The Paws and Reflect podcast

Sean and Haley talk about embracing the mythical magic of our relationship with Scout (how incredible is it that we harmoniously share life with a creature of a whole different species?!) while also staying rooted in an accurate perception of what makes our cattle dog, well, a dog . Sometimes we see animal lovers delving into "folk nonsense" and expecting unfair things from their companions (or cr...

Sean and Haley talk about dog sports, inspired by a thoughtful friend's question of if not participating in them has ever been at all uncomfortable as a voice in the online dog community (or if we've ever been made to feel weird by others in the space). We discuss why we don't do organized dog sports with Scout (just personal preference and lifestyle!), whether or not we are "against" them (absolu...

Sean and Haley sit down to chat through some dog ownership myths and generalizations that have personally affected life with Scout. I've felt a lot of internal conflict on different topics, especially in my first year with her — and across-the-board, contradictory statements from different trainers and friends and family members fueled much of that turmoil. We talk about: The false idea that "good...

A while ago I answered an "ask me anything" question on our Instagram story saying that no, Sean and I do not want human kids. I was completely floored at the number of messages — and diversity of responses — I received. So Sean and I sat down to dig into the topic further! We explore ways that dogs and kids do feel very similar to us, ways they're different, if having Scout fills the "role" of a...

Sean and Haley try to distill a massive topic into an hour of conversation: how our training has evolved over time with Scout and whether or not we regret things we did in the past. This topic was initially inspired by someone on Instagram asking us to discuss guilt about previous training methods and snowballed into an attempt to (at least at a high level) reflect on our journey over time. There'...

Sean and Haley talk about our fostering experiences. I'm thrilled we've been able to welcome new dogs into our home even with Scout's fear / social awkwardness / general discomfort! We get into some of our personal logistics to make sure every creature in our home feels safe and advocated for ( you can read more about our initial integration process with our first foster here ) as well as the many...

Sean and Haley sit down to talk about relationships. We briefly touch on our history as a couple (I adopted Scout when we'd been dating for 4-5 months and she was just "my" dog at first), discuss things that went well and things we struggled with as we came to own Scout together, and make multiple connections between dog-human and human-human relationships throughout. At the end I share my very fa...

Drumroll for an official Paws and Reflect podcast! This first episode is a quick introduction to Haley and Sean, our cattle dog Scout, and how we came to be recording a podcast episode instead of just doing Instagram lives. Take a listen to our previous Haley-Sean dog chats on Instagram at @paws.andreflect or read some of our writing at pawsandreflect.blog . This is a public episode. If you'd like...