Welcome to the Soul Touched by Dogs Podcast, the show for dog lovers who
see dogs not as toys or tools, but wise souls worth our respect and care.
I'm an Herrmann, and I'm your host.
I talk to poor some humans, people who do great work for dogs and their people.
So come and join us for today's conversation.
Anke: Hello and welcome, Leanne.
I'm super excited to have you here for the first time in my Zoom room under the
umbrella of dogs, so I'm delighted to have
Lian: you here.
Oh, my pleasure entirely.
Um, as soon as I heard what you're doing with Soul Touched by Dogs, I
was just like, that's just wonderful.
What a lovely creation.
And then the opportunity to talk about this, uh, again, I said to you earlier,
Soul are two of the things I probably think about and talk about the most.
So to be able to talk about how they interact with each other.
Perfect.
Anke: So you're in the right plot and the right place then.
So let's just start out.
Why don't you give people like a two minute birds eye
overview, like where you base.
You know, what's the day job?
Like, what's your connection with dogs?
Lian: So, um, I, I'm English, as you can probably hear from my accent, and live
just outside London in Hertfordshire.
Um, and we are very fortunate because we live in A very old country cottage
just surrounded by English countryside, which of course is perfect when you
love dogs and, uh, being able to sort of go out on like very muddy
walks, let the dogs run free is, uh, yeah, for me like heaven on earth.
So it's, um, my journey with with dogs.
I was raised in a very, like, animal loving household.
All kinds of animals, actually.
Like, my whole life we've had all sorts of different kind of animals.
Um, but certainly over the years I've realized, like, It's hard to say for
sure, but I think probably dogs are the ones that kind of really have my heart.
And from a very early age, my parents were, most of the time, very clear
that if we were to take on an animal, it needed to be a rescue animal.
Um, there's so many animals out there in the world that need help, need homes.
And so from a very young age, that was kind of like normal to me.
And so That carried on as I've got older and kind of old enough
to choose to have dogs of my own.
And in the last 10 years, um, since we've lived here, we've had various rescue
dogs kind of We've taken on all different ages, um, right from, all of them
rescued, but right, right from puppies.
The oldest we took on was an 11 year old, our dear, now departed, Mabel.
And each one of them has just brought, you know, so much joy, so many lessons, um.
Honestly, it's something I can't see.
We've got three at the moment and, uh, I have to say to my husband,
I don't know if we're done yet.
He thinks we are, but, uh, we'll see.
But, oh, that's a kind of snapshot of about me and dogs.
Anke: I love it.
I love it.
And it's very similar.
It's like very similar to mine.
Like, you know, that sort of upbringing and I've always wanted a dog and,
and always felt that connection, you know, really, really strongly.
Is there a particular lesson or like something that you thought,
Oh, I never imagined or never expected dogs to teach me that?
Lian: That's a great question.
The, I think because of the work I do, which is a kind of That in itself
is a, it's a hard thing to summarize but, you know, very much in the work
of individuation, really understanding who we are at that deepest soul level.
So I've got a very kind of, you know, shamanic spiritual lens on life,
which I really bring to everything.
And What I've really realised in sharing our, you know, opening up
our home, our lives, our hearts to these sort of series of dogs that each
bring their own, you know, blessings, but sometimes bring challenges.
And it's been something that over time I've realised the, the humility.
And generosity and patience that they can teach us and require of us is so
helpful for us and our own growth.
It can be so easy, I think, particularly in this crazy modern world where we're
so, we always want things to like fit neat boxes and be so productive and like, you
know, this A needs to follow B, you know, like this just keep going in this machine.
And Much of the work I do is inviting people to find ways to, like,
reconnect to their wild selves through, for example, nature reconnection.
And I think dogs are, like, a perfect gateway back to that.
You know, they, they, you know, technically are tame, and yet
are so much less tame than us.
You know, they really invite us back into that wild aliveness.
They really bring us back into our body, back into a sense of like, this
moment right now is what's happening.
You might have ideas, like it, it's funny really because I've hosted a podcast for
Pretty much the whole 10 years I've had, like, dogs in adult life, I've also hosted
a podcast, and I was joking to, uh, one of my team earlier, like, it's crazy, really,
that I run a podcast, and most of the time I'll have three dogs in this room with me.
I can quickly show you.
I can see one behind you.
There's one there,
Anke: one there, and another
Lian: one there.
And most of the time They're like they are now, guys.
Like, they, they, they know when I'm here, they meant to the rest of the
time, they used to eat all over me.
But here, they, they stay quiet and, um, get on with it.
But of course, that's not always the case.
If they see someone outside, if there's a squirrel, knock
at the door, they're in uproar.
And it's been such a great lesson for me that, like, I can't control that.
You know, that, that isn't, there's something out of my control and
there's things that I will do to, you know, like maximize the time
that I can, you know, actually have a conversation on the podcast, but
also just to recognize there's, there's so much, again, the humility
of like, I'm not in charge of life.
I'm not in charge of any of this really.
And again, bringing us back to that, like, life is just happening
in this moment, it's full of all of this chaos, all of these, these
calls for us to, like, realise who we are and how we're showing up.
Um, there's so much more I can say, there's a particular story I'd
love to tell you about, um, that I mentioned earlier, but I'll, I'll,
I'll pause there for a moment.
Anke: Yeah, no, I think, I think you're spot on with that, you
know, that connection where, yeah, no, a dog's just like, okay,
this, and this is what is, right.
And what I always find fascinating when you see a dog with, you know,
on a, in a wheelchair kind of thing, you know, when they kind of have,
don't have the use of their legs.
I don't care.
Like, let's play.
So they just don't have that.
They don't make up all these stories around like, oh, what that
means and what it doesn't mean.
It's just like, you get on with what you have and you make the most of
it and it doesn't stand in the way of joy and movement and playfulness.
And I think there's so much we can learn.
So much we can learn.
Yeah, for sure.
Now tell me, tell me about Mabel.
Lian: Oh, our beautiful Mabel.
So, she, I, at the time we had, uh, Laszlo over there who
was our first Rescue Vizsla.
And Weren't at all planning to get a second dog at that
point, famous last words.
The rescue charity that we got him from, I follow their Facebook page and of
course they're constantly sharing dogs that they've got in that need homes.
And I saw Mabel, and she was there kind of like, uh, like sugar face, all gone grey,
and just like looking into the camera with these just like eyes that burned into
your soul, and I just knew immediately, oh my goodness, she's meant to be with us.
And um, so I showed him my husband, he's like, he hadn't like, why, why on
earth would we be taking on another dog, let alone an 11 year old dog right now?
I don't know, but I know she's meant to be with us.
And, so.
Cut a long story short, she, uh, we were at the point where we were kind of like
really thinking, okay, we could offer a home, but it brings a lot with it, not to
least the fact our children then, they're now kind of a young teen, so this was,
um, maybe five years ago or so, so quite a bit younger, and we really knew that
she wouldn't be with us for very long, you know, a big dog, 11, they're not going to
last probably very long, and hadn't had a great life, she'd been in a kill shelter,
she'd been used as a breeding bitch, so.
wasn't in the best of health, you know, who knows how long we'd have her.
And so we're sort of in this like, shall we get her, shall we not?
And I had a conversation with my son, and he was probably about nine at the time.
And I was saying, you know, this is what we're thinking about.
But you know, if we do get her, we need to be prepared.
You know, we may not have her for long, and then we'll lose her.
And my son said something like to this day, I go back to and I think like,
oh my goodness, like, Just that showed me so much about what's really going
on when we take these animals on.
He said, well mummy, even if we only have her with us for six months,
at least she gets the opportunity to like spend the last part of her
life with a family who love her.
And it brings tears to my eyes again remembering like, he's just clarity.
Like he's not about us.
He's not about us.
You know, I was, I was even projecting my own, like, you know, that on my
children, that they can't put themselves aside for the dog, but they can,
they can feel this isn't about us.
And so we, we, uh, gave her a home.
She actually was with us, um, until she was 14.
So we actually had her for far longer than six months.
Really was.
And she was just amazing.
And in the end she lost her sight.
And it was so, she'd gone so blind.
It was such an old age.
She just couldn't seem to adapt to life as a blind dog.
Um, and the, I remember being in the vets when she was put to sleep and I've
remembered, I thought I'd guarded my heart, I thought because we'd taken her
on, knowing we wouldn't have her very long and we're almost doing it as a gesture
of like, you know, like generosity rather than it being like, we're getting the
dog, it's so exciting, but like, you know, again, like my son was saying,
you know, at least she'll have a family.
And so I thought I'd protected my heart, you know, like, We won't have a long
and, you know, won't get too attached.
I was so devastated in the vet.
I was, I was literally sitting on the floor, like, just in streams
of tears to the point where the vet said to my husband, is she okay?
That taught me another lesson.
I was so devastated and I came out of there, I was just like, There isn't
any protecting your heart from them.
That's not, that's not the game.
That's not the point.
That's not what this is all about, right?
No.
And, uh, I remember coming out of the vet, it's like, again, I still cry when
I think of her because she just was like, she, everyone kind of like was forced
to open her heart, their heart to her.
And just that whole experience has taught me so much.
I would, I would recommend, you know, just as a side, really anyone
that's in a position to take on an older dog like that, if you can do.
She taught me so much.
Anke: Yeah, and actually a friend of mine, she, um.
always takes in, you know, and when one passes, there'll be another one, and it's
always an older dog, you know, and, and it's, it's always that, you know, but it's
every time it's You know, usually they hang around a lot longer than one expects,
you know, and you do get attached to them.
Like, yeah, it doesn't matter if they, if it's only a few months or
a year or something, it doesn't.
Yeah.
I don't think there's like a time.
I don't think connection, I guess it's the same with people, right?
I think connection and time aren't strictly
Lian: related.
No, we think they are.
It's another thing, isn't it?
We project our ideas of like, this equals this.
Yeah,
Anke: because you can have that, you know, and I think you kind of said
it, it's like, okay, that, that, and I had like that sensation that
these eyes go straight through.
I had that in an extreme way with, with the one that's,
that's right here beside me.
You know, I was just like, yeah, I don't know, like these eyes go in, in a way
that the rational mind cannot follow.
Right.
And it doesn't matter how, and it's instant.
You know, so there is no, like, you don't need time to get used to
them or any of that, like, yeah, it's, it's, it's really instant.
And there's so much that, that, do you find, like, having more than one dog,
that was like, they were, for me, there were so many lessons that I didn't expect,
because there was always like, yeah, you know, dogs, they, they kind of very shaped
by you and your relationship, right?
And what I didn't really see coming is like how different they are, even
if they grew up in the same household,
Lian: right?
Completely, and also the way that Each new one coming in will shift the
dynamic between the three of them, so suddenly you see a different aspect
of one of them that you thought you knew really well, and you're like, oh,
I didn't know that was there for you.
Um, talking about that kind of like, eyes bearing into your soul, our recent
addition, Huxley, the uh, Sausage Dog.
Exactly the same thing.
We weren't at all planning to get another dog.
Um, my, my husband was like, no, two is definitely, I've got two
hands, two dogs is the maximum.
I had the exact same experience where I saw him, it was through the same rescue
charity, even though they're primarily business, uh, they come from Hungary and
they have kind of links with a Hungarian, uh, uh, fashioned rescue charities.
They often, uh, will show those on the page as well.
So anyway, I had the same experience.
I think by this point, my husband's like, okay, she knows something
I don't, we'll go with it.
And, um, He's, he's coming with such a, I think it is a bit like that
breed nature, like, they're actually quite similar to Vizsla's really,
you know, like Barry, lots of energy, lots of character, really soft, really
want to be with, with their family.
And, He's come in and it's so interesting because the, the one that's
off our camera at the moment, my long haired fizzler, he's the softest dog.
He is like a forever baby dog.
He's just absolutely gorgeous.
Like the, everyone just says like he's the softest dog in the world.
Like just not a bad bone in his body.
And it's been really interesting seeing Huxley come in and then the whole pack
obviously all shifts in relationship.
And now starting to see Ah, Watson's now realising, like, ah, I'm sort of
the baby, but I'm not really the baby.
But not really.
Yeah, I'm not the little one anymore.
And it's starting to get more, like, independent in a way that, like, I
never imagined, like, he's now five.
You know, by five you're going to get independent, you would have done,
but no, it took getting the little one for him to, like, oh, perhaps I
could, uh, be on my own sometimes.
But like you said, they are all just such distinct personalities.
It was funny, I did a podcast with, um, a chap for my podcast yesterday, and
we were talking about how sort of human centric we can be, where we can very
much think that we Everything in the world is here for us and doesn't have
its own sensuous, its own consciousness.
And, um, it's a world view that we've kind of like, it's a very modern
world view, and we then look at everything we do through that lens.
And how, even if we start to take a step back into a more, like, shamanic,
animistic lens, because we're still looking at it through that viewpoint,
it's like, oh, we see a crow.
And it's like, what does that symbolize?
Rather than, no, it's just, it's a being in its own right.
That crow, of course, has some commonalities with other crows, but
it's also its own individual being with its own needs, its own, you know,
I'm not going to reject too much kind of, again, human ways of being and
thinking, but it has got its own nature, its own way of being in the world.
And I think dogs are really great at reminding us that, like you're saying,
it's like you have more than one dog, you know more than one dog, you see
that these aren't just dogs as a breed that are here for humans to do what
they want with and to control and to own, each of them are their own beings,
all with their own right to life and own right to express themselves
and be in the world as they are.
And I think it's, again, really It's a helpful reminder, if we're
open to that lesson, I think we really need that as a species.
Yeah, I couldn't agree
Anke: more.
And I think it's one of the reasons I even started this, because I felt like
the narrative needs to be changed.
Like, we can't keep looking at dogs specifically, but I guess it applies
to other animals as well, as like, Oh, they're a tool, we use them when we
kind of, you know, or a toy for the kids, you know, or like, my emotional
support, like, you know, my psychological dumping ground, you know, so it's just
like, Respecting them for what they are, exactly how you say, like, you
know, they are their own soul, really, you know, and we have the privilege to
connect with them, but I don't think we have the right to control them.
Lian: Yeah, yeah, very much so.
Anke: Yeah, I love that.
So how can people find out more about the work you do and, you
know, about you and your pups and the business and all of that?
Yes,
Lian: I'm constantly, uh, if they're not showing up in the background on
podcasts, I'm constantly talking about them and sharing pictures of them.
Even though it's not what I actually do for a job.
And so, if you're listening to this in the early part of 2020, Four, you'll
find us@wakingthewild.com, but we are imminently about to, um, go to a rebrand
and we'll become be mythical.com.
So if you go to one or the other, they'll, um, redirect anyway, but
probably by the time you listen to it, we'll be@bemythical.com and we
have a free podcast, all sorts of offerings and, um, we share on, you
know, most social media platforms.
So find out more if anything I've said has, uh, resonated.
Anke: Love it.
Thank you so much for coming.
Um, I'm glad we finally made it together.
It wasn't the last one.
Lian: It's been delightful.
Thank you so much for inviting me.
It's been gorgeous conversation.
Thank you.
Thanks so much for listening.
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And if you know a pawsome human you think I should interview,
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Email me at Anke.
That's A N k E at Soul touched by dogs.com.