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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: Hello everyone, Welcome to the Human Animal Connection. It's going

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to be a fun show because it's all about donkeys.

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Today I'm speaking with Suzanne Velaskaz and she is the

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director of Forever Home Donkey Rescue and Sanctuary in Benson,

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Arizona in the US. And I'm so happy to have you, Susanna,

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been looking for vodkars. Yeah, so tell me just how

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did you become How did donkeys become the center of gamers?

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Speaker 4: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: Well, it wasn't the center of my universe until about

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six years ago. I was full time RVN came out

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for a tour by Fluke. I was just somebody just

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asked me in general. I didn't even know the person

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if I'd liked to join them to go with the

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tour because her husband didn't want to go to see

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the donkeys, which it was his mistake. There it's so yeah.

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And we came out and I just fell in love

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with the place. The rescue had already been as a

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private it was a private sanctuary at the time when

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I came out and her and I started volunteering four

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days a week. I felt better when I was out here.

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I felt healthier, I was smiling more, I was more happy.

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And I asked to say for the summer to help

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them out during the summer, volunteer during the summer, and

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they had a space and RB space here and they

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invited me to come with my RV here and I've

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been here for six years now, lest Jay never left.

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Speaker 5: Okay, what is it about donkeys that just got you?

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Speaker 2: What really happened was I was I had ended a

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long term marriage and I was kind of lost. I

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didn't know who I was. What was you know what

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my purpose is anymore? If I'm not a wife, you

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know anymore? What's my purpose? And I had been sick

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really six In two thousand and eight, I was treated

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at Mayo Clinic for hypervigilance. I had a near death experience,

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and then the home situation also because of adoors wasn't

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real healthy for me either, and they had had me

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on three xanax as a day just to keep me

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like this doesn't you can't really function real well and

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drive and do all that thing on three xan x's

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a day. And when I started coming out here and

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volunteering with the donkeys, I felt I felt myself feeling better,

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better than I had prior to even being on medication.

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And as I was here, about six months into the

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time that I was here, I was walking across the

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wash area between between shelters and I had adrenaline rush

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and I haven't had an adrenaline rush in over thirty years.

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So I thought I was dying. I was having a

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heart attach. I was something's wrong. John the Fountain, one

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of the founders here at the rescue, had to take

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me a TMC and Tucson forty five mists away because

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he thought I was having a heart attach too, because

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my heart was just racing. And I ended up having

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to go back to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and they

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told me that being out around the donkeys and what

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I'm doing with my life right now has brought me

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down from that hypervigilance. So I was all up here

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where adrenaline. I was already at adrenaline rush all the time,

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and that my body was going, Oh, something's wrong. You're

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not up here anymore. You need to be you need

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to be up here. We need to give you this

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little rush. And it took me probably about good seven

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months after that to be off my medication, which is

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huge for me. Yeah, and to be able to function

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on a daily basis without having that that fearful, that hypervigilance,

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that fight or flight mode all the time. And they

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they attributed to the donkeys, they said, that is healing you.

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And I truly believe it. I truly believe it. It's

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really wonderful something. Yeah, it's something else and I and

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that's why I'm here, that is out here. I have

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to pay back. I always tell people they rescued me,

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they rescued you.

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Speaker 5: The donkeys to the rescue. I know, well, donkeys have

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been you know, throughout history, they've been our constant support

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in times of peace and times of war and times

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of commerce and from Romeo and Juliet, I mean, there's

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so many things that donkeys have done in our lives,

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and they really have not gotten the respect that they deserve,

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you know.

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Speaker 2: And I found that, I found that they're almost treated

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as disposable animals, that they that they don't have a purpose,

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and and they have a huge purpose here and the

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but here in Arizona, I found that not to be

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the case. That they're disposable and people think of them

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as being replaceable, and they use them for rodeo practice,

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you know, roping practice and things, and if they break

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their neck or they break their leg, they just put

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them down and go get another one because they're disposable.

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And it's really sad because these donkeys are have more

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empathy than humans, I think, and I think they really

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just are just wonderful animals that the world needs, needs

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to say even more so.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think as humans, we owe them

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a great a great uh you know, we owe them

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some gratitude for and we owe them some amends, you know,

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for the fact that they've been misjudged, mistreated, and you know,

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like you said, disposable. And I think that's the work

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that we're both involved in. We just recently adopted to

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miniature donkeys and they are therapy donkeys and also my

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service donkeys, so I PTSD and they help me. They

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that the level of calming of just being with them

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is unbelievable.

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Speaker 4: I mean like if you could package this, you know,

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you know, oh, I know, it just makes of course

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make you do. But it's all fery urchin rhythm and

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people are starting to come around to find that out.

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We have seen over seventeen hundred people a year now

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here at the rescue. We get free tours at the

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rescue and they don't want to leave when the tour

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is over. We do a very casual We're on donkey time,

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so we do a very casual tour with them and

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our questions they ask so longer they can stay and

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just be around. And then we have a lot of

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repeat where they just want to be around the donkeys

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and they don't have that wherever they live at.

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Speaker 2: We have a lot of winter guests here in the

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area and they'll travel back up to Canada and they'll

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miss the donkeys, you know, you know, they'll they'll they

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wash on Facebook or they do something, but they truly

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miss that feeling that they have when they're around the donkeys.

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And sad that not everybody gets to live the life

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I get to live and have thirty one donkeys out

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here that I get to love on every day. But

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I do like like sharing those with those people. But

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they do they just they just help people feel better

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just still.

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Speaker 5: I mean, it's amazing what they can do with no words.

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Speaker 6: I know, I know, but.

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Speaker 2: Their eyes are so expressive. That's us about the donkey's eyes,

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and they know exactly what you're going to I still

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have my moments you said you have ptsc There's almost that.

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I might go a week and be just as calm

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as anything, and then one morning I wake up and

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I'm I'm up here in I don't know why, you know,

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there's not a reason why, but it just kind of

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like you just hit this gear in your back up

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here again. And it's usually Jasper then will tell me

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that I'm like that, and then he'll put his head

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in my chest and I'll just love on him a

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little bit, and then I feel so much better in

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the mornings, and then he usually comes up to me

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and go, oh, you're not right, well let them wrong

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about you. As he usually calms me down and he'll

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just put his head in my chest and I'll be

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able to rub his ears and everything, and you just

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spilled them a peace come up over you. And I mean,

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I truly believe they are saving me.

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Speaker 5: They are sense. They are so wonderful.

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Speaker 6: I know.

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Speaker 5: I one day I was rushing because it was the

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parade for Pack the Animal shelter here and we had

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to go. And I it was just disrupted my timing,

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my rhythm of feeding them and in the water and everything.

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And I left the house with the car with the

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two dogs for the parade and I got, you know,

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a half mile away, and I thought, oh my god,

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did I give them water? Did I the watter?

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Speaker 2: You know, like?

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Speaker 5: And so I ran back because like all these people

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were waiting for me to get there, and you know,

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so I was like in this little just routine stress mode,

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but stress, you know. And I walk into the thing

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and of course I had given them water. I had

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turned it off. Everything was fine because you know, we

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don't want the dogy feet to get wet. It's not

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good for them. So this will an important thing. I

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couldn't aside from not wanting to leave water running, but

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everything was fine. But they looked at me like and

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they ran for the first time ever. You know, they

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just like I'm not dealing with this energy.

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Speaker 2: Ye hurt.

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Speaker 4: Your energy is just way crazy shit, It's like, and

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it was so fascinating to me.

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Speaker 5: It was like within a second, I just sort of

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moved one foot towards them. I was just going to

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say goodbye and give them a little pet. No, they

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wanted nothing.

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Speaker 2: Here's some of them my mess like that in the

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mornings with me where I'm like, we're rushed. We're rushed

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for some reason and and we try not to be

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rushed around him and ours also our rescued animals were

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a lot of them had been abused before, so certain

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certain triggers for them. I may do a trigger that

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I'm not even sure that I'm doing it, but you know,

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grabbing their you know, rubbing them behind their ears or

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touching their ears or something, and it would just be

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the wrong donkey to do that too, and and that

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would cause commotion a little bit of commotion or whatever.

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And then usually they come back around again once say,

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as you're not going to hurt them, But when they

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that energy and this is just something's going on, like

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I reached in too fast or something, they will do that.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, it exactly like I really analyzed it after the fact,

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I said what to do? I remember I moved a

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foot forward and there was a slight lean and that

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was enough. They felt the energy. They knew the difference

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between me when I'm calm, which they love, and me

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when I'm not calm, and they don't want any part.

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And it was It's such a It was because I

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hadn't realized it. I mean, of course it should have

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been obvious to me, but it wasn't. No, I just

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didn't notice. I was unconscious in that moment, and they

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wanted no part of that energy, you know, And so

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they can really teach us how to regulate our own

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emotions by their awareness that there's sensitivity. You know, I

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wouldn't necessarily want a person saying to me, hey, calm down,

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you know, I'm not going to respect a human telling

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me that. But but a donkey giving me annoyance resth

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just run the you know, I mean they are or

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just giving you the hag just coming up and saying,

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are you okay?

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Speaker 2: Exact I don't mind that. I don't mind bad at all,

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but I do sometimes when I do go out there

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and I am a little off that day that did

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I mess them up for you know, I don't want

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to hurt them by my energy. And then I find

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out that they're just fine. They can make it lower

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their own heart rates, they can take care of themselves

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as a right fine, and they'll come back around and

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they don't hold grudges.

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Speaker 6: We do.

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Speaker 5: They exactly We did want all for us. So it's yeah,

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it's so good training. I mean, even our two little

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minis our mother and daughter. We didn't know that when

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we adopted them. The person didn't know it, but we

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found out for the looking at their records and stuff.

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But occasionally they'll have a bicker moment, like you know,

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usually it's about food, but sometimes about attention. And a

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bicker lasts maybe three seconds. It's like rah, you know,

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push it and then it's over and it's over, and

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then they're ready to go back to being, you know,

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in sync. These two very bonded donkeys, and it's so

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beautiful to be around two beings that have that kind

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of grace and synchronicity. The bondedness is very I think,

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very healing to watch that around, yes, yes it is,

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it is, and just to see how they interact with

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each other as very uh you We had to travel

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this past weekend and I had a donkey that went

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down in the trailer and I stopped at a gas

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station and saw her down, and all the other donkeys

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had moved over so they wouldn't hurt her, and they

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were just taking care of her.

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Speaker 2: Hy I had, you know, I unload them from the

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gas to the gas station and load them back and

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she pops right back up. She just couldn't stand up

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when I was moving. She just couldn't stand herself back up.

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But she was just their stern hold that she was fine.

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You know, everything was fine. They'd probably just gotten a

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little scuffle and knocked over and she wasn't able to

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get up. But all the other donkeys were away from her.

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They were taking care of her. They were protecting and

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exactly what the donkeys when they have a sick donkey.

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You'll have someone watching over and one of the donkeys

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will watch over it. You know, they're they're just taking

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care of them. And they just have that naturally, that

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empathy for each other in the herd and for and

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for humans that I don't know if you could, if

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you could copy that or maybe the other way. It

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has to be ma'am. It's so amazing. I mean, obviously

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there are some donkeys that are very traumatized, but it's

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amazing they forgive us for everything of thousands of years

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of mistreatment and they're still nice to us. We had,

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you know, we had a roping donkey that was out here, Cisco.

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He passed away last year. It took three years for

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John and Tish once he got here. He was young,

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he was only ten years old. Once he got here.

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It took three years for them to be able to

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handle him and stuff. And he's the first one when

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I came in six years ago. He's the first one

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that I did his hooves, you know, I cleaned his hands.

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He'd be the one that you know, he just real

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lovey lovey, and his life prior to coming here was horrific.

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There he had a lot of medical issues from that,

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like that roping life beforehand, and he just forgave us.

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And we just said he had the most gentle soul

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ever because it most forgiving soul, because he just he

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loved us. And how that I don't know if I

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could be like that as a human, if someone mistreated

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me that badly, if I could ever trust a human again.

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But he did. He trusted everybody. He trusted everybody that

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came around him after that.

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Speaker 5: That is so beautiful and it's a real lesson because

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we humans need we have trouble, we don't.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, even when we want.

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Speaker 5: To forgive, we were still holding energy. And to watch

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how these donkeys can see the new moment, be in

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the moment and has let go of even a lifetime

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of horror is just And I mean, there's such good

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role models for healing for us. I wish I could

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be more like I know, I wish I could a donkey. Well,

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I it is wonderful. Well, we're going to take a

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short little break, but when we come back, I want

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to talk a little bit about how donkeys can help

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us find our own sense of safety. So we'll talk

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about that in just a moment.

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Speaker 1: Hey friends. If you like what you're hearing and want

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00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,879
to learn more, check out doctor Joseph's book, The Human

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00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:57,240
Animal Connection, Deepening Relationships with Animals and ourselves, or visit

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00:15:57,279 --> 00:16:01,679
the website The Human Animal Connection dot org to book

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an online consultation. Thank you for loving animals. Now back

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to the show.

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Speaker 6: Let's Talk Pets on Petlife Radio dot com.

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Speaker 8: Welcome back to The Human Animal Connection Podcast. I'm Jeanie Joseph,

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and today we're talking all about donkeys with Suzanne Velasquz

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and she is the director of Forever Home Donkey Rescue

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and Sanctuary in Benson, Arizona. So one of the things

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that I love working with donkeys is people who have

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been traumatized have When people are traumatized, they lose a

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sense of safety. And one of the things that donkey

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the way we work with our therapy donkeys with people

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is we help them see how donkeys put safety as

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their priority. They won't put a foot forward that they

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don't want to put forward. They are absolutely attuned to

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what is safe what is not safe. They orient towards

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what is safe. They remove themselves from what is unsafe.

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And this is something that humans when they've been traumatized,

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their their sense of safety gets really messed with, you know,

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like they they will literally gravitate to what's familiar if

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they've been you know, traumatized over a long period of time,

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and it's instead of moving away from what's unsafe, they

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can move towards it, which is much to their detriments.

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So this is one of the ways that in our

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therapeutic program working with donkeys, that we help people reconnect

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with what this idea of what we call towards in

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a way meaning we want to orient moving towards what

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feels safe and good and away from what is not

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safe and not good. And the donkeys, you don't need

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to teach them this because this is what they're It's

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in their DNA, yes, and so just watching that seeing

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that process, you know, watching them, you know, the wind

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changes or a dog barks and they just look up

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and look. But if they're feeling safe, they go right

352
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back to eating or whatever. You know, it's just a moment.

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It's not something that endures. And just watching the whole

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of being alert, not being alert, being relaxed. And this

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is something that we help the humans find that in

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themselves again through working with the donkeys. So I wonder

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if you've noticed anything like that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And the thing about donkeys is that people think

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that they're stubborn and really not. They're really thinking about

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their safety on anything that they do, even if you're

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just leaving them and walking them around there. You wash

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their ears, we'll move, their mouth will move when they're thinking,

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and they're constantly thinking about that. What I found for

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myself safety wise, is that I let others around me

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tell me that, oh, you're taking too long to figure

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this out. You know, you have all these different voices

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that are telling you how to handle your fears. Find

368
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hypervigilance is very fearful. You're in a fight or flight

369
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all the time. And I was listening to the outside

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voices instead of listening to my own, and being around

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the donkeys, I see how they operate and how they

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do it, and then I can actually go okay, if

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it takes me five minutes to do this, to get

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over this sphere. I'm gonna take the five minutes. I'm

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not gonna worry if it's gonna hold someone else up,

376
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I'm not gonna worry about other people. I'm gonna start worrying.

377
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Just take care of myself. And that's really hard for

378
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people to do, is to take care of themselves, and

379
00:19:18,839 --> 00:19:21,640
that's what they need to do. But the donkeys do that.

380
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The donkeys care of themselves first. They do take care

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of people. If you're walking with them and you fall

382
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or whatever, they try not to step on you. I

383
00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:34,920
mean they try. They have the sense to not hurt you.

384
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They don't want to hurt you. But that's the main

385
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thing about them is that is that they are so

386
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self They have such a strong self preservation gene in

387
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them that it makes you grow your own It really does.

388
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It makes you feel like, Okay, I can take their

389
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time too. If it's gonna If they're gonna take five

390
00:19:53,519 --> 00:19:56,119
minutes across the river, then I'm gonna take five minutes

391
00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:59,119
and do this. You know, I'm gonna take five minutes

392
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and get over this sphear of mine and uh, I

393
00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:06,559
find that they're very helpful it's bad doing that, And

394
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for me it's it's been huge because it just just

395
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took all them. You have those voices in your head

396
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that are telling you that you know, you should, you know,

397
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I should be doing this. Everybody else does this faster,

398
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or everybody or this or everybody else can go into

399
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a store and I and I have a problem some

400
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:26,519
days where I'm not going around people that day, things

401
00:20:26,559 --> 00:20:29,240
like that, so the everybody else can do it. And

402
00:20:29,319 --> 00:20:32,440
you have that negative talk and donkeys don't have that.

403
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They just want to do what'sever positive and whatever. And

404
00:20:35,599 --> 00:20:38,240
then and just watching them and being around them, you

405
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start learning yourself how to how to self, how to

406
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do self care for yourself and that.

407
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Speaker 5: Yeah, that's huge for me. It's yeah, it's so important

408
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in all these crazy terms for donkeys that that you know,

409
00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:52,720
it implied that they're stupid or stubborn or just all

410
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they're just ignorant, ignorant, ignorant, you know who. You are

411
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here to educate people about their wisdom and about their

412
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grace and about their empathy. And it's just so beautiful.

413
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So one of the things I love about the shelter

414
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that you're with is that the donkeys have a lot

415
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of freedom. Can you tell us like the routine of

416
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:11,839
the day and how they they do have freedom.

417
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Speaker 2: We let the donkeys out after evening feed at eight

418
00:21:15,039 --> 00:21:18,279
thirty at night. We have thirty acres. They're able to

419
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roam on all thirty acres. We bring them in for breakfast.

420
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I come out of the house at seven. They bray

421
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at me at five when I get up and they're

422
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already telling me it's getting ready for breakfast. But I

423
00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:31,519
come out at seven o'clock and we start putting them

424
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in and we feed them. By about eight o'clock they're fed,

425
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They have their hay. They each one have their individual pins,

426
00:21:37,799 --> 00:21:41,240
so there's no herd feeding being done so each one

427
00:21:41,279 --> 00:21:43,920
of them because of the history that each one of

428
00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:47,279
them comes from. Some of them came in overweight where

429
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they had funds of food, and then some of them

430
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have come very very skinny where they were starving because

431
00:21:52,799 --> 00:21:56,079
they were beginning kicked off that herd feeding. It just

432
00:21:56,119 --> 00:21:58,319
didn't work for them. So we make sure that we

433
00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:01,599
know exactly how much they're eating, and we do free

434
00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:04,960
tours out here at the rescue and then about eleven

435
00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:08,319
thirty twelve o'clock, the donkeys will be let out again

436
00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:11,920
after breakfasts and tours, and they'll come back in at

437
00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:15,200
four o'clock four thirty for evening feed again and then

438
00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:17,279
at eight thirty at night we do it all over again.

439
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:21,240
So they're mainly out on the thirty acres. This is

440
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a sanctuary home for them. They're safe out here and

441
00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:29,039
run the place. If we're working on a vehicle and

442
00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:32,000
we have tools laying around, we have donkeys with us.

443
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They're helping us. So they're very social animals out here,

444
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and we love having the public come out for tours.

445
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When we do our tours that they can get more

446
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socialization and we can just bring all those people in

447
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and get them donkey love and everything.

448
00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:53,799
Speaker 5: So get them donkey fied. Yeah, donka bibe yep. Okay,

449
00:22:53,799 --> 00:22:56,480
So your tours are by reservation only, right, yeah, right,

450
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you appointment only.

451
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Speaker 2: We are working ranch out here. We have well the

452
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humans have to go to the doctors sometimes, so it

453
00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:07,160
goes to the you know, we have to plan our

454
00:23:07,279 --> 00:23:10,440
month and so the earlier you could tell us when

455
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:12,640
you can come out, you know, to see if we

456
00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:15,880
have availability, the better it is. But we ask for

457
00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:18,680
at least twenty four hours now it's getting closer to

458
00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:22,599
forty eight hours. We're getting so full with tours right

459
00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:26,240
now that it's you know, we're booking up days, so

460
00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:28,920
we're asking for forty eight as soon as you know

461
00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:32,440
you're coming out. I have tours scheduled for in September already,

462
00:23:32,519 --> 00:23:36,240
so okay, I'm right. That's that's really We love talking

463
00:23:36,279 --> 00:23:39,519
about the donkeys. And we do have two open houses

464
00:23:39,839 --> 00:23:42,319
where you don't need an appointment to come at one

465
00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:46,160
of next weekend, the twenty second March. One of them

466
00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:49,200
is then, so I can find some information on our website,

467
00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:52,079
but we have we do that where we open it

468
00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:55,079
up to the public, no appointments necessary, and they do

469
00:23:55,119 --> 00:23:58,640
self guided tours. But we're here. We have like music, kids, crafts,

470
00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:01,799
things like that. Everything's free, so just have a good time.

471
00:24:01,839 --> 00:24:04,079
And the more people we can educate about donkeys and

472
00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:07,960
get them interested in donkeys and learn more about them,

473
00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:10,319
the better it is for us, the better it is

474
00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:13,160
for the donkeys in the future. That's just wonderful. And

475
00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:15,759
let's give folks your website. We'll do it again at

476
00:24:15,759 --> 00:24:19,319
the end. But what's your website. It's www dot Forever

477
00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:23,440
Home Donkey Rescue at sorry dot com.

478
00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:25,319
Speaker 5: Sorry dot dot com or dot org, dot com, dot

479
00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:29,279
com dot com Okay, wonderful. Yes, And what I'm excited

480
00:24:29,319 --> 00:24:32,160
about is our two organizations, both our nonprofit, the Human

481
00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:35,799
Animal Connection and your organization. We're going to collaborate on

482
00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:39,920
World Donkey Day, which is May eighth, twenty twenty five here,

483
00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:42,160
and we're going to do an event in Tucson. We

484
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:44,960
will be announcing the details as well you do your folks,

485
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:46,920
but we just want to let people know that it's

486
00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:49,880
free event. They can come and get a hug, they

487
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:53,680
can do some brushing, they can do some approved treats

488
00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:57,839
that will be visiting here. So there's just it's a

489
00:24:58,000 --> 00:24:59,960
it's a wonderful experience. You know, come get a pick,

490
00:25:00,039 --> 00:25:03,279
sure of yourself and the donkey, and it'll just you know,

491
00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:05,519
it'll just when you have a rough woman and you

492
00:25:05,559 --> 00:25:07,680
just look at that that donkey looking at you with

493
00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,920
those big brown eyes, those big soulful eyes, and and

494
00:25:11,039 --> 00:25:14,599
just that feeling of deep peace that comes when you

495
00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:18,240
when you are willing to connect with a being at

496
00:25:18,279 --> 00:25:22,200
a level that's respectful and kind, and they respect. If

497
00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:24,880
we come with like one hundred percent respect, they come

498
00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:27,319
with two hundred percent respect. They come with two hundred

499
00:25:27,319 --> 00:25:29,599
percent love. We come with one hundred percent love. They

500
00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,839
come with a thousand percent. You know, they just are

501
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:36,640
so more advanced in terms of the ability to just

502
00:25:36,759 --> 00:25:40,839
connect with us without any terms, without any conditions. You know,

503
00:25:41,079 --> 00:25:42,319
they just are.

504
00:25:42,279 --> 00:25:46,640
Speaker 2: Ready to love. Yeah, they're just they're just amazing animals.

505
00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:47,759
Speaker 5: They really are.

506
00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:50,200
Speaker 2: They are. And I and I call them people. That's

507
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:53,279
how much how safety they are? I said, exactly, Yes,

508
00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:55,839
when this or someone's doing this and it's a donkey,

509
00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:58,759
I'm talking about, it's not it's a dog, right, So

510
00:25:58,799 --> 00:26:02,000
I asked, it's been like it's junior, and yeah it is.

511
00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:04,720
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, one of the donkeys that you have in

512
00:26:04,759 --> 00:26:07,240
your sanctuary. We're so grateful he's there. Is a junior.

513
00:26:07,279 --> 00:26:09,200
He didn't belong to us, He belonged to someone else,

514
00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:11,680
but he was in a situation it wasn't as good

515
00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:14,200
for him as the one he's in now with you guys,

516
00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:17,880
and we're so happy to see him thrive. And we

517
00:26:18,319 --> 00:26:20,440
just started working with him where we've been working with

518
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:22,599
him for about three years, and we were just beginning

519
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:25,240
to put people down on a massage table in his

520
00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:29,720
corral and let him do whatever he wanted, which was

521
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:32,319
so interesting because he would go around and kind of

522
00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:36,279
sniff the areas where people had pain, and so he

523
00:26:36,319 --> 00:26:38,519
would just take a moment of just kind of being putting,

524
00:26:38,839 --> 00:26:41,079
resting his nose on a hip or on his shoulder,

525
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:43,920
you know, a head of foot, you know, and it

526
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:46,519
was it was one hundred percent accurate where he was

527
00:26:46,799 --> 00:26:50,240
sensing where the person needed the comfort and healing. Is

528
00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:54,599
it's just so exciting the possibility of a partnership with

529
00:26:54,759 --> 00:26:58,079
donkeys based on this mutual respect. And you know, we

530
00:26:58,119 --> 00:27:01,240
don't want them to become tools of that's not our method,

531
00:27:01,279 --> 00:27:05,559
but partners and healings where we are willing to say, okay,

532
00:27:06,039 --> 00:27:08,640
I'm ready to heal. I want to heal. And just

533
00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:12,599
by loving a donkey is a very healing experience for

534
00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:15,400
us because there are parts of us that have felt

535
00:27:15,519 --> 00:27:19,200
abused and misused and misunderstood and you know, burdened and

536
00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:22,440
all this other stuff, and to see to give a

537
00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:26,559
donkey love is a way of releasing some of our own.

538
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:30,759
Speaker 2: Baggage, right right it is. We actually took Jr. And

539
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,920
three other donkeys out to a retirement community this past Wednesday,

540
00:27:35,559 --> 00:27:38,519
and so he is getting out and doing his therapy.

541
00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:43,079
They re take him out to do to you know, kids,

542
00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:46,359
We have girl scouts coming this Saturday to see the

543
00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:49,160
donkeys and things like that. So we do take them

544
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:52,720
out and they do that. The hiking, the burrow, racing

545
00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:55,799
with the donkeys, the hiking with the donkeys. That's very

546
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:59,039
Not only are you in nature, but you're with one

547
00:27:59,079 --> 00:28:02,279
of one of the best animals to be ever in nature,

548
00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:05,559
with the dons as you're walking them or as you're

549
00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:08,839
running them. And we found that the runners, the runners

550
00:28:08,839 --> 00:28:12,599
that actually adopt donkeys to have a partner, a race

551
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:17,839
partner with. They treat them nicer, they feed them, They

552
00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:21,000
actually love this animal and it gives this animal and

553
00:28:21,079 --> 00:28:23,559
this human a connection and they go run, you know,

554
00:28:23,759 --> 00:28:26,799
like California all up to twenty nine mile or Colorado

555
00:28:27,079 --> 00:28:29,279
all the way up to twenty nine miles at ten

556
00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:33,000
thousand feet. They're with donkeys and you have to have

557
00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:37,079
that bond between them and it's wonderful. But all the

558
00:28:37,079 --> 00:28:40,680
people at the retirement community came out with their some

559
00:28:40,759 --> 00:28:44,319
of them had walkers with their walkers. They all wanted

560
00:28:44,319 --> 00:28:46,519
to see it. They were on their balconies looking down

561
00:28:46,519 --> 00:28:49,680
at the donkeys. They were all involved with the donkeys.

562
00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:53,720
They had wonderful They treated us very nicely there, but

563
00:28:53,759 --> 00:28:56,519
the donkeys were the hit of this. Yeah, they had

564
00:28:56,519 --> 00:28:58,640
a source of contest going on, but it's all about

565
00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:03,160
the donkeys. It was really really nice and I really

566
00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:07,279
enjoy that. I love seeing the faces of people where

567
00:29:07,359 --> 00:29:10,200
you see, oh my gosh, they're so happy, they're so

568
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:13,079
and they'll and they'll say it, I missed the donkeys.

569
00:29:13,319 --> 00:29:15,160
I need to get my donkey fixed. I need to

570
00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:18,359
do this. And I love that about about being able

571
00:29:18,359 --> 00:29:19,400
to share that with people.

572
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:22,519
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's just really wonderful because it's I mean, all

573
00:29:22,559 --> 00:29:24,680
animals are wonderful. It's not like one is better than

574
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:27,480
another better, but there is something. You know, for some people,

575
00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,039
a horse might be too big, too scary. You know,

576
00:29:30,079 --> 00:29:32,920
a donkey is half that size about or you know,

577
00:29:33,079 --> 00:29:35,720
and it's just in the we have many donkeys, so

578
00:29:36,079 --> 00:29:40,119
it's just the it's just the fear dissolves and the

579
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:41,279
joy emerges.

580
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:43,839
Speaker 2: It does, it does, and you can see it. It

581
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:47,079
just transforms people. And just in the tour you can

582
00:29:47,119 --> 00:29:49,799
see it. And then you see kids that have never

583
00:29:49,839 --> 00:29:52,480
seen a donkey, or adults that's never been around a donkey,

584
00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:54,920
just learn more about a donkey and then they go, oh,

585
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:57,640
a donkey's my favorite animal, or a donkey's you know

586
00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:01,279
that this is my favorite and I really like that.

587
00:30:01,359 --> 00:30:04,799
And hopefully we can get more people involved with donkeys

588
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:08,920
so they're not disposable anymore. So they do have a

589
00:30:09,079 --> 00:30:13,079
value here in Arizona, and that'd be a huge goal

590
00:30:13,119 --> 00:30:13,480
to meet.

591
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:18,160
Speaker 5: Yeah, wonderful, wonderful. Well, I think if you're just learning

592
00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:20,039
about donkeys for the first time, you've got to go

593
00:30:20,079 --> 00:30:23,160
find yourself somebody who's got some donkeys. You can get

594
00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:26,559
some donkey love, or help another organization, you know, in

595
00:30:26,599 --> 00:30:29,440
whatever way you can help us. We love your donations

596
00:30:29,839 --> 00:30:32,839
and join us for a World Donkey Day on May eighth,

597
00:30:33,119 --> 00:30:35,759
or join us online and keep in touch with us.

598
00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:39,200
Suzanne Leascos, thank you for all the love and all

599
00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:41,319
the good work that you're doing, and we can't wait

600
00:30:41,319 --> 00:30:42,240
to see you on May eight.

601
00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:45,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you, I appreciate it. Thank you Even.

602
00:30:45,519 --> 00:30:48,960
Speaker 5: Listening to the Human Animal Connection podcast. I'm Jeanie Joseph

603
00:30:49,079 --> 00:30:52,440
and we'll see you in the next episode. Bye for now.

604
00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:56,000
Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning in to the Human Animal Connection Show.

605
00:30:56,400 --> 00:31:01,559
Please visit our website The Human Animal Connection. There you

606
00:31:01,599 --> 00:31:05,079
can sign up for our free email newsletter, book a consultation,

607
00:31:05,559 --> 00:31:09,119
or check out our blogs and resources. Our best selling book,

608
00:31:09,319 --> 00:31:13,359
The Human Animal Connection is available on Amazon, and your

609
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:17,880
donation of any amount keeps our nonprofit organization providing life

610
00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:18,960
changing services.

611
00:31:19,759 --> 00:31:24,319
Speaker 6: Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on petlight

612
00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:37,079
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