June 6, 2025 • 37 mins
We would love to hear from you. Send us a text!
In this episode, Chrissy and Cara explore how our emotional energy impacts our dogs and household dynamics. Chrissy shares how her stress as a busy mom can create chaos, affecting both her children and pets, while Cara describes the calm, grounding energy in her home with a new baby and dog. Through personal stories, they highlight the importance of self-awareness, presence, and practical grounding techniques—like mindful breathing and relaxed walks—to foster harmony at home. Their conversation encourages listeners to be intentional with their energy, benefiting both family members and pets.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:01):
Thank you.
(00:31):
Welcome to Dog Is Love.
Hi.
We are thrilled to have you.
Welcome back.
Today, we're diving into ourall-time favorite topic.
Yes, we are.
(00:51):
Although you'll find out thatKara and I have many favorite
topics.
This one's, this one, it's rightup there at the top though.
Yeah.
This one is energy and how ourenergy affects and reflects in
our dogs.
And of course, every aspect ofour lives.
Yes, sure does.
(01:12):
Absolutely.
All right.
First, let's just take a beat.
Let's take a deep breath in andhold it for four and let it out,
a deep breath out and hold itfor four.
All right, let's do that onemore time.
(01:38):
All right, now let's take amoment and just think how we
move through our days.
What's our energy behind yourdaily intentions, right?
What is the energy in your home?
Do you wake up calm and enjoythe morning hours or do you wake
(01:58):
up already feeling behind theball?
Do you rush through your morningroutine because you don't have
time like you used to?
Yeah.
Or do you intentionally spend itwelcoming in the day, in the
moment, sharing the energy andlove for your dog and family
before you head out into theworld?
(02:19):
I'm laughing because it soundsso lovely.
It sounds lovely.
Heaven.
Oh, my gosh.
Let's also think about the waywe interact with our dogs on a
daily basis.
(02:40):
And what is their energy like?
Oh, that's a lot, right?
To think about.
But it's good.
Yeah.
And there's a method to yourmadness with the breathing
today.
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
So tell us about your life now.
Oh, my God.
What's your life like?
All right.
Mine's...
Currently jam-packed from thesun up to the sun down.
(03:02):
Are you ushering?
Are you enjoying the morningswith your family?
No.
I am definitely in survivalmode.
Yeah, okay.
And worse, I am not putting,what do they say, the oxygen
mask on my mouth first.
No, no, no.
Right.
Oh, my gosh.
I have to say, though, I wouldprobably bet most of our
(03:26):
listeners...
are feeling the same.
Of course.
I think I try to best to likehave a cozy home.
Sure.
A calm household and mindset.
I think it's important becausewe always have dogs at our
house.
Right.
Of course.
But I do have nine-year-oldtwins who are tech loving, Lego
(03:46):
making, sports going.
Sure.
Boys.
And You know, the pack of dogson the regular, running the
company, my home, covering forsick walkers.
Oh, we just had to do that thisweek, right, Kares?
Uh-huh.
Trying to grow our business andcommunity, doing the school
(04:08):
drop-offs and pickups becausethat's important to me as a mom.
Of course.
Because I had a working mom andso I want to be able to like be
there with the boys when they'redone school.
UNKNOWN (04:18):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:18):
And it's filled up with like big energy, right?
All day.
Yeah.
The moral of the story is yourlife is jam packed, busy, busy,
busy.
And I think that that's a reallyrelatable feeling.
Yeah.
I don't think I'm unique in anyway.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But you are unique.
Don't say that.
(04:38):
You're unique.
But I just, the situation is, isI think probably most of our
listeners are going check,check, check.
Yeah.
Yeah.
sometimes I think though likeyou know is it a lack of
organizational my part I meanbecause sometimes it's you know
who has times to organize or Idon't know people who have maybe
(04:59):
a lot of help with theirfamilies which is amazing you
know I mean I think if you havethat but no dude it's like life
is hard life is hard it's hard Ialways think I need more
commitment because God I lovesleep And if I could just get up
like an hour earlier, but I lovemorning sleeping.
(05:23):
Oh,
SPEAKER_00 (05:23):
God.
SPEAKER_01 (05:24):
Yeah.
I hear you.
I hear you.
I also think life is comicallyunrelenting.
Yes.
Yes, it sure is.
Yes, it sure is.
Yes.
It's like a fire drillsometimes.
One thing after another, afteranother, after another.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
And our dogs...
SPEAKER_00 (05:40):
Pick up on that.
I
SPEAKER_01 (05:41):
know.
SPEAKER_00 (05:42):
Yes, they sure do.
Maybe
SPEAKER_01 (05:44):
somebody that's listening could like teach us a
new trick about this and notbeing in survival mode.
Oh, God.
Yeah.
Call us.
Send us an email.
If you've got the tip, send it.
We'll take it.
You always kind of say that thisis just a season, Chris.
Give yourself some grace.
You remind me often to do that.
Yeah.
(06:04):
Well, of course, we have to allgive ourselves a little bit of
grace because we're just humanand we're just figuring it out.
But at the same time, it's alsoyou can just lean into the fact
that it is comicallyunrelenting.
And, you know, what are yougoing to do?
What are you going to what areyou going to do?
But it brings us back to theepisode today.
Yeah.
Right.
Because we're talking aboutenergy.
And what happens to us when ourlives are comically unrelenting
(06:27):
and how that affects not onlyour households, but our dogs.
Yeah.
All right.
Let me tell you, I've got onefor you.
Okay.
Let's hear it.
All right.
This is like a momzilla moment.
Okay.
Okay.
I love that.
Okay.
So I was coming home from workand the boys were on their,
obviously their tech and theyhave a time limit in our
(06:49):
household.
And I think they were well pastthe time.
Okay.
Right.
And I just expected that theywould be off of it when I got
home.
Right.
And we have a bay window so Icould see in.
And we had boots at our house.
Love them.
Who comes from a householdthat's very calm.
Yeah.
Super chill.
Older kids away from college.
(07:11):
The owner is just like a verygrounded woman.
Lovely, quiet home.
Yeah.
Routine.
Routine for sure.
And so- When I looked throughthe bay window, everybody was
like calm.
Chilling.
The dog was on the couch withthe boys.
They're obsessed with eachother.
Yeah.
(07:32):
And I was on fire on the inside.
Oh, when you saw the boys ontheir devices.
Yeah.
Even though it was like.
a beautiful scene in there ofeverybody being calm.
So I opened the door and I'mlike, what are you guys doing?
I can look at you.
Look at your body right now.
And I'm like, and I'm going likecrazy stomping around.
(07:54):
Yeah.
You know, I told you to be offof the, you know, tech by the
time I got home.
I'm, you know, throwing my stuffdown.
They are then now meeting myenergy.
And they're like, what?
Mom, come on! You know, and it'sjust like this chaos of insanity
going on.
Way to go, Christy.
(08:16):
I know.
And then in that chaos, Irealized like I looked down and
Boots is like nipping at my arm.
He's like, yeah, yeah.
All of a sudden starting tobark.
And this is a this is a dog whowas chilling, chilling on the
couch.
Totally fine.
The boys are like throwing theiriPad down, marching around the
(08:36):
house like you are always theboss.
Like, you know, just screamingat me and stuff.
And that energy is.
Continued for a while.
I can feel it right now in mybody.
I can feel it.
And that energy continued untillike I kind of was snapped out
by boots being naughty.
Yeah.
And I'm like, what?
(08:57):
What are you doing?
Stop.
And I'm like yelling at him tostop.
But then I realized, oh, it wasme the whole time.
Yeah.
So.
What's the lesson?
I was in an awareness at thatpoint.
I finally got into awareness.
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (09:15):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:15):
So I did the box breathing, which we just did in
the beginning of the episodehere.
Yep.
The method to your madness.
Yep.
And I just brought it down.
Yeah.
And then finally the boysstarted to come down.
And then we got back into ourroutine, back into the flow of
our household.
(09:36):
And then we just kind of kept ongoing through the night.
So did you have to removeyourself from that situation?
Did you like once you becameaware of, oh, dear, you know,
this was me.
You know what I mean?
Like I did this.
I stirred this pot.
So did you had to removeyourself and sort of check it?
Are you kidding me?
Yes.
Yeah.
So thanks.
Thanks, Boots.
Yeah.
Thanks for that.
(09:56):
Right.
Thanks, Boots.
And if I would have brought myenergy in differently, like,
hey, guys, you know, I You know,I was hoping you would be off
your iPads by this time.
Right.
You know, you guys know therules.
You know the responsibility ofyourself.
Let's go.
Right.
You know, it would have probablyhave set us off on a different
(10:20):
track.
Sure.
Sure.
But I'm human.
Human.
And this happens.
Exactly.
Exactly.
All right.
What's going on in your world?
Are you Mama Zilla?
I I'm I'm not.
At the moment, we're in adifferent season.
Oh, I remember this time.
So I just had a baby about six,almost six months ago.
(10:43):
And so a lot of our day, it'sjust so, you know, when my
husband and my stepson on thenight he's with us, you know,
when they are out of the house,it's just me, the baby and the
dog.
So it's a real chill time.
vibe right in the house it's agrounding season I think that
(11:05):
we're in right now so um and youhave a chill vibe yourself I
yeah I'm pretty easy going I'mpretty easy I'm pretty chill
until I'm not and then I'm notbut again we're human um but
yeah I mean I would say that Iwould say the vibe in our house
is especially when it's just thethree of us in the house it's
(11:27):
you know we got our routine youknow we've got we get our
morning coffee going and then weget the morning bottle going.
And it's just, we've already,Junie's already been out.
She's been fed.
She's, you know, she's ready tochill.
So it's, it is this sort ofreally grounding season.
And actually it's really neatbecause Kelly is at the age
(11:50):
where he's really starting tofigure out Juniper.
Yeah.
Like seeing her.
Yeah.
He can see her now.
And he, I guess you could alwayssee her, but She's really coming
into focus, quite literallycoming into focus.
And he is fascinated by her.
And babies and dogs areenergetic creatures just by
(12:12):
nature because they don't have.
I mean, what do I know?
I'm not a scientist, but theydon't have the the loop that
adults have going on in theirmind about, you know, whatever
thing that's going on in yourworld.
And I got to do this.
I got to do that.
They don't have that.
Right.
And so the other day he washaving his bottle and she came.
(12:37):
She was on the back of the couchand they made eye contact and
they had this like reallyspecial little moment where he
stopped drinking and he startedto smile at her.
And then she came down off ofthe back of the couch onto the
couch beside us.
(12:57):
And she just sat there besideus.
And he put his hand on her face.
And then she went over and shelicked his little face.
And he giggled, you know.
And it was really beautiful.
And I don't know if it's justlike the first time mom and me,
but I was just, and the hormonesjust overflowing.
(13:19):
But there was, you know, I justkept thinking to myself, Man, it
would be so nice if we could allbe a little bit more like this.
Totally present, totallygrounded, and totally in the
moment, which is hard for us.
It's hard for human beings to bethat way.
(13:40):
I mean, we just have the loop inour head.
Yeah.
Non-stop.
For our listeners, it's not likeJunie is...
older, lab, super chill.
Like she has energy.
She's super playful and stuff.
It's just she was meeting theenergy of the household at that
moment.
(14:00):
Yes.
And she...
To be fair, like in the momentswhere, when our big kiddo is
home, when he, you know, my 14year old stepson, if he's home,
he loves to play with her andshe meets him there at that too.
And they will go and they will,she will get riled up.
But in this moment, it was notthat.
(14:20):
You know, she was meeting thislike really gentle and calm and
cool and a teaching moment forme.
It was a reminder that, This isthe vibe.
Yeah.
This is the vibe.
Right.
You want to that I want to tryto carry for sure through the
day and through my life, even inmoments that are hard moments.
(14:42):
What do you guys think?
Do you think she can she cankeep it?
I think you can.
I think it's just about beingintentional.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, that's sort of I mean,that's like the that's that's
the that's what we're talkingabout today.
It's all about awareness.
Yeah.
Right.
All right.
So here's the thing.
(15:03):
Dogs read body language.
So they literally read theenergy of the room, its people,
you and Kelly, other animals.
SPEAKER_02 (15:13):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:14):
And then they reflect that energy back.
SPEAKER_02 (15:17):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:18):
Also really cool is that dogs like us contain
structures in their brain thatThat allow them to process
facial expressions.
SPEAKER_00 (15:28):
Oh, yeah.
That's so cool.
SPEAKER_01 (15:29):
So they're so attuned to us.
And being attuned, the dogs inour lives are constantly giving
us feedback about the energylevels we're putting off.
And with their help, I think wecan become better.
Better humans.
I like what you did there.
How cool is that?
(15:50):
It is.
It's very cool.
It's very cool.
And it's not something that Ithink a lot of people are aware
of.
More so now because I think thissort of dialogue happens.
Yeah, we're hearing it more.
Yeah, you're hearing it more inlike the self-help space.
You know, you hear a lot aboutenergy.
And it was never something thatI was really all that aware of
(16:12):
until I started this.
reading some books in my 20s,you know, and being like, am I
the problem?
Yeah.
You know, and they put it alljoking aside.
It may not be something thatsome of our listeners are even
really aware of.
It's cool to be attuned to it.
(16:33):
Yeah.
So the energy of your dog is anoverall reflection of the energy
in your life and your home.
Yeah.
At a period of time.
Yeah.
So as long as we have dogs,which you're saying is so cool
in our lives, those dogs areacting like a big old mirror.
SPEAKER_00 (16:52):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (16:52):
Which is the, you know, what we basically saw in
our two examples.
Yes.
Of like me versus you right now.
SPEAKER_00 (16:58):
Yes.
Totally.
SPEAKER_01 (16:59):
So in other words, if we're calm and we take the
time to be present.
Yes.
Then they're calm.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
And.
your dogs will show the symptomsof your calm energy.
And the reverse can be the same.
You know, if you see if you'renoticing a lot of naughty
(17:19):
behavior, that's also a momentto pause.
Yeah.
So don't if.
Yeah, exactly.
So before you get upset at yourdog or you start blaming them
for the unwanted behaviors.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Look at it from a newperspective.
Look at it as like aninvitation.
Yes.
Yes, absolutely.
So the first step to improvingany situation is to get crystal
(17:43):
clear where you already are.
And so I think when you'relooking at energy, right, I
think the first thing isawareness.
Like Boots kind of gave me thatopportunity to be like, oh, hey,
I Totally.
You're not your normal self.
What's going on?
And you could have, you couldhave in that situation, scolded
(18:06):
him and gotten angry with him ortried to correct him and been
like, when you were gettingannoyed, but you had the
wherewithal to, in that moment,snap yourself back to the
present.
Yeah.
Which is what dogs do becausedogs are so present.
Correct.
Right?
Yeah.
So dogs are constantly in thepresent moment.
So in that moment, specificinstance he snapped you into
(18:29):
like your visceral state ofbeing like okay I'm acting like
a lunatic like what am I doingyeah yeah yeah they're like
little warning lights for usyeah like that warning lights
mm-hmm okay okay so let's let'sthen focus on the questions for
the dogs right like what's goingon so does your dog you know
(18:51):
rush doors and go ahead of you
SPEAKER_02 (18:53):
or
SPEAKER_01 (18:54):
will they sit and wait and Right.
Is it difficult for your dog tostay in a calm mindset?
Are they like constantly runningahead of you, chasing anything
that crosses your path?
SPEAKER_02 (19:07):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:08):
Barking at strangers.
Oh, my God.
Or passing, you know, dogs,which happen.
We see that all the time.
Dog walking.
Totally.
Totally.
Or they like calm on the leashand they're trotting by.
We see that a lot all the time,too, which is really cool.
And actually, I have a questionfor you, Chrissy.
So like.
In that instance, like when yousay that, when you're asking,
like, does your dog like rushthe door?
(19:30):
Does your dog do that?
Like, is it is it across theboard with all dogs?
Are you going to find differentsorts of behaviors and
different?
Like, it's this is not like ablanket.
This is not.
So you got to kind of getattuned as just as much as your
dogs attuned to you.
I think you got to start payingattention.
Right.
(19:50):
and seeing how your dog reactsto different things totally if
your dog responds to a bigenergy of another dog one dog
could bark at that dog anotherdog could kind of circle around
you and get on the other side ofyou and kind of do like a hiding
in a way you know and put thetwo to put more space between
(20:15):
that dog and yours.
So you really have to kind ofalso learn how your dog- Their
reaction?
Yeah, like how they're gonnareact to different energies too.
So it's not also being aware ofyourself, it's being aware of
them.
Okay, I like that.
So if dogs do naturally pick upon the emotional energy that
(20:36):
we're putting out, whether it'sjoy, excitement- anxiety,
sadness, anger, anything likethat.
What are some things that thelistener can do?
I think we're going to go backto the box breathing.
(20:58):
Okay.
Put that into your routine.
So again, it's really cool.
You breathe in, you hold forfour, and then you let that
breath out for four.
Yeah.
It's really cool because if youthink about it, it's like a
built-in meditation app forfree.
Yeah, I love it.
I mean, God gave it to you.
You might as well use it, right?
Right.
And then I think like anotherthing is, is like if it's just
(21:21):
you or if it's you and you havea family, I think the best thing
is go for a dog walk.
Like go for a walk.
Yes.
Be direct.
Yeah.
And be out in nature.
Yes.
And, you know, help your doglike feel...
safe with you because the moreyou're grounded, the more you're
(21:43):
calm, they will likely followyour lead.
Yeah.
I love that.
Going for a walk.
Number one, we've talked aboutthis before drains the energy of
the dog from a physical manner.
Yes.
Uh-huh.
And at the same time, the likehitting of the payment.
(22:03):
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Is grounding for the dog.
Mm-hmm.
And then that energy kind offeeds up into you as the human.
Yeah.
And then you get automaticallygrounded.
Dude, I am following.
Yes.
Now you're kind of in thiscycle.
A flow.
A flow between you and them.
And then it would be cool, too,if, you know, if you have
(22:25):
roommates or your family, likeif you're all kind of going out
there and doing it, you know.
Right.
So to the listener that hasthree kids.
UNKNOWN (22:36):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (22:36):
A dog that.
Is reactive.
To the energy of the children.
That sort of thing.
Like if you can.
And you have the capacity to.
What Chrissy's saying.
Is basically say.
Stop.
Pause.
If you notice that things aregetting really hot.
Right.
And go out for a walk.
Redirect.
Shift that energy.
Move it.
Yeah.
Move it.
(22:57):
Yeah.
Get it outside.
Pound it.
You know.
Put it back into the earth.
That kind of.
And then.
The thing Cara too.
Is when you do that.
Yeah.
The dog.
Yeah.
Okay.
Got it.
Got it.
Yes.
Okay.
(23:23):
Okay.
And then when you are like,that's why it's so soothing to
pet a dog, because not only isit the process of soothing and
like of petting the motion goingback and forth.
Sure.
But you're also receiving fromthem the energy that they
borrowed from the earth.
(23:44):
You're now receiving them intoyour body.
Right.
UNKNOWN (23:51):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (23:52):
So that's why the walk is so important.
We always go back to the walk,don't I?
Yeah, of course.
And this might sound like, allof this could seem, it might
sound a little woo-woo.
Come over to the woo-woo sidebecause it's actually working.
Yeah, I was like, but it reallydoes, even if you just put all
(24:13):
the energy, all this talk thatwe're saying aside, the actual
physical walk is, And thepetting, like all of that is
really, truly relaxing.
It does put you in a more stablemindset.
It does.
And puts you in that presentmindset, too, that we talked
about.
Yes.
Yeah.
(24:34):
So when we're out in that walk,right?
Yeah.
You're not going to just snapand you're in it.
Right.
You're going to have to kind ofgo through a process with your
dog.
Right.
Because you might need toreevaluate some things that
we're going to be talking thatwe've already talked about in
our walk.
But we're also going to learnfurther down the line in this
podcast.
OK.
You know, sometimes we see itout.
(24:55):
Like if you're out on a walk andyou're, you know, talk.
Oh, talking to your dog andstuff like that.
You know what?
It's more of not like what we'resaying to the dog.
It's more about like- Thephysicality.
Yeah, our posture, right?
Yeah.
So instead, notice when you'rewalking, if your arms are at a
(25:16):
90 degree angle, like let themgo.
Relax.
Yeah.
If your shoulders are up to yourears, like bring them back down.
Totally.
Okay.
And all of that shift is thenthat, again- Going back to that
being that pack leader, that'sgoing to shift you into that
position and that energy isgoing to also relay over to your
(25:38):
dog.
What about the leash?
Yeah.
So with the leash, sometimes wecan get a little tense out in
the big world.
And you notice that you might beholding the leash with two hands
or you might jumble up the leashinto one hand and you're holding
it really tight.
Yeah.
Especially if your dog's reactedto another dog.
(26:00):
And so you're squeezing it on aharder.
So, you know, make sure that Iyou're talking about this and my
shoulders are going up.
Yeah.
Like I'm like, I can like feelthe tension.
Yeah.
So remember when you're out forthe walk, like.
You know, I like just to takethat six foot loop.
I mean, six foot leash and justloop it in one big old like
(26:24):
lasso and then just dangle it inthe palm of your hands.
Okay.
Got it.
Or you can wear like a day pack,a fanny pack and attach it to
you.
Yeah.
And then you can be hands free.
Yeah.
So that then the energy of yourgrounding is just going straight
to the dog.
I love that.
Just reshifting.
Yeah.
the leash in your hand to bemore relaxed, shoulders down and
(26:48):
arms straight.
And just be on a walk like thedog's not even there.
And then, you know, that energyis going to flow.
And this is, it's important tonote that this might not come as
naturally to some people, right?
Like this, this could, this ispractice.
This takes practice.
(27:09):
It takes practice to get thatway.
to get that comfortable too, Ithink for a lot of folks.
I know, okay, I will not put, Iwant to project that onto our
listeners, but I know for mepersonally, it took a long time
for me to learn how to do that.
To do the walk.
Yeah.
And I mean, obviously as a dogwalker for over a decade, I
(27:30):
learned how to do it, but thereare still days and I can, I know
we could come up with dozens ofstories from all of our walkers
who are exceptional walkers,right?
Yeah.
They have bad days where theirenergy is off.
Yes.
For whatever situational thingthat happened.
And then that in turn spins upthe whole pack.
(27:50):
Right.
Yes.
So like if we have an anxious orchaotic energy or if we're like
having unresolved stress fromthe morning.
Totally.
The first thing that we alwaysask our dog walkers like, hey,
what's going on with you?
Yeah.
You OK?
Yeah.
Something happened.
Yeah.
Because or like, hey.
How about we take a beat rightnow together?
(28:11):
You know, let's just kind of getyou back on track.
So we go back to that boxbreathing or we kind of hash it
out together.
We talk it out.
You release it just so they canrelease it.
And then they get back into ourschedule because, you know, it's
important for me.
Right.
To make sure my my team is outthere totally in a healthy
mindset because things can goawry with the with the pack.
SPEAKER_00 (28:33):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (28:34):
But.
Listen, I've been doing this fora long time.
I mean, I just walked this pastweek with 20 dogs, like 10 at a
time.
Dude, my pack was off because Iwas anxious for the day because
I had so many dogs and it wentawry too.
So it's not only going to belike you learning with the dog
(28:55):
when you're first in this, ithappens to all of us.
So just know it's a practice andit's ongoing.
And even people that are vets atdoing this, also have to take
that pause, take that shift.
That's why, and I'm going todigress for one quick second,
but that's also why I love yogabecause it's sort of similar
(29:16):
into that way.
It's a practice, right?
You may have some days whereyou're like, oh, I am in the
flow.
I am in this groove.
I am getting these poses.
And then some days you fall overdoing a tree pose, right?
Because you're just like, soyour mind is spinning, right?
So it's kind of like, but thenwhen you can find the flow or
(29:37):
even just bring awareness to thebody, you're in the present.
Yeah.
Just like the dogs.
Yeah.
You're in the present.
Right?
Yeah.
I love it.
I love it.
So our goal here is to bepresent.
Yeah.
Like yoga and our dogs teach usto do.
Totally.
Totally.
And we've said it a couple oftimes already, and be in
(30:01):
awareness.
Yes.
And one of the most magicalqualities of our dogs is their
capacity to be in the presentmoment, like we've said.
Right, right.
Yeah.
That's what we struggle with ashumans.
We do.
But that's okay.
Yeah.
So instead of letting ourthoughts swirl in our brains,
(30:22):
instead of, you know, Stressingover the coulda, shoulda,
wouldas or the things that arein the future that we know we
have to do, our to-do list,right?
As much as we can, if we canfind a way to be present and
grounded in the moment, thenthat is going to change our
whole vibe.
And that's going to reflect notonly in our dogs, but it's going
(30:44):
to help us in our householdswith our coworkers.
You know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Wait, this is so funny becauseright now I'm not grounded
because I'm getting so excitedlike that.
We're like kind of like I likeI'm so excited for the listener
to like become aware.
Oh, my God.
I have like so many things in myhead that I want to just spit
(31:05):
out, but we're not going to dothat.
But my energy is so like.
because my mind is runningbecause I'm getting so excited
for this.
Okay.
Okay.
I'm settling myself back down,guys.
Right.
And how are you going to dothat, Chrissy?
Take a breath.
I think I'm going to take abreath.
Yeah.
I don't have a dog right now togo for a walk, but I'm going to
take a breath.
(31:25):
Yes.
Yes.
So, you know, if you havelearned anything from listening
to us today, the moral of thestory is dogs are...
are going to be your greatestteacher to your emotional and
visceral state.
(31:47):
And so if you allow that, if youallow them to be that big old
mirror that you said, you canbring yourself back to the
present moment.
SPEAKER_02 (31:59):
You
SPEAKER_01 (31:59):
can bring yourself into a more calm, stable mindset
And that will in turn sort ofdeepen the relationship with
your dog because that's who youwant to be for your dog.
Correct.
That's the leader that you wantto be for your dog.
So if you can find ways, even ifit's just snippets through the
(32:22):
day, even if it's just momentsthrough the day, that's good.
That's great.
Those are the grounding momentsthat you want to strive for.
And the more you have thosemoments, like we always say,
like with the training, likelayering on top Totally.
It's compounding together andtogether.
And then like then you'll justget into that flow with your
(32:44):
family and your dogs.
Yes.
And it will change.
It will it will change yourlife.
I mean, let's see.
That seems like a big, boldstatement.
But, you know, those littlethose little micro movements,
you know, can can really change.
Help you be more dog, right?
They can help you be more in themoment, more present, more
(33:06):
present with your children, morepresent with your spouse or your
partner.
It can be a really positiveimpact.
So we talk about this todaybecause we want you guys to
really experience what Kara andI get to experience on a daily
basis in our team by being sogrounded with our dogs.
(33:28):
Now, we don't have that, like Isaid, nailed down.
We're not doing that.
Oh, God.
Yeah.
We're not experts at this by anymeans.
No.
But we want you to feel thatwith your dog.
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
So, guys, go.
UNKNOWN (33:46):
Go.
SPEAKER_01 (33:47):
Go try it out.
Right.
Yeah.
Go check in.
Yeah.
Bring the awareness.
Think about just think about itto think.
OK.
Oh, yeah.
I've never really noticed.
But when I'm you know, if I getif my team scores a touchdown
and I get all riled up becauseI'm psyched about it, my dog
(34:07):
jumps off the couch and startsbarking at the television.
That's energy.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
And it's the same if I, youknow, get into it.
Get an email that I findunsettling and all of a sudden
my body language changes becauseI'm stressed out about it.
And then you notice your dogstarts to pace.
(34:28):
That's energy.
Yeah.
So those little things.
And the minute you can be awareof it, that's all you need to do
is be in awareness of it.
Because the minute that you'rein awareness, then you're
automatically in the present.
And if you can be in thepresent, then you can meet the
moment and make the change.
Girl.
UNKNOWN (34:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (34:50):
Love our dogs.
What would we do without them?
I love them too.
They're exceptional teachers.
All right.
Until we see you next time.
Yay.
Dog is love.
Thank you.
Thank you.
(35:33):
We would be so grateful.
Dog is Love is created andhosted by Chrissy Waltman and
Cara Kelly in partnership withK9to5.
Our show is produced by TonyKelly at Baltimore Podcast
Space.
Our original theme song waswritten and recorded by our very
own Cara Kelly.
SPEAKER_00 (35:56):
We could pretend That we have the answers Or we
could lean into the light Causeman complicates The stillness of
SPEAKER_01 (36:23):
nature While dogs humbly watch with awe
SPEAKER_00 (36:30):
in their eyes We're not supposed to struggle alone A
friend for
SPEAKER_01 (36:50):
a lifetime To guide you wherever you roam Dog is
(37:13):
love Like the roots of the treesand the stars up above Dog is
love Judgment freeunconditionally
Thank you.
(00:31):
Welcome to Dog Is Love.
Hi.
We are thrilled to have you.
Welcome back.
Today, we're diving into ourall-time favorite topic.
Yes, we are.
(00:51):
Although you'll find out thatKara and I have many favorite
topics.
This one's, this one, it's rightup there at the top though.
Yeah.
This one is energy and how ourenergy affects and reflects in
our dogs.
And of course, every aspect ofour lives.
Yes, sure does.
(01:12):
Absolutely.
All right.
First, let's just take a beat.
Let's take a deep breath in andhold it for four and let it out,
a deep breath out and hold itfor four.
All right, let's do that onemore time.
(01:38):
All right, now let's take amoment and just think how we
move through our days.
What's our energy behind yourdaily intentions, right?
What is the energy in your home?
Do you wake up calm and enjoythe morning hours or do you wake
(01:58):
up already feeling behind theball?
Do you rush through your morningroutine because you don't have
time like you used to?
Yeah.
Or do you intentionally spend itwelcoming in the day, in the
moment, sharing the energy andlove for your dog and family
before you head out into theworld?
(02:19):
I'm laughing because it soundsso lovely.
It sounds lovely.
Heaven.
Oh, my gosh.
Let's also think about the waywe interact with our dogs on a
daily basis.
(02:40):
And what is their energy like?
Oh, that's a lot, right?
To think about.
But it's good.
Yeah.
And there's a method to yourmadness with the breathing
today.
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
So tell us about your life now.
Oh, my God.
What's your life like?
All right.
Mine's...
Currently jam-packed from thesun up to the sun down.
(03:02):
Are you ushering?
Are you enjoying the morningswith your family?
No.
I am definitely in survivalmode.
Yeah, okay.
And worse, I am not putting,what do they say, the oxygen
mask on my mouth first.
No, no, no.
Right.
Oh, my gosh.
I have to say, though, I wouldprobably bet most of our
(03:26):
listeners...
are feeling the same.
Of course.
I think I try to best to likehave a cozy home.
Sure.
A calm household and mindset.
I think it's important becausewe always have dogs at our
house.
Right.
Of course.
But I do have nine-year-oldtwins who are tech loving, Lego
(03:46):
making, sports going.
Sure.
Boys.
And You know, the pack of dogson the regular, running the
company, my home, covering forsick walkers.
Oh, we just had to do that thisweek, right, Kares?
Uh-huh.
Trying to grow our business andcommunity, doing the school
(04:08):
drop-offs and pickups becausethat's important to me as a mom.
Of course.
Because I had a working mom andso I want to be able to like be
there with the boys when they'redone school.
UNKNOWN (04:18):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:18):
And it's filled up with like big energy, right?
All day.
Yeah.
The moral of the story is yourlife is jam packed, busy, busy,
busy.
And I think that that's a reallyrelatable feeling.
Yeah.
I don't think I'm unique in anyway.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But you are unique.
Don't say that.
(04:38):
You're unique.
But I just, the situation is, isI think probably most of our
listeners are going check,check, check.
Yeah.
Yeah.
sometimes I think though likeyou know is it a lack of
organizational my part I meanbecause sometimes it's you know
who has times to organize or Idon't know people who have maybe
(04:59):
a lot of help with theirfamilies which is amazing you
know I mean I think if you havethat but no dude it's like life
is hard life is hard it's hard Ialways think I need more
commitment because God I lovesleep And if I could just get up
like an hour earlier, but I lovemorning sleeping.
(05:23):
Oh,
SPEAKER_00 (05:23):
God.
SPEAKER_01 (05:24):
Yeah.
I hear you.
I hear you.
I also think life is comicallyunrelenting.
Yes.
Yes, it sure is.
Yes, it sure is.
Yes.
It's like a fire drillsometimes.
One thing after another, afteranother, after another.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
And our dogs...
SPEAKER_00 (05:40):
Pick up on that.
I
SPEAKER_01 (05:41):
know.
SPEAKER_00 (05:42):
Yes, they sure do.
Maybe
SPEAKER_01 (05:44):
somebody that's listening could like teach us a
new trick about this and notbeing in survival mode.
Oh, God.
Yeah.
Call us.
Send us an email.
If you've got the tip, send it.
We'll take it.
You always kind of say that thisis just a season, Chris.
Give yourself some grace.
You remind me often to do that.
Yeah.
(06:04):
Well, of course, we have to allgive ourselves a little bit of
grace because we're just humanand we're just figuring it out.
But at the same time, it's alsoyou can just lean into the fact
that it is comicallyunrelenting.
And, you know, what are yougoing to do?
What are you going to what areyou going to do?
But it brings us back to theepisode today.
Yeah.
Right.
Because we're talking aboutenergy.
And what happens to us when ourlives are comically unrelenting
(06:27):
and how that affects not onlyour households, but our dogs.
Yeah.
All right.
Let me tell you, I've got onefor you.
Okay.
Let's hear it.
All right.
This is like a momzilla moment.
Okay.
Okay.
I love that.
Okay.
So I was coming home from workand the boys were on their,
obviously their tech and theyhave a time limit in our
(06:49):
household.
And I think they were well pastthe time.
Okay.
Right.
And I just expected that theywould be off of it when I got
home.
Right.
And we have a bay window so Icould see in.
And we had boots at our house.
Love them.
Who comes from a householdthat's very calm.
Yeah.
Super chill.
Older kids away from college.
(07:11):
The owner is just like a verygrounded woman.
Lovely, quiet home.
Yeah.
Routine.
Routine for sure.
And so- When I looked throughthe bay window, everybody was
like calm.
Chilling.
The dog was on the couch withthe boys.
They're obsessed with eachother.
Yeah.
(07:32):
And I was on fire on the inside.
Oh, when you saw the boys ontheir devices.
Yeah.
Even though it was like.
a beautiful scene in there ofeverybody being calm.
So I opened the door and I'mlike, what are you guys doing?
I can look at you.
Look at your body right now.
And I'm like, and I'm going likecrazy stomping around.
(07:54):
Yeah.
You know, I told you to be offof the, you know, tech by the
time I got home.
I'm, you know, throwing my stuffdown.
They are then now meeting myenergy.
And they're like, what?
Mom, come on! You know, and it'sjust like this chaos of insanity
going on.
Way to go, Christy.
(08:16):
I know.
And then in that chaos, Irealized like I looked down and
Boots is like nipping at my arm.
He's like, yeah, yeah.
All of a sudden starting tobark.
And this is a this is a dog whowas chilling, chilling on the
couch.
Totally fine.
The boys are like throwing theiriPad down, marching around the
(08:36):
house like you are always theboss.
Like, you know, just screamingat me and stuff.
And that energy is.
Continued for a while.
I can feel it right now in mybody.
I can feel it.
And that energy continued untillike I kind of was snapped out
by boots being naughty.
Yeah.
And I'm like, what?
(08:57):
What are you doing?
Stop.
And I'm like yelling at him tostop.
But then I realized, oh, it wasme the whole time.
Yeah.
So.
What's the lesson?
I was in an awareness at thatpoint.
I finally got into awareness.
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (09:15):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:15):
So I did the box breathing, which we just did in
the beginning of the episodehere.
Yep.
The method to your madness.
Yep.
And I just brought it down.
Yeah.
And then finally the boysstarted to come down.
And then we got back into ourroutine, back into the flow of
our household.
(09:36):
And then we just kind of kept ongoing through the night.
So did you have to removeyourself from that situation?
Did you like once you becameaware of, oh, dear, you know,
this was me.
You know what I mean?
Like I did this.
I stirred this pot.
So did you had to removeyourself and sort of check it?
Are you kidding me?
Yes.
Yeah.
So thanks.
Thanks, Boots.
Yeah.
Thanks for that.
(09:56):
Right.
Thanks, Boots.
And if I would have brought myenergy in differently, like,
hey, guys, you know, I You know,I was hoping you would be off
your iPads by this time.
Right.
You know, you guys know therules.
You know the responsibility ofyourself.
Let's go.
Right.
You know, it would have probablyhave set us off on a different
(10:20):
track.
Sure.
Sure.
But I'm human.
Human.
And this happens.
Exactly.
Exactly.
All right.
What's going on in your world?
Are you Mama Zilla?
I I'm I'm not.
At the moment, we're in adifferent season.
Oh, I remember this time.
So I just had a baby about six,almost six months ago.
(10:43):
And so a lot of our day, it'sjust so, you know, when my
husband and my stepson on thenight he's with us, you know,
when they are out of the house,it's just me, the baby and the
dog.
So it's a real chill time.
vibe right in the house it's agrounding season I think that
(11:05):
we're in right now so um and youhave a chill vibe yourself I
yeah I'm pretty easy going I'mpretty easy I'm pretty chill
until I'm not and then I'm notbut again we're human um but
yeah I mean I would say that Iwould say the vibe in our house
is especially when it's just thethree of us in the house it's
(11:27):
you know we got our routine youknow we've got we get our
morning coffee going and then weget the morning bottle going.
And it's just, we've already,Junie's already been out.
She's been fed.
She's, you know, she's ready tochill.
So it's, it is this sort ofreally grounding season.
And actually it's really neatbecause Kelly is at the age
(11:50):
where he's really starting tofigure out Juniper.
Yeah.
Like seeing her.
Yeah.
He can see her now.
And he, I guess you could alwayssee her, but She's really coming
into focus, quite literallycoming into focus.
And he is fascinated by her.
And babies and dogs areenergetic creatures just by
(12:12):
nature because they don't have.
I mean, what do I know?
I'm not a scientist, but theydon't have the the loop that
adults have going on in theirmind about, you know, whatever
thing that's going on in yourworld.
And I got to do this.
I got to do that.
They don't have that.
Right.
And so the other day he washaving his bottle and she came.
(12:37):
She was on the back of the couchand they made eye contact and
they had this like reallyspecial little moment where he
stopped drinking and he startedto smile at her.
And then she came down off ofthe back of the couch onto the
couch beside us.
(12:57):
And she just sat there besideus.
And he put his hand on her face.
And then she went over and shelicked his little face.
And he giggled, you know.
And it was really beautiful.
And I don't know if it's justlike the first time mom and me,
but I was just, and the hormonesjust overflowing.
(13:19):
But there was, you know, I justkept thinking to myself, Man, it
would be so nice if we could allbe a little bit more like this.
Totally present, totallygrounded, and totally in the
moment, which is hard for us.
It's hard for human beings to bethat way.
(13:40):
I mean, we just have the loop inour head.
Yeah.
Non-stop.
For our listeners, it's not likeJunie is...
older, lab, super chill.
Like she has energy.
She's super playful and stuff.
It's just she was meeting theenergy of the household at that
moment.
(14:00):
Yes.
And she...
To be fair, like in the momentswhere, when our big kiddo is
home, when he, you know, my 14year old stepson, if he's home,
he loves to play with her andshe meets him there at that too.
And they will go and they will,she will get riled up.
But in this moment, it was notthat.
(14:20):
You know, she was meeting thislike really gentle and calm and
cool and a teaching moment forme.
It was a reminder that, This isthe vibe.
Yeah.
This is the vibe.
Right.
You want to that I want to tryto carry for sure through the
day and through my life, even inmoments that are hard moments.
(14:42):
What do you guys think?
Do you think she can she cankeep it?
I think you can.
I think it's just about beingintentional.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, that's sort of I mean,that's like the that's that's
the that's what we're talkingabout today.
It's all about awareness.
Yeah.
Right.
All right.
So here's the thing.
(15:03):
Dogs read body language.
So they literally read theenergy of the room, its people,
you and Kelly, other animals.
SPEAKER_02 (15:13):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:14):
And then they reflect that energy back.
SPEAKER_02 (15:17):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:18):
Also really cool is that dogs like us contain
structures in their brain thatThat allow them to process
facial expressions.
SPEAKER_00 (15:28):
Oh, yeah.
That's so cool.
SPEAKER_01 (15:29):
So they're so attuned to us.
And being attuned, the dogs inour lives are constantly giving
us feedback about the energylevels we're putting off.
And with their help, I think wecan become better.
Better humans.
I like what you did there.
How cool is that?
(15:50):
It is.
It's very cool.
It's very cool.
And it's not something that Ithink a lot of people are aware
of.
More so now because I think thissort of dialogue happens.
Yeah, we're hearing it more.
Yeah, you're hearing it more inlike the self-help space.
You know, you hear a lot aboutenergy.
And it was never something thatI was really all that aware of
(16:12):
until I started this.
reading some books in my 20s,you know, and being like, am I
the problem?
Yeah.
You know, and they put it alljoking aside.
It may not be something thatsome of our listeners are even
really aware of.
It's cool to be attuned to it.
(16:33):
Yeah.
So the energy of your dog is anoverall reflection of the energy
in your life and your home.
Yeah.
At a period of time.
Yeah.
So as long as we have dogs,which you're saying is so cool
in our lives, those dogs areacting like a big old mirror.
SPEAKER_00 (16:52):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (16:52):
Which is the, you know, what we basically saw in
our two examples.
Yes.
Of like me versus you right now.
SPEAKER_00 (16:58):
Yes.
Totally.
SPEAKER_01 (16:59):
So in other words, if we're calm and we take the
time to be present.
Yes.
Then they're calm.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
And.
your dogs will show the symptomsof your calm energy.
And the reverse can be the same.
You know, if you see if you'renoticing a lot of naughty
(17:19):
behavior, that's also a momentto pause.
Yeah.
So don't if.
Yeah, exactly.
So before you get upset at yourdog or you start blaming them
for the unwanted behaviors.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Look at it from a newperspective.
Look at it as like aninvitation.
Yes.
Yes, absolutely.
So the first step to improvingany situation is to get crystal
(17:43):
clear where you already are.
And so I think when you'relooking at energy, right, I
think the first thing isawareness.
Like Boots kind of gave me thatopportunity to be like, oh, hey,
I Totally.
You're not your normal self.
What's going on?
And you could have, you couldhave in that situation, scolded
(18:06):
him and gotten angry with him ortried to correct him and been
like, when you were gettingannoyed, but you had the
wherewithal to, in that moment,snap yourself back to the
present.
Yeah.
Which is what dogs do becausedogs are so present.
Correct.
Right?
Yeah.
So dogs are constantly in thepresent moment.
So in that moment, specificinstance he snapped you into
(18:29):
like your visceral state ofbeing like okay I'm acting like
a lunatic like what am I doingyeah yeah yeah they're like
little warning lights for usyeah like that warning lights
mm-hmm okay okay so let's let'sthen focus on the questions for
the dogs right like what's goingon so does your dog you know
(18:51):
rush doors and go ahead of you
SPEAKER_02 (18:53):
or
SPEAKER_01 (18:54):
will they sit and wait and Right.
Is it difficult for your dog tostay in a calm mindset?
Are they like constantly runningahead of you, chasing anything
that crosses your path?
SPEAKER_02 (19:07):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:08):
Barking at strangers.
Oh, my God.
Or passing, you know, dogs,which happen.
We see that all the time.
Dog walking.
Totally.
Totally.
Or they like calm on the leashand they're trotting by.
We see that a lot all the time,too, which is really cool.
And actually, I have a questionfor you, Chrissy.
So like.
In that instance, like when yousay that, when you're asking,
like, does your dog like rushthe door?
(19:30):
Does your dog do that?
Like, is it is it across theboard with all dogs?
Are you going to find differentsorts of behaviors and
different?
Like, it's this is not like ablanket.
This is not.
So you got to kind of getattuned as just as much as your
dogs attuned to you.
I think you got to start payingattention.
Right.
(19:50):
and seeing how your dog reactsto different things totally if
your dog responds to a bigenergy of another dog one dog
could bark at that dog anotherdog could kind of circle around
you and get on the other side ofyou and kind of do like a hiding
in a way you know and put thetwo to put more space between
(20:15):
that dog and yours.
So you really have to kind ofalso learn how your dog- Their
reaction?
Yeah, like how they're gonnareact to different energies too.
So it's not also being aware ofyourself, it's being aware of
them.
Okay, I like that.
So if dogs do naturally pick upon the emotional energy that
(20:36):
we're putting out, whether it'sjoy, excitement- anxiety,
sadness, anger, anything likethat.
What are some things that thelistener can do?
I think we're going to go backto the box breathing.
(20:58):
Okay.
Put that into your routine.
So again, it's really cool.
You breathe in, you hold forfour, and then you let that
breath out for four.
Yeah.
It's really cool because if youthink about it, it's like a
built-in meditation app forfree.
Yeah, I love it.
I mean, God gave it to you.
You might as well use it, right?
Right.
And then I think like anotherthing is, is like if it's just
(21:21):
you or if it's you and you havea family, I think the best thing
is go for a dog walk.
Like go for a walk.
Yes.
Be direct.
Yeah.
And be out in nature.
Yes.
And, you know, help your doglike feel...
safe with you because the moreyou're grounded, the more you're
(21:43):
calm, they will likely followyour lead.
Yeah.
I love that.
Going for a walk.
Number one, we've talked aboutthis before drains the energy of
the dog from a physical manner.
Yes.
Uh-huh.
And at the same time, the likehitting of the payment.
(22:03):
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Is grounding for the dog.
Mm-hmm.
And then that energy kind offeeds up into you as the human.
Yeah.
And then you get automaticallygrounded.
Dude, I am following.
Yes.
Now you're kind of in thiscycle.
A flow.
A flow between you and them.
And then it would be cool, too,if, you know, if you have
(22:25):
roommates or your family, likeif you're all kind of going out
there and doing it, you know.
Right.
So to the listener that hasthree kids.
UNKNOWN (22:36):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (22:36):
A dog that.
Is reactive.
To the energy of the children.
That sort of thing.
Like if you can.
And you have the capacity to.
What Chrissy's saying.
Is basically say.
Stop.
Pause.
If you notice that things aregetting really hot.
Right.
And go out for a walk.
Redirect.
Shift that energy.
Move it.
Yeah.
Move it.
(22:57):
Yeah.
Get it outside.
Pound it.
You know.
Put it back into the earth.
That kind of.
And then.
The thing Cara too.
Is when you do that.
Yeah.
The dog.
Yeah.
Okay.
Got it.
Got it.
Yes.
Okay.
(23:23):
Okay.
And then when you are like,that's why it's so soothing to
pet a dog, because not only isit the process of soothing and
like of petting the motion goingback and forth.
Sure.
But you're also receiving fromthem the energy that they
borrowed from the earth.
(23:44):
You're now receiving them intoyour body.
Right.
UNKNOWN (23:51):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (23:52):
So that's why the walk is so important.
We always go back to the walk,don't I?
Yeah, of course.
And this might sound like, allof this could seem, it might
sound a little woo-woo.
Come over to the woo-woo sidebecause it's actually working.
Yeah, I was like, but it reallydoes, even if you just put all
(24:13):
the energy, all this talk thatwe're saying aside, the actual
physical walk is, And thepetting, like all of that is
really, truly relaxing.
It does put you in a more stablemindset.
It does.
And puts you in that presentmindset, too, that we talked
about.
Yes.
Yeah.
(24:34):
So when we're out in that walk,right?
Yeah.
You're not going to just snapand you're in it.
Right.
You're going to have to kind ofgo through a process with your
dog.
Right.
Because you might need toreevaluate some things that
we're going to be talking thatwe've already talked about in
our walk.
But we're also going to learnfurther down the line in this
podcast.
OK.
You know, sometimes we see itout.
(24:55):
Like if you're out on a walk andyou're, you know, talk.
Oh, talking to your dog andstuff like that.
You know what?
It's more of not like what we'resaying to the dog.
It's more about like- Thephysicality.
Yeah, our posture, right?
Yeah.
So instead, notice when you'rewalking, if your arms are at a
(25:16):
90 degree angle, like let themgo.
Relax.
Yeah.
If your shoulders are up to yourears, like bring them back down.
Totally.
Okay.
And all of that shift is thenthat, again- Going back to that
being that pack leader, that'sgoing to shift you into that
position and that energy isgoing to also relay over to your
(25:38):
dog.
What about the leash?
Yeah.
So with the leash, sometimes wecan get a little tense out in
the big world.
And you notice that you might beholding the leash with two hands
or you might jumble up the leashinto one hand and you're holding
it really tight.
Yeah.
Especially if your dog's reactedto another dog.
(26:00):
And so you're squeezing it on aharder.
So, you know, make sure that Iyou're talking about this and my
shoulders are going up.
Yeah.
Like I'm like, I can like feelthe tension.
Yeah.
So remember when you're out forthe walk, like.
You know, I like just to takethat six foot loop.
I mean, six foot leash and justloop it in one big old like
(26:24):
lasso and then just dangle it inthe palm of your hands.
Okay.
Got it.
Or you can wear like a day pack,a fanny pack and attach it to
you.
Yeah.
And then you can be hands free.
Yeah.
So that then the energy of yourgrounding is just going straight
to the dog.
I love that.
Just reshifting.
Yeah.
the leash in your hand to bemore relaxed, shoulders down and
(26:48):
arms straight.
And just be on a walk like thedog's not even there.
And then, you know, that energyis going to flow.
And this is, it's important tonote that this might not come as
naturally to some people, right?
Like this, this could, this ispractice.
This takes practice.
(27:09):
It takes practice to get thatway.
to get that comfortable too, Ithink for a lot of folks.
I know, okay, I will not put, Iwant to project that onto our
listeners, but I know for mepersonally, it took a long time
for me to learn how to do that.
To do the walk.
Yeah.
And I mean, obviously as a dogwalker for over a decade, I
(27:30):
learned how to do it, but thereare still days and I can, I know
we could come up with dozens ofstories from all of our walkers
who are exceptional walkers,right?
Yeah.
They have bad days where theirenergy is off.
Yes.
For whatever situational thingthat happened.
And then that in turn spins upthe whole pack.
(27:50):
Right.
Yes.
So like if we have an anxious orchaotic energy or if we're like
having unresolved stress fromthe morning.
Totally.
The first thing that we alwaysask our dog walkers like, hey,
what's going on with you?
Yeah.
You OK?
Yeah.
Something happened.
Yeah.
Because or like, hey.
How about we take a beat rightnow together?
(28:11):
You know, let's just kind of getyou back on track.
So we go back to that boxbreathing or we kind of hash it
out together.
We talk it out.
You release it just so they canrelease it.
And then they get back into ourschedule because, you know, it's
important for me.
Right.
To make sure my my team is outthere totally in a healthy
mindset because things can goawry with the with the pack.
SPEAKER_00 (28:33):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (28:34):
But.
Listen, I've been doing this fora long time.
I mean, I just walked this pastweek with 20 dogs, like 10 at a
time.
Dude, my pack was off because Iwas anxious for the day because
I had so many dogs and it wentawry too.
So it's not only going to belike you learning with the dog
(28:55):
when you're first in this, ithappens to all of us.
So just know it's a practice andit's ongoing.
And even people that are vets atdoing this, also have to take
that pause, take that shift.
That's why, and I'm going todigress for one quick second,
but that's also why I love yogabecause it's sort of similar
(29:16):
into that way.
It's a practice, right?
You may have some days whereyou're like, oh, I am in the
flow.
I am in this groove.
I am getting these poses.
And then some days you fall overdoing a tree pose, right?
Because you're just like, soyour mind is spinning, right?
So it's kind of like, but thenwhen you can find the flow or
(29:37):
even just bring awareness to thebody, you're in the present.
Yeah.
Just like the dogs.
Yeah.
You're in the present.
Right?
Yeah.
I love it.
I love it.
So our goal here is to bepresent.
Yeah.
Like yoga and our dogs teach usto do.
Totally.
Totally.
And we've said it a couple oftimes already, and be in
(30:01):
awareness.
Yes.
And one of the most magicalqualities of our dogs is their
capacity to be in the presentmoment, like we've said.
Right, right.
Yeah.
That's what we struggle with ashumans.
We do.
But that's okay.
Yeah.
So instead of letting ourthoughts swirl in our brains,
(30:22):
instead of, you know, Stressingover the coulda, shoulda,
wouldas or the things that arein the future that we know we
have to do, our to-do list,right?
As much as we can, if we canfind a way to be present and
grounded in the moment, thenthat is going to change our
whole vibe.
And that's going to reflect notonly in our dogs, but it's going
(30:44):
to help us in our householdswith our coworkers.
You know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Wait, this is so funny becauseright now I'm not grounded
because I'm getting so excitedlike that.
We're like kind of like I likeI'm so excited for the listener
to like become aware.
Oh, my God.
I have like so many things in myhead that I want to just spit
(31:05):
out, but we're not going to dothat.
But my energy is so like.
because my mind is runningbecause I'm getting so excited
for this.
Okay.
Okay.
I'm settling myself back down,guys.
Right.
And how are you going to dothat, Chrissy?
Take a breath.
I think I'm going to take abreath.
Yeah.
I don't have a dog right now togo for a walk, but I'm going to
take a breath.
(31:25):
Yes.
Yes.
So, you know, if you havelearned anything from listening
to us today, the moral of thestory is dogs are...
are going to be your greatestteacher to your emotional and
visceral state.
(31:47):
And so if you allow that, if youallow them to be that big old
mirror that you said, you canbring yourself back to the
present moment.
SPEAKER_02 (31:59):
You
SPEAKER_01 (31:59):
can bring yourself into a more calm, stable mindset
And that will in turn sort ofdeepen the relationship with
your dog because that's who youwant to be for your dog.
Correct.
That's the leader that you wantto be for your dog.
So if you can find ways, even ifit's just snippets through the
(32:22):
day, even if it's just momentsthrough the day, that's good.
That's great.
Those are the grounding momentsthat you want to strive for.
And the more you have thosemoments, like we always say,
like with the training, likelayering on top Totally.
It's compounding together andtogether.
And then like then you'll justget into that flow with your
(32:44):
family and your dogs.
Yes.
And it will change.
It will it will change yourlife.
I mean, let's see.
That seems like a big, boldstatement.
But, you know, those littlethose little micro movements,
you know, can can really change.
Help you be more dog, right?
They can help you be more in themoment, more present, more
(33:06):
present with your children, morepresent with your spouse or your
partner.
It can be a really positiveimpact.
So we talk about this todaybecause we want you guys to
really experience what Kara andI get to experience on a daily
basis in our team by being sogrounded with our dogs.
(33:28):
Now, we don't have that, like Isaid, nailed down.
We're not doing that.
Oh, God.
Yeah.
We're not experts at this by anymeans.
No.
But we want you to feel thatwith your dog.
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
So, guys, go.
UNKNOWN (33:46):
Go.
SPEAKER_01 (33:47):
Go try it out.
Right.
Yeah.
Go check in.
Yeah.
Bring the awareness.
Think about just think about itto think.
OK.
Oh, yeah.
I've never really noticed.
But when I'm you know, if I getif my team scores a touchdown
and I get all riled up becauseI'm psyched about it, my dog
(34:07):
jumps off the couch and startsbarking at the television.
That's energy.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
And it's the same if I, youknow, get into it.
Get an email that I findunsettling and all of a sudden
my body language changes becauseI'm stressed out about it.
And then you notice your dogstarts to pace.
(34:28):
That's energy.
Yeah.
So those little things.
And the minute you can be awareof it, that's all you need to do
is be in awareness of it.
Because the minute that you'rein awareness, then you're
automatically in the present.
And if you can be in thepresent, then you can meet the
moment and make the change.
Girl.
UNKNOWN (34:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (34:50):
Love our dogs.
What would we do without them?
I love them too.
They're exceptional teachers.
All right.
Until we see you next time.
Yay.
Dog is love.
Thank you.
Thank you.
(35:33):
We would be so grateful.
Dog is Love is created andhosted by Chrissy Waltman and
Cara Kelly in partnership withK9to5.
Our show is produced by TonyKelly at Baltimore Podcast
Space.
Our original theme song waswritten and recorded by our very
own Cara Kelly.
SPEAKER_00 (35:56):
We could pretend That we have the answers Or we
could lean into the light Causeman complicates The stillness of
SPEAKER_01 (36:23):
nature While dogs humbly watch with awe
SPEAKER_00 (36:30):
in their eyes We're not supposed to struggle alone A
friend for
SPEAKER_01 (36:50):
a lifetime To guide you wherever you roam Dog is
(37:13):
love Like the roots of the treesand the stars up above Dog is
love Judgment freeunconditionally
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.