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.
Sarah: Hello and welcome Sarah.
I'm very excited to have you here.
I am very happy to be here.
Thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.
Anke: My pleasure.
My pleasure.
Let's start out, um, let people know where you are based and then we dive right in.
What's your business with dogs?
Sarah: Well, I'm based in Los Angeles, although I do spend a
lot of time in New York because that's where I'm from originally.
And I, the reason that I am very, very obsessed with dogs is because I love
them and I write about the journey that people have with dogs, and I do
it through fiction, and that is my.
Work with dogs.
I tell stories about people who are into dog rescue and I talk about the
rescuer and I talk about the dog.
So I kind of build the story like let's say a Charles Dickens,
although I'm not Charles Dickens wood
build narrative that so.
Yeah, so I wrote a book called, I wrote a novel called Dogs Have Angels Too.
And I wrote it a long time ago actually, and it was based on
a stage play that I had, uh.
Done and written and, and workshopped in New York, but I couldn't get
that deep into the characters.
So I wanted, I started to write about each character, their journey.
Why did they rescue the dog?
Why were they fighting over their dog?
Why did they break up a young couple over their dog?
And they became like a very small part of this story actually.
Um, because the dog became the star and her name is Athena.
Anke: I love this.
This is so fascinating now.
I mean, I'm like, I'm a million question, let's just don, you know, so like,
Sarah: okay.
Anke: Where does, I mean, first of all, if it's, if like
around the rescue piece, like.
Have you rescued or what's your involvement with, with rescue
to even kind of like even have this as an idea of a topic?
And then where did the idea come from to turn this into a book?
Sarah: The Rescue is because when I was in college, I rescued a little dog that, and
that was in the seventies and they were euthanizing dogs and this was in Ohio and
this was a little puppy actually, and.
I rescued this little puppy from one of these, um, I don't, I don't know
what the institution was named, but it was a government institution.
I don't, it wasn't a shelter, but it was one of those,
Anke: like
Sarah: a pound or something like, yeah, something like that.
I, I don't remember the exact technical or legal name of it.
It was like a 70 in the early seventies.
Okay.
So I take this little dog and I name her Athena, who my character,
my main character is, and I.
I take her and I live in a dorm and they're not, you're not allowed dorms.
I was, I think you're not allowed dogs in dorms.
I was about 18 or 19 then, and I took this dog and I, nobody said anything
and I had this little dog for two years and then I moved to New York.
And that was the beginning.
That was the first res, no, it was my second rescue.
My first rescue was, I saw a little cat when I was about six or seven,
abandoned at, in, where I was raised.
And I took the little kitten home and, um, my father would not
allow the kitten in the house.
And he took the kitten and put him the little kitten, either was in
the entrance of a supermarket or it was somewhere where people were.
Like a parking lot supermarket.
And I, and I'm, I'm praying that the little kitten was found and adopted,
but that was kind of the beginning.
And then Athena was my real, my real responsibility actually.
Hmm.
And
Anke: I
Sarah: love,
Anke: I I'm, so now that makes me think, well, if I look at this, at
the beginning of, of this story, when you were saying like, oh, you
know, young couple and young, like who, how much of that is your story?
Sarah: There's a lot.
That's my story because I can, I mean, I can't say a lot.
I can say that my imagin, I can fictionalize a lot and I,
each character I can relate to.
'cause I can't write about anything that I can't relate to.
So I have to have had some experience.
So one experience is I did have a boyfriend that didn't like my little dog
because my little dog, you know, had.
And maybe I didn't, you know, maybe there was some bladder issues.
I'm not, I I, I have to say there were some bladder issues.
But anyway, he didn't like the dog and I always had fights with this guy,
and of course I didn't stay with him, but that kind of gave me the impetus
for this couple, that the guy makes her give up the dog, she abandons
the dog, but the dog is adopted by.
The main character.
Who's Lena Schwartz?
AKA Ms.
Pink.
Ms.
Pink is a woman who I actually, her name was.
Originally, Lena Schwartz.
Why did they name her?
Why did I name her?
Ms.
Pink?
And then she loved to wear pink and she would often wear old clothing
because she was also going through a lot of turmoil in her life.
And she had been a high powered executive.
She became somewhat homeless after.
Um.
There was like a, a turn in the economics in oh eight when
the stock market had crashed.
Do you remember that Horrible circumstance in the world.
Well, that's when I started to really assimilate a lot of this information
about what happens to people if they lose their job, if they lose their
retirement and they're in their late fifties or early sixties, what do they do?
So Miss Pink becomes the top dog rescuer.
But did I know this woman?
Yes, I did know a woman who was going through a lot of issues and.
Did lose her job and was losing her teeth and was somewhat homeless.
Did she like dogs?
She loved dogs.
Did she have a dog?
No.
Did she say she was gonna rescue dogs?
Yes.
So I built my, these worlds around, these people that wanted to save
dogs and care about dogs and have purpose in life and the best for me.
What?
It gives me great purpose is when you help somebody or an animal that's an underdog.
Anything that's an underdog to me, it really it.
You help one, you help everybody, you help everything.
It's biblical because that's what teaches love.
And so, um.
I built this book based on so many different parts of
my own professional career.
My writing, um, characters I met, uh, I I cannot stand injustice
to animals or to people in need.
So it was about that.
And also I have a, I have a real, um, interest in characters,
like really interesting people.
That are all, everybody's imperfect.
Everybody's going through trauma.
I love to explore that, and so I make a, I put a positive bent on everything, even
though it's a sad, tragic subject, I.
Um, abandoning animals, killing animals, killing, you know, abandoning
people because they're not perfect.
All that.
It's super depressing, but it's not depressing.
If you can find a way to help because at least you have a reason, you have
something, you're not just a bystander.
So that's kind of, and I turned it into fiction 'cause I love storytelling.
I think it works.
Storytelling teaches us about our life and world and it's digestible and it's,
and I made it kind of a dramedy too.
I didn't just, it wasn't, it's not like totally serious.
It's funny, it's witty, it's, you know, it's female-centric.
Incidentally, it's really, uh, the audience is mainly female.
Anke: Yeah.
Sarah: That read the book.
Anke: I bet.
Sarah: Although, I bet I get beautiful, beautiful, um, reviews
and, and feedback from men.
It's very much for women.
Anke: Mm.
So you were a writer before, so this wasn't your first book.
Right.
It's, it's not, or the first piece of writing my
Sarah: career.
I'm not a writer.
Career mo as a career person.
I feel like it is my, uh, journey.
It's a soul journey for me.
My background is, I had founded and started a TV commercial production
company in the eighties, and I made it, it became super successful.
It was international.
We worked all over the world.
I stayed in that.
Production company running it for over 25 years and, um,
almost like bordering 30 years.
But in the whole, the whole time I did it, uh, whole time I was running
my company, I was also writing.
So I've written a ton of plays.
I've written screenplays, I've written tons of poetry that have
been, that's been published, and I, this was is my second novel.
The first one I'm still kind of working on, believe it or not.
Um, it's a, it's a Ro, contemporary Romance, but this is my second,
the dogs have Angels too, which is the name of this book is my second.
And it did get published and it did win Best in women's fiction
from Indie Reader Discovery Award.
So it was acknowledged and, um, I was thrilled.
I was so thrilled by that.
That meant a lot to me.
So I, I spend a lot of my time now writing and.
Uh, do I do it professionally?
I'm starting actually to really take it professional.
Mm.
Like I'm really reaching out and I am, you know, dealing with publishers and I,
I'm, I'm taking it much more for real.
Yeah, I guess after winning an award, right?
So you, that helped me, your chops right?
That helped me a lot, um, with my confidence in my work and also that people
felt it had that validity and, um, so that's, these are all very important.
I also did a lot with the book and that I took the, uh, character's, affirmations,
and I created an entire merchandise line.
I made like, uh, sweatshirts, t-shirts, coffee mugs, computer bags with a lot
of the sayings that the characters had.
And they're, they're very quirky and they're adorable.
So I.
I, I have that as part of my brand.
You know, I kind of am building a dog rescue brand.
And so that's part of it.
And what it does is it brings awareness to dog rescue.
And that's really, and it also brings funds because I can then, when I have
some proceeds, I take a portion of that and I donated to animal rescue
places, so I have some capital then.
And that's what, and it's not a lot of capital because, you know, a book.
You know, there's very little, uh, money that you can earn from a book these
days, but, um, on the t-shirts there's a little bit more and it just opens up
a lot of opportunity and connection to a communities, uh, rescue communities.
Anke: Yeah, for sure.
For sure.
And so, have you had like some, some, you know, input from rescue organizations
who say, Hey, you know, like we are gonna help you promote the book.
Sarah: Oh yeah.
Um, there's a lot.
And if you go on my website, I've associated with rescues now.
There's so many that I love that I would love to associate, but
I don't have bandwidth mentally, physically, to do everything.
So I've selected maybe like I think eight or nine that are on the website, and
several of them do have links to, from my.
To, to do the, you know, to purchase the book.
And they will get a portion from that.
But what's really important from More Than the Money also is that
they're listed on the website.
So if people wanna learn more about them, they can go on the website
and they can, they have links.
They can open it up, they can say, Hey, I like this one.
I like that one.
Each rescue is a different, they have a different, um, like discipline for,
for instance one is, um, I just wanna.
One is called Feeding Pets of the Homeless.
And this is important to me because my character is somewhat
homeless and she has dogs and she obviously tries to get them rescued.
Okay.
But she works for a, she, you know, she works for government, um, shelter.
So this is called Feeding Pets of the Homeless You.
This organization, through their donations, through in
all over the United States.
Gives money, feeds the ho, the homeless people's dogs.
And they also take care of all of the medical needs of
the homeless people's dogs.
So these dogs never suffer at all.
They are taken care of.
So this organization is very important, and I believe it was
one of the first of its kind.
I, I had many conversations with, um, the CEO, the director of the um.
Organization who in fact was in New York and saw homeless woman with a dog.
And that's what encouraged her to do this many years ago and
built an incredible organization.
I love that.
So that's her, that's her story.
And you can read about it.
Just, you know, go on.
Dogs have angels too.
Com, you read about it and you can donate or do whatever you want with her.
You can volunteer, you could, you know, everything's welcome, you know,
the, and also, um, there's another one, well, I don't wanna promote
all the, you know, you can go on the website, but there's one called Pet It
Forward, which is a beautiful one too.
And they keep the pet owners, um, who are going through financial hardships and.
Maybe have to surrender their dogs.
They don't want them to surrender their dogs, so they give them money
to keep their d to pay for their food.
And, and, and they're not homeless.
These people, they're just going through a normal, what we all go
through, you know, maybe a lack of, uh, money for the moment, no employment
for the moment, whatever that is.
Um, sickness.
So I, I'm, I'm really, really concerned about taking care of the people too.
The people and the dogs.
So,
Anke: so in, in your, like, you know, in, in all the, all the conversations
you might have had and, and all the whole process of, of writing the
book, is there something that you learned about the whole world of
rescue that you didn't know before?
Sarah: Um, I learned that people are extremely passionate.
They're kind, it's.
It has nothing to do with, um, being political.
It, it, you know, it was so different than the world that I came from.
Mm-hmm.
I'm not saying business is, is, is business is a whole different world.
It's a business of competition.
It's supply and demand.
It's, it's, it has different values.
The dog rescue, they're concerned about one thing, let's help the dogs
and let's get the money, you know, through donations to help the dogs.
And it's a very loving, altruistic environment.
It it, and when you say angels, these people are angels.
And the people are angels.
And actually the dogs are angels because they make us look at life differently.
Look, and I look in a dog's eyes.
I feel like I'm looking in God's eyes and 'cause it's unconditional love.
And I, and that's what also I, I believe the animals bring to
us and we have to protect them.
Like we have to protect anything that can't take care of itself.
It's when we're the, when we are.
The ones that have to be responsible.
We have to really, truly be responsible.
And we, we cannot be cruel.
We cannot be cruel.
And there can't be commercial value put on all of this.
Uh, animals shouldn't have commercial value.
Yeah, I agree.
Like people shouldn't So true.
So anyway, that's, that's a.
Kind of, I touch upon that in the, in the novel.
Um, but I do it in a, in a, a very entertaining way.
Um, I don't, I am act, I'm absolutely in the novel.
They close down puppy mills.
Mm-hmm.
And they go after them.
And, and it's a beautiful, uh, feeling when you see that
injustice is no longer injustice.
And they get.
They get outed out and exposed.
So I have that and that's, that deals with that commercial value
aspect I'm talking about right now.
Yeah.
Um, that animals have, their wellbeing has to come first.
So that's what I learned, uh, and what I get.
I, it's amazing.
Like I love the community.
I, I feel so nurtured and I'm so happy, uh, just to be, just to be
able to participate in whatever way I am as a storytellers, a
novelist, hopefully one day these.
This gets, uh, rolled into a, I'd love it to be a TV series.
I think it would be a great TV series and a great platform for dog adoption.
So, I mean, I'm praying that, you know, one day that gets, gets done too.
Anke: Yeah, well, like I could imagine like a movie and it's true
because it brings that whole world.
Into the awareness of people.
And I think it's almost like you start looking differently at the dog
in front of you or at that neighbor's dog at, you know, like the whole, the
whole, and hopefully people also more.
Well, on the one hand, more people get involved.
On the other hand, people, people treat dogs better to start with.
There won't be so many shelters needed.
Right.
So it's almost like on, on both ends, right?
Mm-hmm.
Sarah: Exactly.
And also what it means to abandon.
Like this is a very, um.
Loaded subject.
And I guess there's a lot of laws and politics involved with,
with dog wealth welfare now, and I don't quite know all of that.
All the laws each state has, you know, in the United States they have their own
laws, like some euthanize, some don't.
Um, you know, puppy mills are illegal in some states, they're legal in
others, you know, so as long as you have everything that's, um.
Like conditional, oh, you know, 20 states have this and 20 states don't have that,
you're gonna still have these issues.
Anke: Yeah, that's so true.
And I think it's almost, I always said like there is, there needs to be a new
generation who gets brought up differently for that to really make, you know,
for there to be like a massive change.
So.
You know, gauging by the enthusiasm that literally comes through the screen.
You know, do you have like another idea, like an idea for the next
book or something like that?
And what, what the, what will be the focus there
Sarah: the next, well, first of all, I've been writing a lot
of short stories about animals.
One's called Crate Me, not It.
It's about, um, not creating your animals for punishment.
Learn, you know, but to crate for the training and to be able to differentiate
the difference, it's also another couple that's fighting over a young couple,
fighting over, you know, what's right and what's wrong about how we train this dog.
This Rhodesian wrote Ridgeback who is now two years old and
you know, how do we handle this?
And so it's them working out.
A educating themselves, B, being able to talk to each other without, you know,
threatening each other, that they're gonna leave each other and saying,
okay, we're gonna raise this Rhodesian rich back, you know, in the right way.
So this is what that short story is called, but my next plan is to take
the dogs have angels to book and.
Align with either a TV product producer, you know, showrunners or um, producer
in film, you know, feature film lane or an actor that wants to align,
that has a rescue that has, has, has the capability to, you know, raise
money 'cause their box office and.
That's where I want this to go.
So all of my focus now is trying to get this into a visual medium.
'cause the book is so visual.
And that's, that's really where I'm at right now.
Ooh, that sound, that's like,
Anke: that sounds so exciting.
You know, and I love, I love that it's packaged in this entertaining
way because, you know, like it's more memorable like that it's not kind
of dry and, and, um, yeah, it just.
And I, I have to admit, like I got sucked into, into this story, like,
like, you know, it's one of those books that you start is just like, watch it.
'cause you know you're not gonna be able to put it down.
So.
Yes.
Oh yeah.
So definitely.
Thank you.
Definitely.
And, uh, so where can people go to find out more about you?
To find out, you know, to get the book, to get a sample of the book
and, um, anything else you are up to.
Sarah: Well, okay, the website is Dogs Have Angels two.com.
You can sign up to the email list.
You can buy the book.
Either print, you can do an ebook, you can, um, but if you go to the site, you're
gonna also have a whole story about.
Um, you're gonna have the beautiful merchandise that has these really
cute dogs and little affirmations.
You can order coffee mugs, you can do whatever.
You know, it's, it's a bit of a storytelling site.
So, and then you have the rescue, uh, information there.
So I would say that dogs have angels to.com
is your best bet.
You can do everything from there.
You can order, you know, um, the book directly from the au from the author.
You can order it through Amazon, but do it on the website because
you'll, I think you're gonna get a, a, a really nice feeling.
Um, by going to the website.
It's positive, it's sweet, it's adorable, it's quirky.
So I, it just, that's what I can suggest and thank you.
Awesome.
That
Anke: sounds delightful.
And I just love it when, you know, I always say like, magic
happens when passions merge.
And like in your case, like two really big ones have merged
in the most delightful way.
So thank you so much to, for sharing, for coming along and um, you know,
introducing you, introducing us to.
To this fabulous work.
So thank you.
Oh,
Sarah: I, I so appreciate that you have me on your podcast.
Thank you.
And thank your audience very much.
God bless.
Thank you.
Thanks so much for listening.
If you enjoyed the episode, don't forget to subscribe, and leave a review so
other dog lovers can find the show.
If you haven't already, head over to soul touched by dogs.
com and sign up for weekly doggy cuteness tips, recommendations, and personal
stories to warm your dog loving heart.
And if you know a pawsome human you think I should interview,
I'd love an introduction.
Email me at Anke.
That's A N k E at Soul touched by dogs.com.