Madcap Radio

​This episode is a big one on young puppies who guard their possessions from humans. The breeder is stumped. She’s never seen resource guarding or aggression in any of her puppies, and it’s understandably upsetting that she now has a 7 week old puppy that suddenly turned on the breeder when the breeder tried to take a chew object away from the puppy. I unpack the emotion around this phenomenon and...

​This episode is inspired by a fan comment on Episode 51 - Teaching Show Puppies to Sit: Will The Real Show Stack Please Stand Up? "I have found that even thinking about sitting in a breed like mine (Lakelands) leads to a slight relaxation of the tail, which must be vertical or with a slight curve toward the head when baiting in the ring. It's a minor thing, but can make the difference between Win...

We’re continuing our conversation about why puppies get returned to breeders — and what we can do to help prevent that from happening. This episode is about the perspectives breeders shared in response to the original question. It’s a wide-ranging discussion covering topics from whether breeders should offer refunds when a puppy is returned, to unexpected connections between pure positive trainers...

Puppy returns are an unpleasant reality of being a breeder. At the end of the day, no matter how well you screen, you're going to get puppies back if you breed dogs. This week's episode is a response to a breeder who got a puppy back from a puppy owner who ignored the breeder’s explicit written instructions regarding training and veterinary care/medication, and disaster ensued. The puppy is going...

This episode’s question is about teaching show prospect puppies to sit: "What do you do with your show prospects for stacking? I am worried about the puppy automatically sitting in the ring and for the judge…" Direct answer - we teach all of our puppies to sit, and we’re on our ninth generation of homebred champions, so it’s safe to say it has not held any of them back. But the bigger question is,...

There’s a lot of confusion about good fungi and bad fungi for dogs, and in this episode I’m joined by certified mushroom expert, Magda Chiarella to untagle this confusion. The fungi kingdom includes mushrooms and yeasts that are super beneficial for us and our dogs. Mushrooms have properties that boost whatever food your currently giving your dog. Certain yeasts, such as the yeast found in Kefir s...

This episode’s question is from a breeder who’s frustrated by puppy seekers who seem to be just shopping for the lowest price: "I'm a small breeder, one or two litters a year. I'm in a rural area so most of my puppies travel to their homes, but because of how I raise them I have people happy crossing the country for them. But for every person who sees the value, there's 30 that don't… I find mysel...

We Hit 100K Downloads 🎉 Thank you, listeners and all the folks who write in with the great questions that keep us curious! We could not produce such a great podcast without your insightful and interesting questions. Here’s to the next 100K downloads! To celebrate, I’m re-releasing our runaway top episode - “Dogs Eating Poop: One Species Evolutionary Meat is another Species Evolutionary Poison”. S...

This episode is about when and if you should use vitamin and probiotic supplements for raw fed puppies and dogs. One of my students asked me what supplements were necessary when weaning puppies onto raw. Another student in the same thread said she had read that raw diets are often deficient in vitamins D and E and asked if she should be supplementing those vitamins. The answers to these questions...

“I have a question that has come up from some of my puppy parents, and I am not sure how to answer. How do I phase treats out and use the clicker exclusively? I was thinking clicker every time, but treats sometimes until there are no treats, and at what age would you fully remove treats? Do treats ever get fully removed? Many of my parents reported that many of the pups are really food motivated,...

This episode answers a question we get on almost a weekly basis: “How do I introduce my puppy to my adult dog?” This podcast looks at: Questions to ask about your dog and your puppy that can help you craft a good introduction. Guidelines for puppy-dog introductions. Honoring normal social behavior and protecting the interests of your dog and your puppy. Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for fu...

The question comes from the discussion group for our With Open Arms puppy owner course: “Looking for a podcast - Hello! Our 15-week-old puppy is presenting some potty training challenges…While he's reliably house-trained for bowel movements, he frequently urinates on rugs, likely because they resemble the puppy pads he's familiar with. More puzzling that even when we take him outside at the recomm...

A new study was published this week, showing that a specific strain of probiotic found in kimchi is extremely good at binding up and carrying microplastics out of the body. We, and our dogs, are surrounded by plastic, it’s inescapable, and the accumulation of nanoparticles of plastic in our bodies is also inescapable - and very bad for our and our dogs' health. So the student question this episode...

This episode’s question comes from the discussion group for my new weaning and early puppy nutrition course,  “Weaning For Life: From Gut Biome to Behavior, A Whole Approach to Early Puppy Nourishment”. “Some of my puppies go home on raw, others to healthy kibble with whole‑food toppers. Historically, I always include at least one kibble meal—often from toys or snuffle mats, sometimes mixed with w...

We got this question about breeders sending their puppies to “camp” before going to their new homes: “[a friend] has a litter of puppies 8 weeks old and she is placing them out to her friends until they are 10 weeks old. They decided it would be good for socialization and to prevent separation anxiety for the puppies until they go to their permanent homes at 10 weeks. That doesn’t sound like a goo...

This episode’s question is from one of our Killer Free Stack show training students, but my answer is equally applicable to anyone training a dog: “Hi all, I have a 10-week-old Labrador puppy. I have the Killer Free Stacks video… when I try to get a moment of stillness to mark, she auto-sits. If I hold the food in front of her, she digs at it hard and will sit. Any tips for teaching a stack would...

This episode is about using mother’s pudding for lactating dams: “I was just wondering what brand of cool and serve vanilla pudding mix you are all using for mother’s pudding…The last litter I had, the puppies got diarrhea on day 3 (nightmare) and we never got it fully resolved until they got onto food at 3 weeks... We ruled out EVERYTHING we could think of…the only thing we could come up with was...

This episode is a follow-up question about one of our most popular episodes, “An Egg Yolk A Day Keeps Mastitis Away” : “At what point in the pregnancy should I begin giving my dam egg yolk to help prevent mastitis?” In this episode, I discuss: Why egg yolks are a benefit for pregnant and lactating dogs Best practices for when to begin feeding egg yolks to your brood bitches Cooked vs Raw egg yolks...

One of our fans wrote to me recently about a webinar she attended on the veterinary use of probiotics: "The thing that intrigued me was…a study where one group of pregnant bitches was on a yeast-based probiotic, and the control group on no probiotic. There were benefits to both bitches and puppies, such as more stable GI tract and stool quality during whelping in the mothers on the probiotic, and...

This episode is a fan request: "Looking for a podcast - My co-owner needs help. I’ve worked with them on training behaviors, and they’ve done a masterful job at teaching puppy (who’s about 3 months old now…) that barking gets attention. They wait until they just can’t take it anymore but then cave in just as extinction burst really ramps up. Is there a podcast that will guide them through navigati...

This episode is about the possible reasons why very young puppies sometimes shiver after big sensory experiences, especially after eating food from a dish for the first few times. We discuss: The neurological organization function of shivering Different theories about shivering after new experiences, such as being put in a new room or eating food for the first time How shivering may prime the pupp...

This episode's question is about what to do when your “keeper” puppy starts showing significant fear issues: "…I’m really sad about my situation. I don’t want this to reflect poorly on my small breeding program that I’ve poured so much time, thought, stress, money, and emotional energy into.… my keeper puppy is now showing pretty significant fear issues…I was hoping to keep this puppy and eventual...

The question is about what to do with puppies that have meltdowns at shows or trials or any socialization situation: "My 7 month old puppy just had a meltdown. At our National this past weekend he showed OK on Thursday and Friday. A little unsure. But showed. On Saturday he was amazing and took Winners Dog. Sunday, he had a complete melt down. He has shows again in 5 days my inclination is to pull...

This episode's question is about whether and by how much we can modify temperament with protocols: "I was chatting to someone recently about nature versus nurture, and they said, you can get a bitch who has a poor temperament and using Puppy Culture, you can have pups who have great temperaments. My view is it's more complex than that.…Would love people's thoughts.​" Listen in as I discuss: The di...

This episode’s question is about giving puppies double fermented fruit kefir: "Hello, We are curious about the benefits of using Mango kefir for puppies. How does it help their gut flora? What is the purpose of using it. Thanks!" Listen in as I discuss: How a second ferment with fruit transforms the nutritional profile and bioavailability of kefir Why kefir in general is such a probiotic powerhous...