B to Z
Mental health and wellness
B to Z
Michael Welsh
When the unconditional bond between a service dog and a veteran harmonizes, the melody of healing begins to play. We had the privilege of welcoming Michael Welsh from Working Dogs for Warriors to share this symphony of support and transformation. Michael recounted how Gunny, a loyal family dog, sparked the inspiring idea to train service dogs for alleviating PTSD in veterans and first responders. With heartwarming stories of companionship and the unveiling of the rigorous K9 training, this episode walks you through the deep emotional impact and the behind-the-scenes dedication that forge these incredible canine-human partnerships.
Imagine a dog that not only offers comfort but has the ability to sense stress hormones before a PTSD episode even begins. We discussed the cutting-edge training that equips service dogs to be lifesavers in the truest sense, detecting the invisible signs of stress that even their handlers might not be aware of. Michael brought us closer to the reality of these service animals' lives, from their rigorous one to one-and-a-half-year training to the eight to twelve years of joyous service. Listeners are also guided through the etiquette of interacting with service dogs, the importance of certifications, and the diverse roles these heroic dogs play in public safety and personal well-being.
Wrapping up our conversation, we explored the varied purposes for which service dogs are trained, from bedbug detection to search and rescue missions. Michael revealed how e-collars are used responsibly as part of training and shared advice on how the public, particularly children, should interact with working dogs to maintain their focus and effectiveness. The episode is a tribute to the silent heroes on four legs and the veterans they serve, resonating with the spirit of volunteerism and the critical role of community support in empowering Working Dogs for Warriors' noble mission. Join us in this remarkable journey that not only touches the heart but also opens the mind to the profound capabilities and profound impact of service dogs.
Good morning, good morning, good morning. It's a beautiful day, april 8th. Actually, we're supposed to have the eclipse in about 15 minutes. Today's an extra special day for B2Z Podcast. We have our first guest on with us today. It's Michael Welsh from working dogs for warriors. Michael, or Mike, that's what I've been calling, or, sir, you've been so for my military guys out there. This guy is the closest thing to an officer I've seen without going to officer school. He runs his organization just like a company commander would, and I've credited with him before. But just so we're on the air and it's recorded. I'll say it again for you. I appreciate you.
Speaker 2:Zach, and I'm saying it again for you I appreciate you, Zach.
Speaker 1:We want to know a little bit more about you. We want our audience to know a little bit more about you. What's some things you'd like to tell us about yourself and your organization?
Speaker 2:So we started back in 2016 under the name of Mike Gunny Bear.
Speaker 2:Cares Kind of pulled that name from our first dog that I named Gunny. My grandfather was a Marine. You know we talk about his gun, but you know, when we first got that dog we were looking at a training and we started training with a couple of the decoys over at with Fontana PD and kind of branched from there. You know, the reason why we got that dog was my wife worked for the police department. She was a dispatcher for 10 years and you know, going through those traumatic calls you know I was starting to see some PTSD signs and stuff, you know. So we wanted to, we wanted an outreach for that.
Speaker 2:So that's when we got our first dog, you know, started working with them a bit and then, you know, maybe even 20 years ago now, a Vietnam veteran you know suffered from severe PTSD night terrors. You know that whole array of stereotypical Vietnam veteran stuff. You know. Suffered from severe PTSD night terrors, you know that whole array of stereotypical Vietnam veteran stuff. You know Didn't really have any faith in the VA. You know they basically shipped him a box of pills every month for more of a function. You know I'd literally see him wake up in the morning and have to take this now. Take a pill in two hours. Take a pill to go to sleep. Take a pill to make sure he woke up.
Speaker 3:That's not a way to live, you know.
Speaker 2:So having friends go to the military and coming back and having those same ailments, you know the same. I can't sleep at night walking around the yard, you know, having those nightmares and night terrors and stuff, you know, and the VA's answer for it being the exact same. How is that possible? How is there no other way of dealing with mental health?
Speaker 1:Right right.
Speaker 2:So we started looking more and more into animal therapy, you know, trying to see how we can basically make a difference in the lives of our veterans and our first responders by being able to train these dogs for them. So I started volunteering more and more with the training aspect with the police department guys, but I'd put the bike suit on and run and hide and get bit. You know there's videos of me on Instagram being pulled down by a 90 pound malinois, you know, flipped over and all that fun stuff. Uh, and I owe a lot of my training to a gentleman named daryl de santos.
Speaker 2:He's with centurion canine um great mentor of mine back in the day. You know he was a uh he well, he has retired law enforcement. Uh, he still runs a lot of stuff out of Fontana and with agencies all over. You know this guy. I showed up one day, literally pulled up, walked in their gate and they all looked at me. I was like hey, darryl, you know, I was told to come out here and ask for you. He's looking at me like who the hell are you, you know, and I told him you're looking at me like who the hell are you, you know. And I told him, you know, my wife works police department. You know we run similar circles and stuff and I'm interested in training dogs, you know. I told him what we're looking at doing. He said, all right, show up on saturday and we'll put the bike suit on and you'll run, you know. So, sure enough, I showed up on that saturday.
Speaker 3:I put bikes behind that ramp um, and what was that experience like, that first time you put on the bike suit and the dog's running at you?
Speaker 2:It was awesome. You know, and that's the thing. Like people look at me like I'm crazy, it's fun taking bites from dogs. You know Mine are being black and blue afterwards, you know, having cuts and bruises and all that fun stuff. But looking down at the dog from that level, you know it's totally different. You know that side of the muzzle, with them just bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, showing teeth, jowls and everything, just slobber coming out of their mouth to bite. You know, but having the control of those dogs, those handlers do it when they sit out, the dog stopped. You know just one word to talk about.
Speaker 1:I didn't realize. I know you got something. I didn't realize, mike, you were such an adrenaline junkie because that's, that's like. What did that clip to he's? Like I liked it, I was all okay, yeah that's different, right?
Speaker 3:what'd you got, um, when, when you're out there in the bite suit and stuff like that, I guess, mike, it's not an intense question, but if I'm not in a bike suit and I'm out there and there's a dog getting ready to bite me, what's the best thing I could do as just regular civilian to like don't move, don't move, don't move. And what if he's just just don't move? And what is that gonna do?
Speaker 2:like is this like a random dog off the street or is this like, yeah, just like a?
Speaker 3:stray dog comes up, oh he's 100 going to bite me.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean, yeah so we I have had those instances too where it's a little like we were at the park, you know. So when we first started the organization, we would train out of a park in fontana um literally like there was times in life. We get shut off on this you know, yeah, uh but there was many times where we meet clients and stuff and obviously it's a big park, big dog park up there uh, but there's other dogs running around and stuff, and uh, I remember this.
Speaker 2:One day I'm teaching a gal with the german shepherd and I'm looking at her like this and she, her face goes, goes white, you know, and I like turn around real quick and there's 100 hundred pound German shepherd running from here across the park straight towards us, you know, and so I like, all right, don't know what's gonna happen, but I need to make sure that she's okay and the dog's okay, right, you know. So as the dog comes and he gets with it, like from me to you, and I like pop the dog right underneath the chin, like just picked it straight up, basically, and the dog immediately fell back, turned around and looked at me and then just stopped.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:I'm going for the throat, yeah.
Speaker 3:With anything, with the dog or an animal, you control the head.
Speaker 2:You control the animal In that situation. Was it the right thing to do? I have no idea. But, like Zach said, adrenaline junkie and adrenaline perks up and I'm like, oh shoot, you know, I need to make sure that everyone's not or everyone's OK and no one's going to get bit. So that's what I chose to do.
Speaker 3:I was going through some of the paperwork that you had submitted and it said that you know there was hormone for ptsd. Like what is explaining to me what that is?
Speaker 2:I thought that was interesting so, over the years of working dogs for warriors, you know they started focusing a lot on, uh, really making sure that these dogs are fine-tuned into their hands, right, uh, so that we we started a program called our care team canine program. Um, as well, as you know, seeing how these dogs can really impact the lives of a veteran by training the dog to do something for them. You know, obviously, like with service dogs, people see them and say, oh, guide dogs, or C&I dogs, you know that type of thing or medical alert dogs, right.
Speaker 1:Well with.
Speaker 2:PTSD it's a little different. You know we're training these dogs to pick up high cortisol levels in the body. You know. So we actually have a synthesized hormone of cortisol. You know. So when you, when you get stressed you know, that's why I wear an Apple watch you know checking heart rate and stuff. You know, but when you get stressed, your body releases this hormone and we could specifically train the dogs to pick up that odor and do something for us. So what we're teaching them is when they smell that odor, you know they'll lay on our feet, jump up on our on our chest or something start licking our face. You know, because at the beginning, uh, we would train a lot on the outward signs of PTSD. You know, covering your face, shaking your legs, messing with your hands, picking at your face.
Speaker 2:You know those types of things which the dogs are fantastic at at picking up and being able to redirect you know where you'll see some dogs start nudging people and you'll see some dogs start moving underneath their hands, but with utilizing an odor for it, before we even start doing those outward displays. You know there are those outward uh uh tells. Basically, you know these dogs are able to pick up and you'll start to see them move around and start coming closer to you or be hyper focused on you to where they don't want to go away. You know they're constantly right on you and, believe me, I've had times where handlers they come in all stressed out because of training and they're like oh this damn dog's not listening to me, constantly pushes dog off.
Speaker 2:I'm like go take a lap what do? You mean, you know, go for a walk. You know you're stressed out. You're stressing your dog out. Your dog is trying to do. What we taught your dog to do is to resend you yeah is to get you to you know, how do you notice, like?
Speaker 3:how do you train yourself to notice when the dog is in an emotional state? Like, what are you? What is it the key size that you're looking for from the dog?
Speaker 2:there's a lot of tells. You know like we want to make sure that because the lifespan of these dogs the working lifespan of these dogs is going to be eight to 12 years you know, especially for a service dog, for what we're teaching them. We want to make sure that these dogs are able to work for the your entire life with being with that bedroom you know. So we want to make sure that the dogs are happy at it. For one, and that's probably the most important thing, is that the dogs are always happy.
Speaker 2:Old school ideologies behind training the old cruddy-eating-the-grape methods. Those don't really work anymore because we want to make sure that 10 years from now that dog is still your buddy. You go outside, you go wherever with your buddy. You know you go outside, you go whatever, wherever with your dog. You go hiking with them, you go camping with them. You know these dogs, they're not just pets. You know they're literally changing lives by being able to change your life, you know, by being able to alert to you when you're high strung or you're stressed out.
Speaker 3:You know by Can you give me a scenario and where, where you know, say, I'm a veteran and I'm dealing with a past, uh, trauma, how the dog would come to is does the dog do a specific thing in that stressful moment? Like so I'm, I'm enraged and I'm having a flashback? Due to something that I went through before. What is the dog's response in those moments?
Speaker 2:okay, so I have a, uh, first responder. She, she was a police, a police sergeant. Uh, she volunteered with our organization, you know, she, she didn't think she needed a service dog, right, but we had this little dog, a little yellow lab. He got injured with us, you know. So I was like crap, I need someone to help, you know. So I asked her, I gave her a call, I'm like hey, can you foster him for us? You know, just kind of see how he does with you and stuff. He needed stitches and stuff, so we needed to make sure he was in a sterile environment and stuff.
Speaker 3:So she was like absolutely so.
Speaker 2:She took him home. That dog ended up becoming her dog, yeah, but during that time of you know them bonding together, she would always tell me like she would have night terrors and stuff, always replaying the same nightmare over and over and over, every single night. And during the training we tell them to keep the dogs in a kennel when they're sleeping and stuff, until we can trust them. So one night she forgot to put them in the kennel and he's sleeping there on the foot of her bed and stuff. She goes to sleep, ends up having the same nightmare, the same night terror. But the dog picks up and a word to her and literally woke her up out of that night terror before it got to the typical spot she usually wakes up at Whoa, he knew it, she was having a terror. He was able to pick it up and she literally said he's never slept in the kennel since.
Speaker 3:So she's had him now.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's a great story, Probably about two years now. That's a good one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's so many more stories With these dogs being able to it's life changing. You know, I get phone calls and text messages from the vets in our programs and fishers and muggers in our programs. When they're about a year into the program, when it's finally clicked, then like hey, this dog. You know it's not just. Why am I coming to training every week?
Speaker 3:You know it's. How long does it take for a dog to like go through the training to be considered a service dog through you guys?
Speaker 2:So our program is a little different. We require 360 required training hours. That goes into each dog. That could take anywhere from a year to a year and a half to complete. Just recently we switched to so we required phases. Zach was actually one of the first groups to give this new phase program because we wanted to make sure that people understood the commitment that they're having to give to these service dogs you, the commitment that they're having to give with these service dogs, their lifelong commitment. So I had them the first three months they're coming out and volunteering at our kennels, learning how to properly walk and care for and maintain dogs properly, bathe them and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:And it's not easy at our kennels.
Speaker 2:I think at that time when Zach was volunteering with them, they probably had 20 dogs on average there and it gets messy, yeah, but you know it shows that, it shows dedication, you know it shows them that, it shows me that they're ready to make that commitment for that service dog. So after that volunteer phase, that's when they start training. You know, every three months there's a test they have to pass. Every every three months there's a test they have to pass. Every three to four months there's a test they have to pass. They have to complete training records after every single training. You know, because we want to make sure they're working with their dogs and stuff. But you know, once they hit 360 hours and they pass the tests and they show me that their dogs are performing and able to provide a task or several tasks for them and they're a service dog.
Speaker 1:Okay, nice, nice, it has been exciting for me, as with Koa, my service dog, to watch him go through all the steps and he's really been flourishing. He, he, he loves training, he looks forward to the actual training classes and I for myself, a approach to organization work-wise very serious. But I didn't start opening up until more recently and I felt like that was another and that's something everyone's going to have to figure out on their own, that time where they're going to open up. And everything has been better since then and I feel that goes along with life too, once, once you start opening up and being being your true self with people if people want to want to want to fuck with you.
Speaker 1:People want to mess with you. That's, that's the time, Right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah man, I mean, I just want to ask a few general questions, If you don't mind.
Speaker 1:I mean I just want to ask a few general questions.
Speaker 3:If you don't mind? Can any dog be a service dog? Is there a certain type of dog or requirements? I know we have listeners and they're like well, I wonder if I could do this with my dog.
Speaker 2:So we have this, the program that we our main program, you know is dedicated to veterans and virtual swimmers. Okay, like I said there's 360 required training hours that each of them go through. They're required to come out to a fellowship group like a peer support group at the beginning, just because we really want to focus on the mental health and well-being of that veteran and virtual responder.
Speaker 3:So you definitely have a target that you're going for.
Speaker 2:That's good, but we do have, as a nonprofit, we need to keep the lights on. So we have public programs to help fund that, you know. So we train public service dogs, we train, uh, pet dogs and all that stuff. So yeah we have classes throughout the week.
Speaker 3:Okay, that's good, um, and you guys are located where?
Speaker 2:So our training facility is currently under construction in the city of.
Speaker 3:Rancho. I've been following on Instagram. I see you guys doing construction.
Speaker 2:Yep, so we had a facility in Rialto for the last about four years we were operating out of there. Prior to that we were operating out of a couple of parks out of Fontana. So we've seen the growth in the organization so we knew it was time to find another location and, all right, a little bigger, that rats.
Speaker 3:Yeah, congratulations that's a big deal absolutely, yeah, we were excited for it.
Speaker 2:you know, something that we've been looking for for the last few months um the warehouse, you know, with no heating or air conditioning inside um so I knew when we were looking out for a new place that's something we had to have, because in the summers it gets hot, okay.
Speaker 3:I know you have an event coming up that we're supposed to go do some broadcasting. Tell us that event you have coming up.
Speaker 2:So on May 11th we are hosting our first annual Walk for Suicide Prevention.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:It's a walk in the city of Fontana up at the Fontana Park. We've been wanting to set something up like this for a while now, but you know we're just trying to get people out who just want to help support our mission.
Speaker 2:You know we're going to have a bunch of vendors out there who have the same missions as us, you know, just to help combat suicide. It's unfortunate, but the number of 22 a day has been surpassed. You know, I think they're saying it's close to like 30 or 40, um, which isn't bad. You know it's ridiculous that it's at that high of a rate of veteran suicides. Um, you know, and in our veteran brand, our first responder community, uh police officers and firefighters, you know the number of uh suicides have far surpassed the number of suicides have far surpassed the number of on-duty deaths.
Speaker 2:So we wanted to bring everybody together to just help show your support in this fight against PTSD-related suicide.
Speaker 1:Good good.
Speaker 3:Wow, that sounds like it's going to be fun. Yeah, you know. How many dogs do you personally have?
Speaker 2:I personally have three dogs. Three dogs, yeah, I say I have like 17 because, like all the dogs in the kennel, yeah, what's your favorite breed as well. Labs and Shepherds. Labs and Shepherds. Yeah, either Shepherds, dutch Shepherds, malinois Absolutely, they're working dogs, like I said I was on the biting end of those for a while.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know my brother has a and I think it's called yeah, and they listen a lot better than mine. You know, they do little things when they need to.
Speaker 2:It's always funny because I get people who send me those shits and videos. Oh my god, I want my good dog to do this and I'm like, okay, you understand, that dog is always on the level right, always on the level like, not just in the ring, but you know you wake up for work, that dog is on 11, the dog. Dog is like let's go. You know, like there's no shutoff switch for that, they're beautiful dogs though, oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Do you prefer the larger?
Speaker 3:breeds or the smaller breeds within those dogs.
Speaker 2:Like the medium builds. I think my Dutch is the Dutch male mix Loki. He was probably maximum weight. Mel Mix Loki, he was probably maximum weight, was about 70 pounds, yeah. So then I have a shepherd who's about the same, a little bit bigger, and then I have a black man.
Speaker 3:Give me, give me like the worst day you've had at work and then give me the best day you've had at work. Uh, I want to know, like a horror story in your world you know.
Speaker 2:So we obviously focus a lot on what we focus on our veterans and financial support. We do a lot of public classes, so often times it's worlds intertwined. So you know, we get some of the veterans who come out who like to banter back and forth with each other and then they don't realize they're in a public class and I get some public people looking at me like what the heck did that person just say you know and I'm sure Zach, you understand and you know exactly what I'm talking about those comments they make and you know it's like, oh crap, I'm still running the business here.
Speaker 2:I need people to come out and pay and have fun at training. But it's always fun. I don't think there's ever been a crap moment to an extreme. Obviously there's very stressful and emotional days, you know, dealing with veterans and first responders contemplating suicide. You know there have been times where I've been called out 2, 3 o'clock in the morning to go to somebody's house, to go find a spouse, you know. Or their husband didn't get home from work, you know, or their husband to get him some work.
Speaker 3:You know, Is it just a segue? I got questions going through my head and I'm just going to keep rifling them off you guys know how I am, and I'm here too. You feel me. What are some do's and do nots? Like I've always heard, you don't touch a service dog, do you, or do you not? If I'm the if? It's not my dog and somebody's out there and they have a service dog. Should I go up to this dog or do I leave it alone never?
Speaker 2:okay, yeah, definitely don't go up to them, uh, because you never know what that service dog is trained to do.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of medical alert dogs that are really dialed into their handlers to where you can't miss a beat with them, whether it's for a high heart. We have a gentleman in our program where multiple times during training his dog has jumped up on him to alert him to. He needs to be too fast, so we don't want to distract those dogs. We do train our dogs a little different where we want our dogs to be very sociable because of the people that we deal with have a lot of seclusion anyways, where they don't want to be out and about and really be in the crowds and all that stuff. So I guess what we do, we train in crowds, you know so we get them to take their dogs to the malls and do all that stuff in a group setting, you know so it's a comfortable environment for them. You know it's not like I'm telling them.
Speaker 3:okay now today, zach, you know we go with 15 other dogs sometimes you know so uh, I was kind of it was like so oh, but touching service dogs yes yeah, yeah so like do not so, uh, like with zach, for instance.
Speaker 2:right, you know, walking through the mall and stuff, I'm sure you get people who walk up to you and pull all the tough ones, all the tough ones, you know. But we train our dogs to be very personal you know, very social.
Speaker 2:We want them to have a command to go say hi. You know so. If someone does walk up to them because it happens anyways you know Ko is a nice looking dog, so you get like some of the doodle breeds whose kids are going to run up to you know so you can't have those dogs be jumping or anything like that. So we typically teach our dogs some sort of go say hi command where you know someone asks hey, can I pet your dog? So we put them in the sit position, have them open up their hand, like show their palm face up, and then say go say hi. And the dog goes out and lets them know something like lifts their hand and stuff. So you know we train our dogs somewhat different in that sense. You know I want the veterans to go out.
Speaker 1:You know, I don't want them to be like no, no, no, no, absolutely. And you are. I've known you for over a year now. You're a very modest man, you have good humility, you're very humble. But tell us some of the certifications or classes that you yourself have completed throughout the year to bring you to the level that you're at.
Speaker 2:So I am certified with explosives, firearms, narcotics and bed bug detection.
Speaker 1:That's the one specifically I wanted to put you out. Yeah, I know he's got a lot more, but I like that one.
Speaker 2:That was a fun one. I spent a month in Vegas training with a gentleman named Cameron Ford, a Ford canine fantastic guy. But I was literally out there training, I think, 60 different dog teams over the course of that month and working with all different types of explosives and firearms and gunpowder and then bedbugs. So then I'm also trained in, or certified in, tracking and trailing. So we have trained a couple of search and rescue dogs. Huffman Canine from Oregon actually came down to teach me that another fantastic guy and I want to make sure I give these guys a credit if they ever listen to this podcast, you know very humble gentleman but you know, being able to teach a dog to search for somebody who's lost and then end up finding the person, like that.
Speaker 2:You know being able to teach a dog to search for somebody who's lost and then end up finding the person like that, it's worth everything right there. So, like an AKC evaluator, so we do all the AKC stuff. The American Kennel, you know, good citizen tests and all that.
Speaker 3:How many years total do you have within the? What is it? The canine business, the canine?
Speaker 2:business. I think about 10 years, a little over 10 years of hands-on with dogs.
Speaker 3:That's great, man. Do your kids enjoy watching you work with the dogs? Absolutely my daughter.
Speaker 2:She literally brought home a little paper that she did at school the other day.
Speaker 3:It says my dad's a dog trainer and I want to be a dog trainer too.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's good man, that's awesome. Yeah, I'm looking at the website.
Speaker 3:You guys are offering financing and great prices. You guys check him out um, working dogs for warriors, dot dot com, dot com. There. There you go. This guy is doing really good work out there. He's highly decorated and he's got Got a good program going on. You know, when I think of dogs and working dogs and stuff like that, usually I think of search and rescue and stuff like that. You said bedbugs.
Speaker 1:Like how do you?
Speaker 3:train a dog to sniff out bedbugs.
Speaker 2:So they utilize an actual, like live bedbug. That's what you can buy them, but the dogs are able to pick up one single bed bug. There's a place you can buy them, but the dogs are able to pick up one single bed bug. When we were, out there in a training situation there was a camper that we sent a German Shorthair Pointer to jump in and find a bed bug. In like 15 seconds he found that bug and sit there and stare at it.
Speaker 2:These dogs, especially for detection work. Uh, the detection world is is insane, you know, and these dogs are incredible, you know. People always say oh, the dog's nose is like 10 times better than a human nose no, it's like 100 million times better than a human nose.
Speaker 2:And then there's a dog that passes that number. You know the breeding of these, of these working dogs. It's incredible, you know they always break it down to. The dog doesn't smell a specific odor, they smell broken down compounds in that odor. They're able to teach a dog to find. They're not looking for the gun, they're looking for the gunpowder and the smokeless powder, the chemical makeup of that, with cortisol, for instance, right where I've done it, I put a little drop of cortisol in the back of my hand. Um walked up to the dog and kind of waked in front of them and the dog like looked at me and backed up a little bit. You know that's their natural instinct to cortisol, you know. And then when we teach them what to do with it, you know that's when the dog smells and they're able to come up to us and start redirecting their hand. But seeing how incredible dogs know this is, it's amazing.
Speaker 3:I was on a TV show where they had a dog that was trained for acting and stuff like that. It was called Lost and that lady, that dog, it did what it was supposed to do. It did what it was supposed to do. Yeah, I'm just throwing tangents going off on a tangent there. Yeah, what dog stuff did you know? That's cool man is there? Is there a specific thing that people should be doing with their dog? Non-service related? You know what I mean?
Speaker 2:What's your what's one of your.
Speaker 3:Achilles heels. When you see people handling their dog, what's one thing that you can give everybody out there.
Speaker 1:That's like yeah, we want to give a lot away for free. But yeah, like one.
Speaker 3:One tip that you can get is leash control.
Speaker 2:You know, that's my big thing. You know you'll get people walking at the park or whatever, their dog's dragging them down the street.
Speaker 2:You know and then those are the same people like my dog's face. Right, I'm not gonna go up in your face and my kids are bad with that. Yeah, you know. Oh, that's the biggest thing. Either you know, stay clear of them, or you know, ask the handler, type of thing. But even like if she was like well, we went to, uh, knott's berry farm, you know, and we took, I think it was like 10 of our service dogs out there and you see the difference between our service dogs and some others.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, where the other ones are not paying attention to their handlers, or any little noise that goes by, even like the, the roller coasters that go over.
Speaker 3:I have videos of all of our dogs sitting right outside of a ghost ranch.
Speaker 2:They just leave there as the roller coasters go by and all that noise and then, there's other dogs that walk by who are just scared of it, so you never know how these dogs are going to react. So we want to make sure that when you're out and about, don't run up to dogs especially kids.
Speaker 3:What's your opinion on the e-collar? I love them I love e-collars.
Speaker 2:They're a fantastic training tool. You know, when used properly it's great. You know it's a mile-long leash, a mile-long invisible leash. But when used improperly, incorrectly, it's a horrible training device, you know. So you really want to make sure that you know what you're doing with it. You know you're not just putting it on and trying to zap your dog. You know it's the old school way of thinking with it. You know, nowadays the technology in these e-collars are simply, it's the same technology as a tin zero. You know where it's providing the stem to the dog. You know, and you know where it's providing the stem to the dog. You know, and it's communication to those. You know. I know hunters who use them to get their dogs to go out, to push out, to go flush birds. You know when they hit a button now, the dog will lock up you know, flush something.
Speaker 3:You know my bro's got a. He's got a pointer poodle and it's a, it's a hunting dog. He just sent it off to be trained and stuff like that. Do you work with breeds as well, like, can a breeder contact you and say, hey, I would like for you to train my dogs to be service ready?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I have. We have had a few dogs donated to us for breeders and stuff over the years.
Speaker 3:You hear that guys Get your dogs right. Exactly Shoot.
Speaker 2:I want my dog to come ready.
Speaker 3:You know I can eliminate all that stuff before I get shoot.
Speaker 2:Well, we do have boarding training programs you know so, like I mentioned, we're a nonprofit, so everything that people spend to put towards our public training classes go right into providing these dogs for our veterans and first responders. You know so. Even with our board and train programs, I'm technically a volunteer with this organization. I don't get paid a penny, but we want to make sure that if the dog was to come to us for training, that dog's going to be trained at the highest standard. Would I hold all of my dogs to it? So with our board and train programs we teach anywhere from two to five weeks where the dog will stay with us, from basic foundation stuff to more advanced like scent detection stuff is there ever been a dog that you weren't able to train?
Speaker 2:not necessarily. You know, a lot of times with puppies you know it's important that we kind of let them grow and stuff to become mature. So you know sometimes we need to hang on to them for a little bit longer, you know. But you know it's always fun. People love puppies anyways, and an old dog can learn new tricks Absolutely Okay. So quick story. It's going to end up being like an hour long.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry, that's all right man.
Speaker 2:We're here for this Exactly, so when, that's right. So when we first started, we had a veteran well, the family member of a veteran reach out to us. It was the sister. So her sister, his wife, just passed away. It was like November when they reached out to us, so I think he was kind of a little hesitant to come out, so it probably took him a few months but he came out to us with an eight-year-old Maltese Poodle, something mix, you know, smaller dog, you know.
Speaker 1:He was like this is my wife's dog.
Speaker 2:We're like all right, you know, let's see what we can do with it, you know. But he was living by himself. His sister-in-law would tell us that he would stay in the house for days and days and days wouldn't do anything.
Speaker 2:You know, didn't really want to go outside, uh he had a doggy door, so he'd open up the doggy door and kick the dog out. You know, let him go sit down and lay down outside, you know. So, uh, when, when we finally started working with him, uh, you know, he was a little, a little more, uh, he was a little more eager to work with him, you know, because he was like this is the last thing I have.
Speaker 2:So, all right, let's make this work for you. You know, so we trained the dog to be able to uh, learn on the ptsd stuff, you know. But so Max would jump on his bed and sit there and bark at him until he would get up and walk outside. And that's what the sister, so the sister-in-law, lived next door, so thankfully she was on the cross street, but she was like I'd look over and he's not outside. He'd be inside for days. So she was like I just want to see him go outside. So what did we do? We made sure the dog took him outside, you know. So, uh, he would, initially would tell the dog to go go outside, and dog would go outside laying by himself. But now, like when he would say, max, go outside, max would turn around and sit there and bark at him, wait till he got up out of bed walked outside and sat down in his chair.
Speaker 2:You know it's like hey as long as we got him outside. You know we did it now I heard that, uh, he's traveling the country in a trailer, like a travel trailer, and living with his dog wow, like to start wrapping stuff up with our roundup. Start wrapping stuff up with our roundup.
Speaker 1:We're going to start something new with you. Okay, being our first guest, we'd like you to lead that roundup.
Speaker 2:Was there a quote or something significant you'd like to put out to our listeners today? So you've been with us for about a year, yes, and you know that we're a family and Christian-based organization. Yes, sir, that's something that we really wanted to make sure that we stuck to our roots In opening this organization. Literally the month that we filed for our paperwork, my brother-in-law passed away, you know. My wife's brother ended up in a domestic accident. So we took a break, you know, and then picked it up a few months later, you know, knowing that this is where God is with us.
Speaker 2:You know, Isaiah 5811 says where God leads, god provides you know, so that's something that we've kind of geared our whole organization to.
Speaker 2:You know. There's something that we've kind of geared our whole organization to. You know. There's been many times where I'm like why are we going down this road? You know, why are we doing something? And then something happens and like that's why, you know, we had a. We go to events sometimes and it's like all right, you know, nothing's really coming out of it, no one's coming up. And then the next day I get a phone call from a veteran. He's's like hey, I met you. You really changed my life. You know, I really want to get involved.
Speaker 2:I had like a five-minute conversation with this guy you know, thinking it was nothing and he's been in our program for like three years now, four years now actually. You know so. You know that's something, what you know at any time we get together, you know we always open with prayer. You know we always open with prayer. We really want to make sure that we stay true to our roots. This organization has changed many lives. It's changed our life, my wife and I being able to just make these connections, being able to help veterans and first responders, and so many more people we have a lot of volunteers who have told us the same thing.
Speaker 2:just being a part of something, it's changed their life for the better.
Speaker 2:A couple of the other things that we do throughout the year we have paint nights or Mario Kart tournaments, just these little events that are typically on big drinking holidays like St Louis, St Patrick's Day, type of thing, but we don't allow alcohol at our facility. So we would have these events on those specific days and guys and gals would come out and have a fun evening just with food and all that stuff. I had a first responder he was a police officer come out. He was real hesitant to come out at first. He didn't like to be in crowds and stuff.
Speaker 1:And then a couple days later when.
Speaker 2:I talked to him he was like that was the first single that my eyes built, so being able to go somewhere with my wife and grandson, I think it was and enjoy an evening in a large group, like it was at our facility so we probably had over 100 people there, you know, but it was. It was one of those things where you know we understand why we're doing it. You know, being able to just have a safe place for veterans and first responders and people suffering with mental health to come out and not be judged, not be looked at different. You know, not be condemned for your past, you know, and just be there for them. You know, I think that's the biggest thing, is that camaraderie. You know a lot of times where you know why are we doing X, y and Z? You know so I'm part of the Fontana Rotary Club and I have a friend in there and we were driving to.
Speaker 2:Arizona one day, bisbee, arizona, it was like four of us and as we're talking he started talking about like their pancake breakfast they would do back in the day and stuff, and he was the one that started the inflow. He was like, hey, why do we always do this Like wrapping napkins or something like that, wrapping silverware around the napkins and one of the gentlemen had told him it's not about what we're doing at the moment, it's about the fellowship that we're having and that totally resonated with me.
Speaker 2:You know, really many times you know when we're doing just all the crazy chaos throughout the day, but listen to the conversations that people have during that time. You know that's really where it makes a difference. You know being there to listen to one another, being there for somebody. You know we have a lot of veterans in free ride. You were one of them, you know, you just said it where you didn't really open up too much in the beginning but you started to feel more comfortable to the point where you did. And that's what we really want everybody to understand. We're not going to pry information out of you. We're not going to force you to do things. It's like, hey, if you're comfortable doing it, I always tell people you get as much out of this organization as you put into it.
Speaker 3:It's the same with tattooing man, you only gonna get out of it what you put into it. You know, plus those watching. I think it's a blessing to be able to provide a positive resource and make a living at what it is that you do. A lot of people make a living off of trying to pinch people's pockets and, you know, get over and this, that and the other, but you're truly providing a positive resource and I commend you for that. I wish you success in your future endeavors. Really, hearing you speak about it it's opened my eyes to the service dog world a lot more, Just because, if you're not a part, of it, it's something that you really don't know about Absolutely, and you know, as from B to Z.
Speaker 3:You know we definitely want to provide you guys with resources that we have tapped into. You know Zach goes to this gentleman and that's picking people specifically and trying to provide resources for you guys for mental health.
Speaker 2:And this is one of them. So if you're listening, this is one of those things where it's hey man, what are you?
Speaker 3:going to do with it? We could give it to you, but now, what are you going to do with it? You know? If you guys want a resource for PTSD or mental health. That is, I would say, unorthodox, because it's not something that people think of immediately, you know. But now think about that, you know.
Speaker 3:Seek this man out and he can offer you a way to redemption or just a better path, you know, around pills, around the conservative way, you know, and like man, it's cool. Like you get to, you get a dog at the end of it. How are you complaining about that?
Speaker 2:You know, what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:Can somebody seek you out if they don't have a dog? Is that? Can they come work with you if they don't have a dog?
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. You know, we have a pack box where we have people come out and I've had veterans come out to those pack walks at first you know, before they even started the program, before they even applied, you know, just to kind of see how it is and stuff. But yeah, you know we have events, how we mentioned our May 11th, our suicide prevention walk. Every August we do what's called the Sound Mind, that's with an organization we partner with Frontside Military Outreach.
Speaker 3:And that's a mental health resource fair.
Speaker 2:We do in the city fontana as well and that we do a 911 memorial bike ride, you know. So that's something where you know, if you guys are interested in learning more about the organizations, you can definitely come out to those events. Uh, if you need resources, you know, especially at a sound mind and at our suicide prevention walk, um, we're gonna, you know, really focus on boots on the ground, organizations that we invite to come up, organizations that are actually doing the good in our communities, not just the stuff, the people you see on TV or hear on the radio, but the actual boots on the ground, people that are doing the good in our communities. So, if you guys need help with any resources, if you want to come out with more, I urge you guys to come out.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you. I really, really, really, from the bottom of our hearts. We appreciate you coming on, definitely. I love you, man, I really do. You've been a big pleasant change in my life, as well as my dog Cola now. So that's wwwworkingdogsforwarriorscom. Their social media handles are at workingdogsforwarriors and that's it, man. Yeah, I just can't express. We really like having you on.
Speaker 2:Before we wrap it up, I did bring you guys two of our challenge coins. This is a big deal.
Speaker 1:So in the military world I'll express what I know now. This is a real big deal in the military world. You get a coin a challenge coin, usually from a leader or an organization, and you're expected to carry this on you at all times, and the running joke was or the or the process was if you were in a, if you were somewhere and you didn't have your coin on you, you'd get coin checked Okay.
Speaker 2:Like you all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're almost like those old school, like you know what I mean. The old school rules, the gentleman rules Where's your coin at, yeah, and then if you don't, you owe that guy something, you owe him a drink, you owe him dinner that day if you don't have your coin on you. So this is a big.
Speaker 2:This is all I didn't know you had these. Thank you, brother. Yeah, I don't pass them out too often, so I was thank you so much, man.
Speaker 3:Well, guys, our first guest. You guys wanted us to bring guests on here's number one, and we brought in Eclipse too. So there you go, guys yeah, give us some feedback.
Speaker 1:We'd love to hear from you, and please check out Working Dogs for Warriors and Mike have a great day. Thank you, guys appreciate being here. Thank you.
