Charlie was the star pupil at puppy school.

Sit. Stay. Drop. Recall.

There was just one small problem...

Charlie only seemed to remember his training when roast chicken was involved.

Growing up around working dogs in the Northern Territory, Gary couldn't help imagining two old stockmen sitting around a campfire explaining how the day's cattle muster fell apart because they'd run out of roast chicken.

What follows is a humorous collision between suburban puppy school and outback Australia, before arriving at a much quieter realisation.

Perhaps the greatest relationship we can build with our dogs isn't based on obedience at all...

It's built on connection.

Replacing a second-storey window should have been a straightforward engineering job.

Until Charlie quietly followed Gary across a narrow plank suspended five metres above the ground.

What follows is more than a story about scaffolding.

It's a story about trust.

About staying calm when panic would make everything worse.

And about discovering that sometimes the greatest act of leadership isn't asking someone to follow...

It's believing they will.

When barking, growling and shouting suddenly erupt behind the trees, Gary fears the worst.

But the real surprise isn't the noisy bulldog next door—it's the completely different way Milo and Charlie respond to the same situation.

What begins as a neighbourhood misunderstanding becomes a lesson in nervous systems, connection and why two dogs can experience the same moment in completely different ways.

Through an ordinary backyard encounter, Gary discovers that great dog handling isn't about control—it's about staying connected when emotion takes over.

At first, it looked like nothing more than an embarrassing fall down the stairs.

Two Kelpies. One seventy-year-old bloke. And a bruised ego.

But the more Gary thought about it, the more he realised the staircase wasn't really the story.

This episode explores anticipation, connection, and why Milo seems to arrive at every destination long before his body does. Along the way, Gary discovers that the walk doesn't begin at the beach—it begins much earlier than that.

Sometimes the biggest lessons aren't waiting at the destination.

They're already happening in the driveway.

Everybody talks about the jump.

Nobody talks about the walk to the edge.

In the Season 2 opener, Gary reflects on fear, excuses, growth, courage, spectators, jumpers and the moments in life when we decide whether to step forward or stay where we are.

Featuring Milo, Charlie, an old Edith Piaf song, and a simple question:

Are you putting your toes on the line?

At first, I thought I was jealous of a puppy.

Which sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud.

A cavoodle entered the picture and somehow began acquiring more influence than seemed entirely reasonable. The couch. The attention. The affection. The emotional authority.

The funny thing is, the more I thought about it, the more I realised the puppy wasn't really the story.

The puppy was just the clue.

In this Season 1 finale I explore relationships, dogs, attachment and the strange moments in life when something doesn't quite feel right, even if you can't immediately explain why.

SEASON 1 FINALE

S01E10 — Puppy Took My Spot

What begins as a humorous story about a puppy gradually becomes something else. A question. And perhaps the beginning of an answer.

As always, it's not really about dogs.

It's about life.

A 70-year-old bloke. Two Kelpies. One cavoodle.

And a question that may take an entire season to answer.

At some point in life every Kelpie owner asks the same question.

Usually while chasing them.

Usually while exhausted.

Usually after they've ignored a perfectly reasonable instruction.

The question is simple:

Why did I get a damn Kelpie?

What starts as admiration for an intelligent working dog quickly becomes a lesson in energy, chaos, persistence and humility.

In this episode I reflect on what attracted me to Kelpies in the first place, why they're unlike almost any other breed, and how owning one often says as much about the owner as it does about the dog.

As always, it's not really about Kelpies.

It's about the choices we make and the adventures that follow.

A 70-year-old bloke. Two Kelpies. Still questioning his life choices.

S01E08 — I Never Had A Business Card

For most of my working life I built businesses. I employed people. Negotiated deals. Started ventures. Met customers. Attended conferences.

And somehow, through all of that...I never had a business card.

Not one.

Ever.

People found that strange.

The funny thing is, so do I.

Looking back, I think it says something about how I've always seen myself.

Not as a title.

Not as a position.

Not as a carefully crafted brand.

Just Gary.

In this episode I reflect on business, identity, entrepreneurship and why a small piece of cardboard may have revealed more about me than I realised at the time.

As always, it's not really about business cards.

It's about life.

When my daughter announced she'd bought a Chihuahua, I wasn't entirely convinced it was a sensible decision.

After all, I'd spent most of my life around larger dogs.

Working dogs.

Farm dogs.

Dobermans.

Kelpies.

Dogs that looked capable of surviving a minor apocalypse.

A Chihuahua seemed more like a nervous mouse with a bark.

But as often happens in life, reality had other ideas.

In this episode I reflect on Bowser, the tiny dog who slowly proved that courage has very little to do with size, and how sometimes the smallest characters leave the biggest impression.

As always, it's really not about dogs at all.

It's about life, family, perspective and the stories we discover along the way.

A 70-year-old bloke. Two Kelpies. One Chihuahua. No idea what happens next.

S01E06 — The Sailboards I Couldn't Throw Away.

I was standing in my shed looking at a couple of old sailboards the other day.

The problem is they're nearly fifty years old.

What started as a simple clean-up turned into a question about memories, getting older, and why some things are much harder to throw away than they should be.