Hey, humans. How's it going? Susan Ruth here.
Thanks listening to another episode of, hey, human
podcast.
This is episode 416,
and my guest is Shannon Walker.
Shannon is a world class dog trainer, and
the founder
of man's best friend, top dog academy and
northwest battle buddies, which is a profit that
helps train and provide service dogs to
Veteran's experiencing Ptsd,
traumatic brain injury and military sexual trauma.
S is also the executive director of the
association of service dog providers for military veterans.
She has experienced in dog psychology,
pack order, and dog instinct, and she's helped
thousands of people and dogs, including
many, many police departments,
bond and train and learn with their dog.
She's a really lovely woman. She has devoted
her life to helping
others
hugely
supportive of the veteran community,
and,
I mean, anyone that works with dogs is
already
the best of the best in my book.
So... And to work with dogs who then
help people.
It's an incredible life's purpose. So I'm excited
for you to hear.
Shannon Story. General stuff, I'm on Patreon at
Susan Ruth.
Check out hey human podcast dot com for
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Thank you for listening. I appreciate you. I
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and hang in there and just know that
I'm out here rooting for you.
Alright. Be well.
Take care.
Here we go.
Shannon Walker, welcome to hate human.
I. Thank you very much for having me
on your show. Super excited today. Yeah. I'm
excited to. When I read bios of people
when they're sent to me, you know, when
I see anything that says dog in there.
Yeah. I get extraordinarily excited. So I'm I'm
thrilled that you you came on the show.
I like to start these by asking people
where they grew up and what shaped them
when they were younger that led them onto
their path. Yeah. That's a great question. So
I grew up in Oregon, which is a
Cowboy town, Growing up. It had, like, the
fifth largest rodeo
in the United states every year. So our
little town just turned into this. I mean,
you saw people parked. People would run out
their yards for people to park trailers or
camp out in, and they would actually...
Would leave their home and rent out their
home that week. For people to come. It
was crazy, but it was my favorite time
of the year, my dad, you know, when
we talk about what shapes my life, I
grew up with an amazing family, and my
parents were just incredibly loving and incredibly supportive.
And my mom was always the 1 that
was a soft placed a land, but my
dad was very much. He commanded respect. I
never back talked him once in my life.
But he was an incredible patriot. So when
we look at kinda what shaped what I
do now, my dad was all about achievement.
My dad was all about... You never quit.
It's I mean, he perseverance was everything.
And even though he didn't say that, he
lived it, and that's the example. And so
now when you look at the work that
I do with dogs and veterans and things
like that. If we look back at my
experiences with my dad, you know, my dad
served during the Korean war,
he loved
America. And he taught me to believe and
got family in country, and when you're in
the presence of a veteran you're in the
presence of a hero,
And he never said that, but again, yet
that was modeled, and we'd be at the
Middleton roundup, and he'd have his hand his
heart during the National Anthem, and he always
had a tear running down his face or
quiver chin
because
he just loved America, and he loved the
men and women who provided our freedom. And
even though he would always go and shake
somebody's hand and thank him for their freedom,
but he was always extremely uncomfortable if anybody
came up to him because you know, he
taught me when you're in the presence of
a veteran you're in the presence of a
hero even though he never considered himself 1.
And so it shaped that really framed
my
opinion, everything I've done in my life, if
I was to look back at my life,
you could say I really applied that even
though that wasn't a conscious thing. It's just
who I am and how I was raised.
So it was pretty awesome. I was very
blessed growing up. You you hit on something
really major at least in my
estimation that you can say whatever you want.
You can talk about your thoughts and feelings
and all that till the cows come home,
but it's really about
how you live your life.
You you become the living embodiment of example
by your actions, and deeds,
At 100 percent. It's like, what are you
telling people every day about yourself
and you didn't say 1 word?
They saw it in your actions. They saw
how you served them. They saw how you
cared about them. They saw your heart or
how you handled
conflict.
Being a single mom, I was extremely aware
of that growing up with my boys
because
their future
what I was very aware
that I had a major effect on how
they would choose to live life.
Because we can come in my opinion. We
can come from a lot of different experiences.
As a matter of fact, my father,
he did not have the example
said for him about what a good family
was. So what he did is he took
the opposite. He goes, this is how my
family was, so I want the opposite. I
want my children to be loved don't want
them to be provided for. I want them
to have the support because he never had
it. So people can go 1 way or
the other. You can you can either be
a product of your environment or you can
d be determined,
I will choose
how I will
respond to these things happening? And then how
do I wanna affect people and and especially,
you know, as I've learned through life because
I have a few decades behind me, I
really wanna be my best self in every
room. So in every room, I'm authentically me
even though not everybody gets all of me.
Yeah. I can relate to that. Yeah. Yeah.
I'm curious. This is
completely off topic and rather personal, but when
you have a father
who models
that kind of man
isn't that make dating super difficult?
Yeah. Absolutely. It makes dating. You don't No.
These are all subconscious decisions. This is all
a subconscious everything,
but it did and the fact that, you
know, I was a single mom that tells
you how well I
I did that. And I... And and and
if we're gonna... I... I don't have that
lot in my life. When I was a
single mom, I was dedicated to my children.
And I... I... And my businesses and that
was pretty much how I've lived in my
life. And I have my dogs, so I'm
good. Yeah. I what more do you need,
really? No. Right? Exactly. They told my love
bucket for sure. So... Yeah. Did you grow
up in a dog family then or was
this something that that came by you later?
Oh, no. I I've started begging for a
dog when I was, like, 4 or 5
years old, and we've had dogs ever since,
and I wanted to be a veterinarian until
I worked in a vet clinic, and then
cried all the time. So I'm like, okay.
I can't work in vet clinic, and I
had no idea I'd become a dog trainer
that was very organic and totally, the minute
I was exposed to that world. I was
hooked. But I've always... I wanted to live
on a farm. I wanted horses. I love
dogs, I... Every every animal that was on
the street. I felt was lost. We had
cats. I just wanted to save
everybody. I just wanna save all the animals
I saw. I'm still that way. I'm feeding,
like, 3 feral cats outside. I mean... Yeah.
I mean, it's...
You know, I I can't... I I love
animals so much, and especially dogs. So. Where
do you live now? Battleground Washington.
Oh, I'm from Washington State. Oh, awesome. Where
you live? Well, I live in Santa Monica,
but I was born in Seattle. Oh, you
are. Yeah. Lots of rain. So I'll be
there with it... I'll be up there in
2 weeks for a golf tournament. So Oh,
texas is nice. Gal is putting 1 on
front on profit northwest battle base. So... Okay.
Well, let's get into the starting of
you working with service animals. And,
was it already in the beginning
geared toward veterans and Ptsd? Or is this
something that came later? So how... What was
the arc of that? So I got married.
It got pregnant with twins to answer that
question. I got married, got pregnant with twins,
and then realized right away I'd started training
for myself in the sc in sport, which
is, like police dog training.
And then very early on, I realized I
needed to get a job, But because I
didn't want put my children in daycare. So
everybody that needs to do that. You know,
I mean, you know, I... That that's a
heart. That's that's a that's a difficult road
to navigate. I would imagine, but I I
didn't want I wanted to be able to
stay home and steal my own values into
my children. And so I was able to
start my own business my dog training business.
A little bit of knowledge is at dangerous
thing. I knew a little bit more than
I knew last week, so I felt like
I could start a business. And I really
did. I just started it, and I just
faked it till I made it. Well, 30
years later now. I'm still training dogs, but
it's really changed my world. I didn't know
the decision out of necessity
to make money and be a stay at
home mom, so I needed to do a
business outside of my home. So I took
my hobby,
made it a profession, and I grew from
there.
So we built a kennel on 4 acres
here, and I had my 4 profit business
and what... And I was just trained and
I was working with the police departments. I
competed for 10 years. And I was just
helping all these pet owners with their dogs,
you know, and listening to and seeing the
tears and working dogs with bite histories and
saving dog families is what I was doing.
And then 1 day a veteran walked into
my business, looking for help. He wanted his
personal dog to be trained to be a
service dog.
And so because I was doing a groom
at that time, I was doing a bath.
And... But because he walked in and he
was a veteran, I had somebody take over
what I was doing, and I went to
serve him personally.
And he talked about wanting his dog to
serve him and be a service dog for
Ptsd.
So I just did what I do. I
assessed the dog told them what it was
gonna take, how long it was gonna take
She was young enough,
and I felt it had temperament enough based
on my first evaluation.
So he left her with me for months,
and I trained her. And then when it
was time for him to come in for
his training portion of it.
That's where things started to change for me.
And so I learned about the suicide rate
amongst our American heroes.
I had learned that since he had been
home. First of all, he had been self
medic with illegal drugs for quite some time,
but now he had been cleaned for a
year, heavily involved in the Va. And in
his journey,
on his path to healing. He wanted to
have a service dog, but he was also
talking to me about how 6
of
the men out of his unit.
Had committed 6 had committed suicide on American
soil after coming home.
And I just couldn't believe it. My dad
had always taught me that freedom wasn't free.
But I had no idea the price that
they are men and women who served our
country are still paying even though they're not
wearing the uniform anymore.
And I started to see
how he responded in public. So when it
came time for us to go out in
public,
and start to train his dog. I saw
the panic attacks. I saw the anxiety, but
I also saw him do for his dog
what he was unwilling to do for himself.
And I saw him find courage to lead
her where he was afraid to go alone.
And for me, out of everything I'd done
in the dog world,
I've competed in Sc. I've competed internationally. I've
helped police officers with their dog. I've helped
thousands of pet families, but this was different.
And so we finished his training, and I
watched him walk away
with his head high and his shoulders back.
And I significantly felt like I'd made the
difference in the quality of somebody's life.
And so that moment was amazing, but then
that kinda where it was for me until
veterans started to come to my business.
Veterans who knew him
Before he had Sammy as a service dog
and after he had her as a service
dog, and they started coming and looking for
dogs. They started coming and they wanted they
wanted what Kevin had, and I didn't have
dogs to give them. So in my simple
minded thinking, I thought, if I can just
adopt dogs out of shelters, I can give
them, and I can say thank you for
my freedom. And I... That's what I did.
I went right out to a local shelter.
They checked me out. They checked up my
reputation. I walked out with 5 dogs for
free. I already had a kennel and a
staff to take care of him professionally, and
we got started.
That was 257
service dogs
ago, 257
veterans lives changed, and we have not lost
1 veteran into suicide in the last 12
years. We have not lost 1.
It's amazing. And so that's... It's incredible. That
was the arc. That encounter changed
my life.
And it
and it has just opened up a world
that needs the expertise of what we have
and we bring and and just... I mean,
there's just a whole
not just a chapter but a novel after
that, but it all started with 1 dog
and 1 veteran and the and seeing the
need
and knowing that
god gifted me with a talent that I've
also
perfect my craft and my skill.
And honed it in so I can make
a difference, and that's what we do every
day. It's beautiful.
Absolutely beautiful. Thank you for that service.
Absolutely. It's...
You know, the veterans will talk to us,
you know, especially at graduation day,
and they're just thanking us.
And it's like,
what I try to tell them, it's not
a cliche, but it's an honor to serve
them.
It is an honor.
To walk their walk freedom with them because
that is what this is when they're walking
through them mall with their service dog, when
they're going through Tsa when they're going out
in public, we have veterans that have not
been in public. Sometimes we had 1 veteran
that hadn't been in a mall for decade.
But he's doing it with a service dog
and he's using the dog as the tool
it is to help mitigate the symptoms of
his ptsd for him to ground himself for
him to be able to collect himself and
get back to a place in his brain
where he can then press on and move
forward with the mission of the day, and
that's how they'll put it. It's like, The
mission is, I'm... They look at it. Is
that, The mission is is to go into
Walmart and to do my shopping list and
walk out. And to us, we take it
for granted. We walk in, We walk out,
we're you know, whatever it is. But for
them,
some of them, that is a debilitating
act or
assignment
But now they're doing it,
but they're doing it with the service at
their side as the tool that it is
because they learned how to manage the tool
use the tool. To get through it and
to do it and they find their best
self in it.
Is there a particular breed. Now, obviously, you
when got rescue dogs says tend to be
all sorts of different kinds of dogs. Do
you find that certain breeds
and or much
take to it better? And then,
what is the process? How do you take
a dog who's just being a dog and
she... Yeah. Sharing them to be a champion?
Yeah. Absolutely. Well said. So first of all,
yes. We still take rescue dogs and then
in the beginning, it was all rescue dogs.
But as our number started to grow is
our waiting list started to grow. And because
we have we have donor dollars to be
respectful of. We don't wanna waste them. Once
we start training. We wanna make sure we
can finish that. But if you're failing a
dog halfway out
and have to repurpose that dog, then those
are donor dollars wasted.
That was another veteran that is now having
to wait longer on the list.
And so
we do still use
rescue dogs, but for the most part, we
use purpose bread dogs. We use English labs
and English cream golden retriever. We also use
for the hypo
australian lab doodle, and then we'll also use,
you know, just regular lab doodle. And so
that's typically the wheelhouse we're in, but, yes,
we still will have, like, in this last
group, we had a hound lab rescue, and
he was an amazing dog. So you're right.
Going into the shelter, there's a mixed bag.
And the other thing is that in the
shelter, unfortunately, there's a lot of pit and
pit and I'm not against the breeds at
all. We actually have some pip in our
program from early on, But we don't wanna
handicap the veteran by because our veterans, a
lot of them are in the work environment.
And when you have an office job and
your pit bull is there with you when
your clients have to walk in or your
German shepherd dog or your rot or your
Ba or her breeds can be
exactly. It can intimidate the public. But everybody
wants to see a lab or a golden
retriever. So we have to take all of
these things into consideration when we're pairing for
the overall success of the team, which is
the veteran and the service dog. And then
what we do is whether we get it
all out of a shelter or we purpose
breed them,
they go... The the puppies go into a
foster home up to a year, and they're
part of somebody's family. They're loved. They're just
part of the family
as they grow up. And then when it's
at... About a year old or so, that's
when they come to us, and we train
them for 5 months, how we get them
to be able to be this sometimes out
of control dog that was living in a
family loved full of life.
They're still full of life, but we also
now want them to be disciplined and purpose
So when they are vested, they are functioning
as a tool that they need to be,
which is mitigating symptoms of Ptsd and walking
out the life with that handler.
So we train the dogs for 5 months
here on site,
and then we teach them all about public
access. We teach amazing obedience, but we also
teach them how to task. For the symptoms
of Ptsd.
And then what we also do and they're
out in the environment doing everything.
And then our veterans come from across the
nation and they train with us for 5
weeks 5 days a week.
They pass their testing,
and we take them everywhere. They don't wanna
go. We do... They do everything They don't
wanna do.
Just for the hope that service dog is
gonna bring to their life. And then we
gift it to them at the end of
the 5 weeks, which is always the... And
the most amazing day, other than the day
they meet their service dog. That's the second
most amazing day in this organization. But then
once they leave, They come back at 3
months and retest. They don't have to do
the 5 weeks again, but they retest after
3 months,
and then they re they retest 9 months
later and then every year after that for
the life of the dog. So our veterans
come back and rec certify.
We get eyes on the dogs, and we
wanna offer that continued
support for our veterans, whatever they may need
after they leave us in, you know, with
with their dog, you know, with life changes
whatever it might be. You know, I tell
our veterans, you know, we're a family. When
you leave, you're part of the Northwest Val
based family and we're there for you.
Because life can... Life doesn't stop life and
no matter what you're doing or where you're
at or what you're dealing with. You know,
so many of are better and they'll come
here.
And in those 5 weeks, sometimes their wife
will leave them. Sometimes it's the anniversary date
of their buddy who committed suicide or
their bus but their best buddy commit suicide
while they're here
or their meds get messed up or their
meds don't show up. Or whatever it might
be. But in the life doesn't stop, and
we we have the honor of working with
these these American heroes
that are just... They refused to be denied,
and they refuse to become a statistic of
the 22 a day, and they're looking for
a way to not just survive but live
but differently than they've been surviving before because
there's a difference between surviving living.
And we just tell them because they come
in, and they don't trust us.
They they have all these walls and barriers.
And
we just tell them trust the process.
And then they meet their dog and they
bond with the dog, and we see these
walls start to come down. They start to
open up, and the tight lip trembling
veteran that we may meet on day 1
that's thrown up in his car, thrown up
in the parking lot.
Trembling coming in, can't even look us in
the face.
At the end of 5 weeks where a
service dog aside is holding a microphone talking
to a group of people, hundred people saying
about how their dog chain... Is already changing
their life,
and it's amazing. And that's what I get
to do.
That's that's the world we walk in. Yeah.
Wow.
It's very powerful.
How do you prepare for
the fact that
Unfortunately, dogs don't live to be a hundred
years old as much as we wish they
did. How do you prepare them for that?
Now, that is such a great question. We
prepare for the loss of a service dog.
We already have processes in place, and our
veterans know this. So
as a quick story. So 2 years ago
on New Year's Eve,
I get a call.
From our veteran liaison at 11:30, and she
tells me that 1 of our veterans just...
Their dog just died.
11:30 on New Year's eve,
unexpected.
And so I'm like, give me his number,
so I called Ryan was his name, but
his golden retriever bullet
just died And so I called him in
the first question I... So it's 11:30 at
night on New Year's Eve. And when I
say we're a family I mean it. First
question I said is, are are you alone?
And he had his wife with him.
Because that's
that's our first thing. I... We wanna get
them through this process.
So he is with his wife and then
the second question I is Can we serve
you with another dog
like, right away. And he was even... And
I said, I know your grieving bullet and
this... But I want you to know you
will immediately be moved to the top of
our list, and we are working dogs right
now, and I will hand pick a dog
for you right now and be sending you
pictures. He says, let me think about it,
and I'll get back with you. 2 days
later. He goes, I I can't survive without
a service dog. We picked the dog and
we sent him the pictures
and
we just kept feeding them the pictures and
within 2 months, he was in, meeting the
dog
and we went through... He... Because he was
already a season Handler. He didn't have to
do the 5 weeks, but he went through
everything that we wanted him to go through
and that dog is serving him today. But
we tell our veterans
if anything happens to your dog or, you
know, some dogs... We're we're 13 years old
now, we have some are very, very first
veterans with dogs the dogs are passing away.
And those veterans those veterans are being moved
to the front of our list, and we
are serving them immediately. We have a hundred
and 5 veterans waiting on our list for
service dogs. A hundred and 5 veterans that
are looking for help. They wanna survive differently,
better.
And but our existing veterans go to top
of that list, and we'll immediately plug them
in. So they have hope, and they have
pictures of the dog they're gonna get, and
then we get that dog ready as soon
as possible.
Gosh. I... I mean, when you say there's
so many... I hate that there's that many
people waiting.
Yeah. That... But there's only you... There's only
so many you that and your people that
you have and only so much space and
money and all of that. This is my
biggest frustration with the military is that they
send people to boot camp, they get them
all prepared to go do the duty. And
then
when they get back, that's it. Sorry. You're
on your own kid. It's
I know the Va is there, and... But
it's just not it's not enough. That's it's
not enough. And these are human beings that
complex
struggles.
Able exactly. So my twins served in the
Army and marines.
And so when they came out, they immediately
plugged to this. Because this is this was
their life before they went into service and
this is like their life when they came
out. And you're exactly right. I saw my
boys go through this system. I saw my
boys go through the, you know, the out
processing and everything that that all happened.
And
they're not prepared, but the difference is they
come out especially those that have Ptsd
and have... They come out different and changed,
and it's not just about... And the government,
yes, they need to step up, and they...
And
And I'm not an expert in a lot
of things, but I will tell you medications
are not necessarily the answer. We have veterans
that about on, literally over 30 meds a
day to cope.
That now with a service dog after a
couple years with the supervision of their their
medical professional are down to 1 med.
We have veterans... That are completely medication free.
A service dog may not be for everybody,
but for the 257
that we've served it is,
And my prayers that for the hundred and
5 that are on our list it is,
you know, But but I would say,
you know, 1 of our of the executive
members of this team, you know, he talks
about, you know, it's we the people
that need to take care of our military.
It is we the people. The only thing
that is in the way of the hundred
and 5 veterans being served is money.
It costs us 25000
dollars to get a dog prepared and gifted.
These dogs are gifted to our veterans. They've
already paid a price for these dogs. We
gift them while they're here through the training,
they are charged nothing. These dogs are gifted,
and we are 1 of the largest providers
in the United States for veterans with service
dogs of Pt. There are a lot of
organizations out there and more power to, but
they might be doing 5 dogs a year.
We're doing 40 dogs a year. And that
may not sound like very much to somebody.
But when you look at the body of
work, it's huge, but the difference between us
serving,
veterans in a timely manner is money. It
is we need it.
And we are very grassroots. I will say
Northwest battle buddies has a monthly giving program
called operation never quit. And the story is
about 1 of our veterans.
That refused to be denied, and he opened
up his heart and told his story
about a suicide attempt and
got saved by his wife and it's an
incredible story and the day he met his
service dog was the anniversary of that suicide
attempt. And he still has her, and he's
still thriving, and
It's an incredible monthly giving program, but
Northwest battle and profits like us are relying
on the American people.
To say, thank you for my freedom because
everything begins with freedom. Think about what we're
gonna do every day
that freedom doesn't play a factor, get being
able to go where we wanna go do
what we wanna do. Say what we wanna
say, what is our profession gonna be? What
do we wanna do in life? What do
we wanna be in life?
That freedom came with a price, and I
didn't have to pay it.
My boys did, the men and women we
served it.
But I didn't have to. So what can
I do to give back? Find on profit,
it's gonna make a difference, Give to us
northwest battle.
Yes. Northwest battle buddies. Absolutely.
War as hell or is complicated,
warfare is complicated
politics are complicated.
It's that whole mess
bad.
But the people that are... That's as they
say boots on the ground
doing their job,
yeah, the... You know, we owe them a
humongous debt.
In my personal opinion,
Yes.
I believe that when you serve in the
military, when you come back, your rest of
your life
is free.
Your medicines are free. That's doctor is free.
Your restaurants are free. Yeah. Your phone bill
is free. That's that's my opinion.
I know that that's a grand idea,
but it seems like the least we can
do.
Yeah Well, I don't disagree with you at
all, and you're right.
Less than 1 percent of the people in
the United States have the courage
to sign on the... Dotted line and say,
I will go wherever you ask me to
go, I will do whatever you ask me
to do to be a part of something
greater than myself and to serve people I
will never meet.
And the families of those veterans that suffer
and are without them and live with the
uncertainty because those families are serving the same
way. I know what it is to have
my sons out of this country, not have
contact, miss them, be wondering, be worrying, not
knowing what they're... Where they are what they're
doing. I would tell you this, and this
is why what you're doing is so beautiful
full. We just need to be louder.
We with this
support of our veterans
because it's proactive, it's beautiful. It's serving. It's
being a blessing, serving people
out of a open heart.
We just need to be louder.
You know, the voices is, sometimes it's not
that... There's more of them. They just happen
to be louder and they get attention. So
we need to be loud and speak. And
so thank you for
letting
Northwest bad buddies me myself,
highlighting the work that we're doing and the
sacrifice for our veterans and how they need
us. So thank you
sal. I mean out screaming from the rooftops
as long as I'm alive. Yeah. There you
go. I love it. I think there's something
interesting too as you were saying
you know, once the veteran is paired with
the dog.
And
look, there... There's a thing about that they
become then of service, to the animal as
much as the animal as being a service
to them. It's a different kind. It's an
emotional bond, and you have to take care
of this animal. You have to feed this
animal to walk this animal to water this
animal, You have to make sure that he
or she is is staying healthy and thriving.
And if The 1 thing I know at
my age is that the best way to
get out of your head is to do
something for someone else.
Absolutely. And to have that
relationship.
I mean, I think right there is is
an incredible opportunity for somebody to go, Okay.
I'm in my head and it's chaos in
here, but there's this
creature
that is fully dependent on me.
And
Yeah. I mean, that's humongous
is 1 of our veterans in the last
group. He said the leash goes both ways.
Yeah. Oh, I love that. I know. It
was awesome, But it is. So the thing
is is that the culture of what we
do is designed around the way that our
veterans are trained and the culture that they're
used to. First of all, It was a
veteran that came up with the name Northwest
battle buddies because the minute you go into
the military. Even though I never served, but
what I know or what I've heard is
that you're signed to battle buddy.
They never go anywhere without you. You are
responsible for each other. So it's a veteran
that came up with the name Northwest Battle
because of that,
cultural
familiarity.
And then we're talking about discipline. We're talking
about leadership. We're talking about breaking barriers. We
are talking about courage. We are talking about
overcoming and never quitting.
And I tell our veterans this all the
time. Where's your battle buddy, protect your dog,
this or that, your dog will never be
the dog you want them to be until
you're the leader they need you to be.
This is a tool that is reliant on
you that will serve you the rest of
its life if you lead it well, and
we are gonna set you up for success
to do that and give you the skills
and the discipline.
But it's everything they know. They... It's the
culture, the way we train the dogs, the
way we train our veterans It is the
culture, the cam. You know, we have many
of our veterans because the 5 weeks is
hard. The Not everybody makes it through. And
it's hard, but we've had veterans and it
said that'll say they wanna quit, and they'll
they'll pair up, and they'll be like, I
won't quit if you don't quit. And the
day that 1 feels like quitting, the other
1 keeps them in. And the other day,
the other 1 feels like quitting, and they
do that and they get each other through.
And it's incredible. It is... And it doesn't
matter what conflicts. So Northwest Dog serves all
conflicts.
A lot of organizations only serve post 09:11.
But we serve all conflicts. Our hundredth dog
went to a Vietnam veteran,
and that was just
amazing
because...
They didn't get what they deserved. So I
love to serve our Vietnam veterans. I love
to serve all of our veterans, but the
Vietnam veterans really have my heart. But it
doesn't matter what conflict you can be a
Vietnam veteran that is now serving somebody who's
25 years old that is here getting a
dog. And so you're looking at the decades
of living and battling Ptsd, and he's finally
getting help. And then you have somebody that's
younger, but but they serve each other in
the cam
and the unity in that group.
It's it's a privilege for me to be
able to observe it and
witness it and and be surrounded in that
culture
because it's unlike anything I've ever experienced anywhere
else in the world and anything I've been
involved in, it's really beautiful.
What's it's important to know you're not alone
and that someone else is is there for
you. I mean, that's the bottom line of
being a human being.
Yeah. Well, they they tell each other all
the time. I got you. You're having a
hard. You know, it's like, they're going into
them mall. Somebody's already t on or wanting
to throw up in the parking and lot
and they're like buddy. I got you. We'll
do it together. I got you.
So we had 1 in this last group,
the veteran has seizures
brought on by the Ptsd.
And he had a grand seizure in the
mall.
And all the other buttons stood around with
their dogs and they waited. Some of them
were praying. Some of them were just... Standing
looking around, almost like standing guard as this
1 veteran.
He knew he was gonna see. He's, like,
do not call 911,
And we already nukes. Because we knew all
their medical history when they come in, but
they're right in the middle of this mall.
He's having a seizure on the floor,
and the dog is right there.
And we waited for him to come out
and immediately the dog goes, and he starts
tactile reinforcement grounding with the dog, helping him
come out. He's disoriented that dog just melted
into him. But I was standing there watching
not only what he was going through, but
what he was living with
just trying to find a better way forward.
And I was so emotional because sometimes they're
struggle to watch their struggle
for me, it's almost too hard to watch.
We had this 1 gal. She's 78,
and she was in this last group, and
we're going through Tsa.
And she, by the time we were getting
out, she was having such a bad panic
attack. Is the worst I've ever seen. I
was helping her walk out. I didn't know
if she wasn't gonna go to the floor.
Such
and it was aft... And I'm... I stay
strong during. But afterwards, it's like,
to watch what they have to endure
to get through. The things that we take
for granted every day
is so humbling
and it's sometimes it's overwhelming because it's so
sad,
but to watch this courage and action and
the human spirit that refuses to be denied.
They're like, I will never quit
and they don't. And she walked away with
her service dog.
And it's just incredible. And I have so
many stories like that. They're all the same,
but they're all unique. To themselves.
It's incredible. It's incredible what we get to
do and who we get to walk out
life with. I'm so blessed and so privileged
that
my circle
is American heroes every day.
How do you take care of you?
I take care of me.
Thank you. That's a great question. Self care.
I'm a christian.
I rely on my relationship with Jesus Christ.
I spent time with my family.
I am involved. In mentoring programs. I have
a Ceo coach.
I am
always trying... Working on being my best self
and and engaging and learning my coaching skills,
my leadership skills,
all of that to invest in myself, I
work out every day.
I play with my dogs,
and I'm with my family. So my downtime
is time with my family. Time with God,
my 80 year old mother. She goes don't
tell people hold old.
But lives with me. Now, for almost 3
years this October.
And that is a special blessing. So that's
how I do that. And then
and then I just rely on god every
day, and we push through every day, and
I'm not gonna say that it is not
without challenges and sometimes I'll never say I'm
overwhelmed,
but there are days that life is just
life.
And I need a break.
But I've taught my kids ever since they
were little, no matter what.
You always do what comes next.
And if you don't know what it is,
you wait for it and then you do
it.
And that's just how I lived my life.
I'm am assuming your dad is passed?
Yeah. He died.
December twentieth 2011.
What's his name? Glenn Walker.
I'm sure that Glen is looking down and
so proud.
Yeah.
He
he was such an amazing
force on this earth for me
that when he died, I actually thought it
was gonna break me. I've heard people say
this broke me and I never... And, like,
get over yourself a little bit. But when
he died, I just wasn't quite how I
was gonna continue to cope because he was
such a source of strength and wisdom for
me.
And I was Daddy's girl, spoke with him
every day even though we might have lived
United States part, he I was a daddy's
girl all the way my whole life.
And
I was with him when he died, but
when he died, I I did. I I
just didn't know how I was gonna.
I I wasn't thinking about anything serious. I
just didn't know how to cope. I just
didn't know how I was gonna do life
without talking him every day and having that
source of strength on this earth with me.
But I was going through just shortly after.
I literally cried every day for year after
my dad died.
And then I needed to get myself together
because my boys needed me. To stop grieving.
And everybody's everybody's journey is their own, but
I I needed to...
I needed to move on not move on
from my father, but III
stopped... I needed to stop crying every day.
And... But I was shortly after being my
dad died, I was gonna and bookstore and
I looked up at this picture of these
horses running on the beach, and they were
running as fast that could couldn't, and it
was so beautiful.
And the scripture was Hebrews 12 1. It
says let us run with perseverance the rays
marked out for us.
And I felt like that was now the
scripture for my life. That no matter what
life brings, even without my dad, it was
about perseverance and it was about pressing on
and
and being a blessing.
And that's the scripture for Northwest battle buddies,
that is the scripture for my life. And
that is how I look at life. And
so even though there are days that are
just like,
wow.
Sometimes I'm overwhelmed and I know I just
need an app, because then I'm gonna feel
differently having that perspective. You know, living being
my best self and living my best life
and serving my family the way I wanna
serve them and the people that are around
me is a daily journey of how I
can be better. I love that. It's good
to have purpose.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, without purpose you're just existing.
Right? Yeah.
I mean, think about it.
Tell me about the process
you you get the new dog.
Can you tell
right away that they are gonna be really
into the program,
there... I feel like
I mean, I've had dogs my whole life,
and I feel like when you're training them,
At first, they're kind of wiggly and they
don't really... They're like, what, you have a
snack in your hand or whatever it is,
and they want to please. That's just dogs,
just the the most purest
version of love you can get. They yep.
I mean, they teach us so much about
love.
But I mean, do you kind of... I
know that for me when I've trained my
pups that that there's that moment
where they... Where it clicks, and they realized
they're like, oh wait. I get it. And
everything kind of shifts. So do you see
that and then you go, oh, I know.
Or do some still... You think, oh, well,
this is gonna be a great pet, but
not the not the working bag. Yeah. So
great question. So when it... When we're going
to the process of training, if where we're
gonna find, they're gonna make it or we
have to repurpose them. I will tell you
our our percentage of repurposing or dogs that
fail is extremely low to the national standard.
Not very often We have to face that
because we are purpose breeding now, so I'm
breeding dogs that are genetically inclined
to be able to do the work. But
some... And what we're looking for is dogs
that are social, dogs that are confident. I
mean, it... Because it does come down to
genetics, and then it comes down to learn
behavior. So... And the fact that we've been
doing this for decades and I have an
incredible team we know what we're looking at
within minutes when we're looking at a dog.
So it's not like anything as a mystery
to us at this stage of the game.
And there are some dogs that sometimes we
are on the fence. We're like, well, we're
gonna see how this plays out
because...
Because sometimes you'll get into it, because the
more we require of the dogs through the
4 months or through the 5 months of
training,
we'll now start to expose the dog for
something that maybe the dog can't overcome. And
then we have to wash them, but it's
very, very rare. Usually, you'll see the writing
on the wall early. But we've also are
really good at what we do. And so
we find a way to work the dog
through it, so it can master the exercise
so we can go on and serve better
and well, not just well, but with excellence.
We have amazing dogs. And Is there a
sobriety requirement for the veterans?
Oh, absolutely. There's a very strict application process.
They have have stable housing, stable income. They
have to have a diagnosis of Ptsd. Most
of them are all in a medical
professional under their care, whether it's even counseling
or whatever it might be, they have to
have an honorable discharge. They have to be
clean and sober for at least 6 months.
If there are in any programs, they can
go on our list, but they just have
to wait to make sure everything is good.
And then whatever gets them qualified to come
into this program, they have to maintain all
of that after they received their service dog,
they sign a contract when they leave.
And if they fall out of what would
have been
qualification,
then we reserve the right to seize the
dog. And unfortunately,
twice
in 257,
I have... You know, we've recovered the dog.
So
Wow, that's gotta be tough.
It's very tough. But you know what? I
will... But you know what Let me just
say this. But it's not tough. It's... First
of all, you can't lead if you're not
willing to do hard things.
But those veterans with where they were in
their life, we care about them.
But they were they became so disconnected.
1 veteran...
I don't even wanna... But 1 veteran it...
There was no there were no tears. It
wasn't like you thought it would be. It's
like they were so disconnected from their dog
and their life.
It was just a responsibility they didn't need
to care for anymore, but that's that's an
anomaly that is absolutely not the norm. You
know, our veterans of... The veterans that have
our dogs would die for these dogs.
They would die for these dogs. These dogs
are a lifeline to them.
You know, that's why we can trust our
veterans with them is because... I mean, they...
The and I'm not even exaggerating when I
say they take a bullet for their dog.
I'm not. That's just the way they're they're
cut from that cloth. Yeah. The better that
we serve. Yeah.
Have such a beautiful story, and it's a
credible. And it's interesting because I think I
think of the... The kind of training that
a canine unit
needs, a dog that's going into the police
service. Mh. Or or even Tsa, you know,
bomb sniffing, drug sniffing, all that.
It's interesting to think that you have this
dog, and then the pathway of its education
of what it's going to become, whether it's,
you know, the family dogs sit, lie down,
shake
or
they'll get, you know, for somebody who's disabled,
you know, get this food out of the
refrigerator or get my
let me know if I'm about to have
a diabetic coma or, you know, whatever it
is. It's just fascinating.
The spectrum of what these dogs are capable
of. Yeah. It's... I had hundred percent agree
with you because I have the honor working
with the police departments. I've competed working with
seizure detection dogs, pets, service stubs for veterans,
whatever it is. That's why I think the
dog is 1 of them amazing creatures.
Walk on this Earth because the gift they
can bring in the versatility
Based on the breed, the breed tendencies, you
know, you have your genetics, but then you
also have environment.
When they have the leadership that they deserve
and need.
They can do great amazing things in the
service of the human,
bringing value,
unconditional love, support and life saving
abilities,
but then also,
just the ability that they can make it
feel safe in the middle of the night.
Kevin with Sammy. He would hear a sound
in the middle knight and take his gun
to clear his house.
After having Sammy as a service dog,
If he heard something, he'd look over and
if she's laying their sleeping,
he knew there was nothing, and he'd go
back to sleep.
Because she, with her senses are gonna be...
Is gonna be the first 1 to whatever
is strain. She's his first line of defense,
and he learned to rely on her instincts
that are greater than his,
which brought peace of mind and security. I
mean, it's like, when you have a tool
that is that versatile
that brings that many elements
to the service that brings value to our
life. It's like, there is no weather. There's
no There's nothing that man can create as
a prop prosthetic or a medical piece of
it... Of, there... A medical piece of equipment
to serve a disability.
And then you have a live animal that
can do all of that plus. Yeah. You
know? So... Yeah, It's pretty awesome. Yeah. I
remember when my Mic died,
when he passed away, I just remember how
quiet the house was.
I it was... I mean, firstly,
devastated, I've never felt that kind of pain
is losing.
It's a it's like it's it's beyond.
It's beyond. It sucks so bad.
But I just remember how quiet the house
was.
Yeah. Oh,
the emptiness and the whole
in the home.
That that energy and that life brought and
the joy in just all the nuances. I
100 percent.
I have a pot I have AIA Youtube
channel. And when my rot while passed away,
my team... I... The minute passed away, I
came home and I wrote a a tribute
to him.
And then my Youtube team says, can you
please, can we can we do attribute and
put it on Youtube? So I was so
honored that they honored him that way and
it so beautiful, but I get it, and
I just...
But the thing is is that so what...
The pain is so great. You're like, I'll
never do it again, but the value they
bring is even greater. So for most people
like me,
I have to go out and get another
1 because I need that in my life.
I need dogs in my life. And what
they bring to me because it's unlike what
any human can.
Amen did that sister? Yeah.
Yeah.
Do you know the the poem, the Rainbow
bridge?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I got to interview, Edna,
who wrote that. She wrote it when she
was a teenager in my my. I'll I'll
send it to you. It's yeah. It's incredible.
She's her. Yeah. That would be... That is
the most popular.
She had no idea. She was a grown
woman,
this not just just a couple years ago.
I mean, she's She's older.
She only just found out that this poem
she wrote when she was 16
or 15 or 16.
She wrote it about her dog major,
her beloved dog who passed, and she had
no idea that her friend and... She had
shared it with her friend, and then her
friend had started sharing it. And it went
worldwide for no. I mean, you're all the
shades later, and she had no clue.
Wow. Bless her heart. Well, that was beautiful.
It was totally beautiful a full beautiful job.
And no it's so great. Tell people, all
the places they can find you, if they
wanna donate if they wanna check out your
videos, all of that. So northwest battle buddies
dot org is the profit that serves our
American heroes that we gift
professionally trained service dogs to our veterans
battling Ptsd.
Northwest dot org. We need people's help. We
need the American people to step up and
say thank you for my freedom in a
life
changing way by donating. You can check us
out our 9 nineties wear completely transparent.
Shannon Walker, the pack leader on Youtube is
my Youtube channel.
And, I have Shannon Walker Unlimited, which is
my Llc. I'm also the executive director of
the association of service dog providers, which is
a national nonprofit.
Of
service dog providers. It's an elite group of
service dog providers across the United States, and
I'm the executive director. So I have the
opportunity to serve in many capacities to help
bring knowledge and integrity into the service dog
industry, fighting for our veterans on many, many
different levels. And so it's it's an honor
to do all of that. Well, thank you
for for all the work you do. It's
incredibly important. It's be... It's a beautiful
life's work and purpose.
And I imagine
that you are leading others to, you know,
it's following your footsteps and do the same
too. So thank you for that because exponentially,
the work that you do is going to
ripple out and and be
incredibly
impactful.
Absolutely. Well, you from... It's about legacy.
Is about legacy. And we absolutely wanna leave
the world better than we found it. Yeah.
And we wanna work to go on long
after we were there. Yeah.
Really quick. I'll tell you. So the New
York Dog film festival,
which is in October. They actually have a
new category of veterans with dogs of Ptsd.
So we're entering 3 videos into that. And
hopefully, they'll get be chosen, but and it'll
be touring. So people will be able to
see our dogs and our our veterans and
everything else. So it'll tour Canada and the
United States in 50 to a hundred theaters
in 20 25.
So anyway, they tell our story. I love
it. That's great. Do you do Tiktok? Because
I think people make tons of money on
Tiktok? So I monetized on Youtube, my Facebook.
I'm monetized on Facebook
my team just started Tiktok for me. Yeah.
I don't know what it is. It must
be Instagram. I'm on Instagram and Facebook, but
I think they started me on Twitter. I
don't know if it's Tiktok or not. I
don't look at all that.
Yeah.
I just pay attention to what I do
to and I have a team, you know?
I've I'm obsessed with all the dog, content
on Tiktok. It's the best. And and I
think it monetize really highly, you know, people
love
all of this kind of stuff. So it's
just another financial income stream. I'll ask my
team about it. Because I only started this
a little over a year ago. The Youtube
and all that. So I'm just little rios.
So I'll ask him if they're into that.
But, yeah...
Youngest person on your team and ask them.
Yeah. There you go. I know you're like,
I don't know. So... Yeah. I will. Thank
you for that, though. Thank you. Thank you
for listening everybody. Thank you, Shannon.
Thank you very much for having me on
show. It's awesome. You're great. Thank you. You
too. Alright. Have a wonderful day.
Welcome. Thank you. Alright. Bye bye. Bye everybody.
Bye bye. Bye.
Great review and subscribe to hey human podcast
on itunes or wherever, you get your podcast.
Thanks. Bye.