Lee Asher of The Asher House is on a mission that even Ellen DeGeneres supports

Lee Asher isn’t your average animal-lover.

In 2018, he quit his career to follow his passion and take his rescued pups on the road. He’s spent the past two years traveling the majority out of the time in an RV and now a remodeled school bus, with a posse of dogs he’s rescued from shelters with one mission: to get more people to adopt shelter animals and give their love to rescue dogs. With a passionate fan base and partnerships with hundreds of shelters across the country, he’s helped give shelter animals the spotlight and introduce them to their forever homes while on the road. Last year, he even caught the attention of talkshow host Ellen DeGenres and appeared on the show to share his message. On this episode of The Good Fork with host Diana Edelman, Lee talks about quitting his career to live in an RV with his pack of dogs and creating The Asher House, a foundation that promotes adoption and animal rescue. He chats animal welfare, his personal experience with dog adoption and his personal interest in animals He also talks about his experience being catapulted into fame thanks to his series on The Dodo (airing in the United States) the last number of years and appearing on Ellen; what it’s like to open up his Skoolie and animals at adoption events across the country and meet like-minded individuals; tips on training pups and so much more. The work of Lee Asher is impressive and inspiring. He even visited Las Vegas a few years ago and has had a successful career living on his sanctuary, his own animal planet. For more on Lee Asher and the rest of his world, visit The Asher House, and follow him on Instagram and Facebook. To get behind-the-scenes and learn more about Lee and his life on the road with his rescue pups and more good news, check out his Patreon. We hope he’ll keep up his work in the coming years and continue to save the lives of animals, which is made possible through the crowd-funding concept and more. Check out more interviews on The Good Fork and learn tons of interesting facts about your favorite vegan businesses and their own practice.  

The Good Fork – Lee Asher Asher

Diana Edelman: Welcome to this episode of The Good Fork, with host Diana Edelman of Vegans, Baby. We’re bringing you interesting conversations, interesting people with a plant-based twist. Guys, friend, this is Lee Asher. He is the founder of the Asher House. He has spent the past two years basically driving around the country in an RV and a school bus with about a dozen rescue animals, helping animals get adopted across the country. Lee Asher, it is awesome to have you here. Thank you so much for being here. Lee Asher: Thank you for having me. Your pup seems that he or she wants some kisses. There they are. Diana Edelman: Honestly, he was fine and then as soon as he knows he’s not going to get attention, he just… Lee Asher: That is fantastic. Diana Edelman: This is Fido. Lee Asher: Oh, my God he is so…. What’s his name? Diana Edelman: Fido. Lee Asher: Fido. Have you ever heard of Fido’s Tap House in Oregon? Diana Edelman: No. Lee Asher: They’re the world’s first dog brewery. They have dog adoptions, and you could have your dogs inside, outside. It’s a super cool… I had one of my first events there when I first got started and formed a group. They’re awesome, Fido’s Tap House in Oregon. It’s right outside of Portland. You’d like it? Diana Edelman: Fido, you want to go to Portland? Lee Asher: He does. Diana Edelman: He doesn’t know he’s a travel dog yet, but he’s a travel dog. Lee Asher: I think every dog is a travel dog. Diana Edelman: I mean, he’s so cute. I love you. Okay, you need to stop now. So thank you for being here. Lee Asher: Of course. Diana Edelman: Where are you right now? Lee Asher: I’m in South Lake Tahoe at the moment. Diana Edelman: And is that where you’re from? I really want to know. How on earth did you end up with dogs? Lee Asher: That’s why when anyone ever asks me what my limit is, I never want to lie because I don’t really have one. So, I wish I did. But basically, about close to three years ago now, I quit my job. I just kind of had a realization that no matter how successful I got in that career I was still never going to find true happiness because I wasn’t going to be doing what I wanted to do every day, which was to rescue animals and inspire people. So, at the time, I had six or seven dogs, I believe it was six. And I quit my job. I didn’t have a very large following but the small group of people that did support me were very, very passionate about animal rescue just like me. And it was because of them, especially because of platforms like the Dodo, the Dodo really talked about my mission and showed our story, and now we even have a YouTube series with them. It’s amazing how that progressed. But from a very young age, I spent a lot of time in shelters. From a very young age, I developed a lot of compassion towards animals because I never really understood why they were in cages. And I started volunteering at the age of 13. And yeah, I quit my job. I decided I wanted to show my dogs, my rescue dogs, specifically, the country, as much as I could, while showing people the beautiful bond that you can have with your rescue pet and really eliminate all the excuses of why people surrender their dogs, don’t do proper training with their dogs, everything. And of course, the excuse of why not to rescue. There are so many just insane reasons why you hear people don’t rescue, which I have to be…So many of my friends, so many of family members don’t rescue and it really shows you just have to do your best to teach and educate, because if people don’t know the importance of rescue, they never will. It’s not something, why? There are many different breeds. If someone is dead set on having a golden retriever, it’s going to be very hard for them to find a golden retriever puppy, if someone’s very set on finding a specific breed. So it takes a lot of work. And I just felt that—there’s no judgment on my end, but I felt that by showing my lifestyle and what I do while speaking, while getting very loud about the rescue world people will at least start to consider it. We both know Mike. He’s one of my very good friends, mentor, a lot of different things, and he gave me the best compliment that I could ask for. Six months ago, he said, “When I started following you, I never cared…” Not that he didn’t care, but he goes he never thought about animal rescue. It wasn’t important to him. And at the time, he had, I believe, three dogs and now unfortunately, has two. But he said, “None of my dogs are rescues, but what I can promise you is that next time, I will.” And that’s all you can ask for, is for people to just consider it or just to know the importance of it. And that’s really what I wanted my mission to be about while making people happy and laugh and just be myself without any hesitation or filter. How I wounded up with all the dogs. A, I already had a lot, but B, I’m a big softie, and I would go to these shelters and I would fall in love with dogs immediately, basically. And there were some that I would foster where I couldn’t get them adopted and I would end up keeping them, and some that I formed such a bond with right off the bat that I just didn’t want to risk not having them part of my pack. I have a hard time saying no, I really do. Diana Edelman: I understand that. I used to do rescue in Thailand and my third or fourth day there, there was little dying on the side of the road and the office sent me to go look at the cat and I’m just like, “You picked the wrong person. There’s no way I’m going to leave a cat on the side of the road.” Lee Asher: Right. Diana Edelman: Taking this little like 60 kilo kitten and took him to the vet, covered all his vet bills. He went and lived at the park I used to work for there. And then when I got a house, I brought him home with me. But I understand that need to just rescue all the animals, keep them all. I’m really fortunate I have a small place right now because I would probably have a ton of animals—a ton. Although, I just got Fido and my one cat absolutely hates him. And it literally… especially now that we’re in quarantine, it’s like keeping two children separated the entire day. She’ll lunge. It’s really difficult. I’m not going to lie. She hates them. Lee Asher: A lot of people always ask me about how to get…It’s much easier to get the dog to be comfortable with the cat than the cat to be comfortable with the dog. I feel like cats really hold on… I love cats. I’ve had many and they really build resentment. It’s very interesting how they have such personality, while it’s not so easy to just make them… With the dog, it’s more about making them feel safe and comfortable and then they’ll warm up and be calmer around the cat, but the cat, it’s not just about feeling safe. They just don’t want the dog there. They just don’t want it there. Diana Edelman: I love her with all of my heart, but… Lee Asher: I’m sure you know this, but it’s definitely important that’s the case, so give the cat way more affection than the dog. Diana Edelman: Well, it’s really hard because you’ve seen him. He needs all the attention, but I definitely take the time with her. So what were you doing before this? Lee Asher: I was a corporate trainer. I was a consultant. I would go to a variety of different companies and do little sales presentations and help them with planning and organization and things like that, and strictly in that professional field that they were in. Diana Edelman: And when you decided to go on the road, you had how many dogs? Lee Asher: When I first started, I had six on the road. Diana Edelman: And what was your first vehicle? Lee Asher: For traveling with them? Yeah, I started off with the RV. Now, I recently learned there’s these communities out there, Vanlife community and the Skoolie community. And when I first started, I didn’t know that there were really people living on the road. I didn’t know any such thing. And then I learned all about this and I was having a lot of problems with my RV, but besides that, I kind of learned that having an RV wasn’t really cool. It was cool because it was very like, it’s already a house, it’s already this, I don’t know, but someone recommended that I look into the Skoolie community, which is a school bus turned into a home, and I did that and I became very, very, very passionate about it right off the bat. I was very interested in it. And I recently, just five, six weeks ago, I bought a converted school bus. So we went from the RV to now we drive a school bus. Diana Edelman: What is it like driving an RV or a school bus with ten dogs? Lee Asher: It was ten, unfortunately, one of my dogs sadly passed away this past Tuesday. So now it’s nine dogs, but I’m sure it’ll go back up to ten or eleven in the near future. It’s actually not what people think. I try not to film them while I’m driving because it’s dangerous. And then, of course, if I ever do, I’m reminded of how dangerous it is, but I just point the camera behind me. It’s not like I’m turning around while I’m driving and I’m looking, but they all just sleep and relax. It’s very peaceful. It brings me a lot of peace and joy to see them all in my bus sleeping and kind of awaiting their next destination, knowing that it’s going to be somewhere beautiful, if you think about it. When the dogs are inside of a shelter, they don’t know what they’re doing there, obviously, but the truth is, they’re either waiting to get adopted or euthanized. So it’s nice to know that every stop that we have, it’s somewhere beautiful for them to run and be free. Diana Edelman: So, how many cities have you been to now? Do you lose count of all the places you’ve taken them? Lee Asher: No, we’ve been to everywhere, the entire US continent. We’ve been everywhere except Hawaii—49 states. Diana Edelman: That’s amazing. And you partnered with shows along the way the whole time. What’s your experience? What has been the most…? I mean, I have so many questions. Lee Asher: Ask them all. Diana Edelman: It’s getting them all to come out of my head. They’re all, like, we know each other. So, when you’re traveling with these dogs and you stop at these places, you open up your RV or your school bus for people to come in, what’s the most people you’ve ever had at one of these events? Lee Asher: Oh, my goodness. In New York, there was around 300 people. That one was massive. It’s really unfortunate because I’m so grateful that they’re all there, but the truth is that when there’s that many people there, I can only let ten people, max, inside of the bus. So when you have that many people there, my dogs can’t just sit in the bus for four hours. When I’m driving, I literally stop every two and a half, three hours, four hours maximum to let them out. Anytime we have an event where it’s more than 100 people, it’s at least a two-and-a-half-hour event. So we’ve been thinking of other ways to do it. The past few events after New York, we realized, okay, this is getting kind of big, so what we’ve done is we’ll leave the bus in the RV open so people can just go check it out and walk in. And then we’ll have a little room where everyone can come hang out. But it’s just not the same. It’s much better inside of the bus so that people can get an idea of what it’s like to be in a bus with ten dogs. I remember when I first started, when it wasn’t really an issue. And by the way, this is a high-quality problem, right? But when I just started, it was very nice to always see how relieved people were and how surprised they were to not have any sort of tension or anything in the room. They were all just very relaxed and they were always so surprised about how calm all the dogs were. Diana Edelman: How are they so calm? Lee Asher: I mean, it’s a lot of love, a lot of extra. If you think of why someone would ever not be calm, right? There’s something they’re not getting at the time, right? Not being stimulated, whatever it is. So, dogs are the same way. There’s something that they’re missing. Like your dog is only bumping all over your face right now because it currently wants kisses, but if it had another dog to be able to release that energy with or if you took it on a ten-mile hike, whatever. So, my dogs are always so active, but really, when they’re not active, they’re just exhausted. They’re just tired all the time. I don’t know if you can see them behind me here. Diana Edelman: Oh, yeah. It’s a beautiful thing Leonard. Lee Asher: Thank you. Diana Edelman: Let me start, how do you introduce a new dog to the pack? Lee Asher: It’s a very common question. I never feel so comfortable answering it and only because it’s like when someone gives advice about something personal, yet you don’t know that person, right? So, I believe that every dog is different. Sure, there are similarities in every dog, but there are things that you can see in dogs that you can only see and tell by meeting them. Just like when I first interact with a dog, I do a lot of videos showing people that when I’m at the shelter, I see a dog going crazy, barking, going crazy, where most people—even the people at the shelter, will tell me, “Careful, that dog is aggressive.” But because of my experience, I can tell that the dog is not. I could see that it’s just trying to communicate with me, and let’s just say it has poor communication skills, if you will but it’s not aggressive. So I don’t know the dog well enough to introduce it. A general sense is… the general thing that you want to do is A, you have to wait to introduce that dog until you can release all that shit. If you are being like, “The attack is going to happen now, the attack is going to happen now, the attack is going to happen now,” Your dog is just thinking, “You want me to attack now, you want me to attack now.” Our dogs can feel. That’s why when you’re sad without crying, the dog still comes to you. Your dog is just, “No!” And you have to first be in the right mindset to introduce the dogs, you have to be in the right mindset. If you’re set on getting a dog and you’re not in the right mindset, you need to have someone there. You need to have a trainer, someone who’s confident or someone who the dog trusts, who’s confident, whoever. But the best way to do it, in short, sorry, is in an open field where there are many ways to distract both dogs. You want to have many different ways to distract both dogs. In the beginning, with the first introduction, when they first meet, excuse me, it’s better to have no distractions whatsoever. Have the distractions handy, have the toys and the treats in a backpack, all these different things. But that’s another thing that I was going to say, is the reason why you want to meet the dog first is. Some dogs, when you put them on a leash some dogs are way more tense, right? But you see a lot of trainers say, have both dogs on a leash. So you really have to find out what can I do now? What is the best thing I can do now to not only make myself confident, but to make both dogs as comfortable as possible? Best case scenario, you never need the distractions. The dogs meet, everything is fine, they play and you’re like, no way, right? Even if they play, what you want to do is take them away from each other for a little bit and then bring them back ten minutes later to make sure it’s going to… You don’t want to just… They think it’s love at first sight, but they end up hating each other, right? But open field and let them just…For me—I’m not advising this—but for me, I let both dogs just be I’m right there, because I could feel the tension coming before it comes. I don’t say, everything is fine, and then, oh my God, a fight happened out of nowhere that has never happened to me in my life. I could see, hey, there’s a fight that it’s about to happen. And then I immediately pick up… I’m lucky enough to be big enough where it could be 100-pound, 200-pound dog, and I will pick it up away from the other dog. And they both didn’t react yet, so they don’t know what’s wrong. They just be like, “Oh, okay” and they go about their business. Do you see what I’m trying to say? That’s why it’s not so complicated for me. It’s such a simple question with a very difficult answer. Diana Edelman: So of all your dogs, which ones are like…Oh, Fido. Which ones are like best friends? Lee Asher: Tony and Lily are often together. Butters and Penny. Tony and Lily are the German Shepherd and the St. Bernard. Butters and Penny. Butters is also obsessed with Stella. All the dogs though—because Bo, my chocolate Lab is really the pack leader. He’s the fastest and the strongest. And all of them really kiss his ass. And if they’re not kissing his ass, it’s kind of sad. They’re biting the shit out of his ears to try to slow him down. I hate when they do it, but they do it so that he won’t be so fast. Makes him look pretty slow. Diana Edelman: So where do you get all these names? Lee Asher: I like to give my dogs like little characters. Like, Tony is from Tony Soprano, and his name at the shelter was Bear, he was really the biggest dog I’ve ever seen, I think, when I first met him. And then, Penny is so small like a Penny. I just come up with these little characters. I always change their name from the shelter though, always. The way I look at it is, the day that I adopt them is like their first day of freedom in life. I don’t make them hold on to anything of their past, especially their name. Our names in many ways define us, so I don’t ever want their names to be who they are. And what a lot of people don’t know is if a dog is surrendered by an animal abuser by a piece of shit scumbag, then they will have negative association to their name because if it’s an animal abuser, the abuser is only saying their name when speaking negatively to the dog. So that could be a negative association and people don’t realize it. But let’s say the dog’s name is Max. “Come on, Max. Come on, Max” and Max is scared, and then they say, “What’s wrong, Max? What’s wrong, Max?” They don’t realize they are literally saying the problem. So, it’s just a safer thing to do to change the name completely. And it doesn’t matter if the dog had the name for…My current dog, her name is Cece. I adopted her when she was 14. She had the same name for 14 years and I changed it. It was Casey previously, I changed it to Cece, so it’s just good to change the name now. Diana Edelman: I feel bad that I didn’t change [Inaudible 20:16] I feel like the organization… Lee Asher: There’s a difference if the organization… A lot of times, the organization gives a name, but again, there’s no reason to feel bad. Your dog obviously doesn’t have a negative association, right? I could promise you it doesn’t. Fido is good, don’t worry. If the dog had a negative association, you would see it every time you said his name. Diana Edelman: That’s fair, because when he came with the name Fido, I was like, “I’m not changing that.” That’s, like, the quintessential dog name. Lee Asher: It’s a great dog name, and it does make it hard. Tony’s name, his name was Bear. And I was like, that is extremely fitting. Diana Edelman: But it makes sense why you would change it. Lee Asher: It’s just my own little thing, too. It’s like, why not? Diana Edelman: How has your life? Actually, let me back that up a second. So, when you started doing this, how many followers did you have? Lee Asher: Well, like everyone else, I started with zero. And then I’m trying to think of the process. I think when I decided to quit my job, I had 30,000. Diana Edelman: And then since then, two years on the road. Lee Asher: My first visit was February 2, 2018. Diana Edelman: Where? Lee Asher: It was the Sacramento SPCA. No, excuse me, San Francisco SPCA. You know how many people showed up? Four people. And if you would know, it gets better. It was a family. Diana Edelman: Did you adopt the dog? Lee Asher: What? I got one dog adopted. Actually, the dog that I got adopted, which is so funny, was someone’s mother who followed me, who couldn’t make it to the event. So, she had her son call the shelter that day to tell me they want the dog. So, I was like, “I got a dog adopted.” And I paid for the adoption fee. Diana Edelman: So when you…? Lee Asher: Yeah. Diana Edelman: No, go ahead. Lee Asher: No, I remember I was so excited that I paid for the adoption fee. And the beginning of my whole thing, I paid for the first few weeks. I think it was the whole first tour, actually. I paid for the adoption fees, but not only did it get very expensive, but I learned that maybe that wasn’t… I didn’t want people to come there just to get a free dog. Diana Edelman: So how many dogs have you gotten adopted for your tour? Lee Asher: At the tours alone, at the adoption events, we’ve exceeded over 500 dogs. Diana Edelman: That’s amazing. Lee Asher: Which is really amazing. And I know I need to be happier about it, but I really wanted, you know, I’m supposed to be on the road right now. I would have had several events already and I really wanted to double that in just this tour alone, I wanted to exceed1000. But what’s really beautiful, that power of social media is how many people have let me know—which is so kind of them, because they don’t have to let me know that they…Like what Mike said to me, that their next dog is a rescue, and so many people have said that and actually followed through with it, and said, “Hey, I don’t know if you remember, but I had that dog and they unfortunately passed away. And now I just rescued my first dog. I couldn’t be happier.” It’s a beautiful thing. Diana Edelman: You’re making a real difference, and that’s incredible. Lee Asher: Thank you. Diana Edelman: Yes, of course. So how did you end up doing the Dodo series? Lee Asher: One more time. Diana Edelman: Dodo series, how did you end up doing that? Lee Asher: It’s nice to know. You see a lot of people on social media, and there’s a lot of media companies that I’ve worked with that don’t really give a shit about anything except viewers and engagement. And the Dodo really cares about the stories, they really do. And I’ve gotten to know the people there, and it’s a business, but they’re great people, like, the people who work for the Dodo really work their ass. The name of the series is The Rough Life with Lee Asher Asher. We’re in conversation now regarding our third season, and they told me that they wouldn’t filter me, that they’d allowed me to do my thing. And they brought this to me a year ago, a little bit more than a year ago, and I was really just overwhelmed with joy to be able to continue to work with them. I mean, they really know how to capture a story. And you know what I really like about them is there’s no exaggeration to the situation. What I mean by that is so many times when there’s rescue story involved, I don’t want to say it’s exaggerated, right? But really, we add a lot of drama to make the story as sad as possible, to get as many donations and all that, which it makes sense, but the Dodo really doesn’t do that. And they didn’t make me do that because they also knew I wouldn’t, and they’re awesome. Diana Edelman: Dodo always makes me happy cry. Lee Asher: That’s what everyone says. Happy cry, for sure. Diana Edelman: I think like, [inaudible 24:42] emotional, I’ll watch something from there, but right now, everyone’s emotions are just like, up here, so I’m like, “We can’t watch Dodo for a little bit,” because even if it’s good, I just need a minute to not feel all that guilt. So, how did Ellen end up hearing about you? Lee Asher: From what I was told is that she actually saw my videos on the Dodo and really enjoyed them. And then when she asked her producers and asked everybody about having me on, evidently, we had already been in conversation, and they were like, “We’re in the middle of talking to him now.” I know a lot of people think this, and a lot of people say it, but I know without hesitation, I have the best supporters in the world. They treat me as if we grew up together, because they’ve also seen me evolve. I’m not even close, thank God, to who I was just two years ago or three years ago when they started following me. And some of that was probably painful to watch. I’ve changed my mind on things. I’ve said things. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve also made huge growth. So the people that have stuck, you know, when you’re on social media, you could be following someone and then all of a sudden you disagree with one post and you unfollow that person. It’s mind boggling. And I’m guilty of it, too, by the way. But literally, you could be in love with this person, love their content, and then they tell you whether they’re a Republican or a Democrat, and you’re like, “Oh, never mind. I don’t like you.” It’s fucking ridiculous, right? So. Although I gave you that example. I maybe have given training methods. People disagree with my opinion on being vegan. Which I remember one time I did a post about it, I lost like 2000 followers that day just from talking about… I talked about how awful and I get people’s argument, so I won’t try to cover my tracks, but I talked about how…Sorry, let me go back to your question, then we’ll get to this. The Ellen show told me that they had over like 2000 emails, which was the most they’ve received since a couple of those stories that were really tearful, but it was one of the most they’ve ever received from people like, “Have this guy on your show, have this guy on your show.” Some people demanded it, and it was really funny. And with Ellen piquing her interest and all the people suggesting it, we were on, and I was only notified. I got 24-hours notice. Diana Edelman: Oh my gosh, where were you? Lee Asher: I was actually in Miami for a wedding. It was the first time I’d been away with my dogs longer than 24 hours. And they were like, “We might call you this week to be on the show. It’s your only chance.” And I was like, “I’m going to a wedding tomorrow” and they said, “You should fly home right after that.” And I was supposed to stay there for a few more days, and I was on the next flight. Diana Edelman: What was going on…? Lee Asher: The day after I got back from the wedding, they said, “You have to come here.” Diana Edelman: What went through your mind when you were backstage? Lee Asher: Oh, my goodness. Diana Edelman: It was an incredible moment for me. It really was. I had a vision board that I cut out in the shape of the RV when I first started, and Ellen was the first thing on there, as well as several companies that I’ve wanted to work with, which I’ve accomplished all of those, so I’m all out of goals. I’m just kidding. But I just couldn’t believe it. I remember I was in the backstage and I remember seeing her sitting there, and they wanted to make sure that I would be excited. And I was like, “I honestly don’t think you need to worry that I’ll be excited.” I was like, “I think I just need space right now.” And she starts talking about the mission and then says, these guys are real life heroes. And I was like, “Oh, my…” I just couldn’t believe it. I was honestly a fan of hers. I’m a fan of anyone who is willing to say, “let’s see what happens,” to step out of their comfort zone. And her story is really amazing. It’s very easy to see someone where they are and think that’s where they’ve always been. That’s what your mind does to protect you, right? Your mind does that to say, “You don’t have to compare yourself to that, because they’re like that.” But it’s not true. People evolve into who they are, right? And they take risks to be where they are. Everybody, no matter what. Even if their father or mother was the richest person, like, if you maintain success, it’s just not easy. It doesn’t matter. And she has done that at probably the highest level. And I was thinking about that while I was backstage and I was like…I peaked. I was like, who could have me on that I could be this excited about. And I don’t think that exist. Diana Edelman: So when you walked out on stage, like, what’s the first thing that went through your mind? Lee Asher: I thought to myself how hard should I hug her? Because I don’t want to break her back. I was warned that she had a bad back to not dance with her. I said, okay. And then I expected because of her bad back to not hug her, but of course, Ellen being Ellen, she went to hug me, and I was like, I want to hug her to show that I’m here, but I also want to hug her to not be… But it was wonderful. I remember just sitting there, and I was so zoned in on her. And I was fangirling. I was speechless and I was so happy. I was so happy to be there. I really was. It was truly an honor. Diana Edelman: How has your life changed since then? Because I think, as you said, I don’t necessarily think it’s your peak, but that’s an incredible opportunity for you to really [inaudible 32:05] audience, what’s changed? Lee Asher: You know what, I don’t say this to be pessimistic. I say this to be honest, not much. And I say only because my following increased about 10,000. It wasn’t like we went from… it didn’t double, it increased about 10,000. But the big thing it did is it gave us a lot of credibility, which is kind of interesting. I found out after that a lot of people want you on their show before Ellen. So there’s a lot of people that are like, “You’ve already been on Ellen.” She is the top of the top. But it wasn’t a bad thing. I’m not talking about shows that would have changed your life, but it really showed me, you know, I always had so much… not so much, but I always had a lot of doubt, like, “Man, did I make the right decision?” Everything I do is based off sponsorships and donations. What if tomorrow I lose all my sponsorship? And anything could happen. And then when I went on Ellen and she said what she said, and she whispered something really beautiful in my ear saying she just told me that she can’t wait to see what we accomplish. She let me know that she watches our stuff. It really showed me it doesn’t matter if I didn’t have one sponsor, as long as I have my bus and my dogs, we’re going to find ways to inspire people and promote animal rescue. And that was the way it personally changed my life. From a business standpoint, I think it just gave me the confidence to—I mean, you know what’s interesting? I want to get back on the show. I want to show her what we’ve accomplished since then because we’re bigger and better now, and I really want to show her what’s happened since. And that’s kind of one of my goals to put it out there. Diana Edelman: I mean, that’s amazing. It’s a great goal to have, I think. I think that’s a pretty damn good goal. You’re going to have one, I mean, who doesn’t want to be on Ellen? And who doesn’t want to be on Ellen twice? Lee Asher: Right. I know. I feel once wasn’t good enough, I guess. Diana Edelman: You’re going to need vision board with Ellen on it and some other people and maybe add Hawaii to that, figure out away to get… Lee Asher: The problem with going to Hawaii is that, ironically enough, quarantine is a very common word right now, and they quarantine your dogs for, like, I think it’s 30 days or even 90 days. I don’t know. It’s a long time. They quarantine your dogs for… So, there’s no way I would ever do that. Diana Edelman: No, I don’t blame you. So when you’re traveling with your dogs, what’s the biggest challenge for you? Lee Asher: I don’t really have any that I can think of. I mean, sometimes it could be pretty tough to find… depending on where we are, but with the more experience I have, I’m learning. But it could be hard to find a place to let them all out because I don’t use leashes or anything, so it could be tough to find a place to make sure that I could take them all out at the same time. But it’s a minor issue. It’s just a lot of driving. It’s a lot of driving, which I’m not complaining about, but sometimes it puts a toll on the old back. Diana Edelman: Of all the places we’ve been around the US, what’s been the place you can’t wait to go back to? Lee Asher: It’s a good question. Two places come to mind. The one which is more feasible, a lot easier is Utah. I just had a great time in Utah. There was a campsite I went to that was somewhat life changing. I was there with my dogs by myself for about a week with no service, really. It was beautiful. And then I’m really excited to go back to Alaska. Not necessarily for Alaska, although Alaska was great, but it’s the drive to Alaska that in some ways is quite transformational spiritually. Diana Edelman: Well, I would imagine. I’ve been to Alaska twice, and it’s one of the, I think, most beautiful places I’ve ever been. I can imagine just that drive leading up to it is just absolutely magnificent. Lee Asher: It’s out of this world. There are bears everywhere and moose and there’s wolf, and it was fantastic. Diana Edelman: Come here. Come here. Come here. Sorry. Lee Asher: Barking at the cat, maybe. Diana Edelman: Here, come on. Come here. Come here. Come on up. Come here, Fido. I think he wants F-O-O-D. Come here. Come here. Come here. Let’s talk superlatives, because I’m really curious. Like, senior superlatives, most likely to XYZ. What are your dogs? What’s Butters? Lee Asher: Butters is most likely to lick one of my dog’s asses and then try to lick your face. Diana Edelman: Isn’t that gross, though? Lee Asher: It’s pretty gross. Diana Edelman: What’s another good one? Lee Asher: I mean, they really all have their thing. I feel what’s really interesting about having such an audience is that you really realize that each audience has a different bond with each dog, right? And that’s crazy because so do I. So, you have Lily who’s like grandma Lily. She’s the one who is always… She doesn’t like rough housing. She doesn’t like the dogs running around. It takes a long time for her to warm up to you. Each one of them has their thing. Stella is most likely to eat your food if you’re not looking, 100%. She’s the pit bull. But they’re all really just… I’m very lucky to have the dogs that I have. They’re just fantastic dogs in every way. Diana Edelman: So, in talking about your fans what’s… You have followers from all over the world? What’s the furthest someone has come to meet you and to meet your animals? Lee Asher: I think Mike told you that, right? Diana Edelman: I wasn’t thinking necessarily that instance. I was just thinking you have people from all over the country that want to come meet you and I figured that was the [inaudible 38:50] Lee Asher: Actually, there’s two stories that really stick out. One, because Mike was there for this one and he was in shock, which is so funny. So was I. But we have an amazing supporter who’s also become a friend of mine, her name is Anne. And she drove from Michigan all the way to Vegas to be at Violet’s Vegan Cafe. She slept in her car? It was unbelievable. She always writes me the nicest letters and she’s a fantastic person. And then one time…. Yeah? Diana Edelman: No, no, go ahead. Sorry. Lee Asher: I forgot where we were. Oh! Chicago. Someone flew from New York to Chicago. Just a quick 24 hours trip to be at an event. I thought that was cool. It was further, sorry. I’m not sure where it was, but just the fact that someone would jump on a flight to be at our event is amazing. Diana Edelman: What do you tell people? If I were to come to you and say, “Hey, I’m buying this dog?” What do you say to somebody to kind of get them to rethink that decision? What kind of advice would you give to somebody who has someone in their life that might buy a dog versus going to adopt? Lee Asher: Well, before I even get into how I’m going to inspire them, I’d ask them if they’ve even considered adopting, right? Because that’s going to bring me to a place to start. The last thing I’m going to do and obviously, I’m very passionate about being vegan, not eating animals. One thing that really upsets me about, with all due respect, the vegan community, is the very same thing that truly upsets me about the rescue community, and is that we judge before we understand, right? I cannot be mad at someone who has spent 30 years of their life in the same town with the same people, with the same family that are all meat lovers, who don’t know about being conscious of another living thing like that, right? They don’t know. We have to understand first. So to answer your question…And that’s same thing people do in the rescue community. Someone says they want to buy a dog and they literally think that they’re not a good person. They really do. They think they’re not a good person because of that, and that’s not true. So, the first thing we have to do is understand their world. What is their world at that point? So, I would ask them if they’ve ever considered it, and then if they say no, I would say, “What kind of dog do you want to get?” So whatever they tell me, let’s say they would say a St. Bernard or a golden retriever. I would pull up a rescue, a St. Bernard rescue, a golden retriever rescue. But then I would also let them know… I would ask them if they wanted to be educated. I would say, “Can I talk to you about something? Don’t waste your time. Can I talk to you about this? Is your mind made up? Right?” But I’ve really noticed is that this is why I do so many of my videos inside of the shelter. People think they want a certain dog until they go to the shelter. When you go to the shelter and you see… because although a lot of my dogs are purebreds, which a lot of it’s on purpose to make a point that you could rescue any breed, the truth is the healthiest breeds are mixed because they’re definitely not inbreeded and etc, they have less disease, live longer, no…. Not, no, but less chances of hip dysplasia, all the above. So, I just tried to educate them in those very minor details. And of course, if I can convince them to actually go to a shelter, I’ll say something like this. I’ll be like, “Do me a favor, before you buy a dog… There’s always going to be puppies available, you haven’t fallen in love with a dog yet. And you’re definitely, if you go to a breeder’s house and they show you all those puppies in the kennel, you’re going to pick one. So before you pick one, do me a favor; let’s go to three shelters. Go to three shelters, right? And if you don’t fall in love out of those three shelters, if you’re not willing to go to more, then do what you think is best.” But sometimes people are so self-consumed that when someone who’s such an empath is trying to convince them to buy a dog because so many dogs are put down, they don’t give a shit. They don’t really care, which doesn’t make it right, but it also doesn’t make you a good influencer. You influence people the way they would best be influenced. So say like, maybe it’s money, so you’re going to spend much more money on the breeding dog, whatever it is, I would find my leverage. I would find my way to do it. You know what I mean? Diana Edelman: When I did rescue in Thailand, because I worked for an elephant rescue organization, and I’ve noticed there’s two different camps of people. I know they’re the people that are aggressive to make you change your mind. And then there are the people that are like you that kind of read the person and talk. It’s far more compassionate. And I find that that activism, that way of making awareness, I think, makes somebody a lot more open to making the decision that you’re trying to encourage them [inaudible 44:30]. Lee Asher: Absolutely. Diana Edelman: Or even the shock factor. I know for me, when those Sarah McLachlan ads come on about adopting a shelter animal. I had to turn it off because it breaks my heart. But I’m still going to go to a shelter and I’m still going to adopt a dog. Lee Asher: And unfortunately, about those…First all, I do want to say something because a lot of times when people are getting advice, they look within and say, “Oh, I wish I was like that.” I’m only recently like that. I used to be on the other side of the spectrum and be like, “If you don’t do this, you’re like this.” I’ve evolved into being more compassionate to influencing people and how people view their world. That’s just something to work on. You don’t have to say, “Well, I’m just not like that.” That’s very stubborn. As far as those Sarah McLachlan, I can’t even say her last name. How do you say McLachlan? Diana Edelman: McLachlan? Sarah McLaughlin? I don’t know. I’m saying I don’t know. Lee Asher: McLachlan. Hard to say because I mean… Those commercials are great for donations, but they’re not great for adoptions. If you’ve never been to a shelter and you see those commercials, a lot of people think that every dog inside of the shelter is missing an eye or a leg or has throw up coming out of their nose. It’s like people will say, “Look, here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to give them money, but I’m still going to go buy a dog from a breeder,” right? But they need to show the fucking healthy dogs. That’s 1%, 2%, 1 or 2% of the dogs in a shelter look like what you see in those commercials. They literally take all the sick dogs and they put them in the same row. But man, so many of them are fucking healthy and ready, and that’s what they need to show. They need to show the good ones. Diana Edelman: So what are the misconceptions of adopting from animal shelters then, besides the fact that they’re all like in that row of sick? Lee Asher: To me, that’s a big one. Same line would go for aggressive dogs. People look at shelter as jail. Why do people go to jail? They did something bad. Sorry, my battery just said 15%. They think the dogs go to the shelter because they did something bad, do they need to know that it’s not the case. Dogs don’t go to the shelter because they’re aggressive. Same exact thing. A very, very low percentage of the dogs at the shelters did something that they were bad. Someone said, I’m not going to say his name because he’s so successful in the dog community. But I remember watching an episode of his and while trying to influence people to rescue, and you could even see that it wasn’t genuine. He then finished it with, “I know that most dogs go to the shelter because they have something wrong with them.” I couldn’t believe he said it. I couldn’t believe that this guy gave out that information. It’s so untrue. Most of the dogs…the biggest reason dogs end up at shelters is because people are moving, because people are selfish, because people don’t know how to handle the responsibility. And then there’s the part of not being judgmental where you don’t know what someone’s going through. You don’t know if they’re sick, they can’t afford the dog for whatever reason. If they’re dealing with some type of abuse that they’re afraid the dog is going to have to endure as well. There are many different things that we have to be sensitive to, but I’m telling you, the amount of dogs that are aggressive or sick or have anything wrong with them, it’s so small. I mean, it really is. It’s so small. Most of the time, you can’t even see—I should have said this—you can’t even see those dogs. They don’t show you those dogs, you know why? They’re trying to make them better. They’re in a different room. They’re not adoptable. There’s a sign says you can’t adopt this dog. I mean, it’s super unfortunate. And it’s the media to blame. It’s not the people. The media needs to do a better job at sharing what the thing is. And then, of course, another misconception. Even if this was true, it doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing because I love pit bulls. But a lot of people think that every dog getting a shelter is a pit bull. I mean, there are many organizations and shelters like the Sacramento SPCA, they have more German shepherds than they do any other breed, and then after that is huskies, and then it’s pit bulls. And the only reason people in my experience give up pit bulls is not because of aggression, it’s because they’re a very strong dog, mentally and physically. And that takes a very strong human being to handle that dog. And that’s all. Diana Edelman: Well, I know your battery is going to die, I don’t want to lose you. Lee Asher: I have another couple of minutes. I just wanted to kind of give you a… I probably have a few minutes. Diana Edelman: But before we lose you, what are some ways I know right now you have a Patreon. What are some of this people [Inaudible 49:33] Lee Asher: You cut out for a second, but I think I know what you said. Ways to learn more about us and support us. Is that what you said? Diana Edelman: Yes. Lee Asher: The Patreon is awesome. If they just go to www.theasherhouse.com, that’s our website. There are many ways there they can learn more. Obviously, Instagram is @theasherhouse, Facebook is The Asher House. It’d be greatly appreciated if you guys would subscribe to my YouTube channel. It just started, but we put up a lot of older videos which will be able to catch you up on everything. So you’re kind of starting from the beginning, which is quite nice, and getting a sense of who we are. But yeah, those are the best ways. A lot of times people say they don’t have money, what are other ways to support? To me, it’s not about the money. Just sharing our story, taking what I said about how to influence people, be compar… Just try to be us animal lovers, right? Need to learn that we could find a way to be just as compassionate with people as we are with animals. Diana Edelman: Beautiful point. Well said. Well, is there anything else you want to add before we wrap it up? Lee Asher: I enjoyed meeting you. I know that we haven’t met and this is our first time. Mike has been trying to connect us for quite some time and spoke very highly of you and he did not disappointment. You have a great energy. You’re very sweet, very patient. I know we had some technical difficulties getting started and I would have thrown my phone across the room, you didn’t even flinch. Diana Edelman: I just don’t show you that. Lee Asher: I have a hard time not being fully transparent. I need to work on that. Diana Edelman: I did throw a box of cereal across the room and it felt really good. So, I went up and picked it up and threw it across the room again. Lee Asher: I need to work on throwing things. Diana Edelman: So, the cereal box was good. I’m like, “This is cool. I can just throw it. Nothing’s going to come out of it. Nothing’s going to break.” Really good thing to throw about. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate you guys. We’re going to wrap up, stick around for a minute, Lee. And if you guys have any questions, this will be on YouTube. You can listen to this again on The Good Fork podcast, which goes live very soon, Facebook, all of it. Lee, I appreciate you, www.theasherhouse.com. Thank you so much and… Lee Asher: Thank you. Thank you very much. So I’m not ending it, I’m staying for… Diana Edelman: Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of The Good Fork. I am host Diana Edelman of Vegans, Baby. I appreciate you all so much. For more on this episode and other show notes, head over to www.vegansbaby.com and click on The Good Fork podcast. And for more vegan dining, vegan news and where to go eat in Vegas and beyond, head over to www.vegansbaby.com. Have a great one!