37 | Pet Grief is Real Grief | Paws and Breathe AZ

Pet grief is real grief. & I have to admit that even I thought there was a “hierarchy” to grief until I lost my cat after my dad died. 

People act like it’s “just a dog” or “just a cat” until suddenly their entire routine, house, nervous system, & life feels wrong because that animal is gone.

In this episode, Katie & I talk about pet grief, soul dogs, rescue culture, the weird side of the pet industry, puppy yoga, backyard breeding, & how losing an animal can completely change you as a person.

Katie shares the story of losing her dog Champ & how that loss ended up changing the direction of her life entirely. We also talk about the reality that grief doesn’t really operate in a hierarchy. Loss is loss. & sometimes losing an animal hits people harder than losing certain humans because of the role they played in your daily life.

We get into:

• pet grief & why people minimize it
• what a “soul dog” even is
• the emotional & spiritual side of losing animals
• the ethics of rescue, breeding, & pet overpopulation
• why puppy yoga isn’t always as “cute” as it seems
• how grief can crack you open in both horrible & meaningful ways

This episode is sad, funny, honest, dark at times, & honestly just a really human conversation about love, loss, attachment, purpose, & the fact that animals impact our lives way more deeply than a lot of people want to admit.

If you’ve ever loved or lost a pet, this one will hit home.

🔻 CONNECT WITH US 🔻

KATIE RAPKOCH / PAWS AND BREATHE AZ: 

Instagram @pawsandbreatheaz: https://www.instagram.com/pawsandbreatheaz

Website: https://www.pawsandbreatheaz.com/

KALLA PAIGE / REKALLABRATE:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rekallabrate

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rekallabrate

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/rekallabrate

Website: https://www.rekallabrate.com

Thank you for listening, subscribing, and leaving a 5 star review on this episode! Your comments & feedback are always welcome & appreciated! I love y'all!

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

What's up, everyone? Welcome to Recalibrate the Podcast. I'm your host, Cala Page, and this week I wanted to try something a little bit different. I never really come on and speak to just my listeners. And a couple of weeks ago, I was inspired to do this because I got a text from a friend, someone who I went to high school with, who I truthfully never would have anticipated or expected listen to my podcasts. And he was like, Kala, I just want you to know I listened to every one of your podcasts and you're awesome at it. Keep up the great work. Like, I hope you keep podcasting. And I was so touched to receive that message because, like I said, I really just would have never expected this person to listen to my podcast. And then I thought, I wonder if there's other people out there who maybe don't follow me on socials or I don't come up on their algorithm, but they find my podcast, or they know me and they love me and they support me. And maybe they just listen to my podcast. So I thought it would be fun to maybe just talk to you guys a little bit more than I normally do and share some, you know, quick minor updates about what's been going on in my life or what's alive for me right now or whatever it may be. Maybe some more insight or behind the scenes about the episode. So if you are a diligent listener, thank you. First and foremost, thank you for listening to me. Yap, that means the world to me. And you've probably noticed that I haven't been releasing episodes lately. Um, truthfully, I had a lot going on in my personal life. I'm not going to get into it as much as I would really, really, really, really love to. I just feel like I can't get into the details of what's going on in my personal life. But suffice it to say, Jake and I were really busy. And I just decided that I needed to put my podcast on the back burner for a little bit and um just take a break for myself. I really wanted to make sure that when I was releasing episodes, I was giving each episode the attention that it deserves. So I've also decided to switch my release schedule from being every week to every two weeks because on Instagram I do like to promote the podcast. You can find me at Recalibrate if you don't already know that. And um, I was finding that I was kind of rushing through doing the promo and sharing clips and things like that. I would also like to share some of these clips on YouTube instead of just the long form. This um software that I use is called Riverside and it creates clips for me. So I thought if I had two weeks of time in between each episode, I could really give each episode the time and the honor and um the moment that it deserves. So thank you for your patience and thank you to people who listen. Like I said, um, it just really means a lot to me to receive those messages that people listen and that you think I do a good job. A lot of times I feel like I'm just speaking to the ether or that I maybe even look stupid by having a podcast because, like, who the fuck do I think I am to have a podcast? So um, when I do receive those messages, especially from unexpected people, but really from anyone, even from my best friends, like it really is the fire that keeps me going, the fuel to why I do what I do. And it just means so much to me. So thank you for taking the time to listen. If you're new here, thank you for being here. If you've been here, thank you for being here. I just really appreciate you taking the time out of your one precious life to listen to me yap while you're driving or doing the dishes or whatever it is that you're doing. So um, thank you so much. And shout out to that homie who sent me that text message because it really truly meant the world to me. So, anyway, I think that's all I have to say for that. Um, this episode, Katie and I recorded um a while ago at this point, and it really is a beautiful episode about the grief that can come from losing a pet and um the ways that we can get involved with pet shelters. We talk about puppy yoga and the grief of losing a pet. Katie talks a lot about the work that she does with the shelters. She's also created an oracle card deck with puppies and pets. So it's really been awesome to see the ways that Katie has allowed her grief from losing her dog champ, like her soul dog, um, to move her and inspire her and you know, allow her to create these beautiful offerings in the world. So I really want to thank Katie for coming on and having this conversation with me and her patience in releasing this episode. And I'm really looking forward to sharing this one with you guys. So thank you again so much. If you do listen and you enjoy it, I would appreciate a five-star review, a comment, a text, anything that you feel so inspired to share with me. Like I said, it is the fuel that keeps me going, and it means the world to me. So thank you so much for being here, and I hope you guys enjoy this episode. I am your host, Cala Page, and today I'm here with my friend Katie of Pause and Breathe, P-A-W-S. And we're gonna be talking all about animals and pet grief and puppy yoga and all of the wonderful things that Katie does to help the animals in today's world. She's an activist and a fundraiser for rescue animals. She does puppy yoga in an ethical, helpful way for rescue animals, really kind of maybe more like dog yoga sometimes. Um also hosts a monthly pet grief circle. She has a lot of resources on her website about pet grief. And as you guys know, I love to talk about and create spaces for us to talk about our grief. So I'm really excited to have Katie on, who has just really brought a lot of awareness to the realness and the magnitude that you can feel with the loss of an animal and how real that grief is as well. Um, she also has um an oracle card deck, Pause and Reflect. So we'll pull a card from that at the end. I'm just really excited for this episode. She's really knowledgeable about this, you know, all of all things animals, and is really passionate about animals and particularly dogs, and getting, you know, dogs and shelters at home, and she's really engaged in that community. So it's an honor to have her. If you've been listening for a while, you know we've done a podcast before, and um, I'm just really excited to have her back again and just love her work. So I'm really excited to share what she's doing in the world with all of you. So if you've listened to this podcast before, you know I like to take um three deep breaths and say a prayer before we get too deep into the podcast. This just helps me mostly ground into my energy and get some of my nerves out. And also, all of us can benefit from taking some time to be with our breath and just slow down. So I invite you, while you're listening, to join Katie and I in taking three deep breaths and just being present with the prayer. I will light a candle and um then we'll get into it. So whatever you're doing, if you have the opportunity that you can shut your eyes and just be present with your body, I invite you to do so. And we'll do three breaths in through our nose, out through our mouth. And I like to just let out a little sigh to communicate to my body that I'm safe in this present moment. But whatever feels good for you, that's obviously what you're welcome to do. So we'll just start by releasing our breath and we'll breathe in together and let it out. Again, breathe in and let it out. Last one deep breath in and let it out. I'm just gonna light this candle and call upon the fire throughout human history. We have gathered around the fire to tell our stories and share our stories and share our grief. So I just want to invite in the fire to connect all of us and thank God for this web of people who are connected here listening to this podcast. Thank you, Katie. And I just also want to call upon all of the people and animals who have passed on before us. I specifically want to call in Champ, Katie's dog who passed, who is totally with us, guiding her, and just really, you know, lit a fire under her to create these offerings. So I just want to thank Champ for the love that he brought Katie on this earth plane, and then also the love he continues to offer her through his spirit in the afterlife, and just call upon all the other animals of our past and of everyone listening who has passed on. They are, you know, members of our family and really bring so much love and peace and joy to our lives. And so we just want to thank you and honor the animals and give gratitude to the animals that are still here with us, and thank you for their just teachings of unconditional love and acceptance and the ways that they just really bring so much love and joy and presence and beauty and humor and all of the wonderful things to our lives. Just so much gratitude for the animals and all of the animals, not just dogs and cats, but all of the animals on the earth for the offerings that they bring to us, the ones that we eat, the ones that we listen to when they sing their song in the morning. Just so much gratitude for the animals and the earth that holds us. Thank you for the sun, the soil, the water, everything on this planet, the plants, the food that keeps us alive. Thank you. And thank you to the technology as well for connecting Katie and I and everyone listening. I have so much gratitude for the technology that allows us to connect, even though we're far apart, we can share these stories and this wisdom. I pray that Katie and I both have the words so we can eloquently and clearly speak about our passions and our thoughts so that everyone listening can feel perhaps a little less alone in their pet grief or find some joy or peace in listening to this podcast. I pray that everyone listens, everyone who listens just feels touched in some way and leaves the podcast a little bit changed or more at peace or feeling more connected in some way. And so I just thank you so much for this time, the technology, the everyone listening. Really appreciate the opportunity to share these stories with all of you. Amen. Aho. Thank you so much, Katie, for joining me. It's a pleasure to have you back on my podcast.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

Yeah, God, we were just talking about that when we decided to do this, that it's been probably five years, right, since we since we sat in, since we laid in a bed together and talked about rest. We talked about rest.

SPEAKER_03 12:52

I know, right? And now we're I and I remember then too the animals. I was like pet sitting at the time, and the animals were like, be it all chaotic, crazy. And now we're here to talk about animals and the joy that they bring to our lives. So I wonder if you could um reiterate maybe what what it is that you offer and um tell a little bit more about yourself.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

Yeah, so um I'm the founder of a company called Pause and Breathe. I kind of like officially uh started Pause and Breathe in April of 2024, which was just a few months after Champ, my soul dog, passed away. Um, he passed away in November of 2023, just the weekend after Thanksgiving. And I have been a yoga teacher since 2018. I've done fundraisers here and there. Um and when Champ passed, I mean, I'll be I'll be truthful in that I think I threw myself into doing something like this as a way to uh distract myself from the grief, uh, the overwhelming grief that I felt. Uh I had had Champ just shy of 10 years. And I mean, we grew up together. We were we were just babies when we found each other, and we we really grew up together and learned so much. I learned so much about animal welfare because of Champ. I we didn't have pets growing up, so Champ was really my like intro into the animal welfare world. Um and so yeah, I started Pause and Breathe in 2024. And since I started it, we've raised just over $40,000 for local rescues. Here I'm in Phoenix. So here in Phoenix, just through yoga fundraisers, we've done other types of wellness, uh, sound healing. I've done, we've done like rescue retreats where people in the rescue community can come and just chill out and like get some like yoga or sound healing or tarot reading or you know, things like that. So I'm really trying to bring more wellness into the rescue space because of how many people are grieving and really struggling, um, not only with like personal pet loss, but also just grieving with the state of animal welfare in this country and especially in Arizona. It's one of, it's uh we see some of the worst cases um here. So it really started out with like, I just want to raise money and I just want to like teach yoga and have fun and have dogs around, and it's really evolved into so much more than that. Um, like Cala mentioned, I also run um pet grief circles as well. Uh we gather monthly, virtually just like this on Zoom, and we just, you know, we share, we talk about either the pets that we've lost or maybe the dogs in rescue that we've lost, and um we just connect with one another and we tell stories and we love on one another and we, you know, help help all of us feel a little bit less alone in our grief.

SPEAKER_03 15:58

Yeah. Wow. I didn't know you've raised over $40,000. That's phenomenal. Yeah, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Yeah. People love animals and people love yoga, so it's a pretty good, it's like a pretty good combo. It works pretty well.

SPEAKER_03 16:12

Yeah. I mean, once you came out with pause and breathe, like I was like, oh, that's there it is. That's that's what Katie's here to do. It really kind of also incorporates rest. Totally.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

I am and I am still in the rest. I'm still on the rest train. Like, I still, I, you know, so Cala and I met actually when we I was trained, I was a personal trainer and Cala worked out at a high intensity interval training gym. So both of us were not in that place and and you know, have just both of us, I think as we've gotten older and kind of understood our bodies more, um, you know, have have leaned more into the real caretaking of our bodies, yoga, obviously, breath work and and things like that. So rest is still very much a part of of my practice.

SPEAKER_03 17:02

Yeah. And I mean, really, like you said, this all became came to be because of Champ. And like Champ was he was kind of the mascot of what you were doing even before he passed, you know, he was very present in what you were doing and just around you a lot as well. And then after his passing, like that's certainly one way to deal with grief is to just dive in. And I witnessed that with my mom, like she dove into work and I napped, like so. Everyone grieves differently, but I would love if we could um talk about champ. I know I just remembered how before we started talking. We're like, that's why I started this, is so I had an excuse to talk about champ. So I'd love to hear his story.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Yeah, well, you know, I they they say that when you lose someone, they kind of die two times, right? Like they die when they leave their physical body, and then they die when the last person says their name. And so my goal with all of this is to create a legacy so strong that like even beyond me, people are like, damn, that champ dog like must have really had they don't need to say my name. I don't care about that. I just want them to keep talking about him. Um so yeah, so champ and I met in 2013. It was right before Christmas. I was in the lowest point in my life. I I was young, you know, I didn't, I didn't know who I was. I was very depressed. I I have always struggled with a lot of mental health um issues, and I I had just moved into my own apartment, so I was living alone, and it's really hard when you're struggling. And so, you know, I came to this point where I was like, I I want a companion, I want someone to do to do life with. And so I actually went to um the shelter for a different dog. It was a dog that I had seen on on the website, and I was like, oh, that dog looks really cute. So I went to the shelter to meet that dog, and it just it just wasn't a fit. We our like our temperaments were just not aligned. And so um I went to leave, and I don't obviously I know the people who are listening are from all over the place, but this was at the old county shelter here in Phoenix. And um, for anyone listening who's ever been there, it well, it's gone now, but it was a very, very run-down shelter. It was built in the 70s and it it's just decrepit. It was really, really bad. And so when I went to leave, obviously I was very emotional, right? Because it's hard to hear all the dogs barking and wanting attention and wanting your love and everything like that. So I felt very emotional. The volunteer that I was working with was like, Would you be willing to meet one more dog? And this is gonna make an emotional talk about it. Okay. She brought me, she brought me to his kennel, and his name at the time was Smudge. And he, I don't know who chose that name for him, but he was a white dog with like big black splotches all over him, so maybe that's why. Um, but he was in his he was in his kennel, and he was very emaciated. Uh, he was very, very skinny. He had this big like scab on his nose because he was trying to get out of the kennel. Um, he was sick, he had kennel cough. And I don't, I don't know if he was if he was on the euthanasia list or not. Maybe that's why she pushed me to to get him, but I just saw him and I was like, yeah, of course I'll meet him. And we she took us out and we were at this on in this like long run. And so me and my mom, who was with me, was on one end and and smudge at the time was on the other. And I was talking to my mom, and I was like, you know, he definitely doesn't look like a smudge. I don't want that to be his name. And I was like, I he to me, he looks like a champ. And so I I said it, I was like, hey, champ, come here. And he literally ran straight towards me and sat down and just looked, looked straight up at me. So it was very much um, you know, I knew I knew he was mine and he knew I was his. He probably knew before I knew, you know, he's like this sucker I got her for sure. Um and so the next day I brought him home. And, you know, we were inseparable. We were inseparable after that. And, you know, champ, he really taught me a lot about dog behavior. He was a very fearful um dog. And a a lot of dogs, when they're fearful, they become reactive. They kind of like puff up their chest and they'll, you know, um, just as a means, kind of like a Napoleon complex almost. And so we, you know, we got into some stuff together. There was a lot of things that we went through together and some struggles that we had, and and he really taught me how to be a more confident dog handler because if he was anxious, And I was anxious on top of it, it was like game over, you know. So I needed to learn how to be a really confident dog handler um to protect him, you know. And basically, you know, from then I just became very passionate about animal welfare and and dogs in need. And so a few years later I started started volunteering at that that same shelter. And I mean, that's that's kind of when everything kicked off and everything really changed. Champ was the catalyst, uh, but then early 2017, I was like, you know, I need to, I need to start. I I felt this pull to start doing something more meaningful in my life. And that's when I started volunteering. And and yeah, that's when everything really changed for me. Yeah.

unknown 22:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

So you started just volunteering at the shelter, and just that looks like just trying to help get dogs adopted, and you just like work there basically.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

Yeah, go. I would take dogs out for walks. You know, I I would be there a few days a week, like taking dogs out for walks. Um, yeah, taking pictures and videos, like posting them on social media, you know, um to network them. We had they had like doggy play groups. So I you would take dogs to play groups and like let them interact with one another, um, fundraising. You know, I I volunteered for a few different rescues as well here in the valley. So, you know, helping them and and um then after a couple of years, I started fostering dogs. And so yeah, just anything and everything. Like I I definitely spent a few years really, really like enveloped in in the um the shelter aspect of things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:45

Was that hard for you to be there like and leave seeing, you know, because you mentioned when you went there to get the dog, you know, to get the other dog and ended up with champ, how hard it was to see all the dogs, you know, in cages barking. Like, how did you handle that as a volunteer?

SPEAKER_02 24:01

You know, you definitely kind of build up a callus to it almost. Um, not to say that it it it didn't hurt and not to say that it wasn't hard, but it was like I I had become desensitized and I was like, okay, this is the way it is here, and I'm gonna do everything that I can in my power to help these dogs. Um, and I also need to take care of myself. Um, and so I had other outlets, obviously, like Khalid knows. I was I was at the gym, you know, five, six, eight. I I was pushing myself very hard in that period of my life. And um, and yes, it was very hard. It would, it was also like specific dogs would pull at specific people. It was always really interesting to see because I have a you know, a big group of friends who I I met volunteering, and all of us had our specific dogs, you know. We had specific I mine was generally like the big goofy boy dogs or like the little kind of frail, like probably dogs who had puppies before and they were female dogs, and like I just, you know, we all have a type. And so sometimes it was really hard, and sometimes it was like, you know what? I went, I walked five dogs today. Those dogs wouldn't have gotten out if I didn't do that, so you know, would would feel fulfilling.

SPEAKER_03 25:16

Yeah, so it's uh uh you're just at least doing what you can and making brightening their lives, even though it's a shitty situation. You're like, well, it's better that I was there. Yeah, you know, sometimes you gotta go into the shit to bring your light, yeah. Because that's just the way it is, yeah, you know.

unknown 25:35

Totally, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:37

So then what so you and Champ, you know, he he was inspiring you even in his life, really.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

Oh my god, yeah, yeah, absolutely. He yeah, I wouldn't be where I am like without him at all. You know, he definitely I don't know, he gave me, I mean, as as cheesy as it sounds, he gave me purpose, you know.

SPEAKER_03 26:02

Yeah. And I have heard the term soul dog before, but I'd love if you could explain like what that means to you.

SPEAKER_02 26:10

Um, yeah, I mean to me, it he champ just knew me, you know, when like it felt like we our souls had been together in other lifetimes before. He just knew me. And like I said, when I adopted him, I I was in a really dark place and and I have always struggled, and he was always there, you know. If I would was crying or had a panic attack or anything like that, he would literally come and just like lay on me. Like he knew that I needed like co-regulation in that moment. He was like, Well, there's nobody else here. So like I got you. And I have a I have another dog now, Lily, who I'm sure we'll talk about a little bit. And I love her. She's an she's an incredible dog, she has the best temperament ever, but she doesn't, we don't have that same connection that Champ and I had. Um, and he just yeah, I guess the best way to put it is it felt like I've known him in a million different lifetimes. That's you know.

SPEAKER_03 27:13

Oh, I love that. And yeah, it's like I've heard, you know, I I maybe you get more than one soul dog, but I've always heard like you get you get a soul dog and it's your heart dog, and that yeah, it just is different than other dogs. And it doesn't mean you love Lily less, or you know, do it's just a different connection.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

It's different, it is very, very much different. And it's so funny because, like I said, Lily's literally, she's never met a stranger. We like I foster cats now because she can be around cats, she can, she's never had an issue with dogs, she loves all people, no fear reactivity, nothing. She's she's literally like the perfect dog, and also like she's not my sole dog, and that's not a bad thing because I love her and I'm so glad she's in my life. I'll I'll kind of tell you the way Champ's passing went is you know, I had been fostering dogs and um Lily came in May of 2023. I started fostering her. She was on the e-list at the county, she was on the euthanasia list at the county shelter. Her name was Katie. And so I was like, well, fuck, you know, like I started fostering her sight unseen because like I her name was Katie. I couldn't let her go down like that. So I brought her home. And um I I always do a real like a slow integration because Champ has had issues with other dogs in the past. It took us like a week, and literally I had never seen Champ so happy with another dog. They were so connected, they were so bonded. Um, I have pictures, so many pictures of them like laying right next to each other, playing with each other, like, you know, just a really incredible connection that I saw. So that was May of 2023. I of she had had a few meet and greets, like people came and wanted, and every person that met her, I was like, ah, you know, it's just not exactly right. It's like not quite right. In October of 2023, I was like, I'm keeping this dog. Like she's absolutely incredible. Champ loves her, she loves Champ. Like, there's no way she's going anywhere. And exactly a month later is when Champ passed. So I fully believe that Lily came for Champ to pass the torch to him to so she could be, you know, obviously there, but like he knew that she would be able to be there for me in my grief, too, right? And just like hold that. She's a very steady dog, you know, nothing really gets her going. And so he knew like shit's probably gonna get pretty ugly. This is the dog that's gonna help you through it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:49

Wow, that's phenomenal. I cannot believe that like a month after Lily came, but he needed to know you were gonna be okay. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

Before I because I wouldn't have been, I wouldn't have been without him, you know. Like he he that he needed, he needed to know like my mom's not gonna offer self because like I you know what I like truthfully.

SPEAKER_03 30:12

I know. We'll keep it real here. Like I'm I'm with you on that. I'm sorry, trigger warning. It's okay. No, but I mean that's a real thing. Like when you have struggled with depression and anxiety and all of those things, and then you're suddenly thrown into grief, like you know, did you know that Champ was struggling, or was it kind of sudden?

SPEAKER_02 30:36

It was very sudden, yeah. We just basically in the span of like 18 hours, he went from what I thought was fine to um, you know, we ended up at the emergency vet and they did an ultrasound. And what what we presume was that he had a mass on his heart and it ended up um bursting, which is very, very common. Um that these dogs have cancer, hemangiosarcoma is a very common form of cancer in canines. And um, but because they mask so well, because they hide it so well, we often don't know until the last moments. Yeah. And I I will say that the the emergency vet that I went to, I know not everybody has the best experience. I was very, very fortunate because when I first went in, I didn't, I just was like, ah, something's off, you know, like he's not doing okay, but we'll get it fixed. And and then they showed me what was wrong and kind of gave me like the treatment options, and and I really, really hoped that I could bring him home at least for another day and I could let him pass at home. And the vet very compassionately just sat with me and said, like, you wouldn't be wrong for choosing humane euthanasia in this moment, you know, and and so I just had to think about like he was already struggling so much. Did I want to get him in the car and drive him home and and then you know, do all that, or you know, just find my last few moments with him and really tell him how much I love him and you know, and and go through with the euthanasia, which is what we did end up doing.

SPEAKER_03 32:16

Yeah. Oh god, my heart just to have to make that decision and then be there and yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:24

It it it was really hard and and I'm I am as much as I wish it it wouldn't have as much as I wish it wouldn't have happened, I am okay with the way that it that it did happen, you know, and I know people always go back and forth like would you rather have it be sudden or have it be something long and drawn out? And I very much have a hard time witnessing suffering, and I I didn't want to see him suffer, you know. I don't I don't want to see anybody suffer, you know, like I just it just felt like the most compassionate thing to do.

SPEAKER_03 33:03

Yeah, absolutely. And it's I just want to take a moment to honor that grief because like I shared before we started recording, like when my dad died, I and before my dad died, I had this like hierarchical view of grief in that, like, you know, people would talk about the grief of a pet, and I'm like, you know, fuck you, my dad died. Like that doesn't matter. And then a year after my dad died, my we had gotten a cat, and she was like my cat, and she was Jake's cat, and she was just this, she just kind of came into our lives, and um, you know, then she went missing after just having her for a year. She was like, you know, barely a year and a couple months old. And oh my god, did it just like rip my heart open? Like Jake and I were just crying, we'd wake up in the middle of the night crying, and the grief I just realized like in that moment, like I was like, oh my god, it's the same grief. Like it is real grief when you lose a pet. Like it's losing a family member and losing, you know, like your baby, like it's it's part of your family, and they're your best friend, and they're with you all the time, and then they're gone, and that grief is it feels the same. And so I just um want to apologize to anyone if I've ever made you feel like your pet grief isn't real, because it it absolutely is, and you've taught me a lot about that too. And um, yeah, I just really think the work that you're doing to give a place for pet grief because I know I'm also not the only one who's had that hierarchical view of grief, and so I think it's really important that you're giving a place for this very real grief to exist and be witnessed and held by you know our community.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

Yeah, thank you. I mean, it it's valid and it's and you know, we we we see it, like you said, you're not the only one who has had that view in the past. And something I I will say also about grief is well, two things. It's obviously like you don't get through life without grieving. None of us do. Every single one of us will experience loss in some way, and also, at least for me personally, um I so when I was very, very young, I had an older brother who who passed away, and I was I was two, so you know, I never really got to know him or or got to have a relationship with him, and also never really knew how to grieve that because I was like, well, I don't even know you, and like what a you know, what is this all about? And I will say that Champ's loss also ripped that wide open, which I'm sure when you lost your cat, that probably also dipped back into the grief that you had for your dad have for your dad as well. And so, like, all of this grief compounds and intertwines, and like we we can't separate one one from the other. Um, you know, it's very I just saw, I was just on a Zoom call earlier, and I'll have to send it to you, but I just saw, what did she call it? Like the tangled ball of grief or tangled web of grief or something. It's an inf it was just a picture, but it like showed all of the various emotions that get all tangled up in grief and everything that we experience because it's not just sadness, right? It's not just despair, it's uh there's also rage. There's also rage, there's anger, there's you know, uh confusion, there's all these different emotions. And so um, yeah, it just it's all so intertwined that it's hard to say what what grief deserves more airtime than than another type of grief.

SPEAKER_03 36:46

Totally. And I I appreciate you saying that because that was my experience. Like, you know, I lost my cat and it suddenly brought up new and different grief about my dad. And you know, I had no idea that you lost a brother at such a young age, and that's a complex grief as well, and so it isn't isolated, nothing is isolated, it's all webbed together, and then it kind of reactivates and reignites and you know shows different parts of our grief that maybe we haven't been able to access before, you know. Totally, absolutely, which is a blessing in a sense, too, that you know, losing champ allowed you to access layers of grief for your brother that you hadn't previously been able to.

SPEAKER_02 37:33

Absolutely, and and losing champ also both adopting champ and losing champ has made me a thousand times more compassionate of a person and a thousand times more empathetic of a person. And sometimes that that really hurts because I'm like, fuck, now I feel so deeply because of this dog that like just brought this into my life, but it is a gift, right? Because now I can sit with people in their hardest moments and I can I don't like using the term hold space, but like I can. I can I can be there and I can let all those emotions kind of flow around without it dysregulating me, or without, you know, me trying to push it away or trying to tell them you're not allowed to feel this or get another pet or like whatever those things might be, you know, like it's it's really I actually was just thinking about this of doing an Instagram post but uh about something like this, but losing losing champ was the most painful gift I've ever been given. But it's a gift nonetheless, you know.

SPEAKER_03 38:41

Absolutely. And there is this, like, you know, I just did one on pregnancy loss, uh podcast on pregnancy loss yesterday, and we got into this about how like people will say, Oh, just you can try again, or like you can get another dog. Like it's just this it's I think it's because of our hierarchical view of grief that we think like, oh, it's an animal, you can just get another one, but there or you can just have another baby or whatever, but like there it doesn't work like that. Like champ is the only champ that will have ever I mean there's probably other dogs named Champ, but like he's the only his soul, yeah. The soul right, he's the only dog that will ever exist like that, that will ever have that relationship with you because it's also tied to like a very specific time in your life, you know. Like even if you have another soul dog, it will look completely different than how it did with Champ. And to say, like, oh, just get another dog is not helpful, nor is it for sure. Like it may kind of put a band, you know, like you having Lily there certainly put a band-aid on your grief, you know. And I did ultimately get two more cats, and I love them, and that that brought me joy and peace, but like the grief of Artemisia being gone and champ being gone is still there. And oh my god, yeah, absolutely. There's never gonna be another, yeah. They're the one and only totally irreplaceable.

SPEAKER_02 40:13

Yeah. I think it also goes with just this idea or this reminder that you know, when you lose someone, uh, you not only do you lose them, but you also lose the version of yourself that you were when they were here, right? So when Champ was here, I was a certain version of myself. Um, and there are definitely aspects of myself that I miss, you know, uh and and so yeah, you you could get a million other dogs or a million other cats, or you could try for a million more babies, and yet there's that almost, I I guess it's almost like a nostalgic feeling, right? Like just wishing for that that time back and that that sense of energy back in your life that that they brought.

SPEAKER_03 40:59

Absolutely. Yeah, and it's irreplaceable, and you are grieving parts of yourself as well. But you know, there are aspects of you that chant brought out, yeah. And no one, you know, same with my dad or whatever it is, like whatever b being or animal it is on the other end, like there's aspects of that relationship and that dynamic that die when that animal or person dies. Totally. But it also, you know, it like you said, it is inherent in the human experience. And um, Francis Weller says, you know, everything you love you will lose. Everything, everything, and that's a really fucking daunting thought to have at times, you know, and it's like sometimes the thought of getting another animal is daunting because you know you're gonna have to go through this pain again. And um, but at the same time, like you said, it was a gift, and you're a different person, a better person, a more empathetic person, and you've created a whole business, and not even just uh like business doesn't even sound right because it's so much more than like a business, it's like a passion project, really. Totally, like a purpose, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:20

Absolutely, absolutely, and um yeah, I mean it it it has it has really been a gift, and oh, something I wanted to mention. You talked about that, Francis Weller quote, you know, everything you love you will lose. It it has I'm not obviously not perfect at it, but it has taught me to just love that much more, right? Knowing Lily won't be here forever, you know, or knowing um my friends won't be here forever, and and life as it is won't be here forever, right? So it's it's again just taught me to be a lot more tenderhearted, which can be very painful at times. And I wouldn't want it any other way, you know, like I wouldn't, I don't want to be hardened by grief or by fear or by any of those other things. I want to be this like soft, as soft, you know, as I can be human. Um, and that does mean that like your my heart is gonna break every day, pretty much every day.

SPEAKER_01 43:28

My heart breaks for various reasons, you know.

SPEAKER_03 43:32

Absolutely. Yeah. But it does inform how we move and we can, you know, like a lot of times I'll be like, man, I don't want to go on a walk right now, and I'm like, ah, but Tacao's gonna die. And then I'm gonna regret that I didn't walk him as much as I possibly could, you know, and give him the best life that I could. And it's so unfair that it's so short.

SPEAKER_02 43:56

Yeah, it really is. It it's It's really hard. Um it's really hard. Yeah. I don't really have any caveats for that. It's just really hard.

SPEAKER_03 44:09

You know, and all we can do is just try and let uh inform us on how we can love more and be more present and live in a way that hopefully we won't regret or have too many regrets. I think we always have some regrets, and I think I think it's pretty normal to look back and be like, oh, I wish I would have blah blah blah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:32

Yeah. Yeah. You know, and I think what it what this has done and Champs Loss has done is you know, what I do with Pause and Breathe really feels like an expression of all of that. It just feels like um I'm trying to think of how I want to word it. I don't know. It just feels like an expression of like I don't have my soul dog to love anymore, so I want to like spread this love in as many different directions to as many different people and as many different dogs as I as I possibly can. Yeah, you know?

SPEAKER_03 45:08

Yeah, and you're you're doing that. Like it, like I said, it really feels like you've found your purpose and your flow. And like, you know, champ is, I do believe that spirits or energies live on. I mean, even if only through us remembering them and allowing their spirit to drive us, and I can just see that that drive in you, and it's really been beautiful to witness you just like come into this very aligned purpose that it's like wow, Katie. You know, before it was like I care about animals, I care about rest and yoga, and how do I tie it all together? And then it was like champ past, and now this beautiful like you know, passion project that incorporates everything you're passionate about came to be, and like, wow, it's amazing. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 46:05

I do definitely well, you saw that the post that I did. I do definitely sometimes feel like, man, I'm all I'm all over the place. I'm a very multi-passionate person. Um, you know, I I don't know if you know much about human design or the people, you know, here that know about or that are listening that know about human design, but I am a manifesting generator, and so like my hands are in so many different things because there are so many things that I'm passionate about. And yes, like raising money to help other homeless animals is I'm very passionate about, and teaching people to slow down and take care of their bodies is something I'm very passionate about. Grief, obviously, is something I'm very passionate about. Um, you know, we talked a little bit about puppy yoga and like uh unethical puppy yoga is something I'm very passionate about bringing to light so people know like where their money is going and where it could be, you know, used better. Um yeah, I'm I'm all over, I'm all over the map.

SPEAKER_03 47:08

But it from the outside looking in, it really all fits under this umbrella of pause and breathe, like especially because it's P-A-W-S, but it's still like paw, it's but it's just great. Like it doesn't seem all over the place to me. It seems very niche, but I I resonate with that. And but I mean I t I remind myself the same thing. Like I chose the name recalibrate because it gave me the freedom to talk about whatever I want. And you know, I don't think I think that there's historically been a pressure to niche, but I think that that's kind of dying in a sense, you know.

SPEAKER_02 47:48

Yeah, and I definitely I won't, I I've I've stopped caring, honestly. Like I've I've had to, because also something that I've learned in this time is that like we don't have animal welfare if we don't have human welfare, right? Like so many of the issues that we see in the animal welfare space is because humans are not resourced, right? Because people don't have the money to spay or neuter their dogs, or if their dog gets out, they don't have the money to go to the shelter and pay for the fee to get them back, you know, and and people are losing their homes. Like it's there's a lot of really hard shit that's going on that is affecting human beings, which then impacts the animals. So I went from when I first started volunteering, from being that person that was like, humans fucking suck, humans are the worst, that's why we're in this mess, to now understanding that like we can't like that again, everything is intertwined. Like if humans are not doing well, animals are not doing well. So I've started to kind of look at like how well, yoga obviously is one way to help human beings, but like how do we also help humans so they are better resourced, that they can take care of their their pets, you know, better as well.

SPEAKER_03 49:08

Absolutely. It's all related, you know, and it's even just in that, like how you were saying champ, if if champ's anxious and then you're anxious, then it's like a shit show. Totally. Our animals also just feed off of our own energy, so we're gonna give them a better life if we can give ourselves a better life, you know. Absolutely, absolutely, yeah. So what um so you know, obviously this whole pause and breathe was born. Can you tell me about like when did that hit you? Like, how did it come to be?

SPEAKER_02 49:46

That's a really good question. I have no clue. I have no clue. Like, obviously, like once when Chant passed away, you know, I definitely like took a few months and just like allowed myself to be in it as best I could. And then in 2024, I think I think what ended up happening was I I told you before, uh after I became a yoga teacher, I had done a few fundraisers. I was like, oh, this is really fun, it's a really cool way to give back and everything like that. And then in 2024, my hope when Champ passed away was to get back to going back to the shelter more regularly. Um but it just wasn't happening. It was just not something that like my nervous system was in a place where it could handle. And so I just started thinking about like what are other ways that I can help, right? There's, you know, there's boots on the ground and there's people that are able to do that, that work, you know, and be at the shelter and and enrich the dogs there and everything. And so I just kind of like tapped in and was like, oh, well, I used to do fundraisers, like why don't we start doing those again? But it never, I don't really know, I don't really know how it got to be what it is now. I it just kind of like I would do I did one fundraiser and it was super successful, and so I was really excited about it, and then you know, I I I actually at first did not have a social media, like I just didn't want to, I didn't want to do any of that stuff. Um, but then I just like started recognizing like, okay, well, you know, you're not gonna be able to reach enough people without having it, which is such a bitch, but like it's the truth. And so I started the pause and breathe Instagram, and like, I don't know, rescues just started reaching out to me and wanting to do different things and and doing different types of fundraisers, and now I do like uh last August was our second year of we do an a monthly yoga challenge in August where I like do on-demand videos for people, and they have like they log a certain amount of hours doing yoga or doing meditation, and and it all raises money for dogs, and so things just kind of started evolving without me even trying, you know, and then and then other ideas started dropping in like late 2024 is when the positive the Oracle deck idea started dropping in, and I had never done anything like that before, so I had to do a lot of research of like how the hell do you even like create an Oracle deck and how do I raise the money for it? Because they're fucking expensive to like make and have printed and everything. Um so I don't know, things I like you said, like I think I just like stepped into this lane where is my purpose, and that's when like the universe was like, All right, like we're just out of your way, and like things are gonna start flowing to you. So it's it's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 52:42

That's great. I feel like it's champ too, just like you know, helping guide the people to you to help find you, and then always you know, you really haven't had to do like it kind of comes to you, which is a beautiful gift. Yeah, once you set your mind on what you wanted to do and where your heart was and your passion was, it's you've been really supported in that, which is goals, you know.

SPEAKER_02 53:09

Yeah, and I mean, I I think the support comes from it being something that also gives back, right? Like it's I think we're in a time now more than ever, at least more than ever in my life, where people are being more conscious about like where their money is going and what they're what and who they're supporting. And you know, and I'm I am a very, I know you're the same, like I am very justice oriented, and I'm very much just like uh integrity is really important to me. Like I just want to like do right by myself and like my higher calling, and I want to do right by the people around me, and um I don't know, it just it it I don't know, just feels aligned, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:59

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's awesome. So what are your let maybe we should get into what the the puppy yoga like what your puppy yoga is versus the unethical puppy yoga.

SPEAKER_02 54:14

Yeah, so um I this is probably like last, I don't remember when the first my first video went up, but maybe last August or so. Um obviously because I'm in the space that I'm in, you know, on your on my Instagram algorithm, I started getting um Fed sponsored ads from this company called Puppy Yoga Club. And there's multiple, like there's multiple different companies, but this is the one that I started getting Fed ads for. And basically it's like come do yoga with us. You get to the it's 1111 where I'm at, by the way. You get to pick a specific like breed that you get to do yoga with. So like if you go whatever on Saturday, like, oh, I want to do yoga with Frenchies, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna do yoga with Frenchies. And so when I first saw that, I was like, wait a second, like how how are they making sure that they have the exact breed? And they're all these designer breeds, like mini doodles, Frenchies, like all the cutie little, you know, whatever breeds. And so I was like, okay, what is this? I'm gonna look into this more. So I went onto their website and it says they like, oh, well, we partner with ethical breeders and we partner with rescues. And um, I was like, oh, interesting. So I went back to their Instagram and I just like was like commenting on the videos, like, hey, like I'm in Phoenix, I partner with rescues as well, like, you know, being very passive aggressive. But I was like, what rescues have you partnered with? I'd love to chat with you, blah, blah, blah. Never, no answer, no nothing. And so I started sharing it with my friends just privately, and people would go on there and be like, oh, hey, like what rescues do you partner with? We'd love to hear more. They never answered. People's comments started getting deleted. I actually got blocked. So I'm blocked. Not just pause and breathe, but also my personal Instagram account. I don't know how they found maybe I commented out, who knows? Anyway, so I'm blocked, like I can't see any of their stuff. Um, and then I made that first video where I was just like, yo, some sketchy shit's going on. Like, I don't really trust what's happening here. Um, and then people who I had a couple people who worked for them, a couple yoga teachers who worked for them, who were like basically saying, like, the dogs are coming in, they have ticks on them, they have fleas on them, like they're not giving them any food or any water, they don't have blankets, they're just like laying on this concrete floor. Um, they are here for like six hours without their like handler, breeder, owner. The breeder just like drops them off and just leaves them, and there's like four classes in a day. And these are puppies, puppies sleep like 20 hours a day. Like, this is so I was like, this is just not looking good. So we actually did a protest. We stood outside because I just wanted to raise awareness for people. Yeah, I love you shaking your head. Like, I just wanted to raise awareness. So we stood outside. I have like a little like uh blog that I wrote about it because if you go on Reddit and you read it, Puppy Yoga Club, it's all over the country. And there's rescues that are saying, like, oh, we partnered with them and they never gave us their money. So, anyway, all this to say, like, it's still ongoing, but I'm just giving getting more and more information of this company that's doing some really unethical practices and the dogs are not being well taken care of. So it's natural that people, when I they see I do puppy yoga, they're like, wait, I thought you were against puppy yoga. So, how I run my puppy yoga sessions is first of all, it's one session in a morning, like one session a day. They're always rescue dogs, which is why I can't like guarantee, like, oh, you're gonna get this breed because they're rescue dogs. They're all mixed breed. Um, the handlers are always there, like the rescue, the rescue that they are with is always there, making sure that everything's okay. Usually they even have like a separate pen where like if a dog is getting overwhelmed, they just put him in there so he can rest and like chill out and not get super overstimulated. Um so I truly believe that there is an ethical way to do any type of animal yoga and that there's an unethical way. And for me, if you are like breeding animals for profit and you are not properly taking care of these animals, if these animals are having ticks and fleas and like are sick and things like that, that that is unethical. Um, you know, and so I when I do it, I only partner with rescues and we only do it once, and we make sure that the puppies are getting proper rest and proper nutrients. And there's some rescues that I won't do it with, you know. I'll I I vet my rescues too. I make sure that the rescues that I work with are are ethical as well.

SPEAKER_04 59:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:11

And it's very, you know, it's it's I would I don't even want to say it's nuanced, but it's it's complex, it's a really complex issue. And again, in Arizona, we have this massive pet overpopulation problem, and there's you know, backyard breeders all over the place that are doing irresponsible breeding, and so it's um it's a really hard conversation to have because I also think it's valid if people want a certain type of dog for a certain lifestyle, you know, that's that's okay. Um, but when it comes to like dogs almost being used as entertainment um and and not being well taken care of or being loved by whoever whoever is bringing them or looked out for, it it just doesn't sit right with me.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:00

Right. And I mean, I also think, you know, there's a different mission, you know, like when you're doing this yoga with the rescue animals, like even if you didn't give all of the profit, like I know you often do it as a fundraiser, but like even if you only gave like 10% to the whatever and you took money, like and made money, I'm okay with that because you gotta eat and take care of yourself. But there's still an emphasis on like the goal is to get these animals out into the public and maybe they meet their soul mom or soul at this event, and then they get adopted, and that's like the mission, you know. So, like you can make money on a good mission or donate parts or whatever, you know. Totally. But this other, you know, puppy yoga that you were talking about, you know, you mentioned it's $70 a ticket.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:53

Oh, yeah, it is, yes, yeah. Like, and it's like 20 minutes of yoga and like 30 minutes of puppy playtime or something. It's a cash grab. I mean, in my opinion, it's a cash grab for sure.

unknown 1:01:05

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:06

They have found something that is starting to gain popularity. And I we said before we we got on the recording, like the guy is like a serial CEO or serial investors, so clearly he came in and was like, oh man, like this is lucrative. Yeah, but we can't, you know, like if we work with rescue, we can't guarantee dogs because you never know what happens in rescue. Dogs get adopted all the time, like you don't know. So you have it's almost like you have to work with breeders in order to do it at like the breakness pace that they are doing it at. Because it's I think it's Saturdays and Sundays almost every weekend, and it's four classes a day. So it's like it, yeah, it's it's definitely a cash grab. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:48

Well, and like, you know, if you want to charge $70 for your yoga class because you're giving some to the you know, like rescued animals aren't sold for $2,500. Like for sure. Sold, I don't even know how much they are, but it's like a rehoming adoption fee. Like they don't make that money on breeding dogs, like these dog breeders make money selling, you know, like breed breeded full bred, whatever dogs. Yeah. So they don't need a $70 ticket to like raise funds for them to make money selling their expensive dogs. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:32

It's a totally different yeah, and you will get a lot of you will get a lot of breeders that say, I don't make any money off of this. And a true, if if there is a true ethical breeder, and I have a good friend who I have had many, many conversations about ethical breeding with, um, she heavily involved in the rescue community. She's had a couple of dogs that she wants to show. So she like went through an ethical breeder, but but if you're going through an ethical breeder, there's like a wait list. It's like, oh, I got if I want this type of dog, I'm gonna wait a year for it. Whereas these breeders that are coming in to these puppy yoga, it's literally like you can adopt the dog that day. And that's pretty much how you know a breeder isn't ethical, is if you can just go up and be like, I want that dog, and it's like you're at a pet store. Um, because then you know that they're they're not doing all of their due diligence. Like, are they doing a home visit to make sure like you're the right home for this type of dog or all of those, all of those things. So a truly ethical breeder will not make money because of all of the work that they put into making sure these dogs are healthy and loved and all that. But these breeders that are just dropping their dogs off at puppy yoga club, and the dogs are having fleas and ticks on them are not ethical breeders.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:56

Oof, I don't think we got to Kyle from an ethical breeder.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:59

And it's hard to know. You don't know, you literally do not know until you until you know. There's a ton of like, and like I said, I I am not even in an authority on the topic of ethical breeding either. I have a a friend, actually a couple of friends who I very much respect in that space, and you could sit down and talk to them, and they are very, you know, uh they have a good ability to educate on it, but all I know is if you are just popping into someone's house on a Saturday and like just randomly picking out a dog, it that's it's not considered ethical. And like I said, you don't know until you know. I've had multiple family members who that's kind of how they've done it, and then they've recognized, like, oh, that probably wasn't the best way to go about it. I'm gonna adopt this time or I'm gonna do whatever, whatever. Like, there's no, I don't think there should be any judgment or shame if you don't know. Now, once the people know better, then it's like, okay, so if we want to do better next time, it's up to us to to know better. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:07

Well, for the record, we Takayo, so my dad died on February 9th, 2023, and Tacayo was born February 14th, 2023. And in like April or sometime, you know, whenever he was however many weeks old. Um sometime after that, we got a message on Jake had a trailer for sale on Facebook Marketplace, and this breeder hit him up and was like, hey man, hear me out. Like, I got New Finland puppies.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:38

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:39

Do you want a puppy for the trailer? And we were like, fuck yeah, we want a puppy. Like, because we would never like we would never go to a breeder. That just wouldn't be our style. But yeah, like Jake had been talking, he's like, I just want a big dog. Like, I want a big dog because we have peanut and peanuts. Also a designer dog, dude. We got Jake's ex-wife bought him for their daughter, and then it didn't work out with her. So Jake always says he rescued Peanut from his ex-wife, and so we have like basically five thousand dollars worth of dogs, which we are not, you know, we go to the shelter. Yeah. But when we were given the opportunity to get a new fee, yeah, we were like, yeah, we'll trade this trailer. So that's how we got to Kyle. But now that you're mentioning this, I'm like, oof, well, I don't know that he's the most ethical breeder, but we didn't put money in his pocket.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:39

So yeah, and also like that's it. You you didn't know, right? Like, I'm I'm definitely not here to shame anybody who doesn't know. I'm here to talk about it so so people can know, right? So people can recognize the like patterns potentially of a backyard breeder because definitely trading a dog for a trailer, probably pretty backyard breeder energy.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:05

I mean, we did get him from his backyard, but I mean he lived on like a farm and yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:11

Yeah, for sure. And again, like you we just don't know. And so, and the best thing that we can do is talk about these things and have these conversations so that someone can hear and maybe they hear themselves in the situation and they're like, oh whoa, okay, I've been thinking about getting another dog. Now I know, like, go to the shelter, or I need to do some research into what exactly, and you could just go on Google and basically say, like, how do I know if a breeder is ethical? And there's like multiple um, like multiple articles that will that will talk about it. But um, yeah, we don't know what we don't know until we know it.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:52

Yeah, and I mean there is no like my intention is never to shame anyone, and I'm not, I don't feel ashamed. Like, I didn't know, and I was just like a new fie, like totally great, let's go. And now he's my sole dog. Like, I love him so much. I feel like he was, you know, like get like a gift from my dad, and people are often like, I've had like three or four people reach out to me and be like, Cala, like, don't take this the wrong way, but your dog looks like your dad. Like, I think so too. Like, he just has these human eyes, and he's named Tacao. Like, my dad wrote a book called The Spirit of Tacao, and we were driving home with him. And Jake was like, What if we named him Tacayo? I was like, Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:35

So I love that.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:37

Yeah, and it actually means namesake in Spanish, or like brother or sister of the same name. So it's funny because like if we call, you know, for one of the cats, or call for peanut or talk or like Emery or whoever Tacao comes running, it's like he thinks his name is everyone's name. Yeah. So it's it's cute, but yeah, we didn't we didn't know, and totally you know, now I know and it's absolutely yeah, at least he has a good home, you know. That's what still matters as a a being on the planet, you know, these backyard breeded dogs too.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:14

So yeah, he is very loved. Uh clearly he's very loved. Yeah, and I love seeing him with the cats, like whenever you post, dude. That's the cutest. Just a big dog. I mean, I I have it with Lily, like a big dog and a little cat, dude. Can't that's the best combo. It's the cutest fucking thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:32

I know. And you've really come around to cats too, because you weren't much of a cat.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:37

Yes. I am absolutely becoming a cat lady. Well, and I'll tell you the story of how this happened because okay, so Champ died in November of 2023, um, in late October of 2024. So on, I can never remember the exact date of it, but the day of the beloved pets, you know how Dia de los Muertos, there's like multiple days, and they have a specific day for pets. So on that night, I put his, I always have like a little altar for him, but I put his more like elaborate altar out. I lit his candles, I put french fries out there because he really loves fries and carrots and everything. And I just kind of like asked him to come and visit and you know and be with us. The next day I was driving to a gym, driving to the gym, and a teeny tiny little kitten rolled out into the middle of the street. I was on baseline, like just past after it, I was on baseline, and the and at first I didn't know what it was, and like luckily traffic was stopped at a red light on Kyrene, and so I like jump out of the car and I run and get it, and it's this teeny little torty kitten. And she was probably, I mean, she was probably like, I don't know, four weeks old, like really, really young. And so I was like, all right, well, I don't really know what to do. I didn't really know what to do when you find a cat. So I just like went to the vet and made sure like she checked out and everything was okay. And I had actually a month before I had actually just done my first kitten yoga session at a rescue, so I reached out to them and I was like, hey, I have this kitten, I will foster her. Like, can you just back her? Like, we gotta get her space surgery and all that kind of stuff. And they said yes. And so I brought her home and named her matcha, and she became, you know, my first cat that I had ever fostered or first kitten. And dude, she like opened my eyes to how fucking cool cats are that I never knew. And she was just I mean, she was a kitten, so she was k she was chaos, but like just such a cool little being, and she got adopted and she's very loved. She has a sist a cat sister, and so ever since then I've been fostering cats, so that's that's where we're at. That's where we're at now.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:54

And wasn't it that champ, you couldn't foster cats with champ because he didn't get along with cats, you know, understandably, and then but Lily's like fine, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:06

She loved like she's Lily's bomb proof, so yeah, she gets along with cats, like yeah, Champ was not Champ had a pretty strong prey drive, so no, no cats in the house. And so I just like slowly like introduced her. I brought her home, I like had her in my shirt, and I was like Lily's like sniffer, and like Lily just I just trust her so much, and she listens really well. So yeah, then I I became a cat foster.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:33

Wow, and you have a cat. I saw a cat before we started like luck on your yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:37

I have Artemis, I have Artemis right now. She's a sweetie. We love her.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:41

No way, Artemis. Yeah, that's like Artemisia. Yeah. I love that.

unknown 1:12:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:48

Well, maybe one day you'll have a adopt a cat, you might meet your soul cat.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:53

I might. I mean, that's the goal in what I'm doing with fostering is to just eventually find the find the right one because I love having one around. They're they're really great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:04

Oh, I love that. Well, this has been great, Katie. I feel like we touched on a lot, and I think that you know, I learned a lot, and I hope everyone listening learned a lot too about like um, you know, one thing I wanted to say again just to bring it back to the puppy yoga, is like um you like brought to my awareness that by supporting this, you know, breeder puppy yoga, the puppy yoga club, it really takes away from the funds that could go to these rescues and this other puppy yoga that um is like actually doing good work to make an impact in these animals' lives.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:46

So definitely, you know, if you're spending, you know, your $70 going to a commercial puppy yoga that's got breeders, you know, yes, it's cute and it's fun. And also it it's important to just be mindful of where our money goes, right? So if if you ever are, you know, seeing a puppy yoga ad or whatever and you're like, oh, that would be so fun, I want to go. I would just always make sure, you know, somewhere it says like we're partnering with this rescue, or like, you know, this much of our funds are going to the rescue. Um and just recognizing that um rescues really need our help right now, more than ever, like especially in Arizona. And I know, I know Colorado, I mean Denver, I know, has a has an issue too, but you know, it's things are really, really hard for rescue right now. And so if you can um in any way do something that supports the animals, it's always, you know, we're always really, really grateful.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:47

Yeah. Yeah. So I'll put Katie's, you know, information and website and like social media and everything in the show notes so you can um keep up with what she's doing. And she does, you know, puppy yoga and grief events and all of these things, and obviously is someone that at least has my stamp of approval, and I'm sure a lot of other rescue people's stamp of approval that she really is like in it for the animals and um doing good work to like make a difference in these animals' lives. So definitely give her a follow and support Katie rather than Puppy Yoga Club. Thanks, Cala. Yeah, you're welcome. And before we go, I was hoping you could. I if if people have been listening for a long time, they'll know that I used to always end the show by pulling an Oracle card, and I've just kind of stepped away from that. But Katie created an Oracle card deck, and it's all dogs, and what's cool about it is that it's it's all is it all dogs of people like real dogs?

SPEAKER_02 1:15:56

Yeah, it's all real dogs, um, rescue dogs, uh like friends, family members, other people in the rescue community. Uh yeah, and each basically um when I created the Oracle deck, I did a crowdfunding campaign in order to do it. And so people would donate to the crowdfunding campaign in exchange for having their dog included in the deck. And then each card is based on what that dog taught their person. So, like Champ's card, well, Champ has Champ has two cards, but Champ's cards, one is uh is unconditional love, and then the other one is um, oh my god, oh it's literally right here. The other champ's card is everlasting legacy, so it's all about all about building a legacy. So yeah, all the all the cards are are based on real dogs and the stuff that they teach us, you know, like animals can teach us so so much. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:52

Yeah. And that's do you still have your deck available for purchase?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:58

Yeah, yeah, you can find it on my website. That's the easiest way to to find it, it's just on the on that portion of my website. So I have the deck, and then also we took all of the images from the deck and we uh created a coloring book as well. So if you're someone that likes coloring books, we have those as well, too.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:15

Yeah, oh that's so cute. So Katie's gonna pull us a card to close out in honor of the animals.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:28

Okay, so I pulled, I know you use just a recording, you don't use the video, do you? I pulled sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:34

We put it a little more in the center. Yeah, there we go. Ooh, beyond words, Nala.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:40

Nala. So Nala's card says, Some things in life are simply beyond explanation. Instead of trying to understand the magic, just allow yourself to feel it. Well, yes, and then that it had the deck has like a little book too. So here I can go to hers says, Um, Nala reminds you that not everything beautiful needs to be understood. Some experiences are not meant to be explained, but simply felt. When you step out of your head and into your heart, you open yourself to the kind of magic that words could never capture. Let one let wonder wash over you without needing to make sense of it. Trust that the most profound moments often live beyond logic. Knowledge spirit invites you to open your heart. Oh, excuse me, open your mind, soften your heart, and allow life's unexplainable beauty to move through you.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:31

Wow, I love that. Yeah. That's related to grief too, because I feel like there's so many times something happens and you're like, that was a sign or whatever. But you can't even, you're like, don't even want to explain it because other people may not understand, and it doesn't even matter. Like it doesn't. If it's real to you, it's it's real.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:52

Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:54

Yeah. Oh, well, thank you so much, Katie. And I just really appreciate this conversation. It was inspiring and beautiful, and I loved hearing Champ's story and talking about him, and now he'll live on in this podcast on the on this corner of the World Wide Web.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:15

So thank you. I'm so so grateful uh just to connect with you again and also to be able to have this opportunity just to talk about Champ more. That's all I ever want to do. So thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:27

Yes, and thank you everyone for listening. Really appreciate you taking the time. And like I said, I just really encourage you to give Katie a follow, check out what she's doing, support her work, because by supporting Katie, you're supporting the animals, and that feels good for everyone. So thank you guys so much.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:20

Whatever you went to one of my red. We don't even know.