Summary: Hello, this is Krista with Episode #140. On the Wag Out Loud pawdcast. I am so excited to announce that I'm going to be expanding my Wag Out Loud business with exciting things in store. I wanted to let you know that as of January 2022, I'm going to go from releasing weekly episodes to releasing bi monthly episodes. Putting the show on is so important to me, but to do it right, and all on my own, I've decided to bring you the same awesome guests and content, but just with a lesser frequency. That will give me more time to work on other fantastic projects in the canine health and wellness space. So stay tuned for some exciting future announcements. According to the experts at Wisdom Health, all dogs have a unique way of expressing love. But there are five common ways our dogs communicate love through body language and behavior. They are happy tail wagging, which shows that your dog is relaxed and happy. Licking, which is a sign of affection passed down from wolves. Leaning or sitting on you, following you around, because they just want to be close and playing with you. Our pups have tons of love to give. Welcome to the Wag Out Loud pawdcast, where we are obsessed with bringing you helpful tips on canine health care, nutrition, and overall wellbeing. If you'd like to support the show, check out the amazing online events, products and resources that I personally recommend on the Wag Out Loud website. I'm your host, Krista and I'm super excited to be bringing you yet another tail wagging episode. Carol Novello is the founder of Mutual Rescue™ and author of “Mutual Rescue: How Adopting a Homeless Animal Can Save You, Too.” Mutual Rescue is a national initiative that highlights the connection between people and pets to inspire and support life-saving efforts in communities across the nation and world. Mutual Rescue’s short films have gone viral around the globe and collectively been viewed more than 150 million times. Welcome dog lovers to a another tail wagging episode of the Wag Out Loud pawdcast. And joining us today is Carol Novello. And she is here to chat about how dogs and people help each other. Carol, thank you so much for being here today. May I ask you to introduce yourself and tell us why you started Mutual Rescue? Thanks, Krista. It's a delight to be on the podcast today. Mutual Rescue came about because when I got involved in animal welfare, people would sometimes ask me why I was helping animals when I could be helping people. I thought that was a very curious question, because I know how much animals have helped me in my own life. And I was running a large animal welfare organization. And I was seeing every day, how adopting animals was helping the people that were welcoming them into their family. And so Mutual Rescue came about because I really wanted to elevate the cause of animal welfare and put it on par with other human related causes. Because when you're helping animals, you actually are helping people. And Mutual Rescue had great success with our first film, Eric and Peety. And I can talk a little bit more about that. But the success of that led to the opportunity to create more short films. And it also led to the opportunity to write a book called Mutual Rescue: How Adopting a Homeless Animal Can Save You Too. So I'm really excited about the work that we're doing to change the hearts and minds of people everywhere and really to advance animal services into the integration of human services so that we can continue to help each other in new and profound ways. I love it. Wow. Well, you mentioned the book, Mutual Rescue. So in the book, you gave some really interesting statistics, that we are a nation that's plagued by illness that we all know that 16 million adults suffer from depression, 29 million from diabetes, 8 million at any given time they have PTSD, and that nearly 40% of us are obese. And I was shocked to see that 60% of doctors said that they prescribe pet adoption, and 97% believe that pet ownership provides health benefits. That is amazing. Wow! Yeah, it's pretty exciting. That was a specific survey that was done to physicians and out of that survey, those were the percentages, which is really pretty amazing. And in fact, Eric and Peety, our first Film is a story about an obese man. And he was told by one doctor that if he didn't change his lifestyle, he was going to be dead in five years. And he subsequently found his way to a naturopathic doctor. And the very first thing that she recommended to him that she prescribed to him was to go adopt a shelter dog. And she did that for a couple of reasons. One was, she wanted him to walk the dog for at least 30 minutes a day. So that was one thing, there definitely was a physical exercise component to it. But she also saw that Eric was very isolated, very lonely, and really saw that he needed a connection, and support. And that's exactly what Peety did for him. And it's amazing the transformation that they both went through because he was, was overweight when Eric adopted him, and they both lost a lot of weight. And Eric went on to run a marathon. And it really, truly transformed his life. And he credits that all to Peety. So on the one hand, you hear those numbers, like, you know, wow, 60% of doctors prescribe pet adoption. 97% believe that pets have benefits. And then you see stories like this, and it all kind of makes sense. It's astonishing, really. I totally agree. And we've mentioned this on the show many times that, you know, our dogs, of course, we consider them family. But if you really think about it, they are so much more, they are our therapists and our doctors, and they bring so much to our lives. And I guess if there's any silver lining out of the whole pandemic, that it was more and more people realized that this was a great time to adopt a pet. You know, during difficult times, you heard that so many shelters were actually empty. So I think more and more of us are realizing, you know, the show is, of course, specifically about dogs, how they enrich and enhance our lives. Well, it's really amazing in all areas of our lives too, I think is what's really so fantastic that the book is divided into four chapters, heart, body, mind, and connection. And each of those sections, excuse me, there's about into four sections. And within those sections are numerous chapters that talk about the impact of animals on those particular aspects of our life. So in the heart section, it talks about building trust, and courage and resilience and overcoming grief. In body it talks about heart health, and, and weight, how to manage, you know, anxiety and the roles that animals can play in that. In mind, it talks about depression, and resilience and the things that we need to do to stay mentally healthy. And then connection is about our social relationships, and how dogs can help foster connections, not just with, you know, animals, to humans, but also how animals help us connect to other people. And I think that is, is a really special aspect of what they do for us as well. So what the book talks about is not just stories, but it also brings in the science, and the research that documents it. So it's fun, because you know, you'll read a story. And then there's a you may identify with yourself in that story or someone you know, and then there's the research that helps explain what's actually you know, going on in your body for what it is that you're experiencing. And one of the great things about animals is that they can help release, feel good chemicals in our bodies, so oxytocin, serotonin, prolactin, those kinds of feel good chemicals. There's a biological change in your body when you're having a positive interaction with your pet. And what's really fun is that there's been research done on dogs that shows that dogs are having the same experience when they're interacting with humans. They're, they're having that same release of biochemical hormones. So it definitely goes both ways. They, they love us as much as we love them. Yes, absolutely. Well, I tried to think of all the ways that dogs do benefit our lives. And I wanted to know if, if I can just make some statements and you and I can unpack those, because there is a lot of research and science. So dogs make us feel less alone. How do they support in that? Yeah, I think it gets back to what I was just talking about in terms of the release of those feel good chemicals. Because you know, when you are depressed or you're feeling alone, your biochemistry, there are certain chemicals that are coursing through your body. And when you have an opportunity to interact with an animal, you're getting again, this, this release of feel good chemicals, and it's changing your biochemistry, it helps you feel less alone. It feels like, you know, there's somebody in your corner. And, you know, I wholeheartedly agree with that statement. And I know that there was a survey done by the Human Animal Bond Research Institute, and they found that 85% of respondents believe that interaction with pets does reduce loneliness. So I thought that was very interesting. Yeah, I mean, it's the people that are having the experience will tell you they feel that. Yes, exactly. Dogs are good for your heart. Yeah, absolutely. And Eric and Peety, that film that I mentioned, is a great example of that. They help your heart in a variety of different ways. Help, they can help lower blood pressure, they can help motivate you to want to take more walks, or be more physically active, like Eric was. And it's really interesting, the American Heart Association, you know, did some research and they issued a statement where they said, you know, that dogs may actually help reduce heart disease, which is a pretty big deal for an organization of that stature to actually come out with that kind of claim. And I think that's a pretty good checkmark in the pro column for having a dog. I agree. All right, what about dogs help you to stop stressing out? Well, I know for me that one of the things I appreciate most about the dogs I've had in my life is how much they caused me to be grounded in the present moment. You know, they really keep me focused on the here and now. So that's, you know, my own personal experience. But one of the things that is very interesting is some of the research that's been done around this, they've actually looked at scenarios where they've asked people, they've done it with both math tests, as well as doing word problems. And they broke the people up into three groups and the first group, they were people that had their pets with them while they took the test. The second group did not have their animals with them, but they were asked to think about their pets in the context of while they were taking this test. And then the third group was just told to think about some random person while they were taking the test. And what was so interesting was that both groups, both of the animal groups where the animals were present, or whether they were just thinking about the animals, their blood pressure, did not spike as much it returned to normal much more quickly after the test was over, they were more likely to perceive the test as being a challenge rather than a threat in terms of how it felt to them. And even more amazingly, people got more answers, right. And so not only do dogs kind of keep us from stressing out, you know, by minimizing stress, or helping us cope better with stress that makes us “smarter”. I think because we are diverting our attention in ways that take away from our ability to solve problems. That makes sense. And to that point, I don't know if this is the same study, but this was Washington State University, they pretty much showed that dogs lower blood pressure, heart rate, they slow your breathing, they relax your muscle tension. And this all happens within just 10 minutes of petting a dog. That is the impact. And as you mentioned before, of course, a much higher reduction in cortisol, which is the major stress hormone. So it's just fascinating, and I can't believe that we're already halfway through Carol. We are going to take a quick sponsor break and we will be right back. Sounds good. Thanks so much to our friends at Primalhealth for sponsoring this episode. 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