FitK9 Walking

For two seasons, you've walked beside Gary, Milo and Charlie. But have you ever wondered why this podcast exists in the first place? In this deeply personal episode, Gary answers the question a listener asked during the break between Seasons Two and Three: "What inspired you to start the FitK9 Walking Podcast?" What begins as an answer about dogs and walking becomes something far more unexpected—a journey back to finding himself after a lifetime of becoming everything everyone else needed him to be. It's a story about turning seventy, choosing how to spend the years ahead, and discovering that sometimes the quietest walks reveal the loudest truths. Because perhaps the greatest journey isn't finding a destination. It's finding yourself.

Sometimes the smallest moments become the ones that shape our lives. After meeting a girl with a French surname, Gary confidently puts his Year 10 French to work—with predictably disastrous results. But one quiet phrase, whispered at exactly the right moment, becomes far more than two French words. Years later, while writing this episode, Gary discovers it was never really about language. It was about feeling emotionally safe… long before he understood what emotional safety actually was. A humorous story about terrible French, unforgettable love, and how the meaning of life's most precious moments can change over time.

For months before his daughter's wedding, Gary was asked the same question over and over again.

"Dad... have you written your speech yet?"

The only problem was... he hadn't.

Well... not exactly.

While most fathers of the bride spend months writing, rehearsing and worrying about the perfect speech, Gary prepared just one sentence and trusted the wedding itself to provide the rest.

What followed became one of the most memorable speeches of his life, proving that sometimes the best stories aren't the ones we carefully script—they're the ones we discover by simply being present.

With plenty of laughter, a surprise callback to Little Red Riding Hood, and a reminder that life has a habit of revealing its meaning long after the moment has passed, this Season 2 finale is a celebration of family, storytelling and the ordinary moments that quietly become unforgettable.

Milo isn't interested in making friends.

He's interested in the beach.

But one quiet morning at Horseshoe Bay, a group of Labradors and Golden Retrievers accidentally wander into his world.

What follows is one of the funniest and most unexpected encounters Gary has ever witnessed, as a working Kelpie quietly reveals instincts that hundreds of years of breeding never quite forgot.

Sometimes the greatest laughs come from trying to understand someone who sees the world completely differently.

Dogs have a remarkable way of becoming part of our lives.

Not just our homes—but our routines, our friendships, our identity, and the quiet rhythm of each day.

After losing her beloved Labrador, Kobi, a close friend believed she'd never own another dog. But over time, something unexpected began calling her back—not simply another dog, but the walks, the beach, the conversations and the community that had quietly become part of her life.

In this episode, Gary reflects on grief, friendship, new beginnings, and why walking with dogs is sometimes about far more than exercise.

Along the way, Milo once again demonstrates that social etiquette remains… optional.

Sometimes a walk doesn't just change your day.

Sometimes it quietly helps you find your way back into life.

Bowser may only be a tiny Chihuahua living in the Canadian wilderness, but don't even think about telling him that.

As far as Bowser's concerned...

"I'm dog."

While Bowser patrols for bears, coyotes and anything remotely suspicious, his loving family seem far more interested in dinosaur costumes, knitted jumpers and finding ever more creative ways to stop him barking.

After five electronic anti-barking devices fail spectacularly, an ordinary spray bottle somehow succeeds where modern technology couldn't.

Along the way, Gary reflects on a university obsession with Russian literature, the unexpected legacy of naming his daughter Natascha with a C, and how life has a habit of teaching its greatest lessons in places no philosopher ever imagined.

A playful story about identity, absurdity and one little Mexican dog who never stopped knowing exactly who he was.

At five years old, Gary quietly retired one of the Rs from his name.

It seemed like a perfectly sensible solution at the time.

After all, when you're five, Father Christmas delivers presents with flying reindeer, the Easter Bunny hides chocolate eggs, and removing an extra letter from your name hardly feels like a life-changing decision.

What follows is the true story of a left-handed little boy, an ink pen, a missing R, and the wonderfully innocent logic that quietly followed him for the next twenty five years.

Sometimes the smallest decisions leave the biggest footprints.

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.