Many people are “afraid to adopt a senior dog” because they worry about attachment and loss. Rachelle “Chelle” Allen, founder and director of the Silver Snout Senior Dog Rescue in Venice, Florida, is here to challenge that fear. She believes it is a “beautiful thing” to love a dog in the last chapter of their life. In this heartwarming interview, Chelle shares how Silver Snout pulls little old dogs—often with treatable ailments—off euthanasia lists and helps them blossom. You will hear the inspiring story of Randy Patrick, who was saved the day before Thanksgiving, and learn how these loyal pets thrive in a unique, cage-free rescue center. Discover why adopting a senior dog is the most rewarding choice you can make, and how you can plan for your own pet’s future.
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The Last Chapter Of Love: Inside Silver Snout Senior Dog Rescue And The Magic Of Senior Dog Adoption – Dr. Rachelle Allen
Everybody, welcome to the show. Janet, anything new on your end?
Exciting news, my cabinets will be in next week on this eternal renovation. You can see I do not have my kitchen in my background anymore.
Listen, no one knows about eternal renovation more than our guest, Rachelle Allen, also known as Chelle. Chelle is the founder and director of the Silver Snout Senior Dog Rescue in Venice, Florida. We have so much to talk about because, Janet, I have always adopted senior dogs. I love senior dogs. Chelle adopts out little tiny senior dogs. I have to tell you, they come in, just not sure where they are, and they just blossom. Anybody that is afraid to adopt a senior dog, I have got news for you. You have got to tune in to the show because the dogs themselves are so inspiring, and Chelle for what she does with Silver Snout is so inspiring. Chelle, thank you for doing the show. I really appreciate it.
Thank you for having me. I’m so excited. This is going to be great.
Chelle, how did you get started? How did this all come about?
The Origin Story Of Silver Snout Senior Dog Rescue
This is 100% my daughter’s fault. Think back to having a teenager who says, “Mom, I want to get this dog. Do not worry. I will do all the work. I will take care of it. You will not have to do anything.” We all know how that goes, right? My daughter saw a dog online. They needed a foster home. She says, “Please, please. Let us just foster. It is not forever. Temporary.” We fostered this little old dog, and three days in, she had better things to do, and mom was taking care of the dog. It was great. I loved every bit of it. I loved the foster process.
We nursed him back to health, we got him adopted, and I fell in love with the whole fostering thing. Our daughter was the youngest, so once she flew the coop, I did not have anything to take care of anymore. I thought, “I am just going to do this foster thing. I am going to try this out again.” I did it again and again. I became friends with that rescue director, and I said, “I want to have a rescue too.” She said, “Great, I will help you. Two is better than one.” She helped me put together my rescue, and it just took off from there.
That was in Indiana, right?
Yeah.
Got it.
How long have you had Silver Snout?
Silver Snout started in 2022, and that is when we officially started. We have been new to our rescue, but I have not been new to the rescue world because I did it on the other end as a foster for several years, about three years prior to that.
Janet, it is so sad that these little old dogs, and we will ask Chelle where she comes by these dogs, they come in, and some of them have problems, and we will talk about what the most common problems are. They just blossom. There is such a delight. I have to say, even as a veterinarian, I have learned so much from volunteering, and just for the past five months, which has not been that long, at the rescue.
It has been such a wonderful experience. To be honest, we are moving back to Ohio for six months, and I am really going to miss all of the dogs, because there are no cages. They just wander around, and we will show some of the dogs that live there. I want to ask Chelle, where do you come by most of these dogs? What is the most common? Are they strays? Does another rescue call you and mention Southwest Airlines?
Sources Of Rescue Dogs And Why They Are Euthanized
These shelters, they have got my number. My phone is constantly blowing up. The volunteers in the shelters, they hunt me down. The rescue directors in the shelters. It is the people who are inside the shelters, boots on the ground. These dogs come in, and a lot of them are barely there for 24 hours, and I am getting a call or text saying, “Chelle, you have got to get this dog out of here because it is going to die here.”
They will send me pictures and things. I start working right away. Can we take the dog? Do you know anything about the dog? I will call Dr. Alice and say, “Listen, this is what they are telling me. Do you think we can do this?” Run by their medical staff with her if I can, if I even know anything. Sometimes we do not know anything. It is just, “We are going to euthanize it tomorrow unless you want to try.”
They come into a regular shelter. That person will call you.
Some are kill shelters.
We have an elderly dog. I get it.
If they bring in an elderly dog and it has any type of ailment at all, it is usually going to go on the euthanasia list.
If you are not perfect.
They do not have the funding. People are not going to go in there and adopt some old dog that has got a bunch of problems. They are not going to mess with it. We will go and pick it up, bring it back here, assess it, and start working with it. A lot of times, we have got it out for adoption, and it is off to its happy little home. We had a dog today that actually got adopted, who was on the euthanasia list three months ago. Little Delilah got adopted.
We will put her picture on so everyone can see it.
Delilah was three months old. She was scheduled to be euthanized, and she is running around the most beautiful home I have ever seen in my life with an amazing foster, well-adapted mom, and just tail wagging and ears blowing in the wind. It is just a beautiful, beautiful story. A lot of them come from that. We do get dogs from owners occasionally who are going into nursing homes, or a lot of our older dogs come from older people. Situations like that, where they have not planned for what should happen if something happens to me, or what happens to my dog.
Unfortunately, a lot of people will assume that their family members will take care of their dogs should something happen to them. That is a terrible thing to assume because we see a lot of times that family members do not step in to take care of grandma’s dog. They do not want grandma’s dog the way grandma loved grandma’s dog. It happens a lot. That is one thing I always, anytime I can get in front of anybody, I tell them, “I have a plan for your dog.” Do not ever assume that your family will take care of your dog.
Do you have a particular memorable adoption story that you would like to share?
Which one? Just one that is really special.
We should mention Randy Patrick.
That is where I am going.
The Rescue And Adoption Of Randy Patrick
I know. Randy Patrick, we are going to have his picture. Tell that story, Chelle. I might cry when you tell it.
Randy Patrick came to us a day before Thanksgiving. He was on the Thanksgiving euthanasia list. The local shelter was going to euthanize sixteen dogs the day before Thanksgiving because they did not have the staff to be at the shelter over the holiday. Our rescue and another rescue went, and we were able to pull all sixteen dogs. Randy Patrick was one of them that came to us. He had probably some of the worst skin I had ever seen.
I try not to be too graphic, but he was covered in scabs that were very oozy, very painful. He was so uncomfortable. He is very thin and frail. You can tell that he had just had a very rough time prior to coming to us. He was the most loving and forgiving little guy ever. He loved humans. He wanted to be cuddled and loved and kissed. Even though he was so gross and so oozy, he wanted to be all up on you and loved and just the best little dog. All of our volunteers fell in love with him. We would take turns carrying him like a baby, because if you put him down, he would just cry and cry.
We had one of those little baby swaddlers that you wrap around you. We would take turns because we had to get stuff done. Be like, “Here you go, it is your turn.” We would just pass him around, and we would be mopping floors with Randy tied to us and had him wrapped in towels so that our shirts would not get all dirty and gross. Dr. Alice was coming and seeing him and helping us figure out what this was, because I mean, she is like the skin guru.
He was biopsied when I met you. He had pemphigus foliaceus, which is pemphigus is Latin for blister so it was all these little crusts all over. Actually, the vet who you took him to made that diagnosis, but the issue was that he was on long-term prednisone. Go on after that.
Life saver right there.
Anyway, we switched his meds.
This lovely couple had come into the rescue center. They wanted to meet some of our dogs and see what we were all about, and they fell in love with Randy Patrick, and he immediately took to them, especially the gentleman. It was one of those love-at-first-sight type things, and it could not have been a better match. It was an accident. They just came in to check the place out and see how things were, and just like a magnet.
Did they go home with him?
They ended up adopting him. They bring him back here to visit us on a regular basis. Dr. Alice, I get a picture of the day.
Everyday.
We see Patrick’s hat and bow tie.
From the beach.
He had to go to the ophthalmologist for an eye problem. Guess what? Chelle and I got a picture of the ophthalmologist holding him at the appointment. He is so loved. To think he was on that kill list.
The dog is never left alone. It never leaves their sight. They take him everywhere they go. They have a little buggy that they carry him in. He literally goes everywhere, and we get a picture of everywhere he goes. It is so funny. One of our volunteers actually ran into him at a restaurant the other day, and she had never met his adopters, but she recognized Randy Patrick. She walked over and said, “Is this Randy Patrick?” They were like, “Yes, actually this is,” and she said, “My god.” It was this big reunion, and I guess Randy jumped into her arms and was hugging all that. A beautiful story.
Chelle, tell us you have numerous volunteers doing what, and what you are looking for in a volunteer?
Volunteer Shifts And The Cage-Free Home Environment
You just have to like dogs. Just do not be a jerk. It’s really simple. Here in the rescue center, we have three different shifts per day, but from 8:00 to 10:00 in the morning, a volunteer comes in, and there is usually a little bit of a mess from the nighttime.
A little bit of a tinkle.
They’re old dogs. They cannot hold it up.
A little dog. How much pee can there be?
Are they out all together at night?
We’re going to send you videos and pictures. We have this set up like a home. There are no cages and kennels and all this other stuff. This is where they live. This is their home. We are just visitors.
We have a closet with all their little outfits.
Yes. We have chairs and a jukebox and a little kitchenette, and they watch Grit TV all day long, so they get to watch all their little oldie shows. They have their little outdoor area and everything. It is very simple, just like a little home. The morning people come in, they feed the dogs, and everything is set up. We meal prep once a week. In the refrigerator, all the dogs have little baskets with their names. You just pull out their little baggie.
That has got everything they need. It is very dummy proof is, what I call it. They get to nap alone so that they are not bothered after that. Two to four is play time. That volunteer comes in and gets to do activities and play and pet them, help with baths if we need to do baths, and do some general cleaning. Six to eight is nighttime. It is nighttime meals, and then we wash all their paws and their feet and give them a little brush, and they get walked, and then they get tucked in for bed.
They have craft time and music time.
2:00 to 4:00 is when they do their playtime, and they can do whatever the volunteers want to do during that time. If they want to do crafts, they can do crafts.
How do you make sure that you are matching the right dog with the right owner?
I am a private investigator, too.
I do think it is a magical moment when you connect with a dog.
The Adoption Screening Process And Reference Checks
You definitely know. For instance, the meet and greet that we did. There is just that you almost know right away if it is a yes or if it is a no. The dogs will tell you too. If you pay attention to the dog, the dog will tell you if they like that person or not. A lot of it is watching the dog. I want the person to like the dog, of course, but I might care less about that. I want to make sure the dog is going to connect and be happy as well. We do background checks, and we call references. We always call references. I always let them know that this is 100% confidential. You can tell me anything that you want to tell me. You would be surprised that there are some references who have said, “I do not think this person is right.”
I am sure. The neighbors will say, “This is not a good pet owner.”
I have called vets’ offices before, and I have had the front desk girl say, “You might want to call her daughter.” She has her daughter. I call the daughter, and she says, “Do not give my mom a dog. She is not taking care of herself right now, let alone needing a dog.” It is just that communication. You have to communicate. You have to know how to communicate, and you just have to know what you are looking for.
You have to read the person, and that can be hard sometimes.
Sure, absolutely, because anybody can be anybody for a short period.
Without mentioning any names, talk to us about Pepper and how Pepper came to be.
Pepper’s owner had to quickly go into a domestic violence shelter. It was one that they cannot take animals into. She brought Pepper here and brought the children here with them as well to say goodbye to Pepper. That was a hard day.
Pepper has a serious disease.
Yes, that has been untreated for a long, long time. He was very sluggish and very sick. He was a sick dog. What is really interesting is that the medication that he requires for this disease is pretty costly. A month prior to Pepper showing up here, somebody donated three boxes of that medication to us. It is the exact dose for his weight.
How weird.
When I found that out, I was like, “Wait a minute, I think we have that.” I looked in our little cabinet, and we had it. Unopened boxes are just like never used. It was amazing.
Southwest Airlines Transporting Rescue Dogs
You never know where these dogs are going to come from. Janet has arranged for Southwest Airlines to fly a rescue dog at no charge to her.
Are they in the plane or in the hole?
Yes, with the flight crew.
I love that. We will have to show Rufus’s picture because Rufus flew from Indiana, right?
Rufus flew from Indiana, and he went from Indiana to Baltimore, switched planes and crews, and then from Baltimore to Sarasota. They had a party in Baltimore with him. The flight crews all got together, hung out, had snacks with him, and took pictures.
Rufus’s skin was pretty bad. That must have been a special crew because a lot of dogs that have skin issues, no one wants to touch them or be around them.
They love it. They are amazing, and they do such a great job. Walter came last week from Augusta, Georgia. One of the flight attendants drove him because they could not get a flight out of Augusta because of the Masters. One of the flight attendants went to Augusta, picked him up, drove him to Atlanta, put him on the plane, and flew him to Sarasota. They are amazing.
Speaking of Walter, tell Janet how you got him because they diagnosed him as having a neurologic disease. Tell about that, Chelle.
I was called by another rescue up in Georgia who had gotten him, and they were at their wits’ end I guess, or had run out of resources and were not sure what else to do. They had heard about us and reached out and said, “Would you be willing to take him because we do not know what else to do with this?”
All he was doing, Janet, he is a little Shih Tzu, he was twirling like this all the time. He thought he had a brain lesion.
Just spinning and crying. They sent me some videos. They sent me what they had done as far as vet care and all that. We said, “Sure, bring him down here. We will see what we can do.” We did and came to find out he is just blind and scared. He is having a really hard time learning his environment. Some dogs adjust really well to being blind, but he is just not adjusting well at all. We are currently fundraising and trying to raise money so that we can get his cataracts taken care of. I think he will be an amazing dog once we do that, but he is just scared. He is just terrified.
I want to remind myself to remind you, when you can, video him just walking around sniffing, because I want the ophthalmologist to see that, because when you take him to the ophthalmologist, he is going to be all around.
Once someone adopts one of your seniors, now family members, what kind of support do you provide after that?
We are big into the 3/3/3 rule, the three days, three weeks, three months, and how that kind of follows along with the dog. I will share some information with you about that so you can hear it on your show. We always check in with them at those marks, the three-day, the three-week, and the three-month mark, and just make sure that the dogs are following those milestones and remind the adopter of what to expect next. We check in with them at the six-month mark and then the one-year mark as well.
Just to make sure that everything is good. Also, remind them that they are due for their vaccines and other things. We also have an agreement that if, for any reason, they cannot keep the dog or care for the dog anymore, they are always to be returned to us. Just to remind them of that, that if anything happens, make sure you get in touch with us. Also, just to answer any questions and continue support. They always have my personal cell phone number, any adopter does, along with our co-director, Melissa. They always have her personal information.
Are there restrictions for adoption? Do you have to be a Florida resident?
No. You do not have to be a Florida resident. It definitely makes my job a little easier. Some dogs are special needs dogs. I do like for them to stay close just because there is a high risk of the dog being returned, and I want to make sure that I am close by. Other dogs that see some of our specialist vets, I do encourage them to stay close, just so that they can continue the vet care that they have continued to have.
It can be a case-by-case situation, but it is not always that. We have fosters right now in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Florida. We are not just a Florida-based rescue. We are out there. We are always willing to grow even more. If somebody wanted to be in different states, we would always look into that if we could find the vet care there.
Future Plans Including A Thrift Shop And Indoor Dog Park
What is the five-year plan for Silver Snouts? What is down the pike? What is exciting?
So exciting. We have got our rehab center that is still a work in progress, but we are functioning. We are rolling along. We are hoping to have more foster homes in Southwest Florida. That is what I am working on now. We have got to get them rotating a little bit more through the center here and out into foster. Right now, they are coming into the center, and they are stuck here a little bit more than I would like.
I would like to get them here, get them vetted, and out into foster so that we open another space. This is supposed to be a very quick landing space here. Looking for more foster homes, we definitely need to have some more foster homes, and just having some more volunteers that are willing to take on more of a management role. Right now, I do a lot more than I should. I have a lot more on my plate than I need to have on my plate. Five years from now, there have got to be more management roles so that we can safely grow and effectively grow.
Thrift shop.
The thrift shops. We have an amazing volunteer here, seventeen years old. She is brilliant. We recently had a pet store that shut down, and they called us and said, “Come get everything that is left.” That is like a dream come true. We have big, huge boxes full of toys that still have the tags on them. These old dogs couldn’t care less about these toys. Some of them like them, but we will never use these toys, and that is just one example of some of the things. Reese had this great idea. We have a little shed on our property. It is not little. It is big. She wants to turn it into a little store.
Maybe, like one Saturday a month, people can come and shop, and then that helps fund the rescue. Another part of our barn that our center is in, my husband and I would like to make like an indoor dog park, and it would be a private membership-only, so people can pay a monthly membership to bring their dogs to play, and it would help fund the rescue, too. We have got some things in the pipeline that we would like to work on, but right now we need a laundry room. Our next step is that we are so lucky we have ladies who come and get our dirty laundry and take it to their house and wash it, but it is pretty gross.
That is a big part of it. People do not realize the towels and everything that you go through.
These little dogs have leaky bladders. They are like people. We have laundry, and we have a couple of really amazing women who will take it home, wash it for us, and bring it back. I do not know that that is very sustainable.
Especially with clogged car seats.
Maybe there is a local appliance store that would donate? Wouldn’t that be great?
We actually have the washer and dryer donated. The plumbing is what we are working on fundraising for, as we have to get the plumbing done for the space. We had an industrial washer and dryer being donated.
Speaking of peeing, my observation working with these little old dogs, not so much the pee is, I will tell you people, when you have a little old dog, you have got to stay on their teeth because of so many problems. Chelle, I looked at Delilah, who got adopted. When Delilah first came in, she was going, and we thought she had a heart problem. No, she sounds good. Here it was, these teeth and all that congestion, and it works up into their sinuses. People, when you have, especially small dogs, please keep having their dentals because it can affect so much about them.
It is not just about making their teeth white.
No.
I hear so many people say they do not need their teeth cleaned. It is not about that. It is not about pearly whites. It is about the infection that gets up in their sinuses and is just sad. Yes, you are right. She had just so much junk and all that she could hardly breathe because of all of it.
People say dogs don’t need dental care—but it’s not about pearly whites. It’s about preventing painful infections that can spread into their sinuses. Share on XWhen they are old like that, like their teeth are infected, or when I would look at their skin infected, you get that under control, and man, they bounce right back. That infection in an older pet, just like in an older person, what do old people die from? Lung infections and UTIs. I can see the same thing going on with pets. It is a kill shelter. We are not going to mention any names that will call you to come get pets. They all come to you having a horrible heart murmur. We listen to them, and they are not that horrible.
No, it is a snotty nose. Every single time.
That should be grounds for you to be put down.
Community Support Needs And Unexpected Donations
How can the community help you? What do you need in terms of donations?
I know, everyone always thinks all we want is their money, which we do, of course. It is expensive. If you have a dog and you take your dog to the vet, imagine having 30 dogs. We have about 25 to 30 dogs at a time within our rescue. Not here at the center, but within the rescue. Of course, donations. The other thing is, tell everyone you know about us because people do not always know. Delilah got adopted today because one of our volunteers was at the beach and said something to another lady about her dog, whose neighbor was looking for a dog.
That is how it happened. Just talking, sharing our things on social media. We have our Amazon wishlist that we try to keep updated. We need food. We need dog beds. All those things. You can go to their shop, and it hits in, and it ships directly to us. You do not even have to bring it to us. It will come directly to us. Physical labor. We have got a little sun sail that we want to put out above the dog’s play area so these big birds do not scoop down and get the little dog. We need somebody to put the posts in the ground, in the concrete.
Can you tell Janet the story about that driveway? How nice that was? This is so nice, Janet.
We had a dirt pit from where all of our volunteers were parking, and some guy pulled up here, and I thought it was a scam, and he said, “We have like all this asphalt that we were supposed to be putting down here, and something happened. Cannot put it in, and it is going to harden because it is going to cool. Can we just put it over here?” First, I thought he meant just dump it on our property. He was like, “No. Can we asphalt your parking lot?” I was like, “How much?” He was like, “This is like a dog rescue.” I was like, “Yeah,” and he was like, “Just for free. I will just do it.” He is like, “I have got like 30 minutes to get this someplace, or it is crap.” I was like, “Let me get out.”
I had worked for a nonprofit, and I had the local carpet guy come in to do the hallways, but I did not want to do the steps or the downstairs cause we could not afford it. It was Christmas. I was doing it over Christmas break cause nobody was there.
Isn’t this at your office, Janet?
This is at the person to person. I come back after Christmas, and there is all new carpet on the steps and downstairs, and I am like, “He did not hear me. I am going to pay for this. I cannot afford it. We do not have it in the budget.” I called him, and I go, “Dennis, cannot do this.” He goes, “Merry Christmas.” He did it all on his own. I swear to God, I burst into tears. I was so happy,
and it looked so nice and clean. It was just, he said, “I had the extra carpet. Why not?” It was really nice. It’s really generous.
We had a couple of clients who, when they would come in, I would check their dog out, and they would go to the front desk and pay, and they would always give extra money for people who could not afford it. We called it the Jackie fund. We named it after one of our office cats, our office cats that died.
You got a human, Jackie.
Yeah, well, Jackie, that worked for me too, but we never told my accountant about it because this way, if so and so was in and they are rescuing these cats, and my God, they needed flea medication because they are two elderly people. They could barely walk, and they rescued all these cats. We would just take it out of there and give it to them. It is so nice that people did it without asking for any accolades.
The same thing happened with our refrigerator. We had put on Facebook that we needed a refrigerator, and I just needed some piece of junk to keep the dog. I did not care. The next day, a truck pulled in from an appliance store, and I went out there, and the guy said, “We heard you guys needed a refrigerator.” I said, “Yeah, we do,” and he pulls out, and it is this brand new, stainless steel filled with all the stickers on it and everything. I said, “We just need some used piece of junk, like something you pulled out of somebody’s house.” He said, “No, the owner said to bring this one.” I said, “Are you sure?” He goes, “No. This is what he said, ma’am, I am supposed to deliver it, ma’am, ma’am.”
You are a ma’am now. When did that start?
I know we think animals are amazing.
When I quit coloring my hair, see this means ma’am.
Animals are amazing, but humans are amazing too.
Animals are amazing, and so are people—especially those who love dogs. Share on XHumans who love dogs are.
That is funny. It is about this person telling this person, that is how I met Chelle and heard about the rescue. I was on my walk, and I think it was Rose whom I ran into. She said something about, “You are a vet?” and I said, “Yeah.” She said, “Do you know Silver?” I said, “No.” As soon as I got home, I checked it out. I emailed Chelle and said, “I am a vet, and I would love to come and see what it is.” It’s one person telling another person.
That is right.
All of a sudden, she is talking to me about Silver Snouts. I am like, “What is it?”
They use the magic purple shampoo.
Rescue is hard because it is very emotional, a lot of passionate people, and with that, you can get a lot of crazy. It is hard sometimes because you do get a lot of crazy. For example, in vet school, when I was riding with the horse vet, getting experience, we would be leaving the barn, and all these kittens would be with the respiratory. I would say, “Dr. McDonald, are we not going to do anything for those kittens?”
He is like, “Alice, you have got to learn. You cannot.” I never did learn, I treat everything. I could not walk away from these kittens needing some antibiotics. This is just how it is. Chelle, tell the story about Daisy without mentioning, but Janet also finds situations where a dog has to be removed from the house because it is getting neglected. Tell us Daisy’s story because I want people to know that we also get dogs out of bad situations.
I think you are talking about a different dog.
The Yorkie.
I will not change the name.
We will not say the name. That is okay. It is a different dog. It is not that one, but go ahead.
I had a lady call me and said that her neighbor’s dog was injured and the neighbor did not have the money to take the dog to the vet, and that the dog could not walk. She was paralyzed and screaming in pain, and did not know what to do. I wanted to know what to do. I am not in the business of just paying people’s bills. Much as I would love to do that. That is not what my rescue does. We are not medical. Yes. I had her bring the dog over.
The dog was literally screaming in pain, shaking, and panting. It was a very bad situation. I told the dog’s owner that I asked if she had tried all these different resources, and she said she had. I said, “The only thing that I can do is if you want to surrender the dog to me, then I will take care of the dog. That is all I can offer at this point.” She surrendered the dog. I took the dog immediately to the vet, and the dog ended up having bladder stones the size of marbles.
This is a little dog.
She is about six pounds, which is how much she weighs. Come to find out that the type of bladder stones is the type that comes from long-term urinary tract infections. This dog had been suffering from urinary tract infections for a very long time, to have bladder stones that big and so many of them. Even when I confronted her later about that, she said that she knew the dog had been urinating blood and had just been giving the dog cranberries to try to help. It was just not a good situation.
Full of fleas, too.
She literally had fleas just jumping off of her.
How did you get the dog? She signed her over to me. Immediately had surgery to take those out.
I do not know that the dog would have made it another day. She was in so much pain.
The Beauty Of Loving A Dog In The Last Chapter Of Life
What do you want our listeners to know about senior dogs?
I want listeners to know that they are not bad dogs. Many people say they do not want a senior dog. The biggest thing I hear is, “I do not want to get a dog that I am going to get attached to, and it is going to die soon.” That is the biggest thing that I come up against, especially when trying to find homes for these dogs. A lot of times, I just try to turn that around about what a beautiful thing it is to love a dog in the last chapter of their life. I feel honored to be able to do that with a dog. Even though it might seem a little scary or like you might have to go through something difficult, I always challenge people to just try it once.
I guarantee you will do it again and again. If I can do something like that, then you can do something like that, and they deserve it. These dogs are always loyal. They are the most loyal thing in the world, and if you imagine this dog like Miko, who is staring at me right now, wondering why I am talking to a screen, he is ten years old for ten years. I am sure this dog was loyal to somebody, right, and he deserves a good final chapter. He deserves someone to care for him until he passes away.
He’s not trying to be loyal to somebody else.
A hundred percent, yes.
I think older people, I think an older dog for older people is a great idea because they are not jumping on you, and you can take naps together, you can eat together. You can watch your dogs together.
The Manageability Of Senior Dog Ailments
People think that older dogs come with a lot of problems, and I do not think that is necessarily true at all. A lot of times, it is just a matter of figuring out what their ailment is because they cannot tell you what is wrong, and so when we get dogs, that is our biggest trickiest thing, just figuring out what they need. Once we figure that out, it is usually the same one or two things that are easy to manage. It is just like people. When grandma gets old, you do not just dispose of her and get a new grandma. It is the same concept. You just love them through it. It is just another part of their journey.
People often think older dogs come with a lot of problems, but that’s not necessarily true. More often, it’s just about figuring out what’s going on—because they can’t tell you what hurts. Share on XThey are so adorable.
Chelle, I have got to ask you our guest question. What is your pet or human peeve?
My pet peeve is when they bring a live animal into the house.
You mean like a chipmunk?
Yes, because they go like this as they come in the door. You are like, “Something is under there.’ I know it. They do. They duck their heads. All three of them do.
My pet peeve would probably be with my little Kobe John, which is my little min pin. He sleeps in bed with us at night. He absolutely knows how to get into bed by himself, but refuses to.
He wants the tree.
When he gets down at 3:00 in the morning to get a drink of water, because he is an old dog and he needs a drink of water in the middle of the night, he is too heavy for me to reach over and pick him up. I have to get out of bed, pick him up, and put him back in the bed. I get back, and then I am wide awake.
Could you get those steps?
I have got a ramp.
He will not do it.
What does he do? Does he cry until you pick him up?
Yep.
I am glad somebody else is getting up at 3:30 in the morning, because I am sitting here with Annie. She gets up at 3:30 every morning to go out to tinkle. I do not think she has to go. I think she wants to check out what is out there.
What if you do not take her out?
She keeps ticking. I am afraid she is going to pee, and this is a rental.
This one, if I am not in the same room, she will go to the front door. That means go out. I go to the door, and I open it. I pull the collar and like, “You wanted to go out.”
It would bother me after 3:30 Am. She trots to the kitchen like trying to get breakfast out of me. Too early.
I do not do that either.
I do not see how it can happen.
5:30 is breakfast. We do not feed at the same time every day because that makes me nuts.
With Gidget, it is like tick tock.
My dogs know exactly what time it is. Even with the time change.
When a time change happens, they are like, “No, I am not playing this game.”
See, she does not. We are so inconsistent.
She was probably very stressed by that, not knowing when time seems stressed to you.
Do you sense stress?
No, that is true.
She does not. She is a golden. She is like, “What are you doing?”
Janet’s Personal Rescue Story Of Libby’s Adoption
Libby is a rescue, and Alice picked her out for us in Ohio.
She escaped from a reading facility, was hit by a car, and was then she was found in a field. They called Sandy from Golden Treasures to come get her because they knew what it was a broken hip.
They did that femoral head osteotomy.
The funny part was they interviewed me on the phone and all that stuff, the rescue agency, and it was, “I cannot believe they rescued.” Anyway, they interviewed me, and then my husband and I were at that last James Bond, I do not know, five years ago we got ourselves. We were at a James Bond movie, and it was a Friday, and we were in Connecticut, and the drive to Ohio is like eight and a half hours.
The foster was going to keep her.
We love our foster Erin. She was going to keep her. Erin changed her mind at the last minute because they had two Goldens, and they were very busy with dogs. I got a call, and I had to leave the movie, so I never saw the end of the movie. I had to leave the women outside, like, “Could you think you could like come in the next couple of days?”
We were leaving for Florida that Sunday.
I had nowhere to stay. In Pennsylvania, we threw a kennel in the car bag of clothes, and we drove and stayed at some hotel near Penn State. I remember that was horrible. Drove like five hours, stayed overnight, got up, drove to Ohio, 45 minutes, picked up the dog, got back in the car, and drove. That is how we got Libby.
Happy ending.
Dr. Alice’s Rescue Stories Of Gidget And Annie
She loves to hear her adoption story. Now, if you said her, I have got to say Gidget, who is sleeping here under the table. She did a 48-hour flight from China. She trumps all, you guys. The rescue got seven dogs. We got seven dogs out of China because of the Yunnan meat festival. Annie is an Amish breeding dog failure because she is small and probably did not produce. Everyone has their story.
Gidget does not like boxes or luggage.
She is getting better.
When the guy comes to clean the pool.
It is just funny. Yes, she did not like that.
This one, everyone is her friend. She has no fear.
You had her at six months of age. It was a year, and Annie was a year.
She was pretty much on a leash, almost her first year.
You had the leash walker.
She could not run and all that stuff. She is great. She has been absolutely wonderful. The whole neighborhood knows her. The strollers come by, and they are like, “Hi, Libby.”
You are just amazing. Thank you for the amazing work to help these Silver Snouts. We appreciate you, and we will put some info up about your organization on this. I have all the notes. I am going to put all the pictures of Rufus and Pepper and Randy Patrick, of course, in all of his outfits.
We could do a whole album of Randy.
Randy Patrick is a star. As you said, people recognize him. “Is that Randy Patrick?” Where is that name from?
One of the volunteers wanted to name him Randy, and I wanted to name him Patrick. We hyphenated it.
I keep changing the names of the dogs. I will call in a prescription and I will say, “This is for Nala. This is Dr. Jeromin calling for Nala.” Chelle goes to pick it up, and she says a different name, and they are like, “No, it is Nala.” Chelle says, “The doctor always changes their names. Do not worry about it.”
She’s called him Ivan, Vanessa, since day one. She is like, “How is it like a Vanessa?” She is fine.
You guys look like Vanessa.
One of my son’s friends has a black cat, and his name is Brad Pepsi. He was at a cafe, I think it was in DC, and he was eating, and this cat walked up. He just kept petting the cat, petting the cat, Brad Pepsi. He left the cafe, and then a few hours later, he was walking down the street, and there was Brad Pepsi. They took it to the vet, and they did the thing, and the owner had given it up for adoption, and it had gotten out or something. They called the adoption agency, and they ended up, and you know what, he is a fabulous cat and very attached. Isn’t that interesting?
They all have a story.
That is Brad Pepsi. Thank you for the amazing work you are doing. We appreciate you.
Thank you for having me.
Do not forget to hug all your pets, and thanks for tuning in. Do not forget to share. We are number three in the animal and pets category on Apple Podcasts. We want to go up. Keep liking it.
I’ll see you, Chelle.
Yeah.
Everyone, thanks for tuning in, and we will see you next week. Bye.
Important Links
About Dr. Rachelle Allen
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