0225: Pet Rescue Pilots with Julian Javor

Julian Javor from Pet Rescue Pilots talks about the organization’s life-saving work flying pets out of shelters and landing them safely in the loving arms of rescue groups, fosters, and forever homes.

Pet Rescue Pilots online:
PetRescuePilots.org
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From the Dog Words archives:
0120: Flying Dogs to Their Forever Homes with Julian Javor
0211: Best Friends Animal Society with Brent Toellner

Celebrate 5 years of Rosie Fund by supporting our campaign to sponsor 50 dogs. You can donate at RosieFund.org or through our Facebook page. You can contribute by making a purchase from the store on our website or buying a t-shirt at Bonfire.com. Also check out our page on BarkYours, the online mall with gifts for people who love their dogs.

Music for this episode is provided by alternative string duo, The Wires. Visit them at TheWires.info. Learn fiddle and cello-fiddle online — even if you've never played before — from Laurel Morgan Parks and Sascha Groshang at FiddleLife.com.

The transcript for this episode is available on the Dog Words Buzzsprout page: Buzzsprout.com/840565.

Make a donation at RosieFund.org or through our Facebook page. You can contribute by making a purchase from the store on our website or buying a t-shirt at Bonfire.com. Also check out our page on BarkYours, the online mall with gifts for people who love their dogs.

Rosie Fund online:
RosieFund.org
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YouTube.com/rosiefund

Transcript

JULIAN  0:03 
Animal welfare needs to become a priority that welfare needs to originate at the community level, at the neighborhood level to influence policymakers and that there needs to be a cultural shift.

PHIL   0:18 
I'm Phil Hatterman and this is Dog Words presented by Rosie Fund.

Today, Julian Javor from Pet Rescue Pilots returns to talk about the organization's life saving work.

If you're new to Dog Words, in each episode we explore the world of dog care and companionship. "We save each other," is the motto of Rosie Fund. Which simply means the more we do for dogs, the more they do for us, and they already do a lot.

If you love dogs, you'll love Dog Words. We welcome your comments, questions and suggestions. Go to the podcast page at Rosie fund.org to share your thoughts. Please download, follow, rate, and most importantly, share Dog Words.

Celebrate five years of Rosie Fund by supporting our campaign to sponsor 50 dogs. So far in 2021 we've sponsored 30 dogs. Help us reach and surpass our goal. You can donate on our website or Facebook page. You can also contribute by making a purchase from the store on our website, buying a t-shirt at Bonfire.com, or buying our notecards and shirts on BarkYours.com. Links are in the description. Your donations and purchases help fund the Rosie Life Starter Kits that make sure these senior and harder-to-adopt dogs have some of the items they'll need in their forever home.

Please follow Rosie Fund on social media. Subscribe to the free Rosie Fund YouTube channel that offers great videos of Rosie, Peaches, and shelter dogs, including some exclusive content like the sweet KC Pet Project dog featured in our latest post.

Next time on Dog Words Chloe Shorten joins us from across the Atlantic to talk about an amazing Border Collie.

The mission of Rosie Fund is to provide humans with the resources and education they need to give senior and harder-to-adopt dogs a better life. We thank you for joining our mission.

Today on Dog Words, we welcome back Julian Javor, pilot and founder of Pet Rescue Pilots. Welcome to the show, Julian.

JULIAN  2:11 
Thanks for having me back. I'm looking forward to catching up with you.

PHIL   2:14 
We've actually been talking before I started recording. And that would be a fascinating episode. I should have a paywall.

JULIAN  2:22 
Yeah!

PHIL   2:22 
That people would get to listen to that interview. And they would be that much smarter for it.

JULIAN  2:28 
Yeah, no, in and of itself, it would have made a good episode.

PHIL   2:32 
If you've not heard our previous interview, it was just over a year ago that we talked to you. We were just few weeks into two weeks of shelter at home.

JULIAN  2:44 
Yeah.

PHIL   2:45 
You were going to be back up in the year shortly once all of that was lifted. And here we are two years later, or not two years, it feels like two years. It's only been a year.

JULIAN  2:54 
We're here 50 plus transports later for us. Thousands plus dogs transported for us. A lot has happened in the last year and a half.

PHIL   3:04 
Really, how did the lockdown impact you? Because we talked about this last time, but it had only been a few weeks of lockdown. Now it's been over a year of lockdown. What was the impact on you personally and on Pet Rescue Pilots?

JULIAN  3:22 
Well, when we spoke a little over a year ago, you know, I was still in the lockdown very much and abiding to it. And I was really trying to ensure that by doing our ordinary transport that we weren't contributing to the proliferation and spread of the virus. But shortly after our interview, it came to the point where we realized that, "Alright, this is going to go on for a while. This is not stopping immediately. And we need to find a way to safely work through the pandemic." So we established our own kind of transport safety guidelines that were in line with the CDC regulations and suggestions at the time, and we started flying. And I don't think I've ever flown more, actually, than I did during the lockdown months.

PHIL   4:14 
I would describe what you do as an essential service.

JULIAN  4:19 
I would agree with you. And I've had several conversations with Canadian border officials about that and eventually got them to see that it is essential from where we stand for sure.

PHIL   4:29 
Feel free to give them my number. Next time just tell them call me. I'll straighten it out.

JULIAN  4:34 
I've got a guy in Kansas City. He's got something to tell you.

PHIL   4:37 
He has thoughts.

JULIAN  4:39 
Yeah.

PHIL   4:40 
So you're flying as much, if not more than ever. Did you notice a difference in the pet population you're transporting or how people were delivering pets to you and collecting pets from you?

JULIAN  4:55 
Yeah, one of the biggest things that that I noticed was was actually Los Angeles city and San Diego city, contacting us and saying, "Do we have any partners that can bring dogs?" Because the actual metropolitan areas, and this is where we kind of say it's a tale of two cities here in California, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, their shelters were not by any stretch of the imagination close to full. So we were able to transport to rescues here in Los Angeles and San Diego, which was, I mean, it was really effective for the more rural areas that we fly out of West Texas, southern New Mexico, in the Central Valley. And also for people who were looking to adopt. I mean, in major cities during lockdown, the adoption applications went through the roof. In fact, in Vancouver, for example, we've got partners with thousands of applications without any dogs to fill them even to this day.

PHIL   5:57 
Wow. Well, in Kansas City, both adoption went up and foster went up. And fostering, I strongly believe and evidence supports this ,helps with adoption. It makes an animal more adoptable because it gets socialized, and you get information about it that you don't get from it just being in a kennel every day.

JULIAN  6:21 
Well, I mean, hugely for them, even just getting out of the stressful environment of a shelter where there's possibly hundreds of other dogs that are around all with their own temperaments and their own behaviors that they have to deal with. I mean, you know, it's a very high stress environment for these dogs,

PHIL   6:38 
And instead of having a staff of a dozen or so people, marketing, a hundred dogs, you have a family, marketing that dog. They're posting videos every day of that dog or that litter of cats showing, here's their development, here they are playing in my yard, and it's easier for an adopter to picture them in their own home, when they can see, "Oh, here's this dog playing tug of war with this kid. And boy, that would be great to have in our house."

JULIAN  7:07 
For so many reasons, fostering is just one of the most valuable things you can do in the rescue world. It creates space in the shelter, where a dog who might have had to have been euthanized for space doesn't have to be and, of course, have to be is a questionable statement. None of us necessarily feel that that has to happen. But okay, you know, you're making room and shelter. So that can never be a bad thing. You're helping this dog decompress, show their true personality. You're marketing the dog for adoption. And yeah, it's just all around really one of the most selfless things a family can do.

PHIL   7:42 
Obviously, that's great for the pet. Has your experience showed benefits for the humans as well?

JULIAN  7:49 
Oh, without a doubt. Yeah. I mean, fosters that I speak to it's interesting, because one of the most common things that they toil with is, "Do I adopt this dog?" Because they fall in love, inevitably. And that companionship is there. And they're part of this dog's journey to heal and find love and to find themselves. And it's difficult to let go at the end of the foster journey. But a lot of people, for them, it's going outside of yourself and helping another living creature. So there are a lot of people who say that, "As much as I'd love to adopt this dog, I want to be a foster." Because they know that they're giving to a greater cause than just themselves.

PHIL   8:32 
I wouldn't say that it gets easier to let go of that dog, the more you foster, the more dogs that you have to let go to their forever home. I would frame it as you get better at it. You get better at recognizing the value that you're providing, the service that you're providing, the good that you're doing for that dog, that family, your community.

JULIAN  8:57 
Exactly. And that that outweighs that draw to say, "Oh, wow, you know, I've really fallen for this dog." Because I mean, you're gonna fall for almost all of them. Let's be honest.

PHIL   9:06 
Anyone who watches the videos that we do for the dogs we feature, my wife, Dawn shoots the video and I'm the "talent" — I just did air quotes — that gets to talk about the dog. Most of those dogs I've known for five minutes before she starts rolling with the video.

JULIAN  9:27 
Yeah.

PHIL   9:27 
And that dog is giving me kisses, sitting on my foot, showing me their belly. And it's really hard not to just take that dog home with me then.

JULIAN  9:40 
Yeah, they this is the broader strokes piece of information that we glean out of that is that this is what dogs were born to do is to love people. I say this all the time and how I really got so impassioned by rescue to the point where I started my own organization rather than just to keep it casual and fly when I can and out of my own pocket, what really got to me was the fact that I realized these are no longer just animals. These are domesticated companion animals, who for 1000s of years, have been born for just this purpose of providing companionship for us.

PHIL   10:24 
The dog needs to be the right fit with the family. But there are so many dogs that any family, any individual is going to find a dog that's the right fit. So just because you fall in love with a dog doesn't mean you have to take that dog. 'Cause the ones I fall in love with I know, the biggest reason we don't adopt every single one is we don't have the space and our dog Peaches has definite thoughts about how long a stay she will allow with any other dog in the house. So we have to be discriminating on who we would take. But yeah, that's what they're born to do. And, boy, you just look into those eyes and you don't understand, "How did this dog end up in the shelter? How did you become abandoned or a stray or owner surrender?"

JULIAN  11:15 
It is just simply put a moral obligation for us to ensure that they're cared for properly.

PHIL   11:25 
We've evolved together...

JULIAN  11:27 
Without a doubt.

PHIL   11:28 
...but humans have had a lot bigger role in creating the relationship and shaping how a dog can exist.

JULIAN  11:37 
Exactly.

PHIL   11:39 
So we certainly have a responsibility for taking care of this species that we've created.

JULIAN  11:45 
Yeah, we can't just abandon our creation.

PHIL   11:48 
I'm glad this isn't the end of the interview, because that would be a heavy note to go out on.

JULIAN  11:55 
No, let's lighten it up.

PHIL   11:57 
So you mentioned that you sort of changed your protocols for transport with Pet Rescue Pilots. What were some of the biggest changes or what were some of the surprises that you had to face in adapting?

JULIAN  12:12 
One of the biggest changes was the fact that I no longer had any help loading the aircraft. Actually, that was probably one of the biggest changes. We would have our rescue partners unload the crates underneath the wing or in a shaded area. And then they would step away and the Pet Rescue Pilots crew would come in and we would entirely load the aircraft without any sort of assistance. So it was really twice the work that it was normally and done by fewer people.

PHIL   12:45 
And not all your dogs are Lhasa Apsos.

JULIAN  12:49 
No, no, they're not. They're not little Shih Tzus or Chihuahuas. In fact, the majority are not. And we've talked about this before, Phil, but you know, there's always a need for large dogs to get out to areas like Washington state or western Canada, or Oregon, where there's more land and people are more willing to accommodate large dogs. And you know, in the city centers, that's one of the tough things for large dogs is people don't have the space for them, you know, or an apartment that will accommodate a dog that's more than 50 pounds, for example. So yeah, we carry at least one or two large dogs, whenever we're flying. Obviously, we try to maximize the number of pets that we can fit in the aircraft and large dogs take up a lot of room, but we try to get them out regularly for that reason.

PHIL   13:34 
And you don't have one of those trucks with a belt ramp, like people see when their luggage is getting loaded in their 737. Nope.

JULIAN  13:43 
No, we don't.

PHIL   13:43 
You don't even have a scissor lift.

JULIAN  13:45 
It's tight quarters for us. You know, someone's inside breaking their back moving crates inside the plane. Someone's outside breaking their back moving these crates in. But I mean, that's part of the job. It's just easier when you have more hands and people can be in closer proximity. A lot of it was really just ensuring that safety was being maintained.

PHIL   14:05 
You also have to deal with you know the rules in the city you live in for mask, distance, what places I can go into and what places I can't. And now you're flying, in some cases, to different countries. You're going to Canada.

JULIAN  14:22 
Yes, absolutely. I mean, in Los Angeles, for example, June 15, we had our mask mandate lifted. So it became if you were fully vaccinated, you no longer had to wear a mask. And that's not happening anywhere else that we're going. Especially not in Canada. In fact, that's another big thing. Actually, I'm kind of glad we stumbled upon that. Shortly after starting to fly in June of last year, we worked our courage up to approach the Canadian border and see if we could be considered essential transport for moving dogs up to Canada because they are for sure the best resource that American dogs have. They don't have dogs in their shelters up there. And they've got lots of people looking to adopt. So Canada, we were not able to stay. So it's a five, six hour day for us all in by the time we get off the ground in Los Angeles, make two stops to pick up dogs and then fly up to Vancouver, Victoria, or Calgary. And then, you know, normally we would unload and then be done for the day and take off the next morning after some rest. But it wasn't that simple. We had to get back in time to clear customs at a port of entry in the United States and then take it off. So it's interesting because doing these transports each marginal hour after the sixth or seventh hour of sitting in a plane and doing all this concentrating and flying and lifting and it becomes exponentially more tiring. So, you know, those days where it was exhausting to do the Canada and return in one day.

PHIL   15:55 
I don't think people have an appreciation who don't have — there's probably going to be a lot of people who are like roofers and miners and stuff who are going to poo poo my assertion of how taxing mental work can be — but when you have to be mentally focused for more than just a few hours, and I've dealt with that in media production, doing live radio and other things where you've got to be on either as the producer or the host, and you're just wiped at the end. And there are no lives dependent on what I'm doing. So I can't fathom having to be a pilot responsible for your life, your passengers, those animals. The next day I wouldn't get out of bed.

JULIAN  16:38 
Yeah, there's been certainly some experiences that for the long haul Canadian trips where, you know, the next day I wake up in Portland or Seattle, and just to fly home, and it's difficult to get out of bed. But yeah, it's surprising how much the concentration takes out of you. You know, like, it's almost second nature in a way, because I've got thousands of hours in the aircraft, but you get on the ground and you go and settle into the hotel for the night and it's like, "No, I'm not going to go out and get dinner.Dinner's gotta come to me. I am exhausted." And you don't even realize it.

PHIL   17:09 
When you're in that moment, you do kind of get on autopilot, whether it's literally in a plane or otherwise. It's that decompression afterwards, when you've kind of turned off that focus that our body can be aware of how it actually feels.

JULIAN  17:28 
Yeah, by the way, that reminded me that there was another impact of the pandemic as well for our partners, and that's that getting to shelters and being able to pull animals became much more challenging. Everything was a by appointment only. We saw a lot of situations in Fresno where the shelter was just simply closed, for example, and dogs that had rescues that were interested in taking them unfortunately got euthanized because of the limitations that were in place of, you know, shelter access.

PHIL   18:04 
That's heartbreaking.

JULIAN  18:06 
We had a situation actually during the pandemic where we were stopping in and this was very difficult. I actually had to take a break before flying home. But we were there to pick up dogs that ended up being euthanized by mistake. Just because the staffing was so low, and there was so many communications going through there. It must have been a miscommunication, but it happened and it's very, very devastating.

PHIL   18:30 
That would be so hard to deal with. Even with all the good you do. It's hard not to focus on those moments where you are asking yourself, "What else could I have done?" And sometimes the answer is nothing.

JULIAN  18:42 
And it is a reminder that a lot of times in the shelters, these are very timely matters for dogs. You know, especially in high kill areas like the Central Valley of California, southern and rural New Mexico and Arizona, Western Texas. I mean, in West Texas, dogs don't have old periods sometimes. You know, owner surrenders can be euthanized immediately. Stray holds are virtually non-existent in some places.

PHIL   19:10 
Anything we can do to help with that, look at the description for this episode, and I'll link to the interview we had with Brent Toellner. And Brent Toellner was one of the people who helped found KC Pet Project and then went on to now work with Best Friends Animal Society, and they are working to make every shelter in the United States a no kill shelter. So they've got a long road ahead of them, but they've made progress. So anything you can do to raise awareness for Best Friends Animal Society, to let communities know that we're not okay with the solution of euthanization.

JULIAN  19:51 
You know, it is honestly a budget allocation question everywhere. It would be very easy, honestly, for state, county, and local governments to completely eliminate euthanasia in shelters. I mean, what happens outside of shelters, that's probably more difficult for them to regulate. But for all the government run shelters or government involved shelters it would be just a simple budget allocation issue. Because sometimes it's not even a lack of space or a lack of staff. You know, during COVID we saw that shelters actually reduced their capacity numbers on their charter because of the lack of staffing. You know, they could only put a certain amount of people in the shelter working it

PHIL   20:34 
KC Pet Project was fortunate in that they had a strong foster program to begin with and then enough interested people to expand foster that they could get almost all of the pets out of the shelter when it got to the point where they were no longer allowing volunteers to come in. That's rare. There's not a lot of communities that have that kind of structure in place. And part of it is that it's a private, not-for-profit, that's running it. And so they need to justify their existence. They need to do a good job of maintaining their no kill status and taking care of the pets and keeping the donors happy.

JULIAN  21:17 
To be honest with you, I think that you kind of struck on what would make a really good solution globally, or at least nationally, which is to have private nonprofits running the government or municipal shelters, you know. Because like I said, it's a resource allocation question. A lot of times it's just not on the priority for governments. But if you have an animal rescue group that's being given a facility to work with, being given bare minimum funds that are the government allocates normally, and is able to also raise funds for the additional care of these animals, it would really changed the game,

PHIL   21:52 
I guess someone could run for mayor or city council on a platform of, "We'll turn our shelter into a no kill shelter and we will change animal control to animal welfare." But they're gonna lose to the candidate who says, "We're gonna help the schools. We're gonna fill the potholes. We're gonna bring in a professional sports franchise. We're going to help employers." All those things are important. And unfortunately, the animals kind of get lost in the shuffle. But again, if you privatized it, then the model that Kansas City and some other cities have followed is so it's a not-for-profit and they need donations to operate. But they also get some funding from the city and they're on property that is given to them from the city. So they're accountable to both donors and taxpayers. They really have to keep their eye on the ball. They can't just sit back and go, "Hey, we've all got jobs and benefits. And as long as we don't rock the boat, we can keep this thing going." No. "We have to make sure that we continue to respond to the community needs and take care of animals and that we're not on a local news exposé of how the kennels are filthy or anything or how we're treating animals." They have to stay on top of their game.

JULIAN  23:16 
I mean, to be honest, I think we have discussed today what could ultimately solve this problem naturally. While our transport program. you know, rescue by relocation is incredibly important. And ourselves Pet Rescue Pilots, as well as our fellow colleagues in the sphere that we're all very respectful of one another. Dog is My CoPilot and Wings of Rescue. Great organizations that are doing all this movement. But the truth is that the transportation and rescue by relocation aspect is a short term solution. And by no means is it one that creates permanent meaningful change. That change has to come from the communities that are creating the overpopulation. The backyard breeding that goes on. The lack of knowledge and education of how to handle our pets at home to keep them in shelters. Like the Keep 'Em Together program, for example, that we were talking about. And breeding in general versus adopting. All of these things have to start at the community level.

PHIL   24:23 
You would have no problem then with the service you provide becoming obsolete?

JULIAN  24:28 
I would be thrilled. As a matter of fact, at one point in time, we talked about using the hashtag #GroundJulian as our campaign for advocating for long term solutions. And I do still think that that could be something that works the whole #GroundJulian hashtag. At Pet Rescue Pilots, myself and my entire team, like, we would love nothing more than to have flying pets be a thing of the past. I mean, truth be told in the case of natural disaster like Wings of Rescue does a ton of natural disaster response. That will always be necessary. But I would love to not have domestic transport be a need.

PHIL   25:07 
Yeah, you could find something else to do with your time.

JULIAN  25:10 
I certainly could. Yeah, maybe there's another nonprofit in my future. But that actually does bring me to another kind of current event that I think is worth mentioning.

PHIL   25:19 
Please.

JULIAN  25:19 
The CDC regulations about other country importation of dogs.

PHIL   25:25 
I was just looking at this.

JULIAN  25:28 
So that is a big hit to the rescue community, as there are a lot of rescues that, for example, pull from China, or from the Middle East, where, believe it or not, they have a larger overpopulation issue and stray issue than we have in the states. I know a lot of people who work tirelessly to be bringing dogs in from the meat markets in China. And the streets in Morocco or Pakistan. And, unfortunately, our borders on July 14 will be closing to those pets.

PHIL   26:01 
When you have people here who are wanting and able to help those dogs. There is a solution. But we're going to block dogs from having access to that.

JULIAN  26:18 
Yeah, it's unfortunate and to give people context who are listening to this interview, as well. You know, the CDC regulation has to do with the increase in rabid dogs that have been imported and the fear that rabies might become a renewed staple in our dog population. It's been a long time since rabies has been...

PHIL   26:38 
It's almost unheard of now.

JULIAN  26:40 
Yeah, it's almost unheard of in the states.

PHIL   26:41 
When I was a kid— and I'm older than you — when I was a kid, every other week there's a story in the local paper about somebody the next town over is having to get rabies shots. And I don't remember the last time I heard about somebody actually getting rabies.

JULIAN  26:53 
Almost gone. Almost eradicated from the dog population in the United States. In fact, I would go so far as to say it really was so. And I don't really know...

PHIL   27:02 
I credit the Michael Scott Fun Run.

JULIAN  27:05 
Tell me more.

PHIL   27:06 
The episode of The Office where Michael Scott had the fun run to end rabies.

JULIAN  27:14 
That's funny. Yeah, I totally that I missed that one at first. But it doesn't really strike me as such a big concern as it's being made up to be. Which is interesting. You know, there's some speculation about possibly special interest groups pushing for this, the AKC, breeding, etc. But I don't know. I'm not an expert in the field. All I know is that the CDC has banned importation of dogs from I think over 100 countries in the world. Something crazy. As of July 14, they can't cross our borders anymore. So we've got rescue partners that are actually overfilling their facilities right now with dogs just trying to beat that July 14 deadline. And they've already been talking to us about how quickly can we move these dogs up to areas where there are more families looking for pets so that we can get them adopted quickly.

PHIL   28:08 
Seems like a very ham-fisted solution. If we're trying to stop spread of a dog borne disease that can be addressed by rabies shots, let's just get them rabies shots. Because it's not like transports are showing up at the borders and just turning dogs loose.

JULIAN  28:30 
No.

PHIL   28:30 
It's already a very controlled flow of dogs. You know where they're coming in, when they're coming in. You could test them. You could treat them.

JULIAN  28:41 
With attention to not being excessively disrespectful towards our bureaucracy. Yes, it looks like there are a number of workarounds that would have been great to keep borders open and just would have held importers to a higher degree of accountability when they're importing dogs. In other words, like they're gonna get snap tested at the border. They're going to need to provide proof of vaccination and proof of exam within a certain amount of time of arriving. Unfortunately, and we've talked about this before, as well, that ultimately, this relies on the fact that we aren't prioritizing animal welfare the way that we could.

PHIL   29:24 
Somehow we figure out how to import fruit.

JULIAN  29:27 
Right.

PHIL   29:28 
We have a solution there. Seems like there might be a...

JULIAN  29:31 
Yeah, there's priorities. It's just the community's demand and priorities. And like you said, you know, no one would get elected running solely on the platform that we're going to end euthanization in our shelters.

PHIL   29:42 
A story I frequently repeat on this show is one that the previously referenced Brent Toellner shares. KC Pet Project has an amazing facility for animals in Kansas City. It is truly a shelter, not a pound. And it was designed specifically for animal control. It's not a repurposed building. It's not even a repurposed architectural plan. It was designed from scratch for this purpose. Amazing facility. But way back when people were just playing with the idea of we need a new facility because the one we have is absolutely awful. And it absolutely was. It's amazing what Pet Project was able to get done in the facility that they inherited from the previous animal control structure. But Brent Toellner shares that either in one of the meetings or as they're leaving one of the meetings, someone on the city council says to him, "Why do we need a new building anyway? We're just gonna euthanize these dogs." I don't think you really understand what we're trying to do.

JULIAN  30:50 
That is very painful to hear.

PHIL   30:52 
So not really, I think, processing the issue is the same thing that's happened with whoever the decision makers are with CDC is, "Well the problem is that there's a spread of rabies? Well stop bringin' in dogs. There. Problem solved. Why didn't somebody else think of this?"

JULIAN  31:07 
To this point, we've been dealing with a little bit of maintenance that has had us grounded for a bit. And we've talked about the pilot fatigue component of things. We just recruited another pilot for Pet Rescue Pilots. But I think that all of us on the team in realizing that we were really kind of hitting our stride and transporting a ton. But we realized that perhaps we've overly focused on the short term solutions. COVID kind of derailed our plans to get started with education and advocacy early on in our organizational lifetime. But this whole time on the ground has kind of yielded us with the realization that they have to go hand in hand.

PHIL   31:50 
Yes.

JULIAN  31:51 
And we've talked about how animal welfare needs to become a priority. That welfare needs to originate at the community level, at the neighborhood level to influence policymakers. And that there needs to be a cultural shift. So I can tell you right now that at Pet Rescue Pilots we've been working hard behind the scenes on kind of attacking this issue on all three fronts that I've just listed. So we're excited to get started. We have a children's book that will be coming out that I'll be excited to share when it does.

PHIL   32:23 
Definitely circle back when you have that ready to share with our audience because we will absolutely promote it on Dog Words.

JULIAN  32:30 
Thank you. No, I'd love to and it's a lot of fun, really excited. It's in the illustration phase right now. And so I think with Pet Rescue Pilots, we're all getting really geared up to start making some meaningful programming that's dedicated towards awareness.

PHIL   32:45 
Listeners out there who want to help Pet Rescue Pilots, there's a link in the description for this episode. You can go to PetRescuePilots.org and find out how you can get involved, how you can donate. If you are at either end of pet transport, whether it's sending or receiving, and you think a relationship would be appropriate with Pet Rescue Pilots go to PetRescuePilots.org. Anything else we need to know going forward with Pet Rescue Pilots now that lockdown hopefully is behind us?

JULIAN  33:23 
Well, we're also trying to stay on the ball here. Lots of dogs have been returning to shelters, unfortunately, as people have gone back to work. It's sad to see but it's true. We have a huge influx into the United States of dogs that are trying to meet this timeline of July 14 as the borders close to outside dogs that are going to require a large scale domestic transport. And then we're gonna really be working in this education component as we have been right now. And we're starting to build up our schedule for coming to talk to school groups, younger animal advocacy groups, you know, the next generation of tech guardians, who can show up as community leaders and prioritize this for us.

PHIL   34:06 
One of the things that excites me about Kansas City being the home of KC Pet Project, — and there's other cities that have taken steps like this, Austin, for instance, and others — is that you have a generation of pet guardians growing up with the assumption of this is just how you treat animals.

JULIAN  34:24 
Right. And that's what we want is we want the next generation of guardians to just have a completely different paradigm and how they look at...

PHIL   34:32 
Yeah, they move somewhere else in the United States and see a community that is not treating their animals the way they've grown up treating animals, they'll think nothing of taking action.

JULIAN  34:45 
Correct. That's what we want. You know, we want to create influencers of the future as much as I don't necessarily love that word. If we can just with talking to a school or a class, influence one or two young minds to feel strongly that these animals that were created by us in terms of their domestication deserve our best, then we've done our job.

PHIL   35:11 
That is the note we want to go out on. That is the tone we want to set. I always enjoy talking to you, Julian. I can't wait to have you back on again. And it can be for the children's book or if you want to come back sooner than that, by all means. Again, PetRescuePilots.org and all of your social media will be linked in the description so people can follow you. Just as importantly, Julian's point about change starts at the local level, it starts in the community. That's what drives it. You can't just wait for someone at city hall or the state house, to say, "We're gonna fix this." You have to be the change you want to see, to borrow a phrase. So follow Julian's lead and be a force in your community for change, whether it's animal welfare or whatever is important to you. Julian, thank you for joining us. And thank you for what you do.

JULIAN  36:09 
Thank you again for having me. It's always a pleasure to talk to you, Phil, and it's a pleasure to get to do what I do.

PHIL   36:20 
I'm Phil Hatterman and you've been listening to Dog Words presented by Rosie Fund.

Thank you to Julian Javor from Pet Rescue Pilots for joining us today. Links to PetRescuePilots.org and all of their social media are in the description. There are also links to the Dog Words episodes referenced in today's interview. If you find an old episode you like, be sure to share it with your friends.

Next time on Dog Words, Chloe Shorten joins us from across the Atlantic to talk about an amazing Border Collie.

A big thank you to alternative string duo The Wires featuring cellist Sascha Groshang and violinist Laurel Morgan Parks for playing the wonderful music you've heard on today's and previous episodes of Dog Words. Supporting The Wires supports our mission. When choosing the music for each episode of Dog Words, I try to find something from The Wires that fits with the tone of that episode. By no means have I played every song from their catalogue. There's much more from The Wires than what you hear on this podcast. Learn more about The Wires at TheWires.info and download their music on iTunes. Check out FiddleLife.com and learn to play fiddle and cello-fiddle online from Laurel and Sasha, even if you've never played before.

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Thank you for listening and remember, we save each other.

DISCLAIMER: This document is a transcription obtained through a third party. There is no claim to accuracy on the content provided in this document and divergence from the audio file is to be expected. Some content may be omitted, particularly when there is crosstalk.

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