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, Cara.
I'm very happy to have you here today.
Cara: Hey, it's great to be here.
Anke: So let's dive straight in.
Let people know where in this lovely world are you and so
what's your business with dogs?
Cara: Uh, I'm in the United States.
I'm in Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, which I think
is the prettiest part of the eastern part of the United States.
Um, and my business with dogs, oh my gosh, it's huge, but I will try
to be quick with what it really is.
It is.
Um, I am a the co-founder and, uh, and board president for
who will let the dogs out.
And, um, I started this organization with a photographer friend because I
had traveled to the shelters in the southern part of the United States,
um, as part of a book tour for a book I'd written about fostering dogs and
my family's adventures fostering dogs.
And since I was going south, I thought, well, I'm, I'll go visit these
shelters where the dogs came from.
I thought it would be.
You know, this wonderful, fun experience and I was just shocked and then I was
shocked that I was shocked because I had fostered over a hundred dogs by
that point and I didn't, I couldn't believe I didn't realize what was
happening in our nation's shelters.
So, um, I, I just felt like if I didn't know, a lot of people don't know,
like most people don't know just how mad it really is, and so I started
going back, eventually bringing my friend, photographer Nancy Slattery
with me because people don't read.
I'm a writer, and I was writing about all of this, but you know,
it's very hard to get people to read, uh, and pictures are powerful.
So she started coming with me and then together we finally were like,
well, we, we need to make this bigger.
We need to create an actual nonprofit organization so that we can get
more support, more people behind it.
Um, and that's what we did.
And we formed Who Will Let the Dogs Out.
And our mission is to raise awareness and resources for homeless dogs
and the heroes who fight for them.
Anke: I love, I love that so much.
I'm curious, like, when you first sort of realized, Jesus, I have
no idea what's going on here.
Um, what were things that you didn't expect or that you saw that you
think that surprised you at the time?
Cara: Um, at the time it was, it was, It was shocking just how many animals were
crammed into this very small building, which we had a hard time finding because
it was like the other side of the railroad tracks, underneath the water
tower, near, surrounded by swampland.
And these dogs, there were so many, and they were living in
outdoor kennels, most of them.
Heartworm disease is a big issue in our country and it kills a lot of dogs.
And I mean, you know, anybody who has a pet pays a lot of money to
keep their dog un preventative.
Um, these were dogs were not getting preventatives, and they were
living outdoors next to a swamp.
And heartworm is transmitted by mosquito bite.
So 80% of the dogs in that shelter were heartworm positive.
Which, um, this was in 19, I mean, in 2018.
And it still is pretty much a, you know, a, the end for a dog.
Most rescues don't have the money to treat heartworm, it's
a very expensive thing to treat.
So, it was really sad, and as I was talking to the director
there, and I said, you know, how many dogs do you guys take in?
She said, well, we had, we took in 50, 50 dogs this month.
And I said, well, how many were adopted?
We're taking a rescue and she said three and so doing the math on that.
Um, you know that it comes to a point where they don't have enough room and so I
was just I was shocked by the conditions.
I was shocked that these dogs lived outside.
I was shocked at how little anybody.
It knew what was going on or was coming there to volunteer.
They didn't have basic supplies.
The dogs were not dewormed.
They weren't treated for flea and tick.
When I asked the director, what can we do?
I have a whole van of supplies.
What can, you know, she started crying because she just, she
was like, we need everything.
Um, And that was just, I just couldn't believe it that this was
a county funded shelter where the dogs were all contracting heartworm
and were not being cared for and basic care wasn't being done.
It was, I just couldn't believe it.
So, and I, as I said, since I was seeing this and I, and I was so
involved in rescue, you know, I thought nobody knows what's happening here.
Anke: Oh, that's for sure.
I mean, I'm like, I'm, I'm in Spain and here they don't even You know, like rescue
place, shelter, they don't even put their address anywhere because they're kind of
so worried that people will, that they come in the morning and there's another
50 dogs dumped over the fence, right?
So they won't even tell people where they are.
So it's, it's actually, can you just clarify something?
I don't know.
Maybe I'm the only kind of dumb person.
It's, it's.
Between the shelter and the rescue, like, what's the difference?
Who's who?
Cara: Um, so, county run or municipal shelters are
usually funded by tax dollars.
Um, it could be county or city.
In most of, like, the northeastern part of the United States, every
municipality has an animal control agency.
And they are in charge of the shelter, or they contract with a
nonprofit to run their shelter, but ultimately it's their responsibility.
And that's typically when we say shelter, that's what we mean, like
a county or municipal city shelter.
Rescues are usually nonprofit, usually, um, They, they could be, they could
have a shelter, or many are foster based, and they are generally pulling
dogs out of shelters to find homes for them, and they, so they sort of, you
know, to me, crazy, and I say this a lot, it's crazy that we use our tax
dollars to pay for a shelter to, to kind of care for animals, and at the same
time, nonprofits always pop up for us.
near the kill shelters to save the dogs from that shelter.
So these are residents whose tax dollars are paying for the shelter who are then
using their money and money they raise to save dogs from that very shelter
that their tax dollars are paying for.
To me, this is crazy.
It's a crazy system.
It's a broken system and, um, and that's a big part of why I want to
tell the story, why we tell the story.
We travel shelters and rescues all over the South.
We've made 150 visits now and We just want to tell their story.
We just want more people to know what's happening, because I believe if people
knew, they would do something about it.
And I've said all along, it's not that people don't care,
it's that they don't know.
And if they do know, they don't know what they can do about it.
So, our mission is to tell them.
Anke: That's so true.
I mean, you would have thought that a shelter like that, the job is
to get the dogs adopted, but that doesn't seem to be the case, right?
Cara: In many of the shelters, the smaller municipal shelters, and um, they are, they
function as the traditional dog pound and that they're really just, they're impound
dogs that are unwanted for whatever reason or lost or, you know, abandoned.
And, um, they, that's, that's their main.
Function is just, is just to do that and it's all they have time for.
Many of the places we visit, one animal control officer running all the calls
for the county or the city or whoever, um, it's all they can do to feed the
dogs, adoption events or fundraisers.
Anke: So if somebody wants to, if somebody finds out, you know, through your travels
and, and, and, you know, somehow finds out, so what can somebody do to help?
Cara: Oh, gosh, there's so much they can do.
So many people that are just doing amazing things.
Now, if they're in an area where there is a struggling shelter, Or no shelter.
Um, the very first thing they can do is get involved, is to speak up, to go
talk to the people who are in charge.
You know, it's crazy in this country, but in every municipality,
it seems to be somebody different.
It might be a mayor, it might be a judge executive, it might
be, could be almost anybody.
Find out who's in charge, find out, um, you know, what the
policies are and how it works.
So getting, getting educated to start with, but then getting
involved at your shelter.
And we've seen it again and again, shelters that were struggling
that are now doing well.
They have three things in common.
They have a leader.
Who believes in saving all the dogs, who is determined to save all the dogs
and is trying all different kinds of solutions and bringing in help and
networking and doing all they can.
So they have a leader who is committed to creating a progressive shelter.
Um, they have an engaged community, so their community is they're
volunteering, they're fostering, they're adopting, they're having, you
know, events, they do training classes.
They have engaged community supporting that shelter, and
then they have veterinary access.
And veterinary access is a big, big challenge right now all over our
country because we have a vet shortage.
So, finding affordable veterinary care for these dogs, um, is hard.
So, those three pieces of leadership, community engagement, and veterinary
access, and if they have those three pieces, the shelter's on their way to
being a successful progressive shelter.
Anke: And see, you know, what always sparks my curiosity, it's almost
like, what can be done before that?
Like, how can we get less dogs who need or end up, and they're like, what can be
done so less dogs even have to go there?
Like, you know, it's almost, um, you know, I've hosted a summit and
I speak to people all the time.
And so there is this.
common theme that a lot of dogs get returned or abandoned because they're
kind of like too, like people don't know how to deal with dogs when they
don't do what they're supposed to do.
Like they don't know how to, you know, basically train or how to help their
dogs adjust to their family life.
I mean, do you feel that there's a lot that could be done before
they even get into the shelter?
Cara: Oh, absolutely.
I mean, we, we, we humans domesticated these animals, and
they are our responsibility.
And the people that shirk that responsibility, I think
they just don't understand.
I don't think that they're evil.
I don't think that they're, I just think they're ignorant.
They don't realize.
That we have a responsibility to these animals.
And there's a lot that can be done at a good shelter, um, to help with
those things, like providing resources.
The shelter, to my mind, should be a resource for their community.
They should offer training help.
They should have classes.
They should have clubs.
They should have everything they can to support people.
I mean, these days, everybody wants to adopt the perfect dog.
Um, and there's no such thing as a perfect dog.
And at the same time, I'd say every dog is perfect.
So they, they need their resources to know how to do that.
Which means we need to educate them, and there's a, there's a county in
North Carolina, this brilliant woman, whose name is escaping me right now, she
created a curriculum, and then lobbied hard, and got a whole group behind her,
and they go into every single school in that county, and they do a seven, it's
a seven or eight week curriculum on humane education, just on how to properly
care for a dog, and it culminates in a big festival where kids can bring their
parents, they talk about spay neuter, and, Um, they can bring their dogs.
It's like a, you know, they'll do like microchips, and they'll vaccinate,
and they'll give spay neuter vouchers, and it's brilliant, and it's going
to help that one little county.
Now, I wish we could multiply it, do it all over the place.
I think everybody should know how to safely interact with a dog.
That would save a lot of dogs a trip to the shelter.
Um, we have a program on our website that we give away for free
called, um, Paws for Kids, Kids for Paws, it's one or the other.
Um, and it's just how to safely interact with a dog you don't know, and most
people don't, don't know that, don't know the things they're doing that could be
triggering this dog, and so it's sometimes dogs end up biting because that's how
dogs communicate, and it doesn't mean that it's a bad dog or, you know, unsafe
dog, it just means that the communication didn't work right, and um, we need to
know how to, how to communicate with them.
So, um, Um, I think educating people from the beginning, and I wish,
just like, you know, kids have to, in this, at least where I am,
um, they have to pass a swimming test to graduate from high school.
So this should be a basic life curriculum, just like anything else,
how to safely interact with a dog and how to humanely care for an animal.
Um, if we did that, I think we'd be well on our way to solving this problem.
Anke: Yeah, I love, I actually, you know what's funny?
An incident I've had with one of my dogs where this family came and like a whole
bunch of people and this little boy, maybe five, six years old, he stayed
back, saw me with the dog and he was Mr.
Nervous, right?
So he wasn't like the, oh, friendly, cuddly, chilled out dog.
So I was like, that little boy came and just kind of, how are you?
Yeah, I wasn't, like, using polite language to tell him to fuck off.
And that little boy just stared at me and you could really
tell nobody had told him that.
Like, nobody had told him that he couldn't just, kind of, launch onto the world.
A dog he'd never met before, you know, or any dog for that matter, right,
like, definitely not one that he doesn't know, you know, and I thought it was
actually one of the reasons I even started Soul Touched by Dogs, because
I'm like, Jesus, like, the narrative needs to be changed, and it almost has
to start there, because you think if you keep relying on the parents who will
just repeat what they've been taught, this will just continue, you know.
Because, you know, I was, I was like, you can't do that.
And this is how you do it.
And he goes, okay, and I'm touched.
So we had this little teaching moment, but he was little enough,
you know, and then he was very gentle and then he walked away all happy.
You know, and everything was fine, but I thought, imagine if he, if I hadn't
seen it and he'd come from behind and if he had grabbed the dog and the dog
would have bitten him, those parents who didn't pay attention to any of
this would have been right there and insisted my dog be put down, you know?
And I'm thinking that's almost where I see like the biggest levers in a sense, right?
Cara: Yeah, we absolutely need to do a better job of educating kids.
It's also a great tool.
We always push this also when we're, um, at shelters in terms of
helping them engage their community.
A lot of times, you know, they've been, they've had a dark history.
There's a lot of people think negative things about that shelter.
And, you So you've got to change that narrative.
And so one of the things we'll say to them is, instead of waiting for them
to come to your shelter, go to them.
Go to your local library, ask, can we come and do this program, Kids for Paws, and
teach them how to safely interact, you know, and bring either a personal dog or
a dog you know to be safe, or puppies are actually the best thing to take, and take
them to the library and do this program.
And it's a, it's a chance for the community to see, here's something
that, here's the shelter helping you.
And also for them to become aware that the shelter exists if they don't already know.
Um, and, and a chance to tell them about their program, so it's a really
great, easy way for a shelter to just dip their toe in the water of getting
out and engaging their community.
So that's, that's a program.
We really push hard because kids are the key.
I mean, if you get the kids, they bring the parents.
Anke: Yes.
Oh, I totally, totally love that.
So if, if a shelter, um, is listening to this and goes like, Oh my God,
like, what, what kind of support?
Okay, you've mentioned that program.
Are there other things that you, you offer to shelters to help them, you
know, somehow get their head above water?
Cara: Yeah, so we travel to the shelters because we want to
learn their story and we want to develop a relationship with them.
Um, and, and once we do that and we kind of see the lay of the land, what they
need, what their situation is, we get to know the leadership there, the structure,
how it's working, if they have volunteers or foster, what, once we understand a
little bit, then we're able to help some.
We have a resource guide on our website.
It's enormous.
It grows constantly.
We put every idea in there that we ever find on all of
our trips, um, About anything.
Volunteers, fostering grants, grant programs, resource programs, enrichment
ideas, tons of community engagement ideas, um, and the fundraising stuff
always gets a ton of hits, but that's where we put all of these ideas.
And then ongoing.
As we move forward, we assign a shelter liaison to them, and that's
someone who volunteers for us, and their job is to track that shelter,
basically stalk that shelter.
I always tell them, um, follow them, you know, look for a good idea, let us know,
and let our resource guide editor know if a good idea comes through for us.
Anything, the smallest, tiniest thing is a great, you know, we'll
add it to the resource guide.
Or if that shelter goes into, has a crisis or something happens that
we need to be aware of, that we might be able to step in and help.
We have a small grant program of our own, and we have a grants advisor who's a
professional grants writer who volunteers with us, and she will work one on one with
shelters to help them apply for grants.
So she's a wonderful resource.
I'm always available just to talk through stuff, just having been to
so many shelters and seeing so many models to try to give them ideas.
And occasionally we try to network to rescue.
Many are looking for rescue help.
They want rescues to come and pull some of their dogs, and so we're actually in the
midst of developing a rescue directory.
It's going to go live on the website, I think in October, um, that will list
breed specific rescues or any rescue that will take dogs from struggling shelters.
So those are just a few of them and we're constantly looking for more and
more ways that we can have an effect, that we can impact these shelters.
Anke: I mean, that's fabulous because I think just a little feed, you know,
one, somebody has a good idea here, but it actually helps other ones as well.
That makes so much sense.
Yeah.
I think it's even getting together.
Yeah.
I love that.
Love that.
So where can people go and find out and get in touch, you know, help out?
Is there, you know, if somebody says, Hey, I want to volunteer with
you, you know, is that an option?
You know, you, because you mentioned you have volunteers, like who would you need,
you know, for your, for your organization and, um, you know, where can people
find out and get in touch and support?
Cara: So everything's on the website.
Who will let the dogs out.org and don't put will, because if you
say who let the dogs out, you're gonna get a bunch of rat videos.
But it's who will let the dogs out die.
And on that website, you can, you can sign up to follow our newsletter
blog, which comes out every week.
We put in it, um, the newsletter once a month is, is usually theme
related and it has all the new ideas, everything that we've heard this
month and things that can be used.
So that's useful for shelters or anybody who volunteers in a shelter
or a rescue or anybody who's just interested in trying to help this cause.
Um, on the other weeks, what comes out is a blog post and it's usually trips, um,
telling you stories about the shelters.
Or, um, create a solutions we part of that we think maybe this would work.
Some of them are my crazy brainchild and sometimes they're,
um, ideas we hear from others.
So, signing up for that as a way to stay connected and get a weekly
shot of here's some great ideas.
Here's some things you can do.
Um, we also have a volunteer.
You can volunteer with us.
We take volunteers from anywhere in the United States.
Um, and their jobs can vary from what I mentioned, the shelter liaison.
We have volunteers that help with our social media and create
graphics, and we have volunteers that do some of our fundraising.
Um, I'm trying to think, we've got a bunch of little projects going on, plus, The
resource guide is always a big, biggie.
Um, so we have lots of volunteer opportunities there.
And as I said, on the, on that website, under the resource guide, it's a, it's
just a font of information and any time, it definitely gets more hits
than anything else on the website.
So anytime anybody needs.
An idea for anything.
You just need a little inspiration.
That's a really great resource to go and find and see the
new stuff that's coming in.
Um, and there's lots of other little things on that website,
but you can find us there.
You can, you can reach us there.
There's definitely, uh, contact information on the website also.
Anke: Wonderful.
Well, thank you so much.
And I think it's such important work and like, yeah, the dogs
will be grateful, I'm sure.
And everybody loves as well.
Well, thanks so much for coming on and sharing.
Cara: Thank you for having me.
Thanks so much for listening.
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That's A N k E at Soul touched by dogs.com.