The Family Pupz Podcast

Today's Topic:  Some might say that anxiety is THE malady of our hyper-connected always-on world.   But what if you find that your dog is suffering from anxiety, and more importantly, what can you do about it?  And what can we learn about how anxiety works in the brains of our dogs, and what medical and behavioral professionals do to manage that anxiety in our dogs, to figure out how we can m...

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 t...

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...

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...

Today's Topic: As we all know, dogs are incredibly smart animals, therefore it is crucial that we provide them with plenty of mental stimulation to exercise their brains, which can come in the form of activities designed to meet their physical, behavioral and instinctual needs, or else they can quickly get bored and start to develop a wide range of problem behaviors!  In the dog training worl...

Today's Topic: We noticed in our work with clients that there is a wide variety of dog parenting styles, whether it’s those that are characterized by rules, obedience and punishment, or those that are more neglectful and uninvolved in nature, and everything in between. So it got us wondering where these dog parenting styles came from, whether it was from our parents, our culture, our race, ou...

Today's Topic: The holidays are coming! And with that, there is a tremendous amount of preparation that families across the globe are making, whether it's the food, the drinks, the travel, or the decorations, to ensure that the time we get to spend with our loved ones, especially after everything we've all collectively gone through in the past two years, is absolutely memorable.  Wi...

Today's Topic: Having a dog who displays aggressive behaviors, whether it’s directed towards other dogs, people, or things in the environment, can be difficult enough to manage and live with when your dog’s triggers are known and reliably trigger your dog.  But it can be made more difficult to deal with when the aggression is significantly more random in nature. It can have profound effects,...

Today's Topic:  Ask any dog trainer about which type of dog training methods they believe works best, whether it's predominantly rewards-based (treats),  aversive-based (punishment), or balanced (treats and punishment), you'll discover an abundance of differing, and incredibly passionate, opinions.  For some, they believe that the use of any punishment on dogs is akin to dog abuse,...

Today's Topic: Do dogs understand us?  For many, this may seem like a dumb question, as some dog parents believe that their dogs can literally read their minds.  But if they can understand us, how do they do it, exactly?  For example, can they understand the literal words coming out of our mouths, or are they using other cues from us and the environment to predict and/or understand what we ar...

Today's Topic: Your child starts BEGGING you to get her a dog of her very own.  What do you do?  For example, how do you prepare your child to take on the huge responsibility of taking care of a dog's everyday needs, like walking, feeding, training, playing, cleaning, and going to the vet, for the duration of the dog's life?  And how do you know that your child is even intellectuall...

Today's Topic: Dogs can be afraid of just about anything.  For example, a dog may exhibit a fear response around a certain person, object, noise, or in a specific situation or environment that presents an external threat—whether it’s real or perceived. While fear is considered a normal behavior that is essential for adaptation and survival, sometimes a dog’s fear response can reach more extre...

Today's Topic: Did you know that the likelihood of a child sustaining a dog bite in their lifetime in the U.S. is 50%? You read that right: 50%!  That said, many parents are woefully unaware that dog bites of babies and children are something to be concerned about at all due to the preponderance of "cute" videos featuring dogs and babies or children interacting on social media, the...

Today's Topic: As dogs have become more prominent members of the family in recent years, we've seen an incredible increase in the desire to learn how to raise a dog "right", often starting when a puppy is brought home for the first time.  And there's no dog training subject that has gained more awareness and prominence in recent years than puppy socialization. But what exa...

Today's topic: How similar is the behavior of dogs to the behavior of humans?  This is a question we've always wondered about, so we invited Certified Professional Dog Trainer and Applied Animal Behaviorist, Dr. Karen B. London, PhD, on the pod to help us answer that very question!  Not only that, but we talk to her about her latest book, Treat Everyone Like a Dog: How a Dog Trainer&apos...

Today's topic: One of the most common complaints we hear from dog parents is some version of this statement: "My dog listens to me at home, but once we're outside, it's a TOTALLY different story!"  To delve into why this happens, and to confirm or deny whether your dog is being stubborn, dominant, a jerk, disrespectful, spiteful and/or has the mindset of "I know what...

Today's topic: One of the biggest impending issues for a lot of dog parents is the prospect of their dog developing separation anxiety issues once they return back to the office.  That's why we invited esteemed dog trainer, author and foremost expert on separation anxiety, Malena DeMartini-Price, on the Family Pupz podcast to discuss some of the nuances of the most common strategies out...

Today's topic: While on the surface, being a dog trainer and a ballroom dance teacher couldn't be more different, upon further examination, the similarities are quite striking. They both teach people how to move their bodies in ways they've never done before, as well as teach people how to lead and guide their partners, whether that partner is a dance partner or man's best frie...

Today's topic: We discuss "Frequently Asked Dog & Puppy Health Questions" with our very special guest, Dr. Beth Spencer, the Medical Director for the Goodheart Animal Health Center in Denver.  On the pod, we discuss puppy socialization, Parvo, separation anxiety and fear, poisonous foods and items in the home, and dog/puppy nutrition! Guest Bio: Dr Spencer completed her undergra...

On today's episode, we discuss common dog training misconceptions that even the smartest, most educated and well-intentioned dog parents make, that are based on misguided, outdated and, at times, dangerous information.   This includes common "oh, you should do this for that" tips and tricks for potty training, basic obedience, resource guarding, jumping, and biting, that usually cau...

Today's topic: The basics and importance of crate training, and how to do it properly for the sake of your puppy, and for you! Heartbeat behavioral aid toy mentioned in the pod: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=heartbeat+toy&ref=nb_sb_noss

A dog novice and a licensed dog trainer have conversations about the most commonly requested dog training and behavioral issues that everyday people encounter in their lives. In this episode, we discuss the #1 issue that people come to Tanya about: Loose Leash Walking. We chat about why it's such a struggle for many, how dogs think, how long walks should ideally be, practical exercises to imp...

Today's topic: We discuss some of the basics of dog training, from common terms, reinforcing vs. bribing, dog training vs. dog tricks, incorporating training in our everyday lives, the science of behavior, and much much more.

Today's topic: Tips, tricks and strategies on how to teach your dog to stop jumping up on people, whether that's your dog jumping up on you in your home, other people when out on walks, or on house guests in your home.

Today's topic: Our values and our principles, as we discuss our most recent blog post that dissects how our company tagline, "Because Training Your Dog Is Loving Your Dog" perfectly embodies how we view the world and what's important to us as a company. Links to things we talked about on the pod: Our blog post: " Our Values & Principles: What 'Because Training You...