A woman who knew no bounds when it came to rescuing three large dogs.
This is such a beautiful account of Veronica Shea taking action, and personal risks, to provide, firstly trust, and then love for Princess George, Grace and Steve, as they were named. The story was published on The Dodo.
Please read for yourself.
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Woman Visits Mountain Every Day To Convince Huge Dogs To Let Her Rescue Them
“They couldn’t be touched. They couldn’t be leashed. They were just terrified.”
In 2020, Veronica Shea was out hiking with her dog in the Angeles National Forest in California, when she spotted something strange moving ahead of them.
“We whip around the curve, and I look over and there was this huge black thing,” Shea told The Dodo. “He went up the side of a cliff.”
Veronica Shea
Shea followed the furry animal and came face to face with three malnourished dogs alone in the wilderness. Realizing the dogs had been abandoned, she knew she had to help them. Every day for several weeks, Shea trudged up the mountain to feed the dogs and work on gaining their trust.
Veronica Shea
Slowly, the dogs got used to her and even began eating out of her hand. But Shea had no idea how to get them off the mountain. If she trapped one dog, would the others flee? She knew she couldn’t do it alone.
Veronica Shea
When she asked for help, a whole team of rescuers stepped forward. Together, they carried equipment up the mountain and put together a makeshift cage. The rescuers carefully lured the dogs inside and carried them down the mountain.
The three dogs —mastiffs named Princess George, Grace and Steve, who are believed to be siblings — were safe now. But they still had a long journey ahead.
Veronica Shea
The rescuers approached Cheri Wulff Lucas, a well known dog behaviorist and trainer in California, to see if she could help the nervous dogs learn to trust again.
“They weren’t adoptable the way they came,” Lucas told The Dodo. “They couldn’t be touched. They couldn’t be leashed. They were just terrified.”
Princess George, Grace and Steve responded well to Lucas’ training. Still, they continued to have a “very strong startle reflex,” said Lucas. This made it difficult to find them the perfect home.
“It was going to take a very special home for them to go into because they’re not the kind of dogs that are going to go to the dog park,” Lucas said. “Even walking them on city streets would be a lot for them. And if they do spook, they weigh 125 pounds, so [they would be] very hard to contain.”
But Lucas knew the dogs were safe on her own property.
“I’m out in the middle of nowhere,” Lucas said. “There’s no traffic around here. You can’t even see another home from here. So if they did get out, they would just come back here to me.”
Veronica Shea
While Lucas never planned on keeping the dogs herself, that’s exactly what she ended up doing. This turned out to be the best decision for everyone. Princess George, Grace, and Steve continued to live in a safe and supportive environment. And Lucas discovered that the dogs could help her with her work as a trainer.
“If I get dogs that needs socialization — to be more familiar and less reactive with other dogs — I use my pack to help rehabilitate them,” Lucas said. “And all three of them are highly social with dogs. They know how to smell properly, how to not overpower the dog that needs the socialization. They’re just flawless. And that’s not something I taught them — they came that way.”
Veronica Shea
The threesome were particularly helpful when Lucas started working with another dog named Andi, who was rescued from a hoarding case.
“She had lived in a pen for seven years without human touch or being leashed or anything and she was terrified,” Lucas said. “They just came in and really made her feel comfortable. It was really sweet to see. They brought her around in a way that I never could as a human.”
Lucas ended up adopting Andi as well, bringing her personal pack of dogs to 12.
Princess George, Grace and Steve have been living with Lucas now for over three years, and they’re completely different dogs now.
“They’re incredibly playful,” Lucas said. “If you came to my house and did not know their backstory, you would think they were like any other dog.”
Lucas describes George as a “couch potato” who loves hanging around the house and socializing with the other dogs. Steve is the one who likes to play endless games of “chase” out in the yard. Grace remains a bit timid, but she shares a very close relationship with Steve.
“They’re pets — they’re really pets now,” she said. “They’re not cases for me anymore.”
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Lucas sums it up perfectly in that last sentence; “They’re pets – they’re really pets now,“
Lucas reminds me of Jean for when we first met, in December 2007, Jean had more than twenty dogs at home, all rescues, and led to me publishing my first book in 2009: Learning from Dogs.
I came across this collection of videos, all short, that have been combined into a single YouTube video.
Here is the text that came with that video.
Many know that dogs are wonderful pets that quickly turn into family. These inspiring dog stories highlight the impact a dog rescue, recovery, or reunion can make in the lives of everyday Americans. From a veteran’s emotional reunion with his beloved dog to a dog surviving a bullet wound, here are great stories of dogs and the people who love them.
Very Local
Just ten minutes long it is nevertheless a fabulous account of our closest animal friend.
I was looking through posts from a few years ago and came across ‘Dogs – their deep ties to man” and thought it would be a grand post to publish again.
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Dogs – their deep ties to man!
It’s impossible not to admire, respect and love a dog
(First published on the 4th August, 2009but it relates to an event even before I left the United Kingdom. I met Jean in December, 2007 and Pharaoh and me travelled out to Mexico a year later.)
An incident last night reminded me of the complexity of the dog’s mind. It has not been the first time this has happened.
Our 6 year-old German Shepherd dog, Pharaoh, was given a bone as a treat during the previous day and, as sometimes happens, it was a bit tough on his stomach. So at around 1.30 am, I was woken up. Nothing so special about that. But reflect on how this happened.
1.30 am is the part of night where, hopefully, we are in that very deep phase of sleep. How then does Pharaoh calculate the best way of awakening me so that he can be let out into the yard? One might consider the various options:
– He barks
– He paws at the bed
– He jumps on the bed
– He scratches at the door
and so on.
What Pharaoh did (and has done before, so this is a calculated behaviour) is very gently put his damp nose onto the side of my face, just below my left ear, which was the part of my face nearest to the edge of the bed. It woke me so gently from my deep sleep but made me immediately aware (as a parent is when their young child cries) that Pharaoh required urgent attention.
A moment later he was standing by the bedroom door, letting out that soft, quiet whine that is only used when he needs to use the yard. Within seconds his collar and lead were on and he was outside doing what nature was prompting him.
Pharaoh resting on an English lawn
No big deal but it stayed with me this morning as I reflected on the empathetic way that Pharaoh had communicated with me during the night.
Dogs sensitivity to the world around them is a powerful reminder that the less we focus in on ourselves the more we learn.
For most of us these days old age is part of the scene (and I am classifying old age as being over 70 years). Here are a few facts from the website of the World Health Organization.
Key facts
Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975.
In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these over 650 million were obese.
39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2016, and 13% were obese.
Most of the world’s population live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight.
39 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2020.
Over 340 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 were overweight or obese in 2016.
Obesity is preventable.
What are obesity and overweight Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health.
Body mass index (BMI) is a simple index of weight-for-height that is commonly used to classify overweight and obesity in adults. It is defined as a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of his height in meters (kg/m2).
Adults
For adults, WHO defines overweight and obesity as follows:
overweight is a BMI greater than or equal to 25; and
obesity is a BMI greater than or equal to 30.
BMI provides the most useful population-level measure of overweight and obesity as it is the same for both sexes and for all ages of adults. However, it should be considered a rough guide because it may not correspond to the same degree of fatness in different individuals.
World Health Organisation
This is the link for anyone who wants to use the BMI Calculator.
Now this is not a post about obesity or being overweight. It is a post taken from The Conversation about staying as healthy as one can in one’s older years.
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Steep physical decline with age is not inevitable – here’s how strength training can change the trajectory
Raise your hand if you regularly find yourself walking up a flight of stairs. What about carrying heavy bags of groceries? How about picking up your child or grandchild? Most of us would raise our hands to doing at least one of those weekly, or even daily.
As people age, it can become more and more difficult to perform some physical tasks, even those that are normal activities of daily living. However, prioritizing physical fitness and health as you get older can help you go through your normal day-to-day routine without feeling physically exhausted at the end of the day.
It can also help you continue to have special memories with your family and loved ones that you might not have been able to have if you weren’t physically active. For example, I ran two half-marathons with my dad when he was in his 60s!
I am an exercise physiologist who studies how people can use resistance training to improve human performance, whether it be in sports and other recreational settings, in everyday life, or both. I am also a certified strength and conditioning specialist. My career has given me the opportunity to design exercise programs for kids, college athletes and elderly adults.
Staying physically active as you get older doesn’t need to include running a half-marathon or trying to be a bodybuilder; it could be as simple as trying to get through the day without feeling winded after you go up a flight of stairs. Although our muscles naturally get weaker as we age, there are ways we can combat that to help improve quality of life as we get older.
From left are the author’s father, who was age 61 at the time, the author’s wife and the author after completing the Lincoln Half Marathon. Zachary Gillen, CC BY-NC-ND
Muscle loss and chronic disease
One of the most important parts of exercise programming, no matter who I am working with, is proper resistance training to build muscle strength. Some amount of age-related loss of muscle function is normal and inevitable. But by incorporating resistance training that is appropriate and safe at any ability level, you can slow down the rate of decline and even prevent some loss of muscle function.
In one of our team’s previous studies, we saw that otherwise healthy individuals with sarcopenia had issues delivering vital nutrients to muscle. This could lead to greater likelihood of various diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes, and slow down recovery from exercise.
Recent estimates suggest that sarcopenia affects 10% to 16% of the elderly population worldwide. But even if a person doesn’t have clinically diagnosed sarcopenia, they may still have some of the underlying symptoms that, if not dealt with, could lead to sarcopenia.
Strength training is key
So the question is, what can be done to reverse this decline?
Recent evidence suggests that one of the key factors leading to sarcopenia is low muscle strength. In other words, combating or reversing sarcopenia, or both, may be best done with a proper resistance-training program that prioritizes improving strength. In fact, the decline in muscle strength seems to occur at a much faster rate than the decline in muscle size, underscoring the importance of proper strength training as people age.
Typical age-related changes in muscle strength and size with and without strength training. Zachary Gillen
Continuing to regularly strength train with moderate to heavy weights has been shown to be not only effective at combating the symptoms of sarcopenia but also very safe when done properly. The best way to make sure you are strength training properly is to seek out guidance from a qualified individual such as a personal trainer or strength and conditioning specialist.
Despite the clear benefits of strength training, it’s been shown that only about 13% of Americans age 50 and older do some form of strength training at least twice a week.
Finding what works for you
So how does a person properly strength train as they age?
The National Strength and Conditioning Association, a leading organization in advancing strength and conditioning around the world, states that for older adults, two to three days per week of strength training can be incredibly helpful for maintaining healthy muscle and bone and combating a number of chronic conditions.
The organization recommends that these workouts involve one to two exercises involving multiple joints per major muscle group, with six to 12 repetitions per set. These are done at an intensity of 50% to 85% of what’s known as one-repetition maximum – the most weight you could handle for a single repetition – with the exception of body weight exercises that use one’s own body weight as the resistance, such as pushups.
I would also recommend resting for about two to three minutes between sets, or even up to five minutes if the set was challenging. For older adults, particularly those age 60 and older, the National Strength and Conditioning Association guidelines suggest that a program like this be performed two to three days per week, with 24 to 48 hours between sessions.
An example of a strength training routine for older adults based on the National Strength and Conditioning Association guidelines
There are a great variety of exercises that could be done interchangeably in a strength training program like this.
The guidelines above are only one example out of many options, but they provide a framework that you can use to build your own program. However, I would highly recommend seeking out a professional in the field to give specific exercise programming advice that can be tailored to your own needs and goals as you age.
Following such a program would give your muscles an excellent stimulus to enhance strength, while also allowing enough recovery, a very important consideration as people age. You might think it looks like a huge time commitment, but an exercise routine like this can be done in less than an hour. This means that in less than three hours of strength training per week you can help improve your muscle health and reduce the risk of getting sarcopenia and associated health issues.
It’s also important to note that there is no one right way to do resistance training, and it needn’t involve traditional weight equipment. Group classes like Pilates and yoga or those that involve circuit training and work with resistance bands can all produce similar results. The key is to get out and exercise regularly, whatever that entails.
My wife, Jean, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) in December, 2015. Many of you know that.
Fortunately at our local Club Northwest there was a group of PD sufferers who twice a week held a ‘Rock Steady Class’ under the instruction of a professional coach; Jean joined the group. It was a brilliant move for Jean and she gets a huge amount of care from being with them.
Luckily for me having to drive Jean into Club Northwest it made sense for me to sign up to a fitness class at the same time so I am put through a regular fitness routine under the coaching of Bruce. Plus I try and go bike riding three times a week.
In other words, we both try and stay as fit as we can.
If you have not registered with the BBC then you will need to do so before the link at the bottom works.
This last time it is wood. Here it is:
In this episode – Wood – we visit the Woodwork for Wellbeing Workshop in Bethnal Green, London where every Tuesday people with mental health issues spend time making things with wood. They find it to be very therapeutic and fun. And Professor Miles Richardson of the University of Derby shares research from Japan which shows that simply touching wood is calming.
This is the last one of this series from the Beeb and if any of you have noticed I chose to present these programmes in a different order to that presented by the BBC.
‘chose‘ is only slightly accurate – the true reason is that I screwed up!
Another broadcast from BBC Radio 4 in this series!
As I said before, so far this has been a fascinating series of programmes and, hopefully, some of you have listened to the episodes.
In Episode 5 – Earth – we visit the Horticultural Therapy Trust allotment in Plymouth and discover how gardening can be soothing for people with severe mental illnesses. We also hear about how putting our hands in the earth can be good for our gut microbiome and potentially our mental health.
Produced and Presented by Helen Needham Research by Anna Miles and Maud Start Original Music by Anthony Cowie Mixed by Ron McCaskill and Malcolm Torrie
A BBC Scotland Production made in Aberdeen for BBC Radio 4
This is about breathing and is something I know about. Because Bruce at our local ClubNorthwest has a session with me when I spend five minutes or so taking in through the nose the deepest breath that I can.
If you have not registered with the BBC then you will need to do so before the link at the bottom works.
In Episode 4 – Air – we visit an infant school in Nottingham where young children regularly learn breathing techniques to reduce stress and anxiety. We also hear about research from Italy showing how slowing our breathing impacts positively on brain activity. Plus breath coach and founder of School Breathe, Aimee Hartley, shares her experience of learning to breathe well.
Produced and Presented by Helen Needham Research by Anna Miles and Maud Start Original Music by Anthony Cowie Mixed by Ron McCaskill and Malcolm Torrie
A BBC Scotland Production made in Aberdeen for BBC Radio 4
Continuing this fascinating series from BBC Radio 4.
Last week the BBC chose to present a programme called An Almanac for Anxiety. There were five episodes: Fire; Wood: Water: Air; Earth.
If you have not registered with the BBC then you will need to do so before the link below works.
The details of each episode were presented on the BBC website:
In Episode 3 – Water – we join a group of socially prescribed outdoor swimmers on Teignmouth Beach in Devon who find joy in immersing themselves in cold water. We also hear why spending time around blue spaces is so effective at promoting a sense of calm from Dr Catherine Kelly of the University of Brighton.
Produced and Presented by Helen Needham Research by Anna Miles and Maud Start Original Music by Anthony Cowie Mixed by Ron McCaskill and Malcolm Torrie
A BBC Scotland Production made in Aberdeen for BBC Radio 4
Last week the BBC chose to present a programme called An Almanac for Anxiety. There were five episodes: Fire; Wood: Water: Air; Earth.
If you have not registered with the BBC then you will need to do so before the link below works.
The details of each episode were presented on the BBC website:
Anxiety is the most common form of mental illness in the UK, with nearly a fifth of people experiencing it over the course of a year. Although it is often treated through medication, there are many alternative ways which are proving to be very effective in reducing anxiety amongst some people. In this series, we explore how connecting with the elemental forces of nature helps people with a range of mental illnesses to feel better. We also learn about the current academic research behind these methods.
In Episode 1 – Fire – we visit an overnight camp on the banks of the River Spey near Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands run by the charity Fire and Peace. According to the participants, – who have a range of mental ill health and addiction issues – the experience of spending time around the fire in nature is transformative when it comes to promoting feelings of connection and wellbeing. We also hear new research which shows how being around a campfire can be calming.
BBC Radio 4
I am going to share the link to the BBC each day this week with a new episode each day. The programmes are 15 minutes long and in my opinion well worth listening to.
Now above we were told: ‘Anxiety is the most common form of mental illness in the UK’ but of course we all know that anxiety affects many millions across the world. That is why I intend to share with you all five programmes.
