Speaker 1: This is Pet Life Radio.
Speaker 2: Let's talk pets.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 4: Welcome to Loving Animals. I'm your host, doctor Robin Ganser,
the President and CEO of American Humane Are Country's first
national humane organization. I'm so incredibly excited to share this
week's episode with you, as it's one of my favorites.
We'll be catching up with country music superstar Naomi Jud.
Not only do we love Naomi's or her beautiful voice,
but we love her beautiful heart as well. She's a
passionate animal advocate of service animals for veterans and need.
She works on behalf of America's war dogs, and she
speaks out against horrific puppy mills. Don't go away well
hear back from Naomi Jud after this short break.
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Speaker 5: Let's talk pets on Petlife Radio dot com.
Speaker 4: Welcome to this week's episode of Loving Animals with Yours Truly,
Robin Ganzert. I am so thrilled that this week's episode
features in a amazing woman, a great mentor of mine,
a great friend. I have admired her for years for
her many talents, and as I've come to get to
know her, I get to know that her heart is
full of love for animals, which is why we're here
together today. Please join me and welcome me. Naomi Johd Hi, Naomi.
Speaker 3: Well mighty, finding a great big hobbie from Nashville, Tennessee.
Speaker 4: I love Nashville, and I love your home in Tennessee.
It's beautiful.
Speaker 3: Of course I don't talk like that, but so much
for stereotypes.
Speaker 4: Right, that's exactly right, that's exactly right. I love it.
I love it. Naomi. You know I have so admired
you as a woman, as a mother, as a powerhouse businesswoman.
What you've done in music has been just phenomenal. Just
tell me a little bit about your inspiration with your music.
Speaker 3: Well, with the music, I was going to go on
to get my medical degree and become a doctor with
the Hillbillies back home in Appalachia. So miss Whine I
known I had, and they stamped on her forehead with music.
I knew at age twelve that we had to eventually
come to Nashville, and that's what started the whole stinking thing. Nona,
I love it.
Speaker 4: I love it. And of course everyone knows that you
are the powerhouse mother daughter duo the Judds. And there's
also another daughter that you had after why Nona Ashley,
who's a blockbuster movie star. Tell us a little bit
about Ashley.
Speaker 3: Well, we lived on a mountaintop. This is hard for
people to believe, but I took them to a mountaintop
back home in Kentucky, where we're from. We lived in
isolations on a very remote mountaintop for about a year
without a TV or a telephone.
Speaker 4: Wow, kids today have no idea what that would even
be like.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: That was way before the Internet, even before al Gore
invented the Internet. But during that time and that splendid isolation,
it was kind of a magical year because without a
new form of entertainment. We became really close. Discover the
guitar and missus Ashley was only eight. She discovered books.
I started reading to her old Chronicles of Narnia. That
whole set and her imagination flourished at blossomed. And now
of course she is an actress. I was just with
her yesterday because she lives on the adjoining farm. We're
at here south of Nashville in a valley. One ownA
actually lives over the hill behind us, but I was
at Ashley's. She's just home for a couple of days
from Berlin. She's filming a new TV series in Berlin, Germany,
where she plays the director of the CIA.
Speaker 6: Wow.
Speaker 3: It's sort of like typecasting because she sit to dynamo herself.
So I love that it's called Berlin Station. I'm not
sure when it's going to air. They're filming it right now,
as I said, And it's just so wonderful having my
girls so close. They can come here on a four wheeler,
they can literally walk here. And I always feel for
mothers who have kids that live in other states, and
certainly grandparents as well. But I've got my as long
as we're getting on, as long as we're getting along.
It's wonderful.
Speaker 4: That's the truth about families. Right when it's good, it's
really good.
Speaker 3: I think that's what was in George Burns. Instead, my
idea of a perfect family is a close family that
lives at least three hundred miles away.
Speaker 4: They gotta love George Burns. Oh, my goodness, that is great.
That is great. Well, you know, these wonderful women, Waya
and Ashley were so blessed to have you as their mother.
And I just love to see multi generation powerhouse women
do so many great things for the world. And Naomi,
I bet a lot of our listeners don't know how
active you are in humanitarian and social issues. I mean,
you've done food drives in your hometown of Ashland, Kentucky,
which is where my mother's from, so a big shout
out to Ashland, Kentucky. I've been on the National Advisory
Board for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the boards for Saint
Louis University Liver Center, the Parents Television Council, on and
on your work with World Peace Initiative, National Domestic Violence Hotline.
I mean, you are amazing in terms of your charitable work,
your humanitarian work. But then well, you started to work
with animals, right.
Speaker 3: I remember being in a board meeting with you one
time and I you asked everybody to go around and
say whatever was in their heart, and when it came
to me, I just said, I kind of looked down
at my lap and I said, sometimes I like animals
more than people.
Speaker 4: Isn't that the truth? I love that. I remember that.
I remember that. And Naomi, we're so grateful at American
UMaine because you've been a board member since twenty fifteen
and you have done so many incredible events for US.
Hero Dog Awards, the Lady in Red Gala or Congressional
Briefing with kids with cancer are K nine military awards.
And I will never forget how you advocated for war
dogs on Capitol Hill to make sure that every single
war dog gets a ride home and gets to retire
on US soil with dignity.
Speaker 7: Wow.
Speaker 4: Tell us your thoughts about how it was to advocate
for war dogs.
Speaker 3: First of all, I love German shepherds. Where I live
here in Williamson County in Tennessee, we didn't have a
bomb dog. For schools. The county schools at here, they
get youth books. They always get the nobody ever thinks
about them. But we were able to find a bomb dog,
a beautiful German shepherd for the schools at here. I'm
just crazy about German shepherds because they're so darn smart.
But these war dogs, I don't think the average person
has a clue that they saved between one hundred and
twenty and two hundred lives of our military over in
the war zones every sinking day. Yes, they advanced into
the villages with dogs. And I didn't realize this until
I actually got involved with you guys, But they trained
the dogs. These dogs cost about eighty five grand apiece.
They trained them for a year. They stayed with the
same handler. And a dog is either trained for bombs
or they're trained for drugs. That was new to me.
But anyway, these beautiful war dogs will advance into the
villages over in Fallujah, wherever the hotspots are where they
take them, and they can sniff out IED's, they can
sniff out ammunition and anything having to do with military warfare.
They are so brilliant and they saved so many lives.
And you and I saw what happens when some of
our marines, some of our awesome military guys stepped on
IED's and the bomb dogs were there. They were injured,
and then these poor soldiers, these mighty men, had severe
PTSD because they didn't know where their dogs were.
Speaker 4: Right right, They had no idea did they even make
it back to the States? Were they even alive? And
these were their battle buddies.
Speaker 3: Yes, these dogs are military. We had an occasion here
in Nashville where a bank robber was almost caught. There
just happened to be a police cruiser in the area.
The bank robber ran into the dense woods behind the
bank with his stash, and a female officer appeared from
the Franklin Police Department right here where I live, ran
into the woods. Shots rang out. She was hit three times.
Her beautiful German shepherd ran into the woods. We heard
a shot ring out and we saw the dog being
carried out on the stretcher with a drape over him.
The bank robber had killed the dog, and we found
out that it was just a misdemeanor for a dog.
One of our military police dogs was killed at the scene,
and at that time it was just a misdemeanor. So
a hammer and I by the way, that the policewoman survived.
She was shot three times, like I said, but she
did make it good. But an officer and I with
his canine went to the legislature here in Nashville and
got the law changed to it being a felony instead
of a misdemeanor. So I'm just saying that ordinary people
like me can raise their hand and say this isn't right.
I'm not gonna sit still. There is something I can do.
You can change the laws. We've got to stop puppy mills.
We have hidden camera video. You can watch Dog by
Dog if you dare on Netflix. Unfortunately, I can't watch
it because once I see something, I can't unsee it.
And there's so many people that and I know a
lot of people. Nashville's pretty has a real wealthy area too.
It These women go to lunch, they get their nails done,
they have to take tranquilizers because they don't have anything
meaningful in their lives. I'm just gonna give a shout
out to all those people out there that would really
love and need to have a purpose. They need to
have a goal, and they can find out through the
American Humane Association what they can do. It's not hard.
Speaker 4: You know what, Naomi, what you just said was so
inspirational right there. I mean, really talking about having a purpose,
making the life better in our own hometowns, and how
you've inspired people in your hometown, which happens to be
Nashville and the world. I think many many hometowns would
claim you, naw Me as a hometown leader. I just
think it's amazing what you've done. The story of the
policewoman being shot and the police dog being shot, I
mean that was life changing for you, wasn't it.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah. We have a cemetery for these k nines
because they're officers too. They work right alongside the handlers.
They put their lives at risk every time they get
a call. But there's literally a cemetery right next to
the men and women, the policemen and women. They have headstones.
I just want to check the veterinarian place last week
to make sure that we have funding for any of
the k nines that might have just run of the
mill diseases, injuries, whatever. And my we've been able to
raise a lot of money, so we have a fund
that's available because these police officers, as everybody knows, don't
make the money that they should. Don't get me started
on that, because it's the firefighters, the nurses, the EMTs,
and the police that really should be making what entertainers make.
They leave home in the morning and kiss their wife,
could buy at the door and see their kids get
on the school bus. They don't know if they're coming
home that night. I have a grandson, Elijah Judd, that's
a deputy to shareff out here where I live, and
I hear stories he tells me at my dinner table.
But anyway, I get in my soapbox because we have
to appreciate that animals really make our lives richer, they
make our lives better, they make our lives safer. And
if anybody out there listening to the sound of our
voices Robin wants to get involved in something they will
absolutely fall in love with and get as passionate as
you and I are. Find out what you can do
through the American Humane Association.
Speaker 4: Naomi. Well, with that in mind, we're going to take
a brief break and come right back and talk about
this service dog program that Naomi, I know you're the
great champion of You're listening to loving animals, and we'll
be right back after this brief message.
Speaker 2: We'll be right back right after these messages.
Speaker 5: Stay tuned.
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Speaker 4: Well, you're back and listening to the loving animals, and
today we're so scrubled to have Naomi Jud. She's known
to millions and millions of fans as Mama Jud. I
know her as a passionate animal advocate and a person
who loves veterans on both ends of the leash. We're
talking four legged veterans, these incredible war dogs that have
served in the most unimaginable of circumstances in Iraq and
Afghanistan fighting the war on terror with our two legged
veterans and heroes who have served, and I know when
they come back, Naomi, you and I both know that
our wounded warriors come back with a diagnosis of PTS PTSD,
and American Humane has fought hard to develop the first
ever national training standard for service dogs for these wounded warriors.
And we're going to have a graduation of our very
first class of service dogs for wounded warriors coming up
in the Hamptons this summer. Naomi, tell us a little
bit about particularly you have the scientific background as a nurse.
Tell us what you think in terms of the healing
power of the human animal bond.
Speaker 3: We know, beyond a shadow of a death, the PTSD
post traumatic stress disorder is a huge and growing problem
in this country. These men are the bravest men on
the planet. When they go into these unimaginable situations, we
can't fathom. I mean, we can't watch the History Channel
all we want, but we honestly can't even fathom what
these men and women are going through for us and
the rest of the world. But when they come home,
they cannot reconcile the whores that they've seen with living
in a suburb, living in an apartment, maybe in a city.
So their dogs are absolutely crucial. And you and I
saw the five Marines down in Florida that were reunited
with their war dogs. It is something I'll never forget
as long as I live. Those primal grooms from the
dogs when they were reunited with their handlers, their partners,
and they are partners. I mean, the guys sleep on
them them full time. They understand it's really hard as
a soldier to understand what they've seen, what they've been through,
what's haunting them. And at the event that we had
just a couple of months ago, we got to see
last year's therapy dog, and I want to give a
shout out for all the dogs that are therapy dogs.
I used to be an RN. I worked in the
cancer ward. I worked in pediatric cancer for a while.
It wasn't for me. Frankly, I had to switch over
to ICU. I'm okay with trauma and well you know
what trauma is. It's like an er but trauma base.
But I just absolutely it wasn't in my personality to
deal with pediatric cancer. So God bless all the people
that work with these beautiful children that are dying from cancer.
And one of the wonderful things that's happening, and this
is a this is a great thing is the dogs.
And the dog from last year, wasn't it a.
Speaker 4: Main golden Poodles? The dog we did have a golden
little bit. Mango was the little therapy dog in the wheelchair.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I thought that. I thought Mango was this year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, this year's, that's right, this year's. And before that,
we had a Stella who's a doodle.
Speaker 8: Yes, yes, Stella sitting next to me at the table
at this really nice party, and every time I would
pick up my fork, she would put her paw on
my forearm as if to say, hey, I'm here, give
me a bike.
Speaker 3: That's all.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's Stella, all right, that's definitely Stella. She's got
a nice.
Speaker 3: I had a TV show and I did a couple
of experiments. One time I had a we write a
Scripts Institute, which is one of the most recognized and
venerable research labs in the country. I had an empty room,
an empty lab room. I put down five cups of urine.
One of them had the urine from a woman who
was suffering from cervical cancer, and this gorgeous, amorous ginger
sandrey poodle ran straight into the room and set by
the urine came from the cancer victim. Oh, they have
like two thousand times ol factory since then. We do.
That's why we hear about dogs that'll sniff out a
place on their owner's body that has cancer. There's the
acid base balance, and cancer cells are very acidic. So
somehow these dogs are also able to warn their owners
before they have an epileptic seizure. There's a place that
in Charlotte, North Carolina that trains and I worked with
a Snauzer, giant Snauzer, very hensent fula named Caesar, who
could tell and warn his owner before she was going
to have a seizure. That allowed her to pull her
Dodge minivan with all of her kids in it, over
to the side of the road so she didn't have
a seizure on the highway.
Speaker 4: Wow. Wow, amazing what they can do. These best friends
of ours have been best friends for ours for thousands
and thousands of years, and now we're just gaining some
insights as to how they can save our lives. It's amazing. Oh,
absolutely amazing. And I love this medical background that you
bring to your work at American Humane. And I'll never
forget back to something that was absolutely so much fun
that we did and so important now in today's challenging
political times. Is a couple of years ago you and
I launched for American Humane the Humane Bond Caucus on
Capitol Hill, where we had members of Congress come together.
We had the beautiful Crystal, the Kopuchin, who's the number
one animal star in Hollywood. The Diva Monkey was there
celebrating with us and really helping to educate members of Congress.
And here we are, just a couple of years later
and challenging polarized times. This is a true bipartisan caucus.
We have just as many Republicans as Democrats on board,
all celebrating our healing power and love of animals. What
are your fond memories of that day on Capitol Hill
just a couple of years ago.
Speaker 3: Well, the first one one that jump started me was
you telling me about it. You put it all together,
you rock and roller, you had it.
Speaker 4: You're right not I'm not not at all, But that
was as you are.
Speaker 3: You've got three laws changed.
Speaker 8: Thanks.
Speaker 3: One was about bringing home if we lose somebody, if
we lose a man or woman over there in the battlefield. Hm,
the government has what is it, forty eight hours to
ship the dog they back home to the widow or
to the family.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they have to get that dog back home.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And I think you said it only costs the
government like twenty six bucks, which matters to them, it
doesn't matter to us. But also one of the things
you did was make sure that all the animals, all
the service animals, because they're putting their life at risk
alongside of their human partner, make sure that they have
medical coverage.
Speaker 4: Yes, and you know what we have decided is that
government's not going to do enough. So American Humane will
pay for those war dogs for their veterinary care. And
that's been a powerful You know, we are acting like
the VA for war dogs without the bureaucracy, Thank goodness, right,
too much bureaucracy for the VA.
Speaker 3: Some of the folks like me and the folks out
there listening, we don't have a clue about this kind
of stuff. It never occurs to us, of course, unless
we have a family member or it were intricately involved
with one of those situations. But when I found out
about it, I had to raise my hand and stay
pick me. I'll fall Robin anywhere. And you took us
to Capitol Hill.
Speaker 4: There we went, There we went, and we have to
go back, Naomi, because we just now this month the
new bill, Pups for Patriots has been introduced, and this
Pups for Patriots legislation requires these service dogs for wounded
warriors to be trained under this first medically approved national
training standard, so that the wounded warrior and the service
dog are both trained under the latest animal welfare and
human medical research, so that we can provide for the
highest level of healing around the human animal bond. So
we need to go back to Capitol Hill and make
sure they understand pups for patriots is a must today's times.
Speaker 3: Oh no, I've got to get another suit and wear
high heels.
Speaker 4: Shucks, right, we got to go shopping, So that's a
good problem to have. Absolutely the jeans and T shirts there.
That's right, Oh, Naomi, I know your latest passion and
we're going to work together in the year ahead on
happy meals. What really drove your heart to open up
for these poor animals raised in these horrific conditions.
Speaker 3: I go by the animal shelter. I lived in Franklin, Tennessee,
and I went by the Franklin Animal Shelter. Several months ago.
I had two friends. One had lost their dog, who
was their soulmate, the love of their life. I knew
before long they were going to be ready to introduce
another dog to their home. And somebody else had kids
that were like five and six, in other words, were
ready to help take care of a dog. So I
went by just to look check out the shelter so
if I could let them know there were some dogs
that might be a good match for their families. While
I was there, I started talking to the folks that
volunteer there, and just it really hit me. My last dog,
my four year old, is a rescue. A friend called
me in the middle of the night and said she
had a box of eight puppies, and I remember I
just closed my eyes and reached in and grabbed one.
I was so terrified that well, anyway, I just didn't
want to if anything happened to the other ones. You
know what I'm saying. I was just going to pick blinded.
But I just knew that I had to speak up
for the folks who were interested in having a dog
and send them to the shelters. Don't buy a dog.
We've got a place here in Franklin where I live
called Perfect Puppies. I went in the other day, and
you know that they keep these poor mothers. That's all
they do is breathe them. The mothers of these puppies
never get out of their cages. You're not supposed to
breed a female dog, but every two years at the most,
and they just breathe them, breathe and breathe them. It
is the most tragic, despicable thing you can even imagine.
So anyway, I walked in this perfect puppy place and
pulled up my camera and I said, Okay, smile for
the camera. You're famous. Now. We're gonna shut you down
within three weeks, so you better be thinking of another vocation.
Speaker 8: Wow.
Speaker 3: He called nine to one one and chased me out
of the store and all that.
Speaker 4: So many cases of abuse have occurred, and people just
don't understand. We've got a lot of work to do
in this area now me and I'm so thrilled that
you want to champion it with the American humans. Thank you,
thank you for.
Speaker 8: Being One of the big problems, frankly is agriculture because
they need well.
Speaker 3: I won't get into all that. You've got more important
things to talk about right now, but thank you for
giving me a chance just to let people know they
need to go to their shelters. Do not buy from
pet stores, certainly, don't buy from any of these breeders.
If you want a specific dog, maybe you were raised
with the beagle and for nostalgia. You want to get
a beagle, go online. We have rescue sites for all
the dogs. Don't realize that on the internet they have
specific categories to get a dog.
Speaker 4: That's right, they do. And you can go and find
any breed, any shape, size or form of an animal
that needs a forever, loving home, a second chance at life,
and a home like yours. And Naomi, you have several
precious pops in your home right now. What are their names?
Speaker 3: The first one is Teddy Bear, and my grandson named
him because he looked like a little Teddy Bear when
we got him. We've got Lulu, We've got Biju. Biju
means in French little perfect treasure or Jim. And then Maudi,
named after the woman next door to me when I
grew up. Matty is my soulmate. Somebody asked me yesterday
what she was and I said, Brown, I love that.
Speaker 4: I love that.
Speaker 8: One of the.
Speaker 3: Things that I have to let people know that you've
been doing are these huge eighteen wheelers that are traveling
that clinics, the emergency VET clinics to go into disaster sites.
Speaker 4: Yes, we do, and these rescue vehicles are stated the
art and they're loaded with all sorts of equipment. We've
got a new truck for the great state of Louisiana
that we'll be debuting very soon. Well, Naomi, thank you
so much for being with us today. What a great
time together. I love you, I adore you and your family,
and I'm so glad that you're a part of our
family at American Humaine. So thank you.
Speaker 3: Well, right back at your girlfriend, and if you want
to run for president, I'll hit your campaign. Okay, thank you, fabulous,
thank you three words, sab you.
Speaker 4: Oh you are so sweet. Nay we thank you so
very much.
Speaker 2: Hell I'll see you says see you soon.
Speaker 4: Absolutely take care Naomi. Oh wow, oh, what an incredible episode.
Naomi has truly dedicated her life to making the world
a better place for so many both two and four Leggan,
American UMaine and I are so lucky to count her
among our biggest advocates and friends. I hope hearing from
Naomi inspired you, educated you, and allowed you a fascinating
peek into the life of one of Country news six
biggest stars and one of the country's biggest animal lovers.
Thanks so much for joining us and friends. Remember this
week and every week We're Loving Animals, See you next time.
Speaker 5: Let's Talk pets every week on demand only on petlife
Radio dot com