September 30, 2019 • 14 mins
Good Dog Nation premieres by introducing co-hosts, Michelle McCarthy, CDBC, CTAC, of K9HomeSchooling.com and Kim Meritt, co-founder of GoodDogInABox.com and GoodDogPro.com. Kim and Michelle describe the weekly, one hour format, with the first thirty minutes focused on the dog owner/lover or someone who is interested in getting a dog, while the second thirty minutes is aimed at the dog professional and is only available through a subscription to GoodDogPro.com. The rotating themes will cover veterinary and health related issues, reward based dog training, service and therapy dogs, dog breeding, puppies, dog bite prevention and dog safety. The podcast is also available in video format through GoodDoginaBox.com and GoodDogPro.com websites.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kim (00:00):
Welcome to Good Dog Nation, the weekly video podcast that's
all about having a good dog.
Hosted by Michelle McCarthy,CDBC, CTAC, leading therapy dog
authority, and owner of CanineHomeschooling; and Kim Merritt,
cofounder of GoodDogInABox.com,GoodDogPro.com, and founder of
(00:20):
the URL Doctor.
This episode is brought to youby GoodDogInABox.com,
reward-based dog training anddog bite prevention products for
families with kids and dogs.
And GoodDogPro.com, the onlinecontent subscription and
community for dog professionalswith reward-based dog training
products, curriculums, andonline courses to educate,
(00:42):
motivate, and positively impactthose that work with dogs.
And CanineHomeschooling.comremote reward based dog
training, behavior consulting,and therapy dog consulting with
Michelle McCarthy.
Now let's join Good Dog Nation.
(01:04):
Hi everyone and welcome to GoodDog Nation, the video podcast
that talks about all things dog.
I am Kim Merritt, co-founder ofGoodDogInABox.com and
GoodDogPro.com and I want tointroduce today my co- host and
partner in crime for all of ourupcoming shows, Michelle
(01:26):
McCarthy ofCanineHomeschooling.com.
Hey Michelle.
Hi Kim.
(01:30):
So we wanted to get together and give you a brief rundown of
what Good Dog Nation is allabout, what it's going to be,
and what we're hoping to putforth to not only dog l overs
and dog owners, but dogprofessionals.
So l et's start with how we met.
(01:54):
So this i s kind of a fun story.
So Michelle had been recommendedto me by another reward- based
dog trainer I've known forseveral years, who is a great
customer and fan of all of ourdog b ite prevention materials
over at Good Dog In A Box.
We were p lanning dog biteprevention week and a w ebinar
(02:18):
series that we did on dog biteprevention, and she suggested
that Michelle would be a greatguest.
She had an extensive backgroundin working with therapy dogs,
and we were doing a session juston therapy and service dogs, dog
bite prevention, things that aregoing on today around service
dogs, and that's how weoriginally met.
(02:41):
Michelle came on and was anawesome guest, and we realized
in our talking that we had verysimilar beliefs and philosophies
and had a lot of things incommon, and that has led us to
Good Dog Nation.
Michelle (03:07):
Yes, it was back maybe six months ago, I first got an
email from our mutual friendssaying,"Look, I know this
person, she wants to include youin a webinar." And I hadn't done
anything like that before, I'vebeen videotaped a lot for
different things and been onlocal talk shows.
But this sounded reallyinteresting, and it was talking
about therapy dogs and servicedogs, and all the different
things going on right now.
So we had a great time, and Iremember at the time thinking
(03:35):
that this would be reallyinteresting.
I was at a point with mybusiness where I was looking to
transition into doing somedifferent things.
I've been working for 20 yearsand it was a lot of fun.
And Kim, we were talkingafterwards about how it would be
(03:57):
so much fun to have a show wherewe can just interview all dog
people.
Professional dog trainers,veterinarians, people invovled
in dog sports, breeders, dogwalkers, daycare workers,
because the world of dogsexpands beyond just training
dogs.
It's all things dog.
(04:19):
And I think at first we werejust jokingly like,"Yeah, we'd
both really love to do that."And then we started getting
really serious about it.
Because you know differentpeople than I do in the dog
world, and I have people thatI've known for years, people
that I don't know personally,but I absolutely respect the
work that they're doing.
(04:40):
People who want what is best fordogs in all areas of life.
That's really how this came tobe, and it just kind of keeps
growing and it's very exciting.
Kim (04:54):
That's a great segue for me to give a little background
about how this podcast willwork.
So it's a little different inthe fact that it's a video
podcast, so you'll have yourchoice.
If you're a visual learner, youcan actually watch it.
(05:15):
It'll be posted on bothGoodDogInABox.com and
GoodDogPro.com so you canactually watch it like a
webinar.
Or, it will also be available onall of your favorite podcast
platforms, and the audio will beposted on other websites as
well.
(05:35):
So whatever way you prefer toconsume content, you'll be able
to do that with these.
We'll be coming out to you oncea week, and we'll have a
rotating theme schedule.
The first Tuesday of the month,we're going to cover
(05:55):
veterinarian health topics.
Second Tuesday, reward-based dogtraining topics.
Third Tuesday, service andtherapy dog related topics
Fourth Tuesday, dog breeding andpuppies.
And then when we have a fifthTuesday of the month, we're
(06:19):
going to cover my favoritetopic, kind of my core
interests, dog bite preventionand dog safety.
Not only for children, but foradults the world at large.
It's an hour-long show, thefirst 30 minutes is FREE, and is
(06:41):
geared toward the generalpublic, the dog lover of the dog
owner or somebody who is maybethinking about getting a dog or
puppy, or maybe they'reinterested in service dog or
therapy dog work.
It will be available on allplatforms, and we'll be sharing
it on all of our social media aswell.
(07:01):
The second 30 minutes is gearedtowards professional dog
trainers, pet sitters, dogwalkers, groomers, vets, humane
educators, anybody that dealswith dogs as their profession.
That second 30 minutes will beavailable to subscribers of Good
Dog Pro, you can find out moreabout that on GoodDogPro.com.
(07:26):
But let's take a minute,Michelle, and talk about our
credentials.
Tell us about your training,your certifications, and all the
years of experience that youhave.
Michelle (07:46):
Sure.
So I've lived with dogs since Iwas a kid, and it never really
occurred to me when I wasyounger that I could have a
career doing what I love.
And I have three kids, who arenow grown, but when they were
all headed off to school I hadbeen a stay at home mom with
them.
And I thought,"What am I goingto do?
(08:07):
I have all this time!" So Istarted shadowing a trainer.
We had gotten our first familydog years beforehand, it was an
interesting process.
I was a correction based trainerat the time, I didn't really
know any different.
I mean, start training, right?
(08:28):
But even then I was souncomfortable with how this
person wanted us to train ourdog, that it motivated me to go
and work with someone else andfind out.
I thought there had to be abetter way to do this.
And I was very fortunate tobecome connected with a
gentleman who had been trainingfor a while.
He trained therapy dogs, hetrained just family and
(08:49):
companion dogs, and that reallykind of launched it for me.
I decided after about a year ofshadowing him that I wanted to
pursue a career working withdogs, but I didn't want to be
what I think of as a"backyardhack" trainer.
I love dogs, I've always haddogs, so I'm going to call
(09:10):
myself a dog trainer.
I thought, if I'm going to dothis, I want to do it right.
I want to be a professionaltrainer.
So I started pursuing lots ofthings, 20 some years ago, we
didn't have a lot of thewonderful dog training programs
that we do today.
Back then you had to findsomeone who was willing to work
with you, which wasn't alwayseasy because there's just a lot
(09:33):
of territorial stuff with peopletraining.
But I found the IAABC, theInternational Association of
Animal Behavior Consultants, andthey had a great program.
It was very structured, itdefinitely allowed me to work at
the pace that I needed to.
I was really fortunate tonetwork with a couple of
(09:54):
wonderful trainers that didn'tlive near me, but they were
communicating with me.
I was still shadowing this otherperson and I started pursuing
the long process of becoming acertified behavior consultant.
It took me almost five yearsbecause there are a lot of
requirements.
Working hours, consulting hours,teaching hours, case studies, it
(10:17):
wasn't just taking a six weekprogram online.
It was a long process.
And during that time I hadstarted just teaching basic
obedience classes and raisingdogs of my own.
In the midst of all this, I wasvery interested in therapy dogs
for personal reasons.
I have a family member thatgreatly benefited from just our
(10:39):
pet dogs.
So I got involved in therapy dogwork.
As the years went on, Icompleted my certification as a
behavior consultant, I thencompleted certification as a
certified therapy animalconsultant, and I was now
working with my own dog as mypartner.
(11:00):
My first dog was Leo, a blacklab.
I then started getting involvedin developing programming for
therapy dogs at the hospital,nursing homes, school library.
It seemed like I would walk insomewhere just to hang out, and
next thing I know I'm buildingthe program for them and
sometimes I didn't even know howit happened.
Kim (11:21):
How does any of this stuff happen?
Michelle (11:26):
But it was wonderful experience and it just kind of
kept evolving.
And of course, ongoing seminarsand training.
Those of us that work with dogsknow that there's always
something new to learn.
It's always changing.
Dogs are all different, I've had29 Labradors throughout my
(11:46):
career, I've had a Newfoundland,every single dog was different.
And that's the fun of trainingdogs.
So throughout my career I'vespecialized in therapy dogs, but
I do behavior consultations aswell.
I work with a lot of complexbehavior problems, I love
working with puppies, I'vespecialized puppy programs.
(12:07):
My slogan on my website is"preparing your dog for family
life" because whether you have apet dog, a sporting dog, a show
dog, or therapy dog, they'retruly a part of your family
first.
My hope when I help people andwork with them is to really help
integrate your dog into yourfamily because you adopted them
(12:29):
to be a part of your family, toenjoy them and have fun with
them.
And it's through training andreally understanding dogs that
we can achieve that and reallylove and enjoy our dogs.
Kim (12:39):
And that's really what we want to get across with this
show is that love of dogs.
We want to share all thewonderful information about what
different people in differentbackgrounds all over the world
are doing.
We've got some awesome guestslined up even just in the very
first couple of episodes thatwill really blow your mind.
These people are highlyqualified with dog-heavy
backgrounds.
I, myself, am not a professionaldog trainer, I'm a serial
(13:13):
entrepreneur.
I started my first company whenI was 11 years old, I had a
candy company, Apple Computerswas our largest client.
I Went on to run an eCommercecompany, and then an online
marketing company called the URLDoctor.
My current company, Good Dog InA Box, which I started with my
sister who is a professional dogtrainer, was formed to address
(13:42):
dog bite prevention,particularly in children.
Everything has grown from there.
So I'm very excited to team upwith you and be able to bring
some of these awesome topics tothe world at large, because I
think there's lots of fantasticthings out there to share, and
we'll see you soon.
Michelle (14:03):
Looking forward to it.
Kim (14:05):
Thanks.
Bye.
Welcome to Good Dog Nation, the weekly video podcast that's
all about having a good dog.
Hosted by Michelle McCarthy,CDBC, CTAC, leading therapy dog
authority, and owner of CanineHomeschooling; and Kim Merritt,
cofounder of GoodDogInABox.com,GoodDogPro.com, and founder of
(00:20):
the URL Doctor.
This episode is brought to youby GoodDogInABox.com,
reward-based dog training anddog bite prevention products for
families with kids and dogs.
And GoodDogPro.com, the onlinecontent subscription and
community for dog professionalswith reward-based dog training
products, curriculums, andonline courses to educate,
(00:42):
motivate, and positively impactthose that work with dogs.
And CanineHomeschooling.comremote reward based dog
training, behavior consulting,and therapy dog consulting with
Michelle McCarthy.
Now let's join Good Dog Nation.
(01:04):
Hi everyone and welcome to GoodDog Nation, the video podcast
that talks about all things dog.
I am Kim Merritt, co-founder ofGoodDogInABox.com and
GoodDogPro.com and I want tointroduce today my co- host and
partner in crime for all of ourupcoming shows, Michelle
(01:26):
McCarthy ofCanineHomeschooling.com.
Hey Michelle.
Hi Kim.
(01:30):
So we wanted to get together and give you a brief rundown of
what Good Dog Nation is allabout, what it's going to be,
and what we're hoping to putforth to not only dog l overs
and dog owners, but dogprofessionals.
So l et's start with how we met.
(01:54):
So this i s kind of a fun story.
So Michelle had been recommendedto me by another reward- based
dog trainer I've known forseveral years, who is a great
customer and fan of all of ourdog b ite prevention materials
over at Good Dog In A Box.
We were p lanning dog biteprevention week and a w ebinar
(02:18):
series that we did on dog biteprevention, and she suggested
that Michelle would be a greatguest.
She had an extensive backgroundin working with therapy dogs,
and we were doing a session juston therapy and service dogs, dog
bite prevention, things that aregoing on today around service
dogs, and that's how weoriginally met.
(02:41):
Michelle came on and was anawesome guest, and we realized
in our talking that we had verysimilar beliefs and philosophies
and had a lot of things incommon, and that has led us to
Good Dog Nation.
Michelle (03:07):
Yes, it was back maybe six months ago, I first got an
email from our mutual friendssaying,"Look, I know this
person, she wants to include youin a webinar." And I hadn't done
anything like that before, I'vebeen videotaped a lot for
different things and been onlocal talk shows.
But this sounded reallyinteresting, and it was talking
about therapy dogs and servicedogs, and all the different
things going on right now.
So we had a great time, and Iremember at the time thinking
(03:35):
that this would be reallyinteresting.
I was at a point with mybusiness where I was looking to
transition into doing somedifferent things.
I've been working for 20 yearsand it was a lot of fun.
And Kim, we were talkingafterwards about how it would be
(03:57):
so much fun to have a show wherewe can just interview all dog
people.
Professional dog trainers,veterinarians, people invovled
in dog sports, breeders, dogwalkers, daycare workers,
because the world of dogsexpands beyond just training
dogs.
It's all things dog.
(04:19):
And I think at first we werejust jokingly like,"Yeah, we'd
both really love to do that."And then we started getting
really serious about it.
Because you know differentpeople than I do in the dog
world, and I have people thatI've known for years, people
that I don't know personally,but I absolutely respect the
work that they're doing.
(04:40):
People who want what is best fordogs in all areas of life.
That's really how this came tobe, and it just kind of keeps
growing and it's very exciting.
Kim (04:54):
That's a great segue for me to give a little background
about how this podcast willwork.
So it's a little different inthe fact that it's a video
podcast, so you'll have yourchoice.
If you're a visual learner, youcan actually watch it.
(05:15):
It'll be posted on bothGoodDogInABox.com and
GoodDogPro.com so you canactually watch it like a
webinar.
Or, it will also be available onall of your favorite podcast
platforms, and the audio will beposted on other websites as
well.
(05:35):
So whatever way you prefer toconsume content, you'll be able
to do that with these.
We'll be coming out to you oncea week, and we'll have a
rotating theme schedule.
The first Tuesday of the month,we're going to cover
(05:55):
veterinarian health topics.
Second Tuesday, reward-based dogtraining topics.
Third Tuesday, service andtherapy dog related topics
Fourth Tuesday, dog breeding andpuppies.
And then when we have a fifthTuesday of the month, we're
(06:19):
going to cover my favoritetopic, kind of my core
interests, dog bite preventionand dog safety.
Not only for children, but foradults the world at large.
It's an hour-long show, thefirst 30 minutes is FREE, and is
(06:41):
geared toward the generalpublic, the dog lover of the dog
owner or somebody who is maybethinking about getting a dog or
puppy, or maybe they'reinterested in service dog or
therapy dog work.
It will be available on allplatforms, and we'll be sharing
it on all of our social media aswell.
(07:01):
The second 30 minutes is gearedtowards professional dog
trainers, pet sitters, dogwalkers, groomers, vets, humane
educators, anybody that dealswith dogs as their profession.
That second 30 minutes will beavailable to subscribers of Good
Dog Pro, you can find out moreabout that on GoodDogPro.com.
(07:26):
But let's take a minute,Michelle, and talk about our
credentials.
Tell us about your training,your certifications, and all the
years of experience that youhave.
Michelle (07:46):
Sure.
So I've lived with dogs since Iwas a kid, and it never really
occurred to me when I wasyounger that I could have a
career doing what I love.
And I have three kids, who arenow grown, but when they were
all headed off to school I hadbeen a stay at home mom with
them.
And I thought,"What am I goingto do?
(08:07):
I have all this time!" So Istarted shadowing a trainer.
We had gotten our first familydog years beforehand, it was an
interesting process.
I was a correction based trainerat the time, I didn't really
know any different.
I mean, start training, right?
(08:28):
But even then I was souncomfortable with how this
person wanted us to train ourdog, that it motivated me to go
and work with someone else andfind out.
I thought there had to be abetter way to do this.
And I was very fortunate tobecome connected with a
gentleman who had been trainingfor a while.
He trained therapy dogs, hetrained just family and
(08:49):
companion dogs, and that reallykind of launched it for me.
I decided after about a year ofshadowing him that I wanted to
pursue a career working withdogs, but I didn't want to be
what I think of as a"backyardhack" trainer.
I love dogs, I've always haddogs, so I'm going to call
(09:10):
myself a dog trainer.
I thought, if I'm going to dothis, I want to do it right.
I want to be a professionaltrainer.
So I started pursuing lots ofthings, 20 some years ago, we
didn't have a lot of thewonderful dog training programs
that we do today.
Back then you had to findsomeone who was willing to work
with you, which wasn't alwayseasy because there's just a lot
(09:33):
of territorial stuff with peopletraining.
But I found the IAABC, theInternational Association of
Animal Behavior Consultants, andthey had a great program.
It was very structured, itdefinitely allowed me to work at
the pace that I needed to.
I was really fortunate tonetwork with a couple of
(09:54):
wonderful trainers that didn'tlive near me, but they were
communicating with me.
I was still shadowing this otherperson and I started pursuing
the long process of becoming acertified behavior consultant.
It took me almost five yearsbecause there are a lot of
requirements.
Working hours, consulting hours,teaching hours, case studies, it
(10:17):
wasn't just taking a six weekprogram online.
It was a long process.
And during that time I hadstarted just teaching basic
obedience classes and raisingdogs of my own.
In the midst of all this, I wasvery interested in therapy dogs
for personal reasons.
I have a family member thatgreatly benefited from just our
(10:39):
pet dogs.
So I got involved in therapy dogwork.
As the years went on, Icompleted my certification as a
behavior consultant, I thencompleted certification as a
certified therapy animalconsultant, and I was now
working with my own dog as mypartner.
(11:00):
My first dog was Leo, a blacklab.
I then started getting involvedin developing programming for
therapy dogs at the hospital,nursing homes, school library.
It seemed like I would walk insomewhere just to hang out, and
next thing I know I'm buildingthe program for them and
sometimes I didn't even know howit happened.
Kim (11:21):
How does any of this stuff happen?
Michelle (11:26):
But it was wonderful experience and it just kind of
kept evolving.
And of course, ongoing seminarsand training.
Those of us that work with dogsknow that there's always
something new to learn.
It's always changing.
Dogs are all different, I've had29 Labradors throughout my
(11:46):
career, I've had a Newfoundland,every single dog was different.
And that's the fun of trainingdogs.
So throughout my career I'vespecialized in therapy dogs, but
I do behavior consultations aswell.
I work with a lot of complexbehavior problems, I love
working with puppies, I'vespecialized puppy programs.
(12:07):
My slogan on my website is"preparing your dog for family
life" because whether you have apet dog, a sporting dog, a show
dog, or therapy dog, they'retruly a part of your family
first.
My hope when I help people andwork with them is to really help
integrate your dog into yourfamily because you adopted them
(12:29):
to be a part of your family, toenjoy them and have fun with
them.
And it's through training andreally understanding dogs that
we can achieve that and reallylove and enjoy our dogs.
Kim (12:39):
And that's really what we want to get across with this
show is that love of dogs.
We want to share all thewonderful information about what
different people in differentbackgrounds all over the world
are doing.
We've got some awesome guestslined up even just in the very
first couple of episodes thatwill really blow your mind.
These people are highlyqualified with dog-heavy
backgrounds.
I, myself, am not a professionaldog trainer, I'm a serial
(13:13):
entrepreneur.
I started my first company whenI was 11 years old, I had a
candy company, Apple Computerswas our largest client.
I Went on to run an eCommercecompany, and then an online
marketing company called the URLDoctor.
My current company, Good Dog InA Box, which I started with my
sister who is a professional dogtrainer, was formed to address
(13:42):
dog bite prevention,particularly in children.
Everything has grown from there.
So I'm very excited to team upwith you and be able to bring
some of these awesome topics tothe world at large, because I
think there's lots of fantasticthings out there to share, and
we'll see you soon.
Michelle (14:03):
Looking forward to it.
Kim (14:05):
Thanks.
Bye.
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