The Tricks Our Dogs Teach Us With Maryanne Wood
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Cathy:Welcome to Late Boomers, our podcast guide to creating your third act with style, power, and impact. Hi. I'm Cathy Worthington.
Merry:And I'm Merry Elkins. Join us as we bring you conversations with successful entrepreneurs, entertainers, and people with vision who are making a difference in the world.
Cathy:Everyone has a story, and we'll take you along for the ride on each interview, recounting the journey our guests have taken to get where they are, inspiring you to create your own path to success. Let's get started. Hello. I'm Kathy Worthington. Welcome to our newest episode of the late boomers podcast.
Cathy:I'm here with my cohost, Mary Elkins. And today, we are going to visit with our guest, children's book author, Mary Ann Wood.
Merry:And I'm Merry Elkins. Mary Ann was a professional dog trainer who has channeled those talents into writing about her two basset hounds, Hunter and Randall. And now, they go with the flow. Welcome, Mary Ann.
Maryanne Wood:Oh, thank you so much. It's great to be with you.
Merry:Great to have you. Thanks.
Cathy:Tell us about your first ACT career, which was dog training, and how you got started on that, and how it led to your writing career.
Maryanne Wood:Sure. Well, actually even before I became a dog trainer, did. I've had many different handles so to speak. But yeah, I was a professional dog trainer for fifteen years and I've always been the kind of person that kind of just, especially the older I got, I would just, if something felt right to me, I would do it. So, I call it taking a leap of faith kind of thing.
Maryanne Wood:And so, I was transitioning out of another business that I had and my husband was retiring because he was quite a bit older. And I said, well, I'm not, I can't retire. So, I looked for something else. And I just said, Oh, I think I would like to be a dog trainer. So, this was early on when the internet was just, you know, in its, it's not what it is today.
Maryanne Wood:And I didn't even have a computer. And I went to my local library and I just sat there and I Googled dog training and dog trainers. And this ad came up about buying a dog training franchise in my area. And I said, well, that message is for me and I'm doing it. And so I did it and I loved it.
Maryanne Wood:I did it for fifteen years. And then
Cathy:It sounds like you actually hadn't trained dogs before.
Maryanne Wood:No. No. I when you buy the franchise, it was with Canine Dimensions dog training. They're a national dog training franchise. And, when you buy it, you you you get trained.
Maryanne Wood:You received you have to go through their training.
Merry:What was
Cathy:it That's good.
Maryanne Wood:The training?
Merry:Yeah.
Merry:It was I, you know,
Maryanne Wood:I loved it. When you learn to make that connection with the dog, it changes everything. And when you make that connection with the dog and you can teach the owner how to do that, then it changes everything for the owner. And I always said, it's not, you know dogs, every time I would go to someone's house to train their dog, I said, your dog just proved to us that it could do everything that I asked it to do. Now, the question is, can you keep that going?
Maryanne Wood:Because it's really up to the owner. So yeah, it was really a joy. I loved it. But then I just got this idea one day that I needed to do this series of children's books about my basset hounds because the story behind that, how that all came about is it's very emotional and also, I don't know, it's been life changing. Owning and those bats and writing about them has been life changing.
Merry:Well, tell us about that and tell us about Randall and Hunter and what made them the heart of your stories.
Maryanne Wood:Well, so, actually it's interesting because you guys are on the West Coast. My sister was living in San Diego. And she got very ill. And she, Randall and Hunter were her dogs. And she had a terminal diagnosis and she felt like she wouldn't be able to take care of them because she was probably going to transition out of her body.
Maryanne Wood:And so she called me and said, would I take them? And I thought, oh, because I already had another dog of my own and he wasn't necessarily dog friendly and I thought, oh, but of course I wasn't gonna say no. So they they flew out in little crates on the airplane. We went and picked them up. And so the story of them, Randle and Hunter, Going With The Flow is all about them.
Maryanne Wood:They were so adaptable. And as I watched them like adapt to a new home, a new mom, never seeing snow before, all these things. I thought, wow, they could teach people really how to be adaptable and how to be resilient and how to go with the flow of life. And so I had it in the back of my mind many years ago, because they've both passed quite a few years ago, that I should do this book and it just came to me. The word adaptable just came to me.
Maryanne Wood:I was walking them one day on a walk and it just said, these are adaptable bass and hounds. And so I said, okay. So I pushed it out of my mind. I didn't act on the books. And then later it came back to me actually when I was doing a meditation that I needed to do these books.
Maryanne Wood:And I knew then that I had to do these books. And at that when I first thought about it, thought it will be one book, but then the story just morphed into three books.
Cathy:Yeah, fabulous.
Maryanne Wood:So, I feel like it's the culmination of the gift of me, my sister gave me and giving me those dogs and allowing me to have them for the length of time that I did. And kind of a way of honoring her and honoring them and teaching children that you can, anything's possible. Don't be afraid. Change is part of life. And so, you know, book one talks about them moving across The United States and Hunter plays the part, which he kind of was in real life, Hunter, of the nervous, scared basset hound.
Maryanne Wood:And Randall is the calm brother who says, you know, don't worry, we go with the flow like the river to the ocean, we're adaptable basset hounds. And, you know
Merry:He even uses that
Maryanne Wood:line. So so there's many lessons in in in all all three books, actually. Many lessons. And it's all about the theme of change and adaptability.
Cathy:Yeah, great. But how would you say your experience as a dog trainer, shapes the life lessons in your books?
Maryanne Wood:Well, I would say it gave me more of an understanding about dog behavior, dog instincts, dog resilience, because I saw every day how resilient they were. Know, when I worked with them as a trainer. Know, lot of people adopt dogs from shelters and oh, my dog has this hang up and all this. And I said, you know what, he or she is in a new home now. Let's just make a clean slate of it, move forward because if you do, the dog will.
Merry:That's And so interesting to me, because I've rehomed my dog and yet another owner, and I found out that he was scared of aluminum foil, of all things. So I called the first owner, and I said, What's the thing with the aluminum foil? And she said, Oh, he still does that? That was so cute. And I thought, No, it's not cute.
Maryanne Wood:Not cute.
Merry:No. But I had a couple of questions for you. First, you talked about, a trainer, how do you get the owner to resonate with the dog, as well as the dog resonate with the new owner? Is that, as a trainer, what do you do?
Maryanne Wood:When you do dog training, as you you're not only just obviously working with the dogs, but you're a large part of it is you have to have some kind of skill with people. So, would often, you know, I didn't even touch the dog or look at the dog for a while. I just wanted to size up the owners. And so, you know, you could tell like if it was a busy household with a bunch of kids running around and they're very distracted, you know, I might have to take a different approach than the owners that were more focused and, you know, but, you know, I would just tell them that, you hired me, what are your issues? What are your problems?
Maryanne Wood:We're going to fix them. And I found if you took a very positive attitude, this is an easy fix, we can get this, don't worry. And, give them step by step things to do.
Merry:You
Maryanne Wood:know, most of the time it worked.
Merry:Well, back to your books. Why do you think children and adults resonate so deeply with stories about animals?
Maryanne Wood:I think animals are here to teach us unconditional love.
Merry:Oh, yes.
Maryanne Wood:And, I think that we intuitively know that, and children definitely know that. I mean, look at a children with a puppy or look at a children with a kitten, they just intuitively know that they can be free, open and loving with that animal without judgment or anything of that nature. So, you know, I think, I think animals can be our greatest teachers. Dogs, cats, whatever, whatever the case may be, horses, whatever you Oh, are going sure.
Cathy:I've had horses and for sure they they bring out all that in us. Your book focuses on going with the flow. And so can you share a personal moment maybe when this mindset made all the difference to you?
Maryanne Wood:Yeah. Well, I can give you an example. So, my husband passed quite a few years ago and we were living in what we thought was going be our retirement home, but turned out he wasn't retired in there very long. And then, you know, I stayed there and then I don't know, you know how life changes. And I just, within the last year and a half, I just got this feeling, you need to leave this house.
Maryanne Wood:You need to put it on the market, sell it and downsize. And I did, but it was hard work because I had to get rid of so many things. Had to, you know, and I really learned that I don't want to be attached to the things in my life, you know. I don't want to feel that heavy attachment to those. So I let a lot of things go so that I could move into a smaller space.
Maryanne Wood:So I think that's a good example of how I was just going with the flow, of how I felt like I was being, you know, called within my for the higher good of me to do that.
Cathy:Well, times you've mentioned, downloading stuff from the universe, you're getting messages a lot. You're obviously very tapped into being able to do that.
Maryanne Wood:Yes. I do meditation and yeah. And I
Merry:That's great.
Maryanne Wood:I feel like I'm very guided, spiritually. Well, I mean, we all are, but whether we are some people are more aware of it than others. Yeah. For sure. Right.
Merry:Right. Have you always been that way?
Maryanne Wood:No. No. Well, if I was, I wasn't aware of it. But, no, I think through the losses I've had in my life, you know, my sister passed and my husband passed and my parents passed. And I think that opens you up to the idea that there's a greater reality for sure.
Maryanne Wood:And it's been like in the right when I started writing that book, Hunter and Randall series, right before that is when I felt like I was really being guided to do those kind of things.
Merry:Yes, I was going to ask you about that.
Maryanne Wood:Yeah, and I feel like, you know, even in the writing process, I feel like there was a lot of inspiration. I think all writers will say that, but there was a lot of inspiration coming that I was like, wow, I just wrote that? Wow, I just Yeah. Wrote Good.
Merry:Talking about writing, what's been the most rewarding part of writing for children compared to working with dogs? Or is it equal? I
Maryanne Wood:think in many ways it's equal. Yeah. I think, you know, but I'm finding that because I've been going to schools, local schools, and reading the books to the kids. And I've been doing some, you know, local outreach to libraries and things like that. And the response I'm getting is really good.
Maryanne Wood:I mean, the kids really seem to resonate with the book. And I'm so glad you're
Cathy:to do that. So you're actually getting feedback from the children you wrote it for.
Maryanne Wood:Right. In fact, I'll give you an example. The other, I don't know, about a month ago, I was at a they were having sidewalk sales in a nearby town. And the woman that owns the local bookstore invited me to be one of the authors, you know, to sit out Friday, you know, be part of the sidewalk sales, sit out there and I could sell my books. And it was a really, really hot day.
Maryanne Wood:And so anyway, I'm out there and all of a sudden this little boy comes up to me and he says, Do you remember me? And I, of course, I didn't actually remember him per se, but he goes, You came and read to us read the Randall and Hunter book tour to us at school. And I said, Oh yeah. And he told me what school and then he said, and his dad was with him and he goes, and we we wanna buy your second book. And I said, great.
Maryanne Wood:That's wonderful. And the little boy looked at his dad and said, but dad, you didn't buy me the first one. Oh. And his father says, but you had it read to you at school. And he goes, but I want it.
Maryanne Wood:I wanna have both books.
Merry:So his father bought him both books.
Merry:Oh, that's
Cathy:the truth. I told him that's
Maryanne Wood:a great testament too. Yeah. And then I sent a couple, I have a niece that lives in New Zealand and she has two small children. So I sent a copy, both books over to her and I talked to her not long ago and she said that her son hurt his leg playing some sport or something. And he
Merry:goes, but don't worry mom, I'm going with the flow. I'm with the flow. And I
Maryanne Wood:thought, well, that's great.
Merry:That's great. For A good lesson for adults these days. It is. Yeah.
Maryanne Wood:And It is. Absolutely.
Cathy:How do you think, Mary Anne, that parents and grandparents also could use your books to open conversations with their kids about handling life's challenges?
Maryanne Wood:Yeah. Well, that's a great question. You know, there's so many lessons in all the books. But, you know, for example, what if your child is having, you know, concerns or a little bit of fear about moving, which kids do. It's, you know, they have to move.
Maryanne Wood:The parents are moving out of state or just even a local move, they have to change schools, whatever. So that book can, you know, Randall and Hunter moved. They came all the way across The United States. They, you know so that and plus it talks it's within book one, it's like, Randall's Hunter's very nervous. So they pull out a map of The United States and they show the journey that they're gonna make from California to Vermont.
Maryanne Wood:So, you know, it's also kind of showing kids some geography there. Talking about just being open to new things, seeing snow, whatever it might be. It's kind of like Randall and Hunter can do it, you can do it too. And then in book two, it takes the challenge of adaptability and resilience even further because Hunter loses his eyesight, which actually did happen. Oh.
Merry:He
Maryanne Wood:had glaucoma, which apparently can be a genetic thing for a basset hound. He was inspirational. People would come to my house and they'd say, I can't believe he's blind. He's like walking around. Like, he knows every inch of this place inside and outside.
Maryanne Wood:And so for children that have disabilities or you know, issues like that, Hunter can do it. He didn't give up. You can't give up either.
Merry:Is very inspiring. Yeah, absolutely. Well, talk a little bit about your creative process in writing when you're developing new stories that are inspired by your dogs.
Maryanne Wood:Like I said, the material kind of just came to me pretty well, but I thought-
Merry:Did you just sit down
Maryanne Wood:and it
Merry:all came to a No.
Maryanne Wood:Sort of. I mean, it took, I did quite, I did rewriting because I had gotten some feedback from, you know, I read the stories to some people in different groups and they said, you know, I really think you have a lot of information in here for one book. You could make a series out of this. So, I really took that to heart and I spread it out over. And then I knew I was gonna do the moving piece and the, you know, and it talks about going through all the seasons because they had, you know, Southern California don't really have significant season changes like you do on the East Coast.
Maryanne Wood:So, they saw snow and then springtime and this and that. So, but then and then the second book with Hunter going, you know, I knew I wanted the blindness piece in there because I thought that was a great lesson for kids. Like Hunter can navigate life, so can you. But then when it came to book three, cause I kind of wanted to wrap it up somehow, it just came to me. Again, I think it's like some kind of divine inspiration sometimes hits you.
Maryanne Wood:But I said, not have Hunter, now that he's conquered his fears, why not have him give back? So it's all about he and his brother and their two new doggy friends who the children meet in book two, which I use Willow, my dog is one of those dog friends. They all go to the local animal shelter and they decide that they're going to coach the other animals at the shelter, the cats and the dogs, how to be adaptable and go with the flow so that they could find their forever homes. And they do and they're very successful. They do such a great job.
Maryanne Wood:All the animals are adopted. The shelter closes. And
Cathy:Wow.
Maryanne Wood:There you go.
Cathy:Oh, that's wonderful. That
Maryanne Wood:one I feel like that one because that one I wasn't really pulling on anything from the dog's real life as I did in book one and two. But I thought that's a great way to wrap it up because then you're teaching children to give back, to give the kindness that was given to you back, to give the love that was given to you back.
Cathy:Oh, that's
Merry:very touching. I
Maryanne Wood:know it is.
Merry:I would think that the kids that read your third book are looking to give back now. Have you had any any experiences in part book three
Maryanne Wood:is not out yet.
Merry:Oh, wow.
Maryanne Wood:It hasn't been out yet. Okay. It's going to be released, the September.
Merry:Oh, good. Oh, good.
Maryanne Wood:So I'm kinda yeah.
Merry:Can
Cathy:you give our listeners some advice for people that are looking to pivot into a creative career after, say, retirement or after a major life change?
Maryanne Wood:Yeah, absolutely. I firmly believe that we don't have to cement ourselves into one area of life. I mean, some people do and some people are happy with that and that's fine for them. But if you're not and you're Don't stay in a job or even Don't stay someplace that you're not happy because that's not why we're here. We're not here to be like drudging to to a job or we're here to be creative, expressive beings.
Maryanne Wood:And so that's why, you know, like I've always just, especially in my later, as I said, you know, after I got into like my late 40s, early 50s, I said, I'm just going to start doing what feels right and good and not block myself. And so, it does require what I call taking a leap of faith. Sometimes you, it'll spin you into fear because you're like, oh no, I can't walk away. I can't change. Because change is scary.
Maryanne Wood:I don't care how old you are, change is scary. But I found that if you really listen to your deepest callings, you're gonna be happy. It's when you dumb them down and push them down that you're not happy. So, think that for anybody out there that is saying, yeah, maybe I want to be a writer. Well, just try it, do it.
Maryanne Wood:If they want to be learn to play an instrument, do it. I mean, if because your soul is calling you to do that or it wouldn't be in your mind. It wouldn't come to you if it wasn't something that you were meant to give a try. So, I think that And I really feel like we're on this precipice of the world changing. And I feel like the young people of today are not they are going to follow their hearts more.
Maryanne Wood:That's my opinion.
Cathy:Your Definitely
Merry:from your I think
Cathy:you're right.
Maryanne Wood:Yeah.
Merry:So, what's next for you with the adventures of Randall and Hunter, or perhaps with Willow?
Maryanne Wood:Yeah. Good question. I'm not sure I'm going to do any more Randall and Hunter. Because I feel like book three kind of wrapped it up nicely. But, yeah, I could I have toyed with an with maybe doing a book about Willow because she has a you know, it's just so sweet how animals are.
Maryanne Wood:They're like I said, they're just so she has this best friend. I call her her best friend named Otto. And he is this big mix breed, but he I don't know. He looks like he could be, Saint Bernard mixed with something. I don't know.
Maryanne Wood:And he's just like this gentle giant. And he's so calm compared to her. But they just truly love each other. I mean, you can see they love each other. They just have like this, they're together, it's like cool, they can hang out, whatever.
Maryanne Wood:So I have thought maybe I could do a little story about them. I don't know yet. Not sure.
Merry:It will come to you. It will come. Yeah. Mhmm.
Cathy:And, Mary Anne,
Maryanne Wood:what I'm would you enjoying, I have to say, I'm really enjoying visiting the schools.
Merry:Oh,
Maryanne Wood:good. And promoting the Randall and Hunter series. And in fact, tomorrow I'm doing a book signing in one of the towns near me. So, I'm really enjoying the outreach.
Merry:That's You're giving back like your third book.
Maryanne Wood:Right. Because you can't just I mean, especially with a children's book, I don't feel like you can just sit back and depend on Amazon sales. I think you really have to get it out there.
Cathy:Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And what would what would you like our late boomers podcast audience today to have as a takeaway?
Maryanne Wood:Well, I think, Kathy, you hit on it earlier about if something's in your heart and it's calling you, you know, give give it a shot. And I think the world needs more of that. I think definitely the world needs more of that. So, that's what I would say. Don't
Merry:Yes, the world does.
Maryanne Wood:And I mean, I look at me, I'm 66 and I just have a, you know, age is just a number, right? It's just a number. Absolutely. Mean, you know, just because you technically get a social security check or whatever you're getting doesn't mean you're you just hang up your shoes and sit in front of the TV. At least that's not what it means to me.
Maryanne Wood:I think you can still be vibrant, do things, get out there. You know, even if it's just being part of your community or, you know, volunteering, whatever calls you, do it. That's wonderful.
Merry:I love that. I love that. I know you'll inspire our late boomers audience to go out and do that. Thank you. Guest today
Maryanne Wood:You're welcome.
Merry:Our guest today on late boomers has been children's book author, Mary Ann Wood, who has written a series about her dogs called Randall and Hunter Go With the Flow. You can visit her website, maryannnewood.com, that's maryannew00d. And find out more. Thanks again, Maryann.
Maryanne Wood:Oh, thank you so much. It's been wonderful chatting with both of you. You Thanks. So
Cathy:And thank you to our audience for listening to our Late Boomers podcast and subscribing to our Late Boomers podcast channel on YouTube. Listen in next week when you'll meet another exciting guest, Luis De Jagger, who travels the world with a mission to regenerate our soil and teaches people how we can feed the world without destroying it. You can listen to Late Boomers on any podcast platform and look at our new website, lateboomers.us, where you can find all our episodes and descriptions. Please follow us on Instagram I am Kathy Worthington and at I am Mary Elkins and at lateboomers. Thanks again, Mary Ann Wood.
Maryanne Wood:Oh, you're so welcome. Thank you.
Cathy:Thank you for joining us on late boomers, the podcast that is your guide to creating a third act with style, power, and impact. Please visit our website and get in touch with us at lateboomers.us. If you would like to listen to or download other episodes of late boomers, go to ewnpodcastnetwork.com.
Merry:This podcast is also available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and most other major podcast sites. We hope you make use of the wisdom you've gained here and that you enjoy a successful third act with your own style, power, and impact.
