Speaker 1: This is pet Life Radio. Let's Talk Pets.
Speaker 2: Hello, pet levers, Welcome to Best Sets for Pets on
your show, host Michelle Bern, I have a guest today
that to welcome back. He's been on Best Bets before.
He is quite the human. He's simply amazing in my
eyes and in many others. He is an Emmy nominated
TV host, entrepreneur, animal advocate, and author. And he is
a storyteller like no other. So you don't want to
miss this show. Stay tuned. We'll be right back.
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Speaker 4: Let's Talk Pets on Petlifradio dot Com.
Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone. I'd like to welcome Rockiemata to Best Bets,
but pets welcome Rocky.
Speaker 5: Welcome back, Thayy Sheelle. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: It's good to be back.
Speaker 2: Wait to have you. I know you on this show.
I've been doing the show a long time, oh fifteen years,
so I think it was a long time ago, like
nine years ago. But great to have you back. So
you recently wrote a book, Sitting with Dogs, stories of
rescue dogs going from lost to loved, And I have
to tell you, I've had a lot of books my
way recently. I think it's the book season, which is great.
I love books. Book touched me on a different level.
It's fascinating walk motivation for writing Sitting with Dogs.
Speaker 5: Michelle, Thanks for having me. You know, I think it's
been like seven to ten years since I was on
your show last time. And the thing is, I've always
been working to help advocate for pet adoption, tell the
stories of these dogs. And where this book really came
to beat was not from me. It was from a
publisher reaching out and saying, hey, how do we tell
these stories? Because it's really raw in its best form,
it's me being vulnerable with the dog and really allowing
the dog to speak, not in a barking sense. If
they'd like to, they can, But when I sit down
with them in the kennel at these shelters, these are
the dogs that are in their lowest moments. They are broken,
they have given up. They are and no dog is broken,
but they feel broken. And so what I try to
do is I find the dogs that everyone has passed by,
or that are fighting in the corners, trying to melt
and disappear because they just don't understand why they're there,
and just lift them up a little bit. We don't
try to solve all their problems. We don't try and
train them into being the dog that someone would want
them to be. I just sit there with them, and
we are winning more than we are losing. We are
helping dogs get adopted, but often we lose, and it's
really hard. And I was looking for a way to
share the stories of the dogs that are getting out
of the shelter that we got to sit with, that
going to amazing families and have had this complete turn
around that they are so deserving of that we are
also deserving us. And so when the book publisher reached
out to me and said, we'd love to try and
help you with this. I said, I have two things.
One that would be amazing. Two I am extreme dyslexic.
I couldn't write if my life depended on it. And
are you sure you have the right person? So they said,
will help. Let's do this together. And so this has
been a long journey over the last year putting these
stories together, a lot of laughing and crying. But man,
I am glad we are here and I hope this
helps a lot of people consider adopting a pet.
Speaker 2: I think it will. And this is going a little backwards. Well,
when you say sitting with dogs, you have a show
about sitting with dogs, I mean your show is called
for people that I don't know. There might be five
out there that don't know of you. Can you give
a little background on you or sorry, we're a little backwards,
but that's okay, Yeah.
Speaker 5: That's okay, okay. So I am nothing special in the
sense of I am not a dog train or a
specialist or a veterinarian. I am just a guy who
wants to help dogs and has been learning the best
I can working in shelters for a while And what
I started doing is just going into the kennels and
sitting with these dogs on my volunteer hours. And what
happened is I would put my phone in there so
that I could approach the dog in a way that
I've learned over the years that was very non threatening
because these dogs were heightened alert and you don't want
them to bite, obviously because you don't want to have
a dog bite that hurts, but more so because that
often in most shelters spells the end for that dog,
and so you want to be very cautious and not
put a lot of stress on them. And so if
you go in not looking at them, not giving them
my contact, following dog body language, then it can really help.
But how do you know if they're going to bite
you in the rear well, you put your phone down,
you just turn it on, and you've got yourself a
rear view mirror that the dog doesn't really pay any
attention to. And so I started recording that and sharing
it with people, and it helped the dogs get adopted.
So we were now not only I was not only
comforting dogs and helping tell their story, but it was
leading to dog adoptions and it really built a neat community.
And so I've been doing that for the last few years,
and I think most of the time people don't know
my name, but they do know the dog's name that
they see or the videos that they see, and that
couldn't make me any happier.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm going to tell you. You say you're not in
anything special. I think you're very special, not everybody, And
I think you're very skilled because not everyone can be
patient enough to sit with or have the courage to
sit with the dog that might have who knows what
kind of fears or anxiety or whatever and process them
through it. So I think that's amazing. Can you share
this story of Flip that was so touching?
Speaker 5: So I had a boxer dog that when I went
to a rescue, he couldn't walk. He would like an
awkward two year old learning to walk. He would wipe out, fall, tumble,
but then get back up again and just be so happy.
And he would have to flip his paws up to walk,
which is where he got his name Flip, because someone
had locked him in a crate for four to six months.
They were a breeder trying to sell boxers. They couldn't
sell this one. So he never got out of a crate,
so his pawse atrophy they kind of locked so he
could they wouldn't function correctly because he couldn't stand up
in this crate that was too small for him. And
so it was endearing and heartfelt and sad and all
of the things at the same time. And he went
to go jump up into my car because he wanted
to come home with me. He face planted on the bumper.
He shook it off, and he tried again. This time
I scooped him up and put him in the back
of my jeep and from there on we were best buddies.
He almost didn't make it. It turns out he yet had
this temper. This was a decade ago. I spent thousands
of dollars on a credit card. I didn't have the money,
I didn't care, and it worked, and he spent the
rest of his life repaying me tenfold. I'll never be
able to repay him. And when I lost him about
a year or two ago, now I had this deep
old in my heart, and I knew I had to
continue carrying on the mission that him and I had together,
because he was that dog that could help rehabilitate any dog,
whether it was a puppy, and he had to guide
that puppy into being a dog or an alpha dog,
and he had to show them that that aggression was
not the right behavior, or a dog that was feral
and scared, and he had to show them how the dog.
He was just that guy, and I was so lucky
to have him, and so I'm working to carry on
that mission. And we started an entire farm and coffee
farm in southern California and rehabilitation farm named after him,
Flip Farms and Flip Coffee.
Speaker 2: Now, I love it.
Speaker 4: I love that.
Speaker 2: We're going to take a short break and we'll be
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Speaker 7: Let's talk person, Let's talk talk about life Radio hetline
Radiotlife radio dot com.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to everyone. I'm talking to Roki Kanaka. He
is the author of Sitting with Dogs, Stories of rescues
dogs going from lost to Love. In the book, there
are ten different dogs and each of them has their own,
you know, situation, and sometimes you like as you mentioned
in the shelters, you do get information as to what
happened the dog was maybe adopted and returned or abandoned,
but sometimes you don't. Before we talk more about the
dogs in the book, how do you deal with the
fact that I think there was one dog that was
in a room with one hundred and sixty other dogs
with a hoarding situation. How do you like process that?
Speaker 5: Yeah, that is a good that's a fair question.
Speaker 2: One more thing, even when happened with Flip to be
contains in a tight little box. But how do you
process that?
Speaker 5: You know, it's a good question because I think a
lot of people ask that question in their head but
may not just directly ask that question. And two ways.
One I will say it's very hard, and I have
really deep, hard days, dark days. But this community of
dog rescue and people like yourself and dog loving people
out there, we pull each other through this together. And
I believe what we're going through right now is a
solvable problem. All of us together can solve this problem,
so so many pets don't have to suffer. And the
other thing that I do is I really fast forward
to a time in their future where everything is going
to be okay, because most of the time, when you
see or meet a dog in that situation, the hardest
moments are behind them. And so I look at a
dog that's been in a hoarding case with all of
those dogs that is shut down, and I know that
while it's going to be hard work from here, they're
going to have those days where they sneak the potato
chip off of the coffee table that they shouldn't and
we laugh together and run to the park together and
play fetch together, and they get to snuggle in the bed,
and they get in trouble for being on the couch,
all of the things that we take for granted once
a dog has arrived at that state, that a dog
that's been in those really horrible situations isn't there or
has regressed and can't find their way back. And so
I really fast forward to what those moments will look
like and what that dog will look like in those moments,
and I share that with them. I tell them that
that's where we're going to get to, at their pace,
when they're ready. And so that really helps me get
out of those deep dark moments.
Speaker 2: Thank you for sharing that. What about situations where the
dog was adopted from a shelter and then return to
the same shelter And by the way, I'm just curious
about this. It's not bashing shelters. The people that work
in shuters, that run shelters do amazing work there Saints.
But my question is do you think sometimes some shelter
maybe don't like validate the people that are potentially adopting.
They don't verify their information. Some places you basically have
to have they have to come to your home and
inspect it, and others it's like, okay, here's the fee,
here's the dog. Yeah, what do you do with shelters
that just don't do the extra step and making sure
that the dog is going to his forever home and
not forever for a few months, and then we're getting
returned back just for another reason. Then well, you know,
he grew up and now he's not a puppy.
Speaker 5: Yeah. Wow. It really runs the gamut, doesn't it. From
someone saying, hey, listen, you know, unless you have a
twenty two foot high fence, double fenced, electric gate with
an automatic chairlift, you can't have this dog all the
way to It seems like people roll down their window
and the shelter throws kittens into their car seat.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: So, okay, here's what I've seen in touring shelters across
the nation and being in shelters, I have yet to
run into a shelter that has been too easy on
adopting a pet out. In fact, I always try to
encourage them to loosen their reins a little bit because
I just haven't ever seen it. More So, what I
see when pets come back are the system is in
the way of that person that had really great intentions.
So they go, I'm going to adopt this pet. Everything's
going to be wonderful, and then they they lose their job,
or their landlord calls and says, hey, we're no longer
going to allow pets in this facility, or they go
to the vet and the vet says, oh yeah, they
just need to have a simple procedure that'll be twenty
four hundred dollars, and they go, well, that's now I
have to decide between my kids eating this month or
my dog eating this month, and I need to do
the right thing and turn the dog into the shelter.
So I very rarely, I'd say, then the smaller percentage
are is that happening? And the bigger percentage is it's
becoming more and more challenging to own a pet, even
when you have the best intentions.
Speaker 2: So we need a happy medium here, I'll say.
Speaker 5: That's right.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's talk about Bean, who is so cute. So
Bean was first, you're very I'm looking at picture on
I want him. I want him. So each to your
first dog at flip Farms. So how was it because
you adopted him to you? He was adopted out.
Speaker 5: Right, that's right? So working backwards, someone adopted him, and
I second guessed myself every day, but I did it
for every dog that we you know, we get adopted.
You know, what we really focus on our mission is
rehabilitating dogs and getting them into loving families. We are
not a sanctuary. We don't collect dogs, and not that
there's anything wrong with being a sanctuary. We're not even
a nonprofit and again nothing wrong with that, but we
have a model where when you purchase coffee from us
that we grow on our farm or roast from other farmers,
then we use those funds to then pay for the
rehabilitation of the dogs that we have on our farm.
And listen, these are the dogs that are The fees
are astronomical, as shelter couldn't reasonably rehabilitate this dog because
being cost us can't remember now, but between forty and
sixty thousand dollars, that's a lot. It's a lot. And
I don't expect in most situations for people or rescues
or organizations to do that, but we have taken it
upon ourselves to go. We want the ones that we
can do that for that we can help and let
them know that they matter, no matter the cost. It's
not their fault, that vet costs can be through the roof,
and that they might have to have three surgeries versus one,
or you know, it's not the dog's fault. So so yeah,
So he was the first one on Flip Farms because
before that we had always fostered dogs, and we said, okay,
we're gonna we're going to take this to the next level.
We're going to start bringing dogs in. The most we've
had on the farm at any given time so far
has been five, and he was the first one. And
he was with us for about eight or nine months,
which is longer than most dogs could ever be at
a shelter rehabilitating. And you know, this little little cattle dog,
like all cattle dogs, is just as strong as you know,
teflon and as fast as a bullet, and his character
is just happy as a clam And I'm so happy
that he is with his loving family now. And he
pulled through all of that. And the lesson that we
learned from being is tenacity. No matter how dire his
situation was, no matter how extreme the pain was, he
just kept carrying on and kept being a happy little boy.
And it just it was such an inspiration to my
wife and I and my whole team and everyone that
was a part of this community. I'm happy to say
he's living his best life now.
Speaker 2: And that's the best outcome. Which of the dogs was
the most difficult to write about?
Speaker 5: Outside of my dog Flip, my late dog Flip, I
think the one that continues to get me is Macy,
the German shepherd who was emaciated and starved for years.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 2: I'm self made. I've always worked for what I got,
and I'm not very affluent by any means, and I
didn'k fancy. But we had a dog and he was
never starved. I can't understand that's when the dogs should
be surrendered, but maybe the person was not in normal mind.
I can't wrap my hunbrou on this.
Speaker 5: You know, I don't know, and I think I put
it aside because I don't think we'll ever know. This
dog got away, or someone dropped the dog off, or
a lot of times of good Samaritan will steal these
dogs and get them away. Because a a dog that
was this emaciated, their teeth were so soft from years
of malnourishment that we had to go to a special
canine dentist. Their nails of their paws couldn't be trimmed
because they were just like Puddy, because they didn't have
the nourishment needed to form hard nails. And so this
is years of torture through a very sick person, and
we don't know who that person is. We never no
one ever was able to ever find them or anything.
But the ney thing about Macy was it's a testament
to dogs. And when I sat with her, most of
the time dogs will be in the corner, they'll be hiding.
I'll slowly work to bring them out of their shell,
and if I'm lucky, they'll eventually come to me, whereas
with her, she immediately came to me and put her
head on my chest and started crying, almost like a
human cry. Because the need for love and affection is
as strong often as the need for food. That's how
much when we try to act really tough and say
I don't need anybody, I'm gonna do this by myself. Well,
I don't need others, we are lying to ourselves. The
need for connection is the meaning of life, and she
was a true testament of that. And to this day
she is so loving to her new mom and so
happy and so healthy, and I don't know too many
humans who have been through situations like that that it
could come out on the other end and being so loving,
kind and willing to trust again. And she is a
testament to how much we have to learn from dogs.
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly, very well said. And by the way, I'm
sorry Flip has gone and reading about it him was
just so joyful, I mean just our joyous, I should say,
it was just sounded like the most wonderful dog ever.
Speaker 5: I think the neat thing about Flip two is is
the shared experiences I didn't realize so many of us
have with that soul dog that we have lost and
we yearned the meat again one day, or we can
often feel the presence with us or the dog that
we have to know that we know one day we'll
go over the rainbow and and we you know, we
hope the days go slow until that happens. And so
being able to connect with folks like yourself and others
around that has been just so amazing.
Speaker 2: Woof this is also emotional. Do you ever get exhausted
when you're sitting with the dogs. It's a very emotional thing,
just that's rained from it. Just you're exciting and charismatic,
but I'm also feeling this like ah, because what everything
that they've gone through is is it's deep. But let's
get to some lighter note here.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yes, So what was one of the more usual habits
of a rescue dog, either in the book or not,
something that made you go, where did this tug get
this affinity for this? Or why is he doing that?
Or something? What was the craziest thing you've ever found
from a rescue dog?
Speaker 5: Yeah? I think every dog I've worked with teaches me
a lesson in one way or another. And I think,
to the most point, how unique each and every dog is.
The minute you go, oh, I love huskies and this
is exactly the way huskies are because you see common
traits and huskies, you meet a husky that is completely
different and it just surprises you to know in and
so encouraging because it's just like us when people say,
you know, oh, you're like this, so you don't need
to act this way and you don't fit that mold.
And I'm here to tell you that embrace that and
because dogs do you know, we.
Speaker 2: Should embrace our uniqueness and getting in the mold that
is that. Yeah, that's a great way to great answer
and a great thing to keep in mind. Let's talk
about dog's names, because you have a section in the
book where you talk about that. Can you share one
of the worst names you've ever heard? And that's because
most dogs in the shelter are named, but usually people
change their names, and sometimes they sound the same, sometimes
they don't. My dog Zeus, who's in Doggy Heaven, he
was named Binkie and returned to the shelter a binkie
also a pacifier. I don't get. He was like this
little black fluffball, but they said he was aggressive. No,
so I got him on the eve of Hurricane Wilma.
So it's either Fred or Zeus, who threw lightning bolts.
So I thought, well, go for Zeus. But he had
the moost, meekest personality. I called him my angel boy,
So that's kind of Zeus.
Speaker 5: Well, and what a good name too, Like when you
hear Zeus, no matter his size, it defines his personality
that he is larger than life. And I had an
uncle that I love so much that told me it's
all in a name, like it really matters, it can
really define you or others and so be careful and
be kind in names. And I found that to be
true in dogs. You know, one dog came in that
I've had a lection a lot of bad dog names,
but one dog was named Venom.
Speaker 2: Oh Denim what?
Speaker 5: And you know, some people say, oh, it's from the
character Spider Man. I don't think that was the situation here,
because there was definitely some neglect and some harm and
this dog was midnight black and was hiding in the
corner of the shelter. And this dog's names Venom. Well,
nobody is going to adopt that kind of dog. And
if someone's listening right now, they go, that's the dog,
the kind of dog I would adopt. Maybe, but most
people coming through the shelter might be first time dog
owners or might be looking for that cute, friendly dog.
And those are the dogs that get adopted, the ones
that come up to the front.
Speaker 2: Of the kennel.
Speaker 5: They wag their tail, they lick you, they want to treat.
It's not the black dogs hiding in the shadows of
the corner of the kennel named Venom. And so I
was lucky enough to have the opportunity to sit with
Venom and learn their story and was able to rename
Venom to Honey because she was just adorable and when
you got past the fear, because I also went, oh, man, ooh,
is there something you know? Is there something to be
scared of? And I don't get the stories of the
dogs before we go in there, because I don't want
to make assumptions. I want to assess for myself unless
there's a massive caution of Hey, the many you open
this kennel door, this dog is attacking people. Okay, tell
me that. But when I sat down with her, she
was just scared and she was sweet and we spent
some time together and she came around and we renamed
her Honey, and someone adopted her, and she is now
a dog that is helping someone with special needs navigating
through busy malls where they have anxiety, and she is
the brave one. And so now people look at this
black dog that could be very scary with a name
like Venom, and they see Honey and they immediately go, oh, honey,
how what a cute dog. And so it just the
dog's demeanor the person's demeanor and allows everyone to just
be freer in that space because of the name.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's true. What they say about names. You know,
it's interesting. What is the one message you want listeners
to get from your book from listening to our show
when considering adoption.
Speaker 5: Right want them to be open minded when they consider adoption.
Be open minded when they consider adoption, and be willing
to go to a shelter and roll with the punches.
Because shelters are not customer service organizations. They are a
safe haven for these pets. They are overwhelmed, underfunded, understaffed,
and they're just doing the best that they can with
every day being a very hard day. They lose all
of the time. And so if you go in there
with grace and you're willing to look at different kinds
of dogs and accept dogs versus going and going, I
want specifically this kind of dog unless you have a
specific use case like you're a farmer and you need
a great parentees to help watch it heard or something
like that, and consider fostering because then you get to
test drive the dogs, You help the dog, you help yourself,
you see if it might be a good fit. That
would be my message to people considering to adopt.
Speaker 2: What a great message. Where can people purchase sitting with dogs?
Speaker 5: You can purchase it at any bookstore, and it is
so encouraging that so many people have been ordering and
pre ordering Sitting with Dogs. I am over the moon
and happy, and I hope people get this book and go.
You know, not only are there some heartwarming stories, but
I am so happy to consider adopting and I can
go do what Rocky's doing. Everyone can go help and
get involved in animals and do what I'm doing. You
don't have to be a veterinarian, you don't have to
be an expert. We all start somewhere. I make mistakes
all of the time, So I hope this book allows
you to do this. You don't have to go quit
your job. You can just go in on the weekends
and volunteer. But hopefully it helps others go do something
they love and that's work with animals.
Speaker 2: Well, I want to thank you so much for writing it.
Where can people also find out more about you? And
flip Farms and flip coffee.
Speaker 5: Flip Coffee dot com. You can go find me anywhere
which is my name, Rocky Kanaka across social media. You know,
we really get deep on the videos on YouTube, so
you can watch the whole transformation of the dog and
I just appreciate everyone being a part of.
Speaker 2: All of this. Well, I want to thank you so
much for coming back on Best Bets for Pets and
I wish you amazing success with your book.
Speaker 5: Thanks for having me and hope to be back soon.
Speaker 2: I'd love to have you. I hope you all enjoyed
this show. I love talking with Rocky and what a book.
It's amazing again. It's called Sitting with Dogs, Stories of
Rescue Dogs going from Lust to Loved. Rocky Kanaka is
the author, and thank you Rocky so much for coming
on Best Bets for Pets. Thanks to all of the
dogs in my life, Cassidy and Zeus for teaching, and
Bailey and Nicky for teaching me about dogs and they're
amazing creatures. Thank you now to my current which is
all tabs, Mollie, Charlotte and Dennis. You guys walk different
than dogs, but you're special in your way. And of course,
a big, huge thank you to everyone that listening to
Best Bets for Pets. I appreciate your listenership so much.
And a auge thank you to my producer Mark Winter
for all he does in making my only my show,
but all of the show is great. He is an
amazing producer, and hey, remember keep listening because you never
know what we're going to have next. On Best Bets
for Pets
Speaker 4: Let's talk bets every week on demand only on petlive
radio dot com