 Hi, everybody. Welcome back. I'm Lisa Larson. I'm here with podcast Pete. Hello. Hello. How are you doing? Good. Okay. So I tried, I really, really tried to just find a shirt with nothing on it, but I just love my t-shirt. So I went with go Lakers, my not only not only like Dodgers and Lakers, wow, they both won the, both won the series in the same year. Yeah, they did. My baby. If that's not a, if that's not a LA girl, I tell you what, they don't make them. And we've got my Kobe up here. My Kobe. All right. So got my my guys, got my guys. Beautiful. Okay, well, today, we're gonna do something a little different. We're gonna talk about verbiage for for animals, humane verbiage for animals. And you know, I think a lot of times people don't understand how important language is. And we're going to talk about the way that we talk about animals, as well as how to use different verbiage that moves animals towards being viewed more humanely by society. Because a lot of the words that we've used traditionally with respect to animals in referring to them in referring to ourselves in regard to them, it does them a disservice. Have you ever thought about this, Pete, or heard about this? Well, I know that animals pick up on our tone. You know, I'll call it the music in our voice, or the music that's not in our voice. And they, they are aware immediately, when you don't have patience when you're short with them, or when you really want to give them special messages, you know, whether they look good, or ask them how they feel, or are they ready to go for a ride, you know, there's, I guess, there's inviting terminology, and then there's dispelling terminology, you know, not right now. Get away from there, things like that. So I'm sure they pick up on tone, but I never thought about verbiage, but it's got to go with the tone. So yes, that is exactly right. And yet it's a little bit different topic than what we're talking about today. It is absolutely right that we should be conscious and conscientious about the things that we say in front of animals, we wouldn't call a person fat in front of them, we wouldn't call them stupid. So anything that we wouldn't say in front of a human, we wouldn't say in front of an animal, but I'm talking about something a little bit different. And it's about changing the vocabulary in society that surrounds animals because animals legally in most places are considered property. They're considered in the legal system no different than a chair or a light or a computer. So if somebody goes and harms that animal, a sentient living, loving being, it's no different on the legal system than if you would stolen their car. And this is bad. This is very bad. So when we change vocabulary, we change minds. You know, I mean, it's it's politics, politicians do this all the time. I mean, think about how long we talked about global warming. And then of course, people used those phrases to dispel or dispute. And now they've changed it to climate change. Now, we're talking about the same thing. But just the change in those terms allows society to think of it differently. And as we change those terms, and as we all start using those new terms, it ripples out, and helps us start thinking about animals in a different way, and hopefully in a way that they can be more legally protected, which is why I think changing vocabulary about animals is so important. Well, it makes sense. You know, there's, there's, there's long been an issue about what stress animals experience at our hand for different reasons and instances. So it makes sense that the the verbiage on how we how we accept that an animal is a sentient being is probably the next thing that we're ready to really start understanding. Yeah, exactly. So there's times when I feel like I'm getting the point. And so I say what my view of the point is, and it's not the point at all quite completely. And then you redirect me into into where the understanding that you're going with is. And then I learn again, I learned some more. But I learned from where I used to be. And then where you're taking me. And I think that's a good thing. It's educating. Yeah, it is. Yeah, because I think you mentioned before that you're representing a different part of the population that isn't around, you know, this kind of, of environment all the time. I mean, I'm, I'm always talking to animal lovers and always talking to the animals and having a different take on that. And sometimes I forget just how far other people are that they may not understand everything that I that I'm saying or, or whatever, but you're representing a different part of that population. There's mille millions of us, I'm sure that before we got our hands on your beautiful book, we thought that we sort of knew all there was to probably know in our capability, you know, and some of that is true, our capabilities limited. However, it doesn't have to remain limited. Now, I don't know if there's examples of this that we can relay. You know, I think it's a very interesting point to make regarding property, you know, obviously someone's child isn't someone's property, they're a relative. Exactly. Exactly. And yes, there are terms, there are definite terms. I mean, the first one, the first one and my pet peeve, ironically using pet peeve is the word owner. I wish people would get away from using the word owner, because that reinforces the idea that animals are nothing more than property. We don't own them, they are our family, we have adopted them. You know, the idea that even though we do some people do buy animals, which I'm opposed to two, which is another podcast altogether, but the idea of buying something, no, we adopt them, we give them a home, we instead of instead of owner, we are their guardian, or their or mom and dad, we become related, we become related where they're their for parents. I mean, there's lots of terms we can use, but not owner. Yeah. So instead of saying I'm the dog's owner, I'm the dog's companion, I'm the dog's companion, I'm the dog's mom, I'm the dog's dad changes the whole conversation. It changes the whole conversation. The other one of the other words that bothers me as well. And I have as hard a time changing my verb, verbiage as, as other people, I have to think about this consciously, is the idea of using the word pets. It has kind of a little bit of a derogatory in some ways, like it's just like it's not that serious, or I'm not even sure exactly how to explain what I feel about that word. Because ironically, I love the phrase pet parent, because it's it's alliterative, you know, but I'm trying not to use it because I'm trying not to use the word pet. Instead, can we use companion animal or fur baby or fur child or our babies or whatever? Because teachers pet implies someone that's sort of even being manipulated or being manipulative. Yes. Neither one of them are optimal. Yes, exactly. So referring to someone. What can I do for you, my pet? You know, that's almost kind of yes. Yes. And it's and it's so easy to do. And it is something that we have to consciously think of. I didn't have as much trouble getting the word owner out of my vocabulary, but the word pet is a little harder for me. But I have to consciously think about that, not to use it. I still fall back every once in a while. But the thing is, if we can all just be conscious of it, you know, I mean, they're they're animals, they're not critters, you know, they're not they're wildlife, they're not vermin or pests. I mean, when we start to hear some of the phrasing and some of the words that we use regarding animals, if we can start to talk about them to other human beings in a way that is more respectful than, like I say, like a rock on the water, it spreads out that that respect starts to just kind of subconsciously float into the vocabulary of society, which is what we want. Because until that happens, we can't really change the laws. To change those laws, we have to get the people to understand how to look through through animals eyes like we're trying to do in this podcast, how to understand them as sentient beings. And until we can get them to really understand that we can't get them to change or support those laws. Right, status wise, currently they exist. And yet, and yet in actuality, they're sentient enough to read us, to feel us, to understand us, and to become great companions to us, or our betterment. Exactly. And you know, it's interesting, because when I read animals, when I communicate with them, I will feel the relationship in many times, most times, it's the animal is the baby and in mom or dad is the mom or dad. But you can have different relationships and multiple relationships at the same time, they can be your baby, but they can also be your best friend, or they can be your business partner. I have one one dog that I've talked to who hurt his mom started a chain of natural food pet stores and named it after him. There was one dog that I spoke with, I may have said this in the very first podcast episode, his name was Jeremy, I'll never forget he was in spirit. We were talking about adoption, because the woman had actually adopted her, her human child as well. And Jeremy said, yes, humans adopt us and they take care of our physical needs. In return, we take care of their spiritual needs. Interesting. And it's so true, spiritual and emotional, I mean, that goes both ways. But but it is so true, because they teach us things on a spiritual level that we may never learn in any other way. And what better way can we honor that than to try to change society's view of them so that they can have as many legal rights as they deserve because there's no reason that they shouldn't have those rights. Well, there's certainly not property. If they can exhibit such keenness to build us up and and edify us when we've had a bad day as we walk in because they know that's what they have to do. Property doesn't do that. A sentient being does that. Exactly. Pete, do you have a ponderings today? Well, I do. And I, I, I know that animals can establish friendships and bonds. And I know I've never communicated with them at the level that you have. And I know I've adored them. I've taken comfort from them. I've protected them. They've notified me of potential dangers. You know, I know there's a need. Well, an opportunity, let's put it to really maybe understand more goings on with them. I'm going to try. And I'm enjoying the book enough to know that there is a preparation or there is a position that we could reach inside of ourselves that positions us to maybe get more on the communicative level from an animal than we have. I hope it happens to me. And, you know, I, I love animals in the sense that they're primarily innocent. They're reactive. But they're so attentive to our body languages and our, our tones of our voice that what better companions could we have? That's my pondering. That's beautiful. That's beautiful. I could add nothing more. That's great. All right. Well, thank you, Pete. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you guys for joining us. If you are enjoying this, please hit that like button and that subscribe. That would really help us out if you want to be notified of future podcasts. The bell will do that for you. And please make your comments below. And if you're interested in the book, it's, it's available on Amazon and Apple Books. And I'll put that in the description. I will also put my contact information in the description as well as if you're in the San Diego area, you can find cat boarding at Alicia's place. It's, it's called Chiki's Kitty Resort. I love it. And so that will be in the information below. All right, my loves. Thank you very much. I appreciate you. And I hope you guys, though, all come back. And oh, I didn't say what was next on the list. We're going to be coming back with a series on euthanasia through all the steps to help you make those decisions when, when that time comes for you. So I hope you'll come and join us for those. But we will we will be working on those shortly and we will get them up in a few weeks. Okay, transitioning with care. Transitioning with care. Yes, absolutely. Okay, you guys, thank you so much. Take care. Bye bye.