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Speaker 1: This is Pet Life Radio.

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Speaker 2: Let's talk pets.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Human Animal Connection Show, where we believe

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we can communicate with all animals. Join us as we

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explore the thirty three principles and healing methods of the

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Human Animal Connection. As animal lovers, we know that you

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share our commitment to making the world a kinder place

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for all creatures. Together, let's embrace the transformative healing power

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of the Human Animal Connection.

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Speaker 3: Welcome everyone to the Human Animal Connection Podcast. I'm your

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host and the executive director of the Human Animal Connection.

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And somebody my guest is being licked, which is wonderful.

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Why her dog Shadow will meet shadowed Lee in just

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a moment. But I want to say thank you so

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much for being with it with us here today, and

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we're going to be talking with Lee Atherton. She is

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the CEO of Phoenix Rising, which is service Dogs who

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save lives and Hope for four Pause, which is about healing,

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purpose and second chances. So their mission is to get

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life saving service dogs into the homes and hands of

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people with PTSD and mental health disabilities whose lives are

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at risk. And we've taught talked a lot on our show,

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of course about therapy dogs, and so it's only fair

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that we give service dogs their chance to shine, and

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that's what we're going to do in today's episode. So Lee,

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welcome to the show.

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Speaker 2: Thank you very much. I'm so excited to be here.

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Speaker 3: So tell us a little bit about Shadow, the dog

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that was just giving you a little face wash, which

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we'd love. Tell us question Anima.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Shadow is my service dog. I've had him for

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about eight years. Three years ago, time flies, he was

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diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only a month to live.

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Speaker 3: Wow.

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Speaker 2: We call him our miracle dog now. So that was

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pretty devastating. I hadn't had him for too long. Long

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story short. He went to a local animals school, tought

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medical school for veterinarians, and was put on in a

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clinical trial. They kept saying, you know, if he makes

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it through the chemo, you might get six months. So

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we had He made it through two months, a pretty

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intense chemo, and he survived that, and a month went

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by and I still had him, and go all the

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way to six months and he was still doing really well.

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They declared him in remission after a year, and then

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after two years they declared him cancer free.

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Speaker 3: Wow.

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Speaker 2: It was absolutely amazing, wonderful.

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Speaker 3: And what kind of cancer did he have?

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Speaker 2: Just curious? He had lymphoma and there are three types

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if I understored it correctly, three types of philymphoma, and

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he had the most aggressive. So because of all of that,

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we had to get his successor, and I found another

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black lab. His name is Phoenix. My daughter have adult kids.

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My daughter said, when you get your new dog, you

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really should name it Phoenix because you're taking something terrible

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and making something good out of it. So Phoenix was

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rising from the ashes. So we did. We got the dog.

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His name is Phoenix Rising.

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Speaker 3: And that's the dog you have now that I was

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just seeing, you.

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Speaker 2: Were seeing Phoenix. Yes, I still have Shadow. He's under

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my feet. Okay, all right.

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Speaker 3: Okay, so wonderful. So tell us a little bit about

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how Phoenix and Shadow have impacted your life. What have

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they allowed you to do you couldn't do without them.

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Speaker 2: Shadow has saved my life literally. I had a family

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crisis back in twenty sixteen that led to some pretty

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significant PTSD. For about two years, I found it difficult

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to work to get out and be in the midst

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of society. I had anxiety, panic attacks, and a couple

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times actually was contemplating suicide, and he sensed that and

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got very crazy and interrupted my thought process and any

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attempt I had at that. He's also been a day

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to day companion who recognizes when my anxiety is starting

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to ramp up and is able to alert me before

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it gets the better of means tell us.

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Speaker 3: I was going to ask you how he does the alerts,

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because I know different dogs will have different alerts, and

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it's definitely important for the person to be able to

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recognize an alert. So tell us about the alerts that

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Shadow and Phoenix have used with you.

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Speaker 2: So it took a while because I had to figure

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out what is it I do that you know, there's

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a chemical change within us that dogs can recognize, but

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I also had to pay close attention to what were

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my mannerisms, if any that changed. So one for me

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that was very easy for Shadow to pick up on

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at Phoenix is that I shake my foot and it

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starts out just to little bit worse. The anxiety gets

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the faster that foot is shaking. So Shadow is trained

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to be aware of when I start shaking, and he

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just comes over and he nudges me until I acknowledge

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his presence, and yes, switch gears, kind of switch gears.

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And it's pretty amazing, you know, dog's amazing. I absolute

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notice it from across the room right I'm thinking he's

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sound asleep, mm hmm, and all of a sudden he's

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bopping up and coming over to me.

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Speaker 3: Wow, that's wonderful. Now, was he trained by an outside

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trainer or did he learn to develop this ability to

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recognize your mood to himself?

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Speaker 2: A little bit of both.

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Speaker 3: Okay, some of.

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Speaker 2: It he recognizes just intuitively. We did have an outside trainer.

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We do have one who trained us as a team.

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And how long did that training take? For Shadow, it

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was about a year and a half. Okay. He is

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an unusual dog in hedn't really have puppyhood. So one

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of the things that he had to be able to

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do was be wild and crazy playing with people or

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with other dogs or whatever, and stop on a dime

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when I said to We never did that because he

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never got wild and crazy enough. So his personality led

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to easier training. Phoenix, on the other hand, is still puppyish.

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You can see that by him jumping up and licking me,

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and he's taking a little bit longer, so.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, yeah, and it's important to understand that every

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dog is a little different and that their training is

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going to be different the time and their training and

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their natural abilities. I mean, I find, you know, involuntary shelters,

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about twenty percent of dogs that I see have the

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potential to become therapy dogs, you know, the ability to

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read people, the desire to please, the desire to comfort,

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and so on, and so it's a relatively small percentage

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of dogs that really this is their purpose in life.

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And that doesn't mean that if they don't have that purpose,

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they're a bad dog. It just means that, like people,

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they're differences in what are purposes, what brings us passion,

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what is the natural zone. But it's so amazing to

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meet a natural you know, when you meet a dog

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that just really has this ability and can read you

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from across the room or across the house or whatever.

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You know, it's just very exciting to see that. Yeah. So,

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I know you've also gotten involved in helping others. Tell

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us about your work, your mission and how you help

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other people get service dogs.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's expensive. I live in Massachusetts where needs

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is located. New England Assistance Dogs and they were recognized

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in the field of providing service dogs. Yet I was

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looking for one initially. Before I got Shadow, I had

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gone to needs and back then eight years ago, was

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forty five thousand dollars get a service dog. Yeah, by

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the time I finished train mean Phoenix, it'll probably be

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a good thirty five forty thousan dollars. A lot of

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people don't realize the expense, yes, and there are a

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lot of people who can't afford that, right. You know

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a lot of people who have two members of the

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family who are working can't afford it, never mind someone

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who's on disability and not getting the pay that others

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get it. Yeah, a mission of mine is just in

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recognizing this and going through it twice. I've got to

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do what I can to help others get dogs. Why

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don't train them any of that. I act as as

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a collector of support in many ways and then disperse

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that support to people in need.

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Speaker 3: That's wonderful, It's really wonderful. And even even for people

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who have the funds. The availability is the next big issue.

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You know that it takes a year, two years something

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like this to get a dog ready for service work,

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and the dog don't will maybe not have more than

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an eight or ten year career, and so this is

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an an ongoing issue. Yeah, so how have you gathered support?

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Are you fundraising or what is it you're doing?

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Speaker 2: Fundraising? Yes, And the project that I'm working on now

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is an anthology, so getting fifteen or twenty authors service

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dog owners who have a story to share. The book

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will be called Phoenix Rising, Stories of Service Dogs Saving Lives.

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And my vision is to get each chapter sponsored by

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individuals or you know, organizations, group of people coming together.

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Speaker 3: So, yeah, it's wonderful. That's wonderful. And one of the

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things that I've noticed is that, well, there may be

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some breeds that are maybe a little bit more likely

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to succeed. It really is not breed specific. You know

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that there are that there are dogs that you would

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the last dog you would expect to become a service

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dog is. I have met soldiers with teacup poodles, you know.

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Speaker 2: You know, I mean, I have seen it all.

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Speaker 3: I've seen very large dogs, I've seen smaller dogs medium.

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It's really important not to assume that one breed guarantees

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success or that one breed precludes success. You know, it's

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just amazing to see when you meet a dog that

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has this individual ability. And would you say that when

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you meet dogs you can get a sense, oh, this

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would be a great candidate for service dog training or

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is it something that's just a complete mystery. What's been

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your experience.

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Speaker 2: I have a little bit of a sense. I'm really impressed,

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excuse me, by people who train service dogs how they

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can look at a dog and get a pretty good

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sense fairly quickly. Yes. And the steps they go through

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to assess a dog. It's a fascinating process.

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Speaker 4: It is.

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Speaker 3: It's absolutely fascinating, and we're so grateful for those people

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who do that work and it's so important. We have

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a program for high school students. It's called Canines Teach Compassion,

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and we bring therapy dogs into the classroom to help

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kids who are in counseling. But one of the things

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that's unique in our program is that we also bring

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dogs who are candidates for therapy dog and we ask

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the kids, the teenagers, to evaluate do you think this

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dog has a good chance?

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Speaker 2: Yes or no?

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Speaker 3: And let's you know, give them a score up. You know,

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ten is a perfect score, and of course no dog

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isn't perfect. Who are coming in but it's amazing how

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accurate the students are. They see dogs that are fully trained,

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fully certified, who've been at it for years, and then

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they see a dog walking into the classroom who has

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not had training, but we believe has potential. And so

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far the kids have been really accurate. We brought in

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one German shepherd, older gentleman, eighty two years old and

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a walker, and he really wanted his dog to become

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a therapy dog. And sometimes you know, people have good intentions,

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but it's not necessarily the dog's intention, right, So big

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old German shepherd, which could be a little bit intimidating

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for some people, but incredibly gentle dog, incredibly sweet, and

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the kids, after one visit they said yes, and we

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proceeded with getting him for the training. He's in his

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process of testing now, he's gone through his first i

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think two levels of testing. He's passed and we have

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identified some areas that we still need to work on,

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but basically he's going to make it. And so it's

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very rewarding for the kids because I let them know

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he passed his first test, he passed his second testing,

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and they get to isay it is because of you kids,

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which is really true, because I mean I probably would

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have passed him anyway, But I tell the kids that

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they were really instrumental in making sure that this dog,

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who's a fairly young rescue dog, will have a career

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and we'll touch so many lives. So yeah, it's very sweet.

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It's very sweet to see that happen. Very sweet.

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Speaker 2: I bet.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. So now is your dog on duty twenty four

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to seven or does your dog get time off? How

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do you balance let's say, the responsibilities of working as

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a professional service dog with being you know, a dog

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that needs to reset and relax and all that, and

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how do you balance that?

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Speaker 2: What do you do?

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Speaker 3: What's your routine?

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Speaker 2: There's really no routine in my life, so that's hard

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to answer that particular piece of the question. But I

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think the time off that Shadow gets that he recognizes

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he can chill a little bit more than he otherwise

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would is for my husband's home because he can take

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over some of that keeping an eye. I think when

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he was younger, it was it was more delineated because

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my need was much more intense when he was younger.

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So if we were if we are out and about

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and he's got his vest on for him that's yep.

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I'm working, there's no question, and I make a point

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of one days, especially where it's a long period of

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time when we're out, that I take the vest off

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and I just say go have fun. Here's your marrowbone.

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Enjoy it.

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Speaker 3: Yes, don't worry about me. Yeah, that's wondicul Yeah. So

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important for those of you who are working with service dogs,

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with therapy dogs, you probably know this already, but just

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to say it in case is that dogs who have

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responsibilities to paying attention to humans need time where they're

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not on duty, where they can reset and relax. And

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especially for the therapy dogs who are working with people

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with trauma, you know they are taking on that energy

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and they know a chance to reset and recharge and

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not have any responsibility. So that's wonderful.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I think it's important for any dog handler to really

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become familiar with, in general the signs of stress and

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a dog, but in particular how do this their dog

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express it in their unique ways. It's to be paying

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attention to that and when you start seeing some of

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that stress, say yep, they've absorbed too much.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, time for a break.

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Speaker 1: I know.

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Speaker 3: We in one of our classes we as this dog

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has passed now, but a rescue greyhound, a former race dog,

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and her name was Mochi. She could give people the

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most intense gaze and love and sweetness and just melt

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anyone right. But she had about a twenty minute window

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and then she was done. And so we just said

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to a person, Okay, Mochi's done, you go home. You know,

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because it's an hour long class doesn't mean you stay

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for an hour. Mochi has twenty minutes of absolute pure

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devotion and then she's done for the day. You know

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she'd come back next week. But you know, it's just,

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you know, that was kind of unique. Most most of

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our dogs are good for an hour, but we want

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to really encourage people not to do more than an

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hour if you're doing therapy dog work. But of course

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service dog work, service dogs are on duty for a

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tremendous amount of time. So we're going to take a

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short little break. But when we come back, i'd love

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to have you maybe preview a couple of stories that

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might appear in your book.

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Speaker 2: I would love to All right, I'll be right back.

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We'll see you in just a moment. Don't go anywhere.

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Real people real stories.

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Speaker 4: Our little dog Cavelt this lymph problem. The chemotherapy lasted

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for six months, started developing more lymph nose, so I

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thought I'd just try Carnivor. The lymph nose started to

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go down. Then I took him into the vet to

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him checked out and then there was no signs at all.

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Speaker 1: Inside.

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Speaker 4: My cat had issues that developed in his eye, and

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three months later my ven airing said this, go ahead

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and remove the eye.

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Speaker 3: I heard the carnivor on advertising, so.

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Speaker 4: I said, you know what, I'm going to order this product.

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They did the procedure, they did all the death and

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they said, I don't know where you did this product.

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Speaker 1: They his eye.

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Speaker 4: I've got a labrador. You could hardly lift yourself up

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off the door. The treatment was came to therapy. That's

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when I said this could be the ticket. About three

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weeks you could tell she was very alert.

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Speaker 3: She was going on.

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Speaker 4: Five mile walk and she is just like crime again.

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Speaker 3: Six eight three six eight seven three five. That's eight

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00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,400
six six eight three six eight seven three five Or

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00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:09,759
visit carnivore dot com. That's c A r N I.

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00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:13,079
Speaker 2: V O r A dot com. Use promo code pet

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00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:17,200
life at checkout for fifteen percent off your order at

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Carnivora dot com.

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Speaker 1: Hey friends, if you like what you're hearing and want

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to learn more, check out doctor Joseph's book, The Human

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Animal Connection, Deepening Relationships with Animals and Ourselves, or visit

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00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:37,680
the website The Humananimalconnection dot org to book an online consultation.

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Thank you for loving animals. Now back to the show.

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Speaker 5: Let's Talk pets on Petlife Radio dot com.

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Speaker 3: Welcome back to The Human Animal Connection. I'm your host,

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Genie Joseph, the executive director of The Human Animal Connection.

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You can learn more about us at the Humananimalconnection dot org.

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And today I'm speaking with Lee Atherton about working with

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service dogs that can really change lives. So I know

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you had a story you were telling me about on

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the break, about a dog named Nellie who was working

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with a person who had severe social anxiety, couldn't go

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out in public. Tell us about how Nelly helped that person.

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Speaker 2: I smile. I remember when James is Nellie's handler. I

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remember when James first met Nellie. He had had some

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trauma in his life that led to depression and severe anxiety,

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and he just was He became home bound on disability

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for several years, he got Nelly and that was the

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first time I had seen James smile in years. It

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was so beautiful to see. And Nellie worked with him,

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you know, same as shadow. Nellie was taught what James's

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simples were, what to pick up on when his anxiety

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was going. But Nelly did things like make him get

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out of bed, make him go out and take Nelly

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for a walk. And he got to the point where

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Nelly helped him in social situations by creating a boundary

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around him, by standing between him and others when the

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need was there, and over time helped James thrive. And

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James now is out there a successful adult with a

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full time job and being able to work to be

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in many different situations in life.

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Speaker 3: Nelly made that and Nelly goes to work with him,

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does Nelly.

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Speaker 2: Nelly goes to work with him. Wonderful, a little bit

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of a challenge because he works out of high school.

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So I'm sure you know that all the kids are

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going to want to be patting Nelly and yeah, stay

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away from Nelly. Yeah yeah.

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Speaker 3: So I think our listeners know that a service dog

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is not a dog that you can go up and

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pet because they are working and they need to be

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paying attention to their human. A therapy dog, on the hand,

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is all about being pet so you just need to

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know the difference. And sometimes you can tell by the

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vest or how that dog is interacting with the person.

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But when in doubt, just ask. So that's the secret, right, good, Okay,

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that's right. And then I know you had a young

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boy who had epilepsy, severe hiplepsy, and he had to

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have an adult with him twenty four to seven, which

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as a child is not so difficult, but as a

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teenager that is not so easy. So tell us about

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that dog and that story and that boy.

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Speaker 2: Yes, So his mom is a breeder of Black Labs

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and specifically wants to raise service dogs, potential service dogs,

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so she had some understanding of what they could do.

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And i'll she advocated for her son and was able

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to I don't remember all the details, but she had

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his blood tested for what are the chemical changes in

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his blood when a seizure is coming on and was

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able to identify that and then have a service dog

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in training that she trained to recognize that particular change.

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So now you know, he can go take a shower

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with his service dog with him, or he can go

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out with friends with this service dog with him when

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long before there's he's ready to crash on the floor.

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Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, So that's so wonderful that that, you know,

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the blood that would be inside the boy when he's

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about to the dog could train to recognize the scent

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even if the blood was in the boy not in

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the rifle. That's that's just truly amazing.

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Speaker 2: So I think it's it's smell.

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Speaker 3: Their sense of smell is amazing, but I think it's

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more than smell. If you want to ask me my

399
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personal opinion, I could ask you your opinion, but I

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think that they're working on a whole set of senses

401
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that are above and beyond what we normally think of

402
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as everyday senses. And yeah, yeah, it's really amazing to

403
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see animals who are sensing that. And about ten percent

404
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of dogs without any training at all, and I'm talking

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about rescue jobs and shelters. We'll go home with somebody

406
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who has not had the ability to have a forty

407
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five thousand dollar YAR service dog training program and the

408
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dog will learn to alert for different things. So it's

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amazing their abilities. And I think, if anything, we should

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have enormous respect for their sensitivities, even if we don't

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completely understand them.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Now, sometimes we talk about on this show animal

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communication as in telepathy, as in the ability to communicate

415
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thoughts and ideas and emotions to dog, or to read

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the thoughts and feelings and emotions of dogs. Where are

417
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you on the on the thought process of animal communication

418
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in terms of telepathy?

419
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Speaker 2: I think they have an amazing way to communicate.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I don't have the words to explain it to someone,

422
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but I watch the way Shadow looks at me. Sometimes

423
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I say, you know, he's he's not looking into my eyes,

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he's looking through my eyes and into my soul.

425
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Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, it's amazing powerful, It's so powerful. And I

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think that one of our missions in the Human Animal

427
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Connection is to educate people about the inner lives of animals.

428
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That they do have thoughts and feelings, emotions, opinions, you know, desires,

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understandings that are beyond what we usually think of. And

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the more we recognize that and respect that in animals,

431
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I think the better humans can be towards animals, right.

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Speaker 2: You know, and bring out the best in them.

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Speaker 6: Yes, when we know that black lab a is not

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00:24:00,799 --> 00:24:03,200
going to be the same as black lab B or

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C right and look and explore and be curious.

436
00:24:09,079 --> 00:24:09,279
Speaker 1: Yeah.

437
00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:13,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I know for some dogs in service training

438
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from puppies, and I'm talking about eight weeks old puppies,

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they begin training them to look at humans in the eye.

440
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And you know, this is not natural for all animals,

441
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because for some animals, looking in the eye can be

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a sign of aggression or intimidation. But we and we

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teach our therapy dogs at this Also we have the

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high school students. One of the first things they do

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is teach the dogs how what we call focus.

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Speaker 2: That's the que we use.

447
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Speaker 3: We'll put a treat right to the top of our

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nose and in the second the dog is eye contact.

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They get to treat and then once they know it,

450
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then we introduce the word. But the reason why we

451
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use the word focus is because we also then teach

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the teens that they can focus. The way they use

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their thoughts can either help or harm them. So that's

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why we use a very human word. Some people just

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look at me, which is fine, but we use the

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word focus because we're cross trending the humans as well.

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Speaker 2: I like that I use focus, but I hadn't thought

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of that.

459
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Speaker 3: I Yeah, Yeah, it's a really good it's a really

460
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good word because it's something that doesn't come up in

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routine conversations more like look at this or whatever. It

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might be confused for the dog. So having a word

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that's a little bit unique like focus, I think is

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very good. And what we do is once they learn

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how to make this focus, we teach them to do

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it for a little bit longer duration and get used

467
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to the idea that that looking a human in the

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eye is a good and safe thing. And when we're

469
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on therapy dog viausit's you know, when the dog looks

470
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you in the eye, you feel so seen and loved.

471
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It's a yes, that's it's a great thing. It's a

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great gift that we can do, is share all this

473
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loving gaze, you know, a soft gaze, not a hard stare,

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but you know, a loving look is is just a

475
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great gift from one being to another.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

477
00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:55,079
Speaker 5: Yeah.

478
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Speaker 2: And how how often are we as humans in this

479
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crazy chaotic world we live in, How often do we

480
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truly feel seen?

481
00:26:05,519 --> 00:26:09,920
Speaker 3: Very rarely? Very yeah, yeah, you know, even with our families,

482
00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:12,720
even with coworkers, you know, people we see all the time,

483
00:26:12,799 --> 00:26:15,559
and and we're also busy in our heads, you know.

484
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:19,119
So that's what I think animals can bring to us,

485
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:23,160
is that moment of peace and presence and just the

486
00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:27,799
simplicity of just gazing into another being's eyes and recognizing

487
00:26:27,839 --> 00:26:30,119
there's a there's a soul in there. You know, it's

488
00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:34,200
not just a you know, a robot in fur or something.

489
00:26:34,279 --> 00:26:39,480
You know, it's it's a sentient being, right, Yeah, yeah, yeah, wonderful.

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00:26:40,039 --> 00:26:40,240
Speaker 1: Well.

491
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:43,160
Speaker 3: How can people get in touch with you and support

492
00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:43,599
your work?

493
00:26:45,279 --> 00:26:50,799
Speaker 2: My website Phoenix Rising dash s DSL for Service Dogs

494
00:26:50,799 --> 00:26:56,440
Saving Lives dot com and there they can fill out

495
00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:59,799
a contact me form, my emails, there, my phone numbers.

496
00:27:00,799 --> 00:27:06,079
I would love to hear people's stories, their thoughts.

497
00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:10,359
Speaker 3: Yeah, wonderful Well, Leah Atherton, thank you so much for

498
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:12,839
the good work that you're doing with your own dogs

499
00:27:12,839 --> 00:27:15,559
and with helping other people and getting the word out

500
00:27:15,599 --> 00:27:19,759
about how service dogs can transform the lives of many people.

501
00:27:20,279 --> 00:27:21,400
So thank you.

502
00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:26,279
Speaker 2: And thank you. This has been enjoyable. Thank you good

503
00:27:26,319 --> 00:27:27,519
and thank you for all you do.

504
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:31,119
Speaker 3: Well. Thank you so much. And you can learn more

505
00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:35,240
about our work at the Humananimalconnection dot org and you

506
00:27:35,279 --> 00:27:38,279
can read my book The Human Animal Connection that explains

507
00:27:38,319 --> 00:27:41,440
our thirty three principles of healing, the work that we've

508
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,319
done with shelter dogs and rescue dogs, and how many

509
00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:47,119
of them have become therapy dogs that have transformed lives.

510
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:49,200
So we'll see you on our next episode.

511
00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:50,039
Speaker 2: Bye for now.

512
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:53,839
Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning into The Human Animal Connection Show.

513
00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:59,279
Please visit our website, the Humananimalconnection dot org. There you

514
00:27:59,319 --> 00:28:02,799
can sign up for our free email newsletter, book a consultation,

515
00:28:03,279 --> 00:28:06,839
or check out our blogs and resources. Our best selling book,

516
00:28:07,039 --> 00:28:11,119
The Human Animal Connection is available on Amazon, and your

517
00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:15,559
donation of any amount keeps our nonprofit organization providing life

518
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:16,680
changing services.

519
00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:22,799
Speaker 5: Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on Petlifradio

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00:28:23,079 --> 00:28:32,799
dot com