🎙️Podcast: Becoming The Man That Rescues Dogs with Michael J. Baines

Episode #10: Becoming The Man That Rescues Dogs with Michael J. Baines

Welcome back to the Juniper podcast! Michael J. Baines's journey from restaurant owner to dog shelter founder in Thailand began with a single moment: locking eyes with a dog in need.

Today, Michael has 1200 dogs in his care, a full staff, and a heart that’s been softened by the love and gratitude of his canine family.

Grab your tissues and get ready to hear about Michael’s journey to becoming “The Man Who Rescues Dogs.”

We chat about:

• How the Wheelchair Mafia came to be
• Why sometimes leaving a dog on the street is the best choice
• How Michael balances caring for his dogs and caring for himself
• Michael’s upcoming book
• And more!

And if hearing Michael’s story makes you want to spend a little more time with your pup, get our FREE guide with 101 Easy Dog Enrichment Ideas.

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Stream The Podcast Here:

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Highlights from the episode:

• 5:26 — Being present — I can only speak about dogs now. I don't know any about snakes or crocodiles or monkeys, so I can only speak about dogs. But they all they live in the moment, and every day when they wake up, it's like a Christmas for them. You know? They wake up. They look around. They look at me. Hey! That is Dad. All my buddies is here, you know, all my buddies, and soon we're gonna go for a walk. And that and that's kind of fascinating for me that they they one day is Christmas every day for them. I'm not saying I live like a Christmas every day, but I I don't know. They they taught me to appreciate what I have and not ask for not want to have a lot of things.
• 11:14 — Wheelchair dogs — I think we have now 44 dogs in wheelchairs. I call them the Wheelchair mafia. They have their own logo. And, they're still dogs. They bark. They fight. They eat. They poo poo. They pee pee. They, you know, they do everything as normal dogs do. And, but as I said, the only the only difference is the bladder, and they cannot you know, we have to put them in a wheelchair. It's worth it.
• 15:44 — Street dogs — When people talk about stray dogs or breed dogs, they’re often, like… oh, they live on the street, you know, and everything like that. But sometimes the street is better than a shelter. And they've been maybe living there, they've been born they're born there, or they lived there for all their life. It's their home. It's their home in their mind. And why should we take them away from their home if there's no danger? If they have food, if they have shelter from rain and sun, and they have water, that's fine.
• 17:37 — Unfair human expectations — Let's say you have a shop, and you have four dogs lying in front of the entrance, and people are scared to walk in. You don't want the dogs there, but it's not the dog's fault. They don't know better. You cannot put up a sign with no dogs allowed and expect the dogs to read that. You know?

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