Snooper Star: Luke Toennies on his Beagle Snoop
Luke Toennies tells the story of adopting Snoop, a former research beagle. Luke initially reached out to the Beagle Alliance after losing his dog Leo.
After a six-month to a year wait, he adopted Snoop, who was initially traumatized but quickly bonded with Luke. Snoop's unique bark and playful nature, despite his past, have made him a social media star. Luke emphasizes the importance of patience and training, noting Snoop's progress and his role as an advocate for former research dogs. The conversation highlights the collaborative efforts of organizations like the Beagle Alliance, Kindness Ranch, and Keeper and Kin in supporting former research dogs and their adopters.
John Ramer 0:00
I'm John Raymer from Kindness Ranch Animal Sanctuary in Wyoming,
Lori Cohen 0:04
and I'm Laurie Cohen from the Beagle Alliance in Manitoba, Canada,
Chelsey Marino 0:08
and I'm Chelsea Marino from Keeper and Kin in Charlotte, North Carolina, and this is Dogs Beyond the Lab.
Lori Cohen 0:18
Hi, everyone. Hi, Lori. Welcome to today's podcast. Hi, today we are going to be speaking with Luke and his dog, that many people lovingly call Snooper Star. There was a little bit of a there was time between from the time you adopted Snoop to the time that he became Snooper Star. So, Luke, why don't you tell us a little bit about your process? Because we had been speaking for quite a while prior to you finally adopting Snoop.
Luke Toennies 0:53
So, I originally reached out to you guys when I had a beagle, and his name is Leo, and because I come across your guys' Instagram, and I knew eventually one day I would want to adopt a rescue beagle, and so then I handed in my application. Just kind of weird timing, how everything kind of works. Handed in my application with you guys, and then I was like, "This, I just want this for the future, and then I think that was I don't know I think it was maybe like six months
Lori Cohen 1:25
six months to a year
Luke Toennies 1:27
yeah it might have been been even longer because then obviously what happened is my my Beagle Leo got sick and we had to say goodbye to him and then I reached out to you again just like saying hey you know like I would like to possibly get started on things a little quicker than I anticipated, and I wasn't sure when I would be ready. But I had a friend of mine. His name is James, and he said to me, "I could either waste time not putting in my application and getting things going, and he said, "This is probably the best advice I ever got from him. He's like, "You have all this love you could give to a dog, or you could just sit there and not give it to a dog that needs
Chelsey Marino 2:11
it.
Luke Toennies 2:11
So then I decided to get the process going. I actually looked on the website, and when I saw Snoop, where his name was Nick at the time, and this sounds kind of bad, but there, like, there was-I think there was three dogs, and he was definitely the cutest one. Like, of course,
Chelsey Marino 2:27
of course. So I
Luke Toennies 2:28
was like, if he's the one, I'm like, the other ones looked kind of haggard a little bit, and even my sister agreed. But like, I was like, if that's the one that really needs a home, I was like, I'm just gonna do it, and sure enough, it was him. And I mean, we hated the name Nick, so like, I immediately had to change that. And yeah,
Lori Cohen 2:53
it's funny because they were a group that was some of the most traumatized that we had seen. They were really shut down, and there was three. I remember which three, of course, together, and they were really shut down. And he went to a home that they really just wanted to foster and help out the Beagle Alliance. So we knew that he wasn't in his forever home, or at least that was the original intent was to just remain fosters, and just as his personality started coming out, he we really knew that he loved people. He didn't really seem engaged or wanting to engage with other dogs. He just wanted his person, and interestingly enough, Luke, you were kind of that guy too. You and Snoop are best butts. You wanted that dog who was going to be your sidekick.
Luke Toennies 3:46
Yeah, my venture buddy,
Lori Cohen 3:50
your guy. Yeah. Tell us what that looked like. What happened? Because we had volunteers that transported and and drove him to you, and apparently you guys all still stay in touch, of course, which is awesome. But what what happened when they dropped Snoop off? What was your first night like together?
Luke Toennies 4:10
I mean, it was kind of funny because they got here way earlier than anticipated, and I got woken up by people in my backyard tapping on my bedroom window and like shining their phone lights in in my window, I'm like, "What is going on? So, and then I, because I'm a very deep sleeper, they were trying to call me to wake me up, and it wasn't working, obviously. So then they tried that, and then I let them in, and they just brought this skinny, scared little beagle in, and he looked terrified. I've never in my life seen a beagle so skinny, and I just wanted to love him immediately. They they even had a little bow on him that they wrote this message, which I hate them for this because. As soon as I read it, I started bawling because they they kind of wrote it from the POV of my last dog Leo, and yeah, then he just came in the house, and I just kind of once everything kind of got all settled and they left, I I went back to bed because I was like, I'm tired, and I want to see what this what this dog does, and he was remember him kind of sitting in my bed, looking very scared and nervous for sure. And then immediately, just like came and found a spot next to me because he always has to be touching me whenever we're going to bed, anything. He's always got to be touching me, and he just kind of cuddled up next to me, and then we just went to sleep. And immediately, once we woke up, obviously my entire family was so excited to come meet this dog. I live with my sister, but my mom came over, my dad came over, my other sister came over. They all came to see him, which was definitely overwhelming for him for sure. But we just kind of spent the whole day just kind of cuddling and chillaxing on the couch and just just chilling.
Chelsey Marino 6:07
Did that surprise you when knowing his background or his potential background? Does it surprise you, or did it at the time how cuddly he was initially?
Luke Toennies 6:19
Yeah, I didn't really know what to expect. Like I knew that he had been in like a good home, obviously, and they had sent me pictures, and I saw that he was very cuddly. But I could just tell that he just wanted-he wants to feel safe, and always has, and still does. So yeah.
Lori Cohen 6:40
When did he start coming out of his shell? Because you know, obviously, for a number of years, you and I have been going back and forth and sharing videos, and of course, you're. We'll get to the whole social media blow up and and what that looked like. But when did he start with the toys and really just feeling safe and and running around, which I know you have so many videos of now.
Luke Toennies 7:05
Honestly, it didn't take long. He seemed to open up pretty quick. The walks were really hard at first. I mean, they're still hard some days. Like in what
Lori Cohen 7:19
way? In what way? Even because this is three years later now, we're looking at what do you thought what what's he still working on?
Luke Toennies 7:25
I mean, so the other day we're walking. It's very windy, and like a napkin was blowing in the wind, like a tumbleweed, and it came at us, and he like jumped out of his skin, like immediately went into flight mode, and like was trying to pull away on the harness, like his leash, I have wrapped around my wrists like multiple times whenever I walk him. Still, and because like he's very jumpy at noises, terrified of kids, which I'm okay with because you can keep them away from me. To be honest, and he's at random objects like garbage cans and stuff like that. Like he's just he still doesn't really quite understand a lot of things. I think so. That's why the walks are hard. But his like playfulness was coming out pretty quickly because I had a friend of mine give me like a huge care package of toys and treats and stuff like that, and I think it was like maybe the second night we kind of started playing with this like little blowfish toy. I'll never forget it because I threw it down the hallway and he ran down the hallway and we were kind of playing fetch, and I started to feel pretty emotional actually because just seeing him like act like a dog, and knowing like what he had probably been through, because I've never met a dog that's been that seems so traumatized in my life. Like so, seeing that got me pretty feeling pretty good.
Chelsey Marino 8:56
Do you feel when you saw him play for the first time? I know you said you got emotional, and I know exactly how you're feeling. But I would like you to describe if you're feeling in that moment more joy because he's doing it, or are you feeling almost grief because you know he hasn't had a life filled with this?
Luke Toennies 9:18
It's kind of
Chelsey Marino 9:19
both. It's
Luke Toennies 9:20
like feeling really happy about something, and then someone punching you in the gut at the same time.
Chelsey Marino 9:25
Yeah, it really is a gut punch, and it's extremely joyful at the same time. I completely agree with that.
Luke Toennies 9:30
It was-I've never felt a feeling like that ever in my life.
Lori Cohen 9:34
Wow, that's pretty interesting.
Luke Toennies 9:38
I've been like very, very happy to the point of like emotional tearing up before, and obviously I've been so sad that that's happened. But I've never like had that double feeling at the same time. But it was definitely more happiness than grief. If I were to like say,
Chelsey Marino 9:57
yeah. Did you know when you were. Set out when you set out to adopt him that he was traumatized. Were you anticipating that?
Luke Toennies 10:07
Yes, very much so. I did not think it would be this bad, but yeah. Well, there's like a part of me too that just had no idea. I kind of went into it just like, all right, this is going to be a lot different because my last beagle was hyper confident, like, and yeah, he was ready to like take on the world. So, and there's, I see that in Snoop actually, slowly over the years has been coming out, and his confidence that he has underneath all of it is actually hilarious.
Lori Cohen 10:44
In what ways?
Luke Toennies 10:46
My favorite thing that he does-I've never met or seen a dog that pees and kicks up grass on people's lawns more often than he does. He'll do it on-I swear to God-every person's lawn. And so, like the other day, and he'll do it. There will be dogs in like a window barking at him, and he stares them down and starts kicking up the grass like a bull. And he'll do it to people. There was some people sitting on their front step the other day that he was staring at, and he's just-he didn't even pee. He just started kicking up their grass while he was staring at them. So if you don't have any other dogs,
John Ramer 11:28
did you teach him that, or
Lori Cohen 11:30
is it posted?
Luke Toennies 11:32
Yeah, yeah, I might have-I might have taught him a thing or two. You're
Chelsey Marino 11:36
like, especially that house with that crazy
Lori Cohen 11:38
woman over there. I don't like that neighbor over there. What are the some of the things, Luke, that you've seen over the years that surprised you? I mean, you knew you were adopting a former research beagle. You knew there was going to be the PTSD, the anxiety, some of that. Whether or not the degree at which you might have known differed, but what have you seen? What surprised you over the the years about his behavior changes, aside from rallying up the neighbors and getting them going?
Luke Toennies 12:17
Yeah, I I think that thing that has surprised me the most is his like willingness to learn and how smart he can be. Because we did when I probably the first few months, the first summer I got him, we did six weeks of dog training at this local place, and he did so well. Like it was obviously the the other dogs there were pretty young, but it really surprised me how well he did with his willingness to learn, how fast he learned. Granted, he is a beagle, and if you put a treat in front of them, I always joke around and say that they'll make you sushi. But I would say that, and I think a lot of it has just been like so new and surprising in certain ways, but then in other ways, not having a beagle for 10 years before the way he acts, I'm like, I know it's in there, so it's just a matter of time of it coming out. And when it does come out, I'm not surprised because I think the one thing I asked you when I first got him is, am I gonna have to be worried about him not having certain beagle traits?
Speaker 1 13:41
Yeah,
Luke Toennies 13:42
and. and that worry is definitely gone. They're all there, every single one of them, even the ones that I can't stand, are there. And yeah, so
Lori Cohen 13:54
well, and it just goes to show you that obviously he was ready, and the decompression time, you know, again, always varies with individual dogs. But you sort of got a dog a little bit different than a lot of the people that I speak with, because most of the time our fosters end up adopting the dogs. But Snoop had already been with a foster having the decompression time for quite a number of months, and and sort of had had some time. He was still scared, but he had some time. So your experience would be a little bit different than had he just gotten out of a laboratory and gone. You being the first home, this was a little bit different. How did he respond to training in the beginning?
Luke Toennies 14:44
He, I mean, I had had him for a few months already, so I think he was really comfortable with me. And he was like, I don't want to sound biased. I judge other people for how they have their dogs trained and how they. Me too.
Chelsey Marino 14:59
Don't worry. Yeah, how they
Luke Toennies 15:00
treat them, even just how they speak to them, because like,
Chelsey Marino 15:04
yeah,
Luke Toennies 15:05
I obviously believe that like you need to use like tones are everything, and I can tell when a grown ass man, pardon my French, is angry with his dog rather than just being firm,
Lori Cohen 15:18
right?
Luke Toennies 15:18
So I like saw that in this room of I think there was six other people, and I was looking at my little perfect angel here, and how smart he was, and just how well he was adapting. It was just like easy. He didn't struggle with anything, and then he started doing things that I didn't even ask him to. Like they would teach a trick at the end of every class, and then that's when his dancing started, and that surprised me how well he took to the training. But then at the same time, I looked at it and I was like, okay, I have a treat in my hand. Of course, this dog's gonna, you know, he's a beagle. So
Chelsey Marino 15:55
I think it's interesting that you say that. One of the things that I say a lot when I talk about the difference of a research beagle versus like a normal dog, is that research beagles don't have willingness to learn. They often just don't have a desire to try something new or overcome their fear or anything like that, and that's why a lot of training is difficult for them because there are some who aren't food motivated, don't like toys, don't like affection, don't care about anything, and like just don't want to try to do it. They just are fine without it. So I think it's cool that you didn't have that experience. That he was like, "Hey, Dad, like I'm ready. Let's do this, and I want to show you all these cool things that I can do. So I think that's awesome.
Luke Toennies 16:40
Yeah, I'm. I'm really glad I did it, and I think it was like good for our bonding because of yeah how much I learned from it as well.
Chelsey Marino 16:47
Yeah,
Luke Toennies 16:48
and yeah, I'm I'm really glad. I think if anybody is ever thinking, should I take my dog through some training, even though it's a research beagle, I think if they think they're ready, that 100 they should. And I think the one thing that he benefited from as well was it being a group class, because the one thing that he's always really struggled with is noises, and it was very loud. There was a lot going on. The other dogs were barking lots, and I think that kind of helped him get used to like loud noises a little bit better. Even though he still every day is a struggle with that kind of stuff, but that did definitely help him. And the other thing too, and I find this funny, Lori, that you said that he didn't really want anything to do with dogs. Is this dog loves dogs now?
Lori Cohen 17:33
That's amazing.
Luke Toennies 17:35
Like he loves them.
Lori Cohen 17:36
Do you think he would love them in your home? Because I still picture him as a one person that he bonds with, at least from what I was told with the other fosters. However, you have said that you might want to get him a buddy, so and you would know better than anyone. But I, what I love too, though, Luke, is on the training note. I love how you said that you would have a former research dog go to training when you know they're ready because that's really the key is knowing when your dog is ready, especially a dog with PTSD and anxiety who's come from you know a world of no freedom. And I think that's amazing that you judge that and then we're able to make that decision. But what do you think about him having a buddy? Do you think he's moved past his original sort of? I don't really want to be around other dogs.
Luke Toennies 18:26
I think long term, I don't know how he would be. My sister thinks that he would not like it long term because my best friend has a dog, and I mean I have friends that have dogs that have brought their dogs over, and he he loves running around our big yard with them, and hanging out with them. And he's totally fine. He's very playful. Even my friend has a little dachshund. We're actually dog sitting her on the weekend, and he loves her name's Millie. He loves Millie, and he's actually very and like I know. Once again, I'm biased. This dog is very smart. I guess it's the beagle thing, but he's very aware of his size with her. So when he's playing with her, even though she's little, he's very gentle with her. Even though like they're both psychotic when they're together, and this dog loves to run, and they'll just chase each other around the yard a lot. So, but I think long term, I don't know. I think he'd be okay. My sister thinks that he wouldn't be okay because he can definitely get a little jealous when I'm giving some affection to another dog, and I think he knows in his head like I'm the main character,
Chelsey Marino 19:39
right? Yeah, I was just gonna
John Ramer 19:41
say for the people that are just tuning into the audio only of this, Snoop is sitting in a big oversized chair with Luke, and if Luke doesn't have a bag of treats in his hand, Snoop is snuggled up and pawing at him, letting him know that. Is there and he expects to be served. So make sure you check it out on our YouTube if you're just listening to audio. But it it does look to me from the outside looking in that he has definitely laid claims to you, Luke. Absolutely. Is that yeah? Is that accurate?
Luke Toennies 20:18
Yeah. Like he loves my sister, which I find very funny. But and in some ways, like I think if you were a fly on the wall, you'd might almost think that he likes her more than me. But I think she just has this kind of like motherly appeal to him that he's attracted to with her, but still, at the end of the day, like even when she's in the living room watching TV and him being a very cuddly dog and loving to cuddle with everybody, he'll do it with her, my other sister, not so much my dad. He's making a little bit of progress with my dad over the years, but he'll still be in my office with me if I'm working, and in his lazy boy chair here, which is his chair, not my chair. And he'll be sleeping there next to me. And I'm, I'm like, sometimes I wonder, I'm like, why don't you go with Faith in the living room when she's watching a movie and get some cuddles? But I think he just wants to be with me. So yeah, he definitely has laid claim.
Lori Cohen 21:23
Luke, when did you notice the voice?
Luke Toennies 21:29
When did I notice the voice? I noticed his bark was very strange. Pretty quickly, sounded very hoarse and like raspy because it I didn't hear his bark for a while, and then that one day I think it was like an Amazon guy or something was delivering a package, and that's when like he first got a little territorial, which I you know that made me happy too, because I'm like he's definitely feeling like this is his home. And then there was a day where I think I was watching a video on TikTok or something of some beagles howling, and I noticed his ears perked up, and I just started howling to see if I could get him going. And then that's when the whisper howl made its first appearance, and I was like, I've never heard anything like this before in my life. I think it's very cute, but I knew why because my sister was with me, and I was and I was like, do you think like they maybe debarked him in the lab? And she said for sure because of the the bark being weird. I always joke around and say that he sounds like a goose that smacks or smokes a pack a day, and the howl being his little very. A lot of people, at least on social media, think he's just being polite. I'm like, he doesn't really have a choice. We can still find it adorable, which it is. But yeah,
Lori Cohen 23:01
there's a sadness to it, and we're definitely going to ask you to do the howl with him for sure. But that's kind of when your advocacy for former research dogs came about, because now this is your passion. You're passionate about explaining things to people and sharing his story, so walk us through that because we know that we rate dogs was a part of that. The dodo was a part of this, and you knew that moment that you. I think you even texted me and said, "Lori, I knew when I posted that video, it might go viral. How did that all play out?
Luke Toennies 23:43
I mean, so I've been doing social media for a long time now with my fitness stuff, and I've posted fitness stuff in the past that I'm like, I know this is going to do well. It does well, and that video, for some reason, I mean, it was it was very cute. I had never gotten a sleepy awoo out of him, and I just I thought it was the funniest thing ever. And I've always said too, like with the whole social media thing, that if you have a platform, whether it's for your business or anything, and you have the opportunity to help other people, even if it's outside your normal niche, why wouldn't you do that? Especially if it's something you're passionate about. So as soon as that started to blow up, and he started getting attention from the dodo, and we rate dogs, and I think there was one other one too. I can't remember off the top of my head, but
Lori Cohen 24:48
koala.
Luke Toennies 24:49
Yeah, koala. I actually just had another company reach out to me this weekend about doing a another one. So yeah, as soon as that happened, I knew. I know how social media works. If I can use this dog to perform well on social media to help educate other people, then like, why wouldn't I do that, right? I find it fun. I can do fitness and beagles. I always dreamed of having my own gym that would be dog friendly that I would call beagles and Barbells, so yeah, like I love it. It's kind of my my ultimate dream. No one steal
Chelsey Marino 25:29
that.
Lori Cohen 25:30
Yeah, no one steal that. Trademarks don't.
Chelsey Marino 25:32
It's trademarked already. No one's gonna take it.
Luke Toennies 25:36
Yeah, and and I just thought. I mean, I wasn't surprised when I when I posted it, what really surprised me was like the the big companies reaching out and being like, "Hey, we want to we want to talk about Snoop. And I guess, yeah, now it's just he's a snooper star.
Lori Cohen 25:53
He's a snooper star. So much so that the beagle. Let me plug Snoop's shirt because Snoop has his own Snooper star shirt. I should have asked you to wear it, Luke. I was just thinking that as well. Yeah, he's got his own T-shirt. Are you gonna howl with him right now?
Luke Toennies 26:10
We can try. I I don't know if my mic will pick it up. That's the only thing.
Lori Cohen 26:15
Fair, fair. Yeah. Give it a college try, though.
Luke Toennies 26:18
But we can try.
John Ramer 26:18
No pressure. No pressure.
Luke Toennies 26:24
Can you hear me howling when I do that?
Chelsey Marino 26:25
Yeah.
John Ramer 26:26
Yes. It's very clean. Ooh.
Luke Toennies 26:44
Oh, oh! Good boy. What a
Chelsey Marino 26:48
good boy!
Lori Cohen 26:49
Goodness, good boy. That was cool. Yeah, what a good boy!
Luke Toennies 26:53
Warm up the the throat a little bit. For he's
Chelsey Marino 26:56
a superstar. He's ready. He's ready.
Luke Toennies 26:59
Ready.
Chelsey Marino 27:00
You think he was debarked, and there's a part of that. If you think about it, of somebody taking his voice away from him, and now with the howling and the howling leading to this success of of yours and his on social media, I guess for me, I can kind of see this. There's a mirror, big picture. Yeah, there's a mirror. There's you know, you took my voice away from me, but now I'm a voice for not only myself but other dogs in this situation, and I literally do it from this voice that you took from me. There's, I think, something that's you know maybe romantic about that, but you know, do you feel like he's now this ambassador for dogs in research? Be you know, maybe not because, but you know, it has something to do with him potentially being debarked.
Luke Toennies 27:53
I think 100% I think it's very poetic in a way. I think it helps as well that even if he doesn't have a voice, I would love to be his voice for him as well. I'm very passionate about it, and I think it's cool that later on in my life I was able to find something new that I could be so passionate about. Because I've always had fitness and sports and other stuff like that, so I think the the Beagle thing is really awesome.
Chelsey Marino 28:19
I dare to say, even it's poetic that Snoop to me is a exception to the rule of of research beagles. Generally, they usually don't come out like this. You know, obviously he has struggles, he has trauma, but it sounds to me like he came into this world, this new world, just ready to go, and he, you know, found you or you found him, and you guys started your life together. And he just kind of feels like he's on this mission to experience the world, and you are almost a vessel for that because you have a platform and you have the ability to help him live his life and also be an ambassador for dogs. I just think it's kind of like you have this dog who is like, "Hey, dude, like let's go, and you're like, "Hey, yeah, let's go. I've got you know the platform. Let's go tell everyone about how great you are, and I just think it's kind of a maybe on purpose perfect matchmaking by Laurie. Why? Why? Thank you. And again, it though proves that the dogs choose us because he chose the dog with no voice, or the soft voice that was taken away from him in in research for whatever reason, chose a self declared opinionated person with a platform and a voice because Luke doesn't shy away from things.
Lori Cohen 30:00
He he said it right to us in the beginning, and so I think it's beautiful that I mean they are a perfect match because Snoop obviously had things to say and his voice isn't loud enough to say it, so he found the person who could do it and would do
Chelsey Marino 30:16
it. Yeah, you said that way better than I did, but love it. I have
John Ramer 30:21
a tattoo that is the Latin phrase "box pro tacito, which is "voice of the silence, and I I think that you you and Snoop definitely embody that more than me and my three beagles because mine are loud as hell. So you know,
Luke Toennies 30:40
I'm sorry to hear you.
John Ramer 30:41
I I love it though. We live on 1,200 acres in Wyoming. They're not bothering anybody, but I commend you for using your platform to raise awareness for animals in in research.
Lori Cohen 31:02
And now, dogs beyond the lab continues.
John Ramer 31:07
What is something that you would tell somebody considering getting into fostering or adopting former research beagles that you were caught off guard by, or you don't feel is made known enough publicly.
Luke Toennies 31:24
That's a good question. I think I would tell those people to expect the unexpected, and honestly, I think the best thing to do is to go into it with no expectations. Because I mean, I see lots of videos of other dogs too, and I'm sure it's just so much different per beagle. And I would say I am not a patient guy at all, and I never have been. And that's probably been the best part about this dog is him teaching me patience. And I would say get ready to have your patients tested, and if you don't think that you can handle a challenge like that, don't bother. Leave it to somebody else.
Lori Cohen 32:10
Well said. Yeah, very well said. Very well said. What do you love about beagles? Forget the former research beagle. What what what's the beagle? What's the beagly part?
Luke Toennies 32:21
This is probably my favorite part. Is I mean, I'm an active guy. I love how active they are. I love their funny personalities. How loud they really remind me of myself a lot. That's probably why they're loud and obnoxious. They don't hesitate to tell you when they want something, when they want their food, I love how intelligent they are. I love their willingness to exercise. I finally got to the point where I was like, "Okay, I think he's ready to go on a hike, and I took him on a 12k summit hike, and he beasted this hike. And this is one thing that my last beagle taught me is that when I got him, I realized how much exercise they need, and so I would walk him every day, and just how much they love just the little things like just being outside in the sun and sniffing something for 10 minutes. Right, it kind of made me kind of put me into a position where I was like, you know, because I'm a go go go go go guy, that sometimes I just need to even slow down a little bit too, and enjoy the little things. Yeah, I just kind of love how in your face they can be too, and I could go all day the things that I love about these dogs, but I think my favorite things is definitely like just how active they are and loud and obnoxious. They just-they are a handful, that's for sure.
Chelsey Marino 33:49
Yeah,
Luke Toennies 33:50
that's the best part. How much they love food too, because I love food. I get it. You know, if I was him, some of the things that I cook, I'd probably be drooling on the floor as well. So
Lori Cohen 34:02
you definitely have to be special to love beagles. They're a special breed, and the people who love them are a special breed. Let's just say that.
Luke Toennies 34:13
Good timing for him to start standing on the arms of the chair. This is-he's like I
Chelsey Marino 34:18
am great. You're right. Newfounds the
Lori Cohen 34:21
perfect example of what John said earlier. This should definitely be the watch and listen on YouTube version of our podcast. Everybody needs to see Snoop.
Chelsey Marino 34:32
Yeah, he's cute. I'll give him that.
John Ramer 34:35
He's got a presence.
Luke Toennies 34:36
He's got the biggest ears I've ever seen on a beagle. Yeah, these things are insane, and you'd think with the ears-they're
Chelsey Marino 34:42
not only long; they're wide. They're the
Lori Cohen 34:45
biggest ears ever. Yeah, and they're very velvety. I can say that because I met and have been with Snoop a number of times. It wasn't just a drop off for me. I had spent time with him, so yeah, he's a sweetheart.
Luke Toennies 35:00
You'd think he'd be able to listen a little better sometimes with ears that big, but
Chelsey Marino 35:03
yeah, no,
Lori Cohen 35:04
that's his reason. That's why they're covering everything. You can't hear a thing purposely. That's what I say to my
Chelsey Marino 35:10
dog. I said, Stanley, let's put our listening ears on, buddy. Yeah, not just for looks, not just for looks.
Lori Cohen 35:15
There, dog. Something you don't know, Luke, because at the time I was not able to say this, but this dog is from Kindness Ranch.
Luke Toennies 35:25
Oh, really?
Lori Cohen 35:26
Did you know that, John? You probably did. How could you not?
John Ramer 35:30
I did.
Lori Cohen 35:31
How could you not really? Let's be serious. Yeah, yeah.
John Ramer 35:35
So he started in Wyoming.
Lori Cohen 35:37
He started in Wyoming. Yeah.
Luke Toennies 35:39
I kind of had a feeling because I actually I had someone weirdly reach out to me on TikTok after one of his videos, and they were asking about his ear tattoo, and they said they had a way of figuring out where he came from. So it was a very strange conversation. I don't know how much of it was true, you know, but it was yeah.
John Ramer 36:03
I I have a feeling I know who it was that that reached out, and they've become very obsessed with decoding the the tattoo information on former research beagles, and the the tattoos are an interesting story in and of themselves, with all of the recent attention on breeding facilities that are being shut down or put under a lot of public scrutiny, the tattoos you can actually now pretty well publicly identify where they were born, and you can track how they were shuffled around through different research facilities and ultimately find their way. Well, less than 1% in total find their way to organizations like Beagle Alliance and Kindness Ranch and and others. But I'm glad that that Snoop is one of them that found his way.
Luke Toennies 37:00
Me too. I think. I think if he could talk, he would probably say the same.
Chelsey Marino 37:04
He would say, "Thanks, guys. Luke, you are a fitness coach. You've mentioned that a couple times, and so you are used to for your job. You help people build their confidence and build their strength and deal with being uncomfortable. So, did any of that help you with Snoop, and did any of Snoop's skills that he taught you change how you coach your clients?
Luke Toennies 37:32
100% That was part of the reason why.
Lori Cohen 37:34
It's a great question.
Luke Toennies 37:35
Yeah, that was a very good question. That's
Chelsey Marino 37:36
the thanks.
Luke Toennies 37:37
First reason why I signed up for the dog training is because I was like, I'm a coach. I know how to coach. So if I can go learn and get the tools myself to coach my dog, essentially, then applying it will be very easy because it's just like with people, reps and reps and reps and reps and reps, and you're gonna get better at something. I tell everybody that every exercise you do in the gym is a skill, and the more you do it, the better you're gonna get at it. It was the exact same thing with him, but I just had no idea how to train a dog. I knew how to teach dumb tricks, you know, just based off of my past dogs and stuff like that. But I wanted him to be very well behaved, along with like I knew it would be good for his brain, and there was a lot in the training that I would I would do over and over and over again because it taught me things that I didn't think they would teach me, and then with it relating to my job as well, I would say it maybe a little bit helps with my clients in terms of the patience side of things, but a lot of my clients are pretty crazy. Like the majority of my in-person clients are men. The majority of my online are females. So the guys that train with me in person, they usually don't require a whole lot of patience, but I think the yeah I just think the biggest thing was just equipping myself with the tools necessary to train him.
Chelsey Marino 39:14
I think that's a great point because I talk about that a lot when I do training, whether it's for my dog training company in Charlotte, North Carolina, or it is Keeper and Kin who I work exclusively with Research Beagles, and when we do behavior training, we do it virtually because I don't want-I don't really care if Snoop listens to me. So me coming and working with him, you know, is virtually useless because I would rather teach you as his person what to do and how to help him through the moments when he's scared or when you want to ask him to do something, whether it's obedience or behavior training. You are the person who has to know what to do, and so I think you. As a coach, and also you as somebody who has been through dog training, can maybe resonate with that. Of you have to be the person to get your dog through these things. You have to be the person to wake up every day to help your dog, or wake up every day to go to the gym. And and that's something as a type of coach myself. And you know, obviously, with your job, I think it's interesting dynamic that you went that route with dog training too, because it it is important.
Luke Toennies 40:30
Yeah, I I really enjoyed it too. Like it was just basically adding another, you know, kind of skill to my coaching asset. I just think that there's a lot about being any kind of coach. That once you have that mentality of how to basically take be a sponge for these tools and then apply it in any other kind of way, you can do that in in a lot of different things. Yeah.
John Ramer 40:56
Did you tell the trainer that he was a former research beagle when you signed up?
Luke Toennies 41:01
Yep, I did, and she said that she thought it would be very good for him as well, just being in a like a loud enclosed space with the other dogs and stuff like that. And she even said by the end of it, she was blown away at how quick he was, how quick of a learner he was, and just how good he did, and even on like because they did a little bit of recall training off leash in like this big field that they had, which I said to her, I was like, this is going to be pretty much useless because I don't think I'm ever going to be able to take him off leash, anyways. I hope maybe one day we can, but even his recall training off the leash was was pretty good. It's still I'm terrified to ever take him off leash. So
Chelsey Marino 41:52
I will say that particular type of situation, a group class with other dogs for obedience training, could be the exact opposite of what a lot of these dogs will need, but for your situation, it seemed to be really, really beneficial. So, how did you know he was ready for that? How did you know he needs to get out and learn instead of him just being, you know, adapting to your own home environment. What was that like?
Luke Toennies 42:23
I think one of the first signs was just seeing how he did with other dogs. Like when my best friend would bring his dog over, who's like this big, right? And she's old and grumpy, and Snoop annoys her for sure. But he's just running circles around her, trying to get her to play. Just yeah, seeing how he would react with other dogs. I think one of the other things would be how he reacted with my dad, because my dad is a pretty big guy, and his awareness is that of an ogre, and he would drive me insane how he would come into my house and like throw his jacket and it would scare him and I'm like, man, you need to like this is not your home, you know. You need to come in here and you need to be a gentle giant instead of walking around like an ogre. And because I had to change how I was too. I'm like I said, I love beagles because they're loud and obnoxious. I can be loud and obnoxious. I like to watch sports and get excited and yell and scream and all that kind of stuff. And I had to like tone back my own personality a lot when I first got him. So once I saw him being a little bit more open towards stuff like that. That's when I I was like, okay, I think I think we're good. I also wanted to kind of do it at a time of year where it was nice outside, so I'd already been spending a lot of time outside with him, like walking him for at least an hour a day, trying to interact with other dogs, taking him to the dog park, where I would just keep him on leash, still there, but just getting him as many interactions as I could to see how he was, and yeah, that's I feel like that was a pretty good spot to be in.
Lori Cohen 44:15
That's a great point, though, Chelsea, because that's definitely obedience training, and any type of training like that is something that even when somebody adopts and they've spoken with Chelsea and had time, if they need it to to speak with Chelsea, will they all end up working with Chelsea at some point? But you know, we do tell them that it could be up to a year or longer before ever doing anything like that, because of course the main goal is decompression and and them not being afraid. Of course, Luke, you were he had probably been quote unquote free dog for a year at this point too, but I think it's really important to make no. That obedience training doesn't always happen, doesn't always have to happen, and you definitely have to be in tune with your dog to know when you think they're ready, and then back off if you feel that it's not right at the time.
Chelsey Marino 45:12
Yeah, I mean, every dog is different, every person is different, right? So it's so interesting to talk with the people on the podcast because we talked to Luke and we hear this experience where Snoop was ready and the type of training that Luke went through was really really good for Snoop. Where we talk to other people and they're laughing a year and thinking about training their dog at all. You know their dog is so not ready and so what is awesome is these dogs are so different, and they all need this variety of things. And myself, and I know the two of you and your organizations. That's what we're here for: is to support the people who have these dogs, and so we can help them figure out, like, yeah, maybe now is a good time to try this, or I would wait a little bit longer, or you know, get another dog. Don't get another dog, whatever that may be. You know, it's helpful to have these people help because these dogs are all different, and all of their journeys are different too.
Lori Cohen 46:13
Yeah, as are the people, and so
Chelsey Marino 46:16
yeah,
Lori Cohen 46:17
you know, everybody's going to want something different from their dog, but that doesn't mean that it's going to happen tomorrow. And I guess that's what the relationship is. Luke knew knew where Snoop was at and made that decision accordingly. But it really does prove how individual all the dogs are, which is so beautiful.
Chelsey Marino 46:38
And Laurie, speaking of that, this story highlights the importance of a perfect match or matching a dog with an adopter that you know might work best for the dog. So, what does the Beagle Alliance do before a dog goes home to try to make a match between this dog and this adopter? Because there's this balance of we need to get these dogs into homes, but then on the other end is I don't want to put this dog with the wrong person. So how does how do you how does the Beagle Alliance balance that?
Lori Cohen 47:13
Well, the Beagle Alliance does not balance that by doing it alone. Number one, so the whole journey has been made easier. It was a little tricky in the beginning, but I think that what ended up happening and why it's become a little bit easier is that you know we three organizations, as we are distinct organizations, have begun working together, and I think that's giving myself and the Beagle Alliance a better opportunity to match the dog and the person. Where the three of us, the three of our organizations, are in constant contact, and so if I were, I take the little bits and pieces that Kindness Ranch learns about the dog when they first come out of the laboratory, and then Chelsea, you fill in a little bit of the blanks there with. And of course, we've all said that there's a different dog at the time that they come out of the laboratory than the time that they're in a sanctuary, because a sanctuary setting, of course, is different than being in a foster home. So we do see the differences in the dogs, but I guess by taking all the little pieces that I get, and then matching it with the snippet of what I've gotten while speaking and vetting fosters and adopters, hearing about their lifestyle, who's in their home, what their thoughts are about the process, etc. and then I sprinkle a little magic in the mix, ask for help out of the world of divinity, and boom.
Chelsey Marino 48:58
Well, how do you prepare the adopters for the situation where it may not be the dog that they're expecting, or the dog may be different, right? Because what happens if Snoop goes home and he stays a scared dog forever? Like, how how do you balance that with the adopter?
Lori Cohen 49:11
I don't think he will. You know what? That's a great question, and you know, I don't mean to make light of it by saying you know I sprinkle a little fairy dust, and all of a sudden everyone's all gaga, and they they're a match because we know that it's lots of hard work, and it's a it's a it's definitely courage on the part of the dog, and it's also hard work, determination, and care on the foster adopter. It's a worth. It's a job that they've decided is worth it to them, and that they want to see the dog do well. The first thing I say to fosters and adopters potential is that it's important to be honest with yourself and also not to be too hard on yourself because you know people will possibly make wrong decisions, and I'll explain that in a second. Wrong decisions because they think that they are failing if they have to admit that it's not working out, and it's okay if it doesn't work out, if it's not a match, etc. But I think it's just about communication. It's about being honest and watching the progress of the dog. And I guess for lack of a better way, and maybe I'm rambling on right now, but I think over the years of speaking with literally hundreds of fosters and adopters and seeing the progress, I can tell by the way a foster is talking. I can hear it in their voice from hearing the progress of the dog. I can tell if the progress is not going in a forward direction, and I will certainly say that it's probably less than 5% that that ever happens. And then you have to have the hard conversation of maybe this dog belongs in a different environment once again, not because the person did wrong or the dog's not right. It's just sometimes there is an expectation placed on the dog. It isn't met, and it becomes overwhelming for the person, and therefore the dog doesn't progress. Does that answer the question? It happens, but it doesn't happen often, and we have a lot of stopping mechanisms during the process, namely communication and honesty, that get us there. But of course, that's alongside of the fact that Kindness Ranch, that we're in communication with them from the very beginning when we determine there's a rescue, and of course Chelsea now we have partnered with you, so we have that extra skill set. And again, at the end of the day, it's it's people being honest with themselves, and and me being honest with them.
John Ramer 51:53
Snoop is getting honest with that treat bag.
Luke Toennies 51:57
Yeah, he really stops staring. That's what he's staring at on my desk.
John Ramer 52:02
He's very determined. What's next for you? What What's your next phase on this social media stardom that you're experiencing?
Luke Toennies 52:15
That's a good question because I don't even think I know the answer. To be honest, I'm just kind of like taking it like one day at a time, trying to find like a good balance between the Beagles and the barbells until you can get them all
John Ramer 52:35
under one roof.
Chelsey Marino 52:36
That's the name of the episode: Beagles and Barbells. Absolutely.
Luke Toennies 52:41
Like I haven't, I have like a end goal dream that one day I want to have like my own acreage where I can turn it into like a beagle rehab kind of farm esque kind of thing. So like I want to like work towards that, and if the social media thing can help me do that, you know, then obviously that would be awesome, but I think for the time being, and this is like I feel like it's really good timing with the Ridgeland Farm stuff that's going ballistic on social media right now. Is just to keep. I think I want to show content that people can see where these dogs have like where they can get to, you know, because like there's a lot of like you know heartwarming stuff on social media right now, and you see that they're scared and that kind of thing, but just like showing that they can turn into these little confident balls of energy, and yeah, I don't know, just to keep having fun with it, I have fun making the content too. So if if I can, my I think my next step would be if I could find a way to use the content to raise money to help more dogs. Because I'm sure you know, even 1500 dogs. I I don't know how much it costs, obviously for for this kind of stuff, but I'm sure it's insane with medical bills and stuff like that. I mean, Snoop has had his own very expensive medical bill the first summer I got him, and that was not fun. So joked around with everybody and tell everyone that he owes me six grand. So hopefully one day we can all
John Ramer 54:19
relate to that.
Lori Cohen 54:20
Totally. Yeah.
Luke Toennies 54:22
Was that. that was not a fun vet build, but yeah, I think that's just kind of the biggest thing. If if one day I know in Canada here we can't really make money off of TikTok or anything like that, which is primarily wild.
Luke Toennies 54:38
Yeah, it's kind of sucks. We live in a
Chelsey Marino 54:41
different world here, totally different world.
Luke Toennies 54:44
If we do, I would like to, you know, use that money. Like, if the creator fund ever came to Canada, I would use a lot of that money to help more dogs. That's kind of. I hope that answers your question. Well, if it.
John Ramer 55:00
End up coming to Canada. I hope they pay you retroactively.
Luke Toennies 55:05
Me too. I've done the math on how much that dog would be making me, and he would have more than covered his his surgery that he owes me.
Lori Cohen 55:18
What's the question or comment that you get the most of on social media since you have started posting Snoop's journey.
Luke Toennies 55:29
I don't know. I get a lot of questions. I don't. I wouldn't say that there's like one in particular. I get a lot of dumb ones too. I feel like the dumb ones are the ones that kind of stick in my head the most because I just be shaking my head at people, be like, you know, how do how do you not understand? But I think got to think about this one for a second. Probably just like I don't know, I just get so many that I feel like there's not any that really stick there. It's more the dumb ones that stick and that stick.
Lori Cohen 56:09
Well, let's share a dumb one then for fun.
Luke Toennies 56:11
A dumb one for fun. Well, like you know, I feel like a lot of people lack reading comprehension skills and
John Ramer 56:23
on social media, no, can't relate to that. You don't
Tara Sands (Voiceover) 56:26
say. You don't say. And they'll
Luke Toennies 56:28
watch this video of him howling, and they'll be like, "Why does he sound like that? And I'm like, "It's on the screen, you know, or or they think that I'm the one that debarked him.
Lori Cohen 56:45
Oh goodness, I'm like, why would you do
Luke Toennies 56:47
that to your dog? I'm like, are you dumb? You just answered the question, yes, you are. But yeah, those those are the ones that really get me. I think,
Chelsey Marino 56:57
don't we know it?
John Ramer 56:59
So with all of us sitting here, is is there any burning questions that you've had that you know you've got a panel of experienced people in front of you? What's one question that you would like to ask any of us to just put any nagging thoughts or put us
Lori Cohen 57:24
on the spot. Put us on the spot.
Luke Toennies 57:27
For me to ask you guys,
John Ramer 57:28
yeah,
Chelsey Marino 57:29
yeah.
Luke Toennies 57:31
I would want to know what's was the spark to the passion behind all of you guys to wanting to do stuff like this,
Chelsey Marino 57:42
John. Why don't you start?
John Ramer 57:45
Oh, okay. I will give the most abridged version possible. in In 1999, I met a girl at a nightclub, and she was cute. We started talking. She told me she was a vet tech at an animal sanctuary. We kept in touch. I went to visit her, and I stepped foot on this animal sanctuary in southern Utah, and my entire life changed. Fast forward to about 10 years ago, and I was working at a primate sanctuary in Gainesville, Florida, where I helped bring in a bunch of squirrel monkeys that were used in nicotine research. And I was amazed that all of these monkeys were exposed to nicotine. When we all know that nicotine is bad for us, why are we doing this? And that was my first hands-on exposure to animal testing, and I have been obsessed with trying to get those animals at least at a minimum a retirement opportunity. If if it's still going to be legal, and it's still going to be something that is done, whether it's behind the scenes, all cloak and dagger or not. The least we can do is offer an alternative to just simply euthanizing them when research is done. So that is where I found Kindness Ranch, and I was lucky enough that there was a position here for me, and I've been dedicated to it 24/7 ever since.
Luke Toennies 59:32
It's always a very bittersweet response to a question like this,
Chelsey Marino 59:39
Lori. You want to answer? I'll go last.
Lori Cohen 59:43
Okay, I'm last to
Chelsey Marino 59:44
the party anyway. So,
Lori Cohen 59:45
well, if you're on YouTube, you'll see the dog portrait behind me. So, in 2010, my little beagle named Trouble walked into my world, and I had no intention. Of keeping him, I was kind of a German Shepherd girl. If I was to pick a breed, and I had just lost two of my dogs, and I had one lonely dog, and this little guy walked into my life, and I had no idea. I was actually trying to find him a home for a while, and then I'm like, "What am I doing? He's super cute. He's fun, and he needs a home. And I have a lonely dog, so I kept him. And then, of course, he did all the beegly things like escape, jump on my four, you know, jump from the ground onto my four foot island and eat every kind of food imaginable. You know, just all the crafty beagle. He scaled an eight foot fence, climbed over it. Just things that I was like, I've never seen a dog like this. And so I googled beagle. I googled beagle, and literally, I think I googled what to do with a beagle. And the first thing at the time had come up with their first steps on grass, and all of a sudden, I was launched into this world that beagles were used in research, and I could not believe it. I couldn't believe that I would look at my dog and somebody would harm them, and then my sense of justice took over as well because as I went to study that and found out that you know most of the testing done on dogs doesn't yield the cures and treatments that people think that they do because I'm all for science of course but there was just this missing piece between people thinking that using animals in research were was curing all these diseases and treatments, and when I found out that there was a little disconnect there, my sense of justice kicked in. So not only these dogs were being harmed, but also a lot of treatments weren't being proposed for people, so I worked for another organization and volunteered for them for years. And then I decided that I had never heard anything in Canada. And then I found out that Canada had no laws. And as a Canadian, I was like, "This should be going on in Canada. Nobody even knows animal testing is happening, and there's no laws protecting them, so that's kind of how the Beagle Alliance started. And now, of course, Luke, I'm sure you've heard that Ontario just banned invasive testing on cats and dogs. And so, you know, there's so much more work to do in Canada. But the fact that that even occurred in the last few months and year that that took is something, and so yeah. Now here we are, and and here I am with the best people, working with the greatest people, meeting the greatest people who take these dogs, and of course meeting the hundreds of dogs that have proven that they can have amazing lives after research. They teach me courage, and they also are very good at teaching me forgiveness.
Chelsey Marino 1:03:14
Yeah. For me, I've been working in dog behavior for a very long time, I own a dog training company in North Carolina, and we do a lot of behavior training. And through that behavior training, someone reached out to me. A colleague reached out to me and asked, "Hey, can you help this couple? They have these two research dogs from Invigo, and they've been through trainer after trainer after trainer, and they can't seem to make it work with these dogs, and they don't want to keep them separated forever, and they don't want to return them or euthanize them. Like, can you help them? So I started working with them, and that was really my first exposure to dogs in research. And myself, I am a very Type A research-oriented person. So after I worked with them, and we did make amazing progress, they're fantastic. Hopefully, to be on the show one day, I started looking into what information is out there about these dogs and the behavior work and support for the people caring for them, and I found virtually nothing. What I did find is a lot of information about people working really, really hard to get dogs out of research, and I felt like my life, the skills that I had, and this there was the skills I had really kind of filled this missing piece in this whole thing, where I, as somebody who knows behavior and loves to coach people, I can fill this gap of information for fosters and adopters of these dogs. So I started doing that, and that's how I met up with John and Lori. And another thing that I pride myself on is I don't give recommendations, I don't say partnerships or anything like that unless I am 100% confident in those things. And when I give my stamp of approval, it's a real stamp of approval. And John and Lori have the same mission, different missions, but the same mission as myself. And working with them, and working with these dogs, and working with the people who have these dogs, I can look back on everything before I had started this work, and I could see all these tiny little puzzle pieces of my entire life. Like my first dog when I was a child was a beagle, and I didn't even realize that until like a year ago. Looking at an old picture of her, you know, as an example, but all these pieces of my life I feel were all coming together to put me in this exact position to be able to do this work for these dogs and for these people, and luckily I've found other people in this industry who have that same vision as I do, and I mean that's the the non emotional version. The emotional version is once you get in front of these dogs, once you are around a former research beagle, they pull at your heart unlike any other dog in the world. And when you start to see some of the firsts, their first step of grass, their first toy, their first pup cup, their first whatever, it's it really just stabs you in the heart a little bit, and it pulls you in. And knowing that I have, you know, I feel like Liam Neeson in that one movie where he's like, "I have a particular set of skills. I do have a particular set of skills, and I feel like I can help these dogs. And and that's what I think I was put on this earth to do. And so it's it's very emotional for me, but it is also something that you know I feel like I have been unknowingly preparing for my whole life.
Lori Cohen 1:07:11
Aren't you glad you asked that question?
Luke Toennies 1:07:15
Yes, I also think that it's important to know you have those sets of skills, and you should be confident about that. I think it's great.
Chelsey Marino 1:07:24
Thanks, I'm working on it.
Luke Toennies 1:07:26
But the first, and I'm with you on the first thing. Like definitely, I think this, like the first time I was on top of a mountain holding this dog, I was that like really hit me hard. So
John Ramer 1:07:42
they change you for sure. Yeah,
Lori Cohen 1:07:44
they change you. Yeah.
John Ramer 1:07:47
So Luke, you want to shout out your your socials where people can go to donate to Beagles and Barbells and get that started for you, and and where people can find you.
Luke Toennies 1:07:59
Yeah, you can find me on Instagram and TikTok. It's Swoldemort, just like Voldemort from Harry Potter, and but it's spelled S W O L E D A M O R T, and it's the same across both platforms. I will be hopefully into the new year here, getting more onto the YouTube side of things to do maybe some more like long form content and stuff like that, and like vloggy types type stuff. When you know, like when I go on little adventures with this guy, so we'll get there. I mean, it's it's a lot already as is, and in terms of if people want to donate, I would just say go through the Beagle Alliance right now because I don't have my own thing, but I try to you know pump them as much as I can on my socials. So yeah, I'm gonna get Snoop his own TikTok page eventually here because I have a little bit of a plan of a friend that's going to help me by making him a fan page. There you go. But that friend of mine lives in the states, so I think you guys can kind of figure out what I'm trying to do there.
Lori Cohen 1:09:15
Yes.
Chelsey Marino 1:09:17
Yep.
John Ramer 1:09:18
Ride the wave while you got it, my friend. Exactly.
Chelsey Marino 1:09:21
Yeah.
Lori Cohen 1:09:22
Well, thank you, Luke. Thank you for everything. Truly, thank you. It's been it's just a fun ride to see how far Snoop has come and just how famous he's become in his own right. Who would have ever known that that would have gone the way it did.
Luke Toennies 1:09:43
Yeah, if you had asked me a few years ago if I thought this was going to happen, I just thought this was. Yeah, it's it's been it's been really cool, and you know, like it's just I can't wait to see how much more we can get out of it. So,
Lori Cohen 1:09:58
well, thank you for using your voice. It's greatly appreciated. You took everything he went through and and used it for good. So thank you.
Luke Toennies 1:10:10
Thank you, and I thank you for bringing me this sweet little guy because I don't know what I would do without him.
Lori Cohen 1:10:14
Yeah, exactly. That was a
Luke Toennies 1:10:16
very sad three months not hearing those clicky clacky nails on that you hear from every single beagle on all hardwood. So I
John Ramer 1:10:26
imagine I could.
Chelsey Marino 1:10:27
Yeah.
Lori Cohen 1:10:28
Do you think he got you through it, Luke? Just as a side note, do you think he got you through the grief a little bit?
Luke Toennies 1:10:33
100%
Lori Cohen 1:10:34
Yeah. That's and
Luke Toennies 1:10:36
that's why, like I said at the beginning, I think if anybody out there is ever hesitating towards adopting a dog, whether it's a research dog or not, if you've lost the dog, I think just don't hesitate. Don't hesitate on doing it. I think they can help you just as much as you can help them, if not more.
John Ramer 1:10:52
Amen to that.
Luke Toennies 1:10:53
And if anything, I would say he probably helped me more than I've helped. Well, who knows? Guess we'll never.
Lori Cohen 1:11:02
It's a draw.
Luke Toennies 1:11:03
Yeah,
Lori Cohen 1:11:04
appreciate it. Thank you. Bye, Snoop, little cutie.
John Ramer 1:11:09
See you guys. Thank you, everybody, for listening in, and be sure to go find Luke on all of his socials. And once you've done subscribing to him, make sure you like and subscribe to all of our stuff too. You can find us at beyond the lab. Dog, where you can get links to the Beagle Alliance, Tequier and Kin, and Kindness Ranch. Be sure to check back often. We'll be updating with more episodes as time goes on.
Chelsey Marino 1:11:35
Bye, everyone. Bye. Thank you. Bye.
Lori Cohen 1:11:39
Thanks for listening to Dogs Beyond the Lab. For more, including comments, feedback, and ways to get in touch with our hosts, go to BeyondTheLab.dog.
Tara Sands (Voiceover) 1:11:49
Produced and distributed by the Sound Off Media Company.
