Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - Uncle WARREN ECKSTEIN: Pet Trainer to the Stars (Al Pacino, Rodney Dangerfield, Lily Tomlin, Gambino Mob)

Episode Date: May 30, 2023

Switching it up this week folks - we have a fun episode. Welcome in, Warren Eckstein, animal trainer to the stars, former mob-boss dog behaviorist, and… my uncle! If you’ve been listening for a while now, hearing little clips about my family, then you’re going to enjoy this episode. Warren shares classic stories training dogs for Hollywood royalty like Rodney Dangerfield, Al Pacino, Lily Tomlin, and more. We also talk about his unique friendship with David Letterman, Howard Stern’s strange question during his appearance, and the importance of loving your dog, instead of being a disciplinarian. Learn more about his Hugs & Kisses org here: https://hugsandkissesanimalfund.org/ Thank you to our sponsors: 🪒 Harry's: https://www.harrys.com/inside 🟠 Discover: https://discvr.co/3Cnb1V8 🧼 Dove Men Plus Care __________________________________________________ 💖 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/insideofyou 👕 Inside Of You Merch: https://store.insideofyoupodcast.com/ __________________________________________________ Watch or listen to more episodes! 📺 https://www.insideofyoupodcast.com/show __________________________________________________ Follow us online! 📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/insideofyoupodcast/ 🤣 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@insideofyou_podcast 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/insideofyoupodcast/ 🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/insideofyoupod 🌐 Website: https://www.insideofyoupodcast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen closely. That's not just paint rolling on a wall. It's artistry. A master painter, carefully applying Benjamin Moore Regal Select eggshell with deftly executed strokes. The roller lightly cradled in his hands, applying just the right amount of paint.

It's like hearing poetry in motion. Benjamin Moore, see the love. the love. Wendy's most important deal of the day has a fresh lineup. Pick any two breakfast items for $4. New four-piece French toast sticks, bacon or sausage wrap, biscuit or English muffin sandwiches, small hot coffee, and more. Limited time only at participating Wendy's taxes extra. You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. Ryan, we've got a guest today. You do have a guest today. This is... Weird if we didn't. I'm going to say this is my favorite guest of all time. Really? It's my uncle.

Because you've got blood in the game. It's my uncle, but not as just my uncle. This is a guy who is such a success story, but talk about starting from nothing. I mean, talk about, you know, going to Vietnam and trying to train dogs in Long Island and making no money and going to like Nathan's hot dogs to do like a, he was just. you know blue collar came from blue collar my grandparents my grandmother did really well but my grandfather you know he owned like you know different auto shops and worked on cars and but my uncle turned in you know a profession that really didn't exist into something very um what's the word successful yeah uh you know he had his own talk show in w o r radio for 25 years he was a regular

every week for regis and kathy lee he brought animals in he trained letterman's dog bechino's dog he trained Rodney Danger. Hey, Ron, I need my dog train. I got no respect. He humps my leg with his eyes closed. You know, um, just a great story. Author has written many books on animals, so informative, such an advocate for animals in general. Uh, just a good heart can't go anywhere if he sees a dog or an animal or something hurting or in jeopardy. He has to stop. He has to do something. That's in his nature he's always done that and he taught me a lot about that so i think it's kind of ingrained in me now um and uh he just helps so many different you know rescues and i'm on the board for his hugs and kisses so if you need some really cool treats that are vitamins hugs

and kisses foundation um just an incredible story i can't wait for you guys to hear it just a few little things uh make sure you subscribe of course if you like this podcast and uh you know all that stuff patreon.com slash inside of you if you want to support the podcast and give back and keep it on the air um the inside of you online store we have a bunch of cool stuff new inside of you michael rome figures they only made like nine of these or something but they're really cool and they're like me with little glasses and they made anyway they're cute and uh i'll be at some cons coming up uh philly june second unless this air is after i don't think it does yeah my first week of june is Philly. Then I'm in Niagara Falls and then there's more to come. And that's really it. I'm on

the cameo. I got Patreon. A lot of good things coming out. My book, I have a book. I'm not going to tell you what the book is, but it looks like it's going to be made. We're working with a publisher. And we're, you know, we're working on the deal. And then me and John Heater are doing a little show. I can't really talk about that, but it's going to be fun. And we're working on the deal. So hopefully everything goes through. And, but love the podcast. I want to continue. continue to do it. If you love the podcast, Ryan, what are the handles? Oh, at Inside of you pod on Twitter, at Inside of be podcast on

Instagram, Facebook. That is correct. And there's not really anything else I could say. Oh, the band, sunspin, the album's out. Sunspin.com. Please support the band if you can. Trying to get the music out there. The new album is out everywhere streaming or get merch at sunsmen.com. Okay, without further ado.

Let's get inside of my dear uncle slash amazing talent and humanitarian you're going to really like this one I hope you do

it's great let's get inside of Warren Eckstein It's my point of you you're listening to inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum Inside of You

Inside of You Michael Rosenbaum was not recorded in front of a live studio audience. This is a very special episode. You know, I normally don't have my family on the podcast, but I happen to have someone in my family who's famous, someone who's been in the business for a long, long time. And many of you may not have heard of him. And what's amazing is he's had a very prolific career. I mean, how many books have you written?

11. 11 books on animals. 11 bucks yeah 11 bucks in six countries i mean you got a dog a book called yes dog that's right pet aerobics how to solve your pet's behavior problems understanding your pet how to get your cat to do what you want the illustrated cat's life memoirs of a pet therapist so it look it's a lot of awesome stuff we're going to get into it i mean you know you were you were one of my role models i mean i remember being a kid and going oh my gosh he's on we are on w all he's on w r radio he's got his own talk show He's on Regis and Kathy Lee every week.

He brings animals in. He trained Letterman's dog and Al Pacino and Rodney Dangerfield. But I knew all that. But as a kid, you don't really ask, but how'd you do it? How'd you start doing that? And it's such an interesting career. And probably, I mean, were a lot of people doing this when you were young? I was it.

Michael, I was it. When I came back from overseas, I couldn't find the job. How do you find the job? Is that a pet psychology? It doesn't exist. No one was doing it. So I took a job at a dry cleaner. People would come in with dog hair,

cat hair on their clothes. And they started talking to me. I said, well, if the cat's peeing here, let's do this. If your dog's hump on your leg, do this. And I said to my, I said to Faye, my wife at that time, I said, Faye, you know, there's a need for my knowledge. I got to get it out there. But how did you know that you had this knowledge?

Well, I've been working with dogs in Europe, in Southeast Asia. Oh, so you were doing that stuff like sort of before you came back to the States to get a job. Yeah, even in Europe, when I, even in Europe, when I was out of the service in Europe, I spent a lot of time there working at the big kennels doing really advanced type training. But when I can't, you know, I said to, I said to Faye, I said, listen, I have the knowledge, man, but how do I get it out to the public? So I took an ad in the penny saver in an affluent Jewish area on Long Island, the five town, Cedarhurst.

This is what the ad said. It's on my desk to this day. We'll teach your dog Yiddish for $15. That was my ad. Now that might sound funny. The funny part was people started calling me. They're like, this guy's funny. I got to see what's up with this guy.

So what I did is for 15. $15, I would go, if you like Kujo, I would come to your house and resolve any issues you had for 15 bucks. That's how it started. Really? That's all how it started. So you're working in a dry cleaners and people are going, yeah, yeah, I got this stain. It's like, you know, your dog wouldn't pee if you, you just started answering questions. The next thing, you know, I've got this knowledge, you put an ad in and then it starts to hit and you're thinking something's going on here. Yeah. And then I said to my parents, I said, you know, I'm going to be America's first pet psychologist. And the first thing your grandmother said to me, we better get him at the therapy real quick. It's the first thing she said. Yeah, of course. Even, even years later, just before she passed away, she got to me, what do you do for a living? You never got it. Yeah. Because I try to explain to my friends, too.

I'm like, well, he's a dog trainer. He was a dog trainer. But then it turned into, you know, his knowledge turned into books. And it turns into radio shows and talk shows and people wanting this information. And I mean, did you really think when you, Fay, your first wife, you're, you know, she loved Fay. We'll talk about that, how, you know, her passing, how much that affected you later in life. And, you know, she was your, you know, I mean, your partner in crime. You know, she co-wrote on the books, right?

Yeah, who else was going to be with me? You know, we got married. She was 18 years old. I was just out of the service. Going to leave the dry clean. It seems you're going to do what? You're going to train. How are we going to eat?

Yeah. Seriously, that's what I was going to ask. And it was rare. Literally, we would go, we would go to the supermarket. And I adopted a dog, took a dog. took a dog away from somebody because it was being abused and we'd go to the supermarket

and we'd shop for the dog food first and if we had money left over we'd get something for ours. Seriously. I mean, this is not a deal. No, I believe this. Yeah, because you, and I want you to continue but I noticed you this isn't a stab, this isn't a jab, this isn't a, but you have always been

someone who loves animals more than people. I mean, for the most part. If anyone should understand it, Michael, it's you. Let me give you a prime example. You know where I grew up, Oceanside, Long Island. All of our relatives lived in the Bronx. They lived here. So every weekend, they'd all come out like gerbils to our house on Long Island.

I wouldn't be out there. My uncle would be out there washing his car. This one would be doing that. So all these people were hanging out at the house. I couldn't deal with it. You know how neurotic our family was. So what I did is behind my mother's house, there was a creek. Right?

In that creek, there were mouskrats. There were types of ducks and all kinds of animals. So when all these people come over, I couldn't take it. My head was exploding. I would go into that yard and I would sit there and talk to the animals there and that's what comforted me and I knew right then and there

this was my passion. That young. Absolutely. Absolutely. And so your parents are like, okay, he wants to be a pet an animal psychologist. I don't even know why, do you go to school for this?

Do you like, I mean, what was, I mean, besides you just training animals and like learning that whole thing, you did it on your own. It wasn't something someone can teach you, right? No, but I spent a little time at the University of Frankfurt when I was over there, you know,

drinking some beer, Steinheger, and learning about animals. So I spent a lot of time, and I learned an awful lot from the European trainers. I learned not to do what they did. They were all like the Gestapo. My dog has to listen to me 100% of the time. I said, how boring is that? I want my dog to look up and say, hey, Warren, you're talking to me? I need a dog with attitude.

The bottom line is that's what I did. My training, hugs and kisses is my whole approach, is loving them, hugging him, and kissing them, and you don't train them to do things they don't want to do. Well, how did it start? What was the first? I remember he told me there's something, the story about Nathan's hot dogs in Long Island. You had this event or something?

Yeah, I just, I don't know why it happened, but I got a call from Nathan's, Nathan's Roadside arrest on Long Island. And they had an old stage in the back that they never used. They said, listen, we're going to fill that stage up. So they hired some guy who did a karate demonstration before me. And then they said, well, we want you to come in

and do something with pets. So I did a fashion show. I grew up in this town. My friends showed up. Here I was, what I thought, macho in high school, doing a fashion show with schnoodles and wearing tutos. And I never thought, I got off, and my mother said to me, because she was in the audience. Obviously, she goes, great job, Warren.

I was so embarrassed. My turns. But I did it for every week. I'd go to Nathan's, and that's how I kind of started talking to people, and one thing led to another. Did your mother ever ask you, Warren, are you gay? It's okay, but are you gay? You're doing fashion shows with dogs.

You're doing, you know, maybe are you? You're an eccentric guy. My mother asked me if I was gay when I was in college. Yeah, she said, are you gay? I know you're in the acting. It's okay if I go, absolutely. And I didn't tell her for two weeks. I wasn't.

You know, it's interesting, Michael. I was never asked that. You never asked. Well, I was never asked. I'd been asked that before. It's been written about, you know, things like that, which is fine. It would have been a great question because who could kill? I got a call last week on my radio show with a guy that had asked me if his dog was gay

because he's mounting other male dogs at the park. And I said, so what if he is? What's the big deal? But the guy was worried that his dog was gay. Now, that's the mentality of a moron. I mean, I don't even know if you can, yeah, because it's weird, you never think about it. Well, that dog's humping another male dog, so is that dog gay?

You know, when my autobiography came out, one of the first interviews I did was with Howard Stern on his show. Because Howard Stern, Baba Bowie, I used to buy leashes from him on Long Island years ago, so we knew each other well. So when the book came up, Baba Bowie called me and said, Warren, we weren't you on the Stern show? So I said, all right, I'm going to be in for a little.

I get on the stern. The first thing Howard asked me, said, if animals could be gay. And I responded, of course, they can be. All animals can be gay. So, yeah, it's a concept that people don't understand. But let me just remark this. If the dog humps your leg, Michael, don't feel flattered. Your leg is not that attractive.

He's dominating you. That's what the humpings all about. And you shouldn't allow that. No, no, you shouldn't allow that. You shouldn't allow anyone to dominate you. You shouldn't allow anyone to hump your legs. Now, I got to ask this just because you're here. Now, we don't have to get into it because this is about you.

But my mother, your sister, let's just say eccentric, a little out there at times. Fleetwood Max sing a song, you can go your own way. She has. She has. What was it like growing up with my mother? Oh, you have no idea. You have no idea. She'll laugh at this.

She will. She's probably laughing now. She used to beat me up. Come on. She would take a baseball bat, like a plastic baseball bat, and beat me over the head. I'm three years younger than her. I would get in trouble because I would break into her room if a girlfriend was getting dressed. Nona was always Peter Pan, and she'd always beat Peter Pan. She will never be older than 15 years old.

And growing up with it was interesting because, you know, I got to be honest with her. We didn't spend a whole lot of time together. When we're real young, we lived in eight. a project in Rockaway Beach. It was one room. We lived in the same room together. But once we moved, I was 10, so she was 14. She was into boys back then.

So at that time, we didn't spend a whole lot of time. But I got to be honest with you, I love my sister, 100%, but absolutely there's no way she'd be walking the streets by herself. She needs company. She needs company. Yeah, that's true. And look who I'm telling. Yeah, look who you're telling.

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Rocket money. I mean, you've seen it all. I mean, you know, you, uh, you know the family. You, uh, you grew up. And what was it like having Ruth and Charlie as, as parents? I mean, because, you know, I didn't get to experience Charles. a lot because he was pretty sick and he died young at 64 he was in the war he you know he had a lot of problems and um and you know ruth was you know and by the way charlie was like blue collar and he you know

he was definitely a man's man who you know worked on cars and had his own auto shops and ruth was like the first woman on the book of world encyclopedia yeah she was the first manager yeah so it's charlie was an interesting guy in fact i just started reading a book about him because i want to understand him better now. He spent six years in New Guinea. He was in the army before World War II started. I have a telegram on December 7th sending him right overseas. So he spent a lot of people don't know. He was in two plane crashes, malaria, all this kind of stuff. And he never talked about it when he came home. An amazing father, but difficult father from the perspective, a lot different than yours, is because he survived that when he came home, every day he was

in his survival mode. He never worried about making money tomorrow. We wake up one day and the lights were off, the gas was off, the water was off. He never worried about tomorrow because he was in that survival mode. He worried about today. In terms of a father, he taught me how to use tools. He taught me how to tremendous respect me. He taught me how to be a man. But I think he kind of... Was he patient with you? No, no. He wasn't patient with me. He wasn't. And he also wanted to focus on things he liked. For example, he was into bowling. I was into baseball. We went bowling. All right? I was at the baseball. We went to the car races.

He went to the car races. Right. So he was in this mode where I think he knew. He always said, I'm never going to make it. I'm never going to make it to 40. He always kind of knew that he was never going to be on. But I got to be honest with you, as a father, I don't think I could have done better. Wow.

Yeah. Yeah, he loved me. I remember coming home sometimes and a little drugged up maybe when I was younger. Stone. And he was sitting at the kitchen table, having his morning coffee. and he knew, but he never, would never confront it with me. He was excited when I was in a volunteer fight. Yeah, he was a, we lost him way too young.

And I, you know what, at this age now, I'm first starting to understand him. Really? Yeah, first starting all this time. He's tears to my eyes. It was just an amazing guy. There's nothing he would not do for his family except work. I mean, but in other words, if I got in trouble, pretty often. The big guys were chasing me.

Charlie was out. It's the kind of guy who would say to me, listen, Warren, here's the deal. If you go out there and you've got to get into a fight, don't come home if you'll lose. And in a jokingly way, but that's that macho approach. But he took me, even to this day, my wife at this point, Denise will tell you, if there's something broken, I'll be able to fix it

because he taught me how to, his hands were like gold. He taught me how to use my hands. That's amazing. That's a gift. Yeah, absolutely. And Ruth, look, if I think of my grandmother, I think of strong and stubborn as fuck and just but at the same time just you wanted to be around her I always wanted to be around her I just she if you pissed her off she had a temper like nobody she would come out there and she would you know she'd throw a shoe at you know shoes by the way

they were stuff I'm stuck us with turn corners oh my god it was amazing but she was also great she was like Hanukkah claws she came downstairs dress as like a Santa Claus but Hanukkah Claus and she was great but she was uh was she more of the disciplinarian yeah and she and my mother bang butt heads a little bit well i think i think mothers and daughters always do yeah they they just they just were you know they would go at it a lot they you know because no one was not an easy job she was really wild yeah i used to turn boy crazy when she was younger but she was wild ruth was was god i'm gonna sound she was like again the most incredible mother in other words i sucked in school Literally. I mean, I could care less about school. I think she spent more time in my high school

last year than I did. I was always in trouble being sent here for this or for that. She loved her family, and she would literally murder for her family. 100%. But she was the most fun person. Everything in life was a song. Everything was a tune. I think when she was younger, I don't remember this exactly, but I think during World War II, she sung with the U.S.O at some of their clubs in New York City. She had a great voice. I have her singing, like, to herself. She didn't know I was filming her. That's amazing.

Yeah. She was just, you're right. You had to be around her. If she pissed her off, you mean, I want to be around her. Yeah. But if she loved you and no matter whether you were family or just a friend, I mean, she had some people move into the house when we had some places for rent that I would be scared to live with.

Oh, I know. She would make friends with them and talk with them. She just liked to be around. You're a great lady. She just loved her family. I remember she was like, give me that joint. There you go. It doesn't work.

Adam and I, my brother were there. Ryan. And she goes, give me that. That shit doesn't work. And she took a hit. And it was like 40 minutes later, I go, you're high, aren't you? She goes, get out of here. I mean, and then she ate a whole pizza. I was just, I remember smoking your joy with her at my house. I know she went to a bag of donuts. So it's, it's, but that was the type of mother she was. She would never say, don't do it. Oh my God. Like, if I did it, I would be in a boarding school. Like, you do that, you're out of this house. It was so, I don't know why, but it was so, you know, everything was no you do that it was just it was never like you're talking about have you ever seen your mother

after she smoked the joint probably not i have i don't want to see that i you're absolutely right yeah i've seen known her when she smoked the joint and if you i love her and she's my sister not i would do anything for her but if she if you ever saw her when she smoked the joint you would absolutely want to put her away yeah i can imagine that um all right so back to the career because it's pretty crazy guys um the things that you got to do and encounter and be a part of uh you know how did it start out where you start you were starting to be invited or as a guest on these shows like regis and and um gary gary collins gary collins the most talk show in the country yeah letterman oh how did this all start i you know it's it was kind of

because i was doing something that no one else was doing at the time i was starting to get little tidbits of press. Plus the fact that I was doing a lot of rescue work. I was a peace officer for the state of New York for the League for Animal Protection. Voluntary, I got no pay for it, but I had to carry a gun 24 hours, had a badge, and I would go out and investigate animal abuse. Wow. I'll tell you a quick story. I remember going, getting called into where a dog was being really abused. The pit bull was being really abused at this, at this location somewhere in Long Island. I'm not going to give you the location. So I go there, about 10, 11 o'clock at night, I knock on the door, and these three grubby-looking guys answer the door

right out of a biker movie and they say, yeah, what do you want? I said, well, I got a complaint about your dog being abused and they said, who are you? And I said, I'm with the Animal League for Protection. He said, you're a dog cop? You're a dog cop? So then, and it was a motorcycle gang.

I'll mention their name. The Pagans, a big club on the East Coast, very, very aggressive club. And we started talking. They knew I was in the military. And after that confrontation, we started smoking a joint together. I trained the dog.

We became good friends. but it's all worked out it all worked that but so i started getting a little notoriety you know i started trained some mobster's dogs you know carlo gambino and a lot of one gamebino's dogs yeah yeah i mean why would you take that job let me tell you michael i knew who i was training i knew who carlo gambino was by the time i trained his dog that dog was cooking pasta and speaking italian no doubt in mom but here's what happened is once you train or once you work with a mobster either as they're a lawyer as their accountant, their doctor, they all only used the same doctors.

So I became like the one to the mob. It was kind of interesting, Henry Hill. You know who Henry Hill is? He was the, Ray Leota played Henry Hill in Goodfellas. Yeah. I was at his house when he was counting $100 bills with these cash machines. I was working with him.

You met Hill. Oh, yeah. I worked with his dog. And one of my closest friends, Deco, who you remember, yeah. Built part of his house. Yeah. And so I got to work with all these mobsters.

And again, are they nice to you? Yeah. You know what? Did you ever see anything that was like, oh, shit? Any moments where you just go, I bet there's a dead body here. I didn't think of a dead body because I pull up to Brownstone House in Brownsville, Brooklyn, a real sleazy neighborhood. So I'm going to train this dog. And I pull up to the house and I go to the front.

Two big guys standing right out of a movie. I mean, Hawaiian shirts the whole bit, Michael, right out of a movie. So I walk and they said, who are you? I said, well, names Warren, ex-on. I'm here to train the dog. And they said, what dog? I said, whoever owned the dog. They had a Neapolitan massive, an Italian dog.

So they let me go downstairs into this basement apartment to meet the guy who owned the dog. And I'm looking around, and I'm looking around, and I say, what looks different here? There's like 20 telephones and desks over there. There's another 20 telephones and desks over there. And I'm saying to myself, it doesn't look like they're raising money for muscular dystrophy over here. It was a bookie drawing. They were just taking all these calls in. They were always nice to me.

They always paid cash, no contracts. But quite honestly, and paid you well. Oh, and they did pay well, absolutely. This is a quick story about one of the real big monsters. I had just married Faye, maybe a year, and we were poor. So we would sit and eat dinner on the floor. We had no dining room table. We lived in a studio apartment in Longreach, not too far from where you lived.

Yeah. So the bottom line was, I would get to know this guy, Walter, who was the bodyguard for this major mobster, and he would talk to me and after six or eight weeks to work with the dog we get to know each other and they said there's one thing

what would you want I said we'd love to have a dinette set for me and my wife so we don't have to eat on the floor so I finished training his dog they were real happy with it

the day I left he gave me an envelope and it said do it I didn't open the envelope in front of him I got into my car my 1970 duster got into my car

opened the envelope and there was a check there was cashed for $500 and a note that says go buy that dinette set and you did and I did so yeah there were really

nice to work with. Listen, I don't admire what they did on the other side. But in terms of going to the homes and working with their dogs, I never had any problems with any. A few of them are dead. A few of them got killed. Yeah. It happens. And so you're getting some notoriety. You're getting, and what's the first show that goes, hey, they want you in the morning show? What was the first kind of big one that they saw?

Then we bring this guy in. You know, I think it was that. News 12 Long Island. It was like the local news cable station. So I did that show. Were you excited? Were you nervous? the first time? Probably. Yeah, I'm nervous to this day. I'm nervous now. What? Get out of here. When I go on the radio, I have to write my name down on a piece of paper so I don't forget it. That's how anxious I get. And you've been doing this 42 years. 42 years. Every single, well, maybe five weeks up, but 42 weeks on the year. You know, I feel the same way maybe it's in the blood. I always

feel nervous about everything. I think that. Why aren't you relax? I'm more, a little more relaxed now because it's the right meds. But, you know, many years ago, I was working with a director, Harold Prince. Do you know who that is? Yeah. Hal Prince was a good friend of In fact, I just came across a letter from me sent to me from Europe the other day. And he taught me, he taught me a lot of things. And he just, one of those things he taught me was, um, it's like if you're, if you're not nervous, you're doing something wrong. Well, he did mostly Broadway.

Right. Yeah. So when he was, and I was at the same time, I was doing his, I was doing dogs for some, uh, some dance groups as well. And he said to me, listen, when you stop being afraid, you suck. when you don't have those butterflies in your stomach the excitement or the or the passion or it's gone so i have that i mean no matter if you think i'm lying then i'm nervous no i don't think you're lying i am i might have covered i think i took a zanax before i got

here get out inside you is brought to you by rocket money if you want to save money then listen to me because uh i use this ryan uses as so many people use rocket money it's a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions crazy right how cool is that monitors your spending and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings and you know what's great it works it really works ryan rocket money will even try to negotiate lowering your bills for you the app automatically scans your bills to find opportunities to save and then goes to work to get you better deals they'll even talk to customer service thank god so you don't have to um i don't know how many times we talk about this but like you know you got it and they helped you

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a true crime podcast that unpacks real life horrors one case at a time. With deep research, dark storytelling and the occasional drink to take the edge off we're here to explore the wicked and reveal the grim we are wicked and grim follow and listen on your favorite podcast platform you feel you feel so laid back i never look at you and go oh he's nervous wow i like hearing that and that's what a lot of people listening would like to hear like somebody who's been on the radio for so long has done so much tv has been around i mean you trained uh lily tomlin's dogs and brought them to the Emmys. I mean, the list, we'll talk about, I want to hear some of these stories, but like, you've, you, I mean, how do you not be, I mean, you've done so much. It's just

kind of like, it's, it's nice to know that like, hey, you're human. Do you get anxiety still? Do you get, how have you, do you go through depression? Do you deal with that stuff? How do you deal with it? Yeah. I, you know, I have my own anxieties and I have my own depressions at times, never with the animals, always with the people. Um, and everyone deals with it differently. You know, I'll smoke a I'm not into any heavy drugs whatsoever. So if I come home after, you know, when I would come home back then after working with maybe 12, 13, 15, 18 hours a day,

I mean, I was never home. I ate dinner with Johnny Carson every night. Seriously, because that's how I came home. And so it was, it was interesting, but then it just, I just kept going, Michael. Like, you just got to keep going. And then I was training, I started working with some of the sporting events

and my name got out there. And then they called me to do a, before Regis and Kathy Lee had a TV show, Regis was doing a show on Lifetime Television. If you remember, Lifetime Television. Oh, yeah. And they would call me in a night, bringing snakes or goats or whatever.

And so, in fact, when Regis and Kathy Lee started their show, Kathy Lee wasn't the host. I go before Kathy Lee. It was a lady by the name of Anne Abernathy. And then when Anne Abenhavy left, it was Steve Garvey's wife, Cindy Garvey was the host. So Cindy Garvey and Regis, and it was a local Good Morning New York. So you knew them back in the day.

Yeah, it was a New York show, not syndicated. Then Brunevista picked it up. In fact, I was on the demo reel. On the demo reel, I brought on like 22 golden retriever puppies. How could they blow it? So yeah, I did. Regis and Kathy Lee for all those years. It was a fun show to do.

You ever get bitten on a live show like some dog? I could tell you have. Not by a dog. I was doing a show in San Francisco. It was a show called Mack and Muttley. I just finished teaching a dog how to scuba dive for the TV show. So anyway, I'm doing this whole thing. This is my life, Michael.

I'm doing this show, Mac and Muttley. They'd fly me out to San Francisco, and I do a bunch of shows at a time. So I finished doing that, then I finished doing this. I just did a segment on rodents. Now I'm doing a segment on snakes. And the bottom line was that I didn't get a chance to wash my hands. And in my own stupidity, I went to pick up this rattle. snake and I have the smell of rodents on my hands.

So he launched into me and I spent two days in the hospital in San Francisco and had to take, you didn't know this, do you? You almost die? I didn't almost die, but I was pretty sick. And then I had a- What does it feel like to be bitten by a rattlesnake? What's that feeling you get? The breathing, the nerves, you know, the type of toxin that they have.

You feel like you're like I could die? You want to die. It's that bad. Yeah, it is that bad. You want to die. You want to die. And it was a young rattlesnake, and the younger the rattlesnake, the more venom they give you. You know, the oldest snakes save their venom, just use enough to do with it.

But the younger ones just, they put it all out there. And then there was a time I was working. I did a TV show in New York for six years called Saturday morning live. And it was hosted by Gene Rayburn. Remember Jim Raibern? He was my mentor. I mean, this guy taught me everything. And I was doing a segment on lizards.

And before I went on, I was working with an house. animal, a big, large, I don't know, I forget it was like, I don't know, big large furry animal. I'm trying to think of what it was now. Anyway, it took my finger and it bit me before I went on in the air and 80-something stitches. My finger was hanging and, and, but I didn't want to miss the segment. His adrenaline kept you through it. I went, I went, we took a break. I went back, put a bunch of bandages on, put my hand in my pocket and finished the segment.

And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, but then, because I did that show, Jean would have all these friends come on, you know, Charles Nelson and Riley, Betty White, all his friends would come on. It was amazing to get to meet all of these people that are idled. And then I got called to do Our Magazine, and I would come out to Westinghouse out here, and I got to hang out with Liberacee. I helped train Liberace's dog. I saw pictures of that.

You got to send me these pictures of the post. Yeah, there was some just great shots. It was exciting. I look back at it now, and people say to me, what about the dangers? You know, I was training guard dogs at the time as well. Once I had a gun at my head And once I had a knife at my throat At Hunts Point Market in the Bronx

I was dropping off a guard dog At 3 o'clock in the morning Hunts Point Market is where all the pies Go to buy the fruit You know, the fruit fenders Right And so I was dropping a dog off there To do some protection work

And uh... You almost got killed there The guy pulled a knife on me Luckily the dog reacted Good training Warren The dog reacted Grabed his hand, took him down And we were able to get away

When you were When you did Letterman, Letterman was called the David Letterman Show at the time. And you sort of became sort of friendly with him. David Letterman, I was working with his dogs. So he got my name. Oh, here's how David Letterman got my name, I believe. I forget how old. I still have the T-shirt that you say.

The David Letterman show. It was a morning show and he had a little jazz band in the back. And we got to know each other really well. Fane and I would hang out. We go out to the Hamptons with him and his girlfriend at the time, Merrill Marco. We became friendly. In fact, a couple of times he was hosting the Tonight Show.

They flew me in to be a guest with his on the Tonight Show. Trains his dog's barbbing stand. Then you drive around in his duster? He wanted to buy my duster. He wanted to bust it by you. He would try to get on my case to buy my duster over and over again,

but I wasn't selling a dust. He was a really neat guy. Dave was kind of interesting, quiet, a nice guy. And then the funny part is when I started working with him later on, he was doing he was doing the late night show.

And I was working with his dog. By the way, I was training all the dogs for Saturday Night Live at that point. If you saw a dog or a cat or a horse on Saturday Night Live, I was there. Denise, my wife, we're just talking about it. I did a segment with Glenn Close, where she was playing a dog show,

a dog show judge where the show goes wrong. So I had all these dogs around her. She's standing on the podium as the judge and all the dogs attacked her. It was a great, great scene. So I got to work with all of them. You know, I'm going back to the Balucci Day all these people.

So every week I would, and it was a pain in the show to do because they have to go there and be there Friday and be there Saturday morning and then have the dress rehearsal see what they're going to put on what they're not going to put on.

Wasn't there some S&L actor who thought he was being upstage by the animals and got upset? I'm not going to mention his name. John, what the hell is his last name? Balushi? No, not John Belushi. Oh, God.

Candy? No, yeah. He wasn't on there. He was on. Yeah, that's the ticket. Oh! Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket. Yeah.

God. Yeah, he's actually. He's a nice guy. Yeah, I'm friendly with him, but he goes, I don't want these to have stage me. He was doing a segment, I think it was with Dana Carver. I don't remember, and there was a segment where there was a bloodhound involved. Bloodhound's a beautiful dog, man.

They were being upstage by the blood, neither one of them are attractive-looking guys. The dog upstaged them, and they were pissed off. They cut the dog. I still got paid, but they cut the dog. And then for the Letterman show, we did the suit of Sueet. Well, he dressed David Letterman in the suit of Sueet, and I put deer and raccoons and possums in a cage with them, and none of them would go near them.

Really? Because they kept the suit in the commissary at NBC and the food sucks at the commissary. It probably smelled so bad that the animal said, you know what, I'm not going near it. The character was Tommy Flanagan. Yeah, that's the ticket. Yeah.

And me and my wife, Muggin Fetchout, whom I've seen naked. Yeah. Wow, I mean, all the stuff you've done, it's crazy. I remember I saw you on Letterman one night and you brought a pig on set to the Letterman show

and David looks at and goes wow Warren where does this pig come from where did you get this pig and you said oh I just actually got it tonight here in Manhattan on the streets goes where do you go

where do you get a pig you know what I think we all know where to get a pig at this hour he was this he would drive me crazy he said a pig smart So I went out and I literally bought this pig for $35.

And the day before I did the show with Dave, I spent the night with the pig training it, working with it. So I'd get some response on the show. Didn't work out. No, he didn't work out too great. But anyway, the pig's name was Spotty, black and white pig. So I bought him on the show and Dave had this whole thing with him. But then I had spent the night with the pig. I can't bring her back to the farmer.

I kept them. Now I had the pig on Long Island, in Oceanside, my hometown, for like eight months. And he kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And people would say to me, I said, some red dog from Hungary. And that's when, that's when Fane and ultimately we had to buy this farm of state. Can you imagine buying five acres with a house and a barn on it for $29,000? Can you imagine the slum I lived in?

I mean, they have to go outside to pump the water. How many animals lived on that farm? I had rescued 30 dogs at that point, 27 cats, six chickens, six ducks, two pet pigs, corky and spotty, 22 rabbits. And a partridge and a fair trade. You know what? And yeah, but every one of these animals,

God, I loved every, yeah, I think, I get tears when I think about something. You met Shannon. Yeah. You know, and Shannon that, yeah, I remember it was in the, it was in Ruth, his mother, my grandmother's garage.

And, you know, they were keeping him there temporarily. And then, you know, so I go, she goes, don't go in there. You don't want to go in there. And I went in there. And I looked at the cage, just me as a little boy. and then this dog shannon is like

and like oh shit this dog looked like it was gonna just maul me but yeah there's always animals sometimes at ruth's house there's always shepherds there's always dogs i mean you taught me and i think you know the rest of us like that you know how much love to give animals and how important it is and like you know now i'm on you know the board of your the hugs and kisses animal fund and and um you know and you're you're you're always doing this. You're always battling. You're always trying to find homes. You're always trying to rescue animals still to this day. Well, I'm so tired of people having to be dominant over their dog all the time. You know, having to be the boss or the alpha. I hate that

fucking, I hate that word alpha. That word really pisses me off, okay? I like my dog. I like to negotiate with my dog. I want my dog to be behaved to a certain point, but no better behave than I am. So in other words, what it took me all these years to establish, and I have, the hugs and kisses approach to training is being used by, I have emails from trainers. I trained to trainers years ago than a number one trainer in Pennsylvania or Nevada or here. I just explained to them and I taught them all, listen. If you want something to listen to you 100% of the time, you better buy something with batteries. If you have a dog, it's not going to respond to it. Enjoy the good, enjoy the bad. Training, educate them. I like the word.

That's fine, but it really took me yes, because back then, everyone was into the, you know, you've got to be the boss and jerk the dog around and electronic collars and prong collars and all that bullshit. They should go on people, not on the animals. Let the dog be a dog. What do they live? You know how hard it is losing the dog? They live for what?

12, 13, 14 years. Educate them, but let them enjoy life. Let them dig a hole in the backyard. Geez, when people say to them, I had a call last week where someone said, my dog's digging holes in the backyard. So it said, crawl around your backyard. How interesting is it it for you? I had them go out and buy a kiddie pool,

fill the kitty pool with sand and dirt, go in the kitty pool, make believe they were digging, entice the dog to come in. So now that's the only where the dog digs is because now he has its own sandbox in their backyard rather than people saying, well, yell at the dog and throw this and squirt him with water. Now the dog has a box to go digging

and enjoy himself. Why stop that? I love it. And, you know, I always think of you when I see dogs being walked and sometimes really irritates when you see someone on their phone while they're walking their dog. This is, this is like a dog has an hour, maybe two hours a day or whatever, half an hour for people when they walk, it's their time. It's not your to me.

So you said to me, I go, you know, Blanche is kind of jerking me over here and wants to pee on everything and wants to go here. And you're like, it's her time. Exactly. Let her do what you want. Exactly. She doesn't tell you went and where to pee, right? So, for example, the other day, I was walking around Santa Monica.

And this guy has his dog. beautiful dog a blended breed i used the word blended now and and and the dog's lifting his leg and peeing on the telephone pole by the way you might not notice but the higher your dog lifts his leg the more dominant the dog is this dog was really given a high kick so the dog's lifting his leg and the guy's going to hurry up come on come on come on hurry up hurry up hurry up and i kept thinking to myself man would i love to be behind this guy at a urinal when i'd love to just stand behind this guy yelling let's go let's go buddy come on man hurry up pee i got to go you find that thing yet you take your dog out for a walk you hit the nail on the head get off your phone focus on your

dog it's your time with your dog it's the dog's walk let them enjoy and all the time people say well why is my dog sniffing the butt it embarrasses me when a dog sniffs the butt of another dog that's the internet that's google that's yahoo for the dog everything your dog wants to know the hormones the food in the neighborhood is in the butt so let your dog sniff the butt it's not the end of the world only for dogs my god oh you got ryan laughing now i mean you've done wow um what's the most what's the biggest misconception or one of the biggest misconceptions about um about training your dogs or things that you hear about dogs that people assume because they've heard it for so long that you're like that's not true it's a that's a fallacy

that's a myth there's so many like is there is are there mouths the health the the the cleaner than humans there's a lot of there's a lot of argument over whether dog's mouth is cleaner or it's not cleaner, quite honestly, I'd much rather be kissed by a dog and have a dog's mouth on me than most of the people I know right now. So yeah, it's people, a lot of misconceptions. I'll give you an example. People think that when a dog, when a dog growls, it's aggressive behavior. Dogs smile. And sometimes what it is, appeasement behavior. Sometimes they'll raise their lip and show their teeth, not an aggressive, but it's just an appeasement approach. In fact, some dogs, will actually raise the lip high where you think they're growling.

And when a dog does growl, say thank you. Now, I know that sounds eccentric and heaven forbid, Michael. I should ever be called eccentric. But imagine when a dog growls, what he's doing is saying to the person, I'm not feeling good right now. I'm a little anxious or stressed out. Leave me alone. It's like if you're in a really weird, really bad mood,

tell me if I know, maybe we'll talk about this tomorrow rather than getting into an argument with him. So that's really what a dog is doing very often when they're ground. They're just letting you know, something's bugging them. And a lot of people just assume the dog's aggressive in me. So when Blanche sees a dog outside the window, it goes, her, and then she goes to the other window, and this, and she keeps going and going and going.

Just let her do it. Let her enjoy it. Don't stop her. It's, you know. Or can you say, no, Blanche stop. It's okay. It's okay. Perfect.

You hit the nail on the head. When I get the calls and says, my dog barks like crazy when he sees another dog outside the window or he sees a person go by. And here, what do you do when you see your dog barking, standing on the couch barking out the window. And they say, I go over to the dog and they say, shut up, stop it, knock it off, wait until daddy comes home.

And I said, you know what you just did? You just joined the dogs in. You're just barking alongside the dog from the dog's point of view. So what I do when I have a dog that barks, when my dog's barking at the window, I go over to my say, thank you. I appreciate you, save my life, but I got it from here. I love it. That's the way I appreciate it.

How do you know if a dog, because we talk about mental health on this, but how do you know if your dog is suffering from depression? or anxiety. What signs are there? Ontario, the wait is over. The gold standard of online casinos has arrived. Golden Nugget online casino is live, bringing Vegas-style excitement and a world-class gaming experience right to your fingertips. Whether you're a seasoned player or just starting, signing up is fast and simple. And in just a few clicks, you can have access to our exclusive library of the best slots and top-tier table games. Make the most of your downtime with unbeaten

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Light the path to a brighter future with stellist lenses for myopia control. Learn more at SLOR.com and ask your family eye care professional for SLOR Stellist Lenses at your child's next visit. Yeah, the signs are, you know, lack of appetite, not enjoying the things he used to enjoy, being more fatigued than normal, changing personality, hiding, walking away from you. I just this segment recently on, is it possible dogs can suffer from the blues and they can? But also you have to remember, Michael, and this is so, so true, having trained over 40,000 animals, I'm telling you from the bottom of my heart, that animals take on the way we feel. So if I'm working with a person that's a depressed person, generally I'm going to have a dog that may be a little depressed. If I'm working with a hyper crazy, we talked about some of my famous clients, Rodney Dangerfield, guy was a maniac, dog was a maniac. I'm just telling you the way it was. What did you tell me?

You said that you came up and he was just like out of a movie. He answers his door and he's like, hey, Warren, you got to help me. He's in a robe. My dog jumps on my leg with his eyes closed. No respect, Warren. In a robe that I wouldn't wear if I was a hermit living in Montana. That's how, so he was talking about this little dog and the poodle name, I think it was named Nico.

I don't remember now. Anyway, he was just, it's exactly that. And he said, the greatest line I told you ever heard was, Warren, talk about no respect. the dog humps my leg but before he does he closes his eyes that was just and then going to his he would invite me and fade all his concerts and that's concerts he paid you in cash i'm sure i paid in cash of course he had danger field me and fay would be regular as a danger fields club we would go there but you could not go backstage at a danger field concert and not be stoned by the time you walk down i'm not saying he was smoking but everybody else was everybody else was oh yeah

i would never say you but everyone everyone else was a great guy lily tomlin You got Stone with her a lot, didn't you? She was a great lady. I love Lily. And Jane, oh, just incredible people. Was Lily Tomlin? Because, you know, there's that famous video, Ryan. What was the movie?

Were the outtakes they saved? And it shows her screaming at... David O. Russell and David O. Russell and David O. Russell screaming back at her, and it's just this mess on. Have you ever seen it? No, I haven't. Oh, it's insane. Did you ever see that side of her?

No, I never saw that side of her. You know, it's interesting, though, but working with... At the time I was working with her, she had a Norwich Terrier. The dog's name was Tess. Do you remember the story of Sybil, the woman with 100 personalities or 80 personalities? You know that story? It was a popular book years ago.

The woman had many personalities. Yeah, we had to watch it in the AP psych class. So there you go. Every site class. Civil. So this was this woman that had, I think, 13 different personalities. So I started, and I'd come out here,

and literally at that time lived in the old, I think it was the old W.C. Fields Estate. It was painted hot pink inside and out. Remember the movie, The Incredible Shrinking Woman? Oh, yeah. That's how the house was furnished. The cassette play. that they made really big for the movie was a living room table. The rocking chair from

Rowan and Martin, that was at the pool side. So she was an incredible lady. But working with her dog was like working with Sybil. The dog had multiple personalities. And I'm trying to be analytical and say, why is this, Warren? Well, Lily at that point was practicing three or four different personalities every day. She might be Ernestine at one minute she's focused and she's someone else. So the dog picked up on all these personalities and picked up on that. So if I were to spend 10 minutes with anyone's dog or cat i would probably know more about that person than they would want me to know because the personality goes from one end of the leash right to the other you know it's weird is with blanche is um you know and i i i don't think i've ever even i swear

i don't think i've ever yelled at her i just i unless she's in the back of blanche come on lambs let's go but not yelling you're like go hey you know or just stop you know but for some reason i had this little tiny there's these little band pillows i have in the basement and one time i just like tossed it not even at her five feet from her and she kind of coward and then came over to me and like was like wanting love and i and so if anybody ever throws something near her or and she wasn't ever abused she was never uh i've been with her i rescued her since she was a baby and i'm like what is that Is she think I'm mad at her? Just one thing.

It only takes one thing. Dogs learn through the associate of memory. So in other words, if you do nine things perfectly and the 10th time you blow it, sometimes that's the time they remember. Yeah, so it's just so amazing. It's not just the dogs, it's the people. You know, I had the opportunity of working in Europe,

doing it, you know, actually walking with dogs right along the Berlin. Whoa, we'll get into that, but that's a whole good story. But anyway, I was doing some type of training there called Shuttund training, which is a combination of obedience, protection, tracking, agility, just amazing of what these dogs can learn.

And, you know, when 9-11 took place, I was in Santa Monica, and I got a call from the New York State, or actually New York City canine unit. and they asked me if I would come to New York and evaluate the needs of the NYPD canine unit because I had the Pekko Foundation was going to donate money and before they donated, they wanted my approval. So I said to Denise, I said, all right,

I got to go, it's my hometown. Twin Lanes, how am I going to get to New York? So I happened, my 1992 Ford Explorer, at 200,000 miles on it, drove cross-country, get to New York, and then they tell me, well, the canine dogs are at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. So I got there, and I was supposed to evaluate them. And the first thing, the commander did said,

I know you for years, I know what you do, hop in the back of the truck, we're going to ground zero. I wasn't expecting to go to ground zero. And I went there, and it was the most horrible experience I ever had. And I'd been for wars, but the most horrible experience I've had. But on a positive note,

the dogs were absolutely amazing. But interesting, they weren't finding survivors, and that's what these dogs were trained to do. So what they had to do is kind of every once in a while, they would have a person play a victim so the dog would find somebody that they could rescue that was alive. It was just a, I mean, to this day, to this day, I have nightmares about being there.

Really? Yeah, but I was able, the bottom line is, I saw their needs, and I was able to donate a quarter of million dollars to the NYPD. That's awesome. That's awesome. That is awesome. Also, you know, we don't have to talk about it too much, but like, you know, a lot of people, I talked to Pete guests and, you know, my friend Zach just lost his dad and, you know, loss is part of life. And, you know, you lost your first wife, Aunt Fay, my Aunt Fay, who I loved, but you lost her very young. I mean, how long were you

married. I knew Faye when she was 12 years old. I was three years old in her. I was attracted to her even when I knew her very young. I was in a little gang. I was a little greaser. I was in a little gang. She was in a little sorority. But her oldest sister would not let me near her. Wouldn't let me near her. So I was home on leave one day from Langley, F.R. Space in Virginia, and I was with my friend Jay. You know my friend, Jay. Oh my gosh. Fight tooth decay with Dr. Jay. There you go. So we're driving down the street, and I look out of my car, and I see this girl, and she looks so familiar, but I couldn't figure out who she was. So I honked my horn. She looked at me. I think she flipped me off. She looked at me, and we drove off. And then it took me a day or two to figure out

who she was. And then I realized it was Faye. Now, I know she was like 17, 18. And I was still in a service. I was only home on leave. And that's how I met her. So we got married when I got out of the service. She had just turned 18, turned down a scholarship to Radcliffe, and married me, and we got married in Woodstock, New York, and in front of, in a judge's house where his wife was my best man, his daughter was, and we were married 19 years. Her mom and dad at the wedding? No, no one was at the wedding.

No one. Yeah, it was just the two of us. And you were married 19 years. We married 19 years and great years, and she was diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer. How did she find the cancer? Was it on a belt or something? Yeah, she was, she had diabetes. So she went to her diabetic doctor

And she had noticed on her stomach She showed the doctor that You know, it was around Thanksgiving like November And she said, you know, I went to my belt I know it's a little blood on this thing that I have And that's no big deal But you know what? There's a dermatologist across the hole

Why don't you go check it out? Just a fluke. She went over there, checked it out And it turned out to be melanoma And back then, you know, they have a lot more cures now They didn't have it then. I went through every dollar I had

Legitimately, every dollar I had trying to go for alternative therapy But listen to this. She was diagnosed in November. I could see you're still getting much like it was yesterday. And she was, she was, she died in May. So it was so fast. And I was totally dependent on her.

And, and I had just finished writing the book, pedorobics. So we were doing all these, these shows locally in New York. We were being called, People Magazine did a four-page article on Fay and myself calling us the Jane Fonders of the Dog World. I saw that article. magazine. So, so it was a, it was a hard, hard, hard loss. But on that note, I have to be the luckiest man in the world to find love the second time. Absolutely. Absolutely. Denise is just and someone that, listen, I am the most difficult person. No, I think I might be.

You probably could be. That's true. But I'm like second to you. I mean, yes, maybe. No, my mother is first. Yeah, yeah, I think so that would be the question. This is the, would you rather live with Michael. with his mother. Yeah, well. You travel a lot. I'd rather live with you. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, you can get away. Man, that's, you know, how do you, how do you remember getting through that time? Do you remember just working as much as you can, staying as busy as possible? Or do you remember kind of like you're in a lull and it's like you're feeling it every day. You're kind of numb going through the motions. I'm going to tell you things that I've never told anybody. There were twice in my life where I contemplated suicide. Once was at a place called Buccaro Beach in Hampton Bay, Virginia. I was just back

overseas, didn't know what was going on, and I remember walking on a seawall, why do I want to go on? Somehow I did. And again, after Fay died, because it was so quick, you know, we were young, I didn't know what I was going to do, where I was going to go, I didn't even know what bank we used. And I remember walking on the beach, Long Beach, Lido Beach, you know, Jones Beach, Long Island, and contemplated ending it there too. And it's interesting. But it was her love and my love, love for the animals we had that wouldn't let me do anything. I had to keep going for them. We had all these animals at that time.

Yeah. So we had to keep going for them. Just think, I mean, if you didn't go, how many animals wouldn't be saved or, you know? You know, look at that. The passion, the ability for us to save the thousands of animals we've saved, it's just, and yet, and yet people say, isn't it rewarding? No, man, it sucks.

Because if I save 10,000, there's 50,000 more that need to be saved. Right. And so, yeah, it's my career, my life. You know, I've worked with the, I've trained dogs for the presidents. I've trained dogs for kings. I've trained dogs for the original Mrs. Woolworth in New York. I remember she answered the door and white gloves. It was like a Betty Davis movie.

So many of the people's and so many people in the entertainment field, you know, some of the New York City Ballet, their head people, I trained all their dogs. So it was an amazing career. and I love what I did but at the same time when Faye was gone for a while I lost it for a while I lost it. Rightfully so

though you know man it's crazy you know a lot of people listening probably are like well you know it's always like yeah I want to save animals I want to help rescue and then when they've done listening to the podcast they go on with their life and they go on it it's inadvertent they don't do it on purpose I think people have hearts and they want to help

but where where could they go if you want to rescue animals, like I know my friend Shira has the animal rescue mission arm and, you know, I'm on the board of that. Hugs and kiss. You have hugs and kisses. Where can they go for hugs and kisses? Well, there's so many things, Michael.

A lot of people just assume that, you know what, I love animals, so I'm going to send the check. That's great. And we love your money, okay? But there are so many other things you can do. You can be cross-posting on internet on all the different, you know, web. Social media, cross-posting on social media.

You can foster if you're able to. Yeah. You can walk dogs at the shelters to socialize them if you're able to. You can just go down there and say, do you need help? Well, you can be a volunteer at many of the different shelters. Also, what you can do is, let's say you're a really technical person. Maybe some of the rescues can need some technical help, sending up their websites. So it's not just a matter of donating money, and by the way, we do love donations as well.

The thing that separates mine from the rest is all these small organizations do a great job. They help as many animals as they can. But a lot of them are located in areas that are more urban like Los Angeles and New York. The organizations that we deal with, I just got a thank you note yesterday from a prison in Lubbock, Texas, in Montana. These are organizations that are saving animals off the Native American reservations, and they have no money. I mean, literally, they have no money. They can't put gas in their car. So these are the organizations that I'm know about. And these are the organizations I don't make. If I send, you know, people say, well, I'll send you a check for $10,000. If I send, I sent this present, just a small amount of money, I sent them

$700. $700. And I got a letter back from them saying, not only did you save all the dogs' lives be rescued, but you made an entire difference on the lives of the inmates, the female inmates at this present. Now that they're working with the dogs, their whole attitude is changed, and eventually they'll be released into them. So yeah, that's what it's all about. It's, it's, it's, it's, Listen, I love what I do. It has not been an easy career. I've had my butt kicked so many times. But at the same time, I've got to meet so many famous people

and get to know them and get to understand them a lot more. Tony Dow from Leave It to Beaver, a big animal lover, became a good friend of ours, died recently. These are people I idolized as a kid. And then I realized, you know, working with animals and working with people, I did studies at the University of Pennsylvania in Haverford. You brought this up before of psychological issues

that people have. And I did a lot of work with autism and children and chronic schizophrenic and adults. And we found that, for example, if a child would not relate to a therapist, if we put the child in with a puppy or a kitten for a few minutes, and they established

that non-demanding relationship, then the therapist can come in using the dog or a cat as a catalyst to establish a relationship. So these... That's awesome. That's why, you know, that's why I've been threatened by the state police of New York for things I've done. But this is what I do. This is what, you know, if I don't make it past tomorrow, Michael, I will be the happiest guy in the world saying, you know what, I did everything I possibly could. But I got a few years left.

You got a few years. So if you're not going anywhere. I'm not going to. And you're also, you know, dealing with, it's in remission right now, but you have prostate cancer. Yeah, it's interesting. I had 18 months of hormone therapy. People on the hormone therapy takes away your testosterone. All of a sudden, I'm starting to watch Hallmark movies on TV.

I couldn't hear what's going on. But I've been off the whole while. So, yeah, it seems to be under control right now. I also have rheumatoid arthritis, and I go for, you know, injections. Not injections, but I actually go for an infusion every once in a while. But the bottom line is this. You know what?

I can sit back and say, you know what, your grandmother's favorite line. Don't feel bad because you don't have new shoes. feel bad for the guy who has no feet. That was grandma. That was her life. And I grew up understanding that, okay? You know, so I have rheumatoid arthritis, and I had prostate cancer. And you know what?

Here I am. I have friends that lost their lives at 18 and 19 years old. So I'm a lucky guy. Go get checked, by the way. It's easy. I have a urologist now. I'm like, it's not like I like it, but I try to go once or twice a year and make sure everything's working.

And, you know, it's easy. They give you a little exam. It's very, I've got the best doctor. He's awesome. You know, it's like a letterman joke. I got the best doctor. Everyone has the best doctor. Someone graduated at the bottom of the class.

That's true. That's true. By the way, if they do want to donate money, what's the hugs and kisses? They go to simple. Hugs and kissesanimalfund.org. And just so you know, every penny that's donated to hugs and kisses animal fund goes directly to the animals. All expenses are taken care of by me personally.

Any dollar amount that has to be paid out, all done by me. So every penny, and as I said, the hugs and kisses animal fund goes to organizations that most people never know would exist because they're so small. They actually have to have a garage sale every couple of years to raise 50 bucks to spay an animal. That's where my heart is. The big guys can take care of themselves. It's the small guys in places you've never heard of, Nebraska and parts of these little people I want out. The podunk towns, a little. And also, you've had this vitamin, the hugs and kisses, four and one.

that I have, you gave me some of this. And you didn't, by the way, you didn't ask to talk about it. You didn't, it speaks for itself. It's been around how long is this? This has been around since I'm young. Yeah, it's, it's been around quite a while. And one of the reasons I originally developed it is because people would call me up on the radio show all the time on W. Warren and say, ah, my dog's shedding and my cat has hot spots

and this, that, and the other thing. Actually, I would joke with people and say, well, this is come to my house. Dog hair is a condiment. But the thing with, the thing with the hugs and kisses is that's when it was originally develop for, shedding. But over the years, I've added to it. So now, I'm going to brag a little bit. I honestly believe that there's another product on the market that does it all with one supplement. And it's a treat. They're shaped like little hearts, hugs and kisses. And listen, I believe in it. My name is on the label, right? In your picture. And my picture. So it, you know,

it works great for shedding, danded, dry skin. It has glucosamine, chondy, it has prebiotics, it's a total, it's a total vitamin mineral supplement for your dog. You bought those now. Oh, they smell kind of good too. Listen, I'm telling you, it's a matter of fact, if you would have go, if you would go to a health food store and say, listen, I'm shedding, they would recommend less a thinned biotene, the same products in hugs and kisses. Blanche has never allowed in the room because, you know, I do interviews, you don't want to, you know, it's continuity and stuff.

But, I mean, if there's one interview that Blanche could be in the interview, I think she asked, Blanche, come here. Where are you? I was hoping she was the one asking me to questions. Yeah, well, Blanche, come here. You know, I can recommend the trainer for that, though. You're not going to break it in half and give it to her. Mm-hmm.

There you go here. Yep. You like that? Sometimes I'll just break them up and sprinkle it. It's all about like when I give her a treat. She's like, okay, because she knows me so long. Sometimes I just sprinkle it over their food. You know, there's one.

Good girl. Yeah. So you'll notice, I guarantee, listen, you'll notice a difference in three or four weeks. And the bottom line is this. Healthy, happy dogs require healthy, happy, happy people. Come on. you good girl i'll tell you one thing um i never thought an animal could change my life oh it's it's unbelievable i mean never in a million years and then you have a dog and or anything

any kind of animal and you love it so much unconditionally and they love you unconditionally to come home and have that presence to have that just wake up with kisses to take care of someone to try and give something a good life. They want nothing from you, Michael. When was the last time a dog borrowed 10 bucks from you? When was the last time a dog bought you a drink and when you left called you an SOB? The thing about animals is they're honest. They're honest. If they don't like you, you know about it right away. So I think that's what people appreciate you about. Listen, I got to be, I don't think I could walk into a house without an animal. I know. I couldn't do it. They make you feel so good. They're a real calming effect. They're meshe, and they just make you a better person.

I don't want to know people. I don't want to know people that don't have animals. I think animals make you a better person. What does your shirt say? This is the hugs and kissing. None of my friends walk up right. Actually, if they go to the website, the pet show.com, you're modeling this shirt on the website. Yes.

Okay. So to listen to you, you still have radio programs that are all over the country. What is the show? It's called the Pet Show, obviously. We have a local show here in Los Angeles on KRLA Radio. And then we have a national Canadian show. which goes all over the United States, Canada. We've even heard in Guam,

also called The Pet Show, and that's on Radio America. The Best Way to find out or check it out is go to the website. It's easy enough to remember The Pet Show.com. Just remember the The Pet Show. And by the way, if some of the listeners have questions, there are literally hundreds of YouTube videos there. Like, why does my dog do this? Why does my dog hate my boyfriend?

You know, I have people call me up. I had a call last week that said to me, if my dog doesn't start liking my boyfriend, we can't get married. I agree with that. 100%. 100%. So here's another thing. Would you date, let's say, I'm not going to ask you your politics.

Right. But would you date someone who's going to vote for a different president than you would vote for. Probably not. There you go. I don't, I don't know. It really would have a tough question to answer now. It just depends what kind of president. If we're dealing with like, whether like, I don't hate that guy and I don't love that guy.

Maybe there's it. But yeah, that's a good question. This has been awesome. So the pet show, guys, where are you on Instagram and Twitter? What's your handle? Instagram, Warren Eckstein, Twitter, Warren Eckstein, or YouTube. It's YouTube.com Warren Eckstein as well. Or Facebook is Facebook.com slash Warren Pet Talk. Please follow him, listen to him, not because he's my uncle and he's awesome, but he's awesome on his own. He's unbelievably knowledgeable. He's written so many books. still get them on Amazon, probably, or wherever on his website, you're going to learn so much. Anybody you want to listen to, you want to listen to someone who really understands animals, loves them, and there's nobody that loves animals more than this guy.

And I can attest to that. This has been awesome. Ryan, wasn't this cool? It was great. It was just we never hear about it. I just learned so much. I think people are going to really, you know, the last thing I want to end with, this is just a quick story.

I just want to ask you what you remember about working with Pacino or you remember meeting him when you trained his dog. And don't you have something that you're going to send me and maybe we could post it? I am going to send you a cancel check receipt from Al Pacino. This is what I remember. The first time I met Al Pacino, I had to meet a driver in Manhattan, had to get into his car to drive me to the brownstone that Pacino was living in. So I go upstairs and I walk in the room. There's Al Pacino, David Mamet, do I have that right? And Elliot Gould. And Elliot Gould. and they're playing Atari baseball. And I'm here to train the dog.

They're in the other room playing baseball. I'm saying, hey, look at that out, guy. You've got to learn how to do this. I'm not coming over every day to train your dog. And so they said, why don't you join us and play some baseball with us? We need a fourth. That was the first time I met him.

After that... And you got stoned with him. I didn't get stoned with that point. After that, he had another house in Westchester County. I went there working with his dogs, Lucky and Susie, and that's the point where he was getting ready to do school. Scarface.

So when I was in the house, I was training the dog. He was in another room right here. You fucking cock, all these different things he was practicing. But then the funny part about it was he grew up in an Italian neighborhood. Italians and Jews, very similar. And all they kept saying, Yo, Juan, you want a sandwich?

Hungry, you want a sandwich? Nice guy. Really nice guy. Wow. Really nice guy. Every one of the celebrities I worked with. He had to meet one asshole. One guy that you're just like,

man, he wasn't very nice. I'm sure you, there was a couple. but you won't say, but they kind of became an asshole. One was a news anchor that kind of became sort of an asshole. They were cool. And once they got a little popularity, they became kind of like, uh, yeah. I could give you a long, by the way, one quick mention. The Mickey Mouse Club, don't forget that.

I was the creature keeper on the new Mickey Mouse Club for years, for years. And so now I can't look at those girls anymore because I knew them when they were little. So I can't look at them anymore as full-grown. Who are they now? I don't mention their names. But they were very famous. Very, very famous. And so I would go to Orlando and do the Mickey Mouse Club as the Creature Keeper.

I got some videos of that someday when you come over to the house. I've shown it to you. It's pretty funny. And I had to do, why? Because we like you. The whole Mickey Mouse thing. It's pretty funny. Jesus.

This has been awesome. I love you. I adore you. Thank you for being here. This is amazing. This is amazing. My pleasure, Mike. Well, you know, I haven't had a family member on.

So that was, it was cool, man. I just, I always wanted him to come on the podcast. But I'm not, I wasn't sure. If he wanted to come on or, you know, there wasn't, he wasn't going, hey, I'll do your podcast. He wasn't doing that, I think because he's very humble. But when I go, hey, you want to do it?

He's like, sure. He's a former radio guy. He's a former radio guy. He's still a radio guy. He's still a radio. He has the pet show. He has the pet show. And you can watch that every week. Go to Warren Eckstein.

I always say Eckstein. Yeah. It's Eckstein. Warren Eckstein and down. I think people say Xstein, but that's the baseball player, David Xstein. That's right. Right?

That's right. That's right. I think that's right. Warren, I love you. It was an honor to have you on the podcast and keep being awesome. Denise, I love you. That's Aunt Denise. She's amazing.

She keeps him in line without Aunt Denise. What would we have? We'd have a very incorrigible. Is it uncorigible? I was right, incorrigible. Incorrigible. I haven't said it in a while, so I was questioning it. I always ask you.

for a word is this right i say my brother does that to me a lot is that the right word i'm like just just say it if it's not people will go he's an idiot um thank you uh everybody knows where to go what to do spread the word thank you for uh being here let's talk about my top tier patrons these are the folks that um just go above and beyond and really support the podcast and without them i couldn't do it i will write you a message after you join if you want to join patreon dot com slash inside of you here are the top tears i didn't bring water but oh well nancy d lea s little lisa you jean and you you kiko you kiko jill b b b jason w sophy m rage josh josh josh d josh d josh d jennifer l n correct stacey l jemal b no jennel b correct mike mike

E L Don Supremo El Dan really Yeah really You know we love you Dan I love that poem Did I tell you that He wrote a poem

For me and me and dancing About for Sunspin About your our albums And our in life And it was beautiful So what I did Was Did he rhyme Sunspin with unhinged

No He's a really good writer He's smart He's a lawyer He's just a good dude And you know So So I, hold on, let's see.

So he sent Rob the poem, and I put this over it, and I narrated it for him. I'm just going to give you a little bit. When the sun spins, nothing as eternal as the melody of the richest ballads that call to me, as soothing as the song that sets you free. The sun rises and spins. for him you and me soothing is the beat that melts the heart

of so many lyrical works of art the sun shines away the shadows as the spin changes perspective of harsh life lessons learned and respected anyway wow isn't that something

yeah so I thought it was really cool so thank you Dan put that over stock footage of some sunsets yeah yeah 99 more Santiago M's Chad W. Lien P. Maya P. Leanne P. Maya P. Yeah. God's sakes. Maddie. Maddie. Mady Sipe. Yeah. Belinda. And Dave. Dave Hall. He's got he's English now. Hey, Michael. It's really nice to see. He's got a really nice voice. He's a very English and very quiet. Very bizarre. I like Dave. Yeah, Michael. I really like the episode where you shut up. No, we didn't say that.

Sheila G. Brad D. Ray H. Tabitha T. Tom N. Talia M. Betsy D. Chad Boone. I own Luther Corp. Angel M. Rian, C. Corrie K. Dev Nexon, Michelle A. Jeremy C. Brandy D. Joey M. Eugene and Leah. Corey. Heather L. Jake B. Angela F. Mel S. Orlando C. Caroline R. Christine R. Andrew M. Tim L. Amanda R. Gen B. Kevin E. Stephanie K. Jor L, Jem and J, Leanne J. Hey, Joe. Joe? Hey, can you grab my water?

I think it's on the table or whatever. Oh, thanks, man. I need a drink of water. I can hear myself going, it's nothing worse than hearing that. I never want to be that guy. I had it on an interview once early on, and the person was like, yeah.

I was like, oh, God. I actually told her to get water in a nice way. Luna R. Mike F. Stone H. Brian L. Katie B. Aaron R. Kendall L. Meredith I. Sierra C. Kara C. Kara. Jessica B. Kyle F. Marisol B. Estabon G. K. C. Brian A. Ashley F. L. Ashley F. Al V. I believe it's Al V. Marion Louise L. Romeo B. Veronica Q. The S. The S. Also known as L.S. in Spanish. Chris D. Chris D. And Gen T. Couldn't do this without you guys. Thank you for supporting the podcast. I'll send you a message when you join patreon.com slash inside of you. This has been a real treat. Thank you Warren, Uncle Warren for being on the podcast. Ryan, thanks for being here. Yeah, of course. And you like my uncle, didn't you? I loved it. It was great. It was fun, right? I'm going to tell my sister to listen to it because she has a dog who could use some tips. Really? Yeah. She should listen to the pet show. He knows what he's doing. Yeah. I love that. that dog, though. It's my nephew. He's always a little nuts. Reggie. Like my dog, Charlie. He's nuts. They're nuts. But we love him.

He's a pub. He's a pub. He's a pub. Adorable. It's all right from the Hollywood Hills in California. I'm Michael Rosenbaum. I'm Ryan. Quiet reserve. A wave for the camera. We love you guys. Thank you so much. And always, Ryan.

Oh, be good to yourself. Be good to yourself. Of course. Do it. Damn it. All right. We'll see you next week. Hi, I'm Joe Sallsee. I host of the stacking Benjamin's podcast. Today, we're going to talk about what if you came across $50,000. What would you do? Put it into a tax advantage retirement account. The mortgage. That's what we do. Make a down payment on a home. Something nice. Buying a vehicle. A separate bucket for this edition that we're adding. $50,000. I'll buy a new podcast. You'll buy new friends. And we're done. Thanks for playing. everybody. We're out of here. Stacky Benjamin's, follow and listen on your favorite platform.