Eli leads a charter chapter of TAMEABLE in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His bully is Skimbleshanks the cat.

The group Eli runs is anonymous, but their bullies run the gamut from French bulldog to tortoiseshell cat. Whether bullied by behavior, attitude, or physical harm, the group meets in a safe space where Eli facilitates the sharing (and begins the healing) of these victimized grown men.

🎞 Interview with Eli
Eli's story was recorded during the making of the short documentary Tameable, but had to be cut for time. Fortunately, it is presented in its entirity here.

I don't know where I'd be at in life without the support of Tameable. My family pet has been engaged in a machiavellian plot to get me disowned by my family ever since we got her. Meet Sorbet, the sleeping terror. From begging for food to misfiling my taxes, she has done everything in her power to make me look like a fool in front of everyone. It's just been so healing to get external validation from this support group.

My name is Phillip, and my bully is a cat named boop.

Anytime Boop's bladder is full, he parades around the house howling, singing about his full bladder. Several full minutes of open-throated, full-volume yowls. If I'm on a call, who knows what people think is going on. But he won't actually get in the litterbox unless I follow him and watch. Then it's scratch-scratch-scratch in the litter, frantically digging and digging. Sometimes he gets out and does another round of howling before trying again.

Eventually he does his business, and it sounds like Niagra Falls. He stares directly at me the entire time. Once he's done, after frantically digging and digging to bury it, he'll take off like a shot, ripping around the house at full speed. He'll thunder up and down the stairs, around to the kitchen, just bouncing off the walls.

Then, eventually, when he's run himself ragged and finally calmed down, and I think we'll finally have some peace and quiet... The whole routine starts again, for number two.

My name is Marshall, and my bully is a weiner dog named Sausage. Every time I try to work, he always steals my charging cords and runs under the couch to taunt me.

Sausage makes me take him on three walks a day -- if I don't, he will attack me in VERY gruesome ways that will leave me in the hospital. When I adopted him as a puppy, people had kept returning him saying that he was aggressive and mean. They were right.

After three years of living like this and no one believing me, I feel like I finally have found a place to talk about my feelings and all the trauma he has caused me.

The Tameable organization saved me. The men in my support group are like brothers. I have found community and support in my darkest hours.

Pickles tried to kill me several times by sitting on my face while I take naps. I just wanted to cuddle but Pickles puts his wrinkles over my face and I can't breathe.

Through my bros support I have learned to set boundaries like Pickles must sleep in his kennel and gives me strength to put Pickles on a much needed diet. He needs to lose 15 pounds.

One million stars for Tameable!