Sometimes There's Side Eye

This week we are talking about ways to destress with your pets. We first want to recognize that we are living through some troubling times. We also want to be clear that we are not experts in mental health & recommend professional help if your mental health is suffering. What we do have is experience with our dogs, and we want to share some things we do to help us destress with our dogs. Things like grounding, finding joy in th...

This week we are talking about frustration on the human side of the leash.  We are taking a deeper look at what causes frustration including things like comparison, physical health/limitations, motivation, and learning styles. We are also talking about why we want to recognize our own frustrations in order to lessen or prevent them in the future.  We are getting honest about our own experiences and how we chose to work through thos...

We are starting the new year out with a subject we are both passionate about, shelter versus purposely bred dogs.  Are purebred dogs better than rescue dogs?  Are there more behavior issues in one versus the other? We discuss how breed equates to predictability, even if that predictability is not a desired behavior or trait.   It can be common to blame some undesired behaviors on dogs coming from the shelter, while in the purebred ...

Currently ranked as our 2nd most popular episode! Let's remind ourselves to be kind to both ends of the leash.

Are you playing the shame game, like the rest of us? Where does shame come from and how do we combat it? Explore the subject of the shame game, and the equally fun shame spiral, that so many of us find ourselves in when the life we planned with our dogs, goes awry. Dive into the reasons we so often experience shame and ...

**Tissue alert....we discuss grief and loss in this episode***

This week we are talking to Kate Rapkoch, who runs Paws and Breathe. Kate is not only a talented and trauma informed yoga instructor, but she is also a certified end of life pet doula. We have an open and sometimes emotional talk about pet loss as well as healing after a loss. Kate is kind enough to share her experience of loosing her own soul pup Champ, and how she ...

This week we are addressing the comparison game that so many of us are playing.  We have a real and raw conversation on how comparison has been the thief of joyful moments with our dogs. We both find that we don’t compare our dogs' abilities to other dogs but instead compare our individual shortcomings to other more successful or experienced handlers. Realistically we should be proud of both our small and big accomplishments we...

In this episode we are taking on the difficult subject of behavioral euthanasia.  Both Heather and Kristi share their personal experiences with behavioral euthanasia. For Heather a suspected brain tumor created huge changes in Cash's behavior and personality.  For Kristi it was Ginny's increased anxiety that put Ginny and other dogs in the home at risk.  However, other people have to make the hard decision for a beloved fam...

This week we are talking about how hormones can drastically change behaviors in dogs.  Trin's most recent heat cycle ended up leading to some aggressive behaviors, which was a bit triggering for Heather.  However, as we have preached in the past, behavior doesn't change on a dime, and typically there is a medical issue.  In this case the medical issue was hormones. Hormones can affect individual dogs very differently and in...

This week we are talking about separation anxiety with Caitlin Wolfe.  After adopting a dog who suffered from separation anxiety Caitlin wanted to be able to help other dog owners experiencing the same thing. While Caitlin works with a variety of behavior issues, she is specifically CSAT certified for separation anxiety.  Each dog is an individual and it's important that the training can be customized for each dog.  Some dogs a...

The teen/adolescent years - regardless of the species they can be tumultuous.  So how much stock should we put into teenageadolecent dog behavior? The adolescent years for dog can be messy.  Often owners see a side of their dog they haven't seen before, or behaviors intensify during this time.  We talk through some of the behaviors that we have experienced with our own dogs and how we addressed them. Training is always going to...

This week we are talking about dog relationships and how they differ between individual dogs.  We talk through a recent play group at Heather's house that included 6 dogs of varying sizes and personalities.  There were several different play styles among the group and different interest levels between the individual dogs.  We discuss how dynamics can change when adding or subtracting individual dogs.  Of course we couldn't help but...

In this episode we are continuing our conversation with dog trainer Sunny Bravo about service dogs. In our continued conversation we talk about what to look for when selecting a dog for service work. We also talk through who should be involved in the dog selection process. Once a dog has been selected Sunny likes to start the training process simply with body language, then adds leash pressure, toys and treats from there. We addr...

This week we are talking with dog trainer Sunny Bravo who specializes in training service dogs. Sunny has been in the dog training industry for 26 years and has worked with a large variety of breeds. She has worked with everything from basic family dog training to human focused dog aggression cases. Sunny helps define the differences between emotional support animals, a therapy animal and a service animal. Service animals are tra...

This week we are addressing some of the complexities of dog behavior.  Often, we are told things like ears pinned back or hackles up mean aggression, and while this may be true for some dogs it is not true for all dogs.  Often dogs will raise their hackles due to excitement, surprise, or a number of other reasons. While there are guidelines on what a behavior might normally mean, each dog is an individual with individual nuances.  ...

This week we have Katherine Burbach on the episode talking about her relationship with her dog Dos over the years and how it has grown and changed.  Dos can have big feelings about people and dogs when he's on walks, and Katherine realized early on that she needed a plan that she could easily implement with positive results.  Stinky treats were the key to helping refocus Dos and helping him learn to be calm around others while on l...