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Susan Hartzler, author of , joins us to discuss her lessons learned in caregiving and volunteering with Therapy Dogs.
Susan Hartzler joins us from California.
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Bio
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For More on Susan Hartzler
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Mentioned in This Podcast Conversation
About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast
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There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with their own financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time.
About Retirement Wisdom
I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.
Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms.
About Your Podcast Host
Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.6 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.
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Wise Quotes
On Caregiving
“Suddenly here I was single, just coming and going as I pleased, except for my dog. And suddenly I had someone that was counting on me. And my dad was a very dynamic man. So he needed some outlets for socialization and for his creativity. And all these things I had to figure out along the way. So there are things that I would tell a caregiver. It’s not just feeding and doing the physical things that are needed. It’s a lot of emotional support too. So you have to be ready.
On Baldwin
“I got a therapist who helped me a lot. And my dog, Baldwin, he was a rescue dog that my mom bought for me before she died, so I always looked at him as a sign of her love to me. And you know, it’s just, if things got really intense, if my dad was angry about something, I could just say, I’m going to take Baldwin on a walk and leave and breathe and be in nature and be with my dog and come back and things will have changed. So he really helped me a lot in my emotional journey as a caregiver. And my dad loved him too. He was amusing. We got to watch him do funny things. I taught him all sorts of tricks. He sneezed on command. So my dad liked to watch the tricks. And one time he went to the hospital and he came out and he said to me, ‘You know, it was the best thing about coming home.’ I said, ‘What? ‘He said, ‘Baldwin.’ I would have said that, but that was touching that he felt that way too.”
On Volunteering
“I’m a big advocate for volunteering, especially when it comes to dogs. So my mom was a school teacher. And after she died and I moved home to take care of my dad, Baldwin was so smart and he needed a job. So he had the agility going, but a woman that I met in agility, she was an evaluator for Therapy Dogs International. So I said, ‘do you think Baldwin would be a good therapy dog?’ She said, yes. So she helped me train him. It’s not only the temperament of the dog. There are certain training things. Like for instance, let’s say you’re at a hospital and you’re visiting someone and the food tray comes in. You don’t want a dog that’s going to jump up on the bed and start eating the food. Although my dog Bliss did eat the Play-Doh once, but that’s a whole other story. She didn’t pass the test the first time because she had to have a hot dog. So there’s reasons for the training because you don’t want to put a dog in a situation where they’re not going to succeed.”
On Therapy Dogs
“Baldwin opened up so many worlds for me. He opened up the world of therapy dogs. I went once a month to County USC with him. And it gave perspective on what was going on in my life. We visited these kids that were going through cancer treatments and they had smiles on their faces, you know? And the thing is you can’t get emotional while you’re there because you’re watching the child, you’re watching the dog, you’re making sure, if there’s an IV, you don’t want your dog to jump up and hit the IV or you don’t want your dog to eat the Play-Doh. So it’s a lot. You have to really watch what’s going on. But afterwards, I would realize what I had just witnessed. And I call it grace in motion because Baldwin… he just had such grace. He knew, I never planned what he was going to do.”
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