Here’s a hard truth: whether we do it intentionally or not, we tend to think of rescue dogs as “broken." It may not be a conscious thought. It might not be deliberate. But our behaviors often show that this belief is there inside of us. This week we're bringing back Brittnie Battle of Charlie’s Angels Saving Animals (CASA), a 501c3 non-profit rescue transport organization in Tennessee, to share insight on how we can look inward and shift our mindset about rescue dogs.

Jenny and Katya catch up with Brittnie and explore a wide range of topics from kennel cough to caring for sick dogs to how shelters with limited resources do it, how they go on, when they can sometimes barely meet the basic needs of the animals in care. The trio discusses if these same dogs, many who experience a reality of scarcity in their environment, can bounce back and heal from the learned desperation and possibly from learned resource guarding, and how that kind of guarding may differ from dogs with a genetic predisposition to resource guard.

Still, these ladies manage to keep things lighthearted and get back to chatting about whether “ugly” dogs (and cats) exist. Spoiler alert: they do! But they insist that there's magic to ugliness and that of course it doesn't mean these animals are any less lovable. Brittnie even shows how “ugliness” can be embraced by introducing Katya and Jenny to Mandu the Warthog Dog! Finally, Brittnie, Jenny, and Katya reveal their New Year resolutions and invite their listeners to donate and help CASA Transport and Better Together Dog Rescue reach their 2023 goals.

Happy new year, wonderful community of animal lovers. Big changes are coming next year and we can't wait to share more with you. Join The Animal That Changed You community on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook -- we're waiting to welcome you! Feel free to check out the website while you're at it.

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