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Kids & Family

Enrichment for the Real World

You’ve dedicated your life to helping animals- just like us.

Emily Strong was training praying mantids at 7.

Allie Bender was telling her neighbor to refill their bird feeder because the birds were hungry at 2.

You’re an animal person; you get it.

We’ve always been animal people. We’ve been wanting to better animals’ lives since forever, so we made a podcast for people like us.

Join Emily and Allie, the authors of Canine Enrichment for the Real World, for everything animal care- from meeting animals’ needs to assessing goals to filling our own cups as caregivers and guardians.

Latest Episodes:

#16 - Flight Training Mini-Sode Jun 21, 2022

Show notes

We have a special mini-sode for y’all today! We get a ton of questions about flight training, so we wanted to put together a little episode to answer the biggest questions that we get in honor of our Flight Training for Professionals on-demand course coming out the day this episode airs!

In this episode Emily and I talk about:

What flight training is
Why everyone should have this skill
And a brief overview of how to do it.

You can learn more about our Flight Training for Professionals course here!

You can find the full show notes here.

#15 - Data Tracking for Enrichment Jun 06, 2022

Show notes

Last week we heard from Dr. Eduardo Fernandez and one of the topics we discussed was data tracking for enrichment. In this week's implementation episode, we’re going to dive further into data collection and talk about as painless as possible implementation with the animals in your life.

In this implementation episode, Emily and Allie talk about:

Why Allie doesn’t have a Master’s degree
Why you need to be collecting data if you want to work smarter, not harder
How to make this as painless as possible, as simple as a row of Xs & checkmarks

You can find the full show notes here.

#14 - Dr. Eduardo Fernandez: The Science of Enrichment May 30, 2022

Show notes

We always learn so much from Eddie and often find it really humbling to talk with him. He reminds us that there’s still so much to learn, there’s so much we don’t know, and that the learning journey is never complete. If you want a deep, deep dive into the science of behavior while getting to talk about penguins and get some laughs along the way, Eddie’s your man.

In this episode, you’re going to hear Emily and Eddie talk about:

Enrichment needs to be observable
Porcupines, penguins, and emus
Data tracking

You can find the full show notes here.

#13 - Where to Start Your Enrichment Journey May 23, 2022

Show notes

Last week we heard from Peter Amelia and one of the topics we discussed was where to start on your enrichment journey. This week we’re going to dive further into what that foundation looks like and talk about implementation with the animals in your life.

In this implementation episode, Emily and Allie talk about:

Why this episode should probably have happened much earlier
Why we need to split hairs when it comes to species-specific, species-typical, and breed-typical behaviors
Examples of how they made the most out of situations in which they didn’t necessarily do their research beforehand

You can find the full show notes here.

#12 - Peter Amelia: Enrichment in a Multi-Species Household May 16, 2022

Show notes

In this week's interview episode, we are joined by Peter Amelia to discuss enrichment in a multi-species household. As you'll hear, Peter gets to share their home with a wide variety of species and does a wonderful job of meeting all their needs. We talking with Peter because they remind us that there are so many more species out there in people’s homes than the ones we typically work with, and we love getting to see how they work with other species so that we can take those ideas and apply them to the species that we typically work with.

In this episode, you’re going to hear Emily and Peter talk about:

The disparities of quality of life metrics between different species
What a day looks like when your pets hit the double digits and you have a lot of different species with different needs
Keeping everyone safe in a multi-species household from management, to training, to selecting the right species
Bunnies are shell-less tortoises

You can find the full show notes here.

#11 - What Will You Do If Things Go Sideways? May 09, 2022

Show notes

Last week we heard from Michael Shikashio and one of the topics we discussed was having Plans B, C, D, etc. when you can’t do Plan A. This week we’re going to dive further into what to do if things go sideways and talk about implementation with the animals in your life.

In this implementation episode, Emily and I talk about:

A logical fallacy that’s holding you back
An African Grey who thought an electrical cord was good fun
And some doggos who needed special management plans
Plus, how many weather metaphors can I use in the span of about 3 minutes?

You can find the full show notes here.

#10 - Mike Shikashio: Influencing the Industry Through Empathy May 02, 2022

Show notes

In this week’s interview episode, we are joined by Michael Shikashio, CDBC, the founder of AggressiveDog.com. Through his work as an educator and fellow behavior consultant, Michael has inspired us, and other members of the industry while focusing on empathy and compassion for all learners, including our human learners.

In this episode, you’re going to hear Emily and Mike talk about:

Important foundation questions when it comes to working with aggression cases
Finding connections with parallel professionals
Kindness over competition

You can find the full show notes here.

#9 - Let The Animal Be Themselves Apr 25, 2022

Show notes

Last week we heard from Helen Dishaw and one of the topics we discussed was letting animals be animals. This week we’re going to dive further into letting animals be themselves and talk about implementation with the animals in your life.

In this implementation episode, Emily and Allie talk about:

Should we treat animals like mini humans?
Dealing with those annoying species-typical behaviors
What Emily’s rabbit and my turtle have in common

You can find the full show notes here.

#8 - Helen Dishaw: What We Can Learn From Birds Apr 18, 2022

Show notes

In this week’s interview episode, we are joined by Helen Dishaw, Curator of Bird Programs at Tracy Aviary and Vice President of The International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators.

In this episode, you’re going to hear Emily and Helen talk about:

Why birds make great teachers
Who’s training who?
Owl socialization
How budgies stumped Emily

You can find the full show notes here.

#7 - Agency in Social Interactions Apr 11, 2022

Show notes

Last week we heard from Mara Velez and one of the topics we discussed was agency in relation to dog-dog play. This week, we're going to dive further into agency in relation to social interactions, not just dog-dog play, and talk about implementation with the animals in your life.

Emily and Allie talk about:

Opting into social engagements
Teaching disengagement
How Allie has officially crossed into bougie pet parent territory.

You can find the full show notes here.

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