January 10, 2024 • 26 mins
In this episode of ER VET, Dr. Justine Lee, DACVECC, DABT interviews dog-owner and author, Pilley Bianchi on her recent book "For the Love of Dog." Tune in to learn all about this ultimate dog resource, and learn about the importance of dog play, dog training, and communication with your dog!
SHOW NOTES: For the Love of Dog with Author Pilley Bianchi
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/er-vet-stories-from-the-animal-er-pet-life-radio-original-petliferadio-com--6667836/support.
SHOW NOTES: For the Love of Dog with Author Pilley Bianchi
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/er-vet-stories-from-the-animal-er-pet-life-radio-original-petliferadio-com--6667836/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Is pet Life Radio. Let's Talk Pets.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to eer Venom pet Life Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Her host doctor Justine Lee, and I'm an emergency critical
care venory specialist and toxicologist.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Today one, I'm so excited because we're going to be
speaking with author and dog lover Pilli Bianchi, and she's
going to be talking about a book that she authored
called for the Love of Dog, The Ultimate Relationship Guide, Observations,
lessons and wisdom to better understand our canine companions. We'll
be right back after these messages.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Take a bite out of your your competition, advertise your
business with an ad in Petlife Radio podcasts and radio shows.
There is no other pet related media that is as
large and reaches more pet parents and pet lovers than
Petlife Radio with over seven million monthly listeners. Pet Life
Radio podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms, and
(01:21):
our live radio stream goes out to over two hundred
and fifty million subscribers on iHeartRadio, Odyssey, tune In, and
other streaming apps. For more information on how you can
advertise on the number one pet podcast and radio network,
visit Petlifradio dot com. Slash advertised today let's.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
Talk pets on Petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Welcome back to ARBT. I'm pet Life Radio. Super excited
to talk to dog lover.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I mean, who doesn't love dogs or cats and listen
to the show. But just wanted to say a huge
thank you and a huge welcome to Pilli Bianchi.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
And just so our audience knows who you are, do
you mind giving us a little bit of background about
who you are, who your pets are, and how you
first fell in love with pets.
Speaker 6 (02:23):
Oh gosh, that's that's a great introductory question. I appreciate it.
My father was John Pilly, who is the owner and
trainer of Chaser, the border collie. So she had the
largest language learning of viney animal in the world, and
so he was a researcher and had the goal of
teaching her human language, which he did in his seventies
(02:45):
and eighties. And I am an expert on Chaser. I
was her producer in the high the scenes, writer and
water girl. Chaser and I shared a bedroom. She was
my little sister, so to speak. So I was a
ghostwriter on my father's first book, which was a New
(03:06):
York Times bestseller, and I have a new book out
now that I had been writing with my father before
he passed away in twenty eighteen. It was a more
prescriptive book on how he taught Chaser human language and
why you should do the same, and the exact methods
(03:27):
he used with Chaser, and the philosophies that he used
that were so critical in teaching Chaser. They were the
one in the same methods that he used with me,
my sister, all of our family animals. Growing up with
a psychologist and a behavioral psychologist as a dad was
(03:47):
truly magical. So no family pet was off limits as
a science fere project. And I'm here to give readers
behind the scenes on Chaser, stories about our other family
pets and how you can deepen your relationship with your dogs.
So this was the book Dad and I have been
(04:08):
collaborating on mapy past. I discovered I really needed to
find a way to put this book in my voice
and it was had to be more playful in my mind.
So that's what the For the Love of Dog is.
I did it with a brilliant illustrator from the UK,
Callum Heath, so that we're giving readers digestible information that
(04:32):
is very valuable.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Well, first of all, I'm sorry for the loss of
your dad. You know, when he wrote that book, Chase,
I think anyone who's ever worked with border colligues knows.
Of course, border collies are the smartest dogs out there,
and you know, knowing how we can communicate with them,
and how it just strengthens the human animal bond, knowing
that they're.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Our best friend.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
I think a lot of people, especially non dog people,
they don't understand the intelligence of dog. It's dog owners
who understand that. But I loved how your dad explored
the boundaries of language between dogs and humans and how
that's been so key in our relationship with them. So,
first of all, what made you decide to write the book?
Speaker 6 (05:14):
We had been compiling all of this information for his
second book. His publisher wanted a second book, and I
had all this richness of tutorials as well as stories
that my dad hadn't told. There were my experiences with
my father. Because what a lot of people don't realize
is that Chaser was not the anomaly. The anomaly was
(05:37):
my father. He was the brilliant mind behind the dog,
and it was because of his experience with dogs in
the classroom. He was using dogs in the classroom in
the late seventies, eighties, and nineties. He determined that it
would be way more fun to use dogs in the
classroom than rats and pigeons, and so he was way
(06:00):
head of the curve and understanding that dogs truly are
a unique species and the bond that that we share
with them is not only emotional, but it's grounded in science,
particularly through the evolutionary path that we shared for forty
thousand years. So this was the kind of information that
we did not get to deliver and chase her and
(06:21):
so that's why I wrote For the Love of Dog.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Now, I did want to ask how did you come
up with the title?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Obviously all dog owners love their dog, but what made
you think of the title?
Speaker 6 (06:30):
Well, in writing the book, I was finding so many similarities.
There's always the playoff of dog and God. And what
I discovered this was a really strange thing, was discovering
that learning the history of dogs. Dogs are referenced in
the Bible is insults hurled at humans, and so they
are represented very negatively. And so I started researching, well,
(06:53):
what is it about dogs that are God like? And
how could we play off on that? And what I
discovered was that dogs had an elevator, an elevated seat
at the table in ancient cultures, they were revered by
the gods, and so I knew that there was the
playoff of dogs and gods, which is significant as far
(07:17):
as our evolutionary path together. So my publisher really loved
that idea and praise be to a dog, those sort
of things that we feel every day as dog lovers.
So we were hoping it would be catchy enough for
everybody to want to pick up the book.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Well, as we all know, when you spell dog backward,
it is god right, So we do all them up
to a godlike status because they are amazing companions. And
I did want to touch on you brought up a
great point about the illustrations in your book.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I love the illustrations in your book.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Right now, everyone's so visual, especially with technology and just
seeing like the evolution, how you describe the evolution to
things like comparisons and appearances and different read standards, great,
great illustrations.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Absolutely love that.
Speaker 6 (08:08):
Thank you. Yes, if it's going to be the other
key helmet in my father's work with Chaser is that
everything was done through play. And when learning is fun,
it happens rapidly. And so that is also an ode
to my father. You know, he was a true believer
in play, and dogs into their old age loved to play.
(08:30):
This is an innate instinct. So we wanted to make
the book playful. Now.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Now you brought something up before in the very beginning
of your introduction about dogs and training and kids and training,
and I will say it wasn't until I had a
two legged human, and previous to the two legged human,
I had had four legged human for decades, when I
realized so much about kid training, like human kid training
(08:55):
is so similar to dog training. But that's a whole
nother podcast. We can talk about that. Now, give me
the just breakdown of how you wrote the book, how
you outlined.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
It, and what our readers need to know about it.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
Well, first of all, we started a little with the
who Dad and Chaser were and why their research was
so important. And Chaser has been described as the most
important dog and over a century by doctor Brian Hare
at Duke University. And why is that. What was key
about my father's work with Chaser is that he had
(09:29):
been modeling his methods after the great animal researchers that
came before him, with sus Savage, rom Ball and Lewis
Harmon with the dolphins, So that we've been working with
species like primates, dolphins, and Alex the parrot, but nobody
had been checking out dogs. And here they are sitting
(09:51):
and wait at our feet. So my father understood that
dogs were truly underestimated as far as their cognitive skills
were involved. So the book in the beginning talks about
that why was Chaser important and the science behind Chaser
was so overwhelmingly indisputable. She had a ninety five percent
(10:14):
success rate overtesting for three years. That's kind of a
standard that no one in science has ever held. Their
feet are held with the fire that strongly. So. But
what my father's discoveries were so significant it took him
three years just to get the information published. So the
book is introducing you to Dad and Chaser and what
(10:37):
was unique about them, and that Chaser is not different
from other dogs. She is a gateway to understanding all
dogs and by also dipping our toe into the history
of dogs and why it's so significant we are the
only two species on the planet out of millions of
(10:57):
species that have shared an evolutionary process together. So that's
really remarkable, and I wanted to demonstrate why it's not
the survival of the fittess, it really is the survival
of the friendliest, and how our two species had a
symbiotic relationship as far as hunting, herding, and protection. So
(11:23):
this is pretty crazy and remarkable. Then when we go
from there, we talk about the philosophy of dogs and
why dogs and why you should want to kind of
get to know your dog more the dog sitting at
your feet. We're giving you the tools to understand that
all dogs are individuals. One size does not fit all breeds.
(11:45):
Give us information as far as like whether your dog's
a slow poke or a powerhouse, but it doesn't tell
us about them emotionally and how they're going to react
in certain situations. So we also want to give readers
the rules to tell the difference between anxious and happy
and how you can discover your dog's happy place and
(12:08):
a lot of ways that will help you discover your
own happy place. So we also get into the how
to teach your dog language. Why teach your dog language?
Communication is valuable on many levels in many different forms.
So we're giving you, we're cracking the code and letting
you learn how to teach your dog language and channel
(12:31):
that for even further learning. Those are the kind of
things that are in the book.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
You know, I'm so glad you brought that up.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
That was actually the next thing I was going to
bring up was the symbiotic relationship those exact words of
dogs humans that companionship, and I'm sure it was. You know,
it's evolved from you know, getting free food as a
food source to companionship and just seeing it develop over
time has been amazing.
Speaker 6 (12:56):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
It's interesting because my advice is a veterinarian. Whenever I
talk to people who say, oh, I'm think about getting
a dog, what kind of dog should I get? I
always say, well, here are my two general rules before
you even think about getting a dog, and one of
them is exercise for ideally thirty minutes a day in
two fifteen minute increments, and then making sure they do
(13:17):
one to two levels of puppy obedience regardless of their age,
because that training is so important to foster that relationship.
And so I love how you brought up the importance
of training and if I could just say one thing.
I'd love to hear your opinion on it. The number
one mistake I often see dog owners making when they're
trying to train their dog is using too many words.
(13:38):
We probably have seen that Gary Larson cartoon where it's
like blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, cookie,
you know, and using short commands when it comes to
dog training, so sit, stay, heal, you know, commands like that.
So oftentimes I hear people over talking to their dog,
especially in.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
The beginning training period.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Unfortunately, I probably made this mistake with my child, my
two legged child, where I would like use short commands
and unfortunately now sometimes they'll just be like sit. So
that's the negative side of things.
Speaker 6 (14:12):
Well, that's it's interesting because yes, we humans are really
the problem child in our relationship. You know, dogs want
to learn, they want to communicate, but and they're always listening.
So your dog inherently learns words like bath, that out,
don't want to go out. They learn certain things like
(14:33):
want to go out. That's just the whole phrase of
going outside, right, They don't really know that want to
go out. Those words have independent meaning, and that is
what my father was setting out to discover with Chaser
how he could teach her so that words independently had value.
And he did it very, very simply. And we should
(14:55):
be mindful as humans what we are saying to our
because they're primed and pumped and ready to learn. And
I even have a story in the book that talks
about how when Chaser understood that words had meaning, she
could pair the name of an action with the name
or the name of an object on one trial alone.
(15:18):
And so one time my father was trying to help
chase her into the car, and he accidentally as he
was helping her, he said, do you want me to
help you? And now as he helped her, he twisted
her legs. So once she learned you want me to
help you, she began to think that every time he
did that, now this is going to hurt. So she
(15:39):
would frog hop so fast. So what he thought he
was saying to her was not what she heard. So
you heard this is going to hurt now, and when
he went to lift her up. So people make these
kind of JV errors all the time. And if we
can modify our behavior, our language, we're going to be
setting our dogs up to succeed you.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Know, you bring up such a great point because oftentimes,
if I was gonna say, a second mistake is an
appropriate negative and positive feedback with dog training, and you
just gave a great example. Another example I see is
when someone is, you know, they have their dog outside
in the backyard, and often dog owners will think, oh,
my dog's getting a ton of exercise in the backyard,
(16:22):
when actually they're not.
Speaker 6 (16:23):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
They still need that playtime, they still need that dog walk.
But we'll talk about that after a break. But one
thing that I often see is they'll put the dog outside,
the dog is barking. The owner wants to quote unquote
bluntly shut them up, and so they give them a
raw hide or dog bone while their dog is barking
outside to keep them quiet, when.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
In actuality, you just rewarded your dog for barking. Right,
Your dog's like, I need.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
A bark, and you just reinforce that behavior exactly.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
And so same exact thing with kids, right Like, if
you reward them while they're having a temper tantrum, they're like, oh, but.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
I have a temper chan might get a reward.
Speaker 6 (17:01):
This works, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
So making sure we have that appropriate positive and negative feedback,
any other tips that you have when it comes to training.
Speaker 6 (17:09):
When you're working with your dog, you want to try
to avoid the word no as much as possible. No
is not a word that makes any of us happy,
and it's most people in working with their dog overuse
it and the dogs kind of become anesthetized to it.
And what my father did with Chaser and teaching her,
(17:30):
he used airless learning was set hosting a situation where
she could not make a mistake, which was like when
she's he's teaching her the name of a new toy.
He would only have one toy on the floor, and
if he saw that she was about to go to
the wrong toy or to another object, he would call
her back so he didn't have to say no. No
(17:50):
should simply be a cue for your dog to stop
what they're doing. It should not be a versive, and
it should be used in a quiet voice. If you
speak softly, your dog is going to try harder to listen,
so is pet owners. We want to be very aware
that we overuse the word no too many times. And
what you have to do is you just have to
(18:12):
back up and again reshape your behavior. We forget that
dogs are a product of human behavior. If you've got
an anxious dog, if you've got an aggressive dog, this
is because they have a previous experience and that they
have had with another human being. So we have to
(18:32):
reshape our own behavior to have a positive relationship with
our dog. And remember, learning takes time. It takes repetition
and nobody. To be a doctor, you have to repeat
things over and over. As a musician, we have to
practice over and over again to become accomplished at something. No,
this is true with your dog. You know it takes time.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
A great great information. I also agree with saying no
too much. Same thing for kids. So it is really interesting.
So love the information. We'll be right back with this
fantastic information from Philly, author of For the Love of
Jog right after these messages.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Mollie, here's your dinner.
Speaker 6 (19:21):
See that's not your food.
Speaker 7 (19:23):
Don't let that happen to your precious cat. Elevate your
cat's eating experience with the cat tree tray. The cat
tree tray keeps your cat's food off the floor and
conveniently located on the cat tree. It's the perfect way
to eat. It's a beautiful brought iron tray that easily
attaches to your cat tree and keeps dogs and other
critters out of your cat's dish. A must from Multi
(19:46):
Fat Households. There's a six inch tray for large bowls
and a four inch tray for smaller bulls. Perge just
your cat tree tray today. Go right now to cattreetray
dot com. That's cattreetray dot com. C A T t
R E E t R A.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
Y dot com.
Speaker 8 (20:07):
Let's talk past, Let's go Petty Radio Headline Radio, pet
live radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Welcome back to er Venom pet like Radio. Super excited.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
We're speaking with Pilli, the author of For the Love
of Dog, and we've been talking about training. We've been
talking about her Ultimate Relationship Guide for our Canine companions
and if you know someone who's getting a dog in
twenty twenty four, this is a great book to be
able to get. Remember side note, Soapbox, you should never
get a dog for someone. If you want to, you
(20:56):
should give them a coupon, you know, cartoon drawing or
a crayon drawing of a certificate for dog. But I'm
never a huge advocate of getting pets's gifts. All right now,
Pilly I wanted to ask you. You talked about the
importance of play in your book, and I love how
your book is full of illustrations, so it's like fifty
percent illustration, So I love it.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
It's so tangible and readable, super easy to read. Right away.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
You talk about the importance of play, and I know
I've been making all these analogies to two legged people
a two legged kids. I just feel like society doesn't
play enough now. And you know, I have recently adopted
a French bulldog puppy who ended up having parvo virus,
so I rescued him. And you forget when you have
an older dog how much they play that leaf that
(21:41):
just happens to be blowing in the wind. They're like
prancing after it. You know, when they see a grasshopper
or a moth jumping up in the grass, they want
to play with it.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
And we really forget about that.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Tell me why play is so important and ways we
can play with our dog more.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
Oh, that's such a great question. Will I'll tell a
little story. I had a friend come over with his
five month old. She was a pit kind of mix,
and he was concerned because she didn't like to play.
And I said, well, what do you mean, she goes, well,
I bought her all these toys and she doesn't play
with them. And the catches is that a lot of
(22:16):
dogs don't play independently. Sometimes they do, but they love
the engagement between human and between us and them. And
Chaser was a real player, but only if she had
a playmate. So what I discovered when I was working
with Ruthie, my friend's dog. I thought it was so
(22:38):
sad that she didn't like to play, and I asked,
how do you play with her? Well, we don't play
with her. So I got a pine cone and I
started picking up and toss it in the air and
I would run after I would drop it, I'd run
after it. And sure enough, after a couple of throwing
the pine cone up in the air, Ruthie was watching
and when I dropped it for the third time, she
went running for it. So we start started the cat
(23:01):
and mouse game. We started chasing. I was naming the
object pine cone as I was playing with it, and
I would hide it and plain sight and she would
lunch for it. I would throw it to her and
say catch pine cone, find pine cone. And this was
not only had released her joy of play. It showed
(23:24):
my friend how to play with his dog, and she
also learned the name of an object as well as
a couple of cues like find and catch. So this
kind of engagement with your dog is not only fun
for them, but it's fun for you. I have. I
had so much fun running out to chase her and
playing hide and seek and tossing things back and forth.
(23:47):
It's just an innate instinct in dogs and most animals,
even in the wild, large cats will play. And why
did they play? Because this could be expending in her
that they could really need in the wild. But the
simple reason they play is because it feels good, and
(24:08):
play enables us to be in the moment of joy.
So that's what's so key about play. And it builds
your bond with your dog. It builds confidence too.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
You know, it's when I said that I feel like
people under exercise their dog. Whether or not it's exercising
with them for thirty minutes, it could just be playtime, right,
interacting with them, throwing them a frisbee, throwing them a
tennis ball, right, you know, goofing off with them, making
sure they're in a safe environment obviously when you do,
but so so important. Well, I just want to tell
(24:42):
you I love this book. I think it's an amazing
fast resource, especially with all the amazing illustrations. Your illustrators
really good, and she really just love seeing the story
of Chaser and the impact on your life. And again,
we often don't think about how smart our dogs are.
I think dog owners and cat owners think their pets
(25:02):
are really smart, but we often underestimate the language that
they understand. And I love that both you and your
father were able to reiterate that. Don't forget to check
it out for all you awesome dog lovers out there. Again,
it's called for the Love of Dog, The Ultimate Relationship Guide, observations,
lessons and wisdom to better understand.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Our canine companions.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Phillie.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Where can people find your book?
Speaker 6 (25:25):
Oh, that's a great question. At most major booksellers and
on Amazon is a perfect place to pick one up.
But yeah, wherever books are sold, you can also order it.
It's in Barnes and Noble. You can find it at
my publisher's Princeton Parka Techtroalpress's website dapress dot com, but
(25:46):
on Amazon.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Wonderful, Thank you so much, absolutely love it so thank
you so much.
Speaker 6 (25:50):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Well that brings us to the end of today's show.
Thanks so much for joining and find me at.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Doctor Justinlee dot com, on Facebook or Instagram at doctor
Justine Lee, or tell me your pet questions at doctor
just at petlife radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
With that, we're out of time.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
If we want to thank our guests Killie and Mark Winter,
our producer, for making the show possible.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
See you at the next episode.
Speaker 5 (26:12):
Let's Talk Best every week on demand only on petlife
radio dot com.
Is pet Life Radio. Let's Talk Pets.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to eer Venom pet Life Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Her host doctor Justine Lee, and I'm an emergency critical
care venory specialist and toxicologist.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Today one, I'm so excited because we're going to be
speaking with author and dog lover Pilli Bianchi, and she's
going to be talking about a book that she authored
called for the Love of Dog, The Ultimate Relationship Guide, Observations,
lessons and wisdom to better understand our canine companions. We'll
be right back after these messages.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Take a bite out of your your competition, advertise your
business with an ad in Petlife Radio podcasts and radio shows.
There is no other pet related media that is as
large and reaches more pet parents and pet lovers than
Petlife Radio with over seven million monthly listeners. Pet Life
Radio podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms, and
(01:21):
our live radio stream goes out to over two hundred
and fifty million subscribers on iHeartRadio, Odyssey, tune In, and
other streaming apps. For more information on how you can
advertise on the number one pet podcast and radio network,
visit Petlifradio dot com. Slash advertised today let's.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
Talk pets on Petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Welcome back to ARBT. I'm pet Life Radio. Super excited
to talk to dog lover.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I mean, who doesn't love dogs or cats and listen
to the show. But just wanted to say a huge
thank you and a huge welcome to Pilli Bianchi.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
And just so our audience knows who you are, do
you mind giving us a little bit of background about
who you are, who your pets are, and how you
first fell in love with pets.
Speaker 6 (02:23):
Oh gosh, that's that's a great introductory question. I appreciate it.
My father was John Pilly, who is the owner and
trainer of Chaser, the border collie. So she had the
largest language learning of viney animal in the world, and
so he was a researcher and had the goal of
teaching her human language, which he did in his seventies
(02:45):
and eighties. And I am an expert on Chaser. I
was her producer in the high the scenes, writer and
water girl. Chaser and I shared a bedroom. She was
my little sister, so to speak. So I was a
ghostwriter on my father's first book, which was a New
(03:06):
York Times bestseller, and I have a new book out
now that I had been writing with my father before
he passed away in twenty eighteen. It was a more
prescriptive book on how he taught Chaser human language and
why you should do the same, and the exact methods
(03:27):
he used with Chaser, and the philosophies that he used
that were so critical in teaching Chaser. They were the
one in the same methods that he used with me,
my sister, all of our family animals. Growing up with
a psychologist and a behavioral psychologist as a dad was
(03:47):
truly magical. So no family pet was off limits as
a science fere project. And I'm here to give readers
behind the scenes on Chaser, stories about our other family
pets and how you can deepen your relationship with your dogs.
So this was the book Dad and I have been
(04:08):
collaborating on mapy past. I discovered I really needed to
find a way to put this book in my voice
and it was had to be more playful in my mind.
So that's what the For the Love of Dog is.
I did it with a brilliant illustrator from the UK,
Callum Heath, so that we're giving readers digestible information that
(04:32):
is very valuable.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Well, first of all, I'm sorry for the loss of
your dad. You know, when he wrote that book, Chase,
I think anyone who's ever worked with border colligues knows.
Of course, border collies are the smartest dogs out there,
and you know, knowing how we can communicate with them,
and how it just strengthens the human animal bond, knowing
that they're.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Our best friend.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
I think a lot of people, especially non dog people,
they don't understand the intelligence of dog. It's dog owners
who understand that. But I loved how your dad explored
the boundaries of language between dogs and humans and how
that's been so key in our relationship with them. So,
first of all, what made you decide to write the book?
Speaker 6 (05:14):
We had been compiling all of this information for his
second book. His publisher wanted a second book, and I
had all this richness of tutorials as well as stories
that my dad hadn't told. There were my experiences with
my father. Because what a lot of people don't realize
is that Chaser was not the anomaly. The anomaly was
(05:37):
my father. He was the brilliant mind behind the dog,
and it was because of his experience with dogs in
the classroom. He was using dogs in the classroom in
the late seventies, eighties, and nineties. He determined that it
would be way more fun to use dogs in the
classroom than rats and pigeons, and so he was way
(06:00):
head of the curve and understanding that dogs truly are
a unique species and the bond that that we share
with them is not only emotional, but it's grounded in science,
particularly through the evolutionary path that we shared for forty
thousand years. So this was the kind of information that
we did not get to deliver and chase her and
(06:21):
so that's why I wrote For the Love of Dog.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Now, I did want to ask how did you come
up with the title?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Obviously all dog owners love their dog, but what made
you think of the title?
Speaker 6 (06:30):
Well, in writing the book, I was finding so many similarities.
There's always the playoff of dog and God. And what
I discovered this was a really strange thing, was discovering
that learning the history of dogs. Dogs are referenced in
the Bible is insults hurled at humans, and so they
are represented very negatively. And so I started researching, well,
(06:53):
what is it about dogs that are God like? And
how could we play off on that? And what I
discovered was that dogs had an elevator, an elevated seat
at the table in ancient cultures, they were revered by
the gods, and so I knew that there was the
playoff of dogs and gods, which is significant as far
(07:17):
as our evolutionary path together. So my publisher really loved
that idea and praise be to a dog, those sort
of things that we feel every day as dog lovers.
So we were hoping it would be catchy enough for
everybody to want to pick up the book.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Well, as we all know, when you spell dog backward,
it is god right, So we do all them up
to a godlike status because they are amazing companions. And
I did want to touch on you brought up a
great point about the illustrations in your book.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I love the illustrations in your book.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Right now, everyone's so visual, especially with technology and just
seeing like the evolution, how you describe the evolution to
things like comparisons and appearances and different read standards, great,
great illustrations.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Absolutely love that.
Speaker 6 (08:08):
Thank you. Yes, if it's going to be the other
key helmet in my father's work with Chaser is that
everything was done through play. And when learning is fun,
it happens rapidly. And so that is also an ode
to my father. You know, he was a true believer
in play, and dogs into their old age loved to play.
(08:30):
This is an innate instinct. So we wanted to make
the book playful. Now.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Now you brought something up before in the very beginning
of your introduction about dogs and training and kids and training,
and I will say it wasn't until I had a
two legged human, and previous to the two legged human,
I had had four legged human for decades, when I
realized so much about kid training, like human kid training
(08:55):
is so similar to dog training. But that's a whole
nother podcast. We can talk about that. Now, give me
the just breakdown of how you wrote the book, how
you outlined.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
It, and what our readers need to know about it.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
Well, first of all, we started a little with the
who Dad and Chaser were and why their research was
so important. And Chaser has been described as the most
important dog and over a century by doctor Brian Hare
at Duke University. And why is that. What was key
about my father's work with Chaser is that he had
(09:29):
been modeling his methods after the great animal researchers that
came before him, with sus Savage, rom Ball and Lewis
Harmon with the dolphins, So that we've been working with
species like primates, dolphins, and Alex the parrot, but nobody
had been checking out dogs. And here they are sitting
(09:51):
and wait at our feet. So my father understood that
dogs were truly underestimated as far as their cognitive skills
were involved. So the book in the beginning talks about
that why was Chaser important and the science behind Chaser
was so overwhelmingly indisputable. She had a ninety five percent
(10:14):
success rate overtesting for three years. That's kind of a
standard that no one in science has ever held. Their
feet are held with the fire that strongly. So. But
what my father's discoveries were so significant it took him
three years just to get the information published. So the
book is introducing you to Dad and Chaser and what
(10:37):
was unique about them, and that Chaser is not different
from other dogs. She is a gateway to understanding all
dogs and by also dipping our toe into the history
of dogs and why it's so significant we are the
only two species on the planet out of millions of
(10:57):
species that have shared an evolutionary process together. So that's
really remarkable, and I wanted to demonstrate why it's not
the survival of the fittess, it really is the survival
of the friendliest, and how our two species had a
symbiotic relationship as far as hunting, herding, and protection. So
(11:23):
this is pretty crazy and remarkable. Then when we go
from there, we talk about the philosophy of dogs and
why dogs and why you should want to kind of
get to know your dog more the dog sitting at
your feet. We're giving you the tools to understand that
all dogs are individuals. One size does not fit all breeds.
(11:45):
Give us information as far as like whether your dog's
a slow poke or a powerhouse, but it doesn't tell
us about them emotionally and how they're going to react
in certain situations. So we also want to give readers
the rules to tell the difference between anxious and happy
and how you can discover your dog's happy place and
(12:08):
a lot of ways that will help you discover your
own happy place. So we also get into the how
to teach your dog language. Why teach your dog language?
Communication is valuable on many levels in many different forms.
So we're giving you, we're cracking the code and letting
you learn how to teach your dog language and channel
(12:31):
that for even further learning. Those are the kind of
things that are in the book.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
You know, I'm so glad you brought that up.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
That was actually the next thing I was going to
bring up was the symbiotic relationship those exact words of
dogs humans that companionship, and I'm sure it was. You know,
it's evolved from you know, getting free food as a
food source to companionship and just seeing it develop over
time has been amazing.
Speaker 6 (12:56):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
It's interesting because my advice is a veterinarian. Whenever I
talk to people who say, oh, I'm think about getting
a dog, what kind of dog should I get? I
always say, well, here are my two general rules before
you even think about getting a dog, and one of
them is exercise for ideally thirty minutes a day in
two fifteen minute increments, and then making sure they do
(13:17):
one to two levels of puppy obedience regardless of their age,
because that training is so important to foster that relationship.
And so I love how you brought up the importance
of training and if I could just say one thing.
I'd love to hear your opinion on it. The number
one mistake I often see dog owners making when they're
trying to train their dog is using too many words.
(13:38):
We probably have seen that Gary Larson cartoon where it's
like blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, cookie,
you know, and using short commands when it comes to
dog training, so sit, stay, heal, you know, commands like that.
So oftentimes I hear people over talking to their dog,
especially in.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
The beginning training period.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Unfortunately, I probably made this mistake with my child, my
two legged child, where I would like use short commands
and unfortunately now sometimes they'll just be like sit. So
that's the negative side of things.
Speaker 6 (14:12):
Well, that's it's interesting because yes, we humans are really
the problem child in our relationship. You know, dogs want
to learn, they want to communicate, but and they're always listening.
So your dog inherently learns words like bath, that out,
don't want to go out. They learn certain things like
(14:33):
want to go out. That's just the whole phrase of
going outside, right, They don't really know that want to
go out. Those words have independent meaning, and that is
what my father was setting out to discover with Chaser
how he could teach her so that words independently had value.
And he did it very, very simply. And we should
(14:55):
be mindful as humans what we are saying to our
because they're primed and pumped and ready to learn. And
I even have a story in the book that talks
about how when Chaser understood that words had meaning, she
could pair the name of an action with the name
or the name of an object on one trial alone.
(15:18):
And so one time my father was trying to help
chase her into the car, and he accidentally as he
was helping her, he said, do you want me to
help you? And now as he helped her, he twisted
her legs. So once she learned you want me to
help you, she began to think that every time he
did that, now this is going to hurt. So she
(15:39):
would frog hop so fast. So what he thought he
was saying to her was not what she heard. So
you heard this is going to hurt now, and when
he went to lift her up. So people make these
kind of JV errors all the time. And if we
can modify our behavior, our language, we're going to be
setting our dogs up to succeed you.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Know, you bring up such a great point because oftentimes,
if I was gonna say, a second mistake is an
appropriate negative and positive feedback with dog training, and you
just gave a great example. Another example I see is
when someone is, you know, they have their dog outside
in the backyard, and often dog owners will think, oh,
my dog's getting a ton of exercise in the backyard,
(16:22):
when actually they're not.
Speaker 6 (16:23):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
They still need that playtime, they still need that dog walk.
But we'll talk about that after a break. But one
thing that I often see is they'll put the dog outside,
the dog is barking. The owner wants to quote unquote
bluntly shut them up, and so they give them a
raw hide or dog bone while their dog is barking
outside to keep them quiet, when.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
In actuality, you just rewarded your dog for barking. Right,
Your dog's like, I need.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
A bark, and you just reinforce that behavior exactly.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
And so same exact thing with kids, right Like, if
you reward them while they're having a temper tantrum, they're like, oh, but.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
I have a temper chan might get a reward.
Speaker 6 (17:01):
This works, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
So making sure we have that appropriate positive and negative feedback,
any other tips that you have when it comes to training.
Speaker 6 (17:09):
When you're working with your dog, you want to try
to avoid the word no as much as possible. No
is not a word that makes any of us happy,
and it's most people in working with their dog overuse
it and the dogs kind of become anesthetized to it.
And what my father did with Chaser and teaching her,
(17:30):
he used airless learning was set hosting a situation where
she could not make a mistake, which was like when
she's he's teaching her the name of a new toy.
He would only have one toy on the floor, and
if he saw that she was about to go to
the wrong toy or to another object, he would call
her back so he didn't have to say no. No
(17:50):
should simply be a cue for your dog to stop
what they're doing. It should not be a versive, and
it should be used in a quiet voice. If you
speak softly, your dog is going to try harder to listen,
so is pet owners. We want to be very aware
that we overuse the word no too many times. And
what you have to do is you just have to
(18:12):
back up and again reshape your behavior. We forget that
dogs are a product of human behavior. If you've got
an anxious dog, if you've got an aggressive dog, this
is because they have a previous experience and that they
have had with another human being. So we have to
(18:32):
reshape our own behavior to have a positive relationship with
our dog. And remember, learning takes time. It takes repetition
and nobody. To be a doctor, you have to repeat
things over and over. As a musician, we have to
practice over and over again to become accomplished at something. No,
this is true with your dog. You know it takes time.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
A great great information. I also agree with saying no
too much. Same thing for kids. So it is really interesting.
So love the information. We'll be right back with this
fantastic information from Philly, author of For the Love of
Jog right after these messages.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Mollie, here's your dinner.
Speaker 6 (19:21):
See that's not your food.
Speaker 7 (19:23):
Don't let that happen to your precious cat. Elevate your
cat's eating experience with the cat tree tray. The cat
tree tray keeps your cat's food off the floor and
conveniently located on the cat tree. It's the perfect way
to eat. It's a beautiful brought iron tray that easily
attaches to your cat tree and keeps dogs and other
critters out of your cat's dish. A must from Multi
(19:46):
Fat Households. There's a six inch tray for large bowls
and a four inch tray for smaller bulls. Perge just
your cat tree tray today. Go right now to cattreetray
dot com. That's cattreetray dot com. C A T t
R E E t R A.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
Y dot com.
Speaker 8 (20:07):
Let's talk past, Let's go Petty Radio Headline Radio, pet
live radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Welcome back to er Venom pet like Radio. Super excited.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
We're speaking with Pilli, the author of For the Love
of Dog, and we've been talking about training. We've been
talking about her Ultimate Relationship Guide for our Canine companions
and if you know someone who's getting a dog in
twenty twenty four, this is a great book to be
able to get. Remember side note, Soapbox, you should never
get a dog for someone. If you want to, you
(20:56):
should give them a coupon, you know, cartoon drawing or
a crayon drawing of a certificate for dog. But I'm
never a huge advocate of getting pets's gifts. All right now,
Pilly I wanted to ask you. You talked about the
importance of play in your book, and I love how
your book is full of illustrations, so it's like fifty
percent illustration, So I love it.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
It's so tangible and readable, super easy to read. Right away.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
You talk about the importance of play, and I know
I've been making all these analogies to two legged people
a two legged kids. I just feel like society doesn't
play enough now. And you know, I have recently adopted
a French bulldog puppy who ended up having parvo virus,
so I rescued him. And you forget when you have
an older dog how much they play that leaf that
(21:41):
just happens to be blowing in the wind. They're like
prancing after it. You know, when they see a grasshopper
or a moth jumping up in the grass, they want
to play with it.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
And we really forget about that.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Tell me why play is so important and ways we
can play with our dog more.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
Oh, that's such a great question. Will I'll tell a
little story. I had a friend come over with his
five month old. She was a pit kind of mix,
and he was concerned because she didn't like to play.
And I said, well, what do you mean, she goes, well,
I bought her all these toys and she doesn't play
with them. And the catches is that a lot of
(22:16):
dogs don't play independently. Sometimes they do, but they love
the engagement between human and between us and them. And
Chaser was a real player, but only if she had
a playmate. So what I discovered when I was working
with Ruthie, my friend's dog. I thought it was so
(22:38):
sad that she didn't like to play, and I asked,
how do you play with her? Well, we don't play
with her. So I got a pine cone and I
started picking up and toss it in the air and
I would run after I would drop it, I'd run
after it. And sure enough, after a couple of throwing
the pine cone up in the air, Ruthie was watching
and when I dropped it for the third time, she
went running for it. So we start started the cat
(23:01):
and mouse game. We started chasing. I was naming the
object pine cone as I was playing with it, and
I would hide it and plain sight and she would
lunch for it. I would throw it to her and
say catch pine cone, find pine cone. And this was
not only had released her joy of play. It showed
(23:24):
my friend how to play with his dog, and she
also learned the name of an object as well as
a couple of cues like find and catch. So this
kind of engagement with your dog is not only fun
for them, but it's fun for you. I have. I
had so much fun running out to chase her and
playing hide and seek and tossing things back and forth.
(23:47):
It's just an innate instinct in dogs and most animals,
even in the wild, large cats will play. And why
did they play? Because this could be expending in her
that they could really need in the wild. But the
simple reason they play is because it feels good, and
(24:08):
play enables us to be in the moment of joy.
So that's what's so key about play. And it builds
your bond with your dog. It builds confidence too.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
You know, it's when I said that I feel like
people under exercise their dog. Whether or not it's exercising
with them for thirty minutes, it could just be playtime, right,
interacting with them, throwing them a frisbee, throwing them a
tennis ball, right, you know, goofing off with them, making
sure they're in a safe environment obviously when you do,
but so so important. Well, I just want to tell
(24:42):
you I love this book. I think it's an amazing
fast resource, especially with all the amazing illustrations. Your illustrators
really good, and she really just love seeing the story
of Chaser and the impact on your life. And again,
we often don't think about how smart our dogs are.
I think dog owners and cat owners think their pets
(25:02):
are really smart, but we often underestimate the language that
they understand. And I love that both you and your
father were able to reiterate that. Don't forget to check
it out for all you awesome dog lovers out there. Again,
it's called for the Love of Dog, The Ultimate Relationship Guide, observations,
lessons and wisdom to better understand.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Our canine companions.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Phillie.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Where can people find your book?
Speaker 6 (25:25):
Oh, that's a great question. At most major booksellers and
on Amazon is a perfect place to pick one up.
But yeah, wherever books are sold, you can also order it.
It's in Barnes and Noble. You can find it at
my publisher's Princeton Parka Techtroalpress's website dapress dot com, but
(25:46):
on Amazon.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Wonderful, Thank you so much, absolutely love it so thank
you so much.
Speaker 6 (25:50):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Well that brings us to the end of today's show.
Thanks so much for joining and find me at.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Doctor Justinlee dot com, on Facebook or Instagram at doctor
Justine Lee, or tell me your pet questions at doctor
just at petlife radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
With that, we're out of time.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
If we want to thank our guests Killie and Mark Winter,
our producer, for making the show possible.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
See you at the next episode.
Speaker 5 (26:12):
Let's Talk Best every week on demand only on petlife
radio dot com.
Popular Podcasts
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!