Chris:
Hey, welcome to Canine Master Radio on Pet Life Radio. And I'm your host Chris Onthank. And today I'm joined by Melissa Shapiro. She's a veterinarian, where we are going to dive in to the amazing journey that her and her family have taken with their dog rescue, Piglet. Piglet is deaf and blind, he was born that way. He and the Shapiro family are raising awareness and they're raising money for pet rescue and also for special needs adoption, which is really cool.
They're also teaching children, parents, communities and lots of other people about acceptance and inclusion and kindness and putting lots of smiles on the faces of many people. They're just making this world a better place, let's face it. This is a great heartwarming feel good story that you're going to want to hear.
Today I have the pleasure of having Melissa Shapiro on the show. Melissa is a veterinarian that I've known for a long time, it seems we're in the same community here in Fairfield County in Connecticut. And as a person who is so inspirational in things that she's doing with pets and specifically dogs and people with disabilities. Melissa, nice to have you on the show today.
Melissa Shapiro:
Thank you for having me.
Chris:
Yeah, I'm so glad I finally was able to get you on. I know you've been so busy with all the things you're doing with Piglet. It seems that you have a full agenda with this wonderful little puppy, well not a puppy anymore, I guess.
Melissa Shapiro:
No, he is five years old and he turned five in January. And we've had him today, happens to be his got you day, five years. March 4, 2017 is when he arrived.
Chris:
Wow, wow. Well, there's such a great story here that I want to get into. But basically, this dog is really changing the way in which we're looking at adopting dogs with disabilities. And I just finished your book, the book, Piglet, The Unexpected Story of a Deaf, Blind, Pink Puppy and His Family, where we follow your story from where you go from childhood to present, your childhood specifically. And then meeting Warren, your husband and your children and it's such a great, great story. I want to talk about how you became an advocate for animal welfare, almost like an activist from early childhood and it became your life mission.
From where I saw that you were stepping on ants from kids on the school yard, were torturing ants and you also stopped donkey basketball games in high school. You seemed to have just been destined to save and be an activist for pets?
Melissa Shapiro:
Well, I have been told that there was an attraction to animals from when I was very young which I don't remember. But I do remember certainly, always having an affinity for taking care of animals. And I think that one of the things that at least for me, I somehow find individuals and really delve into their individual situation and I think I did that even from a young age. So, in my vet practice, I take a lot of care to take care of each person and each animal as if they were my own. And my own dogs and my birds, each one of them gets a very special place and attention in their lives in my day.
But I think as far as the special needs disabled part of this goes, maybe coincidentally or maybe it was going to happen anyway but my first dog became blind by the time she was middle aged. So, I lived with a blind dog, it was normalized for me. We didn't make a big fuss about her, it was a long time ago there was no internet, there were no social media support groups for people with animals with disabilities as there are now.
And so, for me I was drawn to that and then going into vet school I adopted a dog who was-
Chris:
April, the dog April.
Melissa Shapiro:
April, who was a diabetic in a research lab and I had her. And again, it was just whatever the extra care that was necessary to take care of her, I did. There was not a discussion or question about it, I adopted her knowing that I was going to have to be giving her shots. And then of course, in my vet practice I also was particularly keen into the special needs, the disabled ones, the old dogs and cats that needed extra care. So, it's been an interest of mine, I don't know why everyone, some people like blue and some people like red and this is what I like to do and I enjoy it. And I certainly wasn't planning on getting Piglet but we had a bunch of other, we had a deaf Border Collie.
I've had blind birds and a variety of other disabled pets of my own along the way. And so, when he came after we already had a Double Merle, Australian Shepherd Border Collie mix, who is Gina. And Gina opened up a huge network of people for me to work with in the animal welfare realm, rescuing dogs. I also always volunteered for dog rescue and from the time I became a veterinarian, because I was interested, of course, in helping animals in a way that I could that other people can't. But in any case, I knew the vet who ran the rescue down in Georgia where Piglet came from.
So, she found me and I just posted today on Piglet's page because it's his got you day, the original email that I got from Gloria who's a vet down in Georgia, which is also in the book. She wanted to know if I knew someone who would be a good fit for him. And I could start crying now because it's very emotional. But I didn't know anybody but I felt very compelled to say I would foster him. And I told my poor husband that we were going to foster this tiny one pound puppy that fit in my hand which is not a very big hand. And in fact, he came up here a few days later and we didn't want him.
Chris:
I heard the whole story, it's just amazing.
Melissa Shapiro:
Ultimately, putting all that effort into caring for him when he was a tiny little baby. He had to stay and again opened up doors and just opportunity to be helpful and network and advocate and educate for animals with disabilities and special needs. Through Piglet, I have people literally all around the world who are adopting animals that are deaf and blind or both, one leg, paralyzed. Because they see Piglet and they also see the network of people that we have that have animals like that, that are similar to us. Advocating for them and showing people that it's a good thing to have them and we don't want to euthanize them.
Chris:
Yes, yes. You know, it's interesting, in your book, you talk about how some people will call puppies breeders, and you talk about that. And I I've actually raised Dobermans over the years and one of the breeders, we had a dog that was deaf and he wanted to call that puppy basically euthanize the puppy. My oldest son locked him out of the house, threw him out of the house and locked the door. He said, "You're not doing that to our dog." A terrible, terrible thing, you have how many dogs in your house now? Eight? Is that-
Melissa Shapiro:
No, no, no, there's only seven.
Chris:
There's seven, so you just adopted a new dog, a street dog, right?
Melissa Shapiro:
Yes, we have Suzy our very old dog, who you actually came and did a private training session with Suzy, all of eight pounds of her, because she kept running out the door.
Chris:
I remember.
Melissa Shapiro:
And you put the electric fence around our regular fence. And I did, I taught her the emergency recall of here because she kept going after chipmunks at our front door. And I could call her with that Dog Gone Smart here, emergency recall if she would be headed towards a road. Just not running away from us at that point and later in her life but just to get her attention. She would come back to me face to face with a skunk in my backyard, turned around and came back to me. Anyway, she died in April, which of course we were very upset about and that's almost a year already and we're still pretty upset about it.
But we had already six other dogs, so we weren't planning to get another dog. She came into our house and loved other dogs, we had to at the time. And when they died, she was just depressed as a dog could be so we started adding dogs and she welcomed each one. So, I saved Gentle Kindness, she brought each one into her group and so then we had six dogs over a few years. As our kids left for college, we replaced them with dogs.
Chris:
Yes, yeah.
Melissa Shapiro:
So, then we had six dogs and then Piglet came and of course they were all very kind to Piglet.
Chris:
It's so funny, your husband Warren is a big part of day to day taking care of the animals, right?
Melissa Shapiro:
No finding them to keep, I take care of them.
Chris:
Oh, is that what it is? Okay, I just know that you guys had been together for a long time and I thought that he was really helping you with the dogs but I guess-
Melissa Shapiro:
No, he helps, he helps. I walk them, I feed them, he holds Piglet for hours a day, it's a huge help.
Chris:
Gosh, it must be like a full-time job with the seven. And then you have a bunch of birds as well?
Melissa Shapiro:
Well, I did. The bird population has also diminished to one but I did have a bunch of rescued house sparrows with a shed, a house outside for them to live in for a couple of them. So the birds are, the sparrows I lost the last two in October and November, they were 11 and a half and 13 and a half.
Chris:
Wow, that's amazing.
Melissa Shapiro:
And then I have one parakeet left but Warren, is he is responsible for this seventh dog now that just came in, the street dog from California who we love.
Chris:
In your book you talk about, which I think is really interesting. Why your journey to become a vet and how you take this approach to medicine, where you specialize in senior dog care. And you treat both the physical and the emotional lives of dogs, and also the people that own them. I think it's a really interesting subject. I would love to dive into that a little bit with you in a moment if you wouldn't mind, because I think it's really interesting to see how someone becomes a vet.
My youngest son wants to become a vet and I think that it's a really interesting story how you did that. So, Melissa and I are going to dive into her journey to become a vet and how she takes this holistic approach to medicine, where she specializes in senior dog care, treating both the physical and emotional lives of dogs and people that own them. We'll be right back after a few words from our sponsors.
Chris:
You know there's a great quote in your book Melissa from Dr. [inaudible 00:12:56] and I thought it was really interesting. "If you like animals work in a zoo. If you like people become a vet. People take care of animals and love them. People make the decisions for animals." You know what I think that is really true. I think a veterinarian and a dog trainer, the only occupation where you're treating two species at the same time. You must feel a real connection with both people and dogs, I assume?
Melissa Shapiro:
The way that I've approached my job as a vet is that, I treat my patients as if they were my own. So, I only recommend or do things that I would do if they were mine. So, I think that that sets the tone for good communication with people, explaining to them what's going on with their pets and what their choices are. And it doesn't mean that they're going to choose what I offer as Plan A. But I always feel like there's a way to compromise and not immediately jump to euthanasia, say because somebody doesn't have enough money to care for their pet to do surgery.
There are cases where it's necessary to have money but in the overall picture, I think that it's really important to look at the big picture. Sometimes I say to people, if you handed me a million dollars, I'm not going to do these tests on your dog because the dog is ancient. It's a 15-year-old dog with five other problems and now we're going to worry about a new problem. Let's figure out how to palliate and move that animal ahead so that you can still enjoy them and keep them as long as you can. That's the kind of approach that I take.
Chris:
Right, which is a great approach. I think that a lot of times, we get so much into the treatments that we miss what we're there for in the first place.
Melissa Shapiro:
One of the things that I also find is that veterinarians are in a regular practice to see one patient after another all day long, 15-minute, 20-minute appointments. And a lot of times they really don't have time to sit down and look at the whole big picture. And I structured my career doing house calls which gave me a lot of extra time to spend with people, which I did. And I think I did hone my skills to some extent because I had the opportunity to do that. So, sometimes I talk to people that aren't my regular clients and patients and they're having trouble deciding what to do or if they're going to the right vet or whatever it is.
And I say to them, let's just sit down and go over the whole thing. And I find that sitting down with them and interpreting and giving them different points of view, different approach to the problem is really helpful to them. And it moves them to different places where they didn't realize there were other opportunities or options to treat or manage their [inaudible 00:15:36].
Chris:
You treat a lot of older dogs, right? I think that's a big part of your practice, as far as I know, right?
Melissa Shapiro:
Yeah.
Chris:
I think for older dogs, it's better for house calls I would think, instead of seeing the dog in that environment and not disturbing that older dog.
Melissa Shapiro:
It evolves, the household practice evolved to gravitated towards taking care of older animals. And one of the advantages of taking care of older animals in their house is that they're comfortable. As you point out, they're comfortable they don't need to be moved but there's a lot to see in a house that when the people bring them into the vet hospital, the vet does not see a large stair maybe five or six steps going out the back door to the yard. And you've got a dog who can't walk and these people are sending the dog. Now well, I can't carry this you need a ramp because your dog is about to kill himself.
And also footing on the floors, sometimes there are simple solutions. People say, my blind dog doesn't know what to do, he's getting lost. Your house is gigantic, you need to corral them in. Put some gates up, let them get used to this area and then move them, increase the area where they can move about. So, just things like that, it's nice to be able to be a little bit more relaxed in addressing these issues with people. And that's been a lot of fun for me and my vet practice.
Chris:
The other thing and we see this in our behavioral work is we can't treat necessarily all behavioral issues at my canine center. We got to get into the home and see how the dog is living so, I guess it's very similar in that way, which is true and I can see that with the older dogs. One of the most important services that I know you offer and I've used. And this is a little touchy is, people that need at the end of life, need to euthanize their dogs are struggling with that decision, that sort of life end of life decision. And then giving I think the best gift they can give their pets of all which is the love and respect to die peacefully, a final act of love. And I know that you do a big thing with this euthanasia. I know in our area, you're somebody that we call. Can you talk a little bit about this?
Melissa Shapiro:
Yes, I actually also evolving household practice, things move to end-of-life care as well as taking care of senior pets. And one of the things that I have offered is, first of all, in home euthanasia which is what you're talking about. People want vets to come to their home, they don't want to take their animals out. Although there are a few that do not want it at their house, they don't want to have that last memory in their house. So, I will meet people at the vet hospital and set things up in a comfortable way on the floor with blankets and that sort of thing. But in the home, I will go and first of all I offer quality of life consults.
So that when people aren't sure they have a vet, they're talking to their vet, but they're not going to do a house call. I will go and see their dog or cat and say, "You know, things seem to be stable here. Keep in touch with me now as things change, I've seen your pet, you let me know when we can come to where the end is going to be." And then I go and euthanize the animal. So, that is a nice gradual direction to go towards the end but when I go, I think people are very, very appreciative. Especially a lot of times people get into a situation, which you sent me somebody where there's an emergency, right now the dog is, that dog that you sent me not long ago, was in a terrible situation.
It was an emergency and I happen to be available to go and I do find that on occasion where I get there and I really feel like this should have been done a little sooner. But most of the time when we're in touch getting towards the end, we time it so that it works well. And we can't predict ever exactly what's going to happen to an animal at the end. But if we know there's a chronic disease going on and the animals are getting sicker and we try to time it so that we let them go before they get into the final phase of death. Which is painful for them and for the people to have to watch. And it's a very kind way to put animals you know, move them in a peaceful way with anesthesia first and then one injection and they go to sleep. And they're comfortable in their own home with their people around them.
Chris:
Yeah, you and I have been together on certain, some of these over the years where I've had clients with dogs that may have had certain issues, and then we're together. And it really, it's never fun but it's the kind of thing where you feel as though at the end you go, "You know, the dog is in a better place." That's so cliche to say that but it truly is.
Melissa Shapiro:
It is, yeah.
Chris:
You do feel that way I think.
Melissa Shapiro:
There are some cases also where we are making decisions about animals, and it's not a disease that's going to kill them eventually. Sometimes look at their diseases that they are not going to die from, a nasal tumor, they're going to suffer before they ever get near death. So, we let them go peacefully, so that they don't have to suffer and be uncomfortable anymore. But then there are behavioral issues, which you know and I try to be sympathetic to the people. They can't have 100-pound dog biting every kid that walks into their house. Everyone has a different view of those, we don't take that lightly that's for sure.
Chris:
Absolutely and those are things that I'm so happy they also didn't happen a lot for us. But because of the kind of work that I do, and aggression it does creep up on us and so it's not fun. I want to talk to you, you've taken dog training classes at Dog Gone Smart and I saw you mentioned me in the book a couple of times and our facility at Dog Gone Smart. But you were using some techniques in your training of Piglet. And how do you train a blind and deaf dog? I really want to get into that a little bit with you and maybe you could go through on some of the techniques that you're using and some of the ways in which Piglet learns about his environment.
I think it's really interesting for us all to listen to because having a deaf and blind puppy comes with its own certain situations of learning that is not like a regular dog. So, maybe we could talk about that for a moment.
Melissa Shapiro:
Sure, really, he's much more like a regular dog than he is different. He needs to be kept safe. That is a priority when you have a dog that's disabled in this way. He will fall down stairs that he's not aware of, he will bump into things and he will walk into the street obviously so, and he's also teeny this particular dog. There are larger dogs that are deaf and blind who have much more ability to maneuver about and, in an environment, compared to Piglet who is six and a half pounds. But so, the basis of our educational program which is called Piglet Mindset comes from people watching videos.
A teacher in particular who saw my videos of Piglet learning to map his environment, learning to respond to tap signals that I was teaching him. And that is because he, individual Piglet approaches his life in a very positive way with great determination to connect and be part of where he is and know where he is. So, when we watch him, and this is inspiring to kids, it's also a lesson for kids to see that an animal with disabilities that whether they're learning disabilities or other disabilities that kids might have, they can also be positive as they approach their own challenges.
So, that's the basis of our Piglet Mindset and then going back to how we communicate with him and how he does it, he was trained, I call it taught with clicker training. I just didn't click because he can't hear and I couldn't use any hand signals because he can't see them. So, I have a dog who can't see and hear and the only way to really communicate with him is by touching him, direct contact with him. So, when Piglet needed to learn to sit, which he learned I think in the first day or two that he was here. And I knew I was going to do that because I have a lot of friends with deaf blind dogs and I saw what they had done with theirs.
So, I knew that it was going to be pretty basic. I was a little bit scared, I have to admit that was this going to be easy or not? Was he going to be a dog that was going to be able to maneuver about? I had no idea, he was teeny and he would fit in my hand. But teaching him sit as you know, and I wrote this in the book and I give little demos of Piglet doing his tap signals. You hold a treat up above his nose, his butt goes down. You do it a few times, tap him, give him a, instead of a click I give him a little tap on his chest and hand him a treat. So, he's doing the trick, he's getting the treats, I add the tap. And then he's sitting and I'm tapping him on his lower back and he knows how that that means sit. And it took about five minutes just like any puppy.
Chris:
So, you lure in the very beginning? So, you lure with a treat and then if you were teaching the sit you'd bring the treat up over his head towards his rump. When his rump touched the ground, the tap on the chest just like the click, which means the treat's coming right?
Melissa Shapiro:
Right.
Chris:
Okay.
Melissa Shapiro:
And then, I added the actual signal. And I did do this a little backwards I have to say, because usually you're clicking when you're handing them the treat. So, they're now associating the treat with the click, I actually added the click, the okay. I didn't have it immediate so he didn't learn it exactly the way that we're saying, but it was all simultaneous anyways. But once his butt went down and he knew that I was actually trying to get him to sit which took a few times only, I started tapping just above his tail and over his hips and he knew sit within a few times. He's very smart and very food motivated.
So, he learned that and then I taught him to wait just by standing in front of him for a few seconds giving him an okay and a treat. A few more seconds, okay and a treat and then within again, a very short time he was sitting for longer than just a few seconds, I started to step back. And each time I went back to him, gave him his little okay tap on his chest and a treat. And then he knew wait, and he and he's got a very solid wait which is very important, because he's a celebrity and he's famous and he must sit for pictures so he poses.
And the crazy part of this is that I think you would appreciate is that, I inadvertently initially gave him the treats when he looked at me when I was trying to take his picture. So, he scans with his nose and he figured out that when he was looking at me, that's when the treat was coming versus just looking. So, I can't teach him look, he can't see me but he does know to scan to look at me and I can take a picture. It's not completely reliable but he does scan about and eventually he will find me and he'll looks straight at me, even though he doesn't see me. And now I can take his picture, which works well.
Chris:
You talk about using your breath in your training where you blow, you blow on him. Is that for coming? Or how were you using that?
Melissa Shapiro:
Yeah, first of all Piglet knows people by their breath. He is keyed into spelling people's breath. So, if he goes someplace and he meet someone before masks, of course, he would smell their breath. And then he would know who they are the next time he met them, he liked them or not, he would say hi or not. But he also knows our other dogs by their breath. So, when they're playing, everyone wants to know why is he looking at them when it looks like he's looking at them but he's actually smelling the breath. And that's how he ends up facing them when he's playing some of the time if they don't move too quickly.
So, blowing on him, I had seen someone else blowing to their deaf and blind dog. As long as there's no air current, you can send a stream of bad breath towards your dog. And it did take him a little time to figure out that I meant for him to come to me, because I had put him in to sit and wait or stay or whatever, I'm not differentiating with him. And I wasn't sure I think that I was actually calling him to come in and he eventually took a step towards me. And I have the come signal, is a little swipe underneath his chin, which again, I lured him with food in my hand and then he came to me. Then I didn't need the food anymore and I could just call him to come to me with my hand, a little swipe at his chin.
But anyway, the breath works well and it's really nice because then I don't have to go get him. But it's only good for a few feet because I can't blow that far up to him.
Chris:
That's so funny. In your book, you talk about at Dr. Duffy's office, who's also one of another good friend of ours, a joint friend. Where one of his vet techs has cilantro breath.
Melissa Shapiro:
Oh, yeah, we joke about that.
Chris:
And I was like, "Boy, she must eat a lot of cilantro for Piglet to identify with her."
Melissa Shapiro:
She loves Monica and she loves all of Monica's family. Monica is Spanish and so we can talk about this cilantro but that's just joke.
Chris:
Oh, that's so funny though. So, when Piglet goes to a new environment, whether you're going to a school or to a function, you say that he goes in a new environment or you're in a hotel room and he initially what you call maps the environment. Meaning he wonders, could you tell us a little bit how he's mapping, what behaviors he's doing?
Melissa Shapiro:
Well first of all, he's mapped our whole house, meaning that he knows where everything is. And the way that what he does mapping, "is he walks around," I just took him to a hotel on a couple of weeks ago. And when I brought him into the hotel room, he walks around. He starts walking around and with his nose he bumps the wall, the bed, whatever furniture, whatever's in his way, as he sort of making his way systematically around the room. And within only a few minutes, he's like, "Okay, I know where all the obstacles are, now I can play," and then he immediately wants to play tug and I bring him toys to play with in a hotel room.
It's crazy, because he's been to a lot of hotels, he is very quite disabled and he is limited in some of the things that he can do that he can't do. But the things that he can do, he likes to do and he likes a good routine. So, he knows when he goes into a hotel that he's going to walk around mapping the room. And he uses his nose to bump, he uses his sense of smell extensively, probably that's the most important thing for him to use to know where he isn't where everything is. And then of course, he uses his paw pads to feel where he is. So, he knows in our house when he goes from the wood floor to the carpet or outside from the grass to the slate at the bottom of our stairs.
And if we take him someplace else, he'll know where a mat is underneath the sink or maybe there's a counter and the food is coming for him. So, he remembers, we took him to our friends in New Hampshire and he immediately knew where the water dish was, which was around the corner. He knew where the mat was in front of the sink where I was preparing the food for the dogs to eat. He knew where all the chairs were in the room. He didn't bump into anything. And he even knows where a step down is, he will get to a step. He's very careful, he does not want to hurt himself. And he'll get to where there's a step down if he's paying attention obviously, I don't allow him to be in a situation where he would fall.
But he doesn't know say if the step down is 10 feet or one foot. So, if we show him that he knows where that is, and he'll find it and then he'll know to jump down. And in our room on the side here, as an example of just how keyed in he is to the environment and how he uses his nose. We changed the carpet in there which was horribly smelly, but the carpet left and there was just a flooring down. And he did not want to come into the room because he wasn't sure what was here. So, I had to show him again after years of him jumping into here. Flying down this one step that he could still come in, there was a floor there, he wasn't going to fall into oblivion. And he now is comfortable in here again and he jumps down that step.
Chris:
You know some people with blind dogs will actually put a rug right where the step starts. Did you do that?
Melissa Shapiro:
Yeah, there's a mat there so he knows-
Chris:
So, he feels it on his feet so he knows there's a step. Yeah, it's really interesting. I want to hop on to another issue in a moment about how this little pink puppy is making a difference in dog rescue, pet adoption, and teaching children and communities about empathy, kindness, compassion and just so much more.
Chris:
So, let's talk about this pink adorable puppy. A few years back Melissa, you fostered he's a Dachshund Chihuahua Double Dapple mix, which I guess he came from a terrible hoarding situation, is that right? And so, you got him and initially you didn't want to keep him, you were just fostering which is a huge amount of work in trying to find the right home. But after a while you couldn't find the right home and you figured out that your home was the right home?
Melissa Shapiro:
Yeah, it happens you know.
Chris:
Well, the one thing you made when you adopted him and you talk about it in your book is that you made a promise to yourself and to Piglet, that he would have a meaningful and productive life. Can you tell us a little bit about what that meant? What you meant by a meaningful and productive life?
Melissa Shapiro:
Well, you know we had so many dogs, I had to find some sort of justification for keeping this dog. And there were people that wanted him, nothing really clicked they were very nice people. So, we did of course end up keeping him and as the weeks went on, it was sort of like, now what do are we going to do? We're going to give him away? He thinks he lives here. And I have fostered and we have fostered birds and dogs and we have given them to their new homes. We understand the whole point of fostering is to make the dogs feel comfortable so that they can acclimate and settle and decompress before they then move to their new home. And also, so you understand what they're like so that you can describe them for potential adopters.
Melissa Shapiro:
So, when Piglet stayed, I said, "Piglet's going to have a productive, meaningful life," meaning in my thoughts at the time that he would be an ambassador for rescue dogs. And in particular rescued and shelter dogs with disabilities and special needs. I thought this was my idea because this Facebook page was growing it had already had thousands on it, even when he wasn't ours. My first piece of merchandise was this phone case wallet, which is still on my phone, I don't have any left to sell because I sold hundreds of them to people all around the world. And I raised I don't know $1,200. They sold for $4 at $1 shipping so you can imagine how many I sold. And I sent the money to Piglet's rescue because I felt that they should be rewarded for sending him to us.
And then we moved into magnets and T-shirts and other merchandise items, stickers and other items. And I was planning to send money to dog rescues and I do have a group of dog rescue groups that I do send money to regularly. I raised, I don't know if you can see my T-shirt but this is a Piglet book shirt but I have, I don't know there's probably good 13 or 14 designs of Piglet shirts that we sell through Bonfire platform which is a very nice platform because they drop ship. We just create the campaign with the design, people order and then they send the shirts after the two or three weeks that the campaign goes and then they send me the profits.
So, the profits before we had our non-profit organization which is called Piglet International Inc. I was just sending all the money that they sent me checks and I just sent it straight out to the different dog rescues. And over the years, I probably at this point have sent a good $80,000. I raised over $100,000 Selling T-shirts alone not including all this other stuff. So, I was planning to do that, that's what that meant to me. And of course, using social media to advocate for the animals and educating veterinarians.
Because veterinarians, if you took a poll of veterinarians and showed them this dog when he was tiny and deaf and blind. I think, unfortunately, there's a good percentage of them that would have obliged and put him to sleep if it was a breeder calling dogs. So, but then a teacher saw Piglets' videos and as I said, wanted to show-
Chris:
A third grade teacher from Plainville, Massachusetts?
Melissa Shapiro:
Third grade teacher Tricia [inaudible 00:35:45] wanted to show his videos to her students. It's part of her growth mindset lessons to show them how he faced his challenges and how they could face their own challenges in the similar way. So, she called it Piglet Mindset, I didn't even know a growth mindset was but I made her PowerPoint presentations for the first year. Showing Piglet doing different things in the first one which I just looked at yesterday because I just updated everything yesterday. Because Piglet Mindset is now a registered trademark for our educational program and also are advocating for rescues and special needs disabled dogs and other pets.
Anyway, the story of Piglet the Deaf Blind Pink Puppy was the first one. And it's a very nice story of how he came to be and how he came to live with us and how he was welcomed into our home and how he originally learned to use what he has. And he doesn't know he's deaf and blind of course, but to make his way despite his limitations. So, I had those and then I've added to the program, adding Piglet's inclusion pack. A Piglets activity collection and also, I just yesterday added Piglet gets a new sister to the group of PowerPoints that are available for teachers to take off of the website for free.
You can download them and use them as part of SEL, social emotional learning lessons, growth mindset lessons and inclusion curriculum. It's a supplement, it's versatile, it goes into whatever you want to use it for as a teacher or a scout leader or camp director.
Chris:
It's awesome.
Melissa Shapiro:
Whoever and people use it. It's used all around the country and in other countries as well outside the U.S.
Chris:
Let me just get this clear, so Piglet Mindset embraces the differences, people with disabilities. Don't let a disability stand in your way, face your challenges, your basic ability to develop through hard work. You can accomplish empathy, optimism and flexibility and resilience. All these kinds of things that we teach our children which I think are just so important. One of the things that this stood out to me is that I have a deaf child, my youngest son is totally deaf. He has cochlear implants and it's interesting, he and I were talking about Piglet just the other day because he saw me reading the book.
And he said, "Dad, tell me about it." So, he started looking at Piglet, he's swag, he goes, "Wow, that's pretty amazing what this dog can do." And I said to him, I said, "Sawyer," now he has cochlear implant so he can hear you mechanically. But you know, it's interesting I also told Sawyer that how much Piglet uses his nose. And my son, anytime he picks something up, the first thing he does is he smells it. lol
And so, his nose is really so incredibly powerful. But it is really such an important thing, he's encountered bullying in school. And people, what are those wires on your head? Kids, just some horrible things that have happened over the years and he's had to persevere through this. And I say to him, very often I say, "Why blend in when you can stand out? You’re a unique kid and you have your other senses," he can read lips, and he has superpowers. And so, we have to teach kids and I just thought this growth mindset or this pig with mindset is such an important thing to teach children and to not let a disability stand in your way of challenges and to face them.
Melissa Shapiro:
The focus of Piglet Mindset is a dog, and as you know, teaching using animals, animals are engaging and disarming and to use them as teaching models it's highly effective. And the kids that use Piglet and the teachers have introduced them to Piglet and Piglet Mindset. Those kids are having a beautiful role model inspiration from a dog that they remember, they remember for years and years afterwards. And a lot of them will go home and talk about Piglet with their parents and I know this because they comment on our Instagram and Facebook pages, the parents do about how much Piglet means to their kids.
And so, some of the kids have disabilities, everyone's got some issue or another at some minute of some day of course. But what my hope is, is that they take what they learn about Piglet and apply it then to their relationships with other children, their peers, and as well as family. And friends and strangers they meet on the street who might be disabled or having some need for some support, compassion and empathy. So, we have all of these lessons for kids to learn and learning from a dog I think is extra meaningful. So, that is what I think is so nice and unique about Piglet and his program and it transcends.
Even though Piglet Mindset is a program that was developed for children in elementary school, older kids also benefit, the program itself is versatile. Adults can watch all the materials, there's nothing babyish about it at all. And on our pages, we have people from all around the world that send us messages. I get emails from people every single day, literally and comments and private messages to me, telling me how much they look forward to seeing Piglet videos in the morning. How it helps them to get out of bed because they have a disability of some sort and illness. They're having trouble with depression, whatever it is, and how it helps them with their own pets that they didn't think that they could keep their blind dog.
But now they've decided that they can, they learned how to take care of that animal and all of these things that I can go on and on. With the people that have been injured, tell me about how they have used Piglet to inspire them each day going to rehab. They read our book, they watched our pages, they send me notes and I enjoy corresponding with them. I'm not a therapist, and that's not my role but to say thanks for sharing this, it's rewarding to me to know that we're making a difference that way. Because we spend a lot of time taking videos of the dogs, posting them and then finding meaning in everything that they do to share with everybody. Both on our social media platforms, as well as with the Piglet Mindset educational program.
Chris:
So, you have your lesson plans on the pigletmindset.org website, right?
Melissa Shapiro:
Right.
Chris:
So, that's a good way for people that were even doing your school teachers or?
Melissa Shapiro:
Yes.
Chris:
Or whoever, that's a good way to find that pigletmindset.org. I just think it's such amazing what that little guy, have you ever thought that adopting this dog would do such good? It's amazing and then I look on Instagram and I think it was after you were launched like on Dodo that it just exploded, right? All your followers just "Bah." And this little guy, he was warming the hearts of so many people.
Melissa Shapiro:
Yeah, I had to figure out how to get a Dodo video, which took me a little time because I was sending my inquiry and videos to the wrong place. So, once I did find the right place, of course, he's a prime candidate for Dodo video. His rescue and his rise to being an inspirational ambassador for people and animals and the whole message of Piglet Mindset. So, we actually had three Dodo videos and those Dodo videos then attract a lot of media attention. And that's been very nice because the more people that know about Piglet, of course, the more good we do.
And eventually, we have our books, we were in People Magazine a number of times. And we then created a non-profit which supports the program. So, I raise a lot of money and my ultimate goal of course is to be able to offer Piglet Mindset to whoever wants it, wherever they are either virtual or in person visits. And I do send these stickers which you can see, but a sticker of Piglet, his face to the kids. And also, I have a Piglets' inclusion pack membership cards which has a picture of all the dogs on one side. And then to be a member of Piglets inclusion pack, they have to face challenges with a positive attitude. Accept others for who they are, include others despite their differences, show empathy and compassion towards others and always be kind and considerate to all.
So, then there's a place for the kids to sign and they all get this nice little card. So, if any teacher is using Piglet Mindset and they contact me, I will send them stickers for their class and Piglets' inclusion pack membership cards. And a lot of cases, we'll make a little video for them also saying hi to their particular class, which they enjoy of course.
Chris:
Well, that's great. It's just amazing and you can also buy the shirts and other things on bonfire.com?
Melissa Shapiro:
Everything is on pigletmindset.org. So, there's a merchandise page, there's Piglet, The Unexpected Story of a Deaf, Blind Pink Puppy and His Family was published in August of 2021. So, it is available wherever books are sold, but there are signed copies available that people can order and all those details are on our website. But in addition, before we stop, I must put a little plug in for my kid's book. The book is called, Piglet Comes Home, How a Deaf Blind Pink Puppy Found His Family and the illustrations are really killer. They're so cute, it's a little fictionalized story about Piglet helping to save all the other dogs. A little story and it's listed for ages four to eight but truthfully, anyone who knows Piglet should buy the book and read it to somebody. Either themselves or a child, a niece or nephew or grandchild or donate it to a library or their kid's classroom wherever.
Because it is a supplement to our Piglet Mindset and it's a really nice little book that I'm really hoping will be welcomed by people in all areas because I love it. I can't wait to see how people respond when they see it. So, that is available for preorder and all the information again is on our website pigletmindset.org.
Chris:
Well, Melissa, I think it is amazing what you're doing. And it's so inspirational to me and I'm sure to my listeners out there. I want to thank you for coming on the show today to share a little bit of your really inspiring story about Piglet. I really enjoyed having you on the show.
Melissa Shapiro:
Thank you very much. It was a pleasure to talk to you of course. I could talk about Piglet for the next four hours.
Chris:
Yeah, well you know, I think it's such a great story. So, make sure you guys check out the book check out the new children's book. Go to, what is it give me the websites again.
Melissa Shapiro:
pigletmindset.org and then our Facebook page is Piglet, the Deaf Blind Pink Puppy and Instagram is that pinkpigletpuppy and TikTok is that pinkpigletpuppy. So, we're there for you wherever you're looking.
Chris:
And for those of you who are listening, you can also find, we'll put it up on our Instagram page as well at caninemaster.com so we can do that. Well thank you very much Melissa and I hope to see you again soon.
Melissa Shapiro:
Thanks so much.
Chris:
All right, well that's it for today and I hope you found our show to be interesting. I'd love to know your comments and have you join our conversation, you can always email me at [email protected]. Be sure to visit our website caninemaster.com. That's caninemaster.com, click on ask the canine master and leave your questions for me and I'll do my best to get back to you. I may even call you to be on the show.
Send me your videos and your photos so I can see what's going on with your dog and help fix your problem. Bye for now and see you next time on Canine Master on Pet Life Radio, where I will help you master the relationship with your dog. Bye for now.
