Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of the Tri-Cities region. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around The Tri-Cities.
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Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP# 158: Bridging the Communication Gap: Brandy Schoverling on EZ Dog Training and Community Connection
What makes Brandy Schoverling with EZ Dog Training a good neighbor?
Discover the transformative power of true communication with your canine companion. In our latest episode, we welcome Brandy Schoverling, the innovative mind behind EZ Dog Training. Brandy has journeyed from managing a board-and-train facility to crafting personalized in-home lessons, finding them far more effective for understanding dogs and improving behavior. She shares invaluable insights into how we can bridge the communication gap with our furry friends by learning to speak their language. Unpacking common behavioral issues like digging and barking, Brandy challenges the myths surrounding dog breeds and aggression, emphasizing that behavior is not just about genetics. Her approach enlightens both dog lovers and skeptics alike, revealing how we can all enhance these special relationships.
Our conversation isn't just about dogs; it’s a celebration of community spirit. We shine a spotlight on the importance of supporting local businesses and fostering connections within the Tri-Cities community. With a lively and friendly exchange, we encourage listeners to engage by nominating their favorite local businesses to be featured on the show. This episode is all about fostering relationships, whether with a wagging tail or a local entrepreneur, and the power of coming together to support each other. Tune in for a heartwarming discussion that promises to uplift and inspire.
To learn more about EZ Dog Training go to:
EZ Dog Training
423-384-6287
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monning.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast of the Tri-Cities. So today we've got a very special guest that I'm sure you'll be just as excited to meet and learn all about as I am, because, if you're like me, you're an animal lover and two dogs and a cat, and so I'm sure lots of you are pet enthusiasts as well. So today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, ms Brandy Chevrolet, who is the owner operator of Easy Dog Training. Brandy, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. We're thrilled to have you. Like I said, I'm a dog guy. I do have a cat, but I'm a dog guy. My wife's a cat woman, but so I'm really interested. My dog's desperately deep training and so I'm super interested, and I'm sure our listeners are too. So if you don't mind, why don't you start us off by telling us about what you do?
Speaker 3:mind. Why don't you start us off by telling us about what you do? Well, when I initially started the business in 2017, I had a shop in Kingsport where I'd done board and train. I did daycare training a couple of different. I had a couple of different options and in my experience, I realized that the in-home private lessons are the most beneficial for the owner and the dog both. So all I offer now is private in-home lessons. So I go to your house and I work privately with you and your dog. Work on different types of issues. I work. I do basic, basic commands, advanced commands on leash off leash training. I work with crate training, anxiety, separation anxiety. I help dogs learn to go upstairs and get in cars, like you name it. I've done it probably.
Speaker 2:Wow. Well, tell me this I've got a beagle, I've got a cartoon dog and a beagle and the beagle. Typically they're dogs and they like to dig. They sleep in the house at night and they stay outside during the day, but they've started digging. Both dogs are over One's 12 and the other one's 15. And they've dug, but not a big deal. Now they're really digging Like they're trying to eat something in the ground. You have any idea what that's about.
Speaker 3:It's boredom really, just being bored, just being bored. When dogs are bored, they have anxiety, they're stressed out, they dig, they bark, they bite, they chew on things. So when you put a dog outside in the yard and they just they're looking around for something to do and there's nothing really for them to do, so they start digging holes. Well then, once they kind of start digging the holes, they realize how fun it is and they just kind of keep digging holes in your yard.
Speaker 2:Wow, they're conniving too. But yeah, well, they, uh, they dig and uh, the bad part is like today it's raining, they'll dig and they just get their claws are just completely compacted with mud, and then I let them in the house at night and they leave a trail. So, anyway, um, I guess that's something I need to an appointment to get worked out.
Speaker 3:I would love to.
Speaker 2:Wonderful, wonderful Brandi, how did you get into the dog training business?
Speaker 3:Well, I've always liked dogs and wanted to work with them and train them. I've rescued dogs in the past and took them and got them up to where they needed to be and then rehomed them and found them a better home. I finally just realized that I've enjoy working with dogs. I'm really good with dogs and I'm very good with people as far as reading people, reading the dog's behavior, so I'm able to go into somebody's house kind of assess their environment, figure out exactly kind of what the problem is, what the issues are, and then come up with a personalized plan for them and their dog, because every person is different and every dog is different. Every situation is different, and that's what makes the private in-home lessons so beneficial, is I can take your personal situation and come up with a training plan that's going to help you and your dog.
Speaker 2:Wow, I could imagine just taking a dog to a training facility would be stressful for the dog, so doing it in the house, I think, would be much better.
Speaker 3:The problem with board and train and I've done it in the past the problem with board and train is the trainer is training the dog and then they take the dog back to their environment and the human is not trained to speak dog. I tell my clients all the time it's on my website I can teach you to speak dog. They're not trained to speak dog and so they're still communicating with their dog the way humans communicate with each other, and a dog doesn't understand human. They don't understand human behavior. So with what I do is I train you, teach you. I teach you to train your dog on a level that your dog actually understands.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's fascinating to me, but true, I mean, I can see where you're coming from, how that could be much more effective. You've got to train the human too.
Speaker 3:Yes, the humans are harder than the dogs.
Speaker 2:Really Wow.
Speaker 3:Yes, 100%.
Speaker 2:Wow, well, brandy, what are some myths or misconceptions in the dog training business? I'm sure there are some training business.
Speaker 3:I'm sure there are some. Well, there's a lot, and I think a lot of the misconceptions and the things that drive me crazy is breed Thinking that certain breeds of dogs are aggressive, more aggressive than others. That's inaccurate. There is breeds of dogs that are going to be a little more aggressive than other breeds because of what they are bred to do, to be a little more aggressive than other breeds because of what they are bred to do. You take, like a Belgian Malamar, for example you know they're typically bred to be, you know, canine military, hunt people, you know, or hunt drugs, you know things like that. And so they have to have a little aggression in them in order to do what they do, and I think a lot.
Speaker 3:Another misconception is people will get a dog that's so high energy and they think that they can, you know, just take it for a walk and buy it fluffy beds and nice toys and that the dog's happy. You have to fulfill your dog's needs in order for your dog to respect you. So it's even with being being alpha people. A lot of people think because dogs are domesticated, they don't, you don't need to be alpha anymore. But being alpha is so much deeper than just what a lot of people think. If you respect your dog and you communicate with your dog on their level, they're, in return, going to respect you back and they're going to follow your lead. My dog is extremely well-behaved. I can take my dog anywhere at all anywhere restaurant, grocery store, the park. I can take him anywhere a hundred percent off leash and my dog stays with me and listens to everything I say, because we have a mutual respect for each other.
Speaker 2:Wow, wow. That blows me away because I don't feel like my dogs have respected me in some ways some ways they do, some ways they don't, but they, you know, listen, no, beagles, especially man, they're, they're just. I feel like I gotta sing that song all the time too. You know, if they're excited, they bark. If they are happy, they bark. If they're not happy, you know.
Speaker 3:But well, that's how they anyway.
Speaker 2:Right, right, well, and I'd even thought about getting one of those shock things, but I've decided not to do that because I just I don't you know. I have friends who say, oh yeah, I get you a shock collar, push the button when they bark, they stop, but it doesn't bother me that bad. So I use collars in training. I don't always use collars in training.
Speaker 3:don't always use collars in training. However, I teach you how to use the collar effectively. I do not believe in just shocking your dog every time they do something wrong because your dog is doing dog things. They have dog behavior because they're a dog, so you have to first teach them. I don't want you to jump on my counter. I don't want you to jump on my furniture. I don't want you to chew up my shoes. You have to teach them things like this. So just to put a collar on them and shock them when they're being bad, I don't think that's a good thing to do.
Speaker 2:I would agree, I would agree, and I imagine people could abuse that too. Well, brandy, outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?
Speaker 3:I paint. Sometimes I really enjoy spending time with my family. I have four boys and I enjoy spending as much time with them as possible. My husband, you know, in the summertime, when it's warmer, we like to go on hikes, but mainly just, you know, spending time with my family Summertime when it's warmer we like to go on hikes, but mainly just, you know, spending time with my family.
Speaker 2:Awesome, great answer, very good answer, especially if your husband watches the podcast. So can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you've overcome that made you stronger in the end? Well, personally or professionally?
Speaker 3:I I could probably give you a laundry list of challenges I've ever came, but I've managed to me and my husband have started two businesses and they're both successful, and I've raised four boys while going to college and get an education.
Speaker 2:Wow, wow, and here you are.
Speaker 3:And here I am.
Speaker 2:To say you've successfully launched two businesses. That's incredible, especially with four kids. If, brandy, you could think of one thing you'd like our listeners to remember about Easy Dog Training, what would that be?
Speaker 3:remember about easy dog training. What would that be? That, um, I love what I do. I love working with the dogs and my clients I have great clients and just that training your dog and teaching your dog to behave and be a well-behaved dog is so beneficial for not only you and your household and your family, but also for your dog, because dogs like structure and they need structure and they thrive in structure.
Speaker 2:Hmm, I did not realize that Dogs like structure.
Speaker 3:Hmm, I did not realize that dogs like structure. Well, humans like structure too. We just sometimes don't think we do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right, that's exactly right. Well, good thing to remember, good thing to remember. Um, so if, uh, if anybody, any of our listeners are interested in uh having to come out and help them with their dog or animal, can they learn more?
Speaker 3:I have a website, it's ezdogtncom. I'm on facebook, I'm on instagram and they can also call me or email me if they have questions very good, and what's that phone number? My phone number is 4, 2, 3, 3, 8, 4, 6, 2, 8, 7, 6, 2, 8, 7. Very good.
Speaker 2:Well, brandy thank you so much for spending time with us today and telling us about your business, and I want to wish you and your husband and your kids and your business all the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Thank you, and I want to give a shout out to my dog because he made the paw print calendar this year.
Speaker 2:Oh wow. Paw print. What's your dog's name?
Speaker 3:His name is Caesar.
Speaker 2:Caesar, and what kind of dog is he?
Speaker 3:He is a pit bull.
Speaker 2:Pit bull Love. Pit bulls, sweetest dogs in the world.
Speaker 3:Sweetest baby ever and my clients that have met him even my clients that don't like pit bulls love my dog.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm sure, I'm sure I used to be afraid of them back in the day, but because they just had such bad press. But then I got to know some pit bulls and they're just the sweetest, sweetest puppies, they are just big babies. Absolutely, absolutely Well, brandy, thank you for giving the shout out and again we appreciate you being here and hopefully we can have you back one day.
Speaker 3:I appreciate you having me. I enjoy talking to you, thank you.
Speaker 2:Absolutely same here. Thanks so much and hope you have a great rest of the day.
Speaker 3:You too.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.