We're all screwed up (and that's OK)

Dawn Walton, a human therapist, and Jess Probst, a dog behaviourist talk about snow globes and spiders in the context of phobias, anxiety and fear.

This episode is about who you are versus what your environment is versus how you are behaviour, and explores the nature of humans by looking at gangsters as per Get Gotti on Netflix.

They talk about the mind body connection and how powerful mindset it. Please note this involves a conversation about illness such as cancer so please avoid if you are in a sensitive place on this topic. As ever, discussions happen with openness and curiosity

Please note there is a bit more noise than usual on the first part of this podcast - sorry! Plus a dog went mental with the barking in the middle so we had to stop and start it again 5 minutes later.

Dawn Walton, a human therapist, and Jess Probst, a dog behaviourist talk about Percival the Mali pup as he chills out in Starbucks. Dawn hasn't seen Percival for at least 6 weeks, when he was first picked up. The change in him is remarkable. He lay down in Starbucks with very relaxed body language. He was alert and curious but not anxious, despite being next to a table with two noisy kids. At no point did he have to be given instructions on what to do. His lead was loose.

And this led Jess and Dawn to talking about how much we have a need to control everything, even in a positive way. We teach puppies obedience and then control their every move. We do the same with kids - trying to control what they do so they don't get in trouble. When owners come to Jess for help they want to understand what to do, when first they need to understand why they should do it.

Understanding why allows you to adapt. Dawn taught their child how to make decisions - e.g. how to interpret social media posts - so that they could make the right choices.

The need for control often comes from our own anxieties and issues. Accept that it is a normal human reaction, but then ask "What next?" rather than trying to control everything that happens.

Percival hit 12 weeks and started doing some innate behaviours - he started barking at people. This was not something that he could carry on doing, but also something that he shouldn't be told off for because we could end up with a very anxious dog. Teaching him that it's not ok (with a pattern interrupt) and getting him to do an alternate behaviour has led to a dog that can relax as he knows what's expected of him.

Jess talks about the word "Matriarchy" and how that can inform the leadership we use to guide our dogs, rather than nag them

Dawn Walton, a human therapist, and Jess Probst, a dog behaviourist continue the discussion on XL Bully's and what is going on just now.

They discuss more about pathways using a story of an apple to explain how easy it is to negatively reinforce a memory / emotion.

They discuss breed genetics and the influence they have on dogs - and as always, discussing "So what?" relating it to how we correct children.

What is the difference between training and control?

They explore the meaning behind saying a dog (or a person) is reactive.

Jess talks a bit about why she has taken up a new thing to learn - thermal imaging! And this leads Dawn and Jess into discussing energy in people and auras!

All of this links into realising that neither dogs nor humans are going to be robots - nor should they be. True resilience is not about the lack of reaction, its about you quickly you recover.

They also start talking about the XL Bully's that are in the press in the UK and the discussion on banning the breed. But get sidetracked! So listen to the rest of the discussion in episode 75

Dawn Walton, a human therapist, and Jess Probst, a dog behaviourist talk about addiction and what it really means. It can be used in a positive way in dog training.

Dawn Walton, a human therapist, and Jess Probst, a dog behaviourist talk about the new Mali puppy that Jess has called Percival, and how he is already demonstrating behaviours that could lead to large problems once he's older, if you didn't have a knowledgeable owner. He's quite difference to the golden retriever puppies.

Dawn Walton, a human therapist, and Jess Probst, a dog behaviourist talk about animal welfare and how we seem to have lost the idea that our dogs have their own needs. Jess talks about the idea of needing something more than food and shelter to meet these needs and gives us two scenarios to consider with two different islands.

On that note - do you remember the Timotei advert? Willow doesn't but then she's only 15!

This is recorded on a snazzy new microphone in Tim Hortons. Does it work for you?

Dawn Walton, a human therapist, and Jess Probst, a dog behaviourist talk about empathy and what it really means. Of course we then discuss how that applies to dogs! There was an altercation in Starbucks the other day and we discuss the different ways we both interpreted the event.

Finally we look at the difference between working on symptoms (the branches of a tree) and root cause (the roots of the tree)

We talk about the fight, flight and freeze response - and the similarities between dogs and humans.