Hi there! Welcome to the Theory of Pets Podcasts! We started this podcast to uncover truths in the pet industry.

Today I am joined by Robin Bennett. Robin Bennett has been a dog behavioralist trainer for over 30 years. 

After successfully running her own behavior training business, she started a business that teaches doggy daycares how to understand dog behavior and body language. Enter the Dog Gurus. 

After that she decided again to evolve her business into a recent venture called Ruffly Speaking!

This is a platform where you get access to years of experience from dog behavior trainers and they also help educate dog owners like you and I make the best buying decisions for our pets.

In today's podcast we talk about dog behavior and she drops some golden nuggets in certain scenarios that I felt would be valuable to touch on for you all. Give it a listen!

Here are the questions I ask her today:

1. Tell everyone a bit about you and your story and what you did before ruffly speaking
2. How would your sessions go with clients, walk me through the individual clients and the questions you would ask them when you would work with individuals
3. You also trained owners and employees how to run doggy daycares
   1. Why did you start doing that?
4. Now let’s start digging into ruffly speaking
   1. Why did you create it?
      1. What did you see that was missing that you could fulfill for people with your background
      2. With ruffly speaking what will people get that they don’t normally have access to?
         1. What is the difference between ruffly speaking and a typical facebook group or a local dog trainer?
      3. What problem do you see in the pet ownership world it solving?
5. What is the biggest thing you see that people miss when they get a dog and the dog does a behavior their owner does not like or approve of
6. Tell us about the behavior of dogs from your experience and perspective
   1. What about them that makes it easy to understand them
   2. What about dog’s behavior that you understand and teach people can how their dogs are going to behave
7. What is your philosophy in dog training?
   1. Why do you have that approach?
   2. We’ve talked off camera about the “balanced training” approach (rewarding dogs when they do something right, and correcting them when they do something wrong), why do you think it isn’t as effective as positive reinforcement
      1. What is wrong with “balanced training”?
8. How should people seek out dog training
   1. Quick little checklist so they get it right
9. How can people sign up for ruffly speaking?
10. Where else can people find you on social media?

I personally started using Ruffly Speaking's platform and it has a wealth of knowledge, I HIGHLY recommend if you are a dog owner that you sign up. It'll be the best investment in building your relationship with your pup.

It's $19.99/mo. if you are interested, make sure to sign up using this link: https://tz203.isrefer.com/go/rufflyspeaking/topdogtips

Hi there, welcome to the Theory of Pets Podcast where we uncover the truths about the pet industry! I am your host, Connor Knight!

Today we are going to be looking at basic how care for a new dog and training from a veterinarian's perspective. The guest today is none other than Dr. Lyndsey Kingsley. 

She has been a wealth of knowledge continuously coming on the podcast and sharing what she knows with us! 

This episode goes on a deep dive so listen in!

Here is the lay out of the questions I ask:

1. So there are some basic guidelines for pet owners and new pet owners on how much physical and mental activity with dogs. You have trainers saying that they need mental stimulation and physical stimulation in order to be happy
   1. HOW MANY MINUTES PER DAY SHOULD DOGS BE PHYSICALLY ACTIVE AND HOW MANY MINUTES SHOULD THEY BE ACTIVE MENTALLY
      1. Outside of nutrition, how much do you think mental stimulation and physical exercise plays into how long a dog can live?
2. Let’s talk about hygiene, dogs clean themselves for the most part, in the wild they never really would get baths except for the occasional dip into a river I guess.

And you know it’s funny bc people like to anthropomorphize their dogs. 

There’s this whole movement out there where people don’t shampoo their hair bc they believe it strips the oils from their hair, however, for dogs word has been going around that there are definitely some shampoos that cause itchy skin problems and dry skin issues. 

1. My question is how often should dogs be bathed, if at all? 
   1. It sounds gross but my Dad, he’ll give his dog a bath maybe once a year. But if you smell her she doesn’t smell at all really. She maybe has had one skin issue bc she runs around outside and got bit by something, but other than that her coat is perfectly healthy.

1. We’ve talked about nutrition before and if people want to go listen to a deep dive into nutrition go listen to podcast #128
   1. What kind of dog food would you recommend, and if you could recommend homemade, or raw dog food and people could afford it would you recommend that over commercial dog food, and why?
2. Now let’s move into training, this is a big topic bc it’s kind of this area where there’s these dog trainers that have no background in science for the most part BUT THEY HAVE 10, 20, 30 years in training dogs so they are considered experts.
   1. From a veterinary perspective what is the best protocol you would recommend to follow for a training program for a new dog, adult dog, and a senior dog (if needed at all)
   2. Do you think senior dogs need to be trained?
      1. I definitely do, my girlfriend she has a 17 year old dog who has some questionable habits and I try to train him, but it’s a lot of work so i don’t think im qualified to mold him like I was able to with my dog when she was a puppy
   3. How should people be going about finding the “right” training. In your opinion who are the best trainers and who should people trust
      1. What are your thoughts on balanced training (takes into both positive and negative reinforcement) similar to that of a little kid
      2. What are your thoughts on ONLY positive reinforcement training?
         1. Do you think it is as effective to only reward the dog when they do something good and never correct them when they do something bad?
3. Okay let’s move from basic training to more behavioral training
   1. Ideally let’s say someone has a new puppy, how should they be going about introducing them to environments, other dogs, external things that might be frightening
   2. Let’s talk about dog’s that are super fearful and have a bad reaction to things
      1. There’s a type of training that talks about exposure to the thing they hate or fear
         1. Is it inhumane to continually do this if they eventually get over the fear?
   3. Veterinary Behaviorists
      1. When is it time to go from a dog trainer to a veterinarian
         1. And what should people look for when trying to find a great veterinary behaviorist
4. When is it appropriate to opt for medication as a solution to behavioral problems
   1. What do people get wrong about opting for medication as a solution to behavioral problems like anxiety
5. Let’s talk about CBD
   1. Everyone i know in the veterinary field dances around this topic
      1. Why is that?
      2. Have you seen any positive results from your clients using CBD for anxiety?

Hey everyone!

Thank you so much for joining me today.

Today I will have Dr. Lyndsey Kingsley back on for a three-peat or four-peat?

We are going to be talking about Mobile Veterinary Care, and she goes on a deep dive on Veterinary House Calls.

Here are the questions and topics I cover today: 

1. So there’s this recent trend in the pet industry for house calls and mobile vet care. How did that come about?
   1. Was this how veterinary care used to be?
   2. When did BetterVet start?
      1. Who came up with the idea
2. Why has mobile vet care become so popular?
3. So I might not be happy with my current veterinarian, how would I find and choose a mobile veterinary care
   1. Is there anything different in standard costs?
      1. Outside of the care being done in your home, what is the difference in the quality of service?
   2. Is it more expensive?
   3. Can a mobile vet service prescribe the same treatments and prescriptions as a normal vet office?
4. What if my dog needs something more serious like emergency attention or service?
   1. How quick is it to get them to the location they need vs bringing a dog into a vet’s office surgery
5. How difficult is it for people that live in gated communities to have a mobile vet service come to their house?
   1. If there is an emergency, does a vet need to come through the gate to the house or does the pet owner and vet meet at a designated location for the emergency service?
6. Tell me about telemedicine side of BetterVet
   1. Are you able to diagnose anything over zoom, or does the vet need to physically be handling the dog before any action steps are taken for treating and solving any problems with their dog
7. So give me the run down of all the services BetterVet can provide for people
8. Where do you see the trend going as far as mobile veterinary service as an industry
9. How does BetterVet set itself apart from it’s competitors, since the trend is going more mobile
   1. What obstacles do you see your competitors having to overcome to outperform BetterVet?
10. I heard through the grapevine that BetterVet is coming out with a veterinary nutrition department. Does BetterVet provide veterinary nutritionists as well?

Hi there! Thank you everyone for joining me today.

My name is Connor Knight I am the president at Top Dog Tips and the co-host of the Theory of Pets Podcast.

Today we have a special guest from Embark Vet. Her name is Jenna Dockweiler.

She is a veterinary geneticist.

Today we are going to be doing a deep dive on proper breeding practices.

Here are some of the questions I ask: 

1. Now I see your job is a veterinary geneticist at Embark Vet
   1. What does a veterinary geneticist do and how is there some overlap with your roles and the idea of responsible breeding?
   2. And I saw that you were a board certified theriogenologist that specializes in animal reproduction, and canine rehab. Tell us a little about veterinary acupuncture. It’s quite a new topic for me. What are some of the benefits?
   3. Can you explain to me about “purebreeds” why are they so coveted if there are a lot of health problems that come with those types of dogs
   4. Can you tell me about the process of a breeder and how careful they have to be to prevent any health issues?
      1. What kind of measures do they have to take?
2. What does it mean to be a "good breeder"?
   1. What kind of training have good breeders undergone to be considered a good breeder?
   2. What are your thoughts of rescue vs. choosing a breeder?
3. Where are the best places to start when looking for a breeder?
4. What are the top questions to ask when selecting a breeder?
   1. What kind of expenses should one expect to be taken care of before purchasing from a breeder?
5. What questions should I expect a reputable breeder to ask me?
6. How do I find out which health tests my breed needs?
7. How much should I expect to spend?
8. How long should I expect to wait?
9. What should I consider if I am looking to breed my dog?
10. I have found a breeder - how do I look into them further?