Speaker 1: Is pet Life Radio. Let's talk pets. Welcome to Animal
Rights on pet Life Radio. This your host, Tim Link,
and I'm so glad you're joining us today. Got a
super fun show, really heartwarming show.
Speaker 2: One.
Speaker 1: It will definitely tap into your heart, tap your intuition,
your instincts and all this wonderful things. And of course
it involves a dog, so we have to do that.
Of course, we're going to be talking to author Jen
Wilson about her latest book, Healing Powers of a Rescue
Dog in Galaxy Books called Galaxy. So we're gonna talk
to Jen a little bit about the book and how
it all came about, and obviously hear some of the
tales from Galaxy, which not giving away everything. And then
we'll come back and talk to you a little bit
about writing the book. How was that and was that
super duper easier? Was that really hard? So we're going
to pick her brain a little bit about that as well.
So everybody hang tight. We'll come back right after this
commercial break. You're listening to Animal Rights on pet Life Radio.
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Speaker 1: Welcome back to animal rights on pet Life Radio. Joining
me now is author Jen Wilson, and to her by
her latest book, The Healing Powers of a Rescue Dog
in Galaxy. Jen, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: We're glad to have you on board. And obviously you
know everybody's going to pick up a copy of the book.
They're going to see the beautiful and talented and big
hearted pity on the front named Galaxy. So tell us
a little bit about Galaxy and a little bit about
the book in general.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, absolutely. Galaxy is a seventy five pound laptoc.
She is a giant couch potato. People are her favorite
things aside from food. She will do anything, go anywhere
to get food. And yeah, the book is really just
her story and how we found her from a shelter
years ago now and the lives that she touched and
the influence that she made. And now she's retired, so
she's a full time couch potato. But we still go out,
we still have fun, she still makes all of her friends,
and yeah, it's it's a really good story.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely absolutely. And I always tell people, you know,
I'm a former president of a humane society, so I
know a little bit about that, and I've adopted obviously
numerous numerous dogs and cats and other animals over the years.
But I always say that animals tend to find us.
We don't always find them. And so on this particular day,
you went to a shelter with some expectations and were
those expectations exactly what you walked down the door with?
Speaker 2: Oh, I absolutely agree with you. You don't choose the dog,
The dog chooses you. And that was absolutely the case
with us. When we went to the shelter. They were
having a special event that weekend where they were waiving
all adoption fees, and my son had been hounding us
for a dog for years, so we finally decided we
would go and we would see. And the only thing
we knew was that, you know, we wanted a big dog,
and I had more experience with dogs and my husband did, so,
you know, the final decision on temperament, energy level, things
like that would be mine. And so we went to
the shelter and we walked in and we'd actually found
another dog, and that was the one that we're like, yeah,
this one looks good. And then my husband had walked
off to find an employee to bring the dog out
and kind of let us socialize with the dog a bit,
and my kid and I continued walking down the aisle
of kennels and we found this big, giant, bulky tank
of a dog, the chopped off ears, just laying in
the front of her kennel, just quietly watching everyone walk by.
All the other dogs were barking and losing their minds
because there were new people and new things to be
excited about, but she was just lying there, and they
had bags of treats on the edge of the kennel that,
you know, you could give the dog a treat if
the dog was calm. So I reached in and gave
her one, and she was so gentle, and so when
all my husband came back with the employee, I said, actually,
let's let's let's try this one instead, and we pulled
her out and fell in love instantly.
Speaker 1: She was our one nice. So she super intelligent obviously
because she's thinking, hey, everybody else is causing chaos, I'm
gonna be nice and calm. That'll be something different. Of course,
we know, yeah, because we know there's there's always the
heart connection there. And as I mentioned, you know, they
always find us in some fashion. And I love the
love these stories because people will say, you know, I'm
gonna look for particular breed or particular size a dog,
or you know, I'm not going to get a dog,
I'm you know, and they show up at the doorstep
or these type of things, and that's I agree with you,
and I will hardly believe that the right and perfect
one comes along. So you get Galaxy. Galaxy gets acclimated
at home and finds the favorite couch to sleep on.
I'm sure. But there was a lot more, a lot
more going on in Galaxy, and a lot more Galaxies
did offer and continues to offer. You want to share
a little bit more on Matt, Yeah, actually with us.
Speaker 2: You know, we knew nothing about her when we brought
her home, only that she had been adopted previously and
then returned. But there was no idea as to why,
no ideas to were passed before she was first brought
to the shelter, So we knew nothing, and we brought
her home and within a week inside our house and
with us, she was absolutely perfect. She knew what could
be chewed on and what couldn't. She was house trained,
she was polite, like she understood the broundaries. I never
had a dog so in tune with me as she is,
because I grew up with shepherds and cattle dogs and
herding dogs, which always I adore them so much. But
there's always the air of independence that Galaxy absolutely did
not have. And it was probably the easiest time I've
ever had teaching a dog rules of a new house.
But we very quickly learned that there were some underlying
behavioral issues, and anytime anyone new came into the yard,
anytime anyone new came around her, she would be utterly petrified.
Just this high pitched, squeaky, constant barking, and she'd be trembling,
she would be Yeah, she would be a mess. And
even trying to take her to the vet for her
first checkup was unordeal. She got herself so stressed out
and so worked up she actually made herself sick. And
I kind of realized, like, this is a problem. I
have a seventy pound pit bull breed. It's my first
time ever owning a pit bull breed, But now I
have a dog that is so utterly terrified. She absolutely
loses her mind and one day, if I don't fix this,
she's gonna bite somebody and it'll be out of absolute terror.
But it's not going to change a fact that this
is gonna get worse if we don't fix this. So
we hired a professional trainer to help us work through
some of her issues. We got her to the point
where she could handle a vet visit, and we learned
quite a few things. She had been treated absolutely horrendously
by her first owners. Her ears were cut off with
scissors and no anesthesia, and the vet told us he
can always tell immediately because the first ear looks okay.
The second ear is the big tell. For him because
the puppies obviously in pain, it's struggling, and it's always
kind of crooked and kind of jagged, and that was
one of the mildest things that they did to her.
So we definitely got some context for some of her
issues and it did help because it gave our trainer
a more concrete plan for how to move forward and
how to work her through those issues and work her
through that fear. And now you know, eleven years, ten
years later, she views every new person as her new
best friend. She will go right up to people, want
to be petted, want to lean against their legs so
they can.
Speaker 1: Pet her whole body.
Speaker 2: It's it was Our trainer was amazing. He definitely helped
us so much.
Speaker 1: That's great. Yeah, so it's you know, getting the dog
that catches your heart, but don't give up on them
because they still have to figure it all out themselves,
specially if they've been through some challenges in her life.
And then Galaxy has become through all these challenges, all
the things that she went through in all these years
before finding her right and perfect forever home. She then
sort of became more known for being having these great
healing qualities. And actually helping others even when she looked
like she's the one that needed the most help of all. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, actually she became AA she's a certified therapy dog.
Well she's retired now, but she was a certified therapy
dog and that was her mission. It got to the
point she like, that was her passion. She loved it.
It got to the point where, you know, she could
be in a dead sleep and she would hear someone
say the word work, and all of a sudden she
would be up and bounding at the front door, like,
are we going to work? Do you mean my work?
Can we go to work? Now? Let's go to work?
Can we go to work? And it was it was
really amazing how much she just kind of threw herself
into that and the ability that she had to make
connections with people and see them when they were lost
in their own darkness. And I try not to anthropomorphize,
you know, a dog, and I understand they process trauma
very differently than we do. But I like to think that,
you know, she endured her own personal health and maybe
that gave her a little bit of insight to help
others who were lost in their own.
Speaker 1: Yes, I love that I love that. I think your
spot on with that for sure, and it's great that
you recognize that, because, yeah, they're always here for a purpose.
You know, there's always a purpose that we all have,
but animals hold true to that the best they can.
So as long as we don't hang on to their
past for them and make it their story, we allow
them to release the past and go on with their purpose,
which obviously Galaxy is a master healer, so that's a
wonderful thing.
Speaker 2: Yes, And honestly I found out about it by accident.
We had just finished her. Part of her training to
work her through her fears and to help her build
confidence was to put her through the AKC canin Good
Citizen program and to sign her up for the tests
and get that certification. And she passed that with flying colors,
And after it was over, I felt like a little lost.
You know, I had bonded with her so much in
the six months and all the training and all of
the working and all of the having that purpose and
having that goal to work for it. It felt so amazing,
and I feel like it helped me bond with her
on such a deep level that once it was over,
I was trying to think of what I would do
with her now. And at that point I didn't know
that she could make that connection with people. I'd never
seen it until one day we were at the store
and this woman came up to us and said, your
dog is so beautiful. She's so well behaved. And I
was like, oh, thank you, she's friendly. You competit her
And the woman said, oh no, I'm too scared. I
don't want to pet her. I just I think she's
very beautiful and she's very well behaved. And I thanked
her and wish her a good day and we went
on our way. In two different times, as we were
walking through the store, she came up to us again
to compliment Galaxy, but every time she said that she
was too scared, she didn't want to touch her, And
every time I was like, I really appreciate that. That's
kind of making my day, Like thank you, Well, like
I agree with you. I think my dog is pretty
awesome too. And then finally at the while we were
standing in line at the checkout, she came up to
me again, and this time she confessed the reason for
her fear. She had a curly hair that was kind
of over her her ears, and she pulled her hair
back on one side, and her ear and the side
of her face had been completely mauled and shredded. And
it turns out when she was a child, she had
gotten attacked by a pit bull. And my heart just
broke for her. I couldn't even imagine what that must
be like. And then to see the scars and see
that in the mirror every time you look in the
mirror every day, and to carry that with you for
so long, Yeah, I was. I didn't know what to do.
I didn't know what to say. All I could say was,
you know, I'm so sorry that happened to you, But
that feels like not enough. But Galaxy was sitting, you know,
right at my heel, on my left side, where she's
supposed to be. And finally the woman, I guess, decided
that she was going to try and touch Galaxy, and
she reached out this hand to her, and it was
so slow, and Galaxy seemed to understand what was happening,
because normally, any time somebody acknowledges her existence in any way,
she's on top of them, wanting attention. But she seemed
to understand that, you know, moving toward the woman would
scare her and that that wasn't the right move to make.
So she stayed so still and let her whole big,
blocky face. Her expression just became so soft, and there
was this moment between Galaxy and this woman that was
profound to me. I had never seen anything like that
before and certainly had no idea that Galaxy could do
any thing like that and connect to this woman who
has been carrying this pain for for so many years.
And that was kind of I feel like that was
kind of Galaxy's way of telling me, like, Hey, this
is what I want to do, This is what I
want my life to mean. And I called the next
day one of the Therapy Dog Associations in Vegas to
get her certified and get her through the testing. And
I found that she can do that with anybody. It's
it's been a really amazing journey.
Speaker 1: Love it. I love it allowing her true colors to shine.
So I do love that for sure. Well, we're gonna
take a quick commercial break. We'll come back and container
conversation with author Jen Wilson about her book Galaxy, The
Healing Powers of a Rescue Dog and figure bring a
little bit about the book and how it is to
write a book like this. So everybody hang tight. We'll
come back right to this commercial break. You're listening to
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Speaker 1: Welcome back to inter Rights on pet Life Radio. Continue
our conversation with author Jen Wilson in her book Galaxy,
The Healing Powers of a Rescue Dog. So we know
how wonderful Galaxy is and how you allowed her to
have her true colors shine through and actually did a
lot of good for a lot of people. And now
she's got her just rewards being the couch potato and
choosing her very own couch as it should be. So
when you're looking back on all this and you see
and you remember all these wonderful stories, all the wonderful
things she's done throughout her life since she's been part
of your family, how did that transpire from these are ideas,
These are stories I probably tell friends and family to Hey,
I got to write a book and put all these
into a bound memoir. We'll say, who Galaxy really is.
Speaker 2: It was actually a very serendipitous process. I think I've
written stories about Galaxy online, little articles in different places,
and one day I got a response from a woman
who said, I'm an editor in New York and I
love this story. I think this would be an amazing book.
Would you be willing to work with me and write it?
And I said okay, And so I wrote the book.
It took me about five months to write it, and Judy,
my editor, she took over and she handled, you know,
polishing it, getting it ready for a publisher, and she's
she's the one who handled all of the back end.
So from my perspective, it was a very very smooth experience.
And the only thing was just patience.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because it's a long well, five months is nothing
when you're putting together a book. I've talked to people.
The last author I spoke to said it took her
five years to put it all down, but she didn't
have Maybe, you know, the right editor came along. Judy
Katz is your editor and co writer on the book.
And obviously Judy knows what she's doing.
Speaker 2: Oh keep amazing, But I love that.
Speaker 1: Fact that you know, in my mind, I when I
read through the book and from talking to you is
you know it's not like, hey, I've got to get
these out in the book and then I've got to
find somebody help me edit and I've got to find
it maybe an agent or I've got to find a
publishing house and pushing it forward. And like you said,
it was serendipitous, it was almost organic. You got these
great stories you wanted to share with people, you put
them out there in little bits, and of course when
the right, perfect opportunity came along, they're going to touch
someone's heart. And just so happens to be someone in
the Judy Katz who wanted to edit and push it
on down the road. And I just love that how
that just happened because in my mind's I it was
these stories need to get out. People need to know
what Galaxy is all about. And also how you know
you can learn from that. I'm sure there are people
out there saying, wow, I've experienced the same thing.
Speaker 2: Roll.
Speaker 1: I've had these same worries about you know, fear or
I've had these own self doubts and fear, and now
I see that, you know, a dog like Galaxy can
help me through those m absolutely.
Speaker 2: And the pull process was, like I said, it was
very smooth. The hardest part for me was I have,
you know, going on ten years now worth of stories
that are for me or silly or heart warming or scary,
and and that was something that Judy was so wise
and she was so helpful with was helping me pick
and choose the stories that would go into the book
and making sure that the entire book was telling the
message that we wanted to share with the world, which is,
you know, Galaxy story is a dog who saw the
absolute worst that humanity has to offer and was able
to turn that around. And now she's also seen the
best the humanity has to offer, and that's where she
chooses to align herself.
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it so as I always say,
write a great story about the animals in your life,
and you know who knows you not only will be
on this show, but you'll have a great book and
get a great message out there. So the kudos, thank you. Well,
where can people find out more about Galaxy and you
and your escapade, where you're going to be, Where to
get the book all that wonderful stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, we have a website Galaxythhealerdog dot com and
we also have an Instagram Galaxy dot Pitbull. And yeah,
we're going to be doing interviews and book tours and
book signings mostly in Vegas, a little bit in Salt
Lake City as well, but yeah, we'll.
Speaker 1: Be around fantastic. Well, we'll get that message out there
for sure, so everybody can track all the wonderful things
going on with author Jen Wilson and her brilliant dog Galaxy.
And of course the name of the book is Galaxy,
the Healing Powers of a Rescued Dog by Jen Wilson
and Judy Katz. Jim, congratulations, a wonderful job on the book.
Love the stories. We'll definitely love the message, and we'll
look forward to seeing you out there and definitely have
Galaxy big hype from me. Okay, oh absolutely, all right,
Well we're coming to end the show today. I want
to thank everyone for listening to Animal Rights on pet
Life Radio. I want to thank the producers and sponsors
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comments ideas for the show, you can drop us a line.
You can go to Petlife Radio dot com and I'll
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you may be the next guest on animalights pet life Radio.
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