Do you sometimes see dogs out and about wearing vests that indicate they are service dogs , and have you ever wondered what it is those dogs are able to do to support their owners ? On today's episode , I have an interview with my dear friend , abby Hill . Abby is the owner of the exceptional sidekick service dogs and she's here to tell us all about service dogs . You'll hear what some of the traits are that Abby looks for in a dog that makes them a good candidate to be a service dog . She'll also tell us how volunteers have an important role in the training process and how these dogs impact the lives of their owners in a beautiful way . Welcome to your Zen friend . I'm your host , lauren Wolfe .
Speaker 1On this podcast , I will share wisdom from working as a licensed professional counselor for more than 20 years . Using storytelling and lighthearted humor . Each episode will explore themes on personal growth , including tips and strategies to boost mental wellness and overall well-being . If you're a perfectly imperfect human like me , who's always striving to do better and feel better , then this podcast is for you . Let's get started . Welcome , zen friend . I hope , wherever you are , you are doing well , and if you are listening on the day this episode airs , then happy Halloween .
Speaker 1Halloween is my least favorite holiday , so let's just start this episode out with some real Zen . Me complaining I'll try not to complain too much , but there are many holidays I enjoy Halloween , probably the least enjoyable for me . I find that I don't really enjoy the scary stuff . I just walked by my neighbor's house this morning and they had some pretty kick butt decorations . I like some giant , giant , scary looking creatures . I don't even know what they were in a giant , scary looking spider . Yeah , not my thing . I don't like the dark and creepy stuff . I know many of you listeners do enjoy Halloween , so I hope that you're one of them and that you have some fun activities planned . I'm going to hold out for Thanksgiving . That's my favorite . It's usually really chill for me and my family , so I like everything about that holiday , including all of the food that goes with it . Love me the Macy's Day parade in the morning . Just love all the coziness about that holiday . I also love that that is held inside .
Speaker 1If you have young children , then I hope , wherever you are , if you're trick or treating tonight , you've got some good weather here in New England . We have a lot of rain and coldness , it seems , on Halloween , which is never fun , right ? Especially if your kid wants to wear a little itty-bitty costume and you're trying to keep them warm and trying to keep yourself warm . So sending well wishes to all of you with whatever it is you have planned , or however you celebrate or don't celebrate , I'll be on my couch with the dogs . We have what we call a candy shoot . Stole this idea from our friends Tara and Nick Brophy . They have had a kick butt candy shoot at their home in Trumbull , connecticut , for years . This cool plastic piping where her husband Nick my friend Tara , her husband Nick , is so funny and he has riddles for the kids and asks them to put on a little show . And I know where they live . They just have a giant line of kids waiting to get to their sugar shoot . It's become a really popular stop in their neighborhood . Ours is a little less , a little less exciting , but my husband has a good time with it . He sends the candy down the shoot and enjoys seeing the kids . He can see them on his phone from the ring device and this has become convenient because I've got the dogs who want to be at the door opening every few minutes . We started doing this during COVID and it's become a tradition that has lasted . So I'll be with the dogs barking , my husband will be throwing candy down the shoot and we're just going to go from there . I don't know what my 18 year old son will do . He'll probably hang out with friends or something .
Speaker 1On today's episode , I am super excited to have my friend , abby Hill , here for an interview . Abby is the owner of the exceptional Sidekick service dogs . She'll be talking with us about how she founded this company , the difference between therapy dogs , emotional support dogs and psychiatric service dogs . I think you'll find the differences interesting I didn't really completely understand the nuances and she's going to be telling us about the profound ways that service dogs , especially psychiatric service dogs . That's mainly what she'll focus on today . She'll tell us about the profound ways that they change the lives of the individuals that they support . I know that we have a lot of animal lovers out there in our Zen friend community . I think you'll really enjoy this episode . So let's take a short break and we'll get right to my interview with Abby .
I love to connect with listeners and I'd love to hear from you . Please reach out , let me know what you're enjoying and let me know what types of interviews and topics you'd like me to cover in the future . You can find me on Instagram at your Zen friend pod , or email me at yourzenfriendpodcom . You can also join our private Facebook group by searching for your Zen friend in groups on Facebook . Let's get back to our show . Welcome , abby . I'm so glad you're here today . Thank you very much for having me . My pleasure . I don't know if I ever told you this . I remember meeting you at I feel like it was a fourth grade event , maybe like was it the Variety Show in town at our local school .
Speaker 2Oh , my gosh If you can remember that your brain is so much better than mine .
Speaker 1I remember , abby . There are certain people in my life that when I first meet them I'm like I like them . I just know I'm going to be their friend . You were one of them . Your son Tyler , my daughter Lena , were in the same grade . They were friends , so Lena wanted us to meet and right away I was like I like her . I could just tell you were a good person , and so we've known each other for quite some time now . Yes , we have .
Speaker 2And I truly , truly value your friendship . I just love you to pieces .
Speaker 1Back at you , my friend . You are one of those friends . You often see those memes that say everyone has a friend that you can't sit next to at a serious event . That is you for me . Abby , you are one of those people that I would pee my pants if we had to listen to like sex at night next to each other . So just know that that would be fun .
Speaker 1I would totally sign up with you , yes , awesome . So I would love it , abby , if you would tell our listeners a little bit about yourself , and we'll just go from there .
Speaker 2So I've been a dog trainer for 20 years , maybe more , and I started a dog training business . That was great . And then the tragedy in Newtown happened and I had clients coming to me with their dogs wanting to have the dog be a service dog , and it was great to see them . Absolutely Thanks . You know I didn't really know how to handle that , but I did meet their dogs and in every one of those situations the dogs I knew were not appropriate . They were anxious , had no training , they were older , they had health issues there were .
Speaker 2Just , you know , there was no way those dogs were going to be service dogs and it just broke my heart that these people needed help and there was no solution . So I started reaching out to organizations and Assistance Dogs International , which is kind of the main governing body of service dogs , and they said that they would support me 100% and starting my own organization and that was the best way to support the community . And that's what I did . And they supplied some mentors to me and I started Exceptional Psychic Service Dogs , which has been around now seven or eight years and we've given dogs to lots of kids . Our primary mission is teens and young adults struggling to finish their education because of their mental health .
Speaker 1So yeah , yeah , and I think you bring up such a good point , abby . I know there's often a lot of confusion between dogs that maybe are called therapy dogs or support animals and dogs that are true psychiatric service dogs . I know we were talking a little bit as we got started . I get a little bit confused with some of these terms , so I'd love it if you'd break it down for our listeners .
Speaker 2Sure . So therapy dogs and service dogs kind of have opposite jobs so they get clumped together a lot , but they're truly opposite jobs . Therapy dogs are trained to visit with everybody and brighten the room when they go in and just support everybody around , or a group of people , where service dogs are trained to ignore everybody and help one person . And that training to help just that one person is truly what makes them a service dog . They're trained to go out in public , go everywhere the person goes , and then they're trained tasks to help with that person's disability . And to have a service dog you have to have a disability .
Speaker 2Now , emotional support animals are a lot like service dogs in that they're dedicated to one person but they don't have to have any training . They don't have public access rights . They're really only protected for housing . So if you've got a housing issue , like a lot of kids going off to college that need an emotional support animal , or if you have a disability where you need that animal , you have rights through the government , through the housing act , and they have to allow your animal . But there's no training involved with those dogs so they're not allowed to go anywhere with you . Where a service dog has two years of training and they can handle just about anything and just power through it , just like their client .
Speaker 1So let me see if I'm getting this straight . So I think you're saying there are three different types A therapy dog that's just really there to brighten the room and make people feel comfortable and at ease , and emotional support dog or animal I've heard of different types of animals , right , yeah , who are really there for their specific person . And then a psychiatric service dog Is that right ? Who is really trained very specifically to meet the needs of their owner , exactly , okay . So I would imagine like I think most people are familiar with seeing eye dogs , so I'm not even going to try . I know it's not a therapy dog , it really would . I would imagine it's not really psychiatric , so it would just be a service dog .
Speaker 2Yep , well , they're classified as their own and just a guide dog .
Speaker 1I see Okay , so that's a fourth category . Well , technically , but we'll just call it a service dog , okay .
Speaker 2It's trained for one person . It's trained the exact same way that all the other service dogs are trained for , except their task is the guide where our clients task are directly related to psychiatric disabilities .
Speaker 1Got it . And , abby , as you were talking about , families were coming to you after the Sandy Hook tragedy , wanting their dogs to assist their children . I'm imagining this was because their children were having post traumatic stress disorder or symptoms . Is that right yeah ?
Speaker 2And it was also first responders . Sure , yeah , they were scared to leave their homes or struggling to go back to school . We still have clients to this day that are reaching out for a service dog , that were in that school that day or saw the tragedy firsthand , and they're just still not able to thrive in the world and they need help and thank goodness we've got dogs that can help them .
Speaker 1That's amazing . Is there ever an instance where your dog , Buck , who's eight years old and has been raised as a family dog , is then able to make a transition to a service dog ? I would think that would be hard to do .
Speaker 2It's very hard to do . But the biggest issue is it takes about two years to train a dog with an eight year old dog . Plus it's expensive . So to put in that time and money on an eight year old dog that has to retire at 10 , there's no point to it . But anything's possible . It's just the likelihood of it succeeding , the success rate of the dogs and your financial commitment to putting that money into that specific dog . When we find puppies we're always looking at the success rate and how successful these dogs are going to be , and it's the reason why we don't use rescues , because their success rate is much lower than a lab , for instance . I'd love to rescue every dog off the street and turn them into service dogs , but one . I don't think it's necessarily fair to those rescues that are already dealing with things but they've got their own baggage that they're dealing with and that makes their success rate a little bit lower .
Speaker 1Yeah , that totally makes sense . And can you talk a little bit Abby about the different breeds , because I have a Westie . He's my third Westie . I'm sure there are some Westies that are maybe therapy dogs that break in a room , but my guess is there are none or a few that are actually service dogs because they are bossy as hell . So I'm curious what breeds are breeds that you look at to really have potential to be service dogs ?
Speaker 2The labs are overwhelmingly the ones that organizations choose . A lot of that has to do with the breeding pools . A lot of big organizations they're breeding these dogs and the smaller organizations are benefiting from those breeding programs . But they're doing that and they're putting that money into those dogs because they're successful . So any breed can do it . But again we go back to the success rate . But any breed can do it . There's a possibility there , Really . Yeah , Even Westies , Even Westies . There's always a possibility . I'm not going to be a breedist and say a Westie can't do it .
Speaker 1I love that , Abby . It's equal opportunity all the way around . Exactly . That's beautiful . Since we are on the topic of people with post-traumatic stress disorder or trauma symptoms , what types of services would a dog in that instance be providing ? I'm sure it's pretty individual to the person and their symptoms , but just to give listeners an idea of some of the ways that they could support a person .
Speaker 2Yeah . So yes , we train every dog specific to that person's disability because not everybody wants the dog to behave the exact same way when they have a panic attack . So somebody might like the dog to just rest their head on their lap . Other people might want the dog to lick them for a tactile simulation , or other people might want the dog to paw at them . So we really ask the client what they're looking for and what they'd like and train that specific task to the client so we go through their worst symptoms essentially and figure out what the dog could do to help that and then we train the dog for that symptom , whatever it is .
Speaker 2So we've got , like I said , licking , like tactile stimulation .
We've got a lot of kids that cover their face when they cry and we'll teach the dogs to come in and just start licking their face or move their hands away and start playing . We've got dogs that do deep pressure therapy where they'll lay on the person . We could train the dogs to block . So if a client doesn't want somebody behind them or close by , the dog can move the person away or just kind of stand behind our client . Then with this , a lot of kids with PTSD . They also are medically complex . So they've got autoimmune issues . So we've got a lot of medically complex clients that have heart conditions or pain conditions or suffer in a lot of different ways . So we also help with those disabilities when they come up .
Speaker 1Wow , that's incredible , abby , because I don't think people often realize how traumatic it can be for children having surgeries and medical procedures . So for children who do have health issues chronic health issues or serious health issues they very often do have trauma . So what a beautiful gift that the dogs can help with their trauma symptoms as well as some of their health and medical symptoms as well .
Speaker 2Yeah , I have a great story to tell you about that . Oh , do tell . So one of the first clients we worked with . She was hospitalized . She's got this rare condition I'm going to mess it up now but it's myasthenia gravus I think but she was not responding to medication . She was in the hospital for an extended period . Nothing was really helping . She was getting visits from therapy dogs and that was a huge benefit to her days . When the dog showed up and she applied for a dog and we delivered a dog to the hospital and the dog started staying with her in the hospital while she was there and she got better and they don't know why she started responding to the medication other than this dog . The dog helped her medication actually work and helped her get out of the hospital , and that was a girl that was in the hospital a lot and since she's had her dog she has not had an extended hospital stay at all . Oh my gosh . So just these animals help tremendously regulate the nervous system and that can be huge .
Speaker 1That's exactly what I was wondering . Yes , I'm thinking about the benefits of accessing our rest and repair state of our nervous system and thinking that dog probably really helped her to get there so often and on such a regular basis that then she was able to really start to heal and the medication was able to start to take effect . That's such a beautiful story , abby . Thank you for sharing it . Yeah , absolutely , that's incredible . So I had the pleasure of doing some volunteer work with you previously , and so let's see if I get it right with really how things work . But I believe that you will , although maybe it's a little bit different now . So I'm thinking this was specific .
Speaker 1I was helping you with a program that was in the Newtown High School . At that point , you got a litter of puppies and my price for my volunteer work was I need to be able to pet those puppies once in a while . You were very good at complying and so fun , abby . You invited me over when they first had arrived at your house and you and I hung out with them in your garage so fun . So are you still doing things that way , where you get a litter of puppies and you start to train them with volunteers who are puppy handlers who take them out and about in public . Is that right ?
Speaker 2That's all still exactly the same , except I don't bring them into my house anymore . Thank goodness We've got so many wonderful volunteers that step forward and take these puppies , and this past summer we had a group of summer razors so they house-growth the puppies and started their basic training and they crate-trained them and got them ready . Because we also have programs at Sacred Heart University and SUNY Coddle Skill where students take our puppies and raise them on campus , and because our dogs will ultimately go with a student in a classroom or onto a college campus , it's just the perfect relationship there . So when the puppies were about five months old , they moved on to these college campuses and are now raised by students . And then we also have some families in town that also are raising puppies , but it's exciting to see them all in their different placements .
Speaker 2And the volunteers do such an amazing job . Just these college students . You think about it ? They're going through college , they're living on their own , sometimes for the first time , and then we give them a puppy and they somehow manage that too . I mean , they're just amazing , kids and volunteers . Oh my gosh .
Speaker 1Abby , it's . The programs that you provide are so amazing and the puppy handlers , as they are called the individuals who really care for the puppies as you're raising and training them , are such amazing volunteers for what they do , because they really correct me if I'm wrong , but I think they really are training them to go to the bathroom outside to get comfortable with the crate , to get comfortable being around people . They take them pretty much everywhere they go because they need to get comfortable with different surroundings and then , when the time comes that that puppy has graduated and is ready to be a service dog , they then say goodbye to them and that is such a beautiful gift and , I imagine , is hard at some level .
Speaker 2Oh , it's so hard . I mean , I had dogs in my home for the longest time . I think we raised five dogs and the fifth one that left it kind of broke us . My daughter and I just cried for like a week . We were so sad to see that dog go . I don't know what it was about that one . I mean all of them we missed , but that one . We were just like we need a break . We can't do it anymore . And that was a few years ago , and right now I've got a dog in my house again . But we had to take a little bit of a break . It is truly hard and you know I don't take that for granted that these volunteers truly pour their heart into it and they're doing it for somebody else . They're falling in love with an animal and then giving it away when it's at a much better statement than when I first gave it to them . Yeah Right , so they get it all perfect . And then I'm like great , I'll take it .
Speaker 1Now that it's chewed up all your furniture and peed on your fanciest sofa , we'll be taking this dog now . Yes , I know you had asked me at one point , abby , if I would be a puppy handler , and I said I couldn't do it . And you said but wouldn't you be able to give it up , knowing that it would be going to perform this amazing service for someone else ? And I said no , and that's what would make it much more horrible that I had done that Right .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1Talk about some bad Google reviews right there , like oh , that's the therapist that like wouldn't give up . So the dog , yeah , great , yeah , let's not see her . So yeah , no no , no .
Speaker 2They're truly , truly , just the most giving people that will volunteer for us , and there's truly no words for them .
Speaker 1That is amazing , and , yes , I found other ways to get involved and I will do that in the future that do not involve me having to give up a dog at any point . You just have to know yourself , right ? I think that's important . Yeah , so I know we were talking about some common misconceptions and how people can get confused between service dogs , therapy dogs and emotional support dogs . Is there anything else that you can think of , Abby , that you really wish people better understood ?
I think , the impact that these animals can have , no matter what they are . You know we also place facility dogs . We've got two dogs at Yale , new Haven , helping kids there too , and they are doing that because they see the impact of these animals . There's research behind it now that just having a dog in the room lowers the blood pressure of everybody in the room . Wow , we've got plenty of research now to show that these dogs make a difference . We see it over and over and over with our clients that having a service dog with them lessens the severity and the frequency of their symptoms . So if we can have a dog interrupt the very , very beginnings of a kid getting anxious before it turns into a panic attack , then they can finish their education and they can learn something that day . But without the dog they end up in a panic attack and then they can never get back to the state of learning . So then their whole school day is kind of wasted . Yeah , so if a dog can do that and interrupt the very beginnings and keep them in school or at least able to learn , even if it's out of school , that's our goal .
Speaker 2We see a lot of our clients are coming in from therapeutic school placements or from hospitalizations , or they've been pulled out of school altogether because they're school avoidant and they're not even able to go to school . So many of our clients have missed 100 days of school or more and they're just . They don't know how to get their kid in . And these kids want to be in school . It's not like they don't want that . They want to be there so badly , they just can't . So when they're left with no other options , a lot of parents pull their kids out because it's just not working .
Speaker 2The good news is we give them dogs and we've got tons of dogs on college campuses now . Because these kids with the dogs learn to regulate themselves , they their nervous system calms down , they're able to start getting help they need and then they're able to start venturing out , go to the grocery store and go to movies and go to the mall and slowly expand their world again . And it's all because of a dog beside them . That's amazing , abby , yeah . So that's what I want everybody to know that these dogs aren't just cute dogs hanging out next to a kid , they're really a lifeline .
Speaker 1Yes , and you know , I think , as you were talking about school refusal , we could do a whole episode on that easily . What I most want people to understand about school refusal is typically it's not a kid who's being bad , having bad behavior . It's a kid whose anxiety is so very high that they are in a complete freeze state and unable to enter that building . And so when a dog can help them in a way that helps them to get back to being able to attend school and being able to , while they're there , have their anxiety low enough that they can learn , that is an incredible gift . Because we know when your anxiety is super high , your prefrontal cortex is offline , you cannot attend to what's going on around you , and in some cases , medication can be used to help people lower their anxiety to learn those skills . But this is a wonderful alternative , because medication is not for everyone . Medication has a lot of side effects . It's so exciting to hear that dogs can really help kids get back into school .
Speaker 2Yeah , I think the other thing while you were talking that came to mind was I think a lot of people have this idea of kids with psychiatric issues that there's some sort of behavior problems or you know they've got horrible outbursts or whatever . All of our clients are the exact opposite . They tend to be the most empathetic kids in the school . They are prone to self-harm so they're much more likely to hurt themselves than anybody else . They are so kind and gentle to our dogs the exact opposite of a kid without births and violent tendencies . Those are not our clients at all . We've never had one even apply for our dogs . Our clients are all just sweet , almost introverted . Sweet , sweet kids .
Speaker 2I just want to speak them all up and give them all a hug and make them all better .
Speaker 1Yes , and I think , abby , a lot of my clients you know I specialize in treating anxiety exactly what you're saying , and I'm thinking of my kids who have had , you know , quote unquote school refusal , and they are such big empaths that not only are they working through their own fear and anxieties but at times they are having such big emotions for the kid in class that's getting in trouble or for the teacher that clearly is having a bad day that they are just managing all of that . But they are kind , caring , sweet , intelligent kids and it's hard to see them suffer .
Speaker 2Yeah , a lot of our clients were thriving in school . You know they were on honor rolls or you know just excellent students , until the anxiety took over and then they start , you know , failing simply because they're not in school . And it's just devastating to see that because they'll say I used to be really smart , I'm like you still are . Totally , you're just . You know you're stopped with your education . Right now You'll get back to it Like it's fine , yeah , so yeah , these are just smart , kind kids . They'd much rather run away and hide than fight . So the dogs can help , absolutely .
Speaker 1Yeah , what a gift to see them get back into being able to live their lives . Are there any other psychiatric symptoms , abby , that service dogs are able to help with ?
Speaker 2Yeah , so it really comes down to the symptoms and what the symptoms are . So you could , there's any symptom , you have a ?
Speaker 1dog can help with , okay , okay . So , like someone with depression say , would they perhaps be a candidate for a service dog ?
Speaker 2Yeah , okay , we can teach the dog to bring meds , deliver water . We can teach the dog to pull off the covers . So force them out of bed . We can help them when an alarm goes off . You can't snooze a dog that is jumping on you . So we could teach a dog to insist that you get out of bed . Wow , oh , that's incredible . So it'll literally force the kids out of bed and it's the best way . You know , if a parent walks in and is like come on , you gotta get up , that's like the worst way to get a kid up . They never want to get up that way . But if a dog comes in and is jumping all over you and happy to see you in the morning and just wants to be fed , yes , and that's the best way to get a dog up . The kids want to get up .
Speaker 1That's a much better way . Yes , and because , again , they typically are caring , loving kids , they're not going to want to not feed their dog or let their dog go outside . So , oh , I love that , exactly . What a gift . What a gift . That is Anything else that you can think of , abby , like other symptoms that dogs can help with , that might be helpful for people to understand , I think you've covered a lot , so I mentioned cell parming before .
Speaker 2The idea with cell parming is always cutting or something super dangerous . Most of our clients start with cell parming where they're picking to the point of bleeding or scratching themselves with their fingernails or pulling their hair . Those are all cell farms . Those are all things a dog can stop and our goal is to stop these behaviors before they escalate to cutting with a knife or something sharp . So when we teach the dogs to stop cell parming , the dogs are never put in danger . They're not stopping somebody from cutting with something sharp , but they're stopping these little cell parms that happen before they escalate to something worse , which is our plan with all symptoms is to stop it . When it first starts With the panic attacks . It's just a bouncing leg that might start a panic attack . We want to stop that , not the panic attack , absolutely .
Speaker 1So that is such a gift that the dog is able to help them with those early symptoms when it could be that their anxiety is escalating in . A panic attack could be on the horizon to stop it before they even get there . That's such a gift , abby . So if someone is listening and thinking that a service dog might be really beneficial for them or someone in their life , how would they go about looking to obtain one ?
Speaker 2So in Connecticut , for a psychiatric service dog for a teen or young adult , you can apply on our website at exceptionalsidekickorg . If you're outside of Connecticut or this area some parts of New York are pretty close then you can go on assistancedogsinternationalorg and search for an accredited organization and that's the best way to go . There are a lot of service dog scams out there , so people just want to be very careful about who they go to . Everybody wants a dog quickly and for not too much money , and those are the biggest red flags . These dogs are expensive , it's just a fact , and they're usually not available quickly , so somebody looking for a quick fix is likely to get scammed . So just everybody should be very careful and we've had many clients come to us that have already been scammed and it just breaks my heart because praying on somebody with a disabled child is just the lowest of lows .
Speaker 1Absolutely Abby . That is heartbreaking . Someone is already suffering and looking for answers . That's sad , so thank you so much for providing that information . I'll make sure those websites are on or in the show notes . I think you said exceptionalsidekickorg and assistancedoginternationalorg . Those are them Got it . So it seems to me like , especially if someone's out of state to go with that , assistancedoginternationalorg is gonna be a good place to be , where they will know they're not going to be scammed . They'll be put in touch with someone reputable , awesome .
Speaker 2Yeah , and you could do a search on their website which disability the child has or person has and search by state . So they've got a great website you can go to .
Speaker 1Oh , very cool and I'm
curious . One other question that keeps popping into mind , as we were talking before about the animals , and it sounds like there are certain breeds that are maybe better suited to some of these jobs , and it also sounds like really starting to work with them when they're young can be helpful . What are traits that you look for in these dogs ? Is it really specific for the tasks that they're going to need to do ? Or because I remember Abby , there was at least one or two dogs from the litter that I met that didn't graduate to being a service dog , like what makes them or breaks them , I guess ?
Speaker 2Well , this is . It's different for every type of service dog . Okay , so we get some dogs from Guiding Eyes for the Blind and what they're looking for in a dog is different than what we're looking for . So if they have a dog that's not going to work for them but would work for us , they'll give it to us . So it's a little bit unique to each organization and what they're looking for for their specific clients . But we're looking for very calm dogs . We're looking for dogs that aren't sensitive to sounds or movements or high prey drives . We want a dog that's just very neutral to seeing other dogs or people . We want just calm . We want a calm dog that's not going to be phased by much Because of where our clients go and sometimes they cry and we don't want a dog to take that anxiety on .
Speaker 1Totally makes sense , yeah , that's what we're looking for , okay , okay , yeah , I know , when we got our rescue dog Luigi like , as you mentioned , rescues come with stuff he's really has such a sweet temperament I was hoping I could bring him to the office and he would be like a therapy dog for my clients . I thought that would be so fun , but I am like his therapy person is how it has turned out to be .
Speaker 2Yeah , doesn't work . Yes , we can't have working dogs that need their own service dog .
Speaker 1Like if I had to leave that room he'd be crying , the person would be comforting him , so it didn't quite work out . But I mean , look , yeah , I love how you talked about dogs really lowering the blood pressure of everyone in the room .
Speaker 1That's of course , if they're not like chewing on the chair leg or barking at the squirrel outside , of course right , but I do think animals give us such a benefit in our lives , even if they aren't certified therapy or emotional support or service dogs . I think we often just really benefit from those loving pets that we have .
Speaker 2Absolutely , and there is that huge . You know we talk about service dogs and how they're working dogs and how they've got task training , but you cannot put aside the fact that they're still pets and they're loved by their owners and get to cuddle at night and do all the cool things in the house that every other pet dog gets to do . They work when they have to and the rest of the time they're just great companions .
Speaker 1Absolutely , and the world is a brighter place because of the animals in our lives . At least , that's true for me . Absolutely , this has been so fun talking to you , abby . Now I know you also have your own training facility for people that are looking for pet training for their dog , so maybe we could have you come back sometime and talk about that . I think that could be fun too .
Speaker 2Oh , I would love to , I mean the pet dogs . It's just a different , whole different world over there with you . I've got to deal with a lot more people and the dogs and different types of dogs , which it's fun .
Speaker 1I bet so , and if people are local to Fairfield County , connecticut , and are looking for an animal trainer , can you just tell us the name of your facility ? Sure , it's the exceptional pet Awesome . Thank you so much , abby . So fun having you here today . I so appreciate it . Thank you , lauren . It's always great to see you . Wasn't that interview fun ?
Speaker 1I am so very grateful to have Abby as both a friend and a community member . Our community of Newtown has so greatly benefited from the work that Abby has done and continues to do . She puts her heart and soul into working with individuals and working with the animals that she is assisting in training , and our world is a much better and brighter place with Abby in it . If you'd like to connect with me , I would sure love to hear from you . Send me an email at your zenfriendpod at gmailcom , find me over on Instagram at your zenfriendpod , or connect with me on our private Facebook group . This is probably where I spend the most time . I have a great time over there connecting with our community members .
Speaker 1We love to share funny memes and funny news articles and also just interesting and thought provoking I was about to say memes . You don't really find too many of those , but sometimes , sometimes inspirational quotes or sayings and just all sorts of stuff we are sharing and connecting over on Facebook . So check it out . You can find our group by searching in groups for your zen friend . You'll have to answer a few questions because I really do try to keep it to listeners of the show . Our fellow zen friends and I sure would love to meet you and connect with you . So please check that out . And if you haven't subscribed or followed the show , please do that . You'll get a new full length episode every Tuesday and you'll get a drop of zen , a short guided meditation , every Friday . A great big thank you to Sue Zen for editing this podcast and making it sound fantastic . I'm so glad you joined me here today . Until next time , friend , I hope you'll take some time today and every day to do something kind for yourself .