Intro to Shy Dog Diaries

In this very first episode, I introduce you to Shy Dog Diaries — a podcast about living with, training, and celebrating dogs who see the world a little differently.

You’ll hear the story of my rescue dog Nessie, how she inspired this project, and what you can expect from future episodes:

• Real stories about anxious and sensitive dogs
• Expert interviews and lived experiences
• Training insights and positive reinforcement tips
• Funny hacks and heartwarming moments

This podcast is for anyone who has ever loved a dog with big feelings — and wondered how to support them while also celebrating the joy they bring.

 Thank you for joining me on this journey. I can’t wait to share more with you!

Connect with Shy Dog Diaries

Instagram: @shydogdiaries
Email: pod@shydogdiaries.com

Transcript

[Teaser] We have made such huge progress that I no longer wake up and have that heart sinking feeling like, oh my gosh, what have I gotten myself into? Now I wake up and I see her there often snuggling in the bed and I just go, oh my heart! What are we going to learn from our journey today? 

​[Intro with music] Ever wonder what's really going on behind your dog's big feelings and how to actually help them feel safe and thrive? Well, you're in the right place. This is Shy Dog Diaries. 

Hello there. I'm so happy you're here. I'm Samara Iodice. I started this podcast for people with dogs that may be shy, anxious, fearful, reactive, or otherwise lacking in confidence. But I want to let you know now. I'm not a dog trainer or a behaviorist. I am just someone who had the rug pulled out from under me with my first anxious dog.

And during this journey, I've learned so much from experts in the positive reinforcement space, and I want to share those resources. So on this podcast, you're going to be hearing from experts as well as other people who are having similar challenges with their dogs. All with the goal of creating a support community and educational forum.

So with that, I'm going to briefly share my story of living with Nessie, AKA, the Loch Ness. It started with an impulse decision to foster a five month old puppy after my two senior dogs passed away within a few weeks of each other, but unbeknownst to me. . She had very little exposure to the outside world during the early development phase, which quite frankly was a recipe for disaster.

And it set us up for many challenges, one of which was severe separation anxiety. And then she had what I call urban or location anxiety. Fear of new places. And fear of new things, so neophobia. Fear of visitors at first. We've come a long way on that. Car hesitancy. Sometimes I couldn't even get her in the car. But the one that was really shocking to me was the walking challenges, the reluctance to just walk around the neighborhood. Hypervigilance. I had never seen a dog that was so hypervigilant, and she would just freeze and stare… and stare at a pinpoint object two blocks away, just fixated. She did some quirky things as if those weren't quirky enough. She wouldn't pee or poop on any walks. Only in her own backyard or if we got to an enclosed area with other dogs, she felt very comfortable.

And I think that's largely because she lived out the first five months of her life, from what I understand, in a backyard. But she was with a lot of other dogs, and so that is one of the saving graces, because we were dealing with so many other issues, is that she's very dog friendly. So we bring play dates to the house a lot so she can get that energy out.

She's remarkably good with dogs of every size breed, temperament. Although we're very careful in making sure that we only bring very friendly, calm dogs onto the property because we don't want to set her up for failure in another challenging area. And the other thing was obviously she's not aggressive.

I didn't think I had it in me to handle a reactive dog, particularly since she ended up being 20 pounds more than I had bargained for. I had always had dogs that were under 45 pounds in the herding dog variety.

And I went to a herding dog rescue and essentially brought home an English pointer lab mix, which topped out at 63 pounds. But , she is a delight. I call her my wacky, she must have heard her name, and there she is. I call her my wacky but wonderful dog. And, I just learned so much from this, but I think one of the important aspects to address is that it kind of brought me to my knees. I suffered a full on mental crisis at the beginning of this because when you're doing it all alone and you can't leave your dog at home, but your dog doesn't want to go anywhere, it becomes very challenging to navigate any kind of practical lifestyle

And so, it took a village, with dog sitters, animal behaviorists trainers, friends, just to be able to navigate those early months. And I can tell you we have come. Such a long way over two years, and I still see glimmers of hope in things that I never thought would happen. You know, sometimes it's two steps forward, one step back.

But honestly, when I started kind of letting go of the control a little bit and giving her the ability to make some decisions and factoring in rest days in between all her training exercises that I was bringing her on, like a drill sergeant. I look back and I'm literally rolling my eyes, but I had this plan for her and I was going to make her be able to do this and be able to do that and, and essentially try to make her into what my previous three herding dogs were. Which were easy. They were easy. I never imagined that people could have so many challenges. And all my dogs were rescues previously too.

So it's not just that it was a rescue dog. I went from what I thought I knew over 30 years of having dogs to, like I said, having the rug just pulled right out from under me with, I think the hardest dog in the world, at least for me. But we've had a lot of joyful moments. We've had a lot of fun.

We've had so much learning. She's fiercely loyal and loving and intelligent. We've learned a lot also from doing nose work with her. That just happens to be her special skill. And, yeah, that's our story. I don't want to get into all the details of those things, but I just want to let people know that we have made such huge progress that I no longer wake up and have that heart sinking feeling like, oh my gosh, what have I gotten myself into? Now I wake up and I see her there often snuggling in the bed and I just go, oh my heart. What are we going to learn from our journey today? That's really what I think now because we've come so far. 

So I just want you to know that having the most difficult dog of my life has taught me so much about myself. And in learning about myself, I've learned how to give my dog space to thrive and grow. And I can tell you from that experience that these dogs can surprise you with so much improvement.

When you least expect it, it's incremental. But when you start looking, you're going to see that progress is accumulating along the way, and you'll slow down enough to understand your dog's emotional health, but also understand your emotional health. And you'll start letting go, hopefully of the requirements for what you wanted them to be, and you'll know that they can be something even more special in their own right, that they'll emerge and they'll blossom. And that will often happen right before your eyes, but it'll sometimes sneak right up on you. So this is to anyone who might be listening to this, all you need to do is be patient, and I know it's hard, and be committed and learn from some of these wonderful experts and some of these amazing people who've gone through the challenges and made it out the other side or are currently on the way through and they can see that light on the other side of the tunnel. And my new friends, that’s it for this first episode. I promise you from this point out we'll have some episodes that are rich in practical content and expert advice.
 
 [Outro with music] Thanks for listening to Shy Dog Diaries. If you're walking this slower path with your own dog, you're not alone. Follow the journey on Instagram at Shy Dog Diaries. And if you enjoyed today's episode, please share and leave a review. It really helps other dog lovers find us. Join us next time for more tender tails, expert advice and inspiration for your own dog's transformation.

 [Disclaimer] Shy Dog Diaries is for education and entertainment only. It's not a substitute for working with your own trainer, behaviorist, or veterinarian.