July 5, 2018 • 30 mins
This week, Robin is joined by Brandon McMillan, the host of the hit CBS show, Lucky Dog. The pair discusses why even hard-to-love dogs deserve a home, and how pet owners can work with their pets to improve common behavioral issues.
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More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Loving Animals - Even When They're Misbehaving on Pet Life Radio
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is pet Life Radio. Let's talk pets.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome friends.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
You're listening to Loving Animals on pet Life Radio and
I'm your host, doctor Robin Gancert. This week, we're revisiting
one of my favorite episodes, an interview with Brandon McMillan,
the host of the hit CBS show Lucky Dog. As
an animal trainer, Brandon's mission is to rescue hard to
love dogs from shelters and transform them into well behaved,
lovable animals ready for their forever, loving home. Brandon gives
(00:45):
us tips on training her own pets and shares how
he knew he wanted to work with animals to change
their lives. After this quick break, we'll hear from Brandon,
so don't go away. You're listening to Loving Animals on
pet Life Radio.
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Speaker 5 (01:31):
Let's talk pets on Petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Welcome to Loving Animals. This week's episode is featuring one
of my dearest friends and some incredible animal lover, Brandon McMillan. Brandon,
as you know, is the Emmy Award winning TV presenter,
animal trainer, behaviorist, host of Lucky Dog on CBS. And
I have to tell you, Brandon, you're one of my
(02:06):
top top top animal lovers out there. I know what
you do for animals, I know how you've changed lives,
and I particularly love what you do with service dog
as well. Welcome to Loving Animals, Brandon.
Speaker 6 (02:18):
Well, that was the best intro ever and I one
feel to say mutually about you. I've always loved you.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Robin Oh Well, thank you. Brandon is so sweet And
I just have to tell you, you know, last time
you and I talked, we talked a lot about service dogs,
and I know that I'd love to hear from you
what you've got going on with service dogs now.
Speaker 6 (02:38):
Service dog to me have always it's just been a
passion project. In fact, service dogs are are the reasons
I quit training animals for the movies Trained Animals for
the movies for about fifteen years, and of course American
Humanity Association they oversaw my work for all my career.
But I found that around twenty ten, I wasn't getting
(02:59):
the same fulfillment that I had in that industry that
I had when I was a teenager when I started.
So I can't of luck. A friend of mine, his buddy,
was hit by an ied in Afghanistan and it took
off both of his legs and he was relearning to
walk again on prosthetics, and so he called me up
and said, do you train service dogs? And I said, well,
technically I don't, but I know how to train the
(03:20):
tasks that service dogs do, because in reality, the stuff
that I was training dogs to do in the movies
and on TV shows and stuff like that, it technically
it's actual service dog category because I was teaching dogs
to you know, open fridges, grab the beer, bring it
to the guy on the couch. And suddenly the light
bulb went off of my head. I said, you mean
(03:41):
I can actually train dogs to actually help people and
potentially save their lives. And so once I did my
first one in twenty eleven, I literally quit the industry.
The training animals for the movies the next day. And
that was where my passion ReLit a fire in my
stomach about you know, training animals, and so I quit
(04:02):
the movie industry and I started training service dogs for
disabled people and I haven't stopped ever since.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Wow. So it's not just for wounded warriors, it's for
people with a whole host of disabilities.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Exactly?
Speaker 6 (04:14):
The original My foundation actually our guest service dogs. That's
what our mission statement is. We trained service dogs for
disabled veterans. However, I trained service dogs for all walks
of life, whether it's a diabetes.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Or I believe it or not.
Speaker 6 (04:27):
I train a lot of dogs for autistic kids because
dogs have shown huge, huge benefits for children with autism.
In fact, some of the best episodes of my show
Lucky Dog have been service dogs for autistic kids.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Oh boy.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
And there's when a child lights up, you know, a
child that's been in his own world when he sees
that dog. I've seen life change, and I've seen the
entire family change. I'm sure you have tune. Nothing more
beautiful than that, exactly.
Speaker 6 (05:01):
And the best part is whenever I get the I
get reports from the people that have my service dogs
all over the country. And you know the funny part
is whenever I train them that is actually that's almost
the dawn of the dog's career. The dog is actually
not nowhere near as well trained as what the dog
will be in two or three years from now. So
(05:21):
the best way I can give you the example of
how that works is, let's say if you train in
martial arts. If you took let's just say kickboxing for
one year and you trained every day, you're going to
be pretty good after one year. But if I sent
you off and said, okay, now continue training year after year,
if you come back to me in five years, that
training that you took in that first year, that was
(05:44):
nowhere near of what you will be in five years.
So five years later you're ten times better. And that's
exactly what happens with these service dogs. I get them
to the point where they're passable, where they are assisting
the people, to the point where I know that I
can send them off now and do their job. Three
or four years later, I get the reports they're like,
the dog is doing it ten times better than when
you train them. And that's exactly what I want to
(06:04):
hear because that's the way it should be, because the
dog is now conditioned. Your year after year muscle memory
has has just taken effect to the dog to the
point where the dog it's like a second language. Now
the dog doesn't even have to think about it. The
dog is working for the person as a lifestyle now,
not because the dog is being commanded.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Tom m Wow, you know you've got a story on
your website canine minded dot com. By the way, for
our listeners must go to knine minded dot com and
pull up the service dog tab. That's your August Service
Dog Foundation. You have a story of Tyler Jeffries and Apollo.
Can you share with us a little bit about Tyler
and Apollo?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, he was.
Speaker 6 (06:42):
He's the guy that I was just telling you about
it a few minutes ago. He was. He was the
first veteran that I trained a service dog ever for
and that's why I put him on my website. So
he was hit by an ied in Afghanistan. Both legs
were completely taken off. He's what's called an AKBK and
that means above the knee sever and below the knee
(07:02):
sever and so you have when you have an amputation
above the knee you don't realize how important that knee
is until you're missing it. And so I had to
teach the dog to literally become a cane or almost
like a stairway poll to this young man, because when
he's walking on prosthetics, those prosthetics, as advance as they are,
(07:23):
they're still very primitive. And so he gets tired, and
he gets wobbly and off balance all the time.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
And that dog, he.
Speaker 6 (07:29):
Knows when he hears that word breaks, that dog will
stiffen his body up and Tyler can literally lean a
good portion of his weight on the dog's shoulders. And
by the way, this is a Doberman pincher, weighs about
one hundred and fifteen pounds. That is a big animal.
And we know Adobe's they're a working dog. They love,
they love to work. So this dog is perfect for him.
(07:50):
So whenever he drops things, the dog will pick it up.
Because again, when you don't have knees, you can't sit
there and simply bend over and bend your knees and
pick something up. The dog will simply pick up his keys,
the sunglasses.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
It'll also pull his wheelchair.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
It's a full physical assist service dog and That's why
I love displaying him on my website because that's the
dog that really started all this off. Tyler and Apollo,
they were kind of they were kind of my inspiration
and to this day they still are.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
That's wonderful, and I hope everyone goes to your website
and sees the photos. The photos are amazing, and I'm
also seeing videos on Argus Servicedogs dot Org of Tyler
on the stairs and Apaulo retrieving and just amazing videos
that you have featured there as well. Why did you
choose the name Argus, because you know, I used to
have a dog named Argus, So I just have to
(08:43):
ask you that.
Speaker 6 (08:43):
Augusts Okay, believe it or not, Argus is a It's
a story about a dog and a soldier. A soldier
went to war, he came back and disfigured from war,
and nobody from his hometown recognized but his dog, his
dog recognized it. Because dogs, they don't rely on the.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Same sense as we do.
Speaker 6 (09:03):
So in other words, if I recognize you instantly, I
go to my eyesight and I say, oh, that's why
I know her. Dogs they go for their other senses.
They go for the sense of smell and so in
other words, the dog recognized his handler, his owner from
the other senses, not what he looked like, but he
can smell him, he could feel him, and so he
uses other senses to identify who his father was.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Wonderful one. And that's the Greek myth. Right. Yes, that's
why we named one of our wimerriners Argus. Just a
beautiful dog and a great, great story. I love that
you've applied that to the naming of your service dog
program and foundation. And I also see you take donations
on the site, So give a plug to our listeners
so they can donate today to this great work. Not
(09:48):
say other donations, absolutely not, and certainly I know you
need the funds to continue doing this great work at
the Argust Service Dog Foundation. So friends do look that up.
Can find more of a Canine Minded dot com and
also Ourgisservice Dogs dot org. So two great sites to
learn more about this very important program brand and that
you've created. Brandon, you talked at the very beginning as
(10:11):
we opened about in twenty ten, you changed pass and
you realized that the service dog program wasn't meaning so
much to you, and you started out as an animal
trainer of all different species for the movies, which is
so fascinating, and then you brought that into your work
with Lucky Dog and animals. Talk to us at the
(10:33):
very beginning, When did you know that you were so
in love with animals that you wanted to train them
and work with them?
Speaker 6 (10:38):
You know, honestly, I've gone back and forth my entire career.
So I was born and raised in the animal training industry.
My entire family. Of course, they were animal trainers in
the circus, and so I was born with that in
my blood. We were animal trainers. It's been passed down
through us. My father and uncle. They learned of a
very famous lion tamer from Germany called gun Th Gabel Williams.
(11:01):
So this has been passed Yeah, so if you google
him you'll you'll realize who he is. And so we
have a lineage of animal training through our family, and
so not a lineage has been passed down to me.
I'm the third generation at this point, and I was
like your typical rebellious kid. I never trained animals, but
of course I had to do it when I was
a kid because it was a family business, right, and
(11:23):
that's why I rebelled because you know, when you're it's
a family business. I had to wake up, I had to,
you know, take care of the animals. I had to
clean the cages, and so of course I rebelled. It
wasn't until it wasn't until I was in my uh
about early mid twenties, and I was traveling the world.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
When I was twenty years old.
Speaker 6 (11:40):
I didn't see America for years because I was in
every country across the planet because I was training for
movies and documentaries. And that's why I started falling in
love with it, because I realized it was a big
world out there and there were so many cool things
to see. Look, traveling is the best teacher. It's better
than any book. It's better than any video documentary or
anything you're ever going to find on the internet, because
traveling will teach you experience. And that's what I got
(12:01):
out of it, and so that's when I started falling
in love with it all because the things that I learned,
the things that I saw, the things that I was
taught in my early twenties, that's what made me fall
in love with animals. Animals saved my life. I got
into a lot of trouble when I was in my
late teen years, when I was in my early twenties,
I was your typical young twenty something. I was an idiot,
just like every other.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Out there.
Speaker 6 (12:23):
But animals they always got me out of trouble because
I always had that foundation, that job, and they saved
my life in a sense. And guess what my later career,
I just returned the favor.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Oh it's beautiful, you know. I remember gun Through Gable
Williams as the lion tamer and trainer in the circus.
And I even met the circus elephant, Gunther at the
Center for Elephant Conservation in his retirement, and I thought
about he was named for the lion trainer. So I've
got a photo of gun Through the elephant named in
honor of gun Through Gable Williams. So it's kind of
(12:55):
a small world, but he certainly did I think impact
a lot of us, seeing this menches to creatures and
all the.
Speaker 6 (13:01):
Way back when exactly you know, and I owe a
lot of things. I mean, of course, Gunther, he rests
his soul, he passed away years ago. But I give
a lot of credit for him taking on my family
and showing us what he was doing back in the
nineteen fifties, and so he passed the lineage on and
so he passed it on to my father and my uncle,
(13:22):
and my father and uncle in turn passed the lineage
on to me, you know, And let me just go
on record to say Gunther was very tough on my
father and my uncle. My father and uncle were very
tough on me, because when you're dealing with animals on
that caliber, there's one rule that I was taught.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
As a kid.
Speaker 6 (13:37):
It can't make a mistake, because when you do, someone
has a really bad day.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
That's right, or it maybe their last day, right. I mean,
these are, after all, wild animals.
Speaker 6 (13:47):
Exactly, and so it's our responsibility to be taught correctly.
And in turn, I will one day pass the lineage
onto somebody else and make sure I will be very
tough on them, because again, the things that I will
teach you is a potentially going to save your life,
but more importantly, it's going to save an animal's life.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
It's fantastic, what a great message. And three generations of
animal training too, and I don't think I've ever met
anyone with three generations is stunning, Brandon, to think about
all of those stories that you all have shared over
all holiday meals. I you can just imagine what the
stories have been like. I would love to be a
fly on the wall as you have your family reunions,
just talking about animals that have interacted and been part
(14:27):
of your journeys through three generations.
Speaker 6 (14:29):
I truly believe when it comes to animal training, you
have to have the lineage. You have to learn from
somebody who has been taught the education properly from somebody else.
That's proper education. In any industry, whether you're a doctor
or a lawyer or an accountant, you have to learn
from somebody else. You can't learn on the job. And
when I find time and again this may and age
are I ask people, I say, where did you learn
(14:51):
how to train animals? Or where'd you learn how to
train dogs specifically? And they say they're self taught. And
I said, well, okay, it's a good you're self taught,
but always remember when yourself taught, that means the person
you learn from knew nothing. Mhow this is why I
try to really think it in people's heads. I'm like,
self taught is not always a good thing. You have
(15:13):
to learn, you have to you have to take that
lineage and get it passed on to you. I still,
to this day, I still train under master trainers. In fact,
my partner in my foundation hit a bomb dog trainer.
He's trained dogs for military and law enforcement. He's old school,
he's in the sixties now. I still to this day
I train under him. And the reason I train under
(15:35):
him is because I don't want to stop learning. I'm
not self taught. I don't want to teach myself anything
in the industry. I want to learn from the best
who have been proven for years, and at that point,
when I'm sixty years old, then I can start teaching
somebody else. But that's why I think it's so important
to learn from somebody else, because they're the ones who
have learned from somebody else. It's a lineage, it's an
(15:55):
education process. Being self taught, that's not a good thing
in animal training. Is what you're doing is you're give
me pigging the animals, you're testing out the animals. How
many animals are you going to have to screw up
before you get it right?
Speaker 2 (16:07):
That's my question.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Wow, And that's so so important because particularly with dog
trainers and service dog training organizations, too, which I'd like
to talk to you about after we get through this
commercial break. But I want to ask you before we
go into the commercial break, Brandon, I know you've had
gone through Gable Williams, you know, associated with your family.
What do you think about the recent decision that the
failed family made with retiring the circus elephants, and now
(16:31):
of course the circus is closed down for good. Do
you think kiddos are going to miss those elephants?
Speaker 6 (16:37):
You know, yeah, I'm on the sense about it because
looks I'll just I'll be honest. As time has gone on,
I've changed my opinion and changed my views. Maybe animals
should not be held in captivity. Now, having said that,
when you know what I know and what you see
and what I've seen, it's not.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Black and white.
Speaker 6 (16:52):
A lot of people don't realize that probably in the
next twenty to fifty years, there's a lot of animals
the only place you will be able to see them
is in captivity because of poaching and land encroachment. And
this is what the average person doesn't understand about places
like zoos and rescues and stuff like that. Because trust me,
when I'm a grandfather, there will be some animals in
(17:14):
the wild that will be pretty much extinct because we
can't stop it.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 6 (17:19):
Land encroachment is happening all around us, and you can't
sit there and tell a farmer in Africa, let's give
up your land because the lions have to live, or
the elephants need a place to roam. Their family has
to eat. So when you tell somebody in Africa your
family is not as important as the elephants roaming here,
guess what They're going to choose their family over the elephants.
And that's what's happening every day all over the world.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
So true, so true. Brandon, Well, we're going to come
back right after this commercial break and switch gears for
a moment. I'd love to visit with you about Lucky
Dog and also more about service dogs and the ideas
that you can't self train, you can't be self taught.
Having a master trainer is the way we will interact
a better with animals and have better outcome. So stay
(18:02):
with us. Listeners will be right back after this break
with Brandon McMillan.
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Speaker 3 (18:59):
Well, welcome back to Loving Animals with our very special guest,
Brandon McMillan. Brandon, right before the commercial break, we were
talking about the sixth mass extinction, where the animals that
we have on the Earth today won't be with us
twenty to thirty years from now. In fact, there are
studies showing and research being done that estimates sixty seventy,
(19:20):
maybe even eighty percent of the animals on Earth today
won't be there in our children's lifetime. That to me
is scary. I mean, oh mind.
Speaker 6 (19:29):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean this is the stuff that
I was reading about and hearing about when I was
a little kid. Look, I've had one job my entire
life in animal training, and with that you have to learn.
You have to learn animal behavior and environment and habitat
and what is happening to them and what will happen
to them. You have to almost see the future. And
the future is very easy to predict, especially now we
(19:49):
have reliable data to go off from path into the present.
So when I was a kid, if you look at
the charts of land. Let's just take Africa for example,
because that's some of the most identifiable animals that we
all know and love. If you look at the map
of Africa back in the nineteen fifties and you see
what humans, you know where humans were and where animals roamed,
and you know how little of an area humans actually
(20:12):
took over. Back then, you're like, oh, the animals had
it made. Well, guess what. As time's gone on, more
humans are out there and they're buying up more land,
and in places like Africa, farmland it's gold is so
you can't tell you can't tell a farmer, which is
like one of the most common jobs in Africa. You
can't tell a farmer, oh, we're going to take all
(20:34):
your land and you have to, you know, hike three
days into a major city just to get your groceries.
Farmland is how they live, That's how they survive. Now,
when you have a farm land, let's say if you
have fifty acres, guess what crops? And you have cows,
you have goats. Those are your three main sources of
farming survival. Well, guess what crops are eaten by zebra?
(20:54):
They're eaten by gazelle, They're eaten by wildebeests automatically, Now
there's a conflict. You have cows, you have goats, What
eat cows? What eat goats? Lions, hyena, leopard, you have
another conflict. This is where the problem has been going
on now for decades, and land ownership of human has
(21:14):
expanded throughout most of Africa now, and that what that's
done is to push the animals to smaller and smaller reservations.
Now you can't compact a park, a game park with
too many lions because now, first of all, becomes unhealthy
and there's way too many fights.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Bryans need big.
Speaker 6 (21:32):
Areas to roam, just like elephants, just like hyaenas, just
like a lot of animals. So this is why the
game parks. Let's say, if it's five miles this way
and ten miles this way, you can only have a
certain number of those predators the prey in that game park.
Anything more, you're overpopulated. And this is why the animals
they're shrinking. The population is getting smaller, and the human
(21:52):
population and land encroachment is getting much bigger. Now I'm
just looking at the basic math, the basic charts from
the nineteen fifties until today twenty seventeen. Imagine what another
thirty forty years is going to do. There's not much
room less of these animals, no, And so this is
why places like reserves and zoos are actually important. So true,
these animals need. These animals need a place to live,
(22:14):
and they need people like myself who know what they're doing,
how to take care of them and understand the animals.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
And so anybody who is against.
Speaker 6 (22:22):
Zoos, they need to understand on this education process right.
And if they don't understand it, I'll see it in
fifty years, yes, because then you will understand it.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
It'd be too late. We call the zoos the world
class zoos, modern arcs of hope for these animals that
may be the last of their very kind on this earth.
And as you said, it's a human problem. The humans
have created this for our most incredibly special creatures in wildlife. Brandon,
I'm so glad you're so passionate about the six mass extinction.
(22:51):
Is what keeps me up at night. And another thing
that keeps me up at night is the idea of
service dogs for wounded warriors. And you know, I think
about this because of the twenty suicides a day for
soldiers and warriors coming back facing PTS. And that isn't
it an incredible opportunity to offer an alternative path to
healing by providing these war heroes with a service dog
(23:15):
therapy in the form of four legs and fur and
a wagging tail. And you said something so interesting. Master
trainers are needed, and you can't be self taught. And
I find unfortunately sometimes we have training organizations out there
in communities that are providing service dogs are wounded warriors
that are self taught, and perhaps that's not the best way.
I'd love your thoughts on that, the idea of a
(23:37):
master trainer.
Speaker 6 (23:38):
Again, when it comes to look, service dogs are a whole,
it's a whole other level of training.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
It's not like basic obedience.
Speaker 6 (23:43):
These dogs have to sit by this person's side and
be extremely obedient in public, whether there's dogs around them
barking at them. The dog has to always work for
the person, for the handler, no matter what the situation
around them. And so this is why service dogs trainers are.
They're on another level. And I was blessed to learn
(24:05):
in the movie industry. That's how I acquired my skills
to become a service dog trainer, because let me just
tell you, if I was just your basic obedience trainer,
I would fail at this industry so fast.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
I was lucky.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
I was blessed to learn it's such a great industry
movie training. It is.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
It's the best of the best.
Speaker 6 (24:22):
You have to teach a dog high level tricks in
a very short amount of time, and you got to
make it look pretty on camera. And I was lucky
to actually just make an easy transition. But anybody who's
who's self dought in the service dog world, I just
urge you just to go learn off a reputable trainer
or organization where they've been doing it for a long
(24:43):
time and they've they've worked out all the kinks. Because again,
if you're self taught. You have to remember, like I
said before, if you're self taught, that means the person
you learned from knew nothing, and you're experimenting on dogs.
At this point, you're experimenting on dogs. You're teaching the
dog a guinea pig, and oh that one didn't work out. Well,
let's see what else I can figure out next. All
(25:05):
you have to do is go learn off somebody who's
figured this stuff out decades ago. And guess what, Now
you're training efficiently. Right now, you're learning efficiently. I mean,
I was so lucky to learn off trainers like that,
because I looked back at my career when I was
in my teenage years and I was thinking to myself, God,
this stuff so easy.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
How come anyone doesn't do this?
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Well? I was trained correctly. I was trained correctly, So yeah,
of course it was easy when you when you get
the techniques and the methods that you literally get from
point A to point B and not only the most humane,
the quickest, but the most logical amount of time. Self
taught trainers, like I said, this is where I always
have to put my foot down and say, you got
to learn from somebody and Unfortunately, there's a lot of
(25:44):
famous trainers out there. Who are they claim to be
self taught? Well, again, a person you learn from knew nothing.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Well, you know what I also have to say here,
you were training animals behind the scenes for the movie
business and entertainment business for years. Did you ever think
you would win an Emmy for Lucky Dog? Isn't that
wonderful in front of the camera.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
No, that would definitely be a no.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
I never.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
First of all, I never thought that I would have
a camera point and have me training hiding dogs for
TV theories. One thing led to another and that happened.
But to win an Emmy, it was a Look, it's
it's just an honor. It's an honor, honestly. The uh
the biggest reward though, believe it or not, I've got, well,
I've got I've actually got one Emmy for hosting one
(26:31):
Emmy for the for the show. Those Emmy's look to me,
I appreciate them. But the biggest reward to me is
whenever I hear testimonials of people years later, they write
me an email, you know, three, four, five years later
and they say, you have no idea what you did
from you saved my life, whether they were battling depression,
whether they were suicidal. I mean, you name it, I
(26:52):
believe it or not. I've trained a lot of dogs
for ex drug addicts and alcoholics, and I get emails
from them constantly saying, this dog to save my life.
Without this dog, I would have fallen off the wagon again.
I probably would have either killed myself or overdose something
as simple as that. And dogs, what you don't realize
is dogs teach you to be less selfish because now
you have an animal in the house and you have
(27:14):
to understand that animal has to go outside, it has
to eat, it has to be taken care of, it
has to be groomed. So you learn slowly, but surely
you know to take care of the animal more than yourself.
And let's face it, drug addicts and as alcoholics, they
tend to be a little bit selfish. And animals are
a really easy way once they're clean, once a're sober,
(27:35):
it's a really easy way to teach them just not
being so selfish.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
I think animals make it for better humans, don't they.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (27:41):
Absolutely, absolutely. You know I learned something from each animal
that I have. I learned a little bit about myself.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
You know, it's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
I learned things about myself that I never knew.
Speaker 6 (27:51):
I would say animals are the best therapists. Instead of
paying four hundred bucks an hour for a therapist, I
just trade a few dogs, and I'm like, wow, I
never knew that about myself.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
That's wonderful.
Speaker 6 (28:03):
You just saved me three thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
That is great, that is great. We might be putting
the therapist out of business with this this show today.
Speaker 6 (28:13):
So exactly, I got to have a whole new career
right there.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
That's exactly right. I love it. I love it. Well,
Lucky Dog an adorable, adorable series Saturday Mornings on CBS.
Congratulations again on Emmy's and so much grand success, Brandon.
I mean, really, it's such a privilege to know you,
and I'm so glad you're out there for our animals
and most importantly, to teach us humans to be better.
So thank you.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Well good, I'm happy to do it.
Speaker 6 (28:39):
I got a lot of years left in me, so
you're not getting rid of me yet.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
We don't want to get rid of you. We want
to clone you. So any final words for our listeners
about loving animals?
Speaker 6 (28:48):
Oh, look, just if you're an animal lover, keep loving.
If you're an animal trainer, to keep training, and of
course be sure to watch my show Lucky Dog every Saturday.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
That's great. I think that's a wonderful Lucky Dog on
CVS Saturday mornings. Well, friends, if I know you've enjoyed
this episode of Loving Animals with Brandon McMillan as much
as I have so much fun and I wasn't at
all expecting the six mass extinction conversation Brandon, so I'm
so glad we got that in there. Wonderful, very important
is a moral and ethical dilemma for our times that
(29:21):
we have to face and find solutions. So thank you
for bringing that up.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Yeah, of course we'll talk more about it later.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
What an amazing episode hearing from animal trainer, animal behaviorist,
author and producer Brandon McMillan. I think all of us
can learn a little something from Brandon's tips on dealing
with potentially unruly pets or are all of your family
members the furry ones, little angels? Learning to navigate our
pets behavior is so important as a pet owner, So
(29:47):
a big thank you to Brandon for sharing his knowledge
with us today. Join us next week for another episode
of Loving Animals with Me, Doctor Robin Ganzard, I remember
this week and every week, I'm loving animals, and I
hope you are.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on Petlight
Radio dot com
This is pet Life Radio. Let's talk pets.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome friends.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
You're listening to Loving Animals on pet Life Radio and
I'm your host, doctor Robin Gancert. This week, we're revisiting
one of my favorite episodes, an interview with Brandon McMillan,
the host of the hit CBS show Lucky Dog. As
an animal trainer, Brandon's mission is to rescue hard to
love dogs from shelters and transform them into well behaved,
lovable animals ready for their forever, loving home. Brandon gives
(00:45):
us tips on training her own pets and shares how
he knew he wanted to work with animals to change
their lives. After this quick break, we'll hear from Brandon,
so don't go away. You're listening to Loving Animals on
pet Life Radio.
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Let's talk pets on Petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Welcome to Loving Animals. This week's episode is featuring one
of my dearest friends and some incredible animal lover, Brandon McMillan. Brandon,
as you know, is the Emmy Award winning TV presenter,
animal trainer, behaviorist, host of Lucky Dog on CBS. And
I have to tell you, Brandon, you're one of my
(02:06):
top top top animal lovers out there. I know what
you do for animals, I know how you've changed lives,
and I particularly love what you do with service dog
as well. Welcome to Loving Animals, Brandon.
Speaker 6 (02:18):
Well, that was the best intro ever and I one
feel to say mutually about you. I've always loved you.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Robin Oh Well, thank you. Brandon is so sweet And
I just have to tell you, you know, last time
you and I talked, we talked a lot about service dogs,
and I know that I'd love to hear from you
what you've got going on with service dogs now.
Speaker 6 (02:38):
Service dog to me have always it's just been a
passion project. In fact, service dogs are are the reasons
I quit training animals for the movies Trained Animals for
the movies for about fifteen years, and of course American
Humanity Association they oversaw my work for all my career.
But I found that around twenty ten, I wasn't getting
(02:59):
the same fulfillment that I had in that industry that
I had when I was a teenager when I started.
So I can't of luck. A friend of mine, his buddy,
was hit by an ied in Afghanistan and it took
off both of his legs and he was relearning to
walk again on prosthetics, and so he called me up
and said, do you train service dogs? And I said, well,
technically I don't, but I know how to train the
(03:20):
tasks that service dogs do, because in reality, the stuff
that I was training dogs to do in the movies
and on TV shows and stuff like that, it technically
it's actual service dog category because I was teaching dogs
to you know, open fridges, grab the beer, bring it
to the guy on the couch. And suddenly the light
bulb went off of my head. I said, you mean
(03:41):
I can actually train dogs to actually help people and
potentially save their lives. And so once I did my
first one in twenty eleven, I literally quit the industry.
The training animals for the movies the next day. And
that was where my passion ReLit a fire in my
stomach about you know, training animals, and so I quit
(04:02):
the movie industry and I started training service dogs for
disabled people and I haven't stopped ever since.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Wow. So it's not just for wounded warriors, it's for
people with a whole host of disabilities.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Exactly?
Speaker 6 (04:14):
The original My foundation actually our guest service dogs. That's
what our mission statement is. We trained service dogs for
disabled veterans. However, I trained service dogs for all walks
of life, whether it's a diabetes.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Or I believe it or not.
Speaker 6 (04:27):
I train a lot of dogs for autistic kids because
dogs have shown huge, huge benefits for children with autism.
In fact, some of the best episodes of my show
Lucky Dog have been service dogs for autistic kids.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Oh boy.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
And there's when a child lights up, you know, a
child that's been in his own world when he sees
that dog. I've seen life change, and I've seen the
entire family change. I'm sure you have tune. Nothing more
beautiful than that, exactly.
Speaker 6 (05:01):
And the best part is whenever I get the I
get reports from the people that have my service dogs
all over the country. And you know the funny part
is whenever I train them that is actually that's almost
the dawn of the dog's career. The dog is actually
not nowhere near as well trained as what the dog
will be in two or three years from now. So
(05:21):
the best way I can give you the example of
how that works is, let's say if you train in
martial arts. If you took let's just say kickboxing for
one year and you trained every day, you're going to
be pretty good after one year. But if I sent
you off and said, okay, now continue training year after year,
if you come back to me in five years, that
training that you took in that first year, that was
(05:44):
nowhere near of what you will be in five years.
So five years later you're ten times better. And that's
exactly what happens with these service dogs. I get them
to the point where they're passable, where they are assisting
the people, to the point where I know that I
can send them off now and do their job. Three
or four years later, I get the reports they're like,
the dog is doing it ten times better than when
you train them. And that's exactly what I want to
(06:04):
hear because that's the way it should be, because the
dog is now conditioned. Your year after year muscle memory
has has just taken effect to the dog to the
point where the dog it's like a second language. Now
the dog doesn't even have to think about it. The
dog is working for the person as a lifestyle now,
not because the dog is being commanded.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Tom m Wow, you know you've got a story on
your website canine minded dot com. By the way, for
our listeners must go to knine minded dot com and
pull up the service dog tab. That's your August Service
Dog Foundation. You have a story of Tyler Jeffries and Apollo.
Can you share with us a little bit about Tyler
and Apollo?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, he was.
Speaker 6 (06:42):
He's the guy that I was just telling you about
it a few minutes ago. He was. He was the
first veteran that I trained a service dog ever for
and that's why I put him on my website. So
he was hit by an ied in Afghanistan. Both legs
were completely taken off. He's what's called an AKBK and
that means above the knee sever and below the knee
(07:02):
sever and so you have when you have an amputation
above the knee you don't realize how important that knee
is until you're missing it. And so I had to
teach the dog to literally become a cane or almost
like a stairway poll to this young man, because when
he's walking on prosthetics, those prosthetics, as advance as they are,
(07:23):
they're still very primitive. And so he gets tired, and
he gets wobbly and off balance all the time.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
And that dog, he.
Speaker 6 (07:29):
Knows when he hears that word breaks, that dog will
stiffen his body up and Tyler can literally lean a
good portion of his weight on the dog's shoulders. And
by the way, this is a Doberman pincher, weighs about
one hundred and fifteen pounds. That is a big animal.
And we know Adobe's they're a working dog. They love,
they love to work. So this dog is perfect for him.
(07:50):
So whenever he drops things, the dog will pick it up.
Because again, when you don't have knees, you can't sit
there and simply bend over and bend your knees and
pick something up. The dog will simply pick up his keys,
the sunglasses.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
It'll also pull his wheelchair.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
It's a full physical assist service dog and That's why
I love displaying him on my website because that's the
dog that really started all this off. Tyler and Apollo,
they were kind of they were kind of my inspiration
and to this day they still are.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
That's wonderful, and I hope everyone goes to your website
and sees the photos. The photos are amazing, and I'm
also seeing videos on Argus Servicedogs dot Org of Tyler
on the stairs and Apaulo retrieving and just amazing videos
that you have featured there as well. Why did you
choose the name Argus, because you know, I used to
have a dog named Argus, So I just have to
(08:43):
ask you that.
Speaker 6 (08:43):
Augusts Okay, believe it or not, Argus is a It's
a story about a dog and a soldier. A soldier
went to war, he came back and disfigured from war,
and nobody from his hometown recognized but his dog, his
dog recognized it. Because dogs, they don't rely on the.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Same sense as we do.
Speaker 6 (09:03):
So in other words, if I recognize you instantly, I
go to my eyesight and I say, oh, that's why
I know her. Dogs they go for their other senses.
They go for the sense of smell and so in
other words, the dog recognized his handler, his owner from
the other senses, not what he looked like, but he
can smell him, he could feel him, and so he
uses other senses to identify who his father was.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Wonderful one. And that's the Greek myth. Right. Yes, that's
why we named one of our wimerriners Argus. Just a
beautiful dog and a great, great story. I love that
you've applied that to the naming of your service dog
program and foundation. And I also see you take donations
on the site, So give a plug to our listeners
so they can donate today to this great work. Not
(09:48):
say other donations, absolutely not, and certainly I know you
need the funds to continue doing this great work at
the Argust Service Dog Foundation. So friends do look that up.
Can find more of a Canine Minded dot com and
also Ourgisservice Dogs dot org. So two great sites to
learn more about this very important program brand and that
you've created. Brandon, you talked at the very beginning as
(10:11):
we opened about in twenty ten, you changed pass and
you realized that the service dog program wasn't meaning so
much to you, and you started out as an animal
trainer of all different species for the movies, which is
so fascinating, and then you brought that into your work
with Lucky Dog and animals. Talk to us at the
(10:33):
very beginning, When did you know that you were so
in love with animals that you wanted to train them
and work with them?
Speaker 6 (10:38):
You know, honestly, I've gone back and forth my entire career.
So I was born and raised in the animal training industry.
My entire family. Of course, they were animal trainers in
the circus, and so I was born with that in
my blood. We were animal trainers. It's been passed down
through us. My father and uncle. They learned of a
very famous lion tamer from Germany called gun Th Gabel Williams.
(11:01):
So this has been passed Yeah, so if you google
him you'll you'll realize who he is. And so we
have a lineage of animal training through our family, and
so not a lineage has been passed down to me.
I'm the third generation at this point, and I was
like your typical rebellious kid. I never trained animals, but
of course I had to do it when I was
a kid because it was a family business, right, and
(11:23):
that's why I rebelled because you know, when you're it's
a family business. I had to wake up, I had to,
you know, take care of the animals. I had to
clean the cages, and so of course I rebelled. It
wasn't until it wasn't until I was in my uh
about early mid twenties, and I was traveling the world.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
When I was twenty years old.
Speaker 6 (11:40):
I didn't see America for years because I was in
every country across the planet because I was training for
movies and documentaries. And that's why I started falling in
love with it, because I realized it was a big
world out there and there were so many cool things
to see. Look, traveling is the best teacher. It's better
than any book. It's better than any video documentary or
anything you're ever going to find on the internet, because
traveling will teach you experience. And that's what I got
(12:01):
out of it, and so that's when I started falling
in love with it all because the things that I learned,
the things that I saw, the things that I was
taught in my early twenties, that's what made me fall
in love with animals. Animals saved my life. I got
into a lot of trouble when I was in my
late teen years, when I was in my early twenties,
I was your typical young twenty something. I was an idiot,
just like every other.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Out there.
Speaker 6 (12:23):
But animals they always got me out of trouble because
I always had that foundation, that job, and they saved
my life in a sense. And guess what my later career,
I just returned the favor.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Oh it's beautiful, you know. I remember gun Through Gable
Williams as the lion tamer and trainer in the circus.
And I even met the circus elephant, Gunther at the
Center for Elephant Conservation in his retirement, and I thought
about he was named for the lion trainer. So I've
got a photo of gun Through the elephant named in
honor of gun Through Gable Williams. So it's kind of
(12:55):
a small world, but he certainly did I think impact
a lot of us, seeing this menches to creatures and
all the.
Speaker 6 (13:01):
Way back when exactly you know, and I owe a
lot of things. I mean, of course, Gunther, he rests
his soul, he passed away years ago. But I give
a lot of credit for him taking on my family
and showing us what he was doing back in the
nineteen fifties, and so he passed the lineage on and
so he passed it on to my father and my uncle,
(13:22):
and my father and uncle in turn passed the lineage
on to me, you know, And let me just go
on record to say Gunther was very tough on my
father and my uncle. My father and uncle were very
tough on me, because when you're dealing with animals on
that caliber, there's one rule that I was taught.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
As a kid.
Speaker 6 (13:37):
It can't make a mistake, because when you do, someone
has a really bad day.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
That's right, or it maybe their last day, right. I mean,
these are, after all, wild animals.
Speaker 6 (13:47):
Exactly, and so it's our responsibility to be taught correctly.
And in turn, I will one day pass the lineage
onto somebody else and make sure I will be very
tough on them, because again, the things that I will
teach you is a potentially going to save your life,
but more importantly, it's going to save an animal's life.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
It's fantastic, what a great message. And three generations of
animal training too, and I don't think I've ever met
anyone with three generations is stunning, Brandon, to think about
all of those stories that you all have shared over
all holiday meals. I you can just imagine what the
stories have been like. I would love to be a
fly on the wall as you have your family reunions,
just talking about animals that have interacted and been part
(14:27):
of your journeys through three generations.
Speaker 6 (14:29):
I truly believe when it comes to animal training, you
have to have the lineage. You have to learn from
somebody who has been taught the education properly from somebody else.
That's proper education. In any industry, whether you're a doctor
or a lawyer or an accountant, you have to learn
from somebody else. You can't learn on the job. And
when I find time and again this may and age
are I ask people, I say, where did you learn
(14:51):
how to train animals? Or where'd you learn how to
train dogs specifically? And they say they're self taught. And
I said, well, okay, it's a good you're self taught,
but always remember when yourself taught, that means the person
you learn from knew nothing. Mhow this is why I
try to really think it in people's heads. I'm like,
self taught is not always a good thing. You have
(15:13):
to learn, you have to you have to take that
lineage and get it passed on to you. I still,
to this day, I still train under master trainers. In fact,
my partner in my foundation hit a bomb dog trainer.
He's trained dogs for military and law enforcement. He's old school,
he's in the sixties now. I still to this day
I train under him. And the reason I train under
(15:35):
him is because I don't want to stop learning. I'm
not self taught. I don't want to teach myself anything
in the industry. I want to learn from the best
who have been proven for years, and at that point,
when I'm sixty years old, then I can start teaching
somebody else. But that's why I think it's so important
to learn from somebody else, because they're the ones who
have learned from somebody else. It's a lineage, it's an
(15:55):
education process. Being self taught, that's not a good thing
in animal training. Is what you're doing is you're give
me pigging the animals, you're testing out the animals. How
many animals are you going to have to screw up
before you get it right?
Speaker 2 (16:07):
That's my question.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Wow, And that's so so important because particularly with dog
trainers and service dog training organizations, too, which I'd like
to talk to you about after we get through this
commercial break. But I want to ask you before we
go into the commercial break, Brandon, I know you've had
gone through Gable Williams, you know, associated with your family.
What do you think about the recent decision that the
failed family made with retiring the circus elephants, and now
(16:31):
of course the circus is closed down for good. Do
you think kiddos are going to miss those elephants?
Speaker 6 (16:37):
You know, yeah, I'm on the sense about it because
looks I'll just I'll be honest. As time has gone on,
I've changed my opinion and changed my views. Maybe animals
should not be held in captivity. Now, having said that,
when you know what I know and what you see
and what I've seen, it's not.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Black and white.
Speaker 6 (16:52):
A lot of people don't realize that probably in the
next twenty to fifty years, there's a lot of animals
the only place you will be able to see them
is in captivity because of poaching and land encroachment. And
this is what the average person doesn't understand about places
like zoos and rescues and stuff like that. Because trust me,
when I'm a grandfather, there will be some animals in
(17:14):
the wild that will be pretty much extinct because we
can't stop it.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 6 (17:19):
Land encroachment is happening all around us, and you can't
sit there and tell a farmer in Africa, let's give
up your land because the lions have to live, or
the elephants need a place to roam. Their family has
to eat. So when you tell somebody in Africa your
family is not as important as the elephants roaming here,
guess what They're going to choose their family over the elephants.
And that's what's happening every day all over the world.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
So true, so true. Brandon, Well, we're going to come
back right after this commercial break and switch gears for
a moment. I'd love to visit with you about Lucky
Dog and also more about service dogs and the ideas
that you can't self train, you can't be self taught.
Having a master trainer is the way we will interact
a better with animals and have better outcome. So stay
(18:02):
with us. Listeners will be right back after this break
with Brandon McMillan.
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Speaker 3 (18:59):
Well, welcome back to Loving Animals with our very special guest,
Brandon McMillan. Brandon, right before the commercial break, we were
talking about the sixth mass extinction, where the animals that
we have on the Earth today won't be with us
twenty to thirty years from now. In fact, there are
studies showing and research being done that estimates sixty seventy,
(19:20):
maybe even eighty percent of the animals on Earth today
won't be there in our children's lifetime. That to me
is scary. I mean, oh mind.
Speaker 6 (19:29):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean this is the stuff that
I was reading about and hearing about when I was
a little kid. Look, I've had one job my entire
life in animal training, and with that you have to learn.
You have to learn animal behavior and environment and habitat
and what is happening to them and what will happen
to them. You have to almost see the future. And
the future is very easy to predict, especially now we
(19:49):
have reliable data to go off from path into the present.
So when I was a kid, if you look at
the charts of land. Let's just take Africa for example,
because that's some of the most identifiable animals that we
all know and love. If you look at the map
of Africa back in the nineteen fifties and you see
what humans, you know where humans were and where animals roamed,
and you know how little of an area humans actually
(20:12):
took over. Back then, you're like, oh, the animals had
it made. Well, guess what. As time's gone on, more
humans are out there and they're buying up more land,
and in places like Africa, farmland it's gold is so
you can't tell you can't tell a farmer, which is
like one of the most common jobs in Africa. You
can't tell a farmer, oh, we're going to take all
(20:34):
your land and you have to, you know, hike three
days into a major city just to get your groceries.
Farmland is how they live, That's how they survive. Now,
when you have a farm land, let's say if you
have fifty acres, guess what crops? And you have cows,
you have goats. Those are your three main sources of
farming survival. Well, guess what crops are eaten by zebra?
(20:54):
They're eaten by gazelle, They're eaten by wildebeests automatically, Now
there's a conflict. You have cows, you have goats, What
eat cows? What eat goats? Lions, hyena, leopard, you have
another conflict. This is where the problem has been going
on now for decades, and land ownership of human has
(21:14):
expanded throughout most of Africa now, and that what that's
done is to push the animals to smaller and smaller reservations.
Now you can't compact a park, a game park with
too many lions because now, first of all, becomes unhealthy
and there's way too many fights.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Bryans need big.
Speaker 6 (21:32):
Areas to roam, just like elephants, just like hyaenas, just
like a lot of animals. So this is why the
game parks. Let's say, if it's five miles this way
and ten miles this way, you can only have a
certain number of those predators the prey in that game park.
Anything more, you're overpopulated. And this is why the animals
they're shrinking. The population is getting smaller, and the human
(21:52):
population and land encroachment is getting much bigger. Now I'm
just looking at the basic math, the basic charts from
the nineteen fifties until today twenty seventeen. Imagine what another
thirty forty years is going to do. There's not much
room less of these animals, no, And so this is
why places like reserves and zoos are actually important. So true,
these animals need. These animals need a place to live,
(22:14):
and they need people like myself who know what they're doing,
how to take care of them and understand the animals.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
And so anybody who is against.
Speaker 6 (22:22):
Zoos, they need to understand on this education process right.
And if they don't understand it, I'll see it in
fifty years, yes, because then you will understand it.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
It'd be too late. We call the zoos the world
class zoos, modern arcs of hope for these animals that
may be the last of their very kind on this earth.
And as you said, it's a human problem. The humans
have created this for our most incredibly special creatures in wildlife. Brandon,
I'm so glad you're so passionate about the six mass extinction.
(22:51):
Is what keeps me up at night. And another thing
that keeps me up at night is the idea of
service dogs for wounded warriors. And you know, I think
about this because of the twenty suicides a day for
soldiers and warriors coming back facing PTS. And that isn't
it an incredible opportunity to offer an alternative path to
healing by providing these war heroes with a service dog
(23:15):
therapy in the form of four legs and fur and
a wagging tail. And you said something so interesting. Master
trainers are needed, and you can't be self taught. And
I find unfortunately sometimes we have training organizations out there
in communities that are providing service dogs are wounded warriors
that are self taught, and perhaps that's not the best way.
I'd love your thoughts on that, the idea of a
(23:37):
master trainer.
Speaker 6 (23:38):
Again, when it comes to look, service dogs are a whole,
it's a whole other level of training.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
It's not like basic obedience.
Speaker 6 (23:43):
These dogs have to sit by this person's side and
be extremely obedient in public, whether there's dogs around them
barking at them. The dog has to always work for
the person, for the handler, no matter what the situation
around them. And so this is why service dogs trainers are.
They're on another level. And I was blessed to learn
(24:05):
in the movie industry. That's how I acquired my skills
to become a service dog trainer, because let me just
tell you, if I was just your basic obedience trainer,
I would fail at this industry so fast.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
I was lucky.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
I was blessed to learn it's such a great industry
movie training. It is.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
It's the best of the best.
Speaker 6 (24:22):
You have to teach a dog high level tricks in
a very short amount of time, and you got to
make it look pretty on camera. And I was lucky
to actually just make an easy transition. But anybody who's
who's self dought in the service dog world, I just
urge you just to go learn off a reputable trainer
or organization where they've been doing it for a long
(24:43):
time and they've they've worked out all the kinks. Because again,
if you're self taught. You have to remember, like I
said before, if you're self taught, that means the person
you learned from knew nothing, and you're experimenting on dogs.
At this point, you're experimenting on dogs. You're teaching the
dog a guinea pig, and oh that one didn't work out. Well,
let's see what else I can figure out next. All
(25:05):
you have to do is go learn off somebody who's
figured this stuff out decades ago. And guess what, Now
you're training efficiently. Right now, you're learning efficiently. I mean,
I was so lucky to learn off trainers like that,
because I looked back at my career when I was
in my teenage years and I was thinking to myself, God,
this stuff so easy.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
How come anyone doesn't do this?
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Well? I was trained correctly. I was trained correctly, So yeah,
of course it was easy when you when you get
the techniques and the methods that you literally get from
point A to point B and not only the most humane,
the quickest, but the most logical amount of time. Self
taught trainers, like I said, this is where I always
have to put my foot down and say, you got
to learn from somebody and Unfortunately, there's a lot of
(25:44):
famous trainers out there. Who are they claim to be
self taught? Well, again, a person you learn from knew nothing.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Well, you know what I also have to say here,
you were training animals behind the scenes for the movie
business and entertainment business for years. Did you ever think
you would win an Emmy for Lucky Dog? Isn't that
wonderful in front of the camera.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
No, that would definitely be a no.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
I never.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
First of all, I never thought that I would have
a camera point and have me training hiding dogs for
TV theories. One thing led to another and that happened.
But to win an Emmy, it was a Look, it's
it's just an honor. It's an honor, honestly. The uh
the biggest reward though, believe it or not, I've got, well,
I've got I've actually got one Emmy for hosting one
(26:31):
Emmy for the for the show. Those Emmy's look to me,
I appreciate them. But the biggest reward to me is
whenever I hear testimonials of people years later, they write
me an email, you know, three, four, five years later
and they say, you have no idea what you did
from you saved my life, whether they were battling depression,
whether they were suicidal. I mean, you name it, I
(26:52):
believe it or not. I've trained a lot of dogs
for ex drug addicts and alcoholics, and I get emails
from them constantly saying, this dog to save my life.
Without this dog, I would have fallen off the wagon again.
I probably would have either killed myself or overdose something
as simple as that. And dogs, what you don't realize
is dogs teach you to be less selfish because now
you have an animal in the house and you have
(27:14):
to understand that animal has to go outside, it has
to eat, it has to be taken care of, it
has to be groomed. So you learn slowly, but surely
you know to take care of the animal more than yourself.
And let's face it, drug addicts and as alcoholics, they
tend to be a little bit selfish. And animals are
a really easy way once they're clean, once a're sober,
(27:35):
it's a really easy way to teach them just not
being so selfish.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
I think animals make it for better humans, don't they.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (27:41):
Absolutely, absolutely. You know I learned something from each animal
that I have. I learned a little bit about myself.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
You know, it's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
I learned things about myself that I never knew.
Speaker 6 (27:51):
I would say animals are the best therapists. Instead of
paying four hundred bucks an hour for a therapist, I
just trade a few dogs, and I'm like, wow, I
never knew that about myself.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
That's wonderful.
Speaker 6 (28:03):
You just saved me three thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
That is great, that is great. We might be putting
the therapist out of business with this this show today.
Speaker 6 (28:13):
So exactly, I got to have a whole new career
right there.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
That's exactly right. I love it. I love it. Well,
Lucky Dog an adorable, adorable series Saturday Mornings on CBS.
Congratulations again on Emmy's and so much grand success, Brandon.
I mean, really, it's such a privilege to know you,
and I'm so glad you're out there for our animals
and most importantly, to teach us humans to be better.
So thank you.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Well good, I'm happy to do it.
Speaker 6 (28:39):
I got a lot of years left in me, so
you're not getting rid of me yet.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
We don't want to get rid of you. We want
to clone you. So any final words for our listeners
about loving animals?
Speaker 6 (28:48):
Oh, look, just if you're an animal lover, keep loving.
If you're an animal trainer, to keep training, and of
course be sure to watch my show Lucky Dog every Saturday.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
That's great. I think that's a wonderful Lucky Dog on
CVS Saturday mornings. Well, friends, if I know you've enjoyed
this episode of Loving Animals with Brandon McMillan as much
as I have so much fun and I wasn't at
all expecting the six mass extinction conversation Brandon, so I'm
so glad we got that in there. Wonderful, very important
is a moral and ethical dilemma for our times that
(29:21):
we have to face and find solutions. So thank you
for bringing that up.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Yeah, of course we'll talk more about it later.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
What an amazing episode hearing from animal trainer, animal behaviorist,
author and producer Brandon McMillan. I think all of us
can learn a little something from Brandon's tips on dealing
with potentially unruly pets or are all of your family
members the furry ones, little angels? Learning to navigate our
pets behavior is so important as a pet owner, So
(29:47):
a big thank you to Brandon for sharing his knowledge
with us today. Join us next week for another episode
of Loving Animals with Me, Doctor Robin Ganzard, I remember
this week and every week, I'm loving animals, and I
hope you are.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on Petlight
Radio dot com
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