Motivational speaker finds 2 best friends

NUTLEY, NJ — Lifelong Nutley resident Joe Dwyer, 61, has had a varied career. A Nutley High School Class of 1978 graduate, Dwyer has been a chemical engineer for Schering-Plough, worked in advertising and labor relations for Bell Atlantic and then was a vice chancellor of administration for the Archdiocese of Newark. After the archdiocese job, he became a motivational speaker. That was in 2010. The pandemic eventually curtailed this occupation, but he is not retiring from it.

Dwyer is on a mission, but it was not until he became a volunteer for the Bloomfield Animal Shelter that he was set on a path by a mangled pit bull he christened Shelby.
For a long time, Dwyer suffered from anxiety and depression.

“I certainly had a hard time,” he said in a phone interview on Wednesday, Jan. 12. “And I had made a decision not to pursue medication.”

The pit bull was brought to the shelter in February 2008. Dwyer said she was most likely a bait dog for fighting pit bulls. A bait dog, he said, is a sweet and gentle dog that other dogs are allowed to attack to build their confidence.
“A terrible thing,” Dwyer said.

She had been found half-dead in a Shell gas station. That is how she got her name. Dwyer said a traumatized dog is not much different from a traumatized person. They need patience, compassion and understanding.

“At first, being at the shelter was about being a volunteer,” he said. “In time, we created a bond and spent time together. I think it’s like anything else. It’s not what you say or do; it’s your presence. It’s no different from a person in grief. Your presence means everything. I really believe Shelby was sent to me by God. Our lives were predestined even before she was born.”

Dwyer adopted Shelby in August 2008 and trained her to be a certified therapy dog.
“A therapy dog needs a calm temperament,” he said. “It can’t be food motivated.”
Dwyer began to give school talks, bringing Shelby. He talked to the children about not prejudging anyone, as Shelby sometimes was because she is a pit bull.

“Shelby gave me a terrific platform, because she was a pit bull, and they’re profiled,” he said. “We went to many hospitals and schools. She also went to a funeral home as a bereavement dog.”

As deeply as he felt for Shelby, he was still struggling with depression and thoughts of suicide.
But he heard a story, in October 2011, of a beagle, found wandering in an Alabama cemetery. The stray was to be euthanized in a gas chamber along with 17 other dogs but miraculously survived. The dog’s survival was news. Eleventh Hour Rescue, a Morris County no-kill rescue, had the dog flown to New Jersey by Pilots N Paws. Dwyer contacted the rescue and arranged for the dog’s adoption. That was November 2011.

“Our souls connected,” he said. “She really was the purpose that saved me.”
Dwyer named the beagle Daniel, for having escaped her own lions’ den.

Dwyer began motivational speaking with both dogs accompanying him. He said that, because of Daniel’s life story, “an incredible whirlwind of travel” began. Because Shelby weighed more than 30 lbs., she was not taken when Dwyer traveled by air with Daniel, as he would not put her in a cargo hold.

Dwyer said his talks when accompanied by Daniel were partly about banning gas chambers, but the dog’s mission was much greater than that. Because Daniel was not a therapy dog, unlike Shelby, Daniel could not provide therapy. With Daniel, Dwyer gave age-appropriate talks on animal adoption, overcoming loss, difficulties and regaining hope.

Dwyer was careful not to overwork the dogs with too many public appearances.
“If I didn’t think it was in their best interests, I’d turn down an event,” he said.
Shelby died in February 2019 and Daniel died in June 2021.

But Dwyer believes the message of Shelby and Daniel should still reach people and has self-published two books: “God, Shelby and Me” and “A Conversation With Daniel.” He will appear at the Nutley Public Library on Saturday, Jan. 29. Proceeds from book purchases will go toward animal rescue.