Soul Touched by Dogs

Welcome to the Soul Touched by Dogs
Podcast, the show for dog lovers who

see dogs not as toys or tools, but
wise souls worth our respect and care.

I'm an Herrmann, and I'm your host.

I talk to poor some humans, people who
do great work for dogs and their people.

So come and join us for
today's conversation.

Anke: Hello and welcome, Akoy.

I'm delighted to have you here

Arcui: with me today.

Honestly, Anke, when you reached
out to me, it felt like this is

something I should be a part of.

I know that, you know, this is a
conversation and of course you'll

introduce the concepts and everything
we'll be talking about in a bit, but

animal welfare is something that's very
close to me and I have a reputation of

leaving meetings to go and save dogs,
so I was really excited to be here.

So thank you for having me.

Oh,

Anke: I love that.

I love that.

Like, tell me more about leaving pages.

Like, before we go anywhere else, just,
you know, for people who don't know you,

where you're based, what's your day job?

And, uh,

Arcui: we'll take it from there.

Wonderful.

So my name is Anke Osora.

I'm currently in India.

I do travel around a lot, but
India is where I reside the most.

I am the founder of a global brand
strategy consultancy where we mostly

work with forward thinking entrepreneurs
who are truly impact driven and want

to uplift their community of users.

We help them create brands
that can gravitate their

right audience towards them.

I'm also a facilitator, podcaster, a
published author, a huge dog herder

and dog rescuer, hence I'm here.

And someone who coaches creators in
the business of design and freelancing.

So that's a very micro
version of everything I do.

And yeah, I hope I answered
all your questions.

Anke: I'm just thinking, Ooh, I want
to have you back for another podcast I

Arcui: have.

Anke: I love that.

So, so Tell me, I mean, just, just give
us an overview, you know, because I just

want to mention the way we met is someone
who we both know, uh, said, Hey, you

know, you're doing this thing with dogs.

You should talk to Akbar.

He loves dogs and he's a big,
you know, and so, and I just

reached out and here we are.

Right.

So it's like, what is it that

Arcui: you're doing with dogs?

Well, uh, first of all, thank
you to Paula James for the

shout out and for connecting us.

I really appreciate that.

And so.

I do a lot of things with animal welfare.

I'm, in fact, in the process of getting
certified as a proper veterinarian

because of too many things, but I have
been someone who has burned his face

trying to rescue dogs, who is currently
asked not to be in rescue zones because

of a psychological evaluation where
I can no longer handle things, but

the thing is, I'm someone who has
Who honestly cares a lot about dogs.

I've had seven dogs in
total throughout my life.

I've currently two that are
sleeping on the bed near me

and I've rescued over 500 dogs.

Most of my job is to, I used to manage
teams for other organizations first.

When I was leaders, I was one
of the captains over there.

Then I realized that they
were cutting corners and they

were not really dedicated.

So I started my own organization.

Well, that was more of like
managing multiple teams.

So I used to manage close to 20 teams
that had 40 people in each of them.

And now I'm someone who is trying
to build our overall home for dogs.

I hate shelters.

I think they're demeaning and
it makes it all, it just makes

dogs more scared and depressed
and it's a stressful environment.

So currently what I'm working towards is
trying to create a Purchase a property

and adopt all these dogs as my own, as
my pets, and provide them a decent amount

of luxury, and instead of trying to find
foster homes for them, keep them there

with me, and provide all the resources
they'll require, and love them as if

they're my family, and convert this into
a business model where individuals can

sponsor dogs, they can buy merchandise,
there's content created around them,

because one thing as a brand strategist,
I understand that it's the narrative.

If you look at a video of a sad dog that
needs help, You're going to skip it.

Any sort of, we see all these NGO and
non profit ads and we want to skip

them because it takes a toll on us.

But rather if you see a funny video of
a dog who might be three legged or might

be missing an eye, but he's doing stupid
stuff, having the fun of his life, and

he's having fun with everybody else, and
you're seeing fun content around this.

You're going to love it.

You're going to watch it and you're going
to ignore the part that he was rescued or

she was rescued, but rather they're having
good life now and you can be a part of

it, but it's not that we're demeaning you,
it's showing the post work after rescue.

I'm someone who's constantly involved
in animal welfare as much as I can be.

And.

I've been called to go on
rescue missions sometimes.

I'm mostly called when they're rescues
in mountains because I know parkour and I

can handle myself in hills and everything.

So I get asked when they're
emergency situations or if a dog is

extremely traumatized and it's not
responding because of me knowing

how to deal with so many dogs.

I know how to engage with
them, how to calm them down,

how to have them sire on me.

So yeah.

I love it.

Anke: I just love it because, I mean,
I don't know, it's part of the reason I

even started this Soul Touch for Dogs.

It's kind of that same thing.

It's this whole, you know, almost
like starting at the source of the

problem rather than like, okay, we
just pop them in some shelter now,

you know, where there's I love it.

As you say, you know, where it's more
like a prison, it's not, it's not really.

And, and also have it with a proper
business model, because, you know,

the saddest thing is when, when, I
don't know, especially here in Spain,

there's lots of, you know, sort of
young girls, they kind of have no jobs

and they sort of like scrape together
something to sort of feed the dogs.

I'm like, this would be so, you know,
you know, there's a different income

source so to have this and this more
positive approach to it rather than like

the misery and please give me something
I just couldn't love this more and so

how did you how did you get into that
like how did you rescue your first dog?

Arcui: I think it's still very weak for me
I I remember when I was a very young kid,

I used to be scared of the street dogs.

And I'd be scared to cross the, and
once I entered the lane, my house

would be like five apartments after,
and there'd be multiple street dogs.

And I'd always be scared when I would be
coming back in the evening for maybe some

sort of tuition or something like that.

And I'd be very scared.

And I don't know, slowly I started
to realize that they're not trying

to scare me, but they're just
trying to protect themselves.

Um.

It just happened in the moment.

The first time I rescued a dog, it
just happened in the moment because

throughout my own journey of discovering
who I am as an individual, I started

to fear less about that the world is
out for me, but rather just trying to

make a better place for themselves.

And I remember seeing this dog when I
was trekking and This dog was injured.

And while it was very scared, the
moment I started approaching it,

it was growling and everything.

And I started going towards it.

He bit my finger and I was
like, that's all right.

I didn't harm him or something.

And I was like, then I calmed him down.

And I always used to carry a lot of
medical kits because I get injured a

lot when I'm trekking and everything.

So then I cleaned him up quickly.

And then I Calm him.

Then he hugged me and his
nails were very sharp.

He was like a mini puppy and everything,
but his nails were very sharp.

So then I hugged him and like he climbed
up with me and then I took him to the vet

and that was just like a one time thing.

But after that, I kept wanting to do that.

I kept wanting to.

Be there.

And there's something
I call about purpose.

We talk a lot about purpose in
branding and brand strategy because

it's something a lot of people ignore,
but I think it's very important.

And purpose is not
something you can discover.

You're not born with it, but you
discover more of it the more you do.

When you do things that fulfill you, you
open that layer of purpose and you realize

that all right, this is the next step.

And so while I thought it was helping
businesses that are, you know, trying to

change the world or helping freelancers
that would love to be able to be free

of, you know, unnecessary stress,
I realized that my next stage is to

help Dogs to be able to feel free and
not be scared to be their best self.

And so I got involved in rescue drives.

I got involved in adoption drives
and one through one thing or the

other people started calling me,
Hey RK, how do I calm this dog down?

Hey RK, how do I
communicate with this dog?

Hey RK, there's a dog that needs rescuing.

Can you help?

And.

Through something or the other, I found
myself leading teams because I am someone

who's always very good at leading people.

And so when someone is doing something
wrong, I could see it at their second

guessing what they're supposed to do.

I was there able to communicate
what they need to be doing.

And just some or the other way, I found
myself leading teams at organizations.

There's a fly here for some reason.

They have left the garden open
and so everything comes in.

I'm just like, what is
that fly doing over here?

But yeah, and.

Then I realized that this organization
is hiring people just for the sake of it.

They have funding, but
they're cutting costs.

They're not taking care of dogs.

They're still getting infections.

And some of them are ending up worse
than how they were when we found them.

So I started donating my own money and
I realized that that does jack shit

because, and I'm sorry if I, if you're
not allowed to cuss or something, but

yeah, I started donating my own money.

And even that did nothing because.

Well, unless you're in charge,
especially in situations, and if you're

with the right people who are truly
dedicated, people are going to slack

off, they're going to cut corners,
and it's going to be challenging.

So, through various situations, various
challenges that we did overcome, I decided

to just, you know, do it all by myself.

And I didn't have people and I will
be having a lot of people because it's

not something you can do all alone.

But to get the main stuff done, I
would rather have it be all on my own

property and everything belonging to me.

That way I have the most control
and these dogs don't have to be

affected by someone's misjudgment.

So yeah.

Yeah, I love

Anke: that.

Love it.

Um, so.

Is there, is there something
that you wish people knew?

You know, when you come across with, you
know, when people treat dogs, abandon

dogs, or like, I don't, you know, over
here it's a lot about people misjudging

what it means to have a dog, so they
get a dog and it's like, oh my god, or

it's a toy for the kids or, you know, or
they kind of want it as this companion

and then when it doesn't do out of
the box what they thought it should

be doing or that it gets too big or
whatever, then it just gets Somewhere.

Right.

So what's in, in your, in your
experience, what's, what's one

thing you, you love people near?

Arcui: I wish they saw them
as their children first.

The thing is, we are, a lot of people
are just set with so many unnecessary

boundaries on who they should be loving.

Who what is something worth loving?

Mm-hmm.

They want love.

People want to feel
belong, um, belongingness.

They want to belong to something
or the other, but they're

not willing to share that.

And it's these people that end up causing
most of these challenges where they

maybe get a husky and then they realize
that, Oh, I can't take care of this

husky because it's too much maintenance.

And then they just abandon them.

And this is something I've seen a lot.

And they see dogs doing things
that are unnatural to them.

Like maybe they're licking
themselves too much.

They're humping things or
they're sometimes eating stuff

they're not supposed to, and
that might be a headache to you.

So you decide to abandon them.

The thing is, would you want
that to happen to your own kid?

Or would you want that to happen to you?

If you were a kid, wouldn't you want
to be accepted even if you're weird,

if you grew fat or if you started
doing stupid stuff, you wouldn't

want your parents to abandon you.

You wouldn't want to, your parents
to say that, Oh, well, he will

survive some way or the other.

I don't need to care about this thing.

So.

It's just that you need to be
open to love something beyond

your basic requirements because
that's what it does to have babies.

When you have a baby, it's going to be
just that they are not going to be able to

communicate with you for a very long time.

There's going to be a lot of
trading and everything else needed.

And but the thing is with
dogs, it's a different thing.

You're speaking in a whole other
language and it's more about intent.

A lot of times I talk about this a lot
that when it comes to people, they get

scared of dogs because of their actions.

But here's the thing.

If you're frustrated, like I've done this
with my dogs, like, uh, they actually

helped me control a lot of my anger when
I used to come back from Turkish chemistry

because I'd be frustrated but I don't have
tendencies of taking it out on people.

So I'd be in my room and I'd like try
to break something or just, you know, be

like this and my dogs would get scared.

And they knew that I'm
not going to hit them.

They knew that very well, but
they could sense the intent in

me of the anger and frustration.

And there have been times where I
just go to my dogs and annoy them.

Like I make this scary monster face.

I'm like I would hurt them, but
they are like fighting with me.

They're playing with me.

And they know that that is love.

So dogs work on intent.

If they can sense that you're
here to love them, even if you

look like a serial killer, they're
just going to play with you.

But If they can sense your intents
are wrong, but no matter how

much you smile and everything,
they'll be able to sense that.

My dogs can sense that.

Like even right now, when I was
doing this, they're just like looking

at me like, what's wrong with dad?

Why does he always do this and everything?

And sometimes I've been so frustrated that
I've been in meetings and I just do this

and my dog just walks out of the room.

She knows that, you know, he is
not in a good mood and everything.

So they can sense intent.

So it's not that, you know, what they're
doing, it's about how you're with them

and what your true intentions are.

I

Anke: love that, love that.

So, where, what's the best place
for people to, to find you, get

in touch with you, work wise or
around dogs or any, anything,

and we'll pop the link, you know.

Arcui: So the best way to get in
touch with me is via my LinkedIn,

because it's only social media
I'm most active on nowadays.

And even if you just look up RKOSR, I'm
literally the only one in the world.

So any social media link that comes
up, you can connect with me there.

Uh, for my agency work, you can again,
get in touch via LinkedIn and soon

there will be a lot more content
coming around the organization I'm

building and how I'll be shifting away
from running an agency to completely

running an animal welfare organization.

So if you're on LinkedIn and if you're
in touch with me, you'll be able to see

all the transitions take place as they
happen throughout the next five years.

And yeah.

Anke: Love it, love it.

And I shall have you back for sure
when, you know, when you're launching.

So we're going to give you a bigger and
a nicer stage to kind of really share it

with people because that's just wonderful.

I really appreciate that.

Thank you so much for coming and I look

Arcui: forward to having you back.

Thank you for having me and it was a
wonderful experience and I hope I was of

value to your show and to your community.

Absolutely.

Thanks so much for listening.

If you enjoyed the episode, don't forget
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other dog lovers can find the show.

If you haven't already, head
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stories to warm your dog loving heart.

And if you know a pawsome human
you think I should interview,

I'd love an introduction.

Email me at Anke.

That's A N k E at Soul
touched by dogs.com.