The Dog Who Hugs You Back

Your dog suddenly looks dizzy, can’t keep their balance, and the whole thing feels like it comes out of nowhere. That’s where our conversation with Lauren begins, with a real-life look at vestibular disease in dogs and why it can appear terrifying while still being something many dogs recover from with rest, careful management, and the right veterinary follow-up. We also talk about what it means to care for a sensitive dog when stress and excitement can make symptoms worse, and how to keep your home and routines supportive while you wait for healing.

From there, we step into the harder topic that so many families face in silence: reactive dog behavior. Lauren shares the story of her German Shepherd Zeus, how a single off-leash attack changed his relationship with the world, and how confusing it was to find trustworthy guidance. We get specific about humane dog training, positive reinforcement, and why “quick fixes” can backfire when a dog is operating from fear. If you’ve ever felt isolated because your dog barks, lunges, or locks in on triggers, this conversation puts language and empathy around that experience.

Lauren also offers practical tools you can try, including simple attention exercises that build focus and create safer “exit strategies” before a dog goes over threshold. We close with a grounded, honest reflection on pet loss grief: there is no deadline, and the pain can be part of how you honor the bond you had.

If this resonates, subscribe, share this with a fellow pet parent, and leave a review so more families can find support. What’s one thing you wish someone had told you sooner about your dog’s behavior or your grief?

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Transcript

Welcome And Podcast Purpose

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of Every Pop Rent, Every Story. I am your host, Dan Popovic. And for new listeners out there wondering what this podcast is about, uh simple. It's we invite family and friends onto the show and just talk about fur kids. Uh, you might laugh, get inspired, possibly cry, but it's all about supporting families through whatever stage life they're going through. Uh just really inspire on the fur kids. But again, every paw print has a story to your heart, you know, to our lives, how they inspire us. So that's kind of really the inspiration behind this podcast. And I'm excited today to have a special guest, a new guest to the show. We briefly just met. Lauren, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Hiya. Hiya, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

And remind me again, so you are Ireland, right?

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Uh yes, uh, Belfast.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Okay. Uh, would love to go visit. I see, you know, beautiful country. Haven't been. I'm I'm in the south, uh, southeast area in the United States, so not as not as pretty as uh over there.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

I'd love to visit the the states. Like I've seen online everything and know some people that have gone. It looks really pretty. So I'd love to go there.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Yeah, well, vice versa. But no, let's yeah, let's jump into it.

Meeting Lauren And Her Pets

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Uh you know, just for the listeners, I was reading, I was telling Lauren I was reading up a little bit on her on her background, and so kind of excited uh to hear a little bit about the story, currently what you're doing. And um maybe let's start with um, yeah, how many fur kids do you have today?

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Um well, I've got um, well, suppose my family has four in total. Um I've just moved out last year, so I've got my own wee cat. And then my sister has Luna. I'm Luna's aunt I and my mom has two wee cats that were stressed that she brought in. So it kind of feels like they're all jumbled up, so I don't just have panda. I've got Luna, but even though she's my sister, I've got Tom and Archie, which are my mum's cats.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

So you get a mix mix of dogs and cats.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

And then I've Luna, what uh Luna is Luna's a dog, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Yes, Luna's a dog. Um, she's wee colliecross.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

That is the breed?

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Yeah, uh she's a collie cross with a Labrador and she's got like five other breeds in her. Oh, we done one of those wee um DNA tests.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

So she she has everything in her. She has a Fernese Mountain dog in her too. And blue bacardi spaniel, so she's a proper mix.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

And then interesting, how big?

SPEAKER_01 2:52

She's quite small. Um, she's about the size of a collie. A border collie. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Uh less than 30 pounds.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Yeah.

unknown 3:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Not too sure about pounds. No kilos. She's 21 kilos. I don't know, pounds.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

That that that translation is challenging to me as well. That's funny. That's a good one. Um, I'll have to go look that one up. Um, Luna.

Luna’s Name And 10th Birthday

SPEAKER_00 3:18

So I I'm I'm always fascinated by naming conventions. How did uh what's the story behind Luna's name? Is there a story?

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Um, yes, I think initially um she was named after Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Yeah, so she was named after her. And then whenever she was born, um she was adopted from the pound. So we thankfully were able to know her date of birth, and she was born on the flower moon. So on the flower moon.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Yeah, so it's like at length, but she was named after a Harry Potter character.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Very cool. And then I don't know if you you may have mentioned it and I missed it. How old is Luna?

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Um, she's gonna be 10 this month. 21st of May, she'll be 10.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

20, what is this? This is all right, we got uh almost a week. So any any big birthday plans for her?

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Um well, she's not well at the minute, so we're just gonna bring her down to my mum's and just give her a couple of week presents and she'll get to see the cats. She hasn't seen in a couple of weeks, so she'll be all happy. So just a week family day for her.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Okay. So uh haven't seen her, so obviously then it sounds like gets along with the cat, so that's good.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

You never know. So did you say she's not doing well

Vestibular Disease Explained Simply

SPEAKER_00 4:44

right now? She she's a little under the weather, or just is it just age-related?

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Um, well, she had what we think was a suspected inner ear infection.

unknown 4:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

And that caused vestibular disease. Um, so it's like when us humans, you know, we get vertigo, we get Disney. Um, she has a dog equivalent off that.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Um, it can take about four weeks for it to clear up.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Um she's only had like one major episode, and it can look like they're having a seizure. Um so it can look really, really scary, but it's not dangerous. Generally, it's okay. Um, so she's still recovering from it, so she keeps getting dizzy and losing her balance. Um so she's gonna be getting booked in for a wee scan next week, just in case, just to make sure everything's okay and that the infection is cleared up and everything.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Okay. So it's it's it's more just kind of watching, resting. It's not it's not so much um, you know, impacting of just uh, you know, life as far as um you know, end of life stuff. So it's just really more just rest, and then hopefully she'll kind of get over it and get back to herself.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Yeah, yeah, it's just loads of rest. Um she's a very sensitive dog, so if she gets too stressed or too excited, that can trigger it for her. So it's just plenty of rest, really. And she's slowly getting better.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Yeah. That's good. Hopefully she won't get too overly excited on birthday with visiting the the cats.

unknown 6:37

No.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

But I said to my sister, if um if she's gonna have an episode, well, she may as well have one out of happiness than out of being miserable. So at least she'll be happy when it happens.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

No, that's that's a great point. Love that. Um, and then you like so you says she'll be 11.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Uh 10.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

10. Okay. Sorry, I might have been okay. So then how long? So she'll be 10. So how long have you had her?

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Um, we adopted her when she was about 10 weeks old. Oh, okay. Um, yes, we've had her since 2016.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Awesome. Okay. And um gosh, what are some one of the things I love, you know, talking about or sharing with listeners on

Hugs Quirks And Beach Days

SPEAKER_00 7:24

this were just like funny moments. That, you know, is is she funny? Does she do some funny things, funny routines with you?

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Yeah, she's a really weird wee dog. So she has um she plays about a lot, but just very serious and sensible. Um, because not like some dogs would get the zoomies and they tear about and they go crazy and you can't, you know, calm them down or anything. Um, Luna, she'll mess about for about five minutes and then that'll be her done. And she'll get up in the stuff and she'll cross her paws and she'll sit all really sensibly as if nothing's happened. So she's a very it's just a just a strange wee dog like. Um just really good too. Like if she thinks somebody is upset, even if you're appearing like calm and laughing, if internally you're upset or stressed, she knows, and she comes over straight away, and she'll wrap her paws around your neck, or she'll wrap her neck around your neck and start hugging.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

So very cute. Okay, that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Yeah, so that's really, really nice. Or if you just ask her for a hug, she'll come over and give you a hug.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

So that's really, really good.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

That's price, yeah. That's awesome. That's priceless. Um, no, I I love that because our yeah, that's really cool. One of our, we have uh a Doberman, and she will typically come up behind you. Like if I'm getting ready for work or something, brushing my teeth, she just comes uh running into the bathroom and then she'll kiss you on your cap. So she's like just giving you a kiss, letting you know she's here, and then she leaves the room.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

So she it that's my first one did that. I'm like, that's really cool. It's just cool that the feeling, right? So I can imagine how you feel when she just kind of comes up and gives you a hug. That's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

That's really cool. That's lovely.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Um, any fun like vacation trips that you take with her?

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Um, not really because she she gets a bit stressed in the car. Um, but we take her to the beach sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

And again, and that's only about a 20-minute drive away. Um, so we would take her to the beach sometimes or just a different no park for a wee bit of change of scenery for.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Um, but we haven't been on a we haven't taken her on any like holidays.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Mainly because of the if she gets stressed out in the car, you were saying.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

What is so she stressed that? What is she doing um when she's in the car? Is like is she like bouncing around? Is she is she crying or whining? How does she kind of how does she act when she's in the car?

SPEAKER_01 10:20

She whines a lot.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Um, sometimes we do think it's excitement. She gets you know stressed out in case she thinks she's going to the vets or something. Um, but most car journeys have been all ha have led to happy things for. Like she'll get to go um to my mum's house, or she'll go to a different park or a beach, or sometimes we'll take her into the town early on a Sunday morning when all the shops are closed and it's all nice and quiet. So she gets to go to a lot of fun places, but she just she gets too overwhelmed. And then she reaches over, so she does, and she starts trying to paw at your shoulder and everything. So she does. She gets very worked up.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

So when she's pawing, is that kind of a sign like, okay, it's time to go home and and get in my own environment?

SPEAKER_01 11:15

I think sometimes, yeah, especially if she's suspected she's going to be going to the vets, or if I'm driving. You know, sometimes if it's like nearly a near miss internally, you're like, like, well, Luna senses that and pawn the shoulders if it's okay, everything's okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Sounds like a really cool dog.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Uh she really is. I wish she was here. You would be able to see her.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Maybe she's upstairs sleeping, you said.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

Uh my cat is. Um, Luna is in the sister's house.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Oh, Luna's at the sister's house. Gotcha. Okay. Uh well, you will definitely you'll definitely have to send me some pictures. So we'll definitely get those added to the um newsletter that goes out with this podcast so others can see Luna, what Luna looks like. Um, you mentioned the beach trips a minute ago. So, how does she do around the water?

SPEAKER_01 12:10

She's gotten a bit badder for the water. Um, she's never really liked it. She doesn't like getting her feet wet. Um up until a few years ago, she would even walk around a puddle. She wouldn't even walk through a puddle, she'd like to walk around it. So she just walks along the edge of the shore. She doesn't actually go into the water.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Okay. And then if she steps in the water, it freaks her out. She's just like shaking her paws off, like get this off the wheel. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

She starts jumping and shaking her paws. She's she's very fussy. If she walks in anything weird or funny outside, just like doing a jump and shaking her paws, trying to get the stuff off her paw. So she's a fussy dog. She's really fussy.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Love it. Um, now I want to go back a little.

Zeus The German Shepherd Story

SPEAKER_00 12:58

I'm trying to think of the the right way to frame the question or how we kind of talk through this. So I was looking at your bio. You mentioned having a German Shepherd previous to Luna. Um, and uh what was the German Shepherd's name?

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Uh Zeus.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Zeus?

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Okay. What's the story on that name?

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Uh, he was named after the Greek god.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Yeah, so that's how he got his name.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

I feel though I love that. Uh I was I was hoping more. Yeah, that's pretty that sounds bad on my part. I was hoping more of a story, but only reason I'm saying that, I love the name. We got it uh when we finally got Marley, our first Doberman. I don't know. I don't know if you I don't know if you know the show Magnum PI in the States. Have you heard of that show Magnum P.I.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

I've heard of, but I've never seen it.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Okay. He had in that show, he had two Doberman, Zeus and Apollo. And I as a kid, I was always fascinated by that breed, and then I love the names. So then I was telling my wife, I was like, all right, let's go get a Doberman because I want to name one of them Zeus or Apollo. Um, well, she gets a female, and I'm like, I can't name a female Zeus or Apollo or Apollino. Um, but I love that name, and I yeah, to your point, yeah, Zeus, the the Greek guy, that's that's a cool name. Uh so then it was probably fitting for a German shepherd. How big was he?

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Oh, he was big. Um he was I don't know, pounds. He was 50 kilos.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

50 kilos. Okay, yeah, we had that exercise already. I forgot.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

I think that would have maybe been over a hundred pounds.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

Sounds about right for a German shepherd.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Yeah, so he was big. Um, my brother is six foot. So whenever Zeus jumped up on him, he was nearly the same height as my brother.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Okay, okay. So tall, big, okay, very um, and you lost him before Luna came into the picture, correct?

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Okay, and then I guess let's talk a little bit about that because I was reading a little of your bio. It sounded like there were things that happened, or you learned afterwards that you applied more so with Luna or Luna, or in which you had known that to apply with with uh with Zeus, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Yeah.

How Reactivity Took Over Walks

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Um Zeus was it was obviously he was really strong. And as a pup, he was great. And then I think whenever he was about five months old, he got attacked by another dog off lead. And he he recovered well from it. He wasn't injured, and but he recovered well, and then once he hit near around a year old, he became really, really reactive, and he was really strong in the lead. Um, so it was only my brother that could walk him, or I would have to get up at a quarter to five every morning and take him out before anybody was out, and then I'd be able to walk him then. Um but the reactivity was a big problem. Like we we didn't know how to you know handle it, we didn't really know what to do because this was well over ten years ago, right? And there wasn't much information online. Like all I remember would trying to be Googling loose sleepwalking and how to help reactivity, and there was a lot of like harsh methods, and I didn't I didn't want to use that on him. So I just I gave up trying to, you know, help with the reactivity or sleep walking, thought that's out of my depth, and then I used to think about getting a dog trainer, but he didn't like any strangers coming to the house, and so I was scared about that, some stranger coming in, and but he had a big back garden and then I would do all enrichment around the house for him and everything. Um, but back then it was really stressful because I felt like he was missing out on a lot, knowing the walks and everything. And whenever we got Luna, we took her to a puppy class and it was showing us all just wee tips on how to capture your dog's attention. And it was that one thing, it was like if I had known that, just how to capture his attention, that would have been like the first step, right? The first building block on helping him. You know, he would have know somebody to orientate to when he was unsure or stressed and everything. Um so whenever I learned that with Luna, I asked the guy who was teaching class. I was like, you know, where did you learn all this? Because I'd looked everywhere online and I couldn't find anything. And then he suggested um Robin Bates, he's a really good trainer, behaviorist in Northern Ireland, and he was doing courses. So I just kept an eye on his website, and as soon as they became available, I done the dog train training courses because I thought everybody should know all this type of stuff, it should just be like out there, really accessible. And then that's how I started with the dog training, is all it was, and then through those I learned a lot about reactivity.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

And and then yeah, we'll get to that in the dog training and what you're doing now. So that's phenomenal. So and when you said Zeus was reactive, um do you think it was a byproduct of that attack?

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Yeah, I think it was a byproduct of that. And I think maybe, you know, being a German shepherd himself, he you know, maybe a wee bit of a predisposition towards that.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

I think, but I think the main one was being attacked, and then I used to think he wasn't around a lot of dogs when he was a pup. But my brother, um like my brother's friend, he had a dog and he'd bring him down all the time, so they were you know always together and they got along. So I think it was to get attacked and then he reached the teenage years, and that's when the can become a wee bit more sensitive, and we didn't know that at the time. No, I think it was a combination of things, but um I was surprised back then, like um nobody complained or anything. Anybody saw us coming when he walked when we had him out, they would do you turn and walk the opposite direction and cross the street, he would just like clear the street. So he would, which is understandable because looking back, I'm sure he did look a bit scary, the people that didn't know him.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Yeah, and it's it's funny you mentioned that. I mean, we had that same kind of reaction when we used to live in a city with Marley, and yeah, you see to your point, German Shepard, Doberman, they're both in that working class. So there's that unfortunately, there's that stigma about them, right? That isn't necessarily accurate. Um Marley, you know, to your point, yeah. She part of the C's, so to speak, as we're walking, and people would kind of you see the 75-pound Doberman coming, but man, she and it we always joked about it because she was just the sweetest things. Like she would I would tell folks that she would attack you with affection. She always wanted to greet you and kiss you. Um she was she was really sweet, but it was that visual deterrent. Um, but um unfortunately with Zeus, it sounded like it was just tough to control. And then he was just it sounded like any any b you take him out for a walk, if if he sees somebody, he's is it that he's growling or is it is he you know just trying to push himself toward the person? Is that kind of what was happening with the reaction?

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Um it was if he saw dogs, um, it would be barking and lunging. And I mean, look at back his stress levels were really through the roof. Um back then, I mean, I was about 18, 17, 18 when he started. Um he he was so stressed, so he was, and then he would get a like you know, fomin, like droodle with stress and everything, the barking and the lunging and everything. And then the older he got sometimes he would do a wee bit of a barking and again if somebody stopped, you know, just to say hello. He would do that as well. But he wasn't he was a great dog, like he was one of the best dogs. So he was like in the house. In the house, he got along with that. We had cats back then too. And he loved the cats. And Maui one, Pandora. Um, she knew Zeus. And Zeus used to be skirt off her. Yeah. Yeah, she would sit half my wee cat used to sit halfway up the stairs and not let Zeus pass. And Zeus would like go back down the stairs with his tail between his legs. Oh, that's funny. And it was funny to watch because Panda's like tiny tiny. So the contrast, the contrast was really funny.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

That that's an interesting dynamic. Yeah, with him in the house, that comfort, and then you got little little cats kind of dominating him, is what it sounds like. Um, but then it sounds like the minute he went out that front door, the left of the house, that's where the reaction really hit in, so to speak. Um he was outside of his comfort zone, I guess, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Yeah, I think it was I think it was all too much for him.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

Really?

SPEAKER_01 23:16

Um and like from I didn't know a lot back then, but from what what I knew back then, I think that was the best that I could do for him of what I knew. Like I didn't walk them. Um I would do scent games around the house for him, like hide ball, and create like fake scent trails to send them, and they would do it all through the garden for him and everything. So he was never bored.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

Yeah, that that's a yeah, smart breed, right? You gotta you gotta keep them pretty active and physically and mentally.

unknown 23:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Um so in in fast forwarding uh how old was he when you lost him?

SPEAKER_01 24:01

Um he was I think he was all that 12.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

12, okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Yeah, he was nearly 12 when we lost him.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

That's pretty good lifespan for a German shepherd, I believe, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Yeah, yeah, that's pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 24:19

How how um how how was the loss? Was it pretty impactful on you? Um, I mean, obviously with everybody with pet loss is is hard. Um was it a pretty hard loss or was it was it uh was it was it brief? Was it sudden?

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Um it was sudden? Yeah, still hard.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

Yeah. How long ago was it?

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Um it was 2014, it would have been 12 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

12 years ago, okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

About 12, 13 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

And then how long in between losing Zeus before you got Luna?

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Um we waited three years. Um, yeah. The waited three years. We didn't think we would get another dog again. Um, but the house, the house was horrible. It was really, really empty.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Yeah, and then Sarah saw there was puppies up for adoption um from the pound. And so she got Luna. But we'll wait for three years. Um but yeah, it was hard. It was so weird with how quiet the house was. And sometimes at night you would still think you could hear him, because he would do like a patrol at night. I think it was the German Shepherd in him. He would we lived in a four-story house, so he he would sleep at the top floor for a bit and then go down to the next floor and sleep, down right down to the ground floor, and then he would do it all again about an hour later. It was like a patrol or something that he done, or maybe he couldn't, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

Yeah, and then so after he passed, sometimes and you could swear you could hear him, and he would sometimes go into the bathroom too. I was then one night and I thought I could hear, you know, the clipping of his paws in the bathroom floor.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Right.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

And then whenever we got Luna, that seemed to stop.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

It makes you wonder.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

Some sort of guardian presence there just still watching over you, right? And then now that he knows Luna's there, he's like, hey, you know, my job's done for the moment.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Yeah, that's what I think sometimes too, because that's when it stopped.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Wow, that's amazing. Um hair standing up on the back of my neck. That's that's that's an amazing

Turning Pain Into Training Support

SPEAKER_00 26:44

story. And then so talk about so it sounds like he inspired you into really what you're doing now, today. Um yeah, I guess talk about that. I'm kind of fascinated on yeah, more what you're doing today and and how Zeus kind of Zeus helped you get to where you are today.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

Because um I know what it's like to be in a situation where everything is really overwhelming and you really love your dog and you want the absolute best for them, and you don't know where to where to turn, and you feel completely lost, and that's like it's really hard to deal with, and there's even though this is the year 2026, there's still people out there in that situation, and it's a horrible situation to be in, and so I want to make all that sort of information on how they can help their dog, what methods to use that's not gonna negatively impact the dog or the person. I think all that should be like really easily available for people to find. Um, because thankfully back then I didn't use any harsh methods with him. But if I had, like that would be I would feel I would feel really heavy. I would feel like really heavy like guilt and everything to deal with. And so I'm sure there are people, you know, in that situation, or if they have a massive dog and they don't know what to do, and you know, they're worried about, you know, maybe getting a dog train out because maybe their dog is reactive towards people and their dog is huge. And even whenever you look online now, like the first I go into incognito mode and I just type things in like how to help my reactive dog, where's my dog reactive? Where's my dog lunching at other dogs? And it's like the first four results are really, really good, and then you'll get a Red Up thread, and then you'll get YouTube videos with promises of um having your dog fixed within two weeks and everything. So there's like loads of conflicting advice, right? And have the and you're already overwhelmed and really stressed, and your dog's overwhelmed and stressed, and there's all this sea of conflicting information.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

Right.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Like that's really horrible.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

So you're so you're writing a lot about that to kind of take those conflicting messages or contradictory information away and disseminate it down more effectively for folks in those situations, you know, from what you learn and and what you've done. So you're doing a lot of writing about it, is that right?

SPEAKER_01 29:49

Yeah, um I keep as much as I can offer free. And like I do like ped guides, ped mini courses, but I have that price really low because everybody should be able to access that type of information. It's so, so important.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

So we'll we'll definitely I'll definitely get some links. I think I might have some links for me. So we'll definitely get that and add it to the description of this episode so listeners can can kind of check that out. Um, and and it's really around the, as you mentioned, reactionary dogs, really around the guidance, the the the methods to kind of use to you know understand that situation, uh understand how to avoid something happening. Is that is that a fair statement?

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:44

Okay, yeah. I'll that that's phenomenal. And so you so writing, but you're also training, right? Are you not also training?

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Yes, um, I do in-person one-to-one dog training. Um, but I'm hoping to do online consultations soon.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

Cool. We'll have to keep posted on that one. Uh and it's and it's really around you know, helping with folks dealing with reactionary dogs, right?

SPEAKER_01 31:16

Yeah, and like the focus is on the dog, but I think it also needs to be on the person as well. Um, because as I said before, it's a lot for somebody to go through. Right. And yeah, it's just it's for some people it is, it's a really horrible thing to go through, and to go through that alone, and it can feel isolated too.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Right. Um no, that that's great, yeah, because we've had um, I mean, and that's phenomenal. And I and like you said, I haven't done the in-depth research as it sounds like you've done to you know understand how many, you know, folks are either dealing with this or or have experienced it. We when we got our third rescue, she's a female Doberman as well. Um, yeah, we weren't prepared for certain things because you don't know the background that they're coming from, the trauma. Um, and then to your point, yeah, you need some help, you need that support system to help you do the right things and understand. And she had some resource guarding issues, which I guess would be in your reactive. Um, and it was in certain areas, it was certain actions that we did, and she got into it a little bit with one of my other rescues. We had to go get her stitched up, unfortunately. And yeah, we were freaking out. We were we realized, oh goodness, we're over our heads. You we haven't experienced this before. And um, but I didn't want to give up, you know, right? Uh you know, folks might give up, and then to me it's like, well, it's you know, I was looking at it as our, you know, part of it being our fault too, not giving the the the love, the need, the guidance. Um, and you know, we got the help and she's with us today, sweet as can be. Like I said, she kisses you on the back of your calves. I mean, she still has a little bit of that resource guarding in her in her. We notice, but it's not like it was before, but we're more equipped now from the help that we got. And that has helped us tremendously. So that's phenomenal with what you're doing and how Zeus has inspired you to to do this to help and support others. Um any any recommendations, suggestions, or actually, I'm gonna as I'm asking the question, you you made a comment earlier, I guess maybe to give a sneak peek, uh, you know, if you're okay with that with some of the stuff that you did, but you you made a comment earlier when you first got Luna and you got this, you started working with this dog trainer, and it sounded like the first step was breaking their attention. Um is that when you say when you say with that first step, what does that mean exactly?

Attention Cues Distance And Threshold

SPEAKER_01 34:17

Um so it's attention, it's called attention exercises. Um so I would usually wait until the dog offers it naturally. So just as soon as the dog looks at you, you give them a treat.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

Yeah. And then so, and then you can just add a word to that like look or watch, and they'll turn around and look at you and give you a treat. Um, it comes in really useful if you know dogs' minds are just all over the place and they don't know what to do, or if it feels like or if you feel like you're invisible. Sometimes it's useful for that. Um, I do it with Luna. I always do like we refresher training sessions with her. And I always start off with look, and as soon as I do that, she knows it's a train session and she gets all animated and excited because she knows what's coming. Okay. Um I use it for reactivity sometimes. So if say, for example, you spot a dog in the distance and you need to get out quick, make a quick exit with your dog, and your dog's too busy sniffing and they're coming, and your dog doesn't see those dogs yet, just look, and you just get out of there. It's good for like emergency exits because the dog's too like focused on you before they see their trigger, it's coming.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 35:53

It's useful for that as well.

SPEAKER_00 35:55

What about did you experience with Zeus? This is what we kind of experienced with Carly, is um she she was hard to distract, meaning if she was out walking and it was another dog, wow, she was laser focused in on that. And to get her to get off of that focus and then uh pay attention to you, man, it was it was challenging. It was tough to do in the beginning because she just locked in and she's she was locked in. The same thing happened with Zeus.

SPEAKER_01 36:29

Yeah. Um Zeus had a much smaller, I call it like a bubble. Sorry. Um so if Zeus saw a dog like um across the other end of the street, he would, you know, lose it, barking and lunging. So I would, if he saw it in the distance, he'd be focused, fixed on it, whereas some dogs, you know, if they see a dog across the street, they're not going to react or bark, but if it's on the same side of the street as in the bill. So it's their how safe, the distance, how safe they feel between the distance of the dog.

SPEAKER_00 37:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

Um, so like looking back at the south, it would have been it would have been a lot harder to do that with him because his laser focus, it wouldn't matter if the dog was really close or far. He would have that laser focus, whereas Luna, she was a lot easier.

SPEAKER_00 37:30

Right.

SPEAKER_01 37:30

She was a bit easier. Um her laser focus wasn't as strong, but um say work out the distance of where your dog feels comfortable.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

Who said work out at work out at distance to where your dog feels comfortable? Is that what you said?

SPEAKER_01 37:50

Yes. Um, find where your dog feels comfortable, where they can see a dog, but they're not hyper focused on the dog.

SPEAKER_00 37:58

Gotcha, that makes sense. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Yeah. And watch what they do. Um, sometimes the dog will just decide to walk along parallel to that dog because they're still feeling comfortable, and that's fine. They might start sniffing instead. Or you can just start just giving them treats for seeing the dog. Seeing the dog is a good, great thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

Yeah, they they love they love their treats, and no, that's great. That was one of the things that helped us, but wow, it was it was it was interesting because I, you know, just how you know, again, as you mentioned, how laser focused she got, and then how it was so hard to break that focus. Um and then I can see, like you said, there's certainly certainly ways to break the focus, but uh, it sounds like yeah, those are ways that yeah, you don't want to do because it may not it may not be as easy on the dog versus let's let's do a little bit easier of a method, breaking that focus, rewarding them, giving them a treat, type of thing. Um more that humane approach, I think, is is what I was reading about with some of the stuff that you do, right?

SPEAKER_01 39:10

Yeah, yeah. So the yeah, with the humane approaches, um, I always just have the dog at a distance where they feel comfortable. They can see the dog in a distance, but it's not an issue for them. They're comfortable, uh, they're not laser focused, they're watching, and they're still doing their own thing and they're sniffing, and just let them stay there, do their own thing, and give them treats. And don't stay. I always say don't stay there too long, always end on a good note. And often the dog will just turn themselves, they'll get bored watching and walk the other way.

SPEAKER_00 39:53

Um, yeah, no, that's a good one. Get it, get them bored, and all right, I'm I'm over this, let's go somewhere else and go on to the next thing, right?

SPEAKER_01 40:01

Yeah, and then gradually over time you can start building up that distance. So within like a few weeks, maybe the dog will feel comfortable being just a tiny bit closer. Right. So just follow what the dog does, and always just try to keep them under the threshold and as possible.

SPEAKER_00 40:23

Okay. No, that that's some great advice, and it's kind of leading. I know we're about at the end of the uh episode. Um, I was trying to think. Typically,

Grief Has No Finish Line

SPEAKER_00 40:33

we sometimes we end on just talking about um a little bit about the pet loss, pet grief, you know, advice to help others going through that. Um trying to think if that or maybe with you, just your learnings and what you're doing now for folks that are dealing, it feels maybe more uh appropriate with folks that are dealing with some of these potential challenges and um you know, strong dogs and and reaction. Yeah, what gosh, you've touched on it a lot already, but as we conclude this episode, what guidance or advice would you give other pet families?

SPEAKER_01 41:19

Um to be easy on yourself, and there's no time frame of when the grief should stop. Um for me it's been 13 years and the grief is still there. Like talking about it might still like get welled up and everything. Um but I think just honoring your dog's memory and the grief might always be there, but that just shows how much you loved your dog and the type of bond that you had with them.

SPEAKER_00 41:58

Yeah, no, I love that. That's beautiful, thank

Wrap Up Photos Links And Wishes

SPEAKER_00 42:01

you. Um, and we'll definitely get some pictures from you of both Zeus and Luna so we can share with others. And yeah, I'll I'll we'll share a link with the training. I don't know that I have a lot of listeners out in your neck of the woods quite yet, but as you go virtual, maybe there'll be some opportunities there. Um, so let's definitely keep in touch. But just wanted to again thank you for being uh on the show today and sharing a little bit about your um you know, Zeus and Luna and how Zeus has inspired you to do what you're doing today. Love the name Zeus. And uh I will I personally want to wish Luna a happy birthday. Give her a hug for me since she loves giving hugs. So hopefully that'll be a fun birthday for her, but she can rest at the same time so she gets better and get more more more time together. But um, Lauren, yeah, uh don't go anywhere just yet. But yeah, thank you for so much for being on the show today.

SPEAKER_01 43:07

Uh thank you very much. Thank you, Daniel.