after I got inside. It was kind of a blur. It was just taking action and making sure that the dog was was safe. And but yeah, you take that precaution because they're not, you know, they're not thinking clearly. They're kind of in survival mode at that point. So even if he wasn't a protection dog, yeah, like you said, there is that possibility that he might bite, even if he is the sweetest, nicest dog. He's in pain, he's essentially delusional. Gotta gotta keep everybody on the scene safe. Yeah. Do we miss anything besides how important it is to watch for we're gonna emphasize it again, how important it is to monitor for overexertion, keep tabs on your dog to avoid heat-related injuries. It it it takes, you know, with with people, we can say or say that stuff's going on, right? Dogs can't, except for with their body language and and the things going on with their body. So we really have to pay attention with them, but it it sets in a lot faster and dogs than with people. So we gotta be vigilant of that stuff, especially as the the weather warms up and such. So please be be safe. If if you don't have a canine med kit, highly suggest you start putting one together. If you're not sure how to render aid to your dog, look up, find a class and take that. Because you you can take all the precautions in the world. And there is always, always that possibility that something very terrible can happen. And if you don't know how to respond in that situation, it it could be a matter of life and death for your dog.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Yeah, which we've been we've been tossing around the idea of doing a course like that, an online available course that goes over, you know, canine CPR, canine first aid, field response, transport. It'll have worksheets in it, stuff like that, on how to put it together a travel plan. That's another thing that people overlook a lot. They're gonna go on vacation if they're taking their dog with them. Okay, cool. Well, if you live in Kentucky and you're going to Florida, what happens if your dog has an emergency in North Carolina? Where are you going? Do you know? No, you're gonna have to stop, hope that you're in a part of the Appalachian Mountains that has signal, and hope that there's a vet close by. You need to be able to know the roads that you're traveling, you need to be able to have a plan in place. You know, hey, once I get through this threshold, we're gonna be responding to this vet. Once we get, yeah, it it sucks. But that's something that you know, living with a service dog has taught me. Is you know, he's he he's everything for me, so I have to be everything for him too. Yeah, well, well said there.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

Especially, especially service dogs, man. I uh honestly, that's my my biggest regret about that situation. I thought I was taking all the precautions and you know, careful. I I've taken it to a new level of careful sense. And one of one of my biggest that that's been my hardest thing with that whole situation is you know how many times that dog saved my life? I I can't even count. I can't even count the times I know of, let alone the times that he did that he probably did it so early that I didn't even know, you know? And then when he needed me, I I wasn't there. That's that's a lot of burden to to carry. And I don't I don't wish that on on anyone. So take those, take those precautions, especi especially here in these these warmer months. But I I I think that let's let's shift gears to our our story of the day.

First Aid Kits And Muzzle Safety

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Give us a little feel-good story, Chris.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

Yeah, so we were looking for something a little bit earlier, and we we actually talked and realized that I think given our background as individuals from a professional standpoint, being in the military, and then also interacting with working dogs, we've been focusing a lot on police canines and police events

Emergency Hydration Within Your Training

SPEAKER_00 30:58

and things like that, because we're familiar and we can speak from a point of education and and professional opinion on it. So, with today's topic for the podcast being kind of droll, we wanted to end it on a good note because you always end training on a good note. And uh, so we this one's actually from the UK, but when I found it, it was kind of a kind of a heartwarming moment reading it. And it's a story here in 2026, I believe in February, about the UK's most heroic canine award. And it was actually awarded to a to a cocker spaniel. And going through and reading the the article, it says that you know the dog's name is Joey. It's a three-year-old working cocker spaniel, it's a PTSD service dog, and the woman that he's assigned to, or the woman that he works with as a partner at the age of 14 or lost her 14-year-old sister, and then turned around and was thrown off a horse and caused a serious injury, and she was unable to walk or work properly after that. So that took a pretty significant mental toll. And in one of the quotes that I was reading through it, it says that she said, I was I was quite a broken person, I just didn't realize it yet. Joey didn't save me from one big moment. It was every single day that he just kept me going. So that kind of goes back to things that we have touched on before about relationships. It's successful and unsuccessful on both fronts. You know, it's successful. You look at it and you say, Hey, we've had a lot of small moments, let's focus on those and what the big picture it led to was. Breaking a relationship is pretty similar. It's usually not one big thing that hurts, it's the compilation of small things over time that just deteriorated relationships. So we've look at it from both both aspects. So while I was reading it, the inspiring part wasn't necessarily that, it was kind of the same thing that that happened with me. Cooley didn't and doesn't just make me feel safe or normal or stable throughout the day. He gives me purpose, and because of that purpose, it's brought a realization that I can feel that purpose again. And I like to pay that for it as much as possible. So that's why we got into several of the things that we do here. And what it what ended up happening was this woman went from essentially being crippled with PTSD plus physical defects, which resulted in more mental mental defects or mental disabilities, and was so motivated and so inspired by her service dog that they started doing agility and donating all the award money to you know to children that needed help. So it's it's inspiring to see that that's not just a me thing, it's not just a local thing, but that's literally a worldwide thing. That's why I didn't, you know, usually we try to focus on things that are here, but it it it kind of fit the theory with it being over in the UK, they have a completely different lifestyle, completely different culture, way of living, things are acceptable, different there. But receiving help and paying it forward is that's universal language. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

Yeah, man. I I love the fact that you know this this little rescue dog can fill such big shoes and you know change her life. And I've experienced that firsthand with with my first service dog Levi. I I always tell our clients that we train service dogs for like you're gonna get freedom back that you didn't realize you were missing, not just the tasks that they perform for you, but that self-confidence that I got uh after I you know received Levi, I was finally able to go back out and I was able to go back to being social again instead of being a recluse. And I love the fact that they got into agility. That that's awesome. Levi was a diving, swimming fool. So we did dock diving, and he was just absolute stud at that. And no, we didn't do it competitively, it was just kind of that fun thing that we did together. I love to see how far he could jump out there, and he just loved to jump off that dock and go get that ball, you know. But the fact that they not only discover that fun activity that they could do together to build that bond and that relationship, they took it a step for further, and and to your point, find purpose and helping others through that. And I I thought you said something when we were talking about it earlier, about them using it, using that as a platform to to speak as well and encourage people. You know, so this girl found her her purpose through that service dog, and I I can uh uh align with that, you know. I wouldn't be training dogs if I didn't get a service dog. I would never realize that I'd still be breaking my back training horses, you know. But I was like, wow, there's something special about dogs. I think more people need to experience the kind of relationship that I've experienced with my service dog. I'm like so many people are missing out on the potential of having that kind of relationship with your dog. And, you know, that's the whole purpose of everything we we do here. Is like, yeah, sure, I'm teaching your dog obedience, but more so I'm teaching you how to have a better relationship with your dog so you can have that deep connection and that love for for each other. Man, it's it makes me want to cry tears of joy, you know, for them. I gotta love a good, feel, feel good canine story.

SPEAKER_00 37:07

Yeah, and it's you know, it's relatable. So, like you mentioned, the public speaking.

A Heroic Service Dog Named Joey

SPEAKER_00 37:12

So, part of one of the things that that I have going on, I generally cannot stand people. I don't like crowds, I don't care to talk. I'm not the person in Walmart that is gonna be like, hey man, I like your shoes, and then go on a two-hour conversation with you about your shoes. I don't care, get away from me. That's what I want to go in, I want to get my lucky charms, and I want to go home so I can eat them in my beanbag chair while I watch Fallout. So since I've had my service dog, and then furthering that, since again, that's why I got started in them, furthering that into working with other dogs and then building relationships, building relationships with the dogs, bringing families back together, seeing the hope and the happiness that it that they bring, especially behavior modification, because you you get a family that brings you a dog and they're they're either at their wits' end or they're terrified and confused, and they you know they think they're failing and all these other things. And it's relatable because you know how many, how many times or how many events in life have we looked at and we're like, damn, I really, I really fucked that up. Like I'm a failure. I suck. I'm not good enough for this. But there's always this stupid mouse sitting down here next to me that just looks at me with this big empty head, and he's like, I don't care if you're a failure or not. Are you gonna pet me? Because that'd be kind of dope. So it does kind of bring some some light to every situation. But well, I've started branching into public speaking. So I found that my history in in recovery and in addiction, and then my family's connection with addiction and recovery as well, has given me a relatable event towards the recovery field. And we, you know, we search rehabs, we search halfway houses, things like that, transition homes. And we had one client that we searched like 14 transition homes every month, and no one was supposed to be there when we got there. I had a master code to get into all the houses, but never failed, man. Never failed. Every time I'd go, there'd be someone there. Someone either skipped class or they'd not go to work or they'd just be hiding. And they were pretty salty that we were there for a while, even though we don't hit anybody up. Like, I if even if I find dope, all I'm doing is telling the the person who signed my check, that's it. How they handle it, it's completely up to them. If they're like, hey man, no big deal, you're good, cool. Sounds like no big deal, you're good, I guess. I don't know. My job's not to get you in trouble, my job is to come in, find dope, and leave. So with that being said, I they asked me if I wanted to do a speaking event for the groups, and I said yeah. So I went in and I I did a little QA in a in an about me. And from that moment forward, it was a completely different demeanor. We'd show up to the houses, they'd be like, Hey, it's the dog guy, what's up, man? And the bad part is, is they would be like super, super friendly. I had people that would just hand dope over, they'd be like, Hey man, I had I've been messing up. I got a vape up here. Yeah, I know you're gonna find it, so just here you go. And I've actually got, so I'll be a guest speaker at Recovery on the River. It's here in Louisville, it's a huge recovery event, big network, and I'll be one of the guest speakers for that. That's on May 30th. If anyone's in the area, you know, I encourage you to come out, meet your community, meet the people who are who are leaders and pioneers in the field. So I've been talking to one of the organizers that puts it on, and she's uh she's a fantastic person, she's got a lot of good ideas. She's gonna be taken off, and it's gonna be a good event, good opportunity. I think that there's always something to learn in every situation, whether it's good or bad. And you know, the the the unfortunate situation that that happened to you, we learn from. Yep. The situation over there in the UK, we learn from. So it it doesn't matter if it's good, doesn't matter if it's the the worst or the best. There's always room to grow, there's always room to learn.

SPEAKER_01 41:16

Yeah.

Purpose, Recovery, And Speaking Events

SPEAKER_01 41:17

And you know what since we're sharing for feel good stories. Your story reminded me of a speaking engagement that I did out in California. This is prior to my dog training days, probably about a year prior, probably maybe like six months after I got Levi. And I was still working, you know, helping veterans and first responders in crisis. And we were doing a veterans retreat out there. And some friends of mine that run a rodeo company put on a they're putting on this big rodeo and you know, raised a bunch of money for for my organization that went towards that retreat. And they they wanted me to do a speaking, you know, give a give a speech during the the ceremonies. And dude, I stressed about that. I was like, man, I gotta I gotta speak to a crowd. I was thinking hundreds of people. It ended up being close to 4,000. And I I was glad they didn't tell me that before I spoke. I'm glad they waited to share that information until after, or I would have been losing my mind. But you know, I had this speech that I had I had written all the way out there. I was uh, you know, Levi was with me. That's actually the last time I wrote a bull. I retired at that point, but I was like, well, I gotta get on a bull for this. And it was so funny. I left him with my buddy, who's a retired NFL player, and Levi was so concerned the whole time I was riding. He was like, Oh God, is he okay? He was like, I had to hold him so he didn't try to run out there to you. But I just remember giving that speech, and I told him to lay down. He just laid down on my feet, which gave me like that comfort. And I will I went out there and I told him on the way out there, I was like, I'm about to wing this. And they're like, Don't wing it. And I was like, trust me, I'm gonna wing this. This is gonna be better than that speech I prepared. And you know, wooed the crowd with that speech, but I just spoke straight from the heart and said what I had to say instead of some rehearsed speech that I had, which was still from the heart, but you know, I just said what I had to say in that moment, and but you know, having Levi there laying on my foot like gave me that that calm and steady to address that large crowd. But yeah, that's that was one of those special moments when we were done. I had he gave me a big old hug, one of his big old Mally hugs. Yeah, it was it was it was a special, special moment with him doing that. Since you were talking about public speaking, made me think of that.

SPEAKER_00 43:50

Yeah, that's I've always found that easier too. Like I'll I'll have something rehearsed and I'll prep something. And it, you know, it's kind of like it's kind of like writing a A training plan for a dog, you can prep for it and do it all you want, but it's never gonna go that way. You might as well not even waste your time. Just go out there and listen. When it's genuine, when it when it's from the heart, people know. Okay. And if you have the experience, you have that life, you have the the life experience behind you for it, just go speak. But you know, when I was talking to when I was talking to Nikki, the organizer for that event on May 30th, she said something that I agreed with. Years ago, I would have never thought in a million years that I'd be agreeing to get on a stage and speak to thousands of people, literally, like quite literally thousands of people. And let alone anything else I'm doing. She said the same thing. She's she's an active recovery, and she was like, dude, Chris, you know, a couple weeks ago, I was sitting in a room and I was surrounded by like police chiefs and judges and stuff like that. She was like, three years ago, I was in prison for possession. And I was like, Well, what'd you learn? She was like, I I never would have thought that I would be on this side of it, but she's not in it to hurt anyone, and she's not in it to do these things. And I that was just an example. I don't know if she was in prison for three years, but we did have that conversation about how how dramatic of an effect that different subjects, you know. For for not for everybody, it's a dog. For me, it was a dog. For you, it was a dog. Some people it's it's a support group, some people it's just having another person. Maybe you met the right person, and that person I know meeting the right person for me had a mind-blowing impact. Throw that in combination with the dog, and I mean it really doesn't matter to me. I'm I feel, even though I know I'm not, I still feel invincible. So it's definitely a good, a good feeling.

SPEAKER_01 45:52

Yeah, man. And you uh to k to cap that off, it's it it goes back to the especially with the dogs, it goes back to that relationship and and what that relationship is like with that dog. And and the only person that dictates that is you, and and what you do, uh are you gonna do right by your dog or or not? And you know, at the end of the day, guess what? I have more freedom with my dog to fuck up than I do with people because I can fuck up and I'll beat myself up more about it than my dog ever will. You know, my dog is they they they got that short-term memory and that unconditional love. They're like, love me, it's it's all good, you know, and teaches you teaches you to have grace, a little more grace with yourself and and grow as a person. Damn, we took a this this is an interesting one, man. We did it all up in the Phillies today. All the emotions. But yeah, I guess that's that's the imparting wisdom is is focus on that relationship you have with your dogs, whether it's whether it's a working dog, you know, a service dog, or it just I don't even want to say just a pet, but you know, a pet dog. Because they're not just a pet, they're part of your family, they're they're your buddy, they're your ride or die.

Relationship First Then Sign Off

SPEAKER_01 47:10

Focus on that relationship. That's my imparting wisdom before we sign off here. But with with that said, thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Talk Shit Get Bit podcast. Uh, we'll see you guys again next week.