Episode Description:

In honor of National Pet Day, Arielle sits down with Erica Psaltis, founder of senior dog rescue Silver Linings Rescue Ranch in Bend, Oregon. They talk about what actually goes into running a rescue like this: the intake process, the misconceptions people have about older dogs, the losses, and how Erica keeps showing up even when things get overwhelming.

It’s a story about dogs most people don’t consider. About loving something with a short timeline and recognizing beauty and value in what’s fleeting.

This is the perfect episode to listen to while taking a hike or a stroll or snuggling up with your pets!

Support Silver Linings Rescue Ranch:

• Website: silverliningsrescueranch.org
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Sound credits:

• Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes
• “Stable Noises- Birds and Horses Neighing.wav” by GoodListener (freesound.org/s/322443) — License: Attribution 4.0
• “angelic aaaahh two-part harmony.wav” by Wolfsinger (freesound.org/s/25759) — License: Attribution 4.0
• “Likes, Thumbs Up” by LilMati (freesound.org/s/714569) — License: Creative Commons 0
• “Pomeranian Small Dog Barking.mp3” by yunjish (freesound.org/s/608732) — License: Creative Commons 0

Transcript:

Erica (preview) 

I just love senior dogs, and I had worked in the shelter, and I had really seen firsthand how neglected they are.  

Erica (preview) 

Senior dogs are not always geriatric, inactive bums. 

Arielle (narration) 

Welcome back, Optimists, to another episode of the Optimist Daily’s Weekly Roundup. It’s me, Arielle. We’ve made it through yet another week, and I hope you’ve all been able to tap into some gratitude, positivity, and peace, despite the chaos going on seemingly all around us. If it’s been more of a struggle than usual, we certainly don’t blame you. Trust me, I get it. But luckily, we’re coming at you this week with another guest episode that I’m pretty sure will put a smile on your face and some hope in your heart. 

Erica 

My name is Erica Psaltis. I’m the founder of Silver Linings Rescue Ranch in Bend, Oregon. 

Arielle (narration) 

Erica joins us just in time for National Pet Day, a worldwide holiday observed annually on April 11th that celebrates pets and promotes adoption. 

Silver Linings Rescue Ranch in Bend, Oregon, is a dog rescue that focuses on senior dogs, and senior dogs only. In the US, senior dogs are four times less likely to be adopted than younger ones, and with shelters across the country short on space and resources, they’re usually the first to be euthanized.  

Stay tuned till the end to learn how Silver Linings Rescue Ranch sets itself apart from other animal rescues and to hear some practical advice everyone can apply to their own lives about maintaining resilience and motivation to keep going, even when everything—your personal problems, your work, and the wider reality out there—feels catastrophic. If you’re in any kind of caregiving role, then this conversation is definitely for you. 

But I’m jumping ahead. Before we talk about all the meaningful impact Erica and Silver Linings are making now, let’s rewind and get into how Erica ended up in this very niche line of rescue.  

Erica 

I’ve always been a big fan of animals. I mean, anybody who’s in rescue is going to start their story with that. When I moved to Bend, I actually got connected with rescue because I was working in a memory care. I was planning their activities and their daily things that we would do to enrich their lives. And one of the things that we did was to go to a horse rescue, right? And they loved it. We would go out and we’d see the horses. 

Arielle (narration) 

Along with visits to the horse rescue, the memory care also took in little baby kittens from a local shelter that the memory care residents would feed and play with. With these connections at her fingertips, Erica, being an animal lover, naturally became more and more involved with a bunch of shelters in the area 

Erica 

I was doing a lot of fostering for other rescues, and I was working at a shelter, and I saw that senior dogs were overlooked. People didn’t want to rescue them. They didn’t want to adopt them. And they would be dropped off at the shelter with no plan. It just was terrible, right? People are dropping off these old dogs because maybe their person has passed away or moved into assisted living. And there’s no plan for the dog. So, then they just, they go to a shelter, and they’re scared and they’re confused, and nobody wants to adopt them because they’re a senior. So, with support of people around me and a friend of mine who also loves senior dogs, I launched this rescue to focus on the seniors. 

Arielle (narration) 

But of course, like most worthwhile endeavors, launching Silver Linings wasn’t easy. And building up the determination and morale to do it didn’t happen overnight. It took a few extra special dogs, an accumulation of moments that led to Erica making that final leap. 

Arielle (fade in) 

…What were the final moments that made you say, okay, this has to exist. 

Erica 

Yeah, there were actually a couple of things that happened. So, I was working at a shelter. Well, I hadn’t started working there yet actually. So, this was like prior to COVID and on Facebook, the local shelter here in Redmond put a post up that they were looking for what they called a “fospice” home, which is foster plus hospice. So, you would be the foster of this dog that they know is not adoptable but is also not ready for euthanasia. And I have always been a big dog person. Like I love big dogs. I’m not a little dog person. And I will fully admit that I looked kind of down on the little fufu dogs, like poodles and stuff. I was like, oh, they’re just gonna be so prissy. But it was a little poodle, and just something in my heart needed that dog. So, I called the shelter and I said, “I will be there in 15 minutes.” And I drove out there, and the vet came out to hand me Sissy. And she was this like little, rickety old lady. She was like 14 years old. 

Arielle 

Oh, wow. 

Erica 

Just like when you would put her on the ground to walk, you know, she like was really unsteady on her feet. And the vet had said that maybe she had a couple weeks. But we wanted to give her the best life she could have for those weeks. And I said, okay, you know, knowing that that was the deal.  

She lived for a year. 

Arielle 

Wow. That’s so much longer than two weeks. 

Erica 

So then I ended up getting hired by that shelter. And I took her with me to work like every day. She was with me in the car all the time. She had a little car seat.  

And when she passed away, they had taken in another senior who was a long-haired dachshund. And I took her, and her name was Mabel. And I adored her. And then she passed away right at the beginning of COVID, February of 2020. She passed away. 

Arielle (narration) 

After Mabel’s passing, Erica got a call from another local shelter with news that they had a senior dog who needed “fospice.” The poor thing had survived a traumatic accident involving a fifth wheeler. And on top of that, had a heart murmur. But as we all know by now, these kinds of things just don’t phase Erica. 

Erica 

So, I went to go get her. 

Arielle (narration) 

This little dog was named Blanche. 

Erica 

But right away, when we took her in, like, I got this very clear message from the universe. And it said, “This dog needs to go live with Nan.” And I was like, “Nan, my brother’s ex-girlfriend that I haven’t talked to in like a decade? That’s who this dog needs to go to?” 

Arielle 

That’s a very clear and specific message (laughs) 

Erica 

It was very specific (laughs)! And Nan and I were still friends on Instagram from when she was dating my brother. So, I started posting pictures of Blanche—who we had renamed Thundercat. I started posting pictures on Instagram, and Nan was immediately right there to smash the like button. Every picture, she was like, like, like, like… so I started talking to her, which again, weird. I had not talked to her in so long. And I was like, oh, I see that you like Thundercat. 

Arielle (narration) 

There were a lot of reasons for Nan not to adopt Thundercat. Nan’s place didn’t allow pets, and she lived right above her landlord. So even if they made an exception, the dog would have to be very well behaved, quiet, and house trained. 

Erica 

Those are not things that small dogs are historically well known for. 

Arielle (narration) 

But Thundercat? 

Erica 

She was quiet; she was house trained. 

Arielle (narration) 

Nan was running out of reasons, especially since Erica made sure Thundercat was in good shape, getting her teeth done and spaying her. 

Erica 

And we even did an echo of her heart. 

Arielle (narration) 

After all these procedures were done, and after a lot of back and forth, eventually… 

Erica 

Nan said that she would give her a two-week trial. So, she was in Portland and we drove her to Portland, and we brought everything of hers because I was like, “We’re not going to come back and get her… you’re going to fall in love with her.” And that is exactly what happened. 

Arielle (narration) 

Nan and Thundercat had about two and a half really happy years together before Thundercat passed away. And after her experience with Erica… 

Erica 

But Nan really was like, okay, I think it’s time that you start the rescue now. So, I did it, and Nan actually designed our logo, and it is loosely based on that dog. 

Arielle (narration) 

So now we know about the moments and the people and the dogs that sparked the beginning of Silver Linings Rescue Ranch. But after that, Erica still had to figure out how to actually build, maintain, and run the rescue. So, what does Silver Linings look like in practice? What happens when a new senior dog comes into their care? 

Erica 

So, the first thing that we do is look for an appropriate foster home for them. We are a foster-based rescue. So, while I do have two kennels at my house that can accommodate dogs, we really try to only use those for maybe dogs that need to be quarantined for some reason. Or like if a foster is going on vacation, it’s more convenient for them to put that dog with us. So I’ll reach out to my fosters and see who’s available, who, you know, who’s appropriate for this size of a dog for this personality of a dog. We would then coordinate the foster and the person who’s surrendering the dog to be able to exchange custody. 

Arielle (narration) 

There’s a lot of paperwork for the person giving up the dog to sign, which discloses which veterinarian they had so that Silver Linings can get access to records on how up-to-date the dog is with vaccines, whether they had any recent blood work, all of that kind of stuff. Once the papers are signed, the dog goes into the care of its foster. But Silver Linings also administers an intake exam with their own vets, just to make sure all the medical information checks out and that the dog is microchipped. 

Erica 

And then we do senior blood panel with T4 and a chem panel so that we can really see how everything is functioning. Or are we seeing low thyroid, or are we seeing the beginnings of kidney disease? Like just so we know. And we do a dental on them, a complete dental with extractions if necessary, because that is, especially for small dogs, that’s really key. It often gets overlooked. 

Arielle (narration) 

As you can all probably tell by now, Silver Linings Rescue Ranch doesn’t mess around with how thoroughly and intentionally they look after each and every dog in their care. 

Erica 

After the fosters had a couple of weeks to get to know them and to, like, work through this process, then we have a volunteer who gives them a call and writes; she does copywriting, and so she’ll write the bio for that dog. Then that gets sent to my ladies that take care of our Pet Finder account and posting on our website. We get all of those uploaded so that people can see sort of a full picture of the dog’s personality and what they would want in their future home. 

Arielle (narration) 

Clearly, there’s a lot to juggle when it comes to running a rescue as comprehensively as Erica does, but she does it for a reason. With age comes new layers of worries, and that’s true no matter what your species is. It makes sense for prospective fosters and adopters to be a bit apprehensive, right? 

Erica 

Yes, I think there’s been a lot of misconceptions. So, a lot of people think that a dog that’s a senior is going to have, like, a whole list of things that are wrong with them. And then also, personality-wise, is going to be not active, not interested in going on hikes or whatever. And so that’s sort of the first conversation that I have with people when they’re like, oh, well, senior dogs are just going to be lazy and they’re going to die soon. I’m summing it up, but that’s basically what they say. And my answer is that is incorrect. One of the dogs that we adopted out is a 10-year-old… I don’t think we know exactly what she is in terms of breed, but she’s a very active dog, like maybe a herding dog. And one of the first things that her family did when they were still sort of trialing her to see if she would work in their home is they took her skijoring and she-  

Arielle 

What is… Wait, what is that? 

Erica 

Okay, so when you are on skis and you’ve attached yourself to, I think in its truest form, you’ve attached yourself to an animal, whether that’s a horse or a dog. So, it’s kind of like dog sledding. Instead of without the sled, you’ve just attached whatever animal is pulling you to your body. And they are pulling you on skis. 

Arielle 

Sounds fun. Sounds strenuous. 

Erica 

So, they took this dog, and she went skijoring with them. The senior dog.  

It’s going to be breed-specific, right? So, when you have the smaller dogs who were bred to be in somebody’s lap, that’s already their baseline. From the time they were puppies, they wanted to like be with you on your lap, hanging out, playing with you. That’s what they wanted. But for bigger dogs, they will keep like who they are into adulthood. And so, you know, they may not be able to go for a 40-mile hike, but they can go for a four-mile hike.  

Arielle 

Right.  

Erica 

But they still want to go do those things. That’s one thing that I always want to explain to people, is that senior dogs are not always geriatric, inactive, you know, bums.  

That’s one challenge is the behavioral part. The second one is that people are worried about their health, which is a valid concern as dogs get older. But we like to be fully transparent, and we like to let people know, like, this is what they’re experiencing. Here’s how we have seen it progress or not progress. This is how we’re managing it: medication or special diet… 

Arielle (narration) 

Okay, just a heads up, optimists. You’re going to hear Erica’s dog in the background for a little bit, but honestly, it’s pretty fitting to have a dog’s bark featured in this episode, don’t you think? 

Erica 

…And what have we already done? So, if they’ve had an echocardiogram, if they’ve had whatever, I want them to know all of that. And, you know, people can then decide if they want to go forward. 

Arielle 

Another common worry is that people don’t want to fall in love with a dog and then lose them so quickly. You’ve had this experience a few times already. What do you say to that person? 

Erica 

I tell them that they… That I understand that fear… I understand.  

That I have never regretted getting to know a dog and having it pass away. I personally have always felt very lucky and very enriched with knowing that dog. I’ve never had somebody, after adopting a dog from us, come back to us and say that they felt like they didn’t get enough time with that dog and they wanted a refund or anything. It’s always been gratitude to know that dog. 

Arielle 

Yeah. 

Erica 

I do tell people that it’s good that they know that about themselves and that it’s not always for everybody. It’s a hard one to take on. Absolutely. But that in general, I’ve always felt like my life has been… more fun, more interesting knowing that dog. 

Arielle 

Is there a dog, like a specific one that captures your whole philosophy about what this work is for? 

Erica 

Oh, man (laughs). So Mochi is a dog that we adopted in January of 2023. So, she was adopted three years ago. 

Arielle (narration) 

Before Silver Linings, Mochi was at a high-kill shelter in California. 

Erica 

Allegedly, she is a toy poodle, but she looks now like a Mexican hairless. Oftentimes when we get dogs from California, they’ve had fleas, and so they have flea dermatitis, and then that just turns into like garden variety dermatitis, a fungal infection. 

Arielle (narration) 

Mochi’s skin was so infected that they couldn’t even administer a needle for a catheter. 

Erica 

Like she had elephant skin. It was insane. Her hair did not recover from that. Like the follicles were killed, and so she just has this like crazy hairstyle. It’s really cute. 

Arielle (narration) 

Silver Linings connected Mochi to May, the woman who would adopt this special little dog. In Mauy’s care, Mochi thrives. But on top of the skin infection, there were a couple more bumps in the road for her, health-wise. 

Erica 

But then in the process of dealing with everything with her skin, we had ended up overlooking the fact that she was not spayed. One time, May brought her to an event and she was bleeding out of her vulva. I was like… that’s not good. 

Arielle (narration) 

Unfortunately, little Mochi had pyometra. 

Erica 

Pyometra, you can’t treat that. The treatment is spaying. 

Arielle (narration) 

If you’re wondering what Pyometra is… 

Erica 

Ugh! So gross… so, its…  

Arielle (narration) 

Well, I will spare you the graphic details, but basically it is a serious uterine infection. In a nutshell… 

Erica 

Not good. Can’t be treated. Have to remove it. And so, we did, and it was very harrowing because it’s putting a dog… 

Arielle (narration) 

With Mochi having already gone through so much and being so senior… They weren’t sure how she was going to handle such a big operation. 

Erica 

She did fine. Didn’t even faze her. Okay, so May continues to bring Mochi to when we have events, like adoption events or things in Bend. She brings Mochi just to say hi. I mean, just ,she’s really an example of, like, a senior dog just enriching the life of her person so much. 

Arielle 

You’re surrounded by love. You are also surrounded by loss. So, what does a hard week feel like for you, and how do you cope? 

Erica 

Hard weeks are, I mean, obviously when a dog passes away, so whether it’s a dog that we adopted out or a dog that is still in our care, that’s always really hard, even if it’s not quote-unquote our dog any longer. it’s still a dog that you feel responsible for or some connection to. And so that can be very difficult.  

And sometimes it feels like when it rains, it pours. So, it’s never just one thing that happens. All of them need to happen at the same time. So, you’re finding out that this dog has tested positive for cancer. And also, you found out that this dog that was adopted passed away. And that maybe one of your fosters is going to be moving to wherever.  

There are certainly days that you just go like, I’m done dealing with this. It’s ridiculous. You know, like it’s too much. But. I have a really great team of people that I can contact who are maybe a little bit less emotionally connected to all the things. They’re really great at keeping me grounded.  

Also, what helps me is that my husband is a retired police officer. Like there’s times that I’m just like, why are you not worked up about this? Like, why is this not bothering you? And he always just says like, because I’ve had to make life and death decisions and this is not one of them.  

The thing is that, like the weird thing with me is that I’ll be really worked up and I’ll be so frustrated and ready to quit. And then I go to bed and I wake up in the morning and I’m like, okay, all of this is doable. But in that initial moment, I’m freaking out about it. I’m overwhelmed because I’m also, you know, working full-time and I have my own animals and it’s just too much. And so, I have to have that moment to break away and say, this is doable. 

Arielle 

You mentioned before that your team, that you give each other explicit permission to take care of themselves, to take that moment. Why do you think that permission is so important and why is it hard to sometimes give it to yourself? 

Erica 

Well, I think that in general, women and really most of the people that we have as part of our foster team or the board or et cetera, are women. I think women want to sort of make things better, to take care of people. And so, it’s easy to overlook yourself in that moment. You’re trying to fix things for other people, and you’ve decided that you are less important than all of those things. And I think that’s a cultural thing. And so sometimes having somebody else say to you, can’t fill somebody else’s cup if your cup is empty. You can step away for a minute. I think it’s helpful to hear that. I think it’s helpful to say, you know, we have you. We got you. Take a moment and take care of yourself. Because you’ll burn yourself out. 

Arielle 

My next question was going to be for listeners who are in emotionally demanding work, like caregiving of any kind, advocacy, anything where the need is just so much higher than the resources. What would you say to them about how to keep going without burning out? 

Erica 

Well, okay, so one of my friends, my dear friends, once when I was talking to her about… just because I felt overwhelmed with not only the rescue and trying to juggle that and work, but also like what is happening in the world right now? Like it just feels catastrophic. When the world feels catastrophic and your life feels catastrophic and your work feels catastrophic, it’s too much, right? We’re not designed to deal with that much catastrophe. And so, she said to me, “Just focus on what’s inside your hula hoop. Here’s your hula hoop. This is as big as it’s allowed to be. It’s allowed to be hula hoop-sized.” So just don’t pack in, you know, what are the things inside that space that you can do something about? Focus on that. 

Arielle 

Yeah, it all just feels so overwhelming right now. So, it’s a good reminder just to look at what’s around you and see how you can make that better. But speaking of making things better, let’s talk about senior dog prom. Where did that idea come from? What does it look like? What is it like being there? 

Erica 

So senior dog prom came; I don’t know, how did that come about? I just kind of thought, I was thinking about what we can do that’s different than other stuff that people here do. You have to understand that Bend is a very dog-friendly area. It’s very like… they call it Dog City. Yeah, it’s a lot of… there’s a lot of dogs. So, what that means is that there are, you know, there’s a couple of rescues. And so, you’re trying to kind of compete about how to… 

Arielle 

Grab attention, yeah. 

Erica 

I thought, what if we had a prom for, like, a senior prom for dogs? And it’s sort of like developed over the years. And so, what it is now is we have it in a public location so people can just come and bring their dogs. And we always give it a theme. We have a professional photographer. So, we set up a photo backdrop that is consistent with what the theme is. We have voting for the king and the queen of the prom, which those two dogs will be crowned at the end of the night or at the end of the day. It’s an afternoon activity. And they get to go home with a, you know, they get to keep their crown and keep their sash, a little prom king or prom queen sash. And one of our volunteers actually made them… she made them in three different sizes, like, so two of each size. She made, like, those robes that you see kings and queens wearing in the olden-days, like those that are red and then they have the ermine trim. 

Arielle 

Oh yes, definitely. 

Erica 

So, we have those. Those don’t leave with the dogs, but they can take their picture with their robe on and their sash and their crown. And then we have sort of, I don’t know how to… I still haven’t figured out the right verbiage. It’s not really a talent show. It’s not really a showcase, but it’s where we have specific things like “cutest couple ” or “best dressed.” 

Arielle 

Like superlatives in the yearbook? 

Erica 

Yes. So, we have like four or five of those. And then we have a little committee. So, you can enter your dog into the best snaggletooth contest. And then our committee will meet all of the snaggle-toothed dogs, and then they vote on which one has the best snaggle tooth. And then that dog also gets a sash. And those are the dogs that we consider it sort of the rest of the prom court. So, we try to get a picture of all of them together once the king and queen have been announced. 

Arielle 

Oh my gosh, it’s such a production (laughs) 

Erica 

It is! It’s really fun. I love when people dress their dogs up on theme, and it’s even more fun when the people dress up. 

Arielle 

For someone who’s listening, who loves your mission, but realistically just can’t adopt a dog right now, what are the most meaningful ways they can help you? 

Erica 

One of the most meaningful ways is to follow us on Facebook and/or Instagram and to share the dogs that we have. In this current moment, we’re not getting a lot of interest in adopting our dogs. And to me, that doesn’t mean that they are unadoptable dogs. It means that their person hasn’t seen them yet. And so being on… Instagram, knowing kind of the dogs that we have available and being willing to share or to talk about that so that we can get the dogs in front of more people is incredibly helpful. Even if you can’t like foster, that’s not the only kind of volunteering that we need.  

So, you know, we always need people who are good at like event planning and helping with that. We need people who are shameless about asking for donations, sponsorships, like those kinds of things. And there are people who just, they just do that, and they are relentless, and that’s what we need. So those kinds of opportunities exist, even if you aren’t able to foster or to adopt right now. 

Arielle 

And where can people find Silver Linings Rescue Ranch? 

Erica 

Our website has been under construction for a little bit. We are getting it rebuilt. It should be up now or very soon from now. Our website is www.silverliningsrescueranch.org. And we are on Instagram and we are on Facebook. 

Arielle (narration) 

If you want to follow Silver Linings Rescue Ranch or support their work, everything is linked in the show notes. There are a lot of dogs whose person hasn’t seen them yet. Even if you aren’t that person, you could play a role in getting these sweet dogs in front of the people who are. 

Arielle 

Thank you so much, Erica, for taking the time to meet with me. I always close out our interviews asking the same question, and that is, what is the best piece of advice you have ever received? 

Erica 

In rescue, you’re going to have people who want you to take a dog, who want you to save a dog from a shelter, and you just don’t have the resources. You don’t have the fosters, you don’t have the money, you don’t have the transport; whatever it is, you don’t owe them an explanation. No is a complete sentence. 

Arielle (narration)

Hey, Optimists, thank you so much for joining this week. Throughout my chat with Erica Psaltis, it kept dawning on me that even though we were discussing something very, very specific, the ins and outs of running a senior dog rescue, the wisdom and lessons Erica shared are pretty universal.  

You have to recognize your limits and take care of yourself if you want to care for others well. And ultimately, you never know just how long something will last. A dog given two weeks lives over a year, and one that seemed fine doesn’t make it through another month. Everything is temporary. And to a large degree, how long anything endures remains uncertain. It’s outside of our hula hoop. But how long or short something remains in our lives doesn’t really affect its significance.  

This conversation with Erica was a wonderful reminder to stop fighting that uncertainty and to channel more gratitude and presence in the here and now. If you enjoyed our second guest interview ever, then please rate, review, subscribe, and follow. If you have any feedback, comments, or suggestions for who to feature in our next guest interview, then shoot us an e-mail at podcast@optimistdaily.com. You can also follow us and slide into our DMs on socials. We are @OptimistDaily on everything except for X. There we are @OdeToOptimism.  

If you feel like you could use a little bit more good news in your life to counter all of the sadness and anger-inducing headlines in your newsfeed, sign up for our free daily newsletter. The link for that is in the show notes.  

As usual, an extra special thank you to our Emissaries, who are our financial supporters. We literally could not do this work without you. And shout out to all the optimists out there who share our work, interact with us on socials, and simply tell their friends and family about us.  

Anyway, happy National Pet Day. Make sure to show the ones you love, and especially your pets if you have them, some extra TLC this weekend. Karissa and I will be back with our usual roundup of solutions next week. Ciao! I’m gonna go walk Tinkerbell now.