Meet the Founder and President of Josie’s Journey

Matt Brooks: [00:00:00] Good morning. I’m Matt Brooks on X 1 0 1, always classic in for another edition of Meet Cortland County. And join me in the studio this morning. It’s Tammy Barrows, founder and president of Josie’s Journey. And if you do hear some, noise in the background, we’re also joined by Hazel, Oliver and Luna.

It’s first time I’ve ever had dogs with me on a Meet Cortland County. Can you, tell me about these before we get started?

Tammy Barrows: Yeah. So with me today, I have three of our team members. We have Oliver, who is a three-year-old Golden Doodle. We have Hazel, who is soon to be 7-year-old, also Goldendoodle and Luna, who is a 7-year-old mini goldendoodle.

Matt Brooks: I think, going forward, we’re just gonna have to have dogs in the studio all the time.

Tammy Barrows: This is, everybody should have a dog

Matt Brooks: in studio. Oh, it just makes it more cozy. But Tammy, can you tell me, I mean, Josie’s journey’s been around since. 2019. Mm-hmm. Yep. How, how this organization come to be.

Tammy Barrows: Yeah. So, about seven years ago, oh well seven years ago I had lost a chocolate lab, and her name was Josephine.

And so any of us that have dogs or cats or any sort of animal, whatever it might be, we know the love and [00:01:00] comfort that they give us and the companionship and just that they’re always there for us. So Josie was just that for, for my family. And, you know, we had her for 12 and a half years and through thick and thin, and she was there for everything.

And so when we lost her, you know, I really wanted to honor her memory. And because she was such a gentle dog, I knew that she would’ve, at that point, been a great therapy dog. We just didn’t go that route. So I thought, you know, I’m gonna start a canine comfort, program, and I’m gonna call it Josie’s Journey, honoring Josie’s memory.

So that’s what the name, that’s incredible.

Matt Brooks: And I, I’m a, I’m a. Fur dad myself. Mm-hmm. I’ve got a one dog and two cats now. And, used to have much more than that, but yeah. It’s just the way that animals impact people’s lives. Absolutely. Now you’re talking about therapy dog. Mm-hmm. Comfort. What does it specifically you do with these dogs?

In an, in an outreach perspective.

Tammy Barrows: Yeah. So, you know, we are canine comfort and so we have dogs on our, team that are canine goods citizenship certified. And we also have some therapy dogs that you know, or some dogs that are certified. As a therapy dog, our requirement to be on [00:02:00] our team. Is just the bare minimum of the canine good citizenship certification.

’cause what we do with our dogs is we’re out in the community just kinda lending, we always say lending a a a a caring paw. And so our mission is to be out in the community helping, people who are struggling with maybe a crisis, situation. Some trauma, you need a little pick me up or just having a bad day.

So we know that wherever we go, even if we’re just walking down the sidewalk, like people just kind of flock to us and just. The love and joy that these dogs bring and just, you know, we’ll see somebody who’s maybe not got a smile on their face, and then as soon as they see the dogs a big old smile. So we’re out and about in the community, just kind of, you know, lifting spirits and supporting.

Matt Brooks: I know that every event that we, that the station’s at and that you’re also at, there’s always a little crowd around your, table or tent. Yes. Yes. Remember the, the beach party over the summer. That was a fun one too. Now we’re approaching the end of 2025, going into 2026. What are some plans for Josie’s journeys as we head into the.

The next year.

Tammy Barrows: Yeah. You know, we are, looking into different programs or [00:03:00] schools, organizations that we can support. So we’re looking to reach out and be in more places in our community. We are also looking at doing some training, so I’m looking at a training credential to kind of help grow the team.

So that will be happening this fall, that if people wanna join the team, I’m able to help them with that basic obedience to achieve that canine good citizenship. Certification, because we know sometimes that barrier can be that Wow, it costs a lot of money to certify a dog. Yeah. Especially if I wanna go and move forward with therapy dog, certification.

So just finding ways that we can help support our community and, and do that at a, as a fraction of the cost.

Matt Brooks: No, it’s it great, opportunity to get, I mean, that’s the thing. There’s a lot of. I mean a lot of, especially dogs and Absolutely. I know we were talking at the Beach party, it was gonna grow more than dogs possibly as well.

I know

Tammy Barrows: we’d always, you know, we always started out obviously as dogs because of Josie, but you know, I, one person went like, Hey, I have this great rat. And I was like, well, you know, maybe I’ll think about that, you know, but who knows? We know cat’s, dogs, we see goats and we see, you know, I’ve [00:04:00] seen this mini horse, like, who knows?

You know, we always feel like sky’s the limit. We just wanna be there for our community.

Matt Brooks: It’s amazing what you guys do and what the power of animals. Have. Absolutely. And, and you’re talking about getting training certification. Mm-hmm. You’re talking about, growing the team. Mm-hmm. For those who are available to volunteer, whether they, they come with a four-legged pal as well.

Right? Right. What if somebody wanted to help out in the volunteer perspective, whether be themselves mm-hmm. Or if they have an animal that. They have in mind to go along with them. What does volunteering look like at Jodi’s journey?

Tammy Barrows: Yeah, so we get, we get a lot of requests and so, you know, as we’re growing there’s more opportunity, you know, that will be coming our way.

But the biggest piece that, that we think about when somebody calls and wants to be part of the team is of course growing our team. So if you’re a person that has a dog that you know, you know, loves this work and can do this work, we of course are always looking to grow our team and we’re here to help support.

The, you know, that team get their CGC and, and, you know, begin work within our community. Sometimes it’s [00:05:00] also just that outreach, like, hey, you know, can you reach out to, you know, programs and see if they’re interested, you know, making those phone calls that we feel like, you know, are checking off the list of, like, it takes so long to make those calls.

And we’re also always looking for people that may wanna sponsor or donor or be a donor to our program. Our vision is to be able to provide this as a free service. To our community. So, we know that we often will need some sponsors and some donors. We are a non-for-profit, so we are able to go for some grant funds.

But, you know, just having a bit more to help us, you know, you know, certify dogs and any funds that are raised or donated or sponsored goes directly into sponsoring dogs like their little vests, you know, events. You know, things like that. So now, if

Matt Brooks: you’ve never seen Josie’s Journeys at an event, it’s, it’s, especially with those, plush dogs that you have, yes, we have those dogs.

That gives you a double take. I’m like, that’s the most opi Oh, wait,

Tammy Barrows: you wouldn’t believe the, the little kids actually, you know, and it’s interesting, I bring the stuff dogs along because sometimes kiddos want to pet a dog, but they’re a little bit intimidated. So if we have those stuffed [00:06:00] dogs around, they’re, I see kiddos, you know.

Pulling on their dale, you know, pulling on their ears and, and, and hugging and loving them. So sometimes that’s the first step for, but so they, they get a lot of traction way that’s, yeah. They get a lot of traction too. No, that’s

Matt Brooks: really cool. Now, unfortunately, Tammy, we’re running a little bit outta time, but there’s a, a lot of stuff going on in Josie’s journeys and a lot of things coming up.

So if people want more information about the organization, maybe they just wanna make a donation. Mm-hmm. They’re one of the group that wants to get involved, with Josie’s Journeys. Where should people go?

Tammy Barrows: You can head to our webpage, which is josie’s journey.org, and you can find all that information on our webpage, and you can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at Josie’s Journey 2019.

Matt Brooks: Fantastic. Thank you Tammy, and thank you. Thanks for having us, Hazel, Oliver and Luna are all

Tammy Barrows: sleeping. I know. Sleeping on the job.

Matt Brooks: I was expecting at least to bark, but I mean, oh no. If, if I could, if I could show you the studio, everyone, it’s adorable. We got a lot of sleeping dogs here. Yeah.

Tammy Barrows: Thanks for having us.

Matt Brooks: No thank for, just stomp in. And this has been another edition of Meet [00:07:00] Cortland County here on X 1 0 1. I’m Matt Brooks.