Podcasts about whole dog journal

Do you know how to really PLAY with your dog? The answer is more complicated - and important - than it might seem. True social play between you and your dog can be a powerful tool in building connection and trust, and it can be a much-needed reprieve for a dog living here in our human world. Dr. Amy Cook is the expert on human-canine play, and her "Play Way" approach is our topic for this episode.   LINKS: Video of Dr. Cook demonstrating some elements of "The Play Way" https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=681929543785963    Graphic illustrating highlighting key Play Way concepts https://blog.doggiedrawings.net/post/614077754120519680   Kathy's article on play in Whole Dog Journal      

Tune in for the final portion of our interview with the world's foremost expert on fatal dog attacks, Jim Crosby.  In this portion, we ask more hard-hitting questions: Are certain breeds the cause of more attacks than others? Can dogs that have been bred to fight in illegal dog fighting be re-integrated back into society? How can you stop an approaching aggressive dog?If you or someone you know has been struggling after a dog attack, check out the American Psychological Association's website for tips on helping someone who's struggling, or you can find a licensed therapist through Psychology Today.If you have an aggressive dog, you may want to seek help from a veterinary behaviorist. There is another podcast called The Bitey End of the Dog by Michael Shikashio (CDBC) that explores the topic of dog aggression further, and Michael's website AgressiveDog.com has great professional resources related to dog aggression and behavior.For tips on how to stop an approaching aggressive dog, you can check out the video at Patricia Mcconnell's website, or read more tips at Whole-Dog-Journal.com You can find Jim on Twitter @TheDogGuyJim and contact him at canineaggression@gmail.comFollow us on Instagram,  Facebook, and check out our website GetOutAlivePodcast.com and join us on Patreon!Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/getoutalivepodcast)

Hello there this is Krista with Episode Number 118 on the Wag Out Loud pawdcast . Did you know that Chihuahuas share a common trait with human babies? Both are born with soft spots on their skulls that close up as they get older. Did you know that? Sponsor AdA big thank you to our friends at Bonne Et Filou! Like many of us, they believe that our dogs should be treated like royalty and that's why they created French-inspired dog macarons. Bonne and Filou, were the two favorite dogs of French King Louis XIV that were treated with a private chef, satin sheets, diamond collars, and more. And we want to pamper our pups too! These are not your ordinary dog treats, but handmade with human grade, all-natural ingredients, in packaging that looks better than what you buy for yourself. These are definitely the best gift for the dog who has everything. And unlike human macarons, these are actually healthy for dogs. Handmade in small batches right here in the US, these look so decadent that you'll want to try one! Isn't it time to give your dog the royal treatment?Use the code WOL to receive a 15% discount off of your first order at https://BonneEtFilou.comWelcome to the Wag Out Loud pawdcast where we are obsessed with bringing you helpful tips on canine health care, nutrition, and overall well being. If you'd like to support the show, check out the amazing online events, products and resources that I personally recommend on the Wag Out Loud website. I'm your host, Krista and I'm super excited to be bringing you yet another tail wagging episode.A big thank you to our friends at Bonne et Filou. Like many of us, they believe that our dogs should be treated like royalty and that's why they created French inspired dog macaroons. Bonne et Filou were the two favorite dogs of French King Louie XI4th that were treated with a private chef, satin sheets, diamond collars and more. And we want to pamper our pups too. These are not your ordinary dog treats, but handmade with human grade all natural ingredients and packaging that looks better than what you buy for yourself. These are definitely the best gift for the dog who has everything. And unlike human macaroons, these are actually healthy for dogs, handmade in small batches right here in the US. These look so decadent, that you'll want to try one. isn't it time to give your dog the royal treatment? use the code WOL to receive a 15% discount off of your first order at https://bonneetfilou.com/. That's https://bonneetfilou.com/. You can also find the link in the show notes.Hello, dog lovers. we so appreciate you for advocating for your dog's health. And today, our friend Emily O'Neil is going to share how You Can Take the Leash and Help Your Dog's Health. Emily, why don't you introduce yourself and tell us about why you are, “crazy for canines”.Emily is mom to Flynn, a 5-year-old Border Collie, as well as host for the podcast Dogs are the Best Friends where guests share stories about their best friends and Emily shares some hard earned wisdom on training and care. Emily and Flynn are about to travel in their tiny home on wheels to see her birth parents who she just found in the summer of 2019. She is sharing her story and travels on her YouTube channel: Emily O'Neil.Thank you so much Krista. I appreciate being here. I have my own podcast and I had you on I want to make sure that people know to go and listen to your episode as well. And I'm so grateful to have a friendship with you. Because we get it we are crazy for the canines. And we love our dogs so much they've taught us so much. And they inspire us all the time. And so on my podcast people, you know, they share their stories, their love of their dogs, what they've learned from them from training or health or whatever it is. And I'm grateful to be here because I learned a huge lesson through my dogs of how to advocate how to be pro dog and take care of my dogs in a way that sits well with me. And we all have to do that we have to be in charge of that we understand that, you know, we can take charge in that basically. So that's why I'm here today to do that. And I'm grateful to share my experiences and and to just, you know, to be able to speak on that because it's so close to my heart. I'm a researcher by trade. I'm a dog mom. And it just this is this is what I believe in. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you.I am so thrilled you're here. Right now you have Flynn, who is adorable. Why don't you tell us a little bit about him and what he means to you, you know the bond that you guys have?Yeah, Flynn is five years old. Now. I got him when he was one and a half. He was not a puppy. And I still can't believe I did that. Because I always said, Oh, they have to be a puppy so you can bond with them. But I had lost my beloved dog she was I call her my soul dog. That was my Mazie. And she was another Border Collie. And she passed on at 13 1/5. And sadly, it was due to cancer. I'll tell you that story, you know, in a little bit, but I was heartbroken. And I was so lonely and devastated that I thought I'd never want another dog part of me and the other part just couldn't live without a dog. So three months later, ended up finding Fynn and I went to find a puppy. But the the man said no, you know, you might like this dog. He is a year and a half. He's a very nice dog. And I went thinking No way. I'm going to get a puppy but I saw Flynn and he was so happy to see me and we just bonded in that few hours that I sat there and and petted him and played with him and get to know him. So Flynn is just a joyful friend that I'm so grateful for. He's definitely become a heart dog and I don't know he must be on the way to a soul dog too. he's a wonderful inspiration. Yes. That's a. great story. Well, am I right that you've had three dogs so far?As an adult. as a as a kid, we had a bunch. Yeah. And we weren't the best owners. I have to admit, up front straight up. Oh, gosh, definitely. And that the first dog Morgan, I learned a ton with her. I was not the best dog mom with her in the beginning, because I was so green I she was not well behaved. And I didn't feed her the best food. And yeah, she's the one that started off the learning process for sure. Yeah, what's great to say, I can start .Yeah, Morgie, Oh, my gosh, well, I got her as a puppy. She was adorable. She had just been spayed. I got her from the SPCA up in New York State, I lived in western New York at the time. And she was just so cute. I just was in love as soon as I found her, but I took her home and, you know, feeding her I'd like to say the brand, but you know, just really bad food. And the poor dog developed horrible skin problems. And she's this gorgeous dog, but she literally smelled and she had skin problems. And like she was itchy. And, you know, like the worst situation you can pick, you know, like the hot spots, everything the poor, the poor dog. And so I started to try to figure out what was wrong with her. And you know, you take them to the vet, and they say something, or they want to give them you know, different shots or different medicines and things. And I already was on the path of not believing in and just going ahead with what other people told me to do. So I started asking other people what they did, and doing research and looking into it the best I could. And the more questions I asked the more, you know, of course, more answers you get, but also it gives you you start to see patterns, like and people that you feel that you can trust, and you understand their point of view. And they also if they're somebody that really cares about the truth, they'll lead you to like, you know, different articles or books or whatever, that have great information. And I'm so grateful for the people that led me in the right direction for poor Morgan because she, you know, was just a tortured soul. I think to that point, because her mom just didn't know any better. But once I learned about raw food, and you know, like that, right there cleaned up 90% of her problems, getting her on the right food that was crucial. And then also just her mental health, I had to get her out more right walking and taking better care of her and training her giving her boundaries. So all that came together. And again, I'm grateful to the people that helped me, because that started me on the right path of looking for more natural ways to heal and heal myself. Right. We learn through our dogs sometimes. Sure. And then we realized we can apply it to ourselves, which, you know, sometimes it's backwards, but that's us humans. were we sometimes care more about our dogs than ourselves. So yeah.Ok. So, there's a happy ending with Morgan. How long did that whole process and journey take to get her back on the road to wellness?You know, this is like over 20 years ago. So trying to think I think it was, you know, it took months to detox. There's all that junk that was in that food, like corn, corn is like the worst thing for dogs, right? So there's things like that, I'd say, probably a year before she didn't need a bath every week, we could go like, you know, and Morgie never got to go beyond like a couple months. My other dogs can go beyond a couple months without a bath. But Morgan, I think because of that start, you know, and then I also let her get all the vaccinations that they always told me she should have. And I believe that is another reason that poor Morgan needed a bath like every four to six weeks. But yeah, I say within a year, she had detoxed a lot in her skin, and her body and her stomach, everything was just so much better. And speaking of vaccinations, just really quick, I have to make sure I share this, I would let her get the distemper shot because of course it's recommended every year. And the last time she got it. She was almost five years old. And she came home and she was a completely different dog. And I know that sounds dramatic and ridiculous to some people but she literally was not my Morgie. She was not as sweet, or as patient or anything. She just became a different dog. She was not. She didn't want to be touched, you know, like snuggled anything. And so that was a huge red flag to me that I needed to research like, are these things really needed or not? And so after that, with Morgan and every dog since I do not over vaccinate, I refuse to give my dogs everything that they recommend other than what I have to do by state law, which in Florida and New York state where I used to live you know, that's rabies. But yeah, I'd recommend people really do some research on that too. Just so your dog doesn't become a different dog. It broke my heart but I learned again on poor Morgan right. my first dog so yeah, Well, she was there for a reason. She was your teacher. Yeah. Very true. Yeah. I hope she forgives me. Thank God. Yes. Is True, very true.Okay, so that was Morgan. And then your second dog.Yeah, Mazie. So Mazie, I guess, I would say that Morgan was so smart, I had to get a border collie, because Morgie was a mixed dog, she was supposed to be a German Shepherd. And actually think she was a German Shepherd or a Malinois and a coyote. I know sounds ridiculous, but it's true. So I got a border collie. And Mazie was, again, my soul dog. I just loved that. We just clicked and she wanted so much to please me and do what I want. And that's one of the great things about their brains, but they're high energy, and I also called her Crazy Mazie, because she was. So Mazie Lou, she, Oh, my gosh, when she was nine months old, I was already in love with her. She developed this tumor on her throat, that just kept growing, I felt it grow all the way up to the size of like the top half of my thumb, it got to be pretty big. And I took her into the vet. And the vet said, You know, I could cut it out. It might grow back, I don't know what to tell you. And she did withdraw a syringe full of fluid out of it. And it took a couple of days. And then she got back to me, called me and said, You know that fluid is pre cancerous. And that was devastating because I thought I could lose my dog in months. Or maybe maybe she'll even be around a couple years. But you know, you're already crazy about your nine month puppy, and you don't want them to go anywhere. So what happened was my friend had been bothering me, I call it to try what she I called it her crazy energy medicine, which I know sounds not very nice. But that's what it was to me. I did not understand the concept of it at all. And so I told her, I said, Well, my dog has been diagnosed with pre cancerous fluid in this tumor that will stop growing. And the vet doesn't know what to do. So if you and your crazy energy medicine can fix my dog, I will believe in it. And so what happened was that my friend tested her and discovered that she had all these different toxins in her body from the vaccinations, like the cocktail shots, that they like to give puppies, and yes, very scary. And so we detoxed her and I kid you not, with that one first remedy, but went all the way down to the size of a pea within like a week, maybe two weeks or something, it's been a little while sorry, it was like within two weeks. And then it went down to nothing, and it never came back. And so that was my that was that convinced me that there's obviously other ways to heal the body, whether it's dogs or humans, or whatever it is. And so Morgie started me on the path of eating right and looking at those things. But then Mazie started me on the path of looking at completely different types of modalities that I might never have considered before. Because they just seemed just not logical to me. But once I started studying, and looking at the different ways that people are able to heal, and your shows, your episodes really help highlight that. There's so many different things that people are using to help their dogs, whether it's CBD oil, or you know, whatever you have, of course, food always and like you said you had mushrooms on recently. So there's, there's so many ways that people can help. And I know that can seem overwhelming. But I would just say start looking start asking questions. And you might be surprised at what can actually help your dog heal. A lot of people don't believe in homeopathy. I do. I've seen it work I've seen it help heal. Well, me and my dogs to be honest with you. So I think that if we let ourselves learn, like you said, Morgan was my first teacher, Mazie was my second teacher, I'm learning things with Flynn as I go. And if we let our dogs teach us, you know, it's just, it's amazing. It can literally be the difference between death and life. Now, I did lose Mazie years later to cancer, but that was 13 and a half? Well, let's say she's nine months or so, over 12 years later. So I got 12 years with that dog. I mean, and what amazing 12 years we had. we traveled all over and just had a wonderful life together. So was it worth it? Yeah, it's totally worth it. And I'm grateful. So again, my second teacher. Yes, it is.So when you say homeopathy with Mazie, what was that? Yeah. Besides the energy work, herbs, or did she have acupuncture or anything else as far as treatments?Yeah, yeah, good question. That's a really good question, because I don't believe in just one modality. So in her case, we did this thing that, you know, basically, it's really hard to explain, but I'm going to try to do it. And I actually became a practitioner, I studied and I became a practitioner because I became to believe in it so much, and I would work on dogs and people up in New York state when I used to do it. But what happens is you can actually test the body, through kinesiology to see where the weaknesses in the body, you know, so let's say in the heart, and then you can test to see which toxins are actually making the body sick, it might be just one, it might be a few different things going on. And you can actually carefully detox it out of the body so that it can heal. And then you can go on and keep helping the body heal and see what comes up the next time. So that is actually what we were using with that first initial remedy, that helped get rid of that tumor. And then I kept going, and we kept detoxing, and they explain it and I think someone was on your show before they explained this too, but it's like, an onion, and you have to pull off the layers, you know, to get get down into really, how we're supposed to be much healthier, and we are healthier when we're born. But all the toxins in our environment, our food and everything really add up. And so it adds on these layers that your body's trying to fight through. And we can help our bodies. And that's one of them, that's one way to do it. And there's different practitioners that do that all over the world. And so that that's something that I still help, you know, work on myself and my dogs with that. And then also homeopathy dovetails nicely, because that is, that is like, something that's natural that the body knows how to deal with. But if the, you know, how do I say…the symptoms, if they're looking like that, then and even if it's not related, let's say it's like a bee sting, like you're having the symptoms of a bee sting. And if you give your dog, you know that remedy, the homeopathic remedy can actually help the body know what to do, and heal that as well. And then there's Yeah, there's acupoints like hands on pushing at different points to their bodies that can help them heal. So there's so many different ways that we can learn. And I know people might seem over overwhelmed at first. So just start with one start to learn about one and figure out what you're comfortable with. I've used everything from tuning forks, which I, when I first heard that, at that, that was crazy. But let's face it, when we hear music that we enjoy, that lifts our spirits, it is healing. And so the same thing with the tuning forks. Yeah, it's like this, again, it's kind of energy, but it's, it's the tuning forks, I have are musical notes. And there's just, it's beautiful. And I was able to help a neighbor the other day, who is in extreme pain, and we were able to reduce her pain. And she had more movements, like within 20 minutes in her neck, which was totally frozen before that. So these things are powerful. They get, like, I hate to say it, but you know, often what Western medicine doesn't take them into account. And if you can find a doctor that's open minded, and does, you know is willing to entertain that that's wonderful. But it can be tough. And sometimes you have to take their advice and maybe even use their medical tests or something if you want and then look at other possibilities. like find other ways that you can help your dog heal. And and yourself. To be honest, I think this goes along with all living beings. There's different ways I was even able to help a llama I used to have with a remedy. So yeah, it can be for anybody. It's a big deal.So now you have Flynn. And he's five years. Yeah. So is he 100% healthy? Or did he bring you something that says, Hey, Mom, check this out? What should we do? Right? Yes, he's the most difficult dog I've ever had with his stomach. He likes different foods, he'll grab different things. See, but it doesn't mean his stomach will like it. So we've had to, you know, go, he can't do raw, which just breaks my heart. I totally believe in Raw. So I do the raw of freeze dried patties. And that has helped him tremendously. He is, oh gosh, I'd say he's like 90% better in that area. And it took me it took that actually took about two years for his gut to heal. And that was adding in like some greens and, you know, just different things that I had to figure out. And through Kinesiology and I can, you know, people can actually look it up, you can teach yourself how to test different foods and things to make sure that it's okay for you or for your dog. And it might be okay, one day and not the next. It just depends on our bodies. Right. And the sleep we've had and the sleep they've had or whatever, or even the water what kind of water have they had to drink today or something too. So I yeah, it's interesting. I thought Flynn. Oh, he'll be perfect. I know what to do about everything. Now. No, no. Yes, yeah. And we're all individuals aren't we like Flynn. You know, he's had I would say probably some trauma. He was flown over from Ireland when he was six months old. And I don't know it was I hope he was in the cargo or something. I don't know. But you know, that was quite a shock for his little body to go through. And then a man that had him before he sold him to me, you know, he had him almost a year, and then he had to change homes again. And I knew that how does that not affect them? So I think he was just a nervous bellied pup, you know, like, he had different nervous things. And he had to know I was never going to give him up. And, you know, now he has me wrapped around his paw, of course, because he's just a wonderful dog. But I think all these things add up, and just like our own trauma can add up and actually damage our body. Same thing with dogs. So Flynn had a nervous stomach, it's come along way. That's not to say that we can have a setback. we will go a couple months and all sudden, you know, he can have some serious problems. And that that means like, you know, diarrhea or whatever. So we have to then figure out what happened and back up and, you know, if I want to change his food, I have to do it. So carefully, like half a teaspoon, starting to incorporate it and change it. So, yeah, just a heads up to folks that, you know, just because you think you learned it all. No, that's not how the universe seems to work. So what do you recommend for people? You know, because most of us learn by Oh, my dog was just diagnosed with XYZ, I guess I better figure it out. Now. What is this? Right? versus? Okay, I have a brand new dog, a new rescue, I have a new puppy. How do I set them up for success? So yeah, you can't learn everything right off the bat, because you have no idea what their body is going to do throughout their lives. So are you saying food for sure. Not over vaccinating, plenty of exercise, both physical and mental. And then learn about these other integrative or holistic techniques that do work. And that when you need them, you know, be open to it. Is that a good summary?Yeah, that's excellent. Absolutely. I mean, food is not cheap. But I would rather spend the money on the food than on, you know, the vet bills. Yeah, totally. Because they're so expensive and heartbreaking. And it's scary. You don't know what's wrong with your dog. So yeah, yeah. All that you said, you know, they need training for their mental stimulation, the physical, the food, everything that you can do. And then there's still going to be things like little Flynn here, you know, there's different things that, you know, set their body off in different ways. You know, and when we're stressed, it just passes on to our dogs. I really believe that. And so, yeah, and I was just sharing with you before we started that, right now, I'm going through a little bit of a health crisis of my own, and that stuff keeps you humble, of course, too. But it also goes to your dog. And so I think sometimes when I'm exhausted and stressed, you know, it's just really, you know, Flynn feels it. So, I yeah, I would recommend that people start with those basics that are so key to all of us, and into our dogs, they really need that. And that's a great foundation, and then look at the different issues that are coming up. And I honestly believe in taking notes. Take notes, like on certain days, if your dog you know, if it's having some problems, you know, and try to see what's going on around you did they just spray the lawn or your neighbor's lawn? You know, look at all the things that are going on. Look at the season, maybe you know, Flynn has horrible pollen allergies, oh my gosh, he's, I cannot believe how bad he was itching a few weeks ago. But in Florida, we just had the pollen just dumped, seemed to dump off in the trees, basically, the oak trees and things and pine was back in February. And it just he'll have ups and downs just from that alone. And he becomes very itchy. And it's not from his food, he doesn't ask him promise because that is because of the environment. So my boy is incredibly sensitive to any kind of thing like that. And so then what I've been doing with him is like the acupoints. And of course the best food I can give him and and he does have to be rinsed off, I don't believe in giving them you know, bath after bath with the soap and things. But I do rinse him off. He needs that pollen and that spray off of him. And that's the thing in Florida, there's major spraying people are, you know, we're really in a humid environment. So yeah, bugs are a problem. But they are trying to solve it, you know, for all these years with spraying. Oh, gosh, yeah, it's horrible. So I think the biggest thing is, yeah, be an advocate for your dog. Number one, go ahead if you want to have the test done and things but it doesn't mean you have to solve it the way that your vet is telling you to solve it. And I'm not saying that they have no value. Of course, ideally, you can find a vet that you do trust, and that you can have open dialogue about you know what you want to do and see if they know anything or are willing to work with you. But also I think we have to go with our gut. There's nothing wrong with saying to yourself, I'm not comfortable with this solution. I'm not comfortable with that idea. So let me go and research it, and take some time to figure this out. So I think, too often we, you know, and we do, we were like, We're exhausted, right? We want to be able to just take what somebody says, go do it. But if you can, step back a moment, go with your gut, and take your time and start asking your friends or ask people that you trust, you know, they, and they might be, you know, the I, that's one of the first people that taught me, I found a wonderful dog food, you know, pet food store owner. And so she actually, not only, you know, sold things, but you know, which, because then sometimes we think, oh, they're just about the sales. No, this woman truly wanted to educate people. And she was tremendous. I can't say enough about her. So if you can find someone like that wonderful. But I think if you can start reading different journals, like I love the Whole Dog Journal, that is a phenomenal journal. So good. And so start there and start reading it, see which writers you trust. And then you know, they might have books or other articles, and start there. And just know that you can empower yourself. There's, I was just looking, for example, at Colorado, like I know, Florida's resources, right, but I wanted to see what does Colorado have. And so Colorado, has completely free databases that you can research and look for articles. And so that's where you can go start looking and looking for, you know, look for articles there. And completely free the state pays for it, use those resources, and empower yourself to, to know that you have your gut, you have your feeling about something for a reason. You might like I had a dog come to me when I was in New York State practicing, and they had recommended this certain type of food. And it turns out their food had cranberries in it, and the dog was allergic to cranberries. So yeah, go with your gut. And if you feel like you know, if you know the food caused it, you know, and if you can find somebody that can help you figure out what's wrong with it. Great. But otherwise, take the food bag, get your money back and try something else. Yeah, I think it's so crucial that and I just as a researcher, myself, I just want people to know that the information is out there. And don't necessarily go to Google. I know everybody wants to because it's easy. But please use some of these really good resources, like the Whole Dog Journal or other things that you've talked about a ton of resources on your episodes. So they definitely need to listen to those. And if they haven't heard them, go back and listen again. Because, yeah, it's crucial. And it's worth it. It's worth it. And don't, don't get overwhelmed. Everybody can do it. If I can do it, anybody can do it.Well, that's a good point, Emily, because you are such a huge believer and community. And there are others out there who are going through what you're going through. So you don't need to feel alone there. You know, there's groups, there's forums, there's so many resources to your point. Well, as we are wrapping up, again, Emily hosts, the Dogs are the Best Friend's podcast, which is awesome, great guests. great stories. So Emily, what is the main takeaway that you've learned from all of your interviews on the show?Oh wow! that dogs are such wonderful friends to us. They teach us they challenge us, they help us grow. And their love is just like, unlike any other really, there's just nothing like it. I've had people that have shared horrible times that they've gone through. Or, for example, there's one young woman that came on, and she was her dog was supposed to be trained to alert her. And sadly, it wasn't very well trained. So she had to give, give it some more training. And then they came to realize that the dog was not only alerting for her diabetes, but it also is alerting for another condition that she has. So I think if we just remember that, to listen to our dogs, and to appreciate them, and to see what they're trying to teach us like like you said before, Morgan was my teacher. Mazie was my teacher, and Flynn's teaching me as well. And I'm just grateful for all the stories that people share because they just bring life and light and sometimes encouragement when people need it. Like if their dog wasn't behaving well. And I just hope that people will come and have a listen and enjoy. Like you said, it's a community we love our dogs and are crazy for our canines and and it just helps to kind of bring a little bit of light into those dark times that we have sometimes too.I so agree with you. Well, Emily, where can everybody find out more information about you and your podcast? Dogs are the Best Friends and I know you've already started a YouTube channel as well.Yeah, yeah, it's https://dogsarethebestfriends.com/ is the website and you can find me also on Instagram. @dogsarethebestfriendscom for the account for that, too. And then we are actually on Facebook, we have a small community on there as well just to share fun stories and funny memes and things like that. And also just encourage each other there too. And that Yeah, and then the YouTube I know it's so funny. I don't have enough going on. right but the the YouTube channel is just to share some fun stories about Fynn and I we are on a very interesting adventure. I found my birth parents just in the summer of 2019. And that was huge. That was life changing. So I will get to go see my you know, my birth family as I call them this summer, and I will share those journeys with people in the lessons and also the good and bad of like converting a cargo trailer. Because I've learned from that as well. And I'd love to have people join me on the journey. It'll make it more interesting. Right. So thank you so much for having me. Amazing.We so appreciate all of your insight. And thank you to Flynn, Mazie and Morgan for doing their part and teaching you and therefore teaching us so safe journey. I can't wait to hear about your adventure. And thank you for being with us and being an amazing dog mom.Thank you so much, Krista. You're the best. Truly, thank you so much.Sponsor AdThanks again to the team at Bonne et Filou. for sponsoring this episode. Treat your dog like royalty and use the code WOL to receive a 15% discount off of your first order by going to https://bonneetfilou.com/ link is in the show notes. Thanks for listening. You'll find some helpful links in the show notes and if you enjoy the show, please be sure to follow and listen for free on your favorite podcast app. And please please share your feedback. Visit https://www.wagoutloud.com/ for great product recommendations with discounts, amazing online events and fantastic resources. That's also where to visit our Bark About It page where you can suggest topics, guests or products. Be advised that this show offers health or nutritional information and is designed for educational purposes only. you're encouraged to do your own research and should not rely on this information as a substitute for nor does it replace professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about your dog's health, you should always consult a veterinarian or a nutrition expert. Have a tail wagging day and we'll catch you next time. Hey Winston was that another tail wagging episode?Thanks for Listening!Thanks so much for tuning in again this week. Have some feedback you'd like to share? Leave a note in the Bark About it section. Or you can click on the social media buttons to share an episode.Special thanks to Emily O'Neil for being on the show. Catch you next time!Also, don't forget to Subscribe for FREE and please leave a review: Apple Podcasts | Android | Spotify I Stitcher I iHeartRADIOThe purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. It is no substitute for professional care by a veterinarian, licensed nutritionist or other qualified professional. The host as well as guests who speak on this podcast express their own opinions, experience and conclusions, and Wag Out Loud LLC neither endorses or opposes any particular views discussed here.

4:40 - Ryan asks Amy to take us back to when she started with training with positive reinforcement. 9:30 - Ryan and Amy discuss her PhD further and the questions that were raised through her PhD and how her research resulted in studying and researching studies involving children. 15:40 - Amy explains that the approach at UC Berkeley was focused around cognition rather than psychology and asking cognitive questions rather than focussing on ethology and behaviour. She details how the questions we ask about dogs tend to mirror the questions that we ask about children. 32:20 - Amy Cook explains how she started working with Denise at the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy and expands how play became an important part in her thoughts. 42:00 - Amy describes play as a therapy for the animal. 45:30 - Amy explains how having a low value play interaction allows us to see when they ‘can’t’ respond. 49:35 - Amy highlights using play in a set up and starting it in the environment when a dog is under threshold with a detailed example. 56:20 - Amy explains how using ‘theraplay’ and social play can be used as an early warning system, to indicate the low levels of stress the dog may be exhibiting in an environment. 58:30 - Ryan discusses with Amy an article regarding The Play Way written in the Whole Dog Journal. 1:05:50 - Ryan and Amy encapsulate the overall principle to training with the play way.

Katie K9 takes your pet questions about a dog that won't stop biting, what to give a dog for knee surgery recovery, a dog with neurological issues after a vaccine, and potty training. Katie K9 talks about dialated cardiomyopathy and grain free foods - go to Hemopet and Whole Dog Journal for more informa tion! Empower yourself!

Niki Tudge is joined by Laurie Williams the Owner of Pup N Iron® in Virginia. Join Niki and Laurie as they talk about this extremely important topic, diversity in the dog training profession. Laurie C. Williams CPDT-KA has had a love of and connection with dogs from as far back as she can remember. She is the owner and director of training and behavior counseling at Pup ‘N Iron Canine Fitness and Learning Center in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where she has been serving her community as a canine education specialist and dog behavior counselor for the past 15 years. She holds a bachelor's from Norwich University in Montpelier, Vermont and was a member of the adjunct faculty of the Natural Sciences Department of Northern Virginia Community College for seven years. She is also a nationally published writer with articles appearing in the APDT Chronicle of the Dog, The Whole Dog Journal, Dog & Handler, 911, Essence, Fitness, and Good Housekeeping. She is currently a member of the board of governors of the Dog Writer's Association of America and is a therapy dog evaluator for Pet Partners, a Canine Good Citizen evaluator, and a licensed judge for the American Kennel Club. Geek Week - Learn more here

Episode 15 Today's episode: In this episode, author and speaker CJ Puotinen shares resources for living with and training a reactive dog. On Monday’s episode (#14), CJ spoke about how she learned what a reactive dog is because of her black Lab, Blue Sapphire. Be sure to head to our website, Dogs are the Best Friends, to access her full article on reactive dogs that was published in the Whole Dog Journal this past January (2020).About: This podcast is for dog lovers to share and hear about dog stories, training tips, and other helpful bits of information. Please review and subscribe to the Dogs are the Best Friends podcast as that helps others find us! If you want to share a story or two about your dog(s), be sure to fill out the Contact Us form on the website: https://dogsarethebestfriends.com/

Title: Episode 14 Today's episode: In this episode, author and speaker CJ Puotinen shares her hard won lessons about living with and training a reactive dog. She has so much to share that we will have another episode out this Friday as this topic is important to many owners and trainers.Be sure to head to our website, Dogs are the Best Friends, to access her full article on reactive dogs that was published in the Whole Dog Journal this past January (2020).About us:This podcast is for dog lovers to share and hear about dog stories, training tips, and other helpful bits of information. Please review and subscribe to the Dogs are the Best Friends podcast as that helps others find us! If you want to share a story or two about your dog(s), be sure to fill out the Contact Us form on the website: https://dogsarethebestfriends.com/

To spay or neuter your dog may seem like a no-brainer decision, but is it? Are there unintended consequences to when or if you alter your pet? Is this always the right decision for you and your dog. In Part 1 of this two part series on Spay and Neuter we talk with Barb Dobbins, author of the Whole Dog Journal article, To Neuter, or Not to Neuter Your Dog: That is the Question, about this not not inconsequential decision.   For show notes and more information please see: Your Family Dog

In this episode of The Woof Meow Show from March 14th, 2020, Kate and Don discuss several recent articles in the news about dogs and cats. The topics they discuss include; cats and some of the things we do that cause our feline friend's undue stress. Directly related to that is an article that discusses the best way to pet a cat, so it is an enjoyable experience for both you and the cat. Then we divert to dogs, answering the question, why does my dog kick when I scratch him a certain place? Next, we look at seasonal allergies, an issue for both people and pets, and how climate change is likely to make the suffering from seasonal allergies worse. We address two common training questions; the puppy that doesn't like to go for a walk and the dog that bites at his leash. Also, we discuss an article that explains why some foods make better training rewards than others. You can find links to all of the articles we discussed below. Links to Articles from the Show 10 Things You Might Do That Stress Your Cat Out, Dr. Karen Becker, healthy pets, 11FEB20 - https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2020/02/11/causes-of-stress-in-cats.aspx When Petting Your Kitty Think Like A Cat, Dr. Karen Becker, healthy pets, 28JAN20 - https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2020/01/28/places-to-pet-your-cat.aspx Is That the Spot! Why Does My Dog Kick When I Scratch Him?, Dr. Jean Dodds, Hemopet, 2FEB20 - https://www.hemopet.org/is-that-the-spot-why-does-my-dog-kick-when-i-scratch-him-scratch-reflex/ Climate Change Can Affect Seasonal Allergies, Dr. Jean Dodds, Hemopet, 9FEB20 - https://www.hemopet.org/climate-change-can-affect-seasonal-allergies/ Puppy Doesn’t Want to Walk Outside, Karen London PhD, BARk, FEB20 - https://thebark.com/content/puppy-doesnt-want-walk-outside The Strongest Reinforcers, Nancy Kerns, Whole Dog Journal, 26FEB20 - https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/blog/the-strongest-reinforcements/ How Can I Stop My Dog From Biting on the Leash, Karen London PhD, BARk, OCT29 - https://thebark.com/content/how-can-i-stop-my-dog-biting-leash

In this episode of The Woof Meow Show from January 18th, 2020 Kate and Don discuss several recent articles in the news about dogs and cats. The topics they discuss include; Dogs and Love, how attending puppy classes benefits the future behavior of your adult dog, cat litter and how to make a choice that is good for you and your cat, dogs and real bones for chewing. Links to Articles from the Show Dogs Can’t Help Falling in Love, The New York Times, James Gorman, Nov. 22, 2019 - https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/22/science/dogs-love-evolution.html Association between puppy classes and adulthood behavior of the dog, Journal of Veterinary Behavior, Volume 32, July-August 2019 - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1558787817302551 The Best Way to Choose the Right Litter for Your Cat, Dr. Karen Becker, November 26, 2019 - https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2019/11/26/how-to-choose-a-litter-box.aspx Should You Give Bones to Your Dog? Depends on Your Dog, Dr. Karen Becker, October 2, 2019 - https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2019/10/02/dog-bones-for-dental-health.aspx Feeding Raw Meaty Bones As Part of a Raw Diet, Whole Dog Journal, April 29, 2019, - https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/food/feeding-your-dog-a-raw-diet/ Contact Info for The Woof Meow Show Address: 1653 Union St., Bangor, ME 04401Phone: 207-945-6841, x103Upcoming Shows: http://bit.ly/WfMwUpcomingShows Website: www.woofmeowshow.com Don’s Blog: http://bit.ly/Words-Woofs-Meows Podcast Site: http://bit.ly/WfMwPodcastsLive Stream: http://bit.ly/AM620-WZON Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WoofMeowShow/

Welcome to the 12th episode of The Dog Real Talk! My name is Agnieszka Janarek and I am your host! My guest today is Nancy Tucker - amazing trainer I have had a pleasure to learn from! If you can’t wrap your head around how to approach classical conditioning, desensitization in training - this episode is definitely for you! "Nancy is a certified trainer with the CCPDT, and a certified behaviour consultant with the IAABC. She teaches seminars, webinars, and workshops on dog training, dog behaviour, and the business end of training throughout Canada, the US, and Europe. She is also an instructor for Fenzi Dog Sports Academy and a regular article contributor to the Whole Dog Journal. She shares her home in Quebec, Canada with her husband Tom and their Border Terrier, Bennigan." Make sure you visit Nancy's website: https://nancytucker.com/ WE would love to hear your feedback about this episode! Let us know in comments, emails, regular mails (yes they still work ;) ), Facebook messages or any other way you want!

Nancy is a certified trainer with the CCPDT, and a certified behavior consultant with the IAABC. She teaches seminars, webinars, and workshops on dog training, dog behavior, and the business end of training throughout Canada, the US, and Europe. She has presented at conferences for the Pet Professional Guild (USA), the IAABC (UK), DogEvent (France), and will be presenting at the WOOF! 2019 conference in February here in the UK. She is also an instructor for Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, where she teaches online courses focusing on various topics including treating separation anxiety and learning to use desensitization and counter-conditioning to help fearful dogs. Nancy’s professional background in public relations, communications, and customer service management has inspired her to share her business experience with dog trainers to increase their bottom line and to take the stress out of communicating with difficult clients. Nancy has written numerous articles on dog behaviour and is a regular contributor to the Whole Dog Journal. She shares her home in Quebec, Canada with her husband Tom and their Border Terrier, Bennigan.

Summary: Nancy Tucker is a certified pet dog trainer and behavior consultant in Sherbrooke, Quebec. She teaches seminars, webinars, and workshops on dog training, dog behavior, and the business end of training in Canada, the U.S., and in Europe. She specializes in common behavior issues that affect the family dog, including more complex issues like aggression and anxiety. Nancy has also written numerous articles on dog behavior and is a regular contributor to Whole Dog Journal. At FDSA, she teaches a great class on separation anxiety, another on desensitization and counterconditioning, both of which are coming up in October, and a more lighthearted class on door greeting manners, which is currently running. Next Episode:  To be released 8/17/2018, featuring Helene Marie, talking about R+ Herding. TRANSCRIPTION: Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, an online school dedicated to providing high-quality instruction for competitive dog sports using only the most current and progressive training methods. Today we’ll be talking to Nancy Tucker. Nancy is a certified pet dog trainer and behavior consultant in Sherbrooke, Quebec. She teaches seminars, webinars, and workshops on dog training, dog behavior, and the business end of training in Canada, the U.S., and in Europe. She specializes in common behavior issues that affect the family dog, including more complex issues like aggression and anxiety. Nancy has also written numerous articles on dog behavior and is a regular contributor to Whole Dog Journal. At FDSA, she teaches a great class on separation anxiety, another on desensitization and counterconditioning, both of which are coming up in October, and a more lighthearted class on door greeting manners, which is currently running. Hi Nancy, welcome to the podcast! Nancy Tucker: Hi Melissa. Melissa Breau: So, to start us out, can you just share a little information to remind everybody who the dog is that you share your life with and what you’re working on with him? Nancy Tucker: Yep. We’re a single-dog family, and I know that this is sometimes shocking and even an alien concept to lots of people, especially a trainer who has only one dog. “What? Just the one dog? Oh no, what happened?” Nothing happened, we just have the one dog, and I just find life far more enjoyable and easier to manage with just the one dog. He’s a 1-year-old Border Terrier named Bennigan — or Benni, for short — and we’re not involved in any dog sports or organized activities. I work on run-of-the-mill pet dog behaviors with him, and of course he’s my demo dog for lots of teaching videos, so sometimes I end up teaching him behaviors I’ll never ask of him again. But he loves to learn and he’s total eye candy on the video because he’s crazy-cute. Melissa Breau: I cannot believe he’s already a year old. It feels like you just got him. Nancy Tucker: I know! Melissa Breau: I do understand he has his own fan club. Nancy Tucker: He does. He has his own Facebook page called Bennigan’s Shenanigans. It’s where I post lots of silly things, like our pretend conversations between us, or photos and videos of some of his activities. And I’ll sometimes post some really easy training videos, especially when his fans ask how I trained a particular thing he was doing in another video they saw. I really like doing “how to” videos for pet dog stuff because it gets people to interact with their dog in a way they’ve never done before. I didn’t realize just how popular Benni was until I was teaching a seminar in another city a couple of months ago on separation anxiety for trainers. I had photos and videos of Benni in my presentation, and after hearing me refer to him as “my dog, Benni,” one of the participants looked up suddenly and said, “Oh my god, you’re Benni’s mom?” It was a really humbling experience. She was more excited about that than my presentation. So I’m thinking I should probably put that on my business card: Benni’s mom. Melissa Breau: How’s his door behavior looking these days? Nancy Tucker: Pretty good, actually. We’ve come a long way with Benni, because his greetings are super-expressive, especially when me or my husband walk through the door. To be honest, I let it slide for the longest time because it’s incredibly easy to let these things slide with little dogs. When a large dog greets you by jumping up or weaving between your legs, you can’t ignore that. But when a little guy does it, it’s cute and far less dangerous, of course, so we let it slide a lot more often. But we worked on his door greeting skills a lot more this summer and he’s a star now. He still needs some help remembering what to do once in a while, and we still use management sometimes, which is normal, but overall he does me pretty proud. Melissa Breau: Nancy’s class this session, for anybody who doesn’t know, is on just that — getting a calm door greeting, instead of the crazy chaos I know I tend to have at my house when someone gets home. Looking at the syllabus, Nancy, it looks like the first few lectures are heavy on management. Why is managing this behavior such an important step in starting to fix it? Nancy Tucker: The first step in modifying behavior is doing everything we can to prevent the old behavior from being practiced. Every time a dog gets to do that behavior, it gets reinforced by something, and that means that we’re actually helping to maintain it somehow. Reinforcement, in this case, can be in the form of getting immediate access to somebody at the door, or sometimes it can also be attention from the person at the door, or attention from us. Even if we’re yelling or grabbing at our dogs to corral them or try to move them out of the way, we could inadvertently be reinforcing that behavior. Obviously the dog is getting something out of that behavior, or he wouldn’t keep repeating it. If we can prevent it by using some management, we’ll at least stop reinforcing it. Melissa Breau: Is it possible to manage it forever without actually working on it? Nancy Tucker: Yeah, for sure. In some instances I’d even recommend it, if the circumstances make training a new behavior more challenging than simple management. My goal is always to find a solution that will make life better for both the human and the dog, so yeah, if management is the best way to obtain that result, then I think it’s perfectly fine. On the other hand, polite door greeting is actually a fairly simple behavior to teach. It can take some time, especially if the dog has been practicing an unwanted behavior for a long time. But once we’ve got some polite behaviors in place and we continue to reinforce them, it’s so nice to not have to worry or scramble when someone comes to the door. Melissa Breau: As folks progress from management to training, what are their options? What kinds of alternative behaviors do you like to teach? Nancy Tucker: Contrary to popular belief, reducing a dog’s access to the door area is not the most effective approach. I talk a lot about this in class. We get the feeling that we need to control our dog’s access to the door, and to get him to stay somewhere else and to stay quiet, and that’s actually really hard. My goal is never to create robot dogs who stay away from the door and give all visitors a really wide berth. I want to allow dogs to check out who’s coming into their home. I want to encourage interaction. But I also want to help people teach their dogs more appropriate interactions in that context. So while we do cover some behaviors that essentially send the dog away from the door area when someone walks in, because that can be really handy at times, we’ll also be teaching our dogs that one of the most effective ways for them to get access to visitors is to keep their paws on the floor or to carry something in their mouth. This one’s really good for happy barkers or dogs who get mouthy when they’re excited. And we’ll use nose targeting and other fun games that allow the dog to regain some composure before he interacts with someone at the door. So it’s not about reducing access to visitors. It’s all about adding a little finesse to their greeting behavior. Melissa Breau: I’m going to guess that some of those things are initially taught away from the door. After all, as with all dog training things, we want to start small and then build up. So how do you go about making the door “small”? How do you break something down like that? Nancy Tucker: You’re right, we’ll start by working on all the new behaviors in a more neutral area of the home with very little distractions, just like any new behavior. And then we move the whole thing over to the door area, but with nobody coming or going. We’re just helping the dog generalize the behavior to a new location. And then we’ll start introducing the door into our training sessions by first we’re just opening and closing it with no one else around. Again, it’s all about adding an element of difficulty very gradually. And then we’ll go out and come back in and practice the new behaviors, which really, when you think about it, is not at all exciting to the dog. He’s thinking, “I just saw you two seconds ago. This is boring.” And this is what we want. We want the dog to be able to practice the new behaviors when he’s not excited. And then, when the dog is able to offer those behaviors in that context, we’ll ask someone else to practice the exercises with us, someone familiar to the dog who has already greeted them, spent a little time with them prior to practicing these exercises — again, we’re trying to make it least exciting possible for the dog — and then we’ll gradually make our way to having a stranger enter the home. That’s the Holy Grail. I know it can be very difficult for people to find, or they think it can be very difficult for them to find somebody to help them with these types of exercises, especially if they live in a more rural area, for example. But in the past, people have asked neighbors to help play this role, or they’ve invited a co-worker to stop by, and people are generally really happy to help. Melissa Breau: You’re also covering multi-dog households, right? Nancy Tucker: That’s right. Melissa Breau: How does adding extra dogs into it further complicate all of it? Nancy Tucker: When you have a door-greeting issue with a single dog, that’s usually a pretty basic situation to handle. But when you have multiple dogs, you sometimes need Ninja-level management and handling skills just to even get to your door. So we’ll be handling multi-dog households the same way we train any other behavior with multiple dogs, and that means one dog at a time. In the lecture that introduces multi-dog households, I talk about the instigator dog. Every multi-dog household has one of those. He’s the one that usually sets the others off by being the first to respond to a sound or other stimulus, and anyone who has more than two dogs can probably already recognize which one of their dogs I’m talking about here. Anyway, we’ll be working with one dog at a time, and ideally we’ll start working with the instigator dog first. And then those handlers can work with each of their other dogs also individually, just like any other training session. And then, once each dog has learned the new behaviors and they’re doing well with them, we can start working with multiple dogs at the door. But that’s an advanced level of difficulty, and there’s no rush to get to that point. So it’s always best to work systematically with one dog at a time before putting them all into an exciting situation where they can’t possibly succeed. Melissa Breau: It feels like you’ve got lots of pieces in here. I know you also cover door dashing. Personally, I think door dashing is super-frustrating, in addition to being incredibly dangerous in some situations. Any thoughts on why dogs do that, why they build a habit of dashing out the door? Nancy Tucker: In most cases, dogs push past us at the door because they’re in a terrible rush to greet whoever is there. Those that run out for an unauthorized adventure when there’s no one there to greet — they’re simply getting out there to have a good time, whether that means exploring the neighborhood or going into the yard down the street to meet up with their buddy. Sometimes it can be a sign that maybe the dog is a little bored or his needs aren’t being met, but most of the time, as long as we’re not talking about a dog who is aggressively running out the door — and we’ll talk about that a little later as well — but most of the time it’s just to have a good time, or because we’re taking too long to open the door. They want to get there quick. Melissa Breau: How do you approach that? How do you start to work on door dashing and what do you want the dog to do instead? Nancy Tucker: I like to teach the dog that an open door is not an invitation to step outside, and I make it really attractive and rewarding to stay put, even while the door is wide open and they can see or hear or smell the outside world. Naturally, we get there gradually through a series of exercises, but it really doesn’t take that long to teach. I’ve got a couple more exercises that I like to add to the end of this process that makes it even more likely that a dog will stick around close to the door, even if he does manage to step outside. But you have to take the class to know more about those. Melissa Breau: Some dogs may have years of practicing bad door habits — you mentioned this in passing earlier. Do you find that it can take a really long time to retrain? Obviously every dog is different, and people should move at their dog’s speed, but still, over the course of six weeks, what kind of progress can people expect to make? Nancy Tucker: You’re right — how long a dog has been practicing a behavior can affect how long it might take to change his behavior in any given context. But generally, once we get rolling with practicing the new games and exercises, people begin to see a shift in their dog’s response to the usual signs that someone’s at the door. Within a few weeks they often see reduced barking, or a faster response to the simple cues that they’ll be working on. For some people, they’ll get a handle on the door greeting part pretty quickly, and then they’ll spend a few more weeks after the class is finished to work on the dog’s interaction with guests after they’ve come inside and are visiting for a while. You get the dogs that stay excited and happy and are constantly trying to get visitors’ attention, but by then the students have lots of tools and ideas to work with to tackle that part of the problem. That’s kind of outside of the scope of the class, but the things that they learn during class will definitely help with that as well. Melissa Breau: What if we kind of … you know, secretly LIKE that our dogs are so excited to see us when we get home? Is training control in this situation going to change that? Nancy Tucker: If you’ve ever taken a training lesson from me, or followed one of my classes, you’ll probably have figured out that I actually like normal dog behaviors. I’m far from one to create super-quiet robot dogs, and I use the term robot dogs a lot. I like natural dog behavior. I think dogs should be allowed to greet guests, and so my goal here is not to take the fun out of it for them, but to at least take the chaos out of it. If, by the end of the class, your dog is running to the door to greet you or your guests with a super-wiggly body and a toy in his mouth with four paws on the floor and nobody’s tripping over each other and the door can be left wide open and nobody’s running off, then I will consider that a massive success. Melissa Breau: It sounds like my idea of success. I know you’ve got a note at the bottom of your class description about who is and isn’t appropriate for the class. I wanted to ask you about that. Can you share, along with a bit more information on who might want to consider signing up? Nancy Tucker: This is a super-important note. I want people to recognize that this class isn’t for the dogs who are fearful of strangers coming through the door, or dogs who might bark and lunge aggressively toward guests. Those dogs that bark at someone walking through the door and at the same time they’re backing up or they’re avoiding eye contact — they’re not happy to see or greet somebody. And that’s a whole other topic. That’s not what we’re addressing in this class. This class is for the dogs who are so excited about greeting someone, and their behavior is a little over the top, but they don’t know what to do with themselves when someone walks in, or they push past you when you go to open the door, or they knock you out of the way, or they’re jumping up on the door before you even get a chance to open it. These are dogs who are happy to greet someone, not fearful or upset about seeing somebody at the door. So this class is for those happy, excited dogs. Melissa Breau: Gotcha. So one last question — my new “last interview question” — what’s a lesson you’ve learned or been reminded of recently when it comes to dog training? Nancy Tucker: A-ha. Well, this summer I was reminded about how training a behavior in one context, like in one location maybe, doesn’t mean that our dog will know how to behave in a different context. It’s funny you bring this up, because this just happened again last night, but it’s a pretty simple concept and you would think that I would know this by now, but when the summer weather arrived and we started eating our meals outside on the deck, I realized that I had to teach Benni table manners all over again. He knows what’s expected of him when I’m eating at the kitchen table, or on a coffee table in the living room, or even when I’m sitting at my desk in my office, because we’ve practiced those. I eat all over the house, basically, and we’ve practiced those behaviors, and he’s really, really polite and he’s got this down pat. But when I sat down … we have an outdoor couch with a table, and when I sat down on the outdoor couch to eat my first meal on the deck this summer, Benni had no manners and he was all up in my face. It only took us a few repetitions to straighten this out, but it really reminded me about the importance of not assuming our dog knows something just because he can do it in another context or another location. It’s easy for us to forget that and to get frustrated with our dog because he’s doing a behavior that we don’t like, and we think, Well, he knows this. He knows he shouldn’t do this. But the context has changed, and it’s a good reminder that we just need to brush up on our training when we change the context or location. Melissa Breau: For anybody who is thinking about signing up, class registration closes on the 15th, so that should be in just a couple of days. This will come out, I think, on the 10th, so you’ve got just a couple of days before things close. So if you want to hop in, go over and do that. Also, we are going to be back next week with Helene Marie to talk about a topic that gets asked about a lot: herding in an R+ way, so using positive reinforcement to train herding behaviors. Thank you so much for coming back on the podcast Nancy! This has been great. I’m glad we got to chat through all this. Nancy Tucker: This is so much fun! I love chatting with you on podcasts! Melissa Breau: And thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in! If you haven’t already, subscribe to our podcast in iTunes or the podcast app of your choice to have our next episode automatically downloaded to your phone as soon as it becomes available. CREDITS: Today’s show is brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy. Special thanks to Denise Fenzi for supporting this podcast. Music provided royalty-free by BenSound.com; the track featured here is called “Buddy.” Audio editing provided by Chris Lang and transcription written by CLK Transcription Services. Thanks again for tuning in -- and happy training!

Some links from this week's episode: Pet Health Network: Are dogs really colorblind? ColBlindor: Deuteranopia—Red-green color blindness Whole Dog Journal: Structure of the canine eye Daily Treat: 7 dog myths you totally thought were true The Spruce Pets: What are the biggest dog myths? Clive Maxfield: Color vision: one of nature's wonders

Summary: Nancy Tucker is a certified pet dog trainer and behavior consultant in Sherbrooke, Quebec. She regularly teaches seminars, webinars, and workshops on dog training, dog behavior, and the business end of training to dog owners, trainers, and veterinary staff in Canada, the U.S., and in Europe. She specializes in common behavior issues that affect the family dog, including more complex issues like aggression and anxiety. Nancy has written numerous articles on dog behavior and is a regular contributor to the Whole Dog Journal. At FDSA, she's offering a great class on separation anxiety and a new class on desensitization and counterconditioning for the April Session. Links Nancy's Website Next Episode:  To be released 3/30/2018, featuring Nancy Tucker to talk about desensitization and counter conditioning. TRANSCRIPTION: Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, an online school dedicated to providing high-quality instruction for competitive dog sports using only the most current and progressive training methods. Today we'll be talking to Nancy Tucker. Nancy is a certified pet dog trainer and behavior consultant in Sherbrooke, Quebec. She regularly teaches seminars, webinars, and workshops on dog training, dog behavior, and the business end of training to dog owners, trainers, and veterinary staff in Canada, the U.S., and in Europe. She specializes in common behavior issues that affect the family dog, including more complex issues like aggression and anxiety. Nancy has written numerous articles on dog behavior and is a regular contributor to the Whole Dog Journal. At FDSA, she's offering a great class on separation anxiety and a new class on desensitization and counterconditioning for the April Session. Hi Nancy, welcome to the podcast! Nancy Tucker: Hi Melissa, hi everyone, I'm very happy to be here. Melissa Breau: I'm excited to have you here. To get us started out, can you just share a little information about the dog you share your life with and what you're working on with him? Nancy Tucker: Sure. I have a Border Terrier named Bennigan. He's not quite 9 months old yet, but he's creeping up on 9 months, so right now we're working on helping him navigate canine adolescence. That means we're teaching him the basics, with an emphasis on things like impulse control, and good, solid recalls, and trying to remain calm. Melissa Breau: With two classes on the calendar, I want to make sure we get to talk about both of them, but I wanted to start with the shiny new one. You named it “Feelings Change.” What inspired that name? Nancy Tucker: Well, it was catchy, because we're talking about feelings and we're talking about changing feelings. In training, we focus a lot on shaping behavior, and when we're dealing with behavior issues that are rooted in fear, we need to address the emotions that are driving that behavior. Lucky for us, there's a way to zero in on those emotions and help our dogs change how they feel about something, and that's huge. Melissa Breau: I know the core is desensitization and counterconditioning; I mentioned that during the intro. I think anyone who's been in the dog world for a while has probably heard those words thrown about, or at least seen the abbreviations, usually ds/cc, but can you explain what they actually mean? Nancy Tucker: In a nutshell, when we're talking about desensitization, we're describing a process that involves exposing our dog to something they fear, and that's done in a very measured and systematic way. We would start exposing them in a way that is completely non-threatening to them. It doesn't induce any fear at all, and we gradually work our way up from there. That's desensitization. Counterconditioning involves pairing the scary thing with something that elicits a positive emotional response in the dog, so now we're working with building an association. When that's done correctly, we can actually change the dog's emotional response in such a way that he's no longer fearful of the thing that he used to be afraid of. Typically we're aiming for a neutral response, that he's just not afraid of that thing anymore, but if we're lucky, we might even go as far as to create a positive emotional response, which means that he actually now feels good about the trigger that used to scare him. So we're talking about two separate and distinct methods here, desensitization and counterconditioning, but together they complement each other and they're very effective in treating fearful responses. Melissa Breau: Listeners of the podcast have definitely heard us talk before about the idea of creating a positive conditioned emotional response, or a CER. How is that concept, that idea of creating a positive CER, different from what you're talking about with desensitization and counterconditioning? Nancy Tucker: CERs — I'm giggling because now every time I hear the term CER, all I can think about is “ball feelings,” as they're known at Fenzi, thanks to … for those who don't know, that was coined on Hannah Branigan's podcast on CERs. When we're talking about CERs, we're dealing with creating a positive response to something that was previously neutral to the dog. So we're starting from scratch, basically, with a clean slate. When we're talking about desensitization and counterconditioning, we're not starting from scratch. The dog has already formed an association with something, and it's not a good one. To give a visual here, if creating a positive CER is like building a brand new house on a vacant lot, with only brand-new materials, desensitization and counterconditioning is like remodeling an old house. You first need to tear down some things, and you're never quite sure what you're going to find when you start knocking down walls. Anybody who's remodeled a house, I think, can probably relate to that. So maybe you discover you can rebuild a whole new fabulous design on a really solid foundation, or maybe you'll need to make some adjustments and compromises along the way, and build something wonderful but not quite a brand new design. Does that make sense? Melissa Breau: Absolutely. I love that analogy. That's fantastic — the idea of building from scratch versus remodeling. And for listeners who aren't Hannah fans, Hannah's podcast is “Drinking From The Toilet,” and I will try and find the specific episode that Nancy's talking about to include a link to it in the show notes. To get back to our conversation, the general concept sounds simple enough — the idea that we want to build this positive association — but I know a lot of people really struggle to do this stuff well. What are some of the common pitfalls that lead folks to struggle and to be unsuccessful? Nancy Tucker: The reason that I want to teach this course in the first place is because of these common pitfalls. The course focuses on the skills and mechanics that we need to have in order to be successful at desensitization and counterconditioning. There are natural laws at play here that we just can't get around. Things need to happen in a very specific way in order to work. We can't cut corners, and we can't speed up the process, and honestly, that's something that we're all guilty of when we're training our dogs. We can be really impatient, and we try to skip a few steps to reach our goal just a little bit faster. Sometimes we're lucky and our dog figures things out on his own, so hurrying up ends up being very reinforcing for us because it worked, so we do it over and over, again and again. But, when we're treating fears, that's just something we can't do, and understanding the process better and practicing our own mechanical skills is the best thing that we can do to finally be able to help our dogs overcome their fear. And it's actually a very rewarding process. Melissa Breau: Can you share a little more about the class? How you approach teaching this to your human learners to help them go through that process with their canine partners? Nancy Tucker: At the start of the class we'll all be on the same page, so we'll all be practicing the same set of skills, regardless of everyone's individual training experience. And you don't need training experience to do this class. It's quite an eye-opener. Once you start to really break down your own mechanical skills — and naturally this is a Fenzi class, so everything is done in the spirit of positivity and support, and there's no judgment — so there will be nitpicking, for sure, there'll be a lot of analyzing mechanics, but it's not about judgment. It's about helping to perfect these skills. So a lot of nitpicking, but in a very good way. The students' skills will grow from this experience, and they'll be able to transfer these skills to their other training projects as well. So at first we'll be making sure everyone fully understands the process and practices their mechanical skills, and then we'll tackle some actual issues. Students will be able to work on changing their dogs' fearful response to something. Melissa Breau: I know the other class you're teaching in April is on separation anxiety. How is separation anxiety different from what we're talking about here – from general desensitization and counterconditioning – and how does that lead to how you treat it? Nancy Tucker: Treating separation anxiety definitely involves desensitization, and a lot of it, in fact. It's the meat of the program. Desensitization is the meat of any program to treat separation anxiety. We very slowly and very gradually expose the dog to the thing that he fears the most, which is being alone or being separated from a particular family member. We make sure the dog only experiences being alone for however amount of time he can handle without experiencing fear or distress. That can be a very time-consuming process, so again, this is one of those things that we can't rush and we can't cut corners. But along with some environmental management, desensitization is really the most effective way to treat separation anxiety. Melissa Breau: I think a lot of the time when people talk about separation anxiety, they are actually talking about a few different things. It's not necessarily one of those terms that has a hard and fast definition in common use. Do you mind sharing what separation anxiety is — your definition — and what some of the symptoms are of true separation anxiety? Nancy Tucker: We tend to use separation anxiety as an umbrella term for what are essentially a few different issues, so most of the time, we're using it incorrectly. But it's so widespread as a label for a common problem that it's easier to use it. I know that's not correct, it's not scientifically correct, but sometimes when everyone misuses a term the same way, it's just as effective to use the term, if that makes any sense. In truth, what most people are dealing with when they say that their dog has separation anxiety is a dog who fears being alone. That is more common than actual separation anxiety. He fears isolation and he panics when he's left alone. True separation anxiety is when a dog experiences distress if he's apart from a particular person or persons. A dog who suffers from fear of isolation will be fine as long as someone, anyone, is with him. A dog who suffers from separation anxiety will experience distress even if someone else is there with him, if that makes sense. Some of the telltale signs that a dog is experiencing distress during your absence, if you're listening to this and you suspect that your dog may be suffering from this, some of these signs — and what I'm about to mention is in no particular order of importance here, and the dog might display one or several of these behaviors, and at different intensities … and before I go into describing what these symptoms might be, I want to point out, too, that the level of intensity of a symptom does not correlate to the level of severeness of the fear. If a dog overtly displays symptoms, it doesn't mean that he is more fearful than the dog who cowers in the corner and does not move all day. That dog could be equally as in distress. Anyway, some of the signs are vocalization, barking, whining. Actually, that's how quite a few people learn that there is a problem is when their neighbor complains about barking during their absence. That's often the first clue. They don't know until somebody complains about it. So vocalization is one. Excessive drooling is another. You might come home and find a puddle of drool that some people might mistake for pee, but it's actually drool. There can be that much of it on the floor, or the dog's bed is soaking wet. Anorexia is a very common one as well. The dog won't touch his food or a treat toy. Sometimes I discover a problem when a client has called me for another issue. When I'm doing my history intake, I ask them how often the dog eats, or when is he fed, and they say, “We feed him in the morning before we go to work, but he doesn't touch that. He's not hungry in the morning. He doesn't eat until we get home.” And I find out that when they get home, the dog devours his food. That's a sign to me, if the dog hasn't touched his food all day from the moment that they leave, that there may be an issue there, that he might not appreciate being alone and there could be a problem there. So anorexia. Obvious signs that the dog has scratched or chewed an area, especially near an exit, near the door that the owner uses to leave the house. Peeing and defecating, usually a lot of it during their absence, even just a short absence. And self-mutilation, signs of excessive licking or chewing at the paws. If you're not sure what your dog might be doing when you're not home, set up a camera and video him, or watch a live feed. There's lots of apps now that we can use to keep an eye on our dogs. Some dogs might pace while you're getting ready to leave. They're pacing and then they continue for another five minutes after you're gone, but then they settle down quickly and they go to sleep without a problem. Or, on the other hand, some dogs might appear perfectly chill for a few minutes after you leave, and then they begin to panic. So you can't know unless you record it or watch a live feed. Melissa Breau: Right. And technology is our friend, for sure. Nancy Tucker: For sure. Melissa Breau: Do we know what actually causes separation anxiety? It seems like some dogs struggle with it and others are never fazed at all. Is there a reason? Nancy Tucker: That's a really, really good question, and I'll start by talking about what doesn't cause separation anxiety. Owners. Owners' behavior does not cause their dog to develop separation anxiety. If you have a dog who panics when left alone, it is not your fault. It's not because of something that you did. It's amazing how many people feel, or are told, that it's because of something that they did. It is not because you've spoiled him. In fact, if you have a puppy, helping him feel secure by responding to his needs will go farther towards building a confident adult dog than if you try to use tough love by letting him cry it out at night. Don't be afraid to shower your puppy with attention and to provide that sense of security. You do need to teach your young dog that being alone is nothing to be afraid of, but you can do that systematically. Back to causes. For starters, dogs who suffer from this problem, they tend to already be predisposed to having anxiety issues. Just like people, some of us might be more genetically predisposed to experience mental health issues, and this is true for dogs as well. It is worth mentioning that there is correlation between a few things in separation anxiety, but it can't be said for sure that these things actually cause it. For example, dogs who are surrendered to a shelter might display some isolation distress once they're adopted into a new home. Actually, that's pretty common. But it's possible that these dogs had this issue in their previous homes, and maybe that's the reason that some of them were surrendered in the first place. It's not always easy to tell. So it's not always accurate to say that a dog develops a fear of isolation because he was surrendered to a shelter or abandoned somewhere. Another possible correlation is dogs who are sick as very, very young puppies might develop separation anxiety as adults. And again, there's correlation there, but nothing to say that this is a cause. What I see most commonly is after a major change in a dog's life, like a move or a major disruption, a divorce, or a huge disruption in a dog's routine or schedule, that can lead to this type of problem. But again, in most cases we're talking about a dog who is already predisposed to experiencing anxiety. So it's not ultimately because you moved into a new house that you caused your dog to develop this problem. Rather, the move may have triggered an anxiety disorder that was already there but hadn't yet manifested into a behavior issue, if that makes sense. Melissa Breau: Absolutely. It's really interesting. I hadn't realized there were those specific things that were correlated with the issue. That's news to me, so it's interesting. I know you're not a vet, but I know that on the syllabus or in the description you mention that you do touch on meds in the class. I was curious if you'd talk about that a little bit. How do you determine if a student should talk to their vet about their options? Nancy Tucker: I really respect my limitations as a trainer and a behavior consultant, and I avoid talking about meds, except to say that everyone should do their own research and find out what's available to you to help your dog deal with an anxiety issue, and there are quite a few options out there. So if your dog is at risk of hurting himself — self-mutilation, or a dog who is scratching or throwing himself through glass, which I experienced that myself, a dog who is simply overwhelmed with fear or anxiety in general — I strongly urge you to look into medication to help him out. I will say this much: medication can be a huge help. It can create a sense of calm in a dog so that he's able to learn the new behaviors that you want to teach him. It puts him in a better state of mind to learn and for behavior modification to take place. A lot of the antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds out there, they will allow for learning to take place, so in other words, they aren't simply a sedative that can affect short-term memory. So that would be an important thing to discuss with the vet. If you're looking for medication to help your dog deal with anxiety or immense fear, you want to use a medication that will allow him to learn. The whole point of using medication to treat separation anxiety is to be able to work through a desensitization program so that the dog can eventually be comfortable alone at home. Melissa Breau: Right. You mention in the class description that, when done right, Gold videos in this class may be sort of … boring, I think is the word you used. Why is that? Nancy Tucker: This is true. This is very true. There isn't a whole lot of action going on when you're teaching a dog to remain calm. Videos are good, and I can still help guide students by watching what's happening in a video. I can dissect the dog's behavior and body language, and I can make recommendations based on the layout of the home, because we talk a lot about finding that home alone space, and sometimes it's good to have a second set of eyes to look at the layout and see what might work, or even based on the student's own movements. So video is good. I might see something in the environment that the student has missed. Sometimes you're just so familiar with something that even when it's right in front of you, you don't see it. But the bottom line is that we are literally aiming for the dog to look bored and chillaxed. So Gold students don't have to post video, actually, but that's OK, because we tend to do a lot of problem-solving and creative planning and troubleshooting on the forums through discussions. During this class the discussion boards are really important. If you want to follow a case, follow the discussion, because even without a video there is a lot of back and forth and a lot of troubleshooting going on. The Gold-level students are still getting a personal coach as they work through this, and because every single case is completely different, all students get to follow and learn from each individual scenario, which is great. In the last couple of sessions we had a lot of trainers join, so I think they benefitted from seeing the different types of cases. Melissa Breau: There's certainly nothing to sneeze at there about taking a Gold spot just because videos don't play a big role. In an area like this, where there's so often those feelings of, “Oh my god, am I doing it wrong?” or “Oh my god, my dog's panicking,” having somebody to hold your hand and say, “No, actually, it's OK, let's take a step back, let's do it this way,” that can be a huge, huge help. Nancy Tucker: Absolutely. It's great to have a second set of eyes with a problem like this, for sure. Melissa Breau: I wanted to ask about common misconceptions or places where students often go wrong when it comes to working on this kind of thing — separation anxiety, that is. Can you share any tips or suggestions? Nancy Tucker: I think that we tend to circle back to the most common problem of all when treating a behavior issue that's based on an emotion like fear, and I mentioned it earlier: we move too fast. We try to rush things. Sometimes I get the feeling that the students somehow feel bad that they don't have more to show, that they feel they need to push it along in order to look like they're progressing. But that's OK, because I know that behavior change takes time, and I am far more giddy about seeing a student take their time and really progress at the dog's speed, whatever that may be for that dog. When I see that, I know that the student is on the right track and they'll get there eventually. So again, the common problem is just moving too fast. Melissa Breau: If students are trying to decide whether either of these classes is appropriate for their dog, I wanted to ask if you have any advice. How can they decide if their dog is a good candidate? Nancy Tucker: Now might be a good time for me to mention that the desensitization and counterconditioning class is not for those dogs who might display aggression towards the thing that they fear. For example, if a dog might bite a visitor entering his home because he's afraid of strangers, this class is not the place for that kind of issue. That's because I would much rather deal with aggression in person. Other than that, what I'd like to see are students working on minor issues throughout the term, throughout the session. I'll bet almost everyone can name at least one or two things their dog is afraid of. Students might think that their dog doesn't like something because he avoids it, but really their dog might be afraid of that thing, and this class would be a perfect opportunity to work on that. They'll get to practice their training mechanics on a minor issue, like a dog avoiding the vacuum cleaner, for example, or getting brushed, or getting their nails clipped. Then they'll be in a better position to handle a bigger issue later on, like aggressive behaviors that are fear-based, for example. Another important point about the desensitization and counterconditioning class is that whatever trigger the students choose, they need to make sure that they have complete control over their dog's access to that trigger while they work on it. In other words, if you plan to help your dog overcome his fear of the sound of kids playing and screaming on the street, you need to make sure you can control when and how your dog hears that sound. You can see how that can be really, really difficult. We can't control when the kids are going to be out playing, but we can maybe try to control the dog's access to that, to manage the environment or something creatively so that he's not exposed to that. That's just an example. The point that I'm trying to make is that we need to have complete control over that stimulus in order to work through the program, because the only way that desensitization and counterconditioning will work is if we're able to exercise that kind of control over the stimulus. As for the Home Alone class, you don't actually need to have a dog with a separation anxiety issue to take the class. Like I mentioned before, over the last couple of sessions we had lots of trainers take the class who wanted to learn more about helping their clients. It's also a good match for people with puppies who want to teach their dog to be alone in a structured way. In fact, a lot of the lecture videos are of my own dog, Bennigan, when he was just a puppy learning to be home alone. Melissa Breau: I did want to dive in a little deeper there , if you don't mind, and ask if there are any examples that come to mind of students with problems that would be a particularly good fit for the desensitization and counterconditioning class. Are there particular problems that you're hoping to get, or that you think might be particularly well suited for that kind of class? Nancy Tucker: Like I said, the two main criteria are that is not an aggression issue in that there is no danger that the dog will bite, so a dog who is extremely … I don't like to use the term “reactive” because it doesn't really describe what's happening, but a dog who might behave aggressively or lunge and bark at the sight of another dog — this is not a good class for that. I believe that Amy Cook has a good class for that. This is not a good class for that because I personally don't want to be dealing with aggression, except maybe resource guarding. If a dog is displaying object guarding and does not have a bite history, that is something that we might be able to handle, but again, I would rather speak with a student first and have them communicate with me to see exactly what's happening, because that might not be fear-based, and when we're talking about desensitization and counterconditioning, I think that what we're aiming for here is to help a dog overcome a fear. So no outright aggression, and to have control over the stimulus. That is the one thing that is an absolute must. So to answer your question, no, there is no specific thing that's carte blanche, and if students are unsure, they can just communicate with me and we can figure it out together. Melissa Breau: Excellent. I know that your class descriptions mentioned something about CEUs. Do you mind sharing with listeners — and I'm sure there are some ears that just perked up there who may be trainers trying to get those Continuing Education credits — what the deal is there? Nancy Tucker: Both classes are approved for 21 CEUs for training for those who are certified with a CCPDT. I specified “for training,” because with the CCPDT — the Certification Council For Professional Dog Trainers — there are training credits and there are behavior credits. These are 21 training CEUs for each class. Students can register at any level, whether it's Gold, Silver, or Bronze, and throughout the term they'll need to collect some code words that will be peppered throughout the lectures and the Gold discussion forums. So they have to follow and pay close attention to the course as it progresses, the lectures and discussion forums. And hey, 21 CEUs is almost two-thirds of a full recertification, so that's not a bad deal. If you take both classes, you get 42 CEUs right there. Melissa Breau: That's awesome. That's really a fantastic opportunity for those people who are out there trying to get those. Thanks so much for coming back on the podcast, Nancy! It's great to chat. Nancy Tucker: Thanks for having me, Melissa. Always a pleasure. Melissa Breau: Absolutely. And thank you to all of our wonderful listeners for tuning in! We'll be back next week with Julie Daniels to discuss confidence-building through shaping. If you haven't already, subscribe to our podcast in iTunes or the podcast app of your choice to have our next episode automatically downloaded to your phone as soon as it becomes available. Credits: Today's show is brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy. Special thanks to Denise Fenzi for supporting this podcast. Music provided royalty-free by BenSound.com; the track featured here is called “Buddy.” Audio editing provided by Chris Lang.  

Summary: Nancy Tucker is a full-time pet dog trainer and behavior consultant in Sherbrooke, Quebec. She regularly teaches seminars, webinars, and workshops on dog training, dog behavior, and the business end of training to dog owners, trainers, and veterinary staff in Canada, the US, and in Europe. Most of her time is spent doing private in-home behavior consultations with clients. She specializes in common behaviour issues that affect the family dog, and is skilled and experienced in treating aggression and anxiety cases. Nancy has written numerous articles on dog behavior for various French-language Quebec publications, and is a regular contributor to the Whole Dog Journal. At FDSA she's wrapping up a great class on Separation Anxiety and has a class coming up in December on teaching door manners when guests come to visit. Links Mentioned: Next Episode:  To be released 9/8/2017, featuring Chrissi Schranz talking about fitting training into our busy lives, teaching a reliable “real life” recall, and other pet skills that help us build a better relationship with our dogs. TRANSCRIPTION: Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports podcast, brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, an online school dedicated to providing high-quality instruction for competitive dog sports using only the most current and progressive training methods. Today we'll be talking to Nancy Tucker. Nancy is a full-time pet dog training and behavior consultant in Sherbrooke, Quebec. She regularly teaches seminars, webinars, and workshops on dog training, dog behavior, and the business end of training to dog owners, trainers, and veterinary staff in Canada, the US, and in Europe. Most of her time is spent doing private in-home behavior consultations with clients. She specializes in common behavior issues that affect the family dog and is skilled and experienced in treating aggression and anxiety cases. Nancy has written numerous articles on dog behavior for various French language Quebec publications, and she is a regular contributor to the Whole Dog Journal. Here at FDSA, she's wrapping up a great class on separation anxiety, and there's a class coming up in December on teaching dog door manners so when guests come to visit. Hi, Nancy. Welcome to the podcast. Nancy Tucker: Hi, Melissa. Thanks for having me. Melissa Breau: Absolutely. Excited to learn a little bit about your upcoming classes and about you today. To start us out, I know you're expecting a new puppy. Do you want to share the details? Nancy Tucker: Oh, man. We are so excited. He's a Border Terrier and we're picking him up to take him home this weekend. He's nine and a half weeks old and I haven't raised a puppy in decades since my last four dogs were all adult, so I will get to practice what I preach when I dole out advice, and I'm sure it will probably cause me to have a lot more empathy for my clients after this experience. Melissa Breau: By the time this comes out you'll probably actually have the puppy so everybody can go on the Facebook group and check out the cute puppy pictures. You'll share those, right? Nancy Tucker: Oh, there will be plenty of puppy pictures. Melissa Breau: So I want to go a little bit into your background. What got you started in dogs? I mean, how did you end up where you are today? Nancy Tucker: It's a bit of a funny story and it's the type of story that's actually pretty common in trainer circles. You know how you can meet a bunch of trainers who had all kinds of fabulous careers before they were dog trainers and somehow ended up as a dog trainer, so in my life before dogs as they say, my career had nothing to do with training at all. I was a freelance writer and I worked in marketing in public relations and I ended up a trainer quite by accident and then eventually it became my full-time job. So like most people in that situation, I've always loved dogs, I've always had dogs, I felt I knew dogs, and years ago I thought that I could offer my services as a PR and marketing consultant to our local shelter just to kind of help out, see what I could do in terms of marketing and PR, so I thought that I could donate some time and services to the shelter in my field of expertise. And then I learned that the majority of dogs who were surrendered there are there because of behavior problems, that was kind of my first insight into shelter dogs. So I thought well, if I can learn some basic training skills and maybe I could also offer those service to help get more dogs adopted. I don't know if you can see where this is going, but I was very green, very naive. I had no clue about how anything worked in a shelter, but I wanted to help and I was sure that I could. So I'm grinning here because, well anyway, I bought some DVDs, I read some books, all on positive reinforcement and after a very short time I was convinced that I was an awesome trainer and I could save all the dogs everywhere. And so I volunteered as an assistant to the head trainer at the shelter who used to give group classes, so I was her assistant for a little while and we hit it off, we became really good friends, I learned a lot from her, and eventually I was teaching my own classes and couple years later opened my own school. And actually working with dogs and their owners was a huge learning experience for me. It's not like just you and your own dog, you're working with people and their dogs, so if anyone's listening to this and they're thinking about becoming a professional trainer, I highly recommend getting involved with training shelter dogs and the people who adopt them because you'll get tons of experience dealing with all kinds of different dogs with different issues and varying human dog teams. Anyway, at the time I was just teaching basic skills, just regular basic training, and then I adopted Woody. He was a dog who would introduce me to separation anxiety. So it was living with Woody and trying to figure out how to help him that I ended up really diving into the world of dog behavior and to this day I continue to study and learn about behavior. Melissa Breau: So this is kind of like a big ambiguous question, but why are you a dog trainer? What is it that inspires you every day? Nancy Tucker: I would say that I'm a dog trainer today for the same reason that I accidentally became one in the first place. I want to help reduce the number of dogs that are surrendered to shelters for behavior reasons. I want to help families deal with their dogs' behavior issues. Just as people can be when they surrender a dog to a shelter, the truth is that most of these people absolutely adore their dog and they're simply at the end of their rope. They can't handle this problem any more and they don't have the tools or skills or knowledge to work it out, so that's why I'm a dog trainer, I'm trying to keep dogs in their homes. Melissa Breau: And I think it's so common to hear things like, “He's such a good dog, I'm sure he'll be adopted. Or, “He's such a good dog in this situation, that situation. I'm sure he'll find a great home,” and they kind of make themselves feel a little better because they do love their dogs and they do believe that they're great dogs and they're just, like you said, they're at the end of their rope in that one area. Nancy Tucker: Absolutely. Yeah, and sometimes it just takes a little bit of guidance and a little bit of help, a little bit of support. It doesn't always work out, of course, but most of the time things can turn around for the better, so that's what keeps me motivated. Melissa Breau: Do you have a particular philosophy or training philosophy that you kind of believe in? I mean, how would you describe your training approach? Nancy Tucker: My main focus when working with people and their dogs is creating or repairing the bond between them, and I say repairing because sometimes it's a matter of trust has been broken or like we mentioned a couple of minutes ago where somebody's at the end of their rope and they just don't like their dog any more, so I think a lot of my work is about repairing that bond. And once that bond is there and it's healthy and it's strong, then all kinds of good things start happening. The training becomes easier, training becomes more fun, interaction in general becomes more fun, and I think that a large part of building a really strong bond is letting go of expectations. Let go of this idea that we have in our mind about how things should be, and letting go of some of the rules that we tend to put on ourselves and on our dogs' behavior. I am a big fan of letting dogs be dogs and training them so that our lives can coexist in harmony without kind of training the dog out of the dog. Melissa Breau: So I kind of mentioned in your bio that you're wrapping up the class on separation anxiety. I know that's a really, really hard thing to work on with some dogs, so why is that so hard and kind of how are you approaching it in class? Nancy Tucker: Yeah. Separation anxiety encompasses a lot of different emotions, for both the dog and the human. So there's fear, there's frustration, there's resentment often. There's guilt, there's sadness, there's loneliness because you find that as a human living with a dog with separation anxiety often your social life is severely affected, you can't go out, so it's a super tough situation all around. And of course there's a lot of emotions involved for the dog, too. So in this course I skipped a lot of the theory behind this type of problem, you know, the possible causes and symptoms, for example. I figured if people were signing up for the class it's because they're already experiencing it, and spending more time on theory means spending less time on working towards solving problems. So because it can take such a long time to solve this type of problem, I wanted to start right away and make the best of the six weeks that we have together. So right now students are working on very gradually helping their dog learn not to fear being alone, and it is a very gradual process but if it's done right, we begin to see improvement at every step, and then a spark of hope gets ignited. And then the next thing you know you're on your way to solving the problem, so for most students this is true. They'll be able to solve the problem, but there are some cases unfortunately where it's not so easy to solve or that it just won't ever be resolved, and this is true, so those are super tough on the student who's trying so hard. Melissa Breau: Right. Right. Sometimes it's just out of their control. It's not that they're doing anything wrong, it's not that there's anything wrong with the dog, it's just that that's who the dog is. Nancy Tucker: Exactly, and to take away that guilt that some people have where somehow they think that it's something that they've done that's caused the dog to have this problem and that's so untrue. Melissa Breau: I mean, behavior issues in general are just, I mean, they're so hard. I know personally it often feels like because those behaviors are so tied to emotions, right? They're different than skills, like obedience skills. Because of the emotions, they're often so much more difficult to teach. Would you agree with that? Can you speak to that a little bit? Kind of how do emotions and behavior interact? Nancy Tucker: Yeah, for sure. When we're working on a problem like separation anxiety, for example, we're directly addressing the dog's emotions, so how they perceive what being alone means, and this is true for any sort of behavior issue where there are very strong emotions involved, like aggression. So in this case we want to take him from feeling intense fear or panic to being alone, to feeling confident and perfectly okay with being alone at home. So we are working on the emotions and that's quite the journey, and this is why it takes time. So we're not training any new behaviors at all really, we're not putting any movements on queue, that's not the type of training we're doing at all. So what we're doing is helping the dog feel better, helping him feel safer and more confident about this whole being alone thing, and we're doing this through what's called systematic desensitization. And just very quickly, systematic means that we're working on it very methodically, not making progress at random; there's a plan. And desensitization means that we're working to reduce or eliminate this negative emotional response that the dog has to being alone and we're doing this by exposing him to the situation very, very slowly. So we start with super easy situations that they can handle and then we very slowly make it a tiny bit harder as we move through the program, so during this six weeks it's really just all about gradually making the exercises a little teeny bit harder until the dog can handle longer periods of being alone. Melissa Breau: Yes. Now I imagine that you're talking about very different emotions in your upcoming class where it's door greeting versus something like separation anxiety. I mean, in your opinion, what's kind of the common issue that we tend to see when dogs are just way over the top at the door, kind of what's going on there? Nancy Tucker: My God, this is actually one of my favorite training issues to work on because we're dealing with an issue that's actually fun to solve, and I just want to clarify here that we're not talking about dogs who are fearful or who behave aggressively when someone enters the home, that's a whole other issue. What this class will address, and this is in December, what this class will address are those dogs who scramble to get to the door when someone walks in. They push their way through to greet visitors and they usually come on way too strong, so it might be barking with excitement, they might be jumping up, they might be scratching legs or if they're big enough they can just lean so hard into people that they knock them down. And as happy as they appear to be, I think a lot of these dogs are experiencing some sort of conflict of emotions and that's why we see kind of the over excited behavior. So there's a huge difference between what the dog wants and needs to do when someone walks through the door and what we want them to do, and I think that's when some over exuberant behaviors are born. Melissa Breau: So you said something really interesting, though. You said there's a conflict of emotions. do you mind just explaining a little bit more what you mean by that? Nancy Tucker: If they want to greet the people, they want to see the people, they want to smell the people, they want to see what's going on, they want to interact, but there may be somebody standing behind them pulling on their collar or yelling at them. They know that this seems to be a situation where their human gets very excited or very upset and they're not quite sure how to behave, but they have this overwhelming sort of urge to go and greet the people at the door. So I think that that's where I see the conflict of emotion and that's where we see a bunch of appeasement behaviors or the dog just gets over excited and it's just overwhelming emotion. Melissa Breau: Yes. I think that sometimes people aren't really sure kind of what that phrase means. I mean, I did, there's this conflict of emotion, it's like well, I know what I want you to do, why aren't you just doing it? You should know better. If our dog really knew how to do better they'd be doing better. But I did want to ask you, though, why door skills are so important for the dogs and kind of why the focus on that. So why is that such an important skill? Nancy Tucker: For safety reasons, first of all. Safety for your guests, and of course I should mention that there are dogs who aren't nearly as interested in the people walking in the door, they're more into the fact that the door is open and here's the chance to slip out for an unauthorized adventure. So it's safety for the dogs, safety for your guests, and it's also a  matter of being able to have people come into your home without being accosted by your canine welcoming committee. Not everyone's into that, to getting jumped on or to get greeted by a whole big gang of dogs come running at the door, if you have multiple dogs, of course. I am, though. When I walk into people's homes I'm all about greeting the dogs first. It's actually a fault of mine, I don't even see the people, you know, can you get out of the way? I want to see your dogs. But not everybody's into that, so it's nice to have some sort of control over what happens at the door and it's nice to have friends who actually want to come over to your house because when you discover that people aren't coming over any more because walking into your place is such an unpleasant experience, well, that really should probably be addressed. Melissa Breau: Yes. Can you share a little bit of detail about how you'll be addressing it in class and maybe even a tip or two for students who are super eager to get started? Nancy Tucker: Sure. There's a lot of different ways to deal with this issue, so they don't all involve sending a dog to a mat which is a legitimate way, of course, to train a dog to behave when somebody comes to the door but it's not the only way and that can actually be a very difficult thing for many dogs to do. That's a lot of impulse control to go and sit on a mat away from the door and watch people come in. So that is a way, but there are others and we'll be covering a lot of different ways during the course, and I've personally always allowed my dog to be part of the greeting committee at the door. They've always been there, I've never sent my dogs away when somebody comes in. But we worked it out so that I could open the door without tripping over my dog. Sometimes dogs just get so excited that they're at the door first and you can't reach the door because the dogs are there. I can leave the door open without a dog trying to slip out, and people can walk in without being accosted. So for me my dog being there to greet is important. They're part of my family and I'm okay with that as long as they do it politely. And I think that the first tip that I would give to people who are dealing with this type of issue is to take a deep breath and try to remain calm. It's easier said than done, but for sure raising your voice or trying to corral a bunch of dogs by grabbing collars or shouting orders is not helping at all and it might even be contributing to the level of excitement. So the next step is to look at your dog and be thankful that he's super happy to see people walking in because it could be worse. You could be dealing with a pooch who greets aggressively. An impolite door greeting is far easier to modify and it's actually a fun process. Melissa Breau: I know this wasn't in my prepared questions for you, but how much is the class going to require that students have that other person to be that person at the door and how much of it's independent skills that they can really work on without those set ups? Nancy Tucker: Oh, set ups. Well, set ups will be very important, that's for sure, but set ups, I think that comes later. The dog needs to learn certain skills before we start setting them up in actual scenarios, so management will play a very big part of it and training all kinds of different games and skills. And I think, too, that in a lot of training where we are requiring some sort of impulse control I find that the more restraint we put on a dog the worse it is. They learn to control their impulses and doing it in this sort of game in a fun game fashion seems to work so much better than putting any restraint on the dog. Not any restraint, but we'll be using management but we won't be putting physical restraint most of the time on the dog. So if I remember your original question, you were asking if set ups will be a big part of it? Yeah, definitely it will be but not ‘til later. Melissa Breau: Okay. Yeah, because I was asking like somebody like me, it's me and my dogs at the house, right? So the problem is huge but it's very hard to train a problem when you don't have somebody who's willing to come knock on your door 18 times because they live with you. So I was just curious about how much that, like people should be prepared to call up a few friends and be like hey, are you willing to help me train my dog this weekend? Nancy Tucker: It is an important part but it's not the entire course, it's a part of it. Melissa Breau: Excellent. So to kind of round things out, I want to ask you the last couple questions that I've asked everybody who's been on the podcast. So the first one is, what is the dog-related accomplishment that you are proudest of? Nancy Tucker: Yeah. This one's a bit hard to talk about because it has to do with the dog that we lost this summer, our girl Chili. When we adopted her she was almost three years old and it was impossible to manipulate certain parts of her body, she became very aggressive. She reacted to being touched like around her paws and ears, for example, those two particular places she really didn't want to be touched, and unfortunately those are two places that we needed to touch regularly. So anyway, we worked on these things and we eventually got to a point where she did really, really well and we could do her nails and we could clean her ears without any problem at all. But the absolute best part, and this is what I consider to be my greatest accomplishment because of the situation. When I taught her to accept a needle aspiration for a lump that she had on her chest, we were able to get it done at the vet's office with zero restraint, so in just a little over a week I taught her to lie down and roll over on her back and to lie still while the vet aspirated the lump, and she never flinched. So we know that this can be done and we can teach dogs to be cooperative participants in their own care, and having done it now with a dog who was previously extremely aggressive when we manipulated her, to me that was just such an eye opener to see that it can be done, and it was a huge accomplishment for myself to be able to train it because I was emotionally involved in the situation, attached to the dog, so sometimes that can be a little bit harder. Melissa Breau: Yes, absolutely, and that's really impressive. I mean, that's quite a skill to have taught and to have accomplished. I mean, somebody who has a dog who's not thrilled at the vet, I can understand how difficult that can be and yeah, that's quite an accomplishment. My next question for you here is, what is the best piece of training advice that you've ever heard? Nancy Tucker: The advice that's always stuck with me and that I incorporate into every single training scenario is that the learner is always right. So if I'm trying to teach a dog something and he keeps offering me the wrong behavior, the problem lies with me as the teacher. The dog is doing the right thing. If I want him to do something different, I'm the one who needs to adjust my approach, so I think that that has been the handiest piece of advice, the most, uh, what's the word I'm looking for? Not handy…Not convenient. Melissa Breau: Applicable? Nancy Tucker: Yes. Yeah. For any scenario. Melissa Breau: And then my last question for you here is, who is somebody else in the dog world that you look up to? Nancy Tucker: Oh, my. The list is endless, it truly is. I couldn't possibly try to narrow it down to a single person, but I can tell you this much. The people that I'm drawn to are those who promote a two-way communication between the trainer and the learner. Those who teach with respect for their learners' needs and for the learners' unique personality. That's what I'm drawn to and those are the people that I really, really love to learn from. Melissa Breau: I think that you are not alone when it comes to that here in the FDSA community. Nancy Tucker: Yeah, I definitely detected that and it's fantastic. Melissa Breau: Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast, Nancy. Nancy Tucker: Oh, my pleasure. It's been fun. Melissa Breau: It was fun. And thanks to all of our listeners for tuning in. I will be back next week with Chrissi Schranz to discuss how to fit training into our busy lives, a very important topic, and teaching a reliable, real-life recall, plus a couple other pet skills that help us with a better relationship with our dog. If you haven't already subscribed to our podcast in iTunes or the podcast app of your choice to have our next episode automatically downloaded to your phone as soon as it becomes available.   CREDITS: Today's show is brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy. Special thanks to Denise Fenzi for supporting this podcast. Music provided royalty-free by BenSound.com; the track featured here is called “Buddy.” Audio editing provided by Chris Lang and transcription written by CLK Transcription Services.

Actors and Weathermen for Animals NBC Weatherman Fritz Coleman is our guest. He wants you to know about his comedy show that benefits Actors and Others for Animals' Spay & Neuter programs There's An App For That Jared Reyes of Shelter Pal created an interactive app that will help you find your next pet. Simply take a picture of your surrounding and enter your zip code and you'll instantly receive a text message with adoptable animals in your area. Top Selling Dog Foods Fall Short Brace yourself, some of the top selling brands like Beneful, Pedigree, Purina and more may not contain the wholesome, healthy ingredients you want for your dog. According to a new report in the Whole Dog Journal, the pictures make the food seem better than it is. The authors say the reality is Beneful is awful for your dog. It's full of sugar, artificial colors and 3 unnamed animal sources and it has very little when it comes to healthy vegetables. Bullchip Donna Casement from Michelson Found Animals Registry is here to dispel myths behind microchips. Many people believe that microchips work like Lo-jack or GPS to find your pet. This isn't true. It's just one of the many misconceptions about the identification device. Dog Shoots Pizza Delivery Man It sounds like a joke or an urban legend, but it really happened. A pizza delivery driver in Toledo, Ohio was dropping off an order when a dog shot him. While he was standing at the door accepting payment from the homeowner, a bullet hit him in the leg. Apparently the home owner's dog had knocked a gun off the table and it discharged as it hit the ground. Dogs have shot ten Americans in the past decade. Read more about this week's show.

Jonathan Rudinger, RN LMT has been instrumental in developing the field of canine massage for people at home and PetMassageTM at the professional level since the mid-1990s. He is the author of 7 books and 6 DVDs, children’s workshops and programs for scouts, camp and after school. He has facilitated over 300 week-long canine massage workshops to train people to create and market professional quality businesses. His book, Creating and Marketing your Animal Massage Business is the text for a home study course which is also a module in the PetMassage Foundation level workshop. Recognized as an authority on massage for dogs he has been interviewed on many major radio and television and cable networks. He has been featured in Whole Dog Journal, Dog Fancy Magazine, Natural Dog, Cosmopolitan, AARP, Glamour, Massage Magazine, Animal Wellness Magazine, Massage Today and Massage Therapy Journal. Jonathan's contribution to the animal massage and bodywork field is his personal interpretation of canine massage, PetMassageTM. The PetMassageTM technique is identified as a specific modality in the massage therapy textbook, TouchAbilities. Jonathan's vision for the canine massage industry expands beyond this school. He is the founder and president of the International Association of Animal Massage and Bodywork, and also president of the Association of Canine Water Therapy. www.iaamb.org. Jonathan is often called upon for interviews in national media, invited to lecture about animal massage [Crufts in the UK 2000, Paris FR in 2010 and 2014, HHBacker Pet Industry Trade Shows in Chicago and Baltimore 2010, and the AHVMA conference in Kansas City, KS 2013], and is recognized as a lobbyist supporting the rights for animal massage practitioners to practice legally. info@petmassage.com www.petmassage.com  

Kathleen Prasad has been a life-long animal lover and an educator for over fifteen years. After receiving her BA in History from U.C. Berkeley in 1991 and her California Teaching Credential from Sacramento State University in 1993, Kathleen went on to teach History, Social Studies, English, and Drama in the San Francisco public schools for nine years. In the course of these years, she designed curriculum and community projects for her students in animal kindness, encouraging volunteer work in animal shelters. In 1998 she learned Reiki and began regularly volunteering Reiki with local shelter animals. Inspired by her volunteer experiences, Kathleen decided to dedicate her teaching career to Animal Reiki full-time in 2002. Since then, she has authored Reiki for Dogs, co-authored the books The Animal Reiki Handbook and Animal Reiki: Using Energy to Heal the Animals in Your Life and written many educational articles on animals and Reiki for holistic publications around the world. Her work has been featured in The Journal of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, Animal Fair, The Whole Dog Journal, Dogs Naturally Magazine, Dog Fancy, Animal Wellness Magazine, Equine Wellness Magazine and Natural Horse Talk Magazine. She has been featured on many radio shows as well as her local news and the national PBS series Healing Quest.

Do animals go to heaven? Can we communicate with them? We love our pets and my guest Kathleen Prasad has got a very special mission in life. Kathleen Prasad is founder of Animal Reiki Source (www.animalreikisource.com) and president of the Shelter Animal Reiki Association (SARA). She has taught Reiki to the staff and volunteers of organizations such as BrightHaven, The CARE Foundation, Best Friends Animal Society, The San Francisco SPCA and Guide Dogs for the Blind. A global leader in the profession, Kathleen has authored the book Reiki for Dogs and co-authored the books The Animal Reiki Handbook and Animal Reiki: Using Energy to Heal the Animals in Your Life. She's been published in magazines such as The Journal of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, Animal Wellness Magazine, Animal Fair, Equine Wellness Magazine, The Whole Dog Journal, Dog Fancy, Feline Wellness and Dogs Naturally Magazine, and featured in several radio and TV programs. Kathleen offers regular classes at BrightHaven Holistic Animal Retreat in Santa Rosa and also travels to teach.Webpage:www.animalreikisource.comFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/AnimalReikiSourceTwitter:https://twitter.com/ars_animalreikiGoogle+:https://plus.google.com/+Animalreikisource/postsYoutube:https://www.youtube.com/user/AnimalReikiSource

Kathleen Prasad is founder of Animal Reiki Source (www.animalreikisource.com /span>http://www.animalreikisource.com> ) and president of the Shelter Animal Reiki Association (SARA). She has taught Reiki to the staff and volunteers of organizations such as BrightHaven, The CARE Foundation, Best Friends Animal Society, The San Francisco SPCA and Guide Dogs for the Blind. A global leader in the profession, Kathleen has authored the book Reiki for Dogs and co-authored the books The Animal Reiki Handbook /span>https://www.lulu.com/commerce/index.php?fBuyProduct=4633653> and Animal Reiki: Using Energy to Heal the Animals in Your Life /em>http://www.animalreikisource.com/bookpromo.html> . She’s been published in magazines such as The Journal of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, Animal Wellness Magazine, Animal Fair, Equine Wellness Magazine, The Whole Dog Journal, Dog Fancy, Feline Wellness and Dogs Naturally Magazine, and featured in several radio and TV programs. Kathleen offers regular classes at BrightHaven Holistic Animal Retreat in Santa Rosa. She also teaches a variety of correspondence and tele-classes. She is available for distant treatments.

Dr Karen Becker co-authored the Whole Dog Journal's Best Homemade Diet Book of All Time award, “Real Food for Healthy Pets.” She has appeared on the hit show, Animal Planet, and is deeply honored to be named one of Chicago's Top Ten Vets, a...

Finding the right dog food, help for dogs that constantly lick their paws and a listener tip on how to sterilize marrow bone treats for your dog! -Direct download -K9Cast podcast player -Enhanced Feed Subscribe -Standard Feed Subscribe Shownotes (OPML): 00:00 Intro 00:30 How to sterilize marrow bone treats for your dog -K9Cast #25 03:35 Help for dogs that constantly lick their paws 14:10 How to find right dog food for your dog -The Whole Dog Journal -If your curious, we feed Toby and Kyler Natura California Natural Dry Chicken & Rice Meal 21:23 Outro -Send in pictures -Send in your stories -Send in your questions and comments