Chewbacca: Friend or Pet? - Episode 37

Summary

The Musers The Podcast: “Chewbacca: Friend or Pet?” – Episode 37

Released: April 1, 2026
Hosts: George Dunham, Craig “Junior” Miller, Gordon Keith
Network: Cumulus Podcast Network

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Musers The Podcast delves into the unique, meaningful, and sometimes absurd relationships humans have with their pets. Beginning with amusing personal stories and moving into thoughtful reflections on love, loss, and responsibility, George, Craig, and Gordon use their signature blend of humor and sincerity to explore why pets are so significant in our lives. Tying it all together is a lighthearted debate: Is Chewbacca, Han Solo’s legendary Wookiee companion, a friend or a pet?

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Impact of Inspirational Figures (00:39–04:19)

• Listener Letter: The show responds to a heartfelt letter reflecting on a past episode about inspirational figures. The letter draws parallels between the hosts' childhood experiences and the writer’s wife’s ministry focused on “laying down your life” for others.
• Personal Sermon Reflection: Gordon shares the vulnerability of being the subject of his late father's sermons, recounting his strong emotional reaction to one particular sermon that inspired his conversion as a child:
  • “Felt the presence move over me and it was very... I was crying. It was unbelievable.” (06:15 – Gordon)
• Preserving Memories: Gordon discusses having cassette recordings of his father’s sermons but not being able to bring himself to revisit them (07:01).

Personal Pet Rosters & Early Experiences (09:40–22:26)

George’s Dog Lineup & The Cone of Shame (09:40–19:31)

• Cone of Shame: After his dog’s surgery, George humorously laments how humbling the “cone of shame” is for dogs, comparing it to human analogs like neck braces or arm casts (11:42–13:27).
• Dunham Family Dogs: George rattles off a storied dog roster—Spiffy (the unfortunate poodle), Belle (the athletic bird dog), Beauregard Jackson (the comedic basset hound), Daisy Duke (the rebellious beagle), Hank Duvall and others—with tales of their quirks and misadventures, reflecting on the joy and bittersweet nature of pet ownership (14:19–19:01).

Craig’s Dogs & Cats: The Bolters, the Protector, and Darty Incubus (20:55–25:31)

• Runaway Dogs: Craig’s early days were filled with dogs prone to escaping (“all three bolted... I don't know what we were doing to these dogs.” 21:25 – Craig).
• Lucy, the Rescuer: His cattle dog Lucy jumps in to protect him from a Rottweiler, solidifying their bond:
  • “I knew at that moment that dog had my back.” (24:08 – Craig)
• Cats & Multiplication: Craig shares childhood memories of prolific cats (“My mom... delivered the litters. It was very troubling.” 24:47 – Craig), complete with “Darty Incubus,” their unpredictably scratchy feline.

Gordon’s Churn of Bumpers, Feral Cats & Pet Abandonment (25:35–34:53)

• Cocker Spaniels Named Bumper: Cycles of loss and renewal—each Bumper’s death (often tragic) left a lasting mark. Gordon’s eighth-grade heartbreak over Bumper Two:
  • “That was... rough. I was convinced I could nurse that guy back to health.” (27:40 – Gordon)
• The Return of Sam: A family cat, forcibly abandoned in the country, returned 60 miles to their home, showcasing animal resilience (27:14–27:32).

Lessons From Loving Pets—Responsibility, Heartbreak, and Growth (28:14–44:25)

• First Encounters with Death: The hosts detail how a pet’s death is often a child’s first loss, describing schoolyard tears and the ridicule that follows (28:50–29:04).
  • “You’re still kind of walking wounded this many decades later.” (27:40 – Gordon)
• The Agony of ‘The Decision’:
  • Craig on euthanizing pets: “We are saving it for us when we would be doing them a service by putting them down weeks ago.” (30:30 – Craig)
  • Gordon on guilt: “You feel so guilty driving them to the vet office that last time, and they’re looking at you like, hey, we’re going somewhere.” (30:49 – Gordon)
• Children Confronting Mortality: Craig’s young daughter’s fascination with death and the cycle of life, likely fueled by Disney movies, is a recurring theme (31:47–32:55).
  • “She’s already asking a lot about dying and death and how it works... Just really interested in death.” (31:47 – Craig)
  • Gordon blames Disney for traumatizing generations: “No, no, no. All those Disney just evil by doing all that.” (32:55 – Gordon)
• The Worth of Pets: George concludes, “We would not have had a complete a life if we didn’t have pets.” (63:16 – George)

The Animal Bond: Why Do We Care So Deeply? (38:19–45:32)

• Why We Love Our Pets: The hosts try to untangle the psychology:
  • “It’s their eternal childlike nature... That’s what makes it so hard to go to the vet and kill them.” (38:23–38:37 – Gordon)
  • “We are their caretakers... you create a world...you are responsible for their well being. That’s a very, very strong bond.” (40:46 – Craig)
• Not Just the Lovey-Dovey: Even non-affectionate pets—parakeets, tortoises—can create deep connections as people project stories and personalities onto them (39:29–40:21).

Practical Woes: Pets as Work & the Reluctance to Continue (45:15–47:41)

• The Work of Owning a Dog: Junior doubts he’ll have another dog after Lucy because, “They are a lot of work. I know that will last two days, because it always falls to the dad to walk the dog, to feed the dog... And boarding the dog is very costly.” (46:15–46:43 – Craig)
• Senior Pet Ownership: The emotional and logistical challenges of pet ownership become more acute with age (43:13–44:23).
  • “I just can’t take watching something else die if that happens.” (44:05 – Gordon’s grandmother)
  • “When that day comes, I don’t... know if I can go down that road again.” (53:28 – George)

Wild Tales: Tortoises, Ducks, Band-Aid Solutions (59:12–63:19)

• The Musers Bunker Tortoise: Gordon’s “Russian tortoise” saga, found during the pandemic, is an example of quirky, hard-won animal love:
  • “She comes running up to me every time I go out there to feed her. Running up to you, yeah, as fast as she can.” (61:06–61:08 – Gordon)
• Release Mishaps: The hosts share stories of releasing pets into the wild—cats returning after 60 miles, rabbits sent out with a bag of food, ducks reunited (briefly) with their pond.

The Chewbacca Question: Friend or Pet? (52:04–53:28)

• Chewbacca’s Place in the Millennium Falcon:
  • “Was Chewbacca a pet, or was he Han Solo’s best friend?” (52:04 – George)
  • “I think more best friend... Chewbacca was his co-pilot.” (52:09–52:16 – Craig & Gordon)
  • Fun Fact: Gordon reveals Chewbacca was based on George Lucas’s dog, Indiana, later the namesake for Indiana Jones (52:28–52:34).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Parental Bonding With Pets:
  • “When Bumper 2 died... I was convinced I could nurse that guy back to health.” (27:40 – Gordon)
  • “When Lucy died, that was really tough.” (24:32 – Craig)
• On Pet Euthanasia:
  • “We usually are saving it for us when we would be doing them a service by putting them down weeks ago.” (30:30 – Craig)
  • “...there was no peace. That dog fought like hell.” (56:50 & 56:57 – Gordon, retelling a friend’s painful pet loss)
• On Disney’s Role in Teaching About Death:
  • “I don’t need to see Bambi’s mom get it in the gut.” (33:05 – Gordon)
• On Chewbacca:
  • “Chewbacca was based on George Lucas’s dog. And I believe his dog's name was Indiana.” (52:28 – Gordon)
  • “He was Wookie of the Year, too, in 77.” (52:46 – George)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:39–04:19: Opening banter; inspirational figures, Gordon's sermon story
• 09:40–13:27: The “cone of shame” and human equivalents
• 14:19–19:31: Complete dog rosters and family pet history
• 24:08–24:32: Lucy the cattle dog’s dramatic Rottweiler rescue
• 28:14–34:53: The heartbreak of pet loss in childhood
• 30:26–31:22: Euthanasia reflections and guilt
• 39:29–40:21: Why we love (even odd) pets
• 44:05–44:25: The difficulties and decisions in senior pet ownership
• 52:04–53:28: Chewbacca: friend or pet, and Lucas’ inspiration
• 59:12–61:53: The saga of the Russian tortoise
• 62:10–63:19: The fate of Chirp the duck

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Tone & Style

Humorous, candid, and empathetic, with the Musers blending endearing anecdotes, gentle teasing, and thoughtful commentary. The discussion ranges naturally from the deeply personal to the irreverent, maintaining the trio’s quick wit and warmth throughout.

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Summary Takeaway

The Musers’ episode is a blend of nostalgia, laughter, and truth about the joy and pain of loving animals. From slapstick pet stories to the sobering realities of responsibility and loss, the episode captures the ineffable bond between humans and their non-human companions—and ultimately concludes that, while pets may be “just animals,” the meaning and connection they bring make lives richer and more complete.

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“I could not have... would not have had, how about that one? We would not have had a complete a life if we didn’t have pets.”
(63:16 – George)

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Email the hosts: [e-mail]
Producer: Peter Welton

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[End of summary]

Transcript

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[Gordon]

Yeah, Clorox kills 99% of bacteria in and out of the vagina. And that's disinfecting wipes, George. That's your disinfecting wipe daily. Welcome back to the Musers the podcast. This is episode 36, Chewbacca. Friend or pet?

[George]

It is the Musers the podcast. Episode 37.

[Gordon]

Told you we'd get to 37.

[George]

You did tell us that. You said we will make at least 37 of these.

[Gordon]

37. That was the magic number.

[George]

I'm George.

[Craig]

I'm Craig.

[Gordon]

I'm Gordon.

[George]

Three dudes have been talking on the radio together. We think we're the longest running major market morning show in radio history.

[Gordon]

Really?

[George]

Well, that's what we like, history. Yeah. Well, maybe not history. How about current radio show with the same character still going after 32 some odd years?

[Gordon]

Yeah, that's probably right.

[George]

Okay, we'll go with that. It's probably not right, but we're going to claim that that's right. And now we're podcasting weekly and telling stories and having a good time. By the way, if you want to email us, you can do [e-mail] and that's where we get our letter of the week. And this week's letter has to do with the show we did on those who inspire us or have inspired us during our lifetimes. That was a few weeks back. And this is from Rod, who says he's enjoying our weekly podcast as a wonderful supplement to your radio show. And he said we struck a chord with our conversation when we had about people that had an impact on our life. And he says, my wife went to divinity school and received a Master of Divinity degree. Part of the curriculum included a supervised ministry that included giving several sermons at worship services. One of the subjects she preached on was the scripture laying down your life. For another, I played the Grant McCaslin audio of him talking about his team doing that. And it's not in the literal sense that you're giving up your life. You're you're dying for someone, but you're sacrificing part of yourself for someone else. And he says, George's take in the podcast reminded me of her theme in her sermon. She concentrated on, when you see another need, you lay down your everyday life aside to tend to their concerns. Then you pick up your own life and you pick right back up and you continue on. Your podcast echoed that theme when you use those people as an example who took the extra steps, basically setting their normal routines aside to help you, thus laying down their life for another. P.S. at almost every one of her sermons, I had a good cry because I lived through many of those personal experiences that she was talking about. And then Rod says, I wonder if Gordon had the same response to any of his father's sermons. Love all that you do, P1, Rod. And as we've told you, Gordo's dad, late father, was a pastor and was a great storyteller. Your dad was an amazing speaker. I'm wondering if, because some of those stories you knew about were personal had that effect on you that I cried during them, or were you just thinking, geez, wins church over?

[Gordon]

Yeah, that was part of the reason why I took a public job and then got really private afterwards. It's like I didn't like him telling our personal stories in the pulpit. Yeah, that really bothered me for whatever reason, that there wasn't a line between our home and then, you know, what he would share publicly because there would be something that could happen. And it may be like a funny story that he could use as a sermon illustration, but it may be like an embarrassing story to me or I said something that was. That made me look stupid or something. And he's not intending it to make me feel self conscious, but it would make me feel self conscious as a kid to hear that coming back at me from the pulpit. So, yeah, I didn't like it. But he certainly gave many, many inspirational sermons, including the one when I was. I remember when I was, I think it was 10 or 11 when I was saved. In the Protestant tradition, you have this idea of a conversion. Kind of like think of Paul or Saul, I guess, on the road to Damascus and you have this conversion moment. And so a sermon moves you so much that you go down and then you become a Christian. It's what is called Born Again in that tradition. But I still remember that sermon. I remember the title of it. It was called the Only One who Could did. And I can't remember the details of it. I'd love to find sounds Like a great sermon, it seems like I found in my father's stuff after he passed away. He had all these three ring binders of his outlines for his sermons that he'd kept over the years when he would make it. And I found the outline for that sermon. And sadly, the outline doesn't really tell you much about what he does because he would just write his bullet points and then he would just be able to extemporaneously speak.

[George]

Wow.

[Gordon]

I remember that being so moving, what skill that is. Felt the presence move over me and it was very. I was crying. It was unbelievable. Yeah.

[George]

Do you have record, you have those notes, but do you have like audio or video of some of your dad's sermons?

[Gordon]

You know, I do, and several people over the years have sent them to me because a lot of churches back in the day would have this service to where you could send, you know, a couple dollars and get that week's service on cassette. And it was for people who couldn't make it into church. And it was before the days of streaming. So in order to hear the sermon that week, you could get cassettes sent to you. And people had boxes of my father's sermons and I have those on cassette tape. And now that I have a cassette deck player, I can listen to them again.

[George]

You gotta save those.

[Gordon]

And I haven't been able to bring myself to listen to it again. Cause it is so odd hearing his voice so powerful in my ears again.

[Craig]

I always knew him as a very laid back man. In his sermons, did he ever get real kind of fire and brimstone and loud, or were they always kind of laid back?

[Gordon]

He was never a fire and brimstone preacher that I remember, but he certainly understood homiletics and preaching dynamics.

[George]

He could command a room.

[Gordon]

Yeah. You know, and that's awesome, being able to. And you'll notice this even in stand up comedians, you know, there's some times when you're talking very loud and you're doing talking to the back of the room. And then at other times you bring them right up close to you where you have to lean in to hear the person talking, you know, and it really is effective. Yeah, so he definitely had. He could be loud, but he was never the brimstone guy.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[George]

Okay. I will relate your father's sermons to something we talked about on our last podcast when a former Ranger mf the both of us, Pete and Cavillia, because we were ragging him at a college baseball game. When we were at North Texas, he was playing for Oklahoma state because a very good friend of mine and his wife, they were married by your father. Really performed their ceremony, Brad and Carrie. And their son was a great athlete, played football and baseball, and their son Leighton, took batting lessons from Pete and Cavilla.

[Craig]

Wow. It all ties together.

[George]

Ties together. It's kind of like loss.

[Gordon]

Like loss.

[Craig]

It's exactly. That's what I was thinking.

[George]

People interact early in life and then interacting years later. Years later. Yeah, Craig just repeats everything we say about everything you say.

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[George]

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[Craig]

He's walked with pride.

[George]

Walks with pride, yeah. He's. He's a very proud Silver Lab, ranked number one in Denton County, I do believe. And. But since this cone has been on him, he just. His head's down, his tail's down. And you brought up a great point. If we had to wear a cone, we would be the same way. We would run into walls and meekly walk down the hallway because you're not really sure that something's, you know. And the cone is in front of his front leg, so it's hard for him to walk, and it's just. It's messing him up.

[Gordon]

Well, what's the human equivalent to the cone of shame?

[George]

Is it the knee body cast or neck brace, maybe?

[Gordon]

Is it neck brace or the knee scooter?

[George]

That's a good one, too.

[Craig]

Or crutches.

[George]

Crutches? Yeah. You kind of have bad language when you're on crutches. Or is it the kind of defeated

[Gordon]

aluminum walker with the tennis balls on the legs? Yeah.

[Craig]

Anytime you've been physically defeated or compromised and you're having to use something or there's a contraption on you that prevents you from being normal, you just feel abnormal. You just feel like you can't really do anything. You're not yourself.

[Gordon]

Yes, but none of them are shameful, the way that dogs act with the cone of shame, are they?

[Craig]

No, but if you had a cone on, that would make you act shameful.

[George]

Your shoulders would slump. You would? Yeah. If you walked around.

[Gordon]

Okay, I think I know what it is. I think it's the particular kind of cast. And I've known a few friends that have had these when they hurt their arm. And they don't just have the arm cast. They have it to where it has to be up at the right angle from their body sticking up. It's propped up. Got like a prop rod.

[George]

Yes.

[Gordon]

From a 78 Celica or something up under there.

[George]

Like Henry Rollingardner in Rookie of the Year. That was a sick reference that I think just went right over your head.

[Gordon]

No idea. I've Never even watched that.

[George]

That's a great movie. The term funky butt loving doesn't mean anything to you.

[Gordon]

What was just.

[George]

That's what the doctor said when Henry Roland Gardner's arm quenched when he got his cast off. You ought to watch the movie. Well, yeah, we've all had pets and most Americans do. We've all even had some unusual pets that we'll talk about today. And the Dunham family, it was always the dogs. We had a long line of dogs from the time I grew up. I can give you my complete dog roster from birth until now. Spiffy the Poodle.

[Gordon]

Spiffy, that is.

[George]

She was wheels off. I think she got hit four different times. And finally the fourth time was. That was. That was it for Spiffy.

[Gordon]

But she finally completed the task that time.

[George]

Boy, dad could go round and round. Yeah, she was a yappy little poodle, but I loved her. She was the first dog that I had.

[Gordon]

By the way, 66% of U.S. households have pets.

[George]

Yeah. Somewhere between there and 70. I've seen a lot of different stats on that. But, yeah, most Americans do have them. Most of them are dogs. Those who own pets, 40% have dogs, 25% cats. And then we'll get into some of the unusual pets that people have. So we went from Spiffy the poodle. Went a couple of years without a dog. Then I got Belle the bird dog. English setter Craig Saw Bell. She was an awesome dog.

[Craig]

Great dog.

[George]

Just beautiful. She was a lemon. She was white with brown spots. Really, really pretty dog.

[Craig]

You could run the triple option with her.

[George]

Yeah, she could play football. She was a bird dog, but she could also play wide receiver, running back, defensive tackle. She had a little foam cowboy helmet that she would wear. And it's funny how we just flip out over our pets, whether it's a dog or cat. Gordo's going to talk about his tortoise here today, which is a very unusual pet. Then we. The first pet that we got for when my wife and I started having kids was a basset hound by the name of Beauregard Jackson. Great dog, hilarious dog. Bassets are very unusual with the long years, short legs, and he was very foul, but he was very funny. Daisy Duke the Beagle, we got after Bo. She was pretty wheels off. The Beagle who didn't listen and had no problem with going mainly number one more than number two around the house. She just.

[Gordon]

I swear that never was fully house trained.

[George]

No, not really.

[Gordon]

And your wife hated her.

[George]

They went round and round. Yeah. In Fact, she was left outside once accidentally during a storm. And. Oh, my gosh, we left Daisy outside last night. She was huddled on the porch. We let her in, she ran into our bedroom, jumped up on the bed and peed on my wife's pillow. She blamed it on my wife somehow. Then we had Hank Duvall, a. A mix hound dog that was found by the Great Gordo. And it was actually somebody at our station that found him.

[Gordon]

Tony found him while.

[George]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

And brought him. And I thought, man, that's a. That looks like a really good looking dog, you know, because he was. He was just. And he seemed so happy and such a sweet, sweet pup and. And so, yeah, I pawned him off on you.

[George]

We brought our boys down and they fell in love with him. And yeah, we took him home. Hank was a. We called him when we moved out to the quote unquote country. He was in charge of ranch security. Did you ever read Hank the cow dog? That's why my boys wanted to call him Hank because of Hank the cow dog stories, which are awesome. We had Roger Dodger, a mix between a lab and a Pyrenees. He was pretty crazy. Remorse Femmers Remington. She was a rescue dog that came running up to some. Some friends of ours, and they said she needs a home. So we gave her a home. And then Winston Waffles, who had to be excommunicated because he didn't get along with Gunner Del Mar. But Winston's doing well. He has a new home and he's doing really well. And we still get up.

[Gordon]

Winston was the expensive one, right?

[George]

Gunner was.

[Gordon]

Oh, Gunner was the one.

[George]

Yeah. And Gunner's the one that I had to take to the doctor last week. Who has the cone of shame right now.

[Craig]

Gunner, you won at an auction.

[George]

Yes, charity auction. Charity auction.

[Gordon]

You'd had a few drinks and you've been midway up.

[George]

It's the most beautiful dog I'd ever seen. I've never seen a dog like that and still haven't. And you can't pick a favorite dog. But I mean, Gunner's the current dog, so. Man, he has been so great.

[Gordon]

And I always thought that Hank was your favorite. Gunner is past it.

[George]

Hank too, Yeah. I can't. It's like rating your kids in some ways. And, you know, that's an interesting dynamic. I don't know if you guys had dogs, like when you're in high school and they were quote unquote, your dog. Like, Belle was my dog. I took care of her. I really did pick up after. Fed her, trained her, did the whole thing walked her. But then when I went off to college, she became my parents dog. And you know, some guys take their dog to college. I never brought Belle to college. And I.

[Gordon]

Once I got dog to college, people take them to the dorm room.

[George]

Well, after they're out of the dorm, maybe living in an apartment or a fraternity house or something, the dog will live with them. I, I've had friends who had dogs and I've known kids who've had dogs at college. But I never felt like I can't take Bell away from my parents because she's such a great companion for them. And I've had the same thing with Gunner. He's my youngest son's dog, but now he's out of college, he's married, he's

[Gordon]

gonna take Gunner back.

[George]

And I've, I've, I've offered, I said, if you want Gunner to come live with you, I would understand. And he said, no. He's such a great companion for you and mom and I think that's very sweet. But it's funny, when he comes home, Gunner goes crazy. Everybody thinks their dog's spectacular, but Gunner will talk to him. He will like, roar, roar, roar. And when my youngest son went off to college, we have. My kids used to sleep upstairs and we'd let Gunner in and he would go to the stairway. This is heartbreaking. Take two steps, put his nose up in the air and then turn back around and know that my youngest son, Scotty was not there. It's like, oh, my gosh, this is good. This is not going to work. We're going to have to send Gunner to college too, and let him get his undergrad. But it is funny how we flip out over pets, how they're such a part of our family. And I couldn't imagine growing up with, and I think four kids. I know your daughter is young and wants a dog. I think whether it's a dog or a cat or some living being, I think it is a good thing for a kid. It teaches them responsibility and unfortunately, it also gives them. It's going to be the first heartbreak they have too, at some point, you know, as they grow up.

[Craig]

Yeah, we always had dogs growing up. Our roster was we had three when I was a kid. We had Duffy, a standard poodle, the big poodle. We had Ginger, a fox terrier, and we had Patches, also a fox terrier. And there were a few years between each of those three and each of those three ran away. So I don't know what the Miller family was Doing to these dogs.

[George]

Some dogs just like to bolt.

[Craig]

Yes.

[George]

Like there's no tomorrow.

[Craig]

All three of our dogs loved to bolt. Duffy got out a lot. We think Duffy may have been stolen because my parents used to. You know how you trim a poodle to wear the French poodle with the Afro. And it was a good looking dog. And my parents always swore that Duffy was stolen. But the other two got out. Ginger dug a hole under the fence and escaped, and we never saw her again. And then Patches escaped through an open gate, never saw him again. So all three of those dogs bolted in some way. Those were the three dogs we had. And then when I went to college, my parents got a boxer named Duchess.

[George]

I met Dutchess.

[Craig]

Yeah, Dutchess was a great dog. Boxers are fantastic dogs. And they got her when she was about 2 years old. The owner was moving. They were living in Colorado at the time, couldn't take the dog with him, so put it up for adoption and my parents took it. That was a great, great dog. That felt like a family dog that didn't want to leave the family.

[George]

Yeah.

[Craig]

And then as an adult, I got Lucy. My. She was an Australian cattle dog. I actually did the DNA on her. She was a rescue. Friends of mine found her on Abrams street in Dallas in a rainstorm when she was six months old or so. Had been abandoned, had mange. They took her in, kind of got her back to normal, but they couldn't keep her. So I took her and had her for 15 years. She was a great dog, lived a long, good life. The best story about Lucy that I have was I would take her to this local park and I would play fetch with her. And those cattle dogs can run all day and all night. They never get tired. They're great, great dogs. They're physically impressive dogs. They're or very athletic and agile. So she would run and play fetch all day long? Well, I'd take her to the park and I would open. She'd be in the back of the car and I would open the door and she would jump out and start sniffing around while I would get her ball or Frisbee, whatever I was throwing to her. Well, one time I did that getting the ball off the floorboard. And I turned around and there was a rottweiler staring right at me like three feet away from me.

[George]

Oh, my gosh.

[Craig]

And it was wagging its tail. That's always the first thing I look for is, what's the tail doing? Is it down or is it wagging? It was wagging the tail. So I didn't feel all that threatened. But out of nowhere came Lucy, flying in at 100 miles an hour. This dog is twice her size. And she goes right for its throat and drives the Rottweiler away from me.

[Gordon]

Wow.

[Craig]

And I knew at that moment that dog had my back.

[George]

Almost like a pulling guard out of nowhere just to throw a block like that.

[Craig]

Yes.

[George]

It's amazing how protective they are.

[Craig]

Oh, she was so protective of me. She was a great watchdog. Had a ferocious bark for a 45 pound dog. But I knew that day Lucy had had my back. And that was my dog as an adult. And when she died, that was really tough.

[George]

Yeah.

[Craig]

We also had kittens and cats when I was younger. We had JJ and Jenny, a male and a female that had a lot of sex because they produced a lot of litters.

[Gordon]

Why didn't you get them fixed?

[George]

I don't.

[Craig]

And my mom was a nurse, so she always delivered the litters. And it was very troubling when the kids would peek in and see her pulling out these bloody little kittens. Just so traumatic. But we had them, and we probably had three litters with them. So we were always giving away little kitties. And then we had a cat many years later called Darty Incubus. And my cousin and I named her because she was always darting at things. And we had just seen some cheap horror movie where one of the characters was the incubus. And because she was kind of evil, too, she would scratch. We called her Darty Incubus. So those were our cats and dogs.

[George]

Y' all always had pets growing up, didn't you, Gordo?

[Gordon]

No. Well, I take that back. Yes, we did. We had. When I was really little, our first animal that we had was a cocker spaniel named Bumper. And that Cocker spaniels can be wild. Yeah. But he was a great dog. It was kind of my brother's dog, like my older brother. He remember he was good friends with Bumper, and they'd play football and all sorts of stuff out in the front yard. That was a great dog. And then we moved to a new town. I didn't want to move. This is first grade. As a matter of fact, the Shell story was written about that I published in the Dallas Morning News. It was kind of one of the more popular newspaper columns that I'd written was about that traumatic move to this new town. So we move there. We take Bumper from this wild outdoor place that he lived with us and was a great dog. And he was killed within the first month. He got Run over right in front of our new home in this new town that I was so traumatized moving to. That was a rough one. Was very scary. So we had Bumper, and then we also had Sam, the outdoor orange cat that came with the house that we eventually bought in that new town. It was just there. And that's the one that I told you the story about my mom. She hated cats for whatever reason. And so. And this is just an outdoor cat. What is it really doing, right? Not much. But she drove that thing out way into the country and let it loose. Let it loose, Turn it loose in the country. People did get killed by a coyote or a bobcat easily.

[George]

Sure.

[Gordon]

And that's what she did. And then she. My mom was pissed because a week later, Sam shows up at the front door again. Made the trip, like 60 miles back into town and found you.

[George]

I'll take you to the next state.

[Gordon]

I don't know how they geolocate themselves.

[George]

That is incredible.

[Gordon]

But, yeah, thing found its way back, and we got a second cocker spaniel. Guess who we named it? Bumper.

[George]

Bumper two.

[Gordon]

Yeah, Bumper two. And that was kind of my dog. And in the long list of pets that I've had, there's probably three, maybe four of them that just were the gut punch when they died and that you just can't recover from. And, you know, you're still kind of walking wounded this many decades later. And when Bumper two died of heartworms when I was in eighth grade, that was. Oh, man. Because I was convinced I could nurse that guy back to health. And. And, yeah.

[George]

Okay, so what do you think about that psychology with the child? Because it is, I think, a really good thing to teach them responsibility to care about another living being.

[Gordon]

Teach them about death, because that's.

[George]

But it does teach you about death. And maybe that's not such a bad thing. But I can remember as a kid fearing the day that something was going to happen to Spiffy. And then it did. And I think I was in eighth grade. It was back when we moved back to Texas. And I was like, you were just saying. I was devastated for a couple of weeks.

[Gordon]

Oh, yeah. I'd cry at school. And then you get your ass handed to you when you tell someone what you're crying about. What's wrong with you? Dog died. This guy out here crying because a freaking dog died.

[George]

See, we at least mature when we're adults. Everyone knows how that feels. Oh, my gosh, man. I'm so sorry. But that's. Is that the amazing thing about pets, whether you're 8 or 13 or 33, it's just as devastating. When I. I can remember as an adult, when we had to put Bell down, my mom was calling, saying, I don't think she's going to make it. I don't think she looks very good. And we took her to the vet, and the vet recommended that we put her down.

[Gordon]

Yeah, well, I know you making the decision to kill something to actively kill something you love.

[Craig]

You know what, though? When Lucy got sick at the end of her life, I waited too long, and I think people, generally speaking, wait too long. You know, she could barely walk, and she wasn't eating much. And I remember I asked a friend to come over and take a look at her, and I said, I took Lucy. I basically carried her out to the backyard for her to go to the bathroom and brought her back and put her back in my bed. And my friend looked at her and she said, it is time. You do not need. She doesn't need to be going through this, living like this. And I think we all. The pet owner thinks if I can just get them another day, maybe they'll turn it around a little bit and they'll have maybe a quality month ahead or. A quality month.

[George]

Because you hear those stories about sometimes. Yeah, they recovered. They were fine for a few more months.

[Craig]

That is 1% of the time, probably less. We usually are saving it for us when we would be doing them a service by putting them down weeks ago.

[George]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

So it still is just. It's creepy, the deliberateness of everything.

[George]

I know.

[Gordon]

And you. And you feel so guilty driving them to the vet office that last time, and they're looking at you like, hey, we're going somewhere.

[Craig]

Huh? You're like, yeah, my vet, Manny, he came over and made a house call.

[Gordon]

I think that's pretty common these days.

[Craig]

Yeah, that was great. I've always been so appreciative of him for doing that because, you know, it was just the three of us in the living room, and he said, you know, you want to say your goodbyes? And said my goodbyes. And then he injected her. And then her eyes rolled in the back of her head.

[Gordon]

Oh, stop it.

[Craig]

That was it.

[George]

Even worse is when they look at you. That last time, I remember that about Hank and Belle was the same way.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

Yeah, I remember that. Said you want to, you know, have your last moment say anything to him. This is Jake, the dog I haven't talked about yet, but I said no. I just wrote him a note, and I just tucked the Note.

[Craig]

Do you know, George, your question about death, and this is an introduction to death for a child. It's probably the first death that they'll have to deal with. You know, hopefully it's not a parent. Hopefully it's a pet. But our daughter's 4 and is already asking a lot about dying and death and how it works. And she brings it up like a lot.

[Gordon]

Yeah.

[George]

And kind of creeping you out a little bit.

[Craig]

Yeah, like she's, you know, she's say, daddy, you're gonna die first. Right. Because you're the old. Well, yeah, you know, I hope. I hope it goes that way. I hope nature follows that course and. But they get a real. And maybe this happens around 4 with all kids. But it's my first go around with a kid, so I'm experiencing all this for the first time. They just are really interested in death and. You mean the body stops working? Well, where do we go? Well, when are you going to die? When am I going to die? Well, you've got a long time, honey. Don't worry about that.

[George]

I know that's probably all those Disney shows. We've talked about that on our radio show before. Somehow Disney. But maybe Disney's trying to do us all a favor with its life and then part of life is dying.

[Gordon]

No, no, no. All those Disney just evil by doing all that. Yeah, they didn't need it. They didn't need that stuff. I don't need. See Bambi's mom get it in the gut. You know, taking a gut shot.

[George]

It was a great hook, though. You were hooked in. You wanted to see what happened.

[Gordon]

Where did she die? In the fire. I can't remember how they killed the Bambi's mom now, but now that I'm

[Craig]

experiencing all these Disney movies. You guys are right. It's in every one of them. Parental death in every one.

[George]

All of them. Yeah. Maybe. Maybe they're just trying to help describe what. What life is, is like.

[Gordon]

So after Bumper, we had a. Rabbits. My sister got a couple rabbits.

[Craig]

Oh, yeah.

[Gordon]

And that was.

[Craig]

I thought that you were gonna say the dog was named Rabbit.

[Gordon]

No, no. Like that was no kind of life whatsoever. They stayed in cages.

[George]

Cages outside?

[Gordon]

Yeah.

[George]

Or inside?

[Gordon]

Well, inside. And then they moved to the garage sometimes. And then they were sometimes in the house, but they were in cages.

[George]

Did you ever let them out and run around the backyard or anything?

[Gordon]

I don't think so. I don't remember that. But I guess that was possible because those are my sisters, you know, pets.

[George]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

So she handled that and Then eventually I think one of them passed. And then we had just this one. It was in the cage. And then I think my sister went away to college or something, and my mom did the Sam the outdoor orange cat maneuver with that one and took that rabbit out into the country and let it out with a big industrial bag of food. It was like a 40 pound sack of feedback and set the rabbit right next to the big sack of feed and said, you're on your own.

[George]

Well, it had a couple of good days anyway, or at least a half a day. That was worth a dirt.

[Gordon]

I mean, it was very considerate of my mom to give provisions for a week. And then hopefully you'll learn survival skills during this very important week. You got an important week ahead of you here. Take advantage of it. Then we had Bumper three, who was another cocker spaniel boy.

[George]

Long tradition of bumpers.

[Gordon]

Yeah. And then we found a parakeet. This is when I was an adult and this after the ticket started.

[George]

Okay. I wondered about birds, if you guys ever had birds.

[Gordon]

Yeah. Never planned to get a bird ever. But this parakeet, I was coming home from work one day and out in the bushes in front of my apartment door was this little parakeet.

[Craig]

How odd.

[Gordon]

Yeah.

[Craig]

Out in the bushes.

[Gordon]

Yes. And so I captured it and took it in, put up posters. Somebody's lost their pet parakeet and everything and. And never heard from anyone and just fell in love with this bird. I mean, this little bird. I don't know why, I have no idea why. I had no other pets at the time. And me and my then girlfriend just fell in love with this bird. And this thing became our child. And we bought the little play centers for it. We took it on every trip. We took. Car trip. This we love.

[George]

It's a bird in the backseat.

[Gordon]

Yeah. Bird had a cage and stuff like that. But we'd let it fly around the apartment and it was just, we love this bird. And when that pet died, that was one of those gut punch ones. All these animals. A parakeet.

[Craig]

How long.

[Gordon]

And I found. And I remember when, after about a month of having this bird and falling in love with it, I get a call from someone and this guy sounded. It was like two in the afternoon. A guy sounded three sheets to the wind. I think you found a barricade. I was like, yeah, can you describe it? And they're like, yes. And he describes it. It's the one. And turns out he lived at the apartment complex next to our apartment complex. And so I said, hey, Listen, yes, I do have your bird, and this is your bird, and I will return it. But I want to tell you that I am willing to pay you $1,000 for this barricade. Now, that's all the money I had at the time.

[George]

Whoa.

[Gordon]

But I could not imagine parting with this little parakeet. And the guy said, that's all right. You can have it. I got a bunch of them and hung out.

[George]

He had a chance to cash in.

[Gordon]

He had a. Why would you not just take the money then if you don't care about the bird?

[George]

That didn't register with him.

[Gordon]

He was so drunk, he didn't know that his move was to stay. I don't know if I can do it. Maybe for 1200, you know, he hung

[George]

up and passed out, and he was fine.

[Gordon]

And then that was it. And so I got to keep that bird. But when that bird passed away, that was a bad one.

[Craig]

I had one parakeet as a kid. I named it Fergie, after my favorite pitcher, Fergie Jenkins.

[George]

What an honor.

[Craig]

And it lived in my room, and I loved it. I talked to died probably after about a year and a half or two years. I came home from school one day and it was just belly up on the bottom of the cage. I have no idea what happened. Maybe it choked. Can they choke?

[Gordon]

Well, I mean, I don't know how long parakeets actually live.

[Craig]

Oh, okay.

[George]

Just bird.

[Gordon]

And this was a parakeet, not a parrot.

[Craig]

Parakeet, yeah.

[Gordon]

Because a parrot, they can live, like, 70 years. They live a long time.

[George]

Yeah, I've heard that. That they can. So what is it as we hear about your roster? Because I want to hear more about your roster of pets. What is it about it that gives us that moment? Why do we fall in love? Is it the companionship? Is it the. Just the. Whether it's a dog or a bird, we. We feel like they love us or they're protective of us.

[Craig]

I think it's because they need us so badly.

[Gordon]

There's a few things, I think, one, it's their eternal childlike nature. That's one thing. You know, it's like, ah, this is sweet. You know, that's what makes it so hard to go into the vet and kill them.

[George]

Yeah, yeah.

[Gordon]

Because they're, like, looking at you and they just have, you know, they just have a turtle optimist heart in them. But, yeah, I think that. But what's interesting to me is, like, I can understand why people love dogs so closely, but as I go through my Roster. I have a couple of these that have meant so much to me, that aren't those loving kind of pets, like, you know, a dog is demonstrably into you and your life.

[George]

Can't believe. Made it home again today. Oh, my gosh, you're home.

[Gordon]

Wants nothing more than you to interact with them.

[Craig]

You know, where cats are pretty indifferent

[Gordon]

to your existence, cats are a little bit more indifferent. But cats can be, you know, like a lap kitty. They are so sweet. And I, you know, I'm. I love cats, too.

[George]

Why don't you tell the world how many cats you have? Right?

[Gordon]

Got six right now. Don't worry about it.

[Craig]

That's amazing.

[Gordon]

But, you know, two of my animals here, one is a parakeet. You know, how much love does a parakeet show you?

[George]

Right?

[Gordon]

And that one killed me. And then the other one is this one, another one that I found, which was this tortoise. You know, that a tortoise has a very solitary existence, and I just love that thing. There's something in humans that we just invest so much of our heart into something that may or may not love us back, but we ascribe an interior life to them that they do like us and that they do appreciate us, you know, because a lot of my animals, a lot of my animals were just found and became my pets until, you know, they met their end many years later. And like the dog that we had in adulthood, Jake, you guys knew Jake, you know, had him till he was 16. I found him on the street, and he was already full grown by the time I found him. You know, that's a. So I'm, you know, so he could have been older.

[George]

Same thing.

[Gordon]

He was young. He was a young adult. Like, he had just kind of reached adulthood. He was a young adult, but he was somebody else's dog before us.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

And he went on to loving us just as much, like, oh, he probably loved the person before us. So it's not. I'm not special.

[George]

Right.

[Gordon]

You know, none of us are special. But, boy, when Jake went, that was another one that. Oh, that's rough.

[Craig]

I think a lot of it also has to do with the fact that we are their caretakers. And if you take anybody in, like you're babysitting a kid, your neighbor's kid for a few hours, there's a little bond that forms there because you are responsible for them, and that's a very, very strong bond. So when you get a kitten or a puppy or a parakeet or a tortoise, and you Kind of create a world or a world is created for you where you are responsible for their well being. That's a very, very strong bond. And I think that's one big reason why we get so attached. It's also all that stuff you mentioned, Gordo. And for the affectionate animals, then the bond grows even stronger when they snuggle up to you and a lot of people they sleep with. But I do think that once it's like when you have a child, you know you are responsible for that child. And if without you, that child will cease to exist. And I think that immediately creates this incredibly strong bond.

[George]

I think it's worth it. Whether you're a kid or you're an adult, I think it's a great life experience. And part of it is. But it's. That's life. Part of life is happiness and you know, it's part sadness too, when it's time to say goodbye. But we know that whether it's a cat or dog or a parakeet, I think it is good for you mentally. There's studies that show that it's, you know, it's good for blood pressure, it's good for your stress levels. At the same time, I tried to equate it because I can't tell you how many times I've been worried about my dogs when I'm out of town and I should be relaxing, I should be. They're not going to feed them the right way. What if they get out? There's no way that they're taking care of them.

[Gordon]

Yeah. And some people won't go on vacation because they don't feel comfortable leaving their home.

[George]

And if they do, they're thinking, I've spent many vacations thinking, what if they remember to put Gunner back inside at night? You know, which is silly, of course they're taking good care of them. You think?

[Craig]

But it's.

[George]

Yeah, I think it nets out that it's more positive than negative. But there is that part of it too. And as we get later in life, I've got some friends who've always had dogs, either hunting dogs or just companion dogs. But they're getting to the point where when this dog is gone, I think that's going to be it for us.

[Craig]

Yeah, yeah.

[George]

But at the same time I'm thinking, if it's, hey, but you're getting late in life, don't you want that companion that's there for you?

[Gordon]

But the thing is, I remember trying to sell my grandmother on this. She, her husband had already died. My grandfather had already died. She's alone. And I'm thinking, oh, she really needs to get another animal. She needs to get a pet. And my grandmother told me, you know, I don't. I don't think that I should. I said, why not? All these benefits, right? You have something to love, you have companionship. You're not in this house alone. And she's like, well, there's a few things. One is that I'm worried I'm going to trip over it and fall. Which I was like, yeah, that's a good point, you know, because I do force you into situations where you're gonna trip over them or you're trying to go get them and they're, you know, so, yeah, there's a physical risk. And she goes. And I just can't take watching something else die if that happens.

[George]

I. I understand that. That makes sense to me.

[Gordon]

Yeah, I know. And, hey, look, I had. After. When was it that I had to put Jake down? That was 10 years ago. And I just. I'm still not sure.

[Craig]

Can't talk about it.

[Gordon]

Yeah, it's so.

[George]

Hey, Bell was 30 years ago. I can't talk about it.

[Gordon]

So why do we put ourselves through that? Does it really net out positive? I don't know if it does or not, but I. And maybe it's not important whether it nets out positive. It's just. It's an impulse that humans have to love these other creatures. Even when the other creature, like tortoises, parakeets, they had names, they had voices that I would do for them. So I voiced all their inner thoughts. I had a whole backstory written for them. And, you know, I mean, it's like all this goes into this, and I don't know why. It's something inside humans that make us need to do this. And even the most hardened human, who is a person who hates all other people, a lot of times you'll find them with a pet that they love because the human impulse to love is still in them, but something's happened to them where they can't seem to do it to other. Can't love other humans, but they still need an outlet for love.

[Craig]

Protein is now at Starbucks, and it's never tasted so good. You can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes.

[George]

Lattes or matcha.

[Craig]

Try it today at Starbucks.

[George]

Full send. Golf.

[Gordon]

You guys know how much I really, really love golf, and I think every week would be dope to post on the Golf Channel.

[Progressive Ad Voice]

I want to get a Lot of guests on here.

[Gordon]

Saleem's gonna take leap. I'm down to be in it. It's not really work to play golf.

[Craig]

Join the party on the golf course.

[Gordon]

I was like, let's go to the range. So what are we putting on it? We said 10k, right? 10k.

[Craig]

All right.

[Gordon]

We probably bet more than all the other golf club channels, right? 10K. Nine holes. Those guys bet for like cookies.

[Craig]

Feel like I'm a shank it.

[Gordon]

This guy's been training like a Navy SEAL when it comes to golf. I'm very, very excited. You excited? Yeah.

[George]

Bull. Send golf.

[Craig]

Follow and listen on your favorite platform. I'm in a weird situation now where our daughter wants a dog. If it were just up to me, I would not have another dog the rest of my life. I'm okay with that one. Yeah. Losing Lucy was too hard. And I also know that they are a lot of work. There are a lot of positives, but they are a lot of work. And my daughter says, I'll walk the dog and I'll feed the dog. And I know that will last two days because it always falls to the dad to walk the dog, to feed the dog. And all the vet appointments, the heartworm pills, get the right food, you got to do all this picking up all the poop. I know I'm going to have to do that. And what you were talking about, George, boarding the dog. You know we like to travel.

[George]

What are you going to do?

[Craig]

We're going to have to either take the dog or board the dog. And boarding the dog is very costly. And you are never sure if you're leaving them at a great place or not.

[George]

See, I don't even take our dog. Our dog now used to be dogs to a board place. We have a pet sitter and. But that's expensive, right? It's talk about that stress though. It's better peace of mind knowing that. Okay, he's eating out of the bowl that he really likes. I don't know if he really likes that bowl, but he doesn't care.

[Craig]

But it's somebody opening up your home while you're away.

[George]

I know.

[Craig]

What if they forget to lock the door? That's extra stress.

[George]

Boy. And I've heard those stories too about someone taking care of an animal.

[Gordon]

Didn't one of our corb was taking care of Jake. My dog got out. Yeah. And Jake got out. And then I think the cat ran out too. And the alarm was blaring. It was going off because he couldn't. He didn't have time to punch in the code. And it was, it was a mess.

[Craig]

So there's all that. There's so much that comes with owning a pet, in particular a dog. Cats are a little more self sufficient. You can kind of leave them for a week and they'll be all right. But. But I know I've got to give my daughter the experience of having a pet.

[George]

Well, you know, and it will pay you back, though, because those, the stories you tell 20 years from now will be stories, you know, about her and her dog or, you know, whatever the pet is.

[Craig]

Right.

[George]

I swear, that's. 70% of our stories are hilarious stories about a dog we had, right? Interacting with the kids, eating a science project, you know, Bo doing that. The basset would eat anything. He had to be taken into a vet because one of my sons had army men tied together. And Bo was a veterinary miracle because he survived this surgery where they had to go in and remove not one, but I think three army men who were tied together with string inside his bowels and he was fine. And yeah, it's part of the fabric and it's just part of what we do. And I don't know, that may not be the case here in 20 years, but it is now. And some of the most rewarding times of my kids growing up was with one of our dogs. We just have really funny stories and heartwarming stories about that, and it's part of the life experience, you know, They

[Gordon]

I remember driving with my dad. I took him back later in his life to one of the. The first church that he had pastored out in this little town in Texas. And as we were driving and everything, you know, we're talking about his life, his childhood and everything. And he had a dog that he really loved when he was a little boy named Skip. Skippy. And man, he loved this dog. And I was asking him about it and he was telling me stories about it, and I asked, you know, what happened to Skippy? And he said that he had this neighbor that didn't like Skippy, this dog. And he always suspected that this neighbor

[Craig]

had poisoned this dog.

[Gordon]

And he said, yeah. And Skippy got sick and acted like he had gotten into something bad and he died. And my dad told the story, told me the story as we're driving around the middle of nowhere, and he says, you know, they I remember my dad took Skippy and he put him in a garbage bag, a black garbage bag, and then put like another sack over that and then put him out on the curb.

[Craig]

Oh, wow.

[Gordon]

Because My grandfather was. Only had one arm. He couldn't really dig a hole or anything for that, or to bury Skippy. And my dad says that. And my dad looked off out of the passenger window and out in that West Texas kind of landscape and everything, and there were just tears streaming down his eyes. I was thinking, God, here's a guy who's terrible, who's in his 70s now, and that pain is still so fresh to him about losing that dog that he loved so much.

[Craig]

That was not a proper burial for skipping.

[Gordon]

No, it was not.

[George]

It wasn't.

[Gordon]

It was not.

[George]

But, you know, maybe that heartache is something that. I don't know if the phrase we need is right, but maybe it does teach us something about, you know, true love and responsibility and caring for something. That maybe it does help us treat others better. I don't. I don't know. I can't prove that. But I'd like to think that. I'd like to have an understanding of something deeper because of the relationships we have with these pets that we've loved so much.

[Craig]

I'll say this.

[Gordon]

It's all pain.

[Craig]

It is a lot of pain. But I. I think people who are kind to animals and like animals, I think they're probably good people. And I think people who abuse animals and hate animals, there's something wrong with them.

[George]

Yeah. Was Chewbacca a pet, or was he Han Solo's best friend?

[Craig]

I think more best friend.

[Gordon]

I don't think he was a pet. No, they were co workers.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

Chewbacca was his co pilot.

[Craig]

He was just so. He looked weird.

[George]

He wasn't just a really smart Bigfoot.

[Gordon]

No, but Chewbacca was based on George Lucas's dog.

[George]

Okay.

[Gordon]

Yeah. He based that character off of his dog. And I believe his dog's name was Indiana.

[George]

Really?

[Gordon]

Yeah, that he later used that name for. So there's a pet that changes the course of pop culture history because it was the inspiration for a couple characters, I guess he was a Wookie.

[George]

He was Wookie of the year, too, in 77.

[Craig]

I do believe this whole podcast set up that joke.

[Gordon]

That's what you've been trying to get

[Craig]

towards this whole time.

[George]

Everybody loved Chewbacca because he was like a pet, like character. He didn't talk. I mean, he did, but he talked in Wookieism or whatever that is.

[Gordon]

Wookieism. He just. Yeah, but Han Blood understood him. That was very strange. They spoke to each other in their native language, but the other one understood it but couldn't speak the other language. Yeah.

[George]

Why Didn't Han Solo go run, run, run back to him?

[Gordon]

I bet you they screen tested that once and said, you know what? Let's stick with English.

[George]

There's no way that's going to work. Well, that's interesting about. Because like I told you, with, you know, the dog we have now, Gunner, if when that day comes, I don't kind of like you, Junior, I don't know if I can go down that road again. And yet, as my wife and I get up in our later years, I think that companionship is worth it. I think it is. All right, but we'll see. I can't conclusively tell you today. Oh, yeah, I'm always going to have a dog. I don't know.

[Craig]

Yeah. That talk you had with your grandmother, Gordo, I had that same talk with my dad. He was living alone after my mom passed. And I be perfect. It's a natural. Just get a little dog or something. Same reasons. Never really wanted it. So there is an age threshold. It's probably not 60, maybe it's 80. I don't know. If somewhere in there where you don't. Where the idea of a pet just sounds like too much.

[Gordon]

Right.

[Craig]

And I understand that.

[George]

And when you're older, the cost is not cheap. When you're talking about what you're paying for food, the vet bill and I go to a reasonable vet, but man, some of the surgeries. How about that decision? Okay.

[Gordon]

I think.

[George]

Think we can save him. It's going to be $12,000.

[Gordon]

$12,000 and it may give him a couple more months.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Gordon]

You're like, okay, that's all right. That'll get him a week.

[Craig]

Then you go back to the family and say. Vet said there's no hope.

[Gordon]

Yeah, that's.

[Craig]

Sorry, no chance.

[Gordon]

The story when I was in a band and there was. Anyway, it's very confusing. I don't know how to get into it, but there was this French exchange student that lived with our drummer and got to be good friends with his parents and everything. And they had a family dog named Frisky.

[George]

Okay.

[Gordon]

And we always used to joke about Frisky. It was this beaten down dog anyway. But Fred, who was the French guy, he went when Frisky had to be put down. He went so that the family didn't have to. Okay. Because this is a beloved family pet. They didn't want Frisky to be there with us with nobody that knew him and was. So Fred, the French guy, Frenchie, he recommend, he said, look, I will go and for you I will go for you, and I will be there for Frenchie.

[George]

I will rush him to him.

[Gordon]

For.

[George]

Even though I'm For Frisky.

[Gordon]

For Frisky. Even though I'm very Russian, I'm Russian. French. And so Fred went with Frisky and comes back a few hours later. The whole family is in tears and everything. And Fred comes in and says, it. It is done. It. It happened. And it was. It was very peaceful. It was very peaceful. Frisky moved on, and it is at peace now. There is. There is very much peace. And then the family said, thank you for doing that. Thank you, thank you. And then we all went up into the band rehearsal room. I was there, and so was our guitarist. Frenchie looked at us and goes, there was no piece. That dog fought like hell.

[Craig]

No.

[George]

Poor Frenchie had to witness that.

[Gordon]

We watched this beautiful speech he had given downstairs about the amount of peace that was there in that room. He kidnapped us and said there was no peace. That dog fought like hell.

[George]

A terrible story.

[Craig]

He did the right thing, though. Yes, he did the right thing telling the.

[George]

Him to do that. Yeah.

[Gordon]

He volunteered to be the one that witnessed it and then. And then lied to the family about the nature of the killing. There was no peace. The dog fought like hell.

[George]

Because usually that does fall on the parent. And when you go back home and you're trying to explain that to your kids and they're kind of looking at you sideways like, how could you do that?

[Craig]

Yeah.

[George]

That's a really hard thing to explain to a child. It was. Trust me, it was the best thing. He couldn't walk anymore, and he couldn't do.

[Gordon]

Back in the old days, you took a shotgun out there, back behind the barn.

[George]

Okay, that's another movie that you should not let your kids watch. Old Yeller. That scarred me for a long time.

[Gordon]

It's horrible.

[George]

Yeah, it's an awesome movie. Until that part. And then. That's just the absolute worst.

[Craig]

That's one of the first books I read in grade school. I remember checked it out of our grade school library, took it home, read it for a couple weeks, got to that part and was just shocked as a kid, really.

[George]

At least we stopped doing that for the most part. I know sometimes out in the country, that's the kind of the way it

[Gordon]

goes where you live.

[George]

Yeah, I know.

[Gordon]

You never thought about. You couldn't do that.

[George]

No, you couldn't. No, no, I could never do that. But I've known that to happen.

[Gordon]

Didn't we have a P1 that told us a story P1 being a listener to the radio station, tell us a story about his grandfather or somebody that had to do that to the family dog and went out there and it was some horrible story where he went out there and he only had the one bullet and the gun, and he shot the dog and he didn't kill it. And so then he was having to beat it.

[Craig]

Yes, with the butt of the rifle.

[Gordon]

His granddad came back in and just covered in blood, shell shocked.

[George]

Oh, my gosh.

[Gordon]

Oh, my gosh, it's so bad.

[Craig]

I remember somebody tells the story of something like that. The grandfather went out with a shotgun to kill the dog. The dog wrestled the gun away from him, held the grandfather at gunpoint.

[Gordon]

Oh, okay. All right.

[George]

How is the tortoise doing, by the way? And how old do you think the tortoise is?

[Gordon]

She's doing great. So the story of the tortoise was the Muser's bunker, our Covid bunker that we met the tortoise we got to broadcast from during COVID three of us would go to. I started noticing this. I thought it was just a turtle that was showing up because there was kind of a pond area that was nearby. And I was thinking, oh, it's probably one of those down there. And I almost went and took it the first time I found it and threw it back in the pond. I didn't. About two weeks later, I see it again and I was like, ah, that's that same one. Oh, that's kind of cool. I painted its back with white paint so I could notice it from other ones that were out there. And about a. It was a year later, I saw the thing again. It's like it had white paint on it. Oh, that's that same one. And everything. Turns out I started getting curious about it, research it. It's a Russian tortoise. It's not native here. It's not even aquatic. So if I would have thrown that thing in there, I would have drowned it.

[Craig]

Oh, no.

[Gordon]

And I was like, dang, man. A Russian tortoise. What the heck is that doing out here? It's not native to here. It's native to Kazakhstan and. But they were real popular pets in the 70s.

[Craig]

Maybe Frenchie brought it over with him.

[Gordon]

Yeah, right from Kazakhstan. So I ended up starting to take care of this thing. And you know me, I got way into it now. I feed her by hand all the time. It's so cute. She comes running up to me every time I go out there to feed her. And running up to you yeah, as fast as she can. Yes. And so I love that. And I built her all sorts of enclosures and I keep a tortoise cam on her where I can see her whenever I want to. And so I love this thing. I took her to the vet after I decided I'm going to start taking care of this. The vet said she could be anywhere from 35 to 50 years old. Probably because she's full grown. She's a, you know, rather large full grown.

[George]

And they can live as long as a human, like seven.

[Gordon]

Yeah, they can live. We don't really don't know how long they can live, but probably somewhere around 80 years old, they can live that long. And yeah, no telling how long she's been out. Just surviving in the wild from somebody who was. It was her, their pet at one time, and they just let it go. I mean, she could have been let go in the 70s and been wandering around surviving. And then of course, I love her so much that I keep her captive. I mean, she has a very large area that she can roam, but I put a perimeter fence and.

[George]

And if it's a cold snap, you put her inside, right?

[Gordon]

Yeah. I'm always worried about her during cold snaps. She survived that horrible winter that we had. What was that? 21. 21.

[George]

21, yeah.

[Gordon]

Yeah. Somehow she survived that.

[George]

She was outside.

[Gordon]

She was outside. This is before I started taking care of her. I'd seen her the year before. Before that.

[George]

Okay.

[Gordon]

And then saw her a year later after that cold snap, wandering around. So she had somehow burrowed underground enough to where she didn't freeze to death. Because they can freeze.

[Craig]

Amazing, man.

[George]

Well, and that's the other thing too. Your kids will come to you sometimes saying, can we keep it? Can we keep it? And it may be the gerbil or the snake. I always said no to any sort of rodent. We never did that. We did say yes to a duck, a little duckling that one of my kids got around Easter time.

[Gordon]

How long that last?

[George]

Well, after a couple of weeks. What are we going to do with a duck? We can't raise a duck. And so we had the idea we have a duck pond near us. So we took Chirp the duck, the

[Gordon]

duck, tied a brick to its foot and threw it in the pond.

[George]

There were some other baby ducks at the pond and when we let it go, it went and got in line with some other baby ducks.

[Gordon]

It was probably from that baby duck group.

[George]

It may have been. I don't know who. It was a part of a Easter party that we went to and I don't know where it came from, but we would drive by the duck pond. Oh, yeah, there's Chirp. Of course. I would always say that. Yeah, there's Chirp and doing great. Meantime, Chirp, I don't know, probably lasted three or four days.

[Gordon]

There is no way Sharp survive, right? I watched it.

[George]

What the. Do it. Wanted to fight like hell, but didn't make it. All right, well, God bless our pets and take. Take good care of your pets as we move along in this life of ours. They're important to us and at least as far as I'm concerned. I could not have. I would not have had. How about that one? We would not have had a complete a life if we didn't have pets. And we wouldn't have had this episode. That's really the point. That's what we'll conclude about that. All right, you can email [e-mail] and thanks to Peter Welton, our producer once again. And we'll talk to you next time on the Musers, the podcast.

[Gordon]

The Good Job would also love you even more if you'd like, follow or subscribe on whatever podcast place you're currently listening to this on. He really would. He asked me to ask you that. Thanks for listening. The Musers. The podcast is a tired head production.

[Craig]

Action. Next Roll with Vernon Davis.

[Progressive Ad Voice]

I'm your host, Vernon Davis.

[Gordon]

Okay, y', all, thank you. Thank you. That's enough.

[Craig]

Today we have Dietrich Wise, through my

[George]

example, on the field, off the field,

[Gordon]

during game day, in practice, that was one way that I led because then it led to success.

[Craig]

Next Roll isn't about what's next. It's they do it.

[Gordon]

My man, Dom K. You finally reach

[Craig]

this pinnacle, but can you actually close a deal out? And then to be able to close it out, that is one of the biggest joys.

[Gordon]

That's powerful, man.

[Craig]

Next Roll with Vernon Davis. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.