January 20, 2025 • 30 mins
Petco Love, a national nonprofit, improves the lives of pets and their people. With nearly $400M invested, they are creating a lifesaving nation.
Manny Munoz speaks with Susanne Kogut, the President of Petco Love. Their website is PetcoLove.Org
Manny Munoz speaks with Susanne Kogut, the President of Petco Love. Their website is PetcoLove.Org
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a public affairs special focusing on
the biggest issues in facting you this week.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Here's many Munyos.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
And welcome to another edition of Iheartradios Communities. As you heard,
I am Manny Munyo's. If you know me at all,
you know I am a dog lover. I'd rather much
be surrounded by a pack of dogs than a group
of people any day. So I'm happy to be able
to bring in our guests and discuss this next topic
with you. Suzanne Covid is the president of petco Love.
(00:34):
It's a national nonprofit focused on improving the lives of
pets and their people. I love that terminology. The website
is petcolove dot org. P E T C O l
o ve dot org. Suzanne, thanks so much for joining us.
I appreciate the time.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Oh thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here today.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
So for people who might not be familiar, tell me
about petcolove and what your primary man.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yes, yeah, improving the lives Our primary mission, we say
is improving the lives of people, pets and the people
who love them. But what does that really mean? Right?
So first of all, I think we really have three
sort of pillars that we're going for. We want to
make sure that we create new loving families with the
pets that are in shelters. There are millions of pets
(01:22):
and shelters, and we talk about in the US we
love our pets, but we have to make sure that
we save our pets that are in our animal shelters
around the country. And we call that sort of pillar
of what we do pet Go Love Adopt. So we
work with thousands of organizations nationwide to help promote pet adoption,
to help give them the resources to save the pets
(01:45):
that are in their organizations. And then sometimes we do
a lot of fun things like create these mega adoption
events where thousands of pets come together in a weekend
and we'll we'll make create two thousand new families with
shelter pets going into loving homes all in one weekend.
So we really just try to get creative and make
(02:06):
sure that people know that Listen, if you're looking to
at a new family member and bring a pet into
your family, please choose to adopt that pet.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, there's no question about it.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
And I want to get into fostering in a moment
because the people that managed to do that have have
much bigger hearts than I. The last pet that we
tried to adopt is still in our house six years later,
So that's.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
A different issue. We'll get to in a moment.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
How many shelters and rescue partners across the country do
you have for pet co Love?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
So we work at thousands of shelters and rescue partners
around the country. We will work with our large municipal shelters,
we work with the humane societies, we work with small
rescue groups, and then we work with some very interesting
organizations which I know we'll probably talk about that really
take on some special activities and like saving shell pets
(03:00):
and helping them to be heroes for others.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So what are the number one ways where pets, a dog,
a cat, what have you might end up at one
of these shelters in our communities that we're all familiar with.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
So the number one way that a pet ends up
at a shelter is because that pet has been lost.
We talked earlier about what do we do I sort
of I talked about and I know we're going to
cover all these I talked about adoption, but we also
want to make sure we want to create families through adoption.
When the pets are in those families, we want to
help families care for them. And the other big thing
(03:36):
that we do is we want to make sure we
reunite lost pets because that is the number one way
that pets are entering shelters. Other ways could be someone
can no longer care for them. That goes to our
second color, helping them care for them, keeping them out
of shelters, and those generally are your primary ways that
pets are entering shelters.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I imagine that you don't just work with anybody, right,
You've got cit you have to have criteria that you
use to select the organizations for grants or assistants or
whatever else you might do for them.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Yeah, we are really looking at the life saving impact.
We say we want to help those organizations that are
making the most significant life saving impact possible with their resources.
So organizations are always going to be doing something if
you're a nonprofit, but are you doing the most that
(04:31):
you can do? And that's what we look We look
at overall organizational effectiveness, and I think we are an
unusual organization and that we try to just support organizations
with unrestricted funding because if they're doing a great job,
we don't need to tell them what they need to
apply the money to. We need to trust them to
(04:53):
know what they need to utilize those funds for. That's
generally most of our funding. We do have some other,
you know, very specific situations, and I know we'll probably
talk about some of these, like disaster support and pet
cancer and other things. But generally we like to help
organizations do what they think they know best to do
(05:17):
to save lives. And we also will help some nonprofit
clinics that are maybe they're not saving shelter pets, but
they're helping the community provide spain hooter services, low cost vaccines,
free vaccines, or even just affordable veterinarian care for pets.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
A couple more minutes here with Suzanne Kogi. She is
president of pet co Love. The website is petcolove dot org.
Talk to me a little bit about how you manage
to operate where, how do you fundraise? How do you
provide the funds for all of these amazing groups to
do what they do for our pets.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Yeah, so our primary way that we raise funds really
it's with our dedicated loyal pet go customers that go
in and they've shopped and they spoil their pets. Yeah,
but on their way out they make that extra two
five ten. How about that twenty dollars donation to pet
go up. That is really where most of our funding
(06:18):
will come from. We have some other wonderful relationships. We've
worked with Sketchers Bobs from Sketchers. They have a philanthropic
line of apparel that supports our efforts. And then we
have private individuals that will donate. They believe in the
tech go love and how we are supporting organizations and
how we're helping.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
You also talk about some of the amazing partnerships that
you have, like taking adoptable puppies to Hollywood or red
carpet events or on the ice for Stanley Pup things
like that. How do those events help pups get adopted
other than just kind of bringing it to people's attention.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
So I think we want to make pet adoption cool.
And what's cooler than partnering with you know, the sports teams,
the NHL celebrities on the red carpet. Pet adoptions should
be cool. We want people again like there are if
you go to your local shelter and sometimes I think
people are afraid to go to their local shelter, right,
(07:19):
but you shouldn't be, because that is what you can
make a difference. You can see that there's such a
great variety of pets looking for home. Cats, kittens, bunnies,
you know, rats, dogs, puppies, and they're just a great
variety of breeds. I think we're also just trying to
make sure that people can see how playful they are,
(07:41):
no matter what they are. That I think everyone goes
around and says, I have to have this breed or
I have to have that breed, you know. I think
I think love knows no sort of specific breed. The
love that you're going to get from a pet, you're
going to get it no matter what breed it is.
I always encourage people to open their hearts up to
(08:02):
whatever really needs a home.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, and I know I've had this debate with people
as well. A lot of people like to go out.
You mentioned the you know, the designer brand pets, the
designer brand dogs, and they go out. They might get
it from a store or a breeder or something. There
really is nothing like saving a pet from a shelter,
is there? Adopting my gosh.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
I mean when you take so I know I'll talk
about fostering, but when you adopt a pet and you
bring them into their home, yeah, and I mean they
just know it. They know that you have saved their lives.
They are forever grateful to you, and there's just something special.
I mean, I think people generally are so good natured
(08:44):
and want to help others, and this is an easy
way to help an animal that really does need you
and that may be at risk for euthanasia.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Yeah, and that's one of the reasons to either adopt
or even I mentioned fostering. I don't have the heart
to bring a pet, a dog into my home and
then give him to his.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Forever family or her.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
The last one that we did that with has been
with us now for I guess six or seven years.
But just fostering, even if you can't adopt full time,
it does help prevent unnecessary euthanasia, doesn't.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
It absolutely does. I think when we talk about unnecessary euthanasia,
we're talking about pets that are being euthanized simply because
there's no room at the end, there's no more space
for them. And I mean, look around in your home.
If you have some space. Just think about it. I mean,
you could take a couple of kittens and put him
(09:39):
in an extra bathroom for a few weeks. It may
only be a few weeks, it may be even less,
but just opening up your home can save a life.
I am a huge advocate for fostering. Not only am
I an advocate for it, but I'm always I'm always gonna.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Follow how many how many pets have you fostered?
Speaker 3 (09:57):
I lost count after probably about five hundred, So.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I've been five hundred.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Years easily because I've done some puppies, I've done some
litters that could be some big Right now, I have
a big old I don't know if it's a great down,
great day in lab mix or a hound in my house.
But he's easy. He just sort of hangs out with
the other dogs. Yeah, no, fostering is I love fostering.
(10:22):
Not only does it bring just such joy in my house.
Sometimes you will take them out of the shelter. Maybe
they were in a you know, a cramped crampe together,
bring them home, give them a little back, put them
in a pen, and then just like this is puppies obviously,
watch them play around and I'm like, now, just so happy.
Turn off the TV watch puppy play. You know that
(10:45):
will make your day and it'll just change your life.
But I've also it's not about them. It's also about
have made such great relationships with people that have adopted
the pets that I've fostered. I woke up to a
text this morning with someone sending me photos by little
Mama Dog that I had fostered. She had three puppies.
(11:07):
She's now living the life and their home and having
a ball. And I get to see that and I
get to think, like, hey, I was part of making
that possible, for changing her life. It's the greatest feeling around.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Speaking with Suzanne kogaci is, the president of pet Co Love,
you talked about your history. You were a lawyer to
financial services corporation beforehand. You've been not only in the
animal saving industry for a while now, you've been with
pet Co Love for over a decade. Talk to me
about that. I mean, that is a drastic change in
(11:40):
your life. But obviously you can't do what you do
without loving the pets.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yeah, I mean working at pet Co Love was just
an incredible opportunity to really help on a national basis
and help us save more lives on a national basis.
You know, it's always interesting saying people will ask me
how I got into this, Why did I start working
at a shelter and stuff? Did I grow up with
(12:06):
pets all my life? I didn't. I actually didn't, And
somewhere I adopted that first pet. And that first pet
that I adopted absolutely changed my life because I became
more aware of the needs that exist and more aware
of how we as individuals can make a difference. We
(12:29):
can't just let the nonprofits, the municipal shelters, the rescue groups,
they can't do it all without us, and we as
individuals just can do our partner help. So I'll give
you one statistic that to me, it just resonates. If
just two percent of all pet parents, people that already
(12:50):
own a pet, would foster one pet a year, just
two percent, we don't have to get one hundred percent,
just two percent, we would have enough places for the
pets that we could eliminate unnecessary euthanasia euthanasia first space
in our shelters tomorrow. So like, why isn't that happening?
(13:13):
We can do this. It's just a you know, just
look at your neighborhoods, people you know on pets just
one a year. I'm going to foster more than one
a year, So I got you covered on that.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, petcolove dot org.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Petcolove dot org is the website to go to if
you want to get some information more on what they do,
because we've got a lot more to cover or to donate.
Of course, I want to delve into something you talked
about there a moment ago, because there are people out
there that aren't pet people. For example, my boss was
never a pet person until she became a pet person,
(13:45):
a dog owner, a dog lover, and you can't be
a dog owner without being a dog lover. As far
as I'm concerned, what prompted you? You said you didn't
grow up with pets, you weren't that kind of a person,
but something prompted you to make that first adoption. What
was it that drove you that? Because, like I said,
there's a big difference between pet people and non pet people.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah, I think so, so I So the first pet
in my life wasn't an adopted pet, So I'm gonna
I'm gonna put that out there, and it was. It
was a boyfriend of mine. It was his dog at
the time. But when that pet passed, I said, he
I'm going to get another pet. And I became searching
(14:27):
and I was like, oh my gosh, all the pets
that are out there. I can help a pet. I
think I'm generally by nature, and again I think most
people are you want to help. If you can help,
you do want to help. And so it was that
I actually adopted to it first, and it wasn't shortly
after adoption. I adopted those two that I then became
(14:50):
a volunteer for the org that I adopted from. I
started helping their efforts. I started organizing more things. You know,
I think when you when they there's a pet in
your life, no matter what happens around you, you always
have love in your home like there is you come
home from a hard day at work, you're gonna if
(15:12):
you have a dog, You're coming home to.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Your spouse, Your kids might be interested in, might not
be interested in welcoming you at the door.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Your pet will always be.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
There, always, always, and it just makes a difference. It
fills our lives with love. I think if everyone had
a pet in our life, you will always have love
in your home.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
I don't think there's any question about that.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
So we've talked about the many ways what pet co
Love does in terms of adoption, in terms of being
a foster.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
There's so much more that you do, and something you mentioned.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Earlier, I want to get into a little bit tell
us about your free national Lost and Found pet database
called pet co Love Lost, because and I see it
all the time on social media, people whose dog may
have run out the door, who've gotten out of the
backyard or something like that, and my heart breaks each
and every one of them because I think about how
(16:05):
would I feel that were my pets.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
So you always want to help.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Yeah, and that's a perfect that's a perfect segway into
why we created pet go Love Loss. If your dog, cat,
whatever pet you have is, if it gets lost, you
are in an absolute state of frantic, Right, how do
I find this pet? And honestly, if you go off
and look at like online, what are the resources, you
(16:30):
will see a laundry list of things that you should
do while you're in a state of panic. One of them,
in this day and age of the digital world is
put a flyer on a telephone pole. Yeah, right, but
that requires someone to drive by that exact location where
you put the flyer on a telephone pole. What if
we had one central database where all of those photos
(16:54):
of pets could go into and we could reunite more pets.
And that's exactly what pepcol Lost is. We've created that
one central database. You simply if you lost a pet
pet or if you find a pet, you upload it
to our database, which means on any given day, there
could be over two hundred thousand lost pets or found
(17:14):
pets in that database. And so that's where our photo
matching technology goes to work and helps reduce those those
potential matches to your lost pets. So that's what PECO
Love Loss is. It's a national lost and found database,
free for anyone to use with a simple photo of
their pet. And who doesn't have a photo of their
(17:36):
pets on your phone? That's face it. You know you do?
You know you have about a thousand of them, And
that's what it does. And not only that, we've taken
it one step further pets and shelters. We are connecting
with the shelters and automatically getting those pets that are
in shelters into our database. We've now integrated with next
(17:59):
tool or in neighbors, so those pets that are posted
on social sites are into that database, the one place
for all.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
How many reunions have you made so.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Far, We're actually getting close to one hundred thousand. We're
coming around the corner for one hundred thousand, and you
know that. That's the thing. The great thing is is
this can be used by anyone anytime before or after
your pet go's missing. But what you could even do
today is just upload the photo. Get it in there today.
So if your pet did go missing, you just simply
(18:31):
go into there and hit a button my pet is lost,
and there you go.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
It's in the system, and it's at the same website,
the petcolove dot org.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
You can find it at petcolove dot org. It'll have
a link to petco Love Lost, or you could go
directly to petcoloveloss dot org.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
And I do want to point out Petco does all
of this great work through Petco Love and all of
the things we're talking about. You don't have to be
somebody exclusively that shops at Petco to take advantage of this,
or to donate or whatever.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
This is a national database for everyone, and in fact,
one of the things you know that I think this,
and especially you know, given where we are today, disasters
will happen all the time. And when you look at
a situation where a disaster, we've been relying on people
to always go to their shelters, but sometimes their shelters
are in a disaster. Are having shelters all over It
(19:24):
could be at a fair grounds or something like. Animals
can be housed all over and sometimes in a disaster,
no one could even get them to the shelter. The
goal with this is it's usable by anyone anywhere who
you find a lost pet, you bring them in your
house temporarily, you upload that photo and hopefully it's your
neighbor down the road and you can connect directly.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
This might be a silly question. Are there times of
the year where you find that more pets go missing,
more pets turn up at the shelters.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Yeah, ironically, it's probably the times of the year that
we are all celebrating and our pets aren't. Yeah, right,
so July fourth, Memorial Day, weekend, New Year's Eve, anywhere,
or there's loud noises. We often forget that our pets
their sensory you know, traits are exponentially better than ours.
(20:20):
So while we're having fun, a lot of our pets
are absolutely terrified, right, and so those times of the
year we always make sure people are using Pecko.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Love Lost speaking with us Susan Kogan, president of petco Love.
The website is petcolove dot org, p E t c
O l O ve E petcolove dot org. And I
do want to point out whether somebody uses petco Love
to adopt a pet or foster a pet, you don't
(20:50):
just kind of dump them on these people. There are
all sorts of programs I know, you do, free vaccinations,
everything else to help those new pet owners adapt.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Yeah, one of our core missions is also to make
sure that we can increase access to veterinarian care for
people that have pets. A lot of people do have
pets and they're struggling to afford the care for those pets. Now,
I'll admit that that's a big that's a big problem
that we see nationwide and one that we alone won't solve.
(21:22):
But what we did try to do is we looked
at really something that we were seeing a lot of,
and that's diseases that are wholly preventable by vaccines. Carbavirus
and distemper and dogs and pan leukopenia and cats. These
diseases when our pets get them, can be quite costly,
(21:42):
upwards of one thousand, two thousand dollars to treat. Some
of them, are not really successful in treating distemper can
be a tough one. So what we've said is, instead
of focusing on treatment, why don't we just prevent these
diseases from happening, because that is something we can do
at a much lower cost by getting these pets vaccinated.
(22:03):
Petsnead otherwise wouldn't be vaccinating. So that's In fall twenty
twenty one, we launched our Vaccinated and Love campaign and
we were working with our partners around the country. We
wanted to have free vaccine clinics. We wanted people, if
you can't afford to get your pet vaccinated, we're going
to do it for free. And so far, three million
(22:25):
free pet vaccines have been administered in communities where pet
parents simply just needed a little help to care for
their pets and they love their pets even if they're struggling,
and there's lines just to get those pets vaccinated.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Those are illnesses and pets that could be preventable. Cancer
is not. And I know that you do a lot
in terms of fighting pet cancer as well.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Yeah, this has been a partnership, and this has been
a partnership that was started I think it's fourteen fifteen
years ago now in partnership with Blue Buffet. Also they
have been supporting this campaign. And our goal here really
is we've supported some research on pet cancer, but we've
also supported subsidized treatment. We want to make treatment for
(23:14):
pet cancer more affordable for people that can't can't get
that care for their pets. It is the number one
disease related killer of our pets. And you know, I
think we'll see through the years some very interesting things
happening too. We've done some we've supported some research which
(23:34):
is really research where we're furthering treatments for pets that
actually can help people. Lately, or there's a lot of
treatments for pets that started with people that are now
helping pets as well. But that's a devastating diagnosis when
you get that your pet has cancer.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
And we've and we've had three of them, and I know,
I know it's difficult, so many people deal with it
because it sometimes it just kind of comes on. I
always say, and the experts I've spoken to in humans,
sometimes it's not just lifestyle. Sometimes getting cancer's luck of
the draw. I know you're not a physician, a veterinarian.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Is is it.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Similar with dogs? I mean, is it with pets? Is
it it's not a lifestyle thing?
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Is it?
Speaker 3 (24:17):
No? And I think it's a lifestyle thing. I think
there's some breeds that are more prone to certain cancers.
I know there's a study on Golden retrievers and looking
at cancers that are more common and those breeds osteosarcoma.
I believe is is more prevalent in certain breeds. But
like any listen, I've had mixed breeds and have adopted
(24:38):
from shelters, and I've had I've pets that have had cancer.
Now I also always have a lot of pets, so
I've had sevens.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I'm done right now higher odds NG.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
But but it is, it is really very prevalent and
and something that is crushing when you get that diagnosis.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
It sure is because because the le's face it, they're
part of our family. They are part of the family.
If everything that we've discussed Susan isn't enough for pet
Co Love to address. I know you also do work
with veterans and service dogs. Explain that part of the
program to me, because it's so necessary and it is
(25:19):
so beneficial for those fighting men and women.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Yeah, this is a this is a program first that
is that has been well researched, like there's a there's
a lot of scientific research behind the fact fact that
pets really can help our veterans, you know, be able
if they have PTSD traumatic brain injuries. Pets really can
help them live their daily lives in a way that
(25:44):
they can't without pets, even reducing the medication they may
have to take. And so we work with organizations that
are going to shelters and taking shelter pets and then
training them to support veterans that need a service animal,
and which I think is just beautiful and Number one,
I think that's just the relation in itself that helps.
(26:05):
But some of these pets are supported to do very
specific tasks and help our veterans. We've done things even
beyond that. There's even programs to help maybe children with
autism and other types of conditions that our pets can
help us through our daily lives. And then I'll add
(26:27):
one more thing too, because I love this organization. There's
an organization that actually helps save shelter pets and train
them to be search and rescue animals, the National Search
Dog Foundation up in Ohi, and they train animals that
are then placed in fire departments around the country and
(26:47):
other emergency response units throughout the country, and they are
deployed in times of disaster.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
We know more and more, it seems like, almost on
a monthly basis. I talk about research about how loneliness
in our country has grown over the last few years,
over the last decade or so, and how that cuts
ears off our lives, and sometimes just having a pet
can help cure that loneliness.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Right, I think that there's always a pet for a person. Yes,
you know this may not be the right pet for you,
but I know that there's one out there for you.
I think if you go to your shelter and again,
I think sometimes we think we need this certain pet,
and sometimes what we need is a little bit different
than what we need. So as senior pet, a puppy
(27:38):
isn't for everyone, no, but a senior pet is going
to bring you just as much joy and to your point,
combat that loneliness and they're really going to still fill
your house with love every day. I think that there's
a lot of people that I mean, for me, sometimes
my pet actually helps me, helps make me physically healthier
as well, because I may not go out and do
(28:00):
that walk that I really need to do for my
own physical health and for that, you know who I'll
do it for. I'll do it for my pet. Yeah.
So I think there are huge studies that pets improve
our physical and our mental health.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Without question stress relief.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
All right, So how can listeners get involved in supporting
pet COO Love's amazing numerous life saving efforts that we've
talked about here.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Okay easily if you're going to get a pet, adopt
a pet. If you can't adopt right now, but you
can help temporarily foster a pet and do this directly
from your local shelter for us, help us reunite pets.
I want everyone to become the become part of the
petco Love Loss search party. So when you see things,
if you're on a social media app and you see
(28:49):
a lost pet, tell them to post on petcoloveloss dot org.
And then of course anyone can donate to us at
pecolove dot org too and we'll put the money to
good you.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
I love that that was the final option that you
wanted people to be proactive about the pets before you
even brought up donating, which I imagine has to be
a big part of it, because otherwise you can't do
all of these other amazing things.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Yeah, the resources helped support the great work that we do,
but there's a lot that everyone can do individually to
help in your local community as well.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Suzanne Coget, president of pet co Love, the national nonprofit
focused on improving the lives of pets and their people.
I love the way they say that again. The website
is Petcodlove dot org.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
P E. T. C. L o Ve dot org.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Suzanne, thanks so much for what you're doing at petco
Love and sharing the time with us.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Best of luck, Thanks for having us, and.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
That'll do it for another edition of Iheartradios Communities. I'm
Manni Muno's until next time.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
M
Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a public affairs special focusing on
the biggest issues in facting you this week.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Here's many Munyos.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
And welcome to another edition of Iheartradios Communities. As you heard,
I am Manny Munyo's. If you know me at all,
you know I am a dog lover. I'd rather much
be surrounded by a pack of dogs than a group
of people any day. So I'm happy to be able
to bring in our guests and discuss this next topic
with you. Suzanne Covid is the president of petco Love.
(00:34):
It's a national nonprofit focused on improving the lives of
pets and their people. I love that terminology. The website
is petcolove dot org. P E T C O l
o ve dot org. Suzanne, thanks so much for joining us.
I appreciate the time.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Oh thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here today.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
So for people who might not be familiar, tell me
about petcolove and what your primary man.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yes, yeah, improving the lives Our primary mission, we say
is improving the lives of people, pets and the people
who love them. But what does that really mean? Right?
So first of all, I think we really have three
sort of pillars that we're going for. We want to
make sure that we create new loving families with the
pets that are in shelters. There are millions of pets
(01:22):
and shelters, and we talk about in the US we
love our pets, but we have to make sure that
we save our pets that are in our animal shelters
around the country. And we call that sort of pillar
of what we do pet Go Love Adopt. So we
work with thousands of organizations nationwide to help promote pet adoption,
to help give them the resources to save the pets
(01:45):
that are in their organizations. And then sometimes we do
a lot of fun things like create these mega adoption
events where thousands of pets come together in a weekend
and we'll we'll make create two thousand new families with
shelter pets going into loving homes all in one weekend.
So we really just try to get creative and make
(02:06):
sure that people know that Listen, if you're looking to
at a new family member and bring a pet into
your family, please choose to adopt that pet.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, there's no question about it.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
And I want to get into fostering in a moment
because the people that managed to do that have have
much bigger hearts than I. The last pet that we
tried to adopt is still in our house six years later,
So that's.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
A different issue. We'll get to in a moment.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
How many shelters and rescue partners across the country do
you have for pet co Love?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
So we work at thousands of shelters and rescue partners
around the country. We will work with our large municipal shelters,
we work with the humane societies, we work with small
rescue groups, and then we work with some very interesting
organizations which I know we'll probably talk about that really
take on some special activities and like saving shell pets
(03:00):
and helping them to be heroes for others.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So what are the number one ways where pets, a dog,
a cat, what have you might end up at one
of these shelters in our communities that we're all familiar with.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
So the number one way that a pet ends up
at a shelter is because that pet has been lost.
We talked earlier about what do we do I sort
of I talked about and I know we're going to
cover all these I talked about adoption, but we also
want to make sure we want to create families through adoption.
When the pets are in those families, we want to
help families care for them. And the other big thing
(03:36):
that we do is we want to make sure we
reunite lost pets because that is the number one way
that pets are entering shelters. Other ways could be someone
can no longer care for them. That goes to our
second color, helping them care for them, keeping them out
of shelters, and those generally are your primary ways that
pets are entering shelters.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I imagine that you don't just work with anybody, right,
You've got cit you have to have criteria that you
use to select the organizations for grants or assistants or
whatever else you might do for them.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Yeah, we are really looking at the life saving impact.
We say we want to help those organizations that are
making the most significant life saving impact possible with their resources.
So organizations are always going to be doing something if
you're a nonprofit, but are you doing the most that
(04:31):
you can do? And that's what we look We look
at overall organizational effectiveness, and I think we are an
unusual organization and that we try to just support organizations
with unrestricted funding because if they're doing a great job,
we don't need to tell them what they need to
apply the money to. We need to trust them to
(04:53):
know what they need to utilize those funds for. That's
generally most of our funding. We do have some other,
you know, very specific situations, and I know we'll probably
talk about some of these, like disaster support and pet
cancer and other things. But generally we like to help
organizations do what they think they know best to do
(05:17):
to save lives. And we also will help some nonprofit
clinics that are maybe they're not saving shelter pets, but
they're helping the community provide spain hooter services, low cost vaccines,
free vaccines, or even just affordable veterinarian care for pets.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
A couple more minutes here with Suzanne Kogi. She is
president of pet co Love. The website is petcolove dot org.
Talk to me a little bit about how you manage
to operate where, how do you fundraise? How do you
provide the funds for all of these amazing groups to
do what they do for our pets.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Yeah, so our primary way that we raise funds really
it's with our dedicated loyal pet go customers that go
in and they've shopped and they spoil their pets. Yeah,
but on their way out they make that extra two
five ten. How about that twenty dollars donation to pet
go up. That is really where most of our funding
(06:18):
will come from. We have some other wonderful relationships. We've
worked with Sketchers Bobs from Sketchers. They have a philanthropic
line of apparel that supports our efforts. And then we
have private individuals that will donate. They believe in the
tech go love and how we are supporting organizations and
how we're helping.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
You also talk about some of the amazing partnerships that
you have, like taking adoptable puppies to Hollywood or red
carpet events or on the ice for Stanley Pup things
like that. How do those events help pups get adopted
other than just kind of bringing it to people's attention.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
So I think we want to make pet adoption cool.
And what's cooler than partnering with you know, the sports teams,
the NHL celebrities on the red carpet. Pet adoptions should
be cool. We want people again like there are if
you go to your local shelter and sometimes I think
people are afraid to go to their local shelter, right,
(07:19):
but you shouldn't be, because that is what you can
make a difference. You can see that there's such a
great variety of pets looking for home. Cats, kittens, bunnies,
you know, rats, dogs, puppies, and they're just a great
variety of breeds. I think we're also just trying to
make sure that people can see how playful they are,
(07:41):
no matter what they are. That I think everyone goes
around and says, I have to have this breed or
I have to have that breed, you know. I think
I think love knows no sort of specific breed. The
love that you're going to get from a pet, you're
going to get it no matter what breed it is.
I always encourage people to open their hearts up to
(08:02):
whatever really needs a home.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, and I know I've had this debate with people
as well. A lot of people like to go out.
You mentioned the you know, the designer brand pets, the
designer brand dogs, and they go out. They might get
it from a store or a breeder or something. There
really is nothing like saving a pet from a shelter,
is there? Adopting my gosh.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
I mean when you take so I know I'll talk
about fostering, but when you adopt a pet and you
bring them into their home, yeah, and I mean they
just know it. They know that you have saved their lives.
They are forever grateful to you, and there's just something special.
I mean, I think people generally are so good natured
(08:44):
and want to help others, and this is an easy
way to help an animal that really does need you
and that may be at risk for euthanasia.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Yeah, and that's one of the reasons to either adopt
or even I mentioned fostering. I don't have the heart
to bring a pet, a dog into my home and
then give him to his.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Forever family or her.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
The last one that we did that with has been
with us now for I guess six or seven years.
But just fostering, even if you can't adopt full time,
it does help prevent unnecessary euthanasia, doesn't.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
It absolutely does. I think when we talk about unnecessary euthanasia,
we're talking about pets that are being euthanized simply because
there's no room at the end, there's no more space
for them. And I mean, look around in your home.
If you have some space. Just think about it. I mean,
you could take a couple of kittens and put him
(09:39):
in an extra bathroom for a few weeks. It may
only be a few weeks, it may be even less,
but just opening up your home can save a life.
I am a huge advocate for fostering. Not only am
I an advocate for it, but I'm always I'm always gonna.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Follow how many how many pets have you fostered?
Speaker 3 (09:57):
I lost count after probably about five hundred, So.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I've been five hundred.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Years easily because I've done some puppies, I've done some
litters that could be some big Right now, I have
a big old I don't know if it's a great down,
great day in lab mix or a hound in my house.
But he's easy. He just sort of hangs out with
the other dogs. Yeah, no, fostering is I love fostering.
(10:22):
Not only does it bring just such joy in my house.
Sometimes you will take them out of the shelter. Maybe
they were in a you know, a cramped crampe together,
bring them home, give them a little back, put them
in a pen, and then just like this is puppies obviously,
watch them play around and I'm like, now, just so happy.
Turn off the TV watch puppy play. You know that
(10:45):
will make your day and it'll just change your life.
But I've also it's not about them. It's also about
have made such great relationships with people that have adopted
the pets that I've fostered. I woke up to a
text this morning with someone sending me photos by little
Mama Dog that I had fostered. She had three puppies.
(11:07):
She's now living the life and their home and having
a ball. And I get to see that and I
get to think, like, hey, I was part of making
that possible, for changing her life. It's the greatest feeling around.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Speaking with Suzanne kogaci is, the president of pet Co Love,
you talked about your history. You were a lawyer to
financial services corporation beforehand. You've been not only in the
animal saving industry for a while now, you've been with
pet Co Love for over a decade. Talk to me
about that. I mean, that is a drastic change in
(11:40):
your life. But obviously you can't do what you do
without loving the pets.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yeah, I mean working at pet Co Love was just
an incredible opportunity to really help on a national basis
and help us save more lives on a national basis.
You know, it's always interesting saying people will ask me
how I got into this, Why did I start working
at a shelter and stuff? Did I grow up with
(12:06):
pets all my life? I didn't. I actually didn't, And
somewhere I adopted that first pet. And that first pet
that I adopted absolutely changed my life because I became
more aware of the needs that exist and more aware
of how we as individuals can make a difference. We
(12:29):
can't just let the nonprofits, the municipal shelters, the rescue groups,
they can't do it all without us, and we as
individuals just can do our partner help. So I'll give
you one statistic that to me, it just resonates. If
just two percent of all pet parents, people that already
(12:50):
own a pet, would foster one pet a year, just
two percent, we don't have to get one hundred percent,
just two percent, we would have enough places for the
pets that we could eliminate unnecessary euthanasia euthanasia first space
in our shelters tomorrow. So like, why isn't that happening?
(13:13):
We can do this. It's just a you know, just
look at your neighborhoods, people you know on pets just
one a year. I'm going to foster more than one
a year, So I got you covered on that.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, petcolove dot org.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Petcolove dot org is the website to go to if
you want to get some information more on what they do,
because we've got a lot more to cover or to donate.
Of course, I want to delve into something you talked
about there a moment ago, because there are people out
there that aren't pet people. For example, my boss was
never a pet person until she became a pet person,
(13:45):
a dog owner, a dog lover, and you can't be
a dog owner without being a dog lover. As far
as I'm concerned, what prompted you? You said you didn't
grow up with pets, you weren't that kind of a person,
but something prompted you to make that first adoption. What
was it that drove you that? Because, like I said,
there's a big difference between pet people and non pet people.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah, I think so, so I So the first pet
in my life wasn't an adopted pet, So I'm gonna
I'm gonna put that out there, and it was. It
was a boyfriend of mine. It was his dog at
the time. But when that pet passed, I said, he
I'm going to get another pet. And I became searching
(14:27):
and I was like, oh my gosh, all the pets
that are out there. I can help a pet. I
think I'm generally by nature, and again I think most
people are you want to help. If you can help,
you do want to help. And so it was that
I actually adopted to it first, and it wasn't shortly
after adoption. I adopted those two that I then became
(14:50):
a volunteer for the org that I adopted from. I
started helping their efforts. I started organizing more things. You know,
I think when you when they there's a pet in
your life, no matter what happens around you, you always
have love in your home like there is you come
home from a hard day at work, you're gonna if
(15:12):
you have a dog, You're coming home to.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Your spouse, Your kids might be interested in, might not
be interested in welcoming you at the door.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Your pet will always be.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
There, always, always, and it just makes a difference. It
fills our lives with love. I think if everyone had
a pet in our life, you will always have love
in your home.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
I don't think there's any question about that.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
So we've talked about the many ways what pet co
Love does in terms of adoption, in terms of being
a foster.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
There's so much more that you do, and something you mentioned.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Earlier, I want to get into a little bit tell
us about your free national Lost and Found pet database
called pet co Love Lost, because and I see it
all the time on social media, people whose dog may
have run out the door, who've gotten out of the
backyard or something like that, and my heart breaks each
and every one of them because I think about how
(16:05):
would I feel that were my pets.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
So you always want to help.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Yeah, and that's a perfect that's a perfect segway into
why we created pet go Love Loss. If your dog, cat,
whatever pet you have is, if it gets lost, you
are in an absolute state of frantic, Right, how do
I find this pet? And honestly, if you go off
and look at like online, what are the resources, you
(16:30):
will see a laundry list of things that you should
do while you're in a state of panic. One of them,
in this day and age of the digital world is
put a flyer on a telephone pole. Yeah, right, but
that requires someone to drive by that exact location where
you put the flyer on a telephone pole. What if
we had one central database where all of those photos
(16:54):
of pets could go into and we could reunite more pets.
And that's exactly what pepcol Lost is. We've created that
one central database. You simply if you lost a pet
pet or if you find a pet, you upload it
to our database, which means on any given day, there
could be over two hundred thousand lost pets or found
(17:14):
pets in that database. And so that's where our photo
matching technology goes to work and helps reduce those those
potential matches to your lost pets. So that's what PECO
Love Loss is. It's a national lost and found database,
free for anyone to use with a simple photo of
their pet. And who doesn't have a photo of their
(17:36):
pets on your phone? That's face it. You know you do?
You know you have about a thousand of them, And
that's what it does. And not only that, we've taken
it one step further pets and shelters. We are connecting
with the shelters and automatically getting those pets that are
in shelters into our database. We've now integrated with next
(17:59):
tool or in neighbors, so those pets that are posted
on social sites are into that database, the one place
for all.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
How many reunions have you made so.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Far, We're actually getting close to one hundred thousand. We're
coming around the corner for one hundred thousand, and you
know that. That's the thing. The great thing is is
this can be used by anyone anytime before or after
your pet go's missing. But what you could even do
today is just upload the photo. Get it in there today.
So if your pet did go missing, you just simply
(18:31):
go into there and hit a button my pet is lost,
and there you go.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
It's in the system, and it's at the same website,
the petcolove dot org.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
You can find it at petcolove dot org. It'll have
a link to petco Love Lost, or you could go
directly to petcoloveloss dot org.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
And I do want to point out Petco does all
of this great work through Petco Love and all of
the things we're talking about. You don't have to be
somebody exclusively that shops at Petco to take advantage of this,
or to donate or whatever.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
This is a national database for everyone, and in fact,
one of the things you know that I think this,
and especially you know, given where we are today, disasters
will happen all the time. And when you look at
a situation where a disaster, we've been relying on people
to always go to their shelters, but sometimes their shelters
are in a disaster. Are having shelters all over It
(19:24):
could be at a fair grounds or something like. Animals
can be housed all over and sometimes in a disaster,
no one could even get them to the shelter. The
goal with this is it's usable by anyone anywhere who
you find a lost pet, you bring them in your
house temporarily, you upload that photo and hopefully it's your
neighbor down the road and you can connect directly.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
This might be a silly question. Are there times of
the year where you find that more pets go missing,
more pets turn up at the shelters.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Yeah, ironically, it's probably the times of the year that
we are all celebrating and our pets aren't. Yeah, right,
so July fourth, Memorial Day, weekend, New Year's Eve, anywhere,
or there's loud noises. We often forget that our pets
their sensory you know, traits are exponentially better than ours.
(20:20):
So while we're having fun, a lot of our pets
are absolutely terrified, right, and so those times of the
year we always make sure people are using Pecko.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Love Lost speaking with us Susan Kogan, president of petco Love.
The website is petcolove dot org, p E t c
O l O ve E petcolove dot org. And I
do want to point out whether somebody uses petco Love
to adopt a pet or foster a pet, you don't
(20:50):
just kind of dump them on these people. There are
all sorts of programs I know, you do, free vaccinations,
everything else to help those new pet owners adapt.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Yeah, one of our core missions is also to make
sure that we can increase access to veterinarian care for
people that have pets. A lot of people do have
pets and they're struggling to afford the care for those pets. Now,
I'll admit that that's a big that's a big problem
that we see nationwide and one that we alone won't solve.
(21:22):
But what we did try to do is we looked
at really something that we were seeing a lot of,
and that's diseases that are wholly preventable by vaccines. Carbavirus
and distemper and dogs and pan leukopenia and cats. These
diseases when our pets get them, can be quite costly,
(21:42):
upwards of one thousand, two thousand dollars to treat. Some
of them, are not really successful in treating distemper can
be a tough one. So what we've said is, instead
of focusing on treatment, why don't we just prevent these
diseases from happening, because that is something we can do
at a much lower cost by getting these pets vaccinated.
(22:03):
Petsnead otherwise wouldn't be vaccinating. So that's In fall twenty
twenty one, we launched our Vaccinated and Love campaign and
we were working with our partners around the country. We
wanted to have free vaccine clinics. We wanted people, if
you can't afford to get your pet vaccinated, we're going
to do it for free. And so far, three million
(22:25):
free pet vaccines have been administered in communities where pet
parents simply just needed a little help to care for
their pets and they love their pets even if they're struggling,
and there's lines just to get those pets vaccinated.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Those are illnesses and pets that could be preventable. Cancer
is not. And I know that you do a lot
in terms of fighting pet cancer as well.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Yeah, this has been a partnership, and this has been
a partnership that was started I think it's fourteen fifteen
years ago now in partnership with Blue Buffet. Also they
have been supporting this campaign. And our goal here really
is we've supported some research on pet cancer, but we've
also supported subsidized treatment. We want to make treatment for
(23:14):
pet cancer more affordable for people that can't can't get
that care for their pets. It is the number one
disease related killer of our pets. And you know, I
think we'll see through the years some very interesting things
happening too. We've done some we've supported some research which
(23:34):
is really research where we're furthering treatments for pets that
actually can help people. Lately, or there's a lot of
treatments for pets that started with people that are now
helping pets as well. But that's a devastating diagnosis when
you get that your pet has cancer.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
And we've and we've had three of them, and I know,
I know it's difficult, so many people deal with it
because it sometimes it just kind of comes on. I
always say, and the experts I've spoken to in humans,
sometimes it's not just lifestyle. Sometimes getting cancer's luck of
the draw. I know you're not a physician, a veterinarian.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Is is it.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Similar with dogs? I mean, is it with pets? Is
it it's not a lifestyle thing?
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Is it?
Speaker 3 (24:17):
No? And I think it's a lifestyle thing. I think
there's some breeds that are more prone to certain cancers.
I know there's a study on Golden retrievers and looking
at cancers that are more common and those breeds osteosarcoma.
I believe is is more prevalent in certain breeds. But
like any listen, I've had mixed breeds and have adopted
(24:38):
from shelters, and I've had I've pets that have had cancer.
Now I also always have a lot of pets, so
I've had sevens.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I'm done right now higher odds NG.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
But but it is, it is really very prevalent and
and something that is crushing when you get that diagnosis.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
It sure is because because the le's face it, they're
part of our family. They are part of the family.
If everything that we've discussed Susan isn't enough for pet
Co Love to address. I know you also do work
with veterans and service dogs. Explain that part of the
program to me, because it's so necessary and it is
(25:19):
so beneficial for those fighting men and women.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Yeah, this is a this is a program first that
is that has been well researched, like there's a there's
a lot of scientific research behind the fact fact that
pets really can help our veterans, you know, be able
if they have PTSD traumatic brain injuries. Pets really can
help them live their daily lives in a way that
(25:44):
they can't without pets, even reducing the medication they may
have to take. And so we work with organizations that
are going to shelters and taking shelter pets and then
training them to support veterans that need a service animal,
and which I think is just beautiful and Number one,
I think that's just the relation in itself that helps.
(26:05):
But some of these pets are supported to do very
specific tasks and help our veterans. We've done things even
beyond that. There's even programs to help maybe children with
autism and other types of conditions that our pets can
help us through our daily lives. And then I'll add
(26:27):
one more thing too, because I love this organization. There's
an organization that actually helps save shelter pets and train
them to be search and rescue animals, the National Search
Dog Foundation up in Ohi, and they train animals that
are then placed in fire departments around the country and
(26:47):
other emergency response units throughout the country, and they are
deployed in times of disaster.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
We know more and more, it seems like, almost on
a monthly basis. I talk about research about how loneliness
in our country has grown over the last few years,
over the last decade or so, and how that cuts
ears off our lives, and sometimes just having a pet
can help cure that loneliness.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Right, I think that there's always a pet for a person. Yes,
you know this may not be the right pet for you,
but I know that there's one out there for you.
I think if you go to your shelter and again,
I think sometimes we think we need this certain pet,
and sometimes what we need is a little bit different
than what we need. So as senior pet, a puppy
(27:38):
isn't for everyone, no, but a senior pet is going
to bring you just as much joy and to your point,
combat that loneliness and they're really going to still fill
your house with love every day. I think that there's
a lot of people that I mean, for me, sometimes
my pet actually helps me, helps make me physically healthier
as well, because I may not go out and do
(28:00):
that walk that I really need to do for my
own physical health and for that, you know who I'll
do it for. I'll do it for my pet. Yeah.
So I think there are huge studies that pets improve
our physical and our mental health.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Without question stress relief.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
All right, So how can listeners get involved in supporting
pet COO Love's amazing numerous life saving efforts that we've
talked about here.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Okay easily if you're going to get a pet, adopt
a pet. If you can't adopt right now, but you
can help temporarily foster a pet and do this directly
from your local shelter for us, help us reunite pets.
I want everyone to become the become part of the
petco Love Loss search party. So when you see things,
if you're on a social media app and you see
(28:49):
a lost pet, tell them to post on petcoloveloss dot org.
And then of course anyone can donate to us at
pecolove dot org too and we'll put the money to
good you.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
I love that that was the final option that you
wanted people to be proactive about the pets before you
even brought up donating, which I imagine has to be
a big part of it, because otherwise you can't do
all of these other amazing things.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Yeah, the resources helped support the great work that we do,
but there's a lot that everyone can do individually to
help in your local community as well.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Suzanne Coget, president of pet co Love, the national nonprofit
focused on improving the lives of pets and their people.
I love the way they say that again. The website
is Petcodlove dot org.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
P E. T. C. L o Ve dot org.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Suzanne, thanks so much for what you're doing at petco
Love and sharing the time with us.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Best of luck, Thanks for having us, and.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
That'll do it for another edition of Iheartradios Communities. I'm
Manni Muno's until next time.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
M
Host
Manny Munoz
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