Good Neighbor Podcast: Cobb County

E60: Corporate Suits to Furry Rescues: A Tale of Following Your Heart with Kelley Long of Mostly Mutts

• Milli M. & Kelley Long • Episode 60

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Ready to meet your new best friend? Kelley Long of Mostly Mutts Animal Rescue joins us to share how a 21-year legacy of animal rescue is transforming lives in our community.

When Kelley adopted two cattle dog mixes who proceeded to destroy her sofa, she never imagined it would completely change her life's direction. Following a persistent inner voice telling her to "get dogs," she left behind her stressful career in mortgage banking and discovered her true calling at Mostly Mutts. What began as volunteer work blossomed into a leadership role at this heart-centered nonprofit in downtown Kennesaw.

Kelley dispels common misconceptions about rescue animals, explaining their thorough temperament testing process and collaboration with local animal control facilities. The most remarkable aspect? Every adopted dog receives free training for life at their dedicated facility. This invaluable support system ensures successful adoptions and creates lasting bonds between pets and their new families. Whether you're seeking a furry companion, meaningful volunteer work, or simply want to support their mission, Mostly Mutts welcomes your involvement through their adoption program, volunteer opportunities, or thrift store that funds their work.

Visit MostlyMutts.org to learn more about adding a new member to your family. Who knows? Your perfect match might be waiting just around the corner at this local treasure that's been saving dogs, cats, guinea pigs—and the occasional horse—for over two decades.

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Millie M.

Speaker 2:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, millie M. Are you in need of a brand new animal to love? Well, we can find you one closer than you think. I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, kelly Long of Mostly Mutt's Animal Rescue. How are you doing, kelly? I'm doing wonderful today. How are you? I'm doing well. Thanks for asking. We are so excited to learn all about you and Mostly Mutts Tell us more so well.

Speaker 3:

Mostly, mutts is a non-profit animal rescue and we've been around for 21 years this July so we've been saving animals dogs, cats, guinea pigs and the occasional horse for a long time. We are very fortunate. We have a great rescue center located right in downtown Kennesaw, which gives us such an opportunity to try to help and save so many animals.

Speaker 2:

Beautiful, beautiful. So how did you get into this business?

Speaker 3:

So I am. Actually I started as a volunteer here, but before that I was worked as a mortgage banker corporate America and adopted these two dogs and it just absolutely changed my heart. So and I did everything wrong as an adopter I adopted two male sibling cattle, dog mixes, and they literally ate my sofa. But I loved them so much and so it changed my heart. So I started volunteering for Mostly Mutt's about 10 years ago and then it just kind of worked into this great job opportunity that I have now to go out and tell our story and save animals. So it's my passion.

Speaker 2:

So fulfilling. It's such a transition from mortgages for sure, Big time, yeah. So what are some of the myths and misconceptions about your industry or what you do in particular?

Speaker 3:

So I think one of the biggest myths is we pull our animals from animal control facilities and we work with them very closely as partners. I think there's a lot of myths that say that they're going to euthanize a lot of dogs immediately and cats immediately, and they don't do that. They really do try to work very hard to get their animals out and into good, loving homes. They do work really hard with the rescues as well. So that's one myth.

Speaker 2:

Okay, do you find that people are worried about aggressive dogs? Because, you know, I think I have the image in my head, just from my experience, that animal control deals with aggressive animals.

Speaker 3:

So animal controls are open intake facilities Mostly Mutt's is not. So we go to animal control and we pull the dogs out. So when we do that we look for aggression. We try to temperament test the dogs while we're there and then, once we bring them into our facility, they actually work with a trainer. The trainers work with them to teach them basic obedience, but they also try to uncover any behavioral issues that might be of a concern to a potential adopting family. So we do see some aggression, but we don't see it a lot here.

Speaker 2:

Okay, that's very reassuring, very reassuring. So who are your target customers and how do you reach them? Who's the perfect pet? Adopted family. So you know what Everybody's the perfect pet adopted family.

Speaker 3:

So you know what Everybody's a perfect pet adopted family. I think that anybody can adopt a pet and anybody can be a good pet parent, and at MostlyMunch we do try to give you as much support post-adoption. We have a training facility and when you adopt a dog from MostlyMunch you get free training for the life of that dog. We happen to have a market located on Bells Ferry Road and it's a thrift store that helps to support our mission, but in the basement there's actually a full-on training facility where any of our adopted dogs can come in and we have everything from basic obedience to one-on-one consultations. So if you're a little nervous about adopting a dog or a cat, we can help you um after, even after you adopt.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's wonderful to have that support so you don't feel like you're out there all alone and have to spend a lot of money on those additional resources. Training is expensive Um has have you, or has Mostly Months um, ever thought about? Um sharing your story through a medium like this, like your own podcast?

Speaker 3:

We have. Actually, it's something that we talk about a lot, just trying to figure out how to do it and how to make it happen. So we're actually in the beginning stages of that, because we have so many people, we have a great presence on social media, so, and people are very curious about what we do. What a typical day looks like here.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. I think there's a great opportunity for you all to get a lot of great information out there to people who are looking to adopt these animals. So let's talk about outside of work. What do you do for fun?

Speaker 3:

So I work a lot because I think that that's fun. I work with a lot of really nice people, but I also I garden and I travel, which is great, so, and I love to read. Sorry, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Travel and reading can go hand in hand. You can plan a vacation for the specific purpose of reading a book.

Speaker 3:

I just sat on the beach and read last two weeks ago, so it was heaven.

Speaker 2:

Beautiful, beautiful. Let's switch gears a little bit. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you overcame and how it made you stronger?

Speaker 3:

Sure. So honestly, making the transition just from corporate America to doing this was a bit of a challenge for me. It was a very stressful time. There was a lot going on in mortgage business can be kind of stressful so I just made the choice the universe kind of put on my heart, to get dogs, get dogs. I kept hearing get dogs, and so once.

Speaker 3:

I did it completely changed my heart, so I mean I had a lot to learn, but when I came to Mostly Mutt's it was exactly where I'm supposed to be, and so it's been one of the most fulfilling experiences I've ever had.

Speaker 2:

And that is a testament to following your intuition and your gut and it leading you in the right direction. So, kelly, I would like for you to tell our listeners if you could leave them with one thing you want them to always remember about, mostly Mutt, what would that be?

Speaker 3:

So we're an organization with a lot of heart, so we have a lot of nice people. There's a lot of volunteer opportunities. So if you're looking to adopt a great pet or make a new friend, think about Mostly Mutt.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much, Kelly, for being with us. Tell our listeners how they can find you.

Speaker 3:

So MostlyMuts, it's MostlyMutsorg. All of the information that you need to volunteer, adopt or even find our thrift store is available online.

Speaker 2:

I'm coming to see you soon. Thank you so much, kelly, wishing you and MostlyMuts, the best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much for your time. We're excited to have been included.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpcobbcountycom. That's gnpcobbcountycom, or call 470-470-4506.