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The Bark: A Pet Podcast Unleashed dives deep into Tennessee’s animal crisis, exploring the real financial impact, community responsibility, and tough decisions behind the headlines. Presented by nonprofit Laws Saving Paws, this podcast connects the dots between public safety, tax payer burden, and the wellbeing of pets and people alike.
Whether you’re an animal lover passionate about advocacy and humane care, someone frustrated by the neighborhood impact, or a practical thinker concerned about how your money’s spent, this show offers honest insight.
Episodes will cover topics like:
• Why today’s pet climate demands responsible action
• The real effects of spaying/neutering—or not
• What every buyer should know about breeding
• Preventing costly, common pet health issues
• How your hard-earned money is enabling the crisis,
• And much, much more
The Bark: Raw, relevant, and unapologetic—because the truth affects all of us.
This podcast is meant to inform, entertain, and occasionally stir the pot in a good way. The opinions expressed are our own, shaped by personal experience and thoughtful research. They may not reflect everyone's views, and we may even offend you.
We're just a couple of humans doing our best to advocate, educate, and elevate. One episode at a time. Yours truly, the bark.
P.S., please don't sue us. Hey guys, Megan here. We are the Bark.
Welcome back. It's been a minute.
Maybe a couple minutes. Yes. Yeah.
Oh, and hello, Monkey. Monkey is joining us for the day. Oh, Candy, tell us about Monkey a little before we do anything else.
Monkey is my foster. She came from Memphis, and now she's in Middle Tennessee looking for her home. She's very sweet and everything.
She gets a little extra excited when she sees new dogs and everything, so we're working on that. But otherwise, she's potty trained. She's not a chewer.
She's super sweet. Her name is actually Willow Ember.
It just doesn't have the same ring.
It does, but we call her Monkey because at home she follows you everywhere, and then as soon as you sit down, like normally she's right next to you and wanting to cuddle. I think she's a little bit out of her element. She doesn't get out of the house very much other than into the backyard.
So she's extra excited, and she's out of breath because she just has not settled yet. But typically she is a center.
It's okay, Monkey, I'm excitable too.
Also, she came from Memphis. Yes.
That's very ambiguous.
Oh, sorry, Memphis Animal Shelter. Oh no, I mean, does she have a story? She was found as a stray, and she had such bad mange.
I mean, I have pictures. I don't think anybody wants to see those pictures. But just imagine a dog that doesn't have its fur and the skin is inflamed and pink.
She was like that all over to the point that I was told she could barely open her eyes. It was almost to a point where she could not open her eyes anymore because she was just inflamed all over. You would never know that from looking at her now.
She went to another foster first who helped her through treatment. Then once the treatment was done and she was pretty steady, she came to me and made takes a while. The skin is irritated for months after.
And now her fur has grown all in. I took her in sweaters over the winter because she didn't have her full fur. And she didn't mind it.
She liked the sweaters. But now she doesn't need them, and she's been doing great.
Oh, good.
Well, we love Monkey. Yeah, I'm so glad you brought her.
You know, this episode is going to be a little different. We are going to bring you guys up to speed on some of the things we've been working on.
We had a pause because we've been working behind the scenes on so many things.
I know. I want to say little things, but they're not even little. But to other people, they may seem little.
They may seem like seemingly small or meaningless, actually is not.
It takes a lot of figuring things out and regrouping and this and that. It's like a research project.
By the time you come down to it, it's only a few stages long, but how much time did it take you to build up all that research and then put it together into what you wanted?
Right. And by the way, this is before AI...
Yeah, I got it.
Yeah, all the research before we had those tools.
So, okay, before we dive in as well.
Well, first of all, you can find the show if you're watching on YouTube. You can find it at lawssavingpaws.org/thebark. You can find it on YouTube, obviously, if you're watching this.
And all of your favorite streaming apps. You can find our Linktree link on our webpage. Follow us on social media.
All of the things. You can donate directly to this. It's just a little bit of a different humane education initiative that... And like I said, it's more for our newer listeners, but it's so hard for the things we talk about to summarize them in a social post in a 10-second conversation. So this is kind of our platform to really elaborate.
Right. And we're trying to educate. I mean, we've had... If you've watched our other episodes, we've talked about heartworms.
We've talked about hunting with dogs. We've talked about lots of things, but let's catch everyone up to speed about laws versus ordinances, maybe. Well, okay.
Before we dive in. Candy kind of knows this. I love playing games.
Yes, that's right. This is my favorite. I love playing games.
Candy has no idea she's about to play them.
Well, it's fine. This is a little playful.
So it's a game of would you rather. And so I'm just going to ask you a few questions. Would you rather do this or that? And, you know, it's just a fun way to dive back into things.
Okay. So we will start with question one, Candy. Okay.
Would you rather spend a week working undercover at a puppy mill?
Oh, that's tough.
Mm-hmm. Or spend a week answering angry Facebook comments from irresponsible breeders?
Oh, my God. I just imagine you smell at the puppy mill. That's a tough one for me.
But I do also want to be there with the public. So like I can take care of you on here kind of deal. And then answering angry facebook...
I feel like, you know, you and I want to say, oh, nobody listens. That's not true. You and I have taken a soft approach where we have turned people's opinion and as we approach very kindly.
Because we don't yell at them. We don't yell at them.
We don't name call. And we just respond with, you know, fact and experience and science and research. So that's a tough.
I'm still not answering your question.
No, you're fine. You're not answering it though, you're right.
Can I say, I would rather be answering the breeders because there are no puppy mills at the time. Can I say that for that one?
Sure. And you know what, that answer is not surprising to me because my answer would be the opposite.
Candy and I, if you don't know this about us, are like polar opposites. Candy knows this. I am a sensitive soul.
I could not. I can't even respond to one angry Facebook comment without it taking years off my life.
Oh, yeah.
So I opt for number one. Okay. So number two, would you rather get one animal welfare law passed in every state? Or would you rather get one animal welfare law perfectly enforced in every state?
Oh, okay.
So it's like quality over quantity kind of a thing.
You know, I, I, I think honestly, I think the true dichotomy of that is not one in every state and then one perfectly in the one state. I think the opposite would be several in one state.
And I would say the several in one state, because once you get that moving, then it's other states pick up on the best practices and it's easy for them to adopt. So I should have saved this question for last. Because it would have been a perfect segue into our conversation, but it's okay.
We're not perfect. No, that's a great point. And we will talk a little bit more about that soon.
Okay. So number three, would you rather know exactly how to solve animal overpopulation or would you rather know exactly how to change public behavior?
I think, no, no, there's no changing public behavior. I feel like I'm picking up part of your questions, but that one I'm like...
Yes. It's okay. I expected nothing less.
It's true though, because I think, you know, and what at least brings me peace and entrepreneurial about you, it's just sometimes you, you have to just surrender to the idea that you're not going to change everyone's mind.
It's never going to be a perfect system.
In my upbringing, one thing that my grandmother always said when I was frustrated with something, there was, you know, we all go through tough situations that we live in an imperfect system.
Yeah.
We're not going to get to perfection, but if we, each of us has, I shouldn't say each of us, a lot of us has unique cause or causes that are near and dear to our life. And I certainly feel that if you do have those things that are heartfelt to you, focus on those.
Yeah.
And that's where it's like, if I can get that one thing right, I want to do that.
Right. Right. Yep. No, exactly. It's just, well, hello.
(Talking to Monkey) Hello. Hello. Good job.
Let's just relax. Okay.
So, well, that's great.
No, thank you. And so that was fun.
Yeah.
And kind of like a tease earlier. So we are going to, yeah, bring this up to speed, bring everyone up to speed a little. And Candy, what did you say earlier about the ordinance versus state law? Let's start there.
Because I think that we have, we know what's going on behind the scenes, but we had to go through this as well. Monkey Roo. Oh my gosh.
We went through this as well, where we were talking about, you know, I've lobbied before for state legislation. And we, I think we all think that that's where we have to start. And it's going to be a big mission and we can't get there.
And yeah, when you're trying to pass a law, it is a huge mission and it takes time. But one thing that we're learning is, oh my gosh, one thing that we're learning is sometimes when you make small steps of small steps, turn into bigger steps later. And so what we've started to do is look at local ordinances, look at areas that, where it would help them to pass a local ordinance to deal with an immediate need.
And Meaghan, I think you said it best the other day, where the tricky thing about passing a law is the, the sessions are, we're only in session the house and the Senate are only in sessions for part of the year. And then if they do decide to pass a law, you have to wait until they're ready to implement the law and they get everything in order ordinances. Don't require that you go in front of that city's board or that county's board, you talk about it, they study it.
And then if they so choose to implement it, it can be implemented whatever they decide. And they could amend it. And sometimes, you know, based on a conversation I did have with someone, though, you know, they did say, you know, there are times when an ordinance that it could take longer to get an ordinance passed, but it really just depends on I guess the, the desire of the local government kind of damage that timeline.
But it gets, you know, when you go to the state level and you have to find someone to sponsor that it's got to work its way through the houses. I mean, it's, and then it sits right for a long time. So yeah, that's why, I mean, the ordinance work is really important.
And even if, you know, you live in an area and you're like, well, we, you know, I don't know if that's what we need. We need a state law. We need something more serious.
And what we've learned also from our conversations is that, and you said it earlier, Candy is that you want to create almost like a, And so it's really important that, um, just a pattern you want to create influence where the more municipalities or areas that have an ordinance gives the state a bigger reason to regulate that at a state level.
Right. Yeah.
So, um, that's, you know, we're talking about that a little because we've been focusing a lot on the selling of animals in public spaces. Um, and honestly. I have been surprised by the amount of people who, and not, not in a negative way, but they're like, What's the big deal. And they're not, you know, these people, I'm friends with them. You know, they just don't know.
And then I explain it and they're like, ohh... all of the impact.
Can you break it down here for us?
Yeah, yeah, well. How long do you have?
Why is it a big deal? Like, you know, some people selling, it's because they had an oopsy litter.
Some people selling are, they're going, they're selling pretty cheap, $100, $150, $200. And then they're going back to get there to breed their dog again. And then they're selling again and again.
And it's just, it's like they're making that profit. So can you break down to us what that means for somebody? Yeah, of course. So, and I will say there are folks who even, you know, sit in, you know, if you go to a flea market, they'll sell their animals for thousands of dollars.
Right. It's not, you know, we kind of would like to tell people, basically, if you see anyone selling animals in an open space like that and not inviting someone out to their property, that's a red flag.
Right.
I don't care how much the dog is.
We talked about that in another episode because Patricia McDonald wrote one of my favorite books, which is on the other end of the leash. And she is a behaviorist and a biologist.
And one part, in one part of the book, she talks about if you are going to buy a puppy, and you know, I know some people want to buy puppies because they want them to grow up with their kids and make the, you know, have that connection and they don't want them to have any behavior issues and they don't want, you know, X, Y, and Z. They want to know the temperament, all this and that. So what Patricia says is go to where the parents are being bred, make sure that the dog is not being bred in a puppy mill because they will come out with a lot of issues. I've heard lots of trainers talk about puppy mill bred dogs will have issues.
Not only that, meet the parents. If they are aggressive, if they are, if they just have certain characteristics, if they have physical impairments, you have to take that into consideration. So buying a dog on the side of the road or at a sleeve market or this gun, that's why that's a red flag is because you're missing the environment.
And I will say, you know, I've seen a lot of people selling in parking lots who have actually brought out the mother pup or, you know, they bring them with it and that's not enough nowadays. I'm telling you, irresponsible breeders have gotten really creative.
Yeah, they're smart.
Really, they should be entrepreneurs.
With a different product. Yes, right. But anyways, I'd really love to answer your question too.
I mean, it's really health, economic, safety impacts, right? We'll start with economic. The more animals that are brought into your community, the more resources you're going to need to take care of them. If you're in an area with a shelter, that shelter is going to need resources and funding to expand, just more medicine to take care of them, maybe more staff.
I mean, you need resources to take care of the amount of animals you have.
People will assume that when they purchase, when somebody has purchased a dog, they're not going to dump it. That dog will not end up in the shelter and that's not true.
Right, right. It'll end up in someone's shelter. And that's the thing too.
You know, that's why, that's why we need ordinances and that extend countywide because people drag from in other areas to do this activity. You know, they find the vulnerable communities. So, you know, that's really economic as well as, so let's talk about...
The other economic pieces, most of these people are not a legitimate business and therefore not paying taxes on the money they're making.
That's a good point. That impacts all of us. They're not, they're causing more cost into that county but they're not paying into the system either.
Yes, and you know, a lot of the times, like Candy mentioned earlier, they come with so many, they come with illnesses that may not even be detectable at the time of the sale. And you know, we're not, we won't go into Sully's story right now but that's, you know, impact on the buyer. Absolutely, buyers, you know, they're spending thousands of dollars trying to, you know, get this puppy back to a good health and they're not a many, if you're purchasing a puppy in a parking lot, many times, not all of the time, but many times you may, you know, these folks may not be in a financial position to be able to give that medical treatment to the dog which is why they end up surrendering or dumping.
It just, it's... Yeah. It's a big mess up. We'll get into Sully's story later, but as an example, basically, she was a dog purchased for under $200 and ended up costing that family thousands of dollars.
I do not to blame her, it was not her fault, but the situation caused a huge impact to the wallet. Yes, and unprepared thing.
And you know, we'll say also that there's human behavior, you know, we heard, there's so much research about this, but impulsively buying, like that's a thing, that's a thing we do. Like you ever go to Target? TJ Maxx, whatever's in the aisle.
I know, my gosh.
And I'm such a sucker, but like people, like that, that's very intentional. It's very, very intentional. And when you're impulse buying, you know, something like a dog.
Yeah, this is, this is marketing.
Yeah, when you're impulsively buying, oftentimes you are not adequately prepared to take care of whatever you're buying, unless it's like a dish towel.
So, okay, so economic health, just some of the diseases that maybe they come with, that can be transferred .. Parvo and Distemper in the last few years have been spreading, have been impacting shelters.
And the thing is that these illnesses, let's say that, let's say that monkey she does not, but let's say that you had gotten parvo and I took her to a dog park. That goes into the soil. It infects the soil and everything.
So then other people, you know, so that's what you have to remember. Like when people are transporting these dogs or bringing them to a gas station or something to sell, and they've got their puppies sitting there. If those puppies are in here, and they're infected with parvo, it's gonna infect that soil.
It's gonna infect that ground, that area.
And then for a year, I think it's a really long time.
It's not, oh, it's infected for the day.
And the next time it rains, it goes away. It's not like that. So it gets down into the soil and then you're on a road trip.
Your dog needs a potty break and gets out. And could be a vaccinator, or maybe they're at the end where, or maybe they're a little bit overdue. And then here's another good thing.
There's vaccination and there's caring. So some people are vaccinated against, I shouldn't say people, animals, are vaccinated against something, but they're exposed to it. So it doesn't impact them because they're vaccinated maybe, but they can carry you.
If she wants her a patch of parvo, of laden mud, and then I bring her home and I have a brand new foster who's not yet vaccinated because they've just arrived to my home, there can be some cross-contaminate. She'll be fine. She'll be fine.
Not that other dog.
Oh my gosh, you are not a lap dog. So yeah, and third, public safety.
I mean, and one of the things I think about too is a lot of times when you're not, thank you, I don't need that. When we're not responsibly breeding, you know, you may, a lot of times people may be breeding aggressive dogs. Dogs have aggressive traits and- That's another part that Patricia McDonald mentioned in her book is go meet the parents because yes, you might walk up to the mom and if she growls, that's not a good sign.
Even if she, and any aggression in the parent can be passed down through genetics. And any aggression, like I've seen that speaking to people where they said, I have puppies in my home and then I have an aggressive dog and I keep them separated. But when the puppies walk up to the crate where the aggressive dog, where the, I think it was like a dog gate, where the aggressive dog is at, that dog will growl at the puppies, is that okay? And the behavior is like, no.
Even those small exposures to aggressiveness and poor behavior then impact puppies and teach them those poor behaviors. So that's why you wanna go to that home. Is it clean? Is it a puppy meal or is it a legit breeder? What are the behaviors of the parent? What are the behaviors of the other pets in the home?
Yeah, and okay, I haven't mentioned Blackfish in a really long time.
Okay, I should get an award for that. But listen, not Kaiko... Tilly. Tilly's a whale that killed many people.
This, the whale, they bred him. He had an aggressive gene and there's like a lovely diagram in the documentary where they show all the whales that were in the offspring. And so he, that gene was in all these different whales and like, Those whales started attacking.
Like, we're not gonna get into that. But I'm just saying, it spreads.
But we see it in people too.
We see angry people come from angry parents sometimes. And it's the whole, psychologists have studied this for years. What is environment and what is genetics? And sometimes it's both.
Sometimes things skip a generation and sometimes it's passed along. And that's why you wanna see the source. Yes, and so also with the public safety and this is kind of an indirect effect.
But again, the more animals you have for the amount of resources to take care of it, you're gonna have a stray, like we see in Memphis, you're gonna have a stray animal population and that becomes tragic. We've been beginning to see because there's no room and this is gonna open up a big can of worms. So I'm gonna be careful about the way I say it.
Meaghan: Let's just say though, there are animals that are left on the streets for roaming because there's no, there are areas with no shelters. There are areas like, there are areas that have zero resources and what on earth are you supposed to send to the animal?
Being in rescue, I've seen where people will try to a more rural area and dump a dog. The dump a dog that they have adopted and we told them if the dog ever needs to be recalled, come back to us.
And instead of coming back, they went, oh, I'll just go dump them by a farm. The farmer will find them and then they'll be la-di-da. That's not how it works.
That sounds like a full house episode.
And that is why the more rural areas tend to be impacted more because there's also nobody to see me dump the dog because there's like- There's a lot of, I know, and they need our, you know, we're coming. We're coming, we're about to help you. Versus here in Nashville, if you dump a dog, 20 people are gonna see you do it and the dog is gonna hunt you down.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So no, that's a great point and it's just not every, we have to continue reminding ourselves that there are areas that have nothing.
You can hold on to that. Do you wanna leave it? You can just lead us.
Do you wanna?
Sure.
Okay, so let's move ourselves along.
So let's talk about the ordinance. Do you wanna talk specifically to Columbia?
I mean, I'll just say, cause I wanna be careful about talking too much about it, but we are, let's just say, we're focusing on Columbia one because I live there. You know, LSP started there.
It's kind of our home base and, you know, I love my community. And so we started there. We have learned a lot.
I mean, it's been, truly. I think there have been some responses in your community just looking at some of their responses and some people are like, they don't really understand it. But then overwhelmingly, I think people, the people who, people supported number one and number two, those who are more aware, like the dog trainer who commented, made a really great statement as to why this is so important.
Right, right. Yeah, so we've, it's, yeah. It's been a journey.
And we'll have updates later, but right now, you've presented the ordinance and it's under study. And Columbia.
Yep, yep.
And so, yeah, we'll see what happens. And regardless of what happens, I mean, this is something, again, we feel very prepared about bringing to different communities and not just, you know, I want to make sure people understand it's not like, you know, we're, we're entering communities who have no interest in it. We're, we want to make sure, hey, is this something you are interested in? What does the landscape look like? Where you are?
Right.
You know, what can we do? Just on my, this is a no public pet sales ordinance. So if you're watching this and you live in another community outside of Columbia, I will say Smyrna has this ordinance. Oh no, no, they have the retail ban.
Nashville has it. Franklin has it.
I think Jackson has it.
Okay. There's a few, I forgot, I keep forgetting it to be honest, but, and we will say part of this, you know, it's only as effective as the enforcement of it, right? But part of this is, again, you kind of have to find that balance. Cause that, whoop.
So there's that key piece, but also like we talked about earlier, momentum. Yeah. For a state to recognize like, oh, this is important.
We need, we need things on the books.
Yes. So, yes.
So if, if you are in another area that you see a lot of public pet sales, I would say, let us know, contact us because we would be interested in helping those areas where constituents are concerned about this problem.
We also have our...oh my gosh, she's laughing at her game.
We also have that event tracker on our website. So if you see somebody selling pets by the side of the road, please go to our website and report it in there. Because one thing that is, that would be more helpful when we speak to legislators or, or public officials is letting them know how often this really happens.
Yeah. And I think that's, that's a great point. I'm glad you brought that up because, you know, posting isn't reporting.
Right.
You call the, you know, yes, go to our website to help us. That's going to help us compile data a lot easier.
It's our incident report map on the lawssavingpaws.org. But call the non-emergency police number. They will very likely tell you they can't do anything about it. The only thing probably they could do is issue a citation for not having a business license.
So. Which is fine. Yeah.
If that deters back there.
They won't do it. That's the thing.
Law enforcement won't do that. And that's because of a larger systemic problem. I'm just saying, even though the, even though law enforcement may not do anything about that, we need data.
There is no data without an official police report. Right. That's all.
I mean, it takes a few minutes.
Several puppies going into the population system.
Candy, remind us your favorite statistic... 67,000.
67,000. Oh.
The one unspayed female in six years. In six years, the offspring, 67,000 puppies.
Because of then, out of those offspring, how many are each of them producing? And then out of there. So and so and so on.
When I mentioned that in the city council meeting, I literally heard someone gasp.
And we came here to film and I bumped into somebody and I told him, yeah, I told him about Monkey and I told him, yeah, we're here too. She's a rescue dog. She's my foster.
They said, oh can you help me with my dog who's pregnant? It's Huskies. And I'm like...
That just happened?
This just happened. It's just happened.
I forgot to tell you about it earlier, but it just happened at the food truck. And I just was like, you know, you're just trying not to, you know, you're talking about helping people's behaviors and you just want to, come on. It's hard.
Oh yeah, she got out. I'm like, no, no, no, no. You're her guardian.
Yeah, I just don't think, people don't understand the impacts and they're gonna learn. So, anywho, but yeah, that's, I mean, that kind of sums up the Columbia thing. We want to definitely, we believe in the power of this.
Oh, and consumer protection is a really big thing to note. I want to make clear. Number one, this will not, the ban on the sales in public spaces will not solve our animal crisis.
It is not gonna reduce our numbers a ton. It will reduce it some. But the thing is, it's hard to track that.
Because shelters, for instance, I've spoken to many people about this, you don't really know... unless you were specifically getting those animals from parking lots. Like you are going there or someone brings them to you and said, "I was just trying to sell these. I found them in a parking lot."
You know what I mean? Unless you are told that, if you pick an animal up from a field, you don't know if that animal was dumped from a parking lot. That's an assumption. We just know the trending behavior.
So we have created data to support that cycle, but it's very hard to track data, shelter data, that is specifically tied to public parking lot sales.
Yeah.
So because of that, the consumer protection aspect of this is very important.
Right.
You're not gonna let someone sell produce that is infecting the community.
Right, and that's the difficult part. If you go to a farmer's market, even then you can come back and say "look, that produce made me really sick. You need to know this."
And then you can track that person down. If you buy a dog from the side of the road, you might never see that person again, and how... what are you gonna do?
Yeah.
So that's the part. You've got thousands of vet bills later because they gave you a sick dog or that dog infects your dogs at home... whatever. You're not gonna see that person again.
And I'm so glad we talk about this because until, you know, a law isn't going to fix everything. Ordinances aren't going to fix everything. And so in the meantime, we need to educate people to protect themselves.
If nothing else is gonna protect them, at least feel empowered enough to protect yourself.
And I think some people... you know you'll go buy something on Marketplace, some plants or whatever, but people when they're looking to buy an electronic they're like, "hmm there's no warranty, there's no guarantee, this is a hit or miss."
That's what's happening with dogs. Several hits or misses, buying a dog on the side of the road and what you don't want to perpetuate is then that person's gonna go back home and make more dogs... and Moree and more and more.
Yeah.
And they've exploited it. I don't wanna put the people who truly were trying to do their best... their spay/neuter appointment is in two months, they didn't secure their dog, you know, but um...
The problem is that a lot of backyard breeders, irresponsible breeders, are now calling their litters "accidental" and they're saying, "it was accidental". I mean...
There's people... people who are like, "well, if you ban public pet sales, then what happens when someone has an oopsie litter?" That's what shelters are for, that's what rescues are for, and the cops can go and if that person's never been cited, never even received a warning, then you know "ok let me just educate them. Let me get them some help."
Yeah.
If they've done it before and before then you see the trend of... these folks are trying to make money.
Right. Right.
And like Candy, you just said, that's what shelters and rescues are for, they are there as a resource for people who really need help and we'll say, this could get a little worse before it gets better.
Yeah.
But you need to take the step to create space, like, in those channels. You know? And it's not gonna happen unless we disrupt the pattern. So. Okay, how are we on time? Because we can talk a lot about that.
We're trying to hold back because we have more to come. I think we can move onto, um, I think we have time for... top secret project? It's on here...
Oh, this is why I shouldn't have given Candy my notes. Because If forgot she can't read my mind... yet. Yet.
Yet.
We have something we've been working on for many months. Um and I don't really want to talk a lot about it. But we are very excited about it.
So stay tuned is the point.
Stay tuned.
Pun intended.
Wait, oh because dog? Stay?
Tuned? Sound?
Oh, yeah no.
It's okay.
Candy and I, polar opposites.
Polar opposites. Alright um but again just.. okay right now, um, all I'm gonna say is the fastest way to help our mission grow with this passing ordinances and helping areas that need it is to share this episode.
If you know somebody.. because the other thing is, we don't live in all the counties. And the best way to get these ordinances considered in those counties that need it .. you need constituents in that county to carry that forward. To carry
That would be helpful. I know, let me tell you, and like I said I, in Columbia, for instance... I'm very involved in our community.
I love it, I love the people here, I love supporting the businesses here, and I know how much that helped. That helped. And so we could do this without that, um, but it also doesn't feel authentic.
You know, like we don't want to be this organization that goes in knowing no one and saying.."do this"
"Do this"
Yeah, it's just, it's not our M.O. And so we are really seeking people who understand their community, they're comfortable talking to leadership, and just kind of leading the effort.
And we will support them, we'll support you, as best we can.
I mean, we have so many resources.
Like we talked about, all of the research that this took, and understanding and now we have a draft ordinance and now so it's just sitting down with whoever needs the help and saying, "ok what's going on in your community, here's what you need to do"
Yeah
"Here's the wording". Boom done.
Well I will say it's a little...
It's more that that. But it's not like each county or city or area needs to start from scratch.
No, absolutely not. And uh we'll set you up with a webpage that you can drive people to. We'll give you assets, we'll give you flyers, we will attend outreach events with you. We'll definitely walk you through it. We want it to feel as intentional as it possibly can.
Absolutely.
So yeah, I think uh... I know that, it was kind of a weird episode because I don't want to give...
Too much away
Too much... and yeah but like the point is, I don't know about you, Candy, but I'm so excited about this growth and just, I feel like there are more people who have kind of heard of us and they see what we're doing and they want to be involved and it means a lot.
We're really picking up and starting to make impact that, this is why we're here.
Yeah, yeah, so thank you guys for that. Because truly we, like I said, even if you talk about it in passing, I mean, like Candy said, just share. Sharing one social post just..it... we. Need just as much education as we do fosters.
We need those efforts to be equal. Um so yeah so that's it!
Good job, Monkey!
Oh my gosh, it only took one episode... were we that boring, Monkey? Gosh.
She was looking at you very intently earlier and I think she's just calm now finally.
She did make this episode interesting so thank you, Monkey.
Yeah and...
Yeah... go ahead...
Thank you guys for listening, watching, whatever you're doing. Um yeah follow us on social media, visit lawssavingpaws.org/thebark for more and we'll catch you next time.
Bye!