Dog Breeds

02/15/22 • 57 min

Today's Topic: The process of getting and raising a new dog seems pretty straightforward, right? You look for and choose the dog with that "special something", you take him/her home, and if your dog has any behavioral issues, you'll look for resources to help your dog adjust their behavior to live safely and happily in your world, right? But what if I told you that too often we're choosing our dogs in a way that's akin to choosing our partners purely based on the fact that they have a nice smile. The fact is, the type of breed your dog is has a SIGNIFICANT effect not only on his/her innate instincts, behaviors and tendencies, but perhaps more importantly, on whether he/she will be compatible (or incompatible) with your personality and lifestyle. That's why we've invited applied ethologist, dog trainer, the owner of The Dog Door Behavior Center, and the author of the book, Meet Your Dog: The Game-Changing Guide to Understanding Your Dog’s Behavior, Kim Brophy, to the pod, to discuss the optimal dog breeds for various different human personalities and lifestyles, why she believes that "dog training" is a misnomer, how her understanding of human-dog compatibility affected how she views human relationships, and much much more.

Guest Bio: Kim Brophey, CDBC, CPDT-KA, FDM, is an applied ethologist and owner of The Dog Door Behavior Center in Asheville, NC. Kim’s commitment to Family Dog Mediation® has been recognized internationally, awarded the APDT Outstanding Trainer of the Year in 2009 and the Best Dog Trainer of WNC seven years in a row. She is a member of the International Society for Applied Ethology and the Association of Professional Dog Trainers, and a certified member and past board member of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. Kim Brophey’s Dog L.E.G.S.® model of comprehensive canine science has been endorsed by prominent canine scientists such as Raymond Coppinger and embraced by reputable dog trainers worldwide. From her applied ethology content in Michael Shikashio’s Aggression in Dogs Master Course to her highly anticipated, market-disrupting Applied Ethology & Family Dog Mediation® Course, Kim’s work is a celebrated contribution to the field. Her groundbreaking book, Meet Your Dog: The Game-Changing Guide to Understanding Your Dog’s Behavior, TED talk, and Beyond The Operant (BTO) collaborative have made profound waves and become favorites among both dog professionals and the public. Kim continues to build bridges and invite others to contribute to a new conversation about dogs- one that challenges us to redefine how we perceive, talk about, and treat our canine companions as a society.

Connect With Kim Brophy:

Connect With Kim Brophy:

Previous Episode

New Puppy Parents

Today's Topic: We thought we’d change things up a bit and invite former Family Pupz clients, Mandy Kovach and Ted Rosenbaum, to the pod, to talk about their experience with their first puppy, Australian Shepherd/Pit mix dog, Myki, and to share their personal experience working with Tanya on Myki’s behavioral issues. You’ll get an insider look into how things started, how things changed, what issues they’re still working through, and the variety of things they learned about training, and themselves!

Guest Bio: Ted and Mandy moved to Denver from Melbourne, Australia in October 2020. Before that, they were in the San Francisco Bay Area for about 10 years. They’d been wanting to rescue a puppy for a while, and finally had the space to bring home Myki (rhymes with “crikey”) in February of 2021. He is an Aussie Shepherd/Pit mix and they got him when he was 9 weeks old. Neither of them had ever trained a puppy before, so they attended the Friends of MAMCO Family Pupz training session. They really liked Tanya’s positive approach to training and signed up for a puppy training package to work through specific issues, including nipping, jumping on people, and crate training. Little did they know they would learn just as much as Myki throughout the process!

Next Episode

Mindset Changes

Today's Topic: Whether we're aware of it or not, the way that we behave is SIGNIFICANTLY determined by the set of beliefs that we hold that help us make sense of the world...and ourselves. We call this set of beliefs our mindset, and it influences how we think, feel and behave in any given situation. Our mindset around our dogs works in the same way. If we believe that our dogs need to be "dominated" before they have the opportunity to "dominate" us, for example, the way we treat our dogs will be significantly influenced by that mindset. That's why we've invited certified professional dog trainer, behavior consultant, and the founder of From Dusk Till Dog, Erika Gonzalez, to the pod, to discuss the crucial mindset changes that she imparts on her clients to help them re-contextualize how they think, feel and behave towards their dogs.

Guest Bio: Erika Gonzalez is the Founder of From Dusk Till Dog and a Certified Professional Dog Trainer and Behavior Consultant who graduated with distinction from CATCH Canine Trainers Academy. Erika is also a Fear Free Certified Training Professional (FFCP) through the Fear Free organization, which has become one of the single most transformative initiatives in the history of companion animal practice, providing unparalleled education on emotional wellbeing, enrichment, and the reduction of fear, anxiety, and stress in pets. Erika is also a Certified Canine Enrichment Technician (CET) and has also obtained a certificate in pet nutrition from UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. She has extensive experience with dogs of all breeds, sizes, temperaments, and ages and has successfully helped many pet parents reach their training goals with their dogs. Although Erika has vast experience in conducting private lessons, she also has experience working with group classes, puppy training programs, board and train programs, training foster dogs, and partnering with rescue organizations to train dogs with behavioral issues to assist in finding them a loving home. Erika believes that continued education is not an option, but a necessity for those in the dog training profession.

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