Furball Confidential

In the worlds of audio and podcasting, Julie Shapiro is a bit of a thing. She was co-founder and artistic director of the vaunted Third Coast Audio Festival. She was executive producer of the podcast Ear Hustle, which won critical acclaim for taking listeners behind prison walls and humanizing the inmate experience. She’s held creative leadership positions in several big audio houses. And she...

A bunch of you have asked me about my own relationship with Clutch, beyond what is peppered throughout the conversations we've been having on Furball Confidential. I have obviously been thinking a lot about what she means to me as we put this podcast together. I've been collecting my thoughts and decided to write them down in a letter to her - and share it with you all here. It's actually a beauti...

To a lot of people, Anna Maria Tremonti is known as a hardnose journalist unafraid to ask the tough questions. A former foreign correspondent for CBC News and longtime host of The Current on CBC Radio, Henry Kissinger famously once hung up on her because he didn’t like the question she asked. But to see another side of Anna Maria, look no further than “her puppy” Zuzu - her now 4-year-old golden r...

As a writer, how do you know when the work day is done? For Dean Koontz, it’s when a golden retriever throws your hand off the keyboard at exactly 5pm. A self-described “workaholic” who has written more than 100 books, Dean says adopting his first dog Trixie transformed his schedule and his life. Dean opens up about Trixie’s mystical side, what it’s like to care for a “perfect soul” and the jealou...

They’re belligerent. They talk back. They scheme. And if you’re a husky person like Jonathan Brinksman, that’s all part of the furry appeal. Jonathan grew up with two huskies, and is now proud husky dad and “crazy dog mom” to Archer and Leia, known to their millions of social media fans as Siberian Derpskies. In this super fun conversation, we get into the good, the bad and the hilarious when it c...

Haviah had her heart set on adopting the underdog. Or, undercat, as it were. Black cats are often overlooked in the rescue world and as a young Black woman growing up in Canada, the experience of being an underdog resonates deeply with Haviah. But in the end, after a long back and forth at her local rescue, the award-winning rapper realized that the cat who most needed saving was not black. It was...

Sit. Stay. Safely jump through a fake glass window with dozens of people watching you. Ok, maybe that last command is best reserved for the pros. And it doesn’t get more pro than Sherri Davis. Sherri wears many hats but her main gig is Executive Producer and Lead Dog Trainer for Hudson & Rex , the police drama that stars a crime-solving German Shepherd named Rex. Rex was originally played by S...

Meant to be. That’s really the only way to describe the trio of doggos that Adrienne C. Moore - star of Orange is the New Black and Pretty Hard Cases - calls her family. We dive into the remarkable origin stories of all three pups; from the photo of one little black and one little brown dog that Adrienne had up on her fridge long before she ever met Lola (small and black) and Mowgli (small and bro...

When they met at Second City about 15 years ago, Naomi Snieckus and Matt Baram  each came to the table with a dependent. Matt had Murphy, a 100 pound black golden labradoodle (yes, they exist). Naomi had Rufus, a little cockapoo. And as she says, they “Brady bunched.” It’s been a dog’s life pretty much ever since for the actor-writer-improviser duo who adopted Alfie this past year. Our conver...

Rose Cousins was never not going to get a dog. But, being a busy touring singer-songwriter, the timing had to be right. When the pandemic rolled around, Rose took the opportunity to welcome Harrington the Schnoodle (half schnauzer, half poodle) via an ad posted halfway across the country. Just like her songs about love, Rose talks so beautifully about the portal for love that Harrington has opened...

When Chef Susur Lee commits to something, he truly commits. I mean you don’t become a world famous Chef by taking things lightly. So when Chef took over caring for his son’s dog Nyla, he made a full commitment to honour her true nature as a husky and to feed, walk and respect her accordingly. Yes, there’s a lot of discipline involved. But there’s also a ton of silliness and freedom - a sharp contr...

Let the record show that Natasha the cat was supposed to be “just a foster.” But by the time Baroness von Sketch Show star/co-creator Carolyn Taylor finally coaxed her out from under the couch, there was really no other choice but to keep her. A self-proclaimed “cat apologist”, Carolyn goes deep on feline lessons in humility and what keeps cat lovers coming back for more despite the possibility of...

Kwane Stewart has loved and been surrounded by animals his whole life and knew he wanted to care for them from a young age. But working as a vet at a shelter during the recession - and having to decide which animals lived and which were euthanized - almost made him walk away from the profession altogether. Dr. Kwane shares the life-changing encounter with an unhoused man and his dog that inspired...

Before comedian Sabrina Jalees had sons Wolfie and Rowan, she and her wife Shauna had another son - their French bulldog, Cowboy. According to Sabrina, he was their first born, and taught them a thing or two about parenting humans. Cowboy has also become fast friends and mischievous co-conspirators with her toddler. And who knew - until this conversation - that Cowboy kind of wasn’t meant to...

It's unclear how or why it happens, but when you get a pet, you somehow become a nickname-generating machine. All of a sudden, their given name is just not enough to sum up all that is your furball. Clutch, for example, has been Clutcharama, Cloo Cloo, Boo Boo, Stinker Doodles, Luvvie Loo. The list is embarrassingly much longer. As we get ready to unleash full episodes Oct. 4, we thought it would...

Think you know someone? Wait until you hear them talk about their pets. Furball Confidential is a new podcast that takes a gleeful swandive into one of our most intimate - but least talked about - relationships - the one we have with our pets. Join veteran podcaster and rescue dog mom Jen Moroz as she sits down with some of your favourite actors, authors, musicians and influencers to explore a sid...