WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.789 --> 00:00:06.320 Welcome to the Soul Touched by Dogs Podcast, the show for dog lovers who 00:00:06.340 --> 00:00:12.000 see dogs not as toys or tools, but wise souls worth our respect and care. 00:00:12.580 --> 00:00:14.559 I'm an Herrmann, and I'm your host. 00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:20.560 I talk to poor some humans, people who do great work for dogs and their people. 00:00:21.099 --> 00:00:23.360 So come and join us for today's conversation. 00:00:25.108 --> 00:00:27.998 Anke: Hello and welcome back, I have to say. 00:00:27.998 --> 00:00:30.298 Kathy, I'm delighted to have you here again. 00:00:31.428 --> 00:00:32.878 Kathy: I am delighted to be here. 00:00:32.878 --> 00:00:35.308 I love what you're doing, Souls Touched by Dogs. 00:00:35.358 --> 00:00:36.348 How wonderful. 00:00:37.778 --> 00:00:38.428 Anke: Absolutely. 00:00:38.458 --> 00:00:44.528 And, um, I'm curious to hear, I mean, let's just start at the beginning. 00:00:44.528 --> 00:00:47.148 For people who haven't heard the first episode with you, 00:00:47.148 --> 00:00:49.518 that's, that's been a while back. 00:00:49.998 --> 00:00:53.538 Let people know where you're based and, you know, what's your business with dogs? 00:00:54.403 --> 00:00:54.903 Kathy: Terrific. 00:00:54.933 --> 00:00:55.393 Wonderful. 00:00:55.403 --> 00:00:56.203 Thank you, Anke. 00:00:56.213 --> 00:01:00.503 So, for 20 years, what I've really done is I've helped other rescues get 00:01:00.523 --> 00:01:04.693 visibility for their dogs, because it's just random that somebody happens to 00:01:04.693 --> 00:01:08.433 see a post on Facebook, because we all live on Facebook and Instagram, right? 00:01:08.793 --> 00:01:10.523 And so that's the way we get it out. 00:01:10.563 --> 00:01:13.363 Pet Finder, Adopt A Pet, those are very clunky. 00:01:13.363 --> 00:01:14.693 They don't really get the message out. 00:01:14.693 --> 00:01:15.733 They're hard to search. 00:01:15.953 --> 00:01:17.773 You know, the dog is often gone. 00:01:17.773 --> 00:01:19.213 It's manual to upload it. 00:01:19.213 --> 00:01:22.753 So, for 20 years, what I've really done is Use my connecting networking 00:01:22.753 --> 00:01:24.933 skills to help rescues place their dogs. 00:01:25.273 --> 00:01:28.963 And then I've taken adopters from people that are frustrated 00:01:28.963 --> 00:01:30.913 because most rescues don't reply. 00:01:30.933 --> 00:01:32.873 They just don't act like businesses. 00:01:33.233 --> 00:01:36.683 And so if you have a high value proposition, what we call like a 00:01:36.693 --> 00:01:40.533 doodle or little foo foo dog or golden retriever, you're going 00:01:40.543 --> 00:01:42.013 to get a hundred applications. 00:01:42.683 --> 00:01:46.793 And they don't have any mechanism for going back to people. 00:01:46.793 --> 00:01:49.573 Now, if we were in business together, we'd have an email marketing 00:01:49.573 --> 00:01:54.293 system, a CRM, automatic replies, and they just don't set it up. 00:01:54.773 --> 00:01:56.633 And you can't talk to them about it either. 00:01:56.633 --> 00:01:57.903 It's just really frustrating. 00:01:57.903 --> 00:02:00.383 It, the business stuff goes in one ear and out the other. 00:02:00.683 --> 00:02:05.303 So I helped place a golden retriever in the end of 22. 00:02:05.633 --> 00:02:10.173 He had been abused, physically abused, beautiful, drop dead, gorgeous, cream 00:02:10.173 --> 00:02:16.583 golden, I love goldens, I love all dogs, and it went viral with 1, 800 shares. 00:02:17.083 --> 00:02:20.483 So my phone is in my ear going ding, ding, ding all day long, Facebook 00:02:20.503 --> 00:02:24.203 Messenger, Facebook Messenger, and Messenger is also very difficult to work 00:02:24.203 --> 00:02:27.292 with, they disappear, they go further and further down, you can't find them. 00:02:27.293 --> 00:02:28.033 Find them again. 00:02:28.033 --> 00:02:32.053 If I go searching for Anke, I'll come up with 8 million Anke's all over the world. 00:02:32.083 --> 00:02:32.403 Right. 00:02:32.783 --> 00:02:36.833 And so I started an Excel spreadsheet of all these people that wanted 00:02:36.833 --> 00:02:41.153 this dog, but this particular dog had PTSD and he was big. 00:02:41.213 --> 00:02:42.773 And so we had a lot of restrictions. 00:02:43.023 --> 00:02:45.753 So I had all these people that wanted gold retrievers. 00:02:46.263 --> 00:02:47.473 And I look at it like a business. 00:02:47.743 --> 00:02:48.893 Like I have leads. 00:02:48.923 --> 00:02:50.253 I have homes for dogs. 00:02:50.253 --> 00:02:51.913 Let's find dogs who need homes. 00:02:52.603 --> 00:02:53.003 Right? 00:02:53.383 --> 00:02:55.973 And I went to all my rescue friends, I couldn't get them to focus. 00:02:55.973 --> 00:02:57.593 It was like, can you find goldens? 00:02:57.623 --> 00:02:58.463 Do you have any goldens? 00:02:58.503 --> 00:02:59.753 Have you seen any goldens? 00:03:00.063 --> 00:03:01.033 I live on the East Coast. 00:03:01.033 --> 00:03:02.653 I live in Westchester County, New York. 00:03:02.933 --> 00:03:04.203 There are no goldens out here. 00:03:04.633 --> 00:03:05.973 Oh, they're very, very few. 00:03:05.993 --> 00:03:08.563 There's only a couple golden retriever rescues for each state. 00:03:08.573 --> 00:03:09.603 They're very specific. 00:03:09.623 --> 00:03:10.543 They have wait lists. 00:03:10.863 --> 00:03:12.403 They're often not very nice. 00:03:13.173 --> 00:03:16.833 And so believe it or not, through a commodity deal I was doing with a guy 00:03:16.833 --> 00:03:23.112 in Texas, I met a guy in Dallas who was taking dogs off Craigslist Goldens. 00:03:23.373 --> 00:03:28.053 He loves goldens and he had applied to the golden rescue out there 00:03:28.053 --> 00:03:31.463 when he came back from Iraq and they denied him for a silly reason. 00:03:31.793 --> 00:03:33.963 So he went on a personal mission to find goldens. 00:03:34.413 --> 00:03:36.713 And so I didn't actually set out to start a rescue. 00:03:36.713 --> 00:03:38.843 I was like, dude, if you have goldens, I have homes. 00:03:39.998 --> 00:03:42.478 And then all of a sudden I'd done this for 20 years, but I 00:03:42.478 --> 00:03:44.078 always had a rescue in between. 00:03:44.358 --> 00:03:45.288 Now it was us. 00:03:45.348 --> 00:03:47.458 It was like, Oh, we need fosters. 00:03:47.498 --> 00:03:48.938 Oh, I need vet care. 00:03:49.068 --> 00:03:51.138 Oh, I need a transport to the East coast. 00:03:51.178 --> 00:03:53.138 Like how am I getting this dog to Connecticut or New 00:03:53.138 --> 00:03:54.318 York or wherever it was going? 00:03:54.318 --> 00:03:55.868 So that's how we started. 00:03:55.868 --> 00:03:58.248 We started officially in March of 23. 00:03:58.248 --> 00:04:01.508 It was originally called the Golden Retriever Lovers with Brad and Kathy. 00:04:01.988 --> 00:04:05.528 And then we had a formalized, we got so busy so quickly. 00:04:05.528 --> 00:04:07.888 We did 32 dogs in four months, all Goldens. 00:04:09.068 --> 00:04:11.248 And so I built up this humongous network. 00:04:11.278 --> 00:04:13.068 We rescue all over Texas. 00:04:13.288 --> 00:04:17.298 We've saved 275 dogs in 19 months. 00:04:17.888 --> 00:04:22.678 About 60 percent of those are golden retrievers, so we formalize it into 00:04:22.678 --> 00:04:28.378 the Golden Project, but the tagline is saving those with hearts of gold. 00:04:28.818 --> 00:04:31.498 Oh, and just like touch by a soul, right? 00:04:31.508 --> 00:04:32.558 Dogs touched by a soul. 00:04:32.578 --> 00:04:34.518 I think every dog has a heart of gold. 00:04:34.948 --> 00:04:38.228 So we are best equipped because goldens have been our focus. 00:04:38.228 --> 00:04:43.468 We do goldens, we do great pairing mixes, we do labs, but invariably 00:04:43.468 --> 00:04:45.038 I end up with other dogs. 00:04:45.038 --> 00:04:48.358 So lately we've been doing doodles and so we work. 00:04:48.433 --> 00:04:50.653 Just like a business, we work backwards. 00:04:50.653 --> 00:04:55.443 We get people onto a pre approved adopter list, and then we find the 00:04:55.443 --> 00:04:57.413 dog or match the dog to the home. 00:04:58.603 --> 00:05:02.533 Most rescues will post a dog, which we have some of those as well. 00:05:02.733 --> 00:05:05.353 We're just posting and randomly hoping that somebody sees 00:05:05.353 --> 00:05:06.263 the dog and falls in love. 00:05:07.158 --> 00:05:08.588 But we know our dogs really well. 00:05:08.588 --> 00:05:09.578 We're foster based. 00:05:09.638 --> 00:05:14.118 We have 65 foster families in Dallas, all over Dallas. 00:05:14.598 --> 00:05:18.328 And we have transport set up to come up from Rio Grande Valley, which is 00:05:18.328 --> 00:05:20.218 the valley of death for so many dogs. 00:05:20.538 --> 00:05:23.398 So Texas is like a third world country when it comes to dogs. 00:05:23.598 --> 00:05:24.768 They don't neuter spay. 00:05:24.768 --> 00:05:29.098 It's very poor in many areas, uneducated in many areas, very large. 00:05:29.458 --> 00:05:33.958 Rural areas, ranchers get great peonies, they don't neuter spay, don't take them to 00:05:33.958 --> 00:05:38.108 the vet, they breed, more puppies, puppies get dumped, puppies get thrown into 00:05:38.108 --> 00:05:41.028 garbage pails and dumped in suitcases. 00:05:41.048 --> 00:05:43.728 It's just tragic what we see on a daily basis. 00:05:44.068 --> 00:05:46.208 So that's the background on the Golden Project. 00:05:47.108 --> 00:05:51.548 Anke: Wow, that is just like such a, and I love that you're coming at this 00:05:51.568 --> 00:05:56.188 with this business hat because I think one of the reasons I even started 00:05:56.188 --> 00:06:01.408 Soul Touched by Dogs was that I often saw, you know, rescues, literally what 00:06:01.408 --> 00:06:05.288 you're saying, you know, it's the same in Spain, they just pop it on Facebook 00:06:05.318 --> 00:06:09.388 and then, you know, and then pleading for money and then you've got bullshit 00:06:09.408 --> 00:06:13.898 artists hanging off it and, and it all gets like, people don't trust it and 00:06:15.603 --> 00:06:17.963 It's not really run like a business. 00:06:18.273 --> 00:06:23.013 It isn't run, it is not well organized and even it's more an 00:06:23.023 --> 00:06:25.233 attitude than a financial thing only. 00:06:25.283 --> 00:06:30.073 So it's that, um, so what are quite, I mean, I love the idea to 00:06:30.073 --> 00:06:33.973 like, okay, let me find the, let me find potential homes first. 00:06:34.033 --> 00:06:38.153 Or like you had those and now let's find them the dogs, which I love 00:06:38.173 --> 00:06:45.953 because all of a sudden it's not, Like the whole perception changes, right? 00:06:45.953 --> 00:06:51.163 It's not just like you do, you're kind of doing the dog a favor or it's this pity 00:06:51.183 --> 00:06:53.263 kind of thing, like, oh, rescue the dog. 00:06:53.283 --> 00:06:55.553 Now, all of a sudden, the dog's the prize, right? 00:06:56.303 --> 00:06:59.753 And you have to apply for it and you have to, you know, What kind of 00:07:00.293 --> 00:07:07.133 criteria are you looking for when it comes to pre approving, um, a home? 00:07:07.873 --> 00:07:08.663 Kathy: So, good question. 00:07:08.663 --> 00:07:09.963 People ask us that, right? 00:07:09.963 --> 00:07:12.853 What we really want, Anke, is we want to know that our dog is going 00:07:12.853 --> 00:07:15.093 to be loved and cherished forever. 00:07:15.303 --> 00:07:18.713 We want to know that they're financially capable of something happening, right? 00:07:18.733 --> 00:07:22.063 If a dog, a golden especially, is prone to eating things, right, they're 00:07:22.073 --> 00:07:22.872 chewed, they're chewed, they're chewed. 00:07:22.973 --> 00:07:25.903 And especially if they're puppies, and if that sock goes in, it 00:07:25.903 --> 00:07:27.663 can twist around the intestines. 00:07:28.053 --> 00:07:31.983 And I just talked to an adopter this morning, and her mini golden dooda had to 00:07:31.983 --> 00:07:35.873 be put down at six years old because it was the second time he ingested something, 00:07:36.173 --> 00:07:39.593 and they'd already taken out part of his intestines on the first surgery, so they 00:07:39.593 --> 00:07:41.303 said he wouldn't survive the second one. 00:07:41.983 --> 00:07:45.453 So, you know, and they had tried to be really careful, but three boys 00:07:45.453 --> 00:07:48.483 in the house, plus daddy, you know, all playing sports, and there's 00:07:48.483 --> 00:07:49.823 invariably going to be socks. 00:07:50.223 --> 00:07:54.473 And, you know, some dogs are just So, you know, that kind of 00:07:54.473 --> 00:07:56.863 surgery can be 3, 000 to 5, 000. 00:07:56.873 --> 00:07:59.863 So we want to make sure if they can't afford our adoption fee, 00:08:00.193 --> 00:08:02.143 then that's a flag for us, right? 00:08:02.183 --> 00:08:06.913 And if somebody is really well referenced or friends with somebody 00:08:06.913 --> 00:08:10.273 that we know, like another adopter, and they highly recommend, and they 00:08:10.273 --> 00:08:13.243 may be going through a financial crunch right now with kids in college and 00:08:13.243 --> 00:08:17.303 renovating the house, then what we ask is we ask them to buy pet insurance. 00:08:18.613 --> 00:08:21.183 So this way we know that our dog will be taken care of. 00:08:21.263 --> 00:08:23.223 So, so that's one of the big things. 00:08:23.223 --> 00:08:24.943 We don't want the dog back, right? 00:08:24.993 --> 00:08:25.533 Period. 00:08:25.653 --> 00:08:28.883 You know, I don't want to re home a dog that's very traumatic on the dog. 00:08:28.883 --> 00:08:29.913 It's hard on us. 00:08:30.443 --> 00:08:34.083 Um, we do do a three hour driving distance from any board member or key 00:08:34.083 --> 00:08:36.933 volunteer, but that gives us 11 states. 00:08:38.048 --> 00:08:41.698 Um, and when I do the criteria here where I live, I live in Westchester 00:08:41.698 --> 00:08:45.588 County, so we're little villages, 000 people in each village. 00:08:46.068 --> 00:08:49.988 Because I rode my horse for years, we have 130 miles of trails, I know 00:08:50.008 --> 00:08:53.458 so many roads, I know the houses, so I'm real comfortable, like, and 00:08:53.468 --> 00:08:57.018 I'll also have Facebook friends in common or LinkedIn people. 00:08:57.038 --> 00:09:01.018 I have 167 common LinkedIn connections with one adopter. 00:09:01.453 --> 00:09:04.363 So it gives me a high degree of comfort in terms of knowing who they are. 00:09:04.573 --> 00:09:09.123 Once we get out to Texas, it becomes much more difficult because it's so large. 00:09:09.443 --> 00:09:12.063 Just driving within Texas could be 10 hours. 00:09:12.683 --> 00:09:16.593 And once you get out into the boonies, into the country, you know, you just 00:09:16.593 --> 00:09:20.943 don't have as many vets, you don't have orthopedic surgeons, you know, the closest 00:09:20.943 --> 00:09:22.923 one can be 90 minutes, two hours away. 00:09:23.308 --> 00:09:25.728 And so if something happens to your dog, they're not going to be seen. 00:09:25.738 --> 00:09:27.248 So those are the things that we look at. 00:09:27.608 --> 00:09:30.298 Um, I'm very blessed in this foster system. 00:09:30.298 --> 00:09:32.778 I have these angels, these amazing angels. 00:09:33.088 --> 00:09:35.128 I built a private Facebook group. 00:09:35.668 --> 00:09:41.458 We don't let anyone in until they are approved to adopt or foster or volunteer. 00:09:42.058 --> 00:09:44.288 And so we built this sense of community. 00:09:44.888 --> 00:09:48.848 And so when I put a dog up, we just recently took a starving dog, it looked 00:09:48.848 --> 00:09:52.528 like a skeleton, it was a black mouthed cur, and she was out on the streets of 00:09:52.528 --> 00:09:55.718 Rio Grande Valley next to a dog that we thought was a golden, who's not a 00:09:55.718 --> 00:10:00.688 golden, and she was so skinny, Anke, you would just cry looking at her. 00:10:00.928 --> 00:10:03.858 So I was hoping another rescue would step in, but unfortunately 00:10:03.868 --> 00:10:07.308 everybody works in urgency, so once we got the dog off the street into 00:10:07.308 --> 00:10:09.783 boarding, Then the urgency is gone. 00:10:09.793 --> 00:10:11.003 No other rescue stepped up. 00:10:11.003 --> 00:10:12.183 So we have a black mouth curve. 00:10:13.303 --> 00:10:16.473 So I put a plea in the, in the group. 00:10:16.483 --> 00:10:19.223 I put a picture of her and I said, we're taking Rita off the street. 00:10:19.223 --> 00:10:21.453 If anyone can help with food, she's so skinny. 00:10:21.453 --> 00:10:22.473 We need puppy food. 00:10:22.473 --> 00:10:23.453 We need stew. 00:10:23.833 --> 00:10:25.443 We need, um, de warmer. 00:10:25.703 --> 00:10:27.653 And oh my goodness, people are so generous. 00:10:27.653 --> 00:10:31.863 They sent six bags of this very expensive food that we use and 00:10:31.903 --> 00:10:34.082 stew and de warmer and food. 00:10:35.433 --> 00:10:37.173 People are just so generous, you know? 00:10:37.173 --> 00:10:39.983 So, um, so we have this wonderful sense of community. 00:10:39.983 --> 00:10:43.063 We got Rita up to Dallas, which is a 10 hour drive. 00:10:43.313 --> 00:10:45.323 We have a transport that comes up on Mondays. 00:10:45.633 --> 00:10:50.183 And she has heartworm, both tick borne diseases, a leper respiratory 00:10:50.373 --> 00:10:54.023 infection, parasites, and ear infections. 00:10:54.573 --> 00:10:59.533 So, she's already cost us 300 for the first visit and heartworm will be another 00:10:59.533 --> 00:11:01.663 600, spay and neuter and everything else. 00:11:01.943 --> 00:11:03.573 So, you know, she'll be at 1200. 00:11:03.713 --> 00:11:05.863 Anke: Everything is so expensive, right? 00:11:06.358 --> 00:11:09.288 Kathy: Well, Texas is cheap, cheap, cheap for spay and neuter. 00:11:09.288 --> 00:11:14.088 I mean, I pay, I pay under 200 for spay and neuter here on the East Coast. 00:11:14.088 --> 00:11:15.998 The cheapest I can get is 300. 00:11:16.288 --> 00:11:17.988 Yeah, so big difference. 00:11:18.008 --> 00:11:22.698 It's 1, 100 usually if you're a regular person going in on the East Coast. 00:11:22.938 --> 00:11:28.448 Anke: So if somebody is thinking of getting into all of this, right, uh, so 00:11:28.448 --> 00:11:32.848 hey, well I wanna, and I would imagine a lot of people sort of stumble into 00:11:32.848 --> 00:11:36.958 the whole rescue thing, they probably, I would imagine you find a dog and you 00:11:36.968 --> 00:11:39.798 find another dog and before you know it you have a rescue kind of thing. 00:11:40.178 --> 00:11:54.402 So what is something that like, Anke Herrmann, Taming the Tech Monster, Anke. 00:11:55.703 --> 00:12:00.493 How does one go about setting this up in this well structured way so that 00:12:00.503 --> 00:12:05.743 the dogs aren't just like, you know, on a list and just with a way there? 00:12:06.763 --> 00:12:09.283 Kathy: Yeah, so that's a very difficult question. 00:12:09.283 --> 00:12:12.673 So what we hope to do is I'm working on some major deals and I hope 00:12:12.673 --> 00:12:16.297 to be able to create a foundation and put tools in it and a primer. 00:12:16.658 --> 00:12:19.758 If I actually had a book that actually said this is step 00:12:19.768 --> 00:12:21.678 one, two, three, four, right? 00:12:22.008 --> 00:12:23.698 That would have made it so much easier. 00:12:23.698 --> 00:12:25.338 I didn't know 501c3. 00:12:25.338 --> 00:12:26.568 I'm not good at administrative. 00:12:26.568 --> 00:12:29.298 I don't have an assistant, you know, like hiring an attorney. 00:12:29.298 --> 00:12:30.698 Should we do a dual registration? 00:12:30.698 --> 00:12:33.468 There's so many, many pieces. 00:12:33.468 --> 00:12:35.578 You have to be licensed in each state, you know? 00:12:35.578 --> 00:12:38.288 So what I would suggest, I was an independent rescuer. 00:12:38.288 --> 00:12:39.758 I stayed in between. 00:12:39.758 --> 00:12:41.588 I had five of my own dogs all the time. 00:12:41.588 --> 00:12:44.678 Lots of cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, you know, once you're set up for one 00:12:44.678 --> 00:12:46.068 thing, it's like, ah, what's one more? 00:12:47.618 --> 00:12:51.318 And so I think, um, some people can get in over their head. 00:12:52.378 --> 00:12:55.808 So I would say suggesting, plan it out just like a business. 00:12:56.028 --> 00:12:57.498 How many are you going to take? 00:12:57.518 --> 00:13:00.248 Are you going to be foster based or kennel based? 00:13:00.618 --> 00:13:02.668 Are you going to do a specific breed? 00:13:02.718 --> 00:13:04.718 Are you going to take from a certain area? 00:13:04.968 --> 00:13:06.638 How are you going to adopt? 00:13:06.898 --> 00:13:09.028 You know, a lot of this, I just stumbled through. 00:13:09.028 --> 00:13:10.248 We needed fosters. 00:13:10.278 --> 00:13:13.158 I started, the guy I started with could take one dog at a time. 00:13:13.728 --> 00:13:18.848 Um, and he works full time and he has a mouse tracker on his computer so his 00:13:18.848 --> 00:13:20.518 boss knows whether or not he's working. 00:13:20.828 --> 00:13:23.308 So he can't get up and run out in the middle of the day. 00:13:23.838 --> 00:13:27.758 Um, and so we're very, very blessed to have these amazing angels. 00:13:27.758 --> 00:13:29.458 I mean, we took a dog off death row. 00:13:29.698 --> 00:13:30.908 I didn't know she was pregnant. 00:13:31.298 --> 00:13:34.428 And this foster way out in the country happened to be in the city 00:13:34.428 --> 00:13:39.918 and saw my post and volunteered and we had 14 dogs, 14 puppies. 00:13:40.118 --> 00:13:42.018 She bought incubators, hand fed them. 00:13:42.018 --> 00:13:44.618 So finding people like that are what you need. 00:13:44.928 --> 00:13:47.198 You need to have angels around you. 00:13:47.248 --> 00:13:50.208 People that are willing to do the work aren't going to say, Oh, sorry, I 00:13:50.208 --> 00:13:51.641 can't drive at nine o'clock at night. 00:13:51.641 --> 00:13:52.698 It's past my bedtime. 00:13:53.383 --> 00:13:53.633 Right? 00:13:53.633 --> 00:13:55.863 Because we never know when we have to go pick up a dog. 00:13:56.383 --> 00:13:57.453 Anke: So true, so true. 00:13:57.643 --> 00:14:00.293 So, you know that book you wish you had? 00:14:00.303 --> 00:14:01.153 Are you going to write it? 00:14:02.543 --> 00:14:03.463 Kathy: I am, yeah. 00:14:03.463 --> 00:14:05.463 We're going to do, actually, we're going to do a couple things. 00:14:05.483 --> 00:14:09.343 We're going to set up a software directory of all the dog 00:14:09.343 --> 00:14:10.713 rescues in the United States. 00:14:10.973 --> 00:14:12.113 We're going to require audits. 00:14:12.783 --> 00:14:15.123 We're going to pay for the audits under X, we're going to give them 00:14:15.123 --> 00:14:20.003 a discount on audit fees between X and Y, and then over Z, they'll pay 00:14:20.003 --> 00:14:23.093 for it every year, the others will be random once every three years. 00:14:23.363 --> 00:14:27.373 That gets rid of the scam rescues, because there are scam rescues out 00:14:27.373 --> 00:14:30.703 there that take pictures of a maciated dog, the dog I was talking about, 00:14:30.703 --> 00:14:34.763 Rita, take her picture, nobody knows whether or not they actually have it. 00:14:35.353 --> 00:14:40.343 Anke: Yeah, and you see that a lot here and I know, yeah, I had a, you know, a 00:14:40.343 --> 00:14:44.913 project going on in like, well, 10 to 11 years ago and that was a big problem 00:14:45.193 --> 00:14:49.273 that you get people who take these photos and then just go out beg for 00:14:49.283 --> 00:14:53.283 money and don't even have the dog or have no intention of helping any dog. 00:14:53.283 --> 00:14:56.613 They just, you know, take advantage of people who want to help but then 00:14:56.633 --> 00:15:00.453 they get burned and then they're not going to help the dogs that really 00:15:00.453 --> 00:15:02.063 need it and that's a big problem. 00:15:02.063 --> 00:15:03.366 So, It's a huge problem. 00:15:03.366 --> 00:15:05.398 I love that you have that control on it. 00:15:06.208 --> 00:15:06.468 Kathy: Nope. 00:15:06.538 --> 00:15:10.058 So if you have the financial rating, so now we have sort of a Yelp rating, right? 00:15:10.328 --> 00:15:13.028 And then in this foundation, we're going to give them actually video 00:15:13.028 --> 00:15:16.538 training for their employees, for their, for their volunteers. 00:15:16.768 --> 00:15:17.958 We're going to give them the primer. 00:15:17.958 --> 00:15:20.518 We're going to give them access to things like, I didn't even know 00:15:20.598 --> 00:15:21.948 you could buy your own microchips. 00:15:22.218 --> 00:15:24.128 We can buy our own microchips for 5. 00:15:24.813 --> 00:15:27.423 It's 80 on the East Coast to get a microchip. 00:15:27.663 --> 00:15:30.772 Out in Texas, it's usually 25 to 30. 00:15:30.773 --> 00:15:33.083 But they'll only charge you 10 to input it. 00:15:33.463 --> 00:15:38.863 So if I have 5 cost and then 10, it's 15 rather than 25 or 30. 00:15:39.113 --> 00:15:41.823 And when you're doing as many dogs as we are, it really adds up. 00:15:41.953 --> 00:15:44.833 You know, every couple of months we have another spay paid for. 00:15:45.223 --> 00:15:47.443 So that's the, you know, so that's one of the things that I 00:15:47.443 --> 00:15:51.273 didn't know and you can't actually buy them until you're 501c3. 00:15:51.273 --> 00:15:52.873 So, you know, all that sort of stuff. 00:15:52.873 --> 00:15:54.823 So we are going to put this out there. 00:15:54.833 --> 00:15:57.353 We're going to, my goal is to make this more efficient. 00:15:57.923 --> 00:16:01.573 Because there are so many dogs, we overlap one another as rescues. 00:16:01.793 --> 00:16:05.073 Sometimes we're going after the same dog, the same dog gets publicized, 00:16:05.113 --> 00:16:08.813 nobody updates as to whether or not it's been adopted or rescued. 00:16:09.263 --> 00:16:11.863 And, um, so we do a lot of accountability. 00:16:12.323 --> 00:16:16.023 And so I show pictures of the five dogs that went on transport the 00:16:16.023 --> 00:16:19.043 other day, leaving Texas and then arriving in New York, and then we 00:16:19.428 --> 00:16:20.918 The pictures of the happy dogs. 00:16:21.178 --> 00:16:24.118 Last week we adopted 16 dogs in one week. 00:16:24.488 --> 00:16:26.578 And we've taken 9 in this week. 00:16:26.848 --> 00:16:28.668 So we're very, very active. 00:16:28.678 --> 00:16:31.568 You know, so we give accountability for that. 00:16:31.768 --> 00:16:34.388 You know, and that's the thing that's really missing. 00:16:34.648 --> 00:16:35.868 Is the accountability. 00:16:36.083 --> 00:16:37.073 And you just don't know. 00:16:37.073 --> 00:16:37.683 And transparency, 00:16:37.723 --> 00:16:38.033 Anke: right? 00:16:38.693 --> 00:16:42.463 Yeah, because that's the trust building and I think that it's always, it always 00:16:42.463 --> 00:16:45.863 comes down to trust, you know, just like you want to be able to trust the, 00:16:46.343 --> 00:16:50.473 the, the, the homes or like the people who adopt it or the people foster. 00:16:50.783 --> 00:16:52.643 It's like, yeah, people also need to trust you. 00:16:52.683 --> 00:16:56.753 So it's that, and that transparency makes, makes all the difference. 00:16:56.753 --> 00:16:57.283 I love that. 00:16:57.713 --> 00:17:01.543 Yeah, this whole, like, I love how you put your business hat on to 00:17:01.543 --> 00:17:07.003 run this in this, you know, yeah, I think in that sensible, sensible way. 00:17:07.003 --> 00:17:08.543 I don't even want to say like a tight chip. 00:17:08.543 --> 00:17:10.183 It doesn't even feel like a tight chip. 00:17:10.193 --> 00:17:12.363 It just feels like, oh, there's common sense. 00:17:12.363 --> 00:17:13.433 There's a business hat on. 00:17:13.433 --> 00:17:14.873 There's like efficiency. 00:17:15.123 --> 00:17:19.763 There's transparency that actually makes this so much more impactful, 00:17:20.023 --> 00:17:23.373 you know, because I would, I don't, I have no numbers to compare to, 00:17:23.373 --> 00:17:27.383 but like the number of dogs you've saved in such a short amount of time. 00:17:27.383 --> 00:17:29.573 I mean, that is just Mind blowing. 00:17:30.533 --> 00:17:31.913 Kathy: I, I think it is a big number. 00:17:31.913 --> 00:17:34.743 I mean, the first nine months we'd done almost a hundred and one of 00:17:34.753 --> 00:17:38.203 the other volunteers, you know, was like, do you know how amazing that 00:17:38.203 --> 00:17:39.683 is for a brand new organization? 00:17:39.683 --> 00:17:41.443 We weren't even a 5123, right? 00:17:41.443 --> 00:17:43.173 So we're running this through one of my businesses. 00:17:43.173 --> 00:17:45.233 So we've made some mistakes along the way. 00:17:45.233 --> 00:17:48.153 We've had some learning lessons, you know, we've only made a couple of mistakes on 00:17:48.153 --> 00:17:50.123 fosters, but those have been painful. 00:17:50.353 --> 00:17:52.253 We've made a couple of mistakes on adopters. 00:17:52.273 --> 00:17:53.893 Those have also been very painful. 00:17:53.903 --> 00:17:56.753 So we learn from that and we try to get better and better. 00:17:56.753 --> 00:17:58.923 I'm again, very lucky that I have the people. 00:17:58.993 --> 00:18:16.143 Um, I think there's some real potential for AI to be able to 00:18:16.173 --> 00:18:18.123 make this process more efficient. 00:18:18.453 --> 00:18:20.743 One of the big problems is posting your dogs. 00:18:20.743 --> 00:18:23.903 By the time you post a dog, especially the way we do it, and put the 00:18:23.903 --> 00:18:25.243 bio up, the dog could be adopted. 00:18:25.898 --> 00:18:29.218 And so then taking the dog down and putting a new one up right? 00:18:29.228 --> 00:18:30.448 Nine new dogs this week? 00:18:30.458 --> 00:18:33.568 That means that we would have to have bios, all the vet updates, 00:18:33.578 --> 00:18:36.628 and everything and we don't get them vetted until next week, right? 00:18:36.628 --> 00:18:38.408 So do we wait until next week? 00:18:38.408 --> 00:18:41.688 But in the meantime, I could have an adopter and if they're local in in 00:18:41.688 --> 00:18:45.228 Texas, I could, if they're close enough and open, they can actually take the 00:18:45.228 --> 00:18:46.568 dog and bring it to the appointment. 00:18:46.808 --> 00:18:49.258 You know, so there's a lot of things out there. 00:18:49.258 --> 00:18:52.728 A lot of times I have had very deep conversations with two of 00:18:52.728 --> 00:18:55.928 my rescue friends and this just goes in one ear and out the other. 00:18:56.158 --> 00:18:59.468 I could see one at lunch, her eyes were glazing over. 00:18:59.468 --> 00:19:01.528 She's a social worker, right? 00:19:01.678 --> 00:19:04.948 And another one, I was explaining it and she goes, yeah, I 00:19:04.948 --> 00:19:06.178 just want to save more dogs. 00:19:06.528 --> 00:19:08.788 And they just don't understand that this would make the 00:19:08.788 --> 00:19:09.956 whole process more efficient. 00:19:09.956 --> 00:19:10.712 I mean, that's the 00:19:10.712 --> 00:19:13.538 Anke: thing, if it's more efficient then you can save more dogs, right? 00:19:13.923 --> 00:19:17.823 So yeah, I don't know, like my little business, my little business mind goes, 00:19:17.823 --> 00:19:19.733 Oh my God, this is how this should work. 00:19:20.083 --> 00:19:21.963 So where can people get in touch? 00:19:21.963 --> 00:19:26.083 So if somebody goes, Oh, I would love to run my rescue in a more efficient 00:19:26.093 --> 00:19:30.343 way, or I want to get into this, or, you know, I want to get you in touch 00:19:30.343 --> 00:19:35.693 with our local rescue who isn't kind of, Catching on to like needs the education 00:19:36.023 --> 00:19:39.463 and get that shortcut to not having to figure it out on all by themselves. 00:19:39.473 --> 00:19:41.243 So where can they find you? 00:19:41.253 --> 00:19:43.223 You know, how can they get? 00:19:43.293 --> 00:19:44.773 Kathy: Yeah, so I want to be careful. 00:19:44.843 --> 00:19:49.493 I can't spread myself too thin because running the rescue already 00:19:49.503 --> 00:19:51.023 takes a huge number of hours. 00:19:51.283 --> 00:19:54.853 I left the house at 7 30 yesterday and I got back at 8 30 at night, you 00:19:54.853 --> 00:19:57.713 know, so I was here for a few hours in the middle of the day, but we 00:19:57.713 --> 00:19:59.503 had a crisis, two crises going on. 00:19:59.543 --> 00:20:02.163 So, um, so the Golden Project. 00:20:02.248 --> 00:20:06.618 is our Facebook page, which we have a fair amount of followers 00:20:06.628 --> 00:20:07.678 and get more every day. 00:20:07.998 --> 00:20:12.638 I have an Instagram page that I started a few months ago, and I do video every 00:20:12.638 --> 00:20:16.738 morning of me hiking in the woods, and I talk about what dogs, sometimes I talk 00:20:16.748 --> 00:20:19.538 about food, natural flea and tick, etc. 00:20:19.538 --> 00:20:20.578 We're very holistic. 00:20:20.578 --> 00:20:23.818 And the goldenprojecthearts at gmail. 00:20:23.838 --> 00:20:27.518 com is our email address, so that would be the easiest way to reach me. 00:20:27.533 --> 00:20:30.223 And I'll obviously pop that in the show 00:20:30.223 --> 00:20:32.303 Anke: notes, and it's going to be easy. 00:20:32.303 --> 00:20:35.533 I'm going to make it as easy as I can to find you, but not so easy that 00:20:35.533 --> 00:20:36.843 you don't have time for the dogs. 00:20:38.313 --> 00:20:38.593 Kathy: Great. 00:20:38.663 --> 00:20:39.113 Perfect. 00:20:39.123 --> 00:20:39.583 Wonderful. 00:20:39.593 --> 00:20:39.803 Anke: Awesome. 00:20:39.803 --> 00:20:40.993 Well, thank you so much. 00:20:41.013 --> 00:20:46.393 I think this is a real, um, this is this glimmer of hope in that world where 00:20:46.393 --> 00:20:51.563 it's easy to get discouraged by so, so much misery to actually see how things 00:20:51.563 --> 00:20:56.908 can be done better and, Save so many dogs, I think, can only congratulate 00:20:56.908 --> 00:21:01.738 you and thank you for coming and sharing what's been happening in the last year. 00:21:03.318 --> 00:21:03.928 Thanks, Anke. 00:21:03.928 --> 00:21:04.758 I appreciate you having me. 00:21:04.758 --> 00:21:05.458 Have a wonderful day. 00:21:06.508 --> 00:21:06.928 Thank you. 00:21:07.804 --> 00:21:09.034 Thanks so much for listening. 00:21:09.554 --> 00:21:13.854 If you enjoyed the episode, don't forget to subscribe, and leave a review so 00:21:13.954 --> 00:21:15.734 other dog lovers can find the show. 00:21:16.524 --> 00:21:20.014 If you haven't already, head over to soul touched by dogs. 00:21:20.444 --> 00:21:26.014 com and sign up for weekly doggy cuteness tips, recommendations, and personal 00:21:26.114 --> 00:21:28.484 stories to warm your dog loving heart. 00:21:28.484 --> 00:21:32.214 And if you know a pawsome human you think I should interview, 00:21:32.634 --> 00:21:33.774 I'd love an introduction. 00:21:34.254 --> 00:21:36.084 Email me at Anke. 00:21:36.354 --> 00:21:40.589 That's A N k E at Soul touched by dogs.com.