Aug. 25, 2026

A Golden Retriever and her best friend Louie the duck

Show Notes
Transcript

Barley, a golden retriever whose seizure medication dulled her personality, regains her spark after bonding and playing with Louie, a duck acquired via Facebook Marketplace for Justin’s garden center; 67-year-old Claire cycles 6,835 miles from Portugal to Norway on her bike “Margaret” to honor her father and raise awareness of motor neuron disease, noting strangers’ generosity and an encounter that helped an MND-affected family speak openly; standup comedian Dan Hudson seeks verification for a world record running the fastest half marathon dressed as a microphone, adding to his existing microphone-costume marathon record; 74-year-old Kathy in Illinois opens a “Stick Library” for neighborhood dogs; and a shoplifter returns Edward Gorey’s "The Unstrung Harp" to Book Legger after 40 years with an apology and $100. Johnny plugs ad-free listening via Apple Podcasts and his Daily Comedy News podcast.

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Kalaroga Shark Media. Hi there, I'm Johnny Mack with five

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good news stories. A golden retriever seem to have lost

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her personality after beginning Caesar medication. She has found a

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new best friend who helped bring back her old spark.

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The new best friend is a duck named Louie. It's Barley,

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the golden retriever who lives with human friends Justin and Tory.

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A couple of years ago, Barley began suffering from seizures.

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Medication control the seizures, but the dog, Tory said, lost

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her spunk. She lost her goldenness. With a oh man,

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the medication we might have to give her for the

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rest of her life. So this is how she's gonna be.

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Then Louis the duck showed up. You see, Justin, the

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other human friend owns a garden center and the family

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wanted a duck to keep there. They found a duckling

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on Facebook marketplace. Now, before you like making the face

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I made reading that sentence, the duckling had hatched in

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an elementary school classroom on Long Island. Okay, so one

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of those things that they do with the kids, Tory said,

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I never expected to own a duck and never expected

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him to stay long term. But Louis the duck did stay,

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and somewhere along the way, he and Barley the Golden

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Retriever became friends. The two started wrestling and playing together.

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Tory said, Barley started smiling again, she started wagging her tails,

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She started having personality again. Scientists say there is no

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scientific explanation for why a Golden retriever would get along

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with a duck. A sixty seven year old woman has

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completed a cycling journey of nearly seven thousand miles in

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memory of her father and to raise awareness of motor

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neuron disease. Claire cycled six eight hundred and thirty five

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miles from Portugal all the way to Norway, finishing about

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three hundred miles north of the ortic Circle. She did

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it aboard a bicycle she named Margaret. You see, her

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dad had died from a motor neuron disease, a progressive

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neurological condition that affects the nerves controlling movement. She said

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her father had inspired her. My dad was a climber,

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a mountaineer, a cyclist, and he really inspired my love

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of the outdoors. Along the way, one of the things

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that most surprised her was the generosity of complete strangers.

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She said, people's hearts are so large. You just knock

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on a door and ask for water and people will

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end up offering food, cups of tea, rooms for the night.

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She randomly ran into a family whose members were living

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with MND. Clara said, I had a cup of tea

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with them and started talking about motor neuron disease. As

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a result, they felt they could now go out and

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talk about their condition. They said it had been life

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changing that had knocked on their door. A reminder. I

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host a podcast called Daily Comedy News. Here's a crossover

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story with that podcast. A stand up comedian is confident

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that he has set a second world record. He's waiting

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for it to be verified, the record running the fastest

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half marathon while dressed as a microphone. He's Jan Hudson.

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He did the half marathon that's thirteen point one miles,

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in case you're curious, dressed as a microphone. No. Interestingly,

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he already holds the records for fastest marathon twenty six

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point two miles by a man while dressed as a microphone.

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Is this a gender like could somebody set the record

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for a woman dressed as a microphone. Is this a

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gender record? I'm just curious anyway. Dan did the half

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in one hour forty eight minutes while dressed as a microphone,

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about a half hour faster than my fastest time not

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dressed as a microphone. He saw those a half marathon

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and already being the marathon record holder, he said, it'd

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be crazy not to take the double and get the fastest.

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Have marathon makes sense to me. A woman in Illinois

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has opened a library, but there are no books and

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the customers are dogs. Kathy, she's seventy four. She created

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what she calls a stick library outside her home. It's

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a place where neighborhood dogs can stop during their walks

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and pick out a stick. She had thought to herself,

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why should humans get all the libraries? What dog doesn't

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like a good juicy stick. So last month, with help

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from her husband, she opened the stick library. So now

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the little library is stocked with sticks of various sizes,

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ready for any dog that happens to be passing by.

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A photo was posted on the local Facebook group and

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got more than a thousand likes. She says she likes

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to watch in real life too. It's fun to watch.

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I have a big window in the front of our house,

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and when I'm in the house, I'll glance out the

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window and I'll see people walk by with their dog.

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Some people laugh, others let their dogs pick out a stick. Now,

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part of the challenge is you have to manage the inventory.

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When the supply gets low, she and her husband go

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out and get some sticks and replenish it. She says.

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Sometimes she'll spot people putting old tree branches out for

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collection when she's walking around the neighborhood and she brings

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them home. I would think the dog should return the

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stick when it's done, but that's me. From time to time,

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we'll tell you about a book that is returned to

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a library very overdue. This one is about a bookstore.

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A book was returned to a bookstore from a shoplifter.

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A bookstore called Bookelegger recently got a package and found

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a copy of The Unstrung Harp by Edward Gory. Along

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with the book was a handwritten apology, it said. The

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note explained that the person had stolen it from the

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store about forty years ago while a student at Humboldt

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State University. They wrote I was a student at HSU

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with a horrible drug and alcohol problem. I was in

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desert need of money, but even more desperately needed a

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spiritual awakening in my life. I was eventually blessed with

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just such a psychic change. All these years later, the

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person found the book while going through a box in

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the garage, and they wrote, I was so happy to

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find that the store was still in business. I could

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return the book and tell you how sorry I am

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from my utter lack of principles. Jennifer owns the bookstore

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and said, I thought it was exceptional that after such

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a long time, this person still had the impulse to

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try to make up for a mistake he made and regretted,

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and the book came back with not just the apology,

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but one hundred dollars. Those are your five good news

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stories for today. If you would like this program without

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