WRW? - Episode 6 - “The Inspiration”

Written By Diane Thomas

Summary - This episode is about the inspiration and story behind the creation of this podcast.  Your hosts, John and Diane, interview each other and talk about how it all got started.  They also share the story of their first rescue Missy, along with some special thanks for those that have helped get the Who Rescued Whom? Canine Rescue Tales Podcast launched. 

“The Inspiration” ~ Episode 6 - Show Notes and Script for the Hearing Impaired*

Summary - This episode is about the inspiration and story behind the creation of this podcast.  Your hosts, John and Diane, interview each other and talk about how it all got started.  They also share the story of their first rescue Missy. 

*Below the Show Notes you will find a full script for the hearing impaired.

Episode Highlights/Takeaways

  • Statistic - (at 00:0) - 00:17) - Approximately 3.3 million dogs enter animal shelters each and every year in the US, but sadly, 670,000 of those, never make it out. (ASPCA) Please consider rescuing from a shelter in your local area.

  • Donation - (at 13:40 - 14:28) - Rocky Mountain Collie-Sheltie Rescue in Pueblo, Colorado Rocky Mountain Collie and Sheltie Rescue, Inc. (RMCSR), originally Pueblo Collie/Sheltie Rescue, is a tax-exempt, 501(c)3 non-profit, volunteer-operated organization founded in 1979. They are a dog rescue organization certified with the Colorado Board of Agriculture's State Veterinarian's office. Their mission is to promote and provide for the humane treatment of Collies and Shelties. They accomplish this by rescuing, rehabilitating and placing lost, abused and abandoned Collies, Collie-mixes, Shelties, and Sheltie-mixes into loving, responsible homes. All of their rescue dogs live in foster homes. They remain in foster care and receive complete veterinary care until they are ready for adoption, at which point we match them to carefully screened and approved adopters. They do not adopt out dogs at public events.

  • Laura Coover - (at 14:42 - 14:50) - Laura Coover (our website creator/designer and my personal coach) ~ Creative Consultant - for technical and design support. lauracoover@gmail.com

  • Mike McClellan - (at 14:51 - 15:17) - podcastps.com Mike is our editor and producer, and Mike is the composer of all the music you hear on each episode, specifically “Missy's Theme", which is the main theme for the podcast.

  • Special thanks - (at 15:18 - 15:31) Bill and Betty Thomas. Although they are no longer with us, Bill and Betty, John's parents, have had a great deal of influence in our lives when it came to dog rescue. They have also, posthumously, been a financial help with getting our podcast started

  • Ron Shankland - (at 15:32 - 15:47) Decisive Moment Photography - Ron Shankland, of Decisive Moment Photography, is a talented artist with a great eye. At the drop of a hat, Ron would stop whatever he was doing to fix a photo for us, create a banner and so much more. Ron is also a volunteer photographer with the Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep organization. http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org

  • SCRIPT ~ created for the hearing impaired, can be found below, or on the Episode Page of our website, WhoRescuedWhom.com (Click ‘Read More’ next to Episode 6)

WRW? Canine Rescue Tales - Episode 6 ~  “The Inspiration”

This script, for the hearing impaired, was created using the online platform Descript, then edited by Host Diane Thomas

Host John Thomas - 3.3. Every year, 3.3 million dogs enter U.S. shelters, 670,000 never make it out. We want to change that. 

INTRODUCTION MUSIC (“Missy’s Theme”) ~

Host Diane Thomas - It's the Who Rescued Whom? Canine Rescue Tales Podcast, co-hosted by me, Diane, and my husband, John. 

Host John Thomas - If you have listened to any of our first five episodes, you'll know that each one normally takes any storytelling format, but today we're going to interview each other so you can learn a little bit about us, about our history with dogs, about how and why we started all of this. We are not dog experts. We just love dogs and want to share great rescue stories with you.

Host Diane Thomas - We'll also be sharing with you the story of our first rescue, Missy, the inspiration behind our podcast. 

Host John Thomas - So let's get started, Diane, tell us a little bit about yourself. 

INTRODUCTION MUSIC Fades Out (“Missy’s Theme”) ~

Host Diane Thomas - Well, I grew up in Nebraska. My father was in the military, so we landed there, uh, right before he was going to be set to retire. And, uh, I spent most of my young, and adult, life there. I became a teacher, I was a teacher for 27 years, taught in three different districts throughout the state. And I'm also an entertainer. I do a lot of entertaining for seniors in nursing facilities these days. We moved here to Colorado in 2014 to help take care of aging parents. What about you? 

Host John Thomas - I was born in Chicago and raised in the suburbs, went to college and then upon graduation joined the Marine Corps, spent 20 years with them and I retired from that in 2009 and became a crop duster and then an aerial firefighter, Which is what I'm primarily doing now. 

Host Diane Thomas - So, John, tell me a little bit about your history with dogs.

Host John Thomas - Well, we always seemed to have a family dog growing up and they're just part of the picture, part of the scene. And although I enjoyed playing with them, you know, I never really had a relationship with them. They're, you know, they're always there and they were fun. I think parents sometimes get dogs to help try to teach responsibility for kids growing up, you know, for care and feeding of them. And just being the typical selfish kid, I always kind of resented having to stop what I was doing and feed or, uh, pick up after them. But, uh, that's basically my older history in, you know, in the past 15, 20 years, I've really developed a deeper appreciation for dogs and actually do have bonded relationships with them now, which are a lot more meaningful than just a family pet. What about you? 

Host Diane Thomas - Well, I grew up, uh, with just a couple of dogs. One in particular, Kirk was a Sheltie. We got him when we were living in California when I was quite young, and when we came to Nebraska, we had him for a couple years and unfortunately we lost him way too soon and fast forward to my first dog as an adult, I got a dog where I was working I had a kindergarten student bring a little Collie puppy in for show and tell. And I just happened to say, I wonder if there's any more in the litter, and of course there was, and I had max for eight years, um, wonderful dog. And, uh, that's that's about it. Um, didn't get another dog until we got Missy, which we'll tell you about later. 

Music fades in here ~ (More of “Missy’s Theme”)

So we wanted to tell you a little bit about how this podcast came to be. And, uh, so last year during the pandemic, at the very beginning, we, um, had the unfortunate diagnosis of John having cancer. So not only were we stranded at home because of COVID, we were keeping home and keeping safe so that he went through his treatments safely and successfully, which he did. While we were here, we had revisited the idea of writing a children's book about our first Collie, Missy. So we pulled out some old notes and we had an idea.

Host John Thomas - Well, I think it was you that said out loud, it's you? Uh, wondered if anybody had produced a podcast about rescue dogs. So we searched the podcast library online and, uh, it didn't really find one similar to what we wanted to do. So we enrolled in an online podcasting school and learned all about process. 

Host Diane Thomas - Yes. And then with the help of a lot of family and friends, we were able to, it took about a year of, um, learning and, uh, production and figuring things out and having getting a website. And we were just, um, excited to be productive in, in our downtime.

Music fades out here ~

Host John Thomas - As you said earlier, uh, Missy is the inspiration for our podcast. And since you were the one that brought her into our lives, why don't you tell us a little bit about how you found her? 

Host Diane Thomas - Well, we have some friends in, uh, Bellevue, Nebraska, Ron, and Shelly, and they have a daughter Tiffany, who was working at a pet store and a couple from Western Nebraska who were passing through from Western Nebraska had found this Collie and they brought her into the store and asked Tyffini where they could take her, and Tyffini decided to take her to her parents' house because they, she thought, well, maybe they want a dog. So Shelly, knowing that we were thinking about getting a dog or maybe mainly, I guess it was me. Um, and she knew I had had collies and loved them, and, so she called and I went over to meet her. And as I was walking up to their house, she ran out from the backyard. And the first thing out of my mouth was, oh, Missy, Missy. She was just so happy and so bright and I just fell in love with her. So I then needed to convince you, right?

Host John Thomas - Yep. 

Host Diane Thomas - You want to tell him why? 

Host John Thomas - Well, we had always grown up with a short haired dogs, so I've always been opposed to long hair dogs because I thought that the long-haired dogs cause more problems with allergies, and I have some allergies to a certain animals and grasses and pollens or whatnot, so never even considered getting a long-haired dog. But, uh, Diane was so in love with this dog that I, well, okay. Maybe I could give it a shot. So she arranged to bring Missy to our, our house so I could meet her. 

Host Diane Thomas - I just wanted to throw in that before we did that, you had the great idea and the right idea to take her to Nebraska Collie Rescue in Omaha first for a couple of weeks to make sure no one was searching for her because she was just such a great dog.

[00:06:18] I thought there's no way no one's searching for her. So we took her there, left her there for a couple of weeks. They put out a national bulletin. And all the information and no one claimed her. So then they called us and then that's when I brought her home. 

Host John Thomas - Yeah. You took her there. I still hadn't met her yet.So, uh, I came home from work one night, knowing that Diane was going to have this dog for me to like meet. And I remember it, like it was yesterday. I got out of my truck, came around and Diane and this dog were on the back porch. She was holding her collar and Missy was just dancing back and forth on her front feet. Just so excited and wanting to be let go. And when Diane let go, she ran up to me and, uh, just was so excited, you know, meeting me for the first time. It was, it was almost as if she was welcoming home a long lost friend or something.

Host Diane Thomas - Yeah. There were a lot of special things about Missy. We loved her so much. She was with us for so long. We had a Nebraska City property, for about five years, where we operated a bed and breakfast and she became quite popular. She was so special and she was a guide for our guests, she was a protector, she was a watchdog for the coyotes that would try to get into the cornfield and too close to the house. What's special about her that you remember?

Host Diane Thomas - Well, I don't know, like I said earlier, you know, it wasn't until recently, 15 years ago, meeting Missy, that I really began to appreciate the relationship with dogs, for whatever reason, she and I just bonded. And, uh, it's almost like she could read my mind or like mood and knew what to do or how to make me a happy or whatever. She was just an incredible companion on that property. If I was out working in the fields, she was always close by watching over me. She particularly had a humorous side where if she wanted to play, uh, she would stand with her head low to the ground, trying to catch my eye, and as soon as I looked over and saw her, with her head down low, that that meant that she wanted to play. So I would stock up to her and it got to a certain distance and she would take off running and I would chase her. It's just a funny little thing that we had. 

Host Diane Thomas - She was a daddy's girl. 

Host John Thomas - She absolutely was. 

Host Diane Thomas - Well, I remembered speaking of chasing, we had some pasture out in the front of the property that someone else owned and they had cows on there and, uh, they had calved one season and these little calves had gotten under the fence and a little close to the house and her instincts kicked in and she herded them right back under that gate. And she would lay there and just watch them, and the guests just thought that was awesome. And a she was also a great protector. That was her place, and we were her people and she wasn't gonna let anybody hurt us. 

Host John Thomas - Yes, she was absolutely a constant presence in our life and an active participant in everything that we did.

Host Diane Thomas - So as part of our podcast, we ask our guests, who rescued whom? John, how would you answer that when it comes to Missy? 

Host John Thomas - Well, obviously we rescued her. She was lost or, or abandoned, still can’t figure out why or how, but a must, she must have been meant for us, but, uh, you know, we gave her a great home, a great life. And, uh, I think in turn, you know, she gave a lot back to, to us, just with emotional happiness and joy and a companion to talk to and have another soul in this big old house. It was very, very quiet. It was just nice having this companion, whether it was you by yourself, Diane, or sometimes you were gone, and it was just, uh, she and I, but she was just a great presence in our life that added a lot of joy and positive things.

Host Diane Thomas - So if I answered that question, I would say, hands down, we did rescue her, but she rescued me because you were gone a lot in the military, you were stationed overseas the first couple of years that we had her and um, there were a lot of times when you were crop dusting in another state and you were gone and she was always there with me. And one night in particular, um, we had just gone to bed. She went up to the bedroom with me usually when we didn't have guests, because she would stay downstairs if we did. But we were sleeping and then all of a sudden we heard a noise, a drill, it was found out later that someone was trying to drill some screws out of the screens and get into the house, but we heard it right away. I called the sheriff, but Missy, never before that time and never since that time, did I ever see her in this protective stance like I saw her, she was at the top of the stairs, there was a growl I'd never heard out of her and she would not let me pass to go downstairs to check it out. She was not going to let me pass. I'd never had her act that way before. So she definitely saved me. Um, I didn't go downstairs until I knew the sheriff was there. So yeah, as many times as you were gone, outside of that one night, I was never scared because I knew she'd take care of me. 

Host John Thomas - That reminds me of a really good memory that I have. The like farmhouse that we turned into a bed and breakfast was built in 1880. It was very drafty, poorly insulated and during the winter, we didn't have guests just because it was so hard to, to heat, and on the coldest nights in Nebraska, I'm not exaggerating our room, our bedroom, would get down into the mid forties. It was freezing in there. And, uh, I remember all three of us getting in bed just trying to keep each other warm and she was just part of our family. We all huddled together in bed trying to stay warm on those cold Nebraska nights. 

Host Diane Thomas - But then it would get a little too warm for her and she jumped down and she'd lay in the doorway, kind of like protecting us again.

Music fades in here ~

Host John Thomas - So that's a little bit about Missy. If you recall back at the beginning of this episode, we start off with the 3.3 million dogs enter US shelters every year, and that's a really, the other major inspiration for our podcast is that we hope to inspire people to consider rescuing one of those dogs. We have nothing against people getting dogs from breeders. We just hope that they'll consider, going to a shelter or a rescue organization to look at some of these dogs that are in need of a good home. And they have added so much to our lives that if we can help them, that's what we want to do with this podcast. 

Host Diane Thomas - One of the special features we have with each episode on the Who Rescued Whom? Canine Rescue Tales Podcast is that we make a donation to the rescue of choice in honor of the guest(s) we feature. John and I are going to make a special donation for our episode, Episode 6, to Rocky Mountain Collie-Sheltie Rescue in Pueblo, Colorado.

Music fades out here ~

Host John Thomas - Since adopting Missy and moving to Colorado in 2014, we’ve now rescued five other collies; Stormy, Jake, and Cody, all seniors at the time that we rescued them, and currently we have added Rex, and Zoey to our family.  Hope, and all the other good folks at Rocky Mountain Collie-Sheltie Rescue have allowed us the privilege of adopting these wonderful dogs. Thanks for trusting us with them.

Host Diane Thomas - We will post a link to Rocky Mountain Collie Rescue in the Show Notes that are on our website episode page at WhoRescuedWhom.com.  You can also view a picture gallery of Missy, and all our other rescues on that same Episode page at WhoRescuedWhom.com.

Music fades in here ~

Host Diane Thomas - Before we close, we’d like to take a moment to thank a few people. First, my niece, Laura Coover, Laura is the talent behind our beautiful website and my personal coach for how to make all these podcasts live. We would not be live and publishing today without Laura. So thanks so much to her.  

We'd also like to thank Mike mcclellan@podcastps.com. Mike is our editor and producer, and Mike is the composer of all the music you hear on each episode, specifically “Missy's Theme", which is the main theme for the podcast. He's a musical genius, that goes without saying, and his wife, Laura and he have been my very good friends for more than 35 years.  Special thanks go to Bill and Betty Thomas. Although they are no longer with us, Bill and Betty, John's parents, have had a great deal of influence in our lives when it came to dog rescue. They have also, posthumously, been a financial help with getting our podcast started. 

Host John Thomas - Thanks to Ron Shankland of Decisive Moment Photography. Ron is a great personal friend who at the drop of a hat would stop whatever he was doing to fix a photo for us, create a banner and more. He's a talented artist with a great eye. Thanks, Ron. Thanks also goes out to Dave Jackson at the School of Podcasting for his lexicon of online classes and one-on-one guidance that has allowed us to learn and grow through the creation process. Finally, we'd like to thank all of our friends and family members who have participated in surveys along the way from choosing pictures, colors, music, fonts, and so much more, our committee of helpers was invaluable in this process. 

Host Diane Thomas - And most importantly, we appreciate you, our listeners. We’ll have two more episodes of this first season of the Who Rescued Whom?Canine Rescue Tales Podcast, then we'll be back in the fall with more stories to share. You can always follow, subscribe and share via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, or Spotify. If you'd like to share the story of how you saved a rescue dog, or how they saved you, please visit our ‘Be a Guest’ page on our website, WhoRescuedWhom.com, where you can fill out our Future Guest Information Form. Or, you can email us directly at info@whorescuedwhom.com.

Music fades out here ~


Diane Thomas
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